Jooge Nopsmoth

**Jooge Nopsmoth** is a human barber-surgeon living in the the city of Silverymoon. In the year 1491 DR, after acquiring a large debt to buy a flail snail named Joanna for a traveling merchant, Jooge drew the interest of an annis hag known as Errevastica, who would go on to use Jooge in her murderous schemes. Jooge would be rescued that same year by adventurers hired to investigate the murders perpetrated by Errevastica, allowing him to return to his business as alongside his "brother", Joove Nopsmoth.

Jooge was an NPC present in the completed two-shot *The Barber of Silverymoon*.

## Description

Jooge is a slightly-balding human man with warm smile, brown eyes, and stubble on his face. He stands tall at 5 feet and 7 inches (1.7 meters), and weighs about 200 pounds (90.7 kilograms). Jooge is embarrassed at the loss of some of his hair and thus tends to wear a hat- though he is never afraid to try new dyes on himself to show off new shades of color to his customers.

## Personality

Jooge is a friendly man and a good father, known for having a creative spirit he channels into his work as a barber-surgeon. He is also notoriously terrible with money, spending it far faster than he earns it to try and keep his daughter happy. These spending habits often lead him to borrow money from his neighbors, and eventually led him to borrow a significant amount of money from shady moneylenders for a chance to purchase the flail snail Joanna. Despite his financial failings, Jooge almost always had a good spirit, and after he was saved from the machinations of Errevastica, Jooge showed his kindness by accepting his clone as a "twin brother".

## History

Jooge Nopsmoth was born and raised a single child in the city of Silverymoon, trained like his father and grandfather before him in art of dentistry and the trade of a Barber-Surgeon. He lived a comfortable (although occasionally destitute) life alone until he met the love of his life, Giselle. The two married in their twenties and would have a daughter together named Mops in the year 1483 DR. Giselle passed away from consumption when Mops was only five, leaving Mops' care to Jooge alone. Jooge's spending increased significantly at this time, with the barber spending more often to give his daughter everything she could possibly want now that she had lost her mother.

In 1490 DR, Jooge's barbershop was visited by a korred known as Bezoar, whose rapidly-growing fey hair had properties Jooge had never seen before. When Jooge cut Bezoar's hair, the cut hair would become the material it was cut with. Bezoar and Jooge became quick friends, and the two worked out a deal where Bezoar could come whenever he wished and receive a free haircut, and Jooge was allowed to keep the korred's hair after it had become the quality steel of his scissors. Using these bits of steel, which he sold to others as a 'hair sculptures', Jooge began to gain a bit more money than his normal hair cuts usually earned him. This made him more confident in his spending, and eventually this came back to bite him when Jooge took a loan of 10,000 gp in 1491 DR from a group known as the Night Blades- a criminal guild in Silverymoon run by darklings. Jooge did this because he sought to buy a flail snail from the merchant Mercurio DuLoc, in order to use dyes produced by said flail snail in future hair-related experiments.

Severely in debt to the Night Blades and unable to make enough money from his business, even with the flail snail named Joanna, Jooge began to feel increased pressure from the Night Blades, until one day that pressure stopped completely. The hag Errevastica, who had been watching Bezoar and Jooge for a year, chose to buy the debt off the Night Blades in the form of a noblewoman with iron teeth, before going herself to meet with Jooge in the form of a large female xvart named 'Xvartette'. Errevastica easily overpowered the commoner alongside her small tribe of eight xvarts, forcing him through a mixture of coercion and charm magic to help her ambush Bezoar when he next visited. Once Bezoar was captured and Errevastica used her *evil comb* to establish control over the hair and throw the magical korred in a cage, forcing Jooge to witness as her tribe of xvarts cheerfully cloned themselves by biting or tearing off chunks of the captured Bezoar's hair.

Then, in a stroke of evil brilliance, Errevastica forced Jooge to rip out two clumps of Bezoar's hair- one touched by the *evil comb* and one that had gone untouched. The process created two clones of Jooge, one good and one evil. Errevastica then went on to manipulate the good Jooge to be the blissfully ignorant store owner during the day, while imbuing the evil copy with fey magicks and a desire to brutally experiment on her behalf. The original Jooge, now no longer useful to the hag, was imprisoned in the caves below his shop while Errevastica and her army of clones used his resources and their great position in the city to kidnap, murder, and experiment upon citizens of Silverymoon.

Two tendays into his imprisonment, Jooge was rescued by adventurers that had been hired by a lone city guard to investigate him as a suspect for the disappearances. He did his best to explain his perspective to those who had rescued him, and followed them around as they meddled with the *Prismatic Coloring Machine* and ultimately confronted 'Xvartette' and her tribe. After the party of adventurers slew the annis hag, Jooge was reunited with his daughter Mops- as well as good-aligned clone. Having witnessed the party's unfavorable view towards all the clones produced by Bezoar's hair, Jooge spoke in defense of the clone- wanting him to remain in the shop. This good clone was later given the legal name of 'Joove' and adopted as Jooge's twin brother, allowing both to work together to take care of the business as well as give Mops the attention she needed.

Bezoar would come to forgive Jooge for his involvement in his ambush, though the magical korred stopped visiting so frequently, to prevent another situation where he would be targeted outside the Feywild. City officials allowed Jooge and Joove to live in peace, but only after they had allowed the caverns under the shop to be sanctified and blocked off to avoid further use. Despite the lack of magical hair from Bezoar, Jooge's financial situation would recover, now free of his huge debt to the Night Blades and working alongside his 'twin brother'. As a sign of thanks, the Jooges were always happy to give the heroes who saved him free haircuts during their time in Silverymoon.