#before the casters

[asleepinawell]

enjoying ast a lot

[heybiji]

how nice it is to meet people as oneself.

[wyrmwright]

something something plot relevant v-necks

Bonus: the shirt

[moss-cola]

Ruler of everything

[veriitasu]

Guess who finished LB6!!!

[evionart]

"I thought I could trust him."

Post Act 2 moment where the unwavering boyscout paladin Gaius hit his breaking point.

Spoilery writing under the cut

----

Wyll noticed Gaius was missing from his usual spot near the campfire. That was enough to worry him. Doubly so after the Astral Plane ambush they'd just survived.

Thankfully, he found Gaius just outside the ruined walls. Sitting in the dark, with his back to the camp.

"Out for a little stargazing?" Wyll asked with a measure of forced levity. "Can't say I blame you, sleep won't be easy after-"

He cut off as Gaius looked up at him. Wyll'd never seen the big guy so harrowed. Distraught. Fresh tears were trailing down dried lines.

Wyll sat quickly and placed a hand against Gaius's back. "What's wrong?"

Gaius's shoulders quaked, accompanied with a loud sniffle. "I thought I could trust him."

The warlock felt his heart drop. He knew what was happening all too well.

"After the Creche - when he offered his life willingly. He protected us. So- So when he said to use the tadpoles-" Gaius ground his palm into reddened eyes. "I didn't want to, but I felt like I owed that to 'im. So I did. Just a few. And - they helped."

Wyll listened, heart-aching. Risks and sacrifices and the grief that accompanied them were a well-trod road for him. But to see his paladin - the shining, naive, grinning beacon of goodness - breaking like this. He'd rather face Avernus again.

"That worm he offered - it wants to change me, Wyll. Even when I said no - my body kept goin' without me. I was barely able to keep it out."

"I don't wanna become an Ilithid, Wyll," Gaius sobbed. "I don't wanna lose my soul. But- part of me still wants that worm so badly. I- I let them in, an' now- a-and now..." Gaius clenched Wyll's hand painfully.

"I feel... violated."

[galedekarios]

honestly, while we're on the topic this whole 'gale has beef/rivalry with sorcerers' can be boiled down to (other than completely misunderstanding the "are you versed in magic?" dialogue):

ppl: pick the most obnoxious & arrogant & rude sorcerer options in the dialogue tree gale: claps back eventually ppl: omg you see gale is Totally Jealous of sorcerers & he's so so bitchy abt my incredible power~

and

gale: tells them about how being a chosen of the goddess of magic and an archmage has made him more knowledgable in areas (like cleansing the shadow weave) ppl: Um Akshually i'm just as capable

[sequentialprophet]

uhhhhhh

Daniel Garcia, how dare you

[moeblob]

Amazing, take some of the side character demons from Evil Bound.

Vincie is a menace to Chuck and Chuck alone so in Hell, Chuck hexes his hand behind his back so that he isn't grabbed as much (and it's harder to pet him). Chuck is like the most irresponsible older sibling ever to demons though so Kelvin recruits him (as an older sibling vibe) to go help him get his ACTUAL older sibling from Earth. Chuck agrees. And then drags Vincie from Hell with them because no one else wants to babysit him and he refuses to unbind the hex just to re-hex when he returns to Hell.

In Hell, Kelvin actually doesn't appear much different than his human form! Like Kronos, the lines under his eyes are red in Hell but black on earth. Chuck however? In Hell he has wolf-ish ears and has a fur lining his neck (note the neck scars in human form). In addition to that he has four eyes in Hell (note the scars under his eyes in human form). Vincie just has horns in Hell. And! In Hell the hex doesn't have a silly looking "tied up" look, it's invisible unless Vincie strains it with movement and then its red text. But it shifts on earth to be visible.

Vincie's biggest agony for the entirety on earth is "dude it's colder here than in Hell I want a jacket to slip my arms into BUT I CANT BECAUSE IM BOUND".

[leofrith]

i had only ever seen the gale version of the sorcerer/sussur tree dialogue before this and anyway i continue to be convinced that nobody is good enough for karlach actually 🥺👉👈

[wall-eye]

wiggly little guys with wiggly little hats

[enden-k]

after over 4 years one of my two lost husband is finally home (with the power of free ticket) ffs he never wanted to 💀💀💀💀

[the-cornuthaum]

holy shit i hate some of the new stages in IS4 a lot.

particularly No More Than Four.

Because you know what's great on a floor 1 map, which you can get at your literal first fight? enemies with 70% res. 70% res that basically forces you into taking a fucking phys dps primary because - again - this can literally be the first stage you get, and an e1 80 reed alter, whose s2 has approximately one shumillion dps normally, bounces off helplessly. Oh, and the shieldguards move at you in packs of 3 so you better fucking have either a 3 block (there's only one start with defenders) (oh and also they stack up together and gain a morbillion defence, rendering almost all phys burst units useless) or some really fucking heavy phys burst

i hate low-floor maps that force me into certain starter picks. I hated it in IS3 when the Dublinn floaters- WHY IS IT ALWAYS FUCKING DUBLINN, WHY IS IT ALWAYS THESE FUCKWAFFLES - also meant having to pick a starter with something ranged so you didn't hemorrhage light

TLDR chapter 9 was a mistake, I hate every single enemy they introduced in that fucking miserable slog, arknights would have been better off if it never existed and yes, I am pretty tilted right now, all of this is written with hate in my heart

[myreia]

✦ B L A C K M A G E

Black magic. The tempest of fire and ice and thunder that has been with her for as long as she can remember. Her control over it made her a force to be reckoned as a youth, the key to the specialized unit her parents staked their lives on. It has been many years since then. She has lost her strength and her focus to an enemy, clawed it back and reclaimed it in the aftermath, continued to grow with every step of the journey.   Though she has moved on in many ways, she will always return to her roots. —level 90 compendium

[lvminisciel]

dance macabre

let us have this dance of macabre!

strums of lullaby accompany our steps

spectators of all kinds eagerly waiting in silence 

people of all race, of all ages

humans and fae alike, mingling into one

isn't this what you always long for, my dearest?

rub away your tears, if you would

look above, my dear!

look how the ceilings crumbled, 

forging a path upon the starry skies

under the sea of stars shall we waltz with grace

one step forward, two steps back

a tango everyone desires

now then, don your brightest smiles!

as we are the prima donna of this palace 

knightly boots replacing glass slippers

briars and thorns, prettier than roses

mere infatuations and lust desist,

only loyalty alone shall exist

hush now, dear

do not loathe me amidst parada

cease your sadness at once

bury your soul deep within one’s eyes

never let those speckles of aurora

be tarnished by the mere sight of carcass 

for I have bestowed you the honor

of taking my hand for this dance

moving in front ochos,

I whisper to you eternal happiness

a promise that’ll never go unkept

holier than the eternal slumber

oh, if only the crowd would cheer!

rather than rotting beneath our feet 

but fret not, my dear 

as we have a long night ahead of us!

[hakunonon]

*remembers that fgo gave an animation update to the giant ghost enemy*

*remembers that na then ported that animation in about 3 months, while most servants have to wait a year or more to get their update*

*remembers that there are like fifty early servants who haven't gotten animation updates at all yet, including relatively popular ssrs*

*punches a hole in my wall*