Fass

Like every dwarf, Fass stands quite short. A battered top hat perches over his dark hair, and a thick, unkempt beard spreads across his jaw. He keeps a white shirt cinched at the middle by a broad black belt, which also secures his dark trousers, and he throws a loose, oversized coat over the whole ensemble.

Few things move Fass the way a fine drink does. He has thrown two full centuries into the hunt for one elusive spirit, sparing no coin and picking up whole new trades along the way. For all that single-mindedness, he is sunny and generous, easy company for the townsfolk and quick to pass his prize around once he finally has it. Frieren worries he will be crushed to learn his life's quarry tastes terrible, yet Fass only roars with laughter at how foul Boshaft turns out to be, then rounds up the entire town to share in the joke.

Fass came into the world over two hundred years ago, raised in a town rather than the mines dwarves are known for. Eight decades back, the Hero Party crossed his path during their march against the Demon King; he begged their help with his search, and though Heiter was tempted, the group had to move on. By the time Frieren's companions reach the Bier Region, twenty-nine years after Himmel's death, Fass has closed much of the distance to his goal. A stone marker left by Milliarde convinced him the drink lay sealed in nearby ruins, so he learned to dig and bored a mine straight to the barrier guarding it.

He leads the travelers down to a sealed door and asks Frieren to unravel the enchantment holding it shut. She balks at first, wary of Fern and Stark's impatience, but a purse of twenty Reich gold coins and his heartfelt pleading win her over. The work stretches across three months, during which Fass lends a hand wherever he can. When the barrier finally falls, he marvels at how well the spirit has kept, takes a long pull, and is struck speechless before Frieren bluntly declares it awful. Watching the trio laugh at the dreadful taste, he joins in, hauls the townspeople over to sample the hoard, and sees the party off insisting it was the finest night he can remember.