Breggild Bolboc

Breggild Bolboc, the Name on Every Cask

Younger brother of Brog, Breggild took a long time to find his way. For ten years he left the city to roam the world, and no one truly knows what he was looking for. On his return, he announced he wanted to brew. His family saw only a taste for revelry dressed up as a trade, in a business already crowded with brewers. No one backed him. He brewed anyway, with what he had brought back from the road, and built the beginnings of a small empire. He forgave his kin in his own way, by carving their name on every cask. Among the Bolbocs, they still wonder whether it is an honor.

Describe him

He shakes your hand before you have finished coming in, firmly, twice, the way one seals an order. He smells of fresh hops and soap, never of stale beer. On him, not a stain, not a loose thread, and somewhere, always, the name Bolboc. He laughs loudly and heartily, with an accent no dwarf in the city can place. His eyes, meanwhile, weigh your purses and follow whatever you look at in his cellar.

Play him

Greet each visitor according to what brings them in. For the newcomer, a host's courtesy. For the buyer, a merchant's smile and a tankard on the house. For the mage, a sudden curiosity, almost greedy. For anyone who isn't buying, questions, and an eye on the cellar door where his casks work on their own. When someone serves him another brewer's beer, have him take a single sip, eyes half closed, then name without hesitation the brewer, the cask, and the brewing mistake. Remember, beneath every smile, that all of this is forgiveness given on a grand scale, to a family that still doesn't know whether to be proud of it.

What he says (rarely)

"Bolboc. Remember the name, you'll see it again on the next cask."
"A mage? Have a seat. I've known people like you, very far from here."
(still smiling, closing the cellar door) "You were looking for the way out, surely. It's that way."