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  #1  
Old Oct 2nd, 2022, 05:19 AM
PsychicNomad PsychicNomad is offline
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The Mercenaries

Please post your characters here from the applications, with a link to the sheet at the beginning of the post.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2022, 05:52 AM
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Name: Arn, Daughter of Arnulf
Culture: Barding
Virtue: Swordmaster
Class: Warrior (Knight)
Shadow Weakness: Lure of Power
Background: Driven From Home
Quality:Cautious. When I started out, I was scared and I didn't trust anyone. But she slowly began to trust with the mercenary company.
Adventurous. I've accepted I could no longer return to my old life and I love the experience of adventure and battle.
Specialty: Trading. I come from a wealthy merchantile family, and being an outsider has given me valuable insights while also making it a bit harder for them to read me in business transactions.
Hope: My company is the family that I've always dreamed of and I will protect them as if they were my own.
Despair: I can't trust anyone, not even the ones I love. And I fear their betrayal most of all.

Appearance: Arn stands at least 4'8" feet tall, though despite her height she has an athletic build thanks to her years of traveling with the company and her training as a shieldmaiden. Her skin tone is pale and yet youthful and unmarred by scars considering her profession. She looks to be a comely woman in her twenties, her eyes are a bright blue and hair is a light brown color. Her usual attires tend to be more prim and proper, it's more of a habit that she wears something like that more than a preference. When on duty, she wears a vest of ring mail and shieldmaiden garb.

History: Arn grew up in a well to do district in the Dale, living life in a prestigious merchant's house. Such a house with connections to similar houses and even royalty. However, Arn has always had a strain relationship with her parents. They wanted to have a boy but couldn't sire another children. They never showed her adoration, or treated her like their own. Yet she wanted to impress them dearly.

However, she was kicked out of her home, her privilege life taken away from her. This all happened because she found out of how their house operated in their business, she saw how corrupt it was and spoke out. But she was silenced, scorned and removed from her household. And to eventually the Dales after they created scandals upon scandals to her.

So she had no choice but to leave her home and city. She was alone for a time, that is until she joined a mercenary company. At first she hired them with all the money she had left to protect her and find a place of sanctuary, then after traveling with them she wanted to stay. Her reasons was that she enjoyed their company. Life as a mercenary was a dangerous business, especially for a person that has never swing a sword before and faced off against an orc.

However, overtime she became an expert at the blade and started seeing the company as more of a family than strangers on the road. Eventually, she left the company after she was approached by a previous employer they were protecting. He offered her an opportunity to be a knight, she was even given title of Guard and a home. She accepted and made a promise to the company that she'll return, different but stronger than ever before.
Relationships: Arn has a love affair with one of the members of the company.

Vandil: A family friend who also happens to be a merchant. Like an uncle to her but has some agendas that she's suspicious. However, he still supports her despite how she severed ties with her family

Sir Joar of Minas Tirith: A retired knight that employed the company to protect a garrison. Arn saved his son's life from a stray arrow and, impressed by her prowess and feeling indebted, decides to train her properly.

Last edited by Onward; Oct 3rd, 2022 at 05:46 AM.
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  #3  
Old Oct 2nd, 2022, 09:45 AM
Hal Hammerhand Hal Hammerhand is offline
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The Third Flame:
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Name: Belecthor III, Son of Baranor
Culture: Man of Minus Tirith
Class: Warrior (Weaponmaster)
Virtue: Piercing Sight
Background: Fallen Scion

Distinctive Quality:
-Determined

Speciality:
-Dark Secrets

Hope:
-I have learned that true nobility is not a birthright.

Despair:
-My former title was naught but a fanciful dream concocted by some evil that seeped into my father's mind.

Description: Belecthor is a little on the short side, halfway between five and six feet tall but his build is muscular and compact. His dark hair flows down just past his shoulder and hides his right eye from view. While some may misinterpret his chosen hair style as some youthful desire to appear mysterious, it's actually because he has had too many comments about his piercing gaze that seems to dig deep into a person at times. He wears the light traveling garb of a Gondorian captain with ring mail beneath, afforded him by his bloodline. A belt buckle brandishing the sigil of the White Tree wraps his waist and holds a finely crafted longsword he calls Neldeanar (Third Flame) on his left hip and a hunting horn embellished to look like a war horn of Gondor upon his right hip.

Backstory: Belecthor III is the son of Baranor who is the half-brother of Denethor II. He grew up in Minus Tirith and lived a good life rubbing elbows with quasi-nobility. It was near his teenage years that his father was struck in the head while tending the Steward's Horse and he began to have visions. From that point forward, Belecthor grew up with the prophecy of rulership hanging over his head. These visions from his father telling of a mighty, dark-haired man brandishing a longsword in two-hands beating back the darkness in Gondor's name.

Belecthor chose to practice so hardily with the longsword that he was called a master by some, known among his peers, at the least. As he reached adulthood, he was considered and trained to follow his second cousin, Boromir into battle at Osgiliath as his second but some dark feeling tainting his father's visions caused him to remain behind. It was shortly after that the strength in his bloodline came into question as news of Boromir's death reached Denethor's ears.

Belecthor could only stand by and watch from the stables as Faramir delivered tidings of his losses at Osgiliath to the Steward. Quickly following Faramir's failed charge towards the lost outpost, The Steward's mind began to unravel and the city came under attack. Baranor lost his life when orcs began to flow through the White City, leaving Belecthor with little but his hopeful ascension to the throne and no further guidance. With Denethor's death and the coming of Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, Belecthor's noble blood began to mean less and less. It was more and more often that Belecthor's noble peers saw he wasn't going to be the king he had prepared to be.

Luckily, the more peers that turned away from him or he turned away with his intense gaze, the less he wanted to be a king, convinced that some dark power had given his father false visions to lead his family astray. Eventually, he decided that he didn't want to remain in Minus Tirith at all. It wasn't long thereafter that he found himself in Esgaroth with a band of mercenaries.

Why your character joined the band: Belecthor joined this band in the hopes that he could find that nobility that was prophesied for him and it wouldn't be some scheme fabricated by some dark power.

How the character feels about being a mercenary: Mercenary work is the perfect place for Belecthor to use the skills he honed in his youth and gives him purpose aside from his father's visions.

NPCs connected to your character:
-Podrick: The stablemaster that took over after Baranor was killed in the war. He did his best to guide Belecthor.

-Flickwit: A merchant who allowed Belecthor to travel with him out of Minus Tirith and Belecthor's first source of income outside the city.

Last edited by Hal Hammerhand; Oct 2nd, 2022 at 09:48 AM.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2022, 10:20 AM
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Roan
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Name: Roan / The Roan / Maracar
Culture: Woodmen of Wilderland
Class: Wanderer
Archetype: Hunter of Beasts
Virtues: Hound of Mirkwood
Standard of Living: Frugal
Age: 23
Background: Lure of the Road
Distinctive Quality: Hardy
Speciality: Trading
Hope: Absence makes the heart grow fonder; only by leaving the familiar can we better appreciate it
Despair: My experiences against the Shadow may come back to haunt me. I don’t want to be home when that happens. It would put my kin in grave danger!
Shadow Weakness: Wandering Madness
Appearance & Personality: Like most of his kinsmen, Roan is tall (6' 1) and athletic from a life of struggle and survival outdoors, his skin deeply tanned and weather-worn, he carries his years heavily, looking older than his age. His eyes are a dark steel grey and unlike most of the other light haired woodmen, he was born with dark brown hair, flecked with white even at a young age, which earned him his nickname of The Roan, like the horse.

His clothing is practical and well worn with no flourishes or ostentatious flair, well suited to the wandering life of a rover but out of place in high society. Just one of the many reasons Roan avoids such situations, even if he does have experience in negotiation and diplomacy, his years of travel and interacting with foreign merchants and traders have made him well versed in social situations, he may not be a fan of them but he can fake it enough to get by.

Given his appearance and his profession as a guide and hunter (and his culture as a woodsmen), you would expect Roan to be a sullen, serious character but the truth is, amongst his friends and those "of the road" he is quite the storyteller and practical joker, much more comfortable around a campfire or a tavern hearth, telling tall tales and making jokes. "Life is hard, so when you can enjoy its pleasures just as hard" As he says. Despite this mentality, which has gotten him into some trouble at times, when it is time to be serious and fulfil his duties as a Guide for the company, he becomes the stereotypical Stoic woodsmen people expect, He would never forgive himself if he failed his duties to his new family and one of the company was hurt through his own lack of attention to his job.

Background: Maracar was born and raised in the Vale of Anduin, one of the Woodmen who made their home in the settlement of Woodland Hall. Like all woodmen, especially those so close to the Mirkwood (Although he always preferred to refer to it as the Greenwood), he was raised to be a hunter and defender of his community against the Shadows, specifically in the case of Woodland Hall, the Orcs and Spiders who made frequent attempts to enter their community.

Maracar, who as per tradition was always called by his nickname, The Roan, due to the white flecks in his otherwise black hair, mottled like the colouring of the Roan Horse, was blessed, or perhaps cursed with uncommon agility and wisdom, and excelled at both Archery and Woodcraft, destined to be one of their best hunters and trackers. But like so many young men he possessed the arrogance of youth, one greater than most due to his talents and seeking to prove himself, the then 16 year old Roan sought out the nest of the spiders which plagued his village, believing himself capable of eliminating them permanently and stopping the frequent raids on their home.

Of course Fate had other ideas, and as could be expected he didn't even come close to destroying the nest as he intended, what he did accomplish however was slaying some of the more prominent spiders of the cluster and drawing the wrath of their queens, who proceeded to take their revenge on this excursion into their nests with even more attacks on Woodland Hall.

As always the Woodmen defended themselves and pushed back the Spiders, and although he was punished for his foolishness, none of the woodmen truly held Roan to blame, they had all done similar things in their youth, though none came as close as Maracar did to drawing the Ire of the Spiders. Roan however did blame himself, and over the months that followed, with every attack by the Shadows, he became convinced that the Spiders were targeting him specifically to enact revenge, perhaps he was just paranoid and feeling guilt over his foolishness but whenever a spider managed to break the walls, it seemed to come for him over the others.

Fearing that his presence in the village was endangering the lives of his Kinsmen, Roan made the difficult decision to leave until it was safe for his return and forced himself into self-imposed Exile, taking to wandering the Great Lands with his Hound, Grey. For the next few years, Roan has lived the life of the Rover, making a living as a guide, trader, messenger and just about any job he could turn his hand too, as long as it didn't involve staying in any one place very long.

Roan's route usually takes him south from Woodland Hall in the Upper Vales, down the Great river and into the Brown Lands, skirting east around the tip of the Southern Mirkwood and then North through East Rhovanion and into the Nether Marshes, from there he often travels north to Iron Hills then West through the upper marshes to Esgaroth, or more directly through the Upper Marshes, Rarely he will follow the Celduin River through the Long Marshes directly up river to Esgaroth but he isn't a fan of that route, or any path taking him directly through the Mirkwood, although he is familiar with them. It is only recently that Roan will consider a route through portions of the Mirkwood, for many years he avoided them, which lead to his established route back and forth around the Southern Mirkwood.

Roan searches endlessly for a way to put right his mistake and find a way to remove the threat of the Spiders to his home, collecting tales and stories in the hopes of finding a way but this is likely madness on his part and an endless unfulfilling quest. But he searches anyway, longing to return him. As at ease as he seems on the Road, just him and Grey, the truth is Roan misses his family and his community fiercely and longs for their companionship but he knows he can't return yet. It was this longing which has led to him recently joining a band of Mercenaries, an almost surrogate family to help with his longing for companions. a compromise on his part, their roaming profession ideally suited to the Wanderer.

Mercenary Connections & Thoughts: Born and raised amongst the woodmen of Woodland Hall, Roan grew up in a very close knit community, family and clan is everything to the woodmen and despite his own self imposed exile and the wanderlust in his soul, he still misses that sense of family. But until he is safe from his fate, he cannot stay in one place too long or he will bring danger to his family. Serving with a mercenary company is the next best thing, a close community of individuals to help fight the loneliness of life on the road but with a group which travels more than the woodmen, like him never settling in one place for long as they search for work and fame.

Roan might not always agree with the Jobs the group takes on but he is pragmatic enough to know that in dark times, sometimes you have to do things outside of your comfort zone to survive in this world. the wilds are harsh and unforgiving of sentimentality, Roan has travelled enough in the dark places to know that what he has to do, isn't who he is inside, it is a small consolation when what he has to do is not strictly moral but for now it is enough for him. Until he can deal with his fate and return to his family, he will do what needs to be done.

NPC Relationships:
Vidar A Dwarf of the Iron Hills who runs The Spark and Stone Tavern. Honest and Fair in his dealings, Vidar delights in speaking in Riddles and is more than willing to trade room and food for new riddles and tales with his friends. Luckily for Roan, his travels let him collect stories and riddles from across the great lands and the red bearded dwarf considers him a friend whenever the wanderer's travels bring him to the Iron Hills

Lomund, Son of Dag - An Elder and Master Healer of Esgaroth, Lomund is one of the only men Roan trusts to help take care of Grey and the stern serious scholar has made it known many times that if Roan ever visits lake-town and does not let him check to make sure he is taking care of the Hound properly on his travels then he will be having words with the Bowmen of Laketown and it is Roan who will find himself in need of the healer's talents. Roan is only half sure he is making a joke.

Runa, Daughter of Lomund Youngest Daughter of Lomund and swiftly becoming a scholar of renown in her own right like her father, although her speciality appears to be in the Natural World and Beasts more than the healing arts of her father. It was this common interest between them and her aiding her Father caring for Grey on occasion which introduce the pair to each other and has lead many to believe there has been dalliances between her and the Wanderer when he comes to Laketown, and likely explains Lomund's increase threats of the Bowmen when Roan comes to town


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Old Oct 2nd, 2022, 09:02 PM
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Ysolde Ysolde is offline
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Name: Rue
Culture: Elves of Mirkwood
Class: Treasure Hunter
Virtue: Shadow Bane
Shadow Weakness: Curse of Vengeance

Background: Hunted by Shadow

Distinctive Quality: Hardened
Specialty: Dark Secrets
Hope: I give comfort to my allies – it is possible to strike a blow against the Shadow.
Despair: I keep my emotions to myself; it is too dangerous to forge bonds.

Appearance: Short elven woman with sandy blonde hair and a fierce look to her especially when she frowns which is often. Her leathers are muted colors and she often wears a hood. Her green eyes stare out at the world with hurt and anger. Her bow is old wood, handed down to her family over generations and stained with blood. Her short sword has ancient scrollwork and has been passed down through generations as well. When you move close you smell almost nothing at all as if she is quite skilled at erasing her scent. Her voice is an unremarkable alto much like almost anyone else's voice and, when needed she can make her her ears well hidden leading people to think she could be a human.

Personality: Full of hatred for all creatures of shadow Rue is not like most of her people who hold up in their forests fighting their battles. She seeks out treasures of her people that were lost so that she might bring them back to elven hands where they belong and she almost gleefully kills the enemy.

Background: She sat in the tree branch in the middle of a dark night. Her skin mottled with oils and her hair blackened with charcoal she waited patiently. It was rare that she could find an orc, but her smile was wide as she watched the small group of them. She could and would wait for hours. Just as she was hunted by Shadow, so was she hunting them, and this group of Orcs were just more to put in the ground.

As she waited she could remember the flames, recall the village burning and her commander speaking, ”We have to think beyond vengeance, we are to retreat and let them have this place. We can't afford the losses.”

She opened her eyes and frowned at the memory trying to shake it away by shaking her head and gritting her teeth. Moving gently in her spot and then settling back down she whispers to herself, ”Never, take our things, kill our people? No, let each one of the agents of shadow that dies repay the cost of what they have taken from us. Blood for blood and life for life. Until the end of my days I will hunt them down and kill them again and again until all are dead or I am. This I vow . . . ”

How she joined the band: Rue is always looking for groups that might come into contact with those who hunt her and whom she is hunting in return. The Mercenary band is just one more in a long line of compatriots that bring her towards her goal of returning items to her people and killing the agents of shadow.

NPC Relationships:
Erondir of Mirkwood Lieutenant in the guard and Rue’s former commander. He has suggested many times that she ought to return to Valinor and worries about her need to find the relics of their people and hunt the creatures Shadow. He’s always willing to help out in return for, yet another, diatribe on how she needs to go west.

Rovastost the Blue: A wandering scholar who calls himself a wizard. He’s old now with greying hair and beard but he gets around and the two have aided one another a few times.

 

Last edited by Ysolde; Oct 8th, 2022 at 06:20 PM.
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Old Oct 4th, 2022, 09:13 PM
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Character Sheet

Name: "Wren" Gilbarad, Son of Borondir
Culture: Dúnedain
Class: Warden (Herald)
Virtue: Sterner than Steel
Shadow Weakeness: Lure of Secrets
Background: Seeker of the Lost
  • Distinctive Quality: Adventurous. Gilbarad enjoys seeking out new Tales and Experiences
  • Specialty: Folk-lore. Gilbarad's exposure to tales of old has led to a thirst for such traditions and cultures.
  • Hope: Gilbarad's bond with his friends trumps any personal quest the Warden might have.
  • Despair: Gilbarad is unsure if the relic he keeps hearing about can really be the answer he hopes.

Appearance
 

History
 

Connected NPCs
  • Lily and Giles Hedgedon: Gilbarad's Mother and Grandfather, respectively. They continue to live on a farm closer to the Misty Mountains than the village of Bree, and have supported the Rangers for several generations. While farming provides the basest of standards of living, gifts given by those they provide haven to afford the family a slight bit of comfort, but, more importantly, lasting protection from the evils both beyond and near.
  • "Uncle" Amlaith & "Aunt" Galadwen: These two, especially Amlaith, were close to Gilbarad's father and were the two to spend the most time with and teach the boy the most out of all of the Rangers that he was raised by. Each taught individual specialites to Gilbarad, and were involved, one time together, in hunts that the young man took part in. While Amlaith may have bore witness to Gilbarad's first kill, it was Galadwen's teachings that had guided the arrow.
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Last edited by Saratek; Oct 7th, 2022 at 05:51 AM.
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