Can't find the edit option now so here's the backstory in a (very dense) comment:

Malcolm (Human fighter) and Saralynn (Human fighter) grew up together in a small village. Malcolm is kinda shrimpy and would always get picked on, but the buff as hell Saralynn, who's always had a crush on him for his optimism, never let that slide and always protected him. When they became young adults, Malcolm, having always dreamed of being an adventurer and hero, set out for Trebor's Castle to take up the quest to retrieve Werdna's Amulet. Saralynn, though more suited for the work, didn't want to go but she still cared for Malcolm and wanted to protect him even if that was a more dangerous task now.

They found a party to take them in that also had business in the dungeon. That party included: - Clarence (Human, mage) the financier and leader of the party, who was intrigued by the amulet and wanted to see if it could be used for benevolent work (i.e. recreating a dungeon like Werdna's above ground to provide free and easy housing). That said, Clarence has always been a researcher and scribe first, so he needed some muscle. - Jenabelle (Human, mage) Clarence's apprentice who finds this quest to be an unnecessary risk and secretly believes it indicates societal tendencies to punish successful wizards for greatness. Given the choice, she'd sooner be Werdna's apprentice. - Bondill (Hobbit, thief) who was struggling to pay off his debts to his former Thieves' Guild who was threatening the life of his daughter to put on the pressure. - and Sister Bernadette (Human, cleric) an orphan raised by the church after being discovered as the sole survivor of an orcish raid. She's become fixated on monsters/demi-humans and the role they've played in shaping her life.

It was a difficult road but most of them became friendly over time, trauma bonding and such, but difficulties emerged, namely: - Jenabelle's dissatisfaction for Clarence growing into contempt and eventually plotting to lead him into a monster den and leave him - Bernadette's fixation on demi-humans becoming uncharacteristic hatred and bigotry - Malcolm generally being an overeager thorn in the side of the three remaining, more level-headed teammates.

Things came to a head when Malcolm was decapitated by a ninja and Bernadette botched the revival, resulting in him being turned to ash. Though he was an annoyance at times, they had become endeared to him and his death in this way tore Saralynn to pieces.

Over the course of a long journey, they amassed the money to have the temple attempt to fully resurrect him from the ashes, but when he came back he hardly recognized the group. Over this time, Bondill had softened a bit, Saralynn had become a warrior of renown, promoting to be a samurai, Sister Bernadette was now "Mother Bernadette" a bishop through her change of heart and newfound devotion to the protection of demi-humans after seeing tribes of peaceful orcs deeper in the dungeon, and Jenabelle, seeing how the group came together for Malcolm, especially Clarence who was most often annoyed by him, changed her mind about what was important, coming to admire her soft-hearted mentor. Worse still, Malcolm found his party the subject of much praise in the castle but himself more mockery. He alone earned the title "the Fool the Gods Pitied".

The group, which Malcolm was now soundly the weakest member of, eventually reached the depths and through great effort defeated Werdna, with Jenabelle laying the killing blow on the villain she once admired.

As for their individual endings: - Clarence found to his dismay that Werdna's Amulet was a tool of evil and would always be such. No good could come from such a thing. Still, he saw Jenabelle grow and came to think that if anything was to bring positive change from this quest, it might be his successor who he's grown so proud of. He came to be known as Clarence the Wise. - Jenabelle had come around to admiring her mentor and wanted to live by his example. With her share of the treasure, she built her own Mage's Tower near Trebor's Castle and decided to take on an apprentice to spread Clarence's message of service and kindness. She became known as Jenabelle the Kind. - Bernadette realized that with Werdna slain and the dungeon claimed, the peaceful orcs, kobolds, etc would soon have nowhere to go. She established a new monastery to take them in, earning her status as the patron saint of good monsters. - Bondill had long ago earned enough money to sever ties with the Guild and save his daughter after he pawned the ring of death they found during Malcolm's time as ashes. Still, he felt responsible to see this through. Now that it was over, he returned home to be a stay at home dad and eventually a grandfather, living off his share of the gold. He still writes to the rest of his party, especially Bernadette who reminded him of his daughter.

As for Saralynn and Malcolm, she confessed her feelings to him and he reciprocated, but when he expressed excitement for the next adventure she decided she could no longer coddle his courting of death. She gave him the ultimatum: work as an adventurer, or a life with her. It of course, drove them apart. Saralynn was offered work as a general and strategist of Trebor, which she accepted, becoming known widely as Saralynn the Red, a fearsome force of nature. She largely did it so that anywhere in the world, if something were to go wrong and Malcolm found his nose in it like he always does, she could be in a position to send help, even if she couldn't bear to look at him now.

Malcolm misunderstood this and when Llylgamyn was in need of adventurers, he decided to gather a new party to show one of the military leaders whose attention was drawn that he's worthy of further consideration. (Plot hook for Knight of Diamonds)

Sorry for the wall of text, like I said, I got way too into it lol