Kadrik "the mad" Spangelhelm

[kadrik]

NPC:
Name: Kadrik Spangelhelm, son of Thadrik,
Current career: Male Dwarf Thane
Age:174

Current Statistics:
M WS BS S T W I.. A Dex Ld Int Cl WP Fel
4 61 56 6 5 13 26 3 45 75 51 54 64 53
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Skills:Concealment Rural, Follow Trail, Game Hunting, Secret Language-Ranger, Secret Signs-Woodsman's, Immunity to Poisons, Mining, Metalurgy, Lightning reflexes, Strike Mighty blow, Fleet footed, Marksmanship, Orientation, Secret Signs - Scout, Beastman Lore, Read/Write, Public Speaking, Immunity to Fear, Quell Panic: Dwarfs, Public speaking,
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Trappings:
Great Crossbow with 30 Bolts, each blessed in the Temple of Grugni, (Count as magical attacks for the purposes of wounding etheiral creatures)

Cleric of Grugni brooche: Mark of Kadrik's office, said to have magical properties

Great weapon Az Kladdum: Blessed axe of Kadrik, this weapon inflicts +3dp

Armour of Thardrik: Full suit of Gromril armour 4ap all round.

Nai-roarkaz boots: Dwarf boots gifted to Kadrik from King Lance himself, they are set with runes which mute the wearers moves. (Kadrik can allways make silent moves regardless of if he has the skill for that area)

Copy of Thorin's map: A map of the lower mines made by an old freind.

Map of Duraz-Grugnad: Map of the Proudstone quarry and surounding forest.
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Money:4000GC
Fate Points:1
Mental condition: Far from insane, though slightly eccentric.

[kadrik]

The tale of Kadrik Spangelhelm
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Chapter one, the Roots of the clan
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The Spangelhelm clan is a well established clan who record their history with pride. They have well established pillars, hewn with their history, in both Karak Norn, and Kazad Dawr.

Spangelhelms hail origonaly from Karak Norn.
Karak Norn, in the grey mountains, was established in the year -1136, when many dwarf holds were in great strife. Refugee's from Karak Varn traveled in many directions, and those who were considered by southern dwarfs as "over adventurous" decided to form a coalition of dwarfs from broken holds, and headed north to forge a new kingdom.

Azanul the great, as he is known within the clan was one of these dwarfs. (Azanul's house bore the title Spangelhelm, because of the heirloom, the Crown of Spangelhelm's. A relic dating from the war of Vengence, which bore the gem of an elf lord who had over estimated his skill and fallen to the ancestors of the Spangelhelm clan)

Seeking a new realm for his dwarfs, Azanul led his brothers on, and the Spangelhelm's have been adventurous expantionist's ever since.

Karak Norn was not a rich hold, indeed its name was deriven from the thee great ancestors, Valya Grugni and Grimnir, but this was becuase there are three mountains within the Karak, each with a shrine on top.
These shrines where created in order to appease the ancestors so that fortune would come to the hold, and in time, with the introduction of new machinery for navigation, the hold began to prosper.

However, many grudges against local goblin tribes and Asrai elves led to a large amount of Spangelhelm's becoming rangers, oathbound to find retribution for the clan. This led to a long tradition of Spangelhelm's being strong at fighting with crossbows, great weapons, or both.
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When Lance Starbreaker declared that he was heading on to create a fastness further North, Thane Zanarik II Spangelhelm was aware of a contingent of dwarfs hunting down goblin wolf riders in the north east, the land where Lance proposed to found a hold. It seemed fitting that these dwarfs helped in the founding of a new hold.
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The Spangelhelm Clan is a large extended family, it has strong historical links with this area of the land, and it sheer size has meant it has a strong influence on Kazad Dawr. Spangelhelm's are less fearfull of technology than other dwarfs, and many fine engineers have rose from the younger generations.
The Spangelhelm clan provides a large amount of the holds Quarrelers.

When Oirni married Karu Proudstone, the clans influence in the hold increased, as the two clans assimilated, their power and wealth of the two clans combined made them the sixth most wealthy in the hold.

Families within Kazad Dawr:
Gavinson Spangelhelms (24)
Tarrikson Spangelhelms (26)
Fodrikson Spangelhelms (24)

Families within Duraz-Grugnaz:
Stonesheild Spangelhelms (26)
Thadrikson Spangelhelms (21)
Marbleaxe Spangelhelms (24)

[kadrik]

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"Chapter two, the Beardling years"
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Kadrik son of Thadrik was born in Kazad Dawr after a long history of the family having trouble getting a holding bellow ground. The younger of two sons, though his father allways loved him dearly, his elder brother, Thardrik was allways the favoured. Kadrik was considered slightly strange within the family, though not quite a blacksheep. From a young age, even though the family no longer had to wander the land to hunt down the begrudged Redhand tribe, he not only showed no disliking of large open spaces, but he began to enjoy it.
Where as many dwarf prefer the non agrophobic tunnels and mines, Kadrik enjoyed hunting in the forest and staying in the fresh air for long amounts of time. Some dwarfs said it would stunt his beard, and that he risked getting sun touched, but his father, seeing that disaproval would only create arguments, allowed him to pursue his first career in the forests as a hunter. Kadrik learned many things in the wild, and he would not have been so safe it it had not been for his cousin Ororthrim.
This freindship would later lead Kadrik to settle down in Duraz-Grugnaz, but that will be considered later.
So during his first fifty years in Kazad dawr he was a hunter, and a fairly good one at that. He never dishonoured his family, never complained that he got less praise than his brother, and remained a little known part of the hold. When Kadrik was fifty three, his father died, at the age of two hundred and six. Kadrik and Thadrik became closer to their uncle Orodrik in these times and Kadrik became great freinds with Bael. On his sixtieth birthday, Kadrik was given a fine crossbow and bolts to replace his hunter bow, and he found ambiguious grudges of the clan to try and eradicate above ground, becoming a ranger for the hold.

[kadrik]

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"Chapter three, The making of the warrior"
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Then at age seventy seven, Kadrik met up with a few
new freinds. One was a dwarf who Kadrik knew slightly from prior experiance, Thorek Bloodfist oft titled "touched by Gazul", who would become allmost his protector in time to come. Thorin Thogrison, the great slayer, who became his long companion. Gotrek Sizzlak, who became a great companion who never failed to amuse him. Grundi Copperfist, an all round good freind. Varn Ironbeard, the first time they met, Kadrik got a punch for his childishness, but then Thorek stepped in, and the two warriors had a fight for leadership of the band. Varn was found the weaker, and he learned his place, with Thorek's leadership clearly stated, Varn became less of a hot head, and more of a good dwarf. It was then that Kadrik and Varn became good freinds. Many adventures followed including tunnel fights with skaven and a hulking rat ogre, a battle against a band of human bandits, and other things. Many new freinds where made, Durin Starblade, Rom Proudstone, and many others, but many departed to other holds, leaving Kazad Dawr, possibly forever.
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It was the increasing freindship of Kadrik for Varn, that lead him to join a band of companions, in a mission to earn him favour in the hold, and be declared a accepted member. It was a quest that would change their lives, and the hold even the hold forever, for their intrusion into the goblin tribe created a nock on effect leading to the first seige of Kazad Dawr.
Their mission was to infiltrate a goblin camp, steal a rare flower which was needed by the temple of Valaya, then to get out again, which was easier said than done.
Kadrik used his knolege of the mountains to lead the company to a place in which they could sleep well, Zak Gromthi, the hut in the mountains often used by the rangers when in the wild. From there, they sat around a camp fire, and plotted their battle for the next day.
Their plan was made, and Kadrik was to join the main group, to make sure the flower was captured and Varn escaped.
The plan worked well, and Varn did slay the orc, though one of Varns mercenary freinds was slain by a goblin shaman. The shaman was then set upon by an enraged Thorin, who ran off, and then took the brunt of the goblins attack from one side of the camp. Thorek, seizing the initiative, ran to hold the enemy on the other end of the camp. So with the two great warriors fighting, the main group took the flower. Then, realising Thorin and Thorek where being overmatched by the endless greenskins, Varn and Thorax Bloodhelm ran to the aid of Thorin, Kadrik led Gotrek and the last mercenary to save his mentor Thorek from certain death or capture. Though they did their best to stay undetected, before long goblin archers pinned them down with volleys of arrows, slaying the last mercenary.
Then, Kadrik and Gotrek were forced to watch their mentor, who had been something of a father to Kadrik, be captured and brutalised by the enemy.
Had he not been acompanied by Gotrek, who would become a close freind, Kadrik would have charged of to save Thorek, or at least die at his side.
But as it was, Kadrik felt the need to watch over Gotrek, and so, the two warriors fled the feild of battle, battered and bruised, with resolve shaken, but still a chance to set right the wrongs. Kadrik led Gotrek back to Zak Gromthi, but found their freinds had allready gone, and to leave the hut risked being waylain by the enemy. So using his knolege of the mountain, Kadrik opened a secret door to the winding stairs, a dangerous passage that leads from Zak Gromthi in the high hills to the lower mines of Kazad Dawr. When they finaly reached the end, they realised they had not yet escaped danger. In an old abandoned dwarf mine, known as the "cavern of Cleg". A great contingent of skaven who had wrestled it from the dwarfs who once mined there, where now fighting a bitter fued with a huge nest of giant cave spiders. After the origonal suprise at the battle, Kadrik and Gotrek used it as a diversion to pass through the cavern without being noticed by the main horde. Not before slaying two giant spiders and a large number of clan rats.
Finnaly escaping the battle, they headed to the upper mines, and met up with a new companion, Snorri Snaggrund, a dwarf miner who would join Kadrik in many a quest afterwards.

[kadrik]

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Chapter four, Kadrik the hero
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Upon emerging from the mines with Gotrek Snorri and another mining companion, Kadrik found the hold in a great upheaval. In the upper mines the Ironbreakers where gatherering to face a underground assault by night goblins. It apeared that their incursion into the goblin camp had angered a goblin big boss, this particular goblin had long been planning an assault on the dwarfs of Kazad Dawr, and after this he mustered a force of huge proportions. One thousand goblins of the hills and forrests around the hold encircled the hold and laid siege to the mountain. The first seige of Kazad Dawr had begun.
Kadrik departed from Snorri and the female miner, and he and Gotrek headed to the baraks to join the army in an effort to lend their axes to the King and give the hold more chance. The two warriors stood alongside Kadrik's unit of rangers as they assembled the defenses for the Bazaar by using upturned carts and stalls of the many manling merchants and traders that worked in the bazaar. Then at his superior's bidding, Kadrik and Gotrek ran to the Dwarf miner tavern to assemble a unit of dwarf heroes to aid the standing army. Before Kadrik and Gotrek reached the tavern, they saw an old face, in a new atire. Thorek Bloodfist, who had been captured by the goblins still lived, but had finnaly cracked. He had been tortured and his beard had been clipped, so was no longer it long lustrous form. From Thorek he learned Thorin had escaped from the camp, and that the rest of his freinds had never been captured. But Thorek, left behind in the Goblin camp, had been brutalised, and given a message to tell the king, then left at the gates in shame.
The message was simple, a thousand strong goblin army was comeing, and would hit them withind days.
Thorek who allready endrured great pain, could not take the shame of this final blow, and took the oath of the slayer.
Kadrik and Gotrek now left Thorek to join the fight for the lower mines, and entered the dwarf miner tavern.
In the tavern, Kadrik gave a rousing speech, then he was reunited with his allies, and in the company of heroes, the great warriors headed off to join the fighting in the bazaar.
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Though they ran forth to battle, "Kadrik's Crusaders" turned up too late to aid the one hundred brave dwarfs and three douzen fearless manling warriors who made up the Bazaar Guard and stood at the breached gates to hold off the goblins for long enough for the main dwarf army to form up. So now, angered by the deaths of so many brave warriors, and fresh ready for battle, the heros of the crusade formed up upon the walls assembled to hold the enemy just that bit longer.
The fighting was bitter, with goblins dropping like flies, and dwarfs being knocked from the barricades, and when a great troll ripped rent in the barricades, things looked dire for the Dwarfs of Kazad Dawr.
But no sooner had the breach been made, than the great slayer Thorin, along with Grundi Copperfist, lunged into the fray chalenging the great beast without fear. They fought well, and with the late help of the rest of the Crusade, the trolls dead corpse partially blocked the gap in the defenses.
Kadrik and his companions returned to the walls, save Thorin and Grundi, who not only continued to fight in the breach, but then forced their way into enemy lines, and took the battle to the enemy. Side by side, it seemed the two were unbeatable, then, the goblin shaman who had finnaly captured Thorin showed himself, and a imense rage overtook him, vengence would be his, so he and Grundi broke into a final noble charge. The shaman sent a terrible blast of magic to slay them, but managed only to slay more of his own kin. Seizing his chance, Thorin dove at the shaman, and clove the vile creature in two in a single great arc.
Then, when vengenance was his, Thorin realised that though his great companion Grundi, had avoided the origonal blast from the shaman, the masonry removed by the force had been flung in many directions, and a large stone had struck the brave warrior, killing him instantly.
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Meanwhile, in the dwarf lines, though the dwarf had held the goblins well, and slain many amoung them, the vile greenskins had managed to begin to overrun the walls. Seeing the death of his kin, Kadrik and his companions begrudgingly fell back to the secondary gates. The dwarfs had been pushed back, but the goblins where sorely depleted, their Shaman was dead, and there trolls now lay as obsticles for the goblins in the Bazaar.
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The battle of the Bazaar was over, and the dwarf would now fight for the secondary gates. Word had spread through the ranks, the night goblin contingent in the mines had been defeated by determined attacks from the holds great Ironbreakers. Now, the kings Hammerers joined the warriors of the hold, and fresh from battle in the mines, Thorek Bloodfist had rejoined his companions to fight the goblins and seek glorious death. And from the bazaar, blooded and wearied, but far from deafeted, Thorin Thogrison would fight alongside Thorek in their joint quest for release from woe. Their morale boosted, forces bolstered, and aided by a Organ gun, the wonder of the engineers of the hold, aswell as the great Thunderers. Not to mention the fact the goblins had been forced to fight at a bottle neck, the dwarfs where all but unbeatable.
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The goblins came, the organ gun blared, the Thunderers volleyed, and goblins died in droves.
When battle was met, dwarfs fought like warrior poets, slaying goblins and fearlessly defying the enemy.
The battle was just as feirce as in the bazaar, but this time against such terrible odds, the goblins failed to achieve a breakthrough. Seeing victory was near, the warriors of Kazad Dawr fought harder, their hope growing as the goblins began to loose heart. Thorek, seeing his kin die too goblins, broke into a blind rage, raining blows upon the goblins before him, without any regard to his own safety. In his element, the great slayer lost himself in combat, and it was not long before his body was covered in deep gashes and devastating wounds. Ignorant of pain Thorek fought on untill his body phisically could do no more, and a goblin drove a crude knife through his ribs. The great slayer began to sink to the ground, and Kadrik gave a deafaning cry of woe, filled with hapiness that Thorek had finally found peace, and anguish at his mentors loss, Kadrik dove in to take the place of Thorek in the line and instantly slew the goblins who had brought about Thorek's
dimise. Kadrik fought like a animal to protect Thorek's body, not allowing it to be defiled by the vile goblins.
It was not long now, before the battle was won. The goblins fled the mountain from the way they came, and the dwarf were ordered not to pursue.
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Varn set off straight away in search of the body of his oldest freind Grundi, and Kadrik personally carried Thoreks body to be buried. Since Thorek's clan had no tombs in Kazad Dawr, Kadrik took his body to the Spangelhelm's hall of heroes, the mausoleum.
So that as long as Spangelhelms lived in Kazad Dawr, Thorek Bloodfist would be remembered, and his tale told.
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Kadrik and many of his surviving companions were awarded for their Valour, Kadrik with Runic boots that muted the footfalls of its wearer. Varn Finaly was accepted as a dwarf of Kazad Dawr, and Thorin was given a great gromril bladed axe. Yet weather they had been awarded by the king or not, Kadrik and all his companions, where heroes of the hold.

[kadrik]

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Chapter five, Kadrik the pious
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After Kadriks encounter with what he quietly claimed to be the dwarf ancestor Grugni, Kadrik sought higher understanding of the great ancestors. For a period of years, Kadrik all but disapeared from the history of Kazad Dawr, as he quietly and poiusly read through the tablet lores of the temples. For a long time the dwarf set asside his weapons and his clan believed he would continue a quiet existance till his death. The fame he had worked about himself diminished, whilst other heroes emerged and were more active in affairs of the hold.

However, Kadrik's priesthood was cut short by a dream, a vision of a dark time ahead. The ancestors told him the time of passive existance was at an end, and that a dark time was before him.

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When Kadrik re-emerged, the second seige of Kazad Dawr began, and the very streets and halls of every inch of the hold where a consumed in bitter attritious fighting.

Thardrik Spangelhelm, Kadrik's elder brother, led a doomed but valiant defence of the Spangelhelm clan homes, and was slain along with many of his kin. The women and children were protected long enough for Kadrik, Orothrim Spangelhelm, Bael Marbleaxe, Mordrak Flintforge, and Alabrak Marbleaxe to break the skaven remnants.

Yet the clans heirlooms had already been looted, most notably the family suit of Gromril armour, a dishonour which could not be allowed to rest upon the survivors of the clan.

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It is written that Kadrik came just in time to hear his brothers last words, and from that moment on he charged
His fury was legendary, it is said that he ran with such power, than he trampled many of his foes to the ground even if they avoided the bite of his axe.
Eventually, Kadrik and his kinsmen reclaimed the armour of his brother, the standard of Azanar, and the Shield of Kheled.
He handed them over to his grandfather, and then began a second, even more furious assault.

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Several clans have records of a warrior red with blood fighting his way through the ranks of skaven and helping break the seige, this is said to be the route of the "Red Dwarf" legend, though many suspect that it was no other than Kadrik Spangelhelm filled with rage at the death of his brother.

[kadrik]

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Chapter six: Thane Kadrik of Higher Grugnad
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Although clan records have little indication towards this, (more than likely due to the family hushing it up and attempting to avoid dishonour) it is fairly well accepted that Kadrik had a mental breakdown not long after his brother died, and in time he became increasingly enigmatic, dissapearing for days on end, leading insane goblin hunting parties that were near suicidal in their implementation.

In order to keep track of his wayward kinsman, Bael Marbleaxe proposed that Kadrik lead a band of reckoners with him, so that others in the clan could help atone for Thardrik's death, although secretly it was Baels way of keeping an eye on his older cousin.

Many joined with him in raids on skaven and goblins alike, each more daring than the last, and with every expedition, Kadrik's fame grew once again, not under the guise of a nameless red dwarf, but as Kadrik the mad.

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On one of the expeditions, Kadrik's band, weary from battle with greenskins, took refuge in the Proudstone quarry. It just so happened, that on this occasion, Kadrik cousin, Orodrinn was being escorted back to the hold.
It is said that as soon as Karu Proudstone and Orodrinn met, they fell in love, and so began the fellowship between the two families. After the wedding, fully half of the clan came to live with the decimated Proudstones, and maintained the homes of those slain at the hands of vile ratspawn.

The families enjoyed a time of joy and peace, but soon the War of the deeps broke out, and Kadrik left the quarry to help the rest of his family fight the tide in Kazad Dawr. In the War of Deeps, Kadrik wore his brothers Gromril armour, in honour of Thardrik, and hundreds upon hundred of skaven were slain in Thardrik's name. Kadrik disapears from the records for long peroids of time,

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Towards, the end of the war, Kadrik disappeared altogether, and the clan believe he had finally lost his sanity. Manling merchant’s spoke of a lone warrior patrolling the wilds about Kazad Dawr, yet these stories became less and less frequent, and for a while the legend of Mad Kadrik became pure myth.

However, during the festival of remembrance, on Grimnir's day, Kadrik was spotted by the rangers, heading down to the hold of Kazad Dawr once more. He said he had returned to Kazad Dawr once more, to honour the Kazuzkuli, the war dead of the first siege of Kazad Dawr.

He returned to the clan home in higher Duraz-Grugnaz, and a great feast was held in his honour. In an attempt to keep Kadrik more traceable, and restore his more respectable name, he was offered the Thanedome of Upper Grugnaz, a slightly ambiguous land to claim, but Kadrik did not wish to cause offence, and would savour a rest from battle. Kadrik finaly hung up his armour and placed his axe on his mantle piece, and so his story came to and end… (for now!)