By Basil (original post)
Fellow in his mid-40's, always well dressed in a dark-colored suit, tie, shiny shoes–the works. Always seen carrying a white mug that gently steams. There's always a peculiar odor from the mug (it's not always the same odor, mind); never disgusting, seldom unpleasant, but never one the PCs can identify. If asked what he's drinking, answers “Tea”. If asked what kind, answers “Herbal”. If pressed as to exactly what, will rattle off something and stalk away, clearly offended.
It would take some doing, but eventually the PCs could figure out that what “Tea Man” is rattling off is curiously mispronounced Latin, and he's giving the (Latin) taxonomic name of the plant he's drinking the tea of.
Once that's figured out, comes the bizarre part—whatever he claims to be drinking is violently poisonous! Is he joking? Is he misinformed? Or does he drink poison everyday (and different poisons, at that)?
Back to creepy_hotel