Kaddok Bear-Kin's page

Appearance:
Kaddok is a hulking brute who shambles more than he walks, but looks can be deceiving; he reveals a startling speed and grace when needed. Thick black tribal tattoos adorn his muscular bare arms, but unlike most Shoanti, his head remains unshaven, instead sporting a shaggy black-brown mane that reaches his shoulders. His general hairiness, size and deep basso growl gives one the impression of a bear lumbering about. His hands are large enough to crush melons!

He wears the dusky-colored scaly armor of a giant lizard, and carries a massive earthbreaker across one shoulder or slung across his back. Black and green beads hang from the laces of his brown leather breeches, and his boots are scuffed and worn from long wandering. The pelt of a bear hangs from his shoulders as a cloak.

Personality:
Wishes to be a druid, but doesn't have the aptitude - his temper too often gets the better of him, for while he can be patient while hunting, that patience doesn't extend to pursuits he doesn't excel at. This doesn't stop him from trying to be like a druid/shaman; like them, he doesn't even shave his head. He does his best to think things through and seek wisdom, he just doesn't always succeed. His totem is the forest grove, and it was the discovery of this that gelled his desire to pursue the life of a shaman.

Like most of his quah, Kaddok is not so against tshameks, or outsiders, as many other quahs are; he judges people on their actions, not prejudice (though it does stretch his patience when dealing with orc-kin). He loves animals, respecting their place in the world. He has a very strong sense of what is honorable, and what is not. He can be a very threatening figure, hulking about with his massive fists knotted and the scowl of an angry bear when he is upset. Still, he is kind to children and fond of telling nonsensical jokes that even other Shoanti than the Shrii-kirri Quah have trouble following the logic of.

Background:
Raised in the Cinderlands in a tribe of the Hawk Clan, respect for the natural world was a simple fact in Kaddok's life, but he had always felt a deeper spiritual connection to the animals he encountered. He was always looking for meaning in their actions, to the point that some of the other youths of his quah joked that he was half-Varisian, trying to tell his fortune through random behavior. Stubborn as a mule, this did not deter him in the least. When he came of age and discovered his totem, the forest grove itself, he convinced himself that it was a sign that he was meant to join the circle of shamans of his quah, unveiling the mysteries of the unseen world to lead his quah to greatness. He asked to study with his shaman, and was not refused.

All the while, he had grown from a strapping lad to a hulking bear of a man, earning him his honorific, Bear-Kin. He fought like a bear, too, all power and ferocity, and he carried the earthbreaker given to him as easily as if it were a feather. The temper responsible for more than one destructive rampage through his careful but obviously flawed apprentice-work for the shaman was a boon to his comrades when dealing with bands of orcs and other threats of the Cinderlands. He fought as easily as breathing, but all the while, he stubbornly clung to the dream of a life of deeper meaning, one that would have meaning for his people as well as himself.

When he confessed this to his tribe's shaman, he was given the rune Ingir, Beast Heart, and told to go on a journey of discovery, and find the true path that would bring honor to him and his Quah. Taking this to mean that he would eventually learn the mysteries of the druids, Kaddok grew out his hair and went eagerly, for though he had no particular aptitude for magic, he had learned the tongue of the ancients from his shaman, which seemed to promise a life of secret knowledge.

To that end, he traveled far from his quahs lands, seeking more ancient knowledge in the towns he came across. In one, he heard of the slightly infamous (at least, among his peers) sage of Sandpoint, Brodert Quink. This man, Kaddok thought, would reveal to him the secrets that would change his destiny.

And so he found himself traveling with a caravan, headed for the southern town of Sandpoint.

Notes:
More than anything, Kaddok wants to be a druid - a dream that may never be fulfilled. He believes that gathering knowledge of the ancients will somehow show him the path he must take to do this. (Step 1: gather ancient knowledge, Step 2: ???, Step 3: Druid!) His reason for wishing this is basically just that he wants to make a difference for all his people, and gain honor and respect in doing so.

Story:
Kaddok rose from his seat at the campfire with slow menace; it took some time, for he had far to rise. With a chest like a hairy boulder and arms and legs like the trunks of trees, simply drawing attention to his presence was enough to grant him the attention of his audience. With his bearskin cloak giving him an even broader silhouette against the red-washed evening sky, he loomed over everyone present like a cave bear himself. His pale brown eyes pinned the other Shrii-kirri to their seats. It seemed as though everyone was holding their breath.

"Hear me now, Jopus Wind-for-Brains," he rumbled, the basso growl of his voice striking their nerves with the ancient meat-memory of predators. His powerful horse-haunch fists clenched, and the others around the fire tensed. It wouldn't be the first time Kaddok had lost his temper. "When I say that the firepelt carried a baby gecko, and that this means winter will be hard, I am not lying, nor am I reading Harrow cards. I am speaking the truth."

To his credit, Jopus Windborne did not edge away. "Face it, Kaddok. You're no shaman - at least not yet," he added the last hurriedly as Kaddok's lip began to curl dangerously. "All we're saying is that you're a great warrior. The armor you have worn since you were a child, that is your true skin. Why do you fight this when you should be fighting orcs and giants?"

Kaddok glared at Jopus a few moments more. Then, with a sigh of relief from his comrades, he sank back down, running his hands over his bald head and face. One of the quah's children ran over to bury her face in his bearskin cloak, and he absently ruffled her hair with a hand larger than her head.

"When the hawk talks, the lizards should listen," he said with a weary smile. The Shrii-kirri laughed at his jest, while Hutoa Breaks-Rocks, who was Lyrune Quah, only smiled in mild puzzlement. Kaddok reached out one hand and tossed a beam on the fire. "But you lot are like a pack of Shundar Quah, no ear for the living song of nature. I will hear it. I will." Amid good-natured groans and shouts to change the subject, Kaddok's eyes glittered in the firelight.

He meant to see this through.

***

"It is time."

Old Ranwe Laughs-at-Truth gave Kaddok a smile; unlike some in the quah who knew of his decision, it was not unkind. That was just as well. Kaddok had no intention of chasing Ranwe up a tree the way he had Krojun Face-is-Flat and his friends. Then again, unlike Krojun (whose name Kaddok was more than a little responsible for), Ranwe had a was of defusing Kaddok's temper with her wisdom. Even when she teased him - and she did tease him, a lot - he could never be angry at the old shaman.

The dreamcatcher he had been set to weave, however, was another matter. Kaddok rose, his shaggy head touching the top of the tent, and deliberately set his furred boot on the mess he had made, bearing down. It crunched with a satisfying sound.

Ranwe raised her brows, and Kaddok felt a twinge of embarrassment - not exactly for destroying his hours of work, but for losing his temper with the task she had set him, yet again. To distract himself and her as well from the wreckage, he ducked through his extra-wide tent flap and pointed at the flocking birds in the sky. "The geese do not fly in formation. That must mean chaos is coming." He glanced at Ranwe sidelong, hopefully.

He knew it was pointless to hope for confirmation. Unlike his friends (and the less friendly youths of his quah, who had been heard to say his name should have been Varisian-Kin), the shaman never commented on his attempts to read meaning into the natural world. But today, for some reason, she didn't give him her usual mysterious smile, either. Instead she gestured toward the ashen hills. "Let us walk, Kaddok."

The Cinderlands were barren, to those who did not know them, and inhospitable even to those who did. Still, old Ranwe knew where life grew from death, and she had led the tribe to the stunted forest at the edge of the baking sand where they camped; it did not take long to reach the grove where Kaddok had realized the forest itself was his totem. He didn't ask how she knew. Ranwe knew much.

The unusually somber shaman lowered herself onto an old stump, and then leaned forward on her staff, rattling the bones and beads tied to it at Kaddok. "Go on, then. Tell me."

He had been waiting for the right time, searching for the right words to convince her. But in the end, he was a plain-spoken man, and his patience had run out. He crouched before her, but still towered over her withered body. "Ranwe Laughs-at-Truth, I am Kaddok Bear-Kin," he said, formal with the weight of his request. "The forest grove is my totem. I try to hear the voices of the animals. I have learned the secret language of the shamans. Let me be one of you, and help guide our people back to greatness."

Nodding, Ranwe looked at Kaddok, but he had the uncomfortable feeling that she wasn't seeing him. "Kaddok Bear-Kin, I am Ranwe Laughs-at-Truth, but I do not laugh now. I have seen the restlessness in your heart. I know you seek to find your place among us. I know..." She shivered, and refocused her gaze on him. "I know we will have need of you, in time. But you must make a journey."

Lifting a gourd from her shaman's pouch, she dipped her hand inside. "The way will be hard, Kaddok, and you will find yourself wrenched with doubt. Know that you will find the right path, and honor. Know that Ingvir will guide you." She held her hand out, daubed with sacred blue paint, expectantly.

Kaddok's eyes widened, and he shucked easily out of his lizard-hide armor, falling to one knee before the shaman. He bowed his head as she bestowed Ingvir, the Beast Heart rune, over his own heart. Choked with excitement and anticipation, he rose proudly. He helped the shaman stand, and they walked companionably back to the camp, in one of the greatest exertions of will that Kaddok had ever managed. He wanted to run, to roar and crow and dance. Instead, he waited patiently while Ranwe prepared to give him the tattoo that would make Ingvir permanent.

Of course, it didn't hurt that his friends came to envy his good fortune.

Languages:
Common, Shoanti, Thassilonian

Str 18
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 13
Cha 12

SENSES Perception +8

DEFENSE
AC 17 Touch 12 FF 15 (+2 Dex, +4 armor, +1 amulet of natural armor)

CMD 20
DR 2/-

HP: 50 (d12(+4 Toughness)+2)

SAVES
Fort: +6
Ref: +4
Will: +4

OFFENSE
Init: +2
Speed: 40'

Melee
dagger +8 (1d4+4, 19-20)
+1 earthbreaker +9 (2d6+5, x3)

Ranged
dagger +6 (1d4+4, 19-20) 10'
longbow +6 (1d8, x3) 100'

BAB: +4 CMB: +8

Extreme endurance:cold (Ex)
DR 2/- (Ex)

Feats:
Intimidating prowess
Power Attack
Toughness

Skills:
Climb +9
Handle animal +8
Intimidate +11
Knowledge: nature +8
Perception +8
Survival +8
Swim +9

Carried equipment:
backpack
bedroll
explorer's outfit