Toysmiths

The Toysmiths was a renowned and prosperous toy shop in the city of Ravens Bluff in the 14 century DR. It was owned and operated by a pair of gnome brothers, Gunder & Relvan Gaewilder.
==Location==
This shop was located Hearthston Hill, in the Mortonbrace Neighborhood of the Uptown District of Ravens Bluff.
==Structure==
This building stood a single story tall and had a window providing a view into its showroom. Overall the building didn't stand out a lot from the others that stood along Hearthston Hill. A brightly painted sign hung outside the shop, depicting a jester and bearing the words "TOYSMITHS" in multi-colored letters.
===Interior===
The front door of Toysmiths opened directly into its showroom, where all manner of toys covered the walls, crowded the corners, and even found room for display on some tables. A tall counter also stood in the room for the brothers to stand behind. The only other door within the showroom lead into the offices of the shop, where business was conducted and all manner of paperwork was kept, such as correspondence with clients or invoices for materials. Within their office the Gaewilders kept a stock of various office supplies within their desk drawers, such as quills, inks, and paper.
Past the office room was the workshop proper, where the Gaewilder brothers crafted their toys. The rooms was a cluttered mess, with tables often covered in various tools and partially finished creations, as well as some magical supplies like oil of slipperiness or sovereign glue. Beyond the workshop was a kitchen, two bedrooms, and entryway to a connected stable that housed Toysmiths' two horses and its bright red horse cart.
The bed chambers of Relvan was decorated lavishly in bright colors, excluding anything red, and adorned with a great deal of toys. By comparison, the room of Gunder was rather spartan in appearance. Along the west wall was a large metal depiction of the symbol of Flandal Steelskin, a fiery hammer, where he would pray for his divine spells. Within a small desk lit by oil lamp Gunder kept books on craftsmanship, religion, and gnome history. In the desk's bottom drawer was kept a small iron lockbox, trapped by Gunder with a electrical glyph of warding, that stored the business's profits.
Every night Relvan set up a rudimentary security system in the showroom. This consisted of a tripwire across that ground that, when triggered, would cause four toy soldiers wielding little crossbows to fire darts laced in a paralytic poison. Additional doses of this same poison were kept in a vial by Gunder within his bedroom.
==Services==
Toysmiths specialized in selling a wide variety of different toys that were all made on site, catering to both commoners and the rich. The shop also took commissions and sold some products for resale to Traagor's Tours and Souvenir Shop. Their products included such things as rag dolls, a wide variety of fabric dolls that were stuffed with either down or felt, porcelain dolls, bow and arrow sets with five play arrows, rocking mounts, wheeled animal models, and leather balls ranging from in size. The shop also carried two notable lines of action figures.With some exceptions, most of these toys outlined in Tears of Selûne match up with ones previously detailed in Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue.
The Avatar series was a line of 55 figures that each depicted one of the known deities of the Realms. Out of these fifty five, three were different versions of Bane and two were different versions of Torm. Figures could be purchased individually for 8 silver pieces, or they could all be bought together as a full set for 20 gold pieces. The other notable line of figures was the Heroes of the Realms,It is left unclear in this case if "Gods of the Realms" meant the line depicted deities from all across Toril or was limited solely to the known gods of Faerûn. a line of clay figures depicting various renowned adventurers. Each figure was custom made and sold for 3 gold pieces.
Among the most expensive of the Gaewilder products, as well as the most sought after by adults of nobility, were their intricate clockwork toys. Crafted of gold and inlaid with precious gemstones for eyes, these clockworks were typically made in the form of birds or other small animals.
==Activities==
Though the business was quite prosperous, it frequently had surpluses of unsold toys. It was for this reason, according to the Gaewilder brothers, that several times a year they would load up their horse cart with the surplus stock they didn't have room for and ride through the city to give the toys out. This was usually done during a festival or holiday. Both of the Gaewilders would dress themselves up in bright makeup and colorful costumes for the occasion. And Relvan would go a step further by putting on a performance of dancing, juggling, and acrobatic tricks to delight the onlookers.
==History==
Circa 1341 DR,In The Swearing Stone, an adventure estimated to take place in 1371 DR because it's set 13 years after the Time of Troubles, it is stated that the Gaewilder brothers have been in business for thirty years. This would put the opening of their shop at roughly 1341 DR. on either Eleasis 1 or Shieldmeet,A lot of the events in the adventure The Swearing Stone center around a Shieldmeet celebration that occurred two weeks prior, which just so happened to fall on the anniversary of the opening of Toysmiths. The Swearing Stone takes place in 1371 DR, however, Shieldmeet only occurs once every 4 years and it's known from other material that a Shieldmeet celebration had occurred in the year 1372 DR. If one were to assume that Ravenians celebrate Shieldmeet regardless of year or that this was a special occurrence, then the actual date would likely be Elasias 1. Alternatively, if one were to assume that the adventure's date is wrong and should be 1372 DR, then Toysmiths was instead opened on Shieldmeet in 1340 DR. Toysmiths was established by the Gaewilders after Gunder left the Church of Flandal Steelskin in response to being ridiculed by his fellow Flandalians for his focus on toysmithing.
For a time it was considered quite fashionable among Cormyrean nobles to gift King Azoun Obarskyr IV one of the intricate clockwork toys crafted by the Gaewilder brothers of Ravens Bluff, until Azoun himself grew tiresome of the fad and would sigh loudly whenever he was presented with another.
In 1369 DR,The article about the Toysmiths in Polyhedron #50 states that the Toysmiths began 28 years prior. Taking into account the prior dating estimates, that would put the "Present" of that article at 1369 DR. the earnings of the Toysmiths totaled at 4,346 gold pieces. Around that time the Gaewilders notably had in their possession two gold lion figurines of wondrous power of their own creation, though Gunder would try to take sole credit for their creation whenever his brother wasn't present. The Gaewilders sought to sell the figures for no less than 5,000 gold pieces, but chose not to publicly advertise them, only showing them off to customers who inquired about magic items and looked like they could afford the steep cost. For safekeeping these figurines were kept within an iron lockbox, trapped by Gunder with a glyph of warding that would cause electrical shocks, and kept within one of their office desk's drawers.
In 1371 DR, on a Shieldmeet celebration, the Gaewilders celebrated the 30 anniversary of their business together by making a pledge at the famed Swearing Stone to continue their partnership for another thirty year. Two weeks later, Unbeknownst to them and others in Ravens Bluff, a planar rift was allowing the plane of Limbo's chaotic energies to seep in and corrupt the landmark, causing all those who had made pledges to begin behaving dishonestly and fall back on their promises.
This chaos corruption made Relvan start to think he wanted out of toysmithing, driving him to sell the shop to an interested buyer and lie that his brother was dead. An equally mind corrupted Gunder was outraged by his brothers actions and decided to hold him hostage within the store until either his Relvan changed his mind or he could convince the interested buyer in backing out of the deal. He adhered Relvan to a table with sovereign glue, tied his hands together with ribbon, scattered jacks and marbles across the floor, and wrapped around his nose the tripwire for his nightly toy soldier trap. He also barred the front door to their shop and had their guard dog sat on the table beside his brother.
A large crowd came to gather outside the shop to gawk at the situation. Lieutent Veriway of the City Watch's I&N Team, lacking resources to check out the premises, tried to negotiate Relvan's safe release. Eventually a group of adventurers investigating the Swearing Stone came by the shop and overheard Gunder talking about the anniversary meeting. Gunder then made two demands in return for his brother's safe release, that he be not sent to prison and has Toysmiths returned to him.
The adventurers would manage to talk him down into releasing his brother, but the moment Gunder left the store Veriway sneered at him, calling the gnome an "idiot" that wasn't going to get his store back. He then called upon fellow guardsman to arrest Gunder, proclaiming he was going to be sent away to the Golden Ball. Some of the adventurers tried to protest his arrest, but Veriway told them to take it up with Lord Magistrate Tordon Sureblade.
==Inhabitants==
Both brothers equally contributed to the crafting of toys. Relvan, the younger of the two brothers, was arguably the better craftsman and put the finishing touch on almost everything they made. He was disinterested in most business details though and trusted his brother Gunder to keep track of all such matters, including record keeping and the holding of the Toysmiths's earnings.
Besides the brothers themselves, the store was inhabited by a animated skeleton of a war dog. This creature had been reanimated by Gunder and put inside of a large stuffed dog, acting as a covert guard animal. It typically stood within the showroom, near the door to office during business hours and in the middle of the showroom at night or whenever both brothers were away from the shop. Inside the stables of the Toysmiths were a draft horse dyed blue, named Sir Blue, and a pony named Hazelnut. The Gaewilders usually kept around sacks of high quality oats for the two.
==Reputation==
The Toysmiths was well beloved by many generations of Ravenians, so much so that any attempts to burglarize or vandalize the shop would swiftly be met with mass intervention from the locals. Even if one could manage to steal from the shop, its merchandise was so distinctive that it could easily be traced back to the thieves who fenced it.
The masterful craftsmanship of the the brothers also made Toysmiths renowned far beyond the confines of Ravens Bluff and the Vast, being known as far away as Cormanthor and Rashemen. Both Sembian and Waterdhavian nobles frequently paid Toysmiths large sums of gold for its clockwork toys. And tales of their craftsmanship caused travelers from even farther afield to visit Ravens Bluff to get a look at the Gaewilders' work.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Shops
Category:Toy shops
Category:Businesses
Category:Locations in Mortonbrace
Category:Locations in the Uptown District of Ravens Bluff
Category:Locations in Ravens Bluff
Category:Locations in the Vast
Category:Locations in North Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril
Category:Year of Metropolises