#its a tad too long

[ask-the-crimson-king]

Tales from Black Crusade... Kind Of

It's been a while since I've made any sort of post like this, be it Warhammer TTRPG related or other-TTRPG related. For those who are wondering or care, I am currently in 3 campaigns -- playing in a Pathfinder 2e Campaign, and DM'ing a Dragonlance game and a reboot of an old campaign that I've wrote about before here on Tumblr.

That campaign being Black Crusade, which fell apart almost a year ago now. But we tried a reboot, and some things are happening.

This will just be a mini-post about one snippet of last night's session, purely because the scene was just amazing and I'd like to try and share it with other humans.

However, before I can even do that, I'll briefly introduce the player characters, even though the scene in question only really involves two or three of them:

ZACHARIAH CAIN - Former World Eater, current diabolist attached to the 17th Host of Word Bearers. Has recently mutated a lot due to the destabilizing presence of a Slaaneshi daemon prince, and is on the verge of either ascending or becoming Chaos Spawn, neither outcome seeming very appetizing.

SOHN'IK ERINACEUS - An Emperor's Children raptor who is all about extreme speed and is generally always in a good mood. Happily will run into danger for fun. If you get the meaning behind his name, you get a cookie. Also as an aside, this character is unironically genuinely amazing, their player plays him SUPER well and he's a treat at the table. I'll discuss his exploits in a later post, potentially.

SOLOMON GRUNDY - Death Guard who was attached to the Lords of Silence and generally doesn't remember much about his life because he died and came back holding a seed from a Barbaran oak tree. Grundy also has befriended a tiny nurgling and is the fire support for the party.

Finally, and potentially controversially,

ARTORIAS - I would list out all of his names but there's too many. Artorias is a renegade Custodian who was lost out in the Warp for millennia, its exposure slowly breaking down the geneforging that locked his mind into being happy to be used as a tool and weapon of the Emperor. He was later found and convinced that his way was a way of slavery, and that he could find freedom elsewhere. He acts as a hidden guardian of Apostle Ans'ar of the 17th Host.

Artorias deserves a post all on his own. Some people may be rolling their eyes but bear with me, I promise his lore is not completely gary stu cringe. I allowed it because the campaign is being done in Wrath & Glory, and the party is at Tier 5, and there was some acceptable homebrew to make a Custodian. Trust, I am generally someone who likes to err on the side of canon and lore. Plus my player really wanted to make a renegade Custodes, and I didn't want to "no, but" him, and it's led to some really great storytelling and moments in the campaign.

BUT this tale is not about Artorias. This is about the current exploits of our new band of Misfits.

Zachariah sends out a call to try and get the ear of Kor Phaeron. Already this may sound insane but bear with me. The party has come up with a very long-winded plan that involves the creation and maintaining of several Warpstorms in and around the Eye of Terror. There's several other aspects including Titan Legions, Knight Houses, the Dark Mechanicum, at least three other Legions [not in their entirety, but a decent showing of force], and potentially the Blood Pact, but that would require maybe an additional 5,000 words to explain the context for.

The party is in pretty good standing with the Word Bearers, and they needed someone who was a very adept ritualist with a large reach to assist in this endeavor. So they shot for the stars and, with dice on their side, they got what they wanted.

One of my players happens to have a very good voice for Kor Phaeron, and he offered to take up the role for me. He's played the old bastard in the past for a campaign, so I agree to let him do it. I set the scene a bit so he can understand Kor Phaeron's current mindset, and he gets to work.

I basically tell him where we last had seen him at the end of Throne of Light, explain how he probably feels in the aftermath, and a couple of additional campaign-specific details.

I cannot express in words alone how this man nailed his character so pristinely.

Zachariah gets in contact with the Dark Cardinal himself, and invites him to this grand theatre of war that he, the 17th Host, and the small band of Misfits are putting together alongside allies within the Emperor's Children. Most of the plan he is relaying is the brainchild of Solmon Grundy and Sohn'ik Erinaceus, with some add-ons by Zachariah and Artorias. It's a very, very ambitious plan, and one that, if executed very well, can and will work. What he is not saying is how this is all connected to an insane idea that the Apostle currently has, because the Apostle knows it's an idea that could absolutely get him killed and the 17th disbanded.

Kor Phaeron takes a moment to think. He then asks why he -- and his Legion, in particular -- would really be interested in such an engagement. Surely this is something the III Legion can handle on their own. Why should they be meddling in this great conflict to come?

Zachariah says that there could be glory to be found in an alliance here, and that Kor Phaeron's own expertise is needed. The old man says that he cannot see how, and presses Zachariah on why this conflict matters so deeply to him. Again, this sounds like the business of another Legion, yet he's speaking with urgency and is trying desperately to sway him. Surely there must be something else here.

And then Zachariah makes what we in the industry call a "Gift of Gab moment".

Zachariah sells out the actual intentions of his Apostle.

And immediately my player who's playing Kor Phaeron starts doing his villain laugh.

"He said it in character, I do not want to do takes-backsies, let's roll with this."

I could feel everyone tensing at the table and I decide to have Ans'ar, the Apostle who just got sold for 62 cents, jump in and try to defend and explain himself.

Kor Phaeron then says, "You have from the time I walk from my personal chambers to the strategium deck to explain the reason for the 17th not deserving chastisement or reorganization."

They can hear the tread of his heavy boots upon the decking and the clicking of his claws as he speaks.

So he tries to sum up everything neatly and as swiftly as he can, with Zachariah occasionally butting in to offer some extra details. Out of character, the table is tense and everyone is saying "oh fucking no".

What is the plan that could get all of them absolutely wiped without a second thought? Well.

Ans'ar and several other Apostles have come up with a plan to force the primarch out of his seclusion using a massive ritual. They need the ritual to go off because they hope to empower Lorgar so that he can kill the burgeoning Star Child and also bring a measure of order to the Warp.

With such a daring plan, there are obviously many ways for this to go wrong, but if it goes right, it means Lorgar is out active in the galaxy again, and that could be bad news if you're depending on him not being out and about for the next while.

Kor Phaeron has heard a few murmurings and rumors about a number of Hosts who seemed to be conspiring about something, but the nature of it was mostly veiled or it seemed not to be of great interest. And now he is very, very interested.

Of course, involving Kor Phaeron would absolutely and inevitably mean that the cat would get out of the bag at some point, but this was absolutely not the time. This was just supposed to be a quick "will you help us?" and if he said no, proceed without him. This was a Hail Mary, a "hey, wouldn't it be hilarious if we could do this?" and I let them roll for it.

If he DID say yes, they tell him the plan when the pieces are already in place and the board is set. That way, even if he objects, there's not much he could do to stop it or interfere.

In this instance, the pieces have just been outlined, nowhere near to being put into place. Which now means that Kor Phaeron can now have free reign over the entire plan and twist it to his whims.

SOOOO now Kor Phaeron has a very vested interest in knowing all the ins and outs of this plan, when it is being conducted, and by whom. He expects all of these answers when he meets with Ans'ar in person. He tells the Apostle that he is, for now, "grounded", and is to remain in place until Kor Phaeron arrives.

And right before he cuts contact, as he enters the strategium and everyone hears the tensing of Terminators in greeting, he has a few final words for Ans'ar in quiet Colchisian:

"My son will not return by your hand."

The connection drops dead.

Plans begin changing fast. The nature of Artorias's very existence is a secret to all but those within the Host, and if Kor Phaeron finds out, then Ans'ar may be in bigger trouble than planning a massive primarch ganking ritual. However, at this point, Artorias is demanding to be at the Apostle's side as part of his honor guard once Kor Phaeron arrives. So is Zachariah, as one of his Masters of Possession, much to Zikar-Sin's protesting.

Grundy & Sohn'ik both have to depart in order to begin organizing their parts of the grand plan -- Sohn'ik to try and find and recruit the Riotous Host, Grundy to go find the Lords of Silence. Of course, other allies are also being contacted -- we're going to be having a small cameo next session of an Alpha Legionnaire from a past player who just couldn't schedule the game in -- but I'm very excited.

Now I get to plan out a LOT of potential networking, combat, and the arrival of the bastard himself. That's all going to be very fun.

Since his PC is going to be Away -- not a decision made so he could continue to guest NPC as Kor Phaeron, that was already decided on before Zachariah's PC decided to be like "hey, could I try Skype calling him?" -- Grundy's player will probably be playing him again with me handing him some rough bullet points and notes on what I want to have hit with him.

Very excited to see where this goes, we're only a few sessions away from the end. Will the party have a skill issue and die in this massive confrontation they planned? Maybe. Odds are they probably will. BUT I trust them not to. They can be very keen strategists.

I hope you enjoyed this tale, I'll try to post these on occasion if things of note happen. Expect one for Dragonlance to be posted soon as the party is about to confront Dragon Emperor Ariakas at Sanction.

[baeshijima]

thoughts on being engaged to duke!sunday, the head of the oak family, an incredibly influential figurehead within society, the close subordinate of emperor gopher wood who brought him and his sister in and raised him like his own, and the villain who faces a tragic ending in a novel you recently finished — the very same one you just so happen to find yourself transmigrated into. he is as cunning as he is blinded, a trait which brought ruin to many in the empire, and one which ultimately brought ruin to himself at the hands of the protagonists.

as luck would have it, you became a barely mentioned side character from a marquis family, whose role was to be the villain's wife stuck in a one-sided love who, too, would get caught up in the tragedy alongside him. however, now that it's you who is stuck in this position, you're determined to try any means necessary to deter him from going down that path, all in an effort to escape your predestined doomed fate!

of course, you didn't expect it to be easy. the day of your arrival in this world was already the night before your wedding, so you had little time to prepare yourself for the nonchalance of your supposed family, how they viewed you as but a means — a tool — to boost their influence and prosperity, the dismissive mannerisms of the household servants, and the absolute beauty of a man you will be married to.

(seriously. the novel descriptions did not do him justice. he was like... like... like he was handcrafted by god himself! and not to mention his sister, robin, was the very epitome of an angel! perhaps you're destined to perish by the god-tier visuals instead...)

to say the least, the wedding ceremony went by quickly. safe to say you didn't spend the night; he was cordial and gentlemanly upon letting you know that he won't do anything until you're ready, that you can take this relationship slow, but somehow you ended up feeling a tad insulted. like, who leaves their newly wedded alone in a big cold bed as they walk out on their own? a sick bastard that's who!

well, whatever. it's not like you need nor want to consummate with him! besides, you have bigger things to worry about — things such as your impending death. and, of course, the only way to stop sunday that you can imagine working is by chipping away at his resolve bit by bit, and opening his eyes to reality.

he is a tragic character, one who cares more about the well-being of penacony and its people than anyone else, but was manipulated into getting his hands dirty in the emperor's stead. you knew this. you sobbed over his story, cursed out the protagonists, and even fought internet randos on novel forums about sunday's motivation and how,

no, he is not just a stupid villain. he is a complex character with flaws and humanity and was cruelly taken advantage of by someone he considered family. he was deceived through the suffering the emperor wanted him to see to make him easily manipulated, creating a rift between him and robin to have that prominent separation. you know what? maybe you're just a !%#@ who can't even #@?"% read properly!

and yet you still find yourself at a loss when faced with the walls he has in place. your initial efforts went as well as it possibly could have; you trying to earnestly help him, while he "kindly" dismisses your offers! well, "kindly" being more condescending since you could read between the lines of his mannerisms and amiable demeanour, but that's fine! you expected this! that just means you have to double down on your sincerity, get through to his heart (somehow), and help him realise humanity isn't as weak as he's led to believe!

you have three years until the novel's plot officially starts, and another year after that until your demise. that's plenty of time to get him to warm up to you!

it was easier said than done, but after your valiant effort and abundance of time put into this relationship, which admittedly you could do with some of that lost time back, you could give yourself a pat on the back with the progress you made! while you definitely could have done without a lot of the headaches, it's safe to say sunday has significantly warmed up to you in comparison to your wedding day. he now willingly eats all his meals with you with some real conversation, takes garden strolls with you in the early evenings, invites you out for dinner at a restaurant at least four times a week, hell he's even joked and laughed with you more frequently! but most importantly, he has begun asking for your opinion before finalising any decisions he is required to make. and he actually listens and considers your side! now, that certainly is the best outcome you could hope for after all this time, and it most definitely will help in your endeavour to save you both from the protagonists!

however, you've noticed he's been more... affectionate? well, at the very least he now willingly holds your hand when in private (not just in moments when you're in the public eye and he has to make sure the family's reputation is spotless), sometimes he will hug you out of the blue ("i just need to... recharge. you have a way of calming me down. i hope you don't mind." ...how could you say no to his supreme god-tier face card? that's just a losing battle you won't even bother fighting against.), oftentimes he opts to just gaze wordlessly at you (robin had mentioned over one of your tea times how it almost appears as though there is no one but you in the world when sunday gazes at you with, in her words, "the eyes of a man so deeply in love!" ...whatever that's supposed to mean...), but a more recent development has been his sudden interest in kissing you; well, more specifically giving you a kiss to the back of your hand or on your forehead — certainly not anywhere near the lips! (besides, he's probably just gotten comfortable with you, enough where he can freely act without judgement. nothing more, nothing less.)

well, either way, development is development! soon enough, the time for the main plot to start has arrived. it of course follows what you remember, from the organised balls to the protagonists meeting to the political aspects of it all. the only difference is sunday's less active involvement in all the schemes and the emperor's ploy. rather, he seems more focused on you and the future of your marriage and even displayed a sudden interest in your practically non-existent relationship with one of the foreign diplomats, aventurine— wait...

"[name]," he calls your name out so sweetly you nearly disregarded it as someone else he was talking to. well, perhaps you would have done had he not suddenly appeared before you, a tight-lipped smile tugging the corners of his lips as he steadily approaches you.

oh. he doesn't seem very happy, if his tense figure is anything to go by. you wonder if one of the nobles grated his nerves a little too much this time?

sunday comes to a halt a step away from you. "i don't like that... gambler being so close to you. it... it brings me a rather unpleasant feeling." there's a slight, trembling pause. not a moment later does he close the gap between you, one knee on the ground as he matches your seated height on the fountain rim, your hands gently enclosed in both of his.

you idly wonder if this is what robin meant by the so-called "eyes of a man so deeply in love" she constantly gushed about, for the way in which he gazes up at you is enough to render you breathless.

"tell me, [name]," he begins once more. there is an underlying desperation woven within his tone, one which has your head spinning and heart thumping wildly as his trembling gaze holds you in place. "tell me, what am i to do with this fervent love and overwhelming adoration i hold for you?"

oh.

...oh.

perhaps your impending doom should be the least of your concerns when you now find yourself in the arms of a clingy husband...

(though, it's safe to say you did, in fact, manage to prevent him from succumbing to his tragic fate! you just gained a loving, yet slight slightly emotionally challenged husband along the way.

well, you can help him work through it; you have the rest of your lives now to figure it out, after all.)

[thankstothe]

justhouseythings

[can-of-slorgs]

The other researchers are also here! (magical edition!)

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

The kids all feel guilty when they get Spider back, they feel like they have to make up for leaving him. I don’t think Spider thinks that at all. He doesn’t blame them because Spider understands how little control you have as a kid better than anyone. 

The rebuilding of their relationships is easy, simple. Sliding back into routine, old and new, and reaffirming bonds that have always been there. There are some bumps, where Spider feels like he’s missed so much and his friends world is too different now, and they feel like Spider has been through so much he’s an entirely new person with new triggers and new idiosyncrasies to learn. 

It’s especially frustrating for Kiri and Spider, who felt they knew each other inside and out and never imagined that would change. But they talk and they spend time in the water and on the beach being with Eywa like they would before, and they just relearn each other again. 

Lo’ak, who has always seen Spider as just Spider and would wrestle with him and mess with him like any other Na'vi, can’t help but treat him as fragile. Spider comes back different, bruised and a little haunted. He comes back looking as delicate as everyone always said he was. Lo’ak has just lost a brother and Spider’s humanness is now so evident to him it’s painful. Spider really doesn’t like this, it’s a reminder of his fragility here and of his difference, and it takes a while for them to get past it. 

Tuk took Spider for granted for her whole life, and she never considered her parents indifference to him to mean he would not be there at some point. This is now a painful reality to her, so she sticks to him like glue for weeks until the kids can convince her he’s not going anywhere. Still, one time he goes somewhere she didn’t know he was going and she flips out on Jake and Neytiri, demanding to know where they sent him. Spider doesn’t understand Lo’ak and Kiri’s newfound anger at their mother. He understands why she did what she did. He would die for Kiri gladly. This explanation doesn’t make the two happy, but he thinks Neteyam would understand even if it makes him sad. For Lo’ak and Kiri, ignoring their mothers hatred of Spider is almost survival instinct. It’s intrinsic, innate. Accepting it, seeing it, is to accept that she really must hate this human part of them in some small way. And, really, that Jake ignoring it must mean he hates that part of them, of himself, and of Spider too. Now it is all right in their faces, impossible to really ignore.

[buffygirlfail]

making every single song on ttpd btvs coded in a way because I can never be sane about my two interests ❤️

[reginrokkr]

Last minute sillies™ before going to sneep, but if there were anyone who told me that Jinhsi got her boots thanks to Xinyi, I would wholeheartedly buy it.

[rodismancave]

. wanting 2 write stuff for bad ending rodimus but it scares me soooo bad

[purpleandstarlight]

This is me rn, btw. If you even care.

[maxe-murderer]

At some point I will explore the idea of Paul liking plays

[mannaggiamannara]

Yarn tail progress thread

[oceanxveiined]

With the frequent time she spends around areas and brings tainted by/of the Abyss due to her research, it has most definitely taken a toll on her.

Physically, it has long since dulled the color of her eyes, from a brighter, almost gem-like turquoise to a murkier teal. Her scars seem all the more prominent, especially those afflicted by Abyssal monsters, even almost glowing in the presence of that energy. Her usual body aches do tend to feel a lot less painful after a spell near such places/monsters, but then the subsequent withdrawal from the energy tends to leave her more aggressive and tempered than before it, especially with how much worse her chronic pain would flare away from its influence. And that’s without mentioning the more long term effects creeping up on her, with her own lifespan and mental/emotional health being sapped away by the corrupting energies.

She is partly aware of this, but even if she knew exactly how badly this will wind up being for her, it’s not as though she would plan to stop seeking it out any time soon. If anything, it would encourage it further.

[aroace-poly-show]

i don’t wanna cut my ribbon… :(

[sohvi]

oh my god i got my hair cut so fucking short dfghjhghjk

[dirt-str1der]

Ngh awake thinking about the way phantasmagorias author portrays the majima everywhere alert through prose like YOW the second before the door slams open you already feel ten thousand icy cold needles shooting into your skin so deep they pierce to the marrow, like youve walked into a spiderweb spun with threads of fate and theyre all wrapping around you and trying to converge inside your body and then the door opens and its him. Its really him and you have every reason to square your shoulders up and tell him get the FUCK out of my home

[hoshiyoshis]

got my haircut i think it healed at least 3% of my mental illness