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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MrFilthyIke" data-source="post: 1988129" data-attributes="member: 13915">Ta'VankaTa’Vanka – Battle Maiden of Nol DappaFemale Dwarf, 4’9” tall, 160 lbs.  Compact and sturdy as members of her race are in general.  Her skin has a reddish cast, hair is black and her eyes have golden irises.The armor she wears is masterwork full plate armor engraved and chased with a flame motif, and has flame shaped additions in the form of raised barbs and spikes.  The back plate has a raised collar and her winged great helm is designed to fit within the rim of the collar.While she does carry two throwing axes there is only one true weapon that she carries and is never parted from it.  A masterwork double headed great axe, echoing the flame motif, crafted as a gift for her, enchanted and soul-bound to her alone.  She has named the axe “Elabac’s Lesson” in honor of the master artisan who created it, and as a reminder of the lesson learned in questing for his safe return.She wears a collar of Otyugh teeth, strung several rows deep, a trophy of striking down in one blow a beast that had already injured several party members.  She also has strung at her waist two shrunken heads of foes she had slain in pursuit of striking down the evil conquerors of another dwarven enclave.Ta’Vanka is of the Nol Dappan enclave of dwarves, residing and working within a semi-active volcano which gives the people and their artifacts a reddish sheen.  She worships the god Nier – god of destruction, war, flames and purification.  He is also the judge of all souls of the dead.  Cast out by her master artisan family for choosing the warrior’s path she is considered an orphan with no familial ties.  The first female warrior in the enclave for many generations she has dedicated herself to either becoming the perfect warrior, or achieving the perfect death in service to the greater good or defense of the weak.Single minded, silent and completely focused in battle, she is often a fearsome sight, covered in blood and gore while leaving a trail of destruction behind her.  She is the first to step forward to save a friend or party member and gives selflessly of any resources she has.  Over years of adventuring she has one friend that she travels with, a human male of Kio descent, that she trusts implicitly; she considers him a more familial bond than her own family.  She also travels with an awakened animal, a rat named Skizz that is scholarly and also a linguist.  The rat usually travels nestled within the collar of the back plate and oft times accompanies her into battle.  Rarely seen without her armor, her hair is generally gathered back into a tight lacing at the nape of her neck for ease of wearing her helm and is then allowed to lie around the neck and down the front of her armor to her waist.  In the warrior tradition the first 8 inches from the lacing is intricately braided and intertwined with metal rings and trinkets with the remainder of the length left loose.  This enables the warrior, when entering battle, to twine the hair length around the front of the neck with the braiding and metal providing additional neck protection.---------------------------------Our party was charged with going into Ventaka, the city of the dead, to rescue a hostage taken there to be held indefinitely.  The only way in was through a portal in a ruined and corrupted temple, an arch of stones on an otherwise blank wall.  When the correct sequence of stones was activated the arch glowed and the portal sprang into being.  A limpid pool of water, vertical along the wall surface, it was lit from within by an eerie blue fey light.Unfortunately that summoned the portals guardians, the Reavers!  Once they worshipped Nier but became zealots and they chose to be bolted into their armor or have it fused to their skin. The party was surrounded by seven dwarven Reavers and the portal was not yet fixed to allow passage.  I stepped forward between the party and the Reavers, bringing my axe forward to hold the haft across my body.The leader of the Reavers spoke, “Come sister, join us in worship of Nier”I responded with a somber “I see no brothers, only souls to be judged by Nier” raising my voice so that the party behind me could hear “hold the line and fix that portal so we can come back”.  I heard two party members move in behind me as the portal incantation restarted.  I rose up on the balls of my feet, hefted my axe and charged the knot of Reavers on the other side of the portal chamber.It became a ballet of steel, anticipating the next blow, parrying, swinging my axe and watching the Reavers eyes.  I landed the first blow and severed an arm at the shoulder.  The leader exhorted the rest to charge me and they hesitated. In that moment I stepped forward and swung with all my might, taking off a head and cleaving open the breastplate of a third Reaver.  One of them brought their axe down upon my shoulder, unable to bring my own axe up to parry effectively I leaned forward and my shoulder guard and spike made it a glancing but jarring blow. The moment, though costly for now I had limited feeling in my right arm, allowed me to respond with full upward force and take my opponent out at the knees.  He lay screeching on the floor as his stumps sprayed blood over my armor.I looked to the Reaver’s leader and growled, “It seems that Nier has chosen”.  Panting with exertion I again brought the battle to them.  The two Reaver servitors stood a pace apart and started to attack in unison.  I paused and gauged the distance and pacing of their swings then leapt in to the air to swing down at the one on the right, while continuing the blow to parry the attack of the servitor on the left. That moment seemed to be frozen in time, as I felt myself floating and my arms moving as though through mud.  One part of me worried that I was moving too slow while the trained and battle seasoned warrior in me knew that this was one of those blessed, rare moments where it is THE perfect blend of skill and timing.  The servitor to the right saw the blow coming, his pupils widened so that his eyes were black holes into his soul, and it was as if he welcomed the end to this world for he smiled serenely and nodded.  I cleaved through his neck and chest, the force of my blow carrying the axe foreword to sever the remaining servitor’s gauntleted hands and splintering the haft of his axe.  My battle leap had landed my squarely in front of the leader but with my axe at its fullest extension behind me.  I was vulnerable and he knew it, but did not push his advantage.  The leader scowled and took a step back, nodded once to me and simply said “For Nier”.I stood upright and accepted his challenge, echoing his words.  Armor clanged with glancing blows and axes whistled with the speed of combat, caught in a deadly dance it seemed that neither of us would win.  I focused myself in to one massive attack that would leave me open to a killing blow if it did not at least connect.  I stepped in and swung down at his hip, and felt my axe separate the armor and bite into flesh and bone.  He collapsed, maimed, his life ebbing out in a pool of red gore.  As he lay gasping I knelt at his head and whispered “May you find Nier’s mercy”.  As he died, I stood and faced the horrified faces of my party members and as I strode towards them, all but my Kio friend pulled back.  He bowed and smiled as he said “Efficient as always”“Well one of has to be.  Is the portal secure?”The portal was, in fact, ready for safe passage and return so we stepped through to continue our quest.</blockquote>

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