Khondar Axewielder started life as a member of the Rudenheim Clan. He lived there with his family for many happy years. When Khondar was 34, which is still young for a Shield Dwarf and not yet considered an adult, his family decided to visit distant cousins who live in the Stoneanvil Clan for an extended time.
This trip went fine, and for the first year everything was great, but then word of the attacks on the Rudenheim Clanhold reached Khondar�s family. The head of the Axewielder family (Khondar�s great grandfather) decided that all able Axewielders would return to the Rudenheim Clanhold to help with the defence. Thus, as Khondar was considered too young to fight he was left with other members of Clan Stoneanvil. The rest of the Axewielder family, including his distant cousins, left to defend Clan Rudenheim and were never heard from again.
Khondar was left alone at Stoneanvil with no family. His family had promised to return for him when the enemy was defeated, but no one came. A year had passed with no news; Khondar was getting worried about his family. He did not really fit into his adopted clan (being too chaotic), and so spent much of his time alone. During this time, he trained himself in the art of looking after a dwarf�s own interests, as well as fighting with the two fine Greataxes that were a gift from his family.
After eighteen months, word reached Clan Stoneanvil that Rudenheim holds had been overrun by Ogres, and there were no known survivors. Khondar could not accept that this news was true, so he ran away determined to find his lost family, or any member of Clan Rudenheim who survived. After leaving Stoneanvil, he quickly realised that something was amiss, as no one could remember where the Rudenheim Clanhold was located. Khondar knew he was some distance from his home Clan, but did not have a clue in which direction. So began Khondar�s search for his family and clan, a search which has so far lasted thirteen years.
During Khondar�s search for his family, he has had far too many adventures to detail. Below is an extraction of some of the more important parts of his search so far:
When Khondar was 44 he met and befriended a grizzly old fighter by the name of Martin Blackhart. Khondar and Martin soon became fast friends and travelled together for many years. During these travels, Martin trained Khondar in the finer arts of fighting instead of what he called Khondar�s barbarian fighting ways. However Khondar, being chaotic at heart, could never fully embrace a purer fighter�s techniques.
When Khondar reached 49, he and Martin were still travelling together. They awoke one morning to find that they had been robbed during the night. Fortunately, the thief was fairly clumsy about covering his tracks. The pair followed the trail to a cliff, where it just stopped, the cliff looked difficult to climb and the tracks did not show any evidence of starting to climb the cliff. Khondar and Martin were puzzled by the thief�s disappearing act. They decided that they didn�t have anything better to do right then, and they wanted their stuff back so they hid themselves and watched to see what would happen. After a couple of hours, their patience was rewarded, as they watched a hidden door swing out of the cliff face. This door so matched the cliff that it was all but invisible. Out of the door came a tall skinny man with black eyes and long black hair. Although he had a fierce demeanour, he was wearing a towelling robe and carrying a small bag, and he disappeared off towards a nearby stream. As soon as he left, Khondar and Martin came out of hiding and examined the cliff where the hidden door was located. Using his skills as a dwarf, Khondar soon found the catch and opened the door. Behind the door was a small cave, set up as comfortable living quarters, which was quickly looted and all the stuff that was lost was regained, plus some extra equipment for Khondar and Martin�s trouble. The pair then left at a pace, covering their tracks. When they were about two miles from the cave, they heard a bellow of despair and rage from behind them. Later when they made camp, they split up the loot. Khondar received a pair of gauntlets, some boots and a ring with two of its three stones missing, which he thought he would repair later and slipped it into his gold bag.
Just before his fifty-first birthday, Martin decided that he was getting too old for adventuring and decided to retire. His hometown was a city called Dagger Falls, to which they travelled. When they arrived, they searched out a place to live, finding an inn called the Teshford Arms and rented rooms. As Khondar was paying for the rooms, the innkeeper told them about a group of local adventurers called the Clearwater Crusaders (who had been missing for about a month after a titanic fight with a demon in the inn�s own front room). One of these adventurers was a dwarf called Braddoc Rudenheim, who Khondar realised could only be the missing heir to the Rudenheim throne. As Khondar took his hand out of his bag of gold, the ring with the two missing stones (which he had forgotten about) was on his finger as he said these words: �I wish I was with the rightful heir of Rudenheim�, and he disappeared.
DM's Note: Khondar has taken on Braddoc's enemies, namely the creatures which have taken the Rudenheim Clanhold. He also possibly has a further enemy in the black haired rogue whose ring of wishes he stole, in the event that he ever meets that man again!