Adumblus "Donny" Don

Adumblus "Donny" Don is a member of the Divine Conflicters and is widely considered the strongest member of the group. He is known for his quick temper and his love of a small, indestructible puzzle box.

## Backstory

“Hey watch the way I can make this guy’s limb bend!”

The minotaur laughed, grabbing the scruff of a halfling as he tried to run away, yanking him back in place.

Clenching his arm with two hands, he balanced on one hoof as he put the other to the screaming man’s elbow. With a hard kick, he snapped the halfling’s arm, howling as he threw the man away.

“You guys see that?! That was funny right?”

However, the frantic crowds did not respond to his jest. Instead in the chaos, they continued to run every which way as the seven foot monster stumbled through their town.

“Come on guys?! Please?”

The sound of a war horn made the giant stop and turn around.

“Come on, not again…”

“Stop! Beast!”

Three figures approached in the distance. In the middle, a knight in clunky plate armor slowly climbed off his horse, drawing a scroll from a side pouch. On one side, a wood elf leapt from his steed, pulling down his hood and knocking an arrow in his longbow. On the other, an elderly gnome with a long beard stepped down off his horse.

Visibly disgusted at the sight of the ox, the gnome reached into a huge backpack behind him, storing away a book he was reading and drawing some sort of cube, holding it out in front of him.

The knight began to speak again, raising his visor and unrolling the scroll.

“Donny of Beeben Babben Burg-”

“Hey… Hey! Only my friends can call me Donny! Right guys? Guys?”

By this point, the streets were void of civilians, leaving only the four in the standoff.

“I assure you creature, you are no friend of theirs. Are you aware we are responding to a bounty placed on your head?”

Donny sighed, taking a step back.

“Yeah, I know. You three are like 10th group of responders this month. Let’s just get this over with.”

The knight blinked.

“What?”

“Why do you think the bounty is so high? Adventures from all over have tried to kill me.”

The wood elf and gnome looked at each other in concern.

“It is weird though, the last group that came for me was about twice the size as yours…”

“Enough!”

The knight bellowed, snapping his visor closed and putting away the scroll. He drew a flail and shield.

“Have you any last words?”

Donny rolled his eyes.

“Look, you guys seem cool and I really don’t feel like fighting right now. Just get out here.”

The knight motioned to his companions, and suddenly, wizard raised his cube, conjuring a ray of frost as the ranger fired an arrow at Donny. The ice barely missed Donny’s head, but the arrow connected with his shoulder. The knight raised his shield and began twirling his flail.

Donny roared in rage as his veins began to visibly pump. He began to barrel towards them, drawing a huge axe from over his back and readying his buckler.

Finally in range, the knight swung his weapon, clocking him right in the schnoz.

Donny’s head didn’t move.

The spiked ball at the end of his chain lost all momentum and fell. A wild grin came over Donny’s face as he swung his axe with all his might, slashing the fighter and sending his back nearly 10 feet, colliding with his horse and causing the others to flee.

The ranger lowered his bow and drew two short swords, successfully slashing with both of his blades on the minotaur’s side.

The wizard dropped his box as flames began to shoot from his hands towards Donny, singeing his fur.

Donny winced and leap out of the range of the flames, and in a wide swing, managed to nearly cleave the elf in half, sending him to the earth in a heap of blood.

The wizard, seeing his larger, better armored ally become a twitching pile of flesh on the ground, turned and ran, leaving his cube at the hooves of the monster.

“Yeah you better run… BITCH!”

By this point, the knight was rolling on the back, desperately trying to regain his footing. Donny looked at the blood on the tip of finger and snarled. Gripping his axe with both hands, he approached his prone opponent.

“Wait… Wait! You have bested me Don-”

He stopped himself.

“Come… we can talk about this… what should I call you?”

The minotaur raised his axe.

“My name... is Adumblus!”

With a hard swing, he sunk the axe into the knight’s head.

Standing over the body, he took several deep breaths as he cooled down. After a few seconds, a smile came over Donny’s face.

“Did you guys see that?” He yelled out, ripping his bloody axe out of the corpse. “That was crazy, huh?”

Taking a few steps back, no one responded. Silence came over the village.

“You… you guys want to see something cool?”

Donny’s eyes darted around the battlefield, looking for something to do. Finally, he noticed with the lone cube left behind by the wizard.

“Watch me... smash this cube!”

Donny put his axe away and approached the box, picking it up. With confidence, he clenched either side, attempting to crush it.

The cube didn’t break.

With confusion, Donny caught his breath.

“Just… wait a second…”

Bringing it to his chest, Adumblus crushed the box with all his strength, but still the box didn’t budge.

“Son of a bitch…”

He dropped the cube on the road, and drawing his axe with both hands, began to pummel it over and over until suddenly, a loud crack sent the head of his weapon flying. The wooden handle had splintered, and retrieving its head, the blade was covered in deep nicks and dents.

The cube was completely unharmed. Finally having caught his attention, the minotaur began looking it over.

It was primarily a dark, almost plum color, but was broken up by various black lines, symbols, and shapes. Twisting it over with his hands, he felt thousands of tiny nobs, switches, and indents that could each be fiddled with and toggled.

“Hey I’m gonna… gonna...”

Donny was lost for words. For nearly a half an hour he fiddled with his new object, turning and poking. As he stood there, towns people slowly began emerging from their homes, looking over the corpses and watching the once loud and abrasive bull become silent and docile.

He had never seen anything like it.

With one successful twist, a small puff of steam released from the cube, and the box’s surface changed.

He stopped working for a moment.

“I need to go. I’ll… I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Ripping the leather chestpiece off of the slain elf, Donny carefully wrapped the cube and ran out of the city.

Tumbling through the woods, Adumblus couldn’t resist. He unwrapped the box, and fiddled as he sprinted.

Reaching his cave, he fell on his knees and went to work.

Two and a Half Months Later

Carefully with a bronze needle, Adumblus finished the last of nearly two dozen blue square tattoos all over his cleanly shaved torso and arms.

He left the needle on the floor as he finished and stood up, passing through his stacks on stacks of books, scrolls, and parchments. He reached and raised the cube, which had rested under a drawing of a black wolf, barely visible above several burning candles.

Clenching the cube, he kneeled and prayed quietly before standing and placing the cube at the top of a large knapsack stuffed with papers and various tools. Approaching the mouth of the cave, Adumblus took a deep breath, setting out on the road, tinkering away as walked.