#take my troubled troubled paladin

[sunnyvandsephi]

It's hard to say, that I'm back on a straight line You see my path is in fact just a fault line It's in my blood, it's in my lungs and it won't die I fight these words, I bite my tongue so I don't lie.

Though it's me to blame There is no more shame in me. - I am a Stone, Demon Hunter

[vodka-and-ocs]

the ranger had another stupid idea

[weirdhat-here]

why was klance?

so i've been thinking about why it blew up the way it did and i wanted to outline of my thoughts on exactly what it was that made klance such a prolific ship

(two things first: i've never really been much of a klance shipper. i also wasn't online or in the fandom while the show was airing so this is all retroactive speculation)

so i believe that when an entire fandom goes crazy over a specific character or ship, there's a good chance that means that they've picked up on something within the show that's genuinely interesting. and i think voltron did this with klance specifically in their setup of the characters. what i mean is:

-individually, their characters each have what the other feels they lack.

to put it short, it's mostly:

lance -> keith's piloting skills

keith -> lance's interpersonal skills

but i'll go more in depth:

this one’s pretty obvious with lance. keith is the pilot prodigy and lance literally crashes the first flight we see him in. it’s the reason he starts the rivalry and does the whole “lance and keith, neck-and-neck” thing. it gets increasingly obvious throughout the show that lance has some serious insecurities about his skills. he starts to act like if he isn’t the best at something, that makes him replaceable on the team.

he wants to be the ninja sharpshooter, but no one calls him that. he wants to be the ace pilot, which is what he went to school for, but keith is better than him and he knows it. iverson even directly compares lance to keith in the first episode where he harshly asserts that keith is the better pilot:

so lance has his insecurities tied directly to keith, and his way of dealing with that causes them to get off on the wrong foot.

keith, on the other hand, is way more subtle. he bottles up his issues so it naturally takes longer to come out. unfortunately, the show’s writing quality dipped over time so i think this got majorly affected (cue the 2 year off-screen timeskip where they solve his mommy issues that have clearly been there and affecting him since the very beginning. this is fine).

but he clearly deals with abandoment issues and distances himself from others because of it. meanwhile lance is shown to be the more outgoing and emotionally receptive of all the paladins. keith's feelings about himself aren't really tied to lance the same way lance's feelings are to keith. but keith is shown to think little of himself when it comes to relationships with others and is also usually the recipient of lance's more emotionally mature side. (that's to say, keith's feelings abt himself weren't ever really tied to lance in an explicit way, but i think that would've been a good idea for the writers to do down the line if they had continuted developing these characters)

for example, many ppl talk abt this scene on the klance side of the fandom:

but there's also this scene:

and this:

that's to say, lance repeatedly comes thru for keith in things that keith presumably thought were his biggest weaknesses.

they each tie into some major emotional centers for each other and this was the perfect way to setup both of these characters as the show began because:

-a closer relationship between the two guaranteed character development for both

this one's the kicker i think.

because they would absolutely need to change internally before they could get along since it was their internal issues that got in the way in the first place (mostly lance’s tbh. but keith’s insecure way of dealing with closer relationships could’ve definitely caused trouble if they, yknow, actually got to be close).

and it was basically promised that this was going to happen in the narrative of the show bc of three pieces of info the audience got-

-the team needs to get closer in order to form voltron and save the universe. they had a whole episode focused on this in s1. this meant that keith and lance would have to learn how to get along

-the fact that they would need to change in order to get along like i said above

-and the idea that you'd generally expect a show with good writing to stick to the basic tenets of good writing like developing ur characters and deepening their relationships over time (right?? RIGHT????)

which leads to the conclusion: both lance and keith were bound to change individually and together in order to foster some sort of relaitonship between the two.

and combine this with the fact that lance was the fandom darling and so many ppl saw themselves in him, ppl were foaming at the mouth wanting to see him overcome his insecurities and start to like himself. plus the fact that it was set up so that keith would have a big part to play in both those insecurities and the growth from them, and boom--you've got some serious klance love. i mean, who doesn't love seeing relationships where both parties mutually make each other better because of it?

that then begged the question: what would their relationship be like if they acutally grew to like themselves?

-they are shown to get along really well when those insecurities aren't getting in the way

this was one of those points that i think could hold someone back from liking klance, maybe thinking it would be unhealthy with how much they argue. But there were multiple scenes that hinted at them being able to get along much better than how they started. and i’m not just talking the bonding moment. let me explain:

first i'll get the obvious over with,

this was the first time i had a moment of "oh, so this is what they could be". it literally took lance being blown up for him to put the facade down, but when he did it they had a moment that felt truly meaningful. i mean, it at least meant something to keith

i see you, emotionally reserved character coming out of his shell for just one moment. ur not slick. (side note: every time i see his face in the first picture i can't help but laugh. i feel bad, but i guess it at least means the animators did a fantastic job)

but the thing it there are many more moments than that one. like this one where keith says that lance came up with a good plan and goes along with it, which feels more significant bc lance so rarely gets acknowledgment for his contributions to the team (also with the fact that they're supposed to still hate each other at this point):

or this one

or this one

or this fucking one

^i still can't believe that scene felt more genuine that any of lance's date with allura. they really dropped the ball for all these characters

but all these scenes show that there may have been another way for their relationship to be if things had played out differently. in some ways, these two feel like they're on a similar wavelength compared to the other characters just because of the ways they interact, and yes, even argue. but the hints of what a possible way forward in their relationship without all the arguing would look like were there.

-in conclusion✨

the thing is they were interesting and people were absolutely interested to see what they could’ve become, both individually and to each other if they’d gotten to have a closer relationship :/

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Cleric: Wait, is Eagle's Splendour a spell?

Bard (lying): No, it just happens naturally, whenever I take all my clothes off.

Ranger: Does cause him some trouble when he wants to take a bath, though.

Bard: Mirrors are my greatest weakness.

Paladin: Mirrors, pools, sufficiently shiny taps...

Bard: I just can't stop myself!

[godsandvillains-if]

Funny ask

How would the ro's react if a high ranking official insults them and the mc just walked up to the official and knocked them out.

And when asked why the mc said " they were mean and that's bad and we punch bad people right?".

I love how totally clueless the MC is in this asks!! 🤣🤣

Archon — "Efficient and clean, but you are still rotating your hips too much when you swing." Archon's tone is clipped, but their ice blue eyes are soft when their arm grabs the MC by the hip.

Stardom — "Ha! The bastard deserved it. See, this is what you get when you mess with the big dogs. Thank you, handsome / beautiful." Stardom would dip the MC and give them a searing kiss.

Ace — "That's one way to take care of that problem. Still, we are going to have a talk when we get home, kid." Ace would still reward the MC with an affectionate pet on the head.

Paladin — "You defended me…" Paladin will be more speechless than troubled over the situation. Never before has someone done something like that for them.

Mars — "Well done, Darling. How about we finish the job, huh?" Mars wouldn't let the poor guy live much longer after that.

Wildcat — "Bebê! My brave knight in shining armor, thank you for protecting my virtue." Wildcat would basically swoon in the MC's arms.

Zodiac — "Habibi / Habibti, please. Next time, use your words instead of your fists, alright?" They would still give the MC a peck on the cheek as thanks for defending them.

Thank you for the question!! 🥰

[spider-jaysart]

Okay soooo, first time I'm doing something like this, but I wanna introduce a fave oc of mines today that I've been working on for a longtime now :)

Her name is Nadja Al Ghul-Wayne-Kent and she's a Damijon kid

(Click for better quality)

@camo-wolf @paladin-of-nerd-fandom65

The name Nadja means "hope" in Arabic. My very dear friend @theredheaded-stuff was the one who helped me pick it. And her hero name is Super Canyon, which is inspired by the Canyon Wren bird

(More under the cut)

(Edited some stuff on this post now btw)

Backstory:

After being inspired by the story of how Kon was created, a secret group of no good scientists, who just love causing chaos with many of their inventions, decided one day to create a mixed clone of both Damian and Jon, thinking they can do better than Lex did, so they collected both of the boys DNA's after one of their recent battles in public and got to work. Once their experiment was supposed to be done, they saw that their machine had actually created a baby girl instead of a grown, powerful clone like they had wanted, so they were ready to dispose of her as a failed subject, but were suddenly stopped just on time by Damian and Jon who broke into the place and kicked their butts after finding out that a recently committed crime they were investigating was caused by them. When they were done, the boys found Nadja and were surprised to find out she's a clone related to them both. They decided to take her with them and made her their daughter to raise together after that.

Personality:

She's helpful, stubborn, is as intelligent as Damian is, friendly but also tough when she needs to be, observant, sometimes a little too honest about things but doesn't always mean it as rude, courageous (a trait that can be pretty helpful sometimes, but also get her into really big trouble during dangerous situations too), a prankster, and very protective of others, especially her loved ones

Abilities and skills:

She has the usual Kryptonian abilities, which are flying, super strength, superhearing, superspeed, superbreath, ice breath, invulnerablity, x-ray vision, and laser vision that's purple instead of the usual red (because Lois has purple eyes, so it's something unique that was passed onto her that way). Sometimes they don't always work though and can accidentally get out of hand too since she's still growing and learning, but Jon aways tries his best to help her get better at using and controlling them. Nadja also uses many concentrating tips from Damian too for improvement, like meditating for example and other things like that, and he helps her practice them

And because she's half Kryptonian, she also has a couple of unlocked special abilities of her own too, which is invisiblity, the ability to phase through walls and objects, plus the power to also transfer the heat of her laser vision into the palm of her hands to burn who or whatever she touches and she can also let it absorb her whole body too if she wants, which makes her even more untouchable and at the same time lets her release a strong fiery blast around herself onto enemies or incoming threats (her body glows completely purple whenever she does this and if it's just her hands, the same happens to them too). Nadja hasn't been able to properly master these special powers yet though, only one of them, which is the invisiblity one

For skills, thanks to teachings from Damian, plus Talia whenever she visits her, Nadja knows how to use a sword and fight well in combat in case her powers aren't working the way she urgently needs them to during patrols and missions

Random facts:

She calls Damian Baba and Jon Dad.

She calls Clark "Grampops" and Bruce "Grampbats". For Talia, she calls her "Grandmother" and for Lois, she calls her "Grandmama".

Her best friend is her same age Cousin Dick II, the Son of her much older Cousin Jake Grayson and his Wife Meredith Robinson. In the Batfamily (besides Damian), she's close with all her Aunt and Uncles. And for the Al Ghul's, she also gets excited whenever she visits Talia and Ra's. And while she definitely also gets along a lot with her other relatives who are in the Superfamily, the person she's most closest to there (besides Jon ofc) is Kon, due to them both being created as clones meant for evil but turned out good instead, which got them to bond even more as Uncle and Niece.

Her voice sounds like Clementine's from Telltales the walking dead games, but specifically the version of it from season 2 for the tween age she's in right now.

She has messy hair like Jon when she lets it loose. Jon is the one who always has to brush her hair whenever it gets tangled up, since the steel strength of it is just too difficult for Damian to actually handle himself.

Nadja laughs at Damian's jokes all the time since she gets his dark humor and he loves that. They always laugh a lot about it together but when Jon's around, they're Iike "You wouldn't get it" and he gets all offended.

Jon passed his love for noodles onto Najda and Damian's usually like "That's not healthy!!" And tries cooking her vegetarian meals more often or healthy ones that Talia would used to make him back when he was a kid, just so that Najda will eat real food lol. Najda also really loves the meals that comes from Damian's culture too and gets happy whenever he makes them for dinner.

For nicknames, Jon will sometimes call her "Sweetpea", "Sugar cookie", and "Tootsie pops", while Damian calls her "Habibti", "Thamin" (meaning "precious" in Arabic), and "Galbi" (which means "my heart" in Arabic)

Damian matches his outfits with Nadja all the time just like Talia would always used to do with him when he was a little kid. He does this with Jon included too and they take pictures together.

When making her hero suit, Damian was the one who helped Nadja out in drawing the designs and brainstormed ideas with her. When she had finally found one she liked and was ready to make it, Damian and Jon could've helped her sew it and everything, but they didn't have many materials that she could use or a sewing machine either, only a regular sewing kit that they use to fix up their own suits whenever they get damaged, so they let her make it with Ma's help instead at her place when they visit her and Pa again, since she actually owned a machine and also had a sewing room filled with many useful materials. When asked, Ma didn't mind letting Nadja use her stuff at all and was instead delighted about it since it would just give them the chance to spend time with eachother while doing one of her favorite hobbies together.

And next time, while having their usual Mother and Son days out together, Talia helped Damian pick out the sarong skirt for Nadja while hanging around stores, since they thought it would be nice for her to have one. Jon was the one who bought Nadja the red sneakers while shopping together with Kathy, since it reminded him of Kathy's old purple, rainbow ones, but with a twist of red thrown onto it, which also reminded him a lot of his favorite old ones that he used to always wear as a kid too. Dick and Cyborg helped her insert digital tech into her cuffs, which lets out hologram screens that let her know whenever she's over using her powers since she's still mastering them and it does plenty of other useful things for her too.

Najda was also given a mask to go with her suit at first too since she thinks it's annoying to wear glasses in her regular life everyday, but then it got lost during a fight and some villains saw her face, so she was still forced to go with the glasses route in the end anyways.

As adults, Jon's a scientist and Damian's a veterinarian. Najda likes visiting both of her Dads at their day jobs after school and doing her homework there while they work. She always promises to behave and not get in the way and if she has no work to do, she'll help them out too, which they appreciate. She also loves watching what they do and let's them happily explain their favorite stuff about the job to her. She knows a lot about taking care of animals and science because of this.

Nadja loves music and making it too. She even thinks about playing rock music for a living when she grows up. Damian and Jon support her in this and buy her the instruments she needs and they also listen to her songs when she wants to show it off to them. Because of them being in a band themselves back when they were kids, Damian, Jon, Chris, and Jake give her lessons sometimes on how to better play her instruments.

Civilians and especially interviewers always question about how they had Nadja and just assume that she's adopted or assume that just because she looks more like Damian, she's probably from a secret ex girlfriend he had before being with Jon. The last one annoys both Damian and Jon so much, especially Jon since Nadja is actually his kid too and he gets jealous at the thought of the ridiculous idea. Both him and Damian hate these rumors and just want everyone to mind their own business.

[mossy-rock-in-a-field]

My Elderly Mother Plays Baldur's Gate: Part 4

If you're not up to date on the saga, my mom is having me play Baldur's Gate 3 on her behalf because she has trouble using controllers/keyboards but still wants to "smooch the wizard boy." She is playing a neutral good wood elf druid; this is a detailed account of her crimes. Part 1 & 2 Part 3

Hey, everybody! Thanks to everyone who followed my blog to keep up with my mom's adventures. Also, shout-out to whoever called my mom "Crime Mom" last time I posted about this; she really got a kick out of that. We played for a full day yesterday so we could really get into Act III and make some progress.

Here are the atrocities she committed during yesterday's play session:

My mom is very pissed that she cannot keep Myshka the white cat. When she found Myshka, she told him that she was his mother because of course she did. Naturally, Myshka started following her around the city after that, and she was SO thrilled about it. However, when we went back to camp to trade out a companion and immediately came back to the city, the cat wasn't following her anymore, and my mom was so fucking upset. ("That boy thinks I'm his mother and I LEFT HIM! Why can't I take my son back to my camp with us?") My mom told me to tell my "tumblr friends" that Myshka should be able to join our camp like Scratch and the owlbear cub. So, if any of you guys are from Larian—take notes, I guess. My mother demands a cat son.

Upon seeing Mystra for the first time in the Stormshore Tabernacle cutscene, my mom immediately said in the bitterest voice imaginable, "I'm prettier than her." She is, of course, right. Fuck Mystra, all my homies hate Mystra.

When we found the Hag Survivors Group, my mom asked me if she could try combat for the first time, and she actually started to get the hang of it. ("Left bumper, mom. No, that's the trigger. BUMPER. Other left. There you go.") However, she didn't fully understand what "area of effect" meant and decided to cast Fireball ("Ooh, I've always wanted to use that one!") in an enclosed space before I could stop her. She instantly incinerated Mayrina, the floorboards, and the paladin, Adrielle. I was so fucking proud of her but also laughing so hard I was nearly in tears. She had me reload the save for her.

My mom returned the stolen money to the Counting House's head banker, then asked me to rob the rest of the building on our way out. When I asked her about the logic of this particular decision, she said, "We're saving the city from mind flayers, so these funds are really going back into the local economy when you think about it. We're a great cause!" I have no idea why she didn't just keep the stolen pouch of money in the first place. We wasted so many scrolls and Arrows of Transposition to get everything out of those vaults.

She was FURIOUS when she found out Auntie Ethel wasn't actually dead. My dad called in the middle of the day to check in on dinner plans and mom kept him on the phone for at least ten minutes while she ranted about hags who "should stay dead when they're told to."

My mom adores Jaheira. The two of them are very similar to each other, so I think she gets a kick out of seeing Camp Mom do Camp Mom things that she would do if she were actually in the game. My mom also loves Minsc and Boo. TASTE.

Don't know how soon my mother will come back for another play session, but I'll keep you guys updated whenever I can! She has already asked me if I would DM a D&D session for her retired friends, so I'm trying to find time to do that. Maybe I'll do some updates on that if we get it going.

Thank for everyone's support! Crime Mom and I appreciate it.

[forgeofthenine]

would you write something for zevlor with a human reader (age gap always welcomed and loved)

where he is a bit insecure about reader not wanting to be seen with a „lesser species“/the tiefling discrimination but reader reassures him hes very much loved <3

i just love my men soft and angsty 😭

I am more than happy to provide some soft and angsty Zevlor, with some fluff at the end! I love a good age gap too, so I had to include it. Hope you enjoy Anon! :)

Zevlors insecurities about being with a human partner

Zevlor is near uncomfortably aware that he is older than you

Significantly older

And, gods forbid, a tiefling

He wasn't going to even attempt courting you at first, happy to accept his feelings as unrequited

He was fully prepared to watch you chase after someone else

But, to see you come spend time with him, to see you flirt with him felt unreal

Honestly felt like a dream for Zevlor to know you wanted him the same way

Despite all his excitement, and the way you persue him, he still has worries

Tieflings aren't looked upon well, and you're a young, popular adventurer

He doesn't want to cause any trouble for you, or to become a source of embarrassment

While you're toeing the line of making your relationship romantic it's easy to see he has some reservations

It'll take a bit of reassurance and encouragement from you for him to eventually open up, finally happening in the privacy of your tent

Zevlor doesn't want you to think he doesn't want you, and it's hard for him to explain at first what he is feeling

He just feels like he may be more trouble than he's worth

This is when he really needs reassurance, your hands running over his shoulders as he speaks, letting him know you understand with nods and hums

Once he's done, please make it clear that you want him because he's him, an older tiefling paladin that you just adore

Please just kiss him at this point, he deserves it

It takes Zevlor a little bit of time for him to come to believe things for himself

Though, if you defend him from someone who decided to be an ass about Zevlor being a tiefling, he'd just know you're the one

Watching you go off on someone for calling him a 'demon spawn' is what really makes Zevlor realise that he's in love

[moonselune]

Heya, would it be possible for you to write about the bg3 ladies comforting/helping their Paladin Tav after their Oath was broken on something seemingly mundane. Like "cutting a deal" with Gortash to "work with him" to deal with Orin, as a way to avoid conflict after his promotion ceremony. The breaking of Tav's Oath weighing heavy and Tav doesn't want to retake their Oath until what caused it to break was rectified. Like getting Gortash that cheeky shit

This was such a good request honestly I am so impressed with everyones imagination (I literally sound like a school teacher lmaoooo)

Karlach:

You sit by the campfire, staring into the flames as the weight of your broken Oath presses heavily on your shoulders. The decision to cut a deal with Gortash gnaws at you, a compromise that went against everything you stood for as a paladin. You had done it to protect your camp, to avoid a conflict that could have cost lives, but the cost to your soul felt almost unbearable.

Karlach approaches, her fiery- and notably fuming, presence a stark contrast to your somber mood. She sits down next to you, her usual boisterous energy tempered by concern.

"I don't get it," she starts, her voice tinged with frustration. "We could have taken Gortash down right there. Why did you make that deal?"

You wince at her words, the guilt and shame bubbling to the surface. "I did it to protect everyone," you say quietly. "To protect you. We were unprepared and we would have been obliterated by the steel watch... but it broke my Oath."

Karlach sighs, running a hand through her short, spiky hair, seemingly ignoring your last comment. "Look, I get wanting to keep everyone safe, but sometimes you have to fight for what's right. You should have let me kill him when I had the chance."

Your temper flares, the stress of the situation pushing you over the edge. "Do you think I don't know that? Do you think I wanted to break my Oath?" you snap, your voice breaking. "I did what I thought was best, and now I'm paying the price."

Karlach's eyes widen at your outburst, and she realizes just how deeply this is affecting you. Her expression softens, and she places a reassuring hand on your shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it worse... I just hate seeing you like this."

You take a deep breath, trying to regain your composure. "I can't retake my Oath until I make things right. Until Gortash is dealt with."

Karlach nods, determination hardening her features and she wraps an arm around her shoulder. "Then we'll get him. Together. I promise you, we'll make things right."

Her words bring a flicker of hope to your heart, and you nod, leaning your head against her shoulder, "Thank you, Karlach."

She smiles, her fiery spirit rekindling and she presses a kiss to the temple of your forehead. "Anytime. Now let's get some rest. We've got a bastard to hunt."

Minthara:

The night air is cool and still as you sit alone, the weight of your broken Oath heavy on your soul. The Oathbreaker's words rattling through you. The deal with Gortash had been a bitter compromise, one that went against every principle you held dear as a paladin of the Oath of the Ancients. You had done it to protect your loved ones, to avoid a deadly conflict with Gortash and his steel watch, but the cost to your spirit felt immense.

Minthara finds you, her eyes gleaming with curiosity and amusement. She stands beside you, her presence commanding and confident.

"So, this is why you should have taken the Oath of Vengeance," she teases, a smirk playing on her lips. "No room for compromises, no room for weakness."

You don't respond, your eyes fixed on the ground. Minthara's smirk fades as she senses your distress. She crouches down beside you, her tone shifting to one of genuine concern. "You are truly troubled by this, aren't you?"

You nod, your voice barely above a whisper. "I broke my Oath. I betrayed my principles to protect everyone, but it still feels wrong. Devastating, even."

Minthara's eyes narrow, her expression thoughtful. "You did what you thought was necessary. Sometimes the path of righteousness is not clear-cut, my love. But I see that this weighs heavily on you."

"I can't retake my Oath until I make things right," you say, the determination in your voice masking the pain. "Until Gortash is dealt with."

Minthara places a firm hand on your shoulder, her grip reassuring. "Then we shall make it right. I swear to you, we will bring Gortash to justice."

You look up at her, surprise and gratitude mingling in your eyes. "You'd help me with this?"

Minthara nods, a fierce glint in her eyes. "You are my ally, my lover. I will stand by you, no matter the cost. Together, we will see this through."

Her words fill you with renewed strength, and you nod, a small smile tugging at the corners of your lips. "Thank you, Minthara."

She leans in, her lips brushing against your forehead in a rare display of tenderness. "Rest now. We have much to do, and you will need your strength."

Lae'zel:

The campfire crackled softly in the still night, but its warmth did little to chase away the cold weight of guilt and shame pressing down on you. The decision to cut a deal with Gortash haunted you, a compromise that had shattered your Paladin Oath. You had done it to protect your group, to protect your loved ones, but the cost to your spirit felt immeasurable.

Lae'zel approached with her usual determined stride, her sharp eyes narrowing as she assessed your state. She seated herself beside you, her presence both comforting and commanding.

“You seem lost,” she began, her voice unwavering. “What troubles you?”

You sighed heavily, unable to meet her gaze. “I broke my Oath, Lae'zel. I made a deal with Gortash to avoid conflict, to keep everyone safe. But in doing so, I betrayed my principles.”

Lae'zel studied you for a moment, her expression unreadable. Then, she placed a firm hand on your shoulder. “Your actions were guided by necessity and loyalty. There is no shame in that.”

“But it feels wrong,” you said, voice trembling. “I can’t retake my Oath until I’ve made things right, until Gortash is dealt with.”

Lae'zel’s eyes flashed with determination. “Then we shall hunt him down and restore your honor. My blade is yours, and I will strike with the force of a thousand Githyanki warriors.”

Despite your heavy heart, you couldn’t help but chuckle at her fierce proclamation. “A thousand Githyanki warriors, huh?”

She nodded solemnly, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips and she nudged you. “Indeed. We will make Gortash regret his actions. Together, we will see this through.”

Her fierce loyalty and unwavering support filled you with renewed resolve. You nodded, a small smile forming. “Thank you, Lae'zel.”

She inclined her head, her expression softening slightly. “We fight for each other. Now, rest and gather your strength. The battle ahead will be fierce.”

Shadowheart:

You sat in your tent, head in hands, the weight of your broken Oath pressing down on you. The decision to cut a deal with Gortash had been agonizing, but necessary to protect your companions. Still, the betrayal of your principles gnawed at you, leaving you feeling lost and adrift.

Shadowheart entered the tent without warning, her presence like a jolt of lightning in the oppressive gloom. She took one look at you and sighed, her expression a mixture of exasperation and concern.

“Get up,” she commanded, her voice firm. “Sitting here wallowing in self-pity won’t solve anything.”

You looked up, startled by her abruptness. “Shadowheart, I…”

“No excuses,” she interrupted, grabbing your arm and pulling you to your feet. “You made a difficult choice to protect us all. That doesn’t make you weak or dishonorable. It makes you human.”

“I broke my Oath,” you protested, your voice breaking. “I can’t retake it until I’ve made things right.”

“Then make things right, but moping around isn’t going to help anyone. Least of all yourself.” She said sharply, she then unsympathetically dragged you out of the tent and into the cool night air, her grip strong and unyielding.

"Shadowheart just-"

“-Look at me,” she demanded, her eyes locking onto yours. Her hands cupping your cheeks and forcing you to look at her. “You are a Paladin. A protector. Start acting like one.”

You blinked, taken aback by her intensity. But there was a fire in her eyes, a fierce determination that mirrored your own. It reignited something within you, a spark of the resolve you had thought lost.

“I will make it right,” you said, your voice steadier now. “I’ll deal with Gortash and restore my Oath.”

Shadowheart nodded, removing her hands, a small, satisfied smile playing on her lips. “Good. And I’ll be right there with you, every step of the way.”

You felt a surge of gratitude and affection for her. “Thank you, Shadowheart. For not letting me give up.”

Her expression softening slightly, and she kissed your forehead. “We’re in this together. Now, let’s get some rest. We have work to do.”

[panda-writes-kpop]

look at me! look at me!

a/n: @sanccharine apologies for the late fic... 🧍‍♀️ but it's done and it's fluffy!! everyone say yay!! happy late birthday, my friend ❤️

tw: alcohol consumption, paladin schemes, poor taste in party games

related fics: sorry for party rockin'!, we're never getting back together (like ever?)

♡ Masterlist ♡

summary: you invite chou tzuyu, a girl you know nothing yet everything about, over for a quiet night of studying. things don't go to plan as you're invited to a party and forced to reveal your feelings for each other in a not-so-glamorous way.

You usually don't have time for parties. With classes, hobbies, and friends in the mix, you're squeezed for time on a regular basis. Although you try to find time to go out and have fun, life usually has other plans for you.

So here you are, 6 p.m. on a Saturday, doing homework for a class.

What a life.

Your phone rings with a familiar tone. You didn't have one set for most of your contacts except the Paladins, your family, and Chou Tzuyu.

Since the sound emanating from your phone is one of Hongjoong's mixtapes that he sent to you, you know exactly who's calling you.

"Hey, Tzuyu," You answer the phone before pausing your typing at your computer, "what's up?"

"Do you mind if I come over and study? There's so much noise at the house, I can't concentrate-"

"No problem," You answer quickly, albeit a bit too quickly for friendly chatter, "You need a ride?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. Are you sending an Uber?"

"Nah, I'll ask Katie. She won't mind." You pull the phone away from your ear after turning on speaker mode.

Although Katie was the affectionate boomer hater, she'd gladly bend over backward to please you. You often wished that she'd take care of herself as well as she took care of you... but you didn't mind using your "Katie's Favorite Paladin" privileges every now and again.

You hear Tzuyu sigh as something in the background hits a wall and shatters.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes. See you then."

Ever the punctual woman, Tzuyu ends the phone call before you can engage in any friendly chatter. You wonder if you'd even call yourself friends - sure, you two hang out a lot, but all you talk about is classes, homework, or your friends' stupid antics.

You want to know more about her - who is Chou Tzuyu, really?

And why do you have a crush on her?

~

"Thanks for letting me study here tonight. If I had to mediate another fight, I would've lost it." Tzuyu mumbles as she unloads her stationary onto your desk.

You grab a chair from another room before moving your shit to the side. She offers you a smile before opening her laptop as you sit down and start to work on your own things.

"Hey, you two need anything?" Katie peeks into the room as you two look up at her.

"I'm good, thanks." Tzuyu says as you nod.

"Since you pre-made some snacks for us, I'm alright."

"You didn't have to-"

"No, it's no trouble, Dami called me earlier and I've been making food since. I trust that you two will leave some leftovers." Katie pushes away Tzuyu's concern before grabbing a set of car keys. "If you two change your mind, the party's only a block away. Feel free to walk over and join the rest of human civilization."

With that, Katie heads out of the apartment, leaving you and Tzuyu to your own devices.

~

"Do you want to order a pizza or something?" You ask as you close your computer.

Katie's pre-made snacks are now nothing but crumbs - perhaps you can shoulder the blame to King again?

Yet again, Katie and Tzuyu were friends, so she'd hopefully let it slide.

"I'm full, thanks." As always, she doesn't offer any friendly chatter.

Tzuyu quietly packs up her things, but she doesn't make any effort to leave the apartment. Neither do you, but you can't find the words to say in order to engage in any meaningful conversation.

"Are you in the mood for some hell-raising?" You ask as you grab your phone. "I don't know if parties are your style, but the Paladins make them fun for everyone."

"I'll go if you do." She softly says as you grab your jacket.

"Let's get going, then."

(You really need to work on your conversational skills.)

~

The party was already hectic when the two of you arrived. People were already drunk (people being two of the three older Paladins - at least Neon had his shit together).

"I thought this was supposed to be 'an intimate gathering among friends'?" Tzuyu quips as she leans against the door.

"Word gets out fast, I guess." You shrug before making your way towards the kitchen. "Katie?"

"In here!" She yells over the buzz of the crowd as the two of you file into the kitchen. "I'm a bit busy, but I'm glad you could make it. Feel free to mingle if you two would like. Oh, and could you two keep an eye on King and Sparrow for me?"

"I thought that was Neon's job?" You ask as Katie scoffs.

"First off, he's terrible at that job because he usually gets drunk with them. Second, he and Siyeon went to get more booze," Katie smiles to herself before adding, "I'll have to thank Ryujjn later for hiding the rest of the booze."

"You're such a little shit-"

"-I prefer the term matchmaker, thank you very much." Katie corrects you. "Now go find the other boomers before they fuck up my plan."

"You have a plan?" Tzuyu tilts her head as Katie laughs.

"Oh, I always have a plan."

~

"Because I'd rather not have to get infected by a parasite to get your attention. Being bitten by a vampire sounds less painful." Tzuyu says before you cough into your drink.

After hustling the crowd for a little bit of money, since you know how drunk Sparrow and King can get, Katie invites the gawking crowd to play another game.

"How about we play Spin the Bottle?"

It was a terrible idea, really, since tempers had already been flaring a bit. But what was wrong with a little more chaos?

You had joined the small crowd that was headed towards another part of the living room. You noticed some familiar faces - Katie, Jinsoul, Dami, Ryujin, and Heejin, among others - but Tzuyu hung back from the crowd.

"Come on over and observe the chaos. You don't have to play." You mouth to her as you make eye-contact with her.

"Are you sure that you don't mind me watching?" She says as you nod to her.

She walks over as people start to make another circle - this one is more messy, but you take a seat in between Katie and Ryujin.

Katie takes the bottle and slides it towards Jinsoul on the other side of the circle.

"You should go first since you didn't get to play Truth or Drink." Katie smiles at Jinsoul, who eagerly grabs the bottle from the floor.

"Let's make this party interesting." She spins the bottle as Tzuyu takes a seat behind the seated circle.

You find yourself holding your breath as you watch the bottle spin around and around on the floor. Nervousness develops in your stomach - not because you're nervous about kissing one of the girls, but you're more nervous about kissing a girl in front of Tzuyu.

You weren't sure exactly what the two of you were - friends? in the talking stage? two acquaintances? study buddies? somewhere in-between?

But she always made time to see you. Between her extracurriculars and the hefty class schedule, Tzuyu had little time to spare. You didn't fail to notice that she didn't have homework to work on when you agreed to study together. You'd even catch her staring at you sometimes, when she didn't catch you first.

You never called each other friends or anything more, but you want to know more about Chou Tzuyu. What were you doing together when you didn't even know what you were to each other?

You're playing with fire when you talk to Tzuyu. You fall deeper for her, unsure if she feels the same way.

Now, as the bottle slows down, it feels like the flames are burning you alive.

But you're lucky as it lands on Heejin, who happily accepts a cheek kiss from her friend.

This was a truly terrible idea, you think to yourself, as Heejin grabs the bottle and spins it.

Maybe you'll make it out of this without ruining whatever you have with Tzuyu, or without embarrassing yourself.

~

Of course, nothing was ever that simple.

Heejin's spin landed on Yeji, who drunkenly chased the former around until a kiss was successfully planted on Heejin's forehead.

Yeji, after three failed attempts, managed to spin the bottle enough for it to land on Ryujin. Cheers erupted as the first lip-to-lip contact was made.

Then the drama starts as Ryujin spins the bottle and it lands to your right.

The neck of the bottle points directly at Katie, who stares in shock before leaning over to look at Ryujin.

You feel like you're in-between something serious as Dami, on the other side of the circle, looks on with curiosity.

Ryujin moves to the side before pulling Katie close. The two share a quick kiss before returning to their spots. Katie takes the bottle in her hands, but she quickly shakes her head and hands it back to Ryujin.

"You should go again. It's only fair since you didn't get to play earlier." Katie says as Ryujin nods in agreement.

"Sounds good to me." Ryujin spins the bottle as Katie nervously bites her lip while staring at a single spot on the floor.

You offer her a sympathetic pat on the back that helps relax her a bit.

Katie sighs in relief before muttering, "I knew things were going to get tense, but I was hoping that I would be outside of the drama."

You smile to yourself as the shenanigan-making Paladin gets bitten in the ass by a product of her own design.

"You shouldn't have played with fire if you didn't want to get burned." You tease as she scoffs.

"That's why I wanted to sit next to Ryujin. The bottle never lands on the person next to the spinner." She says as the bottle Ryujin spins on lands on you.

"I wish the situational irony was less subtle." You grumble as Katie offers you a quick side hug.

"You shouldn't have played with fire if you didn't want to get burned~"

"Very funny." You roll your eyes as you face Ryujin.

"I get to kiss two Paladins in one night? I should buy a lottery ticket or something." Ryujin smirks before leaning in to kiss you.

You nervously bite your lip before starting to lean in - Tzuyu won't mind, right? It's just a silly children's game.

One that could ruin any chance of you two being more than friends.

Luckily, your lips never meet Ryujin's as Tzuyu hauls you off of your feet and drags you into the kitchen.

"Wait a minute-" You try to protest, but her grip on the back of your shirt is ironclad as she pulls you away from any prying eyes.

A few mutters ring out from the group your left behind, but screams quickly take over as another victim is selected.

"What was that about?" You say as Tzuyu lets go of your shirt.

"I didn't want you to kiss Ryujin."

"Yeah, I figured that one out when you hauled me away from her in a hurry. It's almost like you're the one who wanted to kiss me." You joke, just as you always do with all of your friends.

She looks away from you, towards the window that faces the street.

She's deadly serious.

You feel like a total jerk.

Tzuyu navigates towards the door with disappointment on her face as you trial after her.

"Wait, hold on, I didn't think you seriously liked me-"

"-of course I did! Why else do you think I want to hang out with you and do homework? I don't even have homework half of the time!" She sounds exasperated as she pauses her stride to glance at you.

"I wasn't really sure if we were friends or if you wanted to be more." You offer her your hand, and she takes it. "I'm sorry if I gave mixed signals or if I pushed you away from me. I didn't mean to, at all."

"I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to pull you away from your friends. I just didn't want you kissing any other girl at this party.." She trails off before you encouragingly squeeze her hand.

"-besides you?" You smile at her. "Don't worry, you're the only one I've thought about kissing all night."

You lean forward and kiss her cheek. Tzuyu offers you a wide smile, one that you've rarely seen.

It's enough to tempt you closer as you pull back and go for her lips this time.

Unfortunately, your bliss is short-lived as Sparrow slams the door open. You and Tzuyu immediately part - she's red in the face as you're trying to wipe her lipstick off your face.

"King got mud on my shoes, that motherfucker!" She screams, completely unaware to your presence. "NEOOOOON!"

She hollers for the oldest Paladin before stumbling into the living room as a mud-clad King walks into the house.

"Have I ever told you about the one time-" He says to absolutely no one before wandering into the kitchen.

Kim Lip follows closely behind, throwing you a wink before shoving King into the kitchen to give you two some privacy.

"Your friends are something, but mine aren't much better." Tzuyu laughs before sliding in next to you. "Shall we rejoin the party?"

"Yeah, otherwise Katie will be making up all sorts of lies about me." You mutter.

"C'mon, lovebirds, join the fun! We swapped games, and Twister's getting pretty intense!" Katie yells as the crowd screams in unison before someone falls to the ground.

It's never uneventful around her, but you don't mind having a slice of normalcy with Tzuyu. Especially since she's holding your hand and kissing your face every once in a while.

Hopefully, the blackmail isn't as bad as what you have on the other Paladins.

[anarchy-and-piglins]

Technoblade had his guard up the moment they stepped foot on Unseelie territory. 

The rumors he had grown up with rang true. As a fae himself, Techno could tell a difference in the magic that ran through these woods. Any creature encountered here could not be trusted.

And that was kind of a problem considering he was pretty much traveling blindly. All they had given him was a vague set of directions and his precious cargo that Techno had to get there. No pointers on how to get across Unseelie land untouched. The guards he had brought with him were capable and Techno wasn't humble about his own skills in a fight. The issue wasn't a threat to their physical safety. But he didn't want to cause an all-out war if he provoked any hostility. 

The last time the two courts had a serious conflict, too many lives were lost. As the leader of this envoy, it was Techno’s responsibility to prevent that from happening again. 

It hadn't been long before he heard something up ahead. It sounded like a lute being played, and the humming of a tune that ran underneath. They continued down the road, until Techno spotted him. A young fae around his age was sitting on a branch that curved over the path. His feet dangled off as he played his instrument.

But Techno wasn’t fooled. He had expected they’d be keeping an eye on the road.

The Unseelie knew about his mission. And they’d do anything to get their hands on something so precious.

Raising a hand to signal his men to stay back, Techno stepped forward. As much as he loathed the intricacies of diplomacy, Techno knew his way around words very well. He’d rather do the talking himself than risk one of the guards misspeaking and getting them into trouble.

“Hullo,” he greeted the man politely enough.

The other fae looked down at him with vivid brown eyes, mouth pulling up into a wicked grin.

“Oh, what’s this? Lost wanderers?” He dropped himself down from the tree to land nimbly on his feet, brown curls bouncing. “Can I have your name? I don’t like talking to strangers.”

“You may know my name,” Techno said, trying not to grin at a slight twitch of the man’s brow in annoyance. Did they really think he’d be that stupid? “It’s Technoblade.”

“I suppose you may know mine too then. Wilbur.” Techno ignored his outstretched hand.

“I need to get to the other side of these woods,” he explained. “You wouldn’t be so chill as to grant us safe passage for free, would you? That’d be pretty pog.”

This time it was Wilbur’s turn to chuckle. With the Unseelie, nothing came without a price.

“Depends on where you need to go. Can I have your map?” Wilbur asked.

“No,” Techno said while handing it to him. “But you can look at it.”

Wilbur unfurled it with a light laugh. “I’m not going to steal your shit.”

“I’ve heard your sort is quite prone to doing that.”

“Nah, we only take what’s interesting to us.” With that, Wilbur’s eyes briefly flicked towards where Techno’s guards were waiting, the paladin with his cargo.

“Safe passage,” Techno reminded him.

“Right, right.” Wilbur bunched the map up into a messy ball and shoved it back at him, starting to walk ahead and gesturing for them to follow. “My family can take you. I’ll bring you to them. And I guarantee no harm will come to you or your shipment.”

“Liar.”

Wilbur froze. The expression on his face was comically confused.

“Fae can’t lie,” he said slowly, almost as if he was testing the water.

“Seelie can’t lie,” Techno corrected - ironically also because Wilbur was right. Seelie couldn’t lie.

Unseelie, on the other hand.

“How did you know I was lying?” Wilbur asked.

Again, Techno found himself unable to speak anything but the truth.

“It’s a talent I’ve had since birth. No clue where it comes from, I can just tell when I’m being lied to.” It was no wonder Techno had been chosen for this mission.

“Interesting,” Wilbur muttered. And when Techno looked at him, Wilbur was staring right back at him, golden-brown eyes even more ablaze with an uncomfortable sort of fascination. “You’re… that’s very interesting.”

Techno shifted on the spot, trying not to instinctively reach for his sword. “Your family?”

“Yes!” Wilbur snapped out of it suddenly, blinking a few times. But he never really looked away from Techno again, his smile that much more unsettling. “Right this way, they’ll be thrilled to meet you. We so rarely get visitors here, I think they’ll really enjoy having you stay.”

And oddly enough, Techno could tell that those words were not a lie.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Hello I love bane totally normal amounts, so do you have any favorite fun (or fucked up) trivia facts about my emotional support god of tyranny?

I might've mentioned some of this before, but here's some trivia (and sometimes my musings upon it):

He has absolutely no indoor voice when he's excited. -

If you're invited to pray with the Banites and refuse, expect Bane to curse you with constant debilitating pain that prevents you from being able to cast spells (too much pain to concentrate) or fight, or walk very fast. This doesn't go away until you get a cleric to cast remove curse on you. If you do join them in honouring the Black Lord then your alignment will magically switch to lawful evil and you basically convert to Banite on the spot (if you're a priest then your god fires you immediately and won't take you back); this is either 1e nonsense or a sign of Bane brainwashing you, and either is just as likely. -

He - in his own words - has an "ever-gnawing hunger for miracles and wonder". He also has 10 levels of wizard, which might tie into that. -

He seems to have a monster making hobby. There are so many monsters and monster variants that have been copyrighted by Bane it's ridiculous: banedead, baneguard, baneliches, banelar nagas... I'm pretty sure that Bane is actually credited with creating the beholders ("eye tyrants") of Toril, though I don't have the time to go looking for a source on that.

Either way; he has a lot of beholders in his service. -

I'm pretty sure I remember something about his inventing his own traps during his stay at Zhentil Keep, so there might be an engineering hobby in there somewhere. -

He's a nerd about human biology and geeks out about blood cells and neuroscience - not that he'd admit it because the idea of being thrilled by mortality terrifies him (also I think he just hates positive emotions in general). Before the Time of Troubles he used to enjoy possessing mortals as hosts instead of manifesting avatars, which would presumably allow him to experience what they did and geek out about it while pretending he wasn't (although he didn't look after them very well and inevitably ran them into the ground - basic human needs are beneath him). -

He seems to like using black and red lightning of some sort as a kind of signature. -

(...I think this guy would be very happy as a supervillain living in his secret lab somewhere, performing mad scientist experiments as he plots to take over the world.) -

His domain can be annoying to pin down, because technically it started off in the plane of Acheron, but he's also supposed to be rooming with Loviatar and Bhaal in the Barrens of Doom and Despair in Gehenna, so who knows! -

He has a pet raven called Koravis, who he has a mild telepathic connection with. This raven is actually a fiend in the shape of a raven, but that pretty much just means he has an evil pet raven.

It's been stated that in his mortal life his character class was Blackguard - or an evil paladin, in 5e terms, dedicated to the service of evil powers. I suspect his patron was his master, the primordial Maram, who he served as a battle slave. As the evil pet raven is a Blackguard class feature (fiendish servant) I suspect he had Koravis when he was mortal. The bird/fiend was likely given to him by Maram (much like a warlock's pact familiar comes from their patron) and I guess the bird stuck with the winner. -

He managed to piss off the earth goddess Chauntea at one point, trying to destroy her sacred pools/portals in the Moonshaes. I can't find the sourcebook for the details at the moment though (it was successful enough that his followers still have the moonveil spells though). Bhaal was also trying to kill her over there at some point, so I wonder if that's connected?

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 17

It’s Emily Axford’s World, We’re Just Living in It

Welcome back to Fantasy High where this monster 3+ hour bombshell of an episode is dropping during one of the busiest weeks of my life! There is SO much going on in this episode that I’m absolutely going to have to speed through things to get this out before the next episode but I’ll try to hit on all of the most important points. OK, ready, set, let’s go!

We closed out last ep in the middle of downtime where we learned that Jace had a scar from being infected with a rage crystal shatter star and from there we still have a bunch more downtime to get through. Highlights!

Riz investigates the footage from the crystal cam and again has the feeling that he needs to go back to his office and check out any open-ended clues because he’s missing something. 

Gorgug tries to work on a way to harness the power of the Night Yorb’s darkness since it’s trapped in his van since they’ll probably be fighting a solar deity soon. He does mention it to Henry but not why he’s doing it. He also looks into the Cloud Rider and confirms with the Aviation Club goblin kid that it would be powerful enough to lift the Hangman (referring not to the motorcycle, but to Bill’s ship which is now Seacaster manor). 

Fig writes another Ankarna themed song and rolls an insane 37. That’s powerful enough that she’s able to commune with Ankarna in her dreams. She calms the distressed Ankarana with the paladin spell Atonement and by commiserating that both of their girlfriends are “out of town”. Ankarna calls Fig her hero and says that “She’s always known” before she wakes up. 

Fig keeps haunting Ruben's dreams but they're abjured so she can't straight up talk to him. In his dream, she sees his house in Elmville and feels rage as well as fear. She sees a glade in Far Haven Woods and a scared pre-emo Ruben which makes her think that that's where they did whatever they did to kick things off and that maybe the old Ruben is still trapped somewhere. 

She then goes full Emily Axford and–along with the help of Fabian, British Kristen, Gorgug, and Adaine–goes to Ruben’s house and FAKES THE DEATH OF WANDA CHILDA BY KIPPERLILLY. Once she’s “dead” Adaine casts Enlarge on Gorgug and throws a cloak on him so he can take her away the in the same way Buddy’s body was taken away. It’s the performance of a lifetime with a 34 but the craziest part is they know someone was watching through the window but they have no idea who it was. InSANE. Imagine if it’s just Kipperlilly watching from Ruben’s window like ???????

Finally she gets Eugenia to design a tattoo for Fabian’s bday that will let him cast Ghost Step. She’s gonna secretly tattoo it on him because sure why not. 

Kristen talks to a very stressed Jawbone who has been dealing with a lot of angry kids lately which is, como se dice, troubling considering the whole rage god situation. She downloads him on everything going on and reveals that she was gonna try to have British Kristen steal files so she can see if the addresses of the angry kids form a 24 pointed star but instead she helps Jawbone clean his office and asks if she can have the addresses. He can’t give out student info but he says he’ll check a map and see if they form a star as well as checking on Jace. Kristen tells him to be super careful because the last teacher they talked to was Yolanda, RIP. (He also mentions the Sophomore Year Hotel Cav fight as being a weird thing that happened and the murder attempt of Lydia–things that we’ve already flagged as loose ends. We’ll get back to this).

Bobby Dawn is freaking out because they can’t find Buddy’s soul in corn heaven. Kristen reveals that he’s not in corn heaven and in fact is following a new god (after confirming he doesn’t have a rage crystal). Bobby Dawn thinks he’s being punked–especially once Kristen says the new god is her god’s ex-wife–but Kristen is being pretty sincere (so sincere that Murph is melting into a puddle anticipating she’s about to give the game away to one of their least fave NPCs–imo, she didn’t give away anything game ending but she was def playing with fire). Bobby tells Kristen to call him if there’s anything he can do to help find Buddy and Kristen dips to go talk to “[her] friend Murph.” Not Riz, Murph the irl guy, lol. As that happens, Bobby goes to have a whisper convo with his wife Pam who is also there. Suspicious.  

Riz/Murph makes the connection that Lake Shimmerstone is called that because of the gem filaments that flow from the Mountains of Chaos. It's a classic "no rolls necessary" moment. 

Kristen finally checks the bylaws and sees that the major change made was that there is no longer any inaugural period post election. So once the votes are counted, whoever wins is president right away. It was a change by Mazey requested by a faculty member--they think Jace. 

Kristen checks on her brother finally and it doesn't seem like he has a rage crystal but he's pretty bummed that he hasn't been able to convert any of his friends despite being a good paladin. He's also having a little existential crisis because he has non Helioic friends who don't actually seem like scary heathens. But then he was warned that sin might be tempting. Kristen tells him that she understands and that he has to decide whether he knows himself better than their parents. She says she's always around to talk. She then does a Relaxation roll and loses 3 stress tokens! Brennan also has her roll a d6 for the Relationship track roll with Buddy and on a 6, loses her final stress token!

Like Fig, Kristen also gets to commune with her goddess. Cass says that she's trapped and the king will come to Spyre. She says her wife's "fiery hand" grasps her in death and she has to protect her from the upcoming destruction--but she can't do it as herself. She tells Kristen that Ankarna has a champion as well and when Kristen asks who Cass says she already knows the champion. Finally, she urges her to look into what Kalina said because there was to be a good reason for her saying Ragh’s name. 

I’m going to leave the bullets for a moment (largely because Tumblr gets mad at blocks of text that are too big) to say that Adaine and Fig go to Ayda’s geocache and find an insane amount of spell components which would have been super useful earlier in the year. It also has instruments for Fig including a new bass that Brennan says he’ll get Emily the item card for ASAP. Back to bullets!

In his research, Riz finds the location in the Mountains of Chaos of the Temple of the Fallen Sun where Lydia's party members stopped in their travels. 

Riz looking into the Loam files sees that the person they're after must have had some ability to stun their opponents which is probably the reason for the lack of defensive wounds. He also learns that Ruvina's festival was called the Festival of Frost which sounds a lot like Frosty Fair. 

He finds some text about something called the War of Shattered Stones which apparently took place around when Ankarna's domain changed. 

On a hunch that there is more going on with the rat grinding than meets the eye, the whole gang takes a field trip to Lake Shimmerstone and Riz finds evidence that at some point the Rat Grinders were taken here while a massive giant was fighting deadly monsters. That doesn’t make sense so they call in some rats to question who tell them that there was a giant fighting these monsters and basically leaving the killing blows to the Rat Grinders so they’d get the XP–which is mechanically insane diegetically but we’re gonna ignore that. The rats also confirm that this was when Lucy was still around. The Bad Kids think that the RG’s made a deal with this giant (who the rats say is a guy btw) to get powered up and they got crystals as their end of the bargain. 

OK, that basically wraps up downtime. One more piece of business before we head to the Temple of the Fallen Sun! Zara has a talk with Fig where after heaping praise on her, she passes along a message–the appearance of a surprise meteor shower which was arranged by Ayda and is the most romantic thing ever. I won’t recap it, just watch it yourself. I can’t do it justice. Before Fig leaves for some hot tub time, Zara asks about Fig’s evaluation and Fig assures her she already turned it in. 

Time for a griffon road trip! And strap in because this is a MEATY lore dump. Sandra Lynn brings everyone on griffons to the Temple of The Fallen Sun and Riz brings his files because he can’t shake the feeling that he’s missing something. 

They find this infernal temple littered with humanoid bones and Fig can tell with her divine sense that it's a temple to Ankarna. There is a place where Ankarna’s name was destroyed and replaced with a Ranger’s symbol that says: Do Not Enter. Fallen Temple. There’s also evidence that someone tried to rewrite Ankarna’s name but it’s not her actual name. It’s the glyph that means her but isn’t her actual name. Which suggests that there’s a group of Ankarna followers that are trying to do stuff involving her but that don’t know her name. 

Everyone who can loads up on Truesight and See Invisibility before they enter the temple. There are a bunch of pretty good Investigation checks but, in particular, Riz gets a 32 and Fig gets a Nat 20.

Fig sees a vision (and Adaine can see it too--I assume as elven oracle she can just piggyback on anyone else having visions lol) of two giantkin wearing robes with a sun emblem being executed by armored individuals wearing robes with a fiery emblem on it. This temple was built right when Ankarna's domain was changing. They’re seeing the old priests of Ankarna being executed by the new ones. 

It's clear that this temple was built as a part of a state religion--the focus on conquest and strength is very empire-y. Adaine sees some writing in Giant and casts Comprehend Language so she can read it. There’s a bunch about the War of Shattered Stone and some new stuff about the temple being built for the glory of the House of Sunstone. They walk through the temple and see all this awful equipment for torture and execution. They get the sense that this is where Ankarna was changed. Her new followers did a bunch of heinous stuff in her name to force her to become infernal. As above, so below and all. 

Adaine casts Legend Lore and Brennan basically salivates. 30 seconds later, Riz rolls a Nat 20 to Investigate his files. So we’re about to crack this whole thing wide open folks. Let’s do this!

Fig and Kristen explore a chamber and Kristen's shards glow so bright she has to wrap fabric around them so they don't hurt peoples' eyes. They realize that their goddesses have been in this room together before. It's where they got divorced. Fig sees a vision of a bunch of Cass's followers dropping their weapons and backing up slowly and then being brutally slaughtered by the new guard of Ankarna. 

Adaine's Legend Lore starts: Sunstone was the top clan of the giants and conquered all the others--Thunderfist, Hornspear, Moonspeak, and Frostblade (Lucy’s ancestors). Ships got better which meant people started mingling and so did their gods. Ankarna and Cassandra got married. Things were good for a while but the leaders of the church of Sol didn't like having two sun gods in their pantheon so they whispered in the ears of some of the Sunstone guys that maybe conquest was the way to go (this was when they started conquering the other clans).  

Clan Frostblade rose up to fight because Ruvina was so concerned with stopping her sister and at the sundering of the Cliff's of Colcath, House Sunstone was destroyed. 

At this point, Riz realizes the thing he was missing in his files and it’s the thing we noticed ages ago. The weird moment in Sophomore Year. How did Ragh get cursed so he could see Kalina in the first place? Brennan plays the clip, looking like the cat who ate the canary. Porter did “Barbarian Healing” on him. That’s not a real thing. Lay on Hands is though. Porter is the one who infected Ragh. Emily, who has hated this man from day one, is LIVING. 

Back to the Legend Lore: The sundering of the Cliffs of Colcath. Sundering as in breaking. As in Cliffbreaker–Porter’s last name. 

They start putting things together. Him telling Fig he's a paladin to his ancestors. Gorgug sees him smite a giant stone with the force that would be needed to fell a bunch of trees in the woods. Disasuding Fig from being a paladin of Cass. His connection to Jace from the start. The large figure healing Buddy? He’s big as hell and Paladins can revivify. And Ankarna telling Fig that she’s known all along. 

The Legend Lore Concludes: After the sundering at the cliffs, the remaining Sunstones changed their names (to Cliffbreaker) and went into hiding. The Frostblades destroyed Ankarna's name to free her from the corruption (but I guess that went a little too far and backfired). The name was lost but a lot of Ankarna's true followers waited for her return. That includes Bakur who the Bad Kids realize was trying to bring back not infernal, ragey Ankarna but sunny justice Ankarna. But he was stopped by her mortal followers. 

Sandra Lynn watching all of this is like, “Well shit,” and points out that if the world isn’t already in chaos they must not have everything they need yet. The Bad Kids figure the opposition must be missing the name and a successful election. The election is in four days so that’s how long they have to stop it. In one final sick fusion of bard and paladin, Fig uses a riff from her base to uncover an older image of Ankarna and Cassandra pre-corruption and then they head back home. 

(Note: This comes up later retroactively but before they leave, they also check for footprints and see recent ones of Porter, Jace, and Buddy. It looks like they teleported in.)

Kristen casts Sending to warn Jawbone that Porter is bad news and then they speculate some more. There was a question in an earlier episode about what does it actually mean that Ankarna died in the Red Waste. They figure out that it means that the last follower who remembered her name was killed there. 

They talk to Bakur who says again that he was betrayed by Ankarna’s mortal followers. He also mentions that even in her infernal state, she would refuse to grant her followers spells when they had plans to hurt her sister or wife (even when Ruvina’s followers were attacking her). 

Bakur realized that Ankarna's followers were interested in her power but not in her. Bakur also overheard conversation from Lydia's party that said that Ankarna needed to be remade in a place where a god has been borne. A god. Any god. Riz flashes back to Kipperlilly Jawbone asking where Yes! was borne. 

Fig with some help from Adaine makes a fake version of Ankarna's name to give to Porter--Bacharath written in Giant. While Fig goes to give this to Porter, Adaine is hiding outside with Detect Thoughts on and Riz is hiding nearby invisible and recording.

Fig finds Porter and tells him and she found a new god and found her name but it’s annoying because she can’t read Giant which she needs to do to rez the god. She does it really casually and acts like it’s no big deal and Porter tries to play it cool but Adaine can tell with her Detect Thoughts that he’s chomping at the bit to get that name. She makes sure that Fig crits on her Deception with a portent. He (not at all) causally offers to help Fig translate and snatches the piece of paper from her. Fig then challenges him to spar and he agrees. Brennan asks for a Con roll and when Porter stomps his foot, everyone is immediately stunned (remember the mention of the stun effect and not defensive wounds earlier). Everyone but Riz who rolled a Nat 20. So he keeps his Invisibility. He also gets a high enough luck check to feel that there is someone else invisible nearby, close to Fig and Porter (note: later, Brennan tells Adaine that while she had Detect Thoughts up, for a moment she could detect the thoughts of an invisible KP). 

The last thought Adaine gets from Porter as her concentration drops on Detect Thoughts is, “Did I lock the office?”

Porter helps Fig up and doesn’t actually fight her but it feels like they just saw Porter do a Legendary Action which is a weird thing for a teacher to do–even a strong one. Fig asks what the hell that was and Porter plays it coy, saying senior year is gonna be really exciting. Riz is absolutely not having that non-answer and Misty Steps into Porter’s office. With his high investigation, he just finds everything so back to bullets:

There’s a note where he’s intimidating Halo St. Croix (the paladin teacher) into letting him teach the multiclass paladins. 

There are MCATs signed for him to teach both Lucy and Buddy paladin lessons. 

There’s an encrypted message between Porter and Bobby Dawn where Bobby is basically saying he’s very happy for Sol to remain the ONLY god of the sun in town but a new war god? That could be OK. He also suggests Porter look into Devil’s Honey for his plan. 

There's medicine to help with a psychosomatic allergic to feline dandruff (prob Kalina related). 

There’s filo dough–the kind you use to make baklava (a honey based dessert). 

There’s a leather cord, probably used in the casting of Spy’s Tongue Curse than smells rank. 

There are tons of blenders full of whey, protein powder, and ambrosia–food of the gods. Together, they piece together that mortals aren’t supposed to eat ambrosia because it kills them. Not in a violent way–they just ascend to the afterlife. They figure that Porter is basically eating god supplements, with the intention of supplanting Ankarna and becoming the new god of rage. Explains why he suddenly has legendary actions. 

There’s some cryptic, vague communication with the Rat Grinders which doesn’t give much away but is enough to tip them off that Ruben’s house is the place where they plan things. 

With that they go to investigate Ruben’s place. Before they go, Riz sets up a dead man’s switch that will release evidence if he doesn’t stop it–just in case they get trapped or held up or something. Adaine also calls her sister so she can cast a bunch of protective wards on Fabian’s place–she’s a master abjuration wizard after all. 

Riza goes in first and disables all the traps in Ruben’s house which means they won’t get caught but the RG’s will know someone was there later. Here’s everything they find and, like the rest of this episode, it’s a lot:

Adaine finds Oisin’s workstation and most notably finds a picture of his dragon ancestor hanging out with Kalvaxus, some notes about the Cloud Rider, and notes about stealing summons from other people (remember Adaine's mephits going haywire at Fabian's party). There's also some notes about a way to write telekinetically on the inside of a sphere. They’re not sure what that means. 

In Ruben's sound studio, they find notes from Porter helping Ruben write the song Get Mad--the song he did at Frosty Fair. 

Gorgug hacks into their private servers and sees all their communications. KP insists that they only call Cass the Nightmare King and (presumably) refers to Porter as the "Big Guy". She says he wants the Nightmare King and should have her locked down sooner rather than later just as soon as she shows herself in the Astral Plane. There's also stuff from last year where KP is really excited. She says the Big Guy has been looking out for them for a while and she's hyping Lucy up saying she gets to be the champion (something we know she didn't want). KP is specifically excited that this will allow them to keep up with the Bad Kids. Jace is also mentioned as a conspirator under the acronym JSD which isn’t slick at all lol.

Kristen sees evidence of Buddy helping with a ritual and stuff about where a god was "borne" (spelled correctly) so clearly they know a lot about what's going on. She also finds out what KP wants to do once she's President: she wants to shut down Aguefort as a school forever which will nullify the protections and wards it has centered on it, the big one being that Elmville can't be moved to any other plane of existence while school is in session. They think the Rat Grinders want to teleport the whole town–perhaps to set up a divine domain. Which would need followers–specifically angry followers. IDK about y’all but I feel like being randomly teleported to the Astral Plane would make ME pretty angry. 

There are texts post Lucy but pre Buddy where they're like what are we gonna do now? There's a "We're all in this together now" vibe (like some kind of twisted High School Musical) and they resolve to "talk to the Big Guy"

We learn Buddy was chosen for the same reason Lucy was a good candidate–connection to Ankarna. Lucy because Ruvina was her sister and Buddy because of similar domains (Helio’s domain is a Solar offshoot). Also I didn’t mention this before but Buddy did *not* know what he was doing. Oisin and Ivy are joking about his cluelessness behind his back (Booooo I was rooting for you dude). 

There’s a message from Jace telling them to stop antagonizing the Bad Kids even though they want revenge which leads the Bad Kids to question what they ever did to them. 

In Oisin's room they also find a lot of stuff about dragons and an image of a fetal god being protected by the Nightmare King. Also they remember how cloudy the Nightmare King's realm was (maybe a cloud rider connection?) 

Deep breath, this is a lot of stuff and we’re almost done. 

There's stuff about the Thistulespring tree and Ruben’s song spreading the rage vibes that represent the crystals in the ground. 

They realize that Porter is probably using the Devil's Honey to lie to Ankarna about his intentions as he's communicating with her.

They see that for the ritual they needed a body (Porter), Ankarna's name, the protective storm of the NIghtmare King, and his name inscribed by the champion of the old goddess. They realize that’s why Zara never got her eval. Fig is the champion and she did Porter and Zara’s eval on the same sheet which he swiped for this ritual. He literally made Fig a paladin so he could get what he needed. Diabolical. Aguefort needs better hiring practices. 

OK. Phew. Finally done. They head out and the next day is election day. Porter isn’t at school that day which is not surprising but is concerning. They don’t see the RG’s either. After school it’s time for the big party/election at Fabian’s place. Mazey gets a booth set up and Jawbone is there as faculty to make it legit. Aelwyn has warded up the place. Fig is there as Wanda cause she’s a maniac. Adaine is casting Detect Magic continually at the voting booth to watch for shenanigans. Also Ragh shows up and he aced his tryouts! He’s gonna be a profesh bloodrush player! Hoot growl all around!

But Riz (and honestly Murph) is unsettled. Everyone’s at this party where Fabian’s victory is a sure thing? All in one location together? Rat Grinders nowhere to be seen? This is WAY too easy.  

Which is Brennan’s cure to drop the other shoe. 

Things are just like Adaine's visions...until they're not. The sky was always clear in her visions and now storm clouds are brewing. She gets a Sending spell from someone, "You didn't see the storm coming? Must not be a very good Oracle." Oisin. Suddenly, ping pong balls with runes inside of them start raining down from where they've been stuck in the unkept Seacaster manor for months. From when Oisin "missed" his shots. Telekinetic writing inside a sphere. Runes inside ping pong balls. As they fall, there's a sudden lurch. Winds kick up and Seacaster manor is flying above Elmville. Everyone rolls initiative! 

I’m not doing proper Honor Roll/Detention this week because this was such a long episode and I'm exhausted. Honestly, Honor Roll for me for getting this up in time. Detention for Fabian for not using is 10k gold allowance to have someone clean his house in the past 9 months. 

Random Notes

Gonna just stick to a few plot relevant ones to keep this brief. 

Re: Adaine not seeing the storm in the same way that the previous oracle couldn't. I wonder if that’s just a blanket thing that weather evades predictions or if they did the same thing that was done during Kal’s plan to evade that oracle's sight before Aelwyn sunk her ship.

I don’t think I made it clear but Porter def killed Yolanda according to this ep. 

Porter’s Legendary Action is able to stun someone for multiple rounds which in combat would be devastating. 

I’m shocked they never tried to talk to Ruvina at any point during the campaign. 

I am still VERY concerned about Riz being made staff by Jace and given silver. That feels suspicious given we know he’s on Team Porter Ascension. 

I didn’t get into it because it was nebulous and would have messed with the flow of the recap but there was something there about teleportation circles and the Rat Grinders continually casting teleport to make a circle and maybe that’s how they’re gonna get Elmville into the Astral Plane. Just mentioning it in case it comes up again.

I don’t think we got closure on the “where the god was borne” thing. Because borne means carried, not created, right? I wonder if Seacaster manor would count because the corpse of Yes! Was brought there by Ankarna. 

The Rat Grinders and Porter have at least 2 obstacles they don’t know about. They don’t have the real name (unless they got in since Fig gave Porter the fake one) and Fig is literally domain squatting on Ankarna’s domain. She already called dibs so any claiming will have to go through her. 

I think it’s really nice that Adaine tried to do a relaxation track for Kristen. Handshake meme, her and Riz.

Emily insisting so hard and consistently that Porter was evil that Brennan just made him evil has some real as above/so below energy lol.

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 37

hello and welcome to fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. Fade to Black by @yokohogawa

Things between Keith and Lance are changing but Keith is restless, especially with Shiro still weak, and ends up taking a bad decision: he leaves Lance alone in the Castle with a Lion he cannot pilot. Unable to form Voltron without the newly appointed Red Paladin, the four Paladins left struggle against the sudden attack of a Galra ship and later on take damage from the explosion of a star in close proximity. Lance, on the other end, is left to defend the Castle by himself and has little time to succeed: without energy, the Lions have only 6 hours of breathable air. Beyond that point, his friends will be dead.

okay yes technically this series is unfinished. HOWEVER the first two works ARE finished, and they are amazing showstopping incredible etc. tbh im not much of a black paladin lance fan, i genuinely think solo leadership is not what he is suited for, but this fic made me way more open to it. the way he handled severe crises was as fear stricken as it was awe inspiring highly recommend

2. once again i am a child by @lilaclavenders

“You’re not a spare tyre,” Adam interjects.  “I know that,” Lance says, too unsure to sound completely defensive.   “That almost sounded like a question.” “No... it didn’t,” Lance says.

Lance and Adam talk.

i have always been a fan of lance and adam even tho its the most evidence lacking fanon thing in this fandom. its truly just so interesting. and to have lance as a young cadet getting slammed so badly just in so many different directions being given at least one grownup in his corner...its a good read.

3. Lance the language man by @irish-vampire-blog

Lance didn't really try to learn a language. He just, kind of, picks up the basics and then works from there. Its usually unintentional. Ish.

He isn't stupid though. He isn't an idiot. He just isn't the same kind of smart as his friends are.

this kind of smart for lance is so REAL bc no he cannot do like quantum physics or whatever probably but the way he seems to have a pretty innate ability to successfully do many things that he tries. he just can u know?? thats the autism with the gay audacity i would imagine but i love seeing fics like this

4. my boyfriend's back (and you're gonna get in trouble) by teacupfulofbrains

hey la, hey la, my boyfriend's back

Keith Kogane has never heard of Vine. Lance McClain takes personal offense to this, and makes it his personal mission to teach his boyfriend to meme. Keith is confused, mostly.

(OR: several instances of Keith not getting the meme™ and two times he did)

I LOVE THIS FIC SO BAD I CANT BELIEVE I HAVENT RECCED IT BEFORE. yes i am a cringe zillenial who still finds vine funny and quotes it on the internet but truly idc idc. this fic is funny. this fic is cute. established klance my love and light. also keith comparing lances eyes to the star of bombay is some of the gayest shit ever and also the only time i will entertain blue eyed lance

5. The Most Dangerous Thing is to Love by running_downn

Last time something like this happened to Lance, Keith wasn’t there. He’d thought he would have been able to do something if he had been there, or at least if he was, the guilt wouldn’t be so heavy on his chest. But this time he was there. He was right fucking there and he decided that it was infinitly worse.

~

Basically there's a new threat after the Galra and it almost kills Lance. Desperate making out ensues, but it's okay to recognize when it's not the right time for it. Keith cries a lot cause he's older and grizzled and therefore not as emotionally stunted.

green sock reality? team still out fighting as adults and lance isn’t a fucking farmer while the rest of the team isn’t? keith’s abandonment issues treated with respect and dignity and also the acknowledgement that he’s older and therefore mature enough to handle those issues in a way that doesn’t risk a relationship that is important to him? lance understanding all this and using the supportive nature he is known for??? yes yes yes. stellar fic that should have way more hits than it does

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

[liloinkoink]

need to be needed

skelew - 6.4k - complete

Ren is an enchanter turned hostage turned adventurer, and Martyn a god turned deserter turned houseplant. Currently, they make up a paladin and his god.

Due to abandoning his post, Martyn is cursed until he can “put down roots,” whatever that means. Ren was taken from his home and escaped with the help of Martyn, to whom he immediately swore a lifelong oath as a paladin. This oath offers Ren certain blessings—an innate instinct to be able to find food or water whenever he needs it, and a quicker healing for all his wounds.

The two travel together for a few months, but doing so isn’t simple. Martyn requires care to keep his strength, but communicating his needs for sun, soil, and water is difficult when Ren has trouble reading the meaning in his flowers and flora. Still, they get along well, each doing his best to take care of his newfound partner.

Ren takes his job as paladin very seriously—his god saved his life, after all, and he intends to use it to honor him. Martyn sticks around with Ren more out of convenience than anything—at least, that’s what he tells himself.

oh shit leaflight au. take this it’s been sitting in my docs for months and that ask reminded me it’s probably postable

[vespertineneon]

HOW FALLOUT 4 COMPANIONS WOULD DO IN A STANDARD AMERICAN SCHOOL SYSTEM!

CW: mention of vaping, mention of murder, mention of bullying

Guys don’t let the content warning scare you I literally just have to add CWs to all my fandom posts or I get so scared

Paladin Danse

- Gym is certainly his favorite class

- He has a lot of motivation and discipline

- He will pass his classes and get into honor roles and stuff like that

- This bitch is getting collage credits early through AP classes

Deacon

- Near dropout

- He would get bored of being in class and just skip tbh

- Or he would just stay home

- He is not graduating, he might get his GED though!

- Always getting in trouble for dumb shit, but other students think his rebellion is a statement.

Cait

- Vapes in the bathroom. She’s that kind of girl.

- She is a C- student. BARELY passing classes.

- Pressures other people into skipping with her. (Piper)

- Talks back to all of the teachers, even when she’s in the wrong.

Codsworth

- He’s a fucking robot

- He is passing all of his classes

- Will do your homework for you

- He tutors other students

- He snitches on anyone skipping

Curie

- She will not do your homework for you. She will help you learn.

- She is a robot guys, of course she’s passing her classes.

- She won’t snitch on anyone skipping. She will inform them that making a habit of skipping is dangerous and could lead to their “academic downfall”

Hancock

- Nobody knows how he isn’t expelled.

- Taking this from a repost of my vote, but he totally sets a trash can on fire

- Him and MacCready are the little shits duo.

- Teachers are always frustrated with him because he skips classes, talks back, etc, but passes the tests with flying colors.

- He is an orchestra kid.

- Is friends with the weird kids and bully victims

MacCready

- Little shit

- Gets suspended all of the fucking time

- Hancock helps him pass his classes

- MacCready really only shows up for the people

- Hates authority figures

- Talks mad shit

- Gets his ass beat by other students

Nick Valentine

- A/B student

- Doesn’t get into much trouble, and when he does it’s always good trouble

- If you do something like vape in the bathrooms he won’t snitch he’ll just give a very disappointed look

- He fucking HATES MacCready Nick WILL snitch on his ass

- Library assistant with Piper

Piper

- School news + Student leadership

- Grades vary. She is shit at math.

- Makes a bunch of posters saying dumb shit like “Stop by the library”

- Is always ALWAYS early to school

- Stays away from trouble unless she is PEER PRESSURED

Preston Garvey

- A+ Student

- President of the student council

- “You can’t find your class? Here, let me mark it on your map”

- Always tries to convince students to show up on time, not skip, etc

Strong

- State wide expulsion

- Literally killed someone probably

- Homeschooled

- He is dropping out

X6-88

- A fucking ROBOT

- He doesn’t have the drive or motivation to go above and beyond. He stays as a steady A+ student.

- He is a fucking cunt and nobody likes him