My life up until a point had been rough and odd. I grew up amongst a tribe of giantmen. I was raised by the tribe's Shaman. He had two sons, Bercilak and Aeolis. Then there was me. Bercilak and Aeolis, being young accepted me, not knowing the history of dwarves and giantmen. I accepted everyone, not really know much more myself. I was a young dwarf, not more then a few years old when my father found me abandoned, so my father told me.

As you could understand, growing up a dwarf in a giantman village very much had it's disadvantages. For one, everything was soooo large and sooo heavy. Well..Not that heavy, I had some muscles myself. The other problem was a lot deeper and harder to deal with. The clan was an old mountain clan and one that never forgave dwarves for the years of fighting. I had a lot of prejudice working against me. None of the other children would talk to me or have any contact with me much less play with me if they had a choice. Being the Shaman's son lent me some protection. My stepbrothers helped me out too. Bercilak, he became the warrior of the family, loved to smash and bash things, like the other kids if they really ganged up on me. He helped me out, but he wouldn't be a crutch, he did let me fight my own battles when I could. The other, Aeolis, he became the spiritual one. He found Koar. Or Koar found him, who knows. He tried to instill in me some of Koars teachings. I picked up on some of that clerical stuff, but nothing really stuck I think. I had other ideas. I had to learn other things to survive. One of them being the ability to hide. Another being the ability to get into and out of places I wasn't really wanted. My father knew what path I was heading down. He showed me a few things he learned of stealth, cunning and intelligence. Who knew shamans were so sneaky? He also brought me to a few giantmen he knew that didn't really associate with the others. They liked my scrappiness and showed me a few tricks.

For sometime while I grew up, I recognized that there was some sort of conflict between the tribe's Chief and my father. I never really knew what it was, I could feel it like when lightning is about to strike. No one of course was going to tell me, not even my stepbrothers knew and trust me, did I try. They never really argued, but there always some sort of tension.

When I turned 30 my adoptive father called me into his tent and told me the truth about my past. He hadn't just rescued me from the bare mountain like I had grown up believing, but the true story. He told me about the mistaken raid. That was the source of the bad blood between him and the Chief. He told me the reason he rescued me was to train me and hope that one day that he may exact his revenge upon the chieftain through me. He felt I should know the whole truth and that I was free to go discover my own life. It seemed that "Da" was getting ill. He thought he might've been poisoned by the chieftain and he wanted to confess to me why he had done what he did before he died.

The story was one day the chief heard a rumor that a Dwarven Clan had settled on the ancient giantkin burial ground. The Shaman tried to tell the Chief that the land the dwarves were on wasn't sacred burial ground, but that the ground was in fact on the next mountain. The Shaman advised him not to go to war, that the ancient wars were just that, ancient. Heedless of the shaman's advice He riled up his finest warriors and sallied forth against the "blasphemous" Dwarves. Well, when all was said and done, there weren't any adult dwarves left alive. Nor were there many children either. The shaman and his aides came through to inspect the lands and as he stated, the burial grounds were on the other mountain. The Chieftain had gone against the shaman's advice and now the shaman would teach him a lesson. But how? In the wreckage of building, he heard something like a baby crying. He searched through the wreckage and found a little baby dwarf. A plan came to his mind. He would raise!
the baby as one of his own.

That baby was me.

I was hurt, upset, angry and confused. My whole life had been turned upside down in the space of a few hours. What was I to do? Where was I to go? My true family was gone. I had no one left in the world. The shaman's other sons had gone out on their own to find their own destiny. It occurred to me then that Da, the tribal shaman had been my family. He treated me fairly. He did raise me and teach me to honor life and to live in harmony with nature. Not that I could half the time, but... He was like a father to me and I couldn't really blame him for what happened. What should I do, what could I do, what ought I do....

It came to me then. Recounting all the injustice done to me growing up. All the abuse I suffered, the fights, the insults, the petty taunting. I would get my revenge and be my father's revenge. I went back to Da. I told him I held him blameless for my parents death. I told him how I felt and that I would be his revenge. I also told him I could no longer live in the village, with the same people who murdered my family. He understood and said that when I was ready he would help see me off to someplace better for me. We hugged and I went off to be with myself for a while.

After awhile, night had fallen and I had pulled myself together a plan began to formulate in my head. I would acquire all that I needed as reparations from the others and I would teach that oaf of a chieftain a lesson not to mess with the dwarves ever again. I snuck into one of the warrior's huts and "borrowed" some equipment. A dagger here, a short sword there, and maybe a handaxe for good measure. Then sneaking past the guards (my oh my, does being a dwarf have its advantages sometimes) and sneaking into the chief's hut I hid. I knew the chief would be out partying that night and I would make sure he had one heck of a headache the following morning if he woke up from his nightmare. After what seemed like forever, the chief's cronies dragged the chief back into bed as he had gone and passed out as was his prerogative. I waited till the cronies had left and I counted to one thousand. Well, maybe I counted to one hundred a few times. It's a little blurry and a thousand is a lot of numbers. I waited till what I felt was a good amount of time and then I struck. Well, did we have fun. Since his home was an actual cabin, and he placed it well enough out of sight from the rest of his "people" I knew we would have some privacy. I tied him down to prevent struggling and gagged him to make sure no noise would escape. The following details may be, hm, no, Are a bit too graphic to describe here, but when I was done, well, things were in a bit of a mess. I snuck on out of there as best I could and burned what evidence there may have been on me.

I snuck back to Da's Tent. I couldn't believe the guards were that inept, or maybe they just didn't notice the dwarf as usual. That'll teach them for ignoring me. I told him what I done. He was happy and scared for me. He didn't really want me to kill the chief, maybe maim him for life, scar him but good, but the deed was done. He had arranged in advance for some gear for me and a bit of silver for food and such. He knew of some halfling merchants traveling through the area. He gave me a scroll and some silver to pay them to take to the place written on the scroll. That place was called Whenimer's Landing. I caught up with the merchants. They were glad to have some one skilled in fighting, spying, and other sneaky things. They took the coins and said they were heading that way anyway. By the time I had made it to Whenimer's I was good and sick of tarts let me tell you, although they still make fine fare every now and then. I had learned to enjoy other drinks, learn of other races and learn of what I might be best suited to when I got to town.

My word, what a strange place! Those halfling didn't even begin to describe half of what I saw. There's people running around looking for a runner? I end up in this inn called The Raging Thrak. There's this battered and worn-down Warrior there (Reminds me of the ex-chief I deposed vaguely). He tells me all these things I probably could've figured out on my own (what's a turnip farm?). I follow a few other younger people to this cul-de-sac in town. I hang around and listen in on what's current. They talk about this and that, about this rat problem in the sewers.... I get out my ax and shield and go see what it's all about. After awhile guess who I should run into but Da's sons, Bercilak and Aeolis. They give me the lowdown on how things work here and I go register as an adventurer and get my locker space. I noticed a sign saying those who wish to join a higher tax bracket can get all these nifty things, so what the heck, I've "acquired" the money to cover it, I go for it


The hunting is fun, but even more fun is using my skill with lockpicks and traps. People pay good money for this stuff (most of the time) and those traps can sometimes realllllly hurt you. I've gotten to know the touch of a cleric's hand a few times especially after someone explained to me why that temple to that lady Lorminstra was there. I even got to participate on a quest helping some scholars find out about some artifacts in their collection's past. I got to meet some wonderful people on that quest. Some not so wonderful people too, but that's another story. I met this older rogue by the name of Gowain and his wife Sianan, a wonderful Cleric. Their daughter Branwyn, a, shall we say, charming and interesting young lady, Roelon and a few others. From that quest I managed to form a friendship with Sianan, Gowain and Branwyn. It seemed that after enough work in and around town, I managed to get noticed by the local rogue's guild and got an invite in. After spending some time with Sianan and family, I got to meet others in this house they belonged to called Argent Aspis. A very wonderful bunch of people. In time a trail was opened between the Elven Nations and the Landing. After spending some time in the dwarven outpost, getting in touch with my dwarven roots and finding out a bit more of my clan, I wandered on to the elven lands. I have since come to cherish Ta'Vaalor as my home (not as nice as the comforting caverns of Zul Logoth, but it's a nice place with nice people).

That's basically of my story. Anything else ye wish to know? Find me around the lands and ask.