Baldy Ironbender
Baldomar Ironbender
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Baldy Ironbender moved to Oatman Canyon as a young dwarf, driven by a vision he says was planted on him by Augustin the Forgemaker. He would build a forge, an entire blacksmithy shop, and do it completely without clan support.
Well, that last bit was not in question. The heads of Ironbender had already thrown up their hands in exasperation at Baldomar. He won't become a priest, he rejects even a hint toward the paladin order, but he says he's got a god-given mission in his life? So he won't do any other work that might distract him? Ridiculous.
Honestly, it was easier to move someplace that had a mostly foreign culture.
Baldy (who is not at all lacking in hair atop his head) quickly established a rhythm in his first few years as a seasonal hand who spent the off months running his own smithy shack. Baldy almost never visited a saloon with the rest of the hands -- he spent every copper he could spare on supplies and raw materials for the blacksmith shop of his dreams. He did befriend a Human newcomer working on the Sarsparilla Ranch, though -- one who also understood about being an outsider with his own goals, about letting others get on with their ideas while not letting them get a peek at your own cards. People always feel like they have a right to opinionate. Who needs that?
The Sarsparilla hands came back from one cattle drive southwest to Gild'mar only to discover that Sarsparilla Ranch had been bought out by the neighbors at Whippetal Ranch. Big Lui paid each hand what they were owed to date, even included an extra five gold per person for a job well done. Then he dismissed all of them for the rest of the year -- including those hands who had been permanent employees.
(Actually, Big Lui tried to talk Mystery into staying on. She gave him quite the nasty look before she walked off with her Justice. After that, none of the other hands even stuck around to see what would happen next.)
Ranger Horn turned to Baldy and said, simply, "Whatever you got in the works -- I'm in." They took their gear and Baldy's tool cart. They walked off east to Purgatory Gulch to convert their pay into plans.
That winter, Ranger and Baldy lived in lean-tos or barn lofts wherever they could get work for a few years. They built a reputation for hauling stuck critters safely out of ravines or washes, off high ridges, basically anywhere a fool calf or spooked steer could get itself wedged. They even rode escort on the tax assessor's mail coach a few times.
And then they opened Ore Else.
Ranger says the business name is a particularly crass pun in that Grundel language.
Baldy guffaws. Then he changes the subject.
Ranger and Baldy are the kind of lifelong best friends that show up in cowboy ballads. They still take turns singing one song, trading one lyric after another, to pace their work together.
Employment
One half of Ore Else blacksmithy, where they shoe horses, make and mend the metal components of tackle or gear, make or mend farm implements, churn out a few crates of jar lids every spring or autumn, run off a few sacks of nails when they have a big supply of metal scraps, and make hatband blanks or wire jewelry when they can block off some free time.
Social
Contacts & Relations
been best friends with Ranger Horn for going on 35 years now
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