CrimsonStar:Daraek

Game: Children of the Crimson Star

Introduction

Daraek (duh-RYE-eck) is a druid in the Dark Sun campaign setting. He is known to have the power to change shape into a swarm of rampaging wasps. As a mul and a Wasteland Nomad, he stands out among the people of Tyr as an outcast. He only finds a place for himself at the inn and tavern of Nordmyra. However, he still meets up with the occasional drunkard accusing him of being a freak or half-breed. Obviously his swarm powers are looked down upon, since it is a magical ability. His true home and ancestral is the badlands of Meng-Rez, where he associates himself with the Engulfer of Meng-Rez, a spirit who embodies the practice of swarm transformation and inhabits the badlands.

Meeting the Gladiator

Daraek was the first of the campaign party to meet Ka'tho, a thri-kreen former hunter who lost his clutch in an attack, and got lost in the badlands while searching for them. Able to understand thri-kreen because of his own insectoid tendencies, Daraek agreed to help Ka-Tho find the rest of his broodmates. They decided the best way to go about this was for Ka-Tho to become a gladiator, where he'd be able to interact with a variety of people and still technically be a free man. Unfortunately Ka-Tho was killed in a fight, along with Hargrave, while the party was attempting to intercept a shipment and bring it to a member of the nobility.

Daily Happenings

When he's not sitting in Nordmyra's tavern being insulted by the locals, Daraek mainly practices his swarm druid powers alone in the badlands, where he comes across other nomads and traders on the road to Tyr. He hears of many opportunities for profit this way; opportunities that his acquaintances and friends who live exclusively in Tyr may not have knowledge of. This makes Daraek a valuable and profitable friend for Nordmyra, with whom he shares some money both due to the expense of living in her inn and out of respect for her duty as a public servant.

Daraek is sometimes contacted by the wasp spirits of Meng-Rez, through dreams. For some reason Harbek seems to share this oddity.

Important Points

Daraek and Harbek were both called upon in a dream to seek out the Krine of Three, and save them from the dragon's minion's in the shadow of the Red Tower. These turned out to be three black Thri-Kreen; a much different type of Thri-Kreen than those the party had heretofore been familiar with. They were being kept captive by the templars of Kallac. Through a skillful use of Endurance, after the Thri-Kreen had been convinced of the party's motives, Daraek managed to heft one of the creatures onto his back and make it appear as nothing more than a hard black backpack. Harbek and Nordmyra followed suit.

The meaning of these three Thri-Kreen's appearance to the party has yet to be made clear, but for now they are the subject of much curiosity.

Daraek, like the rest of his party members, found himself the bearer of a star-shaped tattoo. It is on his lower left leg. The meaning of this has yet to be determined.