Regis Rumblebelly
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Regis Rumblebelly the halfling from the Forgotten Realms is a major character in R. A. Salvatore's series of novels detailing the adventures of the drow ranger Drizzt Do'Urden.
He is the least martially capable of the Heroes of Icewind Dale (a forgivable fact when one considers that the others are Drizzt himself, the mighty barbarian Wulfgar, the dwarven king Bruenor Battlehammer, and a gifted archer named Catti-Brie). He mainly plays his part by using a magical ruby pendant to influence the minds of others. He does carry a small mace, however, and has used it on occasion, usually to speed things along when his new "pets" are losing.
He obtained the pendant by stealing it from Pasha Pook, head of the thieves' guild in Calimshan. Regis had once been one of the finest thieves in the guild, until he set his eyes on the forbidden fruit that was the Pasha's powerful pendant. After stealing it, he fled north to the farthest reaches of Faerûn, beyond the Spine of the World mountains to Icewind Dale, where he befriended Drizzt and Bruenor.
Regis made a good living in the harsh ten towns, carving trinkets out of the local fish bones, Before joining Bruenor in his quest to reclaim Mithral Hall.
Regis was born in or near Calimport far to the south. His earliest recollections are of a childhood spent on the streets, begging and stealing. Eventually Regis caught the eye of Pasha Pook, master of the city's thieves' and assassins' guilds. Regis did not disappoint his new master, but he eventually became bored. When Regis discovered Pook used a magic ruby pendant in his dealings, Regis stole it and took to the road, hoping to find the ticket to an easier life. Pook proved more determined than Regis anticipated though, and wherever he went, Pook's men soon followed.
Regis' flight finally brought him to the rigid climes of Icewind Dale, where he believed not even Pook's hired thugs could find him. There he befriended Bruenor Battlehammer and Drizzt Do'Urden, often reluctantly joining them in one adventure after another. After a time, the assassin Artemis Entreri tracked Regis down and stole him back to Calimport where Regis' friends had to rescue him. Regis remained in Calimport for a time, but he was eventually driven out and back to his friends by Entreri. After many more adventures, Regis has settled into his life of adventure by his friends' sides and become a chief advisor to King Bruenor Battlehammer.
Regis is barely 3 feet tall and so chubby he's earned the nickname "Rumblebelly." He enjoys nothing so much as comfortable living. He can be quite subtle and equally crafty, though he is by no means cruel in any way. He has also grown wise over the course of his many misadventures and gained an ability to see things his friends often miss. Regis abhors violence and will do his best to avoid it. However, when he must enter battle, he tries to support his allies with sneak attacks against their enemies.
There is a small reference to Regis in the popular PC game Neverwinter Nights expansion, Shadows of the Undertide. When the main hero speaks with a merchant in Hilltop Forest and asks if the merchant has any rare items, he speaks of a halfling with a ruby pendant, that the halfling never meant to sell it, and that he just kept playing with it. He remorses about a bad deal he had made with the halfling. Although he never declares his name, it is a definite suggestion that Regis had been there and had used his Ruby Pendant to persuade the man.
In Streams of Silver, the second book of the Icewind Dale Trilogy, Regis accompanies his friends on the quest to reclaim Mithral Hall, Bruenor's lost homeland. Unknown to them is his reason: Artemis Entreri, Pook's finest assassin is on his tail. He is eventually captured by Entreri, and almost pays the ultimate price for his crimes, but is saved by his friends at the last minute, after they follow the assassin to the distant south.
