The party found Dax in Session 2, wounded amid five dead orcs on a parallel contract to Gnomengarde. He joined cautiously — unsure at first whether the group was the fastest way to finish his quest — and stayed because the jobs keep paying.

With his original trade contract discharged (the Guildmaster’s contract delivered to King Korboz, the King’s sealed envelope delivered back to Guildmaster Thornton), Dax works wherever the coin is: Harbin’s contracts, and Thornton’s standing offer of payment for dragon intelligence. He’s the party’s contractual link to the Zhentarim guildmaster — though he sat out Bean’s unauthorized visit to Harbin’s house, and doesn’t know what her notes say.

Background

Dax grew up poor in a mid-sized town — the kind of place where opportunity was scarce and survival took precedence over ambition. With his family struggling to get by, he discovered early that he had a natural talent for fighting and put it to use in the local fighting rings. Not for glory; for coin. It worked. For years he fought, and for years his family got by.

When they passed, there was nothing left tying him to that town, so he left. With little else to his name and a knack for fighting, he enlisted in the military. It wasn’t a calling — it was the next logical step. The military took his raw ability and sharpened it: proper swordwork, discipline, how to fight as part of a unit and how to survive alone. He did his time, did his job well, and when his service was up he walked away without looking back.

Civilian life meant finding his own work, and sellsword suited him — no fixed employer, no fixed home, just the next job. His military background meant people hired him with confidence, and he built a quiet reputation for being reliable and straightforward. Clients hire someone they trust, and they hire them again.

He’d been working the roads around Phandalin when the Guildmaster took notice and offered him a one-time contract: travel to Gnomengarde and establish trade relations with the gnomes on behalf of the guild. Simple enough on paper. The roving orc bands in the area made it anything but.

Fighting through those bands, something caught his attention. The orcs weren’t just aggressive — they were unsettled, agitated in a way that went beyond territory disputes. In the chaos of skirmishes he picked up enough to piece together that something had them scared. Something they called a dragon. He doesn’t know what to make of it. But orcs don’t scare easily, and that’s enough to take seriously.

Appearance

Human, 25, 5’11” and 175 lb. Short brown hair, slightly longer on top and intentionally shaped; blue eyes, fair skin, light scruff along the jaw. Small scattered scars mark his knuckles and forearms from years of fighting in the ring — nothing dramatic, just lived-in. He carries himself with quiet, understated confidence.

Personality

He faces problems head-on: a simple, direct solution is the best path to success. Always polite and respectful with it. He fights for those who cannot fight for themselves, but holds that ideals aren’t worth killing over or going to war for — live and let live. His one confessed flaw: he’d rather eat his armor than admit when he’s wrong (see: “Wasn’t in the military very long anyway”).

Notable deeds

• Tied up Facktoré after Thom put her to sleep (Session 2).
• Delivered the Guildmaster’s contract to King Korboz and carried the King’s sealed envelope back to Phandalin (Sessions 3–4).
• Burned an Action Surge in the manticore fight at Umbrage Hill; Barnaby shielded him with a reaction (Session 4).
• Tossed Adabra’s free healing potion to a still-bleeding Thom (Session 5).
• Attempted a strategic read of the orc movements from his military days and came up with nothing (“Wasn’t in the military very long anyway”) (Session 5).
• Earned the dwarf prospectors’ goodwill with a formal introduction in Dwarvish (Session 5).
• Discovered the hidden coffer of gemstones in a pillar base — the dwarves don’t know (Session 5).
• Lied to the dwarf prospectors’ faces about the temple haul and was read instantly — only Thom’s fast talking covered for him (Session 6).
• Found the seamless wall Thom’s light exposed, worked the mechanism, and opened the temple’s loop back into the main chamber (Session 6).
• Set the party’s defence against the seven orcs: the entrance hall as a funnel, archers behind the pillars, everyone else out of sight (Session 6).
• Was recognized by the orc war-leader — “So you killed our men” — and took a greataxe to the chest for it, dropping unconscious and bleeding out until Barnaby reached him (Session 6).
• Got back up, used the Clockwork Amulet to steady a swing he no longer trusted, and took the last orc’s head off (Session 6).
• Stripped the orc leader’s chain mail and identified it as human work out of a Neverwinter garrison (Perception 23) — reading correctly that the band had been raiding settlements close by. The second time his background has produced usable intelligence (Session 7).
• Put his sword into the dead war-leader once, flicked the blood off the blade, and walked away without a word (Session 7).
• Stayed out of the badger tunnel until the statue detonated, then went in with Hamish to find out who was still alive (Session 7).
• Argued for scouting the way out rather than walking blindly off a site where seven orcs had just ambushed them (Session 7).
• Told a weeping Norbus that the orcs who killed his brother were long dead, if it gave him any peace (Session 7).
• Put 15 gp into the bag the party gave Norbus, then went back alone afterward and left another 15 of his own with an offer of future work — and gave the dwarf his name (Session 7).
• Carries the Clockwork Amulet — available, recharges at dawn, unused in Session 7. Still holding the inspiration die awarded at the end of Session 6.
• Tailed the dark-clad figure to the Miner’s Exchange and held the yard while Barnaby boosted Hamish to the window (Session 8).
• His chain mail gave the three of them away on the way out. He waved the other two on, stood in the open, and let the guard come to him (Session 8).
• Blew the bluff — the guard did not believe a word — but was recognised as “that sellsword” and walked inside instead of run off (Session 8).
• Negotiated with Guildmaster Thornton in her own office at night, and closed each deal before he handed anything over. Told the Umbrage Hill news was worth nothing to her, he stopped selling it and offered it as a freebie conditional on terms for orcs first — “I like you. You’re smart.” — then spent it framed as proximity: the party walked Adabra out that morning and the hill burned by evening, so the dragon is within an evening’s flight of Phandalin (Session 8).
• Made her name the currency before he answered a question: gold, or information for information. She took the trade, and he spent his first purchase on Harbin before paying anything of his own — then paid with the orc band’s origin, its death, and the larger force’s heading west, and collected the rest of the bargain afterward (Session 8).
• Took 50 gold for it and has not mentioned it to the party (Session 8).
• Read her reaction to the news about Harbin: a twinkle, a curl of the lip, and a woman very pleased with herself (Session 8).
• Answered Holia and Thom in the same spoken sentence — “things are fine right now, but we’re afraid of movement later” — intelligence to her, status report to him (Session 8).
• Walked out slowly on purpose, knowing Thom and Bean were closing on the building behind him (Session 8).
• Wants better armor. The Lionshield Coster has never been open when he has been free to visit it (Session 8).

Standing with the dwarves: the goodwill he earned in Dwarvish in Session 5 was spent by his failed lie in Session 6 — and in Session 7 he squared it privately with the survivor, on his own terms and out of his own purse.

Dax and Rut

Since Session 7, Dax has been quietly telling Rut things that are not true, with a completely straight face, and Rut believes all of them.

It started on the road down from the temple, out of everyone else’s hearing, when the talk came round to whether dragons eat people. Dax said they do. Rut believed him, and gestured at Barnaby — and Dax supplied the rest: that is why the party makes certain he is kept well fed. When Sage caught up, it was Rut who explained the doctrine to her, as his own. Dax simply agreed with it.

The same conversation happened again about the panther, who must also be kept fed, though a panther is easier to kill than a dragon if it ever comes to that.

Rut has taken all of it entirely seriously. He has raised the feeding question with Barnaby directly, and mentioned it to Adabra Gwynn, who said it sounded advisable.

Barnaby does not know Rut believes he is a man-eating dragon. The rest of the party does not know Dax is the source. These conversations are held between the two of them, out of everyone else’s hearing.

Tactical note: against ochre jellies, thrown handaxes and bludgeoning work; slashing just makes more jellies. His longsword follow-up after a jelly-splitting handaxe proved this the hard way. Lead with thrown weapons.