Little Dark

History of the Feral Smurfs

Once upon a time there was a black mage who lived alone in the forest with no company but his familiar, a red cat named Azriel. The mage lived in relative comfort, and through his lifetime he created a diminutive race that he named the Smurfs. These little people were happy for a time, cleaning the mage's tower and running little errands for him. This was not to last for long, as the mage was arrogant as most mages are, and soon allowed his familiar to chase, and eat the little smurfs it could catch as sport. He began to neglect the little folk, turning his attention away from them and to his other projects and ideas.

Some of the smurfs escaped their increasingly oppressive confinement under the heel of Gargamel the Black. They tired of the fear and terror of becoming the familiars next meal, left to scream as the beast toyed with them like a mouse. The population outside of the tower grew, gathering food and berries, learning to defend themselves from the predators of the forest. After so long in the confines of the tower some of the smurfs gained arcane knowledge, and the most erudite of these learned the casting of spells. (Smurfs are limited to 1st level spells)

Armed with their knowledge, the smurfs domesticated some of the wild animals, and within several generations, had tamed the animals with the use of magic. They soon took to breaking into the wizards tower at night and began to steal from him. At first he dismissed to missing silverware, and broken mirrors, but as more and more began to dissappear, it became a problem. The smurfs were stealing his food, his books, everything they could lay their little blue hands on.

Gargamel soon took to hunting the smurfs to end their depredations, but there were too many of them. His familiar, the sadistic Azriel vanished. Gargamel was distraught to discover that the smurfs had killed his feline, and was equally disturbed to discover their magical aptitudes. He tried in vain to defeat this menace that he had created, but it was to no avail. Painted with green pigments, dressed in leaves, the smurfs swarmed him, armed with glass tipped spears, and weilding kitchen knives the way a warrior would swing a 2 handed sword. The battle was bloody, with many of the feral smurfs dying underfoot, or in his hands, but the wizard was doomed by a thousand cuts from the diminutive weapons.

The feral smurfs rejoiced, and in a great ceremony, they looted the tower of anything they could and using the most potent of their magics (Create Fire) they burned the tower down.

The Present
The smurfs still live in the vale of Little Dark, as the locals call it, and fear it. The fear is perhaps unjustified as the smurfs seldom harm anyone who passes through their domain. Instead they are liberated of most of their possessions while they sleep. Those who wake up often see tiny people, dressed in odd snippets of cloth, painted green carrying away their food and goods. Only in the rarest cases will the feral smurfs attack, and then only mages after stealing all of their spell components and reagents.

The smurfs however, still retain their original function of cleaning and caretaking. A canny traveler who knows the lore of the faerie might think to leave out an offering for the 'wee people'. In this situation, the old instincts take over, and after taking the offering of food, or wax, they will meticuluously clean and care for the persons belongings, provided they have the proper materials. If a hero had a suit of chainmail, and the proper oil, he would awaken to the mail having a bright well polished sheen. If not, they would do the best they could with what they had at hand.

If captured, a smurf demonstrates a good working of the common tongue, though in a hodge-podge fashion, as their own language has grown and changed from the original language of Gargamel to the modern form that they use in communication from one Smurf warren to another. If well treated, the smurf will resume the old duties it was created for, and of not it will try to escape and find others of its own kind. Smurfs can and do breed like rats, and can populate an area relatively quickly, but once a certain population level is reached, they level off in numbers and remain constant.

Too Much Coffee...not enough sleep