Dabney Dubenstein

Was the name of a Hakan city accented member of a Gnomish trope of traveling entertainers making their way through the Gnomish town of Promise in the the Godsbreath region of Hakan during the Awakening Festival of 1516.

Dubenstein, his three fellow traveling entertainers as well as a local merchant and a neophyte priest, all bore witness to a strange incident during the festival song where a number of farmers began to lash out and attack their fellow neighbors, with whatever weapons they could use. They had blood red eyes and seemed cursed with madness. During this near riot, these unaffiliated gnomes aided the townsfolk by disarming or subduing the seemingly possessed rioters.

Mr. Dubenstein, however shot one of them dead with his skills with a bow, as such Dubenstein was formally charged with the death of this farmer. However, as the matter was investigated further, it quickly became more and more obvious that these individuals are clearly under some sinister magical influence and that all hailed from a nearby region known as the Rattle.

A local, beloved town figure known as Aunt Dellie was able to easily convince the local magistrate to allow Dubenstein and these unaffiliated gnomes to go into the Rattle to investigate the source of this dark magic and for herself remain in custody in his place, during such time. Dellie's goddaughter Kianna lives in the rattle and as such Dellie was deeply concerned about the fate of her goddaughter as one of the accursed rioters had on his person, a drawing made in Kianna's artistic style and so she urged the new companions to find her.

These Gnomes now traveled deeper into the Godsbreath region passing out of the prosperous and once verdant area of collective farmland know as The Ribbon and into the wilder more untamed area known as the Rattle said to be haunted by dangerous creatures.

After multiple encounters with such hazards as Dire coyotes, they rescue a local farmer and learn that there has been a growing blight on the land as of late and thus forcing farmers to move deeper and deeper into the Rattle.

Later,the party lost one of their wagons to the sudden shaking of the earth and opening of a sinkhole. The priest and Merchant remained behind while Dubenstein and the other three gnomish entertainers pressed on deeper into the Rattle and toward Kianna's farmstead.

It was here that the found several abandoned farms empty of life with overgrown weeds and untended crops and the soil seemed drained of life.

When exploring the main farmhouse the four gnomes were attacked by other farmers also seemingly cursed with madness as well as undead animated servered hands at multiple points. This led to them exploring the tunnels underneath the farmhouse and finding the bodies of many other local farmers as well as Kianna herself.

The foursome was then attached by a strange undead creature made up of the collective arms and hands of the slain farmers. It seemed to have a strange hold on Kianna as part of it's limbs were made up from a childhood friend of hers. It seemed to be able to speak it's thoughts into one's mind using her guilt of the accidental demise of her childhood friend as a means of control.

After a pitched battle the four gnomes were able to destroy the undead creature and reuniting with the other two were able bring Kianna back to Promise to Dellie's relief and Dubenstein's exoneration.

The priest remained behind in the rattle to help others resettle into the area and aid those who remained in the community heal from this terrifying time. As hopefully the blight on the areas crops had ended as well.

The merchant remained in Promise, making new clients in the Ribbon and Rattle alike and the four entertainers soon left, presumably heading southwest, out of the Hakan proper and into the borderlands and the independent city state of San Citlán where Dubenstein's remains would later be found in a eerie mass underground grave, in the tunnels underneath San Citlán, which were inhabited by ghouls and other undead who no doudt caused Dubenstein's demise..

Dubenstein's corpse was identified by his Promise civic medallion, citing him as vindicated of all previous charges. While the other three of Dubenstein's companions were not so easily identified the extremely large number of corpses and skeletons present in the cave and their seeming disappearance at the same time as Dubenstein, led local authorities to surmise that they likely all suffered the same fate.