Dukrag Aggenstok, hunter of magical beasts
Dükrag Äggenstock was born in a dwarven mining settlement near the town of Diamond Lake, a rough hard-scrabble town in the Cairn Hills three days ride northeast of the City of Greyhawk. Dükrag's family, like many of the residents of Diamond Lake, make their living in the service of one of several mining enterprises that extract iron and silver ore from the Cairn Hills. Dükrag's family has the good fortune to be employed by one of the more reputable of these companies, but even so their life is one of unending labor. As soon as he was old enough to swing a pick, Dükrag went to work alongside his father, brothers, uncles and cousins in the mines. Dükrag proved to be an able worker, and for several years his life seemed to be destined for nothing more than digging and hauling rock from one place to another. His fortunes changed however when a pair of shocker lizards wandered into the mine where he was working. The beasts rendered several miners unconscious and may have killed them if Dükrag had not intervened with his pick-axes swinging, killing one of the beasts and driving the other from the mine.
After learning of the young dwarf's deed, the mine foreman decided to reassign Dükrag to a security detail. A mine is generally not a target for theft or banditry given that raw ore is difficult to steal, transport and fence, but the Cairn Hills are home to many dangerous creatures that occasionally cross paths with the miners. Dükrag found himself teamed with Barlick Drundengaard, a seasoned hunter assigned to patrol the perimeter of the operation and head off any unwanted visitors. Dükrag learned much from the grizzled dwarf, including the fact that the body parts of some of the creatures they killed had value to alchemists and wizards. He also learned that as long as the mine foreman was properly bribed, most of the proceeds of such sales stayed in the pocket of the hunter who sold it. In this case, the hunter being Barlick, not his apprentice Dükrag.
It was during these trips to Diamond Lake with Barlick that Dükrag met Quanzar who was apprenticed to the wizard with whom Barlick did business. The two dwarves soon became friends and found that despite their difference in vocation, they shared a common desire: to get out of Diamond Lake and make their own way in the world.