Josef

Josef Kratikov - Cleric (Forge Domain)

A hulking, taciturn, Etolaran, Josef is not inclined to discuss his past. When pressed, he will say that he is originally from “the south” and has spent the past decade or more living as a hermit in the foothills of the small mountain range east of Pinesdown. During this (self-imposed?) exile from human civilization, he eventually became friendly with a local clan of expatriate Orebite dwarves living in the area, learning much about metalworking from them and coming to view the smithing process as a means to calm his seemingly troubled mind. One aspect of dwarven culture that he shunned, however, was their love of strong drink, muttering only that imbibing alcohol “does things” to him. Fortunately, the dwarves were willing to forgive his obvious character flaw, and Josef came to be a frequent visitor to their settlement until disaster struck…the gnolls had come to Pinesdown.

During the orgy of destruction that followed in the wake of the Gnoll invasion, Josef was one of the first locals to be rounded up and thrown into the slave pits. Only his skills in metalworking and prodigious strength kept him from ending up in the stew pot, though the wretched beasts were not shy with the lash at the slightest sign of disobedience, real or imagined, and seemed to find great joy in testing his stoic demeanor. When liberation came in the form of a band of misfits thrown together by fate, Josef left the slave pens only to find the home he had built for himself destroyed and the dwarven clan he had befriended all but wiped out.

With a heavy heart, Josef returned to Pinesdown briefly before throwing his lot in with a group of survivors bound for Lorcaster. It was through this group that he came to work with Ranala Fane, recognizing her as a fellow survivor struggling to not only make sense of the evils of the world, but working to improve the lot of those around her. Though they rarely talk about their shared experience as prisoners of the hyena-men, Josef can’t help but feel that she suffered far worse treatment at their hands than she is willing to admit.