#(party with the skeletal pirates)

[ashenwinds]

     “ If this Halloween is ideal for what is spooky. . . ” The skeletal pirate chuckles, boney fingers brushing through the beard that clings to his skull, “ Then it is the perfect time for us to step in. Show you what a party of the Pirate King can be like! ” Oh, despite their deeds back in the Sea, even his crew of skellies and Reapers enjoy a good party!

open starter -- DLV // non-canon compliant verse

[monstersdownthepath]

Herald of Besmara: Kelpie's Wrath

CR 15

Chaotic Neutral Colossal Outsider

Adventure Path: Skulls and Shackles: The Wormwood Mutiny, pg. 86-87

When one thinks of Besmara they likely think of "piracy," but her other two areas of concern are 'strife' and 'sea monsters.' One may thus believe that Besmara's Herald may be a powerful pirate captain, or perhaps an intelligent sea beast which either inhabits or commands a vessel. The most visionary may believe that Besmara's Herald could be nothing less than a whole crew of people running an enchanted ship! So when a mysterious fog rolls in and the lights of a ship that wasn't there alight from nowhere, the party may be tempted to look towards the helm, or the prow, or perhaps even the crow's nest to try and spot who's commanding the intimidating galleon... only for the skull at the front to tell you to quit eyein' its aft like some kind of pervert.

Indeed, Besmara has an elegant solution to the problem of what her Herald would look like. It's not a crew on a ship, or a sea monster, or a singular captain, it's a ship made of a sea monster which captains itself and utilizes a crew of zombie sailors when needed. Despite it's skeletal appearance and ghoulish powers, the Kelpie's Wrath is as alive as any demon or dragon, though it can passably imitate the feared ghost ships which haunt the seas at night, able to conjure ghostly lights (Dancing Lights), fearful sights (Major Image), and zombie fights (summoning a crew of up to 20 draugr) seemingly at a whim and wielding terrifying, spectral weapons and even whole ghostly creatures as though they were limbs. Many crews who've found themselves in its sights mistakenly believe its illusions and conjured zombies to be the real threats, unaware that the ship itself is their true enemy... and even if they did, it's unlikely to help.

Have you ever fought an enemy that was its own stage hazard? You don't want to, especially if that enemy can Plane Shift or Teleport with you in tow... or just immediately dive underwater. Though you have to fail a DC 18 Will save to be shanghai'd into another plane, having a ship suddenly teleport out from under you or dive a hundred feet underwater and drag you behind it is a real danger regardless of the situation, and it puts you at a huge disadvantage if you can't immediately clamber back aboard YOUR ship, fly, or walk on water. And if the phantom ship resurfaces right next to you...

Actually, what am I talking about? "If?" No, when. It's a pirate in service to the Queen of Pirates, and pirates are quite famous for never fighting fair. If you find yourselves prey to the Kelpie's Wrath, it's going to use every trick it has in the most underhanded ways it can. Let's take a look at what that entails...

We'll start with the obvious: It's an entire ship. Nearly a hundred feet long and hovering around 25 to 30 feet wide, the Wrath is a battlefield unto itself, but you absolutely do not want to stand on it to fight, because that's just asking for a terrible death. Engaging it from afar means you 'only' have to deal with its 40ft space and 30ft reach, denoting which part of itself it's focusing on defending, which is still a radius that covers most traditional battle maps entirely. Because you're only ever going to be encountering the Wrath on the high seas (regardless of what world or plane those seas are on), staying out of its reach is practically impossible unless you're using Pathfinder's rules for ship combat to engage it with a vessel of your own (WARNING: Do Not Do This), and you will inevitably be forced into melee with it... and then, unfortunately, forced onto it, which as previously mentioned is almost certain doom.

Everything within the Wrath's threat radius is subject to its trio of incorporeal touch attacks, which manifest as immense clawed hands, ghostly weapons, spectral sailors, and skeletal sea beasts of ages past, each one raking over the ship's target for 3d6 untyped damage plus 3d6 Electricity AND 3d6 Fire damage. The primary danger presented by these phantoms is that the party may not immediately know what's going on or recognize just how the attack works; the Wrath can conjure a crew of draugr to fight atop it AND it can use Major Image at any point within its reach, letting it clutter up the battlefield with obstacles which present no true danger to the party but which it can use as vectors for its incorporeal attacks, potentially making a party member out uselessly against illusions, insubstantial phantoms, and inconsequential minions.

Muddying the waters further, Wrath can use Seeming 3/day to swath its draugr sailors in magical disguises to make them appear more important than they truly are. Able to communicate telepathically, the ship can give complex orders to its entire crew at once to run baffling distractions or attack in tandem with it to make them seem like true threats, a tactic especially useful if the party doesn't yet recognize the ship is alive (or foolishly believes that only the skeletal figurehead is alive). Kelpie's Wrath thrives on sowing confusion when it attacks, and a DM would do well to remember that, describing its attacks and abilities in terms which feel ambiguous, like they could be coming from anywhere, like that one fancy draugr at the ship's helm that's dressed up like the captain or the strange balls of light dancing along its sails.

Even if the party feels like something is wrong, they'll have to go with their gut on this one; magic is unreliable when fighting the vile ship. Not because of any aura or unique ability it has, but because its space/reach means it can make extremely good use of its Disruptive and Spellbreaker feats, the former making it more difficult to cast spells defensively while in its threat radius (which is everywhere), the latter provoking Attacks of Opportunity if you fail the check to cast defensively.

Its touch attacks aren't just bad because of the damage, either. Being hit with two or more of them in a round lets it Keelhaul the unfortunate victim, repositioning them as a free action. Now, a reposition is a Combat Maneuver, which means it has to roll a CMB check versus the target's CMD. The average CMD of a 10th level Human Fighter is hovering anywhere between 25 and 35 depending on if they dumped Dex (WARNING: Do Not Do This) or got ahold of Str boosting items, and let's see what the Kelpie's Wrath has for its CMB...

+41?!

ah, right, Colossal size. This thing can juggle most players. Hope your party cohesion didn't rely on people being in specific positions!

In case you're not sure how the maneuver works: if you're repositioned, the attacker can shunt you into another space so long as that space is A) Within their reach, and B) within 5ft of your previous space... but for every 5 points the attacker's CMB check beats your CMD, that's another 5ft of movement. Now, remember how gigantic the Wrath's threat radius is? That's a LOT of potential spaces you can be shuttled into, and every 5ft you're moved from its Keelhaul you take an additional 1d6 damage because it's literally using your face to scrape barnacles and algae off itself. Keelhaul is an especially potent ability if used on the high seas, because the ability specifically states that it can use its repositions to drag victims underwater, forcing them into the ever-dreaded underwater combat scenario. Even if you've got Water Walk or Fly on, it can still shove you right into the drink if it beats your CMD by enough, forcing you to waste precious time getting back into the fight... if only to push you back down again, because pirates don't fight fair.

Also, Keelhaul specifically states "a creature hit with two or more of its attacks in 1 round," meaning AoOs and other off-turn attacks count. If you take one hit during its turn and then get schmacked because you triggered Spellbreaker or its Combat Reflexes, you're going into the soup.

If it doesn't want a victim in the sea, it also has the option to shove creatures directly into the center of its space, at which point victims are automatically dragged into its cargo hold and battered by treasure and captured supplies. This is treated as the swallow whole ability, victims taking 1d10+7 damage until they can get out, but it's not especially obvious what's going on, meaning players might waste their time trying to find an exit door out of the cargo hold or try to clamber back out the unyielding door when the 'proper' solution is to make a new door.

If the party manages to find out that swinging at the phantom limbs and illusions is useless, attacking the ship below their feet isn't exactly easy. The Kelpie's Wrath is magically reinforced, having an AC of 30 (hint: target its measly 6 touch AC) and DR 10/Lawful. It's got 30 Resistance to Acid, Cold, and Electricity, as well as 10 Fire Resistance and, of course, if you find yourselves managing to get past its defenses to outpace its Fast Healing 10, it can still suddenly poof away to rebuild, and if you think you can just use Dimensional Anchor or similar, it can still pop its once-per-minute Rush to crank its swim speed from 60ft to 150ft for one round, diving to the sea floor in a single round to give itself breathing room... and potentially taking breathing room from whatever schmucks are trapped in its hold.

And you know what? I've typed down... 12 entire paragraphs without even touching the Wrath's ranged options. This was on purpose! Because the Wrath is meant to get right up next to the ship it's attacking, and has every tool it needs to do so, including the ability to turn itself and its crew invisible 3/day or shroud its entire space with magical fog. Compared to all the shenanigans it can pull to get into melee and then make everyone wish it didn't, its ranged attacks need a little more preparation and math on the part of the DM, something they may not want to do on top of everything else it's already got. This is because its only ranged attack is using Telekinesis to hurl a storm of whatever garbage it's amassed at targets within 180ft of itself.

The Wrath can catapult up to 375 pounds of objects or creatures in a single action, not only allowing it to throw actual ammunition (which deals a flat 1d6 damage per 25 lbs; max 15d6 for a full weight object), but whatever it may have on hand or in its hold that it doesn't especially value. Since it can use Telekinesis at will and the spell itself has a tremendous range, there's no reason for it to ever run out of ammo, as it can simply dredge stones and wreckage from the sea floor and ferry it into its stores for later... but of course, there's nothing stopping it from using its enemies own cargo against it, or even lifting its enemies directly and throwing them around with nothing more than a thought. Most Medium-sized Humanoids weigh between 150 and 200 pounds, letting the Wrath snatch up two people at a time to toss around like ragdolls, including straight into the air if it wants.

There's something to be said about it hurling things far more dangerous than bricks and cannonballs, though, like casks of oil and a lantern, or barrels of Green Slime, or its own zombie crewmates. The Long range of Telekinesis also means it can get up to some pretty dangerous shenanigans if an enemy ship gets just a little too close, as it can pilfer cargo from a range, loose sails, send weapons hurling into the seas, or even spin cannons around just as they're about to fire if it readies an action to do so. Much like its phantom weapons, its telekinetic power helps make its illusions and zombie sailors all the more realistically threatening, adding to the confounding puppet show it puts on to throw people off.

The Kelpie's Wrath is one of the most dangerous Heralds a party to encounter, because they're going to encounter it on the seas (one of the most dangerous environments to fight in), AND they're not likely to even know it's nearby until it's dragging their crew to a watery grave. Even if they do, a DM can play up the possibility of it being a ghost ship for a while before any of them wise up to what they're really fighting, by which point someone might already be neatly folded and packed away in Davey Jones' Locker. It's not only dangerous for what it can do, but why it does what it does; most Heralds are only encountered if a god is offended, or has sent them on an important mission, but the Kelpie's Wrath freely wanders all creation in its off hours, attacking vessels with wild and greedy abandon. It's one of the few Heralds that an unlucky party may just randomly encounter, and thus have no possible way to prepare for.

You can read more about it here.

[littlechaoticwitch]

The Ghosts of London

Inspired by the season 2 fanfictions done by @edwinspaynes and @nuria-schnee, I have decided to redo my own version of Season 2 for Dead Boy Detectives!

More information to come out soon! (hopefully lol)

Again, before we start, please read this analysis done by @bluebugjay when it comes to the Cryland (Charles/Crystal) ship because it is such a wonderful insight to what their relationship could have become, if Netflix wasn't full of cowards. While I really do like these two as a couple and would have rooted for them if things had been different (the same goes for the Montwin ship, aka Edwin/Monty), I truly think they work better as friends than romantic partners, especially with the whole "he's-a-ghost-and-she's-alive" thing going on.

~0~

Summary: Upon their return to London, the Dead Boy Detective Agency has been busier than ever, all due in part to their resident psychic and their newfound workload from the Lost & Found Department. But it has been almost two months since Port Townsend, and none of them wish to discuss the issues- or feelings- lingering since then. Without Death chasing them, it is only a matter of time before they need to put their own unfinished business to rest.

~0~

EPISODES

-The Case of the Midnight Train: As their first serious case since their overseas trip, Dead Boy Detective Agency investigate the mysterious disappearances of ghosts at an abandoned train station. But when Crystal learns of what happened in Hell, and someone from her past offers to help, the trio are forced to confront what they thought to have left behind in America.

-The Case of the Deranged Dollmaker: Still struggling from their recent tragedy, the trio try to put themselves back together to deal with a nasty stalker case. Unfortunately, their past continues to haunt them, as the latest target is not only a witch but someone from Charles' past….

-The Case of the Butterfly Grotto: When the agency is hired to investigate a mysterious cave off the coast of Ireland, they believe it to be a fool's errand. Soon, the evidence begins to point towards the fae folk and ancient rituals, and the trio are forced to complete a seemingly impossible trial.

-The Case of the Iron Dragon: Tensions are running high at the agency, and with Charles feeling like he has let everyone down, his insecurities begin to eat away at his very soul. So, when the trio are hired to recover some family heirlooms from a dangerous creature, he will do anything to prove the voices in his head wrong. Meanwhile, Crystal continues her research into the strange polar bear charm.

-The Case of the Mangled Mermaids: The agency is sent to Rye, East Sussex in order to investigate the growing number of people drowning but are soon caught up in finding a skeletal pirate ship and taking part in a gruesome play about mermaids. But the dark waters are the least of one detective's worries, as his own feelings are threatening to drown him.

-The Case of the Birmingham Beast: The agency heads to Charles' hometown to investigate a series of murders, where the culprit turns out to be more of a victim than those who lost their lives. Curiosity gets the better of Charles, who goes to visit his parents but gets more than his bargains for.

-The Case of the Red Moon Gala: A mysterious letter arrives at twilight. An invitation to an exclusive party, where the living and supernatural can mingle for one evening. But when the guests start to show up dead, the agency has to race against the clock to save everyone. Though with Crystal's parents on the guest list, and a certain guest toying with Charles' heart, this might be easier said than done.

-The Case of Niko Sasaki: After learning about the connection between Niko and the Finality, the detectives are horrified by what the Night Nurse has known all along. To set things right, Crystal enters the Nietherlands and faces with her demons one last time, all to bring their beloved friend home.

[thewisaaaaad]

Ok I know I swore to keep to one au, but like. i have a personal interest in this one, so I may actually write it later.

The au name: Narinders Locker. Its a pirate au.

The story starts like this:

Narinder and his family, with the powers of the crowns, are lords of the seas. Together, they defeat many gods, sending them to the depths that Narinder rules.

The depths are where all dead sailors go, and there is mostly sea. So everyone is a sailor, at one point or another.

Soon, there are no gods left to fight. All others have either died, or gone into hiding.

All except his own family. And Narinder loves a good fight. He knows there will be consequences, but hes not aiming to kill. He was bored! There was no one left to sink! He wasn't really gonna let the depths claim him. They'll forgive him eventually, right?

Except they never do. They chain him to mighty anchors and sink him, leaving him to rot in his own realm.

He... doesn't really hold it against them. He did get a BIT to rowdy and give them some injuries that might not heal for a very long time, so he'll probably get out when that happens.

Then he notices that ships keep being sunk into his realm. Far more than the average amount that would be caused by storms.

A pair of kittens, tied to anchors, are sent directly to Narinders prison. He can only grant them immortality with his blood, binding them to the bottom of the sea. He hopes that Shamura sinks the bastards that did this to innocent youth, as their eldest always had an affinity for justice, for all that they represented war.

One of the crew of an unfortunate vessel reaches Narinder before he drowns: a young bilge rat by the name of Ratau. The lord of the deep grants the poor sod the ability to breath water like himself with his crown, just so he can ask them what was happening upon the waves.

What he hears disturbs him. His siblings have completely abandoned the code they had sworn to when they became a family, the code that drove them to wage war on the gods who toyed with mortals lives. He no longer considers them family.

He sends the rat to build a new crew, one that will take down the people he once called his siblings, now no better than the ones they had replaced.

The rat cannot do it. They do not have the nerves for it, are too cowardly. Narinder cannot blame them.

He was just some random sailor who had the misfortune of reaching the depths alive. Ratau retires to an island, not far from where Narinder rests, and returns the red crown to the sea.

Then the purge begins.

Lambs across the sea are cut down like so much cattle. They are slaughtered before they reach the water, for fear of their waterlogged pelts dragging them down too fast, and granting The One Below an escape.

Refugee ships are sunk by the dozens. Narinder can only look on in horror and confusion as hundreds of ship carcasses sink to rest in the depths, fresh innocent corpses littering his prison.

Then only one ship remains. A party is held on board, those faithful to the Old Crew celebrate as they drink blood from headless carcasses.

A young lamb hides in the chain locker, holding their breath, hoping to not be noticed as their family and friends corpses are tossed into the ocean.

The party done, they rig the old tub with black powder, seeking to send it to Narinder as a last middle finger to fate.

The lamb, surviving the explosion, has the chain wrap around their leg as they hold their breath, hoping against hope for rescue.

Against all odds, they find it. In the skeletal hands of The One Who Waits Below.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure: The Wreck Of the Jelziid Pirates

Though the pirate wars are long over, the scars of the conflict linger on, with the skeletal wrecks of vessels still lost in the kingdom’s waterways and the scattered dozens of villages reduced to ash during the raids. Worse yet are the pirates themselves, hundreds of foreign sailors left stranded after their fleet was shattered and the crown took back the great river, forced to linger on in the wilderness as scavengers and bandits, forever outcast from the people they victimized.

Hooks:

An important figure is kidnapped in the night while travelling, their carriage ambushed, their guard slaughtered and the bodies left behind by the attackers clearly indicate the pirates were behind it. That is until the party investigates, and realizes that a number of the bodies left behind are days older than the incident, and those that aren't don’t might wear the right armour but don’t bear any of the tattoos or cultural markings associated with the Jelziid . Clearly someone is trying to shift the blame here, but finding out who it was who staged the attack may require the party to seek out the pirate stronghold in the high wilderness and ask around for witnesses. 

A local merchant is found strung up in the market, his body disfigured in a way that was common for those found guilty by military tribunal to be capitulating with the pirates during the war. The only problems ( other than the brutal death of a well loved member of the community) is that this is well over a decade from the end of martial law, and the local magistrate has been given a tip that it was the party that was responsible. Perhaps they can argue their innocence, or stay on the lam long enough to investigate the charges themselves. 

Every year the crown helps fund a grand festival to celebrate the queen’s birthday, a tradition that originally started to celebrate the arrival of a long awaited heir, but revived in modern years as the then crown-princess proved herself a hero during the pirate wars, leading the defence of numerous settlements and playing a key part in the battle that broke the invading fleet once and for all. This year however a shipment of  gold was stolen from the provincial governor by a group of pirates who’ve taken off into the deep wilderness, putting the celebration in jeopardy. Should the party manage to find and return this small fortune (after perhaps skimming a little off the top) they can expect a major finder’s fee, the thanks of the governor, and guest of honour invitations to the festival in a few weeks.

Background: For generations the raiders of the Jelziid fleet plundered their way across the world’s oceans in a force that only an empire could hope to challenge, raiding entire coastlines in a single night and then moving on to offload their loot and captives at ports willing to trek with such ruthless acquisition. This all changed with the infamous captain Talalan who fought his way to leadership after the, were chased out of their previous hunting grounds by a newly emergent coalition. Seeing that his bloodthisty brethren had perhaps grown too large, too infamous, to carry on as they had, he rallied the fleet with the idea that they’d become fierce enough to claim a territory for their own, settling on the kingdom of the great river as the place they could turn their mastery of water into a dominion of those who worked the land.

Further adventures:

The pirates who stole the gold are hiding out in the wreck of one of their great warships, a mouldering fortress of sloped decks and rotten wood half submerged in the silt of a nearby river. They were expecting to be picked up by some criminal contacts who helped set the heist up, but they’ve been delayed on the river. As the party infiltrates the dungeon and tries not to get ambushed, consider having a clock run down for when reinforcements arrive, potentially losing the party their prize and chance at making inroads with the court.

Either clearing their names through logical argument or escaping the law to prove their own innocence gives the party a chance to investigate the merchant’s death, which in turn reveals he was buying up food to trade with an enclave of pirates who’d set up a makeshift logging camp. Still technically a crime, but the gang of vigilantes who carried out the punishment were infact a group of thugs hired by one of the merchant’s business rivals, who was resentful of him undercutting him thanks to the pirates' help.One of these envious merchants served in the pirate wars with the magistrate’s most trusted official, and used his war buddy’s old emnitiy to convince the official to turn a blind eye to the powergrab and find a convenient excuse (a  troublemaking group of adventurers) 

In their interactions with the pirates, the party keep hearing tell of someone called “The Eelmonger”, an innocuous name spoken with reverence , and an apparent successor to captain Talalan‘s broken legacy.  Whoever the monger turns out to be, the eels are infact monstrous river serpents, some of which have been meted out to the pirates to use as guardbeasts and weapons, with the promise that more are on the way.

[sabo-has-my-heart]

Memories of Happier Times

So for those of you following me at the time, if you remember, I promised an angst fic if Brook won that round's best man titties vote! Well I just finished it, and it's for *drum roll*..... BROOK! 🤣 I bet you were all hoping for one of my more popular characters, weren't you? To be fair, the vote was for Brook and this was just so perfect! Besides, my 3 most popular characters already have plenty of angst and Brook has gotten no love in my inbox! Don't worry though, I still have plenty of other fics for you guys to enjoy coming out asap! mostly Law and Ace.

Warnings: ANGST! no romantic pairing

Word Count: 970 

     Leaning against the ship’s railing, empty sockets staring out at the endless ocean, Brook couldn���t help the aching in his heart. It came and went erratically, seemingly with no rhyme or reason. Sometimes he understood why he felt this pain, other times, he was left wondering why things hurt so much that day. Tonight, he knew why the pain was back. Onigashima had been… difficult. They’d run into so many enemies capable of so many things. One in particular had brought him back, back to his old crew, back to his captain, back to memories of another place and time. He didn’t talk about it a whole lot, but he missed them so badly. He loved being with the straw hats, he loved being a part of Luffy’s crew, especially with how accepting and kind the boy was. But he still missed his old crew. He missed the music that was always playing no matter who was playing it, he missed his golden haired captain, and he missed the liveliness. Luffy and the crew were lively, there was no doubt about that, the boy was energetic and happy and his happiness was infectious. But it was different from how his old crew had been, different from the parties where they all played, sang, and danced, the music carrying who knows how far on the ocean breeze. It had all been so easy back then, so carefree. They’d known the risks of setting out on the Grand Line, they knew what would happen if they became pirates, but they hadn’t expected what had happened. They hadn’t expected their captain to get sick like that, they hadn’t expected the poison, they hadn’t expected that the Rumbar Pirates would be wiped out in its entirety. They’d always thought they’d have more time, another day to play, more time to enjoy life. Except they didn’t and they were gone and on nights like tonight, he missed them more than anything. Nights where the weight of their deaths weighed on him, nights that left him feeling so, so hollow. 

     Looking up at the sky, he let a few tears fall, he rarely cried like this, rarely shed such serious, heartbroken tears, but at the moment, with the memories of his crew fresh in his mind, with their laughter in his ears and their warmth weighing heavy on his heart, he let the tears fall. The women at Onigashima had been a blessing and a curse. They’d used Brook’s crew against him, they'd turned happy memories into a nightmare and brought back painful moments that stabbed at Brook’s heart. But seeing them again, feeling like that again, being able to sit at the piano and play with them again, well, there was a reason why he’d dreamt about it so much in the past. Some nights, on nights when things didn’t hurt so much, he would play his violin and allow himself to get caught up in the memories of his crew, skilled fingers dancing across the strings, eyes closed, and imagining the Rumbar Pirates once more by his side. While he missed them, while it hurt that they were gone, memories like these were a moment of bliss. The memories were less painful now that he wasn’t all alone in the fog, now that the straw hats had driven away the loneliness, and so he’d play and think of his old crew on those nights. A shaky, skeletal hand picked up his violin, letting the bow glide across the strings as he began to play a song for them. His mind wandered as he played imagining the crew around him once more, laughing and singing, drinks passed around while others played with him. His captain singing loudest of all as they played, a moment where everyone was happy. 

     His crew wasn’t here with him, they were gone, they’d been gone for years, but in the moment, with the sounds of another song in his ears and the vibrations of the violin against his bones, his mind conjured the images of his crew for him, letting him enjoy their memory once more. Tears still rolled down the white bone of his cheeks, sniffles still interrupted the song every few notes, but the memories of happier times were far better than the twisted images the women at onigashima had conjured. A moment of bliss in a night filled with pain and sorrow. He missed them more than words could say. Finishing his song, he allowed the ghosts of his previous crew to wash away, the illusion of his old ship and old crew washed away like writing in the sand. It was almost time for his watch to end as the first hints of light began to show on the horizon. Sanji would be awake soon, starting in on breakfast that Luffy would devour in seconds. Still, he stood there, his eyes closing once again as he left the warm morning light caress his cold bones, driving away the chill from the night along with the pain of loss that had taken hold of him for the moment. The faint scent of bacon brought him back to the present, back to the happiness and chaos of the straw hats as his heart became warmer like his bones. The sound of the Thousand Sunny and its crew waking up drove off the loneliness and pain that had gathered as he headed inside. On another night when he found himself thinking of him once more, he’d give the ghosts of his old crew an encore, he’d play another song and hold the illusions close to his heart, but it would be a happier moment than the one brought on this time, it would be one of joy that warmed his heart once more and drove away the cold and chill that surrounded him.

[isa-the-trans-dragon]

nvm i lied, posting the dnd stories now

so like, quick recap, last we left off, we got the cast of: T the Amnesiac Human Fighter (Now wields scythe with added poison), Gumgum the Craftsman Goomba (Who now has a crossbow that is pretty much just a gun), Link the Cat Alchemist (Is still as op as they always were), Wessly the Human Druid who speaks like Shaggy, Yew the Deer Sorcerer, and Aster, Yew's conjured Elk familiar.

Among the next few sessions, Gumgum raised Gumgumgum and Gumgum Jr. (Or ggg and jr. for short), and Ggg became a Gunslinger while Jr became a Warlock. Meanwhile, me, the dm, being like "yOU GAVE YOUR KID A GUN AND LET THE OTHER FORM A CULT???". Honestly, Gumgum best parent-

The party began making a town cus they were wanted for the alchemist's antics causing actual crimes in the main town, so, pretty great.

Townbuilding was alright, let them roll to get random npcs, basically had a whole 2 sessions total of animal crossing in dnd (wanted by the players). Basically, references to old characters and dumb concepts, like Nyello the dragon scholar. Anyways, basically: The new npcs start in tents, and they can spend time and money upgrading them for better stuff or abilities. Gumgum built a tavern he plans to run (so, not only does he endanger his kids, but he builds a place to sell alcohol. Dad of the year-)

Oh, side bit of lore, goombas grow up fast in this world, so, the goomba kids went from babi to kid in a few days.

Anyways, party fought pirates, recruited this pirate captain npc after killing his crew that totally won't mutiny, befriended a fire elemental that totally won't hunt them down when their supply of wood is gone, fought necromancers and a skeletal giant, met a golem ghost and her archer wife, and fought a terrifying killer boss. Oh, and befriended this guy named Josh. He's chill.

Party is now level 7 btw, this happened over like 6 sessions-

[a-mess-of-a-crow]

DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND=

(Literally one person) @fluffychubbydragon

RANDOM RM INTERACTIONS!!!

It's mostly Frisk and Sans tho

===================================

Frisk=„Did i ever tell you that all of your ideas suck?!??!“

Sans= „Yeah, but maybe next time i‘ll actually listen.“

===================================

Frisk= „Come on, admit it! You enjoy living!“

S= „Living and Urology are the same thing. Just because i do it, doesn‘t mean I enjoy it.“

F= „Please, come to the party... You can talk to other sanses, exchange experiences!“

S= „Great, I‘ll talk to them, they‘ll tell me their life story and I‘ll have to look interested, then they will remind me of all the things I haven‘t had in my childhood, I‘ll get depressed, next up we both end up drinking way too much and crying about how much life sucks. Nah thanks. I‘ll rather skip to the drunk part without the emotional burden. Much easier.“

F= „B-But you can‘t even get drunk?“

S= „Exactly. Not even able to drink my problems away. A shame.“

===================================

Vera="What are you saying? I'm totally immune to flirts, Cupcake. You're cute if you think you can make me blush. "

Cupcake="I may be a baker but i sure as hell would love to eat your cake~ ( oཀo)"

===================================

Vera="Holy macaroni-"

Celery=*holding a spoon* " You called?"

*Frisk, Cupcake, Zinc and Vera tease and make fun of sans*

Sans= *Looks at Shade* “See what I have to deal with every day?!“

Frisk=“Oh please, you pull pranks on me and the others too! Like installing pirate english onto EVERYONE! “

Sans=“Hehe yeah“

Frisk= "And just the other day you put gun powder in the coffee machine and the thing ended up blowing up in my face!“

Sans=“ What? That wasn‘t meant as a prank.“

Frisk=“It wasn‘t?? Wait, why the fuck would you unjokingly put fucking Gun powder in the coffee machine??!!“

Sans=“Thought it make it more liquidy.“

Frisk=“IT BLEW UP. IN MY FACE. I CLEANED THE ENTIRE BULLSHIT UP FOR TWO HOUR, NOT TO SPEAK OF THE DAMAGE TO THE WALL AND CEILING!!!“

Sans=“And it didn‘t even liquify the Gunpowder.“

===================================

Nox (one of Sans's Blaster)=*gets dragged to sans, head and foot stuck in a giant metal cane*

Bun="I swear i was gone for just a minute."

Nox=*Gnaws at the metal cane*

Sans=“HOW IN THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO DO THIS???!“

Nox=*sad argue noise*

Sans=“SERIOUSLY? YOU GET FOOD LIKE ... 4 TIMES A DAY YOU OVERGROWN CANINE... DRAGON IDIOT!“

Nox=*quieter sad argue noises*

Sans=“I swear, no more treats for you, I‘m so fed up with your bullshit.“

*Sans frees Nox*

*Nox sits up straight*

*Nox licks his tail*

*He looks at sans*

*IMMEDIATE Playful pose and wagging his tail*

Sans=“NO! NO PLAYING!“

Nox=* whines*

Sans=“...“

Sans=*baby voice*“OOhhhhh i can‘t stay mad at chuuu. Who‘s my little boofus??? You are, YEAH YOU ARE!!! “

*aggressively pets the giant skeletal dragon canine... Blaster*

Frisk=“Congratulations, you held your authority for astonishing 2 seconds, new record might i add.“

Sans="LOOK AT THAT FACE! " *squishes Nox's face* "HOW CAN YOU SAY NO???"

Frisk="Touché."

[bruinescence]

❛ i had it under control. you didn’t need to do that. ❜

'That' which he need not do was launch off of the cliff ledge after the group's straggler more concerned with the half buried chest in the sand than staying en route found himself among a less welcoming party. Granted, the chest was also backed up into a dead end of a narrow passage below, so anyone with half a mind would know that if there was not at least one trap set, then one could count on an ambush, and he had dryly noted as much from his lofty position while waiting to see if the treasure went boom in the other's face.

Instead, the latter arrived in the form of a skeletal group of undead in tattered pirate clothes burrowing out of the loose ground like moles. And of course the others had already moved farther ahead- because of course they did. Any trouble the elf got into was his own problem, and normally Halsin would agree. The urge to intervene merely came from wanting to sail over the other's head, turning just so mid-air to flash him a 'told you so' wink before landing heavily enough on both haunches and hands to displace a wave of sand outwards. The glow of golden magic lit his palm lines before their meeting with the ground, and from them erupted a good ten meter radius of overgrown flora. The sudden wild growth disrupted the skeletons' balance, and the still growing vines swallowed bleached bones and returned them to the earth while Halsin straightened up to dust himself off.

"If that's what you call 'under control', I'd hate to see 'overwhelmed'." He mused, plucking the nearest bloom of red from his plant creation magic only to turn and wag it moments later at the the elf. "You're most welcome."

[dungeonmistrix]

A portrait of our D&D party’s ship, the Reaper! She’s one of six legendary pirate ships in our game, and was captained by a demigod of the underworld before making her way to us. She’s crewed by a gaggle of souls who died unjustly in a previous life (but it’s not quite as Pirates of the Caribbean as it sounds, haha).

(And yes, that is a giant skeletal mermaid.)

This was created as a thumbnail for our actual play VODs, available on YouTube now if you want to check it out :)

[ashenwinds]

     “ This valley is far lacking something to give it life. . . ” The skeletal pirate huffs, looking at the coconut held in their boney grip, “ What it needs is a raucous, lively party we pirates throw. Drinks, spicy food, music, and singing even if it's off key! ” They laugh, tossing the coconut up in the air before catching it and cracking its shell in their crystalized hand.

     open to mutuals -- DLV verse

[chaotic-chucklefucks]

2/28/23

After Xtacy leaves with Grazzt, Monty casts invisibility on himself and teleports out of jail. He stress-bakes in the wizards’ tower disciple dorms and when questioned by the judge, Ajax Lim, lies by omission by saying he last saw Xtacy in her cell and that he didn’t think she had teleportation capabilities.

Donovan has three new marks from Baal, and is planning to start with Sprinkle, who stole the deck of many things from the tower (previously: Donovan vs. the wooden door + committing arson to open it??). He tells the party and Monty, Grp, and Wassail agree to help him. Evelyn is the singular brain cell and does not agree to go on a murder party. Instead, she has a lovely evening with her fiancée and in-laws. She feels betrayed by Xtacy’s actions and departure.

They are led to the smithy and the blacksmith is the first mark. Wassail hides in the bag of holding and Monty and Donovan stand in the alley and struggle to decide how to kill the blacksmith. They are very conspicuous and the blacksmith is like :/ can I help you? They come back when the smith is asleep and Monty + Donovan kill him. Baal appears and is very foreboding. The party is off-put by how easily the smith was killed.

In the tavern The Rogue’s Cowl, Sprinkle has been drinking heavily, and Monty learns that she gave away the deck to the pirate king. He persuades her to leave with him. Donny kills her in an alley way and the party have a brief morality crisis but decide to keep going. Donovan tells Wassail about his pact, after Wassail expresses concern for how D and M are acting. Monty stuffs the body into his bag of holding. Donovan and Wassail bond over being dead. The third target is the captain, who is on the ship with 50,000GP worth of shinies, having pulled from the deck of many things.

Donovan proposes the following: 1) Disguise as pirates; 2) Separate the captain and any witnesses by planning a birthday party and using a map as a distraction; 3) Profit???

During her restful evening, Evelyn has a vague sense of foreboding.

Donovan crits deception (a total of 3 times????) and convinces the sentry to let the party in. In the captain’s quarters, there are two mages, who are later led off by Wassail, wearing a rubber horse mask, to plan the best birthday party ever. The captain coerces Donovan to pull from the deck of many things, and Donovan pulls the Sun and gains a level + a scroll of Level 9 Blade Murder. Monty and Donovan try to quietly kill the captain, but he survives the first neck slice and the others are alarmed. Wassail dramatically unveils her skeletal visage and terrifies them. One mage escapes through the porthole but the captain and the other mage are killed. Baal congratulates Donovan for weakening three other gods, which certainly isn’t something that will have repercussions later!

[that-house]

I say “D&D” in quotes because this arc sees our heroes trapped in the faewild and to represent that we pivoted away from D&D to use NAV, a system I made specifically for this arc in which each PC and NPC is represented by a Noun, an Adjective, and a Verb.

The faewild in my setting behaves kind of like an enormous high-stakes play. Or pro wrestling. Each fae is playing a specific role, and some of those roles end in lethal tragedy. The usurper Autumn Queen killed four tragic fae who were important under the previous regime and inserted the PCs into their roles, and now the PCs as their faesonas are journeying about the faewild building support and gathering resources to make a coup and/or escape attempt.

Each PC has a condition under which their tragedy occurs and they die, so they have to be keeping those in mind all arc.

Anyway the previous session left off with them making plans for how to rob a dragon. This was complicated by two things:

The dragon is a fucking dragon

The fighter’s faesona, the Duke of Oaken Banners, was the old King’s bodyguard, and if anything dies in the same scene as the Duke, it’s revealed that that creature was the King, cursed into a new form, and the Duke will die in shame and dishonor. So they have to beat the dragon nonlethally

The ranger, in his faesona as the Prince of Waning Sun, cleverly got eaten by the dragon and then called in a favor from some hags to borrow their word FUSED and turned the dragon into a suit of symbiotic armor, permanently gaining access to the word DRAGON.

The Princess of Rising Moon (the rogue) took the dragon’s hoard, gaining the word RICH, and because the faewild doesn’t give a shit about “anachronisms” or “reality” she’s now dripped out in 2024 designer brand clothing and bribed a troll with an AmEx black card

A bit of research and exploration later, and the players learned of four Guiding Relics scattered about the faewild that basically serve as the plane’s metaphysical skeletal system. They also learned that one of them, the Boundless Chalice, lies at the bottom of the Silent Sea.

The session ended with the party racing to get to the depths of the Silent Sea before the Autumn Queen crashes her palace into the ocean and destroys it, probably making it impossible to find the Chalice. Next session we’re picking up where we left off: with the Prince and the Princess facing down a half-sea-serpent-half-pirate-ship whose anglerfish that ends in a dashing swashbuckling pirate

I love running shit in the faewild so much man. this whole arc is just nonstop rule-of-cool action and adventure

Last night’s “D&D” session was so awesome

[thevalleyisjolly]

Just gotta finish this assignment before midnight...then I can have a breather tomorrow...I can play D&D

[inkyinsects]

Mermaid AU - Endless Oceans

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now and have started to put together a story but here’s some ideas.

I’d think it’d be set with the surface being the equivalent of the waking and the sea as each realm of the endless. The endless would be some sort of old sea monsters of legend and earned their names through their legacy or appearance.

Destiny: Largest + oldest/ mostly stays at the bottom of the ocean and doesn’t like to interfere with others (rarely takes action).

Death: Second oldest and most well known/ earned her name through legends of her skill and her skeletal appearance (grim reaper).

Dream: Not as well known but there’s still sea-shanty’s about him/ can put people to sleep through sand or touch. Hates the surface and only goes there to hunt or gets dragged there by Death. (Tail resembles his cloak)

Destruction: Most vicious and often feared for his brute strength/ has many scars and is more independent (not often seen)

Desire: Referred to as a siren and lures people into the water with their songs. Loves to play pranks on siblings (mostly Dream) and is never seen too far away from Despair. (Bright red tail)

Despair: Often picks off stragglers and is more shy than Desire. Not as well known because she doesn’t go to the surface enough to garner attention/ prefers to be hidden. (Kelp tail/Seahorse tail?)

Delirium:Fastest and most energetic (youngest). Causes people to hallucinate land, food, safety, etc…/ confuses boats to steer and crash into rocks. (Tiger fish or blue wring octopus tail)

Each Endless would have a varying degree of eldritch horror about them (They can chose to resemble people more or to appear more monstrous) and I think that each would have some sort of legend or sea shanty that old sailors would sing about in taverns and inns.

In this au Hob would be some sort of pirate or sailor (his ship’s called the Immortal) who got caught up with these eldrich beings all because Death wanted to convince Dream humans aren’t as bad as he thinks.

It would start with Hob sailing across the sea until his ship is attacked by the endless and is tossed overboard. They’re all picking off survivors until Death suggests a bet to Dream, to use Hob as an test to see if humanity is redeemable or as bad as Dream thinks. He accepts obviously because he hates being proven wrong, so that’s how Hob ends up being the sole survivor of the attack and maybe carried into shore by Dream. They keep meeting on the shore or boats (the Immortal survived the attack) and Dream is constantly proven wrong about Hob as a person. Hob keeps returning to sea to look for the creatures of legend that for some reason spared his life but won’t tell him anything.

Dream hates the land and refuses to go above the surface (Death says he has to get out more). Over time Dream opens up to Hob about his distrust but admiration for humans and their music/ stories. But nothing good ever lasts when Roderick Burgess lives. He sets sail in order to capture one of the legendary endless because they killed his son out at sea. He draws them in and aims for Death but Dream pushes her out of the way of the net (made of chains) that was meant for her. Roderick takes Dream - instead because at least he got one right?

Burgess puts Dream in a glass cage (fish tank/ with magic ruins because ancient sea beasts are not found in a pet shop) and holds many extravagant parties. He mostly invited survivors of the endless and presents Dream as some sort of trophy for ‘defeating the legendary beasts of old’ and that’s how Hob finds himself at a party too fancy for his liking staring at his friend in an over sized fish bowl.

So he does the only rational thing and breaks his friend out. Which leads to Hob carrying a very weakened Dream in his arms like an oversized tuna while running towards the sea being chased by Burgesses men and local sailors.

I have to stop there because I want the ending to be a surprise but let’s say Death chose the right human to help her brother.

[hannahhook7744]

Meet Fiona Freeland Foundling;

Fc: Daveigh Chase.

Fic Title: The Marvelous Misadventures of Hannah Hook.

Nicknames: Fi, Fey Girl, Fairy Girl, Dark Fae, Dark Fairy, 'Ona, Fifi, the Goth Fairy, skunk girl, and Bat wings.

Sexuality: Unknown at the moment.

Pronouns: She/her.

Birthday: Halloween.

Height: 3"2.

Hair Color: Coal Black.

Eye Color: Dirt brown.

Place Of Birth: Moors but no one else knows that. Other than Maleficent.

Hobbies: Dancing, drawing, collecting stuffed animals, sewing, coloring, having tea parties, listening to music, trick or treating, playing dress up, knitting, meteorology, creative writing/poetry, arts and crafts, catching fire flies, acting, learning, and gardening.

Likes: Candy, barbies, dark colors, ripped clothes, baggy clothes, bats, skunks, plants, music boxes, tattoos, creepy toys, cute plant pots, flowers, Halloween decorations, berries, woods, magic, movies, musicals, spray paint, games, punk stuff, gothic literature, gothic stuff, and cute baby animals.

Dislikes: Bullies, her dyslexia, her color blindness, her amnesia, loud places, being lost, being compared to people, being alone, and having her picture taken.

Favorite Musicians: Vampire Weekend, Slipknot, Lizz Robinett, Fall Out Boy, The Offspring, Blink-182, Green Day, Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath.

Physical Quirks/Scars: Tattered looking black, translucent wings. Pale skin. Circles under the eyes. Almost skeletal in appearance (naturally). Dimples.

Family: Unknown.

Honorary Family: Hades, Persphone, and their kids.

Friends: The Stormbringer crew, of course.

Pets: Bagul (skunk).

Love Interest: Noah Aoratos (future boyfriend).

Optimistic or Pessimistic: Optimistic.

Introvert or Extrovert: Extrovert.

Occupation: Junior Pirate and future boutique--tatto Parlor-- flower shop owner.

Extracurriculars: Piracy, Ballet, art club, gardening, and drama.

Favorite Animal: Skunk.

Favorite Color: Black, white, pink, and grey.

Favorite Book: A Light in the Attic.

Favorite Food: Blackberries.

Favorite Drink: Black coffee with whipped cream.

Favorite Movie/TV Show: The Addams family and Scooby Doo.

Favorite Class: Artist and Thieves is tied with Tall Tales and The Tellers who tell them.

Background: It's not every day that a child falls from the sky, but on the rare occasion that one does, everyone remembers it-- which is exactly what had happened in the case of one girl known as Fiona Freeland Foundling.

It had been a normal day on the isle of the lost, with Hannah Hook scavenging for toys and books out of boredom. Eventually finding herself in an Alleyway, where she narrowly missed getting smushed by a falling projectile that was almost the size of her leg. A falling projectile that turned out to be, a little girl -- almost skeletal in appearance-- with high cheekbones, black hair, almost black eyes, and tattered, translucent black wings. A girl who could barely talk.

Instead of running away or screaming, like most people would have, the seven year old pirate captain took the startled and confused little girl home and tried to figure out where she came from so they could return her. Something they never did figure out.

When they couldn't, Hannah named Fiona and gave her a spot on her crew. Promising that one day they'd find out where she came from as they patched her up.

Unbeknownst to them, Maleficent knows. Because how wouldn't she recognize one of her own? But she has no reason to tell anyone that the little girl is from Moors because she'd get nothing from it.

~~~~Playlist~~~~

"Hide and Seek" by Lizz Robinett.

"It's the Hard-Knock Life" by Charles Strouse / Martin Charnin.

"Dead Hearts" by Stars.

"Left Behind" by DAGames.

"Hidden in the Sand" by Tally Hall.

"Carousel" by Melanie Martinez.

"Crybaby" by Melanie Martinez.

Inspired by @thecaptainsgingersnap and @theinnerworkingsofoc yet again. Made to cheer @cleverqueenchild up.