So...finished tutorial.  When I attempt to continue, the tutorial characters are not anywhere except on the 'filter characters 4/24' but the list only shows 8.

 

Kind of confused here...where are they?

The tutorial characters if I remember right, are 2 allies cards. Then when you built a new party in Story/Quest you can access all new characters you own (Merisiel and Kyra if you have just installed the game, or all the 11 chars if you bought the bundle). Then you can complete scenarios collecting gold and unlocking abilities/powers. If you play without buying the bundle, then you will have to collect enough gold to buy every characters you want and Adventures you want to play (quite long road, around 3 months).

Orik and the bard (can't recall the name atm) are not playable characters outside of the tutorial - you meet them again later as cards, but I won't spoil in what way.