Wamberbash Bensonmum

Wamberbash Bensonmum was a human mystic of mysterious origin who lived for a period of time in Griphook Forest, a forest located in central Moriga.

Physical Description
At 23 years old, Wamberbash was the youngest member of the party that pursued the quest of the Great Stag. Wamberbash found his name quickly shortened to Bash, but didn't seem to be bothered by the transition. Standing at 5' 11" (1.8 meters), he was the tallest member of the group, and had a bulky frame to go with his height. His hair and eyes were brown. Though scraggly and "earthy" in appearance, he cleaned up in preparation for a feast in the party's honor just before they left for their quest. The clean-up included a bath, a much-needed beard trim, and a pony tail that corralled most of his unruly hair. His skin had a distinctive olive tone to it, and he was hairy.

Interestingly, Bash had an unusual scar in the middle of his chest. Though his memories of what led to the scar were a bit scattered, he had the feeling that something foreign was lodged behind it.

One of the first things people most noticed about Bash was his distinctive musk, a mixture of earthy smells and sweat. While generally clean by animal standards, his noisome presence was a constant companion in all his interactions.

Character
Bash spent nearly 12 years alone in Griphook Forest, with nothing but animals for company. He was very shy—a characteristic brought on by his discomfort with human interaction—but also quite simple and gentle. Because he was forced to live alone, he learned much of how to survive by watching animals to see what they ate, where they drank, how they defended themselves, and how they set up their lairs. Through his time in the forest, Bash built up a fair amount of knowledge about edible plants and mushrooms.

There was a downside to this solitary living. As a result of his sylvan existence, Bash had what many considered to be unusual mannerisms, to include a preference for dealing with animals and a disregard for many of the social niceties that civilized folk might expect. Bash's odd behavior was evident in several ways. In addition to the off-putting tendency of carrying on a conversation with an invisible person that seemed to constantly belittle him, he had an almost manic obsession for a spoon that he had held onto for the entirety of his stay in the forest. At the outset of his adventures, he tended to wear his hair and beard long, and wore poorly cured animal skins and linen wraps. Finally, Bash's removal from human society led to his adopting peculiar words of his own devising.

When Bash first came to Arden, it was against his will; he had lived in Griphook Forest for 11 years, dwelling in a snug single-room lean-to built against the base of a large old tree. An unexpected run-in with bandits led to him arriving in town unceremoniously on the back of a militia wagon, where he was quickly treated for a nasty head wound at the Chapel of the Healing Hand in town. It was in this place that he first met both Tira Ironstag and Peter Greyhawk.

Panoply
As gear went, Wamberbash kept things simple. His first weapon was a sling he fashioned from a notebook, followed soon after by a dagger he took from a downed bandit on the night he recovered his beloved spoon. Because of his isolation, Bash was forced to make his own clothing out of skins that he salvaged from dead animals. The resulting look was that of a backwoods trapper.

He came to increasingly rely on his growing mental powers to not only serve as weapons, but to transform himself into a living weapon that drew upon the abilities of the animals he had observed in his forest home.

Starstone
Wamberbash was the last of the party to find a starstone. He found his in the Battle of Arden, when he killed a strong bandit in a one-on-one fight. His stone, which he took some time to name, looked much like Peter's--a faceted cylinder, although part of the stone was warped and bubbled. When he held the stone it took on a deep burgundy color. The music he heard through the stone had a primal drumbeat with snarling animals in the background.

Other Notes
Michael drew his initial vision of Wamberbash's appearance from Lug (the "Wanna breed?" guy from classic fantasy movie Willow).