#At least I have a chance to get shamane next update (I hope)

[thesoulsofthedarned]

Guys I got A Knight

Sadly no Shamane, but it’s ok because A Knight is also one of my most anticipated characters. Very cool conceptually and seems to do pretty good damage from what I’ve seen on YouTube so I’ll definitely build him. Problem is I don’t have a lot of stuff prepared for him, so it’ll take a while for A Knight to reach his full potential. For now though, I’m happy :)

[theonyxpath]

According to Eddy Izzard, that’s the literal translation of JFK’s famous quote as he entered Berlin during the cold war. I don’t know if Mighty Matt McElroy or Matthew “The Gentleman Gamer” Dawkins issued a similar proclamation as they entered the city for last weekend’s PAX convention, but there they were anyway.

Now, it’s a Paradox Entertainment convention so it was really focused mostly on their electronic games – but Onyx Path was there representing the happy land of Tabletop Role-Playing Games. And from what the dynamic duo reported back, it was a fantastic chance to talk with all sorts of gamers – many of whom were unfamiliar with Onyx Path and/or TTRPGs.

What was really gratifying for our team was just how positive and friendly the attendees were. You never know, going to a new city or country for a con, just how the reception will be. Well, from what they said, it was fantastic! They were able to talk about our upcoming games, both V5 and upcoming White Wolf projects, and also there was a lot of interest in our other, non-WW game lines!

For those folks who did know about us, we had some sneak previews of upcoming V5 projects – some from the V5 Chicago By Night KS, and also the text from V5 Cults of the Blood Gods. So, a lot of excitement there! There was also a lot of interest from the Paradox/White Wolf team for us to run a Kickstarter for V5 Cults of the Blood Gods. Which is always nice to hear from the folks who are licensing you their properties!

In case it sounds like our crew were just there to hang out in our booth and chat, they also had the responsibility of representing Onyx Path in many meetings where the future of V5 and all the WW IPs was discussed. Again, this was an extremely positive experience for our duo, with just tons of ideas and possible projects coming out of those discussions!

Of course, being business meetings, there wasn’t anything I can share with you here, but I can say that the refocusing of White Wolf last year has seemed to have really altered how they are proceeding, and has borne fruit in a lot of new licensed projects folks are going to enjoy.

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition art by Brian LeBlanc

To switch gears slightly, but not totally as I did mention Kickstarters up above, we finished up the Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter last week! Again, huge kudos to Eric Zawadzki for his nigh-constant efforts to answer everybody’s questions in the comments as the KS ran. He was indefatigable!

We’re pretty happy with how it turned out, and big thanks to all of your who backed and spread the word about this one! We hoped that running the Creature Collection at the same time wouldn’t collide our audiences too much, and it looks like both KSs ran just fine and without overwhelming potential backers.

We’re going to try to avoid running two KSs of similar size and that might have too large of an overlap of audiences, but we have so many cool projects and settings that folks want to see Kickstarted that they’ve been backing up until now. Now, we’re going to try and use our two KS accounts to give both us and all of you the flexibility to put a project on Kickstarter as we need to and when it makes sense to.

We have, as many folks have pointed our previously, an embarrassment of riches when it comes to our projects, which really starts with the large number of game lines we are always working on.

VtR 2e Spilled Blood art by Andrea Payne

Of course, that goes all the way back to when Onyx Path first started with the WW licenses. We didn’t just get the licenses to one of the WoD lines or CofD lines, we took on the responsibility of shepherding all the existing lines and on bringing forth new ones if that what was needed.

Plus, we brought over other WW game lines, and one of those (cough, Trinity Continuum, cough) had multiple lines within it as well. We took, and still take, those responsibilities seriously as we know that every line has dedicated, long-term, fans that truly love it.

It is a real juggling act, and we’ve tried to provide every game line, every setting, with a new project and the spotlight at least once, regardless of the number of fans, over these past 7-8 years. And the flip side is that we are actually a business, we need projects that sell more than what it cost to make them – if only so everybody we work with keeps being able to afford to keep on making TTRPGs.

So those projects that sell well get follow-up projects, and those are usually within a single line, and so that line gets more focus. Which is one of reasons I’ve pushed for cross-line projects like the Night Horrors books, the Dark Eras books, or even the Contagion Chronicle, for Chronicles of Darkness (our biggest umbrella line).

Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties art by Michele Giorgi

Which is why our brochure this year, which is days away from going to press, is set up to talk about each setting, each game line, rather than trying to push for particular projects within the lines. We’ll do that with con-specific flyers at the conventions we’re attending, and news on all our social media sites, but we’re going to have the brochure there as a primer on just which game lines we’re doing right now.

We think that we’re at the point where we need that info out there where folks can reference it and compare and contrast our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Coming soon!: Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features a deep dive into our new game Legendlore with developer Steffie de Vaan, Dixie, and Matthew! Come find out about this very different fantasy RPG!

As Matthew has only just got back from a rather hazard-strewn trip from Berlin, our media update for this week is brief but punchy! So there’s only the events Matthew’s poor addled brain could pull together this week – but we’ll be back with our usual full run-down next week!

Character Creation Month continues this weekend as Meghan Fitzgerald takes us through character creation for Scion, over on the Onyx Path Twitch channel!

Plus, we again have a full week’s worth of fantastic gaming, so if you’re unsure about how any of our games run, please check out footage on the channel and interact with the people playing!

I’m going to link both here in case you’re not following / subscribed to them. www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath & www/youtube.com/user/theonyxpath

It really helps us to have subscribers on our Twitch channel, and you can do so for free and catch premieres as they go up if you have an Amazon Prime account. Just type Twitch Amazon Prime into Google and you’ll be shown how to subscribe for free.

Remember, if you miss any content on our Twitch channel, some of it finds its way to our YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/user/theonyxpath Don’t forget though, that some of that content is Twitch exclusive or belongs to the Storytellers running their games, so don’t miss out and remember to follow us!

Meanwhile, our fans keep creating excellent content for us, not limited to:

Occultists Anonymous continues with their fantastic Mage: The Awakening game:

Episode 53: Everyone Dies With safe passage into Tucume promised by the local Qero Shaman, the cabal prepares with spells and Songbird makes a deal with Supernal Being. https://youtu.be/52hYTlw8RpE

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

The big Halloween Sale on DriveThruRPG and Storytellers Vault continues until Halloween.

Most of our Chronicles of Darkness PDFs will be on sale on both sites, plus there will be some Halloween Treats (i.e. free PDFs) hidden around the sites.

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, you can get a jump on the end of the world with the Dystopia Rising: Evolution Jumpstart: Trouble On The Steel Pier PDF and physical book PoD on DriveThruRPG.com! Everything you need to start playing DR:E – a setting, adventure, and characters – with a basic Storypath rules-set!

Conventions!

GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Redlines

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Second Draft

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Editing

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Post-Editing Development

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Indexing

Dystopia Rising: Evolution core (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle – Sent out contracts.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e – Sam on the fulls.

Ex3 Lunars – Contracted.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Notes out to artists.

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Trinity RMCs – Sketches in. Got interactive sheets from Gone in.

Cults of the Blood God (KS) – Mark is almost done, Denmark is done, and Amy is done.

Chicago Folio – Got stuff from Denmark and Mirko in… so far so good.

Mummy 2 (KS) – First half of Sam’s fulls are in and at WW for approval. Working on graphics in the morning.

City of the Towered Tombs – Contracted.

Let the Streets Run Red – Right after Chi Folio art is in.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – Sent breakdown for artnotes to Meghan.

Scion Mythical Denizens – Andrea is gonna do the portraits… waiting to hear back from Marco.

Deviant – Need art notes for the rest of the book.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart – Going through it to see what we need.

In Layout

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Template created… system chapter done.

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

VtR Spilled Blood – In progress.

Geist 2e Screen – Need notes from developer, still.

Pirates of Pugmire

Proofing

C20 Cup of Dreams – At WW approval.

M20 Book of the Fallen – Josh finishing cover.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – PDF going out to backers.

Memento Mori – Layout proofing as art comes in.

Dark Eras 2 – In proofing

At Press

Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2 – shipping to backers.

TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2 – shipping to backers.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity Core – At Studio2 – shipping to backers.

Trinity Aeon – At Studio2 – shipping to backers.

V5: Chicago – Printing.

Aeon Aexpansion – Waiting to order PoD proofs.

DR:E Jumpstart – PDF and PoD versions on Sale this Wednesday.

W20 Art Book – PoD proof ordered.

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Getting print files ready.

DRE Screen – Getting print files prepped.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Today is another five year anniversary! This time for Merely Marvelous Meredith’s time working with DriveThruRPG and helping us keep our PDFing and PoDing straight ovuh dere! DTRPG’s Customer Service are the unheralded saviors of many a small game company, and Mere’s ability to find solutions for non-tech people who just want to get their project online with the least amount of hassle – all with a smile in her emails – is a huge part of their success story. Congrats, Mere!

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #109

Today we have an amazing harpy, the never ending hangover, a statement on Whorelocks, and a bunch more.

[Anonymous said:] re: the Aruviel answer from the last Q&A: Thanks for the answer, and to be clear, what I meant by the chastity text variations is the ones where Toy With Them specifically talks about teasing their chastity, which I can get with slaves in chastity or slavers with the As You Like It belt, but not with Aruviel. (I even personally wouldn't mind if it occasionally drove her to distraction like the belt from As You Like It can do to a slaver, but I recognize that might be a bigger ask.)

 - Ahah, I get you. Sure I can look at that. 

[jamex590 said:] now sure if this is how you gut your bug report's or not but with the latest nohaven version sometimes when your smith make's a armour when you go to make a decicion on what to do with it it tell's you that you have no armour when you click on the armour i had that happen with 3 seprate armour's.

 - Here’s fine, also that should be sorted in the update I believe. 

[Anonymous said:] A slaver gold as camp bitch will be freely used by any other slavers but "make use of" still triggers the same "that doesn't seem like a good idea." Similarly you can't make use of a golem bedwarmer but they're still working away under your table when planning out assignments. Perhaps this may be intentional but it does seem kind of silly?

 - Dang amazed you were able to convince one to take either role. Will check that as you’re entirely right, cheers.

[Anonymous said:] Got this option on a Marauding levelup, both Agile and Clumsy: Choice 4: Jazel Dragongood - Ogre Female - Inexperienced Duellist - (Mon)(Str+)(Agi)(Fnd)(Sed)(Agg)(Clu)

 - Thanks for the spot. 

[Anonymous said:] A possible bug I noticed on No Haven 0.932, in that I ended up having a slave have a permanent Hangover set on her. The way I had it happen, was turning a slaver that obtained the enchanted pony gear (from the race mission) into a slave without having that gear removed. Once that ex-slaver became a slave, it wouldn't regenerate it's will naturally, and having a healer heal ended up giving them a Hangover that won't go away. You also loose the ability to remove the gear later.

 - Huh, that’s a very random very specific thing. Thanks for letting me know how they got there as that’s really helpful for working out what happened. Will see if I can recreate what happened. 

[Anonymous said:] Does putting a slave in a chastity belt actually serve a purpose? Even after locking an "innocent" one into one, it doesn't seem to stop slavers from sampling the goods after training.

 - Innocent isn’t just about physical virginity but a state of mind so any training after basic obedience it will be removed. 

[Anonymous said:] Is whorelocks officially abandoned?

 - Ooof, now that’s a question. Honnestly I don’t know? I’d not be happy if that’s the case, but practically yeah it kind of is. The whiplash of the reaction to the RAGS version (Highly positive) to Twine (fuck you, also why is this different game not exactly like another game) was dispiriting to put it lightly. Even more so as even content incomplete I personally think the Twine version is already far superior. 

It’s also a lot of a mess codewise. Was very much still learning when I first attempted to RAGS > Twine. Hell, even doing NH to Twine had a bunch of issues due to making errors in the conversion so you can just imagine what WR is like. 

There’s also that NH is waaaaay more popular, and takes so much of my time along with that getting a conversion too. Man I just hope history doesn’t repeat itself where suddenly things get so much more harsh when you remove the big barrier to entry that is RAGS.

Soooo, again I don’t know? Honnestly the best way to make it happen is to let me know there’s an audience for it still.

[Anonymous said:] Can you PLEASE look into something that will prevent slavers being sent out without assignments it's way too damn common and costs you a slaver or several and if one happens to be your leader your scrwed if nothing else an option to recall slavers from assignments as a workaround.

 - I genuinely have never heard of this issue? If you could let me know of an assignment that it happens on or ways to recreate it that’d be really helpful. 

Other than that RAGS is a finickity program so make sure you follow the warnings at the begining of the game which can cause serious issues. 

[Anonymous said:] I can't seem to find a way to start as a convent race aside from the unique scenario. Is this currently possible? If not any plans on adding that in in the future?

 - For now to play as Convent there’s the scenario, or losing your encampment to a Convent slaver. If you’re on the Patreon TF Edition however you can play as the scenario one in a regular playthrough, or start as the Promoted Slaver portraits which also include a Neko one. 

[From the patreon:] two questions 1- what happens if you ambush the ensnared rose rep 2- is there some kind of secret catch if you accept the slaver? :)

 -  1 that's purely there for RP purposes and 2 there's not (for now at least anyway)

[From TFGames:] Same. I really, really love No Haven, but RAGS is just so f***ing awful. I understand that converting it to HTML is impossible without just starting from scratch, but holy f*** is late game unbearable.

 - A conversion is well on the way to twine so hopefully you won't have to put up for it that much longer. In terms of progress technically everythings converted from what RAGS understands to what Twine understands, and I'm in the progress of making all that conversion actually work and having a workable UI.

[From TFGames:] And why isn't there an option to bribe the slaver with gold or first dibs on the slaves or whatever?

 - I do mean to add both of those sometime as an option. Likely when I expand bedwarmers so you'll have a slave immediately to hand to 'persuade' them with.

[From the Collective:] Not a bug per se but a funny thought: Slave - Kyurlina - Carakarr Harpy Female - - Examine

Name: Kyurlina Madclaw <==== Very appropriate name Race: Carakarr Harpy - Sex: Female - Status: Slave Traits: Flying - Seductive - Perceptive - Singer - Friendly - Werebear Condition: 84 Will: 78 Estimated Value: 189

A harpy flies in the sky Night Happens Oh It's full moon A bear falls from the sky

First thing to do: pick the aspect that makes you immune to wounding !!!!

 - Hahahah, that's an amazing win from the generation.

[From the Collective:] Magc Blight is negative despite Aspect: Unbreakable Honour that says it shouldn't

 - Given it was a Magic: Any check rather than Blight specifically I'm calling that one working as intended.

[From the Collective:] once again sometimes a re-roll  with probabilities under 90%[/quote]

 - That's the 1-100 roll being changed which is different from the probabilities. It first was a result over a 90 so you're getting a second go to get a better one thanks to the Watchtower bonus.

[From the Collective:] Deluge of Ooze - Rewards - New slaver acquired! - Zoe Valleyborn - Ooze Futanari - Inexperienced Lycanthrope - (Res)(Mon)(Tcl)(Slt)(Fnd)(Per)(Wer)(Lgl)

The Were Ooze 13 is still there !!!!  A blood curse on a Ooze needs explanations 

 - Heh, Were is well weirder than that and so a ooze were is totally viable.

[From the Collective:] Sky shaman I have a probability problem ... You add this slaver with positive traits and ends with bad probabilties

 - Any odds you see before the final odds are the 'in progress' ones using a different more free calculator, which is why it can go into minuses and the like, the final person you add locks in the final odds and so it that case where you have odds better than the caps it will make them worse even if they're contributing only positive stuff.

[From the Collective:] Some missions have Gown or Formal Wear (Oft:For) as positive factor but can't ask your camp to produce it or buy it at cutprice roses like with maid outfits

 - I've just got a commission done for an assignment where you will be able to do that, and that's also a good shout for Cutprice.

[From the Collective:] When the Week end comes  - Fel Tainted (Fel) assigned: +10% rejection chance applied Even with shadowplay aspect

 - Yeah it's a different check so doesn't apply. If it helps it's hard to keep the tentacles and the like hidden while in a short skirt and shaking pom poms  ;)

[From the Discord:] How common are wyverns, and are they related to the far more impressive dragons? :wondering:

 - They’re not exactly common, but not the kind of thing that would raise serious comment. They’re not at all related to dragons, and are pretty much just animals and not all that brave or bright either. They’re more big scavengers who look impressive, but aren’t up to much in an actual fight unless you manage to corner one and they can’t fly away.

[From the Discord:] Since we did get the Veil (:victory:), anything horny planned for this Year of the Ox?

 - Well Horned Ones already exist, and I’ve got no other bull themed races that could be added, and certainly aren’t already a part of the lore along with playing a very big part in WR. Nope no ideas whatsoever for what I could do for that. 

[From the Discord:] Since Convent sneks are coming, what would be the next more likely candidate race for dedicated Shallya worship? (Holy bunnies? :ohmy: :KaltMimi:  )

 - Oh man I’m getting flashback to when it seemed like everyone wanted a civilised city based Lago’Mae which completely and utterly clashes with their in-setting lore :D 

So definitely no convent bunnies. Other than that not sure. Theoretically could be any race which are on the more common side and have non-males in there. 

[shiverpeakstraveler]

Just Like Fire Chp 1

With Zhaitan dead and merely a bad memory, Commander Liana Rohland hopes to enjoy some peace and quiet-as much as one is able to achieve-before the next Elder Dragon on the list. Fate, however, seems to have other plans for her. What starts as random attacks in Hoelbrak and Ascalon soon turns into a wild ride as she attempts to tackle the challenges that begin to bombard her. With new allies to watch her back, can Liana brave the coming storm? Or will everything she has worked for come crashing down?

Contain spoilers for the human and norn personal stories, Living World seasons, Heart of Thorns, and Path of Fire (eventually). Story begins a few months after the fall of Zhaitan and will contain flashbacks to the personal story.

So, I’ve decided to upload the chapters for Just Like Fire to here as well as to Ao3 as it appears the links heading to it don’t seem to always work. 

I want to apologize if there are any inconsistencies as I wasn’t able to get a chance to take part of LS1. I’m doing what I can to research up on every part of it so I can try to be as accurate as possible. 

"Hello there, norn! We're here from the Durmond Priory and your friend Steag has something that belongs to us!"

Liana glanced over at Hjalmar, shaking her head before turning towards the towering Son of Svanir Magister Sieran had been speaking to.

"We're just here for Frostbeard," Liana addressed the norn, doing her best to look intimidating, "Bring us the sword he carries, and we won't hurt you."

The dragon cultist let out a deep, rumbling laugh. Had a feeling that wouldn't work Liana thought bitterly.

"Pathetic little bookworms!" the cultist barked, "Steag Frostbeard is mighty. He will attack Lion's Arch, and we will show you all Dragon's power."

Lion's Arch?! Oh no...

"Steag's blood sword is a holy relic of the dragon, Jormag. The dragon blesses Steag for his faithful service. He will lead us to victory!" "It's not too late. Please, think about what you're doing," Sieran pleaded, the sylvari trying to appeal to whatever humanity the cultist could possibly possess, "The dragon may give you power, but in exchange, he's made you slaves."

"Abandon Dragon in his time of triumph?" the Son of Svanir replied with a snort, "Heh, why would we do that?" "Lion's Arch is filled with innocent people. You can't do this!" Hjalmar exclaimed, only for the Magister to rest a hand on his arm. "They aren't listening, Novice. Time to switch to plan B." The air hummed with electricity as Sieran channeled her magic into the two daggers she wielded, staring down the Son of Svanir before them with a glare. "Go get them!"

1326 AE, The Durmond Priory "Liana? Hey, Liana!" The human jolted awake with a snort, sputtering slightly before glancing up at the norn staring down at her, who was doing his best not to laugh at the piece of parchment sticking to her forehead. "You didn't come to breakfast this morning, so I got worried. Managed to save you something before the novices devoured it all," the norn remarked, setting down a plate of fried eggs and roast meat on the desk before her, "Up late working on a project for Gixx, or something for Marshal Trahearne?" Liana let loose a yawn, stretching for a moment before grabbing for the plate. "Neither. I was looking over Sieran's notes again. I still keep thinking that I'll wake up one day and she'll be here telling us about her latest find, Mar." Hjalmar gave her a sympathetic glance before reaching forward, taking ahold of the journal she had been reading and flipping through the pages. "I'm still surprised Trahearne let you keep this. I figured it would have returned to the Grove with the rest of her belongings." Liana proceeded to nod as she began to wolf down her food. "That's what I thought as well, but he insisted that I keep ahold of it. Said Sieran would have wanted me to have it." "I could see how he'd think that. Sieran was just about family to us," Hjalmar replied, stopping at a page in their fallen friend's journal, "She recorded just about everything, didn't she?" "Eeyup. She even sketched out a few things as well. There's a drawing of that shadow shard-rune of holding mess we crafted up when we were working on a containment field for the Sanguinary Blade. Remember that?" The warrior let out a loud laugh. "How could I forget? I think I still have a few scars left from those shades we had to fight off." The corner of Liana's mouth twitched into a smirk as she finished off the remains of her breakfast. "Honestly, I think I was more scared of Gixx then I was of the shades or the possibility of the entire mountain coming down upon our heads. Asura can be downright intimidating when they're mad." "Ain't that the truth. There are times when I find myself thinking they're nearly as intimidating as a charr." She nodded as she finished her last scrap of meat before handing the plate back to Hjalmar. "Thanks for the breakfast, but I've got a feeling that wasn't the sole reason you came looking for me." "You'd be correct," the norn replied, setting Sieran's journal back down before taking Liana's plate, "I just spoke with Gixx. He's approved of my request for vacation time. He was also a bit amused that you were asking for permission for time off as well even though you outrank him." "It was mainly a request for some time off from any duties that were strictly for the Durmond Priory itself. Besides, I've told him he's still pretty much my boss whenever I'm in the building, even with me being second-in-command of the Pact forces." "Right...well, like I was saying. Vacation requests have been approved....and I honestly think we need to start it off by checking in on Mom and Dad." His statement brought a frown to her face as she turned to look at him. "Are they okay? The Svanir haven't been growing bolder, have they?" "Liana, you haven't spoken to them since Zhaitan fell three months ago. I know Mom's worried sick about you. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that I've been bringing you up in the messages I send home, she'd probably be storming up to the Priory or Fort Trinity looking for you." Liana winced, muttering a swear or two. "Wolf's teeth....you're right. I'm an idiot for not keeping them updated myself." "I could have told you that." "Har dee har har. Just give me a moment to clean up and we can head out." Most who would encounter Liana for the first time were usually caught off guard by the fact she hardly ever mentioned the Six Human Gods, the most she knew about them mainly being about Melandru and Kormir, and even that was considred miniscule at best. Having been raised by a shaman of Raven since before she could walk, the Spirits of the Wild-spirit guides most commonly revered by the norn-had always been a concept she was most familiar with, taking their stories and teachings to heart. She hadn't encountered anything about the Six until her first trip to the human city of Divinity's Reach. "It'll be nice to see Hoelbrak again. I'm even starting to miss the Svanir dogs that lurk about in their tunnels," Hjalmar exclaimed, earning a snort from Liana as she began to load a traveling bag with items. "You mean you miss knocking their heads together and sending them crying for their Dragon with their tails between their legs," she replied, throwing a bedroll at his head. He let out a laugh as he caught the bedroll. "Come on! Even you gotta admit breaking Svanir skulls is at least cathartic-!" "Excuse me...Magister Rohland?" Liana glanced up from her pack, turning her attention to a sylvari scholar standing in the doorway, rubbing the back of their head nervously as they held out a scroll. "Urgent letter from Divinity's Reach has arrived addressed to you....says it's from Logan Thackeray?" She frowned as she rose to her feet. "Wonder what Sparkles wants?" she murmurs as she crosses over and takes the scroll, breaking the seal. Once she's unfurled it, she begins to read aloud: Dear Liana, I reach out to you with the utmost urgency. It has been brought to my attention by two other members of Destiny's Edge that they're experiencing some trouble in Hoelbrak and the Black Citadel. Something, or someone, is burning both norn and charr out of their homes and forcing them to seek shelter and security in the cities. This is unprecedented, and I'm concerned. As a favor to my friends, I'm asking you to travel to one or both of these cities and see if you can offer any assistance. If this is as bad as they say, it may eventually threaten Krytan citizens as well. You're the perfect choice to deal with this. I'd help, but I have the queen's business to attend to. -Logan Liana bit her lip once she finished reading the letter. The situation sounded dire indeed, and Logan was right, it did sound like a job for her. At the same time, however, she was mentally cursing the fact on the timing of the letter. She glanced over at her adoptive brother, who was crossing his arms with a frown. "Think you could look ahead into the situation in Hoelbrak for me while I head out for the Black Citadel, Hjalmar?" "What about Mom and Dad?" he asked, his brow furrowing, "Wouldn't it be best to investigate Hoelbrak first before going to aid the Black Citadel?" "Normally, I'd agree with you, but I think it might be best to see about giving Rytlock a hand," she explained, "They already have to deal with Flame Legion and the Ascalonian ghosts. He'll be anxious to get this matter dealt with so they can focus on those threats." "Fair enough. Do you still plan on coming to Hoelbrak?" "Well, ofcourse! Raven's beak, Mar, I'm just going to go help Rytlock with his share of trouble. I'll be there to help you out with whatever issue Eir is running into." "I know you will," the norn began as he headed out the door, turning slightly to give Liana a smirk, "Otherwise I'd hunt you down and drag you back to the Shiverpeaks myself." "Will you just get going, skritt-head?" she laughed, throwing a crumpled wad of paper at Hjalmar as he continued on his way, the norn's own chuckling echoing for sometime down the hall before fading away. Shaking her head, Liana returned to her desk, knocking on its surface a few times. "Nyla? Come on, sleepy kitty, wake up." A chuffing sound is heard as a large tiger pokes her head out from under the desk, looking up at Liana with a disgruntled expression, clearly not pleased at having her nap disturbed. "Come on, pretty girl, we gotta get going," the ranger chimed as she grabbed ahold of her bow and quiver of arrows, "Logan wants us to go visit Rytlock at the Black Citadel. You ready to see Tribune Brimstone again?" At the mention of the charr's name, Nyla appeared to perk up immediately, a rumbling noise emitting from her as she darted out from under the desk and towards Liana's side, gingerly grabbing a hold of the human's jacket with her jaws and started to pull her towards the door. "Alright, alright!" Liana laughed, carefully pulling herself free, "By the Bear, Nyla, hold your horses! We'll get moving as soon as I have all my stuff packed!" The tiger let out a grunt before stalking towards the doorway and sitting down, her eyes fixed upon the ranger while her tail flicked with impaitence. Liana sighed and shook her head as she returned to packing her belongings, reaching for Sieran's journal in the process. Well at least one of us is giddy about getting back to work.