Ragnar Martindale

''"I'll help you get shit for cheap, just don't touch me." -Ragnar Matindale after bargaining with a merchant.''

Ragnar is a skilled thief from the town of Freewater. He was found by the party in the Dawnforge Mountains after he was caught by a giant spider and entangled in it's web. His mental health is questionable at best. He decided to tag along in the party's quest because he believes a group as unusual as this one could easily distract anyone while he stole any rare items he came across.

Before the Party
Ragnar has been an orphan since he was weeks old. He was picked on by others for both his small size, and his strange compulsive habits. As time went on that compulsiveness became paranoia. Around the age of twelve he discovered his prowess at pick-pocketing. A couple years later he was followed by a recently orphaned child named Ingavar, on one of his daily crime sprees, who was interested by the idea of gaining money through trickery. With some hesitation Ragnar attempted to train him, with little success. He instead came up with a better way for Ingavar to help him. Ingavar began studying the value of various items likely to to snatched by Ragnar, and also found trustworthy people to sell said items to. He became Ragnar's fence. Before too long Ingavar was adopted, and Ragnar simply stopped showing up at the orphanage.

Ragnar's entire adult life, before meeting the party, was spent thieving. He also took weekly visits to see the, now successful entrepreneur, Ingavar. Ragnar lived in an alley with several rudimentary alarms and defenses. He's been contacted several times by the local thieves guild, both inviting him to join and letting him know how angry they were at him operating without the thieves guild's consent. He refused every invitation, and thwarted every assassination attempt. He was briefly imprisoned before the zombie attacks on the city and decided that said attacks were the perfect distraction for his escape. Afterwards he retreated to the mountains in the West where he met up with the party.

During the Fight Against the Maelstrom
While taking shelter in the mountains he found himself entangled within a giant spider's web. He was soon released by the party. He acted very nervous at first, and being backed into a corner he decided to do the only thing he was good at, the only thing that he felt comfortable doing. Unfortunately for Ragnar, Malachi detected the attempted theft and the party decided to force him to come along. Although the party had made fun of his small and simple weaponry their time in the cave to proved that Ragnar knew what he was doing. During this time Ragnar experienced the strangest things he'd ever seen in his life, includingthe massive fire giant that they defeated.

Along with the rest of the party he met Balthazar Lord of Summer. Ever since then he was part of the fight against the Maelstrom. Their first task was to unite the Lords of the Seasons. The party flew Gloomfang the black dragon to meet with Arien Lady of the Spring, and Magne Lord of Autumn. By now Ragnar simply became desensitized to the incredible and unusual things that happened in this party.

After bringing the Lords of the Seasons to the aid of King Darius their next job was in the underdark. The Maelstrom was threatening to find a way to the rest of the world via the underdark. The party made their way into the underdark along with Ebrock. They found and fought a node which was used in the reanimation of corpses for the Lich. They then found the town of Astagar which had been taken from the dwarves by Valgos and Zaknar Ant'Lochar and their giants. They all got captured, but soon escaped with the help of what dwarves had escaped the town before. The party planned to take back the town. Ragnar took a group of recruited drow into the keep as reconnasaince. Unfortunately Zaknar's magics detected them and Ragnar was once again captured. He was put into a dungeon, chained in a dark room with several large spiders. He was freed by the party after their battle.

Finally came the battle against the Maelstrom itself. Ragnar joined Mardok in the RazorWIng. They battled the many titans gaurding what the party thought were the Lich's phylacteries. In the end the combined might of all of the Lich's (now known to actually be Orcus) enemies defeated him. That night Ragnar slept soundly for the first time in his memory.

After the Maelstrom
After defeating Orcus the party was paid handsomely, this didn't stop Ragnar from continuing to steal from others. He, of course, never did it for the money in the first place. He moved to a small town called Northridge, because as one might imagine he had now gained quite a reputation all over the continent. He was once again living on the streets, avoiding all interaction with sentient life unless it involved Ragnar gaining wealth through trickery.

One day, about three years after The Maelstrom's defeat, an elf by the name of Suzanna found Ragnar sleeping in an alley. As most people know, elves do not entirely grasp the concept of money, and therefore homelessness. She asked him why he slept in the streets while others lived in great mansions. After having the idea explained to her she offered to let him sleep in the forest with her tribe. Ragnar was backed into a corner by this offer, so after many attempts at avoiding it he finally explained that he chose to not have a home. She eventually left, but the next day, to Ragnar's surprise, she came back. And her face was a pleasant surprise every morning for the rest of his life. He eventually opened up to her, telling her stories of when he fought great battles. Soon Suzanna offered to house him a second time, and she described the small, and tight-nit community that was her tribe. After hearing all this he could not think of any reason why he would not want to go with her.

With Suzanna's help, Ragnar learned to love every elf in that tribe, and he no longer spent his nights alone. Were he anyone else, he would've been happy like this for the rest of his life. But Ragnar still had that urge to take what was not his, and how does one steal when amongst people who share everything? He grew restless, and started sneaking off to the town whenever possible. Ragnar was stealthy, but Suzanna was no fool. She soon caught on to his escapades She was enraged and argued with him every time they were alone. But soon after that she learned of her pregnancy and all was forgiven for a brief time. They had a son named Lorel. Lorel gave Ragnar a new purpose, he knew if he wanted his son to have a good life he needed a father who wasn't a criminal, and a mother who was not always upset. That's not to say he didn't go on the odd crime spree, but they were few and far between. When Lorel began to show interest in learning the ways of the bards Ragnar used all of the the riches he had stolen and earned over the years to make sure his sons desires became reality. Ragnar also taught his son how to fight, believing that in this world everyone should be able to defend themselves.

One day Ragnar was invited by King Darius to speak with him. There he found the rest of his old adventuring party. After a short reunion, Darius told them his plan to bring them South where it was warm.

During Arc 2-5
Ragnar is a small, scrawny man who looks a few years older than his actual age of 22. His hair is dark aside from patches of graying hair, it also sticks up in random places. He is fairly pale, but it's often difficult to tell thanks to the amount of dirt on his face. He seems to have proportionally large amber eyes. He usually wears a heavily worn, brown cloak with seemingly endless pockets. Beneath that is armor made of a strange type of leather. He also wears black, fingerless gloves with red sigils on the back, and he keeps his sling wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet. He keeps his shortsword at his hip, but rarely uses it. If you're particularly perceptive you may catch a glimpse of one of the many daggers he stashes in various places on his being.

Post-Maelstrom
25 years later Ragnar's in his late 40s, but his stress levels have still enhanced his aging. He looks closer to 60, with the exeption of his physique. While his hair is almost completely gray and begining to fall out, he looks more muscular and well fed than before. Around people he knows, he tends to wear mostly elven clothing, but in other situations he'll pull his raggedy cloak out of retirement. His habit of carrying daggers constantly still persists.

Personality and Traits
Ragnar acts very nervous and paranoid around others, and is often seen checking his belongings. In fact during his down-time he looks through each of his items inspecting them individually. On the other hand he becomes incredibly confident when doing something he's good at, like stealing,or lying. With a little bit of studying most draw the conclusion that he believes everyone is as skilled a trickster as he is. He seems to realize how insane he appears to be, and often takes advantage of it. As he ages many of these traits begin to fade, but never completely disapear. They're quickly replaced with a fierce devotion to protecting his family.

Motives
Ragnars motives are fairly simple, he just wants to become a successful thief. When he is stealing is the only time he feels comfortable, so he hopes to continue. He also would like to find out what happened to Ingavar after the zombie attacks on FreeWater.

David Bergstrom
Ragnar will occasionally wear a disguise. When he does he calls himself David Bergstrom. Bergstrom has a loosely-braided, blond ponytail, blue-gray eyes, and a much redder face than Ragnar himself. He also wears fine clothing. His behavior is one of a stereotypical, impatient, wealthy man, because he is often used to get Ragnar into places he wouldn't normally be allowed into. If confronted he will simply make up some sort of lie about how angry so and so would be if they found out the prestigious Bergstom were stopped for any reason.

Fighting Style
Ragnar prefers up close and personal combat with his daggers, but he is also very skilled with certain ranged weapons, his favorite being the sling. Ragnar's fighting tactics often include precision strikes to places that will do massive damage, he knows how to make an enemy bleed. He is also very agile, and can easily dodge many attacks. Unfortunately he is not incredibly tough and is likely to go down after a relatively small amount of hits. When faced with a group of enemies he will usually go after the strongest one in the room, distracting it from his comrades, and possibly scaring off the other enemies once the chosen combatant is killed.

Gear

 * Nightstalker's Poniard Dagger - Made of black metal and leather. This is his weapon of choice in most fights. Once per day it allows him to teleport to a spot adjacent to an enemy. Flavor Text: The knife is used to slice a hole in the fabric of space, the other end will open up near an unsuspecting enemy who will soon feel this same dagger in their back.
 * Elusive Inix Leather Armor +3 - Heavily worn, and plain, likely weathered by Ragnar for the purpose of not standing out. It allows him to easily slip out of enemies' grasps and keeps things from hindering his movement. This is very useful for someone who's fighting style involves a lot of versatile movement allowing him to avoid harm.
 * Quick Sling +3 - Usually seen wrapped around Ragnar's wrist so as to remain in easy reach and inconspicuous. When questioned about it by guards or other similar obstacles he will often claim it is a friendship bracelet and say, "I can give it to you if you're my friend! Are you my friend!?" in a tone which makes him seem particularly insane. Once per day he can use it's ability to attack an enemy with magically enhanced speed.
 * Deep Pocket Cloak +2 - Like Ragnar's armor his cloak is worn, torn and patched by design. The cloak can hold up to a literal ton of gear, but will always weigh one pound. This allows Ragnar to stay light on his feet with ease.
 * Eyes of the Eagle (Paragon Tier) - These invisible lenses allow Ragnar to see in incredible detail. He is able to read something 25 feet away with the same clarity as if it were held in his hand.
 * Adventurer's Kit - A backpack, a bedroll, flint and steel, a belt pouch, two sunrods, ten days worth of trail rations, a 20 foot hempen rope, and a waterskin. Ragnar has rid himself of the backpack, which he has no use for thanks to his deep pocket cloak. One sunrod was used on the first day he met the party in order to improve their visibility inside the mountain.
 * Charlatan's Kit - Caltrops, a crook-eye, disguise kit, gambler's gear, gambling cheats, and a glass cutter. This is obviously a very useful kit for someone who is in the buisness of cheating money off of others.
 * Hidden item compartment - crafted into the back side of one of his armor straps, it holds his shurikensMark_of_shame.jpg
 * Disguise - The snotty and very important David Bergstrom.
 * Footpads- pads attatched to the soles of Ragnar's boots that muffle his footsteps.
 * Thieves' Tools - Lock picks, small blades, strings, and counter-weights for stealing and disabling traps.
 * Fine Clothing - This clothing is in the style of what might be worn by a very wealthy merchant or a politician of middle-high importance. This is usually worn with the David Bergstrom disguise.
 * Thieves Gloves - Black, fingerless gloves with a red sigil on the back. These gloves have a simple enchantment which improves finger dexterity allowing easier access to others' pockets.
 * 20 Sling Bullets - Ragnar will usually use stones or other loose objects, but keeps these in case none are to be found.
 * 14 Daggers - each of these appears very simple, but most seem to have been made differently, suggesting that he probably stole most of them.
 * Short Sword - Very simply crafted. This is mostly for show to distract from his more subtle weaponry.
 * 5 Shurikens - These were taken from a would-be assassin sent to kill Ragnar by the Thieves Guild. Each has the assassin's special insignia engraved in them. Ragnar later used them to inform the guild of the failure.

Trivia

 * Ragnar's names were taken from written series of novels called The Last Dragon Chronicles, written by brittish author Chris D'Lacey. These characters were Ragnar the polar bear, and Suzanna Martindale.