Meepo

**Meepo** is a male kobold sorcerer/warlock played by Michael C.

## Character Sketch

Meepo has reddish scales, scratched with numerous scars. He is small even for his normally short-statured kobold people. Meepo is a sensitive individual, and lacks the cruel streak which kobolds are often known for.

He served Yusdrayl, sorceress leader of his tribe, but obeyed only because he was terrified of punishment. He holds no special loyalty to his brethren, who treat him poorly due to his physical weakness, and given the opportunity would gladly abandon them to follow a friendly group of outsiders.

Meepo loves his tribe's pet white dragon wyrmling Calcryx, who he helped to raise from an egg. Calcryx does not return the affection, and Meepo bears many scars from its attacks.

## Biography

### Early Life

Meepo first rose to prominence during the occupation of the Sunless Citadel by his kobold clan, under the leadership of the kobold sorceress Yusdrayl. Despite his low status among his clan, Meepo was assigned the prestigious role of Keeper of Dragons, a thankless and dangerous job which largely involved cleaning up dragon wyrmling droppings.

Meepo's sole charge was a tiny white dragon wyrmling named Calcryx, which the tribe hatched from a stolen egg. Calcryx was vicious and difficult to handle, and might readily kill a careless kobold. Yusdrayl intentionally appointed the weakling Meepo to tend to the dragon for this reason.

Meepo took his duty seriously. While the dragon made multiple attempts on Meepo's life, Meepo lived more in fear of what might happen if the dragon were to be harmed.

After the white wyrmling Calcryx was captured by goblins, Meepo fell into a deep melancholy and spent most of his time in nightmare-ridden sleep. He joined with the Raiders of the Lost City after they promised to recover his dragon. They kept their promise, and helped him recaptured Calcryx and returned the creature to its pen.

### Joining the Raiders

Unfortunately for Meepo, his tribe blamed him for the incident and despite the dragon's returned, Meepo was banished from the Sunless Citadel. He wandered the desert aimlessly until a strange voice spoke to him in his head, granting him vast power and a new understanding of the fabric of reality. Despite these new powers, Meepo was captured by the hag Scrofula, and imprisoned in the ruins of Telar. Here he was rescued by the Raiders of the Lost City. He joined them, proving his worth in a battle against Scrofula as well as an earth elemental.

Deep beneath the ruins they discovered the true evil lurking in the ruins - the efreet Nizaar al-Rasul, Arturo's warlock patron, who they inadvertently freed and let escape, but not before he turned the surviving members of the diplomatic mission into horrid oozing whelps of Zargon. The Raiders of the Lost City were able to save the life of Turgut's brother, but Karalis Dunewalker, Abbad's grandfather, was left behind in the ruins in his cursed shape as the desert sands reclaimed the place.

The group returned to camp, where Abbad's mother was set free and Arturo broke his pact with the efreet, choosing instead to look inside himself for the power he always hoped was there.The Raiders of the Lost City continued on their journey, and arrived in Qar Arrid without further incident.

Not long after their meeting with Samuul's contact Ali, the group was ambushed by assassins. Though they survived the incident, they were duly shaken, and no wiser as to who wanted them dead. They found an inn to rest and recuperate before attempting to infiltrate the harem the next evening. Attempting subterfuge, the situation descended into chaos when a group of gargoyles arrived, seemingly intent on kidnapped Yasmin for their own purposes. Their master was identified only as Firouz al'Algarin, an individual sharing a name with a long dead Caliph. With the distraction provided by the attempt to kidnap Yasmin, another group of gargoyles broke into the harem and absconded with Salima, the youngest and favourite wife of the Emir.

Despite the efforts of the Raiders in foiling the first kidnapping attempt, the abduction of Salima meant the group was hauled before the Emir. Using a cunningly disguised poison, he successfully blackmailed the group into pursuing the fugitive gargoyles into a ruined palace in the desert.

They discovered that Salima's kidnapper was indeed the former Caliph Firouz, and that he had been cursed by the wizard Nazir al'Azrad and transformed into a beholder, his mind twisted. Aided by the ghost of his personal scribe, the Raiders were able to brew a potion that cured his madness (but did not restore his form) and then assisted him in travelling to track down Nazir and lift the curse for good. Once they defeated him, the curse on Firouz was lifted, and the Raiders of the Lost City were able to return Salima to the Emir and receive the antidotes to the poison.

### Return to the Sunless Citadel

Upon the group's return to the oasis, Salvador fulfilled his promise and married Kella Woodwain. At the same time the oasis was host to a group of kobolds recently expelled from the Sunless Citadel. Upon hearing that Orschans and Cynidiceans had taken control of those ruins, and that the wyrmling Degalla had been kidnapped, the Raiders of the Lost City quickly hastened to the Sunless Citadel to investigate.

They defeated the high priestess Zaranna in battle, but Degalla had already been taken away to Deep Cynidicea. They followed the trail there, through the Lower Caverns and then, infiltrating the Temple of Zargon, rescued Degalla from beneath the nose of Danacretes. Hector used the Flail of the Desert Kings to transport them all to distant Macrodonia.

The group found themselves at the ruins of Khamsa's Temple, and within the ancient structure was the petrified remains of the ancient king Khamsa, guarded by a medusa and her family. In the ensuing battle, the Raiders of the Lost City defeated their enemies, but a newcomer arrived: Paphoset, a worshipper of Zargon. Paphoset tried to escape with the Flail of Desert Kings and the Circlet of the Adder, but the Raiders saw through his deception, and defeated him and destroyed the circlet. After acquiring any treasure remaining in the ruins, the Raiders headed off to nearby Akharin Sangar.

After a week in the city, the Raiders experienced the festival of Shabe Taabaan, where the moon at night shone with the radiance of the sun at noon. A group of anarchists known as the Ashen Heirs disrupted the festivities, inciting a purple worm to attack one of Ahkarin's Sangar's marketplaces. The Raiders helped dispatched the beast, and as a consequence were recruited by
Artavazda, the angelic leader of the Brightguard. After a chase of suspected Ashen Heir members, the Raiders were contacted by Laleh Ghorbani, Abbad's aunt. According to Laleh, the Brightguard was using the Ashen Heirs as an excuse to crack down all dissent in the city, and after the Raiders dealt with the Ashen Heirs they assisted Laleh in rescuing her sister from the Brightguard prison. Pursued by Artavazda and his soldiers, the Raiders managed to escape with the assistance of their acquaintance Kap via a magic portal to Ashinana's Oasis.

The oasis was under attack by a force of goblinoids led by Konkar, an aggressive warrior chieftain mounted on a mammoth. Most of the settlement was in flames, with the survivors holed up in Vestang Manor. The Raider killed Konkar and drove off the goblins, saving most of the townsfolk.

### The Gathering Storm

Three months later, the oasis hosted the Festival of St. Hector, which included the annual Challenge of Champions competition, arena fighting, and a grand feast attended by King Fernando diValliste and the royal court. This feast was interrupted with an attack by animated suits of armour as well as a mind flayer. In the heated melee, the mind flayer cornered Turgut, and devoured his brain, killing the warrior instantly. There were other victims, including the King, and Arturo's father, the Count of Calarno. As a result, Arturo departed the group, bringing their numbers down to four.

In the following week there were multiple thefts in the oasis. Both items were sablium relics, the Zargon Statuette and the Obsidian Eye. With the assistance of two new allies, Tehrak of Mokeria and the Cynidicean Aletheius Gnosis, the Raiders hastened to Cynidicea, and descended into the tunnels below the Ziggurat to find them. The culprits were discovered, Dorn and Vanessa Mackelroy, but even after defeating them the Raiders had to rush to the lower levels to recover the relics. When they finally did so they discovered, much to their horror, that they had been used to unravel the last of the wards keeping the Great Old One Zargon in his prison. Even in his weakened state, Zargon was almost a match for the Raiders, and upon his death his body melted until only his horn remained.

Aletheius advised the others to contact the Brotherhood of Gorm for what to do next, and once they had reconciled with Kanadius, the Brotherhood instructed them to meet with the other two anti-Zargon factions: the Magi of Usamigaras and the Warrior Maidens of Madarua. After meeting with the oracle Ankhara the Raiders realised they had to dip the horn of Zargon in the volcano known as Zargon's Eye or the Great Old One would regenerate in less than twenty-four hours. To do so they had to fight more minions of Zargon, including a rematch with Nizaar al-Rasul. Even after this harrowing encounter all they had achieved was buying themselves some time, a month or so.

They teleported back to the oasis to rest and recover but received some startling news: The Marquesa had left to marry the King in Vallanzik. With the leadership of the oasis vacant, the dastardly Count Misael Castillo now claimed the place and warned the Raiders to leave or face his wrath. He punctuated this threat with the headless corpse of Juan Silva, Hector's mentor.

Refusing to let the count dictate the terms of the battle, the Raiders left the oasis and launched a surprise attack on the Escudor forces at the Valley of Death. Taking the count by surprise they defeated him handily, and returned to the oasis. There, with the help of the spellweaver Jazeela li'Alsairan, they discovered that it would be possible to bind Zargon once more if they could find a relic of the Ancient Ones. Clues led them to a book by the explorer Alkazaar, which in turn opened a portal somewhere far south where they encountered a unique golem known as the Sapphire Sentinel.

Letting the golem lead them, they travelled to the Cliffs of Haruun and then on to the ruined city of Azumar. Here after a battle with the dracolich Zikzokrisha they recovered the Wistarni Scroll, and hastened back to the oasis to prepare for the ritual.

But the forces of Zargon had not been idle - a massive army now marched towards the oasis, and the mission to bind Zargon became a race against time. After a ferocious final battle against Orschans, Cynidiceans and aberrations, the Raiders were victorious, and Zargon was sealed away beneath the church. Victory at last.

### After Zargon's Fall

Meepo remained in the oasis, becoming acknowledged as leader of the kobolds there. Along with his djinn companion, Zuraara el-Akram, Meepo travelled the lands to recruit more kobolds to the oasis, offering them a chance at long life of peace. The kobolds built an underground city underneath the inn for the education and training of future kobolds. Meepo also created teleportation circles in Deep Cynidicea and the Cathedral of St. Hector.

## Notable Possessions

Meepo holds *Mindfuck*, a magical spear, as well as a ring of djinni summoning that summons Zuraara el-Akram, as well as a unique *figurine of wondrous power'* that could transform into a mammoth.