Seth

Seth is a young halfling who cuts an enigmatic figure: jet-black hair, dark attire, acid wit, and stealthy skill that lead many people to mistake him for an assassin — a label Book 1 notes he rejects. He prefers 'stealth specialist' work to heroic speeches, picks locks, moves unseen, and says what the idealists in the party would rather not hear. Beneath the cynicism is a good soul, shown most clearly in his deep friendship with the pure-hearted Aksel.

Shaped by a shady upbringing in the crime-ridden city of Ilos, Seth treats caution as common sense. He scouts, listens, and strikes from concealment while his companions draw attention, and his lockpicking and trap sense get the party through places that would stop a louder group. In the Stone Hill ruins his stealth helps fell the dark wizard Telvar and save his companions from a rampaging golem, and he claims a cloak associated with that fight that becomes part of his trademark kit. When the party later frees the trapped golem they call the Boulder, it is Seth who names it — and Seth who keeps its control ring for now.

Seth insists the others are far too naive for their own good, and convinces himself he stays because someone must look out for them. The excuse wears thinner with every mission. He could slip away from Ravenford, its grateful baron, and its multiplying dangers; instead he scouts the Dead Forest, fights in the orc caves, and stands with the group when the Black Adders strike. Loyalty, for Seth, is something he does while denying he feels it.

Book 1 leaves him exactly where he would least like to be described: indispensable. This page uses only his Book 1 introduction and deeds. The filed Seth note continues into later volumes, and that material is held here so new readers can meet the halfling as Ravenford did — one sharp remark at a time.

See Aksel for his closest friendship, and Stone Hill for the ruin that made his reputation.