Lord Astrophel Zaldeval

Astrophel is an Aasimar Lunar Sorcerer who has been working for the Legion for the past 10 years. Not much is known about him other than that he hails from Rapture and that he is madly in love with his wife.

## Biography

Astrophel is from Rapture. Much of his backstory is unknown, other than that his parents are allegedly "very nice".

He is a very conniving and cruel man, so far only having shown kindness to his wife and partially to Juno. His motivations for acting this way are unknown, though he does seem to do the things he does to get reactions out of people for pure entertainment value.

Astrophel speaks Common and Celestial. He is the only one that seems to know what the poison that killed the Queen could be. His arcane focus is his wedding band.

## Campaign

In Episode 1, Astrophel is introduced as a Council Member. He first meets with his wife, Sapphyra, during the celebrations, expressing his disdain for the event and general boredom. He then interacts with Elshu, spilling wine on his fellow councilman. Later, during the feast, he gossips with Juno about the other representatives present, as well as Elshu. Elshu attempts to pull Astrophel's chair out from under him, but Torai prevents this. Elshu accuses Tierney and Rapture of being in cahoots, and Astrophel immediately invites Torai (as well as Venra) to sit at the head table with him.

A change in schedule begins - Elshu has arranged a talent show in order to humiliate Astrophel, who is chosen to go first to represent both the Legion and Rapture. Astrophel decides to waltz with his wife, and casts Ray of Sickness on Elshu. After the first attempt fails, a voice in his head says, "*Try again, trophy*," and he successfully poisons Elshu (which should be impossible due to Elshu's Yuan-Ti heritage).

Later, Astrophel is summoned by Elora to aid them after they discovered the Queen's corpse. He translates a threatening note written in Celestial and seems to know what the poison that killed the Queen was, though professes otherwise. He shows either great concern or curiosity when finding out that Juno tried the poison, examining her and muttering, "How is she still standing?" He becomes cross with her when she protests his attempts to see if she is better, and she begrudgingly allows him to finish his tests with her. When guards come in to escort those present back to the main hall, Astrophel deceives them, claiming the goblet of water-like liquid was his, now giving him the murder weapon.

In Episode 2, Astrophel discovers from afar that Lorne has a "little friend" residing under his scarf, and becomes flustered by Alessa's flirtatious nature. He takes delight in Elshu's embarrassment (incidentally through Torai), and is later forced by the Head Chef to aid in the rat problem. He has no intentions of helping, only doing so after Torai procures wine for him. After discovering the "rat" is indeed a young Drow, Astrophel uses Detect Thoughts to deduce her reasons for being there, hearing in her brain, *Father will be so disappointed in me* and *I want to go home*. He kindly offers to bring her home if she tells them her reasons for being here, and when she refuses, he uses Alter Self to turn into her father, Lord Baron Tierney, revealing her to be Princess Leia Tierney. He shortly thereafter mocks her, still as her father, and she punches him for it. Elora and Lorne defend her, and Torai defuses the situation. Astrophel goes to leave, claiming how fun the endeavor was, before Elora forces him to fall with a blow to his knees. Lorne then locks him in the cellar.

In the darkness, he sees a pair of golden eyes looking back at him in a cabinet window's reflection. A voice in his head starts to laugh before remarking, *"I thought they'd never leave*." Astrophel replies, *"*How I value our time alone together," and the voice replies, *"You flatter me, trophy*," and opens the door for him. A figure in the darkness appears through black mist, holding a goblet. Astrophel pours himself and the figure a glass of wine, the figure toasting *"To the nuisances and to those that will be ours*," and Astrophel toasts "To it being just like last time."

## Relationships

**Sapphyra:** Sapphyra is Astrophel's loving wife. He is shown to have great affection toward her, gossiping and dancing with her in Episode 1. She also hails from Rapture. In Episode 4, when he is stressed, he is seen squeezing her hand and sitting beside her in an effort to feel better.

**Elshu:** Astrophel has a contentious (to say the least) relationship with his fellow councilman, Elshu. They frequently trade verbal blows, and Astrophel goes out of his way to humiliate Elshu. When Elshu is humiliated, Astrophel is automatically in a good mood.

**Juno Sterlyn**: Astrophel has known Juno for several years, as they both work in The Queen's Keep. They have a love-hate relationship, often gossiping with each other. He takes great offense when she claims that the palace is boring. He shows possible concern for her when he discovers she has been left (presumably) alone in the Queen's bedchambers following the queen's assassination, thinking she could fall prey to a potential assassin.

**Torai:** After Torai saves Astrophel from being humiliated by Elshu, Astrophel immediately took to the "human" from Tierney, finding him wildly entertaining. Torai is very kind to Astrophel, who is superficially kind in return, likely because of Torai's entertainment value and because Torai could easily kill him in a fight. He owes Torai a favor.

Ri**ven Rook****:** Riven is Astrophel's unpaid intern. Astrophel treats him like a means only for entertainment. He commonly has him do demeaning and pointless tasks, like getting him refills of wine.

**Lorne Heartwood:** Lorne and Astrophel have not interacted much, aside from Lorne becoming quite mad at him and locking him in the kitchen cellar in retribution for mocking Leia Tierney.

**Lady Elora Alcheron:** Elora gifted Astrophel guidance to aid him in not being humiliated by Astrophel, leading him to owe her a favor. However, after his attitude and actions toward Leia, Elora expresses her immense disgust toward Astrophel.

**Lady Alessandra Wolfram:** They have interacted once briefly, wherein Astrophel became very flustered due to Alessa's flirtatious nature, adamantly speaking about how much he loves his wife and professing his marital status. Regardless of this, he invited Alessa to sit at the head table with him during the morning meal.

## Notable Quotes

* [After pouring wine on Elshu] "Someone's had too much to drink!"
* "Don't be prejudiceeeed, Juno."
* [After reading Leia's mind] "I'm so gagged."
* "I can assure you that your father's disappointment pales in comparison to my aggravation."
* "Well, that was fun!" [After traumatizing Leia Tierney]
* [To Riven, while hiring him as his intern] "You'll be paid...in experience!"

## Fun Facts

* The only day of the year when he is genuinely nice to everyone is on his wedding anniversary
* He does not enjoy/understand art or anything considered art (extravagant meals, music, poetry, etc)
* He is a skilled ice skater
* If he commits a good deed, he literally gets a migraine
* He has literally never done anything selfless before