First appearance: Pieces of a King Ep 2: The War Council · watch it on YouTube
Gund Ashbrow is a duergar with a spiral-braided beard, a hammer, and a deep distrust of anything that might secretly be made of metal. As chief artillerist of the Rust Blood Alliance, he leads the project to turn an angel into a weapon. He would much rather be building artillery than holding meetings, and he has no strong objection to letting the party be sacrificed for the cause. Played by Kyle.
Story
Pieces of a King Ep 2 — THE WAR COUNCIL
Gund introduced himself to the party in Pieces of a King Ep 2 — THE WAR COUNCIL as “chief artillerist here for the Rust Blood Alliance.” His first concern was whether the newcomers were spies. He reached a grudging verdict: “Your mannerisms are far too chaotic to be programmed. So I guess you’re not spies. I’ll buy it. For now.”
Muffy asked whether he had met many programmed people. Gund didn’t answer directly. He said only that “you’re not made of metal. So that’s a start,” and admitted that part of him still wanted to “poke and prod and see if you’ve got a little metal underneath there.” Over the course of the council he showed himself to be the man in charge of the Alliance’s angel-weapon project. He was also a dwarf of firm dislikes: he called illithids “the squid,” and he hated sand.
Pieces of a King Ep 3 — The Warhead
In Pieces of a King Ep 3 — The Warhead, Gund’s duergar retinue, the Iron Within, waited outside the war mistress’s command tent alongside two drow guards, Grim’s redcaps and the other four of The Nightingales. While the redcaps grumbled that the meeting had finally started, one of the duergar said, “well, you all are the honored guests.”
At the meeting, Gund spoke proudly of what had been harvested from the Solar, though he made it clear he would rather be building artillery. He agreed to lead the distraction in The Blastlands. He was also openly willing to let the party be sacrificed to make the plan work. When Muffy pushed back, the duergar commander backed down.
Personality and Abilities
Gund is easy to spot: spiral-braided beard, hammer in hand, and a look that suggests he is checking you for rivets. He is suspicious by nature, and he grants trust provisionally and with a visible “for now.” He is proud of his work, practical to the point of coldness about other people’s lives, and happiest at the workbench rather than the war table. He sees illithids as “the squid” and sand as a personal enemy.
His personal guard, the Iron Within, wear charcoal-gray armor with black-and-red checkered trim. A smatter of silver is painted across the brows of their helmets so that it looks like ash, a fitting touch for a commander named Ashbrow.
Relationships
- Muffy: questioned him about “programmed people” at their first meeting, and later faced him down until he backed off.
- Grim: a fellow commander at the war council, whose redcaps waited beside Gund’s guard outside the command tent.
Memorable Quotes
- “Chief artillerist here for the Rust Blood Alliance.” (Pieces of a King Ep 2 — THE WAR COUNCIL)
- “Your mannerisms are far too chaotic to be programmed. So I guess you’re not spies. I’ll buy it. For now.” (Pieces of a King Ep 2 — THE WAR COUNCIL)
- “You’re not made of metal. So that’s a start.” (Pieces of a King Ep 2 — THE WAR COUNCIL)