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“ | Ha ha HAH! | ” |
— Michael Hing as Banknote, He's a Real Loose Unit
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“ | What type of creature are you; like are you a fox, or a man? The two types. | ” |
Of all the mistakes Dungeon Dave has made in his long-suffering herding of the Dragon Friends, allowing Hing to create his own character on D&D Beyond without adult supervision may turn out to be his greatest. Enter Lionshield Banknote: no doubt intended to be the ultimate Mary Sue but hilariously (and mistakenly) created at level 1 with the rest of the Dragon Friends at level 7.
Before the Dragon Friends[]
Lionshield's background is largely a mystery at this point of the saga, though he is known to be of noble birth and living in Daggerford Castle "on a gap year" from artificer studies.
Banknote was born Lailai Banknote, the son of aasimar Strongheart/Greatheart Banknote and human head-of-security Laella Banknote. He apparently had trouble (or felt that he had trouble) obtaining the love of his parents. He made various attempts to change this, including making a macaroni-decorated picture frame for his mother. She either died or divorced sometime before the events of season 5 (according to Banknote's father).
His family are revealed in Are You Familiar With Electricity? to be long term patrons of the arts. Their family business revolves around creating the best mediocre gins.
Season 5[]
Banknote is introduced at Daggerford Castle during the low-key coronation of the new Dukes as a young, extravagant, besuited, blue-skinned, platinum-haired and slightly unhinged (think teenage Willy Wonka on amphetamines) "tinkerer of contraptions". Noting that Dave told him that he could choose any 12 items from D&D Beyond, Hing defensively proclaims that Banknote's Antimatter Rifle is "100% legal". We all see where this is going, right?
“ | Ben: what level are you? Hing: I am ... level ... oh fu... | ” |
On his very first opportunity to exercise his new abilities at Rivershine Hall, he elects to use his poorly researched "buzzy handshake" (Shocking Grasp) to try to wake the wedding band fiddler from his trance. This instantly murders the fiddler, and shortly a second band member during Banknote's subsequent gesticulating protestations.
“ | You feel like a big man? | ” |
Banknote progresses from horrified guilt to trying to stuff the bodies into his Bag of Holding to calculating how many commoners he'd need to kill in order to ding level 2 (18 more) in an entirely unsurprisingly short time for those familiar with Hing's playstyle.
Left behind by the Dragon Friends during their nighttime visit to the Sanitorium, Banknote is startled from his nocturnal activities on their return and revealed to sleep in an oxygen tank of his own design.
Banknote achieves Level 2 following the encounter with Inspector Boggins in 5.03, and Level 3 in the Whitewood Copse in 5.04 following the defeat of the Bodak.
Banknote becomes the Duke of Daggerford for 24 hours at the beginning of 5.06 before being stabbed close to death twice in the same episode.
In an attempt to prevent the opening of the Brothers gate in 5.10, while watching the musical someone stole my cabbages, he uses his necklace of fireballs and throws a fireball into one of the wings, murdering not only most of the front row and some of the second row, but also killing Elsebeth Truscott in one of the most unexpected deaths in the season
“ | Your looking at me like you’ve looked at someone who’s betrayed you before! | ” |
Before venturing deeper into the Dragonback Tavern Banknote rips the spine from one of the bodies im his bag of holding and fashions it into “piton spinal horror” of a wand which stores the cantrip light.
“ | Philge, would you please, let her rip. | ” |
— Lionshield Banknote, Undermining a Dracula
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After the dragon friends victory at the hands of the newly resurrected Strahd von Zarovich, after LaCroix Pamplemousse exiles them from Daggerford, Him and his father Greatheart Banknote go back to the Floshin Estates.
Season 6[]
In 6.01, we discover that Banknote had become more involved with the family business, creating a "top shelf vodka" called Untitled Goose Vodka. After the sale of Rutherglen House and inheriting money from his grandparents he became very wealthy, but joined resistance cell 17 based in Waterdeep after his father disappears and his family's assets are seized. He has also reached level 8.
Season 7[]
After traveling back through time with a Lodestone, the Dragon Friends - now reunited with Freezo - are stranded in the past. Hing has Banknote have amnesia so Freezo can loot his body guilt-free. He's tended to by the Netherese doctors of Ilenar. When the Friends leave for the future, the original Banknote is left behind. He doesn't reappear the two other times the Friends return to the past.
An alternate version of Banknote appears in the timeline where Karsus rules. This future Banknote has completed its studies and became a Professor in Chronomancy. Together with his assistant, Edward Piss, they were betrayed by that timeline's Gribbits and put into jail by the Freezomites. Hing decides to play both Banknote and Freezo for the rest of season 7 - agreeing to Dave's rule that Banknote's goal is to not have all his stuff taken from him by Freezo - resulting in Banknote traveling with the friends to the past.
There, after Hing last-minute decides to not send Freezo into Karsus' god-machine, Banknote is sent into the god-machine instead. He gets disintegrated and subsequently unstitched from time, leaving behind nothing but dust.
Oh, and a lovely Christmas ham.
“ | How convenient Dave, that this god-box you invented happens to have undone my ability to dual-wield characters. | ” |