[Hoskuld Coal-beard]

	Hoskuld grew up as a middle child in a large family, with plenty of older sibling to pick on him and at least one baby sibling for each ankle. His father Haargrim worked in the gem mines north of Primus Gaudeo. Hoskuld often visited those mines, generally runnning errands or carrying messages for his father and older brothers who worked there. His family regularly called on Hoskuld to run these errands after they discovered that he had a particularly keen sense of direction and the ability, even at an early age, to thread his way through the twisting mine passages without getting disoriented or discouraged. "Yeah, I can find the General Store. I can find my way through tunnels, can't I? I can find *anything*!" Unfortunately, Hoskuld does not have particularly good insight into the nature or limitations of his talents; he mistakes his keen sense of direction and distance for a generic ability to find practically anything. This frequently causes him to overestimate his abilities, especially in urban environment where knowing the details of the environment (such as, for example, that the street that appears to be the straightest route to one's destination actually dead-ends short of it) can be particularly important. This, combined with his naturally guyish reluctance to ask directions, earned him his childhood nickname: "Lostkuld". It was generally assumed that Hoskuld would eventually work in the mines like his kinsfolk, so he received some training and experience in caving skills. Hoskuld, however, did not wish to follow in their footsteps, and as his family was too large and poor to pay for any sort of apprenticeship or professional education, the young dwarf decided to strike out on his own. At the first promising-sounding opportunity he left home, and even left Primus Gaudeo altogether, to seek adventure and his fortune exploring the caves around Acumin in search of passageways to a vysstichi city that had been plaguing the beleaguered village.