Gruel

Origin

Gruel was once a normal, but lazy boy. His mother, just as lazy, married a kind and hard working man, who had a son of his own, named Arthur. After his step-father had died, Gruel was one day at the river with his step-brother Arthur, filling their bucket with water. When an old lady asked them for a drink from their bucket, Gruel declined, but Arthur gave it anyway. The old lady turned out to be a fairy and gave Arthur a gift. Everytime he spoke, diamonds came from his mouth. Returning home, Arthur apologized for their lateness, letting his step-mother see his gift. Wanting to leave, his stepmother asked Gruel to stop Arthur from leaving by killing him. Afterwards, she ordered Gruel to return to the river. Giving every woman he encountered a drink from his bucket, he eventually ran into the fairy’s sister, who saw that his intentions were far from noble. Instead of a gift, she gave him two curses. Returning home, he showed his mother that reptiles came out of his mouth whenever he spoke. He killed his mother, blaming her for his misfortune. He then began to transform into an ugly creature. Whenever he acted vile, his appearance became uglier and uglier. Meeting the wizard Morgarzera, the wizard couldn’t return Gruel to his normal form, but he could halt the transformation from going further.

Major Story Arcs

After Morgarzera had died, Gruel became a servant of Orcus. Orcus gave Gruel the last Shadow Dragon Claw, which would enable him to transform into a mighty Shadow Dragon. Attacking Tallus, Gruel transformed into the dragon, but was defeated and killed by the combined forces of Sela, Blake, Bolder, Druanna and King William.