NPC: Ransom

Ransom the Thief was an adventuring partner of Too Bad Jim before joining The Hopeful Seven.

Ransom was a very accomplished thief before settling down in Bug Tussle. At one point he was captain of a great flying ship, and he has traveled further over the Realms than most have dreamed of going.

His two great failings are that he easily falls into unrequited love and then he turns to drink for comfort. Too Bad likes him, but disdainfully refers to Ransom as an "accidental worshipper of Sharess."

Ransom still has retains all of his thief abilities, but when he is drunk they are at 1/2. It would take a good long drying out period to get them back to full strength and Ransom would be constantly in danger of falling off the wagon if he undertook any adventuring these days--in particular if he is around Too Bad Jim, who takes delight in the fellow off the wagon and baiting him with questions about his love life or taunting him with tales of the objects of his affection (both past and present) visiting him in his temple.

Ransom rarely leaves his house, which is fashioned like a small castle. It is in a poor state of repair however, and a bit of an eyesore. Ransom will provide training if he is sober, otherwise he will make any sort of promise necessary in order to get a drink, and promptly forget that promise as soon as he has the drink in hand.

Although he has drunk away a vast portion of his adventuring fortune he still has enough that his house is well stocked with drinks and pipeweed, one of the primary reasons you can find Putnam, the Captain of the Guard from Fort Aumry, there on most evenings. Ransom and Aumry dress up in various ancient uniforms they have collected and sing songs from armies both ancient and modern, human and demi-human.

This miniature and somewhat sorry character were the ones I used in Goode's world. When Ransom was adventuring, he was quite a clever and charismatic thief. Once he wished for a flying ship and it fell on him out of the sky...smashing into kindling. Too clever by half. I think Jeff took pity on me and rewound time until I could get the wording of the wish exactly right. Once we had the flying ship, Too Bad, Ransom, and Snod's dwarf character...whose name escapes me...all went flying around being Wind Pirates with Too Bad creating a barrel of gin a day.

At any rate, Ransom is the final original member of the Hopeful Seven. I left him in this sorry state to remind me of the bad end I might have come to had I not left my wind pirate days behind me and reformed.