Pinjin

Desert trader out of Tormani. Mostly affable, with cool af sword skills. Likes pizza. Dislikes blue dragons, wurms, and wasting water. While the blog refers to him as "Pinjin" for the purposes of consistency, it should be noted that Pinjin does not appear to prefer any particular spelling of his name, and that other acceptable variants have so far been: Pinyin, Apeenjin, etc.

## Description

At first blush, Pinjin seems to be a normal caravan leader. Human (?) male, but in battle he has sick sword skills.

## Biography

### Background

Making his living as a merchant, Pinjin travels the trade routes between Tormani, Csipherus, and points south with goods. An accomplished swordsman, he's more than capable of holding his own in a fight, though for securing safe passage (especially across the undead wastes) for his caravan he'll often enlist a crew of guards.

### "I'm Searching for a God Who Will Carry Me Away" (1x51)

Zeno found Pinjin in the Tormani caravansary while looking for passage to Csipherus. The two came to an agreement: for a modest amount of gold, Pinjin would hire the party so caravan could take a more direct route through the desert, as a crew of guards would allow him to travel closer to Csipherus and shave weeks off his travel time across the sands. Pinjin seemed to really hit it off with Zeno, and the bard secured a dinner date with Pinjin and the party at the Tomato and Basil, a flatbread restaurant in Tormani to formally seal the deal. After some silliness, the party agreed and made plans to set out with Pinjin at dawn the next day.

### "There's a Desert in My Blood and a Storm in Your Eyes" (1x52)

Pinjin and the party set off across the desert. During a sandstorm, Pinjin berated the party for their wasteful use of water in boiling it to make beer, and after a thorny start, taught the group how to ration and protect their water stores against the Tithe of the Desert, an enchantment that seems to thieve water from any open source. Pinjin's crew also share stories about the two sibling dragons of the desert, Atarka and Ojutai. The next day, during a brush with a band of undead, the group had Pinjin and his caravan wait farther away while the party dispatched the foes. As a sandwurm approached the conflict, Dronie tried to tell Pinjin to stay away, but the familiar's dance was misinterpreted by Pinjin and he brought his people into the battle anyway, thankfully after the zombies were slain. On learning that the wurm was coming (a "rumbling beneath the sands"), he instructed the party and his crew on best wurm practices and everyone was able to avoid being eaten (thanks also to Awk and the dust devil as bait). Later that night, Awk asked Pinjin about desert plants at oases and Zeno attempted to play music and Pinjin shut him down. Pinjin did seem to appreciate Felegum's moose and greens stir-fry, though.

### "I Won't Forget to Close Your Eyes for You" (1x53)

Pinjin and the party coordinated much better this time with keeping the caravan back and it seemed like Zeno's pennywhistle was much more his style than the bagpipes. Pinjin gave the party some light shit when Zeno raised a zombie, Drybones, but let it go after some assurances from the group. When Awk found another cactus, Pinjin was not willing to take the caravan to it, but did stop to let Awk and Set check it out. When Atarka attacked, he bravely defended the caravan, even while grappling with the loss of half of his friends. He and Felegum had some beef about emotions, and when Awk's role in the conflict came to light, he was not too happy with the gnome either. Pinjin, it was revealed, was very talented with a sword he has strapped to his back. He allowed the party to dispatch and bury Awk, apologizing for no longer being able to pay them.

### "Well, I've Lost It All, I'm Just a Silhouette" (1x54)

Pinjin communicated that he wouldn't be able to pay the party anymore due to his massive losses post-Atarka and the party accepted this with grace as he also offered to share his water with us. The group parted ways with him a day or two later, and he offered the group sips of wine as well as traded Ptarmigan books with Felegum. Pinjin also knew about the Goblin Shopping Network and brought the group up to speed on their oceanic explots. The group parted with him the next morning and turned back toward Csipherus as he continued farther south.

## Relationships

### Crew

Pinjin's caravan crew contains some of his best friends. He is dedicated to protecting them and enjoys their company.

### Felegum

These two seemed to butt heads a lot both during the trip, the Atarka fight, etc, but it turned out that Pinjin was also a huge Ptarmigan fan and had an earlier book in the series that he swapped with Felegum in a gesture of friendship. Now it seems like they're cool.

## Character Information

He appears to be a fighter of some flavor.