Rise of the Living Forge 4 characters

Also known as Ifrit, the Hero of Lian

Appears from the start

The former Hero of Lian, believed dead since the explosion that ended a secretly staged war, now living in the remote city of Milten behind the mask of the smith Ifrit. He carries the unique Living Forge crafting class, the risky Cursed Dwarven Smithing path, and a curse, the Hungering Maw, that forces him to devour magical items to survive. He leads the small guild Menagerie from the tavern of his partner Lillia, and his smithy has become a sentient forge, the Infernal Armory, bonded to him. As the book opens, a masked and far stronger figure named Twelve is demanding a dungeon heart, and Arwin must find a way to protect his guild.

Also known as the Demon Queen

Appears from the start

The former Demon Queen, stripped of her old power by the explosion that also felled Arwin, now hiding in Milten as the innkeeper of a monster-themed tavern, the Devil's Den. She carries the unique Hearthkeeper class, which draws strength from the guests she feeds and lodges, and she despises needless killing. A founding member of the Menagerie and Arwin's partner, she has built the tavern into the guild's home base.

Appears from the start

A steady warrior in heavy plate and a founding member of the Menagerie, married to the healer Anna. Once a genuine paladin who lost his holy class, he now fights as an ordinary man-at-arms and serves as the guild's tactical leader on dungeon runs. Behind the scenes he runs an extensive network of street informants across Milten, and his intelligence work repeatedly proves decisive. Calm and calculating, he guards the guild against threats others cannot even see.

Appears from the start

A kind, forthright healer and a member of the Menagerie, married to Rodrick. An ordinary healer rather than a battle-mage, her power is limited by her own energy, yet she is the guild's lifeline through its hardest fights. Her past holds dark, closely kept knowledge, including a rare command of poisons, which she is willing to use in the guild's defense.

Appears from the start

A former street thief of Milten and a full member of the Menagerie. She carries the unique Warden class, built on restraint and control rather than killing, and gathers information as readily as she once lifted purses. Guarded and shaped by a hard childhood on the streets, she is fiercely loyal to the guild and carries a sentient dagger she has promised to wield exclusively.

Appears from the start

A scarred, red-haired warrior missing her right forearm, battle-tested despite the injury, and a full member of the Menagerie. Loyal and quietly proud, she carries the private weight of a personal Challenge tied to the loss of her arm and an earlier failure to warn her old team, a mistake she is determined never to repeat.

Appears from the start

A merchant and Arwin's metal supplier, and secretly a vampire. Once a soldier in Lillia's old army, he recognized her as his former queen and swore himself to her service. Formal and theatrical but quick to violence when crossed, he keeps the smithy stocked and treats Lillia's word as law.

Appears from the start

The elderly, archaic-mannered proprietor of a cluttered curiosity shop, gifted with a rare ability to sense a person's greed. She secretly deals in cursed items of her own and has moved her shop beside Arwin's smithy, unilaterally declaring herself a member of the Menagerie. Eccentric and prone to demanding odd payments, she attaches herself to the guild's projects.

Appears from the start

A representative of the Dawnseekers, a merchant guild competing with the Ardent Guild for a foothold in Milten. Composed and quietly driven by an undisclosed grudge against the Ardent Guild, he approaches Arwin and Lillia with a scheme to covertly steal a dungeon heart and use it to ruin his rivals. In exchange he asks the Menagerie to craft him a magical item that can permanently alter a person's appearance.

First appears in chapter 3

A young, sandy-haired Adept-tier warrior sent by the Dawnseekers as the Menagerie's guide for its covert dungeon mission. Professional and loyal to his guild, he carries the key to the dungeon and presents himself as an experienced escort.

Appears from the start

A masked, immensely powerful figure affiliated with a guild called the Setting Sun, and the threat left hanging over the Menagerie at the start of the book. He is pressing every major information network in Milten to recover a dungeon heart for him, working against an unexplained deadline, and has offered to destroy the Ardent Guild in exchange. Far stronger than anyone in the Menagerie, his true nature and full intentions are unknown.

First appears in chapter 28

A representative of the information guild known as the Secret Eye, carried over from the previous book, where she worked quietly as one of its observers. After the Menagerie's staged public victory, she is sent to invite the guild to the Secret Eye's tournament, the Adept Proving Grounds, where the Menagerie would take part not as fighters but as a crafting guild outfitting a combat team. She pairs the Menagerie with the struggling guild Phoenix Circle and slips away before an answer is given.

First appears in chapter 30

A representative of the struggling guild Phoenix Circle, sent to partner with the Menagerie for the Secret Eye's tournament. He arrives entirely wrapped in bandages and bulky clothing, his voice muffled, accompanied by his companion Maeve. Reserved and evasive about himself and his guild's true circumstances, he gives Lillia the immediate impression that he is not what he appears to be.

First appears in chapter 30

The second representative Elias brings from the struggling guild Phoenix Circle, introduced as his sister. A tall, masked woman who cannot speak, she is armed with daggers and unusually strong, though she keeps her strength deliberately held back. She stays close at Elias's side to guard and support him. Greeting the pair, Lillia privately senses that Maeve is not human.

First appears in chapter 34

Raen's wife, brought hooded and cloaked to Arwin's smithy so she can be fitted with the appearance-altering item Raen commissioned. She is revealed to be an orc, who would be killed if seen openly in a human city, and wants only to be able to move safely at Raen's side.

First appears in chapter 37

Duke Aleric's teenage son and reluctant heir to a declining noble house in Thornhelm. Born with a malformed leg, he cannot fight and walks with a crutch, but he is a formidable strategist who keeps detailed intelligence on people in a deck of illustrated cards. He resents being kept as heir over his more capable sister and blames himself for rivals testing his family's weakness.

First appears in chapter 37

Art's sister and the fighting strength of Duke Aleric's house in Thornhelm, an elite but visibly ailing warrior. She is dying of a wasting affliction with only a few years left, and has accepted the Secret Eye's invitation to the Adept Proving Grounds as her family's last chance, both for her own cure and for restoring their standing. The invitation strangely requires her non-combatant brother Art to compete alongside her.

First appears in chapter 39

The estranged, resentful younger brother of the celebrated adventurer Kien. Isolated in a mountain cabin and consumed by envy of his brother's fame, he has become the target of a hooded manipulator he calls Mask, who insists Kien's success has always come at Hein's expense. Mask supplies him a special dagger and a tournament invitation in his own name, urging him to kill his brother rather than try to surpass him.

Also known as Kien of the Twin Blades

First appears in chapter 39

An extremely powerful independent adventurer known as a Twin Blade, a previous solo champion of the Adept Proving Grounds and reckoned the most talented adept since the Hero of Lian. He is the celebrated older brother of the embittered Hein, whose resentment of him has made him the target of a hidden manipulator's schemes.

Also known as the drunkard, Koyu the Lost

First appears in chapter 69

The blue-eyed stranger long known on Arwin's street only as a harmless drunkard, revealed as a centuries-old lich who calls himself Koyu the Lost. Having died in a war some seven hundred years ago, he has quietly guarded the street ever since, the true source of the neighborhood's ghost rumors and the unseen presence that helped Arwin forge his Soul Guardian's core. He warns that the world itself is slowly starving and agrees to help Arwin in exchange for a body of his own.