Lou Tai

My husband recently ran a D&D game where I played a rogue thief by the name a Lou Tai. I didn't play her very well as I'm not much of roleplayer, but the character background was...interesting:

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Lou Tai (or Tai Lou, if you are not Shou) is a twenty-one year old Human of half Shou descent through her mother, Lou Mei Mei (or Mei Mei Lou). Her mother is the owner and operator of the Three Jolly Luck Good Time “Inn". And yes, the quotation marks can also be seen on the establishment sign as it is an “Inn” of disrepute. Mei Mei likes everyone to think she is all about the money (her motto is “Money Up Front”), but she is soft hearted when it comes to those who are down on their luck and in need of a good meal. Tai takes after her in that respect. Her father, Ander “Horny” Hornraven, is a Human traveling bard of even more disrepute. He has half a dozen illegitimate children through different women of different races and is a known scoundrel and gallivanter. Tai loves him anyway—when he can be found—but not enough to loan him money (which would be stupid since he is also a known welsher).

Tai has two younger half sisters through her mother named Bai (pronounced Bye) and Lai (pronounced Lie). Bai, sixteen years old, is the healer of the family. She is destined to become a cleric or herbalist, in spite of their mother’s discouragement. She has a soft spot for bunnies and anything remotely fluffy. Lai, seventeen, is the wild child of the family with a talent for music. She wants to be a bard like her father. Not Ander. A different bard. Their mom’s a ho. Go figure. Lai is saving money to join the local bard’s guild. Mom is even less happy about this, but what can you do? Kids.

 

Like Bai, Tai dreamed of being a cleric when she was a child because she wanted to help the sick and the poor. She was discouraged from doing this by her mother who told her there wasn’t much money in the trade. Tai later met a passing Halfling thief by the name of Milo who taught her how to pick locks. She fell in love—not with Milo, but with the new found ability to break into anywhere she wanted to be. She loves the sneaking around and breaking in aspects of the trade and the intellectual challenge of stealing much more than she loves the money, but she does like a good payoff too. Most of her money goes to her mother and two younger half sisters (Bai and Lai) and, if she has enough left over, she’ll put some money in the poor box or give it to someone in need. Milo tells her there is a thieves guild in the city of (?) that can train her better than he can. She is very interested in the opportunities this city holds.