Candy

A number of years ago, Chef Tirel employed an enterprising halfling as live monster bait. Named Tim, this halfling would accompany adventurers that Tirel had hired to retrieve fresh meat for his own employer, the infamous monster eating Claude de Sarlat. Tim was desperate for high paid work, being in debt to some of Sneedsworth’s men in the Dordogne. Long story short, on one expedition the little halfling had his legs torn completely off by an ogre. Through the intervention of a cleric, Tim miraculously survived but would never walk again.

Nowadays, Tim can be found in the bastide of Domme, frequenting pubs where he performs his version of a stand up comedy act. Reciting bad limericks, re-telling stories of his brief stint as monster bait, and accompanying a little guitar, he’s now known as Tiny Tim. He’s become quite the local celebrity. Halflings are extremely rare in the region, and those that do pass through are continually subjected to local inside humor which takes the form of loud exclamations like “It’s a miracle! The little guy’s got his legs back!” Consequently, Tim isn’t hard to find and is often sought out for whatever information or advice he can offer to visiting greenhorn dungeoneers.

Tirel, for his part, was honorable enough to pay off Tim’s debt. Without his skilled little halfling though, Tirel was forced to devise other ways to occasionally draw monsters out of their hiding places. Towards this end, he came up with a number of recipes rumored to have ghastly ingredients that work far better than simple horsemeat or chickens. He’s even begun to determine which work better than others based on which monster one wishes to catch. Occasionally he’ll offer to sell his monster bait (which he confectionately refers to as his “bonbons”) to traveling adventurers in the course of offering them a reward for any monster flesh they can acquire for him.

His usual bait comes in the form of head-sized chunks of rotten spiced meats of indeterminable origin, stitched together and which Tirel and his assistants jokingly refer to as “Paydays”… Another kind they refer to as “corn” - palm-sized, it’s typically put down every ten feet or so to lead a creature to a predetermined ambush site.

Tirel sells his monster bait for up to 100gp depending on the quantity desired and the monster it will attract. Unless extreme precautions are taken the stench of it will cause townsfolk to shun the carrier, refusing service of any kind. It will double the frequency of wandering monster rolls and at least triple the likelihood of the desired creature making an appearance if in the area.