Doctor Mateo Balthesar

Doctor Mateo Balthesar is an accomplished alchemist, brewer, and botanist who specializes in the magical application of plant life.

Personality
Balthesar is sincere and gentle, but bears many regrets and scars from his sordid past. Despite his good intentions, he often gets into trouble or involved with the wrong people. He is an extreme alcoholic and cannot go for more than afternoon without having at least a mug of ale.

History
For 22 years, he was a professor of mutagens and mutant studies at the University of Vel Talyth, but he resigned from the position after being caught in a sexual affair with a young student. Barred from most academic circles, he wallowed in drunkenness until he was hired as an assistant researcher for the equally disgraced Doctor Luthana, who was beginning a super soldier program under the auspices of a foreign patron.

For 3 months, he toiled with Luthana and two dozen other wizards, artificers, and alchemists in a secret laboratory compound near the outlaw city of Bladefall. They primarily experimented on slaves, prisoners, and whomever else Luthana considered undesirable to society. The "specimens" were of all races and ages, which weighed heavily on Balthesar's mind. Still, once he was involved with the program, he dared not leave for fear of being killed or experimented on himself.

One day, orochi spies infiltrated the laboratory and sabotaged the equipment, leading to a massive explosion that killed most of the researchers and captives. Suffering only minor burns, Balthesar was among the few survivors, along with Doctor Luthana and a Gen-3 super soldier named Alexander, who was once known as Hachiman. However, Balthesar was not aware that either of them survived.

Using the explosion as an opportunity to escape, he fled to Bladefall and rode with a caravan to Valor Hill, where he stayed for several weeks brewing and selling alcohol. He would later find himself in the mountainous eladrin village of Xantorin, in search of rare alcohol recipes, but the village's cannibal natives captured him and his party. He was imprisoned in the inn cellar for a week, while the villagers butchered and ate the people he had traveled with. Five bold adventurers, including the super soldier Alexander/Hachiman, freed him from captivity. Hachiman forgave the man and took him to Riverdrown, where the two bonded over alcohol.

An orochi spy ring later poisoned his flask of wine with serpent's kiss. He ended up surviving this second attempt on his life, thanks to a cleric named Zoltan, but would walk with a cane for the remainder of his life.