Captain Rumford

This NPC was found in the small town area where new characters began the Blizzcon 2008 demo. He was a guard and nominal leader of the few surviving humans in the area, and had special dialogues for each of the 3 characters. During the dialogues he imparted information about a meteor that had struck the Cathedral and awakened evil within, and either warned or encouraged the player to investigate.

The story telling mechanism of such NPC dialogues and plot devices is a simple one; the characters, NPCs and your own hero, know more about the story than you, the player, do. So players learn about the world and their own character's personality by watching and listening to the interactions between their character and the NPCs.

Captain Rumford Dialogues

Like most key NPCs in Diablo III, Captain Rumford's dialogues differ considerably between the characters. In each case Rumford conveyed the essential information; that a flaming object had recently fallen from the sky and crashed through the roof of the Tristram Cathedral. Great evil had awakened since then, and the area was now overrun with monsters. All of the characters knew this much, and said they’d come after hearing news of the fire from the sky, but Rumford's dialogue let the player know the Cathedral was just ahead, and that the area was very dangerous.

• Barbarian: Rumford was afraid of the Barbarian, fearing he/she was a dangerous savage, but once the Barbarian spoke calmly Rumford become impressed and friendly and wished the Barbarian good luck.

• Witch Doctor: Rumford was contemptuous and dismissive of the scantily-clad, foreign-looking Witch Doctor, making comments about how he/she would surely be killed by the first monster encountered. The Witch Doctor made a few cryptic comments about not judging others by their appearance, but didn't say much.

• Wizard: Only the female wizard was playable in the Blizzcon build, and she was very saucy, sassy, headstrong, and brashly-confident. Her dialogue with Rumford was somewhat flirty, as she taunted him for being afraid to face the monsters himself, boasted that she would clear out the demonic infestation in nothing flat, and all but ordered Rumford to buy her a drink to toast her success when she returned. Rumford seemed somewhat overwhelmed by her arrogance and authority, and became rather meek and soft spoken before the Wizard's powerful presence.