#“i’m joining the tieflings in their journey to keep them safe”

[teecupangel]

I keep thinking about Desmond, our fave isekai protag, getting dropped into baldur’s gate 3. Only, per one of my favorite isekai tropes, as a no-name NPC. As one of the Sharess’s Caress escorts? As one of Astarion’s spawn?? Basically him just being Tired Of This Shit and trying to avoid the plot but of course that’s not going to work lol. I haven’t even decided if he would be a romantic interest for the MC or a companion or anyone, or what his class would be. But ugh his isekai potential too strong.

His isekai potential is too strong.

If we want Desmond tired of everything and just want to avoid the plot, I personally would put him somewhere safe-ish? Desmond is the type of person who wouldn’t turn a blind eye to atrocities if it smacked him on the forehead so the best way to ensure that he stays away from whatever plot is happening is by making him an NPC in a more or less stable area where he would feel like other more knowledgeable and experienced with all these ‘dungeons and dragons’ (they have magic, holy shit) got this. That would point us to someone in Baldur’s Gate before Act 3. This way, Desmond would have his peace and quiet until the party starts doing their thing and Desmond stop being able to turn a blind eye on everything and he’s ‘forced’ to assist this party of… well… interesting people

As for his class, well, you can go for the class I’m going for with my playthrough of BG3 as Desmond. I made him multiclass Rogue (Thief) and Ranger (Gloomstalker), with a little bit of Bard (College of Swords), specifically:

Rogue Lv 4 – Thief (because Thief’s skills are more all rounders than Assassin’s)

Ranger Lv 5 – Gloomstalker (more stealth options, Dread Ambusher is our Assassin skill lite and lv5 has extra attack XD)

Bard Lv 3 – College of Sword, more on the side of Desmond being good in being seen as ‘non threatening’ but his spell list is more on the side of support than actual damage.

If you want to keep him in one class only, making him a Thief (Assassin) would make the most sense with the hidden blade being more or less his one shot kill weapon, although in terms of gameplay that’s kinda like making him a “best in first round only” kind of deal. The multiclass above is the ‘compromise’ I made to have Desmond be more or less in line with his setup in Assassin’s Creed.

Of course, if you want to have fun and make Desmond suffer (affectionately), you can make him a Warlock with a pact with an unknown Great Old One. This would add a layer of mystery to who had ‘helped’ Desmond be pushed into Faerun and we can hint that the Great Old One is:

Isn’t actually a Great Old One but one of the gods but Desmond’s otherworldly-ness and his lack of ‘worshipping’ stopped him from being a Paladin or a Cleric and pushed him into Warlock territory

Is one of the Isus from his world that had escaped into Faerun (or somewhere close by) but, since that Isu is a deity from their world, the Isu is counted as one of the Great Old Ones (which sounds a lot like “Those Who Came Before”)

Desmond’s patron isn’t one entity but a legion, using some kind of system to support or affectionately bully him at times if and only if the legion reaches a majority vote. Desmond technically has multiple access to ‘Wish’ but it’s more of him asking help from the legion and hoping many of them would give him what he wants. … and, yes, I am basing the legion on the whole “Desmond’s patron is us” idea I have XD

Even if Desmond isn’t a magic class, I think he’d have a few scrolls with him, mostly support spells like Invisibility, Fly and even Enhance Leap (also Speak with Dead and Speak with Animal) with a few attack spells that he uses as distraction most of the time

Sidebar: I’m not sure if you mean Astarion’s spawn as in we’re setting this after BG3 with Astarion having ascended and making Desmond his spawn or if you meant Desmond is a fellow Cazador spawn, either way, we’ll have to find a way for Desmond to escape his sire’s thrall if that’s the case. The easiest would be Desmond getting a tadpole in his brain like Astarion but that does mean that… well… if his sire was Astarion, this will lead to Desmond wanting to kill Astarion because he sees being put in his thrall as something horrible as it makes him lose control over himself even if Astarion was to be… ‘kind’ to him. If it was Cazador though, then that means Desmond will want to kill Cazador (and maybe Astarion and the party helped him during the whole… Cazador ‘sidequest’) and that would be his reason for being unable to keep himself from the plot.

[legendtraineremily]

Foreword for the post: When writing characters and giving them depth, I like to use a little method I was given a few years ago—write a mock “Q&A” bit with your character and see how they’d react to certain questions.

This entry is the Q&A for Alysha’drain the Immovable, my tiefling paladin. I have fun with Aly as I have her inflicted with spirits permanently bound to her soul as a result of the aforementioned trauma. With that, she will occasionally have them interject into her thoughts and cause weird looks from those outside of her mind. (Bolded text indicates the interviewer.)

Firstly, forgive us for asking, but what should we refer to you as while interviewing you?

-You may call me Lady Alysha’drain. In more formal settings “the Immovable;” to friends—and only friends—simply “Aly.” Thank you for your respect.

And thank you for agreeing to the interview. We’ve heard you usually avoid attention and recognition.

-Yes, that’s true. But of course with the recent, er, exploits of the Gaggle of Fools, some recognition is bound to happen and I can’t be a complete recluse. Especially when even our monastic friend has been forthwith in talking to your publication. And in any case, my oaths as a paladin of [redacted god of light] don’t insist upon downplaying any worthy renown. I’m just usually not the best at talking about myself. However His glory shines upon all and, should we gain fame, it only brings greater glory to Him.

Well, with that being the case, how did you come to be a follower and paladin of your faith?

-The full story, and I guess that would end up being very much my whole life story, would really take too long. But, uh, I guess the simple version would be that after some deep traumas—yes, I’m skipping to the nicer part—I found myself in need of great spiritual guidance. Now the church of [redacted god of light] is widely known and followed and I figured it’d at least be a good starting place for my own personal journey. Though the church I came to was massive, the head elder, one Elder Rickard Vale—who won’t mind a mention seeing as he passed into the celestial realms a couple years ago—well, he took me under his wing and taught me the essentials of worship, healing practices, and the best academies for paladin training. After leaving to one academy that both interested me and had uh, corroborating positive testimonies from others, I began my life’s mission.

That’s so sweet! We’re sure the full story is even more inspiring but for now let’s get to a couple other questions.

-O-okay.

So, Lady Alysha’drain, we heard that you weren’t originally a part of the Gaggle of Fools.

-That is correct.

What brought you into their group?

-So, again, to make a long story short, uh, they were hired as extra, undercover security for a duke that was under threat of assassination while I had been traveling with the duke’s personal Elder of [redacted god of light] and was there to keep him safe. Well I recognized Izzy since he had been the one to put me on my path to being a paladin and I almost accidentally broke their whole cover! Though not Donel, as he was so deep undercover in that maid’s disguise I don’t think anyone could’ve found him out. And I have to admit, he pulled it off so well, I thought he was quite cute, hehe!

But, um, anyway, I was kinda feeling off about the “Elder” I was protecting and rightly so, because he began to shape-shift just as the party was winding down and the thing started eating guests including the actual assassin who was getting stalled by Arvad and Uram at the time. Once the civilians were cleared out and the guards were positioned at the main exits to keep the beast from fleeing, it was just myself and the Gaggle of Fools left to defeat the thing. After that was all taken care of, we, uh, just figured we all worked well together and, with me sort of out of a job at the time, I joined on.

That’s quite the story.

-Yes, I guess. There was so much more I didn’t say but that’s all the important parts. Yes I said the important parts, I don’t need to mention the rest!

Quite… Now, last questions and thoughts. What are some life goals for yourself? Obviously your oaths as a paladin figure big but what other things do you see for yourself?

-That…that’s a good question. When I was young, I always dreamed of being a wandering bard telling of heroic tales and entertaining the masses at any inn I happen to stop at. Thankfully I’ve been able to keep my lute playing skills active with some help from Donel, but I have no intention now of pursuing a bardic life anymore. Perhaps when my body wears down I might settle into retirement, safe-keep a small church, and play hymns for congregants. Yes, a nice quiet life of piety and peace would be nice. No, I will not seek out some glorious warrior’s demise! Stop mentioning it!

Okay, erm, thank you for your time, Lady Alysha’drain.

[jennifercrowart]

D&D Diary - The Yawning Rodent, 8

Refresher: Our adventurers Lugs (grung barbarian), Lurk (grung rogue), Aelia (tiefling cleric), and Valas (drow sorcerer) began their journey back through the Sunless Citadel towards the Rat's Nest, dragging along an unconscious Meepo and dragon wyrmling Calcryx in tow. They accidentally alerted the lax Kobold Gang guards on their way out and had to convince them that the party hasn't found Calcryx yet - they're just going on a break to recover and rest back at the ratfolk town.

After leaving the citadel, they walked back through the caverns towards the Rat's Nest. They enlisted church priest Lulu and her sister Candice for help with housing, feeding, and tending to Calcryx, and it seems that they were able to calm the once-hostile wyrmling for now. The group was then reunited with Deku, who had been transported back to the Rat's Nest by his Rat King holy symbol when he fell unconscious in the citadel, and his brother Boak offered them his new item enchantment services if they come across any more enchantment formulae on their journey. The party then left Meepo at the Rat's Nest to think about making better career choices than staying in the Kobold Gang, before heading back to the Sunless Citadel.

Sunless Citadel spoilers!

The party reach the Sunless Citadel after walking through the caverns for a few uneventful hours. The bodies of goblins slain in battle in the first room have now been removed and cleaned up since when they first arrived here. Forced to go through Meepo and Calcryx's old room in the Kobold Gang territory before moving through neutral ground to reach the Goblin Gang again, they run into one of the kobold guards from before.

He greets them, now standing at a post outside the guardroom. Valas confirms that they're back from their rest and ready to keep looking for Calcryx, and the guard cheerfully says that he'll let Yusdrayl know that they're back from their break and resuming their search. Thanking him, the party briskly continues on.

As they casually pass through the rooms they'd been through over the previous two days, they suddenly begin to hear the distant sound of a door shutting from a room away. Concerned, they start to quieten their movements and sneak through, checking the old trapped doors to see if they've been reactivated. Lugs puts the rotted robe he took from the troll onto his club to act as a fake humanoid silhouette, and waves it through a crack in the door to the first Goblin Gang guard post room - immediately, an arrow shoots through the fabric from behind the low wall in the hallway beyond. The party scrambles to hide out of the view of the doorway. Taking aim from his hiding place in a pile of rubble and old bones, Lurk takes the guard out with one arrow, assassin style. They continue to sneak through; however, Valas steps on an old caltrop and lets out a muffled yelp, while Deku's loud armour clunks noisily with every step despite his light ratfolk feet. They hear the sound of another door closing from around the corner, then another more muffled one shortly after.

Continuing around the corner in the S-shaped guard post room, Lurk gets low to the ground and tries to peer through the crack under the door they think they heard the nose from, but he only sees pitch black. With his proper drow darkvision, Valas has a try, and sees the bottom of barrels and hessian sacks as though it's a storeroom; however, he doesn't see any creatures inside. The party realises that, last time they were here, they went through other rooms nearby (as this room connects to the dungeon where they found the kobold gang members and Deku, and a hallway connecting to the guard room where they interrogated a goblin gang member, as well as to Calcryx's room) but missed this one; they suspect it might connect to the hallway of pillars and haze-producing sconces Lurk had briefly explored, and that their previous route must have circumvented this storeroom to reach the hallway a longer way. The door to the room of barrels is unlocked and free of traps, so they go inside.

Shelves and crates of barrels, jars, and sacks of food and drink fill up most of the small room, with makeshift labels written in Goblin. Aelia tests one of the taps on the barrels and it confirms her suspicions that it's just more of the Goblin Gang's goon* inside - far too sour for her more refined and expensive taste. Disappointed with it, she tips the heavy barrel over and it lazily rolls away. Lugs, joining in, picks up another barrel of goon and smashes it on the ground, splitting the wooden sides and spilling a puddle of goon on the floor. They make a bit of a mess and a racket, not finding anything of note. Lugs gleefully talks in Grung to Aelia, who just can't understand him.

On the other side of the room is another door, and, as expected, it opens up to the hallway full of dragon artwork on the walls and a thick violet haze from sconces on the pillars. Suddenly, another arrow flies toward them, with Aelia managing to dodge it at the last second, and spotting figures at the other end of the hallway through the fog. Lugs slams the door shut again. The group agrees that Deku and Lugs will make a distraction, while the rest of them go the other way around to the hazy hallway through Calcryx's old room. Lugs wiggles his fake humanoid figure through the doorway again, and again another arrow is shot through the fabric at the first sign of movement.

After going around the other way, Lurk sneakily ducks behind a pillar in the hallway. Valas follows in behind him, but walks too far out into the middle of the hall, an arrow suddenly embedding itself in the pillar beside him. Their ambushers at the other end turn out to be four goblins led by a taller and more heavily armed hobgoblin, who grunts in frustration at his missed shot. With a quick command from him, the other goblins unleash more of their readied arrows at the lone drow. He deflects one with a wave of his hand, conjuring up a magic shield of shimmering translucent light to deflect it, but another arrow hits him in the leg before he can react. Valas immediately regrets his decision to walk right into the middle of the hallway. The rest of the party gets excited, realising that this hobgoblin must be the leader of the Goblin Gang they'd heard about.

In retaliation, Valas uses his Tides of Chaos ability to make a true Chaos Bolt shot at the hobgoblin. The bolt erratically zips towards its target, turning into a hot beam of fire that strikes the hobgoblin square in the chest, before zipping onto the next target and changing from a fiery bolt into a spray of purple poison. The hobgoblin leader panics and tries to pat out the burning fires on himself, while the goblin bandit behind him screeches and gurgles in pain as the poison liquid bubbles on his face and he falls, dead.

Having unleashed one of his stronger spells, Valas feels the familiar bubbling surge of chaotic magic well up inside of him. Before he can calm down, with the sudden and big puff of an indigo-coloured smoke cloud, his body instantly transforms into a terracotta pot containing a healthy pink larkspur plant, falling from mid-air to the stone ground and clumsily landing on its clay pot base with a thunk.

In the heat of battle, Aelia joins the fray next and casts Toll The Dead on the hobgoblin, as he screams and clutches his burnt hands over his ears in pain from the ghostly bell before collapsing. From behind his pillar, Lurk peeks out and snipes another goblin with his bow and arrows, like a slow motion Skyrim headshot. Terrified to see his fellow goblin gang members and his hobgoblin squad leader fall so quickly, one of the remaining goblins shouts "oh lord, oh lord!" in Common and throws open the door behind them, backing inside while shooting an arrow wide in his panic. In the room beyond, they can see at least four more armed goblins ready inside. As the party members advance forward down the foggy hallway, they see that there's over a dozen more goblins inside, looking like there's bandits similar to the ones they've fought before, as well as weaker-looking trainees waiting to act as backup.

From the thick of the large but crowded hall - which is filled with tents and fire pits, lit by pots of glowing fungi and moss, and with a high ceiling resembling a chapel - comes a goblin standing out from the rest, with a blue-tipped mohawk and a sleeveless leather jacket, running towards the party.

She puffs up her chest and, in Common, yells, "get the fuck out of our territory, assholes!" in a voice booming three times louder than any normal person, echoing around the chapel hall. She whips out a spell scroll from a utility belt pocket, unrolling it and quickly casting the spell Faerie Fire. As the scroll burns up in a flush of magical magenta embers, a dome of light pulses out from the ground where the party members are all congregated in the hallway in front of the door. Deku, the only one unable to leap out of the way in time, lights up with an acidic green glow that makes him an easy target to spot. Arrows fired at him, luckily, are deflected off his large suit of armour this time.

He stays towards the back of the group in the hallway where he feels most safe, wary of how he got hurt last time he was in the Sunless Citadel. Knitting his brows and squeezing his eyes shut in concentration, he casts a Bless spell on Lugs, Lurk, and Valas, boosting their reflexes and accuracy. Meanwhile, a puff of that same indigo smoke is released from the pot plant and envelopes it. As the smoke clears, Valas stands up as his normal drow self, sheepishly saying, "... yeah... I'm back..."

Deku breathes a sigh of relief, having been in a confused panic about Valas' fate. Another goblin, still left from their hallway ambush, tries to run past and shot Valas with his arrow as he flanks them - though Lurk swiftly takes him out with another well-aimed arrow. Feeling like he has to pull out all the stops for this fight, Valas chooses to use his Tides of Chaos ability again to harness the wave of his overflowing magic and aim another powerful true shot of Chaos Bolt at the goblin with the mohawk. The beam of light zigzags towards her, erupting into flame once again at the last second, and rapidly burning her to death as she shrieks. Like a chain reaction, the Chaos Bolt then jumps from her body, and its shape flickers and changes into an icy spear as it arcs towards another goblin nearby. The wave of wild magic pushed over the brink of what he can handle crackles over Valas' body like electricity over his skin once again, though, when it subsides, he's relieved to look and feel no different aside from a harsh tickle in his throat.

Suddenly, a door on the other side of the chapel is kicked wide open. Out comes a big hobgoblin in gaudy silver splint armour with a fancy crest painted on the chest, and the torso moulded to look like a muscular six-pack. He stands a head taller than two more hobgoblins behind him, dressed in plainer chain mail, and all are armed with shields, longbows, and longswords. His voice naturally rough and booming, he yells that the party will pay for fucking up his territory and his gang members.

Pointing at their assailants, he barks, "get 'em, Ripper!" as another one of those small tree-like monsters they fought outside the Sunless Citadel at the start of their adventure - a twig blight - scurries out from behind him, gnashing its wooden teeth, though it doesn't get very far on its short legs. The other hobgoblins charge out from behind him as well, one clashing with Lugs almost immediately. Lugs flies into a strength-amplifying rage, swinging his club overhead at the hobgoblin towering over him, but the hobgoblin puffs out his chest and deflects it with his very strong and bouncy buff pecs. An intern shoots an arrow at Lugs, and Lugs also puffs out his buff frog chest so the arrow harmlessly snaps against his impenetrable wall of muscles. This is the ultimate contest of strength.

From the side, Aelia unleashes a Burning Hands spell, killing another three goblin bandits and interns with a sweeping sheet of fire from her fingertips. Amidst all of the commotion, one of the interns croaks "Grenl!", breaking away to try and drag the mohawk goblin's burnt body out of the fray.

The large hobgoblin in shining armour - most certainly the gang's leader - charges forward furiously like a bull, swinging his longsword with both hands down on Lugs. Blinded by fury, Lugs only feels half of the pain, still standing strong despite the heavy blow of the sword to his shoulder...

--------------

I've realised that I should mention to non-Australians:

* goon = box wine (very cheap wine that comes in a tapped bag (the goon sack) inside a cardboard box)

[michiigii-writes]

Of Shadows and Tyr (1/??)

Summary:  So, after 20 years of searching, I have stumbled upon a DnD group that is willing to deal with my absurd work schedule, and let me play with them!  I have no idea what I’m doing, and I cannot fanart my way out of a wet paper bag, so I appear to have subconsciously decided to write a novel.

Craven and the other Tiefling have written more succinct and appropriately lengthed (that’s a word) summaries.

I have created a neutral 21-year-old Tiefling druid, named Strive.  She has cinnamon skin, short garnet hair, black eyes, a whip-like tail, and horns that curve out and then slightly down and back (Bharal sheep horns).  We have started our journey at level 2.

This is my version of a “the story, so far.”  It is already too long.  8)  I have no idea how many installments there will be; I already had to separate into a second part of our first session because I wrote too much.  I also have an origins chapter for Strive because IM’ SORRY OKAY.

In the beginning:  There was a city (part 1/2)

Master said it was time to see the world.

I didn't want to, of course. I was comfortable enough to live with the Lizardfolk tribe, secreted away in a little hut by the edge of the forest, serving as their healer when Master finally passed on. Why would I need to go out into the world? Our swamp had everything I needed, and that was enough.

But as usual, Master wanted more for me.

As per Master's orders, lightly veiled as 'advice,' of course, the safest way for me to see the world would be with a group. And apparently, the easiest way to find a group of adventurers was in the city.

He failed to mention how busy and loud and DUSTY the city of Kendrith was.  I don’t like sand.  It’s rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere.

There were too many people. Too many humans. It was a warm, sunny day, but I had to keep my cloak closed and my hood up to hide my tail and horns.  Even in the depths of my big cloak, I felt exposed.

And the dust! There was so little natural life in Kendrith; barely any grass or trees.  It had been less than a fortnight, and already I missed the lush reeds and soft, insect-ridden mud near Master's hut. The city was dry and lacking, like stale bread.

I was trying to find quieter streets when I somehow managed to almost step on a small figure, tripping them into the road.  Naturally, I stopped to help them up, but my apology died in my throat when I saw her horns and tail.

She was a Tiefling, too. A young Tiefling with beautiful blue eyes and a spade-tipped tail.

But...her skin...it was purple.

Unbidden, I recalled warmth, and softness, and a smile resting on a purple-skinned face-

And then the Tiefling bared her teeth at me and the memory evaporated.

"Are...are you okay?" I asked, reaching out to her with an empty hand. She hissed at me and scrabbled back. I froze, then raised my hands, palms out, in a sign of peace.

“My name’s Strive,” I said softly, and asked her if she wanted help, but she just hissed and cocked her head at me.  I wasn’t sure if she didn’t speak Common or if she just wanted me to leave.  She made me think of my tribe’s hatchlings:  feral to anybody aside from their family.

We were interrupted, then, by a human in armor.  He had some kind of insignia on the breastplate, but what worried me was that the Tiefling hissed at him, recognition crossing her face.

He was following her and she did not feel safe.

I stood between the human and the girl, tried to brush the him off, but he continued to press forward, offering us shelter, of all things. Why on earth would a human want to help two Tieflings?  People in general didn't trust our kind, but humans!  I felt anger rising to flush my face.  Humans were the whole reason...

If all Tieflings are not alike, the same must be said of all races, Master's voice echoed in my head, stopping my temper.

I wasn’t home, anymore.  I had to be smart, and I had to keep a cool head.

I eyed the human knight carefully.  He introduced himself as Valzan Corindal, and again, he said he wanted to help.  I've always been good at reading people, and for some reason, I couldn't detect any lie in him.  It was odd, but...somehow I believed him.

Almost like a natural 20 had been rolled on my insight.

It helped abate my suspicions when an elf woman wearing similar armor joined him, and he backed away.  I relaxed a little, although the Tiefling behind me still seemed wary.  I spoke a little with the woman.  She seemed kind.  Bitterly, I wondered if it was easy to be kind when your race was generally admired.

Nobody chooses their blood, Charity. Only their path, Master chided.

I did my best to shut down my concerns, and listened to the elf woman's spiel about their church.  Her name was Elyssia, and according to her, she and Valzan were hoping to develop a church worshipping Tyr in Kendrith.  I wasn’t particularly interested in converting.  Semuanya, Master’s deity, was enough for me, valuing my survival instead of my dark heritage. 

Thankfully, Elyssia wasn’t trying to change me, only offering me a place of rest, and then she retreated into a run-down old building nearby. That made me wonder: I'd been taught that churches were grand affairs with coloured windows, not dusty ruins. This 'church' didn't look anything like that; it looked significantly more forlorn than what I had imagined a church to be.

It was then that the Tiefling shook her head and looked even more upset.  I didn’t see any flies buzzing near her ears.  I couldn’t hear or sense anything, myself.  But I knew I was missing something, and that bothered me.

My answer came sooner than I expected:  a very tall gentleman decided it was time to join our group and with a booming voiced asked if he could be of some assistance.

I wanted to go home, personally.

The Tiefling girl spat an insult at the tall man, making him dizzy, somehow.  I suspected he had done something to upset her.

I, on the other hand, looked at the newcomer appraisingly.  He seemed otherworldy to me, somehow.  In a loud, boisterous voice, he announced that Craven was his name.  He was tall for human standards, but his hair stood up in a crest and his eyes glowed blue.

I had never seen anything like those eyes.

I also started to wonder if maybe the Lizardfolk and I were the strange ones and everyone else on earth had blue eyes.  I glanced at the human.  Nope, his were green.  Stranger and stranger...

I decided then that I was going to try to convince the Tiefling girl to come back with me to the swamp where we would never have to deal with anybody on Semuanya's green earth ever again.  That was the only logical thing to do.  There were too many things happening out in the world and I, personally, was done with it.  Master was clearly wrong; I did not need to see the rest of the world.

Instead, two men in black sauntered over, chains on their belts, and clearly looking for the Tiefling girl behind me.

The way she hissed and backed away from them, by comparison, she had been downright cozy with Valzan only a moment before.  Forget not trusting the Paladin of Tyr; these two men, who were soon joined by a third, were definitely an active danger.

To my pleasant surprise, I saw that Valzan and Craven were also of the same mind; together, we fought to take girl’s enemies down.

The four of us made short work of the three men. I entangled the one who was closest to us, using vines, while the girl behind me spat curses with some kind of magic.  The tall Craven cut down one slaver with his great sword, while the paladin finished off the other with a few swings of his axe.  The third enemy tried to run, but was quickly caught by Valzan, and the coward passed out as soon as he saw his fate was sealed.

Craven carried their hostage into the church, but Valzan stayed behind, hoping to talk us into following them, once again talking about safety.

I looked at how thin the Tiefling girl was, then instead of properly answering him, asked if the paladin had any food.  He pulled out some bread, offering it to her.  She shifted back, ever distrustful.  I didn’t blame her. 

Silently, I took the loaf, took a bite of it to show that it was fine, then offered it to the girl.  She hesitated, then snatched it from me, munching eagerly away at what I now knew was incredibly dry bread.  I mentioned so to the paladin, but with a small smile and shrug he explained that it was rations.  I nodded, chewing thoughtfully, noting that he didn’t snap defensively at me.  A comment like that would have earned a slap, with Master’s tribe. 

I was also impressed to see that the girl was almost done the loaf; quite a feat considering how dry it was.  Without thinking, I said out loud that she reminded me of a chipmunk. 

She did not appreciate it.  She pulled a face, and I regretted saying it.

Again, we were invited to the church.  I told the girl that it seemed like a good offer, and if she was anything like me, she didn’t have anywhere else to go.  I slowly followed the paladin to the church, and was pleased to see that the girl stayed right behind me.

Crossing the threshold, I paused, and it was with some degree of relief to find that I would not burst into flames.  The highest point of my day, so far.

In the main foyer of the church, we found that the elf woman, Elyssia, had prepared a wonderful spread for us.  The Tiefling girl made a beeline towards the fruits and sweets, but my eyes gravitated to the cheese!  There were great, big, yellow and red wheels of cheese, beside loaves of bread that were so fresh I could still see steam rising off of them.  And wine!  I loved wine.  I’d only had it once or twice, but I knew it was so much better than the brackish moonshine the Lizardfolk made. But first, to business.  Craven and Valzan hauled their unconscious slaver into the church’s basement, myself following silently behind.  Elyssia stayed with the girl upstairs, so I figured she would be safe. 

In the basement, a lone chair, small table, and candle awaited them, along with two large barrels of water.  My mouth twisted, hidden by the shadow of my cloak.  I could imagine what was coming.  I reminded myself that their victim was a slaver, and a cruel one, if the Tiefling girl’s scars were any indication. Valzan splashed water into their victim’s face, effectively reviving him.  Craven thought it would be a good idea to dump a whole barrel onto him; I rolled my eyes, hiding a smile at the unnecessary action.

It didn’t take much to make the man talk; almost immediately, he willingly shared everything he knew about his employers, even if it wasn’t much.  I frowned when he mentioned that he was just a hired hand, trying to make his way in the world.  He was a slaver.  A slaver.  How could he stomach such work?

But his insistence that he just wanted coin rang true.  He needed to work to eat, and jobs were scarce.  It just happened that what he had to do was vile.

I didn’t want to hear any more.  Without the others noticing, I turned away and slipped back upstairs.  I would much rather keep company with the cheese and wine.

--(part two)--

[ericsonclan]

Blazing Through the Snow

Summary: The caravan of adventurers go on a quest to gather coin for their Winterfest celebration.

Word Count: 5621

Read on AO3:

It was a beautiful day for adventure, especially one that would result in enough money for the winterfest party the caravan wanted to throw. It was a bit of an odd quest to have such a high coin reward. Apparently some reindeer in the northern lands had been eating some white-speckled red mushrooms that usually only gave them a high that made them pleasantly calm. But this year it was different: the drug mushrooms didn’t have a calming effect on the reindeer but instead seemed to have been cursed, making any who ate them go into a crazed state.

The quest stated that any who could herd the reindeers and let the drug mushroom effects wear off them would be rewarded handsomely. With that idea in mind, the group headed out onto the dirt road. Marlon led the way; the half orc’s warg Rosie walked alongside him. On the warg’s back rested Violet who had been trying too hard to keep up with Prisha’s pace that her small legs had given out early on in the journey to the northern lands. The wood elf walked alongside Rosie. Prisha’s eyes held a level of concern for the halfling she loved.

“I’m fine, Prisha,” Violet smiled up at her love. “Just a little tired.”

“Alright,” The wood elf returned the smile but the concern didn’t fully leave her eyes.

“She’s gonna be fine, Prisha.” Louis' cheery voice drew back the elf’s attention to the halfling who was holding AJ’s right hand while Clementine held AJ’s left. The family unit looked happy even if the sight was slightly amusing as the human child towered over his parental figures.

“Yeah, you need to chill,” Mitch called out from the middle of the pack, his hand intertwined with Brody’s as they ambled onward. “Omar got tired out too.” He motioned with his head to his shoulder where Omar rested. The halfling looked happy to be able to have a break from walking and receiving a piggyback ride.

“I suppose you're right,” Prisha fidgeted with the tip of her braid. She didn’t think it was bad to be concerned for Violet’s safety but perhaps she was being a tad overcautious.

“I know what will raise everyone’s spirits!” Renata’s bubbly voice appeared beside the wood elf. Her fancy cape fluttered in the wind as she sprinted forward. Her right hand dramatically shot out before her left one reached for the sky. “It’s time for winterfest tricks!”

Willy cheered excitedly, hopping and scampering about. “Willy loves magic tricks!” The goblin’s arms flailed happily as he traveled alongside Allison. The kentauride gave a soft smile over to her love.

“Say no more, my good goblin friend,” Renata walked backwards as she lifted her hands up in the air and called up a water spell. The water gurgled and swirled in between the wizard's hands as she began to juggle it. AJ and Willy gasped, completely in awe of the show so far. A happy twitter from the air drew up Renata’s attention and she saw Tenn doing small chirps and tweets while his eyes focused on the magic show. Sophie and Minnie were right beside their brother, both of them just as drawn into the show. Renata’s smile grew as she threw the water up in the air before sending an air spell up and bursting the bubble of water, causing a mist to spray the front row audience. Marlon shook his blond hair and let out a small chuckle as the mist hit. Where the mist once was a faint rainbow took its place, disappearing after a few seconds. Renata starts to say what Aasim assumed were nonsensical ramblings and not a chant that would enhance her magic. But he didn’t seem to care when Renata made fire dance around in the air like a bird. The high elf’s eyes sparkled in awe at the sight, causing Ruby to give a warm chuckle as she walked hand in hand with her lover. The wizard pressed her pointer and middle fingers against her lips then made a kiss sound and sent a wink Minnie’s way as fire in the form of a kiss flew the harpy’s way before fading midair. Minnie’s cheeks grew hot as the romantic gesture, a shy twitter escaping her lips as she did a little circle in the air.

“Could you do an ice trick next?” James’ soft voice called out from the back of the group. The blue skinned tiefling had a shy smile on his face as he held Jesse’s hand. The wind sylph suddenly seemed more interested in the wizard’s magic show as his dark brown eyes looked towards the front of the caravan.

“You got it, boss!” Renata dramatically stretched out her hands before placing her right hand over her face. Saying another long-winded phrase, the human wizard curled her fist before releasing her grip and letting a burst of snowflakes come forth from her fingertips. The small, delicate creations wandered through the air,  landing all around: on Rosie’s nose, in Brody’s hair, on Omar’s eyelashes, and traveling all the way to the back, swirling around James. The blue tiefling’s black pupiless eyes grew large and danced with simple joy as the snowflakes flew around him. A gentle smile appeared on Jesse’ lips at the sight.

The caravan of adventurers continued their journey as they grew closer and closer to their destination. After a while it was growing dark and they took refuge in the forest, setting up for the night. Omar and Ruby worked hard together to get dinner ready, chatting and chopping up things for supper. Mitch and Brody worked to get the fire started while the rest set up tents and went hunting for food. After a while dinner was ready and the band of travelers sat around the fireplace together. Louis and Renata got into a heated storytelling competition as everyone enjoyed their meal. After the food had been consumed and the stories had ended the group started to get ready to turn in for the evening. Minnie and Sophie set up the nests for the night while Allison rested away from fire with Willy who lay sprawled out on top of a rock beside her. Omar had already gotten comfy on the ground alongside Rosie who was more than happy for any added company. Marlon gave the warg some pats here and there and wished Sophie a good night. The harpy flew down from her perch and wrapped the half orc in a hug, giving small kisses before chirping happily when he returned them. Meanwhile Minnie was trying to persuade Renata to not try and climb the tree and join her since it would be a painful fall if she misstepped while climbing.

“Have no fear, Ruby will patch me up if I fall,” Renata reassured her lover who didn’t look convinced.

“I won’t keep patching you up if you keep acting recklessly,” The dwarf replied as she worked on sharpening her warhammer.

“Aww come on, Rubes,” The wizard flashed a carefree smile to her friend. “We both know you will. Right, Brody?” Renata looked over to the human and saw that she had fallen asleep against a tree. Mitch’s head rested in her lap. Brody’s hand lay on top of it while the mercenary’s hand was placed over his blade. Ready to attack if anything came near the girl he loved. “Oop,” the human wizard chuckled and continued to climb. “Don’t worry, Min. My love will keep me safe.”

“Ren, please,” Minnie looked worriedly down at her lover who seemed more entranced by the harpy than paying mind to where her footing was. With a yelp the wizard fell, causing the redheaded harpy’s heart to stop. Minnie didn’t hesitate as she dove down to Renata. The wizard mumbled some nonsensical jumble, creating a wind bubble that her butt safely landed on at the last second. The harpy used her talons and gingerly wrapped them around Renata’s arms, carrying her up to the nest. As soon as they landed safely, Minnie wrapped Renata in her arms and nuzzled her face against hers.

“Don’t try something like that again. Okay?”

“Okay,” Renata smiled up happily at Minnie.

“Oh, Ren, you’re sleeping up here tonight?” Sophie flew up alongside her brother.

“Yep!” The wizard seemed rather pleased with herself.

“Well as long as we’re all fine with that.” Sophie looked over at Tenn who gave a gentle smile and nod. With that confirmation the harpies and wizard got ready to sleep. Sophie and Tenn cuddled up next to each other on one side while Minnie and Renata curled up next to each other on the other side. Within minutes the four were sleeping contently in the nest.

“That’s quite the sleeping spot,” Louis looked up at the nest in the tree. “Ever slept in a tree, Clem?” The halfling nearly bit his tongue when he saw that his lover was already asleep. Her head leaned over and fell onto his shoulder while AJ slept haphazardly over Clementine’s lap. Louis smiled warmly at the sight and ever so gently placed a loving kiss on Clementine’s forehead, causing the halfling to mumble in her sleep and shift around before becoming still once more. Louis watched her for a second then looked over at the fire. Jesse and James were sitting beside each other, their hands intertwined as they spoke. Prisha sat beside Aasim, clearly in a debate, while a strand of blonde hair poking out betrayed the fact that Violet was sitting in Prisha's lap. Beside the high elf was Ruby who had just finished sharpening her weapon. Louis wanted to watch the fireplace for longer but his eyelids grew heavy and within seconds he was asleep, his head resting on top of his lover’s.

Ruby rose up from her spot and with a mighty swing sliced the blades of a patch of grass near the fireplace. The very sight made Aasim’s cheeks flush a warm red. The dwarf swung the warhammer over her shoulder and smiled back at her lover. “Seems like it's sharp enough. I’m glad, this thing’s a beaut after all.”

“Not as beautiful as you,” The high elf proclaimed rather loudly.

The compliment made Ruby’s cheeks turn the color of her namesake. She glanced at the ground and tucked a strand of her fiery red hair behind her ear. “Awww, Aasim. You sure now how to flatter a gal,” The dwarf moved forward and placed a warm kiss on the high elf’s lips that made him smile.

“You two should get a tent,” Violet teased which made Aasim get all the more flustered.

“Well, Vi, I don’t think you get to act all high and mighty when you're sitting in Prisha’s lap.” Ruby smiled over smugly when she saw the halfling had become overwhelmed by that. The blonde turned her face away as it burned bright red. Prisha’s arms wrapped protectively around her lover.

“I don’t think there is anything wrong with that,” The wood elf shot back before she placed her head on top of Violet’s.

“It's only an issue because of what Violet said,” Aasim huffed. The two elves began to argue for a few minutes before Ruby and Violet pulled them away from it. It wasn’t worth arguing over. Ruby sat beside the high elf and began to braid his hair as Prisha and Violet got lost in another conversation with each other.

After a few minutes of silence a gentle note danced through the air, the two couples looked over to see the tiefling was beginning to hum. Something he would never do early in their friendships but now that they had all grown close and Jesse was beside him, James would hum. His voice matched the night sky, calming, soft and peaceful.

Jesse seemed captivated by it as he leaned closer to James. After a minute it became clear what type of tune he was singing, it was a elven song that Prisha and Aasim had sung many times before. Omar’s deep, soothing voice joined in, giving a new level of depth as his voice and James’ swirled and spun around the evening fire. After a moment Aasim began to sing, the elegance of the eleven languages giving the music a new breath of fresh air. It was a song of the eternal bonds of life. Prisha’s voice was the last to join in as she added a verse sung specifically in the wood elves’ version of the song. Aasim and Prisha shared a warm smile as their voices performed a warm melody.

James’ smile grew as did his voice as he looked over at Jesse with a shy smile. The sylph placed a delicate kiss on the teifling’s cheek that made his cheek turn a darker shade of blue. He awkwardly scratched the edge of one of his horns as the music continued. Ruby had fallen asleep by the high elf who wrapped his arm around her and held her close to his side. Violet’s pale eyes locked with Prisha’s as she continued to sing. It filled the halfling’s heart with a bright, comforting feeling before she looked up to the sky. The stars were beautiful tonight. Their bright lights made a bigger smile overtake Violet’s face when she noticed that the song was drawing to an end and with it the end of the evening.

------

“Oh boy, I can’t wait to get the money so we can do the party,” Louis smiled as he worked to get his winter gear on. The rest of the group was working to get theirs on as well. It wouldn’t be wise to go up to the northern areas without it.

“I am quite excited as well,” A sparkle entered Aasim’s eyes. “To think we'll hold a winter fest with all our different cultures’ traditions.” “And I’ll be able to document it,” Prisha’s smile grew as she put her bow over her shoulder.

“Well then, let’s not wait,” Renata scampered forward. “Reindeer and reward await!” the wizard declared and led the way once everything had been packed up. It would be nearly a half day’s travel before they reached their destination. The group of adventurers buckled down and got ready for the long walk ahead. Louis rode on Rosie today. The halfling talked animatedly with the half-orc who had a kind smile on his face. Louis was going on about another tale of the group’s adventures that Marlon must’ve heard tens of times by now but he enjoyed them as much as his best friend did. Renata led the front with the three harpies and Allison while Willy was in the back trying to persuade the tiefling for a piggyback ride.

“That’s fine with me,” James gave a soft smile then took out his staff and held it out for the goblin to get on. Willy gave an excited cry and wrapped his long pale arms around the staff before the tiefling lifted it up and placed his friend on his back. Willy wrapped his arms around James and giggled.

“Willy loves friendship rides!” He gave a toothy grin to James who seemed happy to see his friend’s happiness. Jesse glanced over then looked off into the distance as his thumb brushed the top of James’ hand as he held his hand. Mitch and Brody were walking in the middle, the mercenary playing rock paper scissors with AJ and Clem while Brody gave Violet a piggyback ride to give her friend’s legs a rest. Brody talked about how excited she was about the future winterfest party as Prisha and Violet added in their own details that they were looking forward to. Ruby bustled forward alongside Aasim who was carrying Omar on his back. The couple were clearly just as excited at the future festivities.

The caravan continued on and arrived at the destination when the sky was beginning to turn a warm orange hue. The team of travelers set up camp then worked to scout the area for where they figured the reindeer would be. They tried to remain as silent as possible as their footsteps crunched the snow underneath them. After a few minutes they had located the reindeer and with a whispered, heated discussion on the best way to go about it they began to set up their plan.

Everyone worked to gather supplies for a pen they would create to keep the reindeer in after they herded them. It was truly a team effort as each member of the group of friends worked on the pen. By the time they had finished it and gotten the approval of Prisha and Aasim, it was already dark out. The group returned to their camp and ate a quick supper before turning in for the night. Based on the plan, it would be quite the draining day tomorrow.

“Oh boy,” Renata poked her head out of the bushes to sneak a glance at the crazed reindeer. “Do you think they can fly?”

“They can fly?!” Sophie’s feathers fluttered at that, an excited chirp leaving the harpy’s lips.

“Ren, why do you think they can fly?” Minnie glanced down from her spot in the trees where she would stay until she was needed for the plan.

“Because humans have this tale of this old bearded fat dude that uses reindeers to fly around the world.” The wizard smiled up at the three harpies.

“Really?” Tenn leaned forward, intrigued by the legend.

“Mmmhmm, he gives gifts to the good kiddos of the world and coal to the bad.”

“Humans have the weirdest ideas,” Minnie scratched her talons nervously across the tree bark. She hoped that all would go according to  plan.

“True, we are a bunch of weirdos,” Renata sat down in the snow and began to make a mini snowman until she was needed for the plan.

Minnie glanced over at the pen where Mitch stood ready to use the horn of the noble family that he once hailed from. Brody stood to his right while Marlon and Rosie stood to his left, both ready to close the pen gates when the reindeer got in. The harpy’s piercing blue eyes moved over towards a set of bushes where she knew most of the others waited to help herd in the wild creatures. In the middle stood the four halflings, already in the midst of talking about something.

“Two coins,” Sophie whispered over to her sister, drawing her attention back to the energetic harpy. “Two coins that these reindeers can fly.”

Minnie thought about it for a minute then held out her hand. “I’ll take that bet.”

Sophie twitter and smacked her hand against Minnie’s before the pair did their secret promise handshake.

“I hope everything goes to plan,” Tenn nervously played with his deep brown feathers that were ruffled due to his nerves.

“It will. I believe in our friends,” Sophie flashed a confident smile that made Tenn’s mood brighten before the three harpies settled down to wait for the plan to commence.

----

Prisha hid underneath the protection of the foliage around her. The wind sylph, tiefling and human child were to her right while Aasim and Ruby were to her left. Willy and Allison were a bit further off. The wood elf glanced down the way for a moment at the kentauride who had a small smile on her face as the goblin whispered encouraging words. They seemed to be enjoying the waiting process of this quest.

“Are you sure this was the wisest plan?” Aasim’s judgement was clear in his voice. “Four halflings out in the middle as the bait.”

“I must admit it isn’t the most ideal plan but…”

“But?” The high elf rose an eyebrow towards the wood elf.

“Well, Violet looked so happy to show how badass she was along with the other halflings that I pushed for the plan.”

Aasim gave a weary sigh. “You honestly would do anything for that halfling even if it meant throwing together a flimsy plan.” The high elf’s words rubbed Prisha the wrong way, a frown appearing on her lips.

“Aasim,” Ruby placed a hand on his arm, “You’re bein’ a bit harsh,'' She turned to Prisha. “I think what he’s saying is that the halflings are in the most danger is all.”

Prisha’s eyes widened at that. She had been so caught up in Violet’s happiness that she hadn’t considered the dangers.

“They have small legs. They’re like tiny twigs,” Aasim shook his head. “I say we pull them back and reassess the plan.”

The wood elf looked at her friend then over to where her love stood with her friends. “Perhaps it would be for the best…”

----

“Just watch, we’ll prove that halflings can be the best bait,” Louis pulled on the sides of his winter coat. “But maybe a good luck kiss would help our chances.” Louis gave a playful smile over at Clementine that quickly faltered into a shy, nervous one.

Violet snorted. “That sounds stupid,”

“You seemed to be getting a good luck kiss from Prisha before we walked over here,” Omar stated simply, making the blonde halfling glare over at him. Omar’s expression didn’t change; he knew he was right.

Clementine placed her hand on her chin, pretending to think deeply before leaning over and placing a delicate kiss on Louis’ cheek. The halfling giggled and pulled on his dreadlocks with a big grin.

Violet rolled her eyes and glanced over at the reindeer that were not that far from them. They were happily munching a patch of the white-speckled red mushrooms, none of them having a care in the world. “You remember the signal right, Lou?” Violet glanced over her childhood friend who was sneaking a kiss with Clementine.

“Oh, yeah! I helped come up with it after all,” He smiled proudly. “It's this,” He spun around in a circle and shot his hand up in the air. “By the power of friendship!”

The other three halflings’ eyes widened, surprised that Louis had gone ahead and accidentally sent the signal.

“Louis, wait-” Clementine was cut off by the low, deep tone of Mitch's hunting horn. The halflings looked back at the human who looked satisfied with a job well done until he saw his friends’ faces.

“Fuck,” Mitch muttered under his breath.

“We have to help them!” Brody exclaimed, moving forward.

“Wait, we have to stay to make sure we can close the pen,” Marlon looked worried as well but Brody knew he was right. She just hoped the halflings would be safe.

Omar moved forward and began to frantically push Louis. “We need to leave the center of the field before-” He froze when all reindeer stopped eating their drug snacks and lifted their heads up in a unified motion, all snapping their heads over in the direction of the sound. Their bloodshot eyes stared deeply into the halflings’ before the leader gave a cry and led the charge.

“Well, this has been fun,” Jesse’s transparent body flickered before he fully disappeared into the wind. His cloak and other clothes fell to the ground which James picked up.

The two elves stared in disbelief at the wind sylph’s decision.

“We have to help them,” James had an apologetic expression on his face from his love’s selfish decision. Prisha looked back, her heart filled with worry as the reindeer began to get closer to the halflings.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Violet turned to sprint forward. Clementine immediately grabbed Louis’ hand who reached over and grabbed Omar to pull him along. Violet was the fastest amongst the halflings and was about to reach back for Clementine, her pale green eyes growing large at how fast the reindeer were galloping forward. Suddenly Prisha jumped over the bushes and closed the distance between her and the halflings. Her arms swept up Violet and without thinking she began to dash back to the bushes.

“Prisha!” Violet looked up at the wood elf who already had a hint of guilt in her eyes for her decision.

“I panicked! I needed to make sure you got out safe,” Prisha glanced down at Violet.

“We have to go back for the others!” The blonde halfling shouted as she looked back at the others.

“We can’t!” Prisha motioned back with her head. “We have company,”

The blonde halfling looked to see that a small cluster of reindeer had been drawn away by Prisha’s move.

Clementine watched as Prisha ran away with Violet safely tucked in her arms and tried to get away from the crazed reindeer they had drawn away.

“Clem,” Louis gave a wheezy breath, “We’re not gonna make it!”

“Yes, we are!” Clementine gritted her teeth and moved to get her and her friends to safety. Suddenly Louis’ grip on Omar’s hand broke, leaving him a few paces behind. Before either halfling could turn back they heard a voice call out to them.

“Clem, Louis!” AJ dashed forward and chucked a few rocks at the high reindeers that only ticked them off more. Using both arms he tucked his parental figures under each one and began to get them to safety.

“Wait! What about... Omar!” Louis called out as the halfling got hit by the antlers of one of the reindeer, sending him flying up in the air before landing hard on its back.

“Shit… I mean shoot,” AJ glanced back. “Gotta get you to safety first.” The human ran forward to see that James had taken a stand. Slamming his staff down, he summoned shadows that swirled and took on sinister forms that scared some of the high creatures back in line and away from the trio.

Meanwhile Prisha and Aasim were butting heads while Violet and Ruby were trying to figure a way to help. A rustle from the bushes made them all stop to see Allison leap through the air and begin to gallop alongside the reindeer with Willy on her back.

“Willy will save Omar!” the goblin cried and waved a stick wildly. The kentauride’s pace was impressive as she soon joined the front of the herd and gave Willy a small smile of approval as he jumped onto the backs of the reindeer. With sloppy, haphazard bounds the goblin reached the halfling. “Omar!” Willy pulled Omar into a hug. “Willy has saved you! Go! Go to Allie!” The goblin pointed his finger over to Allison who gave a short nod. Omar began to work his way over and hopped onto Allison’s back.

“Willy, you need to get over here too,” Allison called out to her love.

“Willy will be with you shortly. Will-” He was suddenly bucked off the reindeer and flew through the air.

“Willy!” Allison called out and turned sharply, her hooves digging up the dirt as she tried to reach a place she couldn’t get to in that short amount of time.

“I got him!” A gentle voice rang out as Tenn snatched up the goblin with his talons. Tenn gave a relieved chirp. “He’s safe.”

“Not as safe as I’ll make all of us when I finish this snack!” Renata declared proudly, bits of white specks flying out of her mouth as the wizard spoke.

“Ren, what do you have in your mouth?” Sophie tilted her head. Minnie’s eyes grew large when she put it together. “Ren, those are mushrooms aren’t they?”

The wizard remained silent as her chewing intensified.

“You’re eating the mushrooms!” the harpy twittered worriedly as she grabbed the wizard by her cloak, lifting her up in the air. “Spit! It! Out!” Minie demanded as she shook Renata up and down. The wizard spewed out the mushrooms that fell down in odd blobs. “Minnieeee, I wanted to use that to enhance my magic!”

“They made the reindeer insane! There’s no telling what they’d do to you! Soph,” The harpy looked over at her twin who flew over in an instant.

“On it!” The younger twin began to toss out the mushrooms that the wizard had placed in her bag and pockets.

“Sophieeeee! Mushroom powers!”

“Nope,” The harpy tossed away the mushrooms when she noticed that the shouting and the prospect of new snacks had drawn in some of the reindeer. Gliding over, Sophie let out a war cry and began clawing at the air in warning.

“Shit,” Marlon’s eyes grew large when he saw his love and her family was in danger. With a sharp whistle he sent the warg who barreled forward. Rosie growled and began to bite at the reindeers’ ankles in warning. With the warg and the harpy’s joint threats, most of the reindeer drew back. Minnie placed down the wizard who readjusted her cape.

“Looks like we have some more customers!” Renata pointed over at some reindeer who had been steered their way by the chaos that was happening all around them.

“Fuck,” Minnie grumbled and was about to fly up when Renata held out a hand and took a step forward.

“It’s time to send them back to their pals,” Renata threw back the cape, causing it to flutter in the wind before she began to speak. “O gods of the earth, sky and winds, grant me magic so that I may use it to vanquish my foes.” The wizard placed her right hand over her face. “Flames consume my heart and soul and so shall they consume my enemy.” She shot both arms out to her sides then moved them in front of her. “Now come forth flames of old, heed my prayers. Burn these suckers to ash!” With a dramatic gesture the wizard called forth a small flame that was barely visible before it faltered out with a faint fart sound. A thin grey trail of smoke traveled up from it.

“What was that?” Minnie asked in a panic.

“I must’ve used too much magic on those winterfest tricks on the road!”

“Guys, we’ve got company!” Sophie put a pin in the conversation until further notice as the reindeers drew near. The two harpies darted left and right in the air while the wizard and warg worked on the ground to herd back the reindeer. As they worked on that they noticed that the others were busy as well.

Allison was near the back, making sure no strays got loose with Tenn and Willy. The two elves were shooting arrows along the fringes to cause the reindeers to get back into the group. The halflings along with Ruby and AJ worked hard to help keep each other safe. James continued to use his staff to make loud sounds and his shadow magic to spook the high creatures. Everything seemed to be going right when the reindeer began to get restless at the sight of the pen. Mitch and Marlon moved forward but it only seemed to make it worse. It looked like all the team’s work would be for naught when a huge gust of wind swirled behind the reindeer, forcing them into the pen.

“Close it!” Marlon bellowed as the two humans helped him push the pen gates closed and locked them. The reindeer looked a bit restless but after a few minutes they began to calm down now that no loud sounds or crazy distractions were happening.

The group of travelers all went to the center of the field where Brody sprinted forward and wrapped her arms around the halflings in a tight hug. All of them reassured her they were safe. Ruby bustled around checking on everyone’s injuries while James disappeared to help Jesse dress before returning. Sophie and Minnie were standing side by side in silence until Sophie casually flicked over two coins which Minnie accepted with an excited tweet. Prisha moved past the twins and towards the halflings; there was something she needed to do.

“I want to apologize for my selfish actions,” The wood elf’s eyes fell. “I was so lost in my concern for Violet that I hadn’t stopped to consider anything else.”

“Well, it was a tad rude, but it was for love, right?” Louis beamed up at Prisha who became a bit embarrassed.

“Yes, it was, but it doesn’t excuse it. I shall make it up to you.”

“With food?” Omar’s ears perked as he leaned forward, a hopefulness dancing within his eyes. The other halflings’ looked at their friend then back up at the wood elf.

“Of course, if that would be acceptable.”

The chatters between the friends made it clear immediately that it was.

“Well, are you going to apologize?” Aasim glanced over at Jesse.

The wind sylph glanced up before returning to playing with the wind on his fingertips. “Why? I helped out in the end.” His nonchalant and unapologetic tone made the elven member of the group erupt in dispute as James tried to calm them down.

“Hey, hey, hey now!” Louis stood up with a grin. “We herded the reindeer safely and soon that reward money will be as good as ours!”

“Yeah, the party!” Renata bounced up and down. “The best party in the history of winterfests!” Her bubbly energy along with Louis’ words seemed to draw the group’s attention away from their troubles and make them focus on happier things. The team chatted happily, talking about different aspects of the party, how certain traditions would be a must and how much fun it would be while they went back to rest at their camp. Soon they would get that party and all of this would become a distant memory that they could look back and laugh at in fondness. A chaotic quest like many before that they were sure to share over feasts and drinks in the future.

[thesunlovesmuses]

One Word (An Introduction)

Prompt: Describe each character in the works with just one word

Author’s Note: So i’m using this prompt as a sort of introduction to my characters for my short stories just in case anyone get’s confused as to who the characters used in the prompts are, or if anyone's interested in learning a bit more about them past the short stories. Unfortunately, I’m not great at drawing, so I hope the description of them will do them justice. It’ll mostly consist of My main fantasy groups. But if I feel the need to write a random piece about different characters, I’ll include them below as well. But without further ado... Here we go!

The Mylanthia Series (Main Series):

Main Characters

Katiana Pensworth (An adventurer and storyteller who’s village gets burned down at a young age and gets taken in by a wizard and his partner. Now she wishes to make her own way in the word, making her own stories and maybe finding out where her biological family is now and who attacked her village) - Peacemaker

Izax Salisca (A royal wizard and teacher at the Fabalan Academy, who takes Katiana in after her home is eradicated. He taught Katiana all he knows about basic magics and how to defend one’s self on the road.) - Practical

Azra Bhaskera (A part time singer at the Cloven Cart Tavern in Serden Village and Izax’s Partner. He taught Katiana all he knows about storytelling and acting diplomatically in a confrontation) - Pacifist

Luka Harrington (Katiana’s Adoptive brother, who was also taken in by Izax after his parents died, who happened to be the old royal wizards of the kingdom.) - Intelligent

Mylanthia’s Gods

Eerina (Goddess of Beginnings, Life, Safe childbirth & Peace) - Loving

Mophy (God of the Sun, the Day, the Sky & Mountains) - Thrill-Seeker

Kisala (Goddess of Spring, Scholars, Knowledge & Nature) - Wise

Ilmari (God of Storms, Oceans, Wild Nature & Fertility) - Irritated

Aezir (Goddess of Literature, Stories, Music & Performers) - Flirter

Amion (God of the Night, Dreams, Summer & Magic) - Imaginative

Rosdia (Goddess of Love, Marriage, Happiness & The Moon) - Silent

Hendorr (God of Commerce, Fortune, Merchants & Luck) - Frivolous 

Rasulla (Goddess of Fire, Forges, Autumn & Deserts) - Bold

Iktar (God of War, Strategy, Wisdom & Perseverance) - Cold-Hearted

Zelara (Goddess of Winter, Ice, Family & the Hearth) - Motherly

Odum (God of Endings, Death, Glory & Remembrance) - Respectful

Mylanthia’s Royalty

Lawrence Farbridge (The current King of the Kingdom of Lenoa, who walks a fine line between party animal and tactical genius) - Boisterous 

Esmerelda Farbridge (The old Queen of the Kingdom of Lenoa and Ridge’s old lover, who sadly died in the war against the Angurian Empire) - Benevolent 

Pablo Coppermore (The King’s Royal Advisor, who spends most of his time trying to keep total war from breaking out between Ridge and Andreas.) - Overworked

Leonides Angura (The Emperor of the Angurian Empire, who only thinks of the survival of his kingdom, no matter wat the effect on the others he’s supposed to be in an alliance with.) - Vengeful

Lynn Angura (The Deceased Empress of the Angurian Empire , who died after giving birth to her son.) - Angelic

Dillon Angura (The heir of  the Angurian Empire, who doesn’t agree with his father’s methods at all.)  - Meek

Parvati El-Hassam (The duchess of Al-Bascriya, and puppet to her advisor and older sister.) - Exploitable

Zena El-Hassam (Parvati’s older sister and her advisor, who manipulates her in order to enact laws that benefit her and her lifestyle.) - Tyrant

The Fabalan Academy Arc

Iris Al-Hajjar (A knight student at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers, who only wounded up there through an accident involving uncontrolled magic.) - Tomboy

Luka Harrington (A magic student at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers and Professor Izax’s Assistant.) - Intelligent

Holly Willingham (A messenger student at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers, who caused the accident that made her and Iris come here.) - Butterfingered

Asriel Talasen (A knight Student at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers, who originated from the Nation of Al-Bascriya and is the #1 fencer in the academy) - Charismatic

Finnigan Fenrir (A senior magic Student at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers, who’s said t be the best magic user of his generation.) - Untouchable

Dillon Angura (A magic Student at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers and the Prince of the Empire of Angura, who fled to get away from his tyrannical father.) - Meek

Izax Salisca (The Magic Teacher at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers and the Royal Wizard for the king) - Practical

Diamond Jack (The Message Teacher at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers, the royal jester and a spy for the king) - Deceiving

Zula Flintward (The Knight Teacher at the Fabalan Academy of Messengers and well known mercenary across all of Lenoa)  - Apathetic

Midelia (The Fairy Queen and Ruler of the Fae, who holds the barrier between the mortal and fae worlds) - Alluring

The Rebellion Arc

Allister Sutton (One of the leaders of the rebellion and Lucien’s best friend. Fighting for his home so everything can go back to normal.) - Determined

Lucien Ingleton (One of the leaders of the rebellion and Lucien’s best friend. He was also the next in line to be mayor of Serden. Fighting so everyone exiled can live in peace again) - Sorrowful

Simon Ingleton (Lucien’s little brother who likes to talk big and had a fondness for explosives and spells) - Hyper

Tobias Creede (Simon’s best friend who abandoned his home so he can camp in the woods with his best friend.) - Caring

Comet (A villager bitten by a werewolf and hunted down, as the new mayor believed he would turn and kill them all.) - Sharp

Clarissa Nightingale (A friend of Lucien’s and Allisters and the daughter of the town’s cartographer. Doesn’t trust outsiders easily.) - Protective

Eenix (The new Mayor of Serden Village, determined to completely obliterate the vision the Ingleton’s had and turn it into a solely profit based community.) - Power-Hungry

The Mylos Village Arc

Ridge Astaril (A demigod and wizard who tries his hardest to squirm out of tasks the king gives him to do, so he can work on his ascension instead.) - Ambitious

Mikhail Belleville (Head Priest of Mylos Village, who’s family moved in as soon as Miles’s moved away) - Conniving

Samuel Belleville (The son of the Head Priest, who despite the kind nature on first looks, has a strange and sinister air about him.) - Deceiving

The Roaming Angels (The best guild members in their classes)

Felicity Mayweather (A Human Bard who is welcome in the Borealis court of the fae after being abandoned there, and explores the world to bring stories back to them) - Diplomatic

Kosmeros (A Tiefling Warlock and university student who had his voice stolen after making a pact with the Prince of Frost, and now roams the world looking for a way to break the pact.) - Graceful

Blaze (A Fire Genasi Artificer who searches the world looking for rare materials and rumours of a thief stealing other artificer’s projects, wishing to put a stop to the thief before making his own Magnum Opus.) - Perfectionist

Caspien Aquilus (A Triton Monk who fled from his home under the sea with his cousin to protect soome ancients texts of their god from a mercenary who will do anything to take it from him to her client.) - Soothing

Gareth Mordecai Faolan (A Shifter Bloodhunter who’s family got killed in a bandit raid, and now uses all the cons and ticks he knows to get by and find information on the head of the bandits, so he can kill him himself.) - Trickster

Scora Criashi (An Aarokocra Ranger on a mission for the princess to disband an underground crime ring and black market.) - Attentive

Irisa Nemli (A blind Aasimar Sorcerer who literally fell from the sky to come to the mortal world, in order to find a way to control her wild magic she was cursed with.) - Scatter-brained

Keiji (A Tabaxi Rogue, born an orphan, who steals to fund the orphanage he grew up in, and who’s currently on the run from a mafia group in the capital.) - Explicit

Sidra (A Half-Orc Druid who wants to destroy the artefacts stolen from a temple in the swamp her tribe guards, so no-one can raise the monster named Iblis again) - Feral

Arlayna Doncaster (A Half-Elf Wizard who ran away from home and is on the run after her family didn’t accept her loving a member of a rival house; Safira) - Proper 

Bradir Azzanurth (A Dragonborn who became a Paladin after his dad died protecting others. Taken under the wings of his dad’s friends, he now roams the land helping everyone he meets and aspires to be just like his dad.) -Rambunctious

Fengryra Brenfyx (A Firbolg Cleric who was raised by her grandma with three other apprentices, who’s looking for a way to stop the Twilight Forest from dying and turning to ash) - Welcoming

Kruznek Honeydew (A Dwarf Fighter who left his wife and kids after his entire battalion died in a fight against a pack of Orcs and Kobolds, on a journey to find himself and get rid of the guilt he feels) - Inhospitable

Rhodelia Shiendroth (A Centaur Barbarian who was sold as a child to a gladiator house. She escaped the house along with three other gladiators and now works as a mercenary.) - Fearless

One Shot Characters:

Zephyr’s Rising (Sky Island Fantasy, based off of a book in the main series)

Zephyr Redgrove (A sky pirate who stole a ship in order to explore the archipelago) - Cocky

Petra Halton (A villager and flutist who’s parents went missing during an exploration, who wants to see if she can find them after finding her mum’s diary.) - Timid

Abbi Krivanek (Zephyr’s friend and Navigator, who’s joined his ship to make sure he doesn’t kill himself while exploring the World) - Cautious

Almac Vegner (Pirate and Treasure hunter who Zephyr hired in order to find all the best spots and to help fish treasure from out of the cloud sea.) - Charlatan 

Orion Bizeron (Animal Tracker and adopted younger brother of Tamari, who’s helping Zephyr find a rainbow coloured Phoenix). - Thoughtful

Tamari Bizeron (A cloud ray rider who adopted Orion when she found him on the street. Went with Orion to hunt down a phoenix and now acts as the ship’s gunner.) - Outgoing

Esien Perisey (A friend of Petra’s who runs the library in town, who has agreed to help Zephyr only to make sure Petra stays safe. Also the only person who can cook onboard the ship.) - Sarcastic

Ferdinand Everton (The Assistant to the council members of the Cardinal Council, who has been sent to stay aboard the S.S. Cloud Ray to keep an eye on the crew for the council) - Stubborn

Galatea Sauroak (Head of The Cardinal Council and in charge of dolling out punishments to pirates) - Reliable

Jett Palinsky (A member of The Cardinal Council, who is also the number one Cloud Ray Surfer in the Archipelago.) - Heart-Throb

Jasper Denholm (A member of The Cardinal Council who is stuck in the traditionalist ways and believes all pirates should be hung.) - Cold-Hearted

Aamina Al-Jabour (A member of The Cardinal Council who gives all of her work to other people to do so she can do what she wants instead) - Lazy

S0-L4R-1S (Space Adventure)

Kai Rutherford (The Face of the operations and Captain of the S0-L4R-1S, delivering goods and people for any faction in space, as long as they have enough coin to do so.) - Laid-Back

Erinne Briggs (The Ship’s onboard engineer and the only one in the galaxy who knows how to fix such an old and outdated ship.) - Spunky

Atul Kusari (The Onboard Weapon’s Expert who keeps pirate’s off of their back when trying to deliver goods to people.) - Eager

Rymond Heisenburg (The Navigator onboard and Zarinah’s Fiancée. The only one allowed to choose which jobs the crew goes on... ever since the accident.) - Composed

Zarinah Heisenburg (Rymond’s Fiancée who helps to create disguises for the rest of the crew when they have to do something dodgy.) - Ditzy

[chille-tid-universe]

Dinner and a Show

The seven adventurers set out from Daggerford. The past few months had been a whirlwind of adventure and terror, but the time had finally come to move on. Robyn and her crew had decided to help Pel and Loran reach Red Larch safely, and so the two groups had parted, thankful for all they had shared and hopeful that fate might one day entwine their paths again.

Brienne, Wun Way, Nissa, and Pock had laid out their plans to Melpomene and Ravain before setting out. There was an old, abandoned castle far to the north in the vicinity of the Ice Mountains that was rumored to have dug too deep into its mines, opening a portal to the Underdark. Nissa had persuaded the others to pursue this locale as their intended base of operations, though there had been interruptions to their initial journey. They had been planning on skirting the edge of the High Forest to eventually reach the northern reaches of the world, but after their misadventures, thought that the direct route through the woods might be more attractive. Ravain put an end to that thought immediately, citing the opposition from the elves of the High Forest they would need to get past. He urged them to continue along their initial route.

There was not much of a straight path to the Forest from Daggerford, however. The larger city of Waterdeep would be the best next stop, Ravain and Melpomene assured the others. From there, they could take any number of roads to traverse the edge of the High Forest.

And so they set their sights on Waterdeep. It was a two day journey up the High Road, where regular travelers and caravans kept the roads worn, but well-tended. Initially, Wun Way cast a Longstrider spell on the two gnomes, but soon the party came to enjoy the leisurely walk along the road, with no impending doom or urgent matters clouding their minds. The first day of travel passed without comment, and as the sun set Ravain led the group to a secluded hill off the side of the road, shielded by saplings and with a good view of the surrounding areas. Watches were drawn, and after a pleasant supper of leftovers from Robyn, the group slept.

~~

An hour or so after midnight, the group was awakened to a gruff “Get up” followed by sharp kicks to their sides and blades to their throats. Ravain, Wun Way, Nissa, and Brienne were jolted awake to find a group of around a dozen bandits brandishing shoddy weapons. Ciri, Melpomene, and Pock had been taken unawares and were now bound to a nearby tree. As their eyes adjusted to the moonlight, Nissa scoffed.

“I was hoping to never see you again.” She addressed the apparent leader of the band, a tiefling in slightly less shabby clothing than his followers, wielding a shortsword and a sharp smile.

He turned the smile to Nissa and sneered, “Like my union?” Brienne groaned aloud, remembering the last days of freedom before their capture, and the questionable “tax collectors” they had come upon, one of whom Nissa had relieved of his life before berating the survivor for the quality of their work. Her parting thought had been to consider unionization.

“Walk away and we won’t need to kill you,” Brienne offered, slowly reaching her arm from under her blanket to where Mjolnir lay, innocuous on the ground.

“Wouldn’t want to end up like Rory, would you?” Nissa taunted.

One of the bandits glanced back and forth between Nissa and Brienne. “These are spicy ones, sir.” The man’s voice cracked slightly.

Nissa honed in on the man, who stood over her. “Listen here - what’s your name?”

The bandit removed the sword at her neck to adjust the mask over his face. “Geoff,” he said, voice muffled by the fabric.

“John?” Nissa asked.

“Geoff,” Geoff corrected, his mask secured again.

Nissa hoisted herself up on her elbows. “So how long have you been doing this, Geoff?”

Geoff scratched his chin beneath the facemask. “A couple ten days.”

Nissa nodded encouragingly. “And what did you do before?”

Geoff shuffled his feet. “I was a shepherd.”

“Alright,” Nissa said, “so you think to yourself, I could use a bit of quick cash, I think I’ll join this gang-”

“He prefers we call it a union,” Geoff interrupted, eyes darting to his tiefling leader.

“Is anyone else here a damn shepherd?” Ravain asked, voice level but loud.

The bandits all stole glances at each other, and after a moment’s pause, a hand raised timidly into the night air, followed by many more, along with muttered, “Aye”s and nods.

Nissa shook her head and tsk’d. “Listen, Geoff,” she began slowly, gingerly pushing the blade at her throat with a finger, pointing it to the ground, “contrary to what my friends may think, I don’t want to kill you.” She gestured out into the night. “Go back to your sheep. Lovely things, sheep. We didn’t have any in the Underdark.”

Wun Way spoke up. “I’ve heard there’s been a lot of gnoll activity lately, and it’s taken out a lot of field workers. There’ll be a large need for shepherds.”

Muttering filled the night air. All of a sudden, Geoff’s back straightened, and his sword arm relaxed. “Boss, I’m leaving.”

The tiefling snarled as the shepherd-turned-bandit-turned-shepherd turned his back, and raised a clawlike fist. Three spheres of flame burst into life there, and with a growl he tossed the burning balls.

Brienne saw the approaching flames and reached out to grasp Geoff’s leg. With a swift jerk, the man’s body lurched sideways just as one scorching ray passed where his torso had been, and the other two flew harmlessly overhead. Brienne gave him a shove and shouted, “Run!”

The tiefling roared, “No, you may not go, you’re in the union for life!”

Ravain had heard enough. Before the bandit guarding him could react, the ranger had slid his two blades from beneath his pillow and was hurtling toward the tiefling. A flurry of slices later, he was short a head, and his body tumbled to the grassy hill. Slowly, Ravain turned around to address the remaining bandits. “Anyone else want to die?” A stunned moment later, the reformed bandits were running down the side of the hill, rusty blades and pitchforks left behind in their haste.

As they dug a grave for the tiefling, Ravain stalked up to Ciri. “What did you learn?” he asked, eyes drilling into his ward’s.

Ciri shifted on her feet, staring at the ground. “Don’t fall asleep on watch…”

~~

The next morning, the group broke their fast in silence. They had been traveling along the road for minutes before Ravain turned to Nissa. “Who the hell did I kill?” Nissa was happy to recount the events of their journey to Dragonspear Castle.

As the day passed, the group found themselves keeping pace with a young woman. She wore a floppy wizard’s hat atop an unruly bushel of fiercely orange hair and a large crystal on a string necklace. She greeted the party with a bright smile that made her freckled cheeks glow. After a few minutes of walking together, the girl introduced herself as Pinnah, a traveling hedge mage.

“How many hedges have you made?” Pock asked before Wun Way shushed him.

Pinnah smiled at the gnome and regarded the rest of the group. “I have a few wares for sale, but first, would you like to try a riddle?”

Wun Way’s eyes narrowed. “Something bad is going to happen if we answer incorrectly, isn’t it?” she asked, hand creeping toward her sword.

Pinnah waved her hands hurried and pulled open a large, leatherbound book from a chain hanging at her waist. “No, no, my master gave me a list of riddles, but that was a while ago. No, I’m just looking for good answers.” She looked from Nissa to Brienne to Ravain to Ciri, who all nodded.

“As a stone inside a tree,

I’ll help your words outlive thee.

But if you push me as I stand,

The more I move, the less I am.”

They walked along the road in silence for a few moments before Pock spoke up, “It’s a riddle!”

Nissa scowled, “No, silly, it’s a pencil.”

Pinnah looked thoughtful and pulled a quill from inside her coat. “Yes, yes, that’s a good one.” She scribbled on a page inside her tome and closed it with a clap. “Alright! I have a few potions for sale, but they’re not quite finished.” She looked up from the pouch at her side. “But that just means you get them at a really good price! They each need one more ingredient to be done. Let’s see…”

She pulled out a bottle filled with a wispy, flowing liquid. “Here we have a potion of fly, all you need to do is drop it one thousand feet and it’ll be ready to use!” She replaced the bottle with another, this one filled with a flickering white light. “I’m about done with this potion of dragonbreath, just needs to be exposed to some form of, well, dragonbreath.” She shook the bottle, and the white light refracted into a multitude of colors, from blue to red to yellow to many more. “The potion will take on the properties of the dragonbreath it’s exposed to, but seek out sources at your own risk!”

She chuckled to herself as she pulled out another bottle. “Next up, an unfinished potion of polymorph. Just add a component from whatever beast you’d like to become.” She brandished a thick, sludge-like potion that turned from brown to brilliant green as she spoke. As they watched, it changed again to an agitated orange color and began shaking around inside the bottle, before reverting back to an inert brown sludge. She tucked it back into her pouch and removed a seemingly empty bottle. “And this here is a potion of greater invisibility,” she announced proudly. As she began to tilt the bottle, the light through it distorted slightly, the only indication it held more than air. “Tricky little concoction to make, though you’ll need to defeat an invisible specter near the potion for it to catalyze.” She rattled off the prices as she tucked the final bottle away, then smiled at the group. “Anything interest you?”

The group spoke among themselves for a few seconds, during which Pinnah’s gaze roamed across the landscape unobtrusively, and then Brienne cleared her throat. When the young woman turned back, the large fighter was pulling a fistful of coins from a small bag. “We’ll take the dragonfire and polymorph potions, please.” Pinnah’s eyes widened as she grinned.

“Right away!”

~~

As they continued along the road, the group shared more riddles, from folk fables Ciri recalled from her former life in Orlane, to strange situational questions from the gnomes, to riddles that amounted more to wildlife trivia from Ravain. Pinnah laughed and gasped and nodded, a perfect audience, and scribbled away furiously into her book, beaming brightly with each answer.

As the sun began to set and the city walls of Waterdeep rose ahead, Pinnah looked to the group. “I’m not sure if you all had a preferred establishment in Waterdeep, but your sort would fit right into the Yawning Portal, if you’d like to join me.”

Most of the party nodded and glanced at each other, not wanting to voice that ‘Yawning Portal’ was an odd name for an inn. Behind them, Ravain actually smiled. Controlling his face, he said, “Thank you, Pinnah, we’d be happy to join you.”

~~

In the large city of Waterdeep, most of the group felt they would have been hopelessly lost if not for Pinnah’s guidance. As the sun reached the city walls, however, the young woman marched proudly up to a gigantic building which took up much of a city block. An antique but well tended sign declared this to be the Yawning Portal, and within a loud ruckus could be heard, even through the thick oaken doors. As Pinnah drew back the doors with a flourish, quite the sight met the adventurers.

The Yawning Portal gave a strong first impression of comfort. Though clearly built centuries past, firelight and alcohol-induced camaraderie filled the incredibly wide room with a welcoming glow. Along one wall was a well-stocked bar dotted with patrons swapping stories and downing brews. A multitude of wooden tables filled much of the floor, around half of which were occupied. The patrons of the Yawning Portal were as varied as they were numerous; races of all kinds hailed here, from halflings and gnomes to more civilized orcs and tabaxi. In one raucous corner, a goliath was downing a barrel of ale, cheered on by a gaggle of dwarves.

The drinking and eating was not restricted to the ground floor, however. The ceiling was dozens of feet high - at least forty - and along the upper walls a walkway had been built, which held more tables. Even more patrons gathered there, dining and talking loudly over the din below. Some held miniature telescopes, and although they talked among themselves, their attention returned often to the lower floor.

Attention was drawn with good reason, as the middle of the ground floor was taken up by a large well - almost fifty feet across - which opened up to an abyss below. A relatively small lip of mortared stone offered a safeguard, but that didn’t stop many patrons from using the low wall as a seat, and some particularly daring individuals dangled their legs over the inky blackness. Across the pit from the entrance, a wood and iron cage swung from the end of a sturdy looking winch system.

Upon closer inspection, it appeared that the floorboards had been built around the well, spiraling out and centered on the monumental landmark. In places the wood floor had given way to more durable stone, and everywhere could be seen various signs of damage: claw marks along the floorboards, scorch marks blasted into stone, gouged chunks missing from tables and thick tree trunk-like columns.

The evident source of the destruction was immediately apparent; the pit was emitting a steady stream of distant grunts, howls, roars, and other sinister sounds. As the group looked around, they noticed several (other) odd items around the room. A slate board hanging behind the bar read "Days since last monster emergence: 8". Along the opposite wall, a heavy plaque was embedded with a large glass vial of bubbling acid labeled "Break in case of troll” with a set of tally marks chiseled below it.

As the doors swung shut behind the group, a table nearby called out, “Melpomene!” and a group of men and women swarmed the aasimar, barraging her with questions and tales and drinking challenges. Melpomene looked back apologetically as she was ushered away, but was soon laughing as her former acquaintances poured her a tall glass of something fizzing.

Ravain led the rest of the group into the unique room, an uncharacteristic pep to his step. He picked his way easily through the haphazard arrangement of the tables and leaned against the ancient bar. An older gentleman with a thick mustache looked up from the mug he was wiping clean to beam at the approaching party. “Welcome to the Yawning Portal, lad and lassies! And welcome back,” he winked at Ravain, who returned a smile.

The ranger jerked a thumb back towards the pit. “When was the last time someone fell in?” he asked, a tinge of excitement coloring his voice and causing every other person in the party to glance at him in surprise.

The barkeep peered over Ravain’s shoulder. “Just missed one. Should be coming up about now.” As if on cue, a tall dragonborn wizard in starry robes rose melodramatically over the lip of the wall, bearing in his arms the unconscious body of a patron wearing several spilled drinks to compliment his dirty jacket. The wizard floated over to a nearby table, depositing the passed out man over drink and plate to a chorus of good-natured exclamations. 

As the group directed their attention back to the barkeep, he introduced himself. “Name’s Durnan, and I own the Yawning Portal, just as my fathers did before me. Will you be needing rooms?” he asked, glancing from Ravain to the rest of the group as if he doubted they could be traveling together.

Brienne nodded. “We’ll need the largest room you’ve got, something in which we can fit all seven of us. We’ve had some ill luck with taverns in the past, and have built up a habit of caution,” she added apologetically.

Durnan nodded, waving away the explanation. “You won’t be needing our larger suites for such a small party,” he explained, stroking his bushy mustache. “We’ve plenty of rooms up above which would suit your needs.”

Nissa climbed onto a stool, mostly to reach a height appropriate for conversation. “Wow, most places aren’t able to accomodate us like that.”

The barkeep peered over the bar, eyeing the gnome up and down before smiling warmly. “Most places aren’t the Yawning Portal, love.” Nissa opened her mouth to respond, but Durnan was already addressing the rest of the party. “What’ll you be drinking, then?”

Wun Way stepped forward immediately. “I don’t suppose you would happen to have any Orlane Special?” she asked, flashing a smile. Before she had finished her sentence, Durnan was turning away from the group and reaching for a bottle near the top of his shelves.

“A little costly at six gold a bottle,” he said with a sigh, “but I need to import it.” He held out the bottle to the half-elf. “A lady of your taste understands, of course.” Wun Way did understand, and eagerly pulled out the coin and pressed it to the polished bartop, graciously accepting the bottle. Durnan then returned his attention to Nissa, who seemed to be annoyed about not being able to retort. “Some drow wine, perhaps?” he asked, a faint smile on his lips.

Nissa turned up her nose, previous annoyance forgotten. “I’d prefer something gnommish,” she sniffed.

Durnan raised an eyebrow. “There’s not many with a taste for the brews of gnomes,” he rumbled, “even among the gnomes!” He reached under the bar and pulled a dusty bottle of masterful glasswork, a sparkling geode stoppered in the neck. Inside, a deep, dark purple vintage sloshed.

Nissa eyed the bottle, and its contents, greedily. “The drow are slavers and cowards. That looks much better than their swill.”

“What did you say?” A voice called out from a nearby table, and a relative hush fell on the room (at least, the small corner of the room they were standing in) as a male drow elf stood from his drink.

Nissa turned to see the lithe figure of the drow stalking up to her, a sly smile on his lips. The gnome stood up on her stool to stare the elf-man in the eyes. “The drow are slavers and cowards. That looks much better than their swill,” she repeated, enunciating each syllable clearly.

There was a tense second where Brienne held her breath and Wun Way reached for her sword, but then the drow’s smirk became a wide smile, and he turned to Durnan. “I’ll buy the lady a drink.”

Durnan chuckled as he pocketed the gold from the drow, and he turned back to the remainder of the group. “Unless I am amiss,” he said as he reached below the bar again, “your accent is of the Isle of Tarth, is it not?” He looked expectantly at Brienne as he placed a sapphire-blue bottle on the bartop, a familiar crest upon the cork and sparkling waves etched into the label. Taken aback, the fighter merely nodded. They were hundreds of miles from her home. “I don’t get much opportunity to prepare one, but I’ve always stood by my Tarthian Daiquiri.” In a flurry of motion, the barkeep pulled a coldbox from a shelf and deposited a handful of frozen fruits into a waiting glass before splashing half a dozen liquors, ending with a long pour of the Tarthian vintage. “I’d be honored if I could offer one to a daughter of Tarth.” Brienne felt herself smiling and nodded at the well-traveled man, accepting the stirred drink.

Pock was reaching for an empty mug, Nissa’s bottle in his other hand, while Wun Way poured Ciri a generous glass of the Orlane Special. Satisfied, Durnan turned finally to Ravain. “Dark Amber, I believe?” he asked, reaching to the highest shelf behind him.

Ravain actually chuckled. “Seems like it’s been a hundred years,” the grizzled ranger reminisced, tone almost wistful.

“Just about, old friend!” the barkeep boomed, laughing and clapping Ravain on the shoulder as he poured from an orange bottle.

Pinnah paid for a mug and bid the group a hasty farewell. “I’m meeting some friends up in the viewing ring,” she explained before ducking under a group of loudly dancing patrons.

“You’ll be wanting something to eat,” Durnan stated, wiping his hands on his apron.

“Yes, do you have a menu?” Brienne asked, peering along the wall but not finding the customary plank with scribbled meals and prices.

Durnan spread his arms. “No menu, you can have whatever you like here.”

Ravain looked thoughtful. “I’m feeling like a steak.”

Durnan grinned as he asked, “Cow? Or minotaur?”

“I could go for some minotaur.”

“Coming right up, sir,” Durnan said, nodding to a waiter standing by. He then turned to Nissa. “For the gnomes, an Underdark salad?”

Nissa shrugged. “Sure, tastes of home.”

Pock murmured, “Your home, maybe.”

“For the lass,” Durnan said, turning to Ciri, “a shepherd’s pie, chock full of locally raised vegetables and lamb.” Ciri nodded enthusiastically as Wun Way spoke up.

“I don’t suppose you could do some sort of fusion cuisine?” she asked hopefully.

Durnan snapped his fingers. “I’ve got just the thing.” He gestured at the pair of waiters who had brought the just-ordered meals, and they returned a moment later with what looked like another shepherd’s pie, though this one steamed loudly and featured sprinkled spices which sparked against the open air. As the others tucked into their meals, Durnan looked to Brienne.

Without saying a word, he pulled a tall glass from a passing tray and laid it on the bar. Within was a nondescript tan liquid, slightly thick, which clung to the edges of the glass. As Brienne downed it, there wasn’t a taste so much as a feel. It felt cozy and pleasant, reminding the woman of cold nights in firelit chambers, cuddled beneath covers while the shore winds blew outside her windows. With the glass drained, Brienne felt satisfied, and noted a distinctly electric aftertaste. She raised her eyebrows at the barkeep, who would only wink.

~~

Several minutes of cheerful discussion followed, in which Durnan caught Ravain up to the happenings at the Portal and Nissa plied the drow elf for news from the Underdark (who hadn’t been back in the ten years since his escape). All of a sudden, the sounds from the portal grew louder. There was a roar, followed by a series of creaking and clanking, and then the room was shaking, with mugs and glasses falling off tables. The patrons became louder, as well, cheering and pushing tables back from the low wall in the middle of the room. A halfling reached up to the chalkboard and began to erase the number eight.

Clumps of adventurers seemed to instinctively come together, shouting orders and issuing challenges or curses. One patron drew a long line in chalk along the floor, calling out, “This is our monster! Stay on your side!”

“Sounds like more than one!” Durnan bellowed in response while pulling a gilded crossbow from behind the bar. Nissa eyed the well-built hunk of gold appreciatively.

More than a dozen people crowded around the plaque, calling out, “Can you see it yet? Is it a troll?” while they eagerly danced around the vial of acid.

One daring gnome was perched on the low wall long after weapons had been drawn and clanged together. He kept a steady eye on the void below, until he suddenly cried out “Incoming!” as he darted back to the waiting lines of adventurers.

Three monsters crawled out of the portal.

The first was met with a mighty cheer of “TROLL!” and the sound of breaking glass, followed by a nasally voice shouting, “Add one to the tally!” and Durnan groaning, “Now I need to find another replacement vial.” A paladin across the room from the Brienne and her company lifted a shining blade and cast a Compel Duel spell. With a deep bellow, the troll lumbered off to that side of the room.

Next, a huge club rose above the wall, wielded by a thick green hand. Grunting, the ogre pulled itself over the ledge. The party had fought ogres before, but this specimen was much larger than any they had seen before, with thick mucus dripping from a wide jaw and hatred burning in its small eyes. Continuing to grunt, it took loping strides towards the nearest crew, swinging forward on too-long arms.

From within the well came a crushing, rumbling, clanging, and then a stone fist appeared over the lip. A stone golem shambled its way up into the inn, a dozen feet high or more, swinging its eyeless head back and forth as it stood on the groaning floorboards. Ravain gripped Brienne and Wun Way and darted forward, calling, “Let’s go!” The two shrugged at each other and ran after the enthusiastic ranger, followed a moment later by Nissa. Ciri was still seated at the bar, a spoon halfway to her gaping mouth, the food fallen off. Pock sat on his stool, swinging his legs, munching on dark leaves while he viewed the coming battle with nonchalance. 

Ravain darted ahead of the others and raked his swords along the length of the golem’s arm, sending a shower of sparks raining onto the floor but causing no other visible damage. He did, however, draw a loud cheer from the spectators in the seats up above. Ravain could barely make out Pinnah’s voice yelling, “Those are my friends!” Ravain smiled, looking happier than the others had ever seen him. He took a deep breath and focused, and the others saw his body fade into a cloud of ash. The fuzzy mist floated away from the golem and solidified a safe distance away.

At the bar, Ciri’s eyes opened almost as wide as her mouth as she muttered, “What the f-”

A loud noise grated from the floor, and segments of wood and stone cracked, revealing long spikes which burst forth around the advancing defenders. Nissa nimbly leapt atop a rising spike and fired off a series of bolts which embedded themselves in the golem’s carapace.

The golem let off a rumbling roar and stomped its way over to the reconstituted Ravain. It brought its huge boulder of an arm down on the ranger, who narrowly dodged, then dragged it across the floor to knock Ravain off his feet. It then gripped his torso with pillar-like fingers.

Wun Way cried out a spell, and an explosive force erupted right at the golem’s peak. Brienne roared a battlecry and darted through the protruding spikes, right for the golem. As she approached, however, the golem leapt back in an unusual display of speed. As it slid back, he dragged poor Ravain over countless razor sharp spikes. “Not so fast,” Brienne snarled, hurling Mjolnir at the golem, then recalling the hammer and tossing it again.

As the golem raised its arm to ward off the magical hammer, Ravain squirmed out of its grasp and ducked beneath its legs, clearing the spike-covered ground. As he darted between the spikes, Nissa fired off more bolts, which dug deeper and deeper into the rocky shell. A deep rumble issued from the golem, and it lumbered after Ravain. As it stomped forward, pebbles skidded along its skin, collecting into a handful of rocky deposits which then burst out from the golem. Four buckshot projectiles flew into the air, falling among the party. As they struck the ground, they jittered to life, and two of the scuttling pebble-formed amalgams crawled onto Brienne and Nissa.

The golem had caught up with the retreating ranger and raised its heavy arms to smash down. As it started the deadly swing, Wun Way chanted again, and a second concussive blast went off right where the being’s face would be. A deep groan filled the air as cracks began to spread along the golem’s body. None of this could stop the downward swing of the large arms, however, and they clipped Ravain’s side, knocking him out. The ranger narrowly missed a pointed rock spike as he fell.

Brienne called out, “Ravain!” but he was just outside her reach. She began to move to his unconscious form, but the spindly legs of the pebble-beast were wrapped tight around her, and the pile of rocks was heavier than it looked. With a frustrated grunt, she brought Mjolnir down on the crawler, knocking it clear to the ground. As it struck one of the spikes, it exploded in a large ball of fire, unfortunately catching the body of Ravain in its radius. Brienne called out to Wun Way as she burst through the flames, “Heal him!”

The fighter dashed past her fallen comrade and gripped her warhammer tight. As she reached the golem, she brought Mjolnir up in a wide swing, knocking a series of loose shale slates from the monster’s frame. As the smoke cleared around Ravain, Wun Way sent a healing spell hurtling through the air towards him. As it struck, Ravain gasped and lurched to a sitting position, smiling as he nodded his thanks to the half-elf.

As he turned and began to stand, though, Brienne hoisted the hammer high, letting out a battlecry as dark clouds gathered in the high ceiling ahead. A brilliant bolt of lightning reached down to frame Mjolnir in blinding light, and Brienne brought the crackling hammer’s head down on the center of the golem’s chest. A deafening BOOM filled the inn, and the golem’s carapace crumpled inward for a moment before it erupted out in a giant explosion. Ravain had just gotten to his feet when the blast knocked him back onto the floor. As his ears stopped ringing, the sounds of cheering filled the inn. The ranger groaned and muttered, “That was great.”

Around the room, the other adventurers were finishing up with the ogre and troll. The patrons gathered along the mezzanine were cheering wildly, saluting the brave adventurers and discussing the fights with their fellows. Pinnah had run down the stairs to the ground floor and was congratulating the party when Ravain asked her if she still had the potion of fly. He jerked his head to the winch, waving over the pit, and Nissa began to cackle.

A few minutes later, a hush had fallen over the combined patronage of the Yawning Portal. Ravain and Nissa stood in the wood and iron cage, and were being swung out over the middle of the pit. Ravain had used the last of his sovereign glue to affix the recently purchased potion to the end of a length of rope (at which the dragonborn wizard looked on in horror) and had then measured out more than a thousand feet of rope. Now, the rope was slung over the winch, and Ravain shared a glance at Nissa, who nodded in encouragement. “This is the most fun I’ve had in years,” the ranger said as he let go of the bottle over the edge of the cage.

Nissa kept an eye on the falling line of rope, peering into the depths of darkness while Ravain kept close watch of the winch, waiting for the flagged section of rope to indicate they should halt the descent. After what felt like many long minutes, Ravain reached out for the uncoiling lengths of rope and gripped tight. The rope slid through his gloved hand for several more feet before the friction slowed the fall, and then he and Nissa began heaving the rope back up. Immediately, they realized it was heavier than it should be.

The crowd caught on soon after, and nervous chatter built up from the upper levels of the spectators. Around the pit, though, there was silence. As the rope was pulled up, Nissa peered down and grunted to Ravain, “Looks like we caught something big.” Wun Way stepped up to the wall and focused in the middle of the pit. A moment and a breathed word later, red and purple patterns lit up below the winch, dazzling lights that made all who watched lean forward.

On the rope, the giant crocodile was no less affected. The great beast had its powerful jaws snapped tightly on the end of the rope, and its short legs waved uselessly as it spun along its journey. When the hypnotic lights burst into being, however, its eyes began to roll, and even after the pinpricks of sparkles dissipated the crocodile hung slack on the line.

“Winch it over the ground!” Nissa called out, straining as she helped pull the crocodile the last few feet. A moment later, the whole of the winch began to swing back over the wooden floor, and with paired grunts Nissa and Ravain let go of the rope. As its thick body smacked meatily against the floorboards, it remained helpless against the spell. Muted, excited murmuring began on the ground floor as Nissa and Ravain exited the cage to stand over the helpless monster. The two nodded to each other and brought out their weapons. Ravain held up three fingers and counted down. As the last finger dropped, so, too, did Ravain’s two blades, cutting deep into the crocodile’s neck as Nissa fired a bolt into the croc’s cranium at point blank range. The beast spasmed at the initial strikes, but Ravain followed up with a flurry of slashes to the neck, and a few seconds later he reached into its mouth from its throat and, with a shout of triumph, pulled out the now finished potion, complete with a bit of glued-on rope, spattered in mucus and blood.

The waiting patrons surged forward, lifting up Nissa and Ravain on their shoulders and passing up fresh mugs of ale to the two. Wun Way clapped along with the cheering and danced over to where Melpomene was laughing, and the two began composing a ballad of the night’s events. Brienne chuckled as the two were carried away, then hefted the crocodile’s tail in her arms and began dragging the beast back to the edge of the pit.

The remainder of the night passed in a cheery haze, and late into the night the party retired to a comfortable room and drew straws for watches (as Wun Way insisted). Although Ciri drew the final watch, when the morning sun peered in through their window, she woke with the rest.

[fortunatowrites]

The Life of a Simple Guard

Many years ago, a high ranking member of a guild came into some trouble due to botched plans. The trouble incurred was mostly financial, but also caused internal affairs within the guild. Because of these actions, Fintan Stalgust, the high ranking member, was kicked out of the guild and fell into poverty.

Fintan Stalgust took his pregnant wife, Elfrieda, and their two children on a short journey through the neighboring woods to find a new place to live. Forced to leave the city and a life of luxury behind, the hard times continued to fall upon them as Elfrieda began labor for birthing their third child. Thankfully, under the graces of a nearby druid, the child was born without complication. This was when Kevan was born.

Utilizing his entrepreneurial skills, Fintan secured some livestock and the family became herders within a poor village. Unlike his eldest brother and elder sister, Kevan had not known the luxuries of the life beforehand and readily adapted. Meanwhile, his siblings struggled with their new lives in squalid living and helping take care of the livestock. The eldest brother opted to become an adventurer and was often out “making connections.”

As Kevan grew older, he looked to his brother as a role model. While his sister was proving to be incredible at handling animals, his brother saw it more as a chore. Their family believed all the dragons were wiped out in an ice age event, but his brother believed that there must still be living dragons out there. So he would often regale young Kevan with tales about how he was going to find what was left of the dragons and find the last living dragon.

Hard times fell on the Stalgust family once more with low livestock starting to leave them in perilous finances. Eager to protect his family, Fintan saw to making a special deal in the city that would help them make a lot of money. Unfortunately, the lord of the city was part of Fintan’s former guild and learned of his deal. Using his connections, the lord had Fintan locked up. Elfrieda was left alone to care for their children and herds.

Kevan tried to help as he could with the herds and wanted to try to work for the lord to help get his father released, but his older brother always assured him that he was doing enough at home. While Kevan helped in his place, the brother became a mercenary and took up as many hunting quests as he could. Often he would choose the adventure promising more treasure to bring home to his family than that of the Dragons’ Fate.

Sometimes, he’d bring back some extra treasures for his siblings. One of the first gifts he brought back was a spear, said to be a sacred weapon from a fallen warrior that he “found” while taking out a cave of goblins. More often than not, his treasures included another tale to regale Kevan with; since his sister found them boring and his mother found them too worrying to hear.

Kevan’s favorite tale had been about how his brother worked with some druids to hunt down a Gnoll warband that was terrorizing a city known as Blackkey. It was from the leader’s treasures that he found a special amulet.

“We divided up the treasure, as per the usual protocol,” his brother would tell him. “But when I gazed upon this bronze amulet, inset with a glowing crystal, I could feel something calling out to me. It knew I just defeated Punkrip, the strongest gnoll in all of Shitlordia and recognized me for a warrior true! The others wanted it of course, even if didn’t call out to them. There was a squabble but what they really wanted was the crystal, so we took turns trying to get it out. Now, I managed to pry out the crystal after everyone else failed to, so I earned this trinket! But, because you’re my favorite brother, I want you to keep the amulet. I’ll keep the crystal safe with me and you keep the amulet safe with you. I’m about to take a big job that’s going to see me far away for a long time, but I’ll be back before the next winter. You just hold on to this and they’ll draw us back together.”

This was how Kevan got his treasured amulet. It was bronze and engraved in the center, where the crystal once stood, was an image of a dragon beneath six stars. He held out hope for two winters before it was apparent that his brother was not coming home. In his honor, Kevan named the treasure after his brother: the Amulet of Kavin.

With his brother gone and his father locked away, Kevan couldn’t help but feel more guilt as he watched the stress take its toll on his family. The final straw was when half the livestock had been taken while Kevan was out getting supplies.

A couple of goblinoids had passed through the woods recently, but a hobgoblin and goblin were left behind. Left to their own devices, they came across the village and demanded tribute. When Kevan returned and found out what happened, he immediately took up the spear and challenged them.

The hobgoblin sneered at the challenge, but with a grim delight, agreed to fight him. Kevan was not a very experienced fighter, but the occasional spar with his brother had helped him mostly hold his own. As the hobgoblin pressed upon him, the goblin also joined in the fight; the both of them eager to destroy the rebel. In this courageous act, Kevan inspired some of the other townsfolk to help him drive them off. It was when his sister came rushing through with a pitchfork and impaled the hobgoblin that they truly won. The goblin survivor immediately fled into the woods and Kevan’s reputation began.

Finally, feeling he couldn’t bear another tragedy to befall his family, Kevan sought out the lord to plead for his father’s release. Having heard of Kevan’s heroic stand against the goblinoids, the lord had an offer for him: In exchange for being a soldier and having very limited pay while living in any squalor base he was assigned to, Kevan’s father would be released. Kevan accepted the offer without second thought and so, starting at an early age, Kevan was impressed into the lord’s military forces.

With his father out to help take care of his family, Kevan eagerly worked his way up through the ranks of the lord’s guard. Starting with portside work and loading cannons, Kevan eventually found himself becoming a strong guardsman as well. Finally, after the debt was fully repaid, Kevan moved on to Blackkey to become a member of the town’s guard.

For years he worked in Blackkey, sending any extra bonuses and the occasional copper he could spare back home to his family. It seemed to be a mostly uneventful life for him now; stopping the occasional criminal, escorting the usual noble, and breaking up many tavern brawls.

But then one day, he noticed a bard with a strange angelic grace that charmed him, and stepped forward to offer her assistance. Kevan had always had a weak spot for a pretty face. His former “girlfriend” had been a con artist that used him to help rob the armory. Thankfully, the connection was never made by the town or Kevan.

The bard told him of her plight of getting to a specific point in town that was in the shadier and rougher parts of Blackkey. She was accompanied by a tiefling fellow and a man who seemed to carry a similar angelic grace about him. The three of them had just fled from a mugging brought on by a half-ogre who lived in garbage.

“Fear not, fair maiden,” Kevan boldly declared. “I’ll help escort you and take care of the half-ogre ruffian that blocks your path!” “Gee, thanks,” she half-heartedly replied.

And thus began an eventful journey for a simple guard.

[dungeonsdriveinsanddives]

Recap of Dungeons Drive-ins and Dives

The entire group arrived at the town of Kindlewood for entirely separate reasons, at entirely different times of the day but each started out fairly similarly. Upon just arriving in town, each person was greeted by Alistair, a 12 year old air genasi. As the town’s unofficial welcoming committee, Alistair gave them a brief tour around town, only stopping short before the tavern called, Labyrinth, claiming it wasn’t safe for children like him.

The town of Kindlewood was robust and busy as ever; Alistair would then explain how that day marks the three month start of preparation for the Banquet of Concord. This event was specifically for high officials and royals to gather together and break bread as they discussed peace treaties and boundaries. Such a banquet only occurred every 25 years, and the location changed every time. This time, it would be in Kindlewood, and so many people were constantly working to ensure that nothing went wrong, even three months before the event.

As each character met many of the inhabitants of the town (Umara and Dru, the owners of Labyrinth; Griselda, a grumpy gnome in charge of the Arcane Shoppe and Weaponry; O’phelia, her daughter) they would each settle down in an inn or other open rooms for the night.

The next morning, the group all wound up at Labyrinth in need of breakfast. Chadwick, the tiefling bard and all-around womanizer had seemed to catch the eye of Umara, the barwench at Labyrinth. However, his sticky fingers revealed that Umara had quite a temper as well as an interesting skillset involving swords and murder. Before she could do too much damage, she was arrested by the head of a police organization known as the Society of Benevolence. Farleigh, an elven paladin also brought the group in for further questioning.

It was at the Society of Benevolence’s headquarters that the group met again with Alistair, who was waiting to hear about any news regarding the disappearance of his father, Cassidy. Cassidy was the true head of the S.o.B and Farleigh was his right hand, but he mysteriously disappeared after investigating the death of Sir Gaius Fieri. Being short on hands and determining that the group was innocent and that Umara had just lost her temper again, Farleigh tasked the group with one thing; to gather the ingredients for the Banquet of Concord as it was around now that Sir Gaius would have begun.

Alistair decides to tag along with this group, believing that they may find his father along the way. As soon as the group leaves the town, they are encountered by Dad But Also A Bear, a literal bear with crystals growing on his skin and who is very protective of Alistair. He tags along as well, if only to keep Alistair safe.

While going through Cassidy’s belongings at Alistair’s home, the find a secret compartment and papers that point to the existence of a mysterious person named ‘Britanea’ who may have been with Cassidy at the time of his kidnapping.

The next day, the group officially embarked on their journey, save for two members, a human sailor named Plenn and a dwarf barbarian named Diris. Diris, having experience in basket weaving was tasked with weaving a new one with the express purpose of it being attuned. The basket would keep fresh any item placed within it, indefinitely. As the remaining group set out, Farleigh asked that they, while in the Sriracha Desert, find a way to break out a criminal by the name of Westley, who may know something about the murder of Sir Gaius Fieri. Farleigh attempted to ask the officials in the desert for some time with this criminal but was ignored.

Plenn was sent on a journey with O’phelia to a destroyed temple and where he would need to make a distinct offering to the forgotten god and goddesses, Kilvera and Tholv. However, Plenn made a mix-up and instead of keeping mystical runes on him which would ground him to his realm, he left it in the offering for the forgotten gods and goddesses. He and O’phelia left, seemingly without issues but Farleigh was upset at this development.

Plenn was teleported to the Sriracha Desert by a mysterious cloaked figure. Upon arrival, he met with the rest of the group where they picked up the first ingredient (Ghoul Peppers) and began to plot on the prison break. Unfortunately, they were found out by Hakir, the towns advisor, who contacted Farleigh and asked Chief Echo, why he neglected to respond to her. Farleigh replied “Because I’m his ex-wife and he’s still holding a grudge.”

Umara took Westley back to Kindlewood while the rest of the party traveled on to Kelos, a string of towns along the edge of the desert. At the request of Farleigh, Hakir joined the group on the quest.

At Kelos, the group finds that O’phelia’s portion of the Arcane Shoppe and Weaponry has a magical window that can open up to various locations in other towns. They find the window in Kelos, and notice that O’phelia seems to sprouting extra eyes, in similar facial locations to the goddess Kilvera. The interactions ends when the group realizes Alistair and Dad But Also A Bear had disappeared.

Further investigation revealed that Alistair and his bear counterpart were kidnapped and taken to an underground arena where they would be forced to fight monsters. The group eventually found this arena and saved their friends before going to an inn to settle in for the night. The majority of the group became entirely smitten by a shy inn servant named Veronica, each attempting to woo her as if this was a fucking episode of Ouran High School Host Club.

The group noticed a tattoo on Veronica’s palm but only Hakir, who had momentarily transformed into an elven woman named Shianni knew that it belonged to an underground cult that often enslaved people for their own measure. Shianni went out into the street, in her cursed form, until the whole town took notice and she was able to find the cult leaders. Shianni murdered them but not after demanding information on the forgotten goddess Kilvera, as well as a promise to release Veronica from bondage.

While this were going on, Chadwick played his lute, a song that was more or less a signal for an assassin he had grown up with. The assassin showed up, and introduced herself to the group as Honey. Treyton, having known Honey and disliked her immediately began an argument with her. Honey’s only words to Chadwick were to drop his mission entirely.

Treyton, dismayed that Chadwick would let Honey insult him, went off to a local bar for a drink, only to find that Honey was pretending to be a bartender. She then convinced him to go back to the underground arena for a fight, and the two faced off against the worst beasts offered. After winning, the two parted ways, with Honey asking Treyton to find a way to dissuade Chadwick from collecting the rest of the ingredients.

The next morning, as news of the cult leaders having died circulates throughout town, the group is greeted by Veronica who brings them breakfast and gifts them with their second ingredient, Void Marmalade. Upon eating some of the marmalade, Alistair and Chadwick have an other-worldly experience. The group then continued on to Verant Port to collect their next ingredient, Dragonhide.

Verant Port is a port town with a market by the sea, and as soon as the group make it to this town, they immediately find an inn far away from it. The inn is seemingly run by a half-orc child named Devlin and her friend Sylvester, who was previously found in Sriracha Desert. Through Alistair bonding with the kids, they find out that Sylvester’s grandmother died and he traveled alone to the port town where he met Devlin. Devlin’s parents were originally the owners of the inn but a journey in the sea brought them to their end.

That day, the group finds the chef, Phiaren who also doubles as a blacksmith. Phiaren was the immediate contact they were given in terms of where to find the dragonhide. He makes an excuse saying its not ready and promptly snaps Treyton’s quarterstaff in half due to his dislike of non-bladed weapons. Treyton, being upset leaves to get another weapon. As the group splits up during this time, Shianni heads back to the chef’s place only to overhear him speak to Honey. Shianni finds out that Honey blackmailed the chef into refusing them the Dragonhide as well as breaking Treyton’s weapon, as she “never liked him anyway”.

That night, the group finds the kids attempting to summon Lunaris, the goddess of moonlight and tides. Devlin asks Lunaris why she didn’t save her parents and Lunaris apologizes, stating that she only has power over tides. Once a person falls deeper into the sea, she is no longer able to meet them. Lunaris is then taken back by the appearance of Plenn, as sailors are known to regularly pray to Lunaris. She also tells the group of Cassius, a human who’s death locked Kilvera away in the forgotten realm. The gods loved him so much they granted his soul reincarnation ability and so he continues to be reincarnated without knowledge. She also tells them that the only way Kilvera can fully break out of the forgotten realm is through Cassius’ death, who she reveals is Cassidy in this reincarnation.

Lunaris then tells the story of Britanea, an introverted sorceress who loved a demigoddess named Allara so much, that after that demigoddess was corrupted by Kilvera, she went mad and swore to destroy Kilvera at all costs. However, she was unable to do this as Cassius locked her away first.

The next morning, the group plots to get the dragonhide anyway, first having Treyton and Shianni pretend to be interested in Phiaren’s bladed weapons, while Plenn snuck through the back and snatched the dragonhide.

As soon as they were all in the clear, the group immediately left Verant Port and immediately began to journey to Commune.

[hamingo]

Dragon Age OCS

Just a big ol' info post about all of my inquisitors~

(Under a cut because it’s very long)

Sarya Adaar:

• My only actual Inquisitor (the others are all made to be companions or just other ocs I made in dai for fun)

• Also the only one on this list with the canon backstory (mostly)

• The biggest girl but also the softest girl (She’s 6′6″)

• She's just trying her darndest honestly, but gets super stressed easily

• Specilaizes in Rift magic and the Fire + Spirit trees. Rift was because, well, she already had the mark, so she figured why not? The fire magic was what she felt most natural using, but it was so destructive she wanted to learn spirit/healing magic as well, to fix anything she might accidentally break

• She is actually just the sweetest babe ever

• Her magic came through when she was 11, in the same instance that her father died in. She wasn't the one to kill him, her magic was more of a desperate act to save him (but it didn't work). She lost her mother (who was also a mage) two years later (haven't decided how yet) and wandered alone for a while before coming across the leader of her merc gang. They basically raised her, and that's where the canon Adaar backstory kicks in

• I’m upset that qunari are not tieflings, and are just various shades of grey instead of being colourful. Just know that if this were D&D, she would be bubblegum pink and thriving

•  Has a Ukranian accent for really no reason other than I’m Ukranian and will take any excuse to make my characters that as well. I don’t know what the Thedosian equivalent to eastern Europe is, but that’s where Sarya was raised when learning to speak I guess

Cyran Lavellan:

• His whole situation is a little all over the place so bear with me: in the Canon Universe (the one in which three friends and I all merge our games and characters together) he is named Cyran Mahariel, but he's NOT the HoF. He's the son of my Inquisition companion Kelley and the HoF's little sister, Valynne Mahariel. However, I turned him into a Lavellan so I could play him in dai, and his backstory is still essentially the same but he's not related to the HoF, who is Amell in this universe because Mahariel is actually Paige's and Cyran Lavellan is a character in my OWN canon without my friends and it's just... a lot going on there, I could make a whole separate post about it. 

Long story short, he’s the kid of Kelley and Valynne (who is the keeper or either clan Sabrae or Lavellan depending on the universe)

• He's 5/8ths elven, his dad turned out to have an elven grandfather, and because genes in the da universe are stupid, I use that as an excuse as to why he has elven features and not human

• He doesn't have a specialization, and in-game, he uses shock magic, but I imagine him with nature magic

• His mom is the keeper, and he worked his ass off for the position of First once his magic came through, cause he knew he had both a human father and other people thinking his mom was just picking favourites to work against to win his clans respect and being named First

• Eventually, he gives up his childhood dream of being Keeper one day to stay with Sarya and stop Corypheus

• Travelled amongst clans and visited ruins and did all he could to learn all he could about ancient elves in a way of trying to prove (Mostly to himself) that he is dalish despite who his dad is

• Mihla thinks he's too hard on himself. She's right

Mihla Lavellan:

• Younger sister of Cyran

• She doesn't have cool magic like her brother, so she grabbed the biggest sword she could find and started swinging that around

• The Cool Sibling

• Much more accepting of her human side than Cyran. She was always the one who suggested going to Denerim to visit their dad instead of getting him to visit them at the clan

• She's also prone to flipping off anyone (elven or human) who tries to make her or her brother feel like they don't belong

• She goes to visit Cyran at Skyhold with the message that their mother is going to be forced to get a new First if he doesn't come home soon, but ends up going back and forth between clan Lavellan and Skyhold because she digs the action. Also she absolutely hooks up with Krem while there

• Eventually also leaves the clan and joins the chargers. Cause once again. She digs the action. (And the cute boy)

Natalia Trevelyan:

•  My very first Inquisition character. I made her before I even got the game

•  Also not an Inquisitor, she’s always meant to be a companion. She’s a con-artist who joins the Inquisition when she fucks over some Inquisition guards and abuses the title “Herald of Andraste” for money, and is captured by said guards and taken back to the Inquisition, where she is pardoned so long as she uses her talents to benefit the Inquisition 

•  She’s a protector and has devoted herself to keeping her mother and brother safe and fed

•  She is a Trevelyan, but not a noble. Her mother was a lower class citizen from Ostwick and fell in love with one of the younger Trevelyan sons when they were both very young (Probably 17-18). They were married in secret when Natalia’s mother got pregnant with her, and their union managed to remain a secret for six years before his family heard, and fearing the blow to their reputation, ran Natalia and her mother out of town. They ended up in Kirkwall, and immediately lost the well-off lifestyle they had grown accustomed to

•  She picked up how to defend herself and others by picking up long objects and swinging them at offenders. The objects got bigger and bigger until she eventually upgraded to an actual sword when Paige’s Inquisitor stole one for her when they fled Kirkwall together

•  Is only 5′2″ but will fuck you up if you mess with someone she cares about

•  Her specialization would be Guardian if they had that in Inquisition, and she uses a two-handed greatsword that is like as big as she is

•  Is a lesbian and always down for messing with rich pricks, so naturally she romanced Sera

•  I’m low-key in love with her

Kelley:

•  Younger (half) brother of Natalia

•  When they came to Kirkwall, the only way Natalia’s mother could make enough money to support them was by selling herself and eventually she worked her up to the Blooming Rose, where she eventually got pregnant with Kelley. (His mother doesn’t have a last name, and not knowing who his father is has left Kelley without one either)

•  Along with his mother, has a recurring illness that affects the lungs and can be fatal (It’d be like what the refugee’s wife has in the Hinterlands), and since the family doesn’t know a cure for it, they often have to gather as much coin as possible to bribe an apostate to help them

•  When Kelley was eight and Natalia was sixteen, the three of them decided to leave Kirkwall in search of a better life in Denerim, where their mother said she had a friend who could help them. However, this was during the Fifth Blight, and so they had a hard time finding a ship going back to Ferelden. They did find a small cargo ship smuggling an apostate, but refused to take all three of them. Since their mother was suffering from the illness at the time, Natalia convinced the cpatain to take their mother so the apostate could heal her, leaving her and Kelley to find their own way to Denerim (On this journey they met Paige’s Inquisitor!) 

•  The family friend had unfortunately perished in the blight, leaving the family in the same situation only in a different country

•  Once in Denerim Kelley took to pickpocketing and occasionally breaking and entering to make money, but once he reached his later teens he took to the same work that his mother had in order to keep a constant flow of money coming to the family

•  Joins the Inquisition at only nineteen after Natalia is taken by them, and the Inquisition discovers him while looking into her and take him and their mother in as well

•  Dual blade rogue, specializing as an assassin

Evelyn Hawke:

•  Daughter of Marian Hawke and Anders. In my canon, Marian was like a month pregnant during the finale there, and so Evelyn was born while both of her parents were on the run

•  Was assigned male at birth, but transitioned pretty early on in her teen years (And thanks to a stroke of luck during cc is now the hottest babe in Thedas LOOK AT HER OMG I’M SO PROUD OF PRETTY SHE IS)

•  MAGE RIGHTS!!!!!!

•  Is a mage, and specializes in winter magic

•  Also legally does not exist, as both of her parents are technically fugitives and so kept the knowledge of her existence limited to only their closest and most trusted friends

Lorraine Surana-Amell:

•  Daughter of Neria Jaydin and Leliana

•  Her existence is also pretty iffy because the Divine really shouldn’t have kids. And officially she didn’t there was just a period of about six months where Divine Victoria "got really sick" and very few people were allowed to visit her

• Is a mage (because I love mages) but instead of a traditional mage, she channels her magic through her bow and arrows, and so she can easily pass as non-mage and still be able to defend herself

• Also she’s Orlesian and I am so down for that (because I’m a sucker for french accents)

[zakdesignprojects-blog]

As part of the flat mag, my group decided to have interviews with rpg characters. It was my job to create n draw them and write the interviews. Two were used in the final flat mag, n four weren’t

Ditch - wererat rogue

What's your journey been like? Any interesting or memorable quests? Ooh, Ditch has plenty of good memories from journey! She remembers one time, group leader needed us to sneak in cave without alerting bandits, to try and free important person. Friend Xan had idea where he stand on Ditch's shoulders, and we wear big coat to look like one person so we pretend to be newcomer wanting to join bandits! It looked to work until Ditch's nose poked out from coat... It is not easy to fight with large sword wielder on shoulders. Moreso when you are big rat in small cave. Group leader was not happy with us for almost compromising job... But we won!

I'm glad it turned out alright. Do you often get into conflict with others in your group? Often, yes. Ditch is big and clumsy most times, compared to others being small and skilled. She tends to get in way during fights by mistake. Others get angry at Ditch for this. Also get angry because Ditch does not understand lot of things, like why tiefling has horns, or why gnome so small. Or boots. Ditch does not understand boots. Maybe because none fit her paws. She used orc's boot as chew once, and he was very cross with Ditch. He had to fight dragon with only one boot on, and Ditch kept stepping on his paws. Ditch does not like fighting with group, she does not find it comfortable. She prefers fighting by herself, or not at all.

If you aren't comfortable fighting, what's your role in the group? There's got to be something only you can do. Of course! Ditch is big, yes, but Ditch also sneaky! Sneakiest one in group! Ditch can shift into little rat and be very hard to see in dark, and fit in spots no one else can. Also can spy on enemies in plain view. No one ever suspects little rat of being bad! Being little rat also makes easy to take things... food things, little things, shiny things... many shiny things... shiny things get left behind a lot, waiting for little rat to take. Big rat Ditch is also very strong. And good at hugs! Ditch can break very hard things in group's way. Group leader also trusts Ditch to carry all group's things and protect them from damage. Ditch is not very smart, but she is smart enough to know group only has her for being strong and shifting into little rat. But Ditch does not mind! She likes having safe place to sleep at night.

Aside from that, what else do you like to do? What goes on during your off days? Ditch likes to swim, though she is not very good. She does not feel so big in water. She likes to chew on many things, too, teeth grow fast and need to be chewed down. During rest time, others in group make things with sheep fur, and Ditch likes holding the fur ball when they work. Oh, sometimes during dark, Ditch will wander off to village and take things! Village scared of Ditch, so she must hide, or shift to little rat to find and take shinies and food. Ditch keeps shinies in special tail bag only she can hold, cause they are her shinies. Ditch also hunts for group! She is fast at take down deer and bear, and feeds group for many moons with only two hunts!

You're a were-rat, right? Why don't you ever stay in your human form? Uh... Ditch thinks she must go. Right now, immediately. Thank you, sorry, goodbye!

[qarajhcreations]

Friday Night Lights, Khodrin’s Journal part two

This is the story of the Friday Night Lights campaign, as told through the eyes of the Mountain Dwarf Fighter, Khodrin Emberhelm. This also means that if Khodrin doesn’t see (or hear, sense, smell) something happening, he doesn’t “experience” it.

With the farmstead secure, the odd group that came to aid against the dog-men, have accepted me to join them on their journey. A rowdy and unruly lot, at least that’s my first impression of them. Oh well, as long as their antics are kept without a Dwarf as the victim, this should be, in the lack of a better word, acceptable. Their objective isn’t quite clear to me, I heard talk of a monastery, must be the Silver Oak one near Athlin. I’ve heard it mentioned a couple of times, but never heard anything more specific as to where or what. The group seems, mostly, honourable enough, the Half-orc Paladin appears to be of high spirits at all times, and to my surprise, the voice of reason in a lot of situations. I was not impressed with the amount of air, to the amount of dog-men, her axe managed to strike. Must be the Orcish side in her. There’s a glimmer of toughness to her, even out of battle, and she seems bent on acting in fairness, or at least what she deems as “fairness”.

I was happy to see a Halfing amongst the group, someone else to take the top off the “you’re the short one here” jokes, she’s a wee lass. Nimble, fast and seems devious. The kind of person you’d have to watch out, when guarding a caravan. I don’t know if she enjoys the center of the action, or if she’s just that much faster than anyone else, but her armour and twin daggers are obviously not meant for locked down combat, granted the dog-men weren’t exactly eqiupped for it either, but any longer battle isn’t her deal. Or maybe it is; a suicidal Halfling, or maybe a Halfling seeking glory in combat? Who knows other than herself? My first impression is, that she makes some hasty choices, without always thinking them through first. Reasonable and friendly, as any Halfling I’d ever met. She seems to partake little in the antics and theatrics, though I think she enjoys being entertained, as long as it is not her on the recieving end. The two Tieflings, as if one wasn’t enough, appear as agents of chaos. Admitted, their abilities are useful, mostly, in combat and they don’t seem to let their antics endanger a friend in combat. I didn’t even catch the one’s name, the group seems to mostly refer to him as just “That Tiefling”. I think it’s wiser, for my own safety and sanity, to keep a distance to them. At least for now.

The bard acts as the instagator, though his bardic talents seems... Well, hard to describe, I haven’t really expeirenced them yet. He seems keen on joking about the Halfling’s height, possibly something I’ll have to endure as well, though I’m sure a well-placed gauntlet or boot can make him regret that. He also seems to enjoy putting That Tiefling in distress out of battle. The very idea of potentially endangering someone without a purpose, I can only shake my head at the thought.

I find the mage Mariah to be a little distant towards the rest of the group, mayhaps that her wisdom makes her able to not join in on the antics. Reasonable and level-headed, she seems just and, unlike most of the others, actually skilled at her craft. I don’t particular enjoy the use of magic, but even I’d admit that the ability to hurl something, seemingly out of nowhere, with great force at enemies is quite handy. Along with the group are also two Knights, I haven’t been able to converse with them, they appear to keep to themselves. The task must be one of importance, as the knights seems to dislike the group taking detours, but perhaps a chance to strike up a conversation shall rise soon enough.

We’d been trudging along the grassy hills for quite a while, when someone suddenly realised that we had not checked the dog-men bodies for loot. I would have dismissed the chance of finding anything, the dog-men weren’t really wearing anything that could conceal any loot, and their equipment was... crude, almost insulting to any person with just the slightest idea of working a forge and anvil. But a majority found it a good idea, though the knights DID try to keep the focus on the task. Apparantly, I’m not alone in seeking fortune here.

Returning to the farmstead, we found that a large number of the very dead dog-men, wasn’t laying as corpses where we left them. And there didn’t appear to be any signs of something burrying or devouring the corpses, the idea of undead dog-men struck my mind slightly, but I shook it out again, as I began to loot one of the deceased creatures. The smell, a mixture of fried, wet and slightly rotting dog, was almost as bad as when I had cleared out a Goblin nest along with some of the other caravan guards. The others also seemed to be less than pleased with the stench. Maybe it kept them from concentrating, but none of them appeared to actually find anything of importance. I found a small pouch, worn leather and a simple string with a couple of coins in it. Well, all fortunes start small.

Turning a bit more south, we had the distant mountains on our left, a feeling of loneliness struck me, but there was no certainty of Dwarves residing in these mountains. Over the next hill, the grass had turned a darker green, the grass was taller, thicker, as if untouched by cattle or wanderers. Several white areas seemed to dot the grass, it seemed very strange. It seemed the wisest to be cautious, but where there is caution, there is also curiousity. And where there’s curiousity, there is also stupidity. That Tiefling went over and literally poked his bare hand into the white mass of... whatever it was. In the blink of an eye, a large shadow rushed out of the whiteness, and lashed it’s fangs into the skin of that Tiefling’s hand. A massive, black spider. And it did not seem pleased. As that Tiefling withdrew in surprise and pain, the spider lashed out again, seemingly doing a lot of damage. The Paladin rushed over, battle-axe in hand, and Mariah was preparing some kind of spell.

Meanwhile, Liri, the Halfling, had chosen a wiser, though still risky way of investigating the webs; poking it with daggers. As on a rail, another large spider came forth, finding itself facing Liri and myself, I had been staying a few feet from the web, I was not going to touch those things. At least no with something that could get stuck or get bitten. The spider started attacking Liri before I could react, but it never seemed to be any real danger. I wouldn’t want to miss out on the action, one can never be too sure. In a fluent move, I stepped forward in the tall grass, cautious not to step into the web, and swung my hammer at the spider’s face. It gave a nice loud crack as metal struck and broke the carapace plate, but the spider wasn’t defeated yet. I had my shield up, ready for the spider to come at me, in the moment before it was about to lunge, I heard a faint, but powerful whisper in the air. An insult of some kind, directed at the spider? Peaking over my shoulder, the bard stood, pointing fingers at the spider. What, are you going to sing it to death? Apparently, the whispers worked, and the spider encased itself in web and stopped moving.

Meanwhile, the other spider had been dealt with, the Paladin had taken a few hits, though nothing serious. There was an anxious feel in the air, as we all could see more of the webbed areas. But despite the commotion of the battle, no-more spiders appeared. After a short debate, we agreed upon leaving the rest of the webs and potential spiders be; the spiders seemed only to come forth when their nests were disturbed. Not making the same mistake twice, we decided to loot the destroyed nests, but sadly not much of value was found. Other than remains of humanoid origin and tufts of fur, similar to that of the dog-men. It seemed like the plains where bristling with life... And not-life.

Keeping a close eye on that Tiefling, just in case of him wanting to poke another nest, we moved back to the trail once more, heading south-east again. We came across yet another farmstead. Here the farmers seemed calm, and reacted defensively towards requests of being evacuated to Athlin and the Silver Oak Monastery. They explained that the spiders acted as natural defense, eating marauders, bandits and other no-gooders. With silent and unseen nods, we agreed amongst the group to not mention to the farmers, that we killed a couple of their defense. I wasn’t exactly sure if this was the right thing to do, but the farmers seemed sure that they were safe. I hope they are right. They offered us shelter and food for the night, but it was only afternoon. And, after one of the knights pointed out, that we’d gone only about some 15 miles, due to the detour with the spiders, and going back to loot the dog-men, so she suggested that we instead made way further south.

Walking along the foot of the mountains, we discovered a path in the stone of some sort, and after a short walk, we came upon a sealed Dwarven door. I had no idea that there would be, excuse me, have been other Mountain Dwarves here. Then again, most of the remaining Mountain Dwarf strongholds, are pretty secluded, and not really in contact with other settlements. The runes on the frame of the door seemed to spell something out, I was hoping to discover why this hold, or outpost, was abandoned. Alas, all I found was the name of this stronghold, “Herndarum”. I fear I may have led my fellow travel mates down, I’m a Dwarf, and could tell them nothing except for the name of this place. The barren stones here seemed completely devoid of life, no animals and no plants. We decided to not investigate further, and with a heavy heart, I returned along the others back to the foot of the mountains. My thoughts go out to the Dwarves who lived here, may they have found greener pastures and not an untimely demise.

Around evening-time, the landscape finally changed from the grassy plains. The ground became less and less solid; dirt turned to mud, and mud turned to murky, stagnant water. We had entered the northern part of The Moonlit Mire. To survey our plans foreward, the knights pointed out how dangerous and decieving the swamp could be. One of the two remaining knights had knowledge of this swamp, or at least experience with moving through swamps in general, took point as we huddled together what ropes we had, tying all group members by the waist (and the Halfing under her armpits) in a long chain. What with the size of the others in the group, apart from Liri, I would not be able to see much, so before anyone else, I called it and said that I would take point after the knight. Would also give me a fair chance of finishing a fight on my own. The group seemed to almost all want to be in the rear part of the chain, though I’m uncertain why. It ended up with that Tiefling right behind me, and the Halfling next in line after that. The second knight took the rear, and the others were in between that.

Our progress was slow, but, I must admit, with the knight’s guidance, the trudge was uneventful. Perhaps for this reason, my mind began to wander, I thought I saw something appearing in the surface of a mud bank, then disappearing short after. The distance was too great for me to make out, what it actually was, but, as if guided by my curiousity (and the fact that I was distracted from the knight’s guidance), I continued forward where the knight had made a turn. before I could react, the solid ground seemed to vanish beneath me, and the icky water reached up to my arm-pits. I tried wiggling back, flailing my arms in a hopeless attempt to pull myself up, but just then, something seemed to grab tightly around my right boot. I was about to pull on both parts of the rope that I was tied with, but then thinking about it, niether that Tiefling nor the knight seemed grandous in strength, and likely, it would more be me pulling them in, than them pulling me out. And the Tiefling would probably make a big fuss about it. Instead, I just turned my head over my shoulder, and called out, without distress in my voice, “Uh... I may be a wee bit stuck here, some help please?” I could audible hear the knight groan. To my surprise, that Tiefling actually listened, and didn’t try any of those magic tricks of his. Though the pull was light, it was enough resistance for me to haul myself up.

It didn’t feel like whatever was clamped around my boot, had any force of it’s own, and as I got out of the muk, I lifted my foot and discovered why; a skeletal hand, with no arm or person attached. The hand seemed to wiggle, and I swear, that Tiefling almost fainted at the sight. We moved towards an area that appeared to have larger mounds of solid ground, above water-level as well. The was just enough room to camp down for the night, and needing some shut-eye, I took first guard. Joining me was that Tiefling, who claimed something along the lines of the “early night time being less dangerous”, I don’t think there’s any proof to that claim. The knight, who took the rear guard, also joined the first shift. Nothing happened during the watch, except we saw some odd blue lights circling something quite far out in the swamp. We decided not to act upon it, the danger of the mire’s murky water, plus that Tiefling being squeamish. We woke up the next guard shift.

Almost as soon as I sat down, as there wasn’t room to lie down, even for a Dwarf, my eyelids grew heavy. Though I didn’t get much sleep that night. The sound of combat, got me up and ready. The first thing I noticed, was that the rope was cut, and that Tiefling was no longer bound to me. Next, as I looked out over the mire, I noticed the Halfling getting pummeled by the blue lights from before, in the glints of lightning, I saw what looked like a crate of some kind. Liri’s cries for help were pitiful to say the least, as she really didn’t seem to do well against the blue lights. The distance was pretty far, and it’s not like I’m exactly trained in using my light crossbow, but lodging a bolt and pulling the weapon to my chin. The dry thunk of the bolt shooting off into the night, seemed louder than the other times I had fired it. I saw one of the blue lights flicker a tiny bit, my shot must have hit somehow, though if the Halfling did little damage, my bolt had done even less. Eventually, we managed to defeat the lights, and Liri returned to looting the crate. Sadly, it’s contains were meager and of little interest. Going back to a sitting sleep, the rest of the night went on without further disturbances.

The next morning we managed to trudge further north, the mounds of solid ground became bigger and with less distance between them, some thoughtful souls had even taken the time to place down rounded logs, serving as small bridges. On one particular large mound, we saw something really strange: A growth of some sort, with a pair of legs wiggling halfway into it. Surely, if you got stuck in a bush like that, all you had to do was push yourself back out. Well, unless you were piss-drunk out of your senses, of course. Feeling curious, we managed to pull the individual out. To my, and I think others’, surprise, the person was covered in some sort of sludge. And it seemed we managed to disturb... something. The bush game to life, and suddenly a huge mass of vines and plant-matter rose and started attacking us. The Bard told it something that, apparantly made it flee to another mound, I’m not entirely sure how that works. Either way, the Halfling and the Half-orc decided to follow the thing, to fight it. Both of them managed to make jump across. Despite of there being an absolutely perfect dry, and safe, route to get there, crossing the wooden logs. Drawing my warhammer, I went the long way around. Which apparently didn’t exactly fall well with the Bard, who, just as I was reaching the plant-thing, inspired me to leap at the creature. Ten feet, which I would easily have covered normally, but noooo, someone had to be picky about it. Didn’t see himself in the frey, but not minding sending others into danger? Seems like something a ruthless commander would do. I’ll keep in mind to whack him a bit around later.

Both the paladin and the Halfling had their troubles with the large thing, it’s large viney arms seemed like living clubs. Meanwhile, the rest of our band tried to deal damage from afar. I say tried, because it wasn’t really effective. With a shrug, I swung my hammer against the mass, it did hit, but as I halfway expected, it didn’t do much. You don’t cut trees down with a hammer, you use an axe. Sadly, I didn’t bring one. The thing lifted both “arms” at me, I readied myself for the attack. Stung like crazy, and suddenly I found myself being lifted upwards, and befroe I could react, I was the one being digested inside the plant monster. There was no air, and i could feel the sludge sting and burn, trying to disolve me. I kept my breath, when you’ve been in the depths of a mine, you know that the air is bad. It was a while since I had last been in a mine, good times though, but some things never truely leave you. I could hear the sounds of struggle, my travel mates were trying to slay the thing. They weren’t exactly being quick about it. I would have to endure a little longer. I tried to push myself out, but to no avail at first, my strength was failing me. My fate... was it to end by a bush? No glory in that, this was no Necromancer in black armour on a horse, no fire-breathing Dragon... this... a PLANT, should be the end of me? It’d be a lie, that much I’d tell you.

With a forceful push, I managed to get myself out, with no help from anyone at all. Still holding both shield and warhammer, I was back, and it was time to whack this overgrown piece of weed into submission. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Tiefling somehow turn into a plant in a ceramic pot. Which pretty much sums up how useful everyone except the Halfling and the Half-orc was being. I gave a couple of swings to the swamp-creature, the first one struck clean, but I must have gotten some sludge in my eye, as the other one missed completely. Eventually we managed to bring the plant-monster into a state of “no longer alive”. Meanwhile, the knights had tended to the person, and brough him back to life. An Elf. No wonder he’d have trouble getting himself out of the plant, Elves are all smooth legs and skin, not much in terms of strength. I began wiping myself off, the strings holding my beard in braids and my hair in a knot, had been dissolved. Didn’t feel like my beard had taken damage though. I began sieving through the plant remains, I found an odd leather pouch. I opened it and saw some documents of some kind, without taking them out for further inspection. Something inside me, told me it belonged to the Elf, and as he was alive, that would be considered as stealing. Had he died, it’s contents would have been mine, a little something for my troubles. Instead, I handed the pouch to the Half-orc, who seemed having little trouble digging through the pouch, though she didn’t actually take anything. The Elf, apparantly from a place somewhere southwest of the mire, claimed to be a courier.

With that over with and done, we ventured further east and north, still only clinging to the foot of the mountains. I couldn’t wait to be out of the mire, to feel safe amongst dry rocks. We followed the stream of the river, and eventually the water turned from green and brown to a more clear blue. We halted by a lake, a much needed bath as opportune here. And I wasn’t alone in that thought... Even though I was the only one who had actually experienced something that needed a washing. One of the myths about Dwarves, that I’ve heard, is that Dwarves despise water. As a drink, it’s true. But Dwarves take showers too, some are actually pretty decent swimmers, not me though, and freshly caught fish, simmering in a mead-sauce, is quite the treat indeed. I turned my back to the group as I got out of my chainmail and dark-green garments, placing them in a neat bundle near the shore, along with the rest of my gear; my backpack, crossbow, warhammer and shield. The water was cold, but refreshing, it was quite pleasant.

But not all pleasantries last, with this group, I find that they rarely do. Suddenly that Tiefling rushed, bare-naked as the day he was born, out of the water, faster than Goblin realising all his mates are dead, and he’s going to be next. The others also got out of the water, though I’m not sure if they were chasing by, or spooked by the Tiefling screaming. What an obnoxious person indeed.

[innistrahd]

Curse of Strahd, Episode 09

AKA So Much Plot 

Recap

Our heroes, Claris the gnome wizard, Ileana the elf druid, Mike the human bard, and Nyx the werewolf rogue, along with their various companions Laise (Claris’s familiar), Frederick (animated armor), Magdala (a wereraven), Ash and Thorn (two wood woads), and Mistrunner (a horse) all arrived in Barovia in their own times (some being born there), and eventually all gathered together. At the start of our adventure, Claris received a fortune telling her of a few things of note in her journey, such as that “knowledge of the ancient” was to be found in a place where a dragon rested. Most recently, our group encountered the druids at Yester Hill, where Ileana was first crowned their leader, then our heroes killed the druids and burned their sacred tree since they were worshipers of Strahd, the evil lord of Barovia. As we pick back up, our heroes are on their way back to the Wizard of Wines, from which they plan on heading north to the village of Krezk. 

The Order of the Silver Dragon, and the Druids going north

As the group was perhaps a half mile away from the winery, they encountered a creature wandering the paths nearby. What appeared at first to simply be a regular old zombie turned out to be an intelligent revenant, a member of the Order of the Silver Dragon, an order of knights dedicated to fighting evil. After hearing that Ileana was indeed the folk hero the Swordstealer, Sorina the knight asked the group to come to the order’s mansion at their own convenience to convince their leader to once again take up the fight against Strahd. She agreed to wait for them at the location called Tsolenka Pass. 

After that, our heroes returned to the winery, still quite early in the morning, and spoke with the Martikovs. Claris began to speak with the intelligent crystal that she’d picked up back on Yester Hill. As the group got on the road with the younger son of the Martikovs, a man named Elvir, they were attacked by a druid and a horde of twig blights. While they fairly easily slew the horde of blights, they took the druid hostage briefly to experiment with equipping Frederick to a living creature. 

The Walled Village of Krezk

At around noon that day, the group arrived at the village of Krezk, a lonely village on a mountaintop, where they were happily greeted by the Burgomaster Dmitri Krezkov. The burgomaster told them about the village a little- that they were a secluded settlement that produced all their own goods except for wine. Additionally, after arriving in town they could hear bells chiming from the Abbey up the hill, and also the cries and screams of many crazed creatures, although they couldn’t pin down just what kind of creatures might be making those sounds. 

As they entered the burgomaster’s modest home, the group saw a dog lying near the hearth, which made Mike particularly happy, because this was Little Mike, his best friend whom he’d lost and all his searching had been for. Magdala stayed behind with Little Mike while Mike and the others traveled up the hill to the Abbey of St Markovia, where they were to meet with the Abbot for spiritual advice, a cure to Mike’s lycanthropy, and information about the world. 

The Angel and the Bride

As the group arrived at the Abbey of Saint Markovia, they found that the place seemed surprisingly empty. The sounds of the bell and the cries and screams had faded away, leaving little but a cold breeze to greet their senses. They rung a bell hanging at the Abbey’s gate, but received no answer and so began to travel into the Abbey on their own. Within, they saw a wagon that they recognized- the wagon of a certain Ezmerelda d’Avenir, a vistana woman who they met at the wizard’s tower on Lake Baratok. With noone around but the party, Claris crawled into the wagon using the secret hatch underneath that she’d learned of by watching Ezmerelda before, and took just a few of the items hidden away within, including a half-burnt page from a journal.

The group continued inside the Abbey a little more, and were greeted by a strange, deformed man and woman, who were carrying an empty cauldron from one end of the Abbey to the other. They ushered the group into the Abbey’s main hall, where they met with the Abbot, a handsome young man (probably no older than 30, but who had been about 30 for many generations, from what they’d heard) and Vasilka, a beautiful young woman in very fine clothing who seemed almost to have no mind of her own. After their introductions, the Abbot invited the party to join them in supper, and called upon the two deformed figures, Clovin and Zondra, to serve dinner. The two had barely begun to fix a new pot of stew by the time the Abbot called for dinner, so the food they did serve was hardly cooked at all, but they served it nonetheless. 

At dinner, 9 places were set at the table. The Abbot and Vasilka sat at one end of the table, with the four members of our party sitting 2 on either side of the table beyond that. The other 3 places were filled in by 3 new figures who joined: Ezmerelda d’Avenir, who seemed shocked to see this group who she suspected to be working with Strahd; Buck, a tiefling who used a weird weapon (a gun); and Aliera, or Xantha as she called herself, a human assassin. After clearing up that neither Ezmerelda nor our heroes were actually on the side of Strahd, they became a tad bit friendlier with each other. The party also got a chance to speak with Buck and Aliera, the two figures from our session 6.5 of this campaign, who had been stuck in Barovia for awhile since we last saw them. 

Meanwhile during during dinner, our party also noticed a few things rather strange about Vasilka. First, she appeared to not be entirely human, but rather to be stitched together flesh from many different women. In addition to that, she appeared to strike an eerie resemblance to Nyx, like she was made to be a cheap replica of Nyx. After dinner, the Abbot showed our heroes around the Abbey, where he revealed a few very interesting things. 

First, he revealed that Vasilka was actually a creature the Abbot created to serve as a gift for Strahd, to appease the dark lord and allow the people of Barovia to hopefully leave his domain. As such, Vasilka was created to bear a resemblance to one of Strahd’s previous desires- a woman who Strahd sought after but who met an untimely demise before Strahd was able to wed her or turn her. The Abbot also revealed his own nature as a Deva, an angel of the holy planes, who had been trapped in the land of Barovia long ago and wished simply to leave the place. He believed that offering up Vasilka as an undying gift to Strahd would appease him and allow those who wished to leave Barovia that opportunity. 

DM Notes

Whew, that was an interesting session. I felt like there might have been a lot of people not paying attention this session, at least some of which was because they were having private in-character discussions off on the side and not paying attention to the other discussions going on, but I’m not sure everyone got all of every story going on here. I’m hoping everything got through to at least one of the players, though. 

-Changed the Abbey: While I don’t think it’s the biggest change I’ve made to our Curse of Strahd campaign, I do think it’s the biggest change that the players have actually encountered, although they don’t really know this since none of them have played through the  adventure in any other capacity. But, yeah, I’ve made some changes to the Abbey, and a lot of them will probably actually be revealed next time, since the players might have a chance to explore the Abbey on their own and take a better look at some things. 

-Combat-Light: There wasn’t really a whole lot of combat this session, or a whole lot of dice rolling at all, really. I don’t think that’s really a good or a bad thing, but it’s just an interesting thing. I have no clue if that had an impact on how intently people were paying attention. Maybe too much exposition at once isn’t necessarily a good thing. Also, the one combat was all done without a map, but when the players sat at the dinner table with the Abbot I drew up a map, which I think may have confused the players a little.

-The Random Encounter: So, the druids were sort of a random encounter I’d rolled for the characters’ journey from the winery to Krezk, and I thought it might be an interesting encounter to show how the dynamic between the party (especially Ileana) and the druids of Barovia might change in response to some of the things that have happened. In theory, once the druid saw that Ileana was carrying the Gulthias Staff, she’d have called off her blights and done as Ileana asked, but that wasn’t really how things played out in practice. 

-Extra Characters: Nyx’s player made a comment about it in game and I was also thinking about it myself, and one of the other players mentioned it after the game, but the cast of NPCs in the players’ party is growing exceptionally for this campaign. I’ve been having the players control some of the other characters in combat to try to help keep them engaged, with each player controlling the other characters most related to them (like Mike controlling the horse Mistrunner or Claris controlling her familiar), this has left Nyx alone for a lot of the time. Her player’s been controlling no characters other than her for awhile now and I feel kind of very bad about that, but also I’m not sure what kinds of allies to offer to Nyx in the near future. I can think of a few in the semi-near future for sure, but nothing within the next maybe session or two. 

-Plot Hooks Ruined: Well, I was originally going to use Little Mike’s illness as a plot hook to guide the players up the mountainside to visit the Abbey, since they’d need magical healing to ensure Little Mike’s safe recovery. However, after I expressed that Little Mike looked sick, Mike immediately threw up a Lesser Restoration spell, which, hey, good for him! I wasn’t going to deny him the primary use of his spell just for a plot hook. Besides, they still decided to head up to the Abbey on their own anyway. 

-Mike’s Happy Ending: So, looks like things are going swimmingly for Mike, and he might be retiring from the adventuring life after this. He’s found Little Mike, and Claris knows a spell that would heal Mike of his lycanthropy. The only thing left that Mike might want to accomplish through adventuring would be to leave the lands of Barovia, but since he’s not much of a fighter, he probably wouldn’t stand much of a chance against Strahd. So, Mike’s story may be coming to a (temporary) close, though he might be showing up later to help out in non-combat capacities. Mike’s player is probably going to be switching over to playing Buck, the tiefling gunslinger, after all this has gone down.