Grunnald

Grunnald was a dwarf proprietor of the Friendly Bat in Womford, a town along the River Dessarin in the late 15 century DR.

Description
Grunnald was a stout dwarf with dark red hair and a trimmed beard.

History
After an unfortunate confrontation with a spell-slinging Zhentarim agent, Edgin Darvis and his thieving band (Kira Darvis, Simon Aumar, Holga Kilgore, and Forge Fitzwilliam) became stranded in Womford, near the River Dessarin during a procession celebrating the Feast of the Moon. The group found a way to the Friendly Bat Inn, where they met a dwarf proprietor named Mae and her young daughter Muren. The two were assembling a life-sized poppet as per the local Feast of the Moon tradition. It bore a striking resemblance to Grunnald, Mae's late husband, gone two years back.

Grunnald was said to had been slain by a band of bandits that plagued the town, extorting money under the pretense of protection fees. By Mae's account, the dreaded leader of the bandits, known as the Bandit King, took Grunnald's life as a late fee for the previous year's payment. Edgin volunteered his band to stop the bandits from terrorizing the town.

By the end of the next day, Edgin's band collected a hefty amount of donations from the locals to the cause, but soon after, they were captured by the Bandit King's men and dragged to their lair. There, the band of thieves faced a greedy white dragon dracolich called Glyrgoth who commanded the bandits to fill her coffers with treasure. However, the dracolich was not the Bandit King—it was Grunnald!

The thieves found the 'Bandit King' full of wine, sitting on a throne in the dragon's treasure vault. When confronted, Grunnald revealed to Ed that becoming the Bandit King was the dwarf's ruse to stop the bandits from the inside. To prove his loyalty, Grunnald faked his death and led the dracolich's men to the wealthiest townsfolk. Eventually, Grunnald realized that the Bandit King was an empty title and the gang's true leader was a dead dragon. Since then, the dwarf had been nothing but a decoy, locked away with Glyrgoth's treasures.

With Grunnald's help, Ed's band managed to get out of the cell and, along with several handfuls of treasure, flee the dragon's cave. They rode out of the lair on a mine cart but plummeted into the cold Dessarin waters with the treasure, but it sank to the riverbed.

Mae was happy to see her long-dead husband at first, but that didn't last long as the happiness was replaced by anger. Grunnald, the "Bandit King," had much to atone for. Before departing the dwarven inn, Edgin left little Mae a gift—the only item rescued from the dragon's hoard. The painted porcelain boar was a poor consolation for two years of grief. However, the clumsy child instantly broke the pig, revealing a handful of treasures inside the figurine.

Appearances

 * Comic Books
 * Honor Among Thieves: The Feast of the Moon