A man lay on the bed of a room in the Luxor Inn. He played with a broken half of a medallion and felt the rough edge of it with his thumb before looking at the name written on it, Mal. He couldn't recall ever being called by the name but he didn't recall much, only parts of his childhood. A childhood in Graw wasn't much of a childhood but Mal held onto his memories of it nonetheless, the faded memories of his brother and their search for the father who abandoned them. He could remember his mother dying and his uncle's execution but beyond the early teenage years the memories faded to black, until they picked up around his mid-thirties not too long ago.

Mal first awoke in Klint, looked after by soldiers who claimed he had aided them against bandits before falling into unconsciousness. None of them knew him nor did they know where he had come from but their hospitality was short-lived and, after a quick recovery, Mal was asked to leave. He had only a small sum of gold, his broken medallion and few memories which led him to Graw... upon arrival, however, he was ambushed and robbed. The bandits took the man's gold and then demanded he give them his medallion as well. He refused. Before they could kill him the nearby stables became enveloped by fire and amidst the chaos Mal managed to mount a wyvern and escape. Sadly he was a terrible flyer.

Before long he was above Luxor and the wyvern swooped low before finally shaking Mal from its back. The man fell right into the Luxor Inn, causing considerable damage. Even amongst his bad luck fortune smiled and the innkeeper agreed that if Mal stayed at the inn and repaid him for the cost of fixing the building, along with a small amount of added compensation, he would not involve the authorities.

Mal had lost track of the days; perhaps it had been a week or perhaps a few months. However long it had been, he had spent that time working both at the inn and doing jobs for other people until finally he had given the innkeeper enough gold to cover the damages, the extra pay coming in the form of inn-work. When not making money he spent time at the arena, training with the gladiators and learning how to wield lances, and equal time at the magic shop where he made a startling discovery. His amnesia was not born of accident or injury, it was due to a powerful curse. Determined to break the curse he learnt about his inner magic and trained with what he felt to be natural; fire and darkness.

And now he felt ready. He looked at his things and... well, seeing a shoddy old lance beyond repair and a Wooden Stick, he no longer felt ready. Exiting the room and leaving the broken lance he said goodbye to the innkeeper and left the inn for The Armory. With a recklessly big smile, Mal purchased a Steel Lance for 1000G. He then headed to The General Store and bought a Herb Extract for 250G.

And now he felt ready. A Steel Lance was on his back, his Wooden Stick was excellent for walking with and he had something for healing if necessary. Now he could go to Graw and barter for information as he needed, afterall he had 1250G left over from repaying his debt with which he could bribe-...

"Oh." Mal said aloud, looking into his empty gold pouch which he had just drained. He thought back to the jobs he knew were available. "Well then, a nice, uneventful delivery service will do." Then he cursed. "Why did I have to say uneventful?"

He headed to the merchant's store for information about the job.