Grimnabus Frankenwort

Grimnabus Frankenwort, also known as "Old Grim" or "Ithrodas" (the Grim-faced One) by the Altharademer, is the former Court Wizard of the Kingdom of Merelia and Archmage of the Society of Magic, and the current leader of the Conclave. Since the end of the Northern Conquests, he has survived over two dozen assassination attempts and holds the distinction of being one of the few people to have successfully killed one of the Imperial Praefects in single combat. As well as being the greatest strategic thinker in North Erru, he is widely considered one of the most powerful wizards alive today.
Background
Grimnabus was born in the village of Ondfellow-upon-Forn, in the halfling county of Goldbushels in Southern Merelia. The son of a farmer and a midwife, the first years of his life were spent in idyllic rural bliss, working on the family dairy farm and helping his aunt with her tavern on his off-days. Although he demonstrated all the makings of a perfectly competent farmer, it was in cooking that his true passions lay during those early years, creating meals for the patrons of the inn. His keen sense of taste and adventurous combinations led to him being labelled Goldbushels Gourmet of the Year at the tender age of 12, cinching the title with his spiced cockatrice and woodland mushroom pie.
Flush with success, he used some of the prize money to buy a share of his aunt's inn, on the understanding that he would become the tavern's primary cook. His parents didn't begrudge him following his passions; they had seven other children to help with the farm work, after all. Within a couple of years, the Inn of the Laughing Pumpkin was the premier culinary destination in all of Southern Merelia. Customers from as far afield as Karath Runehm came to sample for themselves the food of "Young Grim". But despite his newfound fame, Grimnabus never let his parents lessons on humility and "sorting it yourself" fade. He insisted on sourcing all his ingredients himself, contacting local butchers and fishermen, making deals with farmers, and most importantly, doing his own foraging. But it was during one such trip into the Brimfarthing Woods that would see the course of his life change entirely.
While searching in the deepest part of the woods for the spondlicker mushrooms that were the key ingredient in his hugely popular Beef Stormington, he came across a cave tucked beneath the roots of a fifty-metre tall oak tree. From inside the cave came the sounds of a terrible cacophony, which he with his insatiable curiosity was drawn to explore. After creeping down through the tunnel, he emerged into a large cavern where a half-elf spellcaster was locked in battle with a vampire. The half-elf had been driven into a corner, and looked to be fighting for her life. Seeing Grimnabus staring wide-eyed at the scene, the half-elf telepathically pleaded him for help. Though terrified, he asked what he could do. Through message spells, she instructed him to go into her pack near the back of the cave, where one of her spell books was kept. She told told him to recite a specific incantation once she gave the signal. Keeping to the shadows, he made his way to the half-elf pack, finding the book inside. Flipping through the pages, he discovered the spell, though could not make heads or tails of the language.
The wizard sent a brief Message as a signal, and he began to recite the incantation, going more on instinct than anything else as he tried to make sense of the spell. As he was reading, however, he began to get the sense that something was out of place with the incantation. Much in the same way as he knew when a recipe needed an ingredient switching out in order to make the perfect dish, he knew one of the phrases needed changing in order to make the perfect spell.
As the half-elf wizard finally succumbed to the magical onslaught and collapsed onto the ground, the vampire at last turned his attention to the young halfling boy with the basket of mushrooms still slung under his arm, squeakily reciting the spell from the spell book which in his hands looked comically oversized. The vampire was initially amused by the sight, until he recognised the words of the spell he was weaving. Shrieking with alarm, the vampire sprung forward, but it was too late. As Grimnabus finished the final phrase of the spell, the half-elf yelled for him to close his eyes. He did so just as the entire cavern was briefly illuminated by a flash of light brighter than the summer sun. Even with his eyes closed, it singed his retinas. The vampire came the most ghastly scream, and when he summoned the courage to peak, he found the undead creature kneeling just a few feet in front of him. Its flesh was blackened and charged, and it was clutching its head wailing as its body disintegrated while simultaneously attempting to regenerate.
Staggering to her feet, the half-elf wizard limped up to the prostrating vampire, pulled out a slim wooden stake, and stabbed the vampire in the heart. It crumbled into ash with one last moan, before a hush settled upon the cave. Taking a moment to recover, the half-elf introduced herself as Leowyn Noldomil, a wizard from the Society of Magic. When he inquired as to what had brought her here, she explained that she, like him, had been searching for ingredients, though not for a meal; for a spell. It was a search that had taken her four years, with the ashes of the vampire being her final element. She also admittedly, somewhat ashamedly, that she had not been diligent enough in her research, and had thought that the vampire she had discovered to have been sealed away inside this cave was of a lesser bloodline, only to discover that it was in fact sired by the Inhoraets, an ancient line of powerful vampire necromancers. She told him that had he not come along, she likely would have been killed.
She then asked him who he was apprenticed too, and was surprised when she realised that he had never studied magic. She explained that the spell he had managed to cast was not only one of the most powerful available, but it was also a variation of it that she had never seen, suggesting that he had a natural talent for magic. She asked him to come with her back to Skaldenburg, so that he could receive a proper Assessment by the Society. He was hesitant at first, unsure whether or not he wanted to leave his home or abandon cooking. She said she would be staying in the area for four days, and to take that time to think about it.
After a couple of nights' restless sleep, he became resolved to learn more. Once he had made his goodbyes to his aunt and his parents, he packed his pony full of as many worldly possessions as he thought he might need, including a handmade leather case containing his beloved collection of herbs and spices. Then he presented himself before Leowyn and declare it was his intention to go with her and learn magic.
On his arrival in Skaldenburg, and on Leowyn's recommendation, his Assessment was conducted by no less than the leader of the Society, Archmage Vorsarakess. The elderly dragonborn sorceress put him through a gruelling series of tests and examinations, all of which were meant to find the breaking point of his intellect. To her surprise, not only did he surpass her highest expectations, but he even managed to confound her by raising a number of counter-questions which she did not have the answers to.

Grimnabus was immediately offered an apprenticeship with one of the order's most distinguished wizards, Thorrel Garnet. Grimnabus would study under the respected human spellcaster for the next 20 years, accompanying him on his travels around the Northern Kingdoms, attending royal courts and visiting ancient dwarven cities. During the last five years of his apprenticeship, he and his master travelled to Altharad. Since the Midaevian Invasion of Erladain, the Society of Magic had been covertly supporting the Sage Council and the Altharademer in their war against the Empire. Grimnabus saw first hand the devastation wrought by Imperial forces while also learning much about Altharadi magic.

It was also here that he met his wife. The Sage Council had its headquarters in the city of Amon Taeras, deep in the heart of the Woods of Nualoth, close to a village of forest gnomes with whom they traded. In preparation of a spell of Control Weather, Thorrel dispatched Grimnabus into the woods to harvest bark from hemroe trees, which only grow in places touched by a fey realm. To lead him to one of these groves, the local forest gnomes lent him a guide; Horentusia. The two kept in touch while Grimnabus was in Altharad, and when it came time to return to the Northern Kingdoms, he returned one last time to propose marriage, which she accepted, leaving with him.
On their return to Erru, Grimnabus was officially inducted as a wizard of the Society of Magic. Given his pre-existing fame in the country, he was the natural choice to succeed the out-going Court Wizard of Merelia. Together with his newly pregnant wife, he made his triumphant return to his homeland, formally presenting himself to King Harldin in the summer of 2963 P.A.

His arrival in Merelia coincided with the heightening of tensions between the Alliance and the Empire. Ravernornian rebels, supported by Merelia and Jorland, were increasing their attacks on Imperial convoys. Grimnabus realised that another war was inevitable, so he set about making as many preparations as possible to strengthen the Alliance's position. Of particular concern for him was improving the repertoire of spells available to the Northern mages. His experiences in the Altharadi/Imperial War had shown him the importance of evolving their magic to match the unusual but potent abilities of the Imperial Praefects. It was during this period that he published a number of his most well-known spells, including Frankenwort's Inverted Ward, Frankenwort's False Smoke and Frankenwort's Arcane Bolts.
As well his magical preparations, he also started collaborating with Merelia's spymaster. Although he began as a novice to the world of subterfuge, within a few months of setting his analytical mind to the task he had made himself an indispensable component of the Alliance's intelligence-gathering network.
Halfway through the year 2967 P.A., war broke out in earnest. With his family safe in the capital, Grimnabus set out for the frontlines with the other members of the Society. He soon proved his worth as both a strategist and a soldier, orchestrating a number of victories as an adviser to King Harldin which he also participated in, the most notable of these being the Battle of Angle Hill where a force of Jorlandians, Ordaynians and Merelians ambushed two banner legions, catching them in a gauntlet of magic, arrows and spears, ultimately forcing them to retreat after taking devastating losses.
With every battle, the legend of this stalwart halfling wizard who crafted spells that could turn the tide of battle in an instant grew. His reputation as one of the North's greatest weapons quickly garnered him the attention of the Empire, who alongside their invasion had been undertaking a campaign of assassination against the magic-users of the Northern Kingdoms, particularly the high-ranking members of the Society of Magic. Many efforts were made to capture him, including one notable occasion where no less than five Imperial Nullifier agents infiltrated the Merelian camp and attempted to subdue him while he slept. Unfortunately for the Ministry of Enlightenment, their spies had failed to learn that, in addition to being a wizard without equal, he had also spent the last five years under the tutelage of Walks-in-Flame, a Felioreej shaman and master of the Whispering Claw discipline, and as a consequence had become accomplished in the use of the quarterstaff. Taking advantage of the nullifiers' overconfidence that their magic disruption abilities would render him an easy target, he dispatched three of the assassins with his ipewood wizard's staff before they even had the chance to defend themselves. The other two managed to put up more of a fight, but he eliminated them in short order as well.
His legend may have progressed positively over the years of the Second Northern Conquest, but the same could not be said about the war effort. The arrival of both fresh troops from Midaevia and a pair of Imperial Praefects started to turn the tide of the war against the Northern Kingdoms. After the Disaster at Lazuli Falls, which prompted the Kingdom of Carladaine to negotiate their surrender, Grimnabus and the other members of the Society of Magic started to come to terms with the fact that they might not survive the war. In preparation for this eventually, many of them decided to relocate their families, possessions and research further North, to the relative safety of Skaldenburg.
After Carladaine's capitulation, Grimnabus took the decision to move his family from Merelia to the Duskember city of Siltentower, and from there charter a ship to take them to Altharad, where they would be safe with his wife's people in the Woods of Nualoth while he continued the fight in Erru. The plan went smoothly at first; though the Empire was advancing fast, they had yet to reach Estringham, where his family were living at his official residence. Although he could not see them to Siltentower himself, he sent his trusted friend Sir Polgwin, a Merelian knight, to escort them on his behalf. Confident that they would be safe with his old comrade, Grimnabus was free to focus on continuing the fight in the South.
Then a few days later, tragedy struck. He received word from one of his apprentices in Estringham that the convoy had never made it to Siltentower; instead, Sir Polgwin, fearing what might befall him after the Merelians lost the war, sold his family to the Empire in exchange for clemency.
Grimnabus dropped everything, teleporting straight back to the capital and traced their route, but by then his family had already been moved. He tried desperately to contact his wife and children, but his every Message spell was met with silence, and his Divination spells failed to uncover their location. That was until four days later, when he was suddenly bombarded by a telepathic communication. Within his mind appeared an image of his children, hands bound behind their backs, standing on chairs upon a scaffolding with nooses around their necks. It was an image seen, he realised, through the eyes of his wife, who also had a noose around her neck. They looked to be in an Imperial camp, and were surrounded by soldiers. Two other people were with them on the scaffolding; the Imperial Praefects who had been sent to hunt down the Northern Kingdoms' magic users. One, the senior, introduced himself as Praefect Caesus, with his comrade, Praefect Orane, and explained calmly that he was the one responsible for capturing his family, and that as punishment for their crimes of "heresy by association", they were to be executed.
Even as Grimnabus psychically screamed at Caesus to let his family go, offering to hand himself in if they were released, one by one, the trapdoors were opened. Grimnabus watched in horror and grief as one by one his children were hanged. His wife was left until last. Caesus stepped in front of her, so that Grimnabus was looking directly into his eyes. He told him their exact location, instructing Grimnabus to hand himself in, before also executing his wife.
Howling with despair, he considered teleporting straight to the location, but the logical part of his mind managed to win out. He knew that if he wanted his revenge, he would have to put a plan in place, knowing that there was likely a small army waiting to take him in to custody. He spent two days quietly putting his affairs in order while telling those closest to him nothing of what had occurred or what he intended for fear that they would try and stop him, before setting his plan into motion.
He appeared on the road to the camp of the 2nd Cohort of the 11th Imperial Banner Legion, a unit of soldiers that had been assigned for the use of the two Praefects, in the company of a group of legionnaires, his wrists and ankles shackled, seemingly their captive. As they entered the camp, the Praefects were summoned. Surprised and suspicious, they immediately scanned for magic, and quickly determined that the legionnaires were nothing more than an illusion.
Praefect Caesus derided him for trying to use such an obvious ruse, and dispelled the illusion with a dismissive flick of his hand. Grimnabus gave him a smile that was pure vindictive fury, as the Praefect's dispelling of the illusion proved to be a trigger that unveiled the true source of the magic Caesus had sensed surrounding Grimnabus. As the legionnaires disappeared, in their place stood six huge demons; balors summoned from the Abyss. The illusion had also acted as a binding spell; one Grimnabus had devised specifically for this purpose. With its destruction, they became unbound, and were set lose on the camp, tearing through the legionnaires with savage delight.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Grimnabus pulled his staff out of his sleeve and charged both Praefects, his eyes filled with a lust for vengeance. He gave not the slightest concern for his own safety, as his one and only goal was the death of the Praefects who had killed his family. Although the Praefects were powerful, they simply could not match the raw ferocity that fuelled Grimnabus' spells. Their expressions changed from bewilderment, to surprise, then finally to fear as they realised here stood a spellcaster who might actually be able to match their power. While the balors tore through the camp, their magical battle progressed into the countryside, where telekinetic blasts ripped trees from the ground and pillars of lightning left fissures in the earth. At one point, all three combatants took flight, and the skies were lit by their arcane melee.
Finding himself becoming worn down by the Praefects' seemingly endless reserves of power, Grimnabus, in a flash of inspiration, let himself be hit by a fireball from Orane in order to trap Caesus in a forcecage and cast him into a pocket realm. With the playing field temporarily levelled, he turned every last ounce of his rage towards the one remaining Praefect, summoning air elementals to buffet him about the clouds while stripping away his defences a bit at a time. Orane managed to focus through all this long enough to send a purple lightning bolt streaking through the air, striking Grimnabus in the chest. Believing him stunned, the Praefect ripped through the sky towards him, falling right into Grimnabus trap. Casting a spell of Reverse Gravity, the Praefect stopped mid-flight, and then started to accelerate rapidly into the sky, only to crash into the Prismatic Wall that Grimnabus had been quietly casting for the past few minutes. Both wall and Praefect then started falling back towards the ground. Orane tried desperately to shred through the layers of the wall, and had managed to breach as far as the indigo layer when he finally hit the ground, having fallen some thousand feet in a matter of seconds.
Bruised, bloody and slowly healing a couple of broken ribs, Grimnabus floated back to the ground as Orane crawled out of a small impact crater. Walking up to the Praefect as his body tried to repair itself, he placed the head of his staff against Orane's temple while he was still dazed, and cast Disintegrate on his skull, just as Caesus finally fought his way free of both the forcecage and the pocket realm.
Seeing one of his brethren laid low filled with him with a fear he had never had to confront. That, combined with the sight of the demons ripping apart his soldiers, prompted Caesus to teleport away before Grimnabus could attack.
Having learned what had happened, both Leowyn and Thorrel tracked Grimnabus down to the camp in time to witness the culmination of his battle. They watched with disbelief as Grimnabus first fought two Praefects on his own, then killed one and forced the other to retreat, before casually wandering back to what remained of their camp and banishing six balors. They found him sitting on a blasted tree trunk amidst the carnage, his eyes deadened, his shoulders drooped with fatigue. Wordlessly, they brought him to his feet and led him away from the scene before the Empire could send reinforcements.
Little is known about his activities since that fateful day. The rest of the Northern Kingdoms surrendered not long after, leaving Ordayn as the only country in North Erru not under the control of the Empire. Those wizards that had survived the war retreated to Skaldenburg or went into hiding. At some point, Grimnabus was appointed Archmage of what remained of the Society of Magic, though by then the organization was already transitioning into the Conclave. Even after the end of the Northern Conquests with the occupation of Ordayn, Grimnabus is understood to have continued to fight the Empire from the shadows. The killing of Praefect Orane has helped make him the Ministry of Enlightenment's primary target in the North Erru, but despite countless assassination attempts and a Đ300'000 bounty, he has managed to elude capture. Where he is now is anyone's guess, but so long as he remains free, the servants of the Emperor have good reason to be nervous.
Sources: "A True Accounting of the Life and Accomplishments of Archmage Grimnabus Frankenwort", by Sir Percenvil Harlgate

Born: Grimnabus Frankenwort, 23/11/2926 Ondwellow-upon-Forn, Merelia
Age: 89
Race: Halfling
Height: 2'9"
Affiliations: The Northern Resistance, the Conclave, the Kingdom of Merelia
Wife: Horentusia Frankenwort (Deceased)
Children:

• Leilipud Frakenwort (Deceased)
• Gordomphry Frankenwort (Deceased)
• Rapscalios Frankenwort (Deceased)