Her symbol.
"Greetings, traveler. Please hang your cloak up on the rack. It's next to the iron maiden."
GeltCarl was the first character I ever rolled up for D&D, and she hasn't changed much. She is so powerful now that I use her only on occasion. She is much too busy governing the city she founded, Valliard's Haven, and sorting out the group that I DM when they get into pickles. A pointy-eared deus ex machina. She is the sort who keeps Elminsters in cages and prods them on occasion.
When she started, she was not a very preposessing character, but too cunning for her own good.
Strength, 11
Wisdom, 6
Dexterity,15
Intelligence,14
Charisma,12
Constitution,13
All these stats were out of 18, for those of you who haven't used the AD&D system before.
Not much to look at, but the dexterity was worked on with a stolen book, a wish, and a DM who thought he could play poker with the big boys, and the intelligence balanced out the wisdom. It was she, the Cleric and the Paladin who kept the party together when the BSH (Fighter, for those of small but polite vocabulary) tried to kill them all and take all of the party's treasure.
GeltCarl had a bad start in life. Both of the villages where she lived were burned, one by orcs, one by drow. So she stole a longsword and some leather armour from a smithy, and with only a few daggers secreted around her person, set off to steal her fortune. Some day she intends to write a poem about it, but knows it wouldn't sell. Nobody would believe her.
"I have been pronounced dead six times, I think, but I am as just as hardy as ever, though I would still prefer to run than to fight. Never mind. I don't run away. Habit"
Now she never runs away - she has Alastor and the Stormwing... Alastor is her ward, the young and handsome ranger, with whom she has a Platonic Relationship. Because of vows she made when younger and more foolish even than today, she will give her life to save Alastor. His reason for existence is revenge on the man who killed his father, and the orcs who aided them. Stormwing is a black metallic snake-like thing that curls around her right wrist and strangles, holds, or turns into useful stuff, on command.
"Yesss... Stormy and I have been through a lot. And I still say that sneakiness will triumph over strength any day of the week. Even if the side if the light is outnumbered. No gods you know can help you. But I can." GeltCarl fights, nominally, on the side of good. As she says, "It isn't where you stand that matters, it's which way you're facing."
She started her adventuring with a disparate and dedicated crew; Felix the Fighter "Hey, you lookin' at me, pal?", Thelonius the Cleric, and Megadeath the Manic Mage, "Hehehehe!". Others, less important to the group as a whole, joined later. They were hired by Lord Karl Valliard as a bodyguard, and travelled with him to find his castle was safe and all was well. Nevertheless, the villagers were scared, as about thirteen times a year, somebody was murdered horribly. To cut a long story short, they killed the werewolf, GeltCarl saving the party in the process, and found out the monster was Valliard's uncle. GeltCarl had sworn to protect him and all his descendants, as well as his wife, but the uncle was not in on the protection she offered, so she was fine with that.
So they travelled to various places, saved the world, and came to the notice of the ruler of the city where they stayed. GeltCarl, lured by the promise of power, took up service with him, and learned how to control people from the best man in the business. Now she runs her own city. She is a living example that hard work and blackmail will make up for a lack of brute strength.
For other characters and roleplaying games, here is good