Slikrik Veymire, Dreamwater Syndicate Boss
Male Swamp Goblin Rogue 7
Small Humanoid (Goblinoid)
Hit Dice: 7d6+7 (31 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 19 (+1 size, +5 Dex, +3 armor), touch 16, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/-1
Attack: +1 poisoned short sword +11 melee (1d4+1/19-20 plus poison) or masterwork hand crossbow +11 ranged (1d3/19-20 plus poison)
Full Attack: +1 poisoned short sword +11 melee (1d4+1/19-20 plus poison) and dagger +6 melee (1d3/19-20) or masterwork hand crossbow +11 ranged (1d3/19-20 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Sneak attack +4d6, poison use, Dreamwater mastery
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., evasion, trapfinding, trap sense +2, uncanny dodge
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +10, Will +2
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 11, Cha 14
Skills: Appraise +7, Balance +15, Bluff +15, Climb +5, Diplomacy +6, Disable Device +14, Escape Artist +17, Gather Information +14, Hide +21, Intimidate +10, Listen +8, Move Silently +19, Open Lock +17, Search +12, Sense Motive +8, Sleight of Hand +15, Spot +8, Swim +9, Tumble +17, Use Rope +11
Feats: Weapon Finesse, Skill Focus (Bluff), Stealthy
Environment: Warm marshes, blackwater cities, and flooded bayous
Organization: Solitary, entourage (Slikrik plus 2-6 rogues and 1-3 alchemists), or syndicate cell (Slikrik plus 10-40 goblins, rogues, smugglers, addicts, and swamp mercenaries)
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: Double standard plus Dreamwater stockpiles
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: —
Languages: Goblin, Common, Marsh Cant, Draconic
Poison Use (Ex): Slikrik never risks accidentally poisoning himself when applying poison to a weapon.
Sneak Attack (Ex): Slikrik deals an extra +4d6 points of damage against opponents denied their Dexterity bonus to AC or whom he flanks.
Dreamwater Mastery (Ex): Years of repeated exposure to refined Dreamwater Distillate have rendered Slikrik partially resistant to its effects. He gains a +4 racial bonus on saves against hallucination-inducing poisons, drugs, and magical effects. In addition, any poison applied by Slikrik has its save DC increased by +1 due to his specialized refinement techniques.
Trapfinding (Ex): Slikrik may use the Search skill to locate traps with a DC higher than 20 and may use Disable Device to disarm magical traps.
Evasion (Ex): If exposed to any effect that normally allows a Reflex save for half damage, Slikrik takes no damage on a successful saving throw.
Trap Sense (Ex): Slikrik gains a +2 bonus on Reflex saves and Armor Class against traps.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Slikrik retains his Dexterity bonus to AC even when caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker.
Possessions: +1 studded leather armor dyed swamp green, +1 short sword, masterwork hand crossbow, 20 poisoned crossbow bolts, 4 vials of Dreamwater Distillate, 3 doses of giant wasp poison, waterproof alchemist’s kit, marsh camouflage cloak decorated with reeds and dead flowers, silver tooth caps, hidden lockbox keys, waterproof drug ledgers, potion of invisibility, smokesticks (4), tanglefoot bags (2), 230 gp, assorted swamp jewelry.
Physical Description
Slikrik Veymire is a wiry, deeply unpleasant specimen of swamp goblin standing barely three and a half feet tall and weighing perhaps fifty pounds soaked through. His skin is a dark moss-green mottled with irregular patches of algae-yellow discoloration, while his greasy black-green hair hangs in damp strands around a long rodent-like face perpetually stretched into a knowing grin. His eyes are particularly unsettling - a vivid amber-yellow with permanently dilated pupils from years of Dreamwater exposure, giving him the appearance of an animal perpetually lurking in torchlight.
Unlike most goblins who dress in crude practicality, Slikrik possesses a warped sense of vanity. He wears tailored swamp leathers stitched from marsh reptile hide and decorated with dangling charms made from eel vertebrae, polished teeth, prayer beads, dead flowers, and tiny corked poison vials. The clothing smells strongly of mold, chicory liquor, pipe smoke, medicinal herbs, and stagnant water. Nearly every visible inch of his equipment bears waterproofing oils.
His fingers are long, twitchy, and stained blue-green from constant poison refinement. He rarely stands still while speaking, instead pacing, crouching, climbing furniture, or idly sharpening blades during conversation. Witnesses frequently note that he smiles almost constantly, though the expression never reaches his eyes. When angered, the smile actually widens.
Lore
Slikrik Veymire began life as little more than a dockside gutter thief haunting the flooded outer canals of Ville des Marais. Born into one of the poorer swamp goblin communities, he survived through pickpocketing, eel trapping, contraband running, and occasionally selling forged river permits to drunks too intoxicated to notice the permits were written on fish wrapping paper. What separated Slikrik from the countless other goblin criminals surrounding him was not strength, courage, or even intelligence - it was patience.
While most smugglers focused on alcohol, weapons, or black-market reagents, Slikrik recognized the terrifying profitability of Dreamwater Distillate long before authorities understood its growing popularity. He embedded himself among venom refiners, learned the chemistry personally, then began systematically eliminating or absorbing competing operations through bribery, sabotage, addiction leverage, and carefully orchestrated disappearances. Bodies associated with his rise are rarely found. The swamp, after all, is exceptionally cooperative when properly fed.
Under Slikrik’s control, Dreamwater trafficking evolved from scattered goblin vice dealing into a vast organized syndicate spanning river barges, flooded warehouses, hidden stillhouses, and bribed customs officials throughout the marsh districts. He intentionally markets the substance through mysticism, emotional vulnerability, and spiritual desperation, targeting mourners, laborers, traumatized veterans, failed priests, artists, and anyone sufficiently broken to desire escape from themselves. Slikrik privately refers to grief as “the finest currency in the city.”
Though undeniably cruel, Slikrik is not reckless. He despises unnecessary violence, not from morality, but because corpses attract investigations while addicts produce recurring revenue. Rivals who interfere with his operations are more often humiliated, indebted, blackmailed, poisoned, or psychologically dismantled than openly murdered. Those who truly threaten him, however, tend to vanish into the marshes entirely. Rumors persist that certain isolated Dreamwater stills employ partially drugged victims as forced labor until their minds collapse beyond usefulness.
Authorities within Ville des Marais loathe Slikrik with unusual unanimity. Civic officials, clergy, physicians, marsh wardens, and even rival criminal organizations all regard him as a spreading civic disease wearing the shape of a goblin. Unfortunately, he has thus far proven extraordinarily difficult to eliminate. He maintains extensive networks of informants among the poor, constantly relocates operations through flooded waterways, and ensures nearly everyone investigating him eventually discovers someone they care about already dependent upon his product.
Most disturbing of all is the possibility that Slikrik himself no longer exists entirely within ordinary reality. Years of constant Dreamwater exposure have left him emotionally distorted and psychologically alien. Witnesses describe him occasionally pausing mid-conversation to listen to sounds no one else can hear or speaking quietly to empty corners of rooms as though awaiting replies. Whether this behavior is manipulation, madness, or genuine perception of something unseen remains uncertain. Few who spend enough time around him wish to speculate for long.
