Goblin Nook
Purpose / Function
The Goblin Nook Wizards: creating magic with coffee!The Goblin Nook was first established as a means to give the Goblins a purpose within the Mundane world. Greevil deeply believes that all Goblins are at their happiest when they are given meaningful work that can help others.
The Goblin Nook creates great coffee and a great place for you to enjoy it.Shortly after the Goblin Nook was established, Greevil came to understand that it was also about building a community. These wayward Goblins no longer had a warren to call home, but perhaps they could find a new kind of community through their coffee service.
Through the magic of coffee, we hope to one day bring all the races together at our table.Now that the Goblins are living amongst the Kobolds, it has become abundantly clear to Greevil that the Goblins are not the only Shadow Kind who are seeking a new community within the Mundane world. He dreams that he can establish a location where all the Shadow races can come together and feel at home.
Sensory & Appearance
Upon first entering this oddly shaped room, one's first impression is that it is rather homey. The candle light gives the room a dim, warm glow that feels inviting. The cobblestone walls lend the room an old world cottage feeling. While the reclaimed wood furniture gives the place a sense of rustic age. The simple green carpets remind one of those found before any grandmother's hearth. But the longer one remains in the room, the more the details settle in and begin to belie the first impression. The skull décor seems rather out of place for the homey environment and for it being a coffee shop. The small stage and the knife throwing targets also seem out of place. Despite the place being oddly constructed, it was clearly fashioned by very skilled hands and has been well maintained. Every surface is spotlessly clean.
Even the entryways to the café seems odd. The main entrance is the small door which leads out to a small walkway that provides access to the toilets and to the Kobold village as a whole. The double doors which appear a more grand entrance instead lead to the private living quarters of the Goblins. A half door grants visitors a view into the kitchen which appears as tidy and orderly as the main room. There are three barred windows that give a forlorn view of the water channels below. These windows allow the stale and moldering air of the waterways access to the café. Creating a strange mixture of fragrances as the Goblins produce their coffees and snacks.
Denizens
Drike is the most frequent performer in Goblin Nook. She is a storyteller who uses magical bottles of smoke to create images for her audience. Most often, she retells the stories of her Kobold tribe. However, she loves to learn new stories and will share every story that she learns. Team 8 is also a common feature in her storytelling.
Greevil runs the coffee bar on most days. Because of this, he can usually be found in the Goblin Nook. He does his best to make every visitor feel welcome.
Deld is often in the Goblin Nook conducting business. He is a self-employed Goblin for hire. He works for Shadow Kind in an effort to help them find their way in the Mundane world. He uses the Goblin Nook as a private location to discuss business deals.
Contents & Furnishings
This café sports a stage. Almost every evening, the stage hosts a performance by one of the Goblins or Kobolds. Most commonly, the bard Kobold Drike, is gracing the stage. When there isn't a performer on stage, café patrons are welcomed to claim it for their own requiring only a small rental fee.
There is an area in the back of the café that sports targets mounted on the wall. Knife throwing events are held here regularly. Betting is encouraged. Friday nights are the weekly knife throwing events.
Special Properties
On a small table behind the bar, there is a sphere made of clear quartz that is about 3 inches in diameter which is nestled amongst the skulls. This sphere is a Crystal Sanctum and provides the Goblin Nook with its most notable feature. The crystal in the center of a permeant Private Sanctum. This provides the Shadow Kind who visit here a privacy that they usually cannot establish within the Mundane world.
Alterations
The Goblins have not made many alterations to the area that they are using for the Goblin Nook which is part of why it has such a strange environmental feel to it. It has a hominess but it also has décor that feels out of place given the room's purpose. Skulls once set up to serve as threatening reminders have been simply pushed aside to make room for barrels of mead and a new shiny coffee gadget made by their tinkering Goblin, Slubs.
Architecture
The Goblin Nook is built within the under ground water ways of Seattle City; within Onureth Taoul. The Kobolds have converted much of the waterways to a village with the café at the center. The Goblin Nook is largely constructed of concrete, but its walls have been masterfully overlaid with cobblestone. The bar, tables and chairs are constructed from reclaimed wood.
Defenses
The café relies on the defenses of Onureth Taoul. Since it is at the heart of the village, it is well protected.
History
Monday, July 12, 2146: With the encouragement of Team 8, the Goblins established their coffee business within the Department 7 Headquarters building. The Goblin Nook with in the Department 7 building was a small area that was converted from a meeting room to accommodate the small café. The café was on the fourth floor of the building, right across from Greevil's small office which allowed him to supervise the other Goblins while he was still performing his secretary tasks. The only reason this small coffee shop had any success was due to it being a convenient place for the Department 7 workers to get coffee. When the Goblins first started making coffee they were rather bad at it. Many of their drinks were little more then hot water while others were so loaded with flavored syrups that it made then undrinkable. But the Department 7 workers were won over by the Goblin charm and their genuine desire to create a great cup of coffee. In the beginning, Team 8 were the only people that were regularly partaking of their coffee. Brave soles.
Wednesday, October 5, 2146: the Goblin's Nook relocated to Onureth Taoul where there was a tavern that was not being used for anything other then a central kitchen. Since the Goblins were now living with the Kobolds, they decided that they would renovate and take over this tavern to create a new Goblin Nook. They have since established this as a place for Shadow Kind to visit for not only a great cup of coffee but also for great Goblin fare, which is a type of cooking rather hard to find in the Mundane World. After all, where else is a person going to get themselves a perfectly roasted rat with a side of cockroaches?
Tourism
There are those that visit the Goblin Nook only because it is a location highly associated with Team 8. Many Shadow Kind hope to meet one or more of the team members and will visit the Goblin Nook hoping that they will see a team member there. It is rumored that Team 8 has been using the Goblin Nook as their base of operations and that they have been holding important Shadow Kind meetings here.
Alternative Names
The Nook
Parent Location
Owner
Additional Rulers/Owners
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
Related Report (Secondary Locations)
Related Plots
The HeroForge work is great! (I wish I knew they had a "seated in chair" option when I was doing my article - it would have made the artwork easier! The rest of the article is fantastic as well. You really provide a sense of being there... of walking in through the "odd front door"... Nice work.
Laurels & Loot is a new, lightweight TTRPG rules system that hearkens back to the early days.
Thank you for the feed back! If you are looking to do more with the HeroForge characters you create, I've found the Adobe Creative Cloud to be very useful (https://express.adobe.com/sp/). You can use stock pictures for back grounds and then put in your characters.