NPCs · Scenario Based · Criminal/Espionage
Martin Eltsin
Martin Eltsin hated alcohol, and felt he had a very good reason to do so.He had seen it cause a lot of harm on the Pier Point streets...
Special Equipment:
Eltsin's Tankard
Appearance:
Brown eyes and brown hair.He wears the iron armour and golden helmet and eppulettes of a High Sheriff.He grimaces in the presence of alcohol,now that he no longer has to hide his distaste for it.
Background:
Martin Eltsin's father was a drunkard, who used to swear at and beat his mother again and again when under the influence of drink, until one day he went too far and battered her to death. The screams alerted a City Guard patrol, and after a short trial Eltsin's father was hanged.
Eltsin was saved from a life on the streets by his grandfather, a powerful wizard, who taught him limited magics and a firm sense of right and wrong.
Eltsin joined the Pier Point City Guards as a constable and almost every night he had to deal with the battered and sometimes innocent victims of drunken violence.His hatred of alcohol became a passion and so he cast a spell upon a pewter tankard that would magnify the effects of any alcohol within it.
The first time he used it was when he tricked his sargent into drinking wine from it just before a parade before Queen Yocasta herself.The sargent began drunkenly saying just what he thought of her.He vanished into her dungeon, never to return, and Martin Eltsin took his place.There had been suggestions of promoting him anyway but this clinched it.
Since then he has used his tankard a score of times, sometimes but not allways with fatal effects for the unlucky drinker who has drunk alcohol from it.Drunken brawlers have drunk themselves to death from it.Those who blocked his promotion have found themselves humilated to the point of losing their jobs or being demoted after drinking from it and getting publicly sloshed.
To be fair to him, he is also skilled at his job of detecting and preventing crime,and owes his promotions partly, and perhaps mostly, to that. But it is unlikely that he would have become the High Sheriff of Pier Point at the age of *only* 57 without using his tankard to deal with rivals within the force.
For a time he was a member of the White Knights but he saw what was happening quickly enougth and left the organization before it was made illegal.
Roleplaying Notes:
He hates alcohol and would rather fight then be forced to drink it.Also he keeps his magical powers a secret from everyone, only using magic if he feels he really has to.He wants to remain undiscovered by the Upright Society of Civic Mages.
Plot Hooks-He has a McGuffin that the PC's need.
Or the PC's have been sent to secretly investigate him.
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I like how this character is 'mundane' and believable. Many posts are about great heroes, but I think this is more how most people in our worlds would be. Not a commoner, but perhaps an uncommoner. Eltsin's love-hate with alcohol is interesting. He hates it, but he uses it against people. I wonder has anyone ever been hurt because one of his victims got too drunk and beat them? And how does he feel? It's hard to pin an alignment on this guy I think, which is not a bad thing for a 'real' person. He is a constable (lawful) but cheats to get ahead (chaotic) and so on. All in all I like.
The formatting needs work, biggest thing is that there is no spacing between the period and the first letter of the next sentance. The character is okay, but is rather morally high-handed (DM says drinkin be bad) and has a few too many cliches for my liking.
I would like to see a bit more on the tankard though. It has some potential. I can see serious alcoholics wanting to get their hands on it!
I agree that the relationship this NPC has with alcohol is an interesting one. Formatting is a bit rough but doesn't bother me much. Execution could have been better but overall, this is an okay character.
Not a bad character. I agree with Scras on this one.