Post by Altor "Al" Cloudscraper on Apr 27, 2011 19:20:38 GMT
Altor “Al” Cloudscraper
Background: Adept/Warrior
Role(s) - Level(s): Adept 6, Warrior 7
Allegiance: Good
Virtue/Vice: Compasionate/ Stubborn
Conviction: 9
Height:
Weight: lbs
Movement: feet (+5 lightening quick)
Age:
Abilities
Str: +1
Dex: +0
Con: + 2
Int: +2
Wis: +4
Cha: +0
Core Ability: Relentless: After you have failed a Fatigue save, you can spend a point of Conviction to treat your die roll as though it had been a 20.
Key Ability: Charisma
Saving Throws
Toughness Save: +6 (+2 Con, +1 Feat, +? Armour)
Fortitude Save: +9 (base 5 + mind over body +4)
Reflex Save: +5 (+4 Base, +1 lightening quick)
Will Save: +9 (+7Base +2 iron will)
Power Rank: 9
Save Difficulty: 13
Combat
Initiative: +2 (+2 lightening reflexes)
Base Combat Bonus: +10
Attack Bonus: +10 (+14 if opponent attacks and misses)
Defense: +20 +Armour
Dodge:
Parry: +1 (+1 Str)
Damage Bonus: +1(+5 to creatures susceptible to crit)
Weapons: (Attack Bonus | Damage Bonus | Critical | Range)
Weapon/Damage/Critical/Damage/Descriptor/Range/Increment/Size/Weight (lbs)
Gauntlet, spiked/1/20/+3 /Piercing/—/Tiny/1
Dagger/1/19–20/+3/Piercing/10 ft./Tiny/1
Battleaxe/3/20/+4/Slashing/— /Med /9
Armour/Toughness Bonus/Armour Check Penalty/Bonus Feats/Wight
Supernatural and Masterwork Plate-mail (heavy)/5 /3/
Masterwork Medium wooden shield/2/1/--/10
Skills
Armour Check Penalty: -
Skill/Char/bonus/levels/total
Climb/Str/1/5/6
Concentration/Wis/4/10/14
Craft: Stonemason/Int/2/4/6
Gather Information/Cha/4/4
Knowledge (Herbalism)/Int/2/5/7
Knowledge: History: Droda*/Int/2/9/11
Knowledge: Supernatural/Int/2/9/11
Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy/Int/2/2/4
Notice/Wis/4/11/15
Perform: Oratory*/Cha/4/4
Prophecy/Int/2/8/10
Search/Int/2/5/7
Sense motive/Wis/4/6/10
Stealth/Dex/2/8/10
Survival/Wis/4/5/9
Medicine/Wis/4/0/4
Swim/Str/1/1/2
Languages:
Boresse, Eastern Varadish, Vassa
Wealth and Reputation:
Wealth: +
Professional Skill: Stonemason
Reputation: + 4
Feats and Powers:
Weapons training: You’re trained in the proper use of martial weapons. Characters lacking Weapon Training suffer a –4 penalty on attack rolls with martial weapons.
Heavy Armor Training: Your trained in the use of heavy armor. No penalties to movement while wearing heavy armor.
Armor training Light: Your trained in the use of light armors. No penalties to movement while wearing light armor.
Shield training: You’re trained in the proper use of shields in combat. You can use a shield and take only the standard penalties. Characters lacking Shield Training take a penalty on attack rolls and on Strength- and Dexterity-based checks equal to the shield’s bonus.
Tough: Your Toughness save bonus increases by +1. You can take this feat multiple times and its benefits stack, up to a maximum +5 bonus to your Toughness saves. This bonus stacks with any worn armor or other protection.
Combat Sense: A Combat Sense check grants you a bonus to your base Combat bonus. Each round you can split the bonus between attack and defense as you see fit.
Awareness: You can sense when something is amiss in your surroundings. The Narrator makes Notice, Search, Sense Motive, and Survival checks for you in secret whenever such a check would reveal a falsehood or a hidden hazard, object, or creature. If the check succeeds, you learn that something is amiss. You must make another normal check yourself to determine the exact nature of the deception; the first check gives you only its general location or nature.
Enhance Senses: You can enhance your normal sensory abilities. An Enhance Senses check adds a bonus to your Notice, Search, and Sense Motive checks. It also adds to skill checks made to find or follow tracks. The result of the check indicates the amount of the bonus.
Iron Will: You get a +2 bonus on all Will saving throws.
Mind over Body: You can exert great mental control over your body. When you make Constitution checks, you can substitute your Wisdom score for your Constitution score, so long as you are conscious. You can also apply your Wisdom bonus rather than your Constitution bonus to your Fortitude saving throws.
Psychic Shield: You can shield your mind from psychic influences. When you are the target of a power granting a Will saving throw, make a Psychic Shield check. The attacker must make a power check using the attacking power. If your check result is higher, the power fails. If the attacker’s result is higher, the power affects you normally, but you still get your normal saving throw.
Intuitive Strike: You may add your Wisdom score to the damage you inflict with a melee attack in place of your Strength score while fighting an opponent that is vulnerable to critical hits.
Supernatural Weapon: You can imbue any weapon you wield with supernatural power. The weapon is considered supernatural for overcoming the defenses of creatures vulnerable to such weapons. You must personally wield the weapon for it to gain this benefit. Supernatural Weapon is always active.
Innate Power – Combat Sense One of your powers is an integral part of you, and is much easier for you to use. Choose a supernatural power you can cast to become an innate power. As a standard action, you can activate this power as an adept of half your effective adept level and without risk of fatigue. You can maintain the power indefinitely as a free action. Innate powers are no longer subject to the Severance, Ward, or Dispel powers. You can still use the power normally if you prefer, but in that case, the power gains no benefit from this feat.
Lightening Quick: You are fast. Really fast. You gain a +2 bonus to Initiative rolls and a +1 bonus to Reflex saves. You also gain an extra free 5 ft. step each round.
Equipment
Travellers outfit 2
Backpack (empty) (on pony unless otherwise noted 2
1 Lantern, bullseye 3 lb.
2 Rations, trail (per day) Small 1 1 lb.
3 Waterskin Small 2 4 lb.
4 Grappling hook Small 2 4 lb.
5 Rope, silk (50 ft.) Small 9 5 lb.
6
7
8
Pony
Saddlebag 1
1 Rations, trail (per day) Small 1 1 lb.
2 Rations, trail (per day) Small 1 1 lb.
3 Toolkit, masterwork Small 14 1 lb.
4 Waterskin Small 2 4 lb.
5
6
1 Waterskin Small 2 4 lb.
2 Crowbar Small 3 5 lb.
3 Feed (per day) Small 0 10 lb.
4 Feed (per day) Small 1 11 lb.
5
6
A time long ago…
It was a time of devastation and destruction. The once mighty Drodarian civilizations were crumbling. Civil war and fear, spread alongside the Great Plague, ripped apart what remnants of civilization remained. Within this all, an even greater horror, the Cenar Druids reawakened, stalked the land, hunting the remnants of the Droda. Slowly, the Droda pulled back and consolidated in hidden mountain passages, away from humans of all kinds.
In Southern Magnamund, rumours of a safe haven in the Boradon range fuelled dwarf and giant refugee columns to head North. One such column was led by Altor Grimsbane, one of the few surviving warriors of his clan, and with the death of his father and older brothers, the de facto chief of it. Of course, the clan, being reduced to a couple of warriors and straggling women and dwarflings could hardly be called a clan in any meaningful term. Over a period of many months they scavenged off the land, and slowly moved northward. Through it all, they managed to avoid human settlements, Cenar hunting teams, and the depravities of a world gone mad. Eventually they discovered their new home in the Boradon range, a mountain whose peak jutted into the sky like a knife, parting the clouds before it; they christened it Cloudscraper and took this as their new Clan name.
Ishir smiled upon the clan, and in particular their patriarch Altor. Quickly they built a fortress on top of the mountain, and over the coming seasons learned to farm the fertile valley’s below. Slowly they made contact with the other refugee communities in the mountain range, and the beginnings of the Kingdom of Boradon, the last refuge of the Dwarfs in Southern Magnamund took shape.
Altor, though, was not merely blessed by Ishir with a strong hand and good fortune; he was also blessed with visions. After nearly a dozen years of building their new home, he announced that Ishir had given him visions of other dwarf refugees, ones who did not know about their new sanctuary, and that it was his destiny to wander the land, and let their brothers and sisters know of this refuge. It was many years before the fruits of his labour began to pay off, when the first of the straggling dwarf refugees arrived at Fort Cloudscraper. Thin, weak, and hungry. Coming as individuals or the remnants of clans, all were made welcome and all took Cloudscraper as their new clan name. History tells us that Altor, the Wanderer as he had become known, died alongside a handful of other dwarf warriors as he held off a Giak horde and allowed the women and children of the clan to escape to Cloudscraper Mountain.
Background: Altor Cloudscraper.
From as early as he could remember Altor Cloudscraper was fascinated with the story of his namesake. He would constantly ask his grandsire to tell him the story over and over again, and after the harvest season, would be the first to the Temple of the Ancestors to thank Altor for all he had given them. As such, it was difficult to know exactly when the dreams of Altor ended and the visions of him began.
They began shortly before his entry into adulthood, and before he even decided to venture to the monastery on the top of the mountain peak to pledge his life to Ishir and his ancestors. All he knew was that from an early age, he was one of Ishir and Altor’s chosen ones. The high priest atop Mount Cloudscraper knew it too, and he took it upon himself to prepare young Altor for his destiny. The visions did not say when, nor why, he would have to journey the world, but both Altor and the High Priest knew that the day would come that he Altor would, much like his namesake, have to leave the Clan his namesake established, and wander the world doing the bidding of Ishir and the dwarf ancestor spirits.
Altor joined the ranks of the Living Ancestors, dwarfs who gave their lives to following in the footsteps of a particular heroic ancestor. Part priest, part warrior, this sect of Dwarfs looked to Ishir to guide their people, and to their chosen ancestor to guide their actions. Altor grew strong in knowledge, and prayed daily to both Ishir and The Wanderer to guide him in his actions. He grew to love the histories of the Drodarian peoples, becoming a leading scholar of it in his own right, and he would often join small detachments of the Boradon army as they defended the borders of their people.
In Northern Magnamund the War raged, and the visions Altor received grew stronger and stronger. The Living Ancestors whispered amongst themselves that something was afoot, that not all was what it seemed. The visions that they were receiving were not matched by the reports on the ground, that the armies of the Darklords were in retreat, that the armies of good were even retaking lands from the Darklords themselves…
Then reports starting surfacing of the Great Plague reappearing in the capital of Talestria, that Garthen’s Drodarian population had been wiped out. Then reports came in that the armies chasing the retreating Drakkarhim forces were wiped out, and that civil war had broken out in Talestria and Palmyrion and that these two nations had even declared war on Dessi. After the routing of his army, the King of Bor had recalled all citizens to defend the Kingdom of Bor. But this was all part of a larger conspiracy, his visions told him, it was time for him to leave, and much like his namesake he would head north, but further than his namesake went, he would cross the Tentarias to the City of Talon, to the festival of Winter’s Night. The visions did not tell him why he must go there, only that his destiny was to be found in that human city…
The Cloudscraper Breastplate.
The Dwarf looked at the monument in wonder, at the near completion of Altor’s hard work and excellent stonemasonry.
“It will be done in a few more days” said Altor.
“A few days?” Asked the dwarf, looking at the opening on the side. “So ye are intent on going then, are ye?”
“Yes, for too long his remains have been who knows where, instead of being here were his spirit can rest in peace.”
The Dwarf looked at Altor, and nodded his head in agreement. “For millennia his remains have been undiscovered, it would be an honour to be a part of the expedition tae recover them.”
Altor smiled at the Dwarf, one of the guards here at the monastery. “I know, Griff, I know.” That is why I requested you on the expedition” said Altor, smiling, his smile growing wider at the look of surprise and gratitude on the younger dwarf’s face.
The young dwarf was at first excited to go on the trek that Altor was taking him on. It was a part of Altor’s religious calling, the dwarf supposed, and the chance to reclaim the remains of the original Altor was something he could not pass up. He knew that Altor, the living one, had studied every detail of his ancestor’s life, and if anyone could find the location he fell, it would be he. However, as the weeks went on, as they explored pass after pass, looking for clues hidden deep in the earth, he began to grow weary of it.
It was late at night on the seventh week of their journey when a terrible scream woke him up. Grabbing his axe he ran from his tent. These lands had not been dangerous in centuries, he thought to himself, what could that scream be? Suddenly, he realized it was coming from Altor’s tent, and just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Drenched in sweat, Altor came stumbling out of the tent.
“This is wrong, this is the wrong spot” he said to everyone and no one in particular. “I know where Altor fell now.”
“How?” asked the young Dwarf.
“He told me” said Altor, before crumpling to the earth.
The next morning Altor ordered everything packed up, and for the expedition to proceed north, to a part of the mountain range he had never considered before. Upon arrival, he simply stated “this is it” and moved into the treeline. After a few hundred yards, in the thickest part of the old growth forest, he simply said “here, we dig here.”
For days the Dwarfs felled the trees before they had room to excavate. Each night they fell asleep to the sounds of Altor talking in his sleep, for six days and nights this continued until on the seventh day one of the dwarfs called out “I found something!” Quickly, Altor descended into the pit. It was remains, human remains, an ancient skeleton. “Look here” said Altor, pointing to the skull “cleaved by an ax.”
Carefully the excavation continued, human skeleton after human skeleton, each with clearly visible battle damage. After hours and hours of digging they came to the centre of the pile of skeletons. There in the middle was a smaller skeleton, one better preserved than the others.
It was clearly a Dwarf.
It was Altor Cloudscraper.
Reverently, the dwarfs carried the body out of the pit, with Altor watching their every move. As they brought the remains up, the ground suddenly collapsed under them, and the remains of the original Altor fell towards his namesake. It was like the world was moving in slow motion to Altor at this moment, for as the remains fell towards him, the head looked up, and light shone in its eyes. It mouth opened.
“Take it” it said, before crumbling to dust before the assembled dwarfs.
Altor was stunned, the assembled dwarfs were too shocked to move. Slowly Altor looked down, and at his feet lay a finely crafted and well work breastplate. The only known surviving relic of the founder of their clan. Reverently, he picked it up and could feel Altor’s life force flowing within the metal.
“I will wear it with pride and humility” he said to all those present.
Background: Adept/Warrior
Role(s) - Level(s): Adept 6, Warrior 7
Allegiance: Good
Virtue/Vice: Compasionate/ Stubborn
Conviction: 9
Height:
Weight: lbs
Movement: feet (+5 lightening quick)
Age:
Abilities
Str: +1
Dex: +0
Con: + 2
Int: +2
Wis: +4
Cha: +0
Core Ability: Relentless: After you have failed a Fatigue save, you can spend a point of Conviction to treat your die roll as though it had been a 20.
Key Ability: Charisma
Saving Throws
Toughness Save: +6 (+2 Con, +1 Feat, +? Armour)
Fortitude Save: +9 (base 5 + mind over body +4)
Reflex Save: +5 (+4 Base, +1 lightening quick)
Will Save: +9 (+7Base +2 iron will)
Power Rank: 9
Save Difficulty: 13
Combat
Initiative: +2 (+2 lightening reflexes)
Base Combat Bonus: +10
Attack Bonus: +10 (+14 if opponent attacks and misses)
Defense: +20 +Armour
Dodge:
Parry: +1 (+1 Str)
Damage Bonus: +1(+5 to creatures susceptible to crit)
Weapons: (Attack Bonus | Damage Bonus | Critical | Range)
Weapon/Damage/Critical/Damage/Descriptor/Range/Increment/Size/Weight (lbs)
Gauntlet, spiked/1/20/+3 /Piercing/—/Tiny/1
Dagger/1/19–20/+3/Piercing/10 ft./Tiny/1
Battleaxe/3/20/+4/Slashing/— /Med /9
Armour/Toughness Bonus/Armour Check Penalty/Bonus Feats/Wight
Supernatural and Masterwork Plate-mail (heavy)/5 /3/
Masterwork Medium wooden shield/2/1/--/10
Skills
Armour Check Penalty: -
Skill/Char/bonus/levels/total
Climb/Str/1/5/6
Concentration/Wis/4/10/14
Craft: Stonemason/Int/2/4/6
Gather Information/Cha/4/4
Knowledge (Herbalism)/Int/2/5/7
Knowledge: History: Droda*/Int/2/9/11
Knowledge: Supernatural/Int/2/9/11
Knowledge: Theology and Philosophy/Int/2/2/4
Notice/Wis/4/11/15
Perform: Oratory*/Cha/4/4
Prophecy/Int/2/8/10
Search/Int/2/5/7
Sense motive/Wis/4/6/10
Stealth/Dex/2/8/10
Survival/Wis/4/5/9
Medicine/Wis/4/0/4
Swim/Str/1/1/2
Languages:
Boresse, Eastern Varadish, Vassa
Wealth and Reputation:
Wealth: +
Professional Skill: Stonemason
Reputation: + 4
Feats and Powers:
Weapons training: You’re trained in the proper use of martial weapons. Characters lacking Weapon Training suffer a –4 penalty on attack rolls with martial weapons.
Heavy Armor Training: Your trained in the use of heavy armor. No penalties to movement while wearing heavy armor.
Armor training Light: Your trained in the use of light armors. No penalties to movement while wearing light armor.
Shield training: You’re trained in the proper use of shields in combat. You can use a shield and take only the standard penalties. Characters lacking Shield Training take a penalty on attack rolls and on Strength- and Dexterity-based checks equal to the shield’s bonus.
Tough: Your Toughness save bonus increases by +1. You can take this feat multiple times and its benefits stack, up to a maximum +5 bonus to your Toughness saves. This bonus stacks with any worn armor or other protection.
Combat Sense: A Combat Sense check grants you a bonus to your base Combat bonus. Each round you can split the bonus between attack and defense as you see fit.
Awareness: You can sense when something is amiss in your surroundings. The Narrator makes Notice, Search, Sense Motive, and Survival checks for you in secret whenever such a check would reveal a falsehood or a hidden hazard, object, or creature. If the check succeeds, you learn that something is amiss. You must make another normal check yourself to determine the exact nature of the deception; the first check gives you only its general location or nature.
Enhance Senses: You can enhance your normal sensory abilities. An Enhance Senses check adds a bonus to your Notice, Search, and Sense Motive checks. It also adds to skill checks made to find or follow tracks. The result of the check indicates the amount of the bonus.
Iron Will: You get a +2 bonus on all Will saving throws.
Mind over Body: You can exert great mental control over your body. When you make Constitution checks, you can substitute your Wisdom score for your Constitution score, so long as you are conscious. You can also apply your Wisdom bonus rather than your Constitution bonus to your Fortitude saving throws.
Psychic Shield: You can shield your mind from psychic influences. When you are the target of a power granting a Will saving throw, make a Psychic Shield check. The attacker must make a power check using the attacking power. If your check result is higher, the power fails. If the attacker’s result is higher, the power affects you normally, but you still get your normal saving throw.
Intuitive Strike: You may add your Wisdom score to the damage you inflict with a melee attack in place of your Strength score while fighting an opponent that is vulnerable to critical hits.
Supernatural Weapon: You can imbue any weapon you wield with supernatural power. The weapon is considered supernatural for overcoming the defenses of creatures vulnerable to such weapons. You must personally wield the weapon for it to gain this benefit. Supernatural Weapon is always active.
Innate Power – Combat Sense One of your powers is an integral part of you, and is much easier for you to use. Choose a supernatural power you can cast to become an innate power. As a standard action, you can activate this power as an adept of half your effective adept level and without risk of fatigue. You can maintain the power indefinitely as a free action. Innate powers are no longer subject to the Severance, Ward, or Dispel powers. You can still use the power normally if you prefer, but in that case, the power gains no benefit from this feat.
Lightening Quick: You are fast. Really fast. You gain a +2 bonus to Initiative rolls and a +1 bonus to Reflex saves. You also gain an extra free 5 ft. step each round.
Equipment
Travellers outfit 2
Backpack (empty) (on pony unless otherwise noted 2
1 Lantern, bullseye 3 lb.
2 Rations, trail (per day) Small 1 1 lb.
3 Waterskin Small 2 4 lb.
4 Grappling hook Small 2 4 lb.
5 Rope, silk (50 ft.) Small 9 5 lb.
6
7
8
Pony
Saddlebag 1
1 Rations, trail (per day) Small 1 1 lb.
2 Rations, trail (per day) Small 1 1 lb.
3 Toolkit, masterwork Small 14 1 lb.
4 Waterskin Small 2 4 lb.
5
6
1 Waterskin Small 2 4 lb.
2 Crowbar Small 3 5 lb.
3 Feed (per day) Small 0 10 lb.
4 Feed (per day) Small 1 11 lb.
5
6
A time long ago…
It was a time of devastation and destruction. The once mighty Drodarian civilizations were crumbling. Civil war and fear, spread alongside the Great Plague, ripped apart what remnants of civilization remained. Within this all, an even greater horror, the Cenar Druids reawakened, stalked the land, hunting the remnants of the Droda. Slowly, the Droda pulled back and consolidated in hidden mountain passages, away from humans of all kinds.
In Southern Magnamund, rumours of a safe haven in the Boradon range fuelled dwarf and giant refugee columns to head North. One such column was led by Altor Grimsbane, one of the few surviving warriors of his clan, and with the death of his father and older brothers, the de facto chief of it. Of course, the clan, being reduced to a couple of warriors and straggling women and dwarflings could hardly be called a clan in any meaningful term. Over a period of many months they scavenged off the land, and slowly moved northward. Through it all, they managed to avoid human settlements, Cenar hunting teams, and the depravities of a world gone mad. Eventually they discovered their new home in the Boradon range, a mountain whose peak jutted into the sky like a knife, parting the clouds before it; they christened it Cloudscraper and took this as their new Clan name.
Ishir smiled upon the clan, and in particular their patriarch Altor. Quickly they built a fortress on top of the mountain, and over the coming seasons learned to farm the fertile valley’s below. Slowly they made contact with the other refugee communities in the mountain range, and the beginnings of the Kingdom of Boradon, the last refuge of the Dwarfs in Southern Magnamund took shape.
Altor, though, was not merely blessed by Ishir with a strong hand and good fortune; he was also blessed with visions. After nearly a dozen years of building their new home, he announced that Ishir had given him visions of other dwarf refugees, ones who did not know about their new sanctuary, and that it was his destiny to wander the land, and let their brothers and sisters know of this refuge. It was many years before the fruits of his labour began to pay off, when the first of the straggling dwarf refugees arrived at Fort Cloudscraper. Thin, weak, and hungry. Coming as individuals or the remnants of clans, all were made welcome and all took Cloudscraper as their new clan name. History tells us that Altor, the Wanderer as he had become known, died alongside a handful of other dwarf warriors as he held off a Giak horde and allowed the women and children of the clan to escape to Cloudscraper Mountain.
Background: Altor Cloudscraper.
From as early as he could remember Altor Cloudscraper was fascinated with the story of his namesake. He would constantly ask his grandsire to tell him the story over and over again, and after the harvest season, would be the first to the Temple of the Ancestors to thank Altor for all he had given them. As such, it was difficult to know exactly when the dreams of Altor ended and the visions of him began.
They began shortly before his entry into adulthood, and before he even decided to venture to the monastery on the top of the mountain peak to pledge his life to Ishir and his ancestors. All he knew was that from an early age, he was one of Ishir and Altor’s chosen ones. The high priest atop Mount Cloudscraper knew it too, and he took it upon himself to prepare young Altor for his destiny. The visions did not say when, nor why, he would have to journey the world, but both Altor and the High Priest knew that the day would come that he Altor would, much like his namesake, have to leave the Clan his namesake established, and wander the world doing the bidding of Ishir and the dwarf ancestor spirits.
Altor joined the ranks of the Living Ancestors, dwarfs who gave their lives to following in the footsteps of a particular heroic ancestor. Part priest, part warrior, this sect of Dwarfs looked to Ishir to guide their people, and to their chosen ancestor to guide their actions. Altor grew strong in knowledge, and prayed daily to both Ishir and The Wanderer to guide him in his actions. He grew to love the histories of the Drodarian peoples, becoming a leading scholar of it in his own right, and he would often join small detachments of the Boradon army as they defended the borders of their people.
In Northern Magnamund the War raged, and the visions Altor received grew stronger and stronger. The Living Ancestors whispered amongst themselves that something was afoot, that not all was what it seemed. The visions that they were receiving were not matched by the reports on the ground, that the armies of the Darklords were in retreat, that the armies of good were even retaking lands from the Darklords themselves…
Then reports starting surfacing of the Great Plague reappearing in the capital of Talestria, that Garthen’s Drodarian population had been wiped out. Then reports came in that the armies chasing the retreating Drakkarhim forces were wiped out, and that civil war had broken out in Talestria and Palmyrion and that these two nations had even declared war on Dessi. After the routing of his army, the King of Bor had recalled all citizens to defend the Kingdom of Bor. But this was all part of a larger conspiracy, his visions told him, it was time for him to leave, and much like his namesake he would head north, but further than his namesake went, he would cross the Tentarias to the City of Talon, to the festival of Winter’s Night. The visions did not tell him why he must go there, only that his destiny was to be found in that human city…
The Cloudscraper Breastplate.
The Dwarf looked at the monument in wonder, at the near completion of Altor’s hard work and excellent stonemasonry.
“It will be done in a few more days” said Altor.
“A few days?” Asked the dwarf, looking at the opening on the side. “So ye are intent on going then, are ye?”
“Yes, for too long his remains have been who knows where, instead of being here were his spirit can rest in peace.”
The Dwarf looked at Altor, and nodded his head in agreement. “For millennia his remains have been undiscovered, it would be an honour to be a part of the expedition tae recover them.”
Altor smiled at the Dwarf, one of the guards here at the monastery. “I know, Griff, I know.” That is why I requested you on the expedition” said Altor, smiling, his smile growing wider at the look of surprise and gratitude on the younger dwarf’s face.
The young dwarf was at first excited to go on the trek that Altor was taking him on. It was a part of Altor’s religious calling, the dwarf supposed, and the chance to reclaim the remains of the original Altor was something he could not pass up. He knew that Altor, the living one, had studied every detail of his ancestor’s life, and if anyone could find the location he fell, it would be he. However, as the weeks went on, as they explored pass after pass, looking for clues hidden deep in the earth, he began to grow weary of it.
It was late at night on the seventh week of their journey when a terrible scream woke him up. Grabbing his axe he ran from his tent. These lands had not been dangerous in centuries, he thought to himself, what could that scream be? Suddenly, he realized it was coming from Altor’s tent, and just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Drenched in sweat, Altor came stumbling out of the tent.
“This is wrong, this is the wrong spot” he said to everyone and no one in particular. “I know where Altor fell now.”
“How?” asked the young Dwarf.
“He told me” said Altor, before crumpling to the earth.
The next morning Altor ordered everything packed up, and for the expedition to proceed north, to a part of the mountain range he had never considered before. Upon arrival, he simply stated “this is it” and moved into the treeline. After a few hundred yards, in the thickest part of the old growth forest, he simply said “here, we dig here.”
For days the Dwarfs felled the trees before they had room to excavate. Each night they fell asleep to the sounds of Altor talking in his sleep, for six days and nights this continued until on the seventh day one of the dwarfs called out “I found something!” Quickly, Altor descended into the pit. It was remains, human remains, an ancient skeleton. “Look here” said Altor, pointing to the skull “cleaved by an ax.”
Carefully the excavation continued, human skeleton after human skeleton, each with clearly visible battle damage. After hours and hours of digging they came to the centre of the pile of skeletons. There in the middle was a smaller skeleton, one better preserved than the others.
It was clearly a Dwarf.
It was Altor Cloudscraper.
Reverently, the dwarfs carried the body out of the pit, with Altor watching their every move. As they brought the remains up, the ground suddenly collapsed under them, and the remains of the original Altor fell towards his namesake. It was like the world was moving in slow motion to Altor at this moment, for as the remains fell towards him, the head looked up, and light shone in its eyes. It mouth opened.
“Take it” it said, before crumbling to dust before the assembled dwarfs.
Altor was stunned, the assembled dwarfs were too shocked to move. Slowly Altor looked down, and at his feet lay a finely crafted and well work breastplate. The only known surviving relic of the founder of their clan. Reverently, he picked it up and could feel Altor’s life force flowing within the metal.
“I will wear it with pride and humility” he said to all those present.
