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| Portrayed by Natalia Tena |
| Artwork by Leonardo.Ai & Ozma Asimov |
| Name: | Drunagh Ashenstone |
| (DROO-nah) | |
| Gender: | Female |
| Race: | Dwarf |
| Class: | Paladin |
| Role: | Tank/Damage |
| Faction: | Ironforge Guard (former), Scarlet Brotherhood (former), Knights of the Silver Hand (former) |
| Professions: | mining, skinning |
| Homeland: | Ironforge, Dun Moragh |
| Player: | OzmaAsimov |
RP Hooks
- Former Ironforge Guard: Before becoming a paladin, Drunagh served for many years on the Ironforge Guard, first as a guardsman and later as a Thief Catcher.
- Former Scarlet Crusader: However briefly, Drunagh was part of the Scarlet Brotherhood before they purged the non-humans from their ranks. She may have met other Scarlets and ex-Scarlets who were part of the order in those early days.
Appearance
Somewhat pale, ashy skin on a stocky frame with lean, corded muscle. Her hair — which seems to go from light brown to dirty blonde depending on the light — gets brushed in the morning and is left to chance for the rest of the day.
When there is danger, she is alert and all business, wide of stance and coiled for action. During leisure time, however, she can be found draped over a chair or lap, or leaning into a table laughing and binging on food and drink.
Drunagh has a slight rasp to her voice and speaks in a particularly thick dwarven accent, notable to any native of Ironforge as typical of the “lower” classes.
Though she usually keeps it covered under a glove, her left palm bears an angry red scar in the shape of a backward sigil of Lordaeron; a reminder of her past mistakes and the betrayal she suffered.
Personality
Vivacious • Affable • Heroic • Particular
Drunagh lives every moment to its fullest, knowing all too well how quickly and unexpectedly the end can come. She loves to laugh, flirt, and carouse, and can be quite adventurous. As warm and friendly as any dwarf, and then some. Drunagh values personal connections deeply, and she is a great listener. Like many a paladin, Drunagh’s sense of self-sacrifice and impulse to come to the aid of those in need is a defining quality.
Drunagh has very specific things she wants (or doesn’t want), and very little can sway her from them. Ironically, this can manifest as both goatish stubbornness (e.g. refusal to be deterred from a mission to protect people in need, regardless of the danger or cost to herself) and noncommittal indecision (e.g. her seeming inability to “settle down” romantically).
Romance
History
A child of the streets of Ironforge, Drunagh’s parents were scoundrels in most ways one could imagine. Liars, thieves, and con artists who had both seen the insides of prison cells on multiple occasions. They loved Drunagh and each other…in their own way. It wasn’t until much later in life that Drunagh would understand and appreciate that one could both love a person and selfishly abuse that love.
Shadowdelve
As a youth, Drunagh learned her parents’ “trade”. A life of petty thievery and thuggery was all she knew. Numerous run-ins with the law of Ironforge put her into the sights of Thief Catcher Shadowdelve, a hard man himself who had also grown up in the darker alleys of Ironforge, running jobs alongside her father as boys. But Shadowdelve broke free of that life, while her father remained behind in the gutters. Shadowdelve lamented what he friend had become, and saw a chance at a kind of redemption if he could prevent the same fate from befalling his daughter. He made Drunagh his personal project; a prospect she resented quite a bit at first. But Shadowdelve knew where she was coming from, so he understood when to back off and when to push. In time, a bond formed and she begrudgingly came to respect him.
The positive interaction with “Uncle” Shadowdelve gave Drunagh another perspective on adult authority figures, and she started to see her parents in a different light. Eventually she rejected their way of life and left home. A year later she started her training in the Ironforge Guard, her first step toward joining the Thief Catchers.
To War
When war came again to Azeroth and the dwarves chose to get involved, she marched with her fellows to battle to join with the humans against the forces of the orcs and their allies. The first time Drunagh witnessed the Knights of the Silver Hand ride into battle, she was in awe. Holy men clad in glistening armor, wielding steel and the Light together to smite evil…it was glorious. She knew then it was a tale she’d be telling her grandchildren one day.
Drunagh had never imagined during those days in the Second War that she might one day join the ranks of the paladins. In the years following the war, the Silver Hand began to recruit from their allies, the elves of Quel’thalas, and the dwarves of Ironforge. With stars in her eyes, Drunagh eagerly volunteered herself. At last, proof that she was not defined by her stained origins. She could rise above her parents’ legacy and help people on a scale beyond what she could ever achieve as a Thief Catcher.
A Scarlet Purge
Unfortunately, Drunagh joined up just before a split occurred in the ranks of the Hand. She fell under the charismatic sway of Saidan Dathrohan and followed him into his splinter group, the Scarlet Brotherhood. This would prove a costly mistake. As the Brotherhood’s crusade to cleanse Azeroth of the accursed Plague grew ever more fanatical, so too did their suspicions of any outsiders…including anyone who wasn’t human. Drunagh and the handful of other dwarves and elves in the order failed to see the signs until it was too late.
It happened in the dead of night. The Crusaders were smart about it. Each of the non-humans had been assigned to a different unit, surrounded entirely by humans. Twelve bells was the signal for the Scarlets to turn on their “impure” brothers, brutally murdering them in the name of their holy mission. Drunagh’s unit was out on a patrol at the borders of their assigned territory. She was already on edge, instincts honed by years on the streets of Ironforge telling her something was amiss. When her fellows attacked, she was shocked, but ready. Though she defended herself, she was outnumbered, and would surely have fallen…except one of them suddenly turned on the others. Drunagh fought on by her apparent ally’s side, but they screamed at her to run, finally physically pushing her into a gully to force her out of the battle when she refused to leave them to fight alone. The sounds of clashing steel ended before she could climb back up, and with a heavy heart Drunagh fled, never knowing if her savior had survived or perished defending her.
Return and Rebirth
Drunagh returned to Ironforge, shaken hard by her experiences. Her old friend, Shadowdelve, took her in for a time while she recovered. Though disturbed by what her former friends had become, what they could not do was break her faith or her sense of purpose. She had joined the Scarlet Brotherhood for the same reasons she joined the Silver Hand: to be the strong hand that helps the helpless, just as Uncle Shadowdelve was for her.
Of course, helping the helpless doesn’t put food in one’s mouth, and a starving paladin is no help to anyone. So Drunagh took work where she took, usually in support of the Alliance. All the same, she would often find herself wrapped up in the troubles of others even when there was no reward for it. But even if it meant living lean, to Drunagh it was worth the sacrifice to protect those in need and as penance for that which she helped to create.
Relationships
| Uncle Shadowdelve This Thief Catcher of Ironforge is more a father to Drunagh than her own parents ever were. |
