James

"2 parts buffoon, 3 parts imbecile, and 7 parts a romantic, James is the only one I can see myself able to rely on." -Jessie

"You never know what depraved thing someone like that coal-eyed maniac will do." -- the guards of Rearton, and Bol in general

"Of course it makes sense to you, you're a ball of nonsense." -- Jeff, to James

James is a half-elf warlock that is able to summon swirls of rose petals to dramatically fall around him whenever he wants. His companion is Meowth, a cat (?) like creature. James and his partner Jessie hint occasionally at having a checkered past, noting that they had been avoiding a mission with the ship The Law because of its name, and other odd examples.

Seemingly attached at the hip, they often begin each mission with a dramatic declaration of some kind. Their performances seem to be beyond question, however, as they get defensive if you ask them what their statements mean, and answer things like "that's the kind of information you have to pay for" and "we have a pamphlet that explains that, but it ain't free".

The pair also share a love of disguises, often stopping mid-mission to change several times, with James's costumes usually being a paler imitation of Jessie's.

## Notable moments

On a mission that veered into the Feywilds, Jessie voluntarily left the group in search of the Pool of Forbidden Knowledge and maybe some other unspoken goals. This left James heartbroken and momentarily unable to function. James has not been on a mission since, spending most of his time pouring over maps and letters while crying in the cafeteria. Meowth (now without a nose but the ability to talk) and a lobster that does not talk named Lobster Jones have lately been seen in his company.

Recently James has returned to missions as part of goal to return Jessie back to Shipton. He accompanied Bo, Dave, Rory, and Fallacious on the first mission back to Bol, and after the mission was over was awarded a collapsible magic cart to use on missions in the future. Bo, concerned that James would sell the cart and use the money towards funding a Jessie rescue instead of using the cart for the good of the group, only allowed James to keep it after James agreed to meet him for coffee and catch him up on all the hot goss concerning Jessie.

On a later mission in Bol, James was unable to lethally attack any antagonistic rogues, even if it meant his own life might be forfeit, because they might be "young Jessies". He also mentioned that he has been somehow able to get the Rust Bag of Tricks to Jessie though "magical post", but that might be an obscuration.

James has been very tight-lipped overall about Jessie's whereabouts and status, though there have been plenty of signs that there have been some communications between the two, even if they may be second-hand. Lobster Jones and Meowth seem to have knowledge that they have possibly passed on, but when questioned James gives short, vague answers. It's unclear as to why. Has Jessie forbid James from speaking about his adventures? And if so, why?

James has taken to bringing Lobster Jones with him on missions in his jacket pocket.

On a recent mission, James revealed that he was set on capturing creatures (such as the azure-winged butterfly) for his patron, "the boss". The Boss supposedly communicates with James via letter, and it's still unclear what sort of entity this boss is, but there do seem to be limits to his power, as evidenced by the fact he asked James to supply him with food for the butterfly. When James stole some food in the form of a blue liquid in a vial from some artificers, it led to some tension in the group as James sidestepped, deflected, and obfuscated why he needed the food and why he couldn't just take some of it, but the issue was eventually resolved when he agreed to return half of it. However instead of shipping it to the boss, he immediately handed it over to the R guy when he asked, and was rewarded with the magical earrings of listening.

On a trip to the capital, James lost 150 gold in a series of bets with Lizard Pete. James was attempting to have Lizard Pete silver his weapons, a process he could have hired a Shipton blacksmith to do at a reasonable but legal price he could afford, but ended up paying nearly all his money for the privilege of feeling what loosing three coin tosses in a row feels like. Lizard Pete nearly convinced the easily swayed James to bet his left arm on a twenty sided coin toss, but James came to his senses and left, poorer and probably not wiser.

James stayed behind in the hidden cargo hold of a ghost ship filled with corpses instead of returning with Bo and Dave for the chance at scoring some secret loot from a sealed barrel. Failing to open it, he shattered it with a spell and had the contents of the barrel, human guts, fly all over him. He was then attacked by a cannibal, bitten, and nearly turned into a jibbering cannibal himself, except for Jeff and the rest of the party took him to a cleric to be healed.

## Deck of Many Things Fiasco

After seeing Bo be rewarded by the deck, twice, James promptly stated he would draw four cards. The cards James drew were as follows (he drew additional cards):

* The Fool: James lost all the experience he had since gaining his third warlock level.
* Ruin: James lost all his wealth, everything save magical items, and any property he may have had. He wasn't great with his money anyway, but at least he'd never lost all of it at once before.
* The Idiot: James permanently lost a portion of his intelligence, 2 points worth if you wanted to put a number to it.
* The Fates: Allowing James to undo one event, he wished for Jessie to have never entered the Glitterswirl Castle, effectively freeing her from imprisonment.
* The Skull: James had to fight an avatar of death, alone, with the risk of his death being absolutely final. Luckily, he bested the avatar, though was rewarded with nothing save his life.

After all this James would have probably continued to pull cards, but it was not to be. So after loosing his experience, wealth, intelligence, and nearly dying, James would probably say it was all worth it to be reunited with Jessie. Dave and Jeff, however, seeing this play out, wisely decided not to play with the deck and it vanished.