FRIZZLEBITS

Frizzlebits was a member of the Brotherhood of Ur'agoth and also a wizard of influence at G.U.E. Tech  (it is uncertain which he was first). At G.U.E. Tech, he rose in rank and favor with the Grand Wizard, who seemed to abuse him as an object of his humor, flinging off fireballs, etc. Frizzlebits alligence to the Brotherhood went undetected even while he was an underling of the Grand Wizard.

During the Great Monster Uprising, when one of the most famous adventurers, "Detective Softly" reached his fiftieth level of excellence, Frizzlebits and the rest of the dark wizards of the Brotherhood prepared to execute a nefarious scheme, by constructing a device capable of draining the power of the world's top adventurers and storing it within. Although the exact motives and what they were going to use it for remain a mystery, it seems to have something to with his crush on some Dark Sorceress. The base of their operations was in a cavernous hideout within The Gray Mountains.

Knowing that their activities would certainly be detected once the crystal was activated, they formulated a method of diversion for “Detective Softly.” They would bait him, luring him away from the source. Acquiring a spell from a mystical grimoire of ancient power, Frizzlebits created within G.U.E. Tech a curtain of pure energy, and summoned an evil demon from the netherworlds in order to dumbfound everyone at the institution, including the Grand Wizard.

This huge, billowing magical curtain with accompanying swirling purple vortex above it appeared overnight at G.U.E. Tech. Much to his satisfaction, no one else knew where it came from, but from it echoed the screams of a multitude of damned souls. At first the wizards thought it was some student prank to prevent them from getting breakfast, but every attempt they made at dispelling it failed. It seemed to be made of pure energy, and simply sucked in any offensive magic that was cast. Even fireballs, when they struck the wall, were absorbed by it with a ‘gloop’.

Concurrently, the crystal was activated, preventing adventurers from gaining experience from the monsters they had been slaying. The device had an odd effect all over the world—monsters were likely to carry considerable more loot, but experience from the kills dried up almost completely, if not altogether.

The wizards of G.U.E. Tech sent a message to the Grand Wizard, complaining about the huge curtain. Both the Grand Wizard and "Softly" arrived at the institution shortly after. Frizzlebits was pleased to know that his bait had worked. From then on, the dark wizard kept track of the Detective as he ventured throughout the world. And as he killed things and gained power, they would immediately drain it. And all this time “Softly” would believe that it was the curtain.

The Grand Wizard intended to pass through the curtain by using a Blaine field, which could be produced from a Dex Machine. Since the device was damaged, the Grand Wizard sent "Softly" throughout the world to repair it. Once all the needed pieces had been acquired and the machine repaired, the Grand Wizard had Frizzlebits make the first test on the wall. When the wizad approched carrying the Dex Machine, a huge demonic foot came out of the vortex and crushed their precious device along with the Frizzlebits. He was still breathing when they scraped him up, and after undergoing some major reconstructive sorcery, he was back on his feet (somebody’s feet).

Most of the pieces of the Dex Machine were replaceable, but the Grand Wizard intended to take care of the demon by collecting ingredients for a receipe to make cookies capable of temporarily pacifying the demon. "Softly" set out to find them.

The Detective progressed much more quickly than presumed. Knowing the humor of the Grand Wizard, Frizzlebits sought to slow him down even more with a red herring quest to fetch a pseudo-magical item: the legendary Majestic Bejeweled Herring of Flatheadia, hidden by an imaginary wizard named Fizzonacci. Then Frizzlebits intended to further stall "Softly" by making him use it to cut down the mightiest tree in the forest. Because they had time while waiting for the mixture to be finished, the Grand Wizard approved, humoring himself by sending the Detective on the quest.

When "Softly" returned from Pheebor where the Herring of Flatheadia had been hidden, Frizzlebits was disappointed that the Grand Wizard did not instruct the Detective to make him use it to cut down the mightiest tree.

Frizzlebits was not around when they sedated the demon with the cookies and used the Blaine field created by the Dex Machine to pass through the arcane curtain. Before the Grand Wizard could explain what they needed next, his words were drowned out by an explosion. The resulting shockwave knocked everyone to their feet. Frizzlebits stood in the middle of a group of prone wizards. He was dressed entirely in black, holding a staff made of bones and with what looked like a physical incarnation of darkness pouring off the crown on his head and pooling around his feet, creating an evil dry ice effect. After admitting responsibility for the vortex, he vanished with a crack of thunder, leaving nothing behind but a perplexed look on the Grand Wizard’s face and the book “1000 Really Nasty Spells for the Aspiring Warlock.”

The Grand Wizard sent "Softly" to track down Frizzlebits and his wizards. They attempted to trace the trail of magical resonance left by his teleportation spell, but it was so badly scrambled that they were not able to get any kind of fix on the whereabouts, so they turned to the Clue-O-Matic 9000 to led them in the right direction.

Frizzlebits and his wizards intended to return to one of their hideouts in The Gray Mountains. "Softly" was able to track them down from the ruins of Pheebor, and to the Coast Road at Greater Borphee, where they boarded a ship to cross the Great Sea to the Peltoid Valley in Antharia. Here was an unnaturally large collection of rocks surrounding a raised platform that was ringed by a circle of magical runes. Here they teleported to the hideout.

Although Frizzlebits and the rest of the Brotherhood of Ur'agoth remained hidden in The Gray Mountains for some time, one of their own brothers, Shinboz, sold out the location of their base to "Softly" in exchange for the Amulet of Aggthora.

When the Detective arrived, Frizzlebits was standing near a deep pit (a half-hour fall) which stretched down deep into the bowels of the earth, vanishing into an impenetrable darkness, watching with rapt attention as the other dark wizards chanted and swayed, all their attention directed on the crystal in the center of the room, the one that had been sucking up experience from defeated monsters.

“Softly” picked up a reasonably sized rock and threw it at the crystal, cracking it right down the middle. Immediately the pattern of light reversed, with the swirling cyclone on the ceiling all but vanishing, and the glow of the crystal starting to fade as the light started to leak out and dissipate into the air. The wizards were thrown backwards and sprawled around the cave floor for a moment before returning to their feet and yelling at each other. They ran from the crystal. Frizzlebits screamed in fury at “Softly,” but never finished his words, as his well-aimed rock rebounded off his forehead, causing him to stumble backwards and straight into the pit behind him. There is debatable evidence that Frizzlebits may have survived the fall. Others claim that the pit was bottomless, although this has been proven wrong.

The crack on the crystal slowly spread and reacted to pressurized magical energies from within the gem. The power started to seep back out into the world. However, as the crystal had not been completely shattered, the adventurers’ abilities took time to return to normal levels. Eventually, the crystal finally shattered and exploded, with enough force to destroy the entire cave which contained the hideout. It also created a rather impressive fireworks display, and annihilated a village or five. The G.U.E. Tech wizards went to the area to try to decontaminate the excess wild magic that zipped around, and to investigate what was left of the Brotherhood’s base. It turned out that the dark wizards had had quite a collection of magical items, including Terazarg, Zarglebane, Grovnar, and Bozthark. The Grand Wizard rejoiced in both the magical items, as well as immediately spending Frizzlebits pension on his own birthday party.

SOURCE(S): Legends of Zork