Willard Lacey

### Death

Skinned alive by the Wendigo before being brought back and feasted upon by wolves.

### Relatives

Warder Lacey
Milda Lacey

### Profession

Hunter

"*The whole Wendigo story is just superstitious crap. May I remind you all that we aren't here for pleasantries and stories, we are here to hunt.*"
―Willard to the expedition group prior to being skinned alive by the Wendigo[src]

**Willard Lacey** was a human mercenary-turned-hunter of well renown. He was known mostly for his various exploits slaying large monsters as well as for being a reliable source for meat and pelts if you needed them.

Before one expedition, Willard, in a half-drunken state murdered a young orphan girl. Enraged, her grandmother placed the Curse of the Wendigo upon Willard and his group. From then onwards, the expedition was cursed and everyone started to have various nightmares and demonic visions. One night Willard awoke to find himself being skinned alive by one of his companions, Valor Hecktor, who was possessed by the Wendigo.

## Physical Description

Willlard Lacey was in his early forties with dark black hair that was slowly becoming white, and a hairline that had started to recede. His face was covered with a few scars left by battles with wolves and he also had a short black beard. He wore black leather armour covered by a large black fur cloak, and carried an assortment of daggers as well as a large heavy crossbow.

## Backstory

### Fortune & Glory

Willard Lacey grew up in the city of Castow with his father and mother, Warder & Milda Lacey. Finding himself a natural when it came to weapons and combat, Willard became a mercenary-for-hire and soon became very well-known in Castow for being able to complete any task, whether it be slaying a monster or transporting goods. Willard found that he enjoyed the fortune, the glory, the blood of his enemies. As time went on Willard even started accepting assassination requests and even found pleasure in getting the job done.

### Willard's Bloodlust

One day however while travelling back from an expedition, his blood-lust became to uncontrollable for him and in a fit of rage he murdered the group that he had travelled with, returning to town the sole survivor. He made up a story that they were all killed while hunting the beast they had been sent out to hunt, but rumours started circulating about what Willard had actually done. They even got so bad that Willard had to stop being a mercenary as no-one would work with him, let alone hire him with the fear of becoming one of his victims.

So Willard lay low and moved cities for a while before starting to hunt game and sell the meat and pelts to various vendors. He proved so successful at this that he again rose to well-renown, this time for his hunting prowess. So that's what he did, he hunted.

Unbeknowest to most but Willard hadn't changed. He still committed heinous murders in the shadows, but he became smarter and wiser. Willard started to put out open invitations to go hunting with him, but would make sure those who joined him weren't anyone that would be cared about. Sometimes sure, he would just go and hunt beasts with them, but other times he would lead them out into the wilderness before killing them himself.

### The Curse of the Wendigo

Willard slowly became more and more sick in the mind, he wanted more challenging kills, and this was ultimately his downfall. Willard requested certain heroes and adventurers of fame to join him on a hunting trip for the winter, he also gave out an open invitation for anyone else to join. He planned to take them out into the wilderness and slowly kill them all one by one. This would be the ultimate challenge, the ultimate thrill.

So Willard met with those who showed for the expedition, the group consisted of a guide, Kane Bolton, a snow elf, Zaleria Naicelea, an orc, Tuk Dulaga, an armour-clad dwarf, Gartokar Garaninov and a barbarian, Valor Hecktor. Willard then outlined a plan to them all, which was to head out for the winter and kill as many wolves as they could, gathering up the pelts and meats. He told them he had a contact in Solwish who would buy them and pay good coin. While going over these plans, Willard kept finding himself day-dreaming about the young barmaid, thinking of all the things he could do with her.

As the barmaid got ready to leave for the night, Willard retired to his room before sneaking out of the the back door. Willard followed the girl home and cornered her, although his fun was cut short as he slit her throat as she started to scream and spasm. The next morning the group headed out, and were met with an old woman who in a fit of rage cursed Willard and the rest of the party with the Curse of the Wendigo.

After that, wildlife vanished from the area and an uneasy feeling made it's way through the party. Willard woke up during the first night to find himself unable to move and alone in a dark forest with thunder booming and lightning impacting the ground around him. Then out of the forest came Valor Hecktor, the barbarian, who proceeded to skin Willard alive. Even though Willard had thought this to be a dream at first, the pain was real. Valor had been possessed by an entity known as the Wendigo.

As the group awoke the next morning, they found Willard missing from his tent. Following footprints through the snow, Tuk and Gartokar found Willard's skinned body tied up between two trees. Willard was dead. But, as they turned away from the body, it disappeared. The Wendigo then brought Willard back to life and restored his body back to normal, but Willard still couldn't move and was left to be torn apart by wolves.

Willard's soul was then brought back a second time but only to answer a few questions that Gartokar had. Willard's answers revealed Valor to be possessed by the Wendigo and the Wendigo then manifested and attacked the group. Tuk was killed and Zaleria and Gartokar only barely managed to defeat the Wendigo before trekking to Solwish.

The whole incident became known as The Winter's Peak Massacre.

## Session Appearances

 Poor Bobby
 Fey Choices