My character is Maz-kal Rhazam a 3/3 Mage/Thief, and this is the background that Howard (the DM) and I came up with.
Maz watched as his body quickly faded into nothingness, and just as quickly the space around him bent and twisted to reveal the inside of a grand room, a circular affair with 11, no 12...large wooden thrones set high above, each with a cloaked and cowled figure staring down upon him in judgement.
"Maz-Kal Rhazam, welcome to Elbion, welcome to the Arcanum. You seem shocked, confused...be aware that you are safe here within these walls. You will find that the power you have stolen comes with a price, and you are here to pay what is due."
"The poet-mages of Faruk-yarah are known to us, though we admit that our library lacks a deep shelf of study. Here you will teach us what you know, and in return we shall usher your own learning to a new horizon, one you had likely not even dreamed could exist."
There was no denying that above him sat a powerful force...and he is just as sure that this was an opportunity he should not squander.
Two years passed as an eye blinks, the sands of time always rushing past...and Maz learned so much about the World of Thayrun that he never could have imagined. The world, and the magic energies that encircle it were not given their due in the few tomes he had stolen so long ago.
Here too Maz were quickly discovered by the Dark Men, the guild of beggars, thieves, and cut purses that prowl the streets of Elbion. His nightly foray in search of supplemental income didn't go unnoticed, and he was welcomed into that brotherhood as well...the guildmasters always looking for more eyes and ears inside the Arcanum.
It was all going splendidly, life was a joy to behold. Maz's coffer was full and he were well on your way to not one, but two successful careers...
Until tonight....
"You should have known that you wouldn't be able to hide your nocturnal activities from us Maz-kal," said the crooked little dwarf standing before him. Crookneck was, had been, Maz's mentor....and now, he was his captor. Frozen by shackles Maz could not hope to break, the bent little mage had tsked him almost into deafness as well.
"I had such high hopes for you, and now this! A Dark Man?!?! My own student? It's an outrage! I will be the laughing stock of the Arcanum."
"Does anyone else know?", Maz ask him, eyes to the floor partly to hide his anger, and partially to hide his shame.
"No...thank goodness no. But they will find out...if I have deduced it then others will not be far off. You will need to go, to run...far from here. I have a trip planned, a journey to the city of Tileano, and you will accompany me. I will bond you to me, and so without me, you will not survive. Escape will be impossible, and my death will result only in your own."
The dwarf chants, draws a small blade that gleams even in the dark of night, and he slices quickly into Maz's left arm...does the same to his own, and the magic flows between you.
"Maz-kal," says the dwarf in a low growl, "you are my student no longer...now we are something much deeper, much stronger than even a mother and her child. I release you from your shackles, but your bond I shall keep. Go. Gather your things. We leave for Tileano in the morning."
Maz felt the spell break and release him. Blood flowed quickly to his arms and legs.
He turned and headed for the door, knowing full well that his future is ties inexorably to Master Crookneck.
"I was proud of you boy, once..." Crookneck whispers behind him.
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