Gregthorpe Rustletwit Hastings III

"As per usual, the party was surrounded by mist that restricted their vision to only a hundred or so feet ahead. The forest was deathly silent, except for the occasional shriek of some unnatural beast, and the brush was only dimly illuminated by the weak noon sun above, obscured by fell clouds. Suddenly, they smelt a dank scent on the wind. A distant song, its words indistinct, echoed through the woods. The outlanders turned to await whatever fresh horror Barovia had summoned from the depths of the underworld. But strangely, a troupe of cutlass wielding halflings came into view. At their head was a fellow with gold-rimmed glasses, trim white beard, and brass ear-rings. He seemed a giant among halflings, standing at over 4 feet tall and wide too. He wore a leather greatcoat and swaggered into view.   Bowing, he spoke in a thick Lornish accent:   "Pleased ta' meet ye, travellers. Ye can call me Old Greg."     Gregthorpe Rustletwit Hastings III is a halfling of Dourfoot descent who sailed across the world hauling cargo for the Empire. A former adventurer, he retired from his former career to captain a cog - The Fat Bottomed Maid - sailing out of Amon in the 710s. Around this time, a young halfling orphan named Mim Proudbottom was brought to the steps of his cottage outside Amon. In his long life, Old Greg had amassed a sizeable amount of wealth and knowledge, so he seemed a suitable candidate for an adoptive father. More significantly, Old Greg felt guilty at the fact that he never had time to raise the numerous bastards he had sired over the years, and wanted to make amends. Furthermore, his closest child, Gavelwyn Hastings, disappeared in Barovia and never returned. Not wanting to abandon his business, he took the child onto his trading cog, teaching him the rudiments of sailing, merriment and music. As the years passed, the dangerous business of sailing began to lose its appeal to Old Greg. Feeling a great responsibility to his adoptive son, he paid for his education at the College of Lore.

Mim and Old Greg stayed in close contact during Mim's years at the college, and Greg was full of fatherly pride at his adoptive son. But while Mim was finishing his studies at the College, Greg was called away on urgent business. One of his former adventuring colleagues was kidnapped and put on trial in Drakenhelm for grand larceny, and Greg rushed to the North to investigate. Greg sent a letter to the College, but it was intercepted by the authorities. During the months he was away, Mim graduated, returned to the cottage, and found Greg gone with nary a trace. A spy planted by the authorities confirmed Mim's fears: that Greg had died of natural causes.

By the time Old Greg returned, Mim had already travelled to the West in search of treasure and adventure. Waylaid by the Inquisition, Mim was already months away. He spent months searching for his missing son. Until in the late Spring of 736, he picked up a trail leading to the Svalich woods...