The Return of King Merovech

In the Year of Our Lord 604, Merovech of Burgundy was born. The son of Theuderic II, King of the Franks, Merovech was raised in the court of his brother, Sigisbert II, under the regency of their great-grandmother Brunhilda. His mother, an elven noblewoman from Rhaetia, died in childbirth. When Merovech's father was defeated and his brothers were killed by his grand uncle, Chlothar II in 613, Merovech lay dying on the forest floor near Lake Neuchatel on the extreme eastern reaches of the Burgundian realm. He would have perished, had not a traveling Jewish physician named Joseph rescued him and taken him in his caravan. Binding Merovech's wounds, Joseph listened to the garbled account by the young boy of his siblings' terrible end, and decided to take him to the land of Merovech's mother, Rhaetia. There, Joseph left the boy in the care of a king named Alberich, who is a distant kinsman of his elven mother. Alberich, a dwarf, ruled a vast underground realm whose main entrance was the Cave of Hoelloch in Rhaetia. In addition, he had a small holding of above-ground subjects on the eastern shores of Lake Lucerne. Alberich took a liking to the boy, teaching him the art of weaponsmithing. After ten years as an apprentice to the Dwarven king, Merovech asks to return to the land of Humankind so that he may seek the throne of Burgundy, to which he is the rightful heir. Alberich grants Merovech his freedom, on the condition that he return a third of the treasures of the Nibelungen, which Merovech's ancestor Sigurd stole from Alberich long ago. For his journey, Alberich lets Merovech take a lance which Merovech originally forged for Alberich, and Alberich's best war pony. Upon leaving the Dwarf King's realm, however, the lance turns into a mere dart, and the war pony becomes a donkey.
As Merovech traveled by donkey toward the Burgundian realm, he began to learn that the year was not 618, as Merovech believed it should be, but instead 638. Twenty-five years had elapsed since Merovech had entered the Cave of Hoelloch, and yet he appeared to be no older than sixteen. The usurper Chlothar II has died, and his eldest son Dagobert is king not only of Burgundy, but of all the Franks. The adventurers have found themselves in the company of this unlikely king as he travels from place to place, seeking information and followers, in order to reclaim the throne of his forefathers.