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Some other handy quotes

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I keep happening upon you reblogging the piece w Nylef as a ghost and, as someone that gets updates only through the arts shared on Tumblr, it keeps making me think that some horrid tragedy befell him and Halthwyn 😭

Fear not!! The two of them are doing great actually, around the time of our campaigns 'act 1' finale so to speak things were just very up in the air and I was indulging in some angst. The worst bits of angsty 'what ifs' never even got posted anywhere you guys have no idea how sad things go.

However you are right in that I don't think I have a public facing summary for these two's story. I do extensive post-session recaps every week but nothing public, and to ease your fears we're going to be doing one now, starting from the top.

I'll likely break it into two parts for my own sanity so look out for that later this week!

Halthwyn is a mercenary at the end of her rope by the beginning of the campaign (a heavily modified Stormkings Thunder). Having run away from her family VERY young to try and protect them from the political issues which inevitably crop up in Watersdeep when you have a Tiefling kid in high social circles, she dropped her real name (Olliane Fairgrove) and joined a mercenary company called the Knights of the Grave. The group was renowned for getting shit done, and they accepted a kid as a way of training a new merc from the ground up, so to speak. She was sent south for several years to learn to fight and toughen up, having some of the worst years of her life, before returning to the sword coast basically unrecognizable as the giant melee machine we love.

By the time the years have passed and the campaign is beginning she is tired of working, tired of fighting, and tired of life, really. She's hunting for a job that's going to get her killed and decides this groups the one to do it.

It's a shame, then, that one of the party members is a cleric and Halthwyn will not get her wish.

(My server makes memes that are way better than anything I draw)

After our little group intro in Nightstone, we are whisked North into Icewind Dale by help of friendly giant just in time to assist Brynshander fight off a giant attack. It's at this point we meet Sir Baric Nylef, knight in The Order of the Gauntlet (The sword coasts most good and typical knight order), whose chasing the remnants of a failed job. Him and a group of knights took out a nasty criminal gang but the leader escaped, and he's trying to track him down in order to really call his job good and done. He hasn't had any luck gathering intel, and rumor was this criminal, known as The Weevil, was in Brynshander. It just so happens that one of Halthwyns group mates, Via, is WAY more connected to the criminal underworld and found out right away the rumors were a misdirection and the Weevil was still in Mirabar. So, since he helped with the fighting, we trade info and also decide to help him on his mission. Our group didn't have a lot of direction, and with the other thread we received pointing us to Watersdeep (with two PCs avoiding the city for backstory reasons), Nylef became our main plot. He pretty quickly reveals to us that the Weevil has a large bounty, and while he DOES want to hunt him for the first job, the more pressing thing on his mind is that the Order of the Gauntlet is sort of consuming itself and becoming this other, reactive, and racist cult hellbent on rooting out evil. The Gilded Eye is an offshoot, though rapidly growing, which has set up in the fortress cathedral to Helm, and he wants to use the money to put a stop to it. Halthwyn agrees to help immediately, since 'rooting out evil' is in fact just persecuting Tieflings and anyone else they disagree with. The rest of the party agrees as well, and so with the actual goal agreed on we head to Mirabar.

The travel to Mirabar is a lot of small convos as the whole group gets used to one and other. The two martials hit it off over both having horses and liking horses. Halthwyn whittles and gives Nylef a nicely carved replica of his old warhorse Henry. It now hangs attached to Henrys saddlebags. It's hard to pin down exacts but they're both probably crushing on each other by the time we reach the dwarven city.

In Mirabar we learn that the Weevil is alleged to be fighting in the grand tourney under a mask, claiming that if anyone can beat him the mask will come off. Winning the tourney grants the title of Champion of Winter, along with a bunch of like, relic giant hunting gear and prestige with the dwarves. It's the talk of the town that this might be the Weevil and how if he wins it'll be a farce. So only one thing to do, all the PCs and Nylef enter the tourney to try and bring the Weevil down. Nylef, our beautiful knight, our beautiful man, throws away his shot at advancing past round one to instead beat the ever loving shit out of a member of the Gilded Eye, who apparently was shit talking Halthwyn.

Via our Rogue and Thorne our warlock also get knocked out of their qualifier, but Halthwyn advances through hers after rather unceremoniously knocking Blackheart our cleric into the arena water feature. The only PC to do advance. So now all our hopes rest on her. Nylef after beating the Gilded Eye fighter bloody gets incredibly bloodied himself, and ends up in the infirmary for Halthwyns qualifier. So she gets to to break the good news to a man who is incredibly injured and fairly sure his quest is over.

Nylef is an NPC so I have no insight into how long he's been pining but I know for a fact this is Halths moment. Throwing away a shot at completing a 2 year long hunt to defend honor Halthwyn thinks she doesn't have any more? It was OVER, your gal was hooked. Halthwyn will go on to win the tourney, claiming the title, the giant slaying axe and the cassowary armor (Which you can don or doff as an action - termed the sex armor for instant removal), AND learn the identity of the Masked Dwarf is in fact, not the Weevil. It's a local older brewery owner, one who's very well respected. She doesn't unmask him publicly, and he's appreciative of that fact. Turns out the Weevil is his son is law, and the death of his daughter sent him back down to some dark roots. He's been sheltering the man, hiding him in some frontier town, but he knows he needs to be brought to justice and gives us the info we need to track him down.

Nylef for the first time since we met him actual cuts loose and we all have a drink to celebrate our success. But the job isn't done yet, and so we all have a few days peace in Mirabar and then begin south to find and capture the Weevil, which after a brief run in with a giant and some Zhentarim, goes smoothly. In order to hand him over we need to get to a Lords Alliance outpost, which takes us toward Triboar. The whole time we're traveling with the Weevil Nylef gets to think on the next steps. He's been trapped for years in the 'find the weevil' part of his journey, now finally moving past that is a bit daunting. There's a lot of writing down names, taking note of who he thinks will still be allies, who might be enemies, the success is bittersweet. Meanwhile Halthwyn is struggling with the fact that if she does pursue anything with Nylef it's just going to make his life harder. His genuine quest to right things and stop the cult will inevitably be twisted with her involvement, if they're involved... she's going through it a different way and Via, girlboss party rogue, tries to talk some sense into her. The handoff at Triboar goes about as smooth as it could for our group (Read: Blackheart gave the Weevil a lockpick but the guy swallowed it - good luck king I guess), and we all opt to stay a night in the fancy inn run by a Watersdeep Noble whose trying to be the big man in little Triboar. We all get to dress up, be fancy, have a good time and not worry about the road or quest or life for a few hours.

These two end up dancing, having some drinks, just enjoying a night together. Though neither makes moves to take it out of the public spaces, and they retire separately. Halthwyn spends the next week they're in Triboar for other quests trying to figure out if Nylef danced with her out of genuine want or just pity. Finally after wallowing for a few days she asks and he's like "what no of course I wanted to"

However nothing comes of it. Halthwyn technically is supposed to be unattached, the Merc company wants their members working for as long as possible and getting entangled with others is not how you do that. Big lone wolf energy. So Halthwyn is torn up by duty and doubt and worries that since Nylef is so bound up in his work he might think less of her if she breaks her oath... It's a big mess. Via, blessed girlboss, isn't having any of it.

She's seeing whats happening, and as the group is making our way east again toward the Evermoor manages to catch Halthwyn alone and essentially shake her down trying to convince her that it's a mistake to let this go. The phrase "If I was ruining my life by missing out on something like this, I hope you'd do the same for me" (In reference to trying to Via's attempts to push Halth and Nylef together). Halth still thinks she'll ruin his life, just like she did to her family all those years ago, so they settle in for a sad ride, though the pining continues. They have so much in common - both deeply religious, both duty bound, both committed to trying to do good. But she's just too paralyzed that she'll mess his life up like she did to her family. I'll get to a part two here soon! I'll reblog this post with it!

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My contempt towards a brand is directly proportional to how often they interrupt my playlists.

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We don't have any preserved galdr, but one source uses a verb that translates to "crow". This has led some to speculate that these magic spells were recanted in a loud, shrill voice. Here to demonstrate is Leman:

"It is. 4.45. in. the. morning."

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A Contract of Bone, Passion, and Auram.

(guest appearance of Lord Adrian Malek from @the-perfect-entropy)

[Jorrun, a moment when available.]

The man could not help but flinch as he heard Tenebris' voice in his combead, looking over his opposite shoulder in anticipation of catching a glimpse of his master in some hidden corner of his peripheral vision. But no avail, either He was already gone or never truly around this part of the vessel.

Jorrun felt the eyes of his Third, a child of Caliban if believed, waiting expectantly on him. "Sire?"

"Nothing Gwain, think nothing of it. What were you speaking of just now?"

Gwain's emerald gaze was unwavering, tapping a soft rhythm on his dataplate with his free hand.

"Hmmph, I'll try. Again, Sire, I'm talking of the reports from our outposts close to the Sol Sub-sector. There has been an increase of patrols, as well as sightings of more Inquisition Acolytes,,"

"And for every Acolyte they have seen, there's surely half a dozen they haven't seen. They will be rattled, spook easily if we are uncareful. Send an encrypted ping back, start working back to their fall-back positions, ensure there is no trace of their movements."

Gwain taps a few keys onto the slate as Jorrun spoke, the deep emerald hues dancing over the screen while Gwain's superior waited to see the results.

" I will see to it that the message is sent through the proper channels. And before you ask, no, I haven't seen Korul, not since breaking fast. Anything else, Sire?"

Jorrun chuckles drly with a shake of his head, crossing his arms behind his back "Nothing else Gwain, thank you."

"May the boughs offer you shade on your journey."

With a soft smile and a great deal of practice Jorrun responds to the elden parting words to Gwain. "And may the spring waters offer you relief on your journey."

The Caliban native offers a curt bow of his head, before turning heel and trotting away.

----

"Jorrun! We meet yet again my fellow Vanquisher of the Mechanicum!"

"Lord Commander Malek, I see that you survived that little expedition. You fare well my lord?"

Jorrun does his outmost to not clench his teeth nor glare at the extravagant attire the Son of Xerxes was clad in. The amount of finely woven silk (Jorrun thinks it might not even be Synth-Silk) and gaudy baubels adoring the tall warrior was no doubt eye-wateringly expensive, but it was not all for vanity.

The choice of colors and patterns could herald one's province of birth on Xerxes, the style of rings might suggest a higher status among the hierarchy of nobles, the head scarf folded in a certain manner, even the cut of leather for which the traditional kaftans were made from might tell another Xerxian something about Lord Malek. Yes, The Dark Prince Slannesh adores vanity and pride and beauty it all things, but Malek still felt a need to be clad in his ancestors garb, plus, twas a truly special occasion: Lord Adrian Malek was to meet Jorrun's Master.

*Tenebris Rex.*

"Oh I tell you this, I fare quite well this day. My Warband are well fed, we were welcomed warmly by your fellow Warhost leaders, and I get to meet His Mightyness Tenebris Rex. Oh this has been a great day~"

Jorrun need not be a Psyker to taste the slight against his Master from Lord Malek's words. He knew full well that Malek had only a select few in his eyes as truly worthy of calling someone by their Titles. And Tenebris was maybe not among them.

"Then let us not keep my Master waiting then. Please, this way, His chambers."

Malek made a soft nod with his covered head before padding past Jorrun and the wide bulkhead doors.

The usual noise of a running vessel abruptly quietens when passing the threshold into Tenebris Rex's personal quarters. It's an eerie stillness that He has asked for, and it is unnerving for all who experienced it. Jorrun has grown fairly accustomed to this quiet but it's never truly something you an ever ignore. At first it feels as if the room was unoccupied save for Jorrun and Malek's presence, then they notice the heavy Terminator armor sat to the side of the chamber, surrounded by the flickering candles and fragrance of lit incense.

[Aah, my greetings to you, Son of Xerxes. I do hope that my own Sons have been accommodating to you and your Warband. We are oddities even among the myriad of Excommunicate Traitoris.]

Tenebris' voice seems to simply appear in the air, both emitting from the vox-hailer in the armour and inside Malek's and Jorrun's head.

"They have been warm in their welcome, Lord Tenebris. Though I did sense that a few among them were not subtle in their dislike of our more,, warp-gifted."

[This is to be expected of them, for our tenets see the uncontrolled maledictions and mutations from these so called gifts by The Dark Pantheon as hindrances to what we Astartes could attain by the will of our souls, and the purity of our bones. Those few of us given a link to the Empyrean are the exception, not the norm. I do hope you will be understanding in this, Anusiya?]

Jorrun can sense that His Master is testing, perhaps teasing Lord Malek slightly to try and gauge how he will respond to these words while being a guest aboard Tenebris' ship. Adrian did his outmost not to flinch at the casual drop of his old title he held during his time on Xerxes.

"Strange indeed are your followers, but effective. Lord Jorrun and his cohort were excellent examples of this, showing great skill and control for the whole time. It would be a great day indeed were we to fight side by side again."

It seems that Malek could take the verbal blow with grace, not rising up to the challenge. Malek was still speaking directly at the unmoving Armour, but Jorrun suddenly felt a presence to his left, a familiar presence,,

{And what if you were to fight by My side then, Paszar ol Xurok?}

Adrian Malek's eyes widened before snapping round, reaching for his blade, his eyes flashing with killing intent as the man sought out the origin of this new voice. But he barely touched the hilt of his sword when he froze in motion,, the edge of a simple dagger resting featherlight on the artery of his neck, held by a golden tanned hand.

Adrian's eyes slowly turned up, the giant before him clad in soft colored silks and crimson linens, black carapace ports jutting out from the perfectly toned flesh,, and those golden eyes that has beheld eternity, and never blinked.

"What,, what are you?"

{I, am what Terra will deny the very thought of. I am the greatest weapon to wield that Abbadon or Vashtorr will never claim. I am the Abyssal Royarch that Constantin Valdor created during the darkest hour of the Thunder Warriors.}

Jorrun stood idly by, he too was once at the receiving end of Tenebris' overwhelming presence and the almost blinding light of the man's soul. He had no desire to feel the weight of such wroth, or to try and rescue Malek from his fate.

Adrian Malek's eyes finally beheld the sight before him. As beautiful and terrifying as the Dawn and the Night. Fair as the Sun, the Sea and the Snow upon the Mountains. Dreadful as the Storms and the Lightning that cracks the skies. All would love Him, and Obey.

{I bear the name of Tribune, Companion of the Hetaeron Gaurd, Slayer of Khuresh and Thunder-Breaker of Mount Arreat. I have borne witness to the many faces of Neoth, and lived.}

{I. Am. Gilgamesh.}

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a comic about fix-it fanfics

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The Sound of Music (1965) dir. Robert Wise

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“You need to believe in things that aren’t true. How else can they become” - Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

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Fuckin gottem boys

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I know that Peter’s Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy technically has flaws but also….it doesn’t. It’s perfect.

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Dude… give me the bottle (or when you lost a rhyming contest against the supernatural skeletal horse)

The second art is new and is featuring Mari on her day off — There are more doodles and sketches in my reblogs — I found out about Mari Lwyd several years ago - and I fell in love with the concept. Here are some of my Lwyd arts I drew during all this time My most popular art with her is here

P.S. - don’t forget about the frogs

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A discussion on Freaky Things. Starring @jame7t and @cryptotheism playing Abiotic Factor. Full VOD can be found Here

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so I got into grad school today with my shitty 2.8 gpa and the moral of the story is reblog those good luck posts for the love of god

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catwave 🐱💙

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Literal definition of spyware:

Also From Microsoft’s own FAQ: "Note that Recall does not perform content moderation. It will not hide information such as passwords or financial account numbers. 🤡

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