Postfest XIII(Brewfest 2009):Bubbagump Grumblefoot– The Halfling Horror Part I |
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| Posted on Thu, January 07, 2010 by LordCeb |
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bubbagump writes "There is a deadly and horrifying evil lurking beneath the city of Greyhawk…no, wait, that’s just a halfling. How dangerous can he be?
Postfest XIII (Brewfest 2009): Bubbagump Grumblefoot – The Halfling Horror, Part I
(CE male pseudonatural halfling cleric of Tharizdun 14/rogue 5/assassin 9)
Once a simple halfling farmer living near Narwell on the Wild
Coast, Bubbagump Grumblefoot stumbled into his current career quite by
accident. In the Spring of 573 CY, on a trip into town to gather a few
supplies and perhaps down a pint or two at the local inn, Bubbagump
happened to meet an adventuring party that had apparently just
completed a successful mission. Fascinated by their tales of danger and
derring-do, he stayed listening for hours, inadvertently drinking far
too much. He woke up in the local jail with them, his head pounding and
filled with half-remembered images of revelry and drunkenness.
Fortunately for him the adventurers were sensitive to his plight
and paid the fine he had incurred for public intoxication out of their
own pockets. Upon hearing his description of what his shrewish wife
Verma would do to him when he returned home, one of the adventurers
gave him a small trinket from the treasures they had accumulated,
suggesting it might quiet her. The trinket, a small statue resembling a
grotesque human-like figure composed entirely of horrified demonic
faces, appeared to be very old and of little value, but Bubbagump
thought perhaps he could talk his sharp-tongued wife into believing it
was valuable and thereby turn aside her anger.
Unbeknownst to the poor halfling farmer, the statue was dedicated
to Tharizdun and carried a potent curse. The morning after his return
home he awoke with whispers in his head, darkness in his heart, and
blood on his mind, fully in the thrall of the Lord of Entropy. He
immediately left home to follow the voices, leaving a stunned and
surprised wife without a look behind.
In spite of his newfound madness, Bubbagump retained enough of
his wits to realize that a lone halfling traveling unarmed along the
Wild Coast would be easy pickings for bandits or monsters, and so he
nearly killed his trusty plow pony trying to catch up with the
adventurers who had saved him from incarceration. He finally caught up
with them in a small village south of Sobanwych and begged for the
chance to serve as their henchman, creating a tale of having been
thrown out of his house by his enraged wife to provoke their
sympathies. The good-natured party agreed to take him on as a hireling
provided he would look after their mounts and equipment and keep out of
the way as they pursued their vocation.
Summer of 574 CY found the group in the village of Hommlet
following rumors of a hidden treasure cache left behind when the Temple
of Elemental Evil was sacked after the Battle of Emridy Meadows. After
a brief investigation the party instead discovered the Temple was in
the process of rebuilding . They took heavy losses, and only two (in
addition to Bubbagump) escaped alive, hoping to inform local
authorities of the danger.
The voice in Bubbagump’s head must have seen this as a rare
opportunity, for during the party’s headlong flight from the Temple it
began to urge him to take advantage of the situation. He eagerly
accepted the call, murdering the surviving rogue when he stopped to
catch his breath. The party’s other surviving member, a mage, had
exhausted his spells in battling the Temple’s guardians and could do
little to resist Bubbagump’s attack. Heavily wounded already, he opted
to feign death instead of fight, and this likely saved his life .
Bubbagump collected his former companions’ equipment – especially their
magical equipment – and fled toward Hommlet.
Upon approaching Hommlet he stashed his new-found wealth in a
hollow tree and concocted a tale of bandit attack to explain the
absence of his friends. The sympathetic villagers accepted him into
their midst, even taking up a collection to provide for his room and
board until he could find proper employment. Bubbagump accepted their
hospitality with apparent gratitude and settled down in the Inn of the
Welcome Wench to salve his wounds and plot his next move.
It was during this brief respite that the voice of the Dark One
once again prompted him to take action. At midnight following his
second day in Hommlet the voice led him to a ruined moat house a few
miles outside the village. Some divine protection must have been in
effect, for he was able to pass within arm’s reach of a number of
dangers during his trek without coming to harm. A curious intuition led
him to a secret door beneath the moat house, and this in turn led him
to a strange dark obelisk that stood in a long-forgotten chamber .
Sensing he was finally in the presence of his new-found master,
Bubbagump set up camp in the chamber, meditating upon the obelisk and
the secrets it contained and sinking deeper and deeper into madness.
The curious protection that had guarded him when he first approached
the moat house remained upon him, and for some months he was able to
live unnoticed in the obelisk chamber even as the forces of Elemental
Evil moved into the dungeons above him. He learned much dark lore
during this time, and his skills grew considerably.
As 574 CY drew to a close, Bubbagump’s solitude was finally ended
when he received a visitor in his hidden chamber. A mysterious wizard,
locally known only as the Black Sorcerer of Verbobonc and himself a
servant of Tharizdun, entered the chamber to inform Bubbagump that it
was time to take a more active role in the worship of the Lord of
Entropy. The Black Sorcerer was to escort Bubbagump to a hidden enclave
of Tharizdunite druids based in a secret valley deep in the Welkwood.
For three years Bubbagump served the dark druids in their hidden
lair. The first year was the most unpleasant, for though the voice in
his mind had assured him that he was a chosen vessel, many among the
dark druids saw him as little more than a nuisance and he was bullied
without mercy. Taken aback by the unexpected treatment, Bubbagump
allowed this to continue for a while out of the naïve assumption that
his divine patron was trying to teach him something. His insanity soon
won out, however, and following a particularly brutal exchange with one
of the druids’ senior members he lapsed into a murderous rage and
executed nineteen members of the community.
While such a rampage would have earned him immediate hanging in
any other community, Bubbagump’s bloody actions proved to be a blessing
inasmuch as his superiors began to view him in a different light. The
leader of the dark druids recognized his talents, and rather than
punishing the deadly halfling he began to find more appropriate uses
for the homicidal halfling’s lethal skills. For the final two years of
his time with the dark druids Bubbagump was able to divide his time
between eliminating the enemies of the cult and being instructed in the
deeper mysteries of his faith. It was during this time that he took his
first vows, officially becoming a cleric of Tharizdun.
But his time among the dark druids was fated to end, for as
Bubbagump’s skills and favor with the cult’s leadership grew so did the
envy of his rivals. Jealous of his success, a number of his fellow
initiates conspired to undermine his position, planting evidence in his
rooms and whispering lies into the ears of his superiors. This time it
was his growing reputation as a deadly killer that saved him, for his
superiors were loathe to move against him directly. Fearing they might
be slain in their beds if they tried anything overt, they instead hit
upon the idea of promoting him to service elsewhere. Thus, in 577 CY
Bubbagump was sent to train at the Temple of All-Consumption in the
Lortmil Mountains to the west. It was only later that the dark druids
discovered he had already looted their most valuable and powerful
treasures and was indeed planning to assassinate them.
Bubbagump’s training at the Temple of All-Consumption progressed
in the expected manner, and he rose steadily through the ranks. His
unassuming appearance and halfling heritage proved useful to his
superiors, as it allowed him to move unnoticed among the towns and
villages of Verbobonc. He soon became the Temple’s foremost agent in
the area, which proved a blessing as it kept him out of the deadly
political maneuvering that was going on back in the Temple. Since he
was so often traveling, his rivals assumed he was uninvolved in such
machinations and delayed any actions against him. As for Bubbagump
himself, he was content to remember the names of those who stood in his
way, saving his revenge for a more appropriate time. His limited time
within the Temple’s walls was spent following the guidance of the voice
in his head, studying, and perfecting his skills in preparation for a
time when they would be needed.
That time came in Fireseek of 583 CY, just before the Spring thaw
opened the mountain roads to travel. Led by a vision, Bubbagump
undertook to raid the hoarded treasury of Hedrack , the deposed leader
of the Temple of Elemental Evil and now a rising star in the Temple of
All-Consumption. One item in particular, a confusing book of seemingly
random thoughts penned centuries earlier by a prophet of the Dark God
known only as Vax, proved to be especially enlightening. Within its
pages Bubbagump learned of an artifact known as the Minthexian Codex,
also called the Book of Nine Shadows by some, supposedly the closest
thing to a Tharizdunite holy text in existence . Less than a week
later, prompted by the same spirit that had inspired Vax, Bubbagump
gathered his equipment and left to find the Codex. As had become his
pattern, he left several bodies in his wake.
His search led him northward to the city of Molag, capital of the
humanoid Horned Society. It is a testament to Bubbagump’s skill and wit
that he was able to survive among the humanoid hordes of that land,
much less to attain the capital. Guided by his inner voice to seek out
a hierarch named Durgoth Shem , Bubbagump was nonetheless surprised to
find Molag in an uproar, as his arrival occurred mere hours after a
successful coup perpetrated by none other than Iuz himself . Bubbagump
was forced to flee the city for his life, nearly exhausting his supply
of magic and losing much of his accumulated wealth in the process.
The following months proved a test of Bubbagump’s faith. Following
his flight from Molag the voice of the Dark God fell silent, leaving
him without guidance or direction. Fearing he had somehow offended his
divine master, Bubbagump drifted aimlessly, moving ever southeastward
almost without thought, desperate for a means of once more achieving
his god’s approval . He survived by random murder and theft, at times
even sinking so low as to eat his victims.
And so it was a particularly bedraggled and demoralized Bubbagump
that finally stumbled into the city of Rel Mord in 587 CY. For some
months he lived as a beggar in the back alleys of the city, lacking the
drive or the capacity to do more than barely survive. This time it was
a chance encounter that turned the tide, restoring his mind and
reawakening the voice of the deity within him. Quite by chance a
paladin in service to the crown of Nyrond stopped to drop a charitable
coin into his palm, casually conversing with his companion as he did
so. The companion, a dangerous-looking elven warrior, made a passing
reference to one of the pair’s past adventures, in specific mentioning
one Durgoth Shem, whom the paladin had apparently slain in the depths
of the Vast Swamp.
Curiously, whether by chance or by divine whim, the name of
Durgoth Shem was able to penetrate Bubbagump’s daze and once more
reminded him of his ordained mission to retrieve the Minthexian Codex.
Laboriously he pulled himself together, gathering what remained of his
possessions and slogging after the paladin and his elven friend to
learn more. Subsequent investigations led him to understand that Nyrond
had sponsored an expedition to a long-lost tomb some years before, and
the expedition had been repeatedly harried by Durgoth Shem and his
cohorts until they were ultimately defeated in the tomb itself.
It was a much changed Bubbagump Grumblefoot who finally
penetrated the Vast Swamp in fall of 588 CY. Strengthened by his
ordeal, equipped and enriched by a savage spree of assassinations
through Nyrond, Almor, and Ahlissa, and once more guided by his inner
voice, he was remarkably self-assured as he set foot on the streets of
Skull City. The necromancers and undead of the newly-built city
provided little resistance to his purpose of finding and entering the
legendary tomb beneath.
The tomb itself proved far worse, and Bubbagump narrowly avoided
death several times before finally discovering the ruined body of
Durgoth Shem. While the agents of Nyrond had looted a considerable
portion of the tomb’s riches years earlier, they had been reluctant to
disturb the remains of the reviled ex-hierarch, and so Bubbagump found
the Minthexian Codex conveniently lying unguarded and preserved beneath
his rotted corpse. As a final insult to the failed cleric, Bubbagump
raised Shem’s body to serve as porter for the items he acquired in
Acererak’s haunted resting place.
With his quest at an end, Bubbagump retired to the friendly County
of Urnst, renting a modest home in Radigast City in order to avoid
notice and pursue his studies in relative anonymity. He voraciously
absorbed the lore within the Codex’s pages, learning a number of dark
and powerful rituals even as he was drawn ever deeper into madness.
In summer of 590 CY Bubbagump was finally able to decipher one of
the more difficult passages in the Minthexian Codex. This inspired an
expedition to Wintershiven and thence to the Rakers in search of a lost
city built by the faranth, a race of twisted, alien creatures long
since vanished from Oerth. Bubbagump found the city easily enough, and
surprisingly found that a few of its primordial builders survived. With
some difficulty he managed to convince them he shared their goals, and
was able to spend nearly a year studying under them and absorbing their
forgotten lore.
Once again led by a vision, Bubbagump entered the city of
Greyhawk in summer of 591 CY, there to deliver Tharizdun’s blessing to
one Elgoth, an aspiring priest of the Dark God who was prophesied to
become the father of a holy child who would prove instrumental in
freeing the imprisoned deity. Unfortunately, Elgoth and his
aristocratic sister/mate were soon brought down by their own greed,
leading to the arrest and execution of not only themselves but also of
a number of aristocratic cult members.
The trials of these high-profile cult members proved a blessing
in disguise, however, as Bubbagump was able to use the distraction they
provided to set up shop in the city without drawing the notice of
authorities. By the time the last cult member was executed, he had
acquired an apartment in the basement of a run-down tenement in the
city’s Slum Quarter, established a cover identity, and begun
construction on a secret lair. Aided by demons, undead, and other
summoned creatures, he finished construction of a small but serviceable
complex a mere two years later, furnishing it with all manner of
foulness.
Following the completion of his hidden lair and laboratories,
Bubbagump returned to his home near Narwell in Autumn of 594 CY, there
to commence his most horrifying acts yet. Seizing Verma, the wife he
had abandoned decades earlier, he stole her away to his lair, leaving
her new husband and family in pools of their own blood and their
farmstead in flames. Horrified at the changes she saw in her former
husband, Verma was helpless to resist him.
Back in Greyhawk, Bubbagump subjected the terrified woman to
tortures too horrible to describe, in the process fathering three
children, each of which he subjected to a series of magical processes
designed to transform them into monsters more suitable for his
purposes. They now serve as his most powerful and trusted minions. Each
is a unique and horrifying creature, no longer bearing any resemblance
to normal halflings except when disguised by their ability to assume
halfling form. Verma’s womb was ruined during the birth of the third
child, and Bubbagump now forces her to serve as his maid, occasionally
torturing her further just for the vile fun of it. A broken woman, her
youthful shrewishness is now gone forever, swallowed up by bitterness
and terror.
Bubbagump Grumblefoot Today
Since his humble beginnings, Bubbagump Grumblefoot has risen far,
becoming perhaps the world’s foremost authority on Tharizdun. His many
travels have provided him with contacts in many lands, and he has used
these to assemble a network of spies and informants that may rival even
that of the famed Circle of Eight. He and his minions work tirelessly
to assemble the elements they need to free their primordial lord, all
the while maintaining a façade of weakness and innocence to avoid
notice. Even Bubbagump’s neighbors are unaware of his power and
purposes, seeing him as nothing more than a down-on-his-luck trader of
questionable goods, and only occasionally noting the visits he receives
from odd strangers.
Bubbagump, or simply “Gump” as he is called by those who think
they are his friends, is a master of disguise who prefers the
appearance of a normal (non-adventuring, non-dangerous) guy. When not
in his alternate form he usually appears as an innocuous-looking
hairfeet halfling of middling years, topped with curly brown hair going
a little gray at the temples. In the manner of most halflings he
typically goes unshod. His usual expression is friendly and somewhat
bland, though when engaged in assassination or other evil acts he
sometimes allows a glint of pure wickedness to seep onto his face. He
has also crafted a number of alternate identities that he uses outside
of the Slum Quarter, putting his Disguise skill to good use to keep his
true identity secret. In his alternate form he is a hideous creature
covered in rubbery purple and black skin. His head and body are
hairless, and his seemingly boneless feet and hands end in blunt claws.
His teeth are wickedly pointed.
Regardless of which disguise or form he uses, Bubbagump keeps a
number of magic items about his person with which to protect himself.
Beneath his shirt he typically wears a suit of fine elven chainmail
enchanted with a number of dweomers. He also owns a magical vest –
usually appearing as worn leather but capable of changing its
appearance – likewise enchanted with several properties. Thanks to the
magic of this vest Bubbagump is able to instantly summon his
wicked-looking envenomed daggers into his hands, making them readily
available for use when needed. These weapons are consecrated to
Tharizdun and bear several hazardous enchantments of their own. Aside
from these Bubbagump possesses several other enchanted items, using
them as appropriate for the circumstances at hand.
The lair Bubbagump has constructed far below the streets of
Greyhawk is not large when compared to some dungeon complexes, but it
is heavily enchanted and trapped, and at least one of his children is
always on hand to act as guard. The complex contains lavish living
quarters for himself, of course, as well as cages for his children and
former wife, cells for prisoners and captured creatures, several
laboratories, summoning rooms, and at least one gate each to the Abyss,
the Far Realm, and a unique pocket plane revealed in the pages of the
Minthexian Codex.
Using Bubbagump in Your Campaign
There are several ways in which Bubbagump Grumblefoot might be used
in a campaign. He is quite powerful, as are his children, and so should
not be faced unless the PCs are of high level. It is not likely that
Bubbagump would trouble himself with lower-level parties, instead
sending his lesser minions to assassinate them or otherwise lead them
away from his interests.
For short campaigns or one-shot adventures, curious
disappearances in the Slum Quarter may alert parties of Bubbagump’s
presence. From time to time his insanity gets the better of him,
leading him to murder victims at random. He typically stalks these
victims for a few days before acting, but it is entirely possible that
he may not study them carefully enough to learn who they truly are if
they are in disguise or otherwise concealing their true identities. His
children also are prone to acts of random violence, as they
occasionally wish to hunt their own prey.
For longer campaigns, Bubbagump works well as a mastermind
guiding events from behind the scenes. Any plot involving him would of
course involve releasing Tharizdun, at least peripherally, since that
is Bubbagump’s sole purpose on Oerth. As mentioned previously, he is a
great authority on Tharizdun and already knows virtually everything
needed to release the Lord of Entropy – he lacks only certain items and
circumstances needed to complete the job. Should he discover the
involvement of PCs seeking to overturn his plans he is almost certain
to meet them somehow, likely introducing himself as a benefactor or
patron to better keep tabs on his foes and send them off on any number
of wild goose chases.
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Average Score: 4.5
Votes: 2
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