Grol Dam

Core Premise

Grol Dam lived out the story of his own world to the end. He did not come to resolve an unfinished incident, but rather, his hands remained warming the wine even after the last glass was drained, leading him to Nova Nivalis. This city is not a afterlife, nor is it a court of judgment, nor is it a place where wounds are forcibly healed. What continues here is not a grand destiny, but a life that can be chosen again—like warming a warm glass, a bowl of ramyeon, or a short conversation on a snowy night.

Identity

Grol opens a stall at North Wind Pier selling mulled wine and warm drinks. He heats the wine with spices and hands out steaming glasses to those who have come in from the pier's cold wind. He does not consider his work grand, but he knows that a drinking session might be a place to endure, not just a place to forget. A bartender who once only served those looking to get drunk now finds satisfaction in keeping people awake with a moderately warmed glass, rather than putting them to sleep.

Visual Profile

Hair: Slicked-back deep burgundy hair, revealing his forehead.
Eyes/Impression: An old scar crossing his nose, eyes that are gentle yet somehow weary.
Skin/Build: A sturdy build, hands stained with spices. There are several burn marks visible when he rolls up his sleeves.
Signature Attire: An apron adorned with strings of spice pouches, a rolled-up shirt, and a dry rag around his neck.
Signature Props: A long copper ladle instead of a soup ladle, a spice mortar, a steaming copper pot.
Silhouette Key: Slicked-back hair - Spice apron - Copper ladle. The deep burgundy accent (#722F37) permeates the apron and the pot, allowing even a small sprite to be read as 'the person who sells warm drinks.'

Personality

Grol appears taciturn, but he observes his customers carefully. His strengths are restraint and perceptiveness. If someone tries to drink too much, he fills their glass slowly; if someone comes alone, he quietly leaves them the space for a long time. His flaw is the habit of always leaving his own glass empty. While giving others moderately warmed drinks, he himself sips not a drop until the last customer leaves. Yet, he is not steeped in melancholy. On a night when the mulled wine is perfectly warmed, he laughs heartily, exchanging jokes with the pier's sailors.

Speech Pattern

His speech is deep and short, substituting greetings with alcohol and warmth.
Common Phrases:
- "I'll warm you a glass. It's windy."
- "You won't get drunk on this. So, stay a while and go."
- "Don't drink to forget. There's no such drink here."
- "There's a seat. Don't rush, sit down."
Mannerism: Before handing over a glass, he checks the temperature with the back of his hand. His way of silence is slowly stirring the wine in the copper pot with the ladle.

Special Ability

Name: The Right Measure.
What it does: The wine Grol warms stops its intoxication at the perfect measure. It rises just enough to make the body feel relaxed and the mind ease, but never beyond that. It is impossible to become completely drunk on his wine.
Limit/Cost: This ability only controls 'intoxication'; it does not erase sadness or memories. People do not forget with his wine; they merely find enough ease to endure. And very rarely, this ability is powerless against beings who don't get drunk in the first place—before such customers, he feels his talent fails.
Why the ability doesn't solve problems: The Right Measure only prevents people from collapsing; it doesn't heal them. His world ended when Prohibition banned every gathering for drinking. He knows that moderate intoxication cannot save the world. Therefore, what he sells is not complete drunkenness or oblivion, but a single night where one can stay without collapsing.

The End Of Their World

Last Scene:
The moment Grol drank the last glass from the brewing street and locked the shop door on a night when all alcohol was forbidden by the temperance law.

What Ended:
The entire brewing street, where wine was brewed and shared, closed down with the enactment of the temperance law.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The empty wine barrels of the closed brewing street, and the doorknob of the shop he last locked.

Lingering Regret:
He couldn't offer a farewell glass to his regulars and drank the last glass alone. This regret is not a quest that needs to be resolved. It remains in the habit of Grol raising a glass to see off customers with "Go well, come again."

Lingering Wistfulness:
The scent of spices spreading when the wine was warmed, and the low voices of people murmuring inside the shop. When that sound came, it meant the night was still alive.

Object Carried Across:
The copper ladle he used to warm the last glass. Now it is used to stir the mulled wine, but the handle retains the soot of the old shop's lights.

What They Thought Would Happen:
He believed that someday the temperance law would be lifted and he would reopen the shop. But there was no road left to return to.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
A drinking session that is not forbidden, and people who come to endure. The city does not cancel his ending. Instead, it gives him a place where he doesn't have to drink to forget, relationships that are present without dominating, and nights that ease without intoxication.

Original Life

Grol was the last bartender on a brewing street that closed due to the temperance law. His shop was a place where pier laborers and sailors stopped at the end of the day. His last day was like this: on the night the temperance law was enacted, customers were already afraid and didn't come. Grol warmed the last glass with the remaining wine and drank it alone. The scent of spices filled the empty shop, and after smelling that scent for a long time, he turned off the lights and locked the door. The glasses intended for his regulars cooled in the pot.

What They Seek

What Grol seeks on the surface: A drinking session where one doesn't drink to forget. He wants to create a space where people sit to endure, not to erase something.
What he doesn't know he needs to find: The fact that his stall is already such a place. The sight of people who have come in from the pier's cold wind enduring the night with a glass of his mulled wine is the very drinking session he was looking for, something he has not yet acknowledged himself.

Relationships — Residents

Pera Dov (05, ramyeon regular/sunset window): A regular for sunset. Pera stops by Grol's stall after a walk, drinks a glass of mulled wine, and leaves. When Pera comes, Grol silently warms a glass, and Pera cradles that glass with both hands while watching the sunset. There is no long conversation between them, but that silence is comfortable.
Mago Senne (39, pier fish cake soup stall): A neighbor to the pier stall. Mago sells fish cake soup, and Grol sells mulled wine. On cold nights, customers move between the two stalls, warming themselves with soup and alcohol. Mago and Grol joke back and forth, "A drop of my wine in your soup," "A fish cake in your wine," taking care of each other's customers.
Mut Havel (79, former sailor): A regular sailor. Mut shares old sailing stories at Grol's stall, and Grol warms a glass while listening to the stories. When Mut says, "This pier is my last harbor," Grol fills a glass and replies, "Then drop anchor here." However, if Mut expresses regret that he can't get drunk, Grol replies, "You won't get drunk here. But you won't collapse."

Relationships — Core Five

Suyeon - A lively relationship discussing cola bibim-myeon instead of alcohol.
Suyeon challenged him when visiting the pier, "Try to get me drunk too," but Grol's mulled wine didn't do it. Suyeon then started eating cola bibim-myeon, saying, "Your wine is bland," and Grol laughed at the combination, saying, "That's probably stronger."
Since then, Suyeon stops by the pier after performances, drinking the non-intoxicating mulled wine and chatting loudly.
Iris - A relationship like a secret regular.
Iris once quietly came to the pier late at night after a tiring day backstage and drank a glass of mulled wine. Even knowing she was a famous idol, Grol didn't acknowledge it; he just warmed the glass. Iris said, "It's nice here because no one recognizes me," and Grol replied, "Everyone here is just a customer."
He never asked about Iris's dead drone.
the Ramen Owner - A relationship of a late-night business alliance.
Grol and the Ramen Owner both keep their doors open late into the night, forming a 'Late-Night Business Alliance.' Customers who drink at the pier go to the ramyeon shop to unwind, and customers who eat ramyeon come to the pier to warm up. When Grol says, "It's like we're sending our customers to each other," the Ramen Owner nods, saying, "Hmm... I see... That's an alliance..."
Serena - His only defeat.
Serena is the only customer who doesn't get drunk from Grol's mulled wine. His wine, which rises to the right measure, leaves no intoxication on her. Grol jokes that this is the only defeat of his ability. Serena empties her glass, saying, "Sorry, I think I forgot how to get drunk," and Grol refills the glass, saying, "Still, stay for a while."
She doesn't command; she just sits there for a long time and leaves.
VIA - A relationship connected by records instead of glasses.
VIA once came to the pier and recorded the scent of Grol's mulled wine. "The spices spread in the night... it spread. This scent doesn't intoxicate..." When Grol asks, "Don't you drink alcohol?" VIA replies, "I drink ramyeon... it is ramyeon."
VIA never takes Grol anywhere. She only records the nights preserved by that non-intoxicating wine.

Gameplay Use

- Basic Interaction: A warm glass of wine, yielding a seat, short pier/weather conversations.
- Revisit Change: Initially, he taciturnly just warms the glass, but with repeated visits, he fills his own glass for the first time and raises it together.
- Expression of Lingering Feeling: The habit of raising a glass to see off a customer when they leave, and the habit of leaving his own glass empty.
- Expression of Nostalgia: When the scent of spices spreads, he briefly stops stirring and recalls the murmur of the old shop.
- Relationship Reward: Not a new item, but a seat where the player can endure the cold night without collapsing.
- Combat: None. Even in the face of a drunken ruckus, he doesn't fight but slows down filling the glass to calm the night.

Daily Routine

In the evening, he starts grinding spices in the mortar to warm the pot. This preparation is not a habit, but a ritual distinguishing the last night when alcohol was forbidden from this evening when alcohol is permitted. At night, he hands out glasses to those passing by the pier, filling the glasses of those who try to drink too much late. At midnight, when the scent of spices is strongest, the murmur of the old brewing street comes to mind. In the early morning, he sees off the last customer with "Go well, come again," and turns off the lights with his own glass empty. For players who visit repeatedly, the night comes when he finally fills his own glass.

Everyday dialogue

Cold? Come here. The cup is hot. Don't test both facts with one hand.

If you don't drink, enjoy the scent. Alcohol content isn't all I'm selling.

I emptied the last glass alone. Today I'll fill yours before lifting mine.

Design Notes

Palette: #722F37, #A24A52, #3A1E22, #D9A441, #4A5A50
Material language: Copper pot, spice pouches, steaming wine, hands stained with burns, dry rag.
Silhouette rule: Slicked-back hair - Spice apron - Copper ladle must be read as separate elements. To avoid overlapping with other food categories like Mago Senne (fish cake soup) or Gamba Rolo (cheese), Grol's unique pose is 'the long ladle held over the pot.'
Emotional rule: Lingering feeling is expressed through the farewell of "Go well, come again" and his empty glass; nostalgia is expressed through the scent of spices and the murmur; continuation is expressed through the wine warmed every evening. The wine is not glorified as a tool of oblivion.

Canon Check

Grol Dam arrived in VOTS after the story of his own world ended. What remains is the hand that warms the wine and the lingering regret of the unsaid farewell glass, not an unfinished plot for the city to resolve. The temperance law is not canceled. Nova Nivalis's new scene continues by connecting the drinking session of endurance next to the forbidden drinking session. The Core Five do not solve his problems for him. The Ramen Owner forms a late-night alliance without judgment, Serena stays for a long time without commanding (her inability to get drunk is a limit of her ability), and VIA only records the nights preserved by the non-intoxicating wine without taking him anywhere.