The Duelist
A dwarf of singular appearance named Droesh has recently arrived at Newhill (17.07). He-she has the sun-blacked skin of dwarves of the south (31.27), great golden bracers, a finger bone on a leather thong around his-her neck and a great spear. Droesh is exceptionally sure-footed and agile and often performs martial exercises by burying his-her spear in the ground and performing stretches while balanced on one foot on the other end.
The finger bone that Droesh keeps around his-her neck is all that remains of his oath-bound lover who died some months past. Since then, the distraught dwarf has been seeking any excuse he-she can find to challenge strangers to duels in an attempt to gather enough money to pay for the resurrection of his-her lover.
Droesh has already killed one of Abdul’s best customers (05.04) and shaken down several burghers of Blind Midshotgatepool (26.20) for money in return for cancelling scheduled duels before being run out of town by the thieves guild (26.20.01). What Droesh usually does is allow his-her opponent to choose the duel’s weapons if he-she is allowed the choose the place of the duel and then Droesh chooses locations such as on tightropes, on top of trees or on rooftops. A few of Droesh’s opponents have fallen to their deaths before the sure-footed dwarf could lay hands on them.
Hooks:
- -What gender is Droesh and his-her lover? Does it matter?
- -Who is Droesh planning to pay for the resurrection?
- -What sort of pretexts does Droesh use to challenge people to duels?
- -Who has Droesh fought so far?
- -Again with the finger bones? What’s with all the finger bones?