Sigil 'Liar' SizzleSpike, Human Artificer

"I suppose ye want to know all about me, eh? Well I can't be havin' that. There are parts o' me past that no one need know but me. But don't ye worry yerself about that, them's the boring bits anyway! Ha ha! No, no, I'll be tellin' ya about the important stuff. The bits that truly tell ye who I am, and where I came from.

Except I don't know where I came from."

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"It all started about twenny three, twenny four years ago. Around there at least. Me parents, me foster parents, found me in a pass in the mountains, that'd be the Mordain Mountains although the never told me exactly where, surrounded by the signs of battle. What? I don' know! Blood and the such, I suppose. Anyway, they found me and took me in, raising the poor human babe as one o' their own. A truly heartwarming tale, innit? What do ye mean, 'is that it'? Course it ain't! But me drinks run dry, if ye catch me meanin'..."

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"Ahh, now that's better. Nothin' like a good ale to keep the stories flowin'. Now where was I? Am I five yet? No? Oh. Alright. So me parent's raised me as a dwarf, that's important. Truth is, they didn't know how to raise me as a human. A bit buggered on that one, I suppose. Guess they just figured, 'what the hells' and did as they thought best. And a damn fine best it was! Ha ha! Anyway, me parent's were decent folk, well liked in their community. Me pap was a good dwarf with a hammer 'n' anvil. Me mam knew the secrets to bringin' out the magic in things. Together they made some amazin' pieces of work. Everything from enchanted swords to keys that don't get lost. Never saw the point in that second one, really. I mean, a key isn't that hard to lose if ya just keep an eye on it. I keep me keys on a ring! Very handy that. Made the ring meself, wanna see? What? I am not gettin' sidetracked! Ye keep interruptin' me! And look at this, me cup is empty again! Don't look at me like that! Ye knew the deal when ye asked a dwarf fer a story! Ha! Like I haven't been called a liar before! I've been called liar so much I took it as me name! I walk down the street and the people say, 'there goes Liar'. Well they might say more 'n' that but how should I know what they say? Probably talkin' about beet's or potatoes. Now buy me damn drink so I can finish the story!"

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"Right. Me parent's were smiths. And they taught me all they knew about smithin'. Me pap showed me how to bang the metal into shape. And me mam showed me how to bring out it's power. I got good, too. Eventually I got so good that they couldn't teach me anymore. So I went out into the world to learn on me own. Ahh, the adventures I had. Well, alright, not really adventures. More like just one. But it was a good one! I'd only been out a week or so when I found him. He was lyin' on the ground and looked as if he was covered in full armor. I ran up to him, since I knew a bit about magical healin', to see what I could for him. Well I could finally see 'im clearly it about floored me. He wasn't covered in metal, he was metal. A metal man! Well mos'ly metal, there was some wood and whatnot too. Now I'm no stranger to constructs, but this was unlike anythin' I'd seen before. After I got over me shock I noticed his arm was missin'. I took a look around and found a mangled bit of scrap not too far from the body. It didn't look like it was in good shape but I picked it up and then I picked him up and I started on me way back home.

Now, remember, it took me a week to get as far as I did, so it was takin' me a bit longer with the extra weight. After two days I was just makin' camp for the night when the damndest thing happened. It woke up! Woke up and spoke to me! Said it's name was Perro and it was on a mission for it's master. Well I asked it what it's mission was and it said it couldn't tell me. So I asked it who it's master was and it said it couldn't tell me that either. Well I was a gettin' a wee bit fed up so I asked it what it was and it told me it was a warforged! A warforged! A real, walkin', talkin', not-havin'-to-breathe, warforged! Do ye remember the stories? Now, don't get me wrong, I know me way around a construct. But a warforged. I'd never seen one afore! Always wanted to and here one was! Unfortunately I got so excited I passed out. Wha'!? Oh alrigh', so I'd had a few ales in me by that point. Either way I fell down. When I came about again the damned thing was inactive. Me first chance to talk to a livin' construct and I blew it.

Anyway, Perro didn't wake up again until I was nearly home. He begged me to help him. His voice kept fadin' in 'n' out, sounded like he wasn't gonna make it. At one point he thought I was his master. Tole me he 'found the ritual' and that 'everythin' would be taken care of'. But just afore he lost consciousness again, he knew where he was. He tole me to fix 'im. To help him complete his mission so that his master would live. Oh, the emotion in his voice! It nearly broke me heart. I vowed I would help him. I didn't make camp that last night. Just walked on through until morning. I didn't stop until I made it home, where I collapsed in front of me mam."

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"I woke up in me own bed for the first time in a while. A wonderful feelin' that. Gets me all warm 'n' fuzzy. Anyway, me mam had brought Perro into the workshop and me pap was busy lookin' at the mangled arm. I was a bit surprised to see the construct up and walkin' around, but me mam explained that healin' magic works on 'im! The ingenuity of the thing! A metal man that can be healed! That's when me pap announced that the arm could be fixed, given a li'l dwarven craftsmanship and some magic to set the thing. Some of it had to be completely rebuilt but Perro talked us through it. We worked day and night on the thing. Me pap workin' the metal, me mam workin' the magic, and me doin' both as much as I could. It was finally completed the next day. It was a work of art, no, wait, it was a work of craft. We re-attached it and Perro was overjoyed. He even permit me parents to scribe their rune on it, signin' it as their work. Now, I was takin' notes through that whole ordeal and I think I can re-create what we did. The only problem is that I only know how to build an arm at the moment. Anyway, Perro went on his way, thankin' us until he was out o' sight. But the story doesn't end there. Oh no. But it's gonna cost ye one more ale, if'n ye wanna hear the rest!"

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"Righ'. The last bit. Not much to it really. Don't look at me like that! It's still a good bit! Worthy of an ale or... was it four? Either way, it's a good bit. Bout a month after Perro left I had an interestin' dream. A great boomin' voice came out of the darkness and said, 'I THANK YE FOR YER HELP! I NOW GRANT YE AN AWARD FOR YOUR COMPASSION AND FER SAVIN' ME LIFE!' Oops. Sorry folks. Just tellin' a story. Ahem. Anyway, I woke up in the morning and I found I had this li'l guy on me arm here. Now, it may look like just a tattoo, but watch this! Whoa! Calm down! He's harmless! I asked me mam and pap, and they told me it was a familiar! I named him 'Rune' and he's all kindsa help whenever I'm makin' somethin'. Oh, me mam and pap got some gifts too. Me pap found a new anvil in his smithy. An enchanted one with all kindsa runes on it. Apparently it can purify metal. And me mam found a brand new staff and a whole lot o' residuum in her study. Anyway, we still have no idea who Perro's master was, but I'm not worried about it. 'S far as I'm concerned, we helped him, he rewarded us. 'Sides, he seems pretty powerful and I'd rather not seek out that sorta power just yet.

"Well, that's me story! I'm here right now to seek me fortune and make a name fer meself. Huh? Oh fine. And to get some free drinks. Speakin' o' which, me glass appears to be empty once more, friend. Perhaps ye could do somethin' about it? Hey! Don't leave! It was just a suggestion! Bah! Fine. Who needs ye.

"Why hello there, lass. Care to hear me story?"

"Me name? What about me name? 'S Liar. Well, not me given name, but people call me it all the same. Started when I first journeyed into the world outside me home. People asked where I was from and I told 'em I was a dwarf from the mountains. That's when they started callin' me Liar. Now, at first, I took offense to it. Hells, can ye blame me? Tell people where I'm from and they say I'm lyin'! Well, there's only so many times ye can get thrown in jail fer, what was it, oh, yeah, 'disturbin' the peace', so eventually I stopped hittin' people and just took it in stride. Kinda proud of it now. Like a badge o' honor! Ha ha!"

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"Me family name is another story altogether. Me granpappy had to defend his home from goblins way back when. He had to think o' all sorts o' ways to keep them away. Eventually he got famous for one particularly grizzly tactic. Whenever a big storm was brewin' he'd get out these looong metal poles, sharpened at one end, and he'd stick a goblins body on the spiky bit, sometimes still livin' if he was lucky, and then him and his buddies would hoist it up and stick the other end into a special base. Now, the goblin would be squirmin' and twistin' on the spike and me granpappy would sit back, well back, and wait for that storm. Once the clouds started spittin' lightnin', that's when the good bit happened. Now, metal has this funny way of gettin' hit by lightnin', 's odd like that, and when you shove a great big metal pole into the heart of a storm, well, it's as much of a sure thing as a drunken dwarf wench. That li'l goblin would get hit a good four, five times and you could see the tip o' that spike glowin'. The sizzle part o' me name is from the sound of the body cookin'. Said you could hear it for a mile out. Interestin' bit o' history, eh? Hello? Where the hell'd she go? Blasted woman, didn't need ye anyway.

"Dammit."