Kurgin and Shale of Clan Granitegrinder

[goate]

So, yeah, I finally got around to doing Kurginshale's obituary.

Kurginshale was a Dwarven melee sorceror who had the "unpredictable" background.  He started out with two distinct personalities - for which I had two separate descriptions and sets of gear.

• Shale
• Blue robe
• Falchion
• Blue Eyes
• Reserved Personality
• Samurai look and mentality


• Kurgin
• Red loincloth, shirtless
• Greatsword
• Red-tinted eyes
• Boisterous personality
• Barbarian look and mentality

[hide=Character Sheet][/hide]
[hide=Back Story]

Kurgin and Shale were born to Geldhaus of Clan Granitegrinder just after the Thunder Blessing.  They were not brothers by the conventional sense of the word, though they might have been if chaos didn't exist.  No matter how it happened, Kurgin and Shale were born into one body - two halves of a single soul that hadn't properly separated as the rest of the "Thunder-Blessed" had been.  

A Granitegrinder Priestess of Baronor Truesilver who attended the birth sensed the flaw in the newborn, and the infant was closely watched until he grew into a toddler.  Only then did family and clan realize the consequence of the child's condition.

The child would have fits at random, blacking out in violent convulsions.  Upon awaking, his eyes would open to portray a different color than they'd been before the fit, alternating from blue to a darker shade of red and back.  His mood would change - blue eyes meant the boy would be thoughtful and well-behaved if not withdrawn, red meant temper tantrums and exuberance.  There seemed to be large gaps in memory spanning fits - the blue-eyed boy could not remember what the red eyes saw, nor could the red-eyed boy recall the perceptions of the blue.

Family and clan came to the full realization that Kurginshale was two distinct boys rather than one.  With guidance from clan priests, the leadership decreed that the boys' conditions would be kept from the boys themselves, and that they would be raised as two distinct Dwarves: The boisterous Kurgin and the reserved Shale.

Decades later, the Dread Empire brought ruin to the home of the Granitegrinder Clan.  Kurgin and Shale, each thinking themselves the last survivor of their people, roamed the surface, worried for nothing saved survival.  Eventually Kurgin came across an abandoned Human farm, and a portal that lay in the field.  Never afraid of taking risks, he jumped in....

[/hide]Within an hour of entering the portal, Kurgin found himself in the Pissing Crone tavern, where he was pleased to find ale, as poor as it was.  While speaking with an Elven Harbinger by the name of Ialadris Vesparion, he went into a fit.  Upon awaking, he had not memory of stepping through the portal, and was mystified of how he'd come to be in the Dunwarren.

Starting with Ialadris and through interactions with other residents of the Dunwarren, especially the Tempered Dwarves, Shale came to the realiziation that his body housed two people.  Kurgin on the other hand disregarded such "nonsensical tavern talk" and went on living his life in ignorance.
[hide=Tempered Screenshots]
Shale attends a traditional tempered pyre for a brave and foolish warrior,
Mad'Ox Ironhelm (see Hagkir's epic)




A tempered meeting at the Society Chapterhouse


Shale and Hagkir
[/hide]
[hide=Time spent in Sanctuary]
Kurgin practices archery


Never ask a Dwarf with a loincloth why he isn't wearing clothes.  He'll correct you.  Finn Fiske learns this the hard way.



[/hide]
Eventually, Jarl Jormund Bgornsson and The Stonelord (Gerhardus Gunnvaldurson) convinced Shale that it would be fruitful to confront Kurgin.  Jarl Jormund gave Shale a perfect mirror, suggesting that such a mirror might allow him to communicate directly with Kurgin.  Moot was called upon the stone circle next to the canal, so that Shale and Kurgin's Tempered brothers and sisters could support him in his time of need.

[hide=The Mirror Ritual]
The Moot gathers.  A circle is formed.










Shale looks into the mirror...
















Kurgin appears






Shale, wishing to join the Society of the Ordered Mind, asks Kurgin if he would take the oath.  Kurgin, ever capricious, lets it depend on the flip of a coin.  The result is negative, and Kurgin refuses to take the oath (Which turns out to have been for the best.  Howland's take on my app: "Kurginshale's mind is far from ordered").


A tear in the weave...
















A single monstrous being of ice remains - a test for a follower of the tempered path.


Kurgin reaches out to Shale, signifying his willingness to fight and die in unity.


In a massive expulsion of energy, Kurgin and Shale's souls are fused.  For an instant that seems eternity, their beings float in the Plane of Limbo.  They see around them the secrets of the multiverse.  They try to grasp what is seen, but their limited minds can only catch and hold so much.  On the Prime Material, Kurginshale's awakens and his eyes open, and they glow white.  With the aid of his inborn magics and some well-aimed blows, the being of ice is felled.

[/hide]
From this day forth, Kurginshale's eyes glowed a bright white, and he spoke with two voices simultaneously.  He had not grasped much while his soul drifted in limbo, but he had learned many of the secrets of life and death.

He paid heed to the spiritual advice of the Witchseer Groa (a title he gave her! Kurgin called her "Witch", Shale called her "Seer" - after they were fused they called her "Witchseer").  She bade him to leave the evils of the shield behind and join her in the wilds, which he did.  Among the Stewards he became friends with the "Bear of the North", and made enemies of several rot druids, the Magus Atollo Synod, and the Orog Yrashnok, a powerful necromancer who would be his doom.

[hide=Life among the Stewards, Groa's tutelage]





Kurginshale explains to Groa what he has learned






Chilling with the "Bear of the North"


The "Bear of the North" and Aracknar Blackgem have a drinking contest


[/hide]
I feel like Kurginshale was fairly mechanically solid, but my PvP ineptitude led to several situations where I was captured.  Thanks to the players of Atollo Synod and Yrashnok for being so classy.

After several skirmishes in the wilds with Yrashnok, Kurginshale found the necromancer's lair and led a small ad-hoc assault to put an end to him.  The assault was a complete failure and resulted in the capture of Watcher Sharen Cain.  Kurginshale, not wanting her blood on his hands, tried to gather a force to rescue her.

::[ Message Relayed by Messenger Girl : Er- I`m supposed to say... `Peoples of the Dunwarren, We have attempted to assault the abode of the vile manipulator of the dead Yrashnok, and failed.  In the Assault, a Womanling of Upper was taken.  She fought valiantly, but the servants of Yrashnok prevailed and took her.  We require assistance.` ]::
::[ Message Relayed by Messenger Girl :  `We shall await help at the stairs of your front gate.  We are Kurginshale.` ]::

The second assault failed just as spectacularily as the first.  Yrashnok gave Kurginshale a choice: Freely offer his life and soul to Yrashnok, or everyone captured would face a fate worse than death.  Despite the objections of the people whose lives and souls were on the line, he accepted.

::[ City Sending by Tacitus Martialis : Sanctuary. This is Watcher Tacitus.  Know that the dwarven man, Kurgin, has this day fallen at the hands of the necromancer Yrashnok. He gave his life willingly that others may live.  May he be remembered.  ]::

Thus ended the story of Kurginshale, though he lived on in Hagkir's poetry:
[hide=Hakgir's Kurgin-Shale Epic]From here:

KURGIN-SHALE’S BLOOD AND WIND

BEFORE HE WAS ONE, A DWARF WAS ONCE TWO.
ONE WORE RED, THE OTHER BLUE.
KURGIN WAS HEARTY, AND SHALE SULLEN,
BOTH WERE FIT TO BRING ABERRANTS TO CULLING.
BUT ONE RITE CAME, AND BROUGHT THE REST OF US TO KNEES.
BATTLE OF THE UNMAKING ENSUED AND KURGIN-SHALE SUCCEEDS.
LET KURGIN AND SHALE’S EPIC BE KNOWN TO MANY A LUTE,
AND THEIR STRENGTH FORETOLD AT THE TEMPERED MOOT.

KURGIN AND SHALE SHARED A MORTAL COIL.
THEY HAD INNER STRIFE FOR WHO WOULD WALK SOIL.
BUT OUR JARL HAD A PERFECT MITHRIL MIRROR,
OF WHICH MIGHT ALLOW THEM TO SPEAK CLEARER.

A GATHERING WAS CALLED, FOR KURGIN-SHALE KNEW NOT THE DANGER.

TEMPERED NUMBERED MANY, ALL LENDING THEIR STRENGTH.
WE GATHERED ON THE EARTHEN CIRCLE, AT THE RIVER BANK.
FEET STOMPED IN RHYTHM, AND SHIELDS BANGED WITH MIGHT.
GAVE OUR ENERGY AS THE RITUAL MAGICKS GREW BRIGHT.
PORTALS CONJURED, AND ELEMENTALS IT FURNISHED.
SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE UNMAKING!
WE GREETED THEM WITH SKIRMISH.

WATER BEAT AGAINST FIRE, AND FIRE AGAINST THUNDER.
HERALDS OF THE NEW WORLD MADE TEMPERED SUNDER.
WHEN THE ELEMENTS SUBSIDED IN BUT A FLASH,
LEAVING WHIMPERING EMBERS AND FELLED KINSMEN,
KURGIN-SHALE AND AN ICEN GOLEM MADE A CLASH.

THEY FOUGHT OVER TEMPERED BODIES ON THEIR LAST BREATH.
THE MORTAL WOUND MAY YET CRY BLOOD IN THEIR DEATHS.
BUT KURGIN AND SHALE CONJOINED, AND CHIPPED STONE.
IT WAS THE TRUEST STRIKE DWARVAN BLADESMANSHIP EVER KNOWN.

DEFEATED, WORLDSTONE’S CREATION SAW THE TEST COMPLETE.
WHERE OUR JARL AND THANE FELL, AND MORE DWARVES BLED,
KURGIN AND SHALE TAMED THE ELEMENTS, AND SAW THEM BEAT.
THROUGH NEW EYES, KURGIN AND SHALE LOOKED UPON FRIENDS.

HIS SIGHT GLEW WITH RAW POWER, AND SPOKE WITHOUT COWER;

WE ARE KURGINSHALE HE ACCLAIMED.
BLESSED BY ICE AND FLAMES.

[/hide]

Thanks Caster for the amazing ritual and all the DM support!  Thanks Ebok and Kotenku for helping me fill my plot holes in IC'ly and for helping me advance my plot.  Thanks Vagrant Savant for the awesome epic poem.  Thanks Tempered Dwarves for all the fun interactions.  Thanks Diz-e for trying to help me get Blood Mage.  Unpredictable sorcerors are a blast, give it a shot!

[Vagrant Savant]

Aw man, I was hoping that any screenshot evidence of Hagkir's white-and-red armor would be gone, back before I knew what Auxiliary armor looked like. Hah.

Although I love Ralphy, Kurginshale still has a special place in my dorf heart. All the coulda's and shoulda's and woulda's.

[Ebok]

Always fun.

[Vagrant Savant]

I scoured my screenshot folder a bit and found this one from Kurginshale's moot. No better place for it than here.

[hide=THE LIGHT][/hide]

[whiterabbit]

Dayum, nice screenie.  That makes all my screenshots of the moot look like shit.

[TheShadow]

I just noticed i never did comment upon his death, or his sacrifice. He ( or she) who played yrashnok was classy, and indeed let her go, and as such his death was his own, however he was an excellent character, even unto his death, and i thank you for playing him and spending time with me, even unto risking your own life at the end, thank you.

[Knight Of Pentacles]

He was a cool bean with glowy eyes and a big scary sword.

[Diz-e]

This PC met my standards for epic story and concept. Shame it were cut short. 'Nuff said.

[Apocryphal Misconceptions]

Glossing over these screenshots I can honestly say I wish our paths had crossed.

[Tala]

I'm glad you've decided to make his obit so soon after he was killed.

But seriously, great story. Seems like my interactions with him didn't even scratch the surface.