#oriana the aasimar paladin

[nightmaresart]

ѕριяιт'ѕ σƒƒι¢ιαℓ σ¢ ℓιѕт

ᴏᴠᴇʀᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ

Rachel Jenssen

Louis Maes

Aleksander Novak

Nico Cox

Bonnie Prins

Selene Flores

Calla Fern

Atlas Estevan

Irzin Kron

Valentijn Prins

North Lopez

Reverie Martinez

Eleneore Dembele

Aurelia Panagos

Nox Scarrow

Azul Santana Da Conceiça

Asahi Shimada

Hyun Chai

Chantin Thapa

Sparky "Oriana Corvus"

Brooke Atkinson

Sebastian Atkinson

Kai Williams

Keira Jones

Ryan Seacrest

Bo Cadieux

Elysia Sinclair

Arien Dellis

ᴛʜᴇ ᴜᴍʙʀᴇʟʟᴀ ᴀᴄᴀᴅᴇᴍʏ

Number eight: Uma Hargreeves

Number nine: Leon Hargreeves

ɢᴏᴅ ᴏꜰ ᴡᴀʀ

Medora, daughter of Kratos & Faye

Neva, daughter of Skađi

Sòl, Goddess of the sun and healing

Màni, God of the moon

Ullr, God of Justice, Hunting and Dueling

Revè, God of dreams and nightmares

ᴅᴇᴛʀᴏɪᴛ: ʙᴇᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ

AK-300: Eric, deviant

ᴀᴠᴀᴛᴀʀ

Nuria Armani, firebender and twin

Malik Armani, Waterbender and twin

Osano, Prince of the Fire Nation

Sora, Airbender and the Avatar

ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ

Cosette LaChapelle, Daughter of Aphrodite

Malakai Corbin, Son of Thanatos

Verena Duran, Daughter of Nemesis

Cassiopeia Sallow, Daughter of Morpheus

Arien Ambrosia, Son of Nyx

Sitara Ambrosia, Daughter of Nyx

ʙᴀʟᴅᴜʀ'ꜱ ɢᴀᴛᴇ ɪɪɪ

Braelyn, Snow elf, Wild Magic Barbarian

Silas, Snow elf, Druid

Raksa, Tiefling, Warlock

Kamari, High Elf, Sorcerer

Kieran, Aasimar, Paladin

Elaila, Drow, Hunter ranger

Aveline, Faun, Bard

ᴍᴏʀᴛᴀʟ ᴋᴏᴍʙᴀᴛ

Salvatore Amore

May Addams

ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ʙᴏʏ ᴅᴇᴛᴇᴄᴛɪᴠᴇꜱ

Bee Collins

ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀɴᴅᴍᴀɴ

Life of the Endless

[theinvulnerabletide]

4, 19 and 25 for Oriana! (I saw your dnd live tweeting and OUCH)

rough game. Dramatique ™ and narratively satisfying, but gosh the thought of never playing my girl again hurts.

4.) Describe your character using a song title.

“Angel on Fire.” (which works for every alignment really). 

19.) What Pokémon Go team would they be on?

Valour probably. She wasn’t precisely honor before reason as a character, but she was the front liner who would sacrifice herself for anyone for sure. Plus out of all three legendary birds, I’m sure Moltres would have appealed to her the most.

25.) What does this character mean to you?

Oh man. You know, I created Oriana basically as a dare from my DM. We had a small party and didn’t have ANY front liners, and the DM dared me to play two characters, and you know I can’t back down from a challenge. I gave her only a sketch of a backstory, made her a Devotion Paladin because i hadn’t played that subclass yet (and I was playing a Vengeance Paladin in my other campaign) and was off.

She quickly became a foil for my other character: thoughtful where Whisper was rash, well spoken and shy where Whisper was seductive or insulting, touch phobic where Whisper was cuddly, introspective while Whisper refused to acknowledge any feelings beyond irritation. She became a kind of beacon, for me, at least. A tragic character, stubborn in the face of darkness, determined to do the right thing, to do what was best for her people, and to carry the world on her shoulders, always touched whenever her friends came to her, but sort of… holding herself apart, too. In that, at least Whisper and she had common ground.

I loved her. I loved being her. Almost as much as I loved being Whisper, and especially when she went darkside: that dichotomy of being so Lawful Good on the outside with gears spinning inside was so much fun to play.

Curiosity was her downfall, followed quickly by pride. And yet, she still did kind of sacrifice herself for the party, which is always the end I wanted for her (if she didn’t get to live out her days as the Baroness of Ambrose Grove).

But goddamn, I’m going to miss her.

[wanderingrustus]

Got a few messages asking about the party in my Pathfinder group... well wonder no more. I have no art, but as I practice a bit more that may change. Bear in mind, my setting is a homebrew one cultivated over many years, starting when I played 3.5 in high school.

Natalia Ex Igne, CN Tiefling Slayer

A veteran of "one too many battlefields" and on the hunt for revenge, Natalia is a gifted sniper and accomplished gunsmith. After receiving the final work of gunsmith Gaddock, she also takes on his mission: to take this weapon where certain leylines meet in order to give it the blessings of Iradathril, god of the forge.

Nazir, TN Suli Magus

A devotee of Mardra, goddess of ice and winter, Nazir is cold to the world, save for those few he cares about. Quick to make a pun about his chosen element, he chooses mastery of the morningstar alongside his icy magics. As to his end goal... who knows. He certainly doesn't.

Rothbar, CG Dwarf Warpriest

Devoted wholly to Iradathril, Rothbar relishes in creation, especially in forging weapons. As he finished his 100th creation, he received a vision. In this vision he saw his home in ruins, destroyed by horrific arcane magic and besieged by a horde of undead. Unable to shake this vision, Rothbar grabbed his warhammer and promised to his deity and to himself: "Come what may, I'm going to end this."

Dedue Edmund, LG Aasimar Paladin (Warrior of the Holy Light archetype)

(In addition to DMing, I also play this character.)

Dedue's birth was celebrated by his family, but as an adolescent he was tempted by a local cult. When he saw the initiation into their fold involved demons, Dedue ran, having learned the truth too late. When he confessed what he knew, he was cast out of his family. The only people who cared enough after and took him in were the clerics of Oriana, goddess of mercy, healing and redemption. While in their care, Dedue heard the Call of the Paladin, and answered accordingly. His recent brush with death left him... angry.

Kazimir, CN Dhampir Bard

Abandoned by his vampiric father and raised by his abusive mother, Kazimir learned early that deception was the only way he was ever getting out of his situation. He learned how to honey up his words just enough to be tempting and get what he wants. This led him to become a stage actor, and he was a natural. That led him to dancing, and eventually, fame. His sole goal is to acquire enough power and wealth to permanently snuff out his father, and one day reap the rewards of his fame.

[percival-tealeaf]

Hey! Been following for a while, do you play dnd or mostly just watch it? If you play, can you tell us about your characters and their adventures they’ve been up to?

Hey! Thanks for the ask! I do quite a bit of both actually. I DM a group who I absolutely adore that is played by a group of four of my best friends that is set in the Critical Role universe. I do prefer to play though and have played through five campaigns two of whom are current and a few one shots. I have like six player characters (not counting the one shot crowd or the planned but not played ones) so I’ll give some highlights of the main six and their campaigns but feel free to ask for more details about any of them because I could talk about them for ages!

To start we have the lovely Aiden NightAngel from the Oddessy of Rock campaign who was my very first real character. She was a half elf rogue who eventually took an oath of vengeance to become a paladin of Thanatos (basically a re-skinned Raven Queen). He was very pale with black hair and hazel eyes and presented as androgynously as possible. She wore black leather armor and a deep green cloak with a comical amount if daggers hidden placed. She and her best friend Emi (Another Thanatos Paladin) got roped into saving the world from a trio of evil undead and otherwise lords who were working to unleash the original evil deity. The world was built in a greek style and was mostly islands so we traveled by boat with a bunch of friendly pirates. We went all the way to level 20 and I have a lot of quotes and fun stories from that game.

Next is Finnan Bellowmend. He was a perky blonde halfling bard with blue eyes and an erie fey charm. He quested to the feywild in a campaign loosely based of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with an evil sorceress and they both avoided fighting almost entirely. We ended up winning that campaign and gaining the patronage of Titania of the summer court by writing and performing her a play. I later reused him because I didn’t have time to create a character and the the earlier adventure became his backstory. He is currently living it up as an NPC with a charming Warlock boyfriend.

Then we have the lovely Arella Stormwind who was a black Aasimar Ranger and happens to be my header for the blog. She was born into a society that decided to have themselves a religious crusade and so everyone different had to be killed or enslaved. After being rescued from that fate by her best friend and constant companion Talynn (also in the header) they decided to run away and join the countries that were fighting to stop their corrupt home. I played her for about half the campaign and then she got a bit too heavy so I switched characters but at the very end she came back and married the love of her life who happened to be Talynn. Best fantasy romance I’ve ever had the pleasure of being part of.

That leads us pretty well into my wonderful Divine Soul sorceress gnome with firey red hair and a passionate personality to match Calli Trueheart who was convinced she was a cleric. She gained her powers around the time she met another of our player characters, a bard named Algernop “nop” Pilfernab God Of Whims and Fancy, he was absolutely convinced that he was a god that just had yet to ascend. Calli was great fun to play but quite flawed mechanically so she did end up being my one and only permanent character death. However as a reward her sacrifice did allow Nop to attain godhood through no merit of his own but as the god of Legends and Rememberance not of Whims and Fancy. Both have featured as a cycle of reincarnations that are inevitable in every game featuring the two of us from now on.

Finally we have my current player characters Oriana who is from an amnesia campaign so all I know about her is that she is an elf and some sort of cleric. Upon figuring out her class, her first act was to throw her holy symbol in a lake. We have had no sessions since then but I am super excited to see how she develops and learn more about her.

Last we have my lovely Firblog Grave cleric of the Wild Mother. She has grey fur except for her lavender hair and her name is Selene Ashflower. She’s a joy to play and among her shenanigans she often trips on acid to contact her deity and has drawn from the Deck of Many things twice both times while high to a surprisingly good result. She also ended up beating a three session dungeon in one go because I took Hallow and our DM forgot that was a thing I could do at my level. I lobe her dearly but she is currently having a faith crisis that will be explored once school is back in session.

Hope that wasn’t too rambly! Thanks for asking about my lovely children and don’t hesitate to ask more about any of them including my campaign or my one shot crew!

[islanderscaper]

Characters In My D&D Games (4/?)

Lady Oriana Wright: Aasimar Paladin (Sprin’toral Campaign, Played by @werewolf-in-the-sheets)           fc: Rachel Weisz

[theinvulnerabletide]

Whisper, Oriana - what're your favourite slumber party snacks? Besides pure ecstasy

Whisper: I didn’t exactly have slumber parties growing up, and the ones I had earlier weren’t really conducive to eating… though once and a while the whipped cream would come out. Sometimes some strawberries. Oh, there was this one time, we’d uh… gotten tipped very well… and were able to afford chocolate, and that–

Oriana: Don’t be vulgar. You know what they mean by slumber party.

Whisper: Do you? Because I bet you didn’t have any growing up either.

Oriana: Well, no. But several of the book series I enjoyed mentioned them. And I think if I had to chose it would be smores.

Whisper: Mm. Sundaes for me. Definitely. Think of all the fun you could have with–

Oriana: *sigh* There is no way to get your mind out of the gutter is there.

Whisper: Absolutely not. :3

[theinvulnerabletide]

OC Ask Meme: wardrobe, poison, contact (Whisper); microscope, mixtape, hobby (Oriana); photo album, ufo, interiors (Celandine); fragrance, parachute, psyche (Lyra); conspiracy theory, shooting star (Maggie); lighting, love note, chess board, wild card (any)

Alright, this got super long so the answers are under the cut!

Whisper:

Wardrobe:What is your OC’s style like?

It’s kind of hard to describe; Whisper tries not to beas loud and clashy as, say, Ignatius, but after living with a carnival foralmost seven years, it is hard for her not to be a little bold. Far from themore simple, elegant style she started with. Bright, jewel-tone colors that compliment and play off the color of her skin,complicated embroidery, statement jewelry pieces on her ears, around her neck,and wrists and horns and tail. But while it is bold and eye catching, it is allpainstakingly coordinated, so it’s visually interesting but not exhausting tolook at. She loves cute dresses with diaphanous layers, or travelling breaches andblouses so tight they might as well be a leotard, stuff she can move in, or runin, as needed. Even when she tries to dress simply, there’s plenty of embroideryor an innovative cut to her clothes.  Her brand-new armor, the one with the mithril weave, is a play off of one ofher old performance outfits. It’s a sort of bold teal, the blue and the greensmixing and changing along the fabric, which plays interestingly with the darkerindigo of her skin, and it’s embroidered along the tight bodice with gold. Thesleeves come down to a midshoulder and there’s a bit of flutter to them, andthere’s a bit of a half-skirt, more of a sash really, in a bold blue-green,also chased through with gold. That ends mid-thigh, revealing a pair ofleggings in a darker blue, which disappear into a set of boots she can walk in.It clashes a bit with the gem on her focus, but it works.  Poison: Vices/Bad Habits? What are they?How do they affect your OC?

Whisper has quite a few vices, yes. Drinking, quiteoften, the occasional drug, or spot of gambling, and sex. You know, all themajor ones.

I don’t think they’re too out of hand. While shedefinitely self-medicates with whiskey, and sex when there’s a willing partner,she isn’t necessarily dependent on them. Like, she hasn’t had a single drinksince boarding the Star Song, because drinking and the subsequent hangoverswould impede her ability to work on this spell. But they are the first thingshe turns to when she doesn’t want to deal with her emotions or with whatevertraumatizing thing just happened.

Contact:how does your OC feel about touch/physical contact? Are they affectionate? Ifso, ow do they display affection to others?

Whisper is very touchy; the circus she spent the lastfew years in was very, very close, and there was basically no such thing aspersonal space. While she knows other people aren’t usually as touchy as sheis, she definitely still gets in other people’s personal space quite often. Shehugs people, cuddles up next to them, jabs their arms and high fives and allsorts of things. No forehead kisses though, she thinks that might bemisconstrued. Or construed correctly, as the case may be.

Oriana:

Microscope:Zoom In: describe the little, insignificant details about your OC.

Oriana’s nose is small and slender, upturned at theend. Between that and the freckles that constellate across the bridge of hernose and along her cheekbones, she can almost be called cute, though she won’tthank you for saying it. Her eyes are gold, molten and dark towards the centerand lightening outwards. Her ears are ever so slightly pointed, barelynoticeable under the sable of her hair, even when her hair is pinned up and outof the way.She is shorter than most of the rest of the party, 5’ 4’’ or 5’ 5’’ on a goodday, but broad shouldered and well-muscled, with a little bit of a belly, whichno one ever sees because Oriana is rarely out of her armor, even if her newarmor clings a little more than she’s used to.

Mixtape:5 songs that describe your OCs, or songs they themselves would like.

Take Up Your Spade – Sara WatkinsWaking Up the Giants – GrizfolkNever One Thing – May ErlewineSpark – Backstage CastWhite Flag – Bishop Briggs

Hobby:What do they love? What captivates them? What are their passions?

Oriana has surprisingly few hobbies. She reads, a lot,about everything: copper dreadfuls to ent philosophy, to religious doctrines tohistorical texts. She loves the simple act of reading, of being transported, ofassimilating knowledge and understandingthings.

Stories are what really captivate her though: strongand vibrant heroines and the men who support them, toppling evil empires andmaking their worlds safe forever after.

She also likes to knit, though she hasn’t had a chanceto do that in a very long time. Yarn has been hard to come by recently.

Celandine:

PhotoAlbum: Describe one of your OC’s favorite memories:

Probably the first time she felt like the Lunch Bunchwere really her friends, and not just humoring her or setting her up to be meanto her later, all of them laughing together at their lunch table.

UFO:Identity! What are some of key identifying traits of your OCs? How do theyidentify in regards to gender/sexuality?

Celandine is a 13-year-old super genius, so her intelligenceand creativity, her inventions, are what she puts the most emphasis on. Sexualitywise, she’s 13, so she’s still exploring, but she’s definitely had crushes onboys and girls and enbies before, so she thinks she might be pan.

Interiors:Describe your OC’s bedroom/home/place they consider theirs? What’s in it? Docertain items have special significance to your OC?

Celandine’s room is a little small, even by gnomishstandards, made smaller by her insistence of having an entire workbench in herroom, stocked with tools and materials. Her bookshelf is full to bursting, withmore books stacked on top—fantasy novels intermingled with instruction manualsand text books—and on every other available surface, her projects are laid outin various stages of readiness. Half-finished music boxes balanced on herbooks, her armor on the bed, the heelies she’s working on the actual workbench,and whatever is currently taking her fancy balanced on her lap as she sits inalmost the perfect center of her room.

The only part of her room that’s clean is her dresserand her closet—she keeps that meticulous. Clothes are the last thing she wantsto worry about, so she makes it so she can just grab an acceptable outfit andgo in the morning.

The walls are covered in band posters and schematics,with the one from Kaylie’s last word tour pasted right above her bed. She doeslove music, so she, of course, has a radio that she “fixed” on her bedsidetable, and it is always on while she works.

Lyra:

Fragrance: What does your OC smell like?

Lyra doesn’t wear fragrance—perfumeheralds your arrival as much as an errant step can—and all her soaps arelikewise unscented. So she smells of the leather she wears (leather gloves,jerkin, boots), and the polish she uses on every one of her weapons after takingthem to the whetstone, and possibly, after spending so much time in the crow’snest and at the bow of the Star Song as it races through the skies, a littlebit like a strong headwind.

Parachute: who does your OC trust the most? Who makes themfeel safe? Who would they do absolutely anything for?

There are exactly 8 people in theworld Lyra trusts at all, 8 people she will drop everything to help if theyneed it. Her old party: Arannis, Cora, Atrauk and Haskell, Esssstefan, the Yuan-Tiwho taught her how to fly, Elissssabeth, Lucien, and the milliner who makes herhats in Kamery.

But it’s none of them individually thatmake her feel safe, though having her party at her back helped, as does Lucienwhen he brings her back from a panic attack. The first time she ever felt safeafter the catastrophe in Kamery was when she and her party took the airship upfor the first time. It’s probably the only time she feels safe at all, really,when they’re a thousand feet off the ground and the world below looks small andinsignificant, and she knows nothing down there can touch her.

Psyche: what’s their headspace like? Do they have any mentalillnesses? How do they process difficult or emotional situations? What aretheir coping mechanisms. Lyra’s headspace is… dark, for lack of a better word. Functional, but not muchelse. She spent quite a lot of her time scraping by on the streets of Kamery,in all kinds of deprivation before she was swept up by one of the more highprofile gangs as a sort of catchall, though her expertise was infiltration andtheft, and the occasional murder. She can manage to charm a pigeon into herhand for a small amount of time, but she is just as like to stab them as liftthe thing she needs from them.

Blackthorne tried to hone her into anunquestioning weapon in his arsenal, using pain and necessities as punishmentand reward, and mostly succeeded. The rest of the Magpies—Cyrene in particulartried remind her she was a person, but Lyra pretty much snapped when they alldied around her, killed at Blackthorne’s orders.

So basically, Lyra has some prettymajor PTSD and an inability to handle more complex emotions. So mostly shejust… doesn’t process them. She shoves them back into the recesses of her mindand tries to remain more or less emotionless. It doesn’t work, obviously, butshe has managed to make it so she doesn’t have emotional responses like onemight think. And they always come out in her nightmares and occasional panicattacks.  

She’s gotten better since Lucien hascome into her life; forcing her to talk about them, just being at her back; halfof Lucien’s job is to play therapist after Lyra has a particularly bad episode.He keeps her from breaking apart into a million pieces.

Otherwise, Lyra meditates onoccasion, and keeps her skills sharp. She makes sure she’s never anywherewithout a weapon—which has become easier since she gained some magic of herown—and keeps daggers hidden all throughout her room. She counts them beforeshe goes to sleep, making sure that they’re able to be slid out of theirsheaths and be in her hand at a moment’s notice. And woe to the crewman whotries to slip into her room while she’s asleep without announcing themselves;their like to get a dagger in the eye for their trouble.

Maggie:

Conspiracy theory: what are your OC’sbeliefs? Are they skeptics or do they believe easily? Who acts on blind faith,who needs to see to believe?

Maggie’s relationship with religionis… complicated. It’s not that she doesn’t believe in Avacyn—she sees the magicpriests have, and she assume it has to come from somewhere—but she does distrustthe church, perhaps even the Goddess herself, and has a hard time believing thatthey have the people’s best interests at heart. After all, they’re in power now,and people in power very often will do anything to keep it.

Maggie does also tend to be a bit ofa skeptic, at least when it comes to people, but she knows magic can make quitea few things possible, and that the world is a complex place. Even seeingsomething doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s real. Shooting star: If your OC could have onewish, what would it be?

To see her father again.

Any:

Lighting: Who is the most impulsivecharacter? Who is their impulse control?

Honestly, I love impulsive characters?So more often than not my character is going to just say “fuck it” and do whatthey want. Basically because I have no impulse control myself. I think Az’ar andOriana might be the only charactersof mine who doesn’t give into their impulses more often than the do.

But of my other characters, I thinkWhisper, Lyra and Celandine might be the most impulsive. Whisper is held backby Thia and Oriana and her mother’s voice in her head, Celandine is pretty muchheld back exclusively by Caela (the poor girl), and right now Lyra doesn’t haveanyone to hold her back—maybe Lucien, but crew seems to be just as bad as sheis—she’s had to learn how to hold herself back, now that Arannis and Atrauk andCora aren’t around to council her to be careful.  

Love note: who likes who? Crushes? Relationships? Are theymutual or unrequited?

I think of all my D&D characters,Wren is the only one who is actually in a relationship, and whose love is requited.In fact, finding Narissa, who was taken back to the Feywild, is her wholereason for going on this adventure.

Whisper expects her attraction to mostof the party is mutual—why wouldn’t they be attracted to her, she’s gorgeousand clever and an absolute delight—but the feelings she may or may not have forsome of them she expects are completely unrequited.

Celandine is 13 and has basically hadbrief crush on half the school, though her most enduring one is on KaylieShorthalt, who is also her favorite singer. Since Kaylie and Celandine areyears and years apart and have never actually met, it’s safe to say that’sunrequited.

Lyra has something for Arannis. She refusesto think about it and stubbornly tells herself that it’s just admiration andrespect and friendship, but even if it were mutual, Lyra would never let ithappen. Chess Board: who is the most logical? Orthe schemer/planner?

Az’ar, Lyra and Celandine are all schemers.They’ve all got plans for days, though Lyra less so than she used to. EvenWhisper has schemes of her own, though they’re mostly borrowed from Ignatius’play book. Az’ar is probably the most logical of them all though.

Wild card:

I stole this question from another askmeme, and, well, as someone who loves angst, I couldn’t resist:  Is your character afraid of death? Ifthey got to choose how to die, how would they want to go?

I think, of all my characters, onlyOriana is not scared of death to some extent or another. Az’ar is so terrifiedof it that she’d kill the god of death to secure immortality, and Whisper woulddo almost anything to avoid it herself, at least until her appointed time.

But Oriana would like to die inbattle, Whisper would prefer to die completing her mission, Maggie merely wantsto die ‘doing the right thing’, and I think Lyra has no preference. She’shonestly surprised she continues to breathe. But she expects to go down in ablaze of glory with the Star Song when the years finally catch up with her.

[theinvulnerabletide]

Major Arcana Asks: The Fool (Lyra), The Lovers (Celandine), The Hanged Man (Oriana), Reverse Lovers (Whisper), Reverse Chariot (Az’ar), Reverse Moon (Maggie)

The Fool: When hasyour character been excited to start a new journey?

Theonly time that comes to mind is when Lyra and her party went up in the (then unnamed)skyship together. It was the first time she had ever flown, and as they roseshe felt this unbidden wave of hope and delight and excitement– like she hadjust gotten her hands on something priceless– all emotions she hadn’t felt for months. She thought,in that moment, freedom might actually be within her reach. 

Evennow, every time the Star Song takes flight, she feels that little tremble ofpossibility and excitement, except this time she knows it is.

-

The Lovers: Which ofyour character’s relationships has been the most positive (romantic orotherwise)? 

Asidefrom Celandine’s relationship with her family, it isdefinitely the ones she has with the Lunch Bunch. They’ve simultaneously helpedout of her weird “I only want to build shit and I don’t care about other people”attitude and gave her someone to build for,which has actually pushed her to make cooler and more complicated things. She neverwould have gotten the idea for heelies or for a hand-held gaming consolewithout them.

-

The Hanged Man: When has yourcharacter needed to step back and look at things from a different perspective?

I think the first time Oriana hasreally had to try and take a different perspective, at least in game, was in Vrykolakas,when the vampires greeted them not with fangs and steel but with friendliness.It still really disturbs her to think that even an ex-paladin of Wahreightwould corrupt a town like that though

-

The Lovers in Reverse: When has your character experienced heartbreak?

Whisper hasexperienced heartbreak plenty of times; every time she was not allowed to leavehome for a festival, when her brother got sick and died, when her crush on Ignatiusproved to be… misplaced, when she saw one of her best friends get murdered (ifonly in a dream) and when she pried into a friend’s past and learned his TragicBackstory. Whisper’s heart has been more than a little bit battered over theyears.

-

The Chariot in Reverse: When has your character’s pride or arrogance beentheir downfall?

Az’ar’s deathwas definitely predicated by her pride or arrogance. She has always had a certainamount of pride in her abilities, and arrogance in that she believes herself betterthan the gods and like… every person. But the night she died, she was summoninga pit fiend, which is something she’d never attempted before. It was unlikelythe fiend would have simply given her the information she wanted and gone away,but the chances of that were reduced to zero when the paladins that were huntingher (probably because she’d killed others of their order) broke through her defensesand into her laboratory and set the pit fiend free to kill them all.

- 

The Moon in Reverse:When does your character mistrust their feelings or intuition?

Maggietrusts her instincts for the most part… except when it comes to magic. Sheknows that whatever gifts she received from her patron have a price, she knowsthat whatever her patron wants isn’t going to be good for anyone in the long run.But just like she couldn’t stop herself from going out into the woods when shewas a kid, she couldn’t stop herself from agreeing to the deal.She’s tried to mitigate the temptation by not leaving the city anymore, but sheknows it’s only a matter of time before something happens, and her patronoffers her more power. She knows it’s only a matter of time before she saysyes.

[theinvulnerabletide]

Whisper and Oriana: were you surprised the giants went down so easy while their pets gave you so much trouble?

Oriana: Yes, I definitely thought the giant with all the heads was going to be the most difficult to take down.

Whisper: Same? I ran right by that thing to the door fully expecting it to cut me in half. But Miren’s Tits, those weird magma worm things. I guess with that armor, and what with them fucking eating people, they just had to be more of a pain in the ass.

Oriana: Yes, at least the giants had the courtesy not to try and eat anyone.

Whisper: Though who knows? They might have just been waiting until after we were dead.

Oriana: …Mayhap.

[theinvulnerabletide]

Whisper & Oriana: were you surprised to see MoonMoon end that fight?

Whisper: Yeah, that was…

Oriana: Unexpected?

Whisper: I was going to say impressive, especially for the little wolf who eats rocks for some reason? But yeah. Unexpected.

Oriana: We’re all very proud of him, though.

Whisper: Sure, let’s call it pride. Bask in it now, boy. It’s never going to happen again.

[theinvulnerabletide]

Oriana: What would you have done if Shade tried to take a ramorahaz home with him?

“A ramorahaz? One of those giant, moltan worms? 

“Oh, gods. Could you imagine? Even a small one would likely have destroyed the ship that we’re on. Or, send us so high that we’d never be able to return to the ground.

“I would have had to stop him. But though his priorities tend to be different than mine, Shade is not unreasonable. I just... I would have had to have a discussion with him. He would have understood why we couldn’t take such a monstrosity with us. That’s all it would have taken, I’m sure.”

[theinvulnerabletide]

Whisper & Oriana: were you surprised to see Thia miss a shot?

Oraina: Oh, yes, of course. Keithia is such a phenomenal archer… I think that was the first time I’d ever seen her not hit a target. It was a little terrifying, actually, the way the bone devil just seemed to dodge out of the way. I was very worried the rest of us wouldn’t be able to hit it either. 

Whisper: Surprised? A little. But honestly, I thought it was kind of funny.

Oriana: Whisper!. 

Whisper: What! I mean, it wasn’t funny that she missed, but the way she pouted afterwards? Hilarious. 

Oriaan: *shakes her head*. Anyway, She seemed to get her confidence back after her next arrow hit, so I suppose all is well.

Whisper: She just looked so frustrated! Oh, Miren’s Tits, it was adorable. 

Oriana: *sigh*. 

[theinvulnerabletide]

Oriana & Whisper: Do you think you're ready to go face frost giants?

Whisper: I think, ready or not, we don’t really have a choice in the matter.

Oriana: That’s not strictly true? But I also don’t think putting it off is going to help matters. And we do have help, at least. Both Captain Cooper and Arannis with us, and they’re both capable warriors.

Whisper: We’re walking right into a stronghold of a bunch of creatures twice our size. I don’t think ten people is going to be enough. Or if we’re sneaking, it’s too much. The more of us there are, the more likely we are to be caught.

Oriana: Well, we’ll have to fight them at some point. Shrim wanted us to destroy them, did she not?

Whisper: Sure. But I’d rather find out what they’re planning first. And then kill them while they all sleep; I bet I could conjure enough water to kill a sleeping frost giant.

Oriana: …that’s just… distasteful.

Whisper: Safer than fighting one head-on.

Oriana: Perhaps, but not more honorable.

Whisper: I’d rather be honorless than dead! Ugh. Whatever. We have no choice in the matter now, we’re almost there. There’s no use fretting about it. Let’s just… get it done.

[theinvulnerabletide]

“That’s a good look for you.“  Whisper and Oriana

“That’s a good look for you.”

Startled out of her scowling revarie, Oriana whirls around, relaxing immediately when she see it’s only Whisper. The tiefling is already in her new outfit, which is flashier than her previoustight pants and blouse ensemble was, though strangely more modest. The necklineof the blue and green bodice with its gold embroidery only shows a hint ofcleavage, and the skirt of it (if it could really be called that), hit herabout mid-thigh on one side before cutting savagely upwards, but the rest ofher was covered well enough by a pair of dark blue leggings.

Whisper smiles atOriana’s inspection, flashing just a hint of fang. “And yeah, you don’t have tosay. I look good too.”

“You look,”Oriana jabs back, “like you belong in a circus.”

“Because I do, dear.Or I did. Keep up.” Whisper slips a little closer, cocking her head as sheconsiders the outfit, and Oriana can’t help but follow her gaze.The fabric Tim had created for her was odd, a sort of bright chainmail thatfalls and moves like cloth, backed on the skin side with undyed linen. Her neckis still covered in something of a gorget, and her arms are still covered inpauldrons, but the more inflexible material didn’t go down nearly as far as shewas used to. Though, lifting her arms had become quite a bit easier, which sheappreciated.

The hauberk, shesupposes it must still be called, meets the padded material and flowed down,cinching in at the waist and the wrists, so it wouldn’t get too in the way. Thechainmail ends at about her midthigh, partially covered again by the stiffermetallic fabric at her stomach. Her legs are covered with a pair of whatappeared to be white linen pants, perhaps a bit tighter than she prefers, whichvanish into a pair of cream leather boots.

It looks alright,she supposes, but it still seems a bit… much. If it wasn’t so much lighter andeasier to move in she probably would have changed back into her plate already.

“Do you really thinkit looks alright?” she asks, frowning dubiously.

Whisper sighs.“Doubting my taste are you?” She shakes her head and closes the distancebetween them, taking Oriana by the shoulders and moving her to face the mirror.

Oriana frowns at herreflection. Even she has to admit it’s a striking, if strange compromisebetween armor and the suit Tim had wanted for her. “It’s just… I haven’t wornanything but armor and vestments in… ages it seems.”

“There was that dressfor the ball,” Whisper says, looking at Oriana over her shoulder, meeting hergaze with a grin.. “And may I say, you looked very fetching in it.” 

Despite herself,Oriana smiles when Whisper wiggles her eyebrows. “Yes, well. That was for a specific purpose. This…”

“Is for anotherspecific purpose. It protects you,” she says, flicking one of the pauldronswith her nail, letting off a small ting, “and you look fly as hell. Like,straight out of an epic poem about some knight and her lady fair.”

“And which am I?”Oriana asks. “The knight or the lady?” It comes out a bit more than wistful at that small reminder of her own struggle for balance between being a Paladin of Wahreight and the Duchess of Ambrose Grove, and for a minute the same wistfulness settles on Whisper’s face, before she forces an artless laugh.

“Come on, Angel Eyes, you’reboth. And now you’re dressed like it.” She pats Oriana’s shoulder gently.. 

“Well. When you put itthat way… perhaps I will keep it. Maybe it will grow on me.”

Whisper’s smile widens.“It will, just you wait. Now come on,” she slides around, looping Oriana’s arm withher own and while Oriana flinches, but does not pull away. “Let’s go show everyonehow dashing we look.”

“…If we must.”

“Oh, we must.” AndWhisper begins to drag the reluctant Oriana towards the door, and towards the rest of their friends.

[theinvulnerabletide]

Whisper & Oriana: how do you feel about Thia saying you two are like her sisters?

Oriana: I was very touched. I’ve… I’ve never had a sister before. The idea of having one, of having a family, especially one that chose me. It’s very… it’s very nice.

Whisper: Oh, look, you’re tearing up. How sweet.

Oriana: Yes, I am. And you should talk. I saw you tearing up in the pub. You were touched too.

Whisper: Nah, you’re touched. In the head. Because if there were tears, if, it was me mourning the loss of possibilities between me and Thia. There are just some things you don’t do with your sister. Alas.

Oriana: *rolls her eyes*

Whisper: But I suppose, if I must, I can live with that; I’d rather have a friend, and a sister, than nothing at all. At least she’s staying with us.

Oriana: You just like that she said we were closer to her than she is with Chealyn.

Whisper: I mean, I definitely appreciate that. At least I’m beating that tin voiced hag at something.