"Sickboy"
This is a character from my campaign. He was originally a player character but when the
player left he became a part of the setting. Hope you enjoy and feel free to express your
opinions, whether positive or negative, about him.
Cheers,
Alex.
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SICKBOY, Cadsandrian former drug dealer, now a mysterious benefactor and the Constable's
physician, a.k.a Leon Dahr.
I have often told you about my childhood and The Brotherhood Orphanage where I spent it,
but I think I did never tell you of its founder and benefactor, a mysterious guy the old
nurses there called Sickboy. They told weird stories about this man. This is the one about
his origins. They never told it until we were about to leave, though.
You know those Cadsandrian suburbs of big tenements that grow out of some Melnibonean
villa, like mold out of a rotten tree, where you can find between the marble and the
plaster floors of reed and thatched roofs, don't you? Well, our hero grew up there. I said
grew and not was born because nobody knows where he came from. All that is known is that a
merciful prostitute found him on a street, packed in dirty rags, maybe one year old and
sick. Luckily, her trade generated enough income to support them both until he was old
enough to support himself, so she kept him and took care of him.
Well before fifteen, he begun to wander between the old ruins, in secret passages under
the ground. There he learnt, the hard way, the effect some strange plants and fungi had on
his perceptions. An old man, something of an alchemist, a physician and a drug dealer took
him as his apprentice. The old man lusted after the boy's knowledge of a place close at
hand where the precious and rare Melnibonean herbs he had to buy at high cost grew freely.
The old man hoped to learn Sickboy's secret, and then to make him disappear.But the boy
was smarter than his mentor. He never betrayed himself and learnt how to refine into drugs
the plants only he knew where to find. Then, with the help of one of his foster mother's
most loyal client, he got rid of the old man and became the alchemist, physician and drug
dealer of the neighborhood.
A few years later, a mysterious murder puzzled Cadsandria's authorities. The body of
Piotr, one of Cadsandria's most skilled smiths, was found hanging from the roof of Lord
Marroy's city mansion's stable. Of course you've heard about Lord Marroy, one of the most
powerful merchant prince of the Coast, so the city watch powerlessness shouldn't surprise
you. Sir Finn Gham, the Constable then, recruited a band of... Well, freelances, to
investigate on the matter. Sickboy's reputation of being a shrewd and well connected
underground personality wasn't unknown to the Constable, as his recent friction with a
powerful organized band of thieves who wanted to hire him not to produce dreams but
deaths. So Sickboy was convinced to join with the investigators, in exchange of protection
if he continued to produce only - at worst - mildly harmful drugs.
To make it short, Piotr's death was linked to a new revolutionary religious sect
originated in Dharijor - the Brotherhood. The sect was really just a cover for a coven of
Pyaray cultists who planned to sacrifice all the lesser initiates to the Tentacled.
As you know, the Church of Chaos in itself is not illegal here in Argimiliar, but mass
murder is, and Piotr discovered his masters' plan and wanted to
turn them in to Sir Finn. Lord Marroy's implication in the plan was never proved, though.
Anyway, Sickboy and the other investigators stopped the sacrifice and saved the two dozens
hypnotized believers. But rather than accept the bronzes and the protection that Sir Finn
offered him, he asked for the building of the Brotherhood and the permission to turn it in
an orphanage. The Constable agreement was not unconditional:
Sickboy had to give up his addiction and become a respectable member of society. And not
respectable in King Jiku's sense, mind you, but in Sir Finn's, maybe the most stern and
just old fashioned southerner cattle baron I can think of.
Of course there are many other tales about Sickboy. What did he found in the underground
of the old Melnibonean villa? Why nobody did ever went down there? What of the thieves'
band? And of Lord Marroy and the Pyaray cultists? And how did he overcame ten years of
addiction in a few months? And what is he doing now? Well, all these questions are
answered in tales for another day. Now, let's toast to the man who gave me the childhood
he never knew. Let's toast to Sickboy.
LEON DAHR ("SICKBOY"), 21 years old Argimilliaran Physician
(in the employ of Sir Finn Gham)
Chaos 9, Balance 24, Law 6
STR 15 CON 11 SIZ 10 INT 16
POW 12 DEX 15 APP 11 HP 11
Armor: Soft Leather (1d6-1)
Weapons: Cutlass 59%, Damage 1d6+2+1d4
Skills: Climb 60, Conceal Object 35, Dodge 50, Hide 40,
Insight 79, Move Quietly 44, Natural World 59, Physik 101,
Pick Lock 25, Potions 101, Scent/Taste 35, Search 40, Scribe
29, Swim 55, Trap 25. ¤
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