#bit of a longer one XP

[muffinsin]

Hi

Now hear me out!!

what if from the start (when the girls turned from flies to people for the first time inspired by one of your recent post) had another sister but this sister could turn in to moths instead and the only other difference is that they have moth like anterior in their human form like a silk moth! And they don't talk much but just squeaks (moths infact do squeak!)

Now this moth sister does not have to be the youngest because I think Daniel is in fact that younger child that gets everything. And if Alcina infact had 4 daughter instead of three they would most likely be a middle child I think younger than Cassandra though.

I could imagine cassandra becoming very soft for them infact the whole family because this moth baby may not be the baby of the family but is hold tightly from both the flies and dragon family members.

The moth sister would definitely be the comfort character squeaking and rubbing their anterior against Bela when she's stressed. Hugging Cassandra randomly and excitedly listening the her sisters hunts and then cuddling with Daniel reading after she had a tough day.

Just some fluffy thoughts and I wonder what you think and Alcina having four children and one of them being part moth.

Awh, adorable! XP I’m sure Alcina would love her 4 bug spawns very, very much! :) What interesting possibilities this opens up🙌

[finnick002]

How to kill Mizora in act 3 without damning Wyll

A few months ago I made a reddit post on this matter. Thought I should share this tutorial with Tumblr folks too and add a few more notes plus an alternative method to it.

Players have discovered Flesh to Stone can turn Mizora into a statue, but this tutorial helps you erase Mizora's presence on the material plane. Both methods involves the use of illithid powers, meaning you have to absorb a few tadpoles. But, to quote Wyll, that's "a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things".

Method 1. Drain Intelligence -> Absorb Intellect

You need: A character who has gone through partial ceremorphosis and unlocked illithid power Absorb Intellect,

A wizard/fighter/rogue (classes that use Intelligence for spell casting) who has unlocked illithid power Ability Drain, and a cleric/druid who is at least level 9. One character may satisfy more than one roles. If you're short on tadpoles, please refer to this page for the locations to find them.

Step 1. Let the wizard/fighter/rogue attack Mizora with any attack roll spells (e.g. Firebolt) to drain her Intelligence. Alternatively, equip Infernal Rapier and melee attack Mizora. Repeat until her Intelligence is drained to 1.

Step 2. (IMPORTANT!) Let the cleric/druid prepare the spell Contagion. Cast the Contagion: Mindfire variant of it on Mizora. Wait for her to fail the saving throws 3 times. (She needs to succeed the saves 3 times to nullify this spell.)

After 3 failed saves, Mizora will turn hostile due to the spell effect and a battle commences. This step is to make sure that you can safely kill her. Otherwise, your entire camp would turn hostile, and Wyll and Ulder would no longer be your allies.

Step 3. Let the character who has gone through partial ceremorphosis use Absorb Intellect on Mizora. It is recommended that this character has a high initiative to act first. Once you successfully hit Mizora, the combat ends, your party gain 1 XP, Mizora teleports away but leaves a pool of blood on the ground.

And then she teleports back - as a disintegrating corpse that turns into a pile of ash after 1 round. No loot from her. What a shame!

Playing flute on her ash XD

Method 2. Drain Strength -> Summon Shadow -> Strength Drain

This method is very similar to the first one. You still need a cleric/druid and a character who has unlocked Ability Drain (preferably someone with high Strength), but no one needs to go through partial ceremorphosis. Instead, back in act 2 you need Gale to craft a Shadow Lantern in Moonrise Towers.

Step 1. Equip Shadow Lantern and cast Conjure Shadow Lantern Wraith to summon a Shadow.

Step 2. Let the character who has unlocked Ability Drain to drain Mizora's Strength. You have many options like melee attacking her, or throwing rotten food, boots, underwear, or anything in your inventory at her. Repeat until her Strength is drained to no higher than 3.

Step 3 is same as step 2 in method 1 - Cast Contagion: Mindfire on Mizora and wait for her to turn hostile.

Step 4. Let the summoned Shadow use Strength Drain on Mizora. She shall die in the same way.

Babygirl you do need a good rest after 7 years of abuse and torment!

So far, in my testings, dead Mizora doesn't affect Wyll's quest, nor does he have a reaction to it. However, it makes saving Ulder a bit easier: when Ulder steps outside of his cell room, the cutscene where Mizora shows up will be skipped. The spiders will still be summoned, but Ulder won't waste a turn forced to kneel.

PS. You may notice My origin Wyll here doesn't have horns but Karlach is also in my party. Some players have also discovered this way to trick Mizora in act 1, by knocking out Wyll every night until the party have entered Mountain Pass. I will post details about this after I get a reliable way to achieve it.

[teencopandthesourwolf]

STFU!

for the @sterekdrabbles 30/09/24 challenge. the prompt words were VORACIOUS, LOUD, and MILK. also tagging @sterekdrabblesgonelong as this ended up going long (884 words) xp

also found HERE on ao3

rating: EXPLICIT

Derek finally caves, succumbing to Stiles's feral wiles and allowing Stiles to drag that disgustingly hot wolfy-ass beneath Stiles's not exactly fresh and not exactly sexy bed sheets, for what is the B-movie prelude to (god willing!) the night's main event that will hopefully see Stiles Stilinski getting royally fucked within an inch of his Gay Virgin life.

Stiles—albeit inexperienced in this department but very much making up for that with a voracious sort of enthusiasm, thank you very much—is in the middle of sloppily sucking Derek off. The werewolf's not actually knotted cock-end is currently mercilessly bumping the back of Stiles's throat (Stiles is loving the fact he's never had a gag reflex, and by all accounts so is Derek), before a mix of precome and spit is confusingly flicking up into Stiles's eyes and hair as Derek manhandles him to skillfully flip their positions, Derek now suddenly the one with a mouth stuffed full of steel-hard cock.

Stiles is instantly shrieking Derek's name like a lunatic (ha) at having Derek's brand-hot mouth clamped around him, so loud Derek has to shove all four fingers of his left hand into Stiles's mouth to essentially gag him—and hopefully desist any need the neighbours could have to call the Sheriff and tell Stiles's old man his only son might be getting his throat ripped out by a wild animal of unknown description.

It embarrassingly takes no time at all of Derek swallowing Stiles down like a champ (and giving his balls a glorious beard rash for him to jerk off over tomorrow) for Stiles to be dangerously close to shooting his load—directly into what feels likely to be Derek's fucking stomach at this point, because jesus fucking christ he's gonna come hard—and he finds himself slapping haphazardly and manically at the ball of Derek's shoulder with the palm of his hand, as if they're in an wrestling ring and Stiles is desperately trying to tap-out of a full nelson.  

“No-no-no! Stop-stop-stop, Der, please, you gotta—or I'm gonna, y'know, like I'll—and it'll happen, like—shiiiiiiit, oh, man, you cannot keep doing that with your tongue, big guy, or it's gonna be game over before it's even properly begun!” he manages to splutter out, indignant and rambling more than usual with the insane levels of pleasure now shooting throughout his body like a trillion miniscule lightning strikes.  

Derek, of course, completely ignores Stiles and absolutely keeps swirling his gorgeously warm and wet tongue around what is definitely the most intense hard-on of Stiles's eighteen years on this planet, like his dick is not actually a dick at all but Derek's favourite flavour of popsicle. Although, Stiles now knows that The D (or at least Derek Hale's fantastic D) does not, in fact, taste anything like any popsicle Stiles has ever consumed; it's maybe more like salt-water taffy, only with less sugar and a lot more salt and holy mother of god, Stiles loves, loves, loves it. And even trying his dumb best to distract himself from what he knows is the inevitable, to make this not-so-little slice of pure heaven last just a teensy bit longer, Stiles knows thinking about the taste of cock while getting blown by the hottest creature he's ever had the good fortune to lay eyes on is definitely not helping his situation one iota.  

Thank fucking fuck, Derek chooses this moment to relinquish the divine vacuum he's got going on between Stiles's inner thighs via what are probably now obscenely swollen-red lips, when he releases Stiles's erection with an incredibly filthy-sounding pop.   

Almost dizzy from the change in pressure around his junk, Stiles forces his head up to eye Derek (whose lips really are an obscenely swollen-red, which is even more outrageously hot than Stiles had imagined) just as Derek says, “I'm about to suck your deranged brain out through your pretty cock, Stiles, then I'm gonna milk you dry until you're begging me to stop. So, you better hang on to something, and be careful not to bite your tongue off when I stab mine into your slit and use it to fuck your dick till you're crying, okay?” as if he's talking into the McDonald's drive through speaker to order himself a Big Mac meal with large fries and a shake, and not unknowingly acting out a spank-bank worthy scene from one of Stiles's wet dreams. 

Hell, Stiles all but comes, there and fucking then, because who the fuck says shit like that?! 

His face is doing what must be a very strange mix of a smile and a frown as he just about manages to pathetically whine the words, “But Der, oh my god, I really, really need you to fuck me!”

And yeah, he's practically crying already.

Fuck off.  

Derek grins, then, and Stiles doesn't think he's ever been more his wild wolf-self as he licks his canines and growls out, “What makes you think I won't be taking advantage of what I know is your excellent refractory period, to make you orgasm like a fucking freight train, at least twice, before I rail your tight little ass until dawn and give you several more, hmm?” 

And—honestly, Stiles has never shut the fuck up faster in all his life.

.

come leave me a comment HERE over on ao3 :)

[autistichalsin]

Gameplay changes I'd make to BG3 if I was in charge:

(Under a read more bc this is an insanely long list)

Ability to make party changes without going back to camp; I.E. "hey Lae'zel, go back to camp and tell Karlach to come here."

Able to see companion approval at all times even if they're not in the party

Able to make checks with any character, not just Tav. You used to be able to do this to an extent by having other characters do conversations, but when they made it so Tav was prioritized back in patch 6, they changed it so that even if you click with another companion, it switches to Tav. Ideally they would fix it so that if the conversation triggers automatically, it prioritizes Tav, and if you deliberately start a conversation with another companion, it recognizes that you wanted that.

Better item sorting. "Most recent" actually sorts by when you acquired the item.

Ability to text search for an item if you know its name.

Ability to mark an item as a favorite so you don't accidentally sell it/drop it/send it back to camp.

Quest items don't count against your weight total.

Quest items that are no longer relevant are no longer marked as quest items.

Either allow for character leveling past 12 (Even if class leveling is limited to 12) or adjust the difficulty across the board so you scale more evenly. Act 1 becomes a bit easier, act 2 remains about the same, act 3 becomes a lot harder. I should not hit the level cap early in act 3.

Alternatively, at least give a reward in lieu of XP when you hit the level cap. Items, gold, a points system that lets you use excess XP to buy additional spell slots/wilshape charges/rage charges/bardic inspiration, something.

Story mode; battles are disabled, allowing you to solely explore and focus on the story elements.

Dark Urge as a companion.

Ability to change who your unfortunate murder victim is, outside of Alfira and Quill. Maybe it's Zevlor, or Rolan, or Kagha.

More recruitable evil companions. Kagha, Wulbren, and Ethel are a good start.

Halsin recruitable in act 1 or at least no later than the start of act 2.

More reactivity for story developments after act 1, particularly in act 3 when it drops to little comments here or there.

More reactivity for Dark Urge story elements in particular, especially everything related to the Orin fight.

Ability to fast travel to quest-related markers.

Ability to hook up your companions. Let me smooch Halsin but hook up Karlach and Wyll, or let me romance Wyll while hooking up Halsin and Astarion!

Change point and click lines for characters to reflect story developments (resist Durge should sound less unhinged, Lae'zel shouldn't reference Vlaakith after turning away from her, etc)

Let your love interest answer questions about you during the love dryad test. You can select the right answers beforehand, and then they'll answer right or wrong depending on a bit of approval and a bit of luck/dice rolling. Halsin, of course, will automatically know you fear krakens.

Fighting Gortash at the coronation is actually an option that doesn't break the bridges and doesn't disable fast travel into Wyrm's Rock once he's defeated.

Give the gnomes the ability to fix Karlach's engine, or at least work on a prototype.

Option to speed up or entirely skip enemy turns, coming back to you and giving you a brief recap of who was hit and for how much damage/what status effects. This would make the courtyard, in particular, less of a slog. I should not be able to finish my turn, take a pee break, and come back to the enemies still attacking.

Ability to make it more clear what your relationship with Halsin is in a polymance- keep it as a one night stand/physical relationship, make it a poly romance with your other partner as your nesting partner, or even make it a throuple. Similarly, if the latter, add scenes of your partners getting to know each other better, kissing, etc.

Don't tie so many plot events to long rests while stressing that the player needs to hurry to avoid ceremorphosis. Either drop the facade that there is a rush, or make these plot developments happen outside of camp.

Consequences for using tadpoles beyond one (possibly two as of patch 7) dice rolls. Make it so using too many will cause you to squid, no matter what.

Ideally, bring back the plot that was teased in act 1, where instead of being the Emperor, you Dream Guardian was your tadpole, trying to seduce you to let it take over.

Better balancing for Rangers at higher levels, as as it is now, you basically have to multiclass them to get any decent use out of them. After level 5 any additional levels spent on Ranger are wasted.

Improve Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster to use the class's standard stat instead of int or wis for their spells.

All wildshape attacks minus three of the four myrmidons should count as unarmed for the purposes of tavern brawler and other similar things that buff unarmed attacks working.

Make the Emperor/Orpheus a fully autonomous party member, allowing you to give them equipment (and allowing them to use potions/spells they didn't already have on hand) during the final battle.

Fix pathfinding for characters you don't control, and especially fix them automatically jumping back to the other side of a gap just because you had to switch to a character who wouldn't make the jump before.

Improve Fly so that it is better than Jump outside of like 2-3 levels.

Some kind of enemy-rush mode where you see how long you can last against all the bosses in the game would be amazing.

Ability to either return to the city and finish up some quests before the epilogue.

New game plus.

Origin Halsin and Minthara.

The game does a better job of remembering that Halsin isn't tadpoled, and also does a better job of not always assuming that if you're in a poly relationship with him, you want the other partner prioritized for literally every scene.

Resist scene for Minthara and Halsin.

Recruitable Aylin and Isobel. Ideally, you can also romance them and become their third.

Dye preview, as well as clothing and armor previews.

Armor scales in weight with your size, so the same armor put on a small character will weigh less than the same armor on a large character, allowing little characters more options.

Druids automatically revert to human form for cutscenes, then return to wildshape after without losing a charge.

Orin can kidnap any character, including your romanced companion, but to compensate, there are less steps needed to access the Temple of Bhaal.

The kidnapped companion is not guaranteed to be unharmed even if you save them; depending on how long you took, they might have been badly tortured and receive a status debuff that lasts several days.

Faith-leap trial is fixed so that you can actually solve it without either a guide or cheesing it.

Let Wyll dump Mizora as a patron, then become an Archfey warlock with Thaniel and Oliver as his patrons. Wyll then becomes a nature defender.

More autonomy for Wyll in his quest. You can't make the pivotal choices of his story arc for him, and instead, your ability to convince him is tied to dice rolls that have a DC scaled to your approval, like for SH.

Able to take Scratch and Owlbear home in the epilogue, instead of only being able to send Owlbear with SH, Halsin, or you if romanced to either.

Let Karlach stay in the House of Hope if Hope lived, allowing her to live in Avernus without having to constantly fight and fear Zariel.

More interesting Speak With Animals conversations. They drop dramatically after act 1, and by act 3 there are very few times I use the spell anymore, just to talk to the kitties.

Able to cast certain spells (I.E. Hero's Feast) on all recruited characters, not just those in the active party.

54. Fix the morality system for Paladin oaths so that it's more clear what actions will break your oath ahead of time.

55. Give players more chances to fix things if a character turns temporarily hostile. I shouldn't lose a vendor, quest, etc for good because of a failed persuasion roll. There should be one more chance to fix it.

56. More deities for players to choose from; if not for Clerics, at least add more at the Stormshore Tabernacle. Ideally, allow even other classes to talk about having a favored deity, as most in the Realms do, and it would be interesting to, for example, be a Ranger, worship Mielikki, and have dialogue with Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc.

57. Act 3 gets more unique music instead of largely reusing tunes from acts 1 and 2.

58. More companions so that every race and every class has representation.

59. Elves act more elven. Halsin and Astarion can have conversations in Elvish. Arnell is not confused by Shadowheart choosing her own name.

60. Free healing by Halsin. He is a world-renowned healer and would be great to see him use it more. Also, more shown of him researching medical conditions, helping sick/injured civilians in Baldur's Gate, etc.

61. The Shadow Curse breaks as soon as Ketheric dies or Thaniel and Oiver are reunited, whichever comes later, so the player can see the lands not influenced by the curse. Move the cutscene that plays on leaving the lands to this point, just without the bit of the party leaving the land.

62. Ability to save Art Cullagh so he won't die shortly after the game ends.

63. After you defend Halsin's portal, you get to play a side-quest where Halsin fights through the Shadowfell, finds Thaniel, and fights his way back. OR, you can delegate the portal defense to your other party members, and join Halsin in the Shadowfell to help him find Thaniel.

64. Introduce a weather system and a day/night system.

65. When you knock out a character using non-lethal attacks, the character is actually treated as alive, letting it be used outside of Minthara, Minsc, and Alfira.

66. Scene of Withers telling the players who he really is. Dark Urge players can become Withers' Chosen after they reject Bhaal, while Tav and non-Shadowheart Origins can be it from earlier on, maybe a scene early in act 2, and Shadowheart can be it after turning from Shar.

67. The Dark Urge's Urge manifests in battle, causing them to sometimes waste an action torturing a victim who's already been downed, or to turn hostile on allied characters.

68. More references to the Dark Urge being chronically ill as a result of their brain injury- this is brought up periodically in act 1 and then dropped for the most part. This could even lead to scenes of romanced characters comforting them when they have a headache or fainting spells.

69. More intra-party conflicts besides SH and Lae'zel, and the possible Halsin-Minthara ultimatum. Let the evil characters get angry at Gale for wasting magical items and try to kick him out.

70. Implement the Halsin-Minthara ultimatum, but don't make it an ultimatum; instead Halsin simply signals his intention to leave, and if you want him instead of Minthara, you bring up sending her away. Also make it clear that the Absolute still hunts Halsin for what happened in the Grove and for fighting Ketheric 100 years ago, showing that even without a tadpole, he has stakes in this too. Also make it clearer that Minthara is severely triggering his past trauma with all her pro-slavery talk, possibly causing him to gain a status debuff if he's near her. That way people will stop demonizing Halsin there will be more of a feeling of balance in the ultimatum.

71. Ability to rescue children (particularly the orphaned ones in act 3) and bring them back to camp for Halsin and/or Jaheira to mother.

72. When you're in the final battle, the companions who aren't fighting at your side are instead on a sidequest evacuating the city and fighting the mindflayers who are terrorizing the citizens. Alternatively, just for this one battle, you can bring all your recruited companions with you (it would certainly help make that courtyard fight more balanced if you aren't using invisibility potions).

73. Platonic paths get just as much weight as romantic ones. You can become Karlach's best friend forever and go on friendly outings with her. You can train with Lae'zel. Etc.

74. Setting for romance/sexual encoutners/offers to be turned off entirely.

75. Explorer difficulty allows you to multiclass still.

76. More quests for evil players.

77. Every romanceable character has at least one action that will cause them to break up with you, and every companion has one that will cause them to leave the party (outside of sinking approval to -40).

78. Option to turn on a "confirm action" button, so that accidentally clicking on an item in red that's right next to a communal use item doesn't get you aggro'd.

79. Optional choice to add in random encounters.

80. Reintroduce class-specific tadpole powers from Early Access.

81. Ability to help people in the city more; you can offer refugees shelter at your camp, feed or pay all beggars, etc. Telling the rich they suck for not helping is great but I want to be able to do more.

82. Sidequest for that Druid who's trying to save the dying tree in Baldur's Gate, ideally with special Halsin and Jaheira interactions.

83. More conversations like the one with Halsin and Jaheira in act 2, where controlling a character lets you talk to another and unlock special dialogues you don't otherwise get.

84. The circus is now a proper carnival, including magic-fueled rides, treatos, and a tunnel of love. Also, the Bhaalists are trying to interfere with the rides and get people killed, which you have to stop.

85. You have the option to tell owlbear cub that you don't want to give him the potion to make him grow faster because he deserves to stay a cub and grow naturally.

86. You can give companions little gifts, like SH with the night orchid. You can give Halsin his pipe back.

87. You can choose to join a companion in the endgame even if you haven't romanced them. You can move to Halsin's commune or keep Astarion company in the Underdark.

88. Ability to evict companions from your camp at any time, with a corresponding chewing out from the companions who stayed unless you have a really good reason for it.

89. Bring back the datamined bits where companions who left your party would later show up in the courtyard battle, tadpoled (if not already) and under the Absolute's control. (Maybe with a scene showing how it happened, including the tadpoling for Halsin and Jaheira who wouldn't have been infected before).

90. Bring back the datamined scenes from the morphic pool where the netherbrain would make the party have hallucinations corresponding to their insecurities. Including the option to comfort them after, especially your romanced partner.

91. Optional ability to cook meals yourself, maybe with a little cooking minigame like Pokemon has. Different foods can give you different status benefits the next day.

92. Ability to travel back to any act at any time before the final point of no return.

93. Act 1's point of no return is either entering the Underdark or the Mountain Pass, or entering the Shadow-Cursed Lands, but not either entering the Shadow-Cursed Lands from the Underdark or entering the Mountain Pass.

94. A gardening mechanic for edible plants and such would be fun, so you could have a steady supply of camp supplies and certain alchemy ingredients. Especially mushrooms since Minthara literally has her own mushroom farm.

95. Camp library so you can keep all your books, notes, and letters in one space to read without cluttering up your traveller's chest.

96. Alternatively, there are multiple traveller's chests for different items. Armors and weapons in one, scrolls, potions and other magical items in another, food and alchemy supplies in another, etc.

97. Ability to take care of and comfort characters who've been poisoned, infected with contagion, etc.

98. Let Halsin, SH, and the player cuddle more animals.

99. Every class gets a unique camp follower a la the Oathbreaker Knight.

100. Vendor of common things (animal speaking potions, some alchemy ingredients, camp supplies) in camp for the whole game.

[thecreaturecodex]

Walrider

Image © deviantArt user NanFe, accessed at her gallery here

[Sponsored by @coldbloodassassin, and my last sponsored post! The walrider is yet another monster in the subgenre of "from a video game I've never played", and in this case never even heard of before being tasked with this: Outlast. It has a very complicated backstory, involving Nazi mad science and corrupt mental institutions, so I streamlined it a bit while retaining the original flavor.]

Walrider CR 18 CE Construct A faint blur appears, an outline of a human form moving through space. It moves with impossible fluidity, as if its joints were more a mental construct than a physical one. The outline lacks a lower jaw entirely, and the fingers are longer than those of a typical human

The walrider is a bizarre construct, a cloud of tiny nanomachines confined to a humanoid shape but able to take over the bodies of others. The first walrider was created in an attempt to create a nanotechnology lab out of the body of a human test subject. The process drove the victim insane in the process of completely disassembling them, and the walrider created possessed a thoroughly warped and thoroughly evil psyche. The walrider still possess an affinity for the mad, preferring to use them as hosts. Those whose perceptions of reality are distorted are even less likely to understand the nature of the walrider’s attacks, and are less likely to be believed if and when they can report them. The damage the walrider deals when scouring the mortal mind for information typically leaves their victim mentally broken.

The walrider can enter a victim not to possess them but merely to take them apart from the inside, and they enjoy using this power in the open as a show of strength. If they cannot possess a host, or if they are expelled through remove disease or a similar effect, they simply beat their enemies to death. They can control their own solidity as a matter of course, being strong enough to punch through concrete when they want to, and then being so diffuse that weapons pass right through them. The walrider is nearly invisible, and uses hit and run attacks in combination with their great stealth to wear enemies down if they are capable of fighting back.

Due to the highly unusual nature of their origin, the walrider may be a unique creature. If it is not, it is highly unlikely that they would cooperate with each other, instead viewing each other as competition. The walrider is a megalomaniac who views itself as divine, and is actively creating a cult of worshipers who view it as the next stage in human evolution. If this cult grows large enough, the walrider could become truly divine, or attract the attention of a competitor who is.

Walrider CR 18 XP 153,600 CE Medium construct Init +14; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +18

Defense AC 27, touch 27, flat-footed 16 (+10 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 insight) hp 169(23d10+43) Fort +7, Ref +19, Will +15 Immune construct traits, critical hits, sneak attack, weapon damage Defensive Abilities evasion,mad insights,swarm-like, transparency; Weakness susceptible to mind-influencing effects, vulnerable to area of effect damage

Offense Speed 40 ft., fly 40 ft. (perfect) Melee 2 slams +33 (2d8+10) Special Attacks infest, possess

Statistics Str 30, Dex 30, Con -, Int 19, Wis 4, Cha 23 Base Atk +23; CMB +33; CMD 44 Feats Ability Focus (infest, possess),Alertness (B),Blind Fight,Combat Expertise,Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus (B), Dodge, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Initiative (B), Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes (B), Mobility, Power Attack (B), Spring Attack, Staggering Critical (B), Toughness, Whirlwind Attack Skills Bluff +23, Fly +35, Intimidate +23, Knowledge (engineering, local) +34, Perception +19, Sense Motive +19, Stealth +47; Racial Modifiers +11 Knowledge (all), +20 Stealth Languages Aklo, Androffan, Common, Undercommon SQ madness,many in one

Ecology Environment any Organization solitary or ride (1 plus 1 possessed host) Treasure standard

Special Abilities Infest (Ex) As a standard action, a walrider can infest a corporeal creature adjacent to it. If the creature fails a DC 25 Fortitude save, the walrider moves inside of its body. A walrider can either remain in the creature it infests harmlessly, as a riding possession spell, or it can start to disassemble its host from the inside, dealing 12d6 points of damage a round. A host reduced to 0 hit points while infested by a walrider is reduced to dust and destroyed (similar to disintegrate). A walrider infesting a host can be expelled by any effect that cures disease, with a disease save equal to this ability’s DC. If not expelled, the walrider can remain inside the host indefinitely. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +2 racial bonus. Madness (Ex) Walriders use their Charisma modifier on Will saves instead of their Wisdom modifier, and are immune to insanity and confusion effects. Only a miracle or wish can remove a walrideer's madness. If this occurs, the walrider gains 6 points of Wisdom and loses 6 points of Charisma. Mad Insight (Su) A walrider gains an insight bonus to Armor Class equal to its Charisma modifier. Many In One (Ex) A walrider absorbs the memories of intelligent creatures that it possesses. A walrider that has eaten one or more sapient creatures gains a number of bonus feats equal to its Charisma modifier (6 for the average specimen). It gains a racial bonus to all Knowledge checks equal to ½ its Hit Dice (+11 for the average specimen), and can make Knowledge checks untrained. Whenever it possesses a sapient creature, it may swap out one of its bonus feats and/or one of its languages for one known by the creature it has possessed. Possess (Su) A walrider can possess a living creature it has infested. Unless the creature succeeds a DC 25 Will save, the walrider takes control of its body, as per a greater possession spell with an indefinite duration. A creature that successfully saves is immune to that walrider’s possession for the next 24 hours. At any time while possessing a host, the walrider can attempt to scan its mind, as per a mind probe spell. This possession is taxing to a host; every day the host is possessed, it must succeed a DC 25 Will save or take 2d4 Wisdom drain. A creature that would be reduced to 0 Wisdom is instead reduced to 1 Wisdom and gains the moral insanity madness. The save DC is Constitution based, and includes a +2 racial bonus to the DC. Susceptible to Mind-Influencing Effects (Ex) Unlike most constructs, a walrider can be affected by mind-influencing effects. Swarm-like (Ex) A walrider is comprised of thousands of nanites. Although it is a Medium sized creature, it is immune to spells and effects that affect a single target, damage from physical weapons, critical hits and sneak attacks. A walrider can move through cracks and spaces small enough for a Fine creature. A walrider takes 150% damage from area of effect spells and effects. Transparent (Ex) A walrider is nearly invisible. Attacks made against it by creatures that need to see have a 50% miss chance, and the walrider gains a +20 racial bonus to Stealth checks. This is not dispelled by invisibility purge or see invisibility. Spells like faerie fire and glitterdust reduce the miss chance to 20%, but do not remove it completely.

[jusmango-shake]

That isn't very cash money of you, Cupid.

Pairing: 03!Donnie x Reader

Fictype: Songfic

Mood: fluff, crack(?)

WARNINGS: self deprecation, SSWEARING 😎, corny feelings Ew romance yucky, reader is in denial, mention of poison(metaphorically)

🥭: I'm SO SORRY FOR GOING OFFLINE FOR SO LONG, I hope y'all can accept this... (Totally not because I suddenly had a billion ideas for Don and had to write them xP)

★Stupid Cupid you're a real mean guy,

I'd like to clip your wings so you can't fly.

I'm in love and it's a crying shame..

And I know that you're the one to blame.

As you laid down on your bed, tossing and turning as you struggled to fall asleep. A faint glow of pink visible in the almost pitch black room.

You sat up, groaning while you rubbed your eyes. Taking your phone off of the desk it was currently charging on.

“Real dick move, brain.” you grumbled, looking at the current time.

12:45 PM.

You squinted, the light from your phone almost blinding as your eyes adjusted. The blush finally visible on your face.

Rereading your conversation with Donatello on the handy T-phone he so kindly gave to you, the corners of your lips curving up ever so slightly as you recalled your memories with the Purple Turtle.

He had been running rampant in your mind throughout the week, and you had been yet to catch him.

You sighed, laying back down as you faced the ceiling. You had to accept the fact you liked him sooner or later, why not be in denial for a bit longer?

★Hey hey, set me free!

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me.

Maybe it was because you had a thing for smart guys, or maybe it's because of his stupid dorky smile, maybe it was because he only had said smile whenever you were around, or maybe—

You blinked, burying your head into your hands as you groaned. Your friend looked at you with growing concern.

"You alright?"

You waved your hands dismissively,

“Yeah, I'm doing great.”

"You ssuureee?"

“i'm very much sure, thank you.”

"Maybe it's that Donatello guy you keep mentioning."

“shut up— no it isn't,”

Your friend has gotten increasingly closer to you, wiggling their eyebrows as they shoved you playfully.

“—Oookay maybe it is.”

"Tell me more?"

“no.”

★I can't do my homework and I can't think straight, I meet her every morning 'bout half past eight.

It wasn't very well hidden, practically everyone in your friend group knew something was up.

You'd randomly message them that you wouldn't be able to make to the hangout followed by some bogus explanation.

Sometimes when they made their way to your house they'd see you sneak off somewhere.

Once you'd almost been caught entering a manhole just to get to the lair, or to Donnie to be more specific.

You did not like it whatsoever.

★I'm acting like a lovesick fool, You've even got me carrying your books to school.

Conversation flowed smoothly as you helped Donnie carry some spare parts from the junkyard, he ranted about some machine he would make with said parts.

At this point you felt as if time itself had stopped, all you could hear was the sound of his voice echoing off the buildings as you two walked through the alleyway.

The road was quite crowded near the garage, it would've been impossible to get in without getting caught. Manhole it is I guess.

You hadn't even noticed that you've already arrived at the manhole cover.

You absentmindedly followed his figure and he knelt down to take off the cover, looking at you expectantly.

He cleared his throat before gesturing to the open manhole.

“wh— oh, uh.. my bad.” you murmured,

"I'll go down and you hand me the parts, sounds good?" He smiled, if only he knew the effect that had on you.

“..yeah.”

You watched as he placed the spare parts on the ground, then moved to go down the ladder.

Once he gave the signal you grabbed the bucket next to the hole, a rope tied to it so it would be easier to get stuff down if it was too heavy or big to get down normally.

You placed as many parts as you could fit in the bucket before grabbing the rope and slowly letting it down the long hole.

Once Donnie was done getting all the parts out he tugged lightly on the rope, letting you know he was done.

After repeating that process more times than you could count, you slowly ascended down the ladder. Once again carrying the spare parts while you made your way to the lair, Donnie humming some tune he heard while Mikey was watching the Television.

You didn't like how you could practically smell Donnie from how close you two were, maybe it was because he smelled like sewer or maybe it was because of the fact it made your heart race. Probably both anyway.

You nearly jumped out of your skin when he started talking.

"Hey, (Nickname)?"

“uh— yeah? What's up?”

"I just wanted to thank you for helping, it means a lot to me." He beamed up at you.

You looked away, already feeling the heat creeping up onto your face.

“Psh.. it's no Biggie, it's the least I could do as a... Friend.”

It hurt to say that, partially because it was true.

Donnie chuckled, nudging you playfully.

"Yeah, well, I'm glad to have you as a friend then."

That hurt even more, and this time, it's because he could never see you more than just a friend.

★Hey hey, set me free!

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me.

Your heart raced whenever you even just thought of him, and it broke just as fast. You knew deep down that he'd never like you back, (did you though?). if Cupid really did exist, he's cruel.

You clutched your beating heart as you hid behind a wall, trying your hardest to calm it down before going back to meet Donnie again.

All this from just grazing each other's hand? Maybe you really were pathetic, or maybe you're just touch starved. Could be both.

You knew Donnie was just sitting there watching TV, completely unaware of what power he had over you. You felt bad lying to him, you usually told him everything. But not this, it's not worth losing him over some feelings. Right?

★You mixed me up for good right from the very start.. Hey now, go play Robin Hood with somebody else's heart!

When you first met Donnie, it was like an arrow went straight through your heart. Maybe you're over exaggerating it, maybe.

It's like the arrow was laced with poison, slowly infecting every part of your body without you knowing it, and lastly, it infected your heart.

You always had a feeling you liked him from the start, maybe it was the fact you couldn't accept liking him more than just platonic liking.

It got harder and harder to push back down into the deep depths of your heart. The last straw was when it finally hit you straight in the face, you loved him. And you couldn't do anything about it, neither could you decide whether he'd reciprocate or not. It was killing you slowly, just like poison.

★You got me jumping like a crazy clown,

And I don't feature what you're putting down.

By no means did you think you even slightly deserved him, Donnie's a really sweet guy. He deserved more than some person who can't even come to terms with their own feelings.

Still didn't stop your heart from doing a backflip into a cartwheel into a handstand flat-back though.

Every time you saw him, your heart just decides to do a whole workout routine inside your chest, the butterflies in your stomach don't help either.

★Well since I kissed her loving lips of wine,

The thing that bothers me is that I like it fine~

Hey hey, set me free?

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me!

It did not give you any sense of pride to admit this but, on more than one occasion, you have fantasized about kissing Donnie. It embarrassed you to no end. (Stupid teenager hormones)

Maybe one day Cupid would decide to have mercy on you, and finally let you move on. Doesn't seem like he's going to, though.

Maybe for one day you could stop being such a weirdo for Donnie? Just for one day?

★You got me jumping like a crazy clown,

And I don't feature what you're putting down!

The fact that you always felt happier whenever you were just with him, even being in the same room could dramatically change your mood didn't help at all.

You hated always wanting to be near him, his entire existence feeling like a drug to you. Time always seemed to fly faster than when you weren't with him, you could never get enough of his rambles, anything he made amazed you, you hated it. You hated being in love.

And you hated the intense feeling of dread whenever you even thought of confessing to him, being rejected by all means was not on your to-do list. Neither was ruining your perfectly good best-friendship with Donnie.

★Well since I kissed his loving lips of wine,

The thing that bothers me is that I like it fine.

You got so caught up in your train of thought that you hadn't even considered the fact Donnie liked you back, maybe it's a defense mechanism set up by your brain so you couldn't dig an even deeper pit.

Donnie watched you do your homework as you fail to notice his longing, he's loved you for a long time already. But by his logic you would never like him back, who would wanna date a green sewer turtle? Living in the sewers is bad enough. What about being a mutant?

He quickly corrected an answer you had written down, his arm coming up from behind you to take a hold of your hand. He erased the previous answer and wrote the correct one.

He knew he couldn't hold your hand like this for too long or it'd be suspicious. Though the both of you craved each other's touch.

You were the only person who would actually listen to his rambling instead of just nodding along and pretending you were. You would ask questions that would spark new conversations, you came to him for answers. You looked for him when you needed help.

You genuinely enjoyed his ramblings. You enjoyed his company though he had nothing more to offer than just knowledge and machines he had made. He didn't even need to talk sometimes, you would just watch him do whatever he was doing. Offering help when he needed it.

Donnie only snapped out of it once you had begun waving in his face.

“—nnie, D? DonTron? Donatello? The turtle in purple? Donasaurus? Downtown Donsville?”

"Yeah—? Sorry I was- uh zoned out."

“could you help me with uh— number twenty five?” you scratched the base of your neck.

"Twenty five—? Didn't I already explain it to you? Like, eight times?"

You laughed sheepishly, turning around to face him.

What you expected was a look of disapproval. as much as Donnie loved explaining things, no one wants to repeat themselves. what you hadn't expected however, was that Donnie was actually much closer than you thought.

As soon as you turned around, you were met with Donnie's lips. You had accidentally kissed him.

As you pulled away, two fingers on your lips while your whole face flushed a shade of red.

Butterflies erupted in your stomach as you avoided Donnie's gaze like the plague, what if he hated it? What if he doesn't wanna be friends anymore?

Your thoughts were immediately shut up by Donnie clearing his voice.

"I'm sorry if this isn't the right time but— can we do that again.?"

Your eyes shot up to meet his and you took in the significantly darker shade on his face. You thought of what he'd looked like flustered, it was even better than you'd imagined.

“i— Yeah, I guess..?”

You held your breath in as he leaned in closer, your face scrunched up as you felt his breath fan over your face.

You peeked through one of your eyes when you felt him move away, a bashful expression mixed with a hint of sadness behind it on his face.

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, glancing over at you.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to, ya kno."

Shit— that's not-

Before you could think of anything else, it was like someone pressed autopilot in your mind.

You quickly spun around in the chair, extending your hands to his face. You gently cupped his cheeks as you leaned in,

Donnie's eyes opened in shock as he felt your lips softly kiss the edge of his lips, you had missed his mouth entirely.

You pulled away anxiously, your face heating up at the fact you completely ruined the moment by missing his lips.

Your eyes frantically searched his eyes, trying to catch some semblance of a hint that everything was fine and that Donnie doesn't hate you.

Unfortunately for Donnie, he was too dumbstruck and lovestruck to form a coherent sentence.

The only thing he managed out wasn't even a word, all he did was shoot out a lazy smile.

You sighed in relief, happy that at least he enjoyed it.

While you turned back around to continue doing your homework, you were interrupted by a familiar green hand.

"Maybe one more?"

★Hey hey, set me free

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me.

A few days afterwards, he finally confesses, and by confesses I mean he builds a robot out of spare parts to confess for him. Partially because he's too shy to do it himself and also because he wanted to impress you as well.

And after that was just a hazy blur of study dates and lovey dovey stuff, as Mikey so kindly put it.

You held Donnie's hand as you two watched the stars on top of a random building, you listened as Donnie pointed out every constellation he could see and facts about every star that was apart of each one.

"Did you know that Sirius is the brightest star we can currently see? With our bare eyes?"

You chuckled, gently caressing Donnie's hand with your thumb.

"But I'd have to disagree with it, yknow why?" He added, sitting upright as he gazed down lovingly at you.

“No, why?” you sat up as well, looking at him questioningly.

"Becauseee.. you're the brightest star I've ever seen." He grinned at you.

You grinned back, a light blush adorning both of your cheeks.

“You're such a cornball, Donnie.”

"Yeah, but I'm your cornball."

“Donnie!”

"What?"

You two laughed, smiling lovingly at eachother.

★Hey hey, set me free

Stupid Cupid stop picking on me.

[needs-a-lil-spice]

Emmrich thoughts -Vegetarianism 2

So previously, when I was listening to about half of the companion banter with Emmrich, I thought perhaps his vegetarianism stems from his love for his little pig friend Lucy. (Thonk post here) After listening to the rest of the banters, it does look like he didn't start it until he was already with the Mourn Watchers for a while. One of the banters talks about how he remembers some days where he and some other disciples shared rabbit stew with each other.

Now, potentially this could still mean he was there but didn't eat or ate something different but it could also mean it was at a time he still ate meat and didn't stop until he became a full Mourn Watcher.

In a banter with, I think, Harding, he says something along the lines of 'each Mourn Watcher has to decide for themselves where they draw the line between life and death'. They also talk about hypothetically eating insects and he reiterates, that everything that lives and breathes is a no-go for him.

So this could also have been a realization for him when he became a full Mourn Watcher.

But I still headcanon, that he probably didn't enjoy pork anymore way before that came into play :3c There's another small tidbit with Harding and Emmrich about food, where she lists a lot of meat stuff she couldn't live without, for example bacon, which Emmrich answers with 'I recall.' That could be about meat in general, but I also like the idea of him specifically recalling bacon, before his gruesome childhood discovery lol

EDIT: Someone let me know it wasn't "rabbit" but "rare bit", a kind of cheesey fondue they were enjoying! So initial thought still stands and he may have been vegetarian even longer like I originally thought xP

[zombii-writess]

Do you take requests?? Cove x Mc/reader where cove stays outside to long and gets heat stroke and mc takes care of him? I thought it could be a cute fic

Yes I do !!

︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻

𝙷𝚘𝚝 𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝙳𝚊𝚢

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: Being on your feet and exposed to the sun all day with rising temperatures seem to be a recipe for disaster.

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐬: horrible description of a heat stroke, vomiting, you can decide if you are already in a relationship with Cove or not.

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Cove Holden x F! Reader

𝐀/𝐍: never had a heat stroke before but my brother did a few years ago when he joined a band camp during high school, so I'm putting in a few details from what he's told me. xP

︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼

Gritting your teeth, you hauled the heavy black trash bag over your shoulder and trudge through the sand to the large garbage bin that stood at the edge of where the sidewalk was. Beads of sweat rolled down the side of your face which you used your shoulder to quickly wipe away, the sensation tickling when it fell. Volunteering for ORCA had its ups and downs; you could be invited to charities one day and then melting in the sun the next.

"Just a few more bags and we'll be finished here [Name]," A voice breaks you out of your thoughts. Turning your head to the source, you make eye contact with familiar green eyes. Cove gives a wobbly smile and tries to wink. "We can go get frozen yogurt after this."

"That sounds so good right now," You whined, wiping the sweat collecting on your hairline. "I'm dying in this heat." He chuckles and starts heading towards the pile of trash bags on the other side of the beach before he stumbles. With quick reflexes, you go to steady him. But upon seeing Cove up close, you noticed that his face was pale, and his breathing had increased and a bit labored.

"Cove?" You called out in worry, removing one of your hands from his arms to place the back of it against his hot cheek. "Are you okay? You're a bit... pale."

Cove groans and places a hand on his head, eyebrows knitting together in pain. " 'm f..fine..headache." He attempts to take another step before falling onto one knee.

"Cove?!" You shout, kneeling down to his level and he immediately rests his weight on you. This catches the attention of other volunteers as they quickly rush over to help. "Cove, what's wrong?!"

A small whine of pain leaves his chapped lips before Cove's green eyes roll to the back of his head; his body drops into your arms.

"COVE!"

✰

Sitting on a plastic chair inside the First Aid tent, you watched Cove go in and out of consciousness. He layed in the bed with his shirt off and he was covered in ice packs in an attempt to cool him down. Cove's green hair swayed in the breeze as you fanned him with a folder you borrowed from one of the nurses that ORCA had hired for cases like this.

Your arm was getting sore, but for Cove, you'll keep going. It wasn't much longer when the boy finally comes to, his eyes settling on your blurry figure.

"Oh my gosh, Cove!" You rest your hands on the bed and lean into his space, causing him to let out a squeak as he scrambled to sit upwards.

"[Name]-" But it seems like he got up to fast.

Cove slaps a hand to his mouth, face turning into a sickly green. Noticing the signs you were told earlier; you quickly grabbed the puke bucket that was placed near your chair and held it out in front of Cove. He opens his mouth and blows chunks.

Few minutes pass by as you wait for Cove to finish, a hand settled on his back in an attempt to comfort him. The green haired man spits into the bucket one final time, takes a deep breath, and lets out a big sigh. Cove turns his head slightly to look at you with an embarrassed look.

"That...was something."

You let out a snort. "It was, but- are you feeling better now?" Setting the bucket down, carefully, you brush away Cove's bangs and used the back of your hand to check his temperature.

Cove bites back a blush forming on his cheeks as he watched you lean closer through thick green lashes. "I'm feeling a bit icky, but I'll manage." The smile that grows on your face makes him desperately wanting to lean in and give you a kiss, but he holds himself back.

"Do you need anything? Water? Snacks? More ice packs?" You began listing off things Cove might need. A warm hand rests on your shoulders stopping your listings.

"Can we get frozen yogurt?" Cove bites his lip as he awaits your answer before adding on with a laugh. "Later of course! Once I get better."

"Later it is then." You giggled.

-----------

Like my work? Buy me a ko-fi!

[briarberrythornedhart]

Reading You Right

18 plus, darlings or do not engage

CW: explicit language, smutty talk, dom/demeaning tone with established consent

Eddie - even from a very young age - (hyper) focused on people's body language. He saw micro-expressions and noted when they didn’t sync up with what people were saying out loud. And he used that information to understand, control and -to a certain degree- manipulate situations.

For Hellfire Club, that helped him with creating an experience his players enjoyed (yes. even when they bitched about him being stingy with XP, or throwing them into peril, he knew they liked his style overall. It shouldn’t be too easy or players wouldn’t appreciate their wins, right? Of course right.)

With you, it made him the sweetest boyfriend ever born. And very good (uncannily so) in bed.

Over time Eddie memorized every hitch of your breath, every bite of your lower lip, every flutter of your eyelashes, the way you lifted your chin to give him access to your neck and throat. He enjoyed learning All the ways he could make you happy.

Of course he’d much prefer you make as much noise as possible, but he didn’t need his ears to know what was going on in your dirty little mind. You didn’t have to make a sound and he still knew he was treating you right.

🎲 💀 🎲

Hellfire club had moved to the weekends and now met in Dustin’s basement. Eddie graduating meant he didn’t have the blackmail hold on Principle Higgins anymore so meeting on school grounds was out of the question. But it was easy to convince Ms Henderson to host ‘game club’ once she knew Dustin would be home and safe.

After a particularly tricky Hellfire session - puzzles, traps, the near-death of Will’s wizard, your Paladin losing her ancestral sword when you rolled a one - everyone was heading out and Eddie asked you to help him carry his D&D gear to his van. Not that there was too much to carry on his own. This just felt like an excuse to make out a bit. To get each other more and more turned on until you both wished you could move in together already and not have to sleep apart so often. But rent is expensive, and you had work early tomorrow morning, and Hellfire always runs late.

Anyway, you were always more than enthusiastic about helping Eddie clean up after the game. Making the night last just a little longer. Getting his sweetness all to yourself for as long as you could.

Out in the dark, with only a waning moon and some holiday lights on neighboring houses to light his handsome face, he backed you up into his drivers side door with a smirk. You couldn’t wait to feel his body pressed against yours and you were on fire with wanting his lips. But he stayed a few too many cruel inches from you.

“You like it when I’m mean to you in game.” He accused.

You may have gasped. “What!? No, I just appreciate that you don’t treat me different than the others. You know, just cause we are together… you don’t pander to me or go easy on me. I like that.” You rallied. You slid a hand under his jacket to rub his back.

“No, sweetheart, you get excited when I goad you or mock you or…laugh at you. Like… really excited.”

“Oh, Eddie, c’mon, I get excited by you all the time. Just heavy eye contact from you makes my heart race. Please.” You laughed nervously and twisted your hands in your skirt. Looking down at the ground.

Eddie leaned on one arm against the door and used his other hand to lift your chin and get your eyes back on his. He pushed a lock of your hair gently behind your ear. “I mean, I’ve seen girls go crazy over total assholes before but I thought you liked that I’m your very Nice boyfriend. Not a dick to you. Just Your. Devoted. Servant. I didn’t know you’d like it if I was mean.” His tone was playful.

“I like every side of your multi-faceted personality. I adore when you are thoughtful and kind.” You took a deep shaky breath. “But it does I guess sorta do something to me when you mock me or are a little extra… I dunno… mean but in a joking way? It’s probably b-because I trust that later you’ll be so… so good to me and…” why were you nervous? This was total cinnamon roll Eddie, your dreamboat boyfriend.

“Okay, okay… At ease, soldier.” Eddie huffed a laugh and leaned in close enough that you offered your lips for a kiss that he didn’t give you, yet. “If I’ve got you this worked up from just making fun of how bad your die rolls went… do you want to hear how I can see every time you squeeze your thighs together and lick your lips at me during the game. Brazenly, In front of aaaalll our friends, showing me you can’t wait for me. That — when I walked behind your chair tonight I saw you shudder and arch your back as if you wanted me to feel you up — right then. You were so needy and honestly a little pathetic for me, princess. I had to be more theatrical and clown around like a jester to keep the other players eyes off you- you were so ::chuckle:: obvious about how bad you want me.”

It wasn’t so dark out that you couldn’t see the challenge in his eyes, he was watching you so intently he could probably see your heated blush. You swallowed and it sounded loud in the silence.

“Well? Am I right or wrong?” He asked but he knew. He totally knew.

“You are…. Right. I’m sorry I made you work harder tonight.”

Then he smiled again, sexy and demonic.

“You say you are sorry, sweet thing, but I don’t think you really are. Anyway, you can’t help it, can you?” He taunted you. He’d never done this before and you were not even sure how to react. This was a brand new game. “Look at you, legs spreading, leaning into me hips first. All turned on over some light trash-talk from your mean ol’ DM. Does that mean, if I reached up under your skirt right now I’d find you wet for me?” He dropped his voice to a dark whisper “Are those panties fuckin’ soaked right now? I think they must be. And since you clearly don’t mind getting all worked up in public, I wonder if you’d let me finger you right here. Out in the open where some neighbor might come out for a smoke and see you writhing on my hand extra excited because I’m talking down and dirty at you. You know what they’d think, look at that scary metal-head taking advantage of that sweet girl. So innocent. Not the kinda girl who would instigate something naughty ever. Oh no. Not the kinda girl who would Beg for me.”

“Please Eddie.” You were begging. You’d never even had to ask for anything from Eddie before . he always knew what you wanted sometimes before you even knew it. And he was always so kind and generous and super silly a lot of the time. He could make you laugh one minute and then melt you with hot kisses the next. But usually you were in control. Not now.

Yes, you were begging, and you didn’t want to stop! what was he doing to you??

“Please..?What?” He licked a canine and his slow knowing smile made you ache deep inside.

“Please let me make it up to you. In your van. Right now.” You managed to stutter out.

He hummed in approval. He opened the back door. “After you, princess.”

[laurarolla]

Before the cooperative sportsball mode in Arknights begins, let's look back on a few thoughts from the finale of Act II of the main story, "Absolved Will Be The Seekers." Also, thanks to Wis'adel, I was easily able to clear all four of the hell stages, and I can probably finally go back and clear the previous chapter hell stages and finally get those upgrade tokens I'm missing for the chapter ops.

First, I enjoyed the little moment in the middle where the Followers trio get to clown on those Confessari pricks. Love seeing those fascist bloodsuckers lose. XP

Moving on, the overarching story of why Theresa returned and her goals with the Originium Assimilation were rather interesting, especially in what we seem to have learned about Arknights possible overarching villain, Priestess. It's nice that the citizens of Victoria will no longer be abused and murdered by the Sarkaz now that Theresis and his loyal forces are off to do something else, but getting his hands on the Originium stone that sort of represents the "original sin" of the Teekaz is not a good sign for the future. Beyond that, it's somewhat unclear how much of what Theresa did in the Assimilated Universe was actually her choice. I think it was a great act of mercy and love to finally free the Myriad Souls from the Originium, granting them the freedom to truly die instead of being trapped in the stagnant tomb of Originium. Unfortunately, I think the Originium she handed to Theresis very much falls under Priestess's plans to "continue the experiment." In the end, everything seems to be progressing as she has planned.

A few nice bits about Priestess that we got to see (if we are to believe anything she said to us) include that she's not a member of the same people as the Doctor, and previously spent her time recording sounds of dying worlds. Originium is not only a way for her to show that she deserved to stand alongside Oracle as an equal, but also became a way for her to record the dying breath of each and every world if her experiment succeeds. She seems genuinely motivated out of a love for what she's seen and heard across the universe, but she can't accept the transient nature of life. Whether there's some actual intentional malevolent force she's trying to use Originium to avoid, or just straight up entropy, she's so desperate to cheat death that she sees life as a threat to her efforts. It has left her cold in her interactions with the Doctor, who has fully regained their ability to love life and accept its limited nature while seeking to improve the lives of those they meet on their journey. I theorized that the Doctor may be been manipulated or controlled by Priestess during Babel, and at this point, I'm now sure not only that they were manipulated, but that they can't be manipulated in the same way anymore. Kal'tsit also rejected Priestess, and Amiya figured out how to use the Civilight Eterna to manipulate some aspects of the Assimilated Universe. I'm interested to see how these rejections affect things later in regards to Priestess's intentions.

Looking forward to future encounters with Eblana now that she's kinda the main threat to the current Victorian hierarchy, especially since she got one of the dukes on her side. Overall, though, I think we'll get most of the important immediate follow-up for Victoria when the Siege Alter event comes in about 4 or 5 months.

Wis'adel got her name finally and I'm super happy about that. Her journey from the beginning to now has been great, although I think most of her big character development is basically complete now. It's nice to have a character get their Alter form from an event or something that has significant personal story growth, with Wis'adel and Silence probably being my favorite alter/story intersections so far. Eyja's was also quite nice.

I'm also gonna say that Civilight Eterna (Theresa's Phantom) is herself a product of the Civilight Eterna arts ability I previously theorized/observed. She was largely created through Amiya pulling memories from the past and binding them into a phantom clone that Theresa left as a kind of keepsake. Basically, she's there because both she and Amiya want her to be there, and each used the power of the King of the Sarkaz to manifest her. That's why she has actual memories and arts powers from Theresa, albeit not as strong. I also love that how Amiya created the staff was to reshape Yin Xiao into an arts staff, reforging a sword seeking vengence into a tool of healing. Very simple but very effective.

Oh, and after 300 pulls I got Nearl the Radiant Knight from the shop, and my last free pull today was Mizuki, so now I have all the Ambushers... except Kirara.

[muffinsin]

hey muffin! I love your work and keeps my resident evil love alive. would you be willing to write a part 2 of the sisters having a secret admirer, and them finding out who it is and maybe fluff with them? something along those lines, I want to keep it open of what would work for you. take care and hope you stay well <3

Anniversary post!🙌🥳

Awhh, I'm happy to hear so, hon! I'm eager to be contributing to the fandom XP Absolutely! Part 1 can be found HERE (the referenced post) for all wanting to read that one before this

Let's get into it :)

Masterlists

Bela

“-♡︎”

The little letters, the little heart, all that has been on her mind recently, it seems

She yearns to meet you, to find out who you are

To learn who thought of all of this, who has made her heart skip and cheeks heat up recently

Who has come to know her, her interests, her personality

Who has paid so much attention to her, the one who has showered her in secret little gifts and notes, each enough to make her heart flutter without fail

It seems, the day you will meet draws closer and closer

She's working tirelessly, as usual

She doesn't mind, though

Not when she knows to take breaks now, does so periodically almost, if only to glance in her drawer

Her drawer, secretly holding all your notes, all your gifts

Every little bit of parchament signed with the by now familiar “-♡︎”

And each time she pulls it open, her heart flutters and flies buzz a little wilder when her golden eyes flicker to it

She knows, she wants you

She knows, she has caught feelings even without knowing you

And as such, she only feels even more yearning to get to know you, properly

Alas, it's still somewhat early today

Compared to how many sleepless nights she spends working, at least

Glancing at the large clock by the corner of the room, she notes it's only a little past 10 at night

And this precisely is why she jumps when she hears the door to her office opening

She reaches for her sickle, though relaxes at the sight of you, one of her most trusted workers

It's a little rare for you to make such a late appearance, but she doesn't mind

She finds, she enjoys having you around

After all, you're intelligent, gentle, capable, and don't test her patience as many of the other, more foolish maids do

You step towards the desk, your head bowed. She hears your heart race, as many do around her, but thinks nothing of it

You certainly aren't the first to feel flustered- or terrified, at times it is difficult to tell the quickened heartbeat apart- around her

Alas, she finds;

Her heart belongs to another

Someone mysterious, someone she knows so painfully little about

But someone who has her heart, wholly, utterly, and has captured her mind

Someone so precious to her

"Is there anything I can assist with, my Lady?", you ask, your voice gentle and low, as though not to disturb her this late at night

She only shakes her head, already turning back to her work, as though your words served as a reminder

Still, she does not stop you when you walk behind her, nor when she feels you step close to her

Normally, her hand would be moving towards her sickle already, well aware of the threat that comes with someone standing this close to her, with her back turned to them nonetheless

But she trusts you won't strangle her, believing she knows you quite well, already

Still, she jumps in surprise when she feels your hands move to her shoulders, before your fingers lightly dig into her tense muscles and begin to knead

Immediately, she relaxes a little, even going so far as to close her eyes

A great show of trust, yes, and one only the most loyal servants of the family ever get to see

"You have been working too much again, my Lady", you whisper, your heart racing

This is it, you think

You don't think you can keep your identity a secret any longer, not with her so close, so beautiful, so soft and strong at the same time, right below your hands

She smells well, the metallic scent of blood covered by her rich perfume

Bela shivers a little when your hands draw downwards. She feels you drag your fingertip against her back, feeling the touch even through her dress

It's intense, almost, and briefly she isn't sure why she's allowing this

Then, a familiar shape is traced against the fabric and her strong back

“-♡︎”

She turns instantly, her golden eyes wide, her lips parted slightly

You can only blush as she rises from her chair. This time, it is her who towers above you

"You- made these?", she whispers, and you feel your face heat up as she pulls open her drawer, revealing countless little love notes and gifts you have left her

Suddenly struck by shyness and the vulnerability of the situation, you can only nod

She's the first to reach out, her fingertips raising to your chest, right to where your heart is beating. Her touch is gentle, exploring even

She lifts your hand to her face, and just briefly you think you see her inhale

Then, her lips curl into a smile, the most beautiful smile you have ever seen

Your heart races again, even as you feel more and more flustered

"May I-", you ask, but she cuts you off knowingly

And when her lips gently press against yours, thick, soft, a little cold, you can't help but sigh happily

She melts into you perfectly, her flies buzzing gently when she feels you hold onto her hips hesitantly

She knows, you are her secret admirer

You are the one to have stolen her love, her heart, her mind

You are all who is on her mind, always

She kisses you again, as though eager to finally feel you, as though eager to get to know you

She holds onto your hand and hip, only pulling away when both of you need to breathe

She smiles; a promise

A promise that you are hers now, too

4 big ones

Cassandra

You thought you were being subtle

Sneaky even

You’ve been hiding things for her, written notes for her, for a good amount of time now, after all!

You didn’t think this would be any different

Perhaps though, it was a little naive to think you could slip past someone as predatory and skilled as Cassandra

You're in her room, having heard she's occupied testing out new equipment in the armory, all day long, even

Perhaps, you should have double checked

Perhaps, you should have had a look yourself

Just to be sure

For now, you feel a sharp blade against your throat

The blade of her sickle, curled around you, her body close to yours

"What have we got here? A little morsel sneaking into my room?", she hums

She sounds curious, cocky, only a little angry

Like she knows she can end you

Scratch that- you're certain she knows she can end you

Still, she's curious

She doesn't know you, doesn't quite recognize you, but the crest painted against the collar of your clothing and carved into your belt buckle tells her you're from the castle

A hunter, if she had to guess by your outfit and the scent clinging to you; the scent of blood, animals- and best of all- the woods

You're turned by her, gulping and whimpering lowly to yourself

You're not scared of her

How can you be, when she's so beautiful. When she has been on your mind every single day, when she is all who matters to you?

But you're not foolish, nor deluded

You know what she's capable of

What sadistic fantasies are likely swarming about in her head right now

You whimper lowly to yourself, raising your hands

She frowns, finding a piece of carcass held in one of them

"Drop", she commands lowly, and you quickly obey, knowing death could come at any moment, even as she pulls her sickle back a little

She frowns in confusion as she picks the thing up

It's fresh, and smells delicious

Were you going to deposit it here?

In her room?

Mockery?

Flattery?

Did you, as a hunter yourself, hope to impress her by this?

She scowls, and momentarily you fear she's got enough of your games. Of your presents, of your love, of your attention

But she doesn't know it's you just yet

Only when she turns the meat about do you begin holding your breath, your eyes flickering across her face as you await her reaction

You know, you've been caught, now

Her eyes light up in surprise as they land on a series of cuts in the meat

A carving, in fact

“-♡︎”

A little symbol. A tiny one

Enough to make her heart jump

Enough for her grip on her sickle to loosen slightly

Her lips part, but she doesn't speak yet

When she looks up, her golden eyes meet your human ones, and you can't help but smile shyly, flustered under her strong gaze

"You?", she asks- no- demands to know

As if she will not stand for anybody but the person who has left her all this, her secret admirer, to be here

You gulp, nodding

"Yes, my Lady", you confirm

You yearn to reach out now more than anything, but aren't quite sure how she's taking the news

That is, until her sickle drops to the floor and she moves in, her hands grabbing onto your hip, her head dipping until you feel her warm breath against your throat

You shiver

You moan, unable to help yourself

And when you thought she might scowl, she chuckles lowly, instead, as though amused

"You've been quite secretive, morsel", she hums, but her voice is not unkind

Seductive, even

It has your stomach feel light and your thighs push harder together, as though it might help

You want to reach out so badly, but if you've learned anything in your time following her around in secret, it's that she will not grant you to touch her unless given permission

You shiver as her teeth drag along your skin, moan as she whispers yet again;

"Did you think you could make me yours, little mouse?"

You gulp, nodding soundlessly

All your words seem stuck at your throat, right where her sharp teeth linger

You love it

It's almost like you know: she won't hurt you

Ah, but she does so love to play with you

You whimper when she hums, the sound so close to a moan it could almost be mistaken as one

"You have been on my mind, little mouse", she commands, her claim as clear as day when she steps closer yet again

When she lifts her head she moves her bloodied fingers to your chin, urging you to look up at her, too

When you do, you feel a fierce flush take over your face. She's stunning, beautiful, everything you ever thought she would be and much more

Your fantasies could never do her justice

She smirks, and there's something so arousingly predatory in her smile

"You don't disappoint, morsel"

Daniela

“-♡︎”

Ah, how beautiful

The little heart, enough for her heart to ache, enough for her to blush and giggle and swoon just a little more each time

She's fantasising about you on a daily

Wondering, what you're like

Are you from the castle?

A staff member?

A mysterous stranger?

Do you think about her as often as she thinks of you?

You're madly in love with her- you must be- she figures!

What a beautiful, beautiful feeling

She's so curious about you, wants to get to know you so badly

You seem to know her so well already, after all!

She so desperately wishes she knew who you were

Perhaps, today marks this day

Daniela's just about to head to bed, a dark green towel draped around her body as she comes from the attached bathroom, when her golden eyes flicker to an envelope on her bed

She stares at it for a while, unsure, but the moment she spots the “-♡︎” signature written at the front in black ink, she giggles and rushes towards it

Opening it immediately, she finds a note quite unlike the others

No, this time the envelope holds no praise for her, no poems, no fun facts she has treasured, no little reminders and notes, no confessions of love

This time, it's an invitation

An invitation...to dinner?

She smiles happily, holding the letter close to her chest

She'll find an excuse to get out of eating dinner with her family the following evening, she knows. They can never say no to her, after all

She's giggly the next day, laughing and humming happily all day long, glancing over her shoulder multiple times as though hoping to find you there

She's eager for the evening, for a dinner shared just between the two of you

A part of her wishes she could introduce you to her family, already

Another warns her, reminding her of the countless lovers taken from her because, according to her family, they were not right, had ill intentions, or perhaps merely got in the way of their overprotectiveness of her

Just this time, she can keep you alive, she's sure!

She can keep you a secret, wait a little while until she tells them about you

Make sure they can see that you've been treating her well for a good amount of time, never hurting her, never breaking her fragile little heart

She grins as she gets ready that night, already planning on going through countless combinations of outfits

She's not quite sure what to wear, really, quite indecisive at times

She can't help but worry: you might not like certain dresses on her

As such, she spends hours trying on different dresses- some black and gothic looking, much like her signature one that she wears nearly all the time, the one matching the ones of her sisters perfectly, yet also more colourful ones

She tries light pink ones, scowling when they don't quite match her hair colour and pale skin

Blue, perhaps?

Many like blue!

No...she doesn't like blue!

No blue dress, then

One can never go wrong with red!, she figures

But...it's a little intense, she's been told

Why must this be so hard?!

She briefly considers going to her sisters for help, gathering their opinion on dresses so she can look perfect for you, but quickly brushes the idea off again

She might as well kill you herself, then, if she told them she didn't attend dinner to be with a mysterious admirer who has left her notes left and right, some in her room even, implying they found a way inside without her knowing of it

She's sure her overprotective family wouldn't mind...yeah right

So, none of that

And still, she eventually manages to settle on a light green one, light enough to give her a look that is far less intimidating than her usual one, even as she neglects to wash the blood from her hands, fingers, chin and cheeks

At least, only a little of her snack, a poor, unfortunate maid tasked to help her with the dress, got on the fabric

She's quiet as she follows the note's instructions, humming when she opens the doors to the gardens and steps outside

She has nothing to worry about, she knows. Not in summer

The scene in front of her has her lips part and eyes shine happily, though

Candles are lit around the area, a path, it seems

The scene looks light as if taken out of a fairytale

One of the very fairytales she loves so very much, too!

She wouldn't be surprised if you knew, if you centered it on just that. You've grown to know her so very well, after all

You're just perfect, she thinks, sighing happily as she walks the path

And at first, she sees very little

More candles, a table packed with food and drinks, blankets, pillows

Then, just when she stands by the table, she jumps slightly, hearing a noise behind you

She can hear you approach her, though doesn't move or turn around

If you have a surprise planned for her, she doesn't want to ruin it with her near-perfect senses, after all

And sure enough, she giggles when you come up behind her, your palms gently resting over her shut eyes

"You look beautiful", comes a whisper by her ear, enough to make her gasp again and shiver beneath her dress

She leans backwards, leans into you, her cheeks flushing with warmth and a pink shade when she begins to feel your body, warm, against her back

"Who are you?", she whispers in the darkness

She sounds soft, now, curious and gentle, so very different from how she's often described by the staff

You love both sides of her- the gentle, soft, quiet one, the loud, energetic, chaotic one

You feel her smile as she asks, and feeling particularly bold, while following the move of the character in the romance novels she lvoes so very much, you decide to risk it

Daniela gasps when she feels a kiss be set on her bare shoulder, just above where the dress hugs her upper arms

She feels you move a little closer to her and swoons, imagining how you're so boldly holding her

She loves it

"I love you", she breathes out, so very certain you love her, too

You must, after all!

You must!

And you squeeze her in her return, gently moving your hands from her head to turn her

She doesn't mind your lack of a response just yet, too wrapped up in the happiness of this moment

She doesn't even notice that, realistically, it's a little early for I love you's, though this has never stopped the somewhat delusional woman

When she turns, finally getting to see you, she leans in instantly, and now it's your turn to gasp when she kisses you

Her lips are soft, a little cold

She's well practiced, and you can't help but feel a twinge of jealousy at just that, but it disappears soon, when you're kissed a little harder, deeper, more desperate

Like a lover she hasn't seen in a long time, like she has been waiting to do this since you first left something with her

It becomes clear: it has all paid of

You're happy

[chickenkurage]

You like VicAgent?

Hey! Interested in reading VicAgent Fanfic?

Well here's one for you! Meet "Just Kiss Already" where in everything in life is great. Victim no longer chases for revenge (Vic x Revenge) except Agent is just there pining for him. That's all, i hope this made you at least a bit interested hehe xP

[last-sprout]

Last Sprout Dev Diary - Dec 20, 2024

Hello again, welcome to this week's dev diary! I finally (finally) got the upgrade system functional this week, which means that we're one-ish system away from the game loop being essentially complete! I'll briefly talk about the system itself, but as it exists it's pretty basic, so afterwards I'll write a bit about all the hidden things that crop up when you try to develop things like this.

Last week was a short one, if you want to read it you can do so here.

Faster, faster, until the thrill of speed outweighs the fear of death.

Getting Upgrades

On the surface a system like this is pretty simple. When you hold down the interact button, you slurp up all the xp in the area, and that increments a counter.

That counter is tracked by a Leveler script, which contains the formula to calculate level up thresholds. Once the value of the counter is higher than the value of the threshold, the Leveler invokes an event called OnLevelUp, and it sends its attached entity along to a UI that handles grabbing the upgrade cards, displaying them, listening for input, and then passing the mod back to the entity to apply it.

Because the upgrade ui doesn't need any knowledge about the game world, anything can say "hey I leveled up," and it will dole out the upgrades as needed.

We're basically done with this, right?

So why does it look kinda bad?

I don't think it's hard to see that a lot of parts in this clip are a little janky and awkward, right? I'm gonna take some time to break down everything that's gone into making it look like this, and how many tiny decisions are involved in relatively simple builds.

First of all, the text! There's obvious decisions: What font to use? we have a custom one that I think looks really cool, but it's missing a lot of unicode characters, which means that if we were to localize this to any language that uses another script, or even just diacritics, we'd need a second font for that, which means we need to find one with robust unicode support that matches the aesthetics. Plus, it needs to look good at the same size as the english text, or we need to make separate sizing and kerning settings. Also, there's no guarantee that the text will be particularly close to the same length in every language, so we need to be prepared for longer or shorter title bars.

How do we display the text? I opted for a teletype effect that plays after the animation ends, but I could also fade them in word-by-word or line-by-line. I could just have the text appear all at once, but you either need to find some way to hide the text in areas where the card animation is still see-through, or you need to drop it in after the animation, both of which have downsides. You also need to determine dynamic sizing - some upgrades have a lot more text than others - do you have the text auto-size? If so, what boundaries do you use? It looks weird when one card's body text is much larger or smaller than the others, so there's a limit on how much you can have the text resized. If the text gets too small, people playing in a window or on smaller screens will have trouble reading it!

Not to mention we probably want to have an option for accessibility that lets you switch out the font for a dyslexia-accessible one, so all the previous considerations apply there too. From a user interface perspective, the transition to leveling up is a little jarring - how does one smoothly switch between gameplay and leveling? When do you allow that trigger to happen? If you have it happen automatically you risk disrupting the player at a critical moment, if you have it function on button press you risk a player outright forgetting about levels, or dying with levels banked, both of which are feel-bads.

Behind the scenes, you also have to decide how to shuffle the upgrades, especially as they get weirder. If you have a rare upgrade that outright removes your ranged weapon, how do you make sure that ranged-exclusive upgrades don't appear in the pool anymore? To be honest, I could go on for a while still, but I think this gets the point across - everything in a game is complicated, and even if a player doesn't realize it, these decisions have a cumulative impact over the length of a 20-40 hour game. Even using really good tools like TextMeshPro still leave a ton of design decisions that a code package can't make for you. When it all comes together it's pretty incredible, but it requires an absolute ton of tiny tweaks and bugfixes in the meantime.

I felt like this needed one more gif to space out the text but I didn't have any ideas so here's Many Twiggs.

As per usual, feel free to send asks here or to @oneominousvalbatross, and thanks for reading this! There won't be a dev diary next week, we're taking some time off to avoid burning out after 6 months of grinding, but I'll be back in the new year to talk about cool visual effects!

[astor-and-the-endless-ink]

Astor’s Intro

✦ Christian

✦ 17

✦ She/he/they

✦ This is my writing and character art blog!

✦ @encre-sanguine is my main blog :3

✦ I change my name a lot, but I’ll always keep the and-the-endless-ink part so yk who I am XP

Works In Progress

🪽💫 The Gift and the Ghostspeaker 🌙🤍

-> Masterpost Link Here <-

On the planet of Zephan, three teenagers live their lives the way they always have.

Rhys Lucen—the son of the world’s ruler, the Ghostspeaker—lives in luxury with his family, including his secret and possibly cursed half-sister, Brynn. But when word gets out that three-year-old Brynn is alive, people start to panic and riot, and Rhys has to run for his and Brynn’s lives, aided by the same Ghosts that his father has the Gift of speaking to…

Sterling Pierce and his sister, Sage, struggle to survive their abusive Mage father’s magic addiction—which he feeds using them as an endless supply. But Sterling has the Gift of using magic as well, so when his father threatens to murder the siblings in a fit of rage, Sterling uses his power to fight back—killing his father, and nearly killing Sage by mistake. Now she needs a magic transfusion bigger than what any hospital on Zephan can provide, and there's only one way to gather more…

Kairo Rayos is descended from a long line of Ghostspeakers—one that ended with his infamous immortal father, Lev, who started the Lunari Alliance to fight the Ghosts’ rebellion against the Creator God, Solaios. Now Lev has been banished to the abandoned Blanklands surrounding Zephan City, and Kairo, thanks to a deal his father struck with the Ghostspeaker, is safe inside—but most Zephnic people don’t take kindly to followers of Solaios, especially immortal ones, and all Kai wants is peace. This kind of peace, however, can only come through the afterlife, and as his family and therapist are always quick to tell him, immortals can’t die. But when proof appears that they can—and have, as an immortal’s dead body was found in the Blanklands, seemingly murdered—Kai sets out to find the killer, and through them, eternal peace…

As Rhys finds himself assigned a seemingly impossible task from the Ghosts—killing every living immortal—and Sterling teams up with him to collect the immortals’ magic for Sage, they discover that things are not what they seem on Zephan, and that they're included in a prophecy called The End of Immortality. The question is whether or not the prophecy is true, let alone morally right—and will they find the supposed ‘chosen one’, who happens to be trying to get himself killed?

💚🗡 This Blood Will Remember ✒️🩷

Okay so it’s basically just vibes rn but I love it, stay tuned?

♠️♥️ Unsuited ♦️♣️

The Game for the Unsuited has officially reopened - and Alana Hargreaves, a girl with no proficiency in any of the four Suits of magic, is the first of the chosen Pawns.

She has a plan to win the Game without playing by the rules; anyone who had ever won before had gotten in, gone a bit insane thanks to the Game's mysterious challenges, developed Sanity magic, and gotten out. But if everything goes according to plan, Alana - and her best friend, Penn, who was chosen for the Game the year before - will learn a different Suit of magic and, once no longer Unsuited, be allowed to go back home.

But as Alana realizes upon entering the Game's giant forcefield, there are two problems with her plan:

One, Unsuited Pawns aren't the only ones playing - in fact, the Game is practically ruled by a Queen of Hearts Mage, and she doesn't want any of her victims to leave.

Two, Penn has almost lost her mind already, but Sanity wouldn't be her first Suit of magic; she now wields the legendary, reality-altering Suit of Creativity.

As Alana investigates Penn's strange new abilities and befriends other residents of the Game - including the Queen of Hearts' messenger brother, Ace, and Charlie, the Game's built-in AI assistant whose origins are somewhat murky - she discovers that the reason for the Game is darker than anyone would have guessed, and that to make it out alive she'll need more than her sanity...but will she fight her way out, or give in and give up her mind in the process?

🩸👻 Destined for Death 🕳️✉️

Nicholas Acker is a ghost—and a special one, because not every ghost can say they were killed by their best friend…who also happens to be a half-vampire-half-bloodwielder.

Jameson, said best friend, feels terrible for accidentally killing Nick—especially considering that he just got engaged.

So Jamie does what any decent gentleman would do: set out to kill Nick’s fiancee so they can be together in the afterlife.

But when Jamie’s undercover-vampire-hunter twin shows up at Nick’s funeral, bringing with him a whole new set of complications, and Nick runs into a teenage ghost with dreams of curing vampirism, they all have to team up to save themselves—and all vampires with hope of becoming human again.

💎⏳ The Soulrobbers 🗡🪨

It’s been a long time and I don't have a synopsis and I’m too lazy to write one, basically it’s about rocks with your souls in them and fighting over them like kindergarteners XD

[typellblog]

Dunno where one would get the idea that fgo is like five minutes per day max unless they're using some kind of autoclicker app

It's like five minutes per day if you're just using your AP and nothing else, less if you convert it to blue apples but those are more recent and they added other bullshit you have to do on JP now anyway

If you're literally doing anything else like grinding for a specific material it's longer, a maximally efficient player probably won't be doing this very often but that's because they spend EXTRA time on events clearing the shop & especially grinding during lotto and raids (where the maximally efficient thing to do is spend ALL your time on them until they close)

That's where the apples get used!

The max efficiency player can cut their time down quite a bit outside of certain events but that requires knowledge and planning and the average player is not doing this because they didn't spend 8 hours straight on the last lotto event so they need to grind more QP to level the Servant they pulled the other day or grind more XP to work on getting their favourite past level 100. And sometimes even if you're maximally prepared the game hits you with "the new material that Tezcatlipoca needs over 200 of is only available by grinding one particular free quest in LB7 after you've cleared the story" and you just have to sit there running the same quest for three days because. You know. Efficiency.

This is also under the assumption that you don't read the story lmao, which in my case was actually true but I don't think most people are skipping it all

idk these games are like, parasitic in the sense that they're not just trying to be something you do casually in your downtime, they're trying to be something you plan your life around, they're trying to be something you're regularly thinking about, they're trying to sell you a lifestyle because the more attached you get the more likely you are to eventually fall into the money pit and I only really noticed that once I quit

This is by no means unique to gacha games or even gambling I think this is entertainment's preferred mode of existence under capitalism but like. We're just talking about what we know here. I could also talk about how Magic the Gathering does basically the same fucking thing

[gorbalsvampire]

on Golconda, Roads and Paths

Here's the thing about Golconda.

In the Dark Ages, it was understood that there was a Beast, and that many Roads led away from the Beast, and that at the end of every Road there was a state of being in which one was a paragon of one's virtues, as far from the Beast as any Cainite could ever be, and that state was called Golconda. A Paragon of the Road of Sin would look like a shame, a caution and a horror to a follower of the Road of Heaven or Kings, but their Beast would be mastered nonetheless.

Much that was once known was lost, in the War of Princes and the Inquisition and the Revolt and the rise of the Sabbat.

A Path is not a Road, built and tended with the authority of mind over soul. A Path is simply a route trodden by many, through a wilderness poorly understood by all.

The Sabbat is permanently struggling, and its Enlightenment begins with a breaking of the self and a submission to the Beast. Its Paths are framed by an eternal war that defines everything the sect thinks and does, against everything it can reach, against enemies vast and abstract. It is not interested in Golconda any more than it is capable of winning.

The Camarilla? They have maintained but one Road – Humanity – to the detriment of all the others. Theirs is the struggle between Beast and Man, and when a Kindred wishes to be neither, they fold their arms and say "nevertheless: choose, or be damned." The Camarilla does not believe in many things that happen to be true; it believes in you believing what you're told, and if you don't, well, you must be lost to the Beast already, mustn't you?

In the modern nights, Golconda is an accident. The Roads, well kept and maintained, are lost, and all that remains is to blunder along the Path and hope.

This is a very long winded way of saying "check out Dark Ages if you want to see what an authoritarian (Kings) or indulgent (Sin) or harmonious (Beasts) or pious (Heaven) relationship with the Beast looks like, all of those are forms of Golconda, same mechanical effects but very different behaviours to maintain them."

During the War of Princes, i.e. before the formation of the Camarilla, you have five major Roads and at least as many minor ones. None of them are presented as necessarily more important, more widely followed, or more "true" than the others. And, crucially, in the Revised era - that's Dark Ages Vampire, not Vampire: the Dark Ages - all of those Roads have an Aura attached. At a high Road rating, that is to say really living up to their personal ideals, a character radiates a palpable sense of something - authority, temptation, compassion - suggesting that they are approaching a different order of being.

After the formation of the Camarilla, on the other hand, you have Humanity presented as the default state of being for vampires. Their central moral struggle is to preserve their Humanity from the ravages of the Beast - there are very clear consequences for letting your Humanity drop, but the Aura corresponding to the Dark Ages' Via Humanitas is no longer present. Something has changed. Something about the way vampires work is not as it used to be.

Dark Ages was always a backformation - a prequel created after the core operations and tenets of Vampire were established. And those core operations and tenets have always included a sense of Humanity as "The Downward Spiral," of vampires as risking "degeneration" should they engage in behaviours presented by a "Hierarchy of Sins." The journey toward the Beast has always been more explicitly mapped out than any journey away from it. Spend XP to restore Humanity. You may reach Golconda, I guess.

This is fine, it's a solid bit of Gothic theming, core to the game, love it. Except... it doesn't gel with the Paths of Enlightenment, many of which are transhumanist in nature, and which - again, in Revised, this is where I came in - are built from a start of actively running down your Humanity and then adopting your Path and then needing to build your Path rating back up again, i.e. climbing a moral ladder away from the Beast. This doesn't really work when the Paths' morality is written, like Humanity, as a series of failure points - Sins by which you degenerate and risk the Beast. The Paths, as written, are a kind of square peg/round hole situation where you have to turn prohibitions into opportunities to progress. And there isn't as clear a mechanical reward or incentive for maintaining a high Path rating as there is for a high Road rating. No Auras here either.

So, what I arrived at, once I'd run my first successful Dark Ages Vampire game and had this distinction really brought to my attention, was a sense that vampire morality had changed between one side of the transformative events in the early modern period. And that's when I started thinking about what it meant that your characters in Dark Ages and Victorian Age occupied the same band of generations, and thought about how the Camarilla can get away with claiming there are no such things as Antediluvians when some of its founding figures have a personal memory of Antediluvians being actively involved in the War of Princes.

That's when I started taking the Inquisition seriously, as an effectively genocidal event that wiped out almost all playable vampire characters. Higher than sixth generation? Yeah, you probably didn't make it through the War and the Revolt and the Inquisition, and repopulation took a while, Tradition of Progeny and all that. The surviving elders are the ones who deliberately fabricated new social orders for vampirism - the aggressive, militant transhumanism of the Sabbat and the centralised "we hide amongst humans and Humanity is the best way to do that" principles of the Camarilla.

And that's how I arrive at my model of vampire morality.