Fifty years ago, a teenager wandering near the side of the lake found a skull that had apparently become dislodged from some grave. This in and of itself was not unusual; bones often turned up in Streamside, especially near the water. What made this skull unusual is that it spoke... several languages, in fact, fortunately including the main language of Djarvin [which I haven't yet named and kind of ought to]. For a while the boy kept the skull, which he named "Grin", as sort of a personal companion, but when word got out and it started attracting attention, he eventually "loaned" it to a local hotel, the Red Owl, where it stayed in the common room and conversed with guests.

While when it was first discovered the skull could do little except talk, it's gained more abilities over the years. It once convinced a visiting mage to give it the ability to move on its own (which it can do by, rather comically, sprouting white feathery wings), and later it learned a bit of magic of its own. It still uses the Red Owl as its "home base", however, and spends most of its time there, even if it now can and does occasionally roam the neighborhood. To date, Grin has not revealed who it was in life or how its skull retained the ability to speak after its death, but if anything its silence on the subject has given it an additional air of mystery and made it more popular.

Grin is, apparently, a human skull of indeterminate age but old enough to show considerable yellowing. It has a few chipped molars and some scratches on its back but otherwise appears to be in excellent shape. It speaks in a full and resonant voice deep enough that most people assume it is male, though it has not confirmed this and is happy to answer to other pronouns, especially "it".