#MsMoon's DnD

[msmoonicorn]

Ok so this...is a multi-step sort of thing. I know this is weird… but my tiefling rogue (or my Thiefling, if you will :D), Rexa McCroix, has riotously curly 80s style hair, bronzy skin, black curving horns, solid dark crimson eyes, and a tail… 

...but otherwise looks like the timelessly beautiful Lauren Bacall.

Also, when I mentioned the 80s hair and Lauren Bacall, my cousin mentioned Kelly LeBrock from Weird Science… and while Rexa’s lips are not that plump, it is a good fit :3 The hair is perfect, it’s more that her eyes aren’t that down-turned.

[spellbound-blue]

Quick Ms. Moon warm down from last night. I love her so much 🙀❤️ #dnd #tiefling #msmoon #oc #tradtionalart #sketch

[msmoonicorn]

Ok, so thanks largely to Hero Forge, I now have at least a somewhat visual representation of each of my D&D characters :3 They now have colored minis,  and I backed it on kickstarter :) 

So I’m going to be getting one of those soon. This is the one that I’m planning on getting with that reward (and the rest are probably going to just be a visual reference and never bought because expendable income?? Who’s she??). 

Now, this is Torix :) She’s my dragonborn barbarian from my Cousin’s Three Evils Campaign. I took some liberties with her sword, because my cousin gave her a sword part way in... so I figured, enh, just make it look like it’d fit with Torix. 

Torix has been banished from her clan. She doesn’t ever talk about that though. She’s... very quietly affectionate. Her love language is primarily acts of service. She’s not a tsundere or anything. She just doesn’t know why people need to talk about it all the time. If any of her party were to ask whether or not she cares about them, she’d say, “...of course.” and move on :)

[msmoonicorn]

Sooo, this is my new girl :) I may have made her after a long car ride which gave me the opportunity to reconnect with my favorite podcast, Welcome to Night Vale. It occurred to me that her backstory was...wordy. So I decided to put it behind a cut :) Enjoy.

Cc may have been a normal bard... as normal as bards get at least. Her parents were traveling performers, her big brother a sword juggler and occasional guard for their troop... She would've learned that trade if all had proceeded normally. When she was 8 (nearly 9), she went exploring in the woods near Grastenwald. There she found a strange trinket.

It was solid silver, though she didn't know that at the time. It looked like a deer head, but a cloth had been placed over it, except the antlers. The antlers were the most visible, as the cloth functioned as a veil over the deer. She thought it was interesting... and kind of pretty. What she didn't know, and what no one could've known, was that it was the holy symbol of a long-dead god.

The god Huntokar had not been worshiped in centuries. What little vestiges of her remained in the ethereal plane, branching out to leech energy off of her existences in alternate realities.  But the gentle touch of a small girl, stirred some of this deity’s consciousness.

This contact forever altered both of them, Huntokar could never offer Cecilia the boons she once offered her following, and Cecilia would never be able to contribute to Huntokar’s existence as a lone (child) worshiper. In spite of this, the two of them were very fond of each other. Cecilia was not part of her family’s act yet, so there were plenty of times when she was on the sidelines…but Huntokar was always there for her.

It wasn’t long before her family noticed something was off. Their daughter, who had previously been always underfoot, was now constantly isolating herself and also talking to… people? They had thought, ‘oh she has an imaginary friend’, but then… it seemed there was more than one person ..and those people knew things. Things a small girl couldn’t possibly know.  This was mostly because Huntokar had absorbed knowledge and experience from her followers… their ties to her existing like lingering ghosts. But when they asked, she only said, “oh it’s Huntokar.”

Hunktokar, Huntokar, Huntokar. Her father grew sick of hearing this name. He attempted to throw the symbol of Huntokar into a fire when he found it… While the symbol had lost its shape and the veil had burned away, it found its way back to Cecilia. No matter how many times her parents attempted to destroy or pawn that lump of silver away, it always found its way back to Cecilia’s person.. in a pocket or under her pillow, even woven into her hair once.

Numerous attempts to separate their daughter from this strange, otherworldly influence resulted only in the knowledge that she would never be separated from Huntokar. Not without suffering damage to her own person… And then, the other appeared.

When Cecilia was 14, a new presence made itself known. Both of her parents were human, so neither of them understood what was happening when celestial energy actually began to affect her. They had also been so far removed from Fiona the Red Lion to know. Fiona had been a paladin of Oghma, and gained a boon from one of his servants. This boon worked in her favor, but the latent energy from it lay dormant in her bloodline until Cecilia was born.

Mykiel had hoped to approach Cecilia when she was of age… this is why he waited until she as 14 to introduce himself. Unfortunately, he was not the only voice in her head at that point, and Huntokar was definatelyl more trusted than he was. He always tries to dote on Cecilia, to remind her to be a decent person… but even when his voice turns doting or gentle, he isn’t entirely trusted.

So. At the bare minimum, their daughter had two very significant voices inside her head that were not her. They decided to incorporate it into her life. They taught her how to read tarot cards, and Huntokar helped her with how to read people. Occasionally Mykiel would even contribute, but only if he thought it would help the person she was “reading”. She was now, part of the act…even if the trials of her parent’s concern had tainted their relationships.

Eventually, her brother took the job of town guard in Freeport, choosing to set down roots. The distance between her family and herself only seemed to increase… But Mykiel and  Huntokar were always there for her.

She leaned into that, taking comfort from the only ones who were always there for her… And as she set off on her own, she was excited to set her own pace and discover new things… Maybe things about Huntokar, but also things about herself.

[msmoonicorn]

This is Nikala Mohiam :) She’s been here a couple of times. 

Shadar-kai path of the Grave Cleric :3 She’s a sweet bean, even if she has very little in the way of expressiveness. She’s from our DM’s homebrewed campaign... so, she’s frozen in time rn until he decides to pick that up again -_-’ There’s little chance of that happening.

[msmoonicorn]

This...is Bellissima. She rarely shares her last name. She’s from another campaign that my DM was running from home at one point... It’s from a pathfinder campaign that just kinda...petered out. Dunno why. I never really got to play her past a few sessions, so. Yea... I miss her.

The reason she has a cat on the base in the full body shot, is that we rolled for different features...or something like that. And one of the things she got was some sort of cat affinity. She could speak to them, and they regarded her favorably. In the first couple of sessions, she had befriended and made a network of all the cats in town, and they were working as her informants :3 It was fun.

I might try to work her into a different campaign at some point. Not sure when though. I’m more excited about playing her in D&D since I prefer it to Pathfinder :|

[msmoonicorn]

The reference I have for Nikala Mohaim is Neelam Gill. 

Nikala is a shadar-kai elf, so her skin is ghostly white, and her hair and eyes are black. But Neelam’s facial structure and her hair is pretty much exactly right for Nikala :)

[msmoonicorn]

Simon Cheramie... love this boi.

He’s a half drow that’s...really friendly. But if you fuck with him (not the fun kind, that is), he’s gonna kill you and steal your shadow, and find out why you’re here and maybe try to steal stuff from you. 

It’s nothing personal!

So...the original Saltmarsh Squad was... Me playing Simon here. there was a Warforged Monk, called 42, who was heavily modeled off of HK-47 from KotOR (he evaluates everyone and says “Threat level: minimal”, etc). A Fairy named Fey (homebrewed race). A druid from the swamp named Bog...and Fresca Gooseberry, the warlock of Kelemvor who thought he was a cleric. Colorful group, so pretty typical D&D stuff :3

We get to the haunted house that’s in the beginning, and we find this guy tied up. 42 looks him over and says, “Threat level: negligible.” We untie him, and we decide to keep looking through this house. He gets upset, because he doesn’t want to stay, especially without a weapon. He also doesn’t want to return to town by himself. 42 detaches his pinkie... and hands it to him, saying that every part of his body is a weapon, so that counts. 

The guy looks at the pinkie finger and then looks at Simon, and Simon says, “Well... I’ve done a whole lot more with a whole lot less.” 

And that really just set the tone for the group of assholes that made up the Saltmarsh Squad. We ended up owning an island that a group of cultists had been living on... Built a stronghold there (thanks, Colville). I think Simon had a tower and and establishment (tavern). Good times.

That campaign is over, but I think about Simon and what he would’ve done.... a lot happened, and.. well..

Simon technically has two dads. His actual biological father (Enoch Cheramie) is a half elf ranger who ended up captured by a priestess from Menzoberranzan while she was attempting to establish a power base near a rift in the underdark that lead to the Astral sea...she was...I mean, she had a lot of ambitions, but that’s not part of Simon’s story, really. 

This Priestess of Lolth (Gaussynrae Teken'sek) was intrigued enough by Enoch (a planes walker in his own right) that she kept him around.. partially for his intriguing presence near ‘her’ portal, but also because she enjoyed toying with him ...in a lot of ways. Her head assassin (Vress’lvel) escaped with Enoch months after his imprisonment. Gaussynrae had been tormenting a lot of people, and he wanted to get out of there as well. Few months later, she showed back up with a baby, reminding them that they’re not free from her and never will be, and she’ll check in if she feels like it later. She left the baby with them... for a lot of reasons. A part of her does care about this baby, but she knows it’d be hard protecting him in the world she lives in. So, she left him with Enoch.... Enoch.. in spite of being rather shell shocked, views Simon as one of the best things to come from his life. 

Because of Gaussynrae’s threats, Enoch and Vress ended up roaming a lot, and trying to find ways to keep her away while they raise this baby boy :) Things happened, and eventually they became more of a power couple. 

Simon was raised without ever setting down roots, and I honestly think that he would amass a small fortune, get a few key items and then, party up with his dads and leave for the wild blue yonder.

...also, Wild Blue Yonder might be one of his handles.. it just sounds like him :3

[msmoonicorn]

Eo...is not her name. That’s what she tells everyone to call her. She’s a Firbolg, path of ancients paladin (but recently took a level in storm Sorcerer). She’s in a group I call the Four Winds (because the session notes needed a title and I went with ‘Blown in from the Four Winds’, so there). We’re running through Matt Colville’s Strongholds & Followers. 

She does miss her home and her tribe...but she’s also begun to enjoy the makeshift family that’s stitched itself together against the tyrant Saxton. And Castle Rend’s gonna be a real fixer-upper, so...this is kind of a nice project for her. 

Her super-clutch moment from this campaign... so far, it’s been misty stepping across a church, through skeletal archers, and smiting the undead out of a vampire twice with her warhammer, and just killing her. Good times :)

I’m gonna be playing this gal later today, on my birthday :) couldn’t ask for better. 

[msmoonicorn]

Heeeey :D This is Rexa (not really).

This gal calls herself Rexa McCroix. She’s a tiefling adopted by a knight… from Eberron. A reporter by profession (because she loves the written word), and a Warlock/Rogue as an adventurer. How else do you get to cover dangerous stories??

She’s also, the character who was transitioned from the Moorlands of Eberron to Barovia when our DM decided to swap us…. He never made it clear, but by the end of our campaign, we were like…level 9. I’m pretty sure my girl here was like… level 4 celestial Warlock, level 5 arcane trickster Rogue, and level 1 arcane cleric.

I’m not entirely happy with the sword on her back… It takes some explaining -_- So, the group went to Argynvostholt, right? At trust the ‘knights’ there attacked them, but Rexa rolled high on her persuasion, and convinced the knights not to attack the party since the party opposed Strahd. They spoke to… Godfrey? Was it Godfrey? I think his name was Godfrey… Anyway, they spoke to the head knight, and he explained about Argynvost and everything that afflicted the knights.

Now, Rexa took the pact of the blade as her warlock pact. After the party settled everything with the skull of Argynvost, she made sure to take Godfrey’s huge +2 great word, and she made it her pact weapon… It tickled my DM so much to see a tiny tiefling warlock/rogue spinnin around with a huge great sword :D… For her part, Rexa found a great deal of satisfaction in using that sword to fight Strahd… She knew the knights had passed on, but… she liked the idea that a relic of theirs helped defeat their ancient enemy. She’s sentimental like that :3

[msmoonicorn]

Clau, my first monk…

I’m not gonna lie. I looked my DM in his face and said, “I’ve been watching and reading a lot of Chinese animation/novels…and, like, the concept of cultivation is so fascinating… I think… I think I’m kinda trying to base a character entirely off of cultivation practices…the closest I’ve seen in D&D is the Kinsei monk, so… get ready.”

He said, the next campaign is gonna be in Theros and it’s gonna be us, lost at sea after the fall out of a war…so very Odyssey inspired.

So this is Clau. It’s not her name…or at lest, it’s not her full name. Originally, I’d tried to make a unique town that she was from (my DM’s cool with that sort of thing), but after talking over my concepts with him... I decided to pick Setessa as her hometown. Mostly because she’s going to be in the Theros setting, and my DM made a great case for it. 

She honestly can’t stand how inexperienced she is. She’s never really left home on her own, and it just kills her that she’s never been able to live her life before her mother wanted to just nail her life down into a little box. So, she decided to branch out and get some experience all on her own. It’s put a big strain on her family, because her siblings (while they are sympathetic) were not ready to step up to the eldest role. 

She’s a Eladrin elf, and is still in her winter phase, mostly left over from mourning for her father. I didn’t get any shots before Hero Forge’s screenshot service went to subscription only, so the shots that I do have of her in her different seasons are all thanks to printscreen :3 Under the regular mini is the shots of her in her spring, summer, fall, and winter seasons. I didn’t like the idea that literally everything about them was a solid color, so I decided to make it more that she has normal coloration, with a few exceptions, that change. So her hair, eyes, and skin tone all are within normal ranges (mostly), but they reflect her season... except her nails and lips. Those always look a little different.

Also, I have more pictures of this gal from Hero Forge than anyone, because I can’t really…decide on her sword. I wanted something that looked more like a traditional jian…but I havnen’t really found anything.   

[msmoonicorn]

Simon didn't say...

omg, you guys... OK. So. I've started playing D&D regularly, right? Probably haven't updated you on that...because..I'm the worst.

Anyway!

So, I've been playing with decent regularity since February. Every Tuesday, I'm at a local Magic Arena that also hosts tabletop gaming nights. They ask you which game you want to play and tell you who's meeting at what times/days for that game. So if you want D&D 5e, this is when they play. If you want Pathfinder, this is when they play, etc, etc. It's a $5 charge every time you show up to game, and $1 goes to the DM and the rest goes into a party fund. That way if we want to do something special with party funds, we can!

My DM's an awesome guy, and we were playing his homebrew, but then... Saltmarsh came out. And we were all really into the idea of doing Saltmarsh. SO. We used party funds to buy Saltmarsh, and at a point when we were kind of lulling in our regular campaign, the DM was like, "Hey, let's do Saltmarsh". We all made characters for Saltmarsh, and it's been a ride.

Tonight, I'm writing, because zomg the stress.

So, here's the roster, ok?

Zach - 42. A Warforged monk with no memory of his past before he arrived with us at Saltmarsh. We call him Captain Salty Seafist, because he spent a lot of his free time working the docks and has a bit of a sea-dog accent(?) now. He was the captain of our first ship, but we now have two ships so... I guess he's the admiral.

Addy - Fey. A fey. She's.... she's just a fey. They homebrewed her a race to play and she has a bunch of abilities, but nothing for combat...except she can summon creatures that help her by fighting. Other than that, she's all healing, utilities, and reaction.

BP - Frovax. Dragonborn warlock, hexblade. I don't know this guy's name.. Still. He's been playing with us for a few weeks. But I still can't remember his name. His wife used to play with us...

Wifu - Kvisa. Barbarian woman. Bloodythirsty ditz. Really intent on killing Lizardfolk because they whiped out her tribe and she's the last of them. She was playing with us regularly, but then classes started up, and now her Barbarian girl is just...gone. Whatever. She was going to be a problem because she wanted to kill all the Lizardfolk. It's probably better this way.

Bear - Fresca Goosberry, the Inquisitor of Kelemvor...really he's a deluded warlock that thinks he's a cleric. He has a cult now, because he's been proselytizing, and the converted become his cultists. Three of those cultists actually survived our hydra fight, though, and they have class stats now :)

New Guy - a tiefling ranger... he's so new, we literally met him today. He has no name for his character, but his big-play seems to be that he wants to cover himself in some form of alcohol and light himself on fire since he's fire resistant... I've tried to explain that resistance doesn't equal immunity, but whatever. Rule of cool I guess.

Me - Simon. Half Drow bard, college of whispers. Bit of a man-whore, but he's into that free love thing. Usually sends letters with extra gold back to his dads. Yes. Dads. More on that later (maybe). I've described him as having a leather vest over a poofy white shirt and really tight pants... rocking that David Bowie vibe from the Labyrinth (if you know what I mean [you know what I mean]). He got a long oil-skin green coat with lots of pockets from one of the adventurers. One of my favorite lines thus far...

  So we meet this guy right? He says if he's staying with us he'd like a weapon to defend himself. 42, the warforged, detaches his pinkie and gives it to him since every part of his body is a weapon. The guys looks at the pinkie and asks what he's supposed to do with that, and Simon says, "Well... I've done a whole lot more with a whole lot less ;)"

So, I'm Simon, right? He hasn't necessarily fit in well with the group, but he hasn't rocked the boat (lol).....I mean, he's been neutral enough to go along for the ride. But joy of joys...tonight, we transitioned from Murder Hobos(TM) to actual negotiators. Simon really likes having friends on all sides, so that was definitely more his speed. Don't get me wrong, he enjoyed straddling a ballista and bullseyeing a Hyrdra with 40+ damage, but this is the sort of group that usually wants to attack everything before finding out what's going on. Anyway. Tonight, we talked to the Lizardfolk. Right away, our swamp druid, Bog, tries to just fight them outright. The new guy, a teifling ranger who hasn't even decided on his name yet, also was in to fight. But Frovax our Dragonborn Warlock stepped up and talked everyone down with a mixture of common and draconic and his high-ass charisma. While we were being escorted by the soldiers to a holding area, hatchlings came up and clung to Simon, and he gave them piggyback rides and played with them. It was great. Finally, the Queen shows up(we later learned that she's Queen Othokent), and we convince her that we'er here from Saltmarsh, because they're worried that the Lizardfolk building up weapons means they're about to attack. Simon mentioned that he heard that they're having problems with the Sahuagin. She got suspicious, but we managed to convince her that we boarded a ship that was full of smugglers and they mentioned the sahuagin. Bog even added to it by saying he killed the men on the ship for what they did to the Lizardfolk, pulling out an arm and returning it to the tribe. As a druid of the swamp, his main concern is with the swamp. Something he said in Druidic. This struck a chord with..I think he was like a wiseman or shaman or something, but he functions like a druid enough to understand it... I think his name was Sauriv. So, we were allowed to stay with the Lizardfolk in their lair for the night to prove ourselves. So, Fresca (a warlock who thinks he's a cleric) is trying to proselytize...but he doesn't speak the language, so no one understands him even if he is captivating with his high charisma. The Ranger and Frovax brought some of the soldiers to our ship to supply them with weapons. Bog bunkered down with Sauriv (Wiseman?), and taught some of their people the ways of a swamp druid. And Simon found the ladies that were taking care of the hatchlings and made himself useful as a baby sitter. He has this pipe that he got; it's called a pipe of remembrance. When he uses it, he can make smoke images of his greatest deeds, right? So between his story-telling, performing, and the pipe (showing off the hydra fight), he had the kids (about 18 of them) captivated. The following day, the Queen asked us if we would consider doing something for the tribe. She said a crocodile named Thousand Teeth had been behaving aggressively lately. He's killed many lizardfolk that tried to patrol near his home. If we could find a way to deal with him, she would be grateful. So. We set out. We kill two wandering ogres on our way. I think they were lost, but it's probably a random encounter or whatever. Anyway, we get to Thousand Teeth's lair, and we're set up by two giant constrictor snakes. Simon and Frovax were grappled by the snakes. Simon... wriggled free, losing his pants in the process (still not sure how that happened, but whatevs). The crocodile attacks, first Ranger and then Simon. Fresca gets some distance between them and him, because he works best at range. Then Simon gets attacked again by one of the snakes and falls unconscious....and then is dragged into the water by the snake. Which attacks him, trying to eat him...and he fails 2 death saves.

ಠ_ಠ

Luckily I rolled a 19 for his initial death save, and it kept him from dying outright. The guys finally killed the snake, and Bog cast Lesser Restoration on the mad crocodile, who calmed down. Of course, he also healed Simon, and he had a minimum of 11 HP. He also didn't get poisoned from being in the swamp water because he passed his con save. Bog spoke with Thousand Teeth, determined that he had rabies (convenient), and made peace between him and the lizardfolk.

So, that's all handled, but man! The stress was real. I was about to be very very sad. I mean, maybe these guys are like, "Meh, just make new characters" or whatever, but I don't play characters that I don't like. And I like my blue boy.

But yeah. TLDR: that's the story of how we become ambassadors to the Lizardfolk and rescued an ancient crocodile.

[msmoonicorn]

For Simon, I’m using the male model Nariman Malanov. His lips are a little… plump. But his face is still the most perfect I’ve found. 

Simon is a half-elf, more importantly, he’s half-drow. His skin is pale blue, and he has medium-length, fluffy, white hair that he keeps tied at the base of his head (otherwise the fluffy puff gets loose and embarrasses him). He has rich brown eyes. He tends to smirk a lot… 

He typically wears a poufy white shirt under a firm leather vest and a pair of soft looking dark breeches (kinda David Bowie from Labyrinth sorta feel, tbh, if you know what I mean). He recently acquired an iridescent green leather long coat/duster that has many pockets :3 He also has a bag of holding, but he doesn’t wear that outside the coat. He owns a pipe of remembrance, which when smoked will make smoke scenes of memorable moments of the smoker’s life. 

[msmoonicorn]

So, this artwork belongs to BryanSyme (https://www.deviantart.com/bryansyme) and not mine, but the head is the closest I’ve seen to coming close to my black Dragonborn :|

Of course, Torix is a barbarian, so she’s bigger, beefier, and doesn’t wear fancy robes… but the head is the most accurate.