Catch
Spiders and maggots.
ab aeterno
In the latter months of AR 209, there came to the Broken Dagger, and Myrkenwood in general, an emaciated madman who knew himself only as 'a Grand Catch'. Named 'Catch' from this by the locals, he was taken in by the kindness of Dulcie. His past nothing more than, to others and himself, ravings and seeming-riddles, fragments of memory that had become muddled in Catch's mind, no doubt the issue arising from the massive scar that neatly split his skull in two, from brow to nape, as if a great axe or sword had buried itself there in a battle long gone by. It became quickly apparent that, while inherently gentle and eager to please, the madman was prone to bouts of childish sulking and great violence, quickly compounded by the weight he put on while under Dulcie's care, the tall, thin man becoming a broad-chested creature of hard muscle.
For two years an uneasy limbo existed between the townspeople and the madman, where Catch struggled to be helpful and temper his irrational rages, and those who had come to know him - Glenn Burnie, in particular - did their best to keep him comfortable and under control. Catch's friendly and eager nature meant that he retained 'friends' from many sources, including werewolves, drow, dragons, and other desireables and undesireables, adding to the friction that surrounded him. From the first, his nature held many secrets he could not explain. A penchant for healing through, seemingly, magical means, a talent that Catch was urged to keep to himself by Elliot, and yet he used many times, such as freeing Suede Roschen's own mind from paranoia and madness. Catch insisted, too, that he could hear things that others could not, see and smell things they could not, and though he spoke in riddles without realizing, yet much of what he had claimed or said would come true. Instead if ingratiating himself, these abilities only seemed to set him further apart, leaving himself to Himself, and putting him further into the brooding morass that was his own, broken mind, infected with demons and frightening apparitions of his own creation.
At Glenn Burnie's urging, and with the aid of the healer Lamai, Catch began to find a peace he had not known before, able to quiet the ramblings in his brains. Such a peace, however, was short-lived, for with a semblance of sanity came terrifying dreams and visions, strange and awesome memories that could not possibly be true, and yet somehow were. At the Grand Ball, held in AR 211, Catch showed an ethereal, deadly creature hiding just under the skin, nearly murdering the shaman Thadius Dhrin, and placing Lamai into unconsciousness as his natural ability used her to, unknown to him, and uncontrolled, bring Dhrin back to life. Catch fled the Ball shortly after, evading capture and, in the end, punishment, for Glenn Burnie stepped in on his behalf, and Catch, frightened by what he had done, did his best to show that he was not murderous, or insane.
Catch's memories, however, were becoming more and more specific, more and more strange and uncontrolled and frightening. It was in the throes of one of these visions that he, unknowing, summoned a Presence into Silver Lake, a Thing that he called an Eye. When investigated, though catch struggled to keep it a secret, it revealed itself to be a strange, conical construct, three stones - obsidian, ruby, and alabaster - skillfully twined into one. It was at this time, as well, that Catch became increasingly friendly with Jirai and Matron Faeryl, and brought fresher sins to light, so that Glenn Burnie sought to educate and manipulate the addled man into fearing the Drow through use of a puppet-show. Moderately successful, Catch veered back onto a path of, if not sanity, then well-ordered and obedient servitude to the people and Tavern that has given him so much.
novus
Unable to resist the forbidden Rhin, Catch, in his attempts to see her without Drache knowing, instead stole the child from her bed. He was found out when he came to the Broken Dagger to attempt in feeding the hungry child, and was taken to the Gaol by Agnie and Renea. The latter did her best to keep the madman comfortable, but unable to walk the forests and paths that he loved, the madman drew further and further inwards, down paths in his mind that he, under normal circumstances, did not go. It was in one of these paths, in sleeping, that Catch finally came into his Truth. With a Word that has no Sound, Catch destroyed the Gaol, and inadvertently caused the ground to shake so terribly that Myrkentown, and the surrounding areas, had come to flame and poison from the pressures released deep underground. Ignorant of what he had caused, Catch Changed, at once becoming more sane, and yet still slipping further into insanity.
Catch is, currently, at large, though Kacela and Jarod know how to find him.
vulticulus
Catch is a large man, standing at six and six inches of height, and weighting at roughly fourteen stone. His muscled build consists of broad shoulders, long arms and legs, and a long waist, giving him an odd, stretched appearance, as if he should have been a smaller man, but some great hand had changed it. His hands are large and, for the most part, clumsy, his fingers, too, stretched long. They alone out of his body contain scarring, silver remnants of strange, ugly, militaristic tattoos. While the finer aspects of most grooming evade him, he does take pains to keep himself clean, and other residents have, at one time or another, done their part to keep his near-white beard and hair trimmed, or else they grow into wild, tangled curls.
The most startling part of his appearance, the most sickening, as the great scar that neatly bisects his skull, beginning at the twisting of his brows and traveling a bare path to the very nape of his neck. It has not healed well, and so is a knotted and twisted0 thing, angry red even after all these years, and is left conspicuous because no hair will grow in the places it infests, or cover it. Catch attempts to keep it hidden under various hats, the hats themselves becoming something of an obsession of his.
