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During the year of 1,130 – after the defeat of the Ashen Elf, and the return of the Dragons (and supposedly Bargledar’s return among the gods) – several giant stones fell from the sky landing near the larger gnome communities (surprisingly not injuring anyone!) These stones were said to be a gift from Bargledar (The God of Gnomes) himself, as a thanks to his people who helped restore his place among the gods.

One such stone appeared in the Iron Summit, one of the largest gnome colonies on the Ivory Coast. One of the Clerics of Iron Summit, Maya immediately considered the stone a holy marking and built the Church of Bargledar around it. Unbeknownst to Maya, she was pregnant with child from her mate, Temo.

When Maya gave birth to her daughter, Benjii (a tribute to the most heroic gnome known, world-wide, Tenjii), she knew immediately something was very different about Benjii. On the back of her young daughter’s hands were small, colorless, octagon shaped gems. Temo, Maya’s mate, asks about removing the stones, and Maya refuses, explaining that it must be a gift from Bargledar.

For most of the years of her life, Benjii is raised as an acolyte to the Church of Bargledar, where she is inundated with all the aspects of religion. She learns the origins of the gods, their battles, their follies, their mortal foes. Maya, her mother, even goes on to teach her enough to become fluent in the Celestial language; but also the Abyssal, the language of the enemy.

When Benjii reaches 20 years of age, her life takes a drastic shift. The colorless gems that were embedded on the back of her hand begin to glow inexplicably at times, and Benjii finds she has no control over them. She attempts to remove them from the back of her hands, despite her mother’s protests, but finds she cannot. She also learns that the gems apparently to be completely immune to all forms of damage.

By age 21, Benjii was calling forth magical spells that were not of the Clerical order; but seemed to be a form of wild magic. As it turned out, the Gift of Bargledar – the stones imbued Benjii with magical, sorcery that allowed her to channel magic through sheer will.

When a massive marauding band of kobolds, led by one of their shaman leader, Brelrok, raided the gnome community in Iron Summit (where the kobolds also dwell, but down deeper) – they sought the “stone of magic” for themselves, hoping to use it to summon a dragon (which the kobolds worship) that would be used to drive out the gnomes.

It was Benjii’s magic that saved the gnomes of Iron Summit. Using her wild magic, she had managed to somehow use her surge of magic to teleport the entire raiding kobold party, to parts unknown. However, there was a small consequence. She had also managed to teleport herself away as well. Reappearing in the frozen lands of Frostmane – several hundred miles away from Iron Summit, Benjii felt a pull of magic and followed it and found a small village called Pern’s Rest. It became immediately clear that the pull of magic was the large frost-like castle that sat just outside of Pern’s Rest. It was also very obvious to Benjii that many of the villagers seemed very skittish and nervous; and that the other half were not normal villagers. Blending in with the crowd, she made her way to the Golden Tankard, a small, but busy tavern, where she’s been biding her time.

Inexplicably, of late the gems on her hands occasionally glow blue or green, seemingly randomly, but she’s not been able to determine the reason.