The Painted Man

Tall, fat, and smelling of rare spices—that’s the easiest way to describe the Painted Man. His true name remains a secret, and the nickname has spread through the city. He wears silk robes embroidered with strange symbols and always wears a painted mask. Friendly and outgoing, if evasive, he speaks with a heavy accent. He speaks slowly, annunciating each word to make himself understood.

Perpetually dissembling, he reveals little while constantly learning as much as possible. Most claim the Painted Man has lived in the Eldeen Reach for decades. One story calls him an exiled member a cabal of eunuch arcanists from a distant land who once served their emperor’s court. After a failed coup attempt, the survivors fled into exile. Supposedly, the Painted Man is one of only eight surviving conspirators, biding his time as he peddles his powers and continues his dark studies.

It’s an open secret that if you need magical assistance of any kind— from arcane, to divine, to the most illegal sorts of dark sorcery—you go to the Painted Man. He always helps for a price. Mundane magic may require money or goods, but more potent effects demand more outlandish costs. Perhaps he requires the recovery of a pearl lost in a faraway wasteland. Maybe he demands the delivery of a potion into a certain watchman’s goblet. He could need a lich’s phylactery brought back to him, or a living basilisk. He may not ask for payment immediately, but he always collects. No one knows of anyone who has denied his requests.

The source of the Painted Man’s power is purposefully vague. How the Painted Man does what he does isn’t as important as what he does. Need a true resurrection or a wish? He makes it happen. Need a bottled alchemical mutagen or someone to summon and bind a pit fiend? He makes it happen. His network of favors allows him access to skills outside his own purview. His curio trade has passed powerful artifacts into his possession. Perhaps his secret society stays in contact, or being a eunuch (if he is) grants him access to greater powers, or maybe he’s an epic-level wizard keeping a low profile. Maybe he’s not even human.

The Painted Man's companion, Viggo, is a goblin that wears a tailored suit with a top hat. Viggo drives a strange carriage that is made of metal and constructed with mechanical gears, arms and pumps. Two large mechanical horses pull the carriage. Though some mesh of mechanics and magic, the carriage can fly over long distances.