The quartz-like crystal known as thaumerite has the ability to manipulate time and is most abundant in the wild west of Verdonia. Zachary, a humble apothecarist, had a dream in which he was surrounded by inky darkness and the smell of moist earth. A seed embedded in thaumerite lay on the ground before him; when he picked it up, he awoke in a cold sweat, and the crystal he saw in his dream was somehow in his hands. Despite his attempts, he was unable to remove the seed from the crystal or get it to grow, no matter what medium he planted it in. Determined to solve the mystery of the seed, he left his apothecary shop and journeyed to the wild west in search of answers.

As he traveled, the dream became a recurrent nightmare. Whenever he encountered death, be it the demise of a patient or the defeat of a monster, he would return to the dream with the seed in front of him. Every time he lifted the crystal, thorny vines would sprout from the seed and entangle his arm, and the piercing sensation of barbs and scent of blood would jolt him awake. And every time he roused, he found himself clutching the crystallized seed - the crystal slightly more chipped with each passing nightmare.

Zachary is calm, courteous, and personable, and not a fighter by any means. When he departed his hometown, his mother insisted he pack a small firearm, which he hardly knows how to use. In dangerous situations, his instinct is to surrender or negotiate. He sees himself as an herbalist primarily, specializing in medicines, but when push comes to shove, he can stitch up a wound.

Snakeoil Miracles

When you assist or engage in a group action with someone, they may also ignore one harm penalty.

Viper

When you invent, craft or try to apply alchemicals, take +1d to your roll. You begin the game with one additional formula already known.

Physicker

You can Tinker with bones, blood, and bodily humours to treat wounds or stabilize the dying. On a success, reduce harm by 1 level to a minimum of Level 1 (harm cannot be cleared until downtime). A teammate may reduce level 4 harm (fatal) to the next empty harm box. You may Study a malady, corpse, or crime scene with improved effect.

Panache

You keep your cool under pressure. Gain +1d when you try to escalate or de-escalate tense situations.

Gypsum Veridis

The seed reaches out from within its thaumerite cage. You may declare the seed as a zero-load fine ranged weapon as a thorny tendril whips out and seeks prey. You cannot be disarmed from the seed. Upon striking a target, it does massive harm and kills those close to death. You find it strange that the seed still does not grow.

The Fine Strangers

Zachary wasn't exactly cut out to be an adventurer. He didn't have a weak constitution, but he wasn't particularly robust either. He also wasn't especially timid, having witnessed people in their final moments as part of his profession. However, finding himself tasked with the solitary responsibility of running a dilapidated clinic in the slums bordering the militant nation of Amestrius was far from what he had envisioned when he departed his hometown. It didn't help that his most frequent visitor was an elderly man, clearly hungover, who stopped by most mornings seeking pain medications for his "old man aches."

Quisque quis posuere arcu. Aliquam erat volutpat. Nullam in sem non sem efficitur aliquet. Donec ac convallis lorem, eu mattis metus. Etiam bibendum justo vel turpis malesuada, et malesuada purus condimentum. Proin suscipit ac arcu a vestibulum.

Haunted

Donec condimentum velit turpis, sed tincidunt nisl egestas eu. Vestibulum lorem neque, placerat id arcu a, commodo ultrices arcu. Etiam rhoncus a tellus eu faucibus. Duis egestas velit ac est fermentum efficitur. Quisque nec tincidunt ante, quis maximus augue. Integer sit amet suscipit ligula.

Subheader

Campaign has ended so tl;dr - through much trial and error, Zachary discovers that the seed is a plant known as gypsum veridis, nicknamed the vulture. It has no sentience, often lashing out randomly and killing its prey by feeding on their time, resulting in rapid aging and death. With extreme caution, gypsum veridis can be harvested for anti-aging concoctions. The posse discovers a mining operation (funded by Fender's mining industry mogul father) dedicated to collecting gypsum veridis in order to prevent the death of Aldebrandt, the tyrranical king of Amestrius. The posse shuts down the mine, although Lepto is almost mortally wounded in the process.

Using the seed (which has been well fed at this point and mostly broken out of its crystal), Zachary heals Lepto's wound, curing Lepto and Cinera of their aging problem in the process. With the twins, he decides to join the Reavers, a gang of robin-hood like outlaws, dedicating his life to helping those who are "time touched" (people who have been negatively affected by the effects of thaumerite). All of the Reavers have nicknames, and to Zachary's dismay, Fender dubs him "Crystal Carrion" because of all of the injuries he has sustained from gypsum veridis.