Alaric
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| Biographical information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alaric |
| Species | Human |
| Sex | Male |
| Nationality | Kalderani |
| Adventuring career | |
| Class | Fighter |
| Level | 1 (at first appearance) |
| Party | TB31 |
| Status | Alive |
| Campaign information | |
| Campaign | The Burning |
| Player | Ryan |
| First appearance | TB31 S01E01 (1 January 4691) |
Alaric is a Kalderani fighter and a member of the adventuring company TB31. The son of a farming family, he began his adventuring career at the age of twenty alongside John Octavius Gray and Lord Mayfin Solcarth. He is principally known for his part in uncovering the activities of Orrin Marr and the Jade Conclave of the Yellow Sky near Vertwall, and for his subsequent displacement into the Swamp of Azaar.
Early life
Alaric was born into a farming family. Nothing further is presently recorded concerning his birthplace, parents, upbringing or martial training. He was twenty years old and a first-level fighter when TB31 began its recorded activities on 1 January 4691.
He has at least one known relative, his cousin Hein Brickhouse, proprietor of the Bloody Flail Inn in Vertwall.
Adventuring career
Vertwall and the Communion of the Golden Hand
On 1 January 4691, Alaric departed Vertwall with John Gray and Mayfin Solcarth. The party intercepted a wagon driven by Tommus and Nolyn and discovered four crates containing severed human heads. They arrested the drivers and brought both men and cargo to Lady Gildore. Gildore's investigation revealed that the wagon's mules were polymorphed children, that one crate carried a tracking spell, and that the drivers were themselves under a dweomer which Oohmian clerics could not fully reverse. The consignment had been intended for the Communion of the Golden Hand in Vertwall. TB31 subsequently reconnoitred the establishment and arranged for a local boy to watch it.
Royal Watch Tower
On 2 January, TB31 followed an unnaturally broad wilderness path south-west of Vertwall. Alaric found a child's drawing caught in a bush, together with evidence of wagon traffic. The trail led to an apparently abandoned Royal Watch Tower which had been occupied by Orrin Marr and his hired guards.
Alaric lifted the tower's barred outer doors by thrusting his sword between them and forcing the heavy crossbar from its supports. After Mayfin damaged the inner doors, Alaric used the fallen crossbar as a battering ram. The resulting breach crushed one defender. During the ensuing fight, Alaric crippled Lynardus Waterman with a blow to the leg, pursued a fleeing guard upstairs, subdued him and brought him back bound.
While John and Mayfin questioned Waterman, Alaric explored the upper tower. He found five dazed captives and restrained them when they attempted to prevent him opening the roof trapdoor. On the roof he encountered an invisible, vitality-draining presence associated with a magical ward. He escaped downstairs, visibly weakened and pale. Waterman then revealed that anyone assigned to the roof had been instructed to wear an otherwise unremarkable gold ring. John gave this ring of the tower to Alaric.
The party's discoveries established that the tower was an active intake and holding site for Marr's operation. Captives, including children, had been transported there by the Jade Conclave of the Yellow Sky.
Destruction of Gildore Tower
Later that day, Alaric was sent back to Vertwall to seek help. He arrived in time to witness the destruction of Gildore Tower. His warning led the Razimite high priest Bryus Mair to send a magical message to Aemo Storms. Alaric then returned to the Royal Watch Tower.
During the subsequent investigation, Alaric lifted a fallen door to free Mayfin. He discovered Waterman's concealed treasure cache and entered into a blood-brother pact with him. He was notably disturbed when Mayfin wore a mask made from flayed human skin.
Alaric later encountered a floating, six-foot-wide magical eye. When it exploded, he sought cover by diving into a barrel of water. He then took part in the assault upon Marr's sub-basement and portal complex.
Displacement into Azaar
The confrontation ended with four people being displaced through Marr's portal. They rematerialised separately in the Swamp of Azaar, approximately 25 kilometres from the Troglodyte Lair. Marr died during rematerialisation, Mayfin remained missing, and Alaric and John survived.
While alone in the swamp, Alaric found a little girl and encountered a hag or witch with a walking hut, a multi-headed hydra beneath the water, parrots capable of speech and spellcasting, and a solitary trolloc who indicated a route out. Alaric and John eventually found one another and regrouped.
Appearance and personality
Alaric is a muscular young man with dark, wavy hair and a trimmed beard. During the Vertwall expedition he wore tiered leather scale armour, carried a long sword and travelled with a varied collection of adventuring equipment.
His actions suggest a practical and physically direct disposition. He commonly favours immediate action over prolonged discussion: breaching obstacles, pursuing enemies and independently searching unexplored areas. He appears comfortable in the coastal environment around Vertwall and was described as breathing the salt air as though at home there. This does not establish Vertwall as his birthplace or residence.
Alaric is not, however, indifferent to supernatural danger. He withdrew from the life-draining presence on the watchtower roof and was horrified by Mayfin's use of a flayed-skin mask.
Abilities
At the beginning of the campaign, Alaric was a first-level fighter. He has demonstrated considerable physical strength, using a sword to dislodge a heavy door bar, wielding that bar as a battering ram and later lifting a fallen door. He is also an effective close-quarters combatant, capable of disabling opponents and rapidly overtaking fleeing enemies.
Relationships
- John Octavius Gray
- Alaric's fellow member of TB31. Both survived their displacement into Azaar and later regrouped in the swamp.
- Lord Mayfin Solcarth
- Alaric's fellow member of TB31. Alaric freed him from beneath a fallen door, although he reacted with horror to some of Mayfin's necromantic practices. Mayfin's present whereabouts following the portal displacement are unknown.
- Lynardus Waterman
- Initially an opponent at the Royal Watch Tower. After Waterman's surrender and the discovery of Marr's activities, his relationship with Alaric changed substantially. The two later sealed a blood-brother pact.
- Hein Brickhouse
- Alaric's cousin and proprietor of the Bloody Flail Inn in Vertwall.
Possessions
- A long sword.
- Tiered leather scale armour.
- The ring of the tower, a plain gold ring intended to protect those stationed upon the roof of Marr's Royal Watch Tower.
- A varied assortment of adventuring gear, not yet individually recorded.
Notes
- Alaric is the canonical spelling. The form Alarik, used intermittently in the S01E03 journal, is erroneous.
- The original TB31 roster gives Alaric's age as twenty at the campaign's commencement. The S01E03 cast list describes him as twenty-one on the following day; pending contrary information, the roster age is treated as canonical.
- Alaric's birthplace, precise date of birth, alignment, religious affiliation, kit and current character level have not yet been recorded.