OK Guys here we go....
Key Phrase: "How sharper than a serpents tooth it is to have a thankless child"
Ingredients: a lock of hair
An uncut gem
"Cut off your nose to spite your face"
Association: Kul Moren (Kul Moren is a dwarven mining community in the mountains northwest of Mor's End. The dwarves are allied with Mor's End, and in fact, there is a large dwarven community on the northside of Mor's End. Kul Moren mines produce iron and very small amounts of other metals. The dwarven community in Mor's End has its own small military unit that is on loan from Kul Moren. The commander of that military unit is an adviser to the city council and Lady Kelvin).
Heather Townsend had few friends. In fact she very rarely left the house at all right up till her 18th birthday, though this was not of her own will.
Heather had a happy childhood, with her mother Sheron, a weaver, and her father Jake, a miner. Happy even though her father was often away for weeks at a time, the only mines he could work being over a day’s travel away, what with the dwarves working the only real prime mining area around their home of Kul Moran, a fact that turned his stomach every time he saw or heard tell of a dwarf. It must have seemed a cruel joke by the gods then that as young Heather grew older she did not grow any taller. Her size and stature remained at about 4 feet tall, and though Jake loved his daughter still the sight of her seemed a constant reminder of those foul dwarves in their mountain mines.
Fate seemed not to smile on the Townsend family. Heather’s mother died at an early age, of a disease that left her coughing and vomiting for the last few days of her life. Jake made it back from the mines too late and missed a last chance to say goodbye to his wife. All that was left for him was a
lock of hair plaited and tied with a blue bow, the color of his departed wife’s eyes.
Jake had to leave his mining work to look after Heather, but their roles soon became reversed. Her father slipped into a deep depression, sitting all day plaiting and un-plaiting the lock of his wife’s hair.
Heather did what she could for him over the next few years, even through his constant abuse. “Fetch me whisky, Dwarf”, he would spit. “Get a job, earn us some money half-growth” he would snarl. The coffers became more and more empty and her father more and more abusive till she could take no more. While readying her father’s clothes for the weekly wash she found
an uncut gem secreted in the bottom of his clothes chest. Why had her father not mentioned this? This would solve all their problems. She ran downstairs and confronted her father, presenting the gem and arguing the case to sell it and sort their money woes out, but her answer was violence. He hit her hard across the face with his tankard knocking her to the floor… "
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child, have I not given you a roof over your head, did I not leave my work to look after you, do I not raise you well DWARF!” he yelled in his drunken rage. “Get out of my sight, DWARF”.
Heather picked herself up and ran from her family home, the gem still clutched in her hand, her father’s yells following her down the dimly lit streets. She ran blindly through the streets as the sun set, eventually stopping when her short legs could no longer carry her and looked about the place. By some strange twist of fate she had run to the Dwarven district. Scared and alone she sat down next to a fountain, drinking from its cool waters and was startled when a hand shook her from her distractions. “Are you alright, my dear?” the dwarven lady enquired gently. Heather broke down and sobbed as the dwarf held her softly, the smell of her hair reminding her of her mother. Deleth, as her comforter was called, led her to her home where she fed her warm soup and made her a makeshift bed by the fireplace. Here Heather slept well for the first time in years.
In the morning Heather told all to Deleth, the death of her mother, her father’s continual abuse, him throwing her from the family home, everything.
“He seems a very bitter, if not confused, man my dear,
cutting off his nose to spite his face, if you like, by banishing you, the one who has cared for him. He seems delusional. You are free now my dear, you need never return to him should you wish not too.”
Heather was confused; she still loved her father inside but feared him more so. His anger could be so quick and hot and her appearance was constant spark to his kindling. She could not stay here in Mors End, but where else to go??? And then Deleth made her an offer, Why not go with her to the mines at Kul Moren and work in the kitchens there, not as a slave that she had been but as an employee, a free person with rights and wages. Her stature would suit the mines and her fellow dwarves would be sure to welcome even though she was human in race.
So it is that in the mines of Kul Moren, after 18 years of abuse that Heather at last feels comfortable, amongst those of a differing race, but surrounded by people who accept her for who she is. Her thoughts still go back to her father, and from time to time she has ventured back to Mors End and very nearly knocked on the door where once she lived, but memories make her turn and walk away.
Plot Hooks
• Heather’s father, Jake, wants the gem back. He had kept it safe for his “retirement” for over 12 years and is furious with his daughter for stealing it. He has taken to getting drunk and wandering the dwarven district looking for Heather and, it seems, any trouble he can find. If the party has any dwarves in he will instantly pick on them, accusing them of kidnapping his daughter and even going so far as to call the city watch to have them arrested.
• Heather returned to her father, to try and patch things up. Her pleas fell on deaf ears as he grabbed her and bundled her bound and gagged into the cellar. Deleth fears for her safety since she has been missing, and the city guards seem not to be interested in her demands to have Heather found. Maybe a trusty band of adventurers could help her out…
• The gem has started glowing. Over the past few days a dim glow has been radiating form the gem, Heather has kept it covered but it worries her. And so it should, the gem was “given” to her father from a strange creature he met in the mine and since that day his mind has not been his own, which could explain his behavior since Heather’s childhood. The gem is in fact a homing device and the creature Jake met is now heading towards the gem to extract some information he stored in Jake’s head for safe keeping. But Jake no longer has the gem…
• The dwarven miners have found another gem, identical to the one Heather possesses, and when brought together a portal has appeared between them. Several of the dwarves present, including Heather, were sucked through the portal as it opened but the dwarves are wary of sending a search party. Deleth has approached the party and asked them to investigate.
Stat Block
Heather Townsend : Female Human Rog 1/cmr 3;
CR 4;
Sz Small-size humanoid (human);
HD 3d4 plus 1d6;
hp 14; Init +1;
Spd 30 ft.;
AC 11;
AL LG;
SV Fort 1 Ref 4 Will 3; Str 10; Dex 12; Con 10; Int 12; Wis 15; Cha 16
Atks: Large Spoon +1 (1d4, crit 20/x2)
Skills: Disguise +9, Sense Motive +6, Cook +9, Brewer +9, Spot +9, Listen +9;
Feats: Armor Proficiency (Light), Endurance, Alertness, Blind-Fight
Possessions: Uncut Gem (15gp)
Description
Heather, though a human, stands but 4 feet tall. Her innocent and caring soul shines out through her mother’s blue eyes. Even though she was kept at home and rarely let out this did not seem to hamper her education as her mother’s collection of books continued to teach her after her mother passed away. Though the years of abuse from her father do not seem to affect her now, she still thinks of her father and wonders how he is, how he is coping, but the memories of the fear he held her under usually make her back away from visiting. Now among the dwarves of Kul Moren she has found a home at last, but how will she feel as she grows old among the seemingly ageless dwarves. Will she one day venture back to her father and try to patch things up???
There we go then guys.....