Grave Robber

*"Can’t be doin’ with this burnin’ at the stake. Takin’ away honest folks’ work, that’s what it is."*

## Basic

(Core) Grave Robbers make their living among the dead. Both medical and magical professions create a constant demand for fresh corpses, some for study, others for more sinister purposes. Obtaining such corpses legally is quite difficult, so Physicians and Wizards both have come to rely on Grave Robbers. It is a loathsome profession, but a profitable one. The freshest corpses can command exorbitant prices. The risks of this line of work are substantial. Watchmen, Priests of Morr (the God of Death), and Witch Hunters all keep careful watch of graveyards and punish interlopers harshly.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Drive, Gossip or Haggle, Perception, Scale Sheer Surface, Search, Secret Signs (Thief ), Silent Move

**Talents:** Flee!, Resistance to Disease, Streetwise or Strong-minded

**Trappings:** Lantern, Lamp Oil, Pick, Sack, Spade

### **Career Entries**

Barber-Surgeon, Bone Picker, Ex-Convict, Rat Catcher

### **Career Exits**

Cat Burglar, Ex-Convict, Fence, Rat Catcher, Student, Thief

## A Day In The Life

A grave robber’s day starts as evening falls, when he sets off for a graveyard. If he were seen near a graveyard immediately after every new burial it would be suspicious, so most grave robbers patronise several graveyards. In large cities, where there are burials every day, this is easier, but in smaller towns it can be difficult to maintain a steady supplywithout trying to exhume every new corpse. In those cases, smart grave robbers create reasons for being in the area, such as patronising a tavern or brothel near the cemetery.

Getting in and digging the corpse up is often the easy part. Only fresh corpses are useful, so the ground is still disturbed, making digging easy and relatively quiet. In addition, a dark graveyard provides many places to hide, and it is not easy to tell whether a fresh grave is more disturbed than it was earlier. Getting out of the graveyard with a dead body, and then getting the dead body to the customer without raising suspicions, is often much harder.

Most grave robbers find customers through introductions from existing patrons, and maintain a policy of not asking what the bodies are for. Most justify this by believing that, if the bodies are already dead, they are beyond suffering. Very few grave robbers would knowingly supply a necromancer, and learning that they have unwittingly done so was the event that pushed many out of the career. Sometimes this is after dealing with the zombies.

## Theophilus von Dortmau

Theophilus is a physician in Altdorf renowned for his skill at surgery and his deep knowledge of anatomy. In recent years, he has taken to obtaining his own corpses, after becoming dissatisfied with the quality of the ones he could purchase. As a result of his nocturnal activities he has lost weight and put on muscle, and become far more familiar with how the poor of Altdorf live.

He has started developing radical opinions, and has quite shocked a couple of his wealthy clients with off-hand remarks about the oppression of the poor. He has even started to have doubts about his wealthy lifestyle, and wonders whether he should treat poor people free of charge.