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Character Description:
A gentle hobgoblin. Quiet and intelligent. Not quick to violence but when forced into a corner very few humanoids would stand toe to toe against him. Grinkle has some interesting idiosyncrasies that the humans, half-elves, and others around him find unsettling. Though he is a rogue, he has no concept of keys, though he's quite fond of locks. He is fascinated by all kinds of locks and traps. He will always pick a lock rather than use the key, even if he has the key. The fact that a lock can be opened so easily with only one certain piece of metal is an idea totally alien to him.
He also has the unsettling habit of eating everything with his hands, bones and all.
He does not like the concept of inns. He feels trapped and if forced to stay in one he will push the furniture against the door and sleep in the corner of his room. He often travels in disguise due to his unsettling and fearsome appearance.
He smells HORRIBLE as he does not bathe. His hair is dreadlocked and waxy from being unwashed. He believes that this makes him harder to see, and he refuses to wash his armor for this reason. In fact he often smears wet ashes or mud on his armor to black out any areas that could glint off the sun.
He's extremely hardy, often traveling many miles with little to eat or drink. He often chews flayleaf to stay awake during the day when he's forced to sleep during the night, as he's primarily nocturnal.
He refers to ALL magic as "elf magic", which he fears and holds in great awe.
He refers to all of elven blood as "elvses". He does not trust "elvses", though he will tolerate elves, because they tend to be thoughtful and intelligent. Elves however, normally do not tolerate Grinkle.
He does NOT like "Dwarveses" finding them smelly, loud and rude.
He views Halflings as a potential food source.
He has no experience with gnomes, assuming them to be bald wrinkly halfings of some kind.
He once found a wand of wonder, which he kept for a time calling it his "magic stick". He used it to save one of his adventuring companions from a deep bat that was about to kill her. He blasted the bat with a massive lightning bolt from the wand and then would never touch the wand again after that.
Likes: Finding "shinys" (gold), exploring, finding secret places, guiding those in need to safety, anything that aligns with Shaundakul's portfolio.
He is very fond of taking trophies from the animals and monsters that he kills. He often uses the creature parts to craft an item such as a cloak or boots.
Dislikes: Oppressors of the weak, slavers, elven magic.
Backstory: Grinkle was born into a tribe of hobgoblins somewhere South East of Yartar in 1350 DR. He does not know this.
Grinkle was a runt of his tribe, and barely survived. He was mostly kept as a slave, forced to clean, cook and do other tasks for the tribe. The tribe eventually occupied an abandoned border keep. Little did they know that one of my old PCs (Kenrick the Younger) had just inherited the deed for the place, from his deceased uncle in Waterdeep. Kenrick the Younger proceeded to lead a group of adventurers to the keep and liberate it from the hobgoblin tribe. After slaughtering the hobgoblins, he found Grinkle who had locked himself in a secret room. Kenrick couldn't bring himself to kill such a pathetic creature only 12 years old. He could see the scars all over Grinkle's body where he'd been beaten and whipped. Despite Grinkles mistreatment he did not lash out when Kenrick found him, and Kenrick could tell he did not have the hard look of a typical hobgoblin.
Kenrick took him in, taught him to read, write and speak Common. He found Grinkle to be remarkably intelligent, and when fed a diet appropriate for a growing hobgoblin, Grinkle grew to fill his frame with muscle, and was somehow blessed with a remarkable athleticism, along with inheriting the natural toughness of hobs. Together they traveled the Silver Marches adventuring during the field season and trapping during the winter. Kenrick trained Grinkle as a top-notch scout (wilderness rogue), and taught him his signature fighting style (dual short swords).
Grinkle served the newly emancipated Keep as it's chief scout and patrol leader. Grinkle would often patrol the areas around the keep for weeks at a time, surviving on very little.
As a hob among the humans of the keep, Grinkle was a loner with few friends. A mercenary named Farl eventually befriended Grinkle. Farl a former knight had a serious drinking problem. While in a drunken stupor one night Farl beat a man in the keep so severely that he died from his injuries. Rather than face murder charges at the Keep, Farl left almost immediately for the road. Grinkle had grown somewhat bored at the keep and had seen the rangers and clerics of Shaundakul stop at the keep, guiding folk through. He decided to go after Farl, to keep him safe, and find adventure along the way.
They traveled north toward Silverymoon, as Farl fled his inner demons and descended further into alcoholism. They stayed off the main roads and skirted the hills whenever possible to avoid potential pursuit from the keep.
They had several adventures together, including killing a young black dragon. Grinkle often went off by himself into the High Forest to explore. He discovered a previously unknown ruined city from the ancient kingdom of Earlann. He spent several months exploring the underground complexes. After several trips, he became a follower of Shaundakul and worked with that deities clerics to defeat a lich residing in the ruins, and to secure and investigate a series of portals found within the underground ruins. |
