Dretch Van Spellsin

Attorney at law, adventurer under duress

Dramatis Personae

Dretch Van Spellsin - Youngest member of the Spellsin family, left family to
avoid the slaying business.
Katerina Van Spellsin – Dretch’s mother, stern matriarch of the family,
unmatched in combat with a rapier with several duelling scars to prove her
metal.
Vladimir Van Spellsin - Dretch’s father, massive bear of a Goliath with the
strength of several men, drinks like a fish and looks like a bull.
Bogdan Van Spellsin – Dretch’s uncle, magically gifted member of the family
that provided much of Dretch’s arcane tutoring.
Ape Van Spellsin – Ancient Spellsin family member bound to the famous Van
Spellsin spell blade, cantankerous and constantly thirsty for battle – hates Dretch
and his life choices.
Crickly Draven – Extremely old vampire that runs Eastern Nanas oldest legal
firm - Craven and Draven. Taught Dretch all he knows about law and informed his
world view of what is truly evil.
Lazarus Craven – Silent partner of Crickly that Dretch has never actually met,
supposed to be one of the oldest vampires in all of Nana.
Various Evil/Questionable clients – Due to the nature of Dretchs work he has
come into contact with a great many peoples, mostly from the bad side of the
tracks.

Growing up a slayer, becoming a lawyer

“Hunt with us and see what it means to be a Spellsin” – Vladimir Van
Spellsin
Dretch grew up in a loving well off environment – his parents worked as bounty
hunters but seemed to make an extremely good living doing so. He spent his
younger years ploughing through their home library, digesting any and all of the
books he could get his hands on.

Almost half of the library was dedicated to the various monsters, undead and
creatures that inhabit Fallanti, but this didn’t deter Dretch – he relished such
books. He would spend hours pouring over those books, much to his parents
delight, but he didn’t see monster in the books – just misunderstood creatures.
As he aged Dretch received a complete education and was tutored in many
different forms of magic/combat. He showed an aptitude for fighting with a blade
whilst using magic, just like his grandfather, but the only thing Dretch was really
interested in was studying.

Dretch spent his years carefully studying and understanding the vast Van
Spellsin library, and when he started to come of age had taken a particular
interest in the laws, codes and statutes. Much to the delight of his parents and
family he expressed a strong interest in defending the innocent and downtrodden
- those who cannot defend themselves and are overlooked.

Little did they know that Dretch was not thinking about the same
downtrodden that the Van Spellsin family would usually defend – he set
his sights were set on the exanimate.

So eventually the day came when Dretch was of age and as he feared, it was
time to join the family trade. Although he has other aspirations and the idea of
combat with actual opponents made him wince, he knew that he was expected
to provide with his family.

So it as with a heavy heart that the morning of his 15 th birthday he woke up

ready to face his first bounty hunt, at the very least he would be protecting
people and taking criminal off the streets to face justice. His father, an imposing
figure of a Goliath sat him down, a wrapped long object sitting on the table in
front of him.

“You know we gave you spell blade for birthday few year ago, right?”, the low
gravel voice rumbled. “Yes father, to help me focus on magical study and learn to
defend myself”, piped Dretch, a look of curiosity on his face. “Well this is not for
defense, this is different kind of weapon Dretch, one for serious business. This is
sword your grandfather hand down to you, special sword for those who know
magics, like you. A look of greater confusion spread over Dretch’s face, as his
father removed the cover from the blade, revealing an incredible looking
weapon.
“This is a beautiful weapon father, but seems little excessive for bounty hunting
no?”, Dretch exclaimed, trying not to downplay the gift. His father let out a deep
sigh, his son so intelligent, probably the smartest Spellsign to ever live, but so
lacking in common sense. All these years and his poor naïve boy still hadn’t
worked out that the bounty they hunted, tended to not breath or walk on two
legs.

“Look boy, you will come with us tonight, hunt with us and see what it means to
be a Spellsin – this weapon will be necessary, soon you will see”, he growled out
in a slightly menacing tone.
So Dretch was dragged off by his family on the hunt - mother, father and uncle
all in tow. They travelled quiet far he thought, heading roughly in the direction of
Eastern Nana – most of the travel was done in silence, tension hanging heavy in
the air. “Can you just not tell me who we are after? Mother, Uncle?”, Dretch
protested as they moved, but no one would answer him.

So they came to a camp, a little well organized for bandits Dretch though to
himself, but he wasn’t the trained bounty hunter so didn’t raise the question.
Dretch went to reach for his new weapon The Grim Poker, for the first time, but
hesitated before touching it – something deep down told him not to. “Just watch
Dretch, if you think you can help don’t, today you just watch, OK?”, Katerina told
her son.

So Dretch observed as the Van Spellsin family quietly surrounded the camp and
setup an ambush. It was about 20 minutes later that the party returned back to
camp and so began the last night Dretch saw his parents. The party consisted of
a family with a two younger children, that’s very sad thought Dretch, what will
they do with the children when they capture these outlaws? He supposed it will
be his responsibility to look after them.

Then the ambush was sprung and all hell let loose.

Firstly a crossbow struck the mother in the throat, but she didn’t fall, instead a
gurgling scream issued forth and fangs descended from her mouth – no thought
Dretch, they must be criminals as well, no no no, we don’t go after innocent –
crunch, his fathers blade sunk deep into one the childrens chests, blood
showering from the wound. The scene was absolute carnage, just as the first two
blows were struck the father and son transformed into large winged beasts, only
to be bathed in silvery moonlight, reverting their forms.

Dretch then did several things in order, firstly he took off the Grim Poker and lay
it in the snow, then he threw up at the sight of what he was witnessing, finally he
wrote a short note on paper, got up and started running. His letter read “I always
wondered why our family was so mysterious, now I realise we are monstrous –
don’t come looking for me”.

Years in Eastern Nana

“We do not measure guilt, we provide innocence” – Crickly Draven
After his quick exit from his family Dretch decided to go to the one place he knew
would accept him for the person he is, no, more than that, would appreciate him
for who he is – Eastern Nana. Young and alone he made his way in the direction
of Eastern Nana, pawning various possessions on the way to fund his travel,
after all with his new life ahead of him he vowed not to use weapons anymore.

That being said, better keep the spell blade he was given, the roads aren’t
exactly safe.

So, after several days travel Dretch finally reached the outskirts of Eastern Nana,
to some a dark foreboding city stretches out into the background, to him the sun
was shining and he could see nothing but a new home. Early days it was hard to
get by, not being a vampire pushed Dretch to a lower echelon of society and
having ran away from home at a young age he found himself alongside other
orphans in the city.

Work around Nana for a young orphan wasn’t exactly great, but due to his
athletic build and trustworthy nature Dretch was used now and again as a runner
for a local legal firm, Craven and Draven. He relished the work of running back
and forth from the courts, taking peeks at the legal notices and filings he was
running with, his keen mind starting to form a basic understanding of Nana’s
legal framework.

This learning did not go unnoticed either, Crickly Draven, one of the firms
founders saw the young man who spent his time trying to catch conversation
with the other lawyers or would check a form before taking responsibility,
correcting mistakes professionals of more than 100 years had made.

“What is it you want in, I guess we’ll call it life in this case…..Dretch”, Crickly said
one day, collaring Dretch in his office before he could run off. “Err what exactly
do you mean sir”, replied Dretch, looking down at his feet. “I mean Dretch, how
does a well educated boy, that can correct people 20 times their age find
themselves running papers for me?”.
Silence gripped the room for several minutes as Dretch very carefully searched
for a correct answer, not the truth, something better than that. “Dretch, I spend
all day with liars and cheats and am over 300 years old, you have a better
chance of fooling the gods than me – be honest”. So, Dretch told Crickly all about
his early life, family name, running away from home and ending up in Eastern
Nana.

Then there was a long silence, as the story hang around in the air like a bad
smell.

“Hmmm, I cannot say I have not heard of the Van Spellsin family, I hardly
considered my first meeting would be so…….. cordial”, Crickly cracked a rare
smile on his thin pale lips. “What to do with you then, Dretch of the Van Spellsin
family, any suggestions?”, “Well I don’t suppose I could be your apprentice?”,
Dretch countered. “Now that would be interesting wouldn’t it?”, Crickly said his
smile growing wider.

So for several years Crickly took Dretch under his wing, so to speak, teaching
him everything he knew about the law and then all the ways that you can beat it.
“We do not measure guilt Dretch, judges do that, instead we provide innocence
and as much of it as possible”.

End of the World

“You’ll be grabbing me tighter than your own cock come days end” –
Ape Van Spellsin
After many years of successful legal practice Dretch worked his way up to
becoming one of the most known legal names in Eatern Nana – if you were a
vampire, necromancer or had dark dealings then Dretch was the first name you
came looking for.
“Ladies and gentleman, Craznul the Deflier, Dark Grave Lord of the Ever Planes
never stood a chance”, Dretchs voice rang across the high courts of Eastern
Nana. “His forefathers saw to that when they named him Deflier and Dark Grave
Lord”, he explained, fingers forming quotation marks. “How else are we to view
this innocent person with such a fierce name, the prosecution seem to think a
name is enough to condemn a man, but I ask you, is this the face of a man
running a secretive dark cult bent on world domination”, Dretch intonated
towards the tall pale figure, gaunt in stature with near translucent skin and black
lifeless eyes – you could hear its bones creak as the creature forced a smile. “OK
let’s not fully focus on his face, ANOTHER difficulty piled onto my client that he
has no control over”, Dretch orated as he moved towards where his client was
sitting. He leaned down towards Craznul and very quietly stated “we should
settle”.

So with this he finally set his ambitions into branching out and opening his own
law firm, with his sights set on Nana. With this he packed up all his legal texts,
got a 100 business cards printed on the finest paper and purchased a spell a
great expense that was designed specifically for him – summon legal offices. Just
before leaving Dretch was taken aside by Crickly to thank him for all the work he
did and also hand him over a parcel that was delivered to the offices a few days
ago – a long narrow box with the Van Spellsin family crest on it.

Reluctantly, Dretch grabbed the box, then he said his goodbyes and made his
way towards Nana for a new legal adventure. On the way through Nana Dretch
stopped at a shop full of magical items and pawned the box left for him, he knew
what was inside – the grim poker, a dark reminder of his family and a violent past
he left behind. He then continued to the small plot of land he has purchased in
Nana, greeted his neighbors, took the tattered script out of his spell book and
recited the words, summoning a three story building with the sign “Dretch Van
Spellsin – I’ve got your back when the stakes are high”.

It only took a few days for the strange events to start happening, first there was
a knock at the office door and a runner had appeared carrying a long narrow
parcel. Dretch signed for it and with a small dread reconised the basic shape of
the parcel, his hands trembled as he read the note attached to it “You MUST keep
this weapon, it will NOT stop talking, berating, threatening and screaming at me
– never bring this back to me and never come in my shop again!”

Dretch sat for hours staring at the weapon, a pile of reports equally disturbing
waiting for his review – there seemed to be a collection of, well, necromantic
events happening and many people on his preferred client list where getting the
blame. So after a time he touched the blade itself “Oh the coward returns, its
been a while hasn’t it traitor”, the voice of an old angry man boomed in Dretchs
mind. He quickly dropped the blade and stared at it in cold horror, tentatively he
grabbed the Grim Poker, to put it back into its scabbard “It’s the end of days boy,
you’ll be grabbing me tighter than your own cock come days end”.

Dretch tried to ignore the swords words, ignore that a sword can talk, although
not the strangest thing he has ever seen to be fair. He went back to the paper
work, disturbing as it was, dead rising up, churches destroyed – so much work to
do he thought, they will be after my clients more than ever. Dretch went over the
paper work late into the evening, falling asleep by candle light on his desk.

Banging at his door woke him, loud and hurried, “Dretch please open up Dretch”.
Jumping out of bed and grabbing a lamp and his spell sword he carefully made
his way to the door, recognizing the voice of his neighbor, Mr Johnson. Dretch
pulled the door open, Mr Johnson fell through the door, smeared in blood, in the
street outside sounds of screams echoed all around. Dretch dragged him over to
a chair, propping him up and shaking “Mr Johnson, are you OK, can you hear me
– oh gods that’s a lot of blood and I’m not a doctor”, after a few minutes the
figure in the chair started to go pale and slumped down, air escaping his lungs.
“Oh my gods”, Dretch shouted to the room, looking carefully through the
window, “they have killed Mr Johnson”, where the hell is the city guard, he took a
glance back at the box containing the The Grim Poker, “no, no, never that, I have
magic if things get out of hand, we are better than that”. Then the moaning
started behind Dretch he looked back with a start “Mr Johnson, are you…….OK?”
Slowly with a bone jarring crunch Mr Johnson started to rise out of the chair, “oh
my gods, someone has resurrected Mr Johnson”.

“Please Mr Johnson, you don’t want to do anything crazy, death is not always the
end,” Dretch pleaded as the figure began to slowly rise out of the chair, “Hey you
can probably make my client list now, no need to do anything you’ll regret”. The
zombie slowly started to shamble towards Dretch, he raised his spell blade at the
creature and said “Im so sorry”, as fire leaped from the end of his blade
engulfing the creature, but it did not abate and continued its shamble.

Dretch looked over at the box containing the blade, and it seemed to stare back,
“Do it”, he swear he heard in the slightest whisper. “Oh fuck, fuck ,FUCK”, Dretch
grabbed the box and drew the blade into his hands “Aha finally you skinny streak
of piss, now let’s put those dick fiddlers you call hands to some real use”, the
blade mockingly toned in his mind. In that moment Dretch felt his Van Spellsin
ancestor swell within himself and as he started to spell sign a force took over
him, in one swift move the blade snaked out and with a boom Mr Johnsons head
exploded off his neck. “Great ancestor we will make the streets run red with the
blood of undead”, a voice, not exactly Dretchs own stated from his lips, and for a
minute he was out in the streets looking for violence.
Then the spell signing wore off, Dretch came to his sense, put the sword back in
its scabbard, but this time it went onto his hip and not back in the box. He took
last look at Mr Johnson “Oh my gods, I have blown off Mr Johnsons head”.