Rise of the Living Forge 2 characters

Also known as Ifrit, the Hero of Lian

Appears from the start

The former Hero of Lian, publicly believed dead since the blast that ended a secretly staged war, reborn in the remote city of Milten with the unique Living Forge crafting class and a curse, the Hungering Maw, that forces him to devour magical items to live. He works in secret as a masked smith called Ifrit and leads a small, still-unnamed guild built around Lillia's tavern. As the book opens he carries a dead, Epic-quality crystal and a fresh mesh warning that his class's hunger will kill him unless he learns to control it.

Also known as the Demon Queen

Appears from the start

The former Demon Queen, stripped of her old power by the same explosion that felled Arwin and now hiding in Milten as the shy innkeeper of a monster-themed tavern. Her purple skin and hidden tail keep her largely confined indoors. She carries the unique Hearthkeeper class, which strengthens her through guests fed and lodged at her hearth, and she despises killing. A member of Arwin's guild, she is slowly and wordlessly falling for him.

Appears from the start

A resourceful former street thief of Milten, now a full member of Arwin's guild. She carries the unique Warden class, built on restraint and control rather than killing, and gathers information as readily as she once lifted purses. Quick, guarded, and shaped by a hard childhood on the streets, she is fiercely loyal to the odd household she has fallen in with.

Appears from the start

An easygoing warrior in heavy plate and a founding member of Arwin's guild, usually at the side of the healer Anna. Genial and dependable in a fight, he is secretly a fallen Paladin of Light who lost his holy power and now fights as an ordinary man-at-arms. He keeps the deeper reasons for his fall to himself, sharing little of his past even with those closest to him.

Appears from the start

A kind, forthright healer who travels with the warrior Rodrick and belongs to Arwin's guild. An ordinary healer rather than a battle-mage, she once slipped quietly away from the Adventurers' Guild, which never took much notice of her. Her healing is limited by her own energy and cannot mend every wound, but she is the group's lifeline through its most dangerous fights.

First appears in chapter 3

A scarred, red-haired warrior missing her right forearm who approaches Arwin's market stall for a piece of Ifrit armor. Skilled and battle-tested despite the injury, she carries herself like a seasoned adventurer. Short of coin, she strikes a deal to pay Arwin over time, becoming his customer and, informally, his debtor.

First appears in chapter 7

A blunt, balding mason from Milten's crafts quarter and the only builder willing to work the so-called haunted street. He takes on the rebuild of Arwin's ruined smithy for two hundred gold in staged payments. Matter-of-fact and quick, he even repeats the street's grim rumors back to Arwin, unaware he is describing Arwin's own handiwork.

First appears in chapter 12

A hawk-featured Merchants' Guild representative with a heavy unibrow and an ill-fitting suit who calls on Arwin about his market trading. He explains Milten's trade rules and licence fees plainly and without menace, and expects both the tavern and Arwin's future smithy to register once they are operating. Businesslike and oddly reasonable for a city official, he becomes a recurring administrative contact.

First appears in chapter 29

A gruff, honest Milten blacksmith and Arwin's usual source of crafting metal, carried over from earlier days. He sells Arwin bars of steel and a rare bar of pale, tough metal at a markup, bluntly advising the inexperienced smith to seek out a proper mentor and learn real technique. A familiar, no-nonsense fixture of the city's trade.

First appears in chapter 35

The leader of the Iron Hounds, the rival guild Arwin has been feuding with, and the last man still standing from the group behind an earlier killing. Far stronger than his stated rank, he is held off only by a fragile truce. Since three of his members vanished, he has grown markedly more paranoid and volatile, and has set watchers on Arwin's old smithy and the haunted street.

First appears in chapter 61

A brunette adventurer from a small, newly formed guild that takes ordinary journeyman dungeon work. She buys a set of Ifrit armor at market and arranges to have an ill-fitting piece resized at Arwin's smithy. Friendly and grateful for the fit, she offers to connect him with a merchant contact who might solve his standing need for a steady metal supplier.

First appears in chapter 63

A short, androgynous, teenage-looking merchant with slicked black hair, posh speech, and an evasive manner, sent by the adventurer Vivian to discuss supplying metal to Arwin's smithy. He arrives with unexplained blood on his collar, which he waves off as a scuffle. Mid-conversation his gaze falls on Lillia, and he drops to his knees in open reverence, addressing her as his queen and revealing that he knows her as the former Demon Queen.

First appears in chapter 68

A young man of about twenty with a scarred cheek and slicked-back blond hair, wearing leather that conceals hidden blades and the badge of a rival adventuring party. He approaches Arwin at the Adventurers' Guild hall under a friendly pretense to pass along a coded warning. He grew up on the streets in the same crew as Reya and betrayed them years earlier during a robbery, getting several of them killed.

First appears in chapter 69

The elderly, pockmarked, cane-leaning proprietor of a cluttered curiosity shop tucked into a Milten back alley, stocked with monster parts, oddities, and rare magical components. She speaks in an archaic, formal way and sells Arwin a plain feather for a single coin. When he casually catches a falling pot before it can strike her, she reacts with shock far beyond ordinary gratitude, for reasons she does not explain.