Doc Berry

Doc Berry is an NPC portrayed by Christian, who serves as the local doctor for Goldstead. He was formerly the school nurse at the Magist's Academy.

Appearance
Doc Berry is an attractive orcish man in his sixties, although he appears younger. He is described as tall and lanky, with dark hair slicked back. He is dressed in very formally in a vest and tie, similar to old 1800's doctor garb, and wears circular glasses.

History
Doc Berry was the "former school nurse" of the Magist's Academy. They chose to leave Ciniath to deal with more normal medical issues rather than the stranger magical maladies of the Academy.

Goldstead Arc
Episode 1: Welcome to the Painted Valley

The Strings of Fate first meet Doc Berry in his small office near Goldstead. He informs the group that he is able to cure Azzurum's ailment, but will need his tools retrieved from the Donogan Gang. He lends them his carriage and horses for the task, and gives them directions to the camp where he believes his tools are being held.

Episode 3: Urgency and Frequency

The party rushes to Doc Berry's following the fight with the gang as Azzurum's parasite begins to cause him extreme pain. The doctor grabs the tuning fork and a small metal hammer with a rose quartz face from the bag, and strikes the tuning fork in a steady rhythm. The sound eases Azzurum's pain.

Doc Berry explains that if they continue to strike the tuning fork for the next eight hours, the creature will return to its home plane. He says that he used to do this procedure frequently back at the Magist's Academy for teams who would return from extraplanar journeys - in fact, it was a technique he learned from those teams to reduce planar bleeding.

The doctor insists that he will do the full eight hour shift, and he speaks with Lidara as the others go rest. He asks Lidara about the source of Azzurum's magic, and tenses when he hears that Azzurum is a warlock. He seems concerned that Lidara and the others do not know the type of entity Azzurum has bound himself to, and cautions Lidara to keep his pact a secret in Ansyr.

Once the noises are heard in the street and Lidara and Bonnie report back about the gang members outside, Doc Berry offers an alternative route for leaving the office. He shows them a subterranean tunnel hidden beneath a crate in his bedroom, and they flee through there. At the end of the tunnel, they find a cellar beneath the church - the home of The Resistance. Doc Berry clearly knows the group of Goldstead residents, and it is likely he is a member as well. When the group decides to fight, he tells them that he will be able to stop his process with Azzurum and pick it up later, but that he will need to do it now when they can prepare for it, rather than being interrupted later. The party agrees.

Episode 4: Shotgun Diplomacy

After the battle, the group finds Doc Berry celebrating with the other townsfolk, having forgotten about Azzurum's predicament. Once reminded, however, he leaps into action and begins to once again strike the tuning fork. Overnight, he is able to complete the treatment. In the morning, Azzurum wakes to the last chime of the tuning fork. Doc Berry tells him that he has pretty good friends, and - looking down at Lidara, asleep and still holding his hand - Azzurum agrees. Given a clean bill of health - presumably, since the doctor immediately falls asleep after his long night.

Episode 22: Allies, Old and New

While the party rests with the Tempest of the Unheard, Vincent calls Doc Berry by way of Sending, briefly explaining that the lower planes were bleeding in and asking for any help. Doc Berry casts Sending back, saying that he had been to Wheldon to treat some "interesting rot" on the head of the families there. He also says that the Wheldon area has always had a history of extraplanar activity, and he recommends asking the Aquaine people, since they had been able to keep the bleed at bay.

Relationships
Vajra Safahr was a student at the academy when Doc Berry was there, and he remembers her as "real smart."

Trivia

 * Doc Berry owns two horses, one black and one brown, named Jill and John.

Quotes

 * WIP