What was Vinculus like in his younger days? Did something tragic happen for him to get in his line of work?
Vinculus fell in with a bad crowd fairly early. Not possessing a very strong personality or intellect himself, he was drawn to a rather cultish community of blood-magic ritualists, mostly drunk off the charisma of its leader at the time. They weren’t criminals for the most part, aside from the terror they reigned over the local wildlife -- they were just generally unsavory and cruel individuals, and though the magic they practiced lacked finesse it almost always worked (even the scrying, usually, which even some Water dragons will confess to being hit or miss.) This was almost definitely due to the Gladekeeper’s unintentional influence, as the group made their home deep in the Shrieking Wilds, and the utilization of actual life force (blood, in their case, and scrutinizing the entrails of sacrificial animals) taps into some very primal and base elemental energy that called back to her creation. It was during this point of his life that Vinculus learned all of his magic and brewing expertise.
Fortunately, the community couldn’t sustain itself and broke apart, sparing the area from their presence, but not before Vinculus was saddled with an unfortunate addiction to A Magical Drug™. Unable to function in any clan or settlement, he started wasting away as a hermit, doing very little harm to anyone except himself. Until, that is, a gang of young Serthis, of an age to have been recently ousted from their sect and seeking to form the backbone of their adolescent society, happened upon his hovel and recognized the potent magical tokens of his old life (and doubtlessly the intoxicants stockpiled about.) The leader of the group seized the opportunity as it was presented, and they struck up a business deal. Vinculus was to remain a provider of his service as a crafter of hexes, potions, and poisons (and occasionally-correct future-sight), either directly to the fledgling Serthis sect or, more frequently, by dividing a portion of payments received from customers sent his way by the Serthis back to them, and they would provide him with ingredients and, importantly, lots of Magical Drug™.
Sadly, the hex business does better than most civilized dragons and beastfolk would prefer, and this arrangement has worked out pretty well -- bottled vengeance and spells that cause suffering will always find buyers, even if it almost always brings misfortune on the buyer as well. (Vinculus, in his more lucid moments, amuses himself by putting vague or overly literal language in the framework of his spells. Oftentimes a hex meant to cause problems for a certain individual will, by untraceable “coincidence”, utterly ruin the caster. A Longneck wishing disaster on a neighbor will find that somehow the fire started by a magically broken lantern has not only destroyed the neighbor’s belongings but spread back to his own. It’s unclear whether Vinculus does this from a deeply buried sense of justice or if he just thinks it’s funny.)
Unfortunately, this business has anchored him just a couple hours or so walk (and a very small flight) from the border of Pod’s Garden territory, and the Serthis sect he helps secure in the area are a splinter of the (usually) peaceful ruins-dwelling community that have maintained a generational treaty and mutual understanding with Pod himself. The splinter sect are ruffians, and have taken advantage of the increase in population and tourism to the territory and hamlet by acting as highwaymen on major thoroughfares and even interfering with the railway. They’ve even formed alliances with a few up-and-coming criminal dragons such as Herne and his partner, Oto Desoto the Sprangyroo, mercenaries and bounty hunters. They were an enterprising and conniving group of Serthis, and they likely would have risen to this level of troublemaking without Vinculus, but his continuing presence certainly hasn’t helped matters.