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tigerkirby215 · 4 years

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5e Kayn the Shadow Reaper build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

Hey remember when I said I wouldn’t just make League of Legends builds? Well getting back into LoL I rediscovered my love for Kayn the Shadow Reaper. Kayn’s an edgy little anime boy who doesn’t wear a shirt and he has daddy issues as well as a scythe daddy who sasses him and only slightly wants to take over his body to destroy all of humanity.

I should mention that this build is built much more for blue Kayn (the Shadow Assassin) than Raast. I might make a Raast build at some point but for now my focus is much more on replicating Kayn’s mobility and high damage output than Raast’s sustained damage. Blue Kayn is much more similar to regular Kayn than Raast as well. Just be sure to focus down ranged opponents with this build, and if you kill too many melee enemies ask your DM if you can change your race to a Tiefling.

GOALS

I am the weapon, you are a tool - Fun fact; Raast is sentient, and that’s rather necessary for this build. I think most people know where this is going but there’s a nice bonus utility in the subclass we’ll be picking.

Stealthy ganks from the dark - With a dash, a long-ranged lunge, and the ability to walk through walls you’ll be able to keep up with your enemies with ease. Believe it or not getting a spell to walk through walls in 5e is rather difficult, but still quite possible.

Kill the body - As a Shadow Assassin you’re meant to quickly burst down anyone you run into, so high damage output will be key.

RACE

Kayn was always a very skilled individual but he’s still only human. Luckily Variant Humans can still hold their own in a fight. Bump your Charisma and Wisdom with your two free points and take the Acrobatics skill as you are naturally nimble on your feet. For your Feat take Mobile to further increase your mobility and dodge enemy auto-attacks. And for Language... honestly it doesn’t matter just pick whatever language you think will be useful. Spoiler alert: this build is going to end up getting a lot of languages.

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - You’re a pretty anime boy who learnt how to be a scary shadow man from the scariest shadow man around. Also I think anyone who knows a thing or two about 5e knows the real reason for this high Charisma score.

14; DEXTERITY - You are naturally dexterous and while in a real world I’d love for this to be a 20 unfortunately there’s no finesse Scythe weapon in 5e so we’ll have to have that high Charisma score instead. Even so DEX leads to AC and 2 is more than enough for the armor we’ll be wearing. (NOTE: If you’re rolling for stats your Dexterity doesn’t need to be higher than a 14.)

13; WISDOM - Wisdom is tied to a variety of vision skills which you’ll need to be an assassin. Knowing to read your opponent’s moves is key in Zed’s Shadow Order, and being able to bandage yourself never hurt anyone. It’s also a requirement to multiclass so...

12; CONSTITUTION - Your recommended build includes Black Cleaver which provides a nice boost to your health. That, and you don’t want to be squishy as a melee fighter.

10; STRENGTH - Strength isn’t that necessary for this build as Raast does all the heavy lifting, but dumping it isn’t as in-character as dumping...

8; INTELLIGENCE - Noxus isn’t known for its education system, and you were put into the army when you were just a child which certainly didn’t help you learn math.

BACKGROUND

For your background choose the Faction Agent from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. You are a member of the Shadow Order and while that isn’t a faction on the Sword Coast it most certainly is a faction. You gain Insight proficiency as well as an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma ability of your choice - choose Intimidation as shadow assassins tend to be a pretty spooky lot. You also get the Safe Haven feature which lets you communicate with members of Zed’s order to gain access to a hidden safe house, free room and board, or assistance in finding information. If they ask why they should help tell them you’re Zed’s protege. Or just kill them for their defiance - that would be in character too.

(Artwork by AquaLeonhart on DeviantArt)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - RANGER 1

SURPRISE! This isn’t a pure Hexblade build! Quite surprisingly this build doesn’t even go that deep into Hexblade! Anyways we’re starting with Ranger over Hexblade because the skills and saving throws that a Ranger gets are far more useful to us. With that in mind take proficencies in Athletics, Stealth, and Survival to survive the jungle, gank your opponents, and survive a 1v1.

You also get Favored Enemy and the most in-flavor enemy to choose would be Fiends (as that’s what Raast would be classified as) but feel free to metagame a bit and ask your DM what types of enemies you’ll be facing - one of the key features of Kayn is the ability to adapt your play-style to whatever the enemy team picked. Enemy team got a Teemo? Take Halflings as a preferred enemy and chop down that little pest. You also get a language that’s supposed to be tied to your favored enemy, and for the sake of roleplay I’d suggest taking Infernal. Raast is an old Darkin and chances are he won’t be nice enough to talk to you in Common.

You also get Natural Explorer and again there’s no option here that’s too necessary for roleplay so I’d suggest asking your DM on what setting will be the most useful. Technically Forest is the closest similarity to the jungle but the key to playing Ranger is knowing ahead of time where the campaign will take place.

On Revised Ranger / Class Feature Variants Ranger: This build doesn’t require too much from your favored enemy and terrain but it’s well-known that the Revised Ranger UA and Class Feature Variants UA help Ranger out a lot. This build uses one of the subclasses from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything which work perfectly fine without the UA features. Even so the UA features help a lot so if your DM allows them absolutely take the opportunity to use them. Favored Enemy from the Revised Ranger PDF provides a big boost to your utility, and Deft Explorer is far more useful to you than Natural Explorer. If you plan on taking the Canny feature the skills I suggest to boost are Athletics, Medicine, Stealth, or Survival. Favored Foe from the class feature variants UA is fine but I’d honestly prefer the Revised Ranger’s favored enemy instead.

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

And now we get the key portion of this build. We’re going into Warlock and I think most people have identified what we’ve came for: Hexblade! The Hexblade patron lets you find a living scythe in the underbelly of Noxus which will give you immense power with the slight caveat that it may try to take over your body in order to destroy the world. Regardless you gain Hex Warrior which lets you attack using your Charisma modifier instead of Strength or Dexterity, which is good because a scythe usually requires a lot of upper body strength but now we can just use our dashing good looks instead. I should mention now that probably the closest you’ll get to a scythe in 5e is a War Pick, but the War Pick can’t be wielded in two-hands and Kayn doesn’t use a shield so ask your DM if you can reflavor a Battleaxe as a scythe, since you can use it in two hands thanks to the versatile property. (Don’t worry though; we’ll get a more scythe-like weapon soon.)

You also gain Hexblade’s Curse which lets you cast Chilling Smite (the summoner spell; not the Paladin ability) on an opponent to do extra damage to them and heal when they die. You can only target one creature with this and gain it back on a short or long rest so save it for the enemy ADC to pop them quick or place it on a tank to shred through them like Raast asked you too.

You also gain access to Pact Magic - You get 2 cantrips of your choice and you may notice that we’re not taking the weapon attack boosting cantrips: there’s a very specific reason for this. Anyways this is probably going to be one of the few times that I honestly suggest Sword Burst as a viable spell as it lets you spin around with Reaping Slash to deal damage to any enemy beside you that fails a DEX save. And none of these spells are really in-character for an AD champion so screw it you may as well take Eldritch Blast in case you need a ranged attack.

For your spells Armor of Agathys lets you shield yourself in cold shadows which provide a bit of extra temporary hitpoints and also cause your enemies to take damage if they hit you. Wrathful Smite from the Hexblade list lets you use Blade's Reach from inside a wall to do extra psychic damage to an enemy and they have to make a Wisdom saving throw or else become Frightened of the fact that you’re ganking them - should’ve warded bro!

LEVEL 3 - WARLOCK 2

With 2 levels in Warlock you gain access to Eldritch Invocations and while there is literally an invocation called “Armor of Shadows” we won’t be taking it. I haven’t mentioned it yet but while Kayn doesn’t wear a shirt in League you can’t have a 20 in DEX like he does unless you get really lucky with your dice rolls, so feel free to wear some Medium armor since in 5e armor doesn’t affect your movement speed. I recommend getting your hands on a Breastplate as early as possible as it will give you good AC while still allowing you to be stealthy by not imposing disadvantage on stealth rolls. (Which you can remedy with a Feat but Medium Armor Master is bad.)

Anyways we’re going to start with Devil’s Sight for those who can not see in the dark, which as a human you currently are. For now you can leave your other invocation empty since we need Warlock 3 to get the next invocation we want. Likewise we’re also going to wait until next level to choose our spell.

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 3

And now we gain access to our Pact Boon, and to the surprise to no one we’ll be picking Pact of the Blade which is the pact of choice for any melee Warlock. Pact of the Blade lets you summon any melee weapon into your hands to use as you wish. What’s more is that as a Hexblade this also works with your Hex Warrior feature so you can now use a Heavy weapon with your Charisma. Again while there’s no scythe weapon in 5e a glaive is like a scythe with a smaller blade. It does a d10 slashing damage and has the reach property which will allow you to attack at a 10 foot range, keeping you safe from opportunity attacks. Does this make Mobile’s ability to negate opportunity attacks largely redundant? Yes!

You can also now take the Improved Pact Weapon invocation which lets you wield a two-handed weapon and still cast your Warlock spells. The weapon also gains +1 to attack and damage rolls, and you can also summon a shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow as your pact weapon instead of just a melee weapon. While Raast might get bitter that you borrowed Varus’ bow don’t feel limited in your weapon choice.

You also gain access to second level spells and we’ll grab both Blur and Branding Smite from the Hexblade list. Blur lets you up your jukes to give creatures disadvantage when they attack you unless they’re scripting and have blindsense, and Branding Smite lets you do Radiant damage to the target and make sure that they don’t use stealth to get away. You’re sort of midway decent against Evelynn but this will help you get the upper hand on her.

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement - bump your Charisma for better attack rolls and damage rolls.

You also gain access to another spell and Hold Person will let Raast knock up a target so you and your allies can hit them. (Note: Hold Person will not strike an enemy up into the air it’ll just paralyze them, which is still very useful!)

In addition you get another cantrip and like I said before none of these are really in-flavor for an AD champion so just grab Prestigitation or Minor Illusion to do some funky Shadow Order trickery.

Also I might suggest replacing your Smite spells with other spells that don’t take your Bonus Action soon? This is just an advanced step if your DM is really stingy on the rules - there aren’t many spells that I’d want at this level but you’re still welcome to pick and choose instead of having Wrahtful Smite and Branding Smite.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks gain access to another Invocation which will be Sign of Ill Omen, which lets you Bestow (a) Curse of a floating scythe above your opponent’s head which will allow you to do an extra d8 Necrotic damage per hit, give them disadvantage on an ability check of your choosing, disadvantage on attacks against you (because you’re inside of them technically), and the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or else be unable to do anything. This is the closest we’ll get to mechanically when it comes to replicating Umbral Trespass but in essence you can treat this like a more beefy Hexblade’s Curse which requires concentration and only comes back after a Long Rest.

You also gain access to third level spells which means that finally we can put a level into Shadow Step. Blink lets you roll a d20 and on an 11 or higher you go to the Ethereal Plane where yes: you can walk through walls. At the start of each of your turns you reappear in the open and have to roll another d20 to disappear again. This spell is somewhat unreliable but it is a way to walk through walls as well as avoid damage and get the jump on your enemies.

Also if you took my advice from the last level I’d probably suggest replacing one of your Smites will a spell like Gaseous Form or something? GF lets you travel through walls as long as there are cracks in them and while it doesn’t increase your speed it is more reliable than Blink for getting around. If your DM is nice I’d also suggest taking another third level spell - not quite sure which one but there are a lot of great options at this level.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

LEVEL 7 - RANGER 2

Now that we got Shadow Step it’s time to get access to our passive. But firstly level 2 Rangers get to pick a Fighting Style - unfortunately Great Weapon Fighting isn’t an option so your best bet will be the Defense style for +1 to your AC. (Yeah we’re still wearing armor.)

You also gain access to Spellcasting and... bleh giving spells to an AD character is always weird. I’d recommend Hunter’s Mark to get value out of your passive and Ensnaring Strike to cast Chilling Smite (again: the LoL summoner spell) on a fleeing opponent.

On Class Feature Variants Ranger: Hunter’s Mark is built into Favored Foe if you use it instead of Favored Enemy, which is why I suggest using the Revised Ranger Favored Enemy if your DM will allow a mix-and-match between the two UAs.

LEVEL 8 - RANGER 3

Now here’s the real shocker of the build: your Ranger subclass. Take the Horizon Walker for some unique shadow dimension shenanigans! At early levels you get access to Detect Portal which isn’t really in flavor for Kayn but to be honest chances are you won’t use this ability much. You will however gain access to Planar Warrior which lets you add a d8 of force damage to a single weapon attack as a bonus action. Force really isn’t resisted much and a d8 of it every turn can greatly increase your damage output. You also gain access to some class-specific spells and Protection from Evil and Good lets you share some of your anime determination powers to stop Darkin (as well as aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, and undead) from hurting your allies as easily.

You also gain access to Primeval Awareness which is... it is... it certainly is! Truthfully while I’ve been avoiding talking about the Class Feature Variants UA I think Primal Awareness’ spell list is far more useful and in-character for this build. Speaking of spells you get another spell known: take Longstrider to use Shadow Step’s movement speed to close in on your foes. Along with Mobile you’ll be walking at 50 movement speed, which is practically dashing speed!

LEVEL 9 - RANGER 4

4th level Rangers get an Ability Score Improvement: bump your Charisma for maximum damage and accuracy with your weapon as well as maximum anime speeches about how you’ll become galactic emperor of the universe.

LEVEL 10 - RANGER 5

5th level Rangers get an Extra Attack, allowing you to increase your damage output and burst your enemy down more quickly.

You also gain access to second level spells such as Silence which lets you stop any pesky caster from bursting you down... wait you’re caster now too shit. Make sure to stop concentrating on Silence before trying to use Blink to Shadow Step.

And speaking of second level spells you also get access to Flash-I mean Misty Step to quickly teleport out of danger if needed, but honestly with Mobile you can avoid most sources of damage by disabling the enemy’s ability to opportunity attack. Especially considering that you’re using a huge “scythe” with reach getting hit by opportunity attacks really shouldn’t be an issue.

LEVEL 11 - RANGER 6

6th level Rangers get Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer improvements and you know what that means? More languages! :D Again feel free to metagame and ask your DM what to pick since none of these are too in-character. ...Or just use UA?

LEVEL 12 - RANGER 7

7th level Horizon Walkers gain access to Ethereal Step and let’s be honest this was the main reason to pick Horizon Walker. This will let you cast the Etherealness spell which is a far more reliable Shadow Step than Blink will ever be. You can move in any direction though moving up or down will cost double movement. The spell only lasts for 1 turn but with 40 movement speed from Mobile you should be able to get wherever you’re going. This ability comes back after a short rest: Shadow Step has a long cool-down so don’t waste it!

You also get another second level spell and ehhhhhh? None of these are overly impressive or in character so I dunno... Find Traps? I just want to remind everyone that you don’t have to follow this build word-for-word, and even if you’re an anime edgelord some extra healing never hurt anyone.

LEVEL 13 - RANGER 8

Level 8 Rangers get another Ability Score improvement but with a maxed out Charisma modifier you can prove worthy of some Feats.

Alert - A Shadow Assassin doesn’t get surprised, and this feat will guarantee that you always go first.

Charger - Charger lets you capitalize on your massive mobility and chase someone before managing to strike them with Raast. If you manage to pair it with Blink you can Shadow Step through walls before coming behind the enemy ADC.

Prodigy - Kayn in lore is a Prodigy, and this can help you cover up some of the skills your party might not have. Also more languages! If you’re looking for the most in-character skills to have Expertise in go for Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidation, or Stealth.

Savage Attacker - Channel your inner Raast to get more damage out.

Lucky - Luck is a tool, just like any other.

You also get access to Land’s Stride which lets you move through non-magical difficult terrain without spending extra movement, further decreasing the usefulness of Mobile. You can also Shadowstep through plants that would otherwise harm you, and have advantage on saving throws against magical plants that might impeed your movement. Build the body.

LEVEL 14 - RANGER 9

9th level Rangers get access to 3rd level spells: take whatever you think is good honestly because you’re going to use all your 3rd level slots on Haste from the Horizon Walker list anyways. Go on; shoot faster! Wait woups sorry wrong Champion.

LEVEL 15 - RANGER 10

10th level Rangers get another terrain for Natural Explorer. Again discuss with your DM on what to take, or use the UA rules.

You also get Hide in Plain Sight which lets you prepare for an ambush at the Noxtoraa. You can spend 1 minute to hide in the shadows for a +10 bonus to stealth as long as you remain still... or you could just take the Pass Without a Trace spell?

LEVEL 16 - RANGER 11

11th level Horizon Walkers get access to Distant Strike. When you make an attack you can bounce between shadows to teleport 10 feet before you attack. In addition if you attack two different creatures you can attack a third with an extra attack.

The damage of Planar Warrior increases to 2d8 at this level for more damage with The Darkin Scythe, and you get another spell so take what you want: probably a 1st level spell since you’ll be spending all your 2nd level spells on Misty Step and 3rd level spells on Haste.

(Artwork by McDobo on DeviantArt.)

LEVEL 17 - RANGER 12

12th level Rangers get another Ability Score improvement. Refer to level 8 Ranger for Feat options.

LEVEL 18 - RANGER 13

13th level Rangers get access to 4th level spells: Locate Creature will allow you to find your mark no matter where they might go.

You also get Banishment from the Horizon Walker list which is really useful if any of Raast’s friends come for a visit. "Rhaast..? Why are you trembling?" "It's nothing Kayn. Nothing at all."

LEVEL 19 - RANGER 14

14th level Rangers get another Favored Enemy! Aaah! How many times do I have to say it: ask your DM on what you’ll be facing in the campaign, even though by this point it really doesn’t matter.

You also get the Vanish trait which allows you to Hide as a bonus action to use that stealth score of yours, and makes it impossible to track you unless your enemies are using magic or you’re leading them into an ambush.

LEVEL 20 - RANGER 15

Our capstone is the 15th level of Horizon Walker which gives you access to the Spectral Defense feature. When you take damage you can use your reaction to gain Resistance to it, halving the damage. Remember that you only have one Reaction but this is still a very useful ability to have in case you bite off more than you can chew as you’re known to do.

You also get another spell and again: pick your poison by this point it really doesn’t matter.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

'Cause either way we're dead, oh - With up to 3 attacks every turn, Planar Warrior damage, Hexblade’s Curse, Hunter’s Mark, Haste, and Bestow Curse you can output some extreme damage at close range. You even have Eldritch Blast and the ability to turn Raast into a bow for ranged combat.

Free the body - You have an immense amount of mobility tools between Mobile’s movement increase, Misty Step, Blink, Haste, Ethereal Step, and even Longstrider. I believe we accomplished the goal of walking through walls and then some.

A craftsman never blames his tools - You have a surprising amount of utility under your belt with a lot of proficiencies, an ungodly amount known languages, and a lot of Ranger spells and skills giving you tools to start a fight.

CONS

Death finds fools quickly. - Despite being a melee fighter you aren’t very bulky, with a relatively low AC and a lower Constitution you’re just a few hits away from being in Power Word Kill range. Feel free to invest in some Ruby Crystals, or more particularly an Amulet of Health.

Talk, talk, talk. All you ever do is talk! - You’ve got an immense amount of Concentration spells and not a lot of Constitution to concentrate with. With a mere +1 to CON saves and no Warcaster or other such feat you’ll end up losing Concentration often. Hm maybe that’s why Kayn drops Shadowstep if he gets hit?

Shadows touch all - Excluding Charisma you have almost no investment in your stats, and while your class makes up for your low Strength and Dexterity saves you can easily be hit by any Intelligence or Wisdom saving throw.

But that only matters if you get hit: keep to the shadows, strike your enemies when they least expect it and then meld back into the darkness for your next kill. And be sure to focus the ranged enemies unless you want to swap characters mid-campaign.

(Artwork by amatey on DeviantArt)

On Raast

As I said previously this build is built much more around Shadow Assassin Kayn than Raast. I may make a Raast build at some point but it would require a far different level progression, including the fact that you’d be playing a Tiefling instead of a Human. Chances are if I ever make an Aatrox build that would be a far better analogy to Raast.

If you’re planning on potentially turning into Raast at some point discuss it with your DM. You’d essentially be changing characters completely at that point.

#dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd multiclass #league of legends #league of legends kayn

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bluebeetle · 4 years

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Tell me about your dnd ocs

oroooook super late on this sorry, as i said, computer troubles have been plaguing me and continue to do so

oook so the last image i posted that prompted this was mostly of a friends character but mine from the same game was in the corner, who is also the guy in my header:

(Art by @herobrushreplica !!)

anyways his name is Nico (short for Nicolas) and he’s a dhampir since we use a lot of homebrew, and also a ranger. so yeah he uses dueling and has some healing spells bc we are dumb and didnt plan ahead and had like no healers..... and also can turn into a bat

also hes the poor neutral good in a sea of chaotics (and one lawful good)

He was kind of pre-existing prior to this but i expanded a bit more. anyways im lazy so ill copy-paste what i had written up already:

backstory:

A half-vampire born to a vampire hunter who's love was turned into a creature of the night as an act of revenge from a powerful vampire lord. The couple did not part nor kill each other like expected, however, and Nicolas (Nico for short) was born from this union. Raised in the art of fighting monsters and other creatures of the night, Nico learned how to use both ranged and melee weapons. He was brought up learning how all monsters--including more humanoid creatures such as Orcs, Vampire and Tieflings--were evil and it was the duty of his family to protect those in need from them.

However, he grew up battling with his vampiric side. His father telling Nico that he was to never reveal it to anyone unless necessary, while his mother assured him he was an amazing creature, and one of good rather than evil. His relationship with his father was rocky, made worse whenever any of Nico's traits showed. He grew up unsure of his destiny, instead focusing solely on the wishes of his parents, and keeping himself distant from other people.

However, this was not to last forever, as while Nico aged normally until he reached 25, it seem became clear that like his mother, he was ageless. After the death of his father, Nico's mother left to sleep away her grief, leaving him alone. Nico left to travel the land, hoping to help those in trouble--occasionally for a cost--and find his way. He has a hard time opening up and trusting people, but is quick to become attached and affectionate regardless. He is plagued by feelings of doubt and uncertainty over his heritage and morality, wondering if what his father has taught him about different races is true or not. He worries about his vampire side coming out and harming people--even if he can survive on normal food and animal blood. His heritage is not something he reveals easily--as he has experienced plenty of blacklash for being a dhampir in the past.

When it comes to taking action, he either impulsively acts, emotion taking over (often his temper) or overthinks, leaving him hesitant and confused. He's easily flustered and confused, wanting to help people and be in their company while also pushing them away in fear of them hating him for being what he is. He is bad at confrontation with authority figures, often instead going behind their backs. His main goal is to find his place in life, to chase away his feelings of loneliness and abandonment and feel assured in his morality and existence, in his choices. Or, at the very least, better understand himself.

He can survive on normal foods and animal blood, but would die if unable to eat any meat. Human blood is still tempting to him. He works best with melee weapons but has skills with the bow and whip. proficiency: arcana,athletics, perception, investigation, survival

Personality Traits

*I judge people by their actions, not their words.

* If someone is in trouble, I’m always ready to lend help. I don’t talk about the thing that torments me.

* I’d rather not burden others with my curse. I expect danger around every corner.

* I refuse to become a victim, and I will not allow others to be victimized. I put no trust in divine beings.

* I live for the thrill of the hunt.

Ideals:

*I try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost. (Good)

*I kill monsters to make the world a safer place, and to exorcise my own demons. (Good)

Bonds:

*I protect those who cannot protect themselves.

*A terrible guilt consumes me. I hope that I can find redemption through my actions.

*There’s evil in me, I can feel it. It must never be set free.

Flaws

*The people who knew me when I was young know my shameful secret, so I can never go home again.

* have trouble trusting in my allies.

*I feel no compassion for the dead. They’re the lucky ones.

so yeah edgy vampire oc... but i love him. most of it ends up with everyone being well chaotic and him trying to keep some semblance of order so they can actually reach their goal but usually its. a mess. but its fun.

my other one ive used once so i dont have anything for her but shes an aarakocra monk named Zeera! and is Chaotic good and basically just a vehicle for me to be like “ahah what bird behaviour would be funny in this situation”. also her look is based on ornate hawk-eagles bc theyre pretty

Backstory:

Once part of the guardsmen for her tribe, Zeera has since decided she wants to see more of the world. She used to be a soldier, and has medical knowledge. She left the guardsmen, though, tired of horrible commanders. Just one problem: growing up so isolated from other races combined with general bird behaviour, means she tends to stick out as a ditsy trouble maker.

She takes anything shiny and doesn’t really understand many social concepts such as ownership. But she does understand fighting, oh boy does she. Somewhat childish in personality, acts very birdlike. Aggressive.

Personality Traits

*I enjoy being strong and like breaking things. I face problems head-on.

*A simple, direct solution is the best path to success.

Ideals

*Independence. When people follow orders blindly, they embrace a kind of tyranny. (Chaotic)

*Greater Good. Our lot is to lay down our lives in defense of others. (Good)

Bonds

*Those who fight beside me are those worth dying for.

Flaws

*I have little respect for anyone who is not a proven warrior.

*I’d rather eat my armor than admit when I’m wrong.

#ask #dnd #my characters #my ocs

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captainofthefallen · 4 years

Text

OC Interview

Rules:

1. Choose an OC.

2. Answer as that OC.

3. Tag 5 people to do the same Open tag because you’re lazy

So about six million years ago @queen-scribbles dropped me a tag on one of these in case I wanted to talk about a character and so I’m cashing in on that because I want to talk about Zeph (my wonderful amazing air genasi monk who deserves all the happiness in the world who I unintentionally cursed with anxiety worse than mine. Poor darling.)

1. What is your name?

“Zeph.” She hesitates. “Okay fine technically it’s Zephyr but nobody I actually like calls me that. So if you want me to like you, don’t.”

2. Do you know why are you named that?

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, because I’m an air genasi and the monks couldn’t think of anything better when I was dumped on them.”

3. Are you single or taken?

Her annoyance melts instantly as she blushes and ducks her head, almost trying to hide her smile. “Um... taken. Much to my surprise.”

4. Have any abilities or powers?

“Let’s see... good at punching things? I learned the other day I’m pretty good at hockey. I can levitate things, and sometimes I can blink into another plane if I can’t dodge something quickly enough.” She shrugs a little, almost bashful.

[we spent the first hour of our last session playing fantasy hockey; Zeph was the goalie thanks to the monk’s deflect missiles ability. It was delightful. Also indirectly led to her getting asked out which was a plus.]

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

She raises her eyebrows. “I’m not sure if I should be flattered you think I’m perfect or insulted you think it’s unrealistic.” She laughs, then sobers. “Really though if you think I’m perfect you’re not looking hard enough.”

6. What’s your eye color?

“Gray.”

7. How about your hair color?

“Silver, mostly. Think there’s some blue in there.”

8. Have any family members?

She shrugs dramatically. “Fuck if I know. None that I know of. Maybe my parents are dead, and maybe they just dumped me, but either way I guess it doesn’t matter.”

9. Oh? How about pets?

Her smile returns. “Well the party has our blink dog, Ptoast. Long story.” She turns around to look back toward the docks, where a water genasi is play wrestling a gnoll. “Cotton Eye Joe doesn’t count, he can talk.”

[yes we adopted a gnoll. And we named him Cotton Eye Joe. Long story.]

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now, tell me something you don’t like?

“Wererats,” she says immediately. “Especially if they’re in a crime syndicate and frame people’s friends for enough crimes to get them thrown in jail for way too long. Also when people tell me I can’t do something.”

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

“Oh, loads. Pretty much anything I can get my hands on, really. Puzzles, cards, I think I could probably still juggle if I tried.” Her gaze shifts upward as she thinks. “Does fucking with Ptah count as a hobby?” (”Yes,” three voices respond immediately. “Fuck you!” adds a fourth.) “Guess so.”

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

She bites her lip. “Sure, I guess. Tends to happen when you get in fights. Got arrested for beating up a tabaxi in a bar once.”

13. Ever… killed anyone before?

She nods. “Not... much. Some gnolls, some wererats, some weird mushroom things. People... not really easy to get used to that. Though there are a few I’d make exceptions for. And besides I’ve got an assassin and a... well, Ptah, for friends, they can handle it.”

14. What kind of animal are you?

“Like, what animal would represent me? Some kind of cat, I think? Maybe a tiger. Gods help anyone who suggests I’m a bird.”

15. Name your worst habits?

She laughs. “Oh boy. Well I overthink things. A lot. Somehow I also manage to be reckless sometimes. And I spend way too much time and effort trying to figure out what other people want from me.” She sighs. “Working on that one.”

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

“My friend Bright. Learned a lot from him. About the world, and about me. He’s about the closest thing I’ve got to family, I think. At least until I met these assholes.”

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

She inclines her head. “Think you missed a few options there, but I’m bisexual.”

18. Did you attend school?

“Not in the traditional sense, no. I was educated in the monastery where I was raised.”

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

She laughs again. “Bold of you to assume I even know what I want to do next week.” She bites her lip. “I haven’t really thought about it. I guess I wouldn’t be opposed, but it doesn’t seem... I don’t know. I’m trying to live in the moment right now.”

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

She grins. “Does my boyfriend count? I’m kidding. Um... not me specifically, I don’t think. There may be a few fans of our group, since we kind of stopped evil snake people from taking over the government, but I don’t think anyone would have much of a reason to be my fan.”

21. What are you most afraid of?

She blinks a few times. “Being forgotten,” she says at last. “And... well. No. I think I’ll keep that one to myself.”

22. What do you usually wear?

She gestures to her clothing--flexible, dark-colored pants and a tank top, along with the wraps on her hands. She’s also wearing a dark cloak that sparkles just a bit when she moves. “It’s a cloak of protection,” she says. “Ptah gave it to me, to see how I’d react. I was very drunk at the time (and so was he, to be fair) so I’m a little hazy on the details, but...” She blushes faintly. “Anyway.”

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

“I love pecan pie. Also, cookies and pastries and such in general are pretty great. Especially Ashyew’s reactions to them.”

24. Am I annoying you?

She raises an eyebrow, smirking. “Are you trying to? Try harder.”

25. Well, it’s still not over!

She smiles. “Full speed ahead, then.”

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

She gives a bemused sort of grin. “That’s a very weird question right now. I guess financially we’d probably qualify as middle class at this point, but we were also recently given a villa, so.... No idea. I really have no idea.”

27. How many friends do you have?

The smile stays. “One more than I thought I did a few days ago.” She thinks for a moment. “Brin and Bright, and Rhede, and the group, are the ones I’d call close friends. Kazimir and the others might qualify, to an extent, but seeing as I wasn’t even sure I was friends with Morana... so about eight.”

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

“Pie is amazing and wonderful. Do you have any?” She sighs. “Thought not. Worth a try.”

29. Favorite drink?

“Hmm. Never really thought much about it. Alcohol is pretty much nasty, yet for some reason I still drink it.”

30. What’s your favorite place?

“So far? Aargau. The dwarves have fucking indoor plumbing. And hockey. I really wish we could’ve stayed longer. And not just because I was promised a date.” She thinks for a moment. “I’m also a fan of the rooftop deck at our villa in Kalmar. But overall, gotta be Aargau.”

31. Are you interested in anyone?

She blushes, grinning widely. “Just a little. If I wasn’t clear up to this point, well, it’s still kinda new. But Ptah is my boyfriend.” Her entire face lights up with her smile as she says it. “So yes, I guess you could say I’m interested in him.”

32. That was a stupid question…

The grin doesn’t fade. “To be fair to you, I was being a little vague. Don’t worry about it.”

33. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

She thinks for a moment. “I haven’t really spent much time in either. Other than that giant octopus, though, I have enjoyed the ocean. Especially if Ash is there as a dolphin or something.”

34. What’s your type?

She laughs out loud and buries her face in her hands for a moment. “According to my track record of one, it’s dumbass tieflings who don’t seem to ever shut up and who are really fun to get drunk with. If you’re looking for a serious answer... it’s because he listened to me. I... I doubt myself, a lot, and I usually do okay at hiding it but I didn’t need to hide it from him. I could tell him anything, and not only does he not judge me he somehow always manages to say exactly what I need to hear. So...” Her blush deepens. “Yeah.”

35. Any fetishes?

“If I did, I wouldn’t be about to tell you.” She winks, despite her blush.

36. Camping or outdoors?

“Can I have both? You mean like... in a tent or under the stars? Depends on the weather. But if it’s clear? Stars. I didn’t retain much of what I read about the stars, but they’re beautiful.”

#ask thing #tag thing #zeph #look i love her an unreasonable amount #and she and ptah are so goddamn cute

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aeondeug · 4 years

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14, 15, 17

Again going to do Saoirse and Kikue but we’re throwing in a character from an old game that I use in freeform RP and generally repurpose at times, Abhaya Sigali. An Abhaya boiled down to her core. Bitter as hell, works with others to fuck shit up and see things burn, a former assassin. If I am permitted she is a fox. 14. Most heroic thing they have ever done? - For Kikue...Letting down the illusion and going all out to save a town. The nice thing about Fate aspects is I am not bound by the fact that like the only things tieflings really get are like...hellish rebuke and what not. Imagine like Rem with her horn active type deal. Kikue hates anyone knowing what in the fuck she actually is more than anything, so that’s a pretty big deal for her. Saoirse...This will be related to the next entry but standing up to Kikue and her fuckery. Yes she loves her but she’s not just allowed to run wild and set shit on fire because she feels bad or whatever. Abhaya...Taking the fall for someone else. She’s an intensely selfish individual and she’s very much about avoiding getting back into hot water. She’s had to go to magic prison once in the past. She’s not willing to go back. Her being willing to go down and possibly end up in a cell again instead of just letting them eat shit is a big deal. She’s an ‘I’d sell your soul for one corn chip’ sort. 15. Most despicable thing they have ever done? - For Kikue...going full fuck it if you’re all just going to think that I’m a monster anyway might as well act like one. She can be a bit too zealous in her fiend slaying goals, but like she’s generally very principled. But like if you’re all just going to be this way then fuck it. There is no hope for things being made right...Might as well just kill the people too... Saoirse...Be an incredibly inconsiderate fuck to the openly grieving because like that’s just how fate rolls sometimes. She’s a divination wizard who worships a god of fate and divination. She varies from fatalistic and resigned about things, to cockily assured she can just fix everything because she can see the future. It’s one thing to be a fatalistic fuck alone, but very much another to be that way to people who are clearly not having a good time of things. Abhaya...Selling out her allies for the chance her girlfriend survives. Doesn’t matter what you were working at or how tight you’ve all gotten. That woman comes before you at all times. Doesn’t matter what you’re being dumped into or how bad it is, you’re being dumped into it for the hopes of her girlfriend making it out fine. 17. What’s their favorite food? - Kikue has an ungodly love of bone marrow. This is one of the small signs that she is actually a tiefling. Indeed, she eats a suspiciously small amount of fruits and veggies. Meat, meat, and more meat for her. Saoirse is in love with mushroom based stews though really you can also ply her with roasted mushrooms or fried mushrooms or even just mushrooms by themselves and raw. It definitely involves some dumb elf level bullshit ability to tell what plants will not murder you or she will swear that is the case because ELFS ARE BEST PEOPLE EVER MOST SPECIAL. Abhaya...Fried tofu and inarizushi in particular. She’ll frown at you if you point out that this is very stereotypical.

#alkthash

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berdbrainx · 5 years

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🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊

Send a pen and I’ll talk about my OCs!! | Accepting!

((oh boy that’s a lot lmao :’) i do have slightly more than 17 ocs though so i can talk about a whole bunch of them!

1. first of all, there’s Vincent. he’s probably the reason i have somewhat of a handle on roleplaying berdly in the first place, bc he’s a Huge Jerkwad and actually is more of a narcissist than berdly is, if you can believe that? he’s diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder though, so that’s a pretty fair reason why imo.

vincent is from london too so uh,,, because i sometimes channel his vibes to rp berdly, i just Cannot Stop reading some of berdly’s dialogue with a british accent and it’s horrible because me @ myself: that’s not his voiceclaim lmao :’)

anyways, vincent is also pretty smart like berdly, but with anything other than academic stuff, he’s actually a Total Idiot lmao. another way he and berdly are pretty different is that, uh, berdly can actually feel empathy and will feel bad about his actions if pushed enough. vincent on the other hand will not care At All about how much his actions hurt the other person not really because of his npd but because he’s just that much of an Asshole mcjerkface. also he’s a ghost who died in his late teens, like about 3 other of my ocs who i’ll talk about soon lol

i’ll talk about the rest of them under the cut because i feel like this’ll probably get pretty long!!

2. okay, so next one i’ll talk about is probably Cheryl. she’s a human high schooler though, who goes to the same school the Ghost Boys go to, which is a school referred to by the students as St. Lawrence. and she’s one of the other people i think about when trying to rp berdly. she’s also very smart, and uses sarcasm so much. however, she’s actually a really nice person. she only really reserves being a little shit to her tight-knit group of close friends, in the school band and stuff (she plays clarinet in band!!). she’s mostly pretty quiet and minds her own business otherwise. so in other words, berdly is basically vincent’s assholishness + cheryl’s sarcasm + both of them being smart.

3. i guess i’ll just say random facts about different ocs now, so it won’t get too long lol. Vinnie is a total sweetheart who keeps forgetting he’s a ghost. but he loves bendy straws and kool-aid, and he tends to say a weird combination of modern + outdated slang all the time.

4. Devon secretly really likes cute things, even though he’s emo af. and he’s also a huge pushover nerd, who got adopted into Cheryl’s group of friends because they just,,, they’re rambunctious kids who see a loner and they immediately absorb them into their group with the power of friendship and inclusion

5. Flint’s actual name is Devon, but I already had a devon so i thought it would be confusing,,,,, so i gave him a nickname lol. it fits a lot though, because he’s sort of a pyromaniac. so yeah. “flint” :’) he’s a ghost with questionable morals, and is definitely part of the rowdy group of friends in The Band Squad, so yep. he plays percussion in band, but really because of all the free time he has in his afterlife, he could,,,,,, play any instrument in the band if he wants to. also: he’s usually my faceclaim when i type out of character posts on my various blogs!!

6. i’m out of Ghost Boys to talk about, so i guess i’ll talk about the other band kids. Daniel is a percussionist who was actually based off, like,,,,, two people in my band when i was in high school! one was this really cool guy in the grade above me who played trumpet, and the other was another cool percussionist in the grade below who was,,,, actually responsible for his appearance and personality so i’d say he’s mostly based off the younger kid

7. Aaron is a trumpet player who was mostly based off that trumpet player from the above point, and his friend who was also a trumpet player. those two had a pretty great friendship, so i just. made daniel and aaron have that sort of friendship too lol

8. Lori plays the tenor sax, kinda like me, and she’s the only one out of the friend group who can drive apparently :’) she can also play the bass guitar and stuff

9. Cody is an alto sax player, and has sort of a rivalry with Lori. they both say they don’t like each other but everyone knows they’re best friends and possibly crushing on each other too lol. he’s also pretty short, and lori makes fun of him a lot for it, just cause they’re close enough that she’s allowed to do that

10. Elaine is a flute player who’s really sweet, and kind of the mom friend of the group. she isn’t as close with everyone like the others are with each other, though, but they all love her anyway because she’s just. so precious and caring all the time

11. Julia is a girl who goes to “the rich school” and she sort of just happened to make friends with the band kids one day due to their shared love of memes. she’s cheryl’s girlfriend now, and she plays clarinet in her school’s orchestra, and trombone in jazz band. she sometimes ditches responsibilities for her school, just to hang out with the kids from St. Lawrence. she’s also one of Flint’s best friends now

12. Blake is a person who is actually not in high school for once, and they’re in their early 20s. they really like animals, and they tend to act a little obnoxious around friends, but they’re usually pretty quiet around strangers. they’re also albino, and are somewhat self conscious about it since they used to get teased about it.

13. Liam is also an oc who actually doesn’t go to St. Lawrence either! he’s a mage in the dragonfable world, and he’s pretty much a huge troublemaker, who loves to mess with people. he laughs whenever anyone calls him a hero, because if anything, he’s incredibly chaotic neutral and doesn’t care that much about saving people unless it’s fun

14. Kroft is a tiefling wizard, and he tends to be really positive. he’s also really impulsive and says/does things without thinking about it. he’s actually an academic genius, and can retain So much knowledge even if he was only told once, or looked at a book once. he also likes going to bed early, and waking up really early in the morning just because the sunrise looks neat!

15. gonna talk about more Rich School Kids. Brian is pretty much really cold and analytical, actually pretty similar to vincent/cheryl/berdly in a way, only if you,,,,, completely sucked the emotion out of them lmao. he’s also a manipulative person, so that’s kinda Bad, but he ends up getting together with Tristan and Learns How To Deal With Feelings And Being Nice lol. he plays percussion in orchestra, and is,, sort of obsessed with organization

16. Tristan is a guy who’s really nice, but quiet. quiet as in, he’s selectively mute. and when he does talk, he ends up sounding really soft-spoken and monotone. he was actually the one to ask out brian first though :’) he also really likes flowers tbh!

17. last one and i guess i’ll talk about Martin. he’s a guy from the 1920s who went to St. Lawrence and eventually befriended Devon during that time. he was really impulsive and outspoken, which pretty much almost gave Devon several heart attacks because you just Don’t Do Those Things in the specific way that martin does it, especially in those years. like, uh, mooning the police during an activist rally. they both loved each other, but because Devon was too afraid to actually be in a relationship with him, even if they kept it a secret, they never ended up in a relationship at all other than being “best friends”. surprisingly, martin lived a healthy long life despite doing Things that would have got him killed several times in his youth))

#|| I’m Not Surprised You Asked Me || Asks.#|| I Have All The Answers || Meme Answers.#princce7 #|| Former Smart Kid With One Brain Cell || OOC.

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feitclub · 5 years

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2018: The Good, The Bad, the Unfinished Business

Happy New Year everyone! Enjoy these selfies from the last evening of 2018. Today is a time to reflect on the year that just ended.

I went through a lot of personal ups and downs in 2018, but on the whole I think I'm in a better place today than I was one year ago. My day job continues to be my day job, a little more stressful this year than the last thanks to a literal shakeup (the Osaka Earthquake forced us to close for weeks and clearly made the company gun-shy about spending any money that didn't need spending) but the fact is I did my best and I'm getting another raise in 2019. In even better news, I started writing for Retronauts in 2018 (here is a thread of my favorite pieces that I wrote last year) which has been incredibly fulfilling even as my brain continues to goad me by diminishing my contributions at every opportunity. However, it is an objective fact that I was asked to join the Retronauts team and if I wasn't doing a good job then that offer would surely be rescinded. Instead, after writing a few scattered pieces, I was told that if I wanted to write even more than I should do that.

Part of me still feels like a failure for not finding a full-time writing gig when I was out of work in 2016, but I seem to have found a decent middle-ground right now with a day job that I find emotionally supportive and a regular writing opportunity which is a good fit for my style and tastes.

2018 was a rough time for me as a video game enthusiast. I struggled to even play, let alone complete, many of the games I bought. So many of them proved to be too difficult for me to tolerate spending time with. Going forward, I really hope I find a better mix of play time/work time because, as a Retronauts contributor, it would behoove me to play more video games and formulate an opinion on them.

Otherwise...well, my podcast has stalled. Livestreaming was a bust and my YouTube channel is covered in cobwebs. It's not that I can't resume making videos at any time, but at the end of 2017 I felt like I was starting something new and fun but after a few months of literally zero viewers, it was hard to justify the effort. Writing makes me money and all of the other stuff does the opposite: it's time I could be spending writing that instead goes nowhere.

The biggest surprise of 2018 was me falling head over heels in love with Dungeons & Dragons again. After a break of at least 30 years, some local pals sent out feelers for starting a game. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy a return to tabletop role playing, and if these friends didn’t live so close to my job I might have abstained, but instead I agreed and the results have been nothing short of magical. I hadn't given it much thought until I arrived at their house that first evening: other players already had concrete visions of their characters' class, mood, and appearance. I...honestly, I felt like I was being asked to do homework so I put it off until the last possible moment when I kind of blurted out "um, how about I make a Tiefling Paladin?" As luck would have it, no one else in the party was doing either of those things, so I rolled with it. At first I just did the standard RPG stuff: use weapons, kill monsters, maybe have a laugh with some fellow adults. But I quickly got very invested in both my character and the opportunity to take a break from being a dad or a teacher or even...a guy. My DM asked me for my character's backstory, I responded by writing nearly seven pages with wide-margins and single-spacing. She enjoyed it so much, I'm giving serious thought to writing more stories about my character, something I never ever considered before.

And speaking of "role playing," well, there's something else that was on my mind all throughout 2018: how I present myself to others. Longtime readers may have heard me - really heard me - when I expressed my uncertainty with my name, my sexuality, and even my gender in past writings. It has been difficult to manage my internal feelings versus outside pressures in regards to these things. I've become more open about telling people not to use my first name, and at this point I introduce myself with my last name, but the fact is...I have a new first name and I'm just too shy to tell it to most people. I told my mom, I've told a couple friends who've asked, but most people don't have an alternative to calling me "Feit" or even just "D." Yet online forms and my job sadly require me to have a fully-functional first name and I'm sick of being addressed by my legal nomenclature. This should be easy: "Hey everyone, I'm no longer [old and busted] I am now [new hotness]." But I'm too scared to take that step yet and I don't know how to cross that bridge - to say nothing of "Hey everyone, sometimes I think about kissing a variety of people" and the even stickier "Hey everyone...I don't think I'm a man. But I am not a woman! Anyway, enjoy your lunch."

So where does this leave me in 2019? I no longer wish to sit here in limbo in the closet to most people, out of the closet to others, all the while sitting here unsure of what kind of closet I'm in. Even if I post this publicly, most of the people I interact with day-to-day aren't going to read it. I need to be OUT. I need to SHOUT this aloud, likely more than once, or nothing will change. I have to renew my passport in 2020 and that document will determine how every Japanese agency will address me for the next 10 years. I don't want it to have the wrong name.

Unfortunately there is no way anyone reading this can help me. I have to find it in myself to stop being a coward. No...I have to convince myself the time is right to tell everyone. Because if 2019 is about me being straight (lol bad word choice) with people, I need to pay myself the same respect. Less self-deprecation, less talk of "I'm a coward" "I'm disgusting" "I'm a failure."

What if 2019 is the year I try to be kind to myself by standing up for what I believe?

There's literally only one way to find out.

Happy New Year.

Love,

...

Feit

#writing #2018 #2019 #memories #gender #LGBTQ

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virginiacreepervine · 5 years

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From the Journal of Rhaghema of Sherfield

The last few days have been taxing on my team. A simple enough trip at first, a simple enough request from the guild; Go to this temple, restore a seal, deal with any Beast Cultist presence. We’re Nu’un, its the job. But then, it wasn’t. I guess I should be getting used to that, but mercenary work was always simpler. “Go here, kill this. Protect this merchant. Stand there and look tough so no one gets any funny ideas.” Anyway, trip goes smoothly enough, until we get to some cabin with a fucking extra-planar being lurking around. Outsiders aren’t totally unheard of, obviously I know enough to call one when I see it, but if the situation is this dire,the veil between worlds this thin, who knows what might be lurking around in other parts of the world? I’d be more worried for home, were it not a shithole and were my mother not as competent as she is. The fight was rough, the thing spat acid at us, when it scratched us it caused our flesh to blacken and decay. Aendir managed to distract it while I flanked, which ended the beast. He went high and smashed its face with a maul, while i went low and severed its leg at the knee. As it lay bleeding, choking on its own bile, I jammed the discarded limb down its throat. A painful end, as it deserved.

The abandoned house yielded no bones, no remains of whoever lived there before. Hopefully they fled before that thing arrived, but the rotten food scattered about discourages that thought. Dead or no, their home is safe now. Assuming they can deal with bedbugs, at least. Then there was the actual business at the temple; a massive chapel standing in the middle of a more massive graveyard. Fitting, for a temple devoted to the Raven Queen. When we arrived, it seemed someone had placed a barrier around the temple, and Beast Cultists were trying their damnedest to break it down, burning scroll after scroll. I trampled two with the cart. Probably should have warned the others first, but then again we had better positioning so I guess I made the right call again, genius that I am. Tried to make the third Cultist talk, but she spat in my face and cut her own throat. A shadow lept from her body and began to reanimate the corpses in the graveyard. Had I known then that it would be every corpse in this necropolis, I might have tried to get through the barrier sooner and saved us time, blood, and stress, but I can’t learn if I don’t fuck up every now and then, I suppose. We barely make it out alive. Well, Vel and Aendir barely made it out alive, everyone else was fine. Much as I love Vel, her tactics leave much to be desired. Her animal instincts make her a great ambusher, a great guerrilla fighter, but she’s useless when outnumbered. Especially when her people are stubborn and won’t stop fighting a losing battle. A closer inspection of the barrier revealed that it was to defend against evil, meaning we could freely pass without issue. Aendir, being a paladin of the Raven Queen, would have rather died fighting an unending horde of undead instead of getting inside to finish the job. After Pip and Nehalennia got behind the barrier, Vel, Aendir and I stayed in front to push back the horde, with Vel and I trying to convince Aendir to run. The fool just wouldn’t stop, regardless of the ever growing number of undead around him. I got Vel to give up on him when I started moving towards the barrier, which is fortunate because I really don’t think she could’ve survived another attack. Nehalennia cast some spell that took out a few of them, as well as cracking the tombstones at the undead’s feet. This is our first mission with her, and I have to say that she’s a remarkable woman; beautiful, can hold her wine, powerful enough to stand with the rest of us in battle...maybe I just have a thing for spell casters. Or Water Genasi. Anyway, the battle. Pip managed to use some of her bard magic to charm Aendir into finally fucking moving, which I’m certain saved his life. Vel, ever oblivious to magic, punched him in the face (can’t blame her, really) and I had to pick her up and drag Aendir into the temple. He’s only 16, but damn if that boy isn’t heavy, I’m surprised I could even do it. The rest is business as usual; Aendir said a prayer, restored the seal, we had dinner with the temple acolytes, job done. No alcohol though. decided I’d take them to Norfolk for a day off to unwind and let off steam. Then comes the- [The rest of this page has been torn, and the text lost to time] I may have made a mistake. Well, I definitely made a mistake, but I may have made multiple mistakes. We get to Norfolk, stop off at the Lord and Sheep Tavern. Wish I had some way of reproducing the sign, but I’m no artist; It was a Man, pants around his ankles, a sheep right in front of him. Clearly, this was the place we want. I let Vel have Dwarven Fire Water. The first mistake; she can not hold her liquor, and this was some strong stuff. Two drinks, and she was bouncing around the bar, talking to everyone. Not really a bad thing, until she remembered what I like to do for stress relief. I’m fairly certain she was trying to talk two Eladrin into sleeping with me, but she was speaking Sylvan the whole time and I have no idea what anyone actually said. A Vampire showed up, who I suppose was the night shift bartender. Tried talking to this Halfling woman about him, but she didn’t have much to say. Nehalennia didn’t look like she was enjoying herself, so I tried talking to her; “This just isn’t my idea of fun” she says. “What would you rather do?” I ask. She says “Wouldn’t you like to know?” and then she goes to bed. Wasn’t about to force her to unwind, so I let her go. Not about to force a teammate to say or do anything they don’t want to. This leads to my next mistake; had a few more glasses of the fine Dwarven Fire Water, and talked to the Halfling Woman some more. Her family runs some merchant caravan, and they’re on their way down south for business. Quadruplets! She said her mother wasn’t super happy when they all popped out at once. I say to her “Well, at least you know you’ve got a large...capacity.” That was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever said to a woman, but then she asked if I had some plans on seeing how much of it I could fill, so I suppose we were of a similar mind. So I took her upstairs and showed her. Second mistake of the night, probably. Don’t think she woke up before I left, so I suppose I did right by her in that respect, but I fully expect to be attacked by three midgets trying to avenge their sister’s honor sooner or later. After she fell asleep, my stomach growled to remind me that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and it was already past midnight. Nehalennia was downstairs, drinking with the Vampire. Things seemed tense between them, but she left after I got another drink. No food after hours, apparently. Had a brief conversation with the Vampire where I told him I knew what he was. He must be a good enough sort, no one was up in arms after him, they let him work there. And who am I to judge? People have been calling me devil-spawn since I could crawl. Tieflings don’t deal with as much outright persecution, but being cursed doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, and I know that more than most. Disappointed and hungry, I headed back to bed. I could scarcely believe it when I found Nehalannia waiting for me in the stairwell. I slept in her room that night. Not much, I admit...probably my third mistake. Sleeping with random women in a tavern doesn’t typically complicate things. Sleeping with a teammate does, regardless of interest. I hope this doesn’t hurt her. I can’t bear to harm another friend...Glacis won’t accept missions from the guild anymore after that incident with the scroll, which was also my fault. Nehalennia said she wouldn’t mind doing it again though. Maybe it wasn’t a mistake. Vel knows it happened, of course. Of course she knows. Nothing escapes the snakes unblinking eyes. She seemed upset. We’ve been close since we started working together, I would hate if she thought I was going to abandon her for someone else. I would never, of course; we share no blood, but she’s still my daughter. No one will get in our way. Anyway, back on the road to Liberis. Hope we get payed well for this, I spent almost half my gold on Dwarven liquor.

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lindira · 6 years

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OC Interview Meme

Tagged by @elvenbeard! Thanks! I haven’t done one of these in ages!

Tagging @thessalian, @true0neutral, @ghostoftheyear, @princecatling, @helliecarousel, @acepavus, and anyone else who would like to do this.

I remember doing this for Aeric waaaaaay back in the day, so I’ll do this for my D&D character instead.

1. What is your name?

"You can call me Clarity. Clarity Meloreth.”

2. What is your real name?

"Priyenne Meloreth, if you must know. But I haven’t been ‘Priyenne’ for several years now.”

3. Do you know why you were called that?

"I don’t know the story of my real name, if there’s one to be had. Never really knew my birth parents.

“As far as my virtue name, I’m trying to find out what happened to my brother, Henry. I was blamed for his disappearance, you see, and I took it upon myself to find the truth. I know tieflings often take the names of ideals or qualities they want to embody. And I want nothing more than to discover true clarity.”

4. Are you single or taken?

"Single, but... very accidentally dating?”

5. Have any abilities or powers?

"I’m quite good at skulking about, even without my old boots that helped me do such a thing. Most of the time, if I don’t want to be seen, I’ll be pretty well hidden. Um, I’m good with daggers... Oh! And I’m an excellent researcher. I hardly pretend to know everything, but I could probably find out anything I wanted to know, given enough time and a large enough library.

“I also seem to have some innate magical ability. Still figuring that out.”

6. Stop being a Mary Sue.

“I’ll be as much of a self-insert as I can or want to be, thank you.”

7. What’s your eye color?

“Bronze and glowy. No pupils or sclera, just glowy bronze.”

8. How about your hair color?

“Dark blue. I like it quite a lot.”

9. Have you any family members?

“I don’t know about biological family. I have a brother. Adoptive. His name is Henry Thatcher. His parents are sort of my family too, I suppose. They... don’t really consider themselves family, though. They’re just the people who took care of me. Their names are Jun and Teresa Thatcher.”

10. Oh? What about pets?

“I have my animals from my Bag of Tricks! I can have 3 a day. There’s Wendell the weasel, Gwendoline the giant rat, Norman the badger, Helen the boar, Ernesto the panther, Ramona the giant badger, Brandon the direwolf, and Dolores the giant elk. It’s supposedly random who will come out of the Bag, but Norman is always one of them.”

11. That’s cool I guess, now tell me about something you don’t like.

“Liars and fake people? People who are cruel, especially for their own gain.”

12. Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing?

“I love to read. I study magic especially. And I like spending time with animals. I rather enjoy swimming as well, but I’m not especially good at it. I just like being in the water.”

13. Ever hurt anyone before?

“Yes, though it was mostly in self-defense.”

14. Ever… killed anyone before?

“Yes. Again, for self-defense. They would have killed me otherwise. I... don’t know what else to say... Yes.”

15. What kind of animal are you?

“...Are you speaking metaphorically? Because I’m not an animal. I’m a tiefling. I mean, I suppose strictly speaking I’m an animal of a sort, in much the same way humans or elves are animals. But...

*clears throat* “I think I’d be a good cat.”

16. Name your worst habits.

“I ramble a bit. I tend to try to deal with problems by myself rather than rely on others. I’m trying to work on that.”

17. Do you look up to anyone at all?

“To many people, yes. To Twilly and Miranda Heartheart, to the others in my little band of adventurers. They’re all admirable people.”

18. Gay, straight, or bisexual?

“Lesbian.”

19. Do you go to school?

“I went to school as a child. It wasn’t a very big one - just learned my letters and numbers and a bit of history. I lived in a small village, so it was just me and Henry and the few other children who lived in the area.

I haven’t gone to school since, but I’ve never stopped reading or learning. I study constantly, and currently work as a researcher.”

20. Do you ever want to marry and have kids one day?

“One day, yes. I’m in no hurry, but I like the idea of having a wife and a few children someday.”

21. Do you have any fanboys/fangirls?

“Not really? There are people who like me, but in a realistic sort of way.”

22. What are you most afraid of?

“That I won’t be able to save Henry from the terrible fate that befell him.”

23. What do you usually wear?

“Dark clothes, leather armor, and boots.”

24. Do you love someone?

“In a platonic way, yes. But not romantically.”

25. When was the last time you wet yourself?

"I honestly don’t remember. But this isn’t an appropriate interview question...”

26. Well, it’s not over yet!

“Obviously.”

27. What class are you? (High class, middle class, low class)

“I suppose I would be regarded as lower class, since I come from a modest upbringing. The Thatchers were not poor, perhaps, but they did struggle to make ends meet sometimes. Since leaving them, I’ve gained a decent amount of coin and educated myself about the world. Not sure what that makes me now.”

28. How many friends do you have?

“Four close friends, two I’m still getting to know better. There are several others who are not quite friends, not quite family, not quite acquaintances, but rather an odd amalgamation of the three.”

29. What are your thoughts on pie?

“I adore pie! Blueberry is my favorite. Though, not when I’ve inhaled about three at once...”

30. Favourite drink?

“I adore strong coffee. I like it with cream. I’ll add a bit of sugar or honey if I’m feeling indulgent.”

31. What’s your favourite place?

“The library in Belarys, currently.”

32. Are you interested in someone?

“Erm... yes? The woman I work with is incredibly beautiful. But I’m not looking for anything to happen, really. She just makes me flustered.”

33. What’s your bra cup size and/or how big is your willy?

“What kind of perverted interview is this?”

34. Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean?

“I’d like a lake better. Less salty.”

35. What’s your type?

“I’m attracted to intelligence and kindness and courageousness. Other than that, I’m not sure. I’ve not been very lucky in love, and I don’t know yet what would suit me best.”

36. Any fetishes?

“...Why?”

37. Seme or uke? Top or Bottom? Dominant or Submissive?

“None of the above. Is there a box for ‘Decline to Participate’? If so, I’d like that one. I’d rather be reading.”

38. Camping or indoors?

“This seems like a strange question to follow all your sexual inquiries. Anyway, indoors, if I can.”

39. Are you wanting the interview to end?

“If these are the sort of questions you’re starting to ask, then yes. Which is too bad, because I thought it was going nicely until you started getting weird.”

40. Now it’s over!

"Erm... all right, then.”

#clarity meloreth #cupcake coterie things #memes

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sepiadice · 6 years

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3/19/2018: Oh, right, combat mechanics!

We’re getting a lot of sessions in in an alarmingly short time frame. It’s messing up my evenings. Got work early in the morning.

Sure, I could just skip a session, but then I’d miss the fun! And I couldn’t maintain my rigorous journalist ethics of reporting the events here, on this RPG blog no one follows.[1]

In other, tangential news before I actually get to the session report: Genesys. Seems like an interesting system. I bought the dice, and am resisting the urge to purchase the book itself until I know I’ve got players to test it with. From what I’ve read and hear second hand from Campaign Podcast, it has serious potential to dethrone GURPS in my heart.[2]

But first I want to try my GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Boxed Set out. Then I’ll consider experimenting with Genesys.

Only time will tell.

Okay, enough distraction. Let’s summarize Session Three!

We begin with a small retcon concerning Rufus’s vanishment (there’s now ashes left behind),[3] then to our party standing on the beach.

We have a serious talk about our current motivations. Teddi and Solomon are in the ‘Don’t/can’t care about this lower world, let’s get home.’

Roseveil, a bard looking for a good story, is totally on board with seeing what’s with the new land.

Solomon compromised by suggesting the party explores the wreckage of the island we fell on and one of the craters on the way towards the general vicinity of where Golt is, for reasons explained last write-up.

As for immediate action, the party decided to go to the next town over, a place called Cherry.

Quick debate about whether we wanted to wade through the grabage sea or wait for the tank-sub drive (who is actually named Darren) to take us on his rounds in a few days so we won’t have to walk as far through the wastes.

Team immediate movement won out, and we walked to Cherry.

Cherry was a bunch of exciting events.

Entering, we’re given the options of a lighthouse, a church, a bungalow, and a library. Teddi, deciding she’s going on a subquest to collect all of Nicholas’s journal pages,[4] tries the library.

It’s a much smaller establishment than Julep’s, so Teddi finds nothing as Anaise steals the librarian’s fish. With such underwhelming results, the library team goes to wait for everyone else to return from the lighthouse and bungalow.

The lighthouse was much more exciting. First of all, climbing to the top gave those who climbed up the ability to see some unusual activity happening on the sea.[5]

Then, in the basement, were corpses of a bunch of merfolk, recognizable as the same as the blue guy we found on the beach last session. So that’s foreboding.

Those who went to the bungalow (I forgot who specifically went where)[6] return with more plot hooks: they got a drunk guy to take them to a prison under the mayor's house(? and met a jailed merfolk! There’s two submerged cities, and the one the prisoner’s from is being attacked by an evil earth elemental. So… that’s probably a good answer for who strangled the first merfolk we found.

Also, they found a random rogue lady named Lucy who comes from Alonzee, but an Alonzee that wasn’t a floating island, so that’s interesting.

Lucy easily gets out of her cell and agrees to join our group, but from a distance.

While the Bungalow faction updates the party, Lucy sneaks off and gets killed by a party of Worms.

Which is unfortunate. Lucy was one of the few leads we had.

The city guard collect her body and bring it to a building to investigate it. Teddi, Anais, and Rose sneak in to investigate themselves, but don’t really learn much new.

Gabe checks outside the city walls, and sees an orcish man with two parasites on chains. Gabe attempts parlay, when an unseen Worm throws a dagger at him.

Combat ensues. Teddi does major damage to the two parasites, while two of the ‘Worms’ are felled by the rest of the team, a third taken hostage. Gabriel makes the final kill, and takes the man’s shortsword.

This is the first time Gabriel’s killed someone, and he throws up.[7]

The party bard, Rose, casts Charm Person on our captive, and there’s a short interrogation to learn why. Turns out, Worms are actually pretty feral people, and they killed Lucy for giggles.

Also, based on information gathering earlier in the session, most Worms are like the three we just fought, with one particularly insidiously intelligent Worm wandering about.[9]

Anyways, seeing as there was no ulterior motive to Lucy’s murder, the party discusses what to do with our prisoner.

Rose wants to kill him in fear of retaliation for Charming him, but everyone else refuses that idea. He’s tied up and no longer a threat, so killing him now would be unconscionable.

Turning him in to Cherry’s authorities would probably lead to a kangaroo court at best, but most likely the Worm would just be immediately executed.

After some convincing, Rose agrees to order the captive to walk away.

Then Gabriel retires to his tent to have a bad time processing having to kill someone.

Teddi patiently waits for a low point in his crying session before she enters the tent to talk Gabe through it.

Teddi is turning out to be a tough love sort of person. She’s not cruel or mean and sincerely wants to help, but she no reason to sugarcoat anything.

She’s clear that Gabe did start the fight by trying to confront the killers, but it was the Worms who escalated it to violence so he’s not to blame. Teddi calls on her experience as a criminal to note that killing[10] never gets easier, but the fallout Gabriel’s experiencing gets less severe.

Then she blatantly steals a bread roll or some other insubstantial object, waving it at Gabe and saying ‘I’m stealing this’ and walking away.

Y’know, as a quick goof to normalize the evening and move on.

While this is happening, the GM steps out with the two players who decided to investigate the church instead of fighting. In game, they’re gone for a long time, so Solomon and the nameless kid go to investigate.

At the church, Sol finds ash like that found in Rufus’s tent when he vanished and no sign of Anais and Silver (half-elf sorcerer). Examining a mirror inside the church, Solomon sees a man and a Tiefling in a loincloth looking back.

Solomon pulls out his own mirror and looks around the area, discovering that what’s in the mirror isn’t one-to-one with our reality.

Then, like what Dahlia did in the first session, a fold in reality opens briefly, Silver pokes her head out, then goes back behind it.

End of session!

Not much material for Teddi this time until she talks with Gabe, but that’s fine. Large group and Teddi got material last session.

Mysteries are mounting. Hopefully answers will be coming soon. Or, at least, Teddi gets home. Because it sucks down here.

Until next time, may your dice make things interesting.

[1] Day I started writing this, someone tumblr-liked three of my anime CanvasReviews essays, which is an irregular event. [2] Considering GURPS is how I was introduced to the hobby over fifteen years ago and instilled a lot of my gaming values, that’s pretty major. [3] Which, in hindsight, the GM could’ve later handwaved as pine marten Anaise collapsing a tent on top of the evidence. [4] Have to get all the collectibles if you want the true ending! [5] I’ve forgotten what, specifically, but Teddi wasn’t there anyways, so it’s fine? [6] Lots of players. It blends together. Might even have events mixed up. [7] Probably a better reason than when Tybalt tossed cookies after being pulled off an airship.[8] [8] Still a good memory. When you can say ‘I need someone to push me off’ and have another player immediately take you up, you know you’ve got a good group dynamic. [9] Almost certainly Worm from session one. [10] I’m not sure if Teddi herself has killed anyone, but she’d never do so intentionally.

#SepiaDicePlays #Fifth Edition #Teddi BellSeely #Dungeons and Dragons

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expressandadmirable · 6 years

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Good Grief

CW: grief, gaslighting, violence

She finds Haluei’en sequestered in the room they share, tucked away in an upper corner of the manor providing them temporary shelter, the pieces of her newly recovered armour scattered around her on the floor. Her breastplate covers her lap like a blanket, the cleaning cloth in her hand moving slowly, distractedly, across the metal. The armour is pristine, it does not need shining, but it keeps her hands busy and her mind quiet.

The door closes behind her with a soft click and Haluei’en looks up to meet Aviva’s gaze. The Tiefling’s face is a mural of grief, the battle makeup she had donned so determinedly reduced to little more than faint, wet streaks trailing down the curves of her cheeks, reconstituted even as she wipes them away. Haluei’en slides the breastplate from her legs, setting the cloth beside it on the floor, and the tired ghost of a sad smile flickers across Aviva’s face. There is something in Haluei’en’s compassionate silence that never fails to soothe the tempests raging in her mind.

With more gentleness than she has shown herself all evening (with more gentleness than she feels she deserves), Aviva lowers herself to the floor and folds into Haluei’en’s waiting arms. She feels the warmth of her, the heartbeat in her chest, the bones and skin and breath and realness of her, and the tensions both have been carrying finally begin to seep out of their connected bodies. Aviva tucks her head into the curve of the Drow’s neck and allows herself to weep afresh; not the wracking, screaming sobs that overtook her in the back room of the tavern, but a quiet, aching sorrow, the canticle of her heartbreak. Haluei’en’s eyes are dry and distant, and she rests her cheek against the Tiefling’s hair.

For a time after the tears have slowed, they exist without words, feeling the rhythm of each other’s hearts, safe in the tangle of each other’s limbs. Aviva lifts her head to speak and Haluei’en kisses her, featherlight, the relief at her survival unspoken in the face of what they lost. They linger there, liminal, intertwined. Then the Tiefling takes a deep, shuddering breath and begins the retelling.

“It was... weird. In the tavern. It was weird in that it wasn't weird. People stared at us on our way across the city, and I’m used to that, but once we got inside no-one batted an eye. It was like we weren't even there. The music kept playing, people kept talking. The barkeep served us without fuss. It felt so... normal.

“And then she was there. I don't know how long she'd been there; I don't know how we missed her. But she was just standing there, watching us. Smiling. She saw that Cid wasn’t you and she didn’t seem to know what to make of that. But she looked… ready. She’d done her hair, her makeup… I assumed she was wearing her battle armour, too.

“I don’t know what I was expecting. A fight? A verbal sparring match? But she came up to us, and she… She said she missed me. She said she didn’t want to hurt me, had never wanted to hurt me. That serving the master had given her everything she could have wanted, except me. She wished we’d been able to reunite sooner, and didn’t understand why I kept making things so hard. Leaving her, ‘hiding’ from her. And she meant it, Halei. I could see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice. She meant every word. She has no idea, not even the faintest clue, how much pain she caused. How much damage she did. Somehow, in her own monstrous, twisted way, she still… loves me.

“She pointed out the tavern around us, how no-one was staring. How normal it was. I can only assume she staged the scene, because that was the start of her pitch. She told me that if I went with her, it could always be this way. No hate, no fear, no keeping our guard up. We could have anything we wanted. We could be around our own kind, have a real community, which is something most of us have never had. We could build the life for ourselves that every Tiefling dreams of, if only I would just… be hers.

“She kept referring to ‘home’. Come home. Let’s go home. And when I asked where my mother was, she said she was also home. When she realised neither of us knew what she meant, she got… almost offended. Home is where Tieflings go when they answer the Calling. It’s where I’m supposed to go. The fact that I’ve been ignoring the Call has evidently been cause for some consternation at ‘home’. The assassins in Pravoka? They were sent to collect me, not kill me. To bring me home. Fat lot of good that did them.”

A small chuckle escapes Haluei’en’s lips, and the sound is like music. Aviva closes her eyes, revelling in it; it feels like years since anyone has laughed. She smiles slightly, and in that smile she finds the strength to continue.

“The official reason she asked to meet was to offer us a deal. If we leave and never come back, we’ll all be allowed to live, and my mother can come with us. That’s the Archmagistrix’s offer. Jaxa’s personal offer was just for me: let her take me home and show me how good life could be at the beck and call of the master.

“You keep me here, Halei. You and Wil and Grummer and-- Because I do feel it. I feel the Calling, all the time, reaching out to me. It’s like… when you’re standing with your back to the campfire, but you can still feel its warmth, and it would be so easy to turn around and let it embrace you. It’s not what I want. I don’t want to be with Jaxa; I don’t want to be any place where she can find me. I don’t want to be with the master-- with the demon. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t understand.”

Haluei’en nods, her arms wrapping a little tighter around Aviva. She’s not going to let her Tiefling go.

“I told her I wanted to see my mother. I needed some sort of assurance she was alright. I had no plans to accept the offer, but I wanted-- I needed to see her. Cid tried to convince me to leave. When I wouldn’t leave, she tried to remind me not to let Jaxa into my head. I thought I was alright, I really did, but I don't know, it was all... It was fucking with me. All the memories coming back to the surface. I could feel myself slipping back into old habits. I knew how easily she'd be able to get under my skin and make me doubt my own mind, and I thought I’d be stronger, but... It happened. Cid knew it. She tried to save us, and I didn’t listen. I wanted to see how it ended.

“We went into a back room, and Jaxa conjured a scrying circle so I could see my mother. She was just… sitting there. Wherever she was. Just sitting in a chair, staring into the fireplace. She wasn’t unhappy, I guess. She certainly wasn’t in pain. Jaxa knew she had me between a rock and a hard place, so she tried again. If I went with her, I could be with my mother. And I… I thought about it. If there was a way to go with her for just a short time. See my mother and come back again. She asked if I was so hesitant because I didn’t trust her, or because I didn’t trust myself, and I said… I said that because they had my mother, my trust in myself was irrelevant, and that’s why I had Cid.

“My mother’s not a hostage. She’s there… willingly. According to Jaxa, anyway. When I still wouldn’t go with her, still looking for loopholes like the idiot I am, she told me I was the only one left. The only Tiefling. The only one who hadn’t answered the Call. That’s it. There’s… just me. I don’t even know that many other Tieflings, I don’t have that many to lose… But in that moment, I don’t think I’ve ever felt lonelier.

“Cid argued with her. She said the only person who gets to determine my purpose is me. Somehow, that’s what pissed her off enough to put a stop to all of it. She asked, point blank, if I was going with her. I said no. Not today. She sighed, looked at me, and said, ‘Then I guess I'll have to take a hostage.’ Gods, I should have known she was going to do something, I should have--”

Aviva’s breath catches in her throat and she covers her mouth with her hand. Haluei’en rests her forehead against Aviva’s temple, rocking her gently until she’s able to speak again.

“Cid didn’t have a chance. One second we were talking, the next she was unconscious on the floor and Jaxa was standing over her, looking at me. Daring me. So I attacked her. I should have tried to heal Cid, but I grabbed Jaxa by the throat and cast a spell that was supposed to make her flee. Maybe I was thinking I could heal Cid once she was gone… Or maybe there’s more darkness in me than I thought. I honestly don’t know anymore.

“I hurt her, I did do that much. But she didn’t run. She just looked at me with this expression of pure, unadulterated rage. It’s a look I remember from the old days. She realised I was serious about not going with her, and so she… she…

“She killed her. She reached down and snapped her neck. I watched her body fade, like Bornelius’ did; just fade away until only her crystal remained. Jaxa picked it up and said, ‘Now I have a hostage.’

“I tried to get it back, you have to believe me. I begged her for it, tried to goad her into another fight so maybe I could grab it. But she just kept sneering at me. She told me I don’t know anything, but I would learn, and it would hurt the entire time I was learning. She said I needed to wise up and figure it out, or else you and Wil and everyone else I cared about would end up just like Cid. She gave me twenty-four hours to make a choice, and then… she was gone.”

Aviva blames herself. Haluei’en blames herself. It does neither of them any good. Fighting off another wave of tears, Aviva closes her eyes, lapsing back into miserable silence. Haluei’en tucks a lock of violet hair behind her ear and kisses her forehead, one cheek, the other, her lips. Instinctively, Aviva draws her into a deeper kiss, a sudden fire burning fiercely and desperately within her. One hand runs through Haluei’en’s hair and rests on her neck, the other tightening its hold on her waist, her breath quickening. There are still ways to feel whole.

Haluei’en reciprocates for a moment, then draws back to see the Tiefling’s face and shakes her head. She knows what Aviva wants: to feel the Drow tremble at her touch, to make her cry out, to prove to herself they’re both still alive. But Aviva does not need this tonight, and deep down, she knows it. It will do little to ease the pain. Aviva drops her head, her cheeks flushing with shame, but Haluei’en lifts her chin and kisses her lightly once more. Everyone mourns in their own way.

Taking Aviva’s hand, Haluei’en rises, helping the Tiefling to her feet. It’s time for bed. There’s nothing more to be done tonight, and they have to rest while they still have the security to do so. Aviva isn’t sure she’ll be able to sleep. Haluei’en understands. If they cannot sleep, they will spend the night holding each other close, and they will approach the next day when it comes.

Tonight is for the catharsis of words. Tomorrow is for the catharsis of blood.

#Dungeons and Dragons #Original Characters #Canon #Aviva Lux #Title: Dessa

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dork-empress · 6 years

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AUvember Day 3 Defenders/D&D

I want to expand the AU more but that would defeat the purpose of the exercise.

“No, Jessica said instantly, drinking up the tavern’s ale.

“There are lives in jeapordy,” Matt said, “An evil wizard is tormenting—“

“You don’t get it, matt,” She said, “There’s always an evil wizard or a dark rogue or blah blah blah. And I can’t help anyone,”

“You can,” Matt said, “You have before, you can again.”

“Listen, I know you’re blind,” Jessica said, taking another swig, “but you can’t see into the future like one of those oracle people. Just…lay off, why don’t you.”

“You’re the most stubborn elf I’ve ever met,” Matt said. Jessica stuck her tongue out at him. “Fine. We’ll do this ourselves.”

“Who do you have with you?” Jess asked. “For curiosity’s sake.”

“A monk called the Iron Fist,” he said, making Jessica laugh.

“Ha! Danny? You have DANNY coming with you?” She snorted, “Look, he might have power, but you know he’s dumb as a bag of rocks, right?”

“Colleen,” he continued like she hadn’t spoken.

Jessica snorted, “Well, at least there’s one ranger with you. She won’t lead you wrong, but she might follow Danny too much, so that’s something to look out for.”

“Claire…”

Jessica nodded thoughtfully with that one, “A good cleric, to be sure. I’ve heard she’s had a bit of crisis of faith recently, with that necromancer business.”

“That’s why she’s coming,” Matt answered, “her necromancer is working with the wizard.”

Jessica nodded, “Well, between Stone Brain and the Ranger you’ve at least got some fighting force, but I can see why you wanted a heavy hitter.”

“Hey, I can take a fight,” Matt protested.

Jessica snorted. “Take one, sure. Not the best at giving one back. You’re a twig, rogue.”

Matt huffed. “And Luke.”

Jessica stopped drinking. She stared at Matt, trying to determine if he was serious, but she knew he must have been. “Fuck you.” She said. He smiled innocently, “FUCK you. You’re a sneaky bastard.”

“I’m a rogue” Matt said, that’s what we’re good at,”

Jessica chewed the inside of her cheek. She hadn’t seen Luke in ages. He was the strangest dragonborn she’d ever seen, but knew it was for good reason. “….Fine,” She muttered. The tiefling smiled, tail twitching. “But don’t expect me to like it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Matt said, “Meet here, tonight. We’ll go over the plan.”

“You’re questing again!!” Trish said, more excited than she had reason to be.

Her human sister honestly was the best thing in Jessica’s life, but damn if she couldn’t be annoying. “Don’t make a big deal of it…” Jessica said, packing up her supplies.

“Can I come?” She asked, practically jumping up and down.

“What?” Jessica said, “No, you can’t…why would you…no.”

“But I’ve been getting better!” She said, “You KNOW I have. Come on. I can show you my skills with a bow and arrow again.”

Jessica sighed, “Trish, this isn’t some local skirmish,” She said, “That mindflayer nearly killed you. I don’t want to see that happen again.”

“This is different,” Trish said, “This is the both of us with a proper questing party! It’s going to be amazing!”

Jessica huffed. “Amazing isn’t the word I’d use.” Trish kept looking at her with those damn puppy dog eyes. “Fine, but you stay close to me. Unless I’m fighting a monster or some shit, in which case you get the HELLS away from me.”

“As if,” Trish said. Jessica glared her down, “Fine. Just as long as I get to go.

Matt raised an eyebrow as Trish sat with them on the table. “You bring friends, I bring friends,” Jessica said.

“That’s fine,” Matt said, “I just didn’t know you had friends.” Jessica put up her finger at him, knowing that he felt it.

Jessica tried to avoid the dark eyes of luke, but he still nodded at her. “Good to see you again.” Jessica nodded in response, pretending that his girlfriend the cleric wasn’t hanging off of him.

“Right,” Matt said, “Now, Danny and Colleen have been tracking the Hand for ages. It’s the same people who sent the raid of zombies several months ago.

“Where are they now?” Luke’s deep voice trembled over the group.

“Theres a rumor that they are cooped up in the cave of Vespa.” Matt said, that’s the closest we can tell. Plan is to go down into the dungeon, see what we can find.”

Jessica tensed at the name of the cave of Vespa. It went unnoticed by all who could see, but she saw Matt’s head twitch torward her. He let it go.

“It’ll be dark and treacherous,” Danny said, “But in the end, I am certain we will overcome whatever enemy we might find.”

“Stop sounding so pretentious.” Jessica said, rolling her eyes and adding a bitter, ‘elves…’

Danny looked incredulous at her, “You’re halfelf?”

“A very important half,” She said.

“Alright,” Matt said. “Jessica, Colleen, you two are our best trackers, so you’ll take the lead. Trish and I will cover you for distance, Claire in the middle to reach each of us easily in case we get taken down, and Luke and Danny will take the rear to prevent any ambushes.”

Jessica was quietly glad she and Luke were on opposite sides of the marching order. She had taken this job for him, but that was a difficult thing to deal with. She could not deny still having feelings, but knew he could not forgive her, and she had to accept that. They got along now as friends, but that was it.

“Any objections?” Matt asked. Jessica didn’t respond, but Claire shook her head. “Alright. We’ll move out tomorrow.”

Jessica almost escaped without further conflict, but Claire called her back at the last second. “Jessica,” She said. Jessica froze and turned to her, “It’s good to see you again. I feel like you haven’t been around as much.”

Jessica bowed her head. “Yeah. Should be fun,” She said, before making a run back to her room.

It was bad enough to be half-in love with one member of their fun little party, but much worse to be in love with two. Who were dating. Each other.

In the morning they marched out with few words between them in the direction of the Caves of Vespa. Colleen stood beside her. She didn’t know much about Colleen, but knew she was a good fighter. That was good enough, she supposed.

From the back of the line, she could hear sweet words being said between Claire and Luke, even if she couldn’t make them out. “You should talk to him,” Trish whispered behind her. Jessica roled her eyes. “Or both of them! Just…be honest.”

“We’re on a mission,” Jessica whispered back, “And I don’t have time for things like that.”

“On a mission you went on for HIM,” She said, “C’mon, it’ll be great.”

“Wait,” Jessica said, putting up a hand. “Matt, do you—“

“I see it,” He said. His eyes glowed, not with traditional sight, but with his magical sight able to somehow see more than what was there. “10:00, Trish.”

Without another word, Trish fired into the brush where directed. There was the sound of a ‘thunk’ a scream, and then a rustling.

Out of the bushes came a zombie with an arrow sticking out of it’s eye. Its jaw unhinged, It roared at them.

Jessica didn’t often use weapons, but when she did they were always blunt, like herself. She didn’t want to punch this thing with her bare hands anyway, so she lifted her club. She heard each of her party members raise their own weapons as more zombies came out of the underbrush.

“I hate these guys,” Claire snarled, sending a ‘destroy undead’ spell at the first one.

#auvember #defenders #d&d

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stormcrow-whispers · 7 years

Text

Letter to Ronan #2

Written in Thieves Cant, in very flowery script. Attached to the last page is a drawing of a strange armored cat-like creature

Dear Dad,

It’s been a rough couple of weeks on the road since we left Holden. As if being in the woods wasn’t bad enough, we’ve had to fight a whole slew of creatures along the way. I fucking obliterated a harpy with a firebolt, which was incredible, but I can tell I’m a bit out of practice from not being allowed to use magic much back home outside of sparring or the occasional hit. It kinda reminded me of that one time I saved your ass when you took me on that mission, except with like, none of the drama. Ok, there was plenty of drama, but you know what I mean.

There was also a giant with them, which was ok until its corpse fucking kicked me as it fell. It was disgusting, I wish I could’ve taken like, 5 baths afterwards, but all they have out here are rivers and it’s horrendous. What I wouldn’t give for a spa day in the Marble District right now.

We killed a weird cat creature in Malay as part of a contract with our driver, which was interesting to say the least, but I got new jewelry and some money out of it so I guess I can’t really complain. I’m not really sure what the thing was, but I drew it after we killed it and I made a sketch for you too. I doubt you’ll know what it is either, but maybe you can hang it up somewhere so there’s more variety among my terrible drawings you have hung up.

Malay as a whole is a mess of a town, it’s more wood pilings and tents than anything, but ironically enough we have a presence there already. I found it curious considering how new and decrepit the place is, but I guess it’s better to get in at the start than to wait till it’s built. I didn’t have the pleasure of speaking with anyone there though since my party was so anxious to get going, but it was good to know I wasn’t the only one around.

We’re in Amberoak now, although we nearly died on the way here rushing through the night. It’s a bit of a long story, but suffice to say, the rest of a party thought it would be a wonderful idea to ride hard through the day and night to get here because they thought one of us was dying. He’s perfectly fine, can’t say the same for the cart though. I’m a bit frustrated we’re here instead of Tupelo though, I was hoping to get more information, but considering they lived here for some time, perhaps I’ll still hear something.

We’ve only been here a couple of hours, but I can already say with great conviction that high elves are weird as fuck. They’re too gaudy even for me when it comes to decor, and the nobles here live in the fucking trees. Who in their right mind does that? It’s terrible and I hate it. Oh and apparently the nobles march through the streets parading their wealth every morning? What the fuck is that about? It’s like they’re begging to be stolen from honestly. I was too busy sleeping after the cart ride of death to have the pleasure of seeing it though.

Speaking of sleeping, my dwarf companion (the one who called himself Fang when he introduced himself) asked his parents to let me stay in one of the nicest rooms in their estate by myself. No sharing whatsoever. It’s kind of ironic since he’s initially the one I liked the least, considering his lovely noble attitude. But I guess he’s not all that bad if he had the decency to thank me and acknowledge my kindness and hospitality, unlike the rest of the group. The beds here are even better than the ridiculous one I have at home if you can believe it. It's like sleeping on a cloud.

These people still irritate the hell out of me. I know you said it would be good for me to be around “different” people, but they do nothing but get on my nerves. Half of them don’t know what real hardship is or what it’s like to work and fight tooth and nail for what you have, the other half have no idea how to be subtle or handle conversations with strangers with any sort of tact. Everything is black and white to them, it’s honestly infuriating, no one wants to hear the other side or consider a differing opinion, and people tiptoe around things instead of calling them out like they should. And god forbid you don’t put things nicely. If this little escapade has taught me anything, it’s that I’d rather live in a den of thieves the rest of my life than have to play nice and be mindful of people’s feelings every second of the day. It’s ironic considering no one seems to take my thoughts and feelings into account, they just do as they please and ignore my opinion on the rare chance they ask for it. Hell I tried to give them very good advice about how to approach potentially suspicious people, and they completely ignored me until two of the more well liked people in the group reiterated what I said. I even told my lovely sob story about mum and you and the bullshit we put up with as tieflings in Holden, and the “accident”, but it all fell on deaf ears of course, because everyone seems to think they have it so much worse or that they know so much better. It’s just as well I suppose. As convincing as the story is and regardless of how much some of it is rooted in truth, it still cracks me up because it’s SO out of character for you in every sense of the word.

I have a lot of complaints if you couldn’t tell. They’d be so much more fun to share while drinking wine and sitting on the roof or on your couch back home. But anyway.

The group learned some information pertaining to their own quests, some of it was interesting, but it’s really nothing useful to my current job. If by chance you think I should pass it along anyway I can, but for now I won’t. This letter is already getting kind of long and, if the dwarf’s parents are to be believed, digging into some of the stuff we learned could be very dangerous. You already lead a dangerous enough life as it is, and I’m not about to make it any worse by dragging you into this mess I’ve found myself in too. Trust me, it’s the last thing you want.

We’re going into the mountains soon, so you might not hear from me again until we get to Ormskirk. If I can write before then I will. I’m not thrilled with the prospect of going into the mountains, but I guess they can’t be too much worse than the forest. I hope at the very least they aren’t as annoyingly dirty, I’m so tired of picking leaves and twigs and brushing dirt out of my feathers.

I miss you tons and I wish you were here. I’ve been keeping an eye out for a good place to open that future tea shop of yours, I’ll let you know if I find any good prospects. Amberoak is probably not the best place for it though, I’ll tell you that much right now. Because if the weirdness and the gaudiness irritates me of all people, I’m sure it would drive you insane. And anyway, they already have a well established shop here, I’m not sure you want that kind of competition. Their local tea is pretty amazing though, and so are the weird sap suckers they put in it. I bought you a whole bunch so you could try it for yourself. Maybe you can serve them both in your tea shop one day.

I hope you’re doing well and hope to hear from you soon. I’m still not used to this traveling nonsense or not being able to stroll up to your door to chat when I feel like it.

Lots of Love,

Kallista

P.S.

I'm not entirely sure how pleased they'll be about me using our lovely expedited post to send a gift and a personal letter, but you know I don't give two shits what they think as long as they pay me. Besides, I wasn't about to risk it getting lost or damaged or spoiled or whatever else with the regular post.

P.P.S. Say hi to Lawrence for me! Unless you’ve broken up for the millionth time, then I guess don’t say anything? I never know with you two, it’s exhausting to keep track of your mess of a relationship.

#writings #kallista writes a letter

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feywildatheart · 7 years

Text

Nenîth,

By the time we’ve returned to town and I can send this to you, I’m sure I’ll have much more to say. But we’ve reached a lovely little isthmus where we can see water glimmering on either side of us, and we’ve stopped for a bit to eat and to wet our toes in the shore, and it seemed a good time to pull out my LICD and write to you about what we’ve seen so far.

We’ve been three days out here so far and I think I’m going to have to have a chat with Loraine when we get back to town, because I specifically asked her what sorts of threats we might face while we were out here collecting her sensors and was told there were no records of anything particularly dangerous or deadly on the planet, but I have to think she must never have set foot outside of her lab, because we hadn’t been traveling half a day before an enormous constrictor snake decided we looked like a tasty lunch.

Or maybe it’s just that she’s so tall, she doesn’t have to worry about the local wildlife deciding to make a meal of her. Still, it seemed intent upon dining upon all of us, and I daresay if it could have fit the three of us in its gullet, it could have swallowed one lone tiefling without thinking twice.

I worry about Pika, nenîth. She’s very brave, always rushing headlong into whatever threat we face. But she seems to take the brunt of the damage, since she’s always getting up in front of things and punching them in the face, and she won’t even wear armor to protect herself. The snake managed to grab her in its coils and squeeze all the air out of her, and I’m sure that would have been the end of her if I hadn’t been so angry and so afraid that I threw myself up on its back and hacked at it until it had let her go, and had bigger problems to worry about than lunch.

There were weasels, too, a nest of them, and none so sweet nor so small as the ones we befriended on the Hammer of Antas. They’re not half as cute when they’re twice your size and hissing in your face. I took two of the three down with a single arrow apiece, I’m glad to say, and we made short work of the third. It was near evening by the time we reached the location of the first sensor that Hallbjörn placed, and with a little hunting around I was able to find where he’d put it, hidden away a bit to keep it protected from anyone or anything that might have wandered by.

It’s a lovely thing, dark as the night sky with sparks like stars swirling through it, and they seemed to gravitate toward my touch when I lifted it up. I couldn’t say how it works, or what the purpose of those sparks are, but I could have played about with it all evening if I’d let myself.

Instead, we decided it was a fine enough place to make camp, and now that we were out of doors with a fire to sit around, and there was a decent breeze blowing through the trees, I made good on my promise to demonstrate my aedlira to Elyn. She seemed duly impressed, and took some recordings with those gloves of hers. And once I started playing, Pika pulled out a complicated set of pipes and joined in. It was a lovely evening. I haven’t had the opportunity to sit around a fire and make music with people in too long — there isn’t near so much opportunity for it out here as we had in the Feywild, and I miss it almost as much as I miss you two.

The next day, we set out toward the second sensor, and our path took us across a bit of a mountain range and through some grasslands on the other side. Drime had given me a bit of Hallbjörn’s possessions that he’d left behind for Squirt to get his scent from, and it was in these grasslands that Squirt seemed to pick up his trail, though there was something unusual about it that seemed to distress him.

Still, he’s game even when things are strange around him, and between him and a friendly little vole that Pika had a conversation with (I swear, she’s practically chatty with animals, and meanwhile Elyn and I can scarce get a nod out of her at the best of times. I’d think it was something particular to the two of us that she’d taken a dislike to, except I haven’t heard her speak to anyone more than is necessary, saving the beasts) we were able to follow the trail enough to get us to some tracks. The tracks were strange — we were told Hallbjörn was a dwarf, and a stocky one at that, but these tracks were too lightfooted for what I’d have expected of a dwarf. Neither Elyn nor Pika seemed to know of any sort of spell that could have made him so, not on a long-term basis, and the tracks we found went back a month or more, so after some deliberation, Squirt and I snuck on ahead of the others to see if we could follow the tracks to their source without scaring their maker away. Pika meant to accompany us, but we’d scarcely started out when she somehow managed to walk straight into the only tree in the whole of the grasslands. She puts on a brave face, but I think she must still have been recovering from the bout with that constrictor, so Elyn and I convinced her to stay behind and rest while Squirt and I continued on to try to find the person who had made the tracks, without scaring them away.

We were, perhaps, a little too good at that, for we’d nearly stumbled into her by the time she realized we were there, and startled her rather badly, and Squirt and I only barely avoided ending up with her glaive buried in our heads for it.

It was not the best of introductions, and I think I’ll be forgiven for being rather cross with her to start with. Seeing a polearm aimed at one’s dog’s head can have that effect. I liked her even less once I learned that she’s the reason Hallbjörn went missing a month back — it seems he startled her in much the same way we did, and she responded in the same fashion, only he was not so lucky as Squirt and I.

I had so been hoping that we would be able to find Hallbjörn alive all this time, perhaps only lost or injured and in need of assistance. I will admit that I snapped at her, in my disappointment, but honestly that’s thrice now that she’s killed, or nearly so, an ally by too quickly assuming them a threat. She might have been off this planet and on her way a month ago, if she’d been just a little more cautious before swinging that glaive about. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

She seemed contrite about what had happened to Hallbjörn and what had nearly happened to us, and sincere enough about it, I suppose. The others heard us conversing and came to join us, and we learned that she’s not from the prime material plane at all, but from the elemental plane of air, and had traveled through a series of wormholes that had spat her and her ship out too close to Nosirion-1 to avoid crashing into it. I’ll have to remember to ask Loraine, or perhaps Hiuda since Mir would have had a better vantage over the planet itself and the space around it, if anyone heard or saw anything, it seems like a wormhole opening up and a ship crashing down ought to have drawn some sort of notice, but no one’s mentioned anything strange to us, beyond Hallbjörn’s disappearance.

We made our introductions with the woman, who’s got a name that’s as much of a mouthful as mine but told us to call her Niko for the ease of it, and who it seems is a paladin of Reorx who’s been cast out of her order (for what seems to me to have been a well-intentioned mistake, honestly), and once those had been done with our attention turned to the hawk that we had seen wheeling about in the distance, and that had led us to this woman in the first place, for I’d been hopeful that it might have been Hallbjörn’s hawk companion, Nalira, and that she might lead us to him. I was leery of scaring her off at this point, though, especially with the news that Hallbjörn was dead, but between Pika’s ability to speak with small animals and Elyn’s assistance, they were able to coax her down and talk with her. She was Nalira after all, and had been there keeping watch over Hallbjörn’s grave all this time, which broke my heart right in two. Elyn wanted to send her as a courier of sorts back to the town, which seemed to me a somewhat callous intent for an animal clearly still mourning the loss of its companion. I was more concerned with convincing the poor thing to move on. I don’t know what sort of life a companion without its ranger might want, but it seemed to me that standing watch over a gravesite was a poor way to spend it. In any case, we weren’t able to convince Nalira to move on for either purpose, because she was unwilling to leave Hallbjörn behind in a plain, unmarked grave in the middle of the wilderness. So we asked Niko to show us to where she had buried him, and while she had done a decent job of ensuring that none of the local wildlife might dig him up for an easy supper, there was no gravestone to mark it. None of us were entirely sure what a proper burial for a dwarf might be, and we were limited in what we had at hand for one anyway, but it was an easy enough task to carve his name into a rock and lay it at the grave’s head, and once we’d done so Nalira seemed content enough to join us. I don’t know what will become of her, if she’ll want to return to the rangers of the Silver Tree, or stay with the scientists here on Nosirion-1, or if she’ll prefer to leave civilization behind her and go live out the rest of her life here in the unexplored places of this planet, but at least it won’t be a life spent tethered by grief to the place where her companion was slain.

We decided to set up camp there for the night, and leave in the morning with a full day still ahead of us, but our sleep was disturbed in the night by Elyn’s scream. When I saw what it was that had startled her, though, I’ll admit I gave a little shriek myself, for it was an enormous spider, at least twice the size of any of us. Between the four of us, though, we were able to kill it, and while I can’t say I slept particularly easy after that, at least I did sleep.

You’ll remember that I asked Pika if she could teach me to speak with animals the way she can, and I’ve been practicing what she taught me whenever I find the chance, though it had been somewhat fruitless so far. I wasn’t able to speak with Nalira, and had to direct all my questions through Pika, but I suppose it’s like what you told me once, Cylla, when I grew frustrated with my own lack at weapons practice. Do you remember what you said? It was years and years ago, but it’s stuck with me all this time. You said that practice is good and useful even when it seems I’m accomplishing nothing, that learning what doesn’t work is still an important lesson for the body, to help it figure out what does. And I think it must be the very same in this, too, and I seem to have come around a corner in it, for this morning, to my complete shock and delight, I found myself able to converse with Squirt! I’m sure you can imagine the heights of my joy. It’s strange, though, because when I first learned Pika could speak with animals, back on the Hammer of Antas, I asked her if she could speak with Squirt in my stead but she said no, that he was too large and she could only speak with the smaller animals. Perhaps the reason I’m able to do what she cannot is simply due to the amount of time I’ve spent with him?

In any case, whatever the reason, I couldn’t be more glad for it. I’m afraid I neglected my companions entirely for him while we sought ought the second sensor. Elyn found this one, and pocketed it, and as we continued on toward the third we encountered a pack of hyenas that gave us a nasty fight. Pika nearly went down this time, too, and Elyn took a nasty bite, but it turns out that Niko is a boon to have at our side, now that she’s swinging her glaive at enemies and not the heads of those unfortunate enough to startle her, and I, for one, was glad to have her fighting at our side. And Squirt, who usually blinks away from any threat (and honestly, who can blame him after that displacer beast!), this time ran right into the fray and bit one of the hyenas right back. It made my heart so glad to see him coming into his own and becoming the fierce hunting dog the fey bred him to be. I wish the Queen of Air and Darkness could have seen him, she’d have taken back everything she said about him being small and wounded and too weak for her service, and you can tell her I said that the next time you see her.

On second thought, maybe don’t. I think I’d bite her myself, if she tried to take him from me.

We’re packing up from our lunch now and getting ready to continue on our way to the last of the sensors, so I must end this here. I’ll send this as soon as we’re back in range of the signal, I promise. I hope you’re both well, and I’ll write again as soon as I have the chance to.

All my love,

Maliah

#in character: letters #location: nosirion-1 #the search for hallbjorn #person: pika #person: elyn #person: niko #in character

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varjopeura · 5 years

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For the D&D Ask Meme - 4, 8, 13 and 34! (And I'm SO curious about the backstory-bomb referenced in your tags, so if I can make a bonus question be, 'what happened???' then also that!)

Hoo boy, this one took a while! Also this got super long so under the cut it goes:

4. Your current campaign.

Our current campaign is also my first! We’re playing on Tal'Dorei setting with a mostly homemade storyline (as far as I know? it occurs to me I’ve never really asked). We’re only six sessions in at this point, the party is still just a bunch of nobodies stumbling around figuring out this adventuring stuff and getting to know each other.

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.

I think my favourite fight so far was the time we got our asses handed to us pretty thoroughly by a bunch of ghosts. It was terrible and delightful and something about properly losing a fight made the whole world just seem so much more real and intense. Like we are just babies when it comes to adventuring, and going ghost-hunting into a crypt that’s widely known to be cursed and deathly dangerous might not be the best idea at that point in time. Especially if your magic users have already pretty much emptied out their spell slots before going in.

But, in we went anyway! We knew to expect ghosts since we had already slain a couple on our way there, and had comprised a Genius Plan to take out the rest of them one at a time. Except the plan didn’t really work, the ghosts didn’t come at us one at a time, and they were a lot stronger than the ones we had previously encountered.

We managed to barely scratch the ghosts (the horrendous things were resistant to everything we had), half of our party was too afraid to do anything useful, and Glimmer had to carry two of her unconscious teammates out of there before we managed to flee. It was a mess, and a very stressful situation, but hey, we survived! And it felt so good to be alive afterwards!

In retrospect, the five or six times our friendly NPC informant told us the ghost are absolutely going to kill us oh-so-very-dead might have been a hint from the DM…

13. Introduce your current party.

Let’s start with the easiest one, my tiefling cleric Glimmer! She is definitely the party mom and sort of their moral compass too, constantly worrying about the safety of the others. She worries about a lot of stuff, actually, and the fact that she knows very little of the world outside of her home temple doesn’t exactly help. Though she does believe in the goodness of people and has a tendency to blindly trust anyone who looks like they know what they’re doing. For such a soft and gentle person she has a surprisingly short temper when something rubs her the wrong way, and she gets all fiery and dramatic when she’s upset.

Then there’s our human fighter Gabriel, a young man of noble origin seeking for his share of honor and glory, mainly in the form of slaying various magnificent beasts and monsters. He is highly charismatic, VERY easy to love, has exactly zero impulse control and, to be quite honest, not a lot of brains to him either. So practically he’s an over-excited golden retriever with a sword and an ability to speak in a fancy way. A good boy.

The elven rogue Varis (fun fact: his name is the finnish word for crow) is a typical thief character, a penniless city boy that’s concerned about his own survival before anything else. And, like, I’m definitely not picking favorites here, but this one’s a GOOD boy that I love. A lot. A fountain of endless curiosity, he’s quaranteed to stick his nose in every single place it doesn’t belong to, and probably steal a little bit of something interesting on his way there. Somehow his personality also works as the glue that keeps the rest of the party together - it’s pretty hard to travel alone on your own path when this one gets all up in your personal space and wants to learn about alllll of your stuff.

The gnome ranger Nuna is pretty amiable for a person who has started several conversations with the phrase “I want to destroy the civilization”. From what I’ve gathered, she seems to be on some sort of personal crusade against all kinds of mechanical constructs and just has a pretty worrisome way of wording it. She does NOT enjoy crowded cities, though finding taverns full of ale seems to alleviate her stress a bit. I’m certain she’s got some daaaaark secrets too, I can’t wait until we find out a bit more about her story.

I’d probably call our elven wizard Volyris the other Sensible Adult in the party, if he wasn’t so horribly useless when it comes to keeping the chaotic ones in control. He just gets way too much joy out of wandering around behind Gabriel and Varis and observing all the dumb shit they manage to do. Clings to his secrets like his life depended on them, even after a couple of rounds of interrogation we have learned next to nothing about him. He just… wants to know more about stuff? For no apparent reason? Because that’s what wizards do?? I’m still not quite sure if he’s to be trusted.

34. Do you tend pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?

Mostly I try to find some sort of balance between the two?Though tbh in Glimmer’s case, being a light domain cleric and a tiefling is already a combo packed with so much character flavor that I barely have to do anything to add to it :D Every single bit of Glimmer’s spells and abilities is infused with fire and light, and who knows if the flames she so easily channels originate from a divine source or from her infernal bloodline! She certainly doesn’t! (Also, I can’t wait until we reach level 5 and she learns to cast Darkness as a tief ability. Being able to both bring light around her and to take it away as she wishes is going to be such a fun twist to the basic light cleric archetype.)

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And, for the bonus question, I miiiiight have exaggerated a little bit? Specifically on the “your entire past is a lie” part. Only a small part of her past turned out to be a lie, so that makes it completely fine, right? :DSo, basically, what I knew about Glim’s backstory was that she was abandoned to a temple’s doorstep as an infant, and that it was unclear who had left her there and why. Not knowing what else to do, the temple clerics took the child in and raised her as their own. (well that’s the relevant part, let’s leave the backstory at that because this post is already way too long)

But! In the last session the party went back to her home temple, met the old priestess who was the closest thing to a mother Glimmer ever had, and had a conversation with her. And it turns out she actually knows about Glimmer’s birth mom! She was just made to promise that she’d never reveal Glimmer’s origin to anyone, and up until this point she had kept the secret to herself. We were given a name (one that Glimmer recognized instantly; she used to be the high priestess of Glim’s home temple before she was born, and now apparently her mother too? Years ago, she had abruptly left her position as the high priestess, never coming back, and there was some sort of a scandal surrounding the event, but Glim couldn’t remember any details about it.)

So instead of a mystery, Glimmer’s origin is a well-kept secret, and according to her adoptive mother the person who knows the most about this secret lives right next door to them. As it was getting kind of late at night and barging into someone’s home asking questions about missing people in the middle of the night didn’t seem like the most polite thing to do, Glim decided to leave further questions to the next morning.

And did we reach the next morning during this session? Of course we didn’t! So now I’m full of questions and theories and have to sit on them for a few weeks because of our horrible Human Adult Schedules not lining up before the end of the month. (And while Glimmer was learning about her hidden past, our rogue was preparing to go on a heist. Alone. Without even telling about his plans to the rest of the party. And his target? The captain of the fucking town guard. Like dammit Varis, if I have to spend the next session busting you out of jail instead of trying to find my long lost mother I’m gonna kick your ass So Hard.)

((And like of course I should have expected something like this coming up with Glimmer’s backstory, ‘mysterious missing parents’ is like free plot food for the DM. Glim was just so busy worrying about literally everything else that it never even crossed my mind that we might hit some pieces of her backstory in her home town :D ))

#d&d tag #sussitalk #parad0xymoron

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hollowpages · 5 years

Text

The Tales of Valandras and Lorafaen 2 (Commission)

The following is a commission. Mild sexual stuff may come and go, but, nothing overly mature.

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The Tales of Valandras and Lorafaen - Secrets II Some time had passed after Valandras told Lorafaen the truth about his condition, about being cursed with lycanthropy. She had taken it surprisingly well, better than he ever would’ve expected, and so their relationship was in a much better, happier place. Still, there were things that worried him, things he had yet to tell her. So, he decided the time had come to divulge more about his condition. It was a nice day. Sunny, a cool breeze, and just enough clouds to where you wouldn’t get sunburned from walking for a while or just sitting out to relax. Valandras was content with this, and as he exited his mansion, he began to walk, knowing full well where Lorafaen would be. She was, after all, often predictable, at least in some ways. Lorafaen, as he expected, was sitting in the garden near the black roses. Given how massive a garden it was and how many different types of flowers were present, she could’ve been anywhere there, but Valandras could tell simply with his senses alone she was there. He smiled to himself and slowly approached; he was in no rush, after all, because he knew she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Lorafaen picked a black rose and brought it to her nose, breathing in deep. She sighed. Valandras’ smile grew. He knew the black roses were probably the most aromatic of the flowers in his garden, perhaps even more so to a Tiefling nose. It made sense she would enjoy the scent of it the most. This filled his chest with a wave of glee and warmth. Pride, even. He finally strolled over to her in full. “Hey, Lorafaen.” He gave her a playful look, pausing to give her a chance to pull her nose away from the black rose. “How are you, my love?” She grinned. “I’m doing wonderfully well, my love.” She jumped up and planted a kiss on his lips. He returned it softly, and the two stood there for a long moment, simply embracing. After a long moment, they broke apart, and the two sat down on the grass together. Lorafaen was smiling now, her eyes warm. “How’d you know I was out here?” Lorafaen asked. Valandras chuckled. “I’m psychic, of course.” She arched one eyebrow at him. “Really, now?” He grinned. “Or maybe I just know that the garden is your favorite part of my little slice of life out here, and you happen to really enjoy the rosebeds the most. I always find you here, after all. Anyone would’ve figured it out from that alone.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, of course. The flowers are beautiful, they smell wonderful, and your mother’s enchantments keep them all so vibrant and healthy.” “I’m glad you think so,” Valandras said. “She worked hard to ensure everything was enchanted this powerfully. She was always very fussy with making sure I kept them all up to date, too.” He shook his head, snorting. “As if I’d let the flowers wither and die. If I did, I’m sure her spirit would rise up and scold me before going to fix them..” “I certainly hope not,” Lorafaen said. The two held one another’s gazes for a quiet moment, enjoying one another’s presence. A gust of air blew over them, brushing against their skin. Lorafaen broke the silence. “Did you call me here to tell me more about your lycanthropy?” Valandras sighed and nodded. “Yes, that’s right, sweetheart.” “Sweetheart?” She cocked an eyebrow again, an air of mirth in her eyes. “Trying to woo me with affectionate nicknames so I don’t run away screaming when you reveal the ugly details, are we?” “Perhaps,” he said. There was still some genuine fear deep within him that she would indeed react that way, but, he kept this to himself, preferring not to worry or upset her. But Lorafaen was no fool. “Val, I told you. What you are doesn’t frighten me. So, knock this off, alright?” She reached out to brush his cheek. “Now then, what is it you wanted to talk about?” He smiled a little and stood, offering her his hand. She smiled back and took it, and once they were both standing, they looped arms and began to walk around the gardens. “Tell me,” Valandras started. “Is there anything you’d like to know first? Or was there anything you wanted me to remind you? I figured you should have the floor for the questions.” She considered this for a moment. “Well, I know you have the curse because of your mother’s death. And I know you wound up joining her old pack, the one she was the Alpha of before she had you and your siblings. But, what’s it like to be a werewolf?” “Hm. How to explain…” He was silent for a little while as they walked about the gardens. The gardens were vast and colorful, and with the weather as nice as it was, there really wasn’t a problem with the long stretch of silence, not to Lorafaen, certainly. She was content giving him the time he needed to think of his answer. Eventually, Valandras spoke. “I would have to say one of my favorite perks are the enhanced senses, honestly. They’re an oddly delightful… bright side to it.” “Like what?” Lorafaen asked, genuinely curious. “Everything looks like it’s had a wet paint brush taken to it,” Valandras said, considering the words as he spoke them. “Like, rainbows and rainfall look like an art piece brought to life. The colors pop and are vibrant beyond words, yet they don’t hurt my eyes, even on bright days or when there are a lot of colors mixed together. My eyes just seem to know how to handle it all. And of course, the scents are very strong. Being able to smell something delicious miles away is amazing.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and Lorafaen chuckled. “What, stinky smells don’t bother you?” Lorafaen asked. “Eh, they can.” He shrugged. “But those are easier to ignore. Selective sniffing, my dear.” He tapped his nose. “It’s a thing, believe me.” She snorted. “Oh, of course.” Yet she was intrigued nonetheless. “And it’s useful for being able to deduce how recently someone has been around,” Valandras continued. “Good for tracking purposes, and for survival, too. No one can sneak up on me under normal circumstances.” “Except me, apparently,” Lorafaen said. “When I let you,” Valandras replied, smirking. She scoffed. “Sure, we’ll go with that, Val.” “Besides that, also enjoy the enhanced sense of hearing,” Valandras continued, smiling to himself at the play-glare she gave him for going on without commenting on her remark. “When my ears catch the sound of laughter, it’s like I’m hearing a symphony. And like with my nose, it’s something I can tune out when I need to, so I’m not overloaded with noise.” Lorafaen nodded. “That sounds amazing, all things considered. I’m guessing you knew I was here from listening to me hum or smelling my perfume, then?” She arched an eyebrow again, grinning. “Not so much being ‘psychic,’ as you claimed.” He chuckled. “True, true. Your singing is beautiful, by the way.” She smiled and blushed. “It’s only humming, Val.” “Still lovely to my ears,” Valandras said. “Thank you, sweetheart,” she said, only to chuckle. Valandras chuckled as well. “Now you’ve got me whispering the sweet nothings. Oh dear, whatever shall I do next?” “Continue?” Valandras offered cheekily. They smiled and did indeed continue on with their walking at a slow, casual pace. They had plenty of time, and neither were in a rush to do anything else or go anywhere. “I do have another question,” Lorafaen said after a while. “A darker one, if I may.” Her eyes flicked to Valandras. “Has the wolf ever… killed anyone?” Valandras stopped. For a long time, he fell silent, and Lorafaen stood there with him, equally silent. She wondered if she was asking too much by delving into that, but then, after staring off into the distance for a long while, Valandras gradually met Lorafaen’s gaze. “Yes,” Valandras said. “Once. During my… well, my second full moon, long before I met our mutual friends.” His lips twitched. “I had to idea to have my moons away from civilization, in the heart of the Shadow Marsh…” He paused when she looked at him oddly. “Having my moons means I spent the night there, essentially.” She nodded, and he continued. “Anyways, I locked myself up on a cage this particular night, in a abandoned house. The change is… very painful.” “You don’t have to continue if you don’t want,” Lorafaen said after he fell silent. “No, it’s fine,” Valandras said. He shook it off. “At any rate, when the change began and I felt my mind leave me, I believed it would be an uneventful night given the distance and the precautions I had taken. But…” He choked. “I woke up the next day in a merchant’s camp. I’d killed all the merchants there; I was covered in their blood, their bodies strewn about. Seven of them, men and women, all dead at my feet.” He gritted his teeth. “How…?” Lorafaen began, but stopped herself. “When I returned to the abandoned house, I discovered some bastard had broke the lock off the cage,” Valandras said. He growled, a low, rumbling noise. “Ah, sorry, Lora.” She took his face in her hands. “No need to apologize, my love. You’ll never be a monster in my eyes, I promise.” She smiled. “I love you, remember? And we’ve all done things we regret or brought lives to an end, even me. Besides, you’re my monster.” She kissed him and wiped the tears away. “Now, none of that. Let’s go to the beach.” She blushed a little at the mental image she conjured, but then, she also smirked. “We can ogle each other’s gorgeous, muscular bodies. How’s that sound?” He blushed and grinned, too. “Yeah, let’s go.”

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#commission #commisions open

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