[center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center][table][row][/row][row][cell] [h2][color=darkorchid][i][b]Victoria Belmont[/b][/i][/color][/h2][i][b][color=9932cc]Half-Elf, Bard, Level 3[/color][/b][/i] [color=9932cc][i][b]HP:[/b][/i][/color] 23 / 23 [color=9932cc][i][b]Armor Class:[/b][/i][/color] 15 [color=9932cc][i][b]Conditions:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=9932cc][i][b]Location:[/b][/i][/color] The Infamous Pear, Meeting Table [color=9932cc][i][b]Action:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=9932cc][i][b]Bonus Action:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [color=9932cc][i][b]Reaction:[/b][/i][/color] N/A [/cell][cell] [right][img]https://i.ibb.co/8r6nxVw/Victoria-FC-11.jpg[/img][/right] [/cell][/row][/table][center]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[/center] Half giant, eh? It was a curiosity, certainly. Immaterial whether or not it was accurate; it was a snippet of a story worth the telling in the right circumstances. Victoria gave consideration to digging into her belongings and writing this little tidbit of information down. She waved it off. There would be time later. Sweetly, Victoria smiled and extended an olive branch after her bout with sarcasm, [color=9932cc]"I apologize. It is an absolute [i]pleasure[/i] to meet you, Miss Giantkin. Oh, and you seem to have acquired a fan! How lovely."[/color] The latter comment directed at the extremely forward attention being paid to Kathryn by the lady Tiefling at the table. Victoria had a very open personality (one in her profession did well with this quality) but not generally to this degree with a stranger unless she wanted something. Usually something specific. A smile remaining on her face, Victoria made it a point to surreptitiously observe this one. Still speaking to Kathryn, she concluded with an optimistic, [color=9932cc]"I'm sure we'll get along famously."[/color] She took a sip of her mulled wine and glanced around the rest of the table, trying to get an eye for others' reactions to the mounting situation. She almost snorted that mulled wine into her sinuses when the other Tiefling (the definitely not blue one) blurted out verbal incredulity at the idea of the tall woman getting even larger. [color=9932cc]"Don't..."[/color] she started, trying to wipe the displaced droplets of spiced grape fermentation from her cheek, [color=9932cc]"...do that,"[/color] she remarked with a suppressed giggle. [color=9932cc]"It almost went up my nose."[/color] Victoria recovered quickly and shook her head, then briefly looked around to see if there was anyone available to take a food order. A newcomer, this one another distinct face from the crowd, entered and eventually made her way to the table. She introduced herself as Mona, which seemed nice enough a name. Victoria could not quite tell the significance of the pendant around her neck. She was as big a fan of unicorns as most, not that she'd ever met a unicorn personally. She [i]did[/i] recognize the woman's Fey companion for what it was, and included it in her salutation. [color=9932cc]"Hi, Mona!"[/color] It was cheerful enough. [color=9932cc]"You look almost as lost as the rest of us, so... you [i]must[/i] belong here."[/color] Victoria brought a single index finger up to about eye level and looked toward the Sprite with a disarming grin, wiggling said finger as a sort of tiny wave. [color=9932cc]"And who's your friend?"[/color] she asked quietly, still looking at the Sprite but speaking to Mona. Victoria was unsure whether direct engagement would be considered polite or impolite, and so hedged her bets. A mote of surprise came with the addition of another to their group, this time from among the people already in the establishment. She had to concede the practicality of scoping out the gathering before jumping headlong into it, but just didn't see that it was worth all of that fuss. That was the point to an adventuring group, she supposed; having others fill roles or pursue angles that you would not (or could not) yourself. [i]Hugh[/i], as he called himself, seemed visibly less enthused than most to be here. Certainly less so than Kosara, whose bubbly nature surpassed her own without the aid of specific Gnomish mushroom cultivations. Thoughts to the last time that she had partaken in such recreation were stifled quickly by the Cleric (for that was the profession she indicated in her present state of direct expression), in her attempt to bring the table around to business. It was a fair enough idea, Victoria decided, and gave consideration as to what she should say about herself to this gathering of strangers. The fact that Marita used the phrase [i]"dead weight"[/i] gave Victoria a mirthful smile when it was spoken, like she was privy to an inside joke. There was a strong sense of irony to those words, as it applied to her. Luckily, Victoria was not the first to answer. That honor went to Hugh, and boy was she glad that he spoke up first. Information is a wonderful thing. While some engaged in subterfuge to acquire it, she preferred to simply let people talk and sift out the useful words from the verbal chaff. What he said was useful. What he did not say was a trove of knowledge. Victoria maintained a polite yet inquisitive demeanor as she listened, swirling about her wine and taking the occasional small sip. One hand trailed behind her, scratching her pig's burlap-wrapped head. [color=9932cc]"Those are some [i]stunning[/i] qualifications,"[/color] began Victoria, enunciating clearly so as to be understood by all at the table. [color=9932cc]"I cannot claim to boast such experience, but, if you all will humor me?"[/color] She looked to the rest of the people at the table, eyeing to see if anyone minded her taking a turn next. A quick nod back to Marita was followed by a supplemental comment, [color=9932cc]"Oh, I'm familiar with Pholtus. Not my cup of tea, but I do [i]love[/i] some of his work."[/color] She nodded cheerfully, then got on with it. [color=9932cc]"Victoria Belmont, as I said earlier, and if I wasn't too obvious about it, I am what is colloquially referred to as a Bard. Specifically, I study the Bardic College of the Grey Requiem. This can put some people off, but... people can be really intolerant sometimes."[/color] She nodded knowingly, as if contemplating an incident which might serve as example. [color=9932cc]"I am a highly socially motivated individual with a gift for speaking. I perform acts of music and oration that stirs the soul and influences the hearts of those who might listen. I inspire. I entertain. I secure the resolve of my compatriots one moment; give them peace and soothing light the next. And I have the occasional trick of magic at my disposal."[/color] She took another sip of her wine and motioned for one of the proprietors with her goblet before continuing, [color=9932cc]"But specifically, and I say this with hesitation, mind you - the philosophy of the Grey Requiem (and my training, by extension) is influenced heavily by teachings from several deities, among them the Jasidan church, The Raven Queen, and some from Jergal, pre [i]and[/i] post abdication."[/color] She did not delve into details of these sources, letting the names stand to see if anyone recognized them or inquired. There appeared to be no shortage of people with a bent toward religious knowledge around her. [color=9932cc]"My more lucrative ventures deal specifically with their spheres of influence, if that helps."[/color] A smile, perhaps disarming and perhaps actually [i]arming[/i], graced her striking yet delicate features underneath two eyes of hypnotic, crystal-blue radiance. [color=9932cc]"I'm not an epic swordfighter, nor do I channel the weight divine mandate, and I do not have the powerful bloodline of a sorcerer. I do ...what I do, and most people find it useful. I hope there's no objection to my association here. I'll try not to get in anyone's way, I promise."[/color] A hopeful expression colored her face as she concluded with, [color=9932cc]"Sometimes a word, or a song, or a smile at the right time, can accomplish more than swords."[/color]