Redgrave

The Fighter

Orphaned on the streets of the Oonean captial, Redgrave grew up fighting for survival every day of his youth. Conscripted into the army at an early age, he was trained to fill the ranks of spear-wielding footmen.

Proving his worth on the front lines, he was picked to join a scouting regiment where he excelled in their frequent skirmishes. There, he learned not only the tactics of fighting goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears, but their language as well.

It was during his years in the scouting regiment where he became aware that the Oonean Empire didn't exactly have the best interests of anyone at heart outside of the highest towers of the ruling class. The destitute citizens were no better off than when he was a street orphan: the resources captured from enemies went straight into locked vaults, magic was criminalized, and outsiders of any non-human race were enemies of the empire.

The last straw for him was seeing a family of goblin refugees, foraging for food in the mountains, cut down mercilessly by his regiment. He'd been fighting what he'd been led to believe were raiding parties but were actually defenders of small settlements or simple folk.

At his first opportunity, he bundled his few possessions into his pack and deserted the army, heading south across the mountains following tales of a different empire to the south, one hopefully more free, and to adventure in general.

Redgrave's Buckler

The Flaming Rooster

"The shield? That's a bit of a tale, innit?"

"This shield served as the pub sign at the 'Flaming Rooster', a pub in the back alleys of the Oonean capitol. The owner, an ugly beast of a man named 'Fat Tom', liked to claim he'd won it in a drinking contest. He had a number of shields hung on his walls with similar stories."

"My fellow troops and I liked to frequent the pub come payday as the watered down ale was cheap enough. One night, at the urging of my loud friends, I challeneged Fat Tom to the same contest with the same stakes, using my own shield as my buy-in."

"Well, I beat him fair as fair, but he cheated on the deal and rather than surrender the shield to me he had the crooked city watch throw me behind bars for drunk and disorderly conduct! I spent the night in that the city's dungeon and was further disciplined by my unit for losing my shield to him!"

"I vowed I'd get what I was due, and deliver to Fat Tom what he was due as well."

"This happened just a few weeks before I deserted and headed south to New Fortuna. As I was making my way out of the city in the black of night, I passed by the pub, wrenched the shield from above the door, and hung a dead rat in it's place. I'm sure Fat Tom knows it was me who took it and he's welcome to try to take it back!"

"Turns out it's a good enough buckler in it's own right, it just needed a little repair."

Heraldic Meaning

The rooster is a traditional symbol of watchfulness and alertness. Surrounded by flames, it signifies a "fiery spirit" or a warrior who is highly energetic, passionate, and ready for battle.

Talismans

Recently, having discovered a penchant for creating talismans, Redgrave has been dabbling with a few formulae. He can create temporary talismans very easily: Potency Crystal, Wolf Fang, and Predator's Claw.

Acquired Gear

What's in the bag

• A wolf-hide cloak, from a wolf slain on an early outing.
• A set of Chainmail with an Armor Potency (+1) rune from a skeleton in the ruins of Old Fortuna. Waiting to find someone to transfer the rune to his breastplate.

Mini

This Reaper miniature of Sir William the Peacemaker is a fun one sort of matching the character. His shield is huge but was easy to resize, and keeping the section with a whole rooster on it gave me the idea for the description and backstory of Redgrave's buckler.