Emancipor "Mancy" Reese was the faithful manservant[1] of the necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. He was described as being at least six or seven decades old and hailed from Lamentable Moll on the island of Theft. He was described by his wife, Subly as being nothing but "scrawn and bone".[2] His face was lined and sun-scoured, his hair was streaked with grey, and he had a mustache.[3][4]
In his youth he served with the Theftian militias that had turned back the invading Korelri legions at the battle of Estbanor's Grief and still carried the sword scars on his arms. [5] When pressed he could still summon the strength and determination of a veteran and he kept his black-iron broadsword hanging in the hall of his home.[6] Later, he spent twenty years as a coxswain on the trader ship, Searime.[7]
Prior to his engagement as manservant, he served as a sailor, coachman, and cook. These previous engagements had earned him the nickname of "Mancy the Luckless". He was said to have survived as many wrecks as he'd worked aboard and upon retiring to work as a coachman, had been predeceased by every employer. He jokingly referred to himself as "Hood's Herald".[8]
He could read and write the languages of Moll, Theftian, Stygg, and "Mell'zan". He was also familiar with horse husbandry, sewing, map reading and navigation, knots, and rope braiding.[9]
He was also father to two children, nominally his own though they had rather suspiciously both been born while he was away at sea.
Reese used a number of drugs to cope with the horrors he was exposed to in service of his necromantic masters including Durhang, D'bayang, and Uthurl.
Bauchelain read Reese's future and foresaw that he would die laughing.[10]
In Blood Follows
Emancipor Reese needed new employment after his latest ill-fated master, the merchant Baltro, was murdered by the serial killer stalking Lamentable Moll. He drunkenly replied to a notice for a manservant left by necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. Reese blustered his way through the interview process, intriguing Bauchelain with his history of luckless employers. Reese was happy to accept a job that took him away from Subly and the children and paid far more than expected.
He soon came to regret his decision when he discovered the true nature of his employers. On the voyage out of Moll on the Suncurl, Reese discovered Korbal Broach's "child" stowed among their luggage and became violently ill.[11]
In The Lees of Laughter's End
Reese spent his time on the Suncurl calming his nerves (over his employment situation and his disgust with Korbal's child) with copious use of Durhang. For this he was upbraided by Bauchelain, who took away the drug and told to him to expect much worse in their employ.[12] When Captain Sater came to consult with Bauchelain regarding the lich rampaging in the ship's hold, Reese mistakenly prepared a Bloodwine refreshment for his master. Bauchelain forced Reese from his cabin before the wine's effects completely took hold.[13] As panic swept over the ship in the wake of the lich's attacks, Reese attempted restore order at sword point. The sailors turned on "Mancy the Luckless", the doom of ships, and strung him up from the mainmast as a sacrifice to Mael.[14] He spent the rest of the ensuing chaos in the crow's nest in relative safety with Bena Younger and her mother.
In The Wurms of Blearmouth
Shortly after departing Laughter's End, the Suncurl was attacked by the Unreasoning Vengeance. Her crew of Chanters sought vengeance against Captain Sater for stealing the Toll's City treasury. Bauchelain and Broach helped defend the ship, but the Suncurl was ultimately wrecked on a reef off the coast of Spendrugle.[15] Bauchelain pulled Reese from the surf without somehow getting wet himself while Broach flew to safety in crow form.[16] Bauchelain and Reese were met on the beach by locals come to separate any weakened survivors from their belongings, but Reese recognized them for what they were. Comber Whuffine Gaggs slyly suggested that master and servant pay a visit to local lord Fangatooth Claw.[17]
Reese went to the King's Heel tavern to recover and fell into the hands of innkeeper Feloovil Generous. Thinking to turn Reese and his masters against the town's sorcerer-tyrant Lord Fangatooth Claw, she invited him to her room and introduced him to her breasts "Stout" and "Sidelopp". Reese was horrified to realize her breasts had mouths, teeth, and tongues in place of nipples. She assured him they could not speak as they licked their lips.[18] A violent argument between Spilgit, Felittle, and Felittle's lizard cat gave Reese the needed distraction to escape back to his masters.[19]
At Wurms Keep, Reese commiserated with scribe Coingood over their shared servitude to madmen. When Lord Fangatooth Claw poisoned their food, Reese was shocked to find Bauchelain had made him immune to yellow paralt by lightly poisoning his rustleaf for months.[20] Reese could barely constrain himself from eating the demon infested cookies that Bauchelain prepared in response to Fangatooth's treachery.[21] After Fangatooth perished, the necromancers and their servant left town on a massive black-lacquered carriage. Bauchelain confided to Reese that he was their longest surviving manservant and that this made Bauchelain feel some affection towards him. After all, Bauchelain had been forced to murder all of the others for their disloyalty.[22]
In Memories of Ice
Three years after leaving Lamentable Moll,[23] Reese and his masters traveled for the first time to Darujhistan on Genabackis. Arriving shortly after the events of Gardens of the Moon, the pair engaged in their usual activities, visiting arcane places such as the new Finnest House and leaving a ghastly trail of murders in their wake.[24][25]
As city leaders searched for the mysterious killer, the necromancers departed on the caravan road towards Saltoan. Reese was accompanied by his new pet, an anxious and bedraggled cat he named Squirrel. Bauchelain sent Reese to bring him the well-respected caravan guard captain Gruntle. The necromancer hoped to convince Gruntle to accompany him and Broach into the remains of the Jaghut Tyrant Raest's prison, but the guard captain declined.[26]
Instead Bauchelain employed the suicidal caravan guard, Buke, who secretly suspected Broach of the Darujhistan murders and planned to kill both of the necromancers. Reese found something of a confidante in Buke, chilling the man with stories of their previous adventures. The caravan was attacked by six undead K'Chain Che'Malle K'ell Hunters on the road between Saltoan and Capustan and Reese was severely injured.[27]
On the eve of the Siege of Capustan, Bauchelain and Broach took possession of an abandoned estate within the city and continued their predations.[28] Buke continued to find ways to frustrate Broach's nightly hunts, but eventually became estranged from Reese over the servant's failure to disclose that the necromancers were Soletaken.[29]
The Bridgeburner mage Quick Ben visited the necromancers' estate to take their measure. He bypassed the estate's wards and guardians to appear in the house's main chamber before Bauchelain and a startled Reese. Bauchelain sent Reese to fetch their guest a glass of wine, but the manservant mistakenly returned with Broach's bottle of virgin's blood. Unfortunately, he had sampled the vile drink in the cellar. Broach and Bauchelain attacked Quick Ben in turn and were both soundly defeated. As the Bridgeburner departed, Reese rebuked him for not finally killing off his employers. Reese resisted Bauchelain's offer to give him a bonus for dragging their unconscious bodies out of the house before extinguishing the sorcery-sparked fire.[30]
Once the siege was over, the necromancers readied to depart. They approached Bridgeburner Corporal Picker for directions to someone who could provide them supplies. Picker did not care for Bauchelain's haughty manner and knocked him unconscious with a gauntleted fist to the face. Blend assisted by dropping Broach with a sword pommel to the skull. Picker advised Reese to educate his masters in proper forms of address upon their wakening.[31]
The necromancers followed the allied army to Coral pulling two wagons full of corpses and loot. They were stopped by Gruntle who was suspicious at his friend Buke's absence. Reese confirmed that Buke had walked away from the job and Bauchelain asked Gruntle to let Buke know he was fired. Itkovian informed the necromancer that Reese seemed to be in pain from a broken tooth. Bauchelain admonished his servant for continuing to eat olive pits despite the belief that they contained a deadly poison. The necromancer ignored Reese's shaking, tearful pleadings and requested Broach make use of his surgical skills to fix Reese's third such tooth broken in that manner.[32]
In The Healthy Dead
Four years after leaving Lamentable Moll, Reese, Bauchelain, and Korbal Broach arrived on the outskirts of Quaint.[33] They were one step ahead of an army pursuing them after they burned down half of the last town they had visited.[34] Determined to keep a low profile they were nevertheless persuaded by Imid Factallo and Elas Sil to bring down the tyrannical health-based regime of King Macrotus for a large chest of gold and silver coins.[35] Bauchelain stripped Reese of all his illicit substances and sent him into the city.
Inside Quaint, a series of misunderstandings resulted in Reese being recognized as the prophesized First Saint of Most Glorious Labour.[36] Well Knight Invett Loath brought Reese directly before the king. In the process, Reese lent Loath his D'bayang tainted handkerchief, which set the mind altered Purest of Paladins on a righteous mission to adjudicate the entire sinful population at swordpoint.[37] Mass chaos ensued.
Bauchelain and Broach put their own plans into motion by raising the city's dead from their graves. Upon entering the now burning city, Bauchelain was impressed by Reese's work, saying his own efforts had been unnecessary and that the chest of coins rightly belonged to Reese.[38] Appalled by the violence he had inadvertently ignited, Reese returned to their camp.
In Crack'd Pot Trail
Bauchelain, Broach, and Reese travelled the Cracked Pot Trail to reach Farrog, home of the Indifferent God. The two necromancers, deciding that the god had "reneged on the most precious covenant of all", had determined that its life was forfeit. As they made the final ferry crossing to the city they witnessed a peculiar accident as a carriage, in its haste to make the ferry, fell over three hundred feet to the river from the nearby cliffs.[39]
In The Fiends of Nightmaria
Bauchelain, Korbal Broach - along with Emancipor Reese and the Indifferent God - all arrived in the city of Farrog at the same time.[40] In short order, Bauchelain usurped the throne of the reigning King of Farrog and declared himself Bauchelain the First.[41]
Emancipor soon found himself serving as a one-man audience for the new King's ideas - particularly those involving an extremely aggressive new direction for Farrog's policies with regard to the neighboring Empire of Nightmaria - which were intolerant and negative, to say the least. As had long been his custom, Emancipor kept himself stoked not only by gulping down alcoholic beverages, but also by smoking rustleaf and d'bayang - often all at the same time. Since he was the two necromancers only trusted manservant, Emancipor assisted the duo in any way that was required of him.[42]
For the very first time, Emancipor found himself, very reluctantly, having to help Bauchelain with the summoning and binding of demons - activities which took place in the necromancer's Conjuration Chamber which was located in the crypts of the Royal Palace of Farrog.[43] Unlike practically all of the Farrogese (as well as Bauchelain and Korbal Broach), Emancipor was capable of empathy and understanding with regard to the Nightmarians - views that the manservant shared with the Ambassador of Nightmaria to Farrog, Ophal D'Neeth Flatroq, before he ushered the Ambassador into the Throne Room of the Royal Palace for an audience with King Bauchelain.[44]
At the end of their stay in Farrog, Emancipor served again as coachman of the necromancers' tall, ornate black carriage with its four black horses[45] - in which conveyance the trio left the city hurriedly...as was more often than not the case.[46][47]
In Orb Sceptre Throne
Bauchelain, along with Korbal Broach (and Emancipor Reese, taking care of the necromancers' extensive luggage)[48] visited the island remnants of the fallen Moon's Spawn — known as the 'Spawns' — which were located off the southern coast of Genabackis. The necromancers were seeking the Throne of Night, which was thought by some to have been destroyed.[49]
The trio were described by Antsy as "...the elegant fellow, Bauchelain,...[then] an ugly squat man, pale and bloated,...[followed] by an old man [i.e., Emancipor]...perhaps not so old, just looking extremely careworn."[50] Bauchelain and Korbal Broach were present when the Throne of Night was found with the aid of Orchid, but — as it turned out — they were unable to access it and departed, Emancipor following after them with the luggage.[51]
Quotes
Emancipor: "Show me a man who can't smoke and you're looking at the end of civilization."
[A remark made by Emancipor Reese in The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 3.]
Emancipor: "Ambassador? [King Bauchelain] will see you now... Please follow me--oh, you know the drill...remember, he likes genuflection, and obsequiousness. Groveling is even better. Abject despair soothes him best of all--I've turned that into an art... Come along."
[Emancipor Reese's remarks as he ushered the Nightmarian Ambassador, Ophal D'Neeth Flatroq, into the Throne Room of the Royal Palace of Farrog in The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 13.]
Notes and references
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Dramatis Personae
- ↑ The Lees of Laughter's End, Section 4
- ↑ Blood Follows, Sections 2 and 5
- ↑ The Lees of Laughter's End, Section 4
- ↑ Blood Follows, Sections 7 and 12
- ↑ Blood Follows, Sections 2 and 12
- ↑ Blood Follows, Section 5
- ↑ Blood Follows, Section 5
- ↑ Blood Follows, Section 5
- ↑ Blood Follows, Section 7
- ↑ Blood Follows, Section 20
- ↑ The Lees of Laughter's End, Section 6
- ↑ The Lees of Laughter's End, Section 11
- ↑ The Lees of Laughter's End, Sections 17 and 18
- ↑ The Wurms of Blearmouth, Sections 3 and 11
- ↑ The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 3
- ↑ The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 5
- ↑ The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 13
- ↑ The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 15
- ↑ The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 20
- ↑ The Wurms of Blearmouth, Section 40
- ↑ The Wurms of Blearmouth, Sections 44 and 48
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.228
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 1, US SFBC p.44
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 4, US SFBC p.122
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 1
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 6
- ↑ Memories of Ice,Chapter 10, US SFBC p.350
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 14, US SFBC p.487-489
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 18, US SFBC p.634-641/648-652
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.707
- ↑ Memories of Ice, Chapter 22, US SFBC p.793-796
- ↑ The Healthy Dead, Section 11
- ↑ The Healthy Dead, Section 5
- ↑ The Healthy Dead, Section 5
- ↑ The Healthy Dead, Section 11
- ↑ The Healthy Dead, Sections 13 and 15
- ↑ The Healthy Dead, Section 26
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6
- ↑ Crack'd Pot Trail, Chapter 6
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 3
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 5
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 9
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 13
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 21
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 25
- ↑ The Fiends of Nightmaria, Section 31
- ↑ Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 16, US TPB p.456
- ↑ Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 15, US TPB p.426-428
- ↑ Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 16, US TPB p.463
- ↑ Orb Sceptre Throne, Chapter 16, US TPB p.465-466