Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

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The Gray Company are a new, setting-specific faction.

The Lore

As far as history goes, the fall of Nerath is still a relatively recent event. Many humans alive today likely have a great-grandparent who was alive during the final days of that empire. Members of longer-lived species like elves, dwarves and eladrin might even have witnessed those days themselves.

So it’s no wonder that Nerath has it own share of revivalists who want to rebuild it to fit the glorious image in their head. In the Nentir Vale, the most prominent of those groups is known as the Gray Company. Many people in the Vale consider them nothing more than a well-equipped gang of bandits, but its members believe themselves to be working towards the rebirth of their glorious empire. Their singular focus on this goal makes them a dour and humorless bunch, seemingly always covered with the dust of ages even when their equipment is new.

The Company is made up primarily of humans, who were the dominant people of Nerath. It is led by one Halvath Cormarrin, a man who claims to be a scion of Nerath’s royal line. It recruits people from across the Nentir Vale, spreading stories of the glories of the old empire and inviting those most fascinated by them to join up. Once a recruit joins up, they’re in for life. Deserters are hunted down, executed by hanging, and left on display on crossroads, as the old law dictates.

The Company’s HQ is located in the Gray Downs, a region thick with Nerathi ruins and artifacts. Much of their time and effort is spent exploring these ruins and recovering these artifacts which they consider theirs by right. Cormarrin is particularly interested in finding old pieces of regalia like the Sword of Nerath and the Threefold Crown, since possessing them would increase the legitimacy of his claim.

Anyone who steals these objects (whether from Company itself or from the ruins they consider their territory) is ruthlessly pursued. Particularly resourceful thieves are invited to join up and lend their skills to the Company’s cause. Others, including those who refuse the invitation, are executed in manners prescribed by old Nerathi law.

Company members are trained, equipped and organized to the standards of the Nerathi military, or as close as Cormarrin can manage those. This means they also count plenty of battle mages among their number. Their magic specializes in controlling the pervasive mist of the Gray Downs, with a large side order of artifice (to get those recovered magic items working again) and necromancy (to get those old fallen heroes of Nerath working again).

Other chapters of the Gray Company have begun appearing in other regions of the Vale, each of them led by a self-proclaimed prince of old Nerath. If these groups all got together under one banner, they could become a formidable army with a real chance of achieving their goal… but they feud with each other as much or more as they fight their actual enemies, so their overall progress remains minimal. As some jokers say, this too is a grand Nerathi tradition.

The Numbers

Gray Company members are all in the late Heroic Tier, meaning they haven’t quite broken through to “regional power” status. All of the stat blocks here represent humans, which make up the majority of their soldiers.

Their signature trait is Grim Solidarity. If someone with this trait starts their turn adjacent to another creature with this trait, they can make a saving throw against one effect that a save can end. All Company members have this, which means they’re difficult to debuff when in formation.

Gray Company Recruit

Recruits joined relatively recent, so their training and gear is not yet up to the standards of the Company. They already have Grim Solidarity, though. They’re Level 7 Minion Artillery armed with short swords and short bows. If they score a critical hit, Inspired Fervor lets them make a free basic attack against the same enemy with a +2 bonus to hit.

Gray Company Soldier

A veteran who earned the right to carry a sword of genuine Nerathi make. Armored in plate, he’s a Level 7 Soldier with 80 HP. His basic attack with that Ancient Longsword has no riders, but whenever an adjacent enemy makes an attack that doesn’t include the veteran as a target, he can use Strike of the Ancient Blade to make a free sword attack against them that also pushes the enemy and knocks it prone.

If an ally of the soldier drops to 0 HP within 5 squares of him, he can react For the Glory of Old Nerath (encounter) and make an attack in a Close Burst 1 that deals more damage than a basic strike and inflicts 5 ongoing damage (save ends).

Gray Company Fallen Hero

Either an actual Nerathi soldier whose body was exhumed and reanimated, or a modern day Gray Company veteran who died in combat and was “re-upped” for a second term of service. In either case, this results in a sapient undead revenant who likely has no memory of its previous self. It’s a Level 6 Brute with 89 HP. It has Grim Solidarity, Darkvision and the standard undead traits (immune to poison and disease, resistant to necrotic, vulnerable to radiant).

The fallen hero’s Longsword deals necrotic damage and inflicts Vulnerable 5 Necrotic for a turn. It can invoke Nerath’s Vengeance to make a sword attack against every adjacent enemy, and this recharges once it’s bloodied.

Gray Company Mist Mage

Mist mages are responsible for getting those old magical items (and Fallen Heroes) back into working order. In combat, they use spells with a cold and mist theme, which goes well with the environment of the Gray Downs.

Mist mages are Level 9 Controllers with 95 HP. They have Resist Cold 5. They use Ice Daggers in melee, which deal cold damage and slow for a turn on a hit. They can also summon Misty Tendrils to attack enemies in a Close Blast 3 that deals cold damage on a hit and slides 1 square as an effect.

Once per encounter they can create a zone of Gray Mist (area 2 within 10 squares). Any creature that ends its turn in the mist takes a -2 penalty to attacks and is slowed for a turn.

They can also use a Freeze Mist spell as a minor action, which targets a slowed creature and immobilizes them for a turn on a hit.

Mist mages will likely start the fight by laying down Gray Mist, and then use Misty Tendrils to herd the PCs into the zone. They will then use Freeze Mist to keep these PCs immobilized as their buddies move in for the kill. Note that, as controller monsters, they’re quite capable of bringing the damage themselves.

Halvath Cormarrin

The leader of the Gray Company is a Level 8 Elite Brute with the Leader tag and 214 HP. In addition to having Grim Solidarity, he can exhort his underlings to fight Until the Last Breath, which acts as an Aura 5 that allows allies inside to make one last free attack when they drop to 0 HP.

Cormarrin wields an Ancient Rune Flail and can make Double Attacks with it. He can also use swing it around and have the Rune Flail’s Arc attack everyone in a Close Burst 1. A hit deals the same damage as a basic attack, pushes the target 1 square, and knocks it prone. A miss deals half damage and pushes 1 square. Good move to escape being surrounded.

Once per encounter, Cormarrin can use Cry of Glory to turn a normal hit by an ally within 10 squares into a critical.

Final Impressions

Like Dythan’s Legion, the Gray Company is a faction modeled after the army of a fallen empire whose main goal lies in the restoration of that empire. The Legion can more than match them man-for-man, but the Company probably has more soldiers, particularly if you tally all the different chapters together. They might skirmish near the shores of Lake Nen.

Other possible sources of conflict for the Company include the Barrowhaunts, who probably were Nerathi when alive, and also claim the Gray Downs as their territory. Other interesting monsters also make their home there, as we’ll soon see.

Ironically, if Dythan’s Legion ever decides the Gray Company is a threat that must be eliminated, the resulting large-scale confrontation is probably going to unite the Company’s disparate chapters around a common enemy and make that assessment into a self-fulfilling prophecy. As it is, I’m sure many of the Company’s “princes”, Cormarrin chief among them, would just love to hire the Gravelstoke family to help secure their claim as the true heir to Nerath. Whether the Family ever takes one of them up on the offer will depend on what you want for your campaign.

A truly unified Gray Company would finally become the regional power they want to be, and this might merit bumping their levels up to the Paragon tier. Do the PCs accept this new order, or to they fight it?