Fearghal

Age: 17

For Fearghal, Stonetop has always been home, as it has for his younger sister Caitrin, but his older brother Connor can remember when their parents Cronan and Una brought the family here from Marshedge. Nobody but Cronan and Una know why they left their previous home, though.

Fearghal loves the village, but has never felt as though he fit in with the day to day. When he was younger he found, mixed in with his father's possessions, a worn shield bearing a strange sigil. His parents don't talk about it, but a traveling merchant identified it as the sigil of the Claws. 

Fearghal is convinced that the blood of heroes runs in his veins. He carries his father's shield when he ventures into the Great Wood to scavenge for fallen wood. Shortly after finding the shield he followed Madoc and his crew out of Stonetop on a trip to "solve a problem." He was 11 years old and when the fighting started he was immediately set upon by one of their targets. The Crew were able to protect him, and the things he saw that day inspired both his greatest inner doubts and his dedication to become a legendary hero.

These heroic dreams do not endear him to his older brother, Connor, who has recently become apprenticed to Cronan. Cronan is the village tanner, new to the position, and in need of help from his oldest children. Connor serves proudly, Fearghal grudgingly and only when he can't make excucses to go foraging instead. Or, better, to "help" around the smithy and flirt with Branwyn, the smith's daughter and apprentice.

On a foraging trip two weeks ago Fearghal witnessed a horror. He was within a few yards of the Hagr that attacked the village. He saw it lumbering by and he knew that he should do something. Race it to the village to raise the alarm. Try to scare it off. Try to lead it away. Instead, he froze. His inner doubts overcame him in that moment.