Drig’Drall, the Station Master – Steal this NPC

“If that freight doesn’t get loaded on time, I am going to turn you into a cow catcher!”

[Looking at his stop-watch] “They are very, very late.  Someone is getting tied to the train tracks.”

Drig’Drall’s Story

Drig’Drall was once a Barbaric Monk of a wild tribe of Goliaths from a deserted wasteland of a country.  His clan practiced a strange form of primal magic combined with rigorous mental training which turned them all into powerful fighters.  However, after a raid into the low country (populated mostly by elves, humans, and half-lings), Drig’Drall was injured.  He lost his right eye at the hands of a group of elf rangers, and one of his legs was horribly damaged.  Drig’Drall was unable to flee and was left behind by the other members of his tribe.

Drig’Drall was held by the elves for many years as a makeshift prisoner of war.  Despite having slain several elves as a member of his tribe’s raid, he was treated fairly as a prisoner, and one day, the elves decided to let him go free.  They did have a caveat: he was forbidden from returning to the land of his kinsmen – he must remain in the lowland and make his own way amongst the people which he formerly wronged.

At first, Drig’Drall found life very hard.  He was hated by most people for belonging to a race which was historically at war with the lowlands.  But, over the years, he began to adjust to his new life.

But the world wasn’t waiting for Drig’Drall to adapt, the world was changing.  New technologies began to spread across the plane and from that, new metal behemoths called “Trains” began to spread.  The first time Drig’Drall saw one of these giant steel wyrms, he was horrified and scared.  However, a kindly gnome tinkerer, who was making some repairs on the train’s engine, explained to him how the machine ran.

Drig’Drall took a liking to the Gnome and he offered to lend him a hand in his repairs, making good use of his brutish strength.  This would be Drig’Drall’s entry point into a long career working on and around the trains.  In this career, Drig’Drall’s stature and appearance would serve him well and he earned his way up through the ranks to finally take the spot of the coveted station master.

Drig’Drall Now

Drig’Drall is currently a station master.  He has earned a reputation as being an incredibly rough Goliath to deal with, which has also earned him the reputation of having the most timely station on the rail.  Nobody wants to be late when they pull into Drig’Drall’s stop.  He makes sure that all the freight is always loaded on time, and that every train that comes into his station is in its peak working condition, even if this means that he has to get out there and repair it himself.

Drig’Drall’s Appearance

Drig’Drall stands out like the proverbial sore thumb.  He is about 7’6” tall and weighs over 300 pounds.  His pale gray face is marked with traditional Goliath markings; however, his fashion, is a bit different.  He usually wears a navy blue pinstripe suit, a perfectly clean pearl colored shirt, and a large red neck-tie.  He also usually has on a round black hat, that has a striped red and blue ribbon wrapped around it.  Apart from his fairly unusual clothes, he also always wears a single iron gauntlet on his right hand, and carries a long black and gold cane (which his peons have not so lovingly started referring to as his beatin’ stick).  He carries no jewelry save a golden pocket watch, which he keeps in his jacket pocket on an extremely long, Goliath-sized, golden chain.

Drig’Drall’s Personality

Drig’Drall is a fairly difficult character to deal with.  He is very wary of dealing with strangers and usually talks in a very grouchy manner.  Although he is usually pretty grumpy, he deals fairly with patrons of the rail and provides information to travelers who are curious about the area around his station.  However, when dealing with the other station workers, he is fierce – punishing those who do not work to his standard.  He is highly disciplined, and expects everyone who works with him to share that same work ethic.

Using Drig’Drall in your Game

Drig’Drall is designed to be used for games that have some type of technological element.  I currently am using him in a homebrew Steampunk world for 4e, but you could easily use him in an Eberron game, or virtually any other game that uses trains for that matter.  I have presented him here without stats, but for the purposes of game rules, he is a mid heroic tier Goliath Monk/Barbarian Hybrid.

Drig’Drall may simply make a single appearance as the players either arrive or depart from Drig’Drall’s station.  He can be used to get information about geography or even about local commerce, politics, or current events.  If he is attacked, he fights back fiercely.  He doesn’t have any magic items or money, but his extreme barbaric monk training has honed his fighting skills into an extremely dangerous weapon.