Pribill

"S-s-she c-comes to me in m-m-my sleep." - The terrified Pribill tries to stay awake.

At a Glance
A young gnome bard and citizen of Bravaria, Pribill was affectionately known as the "Lad of Lullabies" for his calming bedtime songs. He would commonly walk the streets of his town after dark, singing to listeners who eagerly left their windows open to hear him as he passed. After the spread of the "Sleeping Sickness" Pribill suffered debilitating nightmares of a shadow figure wreathed in flame that tortured him by forcing him to play his music in a hellish dreamscape night after night.

History
A longtime community icon, Pribill's wandering-song routine earned him the respect and love of his human and gnomish neighbors, but when the "Sleeping Sickness" struck Bravaria's elders it was Pribill who was immediately blamed. Believing Pribill to be a conjurer, lynch-mobs wandered the streets at night waiting for Pribill to pass. Fearful for his life, Pribill stayed at home strumming his tunes until he drifted to sleep...

Dreamer's Ladder
Unfortunately for Pribill, the warm-hearted Gnome would never dream. Stricken by horrifiying nightmares where shadow-beasts nipped at his heels and dragged him to an assembly-hall, Pribill's unconscious would be unknowingly transported night after night to the Realm of Dreams. Dragged before an imposing shadowy figure, Pribill would be forced to play his lute before the figure of shadow and flame. As his hours-long nightly sonatica would end, Pribill would awake the next morning returned to his bed. Wearily going about his day, things were appear normal -- until Pribill would go to bed the next night. And the next. And the next. The cycle would continue itself as Pribill was forced to play for the audience of a daemonic spirit which, timidly questioning, revealed its name as Koshmar.