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So, I have a group of few scruples. They have heard of Mumia and want to get in on it.
So I am thinking of letting them get in with the Fading, but I was curious how many doses of Mumia can one get from an average adult Mummy.
I was thinking 4 or 6. Knowing the drug is 500gp/dose and most item creation rules are 50%, means the making of Mumia costs 250gp. But that is a mix of chemical reagents along with mummy dust.
So I could a typical mummy could make quite a few doses. And most of the cost of making mumia is in the acquisition of the mummy and knowing the formula.
So at this point I am thinking of offering the PCs 50GP for each properly aged mummy they smuggle out (or deliver to the lab in Module 2). But I am suspecting they are looking to get a portion of the drug and with each trade in eventually learn the secret themselves.
So thoughts or opinions would be welcomed.
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I rather like this. It is out of the norm and would make for an interesting side thread. As long as the characters remain the main heroes somehow, why not?
That said, the silver chain is a rival group to the fading, so why not have an ambush on silver chain gang members at some point ( a hot tip that the chain is in a certain tomb in the necropolis)? Maybe throw a cultist with them to stay along the story line. Quite an opportunity to approach the plot elements from a different angle..
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After doing some digging, I am realizing that any drug has a huge markup compared to the raw material cost. As each layer of the process tacks on a larger and larger processing and handling fee.
Coca plants are cheap, getting it after the first layer of processing is more expensive, getting it to the distributor adds more costs, getting it to the supplier adds yet more cost, and finally the supplier wants their cut.
With using that mental model I am thinking a single mummy could make 5 or so doses of Mumia, the challenge is getting it to the Alchemist is probably the first hurdle to manufacturing, so I still think the Fading would originally start paying 10-50GP/mummy with age, size, and condition being the key factors.
So for example the mummy slaves in the water trap, they would be full sized and properly aged, but if they get soaked by the trap they might not be so easily processed and stored. So 15GP/mummy.
So I am going with a mummy makes 5 doses (as only the body part of the mummy can be used, all the wrapping is useless). So its the all the other parts of the process that can add to the cost (100GP/dose ), plus the knowledge to make the stuff is apparently rare and thus really drives up the cost at this point.
Still if you master the art, you can get it up to probably 250GP a dose, at this point, before putting into the stream of distribution where everyone else jacks the price up even more to reach the market value of 500GP.
Does that sound about right?