In the Goldvale area there is a hermit, very contentedly living the recluse life. When PCs first went for a visit they discovered him to be/look like a Tiefling, but perhaps a little too buff for a standard Tiefling. They also failed a very critical listening comprehension test which was not realizing that he always speaks in Contractions. He attempted to make a Binding agreement with them to acquire a live goldfish from the local waterways for 10gp, but the party declined.

This character came about for the campaign due to the DM letting players name various NPCs and of course their PCs with unfortunate player choices of having apostrophes in the names. This is irritating, trying to remember that some player has 5 apostrophes in their name or whatever when writing notes or figuring out how to pronounce a name with such. e.g. “We want to name the kobold Ze'fe79'nork''fed.” This created a certain DM based resentment for apostrophes. So this “hermit” is actually a “Contract” (contraction) demon as part of his backstory and when he speaks to the party he uses at least one contraction in every verbal exchange. A not so subtle “Y'all can bite me” to the players for their apostrophes.

FYI: For now we're just going to refer to him as “The Hermit” because in game I've had a few attempts at creating an obnoxious name for him to poke at the players and none of them have felt quite right. Whatever it ultimately is, if this guy even gets dragged into lots of future plots, it must be truly obnoxious. Any players reading this just discard anything else we've called him thus far.

• Initially as the campaign just began the hermit offered to pay the party 10 gold to bring him a live goldfish. They declined. Had they accepted, they'd have made a deal with a contract demon. A simple deal, but they'd have played right into this.
  • Three locals including Ginger would end up getting him his first 3 goldfish.
• The Party couldn't agree to visit the hermit again for many game sessions, always being wary and choosing other distractions. By the time curiosity finally got the best of them, many levels later, they'd learned more lore of the local area and had some issues, one of which was the need to rescue Dorthy Fuzzybutt from the Lizardfolk at Fort Scale.¹⁾ The hermit once again demanded goldfish from them, but a quantity of 30 instead of just one and they agreed, got the fish and dumped them into his pond, and then he went with them to drive off the Lizardfolk. He totaled at 33 goldfish ultimately between all parties that brought him some.
  • This quest and deal left zero mystery as to how potent this demon is because he merely had to go have a private chat with the Lizardfolk at Fort Scale and they agreed to leave within 48 hours and sent Dorthy out from captivity immediately.
  • Chances are that the hermit made a binding agreement with the Lizardfolk to make that happen, which means there's something owed or bound to out there associated with them for better or worse.²⁾
  • Note that this was a diplomatic way to drive an occupying force away.

The Party doesn't know specifics about the hermit's past life, only that this is his attempt at a retirement. He's clearly an evil and powerful force to be reckoned with. He made random comments about conquering and ruling and about how he's basically putting himself through a self imposed recovery from all that. He doesn't want to slip up and take over any kingdoms or anything accidentally. Living in the greater Goldvale area, he just wants some solitude, and he'll do whatever it takes to have it.

In the Goldvale area there are the powers that be, or greater forces at work that really shape the area. Anything that could be a real threat to the proper Goldvale town area is not allowed in because of such. The hermit counts as a threat. This is fine by him because he has no desire to be around all the humanoids, because that goes against being a hermit. By a similar token, the proper Goldvale area is free of anything that would bring him any drama while he gets his solitude. But the extended Goldvale area and greater world are not. If he identifies anything in the greater Goldvale area which might disturb him, then he's likely to deal with it. This oddly sets this demon as a peace keeping entity, aligned evil, yet his vary attempt at solitude requires reducing the chaos.

• He has informed The Party that the goldfish are part of his plan to remove an infestation of vampires from Sucker Lake as he seems them as a threat to his solitude for whatever reason.
• He likely viewed the occupying Lizardfolk force at Fort Scale as a slight annoyance too because wars locally are not good for peace and quiet.

It should be noted that the hermit keeps a nice looking little cottage in a remote forest area, and amongst a well manicured garden he had The Guy build him a goldfish pond. This of course is a staging area for his goldfish based plans.