Dr. Tunk
Samuel Tunk (a.k.a. Dr. Tunk)
Dr. Tunk is a grossly obese human who serves as an acolyte and advisor to The Most High Priestess Of Asmodeus, Vespera Lux-Ophidius. He makes his home at the heart of Redgate but travels often for his work throughout the region and sometimes into the neighboring realms. Dr. Tunk is a masterful physician, offering his services to villages he passes through. He is usually accompanied by armed guards, though those in Redgate know they are mostly unnecessary because Tunk's monstrous companion, 'Thing', is always within a few feet of him and more than capable of offering any protection the portly doctor might need. In addition to medical services, Dr. Tunk also shares what he cheerfully calls his 'burdensome passion' by way of a small wagon which acts as a portable children's toy shop - filled with dolls, elaborately decorated tops, strange (but guaranteed harmless) gooey substances which can be molded-thrown-stretched, card games, child-sized musical instruments, plush animals and creatures, and more. The wares draw the attention of young and old alike. Even 'Thing' looming behind Dr. Tunk, as off-putting as it is, can't keep customers away.
'Thing' is Dr. Tunk's greatest achievement to date. Massive, agile, silent, seemingly unable to feel pain, and disturbingly obedient. If the children seem to be afraid of it, Dr. Tunk will bark "Smile for the kiddies, Thing!" 'Thing' will twist open it's mouth into a soul-less grin. This usually does little to reassure the children but Dr. Tunk finds it very amusing anyway and will soften the mood with candies for everyone. It's also been known to respond to all other commands coming from it's master : "Come" "Carry this" "Fetch me some water" "Kill". 'Thing' keeps his body mostly completely covered no matter the weather, including gloves, layers of clothes and a hooded cloak large enough to make a tent for a family of four if strung across a tree branch. He keeps his hood raised, leaving his face in the shadows. What can be seen looks mostly humanoid. Some children have sworn they've seen razor-sharp tusks when he's been commanded to smile, scales or feathers briefly showing between the top of his glove and the bottom of his sleeve or extra sets of eyes glinting from beneath his hood. Even adults find 'Thing' disturbing : he breathes.....funny....and when Dr. Tunk sends him somewhere in a hurry he tends to drop to all fours to run.
Contrary to his front of charitable physician and lover of children's toys, Dr. Tunk is a foul, vile, repugnant person who cares nothing for the life or suffering of others. He is an extremely skilled necromancer, so skilled in fact that he began branching out into completely new fields of research in order to sate his thirst for discovery. Having mastered manipulating the dead, Dr. Tunk saw no reason not to use his knowledge on the living as well. But taking it a step further, instead of merely animating living or once living tissue, he sought to remake living and the essence of life into something malleable. And so, Dr. Tunk created and developed a new form of magic : Genomancy (placeholder name).
In Redgate, Dr. Tunk's experiments and practices are mostly known. Families shudder when 'Thing' roams the streets to collect test subjects. Those that return after being taken are changed in the most bizarre ways. In one case, a man came back seemingly unharmed, only complaining that his mouth and tongue tingled. The tingling gradually got worse and culminated in midnight-hour wails as his saliva glands began producing a powerful acid. He died a few hours after the bottom half of his face and the front of his neck had been eaten away. Another woman came back in great health, having gained an extraordinary sense of smell. It continued to develop and she died of starvation a month later, unable to consume any food without vomiting immediately. Extra limbs, pregnant women giving birth to twins one of which seems more demon than human, psychosis, a man clawing out his own eyes to remove a second pair of eyelids....many more victims of some bizarre research presumably mandated and certainly tolerated by The Most High Priestess.
Many in Redgate are relieved that Dr. Tunk and his Thing are frequently absent as their travels take them further and further from familiar territory. At the same time, they worry about what exactly he is doing out there when they see him loading up chests full of toys into his wagon.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Morbidly obese, sweats profusely. Dresses in the finest silks and frequently wipes his brow with perfumed, colored handkercheifs. Covers himself from head to toe with powders and perfumes as if to hide more than mere unpleasant odors or blemishes.
Alignment
Chaotic Evil
Species
Children
Gender
Male
Other Affiliations
Comments