#eirlys//second chances

[4e7her]

a drop of silver in a sky of stars - character descriptions:

descriptions under the cut. read on ao3 or quotev.

fenrir osain verdandi:

the comet.

name breakdown: fenrir - the wolf that will doom the world to ragnarok. osain - fawn or baby deer. verdandi - destiny. 

fenrir has wavy jet black hair that reaches his chest, typically tied to the side in a braid. it's messy, even with repeated attempts from the servants to keep it neat and tidy. his eyes are like molten silver, swirling mercury hidden behind messy bangs and slitted pupils. 

underneath his left eye, he has two beauty marks, centered and directly below each other. his braid typically rests over his left shoulder, and it's not uncommon for him to try and hide his face behind his messy hair. the side pieces of his bangs go down to about the middle of his neck - if you get the chance to see behind his hair, you'd notice that he has an industrial piercing on his right ear.

his nose is crooked from repeated breaks, and he has a thin silvery scar going straight across his neck. besides that, his face and neck are largely unmarred, a contrast from the rest of his body. burns stretch across his arms and shoulders, typically hidden behind the clothes he wears, with various other scars all across his body. 

verdandi family:

moralis ivor verdandi:

pluto.

name breakdown: moralis - river. ivor - forest warrior. verdandi - destiny.

straight black hair that he doesn't take much time to style, simply pushing it out of his face as much as possible. he has dark golden eyes, fox-like and intimidating, with a defined jawline and almost permanently furrowed eyebrows. as a swordmaster, he's broad, cutting an overpowering figure that often draws attention - even more so with the extravagance that he dresses with, the wealth just another symbol of their families influence. he has a beauty mark below the right of his jaw, close to his ear. 

siani atasi verdandi:

nyx. 

name breakdown: siani - gift from god. atasi - blue flower. verdandi - destiny. 

silvery wavy blue hair went down almost all the way to her ankles, with similarly colored eyes that were commonly upturned as she smiled wolfishly. she easily put on the air of a weak woman when it served her, but she couldn't have been so one-dimensional if she were to keep up with moralis. her maiden name was signe - meaning victorious. it suited her well. 

olwyn eirlys verdandi: 

cerberus' first head. 

name breakdown: olwyn -  white footprint. eirlys - snowdrop. verdandi - destiny. 

short wavy black hair, cut at an angle, with bangs mostly grown out and pushed out of her face. she has a beauty mark on her chin, under the right side of her lips, with gold-platinum eyes that seems to have flecks of blue in the center. her pupils are slitted, as are all verdandi's. she has an image worthy of her family reputation, though easy to amuse, contrasting her first impression. she's often seen wearing a form-fitting knights uniform with a harness slung over her chest to hold her sword to her back. 

caerwyn emrys verdandi: 

cerberus' third head. 

name breakdown: caerwyn - white fortress. emrys - immortal. verdandi - destiny. 

straight, dusky light blue hair that he can't seem to keep from touching, messing it up quickly even when it's styled nicely. he's often compared to the late duchess for it, the only child with her coloration, though his rose gold eyes carry the metallic glint of the verdandi family. he's not quite as broad as most other knights, finding it difficult to bulk up so heavily, but he does just fine with the build he has. he has one beauty mark above his right eyebrow and another under the left side of his lips.

revna blodwyn verdandi: 

cerberus' second head.

name breakdown: revna - raven. blodwyn - white flower. verdandi - destiny. 

she has waist-length straight black hair that turns silvery towards the ends, often gently curled. she's meticulous in her appearance, gunmetal black eyes hiding far more than she would ever say. she's taken to her father's tendency of dressing more ornately than perhaps strictly necessary, a dark rose blooming across high society. she's not often seen without her falcons, raised and trained by her careful hand. revna is a powerful enemy to make, controlling strings from the shadows, carefully manicured hands scheming situations as she needs. she has a beauty mark above the right side of her lips.

love interests: 

aeron caelfael euryn ingvar:

the sun. 

name breakdown: aeron - celtic god of battle and slaughter. caelfael - battle prince. euryn - gold. ingvar - protected by yngvi, god of prosperity and sunshine.

shining golden hair falls from his head, earning him the middle name that he fought so hard to gain. his eyes are a deep red, pools of blood that only reflect the name that he's made for himself. he does his best to look good, positioning himself higher and higher above those that once looked down on him, making them reflect on all that they've done as he puts them back into their place. between him and rhain, the people of the helix empire don't quite know which is better. around fenrir, he's pathetic and puppylike, but that quickly falls away to the frigid bloodstained prince he's known to be around anyone and everyone else. 

rhain madoc hefin ingvar:

the moon. 

name breakdown: rhain - spear. madoc - fortunate. hefin - warm, summer. ingvar - protected by yngvi, god of prosperity and sunshine.

rhain has textured black hair and red eyes bright like rose petals, or perhaps the crimson of a fresh wound. he's chiseled and strict, more muscular in build than his brother, with familiarity in almost every weapon. he used everything that he could get his hands on in the battlefield, after all. he has a twisted personality, just like euryn and everyone else in the palace, and see's his younger half-brothers attempts to frustrate him as nothing more than a childish tantrum. he likes annoying and 'pranking' people, amusing himself with his own sadistic tendencies. 

ceri:

styx. 

name breakdown: ceri - to love. 

details to be added. 

eldrid stigganndr skuld:

saturn.

name breakdown: eldrid - beautiful fire. stiggandr - wanderer. skuld - fate. 

details to be added. 

seren mereid sunniva: 

uranus.

name breakdown: seren - star. mereid - pearl. sunniva - sun gift, a saint who fled to norway.

details to be added. 

talesin ciaran hemlock: 

mercury.

name breakdown: talesin - noble. ciaran - dark. hemlock - a poisonous flowering plant. 

details to be added. 

side characters:

diedre:

​​​​​​​hydra.

name breakdown: sorrowful.

diedre has tanned olive skin (i could not find a face claim with darker skin. many apologies.) and a short pale green bob with almost soulless dark brown eyes, constantly watching how things unfold around her. her build is muscled and toned, with an assortment of small scars carefully hidden away. she's often simply described as 'hard to read'. the maid uniform she wears hides far more weapons than one might expect. originally, she followed the verdandi grand duchy as a whole, but has shifted her priorities to fenrir alone. 

hati:

hati, the wolf that chases the moon. 

typically very calm, hati only has a temper when it comes to protecting fenrir or arguing with skoll. he has medium length soft pink hair that covers half his face, styled just as neatly as he dresses. it is very rare to see him out of uniform. his eyes are a soft purple and he has a strong work ethic, anticipating every fenrir's every need. 

skoll:

skoll, the wolf that chases the sun. 

defaulting to grumpy and argumentative, skoll is kind only to fenrir and rarely hati. he has short navy hair with a messy cut, jagged edges making it difficult to style. he has pale yellow eyes that seem to brighten when he does find it in himself to get serious. skoll is lazy and often modifies his uniform or disregards it entirely. 

avalon:

​​​​​​​name breakdown: island of apples.

a rather simple girl, avalon has brown hair that's almost always tied up, starting as a braid from her crown that leads to a high ponytail at the back of her head. she has bright, innocent blue eyes, and works at the verdandi family villa located in the capital. pitying and empathetic - on the younger side. 

hywel deinel: 

​​​​​​​name breakdown: hywel - eminent. deinel - judge. 

young for his position, hywel is a tired man with dark brown hair and light brown eyes, serious in his work above all else. many of the other servants gossip about him, but he is faithful to his job and seems to consider himself above matters of the heart. moralis works him to the bone.

more to be added.

[loosesodamarble]

The Future Silva Family Part 3

The next members of House Silva's next generation are the children of Solid and his wife Holly Whitmore (who I will describe alongside the children).

Their children are Eirlys and Ferro.

..........

Holly Whitmore

Solid's wife via an arranged marriage that became a romance.

Her name comes from the holly plant.

Age (at the beginning of the series): 20 (she's two years older than Solid)

Birthday: June 29

Magic Attribute: Snow.

Appearance: pure white hair like freshly fallen snow. It's quite long, reaching past her hips, but she normally keeps it all tucked up in a bun. Her eyes are indigo colored (curse you picrew limitations).

Personality: Holly is quiet and a bit closed off but cordial first and foremost. She's very slow to anger as well; she can be upset but it takes a while for her negativity to build to a point where she can't hold it back. She's polite, mostly for appearance's sake as taught to her by her family, but she genuinely respects kind people, those who instinctively smile at others. She hides her own warmth as her family called it "weakness" in the cutthroat world of nobles and politics. Her kindness mainly shows in the way she's willing to let people have any many second chances as they need to improve. People are always changing after all. She encourages people to try and to be honest with their efforts.

She agreed to marry Solid to get away from her family who openly saw her as a pawn for their own political gain. (Yes she was giving them what they wanted but at least she’d be living in House Silva and not House Whitmore.)

At first, Holly and Solid were awkward. Holly only really spent time with Solid when necessary (like a formal gala as his partner). And when Solid opened his mouth and said dumb things, Holly walked away. Solid, meanwhile, was pretty ambivalent to Holly. He thought she was just like the rest of her family, marrying him for status alone.

Solid eventually confronted Holly about her avoiding him and she told him “Neither of us actually want this marriage so let’s spare ourselves and minimize our contact.” It became clear that Holly wasn’t a gold digger but it was also clear she lacked interest in her future husband. A very annoyed Solid talked to his siblings about it and they all agreed that he had to try and make the marriage worthwhile. Cue Solid making very clumsy attempts to court Holly. He is smart and gets her flowers as his first gift as she’s very often in the garden (with Nozel and Helia). Solid messed up more often then not but the attempts in and of themselves warmed Holly’s heart. Solid found himself falling for Holly as she took a chance and opened up to him, showing a hidden warmth she hid because of her cold upbringing.

The marriage ended up being a happy one.

She likes flowers, particularly hollies (her namesake) and snowdrop flowers. She gets along with Helia as a result of this.

Eirlys Silva

Her name is Welsh for the snowdrop flower. Holly picked out the name since the snowdrop is her favorite flower.

Age: 13

Birthday: June 29

Magic Attribute: Snow.

Appearance: Silver hair like her father which she styles into pigtails and ties with ribbons. Her eyes are indigo like her mother's (again, limitations of picrew).

Personality: Eirlys is a quiet girl and peaceful girl, like Holly, but a little more willing to socialize. Although by "socialize," Eirlys usually means reading a book or working through a puzzle book while sitting with other people. Eirlys knows how to converse but she just likes the presence of people around her. She has trouble standing out compared to her cousins. Skylar's intelligence, Fleur's strength, Filomina's cuteness, etc. Her cousins all stand out in some way. Even Ferro is known for his boldness. However she is at least considered the pinnacle of a noble lady with how well-mannered she is. What she thinks of that judgement of her… She would nod and say "I'm glad people think well of me," making all her cousins look at each others and thinking "is she shading us?" She's got a "go with the flow" sort of attitude which, unfortunately, makes her passive at times. She does have likes (she has her own personal library and has completed so many activity books) but she has yet to have something truly light a fire under her.

Despite how chaotic they are, Eirlys gets along with everyone in House Silva (aunts, uncles, and cousins). Her favorite cousin is Aimee though with Elana as a very close second.

Eirlys doesn't have any interest in being a Magic Knight. She becomes an author instead with her primary genre being mystery novels with a dabble of historical fiction.

Ferro Silva

His name is Latin for "iron." Solid gave him the name because he wanted his son to be as strong and resilient as the metal. It's also to honor Acier's metal-based magic.

Age: 9

Birthday: November 18

Magic Attribute: Ice.

Appearance: Pure white hair like his mother's which is always kept short. His parents try to make sure his hair is neatly combed but he always finds a way to get it messed up. His eyes are purple, which isn't an exact match for either parent but it runs in the Silva family.

Personality: Ferro is a courageous and bold little guy. He's not easily deterred from a challenge and has a fascination with danger. Though thankfully he tends to only observe danger rather than participate in it… Tends to… Ferro is also quite honest with his thoughts, to his parents' embarrassment. Boldness + honesty means a lot of angry nobles when a little kid points out how they're definitely only being nice to his parents to get in their good graces. Ferro's strong attitude also comes across in his temper; short and explosive.

Ferro's got a rivalry complex with Naru and strongly dislikes Alfred and Jesse. He's got a great fondness for Elana who teaches him fun words to make adults mad, like "hauteur" and "impertinent." He likes saying those words to people who bother his parents. He's met Clara and would like to be friends with her but she isn't all that interested in a friendship.

Ferro would become a Silver Eagle like his father before him.

[thelaststarseed]

Character Info/Open for Starters

Below the cut will be who is available for rps, and how much wiggle room they have in terms of where they are to what degree/contexts they can be played in.

Open: can be used in any kind of cannon or au situation Semi-open: will generally only be restricted to certain areas or will be with/around other characters, but can be tweaked for other stuff if an interesting enough idea/premise is proposed Limited: can only be interacted with under certain circumstances, restricted to specific situations/cannons

Please don’t hesitate to DM me with further questions or if you want to get something going with anybody on the list! I may be a little slow to reply due to work and IRL shit, but I love these characters and would like to do more with them.

OPEN

Arc: brash, stubborn, loud. Bit of a feral disaster lesbian. Typically only in Dirtmoth, the Kingdom’s Edge, or the Crystal Peak. Hates going into Hallownest proper because being underground for too long makes her super uncomfortable. Oni’s traveling partner/one of his mother figures. Deals with stress by fighting things and trying to ignore her deeper underlying emotional issues. From an alternate timeline, thrown into this one via bullshit space magic gone wrong.

Oni: soft-spoken, gentle, tired. A good musically inclined lad. Doesn’t like fighting but can very well hold his own in a fight if need be. Spends much of his time in Dirtmouth, but can and will travel all over Hallownest. Arc’s travel partner/sort of son, on tense terms with her at the moment. From same timeline as Arc. (original concept/design a joint effort between myself and @thesweetestbard​ )

Hesta: inquisitive, secretive, organized chaos. The former Postmaster of the Archives, has been roaming Hallownest ever since the kingdom’s fall to find out the answers as to why her home fell apart in the first place. Can and will be found anywhere in Hallownest, even in places where it seems like she shouldn’t have been able to get into in the first place. Purveyor of fine conspiracy theories.

Semi-Open:

Baby Oni: curious, playful, a baby. A young alternate Oni native to this main timeline. Currently under his big future self’s care. Only found in Dirtmouth, and with Arc, Oni, or Chip at this time.  (original concept/design a joint effort between myself and @thesweetestbard​ )

Chip: cautious, observant, recovering from PK and Infection based trauma. A version of the Broken Vessel boss that survived because Arc just happened to crash land in their arena after Ghost beat them. She was able to patch them up and get them stable enough to move to the nearest hot spring. Still a little uncoordinated and unsteady, having to relearn how to function and move after being under the Infection’s influence for so long. Generally only in Dirtmouth with Arc or either of the Onis.

Amosis: artistic, shy, nervous. Circe’s half-moth son, was abused mentally and physically by her while stuck under her influence. Primarily in a timeline where he was rescued and adopted by @motherly-moth​ , but can be used in other adopt the boi scenarios.

Limited:

Circe: manipulative, abusive, perfectionist. Amosis’ mother and Eirlys’ former wife, a powerful magic user and leader of a cult that almost completely took over an oceanside village before she was stopped and killed. Depending on the AU/timeline, she was either killed by her own magic ritual being sabotaged, or by getting nuked by @motherly-moth​ ‘s Radiance. Either way, she is very dead and can only be interacted with in the afterlife or dreamworld.

Kos: pensive, melancholy, lonely. Mother to Oni and formerly @thesweetestbard​ ‘s wife before she got the horrible space goo plague and was put down after she mutated into a horrible eldritch monster. She is technically ascended from normal bug status due to the nature of how deep she got into the space magic that lead to her death, but even she is not too sure what she is now. Typically an observer to outside events from the dream world/afterlife, cannot interact with the physical world unless through magic shenanigans. Misses her wives and son(s), but is too ashamed of herself to try and reach out to them.

Eirlys: soft, patient, understanding. Amosis’ father and Circe’s former husband, was stuck under his wife’s influence with horrible space fungus magic for years until @motherly-moth​ came along and freed and healed him. Weird eye is due to Radiance’s healing. Can only be interacted in @motherly-moth​ ‘s unfucked AU Hallownest, considered dead in most other timelines.

Aello: gruff, steadfast, generally exasperated. Eirlys’ sister and Amosis’ aunt, effectively the leader of the village after Circe and her nasty cult was outed. Can only be interacted with in her village, is still trying to clean up the mess her former sister-in-law left behind.

[cursedlegacies]

Edie Quinn just wants her brother back. Life was so much better when Jay was around - Mother didn't hover over her shoulder, people didn't whisper behind her back about her father's action in the war. Jay unraveled it all bay going missing. And if that means delving into these cursed vaults, so be it. It's easy enough to fade in the background, no one notices a lone cat in the corner of their eye, slinking through the empty corridors. She'll do anything to get Jay back.

Graeme Forsythe sees Hogwarts as his big break - his second chance to make something out of his life. Magic is brilliant and amazing, and has no limits. At least not any he's found yet. Where other's stumble, Graeme thrives. Its a point of contention that he - a lowly muggleborn - can have an influence over the cursed vaults in a way others cannot. Oh well, if others want to talk down to him, he'll just talk back with his fists, it's the easiest solution.

For Eirlys Knell, Hogwarts is one large playground. Sure friends groups may come and go, but the ghosts always remain by her side - and there are far more ghosts at Hogwarts than anyone seems to realize. They all have a story to tell, and one only she can hear. But the between all the strange events and these cursed vaults that call to her, Eirlys isn't sure just how much longer she can keep the banshee in her down. There's a constant scream caught in the back of her throat, and she's worried it won't be long before she's crying for an actual death.

[kethsi]

Archery Practice

Arianwyn Cadarn is an excellent leader. He’s not a very good adoptive father, though. -- Warnings include unhealthy thought process (what else is new?), Mentions of mild child neglect, mention of animal death (Wolves, Bears, Pawyas), past character death and talk of wars. -- Islwyn Cadarn, last known living relative of fabled king Baxtorian Cadarn and great queen Glarial, is a realist. Really, he is. He looks at every situation through a critical lens, analyzes it, compares the pros and the cons in his mind, and decides what course of action he’d take form here. Really, there’s no reason not to do this. He may only be twelve decades old, but that was old enough to be considered an adult, by elven standards. Besides, this is a method that proved itself effective so far. After all, this exact same approach is part of how his grandfather conquered Kandarin. Naturally, what was good enough for one of the most powerful elves in history was more than good enough for Islwyn. In his current situation, Islwyn wasn’t quite ready to learn more complex magics from the book his mother left him – he simply didn’t have the energy reserves for the more elaborate spells he hasn’t mastered yet, and most elves in Lletya weren’t much help either. Sure, he practiced daily, and he was pretty good at many spells, too, but energy reserves grow and develop with time, as does one’s magical ability. So in the meantime – meantime being the last half decade or so – Islwyn Cadarn went on to practice archery. He knew the basics, of course, he was a member of clan Cadarn, thank you very much – but that alone didn’t make him good at it. So he practiced, using training bows made of pine wood or Kandarinian oak – because using a crystal bow, or a bow made of the local magic trees would be too easy. He’d be tempted to let his soul sing with the crystal, which would guide his arrows to the targets, or sync his magical abilities with those of the magic bow, and all progress will be lost. It wouldn’t truly be his own achievement. Not in archery, at least. It would simply be another way to train magic, but it isn’t what he needs right now. Right now he needs practice.

Easier said than done, though. All around him, other elves were chattering excitedly at one another. He didn’t know the reason, and he didn’t care enough at the moment to find out. He was training by the flax field, so of course others would be passing by to pick some for their own purposes, from time to time.  Some of the voices were too high pitched to him though, and too laced with negativity. Whines and complaints of children at parents. The seeds of tantrums soon to bloom. He released his grip on the bowstring, slightly irritated. The arrow flew forward with a quiet whistle before hitting the spot he was aiming for, the center of a flax flower he attached to the archery target. It wasn’t that he was keen on destroying flowers, but he needed to justify aiming elsewhere when the true center held too many arrows to keep shooting at. Besides, the flax flowers were calming enough to look at, and he liked having them in his field of vision even when he wasn’t actively aiming at them. “I don’t care!” some child yelled. “We had bear stew for three days! I want something else!” The next arrow hit one of the petals, a bit too high. “I’m sorry, dear,” the woman next to the child – presumably his mother – tried, gently. “There isn’t much else right now.” “Isn’t there any pawya?” Tak. Another arrow missed its mark by about two inches. Islwyn Cadarn wasn’t very good at concentrating with loud noises around. Shame on him. He should do better. “The hunters won’t return until tomorrow morning”, the mother replied.  “We can go get things first thing in the morning, if you want”. “They’re taking too long,” the child whined. “They’re bad hunters. Why couldn’t the good ones go hunting instead?”. This arrow lodged itself in the ground. Islwyn sure felt mediocre now, looking at all the missed spots. He frowned, lowering his bow. Six of his last twenty shots didn’t seem to hit their marks. He would blame it on his own agitation, his own unbalanced reaction to the noise around him, but that would not be fair. “War isn’t quiet”, Arianwyn always said. “The noise” isn’t an excuse he could use to justify missing targets, adversaries that could be lethal to his clan if they ever have to defend Lletya from possible Iorwerth invasion in case it is discovered. Still, he couldn’t prevent his selfish thoughts from gnawing at his mind. He couldn’t stop the passing thoughts that these kids are lucky to be raised like that. With parents they could whine to about anything. He didn’t have anyone to complain to, growing up. He lost his mother long ago. Didn’t even know his father. Islwyn Cadarn had to be a responsible child, because he was raised by Lord Cadarn himself, and because he was the grandson of two figures he never met and whose shoes he was expected to fill regardless, as if it was easy. As if it was possible at all, to become as powerful as two mages who shaped the world around them everywhere they walked. He was expected to shut up and do better, always. The current Lord Cadarn hated it when he complained. Islwyn sighed, walking forward. Lletya was getting busy, noisy, as it always did during the early hours of the afternoon. No sense to continue practicing now. Not here, at least. He won’t make much progress. He decided to pluck the arrows out of the wooden target. He wouldn’t want high and mighty Arianwyn to receive complaints about Islwyn’s behavior, now. It would reflect poorly on the both of them, would it not? Surely, Lord Cadarn shouldn’t be lenient on such displays of laziness. Islwyn himself would be seen as a spoiled princeling who expects everyone to clean up after him because his family ties got to his head. Absurd. He was always judged based on “What would Baxtorian say? What would Eirlys think?” What would it matter? They were dead. They weren’t coming back. Why did everyone insist on lecturing him about the dangers of disappointing a family that wasn’t there to disappoint, anyway? There was only Arianwyn. Being close friends with Islwyn’s mother, he agreed to raise her little orphan son. He always reminded Islwyn of that. Always kept some forced formality between them. Ever since Islwyn could remember, he was expected to treat Arianwyn as a lord, and Arianwyn treated Islwyn like something of the sort, too. Not that he ever let Islwyn make any decision or have an actual say in anything, but he made sure to act as if Islwyn was an adult, effectively erasing any trace of free time or “undesirable” hobbies Islwyn had. Except the magic. Arianwyn never had it in him to prevent Islwyn from studying and practicing that. Regardless, Islwyn never really had a proper childhood. Never had a chance to disagree with Arianwyn on anything. Never got comforted when he cried. He was simply told to act in a way befitting of his heritage. Conveniently, he was also told that his grandfather’s grief over the loss of his grandmother was private. That mighty king Baxtorian would put the morale of his troops above his own need to mourn. Even worse, he was told that his mother would do the same on her deathbed. More concerned about the healers who were supposed to help getting their eight hours of sleep than she was with her own pain. Naturally, selfishness in any form was never allowed. So he kept his selfishness in his thoughts, and kept those thoughts to himself. Good, Merciful Seren, he thought. Thank you for making us incapable of peering into one another’s thoughts. I would’ve gotten an earful for that, too. Having collected all the arrows, Islwyn was soon on his way home. It was the best part of being an adult, really. Lletya wasn’t all that big, but it still had plenty of room for him to construct his own little house, with the help of some ex-members of clan Ithell, engineers and siege weapon operators who married Cadarn elves after the war. Honestly, living on his own without Arianwyn’s judging (or sometimes pitying) glances and annoying, disappointed commentary. Still, he had to pass by Arianwyn’s house more often than not, as it had provided a rather convenient shortcut to Eudav’s general store, where Islwyn would sometimes sell the bones of dire wolves he had slain. Islwyn had no wolf bones in his bag today, but he found himself passing by Arianwyn’s place out of habit. He caught himself and tried to increase his pace. The unmistakable whistles of arrows stopped him in his tracks. He looked around, easily spotting Arianwyn, outside his own house, shooting a target as well. Islwyn wanted to look away, but the clan leader was impressive to say the least. With three shots a second, Islwyn was shocked to see some of the wooden targets held hundreds of arrows, so close together that some were somehow lodged not in the targets themselves but between two other arrows, each target forming simple shapes or designs. He recognized some from his studies. These were the clan sigils. Owl, for Amlodd, hare for Hefin, an acorn and a leaf for Crwys…  He wasn’t sure he recognized the symbol Arianwyn was making at the moment though. It looked like some crystal with a messy background. “Ithell,” Arianwyn said out loud, making Islwyn jump. He did not take his eyes off the target though, nor did he stop shooting arrows. “At least it’s supposed to be. But I can’t make a proper lyre to save my life.” Islwyn nodded, respectfully. “It’s quite remarkable, actually” he heard himself say. “Just a little hard to recognize with two smaller crystals still missing…” Arianwyn nodded and lowered his bow and looked at him. Only, it was more like a stare. The leader was studying him intently, expression unreadable. The younger elf quickly realized what he’s done. “Oh, I- I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to distract you, Lord Cadarn,” he apologized. “I’ll be on my way-“ “Islwyn” Islwyn flinched. “…Yes?” Arianwyn’s expression softened suddenly. He seemed uncertain, just for a moment, before taking a step in Islwyn’s direction and offering him his own bow. “Would you like to add them?” “I- what?” “The other crystals.” Arianwyn answered, gently. “Oh. Sorry, I’d really rather not.” Arianwyn was giving him that look again. The one he didn’t understand.  The leader of the Cadarns was regarding him with some weird, uncharacteristic guarded gentleness, as if Islwyn would vanish into thin air if the other elf dared to make any sudden movements. There was something apologetic in his eyes and in the way he held his bow for Islwyn to take.  Finally, seeing he would get no other reply, Arianwyn nodded. “It’s a shame,” he said. “You have your own bows, I was told you’ve been practicing for a few years now, and you never brought it up.” “I picked it up again” Islwyn shrugged. “Five years ago. I think.” Of course, he was taught archery as a child, too. All Cadarn children were expected to know the basics, after all. Arianwyn just never seemed very eager to teach him. So when he decided to start training on his own, he didn’t feel the need to involve Arianwyn in his decision making. “That’s wonderful” Arianwyn smiled. “do you like it better now?” Islwyn hesitated. He couldn’t say for sure. He enjoyed some aspects, sure. He liked the precision, the sound arrows made when flying towards a target, the way his heartbeat stabilized when he was concentrating… …The fact that training arrows weren’t volatile and wouldn’t explode if he did something wrong, the way magic might… “I think so” he admitted. It was true enough. Even if in all honesty, he was just trying to improve because he genuinely wanted to be better at something than the elf who raised him. Well, after today’s display… Islwyn should certainly cross anything involving arrows off the list. Arianwyn paused again. “Would you join me in training, at least?” “With all due respect, I don’t think you need training, Lord Cadarn.” Arianwyn shook his head. “I do,” he sighed, glancing between his targets and the younger elf. “I shouldn’t waste your time with beginner stuff, though.” “You’ve passed beginner levels long ago, Islwyn. I’ve heard you’ve been developing your own style.” Islwyn shrugged. He was trying, that was for certain. He was pretty handy with a crystal bow, though, having practiced with it for two years. Crystal bows are interesting weapons, offering high accuracy to those who sacrificed raw strength and vice versa, creating their own arrows of pure energy designed to accommodate the user’s style and choices. They were exhausting to use for long periods of time, but the results certainly spoke for themselves. “Not very fair to say that, though,” Islwyn countered. “I think my bow decided to develop its own style. I merely happened to be present to witness it the longest, so I picked up a thing or two.” “You’ve achieved a perfect harmony, then” Arianwyn pointed out. “I could really use a helping hand with that. I think mine doesn’t like me very much.” Whatever Islwyn expected to hear in an answer from Arianwyn… That definitely wasn’t it. He stopped to think for a moment. Arianwyn was great at both crystal singing and archery. There is no reason for a crystal bow to not function perfectly in the hands of the leader. Then again, Arianwyn did mention, once or twice, that this wasn’t his own bow. Maybe… “Well, in that case, I could use some help with improving my speed. I don’t think I can fire ten-thousand arrows an hour.” Arianwyn’s face broke into a wide smile. “Neither can I.” Huh. Who would’ve thought… “All right,” Islwyn allowed a small smile form on his own face. “I’ll settle for nine thousand, then.”

[eeveevie]

Cullen/inquisitor marriage proposal

from this list

I’ve written a few different proposals for these two, so I tried something a little different here. The letter referenced here by Eirlys is this.

Cullen x Aurelie Trevelyan 

792 words (under a cut) | Ao3

Lady InquisitorHerald of AndrasteAurelie Rutherford? Dearest Sister;

I suppose it is arelief to not have to carry around those numerous titles anymore. Word of theExalted Council reached the Free Marches long before your letter did. I have toadmit, I was fearful of your survival until I saw your signature with my owneyes. Considering the last letter I had received from you was about your marriage,you can understand the whirlwind of emotions I was going through. I may haveset a few barrels of hay on fire.

I am glad you aresafe.

I am also still indisbelief that you are a married woman. I’m sure Cullen has already shared theletter I sent him containing my congratulations and support. I understand thatit was an impromptu decision while in Orlais, but I am hoping that you’dconsider throwing a larger party. Not that I need an excuse to come see you,but considering I missed out on meeting all of your fabulous companions whilstthe Inquisition was active, I’d love a chance to see you surrounded by so manythat love you.

Consider this meinviting myself to whatever you decide to do.

Love, Eirlys

Aurelie smiled as she read over the letter again, thankfulher sister’s words had reached her. It had been addressed to Skyhold, but mostof the Inquisition had moved on over the last few months. It must have beenforwarded by whoever was watching over Leliana’s—Divine Victoria’s—ravens, ensuring that any correspondence was sentto the scattered former members. For Aurelie and Cullen, they were still inSouth Reach, visiting with his family who had taken them in with open arms. Miahad been adamant that they could stay as long as they needed, until the twocould find their own place to call home.

Her sister’s words resonated with her. She too, couldn’tbelieve that she and Cullen were married.It really was a spur of the moment thing, Cullen proposing in the middle of theWinter Palace. Aurelie really wouldn’t have had it any other way—a privateceremony that they would treasure forever. That being said, the events atHalamshiral tainted the happy memory.

As if on cue, her left arm radiated with pain, causing herto flex an invisible muscle. Aurelie glanced down to where her hand—the anchor—usedto be. She could still feel it, and yet, notfeel it at the same time. Dorian had explained it to her as a phantom pain that could linger for yearsto come. Unsettling, but a price she was willing to pay for her survival. Shewas alive, and content.

She shifted her attention to where Cullen was standing infront of Mia’s home, tossing a stick away from him so that their mabari, Scout,could fetch it. This is what her life would be like now, and she was gratefulfor it. As much as she missed the thrill of adventure, she would give up herdaggers forever if it meant living a quiet life with her husband until the end of their lives.

“Cullen,” she called out as she thought about the letteragain. Eirlys was right—they hadmissed out on an extravagant party to celebrate their union. Maybe it wasn’ttoo late. Then they could have theirquiet little life in a Ferelden cottage. She was already grinning just thinkingabout it.

“I know that look,” Cullen responded as he approached. Scouttrotted after him, stick in mouth. “What are you thinking about?”

Aurelie tilted her head up to look at his face from hersitting position. “Will you marry me?”

“What?” he responded, clearly surprised by her question. Heraised an eyebrow. “Aurelie, we already…”

“I know,” she laughed at his confusion. She reached out withher right hand to grab his left, her thumb brushing over the silver band he woresignifying just that. “I was thinking we could do it again.”

Cullen titled his head. “I’m afraid I’m not following yourtrain of thought here, dear.”

Aurelie softly chuckled, shaking her head in her own disbelief.She knew it sounded strange. “Let’s have a second wedding. With all our familyand friends.”

“Somewhere we both like?” Cullen asked, his lips twitchingup into a smile. Not a real answer, but Aurelie’s heart fluttered in excitement.She nodded.

“No stuffy Orlesians,” she agreed. “I can wear a dress thatwasn’t borrowed last minute.”

“That sounds…” Cullen let out a breathy laugh. “That soundswonderful.”

Aurelie was beaming, but still glanced up at himexpectantly. “You haven’t answered me, Cullen,” she reminded him. “Will youmarry me? Again?”

He didn’t hesitate, squeezing her hand tightly in his own. “Yes.”

[thelaststarseed]

((The mentioned AU belongs to @mystic-messenger-is-life / @motherly-moth

This was fun to do, even if we never quite got to this point in our rps))

A side character from some rp shenanigans on my sideblog @thelaststarseed . Eirlys is Amosis’ father and Circe’s ex husband. The divorce was complicated and messy and a very bad time. Moth dad here is currently living his best life in an AU unfucked Hallownest

[journeythrough-impossiblethings]

Journal of Impossible Things   Journey Through Impossible Things

John I – Fobwatched Tenth Doctor – David Tennant – #Journal-of-Impossible-Things-Volume-I / #Human-Nature-Family-of-Blood – Doctor Who, Time Traveler’s Wife Whoniverse

The Tenth Doctor was hiding away from the Family of Blood in England in 1913. He used the chameleon arch to become John Smith, a perfectly ordinary human being, a man with his head in the clouds perhaps a bit too much. He was a school teacher who dreamed of being a Lord of Time. His dreams were filled with fantastical, almost fairytale-like adventures with monsters and aliens and a tiny, enormous, impossible box that travels anywhere and anywhen in the universe. And she was there, in his dreams. Her face was in his dreams, even before he knew her (he had proof, too; he drew her in his Journal of Impossible Things before he met her). She made John Smith fall in love and showed the Doctor what it was like to be normal for once. They were married and the Doctor almost had a chance at an ordinary, simple, beautiful life. But they found him, and John Smith had to wake up from his dream of an ordinary life and become the Doctor again. He left her behind, because she was just a fairytale. He didn’t know he would meet her again.

John II – Fobwatched Twelfth Doctor – Peter Capaldi – #Journal-of-Impossible-Things-Volume-II / #The-Newest-Time-Lord – Doctor Who, Time Traveler’s Wife Whoniverse

Anna finds out she is pregnant, and Anna and the Doctor decide it is best to use the chameleon arch to turn him back into John Smith, and settle down on Earth until the baby is old enough for it to be safe for them to travel together. They live in the 21st century, which takes some getting used to for John, since he was from 1913, but he adjusts quickly. He gets a job as a schoolteacher again and continues to write his dreams down in his updated version of the Journal of Impossible Things, only this time knowing it is all real. Anna secretly works for UNIT to do her best to keep trouble away from the Doctor and the baby while the Doctor is human and the baby is young, trying to give them as normal a life as possible. Except for Him, of course. Their sentient ex-war machine “Living Construct” companion who has basically taken on the role of nanny while they’re grounded on Earth. That part is still a little unusual. Also that the Doctor still talks to his son through his watch, and sometimes the Doctor’s doppelgänger (from another life), literally, shows up.

John III – Human John – Eddie Redmayne – #Journal-of-Impossible-Things-Volume-III / #A-Life-Of-His-Own – Doctor Who, Time Traveler’s Wife Whoniverse

After the Doctor gets stuck in the confession dial for four and a half billion years, he has a lot of emotional issues to sort out. He can deal with the pain fine, but what he can’t deal with his the pain his own pain is causing his empathic wife. She can literally feel what he feels, and he can’t stand to let her go through all that pain, so the deal was that she would live on Earth until he recovered enough from the trauma. He wouldn’t be alone. He had Tavin, and he would of course have companions like he always does. He promised he would not be alone. He wouldn’t let her be alone, either, of course. He found a couple on Earth, Sydney and Verity Lambert, in the year 1982. After the birth of their first son, they were unable to have any more children due to complications with the first pregnancy, but they really wanted their son to have a sibling. The Doctor helped them have another child, if it could be John. So he put John’s personality into the new embryo. John was a test-tube baby, but no one knew that except his parents (and the Doctor and Anna). John’s memories of his other lives were suppressed, but they still leaked out, usually in the form of dreams that he wrote down, like always. When he was in his twenties, he was a school teacher as a History teacher at the same school that Anna works at. They started dating, and not long after that Anna helped John’s suppressed memories come to the surface. They got married and had five children together and adopted a sixth, Terra Verity, their identical twins Aiden Daniel and Calder Sydney and their adopted Zygon triplet Pete Basil, Martha Skye, and Sarah Jane II.

John IV – TARDIS Matrix Ghost – Eddie Redmayne / Peter Capaldi / David Tennant – #Journal-of-Impossible-Things-Volume-IV / #In-the-Matrix – Doctor Who, Time Traveler’s Wife Whoniverse

Anna died of old age after the human John died, and Anna was reborn as a man, going by the name of Sean. Sean finds the Twelfth Doctor, who is currently a lecturer at a university, where he and Nardole are guarding Missy in a vault beneath the school. Sean and the Doctor take the TARDIS and go back to find John as he is dying, where John’s consciousness is uploaded to a fragment of the Time Lord Matrix kept in the Doctor’s TARDIS. John stays in the TARDIS Matrix while Sean occasionally sits in the Doctor’s classes and visits John, goes on adventures with the Doctor and his student and companion Bill in the TARDIS. John gets very lonely in the Matrix by himself and they discuss the possibility of finding a way to get him out of the Matrix at about the same time they discover Anna/Sean is actually a fobwatched (second version of) Patience, the Doctor’s Time Lady (now Time Lord) wife from Gallifrey, and Anna didn’t reincarnate into Sean, she regenerated into him. They had tried to keep Anna’s marriage to John and her marriage to the Doctor separate until now (even though it’s been in debate about if they’re even different people or the same person), but when they decided to find a way to get John out of the Matrix they all accepted that Anna is going to be with both of them.

John IV.5 I – HoloJohn – Eddie Redmayne – #Journey-Through-Impossible-Things-Volume-I / #HoloDreams / #HoloJohn – Doctor Who, Time Traveler’s Wife Whoniverse

They project a hologram of John outside of the Matrix, just within the TARDIS, so he doesn’t have to be stuck in there all the time. He travels with the Doctor, Bill and Sean as they figure out their new dynamic, but has to stay within the TARDIS. Patience and Sean decide to stay as one person, so that Sean releases Patience and has both Anna/Sean’s memories and Patience’s, but still goes mostly by Sean/Anna. At the end of The Doctor Falls, Sean stays with the Doctor as he’s blowing up the Cybermen, and the explosion causes Sean to regenerate back into a woman, who is the fourth incarnation of Patience.

John IV.5 II – RoboJohn – Eddie Redmayne – #Journey-Through-Impossible-Things-Volume-II / #Androids-Dream-of-Existential-Crises / #RoboJohn / #John-Synth – Doctor Who, Time Traveler’s Wife Whoniverse

During Twice Upon a Time, when Testimony had the Twelfth Doctor’s TARDIS with John still inside, since he only exists within the TARDIS, they found him in there. They talked to him and found at the Doctor and Anna saved him very similarly to how they save people, but he’s stuck inside the TARDIS. They asked him if he wanted to join them, so he wouldn’t be trapped in there, but turned them down because he didn’t want to leave Anna and the Doctor. Later Testimony helped the Doctor find a synthetic body for John on New Earth from the time that Testimony comes from.

John IV.5 III – WereJohn – Eddie Redmayne – #Journey-Through-Impossible-Things-Volume-III / Howl-on-the-Moon / #WereJohn – Doctor Who, Time Traveler’s Wife Whoniverse

During one of their adventures, they came across a lycanthropic virus that can apparently mutate to infect synthetic bodies, and John got infected with it. The Thirteenth Doctor went back and got pregnant with Sean’s daughter who they name Jamie Alistair. Anna (Patience IV) gives birth to the Tenth Doctor’s son they name Jason Chesterton, and later somehow John gets Anna pregnant with fraternal triplets, two daughters and a son who share John’s lycanthropic virus. Their two daughters Diana and Connor and their son Lowell. Thirteen, Anna and John raise all five of the children together. Later John has a child with Patience V named Eirlys, who has a mutation of the lycanthropic virus making them a wereseal. Sometime later, during the time of the Eighteenth Doctor, Anna becomes Sean II, and he has a baby, Rosalyn, with a version of John from another universe, Kara Jon, and Kara Jon and her Anna, and Sean II, John and Eighteen all raise her, mostly in a split-custody sort of way since there’s a bit of a long distance thing, being from different universes and all.

John IV has interacted with Pete White from the Venture Bros. Fandom and Jareth the Goblin King from the Labyrinth Fandom. We also have a character who is a regular in this verse who is a Warforged OC (called Him) from the D&D Eberron Campaign Setting Fandom.

_____________________________________________________________

John IV from Mainverse - #Journey-Through-Impossible-Things-Unbound - Doctor Who TTW-verse AU/Canon Divergent

Once, before Thirteen was an actual thing, and before I made John III, just after the first Fantastic Beasts film came out, after I saw the movie I really wanted to play Newt Scamander, but Anna hadn't seen the movie yet, so very briefly I made an AU OC version of the Thirteenth Doctor with Eddie Redmayne as the FC who was basically just Newt Scamander but as the Doctor. Later, after I officially made Eddie Redmayne the main FC for John, we briefly talked about combining the two verses where John and the (Thirteenth) Doctor looked like twins. Although, now that I think about it, he could also be the elusive Eighteenth Doctor who is the Doctor during Sean II's time, instead of the Thirteenth. Idk.

_____________________________________________________________

Fobwatched Doctors AU

Fobwatched Doctors – #Fobwatched!AU – William Hartnell (Richard Hurndall, David Bradley), Patrick Troughton (Reece Shearsmith), Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, John Hurt, Christopher Eccleston, Matt Smith, Jodie Whittaker, Peter Cushing – Doctor Who, Time Traveler’s Wife Whoniverse 2

John Smith One (AU Fobwatched!One) | William Hartnell (Richard Hurndall, David Bradley) | Scientific Journalist

John Smith Two (AU Fobwatched!Two) | Patrick Troughton (Reece Shearsmith) | Nursery Assistant

Jon Smith Three (AU Fobwatched!Three) | Jon Pertwee | Mechanical Engineer

John Smith Four (AU Fobwatched!Four) | Tom Baker | Sailor and Artist

John Smith Five (AU Fobwatched!Five) | Peter Davison | Writer and Author

John Smith Six (AU Fobwatched!Six) | Colin Baker | Weatherman

John Smith Seven (EU Fobwatched!Seven) | Sylvester McCoy | Human Nature novel | Teacher

John Smith Eight (AU Fobwatched!Eight) | Paul McGann | Zookeeper

John Smith War (AU Fobwatched!War Doctor) | John Hurt | Diplomat

John Smith Nine (AU Fobwatched!Nine) | Christopher Eccleston | Police Officer

John Smith Ten (Fobwatched!Ten) | David Tennant | English Teacher | Human Nature/Family of Blood Canon Divergent Fobwatched Tenth Doctor

Anna met and married John before she knew the Doctor. She finds out about the Doctor from John's dreams, his journal, and by confronting John's living pocket watch with the Doctor's consciousness inside about it. This version of John also meets Jackson Lake while he believes that he is the "Tenth" (or actually Eleventh) version of the Doctor.

John Smith Eleven (AU Fobwatched!Eleven) | Matt Smith | Toymaker

John Smith Twelve (AU Fobwatched!Twelve) | Peter Capaldi | Teacher

Joan Smith Thirteen (AU Fobwatched!Thirteen) | Jodie Whittaker | Mechanic and Inventor

Dr. John Who (AU Fobwatched Unknown Doctor) | Peter Cushing | Scientist and Inventor

The Celestial Toymaker kidnapped the Doctor, made him use the chameleon arch making him believe that he's a human scientist named Dr. Who, who invented a time machine, and travels with his granddaughters Susan and Barbara and Barbara's boyfriend Ian, and later his niece Louise, as well as a man named Tom Campbell by accident, fight the Daleks and reliving some of the First Doctor's adventures with some small changes.

[pinkbean]

Here we go bois its time for a Zeru Rant todays episode is abot the Chain Slash quests

So Chain Slash. It is incredibly fun, and I have had an enjoyable time r1′ing these skills, and I do want to master it and possibly get the two remaining skills to r1.  However, do you want to know what is not incredibly fun? Quests that require to get you items with terrible RNG, locked behind missions that you have to wait 36 minutes for each time and only to be able to have a *chance* at getting these items. That’s right, I’m gonna talk about the Chain Slash quests.  While I did not like the terrible RNG of the Dorcha crystals, they were at least somewhat bearable, and after the bad RNG that was that. You got the skill. Hooray. I awaited the Baltane missions to come out and hoped that the last 3 skills wouldn’t be locked behind terrible RNG in the same way Spinning Slasher was. Oh boy was I wrong. As expected, save for Chain Burst, were of course locked behind absolutely terrible RNG. Except, unlike Spinning Slasher to make it at least somewhat bearable, it only managed to get worse. You see, these three skills were locked behind the Baltane mission content. Great, nothing too bad right? Wrong. You can only do these missions once per Erinn day, which is 36 minutes. Now 36 minutes may not sound that bad, but consider this. Spread it across 4 missions where you have to collect 4 pages from each, and only 1 drops from its respective mission. Not only that but it’s a chance to get those pages. So there was no way you would be able to get these pages in a timely manner whatsoever, unless of course you had millions and millions of gold to just buy each page at around 2 million each. But if you were not so lucky, or didn’t want to spend the gold you had to suffer through this. Possibly spending days just to try to acquire a single page because you had to keep waiting for those 36 minutes to pass. It was absolutely dreadful. If these missions were just by themselves, I would understand because the rewards are kind of good. But locking skills required to master a talent is an extremely stupid move on Nexon’s part. So, lets say you got all four pages. Hooray! It can only get better from there, right? Wrong. Now you have to find two other individuals to be in a party with you so you can activate Bachram Boost 10 times. Bachram Boost only activates every 10 minutes or so you’ve been in combat. The gauge will stop filling up after you end combat, or what appears to be 10-15 seconds after you haven’t hit something. So it’s 10 minutes to fill up if you’re non-stop hitting something like the barriers in Provocation. That’s 1 hour and 40 minutes right there. And unless you and your party members are together the entire time and manage to continously do Provocation the entire time it’d take you 1 hour and 40 minutes to do. But lets be normal here and say you’d have to take breaks here and there. So that 1 hour and 40 minutes turns into 2 hours, maybe 3 hours, maybe even a day. How lovely.  Now you’ve gotten past that dreadful party experience, there’s no way it can get any worse than that? Honey, you’ve got a big storm coming. Now you are required to defeat 50 Baltane monsters while in Bachram Boost which lasts about 10 seconds.

No mission, save for Alban Bridge at phase 4-5 groups the enemies well enough for you to get that party of the quest done in a timely manner. So now you have to factor in the 36 minutes you have to wait between being able to do these missions, and then another 10 minutes to fill up the Bachram gauge. What the hell is this nonsense? Unless you’re fighting out of the Baltane missions and manage to get your gauge to a right point and time it with when phase 4 or phase 5 of Avalon Bridge starts, you’re going to be at this for awhile.  Absolutely ridiculous. God have mercy on your soul if you’re someone who has a job to do, or school, or something that can take up your time a lot. Because with that, you’re going to be at this thing for weeks. Maybe even a month. Oh, let’s not forget the squire outfit boxes. Which, I must add, are also a chance. Though luckily you can basically just do the Knights of the Round Table and most likely get the boxes from the end rewards, but that is still a /chance/ like the pages. Even worse is that you can only give the squires these outfit boxes on certain days because of their “birthday” or whatever. Kaour, Eirlys and Dai are the required Squire NPCs for the quest. Dai on Wednesday, Kaour on Friday, and Eirlys on Tuesday. That’s an entire week just to get a skill right there. A week. Maybe even longer if you don’t get lucky or have the money to spend on the boxes from other players.  So just to master this talent you have to spend weeks, maybe months trying to even get these skills through absurd questlines. The talent itself is extremely fun....but these ridiculous quests really do kind of soil the talent and it’s whole.  Sure other classes have had their own ridiculous rng things, like Shock pages, or the Int magic pages. But how many of those were locked behind semi-difficult content that can only be accessed every 36 minutes? Most of the content you can get the stuff for the int magics or shock can be accessed at any time whenever you want. You could power through and get really lucky and it won’t take you more than a few days, or you can take it slow and easy in a timely manner that works for you. But with these Baltane missions, you’re pretty much stuck having to take an eternity just to get these skills.  This whole questline is a mess. The entire way they’ve introduced this talent is a mess. The way they’ve decided to do this is a mess. And the worst part about it? This talent is, in my opinion, one of the most fun talents they’ve ever introduced. But yeah, in short these quests suck, this rng sucks, I hate the baltane missions, and I just want to master this stupid talent already. 

[dungeonsnderp]

The Plot So Far

Sessions One Through Seven

You asked for it, and here it is. For a note, Kat didn’t jump in till session three (I wanted to start with just one player and see if we were even ready to commit to D&D). Each session will have the actual plot...and some notes from me as DM on what was actually prepared vs what happened. It gets less coherent as we go, whoops.

TL;DR:

Session 1: Half-elf ranger/cleric Eirlys had one of those dreams that really sticks with you, that urged her to leave her temple of Selune and explore the world looking for a place she could call home. She promptly hopped on the road with her faithful cougar sidekick Clay. 

They headed south from Luskan towards Neverwinter (we’re using the map loosely at best, just as starting point for me for basic places) but didn’t get far before encountering a farmer in a bit of a pickle; Rhondor’s wagon had been run off the road by “some kind of creature” and the axle had snapped. After a tense conversation Eirlys was able to repair the wagon and get him back on the road, to his deep thanks (apparently his wife would not have been pleased to find him stuck). 

DM note: Voices for NPCs are super hard when you suck at acting? I think I oversold it and ended up barreling over KH, who’s a slow speaker by nature, so Rhondor kept cutting Eirlys off. My mistake, and I’m glad it happened so early, but still. NPCs are hard. 

Eirlys continued on the road before finding an interesting branch and following it...only to run into a Bugbear ambush. Facing up against two bugbears we both quickly realized that a) she was a lot more fragile than I had prepared for, and b) Clay needed some kind of healing...thing. Enter Healing Lick. It’s gross, but super effective! One of the bugbears escaped, the other was killed. Eirlys died twice, Clay three times. It went super well. 

Session 2: Longresting in a tree nearly went badly when they got ambushed by a single rat, Eirlys went to kick it and kneed Clay instead. I continue to be amazed by how rigged Roll20′s dice are. By this point KH has gotten a good 8 nat 1′s.

They eventually stumbled on an old graveyard and completely ruined temple. I wanted to test out dungeons and we spent the whole session bumbling around underground. It went decently despite both of us rolling poorly, but the only thing of note was that there was a tapestry with nagas being killed on it and Eirlys ripped it down (rolling too low of a perception to notice the hidden doorway behind it, I might add) and made it into a cape. For Clay. Her cat.

I’m gonna make her pay for it later.

As a DM sidenote; these two first sessions were ROUGH. Neither of us had played before and for every 20 minutes of actual play there was probably 10-15 minutes of googling and flipping through the rulebooks to learn how stuff worked. I’m still pretty sure KH rolled attack rolls wrong both times, and I kept fucking up perception rolls. We also couldn’t stop laughing and had to pause a couple times to resume breathing before continuing on, so my best advice is just to chill and not take things too seriously. 

Session 3: I knew I was ready to fold Kat in, so I actually took the time to do some planning to give us something to do. This was actually super rough; I knew Eirlys was going to be given a map so I started drawing it and let it just kinda flow. I figured fuck it, I’d build a game around whatever I came up with. I...don’t actually recommend this method, but it’s worked pretty well for me so far. All I really had planned was how to pass the map to Eirlys, and how Kat was going to make her entrance. The rest I left up to chance.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Somewhat recovered from all of the death, Eirlys and Clay got back on the road, and quickly discovered that not only had Rhondor made it past them, his wife Tiria (half-orc, very grumpy and sparse with words and emotions both) had caught up with them. One only kind of awkward interaction later and Eirlys had been (grumpily) thanked for her help and given a cape cloak. In one of its pockets was, you guessed it, a map. 

I’m so creative.

She just so happened to have spotted a tower in the distant distance earlier (you can totally see where I went NOW KISS with my plot ideas, oh well) and jauntily set off through the most boring plains known to man. A good couple hours of traveling later and she stumbled into the middle of a battle with a couple giant rats and her accidental new travel mate, half-orc fighter/rogue Mirasha. 

They “bonded” over the world’s longest and most awkward walk to the tower known to man. I’m just kinda sitting there listening to them interact like

Points for being in character for both of them, for sure, but good god. Hilariously awkward.

They reached the tower finally and I got a good chance to step back and let them drive. I had loosely planned the “puzzle” of this tower as that it was very tall, had a secret room up top, and the only way up was through one of four identical trapdoors in the floor which contained some kind of mechanism to get them upstairs. I had phrased the rhyme for this area to indicate the west door (sleeping sun) and figured I’d make the rest up on the fly. 

Seriously this rhyme is so bullshit, let me break this down for you;

A spire tall and hidden feet a message for the snoozing sun beneath the floor a giant sleeps wake him gentle to rise as one

I went, OKAY IT’S A BIG TOWER WITH A SECRET IN THE FLOOR THAT BRINGS U TO THE CEILING and this was born. Super subtle. 

Eirlys hugged the phallic tower to get a feel for it, and also decided she was going to ring the bell if it killed her. Mirasha tried to actually solve the puzzle but picked the wrong door and I went “shit I didn’t prepare for the wrong answer” and went HEY magic animated possessed scarecrow yay! They did manage to kill it.

Seriously about 80% of each session is me realizing I didn’t prepare for something and scrambling to come up with a result. I gripe and bitch but it’s honestly where the fun is for me. 

Session 4: We had to stop shortly after the battle due to time constraints but picked it back up a day later. They cracked the (admittedly laughably easy) puzzle to ascend the tower (I hadn’t planned on there even being a “puzzle” down there, but after the break it seemed super anticlimactic? I don’t regret putting it in but it was very lame.)

Up top was a trapped chest containing a strange shape, and the bell. Oh god, that fucking bell. Eirlys absolutely had to ring it and I was admittedly kind of sad when she succeeded her checks to ring it with her body and then cling to it as it swung back and forth. Flinging her off the tower would have been hilarious. 

Session 5: This was an accidental sudden session and I had zero prepped. I had already picked out a couple of enemies in case I needed a sudden battle and decided to have a griffon swoop in on the attack. They brought it down to like 2 health and then chose to knock it unconscious, tie it up, and then interrogate it once it woke and I’m just here like 

Pulled a griffon voice and plot out of my ass yep okay. Incidentally, griffons totally know when you’re lying. Or at least when Eirlys was lying. They did a great job talking it around to revealing that it didn’t remember how or why it had chosen to attack them. (It also had a family and kids, just saying.) Our heroes pieced together that both the scarecrow and griffon had had an identical flaming eye thing going on and correctly deduced that something was possessing them into being hostile. 

I say possessing like I planned this or had any idea who or what was doing the possessing ahead of time. I did not. I do now, because I had to back my claims up somehow, but that was a plot point I had not planned lmao

Session 6 & 7: (These two were back-to-back with no plot break in the middle so I’m lumping them.) I’m here like yep I have this under control now. We’re going to Spiderweb Vale, I actually planned a puzzle this time around, AND a dungeon, this is totally under control.

Boy was I wrong.

Eirlys attempted to fling herself off a clifftop, they nearly turned around at the dungeon entrance because spiders, and then got stuck on the puzzle and needed a bunch of hints. I had planned a maze based on a sort of crosswords-style puzzle and had no idea how well it would go.

All that being said, it was a blast. I had such a good time adapting things on the fly for them. Kinda forgot to plan anything for the dead ends and played that super fast and loose, and had also forgotten to theme the dungeon and so pulled a description out of nowhere, but we muddled through.

Side note, dungeons are really big. And kind of repetitive. I used a lot of DM power to slide us as smoothly as possible through the whole dungeon (we might have skipped like half of it through handwavey magic)

But we got through it and they did fairly well against the phase spider mega boss and got the second shape bar thing! 

I’m learning more and somehow prepping less every session as we go, but as long as everyone’s having fun I consider it a success. I have more of the end-game fleshed out and some loose ideas for each landmark and we’re just gonna chill and see what happens. 

So now, onward and upwards to the Dead Man’s Cave!. 

[reenvhai]

Tokota Hunting - Summer Caribou

-Here you go, boy -and Eirlys gave Thooaran an entire loaf of bread. She didn’t expect it to completely satisfy his hunger, given the enormous size of the wolf. But at least he would have something on his stomach, for the moment of continuing the hunting. Thooaran was moderated with the bread, eating it from small portions, so it wouldn’t end immediately. Eirlys revised her satchel, and picked an apple for her. -Food will last one day more -she told Thooaran, checking her bag- We must find these reindeers soon, or else we’ll return empty handed. Thooaran growled after swallowing the last piece of bread, clearly expressing that he was confident on success.

The girl put the bag down and went nearer to the animal, leaning back on his warm side. Thooaran breathing was quiet, but even so, he took so much air that his chest inflated, lifting Eirlys up several centimeters. She smiled, amused, and caressed his leg. Thooaran coat, despite being dirty and slightly shaggy, was soft in some way. Similar to a rabbit, perhaps. On the loin and legs it was rougher, but the joints and especially the mane, the fur turned into a cozy softness. Eirlys usually slept on it. The tokota had a special aroma too, like herbs and fresh air, so sleeping with him always made her dream with wild fields and forests. The weather was being warm lately. The tundra was beautiful in those times, with color flowers dotting the grasslands, and all kinds of insects as well. -Look, Toby! A butterfly among these bushes -Eirlys pointed to a yellow dot fluttering over the plants. Thooaran pricked up his ears and stood still, like if he stalked a prey, looking at the butterfly. Seconds later, he began to wag his tail. She laughed: -Go, go catch it. The animal did not waited any longer and jumped up, running after the dot. Eirlys let out a loud laugh, seeing such a beast chasing the butterfly, snarling playfully. Thooaran, with his almost-two-meters size and giant weight, moved like a puppy playing around the insects; he lowered his head and forelegs, tail wagging vigorously in the air. Incredibly, the butterfly wasn’t damaged even by accident. The wolf let it flit over his snout, then snorted and pushed it up, and chased again. He went some tens of meters away, playing until the butterfly soared too high and was out of Thooaran jumps reach. It moved its yellow wings to the sky and disappeared flying to the pasture. Thooaran sat on the ground, watching it going away. Eirlys looked them both.

After a few moments, the tokota returned, slightly wagging his tail. She was lying on the ground, watching the intense blue sky. A mosquito came to her and landed on her arm. She softly swore and slapped it, but the insect was faster and managed to escape. Well, Eirlys huffed annoyed, that was the bad side of the summer. The heat wave last week had been quite strong, and mosquitoes returned just like butterflies. Thooaran appeared in her visual field, sniffing her neck; his damp nose gave her a chill. She got up immediately, and patted her friend on the neck. -Well, shall we continue with the hunt or not? -she smiled. The huge wolf growled, and flexed the front legs so Eirlys could get up on him more easily. She grabbed his mane skin, climbed on his neck and sat behind the withers as Thooaran got up again. He started walking, while Eirlys regretted not having proper mount. All that Thooaran had was an improvised and crudely made harness of leather straps tied, which would help carry the hunt piece on his back. Barebacking was nice in its simplicity, but it was horribly uncomfortable for long rides. Maybe she could buy leather and make a good saddle if she sold the hunt piece… Suddenly Thooaran stopped short and pointed his ears to the west. He raised his head and sniffed the air. Eirlys got up on the animal’s loin and tried to sight something, in vain; a soft but high enough hill prevented her from seeing beyond two-hundred meters. -What is it, Toby? The reindeers? -she asked to his companion. They had been following a caribou herd for three days. They had left the town a tuesday; they pursued the herd all over the night, hoping to catch them up, and rested in the morning. But each time the tokota managed to reach the herd, it was the dawn, after the caribou’s rest; then, the cervids started the trip again, and the hunters were too tired to follow then. Today was the afternoon of a… friday, Eirlys calculated. They had taken a nap a while ago, and both Thooaran and she were ready to follow the trail of the caribou. The wolf quickly covered the distance to the knoll, and when he reached the top, he crouched in the bushes; the girl jumped off of his back and hid with him. Yes, there was the herd. There would be at least fifty animals of all ages and gender. They apparently had suffered a delay, and were resting outside their schedule, which allowed the hunters to finally catch them. The breeze came from the north… good, the caribous wouldn’t sniff them. Thooaran studied the herd, looking for a good victim. Eirlys surprised him with his eye on a few-weeks calf. -Hey, Toby… we need more than “that” -she frowned- Now tell me you don’t dare to hunt a bigger one. Thooaran growled. His opinion was quite clear: he preferred the tender meat. Eirlys huffed: -Come on, hunt that -and she pointed to a nice-sized specimen, that was getting away from the main herd. The tokota growl again, quite menacingly, and shook his head, apparently ignoring his rider. However, he stopped watching calves and headed to where Eirlys told him. She stayed hidden on the knoll, aware that she would only bother if she accompanied Thooaran. However, she grabbed her knife from the satchel, and held it, ready to offer help. The tawny wolf walked down the hill, hiding in the long grass. Still a large part of his loin was visible, because if his size, but it seemed that the herd was distracted; Thooaran got close to fifty meters. The chosen caribou grazing quietly. He was a young male, but good-sized, perhaps more than 360lbs. Thooaran licked his mouth, thinking of his food in advance. He got up with a jump and started running at the same time that a female of the pack bellowed, revealing his presence. His prey received the alarm and started the race in less than a second. Thooaran growled, ran forward several meters and jumped, until he was next to his prey, which was fleeing in panic. The tokota threw a bite on its loin, but only managed to make a scratch. The herd was escaping now, and the desperate caribou was gaining out some heads of advantage to Thooaran. He growled frustrated, unable to reach the prey, but then saw his chance. Thooaran let the herbivore pass him for a body, and then got directly behind it. At one point, he pushed himself with a jump and bit a leg. The reindeer stumbled and tried to get up, but that brief delay gave Thooaran the opportunity to reach its neck and give it the deathblow. As the herd was getting away, Eirlys came out of hiding and ran to his friend, who was waiting her wagging his tail, still with the caribou in his jaws. -Good, Toby! -the girl looked the piece. The coat, though bloodstained neck, was shiny and healthy; it would make an excellent material or a good profit. Thooaran shook and dropped off the caribou. -… Thanks -Eirlys added. The tokota had done all the hard work, and she would just share the food unceremoniously? Thooaran made a sound like a meow on bear voice. Hah, no, Eirlys thought, smiling to herself. Of course she would have to work. Who else would groom Toby tonight? Then they started the travel back home.