Piatra was always a bit different than his friends and family. He grew up with little desire to join in the weapon training that delighted most of his friends. As he grew old he started shedding more and more of the heavy armor preferred by those close to him, as he preferred having more mobility and quick reflexes. He started using lighter and lighter weapons, preferring speed over raw power.
This did not go over particularly well with his family. They expected him to grow into a fine warrior to be able to continue their proud tradition of warriors. They were not a noble family, but their family had served the Five Kings Mountains for generations as warriors and skilled weapons crafters. Piatra showed little interest in weapons or serving the military.
This is not to say that he could not hold his own in a fight. He was the best of his age in the wrestling matches that were popular among the dwarves, and when they all practiced fighting unarmed (who could know when you might lose a weapon in combat) he had an uncanny ability to stay on his feet while the others fell around him.
Piatra fell further in his family's eyes when he started spending more and more time with the odd dwarven monks that devoted themselves to unarmed combat. His family could not understand why he could not be a normal dwarf and worship Torag like the rest of them. He had to go waste his time seeking "self perfection" and learning of that foreign god Irori. It was incomprehensible.
So Piatra might have spent his life in mediocrity, studying and staying out of trouble, had he not met Professor Lorrimor. Piatra was meditating by a stream that flowed out of the mountain in which he lived. His favorite spot had a wonderful view of the forested hills beneath him, and the sound of the stream never failed to allow his relaxation. He had just settled into his quiet reflection when a man came running out of the forest yelling for help. Just as Piatra leapt to his feet, a large wolf came running out of the forest after the man.
Piatra wasted no time in rushing to the man's aid. He did not realize until he was close that it was not an ordinary wolf. It was some foul undead creature that proved to be a difficult opponent. The battle was a close affair and Piatra was not sure he could have survived had the Professor's arcane studies helped. He still bears the scars from that fateful battle, but he earned the Professor's friendship, and they spent much time together for a while, as the Professor had business in the mountains.
Piatra learned much from the Professor. He learned things that would aid him in future battles against the undead. He also learned of several Monk orders in distant lands where he might learn more than he could here among the dwarves. He learned of places where his worship of Irori would not be frowned upon by everyone he knew. When the Professor left to continue on his own journey, Piatra grew restless. He felt he could not continue his pursuit of knowledge of himself any more in his home. Some time later, he left his home to travel abroad and learn what he could from people outside the mountains.
Almost immediately after he set out, he met an elf named Vergil from the nearby Kingdom of Kyonin. Piatra was a bit shocked that fate could bring two friends of Professor Lorrimor together at the beginning of a long journey, but he considers it divine providence. They set out together to learn more about the world. Over their journey they became close friends, as many have on such journeys. The fact that they were ill-suited for friendship given their race's historical conflicts never occurred to them.
Upon learning of the Professor's death, the friends set out immediately to pay their respects.
