Hans Johann
Resident Druid
Roland Thurgood
Bio and Background
Bio and Background
The polished white double doors were gigantic. Were they Twenty feet tall? Thirty? The dimensions of this place seemed to warp constantly. Roland looked up and tried to find the ceiling, only to discover there wasn’t one. The walls here just went up forever. Didn’t they? His head hurt. Didn’t it? At least it should hurt. Why was his head supposed to hurt? He was forgetting something. Something important. Why wasn’t his head hurting?
Roland turned around to find his bearings. He was in a long, narrow corridor of smooth, polished, gray stone. It seems to go on for ages. The door behind him, however, remained shut. It didn’t have a knocker. It didn’t even have a handle for that matter. Where was he? How did he get here? Roland turned back to the doors to examine them further.
They appeared to be carved out of some sort of white stone, but at the same time, they weren’t stone at all. He reached out one hand tentatively and found the doors exceedingly cold. They seemed to be glowing softly from within. Was there light on other side? Or where the doors reflecting the light? He suddenly realized that the light all around him seemed… off. It didn’t appear to have a source, but everything was lite gently in a hazy white glow.
Smoke and mirrors, where was he?
As if to answer his question, the door opened a crack and blinding white light spilled into the corridor. Laughter and sounds of merriment could be heard just on the other side and an effeminate figure emerged, shutting the door behind it.
She, for Roland could now see that it was a she, was remarkably beautiful. The woman was dressed in fine black robes trimmed with bright silver along the hem, collar and sleeves. Her face was pale and smooth and framed by long straight hair the color of starlight. He skin was the white-gray of ashes. Her lips were thin and black, and they curved up in a smile that didn’t quite reach her pure white eyes. Her hands were cupped just below her breast, and in them sat an hourglass filled with red sand.
“Welcome home, my child.” Purred the woman. “You’ve arrived just in time. Won’t you join the festivities?”
Roland hesitated, “I… I don’t mean to be rude, but who are you? And… where is this place?”
“Why child, I am Pharasma. And You are in the land of the dead,” her voice was melodic and sweet, “My realm.” He lips turned into a full smile, as if this fact prided her.
“Dead?" he said, now getting hysteric. “I can’t be dead. How can I be dead? I distinctly remember not dying!”
“Poor child,” Said Pharasma. And before Roland could react, her arm extended, and she placed a single finger upon his forehead.
It was night on the Duke’s estates the and moonless sky was covered in black clouds.
They were running from the mansion, both he and Scarlet. He couldn’t believe they had done it. It was the biggest heist they had pulled off yet! Wyrmwood would have to give him is freedom now.
Roland looked down to make sure the small gilded casket was still secure. His body was trembling with excitement!
As he looked back up at Scarlet, Roland felt his feet tangle and suddenly the ground rose up to meet him. The casket loosed from his grip and went bounding across the ground, landing some distance in front of him. Looking at his ankles he saw a thick cord weighted with two iron balls. And then he saw the guard. A hulking man, in a polished armor and a conical helmet, was running towards Roland with a spear extended.
Roland remembered trying to pull himself along the ground, trying franticly to escape. Then his hands were fumbling at the bolas, for that’s what it was, trying to undo the rope as fast as he could. As he was becoming more desperate he looked up to see where the guard was. Roland remembered seeing an enraged face and then the point of a spear and then…
Phantom pain shot through Roland’s right eye as he thought he felt the spear enter his skull. And then, just as suddenly as it had hit him, the pain was gone. His hands had gone to his face in reflex and slowly, he pull them away. Roland examined them, expecting to see blood. There wasn’t any. Roland Looked back up at Pharasma as he started to understand more clearly.
His head was supposed to hurt. He remembered now. Only he was dead.
He, Roland Thurgood, was dead as doornails. Smoke and Mirrors!
Pharasma smiled at him and extended a graceful upturned hand, inviting him to take it. Roland looked at it for a moment trying to as his thoughts swirled and churned, unable to settle. What had happened to Scarlet? What had happened to the package? What about Wyrmwood?
After a moment of hesitation, he extended one hand, as if to place it in hers. But just before he could, a whippoorwill descended from cavernous space above them and landed smoothly in the woman’s outstretched hand. A small piece of neat parchment was in it’s beak. If this had shocked Pharasma, it didn’t show on her face. After tucking her hourglass into her robe, she removed the note from the bird’s beak.
Her white eyes flicked up from the note to Roland. “Oh my,” She said in a voice rimmed with amusement, “It appears you have options, dear child. Someone out there is looking out for you.”
Now her expression became serious as she leaned in close to gaze deep into Roland’s eyes. “If you wish, you may return to the mortal lands. Or you may stay here and enjoy my company with those who have come here before you. But I must warn you, leaving here will come at a price.”
Roland met her gaze, excitement in his voice again and a smile pulling at the corner of one lip, “What kind of price?”
“I cannot say,” she said as she straightened, “For I don’t entirely know myself. The method in which you are being called back to the Material Plane is…,” She hesitated as if searching for the right word, “…Outdated.”
Roland thought of Scarlet and what Wyrmwood would do to her if the package never got delivered. How much time had passed? Gods above, she had better be okay.
“I want to go back,” Roland said firmly, “I have to.”
“Very well, child. Till we meet again.”
And before Roland could reply, he felt a pulling sensation at his navel as if someone just drove him back by slamming into his stomach. He was flying backwards down the never-ending hallway, watching as the woman became a smaller and smaller. He flew back faster still, till his vision started to blur. He tried to hold on to consciousness, but his eyes started to roll up into his skull. The nausea was becoming unbearable.
Then a strange thought occurred to Roland: Could you throw up in the land of the dead? But before he got an answer, everything plunged into darkness.
**********
Roland’s story really starts in the capitol city of Absalom. He was human and grew up in the heart of the city, working for his mother, who was an accomplished apothecary. From his mother, Rae Thurgood, Roland learned much; how to pick herbs, tend to plants and fungus, extract their properties, and make potions and poultices. His father had passed away when Roland was very young, leaving Roland and his mother to fend for themselves.
Absalom is a big city! And big cities attract crime.
When Roland was about 17 years old, the store that he and his mother ran caught the attention a local mob known as The Red Wyrms. Run by a powerful man known only as Wyrmwood, The Red Wyrms moved in on their neighborhood and started demanding money from local shops and businesses. It wasn’t all bad. Some of the money was turned around and used to pay for repairs and luxuries that this area of the city was lacking, but the lax took a toll as the years progressed.
Rae and Roland were able to pay The Red Wyrms extortion and protection fees for quite some time; Years, in fact. But, there a came a time that their store just wasn’t making the money it once was. To pay off The Red Wyrms once and for all, Roland met with Wyrmwood and offered himself in Wyrmwood’s service.
It was here that Roland met Scarlet. She was an elf who was also trying to pay off her debt to Wyrmwood. Wyrmwood often paired off senior members of his gang with the new blood in order to make sure they were fulfilling their bargain.
Roland did well for himself working for Wyrmwood, and after a year or so, he and Scarlet grew close as friends. It was at this time when Wyrmwood requested they steal an object from Duke Thelos. A gilded casket. Apart from that, no other details were given to Scarlet or Roland.
Our Curtain now opens hundreds of miles away from the city of Absalom, in a village of Osterlandsk, in the center an ancient forest…
*****
Roland Thurgood
Age: 23
Height (Human): 6' 1"
Weight (Human): 155 lbs
Height (Vine Leshy): 2' 8"
Weight Vine Leshy: 21 lbs
Personality Traits:
Daring, Freethinking, Witty, Resourceful, Boyish, Absentminded
Roland Thurgood
Age: 23
Height (Human): 6' 1"
Weight (Human): 155 lbs
Height (Vine Leshy): 2' 8"
Weight Vine Leshy: 21 lbs
Personality Traits:
Daring, Freethinking, Witty, Resourceful, Boyish, Absentminded
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