#( what was created was the undead abomination we all know and love ) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

crystalkleure · 3 years ago

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Haha hey remember that post I made awhile back, speculating on what a bad idea it might be to fuse dead things in the godless Frankenstein fossil machine

Meet White. He is a reanimated corpse. Two of them, actually. Or more like 1.5. [And I whipped up this half-assed partial reference sheet in one night instead of sleeping, so don’t look too hard at the chickenscratch lineart and visible guidelines, and kindly ignore the total lack of shading as well as any other messy jankiness.]

White is a product of me wondering not only about what happens if you NecroFuse a human with a Pokemon, but also what happens if you make it even worse and specifically fuse that human with a Pokemon capable of mega evolution. Because canon seems to imply that mega evolving is at best deeply uncomfortable -- and at worst outright agonizing -- for whatever creature is going through it.

Character Lore under the cut. Lots of text:

White is one of actually multiple undead guys who got mashed together with bits of dead Pokemon. They’re science experiments, so they've got the dex numbers of the Pokemon they're spliced with tattooed on the backs of their necks, and those numbers were treated as their names In The Evil Science Lab.

In his Original Life, White [and some of his buddies] got gored to death by some escaped Horrible Fucking Monsters that were accidentally [...and then not-so-accidentally] created via Two Pokemon At Once In A Fossil Resurrection Machine, because hey, it is SUPER easy to think you got Just One Thing's Bones from an excavation dig but then later you realize that Some Of Those Bones were from something TOTALLY different that just died in the same place. It happens. So, some Fossil Scientist People accidentally resurrected an Abomination, realized they fucked up pretty fast...and then started wondering if they REALLY fucked up or if this is Cool, Actually. And then the team of Science People split into two Morality Factions, with one half being like “This is unethical as shit, we need to make sure this doesn't happen again because it's not natural so who knows how this poor fucked up creature is suffering” and the other, cooler half being like “WE NEED TO DO THIS AGAIN RIGHT NOW BECAUSE SCIENCE. IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES HOLY SHIT.”

Cooler group splits off from the Horrified Group With Morals, and they promptly use their Science Knowledge to Construct More Machines and Make More Monsters. Doesn't take too long for them to realize, however, that Abomination Pokemon are stupidly hard to control, because not only are they suffering, their masters obviously don't care for their wellbeing, so Revolt Inevitably Occurs and they escape to wreak havoc upon the nearest congregation of townspeople. They promptly maul some people to death at a nearby local rock concert, scientists chase after them to clean up the mess, realize “Oh Shit, Manslaughter Charges Impending”, and then realize...

Science Guy 1: “...Hey, what happens if you put a dead person in the fossil machine?”

Science Guy 2: “Hey, people probably listen better than Pokemon. We can, like, TALK to people.”

Science Guy 3: “Lads, I got a stellar idea just now. And we got plenty of Dead Guys to start with right here! Great way to hide the bodies too, probably.”

This goes approximately as well as you would expect, and precisely as ethically. A smashing success!

However, because they Fucking Died, the reanimated Newly-Monsterized dudes do not remember shit about who they were pre-resurrection. They're not technically even the same people, they’re more like clones. They've been remade. So, all they know now is Science Lab Life, and they have no initial attachment to eachother aside from "that other guy is also a Science Experiment Person just like me, so Same Hat @ Labrat Neighbour ig", in spite of several having been friends or even family prior to death. They also just...don’t know/remember things in general. They are fresh blank slates. And to a morally-bankrupt team of scientists, that’s perfect! They can train these guys to behave however they please!

...However, people might be People Instead Of Animals, meaning they can be Reasoned With And Manipulated And Coerced far better than animals due to their far better communication abilities with the Science People, but...there is Still A Problem in the sense that Holy Shit, A Person Can Only Take So Much. You can only treat someone as "Experiment [number]" for so long, blatantly putting no value on their life outside of The Value Of Scientific Research, in spite of literally basically needing to raise them like a normal child due to the Lack Of Memories issue. Eventually they're not gonna be able to take that anymore and they are gonna Fucking Leave, too. And they’re gonna be much harder to track down than the rampaging Pokemon were. Impossible, actually, once they’ve ripped out their tracking chips.

So then there's just these monster dudes, who don't actually know what they are because they weren't ever told anything more than necessary to get them to cooperate with Tests And Experiments, just Escaped Into Civilization and having NO idea how Anything works. Fun! Especially considering how, at first glance, these just look like Normal Dudes. Their monster bits either aren't apparent or just look like funky body modifications.

They've also got Science Things in them and they Don't Know What The Fuck Those Things Even Are. They've just got these little Devices in/on their chests, and they were never informed of the exact functions of them because there's no reason to explain to the experiment What Is Happening, just that the experiment needs to Hold Still and Cooperate and Now Do This, Now Do This, Now Do That, Good Job That's Enough For Today, etc.

Those devices contain both key stones and mega stones.

If you were a Mad Pokemon Scientist, you would most certainly be interested in the mega evolution phenomenon. What would YOU do if some of your Undead Fusion Experiments happened to be spliced with bits of Pokemon known to be capable of mega evolving? You’d kill two birds with one enigmatic set of stones, that’s what you’d do. Your Frankenstein Experiments can even TALK to you and tell you exactly what they are experiencing when you run tests on them! It’s perfect!

So, if a rock-bearing monster’s heart rate goes too high, part of the little device, which is a barrier between one type of rock and the other, opens up and Exposes One Rock To The Other Rock. Which exposes the monster to the Rock Energy Reaction. The greater the stress, the higher the dose. And I’m sure you can see the snowball effect that’s gonna create, at least the first time or two.

They were INTENDED to eventually be made to Physically Fight With Eachother to gauge the effects of The Rocks™️ when the Guys With The Rocks are under Stress and need to Do Some Self-Defense. The Science Squad was basically trying to suss out the Actual Purpose of mega evolution. Because mega evolution is weird -- it puts ENORMOUS stress on the body of whatever is undergoing it, so the hypothesis was that its true power is probably drawn out best via a perceived life-threatening situation, like it’s a type of hysterical strength, because what else would cause a need for that kind of ability. And aren’t ethics a bit overrated?

So, there’s our premise. White is just wandering around without any particular purpose outside of never ever going back to Science Hell, and he has no clue what the funny little doohickey buried in his chest does until it activates one day and absolutely fucks him up [...as well as everyone around him. Mega Absol radiate an Aura Of Sheer Terror that can literally scare people with weak hearts to death if they’re not careful.]

And now, some Miscellaneous Character Info:

The bit about Lots Of Death happening at a rock concert specifically was important. White was actually the vocalist of the band that was playing. He doesn’t remember that now, but he still loves music and has the same strong vocal cords. And THAT is important because White is partially an Absol now and Absol naturally learns Perish Song. These Fusion Monsters are absolutely capable of using Pokemon moves, though whether they’re aware of this is a different matter entirely. Imagine what happens when they end up tapping into those abilities accidentally.

That band was a relatively-unknown little local band. White was by no means anywhere near famous. Very few people even realized he was gone, and most of the ones who would have noticed also ended up Equally Unalive.

That black stuff between the belts on White’s arms is mesh. Like, stocking mesh. It gets Ripped The Fuck Apart when he goes Mega Mode and his arm fur gets Extra Spiky. Hence one stocking being a bit tattered in that reference pic. He frequently has to replace those things, they are fragile.

“How did White get his name if he doesn’t remember his original name and didn’t have a real name in the lab�� I am glad you asked! Post-escape, he eventually encountered a situation where someone asked him what his name was, he bluntly told them “I don’t have one. I am #359.”, they said “Well That Is Not A Name, I need something proper to call you”, and he was just...Super Apathetic. So, the other person picked out the name “White” just based on the fact that White’s hair is white, and he just shrugged and rolled with it.

As you can see in my Incredibly Quick And Rough Sketches, the backs of White’s shirts are open to accommodate that huge amount of fur that bristles out into false wings when he goes Mega Mode. Because his Actual Normal Hair is relatively long and overlaps with that fur, it blends in with his Actual Normal Hair and doesn’t look too odd [when it’s down]. Probably mostly because nobody’s expecting it to be anything OTHER than Perfectly Normal Hair That Just Happens To Be Very Long.

White does not particularly like violence. White does not want to beat you up. He will, though, without a bit of hesitation, if there’s some logical reason he feels like it’s the most practical course of action. Being essentially raised by Cold, Emotionally-Sterile Scientists With No Care For The Wellbeing Other Living Beings uh, tends to affect a guy a little bit. White has a bit of an internal dilemma regarding “It would be efficient for me to just Harm This Other Person to defuse the current situation, because attempting nonviolence will be overall more risky somehow” vs. “Holy shit it feels bad when I hurt people. Why does it feel bad when I hurt people. Is it...SUPPOSED to feel bad when I hurt people?? No one ever felt bad for hurting me.” He Figures Out How Empathy Works Eventually. He is a good guy at heart. He is a Monotone Snarker, but not actually Cold or Malicious at all.

If an Absol can do it, White can probably do it. He has incredibly keen senses and a STRONG ability to Detect Impending Doom. He has exactly the amount of Supernatural Absol Powers you would expect. He is also stupidly physically strong, way more so than he appears to be.

White can’t punch people. Look at the fist he’s making in the pic, he’s doing it wrong. If you punch someone like that, you WILL break your own thumb. That’s not a Revving Up To Sock Someone pose, he’s just tense. He’s using his thumb as a buffer between his long-ass Sharp As Fuck claws and the flesh of his palm. If White tries to punch anybody, or just makes a proper fist at all, he will impale his own hand on his nails. Like, all the way through. He CAN slash straight through things like metal and bone with those claws, though.

White...is unsettling. Completely accidentally, and unknowingly. He just radiates an Aura Of Intimidation [...or Pressure], even when not in Mega Mode, that scales depending on his mood. Just being near him tends to put people and Pokemon on edge. Thus, he’s generally avoided.

The latter point is especially unfortunate, because White’s preferred method of Socializing and Bonding is to just kind of quietly hang out in the same room as whoever he is trying to Socialize and Bond with. He just wants to, like...chill out Near A Buddy and watch a movie and share a bag of chips or something. His social skills are predictably not good.

#DO YOU LIKE MY TOTALLY NORMAL GUY #HE SUFFERS #He's pretty though and that's what actually matters here right #I need to draw the other Totally Normal Guys sometime too. White is Part Of A Set.#Pokemon #CK's art #OCs #I have Long Pointy Fingernails myself can you tell

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runeterrankhaleesi · 3 years ago

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Hey, Khaleesi! Remember that alternate Ruination link? So here, for @theruinednymph and all who don't understand Polish, I give a translation of the script to English :)

Here's the (more or less accurately) translated version of Marvecc's Ruination. I'm giving you the closest thing to what he said but in English. Sorry for inevitable inconsistencies, typos and misspellings 😅

It is commonly known that for quite some time I've been complaining about the Ruination, I shamelessly admit. But I think nothing I said was unjustified. When the Ruination came to an end, I had sort of a bad hangover. I noticed wasted potential. "So make a better event. If you're so smart!" So uh… let's try!

I may not have plentiful resources as Riot Games do, I am no graphic designer or animator but I know a bit of game lore so I've decided to take it one step further. I've decided to fix the Ruination. It will be a huge test for me, because some day, in five, ten, fifteen or twenty years I'd like to create my own world. My own universe. That's why today you yourselves will judge if in any way, knowing the lore of some world, I am fit for this task.

Welcome dear viewers, I am Marvecc, and today I will be telling you how, in my opinion, the plot of the Ruination should've looked like, or how I would create it.

Let's assume some basics in the making of the plot. Let's leave the cinematic from the season's beginning because it was fantastic, let's be real, and let's leave the regional structure. It's clear that a very important changing element was the characters' journey in a way that everyone could find themselves in their favorite region. Well, maybe not everyone because not all regions had been presented, but the majority of them. So without further ado, let's move onto my machinations.

As we know, the cinematic ended on a ship with the sight of Senna and Lucian, and in my opinion the champions should've immediately headed for Bilgewater it was there Lucian had allies in the fight against Harrowing and it is there the plot of the game "Ruined King" begins. We reach the harbor, Lucian and Senna meet with Miss Fortune, shed light on the situation and she decides it's time to head to the Temple of Nagakabuross on the hill, asking the high priestess of the Kraken - Illaoi - for help. The four of them meet at an inn, discussing the end of the world and the apocalypse of the undead. Everyone is wondering how to stop Viego. What to do to save the world from destruction. It turns out that our conversation was unintentionally being listened to by Yummi - yes, exactly. Yummi - who quietly has been sitting in a corner in the shadow and eavesdropping on what our champions were talking about. Lucian and Mf obviously laugh the cat off, but she had taken notice of the unease of humans and all creatures while travelling, caused by the sudden attack of the Mist. When those attacks had taken place, she was in Freljord with her friend Braum and they'd witnessed the Mist and its abominations slaughter the inhabitants of one of the Freljordian villages. Braum jumped into the frey, trying to protect the people but he was anguished when he realised that he's, sadly, powerless.

Caring deeply for his homeland, he asked his friend Yummi to try and gather some information. And she did. After a while of sitting on a table, she leaped onto the Book, vanished and jumped out of a portal moments later with Braum in tow. You know, it makes sense, they're both friends and Braum understands that now the biggest threat for the Freljord is Viego. Our characters debate on how to stop him. It turns out however, that they don't really have any plan. They don't see a light at the end of the tunnel. How are they supposed to face the might of the undead, having so little force at their disposal? Now, if the power of Nagakabuross and Illaoi, who despise the dead, is some sort of a natural counterpart to the undead, our group heads to the Temple of the Bearded Lady. Illaoi decides it is there they would find the solution.

And curiously enough, Buhru Sentinel awaits them there with Gwen who met him while searching for Senna whom she'd sensed because Viego didn't take the whole fragment of Isolde's soul, which we know from "the Ruination", as she herself also possesses a fragment. Buhru Sentinel has a similar role. He's, somewhat, an introduction, tells us he'd fixed the connection between the base in Bilgewater and the one in Ixtal - of course I'm talking about the Sentinels' bases. His role is of a man who travels with us, a sage of sorts, who stays behind and repairs the links in bases.

Well then. We've been to Bilgewater and we have the means to travel to Ixtal. You may be thinking "Marvecc, okay, but the event started in Demacia". Mind you. I'm making up my own version. Also, Demacia lies, you know, on the opposite side of the known Runeterra and honestly the Mist comes from Shadow Isles, so we constantly, not paying mind to the danger of it, travel to those regions. In the original Ruination, the role of the Mist had been terribly diminished to a substance which just searches for Isolde. I would make it so that we fear the Mist. We fear Viego's army and we flee from east to west, not go to random locations. And obviously we don't go to Shadow Isles just like that in the end where a huge army if undead resides which for some reason can't see us and doesn't murder us on sight.. Of course, just so you know. The Mist can materialise in various places thanks to Vex, as it was shown in the cinematic but a path from Shadow Isles - escape from the Mist - seems more logical to me than braving overtaken regions.

Anyway, Buhru Sentinel also tells us that he knew about our arrival and had sent Rookie to greet us or welcome us to Bilgewater. He wasn't supposed to reveal anything to Senna and Lucian, because Buhru found out about a Sentinel who abandoned his post and didn't really respect Sentinel's rules - you surely know I mean Akshan - and wanted to check what are the intentions of Senna and Lucian.

At the same time in the scriptures of the first Sentinels, Buhru has found information about an ancient prophecy, foretelling the great return of the King of the Dead and his defeat. Now, just a head's up, because I wrote a prophecy:

Darkness of his heart will swallow the world

Nations and countries will not bend the knee

It is not his goal

It is her goal

Obsession of feeling, love is all that matters

No matter how, it only matters when

The dreary King of the Dead beside his Queen

They shall change the future world

Darkness only darkness can defeat

Love can be beaten by vengeance

And Heavens can fell Death itself.

I don't know what it's like, this was my first prophecy, I hope it's not abysmal, but it will be important later on.

Anyway, our whole group debates on how to defeat Viego and it turns out that they don't have a better chance than to rely on the prophecy. The Sentinels don't know how to trap Viego, how to stop him. So far, they only know that he can be slowed down, with relic weapons for instance but not just with them. But eventually, the old Buhru Sentinel interprets that it won't change a thing. For this reason, our group decides to follow the prophecy and travel to Targon, where, as it is stated, Heavens can fell Death itself.

And that's how our adventure begins, where without chances or resources, Sentinels aren't trying to stop Viego from finding the fetters of his wife, but attempt to follow an ancient prophecy of the Sentinels of Light. Let's add something extra from me. A lore accurate expansion to the cinematic about the Ruination. In the cinematic, the locations of Noxus, Demacia and Ionia weren't an accident, in my version that is. Let's add Freljord as well, because we know that something like this has happened there too but it didn't make it to the cinematic. All those places in my opinion were important to Viego. Why he's so powerful also wasn't really explained by Riot Games. I have a good idea for this. Sure, partially thanks to Vex he could cause a global Ruination, but to me a magical aid of a teenage Yordle is a bit too little.

In Demacia, Viego discovered a piece of his wife, the same in Freljord. When it comes to Ionia, he knows that the land is too magically powerful to allow him to freely take over Runeterra and search for Isolde, when Ionia with its primordial magic can challenge him. This is why, in the cinematic, the Ruined King first wanted to weaken Karma, the land itself and its Spirit, while in Noxus he wanted to check something out. He wanted to discover the dark secrets of the Immortal Bastion. Here, let's remember that Yummi is still with us, and let's assume she knew that Vex fled from Bandle City, met Viego and Yummi figured it out when she encountered the Mist, as she sensed Yordle magic within it. She explained to the group that the combination of the King of the Dead and Yordle magic is.. very powerful. That's why our characters decide on a plan consisting of three elements. First is strictly about the game "Ruined King". Illaoi, Braum and Miss Fortune want to head to Shadow Isles as a distraction, to focus Viego's attention on themselves and buy more time. Yummi goes to the Bandle City to mobilize and convince Yordles to help the creatures of the Physical Realm. And this was the second part. For the third part, Senna, Gwen and Lucian set out to Targon. And here our party splits up.

As we prepare for the journey in "Ruined King" we're attacked by Pyke, which makes sense. MF, as a captain, is on his list. Due to the preparations for the sail, nobody notices anything, nobody notices Pyke. But! MF is saved at the last moment only by a strong tornado which knocks the assassin back. It turns out it's Ahri and Yasuo. The tornado gives Illaoi a chance to subdue Pyke with the power of the Goddess. He's a bit brainwashed and decides to assist in the quest. You know, it would explain his odd behavior. The group thanks for the help and asks who the unknown newcomers are - which are Ahri and Yasuo. Ahri explains that she's looking for a craftsman by the name of Melo, which is accurate with her lore, and Yasuo is her bodyguard, which is accurate as well. During the game "Ruined King" we gather resources for the journey, prepare our crew and collect information as Ahri and Yasuo, to find out that the aforementioned craftsman had headed - for reasons unknown - to Shadow Isles. Because of that. Ahri decides to join the expedition but she and Yasuo don't know - Illaoi, MF or Braum (who's very upset about it) haven't told them - the true goal of the quest, a mission with no return. A mission to delay the march of Viego or at least busy him.

I didn't make up what the craftsman's fate could've been because I didn't write that much about it, I just created the basics. We set to Shadow Isles and - not to make an entire plot to "Ruined King", because it's not the goal of this video - our task is to activate the pillars with the defense mechanism of the Blessed Isles, which could lead to the imprisonment of Viego and the Black Mist. You know, like in the cinematic with Thresh. The overall plot of the game would be about it. But this we would find out from the old Keeper on Shadow Isles. From that moment, our party struggles against the abominations of the Mist, Ahri and Yasuo find out about the true goal of the expedition, Ahri gets to know the truth behind her origins and the craftsman, she develops mutual feelings for Yasuo, only for their mission to fail in the end.

The finale is this: Hecarim stands in the way of Braum when he attempts to activate a pillar, Illaoi - using the Goddess' power - begins winning the fight with Viego (initially she was only supposed to stop him). However, she has used so much of her strength that her influence on Pyke weakened enough for him to snap out of it and take her with him to the depths. Viego - having no better opponent - takes control of MF, Pyke, and on the battlefield remain only Braum duelling Hecarim in the distance, and Viego, MF, Pyke - and of course a lot of creatures of the Mist, nothing new - versus Yasuo and Ahri. Suddenly, on Shadow Isles appears Yummi who hastily exclaims that she will save her friends. Unfortunately, Yasuo realises that the cat won't make it on time. He tells her to save Ahri and Braum, while he alone faces Viego, saying - imagine Yasuo's voice - "Time for me to atone for my sins". With a tornado, Yasuo repels the Mistwraiths as Ahri strikes Viego with all her force, which doesn't do him much harm but disorients him enough for Yummi to take wounded Braum, return for Ahri and the last thing we see in the game is Viego running Yasuo through with his blade. And may I remind you, at that time we didn't know yet that being impaled by Viego causes Ruination. That's why the game ends with a scene in which we are certain that Yasuo dies - because "Ruined King" was supposed to come out before the event. Additionally our characters leave to god-knows-where and Illaoi, from what we know, is also dead. A whole lot of cliffhangers.

That's it for the first part regarding "Ruined King". And considering that the game by Riot Forge was going to come out before the event, instead of the cinematic in Demacia, I would release a cinematic which shows Yasuo's ultimate sacrifice, Ahri and Braum on some neutral background, being approached by a stranger. A tiny stranger with a hammer. And the last look at Shadow Isles, Ruined MF, Pyke and Hecarim. And Hecarim asks Viego: "My liege, what now?" And he replies: "Everything is going according to plan."

Let's leave Yummi's plot for now. Let's now move onto the story from the client. Senna, Lucian, Gwen and Buhru Sentinel, who will be our Wayfinder, a person who repairs the links between quarters, head to the base in Ixtal, which happened to be hidden but lies close to an Ixtalian outpost. Of course, Buhru Sentinel - who, for short, we will be just calling Buhru - stays to fix the portal but characters are taken hostage during a scouting mission. Everyone here thinks they are spies from Piltover, which, lorewise, would be correct. In secrecy to talk with us, comes Qiyana intrigued by our presence, to check what the Sentinels do as she isn't so quick to wrongfully judge them. Senna explains that the Black Mist is approaching and they need to take all measures to fight it. Qiyana goes to Yuntal to give them the story of captured Sentinels. No one approves that she talked to them at all and she is about to be punished but the news of the Black Mist and the undead come from the east borders of Ixtal. Yuntal decides it's not the time to dwell on what Qiyana did, protecting the country from the Mist is their priority now. Ixtal's authorities order for as many citizens as possible to be moved to their archology, to have all masters of the elements stand against the Black Mist. Of course, nobody bothered with releasing Sentinels, because why would they? Qiyana, knowing that this fight is pointless, frees Sentinels, committing treason in the eyes of Ixtal's people and flees with them to Sentinel quarters where Hecarim catches up but is ultimately fended off. Buhru managed to make the connection with the base in Piltover. Before heading out, Sentinels find armor and relic stone in Ixtal quarters and allow Qyiana to upgrade her blade with relic stones, put the armor on and join the ranks of Sentinels of Light. Though, her devotion isn't entirely sincere. She knows that if she's the one to defeat Viego, she will have the right argument to seize the rule over Ixtal. Region's finale goes like this: Viego arrives, talks to Hecarim who tells him the news that the Sentinels have a plan to stop him. The last look is at the capital of Ixtal - Ixaocan - and its siege. As we know, Yuntal - the masters of the elements - are very powerful but have thousands upon thousands of foes to go against.

Let's move on to Piltover. The Mist has also reached it but something stopped it from breaching the city. Senna and Gwen, alone in the quarters, discover the closeness between one another, through the fragments of Viego's wife. Senna suspects everything before Gwen does and tells her that Viego did say that Isolde is his world, and this will be his main plan, which Senna knew earlier already but I won't spoil the ending.

In the base in Piltover we encounter Dess and Adda, of course. Those characters I would 100% leave because they have been very nicely done. Senna tells them of Viego's true plan. Dess and Adda mention a long-nonfunctioning device called Zindel's Incognium, which is able to find every person on Runeterra. Making use of the lack of the Mist in the city, the Sentinels go to Heimerdinger who is the only person capable of uncovering the secrets of the device's function. Heimer initially complains about not having time, about having enough of his own things to do but the professor is ultimately convinced by Gwen's positive attitude and pleas. He repairs the device, and it is revealed that Isolde's fetters are still in Demacia, Freljord and Shurima. The party thanks Heimerdinger for assistance and returns to the quarters. Meanwhile, it turns out Viego also knew about the device from one of the souls from Piltover and headed for the city. And, of course, here initially, during the first wave of the Black Mist, Viego was doing reconnaissance. A scouting of the terrain. But he didn't know, didn't find the locations of all fragments of Isolde. Because, honestly, from what I remember it wasn't specified why Viego and the Mist follow Isolde. Okay, we know that it does and that it's linked to Viego's despair but the despair in itself knows where all the pieces of Viego's wife's soul are? I think if it was made in the way that Viego doesn't have full knowledge about Isolde and the location of her soul's fragments it would've been more interesting. Either way, Viego goes to Piltover. And there at the entrance he meets Janna, and discovers it was her using her powers to defend Piltover and Zaun from the Mist at all costs. You know, Mist, and Janna is the Goddess of the Wind. For 20 days she's been keeping the Mist at bay but exhausted, she was no match for Viego who quickly defeated her. However, because Janna is after all a Goddess and not some poorly dressed lady who is just standing and calling tornadoes, with the last bits of her strength she makes an escape. Although Viego is strong, it's not like other champions are trembling in their boots before him at all times. Viego steps into Piltover, finds the device and bumps into Ziggs who left Zaun to see what's happening. And he notices that Heimerdinger repaired the machine and, being his former student - after being Ruined by Viego - betrays the secrets of the location of the fetters. Ziggs, naturally, gets "Ruined" skin. On the other hand, Heimerdinger brings along Vi and Caitlyn to the base to assure safe return and aid. Both Caitlyn and Vi decide to stay in Piltover to try and stop Viego alongside Adda and Dess but once he discovered the placement of his wife, he'd long made his escape and began his search. The Mistwraiths however, remained. At the end we see Thresh who goes around - like in the normal event - gathers power and collects souls from the Mist. Here, Buhru exclaims that the portal is too weak to take everyone to the same place. But it can take us to two places. Either to the base in Noxus, to find out what Viego wanted to discover there, or ti Shurima. The party breaks apart. Senna, Qiyana and Rookie go to Noxus, while Lucian, Gwen and Buhru - to Shurima. We witness a touching farewell between Lucian and Senna, and canonically the Noxus is unlocked because that's where we head first.

We know that there aren't any fragments of Isolde's soul in Noxus but Senna decides to discover Viego's plans. We come across Darius, Draven and Samira who lead the investigation on this case. Why has the Mist suddenly appeared in Noxus? Draven immediately wants to fight the Sentinels but Darius holds him back, seeing that Sentinels mean no harm to Noxus, quite the opposite. They want to discover what the King's deal is. Turns out that Viego, desiring to become unbeatable, already empowered by Vex, seeks a way to make it impossible for anyone to face him in a duel. And to make sure no one and nothing stands in his way as he searches for his Queen. For this reason, the Ruined King descends into the depths of the Immortal Bastion. He finds the demon summoned by the Black Rose. Viego right away kills all members of the organisation and stands face to face with the demon.

Turns out the Black Rose and LeBlanc beckoned it to fight another monster, another demon. She even has a line in the card game: "One monster to end another".

But the demon is unable to leave the chamber it was summoned in. And so, Viego proposes a deal, to join forces with one another and together become invincible. Why is this particular demon so important for Viego? We know that it is as powerful as big is the sum of its allies and Viego has plenty of allies. Plenty of souls in the Mist. Plenty of the dead. Atakhan realised Viego's potential and agreed to his terms. The demon and the King of the Dead merge into one being. Viego's fingers elongate, his armor appears more ethereal and he's wearing the demon's helmet. Viego gets a skin "Demonic King Viego" or something like that. He leaves the Immortal Bastion and comes across the Sentinels. Seeing him, Draven jumps him, after a second ending up Ruined. Viego naturally laughs at this pathetic attempt and flees. The Ruined King becomes pretty much indestructible.

Darius exclaims that he needs to consult the Grand General, while Samira follows the Sentinels. In Noxus quarters she is given a relic pistol as well as upgrades to her blade. Unfortunately, our team has no clue how to get to Demacia, because as I said Buhru is in Shurima with Lucian. Here, Darius proposes a solution in the form of magically modified Drake Hounds, tame towards those who were assigned to them. The Hounds are made for incredibly fast travels and were supposed to be a special tool for spies and messengers. They only nees a. Couple hours of sleep, thanks to which the Sentinels in around a week would reach Demacia.

Here, we completely cut off from the plot of the Sentinels and Rookie. Instead, we impersonate one of Camavor's soldiers who accompanies Viego alongside many others in a journey to Ionia. There are no fetters there but considering this is the magically primordial land, it poses a threat to Viego's plans. The magic of Vastaysheirei - ancestors of the Vastaya - as well as the Vastaya themselves, and all forces and all champions can use the power of the Spirit Realm and challenge him but this won't be possible once Viego conquers and Ruins Ionia. He goes to the Everlasting Altar right away and duels Karma, for her to ultimately fall. The Spirit of the land was corrupted but the duel didn't last five minutes but rather long hours. Karma realised that the King of the Dead is coming for her much earlier too. Shen, Kennen and Akali answer her summons along with Kinkou Order. Irelia stands with them. The champions try to get through to the Everlasting Altar barred by the wraiths but once Viego seized control over Karma, the fight was turned around. Viego descends along with Karma who throws all fighters back with a flick of her hand. Irelia stands up first and to extinguish the Spirit of the land once and for all, Viego impales her, causing her Ruination. Here, we're avoiding an inconsistency - why Sentinel (Ruined in this story) Irelia could fight with her blades.

Viego, Karma and Irelia vanish into the Mist but the wraiths remain to kill the rest. As they're about to die, Yone arrives, who has sensed the presence of a powerful demon, one he'd never sensed before. He felt the bond with the King of the Dead and came to fight him. Yone rescues the group because his demonic blade of Azakana can cut through the wraiths, and the last to fall is our Camavorian soldier, ran through with a spiritual blade by Shen. Before passing, he heard Kennen say that he has a plan to save Ionia and the whole Runeterra.

Next, we move to Shurima. As I said, we have Lucian, Gwen and Buhru here. And just so you know, because Rookie - the person we associate with - is not here, we remain nobody. A passive spectator of the events. Like we have on Shadow Isles, because Rookie, the person we steer, is bot always necessary. Of course we meey Akshan in Shurima Sentinel outpost, he doesn't give a damn and his story is very similar to the one in the client. I wouldn't change it that much because the construction in my opinion was fine but I would split it into two separate segments.

First - similar to the one in the client. And second - in which Viego heading to Shurima, before he claims the fetter, meets Azir and his devoted soldiers along with Nasus who knew about the approaching calamity from Ixtal - honoring the old alliance of countries. Viego decided he doesn't have time for this, knocked everyone aside and moved onward to reach the fetter which he takes. He kills Lucian and takes Buhru but Akshan revives Lucian, while Gwen - by Lucian's orders - hid herself away in the Hallowed Mist. The group meets up with Azir and Nasus, introduce them into the subject, and the emperor sends his most powerful warrior to join the Sentinels and assist with fighting the dead. Azir stays and defends his land from the wraiths. Nasus is given a special weapon in the quarters and Azir gifts him with the golden armor of the elite. Nasus joins the Sentinels and because Targon is nearby, this part of the team heads there.

Let's come back to the first part of the group. Senna, Qyiana, Samira and Rookie reached Demacia. The Mist has already taken the majority of the known lands and reached the capital of the Kingdom as well. The team meets the Dauntless Vanguard by the entrance who don't want to let them in at first but after Senna explains - that this is the matter of life and death and everything going on around - the warriors call for their leader, Garen who quickly takes the Sentinels to the palace where Jarvan and Tianna Crownguard debate what to do next. How to stop the Mist and Hecarim who - according to a published story - was already in Demacia. As a reasonable ruler, Jarvan simply asks what the Sentinels need. Senna switches off for a moment, hearing a small voice of Isolde whispering, telling Senna to find her in the city. She says she wants to stop Viego, which would add up since she'd already warned Senna in one of the stories. After a while Jarvan asks again and Senna replies "We only need time to stop the advance of the Mist". Jarvan promises to give them as much time as possible and sends Shyvana with them.

When the group leaves the palace, the Ruination is raging across the city. Unexpectedly, from a rooftop jumps down Vayne who says she'd been watching them and has parted with Poppy, and that she's ready to help the Sentinels. Senna - knowing where the base is - heads to the quarters and gives Vayne a weapon, accepting her among the Sentinels. As they leave, everyone spots a flock of wraiths and Camavorian dragons as well as Ruined Cadregrin mounted by Viego. Shyvana decides to battle him but becomes Ruined. The Sentinels flee, prompted by Jarvan and the rest saying that soldiers of Demacia will stop Viego but he grew.. bored after a short fight with Shyvana and followed the Sentinels tracking down his Mist leading them to Isolde's fragment. Taking it, Senna once again hears the voice of Viego's wife and the fragment merges with the one inside of her. Viego arrives and says it's impossible. Isolde doesn't want to return to him? What do you mean? What's that about?? While he's shocked by his wife's behavior, the animated colossus Galio grabs him, which gives the Sentinels some time.

Simultaneously, Poppy appears, telling Vayne that she's found what they'd been looking for. You know. The thing from the cinematic. The Sentinels ask about it, Poppy explains there's no time for that. The champions quickly escape, enter some tenement, dead down into the basement where lies the tile engraved with the symbol of the Sentinels of Light. Poppy says it has taken a lot of time to discover all this and put all the clues together. Senna steps onto the stone, activating a passage in a wall where a secret portal to one of the bases was hidden. The entire group goes out into the unknown. Exactly! Into the unknown. We have no idea what's happening to them. I love such cliffhangers. I think it would be an interesting turn of events.

Once again, we're not Rookie and our plot guy is another Ruined soldier of Camavor. Viego heads to Freljord with Vex where they seek the last inanimate fetter. Not much is happening in the Freljord and Viego passes through one, two, three villages. The Ruined King doesn't fight anyone, he doesn't mean to Ruin anyone, he doesn't particularly care about taking the Freljord. He does nothing but search for the fetter. Vex absolutely dislikes it, asks Viego why he's becoming such a lamer, to which the King orders her to be silent. Vex asks again, again and again what's this about until he loses patience. He strikes her and she lands a good couple of meters further away. Viego floats up - with the demon's aid he can naturally - to the young Yordle and tells her she was just a pawn in his game. She was to empower him so that he could spread the Mist all across Runeterra in search of his wife. Vex is surprised that Viego is so prosaic and he strikes her again, once more causing her to fly quite a distance. The Shadow of course stands up to Viego but it has no chance - it is thrown back as well. Viego leans over Vex, calling her naive and says that after all, she can't undo the spell given to him, that he fulfilled his goal and has no regard for her.

Vex runs away in tears with Shadow's aid, saying "This isn't over yet". Viego finds the last fragment but suddenly he bumps into Thresh. The King asks if he tracked down the rest of the living fetters. He doesn't realise that Thresh is changing, because the Chain Warden tries - thanks to the newfound strength - to manipulate his looks as he did before. Exactly how it was in the novel. Thresh says he'd found Gwen in Targon and that's where the undead are heading but sadly.. he is unable to locate Senna.

We move onto the final region that is Targon. Here, Lucian, Gwen, Nasus, Akshan - you know, the entire party from Shurima - reach the base at the foot of Mount Targon. The group locks themselves inside to reconsider their next move. What happened to Senna, is she going to send them some information as to what they'd found in Noxus, what was Viego looking for? To Lucian all that mattered was that his wife had not returned. Nevertheless, the Sentinels decide to stop for the night at the base to rest up and regain strength. In the morning everyone is woken up by the arrival of Senna, Samira and the rest of the party. Lucian hugs his wife, asking what was happening, how she's back. And she is about to reveal to Lucian and others what happened when suddenly they hear someone calling from outside. "Sentinels of Light! You are surrounded! Come out with dignity and without tricks as our goal is one and the same!"

It turns out that before the base wait armies of Solari and Lunari with Diana, Leona and Atreus on the lead. Everyone is shocked by this sight. Leona comes up to the Sentinels, saying that the Heavens told them of a great threat looming. That the time of the world's union has come. This is why - by Leona's orders - the Solari stand side by side with the Lunari in the face of oncoming doom. While in Ionia, Diana heard the will of the Aspect to the Moon to make haste and return. In Targon she met Aphelios who is now in the army of the Lunari - naturally much smaller in comparison to the Solari - and he'd found Diana's weapon, kept it hidden, knowing that the First Light of the Moon would one day return. This is why Diana would have her blade here. Diana returned to Targon and there duelled Leona as the card game implies but both the Aspect of the Moon and the Sun ordered them to cease, unite against the approaching danger. Senna tells Leona of the ancient prophecy, it turns out that Leona knows it and tells the group to climb Mount Targon as soon as possible, as in the face of such a threat truly only Heavens can lend their aid. Solari and Lunari stay to delay the march of Viego.

At the beginning of the path we meet Taric who becomes our guide. Thanks to his powers and help the journey to the top is incredibly short. In the span of one day the Sentinels - thanks to the help of the Aspect of the Protector, which would be accurate with the lore - summit Mount Targon. Taric helps them bypass the Arbiter but at the top there's.. nothing. Gates to Astral Targon, the place where the Aspects reside remain closed. Sentinels go into a panic, what's happening, why is nothing here? And then.. the Mist reaches the peak. The last place of Runeterra not claimed by Viego. Sentinels lose hope but regardless, they are ready to fight. All Ruined champions step out of the Mist. MF, Pyke, Karma, Shyvana, Ziggs and even the old servants such as Hecarim. Yasuo, if you still remember him, and all others. Additionally, Ruined Atreus comes forth - not Pantheon, let's not be pretentious with resurrecting the Aspect of War. Viego exclaims that the vicious fight at the bottom still continues, that hehe underestimated Targon's strength but he managed to win a duel with Atreus, corrupt him and head with a part of his army to the peak. In desperation, Lucian steps forward and proposes Viego a deal. He can have his soul, he can have whatever he wants, as long as he lets Senna and the Sentinels live.

Viego simply laughs, with one swift motion killing Rookie. Lucian goes into a rage and attacks Viego, but barely in a second Viego laughs again and floats up, runs him through and to Senna's dismay Lucian is Ruined. Very pleased with himself, Viego orders his servants to kill the Sentinels. All Ruined champions charge at them. No hope, none. Here, I imagined a scene, like from the endgame. A portal appears out of which jumps Yummi. A positive little aspect, Gwen is happy to see her favorite cat. Yummi brushes dust off of her fur and nose with her paws and says: "You didn't think we forgot about you, did you?" And THEN. From the portal comes Yone wielding his red blade but the other that of a Sentinel and wearing Sentinel armor. Out comes Sentinel Kennen, Sentinel Tristana with her Gunners and Sentinel Teemo. Yes, Sentinel Teemo ·-·

In addition, Sentinel Poppy, Braum, Ahri and Lulu. It turns out that the second group travelled to Bandle City where Poppy and Kennen were secretly members of the Sentinels from the Spirit Realm, from the city of Yordles. That's why Kennen knew to take Yone to Bandle City and knew what to do next. Poppy too knew what to do in the case of Ruination. It's just a little Yordle twist, not to make the entire event too dark. I was also thinking about Corki because he's cinematically the best Yordle and the cinematics with Yordles in general are probably the best but I was afraid I'd overdo it.

Of course, Viego hasn't been expecting the enormous comeback, he orders to destroy the Sentinels. Some champions generally fight with the armies of wraiths but certain duels break out, like Yasuo/Yone where the elder brother strives to save the younger, Taric, as the Aspect's host and the mightiest warrior, stands against Atreus. In front of Senna stands Lucian who is defeated by her. But during this fight Senna sees Viego tearing out a fragment of Isolde from Gwen who soon collapses to the ground. Then, Senna hears a faint voice saying: "Now".

She drops her cannon, runs up to Viego and musters up her whole strength to draw in fragments of Isolde's soul. Viego, to put it shortly, looked at Senna, intending to end her life but in the same moment Taric - having already won with Ruined Atreus - jumps at Viego. Only he stood some chance. However, after a short struggle Viego manages to, not defeat per se, but knock Taric back. Meanwhile we see Teemo who addresses lieutenant Lulu "It is time". And Lulu, as a powerful sorceress - certainly more so than a teenage Yordle - reverses the spell which Vex bestowed upon Viego. In turn, Viego weakens, he senses it, but says that it changes nothing. Because, really, it does change nothing. The alliance of the demon and the King of the Dead is still much more powerful.

Even still, meanwhile, Senna connects all fragments of Isolde's soul in herself. Senna becomes Isolde. After a moment of transformation, Senna's appearance drastically changes. At first, she looks like a spectre. The fighting stops, everyone is astonished. Viego gazes at his beloved and says "My love, you have returned to me at last". Isolde comes up to Viego, embraces him and strokes his cheek. After a while though, out of the Mist she summons Thresh who approaches asking: "Yes, my lady?" Viego is disoriented and asks Isolde how she knows Thresh, and the Warden replies in his charismatic mannerism: "Well, your highness… I have always been loyal. But not to you." Then Thresh holds up a mask which he secretly obtained in Ixtal and hid from the eyes of all. How? If it was a soul fragment, he could easily lock it in his lantern and make it undetectable to Zindel's Incognium. Now, Thresh pulls the jade mask out from his lantern and tosses it to Isolde who absorbs the last fragment. And from a spectre she turns into a horrid monstrosity. Albeit.. with curves and features of a woman. We know Riot doesn't like to exaggerate. Isolde - or Senna - after the change says to Viego that the Ruler of the Dead can be only one.

In despair, Viego stands before his love, not really knowing what's going on but - not to make him a total noob easy to beat up - he decides "So be it". They cannot defeat him because he's too strong. To which, Thresh lifts his lantern and in the blink of an eye begins to absorb the power from the Mist. Remember the demon I mentioned? The more allies it has, the more powerful it is. I think it would be an interesting way to weaken Viego. You know, Thresh drains the Mist, the souls within it, simultaneously taking power of Viego and the demon. He takes pretty much everything. Even the demon. You still might think I made Viego a bit of a noob anyway because in the end he's still defeated but throughout the whole adventure I was trying to paint him as a guy you really should be afraid of. Who really does something to the Sentinels. Here however, he loses. In the end, Isolde using Senna's power drains the remnants of the Mist from Viego like in the cinematic. His servants stand stunned as he kneels in disbelief. Senna comes up to him and he asks her why she's done that.

Here we have a bit of a retrospection. Isolde tells him that despite his great love, the King treated her as his property, he was sickly jealous and Isolde thinks it was because of him she passed in agony. Because of the pain and misery, the gentle woman changed beyond recognition and wished only for vengeance as her shattered soul also suffered unspeakably. Isolde looks at Akshan and tells him to shoot Viego. He hesitates but she says it's the only way to reverse what Viego had done after his return. To reverse the Ruination of the entire Runeterra. To reverse his deeds. He almost shoots but looks at Isolde, asking how she knows this. And suddenly, she changes to resemble Senna more and with her voice she says she's always here. That she's an ally of Isoldeof. It's only to convince the Sentinels and gain their trust. Akshan takes a shot at Viego. He cannot die but the effects of the Ruination recede from champions as well as the Mist releases Runeterra. Additionally, Gwen creates a prison from Hallowed Mist for Viego. Why Gwen, you ask? Let me explain. Powerful magic of every fantasy world is love. In youth, Isolde pouring her feelings into the doll accidentally - she was no mage but certainly a strongly magical character - creates certain magical abilities which made sort of a sentient construct that afterwards, I mean now, without the soul fragment could exist on its own.

Lucian comes back to himself as well, we have a touching scene but this isn't the end. Terrified, Lucian runs up to Senna. He asks how all this could have happened, what they're going to do now that Senna has two souls. Senna looks at Lucian, a tear runs down her cheek and Thresh says: "It is time, my dear". Lucian turns to the wraith and is about to shoot from his pistol. But Senna stands before him. She turns to Thresh "He at least deserves an explanation". Thresh replies, alright but make it short. Senna reveals a great secret to everyone..

In Bilgewater, after learning of the prophecy she encountered Thresh while she went out to get some air. He already had absorbed some of the Mist and could assume human form. He approached Senna and asked her for the way but she didn't know and had no time to react as Thresh caught her with his chains, saying that if she starts screaming, he's going to kill everyone.. in Bilgewater. Senna promised to be calm, Thresh released her and told her how he hates Viego and if they work together, they can stop him. He explained that Sentinels without aid from the dead stand no chance against Viego. He reveals to Senna Viego's plans regarding Vex, the facts about the demon and Isolde. He adds that this is the only way for Lucian to survive. And here, in spite of herself, Senna decides to trust Thresh. She shares the prophecy, the plans of the Sentinels but together they come up with a secret plan of their own.

Thresh convinced that Sentinels's prophecies are worthless and the only way to defeat Viego is to use his weakness against him. Isolde, who - Thresh knows - wants revenge against Viego. And he promises to spare Lucian if Senna absorbs all fragments of Isolde who was unspeakably powerful due to the Ruination, which will cause Senna to have two souls, giving her enough strength to beat Viego. In the end though, the deal was simple. For Thresh's aid Senna promised him the soul of Isolde

Despite his hatred towards Thresh, Lucian understands, Senna explains she did this all to save their love but Thresh grows impatient. Senna takes a couple of steps away, once again changes to Isolde and Thresh begins to drain her soul. It takes a while, everyone is blinded by blue light which fades after a moment. And once it does, we see only Thresh. Without Senna. Thresh becomes even more powerful through the absorption of Isolde's soul. Everyone thought that Senna would remain with them. Disoriented Lucian furiously says that it was supposed to be just Isolde. To which Thresh replies: "Don't tell me that after all the trouble you have caused me I would stop tormenting her.. and you."

Laughing, Thresh knocks back everyone with his chain. With the might of thousands of souls, demon and corrupted by Ruination's paradox Isolde, no one present could be a match for him. Most of the Sentinels fall from the summit of Targon bit Yummi - thanks to her Book - saves all one by one and takes them to the bottom where Diana and Leona wait for them. At the peak there is only Taric. Here I will tell you how I pictured it in my head. Immense power of Thresh thrums in the air and his great plan was truly a masterpiece. Taric attempts to attack Thresh but the host of the Aspect of the Protector is also thrown off the peak. But here we have another twist.

Remember the prophecy? It would be nice if it was fulfilled. Grand, golden Astral Gate. Thresh stares stunned as from the sky descends a creature with blazing wings, donning armor of cosmic stone and wielding twin blades burning with astral fire. Kayle returns to Runeterra. She doesn't have her helmet and her eyes are filled with white energy revealing that she.. is an Aspect. Not just a host. But she herself became the Aspect of Justice. The mightiest champion currently residing on Runeterra. In a split of a second she flies up to Thresh and starts a duel. Still, with all the power he possesses, Thresh is certainly a worthy opponent. The fight between the Aspect and the new King of the Dead is murderous. Sentinels, Solari and Lunari gaze up at the skies, at the peak of Targon in awe, watching the shifting colors as Kale and Thresh battle one another. In any case, Thresh - unwilling to lose so soon and endanger his newfound power - says "This isn't over, Aspect", dissolves like mist in the air and retreats. Unmoved by this Kayle flies down to Lunari, Solari and the Sentinels, announcing that an end must be put to Thresh and his likes.

And here we have a bittersweet ending. Yummi returns everyone to respective regions and Viego is moved to Shadow Isles where he's guarded by previously allied with the old Keeper Yorick, and yes, I know the Maiden wasn't here as a fetter but instead of changing the concept, in my Ruination I'd rather not turn it around by 180°. And Yorick, in truce with Kalista and Maokai, guards the King of the Dead and attempts restoration of the isles. The Shadow Isles are still dangerous and betrayed by Thresh Hecarim, Karthus and the likes want to free Viego and give Thresh a payback. We also find out that thanks to the power of her Goddess Illaoi survived and she stays to watch over Viego as well. Thresh on the other hand, no longer bound to Shadow Isles, travels across Runeterra and quietly, without drawing too much attention enlarges his collection of souls and tries to find a way to win with Kayle. All regions try to stand up after the Ruination. Qyiana tries to become the head of Ixtal, Nasus returns to Azir, Leona and Diana decide to bring peace to Targon together. Braum returns to Freljord, Yordles to Bandle City. Meanwhile, Lucian becomes a shadow of himself. Revenge consumes him in full. Vayne and Yone join him to find Thresh and defeat him. Samira and Draven go to Noxus, Irelia goes back with Karma but here I would expand Karma's plot. That she steps out and chooses solitude, unable to forgive herself. You know, all champions go more or less back to normal. I realise there are a bunch of inconsistencies here, more detail is required, dialogues etc. But making this scenario took me about 3 hours. And those unexplained parts should be clarified and if I was working at Riot Gamespolice, I would say before the event that things left unclear will be resolved in future stories. The event itself I would end with such a cinematic:

Vex, attacked and used by Viego, wandered around Ruined Noxus. Unsure what to do with herself she even considered returning toto Bandle City but she came across a man named Yanuk (Januk? Sorry, for the misspellings, I was writing it without a script xD). The very same who told Ezreal to retrieve the Uloa elixir. A special elixir which could revive a certain person. Ezreal however, tricked him. Vex didn't care what Yanuk had to say but he shouted that she looked like she wished for darkness. And he knows how to give it. Along with Shadow, Vex hearing the plan came back toto Yanuk with the Uloa elixir. Yanuk performs the right ritual which leads to a certain dark event. An ethereal gateway opens. And through it steps out none other than Mordekeiser who ends the cinematic with one sentence. Imagine I am saying this with Mordekeiser's voice. "I will show you… Ruination."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

submitted by: @sophi-s

Holy shit, that was super long.

I haven't actually read it because I wanted to share this to everyone as soon as possible, but I WILL read it.

How long did this take you, darling? Three days?

But thank you for this incredible translation and thank you very much for your hardwork. I really appreciate you doing all this for us, thank you sophi-s.

#submission #ruination #lol

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writing-the-end · 4 years ago

Text

LoL Chapter 45- Enemies of the State

Masterpost

A Wizard Hermits tale (AU, designs, ideas belongs to @theguardiansofredland)

A girls’ day out leads to a discovery, and the other hermits need to know about it immediately.

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It wasn’t often the girls got to spend time on the mainland together. They love all the hermits, but the three of them are sisters. Very strange, completely different sisters. Even if they’re just getting shipments of food and letters, it’s a break for them. Besides, Stress is the strongest hermit- she easily carries two massive bundles of foods they can’t grow on the island.

“I need to get some alloys, think we can drop by the smith shop for me to get bricks and ball bearings?” False questions, turning to Cleo and Stress with big, pleading eyes. She wants to test out her skills she learned in Alphasguard. She’s also been using her smithing skills to ease her nerves.

After seeing the monstrosity in the forest, after leaving it to continue to grow, her nightmares have been plagued with tentacles wrapped around trees, eyes and mouths opening up to swallow the world whole. When the nightmares become too much, the only way she can ward them off is with the light of her forge and the music of metal. She’s made half an armor set in the night alone in the time they’ve been back on Eremita.

Thankfully, the other two are more than happy to visit the forges of Coral Shores. Plus, it’s more time to themselves, and for Stress it’s more time free from the wretched rolling of Cleo’s ship. At this point, she’d rather walk across the water than get sick over the side of the sailboat.

“So if you’re making more weapons, think you can give a look at my saber? I think she could use some fine tuning, a bit of that good Falsie touch.” Cleo bumps False on the shoulder, rounding the corner into the dry heat of the forgery area. Stress and Cleo recoil at every bang and explosion of fire from the mouths of the forges, like maws of dragons, but False never felt more at home than in the center of the chaos. She watches a bladesmith heat treat the blade of a battleaxe, fire bursting at the oil’s surface, before cooling as the heat travels from metal to grease. It comes out slightly bent, to which the smith races to fix before the metal sets.

At the center of the forges, a warehouse of alloys operates as the hub. Smiths come and go, picking up all kinds of metals and materials for their craft. False joins the busy bustle, nabbing bars of iron and steel, even a few bearings and sheets. False prefers to make her own tools, and she knows she’ll need some rods and ball bearings to forge a new pair of tongs. The last one she broke when she fell asleep at the forge, and they melted beyond repair. She’d have likely perished as well had it not been for Wels checking in on his friend.

When False returns, stowing the metal in her pocket dimension for later summoning, Cleo and Stress are staring at the ground. “What did you two find?” She questions, peering over their shoulder.

At the girls’ feet, a wanted poster catches on the cobblestone, the edges of the parchment singed black by wanton flames of the forges. It’s not something they haven’t seen before, a wanted poster of Doc. Even though his days of crime and revolt are mostly past him, every once in a while some arcane guard captain stirs up the reminder that Doc escaped jail, and they print a few new ones.

But another paper catches False’s vision, this time bearing another familiar, all though very different face. xB. She stoops down, picking up the wanted poster. She flicks the undried paste from her hands, reading it aloud to the others. “Wanted for crimes against Lairyon, treason, political divide between kipling kingdoms and Lairyon, illegal congregation of a guild, and resisting arrest.”

Stress has disappeared around the corner, but her gasp lures the other two to see what she’s staring at, wide eyed and shaking in her fuzzy boots.

The entire wall of the tavern is covered in wanted posters. Every last face on each unique poster depicting every last hermit- including Jellie. Mumbo’s depiction is the most accurate, though his mustache is a little off. But whoever designed these sketches got the multi-mage’s constant look of concern down pat. They also notice who carries the heaviest price on their head. Grian, with almost a million rupees more than anyone else, his wings talking up most of the picture.

False pulls down her own picture, tucking a blonde lock of hair behind the glass and metal of her goggles. She reads of the list of crimes she’s been charged with. Treason, theft, crimes against the Council and government, illegal congregation of a guild, resisting arrest, mercenary activity, illegal manufacture of weapons… the list goes on and on, more and more bullshit than the last. Most of these are laws she’s never heard of, or are so dated she’s sure they were dredged up from the early history of Lairyon.

And at the bottom of every last wanted poster was the personal signature and insignia of the Magistrate of Lairyon. Dolios himself created these orders, and the Council approved them. She feels her heart stop, her head swimming, a sensation of vertigo as she realizes what this means.

The hermits are wanted criminals. Not just lawbreakers, but Lairyon’s most wanted. “We need to get back to Eremita. Now.”

“I knew things were going on with the Council, but I didn’t expect this.” TFC picks up his wanted poster, brushing out his beard and shaking his head. It’s clear the artist that drew this has no clue how to style dwarven hair.

“I had heard rumors that there’s discord between the guildmasters of the Council. Do you think our work is affecting them?” Xisuma is half perched on the side of TFC’s desk, rifling through all twenty-something papers in search of his. He pulls it out, looking at the masked face before him. His fingers brush the corner of the rendition where the mark of him and his brother would be, then runs his fingers over the scratched out metal on his face.

“Perhaps Dolios is putting more pressure on them to maintain their power, to hinder us. Put enough stress on anything, and even a diamond will fracture.” TFC hums. “Well, as bad as this looks on the outside, we can also take this as good news.”

“Good news? How in the world are we supposed to take being Lairyon’s Most Wanted as good news?” Cleos snorts, waving a green hand at the stack. Her’s is the only one that says ‘wanted undead or dead’.

“Because it means it’s working. We’re backing Dolios into a corner. He’s threatened by us. It’s not just enough to deal with us on his own, now he wants all of Lairyon to do his bidding.” TFC stands, quite proud. All of their time spent breaking crystals, hunting down husks, and now discovering the monster in the forest is showing results. So much work, and it’s finally starting to crack his resolve.

“What do we do about this?” Stress whispers. “The arcane guard and most of Lairyon will be after our heads. That’s a lot of money on each of us.”

“We keep doing our work.” TFC walks out of the cave he calls home, standing in the sunlight and watching the other hermits train. “When isn’t the arcane guard after us? But the more work we do to stop Dolios and whatever he plans to do with that… abomination, the more we help the people of Lairyon, the less inclined they’ll be to turn us in.”

“We’re already the champions of the Chimaera’s Cup.” Xisuma points out. Would people see their fall from grace as the pitfalls of victory, or would they read more into the lies spread by their leader.

“And the Asklepions. Shellor, the other teams from the championship.” False straightens her shoulders, thinking of the people they’ve met so far. “They know we aren’t the villains of this story.”

“It’s not much, but it’s a start.” TFC nods, and waves to Xisuma. “Keep working on finding more information about darkness. He thinks this will stop us- we’re just getting started.”

#hermitcraft #hermitcraft fanfic #hermitcraft au #wizard au #light of lairyon #wizard hermits #lol #wizard stress #wizard false #wizard cleo #wizard tfc #wizard xisuma #stressmonster101 #falsesymmetry #zombiecleo #tinfoilchef #xisuma

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rae-sparda · 4 years ago

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Dangerous Liaisons

A/N: Hey guys, we're baaaaaaaaaack with another chapter. Yaaay! I hope you like it! Let me know what you think.

Chapter 3 - A meeting with the Devil's Mother

She knocked on the door feeling her undead heart thudding violently against her chest, her fear palpable. Soon enough, the door opened and Finn greeted her, his impassive face shifting to one of nearly happy that she was alone. “You’re alone. Wise choice.” She side glanced at him, resisting the urge to not roll her eyes. Yeah, like I had a choice… Gulping down her fear, she fully entered the room, her gaze falling between Esther’s hands.

“It’s only sage. I’ve spelled It so we can talk freely without fear of being overheard. That would be all, Finn. Thank you.” Dismissing her old son, the two soon were alone, and Katherine tried hard not to bolt after she heard the door closing. “You must have a million questions for me, Elena. Please.” She gestured towards the sofa and the vampiress gulped, slowly making her way before seating and cursing the Salvatores for making her basically scream that she wanted to die.

“How are you alive? I mean… Are you a ghost or…?

“Not exactly. When I died the witch Ayana preserved my body with a spell. She was a close friend of mine and an ancestor of your friend Bonnie.” Katherine widened her eyes, surprised at the revelation, but knew her doppelganger would never let any information pass. She was as cunning as she could be and still pretend to be innocent. The nerve.

“So that’s why only Bonnie and her mother could open the casket?”

“They complete the Bennet bloodline. I drew power from them and their ancestors with me on the other side.”

“You’ve been on the other side for a thousand years?”

“Nature’s way of punishing me for turning my family into vampires. But there is a way for me to undo the evil I created.” Katherine was caught off guard, her surprise showing openly on her features.

“You’re gonna help us kill Klaus, aren’t you?”

“One thing at a time, Elena. For now, I simply need your help.” Her nervousness was only growing with each second more she passed beside the Original Bitch who was speaking so freely and seemed confident that Elena would help her. No surprises there, they all wanted to kill Klaus. “I understand Rebekah shared the story of my family. How I upset the balance of nature by turning my children into vampires.” Esther said while lit up a few candles on top of a paper that had a few things scribbled down, but Katherine couldn’t decipher what it was from where she was standing.

“She said that you did that to protect them from the werewolves.” By now, Katherine was more than happy to have force shared information with her shadow self, otherwise, she would have stuttered so much, the witch would have seen something different on her.

“It’s true. But in no time at all, they began to feed on human blood.” She poured water into a cup while saying that with such disgust that made Katherine ball her hands into fists to not say anything. They became what they were because of her! How could she not see that they were only children and she was the responsible one for that mess? “They ravaged the town with no remorse. Eventually, Niklaus turned against me.”

Getting closer, the vampire doppelganger still didn’t see how Elena would help her. “How are you gonna kill him? He’s immortal.” She nearly scoffed, but the Mikaelson’s matriarch was so serious and gazing at her intently like she was trying to read her soul.

“It will take time, magic, and your assistance.”

“What do I have to do then?”

“My children believe I’m holding this ball to celebrate our reunion. But in truth, I’ve gathered them together to perform a ritual. The first step requires the blood from the doppelganger.” Katherine widened her eyes and stiffened, feeling overwhelmed. She was going to be discovered and Esther would kill her in a heartbeat. “Only a drop. Its essence will be in the champagne toast later on this evening. Will you do it? Or shall I?” She asked revealing a silver dagger and holding it to her in a twisted way of offering her the chance to help her.

To not raise suspicions, she took out her glove and hold the dagger, pinching her finger before turning it towards the cup full of something she didn’t want to think about. Giving the dagger back to Esther, Katherine quickly put her glove back on, feeling nervous. Would it work? “Elijah is more suspicious than the others, so he may need more persuasion. But they must all drink at the toast in order to be linked as one.”

“What do you mean linked as one?” She was regretting her decision to come at all and was fearing for Elijah. This wench of a woman wanted to kill all her children? With no regrets?

“You said yourself Klaus can’t be killed. But tonight’s spell links all my children together so that if one goes, they all go.”

“What?” Her voice wavered and she suddenly felt the urge to vomit. She couldn’t believe that Esther would do such a cruel thing. And they used to say she and Klaus were the monsters...

“I love my family, Elena... But they are an abomination. I betrayed nature when I created them. It’s my duty to kill them.” Katherine didn’t even have to pretend to be shocked, since she was too struck to pretend another reaction and simply left in a daze.

“So how was my mother?” Elijah’s voice was enough to make her feel her dead heartbeat skyrocket and she gulped, taking a deep breath to calm herself in his presence, the urge to simply spill everything eating her.

“Intense.”

“And for what reason, she needed to speak with you in private?” His reaction seemed nearly funny like he was loving her reaction, from what; she couldn’t tell. Getting two flutes of champagne, the vampire doppelganger forced a smile on her face, glancing sideways involuntarily, meeting Esther’s eyes who showed a coldness even when she smiled at her and Katherine felt she couldn’t breathe. “Elena. Should I be concerned about my mother's intentions?” She snapped her head towards Elijah, glancing at him like he was the most beautiful person she had ever seen. Approaching him, she smiled, getting his flute and turning around to run, exchanging the flutes, and whining at the force he used to stop her. Frowning, she pouted and gave him her flute, her eyes hardened.

“No, Lijah... You don’t have to worry about mother dearest.” He gave her a side smile, approaching the doppelganger slowly, making her walk backward until her back collided with the wall.

“So, it’s true then? She’s forgiven Klaus?”

“It’s true.” She forced a smile on her lips, and Elijah let his eyes linger on her sinful lips.

“You forgot that I can always tell when you lie, Katerina.” Opening her mouth to reply, she was interrupted by the sound of clinking glass.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I’d like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers.” She raised her glass and the doppelganger internally panicked. She had switched the wrong flutes. When Elijah got his flute, Katherine simply arched her brows, facing the older vampire mockingly.

“Since you’ve discovered me...” She dryly retorted, stealing his flute and drinking it in one go, just like the rest of his siblings. Before Elijah could try to question what the hell was she doing there, she flew trying to find Stefan to go home. After a few moments where she hid from Elijah, she finally found the younger Salvatore... Only, he wasn’t alone and was discussing with his brother, calling the attention of anyone that was leaving the ball.

“Okay, Stefan, nice one. You surprised me, bro. Good for you, but don’t think for a second that that fucking whore wi-”

“Damon, what are you doing?” Katherine bit out, grazing her teeth, wanting more than anything to break his neck again and burn his body just for fun to see him die. He barely turned when he heard her voice, his anger aimed at his brother.

“Oh, shut up, you little devil. Go away.”

“Damon, please! This isn’t you, what is wrong with you?” Scoffing he turned around to face her and gave a wicked grin, making her frown. Katherine gave a step back, but Damon's vamp sped at her, throwing her at the pool, and everyone stood shocked to see what happened, while she screamed and let herself fall into the water, internally screaming and killing Damon in a million different ways. Not even a second later, she was out, shivering and coughing, her gaze darting around wildly until she was hushed and hugged her savior.

“Go now, mister Salvatore. You’ve done enough this evening.” Elijah dismissed him and heard Katherine’s growl. The only thing keeping her from killing Damon was the way the Original’s body was engulfing her, and he should be thankful for this mercy.

“Elena... I can get you home.” Stefan’s voice was controlled and his rigid posture revealed he was not sure how to react.

“I’m fine... I’ll be okay... Elijah won’t let anyone hurt me, Stefan. You can go.” He nodded, only glancing at her once more before flashing out after his brother and Elijah took her to his bedroom to let her dry herself and use Rebekah’s clothes, much to her annoyance. When they returned to his bedroom, Elijah opened his mouth, but Katherine stopped him, saying they should go to her hotel’s room. “We can’t talk here. It’s not safe.” She whispered and he frowned, both vampires escaping through the windows. After a few seconds, they were inside her room and she bit her lip, messing her hair and telling him about his mother’s plan to kill them all.

“So, she wants to kill us all... And you linked yourself with my siblings... Why, Katerina?” She frowned and scoffed, crossing her arms.

“I have no idea if it worked. I might be a doppelganger, but I am a vampire.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” She gulped and before she could reply anything, he disappeared, leaving her alone.

@umaficwriter @kalijahx @imgoingtofreakoutnow

#dangerous liaisons #chapter 3 a meeting with the devil's mother #kalijah #katherine pierce x elijah mikaelson #katerina petrova #katherine pierce #elijah mikaelson #tvd

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holidaysat221b · 4 years ago

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2020′s Halloween at 221b - A Sherlolly Celebration Master List

Below is the 2020 Halloween at 221b Master List, complete with where they’re archived, mult-chapter or not, complete or not, and rating. In progress fics are marked in bold as a reminder for a mod to periodically check for updates.

Some of this year’s submissions have been featured before, some were written years ago, and some are brand new for this year. We have edits, fics, a pumpkin, and even a youtube video; plenty to look at and reblog, kudo, or comment on.

If I have missed a submission or made a mistake on the list, please let me know.

As always, the complete Master List for all years can be found here.

2020 Sherlolly Halloween - Created by @mel-loves-all A Ghost and Mrs. Muir AU (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

2020 Sherlolly Halloween - Created by @mel-loves-all Theme: Gothic Mystery AU (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

2020 Sherlolly Halloween - Created by @mel-loves-all Theme: Underworld (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

The Accursed Huntsman of Bodmin Moor - Written by @mizjoely Late one night, on a lonely, wind-swept moor, midwife Molly Hooper has a supernatural encounter that will changer her life - but for the better, or for the worse? (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

The Addams Family - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlolly Addams Family AU (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

The Adventure of the St Bartholomew Vampire - Written by @darnedchild Bodies that had been found drained of blood are mysteriously disappearing from the morgue. Could it be the work of a vampire? Or is there something even more sinister stalking the dark streets of London? - Written for the Halloween at 221B - A Sherlolly Celebration Fest. A Victorian vampire story written in several short chapters. (Repost from 2016′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated M)

Banshee - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock’s the head of his family with Mycroft away, but he isn’t prepared to deal with Molly, a banshee who once harassed his older brother. She’s not as frightening as she appears…in fact, he thinks he could be falling for her. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

British Supernatural - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo This week on British Supernatural, Molly conducts a séance in a manor on the moors whilst Sherlock investigates the hellhounds that are rumored to roam the land. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

Cozy Autumn Night In - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Cozy Autumn night in (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

A Different Angle - Written by @mizjoely Jim Moriarty is dead, Molly Hooper has a secret, and Sherlock Holmes is about to jump off the roof of St. Bart’s and fake his death. A Post Reichenbach horror AU. (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, In Progress, Rated T)

Happy Death Day - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo “So, uh, now that your bedroom is officially a crime scene and all, where are you planning on crashing?” “Is that an invitation?” (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Happy Sherlolly Halloween Pumpkin - Created by @darnedchild I carved this pumpkin with a pattern based off of the “Coat Flip Hair Ruffle Kiss” shirt sold by Saniday on Redbubble. (Repost from 2018′s Sherlolly Halloween, On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Haunted Mansion - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo ‘Yes, my dear heart; I will marry you. I will love you for all eternity. And tonight, at last, we will be together. I do!’ Sherlock as Edward Gracey and Molly as Elizabeth Henshaw (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The Haunting of Pondicherry Lodge - Written by @mrsmcrieff It’s coming up to Halloween and Sherlock has a spooky case to investigate. He’s not helped by his friends who are seeing it as a holiday but will they get more than they bargained for? (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, In Progress, Rated E)

The Heart of Betrothal - Written by @mychakk Not once had he shown any kind of interest in her since the beginning of their betrothal. And yet here he was. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated M)

Let’s Watch This World Burn - Created by @terrmissamorriver My small art for 2020 Sherlolly Halloween. Spooky holidays, everyone! (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The Manor - Written by @afteriwake Growing up, Molly knew of a building that only came out on Halloween, the building all the people in her village referred to as The Manor. When she was eight she saw it come into existence, and one of her friends was lost to it that same year. Since that day she has avoided it and tried her best not to think about it, until it came up in conversation with Sherlock. Sherlock is adamant that she was making it up so the two of them travel to her home village and watch as The Manor materializes there as it does every year. But this year is different. This year Molly and Sherlock enter the malevolent home, and it’s up to the two of them to keep the owner of The Manor from claiming any more victims. (Originally written in 2013, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

The Maiden Mirror - Written by @hobbitsdoitbetter He finds it after the fire, after the funeral, while they’re rebuilding 221B Baker Street. The mirror is heavy. Oak. Vines and leaves curl around its border. A carving that might be a face gazes out between the branches, eyes dark and wide. Watching. The wood is polished and smooth, the glass speckled with age. In the aftermath of a tragedy Sherlock Holmes finds a mysterious object in his home and develops an odd new fascination… Ghost story, Victorian AU. Set post Abominable Bride and post HIs Final Vow. Enjoy! (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated M)

Molly Hooper - (Assistant Reanimator) - Written by @darnedchild Sherlock Holmes learns the shocking secrets of Molly Hooper’s past. *Cue dramatic music and an evil laugh* (Repost from 2017′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

The Munsters - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock and Molly as Herman and Lily Munster (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

The Pathologist’s Skeletons - Written by @englandsgray ‘He passed his hand over his mouth, closed his eyes. If he opened them, he would look straight into the eyes of the people who loved Molly Hooper long before him. What would they think, what would they say to him if their opportunity had not been snatched from them? Would he too have to look into the dead eyes in the waxen face, hair a mass of congealed blood..?’ Even Dr Hooper, it seems, cannot be protected by her own quiet brilliance from the stains of a murky history. (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

Pleasant Surprises - Written by @ladysolitaire Molly encounters an entity that makes her appreciate her relationship with Sherlock. She uncapped her lipstick and turned to face the mirror. “Oh, my God!” she shrieked, dropping the lipstick to the stone floor. Her eyes wide, she ever so slowly turned round. “Bloody hell,” she muttered to herself as she stared at the doorway with her heart thundering in her chest. Happy Halloween! (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

Potions - Created by @mel-loves-all Theme: Potions (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Sherlock as Dracula - Created by @terrmissamorriver Halloween is coming, so I’ve made one more work. Sherlock as a Vampire? Why Not. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

Sherlolly/Beetlejuice AU - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo A Beetlejuice AU (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

Simplyshelbs16xoxo List of Spooky Fics - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Spooky Sherlolly stories by Simplyshelbs16xoxo (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated G)

Siren - Written by @darnedchild Woman or sea creature - did it really matter? Molly was as mysterious and beautiful as she was vicious; her very existence a scientific improbability. From the moment he saw her, his fate was set, Sherlock would never let a mystery remain unsolved. (On Ao3, Multi-chapter, In Progress, Rated M)

Spellbound (Trailer) - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Trailer for my Fanfic Series, Spellbound. (Repost from 2018’s Halloween at 221b, On Youtube, Complete, Rated T)

Undercover - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock and Molly go deep undercover to thwart an unhinged serial killer who’s next target may just be Molly herself. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

Uni!Sherlolly/Blair Witch AU - Created by @simplyshelbs16xoxo Sherlock receives found footage and is asked to investigate the Blair Witch. He takes Molly along with him and what they find is beyond their imaginations. (On Tumblr, Complete, Rated T)

The Woman in Hampstead Parish Burial Ground - Written by @mizjoely The first time he sees her he’s seven and visiting relatives in London with his parents and older brother. Mycroft at fourteen is all teenage aloofness and disdain, at first ignoring the tug on his hand by his over-eager sibling who begs him to let him explore the cemetery so like and yet so unlike the one at their old house. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

The Undead Is the New Alive series - Written by @afteriwake

1) The Vampire & the Detective Molly Hooper was a vampire, a fact she kept hidden from the world at large. But Sherlock Holmes is a genius, so of course he’s going to figure it out. But his reaction is surprising, and from that Molly finds their relationship changing. When Moriarty puts it and her existence in jeopardy, however, decisions are made that have life-changing consequences for the two of them. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated E)

2) Her Own Personal Hell Upon returning to work after the events on the hospital roof, Molly finds she has an unwelcome visitor in her morgue: the ghost of Jim Moriarty, and he’s bound and determined to make her pay for killing him. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

3) But In All Chaos There Is Calculation Sherlock is still coming to terms with his new existence as a vampire and Molly is still wrestling with feelings of guilt that she had to turn him. When they return to her home after a walk they find that Mycroft is waiting for them, and he has a few bits of surprising news for the two of them. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

4) Home Again Sherlock returns to 221B Baker Street and he, Molly and John find out more about Mrs. Hudson’s very interesting past. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

5) Easily Solved This fic is not eligible for Halloween at 221b; but as it is part of the series, I decided to include a link for continuity’s sake.

6) How To Spend A Day Off Molly tries to sleep in on her day off but wakes up hungry, and since her body is on a feeding schedule it’s very important she get her blood before she’s in pain. While she and Sherlock feed they talk, and one thing leads to another, ending with them deciding to put their vampiric stamina to the test and spend the entire day shagging each other senseless. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Complete, Rated E)

7) Silence Pressing In The night is too quiet tonight. Molly needs…something…to soothe her tonight. But not sex. Something else. (Originally written in 2017, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

8) Revenge Is A Dish Best Served (Magically) Cold For some time now Sherlock has suspected Molly of sleepwalking. But when Lestrade calls him with a case that involves a vampire victim one evening when Molly appears to have been out, he starts to wonder if her sleepwalking may be having homicidal effects. But there is more to the whole story than it seems… (Repost from 2017′s Sherlolly Halloween, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

The Unexpected Legacies series - Written by @afteriwake

1) Questions Answered While Questions Remain Deciding to make the best of the situation he’s fond himself in (being immortal and impervious to harm), Sherlock incorporates his developing skill set into his consulting detective business. But even as he gets some of his questions answered by (the supposedly fictional) Merlin, it still leaves him questioning exactly how he’s supposed to do what the wizard wants him to do. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

2) Attempting To Run An Experiment Among the many interesting new powers Sherlock has received as a wizard is the ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Being of a scientific mind he wants to run an experiment of seeing just what he can do with this newfound power, and Molly has volunteered to help. But it doesn’t work out exactly like he had planned. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

3) Malevolent Intentions After Sherlock has been trained by Merlin more in the use of his powers he takes a case in Eynsford, trying to find out why a particular home there has the occupants feeling as though there’s an evil presence. Molly is accompanying him and before the case is solved Sherlock comes to a stark realization of just how important to him Molly is, and the lengths he will go to keep her safe. (Originally written in 2014, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

4) Infestation Molly calls Sherlock one evening shortly after the Eynsford case after hearing a buzzing sound and seeing a strange woman with bugs on her face at the foot of the bed. It turns out Molly’s house is infested with dark magic imbued insects who want nothing more than to kill anyone in the home. After Sherlock gets poisoned by one of them he and Merlin begin to work on taking care of the threat and getting Molly her home back…if they can. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

5) Thwarting A Potentiall Uprising When Merlin informs Sherlock and Molly that a very mischievous and dangerous fae has escaped with the intention of raising her own personal army comprised of the male police force in attendance at the Halloween party thrown by Scotland Yard, they take steps to make sure that doesn’t happen…with some unexpected help from some from friends and acquaintances. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

6) A Glimpse At What Could Be This fic is not eligible for Halloween at 221b; but as it is part of the series, I decided to include a link for continuity’s sake.

7) Monster Madness Halloween comes around and it starts every bit as irritating and uncomfortable as Sherlock and Molly have expected as every ghost in the vicinity makes their presence known, and only gets worse as disciples of the Dark One turn a twelve hour monster movie marathon into an attempt to wreak havoc in the city of London by making the movie monsters come to life. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

8) In The Shadows And In The Light Sherlock and Molly finally get to go out on their first date and nothing, come Hell or high water, is going to ruin it. Nothing. Or at least that’s what he thought, until he wakes up having a vision. Fortunately, he’s got a very understanding girlfriend. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

9) A Complicated Evening One of Sherlock’s normal cases becomes one of the strange ones, and while it has a satisfactory end, it doesn’t have the best of endings for everyone. (Originally written in 2015, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

10) Rare Gifts Mycroft is sent to Hampshire for a meeting that he has an ulterior motive for going to: there has been talk of strange goings ons in the nearby village of Farnham, Surrey, and a high ranking government official has disappeared. He tasks his brother to find out just what is going on, which leads to the discovery of a long lost colony of an ancient race who are normally peaceful but are being manipulated by an unscrupulous businessman with plans for taking what he believes to be rightfully his. (Originally written in 2016, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated G)

11) History Repeats Until Stopped When Merlin tells Sherlock and Molly that another one of his descendants is living in a village under a curse and could be in danger, Sherlock and Molly go to the shore to try and break the curse and change history from here forward. (Repost from 2017′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Multi-chapter, Complete, Rated T)

12) Surprise Visitations Sherlock and Molly are settling in for the night when they get an unexpected and unwanted visitor in their bedroom. (Originally written in 2018, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

13) Magical Lineages Molly, Sherlock, Phryne and Merlin enjoy a morning of magic and cozy family feels, and unbeknownst to them they’re being watched by two people wanting to keep their magical lineages safe. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

The Universally Monstrous series - Written by @darnedchild

1) Universally Monstrous - The Hunchback of Notre Dame “The Quasimodo Killer?” Sherlock scoffed. “Really, John. That’s the best you could do?” (Repost from 2018’s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

2) Universally Monstrous - The Phantom of the Opera It was a well-known secret that New Scotland Yard was haunted. (Repost from 2018’s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

3) Universally Monstrous - Dracula It’s Molly’s voice. The woman he had buried just six days prior. (Repost from 2018’s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

4) Universally Monstrous - Frankenstein They were four bodies in before someone noticed a pattern. It was Philip Anderson, of all people, who made the first connection. (Repost from 2019’s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

5) Universally Monstrous - The Mummy “I must admit I’m surprised you managed to secure authorization for me to see the mummy.” (Repost from 2019′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

6) Universally Monstrous - The Invisible Man “This is the strangest thing I have ever seen,” John marvelled. “Haven’t seen,” Sherlock corrected. (Repost from 2019′s Halloween at 221b, On Ao3, Complete, Rated G)

7) Universally Monstrous - The Wolf Man Normally, she would hardly deign to give the tales of Holmes’ fantastical detective work a passing glance, but something about The Hound of the Baskervilles drew her interest. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

8) Universally Monstrous - The Creature from the Black Lagoon “I think I’m looking at a fake, albeit a well-constructed one.” The Skipper huffed, but Sherlock ignored him. Surely the woman in the tank would need to surface soon, or risk betraying the presence of a breathing apparatus of some sort. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

9) Universally Monstrous - The Bride of Frankenstein To his chagrin, it took Doctor Matthew Hooper more than a dozen interactions before he realized that the notorious Sherlock Holmes was not the man he pretended to be. As a matter of fact, he wasn’t a man at all. (On Ao3, Complete, Rated T)

#2020 sherlolly halloween #sherlolly #2020 sherlolly halloween master list

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ihearducksaregoingquackers · 4 years ago

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You guys I have so much shit to say about how World of Warcraft treats the forsaken/undead and Sylvanas Windrunner. Like there’s SO much bullshit in their treatment since vanilla and I have WORDS. (Christie Golden gets the depth available to the forsaken, especially in the novel ‘before the storm’, but she’s also shackled by the lore that was put into the game before her official debut as a writer on the game itself).

Alright, so first things first, a little history lesson on the forsaken or, more accurately, the nation of Lordaeron (and a little bit on Silvermoon)

Arthas menethil, prince of Lordaeron, goes on a mission to try and protect his kingdom but through the manipulations of a demon and the actions of the cult of the damned (who were necromancers), Arthas eventually wields a cursed blade that corrupts his soul and turns him to the dark side. Subsequently he returns, with an army of undead at his heels and wipes out the nation of Lordaeron from the map. (this is a very simplified version of some pretty amazing storytelling back in 2003′s warcraft 3, go play it, it’s good). Silvermoon, the city of high elves, was sacked shortly after and Sylvanas Windrunner was turned into a banshee (banshees are usually spirits, Sylvanas Windrunner eventually regains control of her body though).

The citizens of Lordaeron have now been transformed into the undead, but are at the beck and call of Arthas’ new master, the lich king (details on this dude are unnecessary for this piece). Arthas acts as the right hand man, when suddenly he starts to lose his power, the lich king is weakened and Arthas goes to the lich king and becomes one with him. In the mean time, this allows many undead to break free from both the lich king and Arthas’ control. Sylvanas Windrunner leads these newly freed undead back to Lordaeron and establishes the nation of undead, calling them the forsaken.

So what we have is a nation beset by multiple tragedies, the loss of the royal lineage and leadership, and they have been irreversibly transformed into something horrifying, something that the living cannot withstand. Then information comes out about World of Warcraft, that the forsaken are going to join the newly reformed Horde (which at the time only included orcs, jungle trolls and tauren, the tauren advocated for the forsaken saying the orcs had a chance at redemption, why not the undead).

So what do they do with the forsaken?

Make them evil lite.

The forsaken have become the very evil that they freed themselves from. They performed vile experiments on the living, continued to produce monstrosities called abominations, and generally lived in conditions that would not be healthy to the living. As if they already had a culture of undeath that had existed for centuries. They used to be an entire nation run by a monarchy, that had alliances with other nations amongst the faction called the Alliance, but now they’ve had their entire existence altered forever overnight, and they have to deal with the repercussions of this for what may be the rest of eternity.

That should have been the story of the forsaken. A ramshackle nation trying to decide how best to live in their new existence, the reasonable shunning they would face from their once friendly allies. A story of complete tragedy. Not one where the entire population accepts the fact that they’re undead, and thus do evil things that don’t see them exiled from the Horde because there are bigger threats that the planet faces. What’s more, the forsaken have a racial ability called “cannibalize”, which allows them to EAT ANY HUMANOID CORPSE THEY FIND.

When they made world of warcraft, they just saw the undead and went “we’ll make an undead themed city and an undead themed culture, embrace the evil and what not”. They didn’t see the inherent tragedy that underlined their entire civlization, how they had to start anew. There aren’t even any undead children in the game (a theme that is potentially way too dark for an MMO with an audience rating of 13+), a grim reality that the world would have faced.

And Sylvanas’ bitterness towards the living is somewhat astonishing. Naturally any leader should feel empathy and protective over the citizens of their nation, but Sylvanas’ early history in the game seems to be completely mistrustful of her allied nations. Rather than being a cautious leader learning the ropes of sovereignty and trying to assuage any fears that her living allies may have about the forsaken (on top of leading what should be a morally broken populace caught in tragedy and despair), she’s a leader who sticks to the shadows and sees her allies as tools in her war against the lich king, she even sees her own forsaken as tools to be used against the lich king.

Sylvanas is a warrior at heart, so i can get some of the practical thinking she has towards her own protection (such as joining the horde and having a demon as a part of her council), and as a military leader she understands the battleground. But what of the rest of the forsaken? Most of them are going to be farmers, blacksmiths, villagers that have been forced to go through the tragedy of war, with memories of themselves tearing apart their own kin under the command of a cruel malevolent overlord, and now facing what may be centuries of existence and possible persecution at the hands of the living.

Blizzard failed in its initial construction of the forsaken civilization. They misused tragedy and forced upon the corpse of a nation an evil label that gets excused because ‘they can be redeemed’.

and then, AND THEN. When it comes to their further development, the forsaken create a plague that can wipe out both the living and the undead, AND USE IT AGAINST THEIR ALLIES AND THE LICH KING. While this is blamed on a subfaction of the forsaken lead by the previously mentioned demon who had manipulated the forsaken that turned on the horde and the alliance, it turns out Sylvanas ORDERED THE PLAGUE TO BE CREATED.

THEN, when all is said and done, and the lich king is defeated, Sylvanas (through some triggering events I won’t go into here) ends up gaining the allegiance of some undead angel beings who can raise the dead. Then, SHE RAISES MORE DEAD because, as she puts it in game: “My people cannot procreate, this is how we increase our population”. She, who was once the victim of tragedy, now has become the VERY THING SHE FOUGHT TO DESTROY. The new leader of the Horde at this time rightly points out the similarities between Sylvanas and the lich king (don’t even get me started on Garrosh, maybe another time), but ends the discussion there. Not only that, the forsaken AGAIN USE THE PLAGUE AGAINST THEIR ENEMIES, this time fully under Sylvanas’ command, against the orders of the leader of the Horde.

It’s just, baffling. This could have been some AMAZING storytelling of a nation of lost souls trying to find their place in a world that only sees horror instead of the tragedy that they endured (being turned undead and then enslaved and forced to kill everyone they love). A story focused on tragedy and trying to make the best out of a horrifying situation. Christie Golden truly gets this angle. In ‘Before the Storm’, you get a very decent look at what the civilian population of forsaken is like, how they need to replace their limbs by raiding the graves of those buried near for body parts, how many of the forsaken still act like they are alive because that’s literally all they know (like how they eat, sleep, drink, and think that their muscles will grow stronger with exercise). How the civilians formed a council to handle the day to day needs of the civilians when Sylvanas wouldn’t step up (or couldn’t, because through some fuckery she becomes the leader of the Horde). And then Sylvanas and the leader of the Alliance agree to have some forsaken volunteer to meet their still living relatives (which is a fucking amazing storyline). Some forsaken are too bitter to even speak to their relatives at the meeting, but other forsaken start enjoying their time together.

and then when those forsaken decide to try and seek refuge with the alliance in order to stay with their still living family members, Sylvanas kills only the forsaken that enjoyed time with the living. And then lo and behold Arthas’ sister is discovered to be amongst the living. Because she technically wasn’t part of the alliance, and was a threat to the leadership of the forsaken, Sylvanas takes her out.

Does the reasoning make sense? Yes. Ish. I think Christie Golden was shackled by the ruthlessness of Sylvanas’ past actions and cruelty that it make sense in that context. And it does make sense that some of the undead would be bitter towards the living for shunning them (or, even worse, outright trying to kill them). But it seems like there’s this overwhelming disregard for the situation that created Sylvanas to begin with. That a once living noble warrior would succumb to the evil that was forced upon her isn’t a new trope, but it should have been one that Sylvanas overcame. The forsaken deserved better than their ‘evil lite’ culture. I’m glad we got any nuance at all from Christie Golden’s book.

We’ll see what bullshit awaits the forsaken in Shadowlands (which does have intriguing lore, i’m not against this expansion per se, I just wish for better representation of the tragedy that the forsaken face rather than this ‘evil lite’ thing that they currently have going).

#world of warcraft #warcraft #sylvanas windrunner #forsaken #undead

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duraxxor · 5 years ago

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Prelude of Myotis - Finale

Entry 207 - Several weeks had passed since the intriguing rebirth of Oscar, a geist who was like any other until he came into contact with the compound known as Sanguinite. The Sanguinite appears to violently altar one's state based off of what it is they may desire with the cost of their own former will. This is something I wish to avoid considering that I already struggle to hold a grasp upon who I am to start. But the results themselves are rather lovely in all honesty. I feel as though Oscar has become one of my Eyes. He shows a great increase in both strength and intelligence. Yet, his loyalty tethers him to both my own plans and with the assistance of his unholy master, Dathuro Deathcleave. The Sorceress' theory proved to be true on the nature a geist shares with their master. As if I doubted her from the start. The repaired muscle and tissue seems to be quite flexible, perhaps even malleable. Proper test were administered and every result has surpassed all my expectations. But I cannot rest here, not when there is so much more to be done.

Entry 213 - One of my fellow cohorts I worked alongside within a former organization has willingly taken it upon herself to be my second test. She is a unique specimen not only because she is a living organism, but because this experiment will be a fusion rather than a escalation. Miah Ambershade has decided that Subject Talyn and her cannot exist without one another, which is something even I knew from the start. Oh well, it was worth a shot. Once again, two beings went into the chamber containing the Sanguinite. Unlike the Oscar, who had collapsed onto the floor before his reanimation, both Miah and Talyn held through despite the agonizing symphony they created. Their bodies gave off this illuminating light that appeared to scorch one's sockets with crimson fire. But I even I knew it was from the Light's doing as this was something quite abominable. Even through the practically, air-thin walls, I could feel the aroma of boiling blood tickle my nostrils. Their bodies twisting, perhaps writhing into what appeared to be a miasma. A Miasma? Perhaps that is what I will call her should she live through this experience.

Entry 214 - Miah and Talyn have successfully fused into what appears to be a feminine being. While there are not any type of issues in both skeletal structure, scorched flesh was evident and quite possibly a given. Subject 2 or Miasma gave me a quick demonstration of her speed and strength. She sprinted down a mile-long network within less than six minutes. When she came across a sealed vault, rather than trying to turn the circular, locking mechanism, she decided to use brute force and ripped the entire vault door from it's hinges. That massive seal was about one thousand pounds. Power came with a price as her muscle structure reestablished itself and hunger began to settle within her abyss. Luckily for her, I gave her the four options: A Sin'dorei, a Ren'dorei, a Kal'dorei, and a Human. She devoured both Sin'dorei and Kal'dorei without so much as a second thought, leaving only a few scraps so the reality could settle within the minds of the latter. She then displayed a sense of pride by tearing the Ren'dorei's bonds and dragging her off to her quarters, leaving the human to rot in his own urine. I know not what she did within her chambers but I cannot help but at least enjoy the amount of thought she placed into her choices. Sadistic and Cruel. My guess is the void elf maiden would likely be a main course for her to take in slowly because of the latent magics. After all, the Sanguinite itself does contain contents of shadow magic within. Let's just hope it doesn't counter balance and turn into some sort of void fiasco. Overall, I'd say another success.

Entry 217 - I am a man of my word. Benjamin Lewinters would have a means to physical function again. As many know, the former magi's body had began to succumb to decay and his ability to even walk was become quite difficult to maintain. I appreciate his patience with me, as always. And not a moment to soon when I realized that his mind was beginning to deteriorate. Despite what I felt could be a risk, Lewinters volunteered to be the next step in my plans. Willingly taking on the role of Subject 3, a wheelchair was provided so that no risk would be taken against any other individual who remained pure or had already been touched by Sanguinite. For nearly seven minutes, Benjamin stared into the crimson jewel with both fascination and thought. I could see the dim energies of his eyes speaking to both myself and the crystalline substance. " How far have I fallen? " I knew he would always have his doubts but not because I was untrustworthy, but rather because of the reckless history the two of us share. But despite this, the wheels began turning and as I was distracted by a distant memory of the days of the living, he placed his hand upon the substance. Once again, the shimmering light of scarlet heat began to engulf his form, but not in the same manner as the first two. No, this light was calm and gentle with his transformation. Perhaps the Sanguinite's responses were based upon the bidder's emotion? Oscar was a being forged of instability. Miah was a living being seeking a purpose while Talyn sought the power to destroy, but both sought to thrive and survive. But Benjamin's motivations were self-preservation.

Entry 218 - Something changed in Benjamin's evolution. Rather than having a dramatic spike in regeneration, his bonds of flesh were burned away, all the way to the bone. And as I watched in surprise, I truly thought that something had gone wrong. I quickly activated the mechanism to veil the jewel from sight and tore the double doors wide open with a strong sense of urgency. I had thought that the Sanguinite had robbed him of everything, tearing his flesh and blood all the way to the marrow of his bones. But the energies that coursed through this skeleton proved that death wasn't the affliction. In fact, the bones were carefully placed in a perfected fashion. I called to him and the eyes sockets began to blaze with crimson energies whilst Lewinters as a whole levitated before me. A fume of similarly-colored substance responded with a chilling voice. " Lord Daevara. You mustn't worry so much for me. I have been given exactly what I want. Why rebuild that which burdens me when I can shed my flesh and live as that which I once feared? " A lich. Benjamin Lewinters had chosen to become a Lich of both his and my own design. Once the two of us had time to process this change, Lewinters displayed the ability to create an shrouded illusion of himself much like the portal keeper he normally would portray. He only requested that he be given time to think and research what documents I had. I do hope that this newly awakened lich doesn't have any intent to overthrow me as most would suspect. Perhaps he will be tested by the best Herself.

Entry 224 - Subjects 1 through 3 appear to be operating at a decent pace. Not signs of any sort of betrayal or even a hint of madness. Oscar trained with his geist brothers and sisters and in the process learned that he could enhance them with his own latent energies. This ability was as enticing as it was threatening due to the nature of the corruption itself. Let us hope that he does not turn into some sort of fiend that seeks to spread his own virus. Miasma remains unchanged other than her strengths enhancing over time. Lewinters had fashioned his own garb for when he wasn't wasting his mana or energies on projecting the illusions of a mortal shell. Yet, Dathuro Deathcleave refuses to partake in any of this. He speaks as if he would rather continue perfecting his works of art within the Blood Forge. Perhaps he isn't as power hungry as Subject 2 or 3? I know Deathcleave, he clings to the old ways of wanting to die in the field of battle. A death that he was robbed of. And I will honor his choice so as long as he continues to craft such beautiful designs for me. And who knows, a time for battle may come sooner than we suspect?

Entry 225 - Another has been added to the collection under the same negotiations as Subject 4. However, due to her existence as of being an undead construct, Subject 4 is the remnants of an artificial creation from another tasked with the harvesting of various souls. Wires, threads, and 'electrical' currents, I shall call her Tesla. one could wonder just what exactly drove her to her submissive servitude. Nonetheless, the results have been particularly promising as she follows every order without question. She's the perfect servant and I would see to what exactly her limitations are and will be. A unique development has occurred that she has bound herself to me in such attachments that one cannot help but feel that there is something deep within her that no even she is aware of. I shall monitor her carefully.

Entry 229 - The time has finally come. After carefully measuring and tampering with the Sanguinite's properties, I believe we have finally done it. To any who read this should I not recover from this experiment, I ask that you do not replicate this compound. For if this plan doesn't work correctly, death may not be the worst thing to happen to this thrice-damned corpse. Not very many are aware of the segregated substance I have added to it. A single strand of purified-hair of Hir'eek. If you are not familiar with troll lore, that is the Bat Loa who was worshipped by trolls as the Midnight Sky. A single strand of hair can contain many latent energies known as mojo. Of course, this substance had to be tested for impurities due to the loa's corruption through G'huun. Something I would rather not repeat. Either way, if anyone aside from myself is reading this without my permission, I have either died or gone completely mad.

It was the eve of the new year, and Mr. Myotis had finally finished all of the necessary preparations. Miasma had successfully kidnapped and obtained the lord's former wife after a long period of time. To his dismay, Telondra Daevara was nothing more than a broken husk of what she once was, filled in by the void energies that the Ren'dorei clung to. And while it made the monster sick to his stomach upon how pathetic is truly was, there was a humanity in him that reared it's ancient skull. An old compassion for his first wife that was not long for this world. How he had wished that she had come sooner than later. How she did not bare the insidious mark that plagued his family bloodline. Why couldn't things be different? Why did the path always seem to tread down the means of cutting individuals down to put them out of their own misery?

Despite all of this, the Faceless could not dwell on such trivialities. No, he had to lead this prospering organization with strengthened resolve. He wasn't alone anymore and had to accept such things. Two servants directly bound to him that he had dubbed Miasma and Tesla. Miasma had bore him the fruits loyalty and lessons that he himself had to relearn through concrete thought. Meanwhile, Tesla provided him as a servant who would do his bidding without question as to what or who it benefitted most. To him, Duraxxor Daevara was a god amongst monsters. The two creations contrasted quite differently in identity that he could not help the bemusement that swelled within him as he tread down the halls of his secret hideaway. He had told Miasma (Miah) that he was heading to his coffin for a dark meditation. But one could not rest after what had transpired in the past several days. So many wonderous possibilities that were weaved within the mind. And yet, the same word still hung in the ceiling of his cranium much like the avian nightwing.

Evolution.

Stripped of his armor, Duraxxor stepped through the doorway that seethed with the energies of the malevolent void. A shroud covered the entire torso as he left nothing more than pant leg upon his body. Crimson eyes peered around the incoming room as technologies of a vast variety beeped and hummed with the electrical machinations of a engineer's work. A laboratory that carried the various scent of putrid chemical beakers that stung mortal nostrils with disgust. Chemical equations and schematics veiled the paint job of the walls as critical thinking was clearly applied in this specific area. But who could have done such a thing?

" Ah, Mr. Daevara. I wasn't expect you to be back so soon after our little... meeting. " A violet-haired elf peered through his safety goggles without a single care in he world. Gloved fingers adjusted a nearby microscope as he examined a dark red substance beneath the sample. " You've come just in time, I was just examining the Hir'eek sample you had delivered to me. " The violet tresses trailed down his spine with a hint of red behind the dominate sheen, hinting that the Ren'dorei was original a crimson-haired fox. A lab coat stained with various colors delicately hung over the back of his spinning chair. Thoughtful humming continued as his void-tainted orbs bore witness to cellular acceptance. Duraxxor spared no pleasantries as he cared little for idle chit-chat when progress was in the making. " And, what have you found? Is it compatible? Or am I wasting my time? " The white-haired devil stood there as his own stare looked to the microscope, as if he could feel each cell within the sample writhe like a worm in an aquatic puddle.

The void elf pulled his visions from the studies so that he could look upon the monster he was quite familiar with. " Not even a playful retort? I trust that your evening hasn't been the most pleasant of memories, aye? Well, luckily for you, you have Dr. Solexstras Sunflare as your physician this evening. " A balled fist was brought to contain the clearing of his throat from extending any further. " It took some time but yes, the compound infused with the samples you provided has shown to prove that you and the DNA are able to adapt and meld together. " Crimson beads stared into the doctor's with narrowed vision, hinting at some form of paranoia that sought to see that he possessed little to no doubt in his own mind. " And will they consume a vessel? Because the last thing I want is to no longer possess a will of my own because something went wrong, Doctor... " The ragged tone of his voice only added to the amount of anger he would possess if something were to go wrong.

Dr. Sunflare's features seemed to hesitate from the piercing gaze that Daevara was notorious for drilling into the souls of those that were weakened over time. " The drawback is that if you take everything in at once, it very well could inevitably mutate your own cellular code. While yes, you are a creature of the undead, mutation and even some form of decay isn't an impossibility. Any type of flesh matter can be manipulated, that is why necromancy has become a practice derived from the Shadowlands itself. " Hopping down from his chair, light feet strolled onward towards a certain machine that contained a set of opening doors within. The idle beeping as he began to punch in a numerical code slowly brought the entryway to click, causing said doors to open and reveal four crystalline shards that hummed with crimson concentration. Each one was large enough to fit within the palm an average sized hand perfectly. " Through the process of cryomancy and hemomancy, you have provided me with enough specimens to filter out and readjust the chemical compound without removing the threads of energy that lay dormant within. Luckily for you, I possess a collection of soul shards to empower the rituals necessary for such a thing. Now then, my advise is to take one of these every three days so that your body can adjust to the changes slowly. "

Impatience began to settle within Dura's features while the wrinkles of caution began to dominate his expression. " I understand what you are saying. Last thing I want to do is overload myself and fall into pieces. I have quite the group that would be most unpleased if I was to... fuck myself over. " A faint laugh was given as he removed the shroud that wrapped around his shirtless form. Stone-colored skin marked by the testaments of his own personal trials reflected the various lights within the room. Darkened veins pulsed with the magics and essence that he had drained to insure his self-preservation.

The Doctor had never seen him without some form of armor veiled over his body and could not help but approach more thoroughly on the matter. " You've been busy, I see. When you said that you devoured more than just blood, I'll admit I couldn't take you seriously... but now I see that you harbor... power. " The last word was uttered in a feather-soft tone. Nervousness enveloped the normally well-poised doctor as he understand that any sort of trouble that would merit to a true threat to his grand design. Hands fidgeted as he proceeded to pull a hidden drawer underneath the protective display. The energies sizzled and static streaked towards the thick glass in response to the nearby familiar that possessed similar magics within him. The Doctor rose up and presented him with a metallic box, offering it to the Myotis with care. " Tread lightly, Mr. Daevara, crush the stone when you are ready and do try not to exhaust yourself. Return to me when the seventy-two hours is up. " He bowed his head as Daevara took the box. " There is a chamber you may use before you leave. " A swift gesture towards the doorway with only one way out.

Slowly, Duraxxor took the offered box and with a nod, he traveled to the nearby chamber, shutting the door behind him. However, just because the door was the only entryway did not mean that the Doctor could not monitor him from the outside. A camera's image was brought up on an interface. A blank room created for nothing more than containment of raw energies and instabilities. Dura would've been lying if he didn't possess some sort of nervousness about his mind. All he could think about was how much a change like this may affect him. So many people to consider in the moment. " Miah... Malice... Ryssa... Teremath... Caine... Luminarra... Malakortana... " Their names were uttered within his mind as well as the images of the memories that were forged in this twelve month period that was about to come to an end. A single hand was placed upon the top of the box as he hesitantly grasped upon the clasps, snapping each with delicate care.

A batling suddenly flapped it's way into the room from a ventilation shaft, landing carefully upon the Doctor's shoulder with a chittering. Violet eyes looked towards the avian creature with care as he provided a single finger to brush across the messenger that bore a note between his little toes. " I know, you are nervous for daddy, aren't you? He's going to be just fine... " The soothing voice of the void-tainted played across the batlings ears as his vision stared into the bright screen with a wince.

" If all truly accept me for the choices that I make, then let this New Year but the year that I, Duraxxor Daevara, will have his vengeance and the world will know of the name... Myotis! " The words were shouted, like a dark incantation to a spell that would be cast, enveloping his resolve as he tore open the lid to reveal the catalyst that would begin his journey anew. The various wounds seeped with blackened, vaporous tendrils of his own essence sought to place their grasp upon the prized jewel within. A crimson ruby that seethed with the same radioactivity as it's siblings of creation. Duraxxor's left hand grasped as his own goals and motivations strengthened his will. " Give me the power... of evolution! " One final shout was made as he clutched the sparking substance. A scarlet mist began to expel from within as a brilliance of the same hue hummed with vibration. The faint sound of shrieking was heard as the energies placed in it's creation was released, sending electrical pulses directly into the man's arm as he clutched desperately to keep his grip upon it. The gritting of fanged teeth noted the struggle as it brought him to his knees. Now he understood exactly why the doctor had warned him with caution to only take so much at a time. The size disguised the potency within. Both hands now clutched it towards the Myotis' hearth now as he the solidified source slowly and painfully seeped into his flesh.

The black smog of energies violently spewed from his form as he felt his own flesh begin to change and adapt to the substance he was taking in. This wasn't just raw energy that one could suckle on. No, this was the essence of a powerful being that identified as a patron deity to some. Despite the amount, Hir'eek's chittering voice could be heard within his ears as one by one, deceased cells felt something latch upon them, birthing a hybridized state of unlife. The crystal had been completely absorbed into his being but the changes continued. The sharpened talons landed onto the ground as he stood on all fours. A violent spasm in each and every muscle as he felt the manipulation of his skeletal structure begin to change within his spine. A series of pops and cracks as shoulder blades began to extended past the flesh. A instant rip and tear unveiled a pair of large, skeletal wings that began were covered in a bright, crimson essence. Such a painful sight forced a bellow of pain from within the now shining creature that could feel other changes taking place. An opening of his eyes brought about a thought to renew the shifting resolve. " Not yet... I mustn't... give... in! " This shout brought about the reconquering of his physical shell so that no other bodily changes would take place. The wings had been enough to suffice as he did not want to lose himself in the moment. Talons dug along the metals as the pulsing energies began to dim, placed within the inner recesses of his own reserves for later.

And so, Duraxxor arose. A new set of wings lay upon his shoulders as their flesh began to regenerate with the threads of lifeblood to fuel such a drastic change that took place. The winged harbinger of Myotis panted unendingly from the amount of toll that such a thing took upon his body. The raw magics had left a blemish upon his chest that still steam with the searing of flesh in the shape of a jagged 'M'. Slowly but sure, he made his way towards the doorway, limping in the process.

Before he even had a chance to touch the knob, the Doctor immediately had himself full covered and prepared for the potential energies that may leak out and seek to corrupt another. Both hands, despite his lack of physical strength attempted to hold him up so that he did not fall. " Mr. Daevara... How are you feeling? " The hazard suited figure questioned whether or not he was alright, wondering if he was even there anymore.

A fang-filled grin slowly blossomed on the dark individuals features. The winged cloak that had finally finished it's work soon retracted back into his flesh as a means to provide secrecy. A crimson stare was afforded as he looked towards the doctor before gesturing his sight to his winged messenger that bore a message for him to take into his palm. " That was... one hell of a show... what have you got there for me... little one? " Careful to not bring harm to his bat child, he took the note carefully and opened it up to read it's contents. The eyes of the creature scanned each and every line before the smiling expression began disappear. A rumbling growl was the only indication that he was most unpleased about the choices made in the way this note was written to him. " If you will excuse me, Doctor. I have business that needs my attention... " Stabilizing his body now, he would hobble his way towards the door with the batling a fluttering beside him.

The doctor quickly began to retort to his dismissal. " Not even a thank you. The least you could do is give it five extra minutes before you go rushing off! " Despite his protests, the Doctor knew it was useless when it came to Daevara's own stubbornness. In fact, the Myotis was already out the door with a resolve that would reach new levels. " Why do I even bother... Shadows protect you, Mister Myotis. "

[ mentions big or small: @sanguinesorceress @miah-ambershade @blacksorrow-wra @ryssa-ravensdawn @swiper-lussy @igniting-the-dawn @hollow-shadow-puppet ]

[ also tagging for guild relevancy: @onyxwra @kira-seastar @gravekeeper-anna and @the-golden-flash-blog ]

#Duraxxor #Project Myotis #Conclusion of Prelude #A new beginning

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eponymous-rose · 6 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E38 (October 16, 2018)

Tonight’s guests are Sam Riegel and Taliesin Jaffe (and, as always, Dani Carr and... Tiny Corner Max?)!

Announcements:

The latest episode of Between the Sheets, featuring Daytime Emmy Award-Winning Sam Riegel (TM), aired last night and will be available on YouTube tomorrow morning. Sam: “I feel like this channel is mostly just you and me talking?” Brian: “Are you saying that everyone else is just riding our coattails?” Taliesin: “He’s also saying that you look a lot like Liam at this point, and he can’t tell the difference.”

Another episode of All Work No Play will debut this Friday on the Critical Role Twitch (uploaded to YouTube on Sunday). In this episode, Sam and Liam do yoga... with goats. TJ Storm and Travis Willingham guest star!

Next week the cast will be at London MCM! Taliesin: “I’m packing slightly more tweed.” Brian: “Gettin’ tweedy with it.”

There’s a new (harp music) Laura Bailey emote on the CR Twitch for subscribers.

@critrolestats for this week’s episode:

The M9 hit 150 natural ones in this episode. Number 150 was Jester’s acrobatics check to get away from the yuan-ti abomination.

Jester also set the record for the most natural ones in a single episode: 5. The previous record of 4 was held by Nott and Beau. Brian: “You guys remember these are not still going to charity, right?” Sam and Taliesin: “What?”

Taliesin was the one who helped Momlan glue on her elf ears. Taliesin: “I would be very nervous if my mom were going out there.” Brian: “Well, she’s got hundreds of years of secrets on you.” Taliesin: “Mom of the damned.”

Cad’s definitely been upset about being around undead; Taliesin’s rolled a few times to see if there’ll be a worse freak-out, but there hasn’t been one so far. “The notion is that there’s a direction things are supposed to move, and [undead] is something moving against the grain in an intense way. What’s the point of having an imaginary organized religion of any kind if you can’t have something they’re fundamentally against?”

Nott’s extremely far from her comfort zone right now, being outside the Empire, working for a captain on the sea who’s threatened their lives: “There’s snakes and lizards and... wouldn’t you drink, dude?!”

Given how much he’s been getting the shit kicked out of him lately, is there a breaking point for Cad? “Probably. I haven’t really finished nailing him down emotionally yet. I genuinely don’t know what zen people do when everything goes to shit.” Jester’s speech genuinely comforted him a lot. “Apparently Laura knew what to say.” Sam notes that the party hasn’t really had a chance to sit down and ask him questions about himself so far. Taliesin mentions that Cad’s been ordering drinks but hasn’t actually been drinking.

Nott’s fallen into the role of the mom friend mainly because nobody else has (everyone agrees that Caduceus is more of “a wise pothead”). Brian: “Everyone seems to have so much baggage right now. Half the people seem focused on just holding it together, the other half are focused on the mission.” Dani: “Somebody has to be the level-headed one.” Sam: “And why can’t that leveling force come from a three-and-a-half-foot insane goblin alcoholic?”

Once Caduceus levels out (he’s still a little shell-shocked), he’s going to realize that he’s surrounded by “unhealthy lunatics” and will want to do something about that.

Sam’s done some research about chemistry (although he wants to make more of a cheat sheet after Travis’ experience with sailing), knowing it might come up with Nott’s alchemy knowledge. Taliesin is trying to learn more of what Sam terms “that fungus shit”. Also tea, and zen. Sam: “I was thinking you should go to a morgue and see how bodies decompose.” Taliesin: “Oh, I have some experience in that.”

(don’t worry; it’s just some friends in forensic anthropology)

Gif of the Week: Taliesin casts Detect DM Shenanigans.

“There was a certain order to the universe that he has come to expect, and it has been thrown into great disarray.” Cad was expecting the Epic Quest to save his home, but he wasn’t expecting the Mighty Nein. He’s mainly staying because of what Jester said about not necessarily needing to understand what’s happening right now. “He’s confused and trying his best to just let things happen, because that’s how the Wildmother works.”

Nott’s been surprised by some of the Mighty Nein’s actions, but so far she knows it’s out of necessity. She doesn’t view the incident on the docks as quite as bad as some of the others did---it was chaotic and based in self-preservation rather than actively causing harm. “But some of the other actions lately have been surprising to her.” Sam points out that she and Caleb did a lot of things to survive, and that she still steals a lot, and reminds everyone that she lives in a very morally grey area. She’s not thinking of leaving at this point, and all the high-stakes trauma has brought her closer to the group. “It’s a fucked-up dysfunctional family, but it’s starting to look a little bit like a family to her.”

Taliesin and Sam are both enjoying being moral compasses of the party this campaign, in major contrast to the previous campaign. Brian: “You were a teenage asshole. You were a teenage dirtbag.” Taliesin: “It’s so weird. I love it.” Sam: “Oh man. We’d better step up our game. If we’re the moral compasses...” Taliesin: “We’re like Cracker Jack compasses, we almost point north.”

Cad’s got a lot of abilities he just doesn’t use very often. “He knows that some of it is... rude? Death cleric, man, they’ve got some insane shit.” Cad doesn’t have the same opinions on life and death as most people. Brian: “How surprising.”

Taliesin is having “a ton of fun” playing Caduceus. “I love Molly... and the character. Too easy.” No, but seriously: “I loved playing Molly, but the nice thing I got to do with Caduceus that I didn’t get to do with Molly is we had an established group and I got to create a character that was useful to the dynamic both mathematically and emotionally.”

Sam: “Wait, is it twitch.tv or twitch.com? Oh my god, I’ve been putting the wrong links on my Twitter for like a year.”

Cad was very selective about who he told about Jamedi, and purposely didn’t tell Nott because he knew she’d tell others. Sam, trying to keep a straight face: “Nott’s nothing if not trustworthy.” He’s more surprised that Caduceus has figured that out already, given how little he knows about Nott. “Maybe it speaks less to Nott and more to Caduceus being judgey...” Taliesin clarifies that it wasn’t so much that Nott was untrustworthy, it was more than Nott couldn’t keep a secret. Sam, as a player, was shocked that the rest of the party didn’t instantly tell everyone that “we are being led through the jungle by a dead guy.” Taliesin points out that with two clerics (Brian: “well, a cleric and a battle Mercy”), they literally have a button they can push to make him go away if they need to.

Sam: “It seems like Fjord’s going into a real bad place without any information, and Nott’s there to support and make sure he doesn’t die, but it seems like a bad idea.” Taliesin: “This seems like a test of one’s soul, and Caduceus is on board but aware that this could go badly.” Taliesin also points out that the rest of the group isn’t aware of the creepiest stuff going on because they weren’t there for it.

Fanart of the Week: the group (sans Jester and Caduceus) inside Leomund’s Tiny Hut!

Taliesin got recognized in public, and the fan immediately called out the two clerics for going off on their own in the middle of the night. Taliesin: “It was a good burn.”

Caduceus had some experience with fights pre-M9 (grave robbers, wildlife). Taliesin: “Have you ever seen Cemetery Man? Shit gets weird!”

There’s a brief interlude while everyone arranges a movie night. As you do.

Has Nott been feeling protective toward members of the Nein other than Caleb? Fjord is probably the next-likely candidate, followed by possibly Yasha. Sam: “Caduceus is just too tall.” Taliesin: “I feel that.”

Taliesin describes Lesser Restoration as “the aspirin of D&D”. He’s done some healing of illness before, but this has just been a bad time. Sam points out that in the last campaign they didn’t really have to deal with disease so much. “I assume it’s Bird Flu.”

Scanlan stealing the gun was messing with both Taliesin and Percy. Nott is interested in the mechanics of the gun, interested in the chemistry of gunpowder, and has already designed and manufactured one explosive arrow as a result. “But Nott has also noticed that there’s people with guns wherever they keep going, and it might be a good idea to have a gun. It’s a self-preservation thing. If that also happens to mess with Taliesin Jaffe, I’m not going to say no to that. I mean, the heart does what the heart does. If that happens as a result, we’ve all grown as people.”

They realize there’s about a four-foot height difference between Caduceus and Nott. Taliesin: “He squats.” Dani: “He’s got killer calves.”

Caduceus is very, very good at reading people. Nott doesn’t lie because of goblin upbringing, but more out of her travels with Caleb and having her first impulse to be to get out of any situation by lying to stall/delay/confuse.

Taliesin: “Why lie to a plant?”

There’s a brief interlude about telling your plants inappropriate bodily measurements. As you... do? Brian: “I’m calling an Uber right now. I’m sorry. I’m done.”

Taliesin is collecting spells based mainly on what he can guess might be helpful. He doesn’t need a lot of damage-dealing, so focuses more on deflecting and healing. He’s picked out some feats he’s interested in to make Caduceus less likely to take damage. “That’s been a problem. I don’t like being hit.”

It is pointed out that all of Sam’s characters in the campaigns have had high intelligence and low wisdom. “That’s a pretty great winning combo for comedy.”

Legends of the Hidden Talks Machina:

Overwatch mains? Sam: “What’s a main?” Taliesin: “It’s like Quidditch...”

Taliesin is a support main, especially Zenyatta and Brigitte.

Brian is a D.Va main (woo!) and also plays a lot of Orisa.

Look, I gotta cheer on anyone who also mains D.Va. Those are the rules.

They agree that watching Sam play as Hanzo would be funny, but decide Roadhog would be the best. Sam: “Yeah. It’s Hog Noon. Is that what he says?” Brian: “Yep.”

What’s Matt’s character name? Sam: “Tyrone McCabe.” Brian: “It’s close!”

Ghost stories? Taliesin: “I’ve been ghosted.” Sam: “I saw some raccoons in my backyard?” Taliesin: “I got attacked by a skunk when I was in my hot tub.”

Taliesin: “Now I’ve seen a ghost.” Past and present combine:

Taliesin has a 1930s stripey swimsuit, because of course he does.

What (harp music)-style sound cues would they have? Taliesin: The sound of building a temple in the original Warcraft. Sam: An... explosion? Brian: The sound of my mom’s tears because he never became a doctor. Taliesin: “I was thinking the Golden Girls intro.”

Goth advice for the week, courtesy of Taliesin: Best style eyeliner is eyeliner on day 2. Put on the eyeliner before the shower. Know if your choker’s loadbearing.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

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zrtranscripts · 5 years ago

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Season 8, Mission 27: I Will Kill Again

Order Of The Red God

SHONA REID: I wish we could have been friends, Five. I bet you're scared down there in the dark. I can just imagine you running through those caves, stumbling between shadow and stone. You should see it up here. It's gorgeous! Green hills, cloud-swept skies. I love this island, Five. I was born and bred here. It's part of me. Shame half the folk living here are idiots. Gossips like Morag Brown. They don't see who I am. They just see the laird's kid, plucky lass and nae much to think about. But I've got power, Five. The fruit of this island in my blood. That's why I wish we could be friends. Because you can see the real me.

Tom went down heavy when I shot him, eyes wide. You lot really thought it was my dad, didn't you? Leading the skincoats. You thought he stole the Edda. The key to the red fungus growing on the mainland, the secret of why has died off there but strives here. The key to that bloody Prime Minister of yours who thinks she can tell us our island is quarantined! Is that you, Five? I'm sitting right by the cave I led Tom out of. I see shuffling down there.

[gunshot]

I took his gun along with his headset. That is you, Five. I recognize your shadow. Hoping to get out this way, I bet. Tom couldn't get past me, and neither can you. [gunshot] Missed. Ah well. That's it, Five. Swerve around, back into the depths. I better follow you. Can't have you telling everyone about me. You run those caves. I know you like a race, but I was faster than Tom. I bet I'll be faster than you, too.

SHONA REID: Do you see the carvings on the walls, Five? The twining circles? They're ancient. Left by the first islanders, markers of the deepest tunnels. We are deeper than you've ever been. Lachlan and I used to run these caves. My idea. The old myths say these tunnels are full of ghosts, spirits of long-dead islanders. I was little when my mum passed away. Meningitis. I used to think if there were ghosts down here, maybe I'd find hers.

There's a lot of ghosts around this island, Five. Tom was right. I did shoot Lachlan's decoy that night on the beach. Lachlan was supposed to be there alone. The decoy looked like him in the storm. When I realized my mistake, I meant to go after him, make him pay for tricking me. I could have got to the Edda then, but you lot had shown up. Put the island on alert. I had to get off the beach fast.

I was so angry with you, spoiling all my plans! But you did provide one thing. The death that was foretold. Your Ellie was the first sacrifice of the season of the red god. I see your torch flickering ahead of me, Five. Dying batteries. [gunshot, stalactite crashes to ground] Almost got you there, didn't I? Don't worry. I meant to hit that stalactite, drop it to block the passage. Just making sure you turned right instead of left.

See the carvings overhead? Clouds and lightning cut into the rock. The ancients saw storms as sacred. It's the last sky you'll see through human eyes, Five. My gift to you. You keep running straight. There's something else I want to show you before the end.

SHONA REID: Take a moment, Five. Look around. Not many have seen the cavern you're passing through. Isn't it something? All those stone pillars and altars, carvings on every surface. My mum would have loved this place. She was writing a book on the mythology here, left me all her notes after... After she died.

This chamber was made by ancients. People who lived here long before the Vikings came. I always wondered what they meant it for, but now I know. The red god in my head connects me to all its followers, past and present. I see them here, dancing between the pillars in the very first ceremony for the king of the rocks. It was so long ago, they weren't even fully human! Before we spoke, before we ever lit a fire, the red god loved us! Who do you think taught us about fire?

Look up, Five. On the ledge above you. Or had you lost me? [gunshot] Oh, good reflexes, darting behind that pillar!

The Vikings wrote about the king of the rocks. Their Edda is our oldest written record of it. They witnessed so many things on our island, including our red god. The wizard Loki stole some red god from this isle, used it to create her wakened warriors, mingled it with plagues for her amusement. The Vikings didn't understand the alliance that existed here. Since time began, some islanders have been taking the red blessing. Step out of the shadows, friends.

Do you like the skincoats, Five? And the flaming torches? We're big on the traditional look. The history books called us guardians of law and order, but we're so much more than that. We're the order of the red god. The protectors of this island's secrets. The order appeared to me as a child. I used to wander the caves, playacting legends from mum's notes. I was obsessed. The perfect recruit. They called me blessed.

No point backing towards the altars, Five. I'm above you. There's all nine of us encircling you. No more bullets, but we don't need them. Everyone who drinks the water on Mor Island, come this season, gets a little red god in their veins, a little of the red god and a little of the silver mud in perfect balance. The red makes Mor Islanders just that bit smarter, longer-lived, and thanks to the silver, they get to keep their humanity. A beautiful symbiosis.

But we in the order take extra sacrament. Keeps us fast and strong. The red god connects us, whispers in our dreams. What Lachlan Jones told Morag Brown was right. We see through each other's eyes. If there's red god in you, we can start to sense your thoughts. Morag was right not to think too hard about the Edda. If she'd envisaged it in her mind, we'd have seen it. That's where you can never defeat us. There's a line of us stretching back millennia. I can even see my own hand faintly as it writes the Edda all those years ago.

And I see us closing in on you from every side. Look at you, Five. Squeezing between those altars and diving through that arch. But the tunnels past there are a labyrinth! Keep running all you like! We know this place by heart, and we enjoy the chase.

SHONA REID: These caves really twist and turn, don't they, Five? So dark and shadowy. We almost lost you. Don't worry. There are ledges on top of the tunnel you're in. I've got people watching you.

Ach, honestly Five, this wee chat is like therapy. The thing about being in a secret order of only nine people is you dinnae get to gossip much. I've been bursting to show your lot who I really am. I killed Callum. He was going to break our oldest traditions, move the king of the rocks. We couldnae allow it, so I stepped up. The youngest in the order, and the bravest. I struck him with that rock. It was a family duty.

Poor Lachlan was the perfect scapegoat. We were shocked years later when we heard he'd found the Edda. So I sent him a message pretending to be my dad, told Lachlan he'd be forgiven if he brought it home. Remember how I said some of the coastal caverns flood, Five? The old islanders built channels into these caves, ways to redirect the flow. One of their little traps. Pull the right ropes, lift the right stones, and the floodwater goes anywhere. We're sending it to you.

That night on the beach, after I killed Lachlan's decoy, I searched his boat. He'd run off with the Edda, but guess what I found instead? A wee metal box, and the red god provides. Because then I bumped into you lot. I had Janine's control box all along. All I had to do was make her sicker now and then, keep you mad for Jones, and you lot hunted down the Edda for us. Had to smash the box on that ice bridge, or you would have wondered why Lachlan hadnae used it to heal himself.

Remember our last cave, Five, where I kept scorecard? All those grave-marked faces, that's the old way. To keep trophies of your hunt. I didnae kill them all, but I brought Lachlan here. I get credit for the fallout. I could have killed you there, but I like you, Five. You helped save the island from those disgusting godless modern zoms. And the Edda still needed sniffing out.

You've got a destiny, Five. The same as me. I knew it as soon as I heard your name. There are five circles in the symbol of eternity, the red god's sign. You've been chosen. Once you're one of us, you can help us eradicate the tainted undead from the mainland, the abominations that perverted the red god's gift. We're the only ones who can do it.

LAIRD REID: [distorted] Runner Five, hello. Can you hear me?

SHONA REID: There goes your torch, Five. Our eyes are used to this gloom. Yours aren't. And the water is rising.

LAIRD REID: [distorted] Runner ��Five, hello! It's Laird Reid. Five, if you're hearing me, please follow the signal. Run in whatever direction my voice sounds strongest. I've called help. I can get you out, but you need to follow my voice. Run.

SHONA REID: We see you feeling your way along the cave walls, Five. Just give up. The water's already thigh-deep.

LAIRD REID: [distorted] This signal keeps fading. [?] stabilizing this bloody walkie-talkie. This should be on private channel. Okay, got it. I know you're surprised to hear me, Five. I – I was out looking for Shona. She said she was going for a run near Bas Sands. Since the ice bridge, I don't like her staying out late.

I heard Tom's last moments. He set his comms to transmit on the island's walkie-talkie frequency. Must have hoped someone was near enough to overhear. Shona's not a killer, Five! Look, those people drugged her, or-or tricked her, or... or something. I'm at the cave exit near where Tom died. If you hear me, home in on my voice. The louder my signal, the closer you are. And if you hit a dead end, double back. I hear flooding on your end. Hurry!

SHONA REID: I see you tilting your head, Five. Like your listening. You're moving with a lot of purpose. Someone's helping you, aren't they? Fine. If you're being difficult, I told you I have eyes on the ledges above you. All of you, climb down to intercept Five. I dinnae care if there's flooding. Nobody escapes our sanctum! Give chase, everyone. Run!

LAIRD REID: Look ahead, Five. That daylight at the end of the tunnel? That's where I am. The mouth of the cave. Keep going. You're clear of the flooding. I'm sorry about Tom, Five. He seemed like a good man.

SHONA REID: My people are right behind you, Five. I see you through their eyes.

LAIRD REID: Hurry, Five! There are skincoats following you!

SHONA REID: Is that... my dad? Is he helping you? Don't think he can stop us, Five. We've seen the Edda. The red god's ordered a new king of the rocks. We know how to perfect it. It's chosen us. It's chosen me. No one is getting in our way.

LAIRD REID: Five, those figures are almost on you. Get out of that cave, run!

LAIRD REID: Five, you made it. You're in daylight.

SHONA REID: My people are still behind you, Five. We can chase you just as well into the light.

LAIRD REID: They're still coming. I left my rifle at home. Bolt for those trees! We need cover.

[gunshots]

PAULA COHEN: Five! It's okay. It's us.

LAIRD REID: Look, Five, coming over that hill. Janine and Dr. Cohen. They're firing on the skincoats. That's it! Back, you devils! Back into the caves. [gunshots] Colonel, the skincoats are retreating. You can stop!

[JANINE DE LUCA screams in rage]

PAULA COHEN: It's okay, Janine. You're -

JANINE DE LUCA: Out of ammo. Yes.

PAULA COHEN: The laird called us for help, Five. We came as quickly as we could. We... found Tom's body. Jody's with him. Janine ordered Sam to stay with her. I'm glad you're okay.

LAIRD REID: Colonel, I know Tom was your brother. My daughter's hurt you. She's not thinking -

JANINE DE LUCA: A killer, Mr. Reid. She's lied to us, manipulated us, and declared war on us. There will be time to grieve later. We must fall back to safety. Five, you and Tom have uncovered our true enemy at enormous cost, and I swear I won't let his death be in vain. I will stop Shona Reid, no matter what it takes.

#zombies run #zrs8 #s8m27 #I will kill again #zr transcript #zrs8 spoilers

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regulusfilliusinxomine · 6 years ago

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We’re still in the Doomwood, and shifting focus from the Frydae’s, we’re going to talk about the real ruler of the endless night. Safi! Safiria! And I know it’s been a long time but if you’re here by happenchance, thanks for reading!

Before we go into Drakath’s view of the vampire queen, I dearly love the retcon they had with safiria and Frydae!

When she woke up from her 200 year nap, Frydae drooled all over himself and threw himself at her feet for like several years. Safifira herself came off as a fufufuf I’m a scheming villain that may or may not be your friend.

Both, over the time skip, had a huge jump in class and it’s kinda like the writer(s) wanted you to vaguely remember what happened but to disregard it. That’s not important so I’m going to treat it like that too. What happened in book 1 isn’t super important outside of Thursday meeting the hero and getting help with not getting bitten by her grandad. What’s really important is all the stuff in Book 3. I guess I should have mentioned that in the Frydae post.

Neron mentioned in “Bloodwork” that Safiria has been feared for hundreds of years, referring to her as “the ancient Queen,” but has always ruled in the shadows. Even though Neron is a higher ranking member of the Rose with access to information, and would have to be researching because he’s stationed in Amityvale, that kind of talk hints that this knowledge may be common.

He also said that it’s been theorized that she was one of the first vampires. Alive way before the endless nights, knowing the Frydae family well. She’s got such an influence on the area but tends to be primarily concerned with vampire affairs. Darkovia affairs at the most. So I don’t really think she cares that much about the Drakaths. Mortal kingdoms rise and fall all the time. I kind of doubt she’d even bother to remember their names (unless she was just saying that as a calculated flex).

And vice versa if the Drakaths were feuding with the Frydae’s and there’s no evidence of them looking to get Safiria in her sleep. Well, no evidence for now at least.

A few theories to why this is.

One, Darkovia obviously isn’t a very tantalizing bit of land so maybe they left it alone until the stuff with the Frydaes.

Two, let’s say the Drakaths wanted this bit of land but Safiria was wide awake, trying to have a nice night out with Amaris, and would shank anyone looking to ruin it. The Drakath’s aren’t going to admit that they’re shaking in their boots, they’d just say that they didn’t want this stupid Darkovia in the first place. And then they jumped on the Frydaes like that scary brown monster thing on the scary yeti thing from that Christmas card meme the moment safi took her nap.

Three, guess who’s talking about the damn werewolves again. Me…………

Alright look, it’s been mentioned by the devs before that Dragonfable has its own Lore that’s not going to match with the other games. That being said, we could have very similar things, especially from AQ, the progenitor. In that game, lycantropy was also a disease like in DF. But way way back in the past when Drageth Slugwrath was from a line of princes instead of the main King trunk (I don’t know what to call royal family trees), he discovered a small group of people infected by the disease with the help of Seth Cay Dhows (kinda like the mysterious stranger but it gets real complicated). In a bid for the throne, they captured more people to infect, including Constantin who would later become the werewolf king. The werewolves then had a violent clash with Safiria and her vampires. Skip to the present of AQ, Drakath is aware of Seth Cay Dhows and Drageth but may not have knowledge of the entire story.

Probably not how that goes down in DF but it’d be really cool if we ever come back to the origin story or Darkovia in general. If the Drakath’s really did have a hand if spreading lycantropy, then Safiria would have a way bigger grudge to nurse.

As for Drakath’s view of Safiria and vampire-kind in general, I believe he’d hate them? Oh, very surprising.

Well, that is if he believes that Safiria exists. It’s a trope in a lot of work where the arrogant villain insults someone he thinks is just a myth created by dumb peasants, and then Safiria shows up and spanks his skin off. I think it’s a good trope, and I might write it myself if I have to.

Back on track though. Not only are they “invaders” of his family’s territory, touting a false crown when the real throne belongs to him, they’re monsters. Blood sucking, abominations taking the guise of human beings. It could anger him that these beasts are acting sophisticated when they’re leeching off of his land. I imagine the view would get worse having to serve under an undead like Sepulchure.

That’s all lip service though. He’s not going to strike a vampire down on sight the way he is. I think one could bump into him by accident, be polite enough to apologize, and he might start sniveling. In the face of the Vampire queen herself, oh Drakath who? I’m just passing by…

Maybe he’d try to talk down to Safiria for a bit if he had some support from the shadowscythe’s forces before backing down again. Safiria just has that pressure around her, that makes you really think twice, and Drakath isn’t dumb enough to push too hard. He will a little, and if he ever gets his throne back, he’d throw warm body after warm body into Doomwood to get back at her for staring at him in such a scary way.

And that’s if she’s nice. If Safiria rips him to shreds with her words like every other dumbass that treads too close, he’s going to die. He’s going to start foaming at the mouth at how bad he’s getting dressed down. Missed opportunities T_T

#(Tentative Decrees)#(Scribe Speaks)#oh dear it's been so long #This was also all over the place #but it's cathartic to put it all in writing

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calleo-bricriu · 6 years ago

Note

Do you ever play any Muggle games that involve magic? Not real magic obviously but like the kind of stuff they write about in fiction.

I do!

Not as often as I used to, but there’s a little group of them that I still occasionally play with.

I’ve done a few different characters for different side games, but in the main one, I’ve had the same one for years now as the person running them is pretty good about not killing off characters for effect.

Not that it matters much, as there is a Cleric in the group as well as NPC spots to stop and hand over gold in exchange for resurrection–if you’ve dragged the body along with you. The Cleric doesn’t charge though, so we usually just make her do it.

There are a few different spell casting classes, all of which are tied to talent points that you assign and earn along the way. Some require high wisdom or high charisma and some just require high intelligence.

What I have started out as a Wizard class, which is one of the high intelligence classes, and I thought it’d be a bit fun to not only throw all the available points into intelligence but also take away from wisdom and charisma just to boost it.

What that resulted in was a person who was incredibly skilled with a whole hell of a lot of general offensive magic–at the expense of common sense and people skills.

Early on, half of the interactions with the NPCs were other party members just trying to keep him from talking to people or doing something incredibly dim and making life difficult. He was good in combat, however, and that’s a good chunk of the game, so they were happy to keep him around and just distract him to keep him from making life difficult when interacting with people outside the party.

The thing with Wizard is that it’s a base class; after a certain level, you can either stay that way or you can split off at any time into specific schools of magic.Specifically, any of the following: Artifacter, Bladesinger, Lore Mastery, Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Invention, Necromancy, Transmutation, Technomancy, Theurgy, or War Magic.

Go ahead and guess which one I went with. I’ll give you a hint, it starts with an N.

And the thing about Necromancy is that, to use a few of the more prominent skills, such as Command Undead, the undead creature in question just has to win out over how charismatic the Necromancer is.

He wasn’t. At all. So, more often than not, he’d go to do a Command Undead and essentially get a rude gesture in return. Didn’t stop him from trying, but it almost never worked and eventually he was convinced by the others to just stop trying and raise bones or corpses or something that someone else hadn’t already raised once because those were bound to obey.

At certain high levels, you can take a few talents that result in one arm becoming skeletal and having what amounts to an instant death spell on them. That means, if you get close enough and physically touch someone, they will more than likely just drop over dead.

There are also spells that have an area instant death effect but those have to be specifically cast.

So, again, he was incredibly useful in combat, especially if they just wanted it over with quickly or needed to literally answer a, “You and what army?” type of situation. Nobody ever said the army was required to be comprised of the living, after all.

However, that low Wisdom stat meant that he often forgot that touching people with that hand, which was his dominant hand, would more than likely kill them.

They were run out of several towns after he’d shake hands with, say, someone in charge, a guard, a shopkeeper, any random person, and they’d instantly die.

At first, the Cleric would take over, calm things down, resurrect whoever had died free of charge (which isn’t a horrible thing for that particular class, it’s essentially a favour they get from whatever deity they worship, so the resurrected person isn’t considered undead and is fully alive), and they would at least all be able to leave without being chased out by an angry mob.

After awhile, however, the person leading the game decided that rumours had spread about my absolute idiot of a Necromancer and people started denying the entire group access to their towns specifically because of him.

And the Cleric’s deity started denying resurrection requests because the deity was sick of dealing with my idiot Necromancer.

The first time that happened, he stepped in with, “No big deal, I can resurrect things too!” and raised someone–which created what was, more or less, a very ‘alive’ and aware corpse that nobody would really want to be around on account of them being a walking corpse.

When you raise them quickly enough, which you’re not supposed to do, you’re supposed to wait a specified amount of time so you don’t bind the spirit back to the corpse and get an undead thing that knows it’s undead, knows that’s not right at all, and you’ve essentially made an abomination by binding a living soul to a dead body and forcing it to exist that way.

The Cleric just about lost her mind screaming at him about that and all he responded with was, “I don’t see the issue; he was dead, now he’s not, problem solved.”

There was a back and forth of what amounted to, “Oh, it’s exactly the same! Resurrection is resurrection!” vs. “IT’S NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE SAME THING , YOU HORRID LITTLE GREMLIN!” and the Cleric ended up obliterating the new abomination with a blast of divine energy while still arguing with him about it.

There are certain things that are not advisable to say to a Cleric, especially in an argument.

Among those:

“Yes, well, at least I don’t have to beg to a god and ask permission to raise the dead!” That–was strike two.

Anything that amounts to, “What are you going to do? Smite me?” because that’ll spiral off into an argument about how it’s not that she can’t smite me, it’s that she doesn’t want to, oh great excuse to explain why “your god” didn’t answer at least I don’t have to draw power from a deity because I can do it myself, keep talking and I will blast you into oblivion with holy fire and no I do not care that we’ve known each other for decades I will end you right here, you and what army because I can raise an army literally any time, you wouldn’t dare (he would and did, but it wasn’t terribly impressive as the only dead things or bones around were of various woodland creatures–the, uh, Druid was not happy about that), WATCH ME!, I swear to my and every other god I will dispatch you to whatever hell awaits your sort with righteous fire, just try it you wouldn’t dare!

At that point, the rest of the party just…walked away. Didn’t want any part of this argument and she actually did try it and caused a good deal of damage on the first hit because she caught him unaware.

Holy fire does a good deal of rather painful damage to things that deal with the Not Holy side of things and while a smarter person might have just stopped there and apologised, his reaction was more along the lines of, “You absolute bitch! You deserve everything I’m about to do to you for that!”

…and an actual fight broke out.

The best part is, in these games, at least with the group I play with, you speak as your character, so the other three in the group got to sit there and watch me and the person playing the Cleric argue about this in character for a good half hour, and through the actual fight that broke out in the game itself.

Trouble there is both of them were pretty evenly matched in terms of magical skill and, after that 20 minutes, when it was clear there was either not going to be a winner or someone was going to require a paid resurrection at the end, the other three came back and just–kind of pulled them apart and gave them a, “We have BETTER THINGS TO DO you two! Grow up!” lecture.

So, that was about the sixth town he’d managed to get them barred from and this time the Cleric wouldn’t let it go. Everyone else was just, “…this is not worth the fight, let it go, we’ll go somewhere else,” and the Cleric was absolutely done with my Necromancer but they weren’t allowed to fight anymore so it never went beyond verbal back and forth after that.

At one point she threatened to rip that arm off of him and beat him to death with it and he was just, “HA! Whatever, I’m basically immune to the entire school of magic by this point so it’s not going to bother me one bit.” You–become more or less immune to Necromancy, by the rules, if you stay in that school long enough.

Out of frustration, her solution ended up being tying an oversized, bright purple oven mitt over that hand so when the inevitable happened and he did try to touch someone, it wouldn’t kill them.

He ended up agreeing to it because, fine, whatever, if it’ll stop you screeching at me.

It worked out pretty well, he stopped accidentally killing people when meeting them, no more being run out of or barred from towns, yay!

Except now, he’d forget to take it off in combat and had several instance of walking up to someone all dramatic to deliver the deathblow and get interrupted by the NPC with, “Sorry, I know this is serious and all, but…are you wearing an oven mitt?”

“Oh! Right! Sorry about that!” Mitten comes off, touch-and-kill the NPC, mitten goes back on. He was always very, very good about remembering to put it back on because if he didn’t, the Cleric started yelling at him again until he did.

That got so bad that everyone in the party would repeatedly remind him, prior to engaging in combat, to take the fucking mitten off for the love of everything holy on account of the game leader deciding that, while the mitten was on, his abilities in general were greatly reduced as they were being blocked by the protective holy spells the Cleric had put on it.

So, with the mitten on, he was, more or less, completely useless in combat.

After a few months of that, new rumours spread about this idiot and his big mitten, and NPCs started conversations with, “I’m not talking to you until he puts his mitten back on.”

The Cleric somehow became the unofficial “keep our Necromancer from ruining everything, please” keeper and more than once he’s told her, “If I wanted someone to hover over me like an overprotective mother, I’d dig her up and raise her!”That never went over well and usually got a, “DO. NOT.”

Before games would start, if it was that group of characters, there would be bets around the table as to how he’d manage to completely drive things off the rails.

After a few years in that game, they started being a bit more strategic and dragging fights to areas where they knew he’d have a lot of things to resurrect and throw at whatever was attacking them; there were a lot of fights in or near graveyards.

The others I have are completely normal, all things considered.

#asks #hp rp #muggle things #answered #It's difficult to have an in character argument when both players are about a breath away from dissolving into laughter #Anonymous #rp #necromancer #d&d

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authenticparanoidghosts · 6 years ago

Text

here’s a very long d&d story about the time my party used volleyball skills to become a god. for @komodoclassic, because she asked

this is a story in three parts

part i - a brief introduction of major characters and setting

okay so this was our big sophomore year campaign that lasted from first semester on over into part of second semester

really good campaign, our DM put a lot of work into it and we love him, but we had so many players that we had to split into two groups who both played the same world on the same timeline which was a huge fantastic mess

it ended bc the group I was in got a total party kill fighting a lizard with a magic eyeball (a totally different story - I was playing a hot tree and I might have killed him on my own after the rest of the party died if he hadn’t had that fucking entourage) and the other group killed the interdimensional asshole/refugee guy my party was actually trying to help

anyways, important characters in this story:

our DM, who I will not refer to by name even though I do tag him by name sometimes. I love to be inconsistent

me, playing my first character for this campaign (who did survive! she had to be retired before the lizard TPK for other nonsense reasons), a dwarf paladin named Taxes

Taxes (real name: Ataxite Tellus) was from a family of swindlers and petty criminals and was forced to leave her life of burglary and scamming when her parents got paid off to have someone take the fall for murdering The Very Important Mayor Of The Big Island Of This Archipelago Country and decided to frame her for it

instead of going to jail like she was supposed to, she was like “fuck this” and fled to a different island where she dyed her hair and put on a bandana like an old west outlaw and spitefully decided to dedicate her life to Not Being A Huge Asshole

obviously the way to do this is by taking some (k)night classes and becoming a paladin

Taxes is not a very good paladin

her god is Deimos, who does fire and war and justice and out of all the gods we met during the campaign (which was honestly a shocking amount) he was the nicest to us

our DM said he (Deimos) got briefly famous on the d&d reddit - partially because of this story and partially because of the stunts we were pulling immediately before it

anyways it’s important that you know that Taxes is from a family of criminals and just genuinely not very good at her job

one of my roommates, playing an elven wizard/lich whose name was Faenor but went exclusively by Gregg

good things to know about Gregg: she and Taxes had a classic straight man/banana man dynamic where she would try to do terrible ridiculous criminal things and Taxes would loudly protest but do very little to stop her

a friend, playing a dwarf paladin/cleric named Yule Marbles

Yule also followed Deimos and she and Taxes had an elaborate prayer handshake that they’d made up that gave them DM-sanctioned bonuses to religion checks

our party prayed basically exclusively to Deimos and eventually gained new player characters who ALSO followed him so after a point we just kind of paraded around the world as Deimos’ Favorite Idiots

part ii - volleyball

alright those are the people you need to know, let’s set the scene

our party needs to flee Dinosaur Hell Island where we have just solved the mystery we were summoned to help investigate and also accidentally started a war

quick trivia: Taxes (me) got mocked CONSTANTLY through the campaign bc she kept ACCIDENTALLY STARTING WARS

BAD PALADIN BEHAVIOR

but I did get a joke proficiency in starting wars which I later convinced the DM to let me use to benefit the party, so who’s laughing now, motherfucker

(the final count was that at LEAST three (3) legitimate, real-ass wars could be traced directly back to my actions as Taxes, as well as a couple other events that I would prefer to call “skirmishes” or “battles” that happened more indirectly. I refuse to count Malcolm’s not-so-legal battle for the deed to hell because 1) I did NOT help that guy, I just said I would, and 2) that was his problem and he started it)

we are leaving without telling anyone what we’ve found out

because they’re going to kill us, probably

you know. because of the war. that we started. on their already incredibly politically fraught island

the point is that we solved the goddamn mystery despite being absolutely terrible detectives and we FINALLY get to leave

we’ve been playing this part of the campaign for weeks and we’re all very tired of it

also the player who was intended to take point on the investigation (her hot mentor/maybe boyfriend? was the one who had called us there) had died pretty early on doing a pretty risky stunt involving a shark and an underwater cave, so we were just muddling through it

and we kept “”accidentally”” insulting people by stealing things (dinosaurs) and getting caught trying to break into things (sacred temples) and just generally being rude (Yule REALLY didn’t like the fey and I was briefly cursed by a swamp hag)

and, again, we started that war

we really need to skip town

a very unfortunate ship had crashed on the island a couple days previously and some of the people on it are very powerful sorcerers who we (really just Xenon, the half-orc fighter and everyone’s very best friend) have convinced to teleport us off the island

we just need to hide out on their beach and kill some time until the teleportation circle is ready

“do you want to take a rest?” the DM asks

“we should play beach volleyball,” someone else says, at the exact same time

resting is for suckers who are afraid of the very angry lizard people who want to kill us

we vote unanimously to play beach volleyball

the DM graciously decides that, in the interest of comedy, we have all the materials we need and won’t have to, like, sit down and weave a net

we break into two teams of four. team names are quickly decided to be The Hotdogs vs. The Hamburglars

after the party split our group retained “hamburglars” as our group chat name because our threshold for what entertains us is embarrassingly low

there are eight of us, so we’re playing four-on-four

the makeup of the teams isn’t important (and I can’t remember them), but know that we’re a half-orc, a tiefling, a middle-school-age human girl, an adult human man, two dwarves, an undead elf, and a fishperson

we spend a decent amount of time coming up with rules necessary to let us play volleyball

it’s mostly dexterity checks and rolling a d4 to see what quadrant of the court the ball lands in

some of our group doesn’t know the rules to actual volleyball and they have to be explained

listen. this is possibly the nerdiest thing I’ve ever done. I’m willing to acknowledge that, you don’t need to tell me.

anyways, ultimately the outcome of the game doesn’t matter (the Hamburglars won) and neither does how good or bad anyone was at rolling for imaginary volleyball (we fucking crushed the Hotdogs)

the point is that we played it and were so charmed by it that we would not forget about our new skills. we would remember them in our hour of need.

part iii - now I am (accidentally) become (NOT ACTUALLY A) god, destroyer of pirates

imagine there’s a timeskip

like, uh, two weeks later in game time at MOST

the group has split in real life, so my group is now Taxes, Yule, Gregg, Roswell (delightful fishperson), and another guy who stopped coming regularly and then was later replaced by another guy who doesn’t really become important until later, when we try to help a dimension-hopping dicklick by killing a lizard and stealing his eyeball

his character’s name was Yashirou and he’s not in this at all but it’s important that you know that by the time he died he had been partially transformed into so many different things that he was achingly close to being classified as an abomination and also was probably going to be fired from his job as a space cop

anyways, it’s a new day and a new session

actually, it’s probably like 11 pm. this will be relevant later

Taxes, Gregg, and Yule are the only player characters present because Roswell was busy or something

we’re on a new continent, hanging out with Taxes’ younger sister, Olivine

Olivine has also split from their parents and now runs an all-female gang of pirates who steal from the two much BIGGER gangs of pirates and also the trading federation and then sells whatever they’ve captured to the anti-government faction of the civil war that’s currently happening on the continent

this civil war is the only war currently going on/about to start where the root causes are NOT my fault in any way because when the thing that caused the circumstances that are creating unrest happened, Taxes had her hands over her ears and was humming loudly bc she knew she’d be morally obligated to do something if someone told her what was going on

right now, both major gangs of pirates and the trading federation are also all currently at war with each other

this is my fault

nobody but Gregg and Yule know it’s my fault, though, so I’m only in danger of being mocked for it

anyways we’re hanging out with my sister

doing crime

well, Gregg is doing crime. Taxes and Yule are paladins so they’re just protecting their good friend Gregg from people who might try to do her harm. it’s an airtight excuse, thank you

we’re actually on the continent because we’re traveling to visit Yule’s wife and son

so my sister and her gang (and us) have recently stolen a bunch of supplies from a guy named Scipio who is, we’ve been told, a Huge Asshole

Olivine’s gang is going to pay some local sailors to run the supplies up to the northern part of the continent which is both where the rebels are based and where Yule’s family lives

so ofc we’re on one boat (chock full of magical items we have recently lit a perfectly nice wizard on fire to steal) and two of the girl gang members are on the other (full of, like, food I think) providing security and acting as Olivine’s representatives for the deal they’re trying to make with the rebel camp

things are going well

we’re just sailing, no big deal

except, you know, like the first rule of d&d is Never Get On A Boat

and we are definitely on a boat

undeniably on a boat

on a boat full of MANY stolen goods

so ofc a couple hours into our trip, a bigger, faster ship sails up behind us. a bigger, faster ship with very official looking flags

it’s a gang of pirate enforcers (from one of the big two gangs) and they are presumably here to rob the shit out of us

“oh shit” we say, and look over at the other boat where the only NPCs who can help us also appear to be mouthing oh shit

“well,” someone says (me), “I think we can talk our way out of this”

I like to think I’m optimistic (and sometimes I find combat boring)

I prefer to try to lie my ass off to get us out of bad situations