Siri was born and raised in the mountains with other dwarves and lived there most of her life. Among her clan there was a tradition that the women were raised and trained to be the most fierce of warriors, learning monastic traditions to become stronger. Siri was born and raised in that tradition, and became one of the best quite quickly but that wasn't without its downfalls; the expectation was that Siri would remain chaste until she could no longer fight, at which point she would lose all her reputation and quickly be treated as little more than a child bearer, helping to look after any children she bore and all the others in the clan as was tradition.

The older she grew the more Siri knew that life was not for her. At seventeen she ran away from her clan, changed her last name to avoid suspicion, and headed off into the world. As a warrior it was easiest to make her way as a sword for hire and she was as good at it as she was back with her clan. For a few years things were good, then Siri was contracted to go into some old ruins and recover an ancient magic book. She couldn't understand what was so difficult about the job, the ruins were empty and outside of a few traps that just about anyone could handle. But as the job was going to pay her enough to set her up for a few months comfortably she didn't question it too much and grabbed the book before heading back on the road to the city where she'd meet the one who hired her and get paid.

Along the journey the book began to call to her in the night. She could hear its whispers even when it was wrapped up and stuck in a bag, and her dreams were of the book and the voices begging to be opened. Siri's mind couldn't handle it, and a day outside the city she finally opened and tried to read the book. This turned out to be a mistake, as the book itself was an ancient eldritch tome whose words were not meant for the normal mortal mind. Though she tossed the book into the camp fire and fled into the night, Siri could not escape the madness that swirled around in her head. Nightmares haunted her, nightmares that no amount of drinking or fighting or anything else could soothe. Siri went into a downward spiral, recovering only when she realized she was with child. The father was unknown as she had slept with so many in attempt to quell the insanity of her mind, but that didn't matter to her. Even if a child wasn't something she had expected or knew what to do with she did have one growing inside of her and she knew she had to step up.

Though the nightmares did not end Siri found other ways to keep them from wrecking her life. She stayed pregnant and bore the child, a beautiful son, but she also knew she wasn't ready to properly raise and care for him. Instead in her last month she had found another dwarf clan to take him, and stayed with them until he was born. Afterwards to avoid the grief over not being able to see or raise him Siri packed up and left, eager to get back on the road, get back to fighting, get back to the life she knew and was suited for best.

At some point Siri realized that the entire set of events had been a blessing. Now she was fighting for more than herself; she was fighting for her son, and for the other children who didn't need to be subjected to the horrors of the world that she knew of. All the evil she'd killed, and things like the book. So Siri quelled the nightmares and her fears and journeyed on to eliminate as many of those things as possible within the span of her life.

Eventually Siri found her way back to a mountain; not the one she had come from, and not the one where her son lived, but another of many calling for aid against a goblin incursion. Dwarves were still her people, and she wanted to help them so she offered her skills in combat to the local Thane who happily accepted despite her being an outcast and outsider as far as dwarves were concerned; he couldn't afford to turn away a potential ally in his time of need, after all.

Siri was contracted with a few others to delve into the tunnels ahead of the main army and clear out any side tunnels to help avoid ambushes. On one such excursion the group came upon a black dragon living in the mountain, and though they were unable to defeat it they were able to escape. They warned the Thane, and in turn he closed off that section of tunnels to try and prevent the dragon from reaching into dwarven territory.

After a long and perilous time in the mountain Siri and those she now called friends were successful at helping stop not just the dragon, but a demon as well. The Thane gave them money and status within his hold and named them friend to all dwarven kind, then asked that they go out into the world to spread the good word of the dwarves and their god. Siri for one was eager to leave the mountain and return to fresh air, so she took the job gladly and the others went with her.

The outside world proved just as dangerous. Several run-ins with evil of all kinds nearly killed them over and over again but the dwarves always managed to pick themselves back up and keep going. Then they stopped at a human village under siege by lizardfolk, and after driving off the attack one came to them wishing to talk of peace. It said the dragon was controlling them, forcing them to do her bidding, and that it had escaped to try and seek help to free its clan. This turned out to be the same dragon that they had been unable to defeat in the mountain, but with more experience under their belts and access to better weapons and armor they were confident they could take the dragon on this time.

Sadly, that over confidence would be their downfall; even the mighty dwarves were no match for the dragon. It had far more cunning than they ever could have imagined, and was ready for their arrival with a force of lizardfolk to match. But the dragon did not kill them, instead leaving the dwarves stripped bare and humiliated as they returned to the mountain to tell the Thane and seek help. Understanding this, the Thane helped them as they had helped him and sent a force of dwarves tot he dragon's lair but it was too late. The dragon was gone, along with its treasure hoard, and on the surface the scouts reported finding a lizardfolk village completely abandoned.

This dragon would become Siri's obsession. It was the greatest evil she had ever faced, and she wanted it dead. Only one other was so keen to go with her and help her, the other three of the party wishing to pursue other things with their status. So Siri and the dwarven cleric took off once they were recovered, chasing the dragon's trail and continuing to spread word of the dwarves, their good deeds and their god wherever they roamed while helping out any way they can to make a difference in the world as much as possible.

Profile template by Lea

Story (and linked stories to Ao3) written by me

Based on a Dungeons and Dragons character I played for a campaign that used the official mountain dwarf race, the official Way of the Kensei monk class, and the official haunted one background.