Stephan The Scholar

A living remnant of the Soul Sanctum, he wanders the crumbling kingdom in search of answers. And perhaps more gruzzer milk.

Lore
Stephan was regarded as strange by his fellow scholars. He would often be found passed out at his desk; ancient scrolls and tablets piled high in front of him, and a jar of gruzzer milk in his limp left hand. He'd mumble incoherently about "hollowness", "the value of geo", "I told you it's a placeholder date, you fool!" and other strange nonsense. The sanctum scholar would often experience intense headaches from the sheer amount of mental gymnastics he had to pull in order for the universe he resided in to make any sort of sense. As a result, he often took to gruzzer milk in order to ease his pain.

When the infection struck, Stephan sensed potential where even the most intelligent of mind missed. While most of the sanctum scholars were set upon using soul as a means of shielding themselves from the infection, Stephan saw the answer where they least expected: in gruzzer milk. This bold declaration was met with much scrutiny from his peers. Many accused him of being a lazy oaf who only wanted to indulge in his own disturbing addiction to the substance. Now there may have been some truth to these claims, however, the root cause was still for the good of the kingdom. But his fellow scholars did not see it that way, no. So deterred were they of the truth, that the fools cast him out of the sanctum. But he would not let their cruel words and disgust for gruzzer milk get in the way of his research.

On one unfortunate day, another pounding headache had befallen Stephan. He was fresh out of gruzzer milk jars, and so had to go out for more. But luck at first appeared to be on his side, as he soon stumbled upon an abandoned stock of gruzzer milk around the Crossroads. One little sip before bringing it all back to his makeshift home couldn't hurt, right? Wrong. The scholar soon found himself stuck and trapped inside the barrel, unable to escape.

Many years had passed since that day. And for all that time, Stephan had remained hidden inside the barrel. That is until a cloaked midget came charging through the crossroads, swinging their nail furiously in all directions. The damage they had caused left many things in shambles - including Stephan's prison. Miraculously, Stephan was indeed alive; his body had been preserved by the gruzzer milk. Now, he wanders the ruins of the long dead kingdom, trying to piece together what had happened.