Originally from a small village in Falkovnia, Svampvagen, close to the border with Borca and Dorvinia.
After his village is destroyed by Drakov’s armies he manages to flee into the mists
The presence of Lady Ezra had been central to Grimmwald's life for as long as he could remember, some 60 or so years... although nobody really kept track in Svampvagen. It was a small town, a place where people did what they needed to in order to survive. Held together by grit and determination and everybody filling their expected roles, nobody rocked the boat and they got along as best they could.
From birth Grimm was an outsider in this world of unspoken expectations. According to the other priests, he was delivered from the mist. The story tells about a woman coming to them on a misty night, about to give birth, and dying in the act. Although the woman was human, the child wasn't quite... Horrified by the discovery, most called for the child to be left with the mother's body in the woods. They claimed it would be a mercy to the boy, that his father would come down from the treetops and collect him. The eldest priest of Ezra protected Grimmwald, claiming the woman may have been Ezra herself.
So, Grimm grew up as a charge of the Church. The clergy were his family and the church his home. He didn't venture out often, most of the townsfolk shunned him, which gave him time to study the Holy Book. Lots and lots of time. Eventually the oldest of the townsfolk grew old and died, then the next generation, and the one after that. Grimm became just the kindly old man with the funny ears who would give the sermons and help out around town. It was a quiet life, not easy by any means, but it was what Lady Ezra had chosen for them.
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Grimm's Diary
Lady Ezra certainly works in MISTerious ways!
That's right, it's a pun! I've been holding onto that one, waiting to write it down here. Now that I have, I might start crying, it was the bit of brightness I had been holding onto. I'm not sure exactly where 'here' is, but it's a church and they've got room for an old man plus his... friend? Charge? Semi-conscious, delirious, forest man? Today has been a terribly weird day.
First the terrible part: Svampvagen is gone. I watched it burn as I ran like a coward, terrified for my life, into the forest. I still smell like smoke and... cooking meat. That meat smell is probably from all the stores of salted meats people had saved. At least that's the lie I'm telling myself to keep from vomiting.
Now the weird part: I don't know where anyone else from Svampvagen is... I thought one of the savages was chasing me, so I trusted in Ezra's guidance and ran into a thick bank of mist, then was immediately disoriented. I tried to turn around and go back the way I came but it didn't look familiar any more so I walked... for a while. The heavy gray prevented me from seeing far ahead, but I just kept on. Eventually my path became a trail, then a road. The mist lifted a bit and a hooded figure stood at a crossroads. It looked like a statue, unmoving. I attempted to walk past it, taking the left fork.
And the statue TURNED to face me.
It nearly made me jump out of my skin! I saw it out of the corner of my eye, but I looked at it and the statue wasn't facing me at all, it hadn't moved... or had it? Fighting down my fear, I walked over to the stone and inspected it closely. The figure was entirely covered in its hooded cloak, no face visible. Faded words carved into the front read, "You cannot bid me enter, yet I cannot turn away. I cannot allow your people to suffer alone..."
Had those holy words always been there?
Mist rushed at me and I stepped back, tripping over some... one? A man was there on the ground, semi-conscious and unable to tell me where we were. Now that I think about it more, he was probably a drunk. The mist lifted as I sat with the drunk forest man, trying to understand what had happened with that statue. Lights from torches were visible through the trees and I considered leaving the man, but something compelled me to help him up and move him. We made our way into this town... wherever it is, and the Church of Ezra took us in. For a day, a week, I have no idea.
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