Grindle Pip

Grindle Pip – Traveling Gnome Puppeteer

Race: Rock Gnome
Age: 91
Occupation: Puppeteer, stage illusionist, entertainer
Usual Haunt: Children’s alley near the town square, or under a merchant’s canopy during rain

Appearance: Dressed in patchy purple robes stitched with moons and stars, Grindle is short even for a gnome and walks with a squeaky wooden cane. His puppets — two dozen of them — travel in a lacquered box strapped to his back.

Personality: Playful and patient, Grindle speaks as much through his puppets as his own mouth. His favorite phrase is, “Let the wood speak first.” His shows are usually funny… until the last act, which always turns eerily serious.

Background: A traveling performer from the Marsember theater guilds, Grindle left city stages for smaller venues after a tragic fire destroyed his troupe. Some say his puppets now carry fragments of their spirits. He will not confirm.

Reputation in Mosstone: Beloved by children, distrusted by clerics and a few folk sensitive to the supernatural.

Hook: One puppet — an ashwood fox — moves on its own when not being used. It has whispered dreams to Grindle about “a sleeping god under the stone.”