Gobo the Traveling Merchant

"I am Gobo, the traveling merchant, and this is my partner Knick-Knack. We travel around to bring wares and services to the good peoples of the Underdark. And to the bad peoples, we bring bloody vengeance when they make the final, fatal error of thinking we're easy marks."
-Gobo's self-narrated introduction
Gobo is a traveling merchant who is small even by goblin standards. Despite his short stature, he is an expert merchant who travels the dangerous Underdark selling his wares and offering crafting services to those he deems "not bad people". To weed out the bad people, Gobo travels with a flumph partner named Knick-Knack. While they are typically able to avoid any bad people or hostile wildlife thanks to Knick-Knack's psychic abilities, Gobo does not seem concerned about his ability to defend himself.
Table of Contents

Journey Into the Underdark Arc

Meeting the Expedition Adventurers

Gobo was first spotted chasing after an armadillo-like OoPA along with Knick-Knack. Leh'ct was the first adventurer to approach the goblin, who much to Leh'ct's surprise spoke fluent Common, and made sure Gobo was ok with them killing the creature before they finished doing just that. As it fell, Gobo pulled out Gobo's Dimensional Ripper and used its magic to tether the fading OoPA corpse to this realm for harvesting.
With the fight over, Gobo introduced himself and Knick-Knack to the party and gave them a rundown of the goods and services he offered. Knick-Knack whispered something to Gobo during this exchange, prompting the goblin to entrust the adventurers with Gobo's Dimensional Ripper and a Bag of Colding so that the adventurers could preserve OoPA parts and other Underdark monsters that Gobo could later turn into magic items for them, for a perfectly reasonable fee.
He did make the parts Jake F. Statefarm harvested from the armadillo OoPA into trinkets free of charge to demonstrate his skills, thinking to himself, "Give them the first one for free and that's how you get them hooked!" He also sold the group several of his magical mushrooms and started keeping track of how much each adventurer spent as they started to work their way towards earning Gobo Medals. Leh'ct in particular was interested in this and offered to sell Gobo one of his Unseelie Mushrooms, which Gobo purchased for 100 gold with the intent to try and grow more.
Once all the purchases had been made on both sides, Gobo packed up to take his leave with Knick-Knack. But before he left, he warned them that they'd have to cross the Silken Paths to get deeper into the Underdark and to the Black Loch beyond it. This prompted the adventurers to purchase a few extra mushrooms that provided poison resistance and Gobo bid them farewell, seeming confident that they'd meet again in the near-future.

Open for Business at the Deep Spire

The Thaig Expedition next ran into Gobo at the Deep Spire on the Black Loch. As they entered the Spire's harbor, Gobo was throwing fliers advertising his shop over the side of the Spire to flutter down below. This did not sit well with the guards, two of whom soon paid Gobo a visit to have a word with him about his littering. Gobo insisted it was advertising, not "littering" (making air quotes as he did). This argument did not dissuade the guards and Gobo switched his demeanor to compliant & chipper as the adventurers of the Thaig Expedition (i.e. customers) walked in. As soon as the guards backs were turned to leave, Gobo stuck his tongue out at them before greeting his customers.
Gobo was curious about the adventures his customer-friends had been on and they started to tell him a few stories. While telling tales of slaying OoPAs, they pulled out a few parts they had harvested from the creatures and paid Gobo to transform a few of them into trinkets. Sunny paid Gobo to transform dead darkmantles they'd collected into a Dark Mantle, while also (along with Jake and Elycia) buying some of Gobo's magical mushrooms. At this point, Sunny and Jake had each spent enough to earn several Gobo Medals. While Jake was ecstatic to get four different medals, Sunny was less enthusiastic when he pulled three of the same one.

Gobo and Mott Go Drinking

Gobo was introduced to the kuo-toa Mott a few days later when Leh'ct brought him by to purchase some socks for the boots Mott had won gambling. Gobo saw Mott wandering around a few days later and invited the kuo-toa to go drinking with him, and their adventure began. He and his new fishy sailor friend bumped into Raddon, a duergar known for his persistent drunkenness around the Deep Spire, while they were out drinking. The duergar managed to convince the drunken pair it would be hilarious to fish the dead mind flayer out of the harbor, string it up, and charge people to use it like a piñata. While they were able to bribe their way past the Tideborne Tribe guard who saw them doing this, they were less lucky with the Sword Dancer who caught them when the cadavers arm fell out from under the tarp while they were carrying it upstairs. Though Raddon managed to run off with the body, Mott and Gobo wound up in the local jailhouse a grumbling Gobo had to use some of his hard-earned coin to pay his bail and fines for the "crimes" (with air quotes, as Gobo saw it) that he'd committed.

Day After the Hangover

Gobo was woken up by Knick-Knack the next day when the adventurers of the Thaig Expedition came seeking his services. After being roused while mumbling about how much he loves his grandma, the sleepy goblin (in blue pajamas decorated with cartoon versions of Knick-Knack) was happy to buy the goods, jewels, and unwanted magic items in the party's possession. He also made another OoPA part into a trinket for them and turned the hide of an elder xorn they'd defeated into a pair of Xorn-Sole Boots. Sunny also inquired whether Gobo knew anything about the Lost Catacombs of Auldbaern, though all Gobo could tell them were things they already knew.

(Almost) Leaving the Deep Spire

Sunny popped in on Gobo following an adventure to the Ruins of Gyan'dis, finding Gobo outside his rented shop space grilling up some meat and mushroom shish kebabs. He wanted to speak to Gobo in private, which Gobo was happy to oblige after Sunny gave him cookies. Gobo left Knick-Knack in charge of the grill while the two went inside. Once the door was shut, Sunny revealed pieces he'd taken from the corpse of an elder brain.
Gobo asked Sunny to wait a second, took out a waterskin, drank from the waterskin, and did a spit take a full 30 seconds after Sunny told him this. Sunny said he had some ideas for the materials but also wanted to see what Gobo would come up with. Pulling out a quill, ink, and parchment, Gobo threw together a list of items he could potentially make and the cost of each. Though some of these items definitely interested Sunny, the ones he really wanted were outside his price range and he decided to try and make something himself.
Later, Gobo was approached by Sunny's brother Ban (who he mistook for Sunny) and made parts from an ostrich-like OoPA into trinkets for him. Gobo made sure to be extra nice, curious how this guy managed to harvest OoPA parts without a Gobo's Dimensional Ripper.
Not long after this, Gobo somehow talked his way into being in charge of the catering for the Conclave of the Fleet. Seeking a ship to get all the foodstuffs he'd need there, he reached out to his familiar drinking buddy Mott and hired the Grinning Widow's services. While he was directing the kuo-toa on loading the ship, Gobo was approached by the adventurers of the Thaig Expedition and hired them as bodyguards to keep the ship safe from pirates and sea monsters during its voyage. A few hours later the ship set sail, Gobo putting on a tricorn hat and taking over the captain's quarters to establish dominance.

Conclave of the Fleet

The Battle of Skatha's Rest

When the boat arrived at Cairnhollow Isle, Gobo had it positioned about a quarter mile north of Skatha's Rest (where the Conclave of the Fleet would take place) to keep it out of the way of the Tideborne Tribe ships. While he went ahead with a small group of kuo-toa to get all the cooking tools set up, he ordered the rest of the crew and the adventurers to get everything out of the cargo hold and onto the beach.
Gobo was prepping food with several kuo-toa when a cry of "Attack!" went out, signaling the beginning of the Battle of Skatha's Rest. Seeing orog guards being struck down by teleporting Awakened, Gobo told Knick-Knack and his kuo-toa helpers that it was time to skedaddle. Though three of his workers were struck down by the invading duergar, Gobo used his magic to force the three attackers to dance and led the survivors out during their escape back to the Grinning Widow. When the battle was over, one of Lord Varl's men came to the Widow and told Gobo to keep the ship with the Tideborne Tribe vessels for protection until they were ready to leave.

Gobo's Gift of Exposition

Half a day later, the adventurers returned to the ship after hunting down enemy combatants who'd escaped earlier. Gobo was in the middle of a game of Go Fish with Mott when they arrived, which swiftly ended when Mott saw K carrying a deceased Jake. Ban asked Gobo if he had some way of preventing Jake's body from decaying and smelling. Gobo offered to sell him a scented candle for 1 copper. When Ban declined, Gobo suggested putting the cadaver in the Bag of Colding he'd previously given to them. Ban informed him that bag had been destroyed along with Sunny (which led to Gobo realizing Ban was a different person Gobo lamented the destruction of an item he'd worked hard on, saying he didn't have the means to make another one & talking about how summoning an ice paraelemental without ticking off Cryonax was a tricky and dangerous thing.
Ban questioned who or what Cryonax was and Gobo explained he was an elemental prince of evil who rules the Plane of Ice with a cold, iron fist. Not to be confused with cold iron, that blue ore from the Shadowfell that fey hate. While Ban wondered if they could find a different cold-aspected monster, Gobo wished him luck and said he was getting out of the area before more battle broke out (but not before selling some relief supplies) and going to check in on his grandma. Ban asked if Gobo could help work out what sort of magic that crown from the catacombs possessed, but its magic was beyond Gobo's skills. Nor was Gobo able to fix it, though he did tell them that doing so would require the skills of a master dwarven smith like those in Brazenthrone.
Gobo's earlier mention of cold iron caught Leh'ct's attention, as it seemed to line up with something referenced in his letter from Mother Moth. Gobo confirmed that cold iron ore was blue and that forests could be found down here if you went to the Underdark portions of the Feywild or Shadowfell. While @Ban encouraged Leh'ct to ignore the riddle, viewing riddles as a poor method of communication, Leh'ct surmised the riddle may mean Mother Moth is hiding in an area rich with cold iron that fey such as M may avoid.

Elycia Guilt Trips Gobo

Later, the adventurers were discussing an issue with restoring Jake to life. The magic would consume the diamond used to cast the spell completely, and the lowest value one they had was worth double what the raise dead spell required. As they were discussing this, Elycia noticed Gobo standing close enough to overhear the conversation and trying not to look guilty. She loudly stated how surely Gobo wouldn't allow Jake, one of his best customers, to stay dead and lose out on potential future sales if he had a way to fix that problem. The guilt-tripped Gobo admitted he did have some diamonds on hand, but they'd already been promised to another customer, a deep gnome named Thaalthug Geomender.
Knowing that deep gnomes value gems, Elycia suggested offering the diamond buyer the black pearls they still had in place of the diamonds. Seeing as diamonds could be mined and pearls could not, they may be much more valuable to a deep gnome. Gobo stated it didn't matter because he didn't have a way to contact Thaalthug, a counterpoint that was quickly shut down when Villamax offered to use a sending spell for him. After Gobo told the wizard exactly what to say, Thaalthug agreed to the trade and Gobo gave two 500gp diamonds to the party (one to Elycia and one to Leh'ct, each of whom gave Gobo a black pearl).

Off to Brazenthrone

Trip Through the Tunnels

Weeks later, the adventurers returned to Gobo to sell a number of items they'd acquired during their most recent escapades. Making small talk while everything was being tallied up, the adventurers mentioned that they would be heading to Brazenthrone soon. Gobo claimed he knew the gatemaster there and could get them into the city if they chose to enter it by land. Shortly afterwards, the adventurers decided they would indeed take Gobo up on his offer and approach the duergar city via land.
Their trip started uneventful, but certainly did not remain that way. Less than a day from the city, the group split up; Ernest and Bertrand would stay behind under the protection of Villamax and Itassis for now. Though the wizard had crafted hats of disguise to make the dwarf brothers look like duergar, he had concerns about their ability to maintain the facade through mannerisms and their accents. The advance party would return and make a report after some initial spying and hopefully that would allow the brothers to spend time in the city without drawing attention to themselves.
Gobo continued forward with the advanced party, spending much of his time eating sandwiches and protecting them from a hungry & lazy Bogo. The tunnels eventually ended, opening into a well lit cavern. From somewhere up ahead, the group could hear the sounds of metal hitting rock. While K and Elycia went to investigate, Gobo hung back with the others (to finish his sandwich). Sounds of battle could be heard up ahead not long after; while the others rushed to help, Gobo figured "they got his" and stayed where he was until it sounded like the violence was over.
When he went over to she what had happened, Gobo was briefly shocked and then enraged to see the adventurers speaking with Jenlin Keenpast. She had the audacity to describe herself as the #1 merchant in the Underdark when that was Gobo's job! Gobo fumed and started to turn red when he declared Jenlin to be his rival, only for her to act as if she didn't know who the Great Gobo was! He grumbled as the conversation went on without him, commenting that he could've told the adventurers many of the things Jenlin was filling them in on. And reminding them that it was him, the Great Gobo, who could get them into Brazenthrone. His mood was not helped by Elycia's statements that she found his rage to be adorable.

Arrival to the City of Blades

Several hours later, the group had made their way to the main gates of Brazenthrone. Gobo told the others he'd catch up after tying his shoe; when he did, he found the gatemaster Darmond Stouthead trying to fleece Bogo and the others with "taxes". Gobo told the adventurers he'd handle it and started to talk about something unsavory Darmond had done while out drinking with Gobo one night. Whatever the incident was, it was damaging enough to the gatemaster that he let them through at no charge if it meant Gobo keeping his mouth shut.
After the adventurers stopped a stone giant from rampaging while under mind altering effects from corrupted faerzress and witnessing the dragon Yolheimsu'um pass by, Gobo was led to visitor apartments alongside the adventurers and started to unpack.

Expanding His Stock

While the adventurers were off making introductions to several of the city's power players, Gobo remained in the apartments to run a few experiments. The adventurers returned to find him in a lab coat and Gobo told them he was on the cusp of figuring out how to attach multiple trinkets to a single piece of equipment. The group had learned that OoPAs were attacking the city's entrances and people on the roads outside on a semi-regular basis, so Gobo's announcement gave them the idea to go OoPA hunting. Not only would that give them additional parts to improve their equipment, helping to kill the creatures could earn them the goodwill of the locals.
Gobo heavily endorsed this idea that would have them spending more money at his shop and told them to stay away from that "evil witch" Jenlin Keenpast while they were out and about. This reminded the adventurers they still needed to visit Jenlin, much to Gobo's ire. Not long after, the group returned from slaying a snake-like OoPA and paid Gobo to make some pieces of it into trinkets. As they approached, Bogo heard his uncle talking in a strange, hushed tone and noticed a strange flash of light under the door to Gobo's room when Elycia knocked, but decided not to question it.

Headed Back Home

When the adventurers eventually left Brazenthrone, Bogo accompanied them for part of the journey. After a week of travel they came to a fork in the tunnels where Knick-Knack was waiting for Gobo. After the two reunited, Gobo bid farewell to the adventurers and headed back to his home village (after collecting the Bogo's yearly tithe to deliver for his nephew, much to the young druid's grumbling).

Gobo's Traveling Shop
List of Gobo's Trinkets
Written Works
The Story of the Journey of the Life of the Great Merchant Gobo: The Musical