Ruckus

Ruckus:

Back ground - Orphaned Mountain Dwarf that was told he has a Dwarfing Curse that causes him to have outburst in dwarvish and look like a dwarf, but he is actually an Elf... So he was told by his adoptive mother.

Ruckus story starts with Lady Elfwyn. His adoptive mother.

Overview of Lady Elfwyn story:

Lady Elfwyn was an Elven Ranger(well used to be an Elven Ranger), and she didn’t just dislike Dwarves. She despised them. She thought them to be inferior beings that should not be treated with the same respect as the Elves, or even the other humanoid races for that matter. Although she was gifted in the arts of combat, she this outlook eventually got her a well deserved boot out the door of the Ranges.  This suited her just fine, as she felt her skills could be put to better use elsewhere. Preferably, where they could be used to fight dwarves.

Lady Elfwyn traveled all the way into the wastes of BioWyld, before she found what she was looking for. A group of Tiefling slavers that she thought shared her hate of other races(dwarves included), but after working with them for a time, she realized their views just didn’t align. Yes, they thought of the races as merchandise, that was to either be sold or used to the point of breaking and then discarded, but they didn’t really hate the dwarves specifically enough for her liking. She kept wanting to do violence to them and the other slavers kept docking her cut because she was “damaging the merchandise”. She decided that one day she had enough, and made preparations to leave.

As she was making her exit from the Slavers camp, she found a small dwarf child with a sign around his neck that said Ruckus. The child was very young, and couldn’t even speak yet. Seeing an opportunity to get back she of the pay she had been docked, she snatched up the small child as she used her ranger skills to exit the camp unseen. She made her way immediately out of the wastes of Harrowmere, and returned to the mountains of her native lands of Neverwinter.

Along the way though, something strange happened. At least, strange for Lady Elfwyn. Most wouldn’t consider forming an attachment to an adorable child such a strange thing, but she really hated dwarves. For some reason though, little ruckus just tugged at her heart strings. She kept intending to sell him at the nearest and the next outpost with slavers, but could never bring herself to do it. She had several opportunities to get rid of the child for a decent price even, but would make the excuse that she could do better elsewhere, and then move on. Getting ever close to her goal of the mountains of Neverwinter.

She was never able to sell Ruckus, and eventually found herself at home in the mountains. She could always try to return him to his kind, but then she would have to get close to more dwarves. This of course just being an excuse she was making, since she had at this point grown quite fond of little Ruckus. She made a decision. She would raise the dwarf as her own, but not as a dwarf. Who knows, maybe she could fix that with some magic at some point. Teaching him the ways of the Elvish Rangers was difficult, as the his natural aptitudes and abilities tended to lean more towards outright righting. Especially with an axe, which was a typical dwarfish weapon of choice. She raised him speaking Elvish of course, and he speaks dwarfish like an Elf who did a half ass job of learning it as a second language.

He was a little tall and nimble for a dwarf, but he didn’t know that, and with some strict training she managed to teach him some the ways of the Ranger… Mostly. He still couldn’t pull off the traditional horse acrobatics that her school of Rangering was known for. She hoped that wouldn’t be an issue in the future of course, because he as actually quite good with the Bow, and that blasted axe. She also gave him various rings, and trinkets that had very specific spells imbued in them that allowed it to seem like he had “magical elf powers “ Mostly, these items were meant to make it seem like he could do more than he actually could do, and to protect and heal himself and others around him because although unreasonably racist, Old lady Elfwyn was no fool. She knew she was raising someone who likely be having his ass beaten.. A lot. Probably by Elves, but not just Elves… and frequently.

All this plus a healthy focus on Acrobatic training helped keep up the illusion that Ruckus Elfwyn was in fact an Elf.  As Ruckus got older though, this fact became harder and harder to hide, so finally she had to tell him the truth…. He had a very rare life threatening condition that caused him(an Elf of course) to gradually and slowly turn into a Dwarf as he grew older. This did cover the lie with little room for debate at the time, because it’s not exactly easy for someone in this context to confirm the legitimacy of a medical diagnosis in the middle of the mountains. It it had a consequence that Lady Elfwyn didn’t force though.  Ruckus is fiercely loyal. Ride or die loyal with anyone he has become close with. The thought this condition was going to kill him(she said it was life threatening) made him not concerned for himself, but for her. What would she do when he was gone? He set out right away from home on a question to find a cure for Dwarfing curse, and considers everything else a side quest. Often pointing that out in fact, regardless of the nature or importance of the current quest the group is on.

Having been beaten up while growing up a dwarf among mostly elves who knew he was not a dwarf, he developed a very peculiar tick. When attacking, he will yell often yell out profanities in Dwarvish, but claims to not be controlling it. In reality, this is likely due to him on some subconscious level knowing that he is a dwarf. This can happen during moments of stress or conflict but also when people are calmly talking. Because of this. Ruckus isn’t invited to a lot the meetings when the crew is accepting new quests. That’s fine with him. That’s just a side quest to his search for the cure to Dwarfing syndrome anyway…

In general, Ruckus hates dwarves. Not as much as old lady Elfwyn though. Having lived a mostly solitary life with her, he has very little actual life experience to base any legitimate hate on. Instead it’s all distilled 2nd hand from the constant griping of Lady Elfwyn always complaining about “those damn smelly dwarves”. This gets him into trouble constantly, but those who are close to him know not to even bother with the argument anymore. Let Ruckus think he’s an Elf. He’s not hurting anyone.. Well himself, but not that much.. well often and a lot, but hey pick your battles.