Next month, readers of Pathfinder #13 will meet Saul Vancaskerkin and Clegg Zincher, two scheming crime bosses from Varisia's famed pirate paradise, Riddleport. But the premiere entry in the Second Darkness Adventure Path isn't the first time the Vancaskerkin family and Boss Zincher (Pathfinder #14's cover boy), have shown up in Pathfinder. Would you believe that both received a nod all the way back in Pathfinder #1?! Turns out that the Vancaskerkin line has been causing trouble in Varisia for some time now, even leading to Orik Vancaskerkin's participation in Sandpoint's problems in "Burnt Offerings":
"After a scam involving a tiefling prostitute, a shifty alchemist, and an elixir of love, Orik was forced to flee Riddleport. He's pretty sure that Clegg Zincher, the now-dead alchemist's powerful brother, still carries a grudge for what Orik did to the alchemist when he discovered, to his horror, that the elixir of love was actually just cheap ale laced with lavender." (Pathfinder #1, pg. 45)
While Orik was schlepping around Thistletop, though, his brother Verik was getting into no end of trouble in Korvosa, serving as member of the city guard (Pathfinder #8). And all the way back in Riddleport, their dear old dad, Saul Vancaskerkin, started cooking up a scheme to reclaim some of his local clout (Pathfinder #13). But behind many of the Vancaskerkin family's troubles hides a singular tiefling harlot, a pretty face with a purple dress and pointed tail named Lavender Lil. In Pathfinder Companion: Second Darkness, a story that started over a year ago can finally be told:
"Like many of the city's tieflings, Lil grew up an orphan in Riddleport. She earned her coin by telling stories on street corners, where her fantastical tales garnered just enough copper for a bite to eat. Although a gifted storyteller, Lil's exotic good looks drew more attention than her tales, and soon a local pimp forced her into his flock.
"As she matured, Lil's sultry purple eyes and her love for flowers earned her the nickname 'Lavender.' Her talent for storytelling matured alongside her looks, and rumors circulated that her grandfather was Varisian and her grandmother was a devil-woman. While Lil had no strenuous objections to working as a prostitute, she missed the freedom of life on the streets. Her dreams never grew grand enough to imagine life as a noble lady, a brave adventurer, or even a wife or mother. All Lil wanted was the freedom to claim her own life and to manage it, for ill or good."
Lavender Lil appears in the first entry into the Persona section of the new Pathfinder Companion line, a section which details a new, fully statted personality from Golarion. Check out Lil's side of the Vancaskerkin tragedy, the entire "Second Darkness Player's Guide," and tons of new info for characters and GMs of all stripes in Pathfinder Companion: Second Darkness next month!
