Arwin Merton

Arwin Merton is a ranger and the First Scavenger. He is a middle-aged man with many sad stories to tell. Life got to him, and he turned to drinking to drown his sorrows and the horrors of his past.

Arwin is not very talkative or forthcoming, he comes of as sour and dismissive. It takes a lot of time, and adventures, for him to finally trust the deputies enough to open up a little and talk about some events from his past.

## The First Scavenger

Arwin is called the First Scavenger. He received that moniker because he was the first one to venture into the Badlands, when the expeditions crossing the Marches to reach the Badlands started. Camping in the Badlands became sort of “his thing”. People started calling him Shadow Tamer.

## Into the Temple

Around the year 1009 A.C., Arwin Merton and nine of his friends found the Temple of the Lost God in the Badlands. They decided to explore the area and were all slaughtered. All but Arwin.

Since then, he met a lot of people who wanted to find the Temple and always tried to help. But no one heeded his warnings, and no one ever came back alive. Eventually, Arwin resolved to stop talking about the Temple altogether.

After a bit of coaxing, Arwin agrees to join the deputies and help them find and explore the Temple. All ends well this time, and the party manages to kill the monsters in the Temple, avenging the fallen and bringing some peace to both Arwin and Bitterroot (whom Merton goes to notify immediately).

## The Watcher

Even with all the drinking he’s doing, Arwin is still quite shrewd and observant. He claims to have been watching the people of Caer Cyflen for ten years, and he noticed the changes. Subtle at first, but getting stronger and more pronounced. From the beginning, he was convinced that the city is being infiltrated by the Soraks, its people manipulated, mind-washed or replaced. And it turned out that he was quite correct.

Furthermore, Arwin has been keeping an eye on those in power, and he does not trust in The Legacy Council. He thinks it’s more or less a sham. The members only act like they want peace and cooperation, but secretly they are all plotting to rob one another.

## Relationships

Arwin seems to know many people around Solasta. And forms rather convoluted relationships that are never explored in much detail. We know only what we can reconstruct from bits and pieces.

Annie Bagmordah and Arwin seem to know each other more than well. But she prefers not to talk about him, claiming it's a “painful story”.

Bitterroot hires the deputies to return Arwin’s Sword to him, but she never actually explains, how it came to be in her possession. She has a message for him as well: “You owe me a child”. From the bits and pieces of information we do have, we can speculate that Bitterroot had a child with Arwin. The child was in Arwin Merton’s party when they went to explore the Temple of the Lost God, and died along with the others. But this is neither directly confirmed nor denied by the characters.

Arwin is also quite forward with Lord Carran, suggesting they know each other well and not just in an official capacity.

Merton calls Princess Ceiwad Silverflower the “old lady”, suggesting familiarity born of shared experiences. He does know that she is a dragon and even encourages her to shapeshift when the situation demands it. And the Princess herself gladly keeps Arwin at her side when the fighting with the Soraks starts in earnest.

Your villagers have claws.

### Attacks and Powers

* **Longsword:** +10 to hit, 1d8+4 slashing + 1d10 radiant damage
* **Longsword (offhand/bonus action):** 1d8+6 slashing damage
* **Longbow:** +10 to hit, 1d8+5 piercing damage
* **Extra Attack:** Arwin can attack one more time, per combat turn, when he uses the attack or shove actions.
* **Rope Grapple:** targets one creature and pulls it 1 cell (target can attempt a Strength saving throw to negate)
* **Dark Slayer (Arwin):** When attacking a creature with superior darkvision with a weapon, Arwin adds an additional 2d8 to his damage.
	+ Possible bug: This ability is listed as 1d8 bonus damage twice in the combat log.

### Spells

Despite being identified as a Ranger and Shadow Tamer in dialogue, and sharing some of their abilities in gameplay, Arwin Merton does not have access to any spellcasting.

## Connected Quests

* Arwin Merton’s Story
* Temple of the Lost God
* The First Scavenger
* The Missing Piece