Mark Chance
Boingy! Boingy!
A while ago, I asked for suggestions on how to bring a replacement character into my campaign given that the surviving members of the party were trapped on the 9th layer of the Abyss. Based on suggestions, this is the backstory for the Grunk, replacement character:
Grunk is a native of the Beastlands, specifically its second layer Brux, a wilderness plane of eternal twilight. Grunk is also a member of the Verdant Guild, a group dedicated to the protection of wilderness places against the forces of civilization, evil, and destruction.
There is a problem in Brux. Two evil factions have joined forces. First, there are the Vile Huntsmen, a loose-knit group dedicated to the proposition that all intelligent animal petitioners in the Beastlands are abominations that must be destroyed. Second, there are the Deliverers, natives of Pandemonium and followers of Erythnul, who live for the hunt and the slaughter that follows.
The leader of the Deliverers, a wizard called Garond the Claw, somehow opened a planar gate between Pandemonium and Brux, the second layer of the Beastlands. The Delivers use the planar gate to enter Brux and hunt animal petitioners. They also kidnap animal petitioners, taking them back to Pandemonium. A hidden lodge of Vile Huntsmen assist the Deliverers in these unspeakable crimes.
The leader of the Verdant Guild, Aaronatok, sent Grunk and several other members of the Guild on a dangerous mission which led Grunk to the Abyss and disaster. Led by Chromatius, a plane walker wizard, Grunk and his companions were supposed to accomplish several objectives:
1. Find and seal both sides of the planar gate between Pandemonium and Brux.
2. Kill Garond the Claw.
3. On Brux, track down the Vile Huntsmen lodge allied with the Deliverers and kill them all.
4. Return any kidnapped animal petitioners in Pandemonium to Brux.
Led by Chromatius, Grunk and his companions entered the Astral Plane to reach Pandemonium. Unfortunately, the group was caught in a psychic maelstrom and sucked through an unstable color pool. As a result, the group found itself in the Swamp Hopeless, the ninth layer of the Abyss. Furthermore, being in the Swamp Hopeless, the group was cut off from the Astral Plane. Chromatius could not easily return the group to its desired path.
Unsurprisingly on the Abyss, things went from bad to worse. On the Abyss, the group fell victim to ambush after ambush launched by horrid, dark-skinned, elf-like creatures no taller than 4 feet high. Armed with poisoned arrows, attacking by surprise, retreating with monkey-like agility into the treetops, these elves have proved the death of everyone in the party except Grunk and possibly Chromatius, who was snatched up by a horrifying half-spider/half-humanoid demon.
Harried and injured, Grunk just discovered the bases of nine enormous towers, all of which pierce the canopy overhead to vanish from sight. He also just overhead a pitched battle: shouts, the clang of weapons, the chanting of spellcasters (Chromatius included?), followed by the ubiquitous noises of the Abyssal jungle swamp: obscenely chattering monkeys, the screams of featherless birds, the mocking laughter of the thunder.
Grunk is a native of the Beastlands, specifically its second layer Brux, a wilderness plane of eternal twilight. Grunk is also a member of the Verdant Guild, a group dedicated to the protection of wilderness places against the forces of civilization, evil, and destruction.
There is a problem in Brux. Two evil factions have joined forces. First, there are the Vile Huntsmen, a loose-knit group dedicated to the proposition that all intelligent animal petitioners in the Beastlands are abominations that must be destroyed. Second, there are the Deliverers, natives of Pandemonium and followers of Erythnul, who live for the hunt and the slaughter that follows.
The leader of the Deliverers, a wizard called Garond the Claw, somehow opened a planar gate between Pandemonium and Brux, the second layer of the Beastlands. The Delivers use the planar gate to enter Brux and hunt animal petitioners. They also kidnap animal petitioners, taking them back to Pandemonium. A hidden lodge of Vile Huntsmen assist the Deliverers in these unspeakable crimes.
The leader of the Verdant Guild, Aaronatok, sent Grunk and several other members of the Guild on a dangerous mission which led Grunk to the Abyss and disaster. Led by Chromatius, a plane walker wizard, Grunk and his companions were supposed to accomplish several objectives:
1. Find and seal both sides of the planar gate between Pandemonium and Brux.
2. Kill Garond the Claw.
3. On Brux, track down the Vile Huntsmen lodge allied with the Deliverers and kill them all.
4. Return any kidnapped animal petitioners in Pandemonium to Brux.
Led by Chromatius, Grunk and his companions entered the Astral Plane to reach Pandemonium. Unfortunately, the group was caught in a psychic maelstrom and sucked through an unstable color pool. As a result, the group found itself in the Swamp Hopeless, the ninth layer of the Abyss. Furthermore, being in the Swamp Hopeless, the group was cut off from the Astral Plane. Chromatius could not easily return the group to its desired path.
Unsurprisingly on the Abyss, things went from bad to worse. On the Abyss, the group fell victim to ambush after ambush launched by horrid, dark-skinned, elf-like creatures no taller than 4 feet high. Armed with poisoned arrows, attacking by surprise, retreating with monkey-like agility into the treetops, these elves have proved the death of everyone in the party except Grunk and possibly Chromatius, who was snatched up by a horrifying half-spider/half-humanoid demon.
Harried and injured, Grunk just discovered the bases of nine enormous towers, all of which pierce the canopy overhead to vanish from sight. He also just overhead a pitched battle: shouts, the clang of weapons, the chanting of spellcasters (Chromatius included?), followed by the ubiquitous noises of the Abyssal jungle swamp: obscenely chattering monkeys, the screams of featherless birds, the mocking laughter of the thunder.
