Darby Tetrarch

**Darby Tetrarch** (Prinplup) is an antagonist in Bandits of the Forest. He is the eldest prince of the Wick Kingdom and ally to Last Autumn.

## Personality

Darby, on the surface, is a humble, compassionate Prinplup who seeks nothing more than to extend a wing of friendship to neighboring kingdoms. He carries himself with great dignity and has a known habit to flirt with young women, making him quite the catch for marriage. He’s often described as the classy party type, more than willing to share a dance with anyone.

Darby values loyalty more than anything else and works to reinforce those bonds, such as his treatment with his personal guard and his bonding with Erasmus. He believes with all his heart that true loyalty is the key to success, and only those who can captivate the hearts of their followers can truly rule a kingdom.

Though Darby’s intentions are true to heart, they are secretly far more twisted than he lets on. In truth, Darby is a conniving, lecherous womanizer who seeks to bring Virdis back to the old days where one’s subjects blindly followed their king without question.

He is manipulative to a fault, shamelessly using his Attract and Captivate to get his way with women. He enjoys watching his targets fall for him, blissfully unaware that their thoughts aren’t their own.

Darby has a hairline trigger when it comes to not getting what he wants, almost bordering on jealousy. This was first shown when Melissa (unintentionally) asked to dance with Erasmus, briefly slipping into his darker side when he threatened Erasmus. If there’s one thing he desires most, it’s Melissa, and anything that stands in his way of making her his will be cut down mercilessly.

## Abilities/Skills

**Overall Abilities-** As it is tradition, Darby was trained in combat at a young age and possesses great skill on par with most of his knights. He can hold his own against well-trained fighters, such as Jason Stormbreaker, and take a surprising amount of damage even when beaten within an inch of his life.

**Manipulation-** Darby's most reliable trait is his manipulation tactics. He has a great understanding of emotions and desires, exploiting them to turn those to his side. He makes shady deals with unlawful individuals in exchange for their darkest desires, such as hiring fake waiters for the Senbo party to drug the attending women with love potion. He has a habit of irritating people by digging into sensitive topics and baiting them into doing something irrationally. He doesn't even need to do anything shady to gain someone's loyalty, as he works tirelessly to ensure his subjects' loyalty through his generosity and unending flattery.

**Swordsmanship-** Darby specializes in using the sword, though it serves more as a conduit for his fighting style.

### Equipment

* **Sword**
* **Love Potion Recipe-** This recipe was inherited to him from his father. It's a special elixir made in the Arcania Kingdom, originally made as a beverage for celebrations between lovers. When consumed, it lowers volition and judgment much like alcohol while heightening arousal. If used in conjunction with Attract or similar moves, the potion can be used to brainwash a target into falling in love with the user. Repeated doses of love potion strengthen the mental hold Darby has on his victims.

### Moveset

**Ability-** Defiant

* Aerial Ace
* Attract
* Captivate
* Power Trip
* Work Up
* Agility

### Enhanced Moves

* **Blade of Desire-** This technique centers around Power Trip. He coats his sword in the dark energy and strengthens his striking power through boosts from Work Up and Agility.
* **Wing of Desire-** A disarmed variant of Blade of Desire.
* **Envious Return-** When combining Blade of Desire with Aerial Ace, Darby can release a dark shockwave that increases in power in conjunction with his boosts.
* **Lover's Trance-** A combination of Attract and Captivate. Darby performs a low-level form of hypnosis that affects women. A combination of the hypnosis and his charms infatuates any woman he stares into the eyes of. Under normal circumstances, he cannot make women do whatever he wants (especially if he pushes his boundaries), but the effects are multiplied if combined with a love potion. This ensures he has complete control over his victim's thoughts and desires. The effects can be resisted or flat out ignored by those who know the trick or generally hate Darby. The brainwashing can be undone through psychic therapy, though it takes time depending on how reinforced the brainwashing was.