Gralamin Urdathar's page

Gralamin is nothing like your typical fortune-teller. No mysterious auras, no bones rolled on a mat. Just a fairly normal looking man, approximately 5 ft. 8 in. tall with dark, receding hair and a crow's peak. His haunted blue eyes, however, do seem to see things that others do not. Dressed in stylish robes of deep green, he cuts a not-quite-impressive figure.

Fascinated by the fickle hand of fate since he was a child, Gralamin was deeply impressed by a Varisian harrower's prediction that his parent's prize cow would die mysteriously within a week. The concept that man could see into the future and warn others deeply impressed Gralamin, and as soon as he felt himself old enough (age 13), he ran away from his farm to join a Varisian band. Though he himself is of Taldan descent, his eagerness to learn the secrets of harrowing earned him a spot as the fortune-teller's apprentice.

Luckily for Gralamin, his master, Kolothra, was not a con man, but a harrower with real talent, though poorly developed. He could cast a few rudimentary spells, but had an incredible knack with harrow cards. The old man taught Gralamin what he knew, and quickly determined the apprentice would far outstrip the master in terms of magical talent. He encouraged Gralamin to study more than just harrowing.

A few years passed, and true to Kolothra's prediction, Gralamin was soon more talented in the arcane arts than he. Knowing he had little time left to live, he cast the harrowing for his apprentice. Gralamin, it seemed, was destined to travel to Magnimar, and take up an apprenticeship with Jenya the Dark, a notorious wizardress infamous for her dark magics.

Troubled by the harrowing, Kolothra nevertheless travelled with Gralamin to Magnimar. His health rapidly deserting him, the fortune-teller struck a deal with Jenya – Gralamin would serve her unswaveringly for a period of ten years, and she would teach him. Gralamin wanted no part of the deal, but could not refuse the dying request of his beloved master, and reluctantly agreed. Kolothra died a mere two days later.

The next ten years were horrific. Jenya worshipped the Pallid Princess, Urgathoa, and was enchanted by necromancy. She forced Gralamin to aid in her in all manner of the worst magic imaginable. Raising the dead, forcing souls from their bodies, spreading disease…she was enamored of it all. Repulsed by the foul magic, Gralamin nearly gave up his studies, but always Kolothra’s final harrowing bolstered his determination. If Gralamin could withstand the horror of his training, he would become a great force for good. And so he endured.

As his decade of slavery drew to a close, Gralamin plotted. While Jenya had little use for divination magic, he knew of its power firsthand. He was sure Jenya planned to kill him and raise him as an undead abomination the day before his release. When she came for him that day, he was nowhere to be found.

Gralamin travelled to Korvosa, determined to be his own master. When he arrived in Korvosa, he immediately found a tavern and began attempting to drink away the memories of his apprenticeship. It was there he met up with the Order of the Lion, an adventuring group in need of a wizard. It seemed they had been hired to stop a necromancer from defiling the city’s graveyard district.

Gralamin volunteered, and found his calling. His blend of divination, foresight, and powerful necromantic training was a boon to the Order of the Lion, though the wizard swore to never delve into the darkest parts of necromancy such as those practiced by Jenya the Dark.

Several years passed, the happiest of Gralamin’s life. The Order of the Lion was his new family, and they were a strong force for good in Korvosa and its outlying regions. Then tragedy struck. The leader of the Order, Regulus Strongarm, died in a fierce battle with a clan of aggressive stone giants. Distraught over the loss of their leader, the rest of the party determined they would kill the famed red dragon Xiuhcoathal and use his treasure hoard to return Regulus to life.

Gralamin was uneasy, and his divination magic and harrowing only made him more so. The cards and omens all pointed to one thing – sure death. He tried to warn his friends and family, but they wouldn’t listen, too overwhelmed with grief. Mourning his friend’s loss himself, Gralamin refused to accompany the party. Harsh words were spoken, and Gralamin found himself unanimously kicked out of the adventuring group.

The wizard returned to the tavern in which he met the Order, again drinking to forget, and hoping his readings were wrong. Alas, as the days and then weeks passed, and the Order never returned, he knew he had been right. The Order of the Lion was dead.

Unable to stomach the sight of Korvosa any longer, Gralamin has returned to the ways of Kolothra, travelling around doing harrow readings for peasants. But he is a deeply unhappy man. What happened to Kolothra’s prediction that he would be a force for good in the world? Surely there must be something more out there for him, some way he could redeem himself in his own eyes?

0 - acid splash, arcane mark, bleed, detect magic, detect poison, disrupt undead, ghost sound, haunted fey aspect, mage hand, mending, message, open/close, prestidigitation, read magic, resistance, scrivener's chant, sotto voice, touch of fatigue
1st - anticipate peril, chill touch, comprehend languages, detect secret doors, ill omen, mage armor, ray of enfeeblement, shield, true strike
2nd - blindness/deafness, blood transcription, darkvision, glitterdust, invisibility, locate object, see invisibility
3rd - arcane sight, blood biography, clairaudience/clairvoyance, fly, harrowing
4th - arcane eye, enervation
5th - overland flight, suffocation, true speak

3rd - haste, revelation, tongues
4th - locate creature, scrying, solid fog
5th - teleport