Olivia Rousseau

Art by Rachel

Brother (Theodas, or "Theo" )

Olivia Rousseau is a half-elven bard and a player character. She began the adventure of the campaign along with Barkley, Stella, Rashi, and Kakara - trapped in the hull of a pirate ship after having been captured. Olivia is a musician, traveler, and magic-user who wanted to live a life full of excitement, curiosity and friendship. Since joining the party, she has traveled widely, generally running amok with the intention of helping people

Olivia was first encountered in "Episode 1: I want to pants the pirate.

## Appearance and Personality

Olivia is a waifish half-elf of ~~medium~~ tall height. She has freckled olive skin, short, chestnut brown hair, and hazel eyes. She is incredibly skinny and boney from malnutrition. Her clothes are usually goofy - she often wears colorful clothing and silly hats. Her trademark was a cavalier's hat from which a large gray feather and a medium sized white feather sticks out, though it was lost during the game. Olivia carries the green dragonblade Necrotaush on her hip. She goes by many nicknames, including "Olly," and "Liv" as well as by her full name. Olivia used to be shorter, until a wild surge near a leyline in the Northmarch caused her to instantly grow six inches to a very lanky 5'10''.

Olivia is typically joyful and exuberant in personality. She is extremely charming, nearly always getting her way just by the virtue of her inherent charisma. As a bard, she is very expressive, often to the point of being overdramatic. She is quick to find a bright side to almost any situation, and she has a great deal of faith in her friends and in people in general. She values freedom, creativity, fun, and the bonds between people. Olivia is incredibly open-minded and often reminds the party not to judge other inhabitants of Teshol by their race or background. In her mind, her greatest strength is her love for other people. She wants desperately to be a good person that is loved in return and seeks validation constantly.

Despite her positive traits, Olivia is also known to be incredibly irresponsible. The half-elf has a short attention span and very little respect for the property, personal space, or privacy of others. She is nosy, inserting herself into any situation, even those that are better left alone. Her eternal curiosity can be energizing, but can also be exhausting for those around her. In typical bard fashion, the half-elf loves being the center of attention and will hassle others until they pay attention to her. She is also developing a bad habit of keeping important information from the party if she doesn't particularly want them to deal with it.

Olivia is incredibly naive. Her lack of life experiences and her unrealistically optimistic attitude make her very gullible. She rarely realizes the consequences of her actions and is notoriously unreliable. Her high charisma means that she's spent most of her life getting what she asks for, and she is incredibly unprepared for what happens when life doesn't go the way she wants. Thus, she gets very upset when she is forced to face unpleasant truths or moral ambiguities.

Being frail and easily sickened, Olivia is sometimes sensitive about her weaknesses. She has chronic pain and nausea that hampers her daily life, though as an actress she is very good at hiding her discomfort. The half-elf knows that her lifespan is likely dramatically reduced from her childhood bout with illness, and the looming threat of death colors most of her behavior. She wants to do as much as she can with her life before she dies, and so she aims to live each day to the fullest. She knows that her fragility and sickness, and someday her early death, will be a burden on people she cares about, but she is determined to make up for it by being a heroic, kind, and joyful person. Since learning of the threat to Teshol, she has committed her life to protecting as many people as possible.

## Backstory

   Olivia was born in the rural town of Lorane to an elven father and a human mother. She has one brother. She describes the people of Lorane as "growing corn and making pots", which she thinks is incredibly boring.

When Olivia was around seven, a sudden and devastating illness struck her and she spent a length of time in a near-death state, in extreme pain. Regular healing did nothing for her, and her family were convinced that she was going to die. However, after the better part of a year, she miraculously healed for unknown reasons. The illness left her with scars, chronic pain, and nausea that would follow her for the rest of her life, but she was thrilled to have a second chance at life nonetheless.

Olivia's father was protective of her after her illness, but a sixteen year old Olivia convinced him to allow her to follow her dreams and attend the Alabaster Academy of the Bardic Arts (AABA) on the island of Tamvrien. Here she learned music and bardic magic. To pay her school bills she (and her father) went ***deeply*** in debt. On her way to school, she met Bran, who she befriended and convinced to join her at the academy. The two had a close friendship, until Olivia's irresponsible behavior lead to Bran getting kicked out of the college, buried in debt.

Some time after graduating from AABA, Olivia met up with Kakara, an aacockra ranger, and they became fast friends. They traveled together until they were captured by pirates at the beginning of the game.

## Relationships

### Ethris and Hannah Rousseau

Olivia sometimes mentions that her father could be overprotective and that she knows very little about his personal life or history. Her father helped bankroll Olivia's education, something that required a great deal of convincing from Olivia's mother, Hannah. Ethris has been described as being "Very Elfy" which is the source of most of the tension between him and Olivia. She seems to want her father's approval. Olivia is close with Hannah, who she's described as very kind and patient, and with a good sense of humor.

### Kakara

Olivia says that Kakara is her best friend. They traveled together for a little over a year before the events of the campaign. The feather in Olivia's hat was a gift from Kakara. Kakara also taught Olivia to speak Auran, as well as how to shoot a bow. Olivia misses Kakara but respects her choice to follow her destiny to the feywild.

### Barkley

    Olivia quickly became friends with Barkley, who shares her penchant for mischief and her affectionate nature. Over the course of the game, Olivia has grown to consider Barkley her best friend or even a sister. The girls would do anything for each other, even die for the other: In the Grindwall quarantine district, when Olivia would have died from a poisonous spray of a Starving Beast, Barkley saved her life due to a sneakily placed Warding Bond, which caused Barkley to take half of Olivia's damage and ended up leaving the both unconscious but both alive. Likewise, in the Underdark, Olivia died attempting to protect Barkley from a Beholder's death ray, and Barkley had to resurrect her. The latter experience was very traumatic for both girls.

Early in their relationship, the two of them had some tension in their relationship due to Olivia's irresponsible and often deceptive nature clashing with Barkley's desire for honesty and her tendency to take her oaths seriously. Barkley did not appreciate Olivia's manipulativeness, and sometimes argued with her for it. However, after Barkley's change in her relationship with her mother, she became less sensitive about Olivia's behavior and the pair of them began to get along even better.

Olivia tries to rein in some of the gnome's more morally dubious behavior, and likewise Barkley tries to call out Olivia when she is being manipulative or reckless. Olivia has grown more secretive towards Barkley, finally realizing how young Barkley is and not wanting to burden the gnome further with her problems while Barkley grieves her mother.

### Vahlka

Olivia likes and respects Vahlka, though Olivia's capricious nature tends to polarize the drow's reactions to her in return. Early in the game their relationship was extremely volatile - on good days the drow regarded the half elf with a certain degree of protective fondness, on bad days the drow considered pummeling the annoying little twerp. Olivia did not understand where the drow was coming from, her sheltered nature keeping her from realizing everything Vahlka had been through that made her how she is. As time went on, however, the pair developed more of an understanding and now they are devoted teammates. Both are very protective of the other. Because Vahlka is an elf, especially one that Olivia respects, she desperately wants the drow's validation. It comes rarely but when it does, Olivia always appreciates it.

Both girls are extroverts who tend to chatter to keep from thinking too hard about the bad things in their lives, which has made them come to rely on each other for distraction. Olivia often tries to be goofy to cheer Vahlka up - which sometimes works and sometimes is just annoying. The half-elf also wants to help Vahlka be a better person, though she doesn't know how aside from trying to be a good person herself.

Olivia appreciates that Vahlka seems to be the only party member to understand how to treat her illness. Vahlka, having seen similar symptoms with Andrith, has the best handle on when Olivia is acting out of pain or discomfort due to her frail constitution. The drow doesn't make a big deal of the sickness, but is quietly supportive in her own way. Over time, their relationship has become somewhat familial, with Vahlka treating Olivia and Barkley both as makeshift younger siblings.

### Godfrey

Olivia is a big fan of Godfrey, quickly adopting him as somewhat of a grandfather figure. She thinks he is funny and endearing and he seems to be fairly protective of her. During the battle in Dazzlegleam's lair, he rushed to protect her body after Verde knocked her unconscious, successfully intimidating the wyrmspeaker. In a letter, Oliva told Godfrey that they had a lot in common because "Our bodies are a bit messed up because of being sick." The pair have bonded over their shared curiosity about different types of creatures and people, as well as their love of cotton candy.

Lately, Olivia has grown frustrated with some of Godfrey's non sequiturs and his constant hassling her to eat. Nonetheless, she cares for him and is fairly content to let him do his own, extremely weird, thing.

### Lucius

Olivia thinks Lucius is fantastic. The two became fast friends, finding each other's quirks endearing. Lucius tolerates and even encourages a lot of Olivia's goofiness and her emotional behavior, which Olivia appreciates. The half-elf was also very quick to spend the half-dragon's vast sums of money. When Olivia left Tamvrien with Minerva, Lucius cried and said that he'd be worried about both of them.

Olivia has spent a fair deal of time trying to comfort Lucius, attempting to reassure him that his mother is probably alive and that things will be okay in the end. She has a lot of faith in him, which has blinded her to his increasing interest in necromancy and his decreasing interest in being morally good.

### Deacon

Olivia's relationship with Deacon has grown a bit awkward. When they first met, Olivia facilitated the relationship between Deacon and Vahlka enough to keep Vahlka from killing him, and managed to weasel out information about Andrith from him with her constant questions. As they got to know each other though, her constant hum of energy and cheerfulness became exhausting to the cleric rather than uplifting. In contrast, Deacons dreariness makes Olivia depressed, which is not something the half-elf can deal with alongside her physical ailments. After the fight with Castra Dame and her racial violence against Deacon, the two half-elves have been fairly distant.

### Temerity

Temerity is a tiefling warlock/bard who is a teacher at the Alabaster Academy for the Bardic Arts. She was Olivia's and Bran's mentor during school. Olivia loves and respects the goofy and charming woman, and is worried about her since the invasion of Tamvrien.

### Bran

Bran was Olivia's best friend when she was at school at the AABA in Tamvrien. He was a young sailor who worked at the Wayfairer's Rest docks, until Olivia met him and convinced him to join her at school and become a bard. During their time at the college, Olivia convinced Bran to break the rules and steal scrolls to cheat on an exam, leading to a chain of events that left Bran red-handed casting illegal magic while Olivia got off scot-free. After Bran's expulsion from AABA, Olivia refused to apologize or take responsibility for what had happened.

When Bran met up with her in the Northmarch, the two barely spoke to each other except for the occasional snide remark - like Bran telling her to "lead the way because he knows how [she] needs to be in charge". He helped her escape from Tanith and he hid in the Shaded Valley with the Northmarch refugees. Despite helping her and being on the same side, the pair were still not friends.

The party eventually arrived in the Shaded Valley, and Olivia traveled to the North Gate to meet him. He told her that if she wanted to apologize, she'd have to catch him in the Skyrider races. Olivia, Barkley, and Lucius participated in the race and afterwards Olivia gave a tense apology to the other bard for what had happened in Tamvrien. He forgave her, but things are obviously still strained between them. Bran stated that he intended to go become a paladin of the Air Titan, the roc, but that he wanted to help Olivia when it came time to fight to free Tamvrien.

### Minerva

Olivia completely adores and admires Minerva. Minerva has adopted Olivia as an apprentice and agreed to help her train to become stronger. Minerva has shared a lot of lore with Olivia and the half-elf is slowly piecing together the ancient copper dragon's long and storied history. The copper dragon brought Olivia to the Northmarch with her, and has fought alongside her on occasion against the Cult of the Dragon. Olivia currently believes Minerva to be alive but captive and probably severely weakened after fighting Tanith.

### Verde / Theodas "Theo" Rousseau

Olivia has always had a strained relationship with her brother, Theo. They fought constantly as children, with Theo being angry, mean little shithead, and Olivia being an obnoxious brat. Olivia left Theo at home when she went to Tamvrien at sixteen and hadn't seen or heard from him since.

Early in the game, Barkley realized that Theo had been one of the thieves' guild members she'd known in Elchezar. Theo answered one Sending spell from Olivia, but ignored her repeated messages afterwards.

During the party's time in Tamvrien, they discovered a Cult of The Dragon cell beneath the city. A masked rogue going by the pseudonym "Verde" seemed to be in charge of the operation. He was suspected of being the green wyrmspeaker, as he possessed the Green Dragon Mask. The party fought with him in Dazzlegleam's lair. He very nearly killed Olivia, just after telling her that she "came here just to die."

In the Northmarch, "Verde" stalked after Olivia and her friends until they opened the door at the Withering Grove and unwittingly allowed him and Noir entry. He then took Necrotaush from her stone, attuned to her, and tried to run, but Olivia and The Northmarch Party stopped him by casting Fear on him, making him drop the sword, and then polymorphing him into a worm. Awoo grabbed the worm and tried to keep him from Noir, but Noir planeshifted herself, Verde, and Awoo to the Hells. When the remaining members of the party tried to evacuate the Northmarch village from Tanith, Verde stopped Olivia and tried to grapple Necrotaush away from her, saying "That belongs to me". A series of grapple checks and exchanges of spells occurred, which ended when Olivia used the sword to cast Dissonant Whispers on Verde, forcing him to flee, but before he could, Olivia grabbed the dragonmask from his face and revealed that "Verde" had been Theo all along. With Olly struck dumb by the revelation, Theo had a chance to grab the mask back and dimension door away, and Olivia had to be grabbed and dragged away from the approaching green dragon by Bran.

Olivia has tried to gather more information about Theo several times. Most recently, she scried on him with Lucius to reveal that he was affiliated somehow with the Yuan-ti that are now running rampent along the coasts of Teshol.

### Tanith

Olivia hates Tanith, the dragon Verde serves, because of the pestilent nature of the beast and her disease/poison capabilities, her murder of Haven and the people of the Northmarch, and the control she exerts over Theo. Olivia is utterly horrified and hopeless in the face of Tanith, emotionally wrecked by the scene in the Northmarch.

### Tenebrous

Olivia has complicated feelings about Tenebrous, the white wyrmspeaker. The half-elf understands where the tiefling is coming from to some degree, and agrees that something should be done about the way tieflings in general are treated. She also agrees that Tenebrous would be a better person to receive the shard of divinity than Crow, Osyna, or Tanith. However, she is furious about many of the things that Tenebrous has done, despising their methods for accomplishing their goals.

Clearly, the bard does not think raising Tiamat is going to solve problems, and she disdains the blood on Tenebrous's hands. Olivia also knows that that Tenebrous has been manipulative at best and that the warlock has not been forthright about a number of things the half-elf cares greatly about. For Olivia, dealing with Tenebrous has become uncomfortably personal, and she is not sure what to do about them.

### The Northmarch Party

The half-elf adored her friends that adventured with her in the Northmarch. However, she had a strained but friendly relationship with Shiver who was mad that Olivia's careless magic near a leyline caused both of them to get fireballed and nearly killed. Olivia was also fond of Shiver's grandmother Macey, Marchosias, a tiefling bard, and Awoo, a 4 year old kenku bardbarian who she immediately developed a close and protective friendship towards. Awoo gave her one of his feathers when she was sad about the fact that her hat and Kakara's feather got burned from the aforementioned careless fireball.

## Other Interesting Facts

Olivia has a heart full of love a brain full of ukulele music.

* Olivia Tropes
* Olivia loves boats and the ocean
* She loves Tamvrien and considers it her home, even though she wasn't born there.
* She has a fondness for birds and her Beastlands form is a parrot.
* She is well over 200,000 gp in debt from her education.
* Her musical instrument of choice is the ukulele, and she is very attached to her personal instrument. She can play the ukulele, the violin, and the flute.
* She loves sweet foods and caffeine, and hates vegetables and tea
* She has an incredibly sensitive stomach and gets sick at the slightest provocation.

## Relevant Quotes

"I don't know... why's she like that?! She's the most willfully ignorant creature I've ever encountered..." The drow said. Deacon replies, "P-People say ignorance is b-bliss. I wish I could have so much faith. D-Doesn't usually last." -- Vahlka and Deacon about Olivia

"NO ONE IS GOING TO DIE." -- Olivia says, mostly to frantically reassure herself.

"How did it feel to be a worm, asshole!" -- Olivia to Verde shortly before she realized Verde was actually her brother.

"You're not dead yet. Any voice that says you are, even if it’s one in your head, is wrong." -- Olivia to Vahlka