Aster Orodata's page

I understand the schedule issues completely. Do what must be done, I won't fret too much.

I am present.

Aster will spend her first week looking for cheaters, being a fairly keen eye, but also a little nervous about performing in a venue like this.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Aster sighs and shakes her head at Larkspur's enthusiasm. She wasn't certain yet if this was a good deal or not, but whether she liked it or not, he was in charge. At least a job is better than gambling.

After a moment, she turned to Saul and tried to look more excited than she was. "I suppose we're in as well. Although I'd like to know a little more about what the job would entail, if you don't mind."

She pauses, and then turns to Ryssa, "Thanks for that healing spell earlier. It's been some time since I took a blow that ugly that quickly. If we'll be working together, I hope I can return the favor sometime."

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to post much this week. Work has been an utter atrocity. I should be able to return to a normal post schedule tomorrow.

Aster shrugs, standing straight. "I guess. It feels better to have a job offer than to gamble, anyway. Even if the interview process was... difficult.

She rubs the spot on her stomach where the crossbow bolt hit her and grimaces.

"So what's the job?"

Was the suggestion that went towards Taton spoken in Common or Infernal? Because that changes how Aster would be able to react.

Aster sighs with relief and sits up more straight. "Thanks for helping me out, there. I really appreciate it. I never learned how to do that myself." She grunts and tugs the bolt out, tossing it to one side.

Linguistics to figure out what Scratch is saying: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Her eyes go wide. "Oh, man. That's not good. He's probably bewitched. Someone should stop him. He's going to be really upset once he figures that out."

She rattles her bag and dumps Larkspur on the floor. "Hey. I bet he'll let you keep some of your winnings if you catch some of what he's throwing."

The danger apparently passed, Aster groans softly and sits down very, very carefully. She inhales sharply through gritted teeth, leans back against a piece of furniture. She's fairly sure it was furniture anyway, she didn't bother to investigate too deeply on the trip downwards, and closes her eyes to recover. "I could use a hand when somebody gets a moment."

Flag is still up, inspire courage is down. Current buffs are +1/+1/+1 attack rolls/damage rolls/saving throws against fear or charm

@Ryssa: don't forget to add the +2 hit/damage from my flag/inspire

Aster reels from the bolt lodged in her stomach, and takes a 5 foot step back from the thugs, putting a bit of distance between herself and the thugs in case they advance further. She moves the flag between herself and the thugs to give herself a bit more opportunity to react.

She groans audibly. "Gods, why does this always happen." I am now staggered and will fall unconscious if I take a move or standard action.

Free action: Maintain inspire courage
Free action: 5' step
Free action: Begin fighting defensively

I am present. Drowning in my own work, and somewhat sleep deprived at the moment, but present.

Sorry I haven't posted. My best friend of 16 years just passed. I'll try and post tonight. Thank you for your patience.

Do what you need to do. Everything will be here waiting for you.

Now that you can see me, you all have inspire courage! And assuming you particularly like me and/or Larkspur, an additional +1 morale bonus to hit and damage from my flag.

Total Bonus: +2 attack/+2 weapon damage/+1 saves vs. charm and fear

Aster moves up towards Ryssa's right flank, pivoting her longspear about her as she moves. In the final moment of her approach, she puts her weight on her left foot and brings her spear down on one of the thieves in front of Ryssa, using the fullest length of her reach to attack safely.

Longspear: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Free action to maintain bardic performance: 5/7 rounds remaining
Move action to move
Standard action to attack

@Taton: Aster entered armed, and nobody stopped her. I made a point to mention it in the intro. If you need a weapon, I've got a spare dagger that I'll share once my eyes work.

Aster is frustrated, both at what's going on around her, and at Larkspur for dragging them into something so certain to tempt thieves. To hell with it, she thinks. The worst that can happen is that she dies useless. She bites her lip and starts to move forward. Aster pivots on the ball of her right foot and begins to cautiously move in the direction of combat, bringing her longspear about her body in long, slow arcs. The flag flutters like a colorful trail of smoke behind it. Each step is followed by a gentle turn which seems oddly out of place for someone of her size, followed closely by a brief moment's pause as she listens over the flapping cloth for the thud of footsteps or the clash of steel.

5' step towards combat.
Standard action: Inspire Courage using Perform (dance) +1 to attack rolls, weapon damage and saves vs. charm/fear. Perform (dance): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Move action: Actively use Perception to listen for targets. Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

I am confident that I can work within any of the listed posting methods. Although if we do method 3, would I be able to post different expected actions in spoilers, for some of my more reactive abilities, such as immediate action spells?

Aster scoops a shrieking and screeching Larkspur into her bag and then unfurls her banner, revealing a tattered banner patterned with brightly colored birds on a black background.

As long as you hold your clan, house, or party’s flag, members of that allegiance within 30 feet who can see the flag gain a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, and saving throws against fear and charm effects.

I'm not certain that this applies to any of you as yet, unless you've suddenly fallen in with Larkspur, but it's worth noting.

She angles her weapon towards the sounds of combat, blindly trying to determine what's happening. "Is someone losing? Is it the good guys? Are there good guys? Can somebody please tell me who I'm supposed to be fighting?"

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Will: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Aster turns to the sudden sound just in time to have her vision go white.

She pats the table where Larkspur is shouting, attempting to scoop him up, and carefully leans towards where Ryssa and Taton were speaking. "Is it bad? Should I be fighting?"

Aster grimaces visibly with every loss, but says little. At the end of the round, she simply nods politely in the direction of each other player, glad to have it over.

She balks visibly. "I don't know if that's a great idea, Larkspur. I think he knows this game much better than we do."

She turns to Sully for support in this, as he's the only other person at the table she has really spoken to. As she opens her mouth to speak, she realizes how silly that would seem, shakes her head in defeat, and continues.

"Just don't bankrupt us completely."

Aster will play, but only because Larkspur complains if she tries to stand away from the table. She bets 1 silver with every hand.

Charisma: Round 1: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Charisma: Round 2: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Charisma: Round 3: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Charisma: Round 4: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
Charisma: Round 5: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Charisma: Round 6: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

I may need to react to it sometime tomorrow now, but no rush.

Aster smiled sadly. Her situation was not one that was easy to explain to new people, and she didn't relish the looks she got. After a moment's consideration, she decided to skirt the question.

"You're right on one thing, I'm not a mage. He isn't my familiar either. At least I don't think so. He could speak well before he found me down in Bloodcove, although I'm not entirely sure how he learned how to do it. He talks all the time, and even mostly about himself. Although, I rarely hear him say anything of value about his past unless it's important to the moment."

A moment's pause, then redirection. Something Larkspur often attempted, but with less success when done at high volume.

"Your Bandit?"

Bluff: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

@Meghan: Aster is carrying a longspear with a bundle of cloth wrapped around the head and a dagger. She did not appear to take great pains to hide either weapon. She appears particularly nervous, is talking to another half-orc, and regularly taking fleeting glances around the room, before looking back to an angry talking bird jumping on a gaming table.

It is clear enough that she's uncomfortable here, although it is not immediately apparent why. She may know something, she may be planning something, or she may just dislike crowds.

Aster shrugs and makes a face, visibly frustrated at the content of the question more than the question itself and gestured towards the angry starling hopping on the card table and swearing at the dealer to move faster. "No... Those are all Larkspur's idea. He wants people to know whenever he's around, but I keep telling him that if he makes me change it all the time, they'll never recognize it. Especially because I'm not that good at it..."

She grimaces again, stretching up to look around the room again. "He says he's here to win too. I don't like this, though. There's too many people..."

@Handsome Sully:I didn't realize that at first, but yeah. They are essentially polar opposites. This will be really entertaining.

Aster visibly cringes away from the sudden voice at her side, her hands twisting firmly around her spear. She balances on the ball of her foot for the expected blow, one eye closed. After a careful moment when the blow doesn't come, she opened her eye, and sheepishly straightens up. Her eyes scan over Sully's tattoos for a moment, and she hesitantly accepts his handshake.

"S-sorry. I mean, Thanks... I mean... Hello," She stutters in response.

Aster glances about nervously. Larkspur was sitting on the edge of the nearby table and paying absolutely no attention to her. Not that he was likely to hear her in this noisy hall. She grimaces, typically his interruptions keep her from having to talk with new people right away. She allows the air to hang awkwardly for a moment before, desperate to fill the silence, she mumbled "So are you here to gamble too?"

Aster hesitantly hands the entry fee to the guard at the entrance and walked inside. She gripped her spear close to herself, flag still tightly wrapped around it, her eyes carefully skirting around the room looking for potential threats. They lingered on the succubi outfits with a worried look.

"Larkspur? I-I'm not sure about this. The last time we saw something that looked like that, you made me fight it. I nearly died."

I would like to repeat the request for no sexual assault. I also have some issues whenever explicit physical (not necessarily sexual) abuse of a child is described in great detail. I understand that drow being drow, this may be inevitable. But if it has to happen, fair warning would be splendid. If warning cannot occur, which I absolutely understand happens sometimes, reducing the amount of detail reduces the impact greatly.

I don't have any issues with romance occurring between other players, or even with someone trying to romance Aster. Although I don't see it being an easy road with Aster's many neuroses or Larkspur's cocky and invasive attitude.

On a personal level, I am indifferent. It does not bother me.

If Aster noticed at all, she would likely be more worried about upsetting someone with questions than she would be upset by it, and so would likely not mention it at all.

Larkspur thinks all humanoids look the same, unless something really sticks out. So he's likely to find things like Ryssa's hair and skin tones pleasantly noteworthy, and think everything else is an unfortunate byproduct of being related to (in his opinion) typically boring looking humanoids.

Hello all. I am here now as well. I am prepared and excited.

Also, we have one party member with a 10 Charisma, and the rest of us have 16 or higher. We're going to hilariously talk our way out of everything.

That's amazing! Although if we decide that we really want trouble, we could always rely on Larkspur to pick fights and get us into trouble, since he's likely to be talking a fair portion of the time anyway.

Aster Orodata wrote:

I would be willing to tie Aster's backstory in with someone else. If anyone spent a significant amount of time in the shackles, or near Sargava, it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to have encountered each other. Although her loudmouthed familiar, Larkspur, seems more likely to have traveled with other people before.

ASTER!! Over here, please join us. You've come a long way from the Shackles. You look well. How have you been?!

Ugh, I see you haven't lost that pigeon in your travels. S'up larkspur I see you made it out of that gambling den down South, unfortunately.

Larkspur's broke... Again. So we're here looking for some quick money. He keeps saying that there's always a quick buck to make this time of year. I dunno... I've never been this far north before.

I would be willing to tie Aster's backstory in with someone else. If anyone spent a significant amount of time in the shackles, or near Sargava, it wouldn't be unreasonable for them to have encountered each other. Although her loudmouthed familiar, Larkspur, seems more likely to have traveled with other people before.

Beorn the Divine wrote:

Angry Wiggles wrote:

I'd like to propose Aster. She's a female half-orc duettist bard with a Starling (really just a reflavored thrush), as a familiar.

I would like to eventually make her a Battle Herald, if the story permits, but having her see play is the primary goal.

** spoiler omitted **

** spoiler omitted **...

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! OPERA AT TWENTY PACES!

I also proposed a bard lol.

I.. Um.. I Don't think-k I c-can sing opera...

"I lick bards. I MEAN LIKE. LIKE. I like bards."

Oh? Oh! Oh No...