I was born in Kharanos in Dun Morough to Dhaeven Stonefist and Morra Greyhawk. Yeah, my father was one of the Stonefist clan, which is why I go by my Mom's name. The Stonefists have a long history of working for one or another of the bosses of the Hidden Circle, the dwarves who run every crooked scam in Ironforge - everything from illicit and illegal drugs like Sa'Diablo and Kryff to prostitution (what there is of it in Ironforge) to forgery and fraud to theft and extortion. Blackmail. Murder for hire. Alright, you get the picture - but while the occasional clansmember like Tilda Stonefist served in the Alliance Navy, far more of them were part of the Defias like my Uncle Dashel or practitioners in dark warlockry, selling their abilities to the highest bidder.
As you might imagine, dinners in the Stonefist clan hall were a little... tense.
My father finally left, working in the mountains Dun Morogh, supporting his family with smelted copper bars he'd dig out of the mountainsides. Mother was a human hunter that had been gored by angry Goretusks, and been nursed back to health during a particularly cold and vicious winter by my Father. She was short for a human, and my Father was tall for a dwarf; being partially human as well.
What, you don't think human women take dwarven mates? Some dwarves are rich, and dwarven women are...rare. While dwarves usually shoot blank cartridges (why do you think they live so Fel-damned long?), sometimes the bullet hits the target, and children result.
These kids don't do well - dwarves consider them humans because their mothers were human, and humans... well, let us just say that the history of Humankind is not overly stained with the Milk of Human Kindness. So most of them stay in dwarven demesnes, where while they may not be considered "real" dwarves, they aren't persecuted and killed for being mongrels.
I grew up like a sprout, and my parents loved me, which is more than I can say for some. My Father taught me to find, dig, and smelt copper and my Mother taught me how to mix my own gunpowder, how to load and fire a flintlock pistol and blunderbuss. Both my parents taught me to roll and use explosives.
Like my Father, the Stonefist clan considered me something of a "White Sheep", and just as soon as I could, I enlisted in the Alliance army. I went through a couple of weeks of training as a spear grunt when my training sergeant noted my stalking abilities; Mother had made sure that I could track and sneak up on snow leopards, after all, and kill them so that their hides could be taken and sold.
Compared to snow leopards, Orcs are easy... anyways, I got sent to Scout school and learned to draw maps and make lists. How to sneak around, and how to sabotage things to really screw up Horde logistics. How to kill with knife and sword, but as silent and deadly as a yeti fart.
Uncle Dashel would have approved.
In any case, after eight years I found myself with an honorable discharge and no job. I didn't want to reenlist; I don't like taking orders much. Uncle Dashel wrote me a letter of introduction to a Defias in charge of the bandits looking to steal Northshire Abbey blind; while I really did not want to be dipping my toe into that particular pond, it beat starving.
As I passed through the gates, I head a voice shout out to me. "Greyhawk! What in the seven silent sentinels are you doing here?" Willem had been my training officer in the Scouts, but had recently been deployed here as Deputy to Marshal McBride, the guy in charge of the defense of Northshire Valley. I tossed him a small keg of Honeymead I'd brought with me, and he told me that they had been so under-staffed that the Marshal was offering a bounty for every Defias sash brought in across the river - no questions asked.
I tossed the letter to the Defias leader into a cookfire, first chance I got. I was a disgrace as a Stonefist, but the idea of making my way killing bandits and helping people rather than victimizing them appealed far more to me.
And compared to sneaking and killing Horde soldiers, Defias bandits proved easy. When Willem introduced me to Marshal McBride, it was as a private investigator and a veteran scout... and that is when I started that career.
I work out of Goldshire, mostly - its a good spot to gather information on what is happening in Lakeshire, Darkshire, Westfall, and of course Stormwind. I get 20 silver coins a day, and expenses when I can, and when I don't have a client... there are always more Defias to kill for beer money.
Defias are like rats breeding in a sewer; at least, I will never starve.
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