Frond_Goodfellow's page

.. Forward: TN 6 + 5 = 11
.. Open: TN 9 + 5 = 14
.. Defensive: TN 12 + 5 = 17
.. Mattock Hit = 8 dmg
.... Mattock + '6' = 8 + 8 = 16 dmg
.... Mattock + 2* '6' = 8 + 2 * 8 = 24 dmg
.... Piercing blow upon: 9, 10 and 12

.. Keen Mattock (Dmg:8|Edge:9|Injury:18|Enc:3|2-Handed)
.. Dagger (Dmg:3|Edge:12|Injury:12|Enc:0|-)
.. Coat of Mail (Enc:16|Protection 4d6)
.. Helmet (Enc:6|Protection: +4)
.. Traveling Gear (Enc:2/3 depending on season, does not count for fatigue treshhold)
.. Total: 28/29 - 6* = 22/23
*From Dwarven Cultural Blessing

Envision a wandering dwarf merchant/smith.
--> Covered by Craft and a very good Travel skill.
Then add a good splash of Indiana Jones' artifact hunting.
-> That his motivation. Also Search/Explore/Craft/Fighting skill cover this theme.
-> Will need Lore&Awareness soon

Bàins appearance heavily depends on the bounds of your first meeting.
If you were to meet him on the street, you will look upon a broad-shouldered, stocky dwarf with a long black braided beard, the braids being hold together by finely wrought bracers made of silver. Careful brown eyes will look upon you from beneath thick eyebrows topping a weather worn face that looks older than he actually is.
He is likely to wear a long, well worn (but by no means battered looking) hooded cloak made of sturdy leather, brimmed with furs which features series of embroideries which form a series of dwarven runes.
When he gets close, you can hear the tell-tale clambering of metal against metal from beneath the cloak hinting at a partially concealed chain armour beneath. Over his back, a weapon is strapped that looks like a mix of a pickaxe and a warhammer. The long grip is made of a dark wood, featuring silver and golden inlays.
The dwarf is usually followed by one or two ponies loaded with several packs of good, protected against the harsh environment by layers of leather.

If you first meet him in a civilized town, Baìn will wear an expensive set of clothes (heavy red-and-grey robes with golden inlaid sigils of the Kingdom under the Lonely Mountain) and several golden rings on his hands. The bracers of his beard will be exchanged for ones that feature gems of various colour and size.

Baìn is an young, yet accomplished dwarf already. Most of his live, he had travelled the world with his father Naìn the Merchantman, who had lived to see the Kingdom under the Mountain before Smaugs cruel regency. The old man would never stop to tell his son about the wonders their forefathers had wrought and that are now buried under the Lonely Mountain and other dwarven empires. But he would also tell about the cruelty of the dragon and goblins (and worse) which have long since taken away many wonders and creations of their people (together with the lives of their creators).
And Baìns father had a lot of time to tell his tales as the two of them are traveling the ever growing distances between the civilized regions of the world, providing one of the rare links between settlements and kingdoms as they passed by, selling goods and bringing news from foreign lands and people.
As Thorin finally planned his adventure, he also sent for Naìn and Baìn, but they were far to the south at the edges of Rohan, too far away to receive the message in time. Rather than trying to follow the fellowship, father and son made for the Iron Mountains and King Daìn to tell him about the task the young Thorin had taken up.
As the ravens finally came flying to tell the tale of Smaugs end and the difficult situation their kin found themselves in, Baìn and his father took up arms together with Daìn and his folk to rush to the side of the new King under the Mountain.
The Battle of the Five armies took its toll on the merchants and Naìn succumbed to a poisoned arrow shortly after the battle was won, not far from the tent in which Thorin Oakshield was dying at the same time. In his last moments, Naìn started to sing a song for his son, like he did so often during their travels. The song was made of dwarven verses in the way of the ancient and tells of the lost and buried kingdoms and riches of all dwarvenkind. The voice of the old dwarf broke and went silent forever, after the last verse:
"… and discover what was lost to us."

After the moaning of his father, Baìn took up the mantle of Merchant his father left and took off on his own. But while he continues the life of a wandering merchant, he has another reason for his travels as well. Wherever he goes, he would collect old stories, maps and myths about old and lost dwarven settlements, ruins or artefacts – always ready to leave the straightest path to the next town even for the most remote chance to find a lost artefact of his people.

(Background link with Wulfgith)

During their trading run through Rohan, the two dwarven Merchants also reached the great golden hall of Edoras - a sight quite to the liking of the dwarves. On the market place of the king, the dwarves set up and sold their goods, mostly dwarven smith goods of a quality unknown to the riders of the mark. They sold a long iron shirt of the mastersmiths in the grey mountains to the kings household, several self-created swords to the mightiest riders, as well as lots of tiny things like golden rings, amulets, necklaces and armbands - only warm-up practice for the dwarven smiths, but certain to impress the eye of those who are not used to such things. In return, Naìn took several of the well-grown and educated horses the Rohirrim are well and wide known for. His well-trained merchant instinct telling him, that such fine creatures would be highly prized by the noble men of the north, where such powerful horses are entirely unknown.

The two dwarves with their fabled goods are quickly the talk of the whole town and the market place is quickly crowded by onlookers and children, eager to get a look at those strange newcomers. Questions like "Why do you have a beard if you're still a child?" and similar childish questions where asked and only the fact that it were children that asked them, kept the feared dwarven ire from raising.

Later that day, a big raven came to Edoras and landed on the shoulder of Naìn, to whisper into the ear of the old dwarf. His face was getting grimmer and grimmer the longer the raven talked, until Naìn cursed violently in the dwarven tongue - enough to scare of a bunch of children playing tag nearby. Questioned for the reason, Naìn would answer his son in quick, rumbling dwarfish, that Thorin has send for all his associates to come together in Bree to make the journey to the reclaim the Lonely Montain. With another hellish curse, Naìn had turned to the Raven and quickly spoke into its ear, before sending it off. Grumpling, the old man had told his son, that they are way too far away to make it to Bree in time and that they would set off to the Iron Mountains and King Daìn the next morning to have him prepare his men. Should Thorin be successful, he certainly would need his kin to fortify and repair the old dwarven kingdom under the Lonely Mountain.

Just before dawn on the next morning, the dwarves have set off, a number of horses behind their ponies, a long journey ahead of them, that would take them the better part of half a year to complete.