#character: lann the mongrel

[spyridonya]

In today's 'Lann is totally Straight' segment.

At the end of Daeran's Act 3 Quest.

Our Count, indeed. When did this become communism, Lann? 😏

Also, Woljif and Regill know their priorities.

Also, also: Daeran growing smitten with the KC and isn't sure if his opinion counts. 🥺

[the-raging-tempest]

To celebrate that it’s been a year since I played Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. And I still love the world and characters in this game.

[ronavorona16]

Another commision with my beloved wotr couple by Ksairan. https://vk.com/ksairaan

[iwoszareba]

Regill vs chaotic commander and his crew (I know Lann is lawful but desire to joke is stronger than that)

[thorn-walker]

It's corny, it's probably overdone, it's very cute and I can't get enough Lann since I've started my second wotr playthrough.

[ravel-puzzlewell]

Hi! Do you mind elaborating on what you meant by "tiefling politics" on that wotr vs bg3 post? Just curious, ignore if you want

its about the fact that bg3 has a lot of tiefling characters, somehow more than wotr, and huge theme of like hells and connections to demons\devils and somehow manages to say absolutely nothing interesting about it.

in wotr we have examination of tieflings fitting into human society, ostracization and (literal) demonization of them, where even if some of them would want to help in war against hell, they are scared (frex, group of tieflings thieves you save which you can ask to help u and they are like are u kidding me, crusaders will torch us). woljif in particular is a deconstruction of selfish chaotic neutral tielfling rogue archetype, his story both exploring how both he was pushed into being a criminal bc he had no other options, but also interplay with how he then himself tends to dismiss his own agency in being able to decide for himself and choose better, forever excusing himself with "well this is a crappy hand dealt to me", his survivalist attitude of everyone for themselves vs desire for community, how when given a smidge of stability and access to decision making in council, he tries to awkwardly, but eagerly advocate for societal improvement for all tieflings, and this is one of his most sincere moments - and gets laughed at immediately, etc etc. and speaking of community, v interesting intersection between "good" and "bad" marginalized groups of mongrels vs tieflings, with Lann being self-righteous about both his moral superiority and how mongrels "have it worse", while ignoring that mongrels - and he himself specifically - are mistreated literally bc they are mistaken for tieflings.

btw if anyone wants me to talk more about mongrels vs tieflings thing, hit me up, i think there was a interesting stuff, even if not properly dramatized

meanwhile in bg3 being tiefling largely means nothing? like the refugees would sometimes like drop a line out loud about how tieflings should stick together bc humans won't help them, but like that's it. the refugees could literally be humans running from war or blue cat ppl from avatar running from capitalism and nothing in the plot or characters would need to be changed. tieflings is just cosmetics for them, like idk its cool to have colorful NPCs with fire eyes and sexy horns. And even companions wise, you know I love Karlach and tried to romance her, but being tiefling is just looks for her, its not meaningful. It doesn't matter for her backstory, she could have been a strong human from poor background who was sold out to idk, underdark. like it sucked bc she was forced to do violence and everyne was an asshole and she couldn't see sun, but otherwise it being Blood War specifically doesn't come into play. and like. Blood War has famously huge effects on ppl with hell heritage! I'm not saying she should have been Valen Shadowbreath with entire plotline about struggling with blood war calling, but like. idk, something?

my point is that tieflings and hell has a lot of lore and like, FLAVOUR in this setting, which were not explored at all. these are just ppl with horns and generic Bad Place.

and then like. devil essentialism. bg3 has central motive of how evil races are not ontologically evil, but like, devils are. sdfghjk. apparentely mind flayers can fight actual mind control if they are V Special, but all devils/demons are evil with no exceptions. karlach was in hell for 10 years and never met a single sympathetic devil. the closest one he had mocks IS Evil when we meet her in game. and I actually liked Raphael (transition could've saved her), but there is nothing particularily interesting about him, he's also straighforwardly evil. this severely limits how interesting interactions with hell are. in wotr there is a wide range from reformed succubus to most evil sadists, with every shade in between, which allows for complex stories, like that that fucked up love between that betrayer dwarf and demoness who seduced him. she's legit evil, but she also has actual twisted affection for him, and he knows she uses him, but he was pushed too far by humans and chooses her anyway. this background story is honestly has more depth than wyll's and mizora relationship, where shes just evil and he's straighforwardly martyr. when mizora offered to have fun wink wink, i immediately knew she's gonna Evil It. and she did. and she didn't even get anything out of it! it was just staining your soul to be evil:3 like ok, but boring tbh.

and like yeah war with hell is central plot of wotr, obviously it has a lot more to say and explore about it, but like. bg3 didn't HAVE to have to include so many tieflings and have us follow their stories through all acts. it didn't have to include hell in "no race essentialism" game if it didn't want to talk about it. it chose to, and when game has big chuncks of content about smth connected by a theme, i expect it to say smth about it? anything interesting? eh.

btw, this is not to say i think wotr's writing is perfect, far from it, i can talk for ages of my problems with that game's writing, but this initial phrase was from shitposts specifically comparng things in wotr to bg3, so

[dujour13]

⭐ for The Prodigal Tiefling?

Thank you Crow!! 💕💕 hehe another chance to ramble

Since I answered another ask for the side-fic The Prodigal Tiefling I’m brazenly going to use this one for the chapter by the same title in The Lark and the Crow.

This is one of the very earliest chapters I wrote before having any intention of uploading anything, so it’s a bit creaky but dear to me.

First of all giggling maniacally while writing Woljif in hot water with the Baphomet cultists, who are not exactly the sharpest daggers in the demonic ritual DIY kit, lucky for Woljif. He has them running red-herring errands to try to keep them from sacrificing Deval:

“Now you’re talkin’. First, you need the right kinda altar. This half-baked scraped-up pentagram just won’t do. It’s gotta be granite; big slab, you know, to catch all the blood. Next, you gotta have the right kinda knives: Abyssal uh, obsidian. Dipped in the blood-rain of the Worldwound on the night of an eyeball storm. And it’s gotta be the right timing.” He looked up at the stars for a long moment, making mystic calculations. “When the moon is in retrograde.”

I’m sorry I’m such a nerd but I made myself laugh with the moon in retrograde thing. Truly the blind leading the blind.

This is an important character moment for Siavash. He finds Woljif and almost weeps with relief, but doesn’t miss a beat with “Hail Baphomet.” These two’ll be partners in crime in no time. And Woljif is more than impressed when to back it up he pulls an actual succubus out of nowhere and the cultists immediately decide this guy is ok.

Next a little interlude written much later gives a glimpse into Siavash’s loneliness as Knight-Commander and how much he valued Woljif’s company before he disappeared. This is a direct echo of my own desperate search in my first playthrough of the game. (I didn’t want to take Drezen without him. I looked everywhere. I cried. Siavash cried. Google didn’t help. It was awful. Eventually realized you have to take Drezen first.) This brings us back to his emotion in the present.

For narrative sake the chapter then goes straight into the confrontation with Voetiel. I re-wrote my own version of the dialogue, partly because I hadn’t taken screenshots (not intending to upload the fic) and partly because it was just fun.

I kind of enjoyed ending the battle with “Darkfang” the cultist and Deval rolling around on the ground trying to kill each other. I feel like Baphomet cultists are such a treasure trove of comedy.

But one of my favorite Woljif moments of all time in the game is how he tries to convince you that the only reason he went to so much trouble to save Deval from the cultists was because he didn’t want to be haunted by his ghost afterwards. This transparent lie is just everything I love about him.

And of course, most importantly, the aftermath is the occasion of Woljif’s very first hug of his whole life AAAAHHHHH

On the road back to Drezen there’s a chance for Lann and Woljif to pit their social philosophies against each other in camp:

The mongrel shook his head. “Listen. You don’t seem to get it. Hiding or running off when we’re fighting, stealing stuff, trying to get out of doing chores—think of what a disaster it would be if everybody acted like you. If everybody does their fair share, everybody’s better off. Don’t you see that?” “You wouldn’t last one minute on the streets,” Woljif shot back. “You give one green copper, play the hero one instant, show one weakness, and they’ll eat you alive. Hold the end of your tail in the fire ‘til you squeal. Haul you up and hang you by the horns. Horn. Whatever. You’re the one who doesn’t get it.”

Siavash might not strictly agree with Woljif here, but he’s sympathetic.

I kind of liked this little exchange when they arrive back in Drezen:

“Welcome to Drezen. Brand new city, ripe with opportunity.” Siavash surveyed the stinking heaps of rubble and demonic graffiti proudly. “Don’t mind the mess.” “Reminds me of the command tent,” Woljif muttered, not unhappily.

And then the flighty azata commander promptly gets sidetracked, and Woljif finds himself in a new city with nowhere to call home, and everyone else goes off and leaves him standing there. Resourceful as always Woljif finds his own way soon enough.

The chapter is a bit long and windy, but it’s about Woljif’s relationship with people—his understandable distrust and his sense that it’s him against the world, but also his secret generosity and need to be accepted.

It starts with Woljif alone against the cultists, and ends with him on his own again in Drezen. But in between he gets a taste of what looks a lot like real friendship: somebody who’s got his back unconditionally, somebody who has the smarts to pick up his cue and run with it. Somebody who gives nice hugs.

[spidercatenthusiast]

handing you a microphone for wenduag

@dragonologist-phd

Thanks so much for asking!! I really love everything that Wenduag has going on, and talking about her is really fun to me

How I feel about this character:

Really love her, probably my favorite evil character in any CRPG I've played ever, and a solid contender for favorite CRPG character in general.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I can't say I really envision her in a relationship with anyone else in the game, for her romance I did an Aeon -> Legend / Zon-Kuthon -> Atheist character which had Parallels Galore, but I don't feel like it makes much sense for her to be with anyone besides the player, mostly because she wouldn't let anybody else close. When you trim down the list, you really only end up with evil Arue as an option and if evil Arue was an even slightly interesting outcome to me I'd love them conceptually but she's just not.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Definitely her & Lann postgame, I like the dialogue Wenduag has for joining in Act 5 (and LOVE her little mourning bit if you end his quest with him dying), and I adore what we see of their dynamic if Lann's the one to join in Act 5, some really solid stuff and I wish it was incorporated into their ending slides.

My unpopular opinion about this character

I'm not really sure if this is *unpopular*, but I love how completely unrepentant she is. People will say that she's stupid for being so obvious about wanting to betray the player or whatever, but I think it plays really solidly into her character that she's such a proud person but feels like she has to act submissive to everyone. In her mind, there's really no material difference between Hosilla, pre-game Lann, Savamelekh, or a non-romanced KC, and she just lets all of that resentment stew in her because she only knows one way to act to people she has to submit to or deceive, so of course she grows to resent them all as we see in her Areelu's Lab dream, so she treats Lann and more obviously the KC the way she'd interact with a demon, and the eventual betrayal is a given for a demon or cultist.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I think she's really lacking in dialogue options/roleplay aspect for a non-romanced, good-aligned KC, like off the top of my head there's just a base conversation or two, and her act 5 betrayal, and the biggest issue with that is that to recruit her, you at least have to imply that you're chill with slavery. I think her offer to bring the mongrels up should've been like a thing she does for like evil characters/ones who use the demon power against Savamelekh/ones who brought her to the shield maze, and for everyone who doesn't fulfill like 2 of 3 or w/e of these requirements, she'd bring it up with them in Act 1, or even just during her Act 3 quest, or just have her directly tell Lann that they wouldn't be slaves, etc. Just kinda spitballing here, but there's such a wide gap between someone who'd bring her along vs. someone who would romance her and not be abusive about it, or anyone who'd just. not be an ass to her, and I think it should've been addressed.

[quenthel]

Analysis of the mongrels from Wrath of the Righteous- Lann and Wenduag

Most companions in Wrath of the Righteous in my opinion reach a level of depth and nuance that is rare in video games, even in rpgs. While other games have tried to create narratives where you have to pick one out of two potential companions to accompany you further, usually their impact on their own story but also the overall narrative is somewhat minimized (I’m looking here at mass effect primarily).

(minor tw for discussions of suicide)

Wrath of the Righteous offers a similar choice very early on- the first important choice of the game after all. Do you pick Lann, or Wenduag? This choice is also somewhat tied to which mythic path of the two available to you at this point of the game you want to pick or utilize. This early section generally speaking is pretty good at teaching about game mechanics (including tutorializing story choices, since some choices are tied to mythic powers, and some companions can and will leave you if you make bad choices. Initially I wanted to make two separate analysis posts about each of them, but because their stories are intertwined and reflect on each other, I figured it would be better to just analyze the both of them at the same time.

On a surface level the choice between Lann and Wendu is tied to alignment- Lann for good characters and Wendu for evil characters. However simply based on the fact that Lann and Wendu both will go with the commander depending on which one they trusted, and will stick by them (more or less) indicates, that there is more going on than simply one of them being good and the other being evil.

For starters, Lann’s alignment is Lawful Neutral. While Wrath of the righteous uses the same alignment chart that is usually used in Pathfinder (and DnD ofc) the game’s story does more with these rankings that it first meets the eye. Lann’s lawfulness for example very explicitly manifests in his judgemental nature. He is also very keen on established hierarchies and likes when these hierarchies are enforced (thus his liking of the Hellknights). He is not opposed to being cruel at times either, but he also has a very strong moral backbone. Generally his worldview was clearly reinforced by his upbringing as a mongrel in the caves, where people have to rely on each other for survival. He is very community centered overall, to the point where he determines his sense of self within a larger community, be it the mongrels or as a part of the commander’s squad. (I often joke about him being a tankie also lmao.)

Wenduag from the off just seems evil. She is abrasive, seems to almost worship strength, both in herself and in others, seems to have more of a social darwinist view on the world, and she is a liar. While Lann’s worldview is enforced by his place within larger communities, Wendu almost takes pride in NOT belonging anywhere. She is also much much more ambitious, and treats that as a quality that sets her apart from the rest. However, over the course of her quest it becomes clear that she in fact longs to belong, and cares a lot about everyone, she just simply mask it with abrasive behavior.

This difference is most striking when considering their worst outcomes (minus the worldstate where they die). If Lann is left behind in the caves, he clings to that rapidly deteriorating community desperately. When he is rejected even from there he seeks to better himself so maybe he can in the end save his clan by dying. He is, even while with the commander, actively suicidal. The game also pulls no punches when it comes to portraying his mental state. Almost all his dialogue where he talks about himself and the jokes he tells very clearly indicate his low self esteem and his suicidal tendencies. And when he is left alone without a community to belong to, or with a close friend or lover to guide him, he submits to those urges completely. While he is the more resistant to change out of the two of them, thanks to the strong sense of what is right and wrong, in this case he is willing to submit his sense of self to the community. If the mongrels under Wendu are more war like but free, he is willing to join them, even if that in the end (post-game) does usher him into suicide (or becoming an alcoholic).

Wendu reacts similarly of course. Wendu’s whole worldview rests on the fact that she is strong enough to be better than everyone else. The commander’s presence and their push back against Savamelekh is a threat to that idea as a whole. At first she becomes obsessed with killing the commander, then with killing the demon. She trains alone relentlessly, and hopes that in the end, the commander will recognize her as somebody worthy. While she also succumbs to her worst instincts, because of her ambition she can more easily pull trough, and even in the post game manages to try and chase her dreams further. While Wendu has a LOT to gain from the companionship trust and maybe love of the commander, she is also the one with less to lose if she does not have those things.

The two of them also have a different place within the mongrel tribe, and have different personal philosophies for this reason. While Lann is treated as an outsider, he is less accepted but never the less respected in his tribe, due to his prowess as a hunter and by becoming a value member of his little society. Its a position he has to work for however, and while (especially Sull and himself) talk about him very harshly, the ease with which the mongrels accept his leadership showcase, that he is not as much of an outsider as he thinks. His low opinion of himself clouds his judgement. ( Another clear example of this is his constant insecurity over his looks, even if the commander if flirting with him, while Wendu describes him as a very attractive, albeit dumb guy.) Wendu in contrast was always favored within the tribe for her skill, but her emotional needs were always neglected with her mother not around, and her father dedicating himself to the wellbeing of the tribe. While Lann thinks survival rests in cooperation, Wendu believes that survival means personal excellence first and foremost. While both of them strive to be the best version of themselves, Lann vies personal betterment a net good for the entire tribe, while Wendu believes it secures a higher place within the hierarchy of the tribe, and strengthens her position.

I talked about the worst version of them that can happen in the game. But what about the best and what does that mean for their respective stories?

Lann’s triumphant moment shows him that he has a place in the world, even if he is not perfect. Wendu’s on the other hand shows her that she does not have to grovel before those who are stronger than her in order to solidify her position. Both stories therefore are about acceptance and rejection. Not only by the commander, or by the uplanders, but also by the tribe itself. They both become good leaders of the tribe, even Wendu, who remains cruel, but also somebody who becomes dedicated to the good of her whole tribe, just like her father. Lann on the other hand brings the mongrels into the wider society of the uplanders, creates space for them where they are able to cooperate with others. In some way, the best outcome for their stories embody the best possible outcome for their personal philosophies.

At last, I’d like to talk about how each of them expresses love and emotions. Lann is the more “straightforward” of the two, mostly because he is more emotionally intelligent than Wendu (but thats not saying much). His love for the commander (if romanced) is more akin to worship than love. He seemingly has a tendency to create idealized versions of people, and when they fail to meet that (and when they do something that compromises his moral values) his opinion drops harshly. His self esteem problems make him vulnerable to love, while his judgemental tendencies make it easier for him to cut people off (like he does with Wendu). This is the part of his writing I think could have been done better, because he is clearly struggling with self image issues and depression, yet even a romanced commander can’t really address that, or even compliment him. Overall, by the end of the game he is much more emotionally stable since he has a support net of his tribe, the people in the party, and even his mom.

Wendu on the other hand, is a huge mess. She claims she does not care about other people’s opinion, yet takes offense easily. She worries a lot about being accepted and respected by others. This is especially easy to see during her romance conversations and events, since many times she is testing the commander to see how much she means to them in small ways, while also showing a more vulnerable side of herself. She clearly struggles with that and with showing love however, because love and hate (as well as pain and pleasure) are closely intertwined for her. One of the reasons she acts as abrasive and mean to uplanders is because by coming to the surface, she lost all of her social standing as a good hunter, and as an attractive woman. She is dropped into a completely alien environment, and she is trying to do her best and make sense of it in the only way she can, and that is by acting though and showcasing her strength and value. She has her schemes going on too, but is willing to abandon them ultimately, if a better opportunity presents itself. Her sense of self preservation is incredibly high after all, as well as her ambition, and those things remain a driving force for her throughout the story. However she is clearly emotionally neglected as a person, and because of that neglect has become incredibly cruel and selfish. During her romance she is able to break trough that selfishness however.

Another interesting thing about Wendu is her relationship with sex and sexuality. From conversations both with Lann and Wendu (and between them and the rest of the companions) it is a little bit clear, that the mongrels are a bit homophobic, or at least that this is a taboo topic. (Main sign pointing to this is Lann’s cluelessness about his own attraction towards Daeran, but this is mostly a hint and not actually stated in the text.) Wendu’s bisexuality does come up in dialogue a little bit, and this might be another reason why she is even within the tribe a bit of an outcast. Also hints at this the fact that the only female sexual partner she ever hints at is the cultist woman from the labyrinth, who is not part of any mongrel tribe. She also openly talks about being kinky, so her groveling behavior has a sexual angle as well. This also showcases that for her pain and pleasure are mixed together. While this alone does not mean anything unhealthy going on with her, it also parallels with her chaotic emotional state, since loving and hating are also things that are intertwined for her. We can see this in the way she talks about her dad, in the way she talks about and to Lann if chosen (seemingly hating him for giving up and not liking himself, and not for any other reason), and in the possible jealousy dialogue as well, with her being the only companion that gets incredibly angry and yells “I hate you!” at the romanced commander. Interestingly enough, while she is not loyal to people, she has a hard time letting people go who are close to her. While Lann will not hesitate to kill her if given permission or excuse, Wendu has a hard time doing so. She is also much more willing to change for the people whom she loves, even asking Lann what he thinks of her now before blowing him off anyway to keep up appearances, and asking the commander if they want her to be “good” in the last romance scene.

Overall, both of them are very interesting companions, and I recommend playing trough both of their content at least once.

[fllagellant]

Lann having that “ the mongrel did it “ voiceline a) surprised me the first time I heard it , being so used to the ur awesome Lann dialogue

B) surprised ( shocked . Fully shocked ) my parents who were half listening to the idle speech only to hear a character be called Mongrel … you can imagine how that could have been . Well !

C) lead to me saying “ Lann said it it’ s okay that’ s the race name “ and there is a very specific sort of humour in defending the use of the term mongrel in fantasy in such a way in a mixed household

[juggling-responsibilities]

Act 1, Part 3 - Underground Temple, Underground Monk

Sometimes, in video games and other narratives, they provide you with a character who is the epitome of the softboy with the edge of steel. Someone who cares about family, about community, about doing what's right even though that often means doing what's hard. Someone who likes to ease tension with a joke and follows it up with a casual mention of something so viscerally tragic that it causes your brain to skip a gear while you process all the shit this kind man has gone through.

Your Alistairs, for example. Your Carrot Ironfounderssons, your Peter Parkers and Kaidan Alenkos. You treasure these characters when you find them, you respect their pain and their carefully protected hope for the future.

And sometimes tumblr makes you send them away because they voted for the monster girl.

dead dove do not eat dot gif

I mean, while I had figured Wenduag would win out on tumblr, the "god forbid monster women do anything" website, I had at least thought Lann would be trailing by a lot less, since he would be the classic tumblr sexyman.

Then I remembered that while Wrath of the Righteous does in fact have a tumblr sexyman, it is not Lann. But we'll get to him later.

Our travels through the caves beneath Kenabres have brought us to a section of collapsed building that, strangely, did not appear to have fallen down from up above. Instead we find ourselves inside what appears to be a ruined temple, fallen into disrepair. There are piles of rubble everywhere, but they don't seem to have been caused by the attack. No, this appears to be something much older.

We are also not alone.

This is Lann and Wenduag, and as it turns out, they live down here:

🕷: "We are the underground crusaders, the children of the crusade's finest." 🦎: "Sadly, 'underground crusaders' is a bit of a mouthful, so people usually just call us 'mongrels'." 🕷: "You just love repeating that, don't you, Lann? 'Mongrels' - that's what the uplanders call us. But we call ourselves 'neathers'."

(Pronunciation note: neathers as in beneath)

As they tell it, some of the first Mendevian crusaders were corrupted by the presence of so much demonic energy that they started to mutate. Their descendants continued to live underground, always remembering the glory of their ancestors and their battles against the demons pouring out of the Worldwound, but they stayed underground, away from the rest of the world topside.

Of course, things aren't always as simple as all that. Seelah points out that Kenabres thinks of them as monsters who come out at night and eat children. Or at least that's what people say - Seelah thought they were just made up. Kind of puts a damper on the whole "they will welcome us with open arms" theory, but what're you gonna do?

As far as what they're doing here?

🦎: "This is the hall where we remember the glory of our forebears. Sorry about the mess - it doesn't usually look like this, trust me. Sometimes we even wipe the dust off the exhibits." 🕷: "This is where the relics of the first crusaders are displayed. Our lives are short, our glories are quickly forgotten... but this place helps us to remember that we are just as worthy as anyone else, and that our lives are not lived in vain."

About seventy years ago (or fifty thousand gongs in neather time) the tribe found the remains of an angel in the temple, surrounded by his fallen compatriots. They buried them with as much dignity as they could, but the angel's flaming sword could not be removed from the rock it was embedded in - it burned anyone who tried. So the angel and the sword were both buried in rubble, as they did the best they could.

Lann, of course, wants to find the sword. Apparently some kids got up into one of the ruins that are connected to the surface, the Shield Maze - named such because it shields the neathers from taking rash actions. The Maze is said to be the signal to rise to the surface and join the crusade - if the walls fall, that means it's time to leave the underground. Wenduag says she's the only one who's ever navigated through it, but some kids decided it was their chance to make a break for it.

Lann accuses Wenduag of putting the idea in their heads, since she's been mapping the route and clearing it of danger. Wenduag deflects this, as she says she's always told them to wait until she was finished.

We offer to help, although Wenduag sees it as merely a means for us to make it back to the surface. Which, she's not wrong - it's the best lead we have, but if we can help them rescue their lost youth in the process, that's also worth it.

Some scouring of the rubble later and...

It's not just a flaming sword. It's a sword made of flames. Hilt and all. Which, honestly, you gotta love a sword made of pure fire. I don't really blame Lann for this - if I went back to my family and said "hey we need to break our policy of not going into the creepy labyrinth" and I said it while holding a sword made of flames then I'd fully expect to get my way, too.

Of course, the sword itself seems to have its own opinions, and we move into the first of what the previous game, Kingmaker, referred to as "book choices".

These sequences in Kingmaker were narrated by Linzi, who is telling us the story of the game we are playing - a narrative device that allows for some fantastic rapid-fire decision-making and cinematic sequences that are told best in narration and brief illustration. Here, the narrative structure seems to be a journal, though as it refers to me in the third person, I doubt it's my journal. We may or may not find out the story behind this narrative device later - while it would be neat for this to be similarly diegetic, I haven't actually played far enough to find out the answer to this.

The journal sequence continues with the vision - I passed the Will save - and I watch as Deskari (or at least a smaller version of him) moves to finish the angel off, taunting it the entire way. As the vision ends, I am given another opportunity to shape Lariel's response, who claims that another will take up the flaming sword and use it to either punish the wicked or protect the innocent.

The weird demonic wound in my chest, which opened at the start of the vision, heals over once more, leaving me with the sword in my hand. I raise it aloft, and my RGB keyboard and mouse flash in response - a neat interaction. And with that, the sword disappears again, with the note that all I have to do is summon it.

My comrades are astonished at the display:

🕵️‍♀️: "Hey, Quintessa! Are you all right? You were kinda... glowing just now!" 🦎: "That... that was it! The Light of Heaven! But how..." 🕷: "What did you do with it? Where did it go?"

Seelah simply kneels down and prays.

Lann asks me to whip it out again.

Lann is thrilled at the prospects of this. Wenduag, not so much. Lann, worryingly, says that I'm better than them because I'm not a mongrel and Lann, sweetie, if I was allowed to take you along I'd see if I could do something about your self-esteem because oh boy is it in a deep underground pit below the city. Despite this, though, he definitely believes in the power I now hold, and is thrilled to be able to convince Chief Sull to go into the Maze and rescue those poor kids.

With that, our party has gone from three to five. Well, five plus Anevia, who's still plugging away at critters with her bow.

With our new local guides to show us the way, we head off. The way to the Shield Maze is through their village, so we have to make our way through there anyway.

Before we get to the village, however, Wenduag pulls me aside - she wants to have a private word. Essentially, she has a proposal for me: don't show Chief Sull the Light.

🪓: "Lann is sure that the Light should be shown to the mongrels." 🕷: "Lann... He wants to play the hero. His first idea, if you remember, was to grab the sword and run headlong into the Maze. Does that sound like a plan to you? To me it sounds like suicide. The worst part is that the tribe might actually take his words to heart and follow where he leads." 🪓: "I thought you considered the mongrels to be great warriors."

🕷: "Don't show the Chief the Light, and I'll lead you through the Maze to the surface. I swear it."

Well, fuck.

[spyridonya]

~kissing them as a bribe to keep them in bed~

Hello Anon! I hope you enjoy this. I did my best after a dry spell. And a demanding cat.

It's not so much he's immune to cold as he's used to it, the bone deep chill of the winters in Kenabras clung onto the skin due to the moisture in the air. Drezen, for all the complaints among his companions, was a dry cold. Nenio had explained to him once that there wasn't a difference, but Lann had simply nodded and decided not to complain within earshot, lest Nenio forget her earlier bone dry lesson on why he was wrong.

Not that Lann was foolish enough not to dress warmly as means of survival. But he knew the slight difference meant everything against his skin.

So, it wasn't the cold that was making getting up harder in the recent weeks.

It was a wonderfully warm body always pressed against his own that made greeting the dawn just a bit more trouble than it was worth. The mongrel noticed that both the tiefling and the aasimar had a tendency to cling when they shared their respective beds with just him but when they were all there were together, Kadira was the one that happened to cling to him while asleep when she was in the middle, her weight warm and soft and her hair spread over his bare chest with her face buried in the scales of his neck while Daeran spooned behind her.

Of the two, Daeran seemed to be the lighter sleeper, so that was a minor blessing from Iomedae in keeping Lann’s routine relatively normal. As normal as possible.

Even when they don't have sex, Lann's head is still making sense of the patterns being established—having someone close by for warmth, for better or worse. Someone warm and comforting. Someone who accidentally kicks or snores. Someone who steals covers. He knows it's common among mongrels to share sleeping piles with siblings, so that might be a tolerance he's only learning just now... but the tolerances almost seem worth it. He's sure it's all a game to Daeran at the end (which oddly makes his heart ache), though Kadee takes it seriously in private (he wishes she would in public). 

A new normal, or something torn from him again to remind him of his place in the world. 

Those thoughts only come faintly as he begins to shift his legs under the sheets and feather comforter, letting that cool dry air slide over his chest as he begins to push it down his chest and over the suppleness of Kadira's shoulders. And most times he's able to do this without rousing her and tucking her in again. 

It could have been brushing his foot against her tail, it could have been sleeping later than normal for him, it could have been anything. But the heavy weight of her head on his chest lifts and he finds himself looking down at her. Her blue eyes are pale with his dark vision, the bleached shadows of her skin making them silver, while her hair is a mess that only magic could solve. Her mouth is lush and kissable and the sleepy sweetness makes Lann’s throat constrict. He quarter hopes she'll smile and settle on him again, and minutes later he'll try escaping her warmth when she’s asleep.

Rather, her thick brows furrow and her tail slides around his calf. "Lann." She says plaintively.

"Good morning." He whispers, mindful of their partner, but his eyes entirely on Kadira.

"Where're you goin'?" She mumbles, falling back to the speech patterns of childhood, her hand grasping for his shoulder.

"The barracks and range, you know that, same as always." He can't resist cupping her face, letting the claw of his left side brush against her lower lip. She responds with a groan and light nip to his thumb.

"No."

"I can't let Seelah be the only one who lifts things around here," Lann explains.

"Stay."  She murmurs, her lips brushing over the line where human and lizard are divided, her tongue playing at the furrows of skin and scale and making him shiver from his head to the tips of his toes. (And to the root of his cock.)

"Kadira." His voice is hoarse, "If I'm not doing my training and don't stay strong, Daeran won't let me live it down. D'you know how unbearable that'll be? We'll never see the end of his smugness."

"You like it," She accuses, her lips ghosting kisses down his chest, her voice a little clearer, the silken fur of her legs shift over his as if to trap him.

"But you'll complain about his smugness too," His protests are weak, because he doesn't want to go, because she asks for so very little.

"Mhm, worth it." Heavy breasts press against his torso as she kisses his human side, lips not quite against his nipple as she shifts her weight. "Please, stay."

"We're going to wake up Daeran," A change in tactics, though he realizes it's a poor decision when the silver-blue eyes look up to him, her sleepy smile impish. "Wait, you'd like that."

"Mhmph." She agrees, thighs straddling his hips while her lips press to his collar bone, then kissing the pulse at his throat, "You would, too. Stay."

His hands cup her face again, the battle lost and he knows it, studying his reward with a tip of his head. Lann still isn't sure why she desires him so, why she turns into something soft, sensual, and kittenish in the privacy of his gaze. But if he's learned anything in the last few weeks as he strokes her cheeks with this thumb to pull her closer for a kiss, he really should stop questioning it.

[alexalily]

I'm starting a playthrough of Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and will be chronicling my adventures here! If you follow me on twitter, you may recall that I did a twitter thread of that playthrough and I'm also doing a thread for this one as well. This Tumblr thread(?) is going to be probably mostly the same as what I post on twitter but this'll be in longer posts and I might go into greater detail on things, who could say.

Anyway! Here's my character!

In Kingmaker, I played as a Feyspeaker Druid and generally liked it but I wanted to try something different so now I'm a Witch of the Veil! Character creation was A Process here because I haven't played Pathfinder itself (outside of Kingmaker) and so I'm largely unfamiliar with it (although I am relatively familiar with D&D which is extremely similar). This caused a lot of issues for me because, while I think the amount of explanations PathWrath has in the creation process is better than it was in Kingmaker, it's still A Lot of information and is very overwhelming. It's a whole lot of "This spells does A Thing" but not much of an explanation of what that Thing functionally means or does. Hopefully I have picked a good set of spells and feats and such! If it sucks I'll drop the difficulty down because I think these Pathfinder games have set a very high bar for difficulty options. I genuinely love how granular all the difficulty options are!! More games need to have menus that look like these ones!!

So! My lil Tiefling enters the world of Pathfinder and is immediately mortally wounded and carried into a festival on a stretcher. A dragon in the shape of a milf heals me and tells me to enjoy the party but before I can enjoy a giant demon locust attacked, split a big ol' hole in the ground, and I fell into some old tunnels.

And that was where I met my first two party members! Anevia is a ranger who is some sort of commander of the city guard type character and she has a wife who is also a commander of a different type of city guard and I'm hoping to have a "we saw you from across the bar and like your vibes" sort of situation with them. Seelah is a paladin who hasn't done much yet but has Very Good Vibes!

After I helped Seelah get Anevia out from under a large rock, we ran into a woman named Camellia who has a magic rapier and is absolutely up to no good and I cannot wait to find out what that is. Then we met two more people to round out the party: a half-lizard half-satyr man named Lann and a sorta-cat-like spider-woman named Wenduag. Wenduag seems like she is regularly up to no good, perhaps in a more threatening way than Cemallia, and Lann has some Bad Vibes cause he's the joke-y jokes dude but is criminally unfunny. They lead us to an underground village of animal people called Mongrels and are going to help us reach the surface to see if the entire town has been burned down yet or not.

And then I save and quit except the game crashed lmao i really hope my save is intact because character creation took me almost two out of the three hours I played for!!

Future posts will probably be more of me complaining about how complex Pathfinder is or how the good/lawful/neutral/evil/chaotic alignment system is Hot Garbage or just whatever game design-y thoughts I can think of but I'll maybe include some plot-y recap posts like this in the future if people are interested in that. Also I will keep the posts tagged with #Alexa Plays Path Wrath so you can mute it or whathaveyou.

[ronavorona16]

Awesome art of my knight-commander Flayma by EKinveyl

https://twitter.com/kinveyl https://vk.com/ekinveyl_art

[iwoszareba]

shhh!! let him focus

[thorn-walker]

I had way too much fun doing this. Storm saw Woljif, Ember and Finnean and said "Cool, I'm a big brother now"