Grum

"I have made mistakes, and I will make more mistakes fixing the old ones"

**Grum** is a hat.

One of the eight working for the IBS in fact.

Lol not anymore.

Throughout his childhood, Grum always wore his hat, no matter how oversized it was or how hard the other kids tried to steal it.

On his 5th birthday, when he was old enough to work, he was given the name Grum and sent to work at a salt mine.

Grum first picked up magic at the salt mine; making his pack seem full of salt without having to struggle with the weight of it. Soon enough other kids were asking him to help them in the same way, desperate for any kind of interaction with them beyond having his food stolen, he agreed to help them out.

After a few years of eating normally and working at the salt mine, Grum had grown into a strong young man with some skill in magic. Knowing this, him and two close friends Twik and Lerm and founded a short lived gang called "The Angels of Deaths". Or as it was more commonly known from their mindless vandalism and small amount of merch, "The Angles of Death".

To start with they mostly did low level crimes, nothing big enough to get chased down by the local militia, who were were either trying to tackle local crime families or were owned by them.

Eventually, the larger crimes began to become too lucrative to ignore and with increasing financial hardship the angles began to take more risks with bigger jobs. It was during this period that he learnt how to think as criminals and thieves do.

It was during this time that Billy Joel, a famous bard, took pity on Grum and taught him how to read and write, giving him the academic and emotional support that Glassfate failed to provide. This gave Grum a love of literature and music. Grum often invited Billy Joel over for food in exchange for these lessons. Grum would cook the best meals he could with the meagre ingredients he had.

One of the Angles' final jobs, was breaking "Diovany", who was a prominent member of the "Jostah" crime family, out of prison. They bribed some guards and put Grum who was disguised as Diovany in the cell to avoid arousing suspicion till he had escaped.

In the morning, Grum feigned ignorance of the breakout, claiming he'd been knocked out and kidnapped. He thought he would go free. Unfortunately for him, war had broken out.

Grum was to be drafted.

### Military Service and Desertion

"*Fighting in a war is easy, living through one is the hard part*"
―Grum
Grum was drafted into the army as an front line solider in the Khan's IV Infantry Company due to his decent build from working in the mine. He was given an axe, which he affectionately named "Twilyte" and was sent into the front lines in the Khan's conquest with very little training.

They won a few battles initially, but Grum's company began to slowly dwindled in numbers, either to desertion or to death. Grum only surviving due to his experience with illusion magic, either making himself appear dead or scaring people off with the sound of a larger force approaching. He learnt how to think about perspective and had worked out how to make things appear much larger than they appeared etc, tricking people into thinking armies were just on the horizon with only small illusions.

He was hired as a spy for the Xelaphon forces, before being hired as a spy on the xelaphon forces and kept feeding jargon information to both commanders to reduce the number of conflicts.

Grum eventually deserted, writing to both the Xelaphos and enemy commanders, "I am deserting the army, thank you for feeding me".

At the time he didn't understand the meaning of the word "Desertion", assuming it was just a fancy Imperial way of saying "quitting", and so did not know the consequences. He assumed people at Xelaphos would treat him badly if they knew he quit from the army so he headed North towards the Imperial Capital to finish studying magic.

### Grum's Bounty and the IBS

"*There isn't enough information for me to confirm or deny the reports on this bounty. But there is enough money on this bounty for me to confidently say he's fucked*"
―Money Jim, regarding Grum's bounty.
Just mere days after Grum had turned 18, he was attacked by a young and inexperienced bounty hunter, who was going after Grum thinking he would be an easy mark. When Grum attacked, he just about managed to overpower the hunter, leaving him alive but injured. After a rather tame interrogation, Grum was surprised to hear that both armies had put a bounty on him totalling around 30 gold pieces.

From this point Grum was wary when travelling on main roads, through his
time as a criminal he could work out when he was being followed by an interested party. Grum would setup various traps, being careful to just incapacitate any hunters following him, often making use of his illusion magic, all the while heading towards the Capital. Grum would often create lich or demon illusions, scaring off the less committed hunters, or would simply make a very deep pit seem like a rather normal part of the dirt track.

As more and more low-level hunters turned up empty handed and injured, the IBS itself increased the bounty to 200 gold. Attracting more experienced hunters, who usually were incapacitated too. By this point, Grum was becoming a bit infamous amongst IBS members, there were rumours that he was actually a lich, or a ghost back from the dead to terrorise the IBS for dealing in blood money. At this point, money Jim, the most senior public member of the IBS, increased the bounty to 2000 gold, just to get rid of the thorn at his side.

This attracted a lot of attention, attention that Grum wasn’t ready for. Whereas before he could still enter most small towns as long as he remembered to disguise himself. His face, and more importantly his hat were on wanted
posters plastered in almost every inn on Lûeth.

### Mitchson

Mitchson, the head of the Hats; the Elite of the Interplanar Bounty Syndicate, detained Grum just outside of the Capital.

Upon turning Grum into the Imperial Courts, he declined the reward and requested permission to acquire Grum as a marked guide, essentially a criminal bounty hunter apprentice of the IBS.

Mitchson and Grum spent many years wandering Empire, hunting bounties and occasionally doing good when it was deemed necessary. Eventually Grum served his time as a Marked Guide and was invited into the Hats; the elite of the I.B.S. to fill the role of the Hat of Illusion who had suddenly disappeared. With Grum as one of the faces of the I.B.S., he found some small fame, especially given his signature hat. He insisted on being advertised as a weapons expert so any potential bounties would not instantly see through any illusions he cast.

The hats have taken out several noticeable opponents both individually and as a collective.

After several years on the road together Mitchson disappeared leaving only a note and a small silver bell to Grum on his 23rd birthday, 'Wait at the Solace Inn at Xelaphos. Do your work as you would, I'll find you eventually - Mitchson'.

## Current History

"*Life is never kind, but you always have the choice to be*"
―Grum to his daughter Sern, three days before the mountain incident. Grum and Nigel, in their various schemes to make money for medicine for Sern, joined an expedition into the inner rings of Xelaphos.

## Relationships

#### Mickey Kreimhild

"*He's the only one of the orphans that everyone has always gotten on with. While him and Nigel have their differences given everything that's happened, Mickey's very much what holds us together, even when he was dead.*"
―Grum regarding Mickey
#### Nigel DeRosa

"*We've both done a lot wrong. I don't think Nigel's looking for redemption. If his family and hold are safe then he's happy enough, but I know he will come through for us when the time comes. He always does.*"
―Grum regarding Nigel Derosa
#### Wander

"*Me n' her don't exactly trust eachother given my apparent abandonment of Nigel and her accepting Vincent's bargain. But I can sleep soundly knowing that she's watching my back without the intention of stabbing it. I just want her and Rena to live the life they've earned without any more tragedy. Gods know they deserve it.*"
―Grum regarding Wander
#### Rena Lucaryn

"*Rena's one of the team, and we've saved her more times than I count, but she never lets herself seem vulnerable or ask for help, the only time I can recall is after she lost her hand. So I still don't think she trusts or likes all of us a whole bunch; I guess that's what makes us a family. I hope that she can lower whatever walls she has up for Wander.*"
―Grum regarding Rena

#### Sern

"*{{{1}}}*"
―{{{2}}}