#his partner is a cleric so i joked that he learned them from watching her while they fought lmao | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zazu75 · 2 years

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Me, staring at Therion: I can make him worse

Oh but jail for me, jail for 1000 years

I can make him so much worse

What if I reverse it, and have him throw Darius off the cliff? What if he gets the Cianno’s offer and at first he’s like “Pfft no” but him and Darius get into a pretty disagreement and it’s near the cliffs and the figures screw this and throws Darius off the cliff instead?

Oh but the many many ways I can go from there alone

A moment of anger to a descent of insanity

Insanity from the power trip? The high of watching an annoyance be afraid and die?

Or insanity from regret, from I didn’t mean to I’m so sorry taking him down levels of depravity?

Either way, unrecognizable by the end, when Darius finally bumps into him in Wellspring, seven good friends in tow

Darius’ insecurities softening after meeting the seven (after meeting Alfyn) his rage slowly dissipating when he realizes he can be vulnerable and still be safe. He’s calmer by the time they hit wellspring, more open to laughter and dumb jokes (and trading stories with Alfyn and sitting closer to him)

Therion’s breaking would be so different from Gareth, no matter which side of the insanity you take

And oh, each side could also have different breaks

He regrets it, but is scared of the consequences? Does he run and fight like a trapped animal? Or does he throw himself on Darius’s blade, looking for forgiveness

Or does Darius never unsheathe his blade, knowing he could talk to his old, regret filled partner?

And if he doesn’t, if it fuels his power trips, does he fight Darius to the bitter end? Does he use underhanded tactics to kill Darius and his companions? Or does he wind up the way Darius did, alone and bleeding out and scared?

Branches. So many branches.

And getting to see Darius connect with others? A scholar that first makes him feel stupid, but then he learns and learns and learns from him. You have such a gift with fire magic! Why, I have no doubts you can do things with fire even I cannot do!

A merchant girl who irritates him to no end, but is the first to give him a hug and when he comes out of dangerous situations? They indulge each other’s love for candies. Her, the hard candies. Him, the softer, more sugary ones.

A huntress who regards him with cold distrust and he is a little afraid of her? Who teaches him how to calm his breathing and how to use a bow and clear his head while he learns patience and the hunt.

A warrior who makes Darius feel ashamed, but who fixes his battle stances and teaches him different weapons’ strength and weaknesses, because he would sleep better knowing Darius can protect himself?

An apothecary who is too nice too trusting too naive too caring too funny too nonjudgmental too compassionate and indulges both of their love of ale?

A cleric who’s too goody two shoes that he feels disdain for her and her type and of course she works with the knights— but who will sit beside beside him quietly when he feels bad and never judges him or fears him when he’s angry and who always forgives him and smiles kindly at him and tells him she believes in him

Who he later let’s her play with his hair when she’s feeling bad and sits there while she braids and unbraids it over and over while quietly reciting the scriptures to herself

Or primrose, whose eyes immediately tell him that she will kill him if his actions and his rage endanger them, but who later on teaches him to use his words better so he won’t hurt or scare others and he becomes her dance partner when she wants to practice. She always teases him that he’s awful at it, and he is, but he laughs and tells her to slow down, then, so he can keep up

I've got a few images in my head now

Darius dancing with Primrose by their campfire, exchanging jokes in between steps and Darius swearing lightheartedly every time he messes up a step

Darius with like, twenty small braids in his head while Ophilia does a twenty first braid. He pays her almost no attention, sitting on the ground with Cyrus beside him while the scholar tries to do teach him something new to do with fire magic, delighting when it works.

Sparring with Olberic and swelling with pride when he's complimented on how much his sword skills have improved. He gets cocky sometimes in battle, but when he does, Tressa jumps on his back after the fight. She pinches his cheeks and and tells him to stop scaring her so much or she won't share her gains with him. He playfully calls her too cautious and she calls him a brat and jumps off his back to run ahead and "bet you cant catch this brat before she eats all the candy!"

Feeling proud after a successful hunt. Learning how to make money skinning animals and what stays and what gets buried and what gets eaten. He pays attention when H'aanit talks. Even if he doens't understand her every word. And when he gets to know her better, he starts to tell her when he doesn't understand, and she explains again.

Curling up with Linde when she comes for attention from him. Falling asleep with the giant cat on his legs and unmoving because "Thats my life now." H'aanit laughs at him when this happens but gives him extra food the next mealtime as thanks for putting up with her giant furbaby

(tho he's of the opinion that Linde is the entire group's furbaby now)

(his furbaby. he would kill to keep that big cat safe)

He can never figure out the apothecary thing. he can never figure out what plants are what for it. but Alfyn loves to hear his stories and Alfyn himself has some great stories and those two lose all the braincells if you leave them alone for too long (ESPECIALLY if Tressa is around) and they do the dumbest stuff so much and so often.

Primrose: Where's-- CRASH Primrose: Darius!!! Alfyn!! That better not have been MY TENT!! Alfyn: TRESSA'S FAULT!! Tressa: -makes a mad dash away from camp, Primrose at her heels-

And then they hit wellspring. And Darius sees Gareth and he looks so much like Therion and he freezes. Because he hasn't though of Therion much, lately. Because of course Therion was alive. Was he here?

A regretful Therion would tell Gareth to run, to stay behind himself. He would give Darius the stone, and tell him to come to Northreach for the last one. A power tripping Therion would be just as terrible as og Darius, I think. though with more snark and less death threats. Gareth's "do you know him?" "yeah, killed him once. didn't stick. kill him for me a second time, would you?" and Gareth cannot say no. it's an order and a threat and oh i cannot decide which one i like more... imma do all of them.

A regretful Theiron, so something like….

Darius runs into Gareth, who takes the stone and runs, and he runs into Therion. And he would react with rage. Scared and hurt and what words can he even use in this situation?

But Therion tells Gareth to give him the stone. Tells Gareth to run ahead. He tosses Darius the stone and apologizes for everything. Tells him to come to Northreach if he wants the other one.

and disappears.

And Darius is angry and hurt and confused and he almost attacks Tressa when she touches his arm to ask if he's okay. But Primrose is there before he can swing his weapon and she slaps him, hard.

It snaps him back to his senses. They leave. He's quiet, sad, despondent. Snaps at everything they try to say, refuses to be anything but angry from hurt

Alfyn takes him to the nearest tavern. Darius drinks himself under the table.

The next day, after the worst hangover he's had in a while, they set out and he's listless, until dinner, when H'aanit gives him an extra portion. and he stares at it and tells them everything about Therion, right until Therion threw him off a cliff.

And Tressa wants to fight this guy. primrose is ready to gut him. Olberic and H'aanit are willing to do whatever Darius wants. And Darius feels better than the wasnt belitteled, that he wasn't made fun of.

but later, Alfyn points out that Therion looked so regretful. Ophilia comments he looked tired. Darius wonders if that means anything.

He gets better, after, doesnt think of it until they hit northreach. The townspoeple are wary, but if they interact, they treat him well, politely. there's many thieves here, all of them seem intent on starting a new life of a sort in this cold wasteland. all of them give him a wide berth, pointing towards the cathedral.

at the cathedral, Gareth is there. He is angry and won't let Darius by without a fight. They cross blades only because Gareth wants them to. Because his appearance made Therion worse. It made him sadder, more distant, talk less and be there less and i don't know what you did to my best friend, but if I kill you, then he'll get better

Gareth, with all his foolishness, is outnumbered and outclassed. He's losing but is willing to die for Therion. But then Therion appears, out of breath, eyes worried and angry, and yells at him to stand down. Gareth resists at first, but he stands down after Therion's insistence.

"You don't have to do this!" Gareth tells Therion. "He's not worth it!"

Darius bristles.

Therion hold Gareth's hands. "You should go see the healer about your wounds."

"No! I won't let him kill you!"

"It's my mistake to fix, Gareth. Go."

Gareth steps back, but he doesn't leave. It's the best Therion will get out of him, he knows. So he approaches Darius, no weapons in hands, and hands him the last stone.

"I know my words are too late, and I've done the unforgivable, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry. Anger blinded me. I never meant to push you."

And Darius knows what that's like. He remembers Primrose's slap when he got too angry last time. he remembers H'aanit throwing him to the floor when he used to get angry, sitting on his chest and forcing him to breathe. He remembers Cyrus standing there, letting him shout until he was done then patting his arm with a "there, doesn't it feel better to get it off your chest?"

And he remembers almost striking Alfyn once, out of sheer frustration over plants, barely remembering to breathe at the last moment and saying that he gives up instead.

And he remembers thinking he wanted to shove therion off that cliff because they fought so damn much

So he sheathes his sword and sighs. "It was almost the other way 'round."

He takes the stone, and tells Therion that, despite everything, he forgives him, because he hasn't held on to a grudge about it. because he met some really good people. That he thinks he's a really good person. And that Therion's turned it around for himself too, fixing up the city, helping others start new lives, having fierce loyalty behind him. Bad people don't earn that kind of loyalty.

"I forgive ya," he says in the end, "so forgive yerself an' do better."

And when Therion covers his hands with his face and starts to cry, he Darius hugs him and pats his head the way he does with Tressa when she cries.

But after, Therion smiles, and Gareth stops glaring at the group so harshly, but he is bristled and ready to fight if any of them try to hurt Therion.

But Darius leaves, after, promises to visit, so they can catch up. Tells Gareth to take care of Therion.

And Therion looks less tired, after, smiles more, but is still quiet and thoughtful. He's lighter on his feet and more determined when Darius sees him again months later. Gareth is still like his shadow, even as they grab a table at a bustling tavern and Darius says "so, ye ever heard o' Galdera? 'cause i've got a story to tell ye"

they drink themselves into a stupor, and Gareth, only barely drunk, thinks to himself, that this is the happiest he's seen Therion, and maybe, this Darius fellow isn't so bad.

@goineedsleep mentioned an idea of a regretful Therion getting a curse on himself so he won’t feel strong emotions, which I feel would go something like....

"I forgive ya," he says in the end, "so forgive yerself an' do better."

it'd pick up from right around here, i think.

Therion cant cry. he's cursed and not allowed to emote too much

so he moves to cover his hands with his face and freezes. and everyone's ??? Darius asks if he's okay, Therion doesnt reply

Gareth steps forward, takes his cloak off his back and wraps it around Therion's shoulders. "It's the curse. Give him a while. He'll recover."

"What curse?" Darius asks.

"He's had it as long as I've known him. It makes him freeze in place when his emotions get too strong."

Darius frowns. That was new. "Why?"

"I don't know. You can ask him yourself later. Go. He'll come around later."

They say they'll be at either the inn or tavern, then they leave. it does not sit well with Darius. But a few hours later, Therion finds them in the tavern, Gareth in tow.

"Ye a'right?"

"I don't understand, why would you forgive me so easily?"

A sigh, "Sit down 'n' let's talk."

The two of them grab a table together. Gareth stays nearby and watches. But they talk. Slowly. And Therion keeps taking deep breaths. It annoys the hell out of Darius

"Why do ye keep doin' that?"

"So I don't freeze up."

"Tell me 'bout the curse."

"I got it after... after... everything." He stops to breathe and calm down. "I acted out of extreme anger, and I never want to act out of extreme emotions again."

Darius gapes. "It's self inflicted."

"Had to pay a rune lord a lot to tattoo it on me, but yeah."

And Darius tells him, very seriously, that he's an idiot. Therion starts to laugh but freezes. Gareth is there in a heartbeat. Thankfully, Therion is back to normal in a few minutes.

"That curse has to go."

"No. it stays. forever."

Surprisingly, Gareth turns to Therion. "No, that curse has to go. He's alive and he forgave you. You punished yourself enough for this."

that shakes Therion. He freezes again. Gareth sighs. When he doesn't unfreeze after a few moments, Gareth wraps his cloak around Therion's shoulders again and picks him up. "He'll come around later. Just stay in town."

The next day, Therion comes around, Gareth like his shadow. Darius, again, sits him down and tells him he needs to get that curse removed.

But Therion is worried, because what if he hurts someone else again? "I can't. If I hurt anyone else..."

"And you'll never heal from that if you keep the curse," Gareth says. "You hurt him worse than you've hurt anyone and he forgave you. You have to let this go."

Darius and Gareth are in agreement. Therion feels overwhelmed. He starts to freeze. But then Alfyn decides to intervene.

"He has his own mind, you two, stop ganging up on his and give him some space to think."

Therion is thankful for the intervention and leaves, alone, wanting to take time to think. They let him go.

He comes back in the evening and agrees to break the curse. But he warns them that he might react violently after it breaks. He's not sure what will happen, because he's never thought about removing it before, ever. He admits he's scared, but it's mild. Because he can't feel too many emotions.

They go to a private room. Cyrus and Ophilia make sure it's well lit. Therion takes off his shirt and shows them his back. High Hornburgian runes fill his back. The curse plain to read, if you know how to read it.

Cyrus is, obviously, the expert here. Him and Olberic.

the curse is a lot more than just freezing him at emotions. It doesn't regulate his emotions but he has to regulate them. and the more strongly he feels an emotion, the more it freezes him. Cyrus theorizes that a strong enough emotion could stop his breathing, or his heart, even.

"Then the curse has got to go." Darius says. "But how?"

"We break the right runes so it's nonsensical. The magic in it will disappear."

Cyrus spends a long time analyzing the runes. Then he picks out the ones he feels will be best to destroy. "We should cut them open deep enough that they scar over, or we remove the entire tissue."

"Remove his skin?"

"it would work best, but it would be painful."

"I can handle pain," Therion says, "it wont be too bad."

"I'll do it." Gareth and Darius say at the same time. They turn to glare at each other, but Alfyn puts a hand on both their faces and shoves them apart.

"Uh, I'm the apothecary here. I'll do it."

No one can argue that.

So Alfyn works with Cyrus at removing the skin on/around certain runes. Gareth sits in front of Therion and holds his hand the entire time.

As soon as the curse is broken, Therion starts to cry. Gareth leans up to hug him and Therion hugs back. But no one approaches them until after Alfyn is done with his work and bandages Therion up.

"we oughtta stay in town to make sure you heal up right," Alfyn says, "if they don't heal well, then they'll ache somethin' awful."

Therion nods. Gareth helps him get dressed. And then everyone files out and leaves the three thieves alone.

It's a long talk. Therion cries a lot. Darius will never admit he was teary eyed, but he was. Gareth holds Therion's hand and remains quiet the entire time.

Therion keeps joking he can't control his emotions becasue he can't stop crying. Gareth tells him it's because he's never let himself cry before.

When they leave, Therion feels better. Lighter. He's smiling tiredly the entire way to the cathedral. Gareth likes it.

(we’re having garetherion as a treat and none y’all can stop me)

"Right, one other thing," Gareth pauses when they reach the graveyard. "I need to tell you something, Therion." "What?" "I love you," he says softly, "I've been in love with you for a while, but I didn’t say anything, in fear of your curse killing you." "It would have, probably!" Therion laughs. There are tears down his cheeks again. He pulls Gareth into a tight hug. "I love you too. Couldn't think or act on it because of the curse, myself." Gareth hugs him back and laughs softly. "And you wanted to keep it." "I'm still scared of hurting you, more than anyone else." "You'll find me very forgiving."

Darius and Alfyn come by the next day. The new wounds are healing well. But they have to leave town soon. So Alfyn teaches Gareth what to do, to care for Therion's back.

Darius notices the two thieves holding hand and Gareth is smiling and he immediately figures out what's going on and teases the two of them mercilessly.

"Ye couldn' wait ta make yer move, eh?"

"Shut up or I might throw you off a cliff." Gareth rolls his eyes, annoyed.

"Try it, I'll take you with me," Darius pokes his cheek lightheartedly. Gareth attempts to bite his finger, which just makes Darius poke him more.

Therion huffs out quiet laughter as he listens to them bicker. It calms both of them down, happy that he's able to laugh again.

and i think, it goes on the same, after. Darius promises to come back and visit, and he does, and he has stories about Galdera. and the two of them drink themselves into a stupor catching up. And Gareth sits there, watching them both sleep against the table, and thinks, this is probably what happiness looks like.

a cruel therion...

"kill him for me again, gareth," he says gleefully as he leaves with the stone

Gareth fights to his death, knowing he cannot go back. Darius tries to tell him to stop, he doesnt have to do this. but Gareth ”I'm more afraid of him than I am of all of you"

Darius is angry after, hurt and afraid, and he almost attacks Tressa when she touches his arm and asks him if he's alright. He deals with it the same way he always did, with rage. it's not until Primrose slaps him, hard, that he snaps out of it. he drops his sword and looks down and starts to cry

and Tressa hugs him. Primrose hugs him. Alfyn and Ophilia hug him. Cyrus pulls Olberic and H'aanit into the hug as well

Linde curls around their legs

He tells them about Therion, on their way back to wellspring. Alfyn takes him drinking and carries him back to the inn, after.

He's better, after that, kind of sad, but they're there for him

Until they get to northreach. Everyone's afraid of the group, but they give them a wide birth. No one will talk to them. But then, as they're wandering, Darius turns to ask Tressa a question, only to find her gone. They scour the area for her, only to find her pack and "we're in the cathedral. come alone."

(i do think a cruel therion would kill everyone, but for the sake of the story, let’s do an easy hostage situation)

He goes alone. But H'aanit and Linde stalk from far way. Primrose slinks in the shadows, unnoticed with her magic. The others are on standby

Tressa is a hostage. Therion laughs when he sees him alone. Tells him "You killed my friend, maybe i should kill your yours"

Darius drops his weapon. Tells him to take him instead, but, "Nah, I'd rather see you dead."

An arrow crashes through the window, followed by another. Therion dodges. Primrose grabs Tressa. The others burst through the doors. Therion retreats

it's an army between them and Therion. and everyone, everyone is more terrified of Therion than they are of the eight. everyone would rather die than face Therion's wrath if they live.

Cyrus regrettably brings half the cathedral down on their heads, just to give himself and his companions a fighting chance.

Therion is fast, faster than Darius remembers. Faster and stronger and oh, he was definitely blessed by aeber with how he fights. But Darius overpowers him still, in the end, because eight against one isnt fair. Therion calls him a coward, to hide behind so many people. Darius bites back, at least they care about me, not like your people.

"But you were the one that taught me that caring isn't important. What's important is getting things done."

"Then I'll finish ye an' get me job done and live in peace!"

Therion still manages to stab him, but Darius stabs him right back. And whereas Darius has a healer and an apothecary to catch him. Therion falls to the floor and bleeds out.

"Hah, always knew you'd be the death of me," he manages to say as he's fading. There's a mirthless chuckle, and then he's quiet.

Northreach finally breathes when Therion dies. The tension in the townspeople disappears. anyone who survived from Therion's crew runs off. They get a room until Darius heals. Then they go to leave.

But Darius goes back to the cathedral. Not just for the stones. He find Therion's body where they left it, eyes closed and covered in a thin layer of frost. He takes the purple scarf and buries the rest of him.

When Alfyn asks about the scarf later, he says, "Just somethin' for me. For the memories."

Alfyn understand and doesn't ask further, and doesn't let the others ask further. Darius is grateful, because he doesn't want to explain that he misses who Therion used to be and wishes they could have worked it out, instead.

Strange, what can become of a man near a cliff, sometimes.

@lyteupthelyfe then mentioned, what if Lyblac got her hands onto a grieving, regretful Therion? and I kinda. have a whole story for that, too.

i think this story would start out different. i think this one starts with Darius meeting Kit outside of bolderfall, taking on this dumb kid who wants to travel and knows nothing about it

a very "listen to me and ill take care of you" thing, much like he had with Therion

and much like he had with Therion, Kit asks too many questions. he listens at first but challenges later on and Darius is not happy

but he hates how nostalgic this makes him feel

and he meets the rest. he starts to chill out and calm down and then kit goes "i want to travel deep west and we haven't been there yet so im joining this performance troupe"

Darius does not handle that well

But with the others, he learns to let go. He lets Kit go, tells him if he ever needs ANYTHING then he better write. Tells him to write in general. He half threatens the troupe leader for Kit's safety, gets chided for it by Primrose, who proceeds to show him how to do it properly.

and kit, bless him, "I'll write, I'll write. But. You can't read, can you?"

Cyrus, from the background "I'LL TEACH HIM! I VOLUNTEER"

(though its mostly in jest. I hc Darius escaping an abusive nobility household half the time, so do with that info as you will)

everything is about the same until they reach springwell.

there, it's only Gareth. Therion isn't there. and Gareth wants the stone. Needs the stone. He is desperate

Darius recognizes it as a case stronger than "shiny is miney" and so do a few others. especially with the way Gareth keeps replying to "you dont have to do this" with "you dont either"

they win. they disarm him. Gareth begs them for the stone. He needs it to save someone.

And the others want to listen to his story. Darius knows that even if he says no, he will be outvoted. so he gives Gareth the chance to explain

and Gareth says that he's a second in command of a gang in northreach. They take care of the city, making sure brigands and monsters stay away and people who want to start a new life can do so. they keep the houses fixed from all the snow and the graves clean and streets well kept.

but then a plague hit town. they got no help from flamesgrace

and the caravans that usually brings them provisions and food and trade have been going missing or found mostly dead a little past stillsnow

that the caravan with the medicine they bought for the plague was found set on fire and nothing's escaped

and that the leader of the gang has been a shadow of his former self lately, and he acts as though he sees ghosts

a wise woman came into town. she calls herself a wise woman, but Gareth doesn't believe her

she can't help cure the sickness, but she's helped them quarantine people. she also helped them work out rations. and she helps people with their problems.

and Gareth asked her how he can fix all of this. to at least heal his leader. and she told him to gather the dragon stones

that having them near his leader would help him.

And Gareth, desperate, went off to do so.

This is his second stone he says. Darius says this is his third. Gareth asks where the rest are, Darius says house ravus.

Gareth looks despondent. he is not good enough to break in there. Darius holds up the hand with the bangle and says its not worth it either.

Cyrus is sus with the story. he asks what the woman looks like

Gareth gives a description of her, says her name is Lyblac.

"Lyblac? Galdera's daughter?"

"Is she? She had her own child with her."

"What did he look like?"

"Blond hair, blue eyes. He said his name was Kit."

there's a very oh shit moment

Darius convinces Gareth that no, something is wrong. this woman means harm.

But Gareth is, again, desperate. If there's any chance it would help his leader... his beloved...

(ive decided we're having garetherion as as treat)

Darius, in more faith than he's ever had in people, gives Gareth the dragonstone. Tells him to lead the way. Mostly because Kit also reminds him of Therion, and he feels an urge to protect that child.

And Gareth, now convinced of their sincerity to help, agrees to take them back to Northreach.

They get there, and the plague is bad.

but "shucks, that's what im here for!" says Alfyn with a smile. "I'll get this figured out in a jiffy. might need extra supplies though, to make enough medicine"

Ophila's "i'll help too"

H'aanit's "I shall help thee gatheren thy supplies, Alfyn."

and they go off

the rest follow Gareth to the cathedral. it's beautiful up there, not as well kept as it could be, but there is a plague

Some people in uniform greet Gareth.

"Where you have you been?"

"The leader's gone! We've been looking for you!"

"He's missing?"

"Disappeared a few nights ago. Left a letter with your name on it on his desk"

"What does it say?"

"Dont know. no one's read it."

what all of them fail to mention is that the leader also left the first/last dragonstone on the desk too, besides the letter

Gareth reads it, hands shaking.

"What does it say?" asks Cyrus.

"Therion went with Lyblac and Kit to the Gate of Finis."

"WHAT"

"Where is that?" Gareth asks, not caring about Cyrus' shock

Cyrus launches into a spiel, Gareth cuts him off and tells him to get to the point or he has a dagger with his name on it

offput, Cyrus explains that no one knows where it is, but it's where Galdera is locked behind

and the scholar asks "But why would he agree to go there?"

"He says in the letter that Lyblac said he could fix everything there"

But Darius has stopped listening for the most part. instead, he asks "What did you say the leader's name was?"

"Therion." Gareth glances at the letter. "he mentions you, too. Here. you can read it."

"Where are you going?"

"To find the gate. i have to stop him."

Gareth leaves the letter and both dragonstones. he tells the others he's going to find Therion and bring him back. leaves soemone in charge and takes off

Darius reads the letter. It mentions the plague. it mentions the supplies. townspeople dying from the cold. Lyblac said that going through the gate will fix all of that. She said that he could also solve his other regrets. And while he would never regret Gareth, he had always regretted what he did to Darius. and maybe this was a chance to right all of those wrongs at once. even if it costs him his life.

And Darius is shocked. Because, right, no one survives being thrown off cliffs. and Therion had gone somewhere terrible in his grief. And Kit is there.

"We need to go after 'em"

"but how? we dont know where the gate is?!"

they don’t. but it’s desperate now. and it takes them a long while to find it, but they go once they do

a little outside the gate, they find Gareth. he had managed to track them down this far. they join up and go together

to find a woman and two men stepping through the gate

Darius and Gareth don't even pause in their rush through the gate. But time is weird there. They entered at the same time and fell out at different times.

then the others start to arrive, so they wait, because it is strange and there is strength in numbers

they have one heck of an awkward conversation about Therion in the meantime.

"So... he threw you off a cliff" and "So... his lover, huh?" and the like

nine people head inside, once all gathered. they find a locked passage, and in front of that, is a body. Therion's. Something dark is trickling out of it, going towards flames against the walls.

Gareth is inconsolable. Darius is in a rage.

But the strangest thing happens when they take out the flames. Therion gasps and sits up. He's breathing heavily and ???? "I swear i was just stabbed"

But the wound is gone. whatever dark magic he was stabbed with, is gone. The flames are gone. Gareth doesn't care. He hugs him and "You're a damned idiot, Therion!"

and Therion apologizes for worrying him, but says that he's still going to go deeper. He needs to fix everything. Lyblac said he could fix it here.

Cue Darius' "Fix what, exactly? And where in the bloody hell is Kit?"

Therion freezes. He sees the others and he freezes and looks towards Gareth. "Are you... dead?"

Gareth explains everything. And there, in the far reaches of hell, Therion and Darius talk stuff out. Therion is apologetic and regretful and Darius is, as before, forgiving.

Then Cyrus interrupts the "heartfelt reunions" and asks Therion what the heck is going on here

Therion explains that Lyblac told them she could help Kit find his father. And she could help him save the town. They had to come with her.

But why them? Not anyone else?

Therion shrugs "she said something about needing a strong magic bloodline, which is what Kit has."

"and you?"

"she needed a god's blessing. I have Aeber's."

(now this hinges on my hc of therion genuinely being blessed by aeber. he's a natural thief and noble and he observes all the superstitions and rules a good thief should. so he is very blessed by aeber, despite his difficulties)

They spend the next several minutes explaining to Therion that the only thing down here is Galdera. and that's galdera's daughter. And Therion... "I know. She told me. She said he could fix things. His domain is death, and he can stop the death of my people."

Gareth volunteers to drag Therion would of the gates and fill him in and lets the others go on.

eight people are just in time to fight the god of death and destruction.

they win. they bring kit back. they see the ghosts of the past and they leave.

Kit is overjoyed to see them again. He goes on about everything that happened

Darius cuts him off to pinch his cheeks and yell "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT WRITING LETTERS ALL THE TIME!!"

he stretches his cheeks out "This is why I didn't want to let you go alone, wound up with the first crazy lady who said she might know your dad!!"

"Sorry" Kit says. Darius lets go. Kit smiles. "I missed you too."

Darius puts him in a headlock and messes up his hair.

They're reunited with Gareth and Therion outside. Who, while still decent, were definitely starting to do indecent things.

Darius gives Therion so. much. grief. over it. mostly teasing him. but "seriously, right outside the gate of death? we have children with us you know!"

Tressa and Kit "hey!!!"

Darius "shut up and let's find the nearest tavern."

Everything is talked about over a meal. Darius and Gareth are going back to Northreach. Alfyn and Ophilia are going with them, to see to the rest of the plague. H'aanit goes with them too, to help with supplies. she's fit for the snow. Olberic goes home, Cyrus goes home. Tressa goes home. Primrose has things to do.

Darius decides he's not letting Kit leave his sight for the next few years/months. Kit has nowhere to go, however.

"Why don't you come with us?" Asks Therion. "We can help you find a home there. Both of you."

Kit agrees without thinking it. Darius rolls his eyes and scoffs but agrees.

Northreach gets better. Many people find a new home there. Darius is delighted to find that part of taking care of the town also means going out to steal things sometimes. And he and Therion still make excellent partners.

and since they've both chilled out so much over the years, it's a lot easier to get along.

Though both of them are still wary of cliffs

And... I think that’s it! I like this idea so much. I might do more stuff with it later!

And good guy Darius being a big brother to Kit is... a surprisingly fun idea XD

#zazu writes #octopath traveler #headcanons #Therion #garetherion #gareth #darius #kit crossford #primrose azelhart #alfyn greengrass #Cyrus Albright #ophilia clement #Tressa Colzione #h'aanit

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ask-fantasy-sanders-sides · 4 years

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Roman!!! Darling!! Can you tell us about Thomas? Any legends about him, perhaps? ♥️

(Yall, this one is so long. HUGE lore under the cut)

~~~

Roman: “Any legends about Thomas??” Are you joking? Do you really not know?! He’s only got the coolest Rulership origin story known to mankind! Intrigue, adventure, romance, betrayal, all the works~!

(Roman laughs and sweeps his cape up with a flourish, sitting down on a nearby bench with one leg crossed over the other, like a teenager about to spill gossip.)

Roman: You might want to sit down, dear listeners, because this is a tale for the ages~! I will tell it how it was told to me; starting with our antagonist: The dastardly Lord Donovan Sanders…

Roman: You see, Thomas wasn’t always heir to the throne, or even in line! His family was influential, and he was always trained to be a lord of the realm and member of the council, but he had no relation to the royal family. His Uncle Donovan was a member of the council, but he wasn’t happy with that; He wanted to be King. Not just King, he wanted to be a dictator!

Roman: He wasted no effort in courting the current heir, Princess Malinda. He convinced her that he loved her, and she loved him in return, but it was clear to anyone who knew him that he was playing it up for her. Thomas noticed this, and he already knew his Uncle to be cruel and greedy, but he knew he would never have the chance to warn Malinda, or even speak with her alone.

Roman: When the Princess and Lord Donovan got engaged, it only got worse. He played the same ‘innocent’ bit in front of his betrothed, but behind closed doors, there was something off… He was neglecting his duty as protector of the peace, and people had started to go missing in town. The palace guard were corrupt and mean, and Thomas knew nothing good was going to come from his Uncle’s rule if this was allowed to continue.

Roman: So, with the help of his exceptionally stealthy best friend Joan, Thomas snuck into his Uncle’s office! They rifled through his letters and papers, and uncovered an evil plot to take over the country and sacrifice the residents to an entity known as The Shaman, in exchange for otherworldly magical powers and an iron-fisted rule over the coast.

Roman: The letters were written cryptically and none of them were signed, but Thomas and Joan knew what they were looking at was his Uncle’s doing, and it all lined up too perfectly with the sudden disappearances of his outspoken political opponents and activists… The problem was, they couldn’t use anything they’d found as proof. And, who should show up and discover them in their snooping but a member of the royal guard?

Roman: They fought their way free with the help of a town arcane scholar, Talyn, and ran away into the night! After a message to Thomas’s parents warning them to move away for the time being and remain safe, they were off to find this Shaman and put an end to Donovan’s plans before they could begin!

Roman: They faced various trials and tribulations on their way around the country and through various planes, gathering new allies everywhere they went: An Elven barbarian by the name of Quill, a cleric of Sune named Adri – She’s a heartwarder now, I know her! She’s lovely~ Anyway, back to the story –the fledgling Goliath knight Leo, the performative bard Terrence, the monk Dominic, the druidess Dhalia, and the fencing squire Camden!

Roman: As their journeys continued, each of his new companions came to swear oaths of fealty to Thomas, recognizing him as their King instead of Donovan, before anyone even knew Thomas would be a king someday – this was the strength in their belief in him! At the same time, Joan and Talyn fell deeply and passionately in love~ Every story needs a romantic subplot, and let me tell you, those two are absolutely adorable!

Roman: The ten of them worked together, facing hordes of beastly monsters, underhanded traps, and trained assassins – but slaying only who they could not first convince; You see, Thomas is a pacifist, and turned to violence only as a last resort! If he had his way, he would simply convince the Shaman that what they were doing was wrong, and needed to end. This would never be possible, but such is our sweet Thomas~

Roman: Eventually, they reached the belly of the beast. The Shaman – a giant, sharp-clawed serpentine beast with a human’s torso, serpent’s tail and head, and five dragon’s heads sprouting alongside it – stood in a bloodbath of what had to be hundreds of missing citizens and his own cultists, having sacrificed all of them to open the portal!

Roman: Before it could be opened fully, however, our team of heroes attacked! As the others fought him off to keep his several heads busy, Druidess Dhalia used her magic to send Thomas into the beast’s head, to confront him alone in a mind palace of sorts. Thomas desperately tried to reason with him, but the Shaman was murderous, remorseless, and completely and utterly insane. And, the longer Thomas spent sharing in the space of his mind, the more it ruined Thomas’s own sanity! After all, the creature was still trying to channel that portal, and thus his mind was open to the Far Realm.

Roman: But, this effort was not wasted – while inside his brain, Thomas learned that this being had effectively turned itself immortal. He could not be killed, but he could be contained, and sealed away for eternity! Thomas released his hold on the creature’s mind, and while the fighters destroyed the body, Thomas and the other spellcasters focused on creating a Horcrux to contain his soul – a crystal of sorts, that could never be broken by mortal hands, and would be hidden in the royal vault and never see the light of day again.

Roman: Unfortunately, mad as he was, the Shaman caught on to their plan. As the last of the beast’s strength left him, the Shaman tried to cast a spell to flee. Both his spells and Thomas’s were completed at the same time.

Roman: The Shaman, his dastardly Far Realm magics, and the contaminated energy of the portal he was attempting to create were trapped in the crystal, never to be seen again; Meanwhile, Thomas and company were teleported to the place where the Shaman was trying to go – right outside a Dark Elf Kingdom.

Roman: Immediately, they were surrounded by the guards, and a Priestess was summoned to deal with them. Thomas had enough energy left for one big spell – a Teleportation spell of his own – but there was a catch: It could only take nine people.

Roman: In a heroic display of self-sacrifice, Thomas warped all of his injured companions back to his home on the surface, and faced the priestess alone. She was furious to learn that Thomas had slain the Shaman, who she regarded as her own flesh and blood, and even more furious to learn that he was the nephew of Donovan – That’s right, folks! All three of them were in on this together!

Roman: For some reason, due to his relation to Donovan, the Priestess was unable to harm Thomas. She jailed him while she sent correspondence to her only surviving partner in crime, giving Thomas time to formulate an escape! Of course, he defaulted to his signature move; befriending the people around him~ He made allies of a few fellow prisoners, and they organized a massive breakout, where Thomas was able to flee the prison.

Roman: As he snuck alone, abandoned by the other prisoners, through the streets of the kingdom, he heard that the Priestess was furious – after all, she had just gotten his Uncle’s explicit encouragement to slay him. He heard next that she had ordered her fiercest dog after him; her most heartless, lethal man-hunter. He was called Anxiety, supposedly for the lingering dread the mere mention of his name caused in potential victims, and his sudden and ruthless attacks!

Roman: Thomas would have just teleported himself to safety, but something had happened to his magic after the thing with the Shaman, and he couldn’t get a single spell to work after that night. To this day, he still can’t cast unless he’s on his medicine.

Roman: Thomas made it to the surrounding woodlands before he was caught by the hitman, but it’s a wonder he made it that long: Thomas had been suffering from splitting headaches ever since he had tied his mind to the Shaman’s, the whispers louder than he had ever experienced in his life, and no way to quiet them. He hardly got sleep, and his own anxiety was not helped by the hundreds of daily warnings that his Hunter was getting closer and closer every second.

Roman: So, of course, he was caught. He closed his eyes against the sting of the voices in his head, and when he opened his eyes, there was a young Drow with an arrow trained on Thomas’s heart. Thomas flew into a panic attack, and who knows how long the assassin sat there, just… Watching.

Roman: Then – and every time Thomas gets to this part he looks just as surprised as he did the day it happens, you should see his little face! – the soldier put away his weapon, sat in front of Thomas, and helped him breathe.

Roman: When Thomas asked why the soldier helped him, he wouldn’t answer – just told Thomas to go get some rest, and be ready to leave in the morning.

Roman: Suffice to say, Thomas was terrified. But, he was in to state to fight the soldier, and did as he was told. The next day, when the soldier started leading Thomas onward, Thomas knew that the soldier wasn’t taking him back to the kingdom to be slaughtered. For whatever reason, he was going to help Thomas escape.

Roman: They traveled together for the next few months, and though the soldier still terrified Thomas, he slowly grew fond of him, and got him to open up. He explained, after no short amount of coaxing, that he hated his Priestesses, and wasn’t going to kill Thomas just because he was demanded to. When he had found Thomas, he was ‘just a scared, crying child, who didn’t even have a single weapon on him.’ Thomas was grateful for the compassion, though he couldn’t help but point out that the soldier seemed to be just as young as Thomas, by his race’s standards. Thankfully, that made the soldier laugh, not kill Thomas for the audacity (which only occurred to Thomas as a possibility after he said it out loud)

Roman: The soldier and Thomas grew very close. He would carry Thomas when the whispers made it too hard to move, fight off anything that threatened him, and lull him to sleep when he was too scared to get rest – Usually, here, Thomas will start complaining about how the soldier himself refused to sleep, it is very cute, if a bit hypocritical of him~

Roman: But, of course, this couldn’t last. When they finally reached a tunnel entrance back to the prime material plane, the soldier insisted they split ways, and Thomas go find his friends topside. Thomas tried to convince his new fire-forged friend to accompany him, but the soldier was still having trouble abandoning the only life he’d ever known, and besides, he had never seen the surface before. Thomas had just convinced the soldier to come with him when they were attacked by dark elf assassins, ones that had been sent after Thomas when Anxiety had taken too long to return. The soldier pushed Thomas towards the tunnel and yelled for him to run, promising he would be right behind him. Thomas knew he was lying, but he was too scared to argue. As the soldier stood his ground and guarded the entrance, Thomas fled. Thomas never heard from him again…

Roman: Thomas was found by some friendly locals outside the cave he crawled out of, and they recognized the crest on his pin, and took him to his parents. When he was reunited with his family and friends, he was informed of what had happened when he was gone:

Roman: His Uncle had tried to murder now-Queen Malinda the night of their wedding, but her and her sisters – including Lady Valerie, my relative, and new friend of Thomas and the crew – had fought him and his soldiers off, and taken control of the country with the aid of Thomas’s parents. Queen Malinda visited her nephew to thank him for all he had done, having been informed of everything by the others, and told him she had named him her heir - he would have some training to do over the next three years!

Roman: Thomas healed from his wounds, and told the story of what happened to him after they were separated to his friends, who then spread the story of their exploits across the country! In three years time, at the peaceful passing of his Aunt, Thomas was sworn in as King – with his fellow retired adventurers among his court, minus one or two who went their own ways – and he’s been a well respected leader ever since!

(Roman stretches and smiles, as if genuinely worn out by his storytelling and gesticulating)

Roman: Ahh, such a good story! I’d tell you more about the individual adventures if I had time~! I get Thomas to re-tell it for me all the time, it draws such genuine emotion out of him! He has such strong love for all of his friends, including the ‘hired hitman turned pseudo-bodyguard.’

Roman: I have to admit, that character specifically was always quite attractive to me, the way he was described and all that~ Letting Thomas lean on him, protecting him, real ‘I’m going to act like a dangerous loner because I have a shady past, but actually I’m really soft and chivalrous’ archetype, like the cute bad boys in romance novels! I’ve always wanted to meet him, though I know he’s probably…. Well, not anywhere near here, if even alive.

Roman: Anyway, there’s your story~! Now you know a bit more about Thomas! And at this point, if you don’t absolutely love him, you’re just wrong, my friend~

#ask rpg sanders sides #ts character thomas #character Horace #rpgau dragon witch #Lord Donovan #lets roll

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thejenesaisquoigirl · 4 years

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DnD Ask Meme- Tamzen

Link to original, blank meme: https://thejenesaisquoigirl.tumblr.com/post/186529464305/dnd-asks More about my kitsune monk (Way of the Open Hand) under the cut~!

1) What would they consider to be their biggest failure?

Dying. Not protecting her son. Before she let him go, it was failing to be someone Silas loved enough to stay with even in the face of opposition. Or not being able to be there for her son due to her inability to prevent the ugliness within her from festering. Currently Tamzen is having an internal crisis of believing she fails at everything or will never be enough for anyone.

2) What’s the story behind their name?

When it comes to naming characters, I really just start thinking of names that stick out. It started with “Tiernan”--from Pirate Queen--and I must have watched an episode of The Tudors with Tamsin Merchant to remember that name, too. “Tamsin” kept sounding best with the character concept and then the spelling changed to “-zen” as a subtle joke since she’s a monk haha

3) What’s their relationship with their family?

Positive and loving. She has always adored her parents and vice versa. As a mother, Tamzen may be firm and people may assume she would not show warmth to her son; but Tal is one of the few people with whom she always shows her depth of emotion for him. He is a perfect child and his love helped Tamzen heal.

4) What’s one song that describes them or is them?

Not many peeps know this, but she was built to be the personification of the “Morgan: Amor Tristis (or Morgan - Amor Tristis on Spotify)” instrumental from the Ah! My Goddess movie. My all-time favorite instrumental and it suits her story.

5) Who is their best friend?

In the beginning of the campaign, it was Kerrick. He was the first friend she’d ever made other than Silas. But his behaviors—especially the incident with the cleric and raising the dead—drove a wedge in their friendship; and she found her friendship with Mama/Mishann growing. Now she’s her best friend and Tamzen even gave her the ultimate gift a kitsune can give someone—a piece of their hearth—along with trusting her to be the one to take care of Tal, if Tamzen would ever not be able to come back.

6) Why are they their class?

She ran away from the city after her heartbreak and stumbled across a traveling group of mousefolk. Most of them were monks but since she stayed with the leader and his wife (the only ones with stuff able to house a larger humanoid), they were the ones who taught her as a way to find calm and take back a sense of control.

7) What do they think of their party members?

She feels they’re a motley crew with a whole lot of secrets. She’s ESPECIALLY suspicious of Burt and Connie because of what clues she has gathered of their past and because of their actions over the last couple months. The rest of the crew: TBD- enjoying their healing dynamic since Biir left, thinks he’s a cool friend; Finn- thinks of him like a second son and is protective of him; Kerrick- he used to be her best friend and she’ll always be grateful, but Tamzen can’t condone his behaviors and struggles to be with people who can’t control their impulses; Mama- owes her so much and views her as family now, wants her to have every happiness possible and will do her best to make that happen.

8) In what ways are they similar to you?

Extremely calm under pressure, thinks she’s never good enough to be significant to anyone enough to not leave her, thoughtful gift-giver, gives herself for others until there’s nothing left, can have an accidentally sharp sense of humor, deep well of feeling and protectiveness for those she considers “hers”

9) In what ways are they different from you?

She takes serenity in all things to an entirely new level with how schooled her face is; her not being verbal in her affections to people she cares about; not enjoying reading; she only really warm to those she cares about; Gryffindor

10) What do they look for in a romantic partner, if they have a romantic orientation?

Someone who doesn’t see her as second best or not enough. Someone she doesn’t need to take care of but who can take care of her. Tamzen has a competency kink a mile wide; so if they’re even-keeled, stronger, a better fighter, and extremely skilled in what they do...they’re definitely her type. She’s a pretty quiet person, so they need to be comfortable with silence and understand things unsaid, as she’s very action-oriented. You can tell a lot about how she feels about someone based on her actions, not her words. They also need to love her son and not love her despite her past but because of it.

11) If they had a patronus or animagus form, what would it be?

A fox animagus haha For a patronus, probably a fox, too... maybe eventually a hippogriff (what is with my two favorite characters having significant peeps in their lives with hippogriffs?) or a monarch.

12) What do they smell like?

Orange blossoms and vanilla, with hints of herbs that can be used medicinally (eg: lavender, tea tree, etc)

13) What is their secret skill?

The lute and painting. She’s not secretive about her flexibility or healing abilities; she’s secretive about skills that can reveal her emotions.

14) What is their relationship to spirituality?

Complicated haha. She’s a “tsuki kitsune” and I tweaked that to mean she’s a fox was blessed by the goddess of love to have the potential of becoming “human.” Her “parents” are the guardians of a special, unknown spot in a forest the goddess has declared sacred; there to take care of the clearing and of any creature blessed by it...and Tamzen was a fox spawned in there. Anyways, so even as a fox, she was entrenched with this strong belief in the goddess and awareness of her presence; but then something devastating happened with the person Tamzen thought she was fated to be with--who had been the cause of her transformation. Ever since, Tamzen has had a VERY hard time with the idea of love...much less having firm faith in her goddess because she feels betrayed. She’s slowly trying to repair her side of the relationship through making sure her friends find love; but she still thinks someone she had absolute faith in has abandoned her, so she’s weary.

15) If they were to be remembered for something, what would they want to be remembered for?

She’d really like for her son to remember her loving him with everything she had. Other than that, she wouldn’t care much other than for doing good.

16) Why did they become an adventurer?

Happenstance led to her becoming a monk...and she needed additional discipline to try to silence the rage and nastiness brewing inside of her, so she joined the army. The adventuring grew from that.

17) What’s one thing about their backstory that came to you after you already started playing the campaign?

So many things haha Why her parents are her parents, her relationship with her goddess, and so many other things.

18) Do you have any headcanons for them that haven’t come up in game? Or headcanons for other party members?

Totes! She plays the lute only for Tal or when she needs to really think through something--frequently those moments are one in the same when he’s playing outside. Her internal crisis over always being second best and slowly being resigned to it. Party members: Mama: they sometimes read together (even though Tamzen doesn’t like to read), trade skills (Mama helps her build strength and she helps Mama with flexibility), and that Mama has to spend extra time in front of a mirror before going to a fancy event to take in the fact that this is her life now and she gets to wear these pretty things and be feminine. Kerrick: that he’ll sometime have ink in his hair from running his fingers through it while copying down spells. TBD: thinks it’s hilarious how he still hasn’t had to explain his name and has a running bet with himself over it. Finn: she catches Tal speaking Squeakspeak to Finn while playing and Finn just going with it and trying to learn the game through context instead.

19) Any ships with your character? If a PC or NPC, what interaction launched it?

Ya know, never thought she would ever get to a point where she would be in a place to be with someone again. But then she asked Damien (an NPC) what it was like to lose your parents... and his utter honesty in that conversation was enough to make her cry in front of someone. It was evidence she could allow someone to see her vulnerable again. And then when he showed off his battle prowess and skill under pressure...her interest was DEFINITELY piqued. And then he went and made sure she was able to get to her son? Now Tamzen has it bad and has no idea how to handle having feelings for the newly crowned king. Especially not when she thinks she’s not good enough for anyone.

20) What would your character consider their biggest success? Or what is your favorite success your character has had so far?

Tal and facing Silas again. She’s really surprised me in how she’s been able to grow to where she is now...so that’s an awesome success because it feels like there’s still more growing for her to do emotionally. But the ultimate success EVER was the gift of the hearthstone to Mama. It was canon lore created on the fly and it was so meaningful

#dnd #ref for character #food for asks #dnd ask meme #dnd asks

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shonikado · 7 years

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Warning: Contains "Shonikado Does Tabletop: Episode 6"

I waited all week for this, this was basically my experiment with doing D&D fights in a more engaging way (with mixed results, good feedback though)

First up, there's some stuff that the human barbarian went through that wasn't RP'd out, but instead I just sent the player the stuff that happened so we could get to the next session where another player would be joining in. Here's what that all was:

The barbarian and the frogs traveled onwards, reaching the mountain range between them and their destination. But a magic storm hit (those happen this time of year) and they took shelter in a cave to wait it out. She got bored waiting in the cave though and explored, and found a peaceful cult town full of blind cultists and bat-winged beholders. She didn't really care to find out what was going on, although the cultists were niced and offered her the opportunity to trade her standard eyesight for the ability to have a vague psychic sense of the whole continent. But standard eyesight is useful, so she declined

The storm passed and the party continued onwards, a day behind schedule, taking with them an old dwarf cultist who was meaning to go on a supply run later anyway. There was a tribe of orcs-and-miscellaneous that watched the group from afar but they didn't make any moves, they just scared the frogs a bit. But the mountains were left without issue, at which point the party ran into a giant who collects the toll to enter the city. They paid the toll, but the giant saw the merchant frog's amulet and was like "hey gimme that too" and it was reluctantly handed over. And then they went onwards

So then they arrived in the city, at which point the frogs and cultist departed and Ulyana went to the giant-hunters guild. There was a giant who seemed to be helping run the guild, which was confusing, and also he was a bit condescending. Anyway, Ulyana learned that the guild only accepts 100 members total and they're careful about who they pick, and the most convenient way to tell them "hey I'm a good pick" would be to win the Azure Tournament happening in a few days. So Ulyana was like "sure I'll go have fun fighting people to prove I can fight even more people" and went off.

OKAY SO THAT'S WHERE THE SESSION BEGINS

Started off introducing an elf monk, who used to be a sailor but got into boxing. He's very old. He wanted to enter the tournament so he was tasked to fight three little anima (my world's word for animated constructs, pretty much simple robots) and display his fighting prowess. He used flurry of blows or something to destroy them all in a single turn.

Later in the day, the barbarian applied, and smashed one with an axe and had her displacer beast destroy another, and then finally tore the last one apart. Which was maybe excessive but definitely displayed ability.

But since a lot of people had been applying to the tournament and they didn't want to overdo it on applicants, they were both asked if they'd be cool with partnering up, and ended up getting teamed up with each other. So a monk, a barbarian, and a displacer beast all show up to kick some butt

but first they were like "hey let's spar" which gave me an opportunity to do a silly joke regarding the arena I had prepared, and then I sat back and let two players basically drive things for me and get some character development going on. (The monk won because the barbarian forgot to rage and dodge and stuff at first and the monk is GOOD at damage-dealing.)

so at this point I introduced the system where they got double EXP for going into a fight without researching their opponents prior to the fight, the idea being "figure it out on the fly" is more challenging than "know what you're getting into". To start off, the monk went off to try and figure out who they'd be doing their tournament-entry-culling match against (there were too many applicants still so they were being pitted against each other to determine who the public-audience-getting fighters would be), and ended up finding a place where bets were being put on the fights. The person running the betting booth said it wouldn't be fair to divulge that sorta stuff to a fighter but offered to tell in exchange for a bit of gold. As it turns out, the monk is very cheap and immediately walked out of the roleplaying closet. (We went into the closet so the barbarian's player wouldn't know what went down.)

they needed 3 EXP blocks to reach level 4, 7 to reach level 5. Going in blind meant 2 blocks, going in prepared meant 1.

i gave them half a block for their spar since neither of them tried to actually kill the other

Anyway, having failed to research their opponents, they went in blind and encountered a bugbear who seemed dressed for much colder weather than was actually present, wielding a malicious-looking green longsword. The other creature was a new race they didn't learn the name of, that looked somewhere between a lobster, a cockroach, and a fish, with eight arms and totally decked out with weapons. The bugbear was super nice and said hi.

then they proceeded to curbstomp them both, meaning I never got to even show off the bugbear's special abilities and the other combatant just barely got to hint at what their moveset was

ALSO the bugbear looked at Ulyana weirdly but then decided it was probably nothing. That was before the fight. The bugbear was unconscious after the fight. So was the monk, which was fun!

Also, some extra stuff about the arena: there's some height-advantage parts of the arena, also you can only have as many potions as you have team members, also there's these clerics called the "angels" who are there to let you fight lethally because they prevent anyone from dying. The way it works is that they focus protective magic on people, and if they'd die, they instead go into a sort of near-dead state that it takes a few weeks to recover from. So they'd be out of the tournament, but not out of life in general.

anyway, the party won, the monk didn't die so he got to continue fighting (I basically explained the death rule to the barbarian in an effort to convince her to stabilize the monk since he made two death fails)

ANYWAY they went on to the next round, and the barbarian decided to investigate who the opponents were - she ended up interviewing drow twins who had been in the entry-to-actual-tournament fight against two dragonborns (the next opponents) and lost. They explained one was a paladin with healy stuff, and the other was a warlock with spooky spells. The barbarian nodded and half-understood and then left.

when they got to the arena the next day I introduced the fact that the grass in the arena has flowers planted in it to make mosaic ads, the first of which was "Rope! You Can Never Have Enough" which was a reference to a character I made for a campaign that never really happened, in which my char owned I think several miles worth of rope because we were given a lot of starting money and I didn't know what to spend it on.

anyway so the fight happened, the paladin proved to be ridiculously hard to kill, and also made it very hard to target the warlock because of two tiers of protective stuff going on. So the paladin got downed, then was revived by the warlock's potion, then the paladin was downed again and the warlock revived her with her own potion, and then she was downed a third time and the monk was very mad about the whole thing and curbstomped her face. Seeing defeat was already gonna happen, and not wanting her to get dead'd or himself to get curbstomped, the warlock surrendered and the party won.

also the warlock cast a spell that had a bunch of grabby tentacles that was supposed to do damage but when the drow twins were explaining it they were like "oh but it doesn't do damage it just grabs you" SO WHOOPS I FORGOT. WHOOPS. WHOOPS. I don't think it would have been more fun if it did do damage though, maybe just more frustrating

anyway the party was like yaaay we won and then they leveled up and it was too late to move on to the final 8 fighters (so 3 more fights, although the final fight is gonna be a bit weird) so the session was ended, more like paused but basically ended.

~DING~ SO WHAT WENT WRONG

missing happens a lot and it's frustrating for the players. Also I didn't really get to show off what made most of the fighters cool because they immediately got pummeled by the rush-and-deal-all-the-damage team.

My current ideas are this: since everyone begins at the same time, the first round of combat lacks any movement, and is just what you do IMMEDIATELY as the fight begins. This means my enemy characters can set up any fancy interesting fun fight-changing stuff that they've got (for instance, the warlock had a weird spell that would deal a lot of damage but required casting it/some prep time, and the paladin was gonna defend him while that happened, but then the party rushed up and immediately attacked so he was like "I'm getting out of here" which was not the best tactical decision maybe. There are things I could do differently.)

My second idea is that, if you miss, you can choose to automatically hit instead, but this invokes an opportunity attack. I don't know if the attack would happen before or after (so miss -> opportunity -> autohit, or miss -> autohit -> opportunity?) and this would just be a mechanic in the world. I think I'll consider it the "baiting" mechanic, like, you get the opponent to strike at you, giving you a chance to land your own hit.

Maybe I'll make it so the opponent can either opportunity attack, or take half damage. Maybe make it so that you can respond in one of the following ways: 1. Defensive. Take half damage. 2. Neutral. Opportunity attack, then take full damage. 3. Aggressive. Opportunity attack. Take half damage if you land the hit, get critted if you miss.

Both of these ideas are things that ANYBODY can use, player or enemy, making it fair but also making it easier for me to deliver on better experiences overall.

also I think I'm gonna inject a bit more roleplaying into the sessions. I was planning on skipping it to mostly experiment with combat, and it was mentioned this hurt things a bit - the fights were largely just "okay we're fighting these people now". I have ideas on how to make the fights more engaging on a narrative level (basically having the party MEET the other combatants, though learning what they can do is another story entirely and retains the EXP thing).

overall I think it was decent but I'm definitely glad it ended earlier than expected because that gives me time to refine what I have coming next.

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