Tolona JumperSkumper

Tolona likes to think of herself as a decently functioning person. Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Regardless, her new found friends haven't left her yet. That's a victory in her book any day.

Personality
Tolona is an introverted person who prefers to sit back and watch people before talking to them. She tends to be more of a wallflower than a socialite, and often panics when she is unwillingly entered into a conversation. Not that she shows it though. Tolona is able to maintain her outer composure better than most people can. When it comes to her words, she is far less adept at it. Tolona will blurt out whatever comes to mind when she is panicked, before managing to catch herself and reverting to simple silence or curt answers to stall for enough time to think about what to say next.

Despite her lacking social skills, she still tries to be honest and kind. Unfortunately she always avoids telling the truth about her past and anything else that's a sensitive subject for her. She is very generous with her friends though, complimenting them often or trying to give them support for their various problem.

What She Told Everyone
Tolona lived in a swamp somewhere in the South. Many of her family members got eaten by various birds, which made her fearful of birds to this day. She left her home and has been wandering ever since.

Actual Backstory
Tolona was a simple villager in a swampy Grippli village residing nearby a human town. The two places traded occasionally, Grippli giving human various foods and swamp animals while humans gave them manufactured type goods

One day a passing Shadow Monk came through the village, offering lessons in return for food. While the other villagers left the Human alone, Tolona was curious and traded food in return for basic Monk lessons. She fell in love with the martial arts (and the Monk) nearly immediately and begged the Monk to stay. They had to refuse, for reasons they would not say. However they allowed Tolona to copy scrolls and papers of fighting moves instead, as they found her eagerness to learn worth pushing on.

Two days after the Monk left a new group of 'Traders' entered the village. This group was suspiciously large and offered heavy riches to the Grippli. They readily accepted, returning the trade with their best of foods.

The 'Traders' returned a night later. They stole back the riches they gave and kidnapped various members of the village, especially children, and tried to run off with them in the night. Luckily an awake villager saw the crime and alerted the town. All available warriors rushed to action. Tolona followed them, feeling like her fighting was good enough to help beat back the intruders. There was a large scale fight. Many of the warrior Grippli died or were severely wounded in the crossfire. The hostages fared even worse. Most of them were killed by the time the Grippli got to them. However they weren't killed by the 'Traders'. The Grippli had been captured to act as a food source for the 'Traders' monstrous bird captives: Perytons, Terror Birds, Owlbears, and various others.

A mass funeral was made for the losses. The kidnappers were murdered in cold blood except for the leader, who was sent to the human village and was then formally executed. The birds were similarly executed or taken to their rightful homes by various gangs of adventurers. Anger, fear, and sadness welled up in the village. The Grippli wanted to blame something, anything, to lessen the pain. Rumors spread of a traitor in the village, someone who sold them out to the kidnappers.

Villagers began to suspect one another, but no one was more suspected than Tolona. The presence of the Monk, a stranger to the village who had conveniently left just before the attack, hadn't gone unnoticed. During the days the Monk had stayed, she had stuck close by them, eager to learn all she could. She had also talked about them frequently to nearly anyone who listened, making her even more of a suspect. Her desire to learn and love had turned against her in the end. The Grippli leader "Cricker the Croaker" became convinced that Tolona was the traitor. He issued her to be exiled the second he fully believed her to be the culprit.

The three tattoo line's on her mouth are a symbol. "The Mark of Treachery", representing how she had 'spilled' information about the village and was exiled, never to talk to a member of the village again.

Tolona left. She's been wandering for five years now, scavenging items along the way to fill up her loneliness and have something to sell to earn some money. She wants to find the Monk one day, to see if they were innocent or not.

Underwater Journal
A book filled with writing that only appears when the book is held underwater. Used to write about various places, notes about different people, and to keep a diary of her daily life.

A Sack of Bugs
Slurp slurp. Everyone needs a snack once and a while, right? Mostly contains long bugs for the extra cronch.

Auve
"I like her. I really, really do. She's a noble who is actually noble. A very selfless woman in my opinion. She tries to hide that she is, but it's very easy to tell she cares. It's cute. She's such a sweetie. I do manage to piss her off a lot though, which is sad. I hate that I push her away like that. But I've been alone for a while and I can tell she has been too, so that could be why we don't mix. I'll keep trying though. I do care for her very much. She deserves a shoulder to lean on once and a while."

Rosaline
"My first impression of Rosaline was very intense. I remember she stabbed a rabid soul-golem dog in the throat, then took several swigs of whiskey straight from the bottle without flinching, and started to glare at everyone nearby with the passion of someone who wanted to punch something very hard despite any consequences. A few days later she was giving me advice on how to apologize to people. A week later she was giving people hugs and crying whenever I called her a 'friend'. There's an old Grippli word for people like Rosaline. Tsundere."

Behz
"When we picked up Behz from the side of a highway road, I fully expected him to get off at the next town and go his separate way where we might never see him again. He ended up staying. I don't mind it at all. I like his spunk and the way he jokes and laughs around. He may be a bit rough around the edges, but nobody is perfect. I'm glad to have him as a friend."