Astrid Beck

 was a student of Trent Ikithon alongside Eodwulf and Caleb Widogast. As an NPC, Astrid is played by Matthew Mercer.

Appearance
Caleb originally described Astrid as she was when she was eighteen years old, because that was the last time he had seen her. She was short, about 5'3", with short dark brown hair abut four to five inches long, and brown eyes. She had scars on her arms similar to his. She was slight, with attractive but severe features. When Jester asked Caleb if she was pretty, he answered that she was "handsome".

In her mid-thirties, Astrid has dirty blond hair, extremely short in the back but long and side-combed in the front, framing the right side of her face to just past the chin. She has a scar running down her face from the top of one brow to the bottom of her chin, a burn scar on her neck, and a hard look in her eyes. She has black maze-like tattoos on her arms.

Caleb explains to Beau and Nott that as a teenager he entered the tutelage of Trent Ikithon alongside two of his peers from the town of Blumenthal, a boy named Eodwulf and a girl named Astrid. Ikithon proceeded to teach them magic and instill into them a deep loyalty to the Empire, eventually using them to execute captured traitors.

One night, after implanting memories of their parents betraying the empire, Ikithon instructed the three students to murder their parents. After waiting outside Eodwulf's house as he killed his parents, the group had dinner with Astrid's parents, whom she killed by poisoning their food. She was present for Caleb setting his parents' house on fire, though her fate after his breakdown is unknown.

After participating in the eponymous Hour of Honor, Jester invites a drunk Caleb to waltz with her. As they dance, Caleb calls Jester "Astrid" and admits she was always better at waltzing than him. He realizes his mistake and starts to walk off, but Jester grabs him and leads him safely to his room. As Jester tucks Caleb in, she reassures him that Astrid loves him, despite not knowing who she is.

Without Caleb's knowledge or consent, Nott had Jester forge a letter to the Soltryce Academy, claiming to be a "Mrs. Lavorre, Esq." of "Nott & Brave" law firm, seeking the whereabouts of a former student named Astrid. As Mrs. Lavorre, Esq., Nott and Jester claimed to be the executor of the estate of Astrid's uncle "Leonard Hyphen-Leonard" from the town of "Nigeria". They asked the Academy to please send Astrid's contact information to the Pillow Trove Hotel in Zadash, so Astrid could receive the vast sums of money she had inherited. Nott thought that Astrid had been Caleb's girlfriend, and she would be someone who would remind Caleb of happier times.

Jester asked Caleb if Astrid had been his girlfriend, which he confirmed. However, he claimed not to have much experience with ambiguous romantic signals.

While they are alone together investigating the tunnels and caverns under the well in Asarius, Nott tells Caleb that a while back, she wrote a letter to Astrid. She says that, in retrospect, she thinks it was a mistake, but she was hoping to reconnect him to someone from his past. Caleb, at that moment under a succubus's charm, seems slightly stunned but says they will have this discussion later.

While settling into the Xhorhaus, Caleb asks Nott about the letter to Astrid. Nott says she now feels extremely guilty, but that at the time, she thought she was being helpful by trying to get Caleb some sort of connection with his past, and that she thought he had fond memories of Astrid. Nott calls in Jester, and together they piece together that they gave the Pillow Trove as a return address, so Jester uses Sending to contact the Pillow Trove. There is an official-looking letter from the Soltryce Academy waiting there for her, presumably a response. Since they used the name "Lavorre", Caleb is worried for Jester's mother. Jester asks Caleb if he likes Astrid, and he says he did, but it was a long time ago.

On their return to Rosohna from Bazzoxan, the party learns that the Dynasty has captured one of the Scourgers sent to the capital on an assassination mission. Learning that she is a human woman, Caleb is allowed to interrogate her. She is chained in her cell, with hair covering her face, and reluctant to either answer him or look up. Finally, he asks, "Astrid?" and she responds. When she eventually looks up, he sees to his relief that it is not Astrid.

The captured Scourger confirms that Astrid (and Eodwulf) are still alive. When the party is trying to decide who to attempt to scry on and Nott suggests Astrid, Caleb comments that it probably wouldn't work, but he would be curious to see. Caleb uses Seeming to change the appearances of multiple party members to potential Scrying targets, and changes Beauregard to look like his memory of Astrid from when he was 17 and she 18. While they are still under Seeming, Caleb occasionally just stares at Astrid for stretches of time before shaking out of it, multiple times.

Caleb goes to 31st Woadstone Manor, Astrid's home, on the grounds of Trent Ikithon's tower in the Candles. He asks for her using his birth name, Bren Aldric Ermendrud, and is admitted by her servant. When she appears, she has two scars that are new since he saw her last: one down her face from brow to chin, and one from a burn on her neck. Her arms bear the same black maze-like tattoos as the halfling Scourger guarding the dodecahedron at the Sanatorium.

She says that Bren had a breaking point and began to lash out, implying the burn on her neck was caused by him. They took him to the Sanatorium, but had to subdue him first. They always hoped he'd improve, and at times he did. Now, he's defied their expectations. Right now, she's doing "a bit of tutelage," and what they were meant to do, keeping their people safe. She seems genuinely mournful for Bren's pain and suffering, but accepts that life is suffering and some things are necessary. While understanding Bren's anger, she is pragmatic enough to realize that Trent is an old man who will one day die.

Relationships
Astrid had been friends with Caleb and Eodwulf during their tutelage under Trent Ikithon. She also had a romantic relationship with Caleb, though the duration and seriousness of this relationship is unclear. Her only known family was her parents whom she killed via poison.

Home
Astrid now lives at 31st Woadstone Manor, a modest one-and-a-half story home on the grounds of Trent Ikithon's tower in the Candles. She has a male halfing servant.

Quotations

 * “To be gifted in a world filled with hardship like this is to do things we’re not proud of, and to question the choices we make, and to regret things we wish we could change. Do I agree with everything that I’ve been asked to do? No. Do I think about it? Do I lament? Do I see the faces of the people I’ve watched expire at my own hand? All the time. But I also know the reason that we get to sleep every night in a comfortable inn bed or in a manor has to do with the many families and children, just like we were, just like the families we once had, that don’t have to make the choices we did. They still get to live happily and comfortably, because the few, the chosen few, made the hard choice, and do what few have the will to do.”

Trivia

 * On the Talks Machina after, Liam and Sam speculated that at this point Astrid is probably either "a super bad guy" or "super dead".
 * In the fourth episode of Narrative Telephone (Widogast's Web of Words), Liam's story was a metaphoric representation of Caleb, Astrid, and Eodwulf. Astrid herself was represented by the second child, who had an eye removed so that she could no longer see true.