Deagar

"Speak yer business sneak or feel the bite of my axe!" comes the gruff question from what you have discerned to be your dwarven captor. "I be no sneak sir" you answer quickly. "I come seeking the one called Deagar, to learn of his story". You hear a coarse chuckle and find yourself suddenly lifted to your feet as a short but very stocky dwarf, dressed head to toe in matte black chain mail armor ambles past you, axe shouldered, and takes a seat amongst a tumble of boulders against
one wall of the cavern. "I am he!" he said as he shifted his seat slightly amongst the tumble. "If it was me story yeh wanted, yeh just needed to ask! I wouldn't have needed to lay ya out then!" as he takes a swig of a dark thick liquid from a flask at his belt "Where would ya like me to begin?" he asks. Pondering this question for a time you respond "From the beginning?" sounding more like you answered his
question with another question. Chuckling he replies "Yeh sure? It could turn out to be a long story". Thinking it over again you nod slowly. "Okay, here it goes" he said taking another swig from his flask before twisting a cork back into the opening and motioning for you to take a seat opposite where he sat.

"My tale begins back in me homeland of Forfedhdar. I lived in what, I guess, could be referred to as a village, though it was deep underground in the tunnels north of the town of Nenav Dalar. It was here I was born on the 20th day of the first month of the 334th year after the victory of Lanival." He recited, almost as if he had been practicing for years. "Times were tough back then, me mum was of the Hammer clan of dwarves, a healer, and as kind a dwarf woman as there ever
were... which really isn't sayin much if ya know anything of dwarven women!" he said with a coarse chuckle and popping the cork of his flask to take another swig, swallowing a generous portion he then continued.

"Anyway, me mum was a healer, as I said, and me pa was of the Biter clan, a clan famed for their warrior prowess. Apparently he died before I was born, a great warrior of me clan I was told by me mum and the other local dwarves. Some months before me birth me pa had been out on a mining expedition with some kin of the Hammer clan as a part of their guard. It was on this expedition me pa met his demise... the miners, some mighta called them careless, but there was no way they coulda known, were starting a new branch off one of the older mine shafts when they broke into a large cavern... Within moments they were all dead. The particular cavern they had broken into was apparently home to a nest of Biters.... vicious critters Biters are.... big lizards, some would call em small wingless dragons. They are the bane and mortal enemy of all dwarves, at least all dwarves I have met so far, though very few have seen one up close..." he paused here looking almost pained by that part of the story, then shaking his head as if to
clear his thoughts he began again.

"I had an interesting childhood, me mum remarried, a prosperous miner of the hammer clan so most of my early years I apprenticed under me step-pa learning the trade of the miner. As it was I took to it well, and before long my apprenticeship ended and I was leading me own expeditions. It was on me last expedition that my life changed... forever." Pausing again, he took some logs from amongst the boulders and lit a small fire between us, taking another swig from his flask, he continued. "Anyway... where was I? Ah yes, me last expedition, well it
started off all well and good. We filled many a pack and satchel with precious metals and gems and ores, sending them with runners back to the base camp. Well, it was getting towards the end of the excavation and we ran across a small side tunnel, it seemed to have been the site of a cave in... Now most cave ins, when they're caused by dwarves mean great riches are beyond, since about the only reason a dwarf would cave a tunnel is if they were mining it too hard. Well we started to work right away. Clearing the debris from the passage, this turned
out to be a bad idea... since we had forgotten the other main reason a dwarf would cave in a mine shaft... a Biter infestation... Well it turns out we cleared the passage that me pa, in his last valiant moments of life collapsed upon himself and a good portion of the Biters judging by the skeletons we found as the last of the rubble was cleared. Cautiously we moved into the exposed cavern, weapons ready, hoisted upon our shoulders. The cavern appeared to be empty, well as it
turns out, appearances can be deceiving. Most of me crew was wandering
towards the back of the cavern, examining the rock walls for signs of rich veins of ore or gems. I hung back, towards the tunnel my pa had caved in so many years before. Examining the area around the opening, I discovered a massive axe head, made entirely of wickedly sharp, hard, flaked obsidian... It was the head of me pa's axe, the shaft must have rotted away long ago in the damp cavern. Barely able to lift it I began to examine it. It was still in perfect condition. Carefully I
removed my pack and placed it inside." Pausing again for a swig from his flask, he pours a portion of the liquid into a stone goblet produced from his pack and hands it to you, and then he continues. "Well I took the axe head, it was amazingly heavy. I have no idea how me pa wielded such a weapon, but with the weight distributed through me pack it wasn't too bad. I had just started towards the rest of me group when I heard the scratching of clawed feet... I guess they smelled us,
because in the blink of an eye the Biters began swarming out of side passages. They blocked off the entrance we had used, and cut me off from the rest of the group as they began their slaughter. Running full out, I charged the nearest one knocking it from my path with a glancing strike across the head with me hammer, and then I let the hammer fly from me hand to collide with the stone wall before me.

Kertigen musta been smiling upon me that day because the wall gave way revealing another passage. Into this passage I went, and just in time too. Because at that moment the cavern we had just been in began to collapse, I dunno why. I'm not even gonna ask... but it saved me life. Clouds of rock dust and small chunks of rock battered me as the cavern collapsed. And yet I ran, down one passage, up another, until I collapsed from exhaustion and there I slept. I know not for how long, but when I awoke I knew not where I was. I had no choice but to continue
my journey.

For days and days I had traveled... with no end in sight, until finally the feeling of moving air hit me. I followed it to the source and came out into the open world. The light was blinding. I had no idea where I was or what I would do... well I didn't have long to think... I heard a loud 'Bwaaaaa' from behind me and turned to see a massive dark form step from the shadows. Weaponless and exhausted, all I could do was run through the thick fields of grass towards the barely visible walls of a distant city. Heh, I would say fate smiled upon me once again because before I got to the city I smelled the scent of freshly cooked turkey coming from a nearby building. Though it looked more than dilapidated, I entered and was greeted by a wondrous sight. I had seen Gor Tog before but none that matched the size or might of this one; awesome to behold and hefting a massive axe as if it were a
kitchen knife. The Tog stared at me long and hard while taking bite after bite from the turkey leg he held in his other hand. After a time he motioned me over to where he stood. Mo was his name, he taught me all he knew of the path of the barbarian. It stuck to me just as easily as mining had so many years before. Musta been me Biter clan side but that's where the story has taken us, still a barbarian, always a barbarian. The only thing I have left to do is repair me pa's axe so that one day, some day I can hope to wield it with the grace and might of me pa... That is me story.... Now get outa here" with that he leaped from his seat, shouldered his pack and weapon and wandered off into the deeper, darker tunnels, leaving you to your own devices...

Last Revised: 4/21/05