Aeris. Aeris escaped Hollin's orphanage at fourteen. He worked briefly as an apprentice, until he was pressed into service for the Hedgepeth's expedition to Hilde.

Beowolf. Born in Highpyre on Hilde, Beowolf was orphaned as a baby when Highpyre was burned. He was brought to Hollin by his adoptive parents, and he lives with them at their weapons store, the Winter Wolf. He's now eighteen.

Jennish Cole. Jennish left for the big city with his brother Jace (Ranger) and sister Talia (Cleric) after their father died. Jennish looks to earn money to open a shop of unusual items (artifacts). Talia looks to enter a church in the city and Jace looks to make a living as a bounty hunter in the city.

Kasskar. Kasskar was orphaned as a teenager and has survived since then as a thief in Braddock. He's now eighteen. A skilled lockpick, Kasskar is available for hire if the terms are good enough. He can be contacted at The Mooncalf where he has a room.

Mikal. Mikal is a shy, dishevelled fourteen-year-old. In June he sailed for Hilde as a stowaway on the Hedgepeth.

Prosper. Prosper first appears to the party near to greencake complex on Lake Annika, cold and wet, not knowing how he got there. He's a bit touched: he's unshaved and filthy, and carries a menacing driftwood staff. Prosper is twenty-one.

The Hedgepeth. Burns and Krill were co-captains of the Hedgepeth, a captured Blackwells sloop-of-war, which they used to privateer off Hilde. The ship's complement also included:

• First, second, and third mates Copeland, Browning, and Emil.
• Diregale, Owen, Milch, the lookouts for the three mates.
• Cannoneers Wineheart, Pembec, Landis.
• Impressed men Fishkin, Walker, Wardell.

• They captured the Blackwells ship Durst as a prize.
• They captured greencake from a facility on Lake Annika.
• They rescued the survivors from the wrecked ship Dowager.
• They found Highpure, the city of the Inkeri and Beowolf's birth city.
• They found the Dowager's captain Ammiral and helped him recover the meteor Noreste.

The Dowager. Ammiral was the captain of the exploration ship Dowager. The complement also included:

• First, second, and third mates Tiller, Higgs, and Huster.
• Hubknell, Deptford, and Fearing, lookouts.
• Cannoneers Geat, Erastus, and Blum.
• Impressed men Bolling, Bosch, and Duncan.

Soon after, the party found Ammiral north of Highpyre, heading to Bruegel to retrieve the meteor Noreste.

Chambers. Chambers sells mundane items like antidotes and aphrodisiacs, and more curious items like mandrake and civet. He sells a non-magical tincture equivalent to the Potion of Healing, and treacle, which works against venom.

Chambers is expert, but he's elderly and forgetful. So, it could be profitable to get his formulary and see what forgotten gems it includes.

Gould. Gould is an herbalist. His mundane items include cooking herbs and spices, and his more curious items include lotus flower, which causes dreamy indolence for those seeking oblivion. Gregor has told Gould that absinthe can cure tapeworm, so he's trying to create some.

Gregor. Gregor the Naturalist is the hub of a community of doctors and scientists near Braddock's ports. He collects cures and specimens from foreigners coming into Braddock's port. Some of the cures seem outlandish, like touching an elephant's trunk to cure headaches. On the other hand, Burgess -- a port doctor studying contagious diseases -- has confirmed Gregor's claim that mosquitos spread malaria.

At his lab, Gregor has many mummified animals -- a crocodile, a crane -- and a coelacanth that Anhault Company fishermen found recently. But giant squid are his real obsession. No one has ever seen one alive, but last year whalers brought him a giant squid's tentacle still wriggling on their hook, and with Brunn he's trying to keep it alive in a salt bath and make it move again.

Gregor took the party to look for a giant squid in the flooded caverns under Lofton Castle, but they were driven off by the tentacles of an unseen sea monster.

Herndon. Herndon is an anatomist, who learns about the human body by dissection. Unfortunately dissecting bodies is illegal in Hollin, so Herndon is forced to rob graves. He has an inside source at the Meade Hospital Morgue, who tells him when bodies with specific conditions are there.

Herndon took the party to steal a body with goiter from the morgue, where they were accosted by walking dead.

Brunn. Brunn is interested in electricity and magnetism. He has lightning rods set up at high points around the city and one at Gregor's shop, where he's helping to reanimate the tentacle.

Werner. Werner runs a secretive sanctuary for untouchables in the city.

Gangs. The Hobnail and Coopers' Union mobs fight for control of Braddock. The Hobnails are run from inside Hobnail Prison and have the Coopers' Union on the run. Smaller gangs like the Renderers' League also have a little territory, and some work for the Hobnails.

The gangs extort protection money from merchants on their turf, but they also protect those who who can't go to the law for help. In particular, they resist the admiralty press gangs, which has created an escalating nightly war in which the street gangs and press gangs hunt each other. The widespread belief that the admiralty are foreign oppressors has added fuel to the fire.

The Hobnails attacked the Whipsaw's underground boxing ring when Kasskar tried to stage paid fights there. The Hobnail boxer Kajal tried to murder a Coopers' Union boxer, Godwin, and Hobnails attacked the other boxers and the party.

Mulebeck. Mulebeck was the bare-knuckle boxing champion at The Whipsaw. He was killed in the Hobnails' attack.

The Witches' Chorus directed the party and judged their deeds in Highpyre.

Kanna is a bent crone in a tattered, unfastened overcoat and muddy galoshes. Her few teeth are like standing stones, and she shakes when she talks. She's unaware of or uninterested in the heroes unless the other witches direct her attention to them.

The others -- Alissa, Anneli, Hilja, Irja, Kaisa, and Lahja -- are girlish witches who take turns answering the heroes' questions. They wear black: fitted dresses with lace, long lines of buttons, and wool coats. They cluster around Kanna with affection, touching her arm and pulling her jacket closer around her.