In my campaign, set in CY586, one of the players has purchased The Nymph and the Satyr in the High Quarter of Greyhawk. The business is know for its exotic wines. I have used the wines from Arms and Equipment Guide.
Dragonbite bitter- Verbobonc
Dwarven stout- Greysmere
elven,mead- Shelleton through Caltaran (for now)
golden light, gnome- Grossettgrottell
pulsch brown ale- Elmshire
Frostwine- North Perrenland
aleenian wine- Shelleton
garnet wine- Greysmere
muchroom wine- Five Oaks
I have read a very good article "Wine of the Azure Sea." The article has lead me to believe there is a good market in Keoland and Ahlissa. The players have expressed an interest in searching out new wine to the south. So inevitably they will need to run the SB blockade.
I envision them gaining passage with a smuggler in Hardby, joined by the werebear partner, with a first mate obsessed with maps and statistics, but that just sound like I stole it from somewhere. Maybe have them land somewhere with a Baklunish merchant friend and add a princess somewhere.
Ok I was just having fun. Here are my questions...
1) What would be some good wines available?
2) What other goods would be worthwhile to transport, in either direction?
3) Since only one ship penetrated the blockade from Rel Astra and at a later date, I want to make this a challenging but fun trip for the players, any ideas?
Well, in N1 Cult of the Reptile God, the small western province of Gran March is famous for it's wines, both red and white. Since the climate is nearly identical, one would think that Geoff has good wines, and famous vineyards. That could be a campaign, to sneak into the giant ravaged land and swipe samples of famous vines, to replant in greyhaw. Bring a competent druid.
2) What other goods would be worthwhile to transport, in either direction?
3) Since only one ship penetrated the blockade from Rel Astra and at a later date, I want to make this a challenging but fun trip for the players, any ideas?
1: Pretty much all of Ahlissa and the Sheldomar seems to be reasonable wine country. Don't have specifics of the top of my head, but there should be lots. The main ports you'd want to be calling at in Ahlissa are Prymp, Shargallen and Trennenport. Northanchor in Irongate may have some wines too. Southern Nyrond should have some wines too, I'd have thought - so Oldred, Mithat, Wragby and Nesserport are other profitable ports of call. Note that aside from pirates and SB raiders out of Scant and the Onnwalon ports, none of these ports involves running the Straits of Gearnat.
If you want to go to Keoland (Gradsul), Ulek (Gryrax) or Naerie in Ahlissa (Naerie City) - then you will have to risk Pomarji pirates on one hand and SB ships out of Scant + their charmed critters on the other. In LG Onnwal, we detailed a sea-stack fortress at the tip of Cape Obelstone (westernmost point of the Dragonshead) where the SB Office of Sorcery kept a magical eye on the Straits and controlled their sea beasties from.
2: Goods from the West (Baklunish lands) would be a big seller in Ahlissa. Greyhawk is at the end of the Great Western Road, so silks, spices and such luxuries would find a good market among the nobles of Ahlissa. Furs and ivory from the north also - but as the Ahlissans can get that via the Solnor coast routes, I'd reckon Baklunish goods would be a better bet. Olven wines and silks and other handywork from Celene would also be a good bet.
Return trip - fine Ahlissan wines and spirits; Manufactured luxury goods from Ahlissa; Hepmonalander goods that would have come up through the Solnor Coast routes; Dwurcraft jewelry and other goods from the Iron Hills and Irongate steel.
3: Remember that the Rel Astran ship beat the blockade of the TILVA Straits by rounding the southern tip of Hepmonaland. Unless your PCs want to go to Hepmonaland or the Solnor by sea, they shouldn't have to run the blockades of the Southern Gates or the Tilva Straits.
The SB are allowing ships through the Gearnat Straits in return for payment of a 'tax', attacking only those ships who refuse to heave-to and pay up. Of course, your PCs are unlikely to want to pay any taxes...
I have just returned from a wine-buying spree myself, so I am feeling oenological..
The menu for one of the inns in Temple of Elemental Evil has a short list of Flanaess wines. I do not have the book with me, alas, but I think that it included "Velunian Fireamber" and "Furyondian Emerald Pale". Also, in the introductory text for Isle of the Ape, Tenser offers the PCs nectarwine from Celene, which is incredibly expensive.
Pretty much everything I know about growing wine is shamelessly cribbed from Sideways, but several spots in the Flanaess (thanks to its unusual climate) would probably support good vintages. A certain amount depends on the resilience of Oerik's grape varieties. It would be hard to support a Pinot Noir-type grape where the climate is too consistently hot, for example (Sideways again).
Favourite wine-related D&D quotation (and the only FR quotation that has stayed with me; I think that it is from Spellfire):
Quote:
Liches are like the wines of Sembia; they do not travel well
(Probably inaccurate in point of verbal detail, and it may be another FR locale, but I like it.)
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