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Cquote1 I prefer the term, 'Freelance Wealth Redistribution Specialist.'[1] Cquote2
Haley New2
Haley Starshine
Biographical information
Birth

Year 1159

Hometown

Greysky City

First Comic

1

Last Comic

1299

Physical description
Species

Human (Northern)

Gender

Female

Age

25-26

Hair color

Ginger

Chronological and political information
Nickname(s)

Miss/Mistress Starshine (Vaarsuvius)

Affiliation

Greysky City Thieves' Guild (Formerly)
Order of the Stick

Class

Rogue

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Known masters

Bozzok (Formerly)
Roy Greenhilt

Known apprentices

Niu

Known relatives

Elan (lover)
Ian Starshine (father)
Mia Starshine† (mother)
Geoff (uncle)
Ivy (aunt)
Jiminy (cousin)

Status

Living

D&D Stats
Level

16

Str

13-19

Dex

20-21

Con

9+

Int

12+

Cha

12-19

Feats

Dodge, Improved Precise Shot, Manyshot, Martial Weapon Proficiency (longbow), Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Ranged Bin, Ranged Sunder, Rapid Shot

Skills

Bluff (maxed), Disable Device, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search (not maxed), Sense Motive 2+, Sleight of Hand, Spellcraft 9+, Spot 0, Tumble, Use Magic Device 7+, Use Rope 8

Abilities

Rogue class abilities, two special rogue abilities spent on feats

Haley Starshine is a veteran rogue who specializes in archery and is Roy Greenhilt's second-in-command in the Order of the Stick. She initially came off as greedy, for instance looting a room that she scouted out, but she was amassing wealth in order to save her father from execution at the hands of a cold-hearted tyrant, Lord Tyrinar. She has developed a romantic relationship over time with the Order's bard, Elan.

Biography[]

Early Life and Thieves' Guild[]

Haley was born in the town of Greysky City, a notorious town that is a criminal haven, and is the daughter of First Edition thief Ian Starshine and his wife, Mia. When she was very young, her mother was killed, leaving her father to raise her alone in Greysky. Ian taught Haley not to trust anyone who wasn't family, chastising her when she told a friendly old lady that her mother was dead, believing that telling the truth about herself could lead to that information being used against her later.

At age 15, she was a goth and referred to herself as "Dark Mistress Shadowgale."[2] On one occasion she lamented that all good people (her mother and the names Kyran and Rachel were mentioned) in her life left her when they found out what she was really like and that she must thus conceal her true nature.[3]

Haleycrystal

Haley meets Crystal at age 19.[4]

She joined the Greysky City Thieves' Guild at the age of 17, her father having given them special permission to train her. Her skills developed quickly and she became a favorite of Guild-master Bozzok, who considered her to be one of his best earners—as well he might, given that the Guild automatically took half of any take, then added on as many fees as possible, so that Haley's earnings after stealing a diamond worth six thousand gold pieces eventually amounted to the princely sum of fifty-eight gold and three copper pieces.[1]

On the Origin of PCs[]

Leaving Greysky City[]

Around eight months prior to joining the Order of the Stick, Haley received a letter from the land of Tyrinaria, in which she was informed that her father had been imprisoned for life for "crimes against the government." She was also informed that if she, as her father's only living relative, paid them the sum of 200,000 gold pieces, then they would consider granting her father clemency.[5]

Realizing that she would never be able to raise that sort of amount working for the Thieves' Guild due to the absurd fees they charged, Haley immediately quit and left town to avoid any retribution from the guild-master.[1] Bozzok would later claim to have had a hand in motivating Ian's departure, although that may have been a lie.[6]

Pre-Order Adventuring[]

Haley became an adventurer, which she swiftly found to be far more profitable, both in terms of gold and experience, rising four experience levels in only six months, which was more experience than she'd gained in six years as a regular burglar.

Drinking in a tavern after one quest, Haley made the acquaintance of Vaarsuvius, an elven wizard who had just been disqualified from a magical tournament after accidentally destroying the stadium. The two debated the relative merits of adventuring over research and Haley eventually persuaded the skeptical elf to accompany her to the local adventurer's tavern to see what work might be available.

At the tavern, Haley encountered Roy Greenhilt, a fighter who was assembling a party to locate and destroy a lich, Xykon. Using a combination of bluffing and a hastily forged Thieves' Guild membership card, Haley persuaded Roy to take her on. She also recommended Vaarsuvius as a possible party member, a suggestion which Roy followed.[1]

Dungeon Crawlin' Fools[]

Throughout their adventures, Haley has been an almost quintessential rogue, taking every opportunity to acquire treasure, preferably in such a manner that she could deny that she'd found anything to avoid having to share it. She was the first to distrust the Linear Guild, taking an almost immediate dislike to them (particularly Sabine, her opposite number) and was instrumental in foiling their plans after Roy realised that a cryptic prophecy given to him by his father referred to her and told her to attempt a seemingly impossible shot, which obligingly struck true.

Haley was also instrumental in foiling Xykon's plan, after she used her feminine wiles to get information from one of his goblin minions. Realizing that Xykon actually wanted the team to open the gate on the lowest level of the dungeon, Haley was able to stop Elan the bard from doing so at the last moment.

No Cure for the Paladin Blues[]

Wooden Forest[]

Haley took control of the party briefly when Elan was captured by a group of bandits and Roy elected not to try to rescue him. Haley rallied the remainder of the party and went to the bard's rescue. Somewhat appalled to find Elan, who she had developed feelings for, romancing the female bandit leader, Haley challenged her to a duel for leadership of the bandit group. Unfortunately, her opponent, an experienced sorcerer, defeated her readily, and it was only Roy's intervention that saved them all from execution.

Shortly afterwards, Haley was eaten by a dragon, although she was saved by Vaarsuvius, who forced the dragon to vomit her up again. Critically injured and believing that she was dying, Haley began to tell Elan that she was in love with him, but was interrupted by a Cure spell from Durkon Thundershield, leading her to change the ending of the sentence and leaving the confused bard under the impression that his teammate was in love with ukuleles. The sheer size of the dragon's hoard, however, was more than enough to restore her spirits.

Loading up their treasure on carts that Haley had stowed away in her impressive collection of eight bags of holding, the team aimed to return to town, only to be waylaid en route by Miko Miyazaki, a paladin of the Sapphire Guard of Azure City, who had come to arrest them for crimes against existence. Tempted to simply up and leave when Miko ordered them to accompany her to her city, Haley was persuaded to stay by Durkon. Staying in an inn on the way, a complex series of events led to the almost complete destruction of the establishment, plus most of the treasure that the Order had carefully stored away in the vault there. The psychological shock of losing all their hard-earned treasure hit Haley so hard that she spoke only in cryptograms for an extended period of time, from episode #247[7] to #393.[8]

Azure City[]

Finally arriving in Azure City, the Order were put on trial and, to everybody's surprise, were found not guilty. Haley swiftly figured out that the seemingly senile Lord Shojo, the city's ruler, was, in fact, still entirely in command of his senses (although she had more than a little difficulty in communicating this to Roy. The entire trial turned out to have been a sham to get the Order to Azure City, where Lord Shojo asked them to investigate the other gates scattered around the world.

As a boon, Lord Shojo ordered his best clerics to examine Haley to see if they could determine the cause (and, thus, any possible cure) for her speech disorder. They came to the conclusion that it was caused by an excess amount of stress caused by keeping secrets. Whether this is related to her hiding her love for Elan, to keeping her father's situation secret from her teammates or is simply due to her being a rogue was unrevealed until recently.

Deciding to face the problem directly, Haley decided to tell Elan about her feelings for him. Over the course of a meal to celebrate the New Year, she told him, but this failed to cure the problem and, because of her disorder, Elan didn't understand anyway. In an effort to try to find out which of her assorted secrets might be behind it, she proceeded to tell Elan about her father, that she wasn't actually a member of the Thieves' Guild, that she cheats at solitaire, that she has a tattoo that he's never seen and that she's kissed a girl more than once. None of these made any difference, so she began to tell him another secret, one that she's not told anyone else, but he interrupted - all she got out (translated) was "Elan, it turns out I may not be exactly what you would call..." What this could refer to is as yet unknown.

You Failed

Haley fails to kiss Elan.

Haley's self-loathing then manifested, appearing as her fifteen-year-old goth self. She suggested that rather than telling Elan, the best way to communicate her feelings to him was simply to kiss him, thus getting the message across without having to get around her language difficulties. The plan was put forward that she should kiss him at midnight, so that, if Elan reacted badly, she could simply dismiss the kiss as a New Year tradition. The moment arrived, but, even though Elan appeared to be waiting for her, Haley's courage failed her and before she made the move, an Azure City resident kissed him instead, leaving Haley to walk away sadly

War and XPs[]

Haley eventually came to terms with her problem, realizing that it will be sorted out in her own time and that attempting to force the issue will do no good. Visiting the Oracle of Sunken Valley, she asked how she could restore her speech, to be told "When the gift horse comes calling, don't look it in the mouth."[9] When The Order subsequently returned to Azure City after their adventure in Cliffport, Nale, disguised as Elan and having figured out that Haley has feelings for his brother, asked Haley out because Sabine was visiting the Lower Planes and he was bored. Haley's embodiment of self-loathing distrusted Nale's offer citing the fact that "Elan" was suave, romantic and his vocabulary was higher than normal. Even though she acknowledged that "Elan" was not acting normal, Haley ignored her mental embodiments and decided to go on the date anyway (thus fulfilling the conditions given by the Oracle for the return of her speech).

The date seemingly went fairly well, despite an initial mistake by Nale who was unaware of her speech problem. The pair ended up back in Haley's room at the inn where they were staying, where Haley happily accepted a kiss from "Elan," unaware that Nale was holding a dagger and was about to stab her with it.[10] His plan was interrupted when first the (apparently) jealous Sabine burst in through the door, then the real Elan swung in dramatically through the window, followed, bizarrely, by Thog dressed as a leprechaun. Nale and Elan dueled with Elan quickly proving the victor, much to Haley's delight. Faced with defeat, Nale tried tricking his brother into believing he and Haley were in fact working together, and that Haley's crypto-speak was really the language Infernal that they used to communicate. Elan was fooled by this bluff, assisted by a suggestion spell that Nale cast. He was about to turn on Haley, when the rogue, caught up in the yelling of an angry Elan and her own self-loathing, finally broke through her speech problem, screaming out that she was in love with him, and kissed Nale only because she thought he was Elan. This abrupt revelation stunned Elan, breaking Nale's hold over him.

OOTS0400

Elan kisses Haley.

Shortly afterward, Vaarsuvius and Durkon arrived, seeking Haley's help with subduing Belkar, whom Nale had magically charmed into attacking his own teammates. They joined in the battle with the Linear Guild, and were able to defeat the evil party. After Vaarsuvius and Durkon left with the defeated Guild in tow, Haley attempted to play down what she had said to Elan, to which he replied by walking over to her and kissing her.[11]

Azure City Under Siege[]

As Xykon's army approached the walls, Haley helped prepare Azure City's troops for the coming battle, showing them a confident attitude.[12] However, after a discussion with O-Chul, a senior Paladin, she realized the true gravity of the situation, that a war was very different from adventuring and that many of the troops, quite possibly including Haley herself, or some of her friends, were likely to be slain in the upcoming battle. Reassessing her priorities, she chose to spend the rest of the night with Elan.

On the day of the battle, confronted with three copies of Xykon, Haley suggested that in fact none of them were the real one, that their opponents were playing a classic shell game. This turned out to be quite accurate; a True Seeing spell quickly revealed the real Xykon atop his undead dragon steed, practically on top of them.[13] With Roy engaging Xykon directly, Haley continued to defend the wall. Witnessing Roy's death, Haley was distraught, feeling that she should have been able to help, but, with Durkon's help, was able to put her grief aside and assume her duties as the new leader of the Order. With the hobgoblin army in the city and advancing on the castle, Haley attempted to distract Redcloak from the castle with a long-distance longbow shot. Unfortunately, she missed, failing to distract Redcloak, but attracting the attention of a considerable number of hobgoblin archers. With the Order under attack, she suggested to Elan that he should use illusions to convince the archers that the Order had been killed, a tactic that apparently proved successful.

With the battle lost, Haley convinced Hinjo to retreat (although it pained him deeply). She then revealed that she intended to go back to retrieve Roy's body, along with Belkar, who was forced to come along due to the Mark of Justice preventing him from being more than a mile away from Roy. When the stealthy approach failed, Haley grabbed Belkar and made a mad dash for the city wall. Realising that this was accomplishing nothing as the hobgoblins were gaining on them, she turned and fought back, eliminating twenty-two pursuing hobgoblins in a display of agility and marksmanship that greatly impressed Belkar.[14]

Left Behind

Haley and Belkar get left behind.

The two of them discovered that Roy's body and a paralyzed O-Chul had been recovered by the Monster in the Darkness, who had "invited" them to his tea party. Haley convinced the Monster to give up the bodies in exchange for some vulture stew prepared by Belkar, and the two fled the scene with Roy and O-Chul in tow, escaping while the Monster debated with himself over whether he should devour them. When the Monster finally decided to pursue them and caused an earthquake to slow them down, Roy's body fell into a chasm created by the earthquake. A quick-thinking Haley fired an arrow to stop Roy's descent by pinning his crotch to the wall, while Belkar abandoned O-Chul to save his own hide. Haley and Belkar then hauled Roy's body up and continued their flight toward Hinjo's Junk, not knowing that it had set sail without them. Upon seeing the ship sailing off in the distance, Haley's self-loathing accredits this to Elan abandoning her as she got too close to him.

Don't Split the Party[]

OOTS0529

Haley accidentally summons Celia.

Resistance Leader[]

Eugene's pseudoscrying spell revealed Haley to be alive and still hiding in Azure City, currently the leader of a resistance group made up of 200 survivors, though Haley mentions that there are other resistance groups that blame either the Order or Hinjo for causing the destruction for Azure City and are not willing to work with her. While attempting to free prisoners and steal supplies, the group was attacked by Tsukiko and her Wights. Haley later came out of hiding to confront Tsukiko directly, but she quickly ended up being overwhelmed by Tsukiko and her undead, saved only by the intervention of Belkar. Later (due to Tsukiko's use of an Electric Orb spell), Haley inadvertently summoned Celia, whose talisman (which Haley had on her person) reacted strongly to electrical energy, thus breaking when Haley removed it from her pocket. After learning of Roy's death, Celia convinced Haley to go out with her to seek the other members of the Order, partly by saying she was taking Roy's corpse with her when she left the city, which would force Belkar to tag along, which Haley agrees with once she learned of Xykon's Cloister spell prevented her comrades from finding her, her original plan being to wait until the Order managed to locate her.

On the Road Again[]

Haley, along with Celia and Belkar, set out, away from Azure City. Celia put black eyeliner Xs on Haley and Belkar and put them in a cart with Roy, so they looked dead. She transformed herself into a necromancer to fool the hobgoblin guards.[15] After Belkar killed a guard, a feud begins between him and Celia. Celia can't stand killing things, while Belkar loves it. Haley, being caught in between, attempted to be the voice of reason. Later, when Belkar killed a gnome spice peddler,[16] just to take his donkey (and chocolate bar) Haley and Celia are both angered, although Celia takes it as an opportunity to insult Haley. Haley then muses whether praying to Roy (for the strength needed to not strangle Celia and Belkar) would offend the gods. They stopped at the Oracle of the Sunken Valley on their way to Cliffport. This plan is foiled by Belkar, who kills the Oracle after he [the Oracle] explains that Belkar managed to "cause the deaths" of Roy, Miko, and technically Windstriker. Haley is then forced to endure Belkar's Mark of Justice being set off, whereupon she is covered in excessive amounts of vomit. She attempts to expel Belkar from the Order of the Stick after this, but, as they leave the valley, she loses her memory of everything that happened while visiting the Oracle, including the Mark activating. As she, Celia and Belkar make their way to Cliffport, they stop one mile away from Greysky City, Haley's home town, which Haley strongly advises Celia not to go, knowing that the city is filled with dangerous criminals.

Return to Greysky City[]

OOTS0610

Haley gets a free haircut.

While Haley sleeps, Celia takes this advantage to sneak into Greysky City with the aim of getting Roy resurrected. Unfortunately, the "cleric" she took him to happened to be someone who created golems. Roy's skeleton was turned into a bone golem, and Celia was attacked. She, with the help of Haley and a delusional Belkar, managed to escape the castle. They hid out in Blind Old Pete's house, where she is spending the night, attempting to hide from a vengeful Thieves Guild, which she was once part of. Later on, Pete manages to contact them with a Cleric of Loki not in the pockets of the guild, but in truth he was planning to betray them to Bozzok so that the Church of Loki would restore his eyes. During the resulting battle, Haley was stabbed down by Bozzok.[6] Crystal then cut and collected Haley´s hair as a trophy[17] but was soon saved by Belkar, who recently had his Mark of Justice removed and whisked away by Celia. The two end up going to Pete's den to collect a new bow (Pete having once been one of the Guild's best snipers), with Haley picking one with an ice enchantment. Managing to defeat Bozzok and his minions, he is halted by Celia and a halfling guild member named Hank who have legally declared a truce. Hank states that the Guild spread rumors around town that Haley was infiltrating an adventuring party in a secret undercover mission rather than quit to save face and improving reputation (adventuring parties will be forced to get guild-approved Rogues to be sure that they aren't secretly assassins). With this logic, if Haley has never left the guild, then her theft of Grubwiggler was guild-approved and therefore would need to aid Haley with stealing Roy's body in order to keep up the illusion. Haley, however, was left with a serious problem: Since she "never left the Thieves' Guild," she retroactively owed them 50% of everything she'd stolen since leaving the Guild. Since she needed the money to pay her father's ransom, she ended up backstabbing the guild, killing Crystal and taking her knife and magical jewelry before leaving with the Order of the Stick for the Western Continent after recovering Roy's skeleton.

Blood Runs in the Family[]

Empire of Blood[]

The party reunited, Haley and the Order traveled by ship to the Western Continent, where they began their search for Girard's Gate. In Sandsedge, Haley searched for information regarding the whereabouts of her father, imprisoned in the nation of Tyrinaria, which had since been overrun and turned into the Empire of Blood.

Once the party failed to find the Gate at the location provided by the Sapphire Guard, instead finding a trap set by Girard Draketooth, they traveled to Bleedingham in hopes of finding Draketooths resupplying their base. Attempting to connect with the local Thieves Guild, Haley instead made contact with the Rouge's Guild, Aton, which sells her cosmetics. Leaving that place, she, Elan, and Vaarsuvius were ambushed by the bounty hunters Gannji and Enor. Haley escaped capture, but ultimately gave herself up in order to keep an eye on Elan and V, leaving Crystal's knife as a message to Roy.

Brought before a magistrate at the Palace of Blood, the case was elevated to the highest levels of the Empire of Blood's leadership. Haley, Elan, and V faced the Empress of Blood, Chancelor Kilkil, Malack, and ultimately General Tarquin, who was revealed to be Elan's father. After Tarquin pushed Haley out of a window, V saved her with their only featherfall spell. But once the familial relationship was established, Haley and company became the honored guests of Tarquin.

Haley's first act as guest was to have the palace stylist use magic to restore her hair (after a brief romp with Elan with extremely long hair). She and the others attended a state dinner with Tarquin where the meat of good monsters was served. Haley pretended to be a convert to the religion of Thor in order to explain her acquaintance with Durkon at the dinner. Then, while Elan was busy with Tarquin, she and Vaarsuvius helped a group of slaves escape from the palace to the mountains. Sadly those slaves were later rounded up and burned alive to spell the letters ELAN on the side of the mountain as a birthday present to Elan from Tarquin. Haley had tried to convince Elan that Tarquin was evil, but it was only then that Elan would realize the depths of his depravity.

Girard's Gate[]

Having learned the location of Girard's Gate from Tarquin, the party set out to the Windy Canyon. Haley was tasked with searching for traps at the entrance, but instead opted to use the dominated Yukyuk to do this for her, since her search skill is shamefully low for a rogue.

Haley helped fight Tarquin when the newly reformed Linear Guild attacked, though they were beat back into the pyramid. Inside Roy laid a trap for the Guild, the hook for which involved Tarquin's ability to snatch arrows out of the air. Haley fired an arrow at him down a long corridor, which he caught. But the arrow had been fitted with a Smokestick, which exploded, filling the corridor with smoke. This served as cover for the rest of the ambush, involving Durkon and a Holy Word spell, and Belkar.

With the Guild on the retreat and out of the pyramid, Haley had time to disarm most of the traps that guarded the passageway to the heart of the pyramid. The one she missed summoned a Hellhound, an event which precipitated the death of Durkon and his being raised as a vampire.

After Roy destroyed the Gate, the party found themselves in the blast crater of the pyramid, where Team Evil appeared and set a Silicon Elemental on them before leaving. Since the elemental had been instructed to kill the "human with the greatsword", and Roy was too valuable to lose, Haley took Roy's sword and bore the brunt of the elemental's attacks. With the addition of the vampire "Durkon" to the team, they were able to defeat the elemental, and Haley looted several wands, including a Fly wand, from Zz'dtri's corpse. However they quickly found themselves surrounded by Tarquin's army.

Haley was summoned with Elan to speak with Tarquin, since her romantic involvement with Elan makes her "part of the family". Thus she was not with Roy and Belkar when Tarquin ordered his army to slaughter them. However, she and Elan ultimately decided to wade into the fray, and once Vaarsuvius returned the Order was reunited, fleeing the army on Bloodfeast the Extreme-inator.

In the desert, Haley was incapacitated by Laurin Shattersmith when the Order faced elements of the Vector Legion. However, they were saved by the arrival of Julio Scoundrél, and Haley, flying through the use of her wand, escaped to the Mechane.

On board the Mechane, Tarquin was determined to teach Elan a lesson. When Haley intervened, he broke her arm. After a caster fight between V and Laurin, Tarquin was left hanging from the airship's rail. Haley, arm broken, used her foot and her good arm to fire a pair of arrows at Tarquin's eyes, which he snatched out of the air, but in doing so lost hold of the ship. This left Elan to decide his fate, and Tarquin was let go, falling to the ground and ruing the lack of a satisfying end to his plot arc.

Utterly Dwarfed[]

Tinkertown[]

On their way north to Kraagor's Gate, the Mechane stopped in Tinkertown for repairs. Haley was able to use her ungodly Bluff skill to talk the gnomes down from 200,000 gp to 43,000 gp for the repairs and fuel.

In the town, Haley went shopping and bought a number of wands, though the function of these wands has not been entirely revealed.

OOTS0971

Crystal returns.

Leaving the wand shop, Haley was ambushed by Crystal, who had been reconstructed into a flesh golem, though she retained her intelligence and abilities. Haley and Bandana found themselves unable to harm the Crystal-golem, and so fled, Haley using her wand of Fly. But Crystal began slaughtering the gnomes of Tinkertown, and forced her to reengage. After dropping a fortune at a weapon store to buy a couple of adamantine weapons, they are able to do some damage. But when the Department of Gnomeland Security gets involved, they super-charge Crystal with an electricity attack. Haley distracts Crystal and is ultimately able to convince her that Bozzok was her real enemy, and Crystal kills Bozzok, while Hieronymus Grubwiggler fled.

Finally, Haley tricks Crystal into walking on a garbage disposal platform which Bandana and the gnomes activate, causing Haley's nemesis to fall to her fiery death in the lava below. Haley, Elan, Bandana, and one of the DGS gnomes have brunch.

Utterly Dwarfed[]

During the events of the Godsmoot, Haley was playing Monopoly with Elan aboard the Mechane, largely unaware of the events inside.

When the Mechane was beset by a clan of frost giants while running through Passage Pass, Haley, in flight due to her wand and invisible due to a spell, joined Vaarsuvius in bringing the fight to the giants. Haley was able to effectively use her sneak attack ability to kill several frost giants. They were delayed by a group of frost giant clerics who purged her invisibility and dispelled both her and V's flight, during which time Andi mutinied and took the Mechane off course, abandoning V, Belkar, and her. While the Mechane was lost off the pass, they cleared the rest of the pass of the retreating giants before rejoining the airship by following its black smoke.

Haley entered Firmament with the party through the back door to the Temple of Thor. They ventured out into the tunnels and were surrounded by a large group of "Durkon"'s vampire spawn. She was ineffective in the combat as she had to keep her eyes closed to prevent being Dominated by the vampires. Second battle in Firmament be worse after initial success - Belkar, Elan and Haley Dominated by the vampires. Complete defeat was avoided only due to the cunning plan of Durkon. She was present with the rest of the Order of the stick at the resurrection of Durkon Thundershield, and fought outside the Council of Clans with the Nightcrawler summoned by Gontor Hammerfell.

Current Activities[]

Haley invisibly scouted ahead of the Mechane with Blackwing and V, returning with intelligence on the site including the disappearance of O-Chul and Lien.

Personality and Traits[]

Haley has described herself as "chaotic good-ish." Originally, Haley was depicted as the stereotypical rogue; greedy, always collecting treasure and always sneak-attacking. However, it was later revealed that her tendency to collect money was to pay off a ransom for her father, who was being held by Tarquin in the Empire of Blood. She is, however, still a bit greedy, offering to Belkar a hit with her Fly wand that concerns many economical principles. This is a trait carried on from her father.[18]

Haley can also be described as a loose "Robin Hood" sort of rogue. While staying in Bleedingham, Haley snuck out with Vaarsuvius to free slaves (although later on these same slaves were the ones burned alive to make a flaming sign for Elan). Her father, Ian Starshine, described the Thieves Guild under his leadership as a "steal from the rich, give 40% minus-compensation-costs to the poor" organization.

Haley was initially distrustful of others due to Ian Starshine raising her up to be paranoid. However, since her romantic relationship with Elan, she has grown more to trust others, and others began trusting her as a result, such as Roy, who was familiar with her exploitations. Haley also sees herself as unfit to be a leader, often blaming herself for the destruction of the Azurite Resistance, yet knows that she probably couldn't have stopped Redcloak from killing them. She has taken this so far that she baited herself instead of getting Roy possibly killed by the Silicon Elemental, saying that she didn't want to be stuck as leader again.

Haley occasionally sometimes have the personality of a typical teenage highschooler, despite the maturing events of being in the Order, this is probably because of having exposure to the Greysky City Thieves' Guild, where she met Crystal there and immediately making each other their nemeses. This is shown when Haley and Celia have a conversation about Haley's Boots of Speed.

In a conversation with Bandana in Tinkertown, it was implied that Haley could be bisexual. When Crystal shows up as a flesh golem, Bandana proceeds to ask Haley about their past, inquiring if Crystal is an old girlfriend. Haley proceeds to exclaim in disgust, followed by "I had much better taste in girls than her." There is also other evidence to support this claim, such as Haley's translated lines in comic 309, My Dinner with Elan. This is effectively confirmed in comic 382, Risk vs. Reward where Haley's self-loathing addresses Haley's "Latent Bisexuality".

Relationships[]

Family

Ian Starshine

Haley's relationship with her father is complicated. As he was the one that raised Haley to be paranoid, not trust anyone, don't open herself with others and don't tell others any information they could use against her. Haley now disagrees with that philosophy and has gradually shook it off as the comic strips continued, believing that it has screwed up her life a lot. Ian has shown little acceptance of her "dark goth" phase at age 15. Haley, with the Potion of Glibness that only works on things that aren't true, has told her father that he'd raise her well. Haley, during the comic, has come across as greedy. But the main reason was because she was paying a sum of 200,000 gold pieces for Ian's clemency in prison, and even after their argument in the Empire of Blood's jail, she still told Roy to get Ian out, whether he want's to or not. This shows that even with their different motives, Haley ultimately loves her dad, but is still annoyed with him to a degree.

When first entering Ian's cell block, she immediately recognizes her dad and hugs him. However, Haley is annoyed at him believing that she is the one manipulating the strings on the Order. Their relationship is further strained as Ian was willing to use Elan as hostage against Tarquin and believing that Elan was a spy on the Order and himself. However, when they ultimately depart after Tarquin has been shook off the Order, their relationship has become better, Haley fending off the (friendly) (former) bounty hunters Enor and Gannji and telling her dad to run. Ian also tells Haley to follow her own path and making him and her mother proud, which cause each other to hug.

Mia Starshine

Haley's exact relationship with her mother is unknown, but it seems to be good as Haley was shown crying when she died. She calls Mia "Mom" and seems to remember the scene of her death many years later. Haley angrily told her father that she's sure that "sitting in jail, letting the bugs eat him, will surely impress Mom." Haley's Self-Loathing mentioned her mom as one of the one's good and pure that eventually left her.

Geoff

Haley calls him by "Uncle Geoff". Haley seems to have a positive relationship with him, as seen when Haley offhandedly said thanks to him when he said that he'll keep an eye on Ian, but she mostly focused on her dad and dismissively told Roy to "keep an eye on Uncle Geoff and I'll talk to my dad". Geoff prepared to kill Elan when Ian told Haley that he was spying on them, saying that no one uses his niece like that. Haley also told Ian to tell Geoff to stay safe when they depart on the Mechane.

Sheila

Haley calls her "Cousin Sheila". Apparently she once framed Haley for murder.

Order of the Stick

Roy Greenhilt

Initially, Roy didn't trust Haley very much, not having trouble believing that she'd run off with the Order's riches while being on guard duty at night. Still, she remained a capable member of the Order and he trusted her ability to find traps, even if it occasionally led him in trouble in the Dungeon of Dorukan.

Over time, he began to trust her more especially after the events of the Battle of Azure City, following which Haley took it upon herself to safeguard Roy's body. On the Western Continent, she admitted to initially having ulterior motives to joining the Order, that being the rescue of her father Ian. Roy accepted it, telling her that back when they started that he would've worried about having her on the team if she had monetary motives, but now trusts her.

Haley is above losing her life for Roy instead of being stuck as leader again, and she follows Roy's orders when she mostly agrees with them, which is often the case.

Elan

Haley has shown signs of affection for Elan even during the early parts of the comic, like Dungeon Crawlin' Fools, however Elan has never noticed the signs. Her affection seems to not have started at the extremely early parts of the comics, as seen when Haley doesn't pick Elan to be on her split side of the team. However, the most noticeable sign in the first book is when Haley stopped Elan from touching the Gate by dropping on him, in which they stared at each other awkwardly and had a short, awkward conversation afterwards.[19] Other blatantly obvious signs, such as when Elan, telling Haley that he believes in her, causes her to be able to lockpick her prison cell,[20] and Haley dragging Elan for dinner.[21] Her love is truly confirmed when Haley trys to get up the nerve of saying "Elan, I'm in love with you.", but ultimately fails due to her speech condition. Haley, at the time of New Year, ultimately fails to kiss Elan and another girl kisses him.

However, Elan seems to have gotten a bit of the message, as seen when when Nale Elan was impersonating Elan and Elan was imprisoned as Nale, Elan's main reason for getting back to the Order was to warn Haley.[22] The reason why Haley got her speech back was Haley admitting that she was love with Elan and that she thought Nale was Elan. Later, when Nale was defeated again, Haley apologized for it, but Elan kissed her before she could fully apologize. They kissed as the camera panned up to the moon.

Since then, the pair has grown even closer with time. Their love has affected their decisions, most notably Elan rejecting Therkla as a girlfriend and Haley began to trust others more. Even when all contact with Azure City was lost due to Xykon's Cloister spell, he refused to give up on her and believed she was still alive. They occasionally made love in strange places, such as atop of a sand worm and an attempt during the siege of Azure City.

Vaarsuvius

Haley considers Vaarsuvius as more of a "lady friend", sharing a room together in a Inn and making conversation, and making V annoyed by acting she didn't acknowledge Blackwing. She also acknowledges V as one of the more stronger members of the Order. Haley was also initially the only member of the Order to know that V is married. They both also freed slaves together during their guest stay in the Empire of Blood. While the group was separated, V was obsessed with finding Haley, to the point of leaving their half of the Order. Haley was delighted to reunite with V and was concerned when believing V "turned evil".

Durkon Thundershield

Haley and Durkon had a positive relationship, and Durkon helped Haley through things many times. Durkon was the sole reason why Haley didn't leave the Order after Roy decide to leave with Miko Miyzaki to stand to court in Azure City.[23] Durkon also snapped Haley out of feeling sorry for herself after Roy died, which she remembered when the Order realized why Odin sent Durkon to the Order. Haley, with the others, was horrified and disheartened to learn of Durkon's death and vampirization. Haley however, sometimes get annoyed by his Lawful methods and actions.

Belkar Bitterleaf

Both her and Belkar are of the Chaotic sub-alignment, so at times she can condone his methods, but can be disgusted, horrified, angry, or maybe all three at some of his actions, such as when he killed the Oracle[24] and Solt Lorkyurg due to loose reasoning.[16] Haley contemplated strangling both him and Celia one time.[16] However, during the time the Order was split, Belkar, for most part, followed her leadership, but only when they benefited him.

Enemies

Bozzok

Bozzok felt betrayed when Haley, one of his best earners, leave, and tried to have her killed as such as everyone else who tried to leave the Guild. He was so dedicated to killing Haley, he had his entire Guild come and kill her once he knew of her location, and used Geoff Starshine to get some information on her location. Bozzok was ultimately killed by Crystal, who was convinced by Haley.

Crystal

When Haley's father first introduced them to each other, they immediately have a hatred to eachother. Crystal, being Haley's nemesis, gains a level every time Haley does. Haley constantly insults Crystal with her low Intelligence while Crystal constantly insults her back. Crystal also takes the time to taunt the unconscious Haley, taking her braid of hair as a trophy and cutting her hair shabbily and saying that she'd been wanting to kill Haley for 7 years. Haley later killed Crystal when she came out of the bathroom, taunting her before she fatally slashed her in the face.

When encountering each other at Tinkertown, Crystal had no concerns but to kill Haley, once luring her back down from flying due to Crystal killing gnomes. However, Haley convinced Crystal to kill Bozzok instead, yet Crystal still wanted to kill Haley but was more passive. After learning that Crystal wasn't gonna change and was gonna keep killing gnomes, Haley was a bit horrified, but kept it hidden with a blank face. So then Haley walked her over to a hidden lava pit and killed her.

Tarquin

Through Tarquin's charming facade, Haley was suspicious of Tarquin from the start, believing that the Empire's country is awful and that his fingerprints are all over it. She was horrified to learn about the slaves she freed being set aflame and promises to make him pay for that, and described Tarquin as "an unrepentant murderer" but she also describes him as a long-term problem.

Others

Celia

Haley and Celia treats each other as teenage friends. When they were waiting for Old Blind Pete to get back with a cleric, they braided each others hair, and once they talked to each other at night about Haley's lime Boots of Speed. However, Haley is annoyed at Celia's lawful methods and personality and frequently gets agitated over Celia's lack of knowledge of humans. When Celia asked her to dismiss her, Haley offhandedly 'dismissed' Celia as "an annoying twit who doesn't know as much as she does", and after she realized her mistake, amusingly addressed that she meant dismissing the summoning.[25]

Powers and Abilities[]

  • Rogue Abilities: As a rogue, Haley has access to the following abilities:
    • Sneak Attack: As a Rogue, Haley can perform Sneak Attacks, though due to being an archer she is often out of range to use them.
    • Trapfinding: Haley can use the Search skill to locate traps when the task has a Difficulty Class higher than 20, and can disarm them.
    • Evasion: Haley can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If she makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. 
    • Charisma: Haley is gifted with unordinary charisma, and was capable of entering the Azure City War Council without an invitation with her maxed Bluff. Combined with Elan's potion of Glibness, she was able to convince soldiers of the Empire of Blood of practically anything, including making one of them think they were actually a polymorphed yellow-footed rock wallaby. Furthermore, in Tinkertown she managed to reduce the price for week-long repairs of the Mechane from over 200,000 gp before refueling to 43,000 gp including refueling, with the ship ready the next morning, along with a 25% coupon on potions and four free passes to brunch.
    • Stealth: Haley herself has said that Hide is her best skill.[3]
    • High Dexterity: Haley has a naturally high Dexterity stat, and was mentioned to have a modifier of +5 around the time they were imprisoned in Azure City.
  • Master Marksman: Haley is a highly skilled archer, capable of many ranged feats from firing two arrows at once to shooting accurately from further distances than normal. Furthermore, despite having a broken arm at the time she was still able to accurately fire two arrows at General Tarquin's eyes when he boarded the Mechane, using her foot and her unbroken arm.
  • Greysky City Experience: Being raised in Greysky City and being part of the Thieves' Guild there, Haley can recognize cons and thieves. A notable example was when Haley recognized the "shell game" Xykon was using,[13] and when she stopped kids from stealing Durkon's money pouch and instead stole their bags.[26]
    • Lie Detection: Haley apparently can usually tell when someone is lying by looking at their eyes.[27]

Equipment and Weapons[]

  • Longbow: As an archer, Haley uses a longbow in combat. Though her original bow was snapped in half by Crystal in the Ambush at Old Blind Pete's House, she has since replaced it with a +5 Icy Burst longbow from Pete's den.
  • Bags of Holding: Haley possesses seven or eight magical Bags of Holding, which hold far more than their size at a lower weight. They are mostly filled with treasure, but also her other equipment. She had eight, but dropped a bag at Eartha and Ferdinand's weapon shop. It's not clear that that was a bag of holding though; it might have just been a normal sack of treasure.
  • Boots of Speed: Prior to entering the Dungeon of Dorukan, Haley had been in possession of a pair of Boots of Speed which while powerful were, to her dismay, lime green. She has since had them dyed brown while shopping for armor in the town of Sandsedge. They still glow lime green when their magic is activated.
  • Magic Leather Armor: Haley also bought a suit of magic leather armor
  • Wands: Haley has gained possession of at least ten wands, three of them looted off Zz'dtri's body and the others being bought in Tinkertown. Those that have been identified are those of Invisibility, Obscuring Mist, Fly and Magic Missile.
  • +5 Air Freshener of Pineness: Haley and the Azurite Resistance went on a mission to recover this item to cover the smell of Roy's rotting corpse.
  • Crystal's +4 Knife: Taken by Haley when she first killed Crystal, she occasionally used it for Sneak Attacks and such. It was later forcefully taken back by Crystal as a flesh golem in Tinkertown, and it was broken when her knife clashed with Bozzok's sword.
  • Adamantine Dagger: Bought from Ferdinand and Eartha in a rush so she could damage Crystal, she used this weapon again to sneak attack Roy in Firmament.[28]
  • Potions: Haley apparently purchased one or more "basic potions" from O'aka XXIII.[29]
  • Haley also possesses: two gemstones from her mother's family, a towel, a hair dryer, rope, many items of clothing, a bedroll, a bag of copper pieces, a trowel, a metal detector, Bleedingham papers, 4 or more quivers of green arrows, as well as silver and cold iron arrows, three potions, and thief's tools.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Haley is approximately 25 years old[30], as she was 24 in Running on Empty[31], shortly before travelling to Azure City, and a year passed following the Battle of Azure City.[32]
  • She has a heart and arrow tattoo on her back.[33] Before it is seen, it was probably referred to in Comic 309.
  • Haley has kissed a girl more than once.[34] Although it wasn't Crystal.[35]
  • Haley cheats at Solitaire.[34]
  • She is one of 2 characters outside of the Greenhilt Family to have met Eugene Greenhilt's ghost face-to-face. This is due to a number of restrictions placed on the Greenhilt Sword, one of which that prevents Eugene from appearing to Roy unless he is alone or while the people around him are incapacitated.[36] However, he was able to skirt around these restrictions when he hijacked Tony the Celestial's summoning to Azure City. The other character is Shojo.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "On the Origin of PCs"
  2. Comic 93, "Teenage Wasteland"
  3. 3.0 3.1 Comic 311, "Internal Dialogue"
  4. Comic 608, "Mean Girls"
  5. Comic 131, "Money Makes the World Go Round"
  6. 6.0 6.1 Comic 609, "It Takes TWO Thieves, Actually"
  7. Comic 247, "It's Just Aphasia She's Going Through"
  8. Comic 393, "Truth"
  9. Comic 331, "For the Future"
  10. Comic 386, "Not How She Pictured It, Certainly"
  11. Comic 400, "Your Ship Has Come In"
  12. Comic 417,"The Most Important Place to Be"
  13. 13.0 13.1 Comic 428, "It Takes a Thief"
  14. Comic 470, "With Three Arrows Left in the Quiver"
  15. Comic 538, "Fiend or Foe?"
  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 Comic 539, "Well There is That "Saint" Prestige Class"
  17. Comic 610, "You're It"
  18. Comic 798, "Change of Plans"
  19. Comic 109, "Tensions Rise"
  20. Comic 262, "All You Need is Love and Improvised Thieves' Tools"
  21. Comic 307, "Take the Problem By the Hand"
  22. Comic 367, "Innocent Man"
  23. Comic 205, "A Is Always A"
  24. Comic 568, "A Sign That You Have a Problem"
  25. Comic 671, "Also, She Needs Her Clothes Back Now"
  26. Comic 673, "Too Slow"
  27. Comic 603, "Familiarity Breeds Piercing Damage"
  28. Comic 1127, "Windfall"
  29. Comic 1202, "Cloud Commuting"
  30. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=12254291&postcount=24
  31. Comic 168, "Running on Empty"
  32. Comic 702, "One for the History Books"
  33. Comic 468, "Splitting Up is Hard to Do"
  34. 34.0 34.1 Comic 309, "My Dinner with Elan"
  35. Comic 972, "She Might Even Be a Bit Ahead"
  36. Comic 1046, "Literally Heartless"
The Starshine Family
Ian StarshineMia StarshineHaley StarshineIvyGeoffJiminySheila
The Order of the Stick
Roy GreenhiltHaley StarshineDurkon ThundershieldElanVaarsuviusBelkar BitterleafMinrah Shaleshoe
Appearances
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 49, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 75, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 93, 94, 98, 99, 100, 104, 108, 109, 110, 113, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 128, 129, 130, 131, 139, 141, 143, 144, 146, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 177, 178, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 187, 188, 198, 200, 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 212, 214, 217, 218, 222, 223, 224, 225, 227, 231, 236, 237, 239, 240, 242, 243, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 260, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 269, 275, 277, 278, 283, 284, 285, 288, 289, 290, 291, 293, 294, 296, 298, 303, 307, 309, 311, 314, 316, 318, 319, 320, 321, 324, 325, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 333, 334, 338, 340, 341, 346, 351, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 366, 377, 378, 380, 381, 382, 384, 385, 386, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 412, 413, 417, 421, 424, 425, 426, 428, 429, 438, 439, 444, 445, 454, 455, 461, 463, 467, 468, 469, 470, 474, 475, 476, 477, 478, 483, 484, 511, 512, 513, 514, 517, 518, 519, 520, 521, 522, 523, 524, 526, 527, 528, 529, 530, 531, 532, 533, 535, 537, 538, 539, 540, 563, 564, 565, 566, 567, 568, 569, 570, 573, 577, 578, 579, 580, 581, 601, 602, 603, 604, 607, 608, 609, 610, 613, 614, 615, 618, 619, 620, 621, 622, 645, 646, 647, 648, 649, 650, 663, 664, 665, 666, 670, 671, 672, 673, 674, 675, 680, 681, 682, 683, 684, 685, 686, 688, 689, 690, 691, 692, 693, 694, 695, 696, 697, 698, 711, 712, 713, 714, 715, 716, 717, 718, 719, 720, 721, 722, 726, 727, 739, 740, 741, 742, 743, 744, 747, 749, 750, 752, 754, 755, 756, 759, 764, 765, 766, 767, 768, 769, 770, 771, 772, 773, 774, 775, 776, 780, 781, 783, 784, 785, 788, 789, 790, 793, 794, 800, 805, 806, 810, 812, 815, 816, 817, 818, 834, 836, 837, 838, 839, 840, 841, 842, 843, 844, 845, 846, 847, 848, 849, 850, 851, 853, 855, 858, 860, 861, 863, 864, 865, 867, 880, 881, 885, 886, 887, 888, 889, 890, 891, 892, 893, 895, 896, 897, 898, 900, 901, 902, 904, 905, 909, 910, 911, 912, 913, 914, 915, 916, 917, 918, 921, 923, 925, 926, 927, 928, 930, 932, 933, 934, 935, 936, 937, 938, 939, 940, 941, 942, 943, 946, 949, 950, 951, 956, 959, 964, 965, 966, 968, 970, 971, 972, 973, 974, 975, 976, 977, 978, 979, 980, 981, 988, 993, 1012, 1027, 1028, 1029, 1030, 1044, 1046, 1050, 1051, 1052, 1054, 1055, 1056, 1057, 1058, 1059, 1068, 1077, 1080, 1091, 1092, 1093, 1094, 1095, 1096, 1097, 1098, 1099, 1100, 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104, 1105, 1106, 1107, 1108, 1109, 1110, 1113, 1115, 1116, 1117, 1118, 1119, 1122, 1123, 1127, 1128, 1129, 1149, 1150, 1151, 1152, 1153, 1154, 1159, 1160, 1161, 1163, 1165, 1166, 1175, 1185, 1186, 1187, 1188, 1196, 1197, 1198, 1199, 1201, 1202, 1203, 1204, 1218, 1219, 1220, 1221, 1223, 1224, 1230, 1233, 1234, 1235, 1236, 1237, 1238, 1239, 1240, 1241, 1242, 1243, 1244, 1245, 1246, 1247, 1248, 1249, 1250, 1251, 1252, 1253, 1254, 1255, 1256, 1257, 1258, 1259, 1268, 1269, 1270, 1271, 1277, 1278, 1279, 1280, 1281, 1282, 1283, 1284, 1286, 1287, 1288, 1289, 1290, 1291, 1292, 1293, 1294, 1295, 1296, 1298, 1299
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