Theodore has had a fixation with magic since he was a boy, always interviewing traveling wizards and wandering bards about the nature and methods behind their wondrous spellcasting. Whenever any sort of mage would stay in town for more than a night, he would seek ways to meet them, observe their magic firsthand, and glean a secret or two. He would gladly offer errands and favors for the more intractable visitors, and even paid to copy excerpts from any spellbooks, tomes of lore, or oral recounts of fantastic creatures, unnatural places, and ancient mysteries they were willing to share. His parents often thought him quite obsessed, but, as his habits never interfered with his chores at their inn and never brought any real trouble to their door, they grew to accept it.
The turning point arrived much later than one would expect, yet still much earlier than a parent would hope; on his seventeeth birthday, Theodore burst into the inn, charged straight up to his room and began packing. He gathered his savings and a few useful pieces of equipment into his backpack, and was only stopped by his father at the door, demanding an explanation. His answer was two words long: Dragon's Delve.
Having received the lore from an old mage who loved to share knowledge as much as Theodore loved to devour it, he was inexplicably gripped with an overwhelming need to find it and explore it. Everything about the location screamed to him of magic. The stories, the conflicts, the hauntings, the creatures, the legends--the tales he'd been told and the books he'd been shown all led to one sensation: the undeniable craving to plumb the depths and find the secrets himself. All the information he'd been given was like the aroma of a perfect roast to his nose. It was irresistible. the more he thought on the topic, the more restless he became. No amount of pleading or chiding could keep him from filling his pack and marching out to the general store for supplies, and no amount of odd looks or friendly warnings from townsfolk could stay his feet.
Theodore had an appetite for magic, and he'd caught the scent of an unimaginable feast. There was no stopping him now.
