#work of a wandering artist

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The All-Couponing

...just some nonsense to start the week. (There was a very serious discussion about what kind of grocery shoppers each Elden Ring character would be, and @wraith-caller suggested Gideon would be one of those coupon people holding up the line, so.)

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oh no it's team death star from the roundtable hold

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In the beginning, long before Izar learned to understand his sign language, this is how they communicated: Ensha signing his messages into her palm.

A painfully slow form of communicating, but at least he didn’t have to waste her treasured ink, and there was another aspect to it: With those brief, invisible messages, fleeting words traced against her palm, Ensha didn’t have to worry about anyone—not even his master—ever finding out what he was sharing with the stargazer.

Then again, it required enough trust on Izar’s end to let him touch her hand. You might not want someone within arm’s reach who previously attacked you in a supposedly safe space.

She was rather tense when she first held out her hand. But she still did.

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ensha: (in frantical sign language) izar no izar: izar yes!

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Mapping the stars is fairly easy, but Izar has a hard time figuring out the constellations. Some of them, however, are still common knowledge in the Lands Between, so Ensha helps her, pointing out those he knows.

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"I have one star alone."

Swordhand of Night Jolán | Armor: Germany or Austria, 1560

I participated in the Elden Ring September challenge (organized by @wraith-caller) and was randomly assigned a character and an outfit. Funnily enough, I got to draw armored lady Jolán (I love her!)... in a different set of armor. (And decided to give her a gleaming star to guide her in her night.)

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PREPARING FOR THE LAND OF SHADOW: LIGHT

They're assuming that light sources might come in handy? So Izar has cleaned and polished her trusty lantern... whereas Ensha has just caught some fireflies.

(Pt. 2: Mapmaking)

(Pt. 3: Research)

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So about the sketches Izar puts on her maps (in particular the one she draws for @rotten-pest's Cotesia)...

The Crayfish

The Dragon

An angry Runebear and One Who Lives in Death

A Red Wolf

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Headcanon: Ensha doesn't eat regular food, just golden runes.

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when you could rain down the fury of the stars on your enemies or just blast them with a magic comet, but instead choose to turn into a shrub

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PREPARING FOR THE LAND OF SHADOW: RESEARCH

What little information can be found about the Land of Shadow in the books Izar and Ensha have at their disposal is extremely sketchy, enigmatic and contradictory.

(I believe they might have both switched to reading adventure novels instead.)

(Pt. 1: Light)

(Pt. 2: Mapmaking)

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"Ensha, look! She came back!" The cuckoo from the church finds Izar (and Ensha) again after a while. By whatever magic, her eyes are healed and shimmering like glintstone with a hint of something deeper, older. The plumage of her wings, too, has taken on an iridescence reminiscent of glintstone sorceries.

Izar decides to name her Chaska. The name sounds just right. (What Izar doesn't know but I do: "chaska"/"ch'aska" is a word from the Quechua language, meaning "star".)

While Chaska is clearly quite trusting around Izar, she's not a pet. She leaves and returns as she pleases. She won't obey commands but may do little favors. When she seeks Izar out, she'll rarely land on her hand or shoulder, but rather on branches or walls nearby. She can, however, be persuaded to come closer if offered fireflies (glintstone fireflies are her favorite).

Sometimes Chaska won't show up for a very long time, and Izar has no idea where the little cuckoo goes in the meantime.

Upon her first visit, she drops one of her iridescent feathers, which Izar keeps to have it reworked into a quill.

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Happy Pride! Have a fistful of rainbow stones!

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So Izar has learned some songs from the Nomadic Merchants. ... and I have no idea where Ensha got that guitar, or why he would know to play in the first place. There probably aren't even guitars in the Lands Between. But that's just because... they were all banished with Godfrey. Yes. Exactly. Graceless instruments. It is known. ... I'll maybe think of a cryptic item description for this one.

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starting our new dnd campaign today! we're already certain that our party is going to be totally chaotic and someone in our group posted this gif:

...and I thought, yeah, that's totally us:

(my character is the little kobold, by the way)

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The one time that Ensha could be convinced not to use his clinging bone.