Thom Jones Presents…

SAM WRIGHT

Sam Wright
    Sam was born in the small gnome village of Stag Glen to Bruno Wright,  one of three carpenters in the small village. The main commerce in the village was the mine, from which gold and quartz were extracted. There was only a little gold, but quite a bit of quartz, and occasionally a few other semi-precious stones to be found in the mine.  Sam was the youngest of five children, but the only boy. Bruno had found his heir to the family business.

    Sam's life as a child was a happy one, filled with joy and laughter. His father was always telling funny stories and doing amusing little magic tricks. Later, during his skirmishes with the goblins, some of those little tricks were to save Sam's life. Mostly deception, the tricks were more than sleight of hand, as Sam's father would teach him. It seems Bruno Wright was more than a simple woodworker.
     Sam spent much of his time as an adolescent learning to cut oak beams for the mine, and how to place them just right. Sam also helped his father in the upkeep of the village council hall, a job Bruno Wright was proud to have won by a unanimous vote of the village elders. Bruno was Sam's pride and joy. Bruno was proud to be following in his father's footsteps. He wanted nothing more than to work at his fathers side until his father retired, someday passing the tradition on to his son.  Then came what was known in the village as "the bloody eight."
     In Sam's twentieth year the miners broke through into a series of caves. This was thought to be a great boon since it would allow a great deal of exploration of the underground at little cost in labor (no digging). But on the night after the break through, while Sam was fitting up the beams to support the portal into the newly discovered caves, a pair of goblins came upon Sam. The goblins were as surprised as Sam. One of the goblins lunged at Sam with a spear while the other pulled a rusty knife from his belt. The spear deflected off of Sam's large nose and creased the side of his temple. From that time on Sam would refer to his nose as "the point of  his armor", and many jokes were

told there-after about Sam's nose saving his life. He carries a scar to this day from that encounter, trading beauty for his life. Sam grabbed the axe he was using to shape the beam and swung it at the unlucky goblin whose nose was not as large as Sam's. The goblin's face was split in two. The goblin with the rusty knife, seeing Sam standing over his companion's corpse holding the bloody axe, turned and ran. Sam did the same. He knew the village elders must be told.
     The small troop of goblins waged a vicious war on the sleepy little village. Eight years later the village remained, and the goblins were gone. During this time Sam was a member of "the cave wardens", an title given to the groups of young gnomes who patrolled the caves, usually in squads of eight. Some of the bloodiest fighting was done in total darkness when lamps were dropped and extinguished during the first blows of a skirmish. It was also at this time that Sam learned to use the Bardiche. The dwarves who came to the village for quartz were helpful in all sorts of weapons training for the village. "The bardiche won't help you much in the caves," said the dwarf who taught Sam it's use, "but if they ever make a run on the village, it will keep them at bay better than that short hafted axe you usually use." Unfortunately, Sam would be required to use the bardiche seventeen times over eight years in defense of Stag Glen.  By the end of the eight years Sam decided he needed to get away for a while. His father was still a young man, and Sam's feet itched for the open road. Besides, it was too hard to go down into the mines now, Sam had seen too many of his friends die down in those
tunnels.
     Sam gathered up some travelling gear and headed out, promising his father he would return someday to take over the family business. The pain was still too fresh in his mind to stay. After a teary good-bye, Sam was on the road.