Grimjaw Morgadin Khorvek

[Gralhruk]

Name: Grimjaw Morgadin Khorvek
Race: Dwarf
Class: Ranger2/Rogue2 (ECL+1)
Gender: Male
Age: 64
Height/Weight: 4'2" 187lbs
Xp: 10,000

Str: 19(+4)
Dex: 18(+4)
Con: 16(+3)
Int: 16(+3)
Wis: 12(+1)
Cha: 08(-1)

Hit Points
Total: 31 (6 + 6 + 3 + 1 +12 constitution +3 toughness)
Current:
Temporary:

Saves
Fort +6 (3+3Con)
Refx +10 (6+4Dex)
Will +1 (0+1Wis)

BAB +3
Melee +7
Ranged +7

Weapons
Weapon.........................WAB.....Damage..... .Crit..............Range
Urgosh, DC Two-weapon, axe.....[+6]....[1d8+4].....[x3]..............[NA]
Urgosh, DC Two-weapon, spear...[+6]....[1d6+2].....[x3]..............[NA]
Urgosh, DC Two-Handed, axe.....[+8]....[1d8+6].....[x3]..............[NA]
Urgosh, DC Two-Handed, spear...[+8]....[1d8+6].....[x3]..............[NA]
Axe, Throwing..................[+7]....[1d6+4].....[x3]..............[10ft]
Hammer, Light..................[+7]....[1d4+4].....[x2]..............[20ft]
Shortbow.......................[+7]....[1d6].......[x3]..............[60ft]
Dagger.........................[+7]....[1d4+4].....[19–20/x2]........[10ft]

AC: 19 = 10 + 5(Armour) + 4(Dex) + 0(Shield) +0(misc)
vs. Touch = 14
Flat Footed = 15
Armour Penalty = -0
Spell Failure = 10%

Languages:
Common
Dwarven
Orc
Goblin
Undercommon

Feats:
Toughness..............Racial bonus
Endurance..............Racial Bonus
Combat Reflexes........Level1
Track..................Ranger1
Two Weapon Fighting....Ranger2
Vexing Flanker.........Level3

Skills
Tot - Name....................................Stat[ranks+mod+misc]
+ 3 - Appraise**..............................INT [ 0.0 + 3 + 0]
+ 7 - Balance.................................DEX [ 1.0 + 4 + 2 tumble synergy]
- 1 - Bluff...................................CHA [ 0.0 - 1 + 0]
+ 9 - Climb...................................STR [ 5.0 + 4 + 0]
+ 3 - Concentration...........................CON [ 0.0 + 3 + 0]
+ 6 - Craft (Armorsmithing)...................INT [ 1.0 + 3 + 2 racial]
+ 6 - Craft (Blacksmithing)...................INT [ 1.0 + 3 + 2 racial]
+ 6 - Craft (Stonemasonry)....................INT [ 1.0 + 3 + 2 racial]
+ 6 - Craft (Trapmaking)......................INT [ 1.0 + 3 + 2 racial (stone / metal only)]
+ 6 - Craft (Weaponsmithing)..................INT [ 1.0 + 3 + 2 racial]
+ 4 - Decipher Script.........................INT [ 1.0 + 3 + 0]
- 1 - Diplomacy...............................CHA [ 0.0 - 1 + 0]
+10 - Disable Device..........................INT [ 5.0 + 3 + 2 MW tools]
- 1 - Disguise................................CHA [ 0.0 - 1 + 0]
+ 4 - Escape Artist...........................DEX [ 0.0 + 4 + 0]
+ 3 - Forgery.................................INT [ 0.0 + 3 + 0]
- 1 - Gather Information......................CHA [ 0.0 - 1 + 0]
+ 7 - Heal....................................WIS [ 4.0 + 1 + 2 belt of healing]
+10 - Hide*...................................DEX [ 6.0 + 4 + 0]
- 1 - Intimidate..............................CHA [ 0.0 - 1 + 0]
+ 5 - Jump....................................STR [ 5.0 + 4 + 2 tumble synergy - 6 speed]
+10 - Knowledge (Dungeoneering)...............INT [ 5.0 + 3 + 2 favored env.]
+ 6 - Knowledge (Nature)......................INT [ 1.0 + 3 + 2 survival synergy]
+ 5 - Listen*.................................WIS [ 4.0 + 1 + 0]
+10 - Move Silently*..........................DEX [ 6.0 + 4 + 0]
+10 - Open Lock...............................DEX [ 4.0 + 4 + 2 MW Tools]
+ 4 - Ride....................................DEX [ 0.0 + 4 + 0]
+ 9 - Search..................................INT [ 6.0 + 3 + 0]
+ 1 - Sense Motive............................WIS [ 0.0 + 1 + 0]
+ 5 - Spot*...................................WIS [ 4.0 + 1 + 0]
+ 7 - Survival*...............................WIS [ 6.0 + 1 + 0]
+11 - Survival(Underground)*..................WIS [ 6.0 + 1 + 2 knowledge(dung.) + 2 favored env.]
+ 4 - Swim....................................STR [ 0.0 + 4 + 0]
+11 - Tumble..................................STR [ 5.0 + 4 + 2 jump synergy]
+ 4 - Use Rope................................DEX [ 0.0 + 4 + 0]
*+2 Search synergy bonus to Survival checks when following tracks
+2 Favored environment bonus to Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot checks when underground
**+2 Racial bonus to Appraise checks related to stone or metal items

Weapons
Proficient with simple weapons, martial weapons (including dwarven waraxe and urgosh), hand crossbow
Dwarven Urgosh, Dwarvencrafted (12lb)
Shortbow (2lb)
Quiver + 20 arrows (3lb)
Throwing Axe (2lb)
Hammer, Light (2lb)
Dagger (1lb)

Armour
Proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields)
Mithral Chainshirt +1, Dwarvencrafted (10lb)

Gear
Backpack (2lb)
Bedroll (3lb)
Chalk x10 (0lb)
Crowbar (2lb)
Earthsilk rope (7lb)
Flask, Empty (1.5lb)
Flint & Steel (0lb)
Flask of Oil (2lb)
Hammer (2lb)
Pouch, belt (0.5lb)
Pick, miner's (10lb)
Piton x4 (2lb)
Rations, trail x4 (4lb)
Shovel (8lb)
Waterskin (4lb)
Whetstone (1lb)

Sunrod x5 (5lb)
Thieves' tools, MW (2lb)
Tindertwig x5 (0lb)

Explorer's outfit (worn)
Traveler's outfit (5lb)

Belt of Healing (1lb)
Iron Ward Diamond, Least (0lb)

Money
Gp:13
Sp:6
Cp:5

Class Features
Ranger1: Favoured environment (Underground)
Ranger1: Track
Ranger1: Wild empathy
Ranger2: Two Weapon Fighting
Rogue1: Sneak Attack +1d6, Trapfinding
Rogue2: Evasion

[Gralhruk]

Equipment Descriptions
Belt of Healing
This broad leather belt is studded with three moonstones.
While wearing a healing belt, you gain a +2 competence bonus on Heal checks. This is a continuous effect and requires no activation.
In addition, the belt has 3 charges, which are renewed each day at dawn. Spending 1 or more charges allows you to channel positive energy and heal damage with a touch. (You can also use this ability to harm undead, dealing them an equivalent amount of damage instead.)
1 charge: Heals 2d8 points of damage.
2 charges: Heals 3d8 points of damage.
3 charges: Heals 4d8 points of damage.

Iron Ward Diamond
This dun and ecru diamond is incredibly durable.
An iron ward diamond lends its toughness to armor, helping it absorb blows in combat.
Least: The least version of this augment crystal grants you damage reduction 1/-. This damage reduction stacks with similar damage reduction granted by any other source. Once the clasp has prevented a total of 10 points of damage, it becomes inert until the following day.

Dwarvencraft Items
A dwarvencraft item is stronger and harder than a comparable masterwork item. A dwarvencraft item's hardness increases by 2, and it gains an additional 10 hit points. In addition, it gains a +2 bonus on all saving throws. All of these effects stack with the similar bonuses for magic items if the dwarvencraft item is made magical.

Earthsilk Rope
In addition to being used for clothing, earthsilk fibers can be woven together to form a strong, thin rope that fi nds common use in many dwarf cities. Earthsilk rope feels similar to silk ropes made in the surface world but is roughly twice as thick, putting it between silk and hempen ropes in bulk and ease of use. It is stronger even than silk rope, however, and can bear heavier loads without breaking.
Earthsilk rope has hardness 1, 10 hit points, and can be burst with a DC 26 Strength check.

Feat Descriptions
Combat Reflexes
Benefit: You may make a number of additional attacks of opportunity equal to your Dexterity bonus.
With this feat, you may also make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.
Normal: A character without this feat can make only one attack of opportunity per round and can't make attacks of opportunity while flat-footed.
Special: The Combat Reflexes feat does not allow a rogue to use her opportunist ability more than once per round.
A fighter may select Combat Reflexes as one of his fighter bonus feats.
A monk may select Combat Reflexes as a bonus feat at 2nd level.

Endurance
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on the following checks and saves: Swim checks made to resist nonlethal damage, Constitution checks made to continue running, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march, Constitution checks made to hold your breath, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from starvation or thirst, Fortitude saves made to avoid nonlethal damage from hot or cold environments, and Fortitude saves made to resist damage from suffocation. Also, you may sleep in light or medium armor without becoming fatigued.
Normal: A character without this feat who sleeps in medium or heavier armor is automatically fatigued the next day.
Special: A ranger automatically gains Endurance as a bonus feat at 3rd level. He need not select it.

Toughness
Benefit: You gain +3 hit points.
Special: A character may gain this feat multiple times. Its effects stack.

Track
Benefit: To find tracks or to follow them for 1 mile requires a successful Survival check. You must make another Survival check every time the tracks become difficult to follow.
You move at half your normal speed (or at your normal speed with a –5 penalty on the check, or at up to twice your normal speed with a –20 penalty on the check). The DC depends on the surface and the prevailing conditions
Normal: Without this feat, you can use the Survival skill to find tracks, but you can follow them only if the DC for the task is 10 or lower. Alternatively, you can use the Search skill to find a footprint or similar sign of a creature’s passage using the DCs given above, but you can’t use Search to follow tracks, even if someone else has already found them.
Special: A ranger automatically has Track as a bonus feat. He need not select it.
This feat does not allow you to find or follow the tracks made by a subject of a pass without trace spell.

Two Weapon Fighting
You can fight with a weapon in each hand. You can make one extra attack each round with the second weapon.
Prerequisite: Dex 15.
Benefit: Your penalties on attack rolls for fighting with two weapons are reduced. The penalty for your primary hand lessens by 2 and the one for your off hand lessens by 6.
Normal: If you wield a second weapon in your off hand, you can get one extra attack per round with that weapon. When fighting in this way you suffer a –6 penalty with your regular attack or attacks with your primary hand and a –10 penalty to the attack with your off hand. If your off-hand weapon is light the penalties are reduced by 2 each. (An unarmed strike is always considered light.)
Special: A 2nd-level ranger who has chosen the two-weapon combat style is treated as having Two-Weapon Fighting, even if he does not have the prerequisite for it, but only when he is wearing light or no armor.
A fighter may select Two-Weapon Fighting as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Vexing Flanker
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on your attack rolls when flanking.
Prerequisite: Combat Reflexes.
Normal: Flanking grants a +2 bonus on attack rolls.
Special: A fighter can select Vexing Flanker as one of his fighter bonus feats.

Class Features
Favored Enemy Variant: Favored Environment
Instead of selecting a type of creature against which to apply a bonus on certain skills and damage rolls, the ranger selects a specifi c natural environment and gains bonuses when in that environment.
Due to the ranger's experience in that environment, he gains a +2 bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills in that environment. He also gains the same bonus on Knowledge (nature) checks made in association with that environment (or on Knowledge [dungeoneering] checks made in association with underground environments, if the ranger has selected underground as a favored environment).
At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (at 10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored environment from those given on the table and gains an identical bonus on the appropriate skill checks in that environment. In addition, at each such interval, the bonuses in any one favored environment (including the one just selected, if so desired) increase by 2.


Wild Empathy (Ex)
A ranger can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his ranger level and his Charisma bonus to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.

To use wild empathy, the ranger and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

The ranger can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but he takes a –4 penalty on the check.


Sneak Attack
If a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage. The rogue’s attack deals extra damage any time her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target. This extra damage is 1d6 at 1st level, and it increases by 1d6 every two rogue levels thereafter. Should the rogue score a critical hit with a sneak attack, this extra damage is not multiplied.

Ranged attacks can count as sneak attacks only if the target is within 30 feet.

With a sap (blackjack) or an unarmed strike, a rogue can make a sneak attack that deals nonlethal damage instead of lethal damage. She cannot use a weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage in a sneak attack, not even with the usual –4 penalty.

A rogue can sneak attack only living creatures with discernible anatomies—undead, constructs, oozes, plants, and incorporeal creatures lack vital areas to attack. Any creature that is immune to critical hits is not vulnerable to sneak attacks. The rogue must be able to see the target well enough to pick out a vital spot and must be able to reach such a spot. A rogue cannot sneak attack while striking a creature with concealment or striking the limbs of a creature whose vitals are beyond reach.

Trapfinding
Rogues (and only rogues) can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20. Finding a nonmagical trap has a DC of at least 20, or higher if it is well hidden. Finding a magic trap has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

Rogues (and only rogues) can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

A rogue who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more with a Disable Device check can study a trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (with her party) without disarming it.

Evasion
At 2nd level and higher, a rogue can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the rogue is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless rogue does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Race Features
Ability Modifiers
+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Charisma

Stoneborn
Automatically receive Toughness and Endurance as bonus feats. In addition, this grants the dwarf a +4 racial bonus on saving throws against poison and a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects.

Workhorse
Base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).

Giantbane
+4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it’s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.

Goblinscourge
+1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.

Darkvision
Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and dwarves can function just fine with no light at all.

Earthcrafter
+2 racial bonus on Appraise and Craft checks that are related to stone or metal items.

Stonecunning
This ability grants a dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.

Weapon Familiarity
Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.

Stability
A dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).

[Gralhruk]

Description:
Grimjaw stands a little over four feet tall, broad as are all of the mountain folk, comprised of thick bone and dense muscle. His head is large, his legs short, and his massive hands look capable of snapping a bull's neck. Yet for all the solidity of his build, there is a gauntness about him as well, with not quite enough flesh on his bones to make him whole.

His hair and beard are snow white and his eyes milky - at first glance you might think him old, despite the solidity of his bearing. Looking past the scars, you can see that his features are rough but unseamed by age, though his skin tends toward an unhealthy grayish pallor. This youthfulness becomes more apparent when he moves - efficient and deadly, like the tread of a hunting cat.

In those powerful hands he carries a strange dwarven weapon, exquisitely crafted - axe on one end, spear on the other. His armor is likewise made - a mail shirt of deep gray links so lustrous and fine it might have been crafted for a king - with symbols wrought therein to match his weapon. A bandoleer across his broad chest holds axe, hammer, and dirk while strapped to his back is short bow of horn. His clothing is well made, but unadorned and plain in appearance, entirely comprised of varying shades of gray.


History:
My name is Gimdjal of the family Morgadin of the Clan Khorvek and I was born in the Duerrin Delving in the year 9242 as we reckon it, during the first forging of that year. As is clan custom, I hefted pick and mattock; with them I found the beauty and satisfaction of stonework and the ores and gems the earth offers. To honor family and clan, I served as apprentice with bellows and tongs, learning the work of the hammer and forge. When I was able, I took the path of the Deepwarden - for self, and family and clan. I pursued that goal with a single-mindedness to make my ancestors proud.

You think that the lands beneath the earth are small and close and empty. You are wrong. It is a vast world, roofed in living stone, filled with life and wonders to make your surface marvels seem pale. You cannot know what it is like to feel the strength of ancient stone all around, with the very bones of the world beneath your feet and above your head. Secrets and gifts are there, and horrors unimaginable for softer folk.

My life was given to my work, to protect all that I knew, for the Deepwardens range beyond the realm of civilized folk into the deep dark. There I saw things that stir wonder in me to this day, aye, and terror as well. I was in those days young and fiery, eager to prove myself and earn my place. It seems ages ago and it is hard to say what I remember truly and what is false.

We found ourselves one day exploring along the perimeter of our search area, I recall this clearly, a place on the fringes of the wild but not unknown. It was there we were set upon by some creature of nightmare. I have no name for it - a huge thing, with a hide like stone, claws and teeth of iron - and it slew Thokral and Askli before any could react. I hurled my axe and then ran past, drawing its attention. I was the youngest and, I knew, the quickest. It was on me in an instant; I twisted aside and was struck a glancing blow that sent me tumbling, putting the thing between me and the others. We have our secrets, we of the brotherhood, and our ways of protecting the clan. I hurled a thunderstone at the junction to the main passage, where the stone was levered to fall. The chamber collapsed with a roar to shake the mountains. What happened to the others or the creature I did not know then, though I was to hear the tale years later.

I expected to be crushed in the cave in but the floor beneath me gave way and I remember being struck many blows, and then falling down a steep slope and thence into a water filled chute. I recall being caught in a torrent and tumbling down, down. It was long and long before I reached the bottom, dumped rolling into a vast pool. After this, my recollection grows dim, save for the feeling of such a vast weight of stone above that I could scarce breathe. I had fallen so far below the surface as to be in another world.

What happened next is mixed and battered in my mind, interspersed with many things that seem impossible. Erethrum we name them, the mind-takers. I was enslaved, to mine with pick and shovel, and this I did for long years. My body bears scars from that work, wherein even the resilience of dwarves was sorely tested. We have a love for toil, but I was worked mercilessly and beyond any mortal capacity - breaking stone and hauling it away. My mind was empty, knowing not what happened around me, filled only with false contentment to serve. The knowledge rankles still.

It is hard to recall clearly any of that time, filled as it is with thousands of images that cannot all have been. I try to forget them, to ignore the things that come into my mind but it is not easy. It is like a huge gulf, filled to brimming with countless memories of the enslaved of eons hurled haphazardly within, with no order or purpose.

I might have spent a lifetime there and died as countless others have died, cast aside with less reverence than a broken tool. It was by chance that I was freed, or rather by sins come home to the sinner. Zathog'ghi - the word for the attackers - came to my mind when the chaos struck. I found myself in the midst of a battle, mind-takers versus these other horrors, these Zathog'ghi - great dark creatures, with a rack of horns and a long, razor sharp snout. Where ever they went there were screams and darkness and blood. I stood in the midst, stupified, like so many others, not knowing where or even who I was. Yet through my mind the commands still hummed. I hefted my weapon and attacked with the others, the mob of us able to bury one of the things through sheer combined weight. I saw a woman disemboweled, a man's head ripped from his shoulders, a child's face torn from his skull. It meant nothing to me then, though now those things haunt my dreams.

I do not know how long the fighting went but I do know when it ended. There came through my skull a sound that was the world ending, death and ruin and all things black and evil, all pain and suffering rolled into one. It blasted my senses, my body, my mind. It scarred my soul, and I ran until I could run no more and then I crawled on my hands and knees, and when I could no longer crawl I dragged myself forward with fingertips alone until they were bloody. I curled into a ball, gibbering, and consciousness left me. I existed, mad, in that deep hell for a long span of which I will not speak. Slowly, my senses returned and with them, my fear.

I knew I must find my way upward, and this I did eventually, with trials that I will not tell. First, though, I was compelled to return to the warren by a nagging in my mind. There I retrieved an insignificant ring from a dead man I had never really known, but this is a tale for another time. After, I started for home and on that journey I went through many strange maladies; my hair and beard fell out, leaving me lower than the youngest youth in our clan. It grew back, not black as of old but white as the purest snow that falls on your surface world, and for so much time did I travel that it grew long once more. When they found me on the outskirts they did not recognize me as the dwarf they had known of old. I was changed, not only in appearance but in manner as well. Gone was the rousing, cheerful dwarf they had known, whose eyes shown like silver. In his place they found one white-haired and somber, with milky eyes and a haunted stare.

Gimdjal I had been - hearty clansman - but I am that no longer; Grimjaw, I am become.

My heroism was recognized and I earned a place of renown among family and clan, yet my old life no longer fit. I am not the dwarf I was once, and things I had known are wrong, and there are things in my head that do not make sense. It is hard to live thus, a stranger to yourself and those for whom you had lived. I tried for a time, but gradually I kept more and more to myself, and more and more I devoted myself to my work. Yet even that was no solace, for dwarves thrive on their loyalty and I felt a great gulf between even my compatriots and myself. I despaired. It came eventually to my mind that it was not meant to be, that I could not live in that role. For in me other thoughts had been growing stronger - thoughts of the ring I had been compelled to retrieve, thoughts of the surface world in which it belonged. Aye, and thoughts of she for whom it might mean something.

Finally, I handed in my cloak and my chain and retired myself from the service I had so striven to make my life. It was a resignation, yes, and it was an acceptance as well. I have taken up the gauntlet my mind has laid before me, taken this challenge into places I had never thought to go or to see, accepted that to find myself I must needs look far from my family and my clan and even my people. Mayhap in this way I can fulfill a duty and erase my shame.

[Gralhruk]

Edinway:

The man, Emmon, had worn a ring on his left hand - copper, but shaped like linked leaves. Not worth much, but to his practiced eye the workmanship and detail were wonderful and inside, inscribed:

In light, in darkness, in life, in death. Forever.

Her name had been Alanna, and her face was burned in his mind along with those words. He could see the woman, didn't know her, knew her like the back of the massive hand that now held that ring, shaped for human fingers, much too small to fit his own. Not that he would dare wear it, knowing what he knew - remembering what he remembered.

How long had he been gone from her? A week? A month? A decade? He didn't know, couldn't remember. It was like that, being trapped in yourself. All the days of captivity blurred together into a few scattered images. He knew he'd been gone for years himself, but he hadn't known until he was back home. Things had changed, moved on.

Would she still be there, in Edinway, waiting for him to come back? Had she taken up with another, moved away, died? And the boy . . . how old would he be now? Still just a babe, or was he a man grown? Did he have questions, want answers, or was he bitter and full of rage? No way to know, now. It didn't make sense, on the surface, to go looking for her. But if you knew what he knew, if you had been inside another man's head, felt his pain, his loss, his fear . . .

Then maybe you'd feel different. Maybe you'd grab onto something as insignificant as a cheap copper ring and make it worth more than your own home, your own family, your own clan. Maybe you'd feel his loyalty, his determination, and see how closely it matched your own, be he dwarf or man. Maybe you'd feel that his woman - his family - deserved the respect of an explanation. Even if that meant you were the bearer of ill tidings, maybe you could give them peace, a token, a thing to remember him by. Maybe you could do that.