Bolgene Softstone, Half-orc Alchemist

Born in the Orcish city of Towle, Bolgene struggled to fit in with his stronger and faster peers.
Unable to meet the Orcish cultural expectations he resorted to “cheating” through alchemical means, focusing on mutagens.
As his Orcish mother realized he would never grow into a mighty warrior, he was sent to study magic with a local hedge wizard. The wizard took pity on his lack of magic ability and trained him in herbalism instead of sending him home. PC found a tome of alchemist’s notes among some possessions traded to the hedge wizard for some healing he had done and began trying to decipher the contents.
As his studies continued, war drew close to his town and he was pressed into service alongside the hedge wizard treating the returning war veterans, many of which had limited healing support during that last throws of the battle.
Frustrated that he could only help with poultices and “standard medicine,” he continued studying the tome. Weeks later he was an the road gathering ingredients when he found his older brother returning from the front lines missing his right leg and gangrenous. After stabilizing him, the brother begged to die, unwilling to return home to their parents an amputee. PC attempted a high level recipe from the alchemy tome to regrow his brother’s leg. The mutagen was a success! His brother went home with the alchemical leg a shared secret.
Sadly, the effects wore off after a few days, leaving the brother even more traumatized. The mutagenic leg had shriveled and turned a purplish-black color, unable to bear weight and a source of constant pain.
He swore an oath to find a way to fix his brother’s leg and set out to find better ingredients and to finish unlocking the secrets of the tome.
The hedge wizard reluctantly bid him farewell giving him the name of and old alchemist friend that may be dead as his only lead.
After a month of traveling, he received word that the infection from the leg had spread and killed his brother, although he suspects it was suicide.