Argun

Argun at Monster Mash V.

Majestic as fuck.

Full Name: Loremaster Argun Barkûn

Offical Titals:

• Loremaster: granted by Romulus and Daria at Oktoberfest 2019 for his work creating Dwarf Lore

Other Titles:

• Former Master of Coin of Tir Asleen (2015-2016)
• Official TA Timekeeper
• Wielder of the Shovel of Bodies
• called 'the Mole'

Race: Dwarf

Realms: Frozen North, formerly Tir Asleen, Barter Town

Unit: None

Other Affiliations:

• Kingdom of Eriador
• Formerly of the The Húskarlar

Fighting Since: 2012

Favorite Weapons: Glaive, Double Rocks

Lore

Argun was born in the halls of the mountain fortress of Dezmesar. As a child he loved nothing more then to spend hours in the fortress' library, reading the ancient records the scribes kept there and gathering as much knowledge as he could into his young head. As he aged, his interest in knowledge only grew. All of those around him knew he would one day make a great scholar, so it was no surprise when on his hundredth name day he declared that he would join Kaldrum Tolingdran, the scribe caste. His family celebrated for a fortnight, with much drinking and merriment, for they were sure he would make a great scribe, perhaps one day becoming a paragon.

At first he didn’t know what project to start on, what goal to set for his life’s work, so for several years he worked in the fortress' library, maintaining the old tones and keeping them organized. However, as the time passed, he grew bored with that life. By that point he had read most of what was kept in the library, so he knew most of the tones by heart, and they no longer interested him as they once had. He longed for new knowledge, knowledge beyond what the fortress library held. But what knowledge was missing? After reviewing the tomes, he came to the conclusion that while there was much information about the history of Dezmesar and the Khazad in general, there was little about the rest of the world, and the other races that lived within it. This interested Argun greatly, and got him to thinking that perhaps he should do something to change that. After much thought and internal debate, he decided that there was only one way to achieve that goal. He announced that he would leave the fortress, and set out on a journey to gather knowledge. He had decided what his life’s work would be; he would write a great tome of knowledge about the outside world.

At first his family was not happy about this. Leaving the fortress would be dangerous, and in their minds, it was not worth it for him to risk his life to gather knowledge about the rest of the world. But Argun was decided. This was what he wanted to do for his life’s work, so this is what he would do. His dedication finally won them over, and they relented. So with his family's begrudging blessing, he gathered his belongings, gathered the supplies he would need, purchased an axe and a shield, and prepared to head out into the world.

For awhile, Argun lived with the humans in the kingdoms surrounding Desmesar. Initially the humans were excited to have a Khazad who wanted to live among them. After all, dwarves, as the humans called them, were well known for their skill as craftsmen. Who knew what skill this dwarf would have. He could be a great smith, or mason, or carver. Whatever he was, surely he would have some useful skills. However, it quickly became obvious that Argun was not that kind of dwarf. He was not a craftsmen, instead, he was kind of a pain in the ass. He was always asking questions, and wanted to know about everything the humans did. He kept sticking his nose into things where he didn’t belong, and before long the humans began to get angry with him. Picking up on this, Argun decided it was time to leave.

After wandering for awhile, Argun ran into a group of elves living in the forest. Having heard of elves only from the lore of his people, he was initially very suspicious of them. However, they seemed friendly enough, and his goal was to gather information about the world and it's races, so he decided to give them a chance. He spent several months with them. Unlike the humans, the elves were fine with this strange little man taking notes on them. They thought it was funny that he wanted to know about them, and decided it was even more fun to mess with him. They would sometimes give him false information, just to see how he would react, and laugh when he took them too seriously. Once Argun realized what the elves were doing, he became angry, and decided it was time to leave them too.

For awhile after that, Argun wandered, not staying long anywhere. Eventually he stumbled upon a group of his kinsmen who dwelt in high, snow-capped mountains and were locked in a deadly war against the region’s Orcs. Argun had yet to encounter orcs, or any race of monsters for that matter. He agreed to join them and lend his axe to their cause in order to gain the opportunity to learn something about these orcs. He traveled with the dwarves to their mountain where he found they were locked in battle upon a crumbling sea-side glacier. Argun and his companions rushed to join the fight, but as they neared there was a ear-splitting noise and the ice below began to quake, falling away under their feet. Argun tumbled through the air and only remembered hitting his head on the ice before blacking out.

When he awoke, he found that he shared a small ice chunk with a green faced orc. Luckily, Argun hadn’t lost his axe in the fall, and so he grabbed it, ready to attack. But as he shifted his weight, he noticed that the ice tilted frighteningly to the side. Armored as he was, Argun knew he wouldn't be able to swim if he fell into the water. He would surely sink like a stone. So he waited. When the orc stirred, shaking the pain from his head, Argun pleaded with him not to move. He told the orc, who was also heavily armored, that if he moved, they would fall into the freezing water, and they would both drown. The orc, having some sense, chose not to attack and instead counterbalanced the dwarf.

The two drifted for several days, enemies bound by ice. It turned out the orc was named Güv, and while he was initially fine with just sitting still, as time passed Argun feared more and more that his hunger would lead him to do something rash and get them both killed. Just as the dwarf was really beginning to fear for his life, the pair were happened upon by a dragon ship crewed by Norsemen. Their leader was named Sigurd Amundson, and he chose to take the strange people aboard and put them at the oar. Not seeing any other option, and interested in getting a chance to observe these Norsemen, Argun agreed to the raider’s terms. After a time, Argun came to like the Norsemen quite a bit, and while they were initially suspicious of him, they grew to like him too. They were particularly interested in the runes he used to record the information he gained about them, for they were similar to the ones he used. With time, Argun even grew to like Gϋv the orc. It turned out that so long as the orc was not hungry, he could be a rather amiable person.

Argun sailed with the Norsemen to Sigurd's homeland. After resupplying and sealing off the spoils of the Norsemen’s raids, the raiders prepared to head out again. Argun and Gϋv agreed to join them. Before they left, Argun used some of the money he’d saved from their last trip to reequip himself. He had found on his travels that outside of his mountain home, an axe didn’t serve him as well as it could. With his short statue compared to the men, elves, and orcs he had met, he was at a disadvantage. He needed more reach, and decided that it was time the invest some money in crafting a new weapon for himself, a glaive.

So with his new weapon in hand, Argun once again joined his companions on a raid. They boarded the boats and set sale for a strange land Sigurd called the Rusland. Visund, Sigurd's friend and kinsman joined them. Initially the raid went well, until one night, while ashore, the party was ambushed by a large levy rus warriors. It was a terrifying battle, and devastating to the party. Argun's new glaive cut down many foes, and helped keep the swarming Rus at bay, but at the end only left Argun, Gϋv, Sigurd, and Visund were left alive. Unable to man their ship with so few people, they decide to burn it as a funeral pyre for their dead brothers and set off on foot.

The Banner of Clan Barkûn

For many days the group traveled, being harassed by the Rus at every turn. They fled south looking for a safer place to hole up and treat their wounds. For awhile things looked grim, and it seemed like they would soon be overrun, but then, suddenly, the Rus stopped following. It was as if they had simply disappeared. While Sigurd and Gϋv rested, Argun and Visund went back to see if they could find out what had happened to the Rus. It didn’t take long for them to find out, they found their butchered and mutilated bodies strewn across the steppes. It was a terrifying sight, for it was clear no human had done the work. While many of the men’s injuries were from swords or daggers, far more were clearly the marks of teeth, claws and tusks. This was clearly the work of monsters, and from the looks of it, many kinds working together. Visund decided to push on, but Argun agreed to go back and warn the others. However, when he found them, it was too late, the monsters had already caught them. Argun tried to sneak in and rescue them, but the clinking of his chainmail gave him away, and he too was captured.

It was then he found that his friends had in fact, not been captives, but had actually been taken in by the monster Horde. Gϋv, as an orc, was welcomed, and Sigurd, though he looked to be simply a large human, was actually part Ogre, and thus was allowed in. Argun however, as a dwarf, was nothing but food to these monsters. They planned to prepare him for the pot, but at the last moments, his former companions intervened. They convinced the Horde to keep the dwarf for now, and eat him later when rations were low. After all, meat keeps better when still alive.

At first Argun was terrified. But as time passed, his fear began to wane. He was never sure why, but after a time, it became apparent that the monsters, despite their initial insistence otherwise, were not going to eat him. Maybe they had come to like him, or liked messing with him at least. Or maybe they had just kind of forgotten why they had kept him around in the first place and assumed he was there for some reason or other. Argun was never sure. But when he decided that he wasn't about to die at any moment, he realized he had an opportunity few dwarves in history had ever been given. He had the chance to observe monsters of many kinds in their wild state. He had, after all, set out to learn about the world and its people, and in a weird kind of fringe way, monsters were people. Argun began taking notes on the monsters, observing what they did and how they did it. He didn’t understand most of it, of course. They were strange creatures, after all, but in time he came to appreciate some of their more amiable qualities, and he suspected some of them might even have come to like him. Or at least tolerate him till one of them remembered he was supposed to be food at some point.

Events Attended:

Oktoberfest 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Eriador Halloween 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022

WPO 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019

Spring Wars 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018

Melcaorme 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019

Armageddon 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017

June Eriador 2013

Bear Brawl 2013, 2015

Prelude 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021

Hyboria Realm Opener 2015

Monster Mash 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019

Wreck the Halls II (2017), IV (2019), V (2020)

Rhun in June 2016, 2018

"Election-fight" 2016

Giants Awakening VI (2016), VII (2017)

Hybrasil Opener 2017

Hybrasil Closer 2018