Gravely (not her original name) was the middle child of her family. Her two brothers grew up playing rough, and they rarely spared Gravely from their roughness when she played with them. With such examples in the family as Burdusk, their uncle, the children learned about mining, and some of the other activities which are done under the guise of mining. Gravely, however, was steered into the temple, and became an acolyte of Brell Serilis. One year, as the children were nearly old enough to strike out on their own, a vein of mithril in their father's mines was used up, far earlier than anyone had estimated. The search for new veins began, but none were to be found. The family began experiencing hardship, as their source of income was depleted, with no replacement. Gravely's father worked hard at finding another vein, and finally, rather than lose his mine, he sought out someone who could help. He ran into an old erudite gentleman named Iumuno, who was in Kaladim on "business", so he claimed. Iumuno made it known that he would be willing to help, for a price. But when asked, he would only say that the price would depend on the quality of the vein he was able to locate. Gravely's father agreed, reluctantly. He spent three days and nights in the mines, and insisted nobody else come near, else they might "interfere with the enchantments of detection". The morning of the fourth day, he emerged, to bring Gravely's father. Not only had he found one vein, he'd found two: mithril and brellium. Certainly, wealth would return to the family; greater wealth than they had previously known. Gravely's father nervously cleared his throat, and asked about the price. With confidence and certainty, in a tone that brooked no argument, Iumuno stated that one of the sons would serve Iumuno in his travels for fifty years. Gravely's father nearly exploded in rage, but as he was a dwarf of his word, calmed himself, and said he would have to discuss this with his family. The family argued for hours, about who would go, or if anyone would go at all, and whether they could somehow honorably get out of the payment, and so on. Gravely's father insisted he could spare neither son, due to all the work the new veins would bring. At this point, Gravely spoke up, and offered to go. She wasn't sure why she did this, but the idea of exciting travel with the strange erudite seemed more appealing than a life in the temple. In response, her mother blurted out, "young lady, if you think you're going anywhere but the temple of Brell, you're gravely mistaken!" The family continued to argue, but Gravely had made up her mind, and among the chaos of the arguments, snuck away. She presented herself to Iumuno, saying, "you may call me Gravely. I will serve in place of one of my brothers, and if you dare suggest I'm not as valuable a companion, I'll break your legs while you sleep, old man. We'd best leave immediately." Iumuno chuckled, and led the way, confident he'd gotten more than he'd bargained for.

More about Gravely and her friends is available at the <a href=" http://www.visi.com/~mlm/eq/brags/" target="_blank">FV LEWT H00RS</a> site.