Lilli

Lilli Nacklebatter was the youngest of four Svirfneblin (Deep Gnome), born into a wealthy family who co-owned a gem mine in a fortified deep gnome city deep within the Underdark. With three older brothers who worked in the mines looking after her, Lilli fit the typical “kid sister” profile. All her needs were attended to, nobody messed with her for fear of her older brothers, and she was used to getting what she wanted. Unfortunately for Lilli, life as a deep gnome is a dangerous one. With constant threats of drow and duergar invasion pressing in from all sides, Lilli grew up in uncomfortably close proximity to other gnomes in a culture that emphasized conformity out of necessity, giving away wealth for the common good, and discouraged keeping one’s personal matters private. For a teenage girl who wanted nothing more than freedom to do as she pleased whilst wearing pretty clothes and other fineries (all while her elders kept their noses out of her business), such a life was a dull and boring torture. Lilli learned to adapt. Given that her family and everyone who knew them tended to take Lilli’s side by default, Lilli learned from a young age how to lie to and manipulate others to get what she wanted. It wasn’t hard to con others when they wanted to believe her to begin with. As soon as she was old enough, Lilli convinced her family to let her travel with chaperones to a hidden city a few days travel through the Underdark, where drow, duergar, gnomes, and other subterranean races met to do business. In an effort to increase her family’s trust of her, Lilli began to subtly con buyers out of their money, using her age and gender to feign ignorance of bartering or economics whilst convincing buyers to pay high prices for item’s that weren’t worth nearly so much. Once she grew old enough to venture into the city on her own, she learned to pickpocket, forge certificates of authenticity, and gamble when she wasn’t slinging goods at the marketplace. For a few idyllic years, Lilli spent most of her time free among the vast races of the Underdark, away from the smothering watch of her parents, making enough money to satisfy her parents while pocketing the rest to purchase gorgeous clothes, adventuring equipment (selected more as an accessory to indicate status than for its pragmatic use), cosmetics, and luxury goods. This was the good life.   Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. As Lilli began to accumulate more and more money, she became increasingly careless regarding how much she spent and who she lied to. The end of this chapter of Lilli’s life occurred a few years after Lilli had gotten deep into betting on giant lizard races after the marketplace closed for the day. To put a long story short, Lilli was on a roll and had bet on the correct lizard for the last six races leading up to the lizard derby finals. Now was the time to go big. She weighed the odds, did some math, and decided that a 2,000 gold piece bet on her prize lizard was the way to go. Unfortunately, it was near the end of a long trip and she had just spent her last copper on gel for her eyebrows. With no gems of worth left in her possession, Lilli needed to come up with the money for the bet. No problem. She would just doctor up some shiny but relatively common gems to look like black pearls, sell them off, win big on the race, and pay the buyer back with a little extra interest, an apology, and a guarantee to supply a real black pearl now that “the mistake had been discovered.”   What Lilli didn’t count on was her prize lizard losing the race by a country mile. She also didn’t expect the creepy hooded guy who bought the fake pearls to figure out they were fakes so quickly. She DEFINITELY didn’t expect him to come storming back to her as she left the racetrack sobbing into her eyebrows, grip her by the shoulder, and stare into her eyes as he lowered his hood and defused the magical disguise he had been wearing. This was the first time Lilli had ever seen a mind flayer in person.   “You have taken much from me…” he hissed into her mind as his goons began to surround them. “Your delicious brains will pay just compensation and your family shall profit me as my eternal slaves.” As the mind flayer began to psionically pick through Lilli’s thoughts, searching for the location of her family before he devoured her brains, it occurred to her that she had really screwed up. The details of the chase don’t matter, but at the end of the day Lilli barely made it out of the city alive, knowing that she could never safely return nor show herself to her family ever again. She made it to the surface world and traveled to a cosmopolitan city where she could blend in and hide from the mind flayer’s bounty hunters. She developed a series of aliases and disguises she could use as necessary, her favorite of which was the deep gnome “Sparklegem” who wore a fake signet ring marking her as a royal diplomat to the surface in the service of a made up gnomish duke from a nonexistent city in the Underdark.   She had a few adventures from the time she left the Underdark to when she ended up in the city, mostly involving getting out of trouble that she caused for herself and dodging bounty hunters. By the time she made it to the city, she had developed a knack for calling upon the gnomish magic inherent to her race and using it for her own purposes.   For the first time, Sparklegem was free to pursue her own goals and interests. As of now, they look something like this:   A. Dodge bounty hunters. B. Get money, especially rare gems. This is a woman who is used to carrying around gems worth hundreds of gold pieces and hauling thousands of gold pieces around. While most commoners think of adventurers as being really rich, being an adventurer is the poorest Sparklegem has ever been in her life. Combined with the Flaw on her character sheet, this means Sparklegem will virtually always pick the most expensive option available when in town in an effort to re-experience the way of life she's lost. She will always pick the most expensive inn, and once she's there, will get the fanciest rooms. Given a menu, she will choose the most expensive meal/drink. The concept of "not having enough money" to do whatever she wants is new and confusing and she's still getting used to it. Traveling around with a barbarian, a wizard, and a dead guy is a complete shock to her system. C. Look pretty. Will spend up to fifteen minutes every day working on makeup and eyebrows before setting out. Random encounters at night which don't give her time to perfect her appearance are horribly anxiety-provoking. D. Search out situations that give her practice with her arcane abilities and roguish craft. E. Find some kind of support network(s) to help keep her safe (e.g., adventuring party, thieves' guild, jewelers' guild, etc.). F. Eventually return to the Underdark and make things right (either by slaying the mind flayer, saving her family, paying back the money, etc.) G. Find a way to balance keeping a low profile while also being rich and popular and insanely attractive. It's not easy being pretty :( H. See new places, meet new people. Traveling the surface world at all is an adventure unto itself for Lilli. I. Explore exotic/hidden places, including dungeons, abandoned shrines, hidden coves, ancient ruins, etc. These are good places to hone her skills as a thief while uncovering arcane secrets and accumulating money.   Thus begins the campaign.

Features

Gnomish Magic Resistance Racial: Deep Gnome You have advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws against spells.   Darkvision 120 Ft Racial: Deep Gnome   Svirfneblin Camoflage Racial: Deep Gnome   Gift Of The Svirfneblin Racial: Deep Gnome Can cast Disguise Self once per long rest and/or with spell slots. Intelligence is the spellcasting ability for this spell. (At fifth level, can also cast Nondetection in the same way.)   Sneak Attack (2d6) Class: Rogue   Thieves' Cant Class: Rogue   Cunning Action Class: Rogue   Mage Hand Legerdemain Class: Rogue (Arcane Trickster)

Traits

Ideal

Bond

Flaw