Wilhelm the Warlock is complete! Now in the RG.
[sblock=How's this for a bio?]Sometimes Wilhelm muses that he owes his life to the death of other people. His mother, an adventuring rogue working for a group called Fortune's Friends, died in labor, and Wilhelm grew up in on the farm where she gave birth to him. He never knew who his biological father was, because his mother had refused to tell anyone.
Wilhelm was loved by his adoptive family, and he helped out at the farm when not visiting Grandfather Gaunt, a retired member of Fortune's Friends who had decided to settle down and keep an eye on the boy. The old sage told him many stories of the Friends and their exploits, always emphasizing and sometimes exagerating his mother's part. Gaunt realized too late that it had awakened a thirst for adventure in the young lad, and thereafter tried to temper his dream to one day become an adventurer himself.
When his adoptive sister died from a devastating illness, something changed in Wilhelm. He grew more serious, becoming too mature for his age, and he kept asking Gaunt about creatures that seemed immortal or extremely long-lived. The sage tried hard to change the subject, and Wilhelm knew that if he really wanted answers, he would have to browse his guardian's library without Grandfather Gaunt looking over his shoulder.
One day when Gaunt was out on an errand, Wilhelm snuck inside and read a few tomes before finding a hidden switch among the library shelves. Following his curiosity, the boy activated the switch and found a secret room where the more dangerous magical items were kept. But Wilhelm barely looked at anything except for a big, black grimoire, bound in leather and decorated with bone-shaped metal as if refraing its contents from spilling out.
The book beckoned him. He could almost hear the promises being whispered in his ears.
Something happened when his fingers touched it. It was a dream, he was sure, because he had never been to this place he found himself; a place of cold and darkness, of figures etched in solid ice and shadows moving of their own volition.
A robed wizard stood before him; a human man with dark grey skin, eyes like pools of darkness and a wolfish grin. His lips did not move, but Wilhelm heard the words nonetheless.
"You seek power over death. I will grant it, but first you must learn. Use the magic within."
Before he could answer, everything went black as if the bubble had abruptly been burst, and Wilhelm awoke in a field, his sweaty hands hugging the tome to his chest. Before realizing what had transpired, his adoptive father's sheep thundered past, bleating in fear, gathering near him for protecting. Then he heard the howling, and his blood froze.
A pack of wolves surrounded him and the flock, approaching slowly, certain of their feast. His heart raced; he carried no weapons and the only thing he had was the book. Instinctively Wilhelm knew not to throw the grimoire, and with the same gut feeling he raised a hand, as if he were a wizard in Grandfather Gaunt's stories. Perhaps the wolves would recognize it and flee.
For the second time that day, something happened. Reaching inside while holding the mysterious tome with his other hand, Wilhelm brought forth the image of a magical ray of damaging energy being cast by a warmage, and pulled it into reality. A line of pure energy, black but somehow bright, raced from his upraised hand to the alpha wolf, blasting away part of its face.
The wolves were not half as surprised as Wilhelm was.
Trying the same trick, he again created a magical ray of eldritch power to hit the lead wolf, which whimpered and fleed with its tail between its hindlegs. The rest of the pack followed, and within moments Wilhelm was alone with the sheep, that kept their distance as well.
"I'm a wizard," Wilhelm thought to himself, and realized it was not at all what he had imagined.
Returning home, he decided not to tell anyone about his experience. Instead, he retreated to his room and studied the grimoire, watching the markings on the pages but understanding nothing. Slowly he started to realize that no, of course he could not read it yet. It was like one of the adventures from his mother, where the magic only became apparent after completing a quest!
The next day Wilhelm snuck out of the house before anyone was awake, carrying the grimoire, two daggers that belonged to his mother, and a few useful items in a backpack.[/sblock]
