Bergelman

Bergelman is a crazed castaway on the Island of Death who has managed to survive for eight years alone. He is paranoid and does not leave the safety of his cave or the little patch of land he has marked off with his dangling reminders. He also talks to himself constantly. His cave provides a source of water: a small pool of cool refreshing water. He collects bugs, worms, snakes, berries, centipedes, roots and such to eat. He continually mutters “Stay within the sticks. It is safe here. Don’t seek what you seek. Don’t believe what you see.” He also periodically says “Beware the Warglor. The Worglor comes… beware the monkeys, too.” If the PCs attempt to leave his area, he will put a hand on the arm of their leader with wide eyes and say: “Don’t leave the sticks. Don’t seek what you seek. Nothing exists. We are not real. We do not exist. None of this exists. None of us exists. Come. Come see my friends.” He then leads them to his cave and into a deeper, spookier section of it. “Light your torches. Come see. Come see.” He beckons. If they follow, he takes them to a dank, dark cavern. In a far corner, on a smooth rocky shelf, he leads them to seven skeletons and points to them. “My friends!” They are all carefully arranged, propped against the wall, in tattered clothing, weapons in hand, some of them with armor and shields at their feet. All their equipment is highly polished and well taken care of. The skeletons themselves, if examined, look as though they have been cleaned and polished as well. Bergalman goes up to one of them and begins to mutter. “Genna, my dear Genna. Look. I bring our friends. Our friends have come. I told you they would come. They should not leave.” If the equipment is inspected the PCs will discover a wizard’s spellbook amongst the equipment at the feet of the skeleton Bergalman called Genna. The spellbook contains the following: (cantrips) fire bolt, mending, prestidigitation; (1 level) burning hands, disguise self, shield, absorb elements, alarm (2 level) alter self, invisibility, and see invisibility. Bergelman can be pursuaded DC15 to allow a PC to temporarily borrow the book and scribe the spells into his or her own book BUT he will never allow a PC to permanently take it and will attack that PC if he or she attempts to steal it or take it, all the while yelling “it’s not yours! You are horrible, looting the dead, looting my beloved, it’s not yours!” They will also discover a journal among one of the other piles of equipment. On the cover written in smeared black ink is: Shanka of the Vadalese. If read and inspected (takes a short rest) the PC reading it will automatically learn some things about what brought the Vadalese and its captain and crew to the island. They will also learn a bit about its captain (he was a treasure seeker from Sharn and the captain of the Vadalese which was a privateer exploratory vessel that specialized in seeking out and recovering lost treasures), where the Vadalese might currently be (they apparently ran aground near where the PCs ran aground and it describes staying in the cave where they discovered a giant egg), and it also details the life of Shanks (she is now dead and one of the skeletons), including who she was (the ship’s cook), the horrors she and her crew had faced (most of their crew perished before even running aground from the horrific monsters that seemingly pop in and out of existence, a giant dangerous creature on the island that Bergalman calls the Warglor and carnivorous monkeys and more of the horrific monsters that pop in and out of existence which seemingly have divided the island up into individual territories), and why she chose to stay with Bergalman instead of pressing on to the center of the island with her captain (she was frightened and heeded Bergalman’s warnings and decided to stay with him for he had survived many years, she considered her captain’s decision to continue toward the tower to seek out the fabled Maker’s Hand for their mysterious patron to be foolhardy and stupid). If asked about Shanka and her captain and the Vadalese Bergalman will confirm that they too, like the PCs, had stumbled upon him. That was many, many moons ago, perhaps dozens of moons ago. But he has lost track of time. He had warned them not to leave. But all of them except Shanka chose to continue on, heading toward the center of the island. Why, he does not know. Shanka stayed with him but died when she was stung by a poisonous insect. Be sure to look out for those, he adds with big mournful eyes. They are about this big (he holds his hands about three feet apart) and he describes them as being like centipedes. If asked about Genna, he says she was his love. They arrived on the island together. She died here inside the cave along with his other friends (he motions to the other skeletons). It was here that they encountered one of those mind monstrosities. Everyone died except him. He subdued the beast, chopped off all its tentacles and sealed it up in another part of the cave (“Don’t go there!” he adds, pointing to an even deeper part of the cave. “You can still hear its mind games. Feel its pull? Don’t seek what you seek. Don’t believe what you see. It is safe here, though. So long as you don’t listen to it. It is safe here. I feed it so it lives. So long as it lives and it is here none of its kind will come. The only things you have to fear near here are the centipedes… and the monkeys. And the Worglar. It lives but it cannot harm you.” He then explains that he made this cave his own and has lived here ever since, and placed his warning signs around the parameter to mark the beast’s territory and “safety.”