AFFILIATION WITH THE BELLFLOWER NETWORK
The Bellflower Network keeps its secrets safe at all costs, for its enemies eagerly and actively oppose them. Should the truth about the locations of Bellflower Network barns be revealed, the identities of their members be compromised, or the locations of slaves they’ve freed be discovered, all that the Bellflower Network champions could be lost. Even if such a catastrophe didn’t spell the end for the Network, it would certainly still serve as an emotional loss. However, shifting more resources to self-protection and defense would result in fewer slaves freed. As a result, the Bellflower Network is very protective of its agents and their resources. Becoming a trusted ally of the Bellflower Network is best modeled by having the PCs prove to an agent, likely with no knowledge of the agent’s affiliation with the Network, that they oppose slavery and support the idea of the Bellflower Network.
Example Affiliation Encounter: PCs who play out several encounters wherein they defy slavers, free slaves from servitude, or simply stand up for the rights of a downtrodden or marginalized group should eventually earn the trust of the Network. If you would like your character to earn affiliation with the Bellflower Network, inform your GM and then focus your character’s actions on fulfilling tasks and goals that the Network would approve of without being told to do so. Actions speak louder than words in this case. If you’re the GM and a player informs you that she would like her character to earn Bellflower Network affiliation, four to five significant displays of personality and conviction in sync with Bellflower Network interests should be enough to earn the group’s trust, at which point an agent of the Bellflower Network should approach the PC with an offer of support. Typically, this offer comes with a final task, usually a request to rescue a slave or group of slaves. The Network is quite well informed, and it should know what the next adventure is that the PC is heading into—you can then inform the player that there’s a slave in the upcoming adventure that needs to be freed, and if this task can be accomplished, affiliation with the Bellflower Network is assured.
EQUIPMENT
Bellflower Network agents use the following items.
APPLECHEEK PRICE 10 GP
WEIGHT 1 lb.
This sticky-sweet syrup is distilled from ivy and rabbit musk, and causes a mild allergic reaction in halflings. The slight swelling—especially in the face—and mild redness it induces makes the face seem younger, granting a halfling who drinks a dose of applecheek a +2 alchemical bonus on Disguise checks to look like an elven, half-elven, or human child. The effects of a dose of applecheek persist for 24 hours. Crafting a dose of applecheek requires a successful DC 15 Craft (alchemy) check.
BONIFACE PAINT PRICE 15 GP
WEIGHT 5 lbs.
This thick whitewash is laced with exotic oils, and it dries to a lovely finish run through with subtle swirls. Difficult to notice, these patterns help obscure seams and details in whatever the paint coats; the Perception DC to find a secret door or hidden compartment on a surface covered in boniface paint increases by 5. One bucket of boniface paint covers up to a 10-foot-by-10-foot area, and its concealing effects last for 1 year. Crafting a bucket of boniface paint requires a successful DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check.
COOKING POWDER PRICE 2 GP
WEIGHT 1 lb.
By boiling certain seeds with handfuls of rust, halfling alchemists create these red flakes, which smolder slowly when touched by a spark or flame. If sprinkled over food and lit, a handful of cooking powder can cook meat or vegetables in 20 minutes without light or significant heat, though it lends a metallic flavor to any foods. If held to a living creature’s flesh, smoldering cooking powder deals 1 point of fire damage per minute for 20 minutes. One jar of cooking powder is enough to cook up to 5 pounds of food in 1-pound increments. Crafting a jar of cooking powder requires a successful DC 15 Craft (alchemy) check.
SPARKLE SMOKE PRICE 25 GP
WEIGHT 1 lb.
When inhaled, this incense causes creatures to see dazzling auras around light sources, drawing their attention to such illumination as the moon or stars and away from other nearby creatures. Any creature inhaling sparkle smoke that fails a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw takes a –4 penalty on Perception checks to notice creatures smaller than itself in areas of at least dim light for 1 hour. Crafting a dose of sparkle smoke requires a 2successful DC 15 Craft (alchemy) check.
TILLER’S GUM PRICE 100 GP
WEIGHT —
This gum has alchemical properties that allow it to soak up magical energy and release it when the gum is chewed. As a standard action, a stick of tiller’s gum can be imbued with a spell of up to 3rd level with a casting time of less than 1 minute and that targets one or more creatures, as if the gum were the target of the spell. The gum holds the spell’s charge for 1 hour, during which time a creature capable of casting the stored spell can chew the gum as a standard action to gain the spell’s effects, expending the stored spell and destroying the gum. The stored spell uses the original caster’s level to determine its effects. If the spell-imbued gum isn’t used before an hour passes, it is ruined. Crafting a stick of tiller’s gum requires a successful DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check.
MAGIC ITEMS
The following items are favored by Bellflower Network agents.
LIBERATOR’S KEY PRICE
2,000 GP
SLOT none CL 5th WEIGHT —
AURA faint transmutation
This tiny, unremarkable silver key can open nearly any set of shackles. When the key is inserted as a standard action into the keyhole of locked leg irons, manacles, or shackles,the lock unlocks provided that its Disable Device DC is 30 or lower. Shackles whose lock has a Disable Device DC of 15 or lower are instantly and silently broken into fragments. A liberator’s key can be used 10 times, after which it crumbles to dust.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS COST 1,000 GP
Craft Wondrous Item, knock, shatter
SUBTLE SLIPPERS
PRICE 5,500 GP
SLOT feet CL 5th WEIGHT 2 lbs.
AURA faint transmutation
These worn, shapeless leather slippers magically shrink or enlarge to fit any foot placed within, and are as comfortable as a well-broken-in pair of boots. When worn by a halfling, the slippers fade from view almost entirely, manifesting as strips of soft leather wound around the ankles so as to allow the halfling to enjoy the comforts of being barefoot while still wearing them. A pair of subtle slippers conceal their wearer’s passage, leaving no footprints or scent trail, as per the spell pass without trace, regardless of terrain. They also grant the wearer a +5 competence bonus on Stealth checks. Once per day as a standard action, a character wearing subtle slippers can select up to four other creatures within 30 feet to gain a +5 competence bonus on Stealth checks. This bonus lasts for 1 hour, but is suppressed for any creature who moves more than 30 feet away from the character wearing the slippers. If that creature returns to a position within 30 feet of the wearer of the slippers before the effect’s duration expires, the bonus reactivates for that character. The effect ends at once for all affected if the wearer of the slippers removes the footwear, is knocked unconscious, or is killed.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS COST 2,750 GP
Craft Wondrous Item, pass without trace
TILLER’S PENDANT PRICE
6,400 GP
SLOT none CL 3rd WEIGHT —
AURA faint illusion and transmutation
This cluster of emeralds attached to a delicate golden clasp is arranged in the likeness of a five-petaled blossom. Regardless of how it is worn, it does not take up an item slot. As long as the pendant is visible on the wearer’s person, it grants a +4 competence bonus on Disguise and Stealth checks to the wearer. In addition, once per day when the command word is spoken, the emeralds take on the appearance of a living flower, gaining the ability to magically imbue 2d4
freshly picked berries so that each can provide a meal and cure 1 point of damage when eaten, as per goodberry.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS COST 3,200 GP
Craft Wondrous Item, disguise self, goodberry
WHISPERING SHELL PRICE
3,000 GP
SLOT none CL 3rd WEIGHT —
AURA faint illusion
This striped conch shell appears to be nothing more than a piece of flotsam idly picked up by a beachcomber. Once per day when held to the lips, the conch shell absorbs a whispered message of 25 words or fewer and stores the spoken words indefinitely. When pressed to the ear and prompted by the command word, the shell repeats its message as a whisper that cannot be heard by anyone except the creature holding the conch shell. A whispering shell can only hold one such message at a time, but can replay its message as often as a creature issues the command to do so.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS COST 1,500 GP
Craft Wondrous Item, whispering wind