Flint is known in some circles as "the Gem Viper" and his tale begins in the underground Dwaven city of Kinghill Hold. Rumors are that Flint's parents were little more than serfs- miners of coal and ore to send up to the armor and weapon smiths. It's a hard life and full of danger, perhaps they died of a cave-in or inhaling dusts. We do know that Flint is the youngest of four brothers. The other three in order of age are Quarry, Axel, and Copper. They lived in custody of the state for a good while, but when they became teenagers, they busted out slumming their way through the streets. For the most part, they tried to do the right thing and adapt to typically lives in Dwarven society. It was hard for young Flint though who was bullied and teased by Dwarven boys his age for having no parents and then parents who had no 'honor.' Flint learned to fight on the street with fists and blunt weaponry, sometimes a shank. The four were very united; defending and supporting one another when the occassions called for it. Collectively, they were called The Brothers by Kinghill Hold.
Life was hard enough for young Flint that he doesn't believe in the power of deities but the power of his own two hands... but it wasn't until a fateful encounter with a group of kobold mercenaries in a tavern that Flint learned you don't have to earn things to have things. He had come into the tavern they say on an errand for his oldest brother Quarry, and was awe-stricken when he saw them bragging and showing-off the spoils of some foreign battle they had partaken in- being treated like kings even! Flint tried to get a better look, but the head of the kobold group thought he was trying to steal. Flint, barely a teen himself, swore he would never and asked the kobolds how they were able to earn such treasures. The kobold mercenary told him that they earned it because they had taken it; 'survival of the fittest' ... they were stronger than their opponents were. They could have whatever they wanted. Flint tried to argue, but they made a very good point- life hadn't been fair to him, why make it fairer to anyone else?
He told the story to his brothers who were disgusted at first but warmed up to the idea when Flint proposed stealing the treasure from the kobolds. The kobolds had taken the treasure from innocent people, and by taking it from them, it would be some kind of justice and make their lives a little better. As the bell signalled night-time aboveground, The Brothers assumed the kobolds would sleep and snuck into the tavern they stayed at intending to distract, steal, and get away without being seen.
No one knows exactly what happened that night, but it can be assumed The Brothers did not succeed. Axel and Copper died that night, and Quarry was nowhere to be found in Kinghill Keep thereafter. The surviving brother Flint recovered from his injuries, and a ward of the state again was conscripted into the Dwarven Armed Forces... but deserted barely a year into his service. Comrades in arms describe Flint muttering about that fateful night to himself, and a mysterious notion about gems...
Flint himself is a ill-tempered dwarf preferring to talk with his fists. He's paranoid and leery of those he comes in contact with, and only takes on jobs as a mercenary, never out of the kindness of his soul. Flint has a deep hatred for kobolds, trogdolites, goblins -- to him, they are all relatively the same. Though none have seen it, he talks deeply about loyalty, and anyone that calls themselves traitorous to him is sure to get a thrashing whether he knows them personally or not. He's managed to get himself banned from a couple of taverns that way. People say he's one of the most unusual dwarves they've ever met because he keeps his trove of gems on his person at all times, sometimes even embedding them into his armor, leathers, and more. He never sells them, only hoards them. Anyone who tries to take them is a dead man.
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