Imlazor
(a.k.a. Imlazor (an elven name he goes by))
Male Human Wizard
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Dalaz was born in Ramoth Creek, a small village on the edge of the human lands. As a child he was intelligent and friendly and learned to love his family business, crafting candles. Somewhere around age 10, he began to notice an ability to change the world around him, starting with tiny things. He expressed it mostly in his candlemaking. Due to human fear of the unknown "magic", as he grew his growing ability became public and he and his family were shunned. Dalaz ran away to the elven lands to learn magic and to protect his family.
Dalaz was found by the elves and taken to a small village of humans like himself that had left human lands because of their abilities. There he learned magic, but also a lot of crafting skills. In such a small village, each person had many jobs, and Dalaz became more focused on crafting and less on social interaction and outdoor skills. He also changed his name to Imlazor, which he felt sounded Elven, and with that name he could disguise himself and enter human society without hiding his magic, but rather his race.
Failures & Embarrassments
When travelling to the elven lands he met some orcs who considered him a physical wimp, which he is. He was forced to fight an orcish teenager and was humiliated and robbed, and sent on his way with nothing but the clothes on his back.
Morality & Philosophy
Imlazor is pretty religious, honoring each god for their knowledge and specialties, but some gods more then others. He is very informal about it all, speaking to them like Matthew Broderick in Ladyhawke.
Social
Religious Views
Honor and respect in general, but especially the good gods.
Social Aptitude
Quiet and withdrawing.
Species
Birthplace
Ramoth Creek
Children
Eyes
brown
Hair
short, brown
Height
5'9"
Weight
160 pounds
Going home, Meeting the Baron
Aulemon 9-12, 219
As I rushed to the family to free them from their bonds and see if they were okay, I realized that they would see an Elf doing so. At this moment of success and heroism, I wanted it to be known I am human and a wizard and not so scary and a good person. I dropped the elf illusion and greeted them as myself. Mostly, I still used Imlazor as my name. Will I be forced to always go by another name? Will I eventually become Imlazor, instead of Dalaz?
Anyway, with the family rescued, we sent for the son to come up, took care of the needs of the family, and searched the camp. We looted their treasure and packed it on the animals along with the rescued family, and were ready to head back. We noticed signs that one goblin had escaped as well as the one we let go. We decided we had to move and fairly soon. Vasha had sent her blessings to get us this far, but we also have to use our heads. We went southwest, to the coast, hoping for easier travel, a change of direction to confuse pursuit, and the hope of seeing vessels at sea. We found no vessels, but made better time along the plain and Putz could find no signs of pursuit. We were on the verge of the settled lands for our second night's camp and back at the family's farm on the third day. They expressed the desire to move to safer locations, so we spent a day there packing everything before returning to Ramoth Creek.
There, we finally had the time and privacy to question our goblin. He spoke orcish well, and so Luthar and I questioned him. He was proud, disdainful of our ability to get information from him, and highly insulting. Forgive me, Manwe, for using pain to convince him to speak out, but I did and he quickly did also. He spoke of his leader, Snogg, as the one wanting humans to give to Aginor, but didn't know why Aginor wanted them or even if this wasn't simply Snogg's idea. He did let us know what was really going on except that offering tribute to Aginor was the best way for his tribe to stay alive. Snogg's tribe does live in the swamp, along with the Black Kobolds of Aginor. He also strongly believed that Snogg would have sent multiple raiding parties at multiple towns to get the humans. If Aginor is behind it all, several tribes might have sent raiding parties. The humans need to be warned! We decide the goblin must be returned to verify the story; they may not believe our diplomacy-challenged party about this, and it's important.
We escorted the family into Ramoth Creek along with the 5 militia men. We told the authorities all we knew about what had happened, and I am back in Elf form. Letting 10 humans know is different from walking into a town full of people as a wizard. People don't change quickly, and planting a few seeds is different from getting run out of town again. We were thanked, sold our loot of goblin weapons and bought more healing potions, and waited for the next day to speak with the Baron.
The Baron's men escorted us to the Manor House and the Baron met us just inside with his wife. (Kursk stayed behind to watch the prisoner so our faux pas wouldn't be too severe). They were both charming, friendly, and thankful, but it was clear most of our party felt out of place here. In the end, Putz became our spokesperson, while the other three of us were either silent or putting our feet in our mouths. Erde certainly didn't choose us for our skill with words. After meeting them, we were escorted into a dining room where we met the children.
I had seen the family before, but it had been 7 years and they were different people now, as am I. Rosamund was very pretty, intelligent and well spoken. It seems she had been trained well to be the heir to the manor. Kellen had become a strong young man and well on his way to becoming a strong defender of his people. Stark, whom had been only a toddler when I fled the town, was only 11 but carried himself with the grace and subtlety of someone far older. It eventually became apparent to several people (though not to me. Feeling increasingly out of place, I had finally shut up to avoid further embarrassment.) that Stark was actually the one steering the conversation. He was both sizing us up and trying to get information while maintaining a charming demeanor and manners. Oh, for a fraction of his skill!
After dinner, we returned to the sitting room for more conversation. Again, the Baron and Baroness let their children do most of the talking. Feeling a bit morose, when pipes were brought out I tried to blow a smoke ring. It too, was mediocre at best. In frustration I used a little Prestidigitation to color the smoke rings, and then openly shaped them into triangles, squares and other geometric shapes. I am a wizard and not ashamed. Let's see what they do.
To my utter surprise, Rosamund, who wasn't even smoking, started blowing smoke triangles also WHAT IS GOING ON???? Rosamund, daughter of the Baron, was using magic around her family and around us, and only I am surprised? Sure, the other races aren't surprised, but they didn't grow up as I had. I just stared. I can't believe it. I had to talk to her in private. A bit later, she came over and we spoke. She keeps her magical ability secret, but not from her family. She is a sorcerer (not sorceress) and is entirely self-taught, and her family has accepted that. Amazing. She vaguely remembered me as I told her I was not an elf, but human and from Ramoth Creek. She seemed to sympathize with my story, but I could tell her little. I still had to keep secret the existence of Hudham. I will also keep her secret, even from those from my village, but such hope I have now, even from such a singular exception to the mistrust among my people. Even Nevin, the father we had rescued, had clearly never trusted me, watching me constantly as though I wished to steal his baby. Perhaps someday my people would accept me and those like me.
Despite the revelation about Rosamund, the evening couldn't end quickly enough, and I was glad when we could go home.
Another Goblin attack. Rescue the family!
Aulemon 6-8, 219
Having killed the undead hideout, we debated where to go next and realized that the delta was our only lead into Erde's task. We spent a day travelling northwest. The next morning, a bird came and chirped a message into Uvarum's ear. It was from Fandae, and it said that another goblin attack had captured a family from their farm west of Ramoth Creek. We realized that if they were heading to the delta, they would be passing somewhere near us, but in the forest it would be easy to miss them. We spent the rest of the day crossing our area waiting and searching for signs of them moving through our area. We found a giant spider, but no signs of goblins. Just as day was ending, Putzmeister climbed the tallest tree nearby and looked over the forest. He spotted a thin trail of smoke rising to our east. Were they travelling north instead of northwest to lose anyone trying to follow them? We had to investigate.
We left even before dawn and moved east. After some difficulty we picked up their trail, now heading northwest. We followed and in our haste to catch up, they heard us and set an ambush. Eight goblins attacked and quickly dropped Uvarum. We rallied and killed them all, but most of the party was wounded in doing so, and our only healer was unconscious. Realizing the futility in chasing the others in our condition, we went back to town, Ramoth Creek, for healing. A part of me almost lost hope that we could ever catch the goblins and rescue the family now.
We found the farm outside Ramoth Creek and learned a bit of the attack. One teenaged boy was dead, but inside the house we found enough beds to learn that the family consisted of two parents, three children and a baby. It appeared that they were captured in their sleep, and there was no evidence of more death. We picked up a draft horse and cart and brought the boy's body, Uvarum, and some goblin bodies back to Ramoth Creek, arriving just before night fell.
In Ramoth Creek, we were aided very quickly by both the clerics at the temple and by the town constable. The temple healed all our party members and took the bodies from us to be buried. They also sold us as many potions of healing as we could afford. I bought 4 with all my money. The constable told us the Baron wanted to meet with us to thank us and learn about what was going on. We had no time for that, but we did pick up 5 men willing to go with us to try again to rescue the family. Two were archers and three spearmen. We left a message for the Baron, and set out to travel during the night. I tried to speak to the constable about not fearing magic-using humans, but I wasn't very convincing.
Anyway, by nightfall we were back at the homestead. We found two trails leading from it, one northward (the first 8 orcs we had met) and a larger party heading east through more civilized territory. The going would be faster, but more likely to encounter others. We hadn't expected that, and I will learn not to underestimate their leader's intelligence again. We travelled through most of the night and only got a couple hours sleep, and I still have few spells. Still, at dawn we resumed following the goblin trail. We could see human tracks among the goblin ones, which spurred us onward all the more.
Twice we encountered traps set to cover anyone on the goblins' trail, one snare and one trap with alchemist's fire. We saw the second before it triggered, climbed the tree and recovered 4 alchemist fires. I got two of the vials, since I have little combat ability right now. A second day of travelling while short on sleep, and we can smell the sea and wonder if we will lose this race. We are less than half a day behind, according to the trackers.
Suddenly we see the teenage boy running in our direction and shouting. He ran into our group and gasped about goblins and running away, but was panicked and mostly incoherent. Our people in front stepped off the trail expecting an ambush while I tried to calm the boy and get his story. Before I could do so, four goblins charged into us, still chasing the boy. We managed to kill them quickly and none got away to warn the rest of the goblins. With little information from the boy yet but now believing he wasn't a trap but had actually gotten away, we sent one spearman and the boy back half a mile (to safety) and told them to flee if we weren't back within half an hour.
With that, we went forward and saw them waiting for the 4 to return. Bawdy scouted them out a bit and came back reporting them to be alert and wary. We tried to sneak towards them, but of course they must have seen us. Most of us have no skill in sneaking in the woods. Finally Kursk charged into the goblins and the battle started.
The goblins had been ready and quickly surrounded Kursk. He was wounded and unconscious far too quickly. Bawdy was also dropped shortly after. I threw both of the alchemist's fires, hitting twice, and then fell myself to their archers and the two mages in the trees. Thankfully we had more people and the goblins were dropping also. It was going to be a very close battle. Uvarum probably saved us, first by healing me, and then I used potions to get Kursk and Bawdy back up. With the numbers now on our side, we were dropping the goblins quickly, Putzmeister and his two archers did most of the damage while Luthar and two spearmen, along with our wolf, held the line. The last wizard in a tree, wounded and entangled, surrounded after his final spell was foiled by our attacks.
One goblin was holding the family. It raised the baby in its hands and talked to Bawdy, who speaks Goblin. I'm not sure Bawdy was translating correctly, because it then spoke broken common, saying Me die, baby die, me go, baby go. I agreed, and demanded Bawdy retreat. She did so reluctantly, and the goblin set the baby down and ran off, and we let it go. Thank you Vasha for this mercy.
Undead!
Aulemon 4-5, 219
From the goblin camp we decided to head northwest towards the delta, as that location is our only lead to what is happening. We soon met an elven druid and acquintance of Uvarum's, named Fandae (odd chap), who gave us some information about our quest. He knew of Aginor, the black dragon who lived in the swamp to the northwest. He was surprised on two counts. First, Aginor didn't usually deal with goblins that he knew of, and secondly he didn't seem to care or interact with the humans or anyone else much. He did warn us that Aginor was an ancient and powerful dragon and not to cross him. We journeyed on from there.
On our first night out in that direction we were attacked by several goblin skeletons. They were disgusting things, stinking and rotting and we all felt the wrongness of it all. We travelled on a bit further the next morning and encountered two more human skeletons. Something was clearly up. After destroying them and burning the remains also (as we had the previous ones), our wolf followed their path back. It went near an old hunter's shack, still half standing, and as we were searching the little place, I looked under the bed for a trap door down to a cellar. I found one and opened it, but two arrows immediately were fired at us.
Only one of us could get down into the cellar at a time and we all hesitated, except Kursk. He jumped down to find 4 skeletons and a human warrior there. He fought bravely and nearly was overcome before the first skeleton fell and we had room for another warrior to get down. Still, his life was in danger, and might have died had I not summoned a horse between him and the human. Kursk is truly amazing at killing and ignoring all his own wounds to fight on. In the end we killed them all. We found a wizard's spellbook down there as well as the fighter's belongings which appears to have been an old and abandoned spellbook, but it even contained a few second level spells. Awesome. If I live long as an adventurer, I will certainly have access to more spells than I ever would at home. I can't wait to show them my two captured spellbooks.
Outside the cabin, we found an area nearby where the necromantic magic had been cast to create the skeletons. There was still a faint residue of magic there, and to my surprise it was arcane! A wizard had done this! I vaguely remembered hearing about a necromancer named Ziva that had been kicked out of Hudham years before I arrived. Could this be her work? If so, she must be killed before she further stains the name of magic among my people. I also realized that a skilled cleric can create undead, but only a superb wizard can do so. She would easily defeat our entire group were we to meet. We need to be wary.
First battle together
Aulemon 2-4, 219
I headed to Ramoth Creek as quickly as I could. It was only a day or two travel for me, and I knew where to go. After a quick stop at home which only surprised my parents and made them think I was going loony, I headed west out of town and found a good ambush point on the road. I started a fire there and waited for the rest of Erde's chosen to find me.
An elven druid named Uvarum showed up and we each revealed the mark that Erde had put on us. A bit later 4 more people that had met in town found us. No more showed, and so we prepared. They were a dwarven warrior named Luthor, a half-orc warrior named Kursk, an elven archer named Putzmeister, a human woman (a thief, it seems) named Bawdy, the elven druid and I. A very mixed group to be sure, and all of us young and inexperienced.
We scouted out two good ambush sites, then camped nearby them and watched them. Skippy kept watch at one while the druid's wolf, Nozdrul followed them in also. Our plan was to let them arrive, then catch them as they rested waiting for dawn. They didn't rest, but immediately set up the ambush and stayed on guard. We decided to circle around and attack from their rear. It worked beautifully, They had 6 on one side of the road, including the two archers in the trees, and 4 more on the other side of the road. I enchanted their swords and they rushed in. The four on the ground were quickly killed, and the two in trees took a bit longer. All this happened so fast that the others were just arriving as the sixth died.
We charged the 4 and took more damage with these as they were ready for us and one tougher one was there. Still, they went down quickly. Two surrendered in the end and one wounded one was bandaged and saved from immediate death. We questioned them a bit there, took two into town where they will be executed, and the third lead us to their main camp in exchange for his life. Goblins are clearly despicable creatures. At their camp we mostly found noncombatants who put up little resistance. He also told us their story and we also found a crude map and written orders from the goblin leader, who had died even before we met them, probably in a skirmish with an elven patrol. We did get his spellbook!
A dragon named Aginor, who lives in a swamp to the northwest, has commanded the goblins to find humans and take them prisoner. Young and female captives were preferred. They were then to be returned to the river delta on the edge of the swamp. The one goblin was very afraid of the dragon, but otherwise knew few details. We honored our bargain and released him.
Chosen by Erde
Aulemon 1, 219
Imlazor was free for an afternoon and decided he wanted to finish his carving of his Erde idol. He already had idols to Manwe and Vasha, Isis and Aule. He chose one of the few viewpoints near home where an exposed hillside gave a great view across Erde's creation, and began to finish the carving: a vaguely humanoid female face surrounded by leaves and branches. He lost track of time and surroundings as he often does in his crafts. Concentration and focus, until the job is just right.
It took a sudden gust of wind and movement nearby to snap him out of his crafting. The whirlwind, filled with leaves and other forest detritus, seemed to be taking a solid form near him, and as he stood, partly to see better, partly out of fear that something strange was happening that could be dangerous. As the form took shape, Imlazor realized it was a being of some sort, and he felt an aura of power around it. He stood waiting.
"I am Erde", came a voice from the figure. The figure looked humanoid and yet not. "I request your help in an important matter," she said. Imlazor dropped to his knees before her, saying, "Anything in my power, I will do, as you need." She told him to get up as she began to explain her need. She pointed out a small bruised area on her upper harm, small but malignant and spreading. "There is a blight upon the land, and I need you to investigate and repair the damage. A band of goblins are heading to Ramoth Creek to capture humans. They will set up an ambush west outside the town to capture them. They will be there in three days time. I send you and others you will meet as my champions in this matter. Follow the leads found there toward their source."
"To find the others and set you on your course, I have marked your arm with my symbol. Go now, and right this growing blight upon the earth. To aid you, I grant you the means to walk among your people without fear. Take this cloak and use it to hide your true nature until your people are ready to receive a wizard among them."
