Delores Beck

Name	Delores Beck
Race	Human
Type	Normal
Faction	Free Willed
Premiere	Desideratum: Blood Bonds
Relative(s)	None Applicable

Delores Beck grew up in Boston and had a relatively normal life. She studied hard in school and always had a proclivity and interest in archaeology. Graduating top of her class, she attended Boston University and obtained a masters in archaeology, but did not stop there. She earned a multitude of doctorates, including doctorates in archaeological theory, archaeological science, material culture studies, and museum and heritage studies. However, archaeology turned out not to be as glamorous as she had envisioned. Instead of running through ancient temples dodging arrows or finding hoards of gold under barrow mounds, she mostly wrote papers and occasionally could go on a dig. She had been smitten with older books on archeology when the study was new in infancy, and heroic people would be the first to locate a certain ancient civilization or the first to enter an ancient tomb; by her time, so much of that had been done.

Her favorite books were Magical Relics and Artifacts Encyclopedia and Strange Discoveries of the Ancient World. Both published in the 1800’s, the books were more folklorian fiction than realistic archaeology, but they excited Dr. Beck’s imagination. They covered the exploits of Theodore and Deborah Ravenhurst and talked about their collection of cursed items, magical spells, and even monsters. It regaled tales of how ancient cults worshipped dark gods and the way history was affected by beings outside our physical world. Running across the globe, gathering cursed items and fighting otherworldly creatures seemed so much more exciting than what she found her job to be. Then, she started to see certain grains of truth in the writings of the Ravenhursts. Little connections could be made between what they had found and what current archaeologists were finding over two hundred years later. As technology grew, it seemed particular computer scans or even computer models began to support some of the claims of the Ravenhursts.

Delores spent all of her free time delving deeper, calling on colleagues and using equipment to verify some of her theories that were based on and even possibly proving that the Ravenhursts were telling the truth and that there was far more to the ancient world- or even the current one, than science understood. She eventually published her own book entitled, Strange Discoveries of the Ancient World, named after the original, but in this, she added her own notes and documented her own studies into the material showing, in some cases, indisputably how there were validations in what appeared to be fiction. The backlash from the scientific community was quick and ruthless, and even with all her credentials, she became a laughing stock.

Keeping her head low, she eventually became curator of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. In her time, Delores had tracked down and acquired a few items mentioned in the Ravenhurst books. One was the Book of Thoth and another being the Sarcophagus of Khufu. In the end, both of these items brought trouble to the museum and almost ended the world. The nosferatu, Borne Lorcan, was bid by Ivor to retrieve the Book of Thoth. Later, Absinthe Van Gothen came in search of the Scepter of Osiris, which was an artifact sealed in Khufu’s sarcophagus. However, that same night, Evelyn Addams and the Anax arrived for the same item. Dr. Beck spent the night crying in joy at a site that should have terrified anyone. However, she discovered that so many of her theories and the ideas put forth in the books were true! It was as if a terrible weight lifted off of her soul. After Absinthe and the Night Stalkers managed to save the world, Absinthe returned to see Delores and the two became friends.

Delores had so many questions, far more than Absinthe could answer, and she even met Brone Lorcan, which to her was like a time capsule. She found out so much information about life in the 1800’s directly from the source itself, and she became a researcher and adviser to the Night Stalkers in the future adventures, which became very similar to the ones that the Ravenhursts and Calis Van Gothen had experienced centuries earlier.