#also thoroughly monstrous before the vampire shit

[mel-addams]

Aevum's SOLe Braincell

[Image ID: a greyscale illustrated two-panel comic, fanart for the game Redfall. In the first panel, Devinder is holding a tape recorder, making a skeptical expression as he listens to the recording, which is saying (with names redacted with static for spoilers): "I am E K and I think P A was SO SMART about covering his tracks by forgetting everything and instead keeping recordings and evidence of his misdeeds and medical malpractice so now I am also recording all my thoughts on"

In the second panel, Dev can be seen standing in a ravine, surrounded by multiple other highlighted tape recorders, all lying near corpses of cultists and Bellwether mercenaries. Dev is staring up toward the eclipse, talking to the Black Sun: D: "But I just had to stop the folks K hired to burn—" BS: "I know." D: "And you told A NOT to reco—" BS: "I KNOW." D: "But then why did you also start to—" BS: "SHUT UP"

End Image ID]

Dev, muttering as he walks away: "This is why I work digital; one press of a button and all the embarrassing bits disappear."

I was gonna try to wait until I finish the game before I doodled anything (and I'm still only halfway through), but this tape was too funny. What the hell "tracks" did you think were "covered," sir??

[cookinguptales]

i’m so obsessed with your meta omg i feel like so many of the takes on the nandermo tag are built around the idea that Guillermo is not capable of being mean/evil or acting selfishly or when he does it’s yay girlboss and it just reads as a bunch of people infantilizing this grown ass man. and they end up completely demonizing Nandor by proxy. sometimes they can admit Guillermo has little value for human life but don’t acknowledge his ability of being a manipulative asshat to the other main characters?? i know he’s been a victim of them many times but limiting him to just that is so boring. and considering i see similar things in other fandoms where there are ships in which one is minority and the other isn’t (which isn’t precisely the case with nandermo but still) i’m guessing Guillermo being fat and latino has something to do with it. is like people are scared of pointing out his flaws as a person and being accused of racism/fatphobia. or maybe they put him in this “can do no wrong” pedestal to avoid properly engaging with him idk. that’s not the point though. the point is i love your takes on Guillermo and i love how he can be so fucking cool while being an utter piece of shit. he really became my #1 blorbo after discovering your blog

idk about those theories, but I will say that both Nandor and Guillermo absolutely should be demonized! and loved thoroughly despite that!

Honestly, I've been stupid into Guillermo since the show started, and I do remember what some of the rumblings were like before nandermo was a popular ship. Even back then, people had a way of softening Guillermo's faults. And I mean -- genuinely, I think it's just Harvey? He's so cute and endearing that you just straight-up forget what a monstrous little shit Guillermo can be.

I get it! I do! Those doe eyes are a lot to look past! But my favorite thing about Guillermo is how feral and awful he can be with the sweetest of smiles on his face. He absolutely is cute and sweet and adorable! And probably also the most selfish and dangerous person in the entire cast. He wants to be the straight man (so to speak) of the cast so badly, but he's just as unhinged if not more than the vampires are.

The thing is... like, he's a terrible person, but they all are! I'm a little leery of arguments that he's uniquely awful or that he's uniquely good. Guillermo is a lot of things all rolled up into one and I love that for him. I don't see any point in flattening his character into just good or just bad when it's all of his complicated curves and angles that make me love him so dearly.

Sometimes he'll give up everything he ever wanted to make one of the vampires happy. Sometimes he'll emotionally manipulate them into giving him what he wants. Sometimes he has low self-esteem and has a hard time seeing the good in his mortal self, and sometimes he has a hilarious ego on him. Sometimes he'll be sweet and thoughtful and kind, and other times he'll be so casually cruel that it's kind of stunning. He'll save a fellow familiar's life, then make fun of a human after luring them in with promises of friendship only to feed them to his real friends.

He's a mess of self-centered, self-deprecating, self-aggrandizing, self-effacing, selfless, selfish insanity and I love that for him!! It's not that he doesn't have an internal logic to his actions; he very much does. He's just also good at self-justification, perhaps more than any of the rest of them, so he can make all of these qualities rest uneasily against each other.

Man, I love Guillermo. He's such a messy little shit and such an utter sweetheart. I want to write a million words about him.

[brightorangetea]

Dearest Tea:

Many times you've expressed fascination with the monstrously large fic himi and I are writing (made more monstrous in concept since she's writing in her second language.)

I saw your tag under a post asking for more weird asks, so I figured I would tell you about our silly little fic, here are a few highlights, and some out of context general facts.

For starters the word count on The Fic is but a scratch on the surface. There's thousands and thousands more words of world building, including alternate scenes we couldn't make up our mind on.

Without further ado:

Shura jumps out a multi story window. Her cockiness knows no bounds. This does not go well for her.

The ending involves somewhat secretive world domination. I also execute angel in great detail in front of a crowd.

We have many thousands of words intricately detailing a vampire biology that is joyfully and needlessly complex, to the point that I'll most likely write a guide that goes with the fic in lieu of figuring out how to work it all into the story. No other piece of vamp media EVER has as much detail as we do. Nothing else holds a candle to it in concept, there are a few similar fics, but none so long and detailed.

Toudou Saburota has 12 teeth pulled out in great detail, it is a scene I happen to be particularly proud of, and one of the first ones I wrote. Without further elaboration, Lucifer is the one who undertakes this task.

Renzou is still a conniving and backstabbing little shit. It bites him in the ass extremely thoroughly and he comes to regret his choices beyond comprehension (again, Lucifer adjacent statement).

Don't do drugs kids, or do, these guys certainly are. (Vampire blood is psychoactive in certain situations.)

Yuri's death is still fucked up, but Different, and death is never truly the end.

Running from apex predators is never a good idea. No one ever seems to learn this.

Egyn, Azazel, Beelzebub and Iblis are all OCs of himi's from before we knew what they were like in canon.

Blood. So much of it. Everywhere. (Obviously ✨).

Wish shiro lived? This is the fic for you!

Frustrated with Yukio and wish he had consequences for his actions? This is also the fic for you. I cannot express how much this applies, we took Get His Ass very seriously.

The genre could best be described as soft horror, or dark fluff. No idea what you know about the agere fic community, especially the non-con side of it. Know this part's kind of a bomb shell since we (said community) don't tend to surface in popular fandom very often or at all for obvious reasons, but figured I'd put it out there so you could back out before you get too invested if that's something you don't want to go near.

I can't think of anything else currently. Do with this information what you will, I like to share things and you expressed interest. I hope you enjoyed, or are at least more psyched to see what we're up to.

Sincerely and with friendship,

EyeballsToEntrails

To my friend EyeballsToEntrails, Thank you so much for the ask! It came at a time where I needed something interesting to read and you really delivered.

I have no idea what most of this means if I'm going to be honest, but as you already know, I'm not one to read tags or even read things in order, so as long as your fic stays as entertaining as these little snippets seem, I will still be looking forward to when you eventually finish and post. Thousands and thousands of words...damn

Sincerely,

Brightorangetea

[imagine-loki]

Monsters and Magic

TITLE: Monsters and Magic CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: 6/? AUTHOR: nekoamamori ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine you’re a vampire who helps the Avengers defeat an evil seethe of other vampires, and Loki befriends you after you end up in their custody RATING: T (so far) NOTES/WARNINGS:  Also on AO3 click here

    He didn’t recoil.

    He should have recoiled. Should have protested being kissed by a monster.

    He should not have kissed you back.

    He didn’t recoil. He wasn’t disgusted by kissing a monster. Instead? Instead he kissed you back. It was a chaste kiss, just his soft perfect lips on yours. But you still didn’t understand.

    You dropped back to your feet from your toes, breaking the kiss, horrified, thoroughly exhausted, confused as to why he hadn’t recoiled, and pleasantly dazed by the kiss itself. No one could say that you had the emotional range of a teaspoon…

    “I’m sorry- I didn’t mean-” you started to try to figure out how to properly apologize for kissing him. Was your friendship going to be ruined? That was the last thing you wanted. His finger pressed against your lips.

    “That was unexpected,” he commented, sounding…pleasantly dazed? That didn’t seem right, but it was difficult to tell what he was really feeling without being able to see his expression. You started to step back, to splutter more apologies, to try to fix this, but the warm sun on your back stopped you from backing away from his finger on your lips. Loki was holding the parasol and moved it closer to him, drawing you closer as well so you could stay in its shade. Cheater. “I said unexpected, not unpleasant. In fact that was most wonderful indeed,” he told you warmly. His finger was off your lips, but an instant later, he had leaned down and kissed you again, his lips light against yours, so gentle and soft, but perfect nonetheless and this time you were kissing him back. “Most pleasant indeed and something I have been wishing to do for awhile. I am only sad you beat me to it, however accidentally,” his voice was warm and full of laughter. He was amused, but pleased by the development.

    You cursed the sun again for hating you and keeping you from seeing his expression. It was hard to hear lies in his voice. He was the fucking god of them after all. “But… you were just kissed by a monster,” you told him, still not quite able to believe that he was….ok with this.

    He chuckled. “Sweetheart, if I was just kissed by a monster, then so were you. And I assure you that I am the worse monster, as I have actually done monstrous things, while you,” he bopped your nose “are an adorable sweetheart whose worst crime has been raising your voice at Stark to keep him from drinking your Yarbarah by mistake,”

    “You’re not a monster,” you told him firmly. He was an attractively handsome god, not a monster. Silly boy was confused indeed if he thought that he was the monster and the vampire wasn’t.

    “I will show you when we are back inside and you can see again,” he told you kindly, knowing that you couldn’t believe him a monster unless you saw it for yourself. Not when he was so kind and gentlemanly and adorably thoughtful. “Now, shall we return inside or are you still going to insist that we need to meet this sorcerer?”

    You sighed heavily, much as you wanted to go inside, curl up with your cold friend to ease your already rising body temperature, and go to sleep, you couldn’t. “We have to go see the sorcerer. The team’s counting on us to make him our ally,” you reminded Loki. You both wanted to get and stay on the team’s good side. Especially if either of you were going to get off of house arrest anytime this century. You were only allowed on this little adventure because you needed to make this man an ally to the Avengers.

    “So how were you planning on making it safely to the sorcerer in your current predicament?” Loki asked, not unkindly, just curiously.

    “Depends,” you told him honestly. It was best to just be honest up front with Loki. He was really good at spotting lies.

    “On?” he prompted.

    “If you were ok with me touching you or not,” you admitted lightly. “If not,” you lifted the red-tipped white cane in your hand.

    “I think my kissing you would indicate that I am perfectly fine with you touching me, little one,” Loki told you dryly. You laughed at that.

    “Fair point. You’re ok leading?” you asked, a embarrassed that he had to. You hadn’t told anyone that you were blind in the sunlight. There was a lot about vampires you hadn’t told them because they hadn’t pressed you for answers. “If you’re nodding, I can’t hear that,” you reminded him and stuck your tongue out at him. He huffed in reply.

    “What do you need of me?” he asked.

    You held out your hand. “A hand?” he placed his hand in yours. You moved that hand up his arm until you were holding his arm just above his elbow. You reached for the parasol in his other hand, having a general idea where it was based on the shade.

    “I hold this,” he told you firmly. You hesitated, afraid of the sun, and your grip on his arm tightened. “Have I given you any reason to believe I am going to allow any harm to befall you?” he asked you softly.

    “No,” you admitted softly, but you voice betrayed your fear.

    “I will not, little one, and you have enough to focus on without sight to aid you. Trust in me, love,” he bid you softly and you knew the words cost him. No one ever trusted in him. You nodded and gestured for him to start walking. You kept your grip on his arm, holding your cane in the other hand, though not using it since you had a guide. It still kept people on the street from bumping into you. Or possibly it was your overprotective Loki holding the parasol over you as you walked. He was an excellent guide and warned you of dangers as you walked.

    “Loki, I know you said you wanted to kiss me, but you can’t possibly want this. Whatever you say, I am a monster. I’m dead for heaven’s sake. My heart doesn’t beat, I don’t even need to breathe. I’ll never get any older. I’ll stay 18 until the day someone goes out of their way to kill me. I can’t have children. There’s no future with me. And worst of all, I have to eat people to survive,” you told him firmly as you walked, but kept your voice low enough that you wouldn’t be overheard.

    “You’re not a monster, sweetheart,” Loki told you again. “I shall live for another at least four thousand years. That seems like a future to me. Children aren’t everything, and surely nothing we need to think about at this juncture. Besides, we can always adopt if we decide we want children. On the condition that we tell the child that they are adopted…” he added bitterly. He hadn’t found out well that he had been adopted, so his reaction was understandable. “You may have to consume blood to survive, but that is hardly eating people. You eat lamb, or cow, almost exclusively and cursed out the butcher’s shop for trying to send you pig’s blood once,” he added amused.

    “It tastes awful,” you whined at him. He chuckled and kissed the top of your head. He had been so amused watching you argue with the delivery guy and seeing the delivery guy terrified of the tiny pixie of a girl yelling at him for giving you inferior product.

    “My point is that it is no worse than the rest of us who eat meat,” he told you pragmatically. “Odin’s beard, I saw Thor devour an entire boar once. Now, if you do not wish to pursue a romantic relationship because you truly do not wish to, I will step back to being nothing more than your friend. I will not, however, accept this you-being-a-monster nonsense as a reason for me to stop courting you,”

    You were slightly more reassured, though you had drank human blood before. Hell, you’d survived on his before and he seemed to be forgetting that fact. Before you could reply and point that out to him:

    “Shit!” he announced and his arm snaked around you, pulling you to him and away from something that whizzed past where you’d been standing. You yelped in surprise and clutched onto him. “Sorry, love, there was an idiot on a bicycle. If you wait here, I’ll go kill him for you,” he growled.

    “No, no, it’s not a capital offense. I was just startled,” you told him quickly. He would go kill the idiot for scaring you or endangering you, you realized. He still growled, so you changed tactics. “Please don’t leave me alone,” you allowed a hint of fear in your voice and it wasn’t entirely feigned. You didn’t want to be alone in the sunlight.

    He kissed the top of your head, reassuring himself that you were here and safe. “I’m right here,” he reassured you. He let you get your grip back on his arm. “Let’s get to the sorcerer quickly.” He didn’t like that you were at such a disadvantage.

    It wasn’t much farther to the address the sorcerer had given you. Loki carefully led you up the steps and knocked on the door, vanishing your parasol so he didn’t give away your weakness to the sun. You weren’t advertising that you were a vampire. You felt the magic around you and clutched onto Loki’s arm tighter. The air around you had changed. You were inside, away from the sun, in a room that smelled dusty. You felt more magic and tried to feel for the source while you blinked quickly, trying to get your vision to clear faster.

    “Where is he?” you asked Loki, frantic and afraid. You weren’t a fighter. You were a tinkerer, a bookworm, a medic, not a fighter. You caught a glimpse of light under Loki’s feet, but it wasn’t clear, your vision wasn’t clearing fast enough. “What’s that?” you asked, pointing.

    “A badly performed portal spell,” Loki explained. He waved a hand and the gold light vanished. “Show yourself sorcerer!” Loki called as he moved his arm out of your grip and pulled you closer to him, tucking you safely against his side while you wrapped your arms around his slim waist.

    “Loki Odinson,” came a male voice from behind you in a regal tone. “And Y/N, I presume-” Loki whirled, drawing you with him, so he was between you and the sorcerer. The sorcerer’s voice stopped short when he seemed to stop to take in your appearance. You were tucked safely against Loki’s side, thick black sunglasses firmly in place and your red-tipped white cane dangling from your wrist on a strap.

    “We came at your request, sorcerer. You indicated that you might be an ally to the Avengers, but if this is how you treat guests, especially my lady, who is, as you can see, blind, then we will take our leave now,” Loki growled, pushing you behind him as he summoned a blade in his free hand. Your vision was coming back, but neither of you would tell the sorcerer that.

    “My apologies. I did not realize-” the sorcerer said quickly. “Please, have a seat. We can discuss matters over tea,”

    Loki hesitated, but you bravely stepped out from his embrace. Loki led you to one of the two chairs and placed our hand on the back of it. He turned, probably to glare at the sorcerer. A teacup appeared in your hands. Loki finally sat next to you and the sorcerer sat in a chair in front of you.

    “I am Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme,” the sorcerer started. Loki scoffed something about ‘amateur’. You reached over and jabbed him hard with a finger to remind him to behave. “My apologies for the demonstration, Y/N. I was not expecting you to bring the Asgardian who tried to take over the Earth with you when you came to visit,”

    “Who were you expecting? Loki was the best choice if you turned out to not be an ally, plus he’s my boyfriend,” you explained pragmatically. Granted the boyfriend thing was new. Was it even official? Was it just a kiss or was he actually your boyfriend now?  Did people even make things like that official? You’d never had a real relationship to know.  You’d have to discuss it later.

    “His brother, actually. Thor would have been impressed with the display. Which I would not have done had I known you’re blind. That was cruel, and I do sincerely apologize. My only excuse is that your…boyfriend, can be… unpredictable and keeping him off guard seemed a safer option,”

    “That was dumb,” you told him dryly. You saw him incline his head. Good, your vision was clearing properly.

    “It appears I miscalculated,” he agreed.

    “So why did you call my lady here?” Loki demanded, tired of being ignored and talked about like he wasn’t here. He wasn’t mad at you for it, you could tell by his tone. You were getting information out of Strange by doing it.

    “I wished to evaluate her magical abilities and potentially offer her an apprenticeship here at the sanctum,” Strange explained quickly. “However, that does not seem like it would work out for anyone,” his voice was dry at that. “The magicians here safeguard the Earth from outside threats. Since you two work with the Avengers, I will offer you the use of the libraries here and the magical texts they contain. If you need our help, please call upon us,” he finally said.

    “That’s very kind,” you told him, wondering why he was doing this.

    “We all need to work together to keep the Earth safe,” he told you. He explained more about the operation here while you sipped on your tea. He gave you a tour and showed you the library, where you very nearly lost Loki to the magical texts. He actually left a clone to play with the magic books and Strange continued the tour only mildly weirded out by that skill of Loki’s.

    Strange walked you back to the main entrance. “We can tell the team that we can count you as an ally?” you asked before you left.

    “Yes, you can,” he told you kindly.

    “Thank you, Doctor Strange,”

    He seemed extremely relieved to have Loki out of his sanctum. You blinked back the sunlight and clutched onto Loki’s arm when you stepped out of the sanctum. Loki opened the parasol and held it over you for the walk back home.

    “Are you alright, darling?” he asked part of the way home when you laid your head on his arm.

    “Tired. The sun is bright, and hot,” you whined at him.

    “Hot? You’re usually complaining that you’re cold-” he started to tease. “You can’t regulate your body temperature,” he remembered and paused. You thought he was looking at you. “You’re really flushed,” he told you and touched your cheek. “How long can you stay out in the sun for?” he asked as he started walking again, more quickly now. You’d had a long walk out in the sun to get to the sanctum and it was an equally long walk home.

    “Dunno,” you told him. “Haven’t had to try. It was supposed to be ok if I was careful. That’s what they said…” you trailed off, forgetting where the sentence was supposed to go.

    He cursed creatively and not in English. “Do not tell any of the others I’m doing this. I’m not supposed to be able to with Stark’s restraint on my wrist,” he told you firmly. He wrapped his arms around you, holding you tightly to his cool body. You almost melted in relief at just that. You felt his magic shimmer around the two of you and an instant later you were out of the sun and inside.

    “Where? What?” you asked him stupidly, worried when you were suddenly in a different environment.

    “Shh, it’s ok, we’re home. I teleported us back to the tower. This is my room,” he told you quickly. “I keep it colder than the rest of the tower,” he explained. His hand touched your cheek and he cursed again. “You’re boiling,” he told you worried. He started to reach for the hem of your shirt. You growled and removed the outer long-sleeved shirt yourself. You were wearing a tank top under it.

    He steered you to the bed. “Lie down before you pass out,” he told you firmly. You didn’t argue with him. You felt like death and you’d know what death felt like, flushed, exhausted, breathing too fast though you technically didn’t need to breathe. You managed to climb on the bed and he vanished your shoes and socks for you. His shirt followed yours to the floor and he climbed on the bed with you. “Come here, love,” he bid you and pulled you into his arms. You were about to protest that he would just make you warmer with cuddles, but he was cold. You moaned in relief at his cool skin. You thought his skin turned blue as he got even colder, but your eyes were still messed up from the sun. You melted in relief and closed your eyes, wrapping your arms around him and enjoying the cold. You just meant to close your eyes until you cooled off and felt normal again.

    Cold lips pressed against your forehead. “Rest, darling. You’ve been up way too late for a little vampire, and spent way too much time in the sun. You did your job and made a new friend for the team. Time to get some sleep and recover from the sun,”

    You were just going to close your eyes for a minute.

    Really, you were just closing your eyes for a minute.

    Just

    A

    Minute

    You were supposed to tell him you needed to eat something to recover. But that didn’t seem important at the moment. You could tell him when you opened your eyes after your minute of resting them.

    He kept his lips pressed to your forehead while you fell asleep, or was it passed out? safe in his arms.

[turbletoops]

Curse of Castle Halloway, Pt. 9

Our current party consists of:

Anala, Dragonborn Cleric of Pelor, from the clans to south. (+ An albino dragon egg) Bartleby, Halfling Rogue, a Halloway native. Camlib, Lizardfolk Druid, from the eastern swamps. Ilios, Aasimar Monk of Lathander, from Lightbreak Temple. Rowan, Half-Elven Paladin, currently serving Eldath. Shade, a Tiefling Warlock of the Raven Queen.

Our adventurers come face to face with the corruption creeping into this sleepy little village.  *(This session is loosely based on the Moon Over Graymoor module.)

"Go to Hell -- I MEAN IT!”

~ 20 Days Until the Dark Hunter's Moon ~

As Shade hears a voice Bartleby and Camlib can't seem to, the pit of discarded bones comes together into a horrible, crunchy amalgamation. As it forms, there is a scream of terror from Bartleby; Camlib thinks fast and entangles the abomination with foliage. There is a hasty debate on the merits of fleeing.

However, Shade hears the voice in her head again. The familiar voice sounds strained and fleeting: 

 Ě̱̠̣̤̤̤͡x̡̼̮͎̮͍͇̌̏ͪ̒̅̿͝p̡̣͍͈ͯ̽̽ͤ̾̑̓u͚̬̼͖̾̓̂̎̒̎̉̍n͕̂͗͛͗g̢͑ͣ̀͏̝̯̝̟̟e̛̜̣̬̤͎͆͐ͦ͜͠ ̛̙̮̹̳͓̠͓̎̓́͆͞ͅͅt̓ͭ̄̀̈́͡͏̫͕̟͎ͅh̦̻̫͖̻̺̭̤̽ͣ̈́̿́͢i̷̧̤͔̠̜͎̹ͫ̈͋͢s͋̉̅ͩ̂͂̾̚҉̵̨̙̪̥̲̗̳̩ͅ ̵̵͕̼̬̘̺͖̭̠̈́̒̀̂ͦ͡w̻͔̒̇̄̇ͪ͝ỏ̹̦̠̲̣͕̮̋̓ͨ̌e̷̛̜͍͈͕͓͈̮͊ͧ̽̈́̃́f̖̠͍̟̙̬ͦ̀̍͌ͥ͠u̸͎̠̖̞̓̓͑͑̕l̔ͯ̂̉͏̜͔͎̻͉̘ͅ ̴̩͕̘ͭ̑͊̑͗c̼̲̫͖̳̝̅̎r̅̍̎ͬ͒̅̓҉̖̰̹̣͉ͅe̼͈̞̺͔̺͔̮ͫ̓͐ͧ̄͑ä̬̳͔̍̿ͣṫ̢̝̖̜̯̥͖ͪ͐ͧ͊͘͟u̶͙̻͇͙̲͔͍͒ͅr̸̠̩̟͔͍͓̬͉̓ͧ͊͒̃̃͜ê̷̟̳͍͈ͯ͆͐ͬ̚ ̷̲̦̦͎̱̹̩͋̒̂̅̔͐͜ą̮̞̂ͩͩͩͥn̪̺̱̣͖̞͚͒͞d̶̡̬̲͈̠̹̝̞̰͖͋͛̇͊̀ͤ ̡̰ͯ̀̿ͭ̍͌̆̃͡s̨̠̝̟̤͙͔̭̽ͮ̍ͭ͑̓̐̃́͡ẽ̵̦̦̳͕͖̻͖̞͂̔n̤̟͓̋͗̐̍̏̓̿ͣ̚͜͞d̨̥͚͍̞̪̋̑̀́ ̷̰̰̳̤̰̿͟i̷͍̖̜̅ͩ̔̒͛̚t̞̝͔̗̤̦͓̲̾̓ͅ ̷͂͏̷͈̻͚͍̪̗t̿͠҉̯͔͇̘͖̫̰̻͠ŏ̯̖̌̃̅͐̍̊ ̔̇ͮ̈́̊̎͐̉̚͏̛͕̬̲͈m̺̻̼̤͕̭̝͉͒̐̀̉͐̍e̝̯͓͕ͥ̽͘.̴̤̇̏̇ͩ͘

Back at the inn, Anala and Ilios' bedtime routine is interrupted by a strange clattering from Rowan and Bartleby's room next door. They creep over to see mist escaping from the cracks of the doorway. There is no meaningful answer from knocking.

Ilios wants to bash in the door. Anala tries the handle, instead. They walk in to see a ghastly, floating elven woman dragging a still-sleeping Rowan towards the open window. Ilios and Anala waste no time lighting her up. Ilios tries to use his muscles to tug o' war Rowan to safety, but only gets a boot. Anala tries to turn undead, but it's just not strong enough. The mysterious woman finds this quite amusing. Rowan finally wakes up screaming when she bites into his neck. Despite his struggle, she drags him out of the window.

Meanwhile at the temple, the bone creature struggles helplessly to escape the thick vines holding it in place. Instead, it is being thoroughly stuck with arrows, coated in acid, and shocked with dark energy. Shade finds that psychic powers do not affect this monstrosity.

Ilios tries to get out of the window to spread his wings, but the awkward position leads to some glowing punches instead.

The mysterious woman tilts her head back and lets out a howl, and is met with responses in the distance. With Anala's look of encouragement, Rowan finally struggles free, but something is lost in subtext and he drops like a limp noodle from a second story height.

*POMFPH*

Luckily, there is a ton of accumulated snow on the ground. He'll walk it off.

Ilios tells Anala she should got out the window after him. It wasn't as harsh as it sounds.

Anala summons her courage and ties up some curtains to help repel down the side of the inn but...

*POMFPH*

Ultimately, there is another person-shaped hole punched in the snow beside Rowan. Anala remarks to Rowan through an exasperated lick of flame that this seems familiar. She gives Ilios a salute, and he approves of her heroism.

Skulking lupine silhouettes loom on the horizon.

Luck at the temple seems to have diminished slightly, and Shade's spell misses and Camlib summons up energy for a big acid arrow that turns out to be a slight dud. 

The bone monster lunges wildly at Shade, skeletal hands and teeth gnashing at her. Shade is stalwart and tells it to get lost. It dies in a heap of brittle acid-worn bones, before they become cleansed and disperse. Shades hears weak words of gratitude.

Ẇ̴͉͈̣͐͌̍ê̥̍͐̍̆ͩ̔ͩ͟͡l̷̨͓̺̦̟̤̺͖̦ͭͬ̉͐͑͛l̢͇̜̗͕̦͇͙̠̩ͯ̎̌ ̵ͩ͏͇̱̞dͪͤͮ̉̕͡͏̤̤̻͍͉ô̵͈͔̬̲͍̱̩͋̎͛ͨ͒̓̿͜͝n̢̲͇ͪ̂̿́̏̄ͦ̀͜ę̜͍̝̎̈̽ͣ̂͌́ͅ.̴͉̟̥̬͆̅́ͅ

Ilios unintentionally upskirts the vampire and then attempts to shoot her from below but misses, and he takes a defensive stance. She tells him he’s being uncouth and attempts to charm him, but Ilios resists.

Thoroughly bored by this whole affair, the woman sighs, transforms into a swarm of bats, and escapes into the night.

Rowan misty steps up to the open window, retrieves his boot, and readies his bow.

The rest of the party sees Ilios as a beacon and rushes over. The wolves move in.

Anala gets up and is confused that Rowan is missing - but then sees him in the window. She flips him off, and clearly done with this shit, shoots a massive fireball, incinerating all but two of the wolves.

The group finishes up the wolves. Camlib and Shade decide to make wolf jerky, and the group seems to start making connections between the vampire woman and Rowan. They definitely look like they could be related. Rowan refuses to believe it at first, but logic starts to creep in.

Sagh the innkeep comes running out looking disheveled and unnaturally sleepy, wondering where the raging fire came from. They fill her in on the situation and offer her a roasted wolf leg and she calms down. She offers the party a free night and hot breakfast as a reward for defending the inn. She decides to start boarding up the windows to the inn in the morning.

In the morning, there is breakfast as promised, but there is also another murder to report, this time the locksmith. The party goes to investigate her house, and find some records. The last record was the system of locks that she designed and were the last things George Gilly had smithed, ordered by the Chapel of Selune.

Things start to come together for our adventurers. Shade points out that the people being murdered are skilled tradespeople - The coroner's assistant, the "lawman", the blacksmith, the locksmith - and that the motive may be to make the townspeople helpless. It's also pointed out that those unaligned to the Gods seem to be targeted. Anala ponders about the danger of the coming festival. There is contention on the danger of people being locked inside the Chapel, and if it would be for sanctuary or potentially, slaughter.

They decide to check the note left at the tree. It has been shredded, and there are wolf tracks.

The party returns to the inn to plan their next move - and are informed of another body found, this time out on a barn on some farmland - and that this time they will not like who it was.

Upon reaching the barn, they find Coroner Oswald torn limb from limb in horrific fashion by large monstrous claws.

As they are investigating within the barn, however, there is a soft thunk behind them, and the door won't budge.

Flames behind to race up the dry wood walls, threatening to quickly envelope the entire structure -- with our adventurers inside.

So! What is in store for our heroes(?) next time??? What is the motive of this heinous killer? With such a weak voice, what misfortune has befallen our beloved Spinner of Fate? And just who was that vivacious, vampiric visitor? Will there even be any citizens left in Greymoor this time tomorrow?

Find out – Next session!