Cortina

Cortina is the tanner in Dakris's Furs, the furrier in Wehnimer's Landing. She tans hides, pelts, and skins to make leather for use in cobbling to make shoes. To get to her, go through the door from the main entrance of the furrier. She appears as a leathery old woman in the room description.

Tanning process

GIVE Cortina your skin. She will tell you if the skin is suitable to tan. Skins from humanoid creatures will not be suitable. Follow the prompts.

>give woman
The old woman examines your rolton pelt and says, "That's something I could tan for you.  Is that what you'd like me to do?" 
[Respond YES or NO] 

You say, "yes.."

The woman runs her fingers across the pelt and says,  "You want this cured to make some trim, soles or uppers? 

You say, "uppers.." 
The woman nods her head and says, "Very good  Now, what sort of tanning would you like?  For uppers, I can use oak, alum, or oil." 

You say, "oak.." 
The old woman nods to you and says, "Very well, then, oak tanning it is.  That will cost 50 silvers and take me about 7 days.  If that's acceptable, give me your rolton pelt and I'll get to work." 

>give woman
Cortina takes the silvers you offer in payment. 
The old woman accepts your rolton pelt and hands you a receipt in exchange.  "Bring this back in about 7 days and your pelt should be ready," she says and tosses the rolton pelt into a large vat. 

>look my receipt
The Cortina receipt is for one rolton pelt to be used as uppers that that should be ready a few days from now.

Behind the scenes

Description

Short and wiry, the woman is clearly advanced in years, but moves with a confidence and agility that belie her apparent age. Her crinkly, greying hair is pulled back in a tight bun, though a few wisps have escaped to frame her square-jawed face in a pale grey halo. Her hands are particularly remarkable, ever in motion and covered in tough, nut-brown skin that seems nearly as leathery as the countless hides they have tanned.

Questions

>ask woman about alum
Glancing up at some canisters high on a shelf, the old woman says, "For better leather, I'll sometimes add mineral salts during the tanning -- seems to give the leather a nicer hand, don't you know? Alum salts are easy to find around here, so that's mostly what I use."

>ask Cortina about furs
Nodding to you, the old woman says, "Yes, I can work with furs. They make nice trims on shoes and boots, don't you think? Tails and manes work well, too."

>ask woman about hides
The old woman pauses from her work long enough to say, "Most hides work fine, soles, uppers or tailoring. Orc hides are too weak, though -- I always knew they were thin-skinned!" she adds with a harsh chuckle.

>ask woman about name
"Cortina is my name, don't ya know!" The old woman chuckles softly and continues, "You must be new around here, not to have heard of me."

>ask Cortina about oak
The old woman points to a pile of oak chips in the corner and says, "There's oak for you! After I've scraped a hide and gotten all the hair and flesh off it, I soak it in a vats with oak chips and some other stuff. Doesn't make the fanciest leathers, but makes a decent, strong leather."

>ask woman about oil
Nodding appreciatively, the old woman shows you a stack of particularly supple leather. "Fish oil, that's the trick to making the nicest leathers of all. Very expensive, but it shows the natural grain to good advantage, don't you think?"

>ask woman about pelts
The old woman nods to you and says, "Pelts make fine leather, but they're not durable enough for soles. Or I can leave the fur on for fancy trims."

>ask woman about skins
Cortina hardly looks up as she replies, "Skins, skins ... tricky sometimes to make proper leather from skins. Some work, some are just too thin. Best show me what you're thinking of."

>ask woman about soles
"It takes tough leather to make a proper sole," the old woman says to you, "so oil-tanning won't serve the purpose."

>ask woman about tanning
The old woman looks up from her work and says to you, "Tanning, you say? Why I know all about tanning -- it's my life work, don't you know! If you want properly cured leather, just hold what you'd like me to work with and ask me again."

>ask woman about upper
"The upper leather of a shoe is what really shows," the old woman says to you as she sorts through a stack of pelts, "so if you're planning on making a nice pair, don't cut corners! Get an expertly cut hide and have me cure it properly -- alum-tanned is nice, but oil-tanned makes the finest footware."

Room messaging

A pair of grey mice scuttles across the reddish dirt floor, detouring slightly to avoid colliding with the woman.

A scrawny rat scuttles across the reddish dirt floor, detouring slightly to avoid colliding with the woman.

A swarm of tiny black beetles scuttles across the reddish dirt floor, detouring slightly to avoid colliding with the woman.

Cortina deftly threads a cord through the edges of a small pelt and attaches it to a frame, twisting each loop tightly with her wiry hands.

Cortina drags a slightly curved scraper along a large hide pinned to a board, skillfully removing the hairs to reveal the untanned leather beneath.

Cortina sings a snatch of an old folk song as she busies herself among the drying leathers, her voice surprisingly clear and resonant for one so old.

Peering into one of the deep vats, Cortina squints and mutters something to herself. She removes a metal pail from a nearby shelf and pours a generous dollop of chocolate brown liquid into the vat.

Peering into one of the deep vats, Cortina squints and mutters something to herself. She removes a metal pail from a nearby shelf and pours a generous dollop of greenish-black liquid into the vat.

The old woman repositions a rolton pelt on the workbench, then continues her vigorous scouring with a chunk of pumice stone.

The old woman settles herself on a small stool, taking a pause from her labor to sort various animal parts into tidy piles.

The old woman uses a long stick to prod at some oddly colored hides soaking in one of the smaller vats in the corner.