Oh, To Be Just a Player

Hmm, in a post I made a month ago, I said I'd be playing 4e instead of DMing in... two weeks. Thanks to a solid month of real life chaos, that didn't happen, but it looks like it might really happen this weekend! Finally!

Writing back stories and fleshing out the character relationships hasn't really continued after the first few, either. Today I gave some thought to why Kain would want the other PCs in his cadre. I managed to satisfy myself with reasons for most of them:
Dragonborn cleric - someone honorable and trustworthy, a good candidate for a lieutenant position
Halfling rogue - a face, someone to do the wheeling, dealing, and any spying
Elf wizard - the adviser, someone who just knows a lot of things

That leaves the drow warlock. As a combatant, he seems to sit squarely between the areas already claimed by the fighter and the rogue. Socially, he's hampered by race much like Kain and Marun are (I already picture the "normal" half of the group being sent into villages for supplies while the monstrous members hide in the woods). What role does this warlock fill in the cadre? Assassin? The one willing to kill whoever Kain says needs killing, no questions asked? Marun would probably do that for Kain, but the drow could probably be a lot more subtle about it. Maybe that will work.

I picture Kain sitting on a hill, Marun practicing weapon katas behind him. He furrows his brow, thinking about the characteristics of the creatures he wants to add to his fledgling cadre. He wonders how he will find them all...