Merle Highchurch

"Kiss my ass, you sanctimonious bastard."

Merle Hitower Highchurch is a player character in The Balance Arc campaign controlled by Clint McElroy. He is a beach dwarf cleric and former mercenary soldier with a neutral good alignment who enjoys long walks on the beach.

He was formerly associated with Marthammor Duin, the dwarf god of wanderers, travelers, and outcasts; and a Disciple of Life, but it was retconned so that his allegiance is to the nature god Pan at the conclusion of the Moonlighting mini-arc. He is from a big family of the Rockseeker clan with many cousins.

Early Life
Merle comes from a wooded enclave away from most of society. He was born into a Panite commune, called the Coralhard Clan, and comes from a religious family of beach dwarves. Merle's father, who was also a Panite, had forced him to many religious functions, every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, Summer Pan Camp etc. which Merle did not enjoy, but dealt with it so he wouldn't disappoint his father or get grounded. Because of this, his religion is something he's inherited and therefore has mixed feelings on Pan.

Sometime during his teen years, a person in Merle's enclave would barely survive a bear attack. This would lead to his first experience of being somewhere outside his enclave, when he came to a woodsman living in the nearby forest in search of ways to protect himself from danger. For many years after, Merle would be taught in the ways of ax-wielding by this woodsman.

The Stolen Century
Feeling that the Panites around him were too exclusive, Merle would leave his enclave in search of greener pastures. During that time, he ended up getting a job at the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration as its Resident Medic and Biologist. He would later be chosen as one of the lucky seven to leave their home world, and explore other planes besides their own.

Before leaving their home world, the crew goes to a biker bar to party and fight. After a fight inevitably does break out, Merle hides Lucretia behind the counter and tries to put a stop to it before it gets too bad. He succeeds, but not without getting a small cut on his forehead from a flying bottle.

On the day of the launch, Merle chose to wear the red jacket. As the storm starts to consume their world, the crew catches sight of The Hunger. They decide to evade and not return until after the danger has passed. When they touch back down, they realize they're not in the same plane they left.

Cycle One
After the Red Robes land onto The Animal Kingdom, they see The Light of Creation crash-land somewhere on it. Merle leaves to scout out its current location, and brings Davenport along to help him out. After a long, tedious trek through the forest, they find out that The Light of Creation is being held by the High Court of The Animal Kingdom. After relaying this information to the others, the crew goes back with Magnus to try and gain access to The Light of Creation. After causing a scene, Magnus and the rest of the crew enter the animal's High Court.

After a year of negotiating and gaining their trust, the Red Robes almost manage to get The Light of Creation from the High Court. Unfortunately, The Hunger attacks The Animal Kingdom before they can retrieve it, and they are forced to make a hasty retreat. As they leave, they watch The Hunger become stronger as it absorbs The Light of Creation.

Unhappily Married
Later on in his life, Merle would end up in an arranged, loveless marriage with his now somewhat ex-wife, Hekuba Roughridge, in order to keep the dwarven bloodline pure. Hekuba had had a daughter named Mavis with another dwarf before marrying Merle. During their marriage, Merle and his wife would have a son named Mookie. After years of putting up with each other, Merle ended up abandoning his family, saying he was going to the Dwarf Store to get smokes and never looking back. Because they never properly divorced, Merle is still legally married to Hekuba and is now a "dwarf on the run".

Lone Adventuring
Merle has stated he's been on other adventures before joining up with Taako and Magnus, the details of which are unknown.

Here There Be Gerblins
Merle introduced the party to his cousin Gundren Rockseeker, who offered them the job that began the quest.

Epilogue
After defeating The Hunger, Merle began Merle Extreme Teen Adventures as a way to prepare the next generation of adventurers and travel with his children. 11 months after the Day of Story and Song, he was approached by Lord Artemis Sterling who wanted him to become the governor of Bottlenose Cove and help it get back on its feet after it was destroyed by the Hunger; Merle agreed on the conditions that he be called "Earl" not Governor, he be allowed to continue his work with his adventure company, and that a bar named Chesney's would be built for him. Shortly after, Merle moved into his new estate, which was located next to a guild hall being built for his company.

One year after defeating The Hunger, he officiated the wedding between Killian and Carey Fangbattle.

Racial Traits

 * Darkvision: Merle had the ability to see with no light source at all, but gave it up during the mission in Wonderland.
 * Poison Resistance: As a dwarf, Merle has advantage on saving throws against poison and resistance to poison damage (which Clint and Griffin forget on almost every occasion).

Cleric

 * Channel Divinity
 * Nature - Used mostly to hit on plants.
 * Turn Undead - Merle can present his holy symbol and speak a prayer censuring the undead. Each undead that can see or hear him within 30 feet of him must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.
 * Destroy Undead: When an undead fails its saving throw against Merle's Turn Undead feature, the creature has the possibility of being instantly destroyed.
 * Divine Intervention: Merle can call on Pan to intervene on his behalf when the need is great. If Merle rolls a number equal to or lower than his cleric level, Pan intervenes. Griffin chooses the nature of the intervention, and the effect of any cleric spell or cleric domain spell that would be appropriate.

Proficiencies

 * Animal Handling Proficiency
 * Battle Axe Proficiency: Given up during the mission in Wonderland.

Spells
The following are the spells known by Merle.

Please note, that most low-level spells can be cast at an additionally higher level for a stronger effect.

Cantrips
Cantrips are spells which can be cast at any time. Merle knows 6 of these.

1st - 6th Level
As a 15th level cleric, Merle has access to all the spells on the cleric list from level 1 to 8, though he is only able to have 18 spells prepared (and thus ready to cast) at once. He can pray to Pan to change which spells he has prepared at the end of a long rest, and in addition gets several bonus nature-themed spells, thanks to focussing on the Nature domain. In practice, these rules never come into play; Clint and Griffin only vaguely keep track of which spells he is and isn't allowed to cast, with only level and class requirements ever being checked.

"I cast... Zone of Truth!"
Merle's favorite spell is Zone of Truth, and he casts it often. Some examples:
 * Ep. 5: Baby's first Zone of Truth. Merle casts Zone of Truth on Gundren Rockseeker and, unintentionally, Magnus and Taako.
 * Ep. 12: Merle casts Zone of Truth on Angus during their first meeting.
 * Ep. 14: Merle casts Zone of Truth on the suspects of the murder on the Rockport Limited during interrogations.
 * Ep. 21: Merle casts Zone of Truth on Hurley in order to learn more about Sloane.
 * Ep. 27: Merle casts Zone of Truth on Sloane to try to get information on how to free her from the sash's possession.
 * Ep. 45: Merle casts Zone of Truth on Cassidy to get her to tell them the truth about the Quarry.
 * The Adventure Zone Presents: The Live Boston Stunt Spectacular: Merle casts Zone of Truth on Klarg to make him confess his true feelings about the boys.
 * Ep. 54: Merle starts to cast Zone of Truth on the Wonderland twins, but Griffin stops him because the liches are not in range.
 * Ep. 59: Merle casts Zone of Truth on Taako in order to gain Angus's trust.
 * Ep. 68: Merle casts Zone of Truth during Parley, unintentionally summoning Pan.
 * The Adventure Zone: Live in Austin!: Merle casts Zone of Truth on a bleacher full of students in order to determine which one of them trapped them in the dreamscape.
 * The Adventure Zone: Live in Nashville!: Merle casts Zone of Truth on Greg Grimmaldis in order to learn the location of the $15 dollars.
 * The Adventure Zone: Candlenights in Tacoma!: Merle casts Zone of Truth on Jimmy in order to determine whether or not he really has been a good boy this year.
 * The Adventure Zone: Halloween Special: Merle casts it around the Frankensteins, breaking the entire point of Griffin's puzzle

Items
Items both currently owned and lost by Merle throughout the show.

Current items
These are items currently within Merle's possession as of the most recent episode.

Former Items
These are items which were lost or given away.

Official Outfits
Usually, Merle is dressed as a typical dwarf cleric who is also a follower of Pan.

Known Physical Traits
Disclaimer: The McElroys do not consider their versions of their characters any more "canon" than anyone else's - there is no obligation to stick to these in fanart, so please do not be rude to people for ignoring these traits.

Unconscious Count
Merle has been knocked unconscious 4 times.
 * 1) Knocked unconscious by Sloane in the Goldcliff bank.
 * 2) Fell into unconsciousness after having his arm chopped off by Magnus.
 * 3) Knocked unconscious by Edward in Wonderland.
 * 4) Knocked unconscious by Final John in Ep. 69, before being revived by Pan.

Death Count
Merle has died a total of 68 times.
 * 1) While he was traveling through other planes as a Red Robe, Merle died 57 times without crossing over to the Astral Plane, making him the richest bounty Kravitz has ever hunted. Here are some known ways he has died:
 * 2) Killed by John.
 * 3) Killed by John.
 * 4) Killed by John.
 * 5) Killed by John, but not without giving him a sick burn.
 * 6) Killed by the Justices in the 65th cycle.
 * 7) Merle died a total of 11 times during the events of The Eleventh Hour.

Quotes
"What brings me joy…is life. I think you can find joy anywhere in life. I’ve found joy honest to god getting to know ya…I haven’t enjoyed, you know, getting my ass killed, but I- I find joy in whatever I do. I don’t always do things right and I dont always do things smart…but whatever I do I do because at the end of the day [joy’s] all you got. Looking back at the joy you got, the joy you found, and the joy you gave other people."

"“Tell ya what, if we ever meet each other somewhere in infinity, you can apologize to me and tell me you were wrong.”"

Trivia

 * Merle has 1,999 party points.
 * His interests include Kenny Chesney and the hit Faerun TV show "The Bigg Bang Theory."
 * His basketball number is 26.
 * His favorite candy is marzipan.
 * His ascended dragon form is Krayphis, the Eternal Dragon.
 * Merle founded a church to Pan in the Mushroom Kingdom. (Referred to as The First Church of Fungston by Griffin)
 * Merle has confessed to having a plant fetish.
 * Merle is currently the reigning Santa Claus of Faerûn.
 * Merle is left handed.
 * Merle (still played by Clint McElroy) makes an appearance in the Dungeons and Dragons Stream of Many Eyes episode 'Adventure Impractical' alongside Critical Role cast members Taliesin Jaffe, Sam Riegel and Ashley Johnson.