Ever have a joke take on a life of its own and just keep going? That pretty much sums up the presence of Gauntwing.

This mephit was originally brought into the campaign as an adventure hook; the means by which I convinced my party to go my version of the adventure "Love Letter" (from TSR's Well of Worlds). He was to accompany the party on the adventure as the "personal representative" of the cornugon who hired them. When it was found that he didn't die, the mephit was given his freedom. Since this is a rather alien concept to such a pathetic creature, he latched onto Rogan. Ever since he has been Rogan's henchman (NPC) and lackey, serving as faithfully and usefully as a mephit can.

I originally played Gauntwing as the lackey in order to inject a bit of comic relief into the campaign, as well as to serve as a bit of a needle into Rick's skin. Much to my (and everyone else's) surprise, Rick (as Rogan) has actually managed to make a bit of use out of the worthless creature. In fact, he's become a useful (well, mostly) and valued (sort of) member of The Fivers. Go figure.

Gauntwing's titles serve as something of a "growth chart" for the party. His first three titles (the Pale, Mephit of the Night, Keeper of Blackest Secrects) were already in his possession when the mephit first hooked up with the party. The next (Purveyor of the Cloud of Death) was picked up after the group visited Chakan's homeworld. While searching a vampire's library, Rogan wanted to get Gauntwing out of his hair and told the mephit he could eat all of the dust in the room. This actually saved the party's bacon as several of the tomes were coated with a nasty magic item known as Dust of Death. Gauntwing, being dust, was immune to the effects. After "eating" the magic dust, I ruled that his next dust burst would hold the effects of the magic item. I had great fun with the mephit complaining that he really had to sneeze.

The fifth title (Slayer of the Great Horned Evil) came from when the party finally let Gauntwing explode into the "cloud of death". They were on the Gray Waste partaking in my version of the "Field of Nettles" adventure. Seems the Baatezu camp was as empty as they were told, and the general (a pit fiend) was still present in the "tent" and guarding the war plans. So, the party threw the mephit at her. Well, the dust managed to get through all the layers of magic resistance and saving throws and so it died. The party was overjoyed; Gauntwing fainted.

The sixth title (Oldest of All Dust Mephits) is a bit of a dig to the party at keeping Gauntwing around for so long. He's just come up on being three years old - a very ancient mephit indeed! The seventh title is the most recent (coming out of two adventures ago). During the last adventure, the character of Chakan died. Due to the various things going on with that character, the body quickly turned to dust. After the party decided not to try and bring Chakan back, Rogan let the dust mephit absorb all of the dust, fly to the center of the Cage's torus and explode - thus scattering Chakan's remains all over his adopted home. Rather poignant.

I have no plots involving Gauntwing - he is an NPC, after all. Rather, he is merely one more resource - however poor - that the party has to use in their adventures. Besides, he also serves to illustrate a the converse of one the setting's main axioms: "No matter how small or weak you are, there is always something smaller and more pathetic out there."