#Although I’m pretty sure this one was from a dnd session…. Oh well

[spatteringstars]

"Mmm I think you’re underestimating the strength of human connective tissues but pop off I guess" - Dick Grayson at some point probably

[cockasinthebird]

hi i just read your tags on the arm wrestling thing and???? please?? write that???? please i need it i might actually start crying rn but i am hungover so lets blame it on that ily

Hiiii! Before you even sent this ask I was thinking about it hahahahaha, aaaaand I hope this is satisfactory work!

Tagging @thinger-strang because they seemed quite interested as well~

Hope you feel better soon bby, ily2!!! Drink plenty of water!

-

Hand in hand, elbows firm on the dining table, gazes locked unblinkingly so, they’re connected tightly this late afternoon.

It was a usual Saturday at first - the gang was in the middle of their intense DnD session; a hobby they decided to move to the Harrington mansion because here there’s no parents to interrupt and, frankly, better snacks.

A decision paired well with how Billy has been helping Steve out with his tower of homework once a week for the last half a year or so, and Max is elated because it means she doesn’t need to get a dorky bike when she can just hitch a ride with her step-brother.

Billy and Steve were, metaphorically, elbow deep in English literature, homework on Edgar Allan Poe and the “romantic era” of poetry, which to Billy isn’t exactly something he wants to study so closely with the one guy he can’t ever stop thinking about; can’t ever have.

So when the little brats shouts for them, interrupting whatever Steve was asking about, gesturing with those hands, hair smelling so fucking good of expensive shampoo- what is that? Lavender?

The six of them trot into the dining room, Max looking horribly exasperated, arms crossed and rolling her eyes as Will and Dustin fight about something way too loudly.

“Hey!” Billy shouts but they don’t stop. “Hey!” Louder this time and it visibly shakes poor Will. “What is it?” 

“Well, we were on our way to fight this dragon, ordered by lord-” Mike starts explaining but stops promptly as Billy raises his hand up.

“The short version, we’re kinda in the middle of something here.” Billy gestures to the incomprehensible mess of papers and books in front of him and Steve, who looks relieved at the chance of a break.

“So we’re in a tavern” Mike tries again, but-

“This better be quick, Wheeler, or you’ll have to explain to your mom how your bike got bent.”

“Billy,” Max groans with a hard stare, after all, he had agreed to be nice.

Both to her and to Steve.

“We need you guys to arm wrestle!” Mike spits out and looks between the vastly stronger, older guys.

And at that Billy can’t help but grin all crooked with exposed teeth. See that’s something he can get behind; a chance to show off and prove he’s still the King, even if he and Steve have found something akin to friendship after their truce.

“Well why didn’t you just say so,” Billy almost chuckles. He places an arm across the back of Steve’s chair and turns to look at him. “What’d you say, princess?”

Steve looks more than a bit intimidated, eyeing Billy’s arms, chest, grin, and then Dustin and the rest. “What’s at stake?”

“Oh, we’re at this tavern, and Max and Lucas have each bet on these two strong orcs sitting and doing an arm wrestle in the middle of a roaring crowd, and we need you guys to decide who wins! For it to be fair,” Dustin says, shockingly without any interruption from Billy, and smiles oh so wide that Steve even asked.

“Okay, sure,” Steve doesn’t sound very convincing, but he shakes his head and stands up to walk to the other side of the table.

“But it’s not fair!” Max shakes her head. “Billy is clearly going to win, so how do we decide which of the two orcs he is?”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Steve’s voice a slight bit shaky, perhaps because everyone knows he’ll lose, even himself.

Billy just sticks out his tongue at him and rumbles forth a chuckle. Oh he is going to destroy Steve, no doubt about it. He’s been looking at those arms, fought him before even, and while he’s not the worst fighter Billy’s been up against, he’s far from the best.

“How about I say the names and they decide which one they’ll be? That way they don’t know who bet on who, and you guys won’t have a say in it?” Will asks as he settles into the chair next to Steve, ready to judge the show of strength.

“Genius!” Lucas proclaims and sits down on the other side of Steve.

Max simply scoffs and goes to stand next to Billy.

“We have Urzok the Infernal, and Dhakk the Mighty,” Will offers up and looks between Steve and Billy,

“I’ll take Dhakk the Mighty,” Billy drawls out and wags his tongue at Steve, whose Adam’s apple bobs visibly as he swallows hard.

“Guess I’m Ur… Urok?”

“Urzok,” Will says with a far too serious tone, as if it actually matters.

And their hands clasp together atop the sea of notes. Strong, firm, warm, soft. Does Steve use lotion on his hands? Billy teasingly squeezes the other’s hand a bit tighter for a short moment, a little signal of “You’re going down, pretty boy.”

But for some reason that Billy isn’t too keen on exploring, Steve squeezes back, and his heart does a dangerous flip that nearly causes his cocky grin to falter. Does he know what he’s doing to Billy? Is he aware of the stupid effect this causes?

“Are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” Steve says with sudden confidence, as if he fucking knows.

“Yeah, ready.” Billy counts it as a victory that he doesn’t stutter those two simple words.

He’s starting to sweat, actually, and prays that Steve doesn’t notice it - that his hand doesn’t turn clammy and gross. The first time he touches Steve’s hand and he’s going to ruin it by being sweaty and sticky.

“1… 2…”

Somehow it’s the slowest countdown he’s ever listened to.

“3… Go!”

And Billy’s entire arm tenses up immediately. Steve’s pushing against him, grasp tight and desperate, is this all he got? Billy’s not even moving yet, rock steady although he can feel that Steve could probably win with enough determination, the way his arm is starting to go in the wrong direction.

So he pushes back a bit, just enough so that Steve knows, arms going in the right direction this time, further and further in favor of Billy.

The kids are shouting and screaming their names- well, the orc names, but Billy doesn’t really register their words or who’s cheering for who. He’s gazing straight into those eyes where he drowns in honey, staring back beneath a tense brow.

Steve’s smiling somewhat, it’s hard to tell from the way his lips are pulled tight, but Billy has watched Harrington enough to know his expressions.

And as Steve’s arm starts to shake ever so slightly - not visibly so, but felt in their grasp - Billy’s not even halfway through his energy reserve, and honestly he’d hoped for a bit more of a challenge, but…

He eases up, just enough for it to be believable as Steve starts pulling him in the other direction. Even so, Billy is not about to go down easy. Halfway to his loss and he’s still holding strong, Steve’s exhaustion more apparent now yet he smiles lighter, forehead less wrinkled, some gleams in his eyes.

The back of Billy’s hand meets the table softly, and everyone but Max jumps up ecstatically, clapping and shaking Steve by the shoulders as he won.

Steve’s got both his hands in the air now, leaving Billy to feel weirdly lonely, but he won’t dwell on that.

“Yeah!” Steve hollers victoriously, pumping his fists so full of vigor. “And the crowd goes wild!” He cups his mouth like a megaphone and mimics a cheering crowd as best as he can.

Dustin and Lucas jump around him, shouting all sorts of nonsense that isn’t meant to be understood past their excitement, yet Max’s scoff manages to be heard above their celebration, and she stomps back into the living room with El and Mike in tow.

“Change that to Urzok the Champion!” Steve shouts just as elated as the kids and points to Will, who’s almost beaming at the way those three makes a scene.

Unfortunately, Billy hadn’t really given the side effects of victory any thought, and seeing how happy Steve is to have won stirs something in him.

“Harrington! Harrington! Harrington!” Steve, Dustin and Lucas all chant like they’re at a football game, all deep and gruff. “Harrington! Harrington! Harrington!”

There’s a pang of heart and a souring of his gut. Billy knows that he let Steve win. There’s no need to feel threatened or jealous or whatever. Kinda angry, kinda entertained. Kinda sick-ish.

“You really thought you had me there for a moment, huh Billy?” Steve points to where Billy remains seated, smiling but not with full honesty. “Thought you could defeat the King!”

Okay that does it. “Come on pretty boy, one more time, just for fun,” there’s restraint at the edge of his tone, and his smile twitches with something mean. He pats the table and offers up his hand again.

But Steve throws his head back as he laughs in a mocking tone, friendly enough, although far too boastful.

“Nah, I won-” He presses a finger against his chest, then points to Billy. “-And you lost!” 

The way Steve smiles so wide actually hurts in a way, and it is shocking how something so small and meaningless can wound Billy’s pride.

“And you can never-” Steve slams both hands onto the table. “-Ever-” He leans in close enough for Billy to feel him breathe out, “-Take that away from me.”

There’s a far too familiar desire to reach out, to touch skin, to meet the source of those words. Billy’s only seconds away from either punching Steve or kissing him, he can’t really tell, but his entire being is ready to act.

Steve doesn’t linger there though, pulls away and lifts up his arms, flexes his biceps and tips his head down to plant a kiss on each, really showing off just how strong he is, boasting about being the victor.

“Guys come on!” Mike shouts from inside the living room, clearly very impatient.

“Yeah yeah we’re coming!” Dustin replies at the same volume and sets off.

“Thanks,” Will speaks low, or maybe it just sounds like it from the way the others assaulted Billy’s eardrums with their shrieking.

And soon enough they’re all alone again.

Billy slumps against his chair, playing with a pencil that will soon break under the tension of his unresolved feelings.

Steve puts his hands on his hips, chest heaving as he tries to calm down again, looking just as flushed and worn out as he does after basket. He huffs a laugh and shakes his head, then returns to his seat right next to Billy, who’s smiling something so sly.

“You… you let me win, didn’t you?” Steve asks all breathless and runs a hand through his hair. His exhaustion comes more from the wild gloating than the actual wrestling they did.

“All I can say is…” Billy leaves a pause that is a clear indication of a yes as he eyes Steve up and down. “Congrats on the win, Urzok the Champion.”

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

Zombie Apocalypse AU Masterpost 2 Electric Boogaloo

Previous Post: https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/618314308275863552/zombie-apocalypse-au-masterpost

-Bdubs is slowly going feral because he has the virus, it just doesn't show itself physically.

-Cub was tempted to purposefully get the virus to try and help find a cure, (they probably don't have lab rats given the circumstances,) by Scar talked him out of it.

-The timeline of events with DocM is that he started in the NHO group, they ended up dispersing (Etho turned and then left to ensure the safety of his friends, Beef ended up going separate due to Doc and Bdubs' constant fighting and Bdubs stormed off after an argument.) He ends up getting taken in by TFC, (he's the first to arrive,) and eventually captures Rendog.

-Stressmonster and Iskall originally lived in a cabin in the mountains. After Iskall got swept away in a snow storm and Joe and Cleo stopped by, Stress had no idea there was a Zombie outbreak.

-Hypnotizd and XB ended up trespassing in Jevin's property and Jevin shot Hypno. XB pleaded to Jevin that they weren't zombies and to not hurt them further and Jevin begrudgingly went, 'okay, fine. You aren't taking my food though.'

-Impulse's weapon of choice was a shovel.

-Grian can't fly in this AU. Let's be real, if he could, it would be pretty OP.

-Keralis most definetly gave a larger share of his rations to Xisuma while he was sick.

-TangoTek entirely blames himself for Impulse leaving and Zedaph getting bit. He feels especially conflicted because he wants to leave because he's convinced they both hate him and blame him but he can't because 'what if they go looking for him?' 'What if someone worse comes from that?'

-The location of Etho's bite is right on the front of the neck. He actually passed out from blood loss initially and he very nearly died. (Luckily for him the zombie didn't pull away, ripping out anything important (like a windpipe of an oesophagus,) giving Doc time to carefully unhinge the zombie's jaw and save Etho.) Nobody was quite sure how Etho was even alive with a big chunk out of his neck until he started displaying some strange behaviour.

-False is usually the one who stays up late to stand guard and protect her group.

-Mumbo accidentally caught Hypno in one of his traps at one point but let him go.

-Hay here’s a dumb idea, The reason ren is immune to the zombie virus is because he has like an anti-zombie virus in his body it behaves just like a normal zombie virus but it doesn’t turn you into a zombie, so how the hermits turn the zombie hermits human again is by making ren bite them.

-I have an angst ending and a no-angst ending so first here's the not-angst one: Doc and Ren team up with Cub and Scar to make a cure (so Ren doesn't have to bite everyone personally). They travel around finding every bitten survivor and salvageable zombie they can, using the weapons and resources from the NHO for protection. They find ways of producing and distributing enough cure for everyone, and during that process all of the Hermits decide to stay friends and in touch afterward.

-For the Zombie AU, if Scar doesn't already have like a different role in this au, he could've possibly been the first human infected because *someone's* pet cat ate a weird looking mouse and bit their owner.

-This is very angsty and gory, so fair warning: How fast does the virus spread through the body from the bite? If slow, you can cut the bitten part off before it spreads out through the body. To doc having a robot arm, what if he got bit and out of fear, they amputated his arm to stop the spread. I know y'all probably don't wanna go with body horror, but that's something to consider in this AU.

-Lowkey I feel zombie Etho doesnt do justice to his epic PVP skillz, but!! I do see Etho to be something SIMILAR to it! Idk if you've ever played Telltale's The Walking Dead game, but Etho could a zombie whisperer, a human who wears zombie skin and lives amongst the zombies for protection. So when Etho got bit, they THOUGHt he turned but actually just decided, hey I live here now and just vibin.

-You know how ren being a werewolf is popular in the fandom(from what I've seen) maybe that's why is immune to being a zombie and getting bitten by him if your infected cures it because the zombie infection and werewolf infection cancel eachother out.

-A more jokey Zombie!Au thing: The first episode of Llamas with hats but it's Zombie!Etho and Beef.

-I feel like if Wels could get to some of his friends he would try his hardest to protect them and if he ever managed to get bit it would be to save someone else.

-There is just always so much angst potential in any scenario or AU where it involves the possibility of Wels sacrificing himself in some way to protect his friends from something poor bb 😔

-Would infected hermits be able to like recognize people after the infection zombified them or whatever it is? Because if so oh my god imagine the angst.

(All those above in red are from our community's lovely anons!)

-About the anti-zombie Ren bite thing: Doc has the idea suddenly in the middle of an argument so the conversation goes a little like this:

Ren: "So what I'm trying to say, my dude, is that would never work because -"

Doc: "Ren. Bite me."

Ren: "Oh yeah, real mature way to end a disagreement there -"

Doc: *facepalming* "No, Ren, I mean actually.... Just do it, I'll explain later."

-Angst ending: They could never produce enough cure to stem the tide of undeath. They all choose to band together and take shelter underground, hoping to wait it out. They use X's tunnel, but that many people that close together smells irresistible to a horde. The zombies flood after them into the tunnel. X says he'll buy them some time, even though he is terrified. He collapses the tunnel on himself and the zombies so the others can escape. His last thought: At least I get to die as myself.

-Thinking about Etho's bite location (you said it was on his neck): Most bites are on the shoulder or leg (bit from behind while running away) or on the arm (bit while raised to defend). To be bitten on the neck he would have to have his arms and shoulders lowered. Etho, being a good fighter, would have only done this if it was absolutely necessary. Conclusion: he was bitten with his arms stretched out to protect someone behind him, and he knew the consequence that his choice would have.

-(@shadeswiftdraws.)

-The NHO are all strangely dressed (Etho is kakashi, Doc is green, Bdubs has a bandana,) because they were all at a cosplay convention. (-@tomcatacaphe.)

-When Etho left The nHo, he brings a Journal with him. Every Night he'll write a Journal entry. He'll write just about anything, there even some random lyrics and some pretty flowers he pick up along his travels. But as the Journal goes on, the words slowly became wobbly. Inconsistent. until finally, Unreadable chicken skrach. His final (at least readable) entry is: "-I hoPE yoU GUyZ ArE DoInG bETThEr ThAn I Am" As some point in time, Etho lost his Journal and Joe hills found it.

-Speaking of Joe Hill, he made it his personal mission to collect every literature and entertament media he can possibly carry on him. From Dnd Book, poetry, Documentary DVD's, to random journal He think would be usefull. Stress is happy to help Joe but Cleo is a little annoyed because it's will only slow them down, but Joe Argued that "If there's no knowledge left, then what will the future be? Just staying alive and surviving?" Cleo begrudgingly agrees.

-I can totally see Joe and Cleo Rocking an actual Sword and Dnd Cosplay (Joe got is a gift while Cleo Commissions her's after seeing Joe whip out his sword one time in a one shot DnD session) they keep the swords, but they ditch the Costume pretty early on tho.

-Mumbo's next Job Interview would be schedule at Concorp. But then the Zombie apocalypse happened on his way there.

(-@tearosepedall.)

-I don’t want this au to end but here’s my take: most of them get to the bunker where they don’t develop a cure, but do create a vaccine. Occasionally they will venture out to hand out the vaccine to survivors. Still, they all decide to stay into stay together. But because they were unable to develop a cure, even though they really try, there are some how have been lost such as etho, zed, and mumbo. Still the rest of them morn and try their best to survive without modern society. (-@lookitsspacekween.)

https://hermitcraftheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/618587883366957056/tw-very-brief-mention-of-vomit-general-warnings (-@carpe-shovelem.)

-Funny/happy ending to the Zombie AU: The hermits set up a zombie funneling system where the ones that didn't die from infection get bit by Ren to get turned back and they return the dead and give them proper burials. (-@my-cat-is-a-bastard.)

-I just remembered the thought post with Tuartis sleeping through things, Bdubs sleeping through the apocalypse, but now we've got Wels on the sleep team too! Wonder if he'd have slept through the apocalypse as well... (-@853dragons.)

TW: Mentions of dead animals:

I've got one last bit for the zombie au, it ties into my parasite one: With the rumors that the outbreak started in the Convex cancer research facility, and Scar feeling guilt because he Should Have Been Able To Stop This... It really was their fault. As a company. It wasn't intentional, of course, but Convex created the parasite. It was during research into a cure for certain conditions that are notoriously risky/impossible to perform surgery on, like brain tumors or lukemia-type cancer. The hope was to utilize the parasites as something that could harmlessly go in, eat or destroy all the cancerous cells, then die off, leaving a perfectly healthy human. The research project was abandoned after a several years, when every single attempt ended with either dead or, in later years, extremely sickly rats. Although the final round seemed promising, the rats weren't showing obvious signs of a decline in health after two weeks, Convex was convinced to just give it up and that the utilization of parasitic worms was asking for more trouble than it was worth. Plus, PETA was getting dangerous with their choices in protest against the tests, which was the main reason it was called off. Cub and the board of directors didn't want to risk bodily harm to their researchers, and it truly was getting so beyond ridiculous that a few bodyguards weren't enough protection.

Some researchers took some of the test rats home as pets, including our Patient Zero, because they really were quite cute. Patient Zero got bit by his rat, and nobody really thought anything of it for a couple weeks until his behavior took a bad turn. He was picking fights and throwing verbal abuse, and no amount of warnings and write-ups were giving any hint of stopping him. It all finally resulted in him viciously biting fellow labworkers, which sent two of them and himself to the ER. Upon arrival he had to be restrained and isolated lest he bite more people. He was fired from the company, his bodyguards pulled, but Scar had been friends and continued to visit him regularly, wondering where the change had come from, and saddened by his old friend's obvious decline in health. Nurses told him he was refusing to eat or drink, and too violent to reason with nor release to anywhere but the police or psychiatric hospital. Soon, there were more reports of uncharacteristicly aggressive actions from PZ's victims. And from there.... Well, it's your choice where the story goes, but it didn't take long for Scar to put the puzzle together.

-(@basaltdragon.)

More to be added!

[dmsden]

What Is Wanting and What Is Owed

Hullo, Gentle Readers. Since I’ve been given the rare gift of a 5th Monday this month, I get a freestyle article. And, although I don’t often like to get on a soapbox, I’m going to do so a little. If you don’t want to hear me pontificate, you may want to skip this article and come back on Thursday.

During its recent D&D “Live” event, a few products were announced. Rime of the Frostmaiden was announced as the new adventure. While I’m personally meh about the whole Drizzt/Icewind Dale storyline, books, etc, I recognize that they’re an incredibly popular property, and I’m looking forward to seeing new monster stat blocks and so on. In proximity to this announcement came three other announcements, all of which I thought of as very positive, but which, to my surprise, brought a ton of venom from other D&D players.

Beadle & Grimm’s announced a Platinum Edition of the mod. No surprise there.

WotC announced Heroes’ Feast, the official D&D cookbook, from the same team that did the beautiful Art & Arcana book.

And finally, WotC made an announcement, which I will not go over again here, about how they wanted to show more sensitivity when presenting cultures based on real world cultures. You can read this in full at https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/diversity-and-dnd

I was pleased with all these announcements, but I was shocked (I guess I shouldn’t be any more?) about the level of venom I saw online about all three of them.

The B&G announcements was met with comments like, “$500? For that, the adventure had better run itself for me!” “Does it actually cast the spells?” and so on. For full disclosure, I have bought everyone of the Beadle & Grimm’s products. I ordered Waterdeep: Dragon Heist with a lot of trepidation, because $500.00 is a decent chunk of change for me. After receiving it and being blown away by what it contained, I knew we’d be buying other products as they came down the line.

The fact is that I am the target audience for B&G products: I’m a huge D&D fan, as is my husband, and we have a decent amount of disposable income to spend on our major hobbies, which includes TTRPGs. If you’re not in that target audience, then of course you’re not going to buy it, but I don’t see the value in tearing down others who make that decision. I guess, if anything, it’s likely motivated by jealousy. That’s a pretty natural human emotion, but it would be nice to see the honest reaction behind it.

The reactions to the cookbook seem to range from “I won’t waste my money on this” to “Well, they’re gonna lose money on this one” all the way to “Why is WotC wasting time with all-fluff products like this? They should be working on XXXX, because I’ve been waiting years for it.” I can understand not wanting to spend money on something you don’t want or need; that’s sensible. I’m personally charmed by the idea of an official cookbook, because I love to cook, so I’ll be grabbing this. I was actually pondering a fantasy-based cookbook project myself, but now I’ll wait to see what this looks like and if it scratches the itch I have for such a product.

So is WotC wasting talent on this? No, they’re not. The people who are writing this are the same freelance team that worked on Art & Arcana, so no WotC authors were dragged away from valuable work for this. Also, this isn’t one of WotC’s normal books that they release in a year. We’ll still be getting all the fluff and crunch this year that we normally would, but those of us who like the idea of a cookbook will get one.

Oh, and as far as losing money goes, I’d like to tell you about a book called Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home. When the Dragonlance novels and modules came out, they were incredibly popular. They were so popular that the demand for more material about that world prompted TSR to publish Leaves. It was all fluff and no crunch. You got everything from astronomy notes to sheet music to...oh, gosh...recipes. And it was a massive seller. It sold so well that they ended up making two sequels to it. So I think WotC will be okay with this one. And if not, they just won’t do another project like this down the line.

I think what bothers me about this one is really the sense of entitlement. Way too many posts seemed to boil down to, “This isn’t what I want; I want XXXX. WotC owes it to me.” Like, really, no they don’t. Every time WotC has a product announcement, I cross my fingers for Spelljammer, because I have an irrational love of its silliness and the imagination that went into it. But it would NEVER occur to me to think that WotC somehow owes me Spelljammer. WotC is a company, and the core principle of every company is to make money. I’m sure that, if WotC eventually thinks Spelljammer will make it money, that it’ll happen, but they know that Forgotten Realms is their bread and butter, so I’m not holding my breath.

I’ve been going on for a long time, but the last one is the one that cuts me deepest to the quick, so I can’t ignore it. It’ll probably come as no surprise to anyone that, as a very liberal/progessive gay man, I was disgusted to see so many comments condemning WotC for bowing to political correctness or for doing this “just to make money”.

As far as making money goes, I have already said, that’s what a company wants to do. I think you’d have to be blind not to see the surging tide of people in the U.S. and across the world who are sick and tired of inequality. The fight for equal treatment for people of color, for women in general, for gay people, for trans people...it’s still raging. For every victory, like the Supreme Court case that said workplaces couldn’t fire people for being of LGBTQ+ status, there’s a crushing setback, like President Trump’s executive order to allow hospitals to discriminate against trans people. But things seem to be shifting again, and people are more and more stepping up to declare their dedication to the fight. So yes, if I were running a company, I would be taking notice, and I would be taking actions in this direction.

What I do not and will not understand are people who are somehow going to claim to be upset that WotC is going to take steps to try to not offend people in the future. It bothers me that people can’t say, “Well, I’m not personally offended, but I’m not black/Romani/gay/Asian/Native American/whatever. I think it’s great that WotC is trying to make sure D&D is more inclusive for everyone.” I don’t understand how anyone can play a game like D&D...a game that literally makes you walk in someone else’s shoes...and yet have so little ability to do it in your actual life. D&D literally shows you how different people with different abilities have to work together to help each other achieve a goal, and it’s sad to see that some who play it have so little regard for people who are different from themselves.

If you’ve stuck through this article this far, I wish I could offer you some great wisdom at the end. I guess I’ll just caution you to spend a moment thinking about what you’re going to say online before you say it. Once your words are out there, they’re very hard to take back, and that can have consequences. I try my best to make most of my interactions online with people positive ones. Even when I don’t agree with people, I try to be positive, and to educate them as to my side of the argument, rather than just blasting them with “No, you’re wrong for thinking that.” I thought long and hard before writing this article, and I thought long and hard before publishing it. I may lose readers over it, and, if so, that would be a shame, but I would rather be honest about who I am and what I believe.

So be kind to one another. To borrow a quote from Critical Role, “Don’t forget to love each other.” Roll those 20s. And we’ll be back on Thursday with a fun question about running a campaign that begins before Session Zero. Whaaaaat? You heard me. See you then!

[izayoichan]

“It's not silly, it matters to me…” “It feel's silly when I'm not the one that got hurt, it isn't me that's almost dying every other day. 

He sighs, not wanting to and wanting to talk about it at the same time.

“He told me I was enough as just me, that even if Hayden...dies, then I would be enough. And he told me you would come back, he pretty much guaranteed it…”

River listens to him attentively, his hand resting on Rylan's side and he gives him a small concerned smile.

“It's not silly. Just because you weren't physically hurt doesn't mean you're not hurting. And he was right, you are enough. You're more than enough, to me you're everything! What makes you think you're not enough? Why do you think that?” “It's always been me and Hayden, it's like if one of us goes away, can the other one be enough? And since he has always been the sickly one, it's always been me that has cared for him, so what am I without that?”

He can feel the tears burn in his eyes, trying his best to keep control over his emotions. 

“And I guess, part of me is caring for my brother, I have done it since we were kids, suddenly seeing myself without that, it is hard.. “

He looks up at River, knowing he felt alone during all that time, his parents and everyone did the best they could but they were not River. River gently trails his tears with his thumb, watching him carefully. 

“You're always taking care of everyone else. I can see why you'd feel lost, but you're so much more than just that. You're not just Hayden's twin, you're not just the brother who takes care. You're so much more, you're more than enough. You're Rylan, kind, caring loveable Rylan, who loves stray pets and DnD sessions, and is the most beautiful and ethereal model in any magazine, who always worries so much about everyone and is there for all of us. You're so much more. You're intelligent and creative, you could be a writer even with the wonderful stories you come up with. 

He brushes his cheek gently. 

“You're the Rylan who doesn't get social media, still comes up with witty comebacks and remarks that leave me speechless.”

Rylan smiles, oddly hearing River tell him these things was one of the things he had missed the most while he was away. That and the kisses, the closeness and just everything that was River to him. 

“I think maybe you're taking my skills in storytelling a little too far, but thank you. And don't worry, you won't be begged to model tomorrow, solo shoot so you'll just get to watch and be an annoyance to Carl.” “Ah! To annoy Icebergjaw, my second true purpose. My first is to love you dearly.”

He kisses Rylan gently.

“You are amazing, you are enough and you can tell me anything, be it silly or painful. I will do my best to kiss the pain away and make it all good again.”

Rylan chuckles at the comment about annoying Carl, the familiarity and comfort of River being back making him relax for the first time in a long time, holding back a slight jawn. 

“He's been telling me you're not coming back.. I mean Hayden punched him, and by punch, I mean floored him.” “Wait, Hayden punched him?! Why?”

River chuckles, his hand resting on Rylan’s side, just the thumb lightly caressing the skin. 

“Because he keeps doing more than he should on couple shoots, and because he kept insisting I should be with him, and you would never come back.”

He smiles at the memory of the shocked look on his face when he hit the ground. 

“Hayden told him to stop, he told him to make him, and well he did. He calmed down a lot after that... heck, even Vy has threatened him to stop, although not hitting.” “Vy? Antsy kitten Vy? Well, Iceberg jaw appears to need some sinking 

He shakes his head, and kisses Rylan gently 

“There's something else I want to ask though... You don't have to speak about it if you don't feel up for it. Before... when you were telling me about you... You said you just kept going until... Until what?”

Rylan looks at River, not really wanting to touch on it at all, but at the same time, he knows they will be touching on it at some point... 

“Until that day when I went to RoM and Morgyn served me his lie about you being his fiancè, I guess it was the final drop of what I could handle. I didn't believe him, but it hurt, and it sent me home alone when all I wanted and needed was you... I'm sorry... “

He hides his face on River's chest, it was this feeling of being too weak to handle everything, and he still remembers how his dad had sat with him for hours that day. 

“Don't be sorry... Don't be sorry... I'm the one that should be sorry for not being here for you.”

He rubs Rylan's head gently, kissing the top of it.

“You were so strong. All this time, your brother dying, your life breaking apart and look at you, you're so very strong. Always so strong, here for everyone, taking care of so much on your own. You are so very strong. I know you may feel weak for breaking down, but no, you're not weak. Never think you're weak. You're strong and it's because you're strong that you made it this far.”

He kisses the top of Rylan's head again, his heart aching for the man in his arms, all he had to face alone, the fears, the lies, the pain, all alone. 

“You're not alone anymore.” “Neither are you.”

Rylan slides his arm over River side so he can hold around him, he had realized how lonely the three years must have been for him, and when he stopped coming it must have felt even worse. Coming back, to find the shelter and his mother gone, all of it must have felt lonely. 

“You have me, my brother, Vy and my parents were your family.. if you want us to be.”

He feels River pull him up to him, their eyes meeting a small smile on Rivers face as he kisses him. 

“I missed you and I love you, Rylan.” “I love you too.”

He smiles at him, the world feeling right for the first time in over three years.

“You should get some sleep though, it might be an eventful day tomorrow, well after school that is. Maybe I should tell you a story, so you'll fall asleep?” “Sleep with me, I don't need stories just you here, close to me…” “I don't really sleep, but I'll just lie here with you.”

He snuggles up to River, playing a little with his hair, for once the quiet of the house not bothering him at all, just closing his eyes, and letting himself relax alongside River. River smiles as he feels him snuggle against him, but he doesn't close his eyes, just watching Rylan slowly relax, for seconds it was as if everything was good with the world and nothing wrong happened. He had never left, Rylan had never been hurt, they were alright, together just as they should, he closes his eyes, listening to Rylan's breathing, whispering

“I love you.”

Rylan smiles as he hears River's words, just relaxing in his arms, slowly but surely falling asleep for the first time in over a year, not from exhaustion this time, but from the comfort of who he is there with. River realizing Rylan is asleep, which makes him smile before he too drifts off to sleep. 

“Rylan, have you forgotten the time?”

There is a knock on the door in the early morning, Chris’s voice on the other side, River waking up noticing Rylan still asleep, only slightly stirring from his dad’s voice.

“Rylan?” “Hmh?”

Rylan slowly opens his eyes, stretching the fact that he has been asleep slowly dawning on him. 

“Ehm... what time is it?” “School time, so hop to it! Vy is waiting for you, and I guess River wants to walk you two there?”

Chris chuckles as he walks away without opening the door, going back down to Vy to tell him his walking companion overslept. 

“Oh.. ehm... yeah, you want to walk us, or should dad take us? I mean... “

Sits up and stretches again, before he turns around and kisses River quickly, as he tries to get his head properly awake, this whole sleep thing being something he just isn’t used too. Rylan quickly getting dressed so that poor Vy doesn’t have to wait even longer for him

“I’ll walk you to school, then I need to head to RoM.” “Vy can follow to my school then, that way he has your company all the way so no one attacks him. Ready to go?” “Yes, let’s go.” “You know I’d rather go with you right?” “Yeah, I’d prefer that too.”

River walks up to him and takes his hand, the two off them walking down where they see Vy waiting for them, looking tired as usual. 

Beginning - Previous - Next

[thewritewolf]

Nino’s Quest Chapter 7: Audience With the King

The party finally meets up with the King and they receive their next quest.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3.  My ko-fi.

Direct Message From Alya

Alya: babe. Have you noticed anything… ...weird? With the babies

Nino: Our babies? Yeah M’s back to her usual with my bro And adrien is a blushy mess around her Crazy

Alya: Is this progress? It feels like a side step Or taking a step forward… ...and tripping on their face.

Nino: Well, if they could get comfortable around each other before…

Alya: Babe its WAY worse now than what it was before Now NEITHER of them are talking to each other God they’re frustrating

Nino: Did it have something to do with that last akuma? You said you saw them heading toward it before things got crazy

Alya: Maybe? BUT OMG THAT BATTLE

Nino: ??? What happened??

Alya: After they beat the akuma They got the hell away from each other Super pale No fist bump I posted pics on the ldb

Nino: Lemme check Wait Are they blushing?

Alya: gr8 Now i’m even more confused

Nino: lmao Your fleet of ships! It is sinking, babe

Alya: Don’t even JOKE about that! Ladynoir WILL set sail Marinette WILL get her hamsters with Adrien

Nino: lol Just teasin Let em figure stuff out on their own They’ll get there

Alya: I hope youre right…

Nino: Trust me, babe. I AM a master of romance

Alya: Yeah? Where’d you get those credentials, huh?

Nino: I got you, didn’t I?

Alya: … Smooth, cappy Very smooth

-------

Lord DM: Alright, my dudes, we have agreed that there WILL be dnd this weekend. The question is now… ...where the heck is it going to be.

Adrien Regreste: Definitely not at my place They are barely letting me out No way are they going to let me have friends over [crying cat face]

Alya’ll Beware: yeah and its not going to be any better at my place Esp with Nora back in town

Lord DM: What bout u, M?

Marinoodles: There is a big order at the bakery They don’t need my help BUT They DO need the extra space My place is out

Lord DM: Well dang Looks like i’ll have to bring out the big guns You guys can come over to my place

Adrien Regreste: [shocked emoji] I never thought I’d see the day…

Alya’ll Beware: lol, chill sunshine. Stay focused on the dnd

Lord DM: No no Let him bask Few mortals get this honor

Alya’ll Beware: [eye roll emoji]

-------------

Saturday arrived at long last, and Nino took stock of his preparations for the day. His little bro out with their parents. A stack of chip bags and pop and all the things that would make Adrien’s nutritionist twitch. Bean bag chairs for him and all his friends. Ambiance from tabletop audio. Everything had to be right - they were meeting with the Good King Haman, after all. It was one of the climaxes of the campaign.

Which was why he was worried when everyone finally got there.

Adrien had picked up everyone, of course, which might explain why he and Marinette were already a blushing mess. Nino glanced to Alya for clues, but all she had for him was a frown and a shrug.

The two of them sat opposite each other, with Alya opposite Nino. There was a pregnant silence where usually they would have their pre-session chat.

Nino considered himself a pretty empathetic kinda guy. It wasn’t that hard for him to get a feel for the room, or put himself in other people’s shoes. But even for him, his two friends were a stone wall. The only thing he could say for sure is that they weren’t angry with each other. Maybe just… scared. Which was weird, but hey - Dungeons and Dragons hadn’t let him down yet. Maybe it could help them now.

With that in mind, Nino started the session. “After spending the morning making yourselves look like you totally belong at court - with different amounts of success - you make your way to the royal castle. Looks like someone’s looking out for you, since the usually long line to see the king is super short today.”

“Finally, some kind of break,” Alya grumbled. “After bandits and assassins, at least we don’t have to wait in line.”

“After an hour, you finally find yourselves face to face with the King himself. While it is clear that he is no longer the adventuring knight of his youth, he’s still got the broad shoulders and strong arms of a fighter. His jeweled, golden crown rests easily atop his head. He watches you intently as you approach, a well groomed eyebrow raised as he takes in your martial appearance.”

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows. “Wait, we’re in armor and stuff?”

“Well,” Marinette responded, “we are adventurers. We should never be too far from our gear.”

Bowing his head in acquiescence, Adrien returned his attention to Nino.

“After you are declared, the King seems even more curious about you. He speaks with a clear, booming voice, one used to commanding armies in the field. ‘I recognize your names. There was a wretched matter afoot last night - one that you were the center of. I admit, I had wondered what would force someone’s hand in such a way as to send assassins. What business do you have with me?’”

When it became clear that both Marinette and Adrien weren’t going to speak up - each seemed to be stuck in a cycle of catching the other’s eye, blushing, and looking somewhere else - Alya sighed and responded.

She cleared her throat. “During our travels, we uncovered something that we felt you ought to know. There was a…” Her eyes widened and she glanced between her flustered friends. “Um… What was he called? An evil sorcerer?”

Marinette mumbled something that might have been, “Dark adept.”

“Thanks, M.” Straightening her back, Alya looked toward Nino again. “There was a dark adept raising the dead to fight for him.”

“A flurry of murmuring erupts around you. The royal guard flanking the King tighten their grips on their halberds. The King himself has his lips tighten into a thin line before saying, ‘That is a bold claim, young knight. I trust that you brought justice to this renegade, in accordance with the laws of our land?’”

Alya nodded. “Of course! But there is more to it than that.” She checks her character sheet. “Who has the decrypted journal of the dark adept? It looks like it isn’t on me.”

There was a rustling of papers.

“Oh, right,” Adrien said, “I forgot that I was checking it for other clues.”

“Is that when you rolled another one and forgot how to read for a few hours?”

“Hush.”

“Anyway,” Alya said, returning to her character voice, “My ally has a decrypted journal we took from the adepts quarters. There were repeated references to the adept’s master, and hints of a larger plot against the kingdom.”

“The King frowns. ‘Let me see this journal.’”

“I’ll take it up to him.”

“He takes it from Adrien’s character and quickly skims through it, his eyes narrowing as he reaches the end. ‘I must thank you for your work in ending this threat, but it seems a larger one has made itself known. While I am sure you must want to rest, I must ask you to meet this threat to the kingdom.’ He gestures to an advisor nearby. ‘Pay these heroes five hundred gold pieces for each of them.’ His eyes land on you once again. ‘I’ll pay double that once you bring me proof that the Necromancer is dead, and his plot has died with him. Do you accept?’”

The other three exchanged looks between them.

“I’m all for earning a name for myself. And a quest from King Haman himself is about as good as it gets. I’m in.”

“I don’t have anything else planned,” Marinette shrugged, her eyes pointedly on the table in front of her. “I’m sure fighting evil will be its own kind of fun.”

“And where she goes,” Adrien nodded towards Marinette and met her eye. His voice lowered to almost a whisper. “...I’ll follow. Always.”

Something passed between them and it felt almost as if Nino were intruding. The moment passed, and the two of them broke out into furious blushes again.

“Right… so. The king nods, a faint smile on his lips. ‘Excellent. May the gods be with you in your quest.’” Nino took a sip of his drink. “Well, now you’re a little richer, and its time to level up your characters.”

For the rest of the session, Nino walked them through their first time leveling up and taught them the time honored art of spending their hard-earned gold. A new rapier for Adrien. Alchemist’s fire for Marinette. That sort of thing. They were feeling more confident now that they had more than their starting array of equipment, and Nino smiled as he watched them work. It was good to be the dungeon master.

--------

Later, after Adrien had taken Marinette home, Alya and Nino cuddled on the couch. With how big both their families were, it wasn’t often that they got a chance to hang out alone.

For a while, Nino was comfortable with the silence. But then curiosity got the better of him.

“So… how are you liking Dungeons and Dragons now? Still think it’s just for nerds?” He smirked at her as she rolled her eyes.

“Okay, I admit… I’m having loads of fun. It’s always nice to spend more time with you guys. And you especially,” Alya said, reaching up to kiss his cheek. “I’ve gotten surprisingly invested in this story. It almost feels like being Rena Rouge again, fighting evil and all that.”

“Not as likely to end up getting thrashed by a super villain, though.”

“Fair. And it’s nice to act like someone else for a while. Although,” she stretched, “it’s also nice when I don’t have to be the one taking the lead. I hope the babies get their act together soon. Being the leader is exhausting.”

“Poor babe,” Nino cooed, earning himself a gentle punch in the shoulder from his girlfriend. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll figure things out sooner or later.”

“It’s the later part I’m worried about. I just hope they’ll get their act together by next session.”

“I’m sure they will.” Nino wrapped his arms around Alya. “What’s the worst that could have happened? It’s not like they have big secrets that they are sitting on.”

They considered this for a few moments before Nino added,

“Besides the obvious crush thing, at least.”

[pomrania]

Mindflayer discussion

Below the cut is the transcription of a Discord conversation between @eyeloch, @absolxguardian, and me (Jan). I think we came up with some pretty good ideas about Underdark society and economy, although most of it was accidentally turning illithids into a combination of something like the Matrix, and vegans. I might take the ideas and make it into a neat post, later on, or I might not.

Excerpts:

Jan Okay, so when someone's at rock bottom, there's three "traditional" options. Selling your body (really unsavoury prostitution), selling your soul (fiends), selling your mind (illithids).

AbsolxGuardian for the last one, you would have to have hit super rock bottom, since you'd need to be in the underdark as well

*

Eyeloch Drow also provide spiders spiders are vital for the economy

AbsolxGuardian oohhh, what if that's the function of the elder brain in this world (because i hate hiveminds with rulers. that doesn't make sense)

Jan Elder brain, is that mindflayers?

AbsolxGuardian yep although i also like the idea of it being the server room of the hivemind

Eyeloch !!

Jan Okay. I don't think of that so much as a "hivemind with ruler", it's more like... the elder brain IS the "mind".

Eyeloch CLOUD COMPUTING

Jan Ooze computing.

Eyeloch THE ELDER BRAIN IS A SERVER FARM

Jan And then mindflayers are like black hat hackers?

Eyeloch hehehheheh ooooh

AbsolxGuardian .....mindflayer colony that's mining bitcoin

Jan YES

Eyeloch psychic bitcoins

Jan OH, and you can only use them when you're "plugged into" the brain server farm!

Eyeloch mindflayer shopkeeper that's cordial to PCs but only takes bitcoin assures them that any brain can generate them

AbsolxGuardian yes!!!

Jan Honestly, I think this Matrix-esque mindflayer concept is a lot better than their official lore.

Eyeloch I'm reminded of Logopolis, the last Fourth Doctor story

Jan And like, they don't so much EAT the brains for physical nourishment, as they extract it for future use as processing. ...which would then imply that a mindflayer vomits out a brain once it gets back home.

Eyeloch where block-transfer computations can literally affect reality as they're solved

AbsolxGuardian yeah! the brains could be doing calculations for psionic magic to generate things like food

Eyeloch like ants that collect leaf cuttings to farm fungus, but they collect brain cuttings to farm psionic energy

AbsolxGuardian they don't eat the brains, they use them as magic computers (i guess a naturally psionic species/being would be able to do it while remaining conscious) they could just be casting food generation spells

Jan Oh, and like a living person COULD like "loan" their brain out for a while, with it still being in their head... but they'd definitely be incapacitated during that.

Eyeloch malware left in brains

Jan Would probably take some psychic damage too, depending on how careful the mindflayers were.

Eyeloch and now I'm horrified

Jan And yes, the possibility of stuff like that being left in one's brain. Which means there's only two situations in which somebody would do this: a) they really trust the illithid in question b) they're desperate Now I'm imagining this as like, one of the last-resort activities people get up to, like certain forms of prostitution, or knocking over fantasy gas stations.

AbsolxGuardian ......wait so does that mean that the gith are just a matrix sequel (although I assume you would just be unconscious)

Jan And it's all technically legal. They know, getting into it, that it'll hurt, and they might not survive.

Eyeloch "Over time, overmind. . .over time, overmind. . .over ti-ti-time, overmind..."

AbsolxGuardian because standard lore says that after dragons and giants, it was the mindflayers that ruled the material plane

Jan Okay, so when someone's at rock bottom, there's three "traditional" options. Selling your body (really unsavoury prostitution), selling your soul (fiends), selling your mind (illithids).

AbsolxGuardian for the last one, you would have to have hit super rock bottom, since you'd need to be in the underdark as well

Eyeloch ...if you're an adventurer, selling your body may mean roughing people up

Jan Rock bottom LITERALLY heh.

Eyeloch but much the same

Jan Although, there's nothing stopping a mindflayer from being on the surface, aside from that it's far from their normal habitat. OH, maybe that's why it wants to borrow people's minds: because it doesn't have the normal "computing power" of an elder brain. It's running mobile instead of desktop. And there's a whole bunch of bipedal wifi stations walking about.

Eyeloch "Well, this is kind of. . .well it isn't an elder brain. More of an adolescent brain. It still helps, though!" omg parallel core computing = multiple mind psionics

AbsolxGuardian i can't believe both of my dnd sessions have bitcoin cause my dragonslayers one has spell slot based arcanecoin

Jan This reimagining could also make illithids feasible as allies, I think. If they don't require the DEATH of sentient beings to function, that could also put them at Lawful Neutral, with Lawful Evil tendencies because it's hard to view "humans" as "people" since they're so different.

Eyeloch this is amazing

AbsolxGuardian also they don't have to only eat psionic food, it's just the most practical in the underdark

Eyeloch together, we've made some great concepts

AbsolxGuardian heck, they're probably the breadbasket of the underdark

Jan Maybe illithids are strict herbivores when it comes to nourishing their physical forms. And "eating brains" doesn't have it go down the digestive tract, just to another internal place for storage.

Eyeloch oh gosh, talking about how they're vegan, while literally stealing brains :joy:

AbsolxGuardian YES!! now i'm thinking about the underdark economy, and i'd imagine duergar provide weapons and raw mined material. deep gnomes provide more precise and detailed products. mindflayers provide food. and drow provide slaves and "protection"

Jan Pffft, "You actually have to eat MEAT to FUNCTION? I'm going to take your brain, and you probably won't even notice that it's missing, you're already basically an animal."

Eyeloch Drow also provide spiders

Jan I love how we managed to turn mindflayers into both hackers and obnoxious vegans.

Eyeloch spiders are vital for the economy

AbsolxGuardian (in all seriousness, a tamed giant spider is basically a beast of burden)

Jan Even smaller spiders, there's spider silk. And if you can communicate with them, you can get stuff woven to order I suppose.

Eyeloch you could potentially make garments with almost no additional stitching required

AbsolxGuardian yeah, they provide fabric!

Jan Thinking of mindflayers, there was an idea I'd had a few months ago. Where they like, provided protection to a community, in exchange for a few brains once in a while. Kind of like an organized crime gang, I guess.

Eyeloch protection racket

Jan And there was also, like, you know Intellect Devourers? Those things like brains on legs? A smaller version of them, that were basically used for recreational purposes. To turn your brain off for a bit, like getting drunk. To clarify, this is what the humans in town did. Heh, I don't know whether it's sad or impressive that like, three nerds, talking over maybe fifteen minutes, can turn the Underdark into a functional economy, when Wizards of the Coast hasn't.

Eyeloch hello and welcome to the town of mindfuck

AbsolxGuardian i mean, they see the civilizations of the underdark as a lot more evil. we went in more of a "creepy harsh life"

Jan Yeah.

AbsolxGuardian although it is funny that the economy is in such perfect balance, because "conquer the surface and crush others underfoot" are on the long term priority list of drow and mindflayers now i'm imagining a vetinari-like drow having to reign in warmongering drow

Eyeloch the alignment of Stupid Evil can stifle effective ability to actually do evil

Jan Oh, the illithid-protection-racket idea: there's no beggars around, because they all get approached with "if you lend us your brain for a bit, and you survive, we'll make sure you have what you need to be set up afterwards". The people who don't take that offer, they're creeped out enough that they leave the area.

Eyeloch I love it OH HELL

Jan And like, there's a lot of visceral "this is horrible" reaction.

Eyeloch i d e a "Server farm"

Jan But the people who complain most about it, it's not like THEY were doing anything to help the beggars.

Eyeloch which is like battery hens, but with people with "useful" brains though, honestly, some mindflayers probably think that's wasteful since enrichment activities slow the degradation of the hardware, don't'cha'know

AbsolxGuardian oh are we going with each hive being a full hive mind and more of a single enity or just very community focused telepaths

Eyeloch hmmm, IDK

Jan "Enrichment", oh that's good. The latter idea would work better. And like, a strong enough mind can subsume all the others into it.

AbsolxGuardian that makes sense

Eyeloch corporate merger

Jan Oh, how about like there's some ideological splits along that line.

AbsolxGuardian so each elder brain is their internet server

Jan Whether it's better to have every body under one mind, or just have each body connected.

Eyeloch "Mindflayers. When you talk, we listen."

AbsolxGuardian yeah there might be a few all hivemind groups

Jan There's no real conflict between the hivemind vs non-hivemind groups. Maybe some verbal sniping, or "oh that's what you get for using that form" when one of them suffers damage.

Eyeloch just some passive aggression?

Jan But a pro-hivemind illithid doesn't work well in a non-hivemind group... and an anti-hivemind illithid will make the hivemind less functional, if forcibly added.

Eyeloch so much telepathic noise, and all the tiny disagreements stressing the hive-mind fan more and more for self-evident reasons!

Jan That's probably the biggest philosophical divide in mindflayer society. And like, they all feel that they're superior to other life forms, and the world would be a better place in charge. Just every mind has a different idea on how to do that, and if it should be done. Some think that non-mindflayers are enough of a mess that you shouldn't even bother with them, it's like cleaning out a stable with a dining fork. Don't try to take them over; even if you manage, it won't be fun.

Eyeloch "elves, gnomes and those others lot are fine to do their thing.  Just I wish they'd go do that stuff somewhere else, you know?"

Jan Frick, what if illithids see "humans" (by which I'm including other humanoids) as animals, with all the variety that entails. As beasts of burden, as nuisances who need to be driven away, as scenery, as pets.... Most feel like it's not right to go out of one's way to hurt a humanoid, but if a few humanoids end up suffering to achieve illithid goals, it's not a big deal.

Eyeloch tie it back into the vegan thing from earlier!

Jan There's a few who actively try to protect humanoids. But they still see humanoids as "lesser" beings than illithids.

Eyeloch some would rather not see humanoid suffering, or directly benefit from it but in a kind of

Jan "I would NEVER extract a human's brain personally, but I'll buy one at the store." "Awww, look at those cute little dwarves, carving out a dwelling for themselves! It's almost like they're people!"

Eyeloch "we are superior beings, so we shouldn't sully ourselves with inferior creatures" vs "we are superior in every way, and humanoids are simply too inferior to realise the honour it is to help us in mind or body."

[heyscience]

If I Were Inquisitor - Ask Meme.

@batsintheshadows @tea-me-and-smut @foxywolfmeerkat13 @howling-at-night OMG THIS IS SO FUN YOU GUYS HOLY SHIT!! Thanks so much for writing yours, and I’m so stoked to finally share mine!

If you are reading this and want to give it a shot, please reblog the original post and I’ll send you an ask! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH, I LOVE READING PEOPLE’S ANSWERS. THEY’RE ALL. SO GOOD!!!!

1. Race: I want to be a giant muscley mountain of a Qunari. I wanna be the very best, like no-one ever was, at smashing my enemies’ faces in and giving the best goddamn hugs there is. 

2. Class/Specialization: Two-handed Warrior/Champion. I like hitting things, and I love the idea of getting involved in all that pompous Orlesian chevalier bullshit and RUINING IT for ALL OF THEM.

3. Your homeland? It’s gotta be somewhere warm and by the sea (because I love the ocean and also I can’t deal with the cold cos I am WEAK), so I’m thinking Rivain. Ooh! And that would mean I’d have a bunch of sick tattoos and piercings! Rad.

4. Your family? (Ok so I’m basing this loosely off my irl family because they’re my best point of reference I guess????)

So, my family. I love them, but they’re a mess.

My Mum was the ideal Tamassran. A devout adherent to the Qun. She worked as a healer and was very well respected in her field.

That was until she met my Dad, who in short, looked at the Qun and was like ‘fuck this shit I’m out.’

Dad was a soldier and one day he was wounded in battle, ended up in the hospice where Mum worked, wooed her, and they ran away together to Rivain.

They had my brother and I and then realised that they’re actually polar opposites and it’s a wonder they were ever attracted to each other. They split up, re-partnered and had more kids. So I have a pile of siblings that I have varying degrees of blood relation with, but we all consider each other fully part of our extended, convoluted family (for serious - irl I have 9 siblings).

Mum taught me business sense and how to tend to battle wounds, Dad taught me how to fight. I’ve got a lot of family of various races all over Thedas, all related (not necessarily by blood) one way or another. People say lovely things about my Mum, and the craziest things about my Dad - the stories of his exploits are so outrageous it’s difficult to believe any of them are true (like irl my dad was involved in organised crime for a while but quit cos he got bored????).

I love my family but I’m really bad at keeping in contact with them, so I get the occasional letter from Mum being like ‘ARE YOU DEAD?!’

Leliana has taken to sending her reassuring updates preemptively.

5. Who were you before? I imagine I’d be part of something like a dnd adventuring party.

We started out as a ragtag group of misfits, travelling the land in search of gold and glory. It was mostly treasure hunting and mercenary gigs, and some of the work we did on the high seas was um, legal-adjacent (piracy). But occasionally we’d stop to lend a hand to those in need, pass ourselves off as bards to earn extra coin in small-town taverns, and we even involved ourselves in vigilante justice a couple of times.

We grew into our own little family, and eventually we found ourselves wanting to do the type of work that really mattered. That’s why we signed ourselves up to work security at the Conclave, with a plan to move into aiding refugees in Ferelden afterwards. It didn’t. Quite. Work out that way. Unfortunately.

6. Would you be religious? That’s a hard no.

7. Do you have a mabari? YES PUPPY! Who is also a fully fledged member of our adventuring troupe I might add.

8. Your opinion on other races? Elves = rad, dwarves = awesome, humans = eh, dragons?? = HELL YES

9. What would Varric’s nickname for you be? Stubby.

10. What would your tarot card look like? This one is hard! I’m thinking a lot of compass imagery (because the sea and travelling and finding your way etc.)...and I’d have to be facing at an angle that best accentuates my glorious biceps.

11. Where would you hang out in Skyhold? I like to be in the centre of the action, but I’m not sure where that would be?? Probably in the main Skyhold courtyard near the entrance, in amongst the merchants? It’d be a good spot to see the comings and goings, check in with recruits and workers for the Inquisition, and also play with any kids who might be around. 

It’s important to make sure the kids of the Inquisition are happy and healthy and, um, ok Josie I’ll admit it, they’re also way more fun to hang out with than that stuffy noble whoeverthefuck you just brought in from Orlais.

12. What would you do for fun? Knock back beers in the Herald’s Rest with my companions, come up with dirty drinking songs with Sera, get blackout drunk with Dorian (although I’ll eventually realise it’s a very unhealthy coping mechanism and encourage Dorian to join me in cutting down the booze), swap stories and quality bants with Varric, beg Vivienne for fashion advice, gush over romance novels with Cass, have tea and gossip sessions with Josie, poke fun at Cullen, spar with the Inquisition recruits (and scare the shit out of them), and, just anything to distract from the looming horror that is Corypheus.

13. What armour would you wear? Heavy, shiny, and bloodstone red.

14. What would your room look like? Organised chaos. I love playing host so my room would look mostly neat, but the writing desk would be an absolute mess. It would probably make poor Josie hyperventilate (which is why I’d always suggest we discuss things in her office, or at least give me plenty of notice before swinging by my chambers so I can tidy up). 

15. Who would be your friends at Skyhold? I’d wanna be friends with pretty much everyone, but I think I’d be closest with Dorian (BUT of course only after giving him a solid scolding for his views on slavery, and I’d only continue talking to him if he came to his senses).

We have a very similar sense of humour, and. Oh man. I have way more feelings about this than I thought I would. In short - I can imagine both laughing with him and collapsing on the floor together with a bottle of wine (each) and many tears.

16. Would you have any friends outside of the Inquisition? This makes me sad because my closest friends outside the Inquisition would be my adventuring party and they..would’ve...the Conclave...EVEN MY MABARI. MY POOR PUPPY. OH GOD WHY. TOO MANY FEELINGS.

17. Who wouldn’t you get along with? Cole. It’s not that I don’t like him, I’d just be super awkward around him, like ‘HELLO SPIRIT CHILD HOW ARE YOU TODAY. OH, IS THAT AN INSECURITY OF MINE YOU JUST POINTED OUT?! WELL COOL, GOOD TALK.’ 

18. Who would you romance? I know this isn’t possible in Inquisition but I would like to be in a polyamorous relationship with Isabela. SHE IS MY FICTIONAL SOULMATE OK.

(Also I’m more than a little bit in love with Cullen but I hate myself for it so)

19. Would you do pranks with Sera? AbsoLUTELY.

20. Would you sleep with the Iron Bull (casually if not romance)? 100% YES. It’d only be an occasional thing tho, cos while I’m a masochist and I like being tied up I’m not really a sub. I’d mostly go to him for bondage tips and um. Requests for. Demonstrations.

21. Would you keep Cole around? Yes. I’d still be weirded out by him, but I acknowledge that it’s completely not his fault. I’d take his word for it that he just wants to help people and let him have at it with that freaky mind-reading and vanishing shit he does.

22. Can you play the game (politics)? A little bit. I’d have to work the scandal angle. Being a Qunari I could never hope to assimilate into the realms of the nobility, but I could win their favour by being something of a novelty. Much like Casanova in this brilliant adaptation starring David Tennant - watch from 10:42.

You see, you don’t have to be liked by everybody, just the right people, and you can usually get them onside by just being very fucking entertaining.

23. What would be on your tombstone in the fade (What are you afraid of)? Ghosts. I’m not sure how well that translates to a Thedas setting but still, it’s my biggest fear so I’m sticking with it.

24. Who would you recruit to seal the breach? Mages.

25. Opinion on Mages versus Templars? Ok, so I have a proposal for how to fix this bullshit:  

1. The Chantry should relinquish any and all control over the affairs of mages. Separation of Church and State, simple as that.

2. The Templar Order should be disbanded, and the practice of indenturing soldiers by saddling them with a lyrium addiction should be banned.

3. All people in Thedas (and I mean ALL) should be taught about magic from a young age, both the gifts and dangers of its use. Everyone should learn about magical safety and how to resist demonic possession.

4. Mage children should attend the same schools as everyone else, but they can hone their skills in their late teens to early adulthood in mage colleges, with free tuition paid by the State (of wherever part of Thedas this is). They can research magic, learn a trade or train in combat, whatever they choose. Mages will be allowed to earn money, marry, have families, and have some actual freaking rights. None of this ‘hunt ‘em down and lock ‘em up’ bullshit.

5. Also the Rite of Tranquility WHAT THE FUCK. I can’t believe it’s a thing people actually agree to do. This rite should be downright fucking outlawed, and severe penalties levelled at the people who attempt it.

26. Who would be put in charge of Orlais and why? Briala. I wouldn’t suggest to Briala that she should get back together with Celene, because honestly their relationship was really fucked up and Celene abused the power imbalance between them. Briala deserves better (like for example me..maybe...but y’know, only if she wants to..)

So I would keep Celene on the throne but hand over all real power to Briala. Celene is a crafty one however, so we’d have to corner her with blackmail and keep a hidden killswitch on hand in case she tries to pull a fast one on us (just like the Voltron kids should be doing with Lotor, which sorry, I know that isn’t related but I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT IT).

27. Would you sacrifice the Chargers? NEVER.

Seriously Fuck the Qun. The Qun actively promotes eugenics with how they selectively “breed” their people. ALSO the Qunari are gaslighted into believing that they will literally go insane if they don’t follow the Qun?!!!?!?!!??!??! FUCK THAT SHIT.

So yeah, I was never keen on the idea of allying with the Qunari, so when Gatt’s like ‘if you sacrifice the dreadnought there will be no alliance’ I’m like ‘I am ok with this.’ Also, of course, I love the Chargers with all my heart and couldn’t bear to lose them.

28. Would you go after Blackwall? Yeah. He should put all his moral posturing to good fucking use and try being an actual hero. I’d make him join the Wardens, cos it’s effectively a death sentence (or an early grave at least ) and I don’t 100% dislike him, so I know he’d be cool with it because he has a giant fucking hard-on for the Wardens (Jesus fuck). 

29. Would you drink from the well? Nnnnnoooooooooo..and it’s because I would fucking die for Morrigan. I wish I could say I have a well considered reason, but I’m just pathetic like that. She could say jump and I’d say ‘I’d rather not, but, counter offer - would you instead like to sit on my face?’ 

30. Where would you go if the Inquisition was disbanded? Minrathous. It’s warmer there (I love Skyhold but fucking hate the cold), and I would involve myself in the inevitable slave uprising - helping out in whatever way I can. Also I’d just be having a fucking great time terrorising the Magisters, rocking up at the Magisterium like ‘LOOKIT ME I’M A RAGING QUNARI HERE TO INVADE, RARRGHH!! oh hey Dorian, what’s up babe how��ve you been????’

31. How do you react to the egg telling you he is an elven god? The five stages of grief:

Denial - lol no ur not, you’re our painty pyjamas nerd! 

Anger - Wait, so it’s YOUR FUCKING FAULT MY FRIENDS AND EVERYONE ELSE DIED AT THE CONCLAVE??!?! I AM GONNA GUT YOU AND STRING YOU UP BY YOUR INTESTINES SO I CAN USE YOUR WEEDY BODY AS A GORE PINATA YOU FUCKING MONSTER 

Bargaining - but you’re a god right? Does that mean you can bring them back? Can you undo all this somehow? You gotta have superpowers or some shit right??!?

Depression - After all we’ve been through...you never even saw us as people, did you? Did you ever think of me as a friend? Or anyone else? How could you be ok with murdering your friends? Solas, please, you don’t have to do this. I know that if we work together we can find a better way. You don’t have to destroy the world to save it.

Acceptance - ..................I fUCKING HATE YOU SOLAS.

[bipolarblatherings]

Wound me once, shame on you. Wound me 30 times, shame on both of us.

This is all a giant mess.

I find myself amidst a saddening, tortured, infuriating, ridiculous dance of (semi)conflict with a very close friend of mine. She (let’s call her B) is ungodly intelligent and very well-versed in things of the psychiatric nature. I’m a fantastic match for her in almost every way. B has bipolar II. I have bipolar I. We have had many mind-blowing conversations. I haven’t met someone as intelligent and cunning since looking in the mirror. But oh, she sure qualifies.

She twists knives. I hold punches. Stupid, stupid me. 

I should provide some background. I’m obsessing about it, so it’s absolutely been eating me for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but I can’t fault you all for ignorance if I don’t do diligence.

Ahem.

B and I have been friends for, well... over 5 years now. My friendship with her (hold your laughter) started in an outpatient DBT therapy group. We were instantly drawn to each other. I apparently had equated something I was sharing about in group to “rolling a nat 1.” I don’t remember saying this, but this is pretty on-brand for me. Nerd alert! She was sold.

I started playing in a DnD campaign with them in a fairly local gaming store. We would go out for cigarettes and dish about whatever - she and her husband and I, and occasionally others. We bonded. We joked. We shared intellectual nuggets about life, the universe and everything. We pondered serious mental health issues and tried to meet in the middle somewhere between bipolars I and II. Another joke we consistently went back to was me telling her “I don’t know how you do it! I’d get whiplash!” and her countering back, “I don’t know how YOU do it!” 

It’s true. Cursed as I may be, I don’t think I’d opt for the other side of this coin.

Anywho. 

Fast forward through my marriage (to some guy) and a separation which is not a yet a legal divorce because he feels badly for me in that I wouldn’t have health insurance, and we would lack the tax breaks of filing jointly, what with me in my 10th year of college...

B and her husband - let’s call him S - were with me through all of that and then some. Supportive, helpful, welcoming. When she suggested that maybe I should join them in a “thrupple” as their “unicorn,” pansexual, polyamorous, manic me was all in. 

I’m sure it’s no surprise that this went fairly sideways quickly. B and I were, by far, farther along than S and I probably would ever be. There was awkwardness. There was unbalance. There was a solidly manic bipolar human (me) who incidentally fed her hypomania into excess (she). We are both very self-aware in general. I do not know that I trust her to be able to walk away from triggering on purpose. It’s the best worst superpower ever. It’s a drug. It’s tantalizing and dangerous. I should know. I’m high on it practically all the time... 

Fast forward again. 

B and I had a talk the other day after a fairly long and very uncomfortable near-silence. Our last exchange had been awful, and instead of lashing out, I’d gone home and injured myself. Crisis crisis crisisss! We had come to a better place of understanding and calm, and had sensibly addressed it - for about 4.5 straight hours. I’d felt so much better. Vindicated. Validated. I’d really broken through and I was able to show her vulnerability (stupid, stupid me). I told her about what had happened after I’d left the last time. B has seen me naked, in more ways than one. 

Within this conversation, we admitted to each other that the idea of a “thrupple” was, although amazing, absolutely poorly executed in terms of timing and pacing. You take a husband - interested and with good intentions, but very much along for the ride, I expect - and his wife with bipolar II, and then throw in a very heavy pile of this bitch with bipolar I and ... PARTY. Except, duh. This poor guy now has his hands full with two crisis-happy, mostly-manic women. 

OH. AND YOU ALSO HAVE TWO CRISIS-HAPPY, MOSTLY-MANIC WOMEN. And they are depending on each other, crying to each other and fucking each other.

After her admission and going over the Ps and Qs of everything, she’d confided that she and he had been looking online for a better fit for “unicorn.” Far from being upset, my free-loving self told her earnestly that I was happy for them: go get it, girl! B had also proffered a potential less-high-stakes hookup situation for she and he and I that would be “casual.” That word was thrown around a lot. FWB. 

I’d also had a boy on my mind. (I say boy because I don’t want to invest too much in giving a fuck - more on that later - he is, in fact, a man.) I had honestly advised her that I didn’t know what to do about him. That he was tripping me up, as normally I can figure people out in a snap. I have a penchant for frustrating projects; they challenge me and hold my interest. She vibrantly encouraged me to pursue him. 

When he asked me out on a date several days later - even amidst this COVID business - her words echoed in my head and I felt good about accepting. I was happy and I felt I had her support. I messaged her the news joyfully, and without hesitation. 

[I regret nothing about that date night itself. That bit is really fucking complicated. It deserves its own post.]

Fast forward again. Some very good friends from out of state were flying in to visit. I, super duper manic, lost track of days. When B messaged me seemingly in a panic asking for me to immediately bring over our friend’s dog’s crate, I messaged back hastily that I wished someone had let me know (rather than spring it on me last-minute.) I was thrown off. Her message out of seemingly nowhere seemed direct and cold. 

I messaged her back and let her know I would be over with the crate as soon as possible. I was tripping over myself. My INFP-A manic brain and my empathic nature were having a lot of trouble. She was not herself. She was really pissed. Or something. 

I didn’t have to wonder long. After I’d asked her to text my phone directly, she threw out this (very nearly verbatim):

______________________________________________________________

Oh, I get it. You don’t hang out with anyone you aren’t dating or fucking, right?

______________________________________________________________

I was stunned. WHOA. I literally said, “Whoa,” with no real follow-up. I was flabbergasted. Cut deeply. Bleeding. Did our conversation a few days prior mean absolutely NOTHING???? And I’d just seen them! Just those few days had passed. What had I done that was so egregious, except follow her advice to me? I floundered. “Whoa... Not true. Ouch.”

Not an ounce of caring or apology. Hard-line held. 

By the time I’d gotten over there with the dog crate, I’d been informed to text S directly to ask him to come out and get it from me. I did so, and made the exchange shaking and unable to look him in the eyes. I did a lot of mumbling but I remember saying, “I’m sorry. I don’t know why, but I’m real fucking sorry.” 

To which he replied: “I don’t know. Me too.” 

Effectively when I gave him the dog crate and he gave me my last box of shit from my time over there, there remained no ties. No reason for them to come here, and no reason for me to come there as all of the ephemera was in its correct place. 

The days following have been fairly awful. Last night I was encouraged by a friend to feel okay to join the online DnD game that B plays in and S runs. I panicked for the entirety of the time that it took them to get started. We were an hour and a half past normal start. My friend - we’ll call him C - was EXCEPTIONALLY amazing, helpful and calming. It would be alright. He was there. It wasn’t just me and her. There were other people to balance everything out. It would likely be a safe place. 

And it was. It had echoes of normalcy. It’s the only real interaction I’ve had with our out-of-state friends, as they were all four on the same mic, in S&B’s living room. I’d been there so many times, it echoed naturally in my mind. False sense of security?

I’d sent her a message stating my surface-level feels about the situation several days ago, to which I’d not gotten a response until after I left the DnD session a little early (as I was falling asleep). I tire of explaining so I’ll let our words - as already written - finish this out. 

_____________________________________________________________

Me:  I'm just going to leave this here, as I do not want to/am not ready to truly talk about it, and you've got company and other things going on. I feel it was unfair of you to come at me like that. I know you have feelings too, but I can only be sensitive to what I'm aware of. I only really took *the boy* up on it when he asked me out because although I wasn't sure I wanted to pursue anything at all, I felt that you were encouraging and supportive of it and I kind of felt like, "hey, who knows? I might just give it a try."

I'd absolutely be lying by omission if I just said nothing about it.

 And I'd be pretending that I'm not deeply wounded. That is all.

B:  I'm sorry for the late response to this, but I was not feeling that I was in a place where I could effectively communicate with you on this topic. I still do not feel I am ready to do so, but for the sake of E and J being in town, I would like for everyone to feel comfortable, and I know seeing E is very important to you. They would both like to see you very much as well, and for their sake I want to be concise in that I want them to feel like they can feel comfortable visiting with you, or even you coming here to visit with them however you feel most comfortable.

While I don't quite feel like discussing this issue yet, I bear no ill will at all so coming here would be just as relaxed as if we were to come with them to visit you. I've tried to keep everything as low-key as possible (basically just not mentioning anything :P) so that E would not feel uncomfortable or like she has to choose or something silly like that, and even moving forward no matter what happens I would never want her to feel that way at any point, and I definitely know that's not your style either, but I feel it is a huge priority for me to not alter any other relationships no matter what happens, because I think people only get hurt that way. (Although I don't think I even need to say this at all, but I wanted to include it for the sake of concise and effective communication which I know will be beneficial for all three of us moving forward)

For now I am enjoying our company and keeping myself focused and balanced. If you want to try to sort out the conflict here, feel free to let me know when you  are in a place of caring and compassion and even-tempered mindset, and when Anthony and I are also in that place we can certainly approach the obstacle with problem-solving as a focus and repairing our communications.

Stay safe, and keep working towards being healthy, as I know you've been trying very hard to do so to good effect - Hope all is well xoxo

Me:  Thank you. I'm not ready to talk about it either. I appreciate your honesty. 

In regard to E&J: I've been very discouraged because neither they nor you reached out to me at all once they got here (with any indication of plans whatsoever to see me). Whether or not this is the case, it was my perception that I was being avoided and ignored. And that sucks when you (ubiquitous you - and awful English, but whatever) look around your apartment and see your friend's things everywhere, but feel like nobody wants to see you. 

I apologize if this comes across as abrasive. That is absolutely not intended.

I need to communicate that it might be a fairly long time before I can discuss the issue at hand. Especially with all of these dysmorphic days and the fact that I am anywhere from almost done with my manic run to just beginning (dear god I hope not), I am not brave nor strong enough to work through it. I have to protect myself from hurt or I am actually in fear that it may tear me apart. It has absolutely the possibility to be fatal. 

I appreciate that you responded honestly and I feel you also deserve honesty. The above seems possibly to reflect a flair for dramatics, but as they say in the city, I'm dead-ass. 

I do, as always, also hope you are well.   Xoxo

______________________________________________________________

(Fuck me, right in the feels.)

[dndfuckhouse]

session 16 - a cultist’s work is never done

> 🎵  DND Ambience - Evil Temple / Michael Ghelfi 

Picking up where they left off the group finish chatting wistfully about their hometowns and the various methods of procreation known to them and look towards the now unlocked metal door at the end of the chamber.

Before the party shuffle through Keva attempts to check it for traps, finding nothing the group push it open and peer down a corridor behind it. Staring down they see a similarly cobbled hallway, though it seems to curve at a point obscuring their vision further, otherwise it looks clear as any they’ve walked so far, bracketed by magic torchlight on its walls.

Han chucks a stone down to check for anything fishy...it seems to roll down the hallway with ease. The group then debate if they should send someone ahead first to stealth and check it out. Finn offers again to float down in his mist form.

Han: should we have one person stealth forward? the rest a couple of feet behind? Finn: if you're that paranoid i can go ahead in my mist form again. Rokka: that sounds like a good plan han! Psalm: that's a good idea finn Finn: 2 good ideas what will the party do

Finn: chip i do my thing Cimmorro: FINN VAPE? Han: finn juul WHERES MY JUUUUUUUUUUUUL Cimmorro: WHATS A JUL?  are u flammable,  watch as he burns over a torch or something

Psalm: idk that much about vaping Plum: sarita wtf do you go to college

Finn transforms into his mist form and floats down the hallway, it winds and turns giving him the feeling that he’s slowly traversing downward, the corridor seeming to widen in size. After some time he comes across what looks like the opening to another chamber, a set of black metal double doors in front of him. Not spotting anything suspicious on his float down he floats back towards the party.

After about 10 minutes time pass, the group get worried and decide to follow ahead, bumping into the cloud of finn on his float back, he quickly transforms back into his regular form.

Keva: she flinches and makes that paul rudd face when she remembers its finn Psalm: psalm has nothing to say about running into the finn cloud Plum: i wonder if plum isn't tall enough to bump into it Rokka: rokka gasp for air before holding his breath so he doesn't breathe in finn which he fails to

Finn: >finn looks a bit confused as to why theyre all here "needless to say the path is safe but you're all aware of that by now. a bit reckless for being so paranoid if i may say so." Rokka: just worried about you finn Finn: did that much time pass? Rokka: felt like it Psalm: not that we didn't just fight clones of ourselves after being a bit reckless or anything Finn: "i see. in that case i apologise." >contemplative sprite

The party move to inspect the large set of double doors, they seem to have a ornate design to them, looking at them they spy the shape of horns and talons melded across it, the door doesn't appear to be locked either. Eyeballing the design psalm picks up that it definitely appears infernal in nature at the very least, the design could be reminiscent of devils of some sort, though he cant really place anything specific.

Deeming the door un-trapped the group ready themselves as Psalm uses mage hand to open one of the doors. It creaks a little bit but nothing else seems to happen, looking down the party see the corridor continue beyond it, opening into what looks like a very large chamber. Han briefly throws a stone again to test the corridor, no reaction again.

Rokka: "COOL A CHAMBER" rokka waltz in Han: both han and i age 20 years Finn: finn just. constantly calculating whether they're dumb or not Plum: i hope theres no single lich in here looking for a partner

Han: psalm: WOW KINDA DARK IN HERE ! Psalm: no please

Finn: well since han threw the rock and it was fine i wanna walk, wait should we wait for pokemon? Finn: I MEAN. POKI Cimmorro: .

> 🎵  Maternal Heart / Silent Hill 3 OST.

The party choose to walk through the door, as they walk down the small corridor they spy small ...what look like vents close to the ground. Taking note of them they walk further to the precipice of the corridor where it opens into the larger chamber. As they get closer they see what looks like a large pool in the centre, filled with a red liquid and surrounded by red runes, letters and symbols on the floor.

In front of it stands a staircase that leads up to a higher platform shaped like a circle over the pool, it seems to be bound with a tight thick rope. Staring the group notice that it seems to lead up to the top of a tall black pillar in the centre of the pool, pointed at its tip and faintly stained with red, it's quite the structure.

Looking about the rest of the chamber they see thick black and red ornate curtains adorning the walls and a set of columns in front of the pool. They also see at the end of the room, three short corridors behind the pool with a large black ornate door at the end of each of  them, seemingly also connected to the red circles around the pool.

To the left and right look like sets of staircases, both leading upwards somewhere, listening close the party can hear what seems to be some sort of whispers or chanting.

Cimmorro: cimm's just gonna "SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN BUSY HERE HUH!" and walk over to try and read shit Psalm: can i try reading too Keva: keva stays at the edge of the room lmao she is Skeeved Plum: so is plum “y’all are just walking in??” Rokka: i also stay back Han: han also stays back with keva, esp after seeing the pool lol Finn: i wanna check if its blood for real

Psalm: maybe we should've collected the blood from the clones, just to see if it's the same substance although i'm not sure how that'd help, i'm honestly just a bit curious Cimmorro: we'll find out if it's from the same pool if something comes out to grab the both of us. would be amusing Rokka: that sounds terrifying Psalm: sounds pretty amusing to me Cimmorro: cimm smiles at psalm "yeah atta boy that's the spirit" Psalm: *grins* Plum: i’d rather not have to deal with another one of you again Psalm: i dont blame you Finn: finn kind of just goes [raised eyebrow] to himself overhearing cimm

Finn: NO JUST A LITTLE LICK. like connor Jez: who Finn: dont worry about it jez Han: dont worry bro its just a nightmare

Plum: finn hasn’t been in a bite one of us or die situation yet where’s the romance anymore get it together guys Guest Appearance By Celebrity Aqua: Cmon finn drink the rancid bog blood

Cimmorro: finn, is your field trip going fun so far mate Finn: if this is your idea of a fun field trip i really don't want to go on one with you 🙄 Cimmorro: there goes my ideas for a first date then Finn: "d-date?" finn tries to brush it off quickly though

The party move to investigate the chamber, slowly the more reluctant ones walk in and peer about as well after watching the others waltz inside. 

Psalm and Cimmorro inspect the arcane writing and runes, between the two of them staring at the red on the floor they discern the writing to be magic circles of some sort, enchanted by something in runes they can't quite comprehend, they do recognise bits of infernal throughout however. They also read what they assume to be a name of some sorts, a ‘Mephistopheles’

The lines seem to give some sort of power to the pool and the three doors at the end of the hallway, though they aren't sure what exactly. They get the feeling they’re part of some ritual similar to the last they encountered, involving the shedding of blood on top of the pillar. 

Han walks in and cranes her hear to discern where the sound of chanting is coming from. She hears it coming from the left staircase, but it feels like its kind of echoing around the whole chamber anyway. Rokka joins her in using his canine hearing, in combination with the chanting he hears the faint sounds of a conversation also coming from the left. Additionally, behind him back where the party came he also hears the sounds of faint talking coming from one of the vents, the one on the right wall in the corridor

Rokka: rokka's ears perk at hearing sounds of people talking and hurries back to tell the others in a semi-whisper tone "guys! guys! there are people here! in the vents! and right corridorrrrrrr" Psalm: does the chanting sound like anything to you?

Finn and Plum walk in and eyeball the pool together, staring at it the liquid seems viscous enough to be blood. Finn moves to dip his finger and takes a taste, he quickly detects the blood of more than one person, it seems to have been collecting here for a while. In his mind Finn is briefly tempted to taste some more, though he also notes that it tastes a little tingly on his tongue, a bit unusual

Finn: "what i can tell you two is that this is fresh blood. of multiple people." finn seems to be unable to tear his eyes away for a good minute,  i choose not to share the unusual taste tidbit. Plum: "easy there soldier" and i hit finn's leg Finn: >finn snaps out of it and looks at plum apologetically

Looking at the pillar the two also notice stains on the sides, seems like the blood drips down from the top into the pool 

Keva moves to take a few cautious steps up the staircase on the left side of the chamber, from this angle she can see that it opens up to what looks like another corridor, though cant make out much else.

Han takes the moment to cast detect portal, quickly she gets a ping from each of the three ornate doors, at the same time Psalm casts Comprehend Languages on himself to see if he can more directly read the runes as well as decipher the chanting.

Han: everyone shut up, those doors are portals to somewhere Plum: uhhh.... how do we figure out where they lead Han: “no way other then activating them and walking through”  han is uncomfortable here lol

Finn: i watch psalm curiously Psalm: mans is just touching the floor Finn: finn: that man sure is touching the floor. crazy. Psalm: i 'll tell you what they're saying in a second Finn: i nod @ psalm and wait, oh wait i guess he wouldnt know if im nodding so ill just say Okay Psalm: hwuhahwa

Psalm: should draw psalm and finn doing each other's nails since they both definitely wear nail polish

Now able to comprehend the chanting, Psalm notes that it seems to be in some coded language, he makes out certain sentences along the lines of "beloved may our lord be, seeing all within his purview" he’s a bit far from the corridor so its hard to hear specifics. The runes on the ground now that he can read them look like some sort of prayers relating again to mephisto directly, but also mention a benefactor, bringing up in scripture some sort of all-encompassing voice. 

Psalm: i think we have an old fashioned blood ritual summoning on our hands

Keva moves to quietly make her way further up the staircase in the meantime, as she does the sound of soft chatter becomes slightly louder combined with the prayer which sounds a bit father away. Slowly she comes out to a cobble corridor, peering to her right she spots a shut wooden door, locked with a silver latch. To her left the corridor goes on, and near the middle of it she sees a group of 3 people, donning red robes and hoods, though two of them seem to be more ornately decorated than the other. 

> 🎵  Null Moon / Silent Hill 2 OST.

As she looks she notices that they appear to be discussing something, she also notices that the corridor seems to be aligned with jail cells perhaps? though its hard to see into them from this angle, making out only dark sack shapes. She cranes he ear to try and listen in on the conversation, 

???: you hear the tiefling muttering something to the one not as elaborately dressed as him “...ou need to be more careful with the brood. Emruz was so very upset one of them had escaped, though now our lord says it was all apart of his design. Sometimes I wonder why she stands as second, she never trusts enough in fate. Of course it was all as planned, his grace would never make a mistake ...” he turns his head to the drow standing beside him “oh please Ida you must discipline the acolyte too, i know you dont like to speak but i'm not good at …” he seems to trail off  Ida: the drow tilts her head in his direction, her eyes staying shut.  ???: “Oh grace, nevermind…” he turns back to the other hooded figure. “For now you’ll stay at your post until Emruz makes a decision...she is leading the prayer right now for our grace, it shall be decided afterwards, understood?” the hooded figure nod, while the tiefling seems to sigh in response “ahh...come Ida i need to check the sigils within the heating dens…”  Ida: The drow nods in response

Keva watches two then walk of to the right out of her vision, listening she hears the sound of a door shut and close as the other hooded figure walks to the left, followed by the sound of a chair getting dragged across the ground and a thump. Once again silence returns to the halls, aside from the faint sound of chanting from down the corridor. She quickly slips back down the staircase and informs the group of what she saw.

Psalm: heating dens? what kinda kinky ass cult Plum: onsen

Rokka moves up the right staircase to scout it out as well, similarly to how Keva did towards the left, he clambers up quietly to poke his head around. In the meanwhile the party thinks on how they ought to proceed.

Rokka: whats the worst that could happen? rokka dies? Finn: HGBDFUNDFOMDFG

Psalm: i'm not sure how to proceed if i'm being honest Plum: neither am i,  im wondering what sigils and heating dens are, like if more people are about to die while we're here

Keva: any way to figure out where the portals go? Plum: i dont think so since everything here's in code Han: “..theyre probably how sammy ended up out on the street” hans still staying back and just. her eyes keep coming back to the pool of blood

Psalm takes a moment to think over the name ‘Mephistopheles’ and what he knows about it, he recalls now that its the name of one of the archdevils that presides over the nine hells. He’s a being said to be thoroughly wicked and cunning but all the same unstable, bards singing of his unchecked temper. It unnerves him to see his name invoked in a place like this. 

Finn moves to walk up the stairway in the middle of the pool to investigate it further, looking now he can tell the ropes tied around the circular slab form the letterheads symbol. Standing at the top of the stairs he also notes that he is within easy distance of the pillar in the middle, he walks back down after taking his look.

Psalm: oh right i relate that new information about Mephistopheles as well just to set the mood Keva: great

Han follows suit in continuing to poke around, she turns back to the corridor they came from and looking near the ground she eyeballs the holes in the walls, they appear to be small vents of some sort. They look big enough for someone to crawl through but only someone of plum’s stature or smaller, through the right one she hears a very faint conversation ebb out. 

Moving to crouch down she tries to stick her ear in and tries to make out the conversation, though all she can hear faintly is the sound of one voice speaking. Briefly she hears"...thus you know just precisely where to strike..." before it becomes mumbles to her ears again.

Rokka reaching the top of the staircase quietly looks about, directly to his left he sees a figure dressed in a red hood and garb, black gloves and shorts underneath. They seem to be standing guard near a wooden door, seemingly unlocked, hands folded behind them. To his right the corridor continues down for a ways before opening out to what looks like a small chamber, halfway down its length he see two more red cloaked figures speaking in whispers, if he squints he can see what look like jail cells lining the corridor, similar to Keva’s corridor, hard to tell from his angle.

Rokka: rokka hurries back to the others and alerts whoever is closest to him about what he saw "guyyyyyyyyssssssssss" Cimmorro: rokka u good Rokka: there are people hereeeeeeeee i saw themmmmmmm  Cimmorro: it looks like keva saw some others as well Han: rokka be like 😨

Psalm: i think our best options are to probably not fiddle with the inter-planar doors for now and pick one of the staircases Plum: agreed Psalm: we should also potentially destroy this altar, but maybe on the way out provided things go well

Psalm: @ han "are you coming? we've investigated the entire room, nothing spooky here to get you"  Han: hans just like uuuughghh and catches up

Cimmorro: i was gonna say this looked like we're on a road trip and han is taking a group pic for us

Han: ;LKHAS;LKHFASDF shes actually taking a selfie of herself

The group decide to head up the left staircase after discussing the number of guards they saw. They devise a plan to roll some ball bearings to distract the one they assume is still somewhere in left corridor, before quickly taking him out at a range silently.

Cimmorro: you guys want him to come over here? what if something comes out of that pool Finn: cimmorro, what makes you so sure someone will come out of the pool? Cimmorro: it's ridden with magic bro Finn: the blood did have a ... unique taste. it was good, but there was something unusual to it. i'm not sure if you can make anything of that. Cimmorro: HGUHFDBKJVHB cimm just standing there like "you said unusual, that's even more suspect??IF YOU ASK ME??" Psalm: i'm pretty sure if something was supposed to come out of the pool it would've come out by now Rokka: i would like to have nothing come out of there

Cimmorro: lure the guy out and knock him out then? Psalm: just whisper "such a shame Mephistopheles caught ligma" into the vent and bait him out vaporising him instantly Cimmorro: BRO

> 🎵  A Stray Child / Silent Hill 3 OST.

As the group discuss their plan to take out the guard Finn attempts to think on taste of the blood again. It seems more than likely that the blood is enchanted in some way by the circle around it, though it doesn’t strike him that the purpose of it is for summoning, it would have most likely had a much more rancid taste if connected to something so directly. The pool is more than likely containing the blood of many for a purpose, effecting the recipients in some way, beyond that he isn’t sure what.

Rokka: DAMN AND WE WERE ABOUT TO OFFER PLUM TO SPILL THEIR BLOOD THERE? Finn: maybe i shouldn't drink the magic blood Psalm: just take a sip Cimmorro: finn become rat poison checker

The group move to stealth their way up the left staircase, Psalm, Rokka and Plum find difficulty in keeping quieter than the others however. The others manage to cover for them however.

Finn: CAN WE COVER FOR OUR CLOWNS Psalm: CAUSE TROUBLE BY ACCIDENT GANG Plum: https://youtu.be/duPJqfKiA78

Psalm: HE CAN'T COMMUNICATE IF HES DEAD, what if it's theyord's favourite mook and he just wants to check up on him and then he's just dead, our entire operation is screwed

Keva rolls the ball bearing down the corridor, after a beat the group hear the sound of wood grinding on the floor and a few footsteps as the hooded figure steps out towards the sound, bending over to stare at it on the ground.

Quickly psalm and keva step out of the stairway, flinging a throwing knife and a blast directly at the hooded figure, the knife swiftly lodges itself in his neck and the blast seems to suck the rest of the life out him, taking him out quickly. The group slowly move now to investigate the corridor, Han staying at the top of the stairs to keep an eye on the chamber behind them.

Psalm: han making sure we don't die

Walking down they now see a series of cells lining the walls, piled with large sacks, a few laying empty. Some of the sacks have the faint colour of blood seeped through, giving the group a bad feeling about what could possibly be inside of them, seems most of the cells are locked. 

Plum: they mumbles to themselves "give me a fucking break..."

Halfway through the corridor they turn the corner and see what looks to be a guard post near the jail cells, a shabby wooden desk and a series of lock boxes on top of it. Seems to house the keys to the nearby cells, to the right they also notice another branch off, a wooden door at the end. They assume this is where the tiefling and the drow walked off towards earlier.

Keva moves to check out the body of the guard, all she finds on him are a dagger strapped this thigh and a red letterheads token in his pocket, nothing much else, she pockets the token. The group then discuss how to hide the body so its not left on the ground in the open.

Finn: we could put him in one of the bags as to not arouse suspicion but its certainly grotesque. Psalm: thats a pretty good idea, cover our tracks 🤔 Han: that criminal background huh

As they discuss this Finn moves to put his ear towards the locked door at the top of the corridor, pressing his ear close to the door he doesn't hear anything other than silence from inside. In the meantime Plum and Keva nab the keys to the jail cells from the guards desk, moving to unlock the one closest to them, Cimmorro wanders over to assist. 

The three work on untying the ropes and opening the bags inside. Cimmorro moves to inspect one of the corpses on how long its been decomposing but is struck by how close the abhorrent smell is, completely distracting him. Finn walks over and its also disgusted, Rokka moves down to keep watch on the door that the drow and tiefling walked through earlier in tandem with Finn.

Looking through the bags Plum attempts to identify the bodies within, their bag specifically appears to house a human male with dark brown hair, keva's bag seems to contain an elven woman, neither of them recognise the victims at all. The three quickly look through the cells for a bag with enough space to shove the guard inside, Plum takes quick notes on the features of the people they find as they go along, soon they find one and are able to successfully shove the guard inside.

As they go about this Psalm continues walking further down the corridor to the end where it opens into another small chamber, it seems filled with storage supplies and large cages, for what purpose hes isn’t sure he’d like to imagine, as he looks about he sees the letterheads symbol scrawled into the wall as well. 

At the far end of the chamber is a set of double doors, made of black metal, it seems this is where the chanting is coming from as he hears the sounds of  numerous voices speaking together in he assumes are prayers. To the right he also see more stairs leading upwards to what looks to be another corridor, though he cant fully tell from below.

He moves to listen to the voices coming from the double doors hearing similar hymns to what was being chanted earlier, but he also hears another voice higher pitched speaking above them in common, she seems to be preaching something about "a time of revenge blossoming soon, the process shall begin to bear fruit" he moves away and relays his observations to the group back up the corridor

While they wait Finn attempts to see if he can hear anything coming from the door hes watching but can only make out a very muffled muttering of some sort and soft shuffling.

Psalm: finn always on the lookout for hot guys pog Finn: we arent only thirsting for blood in this house Cimmorro: wow finn looking for cult bukkake Han: if they arent above a 6 finn cant hear them Finn: jez im going to

Finn: i let the others know that i heard some muffling and shuffling behind that door. but very faintly. Han: theyre making out in that room Cimmorro: GIJFSIBJSOPFBJOSJW

The group decide to head up the stairs Psalm found and move down to the small chamber at the end of the corridor.

Han: han is following but constantly at the back Keva: han the vigilant Rokka: not all heroes wear capes Finn: OKAY NOW I FEEL BAD ABOUT LEAVING HER ON HER OWN Han: 

Keva offers to take point, and stealth's up the stairs, getting a look at the corridor at the top of them. Peeking her head out she sees similarly to the last corridor they walked, another row of of jail cells with what look like more sacks inside. Halfway down she spies what looks to be another guard, his arms crossed periodically looking to the left and right

The group get in position to take him out,  Keva and Han both fire off their arrows, psalm backing them up with a blast, the arrows strike the guard in the side before he is knocked down by the blast, quickly taken out. Han and Plum briefly jog back to the guard post from earlier to grab the keys again so they can hide this guard with the bodies as well. 

Accomplishing that the group see now that this corridor connects between the left one and the right one from the initial pool room, they decide to use this to take out the guards they saw in the right corridor carefully, party members on either end of it. From this new vantage point Keva sees there are three of them in the right corridor now.

Psalm: 16 to hit, god i dont like this im assuming i haven't missed yet.... when the boss comes i'll miss every shot guaranteed, bruh the boss is going to kill me

Psalm, Finn and Rokka head back the long way and crouch by the stairs near the far end guard while the others stick to the bottom to take out the two halfway through the corridor.

Han and Keva shoot of their arrows and with their combined might manage to instantly bring down one of the guards. Psalm blasts the one near the stairs, surprising him but he seems to be still standing afterwards now alert. before he can do anything however Finn rushes in and skewers him, quickly silencing him

Finn: FINE IF YOU WANT ME TO SO BAD ILL GO STAB THE GUY Cimmorro: jude is going to sex town

Cimmorro uses sacred flame on the other guard standing halfway through the corridor but only manages to lightly singe his hair.

Cimmorro: he just does it to provoke Rokka: ;DLKFJSLDKFJLSKDJ Cimmorro: really the only thing he been reading in those sacred libraries is the urban dictionary

He strikes again this time doing a bit more than singe the guard’s hair, Han and Keva both try and fire a series off a quick shots once again after he does, Han's goes wide however, only kevas striking, still leaving the guard standing. Quickly afterwards Rokka and Psalm run out at the same time, Psalm is able to step out and blast the remaining guard from the opposite end, taking them all out before any could retaliate. 

Psalm: ROOMIES Han: oh my god they were roommates... Rokka: I'll move as close as I can and then cheerleader for psalm Psalm: ^_^ greatly appreciated Rokka: Go roomie!!

Han: hey we've been smart and careful about this, we could've been. REAL dumb Finn: honestly we've been really smart, ALMOST LIKE. CAUTION IS A GOOD THING DSHJFBSDUFGSFH

The group about quickly hiding the three bodies among the jail cells again, completing that Keva rummages through the guard desk in this corridor for anything of note. Inside she finds papers detailing some sort of guard training…seems there are at least over 20 acolytes being trained in the ways of assassination around here. 

Psalm: oh can i read the papers or did u just tell everyone what they said  Han: keva found them and told everything else to read iirc(edited) Keva: i did not say that in the rp but yes let's assume yall saw it bc i can't read i forgot lmoa Han: LKH;LKHSAWEFSD Psalm: WHAT'D YOU EVEN LOOK AT THE PAPERS FOR THEN

As she does Finn goes to listen to the door at the top of this corridor, he hears no sounds coming from the inside, it appears unlocked as well.

Finn: now if it were cin, he'd open that door. Han: . Chip: jude reminding us of our good fortune rn

Han goes to investigate the small chamber at the end of the corridor they just came through, looking about she sees storage crates piled high and bags filled with more bags, looking inside them she rifles through small amounts of rations within. Around are more cages and a large metal screen of sorts, it looks to be disuse however, she wanders back down the corridor.

> 🎵  Sewer, Echo, Approaching / 2Mello.

As she does Psalm presses his ear to a door that branches off from the middle of the corridor, listening if he can hear anything or any activity beyond it. As he does he hears the sound of a voice coming through, though all you can really tell is that it sounds like someone giving instruction of some sort.

Cimm, Plum and Keva decide to walk back to the blood pool room, Plum wants to try casting identify on the pillar to see if they can garner any further insight on its functions. In the meantime Psalm asks Rokka, Finn and Han if they can make out anything coming from inside the door hes listening in on. The group stretch their ears once more, though Han in particular recognises the cadence of the voice through the door as the one she heard speaking when she was trying to listen through the vents.

Han: while they're all standing ears pressed to the door han hesitantly asks "is blood letting and stuff like... generally associated with. what you said. cults?" even quieter "actually what are cults lets start there" Psalm: you're asking me? Han: all of you, i guess. you all seem to have more different opinions about this than me Psalm: well from what i just know generally, rituals like these are commonly associated with the more er, 'evil' cults let's say, it does tend to get played up in fiction but since we are also 100% standing in a room with a blood pool and runes on the floor praising a demon you could say that it's played up for good reason. Rokka: rokka just tilts his head like ?? Han: han just looks. kinda processing "what do you mean, "played up"?" Psalm: romanticised i suppose Finn: finn just leaning against the cell. listening. Psalm: like how you'd expect things to be more exaggerated so that they're actually entertaining in a book or play, otherwise it wouldn't be interesting. 

In the meanwhile the other group make their way into the large chamber, Keva stands at the bottom of the stairs leading out while Cimmorro and Plum make their way up the one over the blood pool. Plum reaching the top, stands near the pillar with their hands, taking the time and casting identify upon it. As they touch it an unwelcome feeling fills their senses, like whispers in their ears. 

The pillar is definitely enchanted, it seems the process directly enhances the person who drips their blood upon it. As long as it is collected within the pool below it seems the enchantment keeps its hold indefinitely, combined with the whispers and information they’ve gathered from before, you get the feeling this is used in some way for whoever wrote the runes on the floor to communicate to those that have bled upon it.

Chip: CIMM LIKES TO FEEL TALL Cimmorro: SHUT UPPP ILL KILL YOU

Satisfied the group head back to the corridor with the others, keva noting that it seems the chanting is still ongoing in the background, as they do they walk into the conversation the rest of the group is currently having.

Psalm: That being said though, we are still very much in a situation like out of a novel you could say. And it's not like i have much experience with cults myself...for all i know they're all like this Han: han visibly looks like she regrets asking "like a novel huh" Keva: keva walks in and sees that she has missed smth

Psalm: oh right, a cult is just a group of people that religious practices that aren't commonly accepted, or in most cases, evil. Forgot you asked. Usually they worship a figurehead, potentially a person or otherworldly being, so they're not that far removed from the average religion. Han: han is borderline sweating Keva: wait, we've been chasing after this cult this entire time and you didn't know what a cult was? Han: well. no not really. Finn: finn closes his eyes. I Cannot 

Psalm: why the interest though? i suppose it is a bit messed up in here, and if you didn't know before i guess it's pretty shocking,  what with all the blood and everything Han: just uh. curious is all. Psalm: i see. well if you have anymore questions. Cimmorro: [raised brow]

Half the group subtly eyeball Han to see if she’s lying about her questions coming from a place of mere curiosity.

Han: me just throwing these breadcrumbs Psalm: can't just not eat them off the flor Plum: someone eat them!! Cimmorro: gang beats up han with insight Han: everyone at han rn [raised brow] Cimmorro: 

Finn: han: asks a simple question, the party: lets get her boys Rokka: rokka just rly wanna know if he gotta comfort u or naw

- finn watching from where you are leaned against a cell you easily see through her lie, you get the feeling the question is related to a past experience of hers perhaps, you understand the feeling of wanting clarification well - psalm and keva it seems clear that shes lying and that she has a deeper reason for asking about this, though you dont really know why - rokka han seems upset by all these damn cults, u understand this place sucks

Cimmorro: prolonged strained silence

The group dont inquire any further into her odd reactions at the moment, Finn moves the conversation along, asking if any of the party would like to help him check out the room at the top of the corridor or if they’d like to check out the door they were just listening in on.

Han: "ye shall we storm these dudes" (points to door) Keva: you were all cautious before and now you wanna just barge in? Han: whispers to keva "i was half joking" Keva: you're hilarious. Han: thank you ^_^

The group decide to go along with Finn’s suggestion, preferring to run into as few people possible for the moment and shuffle down the corridor, the group all stand behind psalm as he creaks the door open with mage hand. Peering inside they all see a small room with no one around inside, piled high are a bunch of beds, seems this looks like where the acolytes sleep.

Han: everyone takes a long rest Finn: HBZUFGMIOGF;HFHGJHOW MANY BEDS ARE THERE THIS TIME Han: finn rn like: . Finn: finn: i do not see it. i do not perceive it.

Rokka: rokka barges in and dives into a bed like "ahhhhhh yes" Han: goes back to look out position Psalm: rokka you really want to be rolling around in the beds of people that drain the blood out of innocents for rituals? Rokka: a bed is a bed Finn: A MAN OF SOLID CONVICTIONS Cimmorro: we're in some hazbin hotel kinda shit and u just gonna sleep here Psalm: that's terrifying resilience. i'm impressed, if not a bit scared

> 🎵  Highway, Fog, Visitation / 2Mello.

As the group look about the room watching rokka walk in, Han notices behind them all down the corridor, the sound of a door creaking open. Quickly she moves to push everyone inside the room as quick and quietly as she can, though she’s sure they were heard.

Cimmorro: this cult guy barrelling down the corridor upon hearing han

Han: HAN LEVELS UP FROM STRESS AND FAZES OUT OF EXISTENCE

Closing the door behind them inside the room they look about flustered. They all take a beat to listen and hear the sound of footsteps coming closer down the corridor. they decide to dive under the beds and hide, though there isnt enough for all of them. 

Psalm casts Invisibility on Han while the rest of them pile under, she quickly moves and sticks herself as close to the wall as possible. Finn in particular also quickly shifts into a bat and hangs himself from a corner of the ceiling

Rokka: rokka rolls off the bed with an OOF then rolls under the bed he was on Cimmorro: plum who is the smallest has the hardest time shuffling under the bed and stubs their toe Rokka: stubs toe and screams FUCK, it echoes down the hall

After a beat they all listen as the footsteps near closer and closer to the door, they hear a shuffling before it is opened up by a hooded figure, human, though his cloak looks more ornately decorated that the guards from before.

Han: whats boytoy doing Jez: whipping his dick out,  he came here to jack off bro we all gotta watch him Han: SOME ME TIME Plum: YOU CALLED EM BOYTOYBHHJ Rokka: HSUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPSHUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP Psalm: HE CAMEM HERE TO JACK OFGF i'm unsubscribing from pornhub right now Plum: jez, jez, what haunts you Cimmorro: LKVGDASJKLGJDSJBSJFNB Rokka: this is like a bad wattpad fic Cimmorro: yall wanted to share beds we're getting a different kind of sharing today Finn: . Han: save a citizen share a cultist Finn: WHAT IS HE GONNA DO WATCH OUR BEDS ALL DAY Cimmorro: HES GONNA WANK IT BRO Rokka: SHUT HT EHLEL UP

He walks inside and peers about the room, eyeing the floors and the walls stepping around and staring carefully. It almost seems as if he makes eye contact at one point with Han but he continues moving his gaze past her. 

Olst: “Where on earth have those louts gotten too” he clicks his tongue and turns to walk out of the room  “Discipline is in order, hopefully our grace feels the need to be more quick with his hand…” his mumbling putters off as he shuts the door behind him

Plum: THEYREEE DEAD Psalm: OH MY GOD I JUST REALISED WHO HE MEANT OH MY GOD WE KILLED HIS FAVOURITE MOOKS Han: THE GUYS WE KILLED ;KASDFKH;LKHWKH3EF Rokka: im laughing MY FUCKING ASS OFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

The group one by one slowly emerge from under the beds, Han takes a moment before peering out the door, seeing the man walk down the stairs towards the blood pool room. She whispers out “coasts clear” before walking out the room still invisible to follow him, Finn in bat form follows after her to also trail him.

Psalm: psalm to himself like... god maybe i should've explained how invis works first Han: han said coast clear and fucked off Finn: i wish i could've asked psalm for an explanation on invisible i have no idea when this runs out

The group meanwhile decide to check out the room the man came from in the meantime since he just left it, walking back to the middle of the corridor, sneaking past. Keva stops briefly at the top of the stairs to listen in on any conversation from the blood pool room

As she does Han and Finn follow the hooded man, she slowly scuttles down the staircase standing quietly at the bottom and hanging out of sight with Finn. There she sees 3 other figures, each wearing ornate looking cloaks, one they’ve not seen before. As the human approaches the others he speaks

Olst: “the acolytes are becoming lax in their duties, this is because you aren’t strict enough with them” he stares directly as the tiefling as he says that, to which he babbles back ???: you know th-that is not my responsibility Olst..” the human tuts and clicks his tongue. Emruz: The woman on the far end pipes up “quit your gripping your voice is as annoying as venom, you can discuss the trivialities later our grace has requested all of to assemble now and I’ll have quiet as we do” the two glare at each other for a moment Olst: he relents, responding with an “..of course” The four of them gather near the front of the of the pool and stand at attention.

Han watches them close their eyes, as if waiting for something for a few beats. Keva moves on to where the rest of the group are stationed in front of the door down the corridor. 

Rokka: yo is theyorde going to rise from blood pool Psalm: GOD CAN YOU IMAGINE WE WERE FUCKING AROUND IN THERE Finn: finn and han listening to this shit:  Psalm: YEAH CAN YOU IMAGINE THE TWO THAT HATE THIS SHIT THE MOST ARE THE ONES WATCHING THE BLOOD POOL MEETING Han: MOST FUCKING BAGGAGE Finn: FINALLY WE HAVE A COMMON ENEMY FOR SOCIAL LINK RANK 1

> 🎵  The Final Combat / Darkest Dungeon OST.

Han continues watching before suddenly she sees all of their eyes snap open, they all tilt their heads up before clasping their hands together out of some sort of reverence. The longer she watches the more it looks like they’re listening to something. Slowly her and Finn see smiles begin to form on their faces, albeit who’s mouths they can actually see. After a moment they bow their heads again, before unclasping their hands.

They see the woman on the far left immediately cackle and gesticulate with her hands with joy 

Emruz: “I KNEW IT I KNEW IT, ony two more days’ time, our grace is amazing indeed finally we will bring down those who stand upon their ivory towers, bring them crashing down to a place wherein we might exact our revenge and force their penance.” Ida: Next to her the drow contemplatively nod in agreement while ???: The tiefling keeps his hands clasped together in reverence muttering “ohh it is true it is true, finally we are ready to enact his great design, the results of our tireless devotion…” Olst: the human next to him chuckles as well “the streets above shall run red as they so deserve, the brood will overtake them at every turn, their defences shall be their very ruin”

The four walk up to the blood pool and touch its outer rim bringing one other hand up to their lips, they speak a coded hymn out loud, as they do they their hands glow a faint red before they are surrounded by a flash. Once complete they step away again, the elf woman speaks up once more 

Emruz: “may their soak in their own fluids” before she cackles wildly again.

---

Notes:

🗡 Keva pocketed another「  Red Letterhead Token ✨ 」 🍺 Plum holds the「 Jailer’s Keys ✨ 」 💀5 guards seem to be lax in their duties....

- 48 Hours until 📜🩸 The Reckoning 🩸📜 -

[doycetopia]

Dungeon World Character Creation Thread

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We’re starting up a mini-campaign of Dungeon World, with most of the conversation taking place in a single private Google+ conversation thread.

But it was too good, so I’m saving most of it here for posterity.

Okay, I think the plan I’m going to go with is running a Dungeon World thing, followed by a Masks thing. (I’m especially jazzed about Masks since I just got a new packet of playbooks from the Kickstarter yesterday, but patience…)

SO, here’s the particulars.

The Roll20 page is [link redacted] – you can jump in there and open a character sheet and put in stats and moves as you like, if you’re super motivated. (Mike, your Artificer is in there already.)

Dungeon World is baaaasically a PBTA take on classic DnD, so the standard DnD classes are there: Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, et cetera, and you can dig into alternate playbooks if you want to go the Basic DnD route of “Dwarf is a character class” or whatever. The System Resource document has all the basic classes, but seriously if you have some kind of fantasy trope you want to play, ask, because it probably exists out there somewhere.

Once I know what people are playing, I will hit you with personality and background questions.

The tone of the game will be fantasy closer to White Dwarf and Heavy Metal magazine covers than The Hobbit. Magic is powerful, weird, and dangerous.

We’ll be using Flags instead of Bonds, so ignore Bonds in the rules.

That’s about everything I can think of right now.

Yay! Glad to finally be back to Dungeon World and interested in how Flags play out. Might I also suggest this document.

Oh I like those! Good stuff!

Basically, unless you’re a bard or some other highly social character (some priests might qualify), pick or design two flags for people to hit. If you’re super-social, three.

BTW Doyce, are we still going to be doing the thing with the timeloop where my artificer remembers what happened that you’d mentioned in the previous thread, or are we doing something else? Will probably help me determine my Flags.

What do you think? I was thinking something like you suddenly find yourself riding a horse on the way to Frostberry at the base of the mountain, with these people you know, but also with that other set of very vivid (but fading?) “memories”… it would tie into your experiments in the cabin pretty well.

Or you could play someone else and your other guy can be a backup character following someone’s gruesome death.

Actually, Mike, I was looking over my notes from that other session, and guess what? During the lead-in questions, we found out that group was actually the SECOND group you were heading to the mountain with – the first group was wiped out before you ever got to the mountain.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BE TRYING TO REACH THE PEAK?

(~Ash tries to play it cool as he relives a hellish groundhog day scenario for the 113th time…~)

I’d forgotten all about that. Man, Ash really shouldn’t have played with that clock… every single time.

I kind of like the idea of Ash just flashing back to town, with a brand new group of adventurers ready to head up to the Mountain. “Gods below, why is it always a new group of people? Why do the memories always end when we get to the door? Why is it always the same day but everything is different? Maybe things will turn out differently this time…”

I love this, so much.

Also of use: the dungeonworldsrd.com site has a section just on Character Creation – nice, since the actual character class pages don’t cover things like “what stat numbers you get.”

I’ve been re-reading the Flags article Doyce originally linked to at http://walkingmind.evilhat.com – From Bonds to Flags.

(Saying this aloud to be sure I get the idea): a Flag is a Significant Personality Trait, with how others can tap it to demonstrate it (both trait and tap being something that makes the game interesting) and so earn them an XP.

I would say the label of a flag is usually expressed as a personality trait, although the actual flag itself is the action that somebody takes to point at that personality trait

To go down a little bit further, it’s not just a personality trait that your character has, it’s an aspect of your character that you think will be FUN to see called out fairly regularly in play. People are going to be getting Xp rewards for hitting this thing, so they’re going to want to hit it. if you don’t want to see it… actually I’m going to say that if you don’t think you’ll enjoy seeing it repeatedly, pick something else.

(As a side note, and not to discourage anyone, but bearing in mind that this is meant to be a short campaign, it may not be necessary to boil the ocean to create our characters. Though I’ll confess I have several paragraphs of backstory already written …)

He’s going to feel so silly when he dies in the first room.

No worries, I can run an immediate sequel campaign using Wraith: the Oblivion.

Is there a mechanical reason to put the Flags in the Roll20 Bio page, vs. putting them in on the main character sheet as if they were Bonds?

(We’ll probably want to gather all of those into a convenient document, since we need to know each other’s Flags more than our own.)

The bio page is the only page that other people can see, other than the people who can actually edit the character sheet. So you can see the part of the sheet with all the stats and numbers and moves, but somebody else looking at your sheet can only see that bio page. So if I wanted to see what flags to hit on your character, I can click on your character sheet and see those flags on the front page, but I won’t be able to see them if they’re inside your character sheet, and even if I could see them in the character sheet they’re a lot harder to find in there.

Basically I would put them in both places, but I’m weird like that.

Put another way: The bio page is basically for everything you want other people to see and know about your character

Poifect, thanks.

Did anyone else figure out what they are playing?

Dave’s got a bard, Mike is doing his Artificer, Kay is I think gravitating toward a Ranger or Fighter. I don’t know about Margie yet, and my personal experience with her character choices, while extensive, isn’t deep enough to let me guess.

I do know that she’s usually as willing as you are to fill a needed gap, so you need not wait.

Right now, the ‘gaps’ are primarily thief- and fighter- or cleric-shaped, I think?

That said, it’s three sort of hybrid classes so far, so more dual-mode stuff (an unclassed ‘elf’ or ‘dwarf’ or something, for example) also works.

Knowledge/lore stuff can be covered by both the Artificer and Bard, but don’t let that rule out a Cleric or proper spell-caster.

I mean, really, I’d say go for whatever type of play most appeals to you – if you guys don’t end up with a bend-bars/lift gates or lockpick person, you’ll have to work the problems another way.

I shall sing to the iron bars and they shall part to let me pass!

Or … most likely not.

My favorite part about the alternate Bard playbook is that it’s specifically designed to remove the ‘singing with a lute in the middle of a fight’ stuff.

Okay, stock Thief is statted in Roll20.

I will noodge the kinfolk.

Bill, you say “stock thief” but the image makes me think of a very specific thief who wants my HP or my GP. 😉

I’m not picky.

“Cowardly: Put us in situations I can justly complain about.”

Well, there’s everyone XP fountain for the game.

PERFECT.

Hey, Ash and Basler can complain about everything together! 😀

Actually just noticed that they both have the same flag, just named slightly different; I found mine under the Lawful header, but I figured I’d rename it for something more character appropriate.

Hmm. Yeah, that duplicate flag might be troublesome. Something to ponder. Hmm…

Oh I don’t know Doyce, that just means that Ash and Basler will want different things to complain about. Can’t speak for Bill, but from the Cowardly tag it sounds like he wants Basler to complain about being put into dangerous situations that he doesn’t want that he can complain about. “Hey Basler, this hallway looks suspicious. Mind taking a look?” “Oh, I don’t know…”

I see Ash’s more of seeing other people in danger and after helping them, complaining about being put upon to help. (just making some assumptions here…) Eduard: “Oh no, I’m being beset on all sides! Someone help me!” Ash: disgusted noise “I swear, if I wasn’t around to pull your butts out of the fire.”

Sure it’s a slight distinction, but I can see it being quiet different in play. Sort of an internal vs. external dynamic, if that makes sense.

I am 100% on board if you guys are.

Kay has given you all a marvelous gift for this campaign.

“Go fight that demon! This talisman will protect you.”

By the time that PC dies, the rest of us will have leveled up enough to beat it.

Actual conversation I had with kay on Roll20 tonight:

“Seriously, can I trust the thief?”

GM looks at your ‘Gullible’ flag.

“Absolutely.”

This whole thread is a national treasure.

Just checked out all the characters on the Roll20 page and I must say I’m very excited for tonight’s game.

Yeah, thank goodness this is just a one-off adventure, otherwise folk might have put real effort into devising interesting characters …

If you guys don’t end up destroying the world, I will keep them around for additional Adventures.

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