a.k.a. Stony, Gull, the Triangle Man, the Snake, Rony Stoiču, “Digger,” Remus Doppelman, Viktor Zolotov, Vik, Dead Eyes, Sebastijonas, Bash
INVESTIGATOR (Steel Hound) 11/GUNSLINGER 1
A lean and wiry human male of middling height and indeterminate age, perhaps mid/late thirties? (Or possibly significantly younger.) He had olive-colored, leathery, sun-wrinkled skin, and dark black hair, mustache, and a soul patch. His eyes were dark. Many of his teeth had been replaced with metal versions, some of gold, some of rusted iron. The left side of his face was tattooed with a geometric spiral of tiny equilateral triangles. He also had a brand between his shoulder blades of a squiggly line. One’s eyes wanted to slide off him instead of linger.
The words that echoed in his mind from the Prologue were “Hide yourself.” In the shared nightmare of Chapter 1, he was clutching a makeshift torch made from a table leg and a soiled diaper. He speaks Taldane.
In Chapter 2, he claimed the red leather armor (even though it was obviously not made for him) and everything that matched it. He told the others his name was “Stony,” and when he saw the engraved wedding rings, he further claimed to be the “Gulliver” that Dora believed the G in the engraving stood for. He claimed the man’s ring, the lockpicks, the tools in the red leather case, the strange torch-like object, a rapier, a couple of daggers, and the two tomes they found in the room with the cells—one bound in red leather, detailing alchemical processes and formulae that is almost totally ruined, and the other a large, mangled tome, reeking of urine and covered in mold, clearly once a wizard’s spellbook and now just trash. He has also stashed a lockpick in a secret place, just in case. Gull believes he stole all of the belongings of the dead man on the table, including the wedding ring.
In Chapter 3, Gull retrieved the body of a fox that had been beaten to death with a hammer, to carry it with him until it could be buried, and he was quite emotional about it. He also displayed an affinity for mixing the materials from the red leather belt, and a knack for coming through in a pinch.
Upon being healed from unconsciousness on the second day of the adventure, Gull discovered that his belongings had been tampered with. The others confessed immediately, but the damage was done. Later, after Dora failed to access Ray’s memories using hypnosis in Chapter 6, the idea that someone may have stolen his memories—vital pieces of his own identity—infuriated Gull and made him vow revenge upon whoever did it to him.
In Chapter 8, Gull dreamed of a nightmare chase through a labyrinthine university, and himself in his “true form:” a plague-ridden, snot-covered, useless little boy wearing soiled diapers and tear-soaked orange scarves. He was also a shapeshifter in that dream, moving seamlessly from form to form, trying to outrun the nightmare. The dream also implied that he had an uncle and both of them suffered from an illness marked by leaking sores, and the Nightmare Man even claimed to know his “real name.” In that same chapter, he obtained a magical dagger whose blade can glow with light at will.
During the test of charity, Gull helped by finding means to preserve the survivors’ food and medicine to make it last longer. Later that day, he asked Winter to say a few words over his dead fox. Afterwards, he shared the details of his nightmare with the others, and realized that the university in his dream was actually the Sincomakti School of Sciences. Dora noted that the directive he felt in the dream to “chain the night” was possibly a reference to a 3,600-year-old book about dreams. Gulliver spoke privately to Dora about the Rag Man’s claims that she was Gull’s wife, and relayed the creature’s message to her. When he repeated the phrase “Down your mouth, down your throat, down to the ocean to die,” both of them realized it was a common nursery rhyme.
In Chapter 11, it was revealed that Gulliver’s “alchemical torch” is actually a weapon of unique and considerable power. In Chapter 12, Gulliver embarked on a solo scouting mission through the library. In Chapter 13, he decided to gather materials to build Bates a toy “alchemical torch.”
On the morning of the fifth day, Gull learned that he had contracted tumor infestation from the Hungry Flesh, but unlike Grip, he managed to fight it off—at least at first. The same morning he noticed that the fungus covering the rotting, piss-soaked wizard’s book he’d been carrying around had started to flake off and die.
In Chapter 15, the file recovered from the Briarstone Asylum records room that was attributed to “Gulliver Vatticus” described someone dramatically physically different from the man the party escaped their cells with—in fact, it described the man who died from the torture of the doppelganger in the cells below the day the party awoke. Count Lowls warned that Gulliver Vatticus’ gear should be locked away, separate from everyone else’s.
In the Act I Interlude, it was revealed that 22 years ago, when he was nine years old, Gull once stood, at midnight, bare feet were wet with sewage, in a steeply sloping alleyway, in the aftermath of something terrible. He backed away, unable to take his eyes off what had happened, and stumbled down a dead-end alley, ignoring the sewer grate he’d left open, and reached desperately for a slick, coiled cloth rope draped over a nearby wall. Then the Stranger appeared and took him by the hand, and after saying “You will do nicely,” she asked Gull what his name was.
In Chapter 16, Gull revealed that he believes himself to be Gulliver Vatticus, transplanted into the body of the mysterious individual who accompanied Grip when the half-orc threatened Airwynn in Pharast 4715.
Later that chapter, a patient record was recovered that seemed to correspond to Gull’s body. It said, among other details, that it was a Varisian human, 31 years old, called “The Triangle Man” or “The Snake.” The record also indicated that Lowls said he was the most recalcitrant individual one would ever encounter (that without sedation or psychotropic manipulation, he would “thwart your every best effort and make your life a living hell. Lying, to him, is like breathing”) and that Gull’s body was observed muttering “Hide yourself” in the Varisian tongue, changing pitch, timbre, dialect and tone with each utterance.
In Chapter 17, Gull chose clothes from the personal effects room at Briarstone Asylum that have places to hide things but are also a little bit peacocky, gloves that would protect him from having to touch skin, shoes, and a bowler hat.
In Chapter 18, Gull learned that he was fluent in the Orcish language, after hearing Grip and Denman in conversation.
In Chapter 20, Gull began training with Vaustin to improve his close-range firing skills. But after that, his tumor infestation worsened significantly, leaving him sickened and fatigued, with his sense of self starting to fade. Believing himself to have once been a doctor, he gathered Dr. Latchke’s surgeon’s tools and tried to treat himself… without much success.
In the same chapter, Airwynn's story indicated that Gull (or his body, at least?) had played a role in the murder of Dr. Trice, the former Administrator of Briarstone Asylum.
In Chapter 21, Gull despite (what he thought might be a resurgence of) his physician’s training, a medical kit, inspiration, shame, and an extract, succumbed further to his tumor infestation. The disease plagued him for many days.
In the same chapter, Gull reflected on what he knew about Gulliver Vatticus killing people and experimenting on them with psychotropic drugs, and wondered if he’d had anything to do with the treatment of Ulver Zandalus.
In Chapter 24, Gull was exposed to leprosy in a fight with two Boilborns.
In Chapter 27, Gull drank Dr. Elbourne’s potion of remove disease and was finally cured of his tumor infestation (it turned out that he had never succumbed to leprosy).
When the party returned to the chapel on the 1st day of Neth, he flayed the triangle tattoo off of his face.
In Chapter 28, he tried to get Tolman to perform a divorce proceeding for himself and Thema, but this instead led to a very strained conversation amongst the party.
During the battle for the chapel in Chapters 29 & 30, Gull focused on drawing as many enemies away from the survivors as possible, single-handedly facing off with dire rats and swarms for much of the melee. In the end, he helped Grip and Denman bring down Ratch Mamby (after threatening to eat the ratling).
In Chapter 31, Gull made good on his threat and did indeed cook and eat a portion of Ratch Mamby. In the same chapter, he revealed that he is fluent in the Orcish language.
In Chapter 35 (Part 1), when he was able to make out the words Zandalus was chanting, Gull learned that he was fluent in the Kellish language.
During the fight with the Tatterman in Chapter 35 (Part 2), Gull succumbed to the creature’s frightful presence and was driven into hiding while the rest of the party fought on.
In the Act I Epilogue, a 9-year-old Gull told the Stranger to call him “Rony,” after his dead uncle.
In the Act II Prologue, it was learned that the person formerly known as Gull, now called Rony, had been brought to Cassomir and the stewardship of Gulliver Vatticus on behalf of Count Lowls fifteen years previously. He spoke differently at the time, and believed Dr. Vatticus stole his self-hood from him, promising revenge as he cursed Vatticus. When compelled to answer the questions “who the hell do you think you are?” he called himself Rony Stoiču.
In Chapter 37, while taking care of Briarstone Asylum survivors on the Sellen Starling, Rony notably no longer resisted being touched, and displayed a stern bedside manner.
In Chapter 38, Rony reverted to his former way of speaking when confronted with the rattling knowledge that the Revenant of Dr. Trice was coming for them.
In Chapter 39, Cesadia Wrentz told Rony that he would kill people who asked questions about him or called him by a proper name. She said he changed his nicknames every week, usually to a new animal reference, and that he had been going by “Digger” the last time she saw him before the events of the campaign.
In Chapter 42, Rony (along with the rest of the party) heard the name of Xhamen-Dor and was seeded by it.
In Chapter 43, Rony realized that he’d had neither his false teeth nor tattoos in the memory from the beginning of Act II, and that his skin was sunburned as if he had been in a climate he was unfamiliar with.
In Chapter 45, Rony learned from Denman that cutting off his tattoos and giving up his family blade was akin to taking a shit on Varisian culture and erasing part of his story. Denman suggested that his blade was a clear sign that his family had been Sczarni.
In Chapter 46, Rony found what he believed to be his “go-bag” at Pier 19. Inside, they found multiple potions, a wand of invisibility, some money, a sealed waterproof document case containing keys and the deed to 23 Bridgeview Road in Thrushmoor (dated 5 Lamashan 4718, under the name Remus Doppelman), a small prototype alchemical torch, and a contentious letter to Grip. The letter contained reference to an “Uncle G,” who Rony believed might have been Gavrony Stoiču, possibly his namesake. It also posited many theories of deception and backstabbing amongst the party in the “before times,” and was signed “V” (clearly in Rony’s handwriting).
In Chapter 48, Rony donned Jane’s wooden armor.
Rony contracted demon fever from the bite of the Night Hag in Chapter 48, but was immediately healed when he put on her Heartstone in Chapter 50 (Part 1).
Rony developed the lesser madness of paranoia at the sight of the projected eldritch creature on Market Street in Chapter 50 (Part 3). He soon came to fixate elements of that paranoia onto Dabwick, believing them to be part of a “Grand Conspiracy” involving Dr. Vatticus. And in Chapter 51, Rony set aside some ingestible poison in a vial labeled “D.”
In the Act II Interlude, the Triangle Man (now known as Rony) was an Unchained Rogue who carried a weapon called Heartsbane. He was identified as someone extremely private, someone who liked to pull people apart with his bare hands. In that chapter, Rony was observed to have died in 4715 (three years before the start of the adventure) at the hands of a wish spell cast by the Mad Poet.
In Chapter 61, Rony recalled that he likely had read the play, The King in Yellow, in his previous life.
In Chapter 62, Rony began to question his strongly held conspiracy theories, but he still grew suspicious of Grip when Grip insisted Dabwick be included in the party’s activities.
In Chapter 65, Rony experienced a regression to his Gull personality when he was being drained of his life’s blood by the Star Vampire in Iris Hill.
In Chapter 75, Rony saw a bruised and battered Dora in the courtyard at Iris Hill, while he also believed her to be back with the party in a copse of trees, and began to believe that Dora was part of the “Grand Conspiracy.” These feelings were exacerbated when he observed Dora invisibly leaving the courtyard fight and moving toward the manor house, and in Chapter 78 he advised the others that they should take her out.
In Chapter 81, Rony remembered going up the stairs to face Zandalus… and failing; it was one of his earliest memories. As he headed down into the sub-basement of Iris Hill, he wondered if Vatticus would be waiting for him down there. He was so tired but he made himself keep going down the stairs. (As it turned out, Vatticus’ corpse was indeed waiting for him.)
When he reached the temple to Hastur below Iris Hill, Melisenn referred to him as “Viktor” and everything about his physicality and voice changed again. In Chapter 82, she called Viktor “lover,” and taunted him with knowledge of someone named Gregor, but after using the Confabulation Plates on Melisenn’s corpse in Chapter 83, he believed she had made up Gregor as a means of tormenting him.
In Chapter 84, Vik began speaking with various Briarstone survivors, trying to help them find new lives and purpose in Thrushmoor. He also learned about the time he dug Heartsbane out of the earth in a psychometry vision.
In Chapter 86, Vik learned from Lowls’ journals that he was from Riddleport and had been purchased fifteen years ago by Lowls from Weiralai and was drugged into compliance for many years, until his interest in Hastur kept him secure. Previously held for years by a long-time associate of Weiralai’s called Biting Lash. His surname may once have been Zolotov.
In Chapter 87, Vik wrestled with the veracity of Dora’s reports from Lowls’ journals regarding Vatticus and asked to see the “proof” for himself, which Dora provided. Vik seemed reluctant to accept it, but afterward, he found Denman at the Stain and got a tattoo of cracks starting on his left arm and shoulder and moving out onto his chest.
In Chapter 88, Vik came to terms with the evidence in Lowls’ journals that Vatticus was not the person he believed him to be and shared his feelings with Grip.
As the party set sail for Cassomir in Chapter 90, Vik contemplated how often he had been thinking of others before himself or the party in recent days, balanced by his continued willingness to do very uncomfortable things.
In Chapter 91, the Inmost Blot dreamed Vik’s dream: Vik dreamt that he was traveling, following Lowls’ directions to the Mad Poet’s gifts. He didn’t know where the road was leading him, and he didn’t like the feeling. The others were with him, including Lowls. He never found a gift, and when he felt like he was starting to wake, he realized his teeth were falling out. The dream felt both real and true.
In Chapter 94, Vik finally rid himself of his paranoia madness. During the same chapter he finished construction and enchantment on a new alchemical torch: Vanity.
In Chapter 97, on his second visit to the Dreamlands, Vik experimented with the amount of control he had over his lucid dream body, and manifested himself in a crisp, clean, white suit and wearing a red Varisian scarf.
On that same trip, Vik was swallowed whole by the Formless Spawn and nearly died.
In Chapter 98, on their next visit, he manifested himself as Rony, dressed all in black.
In Chapter 100, Vik began to experience physical side effects from prolonged Xhamen-Dor seeding.
In Chapter 101, the Inmost Blot dreamed Vik’s dream: Vik dreamt of learning how to escape the grasp of tentacled creatures. Well, one in particular. He was enveloped by the Formless Spawn. It kept trying to consume him over and over but Vik kept at it because he needed to survive. His training was interrupted by the Rag Man‘s laughter. The dream felt real, but not exactly true.
In Chapter 102, Vik spent six months at the Forsaken Caravanserai with the Yellow King, and while he accomplished his goal of crafting items for use solely in the Dreamlands, it also left him mad. His madness manifested in an inability to determine reality from dreaming.
In Chapter 103, when arriving at Viscount Pietro Brellin‘s ball, Vik manifested a dream body with the long, shaggy hair and overgrown beard he had in the caravanserai, but dressed in the Yellow King’s finery.
In Chapter 107, when arriving in the Enchanted Wood, Vik’s dream body continued to show the wear and tear of his prolonged madness.
In Chapter 116, Vik had a dream without the influence of Xhamen-Dor: he dreamt of waking and seeing the Yellow King, his “best friend,” at his desk. Vik was telling him about the wild dreams he’d been having, but then the Tatterman appeared to warn him: “You forgot about me. You forgot about how she sent me after you. You forgot about all those things that happened. Don’t forget.”
In Chapter 125, Vik finally recovered from the madness he obtained during his months-long crafting foray to the Dreamlands, greatly aided by a session of hypnotism with Dora.
In Chapter 126, when arriving in Arventon, Vik’s dream body wore accoutrement for inclement, boggy weather and terrain. While reaching into his haversack to store Vadrack’s hat, he discovered that the journal he wrote during his six months in the Dreamlands was not there any more. Following a conversation with the party in Chapter 129, he realized where he lost it and the party returned to the dream reflection of the Sellen Starling and recovered it.
In Chapter 130, when the party arrived in Igguzqaiz, they were given visions of an alternate life. In his, Vik saw himself as a highly successful educator and medical professional, a doctor/professor at a teaching hospital. He manifested his lucid dream body dressed in his clothing from that alternate life.
In Chapter 131, upon catching sight of a Gug, Vik was again driven mad, this time filled with a terror of death.
In Chapter 132, during the Gug fight that followed, Vik’s lucid dream body was slain and his consciousness was thrust back to the Waking World.
In Chapter 133, Vik woke after a night of screaming, fatigued and unrested. He believed the Dreaming was broken, and that Death was after him, and he must not sleep. He immediately got to work crafting alchemical means of keeping himself awake.
He then spent many days not sleeping, desperately working on crafting doses of insomnia powder, before reaching a latent state of madness by the Night of the Pale.
In Chapter 137, when arriving in Sarnath, Vik manifested his dream body dressed like a musketeer, in tabard, pantaloons, half-cape, and feathered cap.
In Chapter 140, Vik finally recovered from his night terrors.
In Chapter 142, when arriving in Dylath-Leen, Vik drank an extract of False Face an manifested as a chubby, pimply teenager.
In Chapter 1434, Vik learned via a psychometry vision that he, when he was Rony/The Triangle Man, had spent 19 years and built a life in Dylath-leen, including getting married and having a daughter, Katarina, all while calling himself Sebastijonas (after his eldest brother). He wondered if it had been a choice to get away from the Real World.
In Chapter 145, while the party discussed their imminent visit to the Mad Poet’s Oasis, Vik was mostly quiet, occasionally asking probing questions of the others, but he did stress his concern about Weiralai going after Katarina.
In Chapter 150 (Part 1), while crossing the Eastern Desert Vik felt his drive for vengeance slipping further and further away, feeling it to be more and more a worthless vanity.
When asked by the Mad Poet what in and of himself he valued most highly, Vik responded, “My wits.” In return, Vik received the boon of a +2 bonus to his Intelligence score.
In Chapter 150 (Part 2), the Mad Poet granted Vik his desire to see his daughter kept safe. He agreed to make her undetectable by Weiralai and all of her allies for as long as she existed. But he also layed out a Catch: Vik must never see her again, speak her name aloud, set foot in Dylath-Leen, or send anyone to check on her. If he does, the Mad Poet’s charm would transform into a beacon which would draw the attention of everyone who’s ever wished Vik harm.
In Chapter 150 (Part 3), Vik recovered his lost memories and learned his full history.
When “Vik” woke in Chapter 151, he was slowly separating himself from a dream of being on a boat with a young Katarina, fishing in a pond. He woke in pain and confusion, unsure of whether Lowls had drowned them all at the Oasis or not. He slowly recognized Grip, and then Chester. But he sounded different, and the others noted it. When asked, he stated that his name was Sebastijonas, or “Bash,” and that he was dedicated to finding his way back to his daughter, even though he’d sworn not to.
As Bash walked through the city of Cassomir in Chapter 153, he experienced overlapping memories of walking through the streets of Dylath-Leen with Katarina.
In Chapter 155, with concerns about a Xhamen-dor fungal infestation on his mind, Bash wandered the streets of Cassomir reflecting back on his travels with his family as a small child, during the spread of the Red Death on the Lost Coast.
In Chapter 160, Bash went shopping for new clothes, hunting for items more like what he wore in Dylath-Leen, more expressive of his Varisian heritage.
In Chapter 168, Bash was driven mad at the sight of the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath and began feeling a compulsion to stick his hands and fingers inside the creature’s many mouths. By Chapter 170, he was staying awake all night and drawing pictures of the creature.
In Chapter 174, the party discussed their preferences regarding Reincarnation and Bash revealed that he would only be willing to return from the afterlife in that manner if the party determined his presence was absolutely necessary for the mission they were on.
In Chapter 176, Bash’s obsession with the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath continued in his private reveries.
In Chapter 177, Bash made sure to take custody of the poor arctic hare that was curled up with Nheb’s corpse on the Arcana level of the Mysterium, so that the Shoggoths wouldn’t kill it.
In Chapter 185, Bash reflected on his years spent in Blossoming Thorn and of what little he knew of the Corpse Orgy. These memories deeply disturbed him and pushed him into shutting down.
While trying to drink himself into oblivion (rather than participate in a conversation about visiting Okeno) during Chapter 186, Bash discovered that he was immune to poison and could no longer become intoxicated.
First Appearance: Act I Prologue