Grog 24 : Gottfried/Gudrun, the Pied Piper
Age: 25
Story:
Growing up among a family of poor family of German-speaking house servants, Gottfried/Gudrun grew up with the burning desire to own as much (and more) as their parent's master. As a child they were very charming and learned to show people what they wanted to see while understanding what they wanted. They took the greatest joy in playing the flute which they would do on the streets at all hours of the day, choosing to live off the offerings of impressed strangers rather than by bowing and scraping (like their parents) or through hard physical labour (like the apprentices of their age). It took several attempts to kick them out of Stettin as they sang and cajoled their way back into the good graces of the ones sent to chase them away.
By the time they turned 20, they had understood that they had a rare gift, especially the ability to have animals follow the tunes they played. As they made their way westwards, they just played their flute in town and all the rats would follow them. This was a lucrative trade, until they arrived to the city of Hameln, where the people decided not to pay them, seeing that all the rats had been drowned in the Weser river. Infuriated at having been cheated, they returned a few days later and entranced all the city's children into following them.
[I offer 3 options here:
- They had no idea how to feed dozens of children (or even themselves aside from playing in Inns for food and lodging), many of the children died of exposure in the first week, some escaped in the woods, never to be seen again. By the time they all arrived in Bremen, there were only five boys left who were sold off to a merchant ship to serve as crew on their ship.
- They traded them to faeries
- They ransomed them back to the town]
They continued their depredation for a while, until they over-reached and used their wiles to get magic items off of a Redcap on the road to Münster. It was only a matter of weeks before a squad of grogs led by a magus/maga came to recover the stolen property. Furious as they were at the theft, the turb was calmed by the soothing music and the mage reletented under the charm of Gottfried/Gudrun. Instead of a violent confrontation, a deal was reached where Gottfried/Gudrun would never again longer ply their trade on redcaps, join a Covenant of their choosing where they would conform to the rules in place.
Appearance:
Dressed in colourful and good quality but often mended clothes, Gottfried/Gudrun is nonetheless highly charismatic. They have piercing eyes, and despite their below average height manage to be the centre of attention anytime they want. They have a clear voice, well suited to singing and can make themselves very well understood when then chose to. Or they can simply convey their mood through tunes played on the flute. Their hair is kept in a bowl-cut and often kept under a ha
Why are they in the covenant?
Gottfried/Gudrun reached this favorable deal with the thought of controlling whoever would be their new Coven-mates, not knowing that the Parma makes the mages immune to their supernatural skills...
They chose the Party's Covenant as the location seemed interesting and thinking that they could reach a position of power thanks to the Covenant's age.
They are very talented and very convincing, a veritable predator for unprepared grogs or the Covenant's opposition.
Their greed pushes them to over reach and they have little compunctions in using their powers on the unsuspecting.
Stats:
Attribute|Score
Str|0
Sta|0
Dex|0
Qik|-2
Com|5
Pre|2
Int|0
Per|1
Virtues: Enchanting music, Great (Communication) x 2, Wanderer
Flaws: Greedy (major)
Abilities:
Area Lore (Pommerania) (Legends) 2
Athletics (Running) 2
Awareness (Alertness) 2
Bargain (Hard sell) 3
Charm (First Impressions) 5
Entrancing music (Animals) 5
Folk Ken (Cityfolk) 4
Low German (Pommeranian) 5
Music (Flute) 5