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Areas of Influence: Nightmares, Gluttony, Food, and Disfigurement |
One day a young troll was wandering through his woodland home. He had no family and no friends; he just walked alone. This troll had no name and was cast out of his tribe when his mother sent him away. No skills did he possess other than his trollish strength. The path that he followed would soon lead up to the tower of a powerful renegade illithid. This illithid was a very lazy and competent mage. As the troll walked by, the illithid was amazed by its strength, it would do well as a servant for him and the mage set out to capture the troll. It was not a difficult task and soon the troll was held by magical bindings, the now servant of the illithid.
The illithid soon found out what a pitiful servant it had captured. While the troll was very strong, it was one of the most clumsy beings in existence, it broke many beakers, vials, and dishes. One day the troll earned a name. After breaking a record number of vials containing shadow dragon's blood, his master started calling him Huerkin. In the illithids homeland Huerkin was used to describe the bodily excretions emitted by the illithid slaves.
One day the illithid had kin over for an experiment. Before the experiment they were going to have a rare drink that Huerkin's master had discovered. When one would take drow children and mash their brains into a pulp, the liquid that ran off could be collected and heated like tea. It became a mild hallucinogenic for the illithid master and it tasted quite good to him as well. Huerkin was charged with bringing the prepared beverage to the illithids. He did so but as he drew near them he tripped upon the upturned corner of a rug. The kettle flew out of his hands and dumped its scalding liquid upon both of the illithids. His master became furious and decided to change the experiment for the day. They would see what affects a vat of acid had upon a troll that was lowered into it. Huerkin somehow survived his acid bath, not even the illithids could figure out how, but they locked him back in his cell anyway, figuring he would die merely from the wounds that remained upon his flesh.
Some unknown power, at that time, amplified the regenerative powers of the troll. His body began to knit itself back together, but it did so too quickly and the body parts of Huerkin could not align themselves correctly; a monster was left in the trolls place. His tongue was unable to be healed completely and was left a gooish mass in his mouth. Huerkin caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and went into a horrible fit of rage and destruction. He broke his way back into his master's presence and advanced upon the two illithids in the midst of their new drow child juice. They tried stopping Huerkin with their minds and then their magic but it was all useless against him for some unknown reason. He proceeded to beat the illithids to death with his bare hands. He then broke free from the tower and went into the world.
Huerkin looked for companionship. It was all he ever longed for or wanted. People were afraid of him, afraid of his monstrous appearance. He couldn't communicate with anyone as his tongue was so mangled he was barely able to make comprehensible sounds. He became a bully. He took what he wanted from people and if they tried to stop them he would fight. He still just wanted to belong somewhere.
Finally his time came. He was approached by one Tizzy of Legion and was accepted into their ranks. Legion did not care about his appearance or about his mangled speech. They seemed to have accepted him as a member of their brotherhood, a brother himself.
One faithful day, Huerkin and another of Legion, were chasing a Brethren rebel across Thera. They finally thought they had him when he was sleeping. It was a trap, the Brethren was awaiting them inside of the Dreamlord's Shrine. Lord Shamutanti was furious with Huerkin and the Legionnaire. He cursed them with visions of nightmares that would haunt them for the rest of time. Soon after this day Legion cast Huerkin out from their ranks. They did not give a reason or say anything to him, except to leave. They lied about being Huerkin's family, they lied to him and then betrayed him when he needed them most.
The nightmares slowly ate at Huerkin's mind, only the dedication of his so called family kept them from completely taking over Huerkin. When he was cast out, the nightmares found what they needed to take over. They drove Huerkin insane. They made him strike out at everyone and everything. They were able to reconstruct his tongue so that he could speak the messages they wanted delivered. The Dreamlord's chosen were sent to hunt Huerkin down for violating their most holy place. When they found Huerkin their holy power somehow allowed the real Huerkin to break free and to act. He ran from the chosen, Huerkin would not fight them. Lord Shamutanti was soon told of this and brought Huerkin to his presence. He saw what the nightmares were doing and proceeded to remove them from Huerkin, but the nightmares had expected this and left a large part of themselves hidden deep within Huerkin's inner being . Huerkin was marked with the Dove and set about to teach all of Thera about the power and the truth of nightmares.
It was not long till the nightmares that brooded within Huerkin grew to unimaginable proportions. They found that the very essence of nightmares had lived within Huerkin since the day he was born. This was what forced his body to heal after he had been dropped in the acid and it was what protected him from the illithids' powers. They took him from Thera, took him to a place of darkness, where time had no meaning. There they grew in the timelessness, gathering power and infusing it into Huerkin's body. They controlled everything, but a part of Huerkin survived deep within himself, waiting for his chance to break free. The nightmares pulled Huerkin back to Thera and found that the power they had amassed put Huerkin on a level with the heavens.
Not long after Huerkin and the nightmares returned to Thera a scroll was found. It spoke of a legend of a devourer, one of insatiable hunger that would someday destroy the entire world in his need to consume. It can be found throughout Thera; seek information on the Hungry One and you shall learn of it ways.
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