#dnd: stapes

[twisharkocs]

For the ask meme! Objects 3 - Stapes, Weather and Nature 7 - Raina, Community and Relationships 10 - Fall, Mind Body and Soul 15 - Magpie

Anything bat or skeleton related, but death imagery in general is their vibe. Stapes would absoloutely adore those anatomically incorrect skeletons that come out around halloween. probably collects them.

Raina cannot read a map to save their life. Them being incapable of this spawned from my ability to walk off of cliffs on pm every map where this is possible due to my lack of paying attention.

10) Is there a habit your character has that they learned from someone else?

No doodle for this one as tablet is having connectivity issues atm (need to replace the cable for it haha). Fall has her mothers habit of dancing whilst using a mop or broom. If its quiet you may catch her dancing but she tries to avoid doing it around customers as it can be akin to a bull in a china shop, as the saying goes.

Magpies sleep routine is very basic. Try to prevent hair knotting overnight, dress in her jimjams, attempt to suffocate her co-WOL with bunny ears whilst absorbing the absoloute heat he gives off (Theo is @thirstykateyes)

[ASK LIST]

[twilishark]

My sleeping pattern is fucked so I'm spending the nights away finally doing update reference sheets.

First up is stapes, my changeling bard of spirits from the strand campaign I'm in.

[twisharkocs]

introducing Stapes' wall of animal motif theories

A new contender for zenith critter has entered the arena: olm salamander.

OOH…. GOOD

zenith tilting their head when they’re confused by something continues

[twisharkocs]

Which of your characters has changed the most from how you’d originally imagined them to be? What was the biggest change?

Ive spent a few days thinking about this and went through them all trying to think about who this would be, initial thoughts of garret came to mind but then realised the OC that changed the most is Stapes....in a sense (more info below)

Stapes in their original form is not the changeling you're used to from strahd but rather, they were a mute grim reaper antagonist from a stor idea that me and Aaid have.

They kept the souls of those they reaped and used music to puppeteer both them and the dead into doing the bidding of their boss, The Wisp King.

Their was no real rhyme or reason to what they did. They're a rogue reaper, having disposed of their ferryman and just amassing an army for Wisp. Nothing they did was for money, not for fame, they do what they do for fun. Nothing more and nothing less.

A scene that lives rent free in my mind from this story is the two protags (Connor and Nial) coming to apprehend Stapes at an underground club they were DJing at. Only to realise too late its a trap, that the bodies dancing around them are corpses, one of which is the former partner/love interest of Nial.

Vs Strahd campaign Stapes

Strahd stapes is a different creature. Rather than a rogue reaper we have a changeling bard with a taste of necromancy. Instead of someone who fucks with the dead for naught more than fun, we have someone who does it for a reason....even if that reason is conning rich people.

ST!Stapes is less evil and more neutral, a little more sarcastic, comedically neurotic, doesn't want to help unless they get something out of it.

This stapes is more likely to perform with spirits in a haunting orchestral set where as original stapes will use the corpse of your dead lover to kill you to drum and bass

[twisharkocs]

I have been thinking of the idea of human/modern au stapes and the make up ritual they go through each morning to be their skull self

The concept of them over sleeping and opening the door, no make up, hair down, no binder on and unnerving whoever it is at the door.

[twisharkocs]

HELLO what would pat, a modern stapes, and a third oc of your choice wear to Pride?

Pats not overly keep of big crowds so i feel like they'd more than likely turn up with their twin sister (au dependant) Nessa! I feel he'd go for something that gives him gender euphoria when not binding (its hot out) so tends to go for rompers. 1000000% flustered because he was flirted with.

Nessa probably helped dress them and has spent the entirety of pride flirting with butch women. and by flirting i mean...welll...making a tit of herself.

Ignore the fact i gave up on forearms here

Stapes is the goth DJ who does an afterparty at a gay club. Does not attend pride. Keeps doing metal remixes of abba songs. Keeps throwing drinks at people who keep trying to flirt with them. Has ginger undercut because secret ginger,.

[twisharkocs]

The concept of him seeing some funky lil bat broach and being all 'oh cute, it matches my fit' with the colours and then sometimes later, along the line, being all 'omg stapes lol' has me living

zenith hides the brooch that makes him read as humanoid under his shirt because he prefers not to draw attention to it, and it's described as being 'nondescript', but. like. in the ariknauts version of him specifically, or really any non-CoS version of him, what if it's bat-shaped. for stapes. carry his friend with him in other AUs. idk why a magic brooch that makes you read as humanoid would be shaped like a bat, i feel like that has unintended implications, but maybe he provided the brooch and it was enchanted for him rather than buying an already-enchanted brooch. he thought it was cute when looking for brooches. didn't think of any unintended implications he just wanted a cute brooch. or maybe the enchanter just had a fun selection, which is a cuter idea actually lmao

@twilishark i'm talking about your kid, kinda, so feels right to tag you. [blows a kiss to a bat-shaped piece of jewelry] for stapes

[twilishark]

seance/ˈseɪɒns,ˈseɪɒ̃s,ˈseɪɑːns/

noun

a meeting at which people attempt to make contact with the dead, especially through the agency of a medium.

draw stapes normally challenge: failed

[twilishark]

stapes/ˈsteɪpiːz/

noun

stapes

a small stirrup-shaped bone in the middle ear, transmitting vibrations from the incus to the inner ear.

[twilishark]

my mind is occupied with the thought that whilst Stapes is the only member of the strahd party who can’t do shit healing wise, they could very well be the only person who can provide a backing track to do CPR to and i think thats something special

[twilishark]

I think my favourite thing about playing a changling bard is probably that i don’t have to think too hard about what I picture their voice to be when singing as its everything

I get to think about the preference of style instead and stapes being college of spirits makes that even more fun 

[twilishark]

@misskhep : only correct way to make a DND character in Strahd. Mine was too serious so I made her a mouse.

Youre so iconic for this, yoyr lil lady makes me wanna draw her and stapes as a bat in cute outfits

[twilishark]

@trollybazoo

i would die for Stapes

and they would let you 

because they don’t know how to heal people mostly

but you’d get to be part of their ghost orchestra for tormenting the dnd equivalent of elon musk so its not all bad 

[bodhrancomedy]

This series has been going on for a year, so there's a lot of characters (and with the attention spans on TikTok, similar ideas which upsets me as an actor).

Under the cut is a masterlist of every franchise and character created!

(Warning, it's long)

ACD Sherlock Holmes: Doric speaking cab driver who fears being sent back to his Deaf school & very posh magician who actually believes in magic.

Addams Family: Victor Addams, enthusiastic medical student and complete madman. Triplet with Atticus Islay (Indiana Jones) and Teddy (the Mummy). (He/they)

Bridgerton: Lord Barnaby Lackless, a very eccentric, autistic bachelor.

DnD Honor Among Thieves: New member of the crew, hopeful tempest cleric.

Doctor Who: Odhrán Catton, a nonbinary Irish history student

Ghosts (BBC): Stubborn 1920s ghost who died after he “saw the first diesel motorcar, briefly”. Obsessed with Poirot and silent movies.

Good Omens: Clueless angel that got a body with non-working ears.

Harry Dresden:  Wizard apprentice who doesn’t take any of Harry’s misogyny shit.

His Dark Materials: Servant with a bat daemon working against the Magisterium as a spy, occasionally alongside Lord Asriel using ableism as his shield.

House of the Dragon: Very snarky BSL/SSE using servant.

How to Train Your Dragon: Pipsqueak Peerie, a squeaky-voiced childish Viking with three hearing dragons called Incus, Malleus, and Stapes.

Indiana Jones: Atticus Islay, very tired teaching assistant to Indiana Jones. Triplet with Victor Addams (Addams family) and Teddy Islay-Addams (the Mummy).

James Bond: Nigel, a low-ranking MI6 agent temporarily standing in for the 007 designation.

Jurassic Park: Paleontologist with weird priorities (bring him the big bugs!)

Kung Fu Panda: A sarcastic kung fu bat.

Merlin: Sly knight from a family of mages attempting to hide his deafness with Merlin’s help.

Mummy 1 & 2: Theodore “Teddy” Islay-Addams, an archeology student who lied his way onto the dig of the first movie and studying for his PHD in the attacked museum of the second.

Narnia: Logical Northern Irish Pevensie cousin. (Does not like the British Imperialism and really want to hug Aslan).

Our Flag Means Death: You/Sweetheart (renamed by audience), bloodthirsty pirate fleeing his murder of an ableist teacher in Edinburgh.

Outlander: Doric-speaking (but mostly signing) minor clansman who DOES NOT LIKE the main character's 1940s views on D/deaf people.

Owl House: Florestan, a student forced into the healing track to “fix” his ears who just wanted to be a bard.

Rings of Power: Insecure BSL/SSE using elf wanting to prove himself against the dark forces.

Star Trek: Unnamed science officer who isn’t allowed to collect rocks anymore.

Star Wars: Pilot whose twin brother was taken to be a Jedi (and likely died during Order 66)

Stranger Things: Cowardly new arrival to Hawkins with an interest in animals.

Supernatural: Cassidy, a cocky Irish hunter.

Tangled, the Series: Albany, a cartographer with a murderous grudge against Rapunzel and her father.

Umbrella Academy: Another child of the 43 pregnancies born in Ireland. Is immune to all poisons and mildly antagonistic (in a non-personal way) towards the Hardgreeves.

What We Do in the Shadows: Timothy, a sweet and earnest vampire (who crashes into things as a bat).

Witcher: Radek Solkov, alchemist, explorer, and failed mage. Very loud, very flamboyant.

X-Men: Cassidy O’Conner, a nervous mutant student at Xavier’s School who can transform into a bat and just wants to be an illustrator.

[twilishark]

Let me tell you about my changeling for the Strahd campaign i’m in:

I love them

[twilishark]

playing a changeling just means using your other PCs as disguises they already have All of these bar the Lost are PCs/NPCs from my own campaign or ones i play/have played with The Lost being Stapes human disguise