Oda

Oda Mountainfoot

Deep in the forests near a town called Firebreath lives a halfling tribe. Long ago they have been given the name winterfolk. This tribe houses many halflings, but our focus will remain on a chosen few. One of these is a young halfling lady called Oda.

Oda is very curious—she is said to have the spirit of Brandobaris—and is often found in the woods, at the nearby rivers or even in the mountains near her village. As all villagers, she has multiple roles to fulfil. She is one of the most skilled hunters her age and with this skill she helps take care of food and hides needed. Sometimes she serves as a guide for the nearby townspeople and other travellers. A more uncommon task for her is the occasional visit to a local magus. This magus is able to foresee events that may happen in the future. Besides, this magus is also a very skilled potion brewer, which has helped cure sick villagers as long as they remember.
From this magus, Oda has learned a couple things regarding the making of simpler poultices and even some improvised potions. She has also picked up a closer affinity to nature and seems to be able to call upon Her* help on occasion. Whether this is due to the magus and her proximity to the Feywild, or something else entirely, Oda doesn't seem to really think about it too much. She appreciates this blessing and uses it when needed.

However, as the stories go, a child imbued with the spirit of Brandobaris will eventually want to leave the village and start their very own journey in the hopes of seeing new and interesting things. This is true as well for Oda and she has only just set off on her very own journey, together with an apprentice of the Magus and a good friend of hers.
Their journey is not without a goal, however. The Magus often talks about a sickness affecting both the natural world and the Feywild and more than a couple prophecies have predicted that life in the halfling settlements will no longer be possible in a lifetime. Both Oda and the apprentice have decided that they want to dedicate their time into finding out what the cause of this "wittering" is and to research it.
This researching will cost money and, of course, has been tried by many clever minds already, so the first step will have to be accumulating both gold and renown in order to both fund their goal and to have the authority and prestige to hire any they might require.
With a healthy dose of both courage and curiosity, the duo has decided that the best way to gain both at the same time would be to join the lucrative adventuring business. And where better to start than in the great city of Wittering?

*Her = Sheela Peryroyl, the halfling goddess of nature.

• Halfling hunter that dabbles in the making of poultices and simple potions.
• Adventurous spirit. The halflings call it the spirit of Brandobaris.
• Due to contact with a Magus she knows about the "wittering" phenomenon.
• Through the same magus she made contact with the magus' apprentice and they have become friends through shared interests.
• Goal is to figure out what this "wittering" effect is and how—or if— they can stop it.
• This requires lots of gold and lots of contacts. Best way to get both, they figure, is through becoming adventurers.
• And where best to start other than the city Wittering?

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

She is fit, reflected in her build, and has a good stamina. She is agile enough to climb any tree without much issue. Currently healthy, without disease.

Body Features

Pale skin, half-long messy brown hair, short fingernails.

Facial Features

Somewhat round face with a short chin. Relatively big eyes, hazel coloured irises. Thick eyebrows. Her ears are pointed, but not very long. Her hair often hides her ears unintentionally. She still has all her teeth and they are in good condition. No piercings.

Identifying Characteristics

Calloused fingers from doing handwork from a young age.

Physical quirks

She is left-handed and -footed. She walks with a confident step when going somewhere. She stands straight up and often looks forward, which makes her rarely directly look at people due to her length.

Special abilities

She knows how to enhance her arrows in order to make them splinter on contact, she can help an animal understand her good intentions better, she has the ability to create salves that can cure wounds when used within their expiration date, although only she knows how to apply them. She has also been gifted the ability to protect a person from evil and good.
These magical gifts are said to be gifted to her by the halfling goddess of nature: Sheela Peryroyl.

Apparel & Accessories

Her gear is made of mainly leather and fur from kills she made herself. This is a particular pride of hers. She has coloured her chest armour, gloves and cowl darker green and the lower body gear brown. The fur is mostly brown coloured. She wears a chain with various trinkets on it. These serve as her way to commune with her gods and spirits and also help her in casting her spells. Her backpack has many self-made 'badges' on it: they are trophies of beasts she has hunted, or trinkets from places she has been to. They are pinned to it.

Specialized Equipment

She wields a shortbow, although she would call it a longbow due to its size. It is slung over her shoulder when not in combat. She wears a belt over her armour with several pockets attached to it that hold items like potions and other things she might need quickly in battle. On her left hip, attached to the belt, hangs her quiver filled with arrows. On her right hip hang a sheath for a shortsword. On her lower back hangs a sheathed dagger. When travelling she wears an oversized backpack with all her stuff neatly packed in it. Under it hangs a bedroll and on the side a long piece of rope. The other side holds her trusty hand-axe. Its hilt is carefully engraved by her father.
Her left hand is gloved by a three-fingered glove, made to help her when shooting with her bow. Her right hand is slightly better protected, although she does not want to wear more than leather, since that gets in the way too much (and is too loud to be able to sneak comfortably).

Mental characteristics

Education

Taught how to hunt by her father. Taught how to make easy poultices and potions by an old magus. Very few of her teachings have come from books or official teachers.

Employment

Worked as a huntress in the tribe. Other tasks were travelling to the magus when in need of fortunes and potions, and creating traps and other simple gadgets.

Accomplishments & Achievements

A talented huntress, she has managed to trap and kill a bear single-handedly after a long chase.

Failures & Embarrassments

When she was still a young girl, she once asked how old the elder was, despite being told never to do so. She now knows to never ask an old woman her age and still sometimes wakes up with red cheeks. Embarrassments last for a long time with her.

Intellectual Characteristics

She needs very little information to be able to determine the whereabouts of her prey and whether there are more nearby.
She knows the size of and the speed a creature was moving at when looking at footprints.

Morality & Philosophy

Don't waste parts of your prey if you can help it. This goes back to her upbringing, where it is said a part of the gods are within any living being.
"Always be kind to strangers." This is something her father has taught her from when she was small and she has taken this—as she does with most things—quite literal.
People should decide on their own what is and is not OK to do. But don't object to the inevitable consequences. She herself will not freely do something most people see as evil, unless she feels it is the only option in that circumstance.
Do not sacrifice your own life for another. No life is more valuable than another and therefore it is a waste to throw yours away.

Taboos

She is against senseless torture and violence. She will come to the aid of people who are currently suffering from one of these taboos. Even if it means standing against her allies.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Wants to find out about the wittering effect and cure it.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Great at tracking down creatures. A proper conversation, especially with someone not too patient is not her strong suit.

Likes & Dislikes

She loves nature, likes travelling, likes her first non-halfling friends, dislikes hasty people, dislikes rules and laws she sees as unfair and hates people with a lack of respect for things or beings.

Virtues & Personality perks

Patient, polite, alert.

Vices & Personality flaws

Misreads people, takes things literal on occasion, relatively new to city-life.

Personality Quirks

She has been taught a couple superstitions. The three most common from her village are as follows:

• A large silvery squirrel could be Yondalla in disguise. Offer her a treat when you see her!
• A spring is a sacred place full of good luck. Take a moment to pause and reflect in such a place.
• Set flowers in your cap or hair to protect against evil faeries.

Hygiene

There's nothing wrong with some dirt on your face, as long as it doesn't get in the way. She will clean herself when she can, but isn't worried if that isn't the case for a week, sometimes more.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Her home village is all she knows. She has met merchants from Dragonbreath, but doesn't keep contact with them.

Religious Views

Her faith system is not unlike other halflings, although like most winterfolk she does share the belief that the gods are in everything. See Winterfolk Halfling for more information.

Social Aptitude

She is very polite and can hold her own in a conversation, most of the time. Her vocabulary is decent, but she speaks a bit slower and does not use abbreviations as to avoid confusion (whether this is needed or not). She takes things literal on occasion, which may annoy the less patient people. Her mannerisms are crude and much like a peasant, but she is willing to learn if guided, not scolded.

Mannerisms

She wipes her boots clean of the wetter mud as to not leave tracks inside a house or other building. She tends to not look people in the eyes when talking, often looking past them or at something that may interest her. Besides, it is extremely tiring to keep looking so far up. If they are willing to kneel, however, she is willing to look straight at them as a sign of mutual respect. Her steps are confident, like she knows where she is going. She does forget to tell where it is she is going on occasion.

Hobbies & Pets

She enjoys to gather new trinkets she hasn't seen before, although she doesn't collect them and instead is willing to trade them for another new trinket. She keeps a booklet that describes beasts, their strengths and weaknesses, how to best approach them and what parts are edible, or if they are poisonous.

Relationships

Oda

friend (Important)

Towards Elyrion

3

4

Frank

---

Elyrion

friend (Important)

Towards Oda

4

3

Frank

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History

Oda's point of view:
Oda has got to know Elyrion through his master and teacher, Enna. During her visits on business of her tribe, she often came into contact with Elyrion, who helped Enna with the tasks that were asked of her. Oda enjoyed Elyrion's company, as he was very different and foreign to her. She has always been attracted to things that weren't like the village life and during conversations they got to know each other better. She learned some things and forgot many more quickly, but what grew the friendship the most was their shared concern about the withering effect that the lands are suffering from.
Oda doesn't know the specifics, as this is all very technical, but Enna has prophetised that her tribe will be unable to live in the same place for more than a generation, due to a sudden spread of the withering effect. And this needs to be prevented, of course.
When it became clear that Elyrion was sent to further investigate this phenomenon, Oda decided to travel along and they made their way to the great city of Wittering.

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Nicknames & Petnames

Oda uses Elyrion's first name.

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Relationship Reasoning

Occasional visits to Elyrion's master grew out into a friendship thanks to conversations about shared interests.

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Commonalities & Shared Interests

Oda's point of view:
The withering is a great concern of both Oda and Elyrion.
They share a love for nature and its gifts.
Oda likes hearing about the strange rituals and these "Words" that Elyrion sometimes talks about. She doesn't understand it, really, but she really tries to.

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Shared Secrets

Oda's point of view
Whether or not it is true, Elyrion believes that a language known as "Dark Speech" (which Oda now knows is not like undercommon at all) might be the cause of the corruption of the land.

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Shared Acquaintances

Enna, Elyrion's master and teacher.
Willow, the elder of Oda's tribe.

Ansgar Tyr

companion (Trivial)

Towards Oda

0

1

Honest

---

Oda

companion (Trivial)

Towards Ansgar Tyr

0

1

Honest

---

History

Oda's point of view:
Once every so often (Oda never really kept track of the months and visits happened regardless of seasons) a strange mercantile folk entered Firebreath to trade. This folk is said to follow a certain star. One of these merchants was an exceptional storyteller and fellow tribesmen often brought this person through the woods to the village. This man, Ansgar, was still young, but he had stories from all sorts of places, involving all kinds of people. Oda doesn't remember the specifics, but it made the world seem bigger than she knew it to be.
Eventually these visits stopped and Oda grew up, but she sometimes wonders if this Ansgar is still finding new stories to tell.

---

Ansgar Tyr's point of view:
During Ansgar’s merchant years he regularly visited the Winterfolk tribe near the town of Firebreath. His kin liked to trade with Halflings and the people there were always interested to see what the blue skinned people brought from the far away lands. Ansgar was always quite happy to visit the settlement as the folk listened eagerly to the stories he had to tell. Especially the kids were always very excited whenever the traveling Tyr tribe appeared near Firebreath. Oda Mountainfoot was one of those children and this little Halfling was always very curious to hear what heroic stories the man had to tell.
Even after Ansgar switched profession he still finds himself back at the tribe from time to time, not able to resist a visit whenever he’s near. It’s been multiple years now since the last time that he spoke with any of the Winderfolk but who know when he might run into them again.

Nicknames & Petnames

Oda calls him mr. Tyr.

Relationship Reasoning

Met purely by chance. He was the storyteller, and she (along with many others) listened to them.

Bear

companion (Trivial)

Towards Oda

0

0

Honest

---

Oda

companion (Trivial)

Towards Bear

0

0

Honest

---

Oda

companion (Trivial)

Towards Vidth

0

0

Honest

---

Vidth

companion (Trivial)

Towards Oda

0

0

Honest

---

Wealth & Financial state

She has spent the gold she earned from her side-job as a guide on the proper adventuring gear.
Her plans are to acquire enough wealth to hire researches and together with her friend to create her own research centre.
She would be seen as a poor commoner in the eyes of the citizenry as she is now and is used to living from the land.

Alignment

Mostly neutral, but prefers acts that help others.

Current Location

The Island of Wittering

Ethnicity

Winterfolk Halfling

Year of Birth

960 AO 22 Years old

Circumstances of Birth

Born during the spring, like almost every halfling in their village. No special circumstances.

Birthplace

Winterfolk Clan, in the burrow of the Mountainfoot halflings.

Spouses

Siblings

Current Residence

Currently travelling. Her home is still her parents' home.

Gender

Female

Eyes

Hazel colour, wide-eyed

Hair

Short, unkempt, brown

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale white

Height

2'11" 89cm

Weight

39 lbs 18 KG

Aligned Organization

Adventuring Party

Known Languages

She takes things overly literal and is not fully familiar with figure of speech. She might understand it is figure of speech, but can't help but try to link the saying to the actual words said. Example: I can feel it in my bones. She knows this is meant as being able to sense something, but she still connects it to a feeling your bones have.
This literally taking of language does not extent to certain words, however. She knows that her surname, Mountainfoot, is not a literal foot of a mountain, just like she understands that names of beverages are not literal.
Fluent in halfling.
She understands common very well. She does not use abbreviations.
She is versed in both dwarvish and gnomish and can talk to dwarves and gnomes with no issue. She is taught a formal version of both and will speak perhaps overly formal according to the dwarves and gnomes she talks to. Reading should provide little problem.