Welcome welcome!
So some updates to the game.....
We will have a default party of 5. Dru, Seanalon, and Grayson can be exchanged for other NPC's you encounter throughout the game. Statistically, and a crude statistic at that, a 1:2 ratio of PC to NPC means NPCs are 66% more likely to land killing blows and do other cool things to creatures. As much as we all love imagining Seanalon hack a hill giant into chunks, I'm sure you guys would have much more fun doing it yourselves, so we will see how this works :)
The other option is that you guys make and control two characters, but that's entirely up to you. The offer is on the table.
Certain NPCs will enable special quests, or may be required for special tasks. It all depends on the quest and the people in your party can make a difference on how successful you are at completing them.
I know you haven't made an avatar yet, John, but if you had your sights set on any of the images I used for the NPCs, please let me know. You have first dibs.
Can't wait to start playing again! Be warned, my internet is really f%!@y and it slows my DMing down a lot. Hopefully I will be getting this remedied.