Gem Lovejoy

Gem Lovejoy is the head, mother, and matriarch of the Lovejoy Family. She knows about nearly everything that happens in Glaceria.

## Description

Gem is a tall and slender high-elf.

Her appearance is described as intense, intimidating, and commanding in a way that is hard to replicate even by her children.

She is not a very openly loving person, and even her own children don't see her very often. While she cares about her family and children, she doesn't show it often with words, actions, or even just her presence; instead, she shows her love to her family by the success she brings them. Her goal is to secure her legacy, and after that retire and grow old together with her children.

She has a big selection of outfits, ranging from business to formal with big dresses and hoop skirts. For formal events and to identify herself, for example to one of the many teleportation circles connecting the Lovejoy estates and other locations, she wears an intricately made diadem that she is attuned to.

Gem not only knows about nearly everything and everyone in Glaceria, she also makes sure to have her connections. This way, she can bring magic wherever she wants, and influences the fates of the city, and sometimes the whole country, with ease, even though she herself doesn't have magic abilities.

Her personal schedule is nearly unpredictable, and she is hard to track down.

Gem is a member of the Minor Council until 133 AE.

## Character Arc

### Arc 2

Since Glaceria cannot grow without the portal to the Plane of Fire below the city also growing, Gem consideres and tries multiple ways to expand it.

In Arc 2, she expresses her plans to use a Wish spell for it. This Wish would have come from the genie Ember, Ash's father, who was trapped in the Ember Gem. Before she gets around to breaking the gem, freeing him, and making her wish, the Arc 2 party steals the gem and uses the Wish themselves.

Ember underlines what she already knew: trying to expand the portal without a Wish spell or similar powers will take lengthy negotiations between her and the officials from the Plane of Fire.

#### Arc 3

In Arc 3, it turns out that Gem fell for a trap set up by the three lieutenants of Kalazar, who involved her in their shady business and got her permission to work on the portal. Unknown to her, they don't plan on expanding the portal to the Elemental Plane of Fire, though, but instead plan on opening it to hell, which would destroy Glaceria and threaten the whole world. During the ritual that is supposed to open the portal to hell, Gem is being used as a soul conduit.

After the Arc 3 party manages to stop the ritual, Aldrum plans on making sure that Gem will be held accountable for this and the victims the ritual took, and that she won't be able to buy herself out of it.

### Following Arc 3

For her crimes, Gem is sentenced to a third of her expected lifespan in a high-security prison; because of her already advanced age at this point, she might very well die there.

She manages to sneak in a small Sending Stone, the counterpart of which Penny wears in her ear. Through this Sending Stone, during the first month, Gem sends Penny the key to an intricate shorthand system, and after that uses this shorthand to deliver detailled instructions to her on what to do and who to talk to. Thus, Gem manages to steer the Lovejoy business even from inside prison.

However, over the years, she loses touch with the outside world. While Penny then manages the Lovejoy business on her own, Gem keeps her up to date on prison gossip. During her time in prison, Gem and Penny more regularly are in contact with each other than before.

### Arc 8

During Arc 8, Penny makes Sybilla Eirik promise her that she will free Gem from prison when she becomes the new monarch.

After another proposal from Yondo, Penny contacts Gem in Episode 5 to ask her about her marriage: "Did you love dad when you married him? Did you ever regret it? Was it for love, or for a sense of responsibility? We're voting today, and I can't help but think about how it will feel getting to see you again. Flip off Gertrude for me." Gem's reply shortly afterwards is: "Yondo asked, huh? I do love Jack, and though I maybe could have found a more loving marriage with someone else, a loving union that wallows n contentment is wholly uninteresting to me. Jack's what I needed. I can't wait to speak with you unburdened, open, and away from Gertrude." Only a few hours later, Penny, after years of considering it, accepts Yondo's proposal.

As one of her first decrees still during her coronation ceremony, Sybilla later actually orders that Gem is to be released from prison. Penny and Yondo join Isadora Eirik as she delivers the order, and Penny goes inside the prison to be one of the first people to greet Gem. They hug, and then leave together. As they exit the building, a swarm of crossbow bolts rains down on them, and five of them hit Gem in the chest, killing her. The crossbow bolts were fired by members of the Hatebad family, lead by Beryl Hatebad. Neither Penny or Yondo, nor Isadora have healing spells, so Penny is unable to save her mother.

## Trivia

* Gem does not have the Noble statblock, but a homebrew one specifically made for her
* Gem has 9 hit points (confirmed on TVC A2E6)