Rock+Silverbreath

=Rock Silverbreath=


 * UPDATE, 3 Eyre 998:** Rock Silverbreath died in battle outside New Cyre. What promised to be an epic clash between Rock and Golandar ended abruptly when the champion of Clan Kolkarun made a single, massive power attack with the //Khazad-Spike// on the champion of Clan Droranath and wielder of //Beardcutter// -- a critical hit that killed Rock outright. With his death, //Beardcutter// lost its powers, including its awakened intelligence, but Golandar gained the knowledge of what he must do to awaken the Lesser Legacy powers of his own weapon. What this means to the Clan Droranath mercenaries hired by The Aurum and fighting alongside the Red Owl and her Swords of Liberty is unknown, but five members of Rock's entourage witnessed Golandar's abrupt and decisive victory.

Rock (birthname Rokar Droranath) is a member in good standing of Clan Droranath, one of the 12 clans comprising the Iron Council of the Mror Holds (a 13th Clan, Kundarak, is a Dragonmarked House and cannot be an official part of the Council). The name "Silverbreath" came from his time spent as a protege of Professor Grigg Wunsin, a service which ended abruptly about the time the Last War ended.

Rock briefly adventured with the main party in Olarune 998 YK, long enough to get acquainted with Golandar Kolkarun during the Bugbear mobilization against Sterngate. He was especially glad to see Golandar recover a Greataxe from an Orc Champion of the Jhorash'tar Clan, as the axe was a Droranath Champion's weapon (one of 13 items renowned in Holds lore, although one has been lost). Rock arranged with his clan to trade the Droranath Greataxe for a Kolkarun Urgrosh (another of the 13) that had been gathering dust in Clan Droranath's vaults for a century or more. A House Kundarak vault teleporter was used for the transaction (fortunate indeed that Sterngate had one).

The trade turned out to be beneficial to both Dwarves: Golandar became the wielder of the //Khazad-Spike//, Kolkarun's Legacy Weapon, and Rock (through some finagling) took on the Droranath Greataxe, the Legacy Weapon known as //Beardcutter//.

After the trade, Rock joined a secondary party of adventurers sent to investigate the House Vadalis enclave in eastern Breland (nearly due north of Sterngate). The group was not heard from until the last week of Therendor, when the main party finally arrived at the enclave to see if a rescue was needed. They found an army camped at the north end of the enclave's territory; the mobilized forces of the Swords of Liberty and two companies of mercenaries from the Mror Holds. One was Jhorash'tar Clan Orcs led by Orpik the Druid and the enigmatic "Quiet Grave;" the other was Dwarves of Clan Droranath, led by none other than Rock Silverbreath.

Another revelation from Rock is that he is a member of the Copper Concord of The Aurum, just like Golandar (who received his rings from the late Norrin Tordannon), and that he and their mutual superior (Ambassador Brunhild Mroranon, a Silver Concordian) had been watching Golandar for some time.

Clan Droranath
Clan Droranath has always been out of sync with the other Dwarf Clans. Their mines are less productive, their wealth considerably less than the likes of Mroranon, Soldorak or Kolkarun, and the clan's members are better known for their lack of refinement and ill temper //(even for Dwarves!)// than their great works with metal and stone. Yet for all that, Droranath is a full member of the Iron Council, unlike the Orcs of Clan Jhorash'tar or the various Duergar tribes. The reason is simple: The Dwarves of Clan Droranath are fierce, even reckless, fighters. Their birthrate is higher, and their life expectancy lower, than any other clan, which means that there's always a large group of young, ambitious Droranath warriors ready to fight as mercenaries for any group willing to pay; for another clan, as House Deneith Blademarks, or even to join one of the national armies fighting in the Last War.

Beardcutter
It is their history of fighting against their fellow Dwarf clans that inspired the nature of their clan Legacy Weapon. //Beardcutter// is a Greataxe, suitable for barbarians and with the sunder special, which when awakened seems to thirst for Dwarf blood, doing extra damage to them (Dwarf Bane). Because of its unsavory history, the other clans weren't upset when //Beardcutter// was lost during the Last War -- taken by a Jhorash'tar champion (who used it for years despite the damage it caused him as a non-Dwarf).

In Rock's hands //Beardcutter// awakened, showing both intelligence and a malign purpose. Golandar felt a hint of its power, and gained knowledge of how to awaken the Greataxe when he slew Rock with the //Khazad-Spike//. He was able to convince fugitive remnants of both the Droranath and Jhorash'tar mercenaries to surrender simply by brandishing //Beardcutter// in front of them -- proof that he had personally slain BOTH of their clan's champions. As of 10 Eyre 998 YK the Greataxe is in New Cyre, in the back of an armoire in the room shared by Golandar and Brunhild.