Character Name: Chartrise Hillsbottom  Race: Halfling  Class: Demarchess (Priestess) of Mask 
Sex: Female  Age: 30  Status: Active 
Played By:  Graham Brown 

Description:

Cute halfling, innocent looking apart from the holy symbol of Mask openly displayed.

History:

Originally from Calimport , in her early childhood she joined the Hidden Temple of Mask. She was asked a few years ago by the temple to investigate the prospects of purchasing an unused temple in Fallow's Cross. She left Calimport taking her most treasured possession, a cube of force with her. She travelled north, finding her way to Silverymoon and then to Fallow's Cross where her attempt to buy the temple failed (perhaps not surprisingly and many still believe that it was simply a ruse by the Calimport temple to get her out of their hair!). She did however meet up with the Fallow's Cross adventurers and was somehow accepted by them (the first major error in judgement shown by the group!). Her first adventure was to a cave reputed to have belonged to a dragon. There, she saved Corrie's life by activating the cube of force just before a giant purple worm was about to swallow them both. In the meantime, Dustar had gone berserk and was chopping his way through the worm's body.

She soon became the de-facto cook to the group, although her curries tended to be a little powerful for most of the party. Marie, however enjoyed the taste of home! According to others she started to cause difficulties in Fallow's Cross when she started up a 'Sunday School' for the children of the village, involving games such as hide and seek, hunt the thimble and the like. Less charitable members of the community insisted she was teaching the children essential Maskarran skills such as pick-pocketing, stealth and lock-picking. The children loved their lessons, but their parents thought otherwise. The Mayor of Fallow's Cross complained to the senior members of the group, who tried to persuade her to halt the school, without much success.

 Some time later, Marie discovered that Chartrise was loosing money in card games with the guards in Silverymoon. This worried both she and Corrie - Chartrise was up to something. Indeed, their suspicions were correct. A few months later, there was a spate of burglaries in one evening in Silverymoon, organized by the Thieves' Guild. A couple of hours later, Chartrise left the town on her faithful pony, Thunderfoot Terracotta the Third. Because the guards were so used to her, they let her pass without hindrance. Little did they know that her saddlebags were stuffed with the proceeds of the robberies committed that night. She had persuaded the Thieves' Guild that their tithes to the Church of Mask were overdue and they had to provide a great deal of treasure to make up for it.

 She made her way back to Calimport with the loot, taking over four months to make the journey, and gave it to the temple. Rumour has it that even then they were not pleased to see her, given that life in Calimport had been uncomplicated with nothing more than the usual deceit and odd guild war. She stayed there until the ill-fated Calimport adventure and was instrumental in finding Marie and getting the surviving members of the party back to Fallow's Cross. Prayers were said in the temple after she left!

 She returned to Calimport less than a year later when she accidentally got trapped with a set of cursed Gauntlets of Fumbling. She "borrowed" the amulet of the summoning circle and left for Calimport. At this point the high priest was convinced he must have done something to offend Mask and was contemplating converting to Beshaba on the hope his luck would improve. He had, however heard of the amulet from the previous visit and wanted this as payment to remove the curse. Much against her better judgement (!?), Chartrise agreed to this, but the amulet thought otherwise and transported itself back to Fallow's Cross, leaving Chartrise in the lurch. As a substitute, Chartrise agreed to a mission from the high priest to investigate an island of Pirates who were not aligned to any of the Thieves' Guilds. This she agreed to and the Gauntlets were removed.

 Just on the new year in 1367 DR, she found herself whisked back to Fallow's Cross when the investigation into the Sword of Elistraee came to an end in that city. It appears that the amulet had decided to bring her back, even though she was unaware that the party was in Calimport. This time the story is that the high priest insisted on a whole day of celebrations to mark the temple’s "loss".

Notes:

Many clergy of Mask believe Chartrise to be especially blessed as she can somehow get away with broadcasting her status in the faith without apparent recriminations either from Mask himself or the local populace. Others doubt though that Chartrise is what she claims and appears to be - come on, a Halfling Demarchess of Mask? I ask you, its too obvious to be true!