Hob-Goblin (TROIKA! Background)

Hob

Noun

(archaic) The flat projection or iron shelf at the side of a fire grate, where things are put to be kept warm.

Hob-goblin

Noun

The goblin who sits upon a hob. Duh.

Most folk claim that hob-goblins are named for the hob upon which they sit, but if that was true then what was the hob named for? You know the truth of the matter; hobs are so-named for the hob-goblins who deign to alight upon them in secret, always just out of sight of a home's occupants, even when sitting right beside them at the hearth.

You should know, since you are one after all.

It is your calling to find a spot by a nice, warm hearth where you can rest, and watch, and ensure that the household around it doesn't descend into utter ruin in the indelicate hands of the big folk who own it. To some, you are a small-god of raked ashes, of docile mice and spilled milk unwasted. But it isn't an easy job, and you aren't always thanked for it either; some big folk don't even know you're there, and blame the disappeared leftovers and scraps of cloth on rats or elves, which you are perfectly fine with.

But it satisfies something deep in your liver to preside over a well-kept hearth and home, and to see your chosen wards prosper in at least some small ways. You watch them grow and cycle through the home generation after generation, some far too soon and others lingering on well past the point you expected. Perhaps this is what it's like to be a schoolteacher.

When a home finally dwindles and empties with no one left to tend the hearth and leave you little offerings (knowingly or otherwise), you die down with the embers, awaiting the next big folk who will assuredly need your help, but might not ever know where to look.

That is why, on rare occasions, a hob-goblin will separate themself from their hearth. It's an uncomfortable process that leaves a groove in the hob forever unoccupied by their behind, but it frees the goblin to follow after a departing family, or even strike out on their own.

Your head is full of knowledge and memories from across the hump-backed sky now, but your feet are beginning to ache. Perhaps you'll find a new hob to sit upon soon.

Brownie by a Fireplace, John Bauer

Possessions

• A Tatty Old Cap
• Walking Stick (actually a Fireplace Poker)
• D6 Mementos of families you've sat beside

Advanced Skills

4 Sneak
3 Homemaking
2 Sleight of Hand
1 Language - Mice

Special

At any time you may designate a hearth, firepit, or similar fixture as your chosen hob. You can become perfectly silent and invisible so long as you are within range of your chosen hob. What constitutes "in range" depends on the size and nature of the household in which your hearth is located; you might stay invisible all throughout a farmhouse and surrounding yard, but you can't haunt an entire castle this way. Severing yourself from your chosen hob requires that you Test your Luck, usable once per week.

Additionally, you can produce a flame like a match by snapping your fingers.