Hinrich Thiel
While making their way to Noor , The Party came across a bedraggled and unkempt Halfling, who begged the party for some coin or some 'sugar'. They learned that this halfling's name is Dalfin
Warto O'Malley decided that the group should taunt Dalfin by tying him to a horse and dragging him through the forest for a while.
Not far from there, they met a man wearing black studded leather accompanied by two henchmen, who identified himself as Hinrich Thiel. He asked the party whether or not they had seen a halfing, and they responded with a lie - that they had seen nobody.
With a wry smile, Hinrich walked to the treeline and flashed his signet ring towards the party, before departing and wishing them good travels.
Tordenn Kasios identified the ring as enchanted with scrying magic.
Dalfin advised the party that he was an operative working for 'The Baron', the primary criminal force in Noor. He appears to be the right hand man to Nordbert Cotton, and is fiercely loyal to him. Along with Cotton, Thiel is thought to be the only other living person to have ever actually seen the Baron. Since then the party has had further run ins with Hinrich. After they'd been asked by Nordbert to bring back a pair of daggers which had been stolen from the baron, it was Hinrich who brought them Hans, the man who had been robbed of the daggers. He told them that he would be overseeing them primarily as they begun their work for the Baron.
When they got to the thieves guild, Izak Cossmann and Tula Obinsk explained that Hinrich and Izak where close friends at one point, until Izak's betrayal to save Tula and her father. Izak still hopes to re-unite with his old friend and bring the two organisations together, but Tula doesn't believe this is possible - instead entreating the party to kill Hinrich. The party, with the help of Stella Bauer managed to find a house ostensibly belonging to him. In his house, they found a coin of Orcus, similar to those they had found on the Hag of Sabor, and the Lizardman shaman they'd faced in the south. They also found flowers which to Gromp-Ghar emitted a strange grey mist, flowers that he felt a strange connection to. Eventually revealing an underground cavern, the party fought their way to Hinrich's lair - where they lied and told him that the daggers where with Cossmann at the guild. They entreated him to meet them at The Percival tavern the following night, where they planned to go to raid the guild's hideout. As the group approached the hideout, Hinrich's beast companion Yudo revealed himself. He also revealed that he had invited one further member along with them - none other than Nordbert Cotton. Despite Nordbert very quickly convincing Izak Cossmann to dissolve the guild and re-join the Baron's men, the meeting turned out to be a trap sprung by Tula Obinsk and Dexa Bindevar. Although Hinrich and Nordbert fought effectively, with Hinrich killing Dalfin Bramblethorn, they were ultimately saved by The Party. Hinrich seemed to have enjoyed the fight, really only expressing regret that he didn't get to kill Izak. After their success with the Thieves Guild, Hinrich seemed to develop a new found respect for the party. It was clear to him that Nordbert had also come to trust them. It may have been this trust that forced him to entreat their help in desperation. He entered The Percival in a panic, asking desperately for their help in tracking and killing an Inquisitor deputy and his retinue. The Party obliged. They caught the inquisitor at the tower of the fields, which they wasted no time in assaulting. During the fight, a cloud of black smoke appeared above their heads and crashed into the ground. It materialised into a bestial form of Hinrich - with sharp fangs, long claws like shortswords, and a short rodent like nose. This bestial form of their ally tore through guards, supported crucially by the party. After the battle, he explained that he was in fact a miner in Warres over a hundred years ago when the Bark and Sap was discovered. He quickly realised that the workers were being taken advantage of, and led a campaign in their benefit. As it gained traction, he was framed in an assassination plot and killed. He awoke in the shadowfell, and was visited by The Grey Lady, the same one in Stumpy Gromp 's visions. He wandered and eventually came across a settlement ruled by a Lord who he took an immediate liking to. The same Lord drank of his blood, and turned him into a vampire. Over the next thousand years, he worked to depose the vampire lord, and eventually did so. After that, he was transported back into the material plane, where he met Nordbert. Time moved differently in the Shadowfell, and he was shocked to find that only one hundred years had passed. He explained to the party that he still had family in Warres, albeit generations his younger. They were not aware of his presence, but he arranged for them to receive a portion of any money he earned. After the battle, he left to travel to Warres, presumably to move his now compromised family.
Tordenn Kasios identified the ring as enchanted with scrying magic.
Dalfin advised the party that he was an operative working for 'The Baron', the primary criminal force in Noor. He appears to be the right hand man to Nordbert Cotton, and is fiercely loyal to him. Along with Cotton, Thiel is thought to be the only other living person to have ever actually seen the Baron. Since then the party has had further run ins with Hinrich. After they'd been asked by Nordbert to bring back a pair of daggers which had been stolen from the baron, it was Hinrich who brought them Hans, the man who had been robbed of the daggers. He told them that he would be overseeing them primarily as they begun their work for the Baron.
When they got to the thieves guild, Izak Cossmann and Tula Obinsk explained that Hinrich and Izak where close friends at one point, until Izak's betrayal to save Tula and her father. Izak still hopes to re-unite with his old friend and bring the two organisations together, but Tula doesn't believe this is possible - instead entreating the party to kill Hinrich. The party, with the help of Stella Bauer managed to find a house ostensibly belonging to him. In his house, they found a coin of Orcus, similar to those they had found on the Hag of Sabor, and the Lizardman shaman they'd faced in the south. They also found flowers which to Gromp-Ghar emitted a strange grey mist, flowers that he felt a strange connection to. Eventually revealing an underground cavern, the party fought their way to Hinrich's lair - where they lied and told him that the daggers where with Cossmann at the guild. They entreated him to meet them at The Percival tavern the following night, where they planned to go to raid the guild's hideout. As the group approached the hideout, Hinrich's beast companion Yudo revealed himself. He also revealed that he had invited one further member along with them - none other than Nordbert Cotton. Despite Nordbert very quickly convincing Izak Cossmann to dissolve the guild and re-join the Baron's men, the meeting turned out to be a trap sprung by Tula Obinsk and Dexa Bindevar. Although Hinrich and Nordbert fought effectively, with Hinrich killing Dalfin Bramblethorn, they were ultimately saved by The Party. Hinrich seemed to have enjoyed the fight, really only expressing regret that he didn't get to kill Izak. After their success with the Thieves Guild, Hinrich seemed to develop a new found respect for the party. It was clear to him that Nordbert had also come to trust them. It may have been this trust that forced him to entreat their help in desperation. He entered The Percival in a panic, asking desperately for their help in tracking and killing an Inquisitor deputy and his retinue. The Party obliged. They caught the inquisitor at the tower of the fields, which they wasted no time in assaulting. During the fight, a cloud of black smoke appeared above their heads and crashed into the ground. It materialised into a bestial form of Hinrich - with sharp fangs, long claws like shortswords, and a short rodent like nose. This bestial form of their ally tore through guards, supported crucially by the party. After the battle, he explained that he was in fact a miner in Warres over a hundred years ago when the Bark and Sap was discovered. He quickly realised that the workers were being taken advantage of, and led a campaign in their benefit. As it gained traction, he was framed in an assassination plot and killed. He awoke in the shadowfell, and was visited by The Grey Lady, the same one in Stumpy Gromp 's visions. He wandered and eventually came across a settlement ruled by a Lord who he took an immediate liking to. The same Lord drank of his blood, and turned him into a vampire. Over the next thousand years, he worked to depose the vampire lord, and eventually did so. After that, he was transported back into the material plane, where he met Nordbert. Time moved differently in the Shadowfell, and he was shocked to find that only one hundred years had passed. He explained to the party that he still had family in Warres, albeit generations his younger. They were not aware of his presence, but he arranged for them to receive a portion of any money he earned. After the battle, he left to travel to Warres, presumably to move his now compromised family.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Looked to be middle aged and physically fit.
Facial Features
Several small scars across his face, with one large one stretching from his left cheek in a semi-circle down through his lips to his chin.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Hinrich Thiel worked in his youth as a miner of bark and sap, in the days when the resource was initially discovered. He explained that he had naively thought that they would share in the wealth the trees would produce, but it quickly became clear that this was not the case.
As the miners died in their hundreds - attacked on all sides by the communities displaced by mining - then returned to their squalid abodes, Hinrich riled against the injustice of it all. He organised protests and strikes, and made an attempt to make things better.
Unfortunately for him this gained some traction, particularly with the Elves and Dwarves who threatened to boycott the product should they not be treated better. Hinrich was invited to an audience with the king, and summarily framed in an assassination plot. He was executed soon after.
To his surprise he did not die, and came too in a grey realm different from his own being held by The Grey Lady. She quickly disappeared, and he spent years roaming the barren landscape.
Eventually he came upon a settlement, ruled by a Lord who welcomed him with open arms. He took an immediate liking to the man although was unsure why. He spent time working for him, until eventually the Lord drank his blood and imparted his cursed gift of vampirism on Hinrich. He became a thrall, and had no choice but to comply with his orders no matter how cruel.
Hinrich worked hard to undermine him wherever possible, and managed to find others who would fight his cruel Lord. Over a thousand years his power grew until his unwilling master was overthrown.
After this, Hinrich was visited again by The Lady, who brought him back to the material plane. It was then he met Nordbert, and the two developed a close partnership.
He doesn't appear to form friendships often, and it has been posited by many that his only true friend was Izak Cossmann, a young man who had once tried to steal from him. Hinrich had taken him under his wing instead, and helped him earn good money by working with the Baron - enough that Cossmann's family moved from the warrens to the mid tier of inner city Noor.
Izak claims that he started to become disillusioned by what he saw as the morally reprehensible actions of the Baron's men, particularly that they did not obviously re-distribute the wealth they gained from theft of bark and sap to the people who produced it (like Cossmann's family). Their relationship finally broke when the two went to the workshop of Valdemar Obinsk, a dwarven blacksmith who had racked up gambling debts with the baron. He had spent all his money on sharpsugar, and so to Izak's mind, he had indirectly paid off his debt by funnelling all his money back to the Baron.
Hinrich, apparently, did not see things this way. He allowed Valdemar to run and get a head-start in the full knowledge that he would catch up - seemingly just to torment the dwarf. During their pursuit of Valdemar and his daughter, Tula, Izak did not like the joy he saw in Hinrich's face, the joy in hunting and torment. Izak betrayed Hinrich, and helped the two escape to safety.
Current Location
Children
Gender
Male
Hair
Shaved and stubbly
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tanned white
Height
~5'9"
Weight
~150-160
Aligned Organization
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