A fishy merchant: Perseos

Sometimes inspiration strikes you when you least expect it.

The idea for this week's post comes from a walk I was taking with my wife a few days ago; we were talking about a 5e one-shot someone in a Discord server we're both in proposed recently, set underwater and where every player would be of the Locathah race.
Now, for those unexperienced with D&D 5e, Locathahs came back as a playable race after 2e (something I just discovered while researching for this post) for a charity bundle, but they are considered - as far as I know - a joke race because of one specific trait: 

Limited Amphibiousness. You can breathe air and water, but you need to be submerged at least once every 4 hours to avoid suffocating. 

So, as my wife and I were discussing the choice of such a peculiar restriction, we were saying that outside of these specific circumstances (a fully underwater setting) Locathahs are almost unplayable, unless everyone in the party is committed to the bit and is ok with a PC having to pause 6 times per day just to stay alive...and that's when inspiration hit me.

As I explained in an older post, sometimes it takes just one moment to spark the craziest ideas, and in that moment the image that formed in my head is that of a Locathah (or fishman, if you want it to be universal) traveling merchant who goes from town to town in his carriage which is basically a fish tank filled with water, so he can always be submerged, from the front of which he leans to hold onto the reins of his horses.
Perseos (that's the name I came up with, but if you wanna use him feel free to change it) most likely hires mercenaries to protect him while travelling, due to his obvious weakness, and offers to his customers primarily pearls, trinkets and baubles from underwater, and maybe the occasional small magic item if that is a thing in your setting.
 
But the most interesting part of this NPC came to my mind the next day: I was humming some Alestorm songs because I had been listening to them a lot recently (if you don't know them it's hard to describe them...think Pirate Metal, but with many swear words, even more rubber ducks and no sense whatsoever) and making up random lyrics in their style when I came up with the line
With a yo-ho-ho and a yar-har-har we will keep on sailing
'Till there are no more ships on the sea 
and initially I was confused by my own idea: why would pirates not want ships on the sea? Then the lightbulb lit up: because these are not human pirates, but sea creatures that are tired of humans trying to colonize their habitat!
That's when I linked this idea to the fish merchant one. Perseos' friendliness and attitude are just a facade, in reality he is part of a crew of fishmen whose purpose is to exclude any "drylanders" from sea, and when he's in a coastal town or approached by a group of adventurers who want to sail the seas he'll offer them (as a favor for his favourite customers, and as a secret) special items to help them travel safely...but in reality these items are either cursed or specifically designed to lure sea monsters, bringing ruin to anyone that trusts him. That could lead to the party wanting to take revenge and maybe discovering his identity...if they survive the first trip!

What do you think? Do you like this idea? Will you add this NPC to your world? If you do, please let me know!

This is all for this week, see you next Sunday for my next post!

May your dice never betray you,
Kirhon

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