The Lazy Hammer
Table of Contents

Overview #
The Lazy Hammer is a notorious blacksmith shop located in the soot-choked industrial heart of Ashtown. While it serves as a primary source for weaponry and metalwork for the district’s laborers and mercenaries, it is perhaps better known for the eccentricities of its owner and its bizarre interior layout. The shop stands as a study in contradictions—a place of refined craftsmanship hidden beneath layers of industrial grime and seemingly useless refuse.
Atmosphere & Layout #
The shop’s interior is a labyrinthine nightmare for the uninitiated. Towering, precarious piles of “interesting junk”—ranging from rusted nails and shattered hilts to broken clockwork gears and bent spoons—fill every corner and spill across the floor.
The Hoard: The shop functions as a physical manifestation of Helen Cox’s obsessive hoarding. She believes that any item discarded today will be the exact thing needed tomorrow.
The Forge: At the center of this chaos is a highly efficient, professional forge where Helen utilizes her “light touch” to produce surprisingly elegant and deadly weaponry.
The Norgorberite Influence #
Though outwardly a legitimate business, the shop’s connection to its owner’s faith is evident to those who know where to look. As a follower of Norgorber, Helen ensures the shop is a place where secrets are kept and advantages are forged in shadows.
Discretion: The shop is a preferred stop for those requiring weapons that are difficult to trace or customized for clandestine use.
Hidden Stashes: It is whispered that beneath the piles of scrap metal lie hidden compartments containing more specialized, and perhaps illegal, alchemical and martial tools.
Notable Inventory #
While the shop carries standard adventuring gear, its true value lies in its specialized smithing:
Custom Blades: Helen is known for crafting weapons that blend Varisian flair with Ustalavic utility.
Repairs: Despite her “Lazy” moniker, her skill at restoring damaged artifacts is highly regarded, provided she can find the right “scrap” in her piles to fix them.
Current Inventory #
Longbow
common
6gp
Level: 0 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d8 piercing
This 5-foot-tall bow, usually made of a single piece of elm, hickory, or yew, has a powerful draw and is excellent at propelling arrows with great force and at an extreme distance. You must use two hands to fire a longbow, and it can't be used while mounted.
Versatile Vial
common
Level: 1 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d6 acid
This tiny glass flask contains volatile chemicals that can be used offensively in a pinch. The bomb deals acid damage and acid splash damage.
Staff
common
Level: 0 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning
This long piece of wood can aid in walking and deliver a mighty blow.
Staff of Water
common
60gp
Level: 3 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning
A staff of water is most often made of driftwood, sometimes lacquered blue. Carved versions often have a wave pattern. The staff smells of rain or brine. While wielding a staff of water, you have resistance 2 to fire.
Activate Cast a Spell
Effect You expend a number of charges from the staff to cast a spell from its list.
- Cantrip Spout
- 1st Create Water, Hydraulic Push
Craft Requirements Supply one casting of all listed ranks of all listed spells.
Handwraps of Mighty Blows
common
35gp
Level: 2 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning
As you invest these embroidered strips of cloth, you must meditate and slowly wrap them around your hands. These handwraps have weapon runes etched into them to give your unarmed attacks the benefits of those runes, making your unarmed attacks work like magic weapons. For example, +1 striking handwraps of mighty blows would give you a +1 item bonus to attack rolls with your unarmed attacks and increase the damage of your unarmed attacks from one weapon die to two (normally 2d4 instead of 1d4, but if your fists have a different weapon damage die or you have other unarmed attacks, use two of that die size instead).
You can upgrade, add, and transfer runes to and from the handwraps just as you would for a weapon, and you can attach talismans to the handwraps. Treat the handwraps as melee weapons of the brawling group with light Bulk for these purposes. Property runes apply only when they would be applicable to the unarmed attack you're using. For example, a property that must be applied to a slashing weapon wouldn't function when you attacked with a fist, but you would gain its benefits if you attacked with a claw or some other slashing unarmed attack.
Heavy Barding (Small or Medium)
common
25gp
Level: 2 | Type: armor | Damage: 0
Fauchard
common
14sp
Level: 0 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d8 slashing
A fauchard is similar to a glaive, save that its cutting edge is along the concave side.
Storm Hammer
common
60gp
Level: 3 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d8 bludgeoning
Sparks of crackling electricity arc from this +1 magic warhammer, and the head thrums with distant thunder. Any hit with this hammer deals 1 extra electricity damage. You can use a special action to transform the sparks into lightning bolts.
Activate—Electrify 1 (concentrate)
Until the end of your turn, the hammer deals 1d6 extra electricity damage instead of just 1. After you activate the storm hammer, you can't activate it again for 10 minutes.
Ghost Charge (Lesser)
common
3gp
Level: 1 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d8 vitality
Activate A Strike
These spring-loaded metal canisters contain a mixture of chemicals and salts that drain and disintegrate nearby undead creatures.
A ghost charge deals 1d8 vitality damage and 1 vitality splash damage, though as usual for vitality damage, this damage harms only undead and creatures with void healing. A primary target that takes damage from a ghost charge becomes Enfeebled{Enfeebled 1} until the start of your next turn.
Ghost charges are designed to explode even on contact with a spiritual substance, making them ideal for damaging incorporeal undead.
Gray Maiden Plate
common
35gp
Level: 2 | Type: armor | Damage: 0
These suits of faceless full plate were first designed and distributed under Queen Ileosa's rule, but today, each new suit of this infamous style of plate armor is made by a Gray Maiden herself or a new member's sponsor.
Heavy Barding (Large)
common
25gp
Level: 3 | Type: armor | Damage: 0
Harpoon
common
1gp
Level: 0 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d8 piercing
Often used for hunting exceptionally large aquatic creatures, the harpoon is similar to a javelin but features a barbed head and rope tether so it (or the corpse it's attached to) can be easily retrieved.
Knuckle Duster
common
3sp
Level: 0 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning
This bit of hardened metal, favored by street toughs, is typically made of brass and features four finger holes so that it can sit atop the knuckles, adding extra power to a punch.
Swarmsuit
common
20gp
Level: 1 | Type: armor | Damage: 0
These thick, overlapping layers of clothing are coupled with a matching hat, outfitted with mesh netting around its wide brim to keep you safe from insects. You gain resistance 3 to physical damage from swarms. Explorer's clothing altered in this way has a Dexterity cap of +2, check penalty of -1, and Speed penalty of -5 feet regardless of your Strength.
Crossbow
common
3gp
Level: 0 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d8 piercing
This ranged weapon has a bow-like assembly mounted on a handled frame called a tiller. The tiller has a mechanism to lock the bowstring in place, attached to a trigger mechanism that releases the tension and launches a bolt.
Switchscythe
uncommon
12gp
Level: 1 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d6 piercing
Another complex gnome invention, the switchscythe is designed for versatility. The curved blade is partly hollow, containing a long rod of wood or metal; the rod can be pulled perpendicular to the blade, turning the switchscythe from a sweeping, axe-like blade into a hooked pick capable of grappling a foe.
Butterfly Sword
uncommon
2gp
Level: 0 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d4 slashing
This short, single-edged sword typically features a cross guard that helps catch oncoming attacks. It's the preferred weapon of Butterfly Blades—highly skilled Gokan assassins. These swords are typically crafted and sold in pairs.
Goo Grenade (Lesser)
uncommon
3gp
Level: 1 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d4 acid
Activate 1 Strike
A goo grenade is a flask filled with a fast-growing, short-lived alchemical ooze. When you hit a creature with a goo grenade, that creature takes 1d4 acid damage, 1 persistent acid damage, and 1 acid splash damage, and a -5 circumstance penalty to its Speeds from the clinging goo. The target can end any penalties, conditions, and persistent damage caused by the bomb by [[/act escape show-dc=all dc=15]]{Escaping} or spending a total of 3 Interact actions to pry themselves free of the ooze. These Interact actions don't have to be consecutive, and other creatures can provide the actions as well.
Effect: Goo Grenade
Defoliation Bomb (Lesser)
uncommon
7gp
Level: 2 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d6 void
Activate 1 Strike
This brightly painted ceramic sphere contains chemicals that cause plants to wither and die. A defoliation bomb deals the 1d6 void damage, 1d4 persistent void damage, and 1 void splash damage to all plants in the area. Non-creature plants in the area immediately wither and die.
Spore Shephard's Staff
uncommon
100gp
Level: 4 | Type: weapon | Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning
This staff is constructed from a magically grown amanita mushroom, with a shaft that spreads into a bright red cap speckled in white. While wielding the staff you gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Nature checks to identify fungus.
Activate Cast a Spell
Effect You expend a number of charges from the staff to cast a spell from its list.
- Cantrip Puff of Poison
- 1st Protector Tree (resembles giant mushroom, not a tree), Summon Plant or Fungus (fungus only)
Craft Requirements Supply one casting of all listed levels of all listed spells.
Tables #
People #
| Name | Description | Ancestry | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Helen Cox | Owner of the The Lazy Hammer | Human | alive |