Grakaka

Grakaka is a main character in Olin's first campaign, and plays a major role in the conclusion of Louin's first campaign as well. Though he lived an eventful life before and during the events of Olin's campaign, his greatest adventures took place afterwards, both with and without the Treacherous Trio.

Early Life
Grakaka was born into a family of nomadic and highly religious Orcs. This group of Orcs were a hostile, warrior-like tribe who worshiped a god named Bean who rarely presented himself to these people. Grakaka was raised to look down upon other species, especially humans, like all the other members of the tribe. He was trained as a warrior from birth, starting as a smithing apprentice as a boy, then an archer, then a knight, and eventually a paladin. While Grakaka was a knight, he became very interested in the ways of the holy men of the tribe, and desired to further his knowledge of the faith. Because he spent so much time with the priests and had soaked in all the knowledge they would give, they had deemed him a paladin; a mighty warrior of the faith.

Life as a General
While he was a paladin general of the tribe, he became a role model for the knights below him, encouraging them and teaching them. He thought the best way to bring his battalions together would be to bind them by song. While the members of the tribe looked down on their musicians, Grakaka gave them a place among the warriors, and learned to harness his own musical talent as well. With his powerful voice and the war drums of his army, Grakaka spread the tribe throughout multiple regions. Within months, the warriors of the tribe became an unstoppable force, intimidating their enemies to the point of retreat with their war songs alone.

Abandoning the Tribe
After Grakaka had spread his god throughout the South by the blade, he looked back on his accomplishments and was distraught. Until then he was afraid to face his regrets, but the weight of his actions was too great for even his hard heart. He remembered the families he had ordered drowned, and the children who were only fighting for their lives, but were slain. Elves, Dwarves, and Humans most of all, killed by the thousands. Grakaka understood that this could never be what a good god like his would want, and, though doubting his faith for the first time, followed his heart and left his tribe behind. He still felt malice towards non-Orcs, but tried to contain himself as he began his spiritual journey.

Life as a Wanderer
While a doubting but faithful Grakaka explored the world, he came to realize how little he actually knew of the outside world. He met children with better mathematical and comprehensive understanding than him during his travels, and he began desiring to understand the world outside of his spirituality. When he learned of the gods and titans and finite things that the people put their faith in, his own faith was greatly strengthened, and, as he taught himself of what the world was like a child, he began logically comprehending his god like a scholar. He became a wise-man, giving philosophical advice to common folk and helping who he could by taking up bounties for nothing but the knowledge it would give him.

Meeting the Party
At the beginning of Olin's first campaign, Grakaka was still traveling as a wandering bounty hunter and had accepted a job offer from a blue-cloaked Kenku. The job seemed simple but quite long, nothing Grakaka hadn't handled before. When Grakaka showed up to the tavern, however, there were two others who had also accepted the offer, a Goliath named Klobgar and a boyish looking monk with no speech (it would later be revealed that the boy was a Human named Ander.) Grakaka thought the boy may be an Elf or an adult Halfling. Either way, Grakaka felt insulted that the Kenku didn't trust him to do the quest alone, but still accepted it as a way of learning new cultures. The three set off on their adventure.

Battle of the Bands
On their way to the neighboring town, Klobgar decided to try and get to know the other two a little better. He asked about different facets of their lives, but to his dismay the two of them were not great at speaking, one in a more literal sense than the other. Eventually the bard Goliath brought out a pair of bongos and began to play, initiating a conversation about music, and Grakaka finally decided to open up. As he explained his past, the mute monk pulled out his lute, and began to strum. Before any more banter could be had, the trio was stopped by a group of bandits. The bandits threatened to not let them pass through to the city without payment, and the trio refused. The bandits seemed bloodthirsty when they heard this, but quickly snapped out of their haze when they saw the two holding instruments. The bandits revealed that they were, in fact, bards, and proposed a battle of bands. The bards played their hybrid weapon-instruments to the best of their ability, but didn't know the musical power of the trio they were up against. The trio began playing, one after the other, and found themselves writing a magical song as they played. The bards were devastated at how badly they were beaten, and went on to rethink their musical careers. The trio, however, reveled at their victory, and Grakaka came to see the other two as more than just temporary partners...

Meeting the Time Traveler
When the group crossed to the other side of a lake, they noticed an obscure cabin in the woods. When they came to the door, they were greeted by a small, old gnome-looking man who treated them with the utmost hospitality. Grakaka found himself astonished by the infinite bread machine the man had. Eventually, as always, Klobgar began asking too many questions, and the look on the old man's face had shifted. Then he pulled a remote with a button on it out of his pocket, and vanished. Then the group found themselves outside of the cabin, as if nothing had happened. The old man would seem to forget what had happened, and would let them in. The process repeated itself, and did so multiple times until Klobgar asked a particular question. The old man quickly reacted by pulling out a firearm and shooting Ander in the face. The gnome-man muttered to himself, and then pressed the button again to reset the cabin, but the party did not forget. They quickly stormed in to find the old man, but he'd already had his gun aimed at Ander, and shot him in the face again. During this commotion, Klobgar was able to grab the button out of the old man's hand, and he pressed it. To Grakaka, Klobgar was only gone for a second, but did not reset anything when he returned. This seemed to have sparked something in the old man, and he managed to steal the button away and escape. When he did this final time, the group was brought back to their initial positions, except the cabin was gone.

Finishing the Journey
The group continued on their way, and, though it isn't completely know how, they recovered Martimus' staff. The Kenku was grateful, and suggested that the group made a powerful team. Grakaka agreed.

After Olin's Campaign
The three adventured for twenty years together, called the Treacherous Trio by Klobgar alone (although it did gain some traction with people they met along the way.) These would be some of the best times in Grakaka's life, and he would spread the word of his bean when he could. These adventuring years were brought to a close when it was somehow revealed that Ander was a human. Grakaka struggled to know that he'd been friends with Ander for so long, yet the boy was still afraid to reveal his race. Though he had every right to be afraid after the terrible things Grakaka had spoken of. Grakaka decided he would go back to his tribe because of the guilt he felt for Ander. This sent Klobgar into a spiraling depression.

Returning to the Tribe
Grakaka was quickly accepted back into the tribe. However, when he said he's no longer lead their warriors, the leaders of the tribe were confused and angry. Grakaka had really wanted to be a teacher so he could pass his knowledge of the world on to the children of the tribe. When he was a teacher, he was well liked by both kids and parents, and gave real-world advice to the families, strengthening their faith and opening their minds.

Though the tribe was smaller than when Grakaka was in his prime, he saw the hatred they acted upon towards the races in the nearby territories, and he had enough. He read scripture every night for a year in search of an answer, but came to determine that their hate was not scripture-based. Grakaka quietly gathered the families of whose children he'd taught and told them he couldn't stay any longer after his discoveries. The families, after contemplating Grakaka's new understanding of the scripture, decided they could not stay either. The group of Orcs left in the night, and did not return.

Grakaka's New Tribe
The new tribe had wandered North in search of new lands to spread their truth where the old tribe would not find them. A year and a half after Grakaka left the tribe, the sect would set up a camp in the mountainous, snowy area of the Northern Schpengal Region. Grakaka would venture around this area for a short while until he began to grow weary. From this point on, his adventures would grow increasingly shorter distances from his camp until he was too old to venture out.

During one of his adventures he found an empty book with no text even on the cover. He felt it pulling him to a spire with magical energy surrounding it, and he climbed it. At the top, the book had been 'activated,' and began writing it's own sentences. Grakaka came to realize that this book was writing it's own history, though it had a few slightly different details. Sometimes the names in the book would be different or certain events would happen before others, but this didn't hinder Grakaka. This book would share his life story.

Meeting Akri
In his elder years, Grakaka often meditated in the woods outside of his camp. He would do this with no armor or weapon, and he would gain his daily missions by listening to what the bean would tell him. While he was meditating once, he heard branches snapping and leaves being moved in the woods, and though he did not look behind, he could feel the presence there. A Draconian, standing nearly two feet taller than him, breathing heavily and staring at the sitting elder. The monster spoke, saying, "I've been watching you for some time now." Grakaka didn't yet reply, and the monster said, "May I sit?" Grakaka nodded, and the two sat in silence for minutes. When Grakaka had finished meditating, he told the Draconian that he could sense a heart of gold inside, and when the beast heard this, he silently wandered back into the woods.

The two would do this every day for a month, only speaking to each other after Grakaka had finished meditating, then the Draconian would leave without a trace. At the end of the month, the monster said, "My name is Akri. I am called so because of my light skin," he muttered, "I would like to believe." And with that admission, Grakaka openly accepted him into his tribe. Akri was a quick learner, and took all of the scriptures to heart, and within a year of soaking in knowledge, he knew he would become a priest.

Akri, though he was cautiously feared by most in the tribe, was called 'teacher' by the children, and taught them the Draconian formalities. After learning a portion of his language, the tribe would refer to him as Paktarss Akri (meaning teacher of light in Draconian.) He became good friends with Grakaka, seeing the old Orc as his mentor. He became Grakaka's personal messenger and enforcer when the Orthodox Tribe eventually found where Grakaka's camp was, and fought many of the evil Orcs. During one of the final battles Grakaka fought in, Akri's wings were sliced off.

Finding Oldgar
Around four years after the Treacherous Trio had split, Grakaka heard word of a Goliath hermit in the mountains of the Schpengal Region. The tribe had passed through that region in years prior and decided to set up their camp just beyond the boarder. Grakaka assumed the hermit was Klobgar and desired to know for himself. Because he was so old for an Orc, the paladin sent a small group of messengers to traverse the mountains and find the Goliath. This group was harboring a letter from the old paladin, as well as a special gift enclosed in a wooden crate, though it was unknown to anyone but Grakaka and Akri what the gift was. The group of messengers did find where the hermit lived, and delivered their message in the night by leaving the letter and gift on his doorstep and traveling back immediately without the Goliath ever noticing.

Death
When he was too old to walk properly, Grakaka decided it was time for him to make his indefinite stay in the camp. He told the tribe that, though there is much work to be done around here, there is more in the West. While the tribe was preparing to leave, Grakaka began physically deteriorating rapidly, and died from unknown causes. The few Orcs that hadn't left vowed to make a tomb as a memorial to their leader. Akri was the one who would bury him.

Grakaka did not plan to stay dead, however. His gift to Klobgar was actually a sword named Tenacious. It was given unknown magical properties, different from most of this world. Akri knew to make the tomb channel this energy, awakening Grakaka's body if ever his friend needed him.

Stats
Strength: unknown

Dexterity: unknown

Constitution: unknown

Intelligence: unknown

Wisdom: unknown

Charisma: unknown