There are many projects that I started long ago, got distracted from, and never got back to. One of them was introducing you to all our iconic characters. Well 2-1/2 years late is better than never, right?
I would like to share with you the tale of Runa Cloudsoles, our signature cloud dwarf cleric. Read our tales of Darlanrea Moonbright, our elven fighter and Edward Amante, our human rogue. I am sure you will find Runa’s tale most fascinating, yet relatable.
Name: Runa Cloudsoles
Race: Cloud Dwarf
Gender: Female
Age: 87
Background: Miner of cloud silver
Reason for Becoming an Adventurer: Fell to the ground, cannot return home
While in training to become a cleric of Marduk, Runa Cloudsoles spent her days in the cloud mines mining cloud silver. Her family needed her to work so she spent her days working the mines and her nights at the local temple in Cumulia in studying and performing rituals. All the other acolytes came from clans that did not lose anyone to the giants in their various wars or were from clans influential enough to sponsor them while learning their trade. Neither was true for Runa, and had to provide for herself and her sister and two brothers until they were of age.
It is fortunate that one of her brothers was of age and was able to provide for the other two when the accident happened. Mining cloud silver is always dangerous. A miner digs too deep and a leak opens, causing a downpour that takes all the miners in the area with them. It was not her fault; one of the other miners was careless and the bottom dropped out of the cloud. If she had not been so tired, so overworked from years of working, studying, and acting like the parent her family lacked, perhaps she could have saved herself from falling to the ground far below.
Most cloud dwarves know that doing so is almost certainly death, but a few here and there survive. Runa was one of the lucky ones. Perhaps it was Marduk looking out for her. She may never know for sure, but she believe that that is the case. She landed was cushioned by several other cloud dwarves that dropped down first and died upon impact. At first she tried to get back, but she lacked the money to hire a wizard to fly her there. So she turned to adventuring to earn the money to go home.
By the time Runa earned enough to contact her brothers and sisters to find out how they, she was a full cleric of Marduk. She talked with them enough to know that they are doing ok, their brother Guthrik took up silver smithing to pay the bills. She also learned that she was blamed for the mining accident. With no family connection, the elders blamed her and pretended it never happened. If she showed up back home, however, she would find life most difficult.
While she is sad for what happened, she counts it as a mixed gift from Marduk. She is free to be a cleric and adventure, spreading justice and her god’s thunder wherever she goes. All for the price of never being able to go home and see her family again. That knowledge drives her to become the best cleric she can be, hoping to one day to see them again and take her brothers and sister somewhere where they can live safely, where family connections do not matter.
She has a new clan now, adventurers all like her. She guards their back and they hers. Sure they are not dwarves like her, but they are loyal to her like any clan should be. It is not a better clan, just a different one.
Runa Cloudsoles graces the cover of Deadly Delves: To Claw the Surface. Download this adventure for Pathfinder at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, Paizo, and the Open Gaming Store.
Download all of our Deadly Delve Adventures for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, the OpenGamingStore, and Paizo.com, our Fifth Edition Adventures at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, the Open Gaming Store, and Paizo.com, and our 13th Age Compatible Adventures at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow and the Open Gaming Store.
Jon Brazer Enterprises 