So, once upon a time, Avercrumbie was a bard, obsessed with jewels and gems

He conned some giants into teaching him the rune work

he was a con artist for a long time, bartering temporarily enchanted items and pretending they were the real deal, taking gems and other expensive shiny items in exchange before fucking off

He always went back home to visit his mom though. gave her jewels. etc.

He had to make sure she was taken care of before going out to con people again or to just learn more about stuff cause he was a naturally curious and nosy dude.

And one day he met the woman who was going to become his wife and lost his mind.

Now, despite being a conartist/thiefy boy, or perhaps because of that, Avercrumbie was always quite charming, and so he'd made a few friends by this point in his career

he was a reasonably successful bard who was just beginning to dabble into other arcane studies to learn how to create legitimate magical items

And he'd amused enough people in certain parts of the world that they considered him a friend.

One became indebted to him when he saved the man's son

So anyway, he meets Merabelle, and falls head over heels for her.

She's young and dissatisfied with her lot in life, she finds it boring and stuffy, and in comes this charming little fellow.

He made her all manner of prizes, fought people in her name for her honor, even spouted some of his best bard poetry

And she fell in love with him.

BUT ALAS THERE WAS A PROBLEM

For she was already engaged to some stuffy guy.

And Avercrumbie, being the typical bard with a terribly low wisdom, said fuck all of that and helped her run away with him.

Her fiance was not pleased and went chasing after them.

But Avercrumbie, being a spoony bard of renown, and thus a fine and skilled swordsman in a pinch and a spoony magical boi, challenged him when they were confronted by the fiance and his escort, and then… killed him.

Because during the fight, the man had dared to order his soldiers to try and take her back by force while he kept Avercrumbie engaged with the battle.

And… well… sometimes aoe's kill more people than you intended.

So Avercrumbie grabbed his lady and fled to the good friend who owed him. And that man was all “Well, not only are you a cool dude, but you did save my son Corwin. I am honor-bound to help you.”

There were some issues with that.

Becuse Merabelle Etrevus was engaged to Elurung Minare.

whoops, sorry. wrong Minare. she was engaged to Mordigan Minare.

Who was the heir apparent of the Kingdom of Iriast.

So Mordigan's father, Ganselur Minare, King of Iriast, was pissed

PISSED

So, being the wordsmith he was, Avercrumbie managed to get word back to Merabelle's family back in Honingel, explaining that him murdering her arranged fiance was done purely out of love and self defense, because he had ordered his men to attack her.

With Merabelle backing his claim up, and with King Rennick vouching for him (he had saved his son after all, so it made sense he would save another person), King Etrevus told Minare to fuck right the hell off.

But the Kingdom of Iriast had allies. And so did Tiressea and Honingel. And next thing you knew the nations were embroiled in a long war

A great war.

the one that had spanned nations

was started

because Avercrumbie

fell in love with a princess

He was not a wise man.

He and Merabelle fled in the chaos.

They became married, tried to disguise themselves.

But assassins found them a few years later, and Merabelle was murdered, Avercrumbie was severely injured.

Overcome with grief, he went wandering, gambling with his life as he picked on troops from the opposing faction

and then one day he had an odd epiphany, he could try to raise Merabelle from the dead.

He broke into her tomb in secret, stole her body

and began to look for every secret he could try to find

he followed rumors and whispered stories until he found a man who knew something that could help him

all he had to do was win a hand of cards

he cheated, he won, but he lost.

and once he was found out, he did something so ludicrous it made the world stand still

He discovered The Scoundrel had cheated him at his own swindle, and then threw some fucking hands.

For again, Avercrumbie was not a wise man.

And The Scoundrel fucking laughed at the audacity.

and then, because he admired that pluck, they talked, they bargained, they negoatiated, and they came to an agreement.

Avercrumbie, so lost in his sorrow, was willing to do anything. And so he became a cleric, because that could help him bring back his love. But then, because all of his troubles were caused by his brashness and foolishness, he traded his nimble skill with the sword, his jaunty quick steps that carried him far away from the trouble he got him into, for wisdom.

And he became wise enough to see that bringing Merabelle back would be quite difficult, quite risky, and quite rude if she did not wish to return to such a fool as he had been.

So he tucked her corpse back away, and set off on another journey. He would find Merabelle in the afterlife, ask her what she wanted, and also tell her all of the things he had lost the chance to say.

And so he adventured again, trying to find a way to do this.

This adventure would likely be where your druid met Avercrumbie.

The war was still raging

Merabelle died 50 years ago. The war stopped 11 years ago.

Most of the people involved forgot why they were fighting at all.

And since Merabelle was a princess of Honingel, it would make sense that your druid be from there, since Avercrumbie would have had to go there to steal her body and such, and was rather familiar with the nation.