Poor prince Sven, just an innocent bystander in a great war between his father and a neighbouring kingdom. During one of those long, drawn out battles than no one could remember the cause of, a crafty mage/assassin slipped into the Ulek castle one night in order to slay the king. Unfortunately, he found Sven instead. Sven was no weakling, and he put up a mighty struggle, actually defeating the assassin. The assassin escaped, however, and vowed vengeance for his wounded pride.

Several years later, after the war had finally ended and all was back to normal, Sven was approached by a cloaked figure, who seemed vaguely familiar. The person was apparently drunk, and staggered towards him, arms extended and calling the praise of the good Prince Sven. Suddenly the man leaped forwards and struck the Prince in the chest, knocking him back with a violent flash of red electricity. The assassin had struck his revenge.

Upon regaining conscienceless, Sven found he could not move his arms or legs, in fact, he couldn't even feel them. Attempting to look down to see what was wrong, he could see nothing but a long wooden rod where his body should have been. Confused and alarmed, he attempted to call out, but found he could not make a sound. If fact, he realized he didn't have a mouth, or head for that matter. He was trapped within a blue opal, atop a long wooden staff.

For several years the mage/assassin wielded him, imbuing the staff with new magical abilities every once in a while. What the mage didn't know was that Sven realized he could command the powers from within his prison. One such ability was the power to polymorph into a metal sphere, about the size of a grapefruit, for easy concealment and carrying. He was also given the following abilities: 98% chance to read magical writings, read any language, Detect Invisibility, Detect Precious Metals in a 20 foot radius, Telepathy, and Flying.

Using these abilities, Sven escaped the mage/assassin and is now searching for a way to break his curse.