Zarial

## Description

Zarial, played by Mitch, is a mentaru, about 6'5", built, and very purple, with a black tattoo on his left arm and greyish purple scar tissue on his right arm. He has a ponytail and blue eyes. He joined the crew of the Jörmungandr with the uniform and appearance of a soldier from a Mentaru army. Since then, his chest was tattooed with the Master and Defense Crests.

Zarial is mischievous and impulsive, usually acting without consideration for others, but draws the line at significant harm; he expressed a hatred for the Inquisition when he joined the crew of the Jörmungandr, and defended his farm from Deeg while also sparing Deeg's life. He is generally laid back and content to do as he's told, though he will buck authority in more minor ways. He has made no attempt to rejoin the Mentaru army, instead taking the Jörmungandr crew's goals as his own.

He is skilled with a sniper rifle and computers, competing with Juniper for the role of hacker in the crew. Despite his muscled physique, he is not very strong, but learned how to use a sword well when he became a Crestforger.

## Backstory

Zarial was raised on an orange farm on Zegaia in the Zuvir system, and grew up only interacting with other Mentaru. Bound by the caste system to be a sniper like his father, he joined Mentaru army when he reached adulthood at 10 years old. A few years later his ship crashed, killing everyone on board except him. He was rescued by Parliament and taken to a space station for medical care, where a zombie outbreak killed the others on the station and he met with the crew of the Jörmungandr.

## On the podcast

The crew met Zarial on the Agma space station, where he was the sole survivor of a zombie outbreak. He helped the crew fight off a group of zombies, and said he was also looking for information on the Inquisition. He had been in the Mentaru army, and his ship crashed on a planet and Parliament rescued him, and he was convalescing in the medical bay when the zombie outbreak started. After helping the crew fight off zombies and find information on the Inquisition, he joined them on the Torag as one of the crew. He flirted shamelessly with Eric when they met, but Eric didn't reciprocate his interest. Before the pirates' assault on the Inquisition base, he bought an AI for the Torag, Spalexa, and programmed it to refer to the rest of the crew by mischievous nicknames. He also attempted to find drugs to calm Rell down before using the havoc pods, but failed to find any.
Two months after the battle with the Inquisition, Zarial's mother called him back home to deal with trouble at the farm. He accepted a challenge from Deeg, the son of one of his former crewmates who died in the crash that had originally left him stranded. That night, Zarial's grandmother tattooed him with the Master and Defense Crests, making him a Crestforger and giving him the skill with a sword to defeat Deeg. Afterwards he rejoined the crew on Jörmungandr. After their adventures in the black hole, he started a garden in Jörmungandr to feel more at home. He regularly undermines others' attempts to get Z's alcoholism under control by sneaking her drinks. After the party found the Catalyst, he wanted to find the Allforge instead, and attempted to stop Juniper activating it, but was stopped by Martle.

## Equipment and abilities

* Zarial's laser rifle can turn from a sniper rifle into a battle rifle. Its battle rifle form has a burst mode, which allows him to reroll a damage die.
* He has a laser sword which is +1 to hit, nonmagical, and does an extra 1d8 of laser damage.
* The helmet he got on Sonka gives him a +10 to hit once per day, and if he's below half his max hit points he can use a warlock spell slot to gain 10 temporary hit points one per day.
* Zarial's armor from the mystery sealed Abaddon Systems box is a +1 mithril scale coat (AC 13) with a damage reduction of 2, and once per short rest he can use a bonus action to activate an adrenal shot that gives him an extra action.
* When he became a Crestforger, Zarial switched Instant Reload for Mentaru Swordmaster, which allows him to use his CHA bonus for attacking with a single sword.
* As a Crestforger with the Master Crest on his chest, he can use a bonus action to activate the crest and gain a temporary +1 boost to his ability stat modifier for one minute. Can use once per long rest.
* Zarial's second legacy class ability comes from his Defense Crest. He can use his reaction to activate a shield that surrounds him, reducing damage by (CHA+prof)\*crest level forger. Can use unlimited number of times.
* The family longsword is +1 and does 2d8 damage with the emitter activated, which requires ammo.
* Zarial has Darkvision.

## Trivia

* Zarial's first appearance was in Episode 40 - New Friends With Guns.
* Zarial has a racecar bed.
* Zarial's intelligence modifier is +2.