My name is Grundolf Gunderson. I am from the citadel four years to the
south of Rhem. I am a cleric of Tymora and a thief of hearts, minds, and
purses. I started to adventure when I was rather young and naive. It was
because of this that I was trapped in a magical stasis for many years. It
is also the reason I am hunted. This is my story.
CHAPTER I: THE BLUNDER
I started my career like any other person those days. I dreamed of becoming rich and famous and never having to lift a finger for myself. Times began to change and so did the country. I found my family living in poverty when I was raised in a wealthy society. My mother, who was the treasurer for the citadel, came to me with a very important task. She wanted me to seek riches in hard currency, gems and artifacts, to re- establish the society we were all used to. I did not leave on my quest alone. I was given two escorts. (I shall not reveal their names, for you see, they were dumber than rocks, and even rocks have names.) We traveled many long weeks to the mountains in the north.
When we arrived, the escorts got a bit shaken up by what they had seen. It seems that the rumors of the past citadel leaving a stronghold were true. But, I was not the type to pay attention in history class. If I would have, I would not be over 50 years older than every elf born the same year as me. I entered the stronghold, only to find that all the booby- traps from the days of old had already been set off. I made my way deeper into the catacombs, only to stop every 5 meters to goad my escorts into coming along with me. If only I was as afraid of the past as they were.
I followed the tunnel into the darkness. It soon opened up into a vast room with gold and gems as far as the eye could see. I searched for any traps that might not have been set off, and not seeing any, I continued on my way. I stopped like I usually had to for my escorts. When I turned around, they were looking at me as if I had turned to stone. Well, they were not too far off from the truth. In my own ignorance, I forgot to search for magical traps, and in the process, I was trapped in a stasis field for over 50 years.
Time spent in stasis is very informative. With this particular spell, I was still conscience to the world around me and could see everyone and all the mistakes they made. One group was rather stupid. As far as the makeup of races, I couldn't begin to tell you how awful that was. These guys made the drow of yester-year look halfway intelligent. They spent a good 6 hours trying to figure out how to get to the end of the stasis field to turn it off. Well, being that I was in there for quite some time, I was able to figure out the puzzle. It seems that in this room, there was a rather large pole arm, probably that of a giant or other large creature, which reached from one end of the room to the other. All one had to do was pick up the pole arm, and touch the button on the other side of the room. That's it. Well, these guys tried everything. Before I knew what was going to happen next, all but two of them were trapped in the stasis field with me. Of course, I am thinking to myself that I am never going to get out of here, and that I will go crazy before I see the light of day again. Soon, the other two had figured out that the pole arm was the "key." It only took them two days to get that one.
When I was released from stasis, the first thing I did was drawing my mace and say, "Who the hell are you?" Of course, they all try to act nicey- nice to me. Well, I was not going to fall for that. I wanted answers, and I wanted them now. One of them finally spoke up. He was an elf, about the only one that I would trust at the moment. He said, "My name is Razadime Lee. And this fellow on my right is my cousin, Greymist." I bowed as was the custom of my homeland, and surprisingly, they bowed back. At that moment, I realized that these two were the only ones that had any brains in the whole group. "The others that you see are J.J., Drake, and Sarcomus," said Greymist.
J.J. was an elf, as well, but there was something rather strange about him. Not only did he have a demon arm, but also he had a parrot on his shoulder and a bad habit of talking to his short sword. He would say things like, "I can't kill him now, we just met." He frightened me just a bit, but he was not the biggest of my worries. Drake, who was of the giant- folk as we called them back home, was the worst. Not only did he tower over me, but also at the time when I left home, it was his people we were at war with. Sarcomus was just someone that I would not want to meet in a dark alley on the eve of a feast holiday. He was a half-orc, and I could see he was not looking at me, but at my ears. Every time I looked in his direction, I saw him wiping the drool from his chin or licking his chops.
Since I had nothing better to do, I said I would be willing to travel with them if they allowed me first search of the cavern. There was one particular spot I had my eye on when I entered the room, and if it had not been for the stasis trap, I would have gotten to it. They agreed, but of course, Drake started to throw a fit over the agreement. He said, "We were here before he was. We should get the first pick!" I said to him, "You are worried that I am going to take all those jewels over there for myself, aren't you?" "Yeah, what's your point?" "My point is, you can have all the jewels you want over there." I said this to him because I had gotten a closer look at them when I was waiting for his party to get back on their feet. It turns out every one of the gems were cut glass. The thing I had my eye on was a chest in a sinkhole, about 3 feet from were I was in stasis. I made my way over to the chest as Drake was drooling over the glass gems.
Within my booty, was my most prized possession, though I didn't know what fate had in store for me. It was a silver mace with about ten gems; real ones, not glass. Evidently, someone had hidden this mace within the cavern for future use. On further examination, I found this to be an unenchanted mace, ready to be filled to the brim with spells. I had Greymist help me with the enchantments, but we were unable to bring the mace to its full potential. But, Blaster has never let me down, yet.
With the new mace came much responsibility. Blaster came with a ring, as well. With this ring on my wielding hand, no one else can use my mace. Sort of like an anti-theft device; ideal for someone like me. I also received a curse with the mace. It seems that when the enchantment was complete, it awoke a great evil. My mother used to tell stories of a being so evil that no one could see him. He would come through entire villages, killing all little children that would not obey their parents when they told them to go to bed. I thought she was just making the whole thing up. Unfortunately, I was wrong once again. He was real, and the scary part was he was looking for me. Why me, you ask? The hell if I know!!! Maybe someone in the heavens had it out for me. I don't know! But I knew this "Hidden One" was after me, I would be on the run for the rest of my life. If only I would have read the warning label in the chest.
CHAPTER I: THE BLUNDER
I started my career like any other person those days. I dreamed of becoming rich and famous and never having to lift a finger for myself. Times began to change and so did the country. I found my family living in poverty when I was raised in a wealthy society. My mother, who was the treasurer for the citadel, came to me with a very important task. She wanted me to seek riches in hard currency, gems and artifacts, to re- establish the society we were all used to. I did not leave on my quest alone. I was given two escorts. (I shall not reveal their names, for you see, they were dumber than rocks, and even rocks have names.) We traveled many long weeks to the mountains in the north.
When we arrived, the escorts got a bit shaken up by what they had seen. It seems that the rumors of the past citadel leaving a stronghold were true. But, I was not the type to pay attention in history class. If I would have, I would not be over 50 years older than every elf born the same year as me. I entered the stronghold, only to find that all the booby- traps from the days of old had already been set off. I made my way deeper into the catacombs, only to stop every 5 meters to goad my escorts into coming along with me. If only I was as afraid of the past as they were.
I followed the tunnel into the darkness. It soon opened up into a vast room with gold and gems as far as the eye could see. I searched for any traps that might not have been set off, and not seeing any, I continued on my way. I stopped like I usually had to for my escorts. When I turned around, they were looking at me as if I had turned to stone. Well, they were not too far off from the truth. In my own ignorance, I forgot to search for magical traps, and in the process, I was trapped in a stasis field for over 50 years.
Time spent in stasis is very informative. With this particular spell, I was still conscience to the world around me and could see everyone and all the mistakes they made. One group was rather stupid. As far as the makeup of races, I couldn't begin to tell you how awful that was. These guys made the drow of yester-year look halfway intelligent. They spent a good 6 hours trying to figure out how to get to the end of the stasis field to turn it off. Well, being that I was in there for quite some time, I was able to figure out the puzzle. It seems that in this room, there was a rather large pole arm, probably that of a giant or other large creature, which reached from one end of the room to the other. All one had to do was pick up the pole arm, and touch the button on the other side of the room. That's it. Well, these guys tried everything. Before I knew what was going to happen next, all but two of them were trapped in the stasis field with me. Of course, I am thinking to myself that I am never going to get out of here, and that I will go crazy before I see the light of day again. Soon, the other two had figured out that the pole arm was the "key." It only took them two days to get that one.
When I was released from stasis, the first thing I did was drawing my mace and say, "Who the hell are you?" Of course, they all try to act nicey- nice to me. Well, I was not going to fall for that. I wanted answers, and I wanted them now. One of them finally spoke up. He was an elf, about the only one that I would trust at the moment. He said, "My name is Razadime Lee. And this fellow on my right is my cousin, Greymist." I bowed as was the custom of my homeland, and surprisingly, they bowed back. At that moment, I realized that these two were the only ones that had any brains in the whole group. "The others that you see are J.J., Drake, and Sarcomus," said Greymist.
J.J. was an elf, as well, but there was something rather strange about him. Not only did he have a demon arm, but also he had a parrot on his shoulder and a bad habit of talking to his short sword. He would say things like, "I can't kill him now, we just met." He frightened me just a bit, but he was not the biggest of my worries. Drake, who was of the giant- folk as we called them back home, was the worst. Not only did he tower over me, but also at the time when I left home, it was his people we were at war with. Sarcomus was just someone that I would not want to meet in a dark alley on the eve of a feast holiday. He was a half-orc, and I could see he was not looking at me, but at my ears. Every time I looked in his direction, I saw him wiping the drool from his chin or licking his chops.
Since I had nothing better to do, I said I would be willing to travel with them if they allowed me first search of the cavern. There was one particular spot I had my eye on when I entered the room, and if it had not been for the stasis trap, I would have gotten to it. They agreed, but of course, Drake started to throw a fit over the agreement. He said, "We were here before he was. We should get the first pick!" I said to him, "You are worried that I am going to take all those jewels over there for myself, aren't you?" "Yeah, what's your point?" "My point is, you can have all the jewels you want over there." I said this to him because I had gotten a closer look at them when I was waiting for his party to get back on their feet. It turns out every one of the gems were cut glass. The thing I had my eye on was a chest in a sinkhole, about 3 feet from were I was in stasis. I made my way over to the chest as Drake was drooling over the glass gems.
Within my booty, was my most prized possession, though I didn't know what fate had in store for me. It was a silver mace with about ten gems; real ones, not glass. Evidently, someone had hidden this mace within the cavern for future use. On further examination, I found this to be an unenchanted mace, ready to be filled to the brim with spells. I had Greymist help me with the enchantments, but we were unable to bring the mace to its full potential. But, Blaster has never let me down, yet.
With the new mace came much responsibility. Blaster came with a ring, as well. With this ring on my wielding hand, no one else can use my mace. Sort of like an anti-theft device; ideal for someone like me. I also received a curse with the mace. It seems that when the enchantment was complete, it awoke a great evil. My mother used to tell stories of a being so evil that no one could see him. He would come through entire villages, killing all little children that would not obey their parents when they told them to go to bed. I thought she was just making the whole thing up. Unfortunately, I was wrong once again. He was real, and the scary part was he was looking for me. Why me, you ask? The hell if I know!!! Maybe someone in the heavens had it out for me. I don't know! But I knew this "Hidden One" was after me, I would be on the run for the rest of my life. If only I would have read the warning label in the chest.