Butcher Bludman Backstory

Spoilers ahoy. Did a write up on his backstory so I can draw from it during the next arc. If you want to avoid major spoilers then don't read this. His dungeon will reveal bits and pieces of his backstory similar to how Pimpington's did.

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Barry Bludman is a former adventurer and the proprietor of Dewhurst's least popular butcher's shop, Each and Every Meats. After his alcoholic father ran off at a young age, his mother, Norma Bludman, raised him by herself while taking on sole ownership of the butcher's shop. Times were hard for the two, especially as Dewhurst's economy began to crash thanks to the over-reliance on its Adventurer's Guild which was going through its own set of problems. The meat trade in Dewhurst was always bustling thanks to the constant need to feed lots of hungry adventurers, but as those adventurers left to other Guilds in Arrark and beyond the competition became much fierce.

Barry was put to work at a young age, slaughtering animals and preparing them for consumption. Contrary to what usually happens to people who work in this environment for long periods of time, Barry did not initially develop any mental deficiencies. He was a normal, if especially withdrawn, kid who simply wanted to help his struggling mother as much as possible- even if it meant slaughtering animals.

As he grew, Barry developed into a big, strong, and muscled youth. His mother began a descent into illness at the same time, putting him in charge of more and more of the work. Eventually, she became unable to run the shop at all and Barry found that he couldn't do all the work himself.

Desperate to help his mother, Barry decided to become an adventurer for a few years and send all his gold back to her so she wouldn't have to run the shop. Once he made enough gold, Barry intended to come home and renovate the building and hire an employee or two. Since Dewhurst's Adventurer's Guild wasn't very profitable at the time, Barry decided on moving southeast to the logging town of Cransmere.

While at the Cransmere Adventurer's Guild, Barry developed a reputation as a strong Great Blader who despite having no formal training was able to pick up the basics of Arts usage by himself. As could be expected, he fit right in on any quest that involved slaying monsters. He had lots of acquaintances, but no close friends. Barry spent all his free time writing letters to his mother, who it seemed was growing stronger thanks to how much rest she was getting.

A few years into his career, Barry was approached by Cransmere's Guild Master with an offer he couldn't refuse, and it included A gigantic payday the likes of which he had only ever dreamed about. The only problem was it was shady as hell. He and three other adventurers were to scout a newly discovered dungeon, 100% off the books. Even with all of the red flags, the Great Blader pushed his hesitation aside and resolved to do whatever it took to get that enormous payout.

He entered the Gnarled Woods with his part and found out that the dungeon was worse than he thought possible. It was one of the Demon Lord Thalrad's forgotten abattoirs, where humans were processed en masse into meat in a factory-like fashion. Despite the thousands of years it laid hidden in the woods, fresh human meat was everywhere the eye could be seen. The factory was still operational and full of danger. Their job was to explore every last nook and cranny for treasure and to relinquish any artifacts they find to the Guild.

The slaughterhouse seemed to go on forever, and the longer he dwelled the more this tainted place from Karnalle's history warped the man's mind. Barry's mind proved especially breakable due to his long life of butchery and slaughter. Perhaps the place called to him on a personal level? Whatever the case, Barry and his party disappeared for a whole six months. Eventually, only the butcher emerged from its bloody depths and somehow managed to crawl his way back to Cransmere.

Barry was a complete mental wreck, unable to speak about what happened. When questioned about what happened to his party, he could only cry, grow pale, and uncontrollably lick his lips.

Due to his Barry's questionable state, he didn't question it when the Guild Master told him he wouldn't be paid for his work. He only arranged for Barry to be shipped back to Dewhurst, and then had his records all but completely wiped from existence. This is not something an ordinary Guild Master can even normally do, implying there were higher ups involved.

Once Barry returned to Dewhurst, he stumbled around until finally making it home to the butcher's shop where he was born and raised. In tears, he bursts in hoping to find his mother. Instead, Barry found her corpse in her bed. During that six months he disappeared for, her illness became worse and she didn't have the gold to continue her treatment. Seeing her like this caused Barry to lose whatever bit of humanity he had left, and he ate very well that night indeed.

Ever since, Barry has been selling random suspicious meats and acting as a very obvious serial killer to the town. Dewhurst started to get much, much worse by the time he returned, anyway, so Barry fit right in with the new aesthetic. At some point along the way, Barry became involved with the man calling himself the Duke of Dewhurst. He offered help covering up Barry's crimes so long as he turned his blade towards people who needed it. The Butcher agreed happily, and has been acting in the shadows ever since.

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A minor note. Opalina was not their family doctor, she referenced knowing his mother and having seen him a few times but these were rare occasions when seeing the most expensive doctor in town was the only option. They were not close enough that Opalina routine checked in on his mother or anything. If Opalina knew how bad things were for Barry's mother, she would have waived the fee and treated her. They were acquaintances at best.