The Downunda Patisserie was a bakery and home of the Chisolm family in Ravens Bluff in the Vast in the mid-to-late 14th century DR. It was owned and run by talented baker Jemima Chisolm.[1][2]
Contents
Location[]
It stood on Khalamongre Street in the Burnt Gables neighborhood of the Crow's End district of Ravens Bluff.[2] It was a middle-class business area, and nearer the upper-class area than the poor area.[1] It stood next door to a shop selling oarlocks and other boat fittings, owned by the Lontle family.[2]
Structure[]
The building was L-shaped, with the end of the long arm of the L facing the street with the shopfront. It had two stories, with the ground floor given over to the business and upper floor used as family home.[1]
Interior[]
The ground floor had three main sections. The front of the building was the store and was open to the public. Here, a L-shaped counter ringed the room with large glass cabinets displaying the day's wares; there was also a bread bin. A corridor led deeper into the building. The middle of the building was a storage room, holding ingredients. At the rear was the kitchen and preparation area, with a large oven, cooling racks, and work bench. The oven was magical (and the only true magic item in the building), being able to automatically adjust its temperature so everything was baked to perfection.[1]
Behind the kitchen, in the other arm of the L, was the family's private dining room and stairs up. Upstairs was a living room, furnished with couches, rug, and bookcase. Off of it was a bathroom with bathtub. From here, a corridor led down to a linen press, with doors leading off to four bedrooms for Jemima and her children. each with a bed, desk, and chair.[1]
Services[]
The Downunda Patisserie sold fresh breads, pastries, hand cakes, and large high-quality cakes for special occasions. Especially popular were the delicious cheese loaves straight from the oven; these were always sold out shortly after opening each morning and customers went to great lengths to get there early enough to get one.[1][2] The other baked goods were only a little less popular. By closing time, the shelves were bare, leading some to affectionately call Jemima "Mother Hubbard" after a nursery rhyme from another world.[1]
The standard wares were as follows:
- Breads
- Small cakes
- Fruit slices, with apple, cherry, or apricot: 2 sp
- Cup cakes: 1 sp
- Cream puffs: 3 sp
- Rock cakes, designed for dwarves: 1 sp
- Mini sponges, designed for elves: 2 sp
- Large cakes
- Banana and walnut (when in season): 1 gp
- Orange or chocolate: 15 sp
- With cream: 1 gp
- Black forest: 30 sp
On her whims, Jemima made batches of other cakes, like rock cakes with icing made from dwarf spirits, costing 3 gp, or sponge cakes with essence of pine. Such specials were sold out within the hour. She also took special orders, with prices starting at 10 gp and with no limit but the client's purse.[1]
Many of the wealthier citizens of Ravens Bluff preferred to have Jemima Chisolm prepare grand cakes for their special occasions instead of relying their own kitchen staff. They paid handsomely for her cakes, enough to put her youngest child through school and supply her with magical enhancements to her business.[1]
It was rumored that Jemima regularly baked extra batches of cakes and delivered them to poorer parts of Ravens Bluff; true or not, she was well known there, despite the fact that her wares were too expensive for poor folk.[1]
The store opened just before dawn and closed at dusk.[2]
Atmosphere[]
All were welcome in the Downunda Patisserie, but some more than others received especially polite and personal attention. That is, Jemima worried halflings would be too tempted by her baked goods and shoplift them when she wasn't looking, so she and her children made sure to attend to them personally and politely the whole time they were present. Jemima also didn't like adventurers, so any customer who stood out as one was served politely and swiftly, so they could be out of the store sooner.[1]
Regardless, the Downunda Patisserie was one of the most popular places to visit for Ravenians from outside the Burnt Gables neighborhood. City Watch officers making their rounds there always made sure to visit.[2]
Defenses[]
The storage room was guarded by a glyph of warding that affected trespassers with charm person spell that made them leave the store and immediately turn themselves in to Ravens Bluff's Chief Constable.[1] of the City Watch, who was Rolf Sunriver around 1370 DR.[3] Only Jemima and Derek knew the key to bypassing the glyph. This security measure was installed by a friendly cleric in place of payment for a birthday cake for her bishop.[1]
History[]
Jemima Chisolm and her three children arrived in Ravens Bluff in the late 1350s DR. She had but one item of value in her possession, a gem, which she used to purchase the shop. She would say nothing about where she'd come from, why she'd left, and especially where her husband was. If it wasn't baking, it wasn't anyone's business.[1] The unusual name of the shop was supposedly suggested to Jemima by a bearded old mage from Shadowdale, who claimed to have travelled to "far places indeed" where there were bakeries like hers that were occasionally called "patisseries".[2]
Jemima was once commissioned by a great wizard to bake an anniversary cake the likes of which had never before been seen in Ravens Bluff, and would never be seen there again. She did so with expert skill and the wizard gave her the magical oven, on the provision that she never make that cake again.[1]
Inhabitants[]
The Downunda Patisserie was owned and run by Jemima Chisolm, who was becoming renowned for her culinary talents. She lived above the store with her three children, Derek, Allison, and Karl. Derek and Allison, the older children, were kept busy helping their mother in the business by putting out and selling goods and working second shifts at the ovens, while young Karl could not be trusted with all the sweet things to eat.[1][2]
By 1370 DR, Jemima had recently hired members of the neighboring Lontle family to run errands buying and fetching ingredients such as flour, fruits, nuts, and sundry seasonings.[2]
Appendix[]
Background[]
The Downunda Patisserie was created for the Living City campaign by Wes Nicholson, the RPGA's Australian Regional Director, hence the name.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 Wes Nicholson (January 1990). “The Living City: The Downunda Patisserie”. In Jean Rabe ed. Polyhedron #51 (TSR, Inc.), pp. 16–17.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Ed Greenwood (November 1998). The City of Ravens Bluff. (TSR, Inc), p. 136. ISBN 0-7869-1195-6.
- ↑ Ed Greenwood (November 1998). The City of Ravens Bluff. (TSR, Inc), pp. 69–70. ISBN 0-7869-1195-6.
