#(and being so high above everyone meant that enemies had disadvantage on hitting them as they was usually out of attack range.)

[nagalias-mindscape]

Sis: Go make your dnd character in Baldur's Gate or something.

Me: The harengon, or the tiefling? or my retired aarakocra?

Sis: Tiefling, dumbass. I want to see what you can do with that.

Me: I'm not going to make a new character just to roleplay a character I can't do correctly. My only bard- who happens to be a tiefling- is the dark urge, which is far darker than Medli is actually is, no matter the airs she puts on. Also, Med's perma blind. Can't do that to my BG3 character.

Sis: Not without mods, you can't. Bet you someone's already come out for something like that.

Me: Get me the mods required and I'll do the damn thing, bitch. I'll even romance and ascend the damn vampire for you.

[dreamer213]

Broken machines: Lights the dark

Chapter 2 Beautiful Night

In dark quiet room a young man sits atop his bed waiting. The room itself is opulent and pristine, a queen size bed with silk sheets, oak wood floor, a gorgeous antique armoire full of designer clothing, a full length mirror, silver trend curtains, an ornately detailed desk, bookshelf filled with materials on business, culture, and the arts and even a bath en-suite. Truly a scene ripped straight from a magazine with it’s presentation and uniform coloring. Nothing but dark blues, grays, and whites as far as the eye could see, it gives off a very chic and vintage feel but such a cold color scheme leaves little room for light to enter. With darkness of night sky peeking through the window It is as though the room itself becomes like snow, beautiful and magnificent in appearance but cold and devoid of life. The same can be said for the boy, smooth white hair set neat and tidy in a simple but elegant cut, a long and slender figure with good posture and a gorgeous face with high cheek bones, full lips, a perfect jaw line, long lashes, and beautiful deep blue eyes. But behind those beautiful eyes lays a cold and empty stare, no youthful joy or warmth to speak of, just the cold stare of empty soul. If not for his breathing and movements he could be mistaken for a porcelain doll, left in it’s display never to be moved or play with but to be held up and admired. But that is not important right now. No, what matters right now is if Weiss’s found the back doors they left open for her and made her escape yet.

It’s been a while she should be long gone by now, if she hasn’t left yet it won’t be long before Father finds her then Gods know what he’ll will do. I mean getting caught trying to escape the city after nearly killing a defenseless woman at a public event over some unkind remarks. Cleaning up this mess is going to be hell on its own but if Father finds her trying to run away He’ll-

Whitley tenses up and grips his biceps through his sleeves, there’s a dazed look in his eyes. He closes his eyes, takes some deep breath, and calms himself.

No, I can’t think like that now. I have to believe that she followed through, that she ran away pre her usually sanctimonious behavior. I mean what did she think she was going to achieve by acting like that. Did she think that was going to change their minds? Did she really think that screaming like a child and losing control of her powers was going to do anything but cause chaos. If General Ironwood hadn’t been there we all could been killed by that monster. But no, even after fighting Grimm and seeing how terrifying they are first hand, she still never once gave a thought to what the consequences of her actions would be for anyone but herself. But then again that just might be who she is now. Doesn’t matter if she to her if she’s right or wrong, if she feels attacked she’ll just lash out either physical or verbal. With all her talk of restoring our family name I never thought she would do something like this. I never thought she would go this far but then again I never thought she’d treat me like an enemy. I try my best to engage with her whenever I could and she accuses me of wanting to her get disinherited and acts like I’ve stolen her role away from her. Really? She thought I would want the life both she and Winter ran away from the first chance they could. Seriously? What do I gain from her failure, living at home with a drunk for mother, a tyrant father, and a staff of people traumatized from working with them. Having my every move monitored and commanded by a man who cares more about money than human life. The enormous amount of work that comes with preparing to take over a company of such great magnitude and whatever grunt work Father doesn’t feel like doing. OH! Let’s not forget the fact that you’ll never truly be in charge as Father will surely keep you trapped under his heel until the day he dies! A life as puppet to a man whose dragged our family name through the dirt trapped in a house colder than the coldest of blizzard. Yes Weiss, I so desperately wanted you to run away to live your dreams so I could live your nightmare.

“WHERE IS SHE!!!” “WHERE DID THAT WORTHLESS BRAT GO!”

Whitley hears his father screaming down the hall, the screaming continues for almost an hour until it’s becomes clear that Weiss has escaped. For moment everything’s quite as though the entire manor has become frozen in time. But not long after the silence there’s a crash then another and another. The commotion grows louder and louder with every passing second until the shirks of manor staff become just loud as the havoc Jacques Schnee is wreaking.

Whitley: Looks like it’s time to clean up the mess.

Whitley gets up and walks out of his room towards the commotion. As he gets closer and closer as follows his father’s path of destruction. Broken glass, fallen paintings, and décor pieces smashed and scattered across the floor the halls are in shambles. When he finally reaches his father the situation is much worse than he expected. Jacques has completely lost his composure, he’s throwing things, screaming wildly, his face is beet red and his eyes are bulging. The servants are trying their best to calm down while trying to avoid getting hit. They try and try but nothing they do seems to calms him. As this struggle continues Whitley approaches them, he quietly walks up behind them. He stands there waiting for an opportunity to grab his father’s attention.

Jacques: AFTER EVERYTHING I’VE DONE FOR THAT UNGRATEFUL BITCH SHE DARED TO DEFY ME LIKE THIS!

Whitley: Father please, you need to calm down the stress isn’t good for—

Before he can get another word out an object goes flying past Whitley’s head. It was a small antique clock a gift from a business associate. His father Jacques Schnee, who was now facing him, had thrown it within an inch of his own son’s head. Jacques stalks over towards Whitley, getting closer and closer until he is standing over his son and stares directly into his eyes.

Jacques: What did you say?

Whitley: Stay calm, stay focused, you have to see this to an end before things get worse. I said you should calm down you shouldn’t be stressing yourself over such a minor issue. It’s not good for your health.

Jacques: And do tell me Whitley, how is your sister running away a “minor issue”.

Whitley: Well she’s already been disinherited and made a public spectacle of herself, there’s no real need for her to be at the manor anymore. That and when people ask about her and how she was punished you can say she was kick out and thrown to the streets for her awful behavior. For most that were present at that party the very idea of being cut off is the stuff of nightmares, hearing that the heiress to Schnee dust fortune got herself thrown out for her reckless mistakes should help calm the ruckus Weiss created.

For a moment everyone pauses, they hold their breath waiting for the elder Schnee’s reaction. After what feels like hours Jacques puts his hand above Whitley’s head. He brings it down and begins to slow pat his son’s head.

Jacques: Good job Whitley, you always have your mind in the right place when I need you to.

Whitley: Of course Father, I’m always thinking of what’s best for the Schnee legacy.

Jacques: Good, now then get this mess cleaned up I need to go have a talk with Klein. I just know that dog had a hand in this.

Whitley: Yes Father, I’ll have the staff get this up right away.

Jacques gives an approving nod then walks away. As soon as his step can no longer be heard and he is out of earshot the servants all breathe a sigh of relief and start cleaning up. Whitley walks down the hall, searching for someone. After roughly half an hour up and down the second floor Whitley finally finds the person he’s been looking for, Mary Shellor.

Mary Shellor has been working at the Schnee Manor for several years. When she first arrived no one expected her to last very long but to their surprise she acclimated to the environment rather quickly. She was also a very diligent worker, never making a mistake more then once. And because of her skill, not long after her hiring Mary was promoted to one of the most important and most difficult positions in the manor, Willow’s personal maid. She’d become Willow’s shadow following and serving her wherever she may go unless dismissed. During her first year as Willow’ maid also sought out and obtained another role, or rather a long term investment. You see after observing the family for a time it became clear to Mary which child would inherit the family fortune. The children, Winter, Weiss, and Whitley, had been raised quite incorrectly for their natures. Like wolves raised as show dogs ,they were trained to be obedient, intelligent, and outstanding but because of their strong willed and fierce natures they could never truly be tamed. First and second born were allowed enough freedom to want for more and seek an end to their captivity even if it meant losing everything. Eventuality they were able to beard their fangs and break free of their chains. But the third born, the son, was not allowed such opportunities, No Jacques had learned from his past mistakes he wasn’t letting this one get away. Whitley was kept closer, his chains made tighter, and cage made much smaller then his predecessors. And yet Mary could still see the wolf in him, though different from his sisters it was still there. Unlike his sisters he couldn’t attack or run from his situation so the boy did the only thing he could and did it well, he played along. He played the role of Father’s loyal dog so well that even his sister believed the act without question but unbeknownst to her or their father beneath that mask Whitley’s fangs were growing strap, he was waiting. Whitley knows when he’s at a disadvantage he knows when to act and when to retreat, he knows how to play games, the game of Atlas politics, his father’s games, and the games of the business world. The day Whitley would strike would be the day everything would be returned to a true Schnee, one who knew how to survive in this world, who knew the mistakes of the past and how not to repeat them. Mary wanted to be on the right side when that day came and so she became Whitley’s eyes and ears in and outside of the manor as long as he promised to keep her in mind when the time came. That was their argument one Mary never doubted would play out in her favor.

Whitley: Mary where’s Mother?

Mary: The Mistress has retreated to the library. After the shouting started she ran inside and hid. I asked her if there was anything I could do and she dismissed me.

Whitley: Thank you Mary, stay here I’ll be back in a moment.

Mary: Yes, Young master

Whitley walks pass her towards the library, once at the doors he pulls them open only to find that the lights are off and the scent of alcohol is heavy in the air. Whitley follow the scent deeper and deeper into the library, gagging slightly the closer he gets, as he draws nearer to the source he finds a trail of wine bottles.

Whitley: They’re all empty, she’s close.

He picks up the bottles as he follows the trail until he finds a blanket covered figure sitting on the floor tucked into a corner. Whitley puts the bottles down and slowly approaches the figure, small sobs escape it as he drew closer, he kneels down in front of them with his hands on his knees. He then gently pulls the blanket off the figure to reveal his mother Willow Schnee, sobbing and trembling beneath the blanket she’s wrapped herself in.

Whitley: It’s over Mother, Father’s gone back to his office. You can go back to your room now he won’t be coming out for some time.

Whitley holds out his hand towards Willow, with a shaky hand Willow grabs onto her son. Whitley grabs onto tightly, wraps his free arm around her shoulders and pulls her up. He steadies her as she gets on her feet, and guides her through the darkness and into the hallway. Once they’re out out of the library he hands Willow off to Mary.

Whitley: Take her back to her room she can barely walk, make sure to leave a bucket by her bed. And don’t let her have anything else tonight she has too much in her system already. She’s also left a good amount of empties on floor again, have someone clean those up before Father’s next reading hour.

Mary: Of course Young Master, we’ll have everything clean and in order before Master Jacques get up for breakfast.

Whitley:Thank you Mary , that will be all for tonight.

This was why Mary chose to put her faith in the boy, for as cold and defensive as Whitley was he was also incredibly loyal. Whenever the Master flew off the handle the Young Master would do everything in his power to calm him down and keep him calm for as long as possible. At first Mary thought this was more his loyal dog act but after a few more incidents it was clear what he was doing. Whitley would never sacrifice another’s safety for his own. His true purpose for playing the Master’s game was not to obtain power but peace and freedom from the chains that bind this manor and the people in it.

With that Mary and Willow depart towards Willow’s bedroom while Whitley retreats his own. Once there he closes the door behind himself and pressing his back against the door. He takes a deep breath then slumps down the door, gets into the fetal position and starts to sob. He cries and weeps for a long, long time, until his face is red and his voice horse. Once he finally he stops Whitley gets up and goes to his ensuite to clean himself up. After a long bath he puts on his sleepwear and lays down on his bed, he stares up at the ceiling until he finally succumbs to his own exhaustion and falls into a dreamless sleep.

[5eforgemaster]

New Conversion Kit: Spellsword

October Brewfest: Week 3

Tomorrow we finally transition into full caster subclasses (with a few coming next week as well), but for today, we’ll split the difference and take a look at some advice for blending magic and warfare.

This conversion kit is mostly a matter of spell choice. There’s a number of ways to get spells on a martial character, but getting the desired effect takes some precision. Let’s get into it.

Kit Overview

Investment Type: Spell Selection and/or Feat.

Minimum Investment: As above. If you aren’t a spellcaster with access to the spells, multiclass into one, or take the Magic Initiate feat.

Overall Impact: You use spells, not to supplant martial skill, but to enhance it.

Investment

Your investment here is heavily determined by your existing class.

Artificers, Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks have the most variety- but Clerics, Druids, and Bards have access to a few choice spells too. Eldritch Knights and Arcane Tricksters share the wizard’s spell list. For any of these classes, Feats or multiclassing might be attractive to get at additional spells, but you have access to enough spells to develop a combat style out of the gate.

If you’re a non-caster, a Paladin, or a Ranger, you’re going to have to work for it a bit more. Multiclassing is an option, as is the Magic Initiate feat. We’ll discuss methods below.

Multiclassing, as always, requires a 13 in a specific Ability Score. (Intelligence for Artificers and Wizards; Charisma for Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Bards; or Wisdom for Druids and Clerics)

I advocate for minimum investment, so I would advise using the following rules to decide how you’ll get at your spells:

If you’re a full caster, one level of multiclassing is easy. Unless you’re lacking in the appropriate ability score. In that case, select the magic initiate feat.

If you’re a Ranger or Paladin, then multiclassing into Druid or Cleric is painless, since they all key off of Wisdom.

If you’re a non-caster, I have to advocate for Magic Initiate. You don’t have nearly as much to gain from multi-classing as a character who can already cast spells.

Now’s a good time to discuss scope. This article aims to blend magic and martial combat. If you’re a full caster, you won’t want to do this all the time. If you’re looking to bolt a toolbox of spells onto the side of your fighter chassis, this isn’t the article for you. We want your spells and attacks to be (roughly) equal parts of a cohesive combat style. For this reason, we will be focusing on Cantrips.

Narrative Impact

The narrative impact here can be fairly varied, based on what you want to do with the kit, your class, and whether you multiclassed to get to the spells you’re using.

For full casters, consider how you wound up on the front lines. Elves are known for mixing their traditions (Bladesingers, anyone?) and Dwarves are quite hardy. Abjurers and War Mages have good reason to stick close to their comrades, while many Clerics stay close to provide healing. 

This is a conversion kit where the narrative impact can sometimes be minimal, but considering it can certainly help you define your character. Certain Artificer and Bard archetypes lean into frontline battle, and Druids might simply stick close for their wildshape. If your archetype assumes you’ll be getting up close and personal, then by all means skip to the mechanical impact section for advice on getting the most out of your cantrip choices.

For everyone else, this can be much more exciting.

Whether you multiclassed or utilized magic initiate, you can latch onto the class you chose to inform your narrative. 

Do you have latent magical power as a sorcerer? If so, what’s stopping you from becoming a full sorcerer? Is the bloodline weak, recently manifested, or is your innate magic perhaps the result of recent events instead? Perhaps you even detest or mistrust your bloodline.

Have you studied magic as a Wizard? Who taught you the few tricks you know? Were there others? Were you satisfied with what you learned, or do you thirst for further knowledge? If you’re a High Elf, the study of magic may be culturally important. If, like an Artificer or Bard, your magic stems from study of a craft, you might wish to answer similar questions about your narrative.

Did you recieve your magic from a patron, similar to a Warlock? Perhaps your magic was a gift meant to tempt you, and you have refused it. Did you serve willingly? Or disappoint your patron in some way? Perhaps there is a broken pact in your history, or you simply did not prove yourself to the being who gave you your power and took a new path.

If your magic is Divine, like a cleric, when and how did you find your faith? Do you serve or venerate any particular god? What separates you from clerics and paladins? Do you lack devotion, or do you simply believe that your path will serve your god just as well as any other?

Power that stems from nature like that of the druids is much more difficult to pin down. Have you always had a kinship with nature? How did this kinship develop, and what do you make of it? Do you have other skills or knowledge as a result?Were you taught secrets by a member of a drudic order? Have you formally joined them? Do you serve any particular role, if so? Do they resent you for having those secrets?

Mechanical Impact

Because we have a very specific goal with this kit, we will focus on a specific selection of cantrips. I have deliberately left out most ranged attack cantrips- you don’t need me to tell you that ranged, magical damage is a good thing to have. You’ve either already chosen a few or have a different means of dealing damage lined up. If you’re here, you want something interesting.

I’ll divide the cantrips by category, listing the relevant cantrips and the class lists these spells are available to after each header. 

Area of Effect

Available to: Everyone

Spell Options: Green-Flame Blade, Sword Burst, Thunderclap, and Word of Radiance.

These are good for damaging or clearing out multiple nearby enemies. I want to stick to interesting cantrips that do something besides damage, however AoE damage is one of the hardest things for martial characters to get.

Sword Burst, Thunderclap, and Word of Radiance are functionally just different aesthetics for the same effect: xd6 damage to all adjacent characters (if they fail a save. The save and damage types vary slightly, but you really only need one of these.

Green-Flame Blade is unique in that it has two effects: First, it magically enhances your melee damage, making it useful for even single targets. Second, it only damages one other target, but the damage is guaranteed if you hit the first target with a melee attack. You might be able to justify taking two AoE spells in this case.

Debuff

Available to: Artificer, Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard.

Spell Options: Frostbite and Vicious Mockery.

Much like the area of effect spells, these are different spells that achieve the same end. Stick to one or the other. 

(There is a slight difference; Vicious Mockery affects all attacks while Frostbite calls out weapon attacks specifically. This makes Mockery slightly better, but it’s only available to Bards.)

These spells impose disadvantage on a single attack roll. It’s not a huge edge, and not something you want to use for yourself. This spell is for casting on an enemy that you just can’t peel off of an ally to grant them some breathing room. Truthfully, I have to recommend that you choose a spell from the following category instead, if you can.

Disable

Available to: Sorcerers, Wizard.

Spell Options: Sapping Sting and Shocking Grasp.

These are two wildly different spells, but they can still serve somewhat similar purposes. 

Shocking Grasp is a melee only spell that denies enemies their reaction. This can help allies get out of a threatened area, but it also denies other useful reactions such as shield spells and parries if it hits.

Sapping Sting might be hard to get depending on your DM, but is a ranged spell that forces foes prone. This can be useful for keeping foes at bay, helping allies flee dangerous melee opponents, or setting up your own melee attackers.

Sapping Sting is more versatile, but Shocking Grasp just works when the appropriate scenario comes up. This is one category where you can justify picking both.

Drag

Available to: Artificers, Druids, Sorcerers, Warlocks, Wizards.

Spell Options: Gust, Lightning Lure, and Thorn Whip.

Drags allow you to consistently manipulate enemy positions. Lightning Lure and Thorn Whip pull enemies toward you, placing them at risk of Opportunity Attacks from you, while Gust allows you to push enemies away from your allies (so it’s not quite a drag, sue me).

You really only need one of these. Lightning Lure and Thorn Whip are valuable if you’re ‘sticky’ and can keep enemies nearby, while Gust has a longer range and might be a better choice if the enemies will just move back into position anyway.

Keep in mind that Lightning Lure and Gust contest strength saves, while Thorn Whip relies on an attack roll. 

Lockdown

Available to: Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard.

Spell Options: Booming Blade.

There’s only one Cantrip that fills this role, and it’s the king of it. Booming Blade. You’re losing out on very little damage thanks to its initial damage, and it deals heavy damage to anyone who tries to move after being struck. This alone can make you quite sticky and makes drags more attractive.

This one benefits more heavily than others from the right support, so be sure to check out that section if this spell interests you.

‘Traps’

Available to: 7th Level Eldritch Knights

Spell Options: Blade Ward and True Strike

The ‘available to’ section above surely looks a little odd if you’ve been playing 5e for a while. But seriously, these spells eat your entire turn for minimal benefit. However, Eldritch Knights can sometimes sneak some use out of them thanks to their 7th level war magic feature.

True Strike can be used to set up in advance for a big hit on your next turn, and Blade Ward lets you heavily tank up against humanoid foes where necessary- but they only somewhat work for Eldritch Knights because they can still attack while using them. This is a little too niche for me to go into detail, but it didn’t seem right not to mention it at all.

Choosing your Cantrips

Whether you’re a full caster setting aside one or two cantrips for mixing it up in melee, or a magic initiate with only two slots to fill, you’ll want to make your choices count.

By pairing your cantrips into a cohesive strategy, you can maximize their impact.

Pairing Area of Effect spells with Drags will let you ensure you have at least two targets to work, while pairing a Drag with a Lockdown allows you to force foes to duel you. Taking a Disable and a Drag allows your allies to move freely while foes are driven out of position.

If you aren’t sure what else to do, grab one AoE spell for groups and either Booming Blade or Green-flame Blade. (The latter spells are useful for single target damage even if you don’t use their secondary effect).

Kit Support

War Caster is an old standby for melee spellcasters. All of its benefits are useful, but we’re interested in the ability to cast a single target spell in place of an opportunity attack. This really opens up your ability to combo your cantrips together. You might consider using Booming Blade as a reaction to prevent foes from fleeing, or a disable or debuff to take the pressure off of the enemy’s next target. Any damaging cantrip is more punishing than a single attack, and using drags can force enemies to into position for this strategy. Keep in mind that this doesn’t work with AoE spells.

In all honesty, I think letting your reaction be the bulk of your spellcasting while you otherwise strike with weapon attacks is the best way to use this kit- it allows both aspects of your character to shine without competing with one another.

If you want to push this further, Polearm Master allows you to severely punish foes who attempt to close with you when combined with the previous feat, since it allows you to make opportunity attacks against foes who enter your reach. Keep in mind you’re casting a spell, in place of an opportunity attack, not as an opportunity attack, so we can’t further combo with Sentinel to stop them in their tracks.

While slightly more niche, Mobile plays well with Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade- if you hit, your enemies don’t get to attack you when you move away. This is nice for Green-flame Blade, but devastating when used with Booming Blade since enemies who pursue you will suffer extra damage. This feat also allows squishier characters to skirmish without taking extra damage from opportunity attacks.

Pitfalls

If you are a full spellcaster, you might struggle to survive in melee. The feats that grant armor proficiency can grant some reprieve, or utilizing mage armor. Consider adopting hit and run tactics using the mobile feat if those don’t appeal to you.

The ‘canned’ spellswords don’t suffer from being out of place nearly as much- Eldritch Knights, Bladesingers, Moon Druids, Valor or Sword College Bards, and most Clerics have the armor or skills to fight on the front lines- as do Mountain Dwarves.

There is, of course, the usual risk of investing in this strategy and proceeding not to use it at all. The best way to mitigate this risk is to make sure that your spell choices aren’t both shut down by the same things. Pick spells that target different saves and serve different purposes, and you should use at least one in most fights.

[short-wooloo]

Adam defender’s double standard

sigh

A few weeks ago I made a post about how in the current point where the story is at, the Bees are better fighters than Adam was (https://short-wooloo.tumblr.com/post/190810618519/the-bees-are-better-fighters-than-adam-now)

Of course, I encountered idiots hellbent on sucking adam’s dick, naturally arguing that adam is in fact the most powerful kewlest character in the show uwu, and the reason is because he has so many fights against enemies he’s leagues above in skill and power, or just having an aura, never-mind the fact that he runs away when he doesn’t have the advantage

But one of the weirdest, and most frustrating arguments, is and I quote:

“Blake didn’t train at all during vol.4-6 so she won’t be able to take Adam down. Yang only had couple days of train still won’t match someone with high level years of training.”

So let me get this straight: because the show didn’t actually depict Blake and Yang training, or in Yang’s case “only a few days”, that means they didn’t (we’ve seen this dumb argument before and I’ll get to it in a sec), but Adam on the other hand is “high level” and has “years of training”,

“Years of training”, something we never once see Adam partake in, ah I see now, if the show doesn’t actually depict Blake and Yang getting lots of training, that means it didn’t happen/doesn’t count, but Adam?  Someone who has never been shown or said to have years of training?  He has it, obviously

As for the “high level” comment, Adam opponents include: robots (we specifically see Blake and Weiss destroy the upgraded newer models), an uber-laser beam robot, which he specifically needed Blake’s help to defeat (we never see it again and the victory here is less skill and more a power perfectly suited to negate the opponents primary attack), people without aura (average military grunts, white fang goons, and human thugs), unarmed people, people who are at a disadvantage/are weaker than he is, people who’s aura is depleted, or people who he knows how to fight and get into their head because he’s familiar with them and their fighting style

Clearly the earmarks of someone on the highest of levels

Now lets get back to the supposed “lack of training” comment

I feel like this should be obvious but clearly it needs to be asked, Ya’ll realize that the scene of Yang training with Tai is not meant to be seen as the only time she trained right?  The scene is meant to convey that she has been training, not that this is the sum of all the training she has done, we don’t need several episodes of her training or a montage, is that what people seriously expect and want the show to do?  Just keep cutting to training fights that have no stakes between the same people over and over?  Just a continuous string of mindless fights that don’t contribute to the story but in fact distract from the story being told-

Oooooooooh wait, I just remember what fandom this is, “hur dur, show don’t tell, me want more fights, stop talking, why talking? where fight? me want fights me can’t follow basic storytelling, but me hide it by claiming the show is only telling and not showing”

ahem

Anyways, the amount training Yang has received is implied, the training fight between her and Tai is not meant to be see as taking place immediately following Vol 4 chapter 4, the 4 storylines of Vol 4 are not meant to be seen as happening 1 to 1 on the timeline

But aside from her training with Tai, Yang also trains with Oz, Ruby and her friends, the show makes a point in Vol 5 to say that RNJR is spending its time practicing and training, and if I recall correctly, this is supposed to have taken place over the course of a month, in short the points where RNJR meets up with Oscar/Ozpin, when Yang and Weiss reunite with them, and the battle for Haven are not meant to be seen as all happening immediately following each other, there are days/weeks between the events, do you really think Yang would just be doing nothing for all that time?

Speaking of timelines and when things happen, I should get to Blake, now yes, we don’t see Blake training, but its not like she’s sitting around the whole time, she was fighting White Fang members (specifically high-up skilled ones such as the Albains and Ilia) and Grimm, practice is good and all, but there’s no substitute for the real deal, and as for the timeline thing, remember how they transport the Militia from Menagerie by boat?  That’s no speedy trip, and given that said militia had some rudimentary or basic training down by the time they got to Haven, its not much of a jump to assume that during that time in addition to training the militia Blake was also training

But getting back to the real deal vs training thing, that’s the bulk of where team RWBY’s skill and strength come from, they have lots of hands-on real-life experience (this is part of the reason they beat ACE-OPs),

You don’t become a better fighter just from training alone, you need to have experience against real enemies too, a person can train their whole life but that’s no substitute for experience,

Case and point, RWBY spends a lot of time in fights with enemies that are aiming to hurt or kill them, training is good and all, it keeps you in shape and your skills fresh, but outside of accidents you aren’t in any real danger, but in a real fight where the enemy will hurt or kill you, that’s going to push your skills to the limit or even beyond, thus when they beat their enemies the experience has taught them and made them better fighters

Consequently, that’s also why Bumbleby improved and adam stagnated, during their time between Vol 3-6 the Bees have been facing Grimm and Human/Faunus opponents that can match them or give them a run for their money in a fight, as opposed to adam, who’s “fights” are him stabbing an unarmed woman, slaughtering White Fang goons (who everyone beats up with ease) or briefly “fighting” Blake and Sun before running away at the earliest convenience, now the main point of that is in the only instance where Adam came close to being in a fight that could have been an actual challenge he ran away as soon as he could, but every other fight was one where he was in no danger

Now if I could use a video game (rpg?) metaphor, Yang and Blake are like the players who face off against bosses/enemies that are equal or greater to them, a high risk high reward scenario, adam is a player who only fights the weak units that have no real chance of seriously threatening him, low reward, minimal risk,

Now I’m not going to say if one strategy is better than the other, but look at it like this, due to the rewards being higher, Blake and Yang gain more xp from their fights, whereas adam has to face numerous enemies to get the same amount of xp

Translating this back to RWBY’s world, by facing stronger opponents Blake and Yang get pushed to the limit and are forced to worker harder and become better fighters, but because adam fights people weaker than himself he almost never hits the limit (the fight at the end of Vol 6 was probably the only case of such ever happening in his life), and thus doesn’t need to try harder or put effort into improvement

[powerwordsleep]

naruto!DnD au

the team 7!DnD verse that nobody @baasama asked for

and because there’s already some stuff out there that’s completely terrible not only for team 7, but also DnD, so i felt the need to do right by both.

Three travelers stand alone on a vast cliff, a smoke-darkened sky above and an endless drop to death below. Blood, dirt, and weeks worth of grime litters their skin and clothes. Their journey has been long, perilous, unrelenting, but they finally made it to the end. Victory beckons them. The promise of peace, happiness, and a not ungenerous sum of gold is only one more fight away. One more dance of kill or be killed.

The horizon dances red with the flames of the nearby villages burning below them. They had managed to evacuate most of the civilians before the attack began, but they had passed by more than a few charred, burned beyond recognition bodies on their trek up the mountain. Each fallen they passed only hardened their resolve.

The sound of an earth-shaking roar escapes from the mouth of the cave in front of them. The ground quakes as the footsteps of something giant stalks forward to meet its challengers. A large red snout appears first, shining like the blood running in the streets below, and the lips spread in a bloodthirsty grimace, revealing a row of sharp, glistening fangs. The creature growls in what is meant to be a chuckle, a plume of smoke shooting out of its nostrils and into the faces of the three tiny figures before it.

“So, you’ve arrived at last.”

One figure steps forward, seemingly unafraid even in the face a would-be god. “Yeah, we’ve come to put an end to your stupid reign of violence and bloodshed and… stupidness!” The man puffs out his chest in bravado. “Believe it!”

“Idiot,” his companion scoffs from behind. “It’s not a great idea to threaten a dragon right to its face.”

“Shut up, Lucien!” the first man whips around to glare. “What are you, scared of some lizard action?”

The man called Lucien seethes. “No, Markus, I just don’t have a death wish!”

Markus turns to face Lucien completely, the large, foreboding, capable of ending the world as they know it enemy front of them forgotten.

“How many times do I have to tell you, my name is Markus Ultimate!”

“As if I would use that ridiculous name -”

“Do you wanna fucking go? Do you wanna fucking brawl right here Lucien because I swear to god-”

“Will the two of you shut up!” the third member of the party interrupts. “We do not have time for petty squabbles when there’s a dragon to fight!”

“Aww, but Nila, Lucien is being a dick again!” Markus Ultimate whines.

The woman called Nila sighs, having heard this song many times before. “Sorry, Markus Ultimate, but Lucien kind of has a point. We should have gone with his idea and tried to find a back entrance and sneak in, rather than face this thing head on.”

Lucien raises his chin in triumph and Markus Ultimate, eyes daring him to make another snarky remark. Markus Ultimate pouts and mutters, “You’re just siding with Lucien because you’re sleeping with him in real life.”

A cacophony of groans, sighs, and indignant shouts ruin whatever slim illusion of in-game fantasy they had managed to immerse themselves in. Kakashi sighs and rubs at his exposed eyebrow, his headache sure to make a reappearance.

“Naruto, that was completely uncalled for! You know what we said about breaking character like that, and besides, I do not give special preference to Sasuke just because-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Naruto cuts of Sakura’s rant. “You boning Sasuke on the regular isn’t affecting Nila and Lucien’s relationship at all.”

“Why are you so fixated on our sex life, deadlast?” Sasuke accuses, one eyebrow twitching in both anger and disgust. “Stay out of our business.”

Naruto turns red and ignores Sasuke’s comment in favor of shouting at Kakashi, as if all of this was somehow his fault, “Let’s get back to the game already, Kakashi-sensei! We got a dragon to fight!”

“Everyone roll initiative,” Kakashi says before the argument can get any worse. Like addressing whatever weird tension that last comment had triggered.

Kakashi is getting too old for this.

“14,” Sakura says.

“Aww, man, I got a 12,” Naruto groans.

“It’s not a competition, Naruto,” Kakashi reminds him. For the 100th time.

“But if it was I would kick your ass. 21.” Sasuke just has to so unhelpfully egg him on.

Naruto predictably takes the bait. “Hey that’s unfair! Sasuke is cheating!”

Sakura rolls her eyes and gestures to the dice. “No, he’s not. He rolled an 17 and gets a +4 to initiative because he has high Dex as a Rogue.”

Sasuke smirks across the table. “Maybe you shouldn’t have chosen to be a Bard if you’re so upset about it.”

“Alright, Sasuke you’re up first.”

Sasuke peers over the map set up on the table and considers his position. “Do I have enough movement to get to those clusters of rocks over there?”

“Yes, but if you want to try and hide you have to roll with disadvantage because the dragon is right there -”

“23.”

Kakashi sighs. “Alright, you’ve somehow successfully hidden behind the rocks, because the dragon was distracted by Markus Ultimate making a scene.”

Naruto slaps the table in glee. “Ha! You’re welcome, Lucien.”

Kakashi politely coughs to reign in their attention. “Next is the dragon’s turn.”

His three former students lean in, eager to see what the first move will be. “The dragon steps fully out of the cave, his full height towering 20 feet above you. He makes two claw attacks at you, Markus Ultimate, and swipes his tail at you, Nila.”

Kakashi rolls his die behind the privacy screen. “18 and 16 to hit for you Markus -”

“It’s Markus Ultimate!”

“- and 21 for you, Nila.”

Sakura grimaces as she checks her character sheet. “Hits.”

“You take 14 points of slashing damage as the dragon swings his tail over the cliff and slams into your torso.”

Sakura marks down the damage on her sheet and Kakashi looks expectantly at Naruto.

He’s smirking. Never a good sign.

“I cast Vicious Mockery on the dragon and say, ‘Get wrecked, you gecko!’”

Kakashi rolls his D20 and audibly groans when the dice comes to a stop.

“The dragon fails the save.” Naruto whoops in celebration. “As his claws race towards you, you say your, um, chant, and it disturbs the dragon enough that you are able to evade and reduce some of the damage.”

“Your turn, Nila.”

Sakura grins and rubs her hands together in anticipation. “Watch how it’s done, boys! I move to the dragon and take two swipes at it with my sword.”

“Roll for both attacks.”

They watch as Sakura rolls the die. “10 and 17!” Sakura says, and in sync all three head turn towards the DM, eagerly awaiting the result.

“The first one misses,” he begins and they nod, having expected that,”and the second one…” Kakashi swears they’re about to fall out of their seats. “Hits.”

“Yes!” Sakura pumps her fist up in the air. “And I cast Divine Smite!”

“Roll the extra d8s of damage.”

Sasuke passes her the extra die and Naruto gives a, “Hell yeah, Nila!” of encouragement.

After the damage is calculated Kakashi addresses Naruto. “Your turn, Markus Ultimate.”

Naruto is silent for a few moments, which is probably a new record for him. When he speaks, is low and serious.

“I walk forward in front of the dragon.”

“Don’t you dare, Naruto,” Sasuke warns. An impending sense of doom begins to overtake Kakashi.

“I say, ‘Hey dude, this here, this thing you’re doing, it’s like not very cool. In fact, it sucks. Cause people are cool, you know? You could be friends with people, instead of burning them and shit. It’s actually a lot more fun! Do you have any friends? I could be your friend! I understand the pain of loneliness. You’re just like me -’”

“You can’t be serious.” Sasuke says.

“Naruto, please,” Sakura begs.

Naruto doesn’t take his eyes off Kakashi.

“Roll a persuasion check.”

Naruto grabs his dice. Sasuke turns aways, muttering, “I can’t freaking watch this,” while Sakura holds his hand in a deathgrip. Kakashi can feel his hairline receding.

He dice leaves Naruto’s hand, falls to the table, bounces, once, twice, then rolls, swaying on one of its edges, before it falls to one side and comes to a stop.

Their eyes lock onto the number displayed.

“No, it can’t be,” Sakura whispers, horrified.

“I’m fucking done,” Sasuke says and leaves his seat.

“HELL YEAH!” Naruto yells, jumping out of his seat.

Kakashi blinks, rubs are his eye, and leans forward. Just to check. To really make sure this is happening.

20.

Naruto managed to roll a natural 20.

“Add your Charisma modifier.” Kakashi reminds Naruto mid victory dance.

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” Naruto grabs his crumpled and ripped character sheet and scans for the correct number. “Umm so the total is a 25!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sakura plops her head on the table, defeated.

“I haven’t even made an attack!” Sasuke yells from the other room.

Kakashi can’t blame them for their reactions. After all the weeks of careful planning he had done, after all the character building and development of the story, leading up to the final, epic battle and…

Naruto talks their way out of it.

Again.

“The dragon is… touched by your eloquent speech. He decides he’d like to be friends even though he was trying to destroy you and your world a second ago. I guess.”

“Whoooo!” Naruto cheers. “Great fight guys, yeah? That was so much fun.”

Sakura glares at Naruto. There’s a crash from the other room, presumably from Sasuke throwing a fit.

Kakashi gathers his myriad of campaign note papers in front of him, then in a blur of hand signs sets them ablaze in a quick fire jutsu.

Time to start preparing for the next campaign.

[piperchu]

DotD rewrite Episode 3: Paranormal Activities

Here’s the last finished episode. I hope you enjoy it.

Episode 3

Paranormal Activities

In the Corridor of Elders, Lloyd stood his ground and reached behind his back for his sword as Pythor slithered quickly toward him.

“Pythor, what are you doing?” Misako asked, thoroughly alarmed.

“Giving the boy a one way trip to join his daddy!” Pythor answered.

“Sorry,” Lloyd snapped, “but I don’t really feel like going on vacation!” Their two weapons clashed. To push him back, Lloyd launched himself off Pythor with both feet and flipped through the air to land near the stone wall.

Pythor looked up and saw one of the statues just above the green ninja. “But it’s a holiday! Respect your elders!” With that, he threw his staff up toward the statue, and the head came tumbling down.

“Lloyd!” Misako cried.

The head came crashing down, but instead of flattening Lloyd, the green ninja used his powers over earth to catch and hold the weight of the stone head. It wasn’t easy though. He didn’t know how long he’d be able to hold it.

In Ignacia, the Condrai Crushers charged towards the siblings of water and fire. They dodged them just in time. “Nya! The Raider Bikes! Take out the Crushers first!” Kai called to his sister.

“Got it!” Nya responded. They both hurried over to the bikes and started the engines. They roared into action, intent on knocking the Crushers over. Nya took on one, Kai the other. Things were evenly matched until the Crusher Kai was fighting rammed into him with enough force to send the bike rolling.

“Aaaahhh!” Kai yelped as he flew through the air and landed at Chen’s feet.

Chen laughed. He raised the anacondrai sword above his head and brought it swishing down. Kai rolled out of the way, but not before the purple blade grazed his arm. Kai hissed in pain as he looked at the rip in his gi. It wasn’t deep, but it still hurt like crazy.

“Kai!” Nya cried. She drove over to her fallen brother and jumped off the bike to help.

“I’m fine, Nya!” Kai insisted. “Keep fighting!”

“You’ll pay for that Chen!” Nya snarled at the enemy, and met his sword with hers with a fury like the waves of a stormy sea.

In the Birchwood Forest, the nindroids slowly approached Zane.

“Escape is futile, Zane,” Cryptor sneered. “You and I share a programming! I know your every move before you even make it.”

“Not anymore, Cryptor,” Zane shot back. “I’ve had a few upgrades since we last met.”

“Oh? Then let’s see if I can’t adapt as well!”

Zane analyzed the situation and calculated the probable moves they could make. “PIXAL, what do you make of this?” he asked.

“Based on our previous experiences with him, Zane,” PIXAL began, “Cryptor will likely use cloaking devices, laser blasts, and the rockets in his feet to combat your best moves. Airjitzu will not be very helpful with this fight.”

“Then I guess we’re fighting on the ground,” Zane concluded. “If he disappears, activate infrared vision. The heat given off by his functions should give him away.” The nindroid sidekicks flew toward Zane. He fended them off, succeeding in destroying them with explosive shurikens. Now it was just him and Cryptor.

“Impressive,” Cryptor complimented. “Perhaps this fight will be interesting after all!” Zane’s clone charged, and their weapons clashed at speeds only androids could achieve.

Back in the junkyard, Jay was trying to hold back Ed from trying to save Edna on his own. “Don’t you worry, Edna! I’ll take care of those piles of bones!”

“Oh, Ed, careful now! Dr. Birkman said not to strain!” Edna called from Samukai’s grasp.

“I got this, Dad!” Jay said, and fired bolts of lightning at both mechs, knocking them away. Jay turned to Samukai. “I have no idea what you want with my parents, but I’m all charged up!”

“It’s not your parents I want, Jay,” Samukai growled. “It’s you!” He hurled Edna through the air. Thankfully, Ed caught her. Jay and Samukai charged at each other, and the fight began. Jay swung his nunchucks at the Skulkin general, who met the weapon with his own.

Back at the concert the Royal Blacksmiths finished their song. Dareth raced back onto the stage. “Alright, alright, alright! The Royal Blacksmiths, everybody!” The crowd cheered. “Before my boys continue, I’d like to thank everybody for coming out here tonight! What a crowd! Your costumes are great! Funny clowns and aliens. Wow! Those stone warriors in the back are great!”

Kozu led four stone warriors toward the stage. He growled in his native language.

“So realistic!” Dareth observed as they drew nearer. A little too realistic… wait a minute… “Those aren’t costumes! Aaahh!” he yelled as he ran off the stage away from the approaching threat.

“REVENGE!” Kozu shouted as he and the other stone warriors chased Dareth into the museum. “DESTRUCTION!”

In the ruins of the old monastery, Wu turned to find Morro facing him with a knowing smirk. “My former student,” he acknowledged. “How have you returned, Morro?”

“Perhaps that is not the question we should be asking ourselves, Sensei,” Morro said cryptically, passing his sword across his face.

“We have fought before, and although it pains me, I will do so again.”

“You misunderstand my intent,” Morro told his old master. “I’m not here to fight. I’m here to help.”

“Are you?”

“Believe me, it was a tough decision. I’m giving up a lot. I could have gone with the others.”

“Others?”

“Have you heard of the Vase of Wicked Souls Past?”

“Indeed. My father once sealed it away, but it was stolen by treasure hunters.”

“It’s been broken. That’s why I am back. But others have come back too. They are confronting your students now.”

“Tell me more.”

“I will, but aboard the Bounty. We have to warn the others.”

Cole crept down the hallways of Yang’s temple, keeping an eye out for Yang’s students.  He remembered going through a door that should be around here somewhere.  After a little snooping around, he finally found it. “Yes!” he cheered.  He opened it, only to find two students in his path.  “No!” he groaned.  The students approached him with swords.  “Hey, listen. This isn’t fair! You’ve got weapons, and I’m still handcuffed!”

One student approached him, only to cut him loose.  “Wait, you’re helping me?” Cole asked in surprise.

“No,” the student replied.  “But we fight fair here.  Now let’s see what you’ve got.”

Cole stomped one foot down, sending a tremor through the floor. The ghost students lost balance and fell to the ground.  Cole picked up their weapons. That was almost too easy. “Huh! Maybe I can do this by myself!”

As soon as Wu and Morro were aboard the ship, they took flight. Once Wu put the ship on autopilot, he turned to Morro. “What exactly happened, Morro?” he asked.

“All the villains in the museum have come back to life.  They are all going after the ninja. I pretended to be going after you, to keep them from getting suspicious. Cryptor’s going after Zane, Samukai’s going after Jay, Pythor’s after Lloyd, Chen’s taking on Kai and Nya, and Kozu seemed to be chasing someone outside in a brown suit. Not sure what his name was; no one said.”

“Thank you, Morro. How can I repay you?”

Morro paused for a moment before giving his answer. “All I ask for is… a second chance.”

Wu lowered his head. “I’m sorry, Morro, but I cannot take Lloyd’s title away from him.”

“You misunderstand. I meant a second chance at being good.”

Wu was surprised, but kept it hidden. “I see,” he responded. “I will certainly give you a second chance. Though you should not expect the other ninja to give you as warm of a welcome. It will take a lot to earn their trust.”

“I understand, Sensei.”

Kai and Nya kept fighting, Kai using his uninjured arm. The siblings fought with great ferocity, but Chen and the snakes were proving to be quite hard to beat.

“Don’t fight too hard, princess,” the snake Nya was fighting taunted. “You might mess up your hair!”

Nya’s blood boiled at the comment. She was NOT going to take that kind of crap. “Princess, huh?” she growled. “Well, first thing you’ve got to know about this princess is that she is NOT a damsel in distress!” With that, she brought her weapon swishing down - and cut the snake’s hand off.

The rest of the battle seemed to freeze as everyone looked over at the screaming snake. “Retreat!” Chen called in fear, and the snakes followed him sprinting away from the scene.

“No one calls me a princess,” Nya snarled, watching them flee.

Kai chuckled. “That’s my little sister,” he said proudly.

Nya smiled at him. “Now let’s take care of that cut of yours,” she said.

“I’m fine,” Kai assured her, but his wince gave him away.

“Oh, no you’re not. Get in the shop. We’ve got bandages there.”

Zane continued to fight Cryptor. Despite being titanium, he was evenly matched with Cryptor’s abilities. The clone fired lasers at Zane, which he dodged without too much trouble.

“Zane, you can’t get close enough with his lasers firing at you,” PIXAL pointed out.

Suddenly Zane had an idea. “I can fix that,” he told her. He threw a shuriken, and with his robotic precision, it hit Cryptor right in the eye, disabling his lasers and blinding him in that eye.

Cryptor pulled the weapon out of his eye, exposing the wires underneath. He discarded the shuriken and ran at Zane. But without depth perception, his attack was easily dodged. The ninja picked up the shuriken Cryptor had dropped and continued to fight.

Realizing he was at the disadvantage, Cryptor stepped back and disappeared. Zane looked around and saw his foe perched on a branch high in the trees. “You may have won this time,” he called down to the ninja, “but the next time we meet, expect to see some upgrades!” With that, he took off with the rockets on his feet into the night.

Jay and Samukai kept fighting with no sign of who was winning. Then Jay had an idea. Skulkin were used to the dark. He ran over to the fuze box by the trailer and gave it some extra electricity. The lights around the junkyard brightened so that it was blinding Samukai and the other skulkin.

“It’s�� too… bright!” Samukai yelped. “I can’t see!”

Jay ran toward the Skulkin general to finish him off, but before he could reach him, Samukai ran off with his sidekicks into the night.

Ed and Edna walked over to where Jay stood panting. “That’s our boy!” Ed said proudly.

Lloyd struggled to keep holding up the stone head. “Can’t... hold on… much longer!” he groaned.

Misako had been fighting Pythor with spinjitzu, but had eventually worn herself out. Pythor now held her against the rock with his staff. “Yes, you can!” she encouraged her son.

“Foolish boy!” Pythor shouted at the green ninja. “You continually underestimate me! You’re so like your father!”

“He’s right, Lloyd!” Misako urged. “You’re brave, and noble, and-”

“And a master of spinjitzu!” Lloyd finished, his confidence returning. “You are still with me, Dad! Ninja-GO!”  He surrounded himself with his green tornado and quickly spun out from under the head. The twister collided with Pythor, and beat him back from Misako. Lloyd came out of his spinjitzu, pulled out his sword, and pointed it at the snake.

“It’s over Pythor! Surrender!”

“An anacondrai never surrenders!” Pythor refused. “But we do know how to make an exit!” With that, he became invisible, leaving Lloyd and his mother behind.

Dareth raced through the museum storage, looking for the only thing he could think of that might save him. “Come on, Helmet of Shadows! Where are you? You control the stone warriors!” Suddenly he spotted it lying on a box, and had almost reached it, when suddenly he smelled smoke. The stone warriors had started a fire! He ran screaming back out the way he came, leaving the helmet behind. He ran past smoking rooms toward the exit. He could hear the stone warriors chasing him, yelling in their native language. He finally burst out the front doors to hear sirens wailing through the night air.

“REVENGE!” Kozu shouted. Being made of stone, he could walk right through the flames.

“HELP!” Dareth cried. He could feel himself getting tired, and the stone warriors were catching up to him. Just when the foes were almost upon him, a large beam of light shone down from the sky. It was the Destiny’s Bounty. The anchor dropped down in front of Dareth, and he jumped onto it and held on for dear life as he was lifted up away from danger.

Cole moved on through the rooms until he found the door to the entrance hall. He sped up, heartened that escape was so near.

Suddenly Yang appeared out of nowhere in his path.  “I’m impressed,” he said.  “You’ve shown great abilities, but I’m afraid they won’t get you out.”

“Oh yeah? I beat three of your students pretty darn easily!”

“Can you take on all six?” Yang asked as all six students approached Cole from all sides.

Cole fought hard, and seemed to be winning, when all six students disappeared. “What? Where- oof!” Unable to see the students, he was overwhelmed. Once again, he found himself in shackles.

“I want him in the basement under heavy guard,” Sensei Yang instructed. And so Cole was led off once again, now unsure if he would ever get out.

[zippdementia]

Part 19 Alignment May Vary: Where the Good go to Die

The Pit of Thudd is the final, intentional, resting place of the elven wizard, Udo the Gray, friend of Haggemoth, who devoted the last decade of his life to building the tomb, a place where the good elf would go to die. The tomb was meant not so much as an altar to his life as it was meant to be a giant treasure chest for his greatest and most powerful creation: the Rod of Storms. The Rod of Storms—contained in his crypt with the cryptic message: “Beware the rod, I was its creator but never its master”—is the reason the desert of Thud  exists. Such was its power that it sucked the moisture from the air and gathered it around itself, to create the Pit.

From out of the hazy distance, you begin to hear a sound mounting over the endless murmuring of the winds. It is a keening, hollow sound, like a distant cry. Almost before you realize it, the ground drops away sharply into an irregular bowl-shaped depression filled with weathered rock. At the bottom, a jagged hole is open to the sky. The wind seems to swirl in an endless circle around the aperture like a gentle cyclone, and the play of air across the gap sounds like the moaning of a lost soul. Every so often, a loud, low rumble can be heard from below.

There is actually moisture in the air here, and as you approach the pit, you see that its bottom is hidden in a cloud of roiling mist. The sound of water can be heard far below. To one side, an ancient stairway descends along the edge of the pit and into the depths.

In terms of aesthetic, the Pit reminds me a lot of the Cave of Mists from Final Fantasy IV. Platforms connecting to each other over deep pits, mists wallowing through the caves, a monster hidden in the fog... lots of interesting stuff for descriptions. In terms of dungeon style, it is what I call a “keycard” dungeon, where there is a locked door or barrier that you have to explore the dungeon to figure out how to unlock. In this case, the barrier is a magical waterfall that is actually passable right from the beginning (with an extremely good set of rolls) but which gets easier to pass the more of the dungeon’s puzzles you solve. This helps keep the dungeon from being too linear and railroady. In fact, my group bypasses a good third of the dungeon and its nastiest trap by tackling the water wall early.

For obstacles, most of the danger comes from the fact that the fog obscures everything beyond 25 feet. There are a lot of traps, like lightning sigils or a particularly vicious sonic trap centered around ice (this is the one they avoid). There are also platforms that open beneath you to dump you in the water 40 feet below, a scary experience if played right by the DM because you can describe things like the following:

Abenthy, the platform tilts sickeningly underneath you and suddenly you are falling into the mists. Your vision completely obscured, you spin and tumble in a thick fog until suddenly you are enveloped in cold, dark water. You try to get your bearings and eventually surface, but all around you is white fog and black water. Waves buffet you to and fro as you call out for your companions. Your only answer is the distant boom of thunder.

Karrina, Tyrion... you see Abenthy topple off the platform and into the fog. He makes no sound. He is gone.

There are stairs that lead back up, but finding them can be a harrowing process of guesswork, all the while wondering if something is in the water chasing you.

As far as enemies, the most dangerous fight is against two mummies, who used to be Udo’s most trusted apprentices, still serving him in the afterlife. This fight almost kills the players, though I remove the mummy’s curse (withotu a cleric, they don’t have a good way to fix the curse at this level and I don’t want to lock them in an unwinnable situation because they "don’t have the right classes”). The others are elementals, two waters and one air, released as part of solving the dungeon’s puzzles. The elementals try to knock players into the water below and then fight them where the players are at a disadvantage. This leads to one of the coolest moments of the dungeon for us, where the party gets separated.

The bard ends up being a true hero of the dungeon by forcing the Air Elemental (one of the most dangerous creatures here) to flee by using Dissonant Whispers. Love how powerful some of these DND 5 spells are! They don’t do a ton of damage always, but they have great side effects, making casters really interesting support characters. The Air Elemental comes back, but by then the party has fled through the water barrier (and since they didn’t deactivate it, it works as a shield against the elemental. A little bonus for tackling the barrier early!

The last fight is against a Criosphinx, but only if they don’t solve its riddle (or piss it off enough to attack them). In this case, the players solve the riddle really quickly and avoid the fight, but next post I’ll detail what the Criosphinx would’ve looked like and how I converted it from third edition. Making monsters is the most involved piece of doing a conversion; I’ve been wanting to make a post about it for quite a while.

The dungeon ends with the players getting a ton of magical items, as well as the Rod of Storms, which brings rain back to the desert. They also get a map to Rori Rama, but the key which they came to find was taken months ago by Raiden, Karina’s old commander. They’ve been beaten to the punch!

Other than that, I add in a little twist of my own. One of my bosses at work is a nurse named “Leigh.” She said if ever she joined us in Dungeons and Dragons, she would play a ball of slime. As her actual participation is unlikely, I told her the next time we played I’d work in that ball of slime.

Enter Lambl Excresence (or “LEE” for short). He’s a lovable little goober who burbles his way through conversations, loves everyone, and likes to speak in acronyms (HAYD means How are ya doin?). He’s got a slime’s perspective on life: things go slow and that’s okay, everything can wait till another day. When you’re on a bumpy ride, just hit that wall and slide, slide, slide.

He becomes a session favorite and after the party inadvertently destroys his home (they take the Rod of Storms and return the Pit’s water to the desert) they carry him in their bag of holding back to the Fuzwah, who keeps him as a pet.

Other than that, here are some of the coolest moments we had in the dungeon...

The Mummy’s Touch

Abenthy felt cold stone under him, the sensation heightened by the loss of his chain mail, destroyed by the acidic slime at the pit’s entrance. Above him, the mummy loomed, a twisted figure with a hunched posture, the smell coming off of it reeking of equal parts vinegar and the grave. The mummy’s movements were like those of a bird—quick and precise—but also uncontrolled. It's fingers twitched sporadically, as if playing an invisble instrument. It’s head swiveled back and forth between Abenthy and Karina, the bandages where the creature’s eyes would be lingering on her retreating form. The death lust which empowered the mummy was pulling it in two directions. The tiefling was still active, but she was fleeing. Meanwhile, Abenthy lay at its feet, no longer a threat, but here... near... warm...

With a sudden movement, the mummy made its decision, reaching down the wrap its claws in the soft flesh of Abenthy’s neck. Abenthy readied his weapon for a final desperate strike, but the need never came. The mummy suddenly was rearing back, trying to swipe at something behind it. Verrick was there, driving a curved knife over and over into the creature’s dessicated skull. The blade came out bloodless with each strike, but pieces of skull and bandage broke off and fell like dust around Abenthy. The mummy moaned long and slow and then fell, twitching once on the ground and then staying still.

Verrick, breathing heavily, reached a hand out to Abenthy. Abenthy took it, and with that, his anger at Karina vanished. He had just been saved by what he had called “her mistake.” Verrick had proved himself able to overcome his past betrayal. And if the demon-born could do it, if he could find forgiveness, then maybe Abenthy’s own god could forgive Abenthy.

“Thank you,” was all he said, but it was enough.

Storm Eagle

Tyrion was relieved to feel stone under his feet. The water still came up to his chest, but at least now he wasn’t being buffeted around by the waves and could catch his breath.

“The darkness lies heavy But my heart is ever light. My stature may be little But my size disguises my might.”

Tyrion hummed the old tune softly to himself as, holding his lute high above the water, Tyrion stepped gingerly, his bare feet (tough as river stones, his mother used to say when he was young, as a good halfling’s should be) feeling for the inevitable edge of his little underwater island. He could see barely anything. The magical light cast on his lute showed him only the edge of the fog and had no ability to penetrate the blackness of the water. He had to rely on other senses, like his ears and feeling what the water around him was doing, and what they were reporting was disconcerting.

A splash. A ripple in the water. These were the only warnings he got before the water elemental rose up behind him, pounding down with fists made of storm and sea. Tyrion dodged to one side and the wake of the creature nearly threw him off his island again. He tried to strike out, but the elemental was already gone again, morphed back into the water.

Little did Tyrion know, but far above him, Abenthy, Karina, Xavier, and Verrick were fighting another water elemental on one of the stone platforms. It was a battle of wills, not brawn, as Abenthy tried to dominate the elemental, forcing it to obey him.

“It’s still coming,” Xavier said, backing away from the creature as it sloshed ever closer to him and Abenthy. Verrick threw one of his knives, but it only passed through the elemental, leaving a sprinkle of water in its wake, doing very little.

“FLEE.” Abenthy spoke, first softly, then with confidence and a touch of anger. Like waves upon a shore, the elemental broke, turning and throwing itself off the platform. Abenthy and Karina breathed simultaneous sighs of relief and next to Karina, Verrick sheathed his blades. “Fighting water doesn’t feel very satisfying,” he said.

They all heard the distant splash as the water elemental fell through the fog and hit the water 60 feet below them. And then Karina turned pale. “Shit,” she said. “Tyrion is down there.”

Tyrion heard the splash, too. He didn’t know what it was, but anything down here with him he was willing to bet was not a friend.

“Down in the valley-o I left my bally-ho The comrades sally for The call to go to war”

Not really appropriate for the moment, but in his fear he could only remember the most traditional of songs he had memorized: old marching tunes. He began to play louder, hoping that his allies could hear him and would locate him soon.

The attack came swiftly from two sides. The only warning was a welling of the water, like a small wave that continued to grow of its own power. Tyrion saw it coming and backed up, but his feet hit the edge of the island and suddenly the deep was opening up beneath him. He fell backwards with a shriek, just as the fog above him split, out of it bursting the winged form of Abenthy, dropping towards him like an eagle from a storm. The halfling reached out his lute and the Aasimir clasped a hand around it. Then Tyrion was in the air. Beneath him the two elementals crashed together with a spray of water, the droplets turning into tiny hands that gripped at his furred feet as they splashed up around him. But they had no power to drag him back down.

“Thank you!” was all that Tyrion could manage to pipe out. It was enough.