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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Artoomis" data-source="post: 53371" data-attributes="member: 111">First, the background story:We had a near total party kill and many of us chose to create new 11th level characters, sticking very closely to published rules only.  I decided to create an unlikely hero who would be surprisingly effective.  Gilbey's story is:Gibley was born in a halfling community far to the west, in a small town called Hillhome.  He parents were Harmli and Grobloe, a pair of retired adventuring bards (there is a rumor that one or both of them are secret members of the Harpers, but they’ve denied any such thing).  His parent’s stories served not only to stir up the adventurous spirit in Gibley, but also in one of his two older brothers, Groblo and his younger sister, Barba.  Groblo is a fairly inexperienced wizard whose adventuring career was cut short by an incident involving a bartender, his comely daughter and a “charm person” spell.  The family doesn’t like to discuss it.  Barba is an active, adventuring rogue who sells her skills to various masters, and secretly sends a portion of her earnings home.  The remaining brother, Fridli, never really got the adventuring “bug,” and stays near home.Gibley’s wild, adventurous spirit was tempered by his fascination with the local temple to Avroreen.  He used to sit and listen to stories from the temple cleric for hours on end.  Then one day, a tall, noble figure came through town – he was twice Gibley’s height, and so heroic looking!  Gibley was fascinated and wanted to emulate him – his name was Artoomis the Just, and told stories to fill a young man’s head with wonder.  Stories of dragons and demons defeated, even minions of a very evil god called “Set” were vanquished.  Gibley was truly inspired, and was determined to become a holy warrior like Artoomis.  Eventually he did succeed in becoming a paladin, but he has never again seen Artoomis.The vows:Vow the First:  To strive for honor and justice.Vow the Second:  To protect the weak and succor the needy.After completing his training and taking his vows, he was rewarded with a small set of twin short swords to wear around his neck (the holy symbol of Avroreen) and status as Paladin of Avroreen. Gibley then began his adventuring career in a most ordinary fashion - answering a cry for help.  Bobo, a high priest of Avroreen, had recently received a request for help from the family of Jenfer, the daughter of a very influential and well-to-do local family.  It seems she had gone exploring and was last seen headed towards the old ruins about 1/2 day out of town.Gibley and several others immediately set out to rescue Jenfr, and, after battling kobold, orcs and not a few foul undead they managed to rescue her alive, surprising even themselves. After that harrowing introduction to adventuring, Gibley began going wherever he felt he was needed, following up on rumors of undead infestations, missing persons reports, mysterious crop failures, and generally anything out of the ordinary.  He soon grew quite adept at the business of confronting evil ne’er-do-wells, and a few people even started seeking him out, and not just halflings, either.  He was picking up quite a reputation for taking on nearly any righteous cause.Gibley continued adventuring very actively for several years, traveling all over western and southern Faerun, seeing many strange peoples and customs.  He is probably one of the most widely traveled halfings ever.However, this was all putting quite a strain on him, and he decided to retire.  This was not to be, however, it is just not in is his nature to sit still for long.  He did manage to locate a peaceful valley in the deep south.  He was very happy there, it was a small community with many races represented and living in harmony.  After a couple of years of relative bliss, he decided his days of resting were over – he needed to be “out there,” spreading the word and doing good deeds, “spreading the word.”  Since his adventuring companions decided to stay behind in blissful retirement, Gibley decided the time was right for a divine companion, and he prayed long and hard for guidance.  In the end, his prayers were answered in a most astonishing fashion.  He had a dream to go to a certain remote field and wait for his prayers would be answered.  He did so, and after 7 days of fasting and purifying himself for whatever was to come, he was amazed by the sight before him.  A bright light blinded him with its brilliance, and when it faded, he saw Forndel descending down to him on a small cloud.  Thus did Gibley meet Odif, his erstwhile companion and mount.This was about a year ago, and, in the intervening time, Gibley spent what was left of his adventuring spoils on having Celestial Armor made for Odif.  It somehow just seemed right – since Forndel had come down from the heavens, he should not be totally earthbound while serving Gibley, and , of course, Odif himself is Celestial. Gibley’s current adventure is to seek out an old adventuring group, the Fellowship of the Mithral Tree.  It consisted of elves and dwarves working together for racial harmony.  A worthy goal indeed.  Gibley decided to seek them out, and see if he might use that organization to help prove the worth of halflings to other races, and thus help to bring all races together.  In the past few months, he’s managed to get a hold of several rumors that indicate that one of the members, a dwarf who is so far nameless, may have lived in a dwarven town in the northern mountains.   A place called Mountain Lake.  Or possibly “Dug – something,” that’s the problem with rumors, you can never get them exactly right.  It is there he is bound.</blockquote>

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