Daufer
Savior Scion
Race: Hobgoblin |
Class: Priest of D'lokka |
Kit: None |
Age: 20 |
Alignment: LN |
STR: 14 |
DEX: 8 |
CON: 10 |
INT: 9 |
WIS: 13 (15) |
CHA: 13 |
Level: 7 |
HP: 50 |
Player: Joe |
Appearance: Daufer has dark grey skin, brown eyes, and long black hair. He usually wears grey vestments and the symbol of his goddess around his neck. He favors dark, somber colors, though he will occasionally wear a red belt or scarf.
Personality: Daufer is serious and soft-spoken, believing that his faith and philosophy can be applied to all aspects of life. However, he is open to learn and experience new things, to broaden his understanding of the world. He is prone to sharp bursts of anger, but will not usually be provoked to action, believing that one should only do something if they truly believe it is worth it.
History: Daufarin,
Daufer's grandfather, was a brilliant military strategist. His name basically
means "great strategist" or "long term planner." In fact,
many of Daufarin's compatriots noted a certain elvish quality in his ability to
think ahead, plan contingencies, and so forth.
His talents were not that great a help to him in the slaying of the various
monsters that plagued Legar, but were put to good use in quelling the frequent
rebellions and defending the borders from enemies. These things he did for many
years, serving his drow masters faithfully.
Gaut did not inherit his father's mental prowess. His own talents were in his
strength of arms. However, while Daufer was cleverer than his father, he could
not hope to reach his grandfather's lofty heights. Daufarin found that his
progeny would become a series of disappointments to him.
Daufarin's drow masters began to recognize his potential when, 40 years ago, he
routed an undead army at the Necros border. Using an envelopment offensive, he
surrounded his enemies and quickly slaughtered them. The mindless undead simply
surged forward into the trap, and the necromancers leading the army who only
respected power could not fathom the intricacies of the battlefield.
After many more victories there, he was sent to the Daemon front and met with
the same success. His mind was keen to the finer points of formations, tactics,
strategies, logistics, terrain, and so forth, more so than his drow masters, who
rarely battled on the surface. They saw in Daufarin a useful tool, if leashed
properly, that could devastate their enemies.
Daufarin found himself one of the more privileged hobgoblins in Legar, able to
circumvent the many bureaucracies that plagued the lower strata of society.
Soon, Daufarin was given authority over a frontier town, charged with defending
it from outsiders and monsters. He formed a union with Alehska, a priestess of
D'lokka, a popular religion with hobgoblins local and abroad. Through this union
came Gaut, his eldest son. Though not technically married to each other, they
remained close as she began to build up her temple and flock at town, with
Daufarin's assistance. Soon, as they gained more converts, the religion of war
became the most prominent one in town, eclipsing Kulak and Shadowbite.
Throughout the years, Daufarin fathered more sons, who were all half-brothers.
His blood grew numerous and prosperous.
Daufarin was often called to the western fronts, sometimes two or three times a
year. Soon, he developed a strange sort of camaraderie with his enemies as they
battled regularly over the years. He often looked back with grudging respect
toward his various nemeses: Aglung the Ice General (Necros), and Vermar Damaoine,
the Grim Death (Daemon), to name only a few.
Around the time when Gaut was full grown, about seventeen years, he went on
campaign with his father. Many of Gaut's younger brothers went along as well, as
pages, attending to the full warriors, and filling other noncombatant roles.
Gaut had already proved himself a capable warrior and had earlier petitioned his
father for a commanding role, such as command of the army's supply train.
However, Daufarin had his doubts about his son's ability to lead and had
refused.
However, one of his most trusted lieutenants, Asulf, suggested that Gaut be put
in charge of a scouting party. Daufarin relented, and Gaut left the main army
that afternoon with seven other soldiers. Nominally, he was in command, but
should have deferred to the experience and wise judgment of the soldiers who
were near twice his age. However, Gaut was headstrong and rash, completely the
opposite of the calm and collected air of his father. He pushed further and
further into the mountains, for though Gaut was stupid, he was astute enough to
know that Daufarin, on the very best of days, was disinterested in his eldest
son, seemingly not expecting too much, and Gaut sought to prove himself.
It was soon night, and still Gaut insisted on pressing forward, despite the
protests of the other soldiers. A human soldier, not much liking taking orders
from a hobgoblin whelp, was the most vocal. Suddenly, the night became eerily
quiet and a quarrel stuck out from the human's throat. They had been ambushed.
In disarray, the scouting party struggled to a semblance of formation. However,
they were wearing only thick leathers, and the quarrels relentlessly found their
marks. Gaut, surged forward, in a towering rage, resolving to take the fight to
the enemy. He counted at most three bowmen. Quarrels stuck into him like spines,
but still he moved, relentless. The bowmen could not reload fast enough, and two
were felled by his axe, the other fled into the night. Wiping blood from his
face, Gaut made his way back to the party. Five men had died.
When Gaut made his way into the camp the next morning, with only two soldiers,
Daufarin knocked the young warrior down where he stood.
"Any gob can swing a sword," he sneered. "It's what you do with
your head that matters." Sadly, the lesson was lost on Gaut, who felt that
he should have been welcomed as a hero. However, their position had been given
away, and so the army had to break camp before a proper supply line had been
established, setting back Daufarin's plans and strategies by many weeks as they
moved to a more secure location.
The hobgoblins, humans, and other races around the frontier town he defended
treated him as a hero. His reputation among the soldiers was legendary; it was
said that he could take the must undisciplined lot of soldiers and train them up
into a fearsome fighting force. He was even widely respected among his enemies.
But though Daufarin was accorded special status among his peers, he was still
considered a slave to the whims and wills of his drow masters.
The single event that seemed to highlight this was around when Daufarin was in
his forties or fifties. He was notified that a drow official was coming to the
surface to inspect the performance of the armies. The visit was somewhat of a
surprise to Daufarin, for he could only recall the drow coming up to the surface
only once before, nearly twenty years ago. However, the previous year had been
especially stressful for Daufarin because he had been forced to give ground to
the armies of Necros in the wake of a particularly harsh monster attack: a
seeming concerted effort where almost five frontier towns had been attacked.
However, despite these losses, Daufarin had suffered worse losses over the years
of his leadership, so the real purpose of the visit was puzzling to him. The
drow even superceded his commands at various points, displaying his lack of
knowledge of battle on the surface while doing so, setting back mobilization
efforts by months.
Daufarin was treated as inherently inferior by the drow official. In the same
way that he treated his sons as gobbish fools, the drow official treated
Daufarin as if he were in a lower sphere of intelligence, despite Daufarin being
versed in many languages, including Drow, despite his being knowledgeable in the
histories of all the peoples living on Renos, and despite his being inherent to
the defense of Legar, and ultimately to the interests of the Overlord. He began
to realize that despite his efforts, his life had been devoted to masters that
did not ultimately care about him or his interests. He was simply a tool that
they used and would eventually discard when he became too old to do the job. And
most humiliating of all, the drow were the only ones who Daufarin had to bend
his knee to, prostrating himself to them as if they were gods.
His thoughts did not turn to outright rebellion here, but the drow's visit left
his mind disquieted and planted the seed for events later to come.
Gaut was later sent to recover a drow defector who has fled to the surface.
Daufarin did not go, because a particularly well-timed invasion from Daemon had
caused a gaping hole in the defenses. The drow seemed to place the apprehension
of the defector a high priority, though, so Daufarin delegated the task to his
incompetent son, though it took some convincing from his lieutenants that Gaut
was probably the best choice, since they didn't want to divert much needed
resources in countering the Daemon invasion.
Gaut successfully caught the drow defector, but not without taking one of the
treasures he carried as plunder.
It was a large horn, from an unknown creature. It had the power to call to it
any surrounding natural and unnatural fauna. Those called can subsequently be
influenced by someone with sufficient willpower to direct their animosity toward
a specific target or targets. The more called, however, the harder this is to
do. Though useful, it is particularly dangerous to use in Legar, since sounding
the horn can call a vast horde of creatures to the sounder, thereby assuring his
death.
Gaut returned to his father with the horn. When Daufarin realized what Gaut, and
therefore, the potential ramifications, he drew his sword and told Gaut to draw
his own weapon, for he would die for betraying the family, and he should at
least die fighting. Gaut is confused, but after Daufarin drew blood across his
chest, Gaut fought in earnest. However, he lost, when Daufarin cut at his
hamstrings, thus causing Gaut to lose his ability to stand. Daufarin then
finished off his own son with a single blow.
Daufarin traveled with a small contingent to where the drow were stationed to
return the horn, not really knowing what exactly it did, only knowing that it
rightfully belonged to his drow masters.
Once Daufarin arrived at Shadow Spire, he was taken prisoner immediately,
without question.
In prison, he met, by chance, the drow defector that his son had caught. The
drow was going to be taken underground for summary execution, a fate Daufarin
would not share. Surface-dwellers died on the surface, while drow died
underground. Upon speaking with him, Daufarin discovered that the drow was
slightly insane. However, he also discovered what his son had stumbled upon.
Daufarin engineered an escape for himself and his men. They took with them
various artifacts, but most importantly, the horn.
The insane drow also, somehow, left with them, complicating matters at many
intervals.
Daufarin rallied the armies to him by riding to key fortresses. Many declared
allegiance to their charismatic leader, though a few deserted, staying loyal to
the drow. As he moved closer toward the mountains, his army grew larger,
mirroring Napoleon's return and march to
Daufarin knew that despite the size of his army, the drow still held an
overwhelming advantage over him. Their magical powers, vast knowledge, mastery
of the underground, and finally, centuries of indoctrination to the superiority
of the drow race were all points against him. But he felt that he had a good
chance if he could lure allies to his cause--allies across the borders of Legar.
He sent couriers to his fighting comrades, those generals he had been at near
constant war with: the Ice General, the Grim Death, and many others, trying to
entice them to ally with him against the drow.
Upon receiving the message, the Ice General tore it up, without even reading it,
sneering at the messenger: "If General Daufarin has anything he wants to
say, he can come here and say it himself!" Vermar was more compliant, but
still hesitant that this was a ploy to weaken the borders of Daemon, lest he
invite Bloodtooth to attack while Daemon was vulnerable in aiding Daufarin. In
short, he needed Daufarin to win a battle against the drow to insure his ability
and good intentions.
Daufarin began moving his army north, to meet and parley with the Ice General,
knowing that the undead armies of Necros would prove useful against the Drow.
While doing so, however, the ground erupted beneath them, and the drow armies
poured out of the caves. However, Daufarin had predicted that the drow might do
this and was prepared for them. A large part of Daufarin's forces perished with
the first wave of attack when he sounded the horn.
At first, the effects were not immediate, and Daufarin despaired. However, a
rumble was heard and a veritable horde of monsters rushed on the two armies. It
took immense willpower for Daufarin to direct most of the onslaught to the drow
armies, and in the confusion, Daufarin and his army retreated, in an organized
manner. However, they had accomplished their goal, to meet with the Ice General.
In later times, this would be known as the Battle of Kaltarp, the first battle
of the Hobgoblin's Insurrection.
After meeting with the Ice General, Daufarin decided that the best way to
achieve his goals were to march on Shadow Spire and try to repel the drow
stationed there. He did not feel that he could actually keep it and hold it, but
with his current resources, he felt he could at least conquer it. Then, his
alliance with the Ice General and Vermar would be enough to keep drow
retaliation at bay. Thus, Daufarin began preparations to invade Legar. Aglung
and Vermar contributed a few units to the cause to monitor Daufarin's progress.
Daufarin and his army hid out in the mountains, ever watchful for a drow attack,
but none came.
After coming up with the perfect strategy, Daufarin began to move his army
toward Shadow Spire. He met with little resistance on his march.
On the eve of the attack, Daufarin was visited by Alehska. She warned Daufarin
that he cannot hope to win against the drow.
Daufarin: "Alehska, you arrive on the eve of victory."
Alehska: "You're a fool. You cannot hope to win."
Daufarin: "Oh? Why is that?"
Alehska: "You are fighting beyond your station, beyond your place in the
world. Beyond your fate."
Daufarin: "..."
Alehska: "You think otherwise? Why, in thirty years, have you never broken
the drow chains of enslavement? Why in thirty years have you never taken the
fight beyond the borders of Legar? Conquered Necros or Daemon once and for all,
for all your vaunted skills! Why? Because you were content! You never questioned
your place! Why do you do so now? What has changed?"
Daufarin: "Well..."
Alehska: "Nothing! Nothing has changed. It was Gaut who--"
Daufarin: "Gaut!"
Alehska: "Yes, Gaut. He saw beyond his station, he had vision. Dreams. And
you saw fit to snuff him out."
Daufarin: "Gaut lived only to please me."
Alehska: "Motive enough to see beyond what he had in life. Unlike you. It's
too late. You can't change your destiny, Daufarin. You will forever be a slave
to the drow. It's who you are. Everyone has a place in life. And that is
yours."
Daufarin: "You're ranting, woman!"
Alehska: "Even as we speak, the drow move into position, ready to cut your
army down!"
Daufarin: "Wha- What you have you done!"
Alehska: "You killed him! You killed my son!!"
A fight broke out between the two, and Daufarin managed to wound Alehska, but
she escaped. Daufarin marshaled his army for the coming battle.
Before leaving on the march, Daufarin had to split his army. Mobilizing against
Shadow Spire with a single large army would take months, travelling overland.
So, he divided his army into divisions and hoped for the best. Communication via
a system of wizards and clairvoyance spells would keep him appraised of all
situations with the other divisions.
After confronting Alehska, Daufarin went back to his main army to be informed of
the current situation. He discovered that he had lost contact with two
divisions, mere hours away. He called all the remaining divisions to him,
feeling a foreboding sense of doom. He dug in and waited.
He didn't have to wait long. Both moons shone brightly. Over the horizon, the
dreaded drow army had encircled his own. Without waiting, he sounded the horn.
However, something was not quite right.
He could not hear himself speak. A lieutenant, a goblin shaman, would have said,
"They've silenced us!", except, no sound would come. Daufarin's army
shuddered under the hesitation and indecision when the drow army charged.
Daufarin realized that they could not cast the spell from the distance the drow
army was. They must be closer. Probably led here by the treacherous Alehska.
Sure enough, his intuition proved correct, and out of the shadows came a pair of
drow assassins, appearing instantly from an invisibility spell, about to strike.
Daufarin had only an instant to react. He was lucky, while his lieutenants fared
worse. He managed to take down the assassins, when the drow army met head on
with Daufarin's.
The battle raged on, Daufarin hoping for more reinforcements. He tested the horn
and found that sound came forth. However, it was a warped and muted sound;
something had happened to it.
Hastily, he tried to call some order or semblance of discipline in his armies,
but they were panicking under the drow onslaught. Eventually, the battle was
lost.
Daufarin was forced to witness the execution of all his lieutenants. He himself
was taken to Shadow Spire for an audience with the Overlord himself, with whom
he had never met. When asked why they did not immediately execute him, like his
officers, Dynin replied:
"Execution? My wayward general, you are mistaken. We deal death only to
those who are inconsequential, insignificant. You, my friend, have earned a
special status. You will not feel the sweet release of death for as long as we
can manage it, I promise you. After all, you are the worst sort of criminal: a
hobgoblin who believed he could challenge the drow and win!"
Daufer was conceived shortly before Gaut was killed. Daufer's mother, Aebbe,
somewhat idolized Daufarin. She transferred her feelings to the son, and the
result was Daufer. One trivial note, Daufer was born around the time Daufarin
suffered his final defeat. Aebbe made her way in the world mostly silver by
silver. She was a waitress at an Mirthful Miner before she had to resort to
prostitution to live. She had a short life, dying when Daufer was thirteen.
Alehska had not only lost her son, but she had also lost her priestly powers. By
cutting short what might have been the one of the greatest wars in the current
age, Alehska had turned her back on everything she had once stood for. Both
Alehska and Daufarin remained unaware of the existence of Daufer.
Daufer led a normal childhood in Voxis. When he was six years old, he was drawn
to the somewhat dilapidated temple of D'lokka. It is there that he met a
middle-aged hobgoblin priest, named Hrodgud. There, he learned of the great wars
and battles of the past, of the legacy of the hobgoblin warriors of ages gone
by.
At first, Daufer only did small chores around the temple, cleaning it, repairing
it. It was healthy work, and he did not have much else to do with his time. But,
the best part of his day came when Hrodgud would appear on the steps of the
temple from some sort of meditation or other, and sit down and tell Daufer the
teachings and philosophies of D'lokka, of war. It was a piece of stability in
Daufer's somewhat unstable life.
Over time, Daufer was allowed to read from the canon of D'lokka, reading for
himself the great strategies, the histories, and the words come from those
touched by D'lokka herself. He learned the ways of the Lady of War, that one
should always be prepared for the next war, the next conflict; only through
conflict could one test his mettle and discover his worth as a man. All these
teachings and more he took in during the early years of his life.
Though Daufer was looked as strange for following a strange religion, he made
friends somewhat easily. A human named Gaheris sometimes convinced Daufer to
shirk his responsibilities at the temple to find amusement in town.
One day an old crone approached him, demanding his name. She was largely
incoherent and babbling. Unbeknownst to him, this was Alehska, his own
grandmother. The sight of Daufer was causing her much distress because he looked
the spitting image of his father and grandfather. She meandered away, causing
Daufer to become impatient with the woman. He put the encounter from his mind.
However, weeks later, the old crone, driven by voices only she could hear,
driven by some unseen fury, took torch to the dilapidated temple of D'lokka. The
temple he had dedicated most of his life to was destroyed. He felt a great rage,
but stayed his hand: there was no honor in letting his anger out on an old
woman. She ran away, and Daufer made no effort to pursue.
The building was destroyed, as well as most of the religious texts. Hrodgud
decided to leave Voxis and erect another temple either further north, or leave
Legar completely and make his way back to his home in Bloodtooth. He offered
Daufer to come with him, but Daufer felt that his place was in Legar and
declined.
When Daufer was 18 years old, he decided to truly test his mettle. So, he left
his home on a pilgrimage of sorts. He would live out in the harsh wilderness for
a month, not to test his wilderness skills, but to see if he could survive,
through a trial of conflict.
He was woefully unprepared. He had lived his entire life in the city. While,
life at the temple was not exactly easy, it was nothing compared to the Legar
wilderness.
He very nearly died when his life was saved by a passing traveler. He could tell
by his dark skin that he was a drow, but he kept his hood up. While conversing
with him, Daufer also discovered that the drow was completely crazy. His
ramblings were indecipherable, but Daufer was thankful to the drow all the same.
They parted ways, and Daufer traveled back to his home.
When Daufer returned to Voxis six weeks after setting out, he felt that he had
gained a new perspective on life. To spread the word about his religion, his
philosophy, he needed to improve himself by gaining new experiences in the
world, see how the philosophy of war pertained to the world outside. His own
view and experiences were too narrow. That's why when Gaheris came to him to
start a Slayer group, despite Daufer not seeing the human in almost three years,
Daufer agreed.
Campaign Events: Daufer worked for the Shadow Bats for some
time, but eventually his pursuits in building a new temple to D'lokka and
converting the Karik Orcs led him to neglect the group. Later, he returned
to them and met with the group's new members, Eskar and Aidan. Daufer had
also come into possession of an ancient weapon that once belonged to Dukosh, son
of Dan'gen--the world's greatest hobgoblin general. This maul was known as
Dukosh's Valor.
When Daufer discovered the ruins of a lost temple of D'lokka, he convinced the
others to help him explore it. After clearing out all of the undead, he
learned of his destiny and his history. He also learned that Dukosh's
Valor was sealed, and only if he proved himself worthy could he break these
seals and unleash the weapon's full power.
In the final battle, Daufer survived. However, the gateway to the Abyss
had all ready been opened. Valiantly, he threw himself into the portal to
seal it with his own blood. Although there is no proof, many have come to
believe his soul was retrieved by D'lokka and now rests with his ancestors on
her plane.
DM's Commentary: As you can see, Daufer's thin appearance and
personality are more than made up for by his rich history. When Joe
created Lon in the last game, he regretted that the character didn't really fit
in with the game world. So he set out to correct that with Daufer.
And in that regard, I believe he succeeded. I had hoped to explore more of
Daufer's past in the final arc of the game, but things went south so we had to
wrap it all up sooner than I had intended.
The problem with Daufer, is that outside of Gaheris (and perhaps Meschior and
Loreleii to a lesser extent) he seemed to have no interest in any of the other
party members. He kept the PCs all at a safe distance, and this made it
difficult to like him. The other PCs often complained whenever Daufer was
in charge--not because he was a poor leader, but because they just didn't like
him personally (which is no way to rate a leader, but that was an issue with the
others).
Another problem was that while Daufer had an interesting backstory that was
worth delving into, none of the other characters were ever in a position to give
a crap. Since none of them liked him and there was little profit in it, it
was difficult to come up with quests that involved Daufer that the others would
be interested in. That's a shame, because his backstory was infinitely
more interesting than the rest of the group's (at least in my opinion).
Relations:
Eskar: Cautious
Jasmin: Cautious
Aidan: Cautious
Siara: Cautious
Favored Weapon: Maul
Favored Prayer: Cure Light Wounds
Henchmen: Loreleii (1/5)
Birthday: Sardonx 8, 645
Zodiac: Renos