A Gambling Man in this day and Age has little to gamble. The world is just so... safe. Oh sure, there has been conflict between the Empire of Falthana and Ogres? Lizardmen? Minotaurs? Evil Humans? The stories are just not consistent. One thing is true though. The trade from the east has dried up. In Istar, trade is the lifeblood of those who would be rich.
You live in Vellas (western side of the Bay of Istar northern most point on that map) a sea town. Now is the time to gamble. You just need to find a Captain who finds the rumors of an expansive war as laughable as you do. Not too tough to do. You both set out with a ship laden with goods to go around the Worldscape Mountains and down the east coast of Ansalon, you should clean up and come back rich as Kings!
Sometimes though, gambles don't pay off and your opponent is not bluffing. Just as you come round the gallow reefs you see it, a Dragon. You may be the first and the last person to see one in several generations as it swoops down to attack. The electricity that arcs from its mouth cuts the ship damn near in half.
You jump into the dinghy and play dead until the thing flies away. Unfortunately, everyone that tool this gamble with you is now dead an you have no supplies and no way to row this ship. The sea takes you out, the hot sun is soo punishing that you pass out. You know you are dead.
Until you wake up and find out you are not. Humans have found you! They refuse to give you their names and they refuse to tell you where you are. As the weeks pass and you are quarantined to a single building you start to get antsy, you appreciate being rescued but being a prisoner you cannot abide by.
You have a buddy that used to "lift objects" from houses. You use some utensils to pick your poorly made locks and head out to find a way out of this pampered prison.
The people you see are odd, tall and blue! Not humans. Where are you? Soon enough you sneak out of their city and find a garden path that leads up to the mountains to a shrine. The doors to the shrine open, as you approach a soft grey glow pulses within as if calling to you. Magic! Maybe this trip will yield you something of value after all.
You move forward to grasp the item but it's huge. Suddenly it shrinks to small enough for you to hold, you reach towards it and feel a pulse of power reach back for you. At that moment you hear voices behind you, "Stop him. The Greygem. He must not take it!" None of this makes any sense to you but their magic force the stone away from you. As it moves away you feel a pulse of power from it, it begins to burn you from the inside out. Oh God another bad hand for the Gambler!
"Send him away, hurry!" Suddenly you feel as if you are being turned inside out and a loud popping sound emits from nowhere.
You find yourself standing on the shore of an Island, more water. It is night and you are glowing! The pain is so intense you pass out...
