#but none of my mages or the party members have ever used it in-game

[sasha199]

Gale/ Wyll drama pt. 6 This one's for all my fellow citizens of the Holy Rolan Empire.

Y’all…this game hits different when your Tav is a stand in for yourself.

My sister and I are playing a multiplayer as ourselves, as sisters. I was romancing/flirting with both Gale and Wyll. I made a move on Lae’zel too but THAT ended in tears. Sister is pulling both Astarion and Shadowheart.

(I’m Sasha, sister is Marlie.)

The Last Light Inn is bustling, as usual. Harpers have a knack for keeping their minds occupied, they're survivors first and foremost. After the acquisition of the Moon Lantern, Marlie and I are on a first name basis with most of the people here, but as I approach Quartermaster Talli, the nearby Harpers go quiet. Everyone stares at us. I do my best to ignore them and I greet Talli with my usual enthusiasm. She gives Minthara a hard look as she doles out heavy armor and weapons, but gives me no grief. The conversations pick back up again as we walk away. 

Marlie makes her way over to Dammon to see what he's been working on. The tiefling blacksmith has a knack for harnessing the power of infernal iron, and we had managed to gather more on our recent venture. Astarion seems to be looking in every direction at once as he follows her, his footsteps eerily silent. 

As I enter the main common room Alfira rushes over, her face is stretched taunt with worry. That's not new, she's been struggling since the death of her instructor and friend Lihala. I gather her in a brief hug, the bells of her bard's collar tinkling faintly. "Everything alright?" I ask. I absently do a head count of the children over her shoulder, my heart sinks as I remember that Mol is still missing. 

"No," her dark golden eyes dart back and forth between mine, "It's Rolan, I can't find him."

"Rolan? Lia's brother? He's probably drying out somewhere..."

"No, you don't understand, I don't think so. He's been missing since last night."

"Alfira, I'm sure he's fine." That man was more of a headache than I had ever anticipated a wizard could be. 

"When did you last see him?" she asks me. 

I picture in my mind's eyes the swaggering, scowling, tiefling, hair always coiffed to hide his ears as if he's ashamed of them. His golden eyes were lidded and drooping, he leaned over the bar like he was preparing to take a nap right then and there. Granted, the fight with Marcus had been exhausting. I'd rushed downstairs to help Jaheira, who had already wild shaped into a panther, and Rolan had been engaged with a horrible winged monstrosity. I had cast Mage Armor on him as I ran past trying to put myself between the children on the first floor and the creatures descending from the sky. The golden light from my spell was still emanating around him, making his eyes shine. 

He sneered at me before I could speak. "Just stay away from me," he slurred, "I'm so sick of you and you're self-righteous heroic crap. None of this would've happened if you hadn't interfered in our business. We'd be in Baldur's Gate by now. Together. Safe."

The "we" he was referring to were his siblings. They'd been ambushed by a group of cultists from Moonrise, and taken prisoner. Many members of the tiefling refugee group had perished in that conflict. I had first met the trio when our party had been in search of a healer for the tadpoles swimming around in our brains. His sister, Lia, and I had become close during that time, and she had been keen to aid the refugees as they journeyed to Baldur's Gate from Elturel. Rolan thought I was a bad influence on her. 

I was hurt by this outburst but not terribly surprised. Rolan was not what I would call a kind man. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened to your family-"

"They're dead for all I know," he sloshed more wine into a silver tankard, dribbling the frothy liquid onto the counter, "I don't need your help... or your pity."

"I'll rescue them," I snapped. "I would never abandon Lia, or Cal." I reminded myself that Rolan had saved Alfira, saved the children. It was his magic that allowed them all to escape and take refuge at Last Light. I owed him a lot. It would be wrong to walk over, wrap my armored hands around his red neck and watch gleefully as that stupid golden light left his black eyes. "They're strong and capable, they'll take care of each other. I trust them to manage until I can get them out."

He turned to face me fully then, his tail lashing behind him, "They're MY responsibility." He bared his fangs at me, lowered his head as if to charge me, but his voice was quiet and menacing, "You go save the world, or whatever it is you do. I'll fix this."

"Well fuck." I say coming back to reality. Alfira is still looking at me, pleading with her eyes for me to take action. 

"Stay calm," I tell her, "If he's still alive, we'll find him. Lia would never forgive me if I didn't look out for him."

I reach out through my mind, through the tadpole connection to Marlie and Astarion. "Time to rally," I think harshly, "Rolan has gone to Moonrise. Maybe we can still catch him."

"Who?" Marlie responds.

I sigh and send her a mental image.

"Oh, that egotistical shit." I can feel her exasperation, the bitter taste of it curling on my tongue through out mental connection. "I'll be pissed if we did all that work to keep him alive only to fail here."

***

***

Marlie and I had grown up in the wilds to the south of Baldur's Gate. It's an entirely different environment from where we are now, but the intensity of the Shadow Curse has turned this city into a wasteland of sorts. I'm never so grateful for my tracking skills as we make our way towards the ruined battlefield. I avert my eyes from the slaughtered tiefling bodies that litter the ground not far from here. I can still hear Asharak's encouraging voice if I think hard enough.

Marlie and Astarion are stealthing in the darkness, I can't see them but Marlie sends me flashes through the tadpole of the landscape, and I know they're scouting for shadows. It's then that I hear "DETONO" from somewhere up ahead. The ground vibrates with the force of the spell and I jump over a low wall, moving towards the sound.

"Rolan!" I shout, rounding, a corner. Minthara leaps ahead of me, her sword glowing with divinity, and my eyes flash green in the darkness. In one smooth motion I pull fletching to cheek and loose an arrow ablaze with dread and malice. The shadow it embeds itself into shrieks and collapses in on itself. I hear Astrarion off in the distance laughing as an attack misses him. 

Soon, it is over, and panting I turn to Rolan. "Gods damn it all." He shouts before I can say anything. "Anyone but you...can I do nothing right?"

I don't know what to say, I feel like I'm in the wrong. I reach out tentatively and he recoils, teeth bared again. I was prepared for his reaction, but this is too important, why doesn't he ever cast it on himself? Rolan is now glowing with a bright yellow light, I mutter the incantation and he looks down as three arcane shields buzz around him for a heartbeat. I'm heartened to see his face soften slightly. 

"If it helps," I venture, "when I re-tell this story, I could say you killed all the monsters?"

"Who gives a damn about your stories," there's a note of despair in his voice, "All I care about is getting my brother and sister back." 

"Instead he found himself cornered by shadow fiends and in desperate need of rescue." Minthara's melodious tones almost echo around us, the group has re-gathered and Marlie and Astarion are looting somewhere in the darkness.

"From you of all bloody people." Rolan snarls, looking particularly devilish in the flickering light of his torch.

"You were trying to help your family," I say quickly before I lose my nerve, I don't know why I'm attempting to make him feel better, "you're - you're too hard on yourself."

"Or not hard enough." There is no appreciation in those yellow eyes, only contempt. He looks like an entirely different person from the man who filled the air with sparkles at the grove's celebration. The man who basked in my applause and asked me if I needed anything before retiring to spend the evening alone. That man is dead apparently. 

"Are you in the habit of collecting wizards who nurse a death wish?" Minthara steps up next to me, absently looking over some loot Marlie gave her, she sneers at Rolan, "Seems they cannot help but follow in your wake. Like ducklings."

"I'll return to Last Light." Rolan storms away, torch held high, he mutters something else but I can't make it out. I'm pretty sure he's cursing me. 

"Moonrise would have eaten him alive."

"And you should have let it," Minthara tosses the loot casually on the ground, apparently it does not meet her standards. "There are too many fools in the world as it is."

When we return to Last Light, Rolan is drinking in the corner again. 

"Don't do it." Marlie says to me.

"Do what?"

"You have enough on your plate, don't go asking for more."

"I'm not."

She lowers her voice, "You can't save people from themselves, Sasha. Let him be miserable if he wants to be."

I sigh and walk over to Rolan's corner.

"Gods, what now..." He mutters into his tankard. I keep my distance, feeling awkward, wishing I knew what to say. He turns to me, he looks haggard, defeated. "Come here to gloat? "

"Yes." I respond half thinking.

"Well I'm not here to grovel, so PISS OFF!" He takes a hardy swig. 

It shouldn't matter, I owe him nothing. As I walk away I wipe my nose absently on my sleeve. I'm not crying, everything is fine. I'm perfectly fine. 

Marlie is at my side as I step out into the yard. "Did you find...?" I trail off as she nods her head slightly, sending me a mental image of a haughty, finely dressed man. Last I'd seen him he was sitting across from a one-eyed little girl, a board game between them. I swallow a lump in my throat and say a silent prayer for Mol. 

"To Moonrise?" She asks me as I digest the image. 

"First to camp," I say, "we can't take Minthara back there."

"Right. Who are you going to bring with you instead?"

I look at her, an image flashes in our tadpole connection. "Right," she says again, "poor Daddy's Boy."

[acradaunt]

Acra's EO Guild Card Megapost

Guild Cards are a neat thing in the most of the Etrian Odyssey games. Sometimes, they're pretty pointless, but in some, they actually do some neat stuff. I… have a tendency to do multiple playthroughs, to try different team compositions (as seeing how different a game can feel based on your builds is one of my favourite things ever, and I also like abandon them before the big fights, on the hypothetical urge I want to re-fight a boss at an appropriate level an infinite number of times), so I've amassed a fair few of my own.

Why am I uploading these now? Apparently the Nexus database got borked a couple days ago, so this is the perfect time for me to get a few feet in the door. I also swear this is the last time I'll ever post about these, seriously.

EO Nexus -A total of 100 Guild Cards are needed to unlock the Vampire pseudo-class. Obviously, 100 is a lot, so they obviously expected the community, paltry it may be, to come together to make a database. And they did. And then they locked it the second they got 108. And then it died. So now I finally get a second chance to contribute.

Galeforce

-My first (main) playthrough. I actually uploaded a card weekly to help out, but I think only the first one made it on in time. It's not Heroic because it's like a NG+++++ file. This is the final card, but for the weekly set of them, um, here:

Week 0 || Week 1 || Week 2 || Week 3 || Week 4 || Week 5 || Week 6 || Week 7

Stardust

-Filled with all my C-listers that couldn't fit into Galeforce. I ran them as two separate teams; the Boss Killers (shown here), who fought the FOEs/Bosses, and Team Midriff, who did all the exploration.

Sunstorm

-A Guild consisting of classes I mostly avoid using, and portraits I hadn't (as of its conception) used before. As always, there's like another three members that get used that aren't here, including a Survivalist, Nightseeker, and an Arcanist.

Maelstrom

-An attempt at a Nuzlocke-esque run, and also an 'evil' party. Characters stopped being used if they died, but only until the end of the stratum, to not make it overbearing. Being an evil party lacking in support and healing, this was an absolute slog that I considered a total failure by the Jungle.

Brilliant

-An idea for a mage-guild that kinda went askew. Starting as a Sovereign, three Zodiacs, and a Farmer, I ultimately turned this into three single-element teams; Each consisting of a unique Sovereign, a unique Zodiac, two other characters that get earlygame elemental skills (Survivalist's Flame Arrow, Landsknecht, etc.), but the same Farmer (Hazel) across all three. Didn't take it all that far, but worked kinda well!

EOV -Definitely where Guild Cards are seen the most. About 2-4 times every floor, there'll be an event that'll use you GC database to have another guild interact with you in the labyrinth. If you have none, you'll be introduced to memelord Conrad of the Freeblade Guild about 110 times in your course of a playthrough. In stark contrast, Nexus only has GC events maybe a dozen times across the whole game.

Starlight

-Main guild. Not a lot to say. It's a Chain-oriented party, because I love Fencers/Landsknechts.

Bundt

-Cake pun. See, bundt is a type of cake, and the guild is filled with Brouni. As in Brownies, the fairy/pixie/sprite, but I'm punning off the--- ANYWAY. Horrific offense, but don't die easily. Kinda miserable against a few specific enemies like the coffin jerks on 15F, but otherwise worked astonishingly better than you'd expect. Which is; not GOOD, but totally serviceable.

Necrocosm

-My original 'evil' guild, featuring two Necromancers, and edge as far as the eye can see. Two Necros work pretty well together; typically Velvet summoned them and Rue made them explode. The fact Necros heal and have evil vibes let them succeed where Maelstrom would totally fail. I also didn't bench anyone for dying, so that probably helped too.

Firebird

-This playthrough is only saved at Amalgolem and took like a single weekend to get there, so I didn't remember squat about it. Amalgolem is like my single fave boss in the whole series, so I just had to leave a file there. It's heavily skewed towards non-humans, and the bottom deck of the guild is just full of nigh-on unusable cross-classed horrors, like a Celestrian Pugilist and Therian Warlock.

EO2U -Probably where Guild Cards are the most functionally useful. Lets you get the Grimoire Stones the attached character has on hand as many times as you can afford. Pretty nifty, as Grimoires are semi-random in spawning.

Skyquake

-So I didn't actually buy EO2U when it came out for a variety of factors, not least being unaware how different it was from the original EOII, my first EO game. So I've only started this and Untold I fairly recently.

Ironroot

-Holy Gift gives you extra experience, but each level costs twice as much to trade as the previous. That is, you need two level 3 Grimoires to get a level 4. Or 128 level 3s for a single level 10. So having a Guild Card with lowish level Holy Gift is actually pretty dang useful to have.

Untold

-Story Guild. Haven't… uh, haven't exactly been Motivated to do Story mode in Untold 2. On paper, I really dislike the team composition. In practice, hasn't been so bad, but still not enough to make me play them more than necessary.

Fellbloom

-Now legally required Evil Guild. Probably won't ever get past Chimaera.

EOU -Unlike the sequel, Guild Cards don't let you choose what to get from the friend's Guild Card. You just get given a random Grimoire Stone once per playthrough per Guild Card. Kinda lame.

Untold -Unlike later games, only one save file here, and the game nigh-on requires you to play through the Story Mode before doing Classic in NG+, so, that's where we sit.

EOIV -First game to use QR codes. III had Guild Cards, but I don't know how you'd trade them. They do serve a purpose here; each Card gets given a random treasure, and having a Card lets you find that treasure in the overworld. Most are crap, but some are circumstantially useful, and some are permanent stat-boosts, IIRC. I don't think mine was very good…?

Zephyr

-Uh, EOIV had a glitch where your Ventured Days would go up dramatically every time you paused. I think it comes into affect if you ever do NG+. So I haven't actually played for 48 in-game years. Truth be told, now knowing of a way to back up save files, I am admittedly tempted to make a new EOIV playthrough, since it's been like a decade, but for my own sanity, I really probably shouldn't.

[crystalelemental]

It is finally over. After all this time, I have finally finished Class of Heroes 2. 100% of all quests are completed. It's finally...finally over.

Compared to Class of Heroes 1, this game is such a substantial upgrade it's almost unreal. The majority of the game feels incredibly well balanced, and I feel like you could reasonably achieve victory with just about any (balanced) team composition. For my part, I went with Bahamoon, Felpurr, Celestia, Human, Elf, and Gnome. All six were in their personalized classes.

Bahamoon's Dragon Knight is a great tank, but has little else going for it. I never felt like damage was all that impressive, and their spells are uninspiring. At least they can heal, including the ever-essential revive.

Felpurr's Beast was kinda whatever early game, then reached the point we got Diamond Knuckles on both hands and was swinging for the best damage any party member could manage. They were excellent, loved them. Fell off exceptionally hard in post-game.

Celestia's Fallen Angel is about the shittiest thing I can think of. No seriously, they suck. Their claim to fame is having magic, but their damage output on spells is inconsequential, and none of their weapons excel. I get the idea of instant death on their weapons, so there's a stretch of time where it vaguely matters, but I was not particularly impressed due to their frontline nature, low HP for such a role, and limited capacity to contribute meaningfully to the team without a good pre-promote class choice (Mage for Revive, Ninja for Defense boosting skills).

Human's Gunner was really good, mostly because inherent insta-kill off of Gun attacks, and being the only promote with Thief abilities. They're downright essential, I cannot imagine trying to build a party without one. Their attacks weren't particularly strong until postgame, though, when we came across a stupid powerful gun that hit three times as opposed to the one, resulting in a massive damage jump that put them over Beast.

Elf's Summoner is, without question, the most essential class in the game. If you are not running a Summoner, you are not clearing post-game, I think. Like, you can beat 95% of the game without them I'm sure, I basically did because I forgot I had summons as an option, but holy shit. Seraph on the female Elf feels downright essential. I'm talking one-shotting the bosses with little issue, and being the only thing reliably taking out dragons near endgame. You should always, ALWAYS have a summon up, and frankly, it's the only reason I could beat the true postgame. Those final few bosses took like nothing from our entire party and healed more damage than we could deal. Seraph was the only one contributing, the rest of the party was just a mad dash to not die as a game over condition. It's that absurd. My only gripe is that when you summon, its HP value is random and wildly different. At the same level, one call got 1500, another got 4500. It's a massive difference.

Gnome's Alchemist...is fine? The ability to perform Alchemy free of cost is something, but truth be told, it's not hard to farm out gold when you really need to, so I personally don't see them as particularly valuable. Combined with a terrible early game due to lack of direct Mage access and few options besides, and absolutely pathetic base HP that results in them getting one-shot from mid-game on by anything that looks at it funny, Gnome is just a terrible pick.

Dwarf's Berserker is a class I didn't use, but if and when I play this game again, I will. I actually kinda like Dwarf, just conceptually, and the Berserker feels like something that can potentially dish out funny haha numbers. I do think Dwarf will have tremendous accuracy issues though, which is why Beast won out. But they're likely an excellent frontline tank, similar to Dragon Knight, but without the revive capabilities.

Diabolos' Necromancer...confuses me. I can't tell if I have to actually capture the souls or if it's just normal spells. It might be incredibly good, but I'm not convinced. I dunno, nothing about it appealed, which is sad because Diabolos Puppeteer is one of the cutest designs.

Fairy's Sage feels decent but uninteresting. It's main claim to fame is MP recovery while walking, which would let it be a more persistent healer, but if I recall correctly, Fairy is low HP growth, and spells just don't significantly hold up. The regular type of spell, anyway. So Fairy feels unimpressive.

Khulaz' Geomancer is the one I most wanted to run a while into the game due to Gnome underperforming. Khulaz has a few things of interest. One: unique single-target spells that might actually deal damage, and that pack potential status effects for disruption. Two: Actual HP growth. Three: Passives that boost drop rate, and in postgame, will boost EXP and money yields. Khulaz feels potentially life-changing, given how many enemies have really low drop chances for T4 and T5 materials.

Now, all that in mind...the game is not exactly...good.

Exploration is brutal. I was wondering all through CoH1 when they'd do the bullshit trap combination of "Deep" and "Antimagic," to cause everyone that doesn't innately float to immediately die. It turns out, CoH2 does this almost immediately, and then persistently does it in every zone like all the time. It turns out, this is a centralizing effect, that results in every grounded ally needing to give up an accessory slot entirely just to not fucking die and stay dead every step through these traps. It is an absolutely bullshit effect.

Despite Mapor being massively upgraded to give you essentially a regular map, antimagic still dispels it and renders it useless, and is too prevalent to be of significant use.

Your inventory caps at 100. This is only a problem because you can save in the dungeon, return to title, then load up in town where you can sell and store items, then return to the dungeon where you left off. Which is...free. "Isn't that good?" No, you have to do it so often. And if the mechanic can be so easily subverted, why does it exist at all?

Dungeons frankly go on longer than you'd want them to, and have certain sections that are just way too annoying to me. It really overstays its welcome. Teleport can simplify a bit, but that costs MP, so early game is just a ton of trekking through nonsense.

Most bosses aren't that scary. I didn't experience a threat from a boss until the final three. Prior to that, they were all easily handled, but god help you if you find a decently sized squad of tough randos.

Stats going down on level is still a very real, very obnoxious thing. HP values do not go up that well for most, to the point postgame bosses will one-shot anyone regardless. Apparently, to make matters hilariously worse, the one good space to level grind later game? You can get hit with -2 levels. I just. I can't with this game sometimes.

Mechanically, the game is just still too messy to be truly good. But unlike the first game, equipment actually progresses at a linear pace, and you feel like you're playing a game. In addition, you have tools that are so hilariously overpowered that it's gamebreaking in your favor. I think these changes make it a more sound experience, and one that I think is worth pursuing overall. But I do think postgame is a mess. That's common for a lot of games, though.

On the whole, CoH2 earns a "decent, might replay, but didn't love it as much as I'd hoped."

I don't know what I'm going to play next, but truth be told, my wife's been playing Rune Factory 5, so it might be that. It seems cute, and I am very attached to this kind of micromanagement.

[queen-scribbles]

Looking Back

Here we go, as promised. One Warden!Carver fic that(to no one’s surprise) kinda got away from me.

At first he thought they were part of his dreams. He’d been having nightmares about darkspawn since he joined the Wardens; why wouldn’t the chittering and shrieks be part of that?

“Hawke, get up!” A string of obscenities and the low crackle-hiss of something being flash-frozen followed the demand.

So, not dreaming. Kendal cursing was never part of his dreams. Carver pushed himself upright and scrubbed sleep out of his eyes. If he was honest, he’d thought Kendal didn’t curse.

“Hawke, I swear on Andraste’s pyre, if you ain’t out here in the next ten seconds-”

He grabbed his sword and scrambled out of his tent. “You’ll what?”

Russa rolled her eyes at him as she jammed a dagger into a hurlock’s neck. “I was gonna threaten t’ shave ya bald,” she yanked out the dagger and let the corpse flop over, “but on second thought, the world ain’t ready for that level of ugly yet.”

Carver grunted and slashed at an approaching genlock. It went down with a squeal. “I dunno, it’s put up with you just fine.”

She laughed. “I had that comin’.”

“Less banter, more killing!” Kendal hollered his staff flaring with the light of a spell.

“Killjoy,” Russa grumbled as she moved to stand back to back with Carver, her daggers both dripping ichor and blood.

Carver chuckled. “Where’s Stroud?”

“Went chasin’ after the leader. Big, nasty bastard,” Russa said. “Think it was an emissary--watch your left!”

He spun to meet the impending attack, just in time for the shriek to scream in his face. He punched it in the jaw and ran it through when it stumbled back. “Think he needs help?”

“Soon as we take out more of this lot, Kendal’s gonna check.” Russa’s head whipped around, her braid almost hitting Carver in the face, and she flicked a throwing knife toward a particularly dark patch of shadow. A formerly skulking genlock collapsed into the light.

“Nice shot,” Carver commented off-handedly, swinging his sword in a wide arc that caught three encroaching darkspawn.

“Not bad yourself, rookie,” she replied, moving forward to help him finish off the wounded darkspawn. “Kendal, go! Carver’n I can handle what’s left.”

The mage nodded and took off in search of their leader and his quarry.

A hurlock tried to follow, but Russa whipped a throwing knife after it and it toppled with the blade lodged in its skull.

“C’mon, kid, let’s handle clean up,” she said cheerfully as she regripped her dagger.

“Are you always in a good mood?” Carver asked. He cornered a hurlock against Kendal’s tent and lopped off its arm.

“Generally, yeah,” Russa laughed. She hauled a genlock in close by its armor to slit its throat. “Why?”

“Just wondering how that’s humanly possible in this line of work,” he shrugged, finishing off the hurlock. “Behind you!” he warned, and Russa spun to face the charging hurlock. She dodged to the side, nicking its knee as it went by, and let it impale itself on Carver’s sword. “Nice.”

She sketched a mock half-bow. “Thank ya, ser. Was that all of ‘em?”

As if in answer, a genlock burst from the shadows and buried its blade in the side of Carver’s leg, just below the knee.

“Andraste’s tits!” he hissed. He slammed the pommel of his sword into the creature’s head as it let out a satisfied growl and then decapitated it as it reeled back. “I think that was the last of the bastards.”

“And you wonder why Stroud sleeps with his armor on,” Russa teased, hastily ducking under his arm so he could take weight off the injured limb.

“Shut up,” Carver groused, hobbling for the nearest rock. Damn, that hurts. “He doesn’t really, does he?”

“What, sleep in his armor?” She fetched a wad of cloth to stop the bleeding and shrugged as she pressed it against Carver’s leg. “Your guess is as good as mine, Hawke. He’s always prepared awful fast, all I’m sayin’.”

He hissed in pain. “How’d this all happen, anyway?” A broad gesture at the dead darkspawn littering their camp. “And shouldn’t you go see if-ah!-Kendal and Stroud need your help?”

“Ah, they’ll be fine. Can’t have you bleedin’ out on us, can we?”

“I can take care of myself, Russa.”

“Sure, but lettin’ people help ya isn’t a bad thing, Hawke,” Russa pointed out. She pulled back the cloth to check if the bleeding had slowed. It hadn’t. “As for what happened... that we can sense darkspawn thing goes both ways-”

“I know that,” Carver interrupted brusquely.

Russa flicked his ear. “Lemme finish, kid. It goes both ways and apparently we camped too close to a Deep Roads entrance. They all came spillin’ out halfway into Stroud’s watch.” She checked the wound again. “Aw, yeah, Kendal’ll be able to fix that, no problem, when they get back.”

“Comforting,” Carver grit out as another spike of pain flared up his leg.

Russa gave him a flat stare. “I’m gonna choose to believe it’s the pain makin’ you an asshole right now, rather than think it’s your normal state.”

“Charitable of you.”

“Carver, stop talkin’ ‘fore I smack you,” she warned.

He chuckled darkly. “Yes’m.”

Russa sighed. “Hold that on there so it don’t start bleedin’ again. I’m gonna hunt down my throwin’ knives.” She waited until Carver had pressed a hand over the added up cloth covering his leg wound before letting go and pushing to her feet.

“Thought you were worried about me bleeding out,” Carver couldn’t help needling.

“That’s why I’m stayin’ where I can see you,” she retorted as she retrieved one knife from a hurlock’s skull. “Anyway, I thought you could take care of yourself.”

Touche, he conceded to himself. But he just grunted at Russa and sat silently until Kendal and Stroud returned, filthy but unhurt.

“Some fight, then?” Russa said, raising an eyebrow as she cleaned off the last of her knives and secured it in her belt with the others.

“Did you expect any different?” Kendal asked dryly, wiping his forehead with the back of one arm. It left his hair sticking out wildly from the side of his head and a smear of dirt against pale skin. “How did you two fare?”

“We held our own,” she replied. “Hawke took a dagger to the leg, but it didn’t look like it did too much damage.”

Kendal turned his attention to Carver. “Let me see.”

Carver obliged, setting aside the blood-soaked rag as he watched Russa approach Stroud and the two of them start an animated conversation out of earshot. “What are they on about?”

“Figuring our next move, like as not,” Kendal grunted, not looking up from his examination of Carver’s leg. “Russa’s one of the best strategists we have in the Marches, and Stroud knows it.”

“We’re reporting to the garrison at Ostwick, what ‘next move’ is there?” Carver winced as the mage probed his injury.

Kendal chuckled without a trace of mirth. “Ah, rookie. Plans change. And discovering a Deep Roads entrance because of a darkspawn ambush in the middle of the night is pretty much a defining circumstance for Wardens changing their plans.”

“What, we’re going in there?! I don’t have proper armor!” Carver protested. “‘S part of why Stroud’s in such a hurry to get to the garrison. I need gear.”

“Did you have better gear while protecting your sister?” Kendal asked, pressing one hand against Carver’s leg to heal the wound.

“I-no,” he admitted grudgingly. “But I caught the bloody Taint protecting her, too.”

Kendal smiled thinly. “Then it’s a good thing that can only happen once.”

“Not funny,” Carver growled sourly.

“I wasn’t joking,” Kendal said, hand flaring with the light of a healing spell. “If you handled everyday ruffians and bandits with your current gear, you’ll be perfectly alright.”

Carver sighed irritably, partly because he couldn’t think of a comeback, and ran one hand through his hair. “Whatever. Are we done? I could use more sleep.”

“All done,” Kendal nodded. “It might be sore for a while, but you’ll be fine.”

Carver nodded understanding and stood to head back to his tent.

“You’re welcome!” Kendal called after him.

Carver grunted a thank you--or an approximation of one, anyway--as he ducked into his tent and collapsed on his bedroll.

He’d barely been asleep five minutes when someone nudged him with the toe of their boot. Insistently.

“What?” It came out like a growl as he rolled over to glare at the intruder.

“For starters, you need to clean your blade,” Stroud said. “Even in this light I can tell it is still a mess. After that, we could use some help disposing of the darkspawn corpses.”

Carver groaned and flopped one arm across his face. “’M tired...” It could almost be classed as a whine.

“As are the rest of us,” Stroud countered implacably. “This is part of being a Warden, Carver. Doing what you must rather than what you want. Clean your blade, quickly please, and then come help.” He left without another word, his tone making it clear that yes, that was an order.

As Carver groaned and levered himself upright, groping for his sword and a rag, part of him almost wished Astrid had just let him die.

>><<

The following few hours did nothing for his mood. Moving the darkspawn corpses would have been bad enough on its own, but Russa chattered nonstop the whole time. About what, Carver couldn’t say; he stopped listening twenty minutes in. And then as the darkspawn burned, Stroud informed them of the change in plans. It was their duty as Wardens to venture into the tunnel their ambushers had used to ascertain how much of a threat it posed.

Carver did not appreciate the news--or the I told you so look Kendal sent him--but at least they had a few hours to get some more sleep. Not nearly enough, of course, but something was better than nothing.

“You look like you should have a little rain cloud floatin’ over your head,” Russa said teasingly as they followed Stroud into the tunnel at first light.

Carver snorted. “Maker forgive me for being less than thrilled I’m headed back into the Deep Roads sleep-deprived and under-armored, to fight the monsters that killed my sister and gave me a death sentence.”

She gave him a cursory once-over. “You look pretty alive to me, Hawke.”

“Russa!” he hissed as the light from the surface started to fade.

Something in his tone must have tipped her off to her mood, because rather than more teasing, Russa laid a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave a brief squeeze. “I know it’s hard. We all deal with it as best we can, in our own ways.”

“Let me guess, the jokes are yours?” Carver said dryly.

Her teeth flashed white as she grinned. “Give the man a prize. Jokes and runnin’ my mouth. Smart guess. Kendal reads and comes up with theories about everything under the sun. Tries to maintain that normalcy. Haven’t figured out Stroud yet. You seem t’ be dealin’ by bein’ as grouchy as possible about it.”

“Give the woman a prize,” he muttered sarcastically.

“Your company is prize enough for me,” Russa shot back.

Carver was denied a retort as Stroud and Kendal both shushed them. Varric and Isabela would just love you. The thought made his chest tighten. He didn’t miss them, he didn’t. He didn’t miss Isabela making him trip over his words, he didn’t miss Varric needling the wound that was Carver’s seemingly permanent place in Astrid’s shadow. He didn’t miss them. Hope Astrid’s doing alright...

This was not the time for thoughts like that. He should be paying attention, not looking back, wallowing in memories. He could feel the darkspawn’ presence like a headache. This was a bad time to get distracted by the past.

At the head of the group, Stroud held up a hand to halt them, his silhouette visible in the faint light from Kendal’s staff. Carver froze in his tracks, fingers twitching toward the hilt of his sword.

Russa grabbed his wrist and uttered a barely audible “wait” before silently stepping forward. She slid past Stroud and around a bend in the tunnel.

“Where’s she going?” Carver hissed to Kendal.

“To scout,” Kendal whispered back. “Now, shh.”

Carver didn’t see much point in being quiet if the darkspawn could sense their presence, but he wasn’t in the mood for a lecture, so he kept his mouth shut. Russa wasn’t gone long, anyway; ten minutes at most.

She beckoned them all closer. “It’s a dead-end.”

“Really?” Kendal murmured skeptically. “There’s a full-on, proper entrance for a dead-end?”

“It’s a dead end because the tunnel collapsed,” Russa elaborated in an undertone. “Recently. There’s a group of darkspawn tryin’ to dig through. They must’ve been trapped on this side by the collapse.”

“How many?” Stroud asked.

“Looked like maybe a dozen,” she said cautiously. “But they were movin’ around and the light was shit, so I dunno for sure.”

“A dozen... We should be able to handle a dozen,” Kendal said, scratching behind his ear. “Were there any that looked especially dangerous, or-”

“I think you and Stroud killed the only emissary, if that’s what you’re wonderin’,” Russa interrupted. “But there were one or two that looked like alphas, so we’d wanna deal with them fast.”

“So let’s deal with them instead of standin’ here talking,” Carver cut in.

“Without a plan?” Kendal sounded almost scandalized.

“It worked for us,” Carver retorted.

“It doesn’t usually for us,” Stroud said. “We should have a plan. Someone should hang back, deal with any that try to escape out the tunnel. The rest of us will move ahead and clear out the darkspawn. Hawke, since you don’t yet have proper armor, you stay back once we round the bend. Any stragglers that escape us, you deal with them.”

A protest at being coddled sat sharp on the end of Carver’s tongue, but he managed to swallow it, barely. He’d complained to both Russa and Kendal about not having armor, he didn’t really have a leg to stand on now. So he just nodded. “Right.”

They moved forward cautiously, Kendal letting the light from his staff die as the darkspawn torches lit the tunnel instead. The warm glow made the mage’s hair a even deeper orange than usual and added coppery highlights to Russa’s braid. Carver took his position at the bend, noting it was also a choke point--the tunnel’s width cut in half. It would make it harder for darkspawn to get past him, but also harder for him to wield his sword.

“Hopefully not too many make it past them,” he thought to himself. He disliked being relegated to cleanup duty, but it did no good to get himself killed before he had a chance to prove he was good enough. Prove to who?

“We do not recruit Grey Wardens out of pity.”

“Trust me when I say this one will be worth your time.”

The muted echos of a barely-remembered conversation danced through his mind and Carver shook it off. Stroud and the others had reached the darkspawn and the fighting had begun. Carver watched as Stroud and Russa’s blades sliced into darkspawn flesh, as Kendal’s staff flared with magic, as the darkspawn fought back, and wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or irritated he was so far from the action. Both, maybe.

The first darkspawn broke free of the melee; a heavily armored hurlock that slammed a mace into Russa’s elbow as it bulled past her. With her reactionary curse still hanging in the air, Carver readied himself to deal with the darkspawn. Before it even reached him, a throwing knife lodged in its shoulder and it dropped its weapon with a squeal. One Carver ended when he lopped off the creature’s head.

“I didn’t need help with that,” he muttered, sullen but quiet, as he yanked Russa’s knife out of the corpse. That was verging on coddling. But he wasn’t going to shout such a sentiment across the cavern. He tucked Russa’s knife in his belt and continued watching for runners. He caught sight of Kendal dodging a genlock, muttering something as he pushed the creature away. The genlock stumbled toward the pair of darkspawn Russa was fighting. She glanced at Kendal, who gave a single sharp nod. With a loud grunt, she slashed open the genlock’s throat. Rather than fall to its knees and bleed out, as Carver would have expected, it wobbled for a second and then exploded. 

Carver almost dropped his sword. He’d never seen Astrid or Bethany do anything like that. Of course, neither of them had had a reason to learn anything like that.

Russa laughed as she wiped ichor off her face and finished off one of the stunned and wounded darkspawn. Stroud took out the other, and Carver dragged his attention off them just in time to notice the gangly, nightmarish darkspawn skulking toward the exit.

He set himself in a solid stance and waited for it to get closer. No point in distracting the others. He could handle this. The shriek started picking up speed once it was away from the main melee. It was working its way up to a full charge, hoping to bullrush past him.

Good luck with that, Carver thought, smiling grimly. When it got close and lunged, he was ready for it. His sword sheared off one of its arms at the elbow and the other just above the wrist as he dodged out of the way. It landed with a loud, angry scream of pain as it tumbled and thudded into the tunnel wall. It was screaming at him again when Carver drove his sword through its head.

That was the last darkspawn that made it anywhere near him. Stroud, Russa, and Kendal finished off the rest with brutal, practiced efficiency. Once all the darkspawn were dead, the Wardens moved to examine the collapsed tunnel.

“Whaddya think?” Russa asked, kicking a boulder as she picked ichor out of her braid.

“I think the tunnel is sealed pretty thoroughly, if that’s what you’re asking,” Kendal said. “Fortunate for us.”

“Aside from the darkspawn raiding party trapped on the wrong side?” Carver asked sarcastically as he handed Russa back her knife.

“Yes, aside from that. But they didn’t appear to have caused much trouble before we dealt with them,” Kendal replied.

“It is good we caught them when we did,” Stroud agreed. “But what were they doing here? Even at its worst, the epicenter of the Blight was in southern Ferelden. That’s long past, and Commander Tabris has things well in hand. So what drew these darkspawn to the surface?”

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Kendal protested, as three heads swiveled to do exactly that. “I haven’t the foggiest.”

“Really?” Russa laughed skeptically, crossing her arms. “You don’t have a theory? Kendal Jerris, who has an opinion on every-fuckin’-thing, doesn’t have a theory?”

“Not one with even the remotest chance of being credible, no,” he shot back. “Does their motivation truly matter if the tunnel is collapsed and we killed them all?”

“I suppose not,” Stroud conceded. “It is possible there’s no real reason, and it’s merely coincidence. Search the bodies in case they were carrying anything useful and then we should be on our way.” He clapped Carver on the shoulder. “We have a new recruit to get to Ostwick.”

Their search was cursory, and didn’t yield anything of interest, before they piled up the bodies and burned them. Carver was only to happy to put the dim cavern behind him and head back up into he sunlight once more. He didn’t even look back as they continued on toward Ostwick. 

No more looking back, he promised himself, and fixed his gaze toward his future instead.

[mischievouswritingblog]

Meta Essay: Medivh The Bisexual Icon

As of the time of this post, there’s going to be an update coming to World of Warcraft where the once all female ghosts in Karazhan will be changed to include male varieties as well.

Full details on the update can be found here: https://www.wowhead.com/news/female-only-ghosts-in-karazhan-updated-to-include-male-versions-324371

This has caused a lot of fun posts and people to take this as an ‘accidental confirmation’ by Blizzard that the character Medivh is bisexual. Pair this along with how some of his portrayal in Hearthstone was made into Warcraft canon, and in my opinion, it’s an excellent update to his character.

It’s no secret that Blizzard’s had a massive lack in LBGTQ+ representation for the longest time. Often when such subject matter did show up it was treated more as a punchline in some quests or was kept conveniently to the sidelines, with nonconsequential, blink and you miss it text, side characters, moments. It’s insulting, to say the least, and is the source of a growing frustration from the LBGTQ+ members of the audience. What’s more, whenever this frustration gets voiced it’s always talked down to. We are told that to ‘keep politics out of gaming’ and that we are too sensitive, when these are the same people that get bent out of shape when even a single thing changes or is called out in their game. It’s bullshit. LBGTQ+ people exist and the act of existing isn’t a political issue.

But of course, with people even making lighthearted jokes or posts of Medivh being a ‘Bisexual Icon’, there’s folks crawling out of the woodwork with reasons from “But the loooooooore!” (as if the lore isn’t constantly changing and being retconned from one expansion to the next) to “Well A-C-T-U-A-L-L-Y, those male guests were just for the female nobles that visited and attended his parties, Medivh was very straight”. To that, I’m going to say: “Nah, Medivh is a bisexual icon, deal with it”.

In my personal opinion, Medivh is an excellent character to explore queerness  with. He’s a character that’s been around since Warcraft 1 and the effects and ties from his story are still felt throughout World of Warcraft in various ways. Medivh is also a character that’s gone through a large amount of evolution and various portrayals. My personal favorite being the One Night in Karazhan take on him because it’s so different from the usual ‘brooding, grand powerful hermit-mage’ that his type of character usually is. Medivh in One Night in Karazhan is instead, vibrant and is a thriving social butterfly that loves to have and treat people to a good time. His reasonings for being this way make a lot more sense when you really think about what Medivh’s situation was.

Now, I have to mention that I do a much deeper dive and deconstruction of Medivh’s circumstances and just how messed up they were in this self indulgent essay/headcanon dump: ‘My Completely Self-indulgent Medivh Essay’. Feel free to give it a read but here is the basic gist for this essay:

Yes, Medivh was the Guardian, one of the most powerful mages to exist at the time. He was also possessed by Sargeras and was the one that created and opened the Dark Portal that brought the Orcs to Azaroth and changed Azeroth forever. But here’s the thing, Medivh had no choice in any of it.

To be the Guardian means you have to put your life on the line for Azeroth’s sake. This is a role that had to be kept to secrecy, people had to make a lot of sacrifices to be the Guardian. You gain phenomenal powers and it is a great honor but none of this was anything that Medivh ever asked for. He was literally born to become the Guardian, there was no other choice for his own future. 

Then you have Sargeras, he had his plans in play long before Medivh was even a thought. A sliver of Sargeras had entered Aegwynn (Med’s mother and the Guardian before him) from a battle between Aegwynn and his avatar. This influence hid within her and made its move when she decided that she wasn’t going to allow the Council of Tirisfal to choose her heir for her title and powers for her. Ignoring Chronicle’s softening of her, she used Medivh’s father, Neilas Aran, the court magician of Stormwind to sire a child. In TLG she let him know she flat out used him and felt nothing for him then came back later and tossed baby Medivh to him for free childcare. What neither of them knew at the time was that Medivh was possessed by Sargeras while he was in the womb. Sargeras would then screw him over even further by causing his powers to lash out when he was fourteen, causing him to accidentally kill his father and fall into a near 10 year coma, and wake up mentally and emotionally fourteen in a twenty-three-year-old’s body. So from the very beginning Medivh was always set up for failure.

So with this summary out of the way, the point of the matter is that Medivh is a character that had little autonomy for most of his life. His career and his fate were chosen for him from the start. Sargeras was in his head messing with him throughout his life, in TLG Medivh even tells Khadgar that he tried to fight it as much as he could. His story is a tragic one but with his reappearance in Legion there’s potentially a ray of hope.

I think there’s a lot of aspects in Medivh’s story that can tie well with the feelings and experiences of queerness. Not so much the being possessed by discount space Satan, but more so the struggle of trying to have autonomy and hanging onto who you are as a person. Being queer myself and looking at it through that lens, I see Medivh being vibrant and throwing parties as an attempt for him to seize what autonomy he could for himself. To exist, to be seen, and to have an identity of his own that had nothing to do with being the Guardian of Tirisfal. I think that it’s also something that separates Medivh from Sargeras. There were likely times where Sargeras may have forced the lines between them to blur as he gradually poisoned Medivh’s thoughts and twisted his soul throughout the years. Medivh likely had to struggle a lot with separating who he truly was from Sargeras. This being inside him, who wasn’t him but would at times take over his body suppressing Medivh’s true self. It’s a horror story where some elements can really hit close to home.

Medivh I believe surrounded himself with like minded, free spirited people like Barnes and the theater troupe (while there’s the joke Medivh’s only seen three plays, I choose to headcanon he’s a theater kid, given how he has a theater to begin with and his own love for theatrics). Whether you picture Medivh as aro, ace, gay, bi, pan, or trans, with the upcoming changes he clearly accepts many kinds of people into his home.

This also has the interesting effect of changing some of the tones for some events in his lore. One example being the titans sending down the Maiden of Virtue to punish Medivh and make him live a more ‘pure’ life. The Titans are Azeroth’s closest thing to a pantheon of gods. They are beings of order, having taken Azeroth in her rawest form and molding her into something they saw fit. Apparently, Medivh’s parties and behavior was seen as something that required ‘correcting’.

On one hand, it’s really easy to read it simply as Medivh being a selfish, spoiled brat. But with looking at it through a queer lens one can put a more positive spin on the situation. The Maiden of Virtue was sent to shame and punish him into conforming into something the Titans believe someone like Medivh should behave. It clearly didn’t work. Looking at this situation, one can read it as Medivh refusing to relinquish his identity because a ‘higher power’ wanted him to. In the real world there are so many that have to hide their orientation and gender thanks to people using religion and belief as a cudgel. So having a character like Medivh as queer, with the power and willfulness to flat out refuse and shut it down is a refreshing power move.

Medivh’s story and the way he is in general has elements that I believe many people of the LBGTQ+ can relate with. He’s a complicated character that has dealt with abuse and being forced into roles without his consent, he made identity for himself and it was stripped away by an oppressor (Sargeras), and, depending on if Blizzard decides he’s actually resurrected/alive instead of being a ghost, is a survivor.

So to me, I love the idea of Medivh being a queer icon in Warcraft. It hasn’t been officially stated by Blizzard at the time this essay was posted but it has started a fun conversation. There are and will be the haters who will scream and tantrum about the LBGTQ+ touching their precious (when convenient) lore with their filthy paws and tarnishing ‘their game’. But in the meantime, I’m going to continue having a blast with the idea and enjoy working the story potential it gives into fanfics, speculations, and essays.

If you enjoyed this essay, I did a few other bits of meta, headcanons, and speculation for fun: My Completely Self-indulgent Medivh Essay

A Bit About Wizards and Sorcerers

Headcanons: Medivh is Alive and Currently Uses ‘The Guardian’s Study’ as his Home

[afandommultiverse]

The Gift - Leopold Vermillion

Words - 2006 Request - TreueHyuga

A/n - I hope you enjoy it! I had a really fun time writing this one! Leopold is aged up to 18! So, so are you lol.

Y/n POV

"Come to think of it, your birthday is coming up, isn't it, Y/n?" Leopold grinned wolfishly at his girlfriend, pumped with excitement and happiness due to the celebration around them, the celebration for him! His birthday, his coming of age day.

"It is, Leo, why are you gonna plan a surprise party for me too?" You lured him close giving him a smooch on the cheek. It was you who planned the whole thing for Leopold tonight, the director of the whole galant party. It was a great surprise party, Leopold hadn't suspected a thing, some can choose whether that's a good or bad thing.

"No. Maybe. We'll see, won't we, my dear?" Leopold's arms wrapped around you, pulling tight and leaning in closely. His hand skimmed up your waist and back down your arm, pulling your arm out and whisking you to the dance floor.

"Another dance? We just got done with five!" You shrieked, pulling your exhausted legs after him. Pure adrenaline and euphoria powered your body, swinging it around and following his steps. Laughing and tripping some, maybe even almost running into a few people too.

"Never my dear, I never want to stop dancing with you. I promise this is my last selfish birthday wish." He smiled, twirling you in and dipping you to the music. You smirked and leaned in, mirth and tease swimming in your eyes.

"I wouldn't mind a few more selfish wishes." You whispered as he pulled you up, hand slithering across his chest and resting at his heart. Your voice practically poured incentive, selfish questions, and desires Leopold had wanted to ask you for years poured into his mind as he stared into your eyes, completely suggestive and seductive in their e/c shaded wake. He pulled you up fast, pulling to hold your hand against his racing heartbeat.

"Y/n, you ha-

"Leopold!" A fiery hand came to rest on Leopold's shoulder, stopping the much-anticipated words that would have left Leo's mouth. He turned, almost giving his brother the stinky eye but couldn't help but to smile. His brother had been gone for a few months, having to go on a long expedition. Giving you a quick apologetic look and a kiss on the palm of your hand, once laying against his chest, he let you go.

You were immediately cold, already missing his insufferable heat you just learned to live with, and heat you learned to love. You watched on as he chatted with his older brother, not blaming him for being so excited, it had been months. You pulled at his jacket coat twice to let him know you were leaving and he nodded, grabbing you're pinky and rubbing at it before letting you go.

"So, finally eighteen, huh?" Fuegoleon smiled at his younger brother, who now stood as tall and as prideful as the rest of his lion clan. Fuegoleon knew he was ready, and knew he would make a fine captain one day, maybe sooner than later.

"It seems so." Leopold grinned, he was jittery and bouncing with excitement, how couldn't he be?

"You might be trying to play it off but I know exactly what you're up to." Fuegoleon looked at Leo, completely aware of his little game.

"Your right brother,  only 59423 hours and 45 seconds left to beat you in becoming the captain of the Crimson lions. I think I can't get there before 25!" He grinned like a cat, eyes glinting with just as much point and mischievousness. He loved wagering with his brother, especially when it came to how powerful he could get. It meant more training!

"You are crazy... I'd like to see you try!" Fuegoleon huffed, shaking his head and walking away a smile hidden behind his back as he walked towards other guests. Leopold would make it alright, Fuegoleon was sure of that.

Leopold turned to look around for you, his looking over every person before they found him, draped across a wall and staring at him playfully, pointing a doorway. He grinned and looked around, before practically running towards you, picking you up and running to his room for nightly festivities.

***

Your birthday was in three days. Seventy-two hours. Four thousand and twenty minutes. Two hundred and fifty-nine thousand and two hundred seconds- WHAT WAS HE GOING TO DO? He had been going back and forth for two days, thinking of what he should get you. Leopold had already finished with the planning, he knew he couldn't do a surprise party, because not only had you done one for him, you were too smart and Leopold couldn't keep anything away from you.

"Maybe Fuego or Leona could help." He muttered to himself, staring at the same paperwork he had been staring at for the last two hours.

"Could help with what?" Leopold practically jumped out of his skin, completely endorsed what to get you, he did expect you to be right behind him.

"Y/n? Oh! Uh, maybe they could help with this- this uh, work here, something about...  uh- blown up houses or something- uh what are you doing here, dear?" He pushed the pages away and turned to face you, smiling almost too widely. You stared at him weirdly.

"You okay?" You asked, coming to put a hand on his head, feeling to see if he was warmer than usual. He wasn't, only flushed and a little sweaty. You wiped your hand off on him and walked up, coming to sit on his lap sideways.

"Our mothers took me out dress shopping for my birthday gala, it was incredibly boring and so tedious!" You rested your head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat and relaxing as he lifted his hand to comb through the beginnings of your hair, his fingers tickling the skin on the side of your face now and then when he repeated the motion.

"Luckily I found a gorgeous dress though." You turned your head to look up at him. His smile was as bright as usual as he smiled down at you, hand coming to rest against your cheek as he spoke.

"That's good. I'm sure It'll look gorgeous as I'm taking it off you." He whispered cheekily leaning in for a blazing kiss. You slapped at his chest jokingly, meeting his kiss with just as fevore and love as him.

Pulling apart, you two wanted nothing more than to continue, but Leopold still had decisions to make, and your mother still wanted to go jewelry shopping with you. So with one last craving kiss, you got up and left, leaving Leopold to go searching for his brother and sister.

***

"What should I get Y/n for her birthday?" Fuegoleon and Mereoleona stared down at Leopold with little interest.

"This is what you pulled us away for?" Mereoleona growled, staring at her little brother with anger but happy that he had come to her for advice. He never does, always opting for stupid Fuegoleon- who by the way, is the second born.

"This is serious! I can't think of a single thing! I've already gotten her everything before, and I sure as hell am not going to get some boring gifts, it's gotta be perfect!" Leopold crying looked at his older sibling with pleading eyes. Mereoleona sighed and rolled her eyes while Fugoleon simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, what do they like?"

***30 Minutes Later***

"And they also-"

"Okay! Leo, we got it! Let's move on!" Meroleona stopped Leopold from splurging any more useless information, already sick of his lovesick stories of you. Meroleona sat back and thought hard, she too stuck on what Leopold should get, if he hadn't already of gotten it for you, it was simply too stupid enough to get then. Finally, though, Fuegoleon spoke up.

"Leo, do you love Y/n?" Fuegoleon held Leopold's eyes, ready for a slipping leak of deceit, but found none when he strongly replied.

"Are you serious? Of course, I love them! Hell, I've loved them my entire life it feels! They are always there for me, always have been! Without them, I wouldn't be nearly as powerful as I am today. Without them, I don't think I would have ever made it this far. I can't even begin to think of what my life would be like without them." Leopold spoke with such ferocity it left him almost breathless, his chest burning with the love for you. Fuegoleon only looked on in amusement.

"Well brother, I think you know what to do."

***

The party was beautiful, walls draped in f/c silks, your favorite. Flowers of all kinds filling every vase dotted across tables and window seals, some even hanging from the ceiling. Entertainers performed around you, showing off for the guests and patrons. Music filling the gigantic halls of the ballroom, sending magical melodies swirling around the room. It had been a night of dancing and drinking, good food, and sweet desserts. Laughs and jokes were shared with good friends and guild members.

As the night grew colder and fatigue slipped into everyone's exhausted bodies, [pulling them to leave and seeking sleep in their beds and homes. Leopold had swooped you up and carried you out of the ballroom, pushing past departing guests and banquet wanderers with genuine goodbyes and courtesies, hoping to see each other again.

"Where are we going, Leo?" You asked, confused and he walked out in the night air of the castle, finding a special mage standing near, opening a portal and nodding us in, a warm smile on his face.

"To you're last birthday present, my dear." Fuegoleon smiled and walked through the portal, walking out into a forested area. You looked around, taking in the change of environment. A wooden cabin layout in front of you two, covered in vines and foliage. Fireflies lit up the entrance, buzzing around a small bridge passing over a little creek in front of the little cabin. As we walked across you watched as the fireflies buzzed around brightly, spooked and startled by the walking of Leopold's steps. You giggled as they flew around you and Leopold, some even going to the water and lighting it up, making out the shapes of fish and lily pads dotting the water's surface.

"Leo, this is beautiful." You whisper, looking up at the spiraling trees, watching the stars shine and twinkle down on you. Leopold only smiled at your astonished face, quick to get you inside and show you your final gift.

Leopold opened the door, walked in, and set you down. As you walked around the warm cabin, taking in the decorations and personal trinkets Leopold had brought, to what he would hopefully like to call your new home. Leopold watched as you took in everything, reaching in his pocket and grabbing your gift, getting down to rest on one knee. He waited for you to turn back around, looked at him questioningly, and watched the slow realization dawn on your face as he lifted the little box and showed you what lay inside.

A gorgeous ring, detailed to a royals perfection, with the stunning vermillion house sigil carved on the outside. A vermillion diamond rests between the golden prongs holding it in place.

"Leo." A hand covers your mouth as you look at him in shock and astound. "Do you mean it?" You asked, walking over quickly and staring down at the man you love holding your next step in his hands.

"I would never lie or joke about something like this, Y/n. I love you, and I know I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I can't live without you." Leopold spoke, eyes staring up at her with honest truth.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!! Of course, I'll marry you!" Leopold jumped up quickly and wrapped you in a breathless kiss, bringing you in tightly and finally letting go of all his anxiety of you saying no, no it was too early or something, but he needn't worry now.

You said yes.

[thethreemages]

*jfc, my dumb self kept forgetting to post this here after already debuting her on my DA, hhh -.-;*

-Buuuuut yeah, after a long time coming and thinking... I’ve decided to do a complete revamp to one of the oldest members of the main cast (*that I’ve sadly left a lil neglected overtime compared to my other characters* :c), iss Rosabel~ 💕

Hope you all enjoy her new debut! This lil flower child was def in due of an update after all this time, so I had alot of fun putting some more “life” back into her with her upcoming new character role in the story~ 😊 Enjoy!

~(Bio Info Below)~

Rosabel Espinosa (age 18) is an Earth Mage who had quite a promising life going for her back in the days of St. Ravilda's. A straight-A student, class representative, nudged to make it big with the popular kids by her social circle back home... Rosabel was surely fit to become a truly respectable Mage within her own right, as many were sure to think. And indeed, her power to enchant the planet's natural plant-life was quite admirable to see on the field... so, with so many good things going for miss Rosabel... what else could she have asked for? ..Well, in truth... a part of Rosabel truly wasn't as confident as she'd try to play herself off as... as back at home, it was quite a "difficult" house to return to with how distant her parents were in their own social-climbing world. Nothing ever seemed enough for them to be as content with having enough wealth to sustain themselves as a family... no, to truly be "up there" to the big guys was their biggest dream above all. And they made sure to always remind Rosabel of that whenever she "dared" to do as much as come home with a slightly lower grade, forgot to turn in certain assignments from too many all-nighters, or even so much as told-off any of her "dear" popular friends for being nosey lil jerks to her when others' backs were turned. No, she just had to live up to her name as the most "perfect little rose", in their eyes... naturally, leading to Rosabel in question to develop more of a snarkier, uptight shell to others as time went on... Still... even for all of Rosabel's constant schedules at school, even she knew that she needed some form of break from all the pressures... so, curiously one day of seeing a flier to help kickstart up the Ravilda Drama club again, it piqued her interest enough to maybe give it a try. And wouldn't you know... a certain other mage was just as keen to join the club too, in the form of none other than miss Prym Fletcher. You see, ever since the start of their Ravilda school days... there was always something about Prym that always drew Rosabel in to want to compete with. With how she was just so calm, smart, pretty and powerful with all that dark magic? Rosabel would be lying if she said that didn't "stir up" some things in her... of which she insisted meant nothing more than a "challenge" to outdo the young goth in any way she could. And of course, Prym... always being the sly one for a "challenge", was amused enough to accept these lil games which would soon lead to plenty more "back-and-forth" even well up on the stage. Definitely made their plays performed all the more entertaining to watch by certain crowds... and for once, hearing their genuine compliments in both hers and their other club members' performances actually started to make Rosabel feel... "at peace", for once. Little by little, she was relaxing up in her school assignments to not worry so much about good grades... grew patient enough to let other students get the chance at council decisions for once, and even didn't really hang out much with the popular crowd anymore compared to her actual, "true" friends over in Drama Club. Even Prym, as much as Rosabel was still too huffy to admit upfront... turned out to be alot more fun and friendly to be around whenever they actually had some chill moments between shows. Yet... sadly, by the time graduation came around and Prym's group wasted no time heading out to start their Traveling Mage lives, certain feelings were left unsaid on both parties... and now Rosabel was left to pick up the pieces back at her family home, as she hadn't really found the time to think of what she wanted to do for herself... And... for once, things seemed like they were going to be okay... her parents were alot calmer now, their funds were stabilizing, and many were looking to have Rosabel potentially "intern" with them after hearing of all her potential at Ravilda's. All leading up to one fateful night when... low and behold, a young rich man by the name of "Lord Zoras" was all too eager to meet up with Rosabel after his and her parents started to befriend one another over tea. As much as this man was already giving her nerves... Rosabel did her best to remain respectful and even accepted a little dance with him to be polite. All was fine, really... ...until Zoras got too bold in his advances, and Rosabel (being someone who never really "liked" guys in that way to begin with) got so panicked that she smacked him away with a boost of her own magic... causing many stunned looks among the now silent ballroom. Following an even more tense ride home... things only escalated further when her parents started to berate their daughter for "embarrassing" them in front of not just their social group, but also such a "powerful" man as this Lord Zoras. Now knowing the true extent of her parents' greed, and how little they truly cared for her  after all this time... Rosabel tearfully made the decision to pack up all she could, sneak out when they weren't looking... and never again look back on the house she once called "home"... From that point, Rosabel spent the next couple of days laying low in trying to leave town... not having much of a goal of exactly where to go among all these mixed, whirlwind emotions. Somehow, she managed to find her way back to the garden areas of St. Ravilda's... deciding to hide out there by some of the sheds until Professor Ramon managed to find her sneaking with some leftover food. As much at it pained her at first to have gotten caught in such a position... seeing the genuine look of concern in Ramon's eyes caused her to break down in confessing what she was going through, and how little she knew what to do with herself now that everything was "ruined"... Ramon... himself relating to Rosabel as he too was in a "similar" position of societal pressures so long ago... was able to comfort her the best he could as he offered to help take her in for the time being, and even offering to the other teachers to give Rosabel some kind of position at the school to keep herself occupied. With enough thinking over and some suggestions by those like Professor Nile and even librarian Capella... Headmaster Auran offered Rosabel the chance to train as an "apprentice" to any number of the current teachers at the school, whilst looking after the younger generations of students who may need some "chaperones" within their own projects. Indeed, it was quite an adjustment to get used to for the young girl... but with enough patience, time, and caring guidance by the other faculty... Rosabel was able to once again relax, and feel content that she found a safe place to truly call "home", once again. ...Still, there may be some days where she thinks back a bit to her former Drama Club members, how they might be doing... and especially of what a certain Dark mage may be up to all the way out in Terra... but well, with all that she's gathered in the safety of Ravilda's welcoming her back, Rosabel prefers to remain content with what she has now... and to make sure she upholds to the promise she made to the Headmaster in always being there to protect and guide her fellow students on the promising paths of Magehood. Even if certain mischevious royals and rich kids tend to make said job a little "tricky" to keep up with sometimes...

[evajellion]

FF5 Four Job Fiesta: Part FINAL

I finally did it. We beat Exdeath. It took 26 hours in total, longer than my first playthrough by an hour, but I did it.

I knew I was going to have to grind, and it was going to be a slog so I put on some background noise while I began my grind for experience in the forest and tower sections of the N-Zone. (it had the least amount of brutal enemies)

There, I unintentionally picked up several Dragon Fangs from the Aevis Dragons, an item that would inevitably be the most useful drop I could get from the game. I reached Level 37, which wasn’t ideal, but I stuck with it and made my way back to the last area.

Once again, I began to grind, this time for AP so Lenna could obtain Dualcast. At the time, she was my Red Mage. Once I found out that Dualcast with the Red Mage only allows for the weaker spells, I was pissed because I had spent time getting 999 AP for her. Then, I realized I could just give her back the White Mage class and stick Bartz to being a Red Mage.

You’ll understand why I made such an effort for Dualcast later.

I switched Faris to a Chemist temporarily so she could learn Mix and captured a King Behemoth while I was at it.

With that, we were going to fight Exdeath. Not once, but twice. The first being an experiment, since I learned about a glitch.

You see, if you cast berserk on Exdeath’s initial form by using the Chemist job, he’ll pretty much be stuck in an “offense only” script, that will overwrite his defeat sequence into the second phase. This will completely skip the final boss and take you to the ending after an awkward, shaking screen without dialogue.

Similar tactics are used to break Exdeath in speedruns, so I wanted to try it for myself. I used a Kiss of Blessing on Exdeath, and found myself constantly reviving my party with the Chemist since he was dealing 2000 HP worth of damage. (side note: the Chemist’s ultimate ability can revive all party members without MP, very overpowered)

Thankfully I did set up Protect and left my party members to heal on one end, then attack or cast Holy on free turns. Rinse and repeat, Exdeath was dead but he was so angry that he didn’t go into his second phase. A victory, credits and all, but an empty one.

Even I know that truly beating this game requires facing the real final boss.

Meet Neo-Exdeath, and just listen to his theme.

This fight… took about four, maybe five times before I got my strategy down. Dear god.

Firstly, we set up our defenses on Exdeath’s previous form, casting stuff like Protect, Shell, and making sure my Chemist ingested Giant and Speed Drinks. 

Next, since I gave the Mix ability to Faris, I let her use the Dragon Fangs I collected to create Dragon Power, something that would boost the level of my party drastically so they could do more damage, especially Lenna.

Once we got to the Neo-Exdeath phase, we had to get that Magic Lamp out. Bahamut and Leviathan are good damage dealers while Odin will kill that segment of Exdeath all the way in the back, saving us trouble. After which, Faris would unleash the King Behemoth that was captured to deal damage on all three remaining halves.

With one out of four of Neo-Exdeath’s halves gone, I immediately had Lenna Dualcast Holy on what remained. Krile would attack with the Chicken Knife or revive, Faris would use the whip or mix items, and Bartz was stuck as the healer mostly but also functioned as back-up Holy.

Once every few turns, usually after he uses the annoying Almagest, a magic damage attack that deals hefty damage to the entire party. Sometimes it will be immediately followed up with Grand Cross. Unlike FF9, we don’t have an Angel’s Snack to deal with whatever Neo-Exdeath decides to cast on us.

Usually one party member gets stuck with Silence, our Red Mage stuck in Berserk, and someone else gets turned to stone. To my luck, Neo-Exdeath didn’t use Zombie or any Doom-related ailments, so I never had to worry about a countdown timer. I ran out of eyedrops, so I couldn’t mix a cure for any of these ailments, but I did have a spare Soft to get rid of being petrified.

Since Lenna had been beefed up from the Dragon Power, she was consistently dealing 9000-18000 damage with each Holy dualcast. Sometimes I would have to sacrifice a second Holy in order to heal, if only to survive whatever physical attacks he could throw my way.

Sometimes Neo-Exdeath will use Dispel, which will undo buffs on a party member. Easy enough for Krile to remedy through another Speed Drink, but Bartz and Lenna were often stuck recasting Protect and Shell.

After killing off two more of Neo-Exdeath’s halves, he pretty much goes into a desperation mode, something that nearly all final bosses in this franchise do. He’ll start casting Meteor much more frequently, but will then burn himself out really badly and use a wimpy Comet attack that barely makes a dent in my party.

I constantly heal and cast Holy at this point, and ignore putting up Shell again since there’s no point this far into the battle. I’m getting as desperate to kill him as he is to rid of my party. One last stab from Krile’s Chicken Knife, and that was it.

The battle was over, for real this time since I finally killed Neo-Exdeath. The world is saved from being sent back to the void.

I watch half of the ending… aaaand my game freezes, for some reason. Don’t worry, I think something is wrong with the emulation or my PSvita, because it did that the last time I reached the ending to this game. I’m still very much satisfied with just defeating Neo-Exdeath, end credits not required here!

As for my overall playthrough rating…

Lenna Charlotte Tycoon - White Mage

Ability: White / Dualcast

White Mage is an MVP you want on any team. Healing and Holy is just the way to go. Being stuck with bonking your enemies with a staff isn’t as bad as it seems, as you can tell from the first part of this playthrough.

Bartz Klauser - Red Mage

Ability: Red / White

Oooooof… jack of all trades, master of none. This class was good early game, but falls apart so badly. Magic and equipment both get really mediocre in the late game, and it has the lowest HP. Really wish I had gotten the Summoner instead. Yeah, probably the least good of the jobs I got. The only saving grace is Dualcast, which I gave to Lenna.

Faris Scherwiz - Beastmaster

Ability: Catch / Mix

Beastmaster is a really fun physical class! It’s best used when paired with a Blue Mage, but we didn’t get that. Still, probably the most capable in terms of physical offense, and I got some good use out of capturing monsters and controlling them. Wish the whip was a bit more accurate though at times.

Krile Mayer Baldesion - Chemist

Ability: Drink / Revive

I was so scared when I rolled this one because I had no clue what to expect. I had no idea this would be the job that saves the fight against Exdeath, with its mixture and revival abilities, no MP required. If I ever play this game again, I am going to definitely utilize this job more, it is now a favorite of mine.

Overall, despite my gripes with the last half of this game, the rest of it and the final battle have been so much fun. I can’t wait to talk more about it at the end of the year. I also really enjoyed coming up with new strategies with the jobs I was given.

Thank you all for reading. If you haven’t played this game yet for some reason or done a Four Job Fiesta, I highly recommend it.

[potatoesandsunshine]

 ok so the game tonight was so much fun here’s an extremely long post about the current arc of our dnd campaign that none of you asked for. 

haven’t made a post about the campaign in a while: bee, roswell, and jacquey (the sparrow of the sea) are all level four now! this wasn’t a huge change as far as spells and attacks go, but my hp max is 39 now which is officially the Most Health i’ve ever had in a level four character. very exciting. later in this story i go unconscious.

bee is starting to open up and make friends! roswell has gone from traveling partner to battle buddy, jacquey has gone from liability to only-we-can-make-fun-of-jacquey. very fun to see how this character who is very angry at the world still very much cares about the people in it

between this adventure and our first one in the caves, we robbed a crime syndicate and had to immediately flee the city! so that was fun! there was some really great stuff in there (the most absurd stakeout scene, trying to explain to roswell what going undercover was, faking our way past the door and realizing we never asked the name of the person we were interrogating which tipped the guys off, crit on a smite, etc.) and our wizard... patron? the lady who gives us jobs was like “hey here’s my apprentice, escort her to a nearby mage’s crypt and make sure she survives”

cue us in the entryway with this level 2 wizard darcia getting ready to go on her first solo trip as a wizard. bee said And I Am Serving You Adoption Papers. roswell said You Need To Pack More Rations. jacquey said Have We Thought About Stealing From Our Wizard Patron

note from our first watch is just “Darcia Deeptow - young wizard woman, glasses. a little nervous. has never left leafhaven and doesn’t know what she wants to do forever, but doesn’t want to never learn what she could become. she’s baby” she also goes unconscious later in this story.

on our journey to the crypt we fought four swarms of crows (ah!) and two owlbears (ah!!!) but bee got both killing blows on the owlbears and it was amazing, she had like 2 hp for the last one. it was so fucking cool.

visited a town called brimdale that’s so incredibly About Hats i cannot even explain. everywhere there is a hat shop. a complimentary hat came with a health potion i bought (my money :((( not much how am i ever gonna get a magic sword).

anyway so in brimdale we met a guy who built a hat that is also a gun and he wanted 600 gold for it (for context we all have like. 70 gold max. i had 20 after buying my potion) but the entire time we were in there he was like “this is my dream hat... the hat guild won’t accept it... i’ve been waiting for someone to want this hat” and bee was like 👀 so you should be paying jacquey to test this prototype for you. and it was like !! and i got to use persuasion for the first time and got a 22 so he gave it to her for free to test and make notes on. eventually we will report back to brimdale with our results and give testimony to the leader of the hat guild about this design

then today we finally reached the crypt (to be fair we spent the entire last session in brimdale bc like. we weren’t just gonna leave the hat town) and it’s wild here. the floor fell out from under us and we landed in some kind of demiplane? i don’t really know the mechanics but we landed in this pile of pillows and from their feathers a dragon made of feathers swirled into being!!!

major props to my dm always but this was like. inspired. it was so fucking cinematic i could visualize it all. so he’s like “i’m the dream dragon, offer me a dream to pass” and we all offered different dreams. bee’s was to not need a sword to make the world better anymore which was very vague but poetic and highkey could play into her backstory stuff but. then her second dream at the end was for a magic sword. these things flow into each other

so then we went into a stone chamber where the ceiling was this forest? like looking up we saw the tops of the trees this was also incredibly cinematic it looks amazing in my head. anyway a guy fell out of the forest and it was our new party member!!!! his name is orinn he’s a human(? ish?) from the feywild who apparently shifts planes against his will sometimes. darcia theorized that this demiplane might suck in random people from the feywild sometimes which. damn, design flaw. anyway in the narrative he’s coming with us bc you get a boon from the mage’s spirit at the end of the crypt and it might send him home but irl he’s joining our group which is super fun!!

roswell hit a tripwire in the next room and the floors and walls and ceilings were covered in spinning blades we had to get through. i regretted asking my dm “oh so it’s kinda like Cube?” at the beginning of the adventure. it was very exciting

then we got to this room that was full of stuff and we had to find puzzle pieces to go in the floor while flameskulls tried to kill us and it was wild it got so tense bee got hit with so much fire and so did darcia!!! my kid!!! and at the end the last flameskull like exploded??? and it knocked both bee and darcia to zero (if the damage had been 3 higher darcia would’ve been fully dead) and it was like aaaaah!!! but orinn can do cure wounds? i truly can’t wait to learn more about this character he has ranger vibes but idk. so he got bee up and bee got darcia up and now we are resting in the chamber :) probably gonna start next week with some rp!!

[end-area]

Have you played dnd? And if so, what character(s) have you played as? :D

Ahhhh yes! :D

I’ve always had an interest in playing since I love dnd based games like Baldur’s Gate/Planescape Torment/NWN. I first played as a guest in the campaigns of my uni friends, but I can’t say I remember much from the 3-4 sessions we had :’)

BUT! 2 years ago I joined a campaign ran by someone at work, and me and a few coworkers have played ever since. I am still playing the character I’ve started with, surviving several of my DM’s attempts to kill me asfghsda

I play as a half-elf guy called Vesper, who’s multiclassing as a fighter/rogue (specialising as a gunslinger and arcane trickster)

Yeah, I have a Charisma dumpstat of 14 :))) I initially thought to spec as a swashbuckler but I was always partial to range combat so I gave up on the idea. I also enjoy high persuasion for social shenanigans (tho I normally roll extremely poor in any instances that actually count)

a few bits of info about Vesper:

his intelligence is on par with that of his drake mount, he is an arcane trickster purely for the utilitarian spells (that he barely understands)

he once snorted a dead mage’s ashes, which gave him the ability to cast prestidigitation temporarily. used this newfound power to make a new party member soil himself, since they said he ‘wasn’t funny’.

a murder mystery at a fancy auction? vesper to the rescue! while logic implied that the murderer was one of the 10 people standing in the closed room, ive decided that the culprit must be hiding in the massive, stone sarcophagus. literally everyone disagreed with me but this didnt stop me from opening the sarcophagus and releasing into the city a evil lich who rampage-murdered hundreds and turned out to be the villain in our next campaign arc

established an inn in what previously used to be the warehouse of an infernalist cult. hands out business cards for the said inn to every npc encountered

decided to shake hands with some dubious undead dudes, who ended up branding him with some sort of magic glyph. apparently the mark makes me partially dead, and the usually aggressive undead mobs simply do not see me??

locked in a temple dedicated to a god of ice, i thought the best way to show devotion and get free was to ‘strip naked’. this just caused me to go unconscious faster than everyone in the party

met a mysterious fey being while planar-hopping. gave some of my luck and a magic sword for some weird sparkling ashes (yes, i know, its ashes again!!) these turned out to be a phoenix ashes, and i revived the creature by placing its remains in a forge. now its my SECOND baby

my first baby is a kobold called Tiv that we rescued from a dragon cult. one of our party members was a bit...unhinged and decided she wanted to murder the little dude but i stepped in front of a fireball and nearly died saving him. the kobold turned out to not be very receptive of my dotting and loving behaviour and got brainwashed by our lizardfolk paladin into being his glorified manservant

vesper often attempts to flirt his way into discounts or someone pants - this ends up poorly, almost every time. he has no preference in terms of the race or gender of his target  romantic interest (NO ONE IS SAFE FROM HORRIBLE FLIRTS) 

most recently, the party found a creepy featureless statue in an abandoned Underdark temple. i obviously decided to touch it before any investigation was done - it turns out the thing has a propensity to copying an individuals liking and then creating a doppelganger of you.........while also turning you raving mad. lmao we’ll see the aftermath of this bullshit tomorrow evening :’)

on a more serious note, he is a reasonable person who tries to help when its possible, often for none to little recompense (which is at odd with his smuggler past - but he is constantly working on proving himself a true hero). he is very loyal to his companions, and any person that proves themselves a friend. on the flipside, he has no qualms with breaking kneecaps to get a job done and behind his jokey facade lies someone capable of a great deal of violence when wronged

Thank you for the ask anon!! And sorry for the long response omg :)))))) i do so love dnd :))))))))

[talpup]

Light In the Darkness: 15

Please remember this fic is rated mature and has warnings of violence, abuse, sexual tension, eventual sexual behavior, and other possible triggers.

***If you prefer reading off AO3 here’s the link for that: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887595/chapters/54018274

Part II

Chapter 15

It was two weeks after the Magic Knights Entrance Exams and much to Yami’s chagrin Bronn’s hateful focus hadn’t moved on to the newest Black Bulls member. Sure the Vice Captain cuffed the new recruit on the back of the neck and gave the lad a hard time but Yami still got the brunt of it all. He supposed it was a good thing. Yami doubted the young Possession Mage could’ve handled more abuse. Fresh from his Grimoire Acceptance Ceremony, Bran was small even for a boy of fifteen and far too polite and unsure of himself to survive much of anything in Yami’s eyes. Which meant only one thing. The boy needed toughening up.

“Uh. Mister Yami. Sir.” Bran panted stopping in front of him as he entered the dining hall.

“It’s just Yami, boy.” Tobin called from his seat at the table.

“Let the boy speak.” Yami hushed liking the sound of ‘mister’ before his name.

“What would you like on your plate, sir?” Bran questioned.

Yami looked at the other members of the Black Bulls seated around the dining table wondering what was going on.

Venice and Tobin laughed while Teris and Abril appeared none too pleased. Gendry, as usual, seem oblivious to it all.

“Bran has been told of the house rule that all first year recruits cater to their senior members during their chore week of cooking.” Olsen informed smiling.

That explained Abril and Teris’ ill humor, neither liked to see the small getting picked on. Toyed with, that was well and good, but picked on was a completely different matter.

Yami was tempted to give the boy his order, till he saw Teris watching him and thought better of it. She had been somewhat distant of late, going out with Venice and not inviting him. His birthday was in two days and he didn’t want to do anything the further their separation. Before her slight withdrawal from him, Yami had hoped to get his first kiss from her as a birthday present to himself. It had been a year since they had met, nearly destroying the arena and killing everyone in it when they had battled during their own Entrance Exams, he thought he had been more then patient in denying or being interrupted from having a taste of her lips.

Yami grabbed the plate from Bran and told. “They’re having one over on you kid.”

“Come on Yami!” Tobin complained. “The least you could’ve done was wait till he got me seconds.”

“You’re no fun.” Olsen remarked shaking his head.

Without a word of apology Yami made for the serving table. Seeing burnt bacon and biscuits he cried. “Who cooked?”

Chewing Tobin answered. “The kid.”

Yami looked at Abril. “Wasn’t it your week to cook?”

Abril gave a guilty glance at Bran.

“And you had the nerve to look offended at the others making him serve.” Yami accused.

“Shame Abril.” Tobin scolded. “Taking advantage of the new recruit. Bran. Serve yourself and come sit by me. I’ll protect you from these sharks.”

“Weren’t you just complaining that Yami ruined your tricking Bran into fetching you a second serving?” Olsen remarked.

“Shut up.” Tobin snapped. “It was your idea.”

Olsen laughed. “I know. I’m brilliant.”

Teris watched Yami as he served. Venice leaned over and whispered. “Are we going out perusing again today?”

Teris nodded.

“Have any clearer idea what you want to get him?” Venice questioned.

Teris shook her head. It wasn’t that Yami was difficult to please. He’d likely be happy that she remembered his birthday let alone gone through the trouble of getting him a gift. But this was the first time she would celebrate his birth with him, last years having gone by with little fanfare as they were simply trying to survive Greywright’s training. This would also be the first thing she would ever get for him. It had to be perfect.

Yami took his usual place across from Teris and stared.

“What?” Teris asked cocking her head slightly.

“Nothing.” Yami said wondering why he had taught her how to read and dampen her Ki. Now, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get a clear reading of her, if he could read her at all.

She returned to her breakfast.

“What are you doing today?” Yami asked picking up a charred piece of bacon and letting it drop back onto his plate in disgust.

“Unless a mission comes up. Going to Castle City with Venice.” Teris answered.

“Can I come?”

“To Castle City? Why?” Teris asked.

“Why not. You’ll be there.” Yami watched her carefully wondering if it was something he had done. Or maybe something he hadn’t done. Why were girls so difficult. Couldn’t she just tell him? He’d apologized. They’d move on. Things would go back to normal. He didn’t like it when she pulled away from him.

“Don’t you have a new beast to train?” Teris reminded.

“Mooshu.” Yami smiled thinking of the long haired mess that he had saved from a boar trap. After her subdued behavior as he had nursed her back to health Mooshu had surprised him by reverting back to her wild aggression once released into the training pen.

“Ungrateful creature.” Yami muttered. Looking at Teris he said. “You keep saying you’re going to let me introduce you to her.”

Teris pushed away her plate. “I know. Maybe tomorrow.”

“What about today?” Yami tried. “Before we had out to Castle City. Pilfer misses you.” So do I, he thought.

“Not this time, Yami. Sorry.” Teris’ heart broke to see the confused disappointment in his eyes. “But I’ll go out to the pens with you tomorrow to visit Pilfer and meet Mooshu. I promise.”

Yami held her gaze a moment before looking down at his food as he moved it about the plate with a fork. The stuff wasn’t even worthy of feeding his wolves.

“That reminds me.” Tobin said putting a hand on Bran’s back. “You have to feed the beasts in the pens outside.”

“No he doesn’t.” Yami rumbled. He leaned forward so he and Bran could see each other over Tobin. “You don’t go near the pens without unless I take you.” He looked at Tobin making a noise. “What do you want? To see the kid ripped to shreds and eaten.

“I never would’ve of let him do it.” Tobin assured. “I just wanted to see boys reaction.”

“That was cruel.” Venice said shaking her head.

“Too far.” Olsen agreed. “I don’t even go near those things.”

“It was a joke.” Tobin persisted.

“I don’t remember you all giving Yami and I such a hard time when we first arrived.” Teris commented.

“That’s because you two were imposing. Olsen said. “In a good way, my lovely. Well, mostly good.”

“Imposing?” Teris questioned. “After what happened at the Entrance Exam and all that followed I was scared out of my wits.”

“And so were we.” Venice said looking at her. “Of the both of you and what you might inadvertently do to us if we messed with you.”

“Nearly destroying part of a city, possibly killing countless people, and wrecking the dining hall has it’s perks.” Tobin said giving her a nod. “That, and after the beating this one got from Bronn his second night here.” He said jutting a chin at Yami. “We figured it’d be best to let you two be.”

“I guess our difficulties were good for something.” Teris said giving Yami a small smile.

“They were good for more than that.” Yami told her. “They brought us together. Made us inseparable.

“Well, I wouldn’t say inseparable. Venice countered. “You two don’t bathe, sleep, or poo together.”

“You should be grateful for that, Teris.” Tobin told her. “I’ve had the unlucky displeasure of entering the stall after that one and let me tell you. Somethings the nose can’t forget no matter how hard it tries.”

“You’re weak.” Yami said almost proudly as he looked at Tobin out of the corner of his eye.

“Speaking of--”

“Shit?” Venice asked smiling playfully at Olsen.

“ --bathing.” Olsen went on dryly. “Did anyone ever find out why Captain Mereoleona didn’t host her usual excursion to the Lava Springs after the Star Awards?”

“Her what?” Teris asked.

“No.” Venice answered Olsen. To Teris she said. “Ever since Mereoleona became Captain of the Crimson Lions she’s hosted a massive multi-squad trip to an active volcano the day after the Star Awards.”

“Sounds like fun.” Teris enthused sarcastically.

“Oh, it’s hell getting up there,” Venice admitted. “But once you reach the top and nightfall's, the lava stops and a hot springs is revealed.”

“So you and Yami may eventually add bathing to your list of inseparable activities. Tobin teased grinning at Yami as he elbowed him in the ribs.

Yami stared at his friend unamused.

“The bathing is separate. Olsen hushed. “Though last time, I believe a couple boys got caught trying to look over to the girls side. Maybe that’s why there wasn’t one this time.”

“And after the springs we’d trek back down the mountain, a lot easier without the lava and all.” Venice added. “I don’t know who the house belongs to but it sure is nice.”

“Sounds like you’re talking about the Vermilion's Summer Cabin,” Teris said.

“You call that place a cabin?” Abril blinked. “Just when I nearly forgot you’re a royal you say something like that.”

“So you have been up to the springs,” Tobin said.

“At night.” Teris nodded. “Never traveled up there during the day. That’s when the volcano’s active.” She turned to Venice. “What’d you all do at the cabin?”

“A party of course,” Venice said. “Food--”

“Lots of food,” Olsen nodded.

“--and games. It didn’t end till everyone fell asleep.”

“Everyone slept at the Vermilion's cabin?” Teris inquired doubtfully. The place might’ve be overly large to be called a cabin but it certainly didn’t have enough bedrooms, let alone beds, for a full squad of Magic Knights never mind multiple.

Venice nodded. “Yeah. We pretty much slept wherever we found or fell.”

“Boys and girls together?” Teris questioned glancing at Yami.

“Oh, the Captains were always around and made their presence felt.” Olsen assured. “Not to mention the upstairs, where I can only assume the bedrooms are, was cordoned off.

“And if you got caught trying to seek off upstairs, like this one couple did once--” Venice audibly blew out her cheeks, eyes wide.

“And was this again?” Yami asked.

Tobin smiled. “Interested in adding bathing and sleeping together to your list of--”

“Stop talking before I make you.” Yami warned.

Tobin’s words died on his lips.

“For the two years I’ve gone it’s been the day after the Star Awards Festival,” Venice answered.

“Always been then since she started doing it.” Olsen put in. “I wonder why she didn’t do it this year.”

“What are you looser talking about?” Bronn asked entering.

“The yearly trip to the Lava Springs,” Venice called.

“Do you know why Captain Leona didn’t host one this year?” Olsen questioned the Vice Captain.

“Who knows why that She-Lion does or doesn’t do anything,” Bronn said. “Who burned breakfast!”

Gendry lifted an arm pointing down at Abril’s head.

“I didn’t burn nothing.” Abril said giving Gendry a shove.

“Well it’s your week to cook so who else could’ve done it?” Bronn accused. “Did little people sneak in while you were stacking the plates and burn it all for you?”

“No.” Abril snipped. “Bran did.”

“Bran snuck into the kitchen while your back was turned and burnt the food?” Bronn questioned in disbelief.

“No,” Abril said. “Bran did the cooking.”

Bronn eyed her sternly. “Having a bit of fun with the new recruit are you.”

“Just a bit,” Abril admitted. “It’s not like I told him it was his job to serve our plates or tend to Yami’s beasts.”

Bronn smirked in amusement as he scanned the usual suspects. “Who told the kid that?”

Olsen and Tobin pointed at each other.

Bronn huffed. “I wouldn’t mind my breakfast being served and brought to me.”

“Right!” Olsen agreed.

“But not this kindling.” Bronn tossed the serving spoon back down. “Well. I guess I’ll surprise Gilly by bringing some sweet breads to our date later this afternoon. Anyone want a come with me to Castle City? You can’t hang around me, mind.”

“Who’d want to,’ Abril muttered.

“I heard that.” Bronn snapped.

“We’ll go.” Venice said jumping up.

“If you don’t mind.” Teris said wiping her hands before taking her and Venice’s plates to the cleaning station where she scrapped the remaining food into the slop bucket and stacked the plates.

As much as Yami wanted to join them, no matter what Teris had said, he had to tend to Pilfer and Mooshu. Pilfer had reached a point where he could be trusted around others. Gendry had gladly looked after the Saber Wolf on occasion. But Mooshu was a ways from that, and even if he asked Gendry to leave her in her pen and simply toss her food in, it would only derail whatever trust he had earned from her. Maybe in a week or so that would change, but for now he had to be the one looking after Mooshu.

Yami watched Teris as she and Venice followed Bronn through the gateway without a glance back at him.

“What did you do this time?” Olsen asked as the portal closed.

Yami glared at him.

“I mean Teris hasn’t ignored you like that since the night of the Star Awards when she found out you lied to her.” Olsen went on.

“She’s not ignoring me and I didn’t lie to her.” Yami grumbled.

“You kinda did and it kinda looks like she is.” Olsen challenged.

Yami stood and made his way to the side door that led down half a level to the kitchens.

“You forgot to clear your area.” Olsen called after him pointing at the untouched plate Yami had served.

“That’s what new recruits are for.” Yami shot back before disappearing down the stairs/.

Olsen turned to Bran. “You heard him.”

15.2

Nozel’s younger sister was in Castle City for some three day long, young noble ladies activity and, despite the Silver Eagles base not being in Castle City, his father had commanded him to take a day to escort her around. Though the Silva’s, like the Vermilion's had a residence on the royals grounds beside the Kings own castle, until of she had received her grimoire, Nebra was not allow off the castle grounds without escort.

“Might we go into that shop on the corner,” Nebra asked. “Lady Neyres had the most lovely gloves on yesterday and said she got them from there.”

“Neyres was at this suction?” Nozel questioned looking down at his sister. Though he hadn’t seen the fellow royal or Margery, for that matter, the last couple of days he had thought nothing of it; he was just grateful to the blessed silence and their absence, especially where Margery was concerned.

“Of course,” Nebra giggled. “She is a royal. All royal and noble young ladies were invited. Expected, in fact.”

Nozel looked down at her a moment then away. Careful to keep his tone conversational he asked. “Did you see Teris there?”

“No.” Nebra shook her head. “And father had encouraged me to speak with her.”

“Why?” Nozel wondered certain he knew. No doubt Nebra was expected to give their father a full report of Nozel’s own activities and behavior as well.

Nebra shrugged a shoulder. “I suppose because she will one day be my sister-in-law.” She looked up at her brother. “I know you will do whatever father commands but how do you feel about eventually wedding the Lady Teris?”

Mindful of his tone and expression Nozel responded. “I don’t feel anything about it.”

“How can that be?”

“Our families have intended for us to wed since I was Noelle’s age,” he said. The mention of his youngest sister’s age reminded him that it also been four years since their mother’s death birthing the good for nothing child. He slowly blinked away the painful memory. “I suppose you could say I don’t remember a time when Teris wasn’t intended to be my bride.”

“But she’s so--”

Nozel looked sternly down at her. “What?”

“Unorthodoxed.” Nebra said carefully. “Take this event for instance. I already told you all the royal and noble ladies were invited but what I didn’t say was that this was Lady Teris’ third year being absent.”

“And?”

“And,” Nebra stressed, “if you don’t show for three years in a row you are dropped from the Young Ladies Social and Finishing League.”

Nozel blinked at the name of the group wondering a moment who had come up the thing.

“It is the dream of every young lady to receive their acceptance letter into the league on their tenth birthday,” Nebra went on. “I remember the fuss I made in the weeks leading up to the first meeting I would attend at my area Chapter.”

“Lady Teris is hardly a giddy ten year old,” Nozel reminded.

“No, but she is a royal lady of sixteen who’s name has now been stricken from the Leagues ledgers and barred from any and all League activities and functions, including Chapter meetings,” Nebra informed. “It’s unheard of. Up until her nineteenth birthday, even Lady Mereoleona attended this annual event every two years so she wouldn’t be dropped from the rolls.”

Nozel realized why his father had encouraged Nebra to speak with Teris at the event. It was more then simply keeping tabs on her activities and behavior. Nozel had no doubt that Lord Silva was much more aware of the politics surrounding how the noble women functioned themselves and that Teris had been in jeopardy of being cast out.

“Teris is a Magic Knight.” Nozel said at length. “Those duties far precede that of some ladies league.”

“But there were lots of royal and noble ladies present who are Magic Knights,” Nebra told.

“It’s possible there was a mission making her absence unavoidable.”

“Unavoidable or not the League won’t rescind their decision,” Nebra said.

“It doesn’t matter what your League does.” Nozel said opening the door to the shop she had asked to visit. “Upholding the honor and duty of being a Magic Knight will cover any blot this strickening might cause.”

If she’s on a mission, Nebra thought entering the boutique.

“Teris,” Venice whined. “We’ve looked at nearly every store in Castle City. If you can’t find something for him here you won’t find it anywhere.”

“Come on, Venice. Think of it as a mission,” Teris cajoled. “Besides, I thought you loved shopping.”

“For myself,” Venice clarified. “Not burly, mopping boys who are easy to please where you’re concerned. Want to make him happy? Spend the day with him. Even just a few minutes will do, bad as he has it for you. You know he thinks you’re mad at him.”

“Stop it.” Teris hushed blushing.

“I mean, did you see his face when you told him he couldn’t come? My heart just about broke for him.” Venice went on as she picked up ridicule looking it over.

Yami’s light brown eyes filled with questioning disappointment replayed in her mind giving Teris pause. She shook her head. “He’ll get over it. I just have to find him the perfect gift.”

“I suppose she was on a mission. Of sorts.” Nebra breathed softly as her brother allowed the closed the door behind them.

Nozel cursed his acquiescence to his sisters request certain that everything she heard and continued to hear would be relayed to their father. He was wondering how to go about getting her out of the shop without being overly obvious about what he was trying to do when the store attendant greeted them. “Welcome. Looking for anything in particular or just wanting to browse?”

Nebra began telling the woman what she was looking for while Nozel stayed by the door listening to Teris and Venice.

“What about that pen?” Venice asked pointing.

“What’s Yami going to do with a pen?” Teris bitingly asked.

“Write you love letters.” Venice teased.

The right side of Nozel’s jaw muscles began to spasm in complaint of his clenched teeth. As if there had been much doubt to begin with, he thought sullenly. She’s looking for a gift of that foreigner.

“Venice this is serious.” Teris told. “His birthday is in two days. If I don’t find the perfect gift today I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Go shopping tomorrow.” Venice shrugged setting down to purse wondering when she’d have need to carry such a fancy bag.

“I can’t,” Teris said. “I already promised him that I’d visit Pilfer and meet Mooshu.”

“That won’t take all day.” Venice said picking and holding up a hair clasp, looking at herself in a mirror. “I don’t know why you bother pretending to like those creatures when you can barely tolerate his human friend, Jack”

Teris gave a disgusted shiver. “Please don’t say that creeps name.”

“It’s not as if Yami’s interest in you is dependent on your interest in his creatures.” Venice turned to her still holding the beret to her hair. “Do you think this brings out the color of my eyes?”

“I don’t pretend to like Pilfer,” Teris said. “He’s a good Saber Wolf.” She picked up a different clasp and held it out to her friend. “Try this one.”

“Good at eating moderately large creatures in a single sitting and slobbering everywhere.” Venice said taking the beret and turning to the mirror. “I guess I can see why you don’t have to pretend to like it. It’s not all that different from Yami.”

“Funny.” Teris said her tone and expression making it obvious it she found it otherwise.

“I swear if he comes in one more time tracking mud, grim, and that things slimy drool all over the clean floor on my mop week...”

“You actually mop on your mop week?” Teris asked in surprise.

“Yeah.” Venice answered slowly. “Don’t you?”

Teris shook her head. “I don’t think anyone does.”

“You mean I’ve been the only one cleaning those floors?” Venice exclaimed. “No wonder they’re filthy by the time my week comes around. And here I thought we lived with a pack of pigs.”

“That’s still a high possibility given Bronn, Tobin, and Abril,” Teris said.

“Mother of all mana,” Venice cursed. “I’m gonna have a word with everyone when we return. You can count on--”

“And how are you ladies getting on?” The stores Clerk asked her smile a bit forced. “Still doing alright? Sure I can’t assist you with anything?”

Venice turned prepared to tell the woman that if she was needed they would call her when she saw Nozel standing in the doorway. “Mother of--”

“I got it!” Teris enthused oblivious of the Clerk or Venice’s curse. She rushed to the back counter. Grabbing a quill she began to draw on a piece of paper, slapping the bell for assistance.

“I guess you can be of assistance.” Venice smiled tightly at the Clerk still eyeing Nozel.

A Leather Smith passed through the doorway that led from a workshop behind and waited.

Teris finished scribbling and turned the paper to the Smith saying a few words. Nozel watched them go back a forth a bit before the Smith took the quill from Teris and drew on the paper. He turned the sheet to her and she looked it over appearing more pleased than before. They conversed further before the Smith wrote up a slip with her order and passed it to her. Teris said a few more words before turning.

“Venice! I--” Teris fell silent upon seeing Nozel. Her eyes widened wondering just how long he had been there. She tried to recall what she and Venice had said and then got angry at herself for worrying. Teris made her way to her friend and Nozel but was halted a few steps short by yet another surprise.

“Lady Teris.” Nebra greeted making her way to her brother from the side counter. “If this isn’t a pleasant surprise.”

“A surprise indeed,” Teris said. “What brings you to Castle City Nebra?”

“The Annual Young Ladies Social and Finishing League function of course,” Nebra said. “I must say many, including myself, were sorry to see you missed it.”

“I’ve been busy.” Teris said not caring about the younger girls judgment laced comment.

“So it would appear,” Nebra smiled. “A birthday gift. Forgive me. I couldn’t help but overhear.”

Teris glanced at Nozel knowing he had heard enough. “Please give the ladies of the League my regards. Teris told Nebra. “I will leave you to your shopping.”

“Oh, but I’m done,” Nebra smiled. “I hope you don’t mind brother but I had them send you the bill. You know how father can be about my purchases. And isn’t nearly time for our luncheon with Lord Fuegoleon and Lady Mereoleona. Why don’t you and your friend join us?” She finished turning to Teris.

Seeing this as her chance to question the Crimson Lions Captain about the Lava Springs bash Venice, without thinking, said. “I could eat.”

Teris turned slowly to her friend. “What?”

Realizing she had put her friend in an unwanted position Venice nevertheless doubled down saying. “You ordered your gift and, despite my admit arguments against it, you and Nozel are speaking again.”

Nebra looked at her brother. “She makes it sound as if you and Teris had a falling out.”

Nozel eyes slid down to his sister. “Don’t be silly, Nebra.”

“Yami--” Teris began.

“Yami lied,” Venice reminded. “He made us all play down his injuries so he could get you to speak to Nozel again. Don’t ask me why.” She breathed under her breath.

Nozel blinked eyes snapped to Venice. The foreigner had been telling the truth that night, Nozel thought in wonder. Why would he do such a thing? It couldn’t simply be for the reasons he had claimed. No one was that confident or stupid.

“What’s done it done.” Teris said grating once again at the thought of Yami’s deception.

“So you should be fine joining your fellow royals for lunch,” Venice said. “Come on.” She whined when Teris merely stared at her. “I wanna ask Mereoleona about the Lava Springs.”

“That’s what this is about?” Teris asked in disbelief.

“Please!”

“Venice.”

“Yes, Teris.” Venice said in her sweetest voice as she batted her eyes innocently at her friend.

Teris growled a sigh and shook her head. She turned to the female Clerk pointing to the hair clasp Venice still held. “Add that to my bill. I’ll pay for it when the belt is delivered on the seventeenth.”

“Of course Lady Nova.” The Clerk nodded. “Thank you for your patronage. Lord and Lady Silva. Thank you. Please come again.”

“A belt!” Venice said as she followed Teris through the door Nozel held for them. “After weeks of fretting and countless shops. You get him a belt.”

Nozel ground his teeth forcing himself to take a calming breath. He turned as Nebra passed and asked out of curiosity and desire to silence Venice’s talk of the foreigner. “Where’s your purchase?”

Nebra held up her hands wiggling her fingers. “I’m wearing it silly.”

“Are those the gloves you saw Neyres wearing?” He asked as the four of them made their way down the sidewalk.

“Not the exact same.” Nebra said noticing how her brother made certain he was beside Teris and walked to the right of her shielding her from the street. From behind the older royals Nebra went on. “That would be embarrassing for the both of us. But I am pleased.”

“Good,” Nozel replied. They walked down the block in silence before asked, loud enough for Teris to hear but not the others. “It’s been a while since we’ve last spoken.”

“A month at most.” Teris put in.

Nearly two Nozel thought. “How are you?” He asked fighting the urge to look at her.

“Same as I ever was. And you?”

“Hopeful of a promotion.” Nozel said trying not to sound overly boastful even though his intention was to impress her.

“And what are you ranked now?” Teris asked even though she knew. “Junior Magic Knight Second Class?”

“First,” Nozel told.

“So this would make you an Intermediate Magic Knight and so soon after your first year.”

Nozel fought down the smile that threatened at her mildly impressed tone.

“I wish you the best of luck,” she said.

Nozel turned.

“Don’t look so surprised.” Teris said giving a huffing laugh. “I’ve never wished you ill. Well. After your unprovoked attack, that turns out nearly killed Yami by the way, I did a lot more than wish you ill but we’re past that. Aren’t we?”

“I would hope so.” Nozel said wishing he had channeled just a little more mana into the attack and been rid of the foreigner for good. “But I feel I must say.” He looked at her and sighed. “That was a rough day for all of us. Tensions were high and--”

“Nozel. Don’t.”

He paused glancing uncomfortably away at her stern expression praying he hadn’t messed things up and made her mad at him all over again.

“Don’t bring up what’s been buried.” Teris said her tone almost pleading. “It’s done. We’re fine.”

“I’m glad.” Nozel said giving her a small, hesitant smile. “As friends we should be able to work through anything.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Teris said. “Friends.” She shook her head giving a small somewhat forced chuckle of amusement. “And people say you don’t have a sense of humor.” She patted his shoulder. “You’re funny Nozel.”

Nozel didn’t know what was more painful, her words or the absence of her touch as she let her hand slide off him. Unable to look at her, he gathered himself and asked. “What would you call us--”

“And we thought we would have to wait.” Mereoleona called upon seeing them. She slapped her brother on the back. “I told you we should come straight here.”

“That would have made them early and us on time.” Fuegoleon said looking back at her.

“Leon. Manners. A gentleman never keeps a lady waiting. And Nozel has brought three of them. What a pleasant surprise.” Mereoleona moved to Teris giving her a hug. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“I know.” Teris smiled returning the hug.

“It’s been a week.” Fuegoleon told watching the two of them.

“Nine days. But who’s counting,” Teris said.

“You. Obviously.” Nozel said looking at her coolly.

“Venice,” Mereoleona smiled patting the girl on the head. “It’s good to see you as well. We could’ve used your mirror magic on our last mission. Right Leon?”

“We managed just fine.” Fuegoleon said, his pride not letting him admit that another squads member would have been helpful.

“And Nebra,” Mereoleona smiled. “Aren’t you growing up fast. Shall we go inside and sit.”

Seated and ordered Mereoleona asked. “So, how did you two girls enjoy the Ladies League bash?”

“Immensely.” Nebra answered from her brothers right. She looked over to Teris who was seated to on Nozel’s left.

Mereoleona took her cousins silence as displeasure of the events goings on. “I know.” She said to Teris. “Having to go to such things was never my cup of tea either. Most girls can’t wait till their tenth birthday to be accepted into the League. I couldn’t wait till my twentieth to be done with it all. Always found it funny how a gathering of supposedly polite young ladies can, and usually was, anything but polite.”

“I didn’t go,” Teris told.

“I’ve been there too,” Mereoleona nodded. “Skipped two years out of every three.” She held up a finger. “Don’t get any ideas, your father or Fyntch wouldn’t approve.”

“This was my third absence.” Teris informed the realization of what she had done hitting her in full. Not that she would have done anything different.

“Oh,” Mereoleona blinked. Recovering she said. “And I thought myself a fearless rebel of expectation. You’re putting me to shame. Was Fyntch aware? What am I saying. Of course your brother wasn’t. He would have likely left your father to drag you to the Leagues event. Was Julius? No. I’m wrong again. That man is too focused on making sure his dream of getting to the top of the Magic Knights is achieved to pay care to such things.” She crossed her arms and sat back shaking her head.

Teris could hardly look the Crimson Lions Captain in the eye out of fear and shame.

“What are we going to do with you girl?”

“I don’t know,” Teris mumbled.

“Well,” Mereoleona sighed smacking the table with a palm. “It can’t be helped now. The Mistress’ of the League are an unforgiving bunch. Even if you had been on a mission, or your death bed for that matter, they wouldn’t retract your strickening.”

“I don’t want s retraction.” Teris told softly barely managing to glance at Mereoleona.

“You say that now,” Mereoleona said. “Look at you. You can’t even look at me. How are you going to fair when faced with your Lord Father and Fyntch? You’ll be singing a different tune when next you see them I’m telling you now.” Mereoleona watched her wondering how the girl could be so fierce and yet so fragile. She wanted and hoped for the best for her young cousin, having felt a comradery with her since the first time she had seen an eight year old Teris refuse to sit side saddle while on a hunt. But, only time would tell if she grew up to be her own person and a force to be reckoned with or broken into subservience by her brother, Fyntch, and marriage into the Silva family. “Let me know if Fyntch goes too hard on you. I’ll do what I can to soften the blow.”

“You don’t have to do that, Leona,” Teris said.

“You’re right. I don’t. And it’ll likely cause me a bit of trouble in doing so,” Mereoleona admitted. “But you bucked the system and did your own thing. And that has earned my respect.”

Their food arrived and with it, Teris thanked, a change in subject.

“I hear you’re close to a promotion.” Mereoleona said looking at Nozel.

“That is my hope.” Nozel affirmed.

The Crimson Lions Captain looked at her brother. “Better step it up Leon. Your rival’s about to out rank you.”

“I’m not that far from a promotion myself,” Fuegoleon told.

“Not as close as he is.” Mereoleona teased. “Then again, Teris has you both beat as she’s closer yet.”

The two boys looked at Teris in surprise.

“Isn’t that so.” Mereoleona smiled, the famously pointed Vermilion incisors glinting in the light.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Nozel asked feeling a fool for his boasting, then wondering if that had been her intention.

Teris shrugged ill at easy under Nozel’s intense gaze. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to make a deal of it.”

“But you’ll be stepping up to Intermediate Magic Knight.” Mereoleona said picking up her drink as if in toast. “Kind of a big deal.”

“It’s not like I’d be stepping up to be Knights Commander,” Teris said.

“No.” Mereoleona laughed choking on her plum juice. “You’ve got quite a ways to go for that promotion. And I think Greywright would have a thing or two to say about it since he shows no signs of stepping down.”

“It’s funny how you and Yami get the same promotions at the same time.” Venice said then shrugged. “But I guess that’s to be expected since you two are always going out and getting into trouble together.”

Teris could have ground Venice’s foot into the floor under the table if she had been seated beside her. Instead she was stuck between Nozel and Fuegoleon and Venice tucked safely between the two Crimson Lions. If only Fuegoleon hadn’t been such a gentleman and pulled Venice’s chair out, or Nozel for that matter having pulling at chair out for her when Nebra had already claimed the space between him and Mereoleona.

“You should be thankful.” Mereoleona told Venice. “By all appearances, it’s because of them that the Black Bulls are doing so well.”

“They’ll still be ranked last.” Fuegoleon huffed. He looked to Teris. “What possessed you to choose to join the Black Bulls when you have such dreams as becoming Knights Commander eludes me to this day.”

“It’s because if she manages to become a candidate for the role having come from such a squad there’s nothing anyone could do.” Mereoleona said, kindly not finishing with, to take it from her. “Am I right?”

Teris gave a small nod.

“You think no one understands you,” Mereoleona said. “But I do.”

Yami understands me, Teris thought. Maybe that was why she was so drawn to him. He knew who she was and accepted her as that person without showing the faintest hint in wanting to steer or change her.

Having an idea Mereoleona turned to Nozel. “Promise me something.”

“If I am able.” Nozel said blue eyes flicking up to her.

“At the next Silva, Nova gathering when they invariably try to coerced Teris into meeting their expectations and do their will. Do or say something on her behalf. If you’re going to be her husband she’s going need your support and protection. Unless you plan on attempting to break her spirit. So, why get some much needed practice and start now with this one thing. I can all but guarantee you that doing so will earn you earn trust and goodwill. Neither of those unwanted things in a marriage.”

The thought of speaking against his father scared him but not half as much as the thought of Teris finally showing some goodwill and trust enticed him. Nozel inclined his head.

Teris watched Mereoleona in disbelief. Hadn’t her cousin just announced that she understood her? Before she could find her voice to rebut such a thing Venice spoke.

“Speaking of gatherings. What happened to this years trip to the Lava Springs?” Venice asked none to subtlety changing the subject. “And will there be one next year?”

Mereoleona darkened as she recalled seeing Bronn at the Star Awards with his arm wrapped around a girl. She had later learned the girl was a Healing Mage named Gilly and that the two had in fact been on a date, and were still dating.

Thankful for the change in subject Teris left her rebuttal unsaid adding. “Venice, Olsen, and Tobin were talking about it at breakfast this morning. I can’t believe Uncle Leonidas lets you use your family's summer cabin to host what sounded like a pretty rowdy Magic Knights party.”

Mereoleona forced the image of Bronn with another girl out of her mind and nodded. “It can get rather rowdy. But as long as none of you kiddies go upstairs or get into his liquor stores, father doesn’t mind.” To Venice she said. “You enjoy fighting up the volcano. Do you?”

“I enjoyed the hot springs and party after,” Venice said.

Mereoleona laughed.

“Will there be one next year?” Venice asked again.

Mereoleona thought of her jealousy towards Gilly and anger at Bronn which had been the reasons she hadn’t called the gathering; which was always last minute even though it had turned into an annual event. She forced another toothy smile. “Just try to stop it,” she said.

Thank you to those who have left hearts.  And a VERY special thank you to those who have left comments or re-blogged.  They really mean a lot.

Taglist: @captncappuccino 

[morshtalon]

Dragon Quest II

Well, it's been a while since I wrote a review on something. I've played a number of games in the meantime, but none of them really gave me anything I felt was worth talking about or that hasn't been talked about before, so I just keep them in the backburner of my mind for possible future reference.

However, I feel like current circumstances make for a good time to dig up one of the games I wanted to share my thoughts on for a long time, and that I had beaten before even writing the first review I've ever "published". That game is Dragon Quest II.

Part of the reason why I held off on it for so long is that I don't think my review of the first game is all that great, and another part is that, again, I don't feel like I've bunched up enough good stuff to say, even though I really wanted to talk about it ever since I played it.

But hey, by far and wide my post popular post is technically related to Dragon Quest II, so why not cut to the chase and do it, right?

Anyway, to say that the first game took off in popularity is an understatement, it being the seminal harbinger of an entire genre of gaming that would soon take the world by storm. You would think that means this would be the time-old tale of "runaway success game making company executives pressure developers into slaving away at a sequel with suffocating deadlines". However, planning for DQII apparently began before DQI was released. 1986 was a different time, I guess. A time when the industry was fledgling enough that it wasn't that much more than a group of dudes banding together to bring an idea to life, and then - not a moment of hesitation after that idea comes to fruition - immediately start brainstorming ways in which they can build on it to give birth to new, more complex explorations of the concepts they had just tackled.

I believe this is why it's good to go back and play these games in their original versions, in chronological release order. Nowadays, it's virtually impossible to innovate. Back then, almost every big-time franchise was always finding ways to breathe fresh air into the structure of their games. Though Dragon Quest isn't the most innovative when compared to the likes of Final Fantasy, they were still making great strides into the codification of the type of game they had pioneered. With that knowledge in mind, one can really appreciate the evolution by going back and exploring these things as they grew with the times. And hey, Final Fantasy still wasn't around by the time DQII came out, so once again, they had to rely on ideas from western RPGs they liked.

In my opinion, II is the first jRPG that actually feels good to play, if you can put yourself into the mindset of an 80's gamer. The designers felt the 1v1 battles of the first title were boring - a sentiment which I share - and put in different groups of enemies as well as extra party members for you to find. One thing that some of these old RPGs that only let you target a group of enemies does is drawing only one enemy sprite on-screen to represent the entire group. Surprisingly, this game does not do that, even though it predates all the ones that do. It draws every enemy on-screen, which doesn't seem like much nowadays, but it's very appreciated nonetheless. Sure, it came at the cost of battle backgrounds (all fights in this game are set against pure blackness), but they did the right thing. The party itself follows what would become a typical archetype of 3-person groups: One character who is a jack-of-all-stats, balanced between physical prowess and magic, one who is focused on physical combat (in this game, this character actually has no magic capabilities whatsoever), and one who is a pure mage. Perhaps surprisingly, because these structures hadn't become tropes yet, the main character is the physical one, and he's also pretty much the most reliable party member by a reasonable margin, even though all he can do is attack normally. Balance issues aside (we'll talk about that later), I honestly sort of dig this arrangement. It's a little bit of a breath of fresh air to see the main character in an RPG rely completely on his weapons, and in the future, in any DQ title that has a reasonable degree of character customization, I always try to make the protagonist a physical powerhouse, to match the one from this game. It hardly ever works, but hey, it just goes for show that I enjoyed it while playing. Given that the other party members join you as you progress through the game at specific points, that also means the complexity of magic spells is added to your arsenal slowly, getting you used to it without feeling overwhelming. Sure, the game is simple enough that it wouldn't be overwhelming regardless of how they had set up the pacing, but I never felt like any of the times I struggled were because of insufficient knowledge of the game mechanics. So, the battles are fun enough, and they feel just right in terms of complexity vs. focus. The strategies to win are simple - really, the whole game is very simple - but it does its job well, and it allowed the developers to have near-perfect control of the game's difficulty curve. As a result, it is also - almost up to the end of the game - pretty nice, even if the whole thing is on the challenging end of things. At the end, it gets... A little special. We'll get to that later.

Let's take a step back and look at the gameplay outside battles. First of all, the story is... sparse, to say the least. Not as much as the one in the first game, and supplemented in the international version by a frankly kick-ass introduction that gives the experience a certain tone and atmosphere I appreciate a lot, but still, it's 1987. jRPGs were... not so much about the story back then, if you can believe that. In fact, they were more like an extension of a point-and-click adventure game. DQII is, essentially, a big fetch quest. In a different story, one that has enough plot points that you can sense a type of underlying narrative progression, I would not enjoy having the game interrupted by a blatant collectathon. However, the fetch quest aspect is basically the soul of this entire game. The extremely loose story paves the way for an experience that boils down to pure exploration and combat, with light elements of puzzle-solving woven in, using the fetch quest premise simply as a background to leave the developers with fertile soil to plant their little tricks and enigmas without worrying too much about how it would all connect rationally. And here, we witness an aspect of old games that could only spring about as a byproduct of limited graphics, ill-defined representations of the setting's reality, and a healthy disregard for common sense, things that were the style at the time. The puzzles, and sometimes just the exploration, violate logic quite heavily. Traversing through a monster-infested castle to get to a point that is technically outside the castle, but you can't just walk around it because most of the outside grass tiles are exit tiles that warp you back to the world map? Sure, why not? Having dedicated "teleport-room" maps that only serve the explicit purpose of housing a teleporter to another part of the world, except for one which also houses a chest with an essential item if you walk along the right border of the map, but not the identical-looking left one? Mario 2 hid a goal post inside a secret too, so yeah! Throw that in! Stairs down in a brick islet surrounded by water which brings you to a room that's... Also at water level? We hardly have enough tiles to go around, let alone a set to represent underwater or underground rooms, so whatever! Nobody cares! And, honestly, I truly don't care, either. If a game is up to, let's say, willfully forgo a bit of logic in order to formulate a creative puzzle to play around with your expectations, then all the more power to it. I honestly feel like puzzles nowadays are too sectioned-off, contained within a single room in a single dungeon, ready for the player to walk in, solve it, move on to the next point in the flowchart and never think about it twice. When puzzles are woven in so closely with the world, requiring the player to think outside the box at all times, as they're out there exploring, it makes the whole game feel like it's working together to make a point, and helps reduce that feeling one gets when playing RPGs where there are very separate elements of gameplay that... Don't really connect to each other very well. Sure, you're blatantly aware you're playing a videogame at all times, and it's not super great for immersion, but this was a time when there just... wasn't enough memory for immersion. It was a constraint that naturally gave way to challenges that capitalized on its own limitations, and therefore, created a type of immersion of its own, where the player is completely sucked into their own thoughts, holding a notebook with a rough sketch of the world map in their hand (yeah, I might have done that), taking notes and thinking where in the world could that last crest possibly be?! I think DQII hit that sweet spot of looseness vs. clarity in the narrative that helped these wild, nonsensical elements flourish. I really don't know how other people react to this sort of thing, but I don't care. I had a good time with it, and soon after this game, everything RPG started to become more focused on story. That's definitely not a bad thing, but I felt a kind of clear, developer-to-player kind of communication from these small bits of wrongness that made me more aware of the time, effort and creativity put into it by the people who were making it. I realized that, were I in the shoes of the dude who was making all this crazy stuff, I'd be stoked to see my friends trying to solve them. I'm not trying to be sentimental, that's how I honestly felt while playing that part with the teleporter and the chest. In any case, I appreciated it.

Then you get to the road to Rhone.

Though, apparently, the game was not pressured into deadlines by higher-ups, I did read something about one of the guys in the team offhandedly setting a deadline that turned out to be just that little bit too tight, requiring it to be delayed from November 1986 to January 1987. This, along with the fact that, at the time, the second title in a franchise had the habit of being designed for people who were hardcore fans of the first game in that series, might go a little ways into explaining why everything starting from the road to Rhone is absolutely fucking brutal. Every element of the game that, previously, was a tad questionable, leaving that little itch of worry in the back of your head, returns here with the express intent to make your life miserable. I have a high tolerance for difficulty, one that is even higher for RPGs where, for the most part, there are always ways to slightly circumvent it and make your life easier. The simplicity of design in DQII means that this is not the case here, and from this point on you're expected to not only have the skill and familiarity you've accrued while playing, but also a very healthy amount of luck to go with you, otherwise you will die. And rest assured, you WILL die. In fact, due to the specific way in which the player's mortality rate skyrockets in Rhone, it's almost not even a matter of the game being "hard" in the traditional sense, because it doesn't exactly require you to be strong enough or smart enough anymore, it just requires you to be patient enough to slowly trudge through the mountain of corpses of your former attempts until you figure out how to minimize your risks to the lowest degree they possibly can be minimized, then hitting that sweet spot of luck and control that finally allows you to reach the end of the game. This particular way of handling things means that, after you hit about level 30 with the main character, further leveling will only render you negligibly less likely to die, and the effects are not strong enough from level to level to even be clearly noticed. But what exactly makes it so hard? The answer is primarily RNG. When you reach the end, you will begin to notice just how much RNG there is through the whole game. Starting off, the turn order is entirely random. There is an agility stat, but I never found any evidence of it actually factoring into who goes first in battle (instead, it's a carryover from DQI that calculates your base defense). If there are more than three enemies, you're at a disadvantage, but even if there aren't, a stray run of bad luck - which is guaranteed to happen given the density of random encounters - means you're gonna have to scramble with enemy attacks, and they are perfectly capable of leaving you in such a state that it would take a miracle to put yourself back in shape, if they don't just wipe you out instantly. Now, remember, two of your three characters have magic. However, at this point in the game, enemies have a large amount of magic resistance to all kinds of different spells, and magic resistance in this game means that there is a chance the spell simply won't work. If it does, it deals full damage. If it doesn't, it deals none at all. I don't know about you, but I almost never take my chances with low-accuracy, gimmicky stuff in other games. This one renders all spells like that given enough time. If you decide to rely on physical strength, the main character is the only one who will bring you any significant results. The pure mage at this point in the game is far more efficient at support casting than direct damage, and the balanced character is - memetically, at this point - incompetent at both, and also sucks as a physical fighter, so once again, you're boned on that front. All of a sudden, running away becomes an alluring strategy. However, once again, there is an ever-prevalent random factor to it, so the pressure is on in all fronts. The game becomes a challenge of carefully planning out how to simply survive each encounter. Do you take the chance and run? If you fail, you'll be wailed on by the full force of the enemy party, and will likely be too weak to attempt mounting a resistance. Do you take the bait and unleash the full force of your attacks? What if they all target different enemies in the group? You won't deal enough damage to kill one of them, so you'll suffer heavy retaliation and waste precious MP that could be spent on healing spells. Did you win or escape successfully? You've only lost about 20% of your health, but some encounters can relieve you of the remaining 80% before you can even act, so do you spend MP healing or do you trudge on because you already don't have that many to go around? If you make the wrong decision at any of these break points - and rest assured, there won't be a shortage of them - you'll either die or get so close to death it will be almost irrelevant to keep going. And then, it's back to the last save point. Rinse and repeat many times until you clear the road and get to Rhone proper, for one final save point and one last, grueling stretch of game before the final boss. Here, the game introduces enemies that have, no joke, a move that kills your entire party and has 100% accuracy. Typing it out, it sounds like hyperbole, like i'm salty that I died so much and am exaggerating the things the game does in order to trick myself into believing that it was super impossible times infinity, but no, it's true. To be fair, there isn't a high chance the enemy will perform this move, but when they do, there's absolutely nothing you can do to save yourself. Just reset the game when the screen turns red. Other than that, the rest of the lovely cast of enemies rounding up the final waves are more than capable of just killing you the regular way, so keep your wits about you like you did back in the cave and grind yourself up until the stat bonuses start getting negligible, because now, you need to face five bosses in a row. Right, okay, technically you can go back and heal yourself right before the last one, but I didn't know that, so if you're an idiot like me, try to get ahold of a Wizard Ring, as well. It's the only way to heal MP, and can be used multiple times until - you guessed it - it randomly decides to break. After that, you just have to contend with two bosses that use a move that heals all their HP when it gets low, so you also have to roughly keep track of their state in your mind so you can unleash a full round of attack before they can get in that heal. Unless your spell doesn't hit them, of course. Or they happen to go first. Or you just barely miss the threshold of HP that will actually kill them. Oh, and be careful! One of the other bosses also knows the instant death move. He won't use it often, but 30 or so attempts in, you're likely to see it once or twice.

Then, the final boss can randomly spawn with a number of hit points between 75% and 100% of his assigned value (every enemy does that), and you're gonna deal an average of about 15% damage per turn to it. Sounds easy at first, but he will take you out in either one or two moves, and...

...Here's the motherload...

...He has a 1 in 16 chance of casting the full heal move at any point in the battle. And he WILL do that the first 2 or 3 times you get to him, sucking you dry of resources and smashing your face all the way back to the save point to try the 5 bosses again, so it's back to grinding attempts until you have another mostly hopeless shot at him.

But when you get him, man...

When you do it...

*sigh*

Anyway, this was a long, rambling, focus-shifting tangent just to correctly capture the degree of luck and randomness that constitutes the final stretch of Dragon Quest II. How does it impact the rest of the game? Well, I still appreciate it for what it did right, and there's a small, strange part of me that actually thinks the insane difficulty perfectly fits the stakes that the game set up, but it is, nevertheless, very hard. And once again, it's the kind of hard that is virtually impossible to circumvent. For any average, non-god-tier player, there is no alternate way of tackling the simple-looking, but highly controlled challenges in this game that trivializes it. You can't change your party, you can't buy extra spells, you can't really use stat-up items to change stat configurations in any significant way. You just have to keep trying and hope it works, and for the first few dozen times, it won't, so you'll just have to deal with it.

Still, it shows, even up to the end, that the DQ team has a certain grasp of consistency in design that will slowly grow and adapt as the series embraces new complexities through the years. DQII stands as somewhat of a black sheep in the series (as the second titles of old franchises often do), but I think it has its place, and it's surely a wild ride. Also, if you can get yourself into the mindset of late 80's design, I can assure you it won't ever be boring. Maddening, sure, but not boring. It's more fun in the midgame, in my opinion, as for someone who is very used to RPGs, it can be exceesingly simplistic at the start and too hopelessly uncontrollable at the end, but I feel it deserves a score of 7 out of 10. It's pure gameplay, and, for what it's worth, you WILL get an intense experience. Just be ready to shake, a lot. And pad your walls.

[leadflowers]

VTMB OC Meme

I decided to repost this VTMB OC meme by denerims as its own separate post instead of a reblog. Because it’s so long, most of it will be under a cut.

These are my Bloodlines fledglings only; I have loads more VTM OCs but this would quickly become quite unmanageable if I added them all :P

Ahem. Without further ado…

🌹 What clan do they belong to and how do they feel about them?

Emily Belmont - Clan Toreador. Embraced for her looks more than anything else, she feels a bit inadequate compared to the talented artists and visionaries of the Clan. She is generally well-liked among the other Toreador, although she tends to get taken advantage of due to her naivete.

Kate Murray - Clan Tremere. Embraced outside the Pyramid, Kate is determined to earn her way in and gain access to the Clan’s arcane secrets and valuable resources. Distrusted by most for her unorthodox nature, Primogen Strauss is a mentor of sorts, even if they differ greatly in their attitude towards modern technology.

Danniella Drake, aka Dany, Dee, D. - Clan Ventrue. In life an aspiring politician with lofty ambitions, not much has changed since her Embrace. Loyal but arrogant, generous to her allies and utterly ruthless to her enemies, Dee feels she was born to rule and is quite at home among the Ventrue. Of course, an ambitious upstart is as likely to make enemies as she is to gain friends…

Wilhelmina “Mina” Ellicott - Clan Nosferatu. A former British socialite and beauty queen, Mina’s Embrace into the Nosferatu clan was a veritable fall from grace, forced upon her by a vengeful Sewer Rat whom she viciously mocked, taking him for a vagrant. She loathes them and they aren’t fond of her either, so she keeps to herself.

🎹 Do they have any special talents or skills?

Emily: Although she has a pleasant voice and was working as a singer in a seedy bar at the time of her Embrace, Emily also has a BA in English.

Kate: A computer science student and a recently Awakened mage before her Embrace, Kate combines tech savviness with a growing knowledge of Blood Magic.

Dany: Decisive, persuasive, intimidating when she wants to be, Dee is good at making tough choices for “the greater good”.

Mina: A spoiled girl who spent her former life travelling and partying, Mina never bothered developing many useful skills; hard work is for the poor after all. She is good at reading people, however.

🌃 Where are they from and where do they live now?

Emily: Actually from LA, and is still living there.

Kate: Oregon, currently living at the Los Angeles Chantry.

Dany: Washington DC, at the moment looking to establish her own domain.

Mina: From England, was on a trip to the US when she ran afoul of her sire. She is drifting from place to place.

💢 What is their moral alignment?

Emily: Neutral Good

Kate: Chaotic Neutral

Dany: Starts out as Lawful Neutral, then slides towards Lawful Evil

Mina: Neutral Evil

👯‍♀️ Do they have any notable allies/friends?

Emily: Emily has several close acquaintances and is quite close to VV, a Toreador as soulful as she is who understands her desire to hold on to her humanity.

Kate: Regent Maximilian Strauss and Beckett as fellow scholars, Mitnick whom she can geek out with

Dany: Prince LaCroix (for now…)

Mina: Imalia, whom she sees as a kindred spirit of sorts.

💘 Do they have a romantic interest?

Emily: Heather Poe, her ghoul. (I made a drawing of them a while back. Incidentally that’s what Emily would look like if the game engine allowed it)

Kate: N/A

Dany: N/A

Mina: N/A

🏴 What are their allegiances? (Camarilla/Anarch/Independent/etc)

Emily: Anarchs

Kate: Camarilla/Strauss

Dany: Camarilla/LaCroix

Mina: Independent

🧛‍♀️ Do they have any preference regarding who they feed on/how they feed?

Emily: She prefers feeding from willing vessels, and Heather when possible (but not too often as not to harm her)

Kate: She likes taking as few risks as possible when feeding, but otherwise has no real preferences. Will prefer getting a bloodpack instead of going out to hunt if it means getting more research time in.

Dany: She doesn’t tell her specific blood preference to anyone, and is one of her carefully guarded secrets. Needless to say, she tries to ensure she has a steady supply of it.

Mina: She refuses to feed on rats and bums unless absolutely desperate, just like she avoids the sewers and prefers skulking around in a large hooded overcoat. She likes feeding from pretty people and making it unpleasant for them, out of spite.

⌛ When and how were they turned?

Emily: She was targeted by a romantic Old World vampire who said he reminded him of a Pre-Raphaelite painting. He visited her a few nights at the bar where she worked as a singer and lured her to a dingy motel room where they had sex and he turned her without her knowledge. (her story more or less follows the vanilla game intro)

Kate: Little did she know that she nearly became a Nosferatu when, following a clue left by her late grandfather, a mage, Kate hacked her way into a low security server hosted on SchreckNet and used by a group of young Tremere for the purposes of exchanging information. There she met her future sire who soon realised her arcane potential and decided to Embrace her. The Nosferatu were considering doing the same, impressed with her technical skills and wary of the risk she now posed to the Masquerade.

Dany: She was Embraced by an arrogant young Ventrue who watched her debates and how she handled her opponents, believing she would make a good addition to his power base. Foolishly, he believed he could conceal this from the Prince; he was wrong.

Mina: She was leaving an expensive club with her friends when she bumped into a shabby man whom she took for a vagrant. Disgusted, she complained loudly that his stink was now all over her expensive dress and that they really shouldn’t allow such filth to roam the streets in the nice part of town. Unfortunately for her, the “bum” was actually a Nosferatu who did not take kindly to the insults and decided to teach the rich bitch a lesson.  

🤝 What is their relationship with their sire like?

Emily: She only knew him briefly, but she was drawn to him and was shocked when she witnessed his execution. She retains a feeling of guilt over his death; if it hadn’t been for her, he would still be alive…

Kate: She feels what happened to her sire was unfair, although she is aware that he knowingly violated Kindred law, so it was his fault too. She hardly knew him, so she cannot say she had a strong attachment to him, though she wishes he were still alive, and that she’d been properly inducted into the Pyramid without having to fight for the privilege.

Dany: She thinks he was a fool, although she is grateful for the opportunity his actions, misguided as they were, have afforded her. Immortality is an improvement on her previous condition, and she is determined to overcome her…less than auspicious beginning.

Mina: She absolutely loathes him and watched with glee as his head was separated from his body. At least she got that bit of revenge over the bastard.

🖤 How do they feel about being turned? (How did they adjust? Do they feel differently now than they did when they were first turned?)

Emily: She was crushed to find out she had been turned into a bloodsucking monster, but she has tried to adjust (with much difficulty). Heather’s presence has helped her experience a counterfeit sort of humanity, the two of them entering a co-dependent relationship which Emily clings to for comfort. Although she knows Heather’s feelings are influenced by the Blood Bond, her own love for her clouds her judgement.

Kate: She hated the idea of losing her life at first, the future she had all planned out, but soon consoled herself with the prospect of an eternity spent unravelling the secrets of the Tremere Clan and beyond. For a consummate scholar like her, the possibilities seem endless.

Dany: She took it in her stride, and in fact being Embraced into the Clan of Kings only served to cement her belief that she was meant to accomplish great things; greater now than she ever dreamed possible. This was fate.

Mina: Losing her looks, which she valued above all else and underpinned her identity was agonizing for Mina. At first, she refused to come out of her warren until driven by hunger. It is still immensely difficult for her to accept that she is hideous, reviled. Never a particularly nice person, the Embrace has brought out a cruel, vengeful streak in her and she delights in petty schemes and revenge.

💉 Have they sired anyone? If so - why, how and did they claim their childe?

None of them have any childer, although Emily dreams of Embracing Heather one day.

👷🏻‍♂️ What are their opinions on mortals?

Emily: She is determined to avoid slipping into a “predatory” mindset like many of her peers and see them as cattle, which isn’t easy to do given her appetites.

Kate: Always a bit of an intellectual snob, that sense of superiority has increased since her Embrace. She won’t go out of her way to be cruel, but she can’t help seeing their fragility and their limitations, compared with the power and intellectual prowess of an Elder Kindred (which she aspires to becoming one day)

Dany: Most of them are of little consequence, although a few have their uses and a small minority are deserving of respect.

Mina: She hates them for their ability to walk freely in public, without inspiring fear and disgust. She especially hates good looking humans who remind her most of what she has lost.

👑 What is their opinion on the Camarilla?

Emily: Opposing it felt a bit like opposing her government, so for a while she was willing to accept the status quo, and not make waves. She wasn’t blind to their abuses, however, and wanted no part of that.

Kate: She approves of some members of the Camarilla but not others. Overall, she thinks it makes sense as an organization, Kindred needing laws and an organised society to keep them safe, but some of the blatant power plays and injustices she observed left a sour taste in her mouth. She doesn’t care much for politics either way, her focus is her research.

Dany: A staunch supporter of the Camarilla and the Masquerade, she firmly believes that law and order are a Kindred’s best friend, and that the Ventrue are best suited to enforce said laws.

Mina: She doesn’t care either way; supposedly the Camarilla value Nosferatu as informants and spies, but she’s isn’t good at either of those things so she’s not counting on any protection from them.

💥 The Anarchs?

Emily:  The Anarchs provided more equality as well as freedom than the Camarilla did, who just treated her as a lowly pawn. She doesn’t really care about the politics or sparking a revolution, she just wants to live her life in peace.

Kate: Too, well, anarchistic and idealistic. If history taught her anything, is that people will always seek power, power breeds more power and Kindred are no different. The pseudo-egalitarianism they espoused had been tried before in various forms, unsuccessfully.

Dany: Rabble, who endanger all their kind with their petty rebellions and lax adherence to the Masquerade, when they _should _be aiding the Camarilla against the Sabbat.

Mina: She doesn’t give a damn about their “grievances” or their conflict with the Camarilla. She has her own troubles, and it’s not like they give a crap, do they?

🧥 The Sabbat?

Emily: Absolutely terrifying, a mirror of her worst nightmare, of what she could become if the Beast took over.

Kate: Unstable fanatics ruled by paranoid, superstitious Elders who see signs of Gehenna everywhere, although most just seem to enjoy mayhem for the sake of it. If left unchecked, they could bring about the end of their kind, not because of some Ancient awakening to devour them all but because humans would come after them with explosives and flamethrowers.

Dany: The Enemy, which must be destroyed. No mercy shall be granted them.

Mina: Sometimes she is vaguely tempted to defect; then she could cause some real damage to assholes like her late sire and kill uppity kine without restraint.

💞 Do they have any opinions on [particular clan]?

Emily: All clans have their good and bad sides, as far as she’s concerned, but she will admit she feels uncomfortable around the Nosferatu; not because of how they look, but because most of them treat her with thinly veiled hostility (and sometimes they omit the veil altogether).

Kate: She appreciates intriguing, clever, well-educated individuals regardless of clan; for example, she respects Beckett as a scholar and enjoys geeking out with Mitnick.

Dany: She believes in the superiority of the Ventrue but in general is willing to listen to others regardless of clan, if they have proven their worth and loyalty. Disloyalty, on the other hand, (towards her or the Camarilla) is something she does not tolerate.

Mina: Needless to say, she is not fond of the “pretty bloodsuckers” of the Toreador clan, although that dislike extends to attractive members of other clans as well. On the other hand, she doesn’t particularly care for the company of her fellow Nosferatu either; too confronting.

⛪ Do they practice or believe in a religion? (Kindred or mortal)

None of them were religious in life, and they carried that lack of belief in the unlife.

🌎 Do they try to retain any part of their humanity?

Emily: Very much so, to the point of self-deception. Heather is her main tether to humanity, her ghoul and lover, bound to her but having a powerful hold on her in return. She mourns her lost humanity which makes her seem weak in the eyes of other Kindred, but when roused she will fight tooth and nail.

Kate: To some degree, yes. She has no intention of giving in to the Beast any more than she has to, but also understands that the pursuit of knowledge and arcane power sometimes involves some…unsavoury practices.

Dany: The Beast must be kept in check, of course; that is vital for any sensible Kindred’s longterm survival. That being said, difficult decisions must be made, traitors punished and sometimes that involves collateral damage. All for the good of the Camarilla, and the Masquerade.

Mina: Humanity? You mean what was stolen from her by that filthy bastard they called her sire? Well, if they made her into a hideous monster, she might as well behave like one…but the truth is, Mina fears the Beast. Accustomed to pulling everyone’s strings, she now feels powerless; the idea of losing what little control she has is not exactly attractive. So she does exercise some restraint.

🚫 Have they ever broken one of the Traditions? (This is includes the Masquerade)

No, not so far anyway. :P

[roach-of-rivia]

About Cyberpunk's controversy

Important: Im going to give my opinion here, so i ask you guys to kindly respect it and i invite you to open my private chat and i will gladly and respectfully debate about it with you.

The begginig

The last CM of the Cyberpunk Twitter account made a joke about assuming someone's gender.

("Did you just assume their gender?")

Personally, I don't find it offensive. I enjoy dark humor as hell.

Also, here in my country, Spain, there are some ppl going mad about the gender pronouns stuff. At a point that is so ridiculous even trans people laugh at them. So it's kind of a meme here.

Next

This person was fired, and i really disapprove this decision.

None should ever be fired bc a joke. This was a joke made with good intentions. This person wasn't meant to hurt trans ppl. Although, I understand it was made in a inappropriate situation.

So, I wouldn't have fired this person, but instead make them to apologize and be more careful next time.

The end

CdPred apologized for that and now here's another person controlling the account .

Ps: even if it was a bad joke, one person (and more a CM) doesn't represent the whole team.

Now, about the racist accusations towards The Witcher 3.

The skin colour of npcs

They're white bc the games happens exclusively in Nordic countries.

And in the medieval ages.

So, why there aren't black ppl in the game?

There are, but why so few? Bc these countries (which would be Poland-Germany for Novigrad, Velen and White Orchard, Italy(?) For Toussaint, and Iceland for Skellige) are very very far from Africa and the southeast of Europe (I mean countries like Turkey, in which ppl have mostly brown skin).

So:

There's multiple times we are asked where are we from, and if we answer "Kaer Morhen", we will always (as long as we are outside Novigrad/Velen and White Orchard) get "That's so far away!" As a reply.

So, despite of being from the continent we are told we come from far away lands.

Now imagine: how would it be for ppl from Africa (for example) to get from there to Toussaint? (Which is the one most to the south) In world full of danger, like monsters or bandits; a world in which even white ppl are racist to other white beings just bc they're shorter (dwarfs) or have long ears (elfs), how a black or brown person could survive? Or worse, who would want to go there?

So, of course bc climate there can't be black ppl growing out of nowhere.

Not only climate changes between maps; accents, customs, music, npcs tasks, clothes, swords, armors...and animals does too.

Why are animals important here? Bc as we humans change our bodies in order to survive better in different climates, animals do too.

So, it's not like CD Pred ignored this.

They acknowledged it both with animal and human npcs.

We find different type of wolves, bears, rock trolls and horses in Skellige we can't find anywhere else. (Plus, sirens can only be found there)

There are unique monsters (Archerspores, Shaelmaars, Silver Basilisks, Wights, Giant Centipedes, dracolizards, scurvers, and all the expansion vampires) animals (panthers, peacocks, pheasants) and even plants (like the tulips) in Toussaint.

As in each map there can only grow certain species of animals, happens the same with humans.

And that's the reason why "there aren't" black ppl.

The actual black ppl in the game

There are several dark skin characters.

-By the fault, we encounter a black succubus as protagonist in a secondary quest in Novigrad.

-In the dlc

°Hearts of stone: (SPOILERS AHEAD) We get captured by a group of ofiris (One mage, at least 5 ofiri warriors and the dead prince).

Then, near Olgierd's mannor, we get to meet an ofiri merchant and an another ofiri mage (I'm not sure if he was really a mage..)

°Blood & Wine: In Madragoras party we get to see another Ofiri magician.

(End of SPOILERS, you can now continue reading)

So in total we have: 11 brown npcs.

What I like about Hearts of stone: it feels well implemented, it feels right with the dlc theme (as we get introduced to ofiri sabers thanks to Olgierd). It feels like true diversity.

We we get to chat with the ofiri merchant, one of the first things we say is "You are so far away from Ofir". He even tell us about the beauty of his land.

It feels really nice talking to him, it's a very interesting and friendly chat. That's why is so cool, bc is a unique character, with a unique story line (also they have unique accents and facial features).

Summary: the npcs are very aware of distance between 'maps'. That's why it is not racism, it is following the world's logic.

If it were racism, Hearts of Stone would be a lot different.

Also, one of the important members of the (CD Pred) team is a black man so..

What does this have to do with Cyberpunk?

There were a lot of ppl calling CD Pred racists bc of this TW3 matter.

Now that Cyberpunk trailers and gameplay has been revealed, we can see all human races mix together in the same city.

Why? Bc in the future (or even now) it's completely normal and logical to be npcs of all skin colours and genders.

This shows that CD Pred aren't racists, they just make logical (and high quality) worlds and eviroments.

One matter solved.

Now, the transgender ad controversy.

First of all, I don't find offensive at all, the opposite, I think is good that trans ppl are shown in games as normal as cis ppl.

Also, the artist explained why their penis is so visible: they wanted to show how corporations sexualize and milk to the last drop everything, they wanted the ads to be as much aggressive as possible. The wanted to give players the feeling that corporations control everything, even us. (You can find out more googling for interviews)

So it is not transphobic.

It make offend some ppl, but it wasn't meant to be offensive.

They also let us customise our character the way we like (like the sims), it can be as you want.

CD Projekt Red isn't a transphobic or racist studio!

Thanks for reading me.

Ps: I'm sorry if I have grammatical mistakes, this is not my main language.

Update:

If you still believe they're transphobic after this.. then i dont know what would make you change your mind..

Tweet here

[emmybluefire]

Accounting for Powerful Characters in RP Events

Story Time

So, towards the last couple hours of my shift at work, a rather concerning thought occurred to me: 

“I roleplay a dragon for a reason. But every time I enter the city, or attend an RP event, I’m not allowed to use it. Period. At this point... I might as well be playing a generic mage. That kinda sucks...”

And to be honest? I got a bit angry about it. To the degree that I even started verbally ranting about it to myself in the form of mutters. I just sat there asking myself: Why? Why is it that whenever I enter a RP event, I can’t play my character to the fullest extent? I’ve worked so hard to balance out them out. To make them fun, make them memorable... and yet, people still have yet to get the full experience. 

Dilemma

Every time I try to cast something like “Spellsteal” or “Counterspell” or even use the most basic of dragon abilities: “Dragon’s breath” I’m told “No. No, you can’t because it’d solve the problems in the event too quick! And it would be very unfair to others!” It’s almost like people just- don’t account for powerful characters. Ever. No, that would make things “Too Complicated” or “Too Easy.”

But that’s when this thought occurred to me: “Powerful characters being ‘too special’ and ‘A sign of bad RP’ and ‘A red flag that indicates an asshole player’: These thoughts have been so ingrained in our collective server conscious for so long that even guilds who say they’re alright with powerful characters still don’t account for them in their events.”

This often leads to someone having to constantly annoy the DM asking: “Hey. Is this okay? Can I do this or would it be too much?” and detract from the RP at large. And let me tell you, that’s not fun at all. You feel bad for annoying the DM, and the DM winds up constantly distracted from actually running the event. That needs to change.

Disclaimer

Now, before I get too far into this: I would like to say I understand the opposing argument. One character being more powerful than the others would, In fact, make things unfair to other players. It could, in fact, make things too easy. A character that can solve a complex problem with one spell does tend to remove the challenge the DM worked so hard to develop all too quickly. Games like D&D, 5e especially, face this challenge all to often once the characters get to certain high levels. It’s a problem so many people are unsure how to tackle. At least, in a conventional setting...

On one hand: You need to let your characters play true to how they would. On the other: It really sucks when your hard work is surpassed so easily. Many DMs are unsure what to do, and so leave things as is, and silently vent to their closest friends in the background afterward.

My post today isn’t here to argue against this argument. My post today is here to offer potential solutions to these dilemmas all DM’s and event runners face every day. So, without further Ado: “How to Account for Powerful Characters.”

“Flex Raiding”

This one is my first and foremost solution. The one that I, as a DM or Event runner, would personally turn to as my first solution. In MMOrpgs like “World of Warcraft” , the RP environment is so diverse, vast, and random that it’s rather hard to cater to everyone’s preferences. You have people who like playing silly mundane characters like Old Men, Young Warriors, Book Binders, or even just your average run of the mill Civilian Drunk. But in the same environment you also have people who like to play more grandiose characters like Grand Archmages, Grizzled War Veterans, Elemental Lords, Dragons, and things like that. Sometimes more than one pour into the same pot, so to speak. So when you run a guild or dungeon group that contain characters from all ends of the spectrum, it’s hard to find one particular “Rolling System” that would accommodate for all of those and have it still be fair. 

My solution? Don’t. Instead, here’s what you can do:

In some MMOrpgs, there’s a mechanic called “Flex Raiding” , it’s when the raid or dungeon scales to the number of players doing it at once, and the levels of each player’s character. One can, in some ways, apply this same principle to roleplay events.

Write a version of the event that would come to being if your entire group consists of “Powerful Characters” , A version of the event for when your group consists of just “Mundane Characters”, and a version for when you have a mix of both. It doesn’t have to (And shouldn’t) just be: Army faces hoard, and bellows into them head on.

This can manifest in ways such as: Your antagonists anticipated facing powerful characters, and prepared accordingly. Perhaps they tamed large, hulking creatures from the deep, and placed them among their ranks to aid the hundreds of soldiers. The powerful characters must focus on them to succeed, while the mundane characters keep the armies busy. Or perhaps they managed to cast a large defensive spell that makes it hard for even the most powerful characters to enter, and the mundane must find creative, mechanical ways, like siege engines, to get past it.

Your antagonists trapped the protagonists, and now the soldiers must defend the casters for as long as they can while they pool their powers together. Encounter ends once the casters succeed in casting a very large, devastating spell that annihilates all enemies around them, or the soldiers fail to defend the casters, and must retreat.

Or perhaps it is just a generic battlefield scenario, and all you have are the mundane characters to appose them. The limit for this is truthfully the sky. Your imagination. BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR ENCOUNTERS!

You prepare accordingly, and you’ll be able to run an event where everyone is able to play their part, and their character to the fullest extent. The downsides to this obviously are the level of preparation you have to do in order to make a viable “Flex Raid” ... and obviously the complexity. But if you get used to doing this, it’ll become much easier than it sounds.

Share the Spotlight

All (Well Written) Characters have strengths and weaknesses. Even the most powerful ones. All characters are an aspect of the player’s creativity. Everyone knows that. You could have a really powerful archmage, but they have a crippling phobia of rats. That very same powerful archmage could also be a ritualist caster, meaning that their really powerful spells take time to cast, taking them out of some attack rounds. Without that time, they’re just a generic mage. Little things like that. Of course I’m describing my own character here, but in that situation, your other party members could very much help you out. 

You enter a dungeon that’s infested with rats, and now the archmage is too shaken up to cast. In that situation, the spotlight would turn to the druid who’s able to talk to said rats and remove them from the scene, while one of the more soft-spoken characters work to snap the archmage out of it.

The warrior suddenly finds himself in the middle of an enemy tavern after failing at a stealth roll. At this point, the spotlight would shift to the bard and rogue who’d step in and form a charming distraction or convincing lie to make the patrons look the other way.

The party is asked to come up with battle plans for the impending war ahead but none have any idea how. All, save, for the warrior. He’s fought in wars before. Hell, he was once a general! He knows how to do this. The spotlight shifts to him as he lays his hands over the map and is very quickly able to find a choke point to slaughter the enemy from.

The party is surrounded by a hoard of encroaching goblins, and all seems lost. But at the last second, their draconic ally catches up to the rest of the group and bellows a large cyclone of flame onto the unsuspecting hoard. The spotlight then shifts to the dragon as the party now has an opening to escape their predicament.

Little things like that would help to make roleplay events far more dynamic, all inclusive, and fun for everyone involved. Powerful, OR mundane. Sharing the spotlight with everyone, gives everyone a chance to shine in one way or another. The downside to this one: Depending on the nature the groups you play with, this may require quite a bit of improvisation. But if you’re good at that? Well, what the hell is stopping you? XD

Creative Bosses

Ah yes. The Classic boss. The biggest, toughest, most badass motherfucker in the entire antagonist group. Perhaps even the one leading them all too. I mean, it is in their title right? “The Boss” Well, here’s the thing. MMOrpgs and turn based RPGs often execute them in a way that: “We need a bigger challenge? How do we do that... hmmm.. MORE HEALTH OF COURSE!” ... This, my friends, is a mistake. Especially when there’s much more powerful characters in the group you’re running with. Said characters would, “realistically” just melt through that ungodly amount of health.

All adding more health to a boss does is create conflict among a group, and prolong an event for far longer than it should be. Come on guys. We all have lives, we cant spend ten hours a week of it playing through an event that gets almost nowhere. Instead, what I’d suggest is to consider the following questions: 

-“What makes this ‘boss’, the boss?”  

-“What is happening to them that’s making them so impossibly powerful? Can it be stopped? How do you get around it?” 

-“Does ‘power’ always have to mean magical ability?” 

-“Do they utilize all the resources at their disposal? What’s stopping them form doing so if not?”

Considering these, and applying the answers to your “boss” makes them much more interesting and dynamic. It gives the players something to strive for, something to work together on as a group to figure out and take advantage of.

Your boss could just be a normal human war general, but who’s power come’s from his political influence and the men he has at his disposal. This makes the players strive to expose his corruption and unseat him from his political standing. The men at his disposal could also make it difficult to get to him as well. Get past those obstacles, and suddenly he just becomes a normal human that can be overpowered and arrested just like any other.

Your boss could also be a young, power-hungry elven sorcerer who’s only been studying for about a decade. But in that decade he somehow came across forbidden lore and is now attempting to conduct a ritual that makes him physically invincible. The players could find out about this and find him in the middle of this ritual. To stop the ritual and take away his invincibility, you can’t just cast a “Spellsteal”. The overwhelming power of such magic would tear anyone apart without proper anchoring. So to stop him, you have to destroy his ritual components and the magical crystals he’s siphoning from while he tries to stop you. The boss fight, at that point, would just be avoiding his attacks and his minions until you shatter all the crystals, and the ritual itself is the thing that destroy’s him. Not you.

Conclusion

Accounting for powerful characters, when done right, can be just as hard as it is fun and dynamic. All it requires is, if you’re willing to have a powerful character in the group, is to mold the event accordingly, and work to understand the strengths and weakness of each member. If they don’t show up then have a backup writ on hand for the non-powerful characters. It just takes a bit of care and consideration. I suppose the TL;DR to take away from all of this is: Be creative, consider the circumstances, and create rolls each character in your party has a chance to fulfill. That way nobody feels left out, or held back.

Thank you all so much for reading. As you can tell, I did a lot of thinking into this. I’m open to discussion, and questions should anybody have some. But overall, I feel I’ve said all I need. After all, the goal of this post wasn’t to tell you--step by step--how to account for a powerful character. Just ideas and suggestions to guide you on your way to greatness! ... Being over-dramatic of course XD. But yes. All of you, have a good day or night wherever you may be!

[fvtvrelegends]

( charlie rowe, trans male, he/him, fire emblem: awakening ) * &. i know it must be scary for you, owain, after surviving the takeover. to turn into someone like owen faulk, a twenty-three year-old clerk at the hq, right here in castle town. just remember that you are as imaginative as you are impulsive, and to be wary, be safe, be true to who you are : heroic through and through. ( (H)O(Y)-(LIA) THERE )

               HOY THERE. Sup guys so I’m here with . . . the closest Fire Emblem has ever written to an actual LARPer who is ALSO my baby boy , fucking love of my life , favorite weirdo 10/10. Click for more under the cut , but beware of spoilers for Fire Emblem: Awakening !!

BEFORE CASTLE TOWN. / O W A I N. ( tw: parental death )

SOOOO OKAY. let me get some stuff out of the way ,

- - - UNDERNEATH THIS BOY CONSISTS OF SPOILERS FOR FIRE EMBLEM: AWAKENING ( and kind of Fates ) . A MARKER WILL BE SET TO INDICATE SPOILERS ARE OVER. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Soooo’kay Owain !! Now Owain. Owain has the exact same circumstance as Lucina , who I recently dropped if you remember her. 

Not too familiar still ?? That’s fine !! He’s basically the future child of one of the heroes of the story , and like the rest of them , traveled through time as his future was a ruined land where chaos took over and zombies and evil dragons and . . . yeah. In his time , his parents are long dead. It’s not pretty.

Now who are his parents ?? Well his dad is determined by the player - I won’t clarify who his father is for plot reasons ( but my favorite candidates are Gaius & Lon’qu ) , but his mother is LISSA. Lissa , yes , your first cleric in the game , one of your starter heroes , and Chrom’s little sister. So this makes Owain Ylissean royalty of sorts ( his mother’s a princess ) , and also Chrom’s nephew , and Lucina’s cousin. 

Of course , you find out that all of the children got separated as they traveled through time - some like Laurent , who were displaced five years earlier than when you find him. Owain didn’t have a scenario like that , but this poor baby actually curled up into a ball and cried upon realizing he was alone. My POOR FUCKING SON -

An interesting fact is that he bears the brand of the Exalt - a thing of the Ylissean royal family that surfaces on the skin of each member - while his mother’s actually never surfaced. He has it on his arm ( isn’t clarified exactly where , but I like to think it’s on the back of his hand. ) 

SOOOO lemme just get this one out of the way because I feel like I need to address it - because the way Awakening works , Owain is one of the many characters who - thanks to the fact that every child unit save for Lucina inherits their dependent parent’s ( in this case , his father’s ) hair color , his hair color and be... literally anything. Now in Fates his hair’s blonde ( because Lissa’s is ) BUT ... I prefer Owain with dark hair so I simply said fuck it and went with that. Technically either Frederick , Kellam , Lon’qu , or even Stahl ( closely in a way ) could give him that sorta hair color but just because I made him have dark hair doesn’t mean his dad’s any of these dudes. Again , I won’t clarify. 

ALSO . . . I’m not. SURE on what I want to do for Fates because Owain actually does appear in Fates ( as a dark mage named Odin working under Prince Leo of Nohr ) but I’m not. Big on some parts of Fates but ALSO I . . . I REALLY LIKE HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH LEO & NILES so I guess I’ll be including that but not Ophelia since. As much as I love her it’s so hard to picture Owain as a dad with this kind of plot. He’s still Baby in my eyes.

AKA bring me a fucking Leo.

- - END OF MAJOR FIRE EMBLEM: AWAKENING ( and kind of Fates? ) SPOILERS. 

SO YEAH THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT OWAIN is . . . well , remembering when I said he’s basically a LARPer ?? I wasn’t kidding.

A good chunk of his character is that most of the time he actually acts like a character from an old hero’s legend or something. He speaks in this overly theatrical Ye Olde kind of . . . dialect ?? I’m not sure if that’s the right way to put it but he basically puts on a show 90% of the time - but he also breaks character quite a few times in game.

( SPOILER WARNING )  Like when you recruit him with Chrom : “By the gods old and new! Another future traveler?! And yet, impossible, for I saw none like him in the light... Who are you, villain?! Speak now!” “Um, I'm Chrom. ...Of Ylisse? I have no quarrel with you, but if we must fight, then-” “UNCLE CHROM?!”

That is singlehandedly one of the best conversations in-game and it’s not even a support.

BUT YEAH he loves stories like these and always wanted to be that legendary hero so he goes around acting like it because he likes it and it’s so fucking pure.

One thing he has is his “sword hand” - it’s purely a theatrical thing , but he has this uncontrollable “sword hand” that thirsts for duel and battle and it’s why I almost made his url “svvordhvnd” but that was too obvious for Owain.

It’s changes to “aching blood” in Fates but that’s not as good as my opinion since in Awakening’s one of his voice lines is literally “My sword hand twitches.”

Lucina describes him as “colorful.” She’s not wrong. 

He also has a habit of naming his weapons and attacks and . . . shouting when he performs them ?? He also names these weapons & attacks after actual Fire Emblem characters & titles from previous games - it’s fucking funny.

And of COURSE all of these theatrics and imagination isn’t for naught since he’s actually a bit of a writer !! In his Hot Spring Scramble conversation with Laurent he actually has a manuscript all written down and apparently it’s well-written and damn good. 

But yeah in a nutshell - Owain is just a nerdy sweetheart who honestly never really grew out of playing pretend and it helps him cope with all the shit he’s faced so ?? Are we gonna blame him ?? Fuck no that’s my baby & he’s a creative baby who drinks respect women juice. That’s important. 

AFTER CASTLE TOWN. / O W E N. 

SO. Owain survived the takeover meaning he has all of his memories from Awakening ( and Fates w/ the exception of Ophelia I guess since I’m a sucker for Leo’s terrible trio ).

His one token is a staff from his mother ( in-game , he actually keeps a piece of one of his mother’s staves that he named after her but this time it’s The Actual Staff. )

He works at the HQ because honestly in this world too he was a fucking nerd and he embraces that shit constantly !!

Unfortunately he CAN’T be all theatrical because he realized Castle Town is a way different world than his and because people already thought he was strange back there , that’d only increased tenfold.

. . . BUT HE STILL GETS IT OUT SINCE HE REGULARLY PLAYS D&D and also acts sometimes at the theatre !! ( did u know in the future past dlc he actually becomes a performer w/ inigo and brady in the end it’s Fun )

. . . He. He Also. Performs at children’s parties for some extra cash because they looooove his whole “legendary hero” schtick and it makes him happy so yeah there’s that too. 

He likes a lot of things about Castle Town but again when he woke up and realized he was all alone AGAIN he really didn’t react well and basically . . . it was like the first time he got separated from his allies again. He’s gotten way more used to it now , but in the very beginning it was harsh.

His name’s now Owen bc I’m uncreative : )

He has parents he doesn’t really talk to - mainly because he knows they’re fake , and also they apparently weren’t the best fake parents either so he’s more dead set on finding his real parents again. 

AND.... yeah that it that’s !! Honestly it on my boy. I’d love to plot with u all bc I plan on being awake a bit longer to finish up tasks and things so YEAH come 4 me. 

Also bi as hell bc I do love projecting & also there’s no way Owain is straight thank u