Aldrum

Official image of Aldrum, drawn by @grace.pptx on Instagram

> "Has anyone seen a giant, friendly creature that saves people for fun? [...] I'm looking for my friend. His name is Al." - Fey Moss, Arc 3, Episode 1
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Aldrum is one of the player characters of Arc 3, and is played by Josh.

## Description

Aldrum is a tall firbolg who understands the meaning of helping those in need. He grew up underground, but he went off to travel the world. He never turns down someone who needs help.

At age 392, he has silvery grey hair and a beard. His big nose and ears give his otherwise intimidating frame a gentleness, but he can still (usually unintentionally) intimidate people simply with his appearance nonetheless.

Usually, Aldrum wears stark grey plate armor with silver trim, which he made himself. The armor is a size too small for him, leading to his beige fur partially coming out of the armor on the sides. He does not like wearing a helmet, though, but rather prefers his hair flowing in the wind. He wears many runes on himself that glow when activated. His fire rune, for example, is part of his chest plate and he wears his storm rune on a ring on his finger.

The magic item he got is the Warhammer of Magnitude, which allows him to hit multiple targets in one attack.

For unknown reasons, though suspected to be because he grew up underground and is not used to them, Aldrum has a crippling fear of normal barnyard animals, to the point where he has to be blindfolded to be able to ride in a horse carriage and imagines the sound of the hooves to be the sound of clanking glasses in a tavern.

Aldrum is not in favour of stealing. He himself pays for everything he takes, even when it was meant as a gift, and if he notices his friends stealing something, he also leaves a few gold coins. He either doesn't have a very good estimation of the worth of items or simply leaves random amounts, though, because he tends to either vastly over- or underestimate the amount of gold that would be appropriate to pay for something. For example, he left some gold coins as payment for hay, but only 300gp in the vaults of Count Michael von Rainier as compensation for the magical artefacts his friends took. Another possibility could be that Aldrum decides how much money to leave based on the wealth of the person affected.

Generally, Aldrum has a strong sense of justice, and will make sure that everyone, no matter the social background, gets either the help they need or the punishment they deserve.

## Backstory

Aldrum spent the vast majority of his life living underground with stone giants, after having been adopted by a stone giant named Holgarth. He did not get along too well with them, but had no other place to go, so he stayed. This lasted until Holgarth died when Aldrum was 382 years old, when he left and went aboveground. Because of his very limited experience aboveground, he is still excited to learn and see new things.

About two years before the events of Arc 3, he joined the party to save the world. After their split following the victory, he spent his time wandering around the country helping people, and becoming known as a folkhero. By the start of the events of Arc 3, he is known quite well in the country and has become kind of a legend. This can be quite helpful for anyone who might be searching for him because he has no place he regularly visits and could be found at, so the rumours following his appearance are often the only way to track him. In addition, he worked as a blacksmith and did some masonry and sculpturing.

He hardly had any contact with his old party during the two years before Arc 3, mostly because he is hard to find. Annie's quarterly newsletters, for example, did not reach him, but he did visit Diarmad's rebirth ceremony - which left him a bit disappointed, since with Diarmad's new race and height, he could no longer put a halfling on each of his shoulders.

## Character Arc

After Arc 3, Aldrum plans on personally making sure that all the deceased innocents receive a proper burial and that Gem Lovejoy gets the punishment she deserves for her crimes, without buying herself out of it. For that, he plans on taking her before the king or queen himself if necessary. He even threatened Penny Lovejoy, Gem's oldest daughter, that should Gem try to buy herself out or escape, he would personally bring justice to her. After that, he just plans on wandering through the world again, helping where he can, and hopefully making more frequent visits with his friends.

## Trivia

* Josh had already made Aldrum quite tall, and then the level 10 feature of the Runeknight Fighter added even more to that.
* As the free expertise for Arc 3, Josh chose Intimidation for Aldrum, not because Aldrum would try to intimidate people, but because he is just naturally intimidating.
* Before Arc 3, Josh was most excited about playing a character with a high Armor Class: he had never played a character with an AC over 15 before, and Aldrum has an AC of 21.
* Aldrum once met a Lovejoy, but he cannot remember which one. Since their name might have started with an H, it is possible that he met Hope Lovejoy at some point.
* At some point, Aldrum lost a foot, which Diarmad made regrow. That foot is now his good one.