Keven Soulaxe

Keven Soulaxe (real name Kevenditious, Prince of the Glittering Caves) was born 120 years before the groups Dracolich quest. He was born in The Glittering Caves to Glosur, Lord of the Glittering Caves, and Merucla, Queen of the Glittering Caves. Keven is known to have multiple brothers and sisters, but Keven himself has never met them. At the young age of 14, his mother was murdered by a creature during a war between the Orcs and the dwarves; a war that resulted in Keven’s abduction. His escape is why he was given the name Soulaxe. Though he is the future Lord of the Glittering Caves, he currently has no interest in taking over until he kills the creature responsible for the death of his mother. He would learn that the creature is the Dracolich and has been in search of it since he was 16 years old.

Childhood
Since the day he was born, Keven was treated like royalty. He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and his father let him. He was also trained with an axe and taught to work with metal since he was born. His father, a master at wielding the weapon, trained him 5 hours a day, every day, while a master of metals trained him for another 5 hours a day. Even when his father wasn’t training him with the axe, Keven was out practicing with his weapon on a nearby tree or an animal if he was hungry. By age 5 he could wield an axe better than any other child his age, and was the only child his age that could make one. It’s because of that, he didn’t have many friends. The other children feared him because of his skill and were afraid that if angered, the axe would meet their flesh. Keven, though, didn’t mean anyone harm as his mother also thought him things. While being taught the usual ways of a dwarf, his mother taught him manners and to never use the axe unless defending himself. By age 10, Keven had long red hair and quite the long red beard and moustache. At the age of 12, while training in the forest, he accidently killed an Orc and started a war between Orcs and Dwarves.

War & Kidnapping
The war itself waged on for 2 years with many lives lost. The Orc Keven killed was the son of a general and the general wanted Keven’s head. Glosur ordered Keven to stay in the caves despite his skill with the axe as he wanted nothing to happen to him. Days before the war ended, the Orcs found their way into the caves and went after Merucla. Keven went on the defensive and killed the group of 20 Orcs on his own keeping his mother safe. As Keven went to his mother, an arrow was shot into the cave and pierced through Merucla’s throat killing her instantly. Keven took out the arrow and hid it in his clothes. As Keven mourned, he was hit over the head and knocked out. The Orcs carried him out of the cave and disappeared.

Captivity & Escape
Though the dwarves had won the war, the Orcs had got what they came for, Keven. Glosur would search for him for 2 years, killing any Orc that got in his way, before giving up hope. Keven, to this day, doesn’t know where he was brought as was unconscious the entire way. Awakened, his life was spared with the thought that his son missing was more painful to Glosur than his son being dead. Keven was stripped of his clothes and forced to be naked for his two years of captivity. During the first year of captivity, he was beaten constantly, and fed only table scraps of the most disgusting food that even a dwarf wouldn’t eat unless desperate. The Orcs would give him metal utensils each time he was fed and Keven would keep them. One day, Keven was allowed to have a fire. He seized this opportunity to make a weapon. He managed to melt down the utensils and molded them into an axe blade using a broken plate. He then fashioned a handle using pieces of scrap wood lying around. He had made an axe. For the next year, the beatings and bad food continued, but he would train with his axe, burying it in the dirt whenever he wasn’t using it. When the opportunity arose, he escaped from his cell killing the 5 guards that protected the door. In the guard room were his clothes and armor, his dwarven axe, and the arrow that killed his mother. Also in there was a short bow and others arrows that he took with him. Seeing that the arrow that killed his mother didn’t match any of the arrows of the Orcs, he knew an Orc didn’t do the deed. By the next morning, Keven had killed an entire Orc army but one. Keven asked him who was responsible for killing his mother. The Orc’s dying word was “Dracolich.” At the age of 16, Keven had destroyed one Orc army on his own in a matter of hours. Word quickly spread of his feat, and he was given the nickname Soulaxe, and it stuck to become his last name.

The Search for the Dracolich
For the next 100 years, Keven went in search for the Dracolich. He had travelled to many lands, killing hundreds in the process, with no luck in even finding the smallest trace of the creature. Glosur had heard of his son’s quest and supported him in sending a small army of dwarves to help hunt down the creature that killed his beloved Merucla. The army would meet up with Keven when he was 110 years old in a small village of Christians. The Christians didn’t like having the dwarves there as they believed the small army would bring trouble. Trouble did indeed come in the form of the Dracolich.