New Year, New Me – Day 15

Darion – Dwarf Bard – Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

Darion was very young, barely able to walk on his own when he was exiled, his entire clan was sent aboveground to answer for the crimes of a few.

By the time he could speak, his people had formed expansive trade deals with neighboring settlements, and visitors of all shape and size were commons sights in the dwarven settlement. Perhaps that is why he never took to work like so many of those that came from underground. Or maybe it was just him. Regardless, the young dwarf hated working. Instead, he had a knack for talking people into doing his work for him, so that he could slack off and fool around.

He did, however, have a passion for music. He bought himself a drum early on and taught himself whatever songs and chants he could, oftentimes sneaking aboard merchant wagons headed to the nearby port city to listen to the sailors singing their work songs. One day, a ship’s captain overheard the young man singing along and offered to bring him aboard as a shanty man. Darion jumped at the chance, not realizing how much work he was actually in for. There were precious few places he could hide on the ship and the crew weren’t too keen on letting the dwarf shirk his duties. Still, Darion found the voyage to be an exhilarating experience, and when the ship landed back in harbor, he signed on for another three months, and then another three months. Before he knew it, he had spent several years at sea with various ships and ship captains. As the years went by he grew to become a capable sailor. He also continued to pursue his love of music, learning about the magic that was locked inside of it during some R&R in a foreign port of call. Most importantly, he learned how to use those skills to cut corners aboard the ship, subtly influencing people to do his work for him or mending tears in the sails with his magic so that he could knock off early.

After a particularly nasty storm nearly sank the ship he was aboard, he decided that it was time to get back to dry land for a while. After the ship limped its way back to port, he took his leave of the sailor’s life to see what he could find back home.