Old Foofelah's page

About Old Foofelah

Old Foofelah is the oldest goblin in the Licktoad tribe EVER. She was there to pass judgment when the present chief was born. (Her vote was to leave the infant in the swamp and try again, but no one listened to her. She wasn't yet the oldest goblin in the Licktoad tribe.) She tells many lurid and heroic stories about the Licktoad goblins when she was a girl, and why shouldn't she, since anyone who could have contradicted her is now dead? Her studied opinion is that the tribe has suffered a tragic decline, probably brought about by not listening to her opinion, and can't hold a candle to the exploits the tribe achieved when she was a girl (in which she played a starring role).

The Licktoads give Old Foofelah a wide berth when they see her on the move, either because they don't want to hear her opinion on the subject (whatever that subject may be) or because of her habit of hitting the younger goblins upside the head with her walking stick when they don't show proper respect, possibly both. Mostly they don't show proper respect by mumbling when they speak to her. Of course, Old Foofelah is so hard of hearing (though she won't admit it) that the only way not to "mumble" is to shout. She also has the unpleasant habit of telling embarrassing stories about the infancies and childhoods of prominent members of the tribe, very loudly due to her hearing impairment.

Quite honestly, it would have been arranged for Old Foofelah to meet with a tragic and gory accident long before now, if it weren't for her one redeeming feature: her ability to create fireworks from her fingers. Of course, she can be talked into doing so only on special occasions and only after long and complimentary pleas and only in exchange for certain desirable remunerations. Still, they are fireworks, and thus Old Foofelah's continued existence as the oldest goblin in the Licktoad tribe has been to this point ensured.

Old Foofelah travels in a cloud of strong perfume from a murky bottle she has treasured for years and wears a wide-brimmed floppy hat atop a powdered wig pilfered from the Sandpoint theater on special occasions. She carries a handmade fortuneteller's deck consisting largely of amateurish but graphic images of goblins suffering violent fates that she uses to depict what will befall Licktoads that don't do as she says. She also prizes a leeching kit that serves double duty as pets and, in a pinch, snacks.