Dneri Kettleblack - A Forest Gnome

[brian 333]

Dneri is almost 40 inches tall when her back is not too sore to allow her to stand up straight. In her youth she was judged to be beautiful, but that was many decades ago. Now liver spots pepper her skin and the wrinkles in her face have become creases, each with its own network of wrinkles. Her skin sags where once muscle tone kept it tight, and it has the texture of a loose satin sheet draped over a scarecrow. Her hair is thin, brittle, and white, and her eyes are bloodshot around grey irises that once were as brown as her walnut colored skin.

She wears heavy leather boots, a thick dark grey wool skirt, a yellowed muslin blouse under a faded blue weskit, and a stained grey shawl. In damp weather she will don one or more shapeless knit wool sweaters whose once bright colors and patterns have washed out to a brownish grey.

Dneri lives in a glade in the woods, in a tiny shack hardly larger than a bed with an open firepit in one corner that has no chimney. Smoke from her tiny fires escapes from a gable vent above the door.

In the center of the glen is a cauldron and there is a 5 in 8 chance that it is cooking. Tasting from the cauldron is possible, but it is likely to be a Cure Minor Wounds or an Enlarge or Reduce potion which will have between 10 and 60% of its full benefit if consumed.

In stone-lined caches around the glade are:

10 potions of Cure Minor Wounds
3 potions of Enlarge
3 potions of Reduce
1 bottle of giant spider poison
16gp, 38sp, and 410cp, with two jade stones of low quality.
A leather purse with a lock of baby hair in a silver clip and three wooden carvings: a duck, a deer, and a bear.

Dneri is a level 3 Druid/level 6 alchemist. The locals know of her but leave her alone except to ask her help with medical issues.

Her glade sits at the head of a trail that can only be seen using magic detection of some kind. The trail leads to a fairy ring which allows the character to enter a fairy grotto. The fey within will resent intrusion by large and medium creatures. They will be more accomodating if the uninvited guest consumed a Reduce potion before entering.

The grotto is the seat of Prince Irmin Darkstar, a male pixie who uses the name Tassel. Tassel is the son of Queen Ursial of the Half Circle Court of the Unseelie
Fey. Many believe the Unseelie are Evil, but they are actually of many alignments, (though Chaotics outnumber the rest.) Unseelie are isolationists who believe fey and mortals should not associate. Some are more extreme in this belief than others.

Prince Darkstar is fated to wed Princess Remosa 'Holly' Whitetower of the Blue Hills Grotto upon her ascension to the Blue Hills throne, which may be many centuries from now due to her mother's youth and vigor.

Dneri has known and loved Tassel all of her life, and her two children are his daughters. The older appears gnomish in all ways, save that she is a gifted sorceress with a strong affinity for illusion magic. She is currently married to the Burgher of Forest Wells, a gnome/human town a day's travel from the glade. The younger has fairy wings, though she can only fly when of tiny size. She is currently attendant of her father's court.

Dneri is somewhat bitter that she is elderly and no longer attractive to the one she loves, and she gets jealous of his casual affairs. If she suspects anyone of wanting or being wanted by him, she will react in illogical and possibly aggressive ways.