The fire rises still higher...

CHARCOAL-BURNER (#3/28, #34/365) [POT]

SKILL: 7

STAMINA : 7

ATTACKS: 1

WEAPON: Staff or Torch

ARMOUR: None

DAMAGE MODIFIER: None

HABITAT: Forests, Jungles

NUMBER ENCOUNTERED: 2-7 or 3-18

TYPE: Humanoid

REACTION: Neutral-Unfriendly

INTELLIGENCE: Average-High

Many folk are drawn to the woodlands and forests to make a living; one of the oldest professions that exists in these bosky wilderlands is that of the lowly CHARCOAL-BURNER. Living in small lonely communities on the edges of the forest, these folk, grimed grey from the soot of their trade, barter the charcoal they make at nearby villages in exchange for food and scraps of hide. They are a secretive folk, resentful and distrusting of outsiders, clad in ragged animal pelts and armed with a staff or flaming torch, a tinderbox, and 1-3 items from the following table:

Roll Special Gear

1 Magic Torches (see Encyclopedia Arcana: Volume 1, p. 101)

2 Fire Dust, 2-7 pouches

3 Torches, 1-3

4 Charcoal, 1-3 bags

5 Firewood, 1-3 bags

6 Magic Wood (see Encyclopedia Arcana: Volume 1, pp. 101-102)

Charcoal-Burners may be found in either a small group scouting the forest for potential wood, or in small clusters of huts with three to eighteen inhabitants. These will be arranged within a circle of low smoking mounds which are covered by newly cut turf. Grey smoke rises from the mounds that conceal the wood which is slowly being turned into charcoal at great heat. Nearby will lie piles of staves ready to be burnt.

Such a community will be led by a FIRE-WIELDER (SKILL 10 STAMINA 10, Flaming Staff - damage as per staff, can set things on fire as per torch); essentially the biggest and toughest Charcoal-Burner present. They are not averse to banditry to supplement their meagre earnings, and some even quit the profession to become itinerant woodsmen, penniless adventurers, or wandering Firemasters.