Grinlief Dartson

Grinlief Dartson is a private detective and current mayor of Vila's Watch. Mayor Irwin hired him to solve the murder of Bertram Rhastur.

Appearance
Grinlief is a human man with pale skin and long brown hair. He's quite tall, taller than Erak but still shorter than Slumberjack, and lanky. He wears ill-fitting refined clothes along with a feathery hat and a monocle.

Personality
Grinlief acts extremely confident and shares his deductions with absolute conviction that they're correct. Unfortunately for him (and sometimes the people around him), he's usually incorrect, sometimes absurdly so, and sometimes doubles down if anyone points out a flaw in his reasoning. However, he was receptive to Kilwin privately correcting him about the nature of Ashara's arm and sincerely apologized to her for his mistake. He seems to have a flair for the dramatic, framing his observations as grand reveals and having a scripted greeting for people entering his office, although he abandoned this greeting upon recognizing the Champions Valoris. He also claims to have his own fan club, although the size and membership of this club is currently unknown. Although Grinlief has a lot of bravado, he tends to freeze and cower in the face of actual danger. He's a sore loser and prone to sulking when he's been outdone. As a result of all of this, Grinlief seems to have a difficult time making friends and is often rejected when attempting to socialize with the guards of Vila's Watch. When Reides suggested that the party could get drinks with him after he helped them clear Drakov's name, he was noticeably excited, although he tried to conceal it.

While Grinlief is full of confidence and bravado outside of his home city, he's much more anxious in Falas, where he does a bad job of not drawing any attention to himself. His father's behavior toward him makes him reluctant to announce his family name, and he seems genuinely worried that people will recognize him. He's admitted to feeling homesick for Falas while also wanting to avoid the city entirely.

Background
Grinlief was born in Falas to parents who currently lived on the city's High Terrace. His mother died when he was quite young. His father, Jorlief Dartson, is a well-known philanthropist who worked closely with Emperor Karseidon II during the latter's reign. At least once, as a child, Grinlief accompanied his father on a visit to the royal palace, where he was left with Karseidon's ward, Kain Thessos. The meeting made an impression on Kain who, over a decade later, recalled Grinlief as "the most insufferable little bastard." Over the years, Grinlief found himself the subject of a suffocatingly doting father. This was apparently Jorlief's efforts to be a better father after Grinlief's mother's death. Jorlief commissioned many art pieces of Grinlief, including a throw blanket with his face embroidered on it and a giant statue of him. Grinlief attended St. Vashreen's Law Academy in the city for a year, where he received a diploma, which he carries with him. He claims to have been let out early because he was advanced. During Grinlief's time at the school, Jorlief funded the construction of a new wing of the school, which may explain how Grinlief graduated despite his apparent lack of detective skills. Soon after Grinlief graduated from St. Vashreen's, he decided to leave Falas to escape from his overbearing father. Before the statue could be finished, Grinlief went south to Laketon. When that town wasn't to his liking, he moved north to Port Valor for a while. Eventually, he began to miss Falas, although he wasn't ready to face his father again. As a result, he moved to Vila's Watch, where he could be closer to Falas without being there. Although his family is quite wealthy, Grinlief himself doesn't have access to this wealth due to his self-estrangement. He was living fairly modestly and very grateful for the share of the reward that they gave him. It can be presumed that, at some point in his life, he knew someone affected by the Memory Plague judging from his reaction to Slumberjack's beliefs about mercy killing.

Werewolves Arc
A few months after he first arrived in Vila's Watch, Grinlief was hired by Mayor Irwin to investigate the murder of Bertram Rhastur. It was Grinlief's first official case. Irwin, being Bertram's killer, was fully aware of Grinlief's incompetence when he did so and hoped that it would help cover his tracks. When the Champions Valoris offered to help discover the killer in exchange for being allowed into Vila's Watch to rest and restock, Irwin insisted that they cooperate with him, referring to him as a trusted confidant. Upon actually meeting Grinlief, he bombarded them with a variety of assumptions based on their appearances, ranging from inaccurate to downright offensive. He also shared his theory of the crime, that Bertram committed self-cannibalism in pursuit of the rarest, most forbidden meats. At this point, the Champions Valoris realized that Grinlief would not be very helpful in solving the case, but still followed up on his list of possible suspects and consulted with him to see if they could learn more about the village in general from him. He was fairly unconcerned with the defilement of the Nameless God's shrine, claiming to specialize in murder rather than religious crimes. During the party's stay in Vila's Watch, Grinlief also intercepted both Slumberjack and Jorah as they entered the village (separately) and arrested them as suspects in the murder. Kilwin was able to convince Grinlief to release Slumberjack by subjecting Slumberjack and himself to a Zone of Truth spell and letting Grinlief interrogate them, and one of the guards was convinced to free Jorah from the town's makeshift jail solely because Grinlief was the one who put him there.

After the party confronted Drakov, leading to Drakov's arrest for the murder, Grinlief became sullen and took to sulking in his office. When the party went there to ask for his help in revealing Irwin as a werewolf and clearing Drakov's name, he initially assumed they came to gloat about solving the murder first. However, he perked up when Kilwin admitted that they had gotten the wrong culprit and asked for his help in fixing their mistake. Although he was skeptical of the mayor being a werewolf and framing Drakov, Grinlief agreed to set up a meeting with Irwin to celebrate the end of the case, where Grinlief would hand him a silver cup, either proving or disproving the party's theory. At this point, Grinlief mentioned that none of the guards had been receptive to his attempts to invite them for drinks, and Reides suggested that he could get drinks with the Champions Valoris after the case was solved. When the plan was carried out and Irwin was injured by the silver cup, Grinlief was surprised that the Champions Valoris were correct and joined their pursuit of him. During the ensuing fight, Grinlief fired one crossbow bolt at the transformed Irwin, missed, and spent the rest of the fight cowering behind Reides. When Tyrian appeared with some undead followers in the aftermath, the Champions Valoris attempted to keep Grinlief safe by encouraging him to escape, essentially shoving him out a broken window.

Vila's Watch, Post-Tyrian
After sealing Tyrian Vordt within the bag of holding, the Champions Valoris returned to Vila's Watch to see how the village was doing after the mayor's downfall and Tyrian's arrival. Jorah had heard that Grinlief was attacked by a ghoul and paralyzed, which turned out to be true, but Kilwin healed his injury. The Champions Valoris joined Grinlief for tea and he offered them his office as a place to sleep for the night if they were unable to get lodging at the Dark Oak Tavern due to its temporary closure. Because of the closure, the Champions Valoris were also unable to follow through on their offer of getting drinks with Grinlief, although they agreed to return to Vila's Watch at a later date. Erak suggested that Grinlief should consider running for mayor with the position vacant, and Grinlief agreed to consider it. After receiving a reward for their work from the Vizinis, the Champions Valoris agreed to give Grinlief a share for his assistance in flushing out the mayor, for which he was grateful, and the party parted from Grinlief on good terms.

Demons of Port Valor
One night, while the party was confined to a safehouse below Magmaslag Rock and up late drinking, Kilwin admitted that he had been harboring romantic feelings for Grinlief for some time. He used Sending to contact him, learning that he had become mayor of Vila's Watch in the party's absence.

Raven's Fall
During the party's return journey to Raven Rock, Kilwin contacted Grinlief again, sharing that he's from Cowersby and learning that Grinlief is from Falas, where his parents still live.

Atemcester Arc
Grinlief remained apprised of the party's location through Kilwin's Sending messages. Learning that Kilwin was impressed if overwhelmed with Atemcester, Grinlief suggested seeing Falas. While Kilwin had already been to Falas, he suggested that the two of them meet up there. Grinlief was very receptive to the suggestion.

The Desperado Arc
Kilwin continued to keep Grinlief informed about the party's likely arrival in Falas, in hopes that they could arrange a meeting. However, Grinlief was apparently quite busy with his duties as mayor and seemed somewhat oblivious to Kilwin's intent.

Return to Falas
Despite being aware of how bad an idea it was, Kilwin invited Grinlief as his date to the remembrance ceremony and ball commemorating the tenth anniversary of Emperor Karseidon II's passing. Despite claiming to be unable to dance, Grinlief readily accepted the invitation before it had been formally extended and expressed more concern over the possibility of his being mobbed by fans than any of the involved logistics. Kilwin invited Grinlief shortly before learning that Jorlief was on the list of potential suspected moles within the Falssian court, despite Kain deeming him unlikely to be guilty.

Temple Arc
On the airship ride to the Temple of the Abyssal Guardians, Kilwin used Sending to ask Grinlief if he had any allergies, learning that he's allergic to shellfish.

Goals
Grinlief presumably strives to show that he's a great detective, solving any murders that cross his path. While it is difficult to say he succeeded in the case of Bertram Rhastur, he did assist in bringing the true culprit to justice.

Abilities
Grinlief's investigation skills leave something to be desired, and few of his deductions are accurate to reality. He also owns a hand crossbow, but was unable to utilize it successfully when faced with a werewolf. He claims that his monocle is enchanted and gives him 120 feet of darkvision, but this hasn't been verified by the Champions Valoris.

Grinlief and Kilwin
Grinlief seems to consider Kilwin a friend (as he does the rest of the party) and was happy to hear from him via Sending, despite the late hour. However, there is little indication that he's aware of the cleric's feelings for him.

Grinlief and Jorlief
While Grinlief recognizes that his father loves him and has said he likes his father too, Jorlief often makes him feels smothered. Grinlief is obviously uncomfortable with Jorlief's over-the-top displays of affection, which have essentially driven him out of Falas. Despite claiming that he and his father like each other, Grinlief seems afraid of Jorlief and took measures to avoid him at Karseidon's remembrance ceremony. He's also reluctant to identify himself as a Dartson when in Falas. For his part, Jorlief seems oblivious to Grinlief's trepidation.

Quotes

 * Name: "Quote."

Trivia

 * Grinlief has been seen reading a book titled Sleuthing for Slobs, a book about detection given to him by his mentor. The book is apparently not very popular (or well-written) and is not kept in the library in Falas as a result.
 * Despite claiming he has no allergies, Grinlief has described experiencing the symptoms of a shellfish allergy and avoids eating it.