#set in faerun

[oubliette-odette]

The Reluctance of Love, Pt. 2

I've been having a little too much fun writing this story. I will admit, not a lot happens in this chapter - but I promise the next chapter will be good. Just a reminder that this a (sort of) slow burn.

Orc Male x Half-Elf Male, Fated Mates, Forbidden Love, Slow Burn Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Word Count: 2750 (average 20 min read) Content Warnings: mention of mating, nothing happens....yet ;) All orcish is from orcishdictionary.com, created by Matt Vancil. Not beta-read. Criticism is welcome, but be sure to distinguish criticism from hate.

I hated myself for leaving Altan there. But I knew that I would hate myself more if I did anything to him.

I remember when I was a child I had always been afraid of mating. It felt like without any choice from either person - you were expected to be intimate with them. I never liked that my body would do something to me that I couldn't control. My broodmothers always told me it was the gift of Gruumsh that assured the vitality and strength of the orc races. It was something that would be mutually felt between partners. I still didn't like it, and I still was afraid of my own body for much of my childhood.

I left home for many reasons: the fact that I was a constant reminder of my father's and broodmothers' shame. The fact that there was no one left my age unmated. But also because I knew that if I left, I would reduce the chance of finding a mate. Lordhovid only would happen with a female orc. The world beyond would reduce my chances of every having to experience it, should it ever happen to me.

I sometimes wondered if I never experienced the urge to mate because I simply didn't want it. But Gruumsh be damned, I found myself in a greater predicament than even experiencing lordhovid. My greatest fear turned out to be worse than I could have imagined.

My relationship with my home and my culture was complicated. I desired to be seen as valuable and needed by my family, but I only brought shame as long as I was unable to give them children. I left for not only my own sake, but for the sake of my family. But I still carried with me a pride of my people and a want to do what was right and I carried a hope that maybe someday I could earn their love back.

My life-partner, my raebukam, the one my body began to burn for was someone I couldn't possibly be with. If I were to return with Altan to my homeland - radiant Altan who remained golden in my memories - I would be dishonored. To bring a partner who could neither bear children or fight for the tribe would spell my damnation.

Altan...I wished I had never learned his name. Altan. Altan. His name was seared into me, branded in my memories. I wished I could have met him under different circumstances. I wished I could love him and not hurt him. I wished I could have known that his feelings for me would be returned without lordhovid influencing him.

I stayed in my tiny room above the forge for the next two days. Feverish and overheated, I struggled through the days. I hadn't been able to buy enough food and I knew eventually I'd have to leave. But I insisted I couldn't leave. I would live with this if I must. I wouldn't give in to this lust. It wasn't mine. I could control it.

On the the third day, however, I heard a pounding at my door.

I was curled on the mattress on the floor that served as my bed - I could never find a bed big enough for my size - and caught in a feverish daze, trying to not think about Altan.

"Drunrag?!" Someone shouted from the other side of the door.

My heart leapt up to my throat. I knew that voice. It was like music.

Altan.

I shrank into the corner of my room, panic formed in the pit of my stomach. "No," I rasped. "You can't be here." The last two days had been near hell - I didn't know if I could be strong enough to stop myself now.

"Drunrag...please open the door." His own voice sounded exhausted. Guilt and shame flooded through me. He had been experiencing his own symptoms of lordhovid, and I had left him to suffer them alone. I selfishly had only considered myself.

Damn you, Drunrag.

"I'm not above considering breaking this door down." He said. "It's taken me these last two days to find you, and it's been absolute hell. I'm not leaving until we have a chance to talk."

"You should if you wish to be safe." I yelled back. My voice cracked from disuse and panic. "I don't want this."

"Look, I'm still not entirely sure of all that's happening to us. But I trust you not to hurt me. Can we please just talk and see what solution we can come to?"

I struggled to my feet, and stumbled to the door. I hesitated, my hand at the lock. "I'm...are you certain?"

"Just. Open the damn door, please."

I hadn't considered that Altan could posses such fire in him.

Admittedly, I knew nothing about him. I fled before I could know him. I only understood one thing: that my body wanted him.

I slid the lock back and cracked the door open. My eyes alighted upon seeing those wide, golden eyes. Altan. Gods, he really was glowing. I let out a breath that I must have been holding since I left him. The pulling in my chest lessened, now that it felt the closeness of my raebukam. However, it was painful to be so close and be denied what my body screamed for. I felt the heat inside me begin to stir again.

"Ummm," He looked up and down through the crack, a weary yet sardonic smile crossing his face. "Do you expect me to converse through this crack? I think not. Gods, where is your sense of hospitality?" He pushed against the door, and I - too stunned to do anything really - was like a leaf, easily knocked back by the small, slender man before me. I crashed against my wall and watched him step into the room. My mouth was agape as I watched him barge in.

In that moment, I studied him, really took a good look at him. He didn't seem tall for a humanoid, but his head looked like it only reached my pecs. He dressed a bit differently than I typically saw in the streets. More loose, airy clothes that exposed his golden brown skin. His coppery curls were long, but appeared mussed and unkempt, like he hadn't been taking care of himself for quite a few days.

I watched as he studied my home. It was a simply layout, a kitchen and a bedroom. The outhouse was outside. His lips were open just slightly as he took in everything. He turned suddenly to gaze into my bedroom. As he turned, the smell of sunny wheat fields overwhelmed my senses. I shuddered and closed my eyes, ignoring the pulsating inside me that urged me to grab him and pull him towards me. Everything about him was tantalizing.

He sighed. "I should have expected this. There's really not much here." He peered into the room where my mattress lay and he frowned, "If you expect me to sleep with you there, I absolutely refuse." He turned to look at me. "You may be an orc, but that doesn't mean I will resort to your way of making love. I expect our first time to be better than...this." He gestured to the general space, which I wondered if I should find offensive, but my mind quickly slipped beyond that thought to the fact that I heard him discuss potentially sleeping together...

There couldn't possibly be a chance...not in any of the nine hells. Gods tell me he's joking.

"What did you say?" I said. "You're not actually considering..."

He stepped towards me, his voice was sharp and direct. "It's not like we have another solution, right? I've had two days to ponder this. It seems you and I are deemed a worthy pairing according to your mating instinct. And strangely, my own body seems to be confirming those same feelings. If you and I are to function at all in our lives - we have to do as our bodies tell us. We must mate. Correct?"

I couldn't look at him. It was too embarrassing. I could feel my face burning with shame, but also with anger. How could he possible suggest this when I didn't want this.

"I'll take that as a yes." He said, his voice softened.

I looked up to see him. He was standing in my home. My tiny, cramped little space with only a kitchen and a bedroom. He looked perfectly normal in it. But I could see the dark circles under his eyes, the way his hair looked like it hadn't been washed or combed since I last saw him. His own breathing was heavy, like mine. His stance looked as if he were carrying an intense weight. A weight that we could remove....if I could just give in to lordhovid.

But I couldn't. I shook my head. "No, I'm not mating with you."

"What exactly is holding you back from this?" He asked. "I apologize if this may come across ignorant, I've only met a handful of orcs in my lifetime, all of them much older than me, but I was raised to believe that orcs found great pleasure in their mating customs. Help me to understand...is it that you find me unlikable?"

I grunted. Unlikeable? No, Altan seemed friendly enough, savvy enough and possessed a lot of spirit. It wasn't something I found in most people I encountered. He seemed honest too.

I shook my head. "No."

He took a step towards me, to which I took a panicked step back.

"Do I repulse you?"

I shook my head again and grunted. I found that he did the exact opposite, I couldn't focus because my eyes would wander to all of his various features. His large, golden eyes. His full lips that always seemed quirked into a smile. His exposed chest, bare and smooth. His ear poking through those soft-looking curls. No, I could not say I found him remotely repulsive.

"Are you afraid of me?" He asked.

That, I hesitated. Yes I was afraid. Of him. Of me. But mostly of what was keeping us together: lordhovid. I was scared what it would do to me, do to Altan and of how its influence brought me here.

He cocked his head. "You're afraid of me." He said it that time as a statement, not a question.

I shook my head, "I am afraid of what you are."

"A half-elf?" He laughed. "We're not known for being terrifying."

I couldn't laugh, not at that moment. I looked at him with a dark expression. "I'm afraid of you as my life-partner. I didn't want this, nor did you ask for this."

His laughter faded and his expression softened. "You really didn't choose to do this to me, did you? You didn't choose me?"

I shook my head. "lordhovid is meant to draw together those who will bear the strongest children for the orc tribe."

"Huh...curious." He said, his voice was light, curious more than anything. I wondered how none of this seemed to be affecting him as much as it affected me. He thought for a moment. "You mentioned that you were broken."

Krandad. Broken. I had grown accustomed to be called that by my broodmothers when I remained the last one unmated from my litter.

I shifted where i stood. To speak on the most intimate, sacred part of my culture to someone who was being so kind and patient to me. Someone I should trust. I somehow felt out of place, like a child. "I am unmated. It is shameful for an orc to be unmated. At first I thought it was something wrong with me. But I believe it because it's my choice."

He studied me. I didn't like his eyes on me for so long. I could feel the burning of his stare and it made my own heated skin surge with longing and want. "You don't want to mate at all, is that what you mean?"

I gave a small nod.

"Then why are we here now?" He asked.

I shook my head, "I don't know. But you were not given a choice. Nor was I. You are a stranger...and I have damned your fate to be with me." I bowed my head, looking away from him somehow made everything in my body feel so much worse. "You have my deepest apologies."

He didn't answer, didn't speak. I worried I had upset him somehow. I glanced up, and saw him staring back at me. His gaze was like the sun on my face, warming my body through every part.

"You are an honorable man, Drunrag." He said, gently. "I see that your sense of honor and your moral standing are greater than even most men. I understand that...this," He gestured between myself and him "Isn't something you want." He closed his eyes for a moment, then laughed. "You're a more complicated person than I anticipated." His eyes were like small lines when he laughed. I liked his laugh.

"I'm sorry." I said, my voice low. I didn't mean to be complicated.

"Let me make a proposition for you, then, Drunrag." He stood tall, as tall as he could against me, it was amusing to see him puff his chest and stretch his shoulders back.

"I'm listening." I said.

"You and I will not mate." He said, he smile awkwardly. "We'll see if we can manage our lives with this symptom. I'll treat it like a cold. Just a really hot, heavy, feverish cold. Who knows, maybe it eventually goes away. Or, you could see if there's some kind of potion? Spell? A Sorcerer, perhaps, that could remove it for you. And if we find that it's too much. Well, I know where you live. Let's say we reconvene in a month and see if we need to revisit option number one."

He smiled warmly at me, and it made my insides twist. Why was he being so understanding of my situation?

"You're being too kind." I said.

He shrugged, "What else can I do? I won't force myself on you, I would hate myself for that, handsome as you are."

Handsome? He must have been trying to be polite. Nothing more. Except that I didn't know how to answer him, and I felt the silence between us build uncomfortably.

"Well," He said with a forced smile. "I suppose there's nothing more to do, right?"

I hesitated before I nodded to him. "Right?"

He looked around the space once more, and then back up to me. "I would like to think maybe we could be friends...once all of this is over?"

His smile was more genuine as he cast his attention my way. He really did have a glow to him, an aura of warmth that made him easy to like. I wondered then if maybe it would be so bad sleep with him...just once. What would it feel like to hold him? I looked down a bit and caught the slight curve of his waist. I imagined my arms...

I clenched my eyes shut, closing the thought before my body reached a new temperature.

"Thank you, Altan, for your understanding." I said, gaining my composure. "In a month's time."

His smile faltered for just a moment, a brief look of wanting and disappointment, before he nodded his head and made his way to the door. "In a month's time."

The door shut behind him and I felt his presence on the other side of it. I pondered our last interaction together. Why did he seem so disappointed?

It was frustrating to feel that tug and pull inside me that tried to pull me back to him. I shoved the urge away and locked the door after I felt some distance between us. Would I always know approximately where he was? Would I ever sense his emotions or if he was in danger?

I ran my hands through my hair, several times, to try to distract myself from the heat and pressure inside me. I was stronger than my bodily urges. I was stronger than the pull that kept me near Altan. I was stronger than all of that. I repeated the words as I looked around my now empty apartment.

Was this really to be my life from now on?

[chronurgy]

It's the modernization it's the mechanization it's the way the old world has to die for the new world to be born and by killing gortash you've slowed it down but you haven't stopped it because ideas can't be stopped and the industrial world that will destroy your way of life is coming and you can't stop it by killing him any more than the luddites could stop it by smashing up a few factory machines

[honourablejester]

Watching/reading a lot of (possibly old) discussions on whether Faerûn is a bad setting or if it’s just been overused since 5e came out, and then further to that whether it’s Faerûn as a whole that’s been overused or just specifically the Sword Coast, that stretch between Baldur’s Gate (and/or Candlekeep) in the south and Neverwinter (and/or Luskan or Icewind Dale) in the north. And. Those are two very different discussions, actually, and I might deal with my gripes with Faerûn as a setting another time. But just on the latter issue? If it’s just the Sword Coast?

On a whim a while back I bought a series of Solo Adventures for 5e by Paul Bimler. There’s 6 so far in the series. And I remember being distinctly delighted when, in the prologue of the second book, your character leaves the Sword Coast behind and travels across the Anauroch Desert to reach the lands around the northern edge of the Moonsea on the far side. The second book has you adventuring in the despotic city of Zhentil Keep, the third in the Dragonspine Mts just north of it, and then the fourth book has you (on an unlinked adventure this time) just wander north again into the icy Tortured Lands below the Great Glacier. And it was great. I’m not even sure why, it just really felt new? And then the fifth book has a wizard teleport you all the way back onto the Sword Coast again (specifically Daggerford, just south of Waterdeep), and honestly it was a bit of a bummer?

Now, some of this could have been that I was really enjoying the wandering solo hero life, just walking out and seeing what trouble I met on the way, and the targeted teleportation felt rude. I wasn’t going that way! I was wandering east and north, excuse you! You’ve just cost me months of travel. But I think part of it was getting to see bits of this world that I just hadn’t before, and then being disappointed to be back on more familiar ground. I wanted to keep exploring! We could have gone all the way over to Thay! Or down to the vast Sea of Fallen Stars! You could have teleported me down to Halruaa so I could see some skyships, or somewhere interesting! But no, we’re back on the Sword Coast. Of course we are.

Now, obviously this was just a personal anecdote. But. I think it is a bit illustrative? There’s a lot of Faerûn that hasn’t been seen or explored in quite some time. (Obviously there was some dabbling with Tomb of Annihilation and Chult, and several reprinted adventures, but still). Paul Bimler, I think, also does a lot of 4e conversions, so that might be why his scope is a bit broader. And some parts of the map I vaguely remember from reading D&D novels as a teenager (Moonshae Isles, for definite). But since I arrived to the game itself during 5e, there’s a lot that I’ve never seen in-game. I wonder how many people these days think ‘Faerûn’ and ‘Sword Coast’ are synonymous, when actually the Sword Coast is a tiny region in the much bigger continent of Faerûn.

So. Anyway. I would definitely agree that the Sword Coast in particular is over-represented, and I’m bummed that that particular series of adventures chickened out of exploration to go back to more familiar ground.

(Also, the solo adventures are good! I had a lot of fun! I was just annoyed at being randomly teleported the whole way back across the continent, is all).

[bigmfrat]

redesigned Valcour, he can change colors now based on his mood :) Slowly updating all of his old art and discord stickers with the new design also working on making myself a modern setting because he and two other of my ocs are basically homeless now. I tell you what, there's nothing I love more than making rules and laws for magical creatures and people. I love it to BITS. having so much fun with the besties

[magical-girl-coral]

Withers/Jergal doing nothing when all the new gods came in and ruined everything only to get his ass in motion when the chosen ones plus few rejects get into trouble is the equivalent of when a neglectful parent only starts to give a shit when grandchildren come to visit.

[disgruntledexplainer]

D&D elves

[himbopunk]

what is happening. Why is he glowing

[morganaseren]

So I started a second run of Baldur's Gate 3 this week. To no one's surprise whatsoever, I decided to throw my Niamh Cousland into the mix mostly with the hope that it would help nudge my muse into letting me write more. I'm also playing with mods on for this run, which explains why Niamh and her crew have access to armor and weapons not normally seen this early in the game.

As expected, she is a Storm Sorcerer with a Sage background whose expertise lies in both history and the arcane. I've often mentioned that if Niamh hadn't spent much of her life imprisoned as a mage in Kinloch Hold per her canon Dragon Age worldstate, she'd likely thrive as a scholar of some sort. Honestly, you can't tell me she wouldn't just love immersing herself in all that knowledge.

Like, I can see her getting a little smile on her face when someone mentions some obscure thing in conversation that she immediately has the context for or just idly noticing something about the other person (a pin on their outfit for instance) and being internally like, "Oh, I know exactly whom you work for." And from there, she can just work them over until she gets the answers she needs with little to no violence involved even in some of the most tense situations, much to the continual bemusement of some of the members of her party.

Them: HOW?!

Niamh: [blinks] I asked?

She's quite charismatic for being someone so soft-spoken. 🤣

In keeping with her Necromancer specialization in Inquisition, she also has necromantic abilities, such as speaking with the dead. Rather useful for getting clues that would've otherwise left others at a dead end (pun intended) even if it did startle her companions the first few times she did it. She's very respectful about the whole thing though. She gives them a burial afterward with the proper funeral rites.

Of course, while being remarkably intelligent, that's not to say that she doesn't get herself into trouble, especially when her curiosity gets the better of her. For instance, she managed to get herself into some hidden laboratory that had a tome bound in human skin sealed inside a booby-trapped room...

Yeah, she probably makes any lover of hers go grey so quickly with antics like that.

Speaking of which, she's romancing Shadowheart. 😌 Considering the parallels between her and Dragon Age's Leliana, it was no surprise that I was going to pick her. 😂

But, yes, Niamh's having a grand ol' time in Faerun while also looking like she and her companions never got out of their Hot Topic phase.

[oubliette-odette]

The Reluctance of Love, Pt. 3

I wrote so many drafts for this chapter. But I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I hope you love reading from Altan's POV as much as I loved writing it. He's a little more free and unfiltered in his narrating. Also I'm so sorry that each chapter keeps getting longer!!! I just write and I can't stop until I get to the end! Thank you so much for the lovely comments so far. I'm really really happy to hear that so many of you like these characters.

Orc Male x Half-Elf Male, Fated Mates, Forbidden Love, Slow Burn Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Word Count: 3,025 (average 23 min read) Content Warnings: mention of mating, mention of masturbation, nothing happens....yet ;) All orcish is from orcishdictionary.com, created by Matt Vancil. Not beta-read. Criticism is welcome, but be sure to distinguish criticism from hate.

Altan POV

One month.

Why in all of the nine hells did I agree to one month?

If I had been smart, I would have said a week. Two at the most.

I was going to go insane.

Ever since I left Drunrag's forge, I could feel him. It was like we were tethered together by an invisible thread and when one of us moved in proximity to the other or further away, we felt the pull and release of that thread. I figured out very quickly that he lived a very structured lifestyle and I started to predict at certain times of the day when I would feel the pull of him.

And every day I would sense it when he would be closer to me and I would hope that maybe he'd follow the pull back to me. To tell me that he changed his mind. That he'd be willing to share one night with me.

Oh Altan, you sap, how quickly you fall for a pretty face.

I knew the symptom's of Drunrag's lordhovid was probably affecting me - I'd like to think of it more as augmenting what I was already naturally feeling...semantics I suppose - but I felt almost immediately that there was something special about Drunrag the moment I saw him.

Gods, how I wanted him. He was...well, everything.

Tall - well over six feet tall and looming. Having stood so near him, I knew he dwarfed me entirely. It felt dangerous, but so alluring.

Dark - Green skin, the shade of deep emerald, textured with dark freckles across his face and on his shoulder. His hair was black, but I caught lines of silver that ran through - it looked to be nothing related to age. It was pulled up into a topknot, but some hairs slipped and strayed into the front of his face. It was tantalizing and begging my fingers to pull his hair free and run through it. 

Handsome - Maybe a bit subjective, but truly, he was exactly my type. His height was matched with a thick build, his body possessing muscle and strength that was built to break me, but I just knew he would hold me so gently.  I saw how his piercing grey eyes noticed everything. They darted around him, taking in everything in rapid order. His tusks were pearly white - well maintained. I wanted to feel them on my neck with those large hands holding me in my place. I imagined what it would be like to be ravished by someone like him.

By all appearances, he looked like what most people would see as a dangerous orc - bound by a god-given oath for power and blood. My home was near where an infamous tribe known as the Wolves of Dirge frequently raided and pillaged for sport - but I found that Drunrag was more puppy than wolf, and I loved him for it.

Oh my Drunrag, if you only knew how many ways I dreamed of you ruining me.

I think I need to change the subject.

My symptoms were mostly manageable. I felt feverish and seemed to be sweating more than normal. I found that I was more irritable and easily flustered by any sudden shifts in temperature. The longer the day went on, I would also develop a pounding headache and a strange dull pain in the pit of my stomach. But I managed. I could stave off a bit of heat and discomfort as I needed to.

It was nights that were the worst.

With nothing to distract my mind or body, I would find myself in a frenzy. The first night I kicked my sheets off of the bed - it was far too hot - and I was near panting with frustration. My entire body was on fire, it felt like it would burn through the bed and I gasped and panted for air, for release.

My mind could only stray to one thing that could take it away: Drunrag.

Whether he believed it or not, I believed him to be something special to me. I avoided calling him my mate, as that would make him uncomfortable to call him that, but I knew there was a connection between us. I wished he could have seen it as clearly as I did.

But he didn't, and I was alone to comfort myself.

As the nights passed one by one, my self-control was dwindling. Each night, I could only see Drunrag in my head. I could close my eyes and imagine his weight as he settled next to me, laying so that my back was pressed against his chest. I imagined his arms snaking around my waist and pulling me towards him. His hot breath against my neck as he whispered to me how wonderful I smelled.

I wondered what he smelled like. Damn, Altan, you should have caught a whiff before you promised to leave him alone for a month.

No. No. Actually, that would have made things so much worse.

My mind refocused on the vision in my head and I imagined his large - such large hands - close over mine and bring them up to my chest where he would curl in and hold me close and let me feel his weight around me as we both fell into a fitful slumber.

Meanwhile, imagining this only brought me an edge of desperation as I stretched out on my empty bed which had no handsome orc man to hold me.

I couldn't deal with this lust alone. Not without him. Not without help. The only comfort I had was his name. His beautiful name.

Drunrag. Drunrag. Drunrag.

Drun.

If I was lucky, I could call him that as he held me. I would say it so sweetly to him, I would never say it in anger. I would hold him in return, his head on my lap as I played with his hair and told him all the gentle things no one ever told him.

Drun, you're so handsome, so stunningly handsome. Drun you're hands are so gentle, I know you could take such good care of me. My Drun, you make my head spin with want. Drun let me touch your hair again.

I laid alone in that bed, wanting, wishing, regretting.

In desperation I tried to pleasure myself, imagining my hands to be equal to Drunrag's - they weren't - and urging the lust to spill over enough to let me rest. I could feel the pressure building between my legs and I began to breathe harder, Drun's name on my lips as I worked myself harder.

But in the end, my body would not release. I could not be satisfied or sated. My body didn't want my own self-pleasure. It wanted Drun. I wanted Drun. If my father had seen me in such a state...I dared to hope that it would kill him with shock.

Why did I agree to a month of this?

I woke the next morning with a headache I could not abate and my body flushed with heat that would not go away, even after burying myself in cold water in the bathhouse.

It had only been four days at that point.

There was no way in any hell that I would be able to last another 26 days like this. Not only was it that I couldn't live like this, but I also wouldn't. My standards were too high to accept this much sweat from so little labour. I stumbled out of the room in the Inn I was staying at, gave a slight polite nod to the innkeeper as I shuffled out.

I'm sure I looked like absolute shit. And for the first time in a long time, I really couldn't give a shit how I looked.

I needed a bath, I needed a meal, I needed to change my clothes. In fact, I needed to leave this town before I stumbled into one of my father's goons.

But I also needed to see Drun again. My body couldn't take it. I followed the pull, not minding who I rammed or tripped into as I got there. I wound through busy streets and ascended down to the lower part of the city near the coast. We weren't anywhere near where his forge was.

I found myself on the docks of the town. The smell of fish and salt-sea air overwhelmed my lungs. It was enough to make a man puke if you weren't prepared for it. Which I wasn't and I found myself flung over the the edge of a dock and heaving my guts out.

"You 'right?" A voice called from behind me.

I wiped my mouth clean and looked up. The morning sun was shining just enough to block any features of the man. I couldn't see much of him besides a rotund silhouette and a tricorn hat sitting askew atop his head. Sailor folk, I could only presume.

"Fine." I said. I wiped my mouth and struggled to my feat.

"Oh, ain't you dressed fine for a day out on the docks." He whistled low. "Fancy."

Not really, I thought. These clothes had gone two days without wash. Though, in hindsight, that's probably much more often than that man ever washed his clothes. I blinked the sun from my eyes and took a closer look.

He was a short, round man with a twinkle in his stark blue eyes. A pipe was in one hand, and the other rested calmly against a pistol on his hip. His shocking white hair and deep wrinkles revealed a man with many years behind him on the sea. He seemed friendly enough.

I smiled back at him, it was nice to have a friend. "I'm looking for a friend of mine. You wouldn't have happened to see an orc gentleman pass by, would you?"

The man pondered for a minute, then shook his head. "Don't believe I have." He narrowed his eyes and looked at me more closely. "What would a fine young lad like you be doin' with orc folk?" He looked me up and down and I saw his eyes lock back onto my face. Something about me triggered and his friendly expression fell. "Oi...you match the description of that Duke's son that's gone missin'. You wouldn't 'appen to know anything about that, would'ya?"

I shook my head, forcing my best grin. "Handsome lad I've heard, but that's all I've gleaned from the gossip." I sidled my foot towards where I felt Drun's presence and began to slide away.

"Now, now son." The man's voice was low now, not remotely friendly in tone. I felt a chill run down my spine before my body began to burn even hotter than before. "The Duke's got a generous reward for anyone who brings his son back home. I ain't partin' with you till I know for sure." His fingers graces the wooden handle of his pistol and he tilted his head, a knowing smile on his face. "If I'm wrong, we split and pretend this never happened."

This man wouldn't hesitate to shoot if I ran, I sensed.. I wondered if my father had put dead or alive on that prize money. He'd likely be relieved to be rid of me.

The smile on my face fell as I realized the trouble I was in. I hadn't expected word to spread so fast.

Then again, I also hadn't expected to stay in this town as long as I did.

Damn you, Altan.

"Sir, please." I said, pleading. "I'm not going back to Durbesk. Help me and I'll double the price my father has offered."

The man clicked his tongue and shook his head. "With what funds? You ain't got shit on you."

He was right, the gold I brought to pay for my room and board was nearly gone and it wouldn't even begin to cover the price my father demanded for my return.

I felt my heart race inside me. I couldn't go back to my father. Fear and panic set in as I saw the man take a step towards me, his pistol now pointed at me.

"As a precaution" He said, his tone was friendly, but I saw the glint in his eye was now a look of wicked greed.

My cries would fall on deaf ears if I begged to him. It wouldn't matter that my father hated my existence and wished me to be a different sort of son. One who would obey him, who aspired to be just like him with a pride and ego that outmatched anyone else. Who was arrogant and spoiled. Who believed money, stature and reputation was more important than music, art, and the simple pleasures in life.

He wanted a son that wouldn't kiss boys behind stables when they were fifteen. A son that wouldn't smile so much and laugh too loud. That wouldn't bring home rodents as pets and nurse them back to health and cry when they died. He had always wanted someone more tough, more heartless and brave than me.

No, this man wouldn't hear any of that. He could care less what sort of nightmares I faced at home at the expense of my father's disappointment and hate in me. And he wouldn't care that the only person who truly loved me - my beautiful mother - was gone and buried in an unmarked grave so that I could never find her.

My mother thought I was perfect the way I was, and told me so. She never wanted me to stop smiling or laughing. She told me my music was beautiful and that it reminded her of her home in the Silverwood. She told me that I was beautiful. Everything I loved about myself I got from her. My eyes, my hair, my heart.

I wish someone would understand how much I missed her. How much I wanted to be with her instead of here...running away from my life to start over away from my father. Away from everything that reminded me of her.

I bowed my head, fighting back the hot tears that I felt brimming at my eyes. Why was I crying at a time like this?

"Please." I said, faint and breathless. "Don't make me go back."

The man looked like he was about to laugh at me, when I suddenly felt the warmth of someone's presence behind me. The shadow of his height fell over me and I whirled around to see him.

Drunrag.

My Drun.

His eyes were like deep silver pools, blazing with the heat I knew was smoldering inside him. He didn't look at me, his eyes were instead trained on the man. I looked down and saw his hands were clenched into tight fists. Under each of his arms was a barrel, which he carefully set down on the dock on either side of him, then rising again to his full height.

"You're his friend?" The man asked, a sour tone in his voice that I didn't like one bit.

Drunrag didn't answer, only sniffed contemptuously before taking a step towards him, shifting around me so that he didn't come close to touching me. I still felt the sizzling heat between us.

"You have no business being here." Drunrag said. His voice was heavy and low, rumbling his chest that reminded me of bear's growl. My body reacted to it strongly and I stumbled back, unsteady and wavering.

"Yeah? And what's your business with him?"

"None of your concern." Drun's voice was level and calm, but I could sense the mounting pressure inside.

"You just want the money for yourself." The man protested, pointing his gun at Drun. My heart began to pound faster. Don't shoot him. Oh gods please, don't shoot him.

"I saw him first." Drun responded. "We can fight on it, if you wish." He cracked his neck side to side, then clenched and unclenched his fists. Muscles, tight from his tense posture, rippled and reacted to his movements. The man's eyes were on them and I watched gleefully as his pistol lowered to his side and his face fell open.

Drun continued. "Get lost...or I'll be cracking each of your finger one...by...one until your bones are ground to dust." He cocked his head. "Won't be much use on a ship with boneless fingers."

Oh dear gods above...that shouldn't have affected me when he said that, should it? I looked down at the barrel and decided it was for the best to take a seat on it. I needed to catch my breath.

"Stupid piece of shit, is what you are." The man spat, "Green shit straight from a horse's soured stomach. Cross my path again and you're gonna see a bullet right between your puny eyes."

I had never wish a person dead or suffering greater than this man. I rose to my feet, rage radiating off me.

Drun turned back at me, his eyes flashing and a deep frown on his face. "Stay back." His voice cracked. "I can handle this." He turned back and asked calmly. "Have you anything else to say before I punch out your teeth?"

The man shook his head and turned away from us, mumbling threats and insults as he shuffled away. Drunrag stood still, tensed and ready for any retaliation.

When the man was gone, he finally turned back. I looked up to meet his gaze, my thanks and gratitude on my lips when I saw he wouldn't look at me. Instead, he walked passed me and retrieved his barrels before turning and beginning the walk off the docks towards the main part of the city.

"Drunrag." I breathed out. I shuddered to hear his name out loud like that. I wanted to say it loud and open like that all the time, for it was the name of my beloved. My hero. My fated partner.

"Don't." He said, his voice dark. "I'm doing everything I can to stop this from affecting us. Give me time and stay away as much as possible." He finally turned, his eyes were still fierce as he looked at me. "Please don't get into trouble again. I don't want to see you hurt."

He walked away from me, barrels in hands. I watched him walk away.

What could I say to him to make him stay?

I remembered then what he told me in the beginning. He didn't want to mate. He made the choice to not do it. It was never about me.

Whatever made me think that I could convince him that I was worth changing his mind for?

I bowed my head, I couldn't bear to see him walk away from me.

[kogiopsis]

Can't stop making new Tavs, send help.

Meet Orlaith, a Tiefling warlock whose fey patron provides her with power in exchange for mortal gold. (IE, I wanted to do a 'how much can I REALLY accumulate' run and gave her an in-world reason).

So far we're in the Underdark and over 17k... on Tactician, too. The experiment is going well.

[orinthered]

i think im gonna try to make a conscious effort to put slightly more effort into developing my ocs. because i would like to . sniffles

[bhaalsdeepbat]

get wrecked vlaakith

[queen-scribbles]

So Maggy rolled into the goblin camp (deceived her way past the gate guard :3) with the intention of finding Halsin. Not planning to take out the goblin leaders yet, I just wanted to fricking get Halsin, or at least interact with him a bit.

AND YET. Two hour later, I've killed all three leaders, taken Minthara's armor for Wyll and her casual clothes for me, cackled about the very useful things I got when I hit level 4, and still haven't said word one to Mr. Beefy Druid. xD

[bisexualshadowheart]

i had all this lore in my head about ryn and how he grew up, that he definitely had a best friend who was also a seldarine drow but a sorcerer. so that's how zilvyra came to be 😊 a storm sorcerer who keeps her barbarian dummy bestie in check

[disgruntledexplainer]

Space travel in D&D (not spelljammer)

So there is a D&D campaign setting called Dragonstar, which is kind of like a space opera but with more magic. (don't worry I'm going somewhere with this)

The general premise is that every D&D world (or at least every 3rd edition / D20 D&D world) is in fact a separate planet in a large galaxy, and some of these planets have developed interstellar travel capabilities. Specifically, there is a grand empire founded by a coalition of dragons from a specific world, each of which takes turns ruling it's entire expanse. The spacecraft are technological, but interstellar travel is achieved through giant magical spheres which can teleport users near, not not exactly to, any planet in the galaxy. Whenever a Chromatic Dragon (one of the evil species) becomes emperor, it begins a massive campaign of horrifically violent invasions to expand it's borders, while whenever a Metalic Dragon (one of the good species) becomes emperor, it focuses on making sure all of the invaded planets are uplifted and prosperous, trying to make up for the actions of their evil kin. The current emperor is Chromatic (a red dragon specifically), and his invasions have just begun. There is a section of the galaxy that is currently unexplored, and it is this section that most other D&D worlds take place in.

This produces an interesting, and grim, situation where all of the countless D&D worlds are under threat of an invasion they are completely unaware of, and are ill-equipped to repel. Except... some actually DO have a chance. There are a number of D&D worlds I can think of who can, and indeed occasionally HAVE, developed space travel canonically, and I think if they formed a coalition they could stand some chance of repelling an invasion. Lets go over a few.

Before we start, though, I want to go over some of the things required to produce at least an inter-planetary civilization, and some hurdles that these planets would have to deal with. First off, the planet would need to develop a viable spacecraft. It would need to be able to get into space, survive the vacuum of space, and get back to the ground. It would also need to have a working life support system, particularly something to refresh the air. Finally, it would need to be able to do all of this after leaving it's planet's orbit. This last part is more of a tall order than one might expect, since the magic on each planet at least theoretically comes from a different (often planet-specific) source. This means that in order to function, the ship either needs to be technological in nature, or needs to run off of a form of magic that will continue functioning in the void between planets.

OK, lets start with the planets which have already canonically developed interstellar travel. For this purpose I am ignoring spelljammer canon, both because it's version of space if incompatible with that given in Dragonstar, and because it's... frankly kinda silly.

You might be surprised to learn that the first planet to develop space travel would be Athas. You know, the post-apocalyptic hellscape where civilization has literally degenerated into the stone age and all life is slowly dying out. However, we aren't talking about the present state of the planet, but rather how it was 14,000 years ago, when the sun was blue and the planet was covered in life and water. During that time, only two sentient species lived on the planet, the Rhulisti (a kind of halfling) and the Kreen (giant praying mantisis); of these, the Rhulisti were the most advanced. They developed a form of mystic tech known as Life-Shaping, which involved shifting the life force around within a creature to produce controlled mutations. While the Rhulisti died out with the coming of the Green Age (or rather deliberately mutated themselves into other species like halflings, elves, and humans), some of them did not. There is a comet called The Mesenger which appears periodically in the sky, which is actually an ancient, living Rhulisti spacecraft. If there are any Rhulisti still on board, it stands to reason that there might be others who left the planet before the Green Age began, and began colonizing other worlds within the system. If this is the case, then the problem of getting into space is solved: they're already there, and they have the "tech" to get back up if they want. They also have a means to get back down and life-support systems as well. Frankly, though, I don't think they're ever coming back down; life on Athas is just way too garbage to bother, and they could probably scavenge all the water and raw materials they need from the asteroid and kuiper belts of their system to live comfortably enough. If the Athas system is invaded, the actual world of Athas would be easily crushed, but the Rhulisti could just hide in the asteroid belt until everything blew over and then just go back to... whatever it is they have been doing for the past 14,000 years.

Next up is another weird one: Dragonlance. At first glance, the world of Dragonlance would seem to be a terrible candidate for a space-faring world; it's technology is medieval, it's magic depends on the presence of it's moons and the nearness of it's gods (at one point the planet got teleported by one of it's gods to another system away from its moons and it's now very confused gods, resulting in almost all of it's magic disapearing, with the exception of magic drawn from the soul or the chaotic energies of the Graygem). HOWEVER, there is one species which can, and likely has, gotten into space: the Tinker Gnomes. Blessed with an incredible intellect and cursed with a complete lack of common sense, tinker gnomes have an ingrained obsession with advancing a particular field of study, the pursuit of which consumes they're (often very short) lives. Individual Tinker Gnomes can advance their field of study by decades within a short period of time, but when they die all of these developments are often lost since Tinker Gnomes rarely read each-other's notes, and nobody else can understand them. In all likelihood, dozens of tinker gnomes have developed, built, and flown spacecraft of a variety of sorts, but all died due to a mistake that any other species on the planet would have been able to point out (like forgetting to add life support or choosing to cushion the fall of their landing ship with feathered pillows instead of... anything else). Perhaps a few HAVE gotten into space... and aren't quite sure how to get back down. I fully expect the orbits of Krynn to be littered with bizarre looking spacecraft and the dead gnomes who once piloted them. Needless to say, Krynn would be a sitting duck, but the floating wrecks might confuse, spook, and delay the invasion for a couple days at least.

Now for the ones who are almost there. The first that comes to mind is Eberron; honestly that world is a mere generation or two from launching a fully-functional spacecraft. This is for several interrelated reasons: Dragonshards, Dragonmarked Houses, Elemental Binding, and Soarwood. Dragonshards are a kind of crystal with magical properties, that come in three varieties, each keyed to a different, useful purpose. The Dragonmarked Houses are trade guilds run by powerful families with the innate ability to use useful but minor spell-like abilities that can be enhanced by one kind of dragonshard to achieve incredible feats of magic, and the guilds themselves often use another kind of dragonshard to help them mass-produce useful magic items. Elemental Binding is a process invented by the Drow and perfected by the Gnomes of Zilargo that involves binding an elemental into the third kind of dragonshard, producing a source of infinite energy. Finally, Soarwood is a kind of wood native to the homeland of the elves which is naturally buoyant in air, so that things composed mostly of soarwood can actually float in the air. All these combined allow the Elves, Gnomes, and the Dragonmarked Houses to collaborate to create wonders beyond any single wizard's ability to produce, including creating airships and submarines. For getting into orbit, elemental binding provides a practically infinite source of propulsion, and Soarwood makes it so that they don't have to worry about lifting something so heavy as a rocket so high up. Theoretically, someone could fly an eberron airship up right now and he would end up in space eventually. Regarding life support, elemental-bound submarines also use an air elemental to cycle and purify the air in the cabin. If the soarwood hull is sealed tight, it should be able to keep everyone breathing inside. Once in orbit, Airships could collaborate with each-other to produce combat space-craft out of metal, which wouldn't need to worry about leaving or returning to the surface and could just spend their time defending. The Dragonmarked could use Dragonshards to enhance their abilities to duplicate a number of classic sci-fi technologies: Lyrander heirs act as pilots or man the weapons (using the stormship binding methods to produce a ring of beta radiation and ionized gas they can direct at targets), Deneith heirs could provide energy shields, Sivis heirs could handle communications, Cannith heirs could act as engineers and repair-men, and Orien heirs could control teleportation circles to bring people aboard without landing (good for combat ships), or be in charge of interplanetary navigation by virtue of their natural ability to teleport. That's right folks, we have our first interstellar civilization candidate! After a couple more generations, the Arcane Congress might be able to develop methods to achieve the things the Dragonmarked can do without marks or shards, but it will work for now. Additionally, even though Eberron magic would NORMALLY only work near the planet, because it needs proximity to the ring of dragonshards floating in orbit to provide energy, a ship fully outfitted this way would have enough large dragonshards in it producing enough magical radiation to make sure that any magic keeping the ship together wouldn't fail, and that spellcasters could still cast spells. Indeed, when in orbit around their own world their spells might actually be SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCED by the proximity of the enormous dragonshards that form the ring, making planetary defense easy. Dragonmarks don't need Dragonshards to work anyways. Ultimately, all of this together essentially means that the Dragonmarked Houses (specifically they're governing body The Twelve) would dominate the orbit of the planet for a VERY long time, and their military branch, The Blackwheel Company, would be the de facto defenders of the planet. Facing an invasion, I actually think Eberron could hold their own, so long as they kept close to their ships.

Next we have Theah, from the 7th Sea RPG, which was adapted into D&D during the D20 boom. Theah is currently in the age of restoration (AKA Swashbuckling Time), but for a variety of reasons their technology is advancing a lot faster that it normally would. A LOT FASTER. To compound this, they are surrounded by the ruins of technologically and magically advanced species from before humanity's emergence. One species in particular, the Tessera, had developed extensive magnetism-based technologies that included rail guns and even flying cities! Of these species, the Tessera's tech would be by far the most useful for getting the Theans to space: first, the fact that the Tessera were able to get their cities to float using magnetism at all means that Theah's planetary magnetic field must be WAY stronger than our own, enough to support the weight of a city. Second, the fact that they were able to float the cities means that it should be possible to use Tessera tech and the planet's magnetic field to launch a ship into the air, perhaps even into orbit! this would mean that the Theans wouldn't need to spend nearly so much time and resources developing ships to beat their planet's gravitational field, and getting down should be much easier too. All they would need to do is backwards-engineer the tech, which would require cooperation between the Explorers Society and the Invisible College (or rather La Academia de Ciencia del Profeta y Salvador, since most of the scientists of the Invisible College have gone back to their original places of work of the Reformed Vaticine Church of the Prophets in Castile with the deposition of Cardinal Verdugo and the decline of the power of his Inquisition). As for life support, it so happens that while Thean science in in general more advanced than it should be for the time, Thean medical science is leagues ahead of where it should be, and if it continues to be so they should be developing air-scrubbers in no time. Tessera tech even comes with rail-guns as I mentioned, meaning that when Theah does go to space, they may very well go into space armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry. On top of this, they may be able to get larger ships into orbit if they make them out of Dracheneisen, a special material that is as light as a feather but as strong as steel and easily shaped; if they can find more of it in the Drachenberg Mountains in Eisen and Ussura, they could make entire warships out of the material and launch them into space battle-ready, and landing such ships would be laughably easy if they had wings. As for magic... well, most of the magic of Theah probably wouldn't work far from its surface (Bargainer sorcery in particular is implied to require the Barrier to word, as it feeds parasitically off of it and damages it at the same time, while Glamour and Nacht have heavy ties to planes of existence unique to Theah and Pyryem and Laerdom both draw on the power of semi-divine entities to function), and those that don't (like Druid geasa and vaticine Miracles) would not be much use in space, and are notably weaker than magic in other worlds. But the Vaticine Church isn't particularly fond of most magic anyways, so that actually solves a problem rather than causing it. A downside of this is that, like most other worlds, Thean spacecraft would be strictly interplanetary instead of interstellar, but if faced with invasion a Theah so armed could repel it, albeit with some difficulty.

Now for one that would seem to be a good candidate for spaceflight, but isn't. By far one of the most technologically advanced worlds in D&D is the unnamed world in the Dragonmech rpg, which possesses steam-powered mechs the size of cities. Unfortunately, the kinds of technology that world has aren't very well suited to space travel, being large, heavy, inefficient, and ultimately flightless creations, and the fact that they are STEAM powered would mean that they would be constantly leaking precious resources just to keep their ships powered if they made one. On top of that, much of their environment has been completely wrecked by the Lunar Rain (basically their moon shifted in its orbit close enough that debris and entire living creatures began falling off of it, resulting in a searing rain of fine dust and giant meteors and terrifying monsters everywhere, not to mention the enormous tides which essentially washed away most of the other continents on the planet). The inhabitants of Highpoint are in no condition to be developing space-flight right now; they are too busy just trying to survive, and all of their extensive innovations are bent to that singular endeavor. Which is a shame, because they are one of the few planets whose magic would likely still work offworld with no caveats, since it seems to originate from some kind of cosmic energy (AKA the kind of stuff the Dragon Empire would likely be using). One benefit of this, though, is that they have been so busy fighting alien monsters for so long that if the Dragon Empire were to invade, they could probably hold their ground, except against an orbital bombardment, and I struggle to think of a reason why the Dragon Empire would even consider invading such a mess of a world to begin with; if anything they're worse off than Athas, and are a few bad days away of being exterminated by their own moon.

As for other worlds... OK, I know Oerth (Greyhawk) and Torril (Faerun) are supposed to have developed spelljammer vessels according to the spelljammer books, but I just can't see it. Both of them have heavily localized magic systems. Oerth derives it's power from the Great Wheel cosmology and "cosmic balance", so if they went to any world that WASN'T part of that cosmology (like Athas, Eberron, and Theah), their spelljammer engines would stop working, leaving them dead in space with no life support. Torril would have it even worse; their magic originates from the Spellweave, a network of energy that connects all living things ON TORRIL SPECIFICALLY, and over the course of the history of that world the Spellweave HAS LITERALLY DIED MULTIPLE TIMES. But did magic "die" on other worlds? no. This indicates that the Spellweave only provides power to the wizards and sorcerers of Torril, nowhere else, and if they were to travel to ANY other world their spelljammer engines would fail IMMEDIATELY. Even with the wizards of both worlds often being way more powerful than those in the worlds I previously mentioned, this problem would be too great to circumvent. And forget about using technology to produce spaceflight; those worlds are strictly medieval. If invaded, their spellcasters would definitely be able to put up an impressive fight (both worlds boast a surprising number of spellcasters above 20th level, which is pretty rare), it is unlikely they would be able to do anything about an orbital bombardment, or even know that it's coming.

Most other worlds would have similar problems, with most of them having extremely localized magic systems and low tech levels. They would fall like dominoes to the Empire without the aid of Eberron, and maybe future Theah and the Rhulisti if they find a way to leave their respective planets.

[areyouwho-ithinkyouare]

u guys i finished this playthrough this morning and i’m already missing them