Odis Saulsbury

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Odis Saulsbury is a Blackforest Trapper and resident of Thunder Bay.

Personality

He's a man with no warmth in him, a fact he freely admits. He is also incredibly dangerous.<ref name=":1">“No.  Odis Saulsbury is a detestable, dangerous human being with a black heart that got blacker and harder with age.  He survived his predecessor’s attack because there was little warmth to extract.  That’s not gossip, that’s something he’d admit himself.  What I implied was that as awful a human as he is, he’s not doing anything especially awful now.  You could debate the awfulness of his current practice and where the line should be set as opposed to where it is, but he has calmed down considerably and he’s far less dangerous than the Witch who ran the phantom bus lines was before.”- Excerpt from Fall Out 14.4</ref>

He is no longer truly evil but acts according to what he describes as "dark justice".<ref>“I serve a dark kind of justice.  Thea is finding her way.  She lost it for so many years.  I think her recent issue with the raid of her vault was a lesson, that there needs to be justice, or justice will be done against her.  One I hope she takes to heart.”- Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.2</ref>

Is isn't interested in leadership, he just wants peace and stability.<ref name=":2">“No.  Even the idea reminds me of bitter times.  I currently have a means of extending my life some, through the bus lines.  It’s a broader project that earns me some money and lets me secure the things I want.  I would like to keep going for another fifteen or twenty years,” the old man said.  “Leave something to people I care about.  I’ll protect my area and my work, I’ll face down the likes of Musser if I must, but I want calm, and I want peace.”- Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.2</ref>

Relationships

He rescued Theodora after she was trapped by an Other inside a fantasy realm, discovered her whilst setting up a new bus line and took responsibility for her.<ref>“I was setting up a new bus line, the bus cut through this little world of yours.  Come, I’ll have to take responsibility for you.  I’ll sort you out.”

...

It wasn’t just the fact that Odis was spooky, the bus spookier.- Excerpt from Playing a Part 15.2</ref> After her power source was stolen he helped set her up again.<ref>“I’ll give you power, and I’ll give you things to help you get back to where you were.  An acquaintance of an acquaintance had a bead on another object with a realm inside

...

We should look at being more selective with targets, going forward.  Rules and standards.  There should be a justice to it, one that gives witch hunters and ideological rivals as few reasons to come after you as possible.- Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.2</ref>

Avery was creeped out by him.<ref>Man, he creeped her out.- Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.2</ref> Odis protected her after learning she'd stolen from Theodora to prevent unnecessary infighting during a time of war.<ref>“I’m an old man, I can’t brook squabbling under me.  Especially if it impacts greater needs.  I’ve been down that road many times before, of trying to keep a business afloat while others are angry, holding vendettas, undercutting one another.  No.  We’re in a war- Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.2</ref>

Musser's subordinates reached out to him to convince him to join him but he declined, he did say he wouldn't stop Thea joining if she wanted.<ref>“He did, through a subordinate of his I know.  But that was before he reached out to Thea.  I said no, but that I wouldn’t interfere with Thea, whatever her decision, nor would I use the fact she’s my apprentice to twist her arm or hobble her.  No.  I’m telling you of what I see as the practical realities.”- Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.2</ref>

Appearance

He's a bald old man with a cane and a slight hunch in his back. Wears a formal suit.<ref>The word came from Odis, the old man with the nasal voice, black suit and slight hunch to his back, both hands resting atop a cane.- Excerpt from Fall Out 14.4</ref><ref>Odis Saulsbury, bald, old, and well-dressed, carrying a cane.- Excerpt from Left in the Dust 16.8</ref>

Abilities

Operates a series of bus lines which picks up the elderly or prisoners and takes their joy in hurting people.<ref name=":0" /> He tends to focus on criminals that wouldn't normally be caught, turning them into shells of their former self.<ref>“And he’s catching criminals who wouldn’t be caught otherwise.  And… draining them into nonexistence.  Or into shells he can use as servants.  It’s not super clear.”- Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.9</ref>

He can use the bus lines to extend his life.<ref name=":2" />

He has an army of Vestiges created from his victims that he uses as soldiers.<ref>She turned- and saw a bus.  Offloading passengers who weren’t wholly human anymore.

Vestiges.

Odis’ victims, turned into Other soldiers.- Excerpt from Left in the Dust 16.8</ref>

Chronology

He used to be a gangster but stopped after finding magic,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> he still occasionally has meals with his old criminal contacts.<ref>- Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.2</ref>

Odis fell victim to the Witch of the Blackforest Bus Lines, a practitioner that preyed on the elderly by tricking them into buses and stealing the warmth from them. Odis managed to keep his senses by not having any warmth in him to steal, when the Witch went to investigate he killed her and took her role.<ref name=":0">“Not related.  Blackforest is a shorthand term for your Hansel and Gretel type situation.  Make a demesne, demiurgic realm, or mystical pitcher plant type trap, lure people in, harvest power.  Usually targeting vulnerable innocents.  Children, typically.”

...

“Odis’ predecessor targeted the elderly at nursing homes.  Bus stops that would appear only to certain eyes, lure in anyone who wandered, especially anyone without connections, regular visitors, living family.  Familiar music, friendly faces, a literal trip through the past as the bus went on.  They’d feel young, talk with others on the bus, on a seemingly unending, mystical trip, sun shining through the windows, sharing stories.  Like a warm, nostalgic dream on a sunny spring morning.  At her peak she had those bus-lines laid out across three cities and at nursing and care homes in ten different towns.”

Avery shivered.  “What happened to the victims?”

“They’d wake from the dream, the bus leaving them by the side of the road while it carried off that warmth it had stirred in them.  If they were lucky, they’d be found in some distant place, cold, hungry, dehydrated, and very confused.  They’d never recover the faculties they had.  Something vital drained out of them.”

...

More gently, Florin said, “Odis was one of the would-be victims.  He was a gangster when he was younger.  Old school, not to be trifled with.  He maintained his senses, got his hands on the Witch of the Blackforest Bus Line, when she came to figure out who was taking up a seat on her bus without giving up that kernel of warmth she was after.”

“Threw her into the oven?”

“Metaphorically.  Threw her under the bus,” Florin said, smiling.  “He keeps the buses running.  Different routes, different intent.  Sometimes the old, still, sometimes prisoners without anyone to pick them up.  Same idea, the bus comes along, but the feeling it evokes, it doesn’t look for warmth and nostalgia and set its hooks into those feelings.  It looks for people who have hurt other people and enjoy those memories.”- Excerpt from Fall Out 14.4</ref>

Voted against Avery being allowed to stay in Thunder Bay.<ref>“No,” Odis Saulsbury the Blackforest Trapper said.  “I prefer a blanket policy of hard no until the ambient chaos stops.  We invite one in, we invite others in.”- Excerpt from Fall Out 14.1</ref> The Lord of Thunder Bay gave him an elemental knife in an attempt to get him to change his mind.<ref>But the Lord moved, picking up the first gift.  The knife.  It was placed on the ground in front of Odis, along with a silvery coin.- Excerpt from Fall Out 14.1</ref>

He tried to get Avery to take responsibility for Franky.<ref>“Avery Kelly,” Odis said.  The rest of the conversation died down.  The old man turned to face Avery.  “Would you take responsibility for this new practitioner?”- Excerpt from Fall Out 14.4</ref>

Supported Thea when she went to the council to tell them that her power source had been stolen.<ref>- Playing a Part 15.z</ref>

Helped defend the Lord when Florin launched his coup.<ref>- Left in the Dust 16.8</ref>

Offered to drive Avery home after fighting Musser's minions but only after he promised saftey to her and her prisoners, first aid and to make the trip worth while. During the trip he told her that he knew she raided Thea's vault and forced Thea not to retaliate against Avery. He also talked about not having the leadership to fill all the new Lordships that have created and suggests the need to negotiate with Musser.<ref>- Gone and Done It 17.2</ref>

References

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