Lardis Longsaddle is the head and commander of the Otari town guard, a ~50-something veteran originally from Absalom with roughly 25 years of experience on that city's watch [S11]. He first appears befriending Cid, whom he had trained earlier and trusts, offering martial training, gear-upkeep crafting work, and bounty-board jobs [S11]. As the Gauntlight crisis escalates he extends the party a contracted intern/patrol role at ~5 sp/day [S14], then flags them down during the graveyard emergency to explain the guard's stretched capacity, pointing out Menhem's manor and the Gauntlight cupola visible from the coast [S18]. He carries a tired cynicism into lower-stakes matters — posting a 10-gold bounty on Carman and hinting he might lose the key to her cell — and returns a recovered sword to the library [S19]. After the arsonist Carman is brought in and skeletons fought through town, he offers genuine thanks, mourns lost guardsmen including Chad, and promises a monument [S20]. His harder edge surfaces as one of three judges at Rajani's trial, where he is "a bit heavy handed" and eager to over-punish [S24], and again at Carman's trial, where he is openly hostile and the last holdout against leniency before conceding when she pursues honest confession [S25]. The party later weaponizes his name as a litmus test to expose impostor guards [S26], and Cid invokes it at the gates of Absalom to lend the group credibility [S35]. As of [S60], Lardis does not appear directly; the recap reference filed under this entry actually describes a bearded devil (Barbazu) the party killed, from which Venris looted a Drover's Band — a likely transcription crossover rather than the captain himself, leaving the Absalom-gate moment of [S35] his last firm appearance [S60 00:04:36].
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Lardis Longsaddle enters the campaign as the institutional backbone of Otari: an experienced commander who has traded the scale of Absalom's city watch — where he served some 25 years — for the quieter demands of a small harbour town [S11]. He is introduced through Cid, whom he had trained earlier and continues to trust on a "helpful-for-life" footing; Lardis reciprocates by offering personal martial instruction (his "real man's technique"), crafting-based earn-income work maintaining gear, and a standing invitation to bring in names from the bounty board [S11]. He is pragmatic rather than warm, and a tired cynicism runs underneath all his appearances. His name is transcribed inconsistently from the outset, a running ambiguity around his identity.
When the Gauntlight situation begins to demand the party's involvement as semi-official operatives, Lardis formalises the arrangement. Working through Veve, he extends a contracted intern/patrol position paying roughly 5 silver per day, quietly acknowledging that the guard cannot cover everything and that outside help is welcome even if unofficial [S14]. This dynamic — the party as capable auxiliaries the guard relies on but cannot fully accommodate — defines much of his relationship with the group.
As the undead crisis breaks into the open streets, Lardis is visibly strained. He flags the party down, explains that the guard is already committed to the graveyard perimeter and cannot vacate all other posts, and orients them toward the threat by pointing out the Gauntlight cupola visible from the coast alongside Menhem's manor [S18]. He is solving a logistics problem, not asking for heroism, and his manner reflects that.
The harder side of his character comes through in the aftermath of individual incidents. He posts a 10-gold bounty for Carman with the dry hint that he might simply lose the key to her cell, references an old, wearying posting in a place called "Upsilon," and returns a recovered sword to the library [S19]. When the party delivers the arsonist Carman and survives a night of skeleton fighting, he thanks them with apparent genuine feeling, acknowledges the guardsmen killed — naming Chad specifically — states that the town will erect a monument, and directs them on to the mayor [S20]. The gratitude is real, but he moves on quickly; this is the job.
The trial arc brings him into the most uncomfortable institutional role he occupies. At Rajani's trial he sits as one of three judges and is noted for being "a bit heavy handed," inclined toward over-punishment as a default posture [S24]. At Carman's trial he is openly hostile to the defence throughout and is the last of the three judges to move off a punitive position — yet when Carman herself pushes for honest confession rather than a softened legal defence, Lardis finds something in that he can respond to and ultimately empathises with her [S25]. Beneath the institutional hardness is someone who respects directness and can be reached by it.
His Absalom origins give the party a practical tool. When they need to test whether a group of guards are genuine Otari personnel, they use Lardis's name as the probe — real guards would know it instantly; the impostors, who pretend to know him while not actually knowing who he is, do not [S26]. The credibility extends outward when the party reaches the gates of Absalom and Cid name-drops Lardis's prior service there to establish the group's bona fides with the gate guards [S35].
As of [S60], Lardis does not appear directly. The recap reference filed under his entry instead describes a bearded devil — a Barbazu — the party slew the previous session, from which Venris looted a Drover's Band; this is almost certainly a transcription crossover rather than the captain himself, leaving his last firm appearance the Absalom-gate moment of [S35] [S60 00:04:36].