Tobias gets a better scene later, but this is probably peak Astoria Troy, so let’s focus on her for a bit. She certainly deserves a little focus, and she rarely gets it! She’s described by her backer as “a tagalong, a wannabe” in most adventurers’ eyes, a child of the theater, but eager to make a difference even if she seems to be getting mostly scut work, “cleaning giant spiders out of basements and gathering potion ingredients and retrieving stolen velocipedes.”

But that same description gave her a pretty intriguing power set: “combining low-level illusions and basic student magics with acrobatic brawling taught by her childhood, she can go unseen or blind somebody with a blast of color, or just swing a properly dramatic fist.” In her brief appearances here, we tended to let those cool powers do most of the talking, which probably creates an impression that she’s more respected than her given backstory implies. But then, maybe she was more respected than that by the time she fell in with the Kickbackers. They don’t seem too elitist.

There were always gonna be things we never got to. The nerdy completist in me would like to have seen more of her inner life, just as I would’ve liked to find a villain scene for her fellow backer-creation Avidro (see earlier link). Still, better to leave the stage before you run out of ideas than vice versa.

(I’m aware Colonnus miscounts in panel 1… not sure if that’s an error on our part of Colonnus trying to cover for the sneaky Isidro.)