Verde

Art by Dex

Olivia Rousseau sister

  "Verde" is a pseudonymn used by Theodas Rousseau, one the agents of the Cult of Tiamat. He possesses the green Dragon Mask and is the green Wyrmspeaker. He stole the mask from the university in Elchezar where it was being guarded. Theodas, also known as "Theo", is the younger brother of Olivia.

## Appearance and Personality

Theodas is a 21 year old half-elf. He is thin and of medium height, with dark, shaggy hair and brown eyes that now are ringed with a bit of green. The half-elf wears the green dragon mask and a green cloak embroidered with gold that seems to have some teleportation magic. Strips of cloth are wrapped around his legs, arms, and sometimes face. He dual wields specialized swords that he coats with poison, and carries a magical hunting horn. He also casts spells and has been seen using Greater Invisibility to great effect on multiple occasions.

Theo is known to be quick to anger, prone to violence, and oftentimes unpleasant even to the few people he likes. He is rude and petulant at best and a rampant murderer at worst. Despite being very clever, Theo is prone to foolish and rash decisions and has trouble staying alert and aware of his surroundings.

It is apparent that Theo, as Verde, is willing to kill and hurt innocent people in pursuit of the cult's goals. Verde also apparently told Tanith in a scry that he was "a man who paid his dues." He is prone to quietly fuming rather than communicating, or alternately, loudly fuming. He has trouble with empathy and insight.

## Backstory

Theodas was born in the tiny village of Lorane to the high elven businessman Ethris Rousseau and the midwife Hannah Rousseau. Olivia is his older sister.

As a child growing up in Lorane, he liked nature and the outdoors, and would climb trees and push birds out of their nests. He also foolishly enjoyed finding snakes in the woods and has been bitten by them before. With other children, Theo was aggressive and petulant, and his relationship with his sister had grown strained at best. The pair fought frequently - her spoiled, naive and optimistic nature making him hold her in contempt. Before the events of the game, Olivia had not seen her brother since he was 14 years old.

At some point after Olivia left to study in Tamvrien, Theo moved to Elchezar and presumably got caught up in the Thieves Guild there. Barkley remembers him during that time and described him as seeming "intense." She also implied that he was deeper into the thieves guild hierarchy than she was. During the events of the game, "Verde" broke into the school in Elchezar and stole the green dragon mask.

According to Olivia, Theo became bonded to Tanith when he was very young, about five years old. The bard says that he has been manipulated by her for most of his life. She also claimed that Theo's continued devotion to Tanith's cause is because Tanith is functionally extorting him - claiming that unless he serves her, she will release plague upon the world.

## In-Game Events

   The party first heard of Verde through a newspaper article in Grindwall announcing that the Green Dragon Mask had been stolen from Elchezar.

The party first met Verde in Dazzlegleam's lair, when he came to chastise Castra Dame for being ineffectual. The party ended up fighting both him and Castra. During the fight, Verde delivered what probably should have been a killing blow on Olivia immediately after warning her - "You came here just to die." After this event, Olivia was furious at him and devoted herself to trying to uncover his plots and stop him. Olivia and Minerva scried on Verde multiple times (see: Scrys) when Olivia was in Tamvrien.

She didn't figure out enough though, because in the Northmarch, Verde and the black wyrmspeaker Noir took advantage of the Northmarch Party, using them (and their pure hearts) to open a magical door that lead to Necrotaush, the green dragonblade. A scuffle ensued, with Verde trying to take the sword and the party trying to stop him. The party eventually won when Olivia's friend Marchosias cast Fear, causing Verde to drop the weapon, and Olivia cast Polymorph, turning him into a harmless worm. Noir planeshifted away to hell with the empty-handed worm Verde, and the unwilling company of Awoo.

After the attack on the Northmarch village by Tanith, Verde returned to try and forcibly take Necrotaush from Olivia once again. The two grappled over the sword for a moment, but Olivia managed to temporarily yank the mask from Verde's face, finally revealing him as her brother. Stunned, she watched as Theo escaped with the mask but without the sword.

In the underdark, the party found Verde's bloodied fabric in Tenebrous's hotel room after Barkley and Olivia broke in to investigate. They also heard him speak to Tenebrous on their recording device. Tenebrous later explained that Noir and Crow had beaten him within an inch of his life after his failure in the Northmarch, and Tenebrous took care of him while he healed. After leaving the underdark and arriving in Elchezar, Olivia secretly went off on her own to investigate Theo's apartment. She realized that Theo and Tenebrous were in a romantic relationship, and found a photograph that was a clue to the real identity of of Noir.

   Theo was not seen again until a scry in the Shaded Valley after the Battle of Oasis. Lucius and Olivia watched as Theo accompanied Tanith on some sort of dealings with the Yuan-ti.

The matter was tabled for a while, until the party discovered that Yuan-ti had invaded the Chezar grasslands all the way to Lorane. Olivia convinced the party to head to Lorane so that she could make sure her mother was safe. On the way, the party ran into Theo as he and his Yuan-ti allies operated some sort of magical machine that made a magical leyline appear into the Prime Material plane from the Ethereal Plane. The party chased him off and destroyed the machine, while Theo summed Moira with a call from his horn and fled on her back. Olivia and Barkley chased Theo down, leading to a brief aerial battle where Olivia and Barkley were knocked out of the sky. Olivia told Barkley to head back to the party while she followed Theo back to where he was headed, since she felt confident that Theo would not kill her but might kill Barkley. Olivia followed him back to Tanith's lair in the woods behind her childhood home in Lorane.

Olivia explored parts of Tanith's lair, eventually catching up to Theo. The pair of them talked a bit about Theo's dragonbond and Theo led Olivia out of the labyrinthine subterranean lair. Olivia claims that Theo became bonded to Tanith when he was very young, about five years old. She reports that he has been manipulated by the dragon since he was very young. She also claimed that Theo's continued devotion to Tanith's cause is because Tanith is functionally extorting him - claiming that unless he serves her, she will release plague upon the world.

## Relationships

Theo is bonded to the ancient green dragon Tanith, a consort of Tiamat. Their relationship is strange - apparently Theo "begged and pleaded" to her for help, and she agreed in exchange for his "blood and loyalty." Theo fears and respects Tanith, though he is not happy with his current situation with her.

Theo currently has a tumultous relationship with Olivia. The pair seem to care about each other but they are violently opposed to the other's methods. Neither wants to kill the other one, but circumstances have placed them against each other. Both half-elves have been lying to their parents about their involvement in the conflicts arising across Teshol.

Theo is in a romantic relationship with Tenebrous.

Theo loathes Noir and would like to kill her.

## Trivia

World's Dumbest Idiot

* He's not wearing any goddamned pants (He has strips of fabric wrapped around his limbs instead).
* Theo enjoys art and photography and is quite talented at both.
* As a child he used to burn ants using the lenses of his father's glasses. He also used to torment a young Olivia by putting centipedes down her shirt in class and generally trying to pull pranks on her.
* When Deacon used the Tarokka deck back in Tamvrien, Olivia asked the deck about her brother. She drew the card "The Enchanter" which Deek explained represented "'inner turmoil.' C-Confusion, loss, fear of failure."

## Relevant Quotes

* “Thought he was another student at first; but when I got close to ask for his night pass I saw her definitely weren’t dressed like no student— not tall, but armored underneath that dark cloak. Wore a green mask with sharp teeth. [The man] pointed a sword at me, told me to forget, or I’d regret it.” -- A student who witnessed Verde during the theft of the Green Dragon Mask.

* "You're too young to be making a mass murderer of yourself, boy." -- An old druid woman, to Verde before he killed her and slaughtered her village.
* "You came here just to die." -- Verde to Olivia before he struck her down.