Grampa Shroud

Dwarf / Cleric

Submitted character story

You are the cleric who leads from the front because subtlety died with the people you failed to save. Through the Blackfen and straight at the Iron Matron, you chose the path that puts your body between the threat and everyone behind you. The voice of Sharindilar called you away from Melowyny, and when the goblins came, you were conferring with clergy instead of standing at her side. Now Fullbright crashes down first in every fight, a blunt answer to the question your nightmares keep asking. The table will remember you as the healer who never flinches, the dwarf who turns protection into punishment delivered with a mace.

Defining moment: Grampa’s origins are something he doesn’t speak on because the cost of war isn’t something someone should brag about. 

Plus, it's not anyone's damn business. 

As a young dwarf, he trained as a soldier on the island of Mintarn and was assigned to a mercenary company. Traveling to the city of Neverwinter with his company to serve in both the army and the city watch, he soon tired of what he saw there. Having grown disillusioned with his fellow soldiers, who seemed to enjoy their authority at the expense of the people they were supposed to be protecting.

Finding his way once more to the mountains, where he was assigned to a new guard, he did something he hadn’t thought possible. He fell in love with one of the local tavern maidens. Melowyny was the most beautiful Dwarven woman he’d ever laid eyes upon. Granpa felt as though he’d found his place in the world and fully intended to settle down in the small village. Perhaps he’d build a chapel in honor of his deity and spend the rest of his days tending to followers and the family that they would one day have.

Dreams turned to nightmares that plagued him. A darkness that crept across the sea, reaching the lands and seeping over the mountains, stretching dark tendrils of death over the fields. Blite, disease, famine, and death threatened the peaceful village, but he knew not where the threat was coming from. Having dismissed the dreams at first, he began to hear a voice calling to him to defend against this unknown force.

Setting out on a short trip in an effort to gain insight into this and confer with others of his faith, he kissed his wife goodbye and never managed to reach his fellow clergy. The goblin wars swept over the land at an unexpected speed and ferocity, cutting him off from reaching his destination or returning home until it was too late. The loss of his wife and the village he had sworn to protect all through his own actions of not being there to help fend off the onslaught is a guilt Granpa still carries with him to this day.

Vengeance drove him. He sought to end those that had killed the love of his life, and to do so, he transferred from being a mere guard to serving on the front lines. He was assigned to a group of dwarven barbarians, who were one of the military’s bloodiest units. They weren’t the ones sent in when subtlety was called for. They were the ones sent in when the military leaders wanted to make a statement and drive fear into the goblin ranks. 

The Blood Brigade, as they were aptly dubbed, were feared even among the other dwarven units. Granpa lead them with pride though, completing multiple missions that were thought to be suicide. Relentless and fierce fighters, Granpa followed in the ways of the barbarian’s footsteps, never learning the ways of stealth and tact when dealing with enemies. Casually walking forward into the maw of danger was simply how you got the job done. It’s something he still carries with him.

At the end of the war, the dreams returned and with it, the voice once more calling for him to stand against death’s endless hunger. Certain of his deity’s wishes, he resigned his post and set out on his quest. Researching images from his dreams pointed him to Stormwreck Isle, not far from Neverwinter. A remote cloister there holds a temple to the dragon god Bahamut, who is a patron of heroes and a champion of justice. Someone at the cloister may hold the key to the impending doom his deity wishes him to avert.

Already paid the price