Quartermaster Marmel Raveiz

AC 7 (unarmored) or 4 (leather armor +1); MV 12; M 4/ T 8; hp 26; #AT 1; Dmg by weapon type -1 (usually 1d4+1/ 1d3+1 with dagger +2); Str 7, Int 17, Wis 14, Dex 17, Con 11, Cha 10; THAC0 18 (16 with dagger +2); AL N; SA triple damage on backstab, thief skills, spells; SD thief skills, ring of blinking, ring of immunity to enchantment (see below), spells. Languages spoken: Common, thieves cant. Thief skills: PP 45, OL 45, FRT 30, MS 40, HS 40, DN 45, CW 70, RL 70 (skill values not adjusted for armorless state). Experience Point Total: 12,045 (as mage), 94,130 (as thief).

Spell books (usually memorized spells in bold): cantrip, charm person, detect magic, friends, hypnotism, identify, message, protection from evil, spider climb, unseen servant; alter self, detect invisibility, ESP, forget, invisibility, know alignment, magic mouth, rope trick, scare, wizard lock.

Weapon Proficiencies: dagger, longsword, quarterstaff, one unlearned.

Nonweapon Proficiencies: Appraising (Int; triple proficiency, all checks at +2), forgery (Dex; DM may use Int for detecting other people's forgeries), heraldry.

Additional Magic Items: bags of holding (2 x 250 cu. ft., one of 150 cu. ft., one of 70 cu. ft.), wand of identification with 44 charges (see below).

Physical Details: Age 41, height 5'8", weight 132 lbs., long and lank stringy fair hair, green-blue eyes, weathered pale skin, slightly hooked nose, long fingers with knobby, large knuckles.

Key Idiosyncrasies: Marmel has a paranoid belief pertaining to servants of a long-dead master seeking him out to kill him, as explained below. More mundanely, he has an inordinate fondness for humbugs and will cheerfully suck his way through a large bag of them given the chance. As a result, most of his teeth have fallen out, and his speech contains many breezily gumless sibilants.

Cover: None; Marmel spends his time in hiding; see below.

Guild and Leadership: The Monmurg thieves' guild has a complex/mix structure—specifically, it has a ruling council (of 4) elected by allegedly democratic elections from the guild membership for 7-year terms. The leadership style of this council is strong, just, and populist. Marmel isn't much affected by all this, because he doesn't get involved in guild politics and council members (of whatever persuasion) appreciate his loyalty and usefulness to the guild.

History: Marmel Raveiz is quartermaster of the thieves' guild in Monmurg, capital city of the Hold of the Sea Princes in Oerth (see World of Greyhawk for some additional details). He keeps the magical items the guild possesses as a group, stocks of specialist thief equipment, and ledgers and accounts of the guild (membership dues and the like). These are all retained in his bags of holding. Marmel is not an expert fence, although he may use his Appraising proficiency to purchase and check items for the guild.

Marmel began life as an apprentice to a Furyondian mage, and had to suffer ill-treatment as the mage developed an insidious form of insanity. His master refused to allow Marmel to make his own way in the world, but the unfortunate apprentice got his chance when the mage was forced to accompany a Furyondian naval foray against some of the declining piratical force of the Sea Princes. Their ship was sunk, and Marmel took the opportunity to kill his hateful and cruel master, grab a couple of travelling spell books with low-level spells, and levitate to safety. The pirates decided to capture him rather than shoot him down, their own flying mage bringing down the unhappy apprentice, and Marmel became a reluctant pirate.

As piracy declined in the Sea Prince's lands, Marmel stayed with bad company in the form of thieves. His magic helped them, and they trained him. Marmel got safety and obscurity, staying in the guild house, in return for learning the skills of the thief. Marmel was very fearful that his old master might have been raised; his mage's guild might come looking for him; the old mage's relatives might come for him; in short, obscurity suited Marmel perfectly. It even overcame his fear of going robbing by night, and Marmel began an adventuring life anew as a thief, not wanting to work further as a mage, lest those he feared would be looking for a hapless young mage should find him and punish him for killing his master.

Marmel is not now an active, adventuring thief. He is too valuable to the guild to be allowed to risk this. Happily, he has retired to a life of quartermastering. He maintains and administers the finances of the guild, and shepherds supplies and magical items for use by guild members. The availability of supplies is always good, due to Marmel's lines of supply and meticulous checks on his stocks. He also evaluates items brought in to the guild house by thieves, who must pay a 10% flat tithe of all earnings to the guild. Marmel's tripled Appraising proficiency makes him highly valuable in this respect. He routinely uses detect magic on anything which looks even remotely interesting. He can use an identify spell, and also has a wand of identification (duplicates the effects of an identify spell, with no Con loss to the mage) if several items turn up at once and the "owner" is in a hurry for any reason (he is reluctant to use his wand, since he can't recharge it, and charges 150 gp per charge for this service). If he is curious or suspicious about a guild member, or a seller to the guild, he will use investigative spells (or hypnotism) to learn more.

Marmel is a gentle enough soul, rather other-worldly at times. He likes a spot of haggling, although it's almost impossible to get the better of him. He has a strange fondness for heraldry, and may purchase items with unusual heraldic design for himself. He has a modest fortune from his own thieving days, and is paid a good salary by the guild. He rarely leaves the guild house, and when he does it is in the guise of a merchant's clerk (often accompanied by a guildmember who has a cover identity as a merchant).

Marmel in Game Play: Meeting Marmel is obviously easiest for guildmembers. They pay their tithes to him (10 gp per year for an apprentice, 50 gp per level per year from others to a maximum of 500 gp), may bring items to him to be valued, and come to him for supplies, or even the loan of magical items. Non-guildmembers can meet him for the sale or exchange of items, come across him at a sale of heraldic items, in an antique shop, or even possibly for training (for thief PCs)—at a very steep price!

A major role for any quartermaster is as a source of supplies. The DM can use a quartermaster to introduce new equipment items (the guild needs cash and the quartermaster is on a sales drive). "Hot" magic items (e.g., a sword with a non-erasable and unique design feature) can be sold to the quartermaster. New magic items could be had for sale (rarely), or exchange (more likely), or even borrowed for a security deposit. The DM should arrange these practicalities as he sees fit. You don't need tables of random determinations; you should use a quartermaster to bring in pet ideas, items you think are nifty, as you want to. Marmel has placed a magic mouth on each of his bags of holding, of course, so that if anyone other than him even touches them the magic mouth will scream out, "Get your paws off!." Of course, maybe after all these years a relative of the Furyondian mage wants to know where the apprentice who killed his uncle (say) has gone with those spell books, and the PCs are hired to do the job. Who would expect to find him in a thieves' guild??

Tactical Notes: Marmel is protected against undue influence. His ring of immunity to enchantment makes him immune to enchantment/charm spells of 4th level or below. His ring of blinking helps to protect him. Marmel isn't much of a fighter, and the guild will usually have some bodyguards with him in the event of major transactions or trips into the outside world. Marmel does not take his bags of holding outside the guildhouse with him!

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