Schwartz

Kain Scarlett Morgan is a player character in the Dark Defenders campaign and is played by Arson. He is an Undead Half-Orc Barbarian with a Chaotic Neutral alignment. 

Personality
Cold, unruly and generally disinterested to everyone around him, friend or foe, this half-orc cares little for how much trouble his temperament may cause. He openly welcomes the danger it can often provide, no matter how dire the threat. Outside of combat he’s calm, quiet, and chooses to seclude himself from the group he’s travelling with. Schwartz’s disinterest in interacting with others tends to make any attempts at connecting with him one sided.

The subject of “relationships” is complicated. For the longest time, the only person in the group he seemingly had any connection to was the spider, Stark. The extent of Schwartz’s “trust" is unknown, but it can be assumed the undead half-orc cares more than he lets on.

His personality opens up a little more during the events of the team's dungeon crawl and he can be seen cracking more sarcastic quips as the situation unfolds around them.

History as Kain Scarlett Morgan
Born as a child of rape and nearly killed by his own mother before birth, a traumatized woman by the name of Sophia Morgan reluctantly gave birth to a male half-orc baby that, at first, drew nothing but ire from her. Over time, however, she grew to love her son. This love not only led to her transformation to a paladin, but strengthened her resolve to raise the child that would become known as Kain Scarlett Morgan. The mixed blood between human and orc had often garnered nothing but spite from those around him, leading to a difficult and lonely childhood under the iron grip of Sophia, who made sure that Kain was properly nourished, tutored, and most importantly, capable of defending himself in combat. At the young age of ten and with the combination of all three, Kain grew to be a capable individual that not only knew his way around a battle, but highly intelligent as well, which made Sophia confident enough to begin letting him interact with everyone else in their town.

As the years went by, not only did his abilities increase dramatically, and lead him into becoming a towering monument of destruction, but his relationship with Sophia tightened. His quick learning and bond with his mother would be put to the test when the small town they lived in was attacked. The two defended their home, and as reward for their resistance, came face to face with the monstrous orc leading the attack; Zaraak, Kain’s father. What followed was a harrowing battle for survival, Zaraak proving more than a formidable foe against the duo despite their best efforts. Sophia suffered a critical injury nearing the fight’s conclusion, but with the combined efforts of both her and Kain in a desperate move for survival, the two were able to slay the monster and push back his ravenous group.

Knowing they would soon return Kain took this moment of reprieve and instructed the survivors to pack up and begin moving to a larger, more secure city where they would be safe. During this point in time he made sure to help take care of his Sophia due to her injuries, and the two would spend their last moments together as mother and son, with the latter promising that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. On the final day, the entire tribe that Zaraak had belonged to came faster than expected and began laying waste to everything that was left. Kain, determined to make sure the civilians escape, draws their attention away by throwing himself into their army in an attempt to buy them time, which gives everyone, including his mother, a window of opportunity to escape. Alone, Kain Scarlett Morgan survived for an entire day against the horde before succumbing to their numbers and his numerous injuries, and upon death, was left to rot in the burning town.

Many years later, a confused Kain would reawaken and quickly come to realize the price for his resurrection; gone was the flesh of a mortal, instead what he found in its place was that of a charred black skeleton amidst the ruins of an long dead town where not even predators come to hunt. The first thing on his mind, however, was the fate of his mother. After covering himself from head to toe in an attempt to avoid raising any alarm from the living, his search would lead him to the city he helped everyone escape to, a place much larger than he remembered, and there he would come face to face with two things; his mother’s grave, and the year of his awakening. He had been dead for a hundred plus years. The people he had grown to know, just like his mother, had all but passed away, leaving him nothing but a wandering shadow.

Years passed, and the amount of time spent as an undead quickly overshadowed his time as a living being. His morals wilted away as cities fell and new ones were erected in the name of their new rulers, as wars were waged with petty reasons. In the end, Kain become a shadow of who he used to be, and the half-orc knew this. Not wanting to stain his mother’s name, he changed his identity completely; allowing himself to transform into a brutal outlaw that walked the line between good and evil going under the new alias, Schwartz.

Life as "Schwartz"
A trail of blood and broken bones followed the undead half-orc everywhere he traveled once the moral shackles of his past life were dropped. Conflicts that ended in a shower of red and rolling heads served as his only way of feeling any sort of satisfaction. If it could breathe and bleed, then it was worth going through the trouble of fighting. It mattered not who or what the opposing side was, whether it be human, halfing, elf, mage, paladin, etc. The thrill of the hunt and the imminent clash was all it took to provide a rush of addicting adrenaline.

Over the countless years of his semi-eternal life, the husk of what used to be Kain had become nothing more than a lone wolf that took the occasional odd job if it paid well enough and offered him a chance to do what he did best. Home was nowhere but the road and dangers ahead. Most of his days were spent walking long distances across the land until trouble either found him or the opposite. Not that it bothered him too much; it made the moments where he could let loose all the more cathartic. Besides, staying in one place for too long would merely drag innocents into the crossfire, and while he was no stranger to roughing up pedestrians, the last thing he needed was worrying about a family's survival resting on his shoulders and him having to play the "hero."

Time led him to encounter some very interesting individuals, one of them being a demon he traveled with for quite some time until they parted ways to follow different goals. Friend would've been too strong of a word to use, but acquaintance was far too low as well. During the time they journeyed with each other, they taught the undead half-orc how to speak Abyssal, a trait he didn't think would ever come in handy until one fateful day.

As his infamy increased, so did the numbers of bounty hunters looking to take his head for a hefty sum of gold. Those who were foolish enough to hunt him down met a savage, though many continued to try long after the wanted posters turned yellow on the bulletin boards they were pinned to. Small towns vanished within days, cities were struck with life threatening diseases, and caravans that dared to travel the roads at night without heavy amounts of protection would never show up to their destination. His relentlessness never subsided, leading to a horrific incident that would be remembered The Massacre of Libara; where the entirety of a large town and all of its inhabitants were slaughtered during the day with no survivors. However, there are always two sides to every story.

Bloodthirsty he may have become over the centuries, one moral virtue of his past life lingered on despite his best efforts to bury the past, and that was a soft spot for orphaned children. Even after the circumstances that led to his birth, his mother was strong enough to not only spare his life, but raise him as her own. Others that shared a similar experience to him, however, often weren't so lucky. This retained moral virtue of his would inevitably lead the undead half-orc to discover a dark secret in the quiet town of Libara. It is here where the massacre would ensue, where stories that would paint him as a shroud of evil that would swallow towns and caravans whole began to sprout, and the moment Schwartz would earn himself the title as "The Demon of Libara."

The quiet town of Libara was larger than your normal town, but not big enough to be considered a city of its own neither. The town was held in a high regard for both its mass production of honey and the massive orphanage contained within which housed numerous orphans from many different locations. Crime rates were low if not nill, and for all tense and purposes, this truly was a beautiful place for those who wished to live a quiet and calming life. Mayor Harold kept his efficient town running full speed ahead, and if anything were to ever threaten the lives of his residents, like a pesky group of bandits searching for an easy plunder, he'd take swift action in looking for a mercenary for hire. Luckily for him, a wandering half-orc just so happened to have made his way into town, one that was very reliable when it came to fixing problems with violence.

Taking care of the bandit group was an effortless task and the fight itself did little to provide any satisfaction. This didn't mean nothing of importance happened while he was on the job though, because that would be far from the truth. Before engaging in a one sided battle with the undead half-orc, the bandit leader mentioned an interesting little detail about the town of Libara. Apparently the surrounding area wasn't suitable environment for any bees to thrive in, and unless they were importing the insects from a different continent, then it was impossible for them to create the honey they were so well known for. There weren't any known mages living inside the community either, and the lack a proper building to house said insects all pointed to another cause for the honey's production.

Schwartz thought nothing of it at the time and returned to Harold once the job was done. After receiving his payment, the half-orc made the decision to stay in Libara for a little while longer to see for himself why this community was so beloved. His time spent here led him to befriend a young teenage orphan named Seras Lupino, a sweet and caring lass who melted the skeleton's cold exterior in just a few days, a feat that many failed to accomplish in years. Her presence prolonged his stay and also led to him befriending the mayor himself. He often thought of adopting Seras and taking her with him on his travels, but the idea of exposing her to the kind of life style he lived and possibly changing her into something similar to himself led to constant doubts.

One of Schwartz's night of indecisiveness would be the final time he'd ever his friend alive.

Seras Lupino's disappearance drove Schwartz to an emotional frenzy the likes not even he had experienced before. Nesting inside his empty rib-cage was an intense burning sensation that fueled him to continue looking for his young friend no matter what, even as the seasons continued to pass. The citizens of Libara, including Harold, while friendly, proved useless to him when it came to his search, with the Mayor even bringing up the possibility that she had just run away. His words did nothing to halt the half-orc's investigation.

The bandit leader's words proved true the further he dug into the town of Libara, as there wasn't a single bee he noticed during his stay, nor was there a building or equipment specifically made to house them. All that he witnessed in the creation of the honey was the use of a strange liquidy substance. The orphanage housed a large number of friendly children, but something about their personalities felt a bit...off. For kids who lacked a family and only had themselves, plus the caretaker, they were surprisingly obedient and calm for their age. At times he'd catch them stare at him from across the room or through different sections of the building altogether. Unlike Seras, whose kindness was enough to melt his exterior, the kids here merely gave him more reason to keep his guard up.

As his investigation for the day slowly came to a stop, a heavy urge to sleep overcame and inevitably got the best of him. Once he got to his room, everything just went black...

When Schwartz finally came to, he found himself trapped inside of a cocoon made from what seemed to be spider webbing. Removing his glove for a moment to slice through the web with his bony fingers and escape his prison, he quickly finds himself trapped in a massive underground lair with more webs filling out the entire area. Picking up his greataxe, he wandered the strange caves and ends up coming across two ancient spires spread out from each other and breaking up from the floor as they shot towards the ceiling. Ancient words were carved onto the sides of each spire, something he quickly realized to be Abyssal. It read as following:

"Beneath this prison rests a nightmare so powerful, a creature so wicked, that its hunger knows no bounds as it travels beneath realms to devour both flesh and spirit. Pure evil slumbers in the bed of eternal corpses. We sleep forever in our everlasting graves, terrified and without hope."

Before he even had a chance to process everything he had just read from the old spires, the gentle sound of shifting rocks alerted Schwartz to the presence behind him. Standing there, bigger than any creature or...thing he had ever seen before in his existence, was a scarred gargantuan Bebilith whose size took up a majority of the cave. The ancient monstrosity chased and attacked the skeleton throughout its labyrinth of the dead, losing him when he crawled through smaller areas only to show up moments later in an attempt to capture its fleeing prey. Trying to escape while this thing hunted him down will merely become suicide after a while, and a full frontal assault will only yield the same result. Despite feeling fear and uncertainty for the first time since he'd been dead, he knew the only way to get out of this alive was to play it smart.

The game of cat and mouse between the ancient Bebilith and Schwartz lasted for a couple of minutes, and the former was quickly learning where its prey would show up, but the latter was growing accustomed to the layout of the cave. However, as his knowledge of the area grew, it was only inevitable that he'd come across a ghastly sight. Inside small spots where the creature couldn't reach were mass graves for children, all hiding from the monster outside until they either starved to death or succumbed to a single horrific wound left by the Bebilith. Despite this, he couldn't find Seras anywhere, but this didn't bring him any bit of comfort. Even if he were to somehow kill the ancient horror, the undead knew leaving this place would also mean leaving behind the remnants of what felt like his heart.

The only way he'd be able to give himself an advantage over this monstrosity would be to use the environment against it. Anywhere else might've been a different case, but down here this thing's size could be turned into an advantage. The battle between the two couldn't drag out for long otherwise he'd risk getting killed, as this thing was proving to be smarter than he thought possible. With a couple of well placed attacks against the spire's weak points, alongside goading the monstrosity to attack the structure, both spires came tumbling down to stun the Bebilith and open it up to being attacked. Slash after slash, everything the half-orc had was put into attempted mutilation and outright destruction of the creature in front of him, coating the cave and himself with its blood.

And yet, even then it wasn't enough.

All it took was one powerful plunge from the Bebilith's legs to impale Schwartz, and with one swipe he was sent crashing through one of the walls as the monstrosity began to get back on its legs. Just as hope seemed all but gone, Schwartz caught sight of Seras beckoning for him to follow her as she entered one of the many tunnels this cave had, only this one was extremely easy to miss. Just as the Bebilith rose and began its assault, the half-orc had crawled his way into the tunnel. Seras was his guiding light. At times she'd disappear but show up again during moments where he felt like he was getting lost. She guided him till he reached the exit, always giving the persistent skeleton words of encouragement, but before he could begin to thank her, Seras was nowhere to be found.

Injured but still alive, and in the outskirts of Libara, it became clear to him that the Bebilith's blood that stained him was the same liquid he spotted being used for the honey production. The puzzle was nearing completion, but he wanted to hear the words from the damned Mayor's mouth before he split him in two. Getting answers from Harold was easy, especially with a greataxe lodged deep into his shoulder, but that did little to quell the uneasiness forming in his gut when the answers were revealed.

Back when Libara was considered a small mining village during the time of a great war, the original residents stumbled upon the ancient Bebilith's resting site. The miners were swiftly taken care of and devoured, and it seemed like the creature would come out of the cave to destroy the village, but instead of wreaking havoc it telepathically spoke to the original mayor at the time, one of Harold's grandfathers, and the two struck some sort of deal; if he and the village were to supply it with a steady assortment of food, it'd help them thrive and grow beyond their wildest dreams. They accepted, and due to there being a war at the time, that meant orphans. All it took was the construction of an orphanage for those who were left homeless, both families and lone children, to enter Libara. Once the war ended and the supply of orphans dropped, they ended up not only sacrificing some of their own kids but also kidnapping some from other towns and cities.

Before Schwartz could deal the finishing blow on Harold, Libara's citizens began to attack, giving their mayor enough time to flee as the ensuing massacre occurred. There were no survivors left, and when he went to check on the orphanage, all the children were missing. It wasn't long before Libara's destruction caught the attention of everyone else, and with it came everyone noticing a violent sickness raging throughout their cities, no doubt coming from the Bebilith's blood. Recognized by his growing reputation, all the blame was pointed towards Schwartz, making him enemy number one. Why blame a band of bandits when you've got a recognizable name to shift the blame on for the disappearances of people and caravans? Why blame an ancient evil and its "honey" when you've got a boogeyman in your lands? Living in his homeland had become impossible, and he knew it was time to leave...but there was still one loose end he wanted to tie up.

Years passed, but the undead half-orc found the person he was looking for. A man with an accent and a fucked up shoulder, working as a librarian in a completely different part of the world? They sounded all too familiar.

Powers and Abilities

 * Rage
 * Frenzy
 * Reckless Attack
 * Savage Attacker
 * Mindless Rage
 * Darkvision
 * Painful Help
 * Feral Instinct

Items

 * Padded Armor
 * Book of Demons
 * Explorer's Pack

Weapons

 * Great Axe (1d12)
 * Hand Axe (2) (1d6)
 * Javelin (4) (1d6)
 * Magic Door Shield (4 Magic Missile Per Day)

= Stark = Stark is a spider that was already in the party when Schwartz met them. Olive paired the two together after Stark's previous owner perished and almost immediately took a liking to each other, even though neither of them will admit it.

Personality
Stark is a fairly silent and lazy spider. He only gets up to act when Schwartz commands him to or he knows the situation is truly dire, such as Olive being taken by the stone golem or the burning of the inn. Stark happily takes whatever food is given to him and has been shown to be very crafty and clever during the rare times he acts.

History
[For before the curse, see Neznac]

Stark was raised in a dungeon deep within the underground of Olinor. He was taken in by a family of fellow spiders when he was found and mistaken as an orphan and was raised by them for a number of years. Stark was taught in the ways of the spider, as he was very clearly unfamiliar. When the Dark Defenders delved into the dungeon, they slaughtered Stark's family but managed to be spared and joined the group, being cared for by a tall dragonborn. During a large battle in the ruined town of Sherfield, Stark's curse and previous life came back to him and he regained his form as Neznac.