Paul is a gruff fighter with several scars, from past combat, on his face. He has black hair and beard, and usually wears a glove over the hand of the mummy when he is in public (see description following).

Paul began as an average adventurer, who met a group of low-level mages in a tavern. They made him a part of their group for one adventure, telling him that they were going to attempt to clear the town of trolls - it seems that the city's rulers had set a reward for the group of adventurers who could vanquish a tribe of trolls that were currently making a nuisance of themselves. The mages thought that they, with Paul, could defeat the tolls and claim the reward.

They left to the cheers of a small crowd of gathered townspeople, and soon they found the trolls: they took cover in some bushes to count them. Instead of a tribe of a few score they realized that their numbers were a thousand or more, equivalent to the population of a whole troll kingdom. As they sat in the bushes re-thinking their strategy a troll guard noticed them and sounded the alarm. As the trolls came pouring forth from their tents the group sent Paul to inform the town -- the mages intended to hold the trolls off in the meantime.

Paul ran like the wind, shedding his armor and equipment to run faster. When he reached the town, the council elected to send the town's garrison, what there was of it, to help disperse the menace, now that its location was pin-pointed and the gravity of the threat realized. Paul waited in town... time went by and none of the men returned.

Paul was found and stoned by the women of the town because they blamed him for the killing of the town's men, and so Paul fled with a broken spirit.

Despite this, Paul continued to adventure. He could never bring himself to become part of another group, however. During his adventures he collected magic items that would help him on his ultimate quest, to destroy the trolls he and the mages had once planned on defeating. On one such adventure he came upon a group of three trolls, but was unable to face them, his shame and lack of esteem turning him away: he became infamous for running whenever he saw trolls, yet he still longed to kill those trolls, as well as those from the mage-led adventure.

Paul finally got the nerve and self-esteem to go back to the village. On his way he found a sun-dried body, and as he looked through the corpse's things, he realized that it was the most powerful mage from among those he had first adventured with. After recovering from his surprise, he found a piece of parchment among the possessions.

"I have just found the key to the problem," the individual had written. Paul thought it might have been a page from a diary, torn free. "While I fled from the trolls, I came upon a mummy and in the fight of my life, contracted a rotting disease from this creature. I am almost dead as I write this... growing weaker. Remember, mummies are the key." The entry ended.

This bit of information puzzled Paul, and he thought about it as he walked back toward town. There, he talked to every wise man or sage he could find, but none could help him until he found a sage by the name of Resan, who agreed to help him.

Resan told him to capture a mummy and bring it back "alive." Though the mission was obviously difficult, Resan assured him that, with his help, he could capture one. What Paul did not realize was the Resan was sending him on a suicide mission, hoping Paul would die, and in this death Resan would have avenged the death of his son, a youth who was in the garrison sent to attack the trolls years before, an attack based on Paul's information. Much to his surprise, Paul succeeded with the mission, returning with the captured mummy despite the fact that Resan had not cast magics to aid him as he said he would.

It was then that Resan realized that Paul had not been responsible for his son's death, but that the trolls, which were still raiding the town, were the truly guilty parties... Paul had simply carried a message. While Paul went out to study the trolls at a, distance, Resan began research on a new spell which could handle the mummy. Paul stayed away for nearly a year, studying, watching the trolls, learning everything he could about them.

Finally he decided to return and report to Resan, but as he left the troll-domain he fell into a trap, loosing his hand to a razor-sharp blade snare designed to kill game. Staunching the flow of blood as best he could, he continued back to town. When he got there, no one would heal his wound or help with it, so great was their continued hatred for him. Resan arrived then as Paul was trying to buy a bandage, whereupon the sage ripped off part of his cloak to dress the wound. The store owner kicked them both out of his shop, and spread the word that the sage was helping Paul. Neither could show their faces in town again as a result.

When Paul's wound had healed over, Resan told him about his new spell. Paul asked if he had discovered the secret of the diary entry. It had been determined that mummy rot would stop a troll's regeneration, and thus could they be killed finally. But to do so would require Paul to take drastic personal action.

Paul agreed to the sage's plan, and allowed him to replace his lost hand with that of the captured mummy the sage had imprisoned, and so could he, with the sage's spells, defeat the trolls. Resan first cast protection from mummy rot and permanency upon him, then put the stub in a basin of mud and swabbed the end with the thick mud. Casting a variant of transmute mud to rock, he formed a narrow piece of stone attached to the end of the stump; then, with the mummy's hand and a spell of stone to flesh he caused the living flesh of Paul's arm to be attached to the mummy's hand through this magically created fleshy connector. The Hand of the Mummy was thus created for him.

Paul went out to test his new power, intending to slay a few trolls initially. His strategy was to hit the troll with his mummy-hand, then slay him through normal physical means. When he returned after a successful test run he found Resan's house was in flames! Plunging inside he found the dead sage slumped over his desk, with flames licking up toward the body. On the desk, written on a scrap of parchment which was even now curling from the heat was a single word, hastily penned: "peasants." Paul ran from the house lest he die too.

Paul's soul became cold and vengeful after this last straw of life's bitter experience, and set out to destroy all the trolls he could find. Over the course of the next month, he tracked every single one of them down and butchered them with his powers, then returned to the village. But here he was stoned by the townspeople, who called him an abomination -- it was then that he lost all control, his mind snapping. Pulling the coarse glove from his mummy-hand, he began to chase the villagers, inflicting mummy rots on those he caught, sometimes letting them die a drawn-out death from rot, other times slaying them outright with his sword. Those that could fled the village; as they did, Paul set fire to the entire settlement, taking revenge for his slain friend, Resan, in the same way as they had dealt death to him.

Ever since this event, Paul has roamed the world looking for trolls to slay, or for the villagers who escaped. Many say that he is insane, possibly from the diseased flesh of the mummy's hand grafted to his arm, which may contain a lingering malevolence which has perturbed his mind.

The Hand of the Mummy

This is a mummy's hand that has been magically grafted to Paul Trollslayer 's arm. Anyone touching the hand, or being touched by it, regardless of whether or not it is covered with cloth, has a chance to contract the mummy-rot it carries (refer to Monster Manual I, p. 72). Paul had a spell of protection from mummy rot cast on him and is thus immune to its effects. In addition to the rot-power, the hand, because of its special production, has the following extra artifact powers: 2x II, lx III, 2x IV, lx V, and lx VI (as outlined below). Only one of the powers may be invoked each round, though the chance for contracting mummy-rot is always possible in addition. Note that some powers are adverse, affecting Paul, and occur at random times.

1. Cause fear as per 1st-level cleric spell, by touch, up to three times per day [II].

2. Flesh to stone, not reversible, as per 6th-level wizard spell by touch, once per day [II].

3. Possessor looses all interest in sex and fraternizing with the opposite sex [III] for that day.

4. Possessor looses one point of Charisma permanently [IV] (this is a one-time occurrence and has already happened to Paul).

5. User is required to slay a troll to activate the item [IV] (Paul already has, but should it be cut from his arm and used by another creature, they would have to slay such to activate its powers).

6. Possessor is immune to sleep, charm, or hold magic, like an undead creature on a constant basis [V]. •

7. Possessor's alignment is changed permanently to Lawful Evil [VI].

In addition to these powers, the artifact impresses upon the possessor an irresistible desire to forsake any deity he may have worshipped before and adopt the God of Disease. In most cases this will be Anthraxus, the Oinodaemon, but if the DM does not use this horrible being in his current pantheon, he should determine the attributes and abilities of a similar god for use with the Hand.

Paul Trollslayer Statistics

Paul is a gruff, malevolent fighter with scars lining his face as a result of his combat against years' worth of foes. He has black hair, a black, short beard, and generally wears one glove over his Hand of the Mummy.
Race: Human
Age: 33
Sex: Male
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 200 lbs
Class: Fighter
Level: 9
Hit Points: 50
Alignment: Lawful Evil (* was Chaotic Good before magical alignment change)

STR 18 (00) (21)
INT 10
WIS 11
CON 9
DEX 16
CHR 13
THACO:12
AC: 1/X/-1

Patron Deity: God of Disease and Decay (prior to the forced magical change, it was the God of Hunting)
Weapon Proficiencies: Longsword, Two-handed sword, Longbow, Sling, Spetum, Battleaxe, Lance
Non-weapon Proficiencies: Gaming (CHR/0); Hunting (WIS/-1); Set Snares (INT/0); Running (CON/-6); Survival (INT/0)
Equipment of Interest: Platemail +2; Longsword +1, +3 vs. regenerating creatures; Girdle of Frost Giant Strength; Hand of the Mummy (special artifact).

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