Huppec

Written by Agent Serro

Huppec comes from a long line of gnomish alchemists but to his parents' great disappointment he had a different idea of what alchemy could be used for. Instead of joining the family's business of making and selling the same old potions that they have been making for hundreds of years, he always found himself fascinated with using it for candy making. You see when he was only a small little child, one of the elder gnomes in town would always pass out candy to the children on the holidays which brought much joy to them. As he got older and started to learn of alchemy, he could not help but ask himself, why does candy always have to have the same boring flavor?
Normally gnomes are not fond of sugar or sweets, but Huppec was always different than any of the other gnomes and developed a sweet tooth. While young and still in the early stages of learning alchemy, he was able to take his family’s healing potion and concentrate it down to fit into a small chewy treat that tasted of mint. His father was disappointed saying that Huppec with wasting his training and would never amount to anything besides the odd little gnome he was. A traveling merchant happened to be in the potion shop and overheard this argument and offered to buy all of this mint healing candy on the spot for more than the normal going price of healing potions. This was all the encouragement Huppec needed, later that week he packed his belongings and set out on his own to follow his dreams.
Spending years traveling from town to town, he studied every cookbook and alchemy book he could find. Always seeking out other alchemists in the process to learn from them as much as he could. Saving all the money he could, he purchased an old run-down restaurant in a small town called Fairbay. The sea water here was perfect for his candy making, the residents did not judge him and welcomed him with open arms. It took a few years of hard work, but he was finally done remodeling the old building into a sweet shop / potion shop where the back half of the building was a large workshop for himself.
These days he keeps mostly to himself, always working and researching happily with finding new ways to make old potions and candies. Making enough coin to get by on, he hired a nice woman from town to be the shopkeeper and his personal assistant. Each holiday, he makes it a point to pass out candy to all the children in town and if there is ever an instance of someone needing healing that cannot afford it, will give them healing candy without any strings attached. This has made him very popular over the years in Fairbay and is now considered one of the most well-liked residents. Unfortunately, within the last year, he has noticed something changing with the sea water he uses for candy making and he was troubled by what his research showed him about the sea water changes.