Dwarf's shadow

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Velenar
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Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2022 1:13 am

Dwarf's shadow

Post by Velenar » Fri Nov 25, 2022 5:16 am

It all started with a ship. At the call of the treasure, Bhaltran went to Andunor. Where he came from, greedy duergars, like himself, had already unearthed all sorts of treasures, but this gray dwarf's greed knew no bounds. Almost none. So far, common sense has controlled him.

After getting off the ship, he quickly got used to it and realized that he could earn good money with his ax here. After working in the sewers as a cleaner and having acquired several acid burns that remained with him for rest of his life, Baltran moved on - to help the Peacekeepers on the borders and fight off various barbarians.

Following the call of the greed he deified in the form of Abbathor, the duergar's adventures led him to a temple that embodied everything he fought against. Soon, after making his way through the distorted flesh and mind minions of this place, Baltran discovered that this temple is dedicated to Ghounadar, the god of all oozes. Driven into a corner, he despaired and prayed to his god and he answered his prayers. At least that's what the dwarf thought, but some kind of force transported him from the temple to a relatively safe place... on the Surface.

Cut off from his home, the dwarf found himself close to the place of his distant kins, so distant that such a kinship usually leads to internecine brawls. But common sense was with him, and the gray dwarf put on his helmet and, trying to pass for a local, went to explore hitherto unknown edges above the ceiling above his head. By force, he defeated the local bandits who worshiped the Blood Moon. By cunning, pretending to be a dwarf from the surface, he got money from the loot.

With the desire to finally return home into the Underdark, he found himself in the Forest of Despair, where every bush seemed to be following him. Bhaltran did not attach much importance to this and discovered the source - werewolves. Few swings with his ax and werewolf’s head lies already beneath duergar’s foot. Without scars today, only scratches from this foul beast.

Eventually the duergar found their way home back, and time passed before he established himself as a skilled warrior. He already had a lot of heads in his bag, but the temple of the god of oozes still beckoned with its menacing danger. Partial sorties were of little use until Bhaltran was back at Andunor's Hub for a cup of coffee. He noticed a drow sitting on the couch, reading a book. "Maybe she knows something?" he thought. Something within drew his attention to her, although he had not previously noticed these insidious dark elves, «inkskinners» as he called them. But whether it was the coffee, or the sheer charisma of this dark elf, Bhaltran plucked up courage, finished his cup in one gulp, wiped his gray beard and moved towards her. Mumbling something and trying to overcome his own racial hostility to drow on the one hand, rumbling in the stomach on the other, the duergar tried to find out something useful from her about this temple. Until…

Until suddenly, for himself, and even more so for the drow, as well as for everyone around, the rumbling in his stomach turned into something stronger, more ferocious, more dangerous and deadly. With the words of his lips DAT COFFEE... the duergar's body began to stretch and grow in size, sprouting grey hair, until it completely turned into a hybrid of a wolf and a humanoid.
Bhaltran's common sense left with the last words, and all that motivated him was sheer greed, but not gold, but the living flesh of this drow, looking into this damn book. Something he hasn't noticed until now. Something that hid in the shadows, hiding behind minor scratches. Somewhere inside his own mind. The dwarf's shadow, filled with all the negative feelings that emanated from himself, fed on them, sprouting roots deeper and deeper into his nature. The stronger he became, the stronger his shadow became. The more gold this dwarf got, the more flesh and blood the beast inside wanted to snatch. And in this quiet peaceful conversation, while another customer looked into his shop and prepared to buy the treasures looted by Bhaltran, the beast completely seized control of the body of the duergar, jumped onto the couch and began to inflict sudden and insidious blows on the drow, until finally her bloodied body flew off from couch.

Greed for flesh overwhelmed this once-duergar creature. Able to resist the wiles of the illithids, but defenseless against his own vice, the beast rushed at the Peacekeepers, whom Bhaltran had once helped. The battle moved into the hall, showing the emissary of the Gracklstugh the peculiarities of the local fauna. But fortunately, the beast managed to stop.
All the gold that the dwarf carried with him at that moment dissolved as a payment to his god for death.
Nearly a hundred thousand of gold. He came to himself at the gates of Andunor. Seeing a bunch of corpses of guards and horrified by the deed and the punishment that threatens him. In a panic, he took the first rune that came across from his bag and slammed it on the ground, finding himself in the forest ... the very forest of despair that had brought him here.

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