New PC for time off DM'ing campaign!
Annalette,
Ann for short, was raised in a loving, traditional dwarven home under the White
Cap mountain range. Guided by her successful trading clan, she showed the
metalworking capabilities held in such great esteem by her people at an early
age. A prodigy with the hammer, her first century was spent learning and
practicing her craft. While extremely strong and hardy due to long days working
the forge, Ann never demonstrated the temperament of a warrior and excluded
herself from all combat training. A fact she came to regret sorely when her
mountain home was ravaged by a band of orcish irregulars under the command of
the famed fire giant warleader, Bloodhands. Ann was horribly burned during her
escape from the hold and only made it out at all due to a brilliant holding
action on the part of her more martially inclined family members. Ann
eventually collapsed a few hours outside of the town of Avgard and would surely
have died of her injuries were it not for the fortunate intervention of a
traveling merchant that happened upon her wasted form. Ann recovered swiftly after
awakening in the village days later and was able to demonstrate her worth as a
smith in time.
Ann took
up a partnership with the savvy, but less capable, owner of the “Drunken Flame”
smithy, a human named Stordina. For the next 20 years, she maintained a brisk
trade with the human merchant, a man named Topper, that saved her life all those
years ago. Thanks to his trading acumen her armor, weapons, and tools have
become an integral part in the life of many in the area. So reliable are her
wares that Ann has become a well known figure in the community, a position she
detests.
While
never outgoing, Ann's personality has changed significantly since her early
years due to her disfiguring scars. While maintaining her feverish devotion to
the forge, Ann has become distant and taciturn, shunning most contact and
taking comfort only in her fires.
Ann
blames herself for not being capable of defending her family during the war, a belief that occasionally manifests
itself as unreasoning fear at the worst of times. To combat this, she has begun
training to be ready should she need to
defend herself in the future. While oddly lacking in the ability to adequately
wield a sword or axe, Ann has developed a combat style that suits her
extraordinary strength and personal preference for putting large, often pointy,
pieces of metal between herself and danger. This combat style, modeled on
vaguely remembered clan histories of the dwarven berserkers, focuses on
smashing (or smashing into) the vulnerable ankles and knees of taller adversaries. Ann is no fool and knows
her lack of maneuverability on the battlefield is a handicap that must be
quickly remedied with suitably dwarvish practicality.
Ann's
relatively stable life was turned upside-down recently by a brief tryst with an
itinerant dwarven priest of Hoar, god of vengeance. Drawn to his intensity and
clear purpose, Ann has taken up worship of the harsh god herself with the
intention of righting the perceived wrongs of her past. She has slowly been
building up her resources and finding allies capable of supporting her long
term mission of reclaiming her ancestral halls from Bloodhands with promises of
the wealth hidden within.
