Tinie

A couple of friends want me to join a D&D game with them. So, I chose Tinie.


Tinie was born in the gnome mine city of Tia Dam to Thoran, the Overlord of the gnomes, and an unknown female traveler. The gnomes called her a 'wood nymph', for she swayed lightly if ever there was a breeze, like the trees outside the mines. The woman was feared by the people, for her blue eyes and pale skin but Thoran took a special interest in her tales of distant lands and worlds. She knew much of the world, but was rather young to have such knowledge. She stayed a year, and in that year Tinie was born.

As a young child, Tinie was rather normal, until the age of five when the other children started growing. Tinie stayed the same size, but instead he grew more aware of the land around him. He felt more powerful, but his strength in arms was no match for the other children. One day, when sparring with another child, Tinie send a fireball at his opponent. This power was only supposed to belong to the God Queen Janova, the founder of the gnomes in Tia Dam. Tinie left the city at the age of 7 before he could be exiled. To most, leaving the safety of the mine was certain death, so there was never an order to banish him.

Armed with uncontrollable magic and a desire for answers, he left the mine and wandered aimlessly for days. He finally succumbed to hunger and fell, where he lay for the longest of times. He was found by a vile creature of untold power. The monster could take the shape of anything and anyone he wanted, but more often than not he chose a gentleman wizard, even though his use of spells was limited. His true powers; anarchy, treason, hate, fear and decorative drapery often went away while he played out his games. The creature was a doppelganger by heart, a shape shifter, but a man by nature. His title was The Banana Lord, and he was the top magician of the Mages Guild on Sof, a small island off the coast of Nobenoes. He wore a blue ring, and it connected to an amulet that was given to all apprentice mages. This gave him the power to speak to them in their voice, making them believe they were telling themselves to do things. This caused wizards to become madder as they ascended in the Mages Guild. His name was Braag, and he appeared to Tinie as a butterfly.

Braag found Tinie lying asleep near a tree, with a hell dog investigating the dozing child. Changing into a timber wolf, Braag found the dog with tooth and claw, slashing and biting. Trees were uprooted, rocks smashed to pebbles. The battle raged on for days, only stopping for the dogs to go fetch food and water for their spectator. A ranger saw the carnage of the canines, and the small child sitting awestruck at the base of a tree. Not wanting to be undone, the hell dog and Braag joined forces and mauled the ranger to death. Braag changed back into the gentleman and laughed long and hard.

The hell dog also changed back. A familiar wood nymph to Braag, and Tia Dam to others. She took the name Tia Dam, after the city her child was born in.

Braag summoned up a meal, and the three ate a feast fit for royalty. There was an awkward silence only interrupted by Braag gnawing on his chair. Tinie had never met his mother, nor did he know how to interact with her. Should he hug her? Scold her? Braag bored of his chair, turning into a squid and laying limply on Tinie's head. Tia laughed, but quickly quieted herself, trying to maintain her composure of being distant. Tinie laughed loudly, as gnomes oft do. Braag wiggled happily and Tia let down her defenses and laughed too.

The sounds of contentment alerted bandits to the feast, and they were attacked at nightfall. The bandits would have been in for an epic battle against Tia alone, but the Banana Lord decided to be a man and stand up for the makeshift family. He was shot eighty-two times. He put on his seriously offended face and summoned Wrath, a foreign god of despicable powers. The sky darkened, red lightening flickered across the sky. Lightning struck the ground, and a woman appeared. Her eyes were black fire, her bare skin a sickly crimson red. Wrath smote the bandits with a single snap of her fingers, and smote Braag with a clap of her hands. Last, she turned on Tinie. Tia stepped in the way, holding a sword she salvaged from a bandit. Wrath smiled, and lightning struck again. The clouds slowly faded, and all returned to normal.

Taking the form of a gentleman again, Braag appeared and announced that it was time for Tinie's training. Tia was slightly crestfallen, as new apprentices are taken to Sof for training. She was not allowed on Sof. It would be eleven years until she saw her son again, but she was frequently assaulted by scouts of the Imperial army so she went into hiding. It is in Sof that Tinie learned how to control his newfound magic powers, always under the constant eye of Braag. Taking the form of a Cyclops, Braag followed Tinie everywhere. Everywhere......

Aside from personal space issues, Tinie became a normal wizarding adult. This occurrence rarely happened, as most were driven insane and resided in dark castles in the countryside of Nobenoes terrorizing the locals. Actually, the second generation of wizards always turned out normal, the ones trained by wizards who went to Sof. Only the wizards trained 'in' Sof seemed.....off. Tinie wanted to go forth and help people, and this was an awkward situation for Braag to be in. Normally he turned wizards like Tinie into hats. He hated hats, yet he had a collection of them. Dozens of millions of them, all stored away in his truck of holding next to his toilet of releasing.

~Braag sat by himself for the longest of times. He no longer went into public, for he knew that the time was approaching. The guild would end, and he would need to create a new game. This made him unhappy. He liked this game. He was suddenly torn from his thoughts by dozens of cries for help. Running to his upside down mirror of showing, he saw great and terrible things. Villages being burned by the empire, the mad king Barth slaying dozens, and Wessenridge being raided. The Arch Mage had fallen in battle, and was dying. This man was a great ally to the resistance, and the Empire knew that. He was slain in his bed, but not before taking a dozen or so down with him. Tinie was the one to find his body, and in his dying words, he gave Tinie his magic house and the Telepathic Stone.

Angelo, the Elf/Angel Paladin, and Gurog, a wandering Orc, join Tinie on his way to Sof. An adventure is never fun alone, so they join together to fight a common enemy. They travel to an unnamed guild port, where Tinie finds Kram and Tia Dam fighting Imperial scouts. Swords are no match against spells and an orc, and the scouts were defeated. All of them travel to Sof, where Tinie is named owner of the Telepathic Stone, after Braag ate it and somehow expelled it. Tinie washed it dozens of times before ever wearing it. It smells of chocolate for some strange reason.

Kram departs from them and the party travel back to the gnome city. Tinie, Tia Dam, and Gurog murder Angelo along the way, for he was too virtuous for the party. They then fight a bridge troll, who they didn't know needed their help to rescue an elven family from wolves. The troll didn't have time to say anything, only defend himself from a few attacks before being killed. The poor family was never found, and the party pushed onward.

The party arrives at the gnome city, to find it locked. Tinie still remembers the combination, and Tinie alone enters. Gurog the orc scares the children, and Tia Dam would be swarmed because stories are told of her. Tinie fights his father for control of the gnome city. Tinie becomes Gnome Overlord after a brief scuffle involving his father and an ice spell.

Directly across from the gnome mine is the dwarf mine. The leader of the dwarves, Dangoth, is locked in a tactical battle with Vladimir, and ancient vampire. Taking residence in the mine, Vlad preys on lone miners, or small groups. Dangoth is the leader, and the greatest warrior, but the vampire can hear the dwarf in his heavy armor. Tinie is small and quiet, so he offers to help draw Vlad out. The play works, but Tinie was thrown against a wall, knocking him unconscious. Gurog takes up Tinie's dagger and thrusts it into the back of Vladimir's skull, before breaking the knife sideways.

Soon after peace is restored between the gnomes and dwarves, it is tested. Goblins assault the outpost, killing mercilessly. Gurog challenges the Goblin Chief by swinging at him and the attack stops until the challenge is returned. Gurog fights with his flail, the Chief with his sword. It was a fight to be remembered. The sword and flail were tangled together early into the fight, so a fist fight commenced. The goblin shaman threw his spear into the fight, but Gurog grabbed it before the chief and slew him. Gurog was hailed as the King of the Goblins. A few days later he went on a hunt and was never seen again.

Lock, a human ranger with a hawk familiar, and Hector, a badly burned alchemist, invite Tinie to visit the land of madness. Tinie accepts, although little happens and Braag appears to send him home. Tinie leaves madness and sends supplies to the resistance. A single enchanted mithril cannon. The greatest act of charity he could think of, besides offering his people lives, Tinie gave them the best cannon he could have made. Tinie even joined in the battle, although he was shot in the leg early on.

Tinie was praying at a chapel when another wizard prepares a revive spell. It spikes violently and a demon from another plane enters the world. It is a giant of a demon, and it swats the wizard down with no effort. Tinie stabs it in the leg and is carried across the ocean before freezing the creature’s wings and plummeting into the ocean. Tinie is pushed to the surface by water nymph, and creates an ice cube to float on, but is eaten by a giant octopus.~

Tia Dam, in all her traveling and knowledge prepares one final spell. She uses her life blood, a feather from the half angel Angelo, troll blood, dust of an Ancient vampire, and several plants from the isle of madness to bring Tinie back into the world. The final act of the spell, self sacrifice. She readies the silver dagger that slew Vladimir, remade in secret by Dangoth, pressing it against her throat and spilling her blood on the altar. A burst of fiery light and Tinie is reborn again. In her final moments of life, Tia smiles. She dies with no regrets.

Tinie is found naked, covered in blood with a strange stone around his neck by a family of farmers. They take no heed to him being nude, for he is a child again, laying in a basket. There is a single note, reading “Take care of Tinie, for I cannot. –Tia Dam”. His early life is riddled with odd occurrences, family pets going missing, strange trails of blood in the yard. Strangely, once Tinie reached the age of seven wolves and burrowing animals no longer plagued the farm. The farmers took this as a good sign, and loved their adopted son even more for his strangeness.

The farmers had three other children; Daniel, the eldest son, Jeanne, the only daughter, and Michael, the youngest son. Daniel commanded the most respect, while Jeanne only used her looks to get her way.

The stone Tinie was found with often told him to do horrible things, and it told him that if he did them, he would eventually be able to meet his mother. The voice identified itself as Wrath, and only as Wrath. Tinie obliged, longing to meet his mother.

Michael was the first to die, a victim of an unfortunate plowing accident. The ox had gone mad and dragged him to his death. The mother next, drowned in her bath, followed by the father, who had a heart attack. Daniel found out it was Tinie, tricking him into going into the barn and charged him with a scythe. Tinie shot a fireball, knocking Daniel unconscious and catching some nearby hay on fire. The barn burned down with Daniel inside it, another ‘accident’.

Jeanne was last, and she begged for her life before the end. The stone said KILL but Tinie’s heart said LEAVE NOW. Tinie left, leaving Jeanne alone inside the house her murdered family lived in. Without Tinie, the wolves returned in force. Jeanne was ripped apart, the only accident that befell the family.

Truly a story to be remembered...

...Banana Lord?