Verben Ranzoff

Verben Ranzoff is a human cleric of Pelor from Greyhawk City, and a member of the Steelfire adventuring band.

Verben was portrayed by Dennis Fessel.

Relationships
Verben has known Finigan Nodwick since 589 CY, when Fin was bitten by a poisonous spider and brought to the temple for healing.

History
Verben Ranzoff was born on the Plain of Greyhawk, near the Cairn Hills, on Sunsebb 5, 575 CY. The son of a farmer, Verben nevertheless felt he needed to help people on a larger scale. He often traveled with his father to Greyhawk City with the new harvest. While in the city he witnessed much hunger and greed, especially during the night.

One night before they were about to leave, a mugger assaulted Verben and his father. As the mugger stumbled forward, slaying his father, Verben was almost overcome by the rotten flesh and horrid stench of undeath that the mugger carried. Cowering in fear, Verben called to the gods for aid or guidance. At that moment a man dressed in gold and yellow priestly vestments stepped into the street, heading for a temple with the marker of a sun on its front. Verben called out to the man in aid, and with that, the older gentleman held aloft the symbol hanging from his chest. Verben felt a bolstering sense of physical presence and upon hearing a single utterance of the name of the god Pelor he watched his attacker dissolve into a pile of bones and rotten flesh. His father was gone and he was far from home at the young age of 12. The priests of the temple of Pelor took him in and saw to the care of his mother as well.

The sheer generosity and overwhelming sense of protection the temple seemed to generate was enough that at his young age he dedicated his life to following the teachings of Pelor and shedding light where none reached. Heeding his teachings he now follows the path to destroy undead where they may hide and help those in need.

Every year in the City of Greyhawk, on Richfest 4th (Midsummer’s Day), the Temple of Pelor celebrates this holy day of their God by holding a great feast for the poor. After the feast, the priesthood travels south on the Processional in a great parade into Old City, where they fan out and offer food, healing, and comfort to the less fortunate, especially to children. Those children in dire need of more powerful curative magic are taken back to the Temple of Pelor to receive it there. Cynics note that this event provides a good opportunity to play upon the guilt of the rich, as the image of a priest carrying a suffering child through the streets certainly tugs on the heart (and purse) strings.

Six years ago, in 589, a 10 year-old orphan named Fin was bitten by a poisonous spider a few days before the celebration, and was suffering badly when the priests found him in Old City. Of course, they carried him back to the temple of Pelor in the Garden Quarter, where he was healed of his affliction & spent the next few days recovering his strength at the temple. There Fin befriended 14 year-old Verben. The two remained friends, even after Fin entered the Thieves’ Guild, though the increased responsibilities each of the boys took on as they got older provided few opportunities for them to fraternize. The last they saw of each other was in early Fireseek of 595 CY, when Verben spoke in Fin’s favor at his sentencing for burglary, which may have helped shave a few months off of his sentence.