NPCs¶
Book 2¶
Oba Eze¶
The owner of Oba’s Wondrous Creatures. She was underfeeding her animals and had captured an intelligent Mpeshi. After dealing with the problems she caused you led protests along with Anchor Root to make the city create new laws forcing her to treat animal better, and the ban the capture of intelligent beasts.
She does not like you.
Froglegs¶
Froglegs was once the crime boss of the city. You thwarted the grippli in a confrontation in her swamp. She was arrested, but later esscaped or perhaps bribed her way out.
Salthiss¶
The serpentfolk who impersonalted Mayor Asanda. Captured and given over to the university.
Book 1¶
Kurshkin¶
- Female Pugwampi
- Jinxer & Troublemaker
Kurshkin is an immortal trickster older than most members of the Magaambya. Like most pugwampi gremlins, Kurshkin delights in the misfortune of others, and especially enjoying making bad situations worse by introducing wasps, bleach, or other humiliating and painful substances to a situation where people are already suffering.
About 24 years ago, Kurshkin and her friends developed a grudge against one of the youths that often helped out around the city—an obnoxiously mellow and good-humored young man named Takulu Ot. In a display of uncharacteristic boldness, the gremlins ventured into the academy to enact their revenge. They knew that historically, gremlins tended to eschew the academy, but they didn’t know why. Kurshkin, in particular, considered herself far too clever to have anything to fear at the Magaambya. After all, the academy only held people, and people are fun to torment.
Unsurprisingly, the gremlins found they had bitten off more than they could chew. Kurshkin was one of the first “casualties” of the offensive—caught by a deft Ot, stuffed in a sack, loaded onto an elephant, and far away before she could make it back.
By the time Kurshkin made it back to the Magaambya years later, all of her fellow gremlins were dead — killed (you think) by the student Uduak.
You have come to an accord with Kurshkin. SHe has forgiven the Magaambya, and in return she will only pull harmless pranks.
Timeline of Kurshkin's Follies¶
| Year | Folly |
|---|---|
| 4722 | Comes to accord with Magaambya |
| 4722 | Caught by intrepid students of Spire Dorm |
| 4721 | Escapes her prison, possibly with help |
| 4721 | Reappears on campus to harass students' induction ceremony |
| 4719 | Kurshkin returns to Naantambu area, meets Stone Ghost |
| 4698 | Stuffed in bag by Takalu Ot and sent away |
| 4618 | Student Uduak kills pugwampi on campus, expelled and dies trying to escape |
Stone Ghost¶
Stone ghost is the spirit of uduak. He was the one who killed Kurshkin's friends. He was imprisoned by his teachers for his cruielty, and tried to escape. However, Kurshkin wisted his magic! In an incredibly unlikely reaction, the Magaambya’s wards rebounded onto Uduak with the full force of the university's power. So far as any teacher at the school could tell, this reaction evaporated Uduak on the spot.
The student that was Uduak was not gone, however, but found himself merged with the Magaambya’s stone walls. The same wards that originally trapped him within the buildings now protected him from detection, and Uduak decided to use this to his advantage. He hid himself in an abandoned section of the school and began planning his vengeance. His first recruits to his cause were an assorted group of gremlins that snuck into the school with no clue as to the recent massacre of their kind. Through a series of promises and threats, the cursed student took command of the gremlins, considering it fitting that the initiators of his downfall would now serve him against the teachers who had so wronged him. The gremlins, impressed and fearful of their new leader’s ability to move through stone walls, granted him a new moniker: Stone Ghost.
Stone Ghost resembles a young man with a body made out of chunks of stone, his faceted skin matching the blocks that make up the Magaambya campus. His hair and face are made of ruined mosaics, and his body is covered in fragmentary runes: the shattered remains of the magic wards that caused his current condition.
Stone Ghost was killed recently by the heroes.
Uduak¶
Esi takes the candle. "I was doing research on gremlins after the incident in the storage shed. I learned a story too. This is the story of Uduak, a student who was at the academy years ago. It's all true."
Uduak had tons of potential, with a strong connection to earth magic. It was easy for him to find a sponsor and get into the academy. He set upon his Prerequisite to becoming a full-fledged attendant.
But Uduak was selfish. He felt that he was meant to be building his own skills at the academy, not serving the community. He performed his tasks with little effort and little concern for the people he was supposedly helping.
Cracks began to form in his mild demeanor. He was caught throwing the mail into the elephant grass. He drew reprimands for hurting other students during practice. He got caught cheating and used all the service work he was "forced" to do as an excuse to justify his actions. He sabotaged other students' work to make himself look better.
One day, his cohort was tasked with removing a group of pugwampi gremlins that had started causing mischief within the academy walls. Ignoring his fellow initiates, who wanted to get the gremlins out peacefully if they could, Uduak rushed in and locked the ways out. He used his magic to slaughter as many gremlins as he could. Some begged to be let go, but he just laughed while he killed all of them!
It was the last straw. Rightly so. Uduak was expelled. But he did not go quietly! He was enraged that the school would rob him of his future just because he took care of some — in how words — "vermin." In his anger, he stood outside the Welcome Walk and threw spells at his teachers, screaming curses. But the teachers only stood there. The magic the ancient wards made his spells bounce like a pebble off a cliff.
So the professors confined Uduak until the administration could decide what to do with him. They took this matter very seriously, placing not only a guard on his room, but also magical wards. Left to stew in his own resentment, Uduak ignored his guard’s warning, drew on all of his strength, and attempted to shatter the spells that kept him imprisoned within his room.
The guard swore he could hear a pugwampi laughing when not only did his magic fail, but went catastrophically wrong! The magical wards rebounded onto Uduak with the full force of their power, crushing him into a small pile of stone dust on the spot.
Esi pauses. Some say, when you misuse magic, you can hear the laughter of the murdered gremlins.