Captain Wilhrem Carister, Marine Captain

AC 2 (feather armor +4, Dex 16 MV 12; F13; hp 95; THACO 8; #AT 2; Dmg gree (+ 11) (bastard sword +3 Str 18/44, Dex 16, Con 17, Int 15, Wis 9, Cha 15; SD ring of free action; AL LN.

Magical items: leather armor +4, bastard sword + 3, girdle of stone giant strength, ring of free action, wand of flame extinguishing (44 charges).

Wilbrem is 44 years old, 5‘ 6“, weighs 199 Ibs., and is built like a barrel on powerful legs. He’s completely bald, but sports a fine grey beard. He has teeth so yellow as to be almost brown and doesn’t have many of those left. His forearms look like hams, and are covered in tattoos of females in various stages of undress together with brief expressions of undying love for each of them. He is always accompanied by his savage parrot Albrecht.

Wilbrem is captain of the war galley Pirate’s Bane, which has sailed from Hardby for ten years. He has always been a Marine, and was one of the rulers of Hardby in pre-war years. He grew tired of politics and bickering, and when the rulers of Greyhawk came along and offered him nominal rulership of the Marine section of Hardby’s military council in return for his support of their annexation of the city, Wilbrem was delighted-he accepted if forced only to attend one Council meeting per year. The rulers of Greyhawk accepted this with alacrity.

Wilbrem has sailed the oceans and seen the Flanaess from Icy Bay to the Oljatt Sea. Mention almost anyone of renown to Wilbrem, and he’ll say, “I know ’im.” It’s usually true. Kieren Jalucian? “I know ’im, ’e recharges me wand fer me.” Mordenkainen? “I know ’im. Brought back a whole heap of stuff from Hepmonaland fifteen years back, idols and what ’ave you.” Ivid V? “I know ’im. Sunk a whole bunch of them Sea Bar- ons six years back and left ’im in the sea ’til one of them ruddy wizards came and Dulled him out.” This man is an open invitation to a DM to send PCs anywhere with the contacts and knowledge of the world Wilbrem possesses.

Wilbrem’s an open, honest man who absolutely hates dishonesty of any kind. He simply won’t tolerate it. He’s stiff, stern, and gruff, but he’s generous, and his men are utterly loyal to him (1 8 morale while Wilbrem lives). He’s rather impetuous; his brief is to patrol upper Woolly Bay, but he likes to go a little farther south and let his half-elven ship’s wizard, Teskafel Alistar, fry some Pomarj orcs with fireballs and then launch the rowing boats to put a few more to the sword. “Almost as good as fresh sea air is the smell of a burnin’ orc.”

Special mention must be made of Wilbrem’s green-gray parrot, Albrecht. Albrecht was originally a fomorian giant, polymorphed by Teskafel into his current form. This makes him extremely tough for a parrot (AC3, 84 hp, bite causes ld4 +4 damage, THACO 13).

Albrecht weighs around 40 Ibs., which is also unusual for an otherwise normally-sized parrot. Albrecht has the mind of a parrot (fortunately) save for some odd eating habits; the parrot delights in holding raw steak in its claws and ripping it up with its beak to feed. Wilbrem explains this by claiming the bird is a rare Hepmonaland Carnivorous Parrot.

Albrecht is a last-ditch defense; in extremes, the bird could be told to fly over to an attacking vessel, where Teskafel could cast dispel magic and make a fomorian giant appear on deck, almost certainly causing the deck timbers to crumple under the weight and seriously disabling the attacker.

Be careful in using Wilbrem as an NPC. There is a jokey quality about him (especially his parrot), but don’t overdo it. This man wouldn’t be the commander of the Hardby Marines unless he was tough, smart, and nobody’s fool.