Abernathy Harding

Abernathy Harding is a half-orc Paladin of Torm and a member of the Noisy Bastards. He is played by Orion.

Appearance
As a half-orc, Abernathy is a tall and heavy-set man with green-brown skin, long silver hair, and grey-blue eyes. His facial features are defined with a medium-length beard, orc-like tusks, thick brows, and a scar across the bridge of his nose.

Personality
Abernathy's personality is best described as fatherly. He is a stoic and somewhat gruff figure, with a firm stubborn streak. He is also gentle, compassionate, and frequently exhibits paternal tendencies towards his fellow party members.

Background
Abernathy was born in the coastal city of Elturel to a wood elf father and an orc mother. At the age of 14, he joined the paladin order of Torm in the same city. It was there that he met a silver Dragonborn named Haymitch, with whom he formed a sort of rivalry.

He later fell in love with Haymitch, and married him at the age of 29.

One year after, Abernathy earned the title of Knight-Commander. His parents moved upriver to a sleepy little village called Sunhollow. He worked largely with training initiates for the next ten years, before being dishonourably discharged from the order along with his husband.

He declines to speak of the reason for the discharge.

Reclaim Illiad Manor (Quest)
Abernathy first met the party at the Boar's Tusk Tavern in Harthstrom, where he had stopped on his journey to search for Haymitch. Overhearing Amon's tale of the mysterious happenings at his estate and Essatha's offer to investigate, he stepped up to offer his services in addition to aid the young lady in clearing out the supposedly-haunted manor.

Rescue Giselle (Quest)
After returning from the quest to Reclaim Illiad Manor, the party swiftly discovered the innkeeper's daughter had been kidnapped by bandits! At the urging of Amon, Abernathy and the rest of the party followed the nobleman to a cave where they found a pack of bandits hiding out. Within the cave alongside the bandits, the party also discovered a wizard and his supplies of dark magic implements. After choking the wizard to unconsciousness and thwarting an escape attempt during questioning, Abernathy regretfully executed the man and buried him outside the cave.

Bury the Dead (Quest)
Abernathy traveled alongside the party to White Moors in order to bury the remains of Fontane Umberto Illiad, the long-missing step-son of the late Arthur Illiad. He delivered a sermon at the graveside.

Wolves of Welton (Quest)
The party happened upon a herd of sheep that was soon harried by wolves.The wolves were acting strangely, however, as they attempted to and succeeded in herding away several of the sheep from the main group.

The party traveled to Welton and learned of their wolf problem. They volunteered to deal with it, and soon were on their way to the cave where the wolves lived. They met a wounded Owlbear along the way that suffered with suspicious-looking burns. They discovered the source of these burns to be the wolves themselves. A Wild Magic Sorceror had been attacked in the forest and something very strange had occurred. Wild Magic, being wild as it is, had caused the Sorceror to explode and distribute his consciousness and magic among the wolves. The two pack leaders, Flame and Bolt, were gifted with magical abilities. The party bargained with the wolves, learned of the Sorceror's fate, and helped form an agreement between the wolves and the town.

Warn the Queen! (Quest)
The discovery in the bandit cave led to attacks by black-clad figures and the uncovering of a hellish plot: a cult dedicated to an evil entity known as the Raven Lord planned to assassinate nobility in an effort to bring about a new order in Etheron! After discovering the evil magic implements in the bandit cave, the party fended off several attacks from assassins. These attacks resulted not only in the gathering of information, but the capture and eventual befriending of a young female assassin. The young woman, named Mahala, was taken to the royal court in order to help offer evidence of the cult called the Whispered Shadow.

Queen warned, the party recovers from their travels, does a bit of training with the council, and sets out to find Abernathy's beloved husband, Haymitch. During this downtime, Abernathy picks a fight with Lawmaster Emerion Thrangorn and ends up breaking the man's nose and throwing him into a nearby cart. Oops.

Save Haymitch! (Quest)
The agents of councilmember Spymaster Aero Swiftfoot tracked the group that had kidnapped him across the border to Gothronde. There, they set up a roadside ambush for the nine Whispered Shadow cult members posing as National Guard who were escorting the Dragonborn under lock and key.

After a swift and bloody battle, during which Ravamora Carnevale freed Haymitch, the party began cleaning up the mess left behind. It was then that Abernathy and Haymitch decided together that it was time to go home.

Cackle
Since meeting her, Abernathy has become somewhat of a paternal figure to Cackle. She refers to him often with variants of "father," and he works to protect and guide Cackle just as much off the battlefield as on it.

Personal Quests
Abe's current quest is to locate his husband, Haymitch, after he failed to return from his own quest to retrieve a wedding gift that had been stolen from them.

Abilities
As a Paladin, Abernathy has the ability to call upon his deity for aid on the battlefield to heal his allies and deal more damage to his opponents.

Half-Orc Abilities

 * Menacing
 * Relentless Endurance
 * Savage Attacks

Paladin Abilities

 * Divine Sense
 * Lay on Hands
 * Fighting Style: Protection
 * Divine Smite

Notable Items

 * Symbol of Torm

Quotations

 * "If you are acting like a child I will treat you like a child."
 * "Penimra, are you a magic-user or is your weapon of choice complaining?"
 * "I apologize. I am being...a foolish old man, too used to creature comforts. I have been away from my order for too long. It has softened me."
 * "By the holy might of Torm, God of Loyalty, I command you purge yourself from my friend, foul spirit!"
 * "I know him! Ah, my father, every night before bed when I was just a boy, he would pull down a great old book he kept in his study. I used to sit at his knee and listen to the stories of our people! I wanted to be just like Sadron as a child...he was my hero."
 * "It seems they are divining all your little secrets. It might be prudent to just spill them."
 * "Are you certain you will be okay? I could perhaps find the makings of tea and you could have a rest."
 * "What you did was horrible, yes, but you do not deserve this. No one deserves this."
 * "How can I be certain you truly are as beautiful as you say? Why, I think you might just be lying. Perhaps you are unsightly. Perhaps not an elf at all, but three goblins in a stack."
 * "Sometimes we fall short of our gods. That does not make us failures. That simply means we are mortals, bound by mortal flaws."

Trivia

 * Abe refers to pyjamas as "jammies."