Bison
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| Bison Bronzgut | |||||||||
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Bison Bronzgut is the dwarf who adopted and raised Vasquez, and he has never appeared in play. In session 9 the succubus made Vasquez relive his greatest failure, a knife he tried to forge to impress his adopted father until the mould shattered, and he named Bison when he refused her offer to take his burden away [5]. The adopted family’s crest that Vasquez put on the Aurelian plate he looted in session 10 can, the DM confirmed, be treated as Bison Bronzgut’s forge mark ([11][6]; DM ruling 38).
Overview
Bison Bronzgut is the dwarf father who adopted Vasquez. Vasquez was raised among dwarves and wished he were one: the failed knife in his vision made him feel “less of a dwarf and more of an elf” [3]. Bison is known only from that vision and from the family crest Vasquez later put on his armour [4][2]. The surname comes from the DM, who confirmed that Vasquez’s armour sigil can be treated as Bison Bronzgut’s forge or family mark (DM ruling 38).
Relationships
- Vasquez: his adopted son, who wanted to impress him and fears what the father would make of him now [5].
- The family crest: Vasquez changed the plate’s Aurelian crest to his adopted family’s, and the DM’s ruling makes it Bison’s mark ([2][6]; DM ruling 38).
History in the campaign
Session 9: The Death of Harvo
Main article: Session 9
In the Black Vein Quarry, smoke swept the party out of the mine and each of them relived a greatest failure [7]. Vasquez’s player described a knife he tried to forge to impress his adopted father: the mould shattered, the blade came out warped like scrap metal, and he felt “less of a dwarf and more of an elf” [3]. In the vision the succubus offered to take away the thing he now carried, which she said “would make him recoil”, meaning his father [8]. Vasquez refused: this was not how Bison would want to see him, but “I don’t want it gone, not yet, don’t take this from me” [4]. He passed his Wisdom save, and the vision ended with him handing the finished knife to his father, who was “so proud” [9].
Session 10: Ruin Joins, the Aurelian Conspiracy, the Plate Armour
Main article: Session 10
Bison does not appear and is not named. Vasquez spent the end of a long rest in Umbrafall reworking the Aurelian plate he had looted, changing its crest to his adopted family’s; the DM said the armour still looked “relatively Aurelian” [2][10]. The DM later confirmed the sigil can be treated as Bison Bronzgut’s forge or family mark (DM ruling 38).
Status
As of session 23. Unknown and off-screen. No one has mentioned him by name since session 9. The party has not visited a dwarven home where he might be found, and Khaldun Forgehold is the world’s named dwarven city; whether Vasquez’s adoptive family lives there is not established in play.
See also
References
- ^ Session 9, line 1104-1110: Vasquez's failure-vision: the knife mould that shattered for his adopted father; he names Bison at L1107.
- ^ Session 10, line 1722-1723: Vasquez re-crests the looted plate with his adopted family's crest (identified as Bison's mark by a DM ruling after session 17).
- ^ Session 9, line 1104: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 9, line 1107: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 9, line 1104-1107: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 1841: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 9, line 1089-1092: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 9, line 1105-1106: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 9, line 1110: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 1838-1841: Inline citation.
- ^ Session 10, line 1722: Inline citation.