“An exalted visitor! I am so pleased. So very, very pleased. Be seated here in this field-chair. No, no, this one. The other has been occupied by persons of low birth. Will you honor me by taking a little tea?”
The Purveyor of Teas is an associate of bards, smugglers, and revolutionaries, yet he rejects that he maintains such connections. The dwarf was exiled in the past from Orzammar.
Card Description[]
"An exalted visitor! I am so pleased. So very, very pleased. Be seated here in this field-chair. No, no, this one. The other has been occupied by persons of low birth. Will you honor me by taking a little tea?"
The Purveyor is an associate of smugglers, revolutionaries and bards. It's easy to see why his people exiled him from their homes below. But he has a certain rascally charm.
Involvement[]
This section contains spoilers for: Dragon Age: The Last Court.
The Purveyor of Teas offers to purchase the 'Behemoth' revolutionary text which calls for a violent armed uprising against the upper classes of society from the Marquis of Serault. He can also be hired to examine the illness of the Acerbic Dowager since he is apparently an expert in poisons.
The dwarf also approaches Justinia V at the feast to offer her a gift of a unique tea, called "Fires of Change" as a coded message to the Divine.
Ask him about current events in Serault He hears everything. Well, everything illegal. Difficulty: Rumors of Revolution*2
Success: Just the facts You sip his steaming tea and listen, picking truth from flim-flam. Sometimes, he sprinkles his chatter with hints to his past. He claims to be a simple merchant, outcast from his home, but he knows too much about treasons, stratagems and toxins for that to be the whole truth.
+8 Clues
Failure: Ulterior motives He pulls back his sleeves, pours you both tea, and gossips flamboyantly. The secrets pour out so quickly it's hard to catch them all, but you know that half must be false. A cloud of smoke, to mask the activities of revolutionary friends? Or is he only trying to impress you?
+7 Clues, +10 Rumors of Revolution
2.
Ask him about the Elusive Iconoclast
(Requires Flames of Freedom 1 and Flames of Freedom no more than 4) It's said he has revolutionary connections.
Result: A nuanced opinion "Ah. Her. She is undoubtedly charismatic, but not, I think, wise. Were I subject to revolutionary sympathies," his mouth twists as if he'd tasted something bitter, "I would be in two minds about her. "On one hand, I might consider her the leader the revolution has waited for. Someone able to elevate and inspire. On the other, I think she is pushing too hard too fast, and that her misbehavior will lead to a retaliation of such savagery that it would scour the advances of the last decade from the face of Serault." He sniffs. "Fortunately, as a bullish conservative, I need not trouble myself."
+8 Clues
3.
Employ his services to remove threats to Serault
(Requires (100-Peril) Clues) He places a tiny vial of silver liquid before you. "Just say where you would like it to go, your Grace."
Result: An unseen hand A rival takes mysteriously ill. How tragic. A notorious bandit gang are found dead in their camp. You do hope it wasn't something in that spring they drank from.
-10 Peril, -20 Clues
4.
Grant pardons for his associates "Some of my friends have been unwise in their choice of company," he says. "But must youthful follies blight their fortunes?"
Result: Selective justice His tangle of seditious, ill-behaved contacts makes the Purveyor useful. Some can be pardoned, some quietly released. The dwarf is ecstatic. "I have just the tea for so providential an occasion", he fusses. "Fiery, insistent, and with an undertone of juniper. It is also a sovereign remedy for hair loss. Not that I'm suggesting anything regarding your own ennobled follicles. Like a thicket, they are. No. A mane."
+1 Favor, -5 Authority, +25 Rumors of Revolution, +25 Peril
5.
Recruit him as your accomplice His singular talents are hard to come by outside of revolutionary cells, adder-nests, and the Empress' picnics.
Result: A pact He strokes the prongs of his beard, then shows you into a back room. Taking out a black clay pot and two plain pewter cups, he brews and pours you both an oily blue tea, swimming with leaves. It smells like damp, wormy earth. "Drink," he says. Where is his usual loquacity? He sips, grimacing. When both cups are empty, your throat burning from the caustic tea, he shakes your hand. "To business."
-2 Favor, Purveyor becomes Accomplice with +20 Cunning, You have made a pact with the Purveyor of Teas
6.
Ask him to intervene with the revolutionaries
(Requires Purveyor as an Accomplice) Perhaps he can convince them to dampen their fervor for a while.
Spend a Favor from the Purveyor of Teas to reduce Serault's Rumors of Revolution and gain Clues and Cunning. Difficulty: Freedom*2
Success: False modesty "I will offer such advice as I can to those few who will listen," he sighs, "but as a modest tea-seller of meager gifts and paltry influence, I'm not sure what difference I could possibly make." Within the week revolutionary activity has dimmed all across Serault. Fraud.
-1 Favor, - Rumors of Revolution, + Clues
Failure: The youth of today He agrees, but pleads helplessness: what difference could the pleas of a humble tea-seller make? Despite his protests, after a week revolutionary activity has indeed declined. However, outlawry and crime rise. The Purveyor tugs irritably at his beard. "Forbidden the excitement of vigorous political discourse, it seems that certain youths revert to general lawlessness." There's a hard gleam in his eye. Some people had better watch what they drink in the near future.
-25 Rumors of Revolution, +10 Peril, -1 Favor, +3 Clues
Quotes[]
"We shared a nameless tea, you and I. One that was drunk in Tevinter of old. We are bound."
Notes[]
The Purveyor of Teas will gift the Marquis of Serault "A Tiny Pouch of Eye-Watering Lattenfluss Tea" in return for granting him audience with the Divine. As long as drinking one cup per week, it is very unlikely to kill the consumer. Furthermore, according to wild rumours this tea was brewed with lyrium.
Bugs[]
A successful attempt on "Ask him to intervene with the revolutionaries" may bug, setting Clues to 13 regardless of previous value.
