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[Ascii Kid]

  Cek Dishplate(Ushcenmori) was the enigma of Pointycreature(Xidelmos), which itself was considered strange by the rest of The Group of Amazement (forgot).  It was considered strange because of the influence Ukapian church had through the warlord and he was considered strange because he had been found in the wild as a baby by a very unlikely person; Thaguk Curltouches(Lukidema), the local jeweler.  Thaguk, being both soft of heart but shrewd of mind, and an ardent follower of Ukap Soulwheeled the Way of Pricing, took Cek into his home and raised him with a singular purpose in mind: creating a perfect mercenary.  War, he assumed, would always exist, is was the one certain business in life, next to coffin making, but that doesn't pay as well.  A loyal son who was perfectly at ease with war would always be able to support him when age took his sight and he could no longer practice his trade. 
  Thaguk raised him as he would any child until he was five years old.  Then he began to train him, hiring soldiers and mercenaries to teach him the trade, both the business and the art of war.  He was a hardened fighter by 12 and by 18 he had developed to a point that the local trainers and teachers where unable to advance his learning.  He had taken the axe as his weapon, that thing would get his most attention, and which he would use to perfect combat.  He had grown to be a mountain of a man, broad of body but slightly short in mind.  He single minded focus on war had left deficits in his personality.
  He knew about contracts, not friendships and choke-holds, not romance.  Most people in town avoided him; his lack of social graces and patience made most uncomfortable.  This arrangement suited Cek perfectly well; he found casual society baffling.  He need only one thing to get that sensation of companionship that others seemed to take from people or pets; music.  His appreciation started with the drums used to help him keep rhythm during drills as a child, but it had grown beyond that as he listened to his trainers during breaks make actual music, with lutes or whistles or even simply singing.  When he heard music is made him understand why people enjoyed life.

  In the summer of his 19th year Thaguk decided it was time to present Cek to Lic Yelllaws(Alanimu), the warlord of town and a fellow Ukapian. He lived in a huge Mansion on the South West side of town, a sprawling 2 story Palm wood manor near the foot of a small hill.  As they approached a breeze blew in from the west, cooled by the ocean and offered relief from the sweltering mid-day heat.  Dry grass swayed a rustled as they approached the door.
  Inside was luxuriant splender the likes of which, Thaguk had whispered privately to Cek, honesty could never afford.  Huge flag tapestries were hung from the ceiling and brazers of incense wafted alien fragrances in purple clouds.  Lic entered the room from a shadowed hallway wearing a plain rope reed robe and smoking a strange looking glass pipe.  His eyes were blood-shot slits of blazing intensity and, with his long and hooked nose, he had the overall look of a ferret.

  "Thaguk, I greet you as a brother of trade." his voice was high and horse which betrayed and otherwise friendly demeanor.
  "And I you, brother." Thaguk took Cek by the shoulder and, with a note of pride, began an obviously practiced speech, "I present you with my Son, Cek, for admission into the ranks of the warforce.  He is ready to make the town, the whole nation proud."  Lic began to walk around Cek, examining his armour, taping his helmet, pushing him lightly. 
  "You wish to send him into battle in bronze?"
  "He is deadly and proficient no matter what the armourment, believe me." Cek knew that stronger materials existed but they were extremely difficult to obtain in the Hills of Sweltering. 
  "He is, is he?" Lic took a slow draw from his pipe and spoke with a held breath, "Well I say prove it.  Cek," he looked into Ceks' eyes and held them, "I want an artifact of the dwarves.  I want proof they existed, I want evidence of what became of them, I want to learn about their technology, I want to UNDERSTAND them, you see?" he exhaled in a huff and took another puff, "Do this, go and find their ruins, travel the world and bring me back something and you will be handsomely rewarded." he exhaled again, this time controlled and directly into Ceks' eyes, smiled when Cek didn't blink and then asked them both to leave.
  And that is how Cek Dishplates came to wander the wilds.

[Ascii Kid]

  He traveled north up the coast following the clay-cobblestone road known as The Lauded Way, watching across the dry-grass plains to the east as heat shimmered and wavered the distant images of elephant herds roaming.  Occasionally he'd see a gull that had soared in from the coast high over head in the cloudless sky, or a boar pack in a shallow ravine, rooting around in the shade. 
  It was mid after noon when he heard the first signs of trouble.  A cold rain had just blown in and at nearly the same time he heard a low rumbling.  Scanning the area to his east he noticed a figure, that quickly revealed itself as an enormous, bloated elephant charging his direction.  He ran to move from it's path, but the beast simply shifted course and continued to bolt straight for him.  He unlashed the shield from his back dug in behind it and waited for the inevitable.  The elephant pitched its' head down and drove it, full force, into the bronze face of the shield, sending Cek sprawling into the mud, stunned but unhurt.  As he gathered himself the elephant circled back and kicked at him several times, finally catching him in the leg.  Pain shot through his mind but he knew that the bone was still solid.  He rolled away from another kick, gathered his quickly cramping legs beneath him and sprung forward, arcing the axe blade into the elephants head and slicing most of it away.  With an indescribable noise the elephant collapsed and bled out almost instantly.  Quickly Cek decided to move on incase other members of its' herd were around.
  That night he arrived in Westbrother(Starosage), a major trade centre along The Lauded Way.  Most people seemed to be inside, which, in the torch light of town, he realized was probably for the best, as he was covered in dried elephants blood.  He quickly and quietly went about looking for an out of the way place to sleep, walking farther down the road until it ended in an enormous Willow bridge that stretched out over the north side of town.  Tired, hungry and blood-caked Cek trudged down the bridge hoping it lead to somewhere comfortable.  He noticed that across the middle of each plank of Willow were the words "The Bridge of Deities", burned in ornate caligraphy.
  Cek found that, when one crosses a bridge, one expects to arrive at the other side of something, or somewhere, or at least just not four stories or better over the tallest building in town looking over a darkening valley of torch-lights and candle fire.  Figures moved in the shadows and, from one of those buildings, he could hear the sounds of revelry and rapid, gangling mandolin.  Cek unpacked his bedroll, settled in against the posts of the bridge and went to sleep.