Kol the stonecrafter, Kol the coward, Kol the misguided hero
Over a year ago a strange goblin showed up in the city of Swordburn.
He was able to enter as he officially declared himself a mercenary traveling and looking for rest, but he was also an undead. Most, but not all undead serve the necromancers who bring death and oppression to many corners of the world, but the fact that not all were meant, at least to an honorable dwarf's sensibilities, that all deserved a chance until proven one way or another! So the Fetid, and noticeably stinking, ghoul was allowed in.
Stonework is also the primary work source in swordburn. It's towers reach from the heights of the sky to the depths of the earth. Kol being one of those workers enjoyed an honorable place, but on that fateful day a year ago she was locked onto a darker path
The ghoul cornered her. It whispered of dark armies of the dead and the destruction of swordburn if she did not help him. The threat worked.
If she did not recover Gatiztenshed, the steel pick, for him he would kill her on that day and he would return with his master's army to wipe out all life here.
So she had no choice. She had gotten lucky in a way: The pick was laying on a crime scene currently, a lion man attempted to steal it, but now it was lying there until the investigation was cleared but there was no one guarding it. Still, an ill omen.
The ghoul, who went by Ilral, sat in the tavern waiting. He spoke with no one and no one sat near him thanks to his stench. She pulled out the pick to hand to him and only moments away from doing so two bolts flew from across the room. One struck the wall next to the goblin and the other near the dwarf
"Fool." the ghoul spoke. He attacked Kol who was able to throw up one punch in her defense only to be beaten severely. "Ilral" landed one single punch on her middle spine and broke it. She lay there helpless as the goblin beat her quickly and viciously. The guards had been rushing over to protect her, but the goblin was so fast that even by the time they reached them she was already lying in a pool of her blood
The guards dogpiled the goblin. Gatiztenshed's true owner was weaponless as well and tore the goblins shoulders out of their sockets as he was beat to death.
Kol is paralyzed for life, although she only had to endure a few months in prison. She is reviled for her actions by many of her fellow citizens although the interrogators know she only did so out of a desire to protect the fort.
Let this be a lesson to good dwarfs of Swordburn: The road to the underworld is paved with good intentions