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twistedwonderlandshenanigans · 1 year

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Bryce, Chad And Archie Rambles

The three of them grew up together, and while Bryce sees them as brothers, unfortunately Chad and Archon both have romantic feelings for Bryce, completely oblivious to the fact that the other is in the same boat. They won't act on it though bc they're happy in the friendship they have right now, and don't really know how to process that they are The Gay. They and the Tweels are well acquainted, while the tweels are more hesitant to accept this, these boys are happy to put them in a headlock and give them a noogie as a form of greeting. Because yes. All three of them are bigger, Chad being the shortest and only taller than Floyd by two inches (just shy of 6'4), Archie at 6'7, and Bryce at 6'9. Seven help anyone who's around when this happens, because Floyd wet noodles, causes Bryce, specifically, to panic, and as soon as he's let go he tackles them and it becomes a friendly sparring/fighting match. I would like to think Jade is mostly touch averse, so the moment he hears any Bryce or Archie coming, he gets ready to hurl them away from him over his shoulder. Their only response is laughter, so they never learn not to do it, its just fun, and honestly gives Jade a chance to blow off just a liiiiittle steam. Azul is horrified and terrified, as soon as he hears them coming he makes himself scarce, but they do have VIP privileges at the lounge because of the sheer amount they eat + consequently, spend money. Jade is their biggest supporter in them trying to go vegetarian, with a lot of mushroom dishes, which is partially why he's not eager to be anything but kind. When Bryce struggles with his need for meat, Jade reassures him that on land there is an option that allows him to eat eggs and fish still, and gives him iron supplements to help with his cravings. This is part of their effort after it was made clear the last time shark mers attended NRC there was a bit of an....Incident. They want to prove that not all sharks are scary or prone to act on violence, and actually suffer more judgement from the teachers than their peers, but they've got each other to keep their spirits up, and to keep each other in check when needed. All three of them are on Octavinelle's small spelldrive team....not very many people were interested, meaning Bryce got to be the captain. They aren't exactly the best, but they give their all and have a lot of fun. Bryce is built like a fucking tank, looks shredded, feels squishy if you know what I mean. He's a really really nice guy, but so many people are intimidated by his sheer size that they don't even bother getting to know him. He really loves chipmunks so small and whenever he can hold them he does. What he really wants to hold is a sugar glider though and he insists his life will be perfect if he can. He loves small animals in general. He's barely gliding by in school, straight C student except in Phys. Ed and Animal Languages. It's not really his fault though, the Alchemy classroom isn't really built for someone his size, and the desks are never comfortable enough for him to be able to really focus. Its not until he asks- rather, Archie asks on his behalf if he can take notes standing up at the back of the class so he's comfortable and not in anyone’s way. After that and some tutoring from Archie, baby boy is able to raise his grades to B-B+. He's a bit of a himbo. Please be gentle with him. If he's getting picked on, he will start to loose his temper, as anyone would, but he's oblivious to his strength making it more dangerous than it normally is. Archie is the "smart" one. He's also the fucking weird one. He's a sleeper built person, meaning he looks like a string-bean but if he flexes he’s ripped. He keeps Bryce out of messes best he can, so when he’s about to loose his temper, he will run at him full speed and knock him over just yelling "INTERVENTION". It makes Bryce laugh most of the time, but once they leave the area Bryce needs a hug and Archie, though a little shy, is happy to give him one. Archie gets straight A's, but he has extreme self esteem issues. He really doesn't like Vil, because of his own insecurities. He would never admit it, but he has a little fish stuffie he sleeps with named "Benny". He found it in a shipwreck, but it had a preserve spell on it so it never fell apart. Clearly someone loved it before him, so he would love it for them now. Archie and Chad often butt heads, but its in a fun way. If he's ever alone, he's perfectly content to just dwell on his thoughts. When Jade does throw him, he doesn’t really understand why, because he knows Jade doesn’t want to be touched, he's usually just coming to ask if he knows where Bryce is. Jade seems to enjoy throwing him though, so he says nothing. He takes a liking to Cory, but can't really show it?? Because Jade get's weird about it/possessive over the little guy. (I still don’t know what that’s about). But Cory reminds him of his little fish stuffie lmao. Chad is a little more prone to anxiousness and has separation anxiety with his friends. He's fidgety, and while he hates lying to his friends, he eats beef jerky as his guilty pleasure whenever he can, BUT he makes sure to go to Savanaclaw to do so so that he doesn’t smell as suspicious. He and Ruggie become good friends because while he is HUNGRY he will share. Chad can relate to Grim in that his stomach is a bottomless pit. He has a fish hook as a nose piercing still, yes. When he was younger he did attend a rather posh school, and his accent was learned there from a caretaker. (This is actual lore?? I didn’t twist this but I feel like NOBODY knows???? I certainly didn't and I need to share it.) Though once he swam away he ended up with a much rough and tumble group before meeting Archie and Bryce. Despite his attempt to show that he won't eat meat, Bryce knows it's difficult for him and his metabolism, and always carries a snack for him that’s protein packed. Chad is the fastest flyer, sprinter and swimmer in Octavinelle. Bryce really likes cross stitch, he finds it very relaxing, but he also likes knitting and crochet I think Jack occasionally asks him for tips and sometimes they'll just vibe in Jack's room and knit together Jack is a little embarrassed Bryce is not at all they would go to Bryce's room, but Bryce enjoys the sunlight Jacks room gets Chad is a sports drink addict (SO much gatorade in one man, nobody knows how its physically fucking possible). Makos are considered a trophy shark, so I feel like Rook takes pictures whenever he can to send to whichever one of his siblings specializes moreso in fishing than hunting.... Archie, Azul, and Idia regularly have puzzle battles (fucking nerds) These three become Tarian's protection squad after he repairs something on the fly that they broke by accident Tarian is oblivious to this, but loves them all the same Sometimes when they come into his little makeshift shop, Bryce will help with any heavy lifting, Archie reviews the formulas and Chad...brings snacks.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst oc #twisted wonderland oc #twst talks #v talks #bryce newport #chad moslin #archie devone

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stranger-who-writes-fiction · 3 years

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Been having a weird/off week. But you know what’s made it better?

Spending some more time in Midvale with Supergirl Ep. 6x06, “Prom Again!”

Spoilers!

So! Last week was the fun shenanigans/set-up, THIS WEEK we get the emotional pay-offs and oooooh. So good. So good.

Historically, Supergirl kinda struggles to stick its landing when it comes to paying off its set-ups, but I think this episode is really solid in that regard.

And thus, we begin! With the forest showdown! And I love it. Love every part of it. Love Kara flying in and freeing Nia and Brainy with her heat vision, love that one of Kenny and Kara’s go-to plays is called ‘Speed Racer’, love Brainy’s whole, ‘my buddy’s gonna BLAST YA if you don’t cooperate’ and Kara just. Threatens the bad guys from the shrubbery.

She’s supposed to be scary and intimidating with the heat vision eyes but dagnabbit...it’s just kind of cute.

Last week I completely forgot to mention how much I love that Kenny and Kara have go-to plays WITH NAMES. (NERDY names at that!) And also that Alex is so exasperated by it.

JUST YOU WAIT, KIDDO.

Fast forward to the Fortress and everyone’s happy! The day is saved! The timeline is restored! Alex apologizes for being a bit of a grouch!

*cough* understatement *cough*

And Brainy doesn’t get the fist bump, d’awwwww. XD

Nia has a lovely chat with Kara wherein SHE is the elder hero who inspires the youths. Nice. NICE.

And THEN, the first of some good Danvers Sisters scenes...we’ll call this one ‘the mini-van chat.’

Kara apologizing about the ‘Zookeeper fight-y thing’ and the GLASSES FIDGET.

Shout out to the writers, who were ON-POINT with the dialogue for both parts, and shout out to the young actresses as well. It’s...honestly uncanny, how well they nailed playing Kara and Alex.

(I mean, we knew this already, of course, but GOSH. What a wonderful showcase. So, so glad, that we got such a large Midvale story in the final season.)

Right, so, another dialogue highlight from the mini-van chat (but like, not in a silly way. More in a, ‘oh wow that’s very sweet’ way) Alex, to Kara about her choice: ‘It’s the right one because you made it.’

THESE KIDS.

Then we go to Nia and Brainy on the Legion Cruiser!

Nia’s outfit? Outstanding. Brainy’s mask? Admittedly a little distracting because it didn’t look like it was fitting quite right.

But A+ song choice for their dance, show.

(Really, A+ song choices across the board. You can tell they were absolutely LOVING getting in all those needle drops.)

And then we discover--ALL IS NOT WELL! THE TIMELINE IS STILL BROKEN!

Cat Grant has released the aliens! And she has been captured! And yet she remains heckin’ fearless!

Love that she calls Mitch ‘Mr. Blue Sky.’

It took me a while to warm up to this ‘new’ version of Cat Grant but this episode really gave her some fun stuff to do and yep, I dig it. Great stuff.

Meanwhile, back at the prom...

I'm taking this moment to applaud the Supergirl folks for their very nice workarounds for ‘crowded’ locations this season thus far. The episodes have never felt like, overtly obvious in terms of Covid protocol impacts (I mean there are a few scenes here and there where you’re like, ‘oh, yeah, this is set up in this specific way to probably account for some production changes) but I’ve never felt that the episodes are losing anything, you know?

Case in point! Two episodes, set in a crowded high school! But most of the stuff takes place before/between classes, or outside!

(Specifically enjoyed all the outdoor stuff and natural lighting. It’s not quite the same as that LA sunshine, but. Still nice.)

Anyways, in “Prom Again!” the action/discussions are set in the hallways/classrooms outside of the actual Prom. Inobtrusive! Makes sense for the story! Doesn’t compromise!

Gold stars for everyone.

Kara and Kenny are BOTH unrelentingly cheesy--Kara even says as much--and it’s wonderful.

‘Hey Stargazer.’ Kara, you smooth operator you.

Shout out to Kenny’s bowtie, it’s great.

...Shout out to Kenny in general.

(Like, Will is great, but he’s got a lot to live up to, now.)

So FURTHER PROOF THAT THE TIMELINE IS BUSTED: Kara is going to stay in Midvale!

Me, knowing full well that Kara has to go to National City, but also being...just a liiiiittle bit team Kenny:

And then...THE METEOR!

That Kara just. Body-slams.

It reminded me of another Danvers, who also body-slams some space stuff:

But UNLIKE Kara’s cross-company cousin, this particular move does not end well!

Because there’s KRYPTONITE! And also, a CLOAKED SPACESHIP, BLOCKING THE FALLING METEOR DEBRIS! And, you know, ALIEN HUNTERS THREATENING HIGH SCHOOLERS! And Kenny SACRIFICES HIMSELF FOR KARA!

(Well, okay. It’s tonight but you get the idea.)

Poor, sweet Kenny. Who feels WAY out of his depth as he’s imprisoned alongside Cat on the alien ship...but it does bring us one of her patented ‘tough love pep talks.’ Wherein she calls Kenny brilliant.

And also, Kendall.

Never change, Cat. Never change.

Also, “Go, go.”

Okay, some more rapid fire specifics that I enjoyed so that this list doesn’t get...too? Long? ...No promises.

Smol Kara squaring her shoulders in that classic Kara Super Pose!

Alex being able to pick a lock!

Kara using the reflected sunlight from the moon to heal!

‘That’s an 80% failure rate’ ‘Oh yes it’s terrible.’

The scene where the police have Kara, and Alex comes rushing out all, ‘that’s my sister!’ and Kara’s gonna just RISK EVERYTHING to fix this?

100/10, excellent, love to see that Danvers Sisters angst in the Worst Timeline. Also? Alex’s desperate little headshake, silently pleading for Kara to NOT DO THE THING???? Devastating. In the best way.

‘The world will know that name...Keira.’

No Plutonian Landshark sightings!?!? Not even a graphic on a computer screen? FOR SHAME!

(Personally, I’m imaging that they look like Jeff, pictured below.)

Kara stowing away on the Cruiser, and her very cute, ‘Don’t be mad!’

Her entire speech about her future--She’s just seventeen! She doesn’t have her driver’s license yet! Eliza’s only let her do the laundry once! She’s not even sure she can make rice!

(Eliza, I love you, but for Pete’s sake, let your kid do her own laundry.)

Brainy and Kara trying to play it cool upon being discovered by Kenny and Alex!

Their story involving an excess of formal wear!

Nia inspiring Cat to start CatCo, and telling her she’s CAT FREAKIN’ GRANT!

“If you say Lois Lane I will expire.”

Wait, did I mention the lucid dreaming power yet? ...Nia’s lucid dreaming power!

The entirety of Kara and Kenny’s talk in the gym!

Kara in the Worst Timeline tell Alex, ‘you don’t have to shout’. And then in the Fixed Timeline: ‘inside voice please.’

And she quotes Monty Python that lil GOOBER.

THE WHOLE EPISODE(S) was a GOSHDARN DELIGHT, I TELL YA. (Did I say that last week? I might’ve said that last week, but I don’t care.)

And now, some slightly more in-depth, overall thoughts:

So, How ‘Bout Them Danvers: Not surprisingly, the girls end up in, if not the exact same place as the end of “Midvale”, then pretty darn close. I’m trying to avoid, like. All of fandom, these days, but unfortunately, the bad takes are numerous, and often untagged. So I did see a bunch of people insisting that Kenny living ‘ruined the Danvers’ relationship’ and that the show is ‘taking away everything that makes Kara Kara’

To which I say:

In the broadest terms, what needs to happen by episode’s end to match up with “Midvale”, and prep the kiddos for the stuff that happens in the Pilot - Kara needs to put the aspirations of super-ing on the backburner, and Alex needs to like. Not hate Kara, but also be committed to helping Kara keep her secret, you know...secret.

All of these things are set up. I repeat: All. Of. Them.

And Kenny didn’t have to die!

(I will admit, I chuckled that they so blatantly teased an untimely demise for him...because I know it will annoy select corners of fandom.

Muhahahahaha.)

But anyways, back to those key ingredients for making a ‘Danvers Sisters in the same emotional place they were in @ Midvale’s end’ soup: Alex deals with that simmering resentment. Seeing Kara handle herself well in a super-ing context gives her that little, ‘hey, this isn’t so bad!’ outlook.

BUT INTERESTINGLY, in the Fixed Timeline, Alex and Kara don’t have that chat in the supply room, where Alex is like. ‘You CANNOT reveal your powers, BAD THINGS will happen if you do.’

That is saved for the Pilot!*

MEANWHILE. The Kara ingredients! She puts super-ing on hold.

Her chat with Kenny functions as a replacement for her chat with J’onn-as-Not!Alura, in the sense that it’s here that she reveals that she didn’t choose to come to Midvale, she didn’t choose these powers.

(...I can already sense fandom using those lines to prove their end-of-series theories and like. Ugh. Ugh.)

But anyways. It’s also here that we get shades of Pilot!Kara, what with the season one conflict of being Super vs. being normal.

It’s ALL THE SAME STUFF.

Fandom needs to like. Chill.

And their (fake) concern for Kara’s characterization is entirely misplaced, because this was a really wonderful showcase for Kara in particular.

Like. The first episode was really Nia’s time to shine, and we still got solid Brainy and Nia action in this episode!

But man. That good Kara content.

THE CONTENT I CRAVE!

So speaking of good Kara content in particular, I LOVED Kara’s prom dress. It's got both a SKIRT. AND PANTS!

Amazing.

I know nothing of fashion, but it was very cute, very girly, and okay. Though I hate the comic, the one thing I actually liked about Future State is Kara’s costume. This was similar!

(Thank goodness it looked nothing like the prom dress from Rebirth. That...was a bit of a train wreck.)

(Look, not all comic artists are great clothes designers, it’s just how it is.)

We see the empowerment theme come up with Kara inspiring Kenny; he describes her as ‘an amazing light in a world of darkness’ and tells her that, ‘you changed me, Kara Zor-El.’

We love to see it.

They also agree that stargazing and Monty Python make for the perfect prom these absolute NERDS I love them.

*Quick wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey note WRT making this episode ‘fit’ with the Pilot: I’m not saying that it 100% does. There’s already the change with the Kryptonite, and the added info/awareness of the DEO.

Those little changes, though, don’t really impact the overall arc of Kara and Alex, the way the emotional stuff might.

Thus! The ‘Pilot’ of Earth Prime, and in fact, the ENTIRETY of the show’s run thus far most likely involved little differences throughout, but the emotional core is very close, if not the exact same.

BUT EITHER WAY, it doesn’t matter, because our Kara and Alex are still our Kara and Alex thanks to the multiple sets of memories!

(So all of fandom’s freaking out is for naught. As it almost always is.)

I bring this up because, again, as much as I talk about setting stuff up for where we find Kara six years from now--this Kara is a little different! She comes across as more confident, something Izabela Vidovic mentioned in an interview, when discussing her approach to playing Kara this time around.

And now, Alex: Admittedly, she gets less focus as like, a solo-entity in these episodes--she really is there to serve the more Kara-centric plot. Personally, it didn’t bother me too much because outside of these flashback episodes, Alex has had some solid development and screen time, so. It balances out.

And the scenes we did get with those 2? Solid. Top tier. There was even a couch scene! Like, technically. Because there was a couch in the supply room. XD

Spotlight on Kenny: fandom kinda loves to insist that all the men on Supergirl are trash, because, ya know. 'Feminism’ or whatever. It’s ships, it’s always ships. But, in fact! The dudes on Supergirl? Are actually wonderful! And Kenny is another example of a guy who isn’t afraid to be emotionally vulnerable, who 1000% supports Kara, but is also like. His own person.

GOOD JOB, SHOW. GOOD JOB.

Brainy too, had some really nice stuff in terms of dealing with his emotions!

And it’s Brainy who gives us our closing line, as Nia asks him how he’s feeling now that they’ve accomplished their mission:

“Hopeful.”

NOICE.

In conclusion! “Prom Night” and “Prom Again!” were EXCELLENT! They had heart! They had stakes! They had the promised time-travel do-over alluded to in the titles! Outstanding performances from the entire cast! Tthe ‘young’ versions of characters in particular! And I WILL be watching these episodes on repeat throughout the three-month hiatus! XD

But before the Super Friends take their break: NEXT WEEK! The Quest for Kara Concludes!!!

#SG post #supergirl spoilers #supergirl season 6 spoilers #long post #gifs

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psychosistr · 5 years

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FOWL Facets- Chapter 3

Summary: Left alone with nothing else to talk about, Gandra gets Loony to tell her how exactly she and the rest of the team know Blue Diamond’s strongest and most prized lapis lazuli so well.

Notes: Okay, getting into some backstory finally with this one!

-First Chapter-

Once Domino’s gone, Gandra looks at Loony from her spot against the wall. “So, what’s the deal with you three and this Liquidator guy? I heard he’s Blue Diamond’s favorite lapis lazuli, but I’ve never heard anything about him working for F.O.W.L.”

Loony has a confused look on her face before the realization seems to dawn on her. “Oh riiiiiiiight, that was before you joined.” Her body returns to its usual proportions so that she’s standing by Gandra properly again. “Before the war, Liqui used to go on missions with us all the time!”

Gandra raises an eyebrow curiously at the statement. “So he is a F.O.W.L. agent?”

“Nope.” Lonny shakes her head. “He never joined F.O.W.L., but he does know about it.”

“Wait,” Gandra just looks even more confused by the spinel’s explanation. “If he’s not an agent, then why did he go on missions with you and the guys?”

“Because we were friends!” Loony answers matter-of-factly with a smile. “The four of us used to have so much fun…”

A planet lay in ruins, looking as if it were the scene of a horrible, destructive war. Buildings had been leveled. Bodies lined the streets and fields- all filled with bullet holes or lying with crushed limbs and necks. A good portion of the planet was on fire while the rest had been flooded under their planet’s own sea water.

On the planet’s surface, though, there were only two groups fighting: One was a large army of organic creatures with orange skin, multiple limbs, and three eyes- although their army was huge and their weapons fairly advanced, the bodies strewn across the planet all seemed to be that of their own kind. The other was a small group of four gems venturing further into the enemy’s territory, leaving nothing but destruction in their wake.

At the front of the pack, Loony leapt and stretched all over the battlefield, drawing the enemy’s fire. “Bet you can’t catch me!” She teased, sticking her tongue out at them.

The soldiers tried to fire their weapons at her, but the glowing red shots just bounced off of her skin harmlessly. While they were distracted by Loony, however, the other gems were able to take out the soldiers from behind.

“Incoming!!” One of the soldiers shouted in fear as a blinking red egg-shaped crystal was thrown at them.

The soldiers tried to scatter, but, before they could get far, a large white barrier began to close around them, forming a dome that trapped many of them inside with the crystal. They tried desperately to break through the barrier, both from the inside and the outside, but it was no use. The shield held strong, not even cracking when the crystal turned completely red before detonating in a blinding red light, destroying everything within the dome in a controlled explosion.

“A warning would be appreciated next time.” Domino snapped his fingers, finally letting the barrier drop to reveal the smoking crater within. “I could have made it bigger- then we would have gotten more than half of them.”

“Dom, Dom, Dom,” Steelbeak shook his head from where he stood next to Domino on a floating diamond-shaped platform made of black energy. The melanite’s beak was shorter with a smoother look to it back then. He also sported a yellow bowtie instead of a black one and his eyebrows were a bit less defined. “You’re thinkin’ too small, snowflake. Killin’ ‘em all at once is too easy.” He lobbed another glowing crystal at the scattered soldiers, watching as Domino once again formed a white dome-barrier around the organic creatures to ensure their death. “Where’s the style? Where’s the pizzazz? Where’s the FUN?” He pointed down towards the fourth member of their group on the ground below them, leaning closer to his partner to speak in a conspiratorial whisper. “Besides- we gotta keep someone entertained, right?”

Domino glanced down, watching as the water along the battlefield began to recede in preparation for what was to come. “You do have a point there.” He brought his fingers to his beak and whistled, gaining the attention of the spinel still playing around with the soldiers and their futile attempts to shoot her. “Loony, time to go!”

Loony stretched her head up above where her body was grabbing and throwing the organics aside with ease, making it easier for her to shout over to Domino and Steelbeak. “Awww, already?”

“ ‘fraid so, Loons.” Steelbeak nodded behind her poignantly. “It’s drippy’s turn t’ play.”

Loony turned her head to see behind her, her earlier pout quickly turning into an excited smile. “Oooh, that’s gonna be a BIG one!”

With a flick of his fingers, Steelbeak summoned a series of slightly smaller black diamond-shaped platforms between them and Loony. The stretchy spinel was able to stretch and flip up the panels with the ease of ascending a staircase, joining the other gems on the bigger platform high above the battlefield. She got up there just in time, it seemed, as no more than a minute later a roaring tidal wave washed over the ground below them.

Standing on top of the wave was the Liquidator- a tall, buff, intimidating being that looked like a dog made completely out of water with a tear-drop cut royal blue lapis lazuli gemstone visible in his right hand. His outfit consisted mainly of a long royal blue colored robe similar to a yukata with midnight blue trim and a subtle rippling wave-pattern in sapphire blue throughout the garment that culminated around a shining blue diamond-shaped insignia on his chest, the outfit tied shut with a dark oxford blue sash at his waist. The whole outfit appeared to be made of the same water as his body, constantly moving and rippling at the same rate as the rest of his form with the bottom of the robe just being part of the puddle connecting him to the massive wave below him.

The battlefield became part of the ocean that had claimed the planet in virtually no time at all. With a smirk on his face, Liquidator made the water beneath him rise up so that he was level with the other gems. “Feeling drained? Stressed out from the daily grind of grinding down planets for your diamonds and/or shadowy organizations? Then relieve your stress with the fun new game literally sweeping the nation: ‘Skarwal Shooter’!” He did a grand gesture to the drowning soldiers in the water below them. “Grab a gun, line ‘em up, and take a shot at these realistic moving targets! Fun for the whole crew- guaranteed or your money back!” He controlled the water and the bodies in it, juggling them in the air and spinning them around in whirlpools.

“I wanna play!” Loony watched the flipping and flying targets with a look of pure glee and excitement on her face.

Steelbeak chuckled and touched the gem on his chest with both hands. One hand pulled out a gleaming silver tommy-gun with a jet black grip and matching stocks, while the other pulled out a matching long-barreled .38 revolver. He tossed the revolver to Loony so she’d have a weapon of her own, keeping the tommy-gun hoisted up on his shoulder. “Ya know, Liq’s, it’s a good thing we DON’T get paid, or you’d end up with half our money!”

“More than that with the games he talks you two into.” Domino shook his head with a roll of his eyes, pretending to sound annoyed but the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes was undeniably fond.

“Ah, the downsides of being a convincing salesman in a society with nothing to sell.” Liquidator chuckled, forming a chair out of the water under him so he could watch the other gems have their fun shooting at the struggling soldiers before joining in as well- shooting bullets made of ice from the tip of his finger while pointing it like a gun. “Still, there are a few things in life we can enjoy- even if I can’t take your paychecks!”

They all smiled and grinned in their own ways while picking off the last of the soldiers, enjoying their sadistic version of “shooting fish in a barrel”.

Hours later, after double and triple checking that the last of the organics had been wiped out, Loony led Liquidator through the ship with her hands covering his eyes. “Alrighty, Liqui, just a liiiiittle further..and remember, no peeking!”

Liquidator chuckled at the spinel’s antics, but obliged and kept his eyes in place behind her grey-gloved hands. “You have the Liquidator-brand 100% peek-free guarantee…but that guarantee is good for a limited time only, so act now.”

“Okaaaaayyy, now!” She removed her hands from in front of his eyes, finally allowing him to see again.

“??” When he opened his eyes and looked in front of him, Liquidator saw the hall holding the other gems’ rooms. His eyes widened when he saw that the door at the end of the hall, which had previously been left blank, now had an image of his own gemstone embedded in it. “Is..Is that…?”

“Yep!” Loony grinned as she grabbed his hand, guiding it over to the panel by the door.

When his hand touched the panel, the door slid open, allowing them to walk in together. He saw Domino and Steelbeak waiting inside, both looking pleased at his reaction.

“Told ya we’d get ‘im good with this one!” Steelbeak grinned smugly, his arms folded in front of his chest. “He didn’t see it comin’ at all!”

Domino sighed and shook his head with an exasperated smile at his partner’s attitude. “That IS the point of a surprise..” He looked back over to Liquidator. “So, what do you think?”

Liquidator looked around the room, fully taking in all the little details. As with most of the rooms, there wasn’t a lot of furniture, but there was still a table carved from light blue crystals with matching chairs that were made to look as if they were carved from ice. The left half of the room had been converted into a small pool filled with crystal clear water, the bottom of it lined with glowing blue crystals that bathed the entire room in a soft, ethereal glow. What made him smile the most, though, was that on the right side of the room on the wall above the table and chairs was a holo-disk displaying an image of the four of them after their first mission together: Liquidator standing in the middle of the image with his arms crossed, Domino on his right, Steelbeak on his left, and Loony stretched up behind him with her hands making shapes behind Domino and Steelbeak’s heads so they looked like they had mammalian ears.

He looked at the trio of darker gems with a grin that was even brighter (and far more genuine) than the one he’d had earlier on the battlefield. “Nine out of ten royal blue lapis lazuli’s agree: This room is perfect.”

“You’d better not be that tenth one, Liq,” Steelbeak teased the lapis lazuli with an equally bright grin. “ ‘cause we ain’t redecoratin’! You’d better appreciate this- we don’t go around givin’ just ANYONE a spot on the crew, ya know?”

“I know.” Liquidator’s grin softened into a smile. “And I appreciate it.”

They all shared a smile over the blue gem’s words. He only dropped the salesman-talk when he was being genuine, something they’d come to understand after many missions together.

“We need to celebrate!” Loony jumped up, wrapping her arms around Liquidator and leaping at the pool. “Pool party!”

They landed with a big splash (a bit too big for Liquidator NOT to have been a part of it). The resulting wave went far enough to wash over both Steelbeak and Domino.

“Hey!” Steelbeak scowled when he got soaked from head to toe, trying to shake the water out of his comb. A mild glare was added to his expression when he looked at his partner and saw that the snowflake obsidian was completely dry thanks to a thin, translucent white shield encasing his entire body. “Really? Ya couldn’t’ve got me, too?”

“I could..” Domino side-eyed his partner with a teasing smirk when his barrier dissipated. “But where’s the FUN in that?” He paraphrased the taller gem’s words with a quiet chuckle.

“Oh, so you actually LIKE havin’ fun, huh?” Steelbeak’s eyes briefly flicked to the pair in the pool, the two gems grinning as they returned the unspoken sentiment in full.

“Well it IS a party, after all.” The loon missed the conspiratorial glances around him. “And what better place to have fun than a party?”

“Yeah, you’re right, it IS a party.” Steelbeak grinned down at the other gem, subtly moving one hand behind his back. With a flick of his fingers, a small black diamond appeared under Domino’s feet. “A POOL party.”

Before the obsidian had time to react, the diamond shaped platform tilted upwards at an angle, sending him off balance. When he tried to regain his footing, he ended up stepping on one of Loony’s outstretched arms and falling backwards into a small wave generated by Liquidator- the wave quickly drawing him back so that he ended up in the pool alongside the other two occupants.

“……” Domino had ended up at the bottom of the pool before slowly floating back to the top, lying on his back on the water’s surface as he calmly spit a small stream of the liquid from his beak. “Alright…” He closed his eyes for a moment, his expression neutral and unreadable as he stood and retrieved his hat from where it was floating nearby. Once it was back in its proper place, he opened his eyes and looked at the rest of the ship’s small crew with a smirk. “If that’s how we’re going to play...” He withdrew one of his pistols from his gem, the barrel inside turning an icy blue color.

“Ice bullets!” Loony shouted while jumping out of the pool. “Run!”

They all ran away from the pool, laughing at the impromptu game of (literal) freeze-tag that had begun. It was a fun and fitting way to welcome their newest official member to the crew…

<-Previous Chapter Next Chapter->

End Notes: This part was a lot of fun to write ^^ The battle scene from the past put all of their skills to good use while the scene with Liquidator’s room got to show a more relaxed side of the team- a good work-life balance, at the end of the day.

#darkwing duck #ducktales #dt17 #FOWL Facets #Steelbeak #Dominic Domino #gandra dee #Loony Toony #liquidator #not my oc #100 follower giveaway!

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cursewoodrecap · 3 years

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Session 19: Hunters and Haunts

It’s time for some proper horror movie monsters, y’all.

Before leaving Mornheim, we ask Aubrey about the scroll in her mother’s writing. She’s baffled. “I mean, plenty of my ancestors dabbled in magic. The castle had plenty of secret rooms. But…my mom? As far as I knew, she was just a very talented gardener. That’s how my parents met! She was the castle gardener, he was the son of the lord, but she looked past that…”

She laughs nervously. “My mom wasn’t a druid. They don’t live in big fancy houses! They live in the woods and make friends with badgers! I mean, why would there even BE a druid in Mornheim?!”

“That’s a good question,” Gral admits. “Maybe to guard the old tomb in the Trollstones? If I understand correctly, it was a place blessed by one of the woods spirits they revere.”

“So you’re tellin’ me that MY MOM, Rosalind von Mornheim, was the secret mystical druidic guardian of a magic tomb that’s been on family property for, well, longer than it’s been our property?!”

“I mean, maybe? Skelbjor told us there always had to be a troll in Mornheim, maybe it’s like that?”

“I guess? Skelbjor’s been the local troll since Dad was a kid. He knew about all this?”

“Oh, nah, he just knew there’s always supposed to be a troll.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right, he’s a big galoot. Just tell me I don’t have to worry about this immortal troll demigod getting up and causing trouble. I have enough problems.”

“Don’t worry, he didn’t even get up for a direct summons from that dybbuk creep.”

Aubrey shudders. “If you ever wanna figure out a way to kill that guy for good, you have my help.”

Clem grimaces. “Believe me, I’d LOVE to.”

“Anyway. You folks cleaned up the water, stopped my people getting so sick, heck, maybe this’ll even slow down the undead situation. I owe you a lot of thanks. As the ruling lady of Mornheim, I can offer you…a bottle of hard cider or somethin’? I don’t have a lot. It takes all the money we have just to keep this place running. I’m sorry I can’t do more to reward you.”

Valeria smiles, the picture of a chivalrous knight. “I’m just glad to know there won’t be so much sickness. Hopefully things will improve for your people.”

“Thank you, I mean it. And, uh, sorry for glassing you in the face, Shoshana.”

The sorceress shrugs. “It’s water under the trollbridge. We all have family members who we would both hug and cry, and glass in the face. It’s chill.”

To everyone’s surprise, Valeria nods in commiseration.

“You’re welcome to stay if you want – I mean, things are crowded, the food sucks, and every night we get undead and penitents waking everybody up, so I understand if you don’t want to stick around. Can I treat you to breakfast?”

We get breakfast, though the offerings are meager. Mercedes is cooking, and Aubrey scowls at her. “I’m mad at Mercedes because she’s a morning person. Also she lit me on fire yesterday.”

Shoshana nods. “Okay, I understand lighting people on fire, but being a morning person is a capital offense. I know this, because I live with THIS ONE.” She points at Valeria, who shrugs in acknowledgment.

“As ruling lady of house of Mornheim, I hereby banish 8am from my lands,” Aubrey grumbles. “My house is now renamed Midafternoonsheim. Like, 2pmheim. Especially if I spent the last day and a half chasing some regenerating superghoul through the tunnels.”

Mercedes and Aubrey tell us about taking out the superghoul they fought last night, bickering the whole time. “Okay, you don’t speak Goblin, but if I shout words in Goblin it only ever means one thing. I don’t cast buff spells. It means there is about to be fire, get out of the way.”

“If you ever find a cloak of fire resistance, I could use it,” Aubrey deadpans at us. “I might smother her with it.”

Gral chats with Mercedes – apparently she’s a skilled chef as well as a mage! “Yes, it is part of pyromancer training. To learn to respect the gifts of Brother-in-Flame, all students must take up a fire-related trade. Pottery, blacksmithing, cooking. That way if you wash out of pyromancer school, you have a trade! And you have respect for flame and know how to commune with it. Working with non-magical fire gives a natural guidance toward using Brother-in-Flame’s gifts. I will say, cooking contests at pyromancer school can get rather intense. If you burn the food, you have to burn your jacket.”

“Would you say they get…heated?” Shoshana quips, shooting finger-guns. Mercedes ignores her.

Gral considers. “Did you ever meet an orc who went by Firesong?”

“Oh yeah! Orc bard, wore a mask?”

“Uh, all orc bards wear masks.”

“Yeah, she’s why we can’t have the chili cookoffs anymore. She had to leave the Republics under, uh…circumstances.”

“She told me she has fond memories of her time there.”

“Oh, so do I! Passions were already high, and a professional orcish bard providing background music did not lower the emotional intensity. And, well, we’re pyromancers. We thought we were far enough from the swamp gas wells! If it hadn’t been for that damn bird – oh, one second.” She cuts off what was promising to be an excellent story to open the window and hand a sizable plate of eggs outside to Skulbjor.

“The first time I saw him, I jumped out of my skin,” she confides. “Have you ever met a swamp troll? They’re the reason we’re so good at fire.”

“The pyromancer school was originally founded to defend the Republics against trolls. So it was, you know, a liiiiittle bit awkward. Horrible creatures, swamp trolls. YOU’RE GREAT, SKULBJOR,” she calls out the window. “But I did almost light him on fire, until Aubrey stopped me.”

Gral murmurs an aside to Clem. “Is it just Valdian trolls who are weird, then?”

“I dunno, maybe bridges calm them down?”

After breakfast, we prepare to get on the road. Valeria resummons Aethis, and Skulbjor gives our good chomper some quality scritches. Already, the waters flowing into the town appear clearer, less foreboding somehow. Everything else is still, honestly, super Tim Burton-y, but we’ll work on that.

We head out, traveling the now familiar path to Three Oaks Junction. We’re glad to see the bloody chain banners have been taken down. The locals have even made new banners, featuring a shield with a chunk taken out of it, symbolizing they’re under the protection of Duke Shieldeater!

Business has resumed as normal. Some of the outriders are guarding the gate to provide a more visible presence. Not a lot, but they stand out. It’s more of a visual reminder that more orcs are coming and town has agreed to be under protection.

Gral’s pretty psyched his diplomatic master plan is working. Meanwhile, we’ve got trading to do. We manage to sell our old Aquilian coins to Pierre the furrier, who says they’ll be popular in the Demish court. Valeria keeps one of the coins as a collectible.

We’ve got enough stuff to carry and traveling to do that we decide to buy a cart. Clem, familiar with travel from her drow caravan days, heads over to the Used Cart Lot out behind the cart repair, where a guy named Sal shows her around. Looks like these guys do good repair work, with a line of apprentices and masters dating back to Three Oaks himself. Maaaaybe they might get a lot of business from selling carts which will shortly need to be repaired, but Clem uses her know-how and also her impressive guns to intimidate the guy into showing her the good stuff instead of the junkers.

She picks up a nice solid dark oak cart, secondhand, repaired recently. Clem checks it over and it seems pretty sturdy; seems like scavengers found it at an abandoned farmhouse. We also pool funds to buy two draft horses, a shaggy pair that came as a team package. The chestnut one is named Pierogi, and the bay one is named Chestnut. Shoshana attempts to have a Horse Girl Movie moment, but rolls a nat 1 and gets ignored.

Valeria, of course, buys a map to Hoska.

Clem checks her mail – she’s received a form letter thank you from the embassy in Schotzengrad – and sends 200 gold back home to her caravan, along with an update letter. Valeria writes a letter reporting back to Order of the Rose.

Clem gets busy decorating the cart in drow fashion to make it look presentable. She makes a start; a proper drow cart is decorated and redecorated over years and years. She encourages the rest of us to add our own designs, because in drow culture it’s important to have everyone in the caravan participate. We’re not at all familiar with the symbolic language used in drow art, but we’ll give it a try during a few long rests on the road.

Now we have a cart and horses and money and we bought some potions! We roll a mediocre enough survival check to meet the DC, so we head to Hoeska without issue.

Clem’s heard about Hoeska, which stands high in the collective memory of the czar’s military. During the Kevan occupation, it was said that castle was haunted. It was built 400 years ago by Gottfried von Hoesk, a Valdian warlord who wanted to become the first king of a unified Greatwood. He failed, but his descendants have occasionally tried again, and this is their ancestral seat of power. The elves, knowing its significance, took it as one of their first targets and stationed a garrison of 500 elves there. When the Valdian rebellion kicked into high gear, one of the big things that convinced the elves to leave was that the entire garrison vanished without a trace.

Shoshana, well, she’s heard plenty of stories about Hoeska. Every time a Valdian ghost story needs a mad wizard, or a ghost, or a vampire, or generally anything that lives in a big spooky castle, it takes place in Hoeska. Most of those stories are tall tales and urban legends, but on the other hand, there’s been an awfully long history of vampires and ghosts and mad wizards in Valdia, many of whom originated from or occupied the towering, dark castle on its isolated mountain.

Merchants who have been there say it’s a sprawling fortress; every inhabitant since Gottfried von Hoesk, from his descendants to various nobles to the elves, has added something else to castle, so it’s a big mismatch of styles. Some parts are a grim fortress, some are a luxury palace. The castle’s changed hands, but the von Hoesk family is still around and more often than not they ride in and reclaim their ancestral home. A couple of mad wizards were von Hoesks; when something truly evil goes down, usually a bunch of knights ride in and clear it out and some other von Hoesk descendant moves in. Rinse and repeat.

When the Cursebreakers were founded, their first move was to clear out Hoeska and take it over as their headquarters. It’s the Usual Suspect of spooky stuff in Valdia, but if the Cursebreakers found anything relating to the Curse there, they didn’t tell anyone.

Shoshana tells some ghost stories about it. Valeria eats them up. There’s a long Valdian tradition of “having a cousin” who worked at Hoeska as a servant and totally saw something spooky.

With the cart it takes like a day and a half to get from Three Oaks to the edge of Hoeska territory. As we approach, we see a guard house sitting on the road. Gral can see from a distance that the squat stone building appears to be abandoned. That’s not normal. We consider: should we avoid it because it probably has monsters in it, or should we go clear out the monsters and see if there’s loot? We’re gonna go see if there’s loot.

We get out of the wagon and approach, weapons drawn. The small stone building, just big enough for a couple of guards to keep an eye on the road, looks like it was abandoned in a hurry. We case the place quickly; there’s dried blood on the ground in the back storeroom. Maybe someone was killed here, or injured and brought here to get patched up? There’s not a body or anything. Gral’s keen eyes pick up a recent set of footprints; someone came in, after the guards had left, did something here, and then headed out into the woods.

The woods? In the Cursewood? Near the haunted castle? DEFINITELY full of dangerous monsters. But we’re PCs, so we want go investigate the mystery. Aethis stays behind to guard the cart, mildly weirding out the horses.

We follow the tracks into woods. Clem hears something behind her, and as she turns, a furry something whips out of brush and spears her for minor damage. She looks down and sees a scorpion stinger emerging from her torso. She barely has time to register it’s glistening with poison when she’s accosted by massive slavering jaws. This thing looks like it was once a huge wolf, but now has mutated into something far worse, and its teeth are buried deep in Clem’s armor.

Clem goes pale under her ash-dark skin, and must save against the panic and flood of memories brought up by the sudden sight of an attacking wolf.

How in the HELL did that thing get so close without us noticing?! Hell, we were following humanoid tracks – where did this monstrosity come from?!

Valeria immediately smites the hell out of it, and it does enough extra damage we suspect it’s some kind of fiend. Unfortunately, it’s immune to being Frightened, so Gral’s plan to Dissonant Whispers it past two tanks fizzles.

The wolfbeast uses the same tactic on Valeria as it did on Clem – as Valeria’s distracted by deflecting the stinger, it strikes in with its massive jaws, for a huge amount of damage.

Dammit, it’s resistant to Shoshana’s lightning, too. We’re in trouble.

As we’re barely fending this thing off, we can hear snarling and barking coming toward us from another direction. It sounds like wolves or dogs, smaller than this thing tearing through us. And Gral can faintly hear booted humanoid footsteps hurrying alongside them.

Clem misses on her first panicked swing but catches it on the upswing, Great Weapon Master letting her drive the blade deep. Valeria slices it good too, vines tearing through its corrupted flesh. Gral tries to Phantasmal force and fails) It swings its poisonous tail, and Valeria goes down, unconscious. Then it chomps on Clem. Clem is down – except, hold on, not so fast. She uses Last Gasp to use her Second Wind as she falls, in accordance with the Deal she has made with the Pale King.

Panicking, Shosha deals it thunder damage which it does not resist. BIG BOOM THO. That was dumb of me.

Shoshana, panicking, hits the thing with thunder damage. It doesn’t have resistance, but now everything in the forest knows we’re here. As Valeria passes her first Death Save, Gral shouts a Healing Word to keep her alive.

Three large hounds burst from the trees snarling and howling. A voice in Elven shouts “Alexei! Kill! Go for legs!”

Gral can’t understand Elven, so he goes for the neck with his sickle and draws a nasty gash across its throat. The thing glances around, snarling, furious at being deprived its meal, but it recognizes it’s in danger and withdraws, sprinting away into the forest.

A large wood elf wearing a tattered Cursebreaker coat steps out of woods holding a club and a heavy blunderbuss. He whistles sharply, and the hounds abruptly stop their pursuit. “No further!” He gestures, and the hounds spread out and form a perimeter.

“I do not know you,” he says in Valdian, though with a thick elven accent. “You fought the Shusva.”

“…The what?”

“That thing, the Shusva. At least, I found name in book. Seemed similar to this, yes? I am Ser Boris, of Cursebreaker Knights. What brings you here? Is dangerous territory.”

“Kyr Valeria Argent, at your service! We’ve been working with Ser Quentin Morozov.”

A grin breaks across his thickly bearded face. “Ah, Ser Morozov! I know him. The grumpy one! He talks to people, finds what is in hearts and minds. Goes to towns, finds cultists. As he is to the people, I am to the beasts.”

“Yes, we had information for him and needed to make a report. Also we were trying to meet up with another person headed this way?”

He grimaces. “How recently? This Shusva has been stalking roads.”

“Um, recent?” Shoshana interjects. “But he’s accompanied by two fuckhuge goliaths, so…?”

“Oh, yes, him. He is fine. Oh! You injured it!” Ser Boris cries, distracted. He pulls out a small waxed pouch and grabs a chunk of flesh off Clem’s blade. “Good! With this, we can track its scent! Not today, though, you are wounded. Must get you two to castle.”

“These are Alexei, Sasha, and Xander,” he introduces his hounds, which have heeled obediently.

“You are – ah! A drow!” He greets Clem in Elven. “You are very far from home!”

“Ah, home is where you make it,” she replies in kind.

He laughs. “Indeed, indeed. Come, we must share stories back at castle! I move here during war, think it would be peaceful.”

“Yeah, bit of a mistake, huh?”

“I do well enough. I have my dogs, I receive employment. And coat! Employment with coat is better than employment without coat, da?”

We go back to our cart, and Ser Boris is immediately taken with Aethis. “Oh, my! A wonderful beastie. Is it Celestial? May I see teeth?”

Valeria’s happy to make introductions.

“Have you cared for such a creature before? They are adapted for warm streams, not cold woods like these, you know.”

“Do they need any further care than occasional spellwork? That’s all they told us at the academy,” Valeria says, puzzled.

“Is gift from Rack, no? Then double important you take good care! It does not need it, but you must. Caring for exotic mount in inhospitable climate is difficult task. I will give you literature. You would not believe poor beasts Dr. Galvan had, I am giving him dietary instructions, seeing if I can create sweater for them to keep warm…”

He goes back to cooing over Aethis. “Nice luster on scales, though that is expected. Feets---oh, you’ve been running on hard road, you’ll get used to that. Very well. Castle is this way!”

He whistles, and the three hounds form a triangle around group. “Do not wander too far off, they may try to herd you.”

It’s somewhere around here that the pun finally hits the players. Ser Boris. Three dogs. …Cerberus.

The path winds up to the dramatic gates of castle Hoeska.

“Now if you look there, you will see castle.” A lightning bolt cracks dramatically across the sky, casting the castle in ominous silhouette.

“It always does that. It is very stormy around here. I do not know why. Impossible to get good sunlight. I worry for Alexei, he likes to frolic in sun, in fields of flowers. I am not allowed to let him in garden. How will Alexei frolic without field of flowers?”

There’s a Cursebreaker Knight at the gates, some kind of battlemage with a big staff. Next to him is a grim figure in full plate, holding a halberd and looking distinctly displeased to see us.

“Do not mind them, the castle guards do not appreciate us being here,” Ser Boris tells us cheerfully. “It is okay, we have permission. They do not like that we do their job better than them. Hello friend!” He waves. “These are guests, please open gate!”

The guard glares.

“Pretty please, open gate for Ser Boris and friends? And Alexei and Sacha! Oh, have you met Xander yet?”

The guard silently opens the gate, his withering scowl not diminishing a bit.

“I do not know what problem is. Must have woke up on wrong side of bed,” Boris chatters as we enter. “Maybe should not leave lunch where dogs can get it. Guard knows I am here with dogs! Maybe dogs have done nothing wrong ever in their life and guard should apologize for making such a fuss!”

We’re past the castle walls, in a large courtyard before entering the keep proper. As we pass our carts and horses off to some stablehands, we notice a familiar cart and two draft gatorbeasts in the stables, with quilted blankets thrown over them against the chill.

Parked incongruously among the carts is a looming metal construct in a hulking, vaguely humanoid shape, with buzz-saw arms protruding from the front and a machined metal owl mask affixed to what might charitably be called the face area. Peeling paint on the front reads “Valdian Tree Company,” and it’s chained to a heavy wagon proudly bearing the insignia of the Sturmhearst University College of Engineering.

Ser Boris shrugs. “Many visitors are here now. One shows up with that thing. I do not like. Not natural, so much metal moving on own.”

We step into the grand hallway of castle, past another set of guards and a big statue of a fine-featured man in armor, labeled Gottfried von Hoesk. Ah, Ingborg and Bjorn are there, drinking.

We hear someone clear his throat imperiously, and turn to see Ser Quentin, regarding us with annoyance. “You’re late,” he bites out pointedly.

“Uh, did we make an appointment to see you? Because I was certainly not informed,” Shoshana snarks back.

He doesn’t take the bait. “So. The Pale King.”

“…Yup!”

“That letter and those words are why we’ve been stuck here. You’ve been escalated to the higher ups, who would very much like to hear what you have to report in person. Follow me. The dogs can stay here.”

Ser Boris grumbles. “Is fine, they do not bite! Well, they might bite sandvich. I could go for sandvich. I get us all sandviches, yes?”

We head up grand winding stairs, into the more palatial section of castle, and find ourselves passing through long dark galleries full of portraits of von Hoesk ancestors. The eyes follow us as we walk by, natch.

The path we take is DEFINITELY a little bit Scooby Dooby Doors. Ser Quentin Definitely Does Not Get Lost on the way there, what are you talking about? “This place was built by a succession of mad architects in an intergenerational argument with each other, of course it’s a damn maze,” he huffs.

Eventually, we are taken into a small, elegant drawing room. Two figures sit in comfortable armchairs in front of a roaring fire.

“Allow me to present Ser Brigid Konig,” Ser Quentin states formally, gesturing to the old woman calmly knitting in the chair on the left.

The other chair holds a tall man with sharp cheekbones, a fine black and red outfit, and rather similar features to the statue in the foyer. “Our host, Ludwig von Hoesk,” Quentin introduces stiffly.

“Hello,” the old woman, Ser Brigid, greets us warmly. “Our dear Quentin has told me so very little about you. Quentin, did you offer them anything to eat? It would be quite rude to let our guests go hungry.”

“I am told Ser Boris has arranged for sandwiches,”

“Perfect. Sit down, everyone, pull up a chair.”

Gral unnatch 20s a perception. That Ludwig von Hoesk – maybe Gral’s gotten better at picking up on this sort of thing since we’ve spent so much time in in Mornheim, but there’s something odd about that fella. He’s a little too still when he sits still, his motion a little too deliberate. And his skin is awfully pale. The old lady? Her, he can’t get a read on, even with a 20. Daaaaang.

“If you would, please, tell us of your travels. Ser Morozov tells us you first worked together in Ovruch; why don’t you start there?” Ser Brigid asks.

We take turns describing the entities we’ve seen, how we’ve fought them, and how they seem to categorize themselves. We produce the Eyegis as evidence of the Key, and explain what the Astronomer told us regarding the concept of Prisoners.

Ludwig, though very reserved, seems keenly interested in Clem’s tale of Mornheim. Once we’ve told our tale, he asks us to produce the tapestry we took from the cultists in the manor. He examines the partially-woven image carefully, tracing a thin finger over the crowned, skeletal figure.

“Well, Luddy, does it look familiar?” Ser Brigid asks smugly.

The aristocrat is too dignified to roll his eyes, but just barely. “It does. If we’re just going to-“

“Oh, we’d have to clue them in sooner or later. They’ve done more in a few weeks than half my agents have done in years!”

Ser Quentin grumbles audibly. She ignores him.

“Ludwig, is that the symbol you described to me?”

“Yes.”

“And the name?”

“Yes.”

“Do you consider that independent verification of what I told you?”

“Yes.”

“So I think you owe me something, old friend.”

He lets out a huffy, aristocratic sigh. “Yes, fine. You weren’t lying, and I was right not to kill you. I apologize for doubting you.”

“Thank you. Oh, the sandwiches are here!”

He turns his attention back to the tapestry. “Yes, this is the thing that appeared to me and offered me a position at the head of its armies.”

…oh?!?!

He rolls his eyes at our alarm. “I refused, naturally,” he sniffs.

“I should hope so!” Valeria says, and removes her hand from her sword hilt.

“I have no interest in submitting myself to some power-hungry usurper.”

Ser Brigid winks at us. “Perhaps I should re-introduce us properly. My name is Ser Brigid Konig. I was on my way to Valdshart when the city went dark, to formally retire as the Duke’s chief vampire hunter.”

“And this is Ludwig von Hoesk. His son built this castle! For the past couple hundred years, my office has been dedicated solely to hunting and killing him. Greetings!”

She rolls her eyes at her companion, who looks a bit miffed. “Really. They would have figured it out eventually. And you are not subtle about it. With the spooky castle? And the red and black outfit? C’mon, Luddy.”

“A few years ago, shortly after the curse manifested, I had a dream. This in itself is quite unusual; I do not normally experience dreams. In it, a creature resembling the figure on your tapestry appeared to me, offering a position as general of its armies. As its power grew, it would gain control of all undead in Valdia, and it would like myself and my followers to be the first and most honored of its forces. Naturally I refused. There is only one king in Valdia, and it is not some strange skeletal specter.”

“Wait, we have a king?” Shoshana blurts. “…oh. You mean yourself, don’t you.”

“Yes. It was my son’s idea. And what can I say, I spoiled the boy. Now, I was wondering what to do about this vision when who shows up but a bunch of angry knights with crossbows? Not that we’re not used to such incursions.”

“Oh, I’ve been trying to storm this place for years,” Ser Brigid agrees airily. “Every time we try, a mysterious new von Hoesk heir shows up with money and a whole court of followers! People buy it every time. Wishful thinking, I suppose.”

“She accused me of being behind the Curse,” Ludwig explains dryly. “I argued otherwise, and eventually we came to an agreement. Which is why Brigid Konig, my worst nightmare, HAS BEEN LIVING IN MY HOUSE.”

“Yes!” she agrees, with a beatific granny smile. “This way, if you ARE behind it, I can kill you!” She lifts the blanket she’s knitting just enough to give us a peek at the crossbow hidden underneath. Gral sees runes on the crossbow similar to his heartseeker bolts. “The rules are simple! I get to use his house and money, and his people assist as we try to get to bottom of this thing! And in exchange, I don’t kill him!”

Ludwig sighs. “She removes the monsters. I don’t appreciate monsters in my land, and I genuinely will do anything in my not inconsiderable power to drive out these ruinous Prisoners. Even if it means entertaining a woman who’s been a thorn in my side for the last sixty years.”

“Not a thorn, arrows!” she retorts cheerfully. “And a scythe one time. You got better, you big baby!”

“Of course I got better, I’m a vampire.”

Quentin sighs. “Needless to say, all information disclosed in this room is top secret. Frankly, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t have chosen to divulge even this much.”

Ser Brigid turns her level gaze on him. “Please. The orc would have spotted something and said ‘My goodness, Kyr Argent, I suspect something is up with that handsome and brooding fellow,’ and then she would have Detected Undead, and killed several guards, and the castle would be on fire, and we’d be in the dungeons having this conversation, but it would be far more awkward!” She turns to us. “Have I read the situation right?”

“…yup,” admits Valeria.

“See? Now Quentin, dear, eat your sandwich, you’re far too skinny.”

Ludwig is not eating a sandwich. He has a glass of red wine, of course.

They grill us a bit about the Key, specifically, and the Sturmhearst scholars we met who seem rather susceptible to the whole knowledge-seeking lure.

“Hmm, yes. We have several guests here, two of whom are professors. Professor Galvan, whom you’ve met, and a visitor from Sturmhearst. Professor Bjork, from the College of Engineering. I have some suspicions about things going on there. He’s told us a few concerning stories; you might want to pick his brain and get your take on the situation.”

“Such an august institution,” Ludwig agrees. “I gave some of the money to start the place, I’d hate to see it go bad.”

We wonder if he knows Dr. Wendell. But it’s getting late, and while the party discusses their experiences in great detail, we’re going to cut session and pick back up once they’re ready to go meet some other guests of the von Hoesks.

#the cursewood #cursebreaker knights #quentin morozov #ser boris #von hoesk #hoeska #aubrey von mornheim #skelbjor #mercedes the pyromancer #clem haxan #valeria argent #gral omokk'duu #shoshana bat chaya #The Pale King #The Hunt

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superunnatural6667 · 7 years

Text

The Apple Pie Life (pt.14)

(DeanxReader, Sam, Cas)

WARNING: language, a liiiiittle smut

…

"What's the case?" You asked sitting up in the back seat of the impala. "Women shoots herself in Big Gerson's. Fourth suicide in the last couple weeks." Sam answers. "Where are we starting?" "The victims, sister house." Sam replied. ____ "Jane was having a really bad day... so I did what any sister would do. I just to cheer her up. Tell her everything would be ok." Her sister Olivia replied. "Do you know what a tell is?" Sam asked, brows furrowed. "Excuse me?" "It's a poker term. Pretty much just means your lying. What you did with your hair..." "Sam..." you stepped in. "Your right." Olivia said. "I wanted to tell her that I loved her but what came put... I told her she should kill her self." She sobbed. Sam looks up towards you and Dean, smirking. "Thank you for your time." You told her. "Find anything in the house?" Sam asked walking towards the impala. "No, uh nothing." Dean replied. "So what made big sister open her big fat mouth then?" You asked. "That's the big question." Dean replied. ____ "I'll get us a room." Sam said, closing the impalas door. You walked around the impala and over to Dean, wrapping your arms around his waist; embracing him in a hug. "What's on your mind?" You asked. "Nothing." Dean replied, rubbing his hand up and down your back. You pulled away and looked into his eyes. "D, don't lie to me." You sighed. "It-its Sam. I'm telling you Y/N, he let that vamp turn me." "I do believe you, something is off with Sam-" "That's not Sam, I don't know what that is. It's fricken Lucifer." "Dean you know it's not." "Yeah well my sling crawls just being in the same room with him." Before you could answer him Sam came back with the keys to a room. "All set. Two queens."

"I'll get the bags." You told them. "Alright well I'm gonna go get some food, I'll be back." Sam said. "Keys?" Dean nodded, pulling out the keys to Baby. After taking everything out, Sam sped off. "No respect for baby." Dean mumbled grabbing some bags. "You know Dean." You said closing the door and locking it. "You've been gone for a while... and we're alone." You smiled, wrapping your arms around him from behind. Dean turned around, before he could say anything you pressed your lips against his. Your fingers running up his neck and threw his hair. His hands finding your hips. When he pulled back. "As intimidating as you are sweetheart, I'm not in the mood." "Dean Winchester not in the mood for sex? I'm surprised." "Yeah well don't get use to it." "I think it's something I never wanna here again." You laughed. "But just to let you now..." you leaned closer to his ear, "I'm wearing your favorite... black lace." You whispered. "You are very persuasive." He said picking you up and putting you on the counter. His lips pressing against yours, his tongue sliding across your lip begging for access. Putting your hand on his back, you pulled him closer. Your other hand running through his hair. Deans hands found the hem of your shirt, pulling it up and off your body. "You weren't kidding." He smiled. "I wouldn't tease." You giggled.

He pressed you closer to him, his hands then traveling up and down your sides. Tongues dancing together. "As much as I love the lace sweetheart it's gotta go." He said pulling away from the kiss. "I couldn't agree more." You breathed out. His lips found yours again, you cupping his cheeks. Dean unclipped your bra and threw it across the room, landing...in front of Sam. "Uhm." Sam cleared his throat. Dean picked you up and spun you the opposite way of Sam's direction. You held onto him tight, arms wrapped around his neck, legs around his waist.

"Right at the good part." Dean mumbled making you laugh. "There was another one, dentist drilled a guy to death." "Speaking of drilled-" Dean started, but you slapped his back making him stop. "Dean cold shower. Hurry up so we can go." Sam said. "I'm gonna stay here and do some research. Y/N you in?" Dean smirked.

"Were on a case. I'll go with Sam. Have fun with the research." You giggled trying to get off of Dean, but he just held you tighter. "Sam. As gorgeous as my girlfriend is with clothes on, I don't want you to know how gorgeous she is without clothes on." "Right, I believe you. Meet me in the car Y/N." Sam said closing the door. "Did he just agree that-" "I think he did." You interrupted. "Now im definitely coming." Dean said placing you down. "Why? You said you were gonna do research." You giggled. "Sammy just agreed with me that you'd be hot naked, he's also not himself. That steers me towards not trusting him." He smiled. "Dean... I can handle myself. Stay here and do 'research'" You said pulling up your pencil skirt. You grabbed your FBI badge and headed for the door. ____

"Thank you for your time." You smiled. You and Sam walked back towards the car. "I'll call Dean." Sam said. You nodded in response. "Hey...yeah before we could talk to the guy, he hung himself in his jail cell... well what that guy said I don't blame him for drilling him to death....we're going to the morgue to check out the body, can you go to the dentist office?... alright thanks." "All set?" "Yeah. Lets head out." ____

"Would you mine if we took a look at all the bodies?" You asked. "I would but there gone." The doctor replied. "As in transferred?" Sam asked "Not exactly." "You wanna tell me what's going on here or should I speak to your supervisor?" Sam growled. "Gone as in... gone." "Like gone, gone. Like you don't know where." You butted in. The doctor nodded his head, closing and matching the body back up. "Thank you for your time." You smiled. "What now?" You asked walking around he corner. "We should call Dean, let him know what we found out. Maybe he's got news." "I'll call him." You said pulling out your phone.

"Hey... yeah, no I'm good... Dean I told you-...ok whatever listen, all the bodies are gone...we got a lead though, one of the victims died a whole week before everyone else...I think maybe...whatever started the curse, she had to have something to do with it...right now?...where is it...I'll be there soon... alright...love you too." "What's up?" Sam asked, walking before you Ik the stairs. "Um Dean wants me to meet him at the bar a block over, you cool doing this on your own?" "Yeah why wouldn't I be?" "Just, wondering. I'll meet you back at the motel?" "Yeah." ____

Walking into the bar you saw Dean sitting at the island. Dean handed back his shot glass, asking for another one. "I don't know what I just told you that." She said walking away. You sat next to Dean and his eyes were wide. "What was that all about?" You asked. "Well she just told me she was sniffing oxy all day." "You didn't-" "I guess I did. Got anything you wanna tell me?" He asked wiggling his eyebrows. "I was gonna surprise you with sex when we got back to our room... which obviously isn't a suprise anymore." "Well I'm sure I'll enjoy it either way." He chuckled. He threw a twenty on the table, and you two headed for the door. "I'm sitting like this so you'll look at my breast. I just got them done, I need a lot of attention." Said a brunette bitch sitting at a table. Man did that piss you off. "Oh sweetie you got a bloody nose." You said walking closer to her. She put her fingers up to her nose, no blood on her fingers. "No i-" Before she could finish her sentence you punched her square in the nose, causing her to fall backwards. Blood was most defiantly pouring out.

"Y/N-" "I was jealous Dean. Every women in every town we go to drools over you. That bitch got what she deserves." You huffed. "I wasn't-" "Sometimes I wonder why you want me Dean" you say opening up the passenger door to the impala. "If we weren't soul mates would you even be with me? Would I be a one night stand?" You took in a deep death, looking out the window. "Don't answer that." "Of course I would-" "Lets not do this right now, we have to find out how to fix this." Dean just nodded and started Baby up. Minutes later he pulled in front of the apartment building Sam was at. "Stay in here, I won't be long just gonna talk to Sam." "Alright…Dean I love you with all my heart." "I love you too." Dean chuckled pressing his lips against yours.

Finally after five minutes both Sam and Dean walked outside. They oh got in the car and you looked at Dean threw the rear view mirror. You nodded towards Sam and Dean just shrugged his shoulders. ____ "Poor cat." You frowned, back at the motel room. "Your a cat person?" Dean asked, his mouth full of food. "Not really, it's still sad." You walked closer to him, your mouth near his ear. "I'm more of a big dog kinda girl." You whispered. Dean choked on his food, causing both you and Sam to chuckle. When he finally managed to catch his breath, Sam began talking smarty smart. 'Mix cat skull with blah blah blah. With some blah blah blah and you got yourself a summoning spell.' "Y/N are you listening?" Sam asked. "All ears." You smiled. "A demon?" Dean asked. "God. Cory wanted to know if her boyfriend was cheating on her, so she summoned one. Now anyone in town that asks for the truth, invokes Veritas." "So the missing bodies?" You asked. "Gods gotta eat." Dean answered. "Dogs are her Achilles Heel" Sam began. "She wanted to be worshiped." "So an attention whore." Dean quickly answered. "Pretty much." Sam replied.

"What's the 21 century attention whore, speaking truth to the masses?" You asked. "I'll go to the news station." Sam said standing up. Before you could protest about him going my himself he left. "Ok Sam be careful, don't get caught, hopefully you can do it on your own." You mocked. "I talked to Cas." Dean said laying on the bed. "About?" You asked sitting on the edge of it. "I asked him where he's been, he said he's at war or something. He said Lucifer is not Sam. We'd tell if Lucifer got out of the cage." "So we have nothing to worry about." "Im still unsure." "I'm sure you'll figure something out. You always do, Sammy is your baby brother. Even though I know you'll choose him over me anyways- I-I can't believe I'm saying this wow. Just ignore everything I just said." You took a deep breath. "Is that how you feel Y/N?" "I doesn't matter Dean." You stormed going to the bathroom. "Sweetheart if I was ever in a situation to do that, I would manage to get you both." Dean said banging the bathroom door. "I get it Dean... I would ask if you'd wanna join me in the shower but I'm feeling kinda sad and I wanna be by myself." "Understood..." Dean mumbled. "Hey." Sam smiled opening he front door. "I got the footage." ____

"Whatcha up to?" You asked Sam after stepping out of the bathroom. "Watching footage of Ashely Frank." Sam groans. "As in..." "Oh god no. Raw footage of her on Frank Talk." You looked towards the bed and saw Dean ready passed out. You feel bad about the conversation you 'accidentally' started. "How long has he been out?" You asked. "About half hour." "Well I guess I'll watch the footage with you." You smiled sitting next to Sam. ____ Hours. Hours have gone by and still nothing. "Dean" you yawned "are you gonna finish your coffee?" "Can't." You said accepting his mug. "Gotta... wait... go back Sam." "Here?" He asked. "Yeah zoom in." Sam did so, noticing her eyes were a cat like crystal blue. "Yahtzee." You yelled. "Hey that's-" "Your line I don't care." You happily yelled, interrupting Dean. "Can we please go gank this bitch. I need my bed." "Lets head out." Dean laughed. ____

Ashely's house is beautiful. Your not one to care but damn, you wouldn't mind taking a couple things to keep. "Alright lets do this." You smiled leaning over the seat. "Here." Sam mutters handing you a mason jar... filled with blood. "Is this-" "Dogs blood." Sam finished. You quickly pushed the jar back into his hands, wiping them on your pants. "Do I even wanna know where you got it?" Dean asked. "Probably not." Sam said filling the knives in the blood. ____

"Where's all the creep?" Sam asked stalking inside the house. "Gotta be somewhere around here." You whispered. "I'll go this way." You motioned to your left. "Be careful." Dean whispered back. Opening up a pair of sliding doors you were exposed to something, so disgusting. "Guys." They came over towards to you, looking in the room. Bodies, hanging on meat hooks. Limbs everywhere. Tools covered in blood. And the dentist, laying on a metal looking bed. "Dinner already?" You heard behind you. Turning around you saw Ashley Frank dresses in a gown. Before you could lunge at her she forced you and the boys backwards, causing you to black out. ____

"What the hell." You mumbled opening your eyes. Your wrist ached. Trying to get up, you realized you were tied to something. Sam and Dean right next to you. "Sit tight. Your next." She pointed to you. "Bite me. Wait don't." She turned toward the body on the table, grabbing a huge pair of bloody pliers. Out of the corner of your eye you could see Sam reach in his pocket, pulling out his pocket knife. "You know what happens when you base your life on lies?" She asked turning around chewing. "The truth comes along... so Dean, what do you feel about Sam?" "Better now." He answered looking at her. "Yesterday I wanted to kill him in his sleep, I thought he was a monster." "And what about Y/N?" She asked looking at you. "I love her." Dean mumbled looking down. "But I feel like she can do much better. I'm nothing but a weight holding her down.i felt like I wanted out of the life, wanted a family…but what I'm good at is slicing throats. I'm not a father...I'm a killer. And I know there's no changing that." "Interesting." She said standing up. "Y/N?" She asked coming to you. "Anything you wanna say to Dean. You looked over at him, seeing sadness in his eyes. "I've never loved anyone more then I love Dean." He smiled at that. "But... sometimes I worry. Worried he might leave me. Worried he might drowned himself in alcohol. Worried he might push me away... and sometimes he scares me..." You choked back a sob. "Thank you for that. And Sam how to feel about the gang being back together?"

What we do is hard. But we watch out for each other. That's what's important." "No. How are you doing that, your lying." "No I'm not!" Sam gritted his teeth. "What is he?" She asked looking between you and Dean. "I don't know what your talking about." Sam answered. "I doubt anything that comes out of your mouth. Your not human." "What?" Dean asked. "You didn't know?" She answered. At the moment Sam cut through his ropes, sliding the knife over to Dean. Sam was most defiantly gonna have bruises tomorrow morning. She got on top of him, hands around his throat, choking him. Dean cut through his ropes, going towards you. "Just go help Sam." You told him. He nodded, grabbing a meat hook from the corner. He came up behinds her, swinging it into her back. She turned around hissing and clawing. Sam grabbed the knife behinds him, stabbing it into her chest. Dean held his knife towards Sam as he stood. "Dean it's me." "Your not my brother." "Dean stop!" You yelled pulling against the ropes on your wrist. "Look it's me, let me explain." "Why the hell should i believe you." "Gods honest. She's right something is wrong with me. I've know it for a while. I did lie to you. I let you get turned by the vamp...we need in the nest and I knew you could handle it." "Handle it! I could've died. I coulda killed Y/N." "But you didn't. It's should've stopped me cold, but it didn't. I didn't feel it." "You didn't feel it. Ever sense I came back I've been a better hunter! Nothing scares me anymore cause I can't, feel it. I don't know what's wrong with me. I need help..." Sadness was written all over Deans face. Looking as if tears might slide down his face. He put his knife down. Sam let out a huge breath he was holding. Dean looked at Sam anger now written him his face. Right hook to Sam's face. He fell back from the impact. "Dean!" You yelled still pulling against the ropes. Another punch after another after another. "Dean stop! Please!" You begged. He ignored you, blood now splattering from Sam's face. "DEAN!" You cried. Two more punches and he was done, tears slowly rolling down his cheeks. He looked at you, standing o and going towards you. You took a deep breath as he crouched down next to you. He cut the rope from your wrist. His beautiful green orbs a now deep green. "Dean..." He shook his head standing up. "Help me get Sam to the car." ____ Complete silence the whole way to the motel. You would sneak glances at Dean, only to see pain on his face. "When we get to the motel, I'll grab the bags you stay here." He told you, you only nodded in response. Few hours later you were at the bunker, Sam still unconscious in the back. "Want me to help you bring him in?" You asked. He shook his head no, not even looking in your direction. "Ok." You nodded you yourself, heading into the bunker. You heard Dean grunt as he put Sam on his bed. How'd he manage to get him in here him his own. He says like a million pounds. You heard footsteps walking towards the kitchen. Dean walked in, heading for the fridge. "I made pasta if you want some." Dean shook his head, grabbing the case of beer and walking out. Sighing you grabbed your bowl and slowly made your way to the library. Walking in you saw Dean, already on his second beer. How can he even drink it that fast. You sat two chairs away from his. Trying to give him space. But you knew Dean. You knew he would hold in his emotions until he spontaneously combust. "What's wrong?" You blurt out. All he did was shrug, taking another swig of his beer, moving onto the third. "Cmon Dean I'm not stupid, what's wrong." "Don't worry about it." He mumbled. "Talk to me." "I said don't worry about it!" "Like hell I'm not going to worry about it Dean! What's wrong?!" "Your scared of me!" He yelled standing up, the chair tipping backwards. …

A/N: To be continued!!! I really am enjoying writing this series. I don't have a plan for any of this, what comes comes, please don't hate me!! If you have questions or something feel free to ask me. If you would like to be tagged next time I post, just ask! :))

@moose-and-sqruille-lover

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