Doriach Ferek'Dorn the Legend of the Battlefield

Role

Chapter 5

By now it was a familiar dream.The wizened duergar stood on the battlements
of the Clan Hold, one of the last remaining bastions, above or below. Clan
FerekDorn had stood for centuries behind its soaring walls, and would
probably stand for centuries more.

But as Doriach looked out over the massive cavern that held his family home,
he had sincere doubts that any of them would live, or even bear children that
would live, to see the walls fall. Hoards of undead shambled about
aimlessly. Scattered among the legions of ghouls, zombies and skeletons
stood demonic figures, their horned skulls rising above the roiling mass.
The unholy slavemasters drove their charges with the lack of urgency only
those born of the abyss could know. They knew it was only a matter of time
until the duergar within grew desperate. Even if the spring that fed the
clan hold lasted for hundreds of years, even if the Rothe could be sustained
in the tiny, fortified paddock they still held, even if the mushrooms had
enough soil to grow in, it wouldnt last.

The dream shifted away from the massive cavern, rising upwards through the
tunnels and stone and bursting through to the surface. As his awareness
soared over the plains and lands of Theras surface, the scene was more or
less the same. Various strongholds held in places, the last surviving
members of the races fighting tooth and nail, watching their parents and
children die year after year. Losing ground, year after year.

His presence drifts ever upward to a snowy mountain peak, coming to rest
beside the visage of an ageless dwarf. Though the years have dimmed his
reflexes slightly, the ancient duergar is quick to drop to his knees. The
stocky dwarf looks down at the kneeling duergar and speaks.

"Do ye recognize me, me wayward son, or has tha becursed Crow of a Warder
erased me name from the memories of ye an yer greasy kin." The words were
spoken with the weight of ages, with the steadfast bass of the earth itself.
Doriachs dream self could barely find words.

"By th first, me beady eyes av seen too much in me centuries, but -
Nordiach?" The grim visage of the Earth Lord did not change, though a
small twinkle seemed to appear in his eye, briefly repelling the swirling
snow.

"Ay lad. An I don care if youve seen twice yer centuries, yer still a
farken whelp in me eye." The Earth Lord paused, seeming to consider his
words. "Ive brought yer this dream fer a reason, laddie. Yer gonner
relive it every time yer ale-soaked head hits yer pillow, because I cant
be letting what yer gonner see come ter pass. And itll be up to you. Now
yer gonner sit on yer arse and watch yer life as it coulder been."

Too stunned to do more than nod mutely, Doriach watched as the surroundings
began to slip away

Role

Chapter 4

Before him stood an image of himself in his middling years. Clasping a
well-worn whip and knife, the duergar bore the garb of a mercenary. As his
consciousness panned back slightly, he could see the lines of a battle being
drawn. Representatives from the various mage guilds were all present, but as
he watched the various participants go through their pre-battle preparations,
something was different.

Most numerous were the necromancer and their undead charges, their ways
unchanged, save perhaps for the sheer number of the black-coweled sorcerers.
Next to each was a black paladin, their infernal weapons pulsing with demonic
energy.It seemed as though these anti-champions were somehow channeling the
abyssial energy common in their guild to their death-mage counterparts,
resulting in some unholy bastardization of demonium and undeath. Recalling
the scene from the end of his days, Doriachs incorporeal self could only
shudder, knowing where such a partnership would lead.

Scattered about the lines were shapeshifters. As he watched these metamorphs
blur into their alternate forms, he was struck by how they, too, seemed
changed. Where once he would glimpse proud lions, majestic stallions and
fierce serpents, he now beheld dark hellhounds, steaming nightmares and slimy
hydras.It seemed as though the abyss had reached out to pervert this magic,
as well.

It was no different with the invokers and conjurers he glimpsed. The
conjurers he glimpsed were accompanied exclusively by demons or devils, the
mages seeming as little more than tools of the supposed servitors. The fire
and ice once wielded by the proud elementalists seemed transfigured into
blackfyre and other dark mockeries of the elemental planes.

As he turned his awareness towards the opposing side, he was struck by the
makeup of that army. Made up of mostly elves, blue-skinned giants and
dwarves, there appeared to be almost no mages amongst their ranks. What ever
had happened to pervert the mage guilds, it seemed as though there was no
place for the magi of the light, the only part of this vision that didnt
sit poorly with the overwhelmed Doriach.

As he absorbed the enormity of the scene, he began to feel his awareness
drifting once more, as though he had seen all he had been meant to see

He found himself at the entrance to a cave, clearly one of the few paths
leading out from the Underdark.Suddenly, a figure burst from the cave,
running at full speed. It was a goblin, an escaped slave, judging by the
lash marks on its back.

A second later, a young duergar charged out into the sunlight, skidding to a
halt and casting a baleful glance at the sun. Cursing the goblins
willingness to enter the light, the duergar huffed loudly, trotting back into
the coolness of the cavern. Around his neck was a freshly-smithed clan
badge. Doriach recognized it as the one he was slated to receive in two
tendays. As he pondered the weight of this newest image, he felt his
surrounds began to shift once more...

Skill List

Role

Chapter 3

He could feel where he was before his vision came into focus, such was the
power of presence exuded by the First Lord of Earth. Opening his eyes, he
looked down to see himself at his current age. Had had seen so much of such
import that it was all he could do to cast a questioning look at the eternal
dwarf before him. Nordiach was the first to speak.

"Thinkin yer unner'stand what ye've seen, lad?", the question followed by a
piercing gaze that Doriach felt deep in his bones.

"Ahm' not much fer speculatin, Lord. I'm guessin I'll be havin a choice ter
leave th Underside pretty farkener, soon. If I don', be first steps th'
wrong way. Somehow dems mages get all hellish an' shite...er, too
powerful..." He frowned to himself, considering his words carefully. "So, I
gotter go out in th' Above, else that vision of me as tha' old bag o
farking...eh, in me final yearsbe comin' ter pass?"

Chuckling inwardly at the duergar's clumsy attempts to clean up his natural
speech patterns, the elder god spoke. "Yer got it right fer th' most part,
lad. And talk like yerself. Here's what I'm askin of yeh. Leave th' grubby
confines of yer cave an go about in th' Overside. Yer need to start fightin
th' magi wherever yeh see 'em. Stamp out that bleak firkin future at its
root." The elder god paused, allowing his words to sink in.

"Im knowin yer ken hunt an' kill well enough, so this mage hunt ain'
gonner be too rough on yeh. What I'm askin now will be. It been too firkin
long that me lads have fought each other. Too many farken dead dwarves,
above an' below. I'm wantin yer to take the first steps toward reuniting th'
Clans o' yer kind with the Clans above.Yer saw them dreams, lad. Did yer
see many other farken dwarven kind? Nar. I'm needin me children ter be strong
in the face o' the firkin abyss."

Doriach could only nod mutely. Hed never met a dwarf, and figured
anything would be preferable to the future Nordiach had shown him.

"Now yer gotter listen close, because this be firkin important.Me time in
the forefront of dwarven an' duergar faith be long past. But they remember
me as th' first lord of earth, which I be fine with. Yer should see how yer
kin an' the dwarves above react when they come into the eternal Ale Room. Be
farken great." The god paused, chortling loudly. "Most of yer kin an the
dwarves won't be believing yer. So I'm wantin yer to try an' follow the dwarf
goddess Ysaloerye. She be a farken stubborn one, me lass, but if you ken
prove yerself ter her, yer'll be on the right path." He paused once more,
considering that last piece. "If she won't 'ave yer, that be 'er choice, an
yer ken go on killin mages. But never stop tryin, lad. Th' future kent
afford it." The last bit was spoken with the quiet menace of the ages,
leaving no question in Doriach's mind that he had only one choice in the
matter.

"Ahll werk for yeh then, Nordiach. Gonne cost me me farken home, but it be
a bunch o' soddin cutpurses anyhow. Ah'll firkin do it."

And with those last words, Nordiach nodding approvingly, Doriach drifted
away. Sitting bolt upright in his meager bedchamber, he began to prepare
himself for the t asks before him, and to prevent that unthinkable future
from coming to pass.

Role

Chapter 2

Here are the salient points of that story, for quick reference, as I know the
preceding story is pretty long:

-Doriach of clan Ferek'Dorn was visited in his dream by the original
dwarven earth god Nordiach and shown a future where evil magic basically
leads to the end of the world, somewhat like the "Eternal Night", but a
bit more demonically/undead themed.

-Nordiach uses it to show Doriach why he must fight magic. He likens killing
mages to stopping this problem (the terrible future) at its source.

-Nordiach also charges Doriach with taking initial steps to reuniting the
dwarves and duergar. While the elder god knows this is a distant hope, he
feels compelled to try.He bids Nordiach, as a follower of combat, to follow
Ysaloerye, as she is dwarven, holds influence over Combat (Doriach's sphere
because he likes to fight) and Earth (Nordiach's original domain). He
and Doriach come to an understand that it might not happen, but the effort
itself will work to achieve the goal.

-Because of all this, Doriach will go out of his way to avoid killing dwarves
if he can (though hes a duergar hell respond if attacked, and gear
will be a 'for the greater good' thing for him)

-Because of the visions, he despises necro's and ap's the most.
Duergar/drow ap's and drow necro's will be especially hated.

-Those are the important points to understanding his motivations. Well see
how this goes.

Role

Chapter 1

As time has passed, Doriach has seen some goals attained, and others that
need addressing.

On the positive, he has built a hut in the Village, and truly believes he is
held in high regard by his fellow BattleRagers.He has slain a number of
magi, though is somewhat annoyed that the fights that come to him are almost
always in regards to his birth.To slay the magi, he has to actively hunt,
something that does not bother him. Still, he occasionally wishes people
would look past his beard.

On the negative, hes done nothing to further Nordiachs hope of begging
reunification. While his confidence in his fighting abilities is supreme, he
is unsure of how to approach Ysaloerye.He knows where her fabled Inn is,
but believes that going there would be disrespectful to the dwarves of Akan,
many of which would strike him (and perish) on sight, and would hence be in
conflict with his long-term goals. He has found a ruined shrine in
Delar-Tol, and believes if reunification could be begun anywhere, that might
be the most fitting place.

As he moves forward in his life, he must continue to fight, but not be bogged
down by fighting those who hate him, and instead focus his efforts on the
magi, especially black paladins and necromancers. Such is the mantle of
burden a duergar with goals much bear, though, and he believes no one is
better suited for it than himself.

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