Pawthor is a wiry, russet-scaled kobold with a pale cream muzzle, oversized ears, and bright amber eyes. He wears battered chain mail sized and adjusted for his small frame, a dented shield painted with a crude silver claw, and a weather-stained red scarf. His longsword is slightly too large for him, so he braces it with both hands when striking. A collection of feathers, animal teeth, and polished stones hangs from his belt.

I am intensely curious about every trail, ruin, and strange creature I encounter. I speak with absolute confidence even when I have only guessed what is happening. I protect companions fiercely, but I constantly test them with suspicious questions to see whether they are secretly dragons in disguise.

Pawthor was born beneath a wind-carved ridge where his kobold clutch survived by scavenging old battlefields and following the migration paths of mountain beasts. He was never the strongest or cleverest among them, but he possessed an unusual stubbornness. When a band of adventurers drove his clan from its tunnels, Pawthor stood between the fleeing hatchlings and the attackers long enough for everyone else to escape. He expected to die, but an injured knight found him afterward, treated his wounds, and told him that courage was not the same thing as confidence. Pawthor remembered those words, even though he misunderstood nearly everything else about chivalry. He now travels as a self-appointed paladin, sworn to protect the small, the hunted, and anyone who looks as frightened as he once felt. His devotion is erratic and intensely personal rather than disciplined. Pawthor treats every road, cave, and forest as a sacred lesson, drawing omens from bird calls, hoofprints, and the direction of smoke. He has little interest in law, ceremony, or the expectations of respectable knights, but he will risk himself recklessly for a companion who has earned his trust. His holy symbol is a crude claw carved from the broken pommel of the knight's sword, and he insists that it is a relic of enormous spiritual importance.