Franz der Schwarzhoffen
Franz grew up in a family that had traditionally sent its men to serve in the Wunschau town militia, watching his father and uncle in their armor practicing for war, and wanted to emulate them when he grew up. His father, Reinhardt (46 years old) & Adela (42) are both still alive. Reinhardt was once also a military man, but gave it up after his brother was slain in battle; now a plague doctor by trade, he disapproved of Franz pursuing a martial lifestyle (it was at this time that he started calling Franz "Schwarzhoffen"). When Reinhardt came home when Franz was 16, Franz learned that his uncle, Adolf, had been killed in battle against the neighboring Landgraf of Greifswald. At 20, Franz joined up with the militia to avenge his uncle despite his father's protests. He has since become promoted to Wachtmeister within the watch. Reinhardt is not a formally (university)-trained physician, but has been a first responder ever since the Plague struck, and he has been trying to apprentice the other two sons, Manfred and Rudolph. During his apprenticeship, Manfred age 21, contracted the plague and went into a coma, from which he has yet to awake. Rudolf, age 20, is still alive and thinking of joining the militia as well. Reinhardt has been devoting all his time to treating Manfred, while Franz has been praying for his brother's soul as hard as he can. Adela fears that Reinhardt and Franz may contract the plague and spends her time cleaning the house and being a clean-freak in general, sometimes to the point of hysteria.
During his service as a plague doctor, Reinhardt met a sexton named Ruprecht. Ruprecht used to come by the house, spinning tales of how the Sensenmann travels from town to town in the train of the Totentanz and reaps his harvest. He also gave Franz an hourglass, which he said he found in the house of one of his 'clients', who no longer had need of it.
Recently, there has been a spate of deaths - not comparable to the Dance that came earlier in the year, but the fears grow stronger that the Plague has returned. Several town notables have fallen to it. Ruprecht was the only sexton left in the vorburg of Westweg, just outside the city walls, and concerns grew among the members of the town council that if the Plague returned full strength, there would be no one to bury the dead. All attempts to contact him so he can do his job have been in vain. No one has come to the door of his house, which seems to be barred from the inside. In a few days, a woman named Eddi - famed fisher around town, came back from Rotz with several plague doctors and healers. Vogt Wolff called a town meeting, where he asked Eddi and the doctors to seek out Ruprecht. Franz, who was present at the meeting, and volunteered to accompany the newcomers: he was, after all, a member of the militia, and he knew Ruprecht. After gaining entry into the sacristy, Franz and his companions learned that Ruprecht had survived death, and using magic, brought his assistants back beyond the grave as well. When defeating Ruprecht proved to be beyond their means, Franz fled the house along with his companions, set it on fire, to prevent the walking dead from terrorizing the neighborhood, and then, along with Cilly and Basil, chased down two of the escaped corpses, and cut them down. He then invited all five of his new companions to spend the night at his family's house, as the group pondered what to do next.
Franz is a relatively tall, brightly green-eyed, shoulder-length black-haired man with the makings of a 5 o'clock shadow that he is attempting to grow out (of note, the rest of the family have blue eyes and black hair; Adela says that her grandfather had green eyes; the veracity of this statement is unknown). He has a very pale skin, so much so that people often wonder if he's sickly. Franz is of a relatively wiry build that stems from his time on patrols with the local militia.
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