This section lists some notable NPCs in the campaign, as well as the player characters. All of the player characters below were played at least one session as player characters, although several of them started (or ended) being controlled by the game master.

Player Characters

NPC

RPG,D&D Library

Aeric

Human ranger

Aeric was a bow enthusiast, practicing whenever he got the chance.

Burd

Human ranger

Burd was a guide working on caravans crossing the Cursed Lands.

Alayn

Human aristocrat

Alayn was the nephew of Lord Khulven. When his uncle sent him as his ambassador to negotiate about trade agreements with the Black Sword orcs he was captured by the rival Iron Claw orc tribe, and about to be sacrificed to Erythnull.

Alayn was rescued by Drik & Co.

Bardia

Human ranger

Bardia was a tracker and feeling at home in the Cursed Lands, a rare thing among humans.

Cassandra

Human paladin

Cassandra was the sister of Drik.

Drik - R.I.P.

Ever since Drik was young he was good natured. His family was religious but not as involved with Church as Drik. Drik struggled with his studies. He didn't struggle with his studies of spells and such or his god, he found it difficult to operate within the rules of the church. The Bishop in particular did not like the way Drik did whatever he wanted to do nor did the most of the leaders of the church. Drik always found it easy to learn new spells.

At the age of 16 he was refused access to the Holy Order of Saint Cuthbert based on his lack of ability to follow orders. This made Drik mad and he become even more independent.

Of course the bishop didn't like this change. Drik decided that he would continue his studies in supporting his god. His god he could understand and could follow his orders because he didn't ask much of Drik. Actually Drik's god seemed to be a lot like Drik and was very forgiving. Drik become more and more distant from the church and involved himself more and more with his own religious beliefs. This infuriated the bishop. The act of defiance made the bishop think that Drik was insulting his beliefs. (Which is not the case, Drik beliefs that every good religion should be acknowledged and respected by every church.) Eventually the bishop transferred Drik to the authority of the Archbishop of Glome and sent to Clydeswillow to do Humanitarian work. Don't get it wrong that Drik likes to help people but just merely healing people doesn't get to the root of the problem.

This defiance and wanting to truly help people not just solve their exterior problems can be seen in Drik's appearance. Drik carries a battle axe, no Cleric should ever been seen carrying such evil weaponry in the Bishops opinion, where's armor and doesn't mind getting his hands dirty killing and destroying evil. Killing evil is the job of a paladin not a cleric. The cleric should only kill in self defense or defense of others - another opinion of the Bishop that Drik dislikes.

Drik had decided to become a paladin outside of the church and be his own good person, so he could truly help the world. When it become time to do this Drik decided it would be best to not totally alienate the church that had given him so much. A few of the things the church gave him were food, money, clothing, room and board and respect no matter what Drik had done. Drik would much rather pursue paladinhood under the acceptance of the church. Also Drik was beginning to appreciate all that Cleric's had to offer. One cleric and 2 fighters could take out 4 fighters of equal strength and walk away with a few scratches. Results speak for themselves. Is it better to slay one monster under your own strength or help 3 men to slay 10 monsters? Drik was beginning to think it was better to assist paladins and knights then to do it himself. Somehow it just seemed better. Drik also day dreams of the future where he could kill 10 undead creatures just by uttering a few words, bring someone back from the dead, order someone to die, or even gather the strength to have his god help him in battling evil. Fighting next to Saint Maximus, Drik couldn't even imagine the potential.

Drik wants to be under the good graces of the Bishop. He feels that the Bishop will respect him more after he sees the good that he can do. Drik wants to be accepted as he is without changing his beliefs. This could prove to be hard for the Bishop who is set in his ways. Drik does have a way of proving himself time and time again. That is how he got into the church in the first place from a peasant family.

While on humanitarian duty Drik was picked up as a slave. This really scared Drik because he had never been in danger before.

Hadnir

Hadnir was a man obsessed with demons. Born in Glome, he had spent much of his time learning what he could from ancient scriptures, sometimes having to resort to some unorthodox methods in obtaining his information. He had also ventured deep into the Cursed Lands in search of his knowledge and opponents.

Hadnir was not a bad man though. His obsession was a different kind. Appalled by demons, and what they represented, and people who had brought them into the world, he had dedicated his life to fighting them and freeing the world of their influence.

He had noticed much more unholy activity in the recent times, and oftentimes the rumors and stories he'd heard had few names in common. Dhunraven seemed to be the center of much of that activity, and Sir Radagast seemed to be mentioned often. He had set out to find Radagast and join him to fight the evil that seemed to be getting stonger and stronger.

Hrun - R.I.P.

Hrun, an orc barbarian, had traveled from the far away lands of Broken Fist orcs in search of fame and adventure. He was incredibly strong, and deadly with his greatsword. Unfortunately he was not too bright, and his reckless behaviour ultimately got him killed. He died rescuing Alayn, and in recognition of his bravery Alayn arranged for a memorial service for him. The underlings of Alayn know the legend of Hrun well.

Gaius Julius

Jack-of-all-trades sorcerer...

Galen - R.I.P.

Galen Cadamus was born a street urchin, forced by his drinking father to beg, con, or steal from passabys and tourists. As such, he would have met an early end, but for the one day when he tried to con a passing theatre troupe. One of the kind actresses took pity on him (and was more than a little charmed by his lovely voice and good looks), and decided to buy him off his father. Galen's father was more than happy to be rid of him (especially in exchange for some drinking money), and Galen, to be honest, wasn't too sad to get away from the daily beatings.

Penelope's troupe, it turned out, was one of the rising stars of the land. Over the next few years, they travelled all over, and Galen turned out to be a good actor, a superb singer, and his charming looks made him a star. Those 8 years with the troupe were the happiest days of his life, and he remembered Penelope as the mother he never had, as not only did she train and teach him in the theatric arts, she also gave him the nurturing he never got from his father.

Then one day, while travelling towards Dhunraven, the troupe was waylaid by bandits. All in the troupe were either killed, or knocked unconscious and taken prisoner. Again, Galen was saved by his good looks, as one of the bandit's women (who was disillusioned of the bandit life anyway) took him with her and left the bandits. Over the next few years, Kara and Galen went on the run, always one step ahead of pursuers or one coin away from starvation. Galen fell for Kara (an older woman often has charms for a young man of impresisonable age), and he learnt a lot from a professional bandit/burglar. The relationship was stormy, however, as their natures often clashed --- Penelope had brought up Galen too well for selfishness and robbery to be a natural way of life for him.

As Galen's story intersects Drick, Radagast, and Gabriel's, we find that he's left Kara for the last time, and is heading for the Earl's palace/court to see if his musical and acting abilities might not earn a minstrel's coin...

Galen met his untimely end in the shack town of Dhunraven. His actions had usually been heroic, as was the case on that spiteful day. Galen had come with Radagast and Cassandra investigating a rumor about a spellbook. It turned out the spellbook was the one stolen from Radagast, and when the shopkeeper turned out to be a monster that attacked Radagast, Galen was there to protect his friend. Unfortunately the monster was too much for Galen, and rendered him unconscious. Radagast had a change of rescuing him, but made the mistake of using the healing potion just purchased - the healing potion turned out to be poison!

Gronthor

A nimb sorcerer...

Jobrik

A seedy man of the cloth...

Landis

Knight Lieutenant of the Waymarch Knights.

Radagast

Radagast was born into a relatively well off family in the Republic of Capernaum. Early on his parents noticed he had some special gifts most people did not posses. They sent him to wizard school.

Radagast himself was not too happy about this. He fancied people who lived by the sword, who others looked up to in respect and admiration. Hardly anyone respected the trickster wizards or sorcerers. They got things too easy. And there was no glory in reading old dusty tomes and sending others to do your bidding.

So Radagast did the best he could. He studied wizardy, but every change he got he got he practiced with his wooden sword against imaginary opponents. He got a lucky break when an old man saw his practice, and asked if Radagast was really serious about learning how to fight. From that moment on Radagast was both studying in the wizard school and with the old man. His heart was not with wizard studies, which showed by him skipping classes and falling asleep in the middle of a lecture.

His apparent troubles with concentration and uninterest casued the school tachers to apply a heavy hand on Radagast, which in turn made him trying his best to try and stay out of trouble. Granted, if a wizard really wanted to punish him there was nothing he could do, but he was quick on his feet and with lightning reflexes had even learned to dodge the ruler on his hand so that nobody realized it hadn't hit him. That worked at least most of the time...

Radagast's parents were obviously not happy with his success at the school. But there wasn't really anything they could do.

Radagas was not a religious person. Because his magic seemed to come from inside of himself, he believed all the religious miracles we really just spells like the ones he could cast. There was no need for a divine being. He did not dismiss the possibility of such beings, but they seemed unlikely.

He also did not belong to the Keepers of the Dead movement. He believed the soulstones could capture something from a person that could help one cast spells better (like a focus), but to him that felt a bit like stealing. He respected other people's views of religion, though, and had generally kept his thoughts to himself. Religion was also one of the schisms between him and his parents, who were both followers of the Keepers of the Dead.

Finally Radagast felt he was good enough to stand on his own, and applied for a job as a caravan guard. This is where his adventuring career begun.

Shamp

Orc rogue

Shamp was considered mad by his tribe. He was very unusual orc in preferring to use stealth to fight (or avoid fight althogether if possible).

Ulf

Orc fighter/wizard

Ulf had some problems controlling his sorcerous abilities. He was apprenticed to Radagast.

Zig Zag

Half-orc barbarian, has 2 wolves

NPC

Wiglaf

Wiglaf was trained as a huntsman in the king's court at Stormkeep. He was an excellent apprentice who seemed to have a natural affinity for dealing with animals. He performed his duties admirably until on a week-long hunting trip with the crown prince and several nobles, Wiglaf stumbled on an altar where followers of the forbidden cults of the old gods still performed sacrifices. The still warm body of a young girl lay on an altar surrounded by rotting corpses and a priest of Vecna held her heart up to the eye shaped idol of his demon god. Young, impetuous, and full of faith, Wiglaf commanded his dogs to attack and hurled his spear at the priest. The corpses rose from the ground to protect their injured master and, fearing for his life, Wiglaf called upon El Elyon to protect him. Apparently the deity heard his plea for help and the zombies cowered in fear at the name of the Mighty One. The priest fled before Wiglaf's righteous wrath.

That turned out to be a turning point in Wiglaf's life. He realized that he was not called to enjoy the carefree life of a simple huntsman, but rather to hunt down the mockeries of life called into being by the followers of demon gods and to keep others from suffering the fate of the girl on the altar. Despite his obvious empowerment and guidance by the archangel Tyrael, Wiglaf has never thought to join the Holy Orders. It's not that he doesn't wish to learn how to fight evil, but Tyrael has guided him rightly so far and every time he considers making the pilgrimage to the monastery of the Sword, he runs across another wrong that needs righting. He just can't abandon people in need to take time to train at a monastery.

Krag

Krag is one of the few orcs to have survived the battle of Broken Hill and seen the Celestial Archer defeat the Deathbringer of Erythnul. Like most orcs, he respected strength and that demonstration was enough to convince him that the tribe ought to follow the Celestial Archer rather than Ares who had obviously proved powerless to stop him. 11 years later, Krag was the leader of the Black Sword warband which rescued Drik, Radagast, Garm, and a few others from the village of Clydeswillow and a Capernaen caravan from captivity at the hands of Iron Claw orcs. He later encountered Drik and Radagast again at the Grove of Broken Swords and made them walk the Paths of the Dead to demonstrate that they were not responsible for the deaths of the orcish ambassadors. Before they walked the paths, he arranged for his younger brother, Ulf to travel with them as Radagast's apprentice.

When Ulf returned from the Paths of the Dead, he brought a message for Krag from the Celestial Archer. In response to this, Krag set out on a holy quest to learn more about his tribe's god. Before he went, he sought Drik's blessing as he sensed that Drik was a holy man of some sort. It is rumored that he may now be travelling with the sorceror Theodorus.