Nestor Podgin

Nestor Podgin was a human transmuter from Waterdeep and the proprietor of Monsters Made to Order in Skullport in the late 14 century DR.

History
Born and raised in Waterdeep, Nestor Podgin was conducting innocent research in his quarters within the city until, in the, one of his experimental subjects escaped and caused much in the way of property damage, but no recorded deaths. It took the combined efforts of the Red Sashes and the Watch Wizards to stop the menace and destroy it. While he avoided being formally charged, Nestor had to pay significant fines because of the damage and was forbidden to conduct experiments inside the city walls.

Finding few other options suiting him, he relocated to Skullport. Nestor established a secure laboratory in the Heart Ward and went to work capturing creatures and creating hybrids. His earliest experiments were… not so successful. But practice made, if not perfect, then good enough, and in only a year Nestor refined his technique until he could successfully combine two different creatures and do so consistently enough to make monstrous creatures to order. He had made a profitable business of it by the.

At that time, the russet owlmonster, which combined a rust monster and an owlbear, was his most successful creation, with three specimens produced. What's more, Nestor expected one to bear young of its own before long. If so, and if the offspring also bred true, then he would have created a whole new species. However, the owlmonsters were highly unstable and aggressive, perhaps more so than even the owlbear. They resisted all attempts to train them and had to be charmed into compliance.

Activities
Based in the Central Heart Ward of Skullport, Monsters Made to Order—or rather Nestor Podgin, since he was its only owner, operator, and employee—provided custom-made monsters to a client's specifications. This filled a demand for dependable watch-creatures and guardians in both Skullport and the surface world. While his fees were high, being individually negotiated for each order and 1,500 gp at a minimum, they were cheap compared to renting a deepspawn at Hired Horrors.

To create and combine his creatures, Nestor used potent spells and magical items. One of these spells he knew under the name join animal and had purchased it shortly before leaving Waterdeep from an apparently reputable dealer. (In fact, it was Duhlark's animerge and had been stolen, amongst other magics and secrets, from Duhlark Kolat's tower on the orders of Hlanta Melshimber before being fenced to the dealer. ) To acquire specimens, Nestor hired mercenaries and adventurers to capture various beasts and monsters in Undermountain. Having some principles, Nestor refused to merge sentient creatures of any kind.

More generally, Nestor had a too-keen interest in researching all aspects of the creation of life, but particularly how hybrid monsters such as owlbears, chimerae, and perytons came to be. He theorized magic had been used to make them in ancient times and identified common traits of aggression and unpredictability in them and in his own experiments, suggesting they had not naturally evolved.

He was also quite knowledgeable in ancient history and civilizations such as Netheril. He could read old Netherese writings to a degree, being able to understand approximately 25% of the meaning before requiring magical translation. He believed (correctly) Skullport had once had a Netherese influence.

In his free time, Nestor Podgin visited the Flagon and the Dragon tavern, where he usually studied a scroll or book of lost lore while sipping a sweet mead.

Personality
He was softly spoken and introspective and displayed periods of abrupt seriousness and contemplation in silence.

Description
Aged in his late 20s, Nestor Podgin was of unremarkable build. However, his hair was thinning from premature balding, which he covered up by donning a metal skullcap.

Possessions
For his own protection, Nestor was well-equipped with a variety of magical items, including a ring of wizardry, a ring of shocking grasp, a wand of polymorphing, a robe of useful items, and a helm of teleportation, as well as a quarterstaff +2 and a dagger +1. Most of these he obtained before coming to Skullport, and the robe and helm were retrieved during an expedition into a long-disused burial mound on the High Moor; these he especially cherished.

Relations
Nestor's unique trade was not without rivals and Monsters Made to Order had quickly eaten into the income of Hired Horrors, raising the ire of its more ambitious partners. Chantos Graybeard saw Nestor Podgin as an inexperienced upstart and would rather see him and his business be terminated, gruesomely and publicly, as a warning to other would-be entrepreneurs.