ER:Mr. Stagpoole
From The Heretic Knowledge Vault
John Stagpoole, to give him his full name (which is almost never used by anyone not wishing to court death), is an important NPC in the Errant Road free-form on-line role-playing game. Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the Poe-verse. His basic concept can be found here.
Mr. Stagpoole is a "businessman" of sorts, running a boat chartering operation based in the harbor district of Kiyoka. He nominally runs sport-fishing trips for the well-heeled tourist, but we know that he also has a certain side business taking people back and forth between Kiyoka and Farrel -- generally people who don't want their whereabouts known, and are willing to pay through the nose for discreet, low-profile transportation. Depending on circumstances, he may use his usual fishing boat for these services, but he also owns a "special" boat with some interesting ... enhancements. It's definitely known to incorporate dwarven technology, including but not necessarily limited to a hydrofoil system that allows him to make the ocean crossing far more quickly than expected. Whichever boat he's using, it's usually crewed by his first mate and man Friday, the half elf Keyes.
Mr. Stagpoole's business interests are far-flung, and he is generally left alone by the various mercenary bands in Farrel, including not only the Gewehr and Eisenfaust, which are important in the game, but also the shadowy, sea-going Seeadler, which thus far have only been named, not encountered. During a bit of backstory, he was seen transporting Grope, Grope's late, lamented mate Zhbrigeeul, Lucas Ravanel, and others in an encounter with a decidedly hostile pirate ship. With some help from his passengers (quite a bit of help, actually), he sank the pirates, probably going far toward cementing his reputation as someone not to be mucked around with, and also leaving him and Keyes eternally in Grope's and Lucas' debt. In general, this is not a guy to get on the wrong side of, or so we are told.
In addition to Grope and Lucas, other PCs and important NPCs have had dealings with Mr. Stagpoole at times. Layla (and Zachary) used his services in the past, while she was running Rising Moon Vineyards, but declined to do business with him during her recent escape from Kiyoka after the destruction of the Gewehr operation there. Lucas took a recent group from his travel agency, including most of the game's player characters, to Kiyoka via a Stagpoole (and Keyes) charter outing. Also, he and Eisenfaust bad girl Elke had an incredibly vigorous and prolonged tryst during a mutual business trip to Volkanenborg, the exact circumstances of which remain murky. This little affair demonstrated that the man is a serious stud, and it also may lead to him becoming a daddy some months hence, if Elke's post-coital stomach malaise turns out to be morning sickness.
All told, this is a pretty ominous guy, and that's without getting into some of the stuff he's been discussing offline with Elke, Gewehr big shot Peter, and so on.