Gerklug was a runecaster in Volkumburgh Vale between the 12th and 14th centuries DR.[1][3][note 1][note 2]
Personality[]
By the 14th 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.[1]
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.[1]
Abilities[]
Gerklug was capable of casting the following spells: charm person, darkness, dispel magic, magic missile, phantasmal force, and monster summoning I.[2]
If he was ever murdered, Gerklug would arise as a wraith and summon a dozen skeletons to attack his killer.[1]
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.[1]
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.[2] He also had a wyvern mount at his disposal.[4]
History[]
During the mid-12th century DR,[note 1] 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.[3]
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.[1][3] 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.[3] They then utilized their rune magic to prolong their lives and continued to live near the ruins of the College[1] within primitive huts alongside neanderthals.[4]
In 1358 DR,[note 2] they became aware that someone had discovered one of Awtawmatawn's fragments and was seeking to rebuild it.[2] By that time only Gerklug and three other rune adepts remained — Daver, Edwood, and Erigol.[1][5][note 3] They rallied a dozen neanderthals and two of their wyverns to assault a group of adventurers,[2][note 4] who had been hired by the wizard Amelior Amanitas to search for the fragments of Awtawmatawn.[3] Referring to them as the "evil ones" and "bringers of doom."[2]
The adventurers ultimately won out, sending Gerklug and his allies fleeing back to their home,[2] where they underwent a ritual of healing[4] and tended to their wyverns.[1] 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.[5]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Canon material does not provide a year for the events described in The Shattered Statue that take place 200 years prior to the module itself. However, it is stated on page 3 that a "King Proster" commissioned the Awtawmatawn. The only known Proster from this period of publishing was Proster Obarskyr and page 77 of the The Grand History of the Realms dates his reign as lasting from 1122 DR – 1164 DR.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Canon material does not provide a year for the events described in The Shattered Statue, but through extensive research this wiki has estimated a date. The explanation for this date is divided into three points:
(1) Page 16 of The Shattered Statue (February, 1988) describes the destruction of Phlan by dragons as having occurred "several years ago." Since the conflict "Dragon Run" did not exist until The Moonsea, this has to be referring to the Flight of Dragons (1356 DR), which was introduced in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set.
(2) The Savage Frontier (August, 1988), is set in 1358 DR and has Amelior Amanitas refer to its events in past tense.
(3) Page 18 of The Shattered Statue describes the Cult of the Dragon as having long had no presence in Volkumburgh Vale, but TSR Jam 1999 has the cult re-establishing themselves there in 1359 DR.
(4) In conclusion, all together this info suggests that The Shattered Statue takes place in 1358 DR. - ↑ The Shattered Statue is a bit vague at times about how many rune adepts there are, likely to allow for DMs to create more, but page 29 specifies that there is "a total of four."
- ↑ The canonical amount of rune adepts in The Shattered Statue is four, but the ambush states there can only be a "total of three [rune adepts]" and page 13 states that, "Only Edwood and the Adepts who survived the ambush in Chapter One will be here." Taken together, it can be inferred that all but Edwood were present for that event.
Appearances[]
- Adventures
- The Shattered Statue
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 11–12. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 6–7. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 2–3. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 13. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jennell Jaquays (February 1988). The Shattered Statue. Edited by Steve Perrin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 29. ISBN 0-88038-498-0.