Badan Gruk

Badan Gruk was sergeant of the 5th squad, 8th Legion, 3rd Company of the Bonehunters. He was a Dal Honese of the Forest Horn who was described as short and wide with skin as black as a Tiste Andii. The epicanthic folds of his eyes were very pronounced, allowing very little of the whites of his eyes to show, and he rarely smiled, allowing him to all but disappear at night.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, UK BCA edition p.700 He was at least a head shorter than most of his fellow soldiers. 
Badan Gruk followed Sinter, who was from his own tribe, into joining the Malazan Military, as the young Dal Hon was infatuated with her. He was well aware that this was a losing proposition as Sinter herself had joined the army to follow Kisswhere, the sister she worshipped. He had no interest in actually fighting and was more concerned with staying alive. He preferred the safety of dark, moonless nights. 
His weapon of choice was the vethbela, which he carried in a deer-hide harness on his back. This two-handed, traditional Dal Honese sickle sword was carved from a tusk and had two thin otataral blades inset on both curved sides. Its handle was made of ivory.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, UK BCA edition p.701
==Members of Badan Gruk's squad==
*Nep Furrow, mage
*Reliko, heavy infantry
*Ruffle, marine
*Skim, marine
*Vastly Blank, heavy infantry
==In Reaper's Gale==
Adjunct Tavore Paran clashed with Empress Laseen at Malaz City and took the Bonehunters rogue, following the Tiste Edur fleet that had ravaged Sepik back to Lether.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.356 Tavore invaded the Letherii Empire, burning her transport vessels on the shoreline and spreading the marines in isolated pairs of squads across thirty leagues of coast. The marines moved forward into the Letherii countryside towards Letheras, the capital, with orders to kill Edur by night and stir the occupied Letherii into rebellion. Each squad had a mage responsible for hiding their presence and confusing their enemies.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 13, US HC p.361-365
Badan Gruk's squad, along with Sinter's 4th and Primly's 10th squads, landed furthest south of all the marines. Remaining together, they saw little resistance moving east and soon reached a river. Rather than slog through through waist-deep swamp muck, they stole a fisher boat and sailed upriver. They made excellent time until running into a Letherii galley in the night. Kisswhere and Sinter were lost in the water during a discharge of Moranth munitions. Forced ashore, they were pursued day and night, using up their mages dodging and ducking enemy attacks. On the first night, Badan Gruk lost his corporal after the man fell down an abandoned well shaft and broke his neck. Badan Gruk chose Ruffle to take his place. Somewhere along the way the Heavy, Masker, was also lost, but Badan Gruk, Skulldeath, and others had yet to draw blood.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US HC p.642-643/647/650 
Contrary to the Adjunct's expectations, the Letherii soldiers did not use the Malazan invasion to turn against their Edur occupiers.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 14, US HC p.410Reaper's Gale, Chapter 17, US HC p.481 The marines further north saw intense action, and as they neared Letheras fighting became more desperate and their munition supplies dwindled. Hellian and Urb's squads earned the support of the Letherii slave and Indebted classes by changing tactics to slay the government officials, lawyers, and debt-holders in each village.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US HC p.632 Fiddler and Gesler's squads joined them at a tavern a day's travel from the capital just in time for a force of hundreds of Edur to envelop the village the Malazans occupied.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US HC p.631-636/650
Three days after leaving the river, Badan Gruk, Sinter, and Primly's squads came upon the overwhelmed Malazans. Badan Gruk immediately thought to pass around them, but Primly and Corporal Hunt argued that their squads were ready to fight. They turned the battle with their fresh supply of munitions. Badan Gruk made his first kill of the campaign, decapitating an Edur with his vethbela. The new arrivals deferred to Fiddler's seniority, and the former Bridgeburner ordered the marines to hold their position in hopes they would be reinforced by Fist Keneb.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 21, US HC p.642-643/650/652-653 By the time Keneb's forces arrived, thousands of Edur followed in their wake, pushing the gathered Malazans towards the city where the Imperial Brigade awaited.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, US HC p.673-674
Caught between the two armies near Kravos Hill, the 800 remaining MalazansReaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.745 were forced to huddle under Beak's protective spell when the Letherii mages cast a deadly ritual of Chaos upon them and the Edur. The spell was broken, but the hair of all those under Beak's protection turned white. The Edur abandoned the field after their allies' betrayal, and the shaken Imperial Brigade withdrew to meet Adjunct Tavore's more threatening main force as it disembarked from the Lether River.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 22, US HC p.679/686-695
Keneb marched on Letheras thinking the marines deserved to be the first to enter the capital.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.778 After the marines found a hidden entrance beneath the wall, Badan Gruk's squad was among those sent to secure the city's western gate from the inside to allow the main army entrance into the city. City Garrison soldiers tried to retake the gate in bloody fighting, but Badan Gruk's squad held on long enough to greet Adjunct Tavore and her group of cavalry when they arrived.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.779/800 Soon the City Garrison surrendered and the city fell.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 24, US HC p.812
==In Dust of Dreams==
He rescued Kisswhere and Sinter from a Letherii prison.Dust of Dreams, Chapter 1 He marched with the Bonehunters into the Wastelands and survived the battle with the K'Chain Nah'ruk.
==In The Crippled God==
He was killed whilst defending Kaminsod.
==Notes and references==
Category:Bonehunters
Category:Dal Honese
Category:Males
Category:Sergeants
Category:Soldiers
de:Badan Gruk