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pixeldiaries · 10 months

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BG3 Honour Mode Act 1 Route

I am currently playing Honour Mode in Baldur's Gate 3 and I wanted to start adding notes/guides to help others through it if they need it. Honour Mode is the new difficulty in Baldur's Gate 3 that's just above Tactician, and you only get one save file. So if you TPK (total party kill) it really is game over.

I haven't completed it yet, but I'm finding it surprisingly not difficult. However, I did a lot of planning. The first act is supposedly the most difficult. I'll add and update with more encounters as I go along.

I'm playing a custom character (Tav), as a moon druid. This is a guide for a Good/neutral aligned run.

Continue reading for the Level 1 to 4 Guide. FULL SPOILERS ahead.

Nautiloid:

pick up all the cartilogenous chests in the first room

rescue US

Free Shadowheart

kill the cultist thralls (for XP), either use the console or fight them

loot everything (you will need the gold)

there is a pink nautiloid explody vat by Shadowheart. Pick this up.

prepare the Command spell on Shadowheart before the Cambion encounter. I replaced Shield of Faith.

drop the chests you picked up in the door way right before the last sphincter. If you can't move past them, neither can the extra cambions. This will buy you time to kill things and loot the place

collect all the nautiloid explosive vats and the void bulbs

use command on Commander Zhalk. Save your spell slots for command. If you can't get him to drop it, you will have to kill him for the sword.

if he drops it or if he is dead, loot the sword right away and beeline for the helm. Go into party view and MAKE SURE THIS SWORD IS IN TAV'S INVENTORY RIGHT AWAY (just in case you lose your companions at anypoint)

The Crash Site

Save Shadowheart

loot everything. You need at least one set of thieves tools. Disarm kit is a bonus.

skip the intellect devourers by scaling the cliffs on the right.

Save Gale

Save Lae'zel

go back to the ship and kill the Intellect Devourers (xp!)

go find the Harper chest by the beach where Astarion is hanging out

go get ganked by Astarion

get some rest if needed. Switch in Astarion.

go to the Ruined refectory

intimidate or persuade the bandits there. No one gets any cheese.

Do not go into the refectory here. Go around the back, find the hatch to the crypt

read the Book of the Dead to give you inspiration.

fight the dead monks

go get Withers.

go the other crypt and open the trapped sarcophagus. If you don't have a disarm kit, keep 3 of your party outside, position 1 by the sarcophagus, turn on Turn-Based mode, loot the sarcophagus and dash out before the trap goes off. It's a nice spear.

Important tips:

long rest when your health and spell slots are low. Try to be at every major encounter fully rested

loot everything. Find every chest. Sell everything. If you fail survival checks, start digging anyway. You need all the gold.

COLLECT ALL THE EXPLOSIVE things. Put them in your camp traveller chest but loot them. I don't care if you think Barrelmancy is an exploit, this is Honour Mode.

The Emerald Grove

get some rest if needed

kill the rest of the bandits in the refectory for XP. Remember to have an escape route if things go south.

Tip: you can use the door to block attacks, and this way you can concentrate on any enemies that ran into the room.

go to the Emerald Grove, help Aradin, Wyll and Zevlor fight the goblins

do all the Emerald grove stuff

add Wyll to your group

talk to Ethel. Do NOT tell her about your tadpole. She will stay at the Grove and everytime you long rest, her stock replenishes. Suggested purchases: health potions, elixir of hill giant strength

only use gold on potions. Resist the temptation to buy all the dyes like I do

talk to Kagha. DO NOT USE FRIENDS ON KAGHA. Unless you want to trigger the tiefling massacre.

rescue Arabella

talk to Nettie. Loot all the scripts in the library.

Go talk to Alfira. Tell her you will help her write her song, so you get proficiency with a musical instrument. It's a bonus if you don't have a bard in the group, but distracting people will be very helpful.

don't fight the harpies just yet

Go find Sazza and free her (she will make it easier to get past the a goblin checkpoint).

DO NOT GO OUT the Emerald grove. Take the passageway behind the prison, and kill the goblins there for XP. Make sure to keep Sazza hidden in the back.

before you heal/wakeup the unconscious halfling druid there, pickpocket him for a +1 Nature head piece.

get out of the secret passageway. Go scale the cliffs in front of the Emerald Gold entrance. At the top, loot a skeleton for a Guidance neckpiece.

find the spider hole and grab he spider egg sac.

continue down the road and talk to the Absolute cultists. This is important: Try not to fight them. Have them "get revenge" on the owlbear instead.

it's up to you if you want to use the tadpoles or not. Tadpole powers make things a bit easier, but not necessary. Personally I have been resisting them.

go get Scratch

DO NOT talk to the Absolute siblings yet. Wait until you are level 4 for the Owlbear encounter

Blighted Village/Waukeen's Rest

persuade the goblins in Blighted Village to let you pass without a fight.

Rescue Barcus Wroot. Gnomes can't fly well.

If you trigger a fight, focus fire on the head goblin Fezzerk first. Once his health is low, he will beg for his life instead.

Talk to the ogres if you are confident in your persuasion skills or if you are sure you can beat them. At level 3, it's doable but a bit more difficult. You will want to kill them for Lump's intellect headpiece, but you may want them to fight for you instead.

You can find the cellar in the Apothacary shop, loot all the potions and herbs there

optional but tricky depending on your rolls and positioning: go kill the skeletons and talk to the mirror. Go find the Necromancy of Thay. Tav should probably read the book.

head north out of Blighted Village

find an uncommon (green) dagger stuck in some roasting mystery meat.

interrupt the bugbear and ogre in love if you want. It will be a bit of a challenging fight at level 3.

Go below the bridge, to avoid the hyenas/gnolls

Go to the tollhouse and talk to the paladins. Do not fight them.

If you collected the nautiloid explosive vats like I told you to do in the Nautiloid ship, start decorating around the Paladins with them. Two of them beside his desk should do. Do not fight them.

Go get Karlach

go to Waukeen's rest and do all the quests there. You can visit the Zhentarim hideout but be careful, if you fail with the guy keeping guard, he will blow you up. I recommend maybe keeping someone waiting outside.

Goblin Camp/Shattered Sanctum

go talk to the goblins. You can walk around if you are able to persuade the goblins at the first checkpoint

go talk to Volo.

go talk to Crusher. "Persuade" him to kiss your foot. He will go away and sulk alone on the bridge to the entrance

go inside the Shattered Sanctum.

talk to Priestess Gut. She will wait for you in her chambers

Rescue Volo

Rescue Liam

optional: talk to the Priest of Loviatar, Abdirak and get beaten by him. You get a buff.

I do not recommend talking to Dror Ragzlin or Minthara at this point, or attempting to rescue Halsin. If the talks go bad, you will have to fight.

if you still need more XP, you can fight the newborn gnolls on the Risen Road. They should be easy, but be prepared to kill the hyena runner fast, or deal with gnoll adds.

with Lae'zel in your party, you can also visit the Githyanki patrol and talk to Voss. Convince Lae'zel to play along and tell Voss that we'll help them find the "weapon" they seek. You DO NOT want to fight this patrol. They will murder you.

at some point after all this you should hit Level 4.

Owlbear

go to the Owlbear cave and head inside with the siblings

I'd recommend opening the Selune chest first to get the neck piece

go fight the Owlbear. In Honour mode, the Owlbear legendary action is that she will summon her mate so now you get to fight TWO full grown owlbears with the same HP and abilitlies AND the cub.

the siblings will distract the 2nd owlbear ideally.

Stay by the creek, it's a narrow section and doesn't let the owlbears maneouver very well

focus fire one, then the other.

make sure to pick up the owlbear egg and don't kill the cub.

Tip:

always kill one at a time if you can. This will knock enemies off the board, less chances for them to attack you. Even at 1 HP, enemies can cause trouble.

At Level Four you should be ready for most of the more trickier fights. I would recommend being at Level 5 to kill the Spider Matriarch, but all the other boss encounters in the area should be manageable. I'll write up my strat guide for the next post.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 honour mode #bg3 honor mode #bg3 strategy guide #baldur's gate 3 strategy guide #bg3 spoilers

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logarithmicpanda · 4 years

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artifact prompt: tarot cards

(part 13 /?)

Your grandma had a tarot deck. You vaguely remembered playing with it as a child, and being punished because you hid away several of the cards from the major arcana. The ones that you didn't like. The Tower, the Judgement, the Fool. You didn't know their meanings, you just... Disliked them.

What had happened to the rest of the deck, you never knew, but when you had emptied your grandma's house, you had unwittingly taken the three cards hiding places. You only realised as much that morning, when you tried to mend a button from your shirt.

You had opened the old cookie tin in which your grandma had kept her sewing essentials, and you had struggled to find the right color thread, so you had up ended the whole box on your table, and dislodged the false bottom. Underneath laid The Fool, and once you saw it, you remembered.

Judgment was stuck beneath the lower planks of the horloge that stood in your living room. You loved the old thing, even if it had never actually given the time properly.

The Tower was hidden in the hole between the back pages of an old hardback and its binding. You glanced at its cover : The Two Towers. Child you had had a sense of humor.

Now, the three cards were sitting on your kitchen table. You were almost certain they were magical, beyond the magic of tarot itself. But if felt as if the spell was incomplete. Maybe the whole deck had been needed. You weren't quite sure what to do with the cards - until you did.

Before leaving for the shop, you baked some muffins.

You shouldered the shop door, as your hands were full with the plate. You didn't really pay attention as you made your way to the counter to put down your burden. Only then did you realize Gyn was back.

They looked tired but not sick any more. You wanted to jump on them and hug them but it was probably a disastrous idea, and you hadn't actually hugged them before. You had been in their arms for the purpose of making out, but not as a simple hug and for some reason it seemed like an important distinction. That made you shy.

"Hi Gyn. I didn't expect you to be better already."

"Ah, so it's not me you're trying to bribe with muffins?"

You snorted.

"No, though you're more than welcome to one."

"And what will that cost me?" Gyn asked warily.

You opened your mouth then closed it. As you were using the muffins as payment for Lilian's help with the blanket, you couldn't simply give them away to Gyn. But then again, it hadn't been too much of a favor she had done you.

"I'd like to know about the coins you usually pay me with," you said at last. "What are they good for? Where do they come from?"

Gyn nodded, relief smoothing away the lines of their face. You wanted to touch them so badly. You had expected to get used to it, for the storm of feelings that seized you when you were near them to quiet down, but they had stayed steadily the same.

"They are magic made into currency. Effectively, you can think of them as batteries. You can consume them for spells or trade them when you don't have the expertise to make one yourself. There are people who are paid to produce them, though most magicians know how to use their own energy to make some if needed."

You had no idea they were that valuable. You had put them in a leather purse you'd made when you were 10 and wanted to be a knight. You kept in it a whole bunch of fake coins from games, tv shows, books... You felt embarrassed to have mixed precious tools of magic with toys.

Gyn noticed your sudden tenseness, and tilted their head. You wanted to kiss the pale neck the movement had revealed from under their dark hair.

You only nodded, and they picked up a muffin. You had expected them to eat in the same half bored manner as they did everything else.

They did not.

They ate like a goblin, gulping the whole muffin in one go. You burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"What? I didn't get breakfast," Gyn said between two mouthfuls and you laughed even harder.

"You're a child," you announced when you caught your breath enough to form full sentences.

They stuck out their tongue to you.

You couldn't resist this time. You grabbed them by the front of their sweater and kissed them hard.

Some clapping erupted from behind a shelf, and, startled, you let go of Gyn, not missing the look on their face. It was a mix of longing and embarrassment.

Lilian emerged from the depth of the shop and picked a muffin.

"At last! I was starting to feel like I was watching an Austen movie. Will they touch hands? Will they look at each other longingly?"

She put the back of her hand to her forehead and mimicked fainting, before biting heartily into the muffin.

You rolled your eyes. Gyn looked like they wanted to disappear under the ground, and for a second you were certain you had made a mistake. That they didn't actually like you, that it had all been a misunderstanding and that you had made a fool out of yourself.

People always speak of heartbreak as if it was this momentous thing that ended all feelings, but that was a lie. Each time doubt creeped into your heart it broke, over and over.

You felt warmth in your hand and looked up. Gyn was giving you a worried look, squeezing gently your palm.

Your heart went from broken to burning, the furnace melding it back together in an instant. You squeezed back.

Lilian moaned and you looked at her wildly.

"These are to kill for!" she exclaimed, grabbing another muffin, and you could have sworn she timed herself precisely to give you heart attacks.

Gyn sighed, probably thinking something similar and you coughed to hide a laugh.

"I brought you something else," you told Lilian while holding out the cards with your free hand.

She grew immediately serious, and examined each one carefully, nodding to herself.

"I suppose you don't have the rest of the deck?"

You shook your head.

"Of course not. A shame, they would be a lot more valuable if we had them all. Still, that's a decent payment for your next lesson."

She handed you a small card. If was glossy and green, and advertised a tea shop in another part of town. You rose an eyebrow at her.

"That's where I work when I'm not helping out here," she said with a shrug. "Come by before 4 on most days and I will have time for you."

You thanked her, and while you were busy Gyn said something to her you didn't quite catch, but a moment later you were both out of the shop, walking hand in hand.

"Are you okay with going back to the park?" Gyn asked casually.

You nodded. You had not anticipated this to turn into a date, but you weren't going to complain. You walked together in silence a while, simply enjoying each other's company. Once in the park, you told them about the tarot cards, and they made fun of you for ruining such a valuable deck.

After some time, silence fell again.

"I don't know how to thank you, for the blanket," Gyn said at last.

They were sitting by your side and looking straight ahead, their hands folded on their lap.

You couldn't help but interpret their attitude as closed. Heartbreak struck again. It had been too much, hadn't it? An absurdly luxurious gift for someone you had just started frequenting. You bit your lip.

"... What did I do wrong?"

For a second you thought you had spoken, but it was Gyn, worry back in their face.

"I... I feel like you are embarrassed by the blanket, and that I overstepped," you admitted, because there was one thing you had learned through the years: hiding your anxieties when you had been caught red handed only made things worse.

Gyn frowned.

"Angry gods, is that what I should be? Am I an idiot for feeling ridiculously happy that you took so much time and care to make it for me?"

"So you didn't hate it?" you asked in a small, frail voice that made you want to slap yourself.

Gyn grabbed you by the shoulders, then froze.

"I... Is it okay for me to touch you without warning?"

You nodded, and they pulled you into an embrace. You could feel the warmth of their breath tickling your hear when they spoke.

"I told you I don't understand the rules of this thing."

They sighed.

"I didn't hate it at all. When I woke up, I felt so warm and rested that I wasn't sure I wasn't still sleeping. Then I saw the blanket, and the runes of healing and comfort you weaved in, and I prayed that this was from you, and not just something Lilian had found somewhere for me."

You couldn't take the seriousness in their tone. You couldn't help yourself.

"Wouldn't she have been able to make such runes just as well?" you asked, willfully missing the point.

Gyn sighed but didn't bring the conversation back on track. They followed your lead.

"Oh please, she's atrocious at healing. At best she could have bought it from someone to give me."

You giggled at the contempt in their voice. They started pulling backwards but you snaked your arms around their hips and held firmly.

"You can thank me by staying like that a bit longer," you said while nuzzling their neck. You felt them shiver and heard the low groan that escaped their throat.

You could have sworn your heart was shattering your ribs with its furious beating.

When you couldn't take it any longer, you let go.

Gyn's eyes caught yours, and they were full of questions. But you had no answer. You felt lost in a forest.

Gyn looked away first. They smiled softly.

"You can tell me when you feel like I'm angry, you know. I get what anxiety's like. I get how easy it is to construct every single thing the wrong way, and have it make so much sense. I can't promise you I'll never be angry. There's a lot of that in me, I'm afraid. But I will never lie to you about it, okay?"

You let your head fall on their shoulder and nodded against them. Their right arm circled your shoulders.

"The only way we can get better at interpreting each other's reactions is by being vocal about them," they added, talking to themself as much as to you.

Still, you nodded, and you felt relief slowly pouring over you.

Things were going to be okay.

Send me a prompt in the form of an artifact and I'll write the reaction of the weird person at the magical antique shop that is not always there when you walk buy.

#okay that last line sounds a bit like a conclusion but its not the end!#little shop of weirdos

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jamiebluewind · 5 years

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Fantasy High Characters 2.12

I'll go back to ep 2.11 eventually, but I wanted to get this one out while it's still the newest. As always, let me know if I need to edit or add anything and tag/ask/PM me about art and stories so I can check them out!

Warnings: canon typical violence, gore, blood, gross mention, vomit, fantasy racism mention, disturbing imagery, panic attack mention, threats, murder, alcohol, injury

***

Ally (on the fig/ayda kiss): Two young Sheldon's makeing out XD

Lou (on the second fig/ayda kiss): Yes-ah! Yes-ah! Yes-ah! Yes-ah! I bless this union! Yes-ah!

Brennan (on forgetting to change the music for the arcane crime scene): -this is the wrong music for this moment

***

New Characters

Craf-me Rootdrinker

Gnome and druid

Gave his life 200 years ago to reclaim Arborly from the curse

Was very kind

Avoided "cleric nonsense"

Nuathura (New-ah-thoo-ra) the Fox

Older red fox who was awakened as a pup by Craf-me (was his familiar/companion)

Spry and slinky despite his age

Fluent in silvian, elvish, and gnomish

Runs the town (basically the mayor) and offers the adventurers every resource in their village at their disposal

Appreciates it when he is shown respect and is more open to outsiders and outsider tech than Mira, saying that the Nightmare King was once defeated by a strange band of Solesians and that they were delighted to have them

Likes shrimp and was given one by Fabian and four (one on each paw) by Kristen

Was told the crown of the Nightmare King was kept deep under a pit under a pyramid where it could never be found (and was understandably upset to discover that it was instead kept on a shelf in a dean's office and now in the hands of Adaine's mom who is trying to get into the forest)

Mira Silverbough/Silverbow

Wood elf and leader of the rangers who guard the town (of which there are 40 standing on bolders with arrows nocked when the teens wake up)

Intense angular face with steal gray eyes and long black hair on the top of her head (that might hang down in her face) with shaved sides that appear to be turning gray/salt and pepper

Dressed in dark forest green with leather archer's bracers and gloves with

"Ah. Not TRULY children. These are almost adults grown. Come here!" *gestures for the teens to come over*

Racist against those with infernal lineage, goblins, and orcs, but seems to be racist against all other races in general

Was put off by technology she doesn't understand

Referred to Fig as a troubadour (poet who writes verses to music or specificly a French medieval lyric poet) and the van as very small house of wheels

Furrowed her brow at Adaine being the Oracle

Second to Nuathura and very protective of him

Krumpkin Springbill

Head of the Tinkerer's Hall

Round as a pumpkin with a shiny bald head and a mustashe like a push broom

Dressed in soot covered goggles (which he pushed up) and a leather apron filled with tools

He and the other gnomes come up to Gorgug's mid thigh

Two unnamed gnomes

Person with a huge handlebar mustache and a top hat with gear in the side of it

Woman with folded canvas ornithopter wings

Unnamed Bartender

Works at The Owl And The Harp

Was told by Adaine that she was looking for her mom and was shocked by her crystal (used to show him a picture)

Said Elianwyn was staying on the top floor, but thought the kids couldn't afford the substantial outstanding debt she left behind (after leaving without checking out) of 10 gold

Was paid 12 gold by Adaine, then 5 gold by Riz, then another 5 gold by Riz (which was wet), and shown a very round frog by Adaine

Told them that they were acting very suspicious despite being warned about them by the rangers

Most likely has no idea the damage Elianwyn did to the suite she was renting

Vraz the Mean

Executive Potenti of the Dominion of Avernus (first/topmost layer of hell) and Arch Secretary to Blozo the Undimenished who is the regnant of Sloth

Came through a burning oval doorway opened by Fig's magic (which opens to red firy sky and blasted red plane)

Dressed in black steal plate armor and horned helmet, covering all but her face

Beautiful woman's face with porcelain skin, ruby red lips, and a seem at the edge of her helmet where the rest of her skin had been flayed off her body

Burnt scarred skeletal remains of wings

Carrying a burning scroll to serve to Fig

Killean

Wood elf, resident of Arborly, drunkard, and a cruel man

Worked for Elianwyn and was rude to the tinkerers while picking up wax, ink components, and fiddle faddle for her

Had short cropped brown hair, hazel eyes, and a small amount of facial hair

Seen in scry as a puppet with a slit throat. Not wearing a shirt or boots as he left bloody footprints. Blood dripped from his burning dull red glowing eyes into his beard. His sternum was broke open and a fire was roiling within the open exposed wound where a gem was glowing.

Shone a dull red glow 20 feet ahead of the group which causesd a path to open in the dark, twisted, and grarled forest like a subterranean tunnel

Established Characters

Elianwyn (Adaine's mom)

Stayed at The Owl And The Harp for several months

Kept to herself, save sending Killean to get things for her at the Tinkerer's Hall (they had spell components that could be used by both them and wizards)

Vanished with Killean and Aelwyn the night Aelwyn arrived

Murdered Killean and did a spell that left him a puppet with Gorthalax's gem in his chest

Went into the forest, using puppet Killean to cause the briars to retract

Was wearing a deep elven traveling cloak and covered in nasty scars related to a curse (but might be due to a Fallinel curse and not the original crown curse)

Aelwyn

Arrived at Arborly a night before the bad kids (and 2 nights before the bad kids talked to the locals) and was still uncontrollably and explosively gassy (which reaked), worse for wear, and started crying

Changed into wood elven travel garb and traveled with Elianwyn into the forest

Dispelled Adaine's scry without seeing it

Calina

Told Kristen that if they make it through the wall, she would kill them all (starting with Tracker) and that the only reason they were alive was because they were a nuisance (not a full problem) and never got between her and what she wanted

"I want you to stay out of that fucking forest."

Riz didn't see Calina despite being right there and the grass wasn't bent or disturbed where she was supposed to have been standing

Pok's sleeve wasn't disturbed where she was supposed to be standing either and she couldn't drink (or possibly hold anything at all)

She gave Riz sleep paralysis, but never hurt him

Most likely doesn't exist anywhere physically

Is in their heads, but still had to ask questions, so she can project herself into their minds but not read their minds

Note: The unmade goddess turned her familiar (a black cat) into a plague

Kristen

Told Tracker she shouldn't be guilty about passing on any kind of sickness because she believed it had to do with both of them due to her secrets combined with Tracker being a carrier

Suggested doing spells through a dental dam as she had a bunch from Jawbone (who kept insisting that she use them)

Found a bag of loose crab meat and used it to make crab nachos (which she always makes when she has the choice as her parents always made it for parties and never let her have any)

Got drunk and tried to make Riz kiss a shrimp when he got upset, offered Fig a "shrimp secret", tried to throw Fig 2 beers (which Gorgug smashes and she thought was awesome), called Gorgug a scientist when he said he was a little crab, and called Riz "king crab king!" when he was down on himself.

Saw Calina when nobody else could and responded by screaming "Fuck you!" at her

Drank a cortada and stayed cool while Calina was there (talking shit about her as Calina threatened her and the group) but freaked out after she left, asking everyone to hold her and dogpile on her before she vomited coffee and shrimp

Was okay once she was pressed into the grass by all her friends

Tried to get Tracker to stay in town and not go into the forest, offering handcuffs and asking as officer Kristen (and even colonel Kristen using an order)

Tracker

Still rocked after the Galicia sister thing saying that the elven church and the priestesses she knows are nothing alike, but they both worship the same goddess and what the elves did was causing her to have a lot of questions for the first time

Took precautions during things like the life transference spell to avoid passing on lycanthropy, but had never thought to protect herself from something coming back the other way

Had a good talk with Sandra Lynn and gave her a solid shovel talk

Translated the gist of what the others were saying in elvish (to Nuathura and wood elves) for Gorgug and Ragh

Got drunk, balanced crab nachos on her head, and told the others to "Let [Fig] use the shrimp tub!" which resulted in a "shrimp tub" chant

Comforted a freaked out Kristen by rubbing circles in her back

Shivered when she entered the Shrine of Thorns, her eyes flashing yellow as she suddenly felt nauseous and generally not good as the shrine basically repelled her until she exited it

Adaine

Had a message chat that's mostly jokes and memes (that Fig wasn't in on due to losing her phone)

Wanted a fluffy robe

Her crystal has meditation and non-fiction (like a hystory on mage hand) instead of music

Found bellinis and caviar to eat (instead of crab nachos) and shared with Fabian

Drank half a beer, got a little drunk, wondered where Fig was (but was silenced by Kristen), wanted to go in the hot tub with Fig, and pretended to be a crab

On rather they should be honest with the wood elves "Maybe? It makes me nervous. Everything majes me nervous. Sure. Why not?"

Slipped behind Fig during the wood elf standoff and held up a fist while saying "yeah!" to support her, but jumped in with her status as the Oracle, saying it was a prophesy and going into the forest was "A thing we have to do." (which made the wood elves lower their bows and whisper to each other)

Admitted that her sister and mother were trying to get into the forest too, but that they were working against them

Started searching for Calina nearby after her sister booted her from scrying

Told the bartender at The Owl And The Harp that she was looking for her mom (with picture) and paid off her outstanding debt of 10 gold for the suite (with a 2 gold tip) before going upstairs to discover the crime scene her mother left behind

Ragh

Found a bunch of kippers for Fabian

Munched on an entire bone in ham

Got drunk, got shirtless and started screaming "More lobster! You're not lobster enough!" at Tracker

Pointed out the obvious (one guy in town has 4 refridgerators) when Fabian was worried about introducing tech too soon

Gorgug

Got drunk, did a "crab stand", made his arms look like a crab, chanted "crab king" at Ragh, became crab king, said the shrimp tub was not for peasants (when Fabian told Fig about it), smashed the two beers Kristen threw to Fig out of the air (followed by a celebratory yell and him pumping both arms in the air while the bloodrush boys chanted "hoot growl!"), said "I'm a little crab." to Kristen, and finally gave Riz the crab king crown and said Riz? *points at him* You're the crab king now.

Walked up to Nuathura to say hello in gnomish when he heard Nuathura mention tinkerers

Told the tinkerers that he repaired the Hangman, but failed to make a working mechanical butt for him

"Showed" the tinkerers his crystal and headphone as well (and by that I mean the were crawling all over him like excited 5 year olds)

Riz

Started setting up a tiny conspiracy board in Hollyhill minutes after getting there

When asked how he got a certain picture of Kristen, he said "You know... you take pictures; you hang um. That's what you do."

Said "I'm gonna snoop around. In a suspicious way, NOT in a party way." and finds Spyre tech and receipts showing that the guy is expensing stuff to his corporate card that have nothing to do with his work, resulting in him telling the others that it was a tax haven and illegal, so he felt less bad about having a party and more like Robin hood stealing his beer.

Got drunk, somehow stated acting/dancing like a shrimp, pointed out that Gorgug was a crab, started crying and got emotional because "Shrimp are so little and sometimes they get caught in the nets and stuff!" and told Kristen "I'm not gonna kiss the shrimp! It's dead Kristen. And we killed it.", cried again before Fabian comforted him, and became the crab king saying "Honestly, I just wanted to be the crab king. This whole time I've just been the shrimp and I feel like I've been the shrimp my whole life and I just wanna be the crab king. It means a lot that you guys made me the crab king."

Is super hung over the next day as well as super sweaty and nervous about being around a bunch of people, but still tells the elves that there is a demonic plot

Saw that something was off with Fig and thought for a moment that she might have kissed someone, but ends up going with "Did you have... good crab?"

Discovered what his fate would have been if the group hadn't rescued him when Adaine scrys Killean

Vomited over seeing Kristen vomit

Didn't see Calina despite looking exactly where Kristen was and checked the grass with his magnifying glass to find that the grass wasn't bent or disturbed where Calina was supposed to have been standing

Gets super sweaty and unhelpful when trying to talk to the bartender

Had no idea when to stop trying to bribe the bartender and said that the money was so wet because he ate a lot of shrimp

Fabian

Got in a small argument with Adaine on rather or not it was okay to touch your dad's butt (he said it's fine)

Still has the sheet with him as well as the sword Faun-drang-goorh

Got drunk, excitedly said Riz was a shrimp and that Gorgug was a crab, said "I'm a little shrimp!" over and over while dancing, tried to explain everything that had happened to Fig (including that the hot tub upstairs was filled with shrimp), tried to comfort a crying Riz by telling him "The Ball, it's going to be alright. The shrimp will be fine.", and wrapped Riz in his sheet, looked him dead in the eyes (with one hand on either side of Riz while gripping the sheet), and told him "I believe in you. *licks lip* Spring break.", before giving Riz his first ever bardic inspiration

The next day, gave Nuathura a shrimp from his pocket

Rebbed engine of Hangman as Kristen tried to give an inspiring speech

Fig

When opening Hollyhill, said "What did I say? Has your girl ever not delivered?" followed by a resounding "Yes!" from the group

Found a ghost white mushroom with a black skull imprint on the top of it while looking for psychedelics and wanted to eat it

Hears whispering coming from the briar wall

"Sometimes one of the fun things about friendship is just being a chorus on nonsense together and you don't have to hear each other; it just feels really good to talk really loud."

Sees nonsense as a good way to escape when things get too heavy or dark

Talked down about her abilities, especially when compared to Ayda

The thorns don't try to attack her, so she used burning hands on the thorns and the vines sucked up the magic, moving it to the Shrine of Thorns and leaving behind a charred handprint

Didn't want Ayda to know she was a virgin

Cast greater invisibility on her and Ayda

Rolled bad on insight checks on Ayda (trackerbees take two! XD)

Is terrified of saying nice things to others and vomits a little in a bush before telling Ayda "I actually think you're perfect the way you are" before skateboarding away and down an 80 foot near vertical tree, coming out of invisibility so Ayda could see her trick.

Couldn't go anywhere on her skateboard in the ferns and dirt

Wrote up a "contract" after Ayda's confession that said if Ayda made fun of her for what she was about to say, she could give her a wet willy. Before Ayda could sign, she took Ayda by the chin, said "Just so you know, I've never done this as myself before', kissed her (as the fire on Ayda's head swelled out and she became uninvisible), and tried to skateboard away behind a tree, peaking out to see what Ayda thought of it.

Slinked out from behind the tree, apologizing and admitting all of it terrified her before Ayda asked for another kiss.

Admited she started the whole party so Ayda would stick around.

Made out with Ayda until a bit before dawn and tried very hard to get Ayda to stay

Gave Ayda the ear cuff from her left ear which has blood on it (Ayda replied that she will treasure it and can use it)

Went back to Hollyhill to find her drunk friends before locking herself in the room with the hot tub and was still kinda pruney the next day

Name drops Grover to the wood elves, explaining that he offered to let them stay there (to try and deescalate things with the rangers)

Shook hands with Nuathura the Fox

Was honest to the wood elves (that the group were going into the Nightmare Forest), resulting in the rangers pulling back their bowstrings (and her backtracking)

Random note: Try to contact your warlock patron Fig!!!

Burned 1 or 2 luck points to keep a perceptive Riz from finding out that she made out with Ayda

Found a charred handprint in the shrine of thorns and recognized it as the same one her magic left at the top of briars and that the vines took somewhere

Lied to Tracker and Kristen, saying she was up by the briars working on song

Used burning hands again, causing the fire to spread into a stretching oval shaped burning doorway

Was served a burning scroll by Vraz the Mean on behalf of the regnant of Sloth

Ayda

Was invited to the party (which the group decided to have immediately, starting at 1 or 2 in the morning)

Stood in a corner looking around awkwardly before/during the party before following Fig out

Thought nonsense was bad, but Fig showed her that it could also be good and made her willing to try it

To Fig about disguising herself "Uh... yeah. That's interesting. I... can't understand that because if I was you, I wouldn't want to be anyone else because you're... very exceptional."

On Fig saying that she was different than Ayda thought she was "Being mistaken about the nature of something and discovering its true nature is my favorite thing in the world to do."

Turned herself and Fig invisible (look like a translucent version of themselves, like a pale outline to each other) and flew to the briar wall to give Fig a closer look.

Lit with Fig in the low looped saddle of two treetrunks that were fused together right next to the briar wall

Ayda's flaming hair and wings still cast a dull glow on her surroundings, even while invisible

Complemented Fig on her magic

Analyzed the wall and saw it was a very powerful and old abjuration (keeping them out but also keeping other things in) keyed to powerful devils (arcons, princes, and monarchs) where even dimension door would cause all roads and pathways to lead them back out.

Thorns tried to attack her

Thinks that everything Fig has done has been cool

"We all have a nasty legacy, in one way or another."

Laughed with a squawk

Spent a lot of lifetimes building Compass Points Library

Is part phoenix, so when she dies, she comes back but with no memory from her previous incarcerations. She left extensive notes and instructions for herself. This incarnation is 17 years old, but an Ayda has been on Leviathan for a little over 150 years

On why she never just reinvents herself when she reincarnates "Every time I come back, I don't know anything and I guess I trust the versions of me that knew more? I don't have a lot of self confidence and I don't... want... to make mistakes."

Said she could die when she goes back to Leviathan attempting to shut down the library as it's a dangerous city.

"The future's never guaranteed. We don't have anything but today and even that might get cut short."

Said she had information for Fig, but would only share it if Fig signed a contract (on ancient wizard scroll held in a binder that turns into bright fire and whips up into her palm when signed) that stated that Fig wont make any inference based on the information or think anything judgemental or critical of her. The information is "At any waking moment outside of combat that you and I have been together, if you had tried to kiss me on the mouth, it would have been received favorably."

Said Fig's contract was less of a contract and more of a threat

After Fig ran to hide behind a tree, she asked if it's normal for people to run away after that (kissing)

Shed firy tears over Fig starting a party so she would stay, admitting parties frighten and terrify her, but she stuck around because Fig was there

"In this version of my life, this is the greatest moment of it."

Enthusiasticly initiated their 3rd kiss

Said the library meant a lot to many past hers (her current incarnation and 3 others)

Offered to research plane shift for Fig at no charge and said that people ask things of her, but even if she cared about them, they never cared about her (save Fig who does care which makes it different and that's exciting)

Pulled out a firy feather with a squawk and handed it to Fig (if Fig holds if aloft and says her name, she will know)

Said if anything happened to Fig in the nightmare forest, she would "... start over" because she would never be able to forgive herself

Said she would go back to Leviathan to research Plane Shift and would return after that, intending to shrink the library later

"Goodbye for now. By the nine winds and the seven stars and all the secret names of the earth and beyond, I shall see you again. This is my vow." (resulting in Fig replying "Fuck yeah [is/that's] my vow." and Ayda saying "God you're great and cool. Goodbye!")

Sandra Lynn

Was more affectionate with Gilear than she had been the rest of the trip

Left Hangman in charge while she slept in the van

Spoke to the wood elves and Nuathura on behalf of the teens (while they slept til 1pm)

Gilear

Was trying to move the van to get ready for the teleport to Leviathan early that morning. Had the van in neutral with the door open when he tried to let his feet skim over the morning dew on the grass. He had put his apple in his mouth to shift when his trousers caught in the axle of the wheel, tearing them and sucking him under the left wheel well (WHY DIDN'T VAN SAY ANYTHING to anyone!???)

Really had to pee even before he got stuck and only made it 10 minutes before he gave up

The apple was jammed into his mouth (and later covered in ants). He couldn't bite through it because it was pressed against the carriage of the van and he couldn't scream to loud because ants would get in his mouth

Overheard the dance and spent most of his day sweating and crying

Was found later that night, still caught in the front left wheel well, covered in rubber residue and oil, with a browing ant covered apple in his mouth

Didn't need medical attention, but admitted that he did piss himself while under there

Got a hug from Kristen, Gorgug took his apple and tossed it, and Fabian tried to be nice to him about Hallariel not noticing him missing until Gilear asked for an honest response, which he answered with "Of course not Gilear, don't be dumb!" to which Riz said "Guys, he's not dumb; he's just pathetic." (Also found out Hallariel ate all his yogurt)

Adaine mended one of the tears in his pants, but then said "I'm not gonna mend your piss pants, here's another pair." and gave him new ones from her jacket followed by a boot cut pair of pants, Chelsea boots, denim vest, chambray embroidered shirt, and a beret. The kids (including Fabian) approved of his new look. His favorite part of the outfit was the beret.

Said he preferred pants with very narrow ankles and a wide front and back carriage to the seat

Fig told him that she loved him and apologized for not realizing where he was

The teens gave him one hot tub to himself

Was given a massage by Sandra Lynn while laying on one of the day beds in one of the public rooms (when she told him that he needed to make it a part of his routine, he responded that he was extremely broke)

Slept in the van that night

Spoke to the wood elves and Nuathura on behalf of the teens (while they slept til 1pm)

Decided to make sandwiches for everyone for their trip and looked a little different than normal, stood up straighter, and was wearing his new outfit

Baxter

Sat on a branch on top of Hollyhill and slept outside

Grabbed Kristen and Tracker in his claws while Fig and Sandra Lynn road on his back to Shrine of Thorns

Van

Left inside fenced in area at Hollyhill (can't cast fly on him)

Hallow extends out 60 feet from him, so the kids camped outside on matresses from the house

Hangman

Was left in charge during the party, but told the kids "No rules."

In the middle of a dramatic speech defending Gorgug, the tinkerers jumped on him (to examine him with their artificers glasses), resulting in him very much wanting to run them over

***

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kpopchangedme · 5 years

Text

Crosswords | Park Jaehyung

After waiting forever, Jae might be confessing to you this morning... Err, I mean, maybe. Amidst his constant egg related blabber and messy remarks about your lack of dating standards, it’s kinda hard to tell.

|| M.List || Day6 ||

Protagonists: Park Jaehyung & You

Word Count: 2.2k

Genre: SFW | Romance | Confession – One Shot

Lys’ note: Just a lil’ something for other My Days while I’m busy renovating my future apartment this month. Enjoy, x

You flip the pages of the newspaper, looking for your precious crossword puzzle and the man across your kitchen island sighs deeply. Mindful of not tearing your eyes away from the paper and accidentally give him the attention he craves, you blindly reach for your pen.

“You ever think about the whole complex lexicon that’s related to eggs?”

He starts, just as your fingers finally wrap around the precious tool, but you purposely don’t respond. You learned a long time ago that’s the only way to perhaps get peace in the mornings when Jae’s over at your place. It’s the only downside to have him sleep over, but eventually, he’ll give up. Nickel, two letters. Tracing the letters ‘N’ and ‘I’ carefully in the puzzle, you see him wiggle on his stool from the corner of your eye, impatient.

"Like…" Jae thinks for a moment, pushing his breakfast around with his fork. "Over Easy. Sunny Side Up. Soft Scrambled. Hard Scrambled?" When he pauses briefly, you feel his eyes study your concentration and he whines, like a two years old child not getting what he wants. Jae can't stand being ignored, especially not by you. "Poached? Basted. Over Medium… I think there's Over Hard too. AHH!" At his yelp, you almost fall back, and he exclaims, self-satisfied: "Omelette! I almost forgot that one, but I’m not sure if it’s relevant to the ‘eggs lexicon’… It’s more of a recipe, don’t you think?” He takes a sip of his coffee and you frown, unable to conjure up of the demonym for citizens of Cambridge because of his blabber. He’s awfully lively this morning for someone who came in so late. He’s like that sometimes when he has something else on his mind. Oh… That’s it. Jae has something to tell you and he’s trying to force small talk.

“So… Have you?”

“Have I what, Jae?” Giving up, you raise your head from the puzzle only to find him shrugging like it all doesn’t matter, even after his long monologue. You’ll never be able to finish the crossword if he keeps talking non-stop like that, and now you’re kind of curious.

"Think about the lexicon related to eating eggs?" Jae finally shoves a few scrambled eggs in his mouth, shutting up for a little while. "Since you don't eat any, I bet you didn't know that."

“Well, I do now." Looking back down at your crossword puzzle it's your turn to sigh, irked. "Thank you so much for that life-changing piece of information, Jae."

“You’re welcome.” He replies with a chuckle although he knows you’re being highly sarcastic.

“What’s an eleven letters word for ‘Annoying’?”

“Am I annoying you?”

“D-I-S-T-R-E-S-S-I-N-G”, you write slowly in the crossword as you spell it.

“Wow. Why are you always so harsh in the morning?” Jae carefully pushes your coffee mug closer as a peace offering. “Here, little goblin. Drink this magic potion, you’ll feel a lot better. You’ll turn into my favourite girl.” Your heart flutters, and not from the caffeine.

"What are people who live in Cambridge called?" You ask, drinking the black scorching liquid, not minding the bitterness.

“Are you gonna see Hyunki or what’s-his-name again?” Jae blurts that out of nowhere. Ah, now you’re getting to the core of his agitation. The first date you went on yesterday with a man you met at one of Jae’s gigs.

“Hyunbin." After freezing for half a second, you correct him patiently. Hopefully, he's testing the waters for a long overdue conversation. "Well, I dunno, we still haven't texted each other yet… He's probably gonna ghost me like every other guy out there."

“Cantabrigian," Jae answers your previous crossword question like it's nothing, mouth full of eggs. "Then why did you even agree to go out with him." His tone is more accusatory than inquisitive, something you don't miss.

“It fits!” Half-amazed, you squeal, writing the twelve letters word in the puzzle. “Hyunbin’s whipped for his cats. He even has a Catstagram for them.”

“I keep telling you, I’m smart in the mornings. Of course, it the right answer.” Jae snorts at your evident surprise, munching. “So what? You already have a cat. You don’t need another one.”

“So what? Everybody knows I’m whipped for guys who are whipped for cats. That’s my Krypto… Thingy.”

“Kryptonite? That’s the single dumbest thing you’ve said. Like… In the past three years that I’ve known you. And you say stupid stuff daily. Don't you have any criterias, standards, self-respect? That Hyunki's a douche."

“Hyunbin.”

Leaning back at the correction, Jae crosses his arms over his chest, an abnormal attitude that causes you to fully look up at him. You’re used to his hyperactivity; his stupid eggy monologues in the mornings; him listing his favourite 90s high profile power couples outside the bathroom while you’re trying to pee, but he rarely gets serious or talks about your dating life. Much like yourself if it’s not about your hopeless crush on him. He’s cute when he’s getting jealous, perhaps you are really having an important discussion this morning.

“Cats. Guys.” You raise two fingers to illustrate your point, wanting to know exactly where you can push him. “Those are my two criteria."

“Half the world fits those low standards.” Jae rolls his eyes back, exasperated. He raises his fingers in a similar fashion. “I’m a man and I’m whipped for your cat.”

Wow. This makes you pause, heartbeat accelerating. “Three days ago, you freaked out when he threw up on the carpet.”

“I’m eating.” Jae immediately reacts at the mention of the mess, making you laugh. He theatrically shuts both eyes and pushes his plate away.

“See? You’re just a guy friend who crashes at my place and freaks out when my cat barfs.” Smirking, you take a bite of your toast, voice so low he probably doesn’t even hear. That’ll do it.

“Doctor Mozzarella knows I love him despite my little hairball... Incapacity. He knows I’m whipped for him.”

At that, you laugh, Jaehyung didn't even love cats a year ago. He ranted about how "rude” your kitten was being to him for months after you adopted the timid stray. Nowadays, however, they seem to be in a committed relationship. Meaning your cat made a move on Jae way before you manage to do it, that little fucker. It's gotten way worse now that Jae's band has a regular gig at the pub on the corner of your street. You barely get to see your cat on the weekends anymore. He's always sleeping in your guest's room with him. At least every Friday and Saturday nights, the days when his band plays. It always ends around 3 am, which is why he crashes at your place so often, officially. Not that you’re complaining, it’s just that you secretly want them to sleep in your own bed...

“Fine, you’re both whipped for each other.” You admit, nodding your head towards Doctor Mozzarella, asleep on the stool next to Jae. Taking another bite of your toast to hide your thoughts, you wonder if Jae’s finally making a move on you. Because that’s your unofficial theory about why he's always over. For a while, you've been pretty sure he has a thing for you too. But God, the boy moves slowly... “So, what’s your point?”

“You need to raise the bar y/n, or you’ll always end up dating douches and complain about getting ghosted.” Jae stammers, laughing to cover his uneasiness. “I mean, even I fit your criteria!"

You put your elbows on the wooden table to stare at him, discarding your puzzle. Now he has your full attention, dating advice, really Jae? He’s the worst at dating, he only has music and his friends. You can’t believe he got through three years of friendship without saying anything, only to try to bring this up ‘casually’ over breakfast.

“You’re totally right.” You smile at him, discovering he can blush at least three shades darker.

“W-What?”

"About needing to raise the bar. I should start looking for a man who can at least bench my weight. You know? Someone really strong and reliable."

Jae pouts in distaste and wiggles again on his stool: “That’s the second dumbest thing you’ve ever said to me. You’d never date a gym rat.”

"I don't know…" You chuckle, enjoying the nervousness peeking under his usually cool and friendly exterior. "Then tell me, Jae, what kind of guy would you see me with?"

“I know someone…” He lowers his voice until it’s nothing but a murmur. “... Who can help you with your crosswords, you know? A guy who smart in the mornings...”

Your world stops for a moment there and you blink, waiting for everything to slide back in place but it doesn’t. You aren’t daydreaming. Jae’s still there, looking back at you, flushed and hopeful, decisively taking the plunge.

“Wow, then I am doomed.” You snort so awkwardly you startle yourself. Not cute, y/n. You waited years and now you’re totally freaking out. “Guys are never smart!”

“Ha-ha.” Jae snorts similarly in response and the tension in the room seems to decrease dramatically. Perhaps this is some sort of complex lexicon you’ve developed to communicate with one another. At least you’re both equally bad at handling touchy feelings. “What’s another word for ‘close by’?" He tries a different approach, clearing his throat. Jae taps his fingers on your puzzle like he's reading an actual clue aloud but it's probably just to avoid holding your eyes.

“Adjacent… Nearby… Familiar… Jaehyung?” You feign to think for a moment. “Weird, that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere in there.” Frowning you also stare at the newspaper’ crossword, unconvinced. You’re almost certain he can hear your heartbeat from across the counter. Still, Jae needs to man up if he has something to ask you. You want him to say something a bit more direct.

“Y/n.” He sighs, afraid you’re still not catching on. “You’re shitting me, right?”

“What’s another word for that’s long ‘overdue’ Jae?”

After a moment, his voice rings abnormally soft, at least now he knows you got it, "Is it too late?" You raise your eyes to meet his, worried. "Or just belated?” He diverts them to the kitchen window in avoidance. “I thought maybe it was just especially careful. Patient, wise… Sensible? Am I dumb at this?”

“Weird, these all seem to fit just right for me...” His gaze snaps up and you smile, weirdly nervous now. That’s still not a direct confession but at least it’s something.

"Right?" Jae's whole face lights up. "So, you'll, um... Adjust your criterias?"

You roll your eyes, taking a sip from your mug to get filled with the heaviness of the coffee. If you don’t, there’s a possibility you’ll fly away from your stool. All of these soaring butterflies in your stomach... “There’s only one person who fits my actual standards, Jae. I don’t think they need adjusting.”

"That's… Wow… Right." He exhales slowly, relieved, then pulls closer his plate of eggs that are probably cold by now. "Er- I mean, that's me, right? Are we cool? I needed a bit of time to think this through and be cautious, I guess. I’m sorry.” “Took you three years,” you tease, glad to put that all on him when you could’ve made a move sooner too. “Smooth.”

“Hey, I just wanted us to…” Jae frowns, giddy, “... go steady.”

You laugh, giving in to the wave of happiness building into you for the past five minutes.

“What? Don’t laugh at me!” Jae whines, laughing despite himself. “What’s so funny?”

“That’s the most Virgo thing you’ve ever said to me,” his nose scrunches at the mention of his sign, disapproving, but you’re still giggling like a fool, “and you say Virgo things all the-”

“Don’t say it” Jae groans in despair, “What was that ‘annoying’ word again?”

“Distressing.”

“Yeah, well it’s no wonder you get ghosted all the time.”

“Wow.” When you lose the smile he grins awkwardly, trying to appeal to your better side. “Seriously, Jae?”

“Too soon?”

“You should know that if you ever ghost me after all this time, I’ll kill you.”

“Oh, I know.” Jae smiles, staring at his eggs like they’re something precious. “It’s one of the things I love about you.”

Your heart skips a beat and your eyes flutter to the crossword puzzle on the kitchen table. Did Jae really just say that? Not a joke. He didn’t use the word fancy, or like, or enjoy, or adore… Love... That’s unlike him, very direct. You bite your lips, feeling your whole face start to burn. Guess he doesn’t plan on being so evasive anymore.

He clears his throat, clearly as flustered as you by his wording: “Any other Crossword problems I can help you with?”

“Sure,” releasing your lips, you smirk, “what’s another word to say, ‘you should properly ask me out’?”

"Oh", Jae laughs loudly, sounding more like the friend you know, "I think I need more than a single word for that!"

|| M.List || Day6 ||

#TheKpopNetwork #Park Jaehyung #Jae Day6 #Day6 fic #Day6 Scenarios #Day6 fanfiction #Day6 imagines #Jaehyung Imagines #Jaehyung Fic #Jaehyung Scenarios #Jaehyung Fluff #Day6 fluff #Day6 One shot #Jaehyung One Shot #Jae Day6 Fic #Ugh I hate tagging fics #Kpop Changed Me #Crosswords

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izaswritings · 5 years

Text

Title: the cruel, unbreaking

Synopsis: Some meetings are fated to happen; some pasts are too great to outrun. Bren Aldric Ermendrud knows that better than most.

Sixteen years after the fire, Astrid and Eodwulf hunt down the Mighty Nein.

Notes: This chapter deals with a majority of Caleb’s backstory/training with Trent Ikithon, so... warnings for all of that canon terribleness.

AO3 Link is here!

Part I is here!

She wakes up with the sharp jolt of the unnatural, the spell's hold breaking apart. She shakes off the haze and her eyes snap open, her arms twisting in her bindings, reaching for her spellbooks, her materials, her magic. It is not a conscious choice, this struggle— this is instinct, pure and simple, borne after nearly two decades of relentless, thorough training.

There is metal at her wrists and a void at her side where her spellbooks usually rest. The kind of stealth and skill needed to slip on chains and rob someone like her, even if under a Sleep spell, is near-impossible. Her head snaps back to spot the culprit, and she catches the edge of a shadow, a small figure darting away, their hood drawn up high.

It’s an ill-advised action: just that slight movement makes Astrid’s vision spin. Her head is still aching from the monk’s earlier blow. She can taste dust in her mouth, turned pasty and thick with a mix of saliva and blood.

She is sitting up, manacles wrapped tight around her wrists, pinned to the earth by cold metal—a sword, she thinks, when the edge bites into her wrists. Dawn bleeds on the edges of the horizon, blue and still, and the pale light casts the ruined campground in a strange glow. They are still at the site of impact, but the group has used Astrid’s unconsciousness to their advantage—the chains, and the half-circle they form around her. One presence at her back, and two by her sides—the firbolg on her right, the tiefling on her left—and the last three standing before her, the shadow that slipped on her chains and woke her, darting beside two taller figures. A human woman dressed in blue, and beside her, pale even in the creeping daylight, is—

“Bren,” Astrid says, and this time it is not a question.

The first night after their training with Trent Ikithon begins, Astrid collapses into the bed of her shared room and weeps. Her muscles ache. Her hands tremble. Her magic feels thin and drawn, barely there, a withdrawal that makes her head ache.

“If you throw up on me,” Bren says, from beside her, face down on the pillow, “I will push you off this bed.”

“You would not,” Astrid whispers back, too hoarse to speak any louder. Her throat rasps, and she can taste blood. “Bet you can barely lift your arm.”

Bren hisses into his pillow, and at the end of the bed, Eodwulf sighs. “Shut up,” he says. “Or I’ll push both you off. I can do it, too.”

“You brute, you,” Bren mumbles, and then yelps when Eodwulf pinches his side. “Ow! Aren’t I supposed to be the leader?”

“Just because you can read the spellbooks faster doesn’t mean Master Ikithon is making you leader.”

“Sure it does, Eodwulf, that’s exactly what that means.”

“Wow. You just coast on through life, don’t you?”

Bren protests this, but the argument is playful rather than biting, sleepy and fond. Astrid turns her face into the covers and smiles despite everything. She aches. She aches, so terribly, from head to toe, and her training will only get harder from here. But with Bren and Eodwulf here beside her, with the memory of the way Master Ikithon looked over them today, not proud but still pleased…

On her face, her smile stretches wide and stretches bright. Her fingers twitch with anticipation. Today, she trembles and aches. Tomorrow, she fights. And one day—one day she might even be something.

Her body aches, but Astrid tries not to mind it. One day, she thinks, it might not hurt at all.

“Astrid,” Bren replies, after a pause. He waits too long for the words to sound casual, her name awkward on his tongue. His eyes are like hollows in his face. The small figure at his side tugs hard at his coat, hissing something in Common, too low for Astrid to hear.

Her eyes snap to the figure and narrow. The ears, the vivid green skin ill-hidden under the bandages and hood… a goblin? It must be. And yet: the way it pulls at Bren’s coat, familiar, the set of its shoulders— it is not afraid. It belongs?

She looks up to Bren, to see what he thinks of this creature hanging off his lapels, and finds him watching her, instead. His jaw is clenched so tight she can see the tension in his neck. He doesn’t answer the goblin, just reaches down and pushes it behind him, as if trying to shield it from Astrid.

There are words, of course, snapped questions and arguing in the Common tongue. These people, fumbling and ill-experienced, desperate for answers. The monk blusters and the tiefling dimples and Astrid ignores them all.

She doesn’t answer their questions; she is not even listening. She studies Bren instead, drinking in the details she had missed, in that split-second recognition from before. He is—clean-shaven, dressed in a shabby coat and a trailing scarf. Dusty and dirty, dark circles of exhaustion pressed under his eyes like thumbprints. He holds himself tall, but the confidence suits him ill, now—she can read the uncomfortable pinch of his face, see the way his shoulders start to hunch under her attention, as if to hide. He is rumpled, worn, off-balance—but the Bren she remembers stood straight and tall without having to force it, and cut his hair short because he hated the mess, wore the uniform proudly and did not let it crease, not ever.

The man standing before her, sixteen years later, is a stranger and friend all at once. There is a cat winding at his heels and shadow in his eyes. He is Bren, and she knows him, and yet—

“Astrid,” Bren says again, when her silence stretches too long. The others surrounding them have gone silent, sentinel, their eyes on him. The monk is frowning; the goblin’s unnatural slitted eyes peer cold at Astrid from behind his leg.

Bren’s voice is softer than she remembers it to be. There is something raspy and quiet in it, something deadened. She does not know the look in his eyes.

“It has been a long time,” Bren says. He takes a breath, and it looks like it hurts him. “Now. How did you find me?”

Training under Master Ikithon is different from training at the Academy. Harder, yes. Tougher. Painful—

But it is necessary, Astrid knows. The endless testing, fighting, struggling… it is all necessary, and in its own way, it is flattering. Trent Ikithon does not coddle them. He does not treat them like children. He treats them like adults, like they are untempered weapons he must make strong, peasantry who will one day become legends. Magic in Astrid’s hands is a tool, in Eodwulf’s a song, in Bren’s a weapon. The magic they learn under Trent Ikithon is worth every second.

She knows this. She does. When she swallows down unknown potions and coughs up blood, Master Ikithon keeps a hand on her shoulder and tells her so. When she casts so many spells her voice withers, she closes her eyes and repeats it like a mantra in her head. When she breaks down and cries in the middle of the night, curled over the crystals in her arm, mourning the pain of the procedure and the healing and the way magic feels when forced through her veins, it is Bren who reminds her most of all. Bren, who sits down and bandages the wounds, and grips her wrist tight.

“I know it hurts,” he tells her then, hushed under the firelight. “But it’s necessary, you know? We can learn so much from this. We can gain so much more. He chose us for a reason, yes? Let us not prove our teacher wrong.”

The fire reflects bright in his eyes, glints off the crystals splintering through his own arm. When Astrid looks up, though, all she can see is his smile.

“I know,” Astrid says, and wipes away the tears with the back of her hand. The blood drips red down her wrist, and in the candlelight, the bloody crystals shine pale and bright.

“I know,” Astrid whispers, and tries with all her might to believe it. One day, she will be strong. One day, she will be enough.

One day, it won’t hurt at all.

“I know, Bren,” Astrid says, and finally smiles back.

He is speaking in Zemnian, and by the looks of the others, they do not understand him. She takes this in, and hope twists viciously in her chest.

Astrid ignores his question, the dread on his face; her mind is whirling, now, pieces coming together faster than she can blink. “Bren,” she says finally, in the same language. He winces at the sound of his name and she feels near breathless at the confirmation. It is him. Is it—? “Bren, how are you here?”

His eyelids flutter, the barest hint of breath hissed through his teeth. “I am not interested in playing games. How did you—”

“Why are you here?” Astrid presses, cutting him off. “Master Ikithon—he said you were in an asylum, you were being cared for, how—” A thought occurs to her. “Are you healed? Have you returned to us? Has Master Ikithon asked this of you?” She would not put it past her teacher, to let them know of Bren’s recovery in such a way, to put Bren on a mission and send them colliding unknowingly into each other. Her heart lifts with sudden hope. The others do not understand Zemnian, and if she is right, then perhaps… “Are you—”

The words catch in her throat before she can finish. The look on Bren’s face—it is indescribable. White-knuckled, wide-eyed, tight and cold. Not quite fear, not quite anger, not quite hate. She does not know what it is, but she knows what it means.

“…Ah,” Astrid says, and her throat closes up, stones weighing in her gut. She has never felt so cold. The missive in her pocket burns like dry ice, the inked orders like a branding, searing through cloth unto her skin.

The Mighty Nein, a nuisance to the Empire. The Mighty Nein, a threat. An ally to Xhorhas.

Traitors.

“Bren,” Astrid says, and she has never felt so cold, so distant, so terribly gutted—“Bren, why are you here?”

Three months into their training, the first traitor comes in.

He is a man—human, small, thin and weedy. His eyes dart to and fro between their faces, a beady blue color, pale and insincere. His skin is white against his scraggly dark hair, against the bloodstained cloth gagging his mouth. There is a hole in his stomach, blood slowly soaking his tunic. He is chained in the field outside of the home where they train, left out on the flowers to bleed out and die.

He is a murderer, Master Ikithon tells them, when they walk outside. A spy, a fool, a disgusting liar who sold out their soldiers for gold. He is a man who seeks to send their great Empire falling to the ground.

They stand there, the three of them. Astrid, waiting; Eodwulf, unsure; Bren, silent and still. Master Ikithon lists the man’s crimes and then he steps away, steps aside. He does not tell them what to do. He does not tell them what they are here for. He does not need to.

Bren steps up first, but Astrid is right behind him.

Her hands shake, after the deed. Her hands shake, but this is for the Empire, this is necessary and needed and right, and she is strong enough for this, she is good enough, she is enough. She wants this. She has never wanted anything more.

The next time the traitors are brought in, Astrid does not hesitate.

“I am asking the questions,” Bren says, but he speaks stilted, as if forcing the words through his teeth. His skin is almost colorless. His teeth are grit. His hands are clenched into fists by his sides, but his face is pale, almost sickly. The goblin holds at his wrist, and he doesn’t react in the slightest.

Astrid sits up straight in her chair. “You’re with them?” She is stunned at the thought, the possibility like a slap to her face. “With—” Bren, the best of them; Bren, loyal to a fault. The Bren she remembers would never— “They are traitors to the Empire!”

“Stop,” Bren snaps. “Stop, stop talking, you do not—” He makes a sudden noise in the back of his throat, sharp and terrible. The goblin tugs at his wrist and hisses another question in Common; this time, he shakes it off. “No,” he says in Common, “Stop, I am fine, I am—” He shakes his head, turns back to Astrid, his Zemnian clipped and hurried. “I—I am asking the questions here. Astrid, how did you—”

“You are running,” Astrid realizes. The way the group clusters around him, his earlier comments on finding, the way he shifts on his feet: the understanding leaves her cold. “You are running—from us? The Empire? Master Ikithon?” She cannot fathom it. “Bren, why? What has happened to you? Why are you here?”

Bren has gone still. His fidgeting silenced, his face slack and cold. He is breathing hard, gasping, as if running out of air. He says nothing.

“Bren,” Astrid says. The sound of his name is strange on her tongue, an old habit worn nearly to nothing from disuse. Horror twists like a snake in her belly, rising like bile in her throat, beginning to boil into a fury. Outrage chokes her. She has known, always, that Bren was broken. That he was not as strong as she always wanted to believe, that he was—not weak, maybe, but just… not enough. Not enough. She knows that. After all these years, she has accepted that.

But she has never once dreamed that Bren would become a coward.

“Bren,” Astrid repeats, and behind her back, encircled in iron, her fingers clench into fists. “What have you done?”

The months pass by, training and studying and fighting—learning how to survive, how to excel, how best to silence a wandering tongue and the quickest way to execute those that need to die. Bren is the best of them, the most driven, the last to hesitate— but Astrid is forever close behind, and Eodwulf never far off.

The months pass, and their training comes to a close. Her arms scar over and her magic blooms brighter than ever. And then, three weeks off from their projected graduation, Trent Ikithon sends them home.

“Your duties will carry you far,” he says, as they leave him. “See your family while you still have the time, my students.”

They are grateful, all three of them. Delighted at the respite, at the gift of homecoming, at their budding success. They go home with smiles on their faces.

They return different people.

“Done?” Bren echoes. He laughs, short and ragged, and there is nothing kind in the sound. “You—you don’t understand.” His words don’t rise but they bite, in a way that is alien to her. The Bren she once knew would not speak like this. The Bren she once knew—

She searches his face, but this time the action is cold, cynical. She is trying to find betrayal there, trying to see the fear of all traitors in his eyes. Inside, she is screaming.

Bren doesn’t seem to notice—he is breathing hard, his whole jaw clenched tight. He closes his eyes and inhales through his teeth. “No,” he says, and his voice is quiet again, smothered in his throat. “No, no, I don’t want— this— Astrid. Astrid.” He opens his eyes. “And Eodwulf, too, I—I did not expect to find you here. Either of you. Here.” His breathing is funny. “I can… explain. Later. Just, please. Please. Tell me how you found me.”

But he is too late; the first shock of recognition has finally faded into reason, and Astrid can see past the nostalgia blinding her eyes. “Why?” she asks, and does not mean to make it snap—but it does, anyway, and something in Bren’s face goes cold at the sound of it. “So you can know how to avoid us, next time? So you can know whether Master Ikithon is tracking you down?”

He stares at her. “You don’t understand,” he says, again. And the worst part is—this, this is almost familiar to her. The insistence. The knowing. The certainty in his voice. Bren as she used to know him, the leader, the one who had all the answers. But now his voice stutters, and his words catch, stumbling and unsure. “You don’t—understand. I cannot go back.”

Astrid shakes her head so hard her hair hits her face. “Listen to yourself. What has happened to you? Whatever it is, it is not too late. If… you are here. You can redeem yourself, I know it, if you just speak to Master Ikithon— ”

“I will not go back.” The stutter has fled. Bren’s voice cracks, not with pain or fear, but with an icy hatred that stuns her. A disgust that is more than skin-deep. “I am never going back. I never want to be that person again.”

She doesn’t know what to do. Her head is pounding and her heart is like a drum in her chest. This is a group of traitors, but Bren—Bren is here, and yet, the things he says—

She doesn’t know what to do, and all she can manage is a question. “What,” says Astrid, “are you talking about?”

They conspire the very evening of their return— Astrid, the first to offer her findings, and the others quickly following suit. Bren had heard his parents speaking in the dead of night; Astrid at the door, receiving a letter; Eodwulf in the fields, walking home.

Her heart is like a lead weight in her chest. Her mouth is numb. She does not—she cannot describe it, the twist in her gut, the feeling she sees reflected in their faces. Shame, perhaps. The sharp acidic bite of betrayal, because these are her parents, her parents, and everything she has done she did it for them, and they dare—

“Is it just them?” Eodwulf asks, “or the whole town, maybe—” but Bren is shaking his head.

“They are colluding, I think,” he says, and there is something bitter in his tone, something deadened and disappointed. “After we left the Academy to train with Master Ikithon—it must have been then. Our parents all probably sought comfort together, and then… but they are alone in the town with their— sentiments.” He almost spits the word. “They were looking for more allies.”

Astrid shifts. “I heard them over a letter—they might be sending news out already.”

“But,” Eodwulf says. “If they need people… allies… what are they planning to do?”

At this, Astrid is quiet. Bren doesn’t answer. For the first time in a long time, they hesitate.

For three days they remain this way, silent and unsure. Bren pushes for the axe—to tell Master Ikithon, to take care of it quietly, to do what they must. Eodwulf wavers, but the line of his mouth grows grimmer by the day. Astrid—waits. Considers. Thinks. Lets the news, and the implications, sink in. Lets her heart harden.

And then, two days before their graduation date, Master Ikithon summons them and congratulates them. Their skills are such that he trusts them to be ready. There will be no test. No final exam. From all he has seen this past year, he knows that they are enough.

“Hold your heads high, my students,” he says, and his colorless eyes are piercing in their pride. “For I know you have the will and the strength to do whatever it takes to keep our Empire safe.”

“Yes, Master Ikithon,” Astrid intones, and something settles in her chest. Bren’s pale eyes burn with certainty. Eodwulf looks grimly determined. She looks across and meets their eyes, and this time there is no question.

Bren looks near-feverish, his face pale. “You know,” he insists. “You must. We were… what we did… I know you know. Our training—”

She has no patience for his madness. “Our training was necessary.”

“—we tortured people. We killed them. We didn’t even need a reason, whoever they wanted us to kill and we did it, we wanted to—”

“Perhaps we started a little young, yes, but we learned so much. You, out of all of us—you were the one who said it most of all!” In the dead of night, in a quiet whisper, in a snapped reminder when Astrid was silly and stupid enough to feel resentment over the training, guilt over the deaths. “You always said it made us strong, and you were right.”

“I was wrong!” Bren shouts. His eyes are wild. Sparks flicker at his fingers. “I was—Astrid, Astrid, listen to me—he lied to us. Trent, he played us, our parents—your parents—”

Her anger, her pity, turns ashy on her tongue. The reminder grits at her teeth. “Bren.”

He falters, almost a flinch, but then his jaw tightens and he keeps speaking. “It changes nothing, in the end,” he says, and the words are rushed, heavy with loathing. “Because we wanted to do it, and we did it, but— Astrid, they were not traitors, you killed them for nothing. We killed them for nothing. The memories were false, he… Trent, he gave us the memories. He created a lie and then we executed it, like good little soldiers. I— it changes nothing. But you should know.” He stops, breathing hard. He opens his mouth like he has more to say but nothing comes, and his jaw snaps shut, his teeth clicking. The monk has a hand on his shoulder, now, steadying him, looking between them as if trying to decipher their conversation through expressions alone. The goblin is tugging hard at his wrist.

Astrid stares at him. Bren stares back, and he... he is so much older, Bren. Not just in years, but in his eyes. There is an exhaustion there—a defeat—a desperation.

Astrid blinks, and lets his words sink in. And then she starts to laugh.

They do the deed one by one, without anyone else knowing. Eodwulf, then Astrid, then Bren. They wait by the road as Eodwulf walks home, the death silent and swift. They go to dinner with her parents and sit serenely as Astrid’s mother and father choke and foam at the mouth, slumping limp in their chairs. They push the cart in front of the door, and then Bren sets the old wood walls aflame.

They stand outside Bren’s burning house, and wait to hear the screams.

Astrid laughs. It is not a quick thing, not a broken thing, not mocking—a hiss through her teeth, a bark of humor, burning bitter in her throat. “Oh, Bren,” she whispers, and her heart aches in her chest. It should not feel like a betrayal, and yet—it should not feel like losing him again—

“Did they tell you that?” she asks, almost pitying, and Bren looks at her like she’s a stranger.

“W-what?” he says, but he is already shaking his head. His hands are trembling. “I—You—I am not joking, Astrid, our parents—they were innocent—”

“They were traitors, Bren.”

“They were innocent and now they are dead —”

“They were traitors, Bren!” She wants to shake him; she settles for raising her voice. “Have you still not understood that, even after all this time?”

But Bren isn’t listening to her. “They were innocent,” he insists, and there is something feverish there, now, something almost like anger in his voice. He stops and starts, a broken record, as if he can’t settle on what he wants to say first. “I am not—how can you—and even if they weren’t —if they were traitors—and they were not, they were not, but even if… they didn’t deserve that. What we did to them. For us to want to kill them, for us to do it, how could we—how could you —”

“I did it for the Empire,” Astrid snaps, furious. “I did it for my home, Bren—all of us, all three of us, we did it because it was right! “

Bren stares at her. “We killed them,” he says, quiet. “We wanted to kill them. Our parents. Lovely, kind people, who raised us, who never hurt us, who loved us. It was—a despicable, awful, horrible deed. And we wanted to do it, and that is the worst part of it all.” His hands are shaking. “And you tell me you believe it was right?”

She lifts her head and gives him a hard look. “It has nothing to do with belief. It needed to be done, and we did it.” She looks him dead in the eyes. “I am proud of it.”

And Bren goes still.

Bren sparks the flames, and the fire burns steady. It climbs up the walls, eats at the low roof, coils mercilessly at the doors and exits. The taste of smoke sits heavy in her throat, the smell ashy and thick. They stand at Bren’s back, her and Eodwulf both, and watch as the flames burn Bren’s past away at last.

Astrid doesn’t move until she can hear the screams, and then she nods and turns away. She doesn’t smile, but there is a pale warmth in her chest, mingled with pity and lingering grief. It is terrible, what they’ve had to do here tonight. Terrible, but necessary. She wishes it had not come to this, that her parents had not made her do this, but she takes comfort in the deed. It is done, now. It is over. Everything has been set to rights.

She turns to walk away, Eodwulf by her side. The fire crackles, bright against the black night, and the screams rise. Astrid does not look back. By the time she realizes that Bren isn’t following, it will already be too late.

Bren is silent for a long time. Around them, the group shifts, whispers of concern and questions hissed over their heads. Bren doesn’t respond to them. He is looking only at Astrid, and the blue of his eyes is bright and empty.

“I see,” he says finally, and there is something—off, now, about him. A blankness, a deadness to him, that she cannot place. Something shattered behind the eyes. “Well, then. You were right, I suppose. It has been a long time, Astrid. So long. We have much to catch up on, don’t we?”

He does not say it like a question, like he wants to know; in his voice, in his words, it is an accusation. It would almost be biting if not for the tremble she can still see in his hands. “All these years,” Bren says, and he almost spits the words, his eyes flashing. “All these years, Astrid, how have you and Eodwulf been? What have you been doing? What sort of killings does the King send his Vollstrecker to commit, what sort of horrors?”

“Necessary things,” Astrid says. “Righteous things.” Her hands feel numb. “Are you a traitor, Bren?”

“Have you seen Xhorhas? With your own eyes?”

“Have you sided with the monster, Bren? With those things?”

“They are people. There are good people there. And in the Empire. And—everywhere, everywhere, there are good people, if you look. Astrid—Astrid, my friend, what have you been doing?”

“Have you betrayed us, Bren,” she says, and he shakes his head and steps away from her.

“No,” Bren says. “No. No. My friend—but you aren’t, are you? You are me. You are what I could have become but—you are, you are— you have become this. The both of you—Eodwulf—you have become this. The product of our teacher’s lessons.”

“Bren—”

But he has closed his eyes to her, and his hands grip his hair, pull tight at the strands. “Do not call me that,” Bren says, and when he looks at her, his eyes have gone wild. “Do not… I don’t know you. I don’t know you.”

“Bren,” she snaps, but when she meets his eyes it’s like looking at a stranger.

“I was wrong,” Bren whispers, finally, and something has gone cold and ashy in his face, in his eyes. “I was wrong, you cannot be—you are the same monsters as I but I finally understand—I finally understand.”

The light in his eyes is terrible and bright. “At least I know the kind of monster I am,” Bren tells her, and lifts a hand towards her face. “But you—you don’t know at all.” There are voices around them, rising, arguing. Hands pulling at his coat, trying to pull him back, pull him away—but Bren’s eyes are fixed on her, and his hand is steady. At his fingertips, fire sparks.

“Astrid,” Bren repeats. “I always wondered. That day, when we killed them… when we went home, and murdered our families in their beds… I broke that day. I did. And I’ve always wondered.”

His face is white, but his eyes are cold and certain. There is no mercy there. No give. And it is, strangely, the only time in this whole messy reunion, when she can finally see the boy she once knew in his face.

“I murdered my family and it broke me, Astrid,” Bren says, and the look on his face is terrible. “And I wonder— why didn’t it break you, too?”

“Bren?” Astrid asks, and turns back to look at him. He has not moved. He does not look at her, and he does not answer.

Bren is staring at the burning house, the firelight silhouetting him in shadow. He is trembling from head to toe. His hands have risen to his head. He covers his face.

“…Bren?”

She can hear him breathing, raspy and hard, as if he’s running out of air. He is shaking so hard she can see it—the tremor in his hands, in his arms, in him. There is a quiet, gasping hiss through his teeth, words cut short.

Inside the house, the screaming echoes. Bren lunges for the door.

They catch him, of course. They grab his arms and drag him away, because what on earth does Bren think he’s doing? And he is silent, then, he is silent until they touch him, until they drag him back, and then he starts to cry, quiet and wordless. His eyes are empty. He pulls against their hands, and then he starts to scream.

Astrid thinks it a weakness, then. She thinks it a faltering. She thinks it a momentary loss of composure, and as she pins him to the ground she grits her teeth and hopes, with a furious secondhand shame at his failing, that he’ll pull himself together by the morning.

The screams inside the house go silent.

Bren never stops.

#critical role #cr2 #critrole #caleb widogast #the mighty nein #astrid critical role #critfic #critical role fic #trent ikithon #nott the brave #beauregard #iza fanfic #cr #fic series: goodbye old friend

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lawfulgay · 6 years

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Do all the things you can for the D&D Ask Meme!

This is a big one, so I’m putting all my answers below the cut!

I’m gonna answer as many as I can, so the numbers might jump around a bit. The OG post I’m using as ref is this one right here!

1. My favorite character ever is Ulvalour “Valor” Meadowfall. He’s a half elf Bard/Paladin (the best combo)

2. The honor of best character played by another person goes to Ellawick “Ellie” Ningle, played by my good friend Bri aka @shitty-hot-dog-salesman. Ellie is a gnomish Rogue/Sorcerer who’s married to Valor! Power couple (Valor’s the wife)

4. Currently I’m in 3 officially scheduled campaigns, and 3-ish other games. D&D is my hobby.

5. I can’t really say with certainty that only one NPC is my favorite, so I’ll just do a top 3 in no particular order. Josephine, a psychic werebear who helped out some lost refugees named Nobody, me, and Lili, Bri. Goat Man, a chaos fay who exchanges “blessings” for magical objects, (one of my characters can never get food poisoning… but he also has two stomachs now…). Last, but not least, Arch Mage Fuckface Loren, an evil man who’s goal was to give wizards the same abilities as psions at any cost.

6. The place of favorite death goes to: Levis Rith! (Severin Stillflame). A dragonborn high priest of Tiamat masquerading as royal advisor to the queen. Valor as acting queen’s own bodyguard had the honor of executing him.

8. Fights/encounters are hard to sift through, but I think my favorite one was the end game fight of the psychic game. We teleported Arch Mage Fuckface Loren to the middle of the desert with a wish spell and killed him in one round, but not before he managed to kill every one of Nobody and Lili’s friends (also in one hit). Nobody sacrificed his sight to bring them all back with a divine intervention.

9. My favorite thing about D&D is that it’s a very good social vent. I get to be someone who is nothing like my self with different problems and feelings for a few hours. It gives me time to introspect on things I want to change in my own life, and it gives me the tools to make those changes.

10. Favorite enemy is always any kind of undead. They’re just neat! As far as an enemy I hate: Hippogriffs. They always almost, if not actually, kill me or someone I love. Fuck those guys. CR 1 my ass…

11. I play D&D at LEAST 3 times a week. Monday is a game called “Neo-Classics” where we convert old AD&D campaigns into 5e, Thursday is set in Ravnica, and Sunday is “The Wildlands Game”.

12. “I pull out a glock” is from the bard game. Any time any NPC confronts us we say, “so and so pulls out a glock.” “The potted plants we met along the way” is also from that same game. Annie, played by the wonderful Robin aka @moonlit-dancer, got hella turnt and barfed in a plant in a very classy inn, because of this, anyone who helps us is “the potted plants we met along the way.” There are so many more, but those are the most recent ones.

13. Current party(ies)!

Monday: Geth, me, is a half elf pact of the tome undying Warlock of Orcus currently trying to get out of his pact with an evil demon. Lucian, Bri, is a half elf redemption Paladin of the goddess of beauty and redemption, Geth’s long term S/O. Mortimer “Morty”, my friend Skyler, a tortle Bard from the thieve’s guild that Lucian escaped from. Caramip “Mip”, Chandra aka @vampuragirl, a gnomish Rogue/redemption Paladin who’s making strides and efforts to be a shining example for her best friend, Lucian.

Thursday: Order, me, is a Tiefling Rogue who works as a debt collector for the Orshov. Quent, Bri, a half elf werewolf just trying to live a stable life and have friends. Emmie, Skyler, a glory seeking Pixie. Dianna, Kara aka @sleepykitty7, a hot-headed Boros Sprite with a BIG attitude. Colliope, a curious Pixie who just wants to see what the world’s about. Azwinax “Ass”, my buddy Alex (sorry if I spelled his name wrong), a Goblin assassin working for Krenko and his gang.

Sunday: Thekali, me, a very overweight Tiefling Warlock/Druid with a heart of gold. Magdalen “Maggie”, a small Human refugee and former slave of the Cult of Tiamat. (She’s also Thekali’s gf UwU). Thema, Kara, a tough talking Human Woman Duergar Man who gives zero fucks about authority/what you think about her!

15. Snacks? In my D&D? It’s more likely than you’d think. Free PC scan Today!

16. I mostly play in person, but on Mondays we have a player currently in Uni all the way in Oregon! I definitely prefer in person, but online works for long distance, and seeing people you otherwise might not get to see all the time!

17. House rules are: fuck alignment. We’re big boys/girls/other and can make rational choices as people. It makes the characters feel more authentic. We use CHARISMA instead of DEXTERITY for initiative because, honey, I don’t care how many backflips you can do if you don’t react fast enough. Lastly, we give the magic classes extra spell slots, ESPECIALLY WARLOCK because that shit’s wack!

18. Not right now

19. Heck no. Some dice work some days, and not other days. Hey, bro, can I borrow your dice? Yeah, man. Thanks

20. I played my very first D&D game when I was 8. My parents always told me D&D stories from high school and it sounded like so much fun! I started seriously playing around 7 years ago though. I’ve been playing consistently ever since then!

21. I’ve never truly regretted anything a character has done, but my characters sure have…

22. My first dragon was blue. It killed me.

23. I don’t personally like pre-made campaigns. I love making all my stuff my self. That’s just my style

24. I usually just come up with a boss/villain for the end and let the characters do the rest.

25. Literally everything they’ve ever done. I improve most of my games from start to finish.

27. I love Homebrew shit! I make Homebrew shit! My boyfriend makes Homebrew shit! I breathe Homebrew shit!

28. I try to limit NPC’s in the party because it’s a little bit hard for me to keep track of them… I’ve only DM’d a few games, so I’m still a little green.

29. RP is my life. I love sessions where the characters just sit in a room and talk. That’s my favorite.

30. Diplomatic

31. Fav class: Bard or Paladin. Fav race: Half Elf or Tiefling

32. I love being tank and healer at the same time. Chew on that

33. I always come up with a backstory. They’re very important to me.

34. FLAVOR

35. ROLEPLAY IS LIFE!!!!

#D&D #Ask Me #D&D ask meme #moonlit-dancer #that got really long really fast

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radramblog · 3 years

Text

A recap of a D&D One-shot: The B-Team

This is a little bit late, frankly, since the one-shot in question took place quite some time ago. But it’s pseudo-sequel is upcoming, and I’ve been building a character for that, so.

The B-Team was a very cool and good one-shot that turned into a two-shot because things kinda just kept going on for a bit, and that’s okay because we were having fun. It was the first D&D (or tabletop in general, excluding TCGs) I’d played in quite a while, since nobody’s campaigns had spare space and it’s not like I feel experienced enough to DM my own one.

It was also heavily inspired (I believe) by a movie I haven’t seen, so until it was literally spelled out for me I had no idea about that. Oops. Anyway.

I’m not sure this is going to be the most interesting content, but this is also going to nudge my memory about the setting and such, which is relevant for one shot two, so. At the very least, my mates who read this and weren’t there can get a rundown, even if it’s a little late.

We did so much crime.

The B-Team opens with our titular party returning to Huckston (a city I had assumed was spelled differently) from a job for local mob boss Seamus Greenleaf, a halfling sorcerer whose accent was as silly as his name implied. Dude was basically an extremely dangerous leprechaun. Said job involved the retrieval of a ring whose name I forgot but basically just gives regenerative immortality.

Our party was comprised of 4 members, each with a very particular set of skills that probably would have worked a little better if we’d communicated better beforehand. We had Prissy, a Half-Elf Courtesan and Wizard who was theoretically the party face but more importantly a nigh-untouchable Bladesinger, Vael, a Human Circle of the Shepherd druid who is likely single-handedly responsible for getting that subclass softbanned from our tables for just spamming rats and bears everywhere and making keeping track of things a pain, and Stitches, a Half-Orc Rogue who had to take up the tank/melee role even though their class was not suited to it, because the rest of the party was casters.

And then there was my character, Parri. A Kobold Artificer/Alchemist, who I’d essentially flavoured as someone who digs through dumpsters to find usable components to do the grossest possible magi/science possible. I’d deliberately taken spells that were less useful than they were flavourful- this snappy mans is very likely to have Grease handy since he’s probably rooted around in a nasty restaurant bin, he’ll have Heat Metal (a spell I didn’t realise was as good as it is) since that would be a useful tool for making things to hold dangerous ingredients, and y’all know he’s taking Acid Arrow. Actually, you get that one for free as an Alchemist anyway, so.

Parri was…interesting to play, to say the least. I’m sure people complain a lot about this sort of thing, but his accuracy with spells was frustrating at best. Alchemical Savant, on the other hand, was an excellent little boon that made sure said spells were dealing some sexy damage. I probably goofed up when I took Cantrips- Poison Spray was solid enough, but Mending was something I’m pretty sure I never used- while it makes sense for someone going through garbage to want to fix up the things they find, we did a lot more breaking than we did fixing. Parri was also a major Critical magnet, including on the opening turn of the final battle, so he spent a lot of time healing himself with various abilities.

Artificer is also a class I will probably wait a while before going back to, because it has a lot of little tinkering going on, appropriately enough. By level 9, where we ended the campaign, he had a sizable pile of spells with 3 levels, the Magical Tinkering ability to basically have a bunch of little things that do semi-useful stuff, 6 infusions- basically self-made magic items, with a huge list to pick from and 3 active at a time, the ability to make tools at will, two randomised Experimental Elixirs every long rest, that also give temporary HP, the ability to cure statuses and diseases pretty much at will, and the extremely useful Flash of Genius feature for yourself and allies. Added onto the Kobold stuff of Grovel, Cower and Beg (an ability that, despite being nutso bonkers, I literally Never Used), there was a lot to keep track of, and I’m much more keen to go back to something a little simpler.

These 4…adventurers? Would show up to Greenleaf and hand over the ring, only to discover that it was not the ring they had assumed it was, or at least, it didn’t seem to work. Assuming we, his loyal hench-group, were trying to screw him, he sicced his boys on us, forcing us to flee to safe haven, and attempt to make a next move.

Each of our characters had a person or group we knew in the city who could help (I deadass don’t remember Vael’s one, though), and as a team now being hunted by the largest gang around, we were hunting for options. Stitches had family working in the docks, who fortunately knew a guy who could promise us safe passage the hell out of dodge- and considering the circumstances, that seemed like the best idea if we wanted to keep our lives. His fee, however, was well beyond our price point, so our goal was, in fact, to get rich quick. For our lives.

And that’s just what we did, using the only thing we knew best: Crimes. Using Prissy’s contact- a hole-in-the-wall bar she used to work at (or at least, she knows the owner), we had ourselves a relatively safe base to work from for a few days, from which we could sneak off to the city’s underbelly- literal in this case, since it was in the sewerage- and find jobs of Questionable Repute to do. Lucrative, but dangerous. We took a couple contracts, bought some shit from Parri’s contact (Black Market Magic Items!), and got to work.

It is worth noting that, of course, our travel was not particularly free, as the price Greenleaf put on our heads was astronomical. So just about everywhere we went, we were met with someone or another trying to kill us for a reward. This was a great excuse to have Lots of Fights, but it meant that our resources were somewhat limited. Everything from goblins to fully trained Dragonborn warriors and tamed Drakes was on our ass, and fortunately, we survived each encounter.

The first job we took was pretty much the reason the game was extended to a second session- the assassination of a major noble pretty much turned into a murderous heist movie scene. With the noble in question being a sleazeball, it’s not like we really minded (Parri was evil-aligned anyway). It ended up a surprisingly involved plan, with Vael shapeshifting into a rat and Stitches doing Rogue Shit in the background to keep things moving, Prissy doing what courtesans do best and stab people to death in bed, and Parri disguising as a waiter, doing not a great job of it, but eventually enabling the escape by causing a distraction in the form of setting loose the noble’s pet Lion (via melting the chains, because subtlety is dead) and fleeing in the ensuing chaos. It was kind of a blast to put together, though particularly nerve-wracking- especially because if anything went wrong, or the set-lion-loose plan failed, Parri was in the middle of a room with many, many guards.

But it did go right, and the Lion even got to survive, after shrugging off a spell or two from the wizards guarding the place, so we got paid, called it a night, and called it a day in game because it was like 6 or something at this point I think.

After a week (or two?), we reconvened for the second part of what was now the B-Team two-shot. Our objective of Get Gold was not fully completed, but we’d gotten the majority of our funding sorted, so our next job would be something a bit easier and safer. As it turns out, that job would be Bullying Shopkeepers for Protection Money, something that made me vaguely uncomfortable IRL but hey, it’s only game.

Over the course of this job, we threatened a local blacksmith, a potion-seller (Parri made off with a brew or two), and a small local Goblin gang named the Green Mongrels. While this particular altercation turned violent, Prissy had just picked up Fireball, so you can guess how that one went. Two of the gang’s three leaders ended up so much dust on the ground, let alone the grunts, and the final one surrendered, which was appreciated. Especially since it meant we had a couple extra spell slots for the fight on the way back, being the one with the aforementioned tamed drakes.

Cash in hand, it was now time to get ourselves smuggled out of dodge, levelling up in the process. We actually levelled a few times over the course of the campaign, an accelerated pace mostly because it’s a short thing so it doesn’t really matter, and because levelling is both fun and lets the GM throw harder things at us.

Our attempt at escape was somewhat thwarted, as upon reaching the shore and farewelling our now quite rich trafficker, we were ambushed by our final foes. Because of course, if there was a B-Team, there would of course be an A-Team. This was a pretty interesting idea for a fight, a squad of four deliberately mirroring our own- A Goblin Artificer on the Artillerist stream, a Rogue preferring bows to swords and spending most of their time peppering us with arrows while stuck to the side of a cliff, a Druid that turned themselves into a monster rather than summoning like ours did, and a Wizard who’s class I don’t really know but boy did he like Counterspells.

This was a long, and protracted, and kind of brutal fight that took a lot out of the group, and I’m pretty sure more than one person (and by that I mean more than Parri, because he got shot right in the face for a crit immediately) was downed over the course of it. But eventually, the Rogue was knocked off the cliff enough times, the Wizard was downed and drowned, the Druid ran out of things to transform into, and the Artificer got taken apart with extreme prejudice.

But it didn’t seem to be over. As we were scrounging the bodies, someone attacked Stitches, and it was unclear whom or from where. We assumed it was the Wizard having somehow survived, as he’d been walking on water and thus his body ended up in the depths- couldn’t find it. Parri casts detect magic, and one very dead Wizard was found.

And a very suspicious Necromantic signature coming from Vael.

Turns out he’d had the reviving ring the whole time, and it was driving him completely mad. A final fight ensued, arguably our biggest damage dealer, currently unable to die, against the remainder of the party. And it was similarly brutal.

The tech ended up being for our not particularly strong characters to have to get close enough to pry the ring off his fingers so that they could actually become cold and dead. This was somewhat complicated by Parri getting very quickly downed by bats and bears, and Stitches being actually killed by such. After some healing and teleportation thanks to Prissy, however, we were just able to not only get the ring and finally put Vael down, but Parri, having recently learned Revifify and acquiring a jewel to burn on it, managed to un-kill Stitches.

Betrayal is a great way to make the closing moments of an adventure particularly memorable, I think.

Put mostly together, the ring and bodies disposed of (no-one holding on to this fucker anymore, ideally), 3/4ths of the B-Team wandered off into the sunrise, to restart their lives anew somewhere else. I like to imagine Parri opened a potion shop somewhere, but who knows if any town would actually suffer a Kobold long enough for him to do so.

And that was the campaign. It was a lot of fun, though it had been so long since a previous tabletop adventure that I don’t really have a lot to compare it to. The table seemed to get along well enough (I mean we were all friends beforehand, so der), aside from some somewhat awkward pauses.

And considering the sequel to this campaign is coming, with different characters and the same people (now significantly less stressed out since the Uni break is here), I’m extremely excited to get back into it. I have a new extremely small man to play as, and I couldn’t be happier to bring him to the table. Just…not as many nonsense abilities this time.

#ramble #tabletop #dungeons and dragons #very long! oops

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magic-and-moonlit-wings · 7 years

Text

Chapter 25: Date

The difficult thing about dating a friend was coming up with things to do.

Sunny wanted to do something special with Dawn; something different, now that they were dating, to distinguish their time together now from all the time they had spent together before. But other than holding hands more often, he had no ideas.

(Other than kissing her, but after Dawn had said she wanted to take their new relationship slowly, he'd decided it would be better to wait until she kissed him first, to be sure she was comfortable with it.)

As friends, they already danced and sang together, and hugged, and gave each other little presents and surprises, and wandered aimlessly through the kingdom to see where they might end up.

The last of these was what they were doing now, walking in Lizzie's shadow. It was late afternoon and there hadn't been many clouds or breezes that day, so the sun's heat had soaked into the ground. A bit of shade offered the perfect spring temperature. Larkspur and Thimble were 'chaperoning' again, but the sprites were discreet about it.

"So … how was work?" Dawn asked.

Sunny was a performer at heart, but so were many others in the kingdom. His main employment was running packages and messages as a courier.

"To be honest, I think people were avoiding me for messenger jobs today, so there was probably a lot of gossip about – you know. Current events. I did take a set of pans from the smithy to the bakery and then some raisin buns back."

There had been a similar dry spell of messages after Marianne called off her wedding last year. Sunny's friendship with the princesses meant he was rarely asked to carry politically-charged messages, probably because the other elves and brownies were concerned he would forward it all to the royal family.

On the subject of dry spells …

"Tammy," one of the bakers, "was saying the herb patches haven't been getting as much rain as they need. She thinks we need another well. I said, 'isn't it a bit early in the season to be sure?', and she said, 'by the time we are sure, everything'll be dried up'."

"It is odd," Dawn agreed, batting the tip of some drooping grass out of her face. "Usually we've had at least one serious shower by now. Maybe a thunderstorm is building."

"I hope not." Sunny shivered. There had been an enormous thunderstorm near the end of last summer. Several villages were flooded. No one had died, but it took weeks to clear the mud and make repairs – valuable time taken from preparing for the harvest. "My parents are talking about having a new roof put on instead of patching the old one again. They were going to wait for summertime, but if it stays dry, they might do it sooner."

"I'll keep an ear out for pressure changes." The length and curl of a fairy's ear was sensitive to wind currents and air pressure, so they were often the first to know what weather was coming. A few older elves and brownies claimed similar sensitivity in their bones or joints. "Your Grammy used to predict rain with her knee, didn't she?"

"Yeah … I think it was dampness that set her off, though, since sometimes it just got really humid."

Sunny blinked when it suddenly grew brighter. He and Dawn lifted their hands to shade their eyes and looked at each other … and then to Lizzie, who had stopped walking and whom they had walked past without realizing.

"Something the matter, Lizzie?" Dawn put a comforting hand on the giant reptile's shoulder, letting the sun light up her face once more. Sunny took a moment to admire her glow before peering ahead.

A short ways ahead of them, only about twice Lizzie's length from snout to tail-tip, was a forsythia bush, densely flowered with its distinctive yellow four-pointed stars. Under and between the blooms were odd, faint flickers of pale blue light.

"… Plum?" he said softly.

"That's … right, that's where her workshop was … before."

It had been abandoned when Sugar Plum was imprisoned, except for young fays who would dare each other to come here, to take a yellow flower or step inside the building.

Dawn twitched her wings.

"Looks like she moved back in. Let's go say hi."

Her tone and expression was not nearly as cheery as it usually was when she said things like that. Sunny gulped.

Thimble and Larkspur lifted some of the low-hanging branches so Dawn wouldn't have to duck. Sunny wouldn't have needed to, himself, but they held the branches for him as well. Dawn squared her shoulders.

Lizzie actually skittered back from the bush a few steps. He could see her tail lashing. She either couldn't or wouldn't follow them, and wasn't happy about it.

"We'll come back, Liz," he promised her quietly.

Sugar Plum's workshop was built of wood and radiated around the stem (trunk?) of the bush. It had a tall enough roof and doorway for fairies to enter. It was nearly circular, and had filled the space under the forsythia before Plum had been imprisoned and the bush had been left to grow wild.

It was in better shape than Sunny would have expected, for sitting empty so long, but perhaps Sugar Plum had moved back in a few days ago and started repairing it already, or had left some kind of preservation spell on the place.

The doorway didn't actually have a door in it, just a pair of curtains. It was surprisingly wide. The largest goblins Sunny had seen in the forest might have been able to step inside.

Dawn entered boldly, like the royal she was. Sunny ducked in beside her, ready to jump in front if the Sugar Plum Fairy was home and not inclined to entertain visitors.

"My first customers!" Plum trilled, tumbling in the air. "It's so good to be back! What can I do for –? Oh, it's you." Her blue, glittering shoulders slumped for a moment and she pouted at them.

Larkspur folded her arms and made an indignant noise.

Sugar Plum pasted her smile back on. "How kind of you to come and check in on me, after we shared that harrowing ordeal in the Dark Forest!"

Sunny could see almost the entire workshop from the door, except for a curtained off area he guessed might be Plum's private living space.

Between the randomly placed windows, the walls were lined with shelves, mostly full of dried plants and empty bottles, and a few haphazardly-placed boxes and books. A counter or table was built around the trunk in the middle of the room. On it were scissors and gardening tools, for harvesting ingredients, and cooking tools, for brewing potions, and a vase with some forsythia blooms in it.

"How are you settling in?" Dawn asked. One of her hands was clenched around her other wrist.

"Oh, it's a bit dusty, nothing unexpected, everything that didn't rot or dry up while I was away is right where I left it – but unfortunately, one of the dried up things is my customer base! It looks like I'm going to have to completely rebuild my client roster."

Plum pouted again, and made a sweeping gesture to a shelf where a few yellow-green bottles emitted the faintest glow.

"I've been working on garden fertilizers, always steady sellers; that's how I got my start. But nobody's come to shop even though I'm sure everyone knows I'm free by now, so I might have to go into market to remind them that I'm here. And maybe trim a gateway into the forsythia again, like I had before, but after that dreary dungeon with only my own glow for colour, I've really missed the rest of the spectrum, so I'm going to wait until the yellow flowers are done for the season."

Plum circled around them and put one hand on Sunny's shoulder and the other on Dawn's.

"And how are you two setting in to your new relationship? I thought I saw something between you!"

"We're taking it slow," said Sunny quickly.

Plum turned into Dawn and booped his nose. "Just because love is new doesn't mean it isn't real." She booped the real Dawn's nose in turn and changed back into herself. "Right, Princess?"

Dawn's smile definitely showed more teeth than usual. Her teeth barely parted when she spoke.

"Our relationship is progressing at the pace of our choosing. But there is a complication we ought to discuss with you."

Sunny looked at his feet. Did Dawn want to know Sugar Plum's perspective of what Sunny had said and done to convince Plum to make him the love potion he had tried to use on Dawn? It had actually been disturbingly easy … both for how quickly she acquiesced and for how pleased he'd been about it.

"The night we met you, a lizard got love-dusted and she's in love with both of us," said Dawn flatly. "The imp saved our lives by dusting her before she could eat us, but it's still not right to keep someone … emotionally stuck like that. Is there any other cure besides real love?"

"Sorry." Sugar Plum shrugged, not looking sorry at all. "The magic was set up to have just the one counterpoint, so it can't be undone by anything else. It's my most powerful working."

If you think making the potion's dangerous, wait till you use it! Believe you me, there can be unforeseen consequences. Oh, I'm so good! It scares me so!

"I see. Well, best of luck … rebuilding your client base. You should know before anyone else asks you to brew one that love potions have been banned in this kingdom as well as the Dark Forest."

"I suppose that's only to be expected," said Sugar Plum philosophically. "Don't you worry about me. The goblins probably destroyed all the primrose petals we'll get this spring, so I'll have a year to wean everyone off that idea."

"And the Royal Family is willing to fund research into finding an alternative antidote." Dawn winked. Her toothy grin became a cheeky one. "In case you want a new special project. I'm sure you'd outdo yourself."

"You flatter me, your highness. But I won't keep you. Go on, back to your date! Shoo-shoo!"

Dawn and Sunny let themselves be chivvied out the doorway.

"Toodles! Come back any time you want relationship advice!"

"So …" said Sunny, once Plum had gone back inside to wait for customers, "I … guess we've got Lizzie forever, then."

Dawn heaved a sigh. "Guess so."

Lizzie was excited to see them back. She nuzzled both of Sunny and Dawn, and used her massive head to herd them away from Plum's workshop.

"Do you think," Sunny asked Dawn quietly, "she understood about Plum being in there? And us wanting an antidote? And the potion's making her not want an antidote?"

"Animals of all sorts tend to avoid that place," Thimble volunteered. "I think Plum set a barrier spell that makes them nervous. That sort of thing isn't sustainable over a large area like a village or even a farm, but around a single building it can work."

"And Marianne said," said Dawn, "that when she was dusted, if there'd been an antidote, she would've taken it if Bog was the one to ask her, to 'prove' her love was real." She gasped. Her eyes went wide. "I am so stupid!"

"No, you're not!" said Sunny, shocked. "What could even make you think that?"

"We could have used Marianne's obsession with Bog to get her away from him! Then Dad would have called back the army and no one would have gotten hurt!"

"… You lost me. How would that have worked?"

"'Oh, Marianne, this is so great, we should go tell Dad you have a new boyfriend!'" Dawn stamped her foot. "But no, I had to try and reason with her and just got her mad."

Sunny patted Dawn's arm.

"You know," he said slowly, "It's okay if you're still mad. At your dad or your sister or the goblins or Sugar Plum, or, well, me. It was a pretty wild night and it's only been a few days."

Dawn didn't say anything but she did look a little less tense. They walked in silence for a full minute.

"I feel like I forgave you too quickly," she admitted. "I know you weren't doing it to hurt me and I trust you not to do it again – and if you do try something like that again, I won't forgive you – and I don't feel mad at you anymore, but I do feel … almost, mad at myself? Like, does it make me weak that I can forgive someone for trying to control me, and give you another chance?"

Sunny really wasn't the best person to answer that and figured Dawn knew that too, so he didn't answer.

"Trust can be misplaced," said Thimble, "but being able to trust isn't a sign of weakness, in and of itself."

"Mm."

"Do you, ah, want me to walk you home now?" Sunny asked.

"… Not yet. Let's go look at the daffodils."

Re-read the previous chapter.

Read the next chapter.

#Strange Magic #Taking the Feisty One chapters #Monday is fanfic day!#Potionless #Sunny #Dawn #Lizzie #lizard #Sugar Plum Fairy #strange magic fanfic #My Fanfiction

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thegodthronechronicles · 7 years

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Eleanor Marsh, Necromancer of Riverpass

*Adventure Arc 1, Tie-In

Eleanor Marsh walked the dimly lit halls at the same hour as she had once a week for the past several years. Heading towards the ritual chamber of their small temple, she payed no heed to the screams of the intruders, for they deserved no pity. How did they ever get in, Eleanor wondered; she would have to… dismiss… the goblin guards above, perhaps they’d be more useful dead as simple meat shields in their Lord’s ever-growing army.

Krathux would be proud of her. She failed him once before, but not this time; this time she would bring glory to his name. Once he attained godhood, he would raise her beyond the status of his other surviving priests, for it was her who gave him his army; her name, Eleanor Marsh, would be feared on every Plane of existence.

It was by stroke of luck that she and her disciples had found this temple; it’s location was thought lost in the rebellion, but here it sat beneath a goblin-infested cave. It was simply built: the stonework was not the best and looked to have begun falling apart only a decade after construction; as well, a musty smell hung heavy in the air-- as it did in every place the art of necromancy was practiced-- and it would not have been such a problem if the temple was well ventilated, but they were a hundred or so feet beneath the surface. The temple was built in the early days, before their lord was betrayed. It was the place he used to communicate with his otherworldly patron, and now it was used to communicate with him.

Finally, she reached the end of the main hall where a secret door sat behind a statue of their Lord Krathux. He stood in a regal pose, as was natural for someone who once held the throne of the Tilinyth Kingdom, though that was all that remained of his former self. This statue held the likeness of his truest form: he appeared withered and frail, yet with an aura of terrifying power, and one eye appeared flaming white. That was how he died. Luthar Ravenire, the once nicknamed Warlock King of Tilinyth felled by but a simple arrow that pierced his left eye, shot by his own brother, Malcer.

She pushed the statue out of the way with a simple magical weave and entered through the door. The other members of their group had already gathered, all except their resident sadist who was busy interrogating the intruders. She was worried about them. What were the chances that two knights of Tilinyth had come looking for this place at this exact moment? Perhaps someone from their group had leaked information; she would have to look into that. Her thoughts were interrupted when a large flash of light illuminated the room, centering in over a stone table engraved with strange, infernal runes.

The light condensed into the form of their Lord, Krathux the Undying.

“What progress have you made?” He asked, voice booming.

“We have wormed our way into both the Camcosian and Tilinyth courts, my lord. As well, we own several towns and villages both here on Midgard and Myrkrheim, though they may not know. One town in particular, Riverpass, a short walk from here has a particularly strategic position; many travellers and merchants must pass through to get across the Dharani river, and the mayor has pledged himself to you.” Eleanor’s heart skipped several beats as Krathux stood silent.

“Good.” he replied. “Things are falling into place. Jandar and Tan Jia are almost ready for the second phase, and Laulkiir has discovered a way to secure the Godthrone. Everything rests upon the strength of the army you’re building, do not fail me again, Eleanor.” With that final remark, the image of Krathux warped and faded away.

Before she had a chance to process, Derlin entered the room to tell her that Mayor Garin of Riverpass was present and anxious to speak with her.

...

“Two more have come to my town. A knight and a squire, these ones looking for the two you’re feeding to that carrion crawler.” the mayor of Riverpass was anxious. He was a cowardly man, yet quick to anger. She wished she could just kill him and be done with it, but that would raise suspicion, and it seemed they had enough attention as it was.

“Hm. Let them continue their investigation, so as to not gain suspicion on your part. Lead them to the graveyard and we will take care of the rest.” As the corrupt mayor exited with a swift bow, Eleanor turned to Derlin. “Go to the graveyard to meet them. Bring the knight, he could prove useful, and frame the squire for those recent ‘murders’ plaguing the town.”

“As you wish, high priestess.”

...

“What kind of infernal evil is this?” Sir Patrik demanded, even though he was in no position to demand anything. He was bound by barbed chain, since he was particularly stubborn, and stood at the front of the church. He stared in horror at the tapestries that lined the halls, and the prophecy they showed. Very soon, the Lord Krathux will rule all of Midgard and hold one of the mythical Godthrones, for it was prophesied thirteen years ago on the day Luthar died and Krathux was born. They have waited all this time, slowly rebuilding in the shadows. Malcer was dead, but it was that wretched wife of his who locked Krathux away in his own realm. Selise Ravenire will pay, Eleanor would see to that; though, Krathux had requested she not be harmed, it made no sense.

“Infernal, yes. But evil? I’d like to think not. We will free this word that very notion. The moral compass? It’s nonsense. Every race has some sense of morality that they hold as the truth, but the truth is that they are all slaves to a social construct. Zombies in a sense of the word. But once Krathux, the Undying becomes the god he was always meant to be, we will free the planes of existence.”

“Free them? You wish to slaughter and rule a land of the dead!”

“Yes. Because only in death are you free from all sin, all pain. Only in death will you ever, truly, find peace. Let me grant you this gift, may you serve you true lord well.” Eleanor stroked the knight’s cheek and he pulled back in agony as the Inflict Wounds worked it’s necrotic magic. Sir Patrik fell to the ground, convulsing until he finally died. “I must speak to Mayor Garin. I will be back.”

…

The town of Riverpass was in flames. It seemed a goblin horde had attacked. Was that damned mayor responsible? She knew he would be dangerous. As she walked slowly through the burnt streets, careful to not be seen, she came across a gathering of people. Right away, four individuals caught her eye: An elf, common in these parts, accompanied by a small giant, a tiefling-- of all things-- and a dragonborn. The dragonborn held the mayor up in the air with one hand. She also noticed Derlin naked and bound by the Tiefling’s side. Derlin wouldn’t talk, Eleanor decided, he was the one who made others talk. Hopefully he would bring those troublesome four to her so she could be rid of them. But she had to do something about that mayor, he was going to ruin everything! He couldn’t be able to be brought back, she feared that even in death that man would be a pathetic waste.

Eleanor called out to Krathux, allowing him to fill her with his power. She was no longer Eleanor Marsh, but simply a tool for her master to use. She thrust her hand forward and sent a beam of green light towards the mayor. He disintegrated in the Dragonborn’s hand, turning to a fine powder. At that moment, as the Dragonborn bent down and scooped some of the ashes into a pouch, everyone else turned to look at her. Suddenly afraid, Eleanor created a quick portal and leapt through.

…

Derlin did his duty, but he died for it. Those damned fools killed him. But to make it worse, after they were captured and being lead through the goblin’s cave, the elf made way for them to escape! Everything was falling apart. Krathux would not be pleased.

“They’re coming!” Vardo announced. “They killed the carrion crawler and are making their way through the grand hall!”

“Get into position!” Eleanor demanded. “They may come through that door any second now, and we will be waiting.” Surely they would be tired and hurt by this point, if they could even make it past the animated armor. Besides, they have an advantage: Vardo and Noal found an ogre nearby, and preparations were already underway to raise it as a zombie.

Suddenly the doors flew open, the Elf and the Tiefling entered first, followed by the Dragonborn and small giant. Eleanor waited for the intruders to get into position, then gave the signal for the cultists to emerge from the shadows.

…

Eleanor Marsh had died. Everything she built crumbled around her as the entire cave complex collapsed around the burning down temple. She stood over her body, which lay twisted and charred, her once-beautiful face was now a melted mess. The others had already passed to purgatory where they’ll await their final judgement and find out which Plane demands their soul, but Eleanor held on. She hoped Krathux would give her another chance, after all this wasn’t her fault. How was she to know these four pathetic adventurers would team up with that squire, Davith Dundrag. He was supposed to be dead by now! It was all that mayor’s fault, she wished that she had killed him a long time ago.

She felt a sudden cold presence behind her. She turned and was confronted a large bipedal insect; an Ice Devil.

“You have served your master well.” It’s infernal voice echoing in her mind. “Vixalial congratulates you, and wishes you to know you’re eternal torment will be in her own, secret pocket of the Nine Hells of Baator. It is a privilege only few--” The voice was cut off as the devil’s head fell from it’s body.

“She will not die today, fiend.” Krathux said as he approached out of the darkness. “You have been doing great work, Eleanor, and it would be an ironic shame if death put a stop to that.” Krathux bent down and kneeled over Eleanor’s body. He cast a spell and Eleanor felt herself return to life in undeath. She was blinded, and hideously scarred, but she would be able to continue her work. “I will warn you, die again and I will make sure you do not ever return.”

Before he departed, Krathux gifted her with a mask to hide her deformities; the mask resembled a raven’s skull, paint an eye flaming white and it would be the exact image of Krathux’s personal symbol. An honour it was, and she would not let him down this time. She would prove herself worthy of this new chance. She would kill the Selise Ravenire, Queen of Tilinyth and ravage her kingdom. She would slaughter and raise every single soul to be a soldier in Krathux’s undead army.

#Dungeons and Dragons #D&D 5e #Necromancers in Riverpass #Behind the scenes #Eleanor Marsh #Tie-in

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helenarlett-rex · 5 years

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When your D&D party won’t face reality and admit they are the bad guys, and nothing you try will convince them otherwise, so you just really want to kill them, but they are so high leveled that nothing you toss at them works... Kill them with rats.

I’ve had an ongoing struggle with the party I DM for. They have made themselves into the worst villains my little D&D world has ever seen. Nothing I can come up with can compare to the horrors they have inflicted on the land. But they are still convinced that they are the good guys. To the point of declaring that the God Odin must have turned evil if he is sending Valkyrie to stop them...

I’ve tried convincing them that they are the bad guys. But they are so thick they just won’t face reality. I had Loki show up and congratulate them on all of their work and invite them to a party all the evil gods were holding in their honor. Even had Tiamat thank them for freeing her from her prison when they destroyed the entire 2nd circle of hell just to kill one person... And they still sit there and say, “Oh yeah that was awesome! But I still don’t know what you are talking about. I’m a good guy. That was a good thing...”

With trying to show them the error of their ways being about as successful as convincing a brick wall it’s actually soft, I’ve moved on to the second tactic. Just kill them all... Sadly they’ve become so powerful that’s not working either... When you have a monster powerful enough to TPK any normal group, and you toss 8 of them at the party and the party walks away without a scratch, what do you do?

Kill them with rats.

Think about it. Rats are one of the weakest monsters in the game. Even a lone goblin looks like a threat compared to a rat. Do you think a group that powerful and that cocky are going to take rats seriously? No. No they aren’t. And that’s where you get them.

Because there are so many different kinds of rats you can use. Especially if you expand your monster list to supplement books. You have normal rat swarms, cranium rats, doppelrats, moon rats, wererats... There’s even a fey king known as The Mouse King. With tools like this at your disposal you can wreck even the strongest party by catching them off guard and utilizing these simple creatures properly.

Step 1, the rodents need a plan. No problem. Moon rats are devious planners who grow smarter with the phases of the moon and like the play the long game, slowly and carefully plotting out intricate plans. But what dastardly plan would they come up with? How about nothing less than becoming the dominant race on the planet and subjugating all other races to their will? But how would they do that? Well there are a number of ways to do it.

Step 2, create a sleeper agent. What’s that you say? The kingdom is in turmoil? People aren’t happy with the new king and his choice to marry a succubus? Certain powerful groups are likely planning the assassination of both the king and queen? (Like the players) And the favorite to take the throne is the king’s estranged daughter, who isn’t on good terms with her father but is well liked by the people, to say nothing of easily manipulated. She would be the perfect puppet ruler for a group of adventurers plotting to assassinate the current rulers and then put someone they would have influence over on the throne. And if she happened to be turned into a wererat, the perfect puppet ruler for the rodent uprising... So naturally the moon rats would think to have her changed into a wererat before the players ever found her and used her in their plan. She wouldn’t be loyal to the moon rats at that time, but she could be of use later on.

Step 3, create a diversion. We can’t have anyone suspecting what is actually going on, now can we. So how do you keep them from figuring it out? By making them focus on something else. Such as... Oh I don’t know... How about a cult of mice plotting to use one of the party members as a vessel to create a new avatar for demon prince, Pazuzu? If this cult of mice were to say, offer Pazuzu a new avatar in the material plane in exchange for power, and make multiple attempts to capture the party’s kenku and preform a ritual on her that would allow Pazuzu to possess her and make her his new avatar, I’m sure that would keep the party distracted, wouldn’t it?

Step 4, making the fey work for you. So you’ve got a plan now and a distraction to keep the party looking in the wrong direction. But you aren’t done yet. You need to really sell this. What if your mouse cult were to contact a powerful fey who ruled over them, The Mouse King, and present him with their plan to gain power and make mice and rats the rulers of the land? And what if they offered him the honor of being the one to conduct the ritual that would give his followers this power? Well now you’ve got a powerful fey who can do a lot of the dirty work for you. Like tricking said kenku (during a night of heavy carousing) into accepting a gift from that fey king, which now gives him every right to use her in the ritual in return.

Step 5, watching the shit hit the fan. So now the party’s kenku has been kidnapped by not only your little cult of mice, but also The Mouse King himself. They have her tied up and are preforming the ritual to turn her into an avatar of Pazuzu. Naturally the party is going to come and try to save her. But the Mouse King has every right to do what he is doing according to fey law. So he’s not going to let them ruin everything without a fight. And this is where you catch your party off guard buy using those rats in ways they weren’t expecting. Because they are thinking, an old farm house full of rats? This is a walk in the park. Too bad they didn’t realize that some of those rats were Doppelrats operating under The Mouse King’s influence, and the others were Cranium Rats hired by the Moon Rats after their Mind Flayer master was killed. And too bad the party didn’t think that a rat infested, abandoned farm house could serve as a lair for The Mouse King...

What the party thought was a cake walk turns into a real problem as the Doppelrats keep multiplying faster than the party can kill them. The farm house serving as a lair grants The Mouse King lair actions on top of his normal attacks and legendary actions. And working as a swarm, the Cranium Rats are able to continue conducting the ritual in The Mouse King’s place once he is distracted with the party.

The end result? The party manages to free their kenku, but not before the majority of the ritual was conducted, giving Pazuzu a foothold into the character’s mind, if not total possession. Two members of the party are polymorphed into mice and killed. They manage to pass their death saving throws but are still stuck as mice. A third party member is infected with doppeling disease and will continue to suffer the debilitating effects until he can be cured. The party is forced to retreat from the fight and suffers a devastating blow to their morale at the realization that they couldn’t even beat a swarm of rats. And they have just pissed off a fey king for not only stopping something he had every right to do, but also almost killing him. Now giving him the right to unleash the full force of his fey wrath upon the party.

Just like the Moon Rats planned... After all, no one really wanted to summon up Pazuzu and have to deal with that.

Step 6, enjoy the aftermath. Now that the party has pissed off a fey king, he’s going to do everything in his power to make their lives miserable. Teleporting back to their stronghold on the back of that giant turtle titan they control will prove to be problematic once they drop into the middle of the ocean because they fey have turned their titan into a normal turtle with a teleport circle drawn on its shell. Constantly getting lost in the woods, having your clothes randomly catch on fire, and having to waste spell slots to fix things every time they wake up with a donkey’s rear end in the place of their face will get tiresome. They may not even have time to worry about that party member who now has a demon prince constantly whispering inside her head. And that new Queen they put on the throne...? What a shame that the fey they just ticked off has influence over all mice and rats. Looks like she’s on the side of the rodent uprising now. Hope the party enjoys being named enemies of the kingdom.

Step 7, reap your reward. Oh what do you know... That sleeper agent the Moon Rats allowed the party to put on the throne is now loyal to the rodent uprising... the movement the Moon Rats were behind... Which means, she works for them now. Now those Moon Rats and the rest of their brethren are being declared the rulers of the kingdom, by royal decree. What a world the party has just created. One where mice and rats are the dominant race and everyone else is expected to serve them. It’s almost like they shouldn’t have killed the old king and queen or something, isn’t it?

#D&D

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roland-terrasold-blog · 7 years

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Journal 59

Yesterday morning Ichibod returned, in the middle of more pancake shenanigans. In another sugar high, Unae covered Linda in syrup, and Elkin and Linda had to grapple the childish elf girl, with Elkin finally dragging her off to her room to calm down. Ichibod didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk, something about wherever he’d gone seemed to have upset him.

Since there was nothing he would let me do for him, I left the ship, intending to go to the temple to pray and clear my mind. I was a bit anxious, honestly. While discussing the parade the other day, it came up that the townsfolk were expecting us to give speechs. I am not good with crowds at the best of times, and due to my new position as bishop I couldn’t decline, as much as I wanted to. I didn’t feel that someone like me should have the position I now hold, much less giving advice to the masses. But this is the path I walk for the Dawnflower. When I finally got a chance to clear my mind and pray, I came to the conclusion that regardless of whether I asked for the position or not I had a responsibility now, not just to the church and Sarenrae, but to anyone who might follow my example. I’ve made many mistakes in my life, and if there’s one thing I can do, it’s leads others that they won’t fall onto the same path I once walked.

I didn’t get the chance to come to this conclusion until today, however. On the way to the temple, I was stopped by Sheriff Hemlock. He told me that a large encampment of people had set up outside of town, wanting to ‘pledge themselves’ to myself and Linda. I returned to the ship to fetch Linda, and the two of us went to see what the commotion was.

As it turned out, a large mercenary band had camped out by town, wishing to follow the new queen of Blackwell. Their leader, a half-orc named Vindarian, met with Linda when we approached. With them an even larger congregation of pilgrims and followers of the Dawnflower’s path had arrived in Sandpoint wanting to pledge themselves to ‘Sarenrae’s chosen’.

Sarenrae help me, this is all too much.

I admit to being less than eloquent talking with their leader, a dwarven cleric named Molderoc who had broken off from Zalbrag’s congregation after everything that happened in the last week. I was stunned and honestly had no idea what to ask of an entire congregation of followers. I hardly knew what to do when Nel pledged himself to my cause. I didn’t want to shun them, I wanted to live up to their expectations, but I hardly know any official church doctrine outside of what I’ve read from the Light and Truth. And quite honestly I’m accustomed to doing whatever I need done myself, not having others do it for me.

Whatever else I might think of Zalbrag or the way he originally acted towards us, he wasn’t wrong that I was in no way prepared to have a high position in the faith.

Fortunately, Linda is much more comfortable in the role of leader than I am. She pulled me aside and we discussed what we could accomplish with such a large following. We came to the conclusion that we could have an official embassy built for Blackwell, and it could double as a temple for pilgrimages, a place of learning for Blackwellians like Ichibod who might be interested in learning more about the gods, and so forth. I could kiss her for the clever idea, if I wouldn’t mind getting my head removed from my shoulders afterwards, of course.

The two of us met with Lord Grabanath, to discuss the possibility of building an outpost as a halfway point between Magnamar and Sandpoint, which could house the embassy. Magnamar’s lord mayor agreed, with the stipulation that he wanted the rights to our group’s images and stories for his merchandising ventures. We were promised a decent cut in return, and he swore not to let something like the slander against Elkin happen again. I’d honestly rather return to obscurity myself, but seeing as that’s impossible at this point, this sounded like a good deal. Linda and I promised him an answer tomorrow, so that we’d have time to run it by the rest of the group.

Linda asked me to pass on the request to the group while she handled some business of her own. We’d learned from Lord Grabanath that Clyde would be hosting a tournament in the near future in Magnamar, and Linda had been eager to find a way in to spite the crime lord. I don’t know if her business had anything to do with that, but I wouldn’t doubt it.

I returned to the ship and discussed the proposition with the rest of the group, who readily agreed to the lord mayor’s deal. Afterwards, however, Ichibod pulled me aside. He told me a little about what happened to him while he’d been gone. I won’t write the specifics here, as much of it is Ichibod’s personal business. However the end result was that he wanted me to cast detect evil on his son, to make sure the boy wasn’t being used as a spy for Karvoug and Mary. I agreed to my friend’s request, and used the spell. As with all children, his moral code wasn’t quite set in stone yet. He had no greater draw towards good or evil, chaos or lawfulness, than any other child. I reassured Ichibod that he had nothing to fear, and that his son was simply a child caught up in all of this.

While the rest of the group went about their own business, Ichibod was excited to share an idea he had with me. He’d gotten the tablet Linda used in Blackwell and somehow modified it so that it wasn’t stuck only showing the journal as it once did. He only needed to find a way to modify it so that it would run off of an energy source we had access to, and it would be a useful tool for our group. I suggested that perhaps Anders would know of a way to modify the technology with magic, considering that the eccentric magic user had his fingers in a number of magical and alchemical experiments.

Anders, it turned out, did have an idea on how to fix the machine, and told us it would take him a day to complete.

In the meantime, Ichibod wanted to spend a night on the town. I don’t know why I trusted the witch’s judgment in tavern, but we somehow found ourselves in a shady looking bar called the “Gobblin’ Goblin”. Everyone there seemed friendly, if a bit rowdy, at least. Although they became convinced, despite my protests, that Ichibod and I were an item. It was awkward and embarrassing until the second or third drink. We played some games, of which Ichibod knew none, but he still somehow managed to have a good time and made friends with the other patrons. I think they liked that he kept losing my money to them.

When the bar closed I probably helped to carry Ichibod home. I don’t really remember how we got back. That’s twice now. I might need to cut back a little. It was a fun evening, at least, and I’m glad that Ichibod is warming up to local forms of entertainment.

This morning Ichibod and I returned to Anders to procure the tablet we’d left with him. As promised, he’d worked out a way for the tablet to be recharged via magic rather than the Blackwellian energy sources. Ichibod showed me how to take pictures with it and how to use it to keep a journal without having to carry around books, quills, and ink. This will likely be the final handwritten entry. A shame considering I just bought this journal. More impressive, however, is another modification Anders made to it, which allows it to store a number of my arcane spells in the tablet, freeing up my daily casting ability slightly. As confusing and strange as many of the Blackwellian technologies are, there are some honest wonders as well. I can see why Ichibod likes them so much.

In a more horrifying variation of technology, however, when we got back home Ichibod and Linda got together and got it into their heads that Ichibod should graft metal under Linda’s skin. I had to stand by while Nemo put Linda to sleep and cut her open for surgery. For some reason Elkin and Unae came in to watch as well. I felt sick at the sight of her chest opened up, and metal being grafted into her. I only remained in the room because they needed me around to heal Linda afterwards, and because I wanted to be close in case anything went wrong (which blessedly it didn’t).

This will likely add to my nightmares tenfold, thanks Ichibod.

After this…event…I finally found time to visit Father Zantas to thank him for helping Ichibod and Elkin the other day. I also took some time to pray, to give thanks to Sarenrae that the events of the last few days had finally passed, and that all had ended for the better.

Finally given some quiet time to think, I felt calmer about my new role, and the upcoming festival. I returned home to work on writing my upcoming speech, which I will include below.

“I am Roland Terrasold, of the church of Sarenrae. You all have heard my title by now I'm sure. The Transcendent Sinner. I don't know how much of my story has become public knowledge at this point, but I will say that while I have tried to better myself, I am a deeply flawed man with many regrets. If you had told me a year ago, when I first came to Sandpoint, that I would someday be part of a group hailed as heroes for our actions, I would have laughed at the idea. I wouldn't have believed it possible, I would have told you 'you must have the wrong person'.

“For many years I let regrets shackle me, and it made me believe I couldn't make a positive impact on this world. I had chosen to follow Sarenrae's path, but I hadn't truly embraced her teachings, as far as forgiveness for one's self. Yet here I stand, one year later, alongside my friends in a town whose fate was changed by our actions. I'm not here to preach to you, I know that this town has a diverse set of beliefs and I hope the message I want to impart can be relevant everyone, be you a follower of the Dawnflower, Desna, Caden Kalen, or no god at all. If I would want you to take anything away from my story, it's this. Don't let past mistakes and regrets be your shackles. Learn from them, so you won't repeat them. Let them motivate you to become a better person each day. But don't let them hold you back. No matter how dark of a place you find yourself in, keep moving forward. Because someday when you look around you'll find yourself surrounded not by the regrets of the past, but by those impacted by your present actions. If anyone out there is currently in a dark place, I especially hope my words reach you. The sun will rise anew, each day. There is always hope for something better. Thank you and Sarenrae bless you.”

#Journal Entry #pathfinder #Rise of the Runelords

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sarzonthesilver-blog · 7 years

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They had flown through the night; no one knew how far they had come. The sound of the air rushing past their ears was maddening. They had all gotten incredibly cold and they were all looking forward to landing somewhere, making a fire and drinking some hot tea. They had travelled farther than Sarzon could believe. They were at the border of the Kingdom and the Free Lands. They were at least one thousand miles from the river Gihon, and were at least five-hundred miles from the nearest village. They were in a glen that was surrounded by hardwood forests and streams of flowing water. Bartok thanked Elric and the Ziz as did they all, and when the birds had left, they made a permanent camp in the glen, and Sarzon, Lorelai, and Lazolon went around the camp and put enchantments in place to ward off evil, keep out dangerous beasts, and to prevent the Dark Mages or the Necromancer from using their fire as a portal into their camp. Something that Sarzon had learned from the books. He put a trapping spell around the fire, and outside of the enchantments for the camp, he had moved the earth back Magically, and placed the appropriate sigils in the ground and put the earth back. He had placed traps that would trap a Chimera, Manticore, Troll, Ogre, Goblin, Dark Mage, or Necromancer all around their camp. He had prepared the camp as best as possible with the help of Lorelai and Lazolon, and protected themselves. The others were amazed by what they had accomplished, and then when he was finished, he took his staff, and stuck the end in the ground, and speaking in Enochian, he charged the sigils and traps, and enchantments placed around the camp, and for a few moments, the runes in the ground and around the camp glowed in silver light, and when he was sure they were fully charged, he removed the staff from the ground. The others were expecting him to collapse from using that much magic, but Tandriel had shown him how not to do that to himself when he had spoken to him about the book. He had after all been the Nephilim who released Magic into the world, and he should know how to manipulate it. The strangest part was he had shown Sarzon how, and told him to teach the others. This would be his first opportunity to start teaching them, and the glen was the perfect place, he thought that Tandriel had something to do with arranging the ride. But that was his own thought which he didn’t share. The others were apt pupils, and in the forest around them were Iron wood trees, he told all of them that this was a good place to find the necessary wood to make a staff similar to his so that they could learn to manipulate Magic, the way he was doing. He asked if they were willing to learn something new, and all of them, even Bartok answered aye. He had also done something no one else had done, he had figure out how the dwarves could manipulate magic as well. It wasn’t that they couldn’t, they were never taught how. When magic had changed them, they had been so frightened by it that they hid themselves, and one of the Nephilim feeling sorrow for them, gifted them with the knowledge of metal, mining, and crafting. It had fell to Sarzon now to teach them to use the Magic they were filled with from being in the heart of the earth. They knew all about symbols and sigils, and how to place them into things they made for Magic Wielders, so they already understood Enochian. The rest would, he hoped, would be simple and easy. He instructed them first to do as the others and make an Iron Wood staff. Which all of them did. They came back into camp with their new staffs, and then he told them that in this glen, was an abundant supply of the right kind of silver deep in the ground and it was highly imbued with Magic. They dwarves got excited, they were looking for something to dig with when Sarzon told them to relax, he would teach them to mine without tools if they would follow his instructions. They looked at him like he had lost his mind until he brought up a large chunk of silver and purified it in front of them in the air. Then he split it into three ingots and gave one to each group to inspect it for purity. The Dwarves were hooked. He instructed them to make sure they smoothed the staffs until they were exactly the same size top to bottom. It took a bit; Iron Wood was the hardest wood known. Once they had all smoothed their staffs, even the dwarves, then he told each of them that the most important part of building their staff was the carving of their own personal sigil into the bottom. All of them had learned to make their own sigils long ago. Even the dwarves, and they did as he had instructed, he told them to make sure that they carved it, without using Magic. Some of them hadn’t carved with a blade in a long time, this was the longest part of the process he told them. They had to make sure the sigil was complete and correct. Some of them had to take and shave the end of the staff off and start over, but once they finished then he sat down and asked all of them to carefully listen to what he said, especially the dwarves. The most important thing that they must do, was to make sure that as they carved the rest of the runes into the staff, and before they placed the silver caps on the staff, was that they needed to speak, and pray in Enochian, it would ensure that no Darkness could enter into the staff. They needed it to be purified in Enochian, and the symbols of protection that must be carved into the staff he displayed in the air. He made sure that each of them without Magic, carved the symbols. These are the symbols he had them carve אֵל גִּבִּןך יהןה

These symbols he told them would protect them from any and all attacks, and that when they finished their staffs would work exactly as his new one did. Then he told them that he would teach each of them to raise the silver they needed not only to make the caps, but also to guild their staffs with. The Dwarves weren’t missing a single word or instruction. He had all of them stand and outstretch their hands, palms down, and then he spoke the words in Enochian to raise the silver. They repeated the words, and to all’s surprise, even the Dwarves were able to raise the silver without a problem. Once everyone had the right amount of silver raised, he then instructed them on how to purify the silver. Which they all did. He told them to separate the purified silver into three pieces and then they would do the next step. They were able to do it, and then the Dwarves started to understand why they could manipulate Magic now, when they never could before, they knew everything they needed to know, they just hadn’t understood how to do it. The Hammer got excited and said I can do this and started to jump ahead when Sarzon stopped him. He said that there would be time later to work on his own and practice. But right now, all of the Dwarves should think of themselves as Apprentices, and once they finished this battle, and completed the training, all of them would be offered the opportunity to be tested in the trials and the Well of Souls. They were stunned. No Dwarf in their history had ever been a Wizard or Sorcerer, and now they would have a chance to join them. That settled all of the dwarves down and made them focus on the task at hand. He had them first form and place the end caps on both ends. Then he had them set their staffs down and bring up a large piece of pure, clear, crystal. This was crucial it had to be the right size and would need to be shaped with Magic, no tool could touch it, Magic only. They all found deep in the earth the crystal they needed and it had to be flawless and without color. They got their crystals and then came the hard part. Manipulating the crystal only using Magic as a means of shaping the stone. Once they had finished transforming the crystal, he had them mount it in the silver on the top of the staff, then each of them needed to encase it in silver but not cover it, they needed as much of the surface of the crystal to show. Once they had the crystals mounted, then they were to take the last ingot of silver and gild the staff and connect the top and bottom and completely cover the staff. That was the hardest on the Dwarves, they would have hammered the silver into a fine sheet, then folded it around the staff, and would have worked to combine the top and bottom. This was the work they did, and using Magic to do it was hardest for them. They were able to finish it, and then he told them to put the same symbols around the caps top and bottom and then vertically in seven equal lines top to bottom. Once they had finished the staffs, it was late in the night. He told them all to go to sleep. They would complete it in the morning when they were fresh. Everyone grumbled a little, they wanted to see their new staffs completed, but chose to go to sleep anyway. When they woke the next day, all of them felt refreshed, and felt better than they had in years. They didn’t know it but part of the enchantments he had placed in the ground of the whole glen and in the forest for a mile in every direction, was to restore their strength, their magic, and to heal their bodies. They ate, and he told them the hardest part was still to come, and was why he had told them to go to sleep. Today, they were going to place the final markers on the staffs and would then set the staff in the ground, and it would draw Magic into itself, and they would see their new staffs as they should be. They followed his every direction, and once they were finished, he sent them out into the glen and told them to plant the staff in the ground and that they weren’t to release the staff for any reason, or it wouldn’t be filled, and most important of all, however much Magic they allowed the staff to absorb, would be all the Magic it could ever absorb. So he instructed them to hold onto the staff until it stopped glowing. They all went out to the edge of the glen, and when they were all the set, everyone was the exact same distance from each other, he told them to take their staffs in both hands, raise it above their heads, and plant it in the ground in one smooth even stroke. He told them to get set and to raise their staffs, which they did, and then he said, “Now, plant your staff!!”. They did and the whole valley began to glow with the power flowing into their staffs. He continued to encourage them not to let go, hold the staff until the glow subsided. They all were hanging on, and the power that was coursing through the ground and into the staffs was immense. When it finally subsided, they had been standing there for twelve hours, everyone had held on until the end. This would be the only time that there would be this many Wizards and Sorcerers charging a staff at the same time. At least here in the Free Lands. When they were done, they all wearily walked back to their encampment and all of them drank at least one cup of Ambrosia, some of them drank two. Then they fell asleep and when they woke it was fully dark, and they were surprised when they found out how long they had slept, it was evening of the next day. They couldn’t believe that they had slept for twenty-eight hours straight. They all found a place and relieved themselves, then they ate a hearty meal and had Ambrosia with it before they were ready to continue. He told them that they would now all be able to not only use Magic but would no longer deplete themselves doing it. Bartok immediately looked up, he had learned for his onetime apprentice the secrets he had never deciphered from the book. He truly had become not one of the most powerful, but the most powerful Wizard and Sorcerer in the North. He had them rise and prepare, they were about to see how the new staffs worked. The had them pair off, then he had them throw a bolt of lightning at each other from the staff. It was a storm for a while, they were doing Magic that would normally drain them of all energy and leave them passed out. They had been flashing lightning bolts for an hour when he stopped them and said “Now, on to other things.” He had all of them while holding the staff in one hand, use Magic and place their sigil in the ground, they did, and it was glowing slightly, then he told them to stand in the center of their sigil, and plant the staff. When they did, the ground in the glen began to glow and all of the enchantments and traps he had laid were clearly visible, they had never seen this kind of power before. The Dwarves were so amazed at what they could now do, they wanted to head for Green Haven and share the new abilities and knowledge, but Sarzon stopped them, he told them that they must first learn more Magic for themselves and be ready to take the trials before returning to Benelvin and Green Haven. They still had a war to fight, and they were sorely needed here for now. They grumbled but when they realized what he was saying, they all settled in to learn and to prepare. He told them he would give them a crash course, and it would be easier for them and not take long, because they could already read, write, and speak Enochian. He instructed everyone to understand that the Enochian they used and spoke could only be used for good, but the Fallen spoke a twisted, perverted version of Enochian and was why they had so much trouble overcoming them in the past. They didn’t have enough Magic to subvert the perverted Enochian and overtake it. But they did now. Once they had built the new staffs, and infused them with the correct Enochian by putting their sigils into the staff, and it had to be made from Iron Wood, and formed the crystal with Magic and lastly carved the staff with the correct symbols, the words for “The Almighty God HWHY, his name, Yahweh or Jehovah, then the Magic that Tandriel had released originally, would fill their staff and them and give them the power they needed to vanquish the Dark Mages and the Black Necromancer, Morcandon. They were all stunned. Bartok asked how he figured all this out, he had the book for almost seven hundred years, and had never discovered the secret? He told him that it was Tandriel who gave him the clue to figure it out. It was all he would say at the moment, what they didn’t know was on the staff that had belonged to his father, and had been passed down for generations was the staff that belonged to Enoch himself, and was given to his son before God Translated him, and took him to heaven. He had studied that staff for a long time, and once he had passed through the Well of Souls, upon their return to the Fortress, he had spent a time each night studying the staff, and figured out the secret in the staff. It was not made of Gopher Wood as his father had claimed, it was made from Iron Wood and had been stained to look like gopher wood. He had studied its construction, noted the socket in the top that held nothing, and in the bottom of the staff, under the cap was his household sigil, the same sigil that he had placed on his staff. הנסנט He had found the words on the staff where the names of the descendants of Seth were placed, and on the bottom of the staff itself, it had no caps on the bottom, or sigil, it just had his name, and the top had a socket but it didn’t seem to be a setting for a crystal, but rather for something else, he wasn’t sure what, and the only way to figure that out would be to go back and try and trace the steps of his ancestors from Enoch forward and hope he found something. What he had, he felt, was more important, and the Staff of Enoch he intended to place in a special vault that only his descendants would be able to open. This was his staff, his connection to the source of power that he needed. He had instructed all of them in the ways of tapping into the Magic they would need for this fight. He trained the Dwarves with help from Bartok, Lorelai, Lazolon, and the other Wizards. What would have taken years of training for a beginner, the Dwarves had learned in a month, they were ready for the battle now, they had drilled and drilled, used unexpected attacks, made each other better Wizards, and now they were going to drop the enchantments, and go looking for the Dark Mages and Morcandon the Black Necromancer. During the month of training Sarzon had talked with Bartok and told him it wasn’t him that failed with Morcandon, it was Morcandon who had failed him, he tried to take the easy way, which was the lure of the Darkness, they would tempt you with all you desired, but the true Wizard knew that anything worth having, would always require work. They were ready, and Sarzon dropped all the enchantments at one time, the traps, the sigils, all of the other things that he, Lorelai, and Lazolon had placed in the ground they left in place, they would still need a place of refuge during the battle, and this would be where they came. He told all of them with their new staffs, transporting themselves with the aid of Magic would no longer drain them, they could as easily as the Dark Mages and Morcandon, but he warned them to remember, not to directly engage the Dark Mages unless they were unable to overcome them with their enchanted weapons. They prepared to leave the glen, and he told them to find a reference point to remember that wouldn’t change with time. If they tried to transport to anything that involved times passing they would become lost, and wouldn’t materialize. That scared all of them into being extra cautious. He instructed them to look at the glen, at the west end, was an outcropping of rock that would take centuries to change. They focused on the rock, and firmly placed in their minds. Then he materialized by magic, where they would go, they all brought the image up above their hand, and spoke the words to go. Everything shimmered for an instant, and they were all there. He did a head count to make sure everyone made it. Then he told everyone to bring the image of the outcropping up the same way, and once they had, they spoke the words to go, and they were right back where they had been ten minutes earlier, and they noticed that the sun had moved, they had successfully learned the last lesson. At that point he asked Bartok to come forward and take command, he was their leader, and he knew where they needed to go. He brought up the image, near Gihon, out towards the western sea. He gave them the landmark, and then gave them the command to go. They all went, and when they materialized they were near enough to the sea to smell the salt in the air, and hear the gulls on the beach, and the wind in their faces was refreshing, everyone had made it, and all of them were safe. It was the first time in the history of Magic, that the Wizards and Sorcerers of Light had the ability to move through space without killing themselves or draining their Magic so far that they were useless for weeks. They all had their staffs, they had all their gear with them, and they weren’t affected by the shifts, they hadn’t felt even the slightest drain. They were prepared for battle, and they were at full strength. Once they made camp, and set up the enchantments and protections, without placing sigils in the ground, only traps, and a trap and protection under the fire, they were prepared for the night. Sarzon told them that the trap under the fire, wasn’t the usual trap, he didn’t want any of the Dark Magic to be held in the land, it was a holding trap, and would keep the Dark Mages suspended above the fire and allow them to use Magic to destroy them. He warned them about doing it if the Dark Mage wasn’t in a trap. They weren’t trying to win a Wizards Duel, they were to destroy as many of the Dark Mages, and evil creatures that came up from the south, the only one who would enter into a Wizards duel would be Bartok, and he was only interested in Morcandon the Black. The rest, they were to use enchanted weapons as much as possible, and only use Magic as a last resort. They were ready, they had prepared, and they were baiting a trap for the forces of Darkness. It was the beginning of the battle to end Morcandon. He knew that the battle against the Fallen would continue for ages. This was against Morcandon, and all of the evil he had brought into the north. They had done all they could to prepare, now they just needed to wait. It didn’t take long, shortly after full dark had fallen, the fire flared up, and the trap sprung and the two Dark Mages were trapped, they destroyed them with a concentrated blast from their staffs, as Sarzon had taught them to, and the fire returned to normal. They had just taken the first step towards becoming a threat to Morcandon. He hadn’t known that they could wield this kind of power. After that it was hit and run fighting for a couple of days, and then they were faced with an overwhelming horde of the vilest creatures they had ever seen. They had run ins in the past with Trolls, Ogres, Goblins, Manticores, and Chimera, but these were completely different, these were creatures that they had never imagined could even exist. They had brought the demon horde across the river. They were battling hellhounds, black dogs, Minotaur’s, Sphynx’s, Dark Mages, Djinn, Harpy’s, and more creatures than they had names for. Then out of the sky, dropped more Griffins, Ziz, and Roc’s than any of them had ever seen, and there were all kinds of help for them in the battle. It was the longest battle that they had been in. the Wizards and Sorcerers were busy fighting the Dark Mages, while the rest of the creatures that had come to aid them tore into the demon horde. It surprised Bartok that Morcandon wasn’t here, and then he knew what Morcandon was planning, he had wanted to take out all of his allies and fellows of Magic, and make him pay for all the times he had hurt him in the past. That made Bartok realize just how badly they needed to win this battle, and he commanded the Wizards to unleash their Magic and to not hold back. It was like an explosion had rocked the plateau. The combined force of the released magic, wiped out all the demon horde and Dark Mages at once. When the smoke cleared, they were standing there fully powered with Magic, and their enemies were scattered. This was a decisive victory, they had bested the demon horde, and now he told them to use Magic, purify the ground, and then they were all to return to the glen. Once they were done while it was still daylight, they returned to the glen, and did a headcount. No one had been injured today, and all had returned from the battle field. They would need to lay up for a few days before leaving again. He wanted to give Morcandon the impression that the Magical blast had depleted their strength, and they were somewhere recovering. Sarzon put the enchantments back in place, and they all got some rest. They weren’t drained of Magic, they were physically tired, and in much need of food and rest, and some restorative Ambrosia. It was Sarzon who told them to wait here, and he, Lorelai, and Lazolon departed, and were gone only a few minutes, when they returned, they had brought several casks of wine, stout, and mead, several wheels of cheese, and flatbread. They had a feast. Bartok knew he had gone to the Fortress, and wanted to know if there were any signs of the Dark Mages or Morcandon, he told him no, and that all the guards were in place. He had made doubly sure before they left. The feast went well into the night, and he told all of them it was perfectly acceptable if they all got politely drunk. He had placed an enchantment on the drink so that the casks never ran dry. Bartok raised an eyebrow, but Sarzon pretended not to notice. They all had their evening meal, with plenty of drink, and when they were done, they all slept on the ground around a fire that was comforting and peaceful. The next morning, they all had headaches and the casks now held water, something Sarzon had done before he went to sleep. He refilled the empty casks with water, he didn’t want anyone getting up and drinking again, they would need clear heads, sharp swords, and their staffs at the ready. They were going back into battle, and they would need the rest. He told them they had two days. The Dwarves went hunting, and brought back four boars, which the cooked on a spit over the fire. They had also brought in a couple of stags and some of the large horned sheep the area was famous for. They had enough food for all of them, and while the meat was cooking, the elves had brought in potatoes, beets, parsnips, carrots, and onions from the field and they had roasted vegetables as well. All was a celebratory feast to enjoy. Only Ambrosia to drink though, the dwarves were disappointed, they were hoping for more stout. The men were fine, their group was evenly divided between men and women, and the same went for the elves. The Dwarves hadn’t brought women with them, they never did, their women stayed behind to tend to their homes and take care of business. It was a good way to live. Once they had brought all of the people together to enjoy the sumptuous feast, Sarzon rose and with a strong, loud voice, he told them that they had only won a battle, the war was far from over, and that they needed to be ready for the battle that would ensue. They were going to be splitting the group up the next day, there were one hundred of them here, and they were going to set a trap for Morcandon. Bartok and ten of the others would stay here, some from each group. The rest were going in three different directions with a leader for each, he wanted an even number from each race in each group, whatever was left at the end, would stay with Bartok and help defend the camp and would also be bait for the trap. They were murmuring among themselves, when Bartok stood and told them that they couldn’t all go from place to place as a group of one-hundred or more, they needed to make several places and be anywhere they could to keep back the forces, what they faced two days earlier was just a taste of what waited on the other side. If Morcandon his forces would come into the north and all would be lost, it wasn’t going to be easy to defeat him, but until they did, they were going to have to work in three groups unless more help came from Benelvin, but they couldn’t manipulate Magic to the degree that this group could. Also if they were heavy into battle, and needed aid, any group who wasn’t, could aid them in the battle. That seemed to calm their fears. They got some rest that night and prepared for the next day.

John R Moore Logo

The Wizards of Pangea – The Sorcerer Chronicles – 6 They had flown through the night; no one knew how far they had come. The sound of the air rushing past their ears was maddening.

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gamehackercheats-blog · 7 years

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facebookgamehacksandcheats-blog · 7 years

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jundzerg-blog · 8 years

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Magic: The Tilting

I remember the moment that I decided to play Magic: The Gathering. I had become jaded after so many years of online first person shooters and RTS/MOBA games. After competing on various levels over the years I began to hate it. As I got older, I’m 27 now, my reflexes have gotten worse. It may seem stupid but there’s a big difference between my twitch reflex at 16 and now. I commented on how Hearthstone was kind of fun and I was called a filthy casual by a close friend of mine. Long story short the only card game in town is Magic.

When I first got into it I had no idea what I wanted. I started out playing Standard around the time Oath of the Gatewatch came out. I thought Mist Intruders were badass and that Ingest was a sweet mechanic. I was also drawn to Pauper since it’s decks were generally cheaper and I have a thing for older cards. Modern was way out of my league so for the first year or so I avoided it. I’d look at decks like Jund or Affinity and dream of a day where I could justify playing something like that. How could I do that when I barely understood the basics?

Fast forward a few months prior to Peregrine Drake being reprinted as a common and thus warping the format of Pauper. I messed around with various archetypes with my one true love being Mono Black Control, a midrange black devotion deck. I wasn’t very good at it but it broke up the tedium of playing linear decks. Before that I had played Burn and Affinity along with some tier 3 jank and had grown tired of playing aggro all the time. In Modern I built a budget Mono-Red Burn along with some other useless decks that I thought were cool.

I also decided to go to my local LGS since I had just moved to the area and I wanted to see what format they were playing. I wanted to make some friends but I failed miserably. I realized that I barely knew anything about Magic and that Standard / Modern was a foreign land to me. I had a horrible night. I sat there awkwardly with my budget Eldrazi starter deck and was generally treated like pure shit. I know that I look like a total meathead but this was far from what I was expecting. Long story short I decided to concentrate on playing Magic Online, even with it’s incredibly shitty client, because it allowed for more freedom of use, cheaper decks overall and that I could qualify for pro tours or generally play in tournaments in my underwear.

But as time went on I became increasingly displeased with Magic as I hit a huge plateau which led me to taking most of 2016 off from Magic. I played some pauper here and there during the Drake era but I didn’t touch the game until around October of last year. I continued to look at articles, read about the meta and contemplate coming back. But honestly that was the best decision I ever made. Taking a break allowed me to change my perspective on the game itself and whether or not I wanted to really invest my time and money into it. October of 2016 was a strange time for me. I was still reeling from major changes in my life that went back to 2015 but I was finally coming out of the fog. Unfortunately life has a way of throwing more landmines at you as time passes. Crazy ex-girlfriends and health issues of family members became more apparent. But I decided to sell my MTGO collection and buy a modern deck that I could play, one that I had been dreaming of for months, Naya Burn.

I figured if I was going to play this format for the length of years I would want to approach it with a style of deck that I was already familiar with. I played some 300 games between October and December of Burn. Turn 1 Fetch, Shock, Goblin Guide; Turn 2 Fetch, Shock, Monastery Swiftspear and suspend Rift Bolt;, Turn 3 Swing with Guide and Swiftspear (With Prowess) and optimally play Atarka’s Command to pump the squad. Even though I had my games where I couldn’t top deck that final bolt that I needed to win the game I learned some very important lessons during that time. I also found my first true love, Ad Nauseam, during this time. After playing a single game against it I knew that I wanted to play it.

Ad Nauseam was my first combo deck. I feel like it takes the linear non-interactive gameplay of Burn and let’s you put two or three pieces together at the same time, “gotcha” if you will, and win through unfair methods. I was hooked. There was something undeniably cool about going into unlife, sitting at -37 life points and saccing all of my Simian Spirit Guides and lands for a giant Lightning Storm. But I was also faced with the same problem that had plagued me with Burn. There wasn’t a whole lot of room for change. You could play a Mystical Teachings / Peer Through Depths package instead of Spoils of the Vault but that was about as far as customization goes with the deck. Anything else and you begin to dilute the deck and it becomes less optimal.

I also made the mistake of building Eldrazi Tron, or as I call it lovingly, Spaghetti Tron. At the time it was cheaper, with the most expensive parts being Chalice of the Void, and it was exciting to play a new archetype in Modern. Sure people had tried to put Eldrazi into Tron shells for years but it never seemed that great. But it’s ironic now that I see it being very popular and yet I can’t stand the thought of playing it. I hated the games where I had Tron online, sometimes double Tron lands, and no threats to play because I was so flooded. I hated the games where I would land a turn 2 Thought-Knot Seer and still lose because they had answers to everything and I would get flooded out. I found to my horror that it felt worse than playing Burn. I hated playing Tron in Pauper and I honestly have no idea why I built it in Modern.

Again my time in Magic has had some defining moments that worked out in a strange but successful way. Even though my friends criticized me for it, I sold my collection minus Ad Nauseam, and decided to do something crazy. I decided to play fair. I built Jund and Junk from the $985 I had invested into Magic over the course of the past year. I had contemplated getting into Legacy and dropping Modern all together but in hindsight I am glad that I stuck with Modern. Around the same time, after the Golgari Grave Troll and Gitaxian Probe bans, Death’s Shadow Jund became a thing. It was a minor investment to build the deck as I managed to do so prior to the price spikes. I also figured I would decide against waiting for MM17 that way I can have my investment secured instead of trying to procure the pieces for GBx in a fluctuating market.

There is something undeniably pleasing about “Junding em out”. Winning a game through perfection is different from winning through unfair means. Sheer card quality, advantage, discard and answers are my tools now. I never really understood what made Tarmogoyf the poster child of Modern, Bob; The Dark Confidant so famous or why Liliana of the Veil cost so much. I had always been on the receiving end of a turn 1 Thoughtseize not on the side that makes the decisions on turn 1 that can affect the rest of the game. It took me two weeks of pouring over lists, reading primers and testing things out before I decided on a list for both Jund and Junk. I had never put that much time into something related to Magic. I was too used to just picking up a list online and playing it for a few months with the only changes being one or two sideboard pieces. Now I had to learn how to actually sideboards effectively and use the disadvantage of playing a fair deck in a largely linear and unfair format against my opponents.

I am by no means a good Magic player. I am still relatively new to Modern as I can honestly say I’ve only played a little over half a year. But I feel that I have finally found my place in the format. Where I can put my feet up, watch the disparity of the market and ride the ebbs and flows of the meta over the coming years. I still play Ad Nauseam from time to time when I want to relax and not interact with my opponent, but I feel a sense of belonging in the BGx archetype. Old school Jund midrange may be falling in popularity due to the meta but having options between Junk or Jund feels great. Being able to tweak my deck to respond to the meta is rewarding. I still need more time and reps to really understand my lines of play in various matchups because I am still not accustomed to really caring about what my opponent is doing. But I feel like in the long term this will be the way that I want to play. It’s difficult but very rewarding. Not having to really worry about whether or not a piece of my deck is going to get banned is a very comforting thought also. I’m not paranoid and I don’t really care that Splinter Twin was banned because it was before my time. But I do understand that the Mothership has to police formats effectively in order to keep everything balanced. Through looking at the history of BGx, regardless of which variant, I saw that it’s always around in some shape or form. Many say Jund isn’t tier 1 right now but I feel like it’s impossible for it to never be tier 1. Death’s Shadow Jund is a natural evolution of the deck. Somehow through ingenuity Death’s Shadow Aggro and Jund became one. I will always have faith though and I stand by my investments into the archetype. At the end of the day it’s because everyone loves a turn 1 discard spell.

#magic the gathering #mtg #modern magic #jund #gbx

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