Meet Berg! (pronounced “burge”)
A while back I had a dream that I was a guest on Critical Role and I played a blue tiefling runaway slave named Berg. Recently, I made up his character sheet on D&D Beyond, making him a rogue because that fit his street urchin/runaway background~ I commissioned the lovely @bubblline to draw him (and she threw in a chibi version!), and she did such an amazing job. Look at how beautiful he is :’)
Full backstory under the cut if you’re interested! Just need to find him a party to join now~
Berg (pronounced “burge”) was born in a hell dimension to two poor tiefling parents. They quickly realized they couldn’t feed three, so they sold him to a local devil merchant when he was three for 20 gold pieces. The merchant raised him as an assistant, not cruel but rather indifferent to the child’s emotional needs. Berg was only worth whatever he could bring to the table via work.
During one market day when he was 13, a wealthy sorcerer that lived in the “common” plane came to the dimension to shop. He caught sight of Berg and remarked on his beauty, offering the merchant 3,000 gold for him. The merchant instantly sold him, despite Berg’s distressed protests.
The sorcerer, Malrik, took Berg back to his mansion, where he cut off the barb of his tail, secured a band of gold around his right horn with Malrik’s name engraved in it, and dressed him up in fancy robes and had hired tutors to teach him how to play the harp and the lute and how to sing. He then had Berg entertain guests during dinner parties, where they ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the beautiful and “exotic” tiefling boy.
When Berg was fifteen, a few guests began to request “alone” time with Malrik’s “lovely creature”, for a price. Malrik charged each guest that requested him 500 gold for a night with the “beautiful hell creature”.
It was then that Berg began to plan his escape. Sometimes the guests would tip him, and Malrik would let him keep some of the money to buy himself “pretty things.” Berg began to save these tips and figured out that the more charming he was, the better the tips were and the higher his cut was. Malrik was very pleased with Berg’s cooperation, and he grew cocky, believing Berg loved living with him and entertaining his guests with his music and body. He let down his guard and had fewer and fewer of his men keep an eye on Berg.
Finally, when Berg was eighteen, he took the money he had earned and ran away. He bought passage on a ship heading for somewhere else, anywhere else, but that took most of his money.
He barely had 50 gp left by the time he got to shore, having had to pay for food and bedding and to keep people away from him. He found a blacksmith and paid him to try and get the golden band off his horn, but over the years his horn had grown thicker and harder around it, which made it impossible to remove without cutting off the horn.
Berg begged the blacksmith to do it, offering the gold band to him in exchange. The man did, cutting Berg’s right horn off directly below the gold.
The pain caused him to pass out and grow feverish. When he finally woke, the rest of his things had been stolen, including his shoes.
Berg wandered the streets of the city, not sure what to do next or if it would just be better to die, when a human boy around his age found him. He introduced himself as Hansel and took pity on Berg, taking him to his hideout.
Hansel explained that he lived on the streets, but he was a rogue for hire, stealing (or “acquiring”) goods for people who paid him for his services. He offered to teach Berg how to be a rogue, and Berg accepted. He didn’t tell Hansel much about his past, claiming to not have any skills when the other asked. He only said that he was a runaway and never wanted to go back to his old life (he told himself that he’d never again play any instrument or sing for anyone, even though singing had been one of the better parts of his life with Malrik, and he’d been good at it).
Hansel spent the next year showing Berg the city and teaching him the tricks of the trade. Over this time, Berg came to care deeply for Hansel, harboring more than a small crush, and while Hansel seemed fond of him as well, Berg was too afraid of what might come after he confessed, for good or ill, so he said nothing. Eventually, he grew comfortable enough to sing to Hansel, in the dark of night, when it was just the two of them, and Hansel called his voice “that of an angel” despite his “devilish” appearance.
Berg almost confessed that night, but held back.
That turned out to be the right choice, because during their next job, the two of were spotted by the master of the house they were robbing. They fled the scene, but Berg’s tail got tangled in the curtains by the window they climbed through. He reached for Hansel, the master right behind him, but Hansel was gone.
Berg spent three days in prison, ultimately released because he had nothing on him and wouldn’t tell them where Hansel could be. When Berg returned to their hideout, Hansel was gone, along with all his things.
Berg remained in the hideout for several days, hoping Hansel would come back and say it’d all been a big misunderstanding. He didn’t.
Berg is alone now, still doing jobs as a rogue and not trusting anyone. He tells himself that he can’t blame Hansel for what he did, that he would’ve done the same thing himself. Only he wouldn’t, and he didn’t, and Berg knows that deep down Hansel betrayed him. Maybe he’d never truly cared for him at all. Eventually, he leaves the hideout, knowing Hansel will never return.
He has vowed to never let his guard down again, and he hasn’t sung a single note since. He works and pays to live above this old woman’s bakery. She gives him bread and sometimes cheese, and he gets her ribbons for her hair so she can feel young and pretty again. But he doesn’t talk to her, doesn’t fully trust her, doesn’t fully trust anyone.
Never again.