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Frobwit the Fair had always tried to be a good magician, studying diligently at the Borphee Magic School and practicing his spells every evening. Throughout his enrollment, he was always teased by a bold young magician named Radnor. Even when Frobwit wooed the beautiful Althea, she chose the cleverer student, Radnor over him. After graduating, he had hoped to become apprentice to Thorman the Red Beard, one of the finest magicians of the time. Thorman had much to teach him. But Radnor convinced Thorman to take him instead. Frobwit was devastated. His lifelong dream of serving Thorman was dashed! Radnor had won both the love of Althea along with the coveted apprenticeship. After that day, he never fully regained his confidence.
Frobwit had to practice his craft in the rural areas of the Northlands, as the better magicians monopolized the towns. His debatable reputation was due largely to some great storytelling about his own magical exploits, which he took every opportunity to impress those who were willing to endure his tales. In his own opinion, he was one of the best magicians in all of Quendor. As the time went on, and he aged, Frobwit began to have difficulty with even the small household spells. Things improved when he took on Dirinthrax as an apprentice. The local boy’s parents had been too poor to send him to one of the big magic schools in the south so they apprenticed him to Frobwit the Fair. He reminded Frobwit of his own happy and energetic days of childhood. Although he liked Dirin, there was not much Frobwit could teach the boy. But he found an apprentice to be nearly a servant, and he had great need of one. Although Dirinthrax had learned a few common spells, he mostly stoked the fire and mopped the floors.
Frobwit rewarded Dirin for his excellent work by permitting him to accompany him to that year’s Convention of Enchanters and Sorcerers at Accardi-by-the-Sea (c. 957-966 GUE). They set out for the village and joined up with a caravan that would take them to Accardi. This caravan was driven by Gurthark the Stout, who had hired a scout by the name of Ryker to guard the wagon. There was also another passenger, a young maiden named Acia who needed travel to visiting her ailing grandmother.
The first night they pitched camp near the borders of Egreth Castle. Ryker, wishing to seek an intruder he detected lurking about, asked Frobwit to distract the others with one of his stories. Frobwit was jubilant to have been asked to do something he most heftily enjoyed. After the tale, Ryker returned with the young Lia (who had disguised herself as a boy named Lim) and informed the others that she would be joining the caravan.
That night, Frobwit was startled awake by a piercing scream. For Radnor, wishing to apprehend the Amulet of Egreth sent a troop of night gaunts to abduct Acia whom they presumed had the jewel (she had in fact dropped it almost immediately after stealing it from Lia). Dirinthrax, who had went after Acia in the form of a bird, was also missing. And Ryker was knocked out cold.
Ryker was determined to rescue the beautiful maiden. Before they could depart, Frobwit augured the outcome of the mission, understanding that fabulous would come to the one who saved Acia. This was the only reason that kept Gurthark pressed to accompany them. Frobwit, Ryker and Gurthark left for Egreth Castle, while Lia was commissioned to stay before to watch the goods and guard the secluded campsite.
On their journey towards the castle, they spied a group of night gaunts heading straight toward them. Frobwit, intending to transform the slimy creatures into a clump of bozberry bushes instead transformed himself along with Ryker and Gurthark into them. As bozberry bushes are the night gaunts favorite food, the trio was nearly consumed, but the creatures were drawn away by their orders. Afterward the companions reverted to their human forms.
The first task of entering Egreth Castle involved crossing the expansive moat. Ryker fashioned a sturdy oar by severing the branch of a tree. Frobwit conjured up a boat from the trunk of an old oak tree, which was little more than a large bucket. They climbed into the ridiculous boat and crossed the moat to the castle. The trio reached the embankment safe and sound; no one seemed to have noticed them.
Frobwit attempted to use a levitation spell to reach an upper window, but ended up floating too high and instead clung to one of the crenellations. Ryker and Gurthark climbed up to the window using a rope which Frobwit threw down to them. As Frobwit was closer to the roof, he intended to enter that way. Before he had a moment to reconsider, Gurthark and Ryker disappeared into the gloom of the castle.
To alight on the roof, Frobwit transformed into an arachnid and scuttled up onto the parapet. He stowed away on the back of the helmet of a hobgoblin guard. At first Frobwit was excited about getting to witness one of the hobgoblin ceremonies, but after they required some spider legs for their rituals, he quickly leapt off the creature and into the rafters.
After exploring, Frobwit saw an eerie light flickering through a chink in the old stone corridor. Peeking through, Frobwit saw the chamber of Radnor. Spinning a thread, Frobwit dropped into the chamber to greet his old school mate, only made the startling discovery that Radnor was in fact the evil magician of Egreth. When he realized that Radnor desired the Amulet of Egreth for some evil purpose, a rare courage built inside of Frobwit and he was determined to fight against Radnor. After a magical battle of flaring beams and pyrotechnics, the evil wizard was able to defeat Frobwit by morphing him into a slug.
At that moment, Ryker, Dirinthrax, and Lia burst into the room. In revenge, Dirinthrax used the Amulet of Egreth to funnel his rage into a mighty spell which took Radnor by surprise. The magician’s power was subdued and Frobwit was restored to health and vigor. He knew that Dirin had proven himself worthy.
Suddenly, Acia came through the wall trapped inside a bubble. It popped, landing her in the arms of Ryker. Radnor’s face suddenly changed to that of a kind and wise old man, which they thought had happened as a result of Dirin’s spell. Acia snatched the amulet from Dirin and quickly slipped it on. Radnor placed a crown upon Acia’s head, which when worn, cursed her into a deep trance. Radnor took the opportunity to obtain the amulet. Ryker sprang into action, and snatched the amulet from the magician.
Lia fished the amulet from Ryker with its own magic. At the same time, her disguise fell away, revealing a womanly figure, and her hair lengthened. Using the power of the amulet, Lia transformed Radnor into a puddle of foul-smelling liquid. Frobwit finished the deed by entrapping the warlock’s essence in a crystal ball, and sent it into the Egreth treasury. Little did the companions know, but the ignorant Gurthark took the crystal ball from the treasury, thinking it was but simple riches.
With Radnor defeated, the spirit of Thorman the Red-beard freed Egreth Castle from centuries of evil domination, magically restoring it to its former splendor. Acia recovered from her trance. Ryker and Acia confessed their love for one another, sharing both a passionate embrace and kiss.
The small caravan continued on its way from Egreth, leaving behind two of their number Dirinthrax and Lia, as the new rulers of Egreth. Frobwit had promised to return to the castle on his way back from the Accardi convention. He looked forward to telling his friends about his battle with the evil magician Radnor.
Unknown to the caravan, the crystal ball Gurthark took as a souvenir of Egreth was not what it seemed. The sphere was the very one in which Frobwit had imprisoned Radnor’s evil essence. The sorcerer’s malevolent force, concentrated in this small sphere, would burst out in fits of rage, wreaking havoc upon those around him. There was a series of seven evils which had been prophesied to emit from the orb.
The witch Moog, who was seeking to have Radnor’s crystal ball in her possession, desired to lead the caravan towards Pheebor. Incanting a road sign changing spell, she altered the nearest sign to read “Borphee” instead of “Pheebor.” Although Ryker suspected the sign was incorrect, they were deceived into trekking the road towards Pheebor.
Later that day, the first peril commenced—an eerie light emanated from the ball, fabricating a flock of giant corbies from nowhere. One swooped towards Frobwit, snatched him out of the wagon, and carried him high above the meadowlands. Before he determined how to save himself, he found himself transformed into a porcupine (this was the doing of Moog, who had been observing their entire trip). The corbie released its hold, sending Frobwit plunging toward the ground! Luckily, he landed on the soft thatched roof of the house of Gumboz the Magnificent, and fell completely through the ceiling. Before he could catch his breath, Frobwit resumed his human form.
Gumboz was very kind and hospitable to Frobwit by tending to his grievous injuries with soothing potions, giving him his elfin sword along with a bag of provisions, and letting him stay the night. The next morning, Frobwit departed, continuing on his way to Accardi-by-the-Sea.
His route took him through a dark and creepy forest, thick with cobwebs and glittering with large bright eyes of unknown animals. The elfin sword glowed brightly, warning him of danger. Attempting to flee the dark path, he came upon Slye on horseback, who was about to become the dinner of a wooddevil. Unknown to Frobwit, Slye was an accomplice of Moog, and had been partly responsible for the calamities which had befallen the caravan. Before the beast could strike Slye, Frobwit’s elfin sword flew out of his hand and sliced deeply into the wooddevil, killing it.
The relieved, yet still fearful Slye permitted Frobwit to ride on his horse. They emerged forest before they had time to introduce themselves. Hoping to gain favor and pride with the wizard at the start, Slye attempted to impress him by lying that he was a magician of the Southlands. But Frobwit was sharp enough to detect that the man was bluffing; for he knew a magician if he saw one and could tell that Slye was not amongst their number. He was forced to admit that he did not have much magical experience at all, but wanted to be one. Frobwit saw this as a chance to both get a ride to Accardi and a new apprentice in one fell swoop. Little did the wizard know, but it had been many days since someone had shown kindness to Slye.
The two got on famously. Frobwit entertained and impressed Slye with tales of his magical escapades. The magician made good on his promise to teach Slye some magic, firstly testing his magical aptitude under the guise of teaching him some basic spells. When Frobwit told him to concentrate very hard and think of a person or place he knew well, the ghostly face of Moog appeared before them. Frobwit was impressed and offered him the apprenticeship. Slye eagerly accepted.
Frobwit and Slye crossed the Borphee River Bridge, passed through Borphee and were once again on the coastal road. After another night, they arrived at Accardi-by-the-Sea. It had been some years since Frobwit was last there, but Slye could not wait to get inside. While the old wizard could not help but feel proud to be a magician, this was the first time in his life in which Slye felt important.
During the Convention, while Frobwit and Slye were mingling with the other enchanters, the magician spied a familiar face. It was Althea, the woman whom he had loved from afar during his youth. She had grown older just as Frobwit had, but due to strange sorcery caused by Radnor’s curses, she regained her youth while her granddaughter Acia had aged far beyond her years. She had come hoping that someone at the Convention could find a remedy. At last Frobwit had the chance to prove himself worthy of Althea’s admiration. He gladly offered his assistance.
Suddenly the great hall became quiet. The Guildmaster began to speak of a Great Danger which lied in wait. At the time it was powerless, but I fit joined with another great evil, the depth of its dark destruction would be measureless. Enraged and boastful, Frobwit cried out, “Just let me get my hands on this Great Danger! Why, I defeated the Evil Magician of Egreth! I just said FOOBLART MUGWART BUZMUZ…”
Unknown to any present, but it had been the Mirror Spell of Moog, who had from Pheebor, caused Frobwit to unwillingly incant the essence-releasing spell instead of the essence-entrapping spell. Thus the aged magician foolishly set Radnor free from his imprisonment in the crystal ball. As Slye tried to gain the attention of everyone present and warn them of Moog’s treachery, he suddenly vanished before their eyes. For Moog had summoned him and Radnor to take their place in the formation of the Triax.
Without warning, a black pall settled over the Guild Hall. The Great Danger was upon them. Frobwit embraced Althea as a thin wind whistled in through unseen cracks in the old walls. An ominous thunderclap proclaimed the onset of a new reign of darkness. Little details survive of this dark period of history, and thus the fate of Frobwit and Althea is unknown.
