Graewol was born forty-three years ago in Homewood, the son of a tanner and a seamstress. From his earliest days, he showed little interest in following his father's trade, preferring instead the company of the ancient oaks and the whisper of wind through leaves. By age twelve, he had already ventured deeper into the Simmaron Woods than most adults dared, returning with stories of hidden glades and forest paths known only to him.
As a young man, Graewol became one of Homewood's most respected woodsmen. He possessed an uncanny ability to read the forest—to sense when storms approached, to know where game would be plentiful, and to find his way through the densest thickets without losing direction. The people of Homewood called him a "wise man who knows many secrets," for Graewol had developed an almost supernatural connection to the Woods. Some whispered he had been touched by the lingering magic of the vanished druids, that the forest itself spoke to him in ways it did not speak to others.
He made his living as a guide and trapper, leading merchants and travelers safely through the Woods when the main roads proved dangerous or impassable. He knew every creek, every clearing, every ancient marker left by the druids of old. Graewol had even discovered several of Delbin Kinkaed's forgotten way-stations—small sanctuaries hidden deep in the forest where the druid's protective magic still hummed faintly in the stones.
Graewol was a quiet man, preferring the solitude of the forest to the bustle of taverns, but those who knew him spoke of his kindness and his gentle humor. He never married, claiming the Woods were bride enough for him. Children in Homewood loved his visits, for he always brought curious treasures from the forest—interesting stones, peculiar fungi, or feathers from rare birds—and told stories of the dryads who once walked among the ancient oaks.
When Lord Gral's forces began their incursions twenty years ago, Graewol served as a scout for the patrollers, his knowledge of the forest's hidden paths proving invaluable in tracking goblin movements. But he never took up arms himself; violence went against his nature. His gift was understanding the Woods, not warfare.
What exactly happened to Graewol remains shrouded in mystery. What is known is that he ventured into the northern reaches of the Simmaron Woods and returned alone, his mind shattered beyond repair. The forest that had been his home, his sanctuary, his love, had somehow betrayed him.
When he stumbled back into Homewood—filthy, emaciated, his eyes wild with terror—he could speak only in fragments and riddles. Whatever he witnessed in those dark woods broke something fundamental within him, transforming the wisest woodsman in Homewood into a gibbering shell.
The Graewol who returned was not the man who had left. The townspeople tried to care for him, but he could not bear walls around him or a roof over his head. He took to sleeping in the blacksmith's shop, curled on the floor near the cold forge like an animal seeking den. He wears only pants, his feet bare even in cold weather, his once-neat hair and beard growing wild and unkempt.
He speaks in riddles and repetitions: "Secrets, secrets, ah know the secrets." The wisdom he once possessed has been twisted into madness. He knows something, but his fractured mind cannot communicate it coherently. Sometimes he is calm, almost lucid for brief moments. Other times, some buried memory surfaces and he shrieks and flails, lost in reliving horrors only he can see.
The townspeople call him "poor Graewol" and leave food for him. Children, who once loved his stories, now avoid him in fear. The forest he loved so deeply has betrayed him, corrupted his gift and broken his mind. He remains trapped between two states—unable to forget what he witnessed, unable to remember clearly enough to warn others effectively.
Graewol serves as a grim warning to all who would venture north into the deeper reaches of the Simmaron. Whatever darkness exists there is powerful enough to shatter even the strongest mind. And in the quiet moments when he sits rocking by the forge, muttering his secrets to himself, some wonder if perhaps his madness is a mercy—a mind's final defense against truths too terrible to bear.
FIRST APPEARANCE
Graewol first appears in The Hall of the Wood.
