Count Dion Alexander Grimmawk

Official image of Count Dion, drawn by @grace.pptx on Instagram.

Count Dion Alexander Grimmawk is a Player Character from Arc 10 and is played by Barnaby.

## Description

Count Dion is originally a Genasi that is then turned into a diabetic Dhampir. They are a Pact of the Undead Warlock / Inquisitive Rogue multiclass, with their patron being their husband, the vampire king Lord Chance Grimmawk of Tarnish. They are a gentleman, and very tidy and put together.

Dion handles his husband's day-to-day business, as Lord Chance is a full vampire and cannot easily go out into the world. Since Chance is their patron, they can usually communicate telepathically whenever they want, and can actually feel the others' kisses on their cheeks even when they are physically far apart.

Count Dion does not suck the whole blood from his victims, just their bloodsugar, which usually leaves them a little woozy at most, but doesn't kill them. It is possible for Dion to do this with as little contact as a handshake. Usually, he supplements the blood sugar by sucking on a lollipop, though, which he carries at all times, and only asks to suck someone's blood sugar when in a pickle.

Usually, Count Dion is accompanied by their familiar, a Quasit named Montenegro, which acts as their second in command and helper.

For the party in Arc 10, Dion wears a white button up with a bolo tie with the symbol of Tarnish in the middle, a long jacket, a vest with an intricate pattern, a nice skirt, high boots, tinted glasses, and a large hat like the one Beyoncé wore for Lemonade.

Their magic patreon item is the Pipe of J'accuse, with which they can cast Zone of Truth.

## Backstory

Count Dion originally is a Genasi from Port Manteau. He then marries the vampire king Lord Chance Grimmawk of Tarnish over 100 years before Arc 10, and is turned into a diabetic Dhampir. Whether they are turnt before or after marrying Lord Grimmawk, and whether it was him who turned them, is unknown. The wedding is attended by Queen Luminessa, their good friend. Between the wedding and Arc 10, Luminessa and Dion do not meet again, but they write letters back and forth, and Dion sends care packages. Through their letters, they also write fanfiction together.

## Character Arc

### Arc 10

Dion attends the meeting of the Necromancer's Guild as Queen Luminessa's plus one. He is there to have a good time, and quickly spots Bishop, who is in disguise as Arenothe, as a possible source of entertainment. After just a short while, Dion, who knows Arenothe, sees through the disguise. As soon as they see Marigold and Bishop's reaction to each other, they understand the dynamic, and, together with Luminessa, plot to get them back together. Without knowing what Bishop actually has to do at the party, Dion casts Invisibility on him to make his job easier, in exchange for the promise that he will have a proper conversation with Marigold. Maximum, Theodrink's young child, who saw this interaction happen, demands to be made invisible as well so that he can sneak into the mansion and do some investigative detective work. Dion does not turn him invisible, but brings him into the mansion as his plus one.

As Tiffany stabs himself during the show and tell, resulting in a power outage, Dion is mostly unfazed by the situation to lightly entertained. He does not care specifically for Tiffany, and does not feel threatened by the situation. They use the power outage to spy on some of the other guests, and then meets Marigold in the conservatory observatory. There, as Marigold trusts Dion to be able to help her, they realise that there is more to the situation, in connection to the fabric of magic and the leylines, and they find a raven feather on Marigold. As the power comes back, the guests meet in the ballroom again, where Dion tries to help bring light into the situation by convincing people to talk about what they did and what they know. Soon, they realise that Tiffany has gotten into blood magic, and that the man they thought to be Edd Yaug is actually his twin brother, who died looking for the real Edd, who in turn was killed by Tiffany a few decades ago. Together with Luminessa and Ki Lon, Dion then looks through Tiffany's record books to find that he purchased spell components in concerning quantities, spread over a long time and many vendors to avoid suspicion.

From Liyra, Dion hears that there are knots and tears in the fabric of magic centred on the mansion. Luminessa tells him that Tiffany had a deal with the Raven Queen, and they assume that Sharon must be the Raven Queen, even though she does not admit it. As Theo and Maximum show them the Loom of Lives, Dion sees that someone more skilled began using the item than the person that used it last, and concludes that Tiffany must have stolen it, possibly from the missing Nea Veia. Using the labelled colours of the loom, Dion joins the others to walk into the basement. There, he continues together with Luminessa even as they realise how dangerous the room really is, and together reach the end of it to disable the traps.

As Luminessa is attacked by Nea Veia, Dion does his best to protect her and the others. It is Barnaby's chaos dice that ultimately makes Sharon appear and end the fight. Afterwards, Dion asks Sharon again for her name, and she responds "You already have it, you just have a little bit more than you need". In character, Dion does not find out that Sharon is the deity Shar, at least not immediately. As the fight is won and the mansion goes back to normal again, Dion's husband Chance is finally able to receive and respond to their message, which reliefs them a lot, as they are used to being able to communicate with him at all times.

Before they leave the mansion, Dion offers Lumi help in her grief and necessary business regarding Nea Veia's death, and Theo a job in Tarnish on their ranch. Also, he agrees to help Bishop and Marigold defeat the weird darkness that seems to swallow their homeland.

### Ranch Sweet Ranch

As the party leaves the ship to get to the ranch, Dion stays behind for a bit, because he saw something. They follow the flash of grey-brown wool and finds Maximum, who hid on the ship to come with. Dion makes a little deal with him, convincing him to stay on the ship, safe with Ki Lon and the pirates, in exchange for some detective levels, a medal, and Dion telling all of Maximum's siblings about it all. Then, he leaves.

On the ranch, together with Lumi and Theo, Dion manages to convince Bishop and Marigold to try healing the land with the power of love by holding hands or kissing. It works, at least for a bit, but Marigold tells them that relationships need time to heal, and so does the land; not all of the weird portals can just be closed with a single kiss.

There is also another problem, as one of the portals lead to the Feywild and brought with it a tree and Draen'd, a person living in the tree. The tree is now sitting in the middle of the farmhouse. Marigold makes Dion talk to Draen'd, knowing that they are a good talker and might be able to find a compromise, but since nobody is actually able to move the tree, that does not work, and Bishop and Marigold get used to the thought of having Draen'd live with them.

Dion also checks in again with Luminessa to make sure she is taking the time to grieve about Nea Veia, especially as it turns out that Draen'd has the same soul.

At night, after a long day, Dion contacts Chance, who comes visit them. Dion brings him to the ranch and introduces him to their new friends.

## Trivia

* Barnaby is diabetic themselves.
* The inspiration for Montenegro comes from Barnaby's bloodreader, which is also named Montenegro.

## Footnotes

1. ↑ Barnaby later clarified that after further research, they found out that Count Dion's condition is actually called hypoglycemia, and commented on it here: https://at.tumblr.com/brekfastserial/dions-diabetes/zi0kopni4svh