| Player Name | Aukseyks of the Hill (former Pterisian tribal name) |
|---|---|
| Relatives | Lorik of Fire (Husband, unknown)
Grilma of the Hill (Daughter, deceased) Yaris of the Hill (Mother, unknown) Orfig of the Hill (Father, unknown) Ozroh of Stone (Master Blacksmith, deceased) |
| Affiliations | Balabag
Balabag Bastion Un-Ravel Bastion (former) |
| Place of Birth | Fiddlehead Mountains, Pteris |
| Species | Goliath |
| Gender | Transgender Male |
| Height | 6'8" |
| Weight | 275 |
| Eye Color | Grey |
Enrik of the Hill is a Hill Goliath Artisan/Artificer Fighter, originating from a nomadic tribe of Goliath in the Fiddlehead Mountains of Pteris.
Physical Appearance[edit | edit source]
Enrik is small for a Goliath, "only" being 6'8" tall, and weighs approximately 275 pounds, almost entirely muscle. Despite living through the entirety of the first four months of the Fantasial Freeze, Enrik appears well fed and healthy, due to his ability to eat any plant matter for sustenance, and the literal fire branded on his soul which keeps him warm. He sports a long black braided mohawk, no facial hair, and black tribal tattoos that start at his cheekbones, rise up over his eyes, and make their way around the bald sides of his head and down his back, as well as similar artwork on his arms and chest. The tattoos are typical Goliath tattoos that many receive when they are young. He is heavily scarred all over his face and body due to many encounters with both monsters and blowt, though his chest is covered in a large, touch scar across his pectorals that appears to have been caused by mutilation rather than combat. It is likely recent as it interrupts the flow of his tattoos and has not had the missing ink replaced. He sports dark grey eyes with heavy eye bags that don't ever seem to leave, no matter how much sleep he gets.
Enrik also has the ability to glow like a torch at will, to various strengths. He can simply shine like a light, or he can fully ignite various parts of his body to increase his prowess in battle. At lower scales, his tattoos begin to glow a soft orange light, and take on the appearance of a calm bonfire, but when fully ignited, Enrik's hair bursts into flames, breaking out of its braid and fanning out into a large mohawk made of red fire. His hands and feet also light on fire with the same red flame, leaving burn marks wherever he steps, and spreading up the haft of his specially designed warhammer, lighting the weapon on fire as well, as well as engulfing the razor sharp outer ring of his shield. When fully ignited, Enrik's tattoos begin to glow bright red and take on the appearance of a raging fire, are white-hot to the touch, and look as if flames themselves are about to burst out of his skin.
In combat, Enrik can be seen wearing a very heavy and ornate set of Great Armor, hand forged and customized by Enrik himself. The armor is painted black, with accents featuring all the colors of flames on various parts of the armor. His greaves are accented with a bright blue, matching the flame in the lantern that he carries, his breastplate has white and yellow accents, and his helmet and gauntlets are accented in red, matching his soul-flame. The breastplate also features a crest of a flaming anvil. His helmet resembles a German Sallet, with a slit through the top from forehead to the back of the helm, allowing his hair to rise through when he ignites himself and fan out like a Grecian Plume. His armor is heavily inlaid with exhaust vents on the greaves, gauntlets, and breastplates following the path of his tattoos, in order to let excess heat out of the armor, so he does not cook himself alive, but due to the cold nature of the environment Enrik finds himself him, the vents are always venting large amounts of steam when Enrik is ignited.
Personality[edit | edit source]
Enrik is gruff and hot-headed, but inquisitive and intelligent of the way machines work and how things are built. However, magical creations are beyond his understanding, which regularly causes bouts of frustration because he just cannot figure out how magical items are made, spells are cast, and the supernatural at large exists. That being said, Enrik has yet to meet a monster or Blowt that can't be put down by beating it with a hammer.
Enrik previously served as a calming presence and peacekeeper in his tribe on Pteris, but has given up such calm ambitions after he failed to convince his village on Osugbo to evacuate to Balabag when the Fantasial Freeze hit. Lately, due to his long seclusion, he has resorted to hitting things first, and asking questions later, but interactions with Kara and Clementine in Tusgrer brought him back to reality.
He is distrustful of those who wish to study the Blowt, viewing it as a corruption to be burned away, not a science project, but recent interactions with Isabelle and Kara have begun to show him that the Blowt is not simply an all-devouring disease. That being said, Enrik's main goal is to protect those in his found family as best he can, and even though he does not understand the Blowt's true intentions, it has taken far too many close to him, and should still be treated with extreme caution.
History[edit | edit source]
Enrik, born Aukseyks, was born in 436 PR to Orfig and Yaris of the Hill, in the lower caves of the Fiddlehead Mountians on Pteris, adjacent to the central desert of Pteris where many of the monstrous creatures of the continent lived. Enrik's tribe of Hill Goliaths were simple farmers and artisans, living off the land and learning basic trades. At age 8, Enrik began his training as a blacksmith to take over for the tribes aging blacksmith, Orzoh. Due to Enrik's eye for detail and inquisitive nature, he picked up the trade much faster than anyone expected, and at age 11, began dabbling in all the other relevant trades of the tribe in his free time, learning to support his village in any and almost every way possible. At age 13, Enrik's tribe took in a band of fire goliath refugees, who were escaping a recent attack from the Thri-Kreen, where he met another teenage boy, Lorik of Fire. Lorik had a natural aptitude for summoning flames, even more so than his Fire Goliath comrades who could only do so in limited capacity, however Lorik could easily summon massive bonfires and heat metal with a touch, so he was very quickly placed in the care of Orzoh, which is where Enrik and him met. The two quickly formed a very close bond, that only grew stronger as they got older, leading to their eventual partnership and marriage.
The Thri-Kreen were a regular thorn in the side of the tribes of Goliath around the lower caves of the Fiddlehead Mountains. As the Central Desert of Pteris was home to many of the most dangerous monsters on the continent, the Thri-Kreen sought safe places to create their nests. Normally, Thri-Kreen bury their nests in the ground, but due to the burrowing monsters at play in the desert, their nests would very often be destroyed, so, they took to the Fiddlehead Mountains to find safer places to lay their nests. The lower caves were naturally an easy pick, with the only issue being that those caves housed the nomadic tribes of Fire, Hill, and Stone Goliaths of the Fiddlehead Mountains, so the tribes of Thri-Kreen would regularly stage attacks on various caves to push out the Goliath and take them for themselves. Due to the sheer number of Thri-Kreen, being a fast-populating insectoid species, fighting back was usually not the safest option, so the Goliath, especially the weaker tribes (Stone and Hill), would often choose to just surrender or run away to a new cave in order to avoid casualties. More violent tribes would attempt to fight back, but would rarely succeed in any meaningful way. The conflict has thus turned into an endless blood feud between the two species, with Thri-Kreen regularly attacking caves for breeding grounds, and more militant groups of Goliath staging Guerrilla Tactic hit and runs on the Thri-Kreen as revenge for their own dead, which only worsens the Thri-Kreen's need to breed. However, the Goliath don't have anywhere else they can go. Only Storm, Frost, and Cloud Goliath are strong enough to survive the raging storms atop the Fiddlehead mountains, and the weaker tribes aren't strong enough to move into the desert, and are often shunned from civilization due to their nomadic ways.
Orzoh passed away when Enrik was 19, and after the funeral, Enrik moved into his home with Lorik, and the two took over Orzoh's forge, becoming the tribe's blacksmith. The two began exporting their goods to Jewelspar to trade with many of the merchants there and bring back valuable resources for their tribe. At age 24, Enrik gave birth to Lorik and his first child, Grilma. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, their tribe has a large number of mothers with children who did not survive attacks by the Thri-Kreen, who would regularly nanny the children of the tribe in their late children's stead, so Lorik and Enrik were still able to focus on their work during the day, and childcare at night. The surviving Fire Goliath's in Enrik's tribe regularly tried to convince both Enrik and Lorik to sponsor raids on opposing Thri-Kreen, since Enrik could forge them powerful weapons and armor, and Lorik, with his aptitude for destructive magic, could provide a much-needed upper hand in battle, but both of them refused, knowing attacking would draw unwanted attention to their tribe, and put Grilma's life in danger.
While pregnant with Grilma, Enrik realized something--most races reproduce and protect their unborn through some sort of incubation. Most humanoids are pregnant, birds sit on their eggs, etc. The reason the Thri-Kreen used the ground was because it kept their eggs warm and protected from the elements, but the biggest concern was other monsters destroying the nest and eating their eggs. An idea popped into his head. What if he could invent an incubation device to mass produce and provide the Thri-Kreen so they could safely raise their young, and not need to push the Goliath out of the caves. The Thri-Kreen didn't live in the caves anyway. They lived in the desert, and only stayed in the caves temporarily during breeding seasons. However, Enrik knew that he didn't have the knowledge to make something so complex, nor the resources, and would never be able to find either on Pteris due to Jewelspar being dominated by Elves and wary of nomads. Enrik then began researching the other continents of Quelmar at the Jewelspar library for where vast resources and knowledge could be found, and discovered that the continent of Osugbo was not only home to many non-humanoid/elf species, but had multiple cities that featured large libraries and vast knowledge, as well plenty of skilled artisans in various trades. However, moving to Osugbo was only a pipe dream. Convincing Lorik to leave his tribe is unlikely, and their child would likely not survive the long journey via boat to Osugbo.
Shortly after Grilma's birth, Enrik realized that motherhood was not for him. He was thankful for the tribe for raising her like a village, and for Lorik for being a wonderful father, but Enrik didn't understand children. He understood machines, weapons, and tools, but he knew he couldn't abandon his daughter. He tried to confide in Lorik his fears, and that something felt off inside of him, but Lorik struggled to understand, and attempted to reassure Enrik that raising children was the best way to secure the future of the tribe. Though this didn't cause Enrik to lose love in Lorik, it did confuse him deeply. Lorik had long expressed wishes that he was born a Storm or Cloud Goliath so he would have easier access to books and academic knowledge atop the mountains, and be able to cast magic that was supportive and entertaining, not destructive, but could not understand Enrik's wishes to be something other than a mother and weaponsmith. He wanted to be a father, an inventor, and a peacemaker. However, Lorik, like many others, dismissed Enrik's wishes and ideas to create peace with the Thri-Kreen.
Four years after Grilma was born, while Enrik and Lorik were off trading in Jewelspar, their tribe was attacked, and suffered heavy losses since they were missing their strongest fighter, and destructive caster. Upon returning from Jewelspar, the two found their cave filled with Thri-Kreen, and spent weeks searching for survivors, and when they found them in a cave far to the north, they discovered that Grilma had been killed, and her body had not been recovered. While Lorik vowed for revenge, and joined in his tribes ongrowing violent notions, Enrik knew that further hostilities would only lead to the tribes demise. Enrik tried to convince his tribe to use their limited wealth they had received from recent trading to hop on a boat and move to Osugbo, but the tribe was unconvinced, so Enrik left on his own in order to protect himself. This was the last time he saw Lorik, and the last look he saw was one of anger and severe disappointment.
Upon arriving in Osugbo, Enrik made his way to Ravel, but realized he did not fit in amongst the animal folk of the city, so he journeyed to Balabag to find out where other villages were. After a long geographical study in the Balabag library, Enrik discovered a village of Gnomes to the far southeastern side of the island, and made his way there in hopes to study and learn from them, as they were natural inclined towards artificing. To his joy, Enrik was happily welcomed into the village. They rarely had outsiders visit, and were more than happy to teach Enrik everything they knew. In return, Enrik enhanced their weaponry, and served as a deterrent for threats from groups of bandits, who feared his large stature, and imposing warhammer. Enrik lived in that village until the onset of the Fantasial Freeze, learning more efficient ways to enhance weaponry, how to work with new technology, and began creating a draft for his incubation device.
However, before he finished his project, the Freeze set in. His village deverted all resources towards creating warmer housing, putting all experimental projects on hold. During their improvements, a scout returned with a warning. A monstrously large stag, colored a deep shade of blue with glowing blue eyes was spotted close by the village tearing down trees with ease. Enrik knew not what the monster was, but attempted to convince his new found family to take the risk and evacuate to Ravel for security, but once again, his village would not listen. They deemed it safer to stay here and hope the monster doesn't attack than take the risk trudging through the Freeze. Unfortunately, what Enrik predicted came to pass. The monstrous stag, a staggering 15 feet tall, attacked the village, and ransacked it completely. Makeshift furnaces exploded, rooves, tumbled, and food storages were ravaged. There was nothing that could be done. The town did not have the weaponry available to fight back as they had deverted all magical resources towards their collective warmth. By the time the Stag had left, the village had been completely wiped off the map, and there were no survivors, other than Enrik. How he survived? He does not know. What remembers is grabbing Flyswatter and taking battle to the stag in an attempt to protect the children of the village, being gored by the Stag, and passing out. When he awoke, his fists were on fire, the snow around him was melted, the schoolhouse was burnt to a crisp rather than crumbled like the rest of the village. The only obvious sign the stag had ever been there, aside from the ransacked town, was the single spike of one of its antlers impaled through Enrik's chest.
After the ransacking, Enrik began blindly wandering Osugbo, hunting any monsters and Blowt he found on his way. For four months, Enrik never saw another living person, until he encountered a rakish band of adventurers in Tusgrer while hunting down a Blowt known as Mr. Mosquito.
Adventures in the Freeze[edit | edit source]
Enrik's first adventure in the Freeze took place in Tusgrer, where he had tracked a massive Blowt known as Mr. Mosquito. After arriving in town, he snuck onto the building in which Mr. Mosquito was posted not realizing he was not the only adventurer in town that day. Before attacking, he locked eyes with Clementine, who was on an adjacent rooftop, who sang for Enrik and told him to "Kill that fucking bug!" To which Enrik valiantly attempted. Using Flyswatter, he quickly unleased two ravaging, flame filled attacks on the Blowt, popping his sack of viscera, and causing it to fly out of his reach. Before Enrik could take chase to the Blowt, Kara, through her studies of the Blowtessence, sucked all the Blowt out of Mr. Mosquito and place it into herself, turning herself into a Blowt. Enrik attempted to take battle to her, but was quickly swarmed by the mind controlled townspeople of Tusgrer, who were angry with Enrik for attacking Mr. Mosquito, and for interrupting their lesson on sorghum from Quimbleton and Lorena. The townspeople World War Z'd up the side of the building and began beating the life out of Enrik. Fortunately, Enrik was saved by Quimbleton who cast a well timed sleep spell, putting all his former sorghum proteges to sleep. Enrik was then attended to by Ozric and Alcordyn, who struggled, but managed to bring him back from the brink of death. In the meantime, Clementine managed to give Kara, trapped in Blowt, enough courage to stop attacking, and allow Hollowfoot the time to cast Cure Disease to, for the first time, cure someone of Blowt. The party then trudged away from town and made camp, before parting ways. Kara invited Enrik to join her in her Bastion in Ravel, where he could serve as a craftsman and build them a functioning workshop, to which he accepted.
Enrik's second adventure took place in Balabag. Enrik had chosen to take a day away from constructing the Un-Ravel's workshop to visit and restock the Balabag library, where met Cecil, Yuki, Thimbol, Farmer Lyell, and Clementine doing the same. After pulling a misplaced "Weaponry of Pteris" off the historical shelf, courtesy of Cecil, a stream of Blowtessence shot out of the bookshelf and landed on the floor, which opened a sort of--blowt hole--in which the Gravedigger Isabelle climbed out. Before having a chance to fight the Blowt'd gravedigger, two children being chased by Wendigo's ran into the library, to which our party jumped to their *technical* rescue. One of the children was turned into a Wendigo and trapped in mind control by Yuki, and the other child had been gravely injured but not killed. The survivor exclaimed that the sorghum cart had been infected and that "Ravel will pay for this!" But Enrik was able to convince him it wasn't Ravel, as he knew Quimbleton would never due such a heinous act. The party then discussed what Isabelle was and why she was here, and then joined forces to remove the Blowtessence from the Cindernest. The party walked in to find a ransacked church of some unknown Sun-God frozen in dark black ice, and all the torches glowed a blue blowt flame, matching the color of the flame in Enrik's Lamp of the Sun. Cecil entered a storage room and found a shifting mass of black ice that shifted into a statue of someone from whoever entered's past. Enrik watched as Clementine appeared to be taken over mentally by her statue, to which Enrik acted quickly and ineptly and smashed the statues with Flyswatter. The statues shattered in liquid Blowtessence, dousing everyone in the room. Fortunately, Cecil and Enrik were unaffected, but Clementine was not, and Enrik watched in horror as his last surviving friend turned into a Blowt by his own hands. Yuki and Thimbol acted quickly to find different solutions to cure her, Thimbol looking for a cleric or healer in town and Yuki searching for the tool they had been sent to find, but both were unfortunately too late. After a deadly battle with Clementine, Yuki managed to find the tool, but her mind controlled Wendigo had been defeated, no longer able to restrain Clementine, so Cecil and Enrik took the battle to her, attempting to knock her unconscious. Unfortunately, after defeating her, Clementine's body burst into flames and burnt away, with no explanation in sight. Enrik then tomahawked Flyswatter through the mural of the Sun on the back of the Cindernest wall, and left the building. The party was rewarded with a manor in Balabag and 1250 gold each. Enrik, Cecil, Yuki, and Thimbol all then moved into the manor to create the Balabag Bastion, all for various reasons. For Enrik, he was too ashamed of himself after losing yet another friend to return to Ravel, so instead he chose to stay in Balabag, leaving his work on the workshop in the Un-Ravel bastion unfinished, and to serve as custodian to his new bastion.
Powers and Abilities[edit | edit source]
Aside from being really good at hitting things with Flyswatter, Enrik has the ability to, at will, light himself, and whatever weapon he is wielding, on fire, thanks to the brand on his soul, as well as stave off the effects of natural extreme heat and cold, and shrug off the initial effects of magical flame. As a show of strength, Enrik stood in and walked through a large bonfire created by Kara, who had enlarged the flame to block Enrik's vision of her while sitting around said bonfire after a mission gone wrong.
Enrik also has an uncanny ability to always get back up no matter how hard he has been hit. Enrik has bridged the door to death many times, but as it stands, no natural cause has kept him down for longer than a few minutes.
Attacks and Weapons [edit | edit source]
Enrik's main weapon is his warhammer, Flyswatter, that he has had with him since arriving on Osugbo. The hammer sports an unconvential appearance, having had the middle shaved down to create two sharp prongs on the outside of the warhammer to give the weapon the ability the lacerate organic matter, but still provide the heft and OOMPH of a warhammer. It almost looks as if someone mashed two axeheads together, but upon closer inspection, it is clear the hammer was delicately and precisely reforged and shaved in order to keep the integrity of the weapon in tact, though to an untrained artificer and warrior, the maintenance necessary for such an unconventional weapon would be too much. Flyswatter has also had its haft heavily customized to allow the weapon to be efficiently one-handed by Enrik himself, allowing ease of use in close quarters, contrary to his large stature. The haft is also wrapped in a thick wick to allow the flames from Enrik's hands to spread up the hammer and ignite the head, increasing its effectiveness in battle.
Enrik also wields a studded round shield, painted black and red to match his armor, which features a razor sharp outer ring, and a similar wick system throughout to allow the shield to ignite like Flyswatter. The shield appears much more delicately and precisely made, as if this was Enrik's magnum opus up to this point. Inside the shield, invisible to an untrained eye, is a spring-loaded propulsion system that Enrik learned from his former Gnome village that allows the shield to store kinetic energy upon making impact with a target and then release it to bounce between a currently unknown number of targets and then return to Enrik.
