Gross Derick

### Main Campaign(s)

*Deals in the Dark*, *Maw of Abbadon*, *Duality of Dragons*, *Meaning in Madness*, *Death and Debts*

**Gross Derick** is a reoccuring NPC in the TOPS campaigns.

## History

### *Deals in the Dark*

Derick is first hired as one of the two mercenaries escorting a mage from the Wizard's Guild as the mage is arriving to Bleak to deliver a scroll to his employer, Foley Furs. At the same time, the party is sent by Mr. Knuckles to steal the scroll. Derick is just vibing and has no awareness of the group. His good vibes makes Morc like him even better than his filthy self already did. He invites him back to the Black Jackal ran by Torl, where he meets his best friend Letty. Together with Madd Morc and Turr Khei they form the faction: the TOPS.

During their quest to retrieve the "Abbadon's Call", Letty joins the party to infiltrate the Vale estate's library and they both smoke tobacco that Letty retrieved from the library. They end up floating off into the distance and disappear for a few episodes.

After the party moves to the Broken Crowns tavern, the duo enters the bar one morning, where Gross Derick meets Seren. Immediately taken with Seren after she starts speaking Druidic to him, they start doing "druid shit" with each other, one time even hanging out with each other as beetles. Completely entranced with Seren, he even cleans himself becoming slightly less Gross Derick, as Seren clad in all white did not want to get her clothes dirty.

### *Maw of Abbadon* and *Duality of Dragons*

Before the TOPS group leaves for the Rift is search of Rivitah's past, he spends as much time as he can with Seren. Amidst these good times Derick reveals that he is leaving Bleak for work. Seren understanding his intentions takes him to the nearest store to get a pair of sending stones in which will become the symbol of their relationship. Seren leaves after their first kiss, leaving Derick alone with his friend Letty.

The two regularly communicate using their sending stones, but Seren is unable to receive or send messages while they are in Abbadon. Upon leaving, she receives several messages from him but when she responds, he does not send a reply. It is not until they return to Black Jackal at the beginning of *Duality of Dragons* that they reconnect once again prior to Seren leaving on another adventure, although they continue to keep in touch.

### *Meaning in Madness*

After the events of *Duality of Dragons*, Derick gets a message from Seren asking him to come help man a new Druid grove created by vast soul energy on their estate. He comes to his lover, still in love despite the time apart, and tends to the grove. Seren reveals to him that during their trip to the swamp, she discovered that Derick's mentor was killed. As the party was primarily in the Dream during this campaign, the two were unable to communicate. At the end of the campaign, he receives a copy of Seren's mask and a letter from her saying goodbye. He breaks down as he puts away a ring into his pocket.

#### Seren's Letter to Derick

To my love,
My druid teacher once taught me the way of the mask, not because it's a symbol of the Pantheon, but because of what the mask means. A mask is to hide ourselves, to keep ourselves hidden from the world and cruel things it shows us. A mask is to hide our face and our eyes, for our eyes are the gates to the soul. Our eyes show love and our eyes show kindness, but they show hatred and rage. Hide your eyes and your face well and only show it to those who deserve it. You deserve my face and I hope there will be many others that deserve yours far more than I did. I used to only know of cold of ice but you have shown me the warmth of the soft fire's kindle.
Seren Thistlehoove, your love.

### After events of *Meaning in Madness*

Derick is just an absolute wreck. Spamming the sending stone, in hopes of answers. Grieving he finds comfort in the god Glory becoming his paladin, as under him, he is no longer lost.

In the session 5 of *Broken Bonds*, Eqqsquizitine Buble-Schwinslow Backslashinfourth VII tries to task the group with capturing Gross Derick for him. This is due to the affiliation of Derick with the Tops.

During the events of *Death and Debts*, Derick makes a guest appearance during the campaign under the name of Sad Derick as a druid living in the sewers of Witchtown. He helps the party achieve level 2.