Yarp Bloodfeather

"So, the lithiums are sentitent, which means you can't cook and eat them. The horse isn't sentitent, but it is semitent, which...also means you can't cook and eat it? And why does he put you to sleep?"

Yarp is a proud half-orc warrior. He's learning a little magic on the side, he knows his way around a casino, and he's been told he's especially skilled at heckling rogues.

Biography

Before Osterra:

Yarp learned of this violence first hand one night, when the people of the nearby village learned the location of their home. He heard shouting from outside. "Abomination," "an affront to the gods," "monsters." He was scared, wondering what beast in the woods these people were here to fight. Yarp's father told him that he loved him before leaving, assumedly to join the fight. After a few minutes, his mother came to him, held him close, and told him to run into the woods as fast as he could. That she loved him. That she'd be right behind him. And to never forget, "don't be who they think you are." That was the last time he saw either of them.

After leaving home, young Yarp traveled from town to town, doing his best to spread happiness where ever he went. Some towns chased him off shortly after he began playing his songs. Some invited him into taverns to play, only to laugh as he strummed his lute. At least they were happy, he thought. But some towns were welcoming, if not nervous at first, letting him play and paying him with room, food, drink and sometimes even coin. He also continued to work on his magic, only learning spells that could entertain, or at worst, get him out of bad situations without hurting anyone.

One day, while performing in the town of Red Larch, Yarp found himself among a group of adventurers tasked to clear out a local Gnoll threat. He did his best to help, but a code of non-violence means only helping so much. It was there he met one of his closest friends, Bartholomew, a once animated but now defeated sword that Yarp was convinced was only sleeping. He continued on with this group on wild adventures that he never dreamed would be possible.

Watching his new friends fight for good, he learned that sometimes you must lift your sword to defend peace. Yarp hated this at first, ever mindful of his mother's parting words. But after some training, some fights to save his world, and tutelage from a magical entity he called "Mr. Blade," he learned to embrace fighting for the right reasons, and more importantly, that fighting didn't make him a monster.

During his travels, he courted a young Tabaxi wizard apprentice named Anna. The two met when his group enlisted the help of the Mage's Guild in Maribor. After getting past his bumbling attempts at flirting, she warmed to him quickly, and the two were married soon after.

After defeating world-ending threats, losing many friends and gaining many more, and finally waking Bartholomew thanks to a Githyanki wizard, Yarp chose to retire to live a peaceful life with Anna in the city they first met. That is, until a portal opened on the edge of town. As the people of Maribor were discussing what it meant, what should be done and how it could be closed, Yarp (with Anna's permission) volunteered to step through and see what was on the other side. With a kiss from his beloved and the well-wishes of the city, he stepped into the unknown.

A New Land, A New Body

He woke soon after, lying outside a tavern in Aspen's Rest in the middle of the night. Yarp stood up and looked through the window of the tavern to see a scene of revelry, music, drinks and cheers all around. Not knowing how he would be received here, he cautiously opened the door. To his surprise, no one turned their heads for more than a moment. He sat down at the bar and waved to the bartender, only to notice his hand was far less green than he remembered. When the bartender approached, a confused Yarp ordered a hot meal and an ale served in the shiniest goblet the tavern had. It was delivered to him, and the face reflected in the goblet was...human. When asked for silver, he checked his pockets to no avail. Luckily, a kind stranger seated next to him slid him a gold piece. "Don't worry," he said. "The Grove provides."

After that night, Yarp wandered the town for days searching for whatever answers he could find. What was this place? Why did he look so different? Where was this magical grove of trees that somehow yielded gold? One thing that he noticed, though, was how nicely he was being treated. Not a single person cowered at his presence. No one spoke to him in a fearful tone. No one called him a monster. It was pleasant, to say the least.

Yarp finally answered at least one of his questions when he heard the calls of a crier. Apparently this grove wasn't a field of trees, but a group of people. And these people had just helped rebuild a town called Poplar Falls. For a group of orcs! Yarp decided that the best way to learn about this new world was to offer his help to this Grove. Unfortunately, he found his music couldn't connect to any magical weaves here, if there even was one. But he could still fight, even if not as well in this new body, and perhaps they could use another good swordsman.

In his early days of Osterra, the Grove took him in, and learned more and more about Osterra through it. The more he learned, the more he knew that the best course of action for him was to help this world and the people in it, to fight for the forces of good against the evils hoping to extinguish them. He knew by helping in any way he could, he'd make his parents, his friends and Anna proud.

A Proud Half-Orc

After being treated with such kindness across this new realm, Yarp made his way to Poplar Falls. He made new friends, including Gashna, Umag and Opathu, a family that welcomed him in with open arms. He learned of this orc community's peaceful ways, and felt more connected to his orcish heritage than he did even in his homeworld. Yarp had spent much of his life trying to fight against his orcish half - both against the stereotypes levied against him, and the calls to violence from Gruumsh - for so long, he forgot that it was okay for him to celebrate it.

After lots of thought and a few good campfire songs, Yarp decided it was time to stop hiding who he was. He proudly declared that he was a half-orc, first to his fellow Grove members, then to the people of Poplar Falls before finally going public. After a few rituals alongside his faction members, his body finally started to look more familiar - and green. Finally accepting who he is, Yarp continues to serve with The Grove to help others find the same peace he feels when alongside his friends.

Outside of his work with The Grove, Yarp has also opened up his own casino in Poplar Falls, franchising the Silvery Snapdragon name from Imra, Master of Elixirs after serving as her apprentice. He's always coming up with new games to play with his friends, as well as new business ventures to make his casino feel more like a destination. He hopes to bring prosperity to Poplar Falls through his business, as well as have some fun.

Personality

If you could describe Yarp in one word, that word would be "kind." If you could describe him in six words, those words would be "as kind as he is dim."

Yarp often struggles grasping difficult concepts, and social norms are far from his forte. Sometimes, this results in serious conversations being punctuated by faux pas and ill-timed observations being mistaken for jokes. However, these mistakes have occasionally been known to break tension and convey sincerity, leading to more positive outcomes.

He cares about those he considers friends more than anything, and will do anything he can to ensure their happiness. What complicates that matter is that he sees everyone he meets as his friend until proven otherwise, and even then, it might take a few tries to prove. Yarp will do anything to help someone in need, even if it's as small as singing a song to cheer someone up.

Yarp knows his strengths and his weaknesses, and is happy to defer to those more knowledgeable than he when it comes to planning. That being said, he isn't afraid to speak up when he has an idea. While happy to fight, he would never take an action that would cause unnecessary harm, no matter what a plan called for. All this isn't to say Yarp avoids leadership; he will take up the yoke of responsibility if it needs to be taken.

When not adventuring or running the tables at his casino, you can often find Yarp walking crowded streets, singing songs, meeting people, cracking jokes, anything to make stranger's days a little brighter. If you're kind enough in return, he may even let you hold Bartholomew! He'll swear up and down that he's not talking because he's asleep - best to go along with it.