John Castle

John Castle, commonly referred to as Castle, is a mysterious purveyor of miscellaneous goods.

Appearance
Castle is a human man with greasy black hair. He wears a ragged top hat and a pair of dark tinted glasses.

Personality
Castle is very eccentric and, for lack of a better term, kind of sketchy. He seems fairly comfortable with open discussion of ritual human sacrifice and also refuses to disclose where he obtained his stock, citing a law of the Falassian Empire that apparently protects his privacy. Slumberjack briefly suspected him of engaging in cannibalism, but this turned out to be unfounded. However, he has also been quite generous to the Champions Valoris, selling his goods for discounts and buying oddities for more than the asking price, and seems to care about their well-being.

Background
Castle seems to have a checkered past, having been banned from all of the ships docked in Atemcester before his arrival in the city and may have an outstanding warrant there. Apparently, this is an issue he has now encountered multiple times. In a casual conversation with the Champions Valoris, he mentioned having once practiced magic, but has since picked up swordsmanship. He traveled around Lyvernus on a large cart piled high with his goods. During these travels, he seems to have encountered Jorah Wolfwood on at least enough occasions for them to be familiar with each other and for Jorah to recognize Castle's cart. At some point, he settled down in Vila's Watch and opened Castle's Anything Store there. He made friends with the town's baker, Pat Kiyaekke, while living there.

Werewolves Arc
Although Castle was not on Grinlief's list of suspects, his strange demeanor, the black hair found at the crime scene, and the dog-like qualities of his cat, Shadow, briefly brought him under suspicion for the murder of Bertram Rhastur. However, on the night of the murder, Castle was with Pat Kiyaekke, another possible suspect. The two men independently confirmed each other's alibis and were eventually proven innocent of the crime. Castle also sold several items to the Champions Valoris, including rations, a sword with a human bone hilt (which Slumberjack named Bonehilda), and a silver cup that the party used to test various people for lycanthropy during the murder investigation. He also offered to give the party a Bag of Holding in exchange for taking care of some giant spiders outside the town that were causing trouble for one of his suppliers. However, before the town was reopened, the party was attacked by Tyrian Vordt and had to flee Vila's Watch. Erak returned to the Anything Store to purchase the Bag with his own gold, and Castle expressed concern over the party's hasty departure.

Vila's Watch, Post-Tyrian
After dealing with Tyrian, the party returned to Vila's Watch and Castle's Anything Store was their first stop. After selling some of his goods (including a single fleck of gold dust), Castle suggested that they should visit Grinlief before leaving town to see if he had payment for them for their work in solving Bertram's murder.

At some point after the party departed from Vila's Watch, Castle closed his store and left Vila's Watch to take to the road again, citing his fear of werewolves in the village. He traveled west to Atemcester, going through the Exeter before it closed to outsiders. When he reached Atemcester, he was turned away from most of the shops and found that he was banned from every ship in the harbor. With few other choices, he turned back.

Jorah's Homecoming
On the road between Hommlin and the Exeter, Castle once again encountered the Champions Valoris, who were coming from the opposite direction. He sold them several items such as a cookbook and gems for Ashara's Sending Bracelets, diving into his cart's pile of goods and emerging with the item, along with a variety of minor injuries. He and the party also discussed the destruction of Port Valor and wished each other safe travels.

Goals
Bro I wish I knew.

Abilities
Castle possesses an unreal amount of random junk that he has at his disposal. He also seems to know exactly where to find all of it. In a conversation with Slumberjack, Castle revealed that he once practiced magic, but has since switched his focus to swords because they're really cool. The party's general consensus seems to be that Something is going on with him, but no one is sure exactly what that is.

Castle and Shadow
Shadow is Castle's pet cat and he seems to care for her very much. Now that he's on the road again, she rides on the cart in Castle's lap. He's also taught her a number of tricks and rewards her with treats for performing them. For her part, Shadow thinks Castle is great because he lets her play wherever she wants. Back in Vila's Watch, Castle was also willing to give the Champions Valoris a discount on some of his wares for being so nice to Shadow.

Quotes

 * Name: "Quote."

Trivia

 * Castle seems to keep odd sleeping hours, resulting in his old store sometimes being open at 4 AM.