Kısmet

Kısmet, also called Fortune, is a wolf raised by Kemp Corvus, Sarah and Ephorus in the Sürgün Günlükleri ("Exile Chronicles") campaign. They found him as a small male pup, grey above and white below, with upright ears and blue-grey eyes, and gave the one animal both his Turkish name and the name Fortune.¹²

Found at Dik Nehir

Kemp had chosen the Double-Headed Ogre inn at Dik Nehir as the place to wait for his companions. The inn had not burned, but its door had been broken in, its rooms overturned and its valuables taken. In the kitchen behind the bar the three found the pup pinned under a fallen shelf. They lifted the shelf, bound his broken leg and began its healing with a spell; he ate meat, and they took him with them. At first no one could say whether he was a wolf or a dog.³¹

On the road he travelled in a bag. When a young green dragon twice breathed poison on the company, Sarah shielded the pup at greater risk to herself, and he came through both times. One of the dragon's small teeth was cut out and hung on a cord around his neck, and that night the company rested undisturbed at the inn before setting out for Gromkar in the morning.⁴⁵⁶

Growing up in Gromkar

Within ten days his leg had healed and he had grown at a natural pace; his lengthening muzzle and his appetite for meat made it plain that he was no house dog. Ephorus asked a smith about armour for him, but was told that the pup would outgrow it within a month, and bought him a ball instead. Kısmet learned to bring it back, though he liked to make them tug it from his jaws.⁷⁸⁹

The companions took him to Barbin, a dwarf who ran one of the city's two great kennels for mabari hounds inside the mountain. The dogs were kept in the dark in a rock cave floored with earth, and dwarves with thick leather arm-guards trained them to bite, sit and stand. Barbin received the companions with respect as friends and blood kin of Karak. After a short look he declared Kısmet a very clever wolf, a fine male of a strong breed, who with good training could learn to fetch things by name, scent danger before it reached a camp and grow big enough to carry gear.¹⁰¹¹

He warned that a wolf would not obey unconditionally like a mabari: it might rush in when it saw its masters in danger, or run off if badly kept. Mabari, they agreed, were made into flawless war beasts through darkness and pain as well as love, whereas this wolf was a friend. Barbin judged him about six weeks old and offered to teach one of them in three weeks how to keep and train him, but after weighing the dangers of battle the companions kept Kısmet with them.¹²¹³¹⁴

From the alchemist Vincent Von Reigns they also bought a tonic for him, to be mixed into his meat over three days, which the seller promised would help him grow healthy and come close to the best of his kind. Barbin thought the benefit might be modest, since the pup was already a good specimen.¹⁵¹¹

The night attack

In Gromkar, at about three in the night, while Ephorus was out, Kısmet barked and jumped on Kemp's chest. Kemp woke to find five veiled drow with daggers in the room and another climbing in at the window, while he and Sarah lay unarmoured with their weapons at hand. When the fight began, the pup took refuge under the bed.¹⁶¹⁷

Some of the attackers had poisoned their blades. Soldiers who heard the cry for help came in with drawn swords, the fight spilled out onto the stairs, two ghosts seized one attacker and dragged them down, and the city's alarm bells began to ring. One attacker was taken alive.¹⁸¹⁹²⁰

Beneath the mountains

By the time the companions went to the old battlefield of the Dwarf Gate, Kısmet was plainly no longer a small pup and was beginning to look like a young wolf; near the monument there they tried his nose on a trail of blood. In Gazad an innkeeper let a room underground to the three of them and Kısmet.²¹²²²³

He went below ground with the company and their guide Hermes, travelling beside Hermes's great black dog Barut. In the mines the dogs were left at the entrance while the company searched, and kept watch with them at night. After the fight in the old walled ruin the dogs were sent back, and for the first time Kısmet clearly understood the command.²⁴²⁵²⁶

When Hermes left the company near the surface to return to the war, he said goodbye to Kısmet. At the surface village of Yediocak the companions bought meat and bones for him. By then he had grown used to his pack and his masters, and could obey commands under pressure.²⁷²⁸²⁹

The defence of Osterhn

Fortune was counted among the allies gathered at Osterhn for the last fight, and he and Barut were to carry the fallen out of danger. After midnight the two animals came running back to warn of the crowd approaching the castle. His condition after the battle is not known.³⁰³¹³²