Crab

Crab is the only known name for the owner and operator of the Empty Net, the tavern and inn in Saltmarsh that caters towards smugglers and other seedier types.
Despite being the broker of missions for Saltmarsh's smugglers, acting as a liason for the fiancier of all the town's smuggling operations, Gellan Primewater, Crab is an extremley agreeable and friendly man. He is also known for being quite health conscious, favoring a variety of protien and vegetable shakes.

History

Crab isn't a Saltmarsh native, though according to him he was born in 1455.
After moving to Saltmarsh in the late 1470s, Crab established the Empty Net, which quickly grew in popularity for the town's less reputable types, though Crab kept things from getting too rowdy. During this time, Crab was approached by Gellan Primewater, then a wealthy merchant in town, and the two of them worked together to turn the Empty Net into a den for smuggling.
Crab's partnership with Gellan was still going strong by the 1490s, and Crab became friends, or at the very least good acquaintances, with many of the smugglers he helped arrange jobs for. Smugglers Crab worked with during this time included Micah Pierce, the changeling-disguised-as-a-human Lyra, and Reyna Moonflower. Gellan was also approached by newcomer to town Necian Arrzen for a job in his tavern, but Crab turned him down.
In Flamerule of 1496, Crab, at Gellan's request, put together a team to make sure the Haunted Mansion of Saltmarsh wasn't actually haunted. Crab asked Micah, Lyra, and Reyna of his regular smugglers for help, and reached out to Necian and the firbolg fish cutter Keyleth for extra assistance, unwittingly creating the group that would become the future Heroes of Saltmarsh.
After the Heroes had dealth with the mansion, and subsequently uncovered a plot to smuggle weapons to the lizardfolk of the Sunny Shore Tribe, Crab was also approached by the reclusive town wizard Keledek, who needed a group of smugglers to investigate his missing ship. Crab didn't normally take missions from people other than his patron, but passed along the message to the Heroes regardless.
As the particulars of the Dunwater Alliance were being discussed by the Saltmarsh Town Council, one of the lizardfolk envoys, Earwig, became enraptured by the wild night life of the Empty Net, and Crab, bemused, took on Earwig as an assistant, paying the lizardfolk only in meals.
The Heroes of Saltmarsh continued using Crab's tavern as a meeting spot, thanks to Micah and Lyra's friendship with the barkeep. Following Micah's discovery that the Mask, his nemesis, was still alive, Crab gave a talking to Micah, telling him that he owed it to the town to not abandon it while it was in need. The furniture of the Empty Net was also vandalized by the Heroes, at once point using unbreakable glue to attach fish knacks to every table and the mantle.
In the month following the Battle of the Spire, Crab was inflicted with a Banesmark by members of S'gothgah's Cult of Bane to allow the aboleth S'gothgah to spy on the adventurers that continued to be a thorn in his side.
Micah's birthday party was held at the the Empty Net on the 30th of Marpenoth, and the tavern was the sight of an explosive confrontation between the Heroes and the Mask following the latter's return, resulting in Micah and Lyra first attempting to kill the Mask and then shouting at Mogran Oredelver and Oceanus when they tried to stop them, waking Crab while he was asleep.
Following the Heroes raid on the Twilight Monastery and return to town, the group discovered Crab's Banesmark and began distancing themselves from him to prevent the aboleth from overhearing anything. The Heroes then were able to nuetralize the damage Crab could do by convincing the townsfolk that the Banesmark was in fact a parasite from the Shadowfell that required those infected to be quarantined.
Following the Attack on the Neveren Trade Fleet, members of the Blackstaves arrived in Saltmarsh to magically remove Banesmarks from those infected and muddied people's memories of the mark, including Crab's.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Though not supernaturally or magically enhanced, Crab is in remarkably well shape thanks to his strict workout routine and diet.

Current Location

Saltmarsh

Species

Human

Year of Birth

1455 CR 43 Years old

Sex

Male

Hair

Reddish brown, short and spikey

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

White and freckley

Ruled Locations

• The Empty Net