Grok

Background

Shareen was always something of a fighter. Perhaps that’s why the Orc Tribal Lord, Khash the Razortoothed, son of Krolok the Destroyer, took a liking to her and let her live long after her first raping. Nobody is quite sure where she came from or what farm she was plucked from, only that she knew how to fight back. She was beautiful as far as human standards go, but the Orc Lord didn't have much use for that. The pretty ones almost always broke on their first use. No, Shareen was different. She hit back and she actually hurt him, and that... turned him on. It had been a long time since any female, human or orc, had made him feel anything.

And so Shareen became the Favorite of Khash the Razortoothed, Orc Lord of the Five Tribes of the Badlands. Shareen was grateful that none of the other orcs dared to lay a hand on her. Well, there was the one orc who decided that Khash should share his favorite a little more freely. His head ended up on a pike with his balls stuffed in his mouth. And then there was the orc who was assigned to guard Shareen and thought he might be able to get away with a little time with her on his own. She killed him with his own sword and almost made it out of the encampment to freedom. Thus, Shareen was given the honor of being the first Favorite to warrant two guards at her tent at all times. Even the fact that she had a tent was something of an honor. Other slaves were kept in their cages. But whether the cage was made of steel or cloth, Shareen's fighting spirit longed to escape.

Several months into her captivity, what she had been dreading finally happened. Her belly began to swell. Shareen was pregnant with the child of Khash the Razortoothed. She feared that the Orc Lord would not let the child come to term, but Khash was curious if the child would be male or female, and if the favored traits would be more orc or human. He allowed the pregnancy to continue. On the longest night of the year, in the midst of a freezing snow storm the likes of which had not been seen for decades, Shareen gave birth to a son. Khash was present at the birth, and seeing that the child was male, decided he would raise his son, Grok, son of Khash, son of Krolok, as an orc. Grok was ripped from his mother's arms.

Shareen had taken more than she could bear. Her body could endure the rapings and the abuse, but her soul could not endure the theft of her child. That night she began planning her escape. Three days later, she managed to sneak out of her tent to where they were keeping the infant Grok. She even managed to bundle him in her arms and make her way to the edge of the encampment. That's as far as she got. Khash himself was in pursuit of her.

There was no way that Shareen could escape in the snow. The Orc Lord caught up with her. Khash had decided that he had had quite enough. The infant Grok was taken from Shareen. Khash would allow her the final honor of dying at his own hands. In the moments that followed, Shareen fought for her life. With a sword she had managed to steal from one of the other orcs, she swung at Khash and cut off his lower jaw. As he howled, she fled into the darkness and the snow.

Six months later, Shareen came back for her son. This time, she was accompanied by a band of adventurers who had agreed to help her rescue her child… and steal the tribe's gold along the way. Khash the razortoothed was shocked to see Shareen again. He had given her up for dead to the elements. But somehow she had survived and here she was with the same fighting spirit that he had once found so attractive. He knew she was there for her son. For her part, Shareen was just as shocked to see that Khash had survived also. By some act of dark sorcery, he had a strange steel prosthetic that looked like a bear trap grafted onto the lower half of his face. He had truly become razortoothed... and twice as fearsome.

Shareen and the adventurers put up a good fight, but in the end they didn't leave with any gold. Shareen, however, did get what she came for. The adventurers were able to secure Grok. However, Shareen finally lost her life to Khash as the other adventurers escaped. Khash the Razortoothed gave her one last kiss on the neck… by ripping out her throat with his teeth.

The band of adventurers was incredibly disappointed in how the rescue attempt had turned out. Sure, they were able to accomplish their mission of rescuing Grok, but they didn't leave with any treasure or gold. What did adventurers know about taking care of a baby? None of them were interested in acquiring this new burden. But neither were they cold and heartless. The wizard of the group wrote down the story of Grok's birth in a notebook so that he would know what a strong soul his mother was. The adventurers finally found a blacksmith named Brandon in the one of the River Kingdom villages they were passing through who had recently lost both his wife and infant son to disease. They convinced him to buy Grok from them and raise the child in his village.

Grok began a life that was radically different than what it would have been had he been raised with the orc tribe. He was being raised by Brandon the Blacksmith. He did not suffer for food or shelter. He slept in a warm, comfortable bed every night. Brandon treated him well. He received a basic education. But things were still difficult. As Grok grew older he knew he was different. He was never fully welcomed by the other children, who made him an outcast. Because of his size he was never bullied, but he was never accepted either. He often find himself in fights with other boys from the town because he couldn’t keep himself from standing up to their taunts. And even though Brandon treated him with kindness, he didn't know how to deal with Grok's anger at being different, and he could never bear to tell Grok the full story of how he had been born.

Things came to a head on Grok's 18th birthday. Years of frustration and feeling like an outsider culminated when Grok unleashed his anger - and his fists - on another young man who had reminded Grok that he wasn’t truly one of the villagers. The other young man was badly hurt. The village sided with the young man and demanded that Grok be imprisoned and punished. Brandon did his best to navigate the situation, but he knew that he couldn’t protect Grok any longer. He gave Grok some money, some food, and the notebook containing the story of his birth. For the first time, Grok learned about his birth. He learned about his mother, her bravery, and how she died at the hands of his father. The story filled Grok with rage. Rage at the villagers who had never accepted him and whose minds were so small that they couldn't handle anything different from them. Rage at Brandon for not being able to protect him. And Rage at Khash the Razortoothed, Orc Lord of the Five Tribes and murderer of his mother.

Grok left the village that night and set out to find a place where he could truly be accepted and deal with these feelings of rage within himself. He spent a couple years wandering from village to village, hiring himself out as manual labor to get by. He was never able to stay anywhere too long, though. He found it difficult to ignore injustice. At some point his anger would get the best of him and he wouldn't be able to keep himself from a fight.

Eventually, he met a wandering monk of the Eternal Tide. The monk's meditations impressed Grok. He saw in those meditations a way to keep his volatile emotions in check. Grok followed the monk to the small monastery a few days away and became a novice in the order.

Though Grok has learned a lot, he still has trouble controlling the rage within him. His mentor in the order has given all that he can. So, he's given Grok a letter of introduction to the Grandmaster of Tides, in the monastery located in the city of Liminal.

Personal Quests

• The Grandmaster of Tides: Gain an audience with the Grandmaster. Convince him to accept you as a pupil.

Knowledge Checks

Making the following Skill checks regarding Grok reveals the following information about him.

History

• DC 20: Grok's habits and slight accent reveal that he was raised in the River Kingdoms, a fair distance northwest from Liminal.
• DC 25: It is apparent from his particular turns of phrase and small, unconscious habits that he was raised in the northern part of the River Kingdoms, which abut the Badlands, a place notorious for its barbarian tribes both human and orc.

Nature

• DC 20: The paler hue of Grok's skin and only slight tusks indicate that his orcish forebears are probably those orcs from the Five Tribes of the Badlands, rather than those orcish tribes far to the south in Raedmar.

Religion

• DC 15: Grok's bearing and garb mark him as a monk in one of the many monastic orders of the land.
• DC 20: Watching his movements in both training and battle, it is clear that Grok is not just an ascetic, but a full initiate of the Eternal Tide monastic tradition, known for their smooth flowing motions and emulation of the element of water as inspiration.

Streetwise

• DC 20: From his reactions, it is apparent Grok hasn't spent much time in big cities.