Callum

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Callum Hendricksson of the Unnamed Plains is a barbed devil from the Sixth Ring of Hell. He was originally summoned to the Quelmarr realm under the contract of Nixir Graeme, a necromancy of some note.

Physical Appearance

When disguised and among the masses, Callum appears to be a rather frail looking figure standing around 5'10". His full height is 7'2". Weighing in at around 330 lbs, Callum is an imposing figure. He more often than not remains disguised, as devils tend not to be welcomed by many.

His skin is a pale green. He is covered in little barbs across his entire body, making him untouchable unless he deems it. His face is a terrifying parody of a humans; blood red eyes with a feline squint to them, harsh, angular cheeks, and a thin mouth with a row of sharp, thorny teeth.

He typically wears a heavy brown cloak and tattered sackcloth robes which remain loose to help disguise his true nature. Underneath the robes is a set of glimmering platemail. He wears loose brown britches and dark leather boots. Lastly, his hands are gloved.

Personality

Oftentimes an outspoken member of whatever group he is in, Callum is not blessed with a silver tongue, and instead speaks his mind whenever he pleases, often to bring about the end of an argument or settle a dispute. Despite his lack of charisma, Callum rarely acts without thinking and often works to plan ahead of an encounter to ensure the safety of whomever he is with.

He detests combat, seeing it as a necessity only after every other non-violent scenario has been eliminated, or if he is forced to defend himself. Rarely will he strike first.

There are few Callum enjoy the company of, and even fewer that he trusts.

Callum has what may be considered an unhealthy fixation on redemption.

History

Ancient History

Callum’s story began over 3,000 years ago as a barbarian in an unnamed tribe. He ate when he needed, drank when he wanted, and killed for fun of it. He died relatively young in a pointless skirmish and was cast into the nine hells. Tortured endlessly for hundreds of years his human soul eventually eroded away and he became a lemure, a devil of the lowest tier, a near shapeless form vaguely resembling his once human form.

As a mindless, quivering mass of evil, he was forced to do the bidding of whatever Lord requested it. He had no thoughts, no emotions save for hatred, and no memories of his humanity left. Soon, he was conscripted into Glasya’s troops, and she promoted him, as well as a mass of other lemures to imps.

As an imp, Malvo (as he was now known), served tirelessly under Glasya. It was then when he was first summoned to the Quellmar realm to serve under a warlock. Malvo’s standing order from Glasya was to further corrupt the souls of those he was summoned to, then cause their deaths in order for them to be brought down into the Nine Hells.

He did so with glee.

Possessing a cunning mind and a penchant for disaster, Malvo continuously wreaked havoc in the lives of countless warlocks over the years. Eventually, he drew the eye of Glasya, who was seeking to raise her standings in the Hells. She summoned him back, and promoted him to a spined devil and tasked him with spying on Moloch in the sixth circle of Hell. Malvo did this with glee, eager to serve the daughter of Asmodeus herself. In the years that followed, there was relative peace within the Nine Hell’s, and Malvo did his duty, feeding Glasya information about what Moloch was doing.

Reckoning of Hell

As Mephistopheles and Baalzebul began the Civil War known as the Reckoning of Hell, Callum remained close to Glasya’s side. She sent him forth to spy on both factions, keeping tabs on the struggle between the two. He reported back to her with any information on the movement of troops.

Once Asmodeus ended the war, Glasya was pleased with Malvo, and promoted him once more to a bearded devil. She then assigned him to protect her quarters (along with a number of other bearded and barbed devils) in Nesus, as Asmodeus summoned her there in order for her to become mistress of the Erinyes. He did his duties singlemindedly, and sought to protect Glasya as she served directly under Asmodeus.

Time passed with relative ease. Glasya grew increasingly unhappy with her position as mistress and sought a way to end her servitude. One night, she summoned her troops, Malvo included, to her and spoke over overthrowing The Hag Countess Malagard and taking the sixth circle Malbolge for herself. Malvo marched with her, and fought ferociously against the night hags protecting the Hag Countess. Glasya and Malagard fought, ending when Glasya tore the Hag Countess to shreds. Glasya claimed Malbolge for herself and drew her surviving warriors to her side, where she promoted those that showed prowess and ferocity in combat.

And with that, Malvo was promoted to a barbed devil.

Surface Life

He remained in Glasya’s employ for centuries after, doing her bidding when needed, guarding where he was required, and occasionally partaking in brief escapades to the Quelmarr realm in order to cause chaos.

Then Nixir Graeme summoned Malvo into his employ. Having found Malvo’s true name in ancient texts dating back to his time as an Imp, Nixir believed he was summoning a familiar. What he got was a fully-fledged barbed devil. Nixir was ecstatic, and charged Malvo to protect a vault on the island of Cof. Nixir’s instructions were simple. Remain guarding the vault for one hundred years. After such, he could take one item from the vault for his own, and then do as he pleased.

Malvo accepted the terms, binding himself to Nixir’s servitude, and stayed to watch the vault. He remained constantly vigilant, taking care to keep the vaults contents secure. He killed anything that got too close, relishing the rip and tear of mortal flesh beneath his claws.

Malvo’s 100 years of servitude passed within the blink of an eye, and his binding agreement with Nixir was severed. He stepped into the vault for the first time and began poking through the trinkets. There was gold, sure, but he had no use for gold. Nor gems, which were plentiful as well. As he moved deeper into the vault, he began to feel a presence tugging at him. A buzzing in his skull, not unpleasant, but not like anything he had ever felt before.

He pursued the feeling, which was all that he could attribute it to, deep into the vault when at last he came to a room with nothing but a single slab of stone and a greatsword resting on it. The buzzing had become a roar at this point. It was the sword. Begging to be picked up, to be held in a hand once more.

Malvo reached out for the sword and wrapped his hand around the hilt. Instantly, the roar in his head stopped, instead replaced by a gentle hum and a warmth he had felt thousands of years ago. The warmth of a fire. Not the fires of Hell, but rather a cooking fire, one which he had sat around with his friends and family. A fire he had never been able to remember until now.

Slowly, the gentle humming increased. Not painfully, however. The feeling of warmth grew and Malvo began to remember his life. Not the life of Malvo but the life of Callum. Callum, a hunter in his tribe. Callum, a killer, a warrior to be fear. Callum, a human.

For the first time in millennia Malvo felt remorse. Remorse at what he had become. He realized he was still clutching the sword and dropped it back onto the slab. Exiting the vault, he remained outside for some time, pondering what to do. He made no attempt to contact Glasya. Slowly, the feeling of remorse faded, along with the memories of his past, and Malvo felt like himself once more. But the buzzing remained, and the faded memories haunted him.

Tracing his earlier steps, Malvo once again came to the slab. He reached out and touched the weapon. The memories came flooding back once more. He stayed there, clenching the sword in his hands as he felt another presence in his mind, urging him to take the weapon. Unable to resist the temptation, Malvo did so, stepping out of the vault with the greatsword in hand.

The next few days passed in a blur. The sword continually nudging his mind, gently probing his memories of humanity, urging them to blossom and remain a constant reminder of who he was.

Weeks began to pass, and Malvo began training with the sword, aiming to become proficient with it. After a month passed, the weapon began to change on its own accord. Runes appeared on the blade in a language that Malvo had no knowledge of, and yet could read. With some experimentation, Malvo realized he could cast spells utilizing the runes on the blade.

A year passed.

Then another.

The sword softly encouraged him to remain by the vault, and he did so. He began to see his waiting as atonement. A redemptive action for the horrors he had instigated in his mortal life and his servitude in the nine hells.

Another year passed. It was then that Glasya came to find him. Not herself, of course, but another barbed devil. What the devil saw was no longer Malvo, but Callum once more. Callum spoke briefly, outlining his new life and broke his bond to Glasya. The devil remarked that Glasya would not take kindly to this, and vanished to deliver the news.

Since then, Callum has lived peacefully on the island as a hermit aiming to redeem the past three and a quarter thousand years of misdeeds.

The Time Jump

Callum rarely ventured farther than the outskirts of the vault due to the dangers of Cof. However, upon the Sea Wyvern's arrival, Callum began watching the group from afar, trying to determine their origins and affiliations. The group spotted him one day and, after initially distrusting him, determined that it'd be a decent idea to bring him into the fold. The group found themselves in the middle of a battle with the local yuan-ti on the island, who worshiped a dragon. Callum fought alongside the group against the yuan-ti. Soon after the last few yuan-ti had fallen, a baby purple dragon appeared and accosted the group. Rather than face it, the group attempted to reason with the beast. Callum drew it's attention away in order for the group to begin making its escape, but was soon interrupted by the arrival of the baby dragon's mother.

The dragon flew down, meeting the group. As it landed, it opened its mouth and roared. The caverns surrounding the group shifted, and the group was thrown one-hundred years into the future.

As the group began to realize what happened, Callum slunk back to the vault and pilfered it, grabbing platinum, gold, electrum, silver, and copper, as well as some gold and a few odds and ends. He reconnected with the group just in time for time for them to set sail from Cof. Upon arriving on the mainland, the group realized that the religion following Kragnux had began celebrating false ideals, and that Kragnux's name was being invoked in order to slaughter any being with draconic blood.

The Kragnux Wars

Callum quickly became embroiled in the politics surrounding the numerous factions of the Kragnux Wars. Initially, he stuck with The Best Around as they sought to avenge one of it's members, Pete, who had been killed by a powerful Crusader of Kragnux named Clapperclaw. Callum, along with Reaper, sought to kill Clapperclaw, but ultimately failed, nearly getting Reaper killed in the process. As Callum and Reaper escaped, they found a half dragon named Sans who was attempting to kill an aging crusader named Olm, as well as a Vanara named Atman. The group quickly pledged to kill Olm and brought him down after a quick but brutal fight.

The next day, Crusaders who knew Olm arrived in Levinkan and asked to speak with him. Utilizing a disguise self spell, Callum took the visage of Olm and talked with the crusaders. He, along with the group, discovered that the Crusaders were operating out of the Fang Fu monastary. The next morning the group began trekking there.

Soon, the group reached The Baleah Crossing, a bridge spanning Levinkan and Osugbo, a rather flimsy wooden bridge above a daunting whirlpool. As the group began crossing it, the party descended into infighting, led by Stumblebum, a gnome of some renown to the group. The party eventually collapsed the bridge in an ill-fated attempt to kill Stumblebum. With a barbarian named Fia caught on the bridge during it's collapse, Callum leapt from the bridge to save her, and ended up plunging to what was assumed his doom.

As he was swept further and further down the whirlpool by the current, Callum fell through a portal to Nessus. He managed to talk his way out of Nessus, while discovering that an infernal incursion was right on the horizon. A portal was formed, and Callum stepped out into the ruins of Fang Fu, right where his group had been heading. Three weeks had passed since he fell into Nessus, though it felt as if only minutes had passed. He was found by Gorin and brought in by Crusaders for training. His name was apparently on a list of people worthy to save the realm. He met with the current Pope of the Church of Kragnux, who bestowed upon him the mission to go to Wyvern mountain and meet with Skelya, the leader of the dragons, in order to see if there was a potential truce that could be attained. He furthermore insisted that the Crusaders train him, along with Atman and Fia to become a finger of Kragnux.

After completing his training, he, along with a few others, were sent on a mission to arrest a number of terrorists who had destroyed Fang Fu in a local city. Callum, along with Fia, Atman, and Caligna discovered that the terrorists were actually Reaper, Reesec, and the rest of the group. Rather than storming the warehouse with the Crusaders, Callum and co. instead helped the group escape. Callum became a fugitive from the law.

Keeping his word, Callum traveled to Wyvern mountain with his friend Atman in order to meet with Skelya. The two were traveling with a number of aarakocra from a monastery led by Gorin. The group entered the mountain and found a collapsed hallway with Skelya on the other side. They became trapped when a number of Crusaders, led by Henric and Captain Seaworth, to arrest them. The two opposing groups clashed and Caligna was killed in the crossfire. Then Skelya broke from her prison. After a long battle, Skelya was finally beaten, at the cost of a few lives. The surviving Crusaders arrested Atman and Callum, sentencing them to six months in prison; a light sentencing given the fact that they had technically committed treason against the realm.

The Infernal Incursion

When finally confronting Asmodeus in his new home plane of Hellmar, The Last Around were tasked with drafting various versions of a wish that the Wishmaker would use to save the realm. Callum's draft was as follows:

I wish myself and all the members of the Last Around to be transported 100 years prior to the infernal incursion so the group has one hundred years to find and stop the incursion from beginning.

Callum's draft was not used due to it not guaranteeing that the incursion would be stopped.

The War With Tiamat

Callum joined fellow Best Around members in 795 PR on the island of Cof where he participated in The Battle of the Clockwork Dragon.

It was during the battle that Callum would get inadvertently caught up in the rebirth of Chronepsis, the Time Paradox that would occur would displace Callum from his present, undoing the 100 year jump he previously experienced, and placing him back correctly in his personal timeline. The act seemingly kills him--but actually took him back nearly a century in time, returning him to the island he had disappeared from.

Post-Temporal Fissure

Powers and Abilities

Callum is proficient with all martial weapons. Alongside that, he also is a gifted Runeseeker, and utilizes a number of defensive spells in order to keep himself and his compatriots safe.