The Roach Herder
the recluse of refuse
"A graverobber made hermit, sits on his throne, roach whip in grubby hand. After being unable to escape the cursed graveyard, his party members eventually died, leaving him terribly alone. Now he breeds cockroaches, hoping to hatch one big enough to fly him back to the city he once rejected."
An insecure liar and untrustworthy narcissist who values his own skin above all else. He occupies a throne built of debris and things stolen from nameless graves and tombs, in a hot and humid chamber that stinks of rancid sweat, where meaty and otherwise roaches sit and scurry on the shit-stained floor. The Meatroaches and the Twice-grown Corpse Flies are part of his herd or the leftovers of his work — canon does not say which.
Recruiting the Roach King
His breeding endeavours so far without triumph, the Roach Herder is keen to attach himself to the party, hoping they'll secure his escape. He offers to guide them to the Undertaker's Hut. He is the only known way to navigate the fog-rearranged trails of Graven-Tosk reliably — the booklet states "The Roach Herder knows which way to go." Without him, paths between named locations land at random (d4); with him, the party arrives where they intended.
Stat Block
HP 4, Morale 5
- Bite d4 + special, or
- Barbed Roach Whip d6
Special: Test Toughness DR12 or become infected.
See Roach Herder (creature entry).
What He Says (likely lies)
- He used to be somebody, in a city he refuses to name.
- His party members are definitely dead and not at all his fault.
- The cockroach that will fly him free is almost ready. He says this every day.
- He knows where the Undertaker is. (True.)
- He knows the way out. (Maybe.)
Graven-Tosk, The Roach Herder's Lair, Graves Left Wanting, Meatroach, Twice-grown Corpse Fly, The Deadn't (other survivors in the same trap), The Undertaker's Hut
The "city he once rejected" is unnamed — Galgenbeck, Grift, and Schleswig are all plausible candidates given his merchant-grave-loot. Whether any roach he breeds will ever grow large enough to fly a man is a GM-tier question; the cemetery's geometry suggests it might already have happened to someone else once, and the someone else is gone. His personal name, if he ever had one, is gone with whoever he used to be. Whether he can be trusted to lead a party out, rather than into another grave, is canonically unsolved.