#dark vanguard

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Destinytober24: Day 4 - Reunion

Always wondered wtf Shin Malphur was doing during Beyond Light. This was as good an excuse as any.

Link to Ao3 if you prefer to read it there

"Looks like Stranger's got company," the Drifter said over his shoulder to Eris Morn, riding behind him on the same sparrow.

It had been dark when they had left with Eris driving, but now the light glinting off the snow was blinding. Days and nights on Europa lasted 85 hours. Due to Eris's excellent night vision and the Drifter's keen eyes during the day, it made the most sense for them to drive a single sparrow together when they were out on patrol through sundown or sunset.

"A guardian, perhaps?" Eris asked.

The Drifter licked his lips and smiled, glad his rebreather was hiding the lower half of his face. The sound of her voice right by his ear was such a turn-on, even with the wind whipping the warmth and steam from her lips away from them.

The Drifter brought their sparrow to a perfect sliding stop sideways next to the other vehicle near Elsie's yurt. His stomach lurched as he looked it over.

"What is it?" Eris asked, feeling him tense.

"I know that sparrow."

"Clearly."

They both disembarked and he put his hand on her arm. "Do me a favour, Moondust?"

"That depends upon what the favour is."

"Let me do the talking and let me stay between you and him."

"Why?"

"Long story. Tell ya later. Please?"

Eris tilted her head. It was the first time he had ever asked her something ending with the word "please." His voice was gentle. Gentler than he ever spoke to her. His eyes were cold. His body had become eerily relaxed, in a way that felt… dangerous. Like a snake, loosely coiled, ready to strike.

Whatever this was, the Drifter was afraid. But… Eris observed… not for himself.

Even now, their friendship only recently and loosely established, their time on Europa only recently begun, Eris could tell when the Drifter was readying himself for… something. She was learning his moods, his body language. His behaviour now was almost… protective.

"Hmmm…" Eris frowned. She loathed being protected. And yet… it was unlike him to behave in such a manner. He had never done so before. This was different.

"Very well."

As they entered the shelter Eris saw Elsie nervously fidgeting with a coffee cup at the small table where they took their meals. A hunter sat across from her. He was dressed in black leather with a wide-brimmed hat tilted low over his face, obscuring it. A cup of coffee sat in front of him on the table, steaming. It looked untouched.

Elsie looked up sharply as the two entered. The glow from her eyes settled first on the Drifter pulling his rebreather off, and then immediately looked behind him to fixate on Eris.

The elder Bray sister was never nervous and yet she clearly was exhibiting symptoms of nervousness now. Her Exo frame was tense with agitation, but Eris only noted this in passing.

Eris' three eyes zeroed in on the man across the table from Elsie, or rather, the tendrils of Darkness she could see wafting around him with her Hive-augmented sight, tendrils in a distinctive shape she'd only ever witnessed coiled around one other person.

"Hey," the Drifter said, his voice friendly as he tossed his rebreather onto a heap of equipment near the door.

Eris watched the Drifter shift his stance as the man at the table turned to look at them. She wondered if the movement to place even more of his body between herself and their new guest was even conscious at this point. She could feel him reverting to instinct. A dangerous wild animal facing off against another of its own kind.

"Hey," the man at the table responded. A gruff practised friendliness. And then his head tilted up slightly and she saw his eyes.

She knew them instantly. "Eyes like mana in the desert," the Drifter had once described them to her. It was an apt metaphor. Eyes that could see through anything. Eyes that could lead a cult. Eyes that could summon the Light with enough power to form a gun that would leave its victim nothing but a shadow on a wall. Captivating. Beautiful. Very old and very young at the same time.

Those eyes bored into her. Eris' mouth formed a thin line. Her three Hive eyes met his gaze through her bandage without flinching and bored right back. Analysing. Observing. Feeling the Darkness within him shifting and writhing.

The two Hunters stared each other down and sized each other up over the rogue Lightbearer's shoulder.

"What'cha up to out here, friend?" the Drifter asked, his voice extremely casual as it broke the tense silence.

"Might ask you the same thing," the man responded.

"Doin' my job. Just like we agreed." Eris noted how the Drifter was careful to keep his empty hands where everyone could see them while simultaneously hiding what her own hands were doing.

"That's funny. I seem to remember your job is runnin' Gambit."

"Gambit's doin' just fine, thanks for askin'. But you didn't come out here just cuz I cancelled a few matches now, did ya? Seems like an awful lot of fuss."

"Nah." The man didn't even look at the Drifter. His eyes never left Eris'. "Just wanted to check in on my friend's new… friends."

Elsie looked back at Eris sharply, concern on her face.

"We're doin' just fine." Eris could feel the Drifter's disarming smile in his tone as he spoke.

"Are you sure about that, friend?" The man at the table leaned forward slowly. The Drifter moved in a way that was barely perceptible. The coffee cup trembled between Elsie's hands.

The tone was gentle but Eris felt the threat behind it. A threat directed not at the Drifter or at Elsie, but squarely at her.

"Yeah… friend," the Drifter replied.

"Wouldn't want you to be getting too attached to anyone out here in the cold," the man at the table continued. "Might compromise your judgement." He continued to start at Eris.

"Why? You gettin' jealous?"

Eris and Elsie both looked at the Drifter in surprise. True to form, it was the last thing Eris had expected to come out of his mouth in this situation.

The man at the table laughed with his mouth but not his eyes, but he did look away from Eris to the Drifter when he did so. "Not of you."

"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride," the Drifter said with a fake wistful tone.

"Yeah, well," the man at the table looked back at Eris. "You ain't the till death do us part type."

"Damn straight. You know how much I like breathin', brother."

"Oh…" The man at the table stood up, or rather, he flowed to his feet. Elsie spilled a small amount of coffee onto her hand. The Drifter took a half-step back, lightly bumping against Eris. Eris rocked onto the balls of her feet and willed her Ahamkara bone to frost over behind the Drifter's back.

The man in black stepped toward the Drifter and Eris.

The temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

Elsie's hand dropped down to rest her fingertips on her No Time to Explain pulse rifle slung over her shoulder.

The Drifter turned slightly, nudging Eris back and to the side with one shoulder, away from the door.

"I'm countin' on it," the man said as he stepped in close to the Drifter, finally staring into his eyes.

The Drifter raised one arm slightly in a shielding motion to the side as he stepped back again. Eris growled quietly but followed the Drifter's lead, stepping away from the door and, as he had requested, keeping him between her and his 'friend.'

"Last thing I want is to have to come clean up your mess," the man said quietly.

"Aww… come on… you know how much I love gettin' dirty." The Drifter punctuated his response with a lascivious smile and a wink.

They stood, their faces inches apart, the Drifter smirking, the other man not reacting at all. Waiting.

"Seriously though, we're fine here," the Drifter broke the silence. "You do not need to be here now, and you don't need to come back. Ever."

The man looked from Drifter's eyes over his shoulder to Eris and then back again.

"See that it stays that way."

The Drifter's lips made an exaggerated kissing motion twice as the gunslinger stepped past him through the door, out into the snow.

The door slid shut and all three of them heard the sound of a sparrow leaving. The Drifter closed his eyes and let out a long slow breath, still leaning slightly into Eris as he relaxed.

"Was that… who I think it was?" Elsie asked.

"Uh… yup," the Drifter answered, blinking slowly. "The one and only." He turned to Eris. "Thanks. I know you probably wanted to stab him in the face."

Eris' three eyes narrowed. "The three of us could have taken him."

"Maybe" The Drifter sighed with a smile and stepped away from her. "Maybe. Still not very good odds. And I am very glad we didn't have to find out."

"Is this normal?" Elsie asked. "Does he just periodically show up and… threaten you?"

"Eh… one man's threat is another man's foreplay. He's… very dramatic. Probably comes with the territory when you're a myth walking around on two legs."

"Hmmm…" Eris intoned as the frost left her Ahamkara bone and the room began to warm up to its regular internal temperature.

"Anyway. That's over. I'm still alive and so are both of you." He pointed his index finger on his left hand at Elsie and the index finger on his right at Eris. "I'm calling that a win." He took another deep breath and let it out slowly. "Fuck I need a drink. Surely we got something in here that's stronger than coffee…"

Link to the entire month's worth of prompts on Ao3, posted daily.

[thecreaturecodex]

Dark Folk, Dark Vanguard

Image © Paizo Publishing, accessed at Archives of Nethys here

[The “dark folk” -> “caligni” is another retcon that Paizo made towards the tail end of PF1e in order to distance themselves from the OGL. I don’t dislike it, unlike the “arboreals”; it makes sense to me that they would have an endonym. Still, I’m using the dark folk category for the purposes of keeping this new one, from Bestiary 3, in line with the previous dark folk I’ve made.]

Dark Folk, Dark Vanguard CR 5 LE Humanoid (dark folk) This humanoid figure is clad in bands of dark metallic armor, some of which seem to be growing into its skin. It has no eyes, only hollow pits, but seems to sense you effortlessly. It carries a massive two-handed sword.

The dark folk consider variances in births to be omens of great importance, and the dark callers watch especially for those caligni born without eyes. These are taken from their parents at an early age and raised as dark vanguards; trained to use echolocation with their ears and delicate wires of metal implanted alongside armor plating. The dark vanguards are the elite warriors of the caligni, and serve their callers unquestioningly.

A dark vanguard is an obvious combatant by dark folk standards. They are capable of being stealthy, but prefer a forward assault, if only to let less physically strong combatants the opportunity to set up positions. They are trained in martial weapons and teamwork feats, and can temporarily grant their allies teamwork feats as well. They can weave a mantle of shadows around their blades in order to temporarily blind opponents, who are then easy meat for the sneak attacks of dark creepers or stalkers. When slain, they explode, the jagged metal in their bodies being repurposed from defense to offense for one last spiteful strike.

Dark Vanguard     CR 5 XP 1,600 LE Medium humanoid (dark folk) Init +3; Senses blindsight 60 ft., blind, Perception +13 Defense AC 19, touch 9, flat-footed 19 (-1 Dex, +2 natural, +8 armor) hp 52 (7d8+21) Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +6 DR 5/slashing or piercing; Immune gaze effects, visual spells and effects Weakness vulnerable to sonic Offense Speed 30 ft. Melee masterwork greatsword +11 (2d6+7/19-20) Ranged masterwork composite longbow +4 (1d8+5/x3) Special Attacks death throes, shadowed blade, tactician Statistics Str 20, Dex 9, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 18, Cha 13 Base Atk +5; CMB +10; CMD 19 Feats Broken Wing Gambit (B), Cleave, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Power Attack Skills Bluff +7, Climb +15, Perception +13, Stealth +10; Racial Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Perception, +4 Stealth Languages grafted armor, martial training Ecology Environment underground Organization solitary, pair or troop (3-8) Treasure standard (masterwork greatsword, masterwork composite longbow [+5 pull], 40 arrows, other treasure) Special Abilities Blindsight (Ex) A dark vanguard’s blindsight is based on hearing and vibrations. If it is deafened, it is treated as if it had blindsense instead. Death Throes (Su) When a dark vanguard dies, it explodes. All creatures in a 10 foot radius take 6d6 points of damage, half of which is fire and half of which is piercing (Reflex DC 16 half). The vanguard’s grafted armor is destroyed in this explosion, but its other gear remains intact. The save DC is Constitution based. Grafted Armor (Ex) A dark vanguard gains a +8 armor bonus to its AC without an armor check penalty or reduced movement speed. Martial Training (Ex) A dark vanguard is proficient in all simple and martial weapons. Shadowed Blade (Su) As a standard action, a dark vanguard may channel shadows onto its blade and make a melee attack. A creature struck with this attack must succeed a DC 14 Fortitude save or be blinded for 1 round. The save DC is Charisma based. Tactician (Ex) A dark vanguard gains a teamwork feat as a bonus feat. As a standard action twice per day, it may grant a teamwork feat that it possesses to all allies within 30 feet that can sense them. The allies do not need to meet the prerequisites for the feat. This granted feat lasts for 6 rounds. A dark vanguard is treated as being a 5th level cavalier for the purposes of the tactician ability, and if it takes levels in cavalier, its cavalier level stacks with this ability.

[kitto-paint]

[idontparticularlyliketoast]

Between calling John “my king” and Kayne “Nyarlathotep,” I’m afraid Yorick is 0 for 2 on deadnaming The Horrors 😔

[madcat-world]

Lords of the Fallen: Heroes keyart - Alexandre Chaudret

[saphstories]

(Gorgeous art by @estellardreams!)

What if....

Instead of letting Sonic fall at the start of Sonic X Season 3, Dark Oak captured the Blue Blur?

What if Dark Oak wanted Sonic's mastery of Chaos Energy to further the Metarex Conquest?

What if Dark Oak turned Sonic into the Metarex version of the Winter Soldier, brainwashed and programmed Sonic into their Vanguard Blue Myosotis, to prepare worlds for the Metarex arrival?

What if Cosmo had been the White Seed, the Metarex Eyes and Ears, all along?

What if she was held in captivity since the Metarex destroyed her entire Clan, programmed into the White Seed, just as Sonic was?

...How much suffering and pain would it take to completely lose yourself?

...And is there any hope once you have?

[eghostsofdeadchildren]

Lightreaper, Pieta, and Vanguard.

[leg0sbian]

i love not keeping up with the cod zombies lore. sitting here like oh the fruity little german is back how delightful

[thebladeblaster]

Aichi seriously looks like he wants to murder Ibuki in this scene

He has pressed the Kai button and will suffer the consequences

[osiochenofarcudan]

Here's a little debut post for this account; the Blueberries collection! Some of my favorite characters from across games and shows, all of which wear plenty shades of blue, from hair to drip.

(Kocia is a bit greener but that's ok.)

[imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese]

Destinytober24: Day 18 - Vex

Post-TFS Dark Vanguard Europa Vex firefight go!

Link to Ao3 if you prefer to read it there

"Mind the Hydra death blast!" the Drifter shouted as he slid along the snow covered incline, shards of ice and Stasis skittering along down with him.

Eris, floating in the air, covered her eyes with one arm while continuing to mutter in the guttural language of the Hive, maintaining her protective spell. Glowing Soulfire and Hive energy formed a large pale green sphere emanating from where she floated, keeping herself and Ana Bray safe.

The sound of a small thermite explosion filled their ears.

One of the guardians with them was not quick enough. If ghosts could sigh, the Titan's ghost absolutely would have as it appeared beside the corpse and opened its shell to begin reviving its chosen next to the remains of the Hydra.

A Hunter crouched behind Stasis shards from one of the Drifter's glacier grenades, using a sniper rifle to take out anything shooting at Eris and Ana. Another Hunter took a running leap, pulling out their Golden Gun and vaporizing a Cyclops attempting to pick them all off at range.

The Drifter tumbled out sideways in front of the doorway Eris was protecting, coming up on one knee and gunning down four Vex before tumbling away again.

Elsie Bray was short-range teleporting around the battle, tripping Goblins, picking off Minotaurs with headshots from her pulse rifle, tossing Stasis grenades left and right.

"I've almost got it!" Ana spoke into their shared comms as she continued accessing the panel within Eris' sphere of Hive magic protection.

"Incoming Harpies on the ice flows!" the Drifter called out.

"Mine!" their Warlock companion called out, floating up in the air to cast a Needlestorm.

The Drifter scanned the firefight and his eyes caught a Minotaur about to snipe the Warlock out of the air. Trust barked at his side and the Minotaur went down in a heap of metal and Radiolaria before it could take the shot.

"Dammit!" Elsie shouted angrily. "Wyvern on the field!"

"Shit," the Drifter swore. "You!" he slid in next to the Solar Hunter and tapped them on the shoulder. "How long till you can Golden Gun again?"

"Almost there."

"Come with Drifter. It's chicken roasting time."

The Hunter nodded and followed him. They worked their way around the edge of the battle, ducking and running, until they snuck in behind the Wyvern and its accompanying half-dozen Goblins, marching toward the entrance where Eris was protecting Ana.

Six shots from the Drifter took out the Goblins and the Wyvern turned to face them, the long tendrils around its shield wings fluttering in the cold Europan sunlight. It would have been pretty if it wasn't about to kill them.

The Wyvern leaped up, ready to pounce and land on the Drifter. He watched it, his eyes calculating… waiting… waiting… He rolled at the last second before the Wyvern landed, barely avoiding the concussive blast.

"Any time now would be great!" the Drifter called out over his shoulder as the Wyvern began to walk toward him, its long metal legs almost prancing as it fired its warp lance turrets. The Drifter ducked behind cover, narrowly avoiding the blasts of Void energy hitting all around him.

The Hunter's Golden Gun rang out. The Wyvern melted into a pile of scrap and sparks.

"Winner, winner, chicken dinner!" the Drifter said as he grinned, nodding at the Hunter.

"I'm in!" Ana announced over their shared comms. "Everyone get inside so I can close this door!"

"Don't have to tell us twice, Sister!" the Drifter replied, climbing on the back of the Hunter's sparrow.

A frozen Ahamkara bone whipped past them as they flew through the door, immobilizing the Hobgoblin which had them in its sights.

Link to the entire month's worth of prompts on Ao3, posted daily.

[pinkieroy]

I was looking for a different essay and found this one instead, and it feels relevant right now (the whole thing here)

[eldritchqueerture]

okay okay okay but HOW exactly. how exactly did john kill Emily and Parker. he was trapped in the book. Emily was described to have been mutilated!!! in a fucking field!!! and when parker died there was no blood! did john take over arthur's body for a brief second? why has arthur never questioned it? how the hell was that possible

when kayne said "anyone who wouldve opened that book and taken what you took wouldve died. they all die." did he mean that?? cause per intermezzo other arthurs manage fine despite not being SpecialTM like our arthur. and WHY were they killed in such different ways??

[utilitycaster]

on the one hand I think it is dangerous to think yourself immune to propaganda or cults or particular patterns of thought but on the other hand if some high fantasy asshole showed up and was like "isn't life pain? isn't it all suffering? don't you want to stop the suffering? Don't you just want to sleep forever?" I'd be like sounds like SOMEONE needs a nap and a juicebox, and this has as a rule served me well in both life and as a fan of the fantasy genre.

[warlordfelwinter]

FINE bungie i'll admit it you got me with the old tower and cayde ok

[madcat-world]

Lords of the Fallen: Vanguard Banner keyart - Alexandre Chaudret