“Who are you calling a Thief? I’m a COLLECTOR, thank you very much.”
Lokli is what dwarves call a “gutter gnome”, a halfling orphan who was forced to learn how to survive by any means possible. She ran away from an orphanage as a young adolescent and has been on her own ever since. Lokli is very upbeat and high-spirited in spite of her rough upbringing; she’s quick to make friends and is good at earning people’s (sometimes misplaced) trust.
Lokli managed to sweet-talk her way into a group of adventurers as they were planning a trip to one of the Floating Land towers. She originally spotted Deedee, the Mage, and took her for a typical rich high-born person who probably had more than she needed. Lokli was fully intending on “collecting” from these people and making a quick exit, however, she changed her mind as she traveled with them and decided to do everything she could to help them. Several weeks later the group had commissioned two pilots of hot air balloons to land them atop one of the Floating Land towers.
Lokli spotted a very heavy door when the group was inside the tower. She avoided a series of deadly traps on the approach, solved the vault-style combination lock by ear, and entered a large room that was completely empty, save a single gauntlet, plates made of diamond. The gauntlet was too big for Lokli, as it was made for a human hand, but she decided to claim it anyway. She felt a surge of power rushing through her body as she put the massive gauntlet around her tiny arm and she felt “connected” to both the world around her and to worlds she hadn’t known existed. This gauntlet was hers; nobody else would claim it.
Not long after finding the gauntlet, the adventurers were swarmed by demons who were rushing up the tower. If it weren’t for Lokli deciding to use the gauntlet, it’s a near certainty that they would have all perished. Lokli had no training when it came to anything magical, yet she intuitively managed to blast and block demons as the party retreated to the balloons.
Lokli was exhausted. Her skin was clammy, pale, and her lips had lost their color. Deedee tried to convince Lokli that she shouldn’t wear the gauntlet again. “What are you, stupid? You saw what this thing can do. I need to use it!” said Lokli.
“You don’t understand, child. This isn’t a trinket. It might cost you your mind.” said Deedee.
“I’m NOT a child, and it’s not right to let this kind of thing go to waste when so many people are dying,” said Lokli. For the first time in her life, Lokli had a chance to be remembered. She had a chance to actually help people, perhaps help the world, and to be seen as something more than a beggar girl, a petty thief, as a gutter gnome. She was not going to let this opportunity go to waste. “I’m gonna learn… how to use it….” she said and she locked her eyes with Deedee’s. “Will you help me?”
The first Diamond Hand Hero was born.
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