"No need to pay now, tovaritsch! You are sick, and I am sure you are good for the money. Take this with wine when youget home. I promise you will feel much better. You can pay the next time you come in."
- —Dmitri Hrodovsky[1b]
Dmitri Hrodovsky
A heavy-set man in his fifties with a great salt and pepper beard, Hrodovsky seems genuinely concerned about his clients' welfare - more concerned with their health than with money. His piggish brown eyes somehow manage to convey deep sympathy from under their wild eyebrows. He is precise in his work, a consummate professional.[1b]
Human (or other) pain and suffering mean nothing to him. People are just mines from which he can extract wealth. Still, Hrodovksy is always careful not to let his true feelings show and, given that he doctors the medicaments of only one-fifth of his customers, no one has suspected anything so far. Established as a respectable businessman since his arrival in Marienburg from Erengrad ten years ago, he is planning to study Alchemy in an attempt to find an elixir of life.[1b]
The only weak link in his scheme is his memory. Brilliant at remembering formulae and dosages, he cannot remember faces and names. So, to remember which patients are receiving his spiked medicines, he keeps a list of names and prescriptions in a leather-bound pocket-book which he carries at all times. It is written using the Kislev alphabet and is indecipherable to anyone who can't read that language. Addicted patients have a star beside their names.[1b]
Hrodovsky is one of Adalbert Henschmann's lieutenants, supplying him with "tonics of virility" (a mild stimulant, one dose) in return for control of the drug trade in the south-east of the city. He is also the sole supplier for the growing number of drug dealers in Kruiersmuur and the surrounding ghettos. He lusts after Margaretta, and looks forward to his chance to ensnare her. He deals regularly with Gideon Scheepscheers, from whom he buys valuable items people pawn to raise money for their "medicine". He refuses to buy drugs from Wilbert Ree, who he regards as trespassing on his territory. Hrodovsky is very friendly with the local Black Cap sergeants, several of whom are "regulars". Consequently, the Watch will not take kindly to roustabouts who make slanderous claims against respectable citizens like Mijn Heer Hrodovsky.[1b]