"Did you hear those villages? Calling me a monster. Can you believe it?"

Art by the fantastic of my d&d character Ronin the Bugbear.

Ronin was originally born to a barbaric bugbear tribe in the mountains. When he was an infant, poachers came and hunted the tribe for their pelts. Ronin's mother was able to escape with him but not without sustaining injury. Whether by adrenaline or the blessing of a god, she was able to travel a far way from the incident before she succumbed to her wounds and perished. Ronin was left alone cold, and hungry. Again by the graces, he was overheard crying by Pharis and Filianore Riverwind, a farmer couple traveling through the area. Deapite him being a goblinoid, the two saw him as a poor child. They gave his mother a proper burial and rites and brought him home.

Working on a farm over the years tempered his bugbear rages and made Ronin seem more human than bugbear. The farm was a part of the village of Emerald Glade, part of the Green Hills providence. The other villages were weary at first, but soon came to look past his monster exterior and saw Ronin for the good gentle man he was. In turn Ronin was happy to lend his immense strength to the day to day tasks of the village. He learned a lot from his family and neighbors, the best being how to cook for which he was a prodigy. While he never traveled out of the village due to fear he may be struck down by an ignorant guard or hot headed adventurer, Ronin did live a happy and peaceful life.

However that soon came to end. The Govenor of Green Hills began to demand more and more money from the people in order to build his wealth and power. Those who were unable to pay had their crops and livestock confiscated and those who could not even supply that were stripped of their lands. The people of Emerald Glade stood fast and together in this, but their resources dwindled more and more. One day knights came to the farm demanding payment. A harsh heatwave had impacted the crops and so the Riverwinds were unable to pay. The knights proceeded to steal their food and livestock. Pharis objected to this and was immediately confronted. Having been trained in combat himself Pharis managed to hold his own but not for very long. Having been ordered to stay inside, Ronin watched as the man who raised him like his own child was beaten. Something in him snapped and a rage fell on him. Ronin exploded out, terrifying the knights who saw a monstrous bugbear charge and begin to knock them left and right. The invaders fled the farm and left the Riverwinds alone.

This even sparked a movement known as the Farmers Revolt. The people of Emerald Glade and others in the providence began to rise up. Ronin was enlisted as a soldier and while not in command, was used as a tool to strike fear into the enemy through guerilla warfare. Having been trained by his father, Ronin proved to be a skilled fighter specializing in polearm weapons. Over time people began to speak of the heroic bugbear who fought for the people, making him a folk hero to all of Green Hills.

The Governor, having been humiliated at not being able to quell simple farmers, decided he needed to act. He needed only one village to fall in order to make the others to fall in line and decided to target where it all started. He tasked his court wizard to make an example of the village. The wizard toiled and gathered all he needed for his ritual and, under the light of the rising sun, he cast his spell.

The day started peaceful and serene in the village of Emerald Glade. This was soon broken by screams of terror, the sound of families calling out to each other, animals panicking, and the heavy footfalls of those fleeing the scene. Then all was silent. Anyone who would look on Emerald Glade would see it not green or lush, but made of hard and silent stone. The people, the animals, the plants, the buildings, all had been petrified and locked in that scene of fear. The effect spread across the whole village to Riverwind farm. Three statues stood there and then only two. Due to his inhuman strnegth and fortitude, Ronin was able to break through his spell and saw hin famiky and home gone. Beastial howls and sobs echoed through the silent town as, for days, Ronin mourned the loss of the only home he knew. Ronin vowed to become an adventurer, to strike out on the road and find a way to free his people even if he had to go across the globe to do it.

Ronin is a lvl 3 battlemaster. Trained in two weapon fighting, he uses his immense strength along with his skills to trip, parry, and riposte. He is able to heal from wounds in battle and can focus to launch into combos with gis weapon. His life on the farm gave him skills in cooking and smithing to aid himself and his allies. His secret dream, after saving his family and home, is to open a restaurant using ingredients and recipes from his village. If you make a friend out of Ronin, you made a friend for life.