Chapter One - Wayward Child Makes Good

So it happened that as a young lad, our hero had a penchant for setting things on fire. He was only three when he burned down his first village -- entirely on accident that first time, mind you, it was only later that he was doing THAT on purpose -- and he got passed from orphanage to orphanage in the eastern jungles. At the tender age of seven he discovered the wonders of lamp oil and pitch, and was able to set fire to even the wet jungles around Kurast with some success. When he accidentally let one fire get out of control and burned down one third of the Kurast Bazaar, the authorities had finally had enough of him, and threw him in the dungeon beneath the city.

It was there, two years later, that Father Hree found him and saw a great potential in him that others had never spotted. "You, my boy, are going to train as a Holy warrior. IF you swear to me on your soul that you will refrain from burning down the seminary! We'll give you plenty of things to light fire to, but you will only burn the things that we tell you. Deal?"

The lad eagerly agreed, since he was tired and lonely and sick of being in jail. So off he went to study, and at first he was allowed to burn things in the usual ways. They invented a new word for him, "pyromaniac", and he kinda liked the sound of it.

Eventually, though, Father Hree informed him about another way to burn things, by way of tapping directly into the forces of the Heavens and channeling their divine wrath into the hearts of all things evil. The lad was so eager to learn the secrets of this magic that he actually earned "best behaved apprentice" award one semester, until he starting showing enough promise that he was sure they wouldn't kick him out, and then slacked off a bit, once burning down the Nun's Bathhouse -- WITH some nuns in there, who all went running around screaming in their birthday suits. The elders were not amused, but the lad was only punished with a month's kitchen duty, which was almost a reward because there he could cook, or even burn everyone's food and toy around with the ovens day and night.

When the call came down for Holy War, for Paladins to travel west and take on the grim forces of mad King Leoric, the lad was left behind. Too young, they said. Too wild. Not ready. Unable to fight well in a unit situation. Loner boy. So he and a few others were left behind.

However, the young Paladins who did go off to do battle were later heard to have been slaughtered, and things were turning strange around Kurast, with the Children of Light acting ever more "like delinquents" according to Father Hree. Then one night the Zakarumites actually ATTACKED the seminary, and there was death all around. The lad drew up his short sword and Buckler and went to help defend, but Father Hree stopped him and drew him aside. "No, my son, you must flee here. We are outnumbered and doomed, and there is no sense in your death here tonight. Go from here. Go west, and dwell among the people of light skin and unholy habits, and find the TRUE force behind the evil that crushes us tonight. You alone can avenge us! For you are a true Paladin now, and I dub thee Flammicus, master of the Holy Fire. For one day you will be the mightiest wielder of the flame ever to walk this earth. Now go! Hurry, lad, while there is still time!"

A squad of Zakarumites burst in upon them, and Father Hree drew his broadsword and threw up an aura of Holy Freeze, lathing the foes in a sheen of frost that slowed their aggressions but could not entirely stem the tide. Flammicus yearned to aid him, but Hree was the one person he would not disobey, so instead he turned and fled. He glanced back from the end of the hallway to see Father Hree overwhelmed and brought down. It was a memory burned into his mind, a motivation that drove him onward, for this travesty MUST be avenged!

Flammicus started setting fires to the seminary, as a means of distraction to aid his escape, and finally he did manage to steal out into the jungle under cover of darkness.

West, west he went, stowing away on a sailing ship in order to cross the great sea. West and still west he wandered, often hungry, more hungry for news and information than food most times, but able to seek aid from various outposts of the Church, with the rightful claim that he had been sent on a Holy Crusade.

...

Finally he pieced together enough news and information to pinpoint Tristram as the epicenter of all that had gone awry. The Lord of Terror, long dormant, mastered by the ancient Horadrim magi, had finally awakened, and it appeared that news of his renewed defeat was... premature. So it was that Flammicus arrived at a small encampment in search of a woman named Akara.

Akara begged his aid in defending the camp, and Flammicus gladly helped out. "I will cleanse this wilderness!" he vowed. And when he slew the fallen heroine Blood Raven, he told the sisters, "There was no other way."

Finally he gained the experience and confidence, the Holy momentum and righteous fury, to truly and effectively put his skill with the Holy Fire to work for him. First against Fallen Ones and undead abominations, and then against corrupted rogues and various creatures twisted and maligned by Andariel's influence. The more he fought, the more his anger grew, the more focused his powers became. Stronger and stronger grew his skill in wielding the Holy Flame, and stronger yet would it continue to grow, as Flammicus at last began to truly embrace the vision of Father Hree. Now entire mobs of the foe were falling like wheat before a scythe to the Holy Fire, as Flammicus would charge into battle to tackle the enemy leader while allowing the righteous flames to smite the evil hearts of all the minions.

Andariel was a tool of the Lord of Terror, and she must be destroyed. He would burn her. Burn her the way that his home was burned and destroyed. Cain says she is not fond of fire, and indeed Flammicus would put that tidbit of knowledge to the test!

...

At clvl 11, Flammicus has the following skills:

Might @ 1
Sacrifice @ 1
Holy Fire @ 6

Stay tuned for the further adventures of young Flammicus!

- Sirian

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