The Unfortunate but “Lucky” Gnome: Chapter 1

In a small world floating in the great void of other worlds. These worlds all have a magical source deep inside them. Some worlds are stronger in this force than others. These magical forces keep civilizations in order without the force people turn into uncivilized beings and society breaks down. In this void of magical worlds rest a world of Humans, Dwarfs and Gnomes called Jo’mo’tinda. This world has a small amount of this magic force and magic is rare and scarce. Where there are sources of the springs of magic is where the cities and civilization concentrate near. The farther away from these areas the feral and wild it gets.

It is here where in the Mountians you can find a city of Rock Gnomes. Working in the mountains and building and inventing things of great wonder. Amongst the noise of chatter, laughter and occasional explosions you find a family of inventors. The family of Blacktoes is their name. The Grandfather patriarch is the cities most famous inventor and strong magic user in the field of Artificier which is making things come alive with magic. His sons all try to be like him but fail to live up to his potential as they do not have the magic like him. So they try and fail in their inventions only succeeding with the help of the grandfather.

However one of the sons has a son of his own that does have the same power in magic as the grandfather. This young lad of 5 is named Smook Blacktoes. He at this early age has shown his potential by making his toys come alive. His grandfather noticed it and began tutoring him in his art.

Smook’s father however took to drinking and failing as an inventor. Not living up to the family name got to his father really bad, he took to getting drunk every day.

One fateful day, Smook found one of his father’s inventions while his father was snoring away passed out from drinking. Being a curious but smart 5 year old he wanted to help his father, he picked up his latest invention. It was a instant cooker that is supposed to cook anything in a second. Little Smook took his father’s alcohol away from him and placed it inside it. The toddler didn’t know how dangerous it was to do this. Luckily his father awoke from his stupor to see what was happening. He screamed at Smook to stop as he got up and ran towards him. It was too late Smook had activated the cooker. The cooker began to shake and glow red. His father dove and covered Smook just as it exploded and a fire ball engulfed them.

Unfortunately his father was killed in the accident. Luckily and also not so luckily Smook survived but suffered burns to the left side of his body. He was horribly scared from his face down his whole left side of his body. His grandfather took care of him and raised him as his own. Smook’s mother remarried and moved away. She couldn’t bear to look at him anymore but his grandfather knew Smook’s potential and took him in as his apprentice. He would always tell him how lucky he is and how smart of a gnome he was.

Growing up was hard on Smook. The other gnomes were scared of his face and teased him. He mostly stayed at home learning from his grandfather and he became a very good tinkerer and his magic ability grew under the guidance of his grandfather. With that his grandfather decided to take him out of school and let him study under him. So Smook spent his childhood with him and had no real friends until he was a teenager and met his best friend Jimbo Laughingtree.

Jimbo was the only one gnome that didn’t care about Smook’s face and understood him as a good person and very smart as well. Though Jimbo was not very bright he had a great sense of humor. He was able to get Smook outside of his grandfathers home and play with others by accepting him as a friend. The others still had trouble being around Smook but with Jimbo around he was allowed to join the other gnomes.

During this time the nickname “Chargrin” was giving by Jimbo and the others to Smook. It was done in a playful not hateful way to where Smook grew to like it. Being burned on have his face gave him a permanent grin with teeth bearing on that side. He learned to use his face to his advantage in a fun way and mischievous way as well. So with the help of Jimbo he grew to accept his horribly scarred face and even use it for himself in a way to make people uncomfortable or laugh.

As they grew into young adult gnomes they went to work at Smook’s grandfathers invention workshop. Jimbo being more of a cleaner and assistant than an inventor but was there mostly for Smook. His grandfather was happy that Smook had a friend to hang out with.

Together with the grandfather’s guidance they were able to make many interesting inventions and make little things come alive with their magical tinkering. Things were going good and people around the community grew to accept Smook and not be wary of him because of his injury.

That unfortunately changed the day of Jimbo’s accidental death.

One day while they were making a new type of crossbow that would shoot fireworks as well as bolts. As they had just finished it Smook let Jimbo take it home to play with and show his friends and family. It was in fact his idea and his first true invention which Smook helped with the hard part and put some magical tinkering into it. But Jimbo was proud of it and excitedly went home with it.

Within about 10 minutes after he left Smook heard and felt the explosion. He knew and feared that it could only be Jimbo for he wasn’t the brightest gnome around. Smook rushed to the fire and scene which wasn’t too far away. It was pure chaos every where. It was like a bomb had gone off houses were destroyed bits of pieces and gnome body parts were spread all around. He went through searching and fearing for his best friend and only was able to find the crossbow with Jimbo’s hand still attached to it and nothing else.

Smook picked it up and sadly looked at it. The crossbow was unique than any other crossbow like the Wookiee crossbow from Star Wars with the ball on the end of the bow and in the front. As he held the crossbow with Jimbo’s life less hand still on it, the finger still pressing the trigger. He knew Jimbo had done this and most of accidentally fired it into the nearby gunpowder storage that was here.

Just as he was turning around to look for injured people to help. The gnomes from the neighbor hood came and saw him standing there with the crossbow and Jimbo’s hand. Being scarred and ugly people didn’t trust him much and the look on their face told Smook that they think he did it. Sure enough they started pointing and yelling. He got scared and ran away back to his grandfather’s shop.

There he closed and locked the door. Turning to see his grandfather standing looking at him worried. Smook told him what happened and the people think he did it. His grandfather grew sad and he knew Smook would never do such a bad thing like that but he knew how the people thought of him and feared him. He told Smook he had to go and sadly helped him pack his things and food for travel. He told Smook he had learned enough from him and can learn more out there in the world away from the gnomes here. By the time the neighborhood were outside yelling for Smook his grandfather casted a portal spell and it opened up in the middle of the living room, inside it Smook saw a town of humans, Dwarves and gnomes by the sea with many ships in the bay. His grandfather pushed him towards it and told him this is where you will find acceptance from not here. He kissed his grandfather and cried as he went through. The portal closed as soon as he stepped through.

The port city was a pirate city. Smook fitted in well with them and soon enough with his skills he was taken on ship as a boatswain. He used his spells and tinkering and intelligence to fix pirate ships up and became a pirate real fast.

For 80 years Smook was a pirate working from boat to boat. As some boats sank or were destroyed or disbanded. He even lost his leg to one boat being destroyed and somehow luckily he was the only survivor of it. His luck never ends even though he is unfortunate with things that happen to him.

So that brings us to his tell that starts now. The tell of the unfortunate but lucky gnome begins…