I'm Craic, a goblin if you can't tell by looking at me. I was born in an old forgotten tribe deep in the Underdark, along with my best friend Frix we more or less tried to stick out of trouble. Now, mind you, I've been told that I'm really bad at being a goblin. I enjoyed making people laugh, seeing them smile, making life just a little bit easier for those around. Life is hard enough as it is, especially for us small folk, so I try to make it easy. My friend agreed. When we were old enough and confident enough to set out on our own we did so with gusto. We tried to do good deeds but in the deep down dark deep down you have to be careful of who knows how friendly you are and have to be prepared to do some unsavory things. Throughout the next few years we would end up stealing enough gold to pay a kobold tribe to carve us out an area in the nearby rock formation. As they dug, our little dream grew. We started off with an inn in them idle of nowhere, and people would come and we would serve them with food we would find and cook, offer some rooms. The more people knew of our safe place the more they came, and the more that people would think us an easy target. Luckily while Frix was good at talking, I was good at fighting and kept would be bandits at bay. It worked, for a time, until more and more came. With our growing fortune we paid the kobolds to dig more and more, eventually building a small town of stone, and the town would draw in traders who would want to set up business and eventually Frix would become the mayor of the town. While Frix lead the people, I helped them stay in control and planned the construction of more buildings. By the time I reached 12 we had a sizable city, with guards, trade, a hub where everyone was welcome and no fighting was allowed. We ended up naming the city "Stillstone", because in our minds it wasn't going anywhere. And it was made of stone, but that part is obvious. When the city was big enough Frix was crowned king by the people for their appreciation of what he has given them, and thus he named me his Jester and his second in command. I was given colorful glamoured armor that were my two favorite colors, green and blue, my hat will bells, new drums that I could carry anywhere, and my prized possession: My scepter, with a metal shaft and mistletoe wrapped around the head. And the head of the staff was a literal head, the shape of mine but smaller, and I could make it speak! Life was good. Now, thing you should know about goblins is that Jester is a position of power. Every goblinoid respects the hat and staff, from the lowly goblin to the highest hob. Even bugbears knew to let me be, go where I want, do what I want, as I represented our last living god. Well, most bugbears. A gang of bugbears came to Stillstone and, in their jealousy, demanded the throne. I made a deal, with my king's permission of course, that is their leader could best me in one and one combat we would gladly step down. The fool thought me easy pray, and I guess in the end he was right. We fought, and I surprised him with my skills with my staff and sword, my magic and shield, and when it looked like I may win, the others jumped in. They beat me good, I was only one goblin versus, what, 6? 7 of them? I'm sure they'll get a nilbog for their disgrace of my position but in the end, when I was about to die, my king spoke. If they left me alive, he would exile himself and leave the throne empty. If they did not, he would call the full force of his growing army down on them. So of course they chose life, and such I lived. I woke the next day to see my king gone and my injuries tended to. The woman who tended to me, a drow of all things, told me that the king left me a message and handed me a letter. In the letter he told me that he was already gone, but that I couldn't let the bugbear's win with their dishonor, and attached was a map. A map that lead to his room... back in the castle. So I made my way to sneak in to my own home, and would have made it past the new bugbear guards undetected. Once in my friends room I followed the map and found, hidden beneath the bed, a small lock box. I followed the map to the second clue and found a key in kitchen, and with that I unlocked the box to find in it... another key? And a note. It told me that this was the key to the vaults, and that without the funding the bugbears would never be able to keep the city up, and they would become the victims of uprising. A disaster by their own hands. With this victory I would then flee the city and remain lost in the Underdark for months as I looked for the true king. Unable to pick up his trail I would then do the only thing I knew what to do: I went up. And up, and up, and up. I would make my way up to the surface and my first sight was a giant glorious forest, completely different form the fungal forests that I have come to know. Mist would flow through the trees and in the distance, a lake with a tree growing out of the middle, mountains with snowy tops above me... and I was awestruck by the beauty of this world. In that moment I believed that everything would work out, how could it not with this type of world ahead of me? Well, I'll tell you how not. Humans. Once I made my way to a human village I was almost shot immediately, and I had to plead to them to get them to understand that I lost my home and friends and sought a new life. With distrustful glances they would give me the chance, and I got a job as a hunter and entertainer. Some nights I would play my drums at the inn, some days I'd go into the forest to hunt a beast for whoever asks, and with luck the small village would come to trust me, and even welcome me back when I would leave for long periods of time and return. But despite all of this, I was still a goblin, for the most part. A farmer would come to ask me for aid to stop a group of goblins that came from the Underdark as I had, he hoped that I could talk to them. Trust me, I tried! I arrived at his farm to see the fields aflame and a good number of goblinoids ransacking everything. Their chieftain would be a bugbear that revealed himself to be an assassin to kill me and take back the key, and that's when it hit me! I LEFT THE DAMN BOX AND THE NOTES ON THE DAMN KITCHEN COUNTER! Well I'll be damned, I accidently told them EVERYTHING! Well, none too pleased about this I attacked and managed to kill the assassin and the rest fled. Well, now it seemed that I had a mark on my head and also, screw bugbears. So I went back to the village, told them what happened, and bid my farewell. If the assassins knew I was there they would attack the village, so I left to keep them safe. I hired a ship passage leading anywhere and it was there that I met my new best friend, a rat I would name Veak. With Veak at my side I could do anything! And proved it by making it my goal to make as many people smile as possible. After all, what else are jesters for?