#also the lesbian dnd quest

[aczissleepytwin]

there is no way it was an acident somone at hoyo precicion optimised those voicelines to be as qeer coded as posible and is now probably laughting like a maniac at their sucess

[dungeonsandblorbos]

Meet the Blorbos: Juniper "Jun" Vyardes

this time, it's my first actual DnD character, half-elf cleric/bard Jun Vyardes!

made my senior year of college for an Aquisitions Incorporated campaign with the same group as the Cypher PJO campaign, Jun was designed in collaboration with my then boyfriend (now husband). while we were originally thinking of making our characters exes, we eventually came to the conclusion that no, it would be way funnier if my half-elf cleric and his half-orc barbarian were long-separated half-siblings with lots of baggage on account of their shared human father (a bard, of course) being a terrible father

i am happy to report that they got over it within three months of working together for a dubiously helpful adventuring corporation, and are now best friends who ganged up on Daddy Bard when he suddenly appeared in their lives again expecting everything to be fine

fiercely devoted to her friends and committed to justice, Jun will also remind you that her patron is, in fact, a party goddess, so it's not like she doesn't know how to have fun. indeed, she plays a mean fiddle and has a few killer edible recipes, and her sass knows no bounds. real big sister energy tbh

growing up the daughter of a traveling bard, she's great with change, but never learned how to put down roots. when she left Daddy Bard's side and devoted herself to Vestia, a human goddess of domestic fires and revelry, she thought she'd found her home. for some time, she really was content there—but the road still called to her, and she prayed for wisdom. Vestia answered by granting her powers and sending her out into the world to do good deeds. eventually, this quest led her to Acquisitions Incorporated, where her take charge and go first attitude quickly got her into danger

you'd think getting a year's experience of adventuring would teach her to stand back a bit and let the martials hit the enemies up close while she does support magic and fire spells from afar, but being so far away makes it hard to protect her teammates. and it only took her a couple of months to realize that these teammates—along with her one true love Eleni, a fellow devotee of Vestia—were exactly the home she had always been searching for. she's not about to let anyone die on her, whatever it takes

[whatisurspaghettipolicy]

I think it's really fascinating that a lot of the complaints I see about Shadowheart is her to-hit rate because for me that illuminates a very clever bit of character building via her subclass mechanics. Excuse me a second, I've been a 5e DM for about six years now and I've been thinking a lot about each of the BG3 companions in terms of stats/mechanics haha.

Yes, you can go in and rebuild her and make her a light/life domain and optimise either damage or healing. But we can break down two good story reasons for her being a trickery domain cleric:

(behind a cut bc implied/actual spoilers)

1. Trickery and Shar. Shar is an evil goddess, but she's also the absolute embodiment of the Cain instinct; just a constant opp for her twin sister. She's a duplicitous trickster who has even stolen Selûne's identity in the past. Having Shadowheart as a Trickery domain reminds us - the players - that Shar is a primarily a little dickhead who loves to lie and cheat - which stands at odds with Shadowheart's massive penalties to deception.

Early on in her personal quest, just from this surface read, we know: her god lies, her god's domain and followers are all about trickery, and Shadowheart is very bad at lying directly. When you couple this with the initial places where she gets hit with the ouchies from Shar (the Blighted Village when you're reading about children being taken, the Selûne statue in the Blighted Village, finding Kagha torturing a little girl underground...) and it's quite easy to piece together the arc of her personal quest, in a very OH NO way.

(This could be a whole other stat/build conversation - as a half-elf, Shadowheart should be naturally better than average at social rolls like deception because half-elves receive an automatic +2 to their charisma score at creation...but living in a cult and having your personality shackled to a divine shock collar would absolutely affect that. And her high elf ability [firebolt] relying on intelligence to hit??? The fact that as a half-elf high elf she's likely half moon elf????? I love these little mechanical details.)

2. How trickery clerics are best used. This is where a lot of people who haven't DM'd DnD for the life of a small child fall down I think. But here's the thing: trickery domain clerics are best when they do not fight at all. They're decent healers, but it's more than that; they are advantage bots.

Blessing of the Trickster gives your allies advantage on stealth checks. Good for them.

Guiding bolt has a 70% chance to hit? That's why you use Channel Divinity: Invoke Duplicity. You add an illusory version of yourself to the field to distract and disrupt, giving advantage to your allies.

Your teammate's social encounter not going well? You can add either a quick guidance or charm person (again, giving them advantage) to the mix.

Time to sneak? Good thing you get Pass Without Trace. Let's go lesbians! That's a +10 to stealth checks for all your allies!

Each of these things is an action; she sacrifices her own action in a turn to support and aid another. Unless she has Healing Word up, she's left choosing whether to help or heal; actually fighting likely won't be super up in priorities, especially with her to-hit rate.

We know from the House of Grief that she was trained as a healer. It seems odd that she'd be in a subclass that doesn't focus on that - like the Life Domain. But this subclass gives us the greatest indication of all that she was raised as a tool for both Shar and her Mother Superior, making you, as a player, try to balance her ability to heal with her disrupting spells and abilities, meaning a sacrifice in her ability to hit any fuckin thing at all.

Anyway, chef's kiss, I love the secondary story about each companion the game tells via mechanics.

[trappedinafantasy37]

Now that we've got the Bhaal upgrades, time to resume ignoring the main quest until we reach max level.

Ran into this loser outside the Nerd Hub. He very much remembers Shadowheart knocking his lights out. Greatest piece of irony is that he also got beat up by the goblin horde that Minthara was once in charge of. He just keeps taking L's from these evil lesbians.

This man is an example as to why Minthara uses the word wizard like it's a slur. If you flipped open the dictionary to look up the definition of the word "douchebag", you'll find this fuckers face.

Minthara really wants me to go snitch to Dame Aylin. She is on a personal mission to beat up every wizard she can find. I like to think that, in her youth, she used to go out of her way just to harass and bully any wizard in the Baenre House for fun. Let's be honest, she could kick their asses easily. It's even funnier to consider she's directly related to Gromph Baenre (more than likely her uncle) and that man is totally the foundation of her opinion on wizards.

Did as babygorl asked, Shadowheart snitched. I now have two (2) paladins who are interested in beating up a wizard.

You know, if Lorroakan wasn't such a colossal fuck nut, this would actually be kind of intimidating.

Behold! The ultimate back breaker!

Uh, oh! It would appear that Aylin's oath has been broken. Too bad she can't just give her mommy some money to reinstate it. No, she has to abide by DnD rules while Minthara gets a shortcut. Sucks to be her!

Minthara's mission was a success! Beat up a wizard AND got a paladin to break their oath. What a great day for our evil murder kitten!

As much as I hate the wizard, this fight was actually really hard with just Shadowheart and Minthara. But we managed! We also did not hesitate to sneak into his vault and rob him. What was he gonna do? Stop us?

<Bhaal Stuff | Speedrun >

[rainedroptalks]

raine raine your ocs raine the radiant rejects I need to know more about them what are their classes I beg

HIII ZEETH!!! I was asleep when you sent this I think but im answering it now <33

Okay so now’s the time to reveal I don’t actually know that much about dnd mechanics. I’ve never actually played it lol, so all my knowledge is from various dnd shows and podcasts I’ve seen over the years

Now with that:

Caleb Rowar - my half-orc guy, he’s basically “the leader” of the group and he’s also a paladin. I don’t think he’s ever thought of himself or self care in the past 3 years

Gray Elaran - high elf, pretentious theatre kid. He’s a bard. There’s no other option there

Annie Hawkins (whose actual name is Marianne. Annie’s a nickname) - human cowgirl. She’s a ranger, and also she does artificing but as a hobby. She’s basically the lesbian you go to during an apocalypse, she definitely has doomsday supplies

Erin Willows - my sweet cowardly half elf boy. He’s a warlock. Now how he got to be a warlock is that his patron used to know his parents and is a weird aunt type figure. He really wishes he just chose wizard classes. He really does

Fern Viruk - littlest goblin guy. Also a barbarian. They’re just a lil guy with a huge fucking mace. Terrifying in fights, bad at talking to people.

Molly Graves - the new girl of the group, her first day was the worst. Firbolg fighter, I haven’t actually decided on her weapon yet. One day

One day I’ll read those dnd handbooks and understand how classes actually work. But until then I’m just having fun here

Also! Fun fact “Radiant Rejects” isn’t even their party name, it’s supposed to be one of those “Say hi Intrepid Heroes” bits (like Magical Misfits or Questing Queens). I’m very emotionally attached to the name tho so it is not changing

[doodlegraveyard]

3/5 specialist designs (riven and sky can be a set because they’re both pissing me off)

[Image description: Specialist redesigns. The Red Fountain uniform is restyled as something like a cross between a fencing uniform and futuristic flight suit, a white and grey cropped military jacket with high boots and gloves with pointed, dragon-like flairs. A red crest in the shape of a dragon is over their heart. All the Specialists wear the uniform a little differently: Tim, slim with shaggy brown hair, wears his jacket open, as it’s a bit too large; his weapon is styled as a laser crossbow rifle. Brandon, broad and confident, wears some additional armor and heavy duty gloves, wielding his oversized halberd phantoblade. Helia wears a monk-like red sash draped over her shoulder, with three pleats signifying she is their upperclassmen; her hair is pulled up with a pin in the shape of a dragon’s head. End description.]

long winded mess of thoughts under the cut

my rage and confusion @ why the red fountain uniforms are BLUE...(didnt make them all-red bc i know the paladins who show up later are also red... anyway i like the white) i also got rid of their unnecessary color coding and just let each boy wear the uniform a little differently. There are red capes for the standard uniform most students just don’t wear them on missions for practicality’s sake.  I was trying to balance sci fi and fantasy and im really partial to it tbh.

Red fountain thoughts: there are courses for Specialists and sorcerers, but the sorcerer core is much smaller, exclusive and specialized and is mostly for older students/basically the equivalent of extended education (all the sorcerers at red fountain have to go thru basic specialist/combat training, its one of the things that are specific to this ‘order’ of sorcerer.) In my quest to differentiate witches/fairies/the male magic users (i’m using ‘sorcerer’ over wizard bc i like it better that's all) i decided that sorcerers have an almost dnd cleric/warlock pact with a Magic Entity who they draw power from. This power can be revoked hence theres developed an almost a monk or knight-like code of honor and ethics in most larger sorcerers orders. In the case of Red Fountain they are, of course, Dragon sorcerers. I’m making Dragons a bit rarer and more revered (what with them being associated with basically the creator deity of this world) so those skinny things the specialists ride are....draconic animals but not Dragons. i’ll call them drakes or make them wyverns maybe?

Anyway the RF Sorcerers all swear fealty to The Dragon of Red Fountain who i imagine is mostly dormant in a secret treasure room lair at the center of their school-fortress. MAYBE this is where Helia was for that hot second where she ‘dropped out’ of being a specialist (YET HELIA IS A SPECIALIST AGAIN LATER WITH NO EXPLANATION......i want the show to know theres a difference between ‘ougjhgutj mysterious’ and ‘literally we know nothing about what this person has going on’)

Also. I made Helia a girl. I know he’s already a bishonen but i wanted to co-ed-ify both RF and Alfea and while background male faries works i REALLY wanted an on screen female specialist. Figured it was easier to just trans one of the existing known characters than ingratiate ppl to a new one and tbh helia is the one this affects least. if anything it makes her more interesting. also that agonizingly shy non-courtship between helia and flora where they like barely talked but are obsessed w each other IS lesbian behavior.

Helia in my version has a Reason to be there, which is, ‘this underclassmen squad is STILL not meshing and they keep Causing Problems, also maybe one of them is under watch bc he mutinied/got mind controlled, here is an upperclassman to be In Charge. She then proceeds to NOT be helpful in solving their problems.

Bran’s weapon got switched out. a polearm feels appropriate for a royal guard while also feeling Stately enough to lend to him making a convincing fake prince? he’s definitely the tanky guy here

I love Timmys little mullet. I feel like he’s from a colony planet for some reason. some backwater moon, smartest guy in town who got into a really prestigious school, u know? Also I am a “Timmy is the leader” truther

[artistic-moth-man]

So I've been wondering if I should make this update post and I decided I'm gonna

Basically it's just to let you guys all know what exactly is going on in my unmedicated ADHD Brain by explaining every single project of mine that's currently in the works. pretty much nothing in this list is released yet so don't go looking for them

Starting off with stuff I'm collaborating with others on

Danny and the Light - an original graphic novel on webtoon that got cancelled and is getting rebooted (don't get excited though we're taking our time with it) with @stormcloudquill

Chrysalis Chronicles - An original illustrated novel or graphic novel (i haven't decided) that's ripping off/fixing all the things wrong about harry potter; with @thekrazykitsune

Mincraft Diaries - Yep! Aphmau's Minecraft Diaries, rekindled and made into fanfiction and/or a graphic novel (probably both) and this one will actually have an ending; also with @thekrazykitsune

Avatar: Lion Turtle Heart - a fanfic graphic novel about a firebending avatar after korra named Akira working to unravel the mysteries of her past self, Avatar Kazu, and his death that even she can't comprehend, as well as the strange appearance of a baby lion turtle that Akira now has to care for. Doing this with @mayday396

now for fanfic works I'm doing alone

Legend of Emily Windsnap - Rebooting Emily Windsnap's story in fanfiction form. this fic is actually going to be released some time this or next year (hopefully this year but shit's hitting the fan on my life currently) and book 1 is actually near finished!

Digidestined Diaries - a reboot of seasons 1-4 of Digimon in either fic or graphic novel form. may or may not do this with stormcloud, but I'm not sure. the thing that makes this so special is that tamers and frontier take place in the same universe as adventure. yes, takato meets Tai, and no it does not go well for the others involved

Wizard101, The Legacy of Atlas - telling a story heavily based off the first arc of Wizard101 quests with a balance wizard as a main character, featuring the friends they make and the enemies they face as the chosen one to defeat Mallistaire. this will absolutely be in fic form, most likely with illustrations

Bloom's Magic, Beta writing - a written fanfic reboot of Winx Club as a beta version of the story I planned with Storm. the comic version of BM is currently on the backburner and is gonna have some differences to the written version, but it'll be something I promise

Finally, some original works that I plan on publishing!

Chronos and Kalayah - a Time Traveler named Chronos rushes around time looking for their best friend, an immortal named Kalayah. the two of them constantly avoid the temporal police while simultaneously helping Kalayah survive being a black lesbian in American history. likely only going to consist of one book and have a novel and graphic novel form

Call My Soul - a Magic Girl series featuring Blake Janes, an ordinary boy who stumbles upon an alien named Alexandrite. Alex is tasked with keeping safe the artifacts of the ancient magical shogunate, whose spirits end up choosing Blake and his gal pals to protect themselves from the evil prince Tsukuyomi, who wants nothing more than the artifacts. this graphic novel gets really gay really fast so strap in when it comes out

Roll For Adventure - a young boy named Matt who loves playing DnD is isekai'd into a land straight out of Lord Of The Rings, and he is absolutely stoked. while he is looking for a portal back home, his elf friend Sequoia and Orc friend Yevelda help him fight his way through the coming war between the eight races. Fun Fact; I use my dice to help the characters make decisions. even major story beats are going to be up to my D20!

Lucifer the Good - this story is precious to me, and hard to describe. it involves four kids being isekai'd into a world filled with magical monsters and elemental creatures, being guided by a young voice to find secret angels, all while villainous demons under King Devil work to stop the kids from ever leaving this new world. even worse, the human kids are the only ones who can undo the vile curse on the land of magic.

that's all the stories that I'm actively working on, but I do have at least 10 more that I'm leaving on the backburner to focus on these ones! Call My Soul is also getting very little attention, but I am actively working on it! I'm seriously hoping at least one of my original works will be released to the public by 2025, but again, life is crazy. anyway, my next few posts are gonna involve Digidestined Diaries while I work on finishing up Emily Windsnap Book 2 and finalize book 1. there's only one change I wanna make, then I'll get to releasing it to AO3 and Wattpad! I promise, at least one of these will be worth the wait :3

[arwainian]

Reading This Week 2024 #34

Hello! a professor I worked with last semester on his fantasy genre class asked for a recommendation for a queer book recommendation because apparently he admires my knowledge of contemporary fantasy publishing. I gave him a novella that seemed like it's fit the themes he was looking at (Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh), and took the compliment instead of telling him that there are so many queer fantasy books my beloved tumblr mutuals are obsessed with but I haven't gotten to yet

Finished:

Invisible Kingdom, Vol. 1: Walking the Path and Vol. 2: Edge of Everything written by G. Willow WIlson, art by Christian Ward this was pitched to me as cool scifi with lesbian leads, but to be perfectly honest i am not getting the chemistry between them at all..... the first volume was cool but the second felt like a major let down. I'm interested to see where the final volume goes tho so I'll still give it a shot

Bloom Into You, Vol. 2-3 by Nakatani Nio, translated by Jenny McKeon on the other hand, the girls in lesbians in this manga are coming for my fucking throat. they are kind and caring but the Teenage Desire in this is strong and extremely messy (what is love? what does it mean to fall in love? what if you fall for each other at different speeds? is what you're doing with her right if you dont think you feel the same way?) reading it is like poking me in a bruise fucking WHAT

The Sprite and the Gardener by Rii Abrego and Joe Whitt gorgeous art, bland story

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden inter-generational lesbian friendship roadtrip in rural texas. the way the world gets progressively stranger is very well done. this is a comparison i haven't seen made yet, but maybe check it out if you like Alice Isn't Dead?

long day by kathkin on ao3

Maigret Bides His Time by Georges Simenon, translated by Alastair Hamilton just a short old mystery novel. fun time but in an outdated style

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, narrated by Michael Page Locke Lamora is... as you might say a Character Type that works for me very very often, to the point that I gender flipped it for a dnd character of mine. This was a great book with basically no misplaced or extraneous world building elements: it feels rich and lived in but everything snaps together perfectly. The book could maybe use more women, which maybe feels a bit greedy since there are a number of named interesting women characters, but none of them are leads and so those side characters just made me crave more. I just am also extremely OC-pilled and was kicking my feet imagining my girl Letha running around Camorr causing trouble.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 1 written by Kanehito Yamada, art by Tsukara Abe, translated by Misa "Japanese Ammo" fun and sweet, pretty straight forward in what it's doing so far

Female Husbands: A Trans History by Jen Manion, narrated by Kate Harper a thorough history of many assigned-female-at-birth people in the UK and the US who passed as men, often legally marrying women for desire or for gender passing reasons (though not all of the people discussed in this book did so). leaves open both lesbian/same-sex desire and transmasculine interpretations, while also being as specific as possible to the lives, circumstances, and testimonies of its subjects (including the ways we know about them, and that very few of them after being discovered as "women" were allowed to continue in male dress)

Sensor by Junji Ito, translated by Jocelyne Allen hm. well, interested to hear the Shelved by Genre opinion on this.

Started/Ongoing:

The River of Silver: Tales from the Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty, narrated by Soneela Nankani finishing out the short vignette collection from this series

Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms edited by Sacchi Green a collection of semi erotic lesbian fairytales that I'm reading through. first one has an exiled princess cross dressing as a man and seducing a witch during her quest to slay a dragon

Homie by Danez Smith poetry book i picked up because my black queer lit prof from last year talked about the second poem in here, which i think lives up to his interpretation of it

Reading Plans:

tbh, my brain is coughing up dust right now. finish the stuff in the prior section. get ready for actually writing my thesis in the coming months.

OH I'm going to read A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood for my queer lit book club, and I guess check out whatever Shelved by Genre is reading next? gotta take a look at my Libby loans, and pull something from my book shelf

[queenofthieves]

OC TAG GAME

thank you @lavampira for the tag!!! <3 I'll also be answering for my dnd oc c':, and I'll tag @sirotras @frozenabattoir @hero-of-the-horn

name: Nadezhda Alexeyevna

nickname: Nadya, pretty much everyone calls her Nadya

gender: woman

star sign: uhh idk

personality type: neutral good

height: 5'10"

orientation: lesbian

nationality/ethnicity: human

favorite fruit: strawberries

favorite season: winter and spring

favorite scent: she likes warm, spicy, and dark kind of scents. like woody smokey or peppercorn

coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: tea and/or coffee, she needs the caffeine for spy stuffs

average hours of sleep: 8

dogs or cats: she loves both, even helped find a lost dog in the sewers as a side quest in game. but her familiar so far has been a shrike and a bat lovingly called Chrihgdkjf (always different) or keyboard smash at the moment

dream trip: oh I guess back to the living world?

number of blankets: three, but she does love cuddling so that would probably cut down on blankets. Three is just a good amount since she can remove them or add them back depending on the weather.

random fact: She's a necromancer and spy. Necromancer Barbie inspired, and originally I considered some Tridentarii inspiration, but she feels so far from that. It's like one of those early parts of making her that she now feels so removed from.

[the-french-belphegor]

So I played ttrpg for the very first time yesterday and had an absolute BLAST!? I vaguely wanted to try for years, but none of my various groups of friends was into it and I was a bit meh about the online version. But there’s a monthly session at the library I work at, so I took the plunge recently and dove in. The DM and the party were super welcoming and I’m really looking forward to more!

I had to make two characters - one DnD (5e, Forgotten Realms), and another for a French RPG called Les terres d’Arran, with another DM (a player is setting up his very first campaign). Everyone had to make a character for that last one, and between that and the fact that they had to finish the arc before I met the DnD party I didn’t get to roll a die, but I did get to play both characters and get things started and it was sooo fun 💜

So here are my characters:

On the left, Malva Chaumette, middle-aged halfling bard, who left her village and family a relatively short time ago to follow a more experienced bard. She’s sweet and unassuming and very self-conscious (it gets better when she’s playing) and basically a natural born auntie. She went into town and was accosted by a kid in rags asking whether she was a real musician and could play well (her answer: “I hope so” :D). She followed him, half-expecting to be mugged in an alley - to her surprise, the kid worked for an innkeeper seeking a musician, and after a bit of haggling she got a job (and room and board) for 5 copper a day, meals included. We’ll see where she goes from there! (I copied the background from The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, btw.)

And then on the left, you’ve got Zinna Millybrook, my disaster child, a flamboyant lesbian mage whose quest in life is finding the perfect mage hat (and incidentally find her family; she was found in a hay cart when she was a kid and grew up on the streets, before a human mage took her as her apprentice - she’s the only person Zinna trusts). When the story start, she’s in a tavern and hears a drunk old dwarf blather about a “stone tree” and treasure, three dwarves saying they’ll check it out in the morning, and a bunch of strangers setting up a party to arrive first. So she heavily flirts with the barmaid to convince her to get the dwarves drunk (and also just because) before leaving with the party - but who knows what will happen if they do find the treasure :D

I’m really excited 🥰

[quill-n]

SYBY LORE POST

Oh man this one's long overdue

to put into perspective how long I've been procrastinating this post, this was originally saved in my drafts as "Syby lore post because my campaign is ending this week!!!!" (that campaign ended back in June)

I'm not sure how many people are/will be interested in my pathetic little dnd character's tragic little love story (to say she is a disaster lesbian is an understatement), but it'll be below the cut :)

Sybil started out as an orphan on Darktow. Scrawny and just generally weird, she essentially fended for herself until she grew up to become a pirate, but her first crew she joined had been wiped out by an unexpected sea serpent attack. (That's how she lost her tail.)

Luckily for Sybil, she was rescued by another passing pirate crew. They fished her out of the water, figuring that disaster had hit, and Wetherby convinced Captain Covell to have mercy on her. He begrudgingly let her join the crew.

Covell was not very nice to Sybil, though. She was also not very keen on his general cruelty towards others. Still, she stayed—she was grateful that Wetherby stood up for her. They were quick to develop feelings and eventually became a couple.

But Sybil growing tired of Covell's tyranny. She came up with a plan to overthrow him and take over the ship, and with Wetherby's help, they made an attempt at mutiny—but it failed.

Sybil managed to escape, but in the chaos, she left Wetherby behind. She decided not to turn back, though, and fled across the continent, away from the Menagerie Coast and away from the Revelry.

She did not know what happened to Wetherby, but she felt guilty nonetheless. She ran for months, barely surviving with just her weapons and the clothes on her back, until she reached Asarius on the other side of the continent, where she met with an odd group of lost souls (with whom she would join their adventuring party named Requiem to lead a quest to save the world, but that's not what this post is about).

During their quest, they encountered Wetherby again—on the enemy side of an ambush in an alleyway. But during the battle, she betrayed her group of attackers and joined the fight on Requiem's side. After the battle had been won, an awkward (and slightly angry and violent) reunion between Sybil and Wetherby revealed that Covell nearly had Wetherby's head after the mutiny, but he'd evidently decided to spare her. Worse news for them yet was that in the time that Sybil had been gone, Covell had earned the title of Plank King, so now he was the leader of an entire pirate army (yikes).

Wetherby offered her aid to Requiem, telling them to travel to Darktow—that they could find something there to help take down their enemies. She led them back across Wildemount, headed west towards the coast.

A couple weeks' worth of shenanigans ensued. Some team bonding happened, we learned that Wetherby was a chaotic bitch. Wetherby was also apparently not mad enough at Sybil to Not sleep with her in a dark, echoing tunnel 20 feet from the party's camp. At one point during their journey, Wetherby had been severely injured in a fight against a troll. Instead of flying down to be healed, she stubbornly flew higher up out of earshot. In a silly joking manner, Sybil fired a warning shot with her pistol to try and get her to come down. It worked a little too well and she ended up hitting Wetherby directly—shooting her out of the sky.

Player's note: My DM said that I'd only hit Wetherby if I rolled a nat 1. You'll never guess what I rolled.

Luckily, the healer of the party managed to bring her back from the brink of death. Needless to say, Sybil was quite distraught that she'd nearly killed her girlfriend for the second time. But for some reason, Wetherby seemed unphased by it.

Either way, they continued travelling. Wetherby started acting suspiciously as they got closer to the coast, leaving the group for certain amounts of time. Sybil received a coin enchanted as a tracking device from another party member, which she turned into a necklace and disguised as an apology gift to Wetherby so she could see where she was going. Nothing of note came from that investigation, though.

(There was also an awkward reunion between another Requiem party member and his boyfriend-who-he-thought-had-been-dead-this-whole-time. This is relevant information, I promise.)

Once the team made it to the coast, they secured a ship to Darktow and started sailing, but it was only smooth sailing for so long. A few days into their journey, a hostile ship marked with one of their enemy's sigils attacked. Wetherby revealed herself to be working with them. She took the boyfriend-who-was-thought-to-be-dead as hostage, and slit his throat when he tried to fight back. He fell dead at her hands, just out of reach of the party.

In a moment of chaos and betrayal and clarity, Sybil raised her pistol and fired, shooting Wetherby down in one shot—intentionally, this time.

There was not time to reconvene or grieve. The enemy ship—led by none other than Captain Covell himself—was upon them. In an awful stroke of luck, the necromancers on Covell's side brought Wetherby back to false life. She rose rotten and spectral; a ghost. And she said to Sybil,

"It's too bad you're as weak as you are. We could've been immortal together."

They fought on opposing sides of the battle. It was a difficult fight, but Requiem managed to win in the end (surprisingly with no lives lost). Covell had been defeated—the final blow being dealt by Sybil herself—but Wetherby escaped with the rest of the enemies.

Requiem was left with the grief of being betrayed, and the heavy task of figuring out what they should do next now that they'd been led astray. They regrouped, went back to the drawing board, and figured out where to go from there—more traveling ensued.

They were ambushed in the forest, led into a trap by some cultists—and of course Wetherby was there. Requiem fought hard, but they were quickly overpowered and captured. (Some stuff happened when they finally managed to break out, but I'm going to gloss over that because this is a Sybil and Wetherby post. Long story short is that chaos broke out and Wetherby fled the scene again.)

They continued their quest, gaining more allies for the final battle—and they did not see Wetherby again. That is until a mysterious letter appeared on everyone's bed, asking them to meet at a certain location to collect a reward. One of Wetherby's feathers accompanied Sybil's letter.

Despite all their suspicions, Requiem followed the letters' orders to meet at the address—and they quite literally found themselves in a portal to Hell. They were face-to-face with the very cultists they were fighting against, and the cultists offered them a gift and a bargain—an attempt to sway them from being enemies.

The gift was practically heads on a platter. People that had caused the party grief throughout their journey, tied and gagged and handed over. Powerful enemies at Requiem's mercy. Among them was Wetherby.

But unlike her party members—who took great pleasure in striking the final blow on their offerings—Sybil could not find it in herself to kill Wetherby again. She was angry, but she was not vengeful.

She asked Wetherby if she'd ever loved her. She didn't. Not at the end, at least.

Both of them were resigned to their fates. Wetherby returned the necklace to Sybil, and disappeared when Sybil released her back in the material plane.

That was the last that Sybil ever saw of Wetherby. (During the campaign, at least.) It wasn't a violent, satisfying ending, but it was still the closure that Sybil needed.

Requiem and their allies fought their battle and won. With their newfound success, Sybil bought a ship of her own, and now she captains her own crew, free from the heartache that old bird used to cause her.

And that's it! Not including all the aus and epilogue shenanigans I have with them (through some silly circumstances, she has a son now <3)

They mean lots to me, even if Sybil is a disaster and the bird was a traitorous evil bitch !!!

(We revived the boyfriend by the way. They got married in epilogue, it was very cute)

I have their playlists linked too btw!! in case anyone's curious :)

[Sybil's playlist]

[Wetherby's playlist]

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed my silly little rambles <3

[belphegor1982]

OKAY OKAY SO

I said I'd be able to play DnD Saturday and I did!! And it was sooo good 🥰

Oh man, I am 100% hooked. I love the other TTRPG, but DnD is something else. I played my late middle-aged halfling bard I'd RPed juuust a little way back in April (my Malva) while the rest of the party finished the arc they were on. The DM incorporated her into the story with another new character (the only other woman), Antinua the half-elven mage, and she and Malva did a bit of camping for a week - and were beset by bandits! I was down to 3 hit points at some point 😅 Good thing I packed Cure Wounds! (But Malva got the kill on the main attacker and also his purse, so how's that for a highwayman? "Your money and your life!" And yes she made that joke because she's a huge dork :D)

Met with the rest of the party (mostly), a tiefling rogue and a half-orc (almost full orc) monk, and off we went on an archaeological quest to find an oracle in the middle of ruins. Shenanigans ensued, we met a whole lot of NPCs, and we were attacked by a bunch of kobolds in the ruins!

GUYS! I got to cast Vicious Mockery! I got to give inspiration to our rogue! I scribbled ideas on a paper waiting for my turn, and to the tune of Prince's "Superstitious" I sung something (in French, natch) that could roughly translate as this:

A little inspiration We will back you up A little inspiration Now go fuck them up

I felt very silly and very proud that everybody cracked up 😄

*happy sigh* Man, I thought I'd love playing a bard and I am SO HAPPY to be right. October's going to be all about the other RPG and my disaster lesbian gnome mage (love her), but November can't come quickly enough!!

[kotalloxaloy]

Ok, so I finally finished Burning Shores and I have several thoughts

Below the cut because I'm sure many people haven't played and I don't want to spoil anything!

I liked the DLC! I had a lot of fun. I thought the setting was really interesting, I liked the new characters and the storyline definitely drew me in and I fucking LOVE the new mount (PSA you can take it to the main map and go underwater in the expanse of ocean that you can't swim through. There is nothing interesting down there and it pops up the warning that the current is too strong, but you can swim through it no problem.)

Yes I'm sad there was no Kotallo. It's fine, I wasn't expecting him, and we only saw Sylens and Alva so the other GAIA gang wasn't there either. I am extra disappointed that we can't go talk to him more!!! But I think that it's cool that Kotallo traveling to the sundom for the new embassy is canon now. I think lots of fics put forth the idea that Kotallo would act as a diplomat for the Tenakth to the Carja in Fashav's place. Cool that it's canon now.

I chose to kiss Seyka. Normally I pick the brain options but if I'm given an opportunity to kiss a girl in games I do it! Now, I haven't had the time to process everything well enough to pick apart the romantic story line (was it rushed? was there enough lead up to it? did it make sense?) but I do think Seyka is a good match for Aloy- the whole "I broke my tribe's rules and used technology I wasn't supposed to to help me accomplish an important personal goal" is very reminiscent of Aloy using a focus despite Rost insisting that it was dangerous.

Yes I still ship Aloy with some people who are not women. The devs have not said and nothing in the game has confirmed that Aloy (or Elisabet or Beta) is a lesbian. I myself am a bisexual woman and I am a big stickler about bi erasure. I also headcanon Kotallo as Bi. and plenty of other characters for that matter. The main thing that FW and Burning Shores confirmed for me is that Aloy (and Elisabet, and presumably Beta since they have the same DNA) is queer and I absolutely love it. More queer women leads in video games!!!

The fucking villian. Oh my god. I know I just talked about being bi but goddamnit they cast SAM WITWER as the villian??? I literally have never been so disgusted by a character I was attracted to. I've had a thing for Sam Witwer for like 13 years back when he was on Being Human. I got his autograph at a con and have it displayed in a DnD book that he contributed to. I didn't even realize it was Sam Witwer until I walked into that room with his face plastered all over the walls. Before that we only heard his recorded voice and saw holograms of him-and that never looks or sounds exactly like the character. But I walked by that first photo on the left when you walk in and I literally yelled out "SAM WITWER?" listen I could go into it more as to why i'm horrified by his character but I am a Sam Witwer fan so I can and will appreciate his performance.

Walter Londra is disgusting and I literally yelled "GROSS" out loud with the way he looked at Seyka's sister. I'm so glad Seyka was like "ABSOLUTELY NOT" and put a stop to it because if I had to watch one more second I might have puked.

I liked the theme park. Dinos are fun.

I play on story mode so maybe this is because I'm on the easiest setting, but I was able to walk on and in the lava and only go caught on fire once I was like waist deep in it. that was weird.

I would like significantly more underwater content with the Waterwing. I absolutely love it an I was just going up and down into the sky and into the water. extremely cool and I just want more underwater stuff to do with it.

There was an NPC with vitiligo which I thought was neat.

I almost cried at the end of Gildun's little side quest. And when Aloy gave him a focus I just thought it was so sweet!

I kind of felt bad for Evelyn Day? I know everyone had it bad, lots of people ended their lives before the Faro Plague hit them, and I know she cheated on her husband with his best friend which is kind of a dick move. but that last recording was very sad.

SYLENS 😭😭😭 I know I probably feel more attached to him knowing that Lance Riddick has passed away. But the end there, Aloy was SO MEAN to him! I was like "NO ALOY! He isn't doing this to prove he is the smartest!!! He decided to stay when he saw the friendships you formed! You showed him that there is value in human connection and that maybe there is a little hope when people work together!" I think she saw the good in him in the end but she was so snarky about it!

I probably have more thoughts but that's enough for now. I'm not very interested in an discourse about the devs offering a love interest or if the story of the dlc was good or whatever. I had fun, I can't wait for Horizon 3, and I still love Kotallo and ship him with Aloy but I'll be just as happy if we end up with Seyka or another WLW ship in the end for Aloy. The end. Please enjoy the queue that I just filled for you!

[wyrdhearth]

NEW BG3 / DND OCS.

ILIAD GRAYBLEAK : tiefling life cleric (of ilmater). 28. bisexual (slight pref. for women).

born to a hardworking rugweaver named hebe graybleak, iliad is the oldest of four siblings raised by hebe alone. though he had never known his father, iliad had never lacked for anything thanks to everything his mother did for him. practically a saint, she instilled in him a deep respect for sacrifice and the suffering she endured to raise their family. when his mother fell ill and was close to death, iliad prayed over her night and day until the god, ilmater, answered his prayers and saved his mother. since then he has been a loyal worshipper of the crying god. he has devoted himself to worship of ilmater, and has joined his clergy to better serve him, moving to baldur's gate in order to be able to also slowly gather enough finds to move his mother close to his temple there so that he can better provide for her. iliad has three other half-siblings: thekla, his younger sister; ilektra, his youngest sister, and aeson, ilektra's twin brother. iliad is intended to be written as 'tav', and his primary love interest is shadowheart.

FENLEAF 'FEN' QUICKQUARRY : wood half-elf beast master ranger/thief rogue. 26. bisexual (pref. for women).

a would-be member of the zhentarim, fenleaf was ejected from their ranks after she was blamed for a stolen shipment –– something she actually had nothing to do with. since then, she's sworn to take down every last one of them, with special exception for her partner, abad el-kareem, who sold her out and let her take the blame for his botched attempts to betray the group. for a time, she had made a deal with auntie ethel in which she gave up her voice for a year –– the year has since passed, but the places in which her mouth was sown shut have been inked as a reminder of the deal she'd made with the hag. she often travels with her dire wolf, snaggle. she can be recruited by the missing shipment quest area, while tracking the gnolls.

ZEPHYR WYND : firbolg swarmkeeper domain. 25. heterosexual.

an outlander, zephyr and his druid sister, breeze, grew up far from baldur's gate. they were happy traveling the wilds alone for many years. but when the cult of the absolute split them up, zephyr decided he would do whatever he needed to in order to get his sister back and make sure she was alright. he can be recruited as a companion within the myconid village in the underdark in act two, believing that wherever moonrise towers is he'll be able to find breeze there.

KE'NAH MASRANI : fire genasi spirits bard. 22. lesbian.

ke'nah used to travel with her human mother (hudan), a weaver, before the two settled down together with her lover (s'samira, the half-wood elf) in the forests of barovia. one day when she was 10, she was taken by a hag named noma'nomanar, who had lured her away after a big fight with her mother. the hag made a deal with ke'nah that she would let her leave safely if she could find her way back home, but ke'nah could never find the cottage. for five years, ke'nah kept trying to return home, but eventually gave up, realizing she'd never see her mother or her lover again. ke'nah allowed noma to raise her until she was old enough to depart, using ke'nah until she found a new, younger assistant to keep by her side. now, she travels as a side-show act, telling fortunes and contacting the spirits of the departed, hoping to see her mother again once more. ke'nah can be used as a bg3 npc, and has a dark urge verse as well.

NOVAKARI : kalashtar stars druid. 21. bisexual (no pref).

plagued by the strife of the quori soul within her, nova is on a quest to heal the fracturing minds of her people, and searching for a way to free them of the dreaming dark. she grew up in a kalashtar settlement called uv-suvir, hidden behind a massive waterfall in adar (eberron) –– as part of her quest, she was teleported to faerûn, seeking to collect one of three asters: pieces of stars that she could then bring back to adar to help craft a barrier for her people that would keep the dreaming dark away. her quest takes her first across eberron to find the first aster, then over to faerûn, and inevitably to the world of exandria to seek out the other two asters she needs. nova can be recruited as a bg3 companion.

[dungeonsandkobolds]

1: if you were asked to reboot dnd, what classes would you make sure were available from the start? Are there any of the main 5e classes that you feel aren't necessary to still capture the "feel" of dnd?

2: have you tried other games in the PbtA system like monster of the week or blades in the dark?

3: do you have a favorite or lucky dice set?

Wow this question is really hard (I'm not super sure if i get your meaning of 'available from the start'? sorry) I think all of the main 5e classes are pretty solid archetypes - although I might personally tweak Paladin to have less of an emphasis on gods and more on swearing an oath to a cause/having some kind of duty (not precluding that being a holy quest though, i just feel like the whole 'crusader' trope is why a lot of people aren't interested in the class)

(and before people ask I actually really like the ranger class and prefer giving artificer 'additional content' status

2. Don't think I've tried any PbtA systems? But a bunch of my friends do have plans to play Thirsty Sword Lesbians

3. Absolutely! I have 2 dice sets that were given to me by friends, and those are automatically my lucky dice sets. I also have a cheese dice set that I reserve for doing stupid shit

[cal-cium-the-nerd]

me, explaining my character to my dnd group: ok so i'm a half-elf called Elphaba who is a bard and my main instrument is a kazoo which was stolen by goblins, but that same kazoo was also given to me by my fiancee as an engagement gift. Our wedding is in a month and if i don't show up with the kazoo she WILL divorce me, no matter if we're already married or not.