Aera

"Magpie" redirects here.

Aera was an elderly aarakocra who obsessively sought out shiny objects. She was the only member of Georga Sen's party to survive their encounter with the Beholder.

Appearance & Personality

Aera is an aarakocra with black feathers, closely resembling a crow. During the present-day of the campaign, she wears ragged clothes. Due to the damage her mind sustained while fighting the beholder, her speech is fragmented, and she often repeats the words "Mag" and "shiny".

Little about Aera's original personality is known, but she clearly cared deeply for her adventuring party, particularly Magnolia. Her character class is also unknown, although Georga mentions her having talents in both swordplay and healing.

Story

Backstory

Aera's background is unknown outside of what is mentioned in Georga's journal. During her time as an adventurer, she eventually started a romantic relationship with her fellow party member Magnolia, going so far as to give her a ring. After Septimus discovered the truth of the Cataclysms, she accompanied her party on their journey to investigate Soma, in what turned out to be their final adventure.

In Soma, Aera's party attempted to kill the beholder inhabiting Yawalon's temple. Though they managed to permanently wound the creature, the beholder then killed Georga, Magnolia, and Septimus. Aera managed to escape and survive, but sustained serious mental damage.

Some time after this, Aera ended up in Mistport, where she set up "shop" on the streets of the Market District. Unable to fully recall Magnolia, she instead developed a fascination with shiny objects, particularly those that resembled Magnolia's ring. She would eagerly attempt to trade any "shinys" she scavenged with passerby. Eventually she became fairly well-known among Mistport citizens, who referred to her as "Magpie" due to her love of shiny objects and tendency to mention "Mag".

In the Campaign

Aera was first encountered during the party's first time in Mistport, and the party made multiple trades with her over the course of the campaign. At one point, Blitz offered her a ring as a trade, causing her to become deeply excited.

After defeating the beholder and finding the bodies of her adventuring party, they realized that "Magpie" was in fact the Aera mentioned in Georga's journal. The party retrieved Magnolia's ring and returned it to Aera, causing her to finally remember her past. After thanking the party, she flew away, and has not appeared in the campaign since.

Trivia

• The ring Aera gave to Magnolia is inscribed: For my flower. Love, your Aera.
• Notable items offered for trade by Aera include the Yao coin, a key to the Black Talons treasury, and a button inscribed with the Stormquell family crest (presumably originally belonging to Rin).