a.k.a The Tortured Man
DECEASED
A middle-aged human man with salt-and-pepper hair was discovered lashed naked to a table, being badly tortured by an insane doctor lady, and moments from death, when the party first awoke in Chapter 1.
In Chapter 2, Dora used her blood reading ability to discover that he was fifty-eight years old when he died, and that he had been Neutral Evil. His teeth were clean and white, suggesting privilege, but his marked and callused fingers indicated he worked with his hands. He was Ulfen in ethnicity, likely from the far north, but his once-black hair would been unusual for his heritage.
In Chapter 15, the party learned that he had been named Gulliver Vatticus, and that he had apparently been Ray‘s biological father.
In the Act I Interlude, fifteen years prior to his death, he was seen being associated with the creature known as The Stranger, and was present after the massacre of the freedom fighters in Cassomir, where he picked up some “special cargo” from her. He was in his prime then.
In Chapter 16, the party learned that he had been in the long-time service of Count Haserton Lowls. He was something of a shut-in. He was once a physician in Rozenport in the 4680’s, and was driven out of town in disgrace after his experiments in psychotropic manipulation and coercion were discovered. He left behind a small army of murder victims, isolated and homeless people he’d kidnapped and upon whom he had tested devastating and lethal drug cocktails.
In Chapter 28, Dr. Vatticus appeared in a psychometry vision related to his wedding band. In the vision, he and a very young Ray called Thema a “hateful old witch” as a secret mantra, and Vatticus gave Ray some sort of alchemical concoction and told him to drink it when “they” went “down by the lake.”
In Chapter 34, Dr. Vatticus appeared in the psychometry vision of his wedding to Thema. The ritual turned into a blood-letting, and Dr. Vatticus spent his time doling out drugs to guests.
In the Act II Prologue, the scene from the Cassomir docks fifteen years previously continued, and Vatticus was seen taking possession of Grip and Rony from the Stranger on Count Lowls’ behalf.
In Chapter 43, Dora observed Vatticus in a psychometry vision tell Thema that it was Brayden who had killed her daughter, but he meant that it was himself and Brayden.
In Chapter 51, Dora learned in a psychometry vision that the dagger used to kill Ray had been given to Thema by Vatticus, and that Thema (sometime not long before the events of the campaign) asked Melisenn to hire Risi to kill both him and Ray.
First Reference: Chapter 1
Other Notable References: Chapter 2, Chapter 15, Act I Interlude, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 28, Chapter 34, Act II Prologue, Chapter 43, Chapter 51