Darnell Armand

Played by John late in the Ur campaign, Darnell "Moose" Armand is a 6' tall, shaggy-headed, 40lbs overweight, mutton-chop wearing thug.

Also encountered as an NPC in Rust Valley Chronicles ten years later...

History

He grew up on a farm outside Zareph, only son to an abusive single father. After 15 years of regular beatings (dad blamed him for mom's death during childbirth), Darnell beat his father senseless and wandered into the great smoky city nearby to seek his fortune.

There he worked for 20 years in the forges, doing grunt manual labor, but gradually began more and more theft, extortion, and other petty and vicious crimes, often requiring fisticuffs. As a result, he has alliances (Ally Group) with the Bloody Knuckles of Zareph, and a Contact in a corrupt government tax collector (Luther Feingold) who would occasionally provide information concerning interesting new riches in town; in return, Darnell was the tax collector's on-call 'persuader'.

On one such 'persuasion' visit, Darnell accidentally killed a middle-class merchant (Name Needed) of Zareph, and as a result now has an Enemy in the guards (law enforcement) of Zareph. To escape jail or execution, he joined up with a ragged band of brigands and sailed south to seek a new fate.

A new fate found him -- bad weather and poor seamanship aboard the vessel resulted in a catastrophic wreck off Elven Lands. Miraculously, Darnell washed ashore, near death, and was randomly discovered by Treewalker to whom he now attributes his salvation.

Campaign Particulars

In Argyle, Darnell went head-to-head with a Skill-15 two-handed swordsman armed only with his calloused fists. Despite severe wounds to his hand and neck, Darnell knocked the warrior unconscious to the deck of a ship with two mighty punches.

In Icelund Village?, Darnell knocked out the village leader with a single crushing blow for threatening Treewalker with a bared blade. Unfortunately this led the leader's henchmen to attack the party, and much blood was spilled; Treewalker lost his leg in the battle, a catastrophe Darnell would not soon forget.

In the summer of 07, Darnell had an opportunity to lead the Bloody Knuckles after a decapitation campaign left the organization horribly weakened and with a power vacuum -- but his duty to Treewalker prevailed.