Bevris Talonstone
WARNING: This backstory is in the short story format and is 1600 words long, (roughly 3 pages in a word document.) Do not feel pressured into reading the entire story. This is designed as an example piece on how to write a short story backstory for your Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) Character.
Below is the bullet points listed for Bevris Talonstone:
Rock Gnome – Mending and Prestidigitation.
Tiny music box – crickets*
Druid – Primal Order Magician – speak with animals
Nature and Medicine
Personality – Laconic**
Trinket – A Tooth from an unknown beast
*Rock Gnomes have the ability to create a tinkered object of their choosing per long rest
**On Page 40 of the Player’s Handbook, you’ll find a chart that helps you determine which personality traits you could have via alignment. You can also find ways to describe your character via their stats on page 39 of the Player’s Handbook.
Bevris Talonstone
It had always been apparent to Bevris that he was a little different from his fellow rock gnomes. They lived in a sequence of burrows inset on the side of a mountain range. Instead of focusing his younger days on his studies of minerals or tinkering with mechanical things, he would often be found wandering off. The wanderlust never truly left him, but it slowed when he became an adult.
His family wasn’t keen on having a two bit tinkerer in their midst when his brother took after the well to do Talonstone Music Tinkers. As the eldest, he was the one supposed to take over their shop and set the example for his younger brother. Bevris just never had it in him. He hated hawking his wears to the outsiders that would come to their burrows on merchant days. Hated speaking to everyone or trying to get their attention so they could look around the table to ultimately leave. That was how they made their living, though, so it was a skill he learned, however begrudgingly.
Bevris much preferred listening to the tales of the adventurers looking for specific magical wears or the druids who spoke of nature, animals, and especially the stars. After two market days, where he’d failed to sell a single item off his parents’ table, he was disowned. Bevris didn’t mind. He didn’t care for his family’s legacy or gold, anyway.
It took almost a decade before he started his own table to make ends meet. He would tinker in the twilight hours just outside their settlement so he could enjoy the first stars in spring and autumn. Those were the easiest times to see without the cold seeping into his skin. He made his home within the burrows instead of sleeping in the tunnels, but still stood out among his people, and not in the best of ways.
Tonight was a perfect night to watch while he worked. I can see the first star from here, he thought, staring up at the sky while his fingers slid deftly across the wood he was whitling. Metal was the best material for music boxes–copper, bronze, or iron, most especially, but they never made the right sounds to him. There was no life in the solidity of metal. Tomorrow was market day and he would have to endure the babble and hawking of his fellow gnomes to adventurers, druids and some townsfolk from a new settlement up the river. What would it be like to the stars them from an open field? Or a town? Why a town, Bev? There’s no reason to interact with that many people.
The clearing of a throat interrupted his thoughts. Bevris started and brought his gaze downwards onto a smooth skinned female elf in feathers and furs. He grinned in recognition. “I didn’t think this is how you tinkered. Aren’t your trinkets made all from metal?” the female elf asked.
“Tia! You’re a day early for market.” Bevris replied in a soft voice, so it didn’t echo in the mouth of the burrow. Tianis was a Druid of the Stars and one of the leaders amongst her grove. She’d consistently found or made star maps and paintings to trade with Bevris for his own goods and would provide stories of her exploits. He’d more often than not had her sit behind his table and tell him her tales while the market day stretched on.
Tia returned his smile and moved to sit on the far side of him, away from the mouth of the burrow. “Can’t I just wish to visit a friend?” Bevris watched her for a moment, then relaxed his shoulders and hands.
“You consider me a friend?” he asked, before scanning the woods around them. His eyes slid to the burrow before he focused back on her. She nodded and pulled her knees up so she could hook her arms around them. “I… I don’t think I’ve had anyone close enough that I would consider them friends.”
Tia chuckled. “I consider you my friend because of how many years we have sat and shared stories.” Bevris shifted in discomfort at the thought. He’d never been one to share his past, and he’d never been out of the burrow beyond where he was sitting now. What could she mean? “I appreciate the friend that listens to me instead of speaking over me or down to me. I’ve asked you as many questions as you’ve asked me, after all,” Tia continued, seeming not to notice Bevris’s confused silence. “There was an attack on a group of travelers and they now reside within the grove to recover. The others–my companions via necessity, have given them my home to recover in. I returned to find my house destroyed and half the grove infected by their madness.” Bevris’s eyes widened and sorrow twisted his gut.
“I’m so sorry, Tia,” he said, as his brow furrowed at her silent pain. There were streaks of tears rolling down her face, but no tension in her throat. “I would offer some comforts, but my home isn’t built for your kind–or even me, really,” Bevris offered. Tianis chuckled and shook her head.
“Kind words, but I’ll be fine. I managed to leave unscathed, but where I intend to go is far from here. So I will not be seeing you or able to trade with you after tomorrow. I wanted to thank you for your kindness the last few years,” Tia said, looking over at him. Bevris blinked and shifted his shoulders before he went back to whittling in the silence. Tianis sighed. “I salvaged my star journal from the remains of my home.” Bevris winced as his knife slipped, and he glanced at his thumb to see the blood welling. He frowned before sticking it in his mouth.
Tia raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. She smiled and pulled it from her bag. The journal was in tatters and splattered with dried blood. His eyes widened as she offered it to him. Bevris took it with a shaking hand before setting his knife and work aside. Tia muttered something and a small flame came to life, dancing in her hand for him to read by.
The two spent the better part of the night under the stars, with Bevris asking questions about certain entries and Tia explaining with a smile on her lips.
The next morning was rough on Bevris, mostly for the lack of sleep. Tia had leaned back and fallen asleep on the ground outside the burrow and Bevris had stayed awake another hour at least before falling asleep with the journal in hand. They were roughly awoken by his kin leaving the burrow and shouting in disgusted voices at finding both of them asleep.
“The nerve of that one.” He heard a dozen times as he went about setting up his own table. Tia had woken a bit more refreshed and sat quietly in the woods on the outskirts of the market space. She watched the bustle with a sad smile on her lips.
The day dragged on and Bevris sold all but one of the trinkets he’d designed in wood or vines. He was rather impressed at the amount of silver jingling in his pockets by the end of the day. Tianis hadn’t left the market space beyond–he assumed–finding something to eat and drink as the day waned on. Come closing and the scurrying, glares and angered words in Bevris’s direction, Tia came back, watching the rest tucking their wares away and heading back into the burrow.
“I wonder, Bevris, what holds you to suffer amongst that hate?” Tia asked in a soft voice, watching as his brother and parents glared before heading into the tunnels. Bevris sighed and shrugged. Nothing truly held him beyond his worry about what was out there. He wasn’t the strongest, nor the smartest, or the most resourceful.
“Nothing, truly,” he admitted, lifting the music box he’d made from the wood he was whittling the night prior. He had finished it over the course of the day and it was the last thing on his table.
“Would you honor me with your presence as I traveled to the grove to the north? I could teach you more about the stars and the magic I wield in trade.” Bevris blinked in shock at the request. Tianis always told tales of lone journeys and battles she’d witnessed or been a part of. Why would she ask him to go? “I am not insulted if the answer is no. I was just hoping to repay your kindness after witnessing how your fellows treat you,” Tia said quickly. “I… it was a silly request. I’m sorry. Thank you and keep my star journal, please.” Tianis bowed and walked back towards the woods with Bevris gaping after her.
Do I stay? Do I return to the makeshift home I made myself? Or do I leave and learn how to reach and use the stars like Tia? Like how I’ve often dreamed of? Bevris pocketed the music box and left his table, still standing in the market space, before hurrying to catch up. “Tianis! Wait!” Tia turned as he caught up to her, out of breath. “I… I want to go. I want to learn how to touch the stars like you do.” Tianis’s smile was a mixture of gratitude and relief.
“And you will. I am more than grateful for your company,” Tia replied. Bevris felt the color in his cheeks at her relief. Tianis looked up at the sky and smiled again before pointing up at a bright star. “Nisil guides our way.” Bevris followed her gaze and smiled to match her.
“Then we will be well off on our travels,” Bevris replied. Tianis nodded and turned back to the woods before they started north.
