Jack Hellcoal

****J******ack Hellcoal** is a roamer known for his power and temper. Jack has been banned from both heaven and hell. He has a coal given to him by the Devil, and wanders around looking for a town to convert to his own hell since he can't enter the Devil's.

## Biography

### *Bluecrowne*

Trigemine told Blister their job: find a conflagrationeer, because a customer had ordered one from Morvengarde. Blister, himself one, was insulted, but Trigemine explained that this wasn't a contract but more like wanting one to keep. Trigemine mentioned that he knew who the customer was, and Blister demanded to know more. Trigemine said that he wished he hadn't known, saying that there were roamers even more frightening than Morvengarde. Blister realized that he was working for Jack Hellcoal.

They talked about the man. Blister referenced the story where Jack Hellcoal couldn't go into heaven, and couldn't go into hell either, because he had beaten the Devil, and the Devil had given him a coal and told him to start his own hell. Trigemine wasn't sure if the story was true, but he knew that Jack had a coal, because part of it was Morvengarde's price for the conflagrationeer. Trigemine admitted that he'd been in the same room with Jack, and wondered where Jack had learned something he shouldn't have known except for Blister, but Blister shouldn't have known it either. Trigemine realized that they knew it because he told Blister right then.

Trigemine told Blister a story about how Jack had tried to claim a town. Jack needed a town of his own to make his own hell, and he had to claim it by fire, naming, and blood. In a few years, Jack would go to a town and ask the keeper of lore for a story, and when the keeper refused, he bet him for it. On a tip from Blister, he'd bought copper salt, which could bind monsters in the grove that keep hurting the town. They bet on a horse race, and the keeper of lore outsmarts Jack by saying, at the last minute, that he bets Jack's horse will win. Jack, having lost the bet, does what he said he would do, but he contains the creatures in the town instead of the grove. He goes and demands the story from the keeper of lore, who gives it to him, thinking that Jack will fix things when he has the story, but he doesn't make a wager, and Jack leaves. He needed the story for an attempt on a different city, and had sacrificed a whole town for that. Trigemine worried about what would happen if they failed, figuring that Morvengarde would survive, but Jack Hellcoal would probably go after him and Blister.

Trigemine and Blister failed in taking the conflagrationeer, Liao Bluecrowne, because he was rescued by his mother and sister. Trigemine worried about the consequences of this, as Seleucia Deacon showed up and reprimanded him. Jack Hellcoal then arrived, and demanded to know where his conflagrationeer was. Trigemine wondered how Jack was here, since the bargain with Morvengarde had been made much later. Jack wondered about how he'd escaped them, and Seleucia Deacon and Trigemine explained that he'd been rescued by his immortal mother and privateer sister. Jack said that he wanted this made right, and Seleucia Deacon promised that they would figure out another opportunity, but Jack said that that wasn't what he'd meant, and reached into his lantern, touched the hellcoal, and came out with a glowing finger which he touched to Seleucia Deacon. Deacon disintegrated, and Jack left.

## Physical appearance

Jack wears a felt hat and a long leather coat. He has a large carpetbag and has a punched tin lantern that contains the hellcoal. Jack's face is youthful, but his eyes are lined and bitter, and glow green.