The Nug

Nug (a.k.a. The Nug)

Nug is the scariest little man you'll ever meet, and is super metal. Short yet muscular, with an untiring spirit and looking like he has taken one too many beatings, Nug is a former Monster's Man who has sought a new life in Eregoth. Always looking for new ways to kill and get the upper hand, whatever the situation, Nug doesn't consider himself a warrior or a fighter, but a killer. He secretly prays for the day he comes across someone better than him to finally kill him.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Lean, ropy muscles, heavily scarred across both face and body, piece of his ear missing, nose broken several times, missing his right hand.

Body Features

Deep tan from a life in field operations, bristly red hair.

Facial Features

Bent nose from being broken many times, missing chunk out of the top part of his right ear.

Special abilities

Battle Master Maneuvers, and never backs down.

Apparel & Accessories

Green-dyed leathers, large backpack, wears things for functionality not aesthetics.

Specialized Equipment

"Sleeper", a custom-made flail with all four ends containing a Sleep spell on contact.
Heavy Crossbow of Vengeance, whenever Nug has taken wounds from someone, he can whisper "kill" into his crossbow to deal extra damage.
Progenitor-Fang Dagger, hollowed dagger made from the fang of a Progenitor Snake that is loaded with poison.
Belt of Hill Giants.
Cloak of Protection.
Boots of Fleet Feet.
Ring of Mind-Shielding.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Born the son of a prostitute to an unknown father, Nug grew up poor on the streets of High Keldan. He did not learn his birth name, and instead went by what everyone called him, which was smaller than a nugget of shit. His mother died when he was only 6. Surviving as a common thief, he was taken in by gangs at the tender age of 7. He caught the eye of a gang leader while stealing a purse in the territory of the gang, and refusing to hand it over despite being beaten within an inch of his life. Realizing there was more to gain from hiring this kid than beating him, Nug was brought on as a thief. Over time, his proficiency in thievery earned him a living and promotion to the high life of gang activity. Nug's skills and brutality earned his gang a fearsome reputation throughout High Keldan, until he crossed Philip of the Monster's Men.
Philip purposefully got himself tailed after acting drunk on the way out of a tavern as a lure for thieves. Upon realizing he was being tailed by Nug and his fellow child-thieves, Philip led them to an alleyway where he soundly defeated all three when they tried to jump him. He told Nug and his fellows that only one of them would leave the alley alive, and whoever did would have a better life ahead of them, and tossed them a single sword. Nug was the only one to walk out, and so Philip brought him to a Keldani military recruiter. Feeling duped, Nug stormed out to find Philip, who said he would come for him when he was ready.
Nug started off as a front line warrior, but it was not long before his short stature and ferocity were touched on by his superiors. He was put forward for specialist duty, where he excelled in tunnel and urban warfare against the forces of Eregoth. Three years in, Philip returned to Nug, and told him it was time for his real training to begin. Philip told him his old life had to be gone, which Nug at first was confused by, as he did not feel he had much of a previous life at all due to his birth. Philip told him that there was still his gang affiliations, which had to be destroyed. Nug proceeded to systematically murder every single gang member who he had grown up with in, purging the underground society he had once called home. The work was not easy, but in time Nug had beaten the humanity out of himself. With his initiation complete, Nug began training to join the Monster's Men.
Nug was turned over to Gerard, who tortured him to the point of death before keeping him alive with magic. This was done over and over again, every time imprinting commands and tactics into Nug's shattering psyche. With all the magical and mundane tools available to the Monster's Men, Nug was molded through severe torture into the perfect special operative. Over this process, Nug learned a variety of things. He efficiently compartmentalizes his emotions so they don't impede his actions, tapping on things such as anger when needed, but also being able to shut them off. His survival instincts are beyond those of any normal human, his body refuses to let him accept death. Lastly, he was castrated so that the hope of starting a family and living a peaceful life was beyond him. At the end, Philip implanted one final order into Nug's sub-conscious, he could never bring harm to Philip.
From the age of 20 until he was 26, Nug participated in the very worst that the Monster's Men had assigned to them. Whether it was terrorism in Eregoth, or political suppression at home in Keldan, Nug was there. Naturally, the dangerous activities of the Monster's Men wore down the initial group of soldiers Nug had been with, consistently he proved he was capable of out-living them all. Lasting significantly longer than anyone had expected, Philip and Gerard began sending Nug on suicide mission after suicide mission in the hope that their "broken toy" would finally die. Any completed missions until that time were just icing on the cake.
After enough missions, Nug realized he had lost the ability to compartmentalize his emotions any more. His conditioning had eroded, but his survival instinct was there, and he realized that returning to the Monster's Men while so compromised would just result in his death. He turned to alcohol to soothe his nightmares, using it as a crux of his coping. Nug knew he needed to find a way out. In his darkest hour, he was out at a tavern where he met a man named Mr. Grey. Grey introduced himself by saying he knew who Nug was after seeing his body markings and wondered why a Monster's Man was allowed to drink. Normally Nug would have killed a man who was so brazen towards his identity, but there was something about this man that opened him up. Nug spilled his problems to Mr. Grey, who said he could offer him a way out.
Mr. Grey told Nug to sail to Eregoth and sign up with a band of mercenaries. On the way to the docks to take ship, however, they were ambushed by Gerard, as the leaders of the Monster's Men had been wary of Nug's problems all along. Barely surviving the encounter after creating an opening for himself with a flaming bottle of wormgrog, Nug dashed to the ship, where Mr. Grey told him to find the town of Emril. Grievously wounded but now safe, Nug made his way to Eregoth. The ship's voyage had already been mysteriously paid for by Mr. Grey, and Nug left behind everything besides the clothes on his back, his shortswords, and his rank pin.
Upon reaching Eregoth and traveling to the town of Emril, Nug joined the appointed mercenary band, who directed him to help clear out a Yuan-Ti warren that had stolen gold from forces loyal to Lord Fenheart. There he became acquainted with many fellow adventurers, including a ranger named Kal who is the closest thing Nug has to a friend, as well as a failed wizard named Alden, who disgusted Nug with his cowardice. In the caves, Nug was nearly devoured whole by a Progenitor Snake, however with cunning he lit his backpack on fire to ignite sulfur inside, causing the snake to regurgitate him and saving his own life. He later got revenge on this Progenitor Snake by cutting it in half with a moving altar. Retrieving the gold from the defeated Yuan-Ti, Nug and his new compatriots traveled to Aynor in time for the Battle of Red Lake.
Nug then participated in the battle on the side of Lord Fenheart, where he helped defend a crossing on the Kenelly River from fully armored Oakenshield forces. Crossing on boats, Nug lobbed flaming wormgrog bottles to burn and sink the enemy forces while his allies blew up a nearby bridge. Later, Nug assisted in raiding the flanks of Commander Redbraid's column. On the last day of the battle, Nug and Kal fought together atop Kal's warhorse on the final assault on Lord Oakenshield's hill defenses, burning their way through his army and trebuchets. They were both present for the death of Oakenshield at the hands of the newly-risen 14th Lord, before their vision faded to white.
Waking up in a temple of the Circle of Light, Nug and his fellows were asked by the resident priestess to escort her to a nearby town to help fight Lord Valkar. On their way through the Dead Wood, they fought spiders and abominations before stumbling across a War Gate of Keldan. Defeating the blue-skinned warlocks guarding the War Gate, they succeeded in bringing it down. Nug captured one of the warlocks, who informed the party of the location of other forces, and Nug brought this information to the local lord, Duke Campbell.
Sailing north from Campbell's city with their priestess, Nug and his party dropped her off at the keep she asked them to take her to, and then continued sailing north. Caught off guard from his drinking, the ship was attacked by pirates. The pirates overwhelmed Nug and put him in a barrel of whale oil, but the party rallied and fought off the pirates. Nug realized that he needed to do something about his drinking problem, as he was losing his edge, and he hasn't drank since. His nights since then have been wrought with terrors as a result, but he has found that his problems get better the more purpose he has found in his life traveling with his new friends.
Entering the capital of Eregoth, Torellon, Nug came in contact with Doramir, who left him with his trademark blackened hand. Hearing from a servant about what happens to those marked by the shadowy Doramir, Nug was severely distraught over being bound to someone after experiencing freedom. Nug then hunted Doramir through the streets of the capital, demanding he remove the mark. Doramir turned him down, and so Nug strangled him with a garrote and dragged him to an alley, where Nug beat the man to death multiple times, each time increasingly weary of Doramir's ability to regenerate his body. Eventually, Nug swore he would find a way to remove Doramir's mark some day, and resigned himself to doing Doramir's business.
Doramir's mission for Nug and his allies was to be the vanguard of an assault on a Keldani-held fortress back in Lord Campbell's lands. Dispatching all the warlocks contained within, the party accidentally unleashed a dark fey creature, which was ultimately put down in time. Alden then opened a portal to a mysterious entity, who offered the party various deals. Nug asked if the creature could make the screams stop at night, but was denied. Nug offered the entity his hand, saying it had killed more people than he knew how to count, and it was cut from him. He still has not seen the entity's end of the bargain, but now believes that a Fey entity owes him a favor. Nug and his fellows then returned to the capital, with Doramir mysteriously absent.
Nug's adventures since returning to Torellon have been shrouded in mystery, he was last seen fighting alongside the Crown Prince, Lord Fenheart, Quethon Abot Jayvos, and Lord Valkar against a Yuan-Ti invasion of the capital on Coronation Day on the day before the Night of No Moon.

Education

Nug's education was in thievery on the streets of High Keldan. He later learned to be a soldier and special operative from the Keldani military. After this he received intense psychological and ideological training on behalf of the Monster's Men.

Employment

Gang Thief from age 7 to 17, Keldani soldier from age 17 to 20, Monster's Man from 20 to 26, Eregothian mercenary since then.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Youngest man to lead an entire gang in High Keldan.
Slayer of a Progenitor Snake.
Drowned an Oakenshield commander at Red Lake by burning his boat out from under him.
Defeated a Keldan War Gate in the Dead Wood.
Escorted a priestess of the Circle of Light.
Punched a major Fey creature twice in the face with silver dust-lined fists.
Beat Doramir to a pulp worse than anyone has in a century.
Secured a fortress from a force of warlocks.
Fought in the Battle of Red Lake.
Escorted the Crown Prince of Eregoth on his coronation.
Successfully escaped the Monster's Men.

Failures & Embarrassments

Can't swim.
Addicted to alcohol.
Allowed himself to be taken by pirates.
Allowed Doramir to mark him.

Mental Trauma

OCD from his Monster's Men conditioning, PTSD from his years as a soldier and a Monster's Man, alcoholism from trying to cope with his past. Nug is haunted by the screams of everyone he has killed over his life, and sometimes believes he deserves to hear them. His honed survival instincts do not allow him to take certain actions, including allow himself to die the handful of times he has wanted to.

Intellectual Characteristics

Full of ingenuity, always looking for a new advantage, takes in the battlefield and molds it to his will.

Morality & Philosophy

"I've fought in countless campaigns, in many pitches battles, in countless raids, skirmishes, desperate defenses, and bloody actions of every kind. I've fought in the driving snow, the blasting wind, the middle of the night. I've been fighting all my life, one enemy or another, one friend or another. I've known little else. I've seen men killed for a word, for a look, for nothing at all. A woman tried to stab me once for killing her husband, and I threw her in a furnace. And that's far from the worst of it. Life used to be cheap as dirt to me, now it's even cheaper.
I've fought ten single combats and I won them all. I've fought on the wrong side of battles and for all the wrong reasons. I've been ruthless, and brutal, and a coward. I've stabbed men in the back, burned them, drowned them, crushed them with rocks, killed them asleep, unarmed, or running away. I've run away myself more than once. I've pissed myself with fear. I've begged for my life. I've been wounded, often and badly, and screamed and cried like a baby whose mother took her tit away. I've no doubt the world would be a better place if I'd been killed years ago, but I haven't been, and I don't know why. There are few men with more blood on their hands than me. None, that I know of. The Nug, or the Monster's Man they call me, my enemies, and there's a lot of 'em. Always more enemies, and fewer friends. Blood gets you nothing but more blood. It follows me now, always, like my shadow, and like my shadow I can never be free of it. I should never be free of it. I've earned it. I've deserved it. I've sought it out. Such is my punishment. I know one day when I finally am killed my soul will find no peace... wherever souls go I'm sure mine will be made to battle, kill, wage war, and torment in this life, and the next."

Taboos

Nug holds nothing taboo, anything goes.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Nug's motivation in life was to follow the mission that had been assigned to him, whether that was with the Monster's Men before or with his allies now. He yearns for purpose, and has found that in others.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Good for flexibility, bad at swimming.

Virtues & Personality perks

Intuitive fighter.

Vices & Personality flaws

Alcohol, broken psyche, he believes his war is never over.

Personality Quirks

OCD about his equipment and morning routine.

Hygiene

Nug cleans up when there's opportunity, but isn't overly concerned about it.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Kal, human ranger who was a formerly disgraced officer.
Arthur, a human bard.
Alden, a failed wizard who Nug once detested but has grown to respect.

Religious Views

Nug believes religion is for the weak, he can't imagine a god that would possibly care about him.

Social Aptitude

None to speak of, blunt and to the point, abrasive.

Mannerisms

Stares at whoever he is talking at and plans how best to kill them if needed.

Speech

Nug does not believe in grand speeches, words merely alert the enemy of your presence.

Wealth & Financial state

Nug doesn't prize money aside from as a means to an end.

Alignment

"Rules are for children"

Current Location

Torellon

Species

Human

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Sergeant in the Monster's Men

Year of Birth

1918 27 Years old

Circumstances of Birth

Child of a prostitute, never knew his father

Birthplace

High Keldan, in a gutter

Current Residence

No home

Gender

Male

Eyes

Muddy Brown

Hair

Bright Red in a Buzz Cut

Height

5' 5"

Weight

160 lbs

Known Languages

Common, Orcish

Character Prototype

Jackie Earle Haley, Rorschach from Watchmen