#araphyra

[potionboy3]

ephyra lionette & aravis malinda

i made my own version of this because apparently i dont have any self control. @kathrynalicemc

[kathrynalicemc]

completely missed you reblogging the crackship ask game but if you're still taking them then i'd love one for effy lionette and my aravis malinda 👀 love them as friends but let's see them as girlfriends!

Ephyra Lionette + Aravis Malinda = Araphyra?

For @potionboy3 This is literally so inspired omg. The easiest aesthetic I’ve ever made because they both mesh so well 😌 Also I believe Effy is actually canonically single?? Someone correct me if not my brain empty from doing essays

[speakersdisaster]

Vynlar’s opinions on other characters yaaaaaay woohoo

OPINIONS ON NPCS

Galladia (angelic guide): Galladia is one of the few people (if you'd consider her that) Vynlar has a negative opinion of. He blames her for pulling him in unwanted directions and affecting every aspect of his life. He doesn't understand her motives just as she doesn't truly understand his. Things would be better between them if he could have his boundaries established and respected, but I mean... she's an angel.

Jakob (father): Tavern owner and good old dad. Always kind to his children, but never there when they needed him. Vynlar loves Jakob for the lessons he taught and how he always managed to keep a roof over everyone's heads, but their relationship was never ideal. Vynlar remembers many rough nights where he spent hours comforting his father despite Jakob never returning the favor. The last time Vynlar saw him, he was working on selling the tavern and buying a bigger house with the money he inherited.

Daratrine (step-mother): A strong elven woman who works as a blacksmith in Vynlar's hometown. As a young child, Vynlar instinctively rejected her love and she respected his boundaries by distancing herself a little too much. For years, they essentially treated each other as roommates. Their relationship improved around the time Edith left for school because they were forced to have real conversations. She made him a very nice longsword before he embarked on his journey and taught him where one can stab a person to kill them instantly.

Edith (half-sister): Vynlar's little sister who he adores unconditionally. He originally spent a lot of time caring for her due to Jakob insisting his connection with Lathander would bless her, but everyone knew Vynlar just flat-out loved the kid. She grew up with his presence more than their parent's. As the two got older, she became very protective over Vynlar; he often let himself get pushed around rather than defend himself and she had NONE of it. Vynlar sweet-talked her way out of consequences for (non-lethally) electrocuting the fuck out of a rude tourist. The day before she left for the mage academy was spent with lots of crying between them. He misses her every day, but knows she's out there doing great things.

Zenlarys: A rowdy paladin who Vynlar had the fortune of working alongside many times. Sometimes the dragonborn's frat boy attitude can be exhausting, but most of the time it just brings the fun out of Vynlar. He doesn't think Zenlarys knows how much he appreciates the friendship they have. Without it, he would probably still be drinking his depression away.

DRESVE (too gay so gets its own section)

And then, obviously, there's Dresve. Vynlar's mentor, best friend, and the absolute love of his life so far as he's concerned. They met in an insignificant tavern that Dresve frequented. On this particular day, the drow was talking up an expedition to the disillusioned bartender and a small, equally bored crowd. The bartender was just about ready to tell him to fuck off when Vynlar insisted Dresve finish the story. The two annoyed the bartender with their presences well into the night.

A couple of days later, when Vynlar went back to the tavern, Dresve was there and trying the same story again. The day after, he's there again. And again. Finally, Vynlar finds him indignantly wandering outside and learns he got permanently banned from the tavern. After playfully mocking him, Vynlar admits his genuine interest in Dresve's stories and asks to hear more, which Dresve is obviously okay with. The two decide to meet and talk regularly at Dresve's dinky little house and they eventually start going on mini-adventures together.

They didn't start dating until about six months into their friendship. There was a time early on in their adventures when the two stumbled into a surprisingly sunlit cavern and Vynlar just fucking grabbed Dresve and pulled his shirt over his head. Vynlar forgot about it, but Dresve told him that's when he fell in love. Vynlar fell in love when he got a bad haircut and Dresve painted his clothes bright red to be more distracting.

But ultimately, why did Vynlar love Dresve? He was easily the least judgmental person he'd ever met; never put him on a pedestal for being aasimar, never thought lesser of him because of it. He was funny, smart, interesting; he helped Vynlar push his boundaries, but never shoved; he was more patient than he needed to be. He had some damn good hair. For the first time in Vynlar's life, he had someone who undoubtedly cared about him and didn't expect anything in return. Sometimes you find people that just work together, and to their friends -- or really anyone who saw 'em - they absolutely worked. If there was never any divine intervention, Vynlar thought they spend the rest of their lives together. 

Galladia had been hounding him for years, but for the last couple months had been incessant. Despite Dresve's severed connection with the Underdark, she clearly didn't like him on principle, but more than that was the lack of real good the two were doing. Not that they didn’t help where they could, but it simply was never enough for her. It didn't help that Vynlar felt much less duty-bound than before. Instead of throwing petty insults about Dresve in dreams, Galladia started showing him paths he could have taken to prevent deaths and what he could do to help in the future. The guilt gradually set in and ate away at him until the sleepless nights were too tolling.

Dresve offered to accompany him on this journey to "achieve something greater", but he didn't actually understand. Why would he? Vynlar never talked about Galladia (with anyone) because she's embarrassing and he didn't want to burden anyone else with her existence. In any case, Vynlar insisted that Dresve live the life he wanted instead of following him. He told Dresve he deserved someone less burdening than an aasimar who's less of a person and more of a vessel.

It an was impulsive, selfish thing to do and Vynlar knows he screwed up. He knows it was his lack of communication that lead him to lose the best man he ever knew. If only he brought up Galladia sooner; if only he accepted Dresve's offer of companionship; if only he didn't let himself be swayed by "bad dreams"; he goes through every potential solution every night.

OPINIONS ON THE GROUP

Elida: Vynlar thinks she's a little shady, but doesn't see her as a threat to him or the good in the world. She clearly has a penchant for stealing but until it crosses a line, he's not yet ready to argue about morality with her. The fact that she calls him Vinnie will drive him mad for a while and his only solace is the nickname bargain they made. When Cohana reveals how she's part of a thieve's guild, well... it is not particularly surprising. He's reserving judgement until they have time to talk about the details.

Miara: Vynlar thinks she's very reserved. He doesn't know much about her at all outside of her friendship with Araphyra. She is also incredibly good at archery, as shown when she fucking impales a swamp dog, so he thinks she probably has an interesting backstory.

Nedlin: Vynlar thinks she's a very nice person! She appears dedicated to her goddess and very willing to help others, but that’s all he knows about her. He has many questions to ask when the time is right.

Neiko: Ah yes. Neiko. God blood versus demon blood; must mean they have inherent beef, right? NAH. They've proven themselves to be a lot of fun despite their impulsive behavior. Reminds Vynlar a little bit of Dresve, actually. He thinks he'd enjoy trading gossip and hearing some of their stories. More importantly, he hopes they avoid stepping into deadly swamp vines in the future.

[speakersdisaster]

Session 3: North Shire

DM here with another recap, world building, and seekrit notes! The party returns to civilsation, makes some friends, reunites a polycule, and Vynlar runs off to rescue his boyfriend.

Inbetween Chat

Outside of sessions, there is a channel on the discord for some light RP and planning. The chat this time around was dominated by camp fire talk, especially in turning poor Zenlarys into a flustered mess... until Oririth confesses and the pair finally get together. Meanwhile, Ellie steals a sock.

North Shire

From the outside, you can see the walled town has some tents set up around it. The town is mainly made up of halflings and humans, but in the past two decades has strangely developed it’s own orc population. The orcs make North Shire one of the safest places between the Great Plains and Gondar, fiercely driving off centaur and gnoll threats, along with other orc tribes.

The town is made to accomadate the size difference between halflings and humans. There are shops and furniture made specifically for halflings, and for halflings to interact with human and larger sized constructs. Ellie was a little much happy with this development, see as though picking her up has become A Thing for the group.

Bluebird’s Rest

On entering North Shire, the party tags along to the Bluebird’s Rest, where immediately a loud and angry WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN is heard and a women with hair of fire tackles Zenlarys. Of course this is Piper, the third member of the polycule, who is happy that her two dragonborn partners finally squared up and confessed, the goobers.

Ellie goes and talks to some halfling grannies knitting, and basically gets adopted. Everyone else gossips with the barkeep. The gang gets together and talks to their NPC friendos, only for Piper to rather rudely interrogate each of them before running off to do something.

Exploring North Shire

So off goes the group, looking for information on Araphyra. The gang checks out the notice board:

notice of Crossroads being destroyed

kobolds are targeting caravans (what Zenlarys and Oririth were investigating)

a new hobgoblin chief is trying to make a name for himself

nightmares have been spotted in the north

notices of centaurs and gnolls causing trouble

sightings of undead in the Mellow Marsh

notice that the Lionguard Draconic Studies expedition was lost in the Mellow Marsh

At the mention of the LDS, Vynlar’s attitude starts to shift a little. The group asks around town for information to help try to find Araphyra, and are pointed towards the official unofficial library of the town, owned by an elf named Cohana.

Along the way, Nedlin spots the drow she helped before, Ivdia. Walking alongside her is an enormous orc wearing a cloak decorated with raven feathers. He introduces himself as Joel, and thanks Nedlin for saving Ivdia, handing her a strange doll with a cloak of raven feathers, saying he hopes it will protect her life as she protected Ivdia’s.

Flowers and Towers

It’s easy enough to follow the directions to this library, only for a notice to be in place, saying the owner is out on business. Ellie, seeing the way the lettering is done, and the flowers used to decorate it, recognises it as someone part of the Eversummer Thieves’ Guild. With no Cohana in sight, they ask around again for some help.

One person suggests they go to ‘that weird Starforge tower. Wizard tower? I don’t know, that Starforge dwarf is doing something, go ask them’.

The tower is incomplete and has a water genasi watching over it, yelling out directions now and then. She quickly tells the group to sod if, she’s got work to do. The gang tries to persuade. She ain’t having none of it. Neiko tries to Charm Person, only to have a hand slapped over their face before they can try anything.

On the way back, they hear a woman yelling at some ‘dumb librarian’, and enter a bakery to see a halfling arguing with an elf, a set of sheets with time tables and other number crunching spread out. After clearing her throat before just shouting AHEM, Ellies get the pair notice the group who have entered. Asking the woman behind the counter gets a laugh as she tells them to ‘ask the arsehole elf. Oi, Cohana, take them back to your library’.

Cohana’s Nook

So Cohana is... a bit prickly. He’s more interested in his own thoughts and notes as the group ask about Araphyra - he even takes out a notebook and starts writing things down, muttering, ignoring those talking to him. Oh, yes, he knows Araphyra, he knows what happened, he knows whether she’s alive or not based on what he’s been told. But. He’s not just going to tell them.

Cohana will give them information and help if they do a simple task. Just head on over to the Mellow Marsh, and gather some information about the area! Super simple! Really! Oh, maybe you also want to go find that lost Draconic Studies group, there was some weird drow who studied gnolls leading it?

Hearing this, Vynlar immediately leaves the building and starts looking on how to reach the marsh.

It’s a pretty quick decision - even if they’re not too sure how good Cohana’s ‘reward of knowledge’ is, it’s obvious Vynlar is set on going to the Mellow Marsh. Ellie is told there was information Yondra would be interested in. Miara wants to know about Araphyra. Nedlin doesn’t want anyone to die. Neiko smells a good story!

Clippity Cloppity Get Off My Property

Off our adventurers go. They spot a hawk with a ribbon tied to it’s leg. They try a few times to coax it over, and fail. A loud screech alerts two centaurs, and it looks like a fight is going to break out.

Why are you here? The party responds with sheathed weapons and asking for help. After a few tense moments, it seems they have made friends with two amused centaurs, though only one of them speaks common. The other, despite the language barrier, seems happy to talk with - at - Ellie, trying to teach her about some mushrooms.

The group learns vaguely of the Earthshatter tribe, and are laughed at more than once for wanting to go near the marsh, and not just knowing it’s a bad place to go to. Why? It just is. It has lizards. Undead. Poison.

Arriving at the Mellow Marsh, the centaurs leave Ellie with a few mushrooms and vials to help deal with poisoning.

Mellow Marsh

It is dark in the marsh. When approaching it, it was a black smudge on the horizon. You can’t see into the marsh - even Nedlin, a drow, couldn’t see into it. It was only after walking into the marsh, like walking through a wall, that they could look around.

Though unfamiliar with marshes, Miara picks up what she assumes is the tracks of the lost Draconic Studies expedition. It brings the group to a sinking bridge, figures of monsters in the distance. The group tries to decide what to do and Neiko wanders off to follow a glowing light... and walks into a vine blight.

Combat time!

Ellie doesn’t see much as Neiko is knocked unconscious, and two dog-like monsters snap and snarl at each other. After a bit of a scuffle, and the joy of dancing lights, the monsters are defeated, and the party meets a blink dog.

The lbink dog whines and stands guard over a bag, growling at whoever tries to take it. Neiko casts speak with animals, and is blown off by the doggo due to being a tiefling. A bit of coaxing and talking, the group learns the blink dog is worried about a drow, and thinks he knows where the drow is.

The session ends with the blink dog herding the group away from another vine blight, ready for them to continue their search through the marshes next session!

DM Seekrit Notes

Ellie did well on her sleight of hand checks when knitting with the grannies and earned 1x Lumpy Sock

i really wished they did go through with using charm person but it was also great to just have an aasimar just be ‘ignore the tiefling pls help us’

there was audible reactions to the Draconic group, and the drow mention

it was super hard not to cackle at a LOUD GASP HUUUHUHUHUHUHHHHH at the subtle-not-subtle hints of who the drow is

seriously I had to do Cohana’s arsehole muttering without laughing it was the best

those centaurs were going to be a very nasty fight if the group didn’t talk it out - even if they drew a weapon, they would’ve been shot

Nazias is Ellie’s new best friend, even if she doesn’t share a language. She just *clenches fist* loves halflings so much.

befriending Nazias got the group some extra goodies

most people did a check when entering the marsh for traps and monsters... but not when they were put on the map. So Neiko just. Walked right into a vine blight.

DYNAMIC LIGHTING IN ROLL20 IS HELLA COOL

except for Ellie who has no darkvision lmao

[speakersdisaster]

Let’s start off with some quick world building, a pair of recaps, and some seekrit DM notes!

The Crossroads

A simple name for a simple tavern and inn on one of the main roads between the capital of Lionguard and the Northern Shire. The original Crossroads Inn was built nearly three centuries ago by the high elf Araphyra, who closed it down only to reopen two decades later with her wife, the wood elf Zylyra.

Before the campaign A forge-general store combination had been established, and a wizard's tower that no-one can seem to remember being built had popped up besides the Crossroads. This isn't too unusual, the area did see some good foot traffic, and the combination of the elven couple and the nearby druid circle help secure it as a safe area to rest and relax. Buildings and businesses come and go at the Crossroads, just like travelers.

While mainly a rest spot, the Crossroads has been the center of some festivals, and even summer camps at times! It made a great point of interaction between the secretive druids of the Kingwood Forest and the public, made easier by the involvement of the two elves. Though Zylyra was somewhat an intimidating figure, she softened somewhat over the years of Araphyra coaxing her into being a more cuddly giant bear, elk, or eagle.

First session The session opened up with each player getting a small chance to mess about the bottom floor of the Crossroads, deciding if they're staying in a room here, or camping out somewhere. Of course everything went tits up several ingame hours later - so about 5 minutes in real life. A massive explosion occurs in the early morning, and Crossroads is very much on fire. Nearby trees have been blasted back, uprooted, and/or are also very much on fire. Oh also there’s some demon looking guys made of smoke, and small fire gremlin things that like to explode. Most of those staying the night have either fled, or died upstairs. Highlights include a heavily armored gold dragonborn falling through to hthe first floor, Neiko making friends with the unofficially dubbed Lightning Bro, and Ellie spotting an angry giant eagle that dive bombed through a window into the building. Second session Yep, things are still on fire. We also have two new characters introduced this session! Nedlin and Vynlar didn’t even get to see Crossroads before it was a burning fun land of monsters, but hey, hit the ground running right? Ellie helps rescue a child. Neiko is good out here. Lightning Bro saves Vynlar from getting punched down to 1HP. A magmin rolls two nat 20s and chases after a 1HP Miara. Things seem to be going well - no new monsters have spawned again, Nedlin is blinded but otherwise no one is unconscious... whiiiich of course means an offscreen NPC fails a roll and we get a big blast of necrotic magic along with the distorted screams of Araphyra. Just because there’s no monsters the group ca see, doesn’t mean the threat is over. They are in a burning building that’s falling apart, and that blast of magic didn’t do anything good. Neiko is still good out here. Miara scuttles out with 1HP, Vynlar just picks Nedlin up and scoots, and Ellie gets to see another blast of magic scrap along the back of the gold dragonborn as both the dragonborn and part of the building collapse. There’s not much hope for a halfling to drag a heavily armored dragonborn out of a building, but Ellie’s attempt snapped Lightning Bro out of her shock, ensuring all three of them got out safely. A bit of walking in a fresh rainfall, talking among themselves, and the offer of shabby tent shelters from those they helped later, and everyone is still somewhat lost and confused but at least they’re not on 1 - 3hp. Oh, and everyone gets level 2, whoo! ...not that that is that impressive when you get told the whole ‘building exploded into monsters and flames’ was possibly caused by a lich. Or a kobold god. Seekrit DM Notes

I had a roll table for deciding which NPC died and how

im so happy ellie got to see the giant eagle thing bcus that required such a specific set of circumstances to happen

I’m still dying at how the magmins passed 2/3 Vicious Mockery saves from Neiko

also dying at the magmin getting double nat 20s to spot Miara

Nedlin avoided her first IC thing being getting her face blasted off by a NPC since she approached her the right way. Yay people skills!

There are a few different things for each NPC if they ended up dying, depending on how it happened and if another NPC saw it

For example, when Oririth (gold dragonborn) was hit with the magic blast, Zenlarys (Lightning Bro) saw it and basically Blue Screen of Death’d - if no one snapped her out of it, she wouldn’t of moved and both of them would have been killed when the building collapsed

i think i went a bit too hard on the opening event being a burning building full of monsters and fire and dying NPCs but we can always do some nice and simple giant rat killing next time

there was a specific thing in place for if any of the PCs died in the building :3c