Willard

Willard Montgomery (real name Glacier) is a 5'2" writer that lives in the Arete household. He was cursed 1.5 years ago by Alarktos, a djinn. He is the son of Glenn and Rise Montgomery, who are the lead item traffickers in the town of Kent, some days away. Willard is entirely bald after having his hair burnt off from Hekara throwing his cursed book into the fire, and rim-only wooden glasses. After having his finger cut off by Shards after a particularly bad story, his finger was replaced by Asa the patchwork bear. The same is also true for his right arm and right eye after Reus destroyed both when Willard was possessed by Alarktos after he failed to possess Shards.

## Background Context:

He **summoned Alarktos** using a ritual with his friend, Lecturn. Lecturn is a crazy wizard that Willard met in his classes. His teacher, Yin Silver, told Willard about it in class. Yin tried to downplay its's realism, but when Willard questioned Lecturn, the person who he believed knew the most about it, he said that it would be the only way to help our town. With Willard collating the items required and Lecturn using his book, the two of them managed to summon Alarktos.

Willard did this ritual because the town itself was falling apart. Wolves were attacking the walls of the town, and since the entire town was under the thumb of Willard's parents, no efforts were taken to fix the walls. Quoting Willard himself, "Well, I didn't do it because I wanted to. our town needed money, and they wouldn't believe a knight coming from nowhere. Writers go under the radar, and the wolves were at the door because we couldn't afford to fix the walls."

Summoning Alarktos, Willard and Lecturn were forced into a poor deal where for each story Willard was to write, he has to kill someone (Written onto his arm in dark ink as *"For each novel you will dictate, another must never be allowed to create.").* Willard, seeing no other options, accepted the deal, and in turn was forced to kill Lecturn for his first story, titled **Safe as Houses.**

## Appearances in Quests and RP

### Life of the Party (Quest)

He attended the grand opening of the rear wing of Hotel Bandercroft (SEE QUEST: *Life of the Party*), only for him to realise that his newest story, **Blades of Wheat**, mirrored the events occuring within the hotel itself after the accountant, Marcus Ledeed, is murdered. The party is successfully able to determine that Willard is not the true culprit (despite it being written that way in his original story) and return him to town.

### Monsters Under the Bed (Quest)

In *Monsters Under the Bed*, it is revealed that Alarktos is a Djinn, originally thought to be a noble from Biltovia, who prided themselves on their ability to seemingly grant the materialistic wishes of whomever entered his presence. Gold? Land? He’d give it to you...for a fee, of course. Originally it was nondescript and mundane punishments for failure, but as his power in the arcane grew, the requirements for balancing his deals became more complex and time consuming, and less people came to him for favours. As his offers dried up, he turned to dark magic in order to satisfy his craving for sewing impossible demands through his people. His time with magic corrupted him so much, eventually he was disavowed from his noble hood and was forced to leave. Unfortunately, his time had warped his sense of power and his punishment for his homeland was most grim. The torched sands now are the only demarcation of the kingdoms existence. Having left his homeland, his power has weakened from a lack of bargains, and has been known to hitch rides in mundane items, and attempt to convince strangers of his strength. However, his exact location remains a mystery. Only those indentured to him know how to talk to him is, as he makes them carry a portable storage for his power at all times as part of their contracts. The party were also introduced to some worshippers of Alarktos, including a s̷̢͔̦̜̻̮̱͕͇̞̼̐̑̿͝͠m̸͉͕͉̃̈͂̍̄͑̽̐͗̕͝ā̴̧̧̞̮̥͎͓͍͔̻̱̣̥̊́́͛̐͆́͛̒͝͝ļ̴̜̦̞̀̈́͂̃͗̅̂͊̕͝ḽ̷̟̻̘̙̏͐̂̊̐͆̌̈͒́͘̕ ̵̱̋͑̓d̸̛͔̩̻͙͙̣̠̀́̃̈́̊̽̐͜ͅo̶̱̤̫͍̼͇͍̭͕͇̺̰̊͗̈́̀́̒͝͠p̵̧͍̖̱͙̪̮̹̃̌͌̔͒̂͛͆̏̉͂͐̑͜͝͝p̷̠͋̈́͒̐͂̈́͛͘ḻ̸̤̬͉̔̾̈́̆͋̿̀̊̚̕̕͝e̴̞͋̀̇̏̂̀̈́̈́̐͗̈́́g̸̨̡̛͇̳̙̲͕̘͎̼͍̩͋̊̂͛̇́͗̔̓͒̊́͌̕͜ą̷̟͔̞͓̠̹̼̞̥͔̂̃͊̚n̶̨̢̙̝͔̹̫̥̳̝̭͕̩͚͒͐̀̇̉̄̓̈̅͘͘͜͠ģ̵͉͉̦͇̌̅͐̔̈ȩ̷̼̜̩̼̻̫̞̥̗͚͗̽̑̚͝ͅř̶̢̳͍̖̲͍͕̜͔͔͕̱̇͛̐̿̓̊͋̇̆ ̶̫̩̲͍͇̍́̈̽̓̽͌͌̕͜n̴̩̥͍̘̐̀̇̈́̐̕ă̸͎͉̰͛͗̏m̴͈͖͚̤̦̬͊̒̽͝ͅe̴͖̮͎̫͖̹̠͚͉̫̼̰͂̒̈́̉ͅḑ̸̤̬̞͔̹̻̗͍̹͙̫͚̯͕̐̊̍́̓̏̆͆̏̂͋͘͝͠ ̷͚̟̰̲͕̲̘͍͈̞̻̈́̈́̍̈̈́͛̑̒̅̕͝Ḩ̷͇̤͉̖̲͉̝́͒̔̐̏̉̽͘͜͜ÿ̶̩̺̘̫̰͓̠̽͆̎̎̂̑̉̓͝͝ͅ.

### Written into a Corner (Quest)

In *Written into a Corner*, Willard joined the group as they went on their quest, nearly getting himself killed after being shot by lizardfolk.

In *Addendum,* Willard re-added a basement to Hotel Bandercroft, confirming that the original stories can be re-edited afterwards. He also subjected himself to several new stabbing attacks after learning that he could not write Alarktos being stabbed to death in his stories the hard way during Carthol's funeral. Additionally, Arete was put under a curse forcing him to 'maim' Willard within the week, and nearly succeeding on the last day had Cliff, Shia, Shards and Ed not intervened.

#### RP Event 1

As retaliation for writing another story after how the previous one derailed, several members of the town ran Willard down, and elected between them that cutting off his right thumb would be an adequate countermeasure to discourage him from writing further.

### One of us is Lying (Quest)

In *One of Us is Lying,* the players reunited with Ḩ̷͇̤͉̖̲͉̝́͒̔̐̏̉̽͘͜͜ÿ̶̩̺̘̫̰͓̠̽͆̎̎̂̑̉̓͝͝ͅ. and talked with their extended family. The culprit of the doppelganger murders revealed that Willard had written their stories, and revealed they had been named the same as the gnome from *Life of the Party*, indicating Willard's laziness in naming.

### I Have an Octopus Man, You are Invalid (Quest)

In *I Have an Octopus Man, You are Invalid*, Willard wrote in a tour guide character, tasked with helping the party out through the Relshaw Caves, named Artemis Misteri. The party was forced to fight through a Mind-Flayer, who revealled that Willard had created them as well. Artemis revealed his past involving his employer Po'telt (a Ki-rin), and was invited to return to Waypoint. After some mind-communications, it was revealed that Artemis' memory is incomplete as a result of Willard's unfinished writing, and Artemis has been informed of this.

#### RP extra information

During RP, Willard was forced to admit that Shards had given them a list of names as a test, including the Mind Flayer inside the Relshaw Caves, and that they had already written other names into future stories.

### Shards and Artie's Most Excellent Adventure (Quest)

In *Shards and Artie's Most Excellent Adventure,* the party was forced into a game of Westmarch Family Feud against another of the listed Mind-Flayers, and he watched on as he was voted 1st for "Person Who They Most Want To Kill" (31%) and 3rd for "Person who Causes the Most Chaos" (12%). During the quest, the party was also able to realise a figure now known as R2, who is Arete from the future sent back in time using Willard's book.

### The Night of the Living John (Quest)

In *Night of The Living John,* players combatted against every NPC named John in town after Willard failed to specify which John was involved.

#### RP extra scene

During RP, Willard decided that the best course of action to help at the temple (after R2 warned him not to edit Artemis' backstory) was to write an entirely new doctor character, known as Aid. Willard also decided (after one too many losses) to try and beat Sleep itself by staying awake using only coffee, and wrote the below story.

### A "Relaxing" "Beachside" "Getaway" (Quest)

In *A "Relaxing" "Beachside" "Getaway"*, Willard's resort quest is hijacked by him writing yet another of Shard's Mind Flayer List in. Additionally, having left the inch and foot markers off his character, the resulting Orc Doctor is 16ft 5.64inches (or 5 **metres** and 2 **centimetres**). After this quest, Willard was knocked out before he could write any more stories while tired.

#### RP extra scene

During RP, Willard tried to ask out Jessica, only to be rebuffed. However, on his single-person date, Fera gave them the idea for their next story: to make it overly cute.

### Popping Out to Get the Milk (Quest)

In *Popping Out to Get the Milk*, Fera's story backfires in a spectacular fashion after the two kittens going to get milk from the magical milk bowl turn on the party, nearly instigating a disaster.

#### RP extra scene

During RP, Willard is approached by 2 figures in the bar, who Shards would later learn were named Conquest and Owl, who invited him over and beat him at cards.

### Lights, Camera, Disaster! (Quest)

In *Lights, Camera, Disaster!*, the players retrieve the Hallowed chalk from some form of movie set, and are unable to get an answer from Willard about how he knows what a movie is afterwards.

### Doom and Gloom (Quest)

In *Doom and Gloom,* the player's recovered Lecturn, Willard's life-long friend and companion. However, when they returned, they found out that Willard had used the book to revive Lecturn, and had controlled the curse by adding a line causing his body to be covered in scars.

### Mix the Music Music (Quest)

In *Mix the Music Music*, the players went on a quest written by Aethel in Willard's book. This created a line of music shops surrounded by lava, which Bel has claimed and turned into Plant's and Things, his store.

### Let's Get This Bread (Quest)

In *Let's Get This Bread*, Lecturn enacted his backup plan to ensure that the creations of Willard (including himself, Willard, Artemis and Aid) would still be around when Alarktos is eventually dispelled. This meant summoning another demonic figure, Kaleesa, who struck a deal with Arete in exchange for the lives. However, the plan hit a minor snag when the ward failed to get to Artemis, and Kaleesa noted that a powerful figure is already protecting him.

#### RP extra scene

In RP, Willard was convinced to get a job, and now works at the inn. Additionally, Willard's story about the crew he had created for *Lights, Camera, Disaster!* holding a fireworks display backfired spectacularly, as even though he had left the town for a short vacation, the fireworks (variations on the disintergrate spell) hunted him down from Waypoint to Seven Hills, nearly hitting him had Dancer and Ed not intervened. Additionally, Lecturn left for his own supposed vacation. However, Lecturn's 3-day vacation blew out into nearly 3 weeks, and the regular message spells were not enough to alleviate the suspicions. Eventually, Aethel determined that Lecturn was stuck under a Geas spell to not return to Waypoint.

### All Bet's Are Off (Quest)

In *All Bet's Are Off*, the party returned to Pianta Beach (from *A "Relaxing" "Beachside" "Getaway"*) to find the 2 buildings of the resort accompanied by a full town, the hotel now morphed into a casino, and the figures from before under their own variation of Geas spells to follow the story. The party was able to rescue Lecturn, but not before learning that Lecturn will be more harsh to whoever is writing in the book, and that Willard had written Lecturn being saved again, this time at the cost of his leg.

### Rapid Fire (Quest)

In *Rapid Fire,* Willard's attempt to make a safe story by repeating an older story (namely *Shards and Artie's Most Excellent Adventure*) backfired in spectacular fashion as he was burnt by a fireball, and convulsed on the ground having 'not good enough' burnt into their skin until the party added an additional part to the story. Not to mention the fact that he was still 1st in the person people consider troublemaking in town (29%) and 4th most hated humanoid (13%) despite being =5th for the NPC people liked the most (9%).

### The Boys Are Back in Town (**To Kill You**) (Quest)

In *The Boys Are Back In Town (**To Kill You**)*, the party (having been told by Lecturn that the hill they completed the ritual (Breed's Hill) was near the Montgomery's home) returned to Kent, and killed Glenn and Rise Montgomery, Willard's parents and rescued Occisor, Willard's pet fish.

### Jayrassic World (Quest)

In *Jayrassic World*, Willard's accidental writing forces Lecturn to redirect the the two T-Rex's into being puzzle masters. Willard's leg is bitten off when he fails to answer his riddle correctly, and Alarktos reveals to Lecturn he's not going to play along with the rest of the story he wrote, directing the two t-rexs after the party, who are just able to fend it off using the ballista on the roof of the Order House.

#### RP Extra Scene

Directly after the above quest, Bel and Lecturn take Willard to Gibson's Counselling Services, who were able to 'replace' his leg with a new leg, made of light.

#### RP Extra Scene 2

The day before the above quest, Lecturn was knocked out and replaced with an polymorphed wolf.

### I Know How It Ends (Quest)

The party, along with Willard and fake Lecturn, made their way towards Breeds Hill to reperform the ritual that summoned Alarktos in the first place. After revealling the deception of Lecturn, Alarktos and the newly-released Ghetsyu took the party to the original realm of Alarktos. The party finally killed Alarktos, and as a result killing Aid, a number of bandits and the entirety of the Empty Field Commune, but saving Willard, Lecturn, Artemis and the main folk from the music shop. The party returned, and freed Lecturn.

### Willard's Very Secret Mission (and dinosaurs) (Quest)

Willard, having been freed from his curse, now thinks to the future, and instructed the party to go to the Cave of Dinosaurs to collect an emerald for Lecturn. The party succeeds, but has to fend off a number of attackers from an unknown location when they go with Willard to collect the money from the treasury.

### Play it Again, San (Quest)

The party, now under Lecturn's guidance, heads to the Cave of Snakes to locate a blue amethyst...only to realise that the cave is the same as the Cave of Dinosaurs from last time. However, new creatures attack them and they are just able to make it out of there with the blue gem.

#### RP Event

A figure disguised as Lecturn asked Willard to join him outside the Order House while he went inside, disguising himself as Willard and attempting to poison Arete. Arete, Willard and the real Lecturn quickly determined that they had been fooled, but not the culprit.

#### RP Event 2

In a happy RP event, both Lecturn and Willard confess their love for each other, and realise that they had fooled each other into getting adventurers to pick up their ring.

#### RP Event 3

In a RP event, Lecturn invited his brother, Fabio to teach Willard how to make special drinks as a mixologist himself.

### Truth (Quest)

The party, along with Willard, re-entered Versai's Temporal realm to rescue them, and in doing so half of Willard's face is now corrupted. This appears to not effect him.

### It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding (Quest)

The party helped Willard and Lecturn prepare for their wedding, making the cake, fixing the decorations, checking in on the suits. At the end of decorating, Ghestyu infiltrates the preparations, mocking the party and attacking them.

#### RP Event 1:

Willard and Lecturn finally tied the knot on a well decorated field on the outside of town, the former site of the EFCSMS (Empty Field Commune Society of Movers and Shakers, from *Lights, Camera, Disaster!*). Several people turned up as Artemis officially recognised their marriage, and then at the end there was a food fight where several people got covered in food, including Vincent, Lecturn, Willard, Fabio, Zin, Mucktooth, Shamash, Tiffany, Shia, Bel, Flynn and Arborea.

#### RP Event 2:

Having not seen them in the inn for two days, Vincent goes to check on Willard and Lecturn, discovering that Willard and Lecturn have been held hostage in their nightmares by Ghestyu, as revenge for Alarktos' death during I Know How It Ends. He directs Tanner and Gibson to help him create a path inside as he goes to get help.

### Waking Nightmare (Quest)

The party, having followed Vincent's trail after recieving personalised nightmares of their own, made their way to Willard and Lecturn's new apartment, finding the above scene. Studium/Tanner, having spent 3 days creating a route into their minds, directs the others inside Willard and Lecturn's nightmare, and together they overcome first Willard's fear of the other members of town seeking revenge for his past transgressions, then Lecturn's fear of losing Willard. They escape, but know that Ghestyu is behind the entire incident.

**RP Event 1:**
Ghetsyu, still around town, begins exerting his presence within town, causing Willard, Fabio and several members of town to begin excperencing lethargy. Lecturn, struggling to make a deal within Ghetsyu's dreamspace, invites Vincent to join them in negotiating. The two of them succeed in pissing Ghetsyu off so much, he decides to have an all-out fight at the planned trivia competition.

### Sweet Dreams, Assholes (Quest)

The party, following behind Willard, makes their way to fight Ghestyu under the same conditions as the last two trivia competitions. The four break into two teams, with Bel and Mucktooth on team Beltooth, and Vincent and North on team Vincent + Furry. Willard, despite not appearing on the list of troublemaking NPC's, was still 3rd most hated humanoid (15%) and no longer on the NPC people liked the most list. The former wins the challenge, and Ghetsyu fights the two teams simultaneously, but they defeat them, leaving them to dissipate in smoke.

#### RP Event 1:

Lecturn confides in Aethel that they haven't thought of a plan for Ghetsyu, and they haven't slept for a few days. Aethel gives them the idea for a '100 days without Alarktos" party, which

### Everybody Explodes Sometimes (Quest)

Willard, Lecturn and Fabio, on the advice from Aethel, has built the party out in a clearing. However, there are all way too tired to properly activate the fireworks to lure Ghestyu explodes in spectacular fashion, burning down the party grounds. The party learns that the trio has not slept for 3 days due to avoiding his realm, and are forced to manually recast the ritual. Firstly, the blood from a pig required a fight while they were returning to Waypoint. Next, a trip to Aethel's house determines that she had recieved a dream that morning that the party was under the effects of Ghestyu, and were looking to revive them, which leads to a short fight with Aethel until they both realised they've been had. Collecting the chalk, they then venture into Willard's mind to hunt down the gem of Ghestyu, where the players pass through each others nightmares and fight an arbitrator of truth. While they succeed, Willard is now unable to be awoken. Lecturn and Fabio note that to enter Ghestyus realm, they need to go through another person's mind, so Fabio is put to sleep in order for Lecturn and the party to enter into Ghestyu's realm to face down Ghestyu, defeating them, along with a Awakened Lecturn under the control of Ghestyu. Upon escaping, the party drains Lecturn's bank account.

**EPILOGUE:**

Lecturn, Willard and Fabio stay in Waypoint, after waking up from their multi-day coma. stay in Waypoint. They can't exactly afford to leave since they don't have any money after the adventurers took it all. They remain in working in the inn for a long, long time, regalling any who come by with their tale of woe and confusion. It's not the best they could have gotten, but out of anything it could of been...they can't deny that it was one of the better endings of their story. In the same way Artemis remains in the temple, helping out where he can.

Meanwhile, in a faraway land, a man finds a mysterious book that will grant him any wish. But...there's always a catch with power like that...

## His Curse, the Ritual and his Book

**His curse** is as follows: He must write an adventure story once per week or he will be subject to extreme pain and have a large purple and gold scar drawn on his stomach. Anything Willard writes into their story comes true, but in a malicious way. \*As a result of Shards' modifications, anyone can now write in the book.

The **ritual** to fix Willard is still ongoing. Willard believes that that repeating the ritual in the same location will reverse the spell. As such, party members have been collating items, as follows:

- Pig's Blood - Status: Collected (Mucktooth has collected some)

- Gem of Ghetsyu - Status: Collected (Recovered during Quest: *Shards and Artie's Most Excellent Adventure*, now stored in Ed's home)

- Hallowed Chalk - Status: Collected (Recovered during Quest: *Lights, Camera, Disaster!,* stored between Aethel, Shards, Ed and Arete)

- Lecturn's Book - Status: Collected (Recovered during Quest: *Doom and Gloom*, stored with Ed's home)

**Willard's Book** is a magical entity which houses Alarktos. Any attacks made on the book will be directed into Willard, including attempts to dispel magic. Should Alarktos ever find themselves attempting to be removed, they will hide themselves within the creature itself. There may also be a chance that upon the death of the contractee, Alarktos may pass their curse to another if it chooses.