[hider=Olo Dudley][center] “I’m not a child!” [/center]
[h3][b]Name(s):[/b][/h3]
Olo Dudley
[h3][b]Age:[/b][/h3]
31 (Though he looks more like a child than an adult)
[h3][b]Gender:[/b][/h3]
Male  
[h3][b]Race:[/b][/h3]
Halfling 
[h3][b]Appearance:[/b][/h3]
Despite entering adulthood years ago, Olo does not look like he had ever experienced puberty. Everything about him is neotenous, even by halfling standards: he is shorter than the average (adult) female halfling, he has a large round head, big honey flower eyes, a button nose, full lips, pinchable rosy cheeks, and baby fat that refuses to disappear from any part of his body. In fact, the only part of his body that does not look exclusively like a child is his curly hazelnut hair and even that is as soft and wild as baby hair. He dreams of gaining the ability to grow facial and chest hair, but it is unlikely they will come true in this lifetime.
[h3][b]Personality:[/b][/h3]
A gregarious person at heart, Olo loves socializing. He is not afraid of interacting with others and he will make the effort to know the other person or group of people. Not that it means Olo is skilled in the art of socializing: he has embarrassed himself and others (even annoyed them) on numerous occasions, but those incidents simply didn’t deter him from being garrulous. He has always been stubborn like that. He hates giving up. Optimistic to a fault some say. 

Like many other halflings, Olo has a curious mind and is sympathetic to others in need. Traits which have landed Olo in some trouble in the past. He doesn’t mind being roped into trouble, surprisingly enough. Even if he did get mad about it at the time, he wasn’t and still isn’t capable of staying mad for long. That’s why he couldn’t become a barbarian after all. 

Olo can become overly enthusiastic about things to the point that he over glamorizes them and fails to critically think. No matter how many years passes, Olo seems to be the same starry-eyed boy. It is, however, thanks to this enthusiasm that allowed Olo to acquire random obscure knowledge that few people know or people generally have no interest in.
[h3][b]Class/Skills[/b][/h3]
Olo is best described as a bard, but almost solely because he [i]needs[/i] to use his instrument if he wants to be of any use during combat. Without it, his ineptitude shines through. In the ten-odd years he spent trying to find what he was actually good at, Olo found out that he: didn’t possess the strength or constitution to be a close-ranged combatant; could reliably [b]never[/b] hit the intended target with a long-ranged weapon; lacked finesse of any sort; was too dumb to be a wizard; too impulsive to be anything that relied on discipline; and, as much as he appreciated nature, he could never live out in the wild for extended periods of time. Then what can he do?

After taking a magic aptitude test Olo found out that he did have some affinity towards magic albeit in a very limited fashion. The only way that Olo can cast magic is by creating music (with the intent of casting magic). He usually accomplishes this by playing an instrument, which can technically be anything as long as the noise it makes is interpreted as music to the listener. Due to the nature of the spellcasting, Olo’s magic relies on the target’s ability to detect sounds. Depending on the severity of the condition, it is possible for someone who is hearing impaired to be affected by Olo’s magic via sound vibrations, however, if they do feel the sound they must be able to interpret the vibrations as music. In fact, regardless of the individual’s ability to detect sounds, for Olo’s magic to have any effect on the individual, they must interpret the noise that Olo makes as music. For example, Olo’s magic doesn’t affect his animal companion, Dorothea, because she only hears [i]noises[/i] and [b]not[/b] [i]music[/i] when Olo plays his instrument. 

Although the instrument he uses dictates his mobility, the complexity of the spell itself or whether Olo is trying to maintain more than one spell at a time can also determine whether he can move around. Olo’s spells tend to take a lot of concentration, as such, it is not uncommon for him to be vulnerable to enemy attacks. Dorothea has managed to keep Olo relatively safe during these situations in the past, but that does not mean she can do so in the future.

It should be noted that no matter how long the spell was supposed to last, it will end the second Olo stops playing his instrument. It has also been strongly advised by his former mentors that Olo shouldn’t keep playing (casting magic) for long periods of time. The longer Olo plays during one session, there is an increased risk of his mind going mad, his magic getting out of hand, and him becoming comatose. The combination of magic’s law of exchange and general fatigue from performing wears Olo out faster than the more competent spellcasters. 

Lastly, the spells Olo casts don't work on himself, it works only on his audience. At the present time, Olo knows some minor buff and debuff spells. He may be able to learn more spells, but only time will tell.

Outside of battle, Olo’s most useful skill is cooking. 
[h3][b]Equipment:[/b][/h3] 
[list]
[*][u]Backpack containing a bedroll, clothes, a mess kit, a tinderbox, rope, rations, a waterskin, and some personal hygiene items[/u]: The essentials for any adventurer. 
[*][u]Coin purse with a few coins[/u]: Too little in fact. Olo’s going to need to make some money soon.
[*][u]Diary[/u]: Olo started writing his adventures in it, as proof that he did do something with his life.
[*][u]Handaxe[/u]: From his fighter apprentice days. Olo couldn’t swing around any of the other weapons because they were much too heavy for him. It is usually used to chop wood and not heads or limbs.
[*][u]Hand crossbow and ammunition[/u]: From his ranger apprentice days. Much to Olo’s dismay, it takes strength to pull back a bow, lift a crossbow, and reload a crossbow so he had to use the hand crossbow. Not that it mattered, he couldn’t aim properly anyways. Thank goodness he got to keep Dorothea. 
[*][u]Hurdy gurdy[/u]: The only weapon Olo can actually use. It can also help him make money on the streets!
[*][u]Leather armor[/u]: Olo would probably collapse from exhaustion if he wore anything heavier. 
[*][u]Lockpicks[/u]: From his rogue apprentice days. Olo is still practicing how to use them, to no avail.
[*][u]Animal Companion[/u]: Dorothea (who also responds to Dot and Dorothy), the panther, is arguably the only reason why Olo survived as an adventurer thus far. [/list]
[h3][b]History:[/b][/h3] 
As long as he could remember, Olo felt the intense feeling of wanderlust. Perhaps it was because he was raised in a tavern where travelers would regale Olo with tales from faraway lands or boast about their most recent adventures. The stories, true or not, enthralled Olo. Not a day passed by when he did not wish to see the world beyond his hometown and take part in an adventure of his own. He dreamed a lot but never acted. 

As years crawled by ---call to the road unanswered--- Olo became increasingly restless and unsatisfied. He felt guilty for feeling that way too: he was born to a loving family, who had enough money to take care of the ridiculously large family (Olo never understood why his parents wanted to have 14 children, but they did and they swear none of them were by accident), in a close-knit community that never knew of strife, pestilence, or famine. Olo knew he was more fortunate than many others in the world; he knew that he should be grateful, and he was grateful… just not happy. It got harder to convince himself to stay home each year. One day ---his birthday--- Olo decided that he was going to finally leave. He told his family and they made sure that he knew that they thought it was a god-awful idea. No Dudley has ever left their town ever since their great-great-great-grandparents settled in. But more importantly, Olo was just incompetent: his kind only managed to survive because others took care of them. Olo knew this and that’s why he had to leave. So he did, that very evening, in the dead of night. Only to be kidnapped by bandits a few hours later. Fortunately for Olo, he was rescued by a group of adventurers before he was sold into slavery. 

For the next ten plus years, Olo would find himself hopping from one organization, big or small, to another. The reason for him not being able to stick to one group varied, but it ultimately boiled down to one of five things: (a.) he managed to botch something so bad that he was no longer welcome to the group; (b.) he lacked the skill(s) necessary and was unable improve no matter how much he trained or studied; (c.) the group wanted something from Olo that he could not give; (d.) he was too loud; or (e.) all of the above. Olo is currently trying to find another group to tag along with for his next grand adventure. 

[/hider]