A halfling monk from Collinwood in Cormyr, Merrit Thistlewick travels alongside the companions known as the Faded Five or Faded Six. He serves as a frontline martial fighter, relying on rapid unarmed flurries, streetwise instincts, and quick reflexes. He has ties to the Thistlewick family in Collinwood and possesses a mysterious black dragon scale whose significance he keeps secret.

Collapsible Infobox

Merrit Thistlewick

Basic Information

Type	Stat
Titles	—
Aliases	—
Race	Halfling
Sex	Male
Date of Birth (Age)	—
Date of Death	Alive
Home	Collinwood
Class	Monk

Family

Type	Stat
Parent(s)	Mother
Sibling(s)	—
Children(s)	—
Other(s)	Maternal aunt and Thistlewick relatives in Collinwood

Appearance

Merrit is a short halfling with an athletic, nimble build. While traveling and adventuring, he wears lightweight monk’s wraps or simple practical clothing. For formal occasions, such as Lady Truesilver’s gala at The Moon and Stars, he dresses in fine Cormyrian attire.

He carries a masterwork dagger gifted to him by Quiral, a blacksmith in Espar. He also wears a small wicker corn-dolly charm gifted by rose, tucked into his belt.

Life Details

Merrit grew up in Collinwood, where a large branch of the Thistlewick family resides. He claims that his parents ran a small tavern in Tyrluk and that he left home after a scrawny man with a facial brand walked out without paying a large bill.

Merrit secretly possesses a mysterious black dragon scale. He showed the artifact to Quiral the blacksmith under strict instructions never to reveal its existence, warning that doing so could cost him his life.

While traveling along the road from the High Horns to Espar and Waymoot, Merrit joined the adventuring party. During his travels, he earned bronze and silver guild promotions, undertook regional monster-hunting contracts, and became involved in the political intrigues of Cormyr’s nobility.

Interactions with the Party

• Rescuing Cicely and Fighting Goblins: Merrit fought alongside his companions to rescue Cicely from goblins, using sweeping attacks and unarmed strikes against the raiders. He later participated in a raid on a goblin hideout, knocking a goblin warrior unconscious so the party could interrogate him about the “War Master.”

• Raiding a Giant Bee Hive and Purchasing Party Equipment: Merrit helped harvest royal honey using smoke and torches, suffering severe stings during the encounter. Afterward, he purchased equipment for the party, including silk ropes, shovels, crowbars, and hunting traps. His insistence that everyone carry bear traps caused friction when rose cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on him.

• Attending Lady Truesilver’s Gala: Merrit attended the gala at The Moon and Stars in formal Cormyrian attire. Kneeling to introduce himself politely, he declared, “The pleasure is all mine. The name is Merrit Thistlewick, humbly at your service.” He used his short stature to eavesdrop on conversations among the nobility, discovering Lady Truesilver’s plan to unite Cormyr’s warhorse ranches under her family’s banner.

• Accepting Warden Garen’s Secret Contract: At The Old Man inn, Merrit joined the party for an unofficial briefing with Warden Garen Marston. He agreed to undertake a scouting mission into the King’s Forest for an advance payment of 1,000 gold pieces.

• Investigating the Cult of the Dragon: Merrit placed stick-and-arrow signs in the forest pointing toward the corpse of a slain dragon slave so that Purple Dragon Knight patrols could find it. He also took the Sending Stone from myravyn to honour his promise to Warden Garen that the party would not misuse it.

• Visiting mother-malkin and Fishing with Vael’ric Nhalor: Merrit accompanied the party to the hidden forest homestead of rose’s adoptive mother. Mother Malkin made cryptic remarks about disturbing physical changes occurring in Merrit, but he declined her muffins. Later, he went fishing with Vael’ric Nhalor, catching fish by hand in a river. Recognising Mother Malkin as a dangerous hag, Merrit agreed to watch over rose carefully. He subsequently grilled the fish with wild dill, declaring them far better than her muffins.

Powers and Abilities

• Monk Martial Arts and Unarmed Combat: Merrit is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat, using punches, kicks, elbow strikes, leg sweeps, and rapid flurries of blows. His fighting style makes him an effective frontline combatant.

• Deflecting Attacks and Quick Reactions: Merrit uses martial discipline, dexterity, and quick reflexes to deflect or absorb incoming physical attacks, including direwolf bites, reducing or potentially negating the damage.

• Halfling Agility and Luck: His natural halfling agility and balance allow him to manoeuvre through the spaces occupied by larger enemies and evade attacks. He also benefits from the innate luck associated with his race.

• Sleight of Hand and Gambling: Merrit is skilled at palming dice, cheating tavern gamblers out of their gold, and noticing concealed details. His streetwise instincts serve him well in social situations and during adventures.

• Barehanded Fishing and Wilderness Cooking: Merrit can wade into river currents and catch live fish with his bare hands. He can then cook his catch over a campfire using gathered wild herbs, such as dill.

• Awakened Corrosive Strikes: During a battle against a pack of wolves, Merrit’s unarmed strikes unexpectedly transformed into acidic, corrosive attacks. His blows took on a strange destructive quality, suggesting the emergence of a previously unknown power beyond his established martial training. When questioned about the phenomenon, Merrit was unable to explain its origin and appeared unaware of what had caused the transformation. The nature of this ability, its source, and whether Merrit can deliberately control or reproduce it remain unknown.