myrkulsapxstle

[myrkulsapxstle]

good afternoon gang

ketheric and melodia are odysseus and penelope coded

i said what i said

[myrkulsapxstle]

hi gang i currently don’t have power because of a gnarly thunderstorm that rolled through here last night — we’re all good, but i can’t get on my pc LMAO

so if i’m a bit quiet on here today that’s why - catch me on discord though 🤙

[myrkulsapxstle]

He doesn't want to believe it at first.

Just as Myrkul had promised.

His daughter. Darling Isobel.

Ketheric crossed the room quickly as the coughs tore their way out of her still adjusting body - bringing a lantern along with him and setting down at the foot of the tomb.

The light of it glinted against the Reaper's Embrace and the gold filigree stitched into the black cape that hung at his shoulders.

"Be still, moonbeam," He held out an armored hand, palm out, "You're safe. It's alright. You've awoken from a very long and very terrible dream."

He only let her shiver a moment more before removing the cape from his armor - helping Isobel to sit up, and then draping it about her shoulders.

"But you're awake now. And nothing will hurt you ever again."

starter for @myrkulsapxstle

...it's so cold.

She's almost shivering as she comes to, eyes blinking slowly, while her body instinctively curls up. Gods, she feels stiff... Is she lying on the ground? That could have something to do with it. But no, it becomes apparent to Isobel that she's laying between stone walls.

A tomb, unbeknownst to her.

Sitting up slowly, a violent cough rips its way out of her throat. And then another. And then it's a whole fit.

Cold. Tired. Pained. Something feels wrong.

And where in the Hells is she...?

Squinting through the dust and dim candlelight, there's indeed someone standing across the room. Eyes widen, and Isobel shrinks into the corner of the tomb. She wills her voice, as raw and unused as it is, to project outwards.

"Who goes there...?"

[myrkulsapxstle]

some of you may ask. why a companion verse

and i answer

i was an undertale kid who cried over the ending of the pacifist route.

and i feel like that explains everything you need to know.

[myrkulsapxstle]

"I've seen goblins more strategic than that," Ketheric bit back, now intimately familiar with how nonstrategic goblins tended to be, "But. Yes. We survived. The bar has been crossed, even if it is buried in the Hells."

Now march.

Ketheric did as he was told - but not before griping, "Do you truly believe that Lady Tymora favors this band of misfits? Or are you just trying to convince yourself into thinking she does?"

A nightmare indeed - one the General was quite happy was over and done with. But something stirred in his gut. Something like... gratitude?

No, that wasn't right. It had been humiliating. Being yanked out of a river by a crocodilian Harper and chucked onto shore like a piece of scrap metal.

And yet... she could have very well left him to drown. Swam out of the nightmare all on her own - unburdened by him and his heavy armor. He would have accepted that fate, even.

"....It is... appreciated," He coughed out finally, "Your rescue."

He removed his metal gauntlets to drain out water and sewer debris that had gotten caught in them as they walked -- more intently focused on that presumably, then he was with looking at the Harper as he spoke.

"Though I suppose having to explain to the corpse at camp that his hard work had gone to waste was a worse prospect than simply hauling me out of the water."

A joke? Perhaps? Who was he?

Jaheira straightened her posture so fast she nearly pulled something. Gods forbid Ketheric ever figured out how she’d managed to bring him back. Luckily, he looked too dazed from his near-demise to notice the finer details — or the mud now streaked up her arms like war paint. Even luckier, he wasn’t staring at her face, which was currently trying to disguise the sheer panic she just went into mere moments ago.

"I’d call it a good strategic retreat," she said, words tumbling out with the conviction of someone selling snake oil. Okay, good might’ve been pushing it. “Well, we survived,” she corrected, the sigh that followed so heavy it could’ve doubled as a summoning spell for exhaustion.

She rubbed a hand over her face, only succeeding in smearing the mud further. “Next time, I’m shifting into a crocodile before we get in over our heads.” She froze for a beat, the absurdity of her own words catching up to her. “Next time? Gods above, someone tie me to a tree if I even think of agreeing to this madness again.”

This wasn’t her first absurd escapade. Oh no, not by a long shot. Nor was it her second. In fact, Jaheira had lost count somewhere after the fiftieth life-or-death fiasco that had become her Harper existence. Her entire career was practically a string of near-death experiences duct-taped together by sheer stubbornness, divine intervention, and an arsenal of very unconventional escape tactics. Honestly, the gods probably had a betting pool on her survival at this point.

She got up to her feet with an almost comedic groan, and a barely audible crack of her knees. “Right,” she muttered, brushing semi-dry mud off her arms, “time to move. The others might’ve actually been blessed with some luck — not being trapped up to their necks in those blasted sewers. Ugh. What a nightmare.” She squinted as she began to climb the riverbank towards Rivington above. “Though I’m sure they’ve had their own fun. Now march.”

[myrkulsapxstle]

𝖘𝖍𝖊 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘 𝖙𝖔 𝖚𝖘. 𝖕𝖗𝖔𝖙𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖘 𝖚𝖘. 𝖌𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖊𝖘 𝖚𝖘 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖍𝖊𝖗 𝖇𝖑𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖌. ind kar'niss of baldur's gate iii. penned by julian. kar'niss screencaps by vancunin.

[myrkulsapxstle]

So no car but

I got.... a diploma cover!!!

That will have a diploma in it in 3-4 weeks LMAO

I've officially got my degree in Pro Gamer :]

[myrkulsapxstle]

hey there!! remember how i said i was back and then i wasn't?

that was cool wasn't it lol

here's what's been happening though:

i graduate with my bachelor's in game & interactive media design on saturday ( yippee! ).

i may ( or may not be, we'll see ) winning a new car bc of a contest my uni runs for graduates. pls manifest for me lmao.

i was finishing up my capstone project @survivors-hope ( y'all should go check it out :] ).

so i might be sporadic for a bit still, but i appreciate y'all's patience!! <333

[myrkulsapxstle]

hi i'm back

[myrkulsapxstle]

"For now?" Ketheric repeated the phrase as a question, raising an eyebrow at Orin as he sat across from her, "And what about later?"

"We need these people alive, Orin. Whether we like or not. They are our one path to stopping the Brain, and to stopping Gortash and his Watchers. You must find entertainment elsewhere."

He hummed, looking back out at the camp after opening the flap of his tent briefly, "There are plenty of cultists to be eliminated still. Plenty of blood to spill."

"And you," The General looked over the Changeling, "While you may not hold any gifts from Him anymore - you still hold plenty of power on your own, Orin. They will accept your help, if you are willing to offer it."

Amusement and a smug satisfaction rolls off of Orin in waves, the grin upon her lips proving as much. That is what he gets for trying to haul her off like she's some kind of toddler!

"Yes." Orin answers, satisfied for now. But the question is, how long will she be content? She has to find her entertainment in this boring camp somehow. "For now."

[myrkulsapxstle]

hi gang if i disappear off the face of the earth for a bit

this is why

[myrkulsapxstle]

▋ [ketheric vc] Well well well , @myrkulsapxstle

[myrkulsapxstle]

every time someone draws ketheric with a cape an angel gets its wings send post

[myrkulsapxstle]

via @shadowkira

original post.

[myrkulsapxstle]

@zalimbane @ban1te

im sorry

[myrkulsapxstle]

"I know when I am a puppet, Tiefling. I was a puppet to Myrkul, perhaps -- but not to Gortash. He may have thought himself my Lord, but I have seen many like him before. The ground will crumble underneath him soon enough."

Ketheric growled as he reached for his warhammer - eyeing up Karlach's axe and trying to decide if he could survive this or not.

Probably.

If Karlach came back without him -- she would be in for a hell of an earful from Tav, anyhow.

So that was probably enough to save him. Still, he held the golden hammer in his two hands, meeting Karlach's cold stare as he spoke.

"My army will march to Baldur's Gate under the command of the Absolute. The Brain. Gortash will play the city's savior - its defender - as Orin causes chaos from within," He huffed, "I was the villain to Gortash's hero. The fearsome General come to take the city into his undead grasp."

"I'm sure he'll find it plenty amusing when his perfect villain strolls into the city, without an army, with the enemy at his side."

If he wasn't proud of it, why would he cause it in the first place? If not proud, then certainly complacent. Karlach wasn't sure which was worse.

If it weren't for the fact Tav had asked Karlach to stand down and that information could still be useful from Ketheric. An insider to the plans of what the brain would be used for on a grand scale was more than useful. She knew that deep down. She had interrogated such people in Avernus - to find out what the enemy armies were up to. The same applied here and yet this felt...dirtier. Trusting an edict of Myrkul seemed suicidal.

Hearing Ketheric state his position supposedly beside Gortash made her burst into cruel laughter as she tossed back down a useless vase, letting it shatter back inside the crate.

"Worked with him?! You don't work with Gortash - there's no such thing with that bastard! You are just as much a puppet on his fucking strings as everyone else in his Gods damned plan!" Karlach then raised her axe menacingly as she turned back around to face him. The curse may have been ebbing away, but the darkest thing in these lands were currently in Karlach's eyes.

"Tell me what he's plotting. Now." She growled viciously.

[myrkulsapxstle]

> Melodia is waiting for you in the afterlife. Return to Selûne, and your souls will be reunited. I wish it could be so. I do. But the Moonmaiden did not intervene when my life was dismantled piece by piece. And when I tried to buy it back, it cost me everything - everything.