CrimsonStar:Megaera

Game: Children of the Crimson Star

Megaera (Meg-AIR-uh) is the youngest daughter of Stheno, Lady of House Erinyes.

Basic Statistics

Height: 5'1"
Weight: 100lbs.
Age: 16
Hair Color: Auburn
Skin Color: Red
Race: Tiefling
Class: Bard
Background: Athasian Minstrel
Paragon Path: N/A
Epic Destiny: N/A

Personality

Megaera is relentlessly cheerful. Relentlessly, because even (maybe especially) when she's angry, she's smiling. She is incredibly vain, often choosing extravagant outfits for as little reason as to turn a few more heads in the arena. Vain as she is, however, she is also very calculated. Every glance, hand movement, and blink of her eyes is perfectly timed to get the response she's looking for out of anyone who talks to her. There is no such thing as a casual chat in her vocabulary. Despite this, she gives the impression of a total ditz who has problems putting together a complete sentence.

Connection to the Party

Megaera was handler for Ka'tho before his untimely death. She is now handler for a new gladiator, Harbek.

Alecto, eldest daughter of Stheno and Scion of House Erinyes is her sister.

History

Megaera is the youngest daughter of Stheno, and as such is a Scion of House Erinyes. She has an older sister named Alecto, and a brother named Tisiphone. She has a healthy rivalry with both of her siblings, Alecto being her complete opposite in terms of demeanor, and thus opposed to her every decision, on principle. Her rivalry with Tisiphone is based upon household standing, That she is placed higher than him within the House due only to her gender chafes him, and makes any conversation they have a terse one. As a child, Megaera found a calling in music, and soon began training to be a bard. As her older sister was studying magic as was traditional for the family (under cover of The Way, of course), Megaera was free to choose her own path, and soon found herself a sought-after minstrel, both for her musical talents, and her way with the dangerous Thri-kreen.

Megaera, after a long private discussion with Stheno, was given as a gift to House Sfika, to cement an alliance between the houses. Her training as a minstrel made her an ideal spy for her mother, as well as a blessing on the house, with her influential music. At the tender age of 13, and with permission from the Lady of House Sfika, Megaera found refuge as a handler in the gladiatorial pits. As one of the only members of the house who could speak Thri-kreen, Megaera found herself becoming friends with the Thri-kreen gladiator champion Ka'tho. As his handler, she made spending money, but also a lot of enemies in the arena. When her brother Tisiphone started to fight in the ring, Megaera was annoyed. She couldn't bet on the highest paying fights in the arenas because they often included her deadbeat brother. More problematic for her was the fact that Ka'tho refused to kill off her brother. "He smells like you", he'd said, and refused to do more than incapacitate him when they were rivals in the ring. This only worsened the relationship between Megaera and her brother, who was determined that she was telling Ka'tho not to hurt him, and thus hurting his reputation.

Just as things were starting to get boring for Megaera, she recieved a surprise visit from her sister Alecto. At the best of times, conversations between the sisters were sharp, and a visit was totally unprecedented. Megaera soon learned that Alecto was to be married to Reacar from House ((That one she can't remember that was picked out of the Ikea Book)), who was the worst match possible for Alecto, but would seal an alliance that had been in the works for a very long time. Alecto, at her most cunning, said just enough to plant ideas in her younger sister's mind. At 16, Megaera had no trouble using the bits of information she had gained from the conversation with her sister to sabotage the wedding. The young scion of ((That one house she can't remember that was picked out of the Ikea Book)) was too naive to tell the difference between the older and younger daughters of Stheno. Megaera seduced the young man on the afternoon of the wedding, and "accidentally" killed him through burning. She has denied any intention of anything other than stealing some time with Reacar before he was married to her sister and forever off-limits.

Current Events

Session 1

It turns out that despite Alecto's part in the downfall of her marriage, she was ready to lay it all at Megaera's feet. They were both summoned to a meeting with their mother, during which nothing at all was decided other than the fact that both sisters were being, well, themselves. After the biggest lecture of their lives (or at least in recent memory), the sisters were tasked with leading a mercenary escort to bring something belonging to their mother into the city - no questions asked, no knowledge of the contents of the cart. Going nowhere without the presence of her pet Thri-kreen gladiator Ka'tho, Megaera joins her sister in this endeavor, noting some interesting characters in their party. Especially that wasp guy. His white noise generating ...self... could be really useful in keeping secret conversations secret. She'd need to remember that. Megaera's thoughts continued to meander until they reached the oasis at which they were to meet the cart, to discover it being ambushed by Dref. The party springs into action, taking down the Dref, who proclaimed themselves to be "Sons of Set". They take custody of the cart, and Megaera heals their wounds while they travel back towards the city. They are ambushed again while waiting for the cover of nightfall to bring their cargo into the city. These attackers are common thugs, but it takes all Megaera has to keep everyone on their feet.

Session 2

Once dark falls, the party brings the cart into the city. To all appearances, Megaera is sleeping lightly against the side of the cart as it trundles into the worse areas of Tyr. For the third time, the cart is set upon by would-be thieves. This time, among their enemies is an elemental priest. The fight against these "Sons of Set" is bitter, and brutal, with Megaera's people being attacked from all sides, including the rooftops. Megaera is torn in too many directions. First one of the mercenaries dies, and then her friend, her Bug-man, falls under the Elemental Priest's brutal magics. All done in a brutal few minutes, but that fight cost Megaera her best friend. Not long after, Stheno arrived to take custody of the package, and Megaera was left to mourn Ka'tho's death.

After the Thri-kreen's untimely death, Megaera was tasked with finding a new champion for House Sfika, and fast. The fight between House Orestes' entire gladiatorial stables and one single chosen champion of Sfika was coming up. Word had spread that the gladiator Harbek was coming out of retirement to get back into the ring. With a letter of credit from House Sfika, she set off to recruit Harbek before House Orestes could lay a hand on him. With a little persuasion, a handful of promises, and large sums of money, Megaera manages to persuade Harbek to join her. After that, it is a whirlwind of cunning conversations and subtle bribery to even the odds between her strong gladiator, and the entirety of the House Orestes Stables.

Session 3

Megaera watches from the stands as her new gladiator, Harbek, takes on the House Orestes stables without landing a single blow. When the fight ends, the cheers are deafening. Everyone is whisked off to a party at which Megaera recieves a tattoo from her mother as a gift for bringing such honor to the house. At the party, she arranges a fight between Tisiphone and Harbek.

In the middle of the night, Alecto wakes Megaera up and demands that she goes along to meet this Thri-kreen (Ka'thrain) who knows about the red star stuff. Megaera being able to speak Thri-kreen, she didn't argue, woke up her hungover gladiator bodyguard, and went along. They had a lively fight with some undead and a really misty thing underground, and when they came back to the surface Ka'thrain was dead, and they were attacked by more Sons of Set. It was all Megaera could do to keep her rag-tag band of folks alive.