Makaria

Makaria doesn't remember most of her childhood. She thinks of faint wisps of memories that could be her's, but ultimately comes short, thinking them to be tales she has made up thus far.

Truth was, she was kidnapped at some teen age by a group of Illithid. She didn't know what they wanted her- or the many others that were there, but she was locked in an isolated cell for a very long time. Very commonly they came to prod her; carve her; pull blood in any way they could. She always tried to struggle but never got any farther than slapping one in the face.

[That led to a lot of punishment. She still has all of the scars.]

One day she caught wind of a group of other Tieflings talking about an escape route in another cell over. Watching them- having always watched them- she crawled over and told them she'd help them if they helped her out too.

They were skeptical, of course. What broken battered Tiefling could help out with escaping, much less not slow them down?

But she told them she knew the time frames in which the guards come. What "days" tended to have someone taken. Specific guards that came to collect herself, and exactly what she could do to them to distract them.

They agreed to her distracting plan, and agreed to help her out. It took a bit longer than they wanted to leave, but no one seemed to go near the exit that the group had found- most likely never knowing about it.

Singing was her way out. She learned the trick from one of the older kids- they told her their father used to be a renowned Bard, and had a trick called Cutting Words. Makaria didn't know if it had worked the way she intended, but it thoroughly distracted her guards as planned.

As the other group left, Makaria made way to keep trying to use her new found skill to keep the others from leaving, but it didn't work on all the guards in the area. They grabbed her, tried to force stuffing into her mouth to shut her up, when a rock came sailing by and smacked the Illithid in the face.

One of the girl's came back to help her out- as planned, the other two must have escaped- and tore Makaria out of the monster's grasp before booking it.

The Illithid must have done something to the tunnel though, as rocks started crumbling everywhere near the exit. The girl who had been half carrying Makaria suddenly shoved her through the exit as rocks slammed down into the earth; sealing them from the inside of the tunnel.

Makaria was found by the other two, scraping and clawing at the rock to try and get the other out. It wasn't long before she collapsed from blood loss and guilt.

She awoke to find herself in the softest bed she had ever been in, with the other girls no where to be seen. Soon understood she was in a medical section in a new town that was away from the prison. It took her a while to gather her bearings alone.

It was a few months of living on the streets before she found The Fool's Brigade. She met many children her age that taught her many skills. Tricks and baubles she had not seen before. Tales of their parents who were amazing Wizards, Druids, Rouges, and Gunslingers.

She also met many people who hated her simply for being born a Tiefling. Those days were harder than others.

Few of the children brought her food, due to racial tensions between many, but she was forever grateful.

When she finally stumbled upon The Fool's Brigade, she was in her late teen years, and met Saoirse for the first time.

It was... a meeting.

In which case, after telling her life's tale up to that point, Saoirse may have immediately pulled Makaria into a hug and told her she was welcomed in the Brigade as a home if she wished. That she would be taken care of, beloved, and trained to help them out too.

It was history after that. She trained, ate, sweat, and bled with these people. It was common for her to be seen with Raldi and Dargirm, as Saoirse was busy leading the Brigade a lot of the time.

(It was also common to see them all getting into mischief with the locals.)

Averdith tended to try and calm Makaria's more reckless attitude, but it never seemed to get through to her. She often pushed the Tiefling off to her "uncle" figures, exasperated with Makaria's personality. She knew that Averdith liked a little pop of spontaneity in her life though.

It wasn't long before Makaria brought up her joy of Bardic attributes to Dagirm, who sought one of the other members with such skills, and had her trained.

Venna was a dragonborne with an air of confidence and knew how to woo a crowd with their skills. They often took Makaria onto sessions to show her how it worked in reality versus theoretical happenstances.

Saorise saw this and asked if Makaria would be interested in working for the Brigade when she was old enough. Teaching her how to be stealthy with the help of other members, Makaria eventually became a Spy for The Fool's Brigade, and was sent out on her first mission.