Orlando Helmswater

**Orlando Helmswater** is a half-elf Warlock, born to a high-elf and an unknown human male. He is the half-brother to the full elf Erdan Lansear, and is a member of the Valkyrie Knights. He is played by Orion Zymaris.

## Intro

'There I was, a stout pint of free mead in hand, chatting with this handsome fellow from out of town. He was charming and likeable - and, it seemed, very good at conversation. He was interested in my trade - I proudly told him about my work as a guard, and hinted at a few secrets only we guards knew - he seemed impressed! I never would have picked him as one to cause trouble...' - Testimony from a Distraught Guard

From a young age, Orlando was mistreated by his father, or stepfather as the case turned out to be - he was begotten from a human father. Although he was bright and charming, and liked privately by many in the village, his stepfather hated him for what he represented - the dishonesty of his mother, and a marriage of pure high elf blood and tainted humanity. As such, public affection for Orlando was largely muted, as his stepfather grew in power and stature within the village. His mother loved him, but could not save him from the neglect.

The day came when his parents were elected as high Lord and Lady of the town of Almárëanór, and he elected to run, rather than see the town fully under his stepfather's control. He fully believed he wasn't going to be missed by anyone, as he set out to find the trail of his unknown father, with only the scantest details from a letter written by his mother, discreetly spirited away many years earlier.

## Description

### Appearance

Slightly taller than an average human, Orlando has wavy dark hair that covers the slight points on his ears that betray his elf heritage. Although there is no objective scale of attractiveness, it is generally agreed upon by those who have seen him that he would be a good upper bound.

### Personality

Orlando is Chaotic Good, driven in part by the cruelty and indifference of his stepfather, a powerful elf, during his early years - this led him towards a distrust of blindly following rules, and a taste for adventure and novelty. However, he has a strong desire to fundamentally do good by the world, albeit in his own way. His charismatic nature and talent for acting lend themselves nicely to this chaotic personality.

## Biography

### Background

Orlando was born in an illegitimate fling between a married high elf lady of the Lansear clan in Almárëanór, and an unknown human suitor, later discovered to be a member of the Red Sparrows named Horace Helmswater. Due to the circumstances of his birth, and his lesser pedigree, his elven stepfather shunned him in favour of his own son Erdan. After a time, his stepfather was chosen as the new leader of the elf clan - the day of the ceremony, Orlando ran away to seek his fate elsewhere, and to find his real father. He was 20 years old.

During the course of his travels, Orlando came across a town that had been ravaged by a mysterious eldritch force. In a moment of courage, Orlando persuaded the Great Old One to cease his attack on the town, and to take him as a servant to compensate, leading to a Warlock's pact that gave Orlando his source of magic.

### Strotol

Much like the other members of the party, Orlando (along with Erdan) arrived by ship to Strotol, as the port at Port Sailen had been closed due to attacks from some monstrosity. The party met at the Drunken Calf inn, each drawn for their own reason to this small port town. After having a short interaction, they were accosted by some town guards and fell in together, forming a joined quest to help Princess Alistara Baratie regain her place on the throne.

During combat, Orlando failed to execute an eldritch blast properly, and accidentally attacked Morne, which didn't help dispel his doubts about Orlando. However, after fighting together in the tower occupied by the mercenaries who patrolled the town, he proved his value again.

### Port Sailen

After a scarring journey to the next town, and helping to blag their way through the guards using their noble heritage, Orlando, like the rest of the party, sought to help get Gof back into good health after his torture at the hands of the tower guards of the previous town. After finding their way into the secret enclave of the less well off inside the city, and the healer within, the party managed to get Gof to the healer, albeit having a close shave with a troll along the way.

The next key event was the murders - a series of deaths, seemingly by a serial killer. Belle, Boris Forefold, Katherine Donham, Wilhelmina Erik - teenagers killed in suspicious circumstances. The party took on the job of finding the killer at the behest of Belle's father Jayce. After investigating Belle's room, and finding she had a wand, the party looked to the graves of the other victims to see if any evidence had been left, before accidentally discovering a secret tunnel system underneath. After exploring it, they found Miera, one of the Big 4, the powerful leaders within Port Sailen. She explained that an assassin had been sent to murder her young students one by one, and she was unable to stop it.

After discovering that Penelope was the next target, due to be killed at the masquarade ball in a few days time, a plan was formed - Orlando, with his aptitude for disguise, would pretend to be her. The others would form various cover stories to allow themselves entrance, and to watch out for the assassin targeting the fake Penelope. In the event, Orlando was attacked, although he survived - the rest of the party chased the assassin, while Orlando escaped with a handy bit of performing.

The party chased the assassin into the sewer, where they found him sitting and willing to bargain. He was simply for hire, and was perfectly willing to avoid any more killing for the right price - the tongue of a very particular whale, that had been terrorizing the coast around Port Sailen for some time. A crew was put together, and the whale was sought out - turning out to be a horrifying amalgamation of corpses, commanded by a hag. After disposing of both creatures, Veit was taken by his God to do his work elsewhere.

Upon the party's return to the mainland, the tongue was served to the assassin, before he proceeded to go attack those who had hired him in the first place. As the town's power structures started to shift, the party left, with Orlando trailing the princess, separating from the party in search of information about his father.

### Tannesmouth

After splitting from the group when leaving Port Sailen, Orlando made his way with the Princess and Gof to Tannesmouth, in search of information about his father. By luck, he managed to find someone who was able to point him to the Red Sparrows, telling him to get to Midgard and find a man named Mordai, who would be able to lead him further. However, he cautioned Orlando to get there before the games began. Orlando split from the princess to go rejoin the party at Helmund.

### Helmund

In Helmund, Orlando slept before discovering the curse on the village that caused the first to sleep each night to never awake, meaning he had to stay and help figure out the cause to protect himself. After a night or two, he rejoined the main party, and they set out to find the source of the town's troubles. The party had a run-in with a cleric when Miri was annoyed by her and punched her - Orlando and Erdan used their royal pedigree to worm the party out of trouble, before they set off to find the source of the curse.

After finding there was likely a demonic presence, and combing the tunnels that lay under the church, the party found and dispatched the demonic presence within, breaking the curse on the town.

### Rovide Forest

After leaving Helmund, the group were led into a trap - Erdan cast a spell that threw the rest of the party into the ground, which turned out to be empty underneath, while appearing to sacrifice himself in the process. After Lapp was taken from the party (to be replaced with his shadow) by the disciple of The Small One, the party was forced to fight through several layers of a dark and gruelling dungeon, and finding several other lost people, before emerging mercifully above ground in the associated city, full of small folks, and built around the worship of The Small One.

Still in search of Lapp, the group settled into the town, working to earn the local currency in hopes of earning entry into the Citadel, where Lapp was likely being kept.

### Brann

After the events of Rovide forest, Brann offered some comfort. However, Orlando's failure to please his patron came to haunt him - outside Mousey's pub, his patron ripped one of his eyes from his head and cursed the winterwolf cub Hrívë, linking his health to take any injury sustained by Orlando, which would prevent Orlando from engaging in combat. Yoggs'goth offered him the removal of these penalties if he travelled to the temple on the Hajrudin, the huge lake that lay by the town, and performed an unspecified task. However, since Orlando had not revealed much about his patron to the group, he resolved to try and convince them to come with him to the lake, offering that there might be a powerful being they could tempt to work with them.

After persuading a crazed dwarf pirate to take them on the journey, they set out to find the temple - there were several in the lake, along with many other islands and dangers, but they went to the largest and most well known. Getting through the temple was a dangerous ordeal of traps, and a few near-death encounters, until they found a room containing six coffins. One of the ghosts trapped inside revealed to Orlando that he had "the blood that binds" Kvolemeth, the true name of his patron. This bloodline came through his father, who had been involved in the setting of the traps on these temple, 80 years ago. The ghost also revealed that Kvolemeth was seeking to be freed from the temples such as this one, that bound him and kept his power at a safe distance from reality.

Further within the temple, after acquiring a new party member, Tim, Orlando encountered Mihr, a powerful celestial entity that governs the journey through death. They offered to replace Kvolemeth as Orlando's patron, and expelled the power from his body. After killing it, a new pact was signed, and Orlando became a seance of Mihr, and took up the Pact of the Blade.

### Midgard

When they arrived at Midgard, Orlando had a few goals. He'd heard during his travels of a 'great library', the *Arathaneum*, that lay within the city. He thought it could help him find knowledge on his old patron, and more. However, his key goal was to find Mordai, as he'd been informed in Tannesmouth. The first elements of their stay in Midgard were mostly concerned with integrating themselves into the community, and learning about its inner workings.

After establishing themselves, they went to the Dawnwick Academy.

## Relationships

### Morne

As a Paladin of the Silver King, Morne is mistrustful of Orlando's source of magic, his connection to a dark patron - largely unaware of Orlando's own struggle with the concept, and his reasoning for taking the burden. Orlando, however, values Morne's company, and largely attempts to keep up a good rapport with him. The most notable exception to this is during the informal hearing of Kafka, during which Morne attempted to execute Kafka in accordance with his lawful tendencies, upon seeing his lack of remorse at his crimes. Orlando intervened to stop the execution, arguing that killing a child was a poor path, even if he seemed to be currently unrepentant, and regardless of the structure of the law. The argument was halted by Miera, as she regained her full powers and ended the disagreement, banishing Kafka for his crimes.

After Orlando rejected his patron in the temple of Kvolemeth, fighting off the part of the creature that resided inside him, and bound himself to Mihr as a new patron, Morne's trust in Orlando was regained - they now effectively shared a religion, and Orlando had proved that he was fundamentally more aligned with a good patron, rather than a malicious entity.

### Miri

Miri values honest physical combat, and is mistrustful of all forms of magic - however, they do not appear to mistrust Orlando particularly for his magic, anymore than they distrust any other magic user. They have mutual respect - Miri is aware that Orlando can do horrible things they cannot understand, but Miri can put him out of action with a well placed punch, and they both understand that their journey is better working together.

### Lapp

"Orlando is spooky"-Lapp

"Lapp is sneaky"-Orlando

"Now Orlando is butterfloopy"-Lapp

### Erdan

Orlando and Erdan have, put simply, a complicated relationship - connected by blood, but only partially, they differ wildly in ideals and methods, but they also care for each other, a connection Orlando tries to use to keep Erdan's acid tongue in check. Erdan sympathises with Orlando's quest to find his father - after all, he did seek Orlando out after leaving Almárëanór for his own reasons. Orlando had previously been jealous of Erdan's abilities in magic, and his favour with their family in their homeland. After leaving, and after the darkness he saw in Farr, Orlando has laid to rest many of these old complaints.

However, Orlando and Erdan still often snip at each other, although their insults have their barbs weakened from their obvious care for each other. This took harsh form in an argument, an insult slinging match during the toils of the temple of Kvolemeth that saw them take aim at each other's insecurities. However, the division was more due to fear and repressed anger, and they returned to each other's side with their bonds strengthened.

### Crab

Crab sees Orlando's motivation to do the right thing and recognises it as a core trait - in return, Orlando has respect for Crab's willingness to buck the tradition of his race and culture and seek his own definitions of right and wrong. Crab sees Orlando as particularly capable - Orlando sees Crab as a sign that one can weave their own path in the world, regardless of origin. However, it is early in their story together, and further links between them will surely be forged.

After aligning himself with a new patron connected to the ethereal realm, Orlando became the only one in the party who could see into the realm and see Crab - however, he is still unable to assist him, but strongly seeks a way to do so.

### Veit

Orlando gets guidance from Veit sometimes, so he's probably OK in the book of the icicle God.

### Tim

Tim?TIMtim~~Timtimtim???~~tIMtImTiMTIMMMMMMMMMMM

#### Beetle (Bug)

Bug didn't take particularly well to the Helfjord Avengers originally; understandable, considering the harsh circumstances under which they met. However, they took more lightly to Orlando than some in the group, particularly since he seemed able to reel in Erdan.

During the first task of the Midgard Games, they were upset when Orlando 'killed' one of their classmates in the Dawnwick Academy. Orlando had been unaware that competitors during the games were teleported once knocked out, to be restrained elsewhere in the environment, fully healed, where they needed to make their own way out. Orlando had assumed he could revive any downed enemies; but this incident still left a rift in Orlando and Bug's relationship.

This rift grew again as, when at the volcano above which were strung those who had been 'killed', Morne sat on the edge of death, due to a battle with the Hearts raiders. Miri, Erdan, and Orlando determined it would be best to 'kill' Morne, and see him revive above the volcano, fully healed, where they could save him quickly and easily. However, Morne protested, seeing it as immoral and unprincipled to 'kill' a friend and innocent, even in this form; and Bug sided with him, seeing the issue of consent overpowering the practicality and seriousness of the situation.

While Miri, Erdan, and Bug debated, Orlando took the initiative and dispatched Morne, before helping bring him back down from the chains above the volcano, fully healed. While Morne was able to forgive, Bug was unwilling to forget so easily, and seemed to lose some trust in Orlando.

## Character Information

### Quests

Orlando's main quest is his search for his blood father. He knows he is human, and has ascertained a few more details, such as his membership with a group called the Red Sparrows, and the name of a man who may be able to lead him to the next step of his goal. Without these, his quest would be lost.

Orlando also has his patron's motivations to keep in mind - his patron has largely called on him to grow his power, learning and consuming knowledge; however, the one specific action his patron called on him for, a request to break the mind of a cleric in Helmund, failed when she escaped. Orlando seeks to appease his patron, while avoiding doing harm to those around him. The consequences of this failure were the loss of one eye and the cursing of Hrive, only to be reversed upon successfully achieving an unknown goal in Kvolemeth temple. After the events of the temple of Kvolemeth, however, during the quest to the temple in the centre of the Hajrudin, he discovered that this temple was dedicated to keeping his patron chained, and Yoggs'goth was attempting to use him to break free, forcing him to choose between his patron and the fate of the world at large.

Deeper into the temple, after a variety of traps and after gaining a new party member, Tim, a new deity was found - Mihr, who was much more fitting to Orlando's nature - they offered to help expel Kvolemeth from Orlando, and to become their new patron. After fighting the entity that emerged from the eldritch power inside Orlando, a new pact was formed with this Celestial being. Tim was sadly lost soon after.

Alongside the other Valkyrie Knights, Orlando seeks to get to the heart of the continent and dethrone the usurper, to restore the crown to Alistara Baratie's control. Along the way they seek to find powerful allies for the battles ahead.

### Notable items

#### Current

* Component Pouch
* Fine Noble Clothing
* Signet Ring
* Bookmark (weapon)

#### Former

* Scroll of Pedigree (destroyed in water)

### Abilities

#### Half-elf abilities

* Dark vision
* Advantage against being charmed
* Can't be slept by magic
* Can communicate in Common, Elvish, and Celestial

#### Feats

* Actor feat: +1 charisma, advantage on deception and performance checks against checks for disguise, ability to mimic speech

#### Warlock Abilities

* Pact of the Blade
* Healing Light
* Radiant Soul

#### Eldritch Invocations

* Eldritch Smite
* Mask of Many Faces
* Thirsty Blade
* Agonizing Blast
* Superior Pact Weapon

### Warlock Spells

#### Cantrips

* Eldritch Blast
* Mage Hand
* Light
* Mending
* Sacred Flame
* Disguise Self (due to Eldritch Invocation)

#### 2nd Level Spells

* Invisibility
* See Invisibility

#### 3rd Level Spells

* Dispel Magic
* Gaseous Form
* Thunder Step

#### 4th Level Spells

* Blight
* Banishment
* Guardian of Faith
* Dimension Door

## Trivia

Orlando is an amalgamation of the English actor of the same name and his elven character Legolas from Lord of the Rings; this is the reason for his being a half elf, and his focus on charisma, good looks and acting as feats and character traits.