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High up in the Rocky Crags of the White Mountains
in beautiful northern New
Hampshire, whole under-ground cities of the ancient race of Dwarves still
mine their valuable metals. Their stone and metallurgical works are
stunning to behold, and their artistry has been passed down for generation
upon generation. Often, the most amazing works sold in the auctions of high
society are actually made by these Dwarven craftsmen. Once fashioned, the
Dwarves sell their wares to a very few hermitish people on the fringes of
their kingdoms, often anonymously or under cover of darkness, so as to avoid
recognition.
Amongst even the sturdy races of old, though, an occasional miscreant dabbles in forbidden knowledge. Suffering from an insurmountable artists' block, Dervish apprentice of Miklo Anghelo son of Yeonarto Babinchy checked a copy of the Necronomicon's Cliff Notes out of the MountainCrag Library, and tried to spy upon the works of other apprentices by traveling through the Astral Plane. Sadly, the Cliff Notes only provided the abridged incantation, and Dervish was forever tied to the spiritual plane. Unexpected he would find himself slipping out of the physical plane for brief moments, only to reappear. When his foray into forbidden knowledge was discovered, he was banished from the Dawrven City amidst scorn and derision, and was expected to eke out an existence in the greater world as a miniaturized comic buffoon in a series of British Spy-Thriller Parody Films.
Unable to cope with the thought of the humiliation, he instead rented an
apartment amongst the fisherman's shacks on the Maine Coast, and spent years
exercising and perfecting his Astral Portalling. Now capable of performing
the act at will, he seems to "shift", moving instantly from one location to
a nearby one without appearing to have traveled in between the two points.
Before too long, he was using this party trick to score with hot babes at
clubs and parties. Not too much longer after that, he
foreswear his sexual deviance and instead turned to fighting the criminals
that threatened the one true love of his life; art. Those who would steal
or counterfeit the great classics soon learned to fear men of diminutive
stature. Those whose wanton acts damaged or destroyed proud architecture
soon found their bowels tasting the cold kiss of folded steel katana. Other
superheroes soon began to notice that they could often convince Dervish to
join their cause, if only they were able to put their missions
into a context that would appeal to a true connoisseur of the arts. Indeed,
even hearing of the desecration of a park or painting is often enough to
send Dervish into a bloodlust of retaliation, seeking to spill the blood of
those who would mar true art. His obsession is like unto a religion now,
and purging the world of heretics who would harm beauty and creativity is
his life's missionary work.
His combat proficiency is often characterized by direct charges at an
opponent or group of opponents, and suddenly disappearing just prior to
reaching them. His "shifting" ability is then used to portal him directly
behind his foe, so that he may deal lethal blows with his surprise attack
(unnoticed attacks from behind do +2 damage). Likewise, teleporting
directly into the midst of a group of opponents, he can use his
ambidextrosity to attack multiple enemies in a single turn. Combined with
Stupendous feats, he has the opportunity to dole out massive damage to his
opponents, or to leap around like a manic housefly, earning him the unkind
nickname of "The Whirling Dwarvish".
Unfortunately, these brief stints into the Astral Plane do not come without
a price. About 5% of the time, his shifting induces a temporary insanity of
epic proportions. The degree and detail of the insanity vary from instance
to instance, and in times of extended combat my accumulate upon each other
if he happens to be unlucky enough to experience two insanities in a row.
In the case of a shift gone bad, the results are determined by rolling on a
separate Ker-Krazy table (supplied separately). The results
can be as varied as manic obsessiveness about cleanliness to phobic terror
about spiders.
Character and story: Shaun Sullivan
All material on this site, except as otherwise noted, is copyright © 2003 Joseph A. Comeau. All Rights Reserved.
BrikWars copyright © 1995-2003 Mike Rayhawk.
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