To understand why Jeck is such a troubled man, you first need to know about his life before he stepped foot in the Bog. Jeck was born to two mercenaries, Alon and Purity Rhinestone. His mother and father were well known throughout Fenrir for some time, but once Jeck was born they took on less jobs. That doesn’t mean they stopped working completely. Sure, they had enough money to take some time off to raise Jeck, but they wanted their son to be exposed to their lifestyle at an early age. 

    Needless to say, mercenary work isn’t the best place for a child. Alon and Purity were not going to win any parents of the year awards any time soon, but that didn’t stop them from bringing Jeck with them no matter what the job was. Stopping a monster from terrorizing a village, shutting down a bandit camp or retrieving an important item for a magistrate… No matter what the task, and of course as long as the money was right, Alon and Purity were there to get the job done with baby Jeck in tow. 

    As Jeck grew his parents immediately put him to work. Before he could fight, he would carry and sharpen the weapons. While he learned the ropes of persuasion, he acted as his parents' distraction. Once he was old enough to hold his own he acted more as a partner than a hindrance. As he gained experience Alon and Purity would let him lead assignments and soon he became the best mercenary in all of Fenrir, despite being only twenty years old. 

    So now you have to ask yourself… If he was such a popular and successful mercenary, why does nobody talk about him now? What happened? What changed so drastically that he went from the one person everyone would seek out for a tough task to just an afterthought? The answer to all of those questions dates back to when Alon and Purity finally let their son work on his own.

    Jeck’s parents began to take on less because mercenary work in general is pretty taxing on the body and they were starting to get too old to travel and fight all the time. So instead of stopping Jeck’s momentum and success, they finally let their son go out on his own. Jeck took on many solo missions from all walks of Fenrir. From the Port of Vesuva to Vorpal, from Askar to the Stone District, if a citizen or a royal had a job then Jeck was their man.

    However, outside of hard to reach continents like Sabbia, there was one place that Alon and Purity refused to work and would often warn Jeck about. The southern half of Fenrir was a place clouded in darkness. Known to the people of Fenrir as “The Deadlands” the southern region was where the Goddess of Witches, Aradia was worshipped. It was an area that no one dared go and if they did, they never returned. Alon and Purity would often tell tales of this land and warn Jeck that if he ever saw a job or was approached about a job in the Deadlands to steer clear of it at all costs.

    But this would not be the first time someone fell victim to their own hubris. Despite his origins and the arrogance of his parents, Jeck was more of an honorable man than a prideful one… Until once again faced with a mission to the Deadlands. He never found a mission or job that challenged him once he was older and working on his own. He never faced an enemy he could not defeat, an item he could not find or a puzzle he couldn’t solve. At times he felt invincible even if he chose not to show it.

    One day when jobs were slow and he didn’t have much work to do, Jeck entered a tavern in search of work. A board was placed in the back of the tavern with odd jobs for mercenaries like Jeck. It was in this tavern that his mother and father would often take him as a boy to pick up work, but there was something off about the board on this specific day. Every single job posting involved the Deadlands. All of the other jobs were taken, but since no one voluntarily entered the Deadlands they were the only jobs left. Feeling sure of himself, Jeck took on one of those jobs…

    Ironically, this job was to go find out the fate of another mercenary who took a job in the Deadlands and never returned. You would think that would be enough of a warning to second guess his decision, but Jeck was determined to defy the odds. As he prepared to make his journey to the Deadlands, Jeck returned home to see his family just in case. His mother was the only one home that day and saw right through his intentions as she usually did when Jeck started asking some questions about the Deadlands.

    “I know you and father have always warned me about it, but what’s so scary about the Deadlands anyway?” asked Jeck.

    “Hard to tell for sure,” replied his mother, “Most people don’t even make it across the Bog.”

    “The Bog?” asked Jeck.

    “There is a large scale swamp that covers the entirety of the entrance to the Deadlands, known as the Bog. All manner of creatures and ghouls call it their home. Your father and I were there once, briefly.”

    Jeck continued to pick his mother’s brain about that encounter. Purity told Jeck that she and Alon took a job in the Deadlands once and after just a few minutes in the Bog were forced to retreat and return the job to the board. It was the job that convinced them to never return there and the source of their warnings for Jeck. Purity didn’t like the idea of Jeck going there and Jeck tried to deny his intentions, but his mother knew there would be no swaying him. 

    “Take this,” Purity reached into a wooden drawer and retrieved a golden compass. “We’ve never tested it ourselves, but your father and I bought this from a merchant in Askar. It will shine a light to help you get out of the Deadlands if you get lost.”

    Jeck accepted the gift from his mother and said his farewells before leaving for the Deadlands. With the compass in hand, he approached the outskirts of the Bog. He knelt down just before where the green grass turned into black tar and closed his eyes. He prayed to no god in particular for the safety of his mother and father then rose and stepped foot into the Bog.