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Ironbeard is fairly small for even a Dwarf, but his has no effect on his courage or might in battle. He gets his name from a hauberk of steel that he tucks his long beard into, making it appear that his very beard is made
up of armored rings. His fiery red hair hangs in three long braids down his back. His burned and scarred face bear testament to his dangerous profession, and the mere fact that he is still alive (not to mention the full set of dragonskin armor he wears) proves that his skill is formidable indeed. His longsword seems oversized for his diminutive frame, yet he wields it with deadly accuracy. He has a violent hatred of dragons, copper dragons in particular, yet he realizes that all dragons are not evil. He is meticulous in research and
planning when he goes on a hunt, finding all the information he can on his target to ensure the dragon is truly evil. |
Alcides was born into a poor farming community. The entire
community was very close, giving to whoever was in need. As a result, the people wanted for nothing, even though they had very little. So it was to Alcides' utmost horror that, returning from a foraging expedition, he witnessed a group of copper dragons descend on his little town and utterly raze it to the ground. Witnessing his entire life being destroyed before his very eyes, something snapped inside him, and he ran screaming an ancient Dwarven battle-cry that he had never heard before. The dragons had finished with their wanton destruction and were in the process of leaving, but one great dragon had paused, eyeing the near-hysterical Dwarf hacking on his leg with a foraging trowel. Favoring Alcides with a wicked and mocking sneer, the dragon flew away in a cloud of dust, leaving the sobbing Alcides amidst the wreckage of his home. It was on that day that he swore on the graves of his family and friends that he would hunt down all copper dragons one by one, not resting until he had brought that last sneering great dragon to bay. It was later, as he began to train himself for this great task, he discovered that the great dragon was none other than Calgoniak the Copper, king of the copper dragons. After
years of apprenticing himself to weapons masters, armorers, and the few retired dragonslayers he could find, he set out on his quest. It wasn't long before he had claimed his first kill, a young and inexperienced copper dragon he skewered using a ballista hidden in ambush. Fashioning armor out of its scaly hide, he felt some of his pain and rage die with it. On a later hunt, he ran into the Goblin dragonslayer Durian, who happened to be hunting the same dragon. After getting over their initial mistrust of each other, they teamed up and slew the dragon with remarkable ingenuity and teamwork. They formed a partnership that lasts to this day, Alcides using his imagination to come up with traps, snares, and new weapons and Durian using his technical know-how to produce them. |