#calling all my followers who can dm or know a dm who needs some players plsplsplsplspls

[ghoulgeists]

heyyy does anyone wanna play dnd with me haha 👉👈

using my art blog to send out flares because i have no games going on and i have a friend i really wanna play with... 🥺 auwuuuww

if any dms out here are looking for a couple players for a 5e game or know someone who might be interested in running something my dms are open! Let me in! I want to be a player in your game...

i desire dnd so bad it makes me stupid... oughgh

[dailyadventureprompts]

The Mechanics of Baldur's Gate 3

As someone who's constantly tinkering with the mechanics of my favourite RPG, I LOVE a lot of what Larian has done with D&D; not only accurately translating the base system but improving upon in ways I never thought of.

Playing BG3 feels good, and I want to see how much of their work I can adapt for my own table. As such, here's a breakdown of a bunch of little tweaks they've made to 5e (taken from the bg3 wiki) and whether or not I think they're a good fit for regular pencil and paper d&d.

Shove is not a part of the attack action. It is a bonus action available to all characters. Shove only pushes the target back an amount that depends on the shover's strength and the target's weight. It normally does not knock them prone unless they are shoved off a high ledge.

This might be THE best design Larian implemented and is instantly going in my games. Bonus action shoving is such a natural addition to combat, gives so many more tactical options. My one protest is that I am NOT calculating the weight of every creature and object ( mainly because I'm terrible at guessing weights for things) so I'd go with the distance calculation based on the creature's size and con score.

Gaining inspiration based on backgrounds

Gee, a mechanical reward for roleplaying your character, one that's way more straight forward than the DM arbitrated "ideals, bonds, flaws," system. From now on I'm going to give each of my players an upfront " You gain inspiration when you ______" note on their character sheet based on their backgrounds.

The party is limited to two short rests per long rest. Short rests restore each ally's hit points by an amount equal to half their maximum HP (rounded down). There is no hit die rolling. Long rests require camp supplies, which are food items that must be looted or purchased. In towns you will be able to rest at an inn.

This is a mixed bag for me only because I like hitdie as a mechanical abstract and I don't want to see them removed. Tbh I wish more mechanics interacted with them and they were called something abstract like "stamina" or something. That said I ADORE the camp supplies idea because it not only gives you something minor to reward exploration with besides GP. On the otherhand tracking all those supplies without the game's inventory management would be tedious as hell so it'd need to be highly simplified.

I especially like the idea of limited short rests/supplies in larger survival based adventures where time isn't at a premium like it is inside a dungeon.

If you hide while not in a creature's sight cone, you automatically succeed. If you try to hide while in a creature's sight cone, you automatically fail. If you are hidden and enter a creature's sight cone, you must roll stealth against the creature's passive perception. This may be a straight roll, advantage, or disadvantage, based on the creature's senses and the level of lighting. Some creatures with different senses such as blindsight may follow different rules

Congrats on fixing stealth rolls Larian. No notes.

LOTS more opinions under the cut.

When a creature is at least 10 ft above their target and makes a ranged attack, they receive a +2 bonus to the attack roll due to high ground. When a creature is at least 10 ft below their target and makes a ranged attack, they receive a -2 penalty to the attack roll due to low ground.

This is fine, and quite inline with a lot of fixes I've seen for flanking rules. I'm fine with a little extra battlefield math in order to make moments of advantage (spending inspiration, reckless attacking etc) shine.

The game does not stop a character from casting a leveled spell with both an action and a bonus action

Mixed on this, on one hand I've played enough clerics to know how much it sucks to have to use your bonus action to do a necessary spell and then be stuck with a so-so cantrip or melee attack for standard. On the other hand there's some design balance issues at play here.

Help is an Action. This ability allows characters to aid an ally in combat and remove negative Conditions. Using the help action on a downed ally brings them back to 1 hit point and leaves them prone.

Love the idea of help doing multiple things AND being a solution to minor status conditions. and giving everyone the ability to help means I can be a lot more aggressive when it comes to knocking character to 0. if I had to further patch this, I'd say that this also allows for a medicine check to allow a creature to spend a hitdie when they're downed, or allows the helping character to make a "SNAP OUT OF IT, WE'RE YOUR FRIENDS" charisma roll for charmed allies.

Jumping is a bonus action which consumes 10 ft of movement speed. With a Strength score of 10 or below, a creature can jump 15 ft, and this increases by 5 ft for every two points in strength above 10. At 20 Str a creature may spend 10 ft of movement speed and a bonus action to jump, and can travel 35 ft effectively increasing the creature's movement speed by up to 25 feet.

This, combined with the prone rules (see below) is JUICY, as it allows for risk-reward battlefield mobility . That said I'd add some caveats/clarifications: The jump always succeeds in moving you, but if you're taking damage, jumping up or down more than 10ft, or into rough terrain you need to make an acrobatics check not to beef it and fall prone (ending your turn). Your jump is likewise a buffer for how far you can willingly fall before taking damage, but if you fall after your jump, you always land prone.

Weapon actions, 'nough said.

It's more complexity than I'd give to first time players but HOT DAMN if it isn't a great idea to give the martial characters some options instead of just making the same attacks over and over again. I've actually been sockpiling 3rd party versions of this for a while now and I can't wait to add them in.

All The conditions are great:

Blinded: In addition to the other effects, ranged attacks are limited to 15 ft range. Blinded creatures can also make opportunity attacks.

Frightened: Creatures which are frightened are unable to move at all (rather than being unable to move toward the source of their fear), unless the effect instead makes them "fearful" which gives them the frightened effect as well as making them flee.

Prone: Being prone gives disadvantage on Strength and Dexteritysaving throws, attacks against a prone creature have advantage out to a range of 10 ft rather than 5 ft, and ranged attacks against a prone creature do not have disadvantage. Your character cannot do anything while prone. Starting the turn while prone will cause you to automatically use half your movement to stand up. Becoming prone during your turn automatically ends your turn.

Wet: This is a new condition that prevents the character from burning (e.g. from Searing Smite) and grants resistance to fire damage, but also makes the creature vulnerable to lightning and cold damage

[gatheredfates]

Hi! My name is Sea, and I like to collect things. 🌿

Specifically, as of February this year, I have made it my mission to collect as many resources for the Final Fantasy community as I can; including, but not limited to: Communities, Events, Free Companies, How-To Guides, Lore, Tools and more! I have compiled them into Sea's Community Compendium for FFXIV Creatives, a venture I hope will service as a directory for new and old FFXIV players alike to find places and things they might not otherwise know about, and I'm proud to say that the Compendium has over a hundred individual entries!

...But I want more.

Specifically, as much as this is a call to introduce new people to the Compendium, it is a call for anyone who might know of specific resources/communities that not in the document to take a moment's time out of their day to let me know about them. You can submit specific resources via:

My tumblr dm's.

This handy google form.

Or SEAFLOOR, my support and social community for the Compendium and adjacent projects.

You do not need to be a resource/server owner to submit; there just needs to be a publicly accessible link. ✨

Projects like mine equally cannot survive without the support of the community. If you like what I do, please reblog this post or share it with your friends; post it in your community servers or link it on your social media(s). The more visibility I get, the larger the Compendium becomes and the more likely you are to find a resource or community to suit your needs.

Okay, but really, Is my space suitable for the Compendium? Most of the time, yes! Below the read more is some more information/stipulations. This is all publicly available on the document.

Below are the following things I do not accept on the Compendium:

Personal/Single-Character LFC ads. (Though these get posted to the SEAFLOOR Tumblr Community when I find them!)

Content intended for or can be used for bullying, harassment and OOC gossip. E.g. ‘Secrets’ blogs, receipts, callout posts, etc. This does not include IC tabloid blogs or other ventures used to generate roleplay.

Communities that do not have an RP/writing element (large-scale exempt).

Anything I find personally distasteful or goes against the spirit of this project.

Common-sense rule applies.

I want to put my community on the Compendium but we have an application process. Is this okay?

Yes! Just note somewhere in your application that's a requirement. The only thing that is mandatory for the Compendium is that you must be open to new members or have a public-facing/accessible facet. There's no point advertising a community if no one can join it in some way!

I want to put my Community on the compendium but I only have x number of members —

Also totally okay! People don't start with large communities. Activity is a must but, whether your server has two or two thousand members, if you're looking for new people to join, I'd love to help you find people.

I want to put my community/resource on the Compendium but I worry its too niche?

Okay, and? If your Eorzean Fishing Alliance has four members but you roleplay every second weekend, I still want to know about it. The same goes for resources; if it's relevant to the game, it'll be useful to someone.

How active does a community need to be?

If you find a community has not been active in about two/three months, send me a message and I'll take a look at it. Communities have ebbs and flows, especially event spaces that may take hiatuses depending on member interest/life events. I'm not strict in my implementation provided a space isn't dead. If a link or anything is broken, contact me asap!

I have [insert a question not stated here]?

No drama! Send me an ask or use the #Compendium channel in my Discord!

[canirove]

Ben Chilwell Imagine | seven

Author's note: Just something random I came up with the other day after seeing this post by @lovelynikol16 She wrote it about Mason, but I feel like these days we need some cute and nice Ben content, so I wrote it for him. As always, I hope you like it, and thank you for reading! 💜 Little summary: Ben Chilwell, the football player you've had a crush on for years acknowledges you on his Instagram stories after you win a gold medal at the Olympic Games, and your friends convince you to slide into his dms 👀 (female reader/pov)

Masterlist

“Oh my God!”

“What… No!”

“What are you two gasping about?” I ask my teammates. 

“You won't believe who just congratulated you for your gold medal and said that he is, and I quote, very proud of you” one of them says, showing me her phone.

“Holy shit. Is that… Is that real?”

“Very very real” she says. “Check your phone if you don't believe us.”

“He also started following me.”

“What?” they both say, moving to stand one at each side of me so we can all see my phone's screen. 

“He shared that story congratulating me, and he started following me” I say, still not believing what the little notification says. 

Ben Chilwell. Ben freaking Chilwell, Chelsea and England National Team player… Has congratulated me for my gold medal at the Olympic Games, said that he is very proud of me AND started to follow me on Instagram.

What… the fuck.

“Girl, you seriously have to slide into his dms and tell him thank you or something.”

“What?” I laugh.

“You've had a crush on him for ages and now he has discovered that you exist and knows who you are. Make your move!” my teammate says.

“I… I can't do that. What if he doesn't reply? What if his account is run by a pr person and not him and I make a fool of myself? What if…”

“What if, what if, what if” my other teammate says, rolling her eyes. “You are just texting him a thank you, not asking him to marry you… yet” she smirks.

“Idiot” I reply, giving her a little push.

“C'mon, send him a message.”

“And what do I say? Thank you for your support?”

“For example” she shrugs.

“Ok” I say, taking a deep breath and starting to type.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Thank you very much for your support, Ben. It means a lot! ☺️

And good luck for this season, it's gonna be the one! 💙

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Is that ok?” I ask my teammates.

“Perfect.”

“Now what?” 

“Now we just wait for his reply.”

“If he replies…” I sigh.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Today we finally had some time off and we left the villa to do some… Mum, I have to go.”

“What? Why?” she says over facetime. 

“Something has come up.”

“Something like what? Is it bad? You look… weird.”

“No, no. It's just a team meeting. I'll call you again after dinner, ok?”

“Ok. But…”

“Love you, mum” I say, ending the call before she can say goodbye. And why? Because an Instagram notification that just popped up on my screen, one I had lost all hope would get to see. “Ok, you can do this” I say to myself, taking a deep breath and tapping on it.

Why the hell are my hands shaking so much? Aaahhh!

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Thank you very much for your support, Ben. It means a lot! ☺️

And good luck for this season, it's gonna be the one! 💙

You're very welcome!! 💙  You seriously are amazing. My mates and I watched you perform (if that's the right word? 🫣) and you were fucking amazing 😱 Also sorry for the late reply but we just got back from the US and the jetlag has been kicking my ass 😴

Wow, thank you. You are gonna make me blush 😳

And don't worry, I've been there with the jetlag 😅

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Don't worry, don't worry, but I've been having dreams with him replying to my dm since the day I sent it. And he already is making me blush, but shh.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Just telling the truth 🤷🏻‍♂️ Also thank you very much for the luck! We will be needing it this season. Especially me 🙈

Last season was a tough one, wasn't it?

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Of course it was, you idiot. He spent half of it injured!

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

But hey, when I was 19 I injured my knee  and doctors told me there were high chances of not being able to do gymnastics again, yet look at me right now. I've won a gold medal at the Olympic Games, and I've done it against probably the best gymnast in history!

If I was able to come back, so will you. I believe in you, Ben! 💪🏻

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“I believe in you, Ben… God, I'm so lame” I say to myself.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Thank you very much 🥺💙 I may have to hire you as my motivational coach or something 😜 How much the hour? 

Well, since you play for my team, I think I can give you a discount 

Wait, then it is true? Do you support Chelsea? I read it online but wasn't sure

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Has he… has he been googling me? What?

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Chelsea girl since the day I was born

I actually left the hospital wearing a tiny Chelsea hat and had a matching bib

No way! 😱  Is there a photo? 👀

There is 

May I see it? 😇

Ummm…

Please 🥺🥺🥺

Ok, fine

But only because it is you.

If this ends up anywhere online, I know where to find you, Chilwell 🧐

It won't leave my phone, I promise 😇🤞🏻 Also you were such a cute baby!! 😍 And still are Cute I mean Not a baby You obviously are a woman A cute woman I mean, beautiful Women are beautiful and you are a beautiful woman  Sorry 🤦🏻‍♂️

It's ok, don't worry 😅😂

Thank you ☺️

And same 😉

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Did I… Did I just kind of flirt with him? After he said I was a cute baby and that now I am a beautiful woman? Ummm… hello?

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Am I a cute baby or a beautiful woman? 🤔😜

You are a very handsome man who also happens to be very cute

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

There. I said it. I just told Ben Chilwell that he is handsome and cute. Do men like being called cute? Is that a turn off? Urgh.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Thank you 😳😳😳😳 That's my face right now, btw

What? 😂

You've made me blush 😳

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Yeah, sure” I snort.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Photo or didn't happen 

I look like shit right now You don't want to see that

I disagree 🤷🏼‍♀️ 

Fine 🙄 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Looking like shit, he says… You look bloody gorgeous, Benjamin” I say, zooming on the pic. How can someone be this handsome and look this good on a random selfie? It isn't fair. 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

That's not looking like shit

Like shit is how I look after training for more than 12 hours 

And I can't see you blushing with the beard

Should I shave it?

You won't dare!

Team beard? 😂

Team beard forever 💙

Interesting 🤔 Most girls don't like it They say it bothers them when I kiss them

Those girls know nothing 🙄

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

I mean, if a guy like him is kissing you, who cares if it feels a bit itchy? Also, have they seen his lips? Like, urgh.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

I promise you I will keep my beard for the day we meet 😇 Which length do you prefer?

The one you always have the day before you shave

I hate it when you do that

It gets good and pum

Gone

Also, are we meeting? Since when? 🤨

Sorry 🙈 And I was thinking that maybe I could have a chat with the team and see if I can invite you to pay us a visit at Cobham  Since you are a Chelsea fan since the day you were born, I think it would be cool A little homage after winning your medal  I've never seen one in real life, you know?

Oh, so you just want to see the medal, not me

Cool

What? No, no, no I want to see you And the medal Both things But mostly you The medal is cool but…  God, I'm rambling again, am I not?🤦🏻‍♂️

A bit, yeah😅

But it's ok, don't worry 

Thank you 💙 I do it all the time when I get nervous 🙈

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

He is feeling nervous? Him? Benjamin James Chilwell? What? And most importantly, why?

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

So, should I ask the team if they are up to it? Would you like to come to Cobham and have a tour?

Would you be my tour guide?

It'll be my honour Unless you have a favourite player and want him to do it instead 

He just said it would be an honour to do it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Am I your favourite player? 😏

No

Try to fix it now 😜 Anyway, I'll keep you updated, ok? 

Ok

😘😘 (Imagine they have a beard 🧔🏻)

😂😂🥰

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Wow” I say, putting my phone down. “Just… wow.”

I just had a proper chat with Ben Chilwell. With the guy I've had a crush on since he played for Leicester. And we've flirted. Like, he called me beautiful. And he said he wanted to meet me. To see me in person. Me. 

And I didn't freak out. I mean, I did, but it didn't show. I think. It is easier to not do it through texts, but just look at him and his rambling. Who thought he would be like this when he usually looks so confident and sure of himself? When he definitely has a lot more experience on this than I do? And that photo he sent me? Dear lord. He is handsome. He's stupidly handsome. Gorgeous. He…

“I have to show the girls” I blurt out while grabbing my phone, quickly getting up from my bed and leaving my room.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Ok, I have good news and bad news Which ones do you want first?

Bad 🫣

The Cobham visit isn't possible 😞 There are some things going on and… yeah 🫤

Shame 😞

The good news are really good news, tho Are you ready? 😏

Ready

Ok… How would you feel…  About…

Are you always this slow? 🙄

Just with good things that are worth going slow for 😏

Ben, you are making me nervous! 😩

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Because telling him that what he's actually doing is kind of turning me on just by thinking about what things he does that are worth going slow for, may be a bit too much, right?

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

I'm sorry, I'm sorry So… How would you feel… About…

BENJAMIN!!

Ok, ok 😂 How would you feel about a guest appearance during our first game of the season at Stamford Bridge?  We are playing against Manchester City, it's gonna be a big one Hey Are you still there? Hello? Oh my God, I killed her Her heart couldn't take the news 💔 Jokes aside, are you ok? Why aren't you replying? Should I call someone? Did something happen?

Hi, sorry 

There you are 😮‍💨 What happened? Are you ok?

Yeah, yeah

I was just… processing 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

And maybe jumping on my bed after reading his message. 

Me being a guest appearance at Stamford Bridge? And during a Chelsea- Manchester City? That's… that's… I have no words to describe it.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

And what's the outcome of all that processing? 😅

Yes

Yes what? 🤨🤔

Yes, I want to go to the game and do a guest appearance and yes

Yes yes yes YES!!!!!

Ok, I think now I got it May need another yes, tho 😂

🙄

😜😜 Anyway  The team said they will give you a shirt with your name and then you'll take some photos, show the medal to everyone, do that first kick, maybe give a little interview for the team's social media… The usual And you are gonna be attending as my very special guest and will be sitting in my box 😏

Wait

With your family and friends?

Yeah Unless that makes you uncomfortable and you prefer to sit somewhere else I should have probably asked you before telling the team, shouldn't I? Urgh, I'm so stupid 🤦🏻‍♂️

No, no 

That's ok

Though one question…

Sure 

Am I allowed to take someone with me as a plus one? 

I would like for my dad to be there with me, he's the one who made me a Chelsea girl 🥹

Of course!  I'll discuss it with the team, but I don't think there will be any problem  Though I don't know how my plan for after the game would work if you have your dad there with you 🤔

Your plan? What plan? 🤨

I was planning on taking you out for dinner 🫣

You and I?

Yeah You and I A date 

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

A date. A fucking date. I… asdfghjklñ.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

I'll think of something, don't worry 

Is that a yes to having dinner with me, then? 😏

It is, yes

Cool ☺️ Looking forward to it 😘🧔🏻 

Same 🥰

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Bloody… hell” I whisper, putting down my phone after sending that last text.

I just said yes to going on a date with Ben Chilwell. And I'm gonna be a guest appearance at Stamford Bridge for the first game of the season. And my dad is gonna be there to watch it all. And after I'm going on a date with Ben Chilwell.

Bloody hell, indeed.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“I can't believe we are here. Like… woah” my dad chuckles.

“Yeah…” I say.

We are at Stamford Bridge, and not in the stands like so many times before. We are in the tunnel waiting until they call me to go on the pitch, show my medal and kick that ball, hopefully not embarrassing myself in front of everyone and, of course, in front of Ben.

Right now he is chatting with the referee, stretching and laughing about something. And he hasn't shaved or touched his hair. 

He sent me a photo last night asking me if I liked how his beard looked, and I obviously told him that he looked perfect (which isn't too difficult) and that he should also keep his hair like that if it didn't bother him while playing. So there he is now, with his beard and his curls free of that bloody hair gel, looking gorgeous. 

“Miss? It's time” the Chelsea staff member who has accompanied us since we arrived says.

“Shit, ok. Ummm… thank you” I smile.

“You can do this, pickle” my dad says, putting his hands on my shoulders. “I mean, you've won a gold medal in front of the whole world, haven't you? This is nothing compared to that.”

“Or everything” I sigh.

“You can do this” he repeats, giving my shoulders an encouraging squeeze.

“Miss?”

“Yes, sorry. I can do this” I say, taking a deep breath and giving my dad a quick kiss on the cheek before following the staff member, the whole stadium cheering as the speaker announces my name.

Maybe I can't do this. Maybe I should go back inside, say I'm not feeling well. Maybe I… But then I see him. Ben.

He's standing in the middle of the pitch with the referee and Rúben Dias, Manchester City's captain today. Usually I would also give him a good look because… well. I have eyes and he is, you know. But right now those eyes can only focus on the person wearing the darker shade of blue, the one with a smile that makes my knees feel like jelly but that at the same time is what is making me walk and do what I'm supposed to. Like waving at the crowd and all that.

“Congratulations, miss” the referee says, shaking my hand. He is the bald one who looks like Iniesta according to my dad, can't remember his name.

“Thank you” I reply.

“Congratulations” Rúben Dias says next, also shaking my hand. 

“Thank you” I say, somehow managing to smile. And then…

“Congratulations… again” Ben chuckles, giving me a hug. “You look beautiful, by the way. Chelsea blue suits you” he whispers.

“Thank you” I mutter, my cheeks on fire when he moves and winks at me. 

Now this is the confident Ben Chilwell I'm used to, not he guy who starts rambling because he gets nervous while texting, which is something that still haven't been able to stop thinking about.

“Can you pose for some photos, please?” someone says behind me.

“Yes, of course” Ben says, his arm suddenly around my waist, moving me to stand between him and the referee.

“Big smiles…” the photographer says.

But I'm not able to focus my attention on him. I can only think about Ben's arm, about the way his thumb is moving on my back, kind of caressing it and trying to make me… I don't know, relax? But how can I relax when he is doing that? 

And then, when the referee moves so I am standing between him and Dias… Wow. I'm pretty sure there are many people out there who are wishing they were me right now. Though once again, I can only focus on Ben's arm, on how he has pulled me closer to him as if… Nah. It can't be. He can't be doing that because he is jealous of Dias, is he? He…

“Ok, we are done. Thank you” the photographer says, bringing me back to the real world.

“Time for that first kick” Ben says, definitely taking his time to move his arm from around my body. 

“When you are ready, miss” the referee says, putting the ball in front of me.

“Which way do I go?” I ask him.

“That way, towards the other Chelsea players.”

“You can do this, c'mon” Ben says with an encouraging smile. 

“Ok” I say, taking a deep breath and…

“That's it, well done!” he laughs, one of his teammates stopping the ball, the whole stadium cheering. 

“This way, miss” the staff member from earlier says.

“Yes, ummm… Nice to meet you” I say, giving a shy wave towards Dias and the referee, who reply with little nods. “Chilwell.”

“See you later” he winks. Again. How have I not tripped with my own feet after seeing that will remain a mystery.

“That was amazing, pickle!” my dad says when I join him on the tunnel.

“I just kicked a ball, dad.”

“Isn't that what they all do?” he laughs. “Anyway, let's go find our seats. I don't want to miss anything, and knowing that Haaland guy, he is able to score two goals in five minutes. Again.”

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“And… yeah. It was a good game. Still a lot of work to do, but it's just the first of the season.”

“Will we be seeing you again at Stamford Bridge?”

“My dad comes to all home games and some away ones, so I hope so” I smile.

“Looking forward to seeing you. And… we are done. Thank you very much for being so patient” the interviewer says. “You must be tired of giving interviews.”

“For my beloved Chelsea I have all the time in the world” I chuckle. “Thank you for having me.”

“Well done, pickle” my dad smiles when I join him.

“Dad, can you please stop calling me that in front of strangers?” I say, looking around. 

“Why? It is your nickname.”

“Yeah, but… it's something for family only.”

“Chelsea are our family” he says. “And speaking of that, I should probably get going if I want to make it home for dinner with your mum. Where are you meeting with the girls?”

“At the restaurant. I already have a car ready to come pick me up.”

That had been the excuse I had come up with to stay for a bit longer at Stamford Bridge before meeting with Ben for our date. Our date. I still can't believe I am going on a date with Ben fucking…

“Chilwell!” my dad suddenly says.

“What?” I say, turning around.

“Hello” Ben says with his best smile as he walks towards us. 

“Look, pickle. It's Ben Chilwell!”

“I know, dad” I say, feeling my face on fire. 

“She's a big fan of yours, you know? She even has a poster of you in her room.”

“Dad!” I gasp.

“What? It's the truth, isn't it?” he shrugs. “You look better in the picture she has, tho. What is with all that?” he says, touching his face.

“My beard?” Ben says, running a hand through it and making me want to do the same, something that doesn't help with the current temperature of my face.

“Yeah. You are in need of a shave, son.”

“We'll see” he smiles. “Did you enjoy the game? Was everything ok with your seats?”

“It was perfect” my dad says, not allowing me to talk. “We actually sat next to your mum and your sister!”

“Did you?” Ben says, acting as if he was surprised. Because my dad thinks it was Chelsea's idea to invite us here tonight, not just Ben's. How do I explain to him that I had slid into his dms and that he had suggested it after some flirting?

“We did. You have a lovely family.”

“Thank you” Ben smiles. “Anyway, I came here hoping to catch you and get a pic just the two of us, maybe see that medal up close?” he says, looking my way.

“Oh, yes. Of course” I say, finally being able to be part of the conversation.

“Cool. Rob, hey!” he says, calling for the photographer who had been with us the whole day. “Would you mind taking some photos of us together? Maybe some with my phone too?”

“Of course” the photographer says.

And while we get ready for those photos, guess what happens again?Yes, Ben puts his arm around my waist, that thumb back to its previous shenanigans and to sending waves of heat all over my body.

“May I get one too?” my dad says when we are almost done.

“It'll be my pleasure” Ben says with his best smile while I just pray for this torture to end soon. And with torture I'm not only talking about having Ben that close and everything he is making me feel. I'm also talking about my dad saying things he shouldn't and embarrassing me in front of him.

“Are we done now?” I ask.

“Why such a hurry?” my dad chuckles. “You aren't meeting with the girls until later, are you?” 

“I'm not, no. But Ben probably has plans with his friends and family, and I don't want you getting home too late. Especially when mum is waiting and you are carrying this” I say, taking off my medal.

“Wait… Can I… Ummm… Can I touch it?” Ben asks me.

“Oh, yes, sure.”

“Thank you” he says, smiling like a little kid on Christmas morning. He looks so happy. “This is amazing, isn't it? So cool. Wow.”

“You've already won some of those yourself, son” my dad chuckles.

“I have. But none of those are as big as an Olympic gold medal. I mean, the Champions League is quite big, don't get me wrong. But this one is just…” he says, inspecting the medal as if it was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen, somehow making me… emotional? What? “Thank you very much for letting me hold it. It means a lot” he says, giving it back to me.

“Don't you want a photo with it too?” my dad asks him.

“There is no need. But thank you, sir.”

“Well, then I better get going. May I?”

“Uh?” I say, being brought back into the real world once again after my dad stops whatever was going on between me and Ben after he had handed me back my medal and our fingers had touched, our eyes getting locked on each other's. 

“The medal, pickle” he chuckles.

“Oh, yes, sure. Sorry.”

“Chilwell, will you keep an eye on my girl until she has to go? I know she is in good hands with you, our vice captain! Or captain like happened tonight.”

“I will, don't worry” Ben says, giving my dad his best smile. If only he knew…

“Great. Don't forget to text us, ok?” he says, kissing my cheek.

“I won't. Love you, dad.”

“Love you too” he says before waving goodbye, walking down the tunnel and already in deep conversation with the staff member who has helped us throughout the day.

“You have a really nice dad… pickle” Ben smirks.

“Oh my God” I say, covering my face with my hands. “I can't believe you heard that.”

“Why? It's cute.”

“It isn't. It's embarrassing.”

“It's cute” he says, his hands suddenly on mine, moving them from my face and making me look at him. “Hi” he smiles.

“Hi” I whisper. 

“Did you really enjoy today?” 

“Yeah” I nod. 

“Do you want a tour of the stadium?”

“Now?”

“Now. Perks of being Chelsea's vice captain, or captain tonight like your dad said” he says.

“I… umm…”

“C'mon, say yes… pickle” Ben says with a teasing smile.

“I swear to God, Chilwell. If you call me that again, I'm leaving.”

“What? No, no, no, no. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry" he apologizes, the way he is looking at me making my heart sink. "I won't say it again, I promise.”

“Thank you. And I'm sorry if that came out too… harsh. Too many emotions today.”

“I get it, don't worry. And again, I'm sorry” he says, that thumb back to caressing me. Though this time you could say it is even worse, because there is no fabric between it and my skin since he still has his hands on mine.

“Yeah, ummm… I think we should start with that tour before they close the stadium with us inside.”

“We should, yes” he says, his smile coming back and making my heart skip a beat. “Let's go” he says, letting go of one of my hands but still holding the other, interlacing our fingers except for one. That one. 

Because as he walks me down the tunnel and starts telling me all the details about the stadium, that thumb is constantly moving over my skin. And even though at first I feel like it is burning where he is touching me, after a while I stop noticing it and it feels like what I guess he was looking for since the beginning. Like something natural, something comforting. Something even… intimate, just between him and I.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Ben?”

“Yeah?” he says, turning to look at me as I stop walking.

“Why are we back in the tunnel?” 

“The… Oh, yes… Umm…” he says, running his free hand through his hair. Because yes, you guessed it. The other still is holding mine. 

He didn't let go of me as he showed me around the stadium and told me anecdotes about the building that I didn't know about or about things that had happened to the team since he joined them, all while sharing little moments that go from shy smiles to loud laughs that would have definitely made people give us a weird look if we hadn't been alone, and everything in between. At times he even started rambling like when we were texting, the cheekiness and confidence disappearing and his nerves taking over him like it is happening right now.

“I have a surprise for you.”

“What?”

“Come” he says, giving my hand a little squeeze and starting to go up the stairs that lead to the pitch.

Most of the lights have been turned off and only a couple are still on, lightning one spot in the grass. One where there is something that looks like… 

“Ben, is that… Is that what I think it is?” I ask him, stopping as we set foot on the pitch.

“If you are thinking about a picnic, it is, yes” he smiles before moving to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. “My original idea was to go to a nice restaurant, but then I thought that if we didn't want to have to worry about someone recognising us and going to the press, we would have to go to one of the most exclusive ones and I wanted something more chilled for our first date. So I started thinking about different options, checked Instagram for some inspo, and came up with this.”

“Ben, I… I… I don't know what to say. I…” I mumble.

“Do you like it?”

“I do” I say, moving in his arms to face him, not expecting to end up being so close to him. To have my chest against his as I rest my hands on his arms (or his biceps to be more precise), our noses almost touching. We are so close, that I can see his freckles perfectly. So close, that just by moving a tiny bit I could kiss him if I had the guts to do it. “I love it, Ben.”

“Thank God” he says, letting out a big sigh and making us both laugh. “In case my rambling hadn't given it away, I was so nervous about this... About you not liking it... I thought that maybe it was too much, but since you have been a Chelsea girl literally since the day you were born… I don't know” he shrugs.

“It's perfect, so no need to be nervous anymore” I smile.

"Easier said than done" he chuckles.

"Uh?"

"In case you haven't noticed, you make me nervous" he says, caressing my cheek. "But in a good way."

"I... umm..." I mumble, feeling my whole face on fire. "Is this picnic the reason why you texted me the other day asking me what kind of food I Iike?” I asking, trying to change the topic of conversation.

“Yep” he says. “Who knew I wasn't the only person in this country who hadn't had Chinese yet.”

“I honestly don't understand why people made such a fuss about it” I shrug.

“Well, you are about to find out” Ben says, taking my hand again and leading me towards our little picnic set. 

“Is that… Is that a Chelsea blanket?” I laugh.

“And a Chelsea picnic basket and cutlery. Look” he says, opening it. “I had no idea they sold such random things in the gift shop” he laughs.

“Oh, this is nothing compared to what other teams sell.”

“Like?”

“I've seen a West Ham garter.”

“What?” he laughs again.

“Yeah” I shrug. “Anyway, should we sit down? Something smells really good and I can't wait to find out what it is.”

“Of course. My lady” Ben smiles, helping me sit down and making me giggle.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

“Don't tell your friends, but I still don't understand why the fuss about Chinese food.”

“Says the person currently licking her fingers after not leaving anything on her plate” Ben laughs.

“I was hungry” I shrug.

“Sure.”

“I was” I insist.

“And I said sure” he says with a teasing smile. “Are you still hungry for some dessert, tho?”

“Always.”

“Then get ready for the best tiramisu you've ever tasted.”

“Tiramisu after Chinese food?” I chuckle.

“Why not? And this is homemade.”

“Made by who? You?” I tease him.

“Nope. My mum.”

“Your mum made us tiramisu?"

"She made me tiramusi. She has no idea we are here together right now. Like your dad, she also thinks I am having dinner with my mates" he smiles. "And here” Ben says, offering me a spoon full of tiramisu. “Open your mouth.”

“What?”

“C'mon” he says, trying really hard to not smirk. “You are gonna love it, you'll see.”

“Ok” I say, leaning forward and doing as he says. 

“And?”

“Of my gof!”

“What?” he laughs.

“Oh my God, Ben. This is amazing!” I say again once I've managed to swallow.

“Told you” he says with a cheeky smile. “But you…” 

“Uh?”

“You have something… Let me...” he says, moving on the blanket even closer than we already are, one hand holding my face by my chin while the thumb of the other (yes, that thumb) moves over my lower lip, making me gasp. “There, perfect” he smiles.

“Thank you” I manage to say, none of us moving a single centimetre, his hand still on my face. It's like the world has stopped, like it is just me and him. And then…

“May I kiss you?” he whispers.

“Please” I whisper back before it finally happens. No more imagining how it is to feel those glorious lips of his on mine. Now it is actually happening, and it is… it is… Wow. Just wow. “Did it tickle you?”

“Uh?”

“My beard. Did it tickle you like all those girls have said?” Ben says against my lips.

“I already told you that those girls know nothing, Benjamin. But…” I say, finally making my dream of touching his beard a reality.

“But?” he asks.

“I think we should keep kissing to be sure they just talk bullshit.”

“Ok” he laughs. "May I kiss you again, then?"

"You may" I smile before he kisses me again, proving that, indeed, those girls know nothing. 

[lucas-grey]

Lucas Grey: All Dialogues; Part 1

I guess this is one of the biggest projects I have ever done 😁 I wasn't in a good mood recently because my mental health is kinda low at the moment due to some difficulties in my private life. So I needed a distraction and I thought it might be fun to find every dialogue in all Hitman WOA games done by Grey or about Grey- no matter if directly or indirectly.

So I collected everything I could find for the first game, which was not that hard, since in Sapienza, Marrakesh and Bangkok no one talks about Grey (at least I couldn't find any dialogue referring to him). Colorado was more, of course, since the mercenaries talk a lot about him.

It was a lot of fun collecting all these dialogues 🥹 Some of them I have actually never heard before and they give a nice insight of his personality (and how he behaves as a leader).

If you have any more dialogues in mind, feel free to DM me! I already collected some for part 2 and 3, but I am open for help finding more!

And now, have fun with part 1 🫶

Please note: I wrote down the dialogues from the scenes myself using the subtitles, but it was often hard to follow, so please excuse any mistakes.

Prologue

Cutscene: Call me 47

Grey: You were always the best. Nobody ever came close. You defined the art, and it defines you. Your actions have changed the world. Powerful men have fallen by your hand but by the same token, others have risen. Do you realise what kind of world you've been shaping? Does the ICA? Does your handler? I live in that world. I have seen the consequences. I have felt the cost. That's what defines me.

Paris

Novikov to Philip von Zell

Von Zell: Well it’s confirmed, Sir. The FSB charges against you have all been dropped. No one is mentioning Kamarov’s unfortunate death or his alleged ties to the CIA of course.

Novikov: Good, good. That’s the end of that then. I knew our nameless friend would come through. Very good.

Bodyguard: No, I still don’t like it. This… this worries me. I mean, who is this guy? What kind of man enters a heavily guarded government building, kills an FSB section chief and sets him up as a US spy without even breaking a sweat? Where’d you find this guy anyway?

Novikov: See that’s the thing. He found me. He knew the FSB were investigating my past and he knew about IAGO using models as trojan horses. Everything. Guy like that. Let’s just say you let him do most of the talking.

Von Zell: Still… the whole dossier? Some price for a day’s work.

Novikov: Well I’ll be damned Philip. You and Dalia actually agree on something.

Novikov to his bodyguard

Novikov: I’m going to ask you something, Kurt. Then I want you to answer me honestly, completely honestly.

Kurt: Uh, yes Sir, of course.

Novikov: Do you believe Dalia plans to double cross me? She’s furious that I gave the assassin access to our secrets.

(…)

Novikov to Dalia Margolis

Dalia: Well, this is cozy.

Novikov: Save it, Dalia. It’s simple procedure. We’ll be out of here as soon as the threat is neutralized.

Dalia: Well, let’s just cross our fingers that the half dozen power players, billionaires and borderline supervillains upstairs are still in a spending mood by then.

Novikov:  Can we do this at home?

Dalia: Fine. So, what’s this about anyway?

Novikov: You guess is as good as mine.

Dalia: It wouldn’t have anything to do with the dead-eyed mercenary you hired to murder an FSB section chief now would it?

Novikov: Are you going to bring this up in every fight from now on?

Dalia: Until you do something dumber.

(…)

Novikov to Decker

Novikov: Mr. Decker. How are things at the office?

Decker: That’s ´91 all over again. Kamarov is found dead, gun in hand, office locked from the inside. In his safe, evidence that he was leaking state secrets to Langley. An FSB section chief, Kremlin’s golden boy, a CIA spy. Like I don’t know who you hired to pull this off, but I want his number.

Novikov: Trust me. You don’t.

(…)

Dalia to Sophus Fatalé

Fatalé: So, uh, are you going to tell me about what Viktor did?

Dahlia: Viktor… had a lot of skeletons in his mahagony walk-in closet and sometimes the lock won’t hold. A young ambitious FSB section chief was mounting a case against Viktor for past crimes. He got close. Too close. So Viktor, failing for once to bribe or threaten his way out of trouble made a deal with an assassin. Someone with impossible skills. The price? A copy of the IAGO dossier. Everything we have ever collected. No questions asked. And did Viktor bother to tell me about it? No. He did not.

Fatalé: The clients are in there. Are you saying they’re bidding on used goods?

Dahlia: Viktor is certain this mystery man was looking for something very specific. He won’t be bribing people left and right. Still, it’s the principle.

(…)

Cutscene: The secrets of the global elite

Novikov: How was Moskow?

Grey: Kamarov is gone. I set him up as a Langley spy. It's quite the scandal at the FSB. His death will not be investigated. Your turn.

Novikov: Very well. The secrets of the global elite. Five years of work. Everything we've collected. This thing makes WikiLeaks look like a gossip rag. The pen beats the sword, huh?

Grey: I have found that whoever wields the swords decides who holds the pen. Types: File secure. No loose ends. Leak the names. Smile Viktor. Your reputation is safe. Now, run along. I'm sure you have pretty dresses to attend to. Viktor? Good luck with the show. I have a feeling, it's going the one you'll be remembered for.

Cutscene: The key

Hajun: Ether security is in the dark about the incident, and a few at the company knew about the virus, not even the board. Must have been someone at the lab. I understand. I'll get to the bottom of this.

Grey: Bosses unhappy? I followed you from italy. I guess when you're invisible, you stop looking over your shoulder.

Hajun: You did this?

Grey: IAGO exposed you, ICA did the heavy lifting. I just pulled some strings.

Hajun: You out of your mind? How do you expect...

Grey: I play dirty. That's how you defeat a stronger opponent. You strike from behind. Now give me the key.

Hajun: You have a family? Trust me. If there's a weakness, Providence will find it.

Grey: I'll take my chances. The key.

Hajun: Fine. Won't do you much good.

Grey: It's funny. Cobb said the same thing. Thank you, messenger.

Hajun: Don't. I just killed you.

Grey: Then we're even.

Cutscene: Providence is under attack

Fanin: Compromised? But... I don't understand. There is no sign of forced entry. No alarm. Nothing.

Edwards: One of my people has gone missing in Johannesburg. A key-bearer.

Fanin: I wish I had been informed. Still, the system demands two keys. And the rest are all accounted for.

Edwards: Except for your late predecessor's.

Fanin: Cobb? But... his plane went down over the Pacific. It was an accident.

Edwards: Such was the conclusion at the time, yes. People die, Mr. Fanin. It happens all the time, even to us. If it seems like a conspiracy, it probably isn't. And yet. The failed coup in Morocco. The Ether virus. Someone knows about us. There was a pattern and I failed to see it. Providence is under attack.

Fanin: How much was there?

Edwards: Money? Not money, Mr. Fanin. Information. On all of our assets and operatives. Like you. Dig a trench, director. And make it a deep one. Because none of you are safe anymore.

Colorado

Guards talking

Guard 1: I was providing Berg. He didn’t have a clue either. So who the hell is this guy?

Guard 2: Concerned citizen with a chip on his shoulder?

Guard 1: With skills like that? Come on man.

Guard 2: The boss keeps his past close to his chest. Apart from Olivia Hall, the head of the cyber unit, I don’t think anyone knows who he was before. Including Sean Rose.

Guard 1: Suppose we’re all thinking the same thing. He was one of them, right? How else could he know so much about the enemy?

Guard 2: Only thing that makes sense.

Guard 1: Wonder what they did to him. I mean, we’ve all felt the rage one time or another. The boss didn’t start this out of charity, the hate runs deep.

Guard 2: We all have our reasons mate. Don’t need to know his.

Guard 1: Yeah, what’s your reason?

Guard 2: I do what I’m paid to. Made my peace for that a long time ago. Sill. Pick the right side whenever I can afford to. Righteous money just wrestles out in your pocket.

Guard 1: I hear ya.

Guard 1: So, the boss hires this former Interpol agent to do strategic analysis for us? That’s pretty smooth. If she can be trusted of course.

Guard 2: Bit of a strange one. Not strange like Rose mind you but kind of uh… aloof. I heard from the technicians that she’s a Cambridge graduate, top of her class, thing like that you know. Joining interpol a few years after.

Guard 1: Did you know that her main focus was tracking Rose? I mean how poetic is that?

Guard 2: I don’t know about poetry but it sure is a twisted move by the boss.

Guard 1: Then again, she was supposed to be the best and the boss only hires the best. I guess we’ll see if she can handle things on this side of the fence.

Guard 2: If not, I’m sure Rose has some elaborate retirement plan ready for her.

Guard 1: So, you got your ex-military, your mercenaries, I saw a couple of CICADA guys arrived earlier. Then, there’s freedom fighters, intelligence specialists, cyber criminals, you name it. Half of these people probably fought each other at some point.

Guard 2: Oh man, that’s not even counting the really freaky ones. Left-wing terrorists like Sean Rose, corporate whatevers like Crest. It’s like the united nations of assholes.

Guard 1: And what the hell is an anarcho-primitivist?

Guard 2: You got me and I don’t want to know.

Guard 1: This is a powder keg. How does the boss even hope to unite these freaks?

Guard 2: By the way he always does. Take them all, point them on a common foe.  

Guard 1: That simple huh?

Guard 2: I mean armies are easy enough to deal with when the bullets are flying. It’s all the shit that comes after that you gotta worry about. Peace time when soldier get bored, start getting ideas. That’s when shit get’s dangerous.

Guard 1: Okay, Sun Tzu. Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.

Guard 1: Rose put you on the Mexico team?

Guard 2: Reykjavik. Security for Olivia Hall on the Hampson Oil operation.

Guard 1: She’s the boss´s protégé, right?

Guard 2: She leads the cyber division. She’s only 24, but apparently some kind of prodigy. She used to operate under the hacker name Delriego. Took down some major corporations while she was in college.

Guard 1: Where’s she from anyway?

Guard 2: Sierra Leone. She met the boss during the war. That’s about all anyone knows about his past. That he was in Sierra Leone around 2002.

Guard 1: Better than nothing.

Guard 2: Save it. Already tried. There’s no record of him anywhere.

Guard 1: I bet she knows. Someone should get her drunk. Maybe she gets chatty.

Guard 2: Bad idea mate. Hall could enter your bank accounts from her smartphone. Those millennials have scary powers. 

Guard 1: The boss? Nah, he fades in and out of here. Never spends long in one place.

Guard 2: Yeah I think I saw him earlier, heading into the tornado shelter. Wonder what goes on in that place.

Guard 1: It’s where the inner circle does their planning. The boss, Sean Rose, Olivia Hall and that accountant. Probably where they keep the files from the New York vault.

Guard 2: No one else been down there?

Guard 1: There’s a biometric lock. Facial recognition thingamajig. Only the boss, Hall and Rose have access.

Guard 2: Getting pretty hierarchical however the fuck you say that for a brotherhood.

Guard 1: A standard precaution. If anyone in the field gets caught, the less they know the better. Don’t get entitled. We all have a part to play.

Guard 2: I know, I just have a thing with closed doors. 

Guard 1: Sean Rose, in charge of operations. I don’t get it. Why’d the boss pick him? Why not Reynard?

Guard 2: The way I see it, Reynard’s a lone wolf. Berg’s too specialized; I mean he’s no strategist. Parvati is, well, Parvati’s Parvati. I think Rose wants to lead, fiercely dedicated, completely ruthless. Did you ever hear his plan to take out Simon Deveraux? The CEO of Biosphere.

Guard 1: I know he’s building a bomb.

Guard 2: Right, right. So Deveraux is, he’s like exactly like Thomas Cross. Totally impossible to get near. But, also a tech geek, and he just ordered this new Link 4 smartwatch. So Rose, crazy bastard, gets the idea to turn the battery unit for a Link 4 into, get this, a bomb, and then swap the watches in delivery. One push of the button. Bye-bye, Deveraux.

Guard 2: That’s pretty extreme. Enemy operative I know, but it just seems so unsportsmanlike.

Guard 1: Yes, and there you have it. Right on the nose. And again, that’s why Rose is the head of operations. To him, the end justifies the means. And I mean there is nothing that dead-eyed psychopath would not do.

Guard 1: Rose? Nasty little prick, if you ask me. Sure, it’s not his fault that he grew up in that crazy collective farm out in the outback. What were they called? Sons of Solidarity? No, they are a bunch of left-wing cultists. But still, some of that stuff he’s done makes my skin crawl. The oil rig I get, but that government office in Auckland? Man, kids died.

Guard 2: Boss seems to trust him.

Guard 1: Yeah of course he does. Rose is the perfect acolyte. He’s smart, he’s ruthless, but like all fanatics, he’s impressionable.

Guard 2: Yeah, he’s an idealist, that’s for sure.

Guard 1: Nah, nah. I’ve met his kind before. Rose yearns for a cause, sure. But any cause will do. Because deep down, the only thing he’s really looking for is justification to blow people up.

Guard 2: Yeah well, guess this time he found one.

Guard 1: Don’t get me wrong. Sean Rose was born for this. The enemy doesn’t expect him. Their cruelty, it’s too, uh… it’s too remote. You know, you sign a document; thousands of people die half a world away. It’s unreal, like drone operators. But Rose and the boss? The enemy doesn’t know how to react. The savagery. That’s how we will win.

Guard 2: Bring a gun to a knife fight, huh?

Guard 1: More like bring an axe to a chess game.  

Sean Rose to Penelope Graves, first conversation

Rose: Ah, Penelope Graves. My very own nemesis. Welcome to HQ.

Graves: Sean Rose. You’re a tough man to find.

Rose: Please. You are Interpol’s best counter-terrorist analyst. You should have tracked me down months ago. No. You didn’t want to catch me. But what happened, Graves? Sympathy for the devil?

Graves: Something like that. Is that why the boss chose me, I wonder? Because of our conflicting past.

Rose: You’re the analyst. But this whole enemy’s united thing? I think he finds poetic. He’s funny like that. Great man though. Not what the world wants, perhaps. But sure as hell what it needs. Anyway. Get yourself up to speed.

(…)

Sean Rose to Penelope Graves, second conversation

Rose: I see you’re studying the boss’s accomplishments.

Graves: Impressive to say the least. Kamarovs suicide was like a work of art.

Rose: Funny to hear you talk like that. You, a straight shooter. A woman of the law. Tell me, Gaves, when did you decide to switch sides?

Graves: I used to think you were a monster. That building in Auckland. And then I met the boss and he… well, you know his ways. He lets you peek behind the curtain and once you know the truth, it changes your perception.

(…)

Sean Rose to Penelope Graves, third conversation

Rose: I know that look. Somethings rubbing you the wrong way.

Graves: Doesn’t add up. So the boss raids the archive in New York. He now has a list of all the enemies operatives. He goes after Thomas Cross first. He needs funding for all of this and Cross is filthy rich. It all makes perfect sense.

Rose: Except?

Graves: Except, he must have known the ICA would figure out the truth once Thomas Cross was grabbed at his sons funeral. It’s almost as if…

Rose: As if the boss wanted them to. Yeah, I know.

Graves: Maybe he made a mistake.

Rose: You really believe that?

Graves: If I did, I wouldn’t be here.

Rose: The boss doesn’t make mistakes, Graves. I have to believe that. This is the most important thing you and I will ever do. The enemy had no mandate, they have no claim. They have no vision. Their only agenda is to maintain the status quo. Our only agenda is to destroy it. So quit worrying and get up to speed on the upcoming operations. Mexico, London, Shanghai.

(…)

Sean Rose on the phone with Grey, first conversation

Rose: Boss. You’re still at the shelter I presume? Quick update. There was a minor setback at the barn. Burgess was hit by the simulated ram. No worries. If he’s not up to par, I’ll find a replacement. This is my operation, my strike team and they will be ready. You can count on that. I won’t let you down. Okay. Means a lot, boss.

Sean Rose on the phone with Grey, second conversation

Rose: Boss. Yeah, so Berg’s at work on our friend. Some kind of interrogation drug. Sodium Pentathol, I think. He won’t. Berg knows his trade. Even if the heralds don’t know jack about upper levels, this one is secretary Torres’ liaison and he might know about the motorcade route. I figured it’d be worth a shot. Sure. As soon as.

Penelope Graves

Graves: It’s actually quite brilliant in all it’s improvised glory. Cobb, the bank director whose plane crashed. The boss killed him for the vault key. How did he knew Cobb was even an enemy operative? Question for later. So, the spy ring. Infamous IAGO. The boss somehow gets access to their dossier of secrets and this is how he learns about the enemies projects in Italy and Morocco. But why kill the IAGO leaders? Novikov and Margolis were unaffiliated. The Russian must have seen the boss´s face. And the enemy has to have known about IAGO.  I probably even used their services from time to time. It was a precaution. Nothing more.

Penelope Graves, Part 2

Graves: Eugene Cobbs plane crash. Spectacular. Flawless in its execution. Clearly the boss is more than capable. But it makes me wonder why involve the ICA at all? Think Graves. This is the age of global surveillance. Anonymity is key, you know this. Why stick your neck out when you can get assassins to do your dirty work? And even have some rich asshole pick up the tab. So the boss orders the hits in Sapienza and Marrakesh. The enemy loses two operatives and he never lifts a finger. But wait, that’s not even the main objective. So what is? Of course, the enemies messengers. The ones we call heralds. The boss knows they will show up at the crime scenes, now all he’s got to do is watch and wait for the second vault key to fall into his lap.  

Penelope Graves, Part 3

Graves: Hm, possible weakness there. Rose won’t listen. I need to take this straight to the boss.

Penelope Graves talks to Ezra Berg

Berg: Penelope it’s Berg.

Graves: Dr. Berg. I didn’t recognise you in your... work clothes.

Berg: No that’s the idea. So, I take it you finally met Rose. Way I hear it you were on the Interpols task force to hunt him down. So what’s the verdict?

Graves: Sean is dedicated, creative, driven.

Berg: You don’t have to sugarcoat it. The man’s an extremist. You’ve seen the Shanghai plan. Kidnapping children, forcing an innocent man to commit murder. It’s distasteful. Rose has no honour, no sense of fair play. The boss asked me here because he wanted to avoid unnecessary cruelty. So why does he tolerate Sean Rose?

Graves: Because the boss is not a monster and right now, well, he needs one.

(...)

Cutscene: The hidden hand

Diana: The plot thickens.

47: Someone left in a hurry.

Diana: Sean Rose was not the Shadow Client. That much is clear. Whoever commands the milita, they got out just in time. Look around 47. We're getting closer.

(...)

47: Someone's done their homework.

Diana: Look how far it dates back. Hayamoto. Beldingford. D'Alvade. The shadow client has been tracking you for decades.

47: Now how is that possible?

Diana: It isn't. Every one of those missions were branded as unsolved or accidents. He must have been looking for a pattern. A certain MO. Which would mean...

47: He knows me.

Diana: Well. At least this shortens the list.

(...)

Cutscene: Old friends

Grey: Rose is gone.

Olivia: It was me, wasn't it? They tracked me. I don't believe it. I took every precaution.

Grey: Rose knew the risks. They all do. You did well Olivia, I am proud of you. Now listen. The ICA knows about you. They kept you alive because they needed you and now they don't. We won't talk again. Not until the storm is over.

Olivia: I don't like it. This man, you know what he's capable of. You need to end this now!

Grey: I ran away as a boy. My friend and I. Away from that... place. We came upon a small farming community, the people were dirtpoor but this woman, she took us in. We were awakened the next morning by the shots. A dozen people lay face down in the snow. Our warden... didn't like to leave witnesses. They shot the woman and her family last and made sure that we watched the whole thing. "This is your gift" the warden told us. "Your gift and your curse. Touching lives only by ending them".

Olivia: You know him

Grey: Better than anyone.

Hokkaido

Yuki Yamazaki to the Director

Director: Miss Yamazaki. I trust your people are satisfied?

Yamazaki: Our people, Director. Don’t forget who put you here.

Director: Of course.

Yamazaki: We appreciate you clearing your operating schedule. It is paramount to our interest that Soders survives. Still, this cannot have been easy.

(…)

Director: If you don’t mind me asking. Who is Eric Soders? His resume says retired big game hunter.

Yamazaki: Amusing. In a way I suppose he was in his day. Mr Soders belonged to an organization involved in the recent attacks against us and we needed a man on the inside.

Director: So it’s true. Someone is targeting Providence.

Yamazaki: Not for much longer.

(…)

Yamazaki on the phone with the constant

Yamazaki: Sir. No, the patient remained stable. I only wanted to… yes, the investigation. Nothing? How can there be nothing? Hajun was killed in a public parking garage in the middle of the afternoon. You are saying there are no witnesses, nothing on the CCTV cameras? What was he even doing in Johannesburg? And don’t tell me I don’t need to know sir, because I… I really need to know. Hajun was… important to me. I feared as much. It has to be the same person. Whoever hoodwinked ICA, whoever abducted Thomas Cross and fried Schaeffer-Moore’s servers- they killed Hajun. As a matter of fact, sir, I do feel better. I thank you for your trust.

Yamazaki on the phone with Mikhail

Yamazaki: Mikhail. Yes, I need another favour. The footage from the carpark in Johannesburg. Yes, the constant already told me they found no trace of Hajuns killer but I need to see for myself. No he doesn’t. I’m too involved to lead the investigation. And he is absolutely right from a purely strategic perspective, as always. Which is why I am talking to you. No you will do this for me, Mikhail. Because… you know what it’s like  to be in love.

Cutscene: Partners, then?

Edwards: Miss Burnwood.

Diana: That's not what my ticket says.

Edwards: We received your message. Loud and clear, I might add. Honestly, you could have just sacked the poor guy.

Diana: I didn't catch your name.

Edwards: No. You didn't. There'll be no retaliations. Not for Soders, nor any other recent fiascos. Someone's been meddling in our affairs, killing our operatives and making the ICA look like fools. I think you got close to that someone. Closer than we've ever been. That's why we're hiring you to take him down.

Diana: I don't think so.

Edwards: Don't rattle our cages Miss Burnwood. You really have no idea.

Diana: You spy on us. Bribe our people. And you have the gall to demand our help? No. You can't be trusted.

Edwards: Even so. We've been around for a long, long time. I think we could help each other. Some twenty years ago, your agency took in a young man with no past and... extraordinary skills. In his own special way he cares about you and vice versa. And ever since that time, you've never stopped wondering where he came from. And who made him what he is.

Diana: There was a doctor. Some depraved experiment. But he's gone now.

Edwards: Well if you believe the questions died with him, we have nothing further to discuss. If not? As I said, I think we could help each other. Partners, then? Cheer up, Miss Burnwood. We... we are the lesser evil. This terrorist? He wants nothing but chaos.

Diana: He is only a terrorist if you win.

Edwards: Miss Burnwood. We won a long time ago. This? This is maintenance.

[martyrbat]

every few days i see hockey(?) liveblogs from you (I enjoy the enthusiasm even if i have no idea whats going on). What are the main teams you're following? is it just hockey?

this is so sweet, thank you for the support even if youre a little lost! it is just hockey! but i got plans to get into baseball when it starts in february (go pirates and cubs!) but a little too wordy vomit under the cut about my teams :)

my top team is pittsburgh penguins. for better or worse (and usually worse)—i will be there for every game and saying we're so back after one score when we're down by 5. i will defend them until my last breath, theyre the team ill always put on when having to choose between which ones are currently on. its not a hockey team, its sidney crosby building an ice family with his 5 and counting partners and being known for his banana bread and kind heart and fat ass while literally being the inspiration for over half the players in the nhl because hes been wonderful since he was a rookie. its 18 years of love and friendship despite the odds and how theyre so open in loving and supporting their teammates while hockey culture is filled with toxic masculinity. its the narrative loving and hating us, its sidney being gods most loveable and tortured lamb, its geno whos hilarious and dramatic with a heart of gold, its tanger and his greasy hair, its the babygirlifying grown men AND rooting for the old underdog who are in the 4th spot for the playoffs in their metro area despite our powerplay being a joke and our star players ages (late thirties isnt old by any account but for a high energy physical contact sport?? average retirement is 25-30 instead while 13 of our guys is 30+ and playing some of their best hockey)

after that i really like the leafs despite them being the leafs! theyre a blast to watch (sometimes) and theyre a big third period game, for better or worse. so its always exciting (sometimes unfortunately)! auston matthews is my top favorite from them, hes absolutely remarkable and doesnt get the credit and appreciation he deserves. but i also love the other players, mo, willy, and mitch all especially have a place in my heart :) third fav tosses around with who i can catch a game from most to be honest since a lot of times they overlap too much. im fond of the wild because their goaltender (flower!) was ours for forever. kraken is a blast and has lots of old penguin players too. avalanche is fun to root for when ive seen some games :) im less familiar with all of them but hockey is a fun sport to just throw yourself into and learn as you go so its never been an issue!!

teams i hate is anyone who won against my special guys in the last month tbh HFIFJ but i REALLY hate the chicago team, flyers, and vegas knights. chicago is.... a lot of bad shit off ice and has so many controversies—from their name and jerseys to players being abusive and cover-ups of sexual assault from coaches. just hate them and anytime i see those jerseys and remember theyre allowed while flower was threatened with a lawsuit if he wore his helmet (was designed specially by an indigenous artist to honor flower's indigenous wife and their kids during native american heritage month).... god i just get too pissed, theyre number one for who i despise. flyers are the biggest rivals to the penguins so it makes more sense (but also fuck the capitals and canes for personal grievances. also still mad at the canucks) vegas golden knights just annoys me so much with how theyre still calling themselves the misfits and i associate them with flower leaving so!!!

sorry for the little. word vomit lol but !!! if you ever want to get into hockey, please dm me! im no expert by any means and i know me throwing names out there is intimidating but i promise its fun once you get into it and you dont need to know much to just start watching! for me its great to have something to look forward to every week and watch something happen as it actually happens and liveblog—it kinda feels more like a loose community experience that i never got because of my health issues and disability! its also just fun to be dramatic (screaming its so over when scored on /celebrating a goal) over something thats kinda... not that important. (important for the players and fans ofc but it doesn't change anything in MY daily life outside of how i feel which is refreshing!) sports in general kinda encourage those big emotional responses and it can be great catharsis and silly if you let it be :) and the fan community here can be so welcoming if you just fully ignore twitter and the straight white angry men on it <3

come look at gifs of people calling a 36 year old babygirl and the excitement of a goal celly. come watch funny videos and clips and at how *our* captain wore tiny little shorts and a white shirt to get dunked in a water tank for charity. come and slowly learn how much shit the players put up with as rookies and have the happiness of hindsight at what happiness their futures would hold and why me saying 18 years of love and friendship despite the odds is so big because thats genuinely so rare (only 127 retired players in all of nhl history has accomplished this). come get emotional at poetry over getty images hockey pictures and relish in the delight that is finding art everywhere you go. come see people say that sidney needs to get knotted up and mpreg debates in who will abort that thang or not. take my hand and become a hockey fan, i prommy its not scary—not even during the 'who the fuck is this' stage <33

[supereffectiveartblog]

Year of D&D 2023

This year, it was difficult for free time to line up for me and my friends. In last years "Year of D&D" post, i started by complaining about how infrequent our play was that year, but this year, we played even less. Mostly because of scheduling issues, but also because its difficult to plan as a DM. The scheduling issue has become more difficult partially because all of our current campaigns have more regular player characters. In 2020, we played with 1 DM and 4 players, but now most of our campaigns have at least 5 characters, one had 6, but one dropped out, and I DM'd a campaign that briefly had 8 player characters. Finding free time that lines up for 8 people is very very difficult. But as I'll discuss later on, we might've come up with a solution to this.

Here's the stats for this year:

In 2023, our group played 4 different adventures, a combined 12 sessions.

I made 13 session arts (1 extra one being the Meet the Party art for Princes). This was compared to 22 sessions and 21 session arts the previous year.

I was a player character in 2 campaigns, and the DM in one campaign and one Oneshot.

Pokémon Oster was the only returning campaign from last year, with sessons 1-5 happening in 2022, and sessions 6-9 this year.

Princes of the Apocalypse is our new core D&D module campaign, continuing from our DM of Tomb of Annihilation and Ravnica. We played 3 sessions this year.

Call of the Netherdeep was my first try at a module campaign, taking place in the world of Critical Role. We have 5 core players that will play every time, plus 3 "guest" players that play as the rival party, and I only intend to join us when they're needed or free.

Frozen Memories was our Halloween One-Shot for the year, and like Call of the Netherdeep, was pre-written. In my opinion, following someone else's work made it flow better than last year's Halloween One-Shot.

Darryl Fisher returns from last year as my player character in Pokemon Oster, our Pokemon Tabletop United campaign. Since last year, there's been no siginificant change in his playstyle. He fights alongside his Pokemon when facing some Wild Pokemon and ruffians, but respects league rules against regular trainers. Darryl is a mono Water type trainer, and his team consists of Piplup, Buizel, Carvanha, Magikarp, Wooper, and Tympole. He embodies everything a water type trainer would be, he is a swimmer, a fisherman, and even a diver, interested in buried treasure. I play him as a blokey bloke, and a bit of a bogan, but he has a good heart, and steps up to the plate when needed.

The Pokémon Oster campaign has no sign of stopping, so we will see more of Darryl next year.

Lilith Maddox is my player character in Princes of the Apocalypse. Lilith is my second attempt at a morally grey character (after Nevaeh), but one who i hope to play on a redemption arc on. Lilith is an Eloquence Bard, meaning I can expect most social interactions to go my way, and although i havent had much of a chance to play her, I want to use that as part of her personality and arc. Her father was an incubus, and this means that Lilith's aura naturally puts people at ease, and more likely to agree with her. Because Lilith usually gets her way, this means she has developed a bratty complex, with the secret fear that actually maybe nobody likes her for real. I want to play her to help get over my own imposter syndrome.

Lilith has also been the artistic bane of my existence this year. Perfecting the look of a character that is both snooty and reserved, with an outfit that speaks Bard and Succubus, but not in an inappropriate way, has been almost impossible for me. What I've presented here is what I hope is my final take on Lilith, but who knows when I'll next come upon a design idea I want to incorporate into my most incomplete D&D character.

This year I also took to DMing more. In previous years, I was DMing a campaign I wrote myself called Rise of the Lich Queen, and it wasn't fantastic. So this year, I've put the Lich Queen on hiatus to make an attempt at a following a prewritten campaign, Call of the Netherdeep. The campaign pre-bakes a rival party into the story, and instead of just using the pre-written rivals, i thought it would be interesting for real people to play them. Since the rivals aren't there every session, their players wouldn't need to be every session either. The necessity of having all character present at the start of the campaign did make scheduling difficult, and we only organised 4 sessions. It is on me to schedule as the DM for this campaign, so hopefully, we will find the time for more of this campaign this year.

Our first year of D&D featured a Halloween Oneshot, and we missed out on that 2021. So i've strived to take the reins and make it a yearly tradition again. Last year I wrote my own OneShot, and it had an interesting gimmick, but was poorly written. This year, like my core campaign, I followed a prewritten adventure, Frozen Memories. Having lore and set pieces already written for me allowed me to flesh out specific moments and better write character moments.

What I think was the better take away from this OneShot however was what DIDNT happen. I ran a couple session zeros to help with character creation and to set the stage for the setting, and at one point, all 8 of my closest friends had drafted up a character idea. But when the year started to run out, I decided I needed a cut off, and one weekend, just ran the adventure for who was available. I think I want to use this format going forward; running shorter adventures and changing out the players depending on who is free. I don't know if it will always be OneShots, but I think flexibility for scheduling will make sessions more frequent.

So if I only played as two characters this year, how was I going to fill in the space on my Year of D&D poster for this year? Well this year I played a videogame called Baldur's Gate 3. And BG3 is basically D&D 5e as a videogame. Since first playing the game, I have beaten the game with 3 different characters, and I based each of them on past and present D&D characters. I have a couple more characters in mind that I will play into next year, but there's not a lot to the game that I haven't experienced in my first three playthroughs.

I did write ups for all these characters in a previous post so if you wanna read up on those, Here is the one for Hawthorne and Lilith, and Here is the one for Nevaeh. I really enjoyed Baldur's Gate 3 and it is 100% my game of the year. It scratched an itch brought upon by a lack of D&D, and I appreciate it for that.

As I mentioned above, I'm hoping for TTRPGs next year I can better take advantage of one-off and short adventures that do not require the entire table to be present. Hoping the pattern of less tabletops each subsequent years does not continue. Here's wishing for more D&D with friends next year. If you want to see specifics on individual sessions, I have a very complex system of links on my Pinned Post.

[avatar0ftheeye]

Tw for described violence, abuse

Wow

y’all really liked my silly little campaign

My players and I geeked out over y’all last night we were so exited that people LIKED our story!

so without further ado, here’s part 2 of Dungeons and Teenagers!

the players begin their walk toward the town of Phandalin. 4 human teenagers, a Half-goblin, and a goose. As they walk, the kids try and press Jim for questions. He is VERY secretive, only giving vague answers.

once they reach the town it isn’t as deserted as they thought. Mostly humanoid looking animal people, all walking around doing their daily tasks.

Jim, getting straight to the point, says they should get some weapons. The players are suspicious of Jim, what is this lanky teenager doing acting like he’s the boss of them? However, they fail their insight checks so they won’t know for another like 4 sessions.

They find a closed down weapons shop, several weapons and armor line the walls of it. the party suggests they rob it, and Jim doesn’t refute

They lock pick the door and have 5 minutes to gather anything they need.

Maisie, with an unnatural 20, find 16 god damned daggers underneath the table. 10 are rusted, only one good use, 3 are new, and 3 are slightly used. Good enough, it’s 16 GOD DAMNED DAGGERS

Damien, being the rouge he is, just grabs anything and everything he can find. Beautiful bows, cases of arrows, swords, daggers, etc. life is great when the DM uses minecraft inventory mechanics

Goose goes straight for a giant ax. That’s it. The biggest ass ax he could find that is about 5x his size. Jim is fearful for his life.

Thomas just wanders around the shop, gawking at everything. He’s was a sheltered kid, doesn’t even have a phone. The most he was allowed out was going to school, so the sight of all this weaponry was a shock to him.

Alex began eyeing the armor. Large pieces of leather, iron, chain mail, and a material he can’t quite place. Though he knows nothing of magic in this world, the armor is glowing a bright neon blue and, when he got closer, emitted ice cold air.

he reached out to touch the armor, enamored by it. Yet once his hand reached the glowing chest plate, it disappeared. A sharp, ice cold pain shot through his arm and through his entire body. His blood felt like it was freezing, yet all at once, it stopped

“oi, Morekai!” The players hear from outside, “Theres some people in yer shop! Call the guards or ey dunno, get em!”

They’ve been spotted through the window! They really need new dice! They keep failing their stealth checks! Seriously guys! Please get new dice! (/directed)

They begin to scramble out the door, Goose and Damien dropping everything they had on the way out

Thomas, in his panicked state, trips over his own two feet and face plants into the floor. The glass shards from the window dug deeper into his skin and he let out a small whimper of pain, just as the door opens

in the doorway stands a tall, humanoid blue jay. He had thin stick like legs, blue feathers, and the face of a man who works in retail

he begins to comfort Thomas, offering to take him downstairs and remove the shards from his skin. Thomas, failing yet another insight check, agrees and follows him down

outside the shop, the players catch their breath. After a quick headcount, they realize they’ve lost Thomas. They must go back inside to get him, much to the dismay of damien.

You can’t blame Damien though. born to a neglectful father and a mother who would die a week into his life, he doesn’t understand why these people care about others. Damien has long scars across his face, old and faded with time. These scars were caused by his father, an abusive man who cared about nothing other than himself and who he was sleeping with that day. Damien was raised as a solider, who knows how long it would take to undo that damage.

back inside the shop, Thomas and morekai descend the stairs to the basement

“so,” started morekai, “what’s your diet like?”

“????? Excuse me????” Asked Thomas, “who???? Asks that??,, kind of question??,, what’s your diet like then man?”

“Fish and gum! It’s not an unusual question, It’s just small talk, jesus!” Replied Morekai, annoyed and seemingly offended

“fine, I guess normal???”

“would you consider your self poisonous?”

The party breaks back into the building and rushes into the stairwell to the basement. It is long and winding, seemingly going on forever. They descend slowly, trying to not be spotted by Morekai (they finally succeeded their rolls!).

as they reach the bottom, a low, hungry growl is heard. A kind of hungry growl that you only hear from a stomach that hasn’t eaten in days. A growl of pure feral hunger.

Morekai grips the back of Thomas’ shirt “you seriously thought I would be HELPING you?? After you broke into my shop and stole who knows what?” Morekai mocked, “seriously man, get less gullible”

morekai shoved Thomas into the room, and that’s when Goose took his strike

Goose leapt off the top of the staircase and began freefalling downwards. Unbeknownst to him, Maisie had tripped and fallen at the same time, taking Jim and Damien with it. now, 70% of the party was freefalling down yo the bottom of a cavern. Alex, being the only sensible one, just kept running down the stairs.

Jim reached into his bag and grabbed a pair of boots. He slipped them on and began to fall slower, leaving Damien and Maisie to continue freefalling. Realizing this, he turned upside down and began falling FASTER

Damien reached out to him and latched onto his arm, but due to the way physics work idk they begin to spin in the air, faster and faster until they’re just a circular blur

goose flies over to Maisie. Maisie reaches up and grabs his legs as they begin to slowly descend to the ground. Maisie and Goose Are fine

Damien and Jim, on the other hand, are violently still freefalling toward the floor. With a final roll of dexterity, Jim grabs onto Damien and flips him on top of him. When they crash to the ground, Jim took most of the damage instead of Damien, leaving a cartoonish hole in the floor

A surprised morekai screamed at them. Goose saw this as a challenge and, after a quick argument and a Google search, started biting his legs with his teeth that he apparently has. He gnaws and gnaws on his leg until the thin ass stick snaps in half

morekai falls to the ground, bleeding profusely. Maisie takes the opportunity as well, and begins stabbing at morekai with the stolen daggers

Thomas, witnessing his friends murdering his captor, beings to cry. He just kinda does that

the sound of his cries alerts something

something big

something hungry

out from the shadows emerges an enormous raccoon named Rigabus

he glared down at the party and begins his slow, predatorial walk towards them

the party must think fast

Jim, being the idiot he is, grabs Damien from on top of him, sits up

and throws him over Rigabus

With a strength check from Jim and a nat 20 performance check from Damien

Damien backflips over rigabus, Doing a triple twirl in the air, and spiderman poses onto the ground, causing Rigabus to be so enamored better just stares at damien

the rest of the party takes their chance and begins to sprint up the stairs. They make it about a 1/3 of the way before they realize

oh yeah

Damien’s down there

Damien screams at them as he begins to run, breaking the trance with rigabus

Now, picture this dear readers

a goose, a 6’0 goblin, 4 teenagers, and a giant raccoon I plagiarized from Regular Show, all running up a giant staircase to freedom

I couldn’t believe it either, and I was there

the players run as fast as they can. Jim manages to grab Damien like a cat and begins to run faster

With a final jump, the players make it through the door, trapping Rigabus in the doorway. They sprint out of the shop into the street, running and running as fast as they can

finally, once they stop, they realize they had run to the edge of town, and are standing in front of a giant coliseum

inside, as seen through the glass ceiling, a woman stands trapped inside a cage. She is tall, beautiful,

and Calluna Grace, Maisies Mother

[stereax]

hi, i'm stereax! an intro

Check out the Discord! Check out Cap-Sized!

I'm Stereax, you can call me whatever you want though really. Any pronouns. New Jersey native, half Polish half American. Was studying International Relations in Geneva, Switzerland, living in Fr*nce because the rent is cheaper... I got around, I guess LOL. Back stateside now, though, studying law!

Note: If I'm not following you, it's not because I don't like you, but because I have weird mental blocks and follow exactly 60 people at all times. Don't ask. I see everyone who interacts with me on a regular basis and I love you all <3

I'm primarily a Devils fan (obviously, from NJ so). If you don't know the Devils yet, here's my 23-24 primer! (And here's their 2023 playoff run primer!) Oh, also here's the Kingdom series of poetry I wrote about those 22-23 Devils and set to pictures.

Secondary teams are the Knights and Panthers. I'm not accepting criticism at this time, sorry :)

I follow quite a few other NHL teams with varying degrees of care - not going to list who I like and who I don't, but if you name an NHL team chances are I can talk at length about them. Yes, even the Rangers.

On top of that, I'm getting into major junior and college hockey, so that's fun! Always down to chat about those. Also keeping eyes on European leagues too. I just... really like hockey, haha.

I'm also fairly decent at talking puck on the more technical side of things (cap stuff, trades, team compositions, discourse, etcetera etcetera) - a lot of my asks, and my Cap-Sized work, revolve around this and I enjoy taking the time out to parse these things out for those who may be confused about them!

My inbox is ALWAYS OPEN. Send me whatever you want. Questions about hockey, the Devils or any other team, my life, comments, posts, fics, WHATEVER. I'm not kidding, please talk to me, I love answering asks, getting recommendations, or whatever else have you. Hell, drop into my DMs if you want! (Also, if you need a beta reader, I have a red pen that's waiting to be uncapped :D although I tend to go ham with grammar stuff...)

More yapping under the cut -

I have a super secret (not really secret at ALL) side blog that is way more famous than I am on hockeyblr. I'm pretty sure all of my closest mutuals have figured it out but I'll pretend they haven't LOL. There's also @devils-pirate-crew which is a half-askblog half-fanfic thing that I was updating every other day to motivate myself to write on a regular basis and is currently on hiatus for the past year (so you can tell how well that's going)...

I have a weird tagging system where I double-tag most Devils players: once is for the actual name of the player, the other is a "funny" tag that I just like to use. I'll probably compile a list of those and put it here at some point.

Some important self tags you should know, though:

My most used tag is #beat reporter stereax which is frantic reposting of Twitter things (and sometimes other things) that are hockey news. If you're not interested in that, block that tag now, because I tend to post a LOT of news under it. Also see #off the beat for NHL news that isn't really NHL news but is too funny not to share.

#stereanswers is my general answer tag, all answers and stuff go in there. #stereanalysis and #stereducation are generally for longer-form talks about hockey on the technical side, with the former being for most/all technical hockey considerations (whether shorter or longer) while the latter is generally for longer but hopefully quite informative posts. #sterechats :) is non-directly-hockey related posting (although I tend to try to keep that to a minimum).

There are also #sterepoetry for hockey-related poems I write and #stereax plays a tag game which I think is self-explanatory.

But yeah, I think that's about it! If you have any questions... there's a big red button that reads "wanna talk hockey?" up there to put them in :D

[dexadin]

Do you use anything like a sanity system in AtSBB? I think it's a cool idea and I saw another DM talk about theirs but they make a lot of really tasteless jokes about mental illness in a lot of their other posts, so I'm hesitant to use theirs...

Oof, I haven't seen that one (guy who ironically doesn't follow any strahd tags except my own on tumblr dot com)

Sanity systems are a strange spot to be in . A lot of games have sanity systems to represent the effects of mental anguish that the PCs go through, and give mechanical and rp 'quirks' to show for it. There are obvious issues with that--it puts us in a hairy position of coming off as ableist, even with the term sanity. As a person with mental illnesses, I also think they can be really fun to play!! I think that it's important to check in with players about if they're cool with that sort of thing, and also double check what kind of effects the system might impart. When I play with prebuilt sanity systems, we remove effects that are obviously offensive (off the top of my hear, "split personalities" as a random effect are one of the no-gos that I always remove). We also always play with the common understanding that we're doing so with respect and compassion.

All of that said, I do kind of ?? Have a sanity system? I'm putting the rest of this under a read more so that my players don't read it. Spoilers for CoS below~

I've been trying to figure out a good name for what I made, because it's not purely a sanity system by the mechanics of games like Call of Cthulhu, which heavily rely on a sanity mechanic for gameplay. But it's also not purely a corruption mechanic like some games have. Its definitely inspired by sanity and corruption mechanics, but also by honor and reputation mechanics in other ttrpgs. The system I made is effected not only by extenuating circumstances (failed saves and bad choices) but also by the party's moral decisions as a group and as individuals, and by the attention the PCs are receiving from the Dark Powers. For the sake of brevity, and because I think it's apt and also sounds cool as hell, I'm gonna call my system a Desperation system.

Some sanity/corruption mechanics are effects tables that you can roll on during events that trigger it or after a certain threshold of points is reached. Mine is more of a secret modifier that can go up or down. In response to certain requests from players that I think should be otherwise impossible, especially in situations that I'd otherwise require a Luck check, I have my players make a flat die roll (usually a d20 or d100 depending on how spicy I think the attempt is) and add their Desperation modifier. I determine the DC based on how desperate a person would have to be to do the things that needed to be done to make the world bend in a way to allow the action to be taken.

If the player fails the secret Desperation check, their struggle is ignored by the world, bringing their Desperation up. If they succeed the Desperation check, the will either fully succeed in the action they are taking, but it will be at a price. Maybe they receive a horrible vision of the future, or a flashback to their past. Maybe they start having chronic nightmares that eventually starts to cause exhaustion if it isn't solved. Maybe they catch the eye of the Dark Powers, or another entity that decides to make the PC its plaything. Some of the effects I've doled out seem more like the effects you could find on a sanity or corruption table, and some of them are very situational.

What triggers me to change the Desperation modifier? Any time the players make an immoral choice that would have been out of character for them at the beginning of the game, I consider it into their Desperation. Anytime I have a player begging, in character (rp) or out of character (meta), I consider it into their Desperation. If they are actively communicating or reaching out to a Dark Power for help, whether they know it's a Dark Power or not, it's considered into their Desperation mechanic. In short, if you fuck around enough, You Will Find Out. On the flipside, when the players earn enough trust with NPCs who actively want to help them, when they're doing good to no benefit, when things seem to be looking sunny in Barovia, their desperation goes down.

My players know that there is a mechanic; after all, I have them do random d20 rolls that affect Something, but crucially, the players do not know what the mechanic is, how it works, or how it changes.

TLDR; I wanted there to be some way to keep note of how desperate my PCs get as they traverse the mists, and I think the secret Desperation modifier represents how desperate means get desperate ends, and that isn't always entirely in our control. It's equal parts sanity, corruption, honor, and luck--with a tragic and horrific twist.

I hope this was at all coherent. My desperation effects are currently largely improvised and situational rather than written or random. If people are interested, maybe I could write up a proper homebrew chart or something? Let me know!

[alexiebarley]

Can you talk about any interest that you could share with us?

Yes of course!! Something that I've really fallen in love with since my later years in highschool is Dungeons and Dragons! Some people might know it as that game the nerds play in the back of the cafeteria during lunch but to me it was something that a lot of people enjoyed. I learned about the game originally from my best friend and we played our own version of the game with some close friends because none of us could find a proper manual. It was when we found Critical Role (a group of "nerdy ass voice actors who play dungeons and dragons") that we started falling in love with Dungeons and Dragons for what it was and we were determined to learn how to play the game properly.

My friend learned more of the technical side while I learned more on the creative side. Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game that runs on the creativity and the minds of the players. Dungeons and Dragons (or just D&D) is a collaborative storytelling experience where players assume the roles of characters in a fictional world. Guided by a Dungeon Master (DM), the storyteller and referee, players navigate quests, battle monsters, and solve puzzles using a combination of dice rolls, strategy, and creativity.

Though D&D is a game that helps build a world from imagination, there are certain rules that we need to follow to avoid anything overpowered and to keep everything balanced to an extent.

There are 3 books (yes, books) that hold all the information that you need to know when you want to play a game with friends

Player’s Handbook (PHB): This is your go-to guide for creating characters and understanding the game mechanics. Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG): Essential for the DM, this book provides the tools to create worlds, adventures, and manage gameplay. Monster Manual (MM): A compendium of creatures that players might encounter, filled with stats and lore.

after reading through these you can learn all about the different things to build your character, make you story, and play out the adventure of your dreams.

to give the game a sort of thrill and balance as well, your fate is decided by the dice. D&D uses a set of polyhedral dice, most commonly the 20-sided die (d20) which we call the "core mechanic" of the game, to determine the outcomes of actions. want to jump the ravine? roll a d20. you succeed the difficulty class? you manage to jump over with ease. rolled lower than you need to? well... lets hop you have enough health to survive the fall.

wanna attack the vampire that killed your family? roll a d20. you either hit or you miss terribly.

the success of your actions are determined by the rolls and I believe that the mechanic of chance really adds a thrill to the game.

I could honestly go on an on about this because there's so much more to talk about. I just really love it.

[mephicchi]

((I can personally recommend watching Kruggsmash's Dwarf Fortress videos on YouTube, he makes illustrations of characters, artifacts, and events that happen in his fortresses as he's telling the story which helps with some amount of understanding. He also really gets into the rp side of it all and just has a nice storytelling voice in general. MonsterKiller, and HoneyStoker are my personal favourite fortresses he's done. HoneyStoker especially, but it has a rougher beginning and Krugg swaps between a few fortresses in that storyline. I'll cut myself off here, or I could talk about DF all day. My humble apologies to your followers.

I'll admit I'm a little concerned about how quickly and how thin exactly the veil may be getting, but I'll keep this rolling for now. I have ideas for how this can play out ic if you feel so inclined to indulge me. You'll see in the letter.

I have. SO MANY mini campaign ideas I want to DM. I love planning for sessions. Making borderline unnecessary props. And cooperative worldbuilding and character building is a favourite passtime of mine. Almost like I enjoy rp or something cough cough. Although when it comes to actually DMing a live session I feel like I choke, I can't read my own notes any more, and descriptive words suddenly all fall out of my brain like it's made of swiss cheese. It's probably all in my head as so far I haven't received any complaints from my players. In total I've probably only DM'd 4 or 5 sessions, all 5e (although once I tried to mix in my own dismal attempt at a homebrew mechanic.) Unfortunately the friendships fell apart and went separate ways due to outside and unrelated circumstances. But it's been 3 years or so and I haven't DM'd live since discovering CR and picking up a lot of techniques from Matt Mercer. I'd like to try it again with what I've learned. In the meantime however I've been DMing a murder mystery over text with my one remaining player still with me. Mostly just written rp, not unlike we have been doing here, although in a much shorter format, and involving skill checks and challenges whenever something necessary comes up. I'm much more in my element when writing tbh.

I am toying with the idea to retry the aforementioned homebrewed mechanic I attempted, but move it over to Call of Cthulhu one day, as the plot I had come up with mainly involved horror themed mindfuckery. But I'll need to do a lot more research and I'm currently, if you'll excuse the phrase, balls deep in 5e with my current headworld obsession.

Ahh I'm going on too long though, once again I apologise to your followers, and I'll leave you with that and move on to the actual letter now.))

// Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely check out some videos of his, who knows, perhaps I will fall into a DF hole, I wouldn't count on it though.

In my mind the veil might have already been lifted, but I am having way too much fun to stop this, communicating like this both ic and ooc might just have ignited a small spark of mine to seek out some text based RP groups, while it has also been a wonderful opportunity to learn more about both you and your character, which I would never say no to.

Your enthusiasm towards DMing is all too familiar, I too get ideas all the time, I never write them down anywhere though so they always get lost to time, but perhaps that is not the worst thing for I feel like I am incredibly bad at describing things, and even worse at changing my voice for different NPCs, making it hard for my players to discern who is speaking with them in a conversation with multiple NPCs.

As mentioned before, this whole "thing" might make me seek out some text based RP groups, for as I've just now discovered with this, I seem to have an incredibly amount of fun with it, even if I sometimes have to google translate a word, or look for a word that better encapsulates what I want to say, since English unfortunately isn't my first language.

Despite my refusal to DM, since I feel I am awful at it, I've picked up the rulebooks of a good few systems I'd like to try someday, seems I simply have to find someone that will indulge in my torture and run them for me, hah!

Aside from DnD 5e, I have the core rulebooks of Pathinder 1st Edition, Cyberpunk 2020, Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension taunting me with their presence in the corner of my eye whenever I am using my PC.

I hope you know how much I truly appreciate this exchange, but alas, I shall too get to writing the letter. //

[bombardanne]

Mobile Friendly!

Below is everything from the 'Read First' and 'Bio' section copy and pasted.

Blog created 5/29/2023, I was originally going to do Poppy Sweeting. Still considering.

I don’t know if hate anon or controversy anons have been a thing in the HP or HL rpc but I’m just gonna delete those if I get em. I’m here to write and have fun, not to support JKR’s stances.

Dark themes and spoilers won’t always be tagged unless it is stated in the rules of other blogs I follow.

A lot of headcanons will be at play, I’m well aware AI may somehow take my ideas but please give me a shout out or DM if you like my ideas and use it for somewhere else.

Unaware of Cursed Child and have yet to watch the other Fantastic Beasts movies but I have read the books, watched the HP movies and played Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire on the GBA. The only thing is I don’t remember every single thing, please correct me kindly when needed.

I don’t do exclusives or mains, I always believed those come naturally over time and regardless of ‘Likes’ for such title.

That’s it? Don’t make me add more bullet points here. Let’s all have fun!

About mun:

Harry Potter was my first major rp fandom when I was a god awful fan fiction writer but I appreciated the magic, world building and learning how to do dialogue tags. I pursued a Creative Writing minor in uni, and I just write for fun now!

I don’t really have a mun alias I go by. I guess you can just call me Anne-mun, Mun, or Lucy (my HL OC name lmaoo). 28, she/her California here we come, right back where we started from.

__

Name: Anne Sallow Gender: Female Pronouns: She/Her Birthday: 1874/1875

Species: Human Witch Blood Status: Pureblood Hogwarts House: Slytherin Wand: – Patronus: –

Anne is well known as the daughter of the late Professor Sallow(s), who passed away before she and her twin-brother Sebastian discovered they had magic. When she first attended Hogwarts, a lot of older students commented how they enjoyed her parents’ classes, and some of the professors comment of how she looks just like her mother! Like her brother and her father, she was sorted into Slytherin.

Three of the top people she trusts in her life are her brother, Sebastian, her classmate and dear friend Ominus Gaunt, and her uncle Solomon. She suspects because she looks less like her father, Solomon favours her more, even though she was known to be mischievous at school. When she couldn’t complete her Fourth Year due to the curse cast upon her, Solomon taught her a few skills he felt were most important from his time as an Auror, one of them being Apparition.

Before her curse, she used to be optimistic. She was very social with everyone in Slytherin and she was part of the Quidditch team. She dreamed of upgrading her broom to the highest caliber and then using it to travel the world, play against the other Quidditch teams and visiting their schools. Professional Quidditch Player or becoming an Auror like her uncle were her aspirations, with travelling in between of course. She admires and is jealous of Imelda Reyes’ at the same time but knows better than to dismiss a fellow Slytherin as an enemy. 

While she’s also a reader, cross-referencing between non-required books and getting into the Restriction Section wasn’t her thing. She was spoiled by summaries of books from Sebastian and everyone else. She spent a lot of time causing pranks and foiling them, searching for secret passageways and rooms, learning about the paintings and ghosts of Hogwarts. Her favourite past time is visiting Hogsmeade and admiring what the shopkeepers had to offer.

These days, nobody is there to offer her summaries for books. She has to read books word-for-word herself. She is constantly exhausted and hates herself for being unable to finish her Hogwarts education at the moment, for falling behind her brother, for failing to defend herself against the person who cursed her.

She is still in touch with everyone via letters and socializes with her neighbours in Feldcroft, but it isn’t the same when a lot of them look at her with pity. One neighbour made comments before of how she should marry a wealthy muggle, whose money can help restore her health. While Anne cried at the idea, in her worst moments, she wonders if that’s how she should make it in the world, feeling her curse is irreversible, her uncle too has passed, and her brother’s turned to the Dark Arts.

Headcanon–

Classes she excels in: Flying Class, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration

Former Aspiration: Professional Quidditch or Auror like her uncle (and late aunt)

Current Aspiration: If she recovers, she wants to complete her Hogwarts education and become a Mediwizard.

Foods: Pumpkin bread, apples, everything meat, potato and leek soup, blonde chocolate and caramel flavours. 

Favourite classmates: Her twin brother of course! Ominus Gaunt, Imelda Reyes, Garreth Weasley (okay she might have ulterior motives with him), Adelaide Oakes, William Dale, Natty Onai, Amit Thakkar

Classmates who annoy her: Imelda Reyes (LOL), Garreth Weasley, Sophronia Franklin, Duncan something, Poppy Sweeting, Amit Thakkar (RIP)

Favourite Muggle Stories in her Lifetime: The Woman in White, Around the World in Eighty Days, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Tess of the d'Ubervilles (her late aunt mentioned this book), Dracula (post-game)

Her favourite aunt was Solomon’s late wife, who was also an Auror. Aunt Aurora was a beautiful woman who desired children but learned of her infertility, so she filled the void by travelling the world before pursuing the Auror career with Solomon. Anne and her Aunt Aurora were really close, she was like the daughter Aurora could never have. But just a year after her parents passed away, and by her Second Year, Aunt Aurora was killed while on the job. Anne overheard her Uncle Solomon talking to a friend, something about resorting to the Dark Arts, speculation in which she shared with Sebastian.

From her First to Fourth Year, she used to wear her hair down and try an assortment of braids and hairstyles. Once she discontinued her Hogwarts education, she decided to keep her hair up in a bun.

Threads and AUs to Explore–

Post-Game: Anne only trusts Ominus with her new location after burying her uncle by herself. Her curse is lifted after the New Fifth Year kills Victor Rookwood and she is no longer in pain but she is conflicted to what happened, and if she would somehow justify Sebastian’s choices by returning to Hogwarts pain free.

Pre-Game: First to Fourth Year at Hogwarts.

In-Game: Anne writing to everyone.

[nagalias-mindscape]

On the other hand, with my other group, my DM-created character (because I lost my blind tiefling to plot reasons the DM won't quite explain to me) is 500% an asshole. It's written into the notes the DM made for me that- this character WILL occasionally target his own teammates because, well, why not. He'll leave the contagion spell for his enemies, but it's a close call some days. I've scrapped by on that roll quite a few times (Nat 20 to stop giving a fuck, anything less and he'll pick something else).

This character is also level 20. No one in the three different parties has reached level 10 yet. Close, but not quite. I've been given semi-free reign to play the character any way I want, following some guidelines from the DM in the notes section of the character's page. Sometimes he'll also message me directly in discord with a few suggestions on how the character should be acting in certain situations and provide a few options for me to pick from to keep the character from going to off track from his backstory, but also inline with how I'm playing him.

He's an a monk / cleric, and he's not a nice guy. Not by any stretch of the word. What's been revealed about him so far: the fungal-plant plague that's infected the world is the fault of his old party, and he knew full well what would happen and didn't stop them. He's also the one who stole all the tieflings and experimented on them (hence the random locked rooms every player ended up in in their pre-campaign session, and everyone having their own little 'immortal' twist, medli was just the first to discover hers)- but he hasn't revealed why he's done any of what he's done.

He's a jerk who casts harmful spells on people who annoy him, and he'll always hit because his To Hit die on almost all of his attacks is a +10. Those that don't have a +10 to hit are either those that can't be saved against, or require a saving throw of 18. He knows command and takes full advantage of it. He'll banish teammates who start trying to pry into his past with a little much zest. He gives himself a shield of faith just to make his AC a perfect 20. he can raise the dead. He knows warding bond.

He can restore up to a combined total of 50hp to creatures within 30ft of him using one of his channel divinities, while also granting himself health without using an additional action.

he has resistance to force damage, and immunity to poison and disease. He has advantage against anything airborne.

He's also my little gremlin-goblin baby, and he will absolutely spend spell slots to fuck his teammates over and then heal them back up afterwards. Why? Because there's a note in my character sheet that very clearly states "Will attack teammates, then right them, when in need of entertainment, which is roughly every 3d5 hours." and one that states "provoke someone into killing you to reveal this bit of information".

EDIT: I should clarify, in addition to having a base AC of 18, he's also got 123 health points. He's not going down without a very dirty fight. I doubt I'll see that particular note about him dying until all three groups converge.

Fare thee well, my raven friend. You served me well. You could not see, so you ran break-first into a wall at full speed and died on impact due to your singular hit point.

Your sacrifice has paved the way for bunny foofoo to now have an owl familiar. Because why the fuck would my murder bunny not have his own natural predator as his familiar?

Never mind that I could just re-summon my raven at will using Find Familiar. It's the principle of the thing.

Also, please join me for a moment of silence for the greatest play bunny foofoo has ever done: tricking a Skull Lord Lich thing that serves Vecna into giving up a mask the Raven Queen wanted returned that was stolen from her on Vecna's orders. he will never again have such a moment of brilliance.

Our bard did a Bard Thing and managed to convince the Skull Lord (who we had already attacked, and consequently learned had legendary actions) to open the floor for negotiations. it did not want the cursed mask, and we wanted it, so it was eventually talked into agreeing to a trade. Except our bard didn't have anything of value to trade- and then I remembered I was holding onto a cursed ring (incidentally named 'That One Ring', and yes, it was flavored as The One Ring) that made anyone who failed a INT 10 Saving Throw absolutely obsessed with the thing. Everyone in the party (except our dwarf) had passed the saving throw earlier in the campaign and thus was immune to the thing.

Well, Bunny FooFoo pulls out the rings and offers it to trade, and- dwarf fails the saving throw. Skull Lord head one passes. Skull Lord head two fails. Skull Lord head three? Also fails. Thus, majority rule as all Skull Lords are bound by, accepted the trade. One cursed ring for one cursed mask.

Our dwarf, who was also under the thrall of obsession, was also under the effects of fear, and ran away screaming. Thankfully, despite the obsession demanding he go retrieve his ring (which Bunny FooFoo has actually pilfered from the dwarf nearly half a year ago, so there was history there), was stopped by the elf paladin being an unmovable barrier and the obsession wore off after a successful saving throw.

Which is shame, because FooFoo was looking forwards to returning the favor from the last time the dwarf became obsessed with that stupid thing and FooFoo got a shoulder full of axe for his troubles trying to free the dwarf from thrall.

Oh well. He can wait- there's no such thing as a truly missed opportunity with the group.

Besides: for our troubles with the mask, the party got to see the dwarf shriek and flee, and the raven queen gifted us two items. A cloak of the raven (cloak of the bat, but raven flavored), and a very special longbow given to the murder bunny- a certain Gwa'thern Faln.

So. Murder Bunny has the longbow Gwa'thern Faln which can cast Faerie Fire once per day and doubles as a Quarterstaff, but he also as a Longsword of Wounding. A fungal breastplate which can, in a 10 foot radius around where my character is standing, create a field of noxos spores which poisons anything and everything (except myself) that fails a DC 15 Con saving throw.

He's also a gloom stalker, and a harengon.

Bunny FooFoo can be really terrifying when he wants to be. He's also kind of a bastard. But he means well, and as long as you're willing to pull your weight, well, nature knows full well the lessons of tending to your hunting party's needs. Don't give him a reason to cull the herd, through.

Oh, and I guess our human cleric is now a shadar-kai cleric. Nothing really changed about them, though, since... you know, the human cleric was a cleric of the raven queen to begin with. And pretty obsessed with carrying out her will.

[canirove]

Meu Amor | Chapter 2

Author's note: Thank you very much for your support on the first chapter! 💜 This one is a bit short, but I hope you also like it 😊

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

"Oh, my God. Is this real?" I say, showing Taylor my phone while we have lunch.

"See? I told you he liked you! Boy has been doing his homework."

"Wait, this wasn't you?"

"Nope. He didn't text or anything."

"Let me see your phone. I don't trust you."

"Fine" Taylor says, rolling her eyes. "But you won't find anything."

And, after scrolling through all her texts and dms... I do indeed find nothing.

"Then how did he manage to find my Instagram account? It is private, you can't see my face on my profile photo, and he didn't know my name. Did he ask about who covered the game or something?"

"Maybe he read your name on your id."

"I wore it backwards, I hate how I look on that photo."

"We all look bad on those photos" Taylor says. "But give me my phone back, I want to check something."

After just a few seconds, she shows me her phone again.

"Look at the user who liked this post from our last holidays."

"What about it?" I ask, confused.

"That is Rúben's private account."

"He has a private account?"

"Duh. They all do."

"But he requested the follow with his official account."

"That's their modus operandi. It's a way to make sure you believe it's them and not someone impersonating them" she explains. "They start chatting with you there, and then mention the private account if things go well."

"Do I want to ask how do you know that?"

"No, you don't. But look at the date of the like."

"That's yesterday."

"The day after the game."

"And?"

"He was looking for you! And he found you. That post is a photo dump, and you are on one of them. I tagged you."

"Oh" I say.

"He is a clever boy, isn’t he?" Taylor smirks. "What are you going to do?"

"About what?"

"About what" she says, making fun of me. "About the follow! Are you accepting it or not?"

"I don't know... Is it professional?"

"You follow other players, don't you?"

"I do, yes. But most of them are English, and none of them play for City. Wouldn't it be weird?"

"To whom? Your account is private. If people want to lurk, they'll find nothing."

"That's true... But I don't know, Taylor. I told you I want to focus on my work."

"You can focus on your work and chat with a super hot guy on your free time. C'mon, give him a chance. He's one of the good ones, I promise."

"I still don't know how you met him."

"Accept his follow, follow him back, and I'll tell you."

"Fine" I say, opening Instagram again and doing just as Taylor said. "Done. Now talk."

"It isn't that interesting" she shrugs. "I met him last year during a football gala, the one I attended with Charlie. While he was fanboying over some rapper that was singing, I joined some other journalists I knew, and he was with them. They were talking about Portugal, and turns out that he knew the place where I used to spend my summers as a kid. That's how we started chatting, because of Portugal."

"But you called him Mr. Dias at the game. As if you didn't know each other well."

"That was a joke because the day we met I called him that, and he didn't like it. He said that was his father."

"So you just... Talk over dms."

"Yes, that's all we've done. No need to be jealous."

"I'm not... Ugh. I hate you, Taylor" I say, rolling my eyes.

"I hate you too" she says, sending me a kiss from the other side of the table.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━   

(click/tap to enlarge)

Now I put a face and a body to the name. And what a body. Taylor told me to check his account and... Yeah. Let’s just say that when I finished, the temperature of the room had gone up a few degrees. Or maybe just mine.

[clericofsune]

Dimensions & Demigods: Building Raven at Level 40

For those not in the know, I’m currently playing in a campaign that’s basically Descent into Avernus stretched out to include all Nine Circles of the Nine Hells, followed by a detour through Into the Abyss, and then running out to Barovia for some milk, pack of smokes, and bullying the local goth shut-in. This campaign is designed with the players intended to fight Archdevils, Archdemons, entire armies, and a hyper roided-out Strahd. As such, the DM has told us ahead of time that our level cap will be level 40. I have dubbed playing at this level “Dimensions & Demigods” because by level 40, a mere dragon in a dungeon is child’s play. And as part of a little treat, I’ll be building the ENTIRE Teen Titans for a Dimensions & Demigods level playstyle. But, I am starting with Raven because in case you’re new to my page, she isn’t just my favorite character in the show, she’s my favorite superhero PERIOD. DC, Marvel, or otherwise. So, it would be an insult to my queen to not give her the honor of being first.

PARTY BALANCE

Before we get into actually building Raven herself, I need to talk about how the Teen Titans fares as a party. Broadly speaking, there are 5 major roles that need filling in a party: DPS, Tank, Healer, Blaster, and Stealth. For the Teen Titans, Raven is not the “Blaster”. That role belongs to Starfire. Starfire is the damage-heavy “black mage” of the party, while also being somewhat of a secondary Tank alongside Cyborg/Blue Beetle and Beast Boy. Raven, by contrast, is what’s called a Utility Caster. A Utility Caster is someone who can use their spells to get the party around tricky situations, such as using magic to open a locked door, scout ahead, disarm traps, help the party get past obstructions in their path, and more. However, there’s a major role that the party lacks: Healer. Whenever one of the Titans gets hurt, it’s usually Cyborg who looks over the team member in the sick bay, but Raven has displayed the rare occasional ability to heal wounds, but only ever by touch. This means that the role of Healer is split between Cyborg and Raven. Neither is a dedicated healbot. However, Cyborg is an Artificer, which is a half-caster, whereas Raven is a full caster. As such, more of the responsibility would fall on her. Furthermore, if you’re going by the DC Animated Universe team composition, Cyborg is technically in the Justice League and not even in the party. While he’s with the team in the first movie, he’s completely absent in the Judas Contract. Thus leaving the entire burden of Team Healer on Raven. Yes, Beast Boy is a Druid, but he has no magical powers. While someone could build a fantasy counterpart Beast Boy that is a dedicated team healer, we can’t rely on a Beast Boy player to want take up the mantle of healer because Beast Boy does not canonically have magical powers beyond his wild-shaping. As such, someone wanting to play as Beast Boy may not want to take any spells, and might even dump his Wisdom stat just high enough to qualify for the Druid class. So, we need Raven to fulfil the Healer and Utility Caster roles for the party.

Raven Roth is the half-fiend daughter of Trigon the Terrible and the mortal woman, Arella Roth. Arella was lured into a demonic cult where she was chosen to lay with their demon lord to conceive his heir. Afterwards, Arella and the unborn child were spirited away by Azar and the Monks to the plane of Azarath, where Raven was born and raised. From a young age, Raven was taught to conceal and control her emotions, focusing her mind to accomplish great psionic abilities.

On paper, Raven sounds like a perfect Tiefling. She’s a humanoid with fiendish ancestry, and it’s not a bad choice. However, I feel there’s a stronger choice for Raven’s race: Fallen Aasimar. Tieflings get Fire resistance which, near as I can tell, Raven is not particularly fireproof in the slightest. Whereas Fallen Aasimar lets Raven unleash her Dark Side. Starting at 3rd Level, Fallen Aasimars get Necrotic Shroud. As an action, they can take on a dark and frightening form so horrifying that all nearby creatures have to pass a saving throw to avoid being scared of her. For the next minute, she adds her level in Necrotic damage to one attack damage roll per turn over the course of 10 rounds. I don’t know about you, but to me, that reads like she’s tapping into Dark Raven, or even Red Raven. Plus, Aasimars get Healing Hands, a feature we can see that Raven obviously possesses. They still get Dark Vision just like Tieflings, and get two resistances instead of one: Radiant and Necrotic, which in DnD, are often used to signify Holy and Unholy magic, tying Raven closer to her brand of demonic magic.

Raven is an extraplanar visitor from Azaroth, which I would most likely call the Astral Plane, though the Upper Planes would also make sense. A DnD counterpart to Raven could have also been raised by her father in the Nine Hells or the Abyss. Regardless, Raven is a newcomer to the Material Plane having come from another plane of existence. I would label her a Far Traveler, giving her proficiency in Insight and Perception. Two skills which are very important for an empath like Raven.

For Alignment, I believe that Raven is Lawful Good, though she can veer into Neutral Good when necessary. Raven has a strict moral code and enforces mental discipline on not only herself, but those around her. When her teammates react emotionally, Raven reminds them to apply logic, even to the point of suppressing and denying her own feelings on the matter. When Robin appears to have become a full-fledged supervillain, Raven is the first Titan to say that they have to stop him, no matter how they might feel about it. Their duty as superheroes comes before their feelings about it being Robin. Occasionally, Raven will stoop to less Lawful actions like convincing Gizmo to help the Titans fix Cyborg by scaring him with something horrible under her hood and being thrilled to tease Beast Boy about his real name being Garfield, stating that she’ll ‘get a lot of mileage out of this one’. However, by-and-large, Raven puts her beliefs, duty, and discipline before anyone and anything else, so long as it serves to benefit the greater good.

WARLOCK FIEND PATRON (PACT OF THE CHAIN)

While I am aware that Concentration is one of the best saving throws in the game, I’m also aware that a common weakness of Raven is that it’s very easy to break her concentration on spells. She’s often interrupted, loses focus, or even becomes weak and enfeebled after using a lot of power, especially in the DC animted films where she faints often after using a lot of magic. So, for accuracy’s sake, we’re starting Raven as a Fiend Warlock because they get proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saving throws. As a Warlock, we’ll Give Raven proficiency in Arcana and Intimidation skill checks. If you’re trying to Power Build, by all means, grab Sorcerer at level 1, but I’m trying to also stay true to Raven as a character. We want anywhere from 2 - 20 levels in Warlock. This is really a build-your-own-Raven because between the three subclasses I’m showing you, there’s not really any wrong way to go. Having Raven Hurl Through Hell her enemies is just as in-character as being a heal-bot. So cater to what the party needs. For her familiar, go with a spectral raven.

WIZARD

No matter what kind of Wizard we choose to build, we’re going to want at least 14 - 20 levels in Wizard. It will be our primary class for building Raven. There’s a lot of good choices for Wizard subclass, but the main thing we’re here for is that massive spell list. Raven’s psionic powers translate well to a wide variety of spells, and Wizard really lets Raven do a lot of the more interesting things with her spells. The 18th level feature also lets Raven cast any 1st and 2nd level spell indefinitely. Throw Shield and Blur on her, and she has a permanent +5 to her AC and enemies have disadvantage on hitting her. Choose Detect Magic and Detect Thoughts, and she’ll be able to really flex her extrasensory perception.

SCHOOL OF ABJURATION

As an Abjuration Wizard, Raven becomes a shield maiden for her team, able to protect herself and others with her forcefields. While her forcefields are by no means her main method of combat, she uses them often enough that the School of Abjuration feels like a good fit for Raven. Plus, in the early levels, having a little extra Temporary HP on a Wizard is extremely valuable. At higher levels, she can protect her friends with her Arcane Ward which you could flavor as her sending out her astral raven to guard them, projecting her soul as a shield. And by late game, she becomes resistant to all magic damage, showing her to be a true master of magic.

SCHOOL OF ENCHANTMENT

For anyone familiar with Raven from the comics, the School of Enchantment is very fitting for Raven. Dealing with the manipulation of emotions, senses, and mind control, the School of Enchantment would let Raven summon two demons and be able to cast Dominate Monster on both of them. Twin casting enchantment spells is extremely good, and on brand for the types of things we see Raven do in the comics. She doesn’t do this sort of thing as much in the show or movies, but emotional manipulation is a part of her empathic abilities.

SCHOOL OF PSIONICS (UA)

To this day, I am salty that this subclass was never formally published, but Psi Knight and Soul Knife were, because it basically screams ‘Raven’ at the top of its lungs. If I were to pick the perfect wizard subclass for Raven, this would be my first choice. However, because it never made it past the Unearthed Arcana phase, some DMs might not allow it. Granted, this is a build for a level 40 character, so your DM is probably going to allow UA. I’ve never had a DM that didn’t allow UA. But, those DMs do exist, so I have to put a little asterisk next to this subclass, even though it’s the best choice for Raven. As a Psionics Wizard, Raven can cast Friends without enemies turning hostile, turn into her astral raven form, add her INT mod to Force and Psychic spell damage rolls, can cast Telekinesis, Scrying, or Dominate Person once without using a spell slot, and at later levels, her Astral Form can move through solid objects, letting her fly through walls. Also worth pointing out, Eldritch Blast is a Force damage spell. So a Fiend Warlock with Agonizing Blast, Empowered Psionics, and has maxed out both INT and CHA is rolling 4d10+40. At least, so long as all four beams are aimed at one enemy. Empowered Psionics only works on one enemy per turn. Still, dealing 44 force damage at bare minimum is going to really help elevate Raven from out of the Utility Caster role to let her do a bit of Blasting, helping her to feel more useful and powerful in combat encounters. I’ve never gotten to really use a Raven build for a full campaign, but the few times I’ve tried to build her in a campaign, she lagged a bit behind in the combat department due to her squishy hit points and abundance of utility and support spells. So, this combo really turns Raven into a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. And you can get both features as early as level 12, so it comes on relatively early as well, at least for a level 40 build.

SCHOOL OF THEURGY (UA)

The only reason you should grab this subclass is because you need a healer, but you also want all of the Warlock levels. If you want to build a pure Wizlock, but also be a healer, then this subclass will be a good fit. Similar to Psionics, this subclass never made it past Unearthed Arcana, so you will need your DMs approval to use this subclass. You also get to pick features from a Cleric Domain. Life, Grave, and Knowledge are great choices for Raven, though even Peace can fit her. If you choose Knowledge, Raven gains Expertise in Arcana and either Religion or History. Since Arcana was a skill we chose as a Warlock, if you’re planning on taking the Knowledge Theurgy route, take Intimidation and either Investigation, History, or Religion as your second Warlock skill.

SORCERER DIVINE SOUL ORIGIN (EVIL)

There are two reasons we want these Sorcerer levels. Firstly, it’s a way to give Raven healing spells without being a Cleric and splitting her casting stat focus between three stats. The second is that it gives Raven access to Sorcery Points and Metamagic Options. Lorewise, this is the most accurate way to build Raven. Her powers stem from her demonic heritage, though they are also a gift from Trigon. Her powers are also tied to her emotions, so connecting her powers to the emotion stat is very appropriate. I count Trigon as working for the Divine Soul Origin because he maps very easily onto Asmodeus, the King of the Nine Hells, who is also a Greater Deity. You don’t need to take any Sorcerer levels if you only want to build a Wizlock, but if you only want 2-4 levels in Warlock, you can take 18-20 levels in Wizard and 18-20 levels in Sorcerer. This is why I haven’t really given any hard numbers for this build. If all you want is 8 levels of Sorcerer, 14 levels of Warlock and 18 levels of Wizard, by all means. Again, the main reason we’re here is metamagic and healing spells. If your party is set on healers and you don’t care about metamagic, you don’t need it.

MAGICAL OPTIONS

ELDRITCH INVOCATIONS

Agonizing Blast

Armor of Shadows

Ascendant Step

Chains of Carceri

Devil Sight

Eldritch Mind

Eldritch Sight

Gaze of Two Minds

Gift of the Ever-Living Ones

Grasp of Hadar

Maddening Hex

Repelling Blast

Visions of Distant Realms

METAMAGIC OPTIONS

Careful Spell

Empowered Spell

Heightened Spell

Twinned Spell

Quickened Spell

FEATS

I want to point out that these are merely suggestions, and you do not have to grab all of these feats to build Raven properly. This is merely a masterlist of all the feats I feel are appropriate for Raven.

Alert: Raven uses her extrasensory empathy to sense incoming lifeforms.

Eldritch Adept: For when you want more warlock in your warlock

Fey Touched: Just call it Devil Touched for flavor.

Linguist: Raven is a polyglot, speaking multiple languages

Magic Initiate: For when your Wizard wants to learn Cleric spells

Metamagic Adept: For when you want more sorcerer in your sorcerer

Observant: Your an empath that can sense the locations of people. High passive perception is never not good.

Prodigy: Expertise in Perception or Insight goes a long way to turn Raven into a living lie detector or the ultimate Hide-n-Seek champion.

Resilient: Give Raven proficiency in a necessary saving throw like CON, WIS, or DEX.

Shadow Touched: For the goth palette swap of Fey Touched

Skill Expert: Same as Prodigy, Expertise in Insight or Perception is very good on Raven.

Telekinetic: Raven has Psychic powers.

Telepathic: What did I just say?

Toughness: How to stop your Wizard from crying after being hit once in an encounter.

War Caster: Opportunity attacks with magic and advantage on concentration saves is always useful.

MAGIC ITEMS

Arcane Grimoire (+1, +2, +3): Higher wizard spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Bloodwell Vial (+1, +2, +3): Higher sorcerer spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Rod of the Pact Keeper (+1, +2, +3): Higher warlock spell DC and attack roll bonus.

Cloak of Protection: The cloak’s not just a fashion statement

Astral Shard: Raven teleports after every use of metamagic

Far Realm Crystal: Raven creates dark tendrils that attack, deals extra Psychic damage, and enemies might become frightened of her.

Heart Weaver’s Primer: Wizard Spellbook for the School of Enchantment.

Mantle of Spell Resistance: Raven’s cloak repels enemy magic.

Outer Essence Shard (Evil): Enemies take extra necrotic damage when Raven uses her metamagic. Perfect for Raven’s forehead gem.

Shadowfell Shard: Enemies have disadvantage on a saving throw of your choice until the end of your next turn.

Wings of Flying: A magic cloak that lets Raven fly. Useful for limitless flight/levitation.

Ring of Telekinesis: Permanent Telekinesis is very on-brand for Raven.

Grimoire Infinitus: The ultimate wizard spellbook

Robe of Stars: A black or dark blue robe that lets Raven teleport to the Astral Plane.

Robe of the Archmagi: White robes on Raven usually signifies that she’s older, wiser, and more powerful. So these legendary white robes that boost her AC so high are a very fitting high level item for her.

Book of Vile Darkness: Trigon’s unholy doctrine is fitting for Raven.

Demonomicon of Iggwilv: A Pokedex for Demons.

PIETY & PATRONS

While Raven is not strictly-speaking a Cleric of Trigon, her mother was in his cult, and she does owe some of her power to Trigon granting it to her, though he does not seem to be able to take her powers away from her. Piety was a system introduced in Mythic Odysseys of Theros. However, while it is not a “core” mechanic, I still enjoy it enough that I thought I’d take a crack at giving Raven her own Piety for serving Trigon.

TRIGON

EARNING PIETY -Destroy your enemy ruthlessly, especially if you land the killing blow. -Learn knowledge you were not meant to know -Outsmart Devils and intimidate demons into obedience -Give in to anger, hatred, jealousy, and vengeance -Gain and maintain power through domination, fear, and control

LOSING PIETY -Show mercy to those who have wronged you -Failing to seek out knowledge and expand your mind -Falling for the tricks of devils, or dominated by demons -Refusing to give in to hostile emotions -Allowing yourself to be subjugated through domination, fear, and control

3+   You learn Hellish Rebuke 10+ You learn Summon Lesser Demons 25+ Fiends summoned by you that are CR 1 or lower are friendly towards you. Furthermore, when a Fiend type creature summoned by you makes a saving throw to stop obeying you and turn hostile, the saving throw amount rolled by the fiend is reduced by half your level rounded down. 50+ Increase your Charisma or Intelligence by +2 to a maximum of 22

WARLOCK SPELLS

Due to the fact that the Warlock and Wizard spell list overlap quite a bit, I aimed primarily for spells Raven can only grab as a Warlock. However, since Wizard is the primary class for this build, 

C Eldritch Blast, Friends, Mage Hand, Mind Sliver, Prestidigitation 1 Arms of Hadar, Hellish Rebuke, Hex 2 Darkness, Flock of Familiars, Shadow Blade 3 Enemies Abound, Fear, Hunger of Hadar 4 Blight, Shadow of Moil, Summon Greater Demon 5 Dream, Enervation, Far Step 6 Circle of Death 7 Etherealness 8 Maddening Darkness 9 Psychic Scream

DIVINE SOUL SPELLS

C Guidance, Resistance, Sacred Flame, Spare the Dying, Thaumaturgy, Toll the Dead 1 Cure Wounds, Inflict Wounds 2 Lesser Restoration, Warding Bond 3 Spirit Guardians, Spirit Shroud, Speak with Dead 4 Control Water 5 Commune, Mass Cure Wounds 6 Heal, Planar Ally 7 Regenerate 8 Divine Word 9 Mass Heal

RAVEN’S WIZARD SPELLBOOK

Wizards can learn 44 spells by level-up, but they can also learn any spell on the wizard spell book by purchasing a spell and recording it in their spellbook. So, I’m going to put more than 44 spells in Raven’s wizard spellbook, because these are more-or-less every spell on the Wizard Spell List that can work for her, and I’ll leave it up to the player to shape her spell list how they want to. Obviously, there’s going to be some overlap with the Warlock spell list, though that’s fine if you prioritized Divine Soul over Fiendlock.

CANTRIPS Blade Ward, Chill Touch, Friends, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Mind Sliver, Mold Earth, Prestidigitation, Shape Water 1ST LEVEL Catapult, Cause Fear, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Feather Fall, Find Familiar, Identify, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield, Tenser’s Floating Disk 2ND LEVEL Arcane Lock, Augury, Blur, Borrowed Knowledge, Crown of Madness, Darkness, Flock of Familiars, Gift of Gab, Hold Person, Knock, Levitate, Mind Spike, Misty Step, Nystul’s Magic Aura, Phantasmal Force, Shadow Blade, Suggestion, Tasha’s Mind Whip,  3RD LEVEL Bestow Curse, Blink, Clairvoyance, Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Enemies Abound, Fear, Fly, Gaseous Form, Magic Circle, Protection from Energy, Spirit Shroud, Summon Lesser Demons, Summon Shadowspawn, Tidal Wave 4TH LEVEL Arcane Eye, Banishment, Charm Monster, Confusion, Control Water, Dimension Door, Divination, Edvard’s Black Tentacles, Locate Creature, Otto’s Resilient Sphere, Phantasmal Killer, Polymorph, Raulothim’s Psychic Lance, Summon Greater Demon 5TH LEVEL Bigby’s Hand, Contact Other Plane, Dominate Person, Dream, Enervation, Far Step, Geas, Hold Monster, Infernal Calling, Legend Lore, Modify Memory, Negative Energy Flood, Planar Binding, Rary’s Telepathic Bond, Synaptic Static, Telekinesis, Teleportation Circle, Wall of Force 6TH LEVEL Arcane Gate, Eyebite, Fizban’s Platinum Shield, Globe of Invulnerability, Mass Suggestion, Mental Prison, Move Earth, Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise, Summon Fiend 7TH LEVEL Etherealness, Forecage, Plane Shift, Symbol, Teleport 8TH LEVEL Demiplane, Dominate Monster, Feeblemind, Maddening Darkness, Telepathy 9TH LEVEL Astral Projection, Gate, Imprisonment, Psychic Scream, Time Stop

LEVELING GUIDE

As stated before, I feel the most accurate way to start Raven at level 1 is to start as a Warlock, proficient in saving throws to control her willpower and her emotions. Raven should spend the first 4 levels as a Fiend Pact Warlock, picking up the Pact of the Chain for a shadowy raven familiar. From here, what you choose to focus on first is entirely dependent on what you think is more important to pick up around the level 20-ish midpoint of the campaign. If you focus on getting Wizard to level 18 first, Raven will be able to cast a single 1st and 2nd level spell at their lowest levels at will, which can be extremely useful for a lot of utility spells like Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Hellish Rebuke, Hex, Find Familiar, Mage Armor, Shield, Blur, Hold Person, or Suggestion. However, by taking Sorcerer early, you could have limitless flight and Unearthly Recovery for most the campaign, which is very useful on a squishy caster, but trades off having a wide array of powerful spells by the midgame for being a powerful healer for most of the game.

Ultimately, I believe the best use of Raven is to give her 4 Levels of Fiend Warlock, 18 Levels of Wizard, and 18 Levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer. However, if you’re not interested in all those high level Cleric spells, Raven could also work with 14 Levels of Fiend Warlock, 18 levels Wizard, and 8 levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer. Depends on how badly she needs to be the healer, and how fast she needs to get good at providing that service to the party.

Again, this build is for the ultimate Raven. The Raven who can fight Trigon. The Raven who can fight off a demon invasion and stop apocalyptic-level threats. Obviously, not every DM is going to want to run a Level 40 campaign, the Dimensions and Demigods play style is not a common thing. But, if you get lucky and your DM wants to challenge themselves and the party, this can be a great example of what Raven can do when she’s fully realized. And like I said, I’ll be building the whole Teen Titans team so that Raven doesn’t have to face the armies of Trigon alone. Together, they might just be strong enough to bring down a god-tier foe.