Bruden is a defensively and offensively strong melee beast and a full caster, fighting with his beard, he'll be able to use three of his stats in the future for damage (Kraken style plus white hair via Feral Combat Training), as well as incredible reach and physical and mental debuff capabilities as well as a back-up healer.
Outside of combat, he is a jeweler, a shipwright, and a fairly able scout (without that whole squishy quality) who is an advocate of the old ways of dwarfdom, looking into a supportive role to whomever wasn't smart enough to be pushed into leadership.
A hundred yards west from Jeggare Circle in a mostly forgotten alleyway is a run down basement pub called "The Witch's Tit". Roughly a decade ago it was much more lively and was the focal point of the limited dwarven culture in the city of Korvosa. A quiet dwarf by the name of Bruden ran the joint, taking care of his dozen regulars with exceptionally strong and cold brews, with a much stronger flavor and effect than most non-dwarves can stand. They often talked philosophy, played chess, discussed politics and solved the world's problems. It was small, lively, and without any stupid humans. It was just the way he liked it.
Until the day, someone left a few things in there after closing that changed his life forever. At the beginning of third watch, after all the dwarves had gone their ways and Bruden was doing his customary mopping, he ran into something in a dark corner under the table that began to emit a profane sound. He pulled out the basket he found under there in which he found a hammer, a human baby, and a note written in ancient dwarven runes.
"Please take care of these for me."
-T
The hammer was old and expensive, and a wonder to behold. The babe was smelly and loud, but for some reason he felt obligated to keep it. After all, he'd only had regulars in there that night and he wouldn't turn down a friend. He had milk that he used for some of his mixed drinks and ended up taking care of the tiny and frail looking girl. He named her Hennessy, and she became his pure delight.
As the young girl grew, she became extremely popular for the small pub, which eventually began attracting some non-dwarves. Business was good, and Bruden allowed his heart to be opened to the outsiders as they opened their purses for him. Eventually Hennessy began to help as much as she could, delivering drinks, and washing glasses. Business had life had never been better for the somewhat shy dwarf.
On her eleventh birthday, she went to the market to buy bread, and never returned. The Witch's Tit closed immediately as Bruden put his entire effort and fortune toward finding out where she had gone. Eventually he discovered her broken form, used and discarded in a heap of trash in the Shingles. He spent more money for investigators to discover who had done this, and he received many confirming reports that it was some low-life named Lamm.
Consumed with rage, he hired a dozen mercenaries, stormed his hideout and had him at his mercy. Lamm admitted his faults and actually cried out for mercy from the dwarf, as the dwarf pulled out various alchemic substances intending to let him know the kind of pain he felt from losing his only joy. Though his anger was burning hot, he couldn't follow through with his original plan and he decided to have him face justice in the system and hang publicly for what he'd done. He turned him over to the guard and within a day, Lamm was free again. The criminal had connections and had completely made a fool out of him.
Now broke, and defeated, having lost his faith in justice and mourning his impotence, Bruden languished in the Witch's Tit for several years slightly losing his mind. Some of his old friends come by now and again, and merely find him murmuring apologies to people no one else sees and softly weeping.
I love the dwarf wizard! I noticed that your background has some discrepancies and points of unclarity. Maybe it could use another proof read? I'm unsure as to whom his is and to whether he is trying to save his wife or his son. I'm also curious where Brudun is from. Janderhoff is the closest settlement to Sandpoint with a large dwarf population. I would also dig more information about how he thinks that Thassilonian could benefit him.
I suppose I was a little overzealous with my use of pronouns, but his wife died, and he transferred his son's life essence into an Ioun Wyrd which became his familiar. He wants to turn his son back into a dwarf to experience life the way his mother envisioned as per her dying wish.
I don't particularly have a place where he was from, although I suspect he's from a bit farther off than Janderhoff. I envisioned him crafting and travelling for about 10 years or so, looking for answers. I expect he was involved in some pretty scary stuff, mostly buying Contact Other Plane scrolls and trying to cast them without going insane, which he might have done a few times in his search for answers. But eventually he came upon Thassalon as a matter of elimination and confirmation.
He is specifically looking into the ancient power of Thassalon to discover a way to restore his son, and give him a self-sustaining dwarven body. I'm guessing it will take a wish or something similar, and possibly a ritual or two. It might end up being something that will take place deep into the campaign or after it due to the fact that he is ignorant (actually willingly ignorant) of what his son actually is now.
What he doesn't know is that his son actually died and is now staying with his father on the orders of an Archon of Torag to attempt to redeem him from his willingness to do anything for his family, even evil things, for genuine altruism that is not focused on self-gratification. He is purposely being led into this trouble by the powers that be to awaken the good in him and lead him on a path to redemption and penance. Eventually he'll have to face the truth and deal with his stubbornness, pride and selfishness to accomplish the very task he'd set out to do, since the answer for him lies not in the quick and easy path, but the hard road of heroism, of which he is reluctant to take.
Hey, this is Oterisk. Bruden's Alias is done, and should have all the relevant data.
I usually post every day, and sometimes several times a day. I will have a vacation coming up on the 26th, and I'll be gone for about ten days. I don't know if I'll be able to post or not. If you want to dump me in after I get back I'd be fine with that.
Thanks Jelani, that was fun. This was the first Module I have finished on the boards as well. It was a good time and I just want to thank you for finishing this. So many of these things don't keep going, but I think all of us are in for some congratulations.
Bruden sees the talking skeleton focus on Tyr, ignoring him in the back of the room, which suited him just fine. He dropped his spear in time with one of the other distractions hitting him from the front and two-handed his mace for an attack from behind.
Bruden will take the time while the bad guy is out of commission to take the lady to the top of the stairs into the hallway and lay her down, propped up against the wall. He pulls his dagger and cuts her bonds, pulling off her gag as well. The half elf whispers to her, "your brother sent us for you," and he stands up, retrieving his spear and getting ready for the inevitable fight.
I figured a little cinematic might be nice for the two rounds we got. Place Bruden behind Rale with the spear and I'm ready to go.
Sorry for the delay, Sundays are tough for me sometimes. At least I posted within 24 hours though.
He sees the opportunity to go towards the damsel and takes it. Dropping his spear, which doesn't work that well against skeletons anyway, he pulls his morningstar and heads toward the last standing skeleton. Bruden heads past Rale, giving him a pat on the shoulder on the way through. He advances to the skeleton and whacks it with his morningstar, attempting to bring it down with a two handed chop.
Bruden smiles when the gnome tells him that he gets to play the hero and he leaps the stairs to go rescue the pretty damsel in distress. As he moves, the spear goes down to the ground and he pulls his morningstar as one of his arms will be busy. He picks the young girl up easily in his arms and throws her over his shoulder, getting ready to run back up the stairs. He puts on his trademark lopsided grin and uses his rare words to say, "Worry not, The heroes are here."
Free action, drop weapon. Move action Acrobatics over stairs 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17 and draw new weapon. Move action pick up damsel. Free action, look awesome.
Of course, I'm now encumbered, I don't care how much she says she weighs.
Bruden steps forward to the top of the stairs as he smiles because of Tyr's boast. He gives his spear a twirl and brings it down on the Skeleton at the bottom of the stairs. Their foe was not much of a tactician if he didn't realize they had reach weapons and higher ground.
After a particularly harrowing problem with a statue earlier, Bruden is extremely wary of what's going on in this chamber. He scours the area for traps, takes a look into the chasm to see how deep it is, and throws a copper down to hear how long it takes to hit. If he spies no traps, he will assume there will be something going on with the statues and the bridge. Seeing as the chasm is only 15 feet wide, he will attempt to jump it with a bit of a running start. If he can bypass the bridge, perhaps he can bypass the trap as well, and possibly disarm it from the side.
Bruden walks back through the chamber with the pool, keeping his eyes from looking in the water. He goes through the next room, checking for traps and hidden doors and monsters, and proceeds to where Tyr finished running. He puts a hand on his shoulder and nods at him, as if he understood what he went through, because he does.
If there is anything in the skeleton room, he will stick around and investigate it, otherwise we will proceed through the door into the next chamber, checking the door for traps as well before opening it up.
That's the plan then. We all race for that door and slam it when we get through. Tyr, you should speak the plan to the rest of us so we will know what you are doing.
As soon as the swarm descended on him, Bruden realized why all of them had fled. He decided to run into the fountain room as well, trying to shake the swarm and possibly gain some healing as well.
Alternatively, if Rale does channel, Bruden will run off into the water area and see if he can draw the swarm that way. If they did, he could drop prone in the water and possibly evade them that way for a while.
Bruden doesn't have it, but once we get beat up a bit, we will probably flee without magical compulsion and figure something out. I usually get a couple flasks of acid, but I didn't bother with this one.
Those can hit a swarm.
Bruden took off running as fast as he could. There was some sort of eldrich evil in there that he couldn't help but run from. After about six seconds, he came to his senses and turned around, running back into the fray as quick as he left. Well, perhaps a little bit slower.
Bruden swings his spear around and raises it up over the Rale's shoulder, stabbing down at the taut skin of the zombie in front of him effectively using him as a human shield. It really was the best way to fight in closed quarters.
Bruden moves into the room, to the east of Rale and readies his spear.
If those zombies come around the corner I should get attacks of opportunity against both of them.
Power Attack of Opportunity 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Power Attack of Opportunity 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Damage: 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
Bruden will attempt to see if the water is drinkable from what he knows, just because he is curious. When Rale offers to make water if they are thirsty, he smiles at him and shrugs but otherwise he will search the room for any hidden doors or valuables before he moves over to the western passage.
Survival Check for water: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14
Perception check for room: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26
normal take 10 for trapfinding.
After he turns the wheel, he will lead the group back through the wet to the entrance again and go south. If there was a necromancer here, he would be in the crypt, and they needed all the ease they could get before that point. Along the way he will check for traps and keep a general wariness for whatever may be down here.
Remembering that the wheel would open the gate, he proceeds to turn it. Whatever gate it is, they would likely need to go through it sometime. He walks over to the wheel and checks for any traps or possibly to find what kind of gate it is talking about is nearby. He didn't want to flood the chamber if he could help it. If it becomes difficult, he waves Tyr over to help.
Bruden will check for traps. Assuming a strength check is needed to turn the wheel... 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22
When the skeletons fall, Bruden takes the lead again. But not before slapping Rale and Tyr on the shoulders in congratulations. It certainly was good to have some decent team members. He searches the room for anything interesting such as treasure or secret doors.
Bruden is effectually out of the fight, but will ready to rush in if Rale falls at any point. He doesn't expect it, but he is ready. Don't really have much I can do, all my ranged stuff will be at -8 penalties and isn't bludgeoning, so its hardly worth anything. If things go badly for a couple rounds then I might jump in, but otherwise, it's all yours.
Bruden is able to ready his spear just in time for the oncoming rush of skeletons. He makes a couple of strikes, and then heeds his friends' warnings to get out of there.
According to the map, I think I get at least two attacks of opportunity, possibly three as the skeletons rush me. After that, I will withdraw to the back of the line.
Attack of Opportunity (Power Attack}:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Attack of Opportunity (Power Attack}:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Damage: 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Attack of Opportunity (Power Attack}:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Bruden continues to go to the south, exploring the large room there. He is impressed with the size of the place, and wonders how it hasn't completely collapsed as of yet. He slowly wades out into the center of the room, being mindful of old traps or gears hidden in the water there.
Bruden searches out the room, checking to see if there is anything of particular use in here. He rearms himself with his spear and puts the mace on his belt again. When he finishes, he heads to the other room in the waterlogged hallway, keeping his eyes peeled for traps and enemies.
Bruden dodges the big mouth of the frog and swings down again slightly less disciplined than before but with a bit more urgency now that it was nipping at his leg. The blow hit true, and the mace sunk deep into the frog's skull, or what was left of it after the magical stone hit it.
Bruden drops his spear and pulls out the Masterwork Heavy mace. He really enjoyed the heft of this weapon, and it was so much easier to swing with two hands. He would have to thank whoever put it in here when they got back to town. He swings hard at the original frog, just to show that it should have been afraid of him. Although in this water, it was hard to get a good footing for making them understand that.
Drop Spear, free action. Draw Mace, move action. Power Attack, two handed, standard action.
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Damage: 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13
Move 2 squares east and one north, Power Attack with Spear
Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Bruden sloshes through the hip deep water and takes a stab at the dangerous creature, shouting at it, hoping to drive it away. With a thrust like that, it was about all he could do. The deep water messed with his footing, and he was unable to follow through with his thrust. Hopefully the shout would alert his friends as well, because this frog wasn't going down right away.
Of course I should miss this unless I hit AC 11, since it is likely small. So this particular debate shouldn't have any impact on my miss.
Strength Check: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
My Strength score is actually 18, so at -1 it drops to 17 which is only a +3 modifier. One more would do nothing, but the one that is being done really screws me over of +1 to hit and +2 to damage (with two handed weapons)
Edit:
prd wrote:
For every 2 points of damage you take to a single ability, apply a –1 penalty to skills and statistics listed with the relevant ability.
Huh, wow. Never played it that way before. Can't say I would be upset, but it's up to the GM.
Bruden takes a quick glance in the southern room and goes back to the north door to investigate further. He knew if those bodies were undead in any way, they would probably wait to attack them when they got closer. He checked for traps and listened closely at the northern door before unlocking it if necessary and proceeding through.
