Gerklug

Gerklug was a runecaster in Volkumburgh Vale between the 12 and 14 centuries DR.

Personality
By the 14 century, Gerklug had lived so long that he had succumbed to some form of madness and lost all sense of short term memory. He was also hostile to anyone intruding upon the ruins he called home.

No matter what threats he faced, Gerklug could not be coerced into revealing the location of the fragments that he and his allies had scattered long ago, only cryptic clues.

Abilities
Gerklug was capable of casting the following spells: charm person, darkness, dispel magic, magic missile, phantasmal force, and monster summoning I.

If he was ever murdered, Gerklug would arise as a wraith and summon a dozen skeletons to attack his killer.

Combat
Due to the madness he suffered from, Gerklug would engage his enemies in combat by casting spells at random and in chaotic directions, all the while cackling with glee.

Possessions
Like the rest of his runecaster allies, Gerklug was dressed in a set of padded armor and armed with a runestick made of yew-wood, as well as a runewand made from ebony. He also had a wyvern mount at his disposal.

History
During the mid-12 century DR, Gerklug was a member of the College of Rune Magics. One day an injured member of the College of Shaping Magics, known as Valmous the Shaper, came to their college in flight from his rogue, rampaging creation. Thanks to Valmous's intimate knowledge of it, they were able to defeat the Awtawmatawn. Though the College of Rune Magics was left in ruin and only a few students survived.

Valmous, sensing an evil presence trapped within the fragments of the Awtawmatawn, tasked Gerklug and his fellow rune adepts with scattering its pieces across the Volkumburgh Vale. Then, using a combination of their rune magic and the magic items of Valmous, they placed him into a healing stasis, where he awaited the day someone would attempt to recreate the golem. They then utilized their rune magic to prolong their lives and continued to live near the ruins of the College within primitive huts alongside neanderthals.

In 1358 DR, they became aware that someone had discovered one of Awtawmatawn's fragments and was seeking to rebuild it. By that time only Gerklug and three other rune adepts remained &mdash; Daver, Edwood, and Erigol. They rallied a dozen neanderthals and two of their wyverns to assault a group of adventurers, who had been hired by the wizard Amelior Amanitas to search for the fragments of Awtawmatawn. Referring to them as the "evil ones" and "bringers of doom."

The adventurers ultimately won out, sending Gerklug and his allies fleeing back to their home, where they underwent a ritual of healing and tended to their wyverns. Later, Gerklug and his fellow runecasters were lead by an arisen Valmous, alongside a host of forty neanderthals, to assault the village of Volkumburgh after Amelior had managed to reassemble the Awtawmatawn.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Shattered Statue