Background

As a tiefling child he was often ridiculed and beaten in the streets. Kol quickly learned to avoid major population
centers and grew up as a on outcast living in the nearby forests.
At the age of 16, while attempting to steal food from a camp in the woods, he was caught by a man named Narfi
Thorgil, leader of a band of outlaws calling themselves "Narfi's Bane." Kol won the outlaws respect when he refused to cry
or release his hold on the loaf bread during the subsequent beating. Narfi gave the young tiefing the option of continuing
to live in the forest or taking on the role of his servant. An offer which Kol accepted in exchange for rations.
Over the next 10 years he grew and raided with the band eventually becoming the Second in Command. Narfi's Bane
became Local Folk legends, targeting rich merchants and corrupt politicians traveling between cities.
In the fall of his 26th year he was assigned an unusual mission. He was to lead a raid on a lone traveler. While Narfi
planned the raid he told Kol he had other obligations and sent the rest of the band as support. When the band attacked the
traveler pulled a massive Glaive from thin air and quickly cut down 5 men. Attempting to save his companions, Kol tackled
the man wrestling him to the ground. As they struggled Kol grabbed ahold of the Glaive attempting to tear it free. As he
did so something shifted.
He found himself suddenly in a grey land. From the sluggish and foul smelling swamp at their feet to the broken and
jagged peaks in distance not color or sign of life could be seen.
"My time is done."
Kol jumped at the voice, only then noticing an old man sitting on a rock beside him. It was the man from the
ambush. A red mist swirled around the man then a voice sounded.
"Yes, you served me well, even if you did not mean to do so."
"Bah, I died in battle against a worthy foe. You shall have no claim on my soul, nor shall be your instrument in the
world any longer." As the words passed his lips his skin began to turn to ash and crumble away.
"True, but there shall always be another." The mist replied, swirling faster around the man as if trying to hold onto
his disintegrating form. Kol thought for a moment that he saw a winged horse swooping towards the man, but as he
rubbed his eyes the image was gone and only ash and the mist remained.
The mist swirled towards him, darkening to a deep crimson as it eddied forward. "You will serve me better than he
did, and in return I will make you powerful beyond measure." Kol stepped back and opened his mouth the refuse but the
words caught in his throat. As stood rooted to the spot as visions flashed through his mind. The grey world superimposed
on the world he knew. The bones of all his friends dried by the harsh winds. The all life become ghosts save for beings so
alien and evil they could not be described. He saw this and knew he was looking into his own future.
Bile welled up in his throat as he saw what would come pass, but with it a spark of hope. Somehow he knew with
certainty that if he ran, if he hid, if he did nothing, this future would come to pass. The only chance to change things was to
join with the entity. To struggle from the inside to prevent what was coming.
Kol heard his own voice croaking words in a tongue he knew, but had never known. The primordial language. Yet he
understood it all the same, "I will serve."
With that he snapped back to this plane. He stood on the road where the ambush had taken place. The man's glaive,
Atgier he knew it be called, was in his hands. Around him lay the bodies of his companions. Every one slain. Their blood
splattered his face and covered his hands.
"I know you will attempt to defy me," the voice of the mist, the voice of Atgier, sounded in his head. "Your
predecessor did the same, and only escaped his fate by dooming you. You can fight me or embrace me, either way you will
be my instrument."
With those words ringing in his mind the weapon vanished. Yet he could still feel it there, and knew he had only to
reach out and he would grasp the shaft. He returned to the camp but found Narfi had fled, taking much of the bands loot
with him. Despondent Kol traveled into the woods, determined to keep this evil away from the world. Yet it seemed he
could not avoid the world forever. A lone traveler was never safe and over the years he would face more than his share of
bandits and monster attacks. At first he tried to avoid using Atgier, but when his life was at stake he would eventually find
the weapon in his hands, Atgier laughing in his mind. At times it felt as if the weapon wielded him instead of the other
way.
Tired of wandering Kol begin to teach himself to use Atgier. To control the power the weapon gave him. Striving to
do good in the world, he returned to waylaying the rich and corrupt. Yet each night he still dreamed of the grey world, and
the desperate fate he struggled to escape.