#[ most mages; safe distances for good casting ]

[coldjustness-archive]

Neve, often times used to fighting by herself in close quarters (alleyways, small streets, small rooms, tight entryways etc.) will get in the middle of the fray of fire as if she herself wields a sword and shield… Abnormal for a mage, yes, but she gets the job done… And yes, still gets her fair share of injuries that she won’t tell you about.

[transandersrights]

Happy Friday! How about 'swimming' for Anders?

(I take prompts! See info here)

Ty for the prompt!! I wrote ~600 words of Anders & Isabela fluff for @dadrunkwriting

“You’re better at this than I expected.” Isabela, even more of a show-off once you got her in the water, flipped onto her back to cast a glance back at the others, still in the shallower waters a way back.

“What, you think mages can’t swim?”

Isabela didn’t need to roll her eyes when she looked at him; though if she had, Anders might have missed the fondness that went along with the exasperation in her expression. “I didn’t say or imply that. I meant that you don’t get out much.”

“It’s a valuable skill,” Anders noted. “I’ve been on my fair share of ships. That and the flooded Deeproads tunnels, the river next to the farm, the huge lake I spent half my life trying to cross… I’ve had some practice.”

He didn’t need to prove his point, but he ducked under the water for a moment anyway, flipping all the way over so only his feet popped out over the surface. Through the muffling of the water, Isabela laughed. Then tugged one of his toes, naturally.

When he surfaced, Isabela pouted at him. “Stop, the others might get ideas.” Anders glanced back at them; they were still on the approach, Hawke egging on a surprisingly reluctant Aveline. He wouldn’t have taken her for a poor swimmer, but maybe it came with the territory of hating fun.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t let anyone drown.” Not that they were in too much danger here, where the currents weren’t half as strong as they were right by the city, but Isabela had promised with all her heart to a hesitant Merrill who’d never swum in the sea before.

“Well, they won’t if they don’t stick their heads under on purpose,” Isabela shot back, darting forward to tug at a damp strand of Anders’ hair. Oops, his tie had come out somewhere. “You think Varric wouldn’t lose all his sense of balance the moment he tried something like that?”

Anders snorted. “Varric wouldn’t even try. He’s too smart for that.” That, and Isabela had banned day drinking for this particular outing. ‘If I’m going to be babysitting you all in the water, I’m not introducing any idiocy,’ or something like that.

Even Hawke-typical antics were as safe as they could get, though — Anders had plenty of experience emptying someone’s lungs of water after the ten-odd cases this year alone of people falling off the docks. It helped Anders feel a little closer to relaxed, knowing that this wasn’t half as dangerous as it could be.

No; it was downright nice, honestly. He hadn’t been entirely on board when Hawke first suggested it, but now he was out in the water, he was glad. It was good to get away sometimes.

By the time the afternoon ended — or even before — he’d tire of the cool feeling of the water against his skin, the half-weightless feeling pressing around him. He’d want to be back in the city, knowing that every moment he was out here was a moment he wasn’t helping the people who needed it most. That was the way of his world, and Anders had long since accepted it.

But he looked to Isabela again, still regarding him with that knowing smile. He looked at his friends — his family, or as close as he’d ever get to that again — fooling around in the distance, getting the break they needed so deeply from all the trials of their day to day lives. Anders could look upon that and smile, knowing that even if he’d accepted his misery, others hadn’t, and sometimes when they opened the window he could climb out after them.

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Grimple

CR 1/3

Chaotic Neutral Tiny Fey

Bestiary 4, pg. 142 (pic from 2e’s Bestiary 3, pg. 120)

These disgusting, lice-infested, anthropomorphic opossum are one of many species of Gremlin, mischievous and often hateful Fey spawned into the world to cause chaos. Like many gremlins they live in the dregs of society, infesting abandoned buildings, sewer lines, garbage dumps, and the like, venturing into greater civilization to sate their physical hungers and their inborn need to destroy and despoil. They’re not quite to the point of killing people, but Grimple certainly like harming and inconveniencing them, with listed crimes such as abusing pets, freeing livestock, throwing rocks at passers-by, picking pockets (+5 Sleight of Hand), loosening signage so it falls on people (or removing it entirely to cause confusion), and loosing their disease-ridden vomit on every surface at every available opportunity. They have Mage Hand and Open/Close available to them 3/day as well as Prestidigitation at will just to enhance their potential pranks and allow them to perform them from a safe distance, because their DR 2/Cold Iron won’t do much to protect their 4 HP from retribution.

They’re nasty customers which make frequent forays into civilization to feast on garbage and waste, disrupting the peace of the locals between meals, and like the rodents they resemble it’s often up to adventurers to exterminate them as part of low-level missions, because the average peasant likely can’t even FIND the vermin once they’ve decided to hide. They can climb at 20ft a round, have a +13 to Stealth, and most uniquely have the ability to stretch out flaps of skin out from their sides to serve as ersatz wings, letting them clumsily glide in a single direction at 20ft/round. They have all the mobility of a squirrel with the intelligence of a human and the malevolence of a human-squirrel hybrid, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as they flee retribution for their misdeeds and sabotage. It’s good if they’re just running, though, because if they’re actually pausing and throwing rocks at you (which deal 1 point of nonlethal damage, same as their bite), it means they’re trying to bait you into following them.

Whether it’s a patch of Grease on a flight of stairs (which they can cast 3/day), a tripwire placed in front of a pile of horse manure, the gremlin flinging open the door that was hiding some incredibly dangerous and hostile monster, chasing a Grimple is bound to end in pain. It’s a humiliating and often humbling experience for any beginner adventurer who thinks to themselves “it’s just gremlins, it shouldn’t be that hard, even for me!” For a DM, the Grimple make good critters to send players after to teach them the folly of underestimating a creature that’s as intelligent as a human but which has supernatural powers and movement modes a human needs tools to match, without the threat of death lurking around. About the most dangerous thing they can do is, once every 1d4 rounds, spew a disgusting technicolor yawn in a 30ft line, potentially nauseating everyone in the area that fails a DC 11 Fortitude save for 1d4 rounds. Distracting, upsetting, and disorienting, but not dangerous unless there’s other monsters nearby.

That being said, whether you end up cracking your head on the sidewalk from the Grease or if, to your dismay, there’s enough Grimple present to knock your poor ass out with their rocks (and there typically is, since gremlins as a rule are rarely ever alone), you can bet you’re going to wake up A) without your belongings, B) smeared with unspeakable substances and likely with a case of Filth Fever, C) with everything they left you with stained via Prestidigitation or any garbage they have on hand, and D) with an infestation of unpleasant Gremlin Lice. These nasty parasites thankfully can’t survive on non-gremlin hosts for more than 24 hours, but ANY contact with the Grimple--no matter how brief--causes the irritating infestation to spread, inflicting a -1 penalty to concentration and initiative checks as the itch distracts the victim. Thankfully, a bath cleans off not only whatever substances the gremlins may have smeared you with, but their lice as well.

Still, if the adventurer wasn’t motivated to get a cold iron dagger before, they likely will be after that.

You can read more about them here.

[annoyed-galaxy]

Fictober 2024 ~ 8

"are we happy?"

Fanfiction: Dragon Age 2 I was happy to see this prompt because it meant I could write some good ole angst. Hawke and Anders mean a lot to me and I think their relationship has so much to it, especially if they're both men doomed to live short lives and die young. Can also be found on Ao3

The events at Kirkwall left a mark on his soul. There was a guilt that he would never be able to wash away. 

He lived, solely because of the mercy of his lover, someone who loved him more than he ever deserved. But what did it cost?

After the death of Orsino and death of Meredith, they fled. For all of the Champion of Kirkwall’s friends, Kirkwall was no longer safe to call home. It would take time before the city could be rebuilt and the rebellion that started from within would shake the rest of the world to its very core. 

As they fled through the city, Seth stopped by his mansion. He packed things in a lightning blur, grabbing almost all the coin he had and handing bags of it to each of his friends. Everyone was silent. No one could say any words for the horrors they had just experienced were too much. 

That, and he was still standing. 

The rest of the crew stood a healthy distance away from Anders, none of them looking at him. He didn’t care anymore. He was numb. The fight had drained him of everything he had left in him. With quick farewells and leaving a note to Varric, instructions on what to do with the house when the dwarf eventually returned to the city, Seth grabbed Anders’s arm and left. 

Anders couldn’t tell if Seth had been furious with him or if Seth just wanted to get him somewhere safe, knowing the danger he was in now as the murderer of a Grand Cleric. He hadn’t looked him in the face ever since his life was spared. He knew Seth had to hurt. He was forced to abandon his friends and home.

No, that wasn’t right…

Seth chose to run with Anders. Confessed that he would gladly be a fugitive by Anders’s side if it meant staying with him. Anders didn’t believe it. 

As he was dragged by the champion, Anders had a feeling that he was full of rage and hate. He couldn’t see the man’s face and his fear told him the worst. The sky was still lit up with a red aurora from the explosion of the chantry. It cast a beautifully grim light on their escape off into the sunset. 

That had been a month ago. 

Now, Anders watched as Seth set up their tent, laying out the bedroll they shared and propping up the tent fabric on its poles. Seth still had so much money it was a surprise they hadn’t been robbed yet. Then again, both of them were extremely powerful mages that could handle a bunch of highwaymen if it came to it. Seth’s fortune was the only reason they weren’t miserable. He spent good money on a high-quality tent and would often go into towns to restock on non-perishable foods. There would be a future where they would run out of that fortune, but that would be a worry for later. 

Anders’s eyes drifted to the flames in the newly born campfire, watching each color dance against each other. The warmth licked his face, but could not reach into the depths of his soul. He felt so cold and bitter inside. It was as if there was a gaping hole in his chest and nothing could fill. It was a gaping hole he had made, but it was there regardless. Not even the warmth and love from Seth could fill it. He still felt miserable. 

Since they fled Kirkwall, Anders’s became a man of few words. He simply followed Seth wherever he took them and rarely spoke expect in hushed whispers on few passionate nights with his lover. Most of the time, he just felt if he spoke, he would regret it. There was nothing he could begin to say that would make things better. How Seth was still with him was a surprise. 

“There!” Seth clapped his hands as he finished setting up the tent. Anders’s looked up and his eyes widened slightly as the extravagant tent, nice and insulated to keep them warm through the approaching winter nights. “That took longer than expected,” Seth admitted as he went to sit next to Anders. “But we’ll be nice and cozy tonight.” He smiled and leaned on Anders. 

The mage let out a shaky breath and rested his head on Seth’s, closing his eyes and enjoying the presence of a man who should have been his. Anders will never understand why Seth chose to let him live. Why Seth ran away with him. He didn’t deserve this. 

“Ahem, I need to do my treatment,” Seth spoke up after a moment of silence, pushing himself off Anders. Anders silently nodded. 

Seth positioned himself in front of Anders and unsheathed a dagger from his boot. He grabbed Anders’s hand, so gently and place it in his lap. They had gotten used to this nightly ritual at Anders’s insistence. Seth needed to perform this ritual once every week, otherwise his condition would worsen and he would be close to death. It was one of the things Anders had said he would love to do with Seth: find a cure to Seth’s condition. But Anders hadn’t actually believed he would have lived long enough to help. All he could offer now was his blood. 

Anders didn’t even wince anymore as Seth sliced his open. The pain had become expected and, in a way, pleasant. Especially now. Anders felt like he deserved to be cut open like this. He should have died. 

Seth’s hand hovered about Anders’s wound and with release of breath, Seth’s eyes began to glow red. Anders’s blood began to rise up from the wound and swirl up to Seth’s hand and around his arm and chest before turning into sharp points and piercing his chest, going straight into the heart. The blood flowed like this for about a minute for Seth flexed his hand out, dropping the spell and his eyes rolling back as he let out a sigh of relief. The last of the blood entered his body and his eyes stopped glowing. He smiled, feeling better, but the smile immediately dropped when he noticed Anders just staring ahead, not healing his hand.

“Anders?” Seth asked, putting a hand on Anders’s cheek. 

The Grey Warden blinked and looked at Seth. “Hm?” 

“Your hand…aren’t you going to heal it?” 

Anders looked down at the now bleeding wound and stared at the crimson that flowed out. He watched as the blood spilled on the ground. There was so much more blood on his hands that no one else could see. All the people he killed both directly and indirectly. How many mages were killed after his explosion of the Chantry? He shook the world, but Seth had been right. He might have just turned everyone against mages now. His own people hated him now. He had no one. 

Except the one stubborn man who was still here for some Maker-damned reason. 

Anders didn’t heal his hand, just letting the blood drip and looked up at Seth. “Are we happy?” he asked, his voice quiet and hoarse from the lack of use. It was the first time he spoke all day. 

“What do you mean?” Seth asked, placing his hand over Anders’s to try and stop the bleeding. 

Anders didn’t move his hand. “Is this what you wanted?” 

Seth look incredulously at the other man. “What?”

“Did you want to be on the run with me? A monster. A murderer. A villain.” Anders squeezed his hand, digging his fingernails into the wound. The pain felt good. Sharp and hot jolting through his arm, twitching a nerve right behind his eye. A tear threatened to form. 

Seth desperately pulled Anders’s fingernails out of his wound and then began to try to cast his own lousy healing spell. The coolness of Seth’s magic replaced the hot, burning sensation of the pain that was there a moment ago. “You’re not a monster, Anders,” Seth replied sadly, his eyes looking down at where their hands were. Anders saw it. The flicker of pain on Seth’s face. 

Anders was hurting him. “You should have killed me. You lost everything when you spared me.” 

“I would have lost everything if I killed you,” Seth argued, still looking down. There were tears in Seth’s eyes. “I love you Anders. More than you will ever know and definitely more than you will ever accept.” Seth looked up into Anders’s eyes, passion blazing in those crimson red eyes. “I need you in my life. I don’t care what you think you are and what other people think of you, you’re all I have left. The only other person who knows what it’s like.” Seth looked back down, lips trembling as he finished his healing spell. 

The wound was sealed, but blood was still decorating both of their hands now. Seth waved his hand and absorbed the rest, deciding to not let good blood go to waste. 

Anders already missed the pain. 

“You don’t need me,” he whispered, staring straight ahead again. He wished for Seth to lash out at him. Yell at him, punch him, slit his throat, anything but this. 

Seth grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. “I don’t care what you think! I know what I need and you are what I need. If that makes me a monster, then so be it. At least we’re monsters together!” 

Anders’s mouth opened to retaliate once more, but Seth closed it with his lips. The kiss was so passionate and full of emotion that Anders’s emotionless state broke and the tears fell free. He couldn’t resist. 

His arms came up to wrap around Seth and pull him closer, deepening their kiss. Maker he didn’t deserve this. What had he done to be so lucky? He should have been dead, left on the dirty ground of Lowtown with a slit throat. He should have been dead in the Gallows with a templar sword in his back. He should have been dead long ago when he accepted a spirit into his body, becoming an abomination. 

Justice had been quiet ever since the explosion. Did guilt drive him away for a while too? 

Seth pulled back from their kiss and now both men had tears all over their face. Seth brushed a loose strand of hair behind Anders’s ear and smiled softly. “I love you Anders. Nothing could make that untrue.” 

Anders wanted to retaliate, but he was tired. So, so tired. He wanted to be happy, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he should be dead instead. 

He would never understand why Seth did what he did, but he was thankful. He didn’t know how much longer he had left in his life between being wanted for murder, having a spirit inside him, and being a Grey Warden. His life was destined to end short.

Then again, so was Seth’s if they never found a cure. It was something Seth had admitted to Anders a few months after he revealed the condition shortly after his mother’s death. Seth had always expected to die from his condition. He knew he was one stop away from death and that if anyone discovered what he did to make sure he lived, they would kill him. Or he would simply die because he couldn’t treat himself. It had made sense when he told it to Anders. 

Almost as if reading Anders’s drifting thoughts, Seth pulled their foreheads together. “I’d rather have a short life with you, than a long life without,” Seth whispered, his voice revealing some of his lost femininity in its softness. 

It was a parallel to what Anders had told him in the Gallows. I would rather be on the run with you than safe with anyone else. Anders relinquished and let his shoulders fall and body relax. 

He allowed himself to accept this moment. Doubt still lingered, but he couldn’t leave Seth. He never wanted to. He didn’t want to think about a world where he wasn’t with Seth. 

“I do too,” Anders finally responded. He moved so that he could kiss Seth once more. 

Even against all the thoughts in his head, he knew he would never be alone. Seth would always be here with him until the day they died. 

[cagemasterfantasy]

Arcane Trickster Ranking (5e)

Guide

1=useless

2=often useful

3=sometimes useful

4=perfect

Spellcasting 4 Arcane Tricksters defining feature. You’re limited almost exclusively to Enchantment and Illusion spells for your leveled spells but both of those schools work very well for Arcane Tricksters. When selecting spells remember that Sneak Attack requires Dexterity-based weapon attacks so you can’t apply it to spell attacks. Instead you’ll generally rely on spells like Booming Blade and Shadow Blade

Mage Hand Legerdemain 3 controlling the hand as a bonus action means that you can pick locks and pick pockets while you’re doing other things like fighting or casting other spells and since the hand is invisible you can send it off to do those things unnoticed while you and your allies are busy hiding fighting carousing or whatever else you do with your day

Magical Ambush 4 since your spell DC likely won’t be as good as that of a dedicated spellcaster this can really do a lot to improve the reliability of your spells. I’m still nervous to recommend spells which require saving throws as a go-to option for Arcane Trickster but mathematically it makes sense. Disadvantage works out to slightly more than a -3 penalty so if your Intelligence is 14 or higher your spells can be roughly as reliable as those of a Wizard with 20 Intelligence

Versatile Trickster 2 Advantage allows you to Sneak Attack the target which is primary appeal of Versatile Trickster. However it has some problematic limitations due to the limitations of Mage Hand. Mage Hand takes an action to cast and with a 1-minute duration you’re likely going to do that in combat or while at a safe distance before rushing to move the hand into wherever you’re expecting a fight. This could be neatly solved by allowing Arcane Trickster to cast Mage Hand as a Bonus Action but that’s not the world we live in and a feat or class dip to get Quickened Spell is too expensive to justify. Once your Mage Hand is up you need to keep the hand in range of your target. You can use Cunning Action to move the hand thanks to Mage Hand Legerdemain and enemies won’t know that you’re doing so since the hand is invisible. However this means not using Cunning Action Steady Aim or two-weapon fighting and you also can’t activate the Advantage effect the same turn. If your enemy moves even slightly they’ll be out of range of your hand and you’ll be forced to move it again. In effect your Bonus Action is monopolized by having your hand chase enemies around so that you can sometimes get Advantage. And that’s to say nothing of the Mage Hand disappearing if it’s ever more than 30 feet away from you. At best this is redundant with the Steady Aim class feature and since most Rogues only make 1 attack per turn they have the same benefit. You could use Versatile Trickster with spell attacks like Scorching Ray but hitting with Sneak Attack is less expensive and deals comparable damage so that’s generally a bad combination. You’re much more likely to use your hand to get Advantage before attacking when you can’t be invisible or hidden for whatever reason and if your DM doesn’t allow you to use Steady Aim

Spell Thief 2 the obvious use is to steal spells from enemy spellcasters but in a game when you might go several levels without seeing a spellcaster a better option may be to “steal” spells from your party’s other spellcasters. Unfortunately this is difficult since they’re unlikely to fail the save and it robs your ally of their known/prepared spell for 8 hours so while it’s a more reliable source it’s also very difficult and costly

Final Ranking 4 Arcane Trickster brings magic to Rogue. Enchantment and Illusion spells both offer fantastic options giving Arcane Trickster powerful options utility and trickery but also bringing powerful offensive magic options. Because it’s the only Rogue subclass with a spell list (or with any decision points made after level 3) Arcane Trickster is the most complex Rogue subclass to build and in many ways it’s also the most complex to play because you have so many options to consider in any given situation. I don’t recommend Arcane Trickster for new players but managing Arcane Trickster’s spellcasting is not nearly as complex as that of a full spellcaster like Sorcerer or Wizard so Arcane Trickster may be a good stepping stone if you’re nervous about playing a spellcaster

[sillovain]

Adventures of Solis - Chapter 11: Ultimate Showdown(s)

Adventures of Solis - Chapter Index Written between RL 102 +20 and 131 +25 End-game and optional bosses

Malenia, Blade of Miquella - A patience battle about choosing openings. Pretty much the opposite of Fire Giant, in that bursting with weapon arts over main moveset is the winning play.

Solis has quite poor damage and so you cannot win damage trades with her.

Projectile dodge means that most spells should not be used.

Many of the lunge/thrust weapon arts do not have hyper armour or good aim. Malenia's 'common' attacks often have side-movement and are fast - trying to aggresively swing into her will almost always fail to due to above.

On the flip side, 2 uses of Glintblade Phalanx will completely break her stance in neutral state. Do note that Malenia has hyper armour during any of her moves - if the Glintblades hit her mid swing; they will not count. Additionally, the blades can miss due to terrain.

In general...

Only use your 'all-in' moves (main-hand weapon art, Glintblades etc.) after she commits to a big lunge/grabs.

This is the one fight where you should actually count the enemy poise. Hits against her mid-action will not count toward stance break.

Balance your spacing from her. Malenia's crit window is small, so dont stand too far. On the flip side, Solis is stamina intensive - so you don't want to be too close and with no stam - incase of Waterfowl etc.

Her spell dodge reacts when a skill is used, and not when it fires at her. You can use Glintblades to 'bait' an empty action out of her.

Dragonlord Placidusax - Another 'wall fight', huge hp with elemental and status resist. Similar to Fire Giant in that spells will barely harm it, just slowly and methodically chip with a weapon.

Placidusax can be stance broken quite easily, and the crit window is *very generous* - that said, the boss has such high magic resist that criticals dont even deal that much damage.

Gideon Ofnir - cant really 'out-mage' this guy, just draw your weapon of choice and beat him down.

Godfrey - Another surprise pushover fight. Then again - Godfrey is the ultimate 'bigger than average dude'. Here, I adopted the same approach as Morgott - and despite slipping up many, many times, he still fell over easily.

IMO, just throw anything at him - it just works

Radagon - Similar to Malenia; trim down your moveset. Radagon has a very aggresive spell parry and moves in a 'slippery' manner, none of our spells are good here - save for Glintblade.

In general, prepare Glintblades and run away from him until you see his hand drop back to a neutral pose before you engage.

Most of his moves are easier to roll forward/through as opposed to away.

Dismounter moveset is very good here - wide sweeps + momentum to keep hits going after you roll through his moves.

Elden Beast - The Dismounter + Glintstone Pebble 2 part combo is your main damage move here. Spam Glintblades and swiftshard to chip poise.

The critical window is *very generous* on this boss. You can easily Glintstone Pebble combo and still have time to draw your dagger and crit.

Magic weapon infusion is an option due to status immunity. Basically - Frost in you want to burst Radagon. Magic for better damage vs Elden Beast.

Mohg, Lord of Blood - 2 main points - watch your distance, roll through not away.

Mohg's attack range/timings are very good at catching mid spellcast. You have to simply feel out the range at which various spells are safe to use at.

In phase 1, his 'countdown' ability is the biggest window for casting

You can switch back to Flamberge + Impaling Thrust. The bleed status and fast thrust are advantaged here.

As per usual - remember to Swiftshard chip.

Mohg is very tough in poise and hp, we dont have any means of burst damage - this will be a slow brawl.

Adventures of Solis

Chapter Index

Next | Previous | Beginning

[jeeperso]

D&D Quotes Without Context

Ravenloft Edition, Har-Akir Arc FINAL

“They. Let’s not misgender the horrible person I plan on burning alive.”

“At least tell them you’re the only one there because you didn’t trust us not to immediately open fire. Which, I will point out, is true.”

“Standard double boss raid tactics.”

"Our real challenge will be to locate their ring though. Didn’t they say they placed it in a hidden location?” “Ask your nerd god?”

"I've got a second broom in the hole, if anyone needs it.”

"Alright... Jonni, Marshall, and Gorbash. Come here, and I'll ask for Ioun to watch over you.” “I will try not to flash the Girls during that time. Try.”

It’s about noon, there is not a cloud in the sky, the sun is beating down. Everyone in the caravan has gone into the city to avoid the fight. Azathoth: "Wee-o-wee-woo...wa wa wa.....wee-o-wee-woo....wa WA…."

However, a barge approaches on the river bank, upon it on a throne sits a mummy in ornate gold. A crier on the skiff opens a scroll "This most supreme authority Lord Ankhtepot has been invited by the Necromancer Nima Galzona to observe their latest creation, the Sunbleacher undead. Feel free to ignore us and continue with the fight.”

Nyarlathotep: "Nima is an egg-laying mammal?”

“Oloch’s been eating his Wheeties. Somehow.”

“Also, Nima? I fucked your boots.”

Oloch: ”If the pyromancer agrees to abandon their efreeti lover to her current fate, and leave the Domains of Dread without her, then I will agree.” Jonni: “Sure.” Nima blinks. "Wow really?” Jonni: “Yup. Pinkie swear.” Marshal: "Jonni, there can be no falsehood. The Master and I WILL hold you to this vow.” Jonni: “Oh, we’ll then, fuck that.” Hex and Eldritch Blast on Nima.

You slice "Nima": to pieces, their head lands at your feet. Then its eyes open and smiles. "Get ready for a surprise!” Gorbash: “And cue the magical bullshit.”

Gorbash: “I didn't realize this was a full on asshole convention.” Jonni: “So, was that Oloch or did they fuse into a whole new asshole?” Gorbash: “I think Nima shoved an asshole into another asshole to make a Bigger asshole. And I feel dirty for having spoken those words.” Nyarlathotep: "Tha's a BIG asshole.” Marshal: "So which dispenses the ranch dressing?” "Stop saying asshole." One of the Nima says. Gorbash: “I will if you all stop being Assholes!”

“I got a shitty plan to find real Nima unless someone has a good plan?”

Three Stooges Nimas.

I should note something, after Oloch removed his cloak, the air around him feels different, dryer and hotter. The sunlight seems harsher. OOC: Does that mean fire type moves do more damage?

"Eddie, Jonni can't die. That's a rule!”

Jonni: “Guys, stupid hope to find real Nima or deal with exploding orc?” Poom: "Always exploding first!”

Anhktepot doesn't want this to play by Don King rules.

"Oh no, Oloch is using Solar Flare!”

"BURNING DEATH!” “I said the same thing to Vesh on our Anniversary.”

OSP: “I didn’t ask if my friend was out of range, I said I cast Fireball.”

“Instant gratification is bullshit. The best revenge is knowing your enemy is miserable.”

“I’m talking about an oath sworn to a major league fucking god! Do you think I want the consequences of that?” "Considering how stupid you are, yeah.”

OOC: Anybody else wanna get Yul Brynnar in play on our side?

Poom teleports to a safe distance. Like Goth Mexico.

Nima: ”Also FYI, me and Hazlik can see and hear you through the magic items we gave you.” Jonni: “I mean, I assumed they could. It’s why I kept using the rod for sexy times.” Nima: "And people think I'm a freak.”

"Darn, wish we had a cantrip to conjure up some popcorn for this.” "Admire later: we're still in the splash zone", Marshal says as he swerves to avoid a meteor.

"I've never trusted cashews.”

"I mean we're both petty, power-mad slut-mages who solve all our problem with dark magic.”

“By the way, books just a copy of the Kama Sutra I shoved in an overdue library book. Left the real one in hell.” “Huh. Wow those are some pictures.” “Yeah, this one is from the dimension where Picasso got freaky.”

Gorbash follows: Poom always knows the best escape routes.

“So… let your mom know, I just finished one blood feud, I’ve got room in my schedule for a new one.”

Irost comes running, wearing a mask and his viol from the city. "Can't talk. Priests are angry. Gotta go.”

Jonni: “Well. Looks like we’re on the road again. Next stop, killing some bitch.” Poom: "New stop, same as the old stop.”

OOC: BRB, if I seem quiet for a few minutes here and there it’s because my body has decided to stop retaining water.

OOC: I just had unexpected dogs in my apartment. OOC2: ...That is either a problem or the opposite of a problem.

OOC: I mean, Hades won't argue being an asshole.

“I DONT EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND YOUR FACIAL HAIR IS AMAZING!”

OOC: Now he knows all Nima has to do is say "Parmesian" and he will be their personal fight doll.

OOC: Considering our next stop, this:

OOC: I mean, not like the hell-child's gonna be any LESS deadly... Irost: “I'll get the elf outfits ready.”

OOC: Yeah, that necrosplosion almost wiped us.

OOC: ….Those Nimas were Saibamen.

OOC: Or we can mail ourselves somewhere, and rest while we are in transit.

OOC: Itty. Bitty. Living space. OOC2: Comes with the phenomenal cosmic power.

OOC: Speaking of next time, you guys are going to the cornfield.

[sylvanas-girlkisser]

Don’t be sorry at all for the slow response to the League question! Your answer was very helpful. A breakdown of all the character archetypes would be excellent if you’re happy to do that also!

Oh boy okay, strap in cause this might get complicated real quick.

So a team in league consists of 5 players spread across 3 lanes, each one with a distinct set of responsibilities, and different archetypes will tend to do better or worse in different positions. This will become important later, first the 6 roles:

- Marksmen (like Jinx and Caitlyn) tend to rely on their normal attacks to deal damage, and can attack at pretty long range, but as a drawback they're basically made of wet tissue paper.

- Bruisers (like Vi) fight pretty much like Vi does in Arcane, they get up close and personal and then THEY JUST KEEP GOING (seriously once someone like Vi starts throwing hands she's nearly unkillable)

- Tanks (like Singed surprisingly) are the opposite of marksmen, hard to kill, hit like a pool noodle. Their job is basically to be in the way and protect their squishier team mates. Most tanks also have some sort of "engage" ability to help start a fight on their premise.

- Mages (like Viktor, spoiler alert) Are similar to Marksmen in that they have high damage and low health, however they rely on casting spells rather than just attacking, to deal danage.

- Enchanters (like mommy Renata Glasc) tend to focus on casting spells. Unlike mages, who use their abilities to blow the enemy to bits, supports use them to empower their allies and disrupt their enemies.

- Lastly, Assassins (like Ekko) are very mobile and deal lots of damage up close. As the name implies they specialize in slipping past their enemy's defenses (I.e. bruisers, tanks and support) to get to high damage-low health targets (I.e. marksmen and mages).

With me so far? Great so, besides a character's role, which tend to be pretty immutable (with some exceptions like Jayce), each character will also need to be played in a position on the map. Which character goes to what position is really more a matter of convention, and some players love nothing more than finding unconventional ways to play their faves.

- Top-Laners go in the top lane (I.e. the lane up and to the left as you're leaving your base). They tend to be left pretty well alone for most of the match, except for the opposing top, so usually you go with someone who isn't reliant on teammates to be safe/win fights (usually bruisers and tanks). Characters who can quickly cross long distances are also popular in the top lane to allow them to come help their team without needing to schlep it halfway across the world.

- Bot-laners go in the bottom lane (down and right from your base, for reasons I'll cover later they're usually accompanied by the team's support. As such you usually pick someone who does rely on teammates to excel - 9 times out of 10, that means a marksman who needs someone to protect them so they don't get knocked over by a stiff breeze.

- Supports go in the bottom lane along with the well, bot-laner. If it feels like there's a hierarchy here that's because there is. The support is mainly there to help their team excel, it's basically domme-ing for gamers. You almost always pick either and enchanter or tank for this role, to maximize your bot's safety while they kill the entire enemy team.

- Mid-laners I'm sure you by now have figured out where goes. Because of reasons the middle lane is usually the one where people is most likely to be killed, so basically you pick someone who is very good at getting kills (meaning assassins and mages).

- Junglers are the ones I find tend to most confuse new players. In between the lanes there's a jungle, inside said jungle there are monsters, these monsters give neat stuff when killed. The team's jungler is responsible for travelling around that jungle hunting down neutral monsters for stuff and try to tilt the balance of each of the lanes in their team's favor. As such junglers are usually picked for one of two reasons: their ability to quickly clear monster camps, or their ability to show up in a lane and fuck shit up.

The reason why you send two players to the bottom lane is specifically in order to help out the jungler. You see halfway between the mid and bottom is where a dragon will occasionally spawn, killing said dragon will give your team a permanent bonus depending on the type of dragon; these bonuses can be absolutely game winning if you get a few of them, so you want as many people to have easy access to the dragon as possible (I.e. two from bottom, one from mid, one from jungle).

I really hope some of this made sense, if you do decide to play and want to know which position a certain character is good in, op.gg has a feature that will show you what characters are popular in what role ❤

[beautifulterriblequeen]

A Tiadrin theory

I woke up this morning with a sudden headcanon about Tiadrin, and as I poked at it, it filled out nicely, so I’m gonna go ahead and call it a theory at this point.

It gets angsty, as all good Moonshadow theories do. If your heart doesn’t weigh 6 tons by the time you reach the end of this post, I didn’t capture the feeling properly.

Several bits of detail flutter around this mysterious woman, and I’ve theorized various versions of her circumstances, her relationship with Runaan and Ethari, her former position before the Storm Spire, the reasons she went there, and the reasons Runaan was so hellbent on avenging her dishonor.

I don’t think any of them landed as well or tied together as neatly as this one, though. Hence “theory” instead of just “headcanon.” Here we go:

FIrstly, some meta information. This is a fun tweet, but in this post I’m looking directly at “belief systems as sources of both comfort and restraint” and at the “weight of guilt” and “cycles of trauma” lines, in regards to Moonshadow culture, and specifically Moonshadow assassin training.

And raise your hand if you’ve been looking further afield than the front-and-center Janaya-with-Soren nod from “ripped women who teach soft boys to stab,” because I have. TDP is full of parallels and imperfect mirrors.

So, in the spirit of soft yet angsty cycles and the ripped women who perpetuate them, Theory Part I: Tiadrin trained Runaan, because she was the leader of the assassins before he was.

She’s referred to as a mastermind. Assassin leaders need to be good with plans of all sizes. We’ve seen how Runaan silently adapts to chaos and doesn’t tell anyone what his new plans actually are. He’s a good leader. But he also had to learn those skills from someone. Whoever instructed him was a tactical genius, and also very Moonshadow, and Runaan was an adept student.

Also, Tiadrin is a goddamn badass. She’s several inches shorter than Lain, Runaan, Ethari, and Viren. But she is a powerhouse in battle. She knows her physics well enough to drag this 6′2″ human battle mage skidding across the floor. Monster thighs, monster intellect.

As a 5′4″ woman who trained in jujitsu for several years, let me just say: gender equality in battle is great, but physics does not care. It will crush your popsicle-stick ass if you try to chuck a 250 lb person across the room and your math is off. The most accurate fighters are the ones who know how hard physics hits back when you’re sloppy.

Tiadrin earned every inch of respect, and every inch of her thigh circumference, the old-fashioned way. She worked for it, all day every day. Runaan does the same thing. He might have half a foot of height on her, but he trains like the world will crush him if he’s not perfect. And that’s very Moonshadow assassin in its own right, because it will, and it tried. Tiadrin knew what she needed. And she knew what Runaan, soft boy that he is, needed. And she made sure she trained it into him, all day every day.

Tiadrin is one of the reasons that Runaan survived the fight in Harrow’s chamber. She made him the fighter he is, the person he is, and that was just enough to pull him through... so he could see his own mentor trapped in a coin. Yay, thanks Viren.

Theory Part II: Runaan’s squad was made up of all the elves Tiadrin has personally trained, or trained by proxy.

If Tiadrin was Runaan’s trainer and mentor, then her honor was his honor. And when she supposedly faltered and fled at the Storm Spire, that suddenly cast him, as an individual assassin and as the current assassin leader, in a terrible light. If his mentor was a coward, what did she teach him? Would he also duck and run when things got hopeless, and abandon his duty?

The doubt that must’ve swirled around him when the village learned the terrible news about Lain and Tiadrin must’ve sliced right through him. Thousand-yard stare, biggest internal Oh No ever. Runaan lives to serve his people, and to have them doubt him, after all he has done to train them and protect them from harm, would be the worst kind of pain. He had to make it right.

But not just him. Assassins seem to take solo missions even for their first kill, if Eljaal’s covered shoulders are any indication. You can Moonshadow your feels if you don’t have to watch your friend kill someone, if you don’t have anyone watching while you stab someone to death. You can pretend it’s all serene and just and smooth and valid and honorable. You can hold to your love of life and dance right past your embrace of death, if no one else sees it. But Runaan’s mission had 6 members. They were definitely going to have to watch each other murder people. Why?

Tiadrin’s honor was their honor. An extended family of brothers, sisters, cousins, fosterlings, anyone who was drawn to Tiadrin, or her to them, bonded together over their family feels and protective instincts. They were family. And then their leader fell, her honor crushed.

They had to make it right.

They all carried Tiadrin’s honor with their own, taught by her personally, regarded as honorable assassins. Until she seemed to have a fatal flaw in her character. Then everyone wondered if that flaw got passed down, too. The assassins had to prove that it hadn’t been, for the sake of their people, and for all of Xadia who trusted them to take out threats in the dark. They had to go set right Tiadrin’s “mistake” and take Harrow for Zym’s death. All of them. Every single one, no exceptions.

No exceptions. That’s why Rayla had to go, too. Tiadrin taught Runaan everything he knew about being an assassin, and when she moved to the Storm Spire, Runaan dutifully passed Rayla’s mother’s teachings to Rayla herself, feeling like part of the family, an essential connection between mother and daughter, between assassin mentor and mentee. He tried to get it just right, just perfect, so Rayla would feel like she’d been trained by her actual mom as much as possible. Not just because Tiadrin was Rayla’s mother, but because Runaan respects Tiadrin’s prowess so much. She was the best, and every bit of Runaan’s efforts to be his best reflects his respect for her.

You don’t get to be the assassin leader unless you’re the best there is. Runaan knows that from both sides. And just like Tiadrin did with him, he does his best to teach Rayla everything she needs to stay safe and alive, so she can do her duty too, and come home safe to her family every day.

And, in the end, part of that duty had to be avenging her mentor’s mentor, her own mother, by accompanying Runaan on his mission. Her lessons were from Tiadrin, one step removed. If there was a flaw in her training, no one would trust her when it was her turn to lead the assassins, and she’s not even done training yet! Rayla understood Moonshadow honor, assassin honor. She was driven to ask Runaan to take her with him, and he could see exactly where she was coming from. Their honor was tangled up with Tiadrin’s. They couldn’t back out. They had to go to Katolis, them and everyone else Tiadrin had trained.

That’s why the binding ribbons came out. They were in a do-or-die situation, in the most literal sense.

They could not go home in failure. If they all failed, it would take out a whole line of assassin training, possibly the same one that had lasted for countless generations (okay maybe we can count them and there are like 30) and crush the Moonshadows’ spirits. And they’d literally rather die than see that happen. They were all ready to give their lives to restore Tiadrin’s honor, and their own, because without her legacy, there would be such a crater in the assassin corps that it might never recover.

Yes, this is basically my angsty “Runaan’s found family went into battle together and most of them died” headcanon again, but this time with a solid theory behind it. I’m not sorry. I love this angsty idea, it’s horrible. Do you see the cycle of trauma? I’ve got one more part to add, which may make it clearer.

Theory Part III: Assassin leaders always go serve at the Storm Spire once they successfully train their own replacement.

In this theory’s version of Why Laindrin Went To The Storm Spire, Tiadrin was always going to end up at the Storm Spire, once she became the assassin leader. That’s where the veteran assassin leader goes, see, to liaison between the dragon throne and the current Moonshadow leader. They know the assassins’ skills far better than any Skywings or dragons do, and they know the leader in charge of them, so they can give guidance or direction as needed, or simply phrase the Dragon King or Queen’s request in such language that the assassin leader knows intuitively what really needs to be done.

Yeah, Tiadrin writing Runaan mission directives. I can see it.

Tiadrin’s mentor would’ve left for the Spire when Tiadrin got promoted to leader. The person she trusted most in the world, who had trained her, left her behind, only to communicate by long distance. Moonshadow deniability, amirite--we’re not stabbing people, we’re sending tactical correspondence, yep that’s it. But Tiadrin was still surrounded by Runaan and the other young assassins, and she bonded with them all, and life was bright.

Then, the shadow came once again. Runaan was an excellent student, and she knew he was ready. Maybe she delayed, and delayed, Moonshadowing her reasons. Maybe she wanted the chance to bring life into the world, to try to balance out some of the death she had dealt. Maybe she wanted a few more years of domestic life in the Silvergrove with all her favorite elves, to bolster her heart for the years to come. Maybe her mentor at the Spire was up to shenaniganry in dragon politics and she wanted to buy them more time to lay those plans in place.

Knowing Tiadrin even the slightest bit, I will assume it was all this and more. But eventually, she couldn’t put things off any longer. She had to go fulfill her duty to the dragon throne and join the Dragonguard as the representative of the Moonshadow assassins who had bound themselves to the protection of Xadia long ago. She had to walk away from her bright life, her family, her friends, her allies, and climb up into that misty stone tower, to spend who knows how long away from everything she knew and loved.

And she did. She chose to walk away, for love of Xadia. She took her beloved husband with her, but she left the Silvergrove, Xadia’s protection, and her own daughter’s upbringing in the hands of the elf she chose to replace her. The soft boy she’d taught to stab, who would teach her baby girl to stab, too.

Because this is The Way.

I know I’ve had an angsty headcanon that assassins don’t retire. But, consider this: maybe one of them can. One of Tiadrin’s many plans could have been counting on Runaan’s extreme prowess and devotion to Rayla. If Tiadrin knew that she could return to the Silvergrove in peace and retire there with Lain once Runaan trained Rayla to take his place as the assassin leader, then she could live in the Silvergrove again for the rest of her life, and also get to see Rayla grown big and strong and become the assassin leader herself, another proud elf in a long line of honor and tradition. She might feel that was a big accomplishment, considering the dangers they all face. And it would be.

Yes, this would hinge on the fact that Runaan would have to leave the Silvergrove to replace Tiadrin at the Storm Spire, to serve as Rayla’s liaison to the dragon throne. Cycles of trauma, remember? Tiadrin can’t have all of her family back in one place, ever again. She has to love and train someone enough to put them through the life that she’s having to live, and she has to be strong enough not to let that break her. And then, she has to choose between them. She chose Runaan first, so that she could hope to choose Rayla later. She trusted him with all the future happiness of her heart. And he did his best with it.

But they didn’t quite make it, in the end, because of Viren.

I know this has been a lot of angst. I know. But there is a moonlit lining to this theory, and I think we all need to consider it. If there is a cycle of taking the assassin leader out of the Silvergrove to serve the dragon throne for ancient promise reasons, then if that ancient promise is ever rescinded or redressed in an effective way, the family won’t need to keep yeeting loved ones out of its orbit. And if assassins cease to be a necessary evil as a result, then no one will have to leave, or stab, again. At least, not for the same angsty reasons. They could stay together and never need to leave again.

It won’t be easy to break such a cycle. It might be impossible. But if anyone can manage it, it’ll be Tiadrin, and her family.

extra headcanon for this theory:

Tiadrin, packing up for the Storm Spire: One last thing, Runaan.

Runaan, stoically attentive because what are feels on the day your mentor leaves you: Yes, Tiadrin?

Tiadrin: Ethari will need to pick an apprentice to replace him, too. He should start looking now.

Runaan: Why? Only the Silvergrove’s Master Craftsman gets to pick an apprentice, and Ethari isn’t--

Tiadrin: *wink” Not yet, he’s not.

Runaan: Tiadrin, please, what have you done?

Tiadrin: I want to come back here someday, Runaan. I want to see your good work with Rayla. And I can’t do that if you flat-out refuse to leave your husband when Avizandum calls for you to replace me. So he needs to be ready to leave, too.

Runaan: I, I, I would nev-- I couldn’t--

Tiadrin: *patting his shoulder briskly as she strides out* Mmhmm, sure thing, kid. The council votes him in next Thursday. Be good while I’m gone! I want to find this place exactly the way I’m leaving it. Lain, honey, get your coat!

Lain, in the next room: Yes, Tiadrin!

Runaan, soft-eyed, to the silence in her wake: Yes, Tiadrin.

[aka-indulgence]

So. This was a.. detailed dream I had a week or more ago? the one I referenced in an ask... and I feel like writing out that scene because hoo... so many thoughts

--------

It was dark.

Night had fallen. It was late, most people have gone back into their humble homes and gone to sleep.

That wasn’t the case with the castle. Guards stood... well, guarded near the front gates, and near all other entrances on the ground. Not to mention, the ones making regular rounds inside the castle itself. All to keep the royals safe from anyone who wanted to get in for one reason or another. Theft, murder, sabotage....

...kidnapping...

Anyone would have a hard time just attempting to get in.

...

A raven watches from the distance, tilting its head this way and that, surveying the castle.

It flies, with its feathers as black as the night sky, no one sees it. And who would take another glance at a bird flying around?

It perches on the railing of a balcony on the second floor of the castle, looking down at the guards that stood vigilant at their stations. Inside, there was nary a soul passing by.

The raven hops down from its rest- suddenly becoming enveloped in shadows and darkness. Its form warps, and where the raven was now stood a tall imposing figure as the shadow’s creep away from him.

A grin would be first to come to attention if anyone was there to witness it. A cloak covered most of his body, apart from his hands and face, where you could see that this man was a skeleton. His hands weren’t made of flesh but instead finger-like phalanges, with “palm” made entirely of bone that resembled a human’s, with tendon-like shapes connecting the fingers to the base of the hand. His head was not a head as you knew it, but instead a skull. It wasn’t shaped in how you’d expect a skull to be either, more rounded with less edges.

But if you thought that’d make him look less scary, think again. His sockets were empty, empty of emotion. The grin he wore was nothing short of uncanny, as he approached the doors to the inside of the castle.

The door shuts with a quiet “clack” and he looks around. When he doesn’t see any guards he runs quietly from one hall to the other.

He’s silent, his footsteps not making so much as a whisper, a thud, against the floor.

Every time a guard or more comes by he slides into the corners and walls, hidden in the shadow, covered by the darkness. He smiles to himself. He could kill these guards if he wanted to, but that’d be such a mess... when others find the body, more would come, and that would make his little trip so much more difficult than it needs to be.

He bounds across the carpeted floors, where he didn’t have to be so careful about the sounds he’s making. Sliding by hallways like the wind, taking detours into various rooms whenever he needed to; a clear map of the castle in his head, heading towards his destination.

were there always so many guards walking the halls? Sans, the skeleton in black, thought to himself as he sweeps to the right, near a support. then again... i never had to worry about being spotted by them before.

Ah yes... old memories of when he still lived in this place. Even after all these years, he still remembers where everything is, just like he remembers all the little scars that litter his phalanges.

And it’s come especially useful now... as he ascends a flight of stairs, passing by unsuspecting men who were supposed to be protecting something... someone very important... he finally spots a familiar wooden door.

He doesn’t waste time, only making quick looks here and there before he darts to it from the landing, opening the door and quickly making his way inside.

He would’ve closed the door immediately if he didn’t also the one he’s been after for so long now.

The light of the torches outside, coming in through the crack of the door falls almost perfectly on your face, highlighting it. You had your hands under your cheek, your eyes shut, a small smile on your face. You seemed to be in such a peaceful sleep... your eyelids fluttered a little and your brows knitted from the sudden light of the outside.

Sans slowly, brought his hand back to find the door and quietly pushed it close, unwilling to glance away from the fair maiden his eyesockets had fallen on.

“oh... (y/n)...” He sighed lovingly, his grin turning just a little bit warmer, making his way towards your bed; his cloak brushing the floor.

He bends his knees so his chest was to your bedside- to take a closer look at you.

it’s been so long since i’ve seen you, love... He reaches out to touch your face, but thought better of it, his phalanges flinching. He might wake you up with contact... he didn’t want to alarm you.

Instead, he brought his hands down to the thick blankets that covered you. Of course, you were still so... fragile. Unlike him. You couldn’t stand the cold... not as much as him.

His turned his head, seeing how the blankets were draped over your body, he could see just a little bit of how you were shaped. His eyesockets trailed up, and settled on your hair. They reflected a bit of the moonlight that was quietly glowing through the windows. It looked somewhat shiny... like silk.

He looked down to your face. The tips of his phalanges sank a little into the bedcovers, seeing just how soft your skin looked. It’s always looked soft to him, but now? Now it looked almost ethereal under the pale light. Your brows had relaxed and with the little, innocent smile on your face... oh, it’s like he was falling in love all over again. His grin widens dreamily, and his sockets go down to your hands. They were under your head, but one had moved to the pillow, giving him a look. They looked so soft too... so soft and delicate compared to his hands of bone. So small too... he wanted to brush the tips of his fingers against the back of your hand, he wanted to kiss your knuckles, he wanted to-

...

His grin falls.

He’s... always wanted to hold your hands.

Back when he was still a proper member of this castle... when he was still one of the king’s mages, often times advising him in anything magic related. Whenever he thought of the perfect partner to spend the rest of his life with, it had always been you. He wasn’t really sure what started it. Maybe it was seeing you walk around the mezzanine so often as he was discussing with the other mages around the table below. Maybe it’s because of how sweet your smile looked. Maybe it was the way you were always so friendly to everyone, including the servants. He’s not sure. He’s always found himself staring at you whenever he saw you. Watching how your dress flows around you, the little movements your hands made when you were talking, listening to the sound of your laugh. He’s only talked to you once or twice, and he’s sure you’d forget about him...

There were plans. When the mages were looking to be betrothed, some had already known how taken he was with you (though they didn’t know to what extent). The lord had seemed interested too, as having such a powerful magic-user in the main bloodline would be ideal.

And... and then...

“YOU AREN’T WORTHY OF HER!” A voice booms through his skull, echoing from the past.

He found out how to use dark magic, and found himself to be quite skilled in it. He always thought light magic was fleeting... they had this way of slipping away from him whenever he used it. It never felt... powerful enough. But when he used dark magic... it was exhilarating. He’s never felt so much before. He knew it was taboo... he knew it was feared... but what is fear but something people don’t understand?

He saw potential in something everyone has always had an aversion to. Dark magic is dangerous if it’s let out of hand, if the user doesn’t know what to do with it. But he was learning. It came to him easier than it did with light magic. He was trying to use it to the benefit of everyone. And how did they repay him?

“Sans of Snowdin! Is it true you have been dabbling in the arts of dark magic?”

“y... yes... but! i swear to you brother! i only have the kingdom’s best interest in soul! i-i-”

“SILENCE mage! how can you say such a thing when you have been using such vile magic?””

“i... i’ve learnt how to use it, to control it! dark magic has aspects light magic doesn’t h-have, i could use it for good! i wasn’t trying to do anything treasonous!”

“That would sound honorable if we could believe you, Sans. Dark magic cannot be good. It’s in its nature. Normally we would try to purify the being corrupted by it but... you knew what it is, Sans. It is so sad to see the king’s finest mage turn out like this in the end.”

“n... no! you can’t... you can’t exi-!”

“Sans.” The lord stood. “I hereby exile you. Think of it as mercy, you could have been executed.”

The only thing on his mind was you... you were going to be his, he was so so patient... he waited for his bride, he was going to be happy with you, please...

“And to think I thought you worthy to marry my darling (Y/n)...”

“no... no!!”

They denied him your hand. They denied him you. He wasn’t trying to turn against them... he was loyal to the king..! And they cast him aside for using forbidden magic...

Your gentle hands... your warm embrace... your sweet smile...

Everything he was denied.

Tendrils of shadow danced across the ground as Sans bared his teeth to those who betrayed him. People he once called brothers... all turning against him when they found out he used dark magic in his lonesome.

“they could never keep me away from you, love...” He murmured, as he stood to his full height, and reached towards you. A hand took the blanket from his side and brought it under you while the other cupped you from the other side, picking you up, cradling you. He made sure the blanket was tucked around you properly, so you wouldn’t be cold.

“my sweet beloved (y/n)...” His hands shook, as he finally allowed himself to brush your hair away from your face, shivering as he felt your skin under his fingers. “you’ve always belonged to me. always... and i’ll love you with all of me. you’ll be safe with me, love...”

It’s apparent Sans got lost in the way your body settled in his arms, the sleepy sounds you made as you got comfortable. Turning your face to the warmth, cheek against his cloak, one hand gripping onto the cloth.

Because he didn’t notice the approaching footsteps, jolting when he heard the sound of a knock.

“My lady....” came the voice of your maid. “Is there something the matter? I hear voices in your room.”

Sans didn’t know what to expect- but in hindsight he should’ve guessed the maid would open the door without your answer. You’ve always been much more open with the workers in the castle, openly casual and making friends with all of them; though he didn’t know you saw your maid as more of your caretaker, and told her to come in your room if she thought something was wrong.

The door creaked open and light flooded the room, before settling on Sans. She made a gasp and Sans could see the color drain from her face when she saw the monstrous figure cradling you in its arms.

She saw him grin, not saying a word. Nor did she, as the next thing she did was to turn around and all but scream for the guards.

Many came running- but they were too late. When they came back, with the door still ajar, no one was inside. Not a trace of the monster or the lady was left, except for the way the bedsheets were messier than usual and that it lacked blankets. All was almost too quiet, apart from the almost silent wind blowing in through the now open window, the curtains lightly waving in it.

[chazz-anova]

A Little Bit Of Magic - Chapter 1

Fandom: Far Cry 5

Word Count: 1.8k

Summary: Lady Veronica Rook, a wizard turned rogue bounty hunter and part time thief, is approached by one of the King's men on a stormy night to acquire her services. Little does she know, she's setting off on a quest that will change her forever. (Fantasy!AU)

A/N: LITERALLY I saw one picture and that spawned this entire AU lmao, this has been a fun start and I'm excited for the rest of this little mini-series! I hope you all like as well <3

Dancing candlelight casted amorphous shadows on a bare stone wall. In the center of the room, a firepit blazed; warming the bones of weary travelers who sought refuge from a tempest storm brewing outside the walls of the inn.

Barmaids bustled from table to table, bringing stout ale to rowdy patrons. One such patron sat at the short oak bar, nursing a tankard of beer. In front of the customer stood a barkeep who looked rather piqued. “Veronica, every night you sit here and take up space that could be filled by paying customers. Pray tell, what must I do to squeeze some coin from you?” The woman asked, her sunny blonde hair bobbing as she swept a damp rag over the counter.

Across the bar, Veronica looked up from her stein with a smirk as she replied, “You’d just as likely squeeze coin from me as easily as you’d milk a dragon, Mary May. Is there not a special allowance for a friend who’s saved your life twice over?”

“If I’d known your aid would end up costing me damn near a barrel of ale in the long run, I would have gladly thrown myself into the jaws of death!” Mary professed dramatically, a small smile giving her away.

V rose her tankard high, proclaiming “And what you pay in ale, you make back doubly in entertainment!”

With a sigh- the barmaid stashed the rag she’d been holding under the counter. “Well allow me to take my leave, before your entertainment proves to be too much!” Mary May rolled her eyes as she departed to the back storeroom; Veronica always knew how to work her last nerve.

Now left to her own devices, the woman spun in her seat to analyze the other patrons. She hoped with any luck, she could swindle some coin from someone deep in their cups to secure a room for the night. Unfortunately- saving a friend’s life only afforded you free drinks, not free rooms. Having grown up in the streets of the Kingdom of Hope, Veronica trusted her pickpocketing skills; especially in a tavern such as this.

The Splayed Eagle Inn was run by V’s friend, Mary May, and had been her home for the past few months. All types found themselves in this bar, whether they be well-to-do, working class, or a simple ne’er-do-well. Of course- Veronica liked to think she didn’t fit into any of those categories.

Sitting around the main floor of the inn were a few possible targets, and our girl set to sizing up the first; an older man seated in the corner. He wore the garb of the royal guard. His complexion was that of worn leather, and his eyes scanned the room suspiciously. ‘Not a great mark..’ Veronica thought, shifting her gaze to her next person.

The person in question was not a person at all, but rather a dwarf. The short man guzzled beer from his stein greedily, egged on by two more of his kind. Finishing the drink he slammed down his cup and roared in revelry. ‘Though dwarves love gold and these ones would certainly have some coin, perhaps they are a hair too unmanageable for a robbery.’ Considering this, the woman moved down the list.

Just as Veronica was about to size up her next mark, she felt a hand on her shoulder. The blonde turned, expecting to see Mary May had returned to give her more grief. V was surprised to see an unfamiliar face and she immediately went on the defense, shrugging the stranger’s hand off her shoulder. “Can I help you?” Her words dripped with distrust.

The stranger met her eyes with a look of contempt, and V considered grabbing her dagger in case things became dicey. The woman who’d grabbed her shoulder stepped back now, regarding Veronica coldly with dark eyes. She wore a black fur cape with the hood up, obscuring her features, though her greasy black hair hung in matted locks on her shoulders. She lifted her hood to reveal a ghastly scar across her face. “Yes, mage, I do believe you can help me.” The stranger chuckled.

Hearing her true title, Veronica started visibly, but quickly recovered. ‘How does she know? Certainly this wench is no mage, I sense no magic in her! Is she an assassin from the Guild? Gods, Mary May will kill me if I’ve brought such darkness to her doorstep!’ V’s inner monologue was harried, in contrast to her cool voice as she rebuffed, “Mage? Surely you jest! I am but a humble adventurer.”

Spitting at her feet, the woman scoffed. “Save your lies! I already know of you, Lady Veronica, and of your discharge from the Royal Mages Guild. I come seeking your help in regards to your… new vocation.”

“And what would that be?” V continued to be difficult, her tone hostile. She didn’t like how much this woman knew of her.

“Bounty hunting, of course. Or was it not you that the Royal Guard granted a bounty to just a week ago for bringing in one of the Banshee Queen’s sprites?” At this, Veronica’s mouth drew into a thin line. She knew she’d been got. The ravenette shrugged, “I dare not judge, how else is a rogue witch to make any coin these days?” Though she put on a facade of good cheer, something dangerous lurked in her gaze.

A humorless laugh escaped Ronnie and she lifted her chin defiantly, “Even if you speak the truth, why should I help you, hag?”

Smiling cruelly, she retorted “It is not I who requests your service, but your King and country.”

“Well, his Kingly-ness will simply have to bring is ass down here if he truly wants me help!” V laughed, chalking up the woman’s words to a childish prank.

Suddenly- the stranger closed the short distance between them and the mage felt the tip of a blade threatening to pierce her gut. “I would recommend a modicum of respect for King Dutch. As his bodyguard, I may feel inclined to defend his honor.”

Under her breath, Veronica murmured ancient arcane words and a ball of flames appeared in her spread palm near the woman’s head. “And I may feel inclined to worsen your scar if you do not back away.” She growled the threat, feeling a rush of relief when the King’s bodyguard moved away. She would rather not release a fan of fire in her friend’s bar.

Sheathing her dagger, the woman took a breath. “Let us start over. I am Jess Black, bodyguard and right hand to King Dutch Roosevelt.” She gave a stately bow along with her title.

“Well Lady Black, what would you have of me?” V asked, voice laden with suspicion. Though she preferred to seek her own bounties, a requisition from the King was sure to bring decent coin.

As they began to discuss business, Jess took a seat next to Veronica and spoke vaguely. “Our ruler would have you retrieve a package for him, for a hefty reward.” When the mage said nothing, she continued, “I cannot divulge the details- but you will find what you need in the hamlet of Fall’s End with a cleric named Jerome.”

“Am I expected to go forward with such little information?” She shook her head in disbelief, finally finishing her drink.

“You are expected to do as our ruler bids! I have told you all I know.”

Veronica’s brow furrowed as she probed, “Surely his majesty has sent some sort of incentive, if it is truly he who sent you!”

Jess sighed heavily, producing a leather pouch from the folds of her cape. She set it on the bar with a clink, and V grabbed it immediately. “Gods, there must be nearly forty gold here!” She exclaimed, counting it out quickly.

“Our benefactor has put this forward as a downpayment of sorts, with the promise of more once he’s gotten his package. On the condition that you leave immediately.” Jess asserted with a nod.

The blonde eyed the gold hungrily- knowing she was on hard times. “Well if my kingdom needs me, who am I to resist the call? Though surely ‘immediately’ could mean ‘first thing in the morn’, with his Highness’s mercy?”

Putting a hand on the pouch of gold, the ravenette shook her head. “I must insist on your departure this night, King Roosevelt wishes for no delay in your meeting with Jerome.”

For a moment Veronica’s gaze shifted from Jess back to the pouch of gold, but she relented with a sigh. “It will take me a moment to prepare myself, and I shall make haste.”

Jess gave a rare smile, acquiescing “Your speed is most appreciated.” She turned to the back wall of the bar then, wondering aloud, “Where is the damn barkeep?”

With their conversation over and coin now heavy in her pocket, V slipped behind the bar to the back office where she’d stashed her travel pack.

Mary May’s office was small but tidy, featuring a large desk and business ledger. Sitting there was Mary herself, counting out coin into the safe next to the desk. Next to the safe was Veronica’s beige backpack, which May let her stash in the office during business hours. Hearing her footsteps, the blonde turned away from her safe to face V. “Ah, come to retrieve your loot without buying a room to store it in first? You must have gotten yourself a job.”

A smile crossed Veronica’s features, showing pearly white teeth. “You know me well friend, I must be off immediately unfortunately, so it would appear you’ll save some ale tonight yet!” She crossed the threshold into the room, leaning over the other to grab her sack.

“My, it must be an illustrious one to cause you to abandon a perfectly good night of drinking!” She chuckled.

This made the blonde stop a moment as she considered telling her friend the details. Thinking better of it, she instead said, “Nothing so fancy! I should be back in a week at the latest, try not to miss me too much!” Giving Mary May a chuckle., Before Veronica was fully out the door, she leaned back to say quickly “And be sure to give your worst service to the raven-haired patron sitting at the bar!”

V slung her sack across her back, weaving through Mary May’s drunken customers towards the front door. Once she cleared the room, she turned back one last time and saw Jess staring at her as she departed. The look on her face gave her chills.

The heavy door to the Splayed Eagle Inn opened with a prolonged creak, and gave way to a gust of wind that caused the mage to pull her cloak closer around her. She stepped foot into the deluge outside and hustled into the treeline, taking her first steps towards facing an evil she couldn’t begin to imagine.

[peach-the-owl]

Hello! Hope you are having a wonderful day! May I request for a scenario Caleb with a child!Magical!Reader (wizard/Sorcerer) where they meet Astrid & Eodwulf. Maybe the child gets lost and is found by Caleb's old school friends. All the while Caleb & the rest of the M9 are trying to find them while the child is with Astrid & Eodwulf.

Interesting. They might be a little OOC, idk, but I tried my best. I hope you still enjoy 😁

Lost in the City

Astrid & Eodwulf & Child!Magical!Reader

A bit of Caleb & Child!Reader

Rexxentrum was a huge city and very easy to get lost in if you’re not paying attention, which is exactly what happened to you. You swear you’d only looked away from the group for like 5 seconds and yet here you were alone amongst the busy streets. You remembered being told that if you ever got lost to stay where you were and they’d eventually find you, so you back up closer to a building and sit down against the wall. You didn’t know how long you’d have to wait for them to find you but you were already getting really bored, resorting to playing around with your own magic to help pass the time.

"Are you lost little one?" You hear a woman ask. You look up to see two individuals looming over you, one being a man with a stoic expression and the other being a woman, who most likely asked the question.

"I… well… ummm…" You fumble with your words shyly, what where you supposed to say to these strangers, you settle with just nodding your head.

"I see. That was some fine hand work with your magic, where did you learn to do that?" She sounded curious, but you also caught onto hints of caution and sternness in her voice as well.

"I have a really good teacher, but I wasn’t paying attention and now I lost them." You still fumble around your words a bit, trying to answer the previous question and explain your situation all at once.

"Perhaps we could help you locate them." The woman offers. You scratch at the back of your head in an unsure manner.

"I don’t know, I’m not really supposed to go with strangers."

"Well then let’s get to know each other a little, my name's Astrid. It’s a pleasure to meet you…" Astrid places a hand to her chest when introducing herself then gestures to you as her sentence trails off.

"My name's (y/n)." You finish for her with a small smile.

"(Y/n)." She repeats, she then gestures over to the man next to her. "This is my colleague…" She pauses again and stares at the man next to her.

"Eodwulf." He reply’s softly, making you strain your ears to try and hear him.

"It’s nice to meet you Ms. Astrid and Mr… Edgewolf?" You say questioningly, checking to make sure you got the names right. Astrid let’s out a cough into her fist to mask a small laugh that tried to surface while "Edgewolf" stares at you and sighs.

"It’s Eodwulf." He says more clearly this time, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. You nod and notice the fancy patterns that run up his arms making you point at them.

"What’re those designs on your arms for?" Your comment makes Eodwulf pull away his arm to stare at the line work, Astrid pulls up the sleeve of her outfit to reveal to you that she too has similar designs on her own arms.

"These tattoos help us to use powerful magic." She explains as simply as possible. You practically get stars in your eyes out of curiosity.

"Powerful magic? Can I see!? Can I see!?" You bounce a bit, with your position on the ground it wasn’t all that comfortable but you didn’t care that mush. The two look at each other a moment before Astrid gives a subtle nod and turns back to you.

"We can show a few of our tricks but not here, we'll need to go somewhere less public." She offers.

"Oh," you fidget a little nervously again. "I'm not really supposed to leave until my friends find me."

"You said you couldn’t go with strangers, but you know me and Eodwulf now, right?" You nod slowly at her. "Rexxentrum is a very large city, so it could take a long time for your friends to find you. If you travelled with us we can help you look for them or you might run into them sooner, if not we can always come back here to wait for them." You think on this a little, Astrid's reasoning sounding very convincing to you, so you look back at her with a large smile and give a nod. Astrid then offers out her hand for you to take which you happily accept, getting up off the ground and having her lead you to a different area.

After a good while of walking and searching, with no results, you’re brought to an open area that was defiantly made for training purposes. Astrid pulls you off to the side a good distance away for you to watch. You stare amazed at the display of power between the two, both very concentrated on each spell they decide to preform. When they’re done you’re left jaw dropped and clap for them amazed.

"That was so cool! You guys are like walking weapons!" You cheer for them.

"We are, aren’t we." Eodwulf straightens himself out a little, a proud smirk on his face at your compliment.

"I want to be super strong like that one day! Then I can protect everyone from the bad guys." You say with invigorated determination for the future.

"With how well you can control your spells now, I think if you keep it up you’ll surely be just as powerful, if not more so when you’re older." Astrid gives you a side smile. You giggle with delight, then stop when you hear you stomach give a loud grumbling sound.

"Ummm…" You blush a little embarrassed. "I’m hungry."

"Then it’s lucky for you we don’t have any jobs to do at the moment. Why don’t we head over to the market and buy something to eat, maybe we'll even run into the people you’re looking for there."

"That’s really nice of you Ms. Astrid, are you sure it’s okay?" You look up at her with big curious eyes and she simply nods. The three of you make your way over to the market, you skipping ahead occasionally but not too far as to not get lost again.

"Are you sure we should be watching this child?" Eodwulf leans in closer to Astrid so only she could hear him.

"They may be a mere child, but they have strong potential to them." She whispers back. "Besides, their innocent excitement is a refreshing change of pace. Don’t you agree?" She quietly adds, Eodwulf nods after a moment of processing her words. At this point you hop up to the two of them again.

"Swing me!" You blurt out to Eodwulf. He stares at you confused, unsure what to do.

"I don’t…" His words trail off as he continues to stare.

"All you have to do is hold you hands, lift me up and I can swing back and forth from the momomtime." You try to explain, not knowing how to properly say momentum. Eodwulf turns to look at Astrid, who just raises an amused eyebrow wanting to see where this goes. He sighs softly before complying to your wishes, you swing your dangling legs around a bit to build up enough momentum to fling yourself out of his grip and safely land on the ground in front of him. "Again! Again again!" You happily chirp.

"Fine, but this is the last one." He tells you… You end up convincing him to swing you around about 15 more times, though you were pretty sure he secretly liked doing it. The last few times Astrid got herself involved too, both of them taking one of your hands in there’s and lifting you up to swing as you all continued to make your way to a marketplace.

"Something smells delicious." You comment, feeling your stomach growl at you again. You sit down at a bench with Astrid while Eodwulf handles grabbing something for the three of you to eat.

"Why don’t you tell me more about your magic (y/n)." Astrid starts.

"There’s not a lot to say, I’ve been practicing a lot but I’m not very good at the big spells yet so I try to stick to the little ones." You reply, waving your hand around and casting Mage Hand making it float around in circles before dismissing the spell.

"Still, someone your age being able to cast spells this quickly, as small as they may be, is quite an accomplishment. You must have a very good teacher."

"Yeah, he’s the best, everyone is." You give a wide smile.

"I just realized, you never gave us the names of the people we should be searching for. I can’t believe I just let that information slip by." Astrid says, the last part more to herself.

"Oh! There-"

"I’m back." Eodwulf interrupts you before you can finish, holding a box of sweet buns for the three of you to share. Quickly forgetting what you were about to say you happily take one and chow down, savouring the sweet taste.

"That was really good, thank you Mr. Eodwulf." You thank once you were done the sweet buns. You all get up and start to make your way around the market when a man dashes out of a side street a few feet away from you. You recognize them instantly. "Caleb!" You call to him happy to finally see a familiar face again. He whips around in your direction and for a moment he has a look of relief on his face, his gaze shifts up a bit and the relief turns quickly into fearful shock when he sees the people you’re with.

"You know this man?" Astrid asks, sounding surprised.

"Of course I do, that’s one of the friends I was looking for." You reply, completely unaware of the tension that arose between the three.

"(Y/n)," Caleb starts slowly, regaining your attention. "Come here please." He ushers you over, not breaking eye contact with his old classmates once.

"Thanks again for everything." You quickly say to the two before walking over to Caleb, who immediately pulls you behind him once you were within arms reach of him and takes a defensive pose.

"It’s been a while Bren." Astrid speaks slowly and in a lower voice then when she interacted with you. You tilt your head confused, wondering why she just called Caleb by a different name.

"Do you three know each other?" You ask, trying to figure out what was going on.

"It’s a long story, I’ll explain later." Caleb quickly brushes you off slowly backing the two of you away from Astrid and Eodwulf.

"That child you have there," Caleb pauses slightly at her words. "There something special. I’d keep a very close eye on them from now on if I were you." She subtly advises. Caleb looks at you a moment then back at Astrid.

"I plan to." Is all he says before the two of you finally walk off, most likely to rejoin the rest of the Nein.

"It was Bren all along." Eodwulf breaths, still a bit surprised about the encounter.

"It seems so." Astrid says blankly.

"What shall we tell Trent?" Eodwulf asks cautiously, looking at Astrid. She turns so that the two are staring into each other’s eyes, a stern look on her face.

"We don’t." Is all she replies with before the two make their way back through the market.

Bonus:

Earlier/elsewhere in the city while you were having a lovely day…

"Where's (y/n)?" Caleb asks the group, already starting to panic.

"Didn’t Jester say she was taking them to the pastry shop with her?" Beau asks.

"What?! No, I was going with Nott. I thought you and Yasha were taking them around the market." Jester retorts.

"We lost our child!" Nott cry's out.

"It’s okay, all we have to do is look for them in the last place we saw them right?" Jester brings up trying to calm everyone’s nerves down.

"Jester's right," Fjord jumps in, "we just need to make a plan to search for them, what do you say Caleb?…… Caleb?" They all look over to see that Caleb had already run off to start searching.

"Oh boy, this is… this isn’t good. Do we wait for him to… should we follow?" Caduceus questions. After a short debate they all head out to now look for you and Caleb.

[ayzenigma]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Critical Role (Web Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Essek Thelyss, Fjord (Critical Role) Additional Tags: Combat, Essek Week 2021, Alternate Universe Words: 831 Summary:

Essek is unfamiliar with practical combat, but there’s a first time for everything, even if he is less prepared than he would like.

written for @essek-week 2021, day one: whiskey // battle

(also functions as a sort of prequel to this ficlet. not necessary to read for context)

Read on Ao3 or here below!

Things had been proceeding quite well, right up until he bumped into a mercenary who was most definitely not part of the plan, at least not part of the plan in this particular time and place. Essek had expedited his schedule specifically to avoid the mercenary group that had been hired to investigate and protect against the series of heists happening lately. 

The “Mighty Nein” as they called themselves were not supposed to start until tomorrow, which is why Essek is here now, but something must have changed, because Essek finds himself staring right at the chest of one of their number. 

Even floating as he is, he has to look up to meet the eyes of the half-orc he recognises from his research on the Nein. Fjord, no last name. Sources say he is something of the face of the group, a smooth talker.

He is definitely the one Essek had least wanted to meet. 

Essek, for all his time doing this, is unfamiliar with practical combat. He much prefers keeping his work far from the front lines—he knows his strengths lie in gathering intelligence and secreting things away with no one the wiser. 

He likes to think he is, at least in theory, prepared for and capable of doing well in battle—knowing his opponents’ strengths and weaknesses and how best to counter them goes a long way, and Essek is nothing if not thorough.

Unfortunately thoroughness does not make up the difference of a simple lack of existing information. The Nein as a group are a chaotic bunch, beholden to no one but themselves, leaving mostly confusion in their wake and few to comment coherently on their capabilities. 

Fjord in particular is an enigma, as he carries no visible weaponry, yet wears more armor than auy mage should be able to handle. 

And not knowing what he does, Essek does not know how to counter him most effectively. It will have to be a trial and error process, then. Less careful calculation and more action and reaction. 

Still trying to process this unfortunate surprise and figure out his next course of action, Essek misses whatever it is Fjord is saying to him, asking him. Which is maybe a mistake as, next thing he knows, a sword—where had that even come from? The man in front of him had been clearly unarmed mere seconds ago—is swinging towards him.

Essek just barely manages to duck the first hit, and with a flick of his wrist he brings up an arcane shield that deflects the next. 

It seems this Fjord is a swordsman. Essek can work with that. Step one is to get some distance.

With that, he misty steps thirty feet away and fires off a ray of frost for good measure. 

The ray hits its mark, and Essek smiles a bit at the curses that follow. It doesn’t hurt much, but the slowing effect is what he’s really after. Now Fjord won’t be able to close the distance and he’ll have some room to breathe.

Except, he was not prepared for the cry of “Eldritch blast!” and three beams of crackling green energy flying right at him. 

Another shield blocks the first blast, but the next one catches him in the shoulder. The third goes right by his head, though by the trajectory it would have hit as well had the impact of the second not caused him to lose his float.

Perhaps he had been too quick to assume where Fjord’s capabilities lie. Both a caster and a swordsman, now that’s interesting. And dangerous. It also changes things, because if Fjord has even more tricks up his sleeve, Essek does not want to stay around and find out with himself as the target. 

As Fjord tries to close the distance between them—so he does prefer to be in close quarters, it seems—Essek begins his casting of teleport. It is of a higher level than he had wanted to use tonight, but preferable to the alternative of sticking around now.

The familiar sensation teleportation flows over him as the spell takes hold, and with a blink he is back home, safe and secure in his towers. 

A gesture brings up his pocket dimension to confirm that his quarry of the night is indeed still within his possession. His generic elf disguise is also still up, so unless Fjord also has truesight within his toolkit, his involvement will continue to be unknown. Overall a successful night, really.

He may not be able to say he thoroughly bested his opponent in that battle, but he survived and managed to get away not much worse for the wear. Plus, this interaction has given him a bit more insight into Fjord’s particular talents, which will be useful should Essek encounter him or the Nein again.

Not bad for his first foray into actual combat, even if it was just barely a taste. He’ll count it as a win.

[fieryhonesty]

The life of You

[AO3]

“I’m deeply sorry for not posting for a while. I hate to admit it but it took me over a week to think for a decent name for this and next chapter. But good thing is I thought of this whole fic and came to an end? Like I’m no longer aiming at an invisible finish line. All what’s left now is write it down and serve the main dish.”

Words: 2462

Today was one of your free days which you had decided to spend by exploring eastern area of Mondstadt. It was mostly just a walk for you. Except one time where you had to draw your blade and deal with a dozen of hydro slimes. 

They appeared out of nowhere. There was not even water around to attract them to. Well you wouldn't call yourself an adventurer, a swordswoman or a cryo wielder if you couldn't deal with a few slimes. 

You had spent most of the time hiking. Sometimes stopping and looking behind, enjoying the view at the city of freedom from distance. The huge windmills are probably the signature thing for it. One doesn't need to know much about the area. But if they are told 'go after the big windmills' they won't get lost that easily. 

Well, unless they decide to take it through the forest nearby the city. Getting lost in there is not hard. Fortunately the forest is not that huge and getting out shouldn't be a problem. The forest is relatively safe as only boars and other wild animals appear there. 

The forest is also having a small mine. Which means the city of freedom has to assure miner's safety, thus planting traps around or sending in several soldiers to deal with issues. Or at least that's what you have heard from a local miner with whom you shared a few drinks a while ago. 

As you climbed high enough to look over the entire eastern area something caught your attention. Shielding your face from the sunlight with your left hand, narrowing eyes. Why are there several hilichurls dancing in circles around something? Right in front of a temple?

This area should be clean from them. Did they build a camp nearby? Should you go back to the city and report it? It's just a bunch of hilichurls. It doesn't seem like an issue. You have dealt with much worse. Perhaps you could check it out. But first you'll have to descend again. As you feel sick while using a glider you refrain from using it at all. Which of course brings difficulties here and now. Fortunately you never got into trouble where you would be forced to use it.

Taking your time to carefully get down on the road. Walking in the direction you saw the monsters. Sneaking behind the trees and bushes, getting close as much as you can. 

Indeed, they are dancing around something that looks like a campfire. That would be alright, perhaps a ritual of theirs. But you had noticed the Abyss spell hovering just above the fire. Even if you wanted to ignore it at first, now you are obliged to check what's going on. 

The spell wouldn't appear out of nowhere. However the creature which casted it is nowhere to be seen. It's probably in the temple. There are four hilichurls, one of them is a shaman. Even if it didn't have a different appearance, you would be able to tell the difference from the rest as it was waving around with its staff.

Summoning your sword, giving it a quick glance. You still can't believe Diluc got you such a fancy looking sword. The blade have engraved runes close to the guard. The steel is a slightly blue shade and the hilt is so comfortable to hold. You do not need to be an expert to know this weapon is such a high quality. 

Mentally shaking your head as you remembered your scarlet hair friend's smug expression when you showed him the weapon. He rather seemed satisfied seeing you holding it. You didn't question him any more about the sword. You knew it would be pointless. Instead you flashed him a quick smile and thanked. 

You take a deep breath before dashing out of your cover. Using the momentum of surprise and bashing the closest hilichurl's mask. It didn't break but you could see the huge crack on the mask. Smirking for yourself and avoiding one of the monsters which attacked you from right. 

You thought of taking down the shaman first. As you tried to make a step you noticed how you are being pulled backwards. 

‘Shit!' 

It already casted one of its spells. You know it doesn't last long. But that doesn't mean you are not bothered by the fact how the other three hilichurls were also sucked into the vacuum. Attacking you.

Sending one of the monsters fly as you hit it hard with all your might. Blocking your side with a cryo wall. The hilichurl landed behind the shaman, making an unpleasant noise. 

The vacuum finally stopped and you can move from the spot. Slashing chest one of the attacking monsters. Ignoring its pained cry. As you knew the shaman would try to run away, you used your elemental powers to freeze it on spot. Sending it down with one swing. 

You are aware of that one hilichurl which landed behind the shaman. It's about to hit you with its club, clearly angered. You managed to manifest two of your cryo blades. Parrying its attack.

The blades disappeared as quickly as you made your next move. Feeling like it would be under your level to rely on your cryo powers to deal with a few weak enemies. Quickly finishing the remaining two. Wiping out the blood off your sword before making it disappear again. 

You glance at the campfire. The marking is gloving. Maybe it's a defensive mechanism, letting its caster know somebody neutralized the guards. Well if you can call a bunch of weak hilichurls as guards. 

You are not wasting any time and sliding into the temple. With careful steps you had passed through several corridors, avoiding any contact with hilichurls. You had expected the temple won't be empty. Those annoying Abyss Mages never leave anything unnoticed. If there are no traps then a ridiculous amount of brainwashed monsters delaying any intruder. 

If you are glad for something, it's the fact how agile and flexible you are. With some parkour tricks you managed to move across a huge part of the temple. Rather not looking down. You had learned it's a bad thing unless you want to feel dizzy. It reminds you of gliding, minus the weird feeling being carried to the side you didn't even mean to. You never said you are good with gliding!

However, in the next room you couldn't avoid fighting. Dealing with archers and one big mitachurl swinging its huge axe left and right was not fun. You were forced to use your ice spear in order to quickly deal with them. You felt like the Abyss Mage was behind the corner. The evil presence was strong.

With the sword in your hand you pressed forward, looking around for any possible trap. 

"Aha!" 

You whispered for yourself as a marking on the ground appeared. Being glad those traps can be easily discovered if one is careful enough. Also can be triggered by using magic. However you never can be sure what kind of trap you are dealing with so it's better to avoid it.

Carefully walking around, eyes glued at the markings just in case it would seem to activate. Pushing the door open and you find yourself in a bigger room. There's a petrified tree in the middle and the little furball was waving with its staff in the air. Casting something at the tree, making it glow. 

It knew about your presence. If the campfire outside has not alarmined it, then the loud battle before surely did. With one quick motion it casted a protective barrier around its body. Evil laughter escaping it's lips. Fortunately for you it's just a hydro mage. Annoying to deal with but also you know about how easily the shield can be broken if it's frozen.

"Stupid human, thinking you could outsmart me?!" 

The blue mage yelled at you, waving with its small fist in the air in a threatening manner.

"Ha. Trying to look dangerous are we?"

You taunted it. You can't help it but grin when the mage says something in its own language. No idea what it says but you are sure it's nothing nice.

Summoning your cryo blades. Chuckling a little. Certainly this is an interesting situation. Your day off was supposed to be just enjoying nature. Yet you find yourself facing an annoying problem. Whatever it was doing there, you will end its plans. 

Dashing forward, swinging your sword. Sending out a freezing surge of energy. The mage has quickly teleported away before the cold could reach it. Snapping your fingers and several blades fly its direction. One of them actually hits the shield right before it again teleports away. However it's not enough to completely freeze it. The frozen part quickly disappears as it gets canceled by the mage's own magic. Cryo or not, if they use enough power they can change the energy flow. Which makes it easier to remove the bad, frozen part, and reapply the hydro again.

"Persistent fool. You should have never entered this temple! You can't oppose the Order!" 

"Oh? Are you new or you really never heard of somebody blowing up an entire hideout in Liyue? Well let me just say one thing: having explosives RIGHT next to some highly explosive substance was not the brightest idea."

The mage cursed and hurled its hydro spell at you. You avoid it and dash closer to it. Your sword gets blocked by the shield which was expected. You can't get through it. Not unless you infuse your blade with cryo. As the mage chuckles at your 'stupidity' a sudden burst of cryo energy emerges from your weapon. Freezing the entire shield.

“Hmph.”

You can hear the mage’s panicked voice, it's trapped in its own shield. It will take a while before it can get rid of the frozen part. You swing your sword several times, slowly chopping away the shield and then it breaks. With your free hand you punch the mage, making it fly. Getting a second hit from the wall. Letting out a pained whine. You see how it raised its staff. It's about to teleport away again. 

'Those mages are such a nuisance all they do is running.'

You are about to give it a chase but several bubbles appeared around you. Trapping you on spot. They are about to burst. You quickly freeze them and get out of the trap. At first you didn't even notice but the little thing was celebrating, jumping from one leg to another. Sometimes you wonder how smart those things are. 

Before you could get closer to it, its shield regenerated. Great. Another cat and mouse play. At some point the roles of mouse and the cat were switched as you were forced to retreat and lure away one of its homing spells. 

When you finally break the shield again, having a tight grip on its throat. Finally you can just slam it and erase it from existence. If you have to compare dealing with Abyss Mages with something. It's probably as annoying as killing mosquitos. 

"So. What are you doing here?"

You snarl at it. You know it can't speak as you have quite a firm grip on it. Its hands are trying to free out but if there's something you know the best about them. It's the fact they lack any physical strength. They rely purely on magic. It's like dealing with a kid. But you don't want to choke it so you let it fall on the ground, pointing the tip of your sword at its face.

"Well? How many of you are here? What were you doing with the tree?"

"You think I'll tell you? Ha! Stu-" 

You kicked away it like its a football ball, your left eye is twitching.

It breathes heavily, crawling away from you. You summon a cryo blade, pinning the mage at spot. Scared shriek comes out of its lips, looking back at you.

"F-Fine I'll tell! I-Infusing a huge amount of elemental energy into those petrified trees have a negative effect-"

"Negative effect on what?"

"On the surrounding area of course!"

Narrowing your eyes and giving the mage a long look. For some reason you don't trust its words and it pisses you off even more. It's lying you think. Perhaps it would be better to just get rid of it. Rising your sword up to the air before swinging it down. Freezing the mage into a huge chunk of ice. Glaring at it for a brief moment before you get startled by a sudden clapping. 

Looking in the direction it's coming from. The Captain of Cavalry himself.

"I never get enough. Seeing you fight is exciting~" 

You roll eyes at his remark.

"Let me guess: you were here for a while but decided to just enjoy the show instead of helping me." 

You say in a nonchalant voice as you make your sword disappear.

"Correct."

"I guess I get what Diluc means about you guys are inefficient." 

You chuckle as he makes a hurt expression.

"Don't tell me you are gonna side with that grumpy guy. Anyway I was observing that Abyss Mage for a while. Been curious what it is up to and then you appeared. Technically you interfered with an investigation of the Knights."

You raise your hands up in a defeat. You know he is just joking but decided to play along. 

"Well what now, Captain? Will you arrest me?"

"Ah, no, no. Nothing like that, Sweetheart. I know what you did was purely in a good will. Besides you managed to get something out of it before..." He looks at the frozen mage. "You created an ugly sculpture."

"Pardon me? Ugly?"

"I jest. Although..."

You raise an eyebrow at him. 

"I wanted to ask you a while back but. Would you be willing to, you know spar with an old friend of yours? Like in the old days~"

His tone is smooth as always and his usual smirk is not missing. You ponder over the question. Can't help it but you feel like he is scheming something. Kaeya is always scheming after all. 

"Huh? If you want your ass getting kicked why don't you ask your brother."

His expression stiffens for a while. You actually managed to remove the smirk out of his face. Even if it's for a while, it still makes you feel satisfied. 

"If I lose I pay for a king sized dinner just for you. And perhaps some drinks at the tavern if you'd like."

King sized dinner? You realize how much you are hungry right now. Pressing your lips together. Considering the offer for a few more seconds before you agree.

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[alittlewhump]

Unbidden - Act 2, chapter 8

Masterlist | Previous | Next

Content warnings: None

Morgan followed the sound of voices through the archives. He'd taken a more familiar route this time, one that skirted closer to the markets than he'd liked. Blaise and Cain were discussing something, but Cain stopped mid-sentence when he spied Morgan.

"Morgan! It's good to see you again, friend, though I had not expected you so soon." Morgan allowed himself a small smile. He'd missed Cain and his stories, his easy friendliness.

Blaise spun around to face him. "What are you doing here? You-" She seemed to lose her train of thought briefly as her eyes lingered at the collar of his shirt. "You should be resting."

"I want to make up for the time I've lost," Morgan said, growing serious again. He didn't feel tired, exactly, and anyway there was no respite to be found in his shared room. "There are demons seeking the tomb of Tal Rasha as well. Time is of the essence. What is it you've found?"

He couldn't read Blaise's expression as he came around the table to look at the books laid out across it. It turned out that finding the tomb would only be half the problem. There was a specific artifact needed to open it, and it had been split into pieces. A staff, which Morgan recognized from a tour of the local museum, and an amulet, which Blaise had already managed to recover from the demons who had held it. But it was not as simple as just having the pieces; there was a strange device required to bind them together, and that was guarded in yet another tomb by magical traps set by an ancient order of mages known as the Horadrim. Cain was familiar with this order, luckily enough, and was certain that he would be able to use the device once they'd located it, and it looked like Blaise had already eliminated several options from a long list of possible locations for that tomb.

It was growing late in the day, though, and Blaise flatly refused to start a new expedition before the morning. "You might be fine," she groused, not sounding as though she believed that to be the case at all, "but I'm hungry and tired. I'm going back to the palace. You can come with me, if you want. You could probably use the rest."

Morgan didn't want to go back, not yet. He looked down at the map on the table in front of him. Most of the marked locations were far enough from the city to be troublesome, but within a reasonable distance of a waypoint. Potentially good ways to keep himself occupied, to make sure his skills hadn't suffered too badly from disuse. Unfortunately, he'd never accessed most of the waypoints. He would need help with that.

"I'll stay here for the night. I can catch up on research." He paused. Perhaps someone else could act as a guide, someone he wasn't already deeply indebted to. "Is there someone who could show me to these waypoints?"

"Yeah. Me. Tomorrow." No luck there, then. Blaise put one hand on her hip. "Are you really sure you want to stay here?"

"Yes." He'd fled his room for a reason. If he didn't have something useful to focus his attention on now, he was going to come apart at the seams. He just needed to occupy himself, and that was going to be much easier here.

"All right, fine. But I'm not going to take you anywhere tomorrow if you haven't gotten any rest."

Anger flared suddenly hot in Morgan's chest. She kept insisting he rest, as though he hadn't just lost - how much time exactly wasn't clear, but it was certainly at least a few days of precious time, while she apparently picked up the slack. Did she still think of him as a child, someone who needed to be taken care of? Just another responsibility to shoulder? He slammed his open hand down on the table, growling "I don't want-"

He caught himself there, squeezed his eyes shut. Took a deep breath. Control. She had every reason to see him as an inconvenience, and that wasn't important. How others perceived him was inconsequential, he reminded himself. The only thing that really mattered was the Balance. His most important task was to find and stop the demons intent on upsetting it, and he wasn't going to get any closer to that goal by antagonizing a person who could help him. What he needed was her cooperation, not her respect.

"I apologize for that outburst," he said, opening his eyes but keeping them deferentially cast down. "It was not called for. I have had my fill of sitting idle, but I will rest when I need to."

Blaise was silent for a moment. "That's... whatever. Fine. See you tomorrow." She left without further comment. Morgan smoothed down the paper he'd rumpled in his childish show of temper. Not counting the claw vipers, it had been a long while since the last time he'd let himself get agitated to the point of lashing out. He was still on edge, not feeling quite settled in his skin after all that had happened. How long was it going to take him to get back to normal? He would have to focus his meditation on regaining emotional control for a while. This type of behaviour was totally unacceptable.

Cain cleared his throat. "Shall we continue? I believe I have at least another half hour in me today." He smiled warmly and Morgan relaxed a little. He could count on the scholar to leave well enough alone, to focus on the task at hand as he so badly needed to do.

"Yes, please."

Cain dedicated the better part of the next hour to filling in details about the Horadrim and their role in imprisoning Baal. He had managed to put together a diagram of the runes he suspected would be holding the demon lord in place, which Morgan set aside carefully to memorize later. He also had a general idea of the area where the Horadric cube, the device required to reunite the staff, was located, and what manner of traps would be securing it. The trouble was that the desert landscape had shifted over the intervening years, so none of the nearby landmarks were there any more. It was in this general area that Blaise had been concentrating her efforts, having gotten clearance from her superiors to pursue the lead. She had made impressive progress. Hopefully she would still be willing to work with Morgan after he'd repaid her efforts with nothing but a short temper. She didn't tend to accept apologies well, though. He'd just have to work harder at making himself useful.

After Cain retired for the evening, Morgan settled into what felt like a reasonable pattern of alternating between study and meditation. He had to ease himself into it at first; the urge to focus all of his energy on the problem of finding the cube was very strong. But the longer he studied, the more he realized he did need to rest himself properly. Once he passed the initial hurdle of forcing himself to stop and meditate, it was actually a relief to do so. It was good to meditate with peaceful intent again. The familiar, uninterrupted mental exercises were calming in a way he'd sorely missed, and it felt like a luxury to be able to sit in a comfortable chair again. Of course, everything felt like a luxury, compared to... well. It was nice to have a fresh appreciation for the small things.

By the time the sun was coming up, Morgan was satisfied that his understanding was at least adequate. Blaise and Cain found him leaning over the table comparing two maps, trying to pick out notable landmarks from the older one that might still be recognizable in some way.

"Good morning," he greeted them, looking up from his comparison a few seconds later. Both appeared to be in reasonably good spirits.

"Morning. So, do you still want to go out today, or do you want to keep studying?" Blaise lingered at the threshold while Cain made his way around the large table.

"I'd like to join the search today. I've rested," Morgan added quickly at the expression that flickered across her face. "More than I expected. I can keep up."

"Right. Get your gear and some breakfast then, we should go before it gets too much hotter."

Morgan flinched as a hand came down on his own. He'd almost forgotten Cain's tendency towards this sort of casual contact. The old man patted his hand twice, smiling encouragingly.

"Do stay safe out there. Good luck."

"Thank you," Morgan said, sliding his hand away. "I'll meet you at the waypoint," he suggested as he headed past Blaise. She didn't agree or refuse, instead following him out of the archives wordlessly. She only broke her silence once they were outside.

"You know you don't have to do this," she said, uncharacteristically quiet. Morgan searched her face, but couldn't identify the expression on it.

"No, I do. I can't just stand by and do nothing as evil gathers its forces. As a follower of-" he caught himself, remembering they were out in public. "I am obligated to do everything in my power to ensure that Darkness does not triumph over the Light," he explained instead.

"After all you - I mean, don't you think you've done enough by now?" Her unreadable expression didn't budge. At least it wasn't anger, he decided. That was a positive.

"No. There is no 'enough' until the Balance is righted. And even then, there will always be more to do." It wasn't a single task to be completed, it was a duty that extended past the definition of 'lifelong' as most people knew it. Long after his body was dust, even long after his spirit faded, there would still be more to do. It just wouldn't be his to do any more. But since there was still life in him in this world, he had to keep working toward the larger goal.

Blaise seemed unsatisfied with his response, but they had reached the waypoint. "Well, I guess I'll scout ahead while you get yourself together. If I'm not here when you get back, just wait for me."

"Very well." He turned to head towards the palace. If he was fast enough, he could get equipped and still visit the marketplace before it got too busy. There was a vendor who sold nuts and cheeses, good nutrient-dense foods that would be suitable for eating while travelling. It would save time if he could avoid larger meals altogether.

Morgan was relieved to find his room empty when he reached it. It wasn't that he didn't want to see Jemali, exactly, but he wasn't looking forward to it either. Not before he managed to get a handle on his emotions. To dismiss the lingering ache of disappointment that he'd invited in by allowing himself to believe briefly, stupidly, that the kindness he'd received had been anything other than a transaction. Of course he knew better, but it had been a moment of weakness. Nothing to do for it but try to get stronger.

His equipment was still as he'd left it. Despite not wanting to keep Blaise waiting longer than necessary, he let himself fall into an easy rhythm of tightening and checking buckles, running his fingers along the edges of the straps to find any thinning or splitting spots. It was a pleasantly tactile exercise, and the familiarity was a comfort.

The small bag of trinkets had been placed back with the others. It was tempting to go through them, to satisfy his vague curiosity about the cost of Jemali's service, but he'd already spent more time than he intended here. It was time to move on to the marketplace, then the desert. Yes, it was good to have an itinerary again.

[rjhpandapaws]

Music and Magic among Knights and Thieves

Chapter 3: With You at My Back

Warning: Richard has few scruples against murder.

The next time he crossed paths with Gavin came when his drinking companion came to his aid in a fight. He’d gotten reckless, too used to going unrecognized and slipped up. One of the books he’d sold was engraved with his house crest. A raven with a spear clutched in its talons. It had been a stupid mistake and now he was paying for it.  He managed to get himself backed onto a narrow side street when Gavin came to his rescue. Or what Richard had believed to be his rescue until he saw the knights that came barreling after Gavin. Despite this being a problem on its own, Richard found himself smiling. Of course Gavin would bring trouble with him. He would have to be a little more careful with his casting to avoid hitting Gavin, but that wasn’t very difficult. Gavin fought with a similar cadence as the knights they were up against, which suggested formal training of some kind. Two small axes and no shield; had be been trained as a knight he would have been part of a pursuit unit not too unlike this one. It also meant that part of Richard’s concentration was put toward maintaining protection spells for the both of them. Neither of them had proper personal defense. Gavin had been trained to disarm and bring in, and combat magic was meant to be used from a distance. So the fact that they were boxed in a on a side street meant that they didn’t have many options. Or at the least, not any legal ones.

That was the one benefit of coming from a house built on war. Richard was well versed in underhanded tactics and questionable magic. There were a few spells that could buy them time; but the one he had in mind would end this. All he had to do was make sure that he didn’t catch Gavin up in it as well. He had to be delicate with this, old magic didn’t always work; and wild magic was called wild magic for a reason. It could kill a lot of people, which was more or less the point of this, except he didn’t want to quite clear the field. He was careful as he moved toward Gavin and casted marking sigils on all of the knights he passed on the way to him. If he had marked targets he could concentrate on keeping Gavin safe and hit the rest of the knights. When he had his back to Gavin he decided it was time. “Gavin.” He said firmly, “On my mark get down and stay close.” His companion was quiet for a long moment, “Alright.” He trusted Gavin would protect him and closed his eyes to concentrate on his magic. This was a spell he had only ever been allowed to read about. There was a reason for that he was sure, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He’d only just gotten his freedom, he wasn’t about to give it up now. He felt the spell take form and opened his eyes. This was it. “Shit,” He heard Gavin say from behind him, “Okay, I’m down.” Richard let go. The feeling of ancient wild magic coursing through him was an exhilarating one. He chased his marks first. Letting the cobblestone path rot and fall away beneath them as blackened vines curled up to wrap around them. One by one they were pulled under and the ground sealed itself again. Once they were safe the magic faded and Richard collapsed to the ground and struggled to catch his breath.

Gavin was trying to say something to him but Richard couldn’t hear it over the searing pain and the ringing in his ears. The place where Gavin’s hand was touching him felt like his skin was trying to burn and peel away. When he gathered enough strength to look up at Gavin, he looked horrified. There was concern in his eyes, but the most prominent thing was fear. Richard wasn’t sure how long had passed before the pain subsided to the point that he could speak. Gavin was sat beside where he had collapsed after the wild magic had released him. He wanted to sleep for the next century or so. “Gavin are you okay?” His voice was rough to the point of nearly being foreign to his ears and it sounded like he hadn’t used it in years, “None of it touched you right?” Gavin looked down at him still clearly wary, “I’m fine.” He said, “But I have one question. What the fuck was that?” “An old forbidden spell.” he replied after swallowing hard, “From a time before written language. An ancient curse infused with wild magic. Most mages call it the Dark Fate.” “So you killed them.” He said matter-of-factly, “Rather than wait for an opening? Is that how you usually fight? Just clear the field and move on without hesitation?”

Richard paused at his slight outburst. He was trained similarly to a knight certainly he’d seen death before. “If it makes you feel better, they aren’t actually dead.” He replied, “Or at least, they weren’t. I don’t know how much time has passed. The pain made everything hazy.” “Three hours.” Came the terse reply, “And no. It doesn’t.” Gavin sighed, “I thought you might be different; but you’re exactly the same as every other noble out there.” Richard winced, but Gavin wasn’t wrong, he still behaved the way he was raised to, “I know.” He worked himself into a sitting position, “And I probably always will be. So if you want out, now’s your chance.” “Your eyes are back to normal.” Gavin remarked instead of answering him. He looked at Richard for a long moment and then back toward the main road, “Tell me something, before I decide.” “Okay.” Richard said quietly, “Whatever you want to know.” “Which side is the real one?” He asked, “The one I met at the bar who was so wildly out of touch with common customs that he paid for his mead with gold coins? Or the one who opened an eldritch curse on knights without a second thought?” “The bar.” He said, “I don’t fight like this, but I blew my cover and wasn’t going to be able to get out like you were. The Arkait house is one of war. I was taught to fight to win not matter the cost. I don’t know how long it will take to change that, so if it’s something that’s going to eat at you then I won’t blame you for walking away.”

Gavin was silent as he stood and Richard worried he might have lost the only person he had grown close to. Then he turned and held his hand out to Richard. He took it as a good sign. “I’ think I’ll take my chances with the guy from the bar.” He said as Richard took the offered help to get to his feet, “But if you ever do something like that around me again, I’m gone.” “Got it.” Richard said, “No more old magic.” “Sounds good to me.” He replied, “Think we’ll get arrested if we head for the bar?” “Probably.” He smiled. “Want to go anyway?” Gavin grinned. “With you at my back,” Richard replied, “I’m up for anything.”