Durrgo (“Huff”; Character)

Steel Realms Huff Character

Strength 18 { +4 }

Intelligence 9 { -1 }

Wisdom 8 { -1 }
Acute Sense (smell); Perception checks based on Smell have Advantage
Acute Sense (hearing); Perception checks based on Hearing have Advantage

Dexterity 13 { +1 }

Constitution 20 { +5 }

Charisma 10 {}

Sanity 12 { +1 }

Proficiency @+2 Bonus at 4th

Saves: Strength, Constitution

Armor: Light, Medium, Shields (all)

Weapons: Simple (all), Martial

Skills: Nature [grew up in the wilds], Athletics, Animal Handling, Survival, Land Vehicles
Lore: Grollen +2; The Grollen pass on a rich oratory history to all members of the tribe.

Languages: Gladnorian (fully spoken; Feather made sure he was taught the basics of reading/writing), Hruba (fully spoken)

Features

Swift: 35 feet base move; Grollen have a long stride and have adapted to long distance running (because their physiology makes it impossible for them to ride beasts comfortably), using their long arms to help them lope occasionally. Practiced Runner: A Grollen can run twice as long at a normal pace before tiring.

TRAITS:
Darkvision; 30′

Faith

Patrons: Ezrilus and Aerna – swears “By the Two Mothers” (Aerna day/Ezrilus night) – full moon is most sacred time, light all the time!

Combat

Hit Points: 12, 7, 7, 7 +20 = 53
ARMOR CLASS: Tough Hide: Natural AC 11, +1 Dex, +5 Con = 17 – when using 2 handed weapon / +2/19 with [typical] shield

Huff is a professional – he follows orders and thinks tactically. Uses crossbow from afar, 2 handed grollen war flail in hand to hand.

Rampage: While raging, when the gnoll reduces a creature to 0 Hit Points with a melee Attack on its turn, the gnoll can take a bonus Action to move up to half its speed and make a bite Attack.

Feature – Unarmored Defense: While you are not wearing any armor, your armor class equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier. You can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Reckless Attack: Starting at 2nd level, you can throw aside all concern for defense to attack with fierce desperation. When you make your first attack on your turn, you can decide to attack recklessly. Doing so gives you advantage on melee weapon attack rolls using Strength during this turn, but attack rolls against you have advantage until your next turn.

Dead on Your Feet: Constitution check each time they are hit, DC = 5 + the last damage they took to avoid death- but automatically fail real death saves. Its a save the party ability.

Initiative: -1 Grollen, +1 Dex = No adj.

Equipment

Weapons: grollen war flail (2D6; 11/16/28 with Grollen 1h), dagger, light crossbow (D10/5 armor pierce/+2 vs med and heavy armor) w/10 bolts
Armor: wicker medium shield (0 resilience)

History

Background: CARAVAN SPECIALIST (Proficiency = Animal Handling, Survival, Land Vehicles, and Languages +1)
Basics of Growing Up: [Pale Plains – Grollen] Personality >
Ideal >
Bond >
Flaw >
Old Black Hound mercenary Nickname: “Huff”
Description: Male, Grollen, Large Bearing (Max HP at first), age: 31, 7’2″, 340#, right handed
How they got the name: The sound he makes every time he’s asked to do something… the Grollen version of a sigh… “Hruffff”. Named by the tribe’s shaman.
Time in the Black Hounds: {6 years} No one expected him to live this long.
– Last rank was Private

What are they known for initially > Huff is actually pretty smart for his kind. Unlike most, he has a sense of humor about just about everything and is willing to laugh out loud (which is really unnerving for those not familiar with the Grollen), even at himself. He likes to play simple, practical jokes and loves to let children crawl all over him and tickle them. Of course, no one lets their kids within 10 miles if they can help it. Its theorized that the blow to the head he took in the Montaurn Campaign when he first joined somehow altered him. Like all of his kind, he howls and dances… and the full moon is his favorite time to do it.

Durrgo during Pop’s Betrayal

Durrgo was summoned but did not return from the message he was delivering in eastern Crestwold in time. He found out that the companion he once knew as “Pop” had murdered nearly all the others that were once part of the Blackhound mercenaries and reforms as The Blackwell squad of Gallantine. Fearing for his life, Durrgo took to the countryside. His skills allowed him to survive, avoiding the Gwinnish and forces of the duke and baron of Crestwold alike. He mostly spent his time in the east, away from the core of the fighting, hiring on as escort and scout, with the name of “Lopnan”. At one point, he was offered a place in a band of Grollen mercenaries named The Furflung Killers – though he traveled with them as a livestock handler as they served in Loamwold on its western shores against the occasional landing by the Gwinnish. He spent a year in The Saelish too, hauling goods into and out of the Dwarven enclave there.

Durrgo during the Blackwell’s Death

At the time of the necromancer Gruxand was confronted by the Blackwell team, and the spirits of the dead were released over the entire planet, Durrgo was thinking of returning to Torrelson’s Ford and seeing if the Gallants had reformed and the danger of assassination had passed. The wash of the spirit memories and death of tens of thousands made slow going. He traveled slowly westward, helping to stack and burn bodies as he went. It was a terrifying time. It also caused him to bypass Torrelson’s Ford when he arrive and go south around the town to the flooded river delta to the west of town. There he laid low and watched as the war with Gwinn subsided for the year – as the losses on both sides from the spirit memories decimated the armies. He watched a strange woman consistently come out and seek out flowers and plants in the delta – and seemed to be ignored by the lizard folk he had to constantly avoid. A few times there was a great beast in the sky at night, and once or twice he glimpsed a dragon-like form and prayed it was not so. The delta, especially the ruins of an ancient umbakian castle, seemed to be home of a large ogre sized creature that ignored the sun’s damage it would normally do to its kind. It was tracked for a few weeks by another large creature, and a great fight took place in the ruins it made home.

Durrgo Notices the new Tide Watcher squad

Prowling on the edge of town, after following a group that came to see what the ruckus in the delta ruins was, he noticed that they were new Gallantine order. He approached them, as one of The Blackwells, and after a few misunderstandings, was embraced by his fellow Gallantine members. He was sent to the villa near Hotherwale to clean, train, and regain his bearings as one of the group.

Durrgo During Tide Watcher Demise

Durrgo was being rehabilitated by the White Sisters when the rest of the company made its way to the hidden temple and encountered the Whisperer of Secrets. Only Ulrich and Danoir survived, and the Tide Watchers were disbanded, all losing their Bannerman status. He was unaware of this when he returned to the Villa Bovier to resume his kennel duties on 8-4-9168 CY. He was met by Feather, daughter of Geri, who had become steward of the villa. She asked him to stay, and to resume his duties and rest his mind for a few months.

KENNEL MASTER OF THE TIDE WATCHERS

He is raising mastiffs as trained war dogs and is now the “kennel master” of The Tide Watchers squad. The dogs he raises will be trained to a single loyal master. All of them will respond to his high pitched commands though that can barely be heard except by those with Heightened Senses (hearing), dogs, and Grollen. Essentially, he can command them without being heard. If he is there over the entire raising of the pup, and make an DC 15 Wisdom (Animal Handling) check for each of its first 3 month periods, it will have +1 Strength (+4 to attack, +2 damage, DC of knocked prone increased to 12), +1 AC and double HP. It can only be bonded to him – this is a result of his primal dark spirit bond.

Durrgo Freaks Out/Changes

July 7-9168 CY; Huff is traumatized by his experience in the evil dark of the Amenti-Apep undying priestess of Sisslenn. Having been unable to see after entering the cave, which was filled with the cold dark of the void, and whispers and the sounds of slurping mouths and slithering tentacles and suffering horrendous damage from the magics and attacks of the priestess and accidental damage from his party, he is permanently triggered. The smell of snakes and reptiles makes him afraid now, and the only person he will trust to issue any sane command or orders is Alcott. He is afraid of the dark in general, and will refuse to enter magical darkness. He is taken to the new White Sisters enclave in Torrelson’s Ford to be rehabilitated. Over the course of the next 3 months, they will tear down his fears, and restore the trust. Huff will find a new faith with Conviction in the Lightbringers, giving up his burgeoning faith in Merkaine from the adoption of it by his old band, The Blackwells. He becomes serious, taciturn, and no longer lives up to his old moniker “the laughing one”. He glowers and scowls all the time. He comes to despise the dark, with being in magical darkness triggering his Rampage ability on any successful attack – not just one that kills a target. His trust in Alcott was not broken, but he will at least listen skeptically to ideas and commands by others – though he will do what a follower of Conviction will do for his faith in Whelm and the Lightbringers.

Durrgo Rehabilitates

Feather sends Durrgo to the north, into the Lowland territory of Bar-Innis. Separated from his source of trauma, he spends several weeks at a mud spa in Braddon Bog and learns more of the history of the Gallantine Order from the Companions Library librarian there. He helps to train some new recruits at the Gallantine Academy itself and begins to feel normal again. He hits the training hard and improves his already robust constitution and strength. He returns to the recently rebuilt villa into a castle in Crestwold at the request of Feather. the whole countryside is abuzz with strange tales of elementsals, torn up roads and waterways, and the anger of the Baron to the Gallants in Crestwold. The Gallants are laying low and trying to let the situation blow over. Ther are rumors of Orrish inland from the swamp, and the peace with Gwinn seems like it might be shattered as one of the Gallants – Danoir – is blamed for an assassination attempt on the Baron of Crestwold. He says he is an agent for Gwinn and tensions flare once again. He dies before a Justicar can be brought. Durrgo is sent to retrieve his body by Feather and buried in the new cemetery outside the keep/castle. On the way back, hauling a travoy with the broken body (no one would give a mount or cart for its transport – understandably as he was a would-be assassin) he meets Volstagg, an archer. In return for helping him transport and guard the body of his fallen comrade, he says he will put in a good word to Feather, who is likely seeking a replacement in her Gallantine band. Feather is happy to see him in a decent mood from a stranger helping them. With feather is a small young woman, who seems to have softened her hard edge and she introduces her as Athena – the newest member of the Pin Feathers and an oath taker of the Gallantine Order. Huff, Athena, and Volstagg are to join the others.

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