I've planning to offer my players the abandoned mine office from Dragon 333 as their headquarters, but want to give it a guardian/servant, on the lines of Kreacher the House Elf from the Harry Potter series.
Anyone have a good substitute idea for a House Elf? I'm going for magical, small, annoying, but useful enough in light household and setting off appropriate alarms if the headquarters is invaded...
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I vote for a kobold. He could work for the PC's out of fear of them, or for pay, or whatever. I especially enjoy dragonwrought kobolds (from Races of the Dragon), as they're the smallest, weakest creatures in the world, who act like the greatest- "But I am a dragon!" Also he could "protect" the house with cunning kobold traps!
Maybe some form of mephit would be good. It would make sense for an elemental creature to be close to the Whispering Cairn.
Maybe an owlbear?
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I vote for a kobold. He could work for the PC's out of fear of them, or for pay, or whatever. I especially enjoy dragonwrought kobolds (from Races of the Dragon), as they're the smallest, weakest creatures in the world, who act like the greatest- "But I am a dragon!" Also he could "protect" the house with cunning kobold traps!
Kobold manservant FTW! XD Seriously, every time I've had an NPC kobold appear in a game I've run, hilarity has inevitably ensued. With their small dog complex, they always have something to prove, but at the end of the day, they (usually) realize how tiny and weak they are and end up groveling for mercy. Kobolds are inherently funny, this is a well-documented fact. Goblins CAN be entertaining as well, but nothing's as yappy and resentful as a kobold.
If you're looking for something more faerie-oriented, there are several interesting types of fey in MMIII.
A teensy little elemental could work. Maybe Allustan or Filge or even a PC wizard could reverse-engineer the process that kept the earth elemental trapped in that one Laborers' room in the Cairn.
Depending on the setting/party dynamic, a guardian could be created, rather than found. You could use some type of homunculus or clockwork, or even undead. Motey the Tomb Mote is the "animal mascot" in our AoW game. Those little buggers are terrifying! The size of a cat, continually hasted, can't speak, but understands Common with a human level of intelligence. Not terribly sanitary, though...
Do any of these ideas click for you? House elves are awesome, and I suppose you could always just make up some stats and be like Bam! Now there are house elves in my game. Or it could be some sort of tragic result of an illegal breeding program (an elf and a goblin? goblin and gnome? what comprises a house elf?), or the result of a wish gone awry, or the aftermath of other assorted types of magical meddling.
What are the classes/personality types of the party?
Some really great suggestions!
I actually was going to include kobold porters -- I'm mixing AofW with Attack of the Spider Eaters, Crown of the Kobold King, and a few other favorites in a truly homebrew version of the campaign arc. If the party takes them on, Toki and Gyd are the kobold version of shaggy and scooby -- cowards with tendencies toward gluttony, and Gyd, of course, has a speech impediment that starts every word with "R" and Toki feels that he has to translate, even when obvious. Kinda corny, I know, but myplayers will enjoy these two -- not the brightest of servants.
For the house servant, an elderly pixie might be a good pick -- Courtney brings up a good point about the party make-up. We haven't actually picked off character generation night, but if they are too encumbered by palidens and good clerics, a talking zombie goblin may end up being my house elf!
This works really well with trying to integrate a few unpredictable undead -- I'm using a skeletar (spell-casting skeleton) from Bone Hill to spruce up the Whispering Cairn.
Thanks again for your input!