Personalities of Fiddlers Green
by Cab DavidsonTiddy Mun*
(AC 3, HD9***, HP 55, Movement Rate 120' (40'), Attacks 1 club or 1 spell or Special, Damage special or by spell, Save As E11, Morale 10, Treasure Type Special, Intelligence 18, Alignment Neutral)
Tiddy Mun is the leader of the Tiddy, inhabitants of the fends and waterways of Mystara. Nominally subject of Oberons court but having little to do therewith, Tiddy Mun is a playful, joyous creature, enjoying nothing more than feasting and dancing with his people. He appears much as any other tiddy, a tiny creature no larger than a newborn human baby, with thin, spindly legs and arms and a head and feet almost as large as those of an adult with a long, shaggy beard.
He is a skilled fey caster, being able to cast spells as if a 25th level sidhe, in addition to possessing all of the abilities of a normal tiddy. He may become invisible to mortals at will, and his ability to control the level of bodies of water is identical to that of other tiddy. His ability to teleport from one body of water to another is not restricted to 240', he may at will teleport between any two bodies of water on Mystara (even within the Hollow World).
Tiddy Mun carries a number of magic items that he uses variously for his own entertainment and to look after his people. He has a cloak of disguising that allows him to take the form of any creature up to man sized for up 4 hours, once per day, including the form of any character that he has seen. He also has a ring of matter to water that can convert up to 100 cubic feet of earth or stone once per day (turning earth or stone to water, creating a body of water that he can use to teleport, or to subsequently modify the depth of to down foes). He carries a club+4 that can only be wielded by fey creatures, and wields it as a grand master.
He is slow to anger, but a fearsome protector of his people if called upon to do so. His arch rival and most hated foe goes by the name of Jenny Greensleeves, the undisputed ruler of the grindylows, which hunt the tiddy.
Jenny Greensleeves
In a land of enigma and mystery, Jenny Greensleeves is among the most enigmatic of all entities. She is the undisputed master of the grindylows. Her origin, indeed the origin of the grindylows themselves, is entirely unknown, but they are believed to be a race of great antiquity. Jenny herself has no physical form, travels by an unknown means, and can possess any grindylow at will, using her ability to travel across the world, between individual populations of her people, protecting and helping each.
A possessed grindylow is identical to other grindylows but Jenny brings a number of extra abilities. She can only be struck by a magical weapon, is immune to first and second level spells, can strike at foes up to 30’ away, and inflicts twice the damage of a normal grindylow. Once per round she may cast, at will, charm person, sleep, ESP or detect invisible, and three times per day she can cast curse as a 15th level cleric.
Jenny is not evil, but she is truly chaotic in her world view except for affairs involving her own people. She despises the tiddy, who she considers nothing but arrogant interlopers in the homes of the grindylows and she encourages them to be hunted and driven out wherever she can. She considers Fiddlers Green to be her domain, and is particularly keen to keep the grindylows living and breeding there (knowing that repopulating from outside is a difficult option).
She is a constant foe of Tiddy Mun, but fears to confront him directly owing to his awe inspiring magical prowess. She respects Granny Nimblefingers as a worthy foe, and in the interest of not opening a war on two fronts she tries to prevent the grindylows from hunting halflings (however tasty a mortal a halfling child appears to be). Indeed, cordial respect for Granny Nimblefingers makes her the closest thing that Jenny has had to a friend in millennia.
Jenny has a cool, calm, but quite alien personality. It isn’t that she wishes harm on members of races other than grindylows, but they either fall into the prey category or she is entirely disinterested. She can be quite personable, even witty and insightful if caught in the right mood, but her moral compass points in such a completely different direction that it is quite easy for her to unintentionally offer offence. And Jenny is fine with that.
Osian (F9)
AC: 6 (-1), HD: 9+9, Movement 120’(40’) or 90’(30’), Attacks: By Weapon, Damage: By Weapon, Save As F9, Morale 9, Treasure Type: Special, Intelligence 12, Alignent Lawful)
Osian was a young warrior in the lands to the North of the Great Bay of Norwold, a wanderer who had shown great courage fighting off would be Alphatian warlords, protecting his small coastal village both from colonisers and slave ships. But it was on the way home from a return raid when trying attack an Alphatian settlement that he found the Golden Path, a great, glowing patch of ocean upon which his boat became lost. He was the sole survivor of the raid, and found himself washed up on the shore of Lake Berwyn, barely alive, transported to the Tir Na Nog by a powerful Sidhe named Niamh, who had admired and loved him for years. Having saved Osian, Niamh expected him to return her love, but Osian never returned her affections. He was therefore left abandoned, and was soon found by villagers from Meirion.
Since that day, many years ago, Osian has become the unofficial leader of Meirion. He is referred to by the locals as the Mayor, and although this position is not official his great charm and tenacity has earned the respect of all of the residents of Tir Na Nog, and it is to Osian that the court of Annwyn consults over affairs concerning both realms, and it is he that Tiddy Mun and other fey visit first when they go to Meirion.
He appears as a well built, middle aged, nimble human with pale skin, coppery blonde hair and a muscled physique, but behind his cool eyes it is possible to sense an air of wisdom and understanding. For years, he tried to escape Tir Na Nog, but became resigned and eventually contented with his lot.
When ready for battle he wears plate mail armour +2 and carries a shield +2 of speed, and he also possesses a ring of protection +2 and carries a normal sword +1, with which he is an expert.
Uchaf
Uchaf is one of two myconoids (the parent organism from which myconids, or mushroom men grow) on the island. Along with Is (the ither myconoid, living deep in caves) he provides a vital service, cleaning, recycling nutrients and keeping the island thriving.
Uchaf is a marasmian myconoid, and an unusually large one, forming a ring around 800 yards across close to the banks of Lake Berwyn. Like all myconoids, it has only a dim perception of most of what is happening around it can can only be contacted with direct mental means. It has excellent relations with the tiddy, and is counted a friend by Tiddy Mun himself, and Uchafs myconids are to be found dancing with the tiddy through every summer and autumn night. Likewise the faerie folk of the hills hold him in esteem. Humans and demi-humans of the land have learned to leave their refuse for myconids to collect, and it is rare that the myconids come into conflict with them. Through the strange, slow chemical processes by which myconoids comminicate Uchaf is in constant communication with If (the other mconoid on the island), and somehow they manage to coordinate their efforts to manage nutient and water supplies through the caves for the entire island.
Granny Nimblefingers (Halfling 8, attack rank G)(AC -7/-8, Movement 90’(30’), Attacks: By Weapon, Damage: By Weapon, Save as: H8, Morale: 10, Intelligence: 15, Alignment: Lawful)
The Nimblefingers halflings have been residents for generations. Originally hailing from one of the clanholds around Leeha, but having largely forgotten about those days, they now farm, cook, brew and sing as freely and as happily as halflings anywhere on or in Mystara. And Granny Nimblefingers (birth name Lenora Nimblefingers) is the undisputed leader of the clan.
In appearance she is entirely unremarkable – an elderly halfling with ruddy cheeks and typically wearing an apron, a visage that masks an adventurous streak that took her from home in Nimble across much of the Hollow World, to the Outer World and beyond before returning home to be with her family. She is friendly, and always happy to share tales of her own exploits or to hear those of others, spending many an evening mulling ale with a hot poker to share with visitors. Despite having no children of her own the clan affectionately call her Granny, and she is treated as a surrogate grandmother or, at least, an affectionate great aunt by everyone in the village. She also looks after the only tavern in the village, which is simply known as Grannys, and there she entertains halflings, humans, fey and indeed any of the other strange creatures who visit.
In combat, which she has been mostly glad to leave behind her, she can don plate mail +4 of invisibility and wields a short sword +3 of slicing with which she is a master. She wears a ring of speed and a ring of protection +3, and hanging above the bar is her old shield +2 of reflection. With her impressive dexterity score (16) and small size (-1 to AC when a creature human sized or larger attacks a halfling) she’s almost invulnerable to most opponents (AC -7/-8), and fast enough to defeat most foes. Her reputation is such that even Jenny Greensleeves knows better than to tangle with the halflings of Nimble.
Granny is one of the few mortals who has the ability to leave the island. She has a sidhe made broom of flying and a mask of create air that allow her to fly from the island, a feat almost unheard of. With the agreement of the Fey and the Fairies, she keeps the knowledge of how to leave (or enter) the island a secret.
Merkin (Rakasta MU5) and Maurice (Rakasta F6)
The hamlet Crux doesn’t really have spokespeople, mayors or any other leaders. Its population tends to be transient, with some folk being whisked away by the fairies and a fair number lost to the grindylows in the bogs of Fiddlers Green. New settlers from around the world who have become lost and found the Golden Road tend to pass through either to better or worse places. But Merkin (an all black moggie with a white face and front, a magic user of some talent) and Maurice (a scarred ginger tom, an alley cat warrior) are the most respected and long term residents. They have over the years raised many broods of nine-lived tortoiseshell kits, who are you be found across the island itself and further afield. Escape from Tír na nÓg, falling to the surface of the Hollow World, only costs one of nine lives, after all, and this has become almost a rite of passage among their many offspring.
Both rakasta offer their services to the other folk of Fiddlers Green, being skilled pest controllers, in return for milk, cream, meat and fish. They are regularly found in Nimble and Meirion, and after an evening of feasting on Granny’s own clotted cream they are to be heard singing he songs of their people with the tiddy.