Noblock Master Pest

Noblock is a gnome, 3'11" tall, 92 lbs., with thick black hair and brown eyes alive with mischief. He is 361 years old. His magical cloak and ring are both useful for getaways if he gets into trouble, which is by no means unusual. He also has a magical ring which allows him to taunt a lawful aligned character twice per day. Noblock hails from the Highfolk, and has heard of Fischer (detailed earlier in this chapter), who is avoiding him like the plague. Noblock has a room above the Barge Inn, although he moves on frequently.

Noblock is, simply, extraordinarily chaotic and ill-mannered. He insults people for the sake of doing it, but his favorite targets are those in authority. He loves mocking such people, and drawing them into abusive arguments. He considers himself a master of the put-down; one of his often-used lines is "The last time I saw a face like that it had a horse's tail above it to keep the flies off." Added to this rudeness is Noblock's appalling sense of fashion. He wears bright pink and yellow clothes, and often skips about town wearing a set of bells on his belt and playing a silver flute (extremely badly).

How does Noblock get away with this? To a large extent, he doesn't; he has been barred from more taverns, and thrown out of more adventuring parties, than most anyone else the PCs will ever meet. But he is smart, and his split-class skills are valuable; when adventuring, he does his work well and is honest, not stealing from his fellows. He also assesses situations so that his insults will not be punished. For example, he knows it is beneath the dignity of a paladin to issue a challenge to such an absurd-appearing creature half the paladin's size, and he relies on such social conventions to keep out of major trouble. However, he can be impulsive, and knows what it is like to spend time in prison, or the stocks.

Noblock is an excellent nuisance character. He might steal something and plant it on a PC for fun, mock (and taunt) a PC paladin, try to get friendly with a gnome or dwarf PC (and be hard to shake off, delighting in trading insults), and so on. Life is never boring with Noblock around.

AC 1 (leather armor, ring of protection +3, and Dex 18 MV 12; TS/14; hp 24; THAC0 18/16; #AT 1; Dmg 1d6 +2 (short sword +2 Str 12, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 15, Wis 7, Cha 13; AL CN.

Spells: 3 1st and 2 2nd.

Spells usually memorized: change self, color spray, hypnotism, blur, improved phantasmal force.

Magical items: ring of protection +3, short sword + 2, cloak of the bat, ring of invisibility, and a special ring (see below).