Sandra Barnett - The drug baron of murcutt street

[NykylaiHellray]

NOTE: Still making some changes to it, just posted it so not to lose it when I am AFK.


After talking to NeoTiamat and reading it over with a friend, I have decided to rewrite her. She is still in the early stages so feel free to criticise her in whatever way you feel.

Sandra Barnett
"A breath of the real life in every bottle"

Sandra Barnett, the queen of Murcutt Street. Is the sole proprietor of the biggest producer of two penny stimulants and ten shilling narcotics in all of the demiplane.

Running her factory deep within the bowels of the train city of Grand Central, her company pumps out many concoctions to filter out men's intelligence in exchange for a three second high.

A lady of the high life, she is an artist who carefully mixes the most freshest of ingredients, creating new and extoic ways to escape the bitter reality they live in.

Apperance: Draped in enough fineries to keep a village clothed for a year, and wearing enough gold chains to break a small child’s neck. This ugly creature looks reminiscent of a stick with skin stapled to it.

The thin remnants of her hair is covered by a black wig, and the remainder of her teeth hang like black pearls from her withered gums.

One of her eyes is an ornately carved ruby, and the other cloudy white blob of mucus which seems to wobble in and out of the socket as she moves.

Nature: Despite her appearance however, Sandra is a creature of the nightlife. Spending her immense wealth and status to attend many of the social gatherings and parties across the city and beyond.

A creature who always seems to be polite and loving to those around her, often seen donating snippets of her wealth to good causes. Though to those in her factory she is a vile woman who works her employees to near death for little to no pay.

She is immortal in the respect that age wont kill her, and once long ago possessed beauty eternal. Though for her crimes she was condemmed to the demiplane, stripped of her powers and forced to take the form of a withered hag. Made to have the ugliness of her soul made manifest for everyone to see.

Though despite her condition she is still as twisted a being she was before, and now maybe more so. Made bitter through her confinement in such a unappropiate form.

The Truth: Unbeknownst to many, the secret to her popular creations is in the ingredients she uses, more specifically emotion.

People from all walks of life are kidnapped, and used as sources for flavours. Extracted through an assortment of methods designed to pick the brain to manifest and siphon the many emotions the being can produce.

Though Sandra is not a creature who believes in waste, sourcing the victims life and soul in the process. An ingredient she says gives the high that little extra body.

When the person is spent, the corpse is quickly ground down and mixed with the oil to keep the mammoth machines churning, as to not waste a single drop of that persons existence. To put every last breath into the assortment of products the company produces.

The Drugs: The stimulents she creates come in brass canisters, and enhaled through a mask like aperatus. They provide an assortment of effects depending on the "blend".

DM Notes: Her products are exported through the demiplanes, enjoyed even by the aristocracy of Darkon. As such the heroes may encounter her products far beyond the confines of the city, and may see the less pleasant side effects of the drug manifesting in addicts.

She may also be encountered in a ball or party anywhere on the demiplane, mingling with the high rollers of that domain.

You may also enlist the heroes to investigate the disappearance of a child within the city, encountering the factory and the horrors within.

[NykylaiHellray]

Hmmm right, I have added the bits I wanted to. But.......it seems the charecter is still a bit disjointed if thats the right word.

I have toned down her origins, and leave whether she is a fiend or a fey to the DM to decide, as I know there are those who hate even the word fiend.

Also the mention of the word mist no longer exists within the drug, though I am still hinting the mist might be involved at least in one stage of its creation.

The idea I want to get that its purifying the worst aspect of people, and using the stagnent corruption hidden in the mist as a catalyst to deliver the narcotic.

People getting high off the agony of others.


Though the idea of emotion merchants is not old. I am trying to give the concept a industrialized update on a massive manufactured scale.


So now I am looking for criticisms.

[NykylaiHellray]

After thinking about this more, i came to the conclusion that having people go missing for the drugs, and others going missing for the faceless cabal meant there was to many people vanishing.


So I am looking at making the faceless cabal (this unknown army which keeps grand central in check) as one of the results of the emotion draining.


The people which are deemed worthy are further tortured (allready having there emotions bottled and sold), and put through an agonising 24 hour transformation (which begins exactly at 9pm and finished by 9am).

The humanoids body is conformed to 6'2, and scar tissue envelops the face destroying all aspects of individuality. Things like gender and distinguishing features are lost.

Whats left is a group of beings who all look the same, wearing the same suits.


These then work for the mayor (well in reality the dog), who patrol and keep the status quo, hiding in the shadows and unknown by many.

[NykylaiHellray]

Its been a while since I posted this...and there seems to be not much interest..

Is there anything about the idea which really puts you lot off?

If so what can I do to make her more appealing?

[High Priest Mikhal]

I feel the main problem is things are little too...vague. Also few DMs have seriously explored drug abuse in their campaigns, especially such bizarre drugs. The idea has merit, but it lacks detail. Who are the clients? What are the short- and long-term effects of the drugs? Where does this woman operate and how does she keep the authorities off her back?

Also more details (but not too graphic) about how this machine extracts the emotional essence from its victims would be nice. How does she select victims and why? And what other dark ventures does she have her fingers in? Vice peddlers on this scale often diversify.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I like the character and I like the feel of it, and it's obvious a lot of good work went into the description. I can totally picture her and the world she lives in. It's just I have a hard time reconciling that world with Ravenloft. I must admit I haven't read too deeply into your Grand Central domain, since it's a bit modern sounding for my tastes. (And my tastes even skew a bit more modern than most, probably.) She fits right into MotRD, for example.

Am also curious about her background and motivation. Is it purely greed for wealth and the prestige that comes with it? or does she enjoy the killing for some reason? Does she see her victims as less worthy because they are poor? What led her to this path to wealth? What do the nobility who invite her to their balls and such think of her? Do they know where her wealth comes from? Is what she does illegal in Grand Central? or condoned?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

If the emotional "drugs" in question work much like VRA's emotional purifiers, there might be a few netbook-style doppelgangers who'd gladly become Sandra's customers, in order to advance farther along their alchemical Paths. Even in campaigns that don't use the Grand Central domain, this NPC might easily be retooled as a quisling who deals bottled deadly sins to the Zherisian dopps.

[NykylaiHellray]

Thank you all so much for your comments and suggestions, I have begun writting a new version of her which I will post some time next week.

Rot I like the ideas of the dopplegangers being her clients, any particular web books you reccomend looking at?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

The VRF:Doppelgangers is here, in the Library. You'll want to read chapter 5 on the alchemical Path abilities, as well as the part of chapter 9 which deals with Lodges.

Basically, in order to access an enhanced racial ability, a doppelganger needs to get intensely blitzed on a sinful emotion: envy, greed, anger, lust, gluttony, or sloth. Normal levels of these urges won't do it, so they need a concentrated sample -- usually alchemical, but this lady's "drugs" will do in a pinch -- to gain salient abilities. Unlike Ms. Barnett's human customers, dopps would have little to no interest in sampling pleasant emotions; if they happen to be into that sort of thing, they can just read minds to voyeuristically tap into such positive feelings, cutting out the middleman.