#SHADOWSPAWN

[wot-tidbits]

The Great Hunt 04 from Dynamite Comics.

illustrated by MARCIO ABREU

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Lord Cronal aka Blackhole Aka Shadowspawn Concept Art by Joe Corroney

[littlemourningstarr]

Lost in the Moment

Astarion walks in on Shadowheart, and finds that he can feel desire of his own.

Kinktober 2024, Day 20: "Caught Masturbating"

Read below or on AO3!

Pairing: Astarion x Shadowheart

Tags: caught masturbating, accidental voyeurism, vaginal fingering, kinktober, kinktober 2024

Astarion wiped his thumb along his lips, as he slipped into the dark quarters the party had managed to take for themselves above the Elfsong. He was very much looking forward to sleeping in a bed for once.

He had left the party early on, to go traipse about the streets and find himself a nice, hearty meal. It hadn’t taken long- as he’d always said, so many people needed killing. Baldur’s Gate, while home, was full of plenty of ugly souls that could easily be cleansed.

Astarion paused as the door shut silently behind him, swearing he could hear a subtle movement, the sound of little breaths. He had sworn he was alone- but he hadn’t bothered to take a headcount of the party down in the tavern. He waited another moment, then heard the faintest little keening noise, and couldn’t help his curiosity.

He crossed the room, steps silent as death, moving away from his own corner bed, pausing at the opening to the right, where more of his companions would sleep.

And lost his unneeded breath.

Shadowheart was laid out in her bed, devoid of any clothing. She had one of her hands between her legs, fingers pumping into herself, as her chest rose and fell with quick breaths. Her eyes were closed, lost in whatever fantasy she was setting for herself.

Astarion sucked at his tongue. He should… go. He should turn silently and, at best, head back downstairs and wash the taste of blood from his mouth with wine. Or crawl into his own bed and settle into a trance, enjoy the comforts of civilization.

Yet he couldn’t seem to move. Something about her, freshly withened hair fanned out around her, cheeks flushed as if she had been at this for quite some time, yet hadn’t found her release, speckled with a bit of moonlight from the windows-

It was stirring something in him. Making his already warm blood feel hot, his belly going pleasantly fluttery. He felt his cock stirring, against his pants- throbbing with a sudden spike of arousal as he realized he could smell Shadowheart. Gods, the wonders of thinking blood, and being allowed to gorge himself on it.

Instead of doing the reasonable thing and leaving, he folded his arms and leaned against the wall, voice breaking the near silence of the room. “My, what a fun little time you’re having.”

Shadowheart’s eyes flew open, her hand leaving her cunt- and gods below, he could see her fingers glistening- as she grabbed one of the blankets and quickly tried to throw it over herself, while also attempting to sit up. The end result was a lovely view of her breasts for a much more extended period of time than Astarion was sure she anticipated. “What are you doing here?”

She had tried to lace her voice with annoyance, but she was breathy still, and Astarion could just hear her heart pounding. He wondered how long she had been touching herself- she seemed rather close, from the sound of her heart, the flush of her cheeks and breasts.

“Me? Why, I do believe I am sleeping here, same as you. Or,” Astarion paused, offering a rakish smirk, “perhaps sleeping really isn’t the word for what you were doing, pet.”

She glowered at him- and oh, it was rather cute. He had to admit, the cleric was a doll, in her own ways. He wouldn’t say that to her face, though- he’d get a nice moonlight burn for his efforts.

She continued to stare holy daggers into him- but she was still panting, softly. Astarion could still smell her. His smirk softened, eyes going a bit tender as he continued to look at her. “You sound- and smell- as if you’ve been at this a while.”

He expected her to throw something at him, for that observation- but her shoulders only sagged, as she squirmed slightly. Astarion dared to push himself off the wall, take a step closer so he was level with the foot of her bed.

“Having trouble?”

“Maybe,” she admitted. And he… believed her. Believed she was being honest.

“Care for a hand?” He wanted to smirk again, to flash his fangs, to be the wicked, wicked man they all thought he was, when he offered- but instead he just sounded genuine. She studied him for a moment, pretty eyes taking him in, pulling him apart.

He almost shivered.

“Every sensible bone in my body wants me to tell you to fuck off,” she whispered, “but… yes.” And then, in a softer voice, as an afterthought, “...please.”

Astarion took one step around the bed, before he settled on the edge, perched precariously, as if he’d need to flee. But he… didn’t want to, he found. He had no obligation to be intimate with Shadowheart- he had offered because he wanted to.

It was… freeing.

He reached for the blanket that she had clutched to her chest, guided it away so that it pooled in her lap, left her breasts exposed. Astarion reached out, but paused close to her skin, glancing into her eyes. “Where can I touch you?”

It felt important, to him, to ask.

Shadowheart nibbled her lip, this rather endearing and adorable action, before she squared her shoulders. “Anywhere.”

Astarion took her breast in hand then, squeezed softly as she shifted closer, let her nipple rub against his palm. She sighed, and he bent forward, placed a kiss to the center of her clavicle, thinking she felt warm as the sun. His other hand found her waist, squeezed the tender flesh there affectionately, as he moved to her neck, could feel her pulse pounding against his lips.

“You’re warmer than I expected,” she admitted, shifting a bit, tilting her head and not pushing Astarion’s kisses away. He was careful to keep his fangs to himself- Shadowheart had never once welcomed his bite, and he wouldn’t chance it now.

“The wonders of having a full belly,” he whispered. “Your heart is pounding.”

He moved his hand from her breasts, delved it beneath the blanket, between her thighs- and found her completely soaked. Gods, her sheets would be wet at this rate. He exhaled into her neck, felt himself tremble, a torrent of arousal racing through his entire body as he rubbed his fingers along her slit.

“I…” she swallowed down a little noise as Astarion continued to tease, “I’ve been close for…so long. I just can’t quite…” she hiccuped a breath then, when Astarion grazed his fingertips along her clit. Gods, it was hard, had to be painfully sensitive.

“Hush, I’ll get you there. Lay back.” He pulled his hands from her, so Shadowheart could stretch out on the bed again. Astarion gave himself a moment to take in the softness of her belly and thighs, the little scars that he could see against her creamy skin. Carefully, he guided one of her legs into his lap, left her thighs open for him, before he reached back, traced his fingers along her glistening folds.

“I want something inside me,” she admitted, “but it’s not enough.”

A part of Astarion wanted to retort that he could make it enough, easily. But he didn’t… he didn’t want to fuck her, in that moment. Despite the fact that his cock was half hard, that he was indeed aroused, he felt safe focusing the pleasure on her, for this moment.

He slipped between her lips, two fingers fitting easily inside her, just as her own had. She arched her back, gave a little mewl, and it had Astarion smiling.

“They won’t hear you,” he promised, “not over the chaos of the tavern. Don’t restrain yourself.”

He curled his fingers, found that sweet spot inside her within seconds- and she let herself cry out to him, not his name, but the sound of her voice alone was enough praise. He smiled, affectionately, focused on thrusting his fingers so that he pressed tight to that spot, with each movement. At the same time, he pressed his thumb to her clit, began rubbing it in slow circles.

Shadowheart’s back bowed, her cry turning into a musical moan, her eyes falling shut. Gods, he could feel her cunt react around his fingers. He pressed a bit harder to her clit, heard her heartbeat spike- decided that was what she liked.

He could have lost himself, just watching her. It was no secret around camp that the cleric was attractive- they all had eyes, after all- but here, like this… she was open. Vulnerable. She went beyond attractive.

She was beautiful.

Astarion sucked at his tongue, his other hand rubbing her thigh affectionately, keeping her leg firmly in his lap. She had to feel the press of his erection, against her skin, through his pants. 

“Is this good?” he asked, even though he could read her body, hear her heart. But her breathy yes drove him, had made him want to puff his chest out with pride- which was ridiculous. He knew he was good in bed- one didn’t have the experience he did and simply never learn.

But… he wanted to hear it. Directly from her.

He moved his thumb faster, watched as she grasped at the sheets, twisting it in her hands. Were he truly thinking ahead, he would have known the moment she was going to come- but when she gasped his name, back arched, cunt gripping tightly at his fingers, he found it had taken him entirely by surprise. He had simply been so lost in the moment itself, he hadn’t bothered to try and keep ahead of his partner.

He couldn’t remember the last time that happened.

He kept touching her, fingers thrusting, thumb rolling, as her orgasm wrecked her. She trembled, shook down to her core, coming so hard he had to wonder if it made her belly ache. She truly had been stuck on the edge for quite some time, it seemed.

Only once she had relaxed did Astarion pull his hands from her- not wanting to overstimulate her. While it was a lovely idea, he didn’t think it was what she wanted, in that moment.

She was lax, laying on the bed, staring up at the dark ceiling through dark lashes. Astarion rubbed her thigh affectionately again, found he was smiling to himself. “Better?” he asked, and Shadowheart sat up slowly, swaying a bit as if she wasn’t fully inside her body. She gave a nod, sliding herself closer, keeping her leg draped across Astarion’s lap. Her eyes flicked to his lips. “I wouldn’t,” Astarion warned, as she leaned in, one of her hands pressing to his chest, her breath warm, against his lips. So close. “I taste of blood, darling.”

Shadowheart’s other hand reached up, sank into his curls, as she leaned in, pressed her mouth to his anyway. She was so warm, he wanted to curl up into her heat. She kissed him rather tenderly, slowly- heavy glides of her lips against his, gently presses of her tongue to his, but not something savage and searching.

“I’ve never been afraid of a little blood,” she whispered, before kissing him softly again. The hand on his chest slid down, paused at his belly, toying with the folds of his shirt. “I can feel you, against my thigh.”

Astarion swallowed. There was an offer, unspoken, in her words. Something delightful, if he wanted to take it.

But… “Would you just kiss me?” He spoke softer than he meant to, dared to glance away, feeling raw as he admitted, “I think I just want that, right now.”

The hand on his belly moved, and Shadowheart released her hold on his hair, cupped his cheeks instead, thumbs rubbing tenderly along his jaw. “Gladly.”

[raucousrambutan]

Summons and todays encounter

NPC mire scale named Goodeye

Dish’s pet Basilisk (based on the Flee Mortals design)

Evhoudra’s shadowspawn

and a fucking Hydra

[leviabeat]

In total, 32 bands will be at the Næstved Metalfest 2024 spread over three stages and three days. The final program and schedule will be announced in March.

Via Naestved Metalfest on Instagram

[das-diddy]

Idykett has a relatively new spell called 'Summon Shadowspawn'. With this spell he creates 1 of 3 shadowy monsters, who look like the personification of fear, fury or despair.

Despite often seeming intimidated by everything, he can also be angry for the right reasons. That's why I drew him showing this 3 emotions.

As for the monster design: Fear is a little one, with big ears and eyes, which can see every threat. With it's wet, cold skin can sliver from corner to corner undetected, but it still sharp teeth and claws to panicky defend itself when needed.

Fury is tall and bulky, made out of sharp, hot rock. It roars loudly and everything about it is meant to hurt, from it's huge horns to it's deadly claws.

Despair burns it's emaciated form in sickly green flames. It's long, spindly fingers will hold onto you and drag you down with itself.

What do you think about these monsters and which suits Idykett best?

[onlyhurtforaminute]

SHADOWSPAWN-BONESONG

[amemoryofwot]

Siuan's final speech says she swore the Oaths their sisters have been for the last 3000 years. In 1x02 Egwene says that the Oaths came as the price to end Artur Hawkwing's siege of Tar Valon (which is about 1000 years past in book canon). So like, how long ago did the Seanchan leave the continent in show lore?

[kitsune-kaos]

We leveled up in D&D and now my Paladin/Warlock can cast Summon Shadowspawn, so I messed around a bit with ideas for how its three forms might look

[steampunk-raven]

lol my character for a mini-campaign has so many summons and everyone keeps getting so confused lmao

[wot-tidbits]

New covers for Issue 5 and 6 of The Great Hunt from Dynamite Comics.

Written by RIK HOSKIN and illustrated by MARCIO ABREU with colors by VINICIUS ANDRADE, The Wheel of Time: The Great Hunt also features beautifully rendered covers by MEL RUBI and JORDAN GUNDERSON.

SOURCE

[butterflydm]

WoT 3x07 Deep Dive (additional book spoilers)

Spoilers for the show through 3x07, and for the books through A Memory of Light. Fairly short this time!

As a whole, this episode strikes a very different tone than the same events in the books, but it's a tone that I personally liked better. The Two Rivers does feel smaller and even more isolated... which means that Perrin making deals to save his people feels believable -- they can't win with force alone. Perrin first getting called a lord as a friendly joke and then later called that because of how he is sacrificing himself to save his people plays for me much better than the similar beats in the book do, where it feels more like Jordan just believed that people naturally want to have lords over them, even fiercely independent people like those of the Two Rivers. I also love that the show leans into the Two Rivers being egalitarian, which the books kinda were not always successful at showing.

I am really wondering if all of the deal-making that Perrin is doing in this episode is going to end up being foreshadowing for how the Seanchan are treated in the future! In the books, Perrin makes a 'deal with the devil' to save Faile's life, but in that case, he trades the lives of other people instead of his own, as he does here.

Overall, both Perrin and Mat* have been shown to have a much stronger moral core than their book versions, which will definitely have an impact on how future events play out (this version of Mat would never fall for an unrepentent slaver and the audience would never accept it of him, so Tuon will need to have actual character development in the show if they still want to use that relationship). Perrin taking and keeping the firm moral stance of "people shouldn't be in cages" and now we've seen him make his decision on where he stands on violence -- used in the absolute last resort, but always be prepared to end the violence when possible. Even if you're a danger to him personally (the Whitecloaks) or to everyone that he cares about (the Shadowspawn), if there is a way to create peace, it's worth the cost. But, specifically, where in the books Perrin was shuffling the cost onto other people, here he takes the cost onto himself. Very big thematic difference going on there.

(*Rand actually retains a much stronger moral core in the books than either Mat or Perrin do, even as he does absolutely does do war crimes because he feels like he has no choice; we see Rand showing much more remorse & etc. over it than Perrin or Mat do. I wonder if Rand is going to be played more along the lines of how he is in the books, but now the other two boys will have the ability to help pull him back from the edge, because they're not struggling with the corruption from the Dark One. One of my big frustrations during the "the ta'veren boys all decide to work with the Seanchan" arcs of CoT/KoD is that it made it so that none of them were able to call each other on their bullshit because they were all doing basically identical bullshit)

The other possibility is that the show is setting up strong moral cores for Mat & Perrin in order to break them down again later (which the books essentially do) but, again, I feel like having Mat and Perrin echoing Rand's downward spiral felt like overkill in the books. So we will see what happens there.

Perrin comes off so much better in his relationships with the other Two Rivers people here in the show than he did in the books. Marcus gives Perrin a lot of warmth, and we aren't inside his head, so we don't hear any weird and petty thoughts.

Perrin was big on the weird and petty thoughts -- when he sees Laila again in the books, he thinks about how glad he is that he didn't marry her, because she's gotten chubby after having a baby (I guess Faile is too inherently hot to dare to stay chubby after giving birth). He thinks about how he dislikes Wil al'Seen because of the way Wil smiles at the girls and draws their attention (and he continues to hold Wil's smile against him for almost the entire series! book!Perrin has a vendetta against men who smile). He treats Aram like shit because he doesn't know how to handle Aram's trauma. And he's always playing weird games with Faile because he can smell her emotions but doesn't tell her that, so he's constantly trying to compensate for jealousy that she is feeling but not displaying.

Perrin got such a glow-up in the show. Not having his internal narration did make some things trickier -- that's one of the reasons that Laila was married to him and then died, to externalize one of his internal issues about violence -- but it also makes him come across as a much better and kinder person.

Is Lord Luc just an easter egg cameo or will he return to be Slayer in s4? We don't really get any indication in this season that he's anything more than he appears, and the actor doesn't really 'pop' for me in the role, so I'm inclined towards cameo. Hopefully we will get a chance to find out in s4!

"We deserve respect before battle and honor after it."

I've talked before, I think, about how I feel like the show took something that was (fairly nonsensically) a cultural Two Rivers trait (Must Protect The Women) and turned it into something personal for Perrin that made narrative and emotional sense. So they can still explore how damaging and insulting it can be to have that overprotectiveness, without the nonsense of why this supposedly egalitarian farming region shares this benign misogyny that doesn't really make much sense based on what else we're told about them and the history of the world (the show also did away with another relic that didn't make much sense given what we were told about the region, which was the books' Two Rivers' prudishness about sex).

So instead of all of the Two Rivers' men being overprotective towards women, it's only Perrin, because of what happened with his wife. It's rooted in a personal event instead of being a cultural thing. So the only two characters that we've seen show glimmers of this behavior are Perrin (and specifically for women that he has romantic-ish feelings about -- we've seen him do this with Egwene in early s1 and now Faile in s3) and Galad (about every random woman he encounters). Because Perrin's behavior is coming from grief and trauma, he gets treated more gently by the narrative for acting this way, while Galad gets thumped and put on his ass for White Knighting all over women who don't want or need his help.

I hope we get to see some of the Maidens "using ji'e'toh as an excuse" when it comes to s4 and, hopefully, building up Rand's relationship with the Maidens of the Spear. It would make sense to use Bain & Chiad's relationship with Loial as an example of this for us to look back on and see that this is an established behavior that Maidens can engage in.

I really like the change to Aram's story, since I don't think the show has the time to really dig into the whole "corrupted by a zealot" subplot, plus I hear that the actor is getting more work recently, so he might not even have been available for an expanded role later on. If we do get a cameo of Aram-as-blacksmith in the future, I would be thrilled but I am also really glad that he gets to have this compassionate an ending.

One thing that this episode seems to be doing is shortening or cutting off subplots -- Valda's death cuts off the Morgase & Galad subplot, where he's the one who gets revenge/justice for the 'death' of his mother; it looks like we're going to be doing the Whitecloaks Trial subplot next season, to help fill in Perrin's lack of appearance in The Fires of Heaven; Aram becoming the Two Rivers' blacksmith would seem to cut off that subplot as well.

And Loial dying cuts off probably any and all visits to Steddings and the "convincing the Ogier to join the Last Battle" subplot which, you know, given how expensive it likely was only to have Loial, having an army of Ogier seems even more unlikely. We already had indications last season that the Seanchan "Gardeners" don't exist (the Ogier that fight in their armies), because of the way that Suroth treated Loial, and it's just a lot easier not to have them involved in the Last Battle.

We also dealt with the hammer vs axe conundrum, which implies to me that we may get more wolf-related stuff from Perrin next season, since that part was put on the backburner here. I mean, being in captivity seems like it could potentially being a good time to do wolf dream stuff. We'll see! Hopefully! Come on, give us that s4 renewal!

[clearancecreedwatersurvival]

Y’all…….how the fuck did elaida channel against the black ajah sisters???? Does them being darkfriends count enough to qualify for the ‘it’s okay to use the power as a weapon against shadowspawn’ tenet to the oaths??? Am I remembering the details of the oaths wrong, I thought that one didn’t count against humans? Her life wasn’t in danger! I am Suspicious about her bracelet.

Also I like that scene and how it shows elaida’s motivations, she really does think she serves the light always. Good bait and switch moment for siuan and the audience who thought she was a darkfriend.

[unreasonablereasoner]

WoT finale spoilers and Fires of Heaven spoilers below

Question: how was Alviarin able to kill Siuan with the power without everyone knowing she’s a darkfriend? The oaths prevent murder with the power unless it’s shadowspawn, a darkfriend, or in defense of your life. Regardless of Siuan being sentenced to death, people should have immediately realized Alviarin shouldnt have been able to do that, right? Or am I missing something?

[leviabeat]

Asinhell will perform live for their first concert at Naestved Metalfest 2024

"Michael Poulsen (Volbeat, Asinhell) states, "The first time I stood and played death metal in Musikstalden in Næstved was in 1991. 33 years later, it has now become time again to find the death metal axe and be part of Næstved Metalfest with a new band, Asinhell. I'm looking forward to sharing horn and the love for metal with you all and my good old friend and arranger Michael Hvolgaard Andersen with whom I did my very first interview at home from the boys' room. See you out there and let the metal flow." "

Via Naestved Metalfest on Instagram

[zei-ord-art]

The oaths of an Aes Sedai:

1. To speak no word that is not true

2. To make no weapon with which one man may kill another

3. Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Darkfriends or Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme defense of her life, the life of her Warder, or another Aes Sedai