Gob Glenfellow

Gob is the fifth child of Marigold and Gilbert Glenfellow. His mother, an adventurous explorer, gave birth to him alone, in a forest near their home, after following a suspicious sound outside that lead to her incapacitating an aggressive bear, with the stress inducing a 4-week premature labour. His father is a wealthy, hands-on founder of a manual worker agency who was able to provide his family with a spacious house in the countryside.

Gob had a pleasant childhood and became close friends with a young human sorceress, Rosario, and a male half-orc, Henk, who both worked as farmhands close by. Although the duke of the surrounding land, Duke Brushworth, was always kind to Gob’s family, Gob could see his tyrannical and abusive nature, forcing the local farmers into extreme poverty. As he grew, Gob became enamoured by tales of noble knights and powerful wizards and finally decided to act against Duke Brushworth who had started to take a worrying interest in Rosario and insisted that she would work for him. Gob had been tutored in the use of martial weaponry his whole life, so trained the farmers to use their farm implements as weapons, forming a resistance against the duke. After forcefully refusing the tax collectors, the farmers marched on Duke Brushworth’s manor and chased him away. Thankfully, many people had issues with Brushworth’s toxic leadership, and his land was given away to a new, fairer duke. Over the years, Gob would regularly return to the farmers, helping them out and checking that they were still being treated fairly.

After beginning to settle down into a normal life with his wife, Ilga, Gob started to be visited by the ghost of Emmeline – a human wizard. She had died to an ancient, sophisticated trap in nearby ruins while doing research, and her spirit refused to move on until her spellbook had found its way into somebody else’s hands. Gob ignored the spirit for years and attempted to raise their adopted child, Nordak, but eventually became tormented by it. He left his family in search for this spellbook and fell into the same trap Emmeline had fallen victim to years before. The trap poisoned him with a paralysing toxin that began to break down his muscle tissue. In reach of Emmeline’s corpse, he used what little strength he had to retrieve her bag and crawled out of the trap. Several days later, Ilga found Gob and brought him back home. He narrowly survived and spent months recovering but would never return to his full strength.

During this recovery time, he had little else to do besides study Emmeline’s spellbook. He gradually began to learn her magic, but repeatedly caused problems with random and backfiring spells, including one that blew up in his face that led to permanent, mildly damaged vision and hearing. He also discovered a mysterious blue glass candle in Emmeline’s satchel that serves no apparent function, but Gob began to obsess over its meaning. After being house-bound for so many years and not really being able to test out his magical ability in the field, Gob’s curiosity got the better of him and he went out in search for adventure.

Duke Brushworth (92, human male, lawful-evil)

A tyrannical duke that Gob helped overthrow. He was forced to flee, and little has been heard of him since. It’s believed that he went into hiding with relatives. He (rightfully) blames Gob for the revolt and hopes to one day enact his revenge, despite now being an elderly man who can rarely leave his bed. His family may also bear this grudge.

Rosario Delamente (67, human female, neutral, sorcerer)

A sorceress Gob met while she was discovering her powers as a young girl working on her parent’s farm. Despite Gob being a few years older, they became friends due to her perceptive nature and mature sense of the world, preferring to break up everyday monotony with mischievous antics and an infectious personality, which she still does to this day. She works as a successful, travelling show-magician, specialising in trickery and colourful evocations.

Henk (65, half-orc male, neutral-good)

Henk was born in Zaxbar, Roxaban but grew to dislike the more barbaric aspects of the city. He aspired to be a hero like in the songs bards would bring to the taverns he snuck into. Orphaned and (rightfully) feeling that Roxaban was no place for the kind of person he wanted to be, he managed to travel to Vaerun at the age of 10 with no money or possessions. He eventually found his way to Sar where he could put his strength to use by working as a farmer and earn a living, rather than relying on stealing and intimidation to survive. This is where he met Gob, and the two would spend many evenings drinking and fantasising together about adventuring. Once he better understood how to integrate with Sarian society, Henk branched into trading and exploring, feeling that this was closer to his ambition of being a hero. He sells the occasional ancient artefact or lost weapon he finds on his explorations to worthy buyers.

Emmeline Goldwood (31, human female, neutral-good, wizard, deceased)

Emmeline was an ambitious wizard who had explored much of Vaerun and uncovered many mysteries of the history of Nova. She studied ancient artefacts and ruins to teach herself arcane magic that is rare in modern times. Tragedy struck when she was exploring ruins in Sar and was killed by a deadly trap. Through her studies and her pure determination to not let her work go to waste, she anchored her spirit to the material plane and repeatedly visited Gob, tormenting him into retrieving her spellbook.

Ilga (173, stone giant female, neutral-good)

Ilga is a stone giant who lived in the Underdark in the Atoan Mountains. Little is known about her past, except that she once held a powerful position in their society. Wishing to see what life outside was like, she gave up her position and made her way to the surface. There she immediately bumped into Gob and Henk who happened to be exploring nearby. She instantly fell in love with Gob – the cutest thing she had ever seen in her life. Gob helped introduce her to surface life and they made a life for themselves in an impressive home Ilga carved into the Atoan Mountains. Ilga is an extremely accomplished stone sculptor – even for a stone giant. Although they mostly live a quiet, selfsustained life, if they are ever in need of money, they can easily sell one of Ilga’s artworks for a small fortune to a powerful family with too much money.

Nordak (21, dwarf male, neutral-evil, monk)

Gob and Ilga’s adopted child was always troubled – perhaps due to his unusual, isolated upbringing, or perhaps something passed on from his unknown parents. He’s the standard left at the steps of a monastery child nobody knows anything about. He trained with the monks and quickly showed an affinity for martial arts, but was banished at 10 – the youngest ever person to be banished from the monastery. He left home at 18 and travelled to Emenes. He has no money so steals and robs to get by, sneaking into taverns to sleep. His martial prowess allows him to fend off any trouble he attracts.

Gilbert Glenfellow (118, halfling male, neutral)

Gilbert is Gob’s father and is a successful owner of a labourer company. He became quite wealthy with his hands-on approach and networking skills, so bought some land and moved to a rural area in the Ritau coast to raise his family with his wife, Marigold.

Marigold Glenfellow (116, halfling female, neutral-good, ranger)

Marigold is Gob’s mother. She is a hardy, adventurous explorer in astonishing health for her age and profession. She regularly explores the Atoan Mountains and excavates ruins to find ancient objects for her private collection, but this is becoming less feasible as she grows older. She is currently spending much of her free time searching for Fildo.

Big Gob, 1st son of Gilbert (93, halfling male, neutral-good)

Eldest brother, Gob, who family and friends call Big Gob (and the other Lil’ Gob). Big Gob began working as a bard and is usually kind-hearted but would seize every opportunity to one-up Lil’ Gob. Relationship soured until Lil’ Gob and Rosario pranked Big Gob when he was performing for Duke Brushworth. Since then, Big Gob has been too traumatised to perform, ending his dream of being a famous bard. Big Gob now makes a living from selling counterfeit goods in Emenes and is never seen in the same room as Lil’ Gob. Big Gob has threatened to one day take revenge on Lil’ Gob and turn his dreams into ashes in his mouth.

Fildo, 2nd son of Gilbert (90, halfling male, neutral-good, missing)

Fildo was always ambitious and discovered his knack for baking at an early age. Out of all the sons, Fildo resembled his mother the most – in both personality and appearance. He, however, preferred a more comfortable lifestyle. He quickly became the cook of the family and went on to start his own high-market bakery in Emenes. The bakery rapidly grew in popularity, but Fildo began acting strange and then mysteriously disappeared a few days later. Fildo always seemed somewhat distant to Gob, so Gob is fairly indifferent to his disappearance.

Eldon, 3rd son of Gilbert (85, halfling male, neutral)

Eldon is a spitting image of Gilbert and has always had a close relationship with him. He works with Gilbert on a daily basis and is taking on more of his duties as a company owner and a land owner as he gets older. Due to Big Gob’s deviance and Fildo’s disappearance, Eldon is currently the primary Glenfellow heir.

Roscoe, 4th son of Gilbert (81, halfling male, neutral)

Roscoe used to be an ambitious halfling, first dabbling as a tailor for nobles and moved to Emenes to enable this. He grew in renown and became increasingly involved in politics. At first he pursued this wholeheartedly, memorising every piece of gossip he heard during his work, and he eventually moved to the capital, Medrin. He later grew a distaste for this way of life and moved back to live near his family, working as a successful farmer, preferring the simplicity this brings to his life.

Franklin, 6th son of Gilbert (68, halfling male, neutral)

Franklin is very opportunistic and resourceful. Throughout his life he has managed to pick up a range of skills, but he largely keeps to himself. He worked with Fildo in the bakery, but secretly used it to peddle drugs. With Fildo’s mysterious disappearance, Franklin now acts as the bakery’s owner.

Harol, 7th son of Gilbert (60, halfling male, neutral, bard, incapacitated)

Harol admires Big Gob and followed Big Gob’s dream of being a bard. Due to this, Harol and Lil’ Gob rarely see each other and don’t particularly get along. Harol regularly performed at various social functions and was growing in influence but was recently poisoned. He narrowly escaped death and is currently living back with his parents, bedridden and usually unconscious.