Quick facts
Full name: Reginald Barqs · Race: Dwarf · Ship: Rootbeer Float (captain, later first mate) · Children: Joey (with Ibeesee); a daughter with Bulma Briefs · Status: Alive (last seen C2 Session 70)
Reginald Barqs is the dwarven captain of the Rootbeer Float and the ship that carried The Cacklers across Campaign 1. He has two children by two very different women, a long history of blaming himself, and a soft spot for Oolong, whom he calls his “bird boy.”
Overview
Barqs captained the Crew of the Rootbeer Float, the pirates Oolong once sailed with. When Oolong later took over as captain, Barqs stayed on as first mate. He can cast Dimension Door and is willing to jump straight into a fight with it. He officiated Terra and Sophie’s wedding.
History
Campaign 1
Joey. The Cacklers freed Barqs’s crew from a Beerlian jail and escaped on the Rootbeer Float. On the way to Scotch on the Rocks they found Barqs’s goblin son Joey hiding aboard. Joey had sold the ship to the Rose Ribbon Army for money and a place in its ranks. The crew tried him on deck, found him guilty of treason and mutiny, and banished him. On Scotch on the Rocks the party met Joey’s mother, Ibeesee, Barqs’s “baby mama.”
Losing the ship. Barqs kept the ship safe offshore while the party worked the Ranchinian Peninsula and picked them up from the cliffs. Later, when the Cacklers needed a ship, Barqs had bad news: “I’m sorry, Oolong. I’m going to have to let you down again. I’m in a cell.” A man named Greylock had usurped him, Ibeesee had imprisoned them both, and she had handed the Rootbeer Float to Captain Rootbeard. The Cacklers freed Barqs and his crew from the cellar. In the Silent Vaults, Barqs Dimension Doored up to the rock with Terra.
Joey’s death. In the vault, a controlled Ibeesee killed Joey with Circle of Death, then blamed Barqs for letting Joey fall into the army’s hands before turning the spell on herself. Barqs tried to revive the fallen Terra and broke down: “This is all my fault. I should have stuck up for Joey and made sure we brought him back to her and none of this would have happened.”
Dying for North City. When the Rose Ribbon Army attacked North City’s harbor, Barqs grabbed Oolong and Dimension Doored onto the Rootbeer Float. He was badly hurt in the naval battle; after one healing spell he thanked them, “Oh, thank you. You’re like the son I never had,” but an invisible mage counterspelled the next, and Barqs died on deck, “Slain by a traitor.” At Sophie’s urging, Juliette brought him back.
Rice Town. When the Rootbeer Float crashed into the ice at Rice Town, Barqs escaped with Terra and Juliette. He mourned his injured crew, Harry, Marge, Rumti and Satchel, again saying, “This is all my fault.” He partly repaired the ship and picked the Cacklers up afterward.
Fatherhood again. Back in North City, Bulma Briefs revealed she was pregnant. Oolong asked, “Is it Barq’s baby?” and Bulma confirmed it. Barqs complained about the cost of child support, and Greene told him, “Then you better fuckin figure it out, dude.”
The wedding and after. Barqs officiated Terra and Sophie’s wedding, pronounced them married, and asked Terra the question she answered with “Hell yeah I do.” After Shenlong’s wish, Barqs, last seen crashing the Rootbeer Float, woke up in North City confused and asking, “Where’s my bird boy?”
Campaign 2
In North City, on the night before The Cell Games, Ellery shared her first kiss with a dwarf named Reginald during a game of truth or dare. He was introduced as an old flame of Bulma’s (Session 68). Before the Games, Wilbur ran into him downstairs at the tavern and the two talked about the complexities of fatherhood (Session 69). In Bulma’s suite at the Games, Bulma’s daughter ran in followed by Reginald Barqs, and the awkward reunion made clear he was the girl’s father. Bulma said they had never married, and Reginald quickly excused himself (Session 70).
Relationships
- Joey: His goblin son with Ibeesee, banished for mutiny and later killed by his mother.
- Ibeesee: Joey’s mother.
- Bulma Briefs: Mother of his daughter. They never married.
- Oolong: His “bird boy,” former crewman, and later his captain.
- Crew of the Rootbeer Float: His crew, whom he blames himself for failing.
Notable quotes
- “This is all my fault.”
- “Oh, thank you. You’re like the son I never had.”
- “Where’s my bird boy?”
Appears in
- Campaign 1 (Beerlia onward)
- Session 68, Session 69, Session 70