Ishmael Boorsevelt

"Now go outside and run round the building three times with some salt in yer 'and. And mind you don't go near no cats neither."

- Ishmael Boorsevelt, Owner of the Pelican's Perch

Old Ishmael, as he is universally known, is a tall, lean man in his forties. His face is almost hidden by shaggy dark-blond hair, and he has an unkempt beard of the same colour. His eyes are blue and generally glassy. Those who have known him for years say that he has never been the same since he lost his leg.

Ishmael's left leg is wooden from the knee down.

Ishmael is quiet to the point of sullenness, never using a word when a grunt will do - except when someone breaks one of his superstitions. He generally lets other people do the talking. He can never be induced to talk abouthis seafaring days or how he came to lose his leg, and he has been known to throw persistent questioners out - strange behaviour for a man as fond of a profit as he is.

Because of his injuries, he has some insanity, hatred of all sea creatures larger than a man, and intense superstitiousness. Ishmael firmly believes in every superstition you've ever heard of, plus any you care to make up. If a customer breaks a superstition, Ishmael becomes hysterical and throws the customer out - he'll calm down after five or ten minutes, but the customer will receive a stern warning never, ever to do 'that' (whatever 'that' happened to be) again in the Perch.

Once a pirate, Ishmael was first mate of a crew that terrorized the seas off Estalia and Bretonnia, until that last voyage that cost him his leg. Pursued by revenue cutters from L'Anguille, his ship ran aground on the Bitter Moors during a storm. How he came to hobble into Marienburg on a crutch, his left leg missing and his wound neatly tended, he doesn't know. Nor does he know why he was carrying just enough gold to buy the rundown inn that was for sale in Suiddock - nor why he felt compelled to buy it. At night, though, he dreams of a cove on the coast of the Bitter Moors that is marked on no map, the screams of his dying ship-mates from somewhere behind him, and a rasping voice that says, "You are just what we need, so we shall save you." The nightmare ends as the image of a bloody saw descends toward his leg. And, when heopens for business each day, he wonders if that will be theday when "they" come to collect for their kindness.

Lea-Jan Cobbius and Big Piet from the Stevedores' and Teamsters' Guild generally drop in for a drink just after sundown, and Brother Bert from the orphanage will, too, though the brothers avoid each other. Axel Huurder of the Rivermen's Association comes in occasionally. Granny Hetta buys her rum from Ishmael, and comes in most days. Captain Kalahaanof the Watch comes in on Festag nights after he gets off-duty.

Source

 * Warhammer Fantasy RPG 1st ED -- Marienburg: Sold Down the River
 * pg. 61

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