Murillio

Murillio
by Luztheren
Biographical information
Race	Human (Daru)
Gender	Male
Appearance	Tall, lanky, and attractive
Social information
Occupation(s)	Courtier and occasional duellist

Murillio [mer-RILL-ee-oh] was a courtier and one of the regulars at the Phoenix Inn in Darujhistan. He was a friend of Crokus, Rallick Nom, and Coll and was an associate of Kruppe. He was described as lanky, having a long, elegant frame.

On his first appearance he was dressed in a bright-green, soft billowing shirt and fine tanned soft pantaloons. He was fastidious in his appearance.

Murillio was an accomplished duelist, having studied under Carpala the famed instructor. He hated priests, thinking them "self-serving confidence artists...swindlers of the gullible."

In Gardens of the Moon

Murillio by Corporal Nobbs

Observing Murillio and Rallick Nom, Crokus suspected that they were plotting something.

Murillio was a known flirt. He was seen out on the courts with the widow (her marital status was inferred rather than stated) of the recently assassinated Councilman Lim within a couple of days of the man's death. Soon after, he was entertaining Lady Orr, Turban Orr's wife. Ostensibly a romantic meeting, in reality, Murillio was after procuring ticket's to Lady Simtal's fête for himself and Rallick Nom. Lady Orr's most trusted hand-servant delivered the invitations to him, a bamboo tube, tied with a blue ribbon.

When Murillio met with Rallick in the grounds of Hinter's Tower to talk about the Gedderone Fête, Rallick ambushed him to test Murillio's reflexes and was pleased that they were still good, despite good living. They agreed to further Crokus' ambition to become a man of standing and exchanged suspicions about Kruppe.

Murillio and Rallick secretly sought the downfall of Lady Simtal who had climbed the social ladder by marrying their friend Coll, then plotting a legal coup against him, leaving her with all of his possessions and Coll with nothing. Their plans came to a convergence with those of various others during the fête at Lady Simtal's estate. This resulted in Lady Simtal's suicide, and the subsequent restoration of Coll to his former position as a nobleman.

In Memories of Ice

Murillio by Dejan Delic

Murillio was the carriage driver for Coll and a group of other Darujhistani councilors that met with the forces of Caladan Brood, Anomander Rake, and Dujek Onearm. Upon arriving at the meeting site near Pale, he was angered to discover an uninvited Kruppe already present by use of horses closely resembling those stolen from the Council delegation. The councilors successfully forged an alliance with the two once enemy armies against the threat of the Pannion Domin to the east.

When the allied forces decided to go to the aid of soon to be besieged Capustan, Murillio and Coll accompanied them. Feeling out of place amongst the soldiers, the two men found themselves tending the Mhybe who had seemingly been abandoned by her daughter, Silverfox. The latter had been aging very rapidly by unknowingly taking the life force of her mother, leaving the Mhybe incredibly wizened and frail.

Murillio and Coll also spent their time gambling with the crew of the Trygalle Trade Guild and holding long discussions about the paths of their lives. Murillio recalled his days as wild and wasteful youth, who spent his time with a different widow every night. Now he felt his years and new younger rivals had taken his place, but he still could look back on his days of glory. Murillio also revealed to Coll that he and Rallick Nom had kept an eye on Coll's ex-wife, Lady Simtal, during Coll's years of drunkeness. They had been unable to determine the truth behind rumours that she was pregnant with Coll's child.

The Mhybe's two caretakers grew to pity her and believed themselves the only ones to care for her welfare. After the Siege of Capustan was relieved by the allies, they decided it was time to act. Amidst the post-battle chaos, they purchased horses from the Mott Irregulars and brought the Mhybe's wagon into the city looking for someone who could help ease her final days. Inside the city, they were attacked by the necromancer, Korbal Broach, looking for parts for his vile creations. Murillio was knocked unconscious and the two Daru were saved only by the appearance of the Knight of Death, a servant of Hood, who drove off Broach and brought them to Hood's temple.

There, they were joined by the Elder God K'rul who explained that the living Mhybe was to be forever interred in Hood's temple while her spirit was sent to live as young woman in a sort of afterlife that existed within her dreams. Silverfox had bargained with Hood for the arrangement. Thinking of Burn, the Sleeping Goddess, Murillio wondered, "just how many sleeping old women are there?"

Weeks after the war ended, Murillio, Coll, and Kruppe were back in Darujhistan. They were the only locals to attend the opening of K'rul's Bar, a new establishment opened by several retired Bridgeburners.

In The Bonehunters

Cutter and Scillara made plans to journey to Darujhistan. Scillara teased the young thief, saying he could teach her the trade. Cutter demurred, saying it would be more advantageous for her to associate with a better kind of person, like Murillio or Coll.

In Toll the Hounds

Murillio by HiHaFiZi

Murillio began to feel his age, sensing the number of covetous female glances cast his way was in decline. This did not stop his company from being high in demand on the night of the Gedderone Fête, which he planned to spend with Sepharla, a wealthy widow. But the widow fell asleep drunk and Murillio instead had a dalliance with her daughter, Delish. Prelick, one of Delish's drunken suitors, thought Murillio was a rapist and stabbed him through the chest. The dying consort fled to the Phoenix Inn and Mallet was summoned to save his life. The healer claimed Murillio would live so long as he came out of his mental funk.

After being nearly killed, Murillio decided to mend his ways and took the position of duelling instructor at a school operated by the ex-caravan guard, Stonny Menackis. Perhaps because he was feeling old and discouraged, Murillio quickly became enamoured with his jaded boss, Stonny. His star pupil among the otherwise unnotable students was Bellam Nom, who he supplied with more advanced instruction.

When Stonny's six-year-old son Harllo disappeared while in the care of his adoptive parents, Bedek and Myrla, Stonny fell to pieces. Murillio was moved to launch his own search for the boy, enlisting Kruppe to help him make enquiries. Murillio searched through the bodies of the city's pauper pits and questioned sailors and fisherfolk for leads. Stonny found herself opening up to Murillio in a way she had with no man before, while he found himself falling in love. She withdrew most of her attention from the school, leaving instruction in his hands, and even began talking of turning the school over to Murillio--a tactic he saw as attempting to push him away and one which he would not accept.

Murillio by Crochet Me Curios

Eventually Murillio concluded Harllo's sadistic adoptive brother Snell knew more than he was saying. Arriving at Bedek and Myrla's house while they were away, he found Snell had smothered his younger sisters, Mew and Hinty, unconscious with plans of selling them for coin. Murillio wrung a confession from the boy regarding how he had beat Harllo and left him for dead in the hills outside the city. As Murillio pondered over what to do next, Bellam revealed himself, having followed his instructor from school. The student pledged to remain with Snell and his sisters until their parents returned.

Murillio rented a horse to search the hills outside the city, finding the old shepherd who had sold the unconscious Harllo to the nearby Eldra Iron Mongers mine for slave labour. Murillio's horse threw a shoe forcing him to walk until he could hitch a ride on an oxcart and rest his blistered feet.

At the iron mine, Murillio attempted to buy Harllo's freedom from the mine's foreman, but the transaction was halted by Gorlas Vidikas, the mine's nobleman operator. Recognising Murillio as among the list of conspirators his friend Hanut Orr suspected as being collectively responsible for the deaths of Turban Orr, Councilman Lim, and Lady Simtal, Gorlas maneuvered him into a duel to draw first blood as a matter of honour. Murillio was at a significant disadvantage to the younger and faster Gorlas, owing to the multiple, large, broken blisters on his feet and to his general exhaustion because of the difficult trip to the mine. When Gorlas drew first blood, he refused to abide by the terms of the match and slew Murillio. Murillio's last thoughts were of an apology to Harllo. After kicking the corpse, Gorlas ordered the body sent to the Phoenix Inn to taunt Murillio's friends and commanded that Harllo be brought to him.

Murillio's friends at the Inn grieved and raged and had him quickly interred in Coll's family crypt. Half-mad with grief, Coll tried to turn to drink and came to blows with Rallick Nom before Kruppe defused the matter. Irilta, who had always secretly loved Murillio, cut her wrists to take her own life. Bellam Nom placed Mew and Hinty under Stonny's care, finally breaking her out of her despair before rescuing and returning with Harllo from the mine. When Cutter heard of Murillio's death he raced to the mine to find Gorlas Vidikas and slew him in revenge.

Trivia

Murillio is lightly based on Aramis, "the fancy ladies' man of the The Three Musketeers".

Quotes

"He'd had, perhaps, too much wine. Enough to weaken a certain resolve, the one having to do with recognizing his own maturity..."

―Murillio, just before making a big mistake

Notes and references

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