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My name is Deogee Lightfoot of House Zander. I grew up in a small tribal village named Griklin with my fellow Tabaxi kin. My father thought it would be funny to name me Deogee. He thought it would make me tough. He figured with a name like that, I would get picked on a lot, and it would make me tough. It sort of worked. I got into a lot of fights, but my anger prevented me from keeping focused, which prevented me from winning. Over the years, I learned to try and focus my anger elsewhere. I found out that hitting hot steel with a hammer did the trick. I still got into fights, but not as many. I slowly learned how to use my anger and rage to my advantage. Not only did I get better at fighting, but I turned out to be a pretty good blacksmith.
Eventually, I took over as the village Smith. I mostly made tools, horseshoes, and basic weaponry. Over time, I learned how to wield all kinds of weapons, but the hammer was still my favorite. I ended up getting help from a chatty young man named Fenfa Owlmoon of House Ulaw. He had recently discovered that he had some control over the elements. Unfortunately, he found out the hard way and burnt down half the crops one harvest season. After that, not many people wanted anything to do with him or work with him. So he found his way to me. Turned out, his elemental powers helped out a lot.
Over the years, we became quite close and worked well together. He loved to talk, which was fine because I didn't. Some of the villagers, mostly from the richer houses, still harassed him and me. I taught him how not to let it bother him and to defend himself without setting everything on fire. He showed me how fire is like my rage. If controlled, it can be used as a tool. One night, a group of men mostly started their normal harassment. This night, they got a little more violent than usual. I lost control and broke one of their arms. Fenfa burnt another one pretty bad.
The next night, a mob came to find us at the smith. They accused Fenfa of attacking them and trying to rob them. I tried to defend him and tell them it was my fault, but the mob's mind was made up. So I grabbed him, ran to the smith, and sabotaged my smithy to go up in flames. We used the distraction of the fire to get away. We moved west towards Primeval in hopes to start over and find someplace to set up another smithy. I felt so bad. It was all my fault that we got run out of town, and he lost his home. Now it was my job to protect him. I taught him everything I knew about how to survive off the land. We stopped at many different towns over our travels. Of course, we had to check out every blacksmith that we could. It was so interesting seeing different setups and what their specialties were.
As we went west, we met all kinds of different people. It was hard on the road, but we stuck together, and I did everything I could to protect him. Fenfa loved to talk and tell stories. We started hearing stories of a mining town that may have uncovered an ancient tomb or a ruined city underground. Every story was slightly different, but one thing they all had in common was that it was loaded with wondrous items. One item interested Fenfa a lot. We heard about a long dust jacket like a trench coat. What was special about this jacket was that it was light as a feather but protected the wearer like it was heavy armor. At first, I wanted nothing to do with rumors of some mystical jacket. Then, the more Fenfa talked about it, the more I started to believe the rumors. Also, I thought if it turned out to be real, it would work great to protect Fenfa just in case I wasn't around.
We ended up finding out where this mining town was. After much begging and pleading, I agreed to go check out the town and investigate the tomb. I figured at least there might be gold, weapons, and other valuables. I also figured that I got Fenfa into this predicament. I would do anything I could do to make up for it and to keep him safe. When we finally arrived at the town, the first place we stopped was the smith. There was a bugbear named Harfang Munter who ran the shop. He had an apprentice named Marwood Fig. He looked like a dwarf but much darker in complexion and with dark hair. We later learned he was a duergar. I guess they are dwarves but live farther underground or something. Harfang loved to make armor and made his own molds to round and shape his armor. Marwood didn't talk much, but when he did, it was usually a sly remark making fun of Harfang. They seemed to make a pretty good team, like Fenfa and myself. We stayed in the Black Diamond Tavern for the night and got some supplies at the general store like rations and such. Then we headed towards our future.
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