Strength of Thousands: Magaambya Staff

The first chapter of the Strength of Thousands Adventure Path, Kindled Magic, is now available and contains an article describing nine students who are the peers (and either friends or rivals) of the player characters. Several teachers will be described in a similar way in the upcoming Pathfinder Adventure Path #172: Secrets of the Temple-City. But students and teachers aren’t the only important NPCs at a magic school. To help you further populate the Magaambya, here are three other figures commonly encountered on campus who didn’t make it into print due to space limitations. Enjoy!

Lumusi Yao, by Vlada Hladkova

Lumusi Yao (NG female human chef 5): Head of the campus cooks, Lumusi is in charge of serving the masses of hungry students and professors two meals a day. Lumusi stresses the importance of a healthy menu over unhealthier items—though there are few who’d complain about her goat pepper soup or spicy peanut curry. Lumusi also tries to keep the diversity of the campus in mind, ensuring that catfolk researchers can avoid onions and iruxi scholars get plenty of calcium. Despite her considerate demeanor, the chef is something of a recluse, and it's an event among students whenever someone spots her outside of the kitchens. Staff in the know whisper that Lumusi's skills came from constantly cooking to care for her dying husband in his final days.

Thema (CG female elf gardener 6): An elf from a nearby Ekujae clan, Thema helps tend to the many trees, plants, and gardens on the Magaambya campus. While not the academy’s only gardener, she's the oldest and most experienced. Thema can be seen in the late evening and early morning, silently tending the grounds, leaving some to wonder if she ever rests or sleeps. She lets parts of the grounds remain wild, but keeps the rest scrupulously tended. To most students who casually interact with her, Thema is the picture of poise and grace—though this evaporates outside of a natural setting, as students have caught her wildly and elaborately cursing at sticky door-hinges or accidentally banging her shin on university furniture.

Xhokan (LN male kobold inventory manager 9): The ever-smiling Xhokan runs the student supply store, affectionately referred to by Magaambya residents as “the Powderpile” for its large collection of alchemical and magical powders. A rust-colored kobold with flecks of bright orange on his scales, Xhokan is friendly but has a very wry sense of humor that leaves some people unsure of what he actually means or feels. Xhokan ensures that every student gets the supplies they need in order to complete their studies. Xhokan also ensures no one gets any of these provided magical supplies off the record—he has faced down the finest manipulators, beggars, and wheedlers the Magaambya has to offer without budging on this point. Some students gossip they've spotted the kobold doing inventory check after inventory check in the evening hours to ensure nothing has vanished from his stores.

Eleanor Ferron
Developer

illustration by Vlada Hladkova from Pathfinder Adventure Path # 169: Kindled Magic.