Zhelen’Dharlamin Quorlys (Rise of the Runelords campaign)

I grew up in the wondrous city of Brastlewark in eastern Cheliax. Brastlewark is an amazing place, with something new and interesting to see everywhere you look. If you ever get the chance, baby, you should definitely plan a visit there; trust me, you’ll cherish the experience. My childhood was spent intermingling with gifted artists, musicians, architects and craftspeople of every type imaginable, and I drank it all in like fine wine. That’s just a metaphor, baby… the truth is, I’ve never been much into fine wines. In fact, I’ve always been kinda drawn to weird and unusual concoctions, and I like to visit taverns frequented by folks of lots of different races and try out the beverages they drink in other parts of the world. You meet the nicest people that way too! Anyway, our good king Drum Thornfiddle thought that given my odd predilection, I should be apprenticed to Arbostin Quarkenbottle, a master alchemist (he’s pretty famous, baby, you may have heard of him).

Bosty was a great teacher, and I learned a lot from him. Some of his other apprentices may have had more natural talent for alchemy than me, but he was always very patient and forgiving with me. Of course, that may have been because he was kinda sweet on me, if you know what I mean, baby, and that did get awkward after a while. But he did indulge my desire to experiment with all kinds of unusual (some might say gross) concoctions, and gave me free reign to use his herbs and reagents, so I had a lot of fun with that. But eventually I felt like I needed to leave Brastlewark. It’s a great city, but the surrounding areas… well, not so much, baby. Cheliax ain’t exactly known for its tolerance, open-mindedness, or attention to individual rights. When my halfling friend Morena ran into some tough times and was in danger of being sold into slavery, I knew it was time to go. She has family up in Tamran in Nirmathas, and so we slipped out of Brastlewark as quietly as we could and headed north.

The trip was long and somewhat harrowing, but we got to see some cool stuff on the way. We hired passage on a small river trading boat once we’d crossed into Isger, and took that all the way to Elidir, the capital. Avoiding the notorious goblins was a nice plus, but the real treat was learning to make some very interesting mudfish dishes. The cook didn’t think I could stomach his infamous candied radish eels… easiest silver piece I ever won! Even better, he taught me how to make it!

My culinary skills got us a place in a merchant caravan for the dangerous trip through the Menador Mountains into Molthune. Thank goodness for traveling in numbers, baby… that place was full to the rafters with undead! But those folks had made the trip many times before and knew how many guards were needed, and I was happy to keep all our big beefy menfolk well fed. Still, it was a relief to arrive safely in Canorate, a city some might say is as beautiful as Brastlewark. I will admit to a touch of homesickness, but by then I had fully bought into the thrill of adventure and seeing new places.

Another long boat ride later, we finally arrived in Tamran. Morena’s family was of course delighted to see her, and they talked me into staying for several months. But eventually I got bored (really, there’s not much to do there besides fish, baby), and decided it was time to move on. Since then I’ve been wandering around southern Varisia, trying to find as many new and interesting things as I can, and maybe even adding to my repertoire of seafood dishes along the way.