Delving Deeper: Oleander Hawthorne

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Welcome to Delving Deeper with Oleander Hawthorn, where we have meta game discussions about our characters, events in the game, the world, or even just to demand of someone "What the hells were you thinking!?"

In this episode we chat with the most wholesome and loving warlock in town. Just don't expect her to choose the correct dialogue option. The bard in town! Aaand she bites: Oleander Hawthorne.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Hello, and welcome to Delving Deeper. This is a metagame series where we talk about our characters, the uh any events in the world, in the game, and uh just generally ask our counterparts, what the hells were you thinking? Today, Delphine will be interviewing Oleander because it's her character's fault right now.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

It's my turn!

SPEAKER_01 0:56

It's her turn! Alright, so, and because, like in the Delphine one, it's us, so we get to drink. Cheers. And we will be extra chatty. Yes. Alright, so starting off, what kind of character were you trying to make at the beginning of the campaign? What did you envision Oleander to be when this all started? Okay, so I have a problem where one of my problems is that I always think I'm a bard. No matter what I play, I forget. Necromancer you thought was a bard. Yes, okay. Our last game, I was a necromancer who, um, by the way, everyone keeps telling me I'm evil and I'm not evil. So basically, every character also is something that is a running uh a running theme. I make a character that other people think is going to be evil that is not evil. You yourself have a very interesting um morality scale. Yes, I do have a different morality scale than the average human. Actually, I don't think it's so much different. I think it's like a matter of interpretation. You interpret it differently. Yeah, maybe, maybe sometimes wrong. Yeah. So I wanted, with this one, I wanted to create a uh bard, but also a warlock. So I warlocks are super fun. Warlocks are super fun, but I didn't want just any patron. I wanted one of my ancestors. I wanted this to be wholesome. I wanted a wholesome warlock patron. So my patron was going to be my grandad. Hence why I am always talking about grandad. I am I I cast through him, I talk to him, I everything is all about grandad. I carry his skull on my hip. It's not at all weird. And I didn't think it was weird. I thought it was normal that everybody else uh, you know, just talks to their ancestors and interacts with them. So I was actually coming in with this uh trying to create the most wholesome character that everybody else would think would maybe be not so good from first glance. And actually, you were the most wholesome for a very long time. Yeah. Yeah, I really was. I don't know if any of us are wholesome anymore. Drex? Drex is becoming way more wholesome as we know him. Weirdly wholesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Yeah. I was the most well-adjusted. Yes, actually, she came from a very loving, stable home with parents who loved her and didn't all hide her away in a tower like a princess. Exactly. Unlike some princesses. Not an actual princess, but I mean nobility still. Yeah. Yeah. How has your character now deviated from that original path? Um. Okay. So, my wholesome character that was not evil at any point. Still whatever cult. It's not a cult. It's a cult. Not a cult. It's a cult. So it's a nice cult. Very loving family. Um more stuff kept happening that everybody else continued to think was even more evil. And this character who just wanted to wanted everybody to be kind, wanted to help people, wanted to take care of others. And when everybody is looking at you constantly, saying you're bad, you're evil, you're going to do awful things, we have to be weary of you. We are gonna we should chain you up because you are a threat. That kind of thing. Yeah, he said it a lot. He's a dick, but he did say it a lot. And uh that kind of thing really wears a person down. No matter how many times you are trying to be a good person, when everybody is looking at you like you are like they they won't be able to see it no matter what. She didn't give up, but she got very, very jaded. And so my character, as much as she just she just wants to love people, she just wants to help people, um, she's no longer quite as um default setting good for everything you encounter. Yeah. A little bit more suspicious, maybe careful, a little more cautious, a little more suspicious. She'll be so proud. Yeah. Yeah, and she also probably have a lot more sympathy considering your life path right now is her entire life. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't done anything to hurt anybody except I bit drags a lot. And by a lot, it was less than. With dubious consent, but he does seem angry about it. He has let me. She apparently believes in asked for permit um for forgiveness, not permission. I only asked after one time. And another time, he he could have refused. Only one time was I trying to bite him out of control. I only lost control one time. That's true. Only the one time. Yeah. We had to lay the smack down on you. You did. The holy smackdown. Holy smackdown. Alright. Is there anything from your background or backstory that you want to tell us about that has not come up in recording in the game? Either stuff that we the characters know or we don't know. Um, I guess aside from the fact that I legitimately come from a very, very loving background that is super secluded, so I just didn't really know people. Um, I didn't get I didn't get a chance to know anybody growing up outside of my family. Uh, you know, the occasional traveler would come through, my family would take care of them and shoe them along. Um The only other real big thing about my background that actually nobody nobody has ever really talked about. Um we don't talk about things. We don't talk about Bruno. And Bruno is anything. None of us actually really have any conversations with each other. Yeah. Um, the reason why I left my family. I left my family because I just always had this desire to explore the world. My family always said that, you know, they're not safe. People outside are um not necessarily trying to be harmful, sometimes they are, and sometimes they're just not that right. They need to be supervised and cared for, preferably at a distance. So I thought my family was kind of overreacting. I wanted to I wanted to see the world, I wanted to see these people. So even though I went out with this really, you know, wholesome and loving intent to go explore the world, I was actually still really scared. Um, and it took me a while. I traveled around for about five years uh before I met this group. Uh, traveled around with a bard who had uh taught me everything she knew, and uh it took her even a long time to break through my wall. Uh Hannah Moon song. Oh, yes, yeah. Now, she wasn't the original bard. I was gonna say, I have a question. I have two questions. I have two not pre-written questions. I have a follow-up. Okay. Because I know where you're going. Without spoilers for the recordings, who is Guy Kelly? Well, Guy Kelly was the love of my life. So I thought. You know how when he was a great guy. He was with him. Well he was with your family. Well, he was with my family. Everything else. Nobody knows anything else about him. Nobody else knows nothing. Uh people have very limited contact with him once recording starts, actually. But prior to recording, I had a short um but very passionate um affair's not the right word. Um, getting to know him. He came to my family. It's a summer love. It was, yeah, it was like a little summer love.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

We were younger and uh we thought that we would song Strawberry Love. Seventeen.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

We branched into the song. Yeah. I suddenly can't remember the rest of it. I can't remember that song. I probably do, and I'm not gonna do it. Yeah, that's okay. Um, yeah, no, he was he was somebody that I loved and I wanted to be with. He disappeared one night, and I found out that my family had actually asked him to leave, thinking that uh he would influence me to maybe not be content staying with the family. But not the actions of a normal people, right? Totally not cult-like. They thought out outsiders and stay secluded. Well, if they had thought that the outside world was dangerous. If he if if he would have stayed, that would have been a whole different story. But the outside world is dangerous. He had joined said cult. Yes. If if if he is going to lead me into danger, then they don't want him there. And they were very honest and upfront with me about it. Uh, they didn't try and hide what they had done. Uh, but the result was that after um after a couple years of trying to be satisfied and settled in my life uh with the family, I just I I needed more, I needed to explore, and I did leave in search of Guy. So he was the reason why I left my family. I have not seen my family since. I have another thing we have in common. Yeah. Running away more family. Yes. Um, I've sent my family constant updates, though, because I love them so much, I just haven't been able to see them. I have not. Radio silence. Yes. Um, I believe at no point would I stroll into my, you know, into the family again, would they be upset to see me, other than, you know, hurt that I left, maybe, but uh, I don't feel like there would be any kind of disownment or sadness that would be I would I feel like I would be welcome with open arms at all times. Oh, I feel like that's what's in the DM. The DM wants to break my heart. Oh, fun fact, as soon as I gave the DM my very wholesome character sheet at the very beginning, I can't remember exactly his words, but it was something along with very evil and long cackle followed up with I'm going to destroy you. Never give a DM a loving living family. Yeah. With lots of character options to find. I have a loving living family, but it's not very happy.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Yeah. Uh, follow-up question?

SPEAKER_01 12:00

I don't know if you're expecting me to ask you this. I don't know. Without spoilers, but as this was pre-established before the beginning of the recordings. Who is Einar Wild Soul to Oleand? Happy beginning of recordings. Who is he to her? Okay, so Oleander's full of love. She just loves love. Oleander's very lame. I just love love. Love to be love. Okay, so, um, how do I say this? Einar's not sitting right there. Einar's not staring at me right now from the corner of the room at all. Even a little bit. Metagame-wise, he may or may not be married to one of us. You know, when you have a best friend for, you know, most of your life, and then suddenly they're your fake boyfriend in game, and it's kind of strange, and they're married to your act other best friend, and so, anyways, um Einar to Oleander. Einar to Oleander. Um, very shortly before recording. Um, now at this point, the love of my life guy, I haven't seen him in six years, okay? I've moved on, I don't expect to see him again. I have carried on with my life with, you know, affectionate, wishful thoughts in the background. Now, I've had little infatuations here and there, nothing too serious, um, but I've never really bonded with anybody. And shortly before recording, uh, Oleander and Einar had um a very meaningful um time together getting to um he would check on her all the time, he would actually pay attention to her, he would make sure she was safe at all times, and she was very attentive. He was very attentive. In a non-weird way. In a non-creepy way, in a very good way. He was very attentive. And that's what she would see him as a friend, and then one night they would they they bonded and they really clicked, um, really realizing how desperately lonely both of them were feeling uh in over their heads, and uh there was just so much that they had in common, so m their values completely aligned, and a little spark kind of started. And uh now we have a little spark that is being nurtured. Yes, yeah, there's uh a little a little spark very quickly became um Legal Candle, a little bit of campfire now. Oh my god, anymore. You don't want to talk about your husband and me and our imaginary relationship. No, let's talk about my fake fiance. Yeah, your fake fiance being the DM. Not weird at all. Not even a little bit. I get to yell at him. It's really fun because they don't get along. I'm nicer. I try not to yell at him, except for in real life. Um, I have a somewhat adjacent, because I know you have all these wonderful questions. I want to get to your wonderful questions, but I also have an adjacent thing uh that popped in my brain. Is it something? No, because I know you will. Yes. People don't need that. Um there is another thing that bonded Einar and Oleander. And you refer to it often, and again, like the bubble of fuck-off, which is Liaman's tiny hat, which people don't know. Maybe that is our shorthand term for the Liaman's tiny hat is bubble of fuck off. What is a snacksident and how does it connect with Einar? Okay, this is uh probably connecting your things and choices that um affect your choices in game. I think it's happened to you. So a snacksident is an accidental snack, obviously, and I was an accidental snack, which I got in a lot of shit for. I didn't do nothing. Undeserved, I will say. Undeserved. All I was trying to do was calm a combat and distract and reorient people, and I thought that wearing the face of somebody that a vampire loved and cared for would give a moment of calm. Clarity of uh yeah, just even just distracting. We were getting our asses handed to him. We were all about to die. And so I thought if I can make him hesitate for just a moment and reevaluate the situation, then maybe we won't die. And I saved my friends' lives. I feel like this is connected to the interpreting things differently. I checked the wrong chat bubble. I didn't that didn't mean what I thought it meant. Because me and the DM do not interpret chat bubbles on the same norm. Anybody who is my love interest or my best friend in any game that I play will die. I'm concerned for myself. However, Einar already died once because of me. I already killed him once, so he's safe. That's true, and that's how Einar got into the trouble he got into. That is actually a thing you guys um bonded over. He became a vampire. You're vampiress. Yeah, vampirism. It's his fault because he didn't listen. That's why I'm a vampire, because he wouldn't stop when we said stop, and so then I got turned. So then after when I I mean, is it no? It's his fault. And then when it came time to fight him, because I got to fight my friends under my vampire. She charmed me control. I took control of me. I have the wheat in. Okay. She does have the wheaton. I took it until she's fighting. I took all of his pretty dice, and I just casually, lovingly pushed them all. I touched them. Which is always intent. Her offering us dice in a game, and all of us are telling her to fuck off. You just did it again to all my dice. Okay, but this time was with fake ill intent, and I'm sorry, it might work anyways. I touched his dice with ill intent, and he immediately died. Yes. So, like, no one take her dice. Don't let her touch your dice, don't use her dice. Her dice are strictly forboden. She has the wheat and touch. Don't do it. Our healer, we we we played a game. Our healer got brand spanking new dice, and he still hasn't learned. He still lets me touch his dice. I played with them. And then the very first round of the very first rolls, he died. And then I died. And I'm the backup healer.

unknown 19:19

It was bad. That was great.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Oh dear lord. So, don't give me your dice, I guess. Okay. So now I'm gonna um what are your favorite game moments prior to recording? Oh my goodness. And how have they affected your character's development or choices? I mean, we've talked about some great game moments. We really have already by default. Um, okay. One of my favorite moments wasn't even a good moment, and we will have an entire video on this, but okay, two things, and they both have to do with rolled. Oh fuck. Okay, so the first one we're crossing a bridge. It is a horrible bridge. The bloody bridge. The bloody bridge. Some games have their chairs and doors. Apparently, the Planner Vanergard, it's bridges. Yeah. We cannot cross a bridge to save our lives. Yeah, bridges had to cross this bridge to save our lives. Now, Roleb's doing pretty good. He's he's making it across, and none of us can roll anything remote. I was it was the worst. And he finally turns to me and says, you know, tie yourself to me. I'll help you across. Do I do that? No. Why don't I do that? I legitimately thought that this was him trying to be sneaky so that he could accidentally cut the rope and toss me into the roiling river. Wolf has been the most anti-oliander. Not just the vampire he says it's the vampirism. It's oleander he focuses on. He never focuses on Einar, who has the same problems, just a little bit different, and actually has been more dangerous to us as a party. Um he's the most anti-oliander. Yeah. So I almost died so many times in that session just because I was not willing to let him help me because I thought that he was going to use that to try and kill me. I actually legitimately thought that one of my party members was trying to kill me. What's your second one? He died.

unknown 21:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Right after. Yes, Roel died right after. And who brought him back? Well, Drunken did the spell. She did the best part of the ritual. I shamed that bastard back to life. And I am so proud of that moment. Nobody has ever been so proud of reprimanding somebody. Resurrection by shame. Yeah. I basically told him that he was the worst person. Nobody trusts him. Nobody likes you. Nobody likes you. You ain't got a brim. And I mean he has his good moments. Don't worry. He does. I made it feel so bad. He's not. He had to come back to do better, to show us that he could be better, the best. And let us help him with his storyline goals. And uh and then he came back. Alright, is there an um anything you want to talk about otherwise about your character? Um man, we covered a lot of stuff in this. Wow. We ramble. We ramble a lot. So I think I think that I think that kind of covers everything at the moment. Yeah. I can't remember anything else off the top of my head. No, you'll have to stay tuned for um what other hijinks happen as a result of misinterpretation of dialogue options. I apologize for putting it in my mouth. She doesn't really, but that's okay. I accept, I accept. Yes. Alright, so if you enjoyed us, um, like drop us a like, a follow, a comment, a review. If you have a question for Oleander, um, such as what is your favorite dialogue option misinterpretation? Maybe drop that in the comments. Have you guys killed anybody accidentally too? She says it's an accident. I don't think it was an accident. But I left them.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Bye.