The Beggar's Bodega (Campaign)/NPCs

X Add worldbuilding credits now!

Katharine Altone

Katharine Altone was the vice president of AgraWealth, a research group that operates out of The Seven Cities, and also next in line for that company's CFO position. Katharine was a shred and manipulative person whose husband was Owen Altone, possibly the only person even more manipualtive. Her husband Owen staged his own kidnapping to get force his wife to steal money from her company, which he then planned to unveil and use to out her from her position. Despite being a pain and a backstabber, Katharine wasn't a monster. She was happy to money launder when she believed she was working for an international consortium of bankers and criminals operating under the name "AgraWealth", but not once did she really believe she was moving around black money that was secretly funded by the 7 Cities themselves. She didn't know about the experiments or even that they stole from The Lich Omoi.

Belto

A crimelord who ran one of the city's thieves guild, smuggling poisons in and out of the city. He was killed by the Marano family (see below) because of his corrupt activity in Harbor Approach. However, his ghost wasn't absolved through the power of Funerary Statues, and even from the afterlife, he was able to describe the penanggalan that killed him, helping the bodega employees track down the perpetrator. He was a known accomplice of Commander Antonio Teldi who was the corrupt cop that helped operations smoothly continue out of the warehouse Belto worked in.

Bruno Carmena

Gruff hitman for hire in Nymphsview who did the dirty job of taking out Brigadier Gaba at the instruction of the Dark Sons.

Mr. Darvall

A powerful and mysterious elan representing The Seven Cities, Mr. Darvall was the orchestrator of the heist of the Hydra Hydrangea, using a secretary spy to seduce the husband of the vice president, leaving a very obfuscated trail that wouldn't lead back to him if it weren't for the fact that two members of the Bodega at the time had literal powers of prophecy. Ultimately his goal was to unlock the power of the Hydrangea, absorb AgraWealth (the research company) into the 7 Cities government, and then use the new discovery to bring prosperity to the realm in the form of unlimited food and greenery....if the price is right.

His own private yacht, known as The Countess, can often be seen on the horizon around the dunes of Al'Adeaf...always watching, always ready to snatch up the next great opportunity the sinking city offers. Despite his power and money, Mr. Darvall looks like a vulture, bald with prominent chin and clawlike hands, often wearing just a bathrobe made of real Yuan-Ti.

Amabel Denford

The original teacher and owner of the Denford School now located in a pile of quicksand just outside the city's harbor, a long time ago Ms. Denford ran the school for a small class of only 12 students, including Joseph Watts (see below), but paid the ultimate price when Joe began to experiment with immortality magics. He converted his fellow students and Ms. Denford into life size mannequin puppets with painted face. The investigators found old newspaper articles with portraits of Amabel Denford on them, and later recognized her face when they encountered her manniquinn form at the school's ruins. They released her from her hell when they slayed Joseph Watts, finally ending the curse for good.

Eel

Eel was a professional fisherman in the city who would typically live out of a room in the Fisherman Guild Hall when he wasn't fishing. A big burly man with fish tattoos all over his body, he wasn't very well educated, but was dependable and deliberate. Eel was a witness to the murder of Shawm by the Fisherman's guild, and provided key information to the heroes to help them track down the sorcerous cabal that was pulling all the strings. Unfortunately some of that key information involved that Eel was part of the team that tracked down and killed Shawm in the first place, leading to Eel getting pushed into the quicksands of the city...yet to be seen again.

Nick Ehrmann

A politician running for mayor of Nymphsview, Ehrmann began to rise supsiciously through the political ranks. From a nobody to nearly the mayor in only 6 short months. It was suspected that someone was helping Ehrmann over at the Franklin Stein Law Firm, which turned out to be the Agent of Hell. The devil did indeed give Nick all the dirty laundry he could dig up on any opposition, which let him rise so quickly. Unfortunately when Ehrmann discovered Brigadier Gaba was collecting intel to take Ehrmann down, he helped put out a hit that took down his enemy.

Mr. Ellison

An owner of a motel in Ironcross that accosted the investigators when they broke into one of his rooms. He was intimidated by Elara and pushed away, but vowed vengeance on the team.

Ferdinand Fazzo

A fellow student and friend to both the late Arthur Schenbrink, and Clara Winkler (see below), Ferdinand was known as "Ferdi" by his friends. Unfortunately for him, he got roped up in Arthur and Clara's occult ritualism for the simple reason that Ferdinand owned a carriage that could take them out of the city and to a lodge his family owned near the Fiddlehead Mountains. Ferdi returned to Al'Adeaf after the incident seemingly as the only survivor of the massacre Arhtur and Clara caused when they summoned a serpentine demon. He became hopelessly insane and staggers and stammered about mumbling "Tsathoggua" and "blood".

Julianna Fishhall

The high priestess of the small sorcerous cabal that worked underneath the Fish Hall, Julliana was the guildmistress for over 40 years and spent the whole time performing dark rituals and making human sacrifices to ensure the guild had an amazing bounty of fish to feed the city. Her secret was discovered by the heroes of the The Beggar's Bodega, but ultimately it was decided not to rat her out to the cops.

Brigadier Variya Gaba

A soldier in the realm's armies against Tiamat as part of The War of Many Names, Gaba was stationed in Nymphsview along other soldiers when he was killed after stumbling upon a conspiracy in the city that related to the upcoming elections which would keep the Dark Sons in power in Nymphsview.

Jenkins

Servant to the Winkler family, Jenkins drove the carriage and escorted the players around Al'Adeaf when they investigated the missing Winkler daughter.

However, as they approached the lodge where the daughter laid unconcious and hidden, a result of a near deadly encounter with a serpentine shapeshifting monster....Jenkins sat alone, watching the cart, defenseless against a shadow in the night that launched on him.

When the players left the lodge and headed home with Clara in tow, they were happy to see Jenkins ready to drive them back to Al'Adeaf...if only they'd seen the REAL body of Jenkins sitting 10 feet away at the shore of a quicksand pit. Everyone pour one out for our homie Jenkins.

Amelia Kelvin

Snippet from Al'Adeaf Yearbook of Amelia

Amelia Kevlin was an accomplished student and freshman at Al'Adeaf University who disappeared after one proprietor of the Pussycat club in Alderhall saw her on the gambling floor and attempted to make her a vampire thrall. Her disappearance sparked off the Case of the Copper Door, in which Amelia was found half-way in the conversion process, but rescued by the investigators and taken to get medical care.

She was the daughter of Bart Kelvin (see below), who had asked her to go on some social calls with Peter Lankila (see below) in return for forgiving his gambling debt.

It was noticed by the investigators that she started her career at Al'Adeaf University with straight A's, but after being asked to meet with Lankila, began to drop through the ranks, eventually getting Cs and Ds in all of her classes.

As it turned out, Amelia was being turned into a Vampire Thrall as part of a way to pay off her father's (Bart Kelvin) debts. Several portraits of Amelia were commissioned by Lankila and kept in several secret rooms around the Pussycat Club as she was his favorite thrall.

Amelia was saved from nearly being smuggled out of town by Bart in his attempt to rescue him from Lankila, but the resulting skirmish led to Bart's death, and the recovery of Amelia, who was brought to the hospital to see if any clerical help could be applied to fix the turned thrall. While they considered killing Amelia, and resurrect her ghost, which should have the effect of removing the undead curse on her...they rescued her when her lovelorn bestie Adrian joined the Church of Waukeen and learned the rites of turning the undead himself.

Bart Kelvin

The brother of Mr. Kelvin the bodega's landlord, Bart got himself way in over his head when he gambled too much and became indebted to Peter Lankila, owner of the PussyCat Club, causing him to hand his own daughter Amelia over the vampire Lankila to be turned into a vampire thrall. Bart lived in the poor district known as The Tangle.

When his brother (Mr. Kelvin, see below) attempted to save Amelia and confront Bart about his unethical actions, a small scuffle ended up in Bart accidentally shooting his brother to death. However, the message didn't go unheard, hoping to maybe make things right, Bart kidnapped the now-enthralled Amelia and the two of them skipped town. However, Bart and Amelia were hunted down by the investigators thanks to Mallen's tracking skills. Ultimately when push came to shove, the stressors of the debt, the guilt of what he did to his daughter, and the oncoming enforcers of both the city (for kidnapping) and Lankila (for stealing from HIM) caused Bart to take his own life when cornered at the train station leading out of Al'Adeaf.

Mr. Kelvin

"He's a WALLET vampire!" - Ardemas

Mr. Kelvin was the landlord of The Beggar's Bodega, but he didn't actually live in Al'Adeaf, whenever needing to collect rent, Kelvin would come back into town, visit some family, and usually stay at a hotel in Ironcross. He was shot in the back of the head, but his ghost wasn't found, so it was determined to be an arranged hit.

Peter Lankila

Peter Lankila owned the PussyCat Club in Alderhall, and was a local racketeer. More importantly, he was also a vampire. Lankila kept a massive commissioned portrait of Amelia Kelvin on the wall in his casino penthouse. He slept in a secret chamber in the basement of the Pussycat club where a number of coffins were kept for himself and his vampire thralls.

Lanklia nearly killed the Bodega's client Adrian Moore, but Adrian's slippery dancing (and cheerleading training) made him hard to get a hold of. Despite having been the reason Amelia was drained of essence and lifeforce, Lankila became an unlikely ally to the bodega team when they discovered that Mr. Kelvin had taken Amelia out of the city and into hiding, to try to protect her from completing the vampire transformation. He and Adrian both decided they both wanted to find Amelia and make sure she's safe, he gave 10 wealth to the team to find Bart and Amelia.

Lara and Sialia Marano

The married couple that ran "Marano's Pickles" on the harbor, Lara ran the store during the day, and Sialia would only watch the store at night so they didn't need to pay for guards. They were also the secret criminals and killers of numerous in Harbor Approach as it turned out that Sialia was actually a creature known as a penanggalan, a cursed monstrosity whose head detaches every night and rises out into the city to devour and absorb the cruel and corrupt, whether that meant devouring a city guard or a pickpocket. Together, they planned an act of vengeance on the corrupt copy Commander Antonio Teldi, first by destroying all of his associates, but Teldi was able to recruit the help of The Beggar's Bodega to stop them before they claimed the Commander.

Yousef Prakseesin

A Snobbite prince visiting the city, Yousef was in Al'Adeaf for a meeting with AgraWealth, a company that promised it could bring infinite food and greenery to Pteris, a proposition that needed great funding, especially from someone as rich as a prince.

Based on the name alone, likely a descendant of Drake, famous hero of Realm War I and backstabber who orchestrated Drake's Deal.

Else Romano

Else Romano, the landlady who ran the house where the missing Clara Winkler lived, turned out to be a resolute war widow of 50 years, who enforced a dictatorial regime in her rental. She immediately complains to everyone who will listen that Clara is unbecoming, that she's so casually dressed, and that she's always accompanied home by some gentleman...sometime even by several at once! (Even if it's only to the front door). She ran a very small dorm-like room out of her second story, and overall was no help to anyone.

Skiirl, Agent of Hell

A devil living in Nymphsview operating the Franklin Stein Law Firm, Skiirl was able to give investigators any sort of information or leads that they want...but it cost them a soul every time they wanted to draw upon his dark prophetic powers. In the era of The Hermes Seal, it was pretty easy to find ghosts and then turn them over to Skiirl as currency.

Antoni Valori

A funerary statue carver, Antoni was the suspect of the Bodega's first case, when a rumor at the docks led them to his artist studio, where they would encounter a shocking number of bodies collecting in the under-basement. These bodies were used to create a flesh golem that Valori was going to use to extract revenge on his own grandmother. Besides being talented, he was technically a noble as he and his mother were members of the Ancient Snobbite Regality, but were disowned because his father was a commoner. After his mother's own tragic death, he wanted to have her interred in the family crypt, using dark magic from a book of Uxorioth, a connected spirit of the Old Ones. Valori was caught and stopped when his lackey Donastra was caught in the middle of the witchcraft ceremony, and was eventually turned over to authorities.

Joseph Watts

Joseph Watts was an 18 year old boy who used his occult powers to gain immortality at the cost of his friends' lives. He used a spell to turn his classmates and teacher into mannequin puppets which he locked in an abandoned house out in the Tangle. In order to keep his immortality, he continued to trick students into visiting the shack every 19 years, and it was the disappearance of one student, Bill Wessler, that led to the Bodega investigators taking on The Case of the Double Dare. Every 19 years Joe would return into the city under the psuedonym "Joe Canning" (and NOT Joe Mama like Dash might think) to trick more people into taking on double-dares and going to the haunted shack.

A side effect of his ritual caused anyone who knew the sacrificed persons to slowly forget their existence, so even after 114 years of sacrifices, the authorities were never alerted.

Inside the old shack which was formally Denford School, Watts kept arcane eyes and scrying devices watching any and all intruders so that he could ambush them and take their life force. However, the night the Bodega employees went in, he was up against more than he could handle, and eventually was killed by yo mama jokes (and magic). He claimed a total of 39 victims before his ultimate defeat at the hands of the Bodega.

Bill Wessler

The biggest bully at Al'Adeaf high, Bill dared the team's client into sneaking into the abandoned Denford school out in the quicksands outside the city, but when they instead challenged Bill himself to do it, leading to Bill's mysterious disappearance.

Adelheid Winkler

Wife of client Heimeric Winkler, and mother of the missing Clara Winkler (see below), Adelheid was a successful business tycoon in the chemical industry, and a partner in the corporation "Julius Sawback LP". Her husband was a bit of a homebody who enjoyed their wealthy lifestyle and smoked many of the weeds. In her late 40s, she wore highnecked clothes and oldfashioned braided hair. Altogether their family gave quite the conservative impression.

Clara Winkler

A university student at Al'Adeaf U, Clara Winkler's disappearance led her rich merchant parents to invite The Beggar's Bodega to locate their missing daughter. She had gotten caught up with a cute little man named Arthur Schenbrink at uni, who then convinced her to participate in an occult ritual just outside of the city. Clara went to the university against her parents wishes, who wanted her to just inherit the family business, and her disappearance caused immediate outrage and fuss in the Winkler villa.

Unfortuantely Arthur's schemes to academically seduce Clara into being his friend (and hope that her family pays for his now-missing scholarship) were ruined when Clara turned out to be much better at the occult than he thought. Together the two of them accidentally summoned a serpentine monster that killed Arthur and left Clara in hiding under a bed in the private lodge they had secured for the summoning ceremony. She was found, only barely alive, and rescued by the Bodega team in conjunction with her father and family servant Jenkins.