Benji Kemp

**Benji Kemp** was a doctor living in Lion City. A regular at the Townsend Bar, he later joined Raymond Atwood and his group in entering Torcia Tower, wanting to study the mythical Pot of Basuzu.

## History

### Early Life

Born to a wealthy family descended from one of the original architects of Torcia Tower, Benji eventually became a doctor, setting up a hospital in Lion City, Felicitus. Around this time, he also became a regular of the Townsend Bar, befriending the owner, Stella Townsend, and constantly evading paying his tab. He also befriended the street performer Raymond Atwood; despite being told about the man's half-wraith identity, the doctor held no ill will against him for it. At some point, Stella brought him a new patient: the thief Lloyd Lowell, who had recently escaped Torcia Tower.

Upon Raymond's suggestion, Benji began working for the Chamberlain family as a way to clear his bar tab. After settling their affairs, Benji was approached by Raymond and told that he was searching for Cynthia Chamberlain at Torcia Tower; alarmed, Benji explained how he knew about the tower's design due to being a descendant of the architect.

### Tower Invasion

Benji thus joined Raymond and the healed Lloyd as they broke into the tower. He waited outside while Raymond entered and confirmed both the tower's layout and the powers of the three torture sisters inside, greeting the man when he successfully came back out.

The three then left to prepare for their siege on the tower, with Benji supplying building plans from his ancestor and designing acid bullets for Lloyd. A week later, they returned to the tower along with Stella. Waiting on the first floor with Stella, Benji discussed with her their reasons for doing this, admitting that he himself wanted to obtain and study the Pot of Basuzu.

Encountering Gibbet, the two were captured by her and brought to the fourth floor. Benji then watched as one of the sisters, Maiden, killed Lloyd with an iron maiden. As Gibbet left to deal with Raymond, the two captives were released after the girl was knocked unconscious. With the ceiling above them collapsing, Benji, Stella, and a wounded Raymond escape to the first floor as they are pursued by Rack, who has transformed into a giant wolf. As they do so, Benji ponders how they saw Gibbet bleeding, despite her supposedly being a wraith.

### Continued Interest

Following this incident, Benji searched for Lloyd's family to tell them what happened to him. Becoming obsessed with Torcia Tower, Benji continued planning to break in once more. Roughly six months later, Benji sent a letter to Raymond that detailed how the sisters had become active again, requesting that the man come visit him if he also intended on entering the tower again.

Later meeting with Raymond and several others, Benji reports how though they hindered Gibbet's plans in Mercerie City, they hadn't stopped the tower from taking more victims. He also mentions how the mayor of Lion City had disappeared a month prior, with the politician Blood Asterisk taking his place and heralding an increase of disappearances and deaths. When Isaac asked if they could just kill him, the doctor pointed out that they weren't even sure if he was connected to Torcia Tower, though Romalius soon confirmed that was the case.

Romalius then states that he wants them to meet with this new mayor, with Benji stating that he may be able to use his connection with the Chamberlains to set something up. He then listened as Luna Ruth brought up how she was planning something secret for their "performance". After the meeting members agree to complete their plans in a month's time and reconvene, Benji closes off the meeting.

### Confidential Talks

One day, while working at the Chamberlain estate, Benji was visited by Raymond and the two quickly moved to a drawing room to talk. When asked about the group he is part of, he states that everyone in it is following along with his interest in learning more about Torcia Tower. He then briefly explains how Isaac is an assassin from the Père Noël Brotherhood, which itself is a remnant of the original criminal organization, Père Noël.

As the two converse, Benji talks about how he had been stopped from recklessly entering the tower again by Romalius, who convinced him to plan a little before doing so. To that end, he called on his old friend Luna, who was also descended from the origian architects of the tower, and the two had discovered a secret entrance to get in. The two men then briefly discuss the new mayor of Lion City, with Raymond realizing that it may actually be a disguised Rabiah. As they wonder what to do about him, Benji is shocked when Danny Chamberlain enters and reveals that he actually has a meeting with the mayor, as he is a member of the town parliament.

### Early Arrival

A few days later, Benji and his group arrive at Torcia Tower to confirm their suspicions about the mayor. Briefly meeting with Gibbet and Rabiah, pretending to be husband and wife, they converse for several minutes before their group is reluctantly allowed to leave. They then run into Luna, who angirly berates them for visiting the tower ahead of schedule.

Sometime later, at a second group meeting, Benji introduces the other attendees to Magion Weinn, a merchant from the southern port town of Pharma. However, he is soon after called out for going to the tower early, though explaining the reason for doing so. Three days later, Benji secretly watches as Magion meets with Gibbet, as the two discuss how the merchant's alliance wants to conduct business in town and how they need the mayor's permission for it. Going to speak with the boy, Benji heard from him how the meeting went.

### Storming the Tower

On the day of the attack, Benji is standing by the lake bordering Torcia Tower, along with Luna and Romalius. Entering a boat, they sail to the outside of the tower, which has had a hole blown into the side leading down into the Reverse Tower underneath it. After entering through the hole, they begin moving down into the bottom levels. When they reach the fifth floor, Benji and Luna watch on as Romalius converses with the spirit Karaum. As Luna explains to him what she knows about Karaum, they continue watching as the two begin to fight. When Romalius calls the two onlookers forward, Benji allows Luna to go first, becoming enraged when the wraith tricks her and beheads her. Furiously attacking him, Romalius simply dodges and knocks Benji out.

He later wakes up in a dark and empty space, with Karaum watching him. When Benji asks him what Romalius is planning, the spirit tells him that since Romalius is the weakest of the 72 original wraths, he has to steal from others to become stronger, which he is attempting to do now. Karaum then vaguely suggests that to stop him, Benji should open an iron trapdoor and "free" him from the Reverse Tower.

Benji then properly wakes up somewhere in the Reverse Tower, having been injured by Romalius' attack but not too bad. As he opens a panel in the ceiling to investigate the sounds of fighting he can hear, he first sees Rack, and then Raymond and Tsukumo above; bidding the latter two to follow him, he leads them deeper into the lower levels.

After reaching the bottom floor and witnessing a fight between Raymond and his father Romalius, Benji points out how the armor shell in the middle area was gone, thinking it may be connected to the sounds of destruction from above. As everyone flees the tower as it is slowly destroyed, Benji grabs Luna's headless body and brings it with them. After reaching the shore of the lake, Benji lays down and passes out from exhaustion and blood loss.

### Follow Up

After waking up in his clinic, Benji realizes that Luna's underlings had taken him there and had him treated by his father. After recovering enough to move around again, Benji began helping to take care of the massive amount of patients injured from the recent events in Lion City.

As the number of patients began to dwindle, Benji began planning to leave Lion City, wanting to head north with Luna's allies and tell her parents about her death. On his last night in the city, he visited the Townsend Bar and told Stella about his plans. He also tells her about how he is going to search for Raymond, who had disappeared soon after their attack on the tower, as he needed to know what happened after he passed out.

## Skills and Abilities

Benji was a prodigious doctor, able to easily treat even mortally wounded patients. Along with this, he was very intelligent and clever, able to come up with detailed plans in a short amount of time. However, he lacked much knowledge about poisons and toxins, making it difficult for him to diagnose or treat those suffering from these.

## Character Connections

Olaf Kemp: Benji's grandfather. He and his father followed in Olaf's footsteps, both becoming doctors and eventually taking over for Olaf in directing his personal clinic after he retired.

Stella Townsend: Benji's friend and former love. The two would often meet at the Townsend Bar, which Stella was the owner of, conversing about various different things. Stella would always chastise Benji for his unpaid bar tab, though willing to help him find extra work so he could earn the money to pay her back.

Raymond Atwood: Benji's friend. Despite his wraith heritage, Benji never held this against him, rather finding it something interesting and often asking him questions to learn more about him. After Raymond's disappearance following the attack on Torcia Tower, he searched for him across the region to ask him what happened during it.

Luna Ruth: Benji's former girlfriend. Originally meeting while Benji was in college, they broke up after Benji began drinking and spending his wealth recklessly. Despite this, the two still remained close, continuing to be friends and later working together to break into Torcia Tower. After Luna's death, Benji resolved to take her remains to her hometown, give her a proper burial, and tell her parents of her death.