Fitz Hopfoot
Fitz Hopfoot
Humbly raised as part of the Hopfoot clan, Fitz grew up with a natural flair for tinkering. After by chance stumbling upon a cache of rare materials, his "explosive" craft and proficiency was born. Utilising weaves of magic to add to rare materials combustive properties, he ended up joining a resistance revolution known as "The Union" whose purpose is to remove Duke Garrus Direstack from his seat of crooked power.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
A rather small stature, standing 3ft 2in tall. Fairly muscular in build, clearly physically active.
Facial Features
Mid-length brown messed up hair. Bright vibrant green eyes. Pointed gnomeish ears.
Fitz Hopfoot, born in 3211, son of Marnay (deceased) and Geraldine. Former member of The Union
Character Location
Alignment
Neutral
Age
36 years old
Date of Birth
2nd day of Sunwane 3211
Birthplace
Hopfoot Burrows - Iron Hills
Children
Current Residence
No Fixed Abode
Gender
Male
Eyes
Green
Hair
Brown, mid-length
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Tanned/grubby from soot
Height
3ft 2in
Weight
41lb
The Journal Entry’s title
What in the world is that noise, the sound of something crashing through the bushes getting louder...and louder, we all brace for whatever is about to appear. Erupting from the bush are two quadrapedal, boar-like entities, they have barbed tails and some very strange claws at the front. It will later be pointed out that these are Eber Chimera's. As they charge out of the thicket, Bashir is hit with a very heavy blow, he must have an incredible constitution to still be standing, one makes a run at me but I gracefully manage to dodge out of the way.
A summation of the fight has been detailed below:
Seraph requests "Ashimon" to aid him and fire begins to fly from his hands, these all miss their targets though - maybe Ashimon doesn't like him? Whoever he is
Milo creates a large illusory werewolf - the beast passes through it crashing out of our way
The Child falls down unconscious again - he has a rather weak constitution, maybe Bashir can give him tips
Bashir brings the child back to consciousness twice using his divine healing - I want to know more
Seraph asks Ashimon for help again, but this time with a bit more vigor - it seems to pay off
We overcome the beasts - some of the party note that these beasts had other scars and wounds probably from a bigger beast so we move on quickly.
Hurley leads us on to a small farmstead settlement called Turgenwold, he introduces us to Ruthless Rue (A goliath) she puts us up for a few copper each, Hurley kindly pays for us all, he's been so incredibly polite this whole time considering he's doing something he doesn't want to. Whilst pleasantries are exchanged and we're introduced to Rue, Ulysses mentions he's from Myreport, but he hasn't been there for a long time, Seraph also mentions he is from Halthin, I don't think I've heard of that place before.
Ken (Ruthless Rue's half orc husband) comes in and grunts at us, Cypher tries to engage him in conversation and offers to go and help him with his farming...funny Cypher doesn't seem the sort that would enjoy farming. Nonetheless the task seemed arbitrarily pointless as we'd already paid for the hospitality.
A wonderful dinner is prepared for us, all sat around a huge table with lots of local family members here too, I pull my chest up onto the bench to sit on, so that I'm at eye level with the majority of people, all this socialising is bad for the neck muscles. Bashir is asked if he'll perform a prayer before we eat, which he of course obliges.
What A Man Will Do For Family
2nd Sunwane 3247
Weapons drawn, tempers risen....the power that words and threats can have over men. The Child/Lucaris appears to not know the power of his own words. Milo utters some words, an incantation, more magic from this mysterious being! Upon finishing this, quite a few of them seem to calm down, I myself felt some magic trying to take control of me, but alas, it takes some strong magic to win over a Gnomes inhibitions! Seraph speaks up, with a bit of a boom in his voice to ensure he's heard...more magic, THRILLING! He explains the situation and why tempers are so raised.
We're given the information that the priest in Nuecroft is an elf. Seph at this point asks for one of the sellers to come with us to see Izamon, and to give testimony as to what happened. None of them want to come, more arguing and bickering, amidst this a gentleman steps forwards, he seems to be in nicer clothes than the others. He offers to come with us and point out the priest for us. I must admit, these social interactions are a bit lost on me and I remain seated on my chest, dreaming up more inventions, and hoping that we manage to get the gold promised for completing the job.
We break off from the conversation with these bumpkins and discuss between ourselves what we want to do. Ulysses seems adamant we should take the seller to the baron for an admission, Bashir seems to think that there's no problem in selling them, though he isn't keen on how many of them that they have, it turns out Milo snook into the house and saw a huge stash of them. The main vocal parties here are Ulysses, "the vagrant?"/The Child, Bashir and Seph. Myself and Milo don't quite seem "as" interested. More arguing continues, it's obvious that Sarin won't come without a fight. I just want the money, and a simple life. The longer this conversartion goes on, the more people are coming out, we're becoming rapidly outnumbered if a fight does break out, and the bumpkins tempers are beginning to flare up again. The length of this conversation seems a bit of a strategic blunder. We're all new to eachother though, so to be expected.
As the bickering goes on, a small group of this family approach us, again the gentleman that volunteered speaks, he introduces himself as Hurley, he is Sarin's brother. He admits this is a tricky situation, and that someone always loses in a fight, so best to not have one. He is prepared to come with us, Sarin will not come with us. Seph tells Hurley that he will not get him killed, Ulysses at this point suggests that if it's Hurley coming with us and not Sarin, then we need the remainder of the sleep tokens handing over. This is agreeable, much to Sarins disdain. Hurley just wants to keep his families name out of the mud, and out of the barons attention.
As I now get a chance to take stock of the situation and what actually transpired, Seph spoke very well indeed, I don't think we would have avoided a physical altercation without his words. He certainly spoke better than I possible could have, my temper, like my stature, is too short. I notice out the corner of my eye, Milo takes great attention looking at everyone, I don't know if this is a quirk, if it's intentional, but it is a bit creepy, it gets brought up in conversation, I scoff a little as the term "rapey" is used.
As we're awaiting Hurley to say his farewells and get his provisions in order for the journey, the topic of religion is brought up in conversation. Whilst Ulysses has a certain contempt for the church of the wheel, he doesn't hold it against Bashir that he is a member of it and a devout follower of it. Seph brings up a shortened story about a close friend of his that was an incredibly devout follower of the church, but was driven out by the corruption that brews within it.
Thinking about my stature some more, I have a new invention idea, though I will need to hammer out some finer points before I even contemplate beginning to work on them, collapsible extendable shoes/legs that can raise my height up to be in eyeline of normal sized humanoids. This would be pretty nifty at taverns and other such social interactive opportunities.
We're advised it's a few days travel to Nuecroft, so we will visit Crow first and stay the night there. I get that ever foreboding feeling of unpreparedness again, I don't like it. Should I bring camping gear? Will I be able to afford camping gear? I'll find out in Crow, pointless to worry about it now. The conversation between Githforth and Crow is pleasant enough, Hurley seems quite polite. I'm impressed at the legnths he is going through to keep his family name clear, for all he knows he could be walking into a trap, but for his family he appears to be willing to do anything.
We arrive in Crow and Hurley suggests we visit the Dumpy Raven tavern, upon entering he actually buys us all the first round of drinks, I'm beginning to like this having drinks bought for me malarky, I could get used to it! Seraph disappears to go and update the Baron on our current situation, I don't think he's going to mention Hurley or his family at this point, the consensus of the others in this new questing group seems to be all fingers should be pointed towards the priest, I think this certainly falls in line with Ulysses hatred for the church anyway.
I take the opportunity now we're at the bar to share a little about what it is I can actually do, I decide to initially show people the fireworks, it seems most aren't familiar with them and they keep asking about their combat capabilities and can't seem to accept that they are for celebratory purposes. I think, to be kind, Bashir agrees to buy a firework off me, in a momentary lapse of intellectual prowess I agree to sell him one for 2 gold pieces, this is actually less than what they cost me to make. It matters not I suppose, I need coin and if it helps me to build a social relationship then it's worth the investment.
Milo doesn't seem to understand the term firework, he keeps saying, but it's not fire working...I'm exasperated of trying to dumb down my terminology so I get them to come outside and show them just what they do. I let a firework off, and it gets the usual attention that they do, lot's of folk looking on in awe at this bright fire in the sky. My point is made and perhaps my integrity restored a little. It's suggested to me that the people around here are perhaps not rich enough for my wares, and a suggestion is made to me perhaps I should seek out richer people to try and sell them to. I note this down.
Further revelations from our drunken conversations, Bashir is very old and his skeleton friend is called Sharon, SHA RON, CHA RON, Sharenn? Who knows, but I'm absolutely amazed by this religious sorcery, I've never seen animation of this sort before but I am fascinated by it, he even has some kind of invisible help that can move things for him? I don't know if it's a spirit, or just magic, I'll ask him about it at some point. It's at this point that I'm reminded of my current demeanour, Ulysses rather directly tells me that I stink. I go and enquire about having a bath at the inn, I pay some extra coin for a room, a bath and a nice breakfast in the morning. The bath is very welcome, I also get my clothes cleaned overnight so that I may be my usual presentable self in the morning. It's gone slightly over my head recently any looks I may have gotten from my appearance, life has been too hectic.
A wonderful nights sleep thanks to the new blessed moon, what a relief that is, and 2nd Sunwane is here.
Before we depart, I ask Hurley what the travel there is like and if I would need camping equipment or not. It's a fairly safe road, with a couple of barns/stables that he has stayed in before for a couple of copper, so we should be okay. I don't quite like the use of the word "should" nonetheless everyone else seems happy to go without camping gear, so I believe social protocol means I should do the same. Bashir and The unnamed one meet us in the morning, they both had places to stay in the town.
The walk is fairly peaceful and uneventful, I'm constantly walking at a faster pace than normal to try and keep up with everyone, if I manage to sell one of my more potent explosives, I think I may buy some form of transport, my little limbs are constantly aching from the travel. As we're passing a nearby lake, a fog/mist can be seen rolling in, before we know it it's thick...VERY THICK some of the others in the party seem fairly confident that it's natural and just a normal fog. I tend to agree, I've seen fog this bad plenty before, and with a good gust it can move quickly.
Further on we go, as we're passing some thickets there is a rather loud rustling coming from off the path....................................
A New Chapter Begins
1st Sunwane 3247
I arrive in Myreport, feeling somewhat nervous, I've always been taught to be prepared when journeying and adventuring, so to have hastily packed what things I could find away has left me feeling ill-prepared. The boat...ship journey was an interesting one, I'd never been on a boat before and apparently you can't go where you please when you please, I got into a little trouble for being too inquisitive. I take stock of what I managed to rubble together in my hasty retreat. A few explosives, my weapons and tools and a couple of silver. Perhaps enough to get me by, if I can sell some explosives or flares I should be in good stead for now...but I need work.
Speaking with some of the local traders and market stalls, I enquire about work. Most seem uninterested (it doesn't surprise me, my current look is rather decheveled - I should probably look to having a bath), but luck would appear to be on my side, I overhear someone talking about a job in a nearby town "Crow" apparently there could be some good coin to be earned there. I head on over to the outskirts of Myreport to see if I can hitch a ride with someone out that way, or join a caravan somehow. Queuing up, I hear the gentleman tell the person in front of me how much it is to hitch a ride, I didn't hear the number but it was in gold pieces, just my luck...I guess I'll be taking the riskier solo journey. I turn to walk away and leave, hoisting my backpack on and I'm interrupted by a rather large bearded fellow, dressed in some kind of finery that's foreign to me. If I regail him with stories on the way, he'll pay for my journey, how fortuitous!
Onto the wagon we hop, I sit on my chest to help with neck strain of keeping eye contact. Another...creature joins the wagon, sheeny red skin, two rather large horns, glorious jewellery. We introduce ourselves to one another, the large gentleman that paid for my fare is called Ulysses, and this...person? is called Sephy, or Seph for short. My curiousity gets the better of me and I ask them what they are, they are a tiefling, and they seem surprised that I've never seen one before. I keep to my word to Ulysses and spend several hours ranting about the story of The Dirty Duke, and how his rise to power is crushing the working people. They both politely listened, Seph seemed to know who he was but didn't realise he was that bad. I felt myself in a waffle-like rant after a while so I stopped and we exchanged some other pleasantries too. It came about that both of them were also after work in Crow, so I asked if we could visit there together, they obliged. Seph and Ulysses have both been at sea from what I can gather, Ulysses used to be a captain, I'm sure there's an interesting story there about how he no longer is, maybe another time I can ask him for a story, I'm not in a bargaining position right now though.
As we arrive into Crow and all step off the wagon, it seems all three of us agree to go to the inn together, we all appear to be in need of a bit of company right now and I'm very greatful for that, I'm not a solitary creature...my brain races around too much to only be talking to myself. Ulysses immediately offers to begin buying drinks, incredibly generous and I ensure to thank him kindly for it. What on earth is this I hear coming from the other corner of the Inn? A grey skinned...human? is playing an instrument, walking away from it and it continues playing, he keeps doing this until he has his own magical ensemble on the go! Fascinating! He also seems to be producing illusory images to go along with his show, outstanding! I hear people chanting the name Milo Lux. As the discussions are ongoing we're asked if we wish to stay at the Inn, when I'm told that there isn't a common room I'm a little concerned, will I be able to afford a room? A night under the stars perhaps if not. Thankfully the cost of a room is modest and I can afford it...for now. I begrudgingly pay up the 3 silver, now I'm down to my last 2 silver, the others are nonchalantly paying up like it's nothing, it's quite a sobering and embarassing feeling and lowers my mood quite a bit, I really need to earn some coin, quick!
My dreams are plagued, nothing different as of late, yet this time I dream of those I've left behind, being tortured and hung, it startles me awake several times, drenched in sweat. I know they still needed my help to continue on our mission, but I'm not willing to have done to me, what was done to Farun, he didn't deserve it, none of us deserve that.
The first of Sunwane morning, and a blessed moon, maybe tonight I'll get a respite from my own inner thoughts and nightmares. I join Ulysses and Seph again downstairs and I have a modest breakfast that was included with my room fee, this is a far reach away from the meals I was brought up on. We agree again to travel together on to the Vorstle Manor, where the advertised job is, I'm not sure what the job actually is but if it pays, it pays. My superior intellect I'm sure will be of use to any task that is set before us! Whilst walking I do get inspiration for a design, if I could only somehow extend my leg length and keep comfort up, I could probably keep up at the casual pace of these human sized beings. I'm more than aware that they are having to slow down for my sake.
We are welcome in by a butler and the three of us, plus some others that are here (including that bard from last night!) are all offered to hand over any cumbersome items, seems fairly appropriate as we are in someones home. We're met by no less than the Baron! In a room of prospective workers for this job there is myself, Ulysses, Seph, a duergar (it's nice to see someone else of shorter stature), Milo Lux, and I almost missed him, but a very ill looking old, but young man. He's extremely pale, ghostly white hair, has tattered old clothes (not that I can talk) and a walking stick, surely he's no good for any kind of job? Nonetheless the baron informs us that his daughter Lady Auria Vorstle has passed away under suspicious circumstances, notes from that meeting are as follows:
She passed in her sleep two weeks ago, no obvious injuries
Marshal Brackworth closed the case quickly - death by natural causes - private physicians report says otherwise, but can't give a definite answer
No signs of poison
She drunk quite a bit
She seemed happier in the days coming up to her death
We all agree to take the job on together, we're given 5 gold pieces each to help with costs of investigating (thank the Gods), there was some other gold to be given to us at the end, I'm not sure how much now as I was completely overtaken by hearing of the 500 gold piece reward if we are to bring the person responsibly to justice. I'm in, I don't care what needs to be done, I need this money!
The quiet pasty man in the corner doesn't talk much, even when speaking directly to him, I was always told this was rude, but he does mumble something about not wanting any of the gold share, this works in my favour, but does raise suspicion, what are his motives?
We're taken to the deceased girls room, I offer to do a bit of rummaging, I'm normally quite good at investigating, as I begin though I'm more than aware that I'm rather filthy at the moment and it seems a bit disrespectful for me to be grubbing up this girls room and her fathers memories of her, I stay out of the way and take a mental note to take a bath. Notes from what was found in the bedroom and from discussions with Sir Ebon Ferring (a knight that helps the baron):
A sleep token (Natong) fell out from by her mattress, the pale man found that
Milo found a false bottom to her bedside table, it hadn't been put back properly and was empty
Milo likes to sniff peoples underwear
In her diary she speaks of meeting a menacing man from Githforth and if he can keep his promise she will be able to sleep easier, the next day she seems happier in her writings but doesn't mention the meeting at all
There's a family called the Crawfords, they're the main people in Githforth (a hamlet) and they visit Crow regularly
Githforth is only 3 miles away
Names are exchanged with this newly formed group that are taking this quest on together, the duergars name is Bashir, the pale man doesn't seem to want to give us a name, this preturbs me a bit, I have to hold back and give people just two of my names because humans don't like it when us gnomes rant on and this guy doesn't want to give us ONE?! How can people not like a name, maybe we'll just call him the pasty man. We push a little more (I push a little more...) and it turns out he DOESN'T HAVE A NAME! What do you mean he wasn't given a name?! What in the actual...it still irks me now. His family call him "the child" but he is not a child? I don't understand. Seph finds mention of him in the deceased girls diary and calls him Lucaris.
So it turns out this pasty man...child...Lucaris knew the victim and they'd actually formed a relationship he seems incredibly depressed at her passing. The group ask away from Lucaris how we feel about him as it's a bit suspicious that he knows the victim, doesn't want pay and won't give us a name. Seph vouches for him though, so on his head be it.
Lucaris seems keen to see the body to see if any information can be gained from it, maybe he's a physician? I don't know, seems none of us here would know any more than the people already paid to look at the body, but we go along nonetheless. We are greeted by a bishop that seems to know Bashir as we enter the church. Ulysses seems to have a particular disdain for the church of the wheel, not sure what that's about but we continue down to the crypt to see the corpse.
Bashir seems to be rather religious, he and Lucaris approach the body, Lucaris is clearly very saddened at Auria's passing, a little comfort to us to make us think he isn't responsible I suppose. I see Ulysses trying to light up a pipe, a-ha I CAN SHOW OFF MY INVENTION, I giddily pull out the PHAFFER (Pretty Handy Automatic Fast Fire Ejection Regulator) and light it up for him, he seems pleasantly surprised by it. No real information can be gained from the corpse, but Lucaris said it was useful to him, perhaps closure?
We agree we should go to Githforth and speak with these Crawfords, before we leave I visit Barton's General store, ran by a pleasant enough fellow called Hill Barton. I purchase some oil so that I can refil the PHAFFER if need be. They had a neat little way of purchasing oil there, you only have to purchase a flask one time, you can then come back and refil it at a discounted cost. Very intuitive and I appreciated it more than most others probably would, I really enjoy when a problem gets solved.
We venture on and arrive in Githforth, Milo is chattin up anyone and everyone I'm guessing he's good with the ladies, you have to be to be that confident, right?! A lady says "oh you're here for the drink" and points us towards the brothers, the whole interaction seemed a bit suspect and it clicks that the girl that had passed away had a drinking problem prior, could this be something to do with it? Is it a poison? It turns out these roughnecks create moonshine, I was hoping to ask to see their apparatus and how they make it for scientific purposes, but Seraph said something about cops and it all got a bit awkward after that. Shame. Bashir buys a bottle and Seph/Ulysses try it, it's just moonshine liquor. Seph and Bashir keep asking "what else is on the menu" as if we're at some kind of restaurant? I'm incredibly confused at this point and just pull up a seat on my chest to watch these interesting social interactions that I clearly don't understand the subtelties of.
Seph all of a sudden drops the smile, and starts getting serious, throwing accusations about the girl that died and then all of a sudden (I think I'm one of the only ones that realised this) used a spell to cause absolute fear in these people. He mentions a place or person called Dakmar, not sure what that is but I don't think I'd like it. It was useful though as we gleamed the information that the girl had purchased A LOT of sleep tokens from one of the brothers, most people know that if you keep taking them night after night, it really won't end bad for you, it seems this is probably what happened to the girl. The brothers acquire these sleep tokens in bulk from a local priest in Nuecroft. There are then some discussions out in the open about what a "justice" would look like for this girl that essentially overdosed on sleep tokens and who was morally to blame.
To be honest, I don't know who would be to blame, probably the girls closest family and friends for not knowing she needed help? Lucaris then all of a sudden mentions something about slaughtering the family here, swords are drawn and I take a step back.................................
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