NPC Profile
Bax, the Butcher
Trader of Fine Books
Necromancer-at-Large
Bax, the Butcher
Trader of Fine Books
Necromancer-at-Large
Bax Godrey was the son of Kapil, a butcher, and Huthe, Kapil’s wife. As the only child, he had the freedom to spend time in his father’s shop and begin to learn the trade. Life changed, however, when his uncle (Huthe’s brother) came to live with them.
Ruqa, the uncle, had been a veteran of war in Rahadoum and had come north a scarred, broken, haunted man. Kapil took the man in.
A year later, after Ruqa had learned something of the butcher’s trade, he and his sister killed Kapil. Kapil was butchered and sold to customers and the story was circulated that Kapil had left the family and ran off to Virisia. No one bothered to question the story, as Kapil and Huthe had few friends or relatives.
Ruqa and Huthe lived in incest, and Bax became the sudden target for sexual abuse by his uncle, which often included severe beatings. Ruqa and Huthe grew dependent on the drug shiver, and were largely unable to continue the business; instead forcing Bax to do the work while they spent the proceeds. Bax was only ten, at this time, too young to run away…
It was at about the when Bax was entering his early teens that he took an interest in anatomy. He had learned the butcher’s trade, and he knew that his father had been killed. He wondered just what the difference was between the living and the dead. They looked very similar, with just the ability to breathe separating them…
So, he began to experiment on small animals, stray cats and rats and the occasional dog. He would slowly torture the animals, not wanting them to die too quickly, and wait for them to die. At what point did they cross over? He butchered his experiments and they disappeared just like his father did, with no one the wiser.
The problem was that animals and humans were so different… An animal couldn’t tell him what it was feeling. It couldn’t describe the life leaving the body… At fourteen, he took his first child, a girl named Cemily, into his room in the back of the butcher shop and spent three days experimenting with her. A pretty child, he hated to allow someone else to eat her flesh. He cannibalized her until her body began to rot, and then cooked her and fed her to his drug-blinded family.
Other children followed over the next few years. A dozen, at least, and all were dispatched through a combination of cannibalism and butchery. A concerned stable of constables began searching the neighborhood for suspects, and Bax decided it was time to leave.
His latest victim, Timory, was a bright lad with very recognizable red hair. While Ruqa and Huthe were asleep, he placed the child in their bed and called the authorities. The pair were arrested and quickly found guilty (thanks to testimony provided by Bax), and executed.
Bax sold the butcher shop and used the money to study magic at the Twilight Academy, focusing on magic that involved life and death (in short, necromancy). He graduated from the academy at twenty-four and went out into the world to find secrets even the academy didn’t have.
Now approaching forty, Bax has grown in the dark arts. He travels widely, searching for lost arcane lore and maintaining his research. He has grown wealthy and powerful in his art.
D&D 3.5 stats
NAME: Bax RACE/SEX/AGE: Human Male, 38 CLASS/LEVEL: Wizard (Necromancer) 13
AC: 17 Flat-footed: 15 Space/Reach: 5x5/10’
Hit Points: 53 Initiative: +2 (dex) Fort: +9 Reflex: +8 Will: +9
Base Attack: +6/+1 (Melee) +6/+1 (Missile) +8/+3
Attacks: by spell or dagger (+6/+1 melee, 1d4 (19-20)/x2)
ST: 10 DX: 15 CN: 17 IN: 20 WS: 13 CH: 15
Feats: Summon Familiar, Scribe Scroll, Alertness, Brew Potion, Craft Wand, Eschew Materials, Extend Spell, Great Fortitude, Magical Aptitude, Spell Focus (Necromancy),
Skills: Concentration (Con) +18, Decipher Script (Int) +17, Knowledge (Arcana) (Int) +21, Knowledge (Undead) +21, Listen (Wis) (cc) +3, Spellcraft (Int) +23, Spot (Wis) (cc)+3, Use Magic Device (cc) +12
Equipment: Bracers of armor +3, 2 daggers, Ring of Natural Protection +2, Wand of Lightning Bolt (32ch.), Wand of Summon Monster III (14ch.), Scrolls (@13th): Animate Dead, Fear, Fireball, Slow, Symbol of Pain, Wall of Iron, 3 potions of Cure Serious Wounds
Spells/Abilities: (Opposition schools: Enchantment, Illusion)
0: (DC: 15, Necromancer Spells: 16)
Memorized: Acid Splash, Dancing Lights, Disrupt Undead*, Light, Touch of Fatigue*
Spellbook: Arcane Mark, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Mage Hand, Open/Close, Ray of Frost, Read Magic, Resistance,
1st: (DC: 16, Necromancer Spells: 17)
Memorized: Alarm, Cause Fear*, Feather Fall, Magic Missile, Ray of Enfeeblement*, Shield
Spellbook: Chill Touch*, Hold Portal, Identify, Mage Armor, Protection from alignment, Shocking Grasp, Summon Monster I, Unseen Servant
2nd: (DC: 17, Necromancer Spells: 18)
Memorized: Alter Self, Ghoul Touch*, Knock, Protection from Arrows, Resist Energy, Scare*
Spellbook: Arcane Lock, Blindness/Deafness*, Command Undead*, Levitate, Shatter, Summon Monster II, Web
3rd: (DC: 18, Necromancer Spells: 19)
Memorized: Arcane Sight, Fireball, Fly, Ray of Exhaustion*, Sepia Snake Sigil, Vampiric Touch*,
Spellbook: Dispel Magic, Explosive Runes, Gentle Repose*, Halt Undead*, Lightning Bolt, Secret Page, Summon Monster III
4th: (DC: 19, Necromancer Spells: 20
Memorized: Animate Dead*, Black Tentacles, Fire Shield, Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, Reduce Person (Mass), Stoneskin,
Spellbook: Bestow Curse*, Contagion*, Dimension Door, Enervation*, Fear*, Fire Trap, Resilient Sphere
5th: (DC: 20, Necromancer Spells: 21)
Memorized: Baleful Polymorph, Cloudkill, Magic Jar*, Passwall, Symbol of Pain*
Spellbook: Blight*, Planar Binding (Lesser), Summon Monster V, Wall of Force, Wall of Stone, Waves of Fatigue*
6th: (DC: 21, Necromancer Spells: 22)
Memorized: Circle of Death*, Create Undead*, Symbol of Fear*
Spellbook: Chain Lightning, Eyebite*, Legend Lore, Summon Monster VI, Wall of Iron
7th: (DC: 22, Necromancer Spells: 23)
Memorized: Finger of Death*, Reverse Gravity
Spellbook: Control Undead*, Forcecage, Prismatic Spray, Symbol of Weakness*
Appearance: Bax is generally dressed as a merchant. He prefers the color red in his clothing, but the quality tends to be average, rather than expensive, with his familiar (a tan weasel named Kapil), always about. Bax has black hair, left long and tied with a cord. He wears a mustache that is just showing some gray. He is of average height and seemingly normal features. His voice is soft and he has an ability to seem caring that is unnerving for those few who understand just how damaged he is as an individual.
Personality: Bax truly enjoys life. He feels his familiar holds the spirit of his father. He has begun looking for parts to include in a great flesh golem he is planning. Bax is criminally insane, of course, but manages to win the hearts of people near him with his mock-kindness and interest in their lives. It is a credit to this personality that no one has suspected him of the many murders that have filled his cart so far… Bax poses as a book-trader, buying and selling books from the back of his large, gypsy wagon (which is painted red and green and gold). A hidden compartment at the front of the wagon holds his collected body parts, each in a sealed jar of embalming fluid.
