#game eskel

[churchofpossum]

More Centaur Eskel from a bit ago. I still really like the background and mood of this one.

[murkycrush]

The Witcher Eskel (Is it obvious he’s my favorite?) 💘

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[cosmos-coma]

I've a little Valentine's Day request if you don't mind. Reader is a mage and Eskel's lover. She decides to make a surprise for him on this special day.

Saccharine

A/N: okay, I know you said "little", I know. But I'm finding out that I cant control myself with requests lol. But I may actually have to use this mage character now, I really love the concept.

Pairing: Eskel x Reader

Words: 1.2k

Warning: real quick editing, just tooth-rotting fluff! (Oh, also no pronouns as usual)

________________________________

You had been up all night working tirelessly about the kitchen of Kaer Morhen. The entire keep lay in deep and silent sleep as the holiday of love and romance loomed with the next sunrise. You had really wanted to make it a holiday you’d both remember, and so you were pulling out all your magic and talents for it.

You had a very peculiar talent among your fellow mages, one that hadn’t been seen in a truly long time. Those that didn’t understand called your talents worthless and a waste of chaos. Those that did understand tripped over themselves to stay in your good graces. 

See you had the ability to use memories in your magic. Good or bad, yours or other people’s, you could see memories people had long forgotten if you concentrated hard enough or could choose to share them as well, though that one really wore you down to use. 

It was morning when Eskel found you, face down on the counter as you sat on your stool. Your forehead laid against a big roll of dough and your light snores puffed up bits of flour as you breathed out. 

“Darling…. Y/n, come on. Wake up…” Eskel encouraged as he gently jostled your shoulder. 

“Hmm… No, I need to proof for 5 more minutes… Let me rise..” You mumbled out, still asleep as you swatted at his hand. 

“That’s what I’m trying to do.” He laughed out and went over to the sink, fiddling around in the sink for a moment before tossing a soaking washcloth on your head. 

“AHH, I’M UP!! IM AWAKE!!” You shouted, half the dough sticking to your forehead and your hair. Eskel held back raucous laughter as he saw that, paired with flour that covered your entire face, 

“You look… ravishing. Ravishing and radiant was what I was gonna say…” Eskel laughed as he grabbed the washcloth from your head and began wiping your face off, really scrubbing to get the dough. “I went to go make you breakfast in bed for today, but it turns out you never even made it to bed.” 

“Ugh, ow. Too hard, scrubbing too hard…” you complained as you pulled your head away, “I got a little consumed last night, I guess…” you threw the leftover dough away, and cleaned up your station. “You know you can still make me breakfast… but let’s meet in the library, okay? It’s just more open than the room is.” 

Eskel knew better than to argue when you obviously had something planned, so he just nodded and kissed your head, “Of course, dear. I’ll be right there.” He assured and began pulling together everything he needed for a nice breakfast you would love. 

Your feet carried you quickly, gathering many of your bags and boxes from the kitchen as you brought everything up to the library in anticipation of your beloved’s arrival. 

“Y/n? My magnificent and flour-ridden- mage?” Eskel called as he nudged open the Library door, committing the greatest balancing act of all time as he carries various plates and bowls on a large tray. As he walked in deeper, candles flickered about on the large wooden table. Everything was set up in front of the largest windows in the entire keep, and the bookshelves surrounded your little nook, giving you privacy and quiet. There you sat on the little couch, a warm blanket around you, several opaque bags at your feet, no doubt holding your gifts for him. Fat and lazy snowflakes sauntered downwards behind you and made for the perfect scene.

“There you are,” An easy smile crossed his lips as he saw you and set the tray of dishes down. “Here is our full spread for breakfast… and lunch probably. I got a bit carried away making everything.” a chuckle came from him as he moved to slide in next to you. 

You grinned and kissed his cheek as he came in beside you, “you mind if I give you my presents right away? I just can't hold in the excitement any longer..” 

He laughed, “go ahead, let’s see them..” 

You grinned and handed him a small box. “I’m letting you know now. That I love you so much, but this is your valentines day, Birthday, Yule, hallows eve- Every holiday present for this year… I know I won't be able to top it anytime soon.” 

Eskel nodded, curious excitement filling him as he opened it up to see…. A box of donuts? An unusual blue glaze topped these small fried cakes as well as little purple decorations. He took one out and took a small bite, a sweet and cool taste washing over his tongue as a memory sprang forth.

It was a memory of you and him, early on in your relationship as you two were running and laughing as you tripped over yourselves trying to escape the downpour outside. It was a fleeting memory as he swallowed down his bite. The cool pattering of rain on his skin and the ringing of your laughter in his ears waned into silence once more.

You grinned as you watched him relive one of your favorite memories of you two, something so simple and mundane, but for some reason, it always stuck out in your mind. “You’re one of the few who refuses to ask me to use my magic, you who sometimes needs it the most,” you explained with a soft and loving tone. “So each donut is a memory of ours… each one is two memories… The longer you chew it the longer it lasts, but it still has to go away eventually.” You picked up the bags that lay at your feet, each only about the size of a coin pouch. 

“Each of these holds hard candies, so they’ll keep well on the path. But each color is a memory of you and another person. Vesemir’s memories of you are green, Lambert’s are orange, and Geralt’s are yellow.” You smiled as you explained, “some of them might be a little sad, but each is still a happy memory…”

Eskel’s eyes pricked with tears that couldn’t flow as he looked through each of the bags. There were at least 10 or 15 in each sack and he knew he could easily get this to last him for years to come. Silence wafted through the air as Eskel’s words got caught in his throat. 

You smiled and pressed a sweet kiss against his cheek, “I know, you don’t need to say anything. I know the path gets hard and that people can say some nasty things about Witchers and scars alike. I’ve seen the way it hurts you, Esk… So I just wanted a way for you to remember how much we love you.” you hugged him close, laughing a bit at the way he quietly buried his face in your neck. 

“I love you so much…. My saccharine sweetheart…” He laughed a bit to himself as he pulled back, piling the treats together off to the side so he could pull you into his lap to be even closer.

“Your sweets are lovely, but your love is so much sweeter.”

______________

Taglist: @writingmysanity @open--till--midnight @madamemelancholysstuff @dark-academia-slut

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[thesleepy1]

The Picture of Lambert the Witcher

A/N: I have no explanation for this. I just wanted to get back into writing when I have the free time. I’m sorry it took me so long. <3

Pairings: Lambert x Eskel 

Summary: Eskel purchases himself a leather bound sketch book and fills it with pages and pages of the things he loves. He has far too many pages of just Lambert. 

Word count: 600

Warnings: Lambert’s colorful language 

“What are you doing?” Lambert asked. His head was resting on Eskel’s shoulders. It had taken him a moment to get comfortable, to squirm his way and adjust as he went until his head was perfect next to Eskel’s. The young witcher looked down at the book in the elder’s hand.  

“It's called drawing,” Eskel explained with a smirk. “It’s what people do when they have hobbies.” 

Lambert rolled his eyes and adjusted against Eskel’s neck again. “I know what drawing is, you arse.” Lambert pointed at the rough charcoal marks on Eskel’s page. “What are you drawing?” 

“Lil’ Bleater at the moment. Would you like to see others?” 

Lambert began flipping the pages without a word. There were depictions of flowers they had seen in passing, delicate things Lambert would not have paid any mind to but Eskel had treasured. There were more pages of Lil’ Bleater. Drawings of her grazing out in the fields and her asleep in the stables.

And then there was an alarming amount of pages of just Lambert.  

After a certain point there were nothing but pages and pages and pages of him. There were charcoal prints of him gazing off in the distance and colored depictions of him asleep and doing other mundane tasks like carrying buckets of water and training in the courtyard. Eskel had even rendered an image of him nursing a bowl of soup, the softness in Lambert’s eye was almost unrecognizable to the witcher himself. 

“If I didn't love you just as much, I would say you’re obsessed.” 

Eskel blushed and quickly closed the sketchbook. “It’s too much, isn’t it?” He made to put the sketchbook back in its carrier. “I’m sorry. I should’ve asked you first.” 

“Hey, hey, Eskel.” Lambert paused the older witcher in his movements. “I never said I didn’t like them.” Lambert took the sketchbook back and flipped to a random page of himself. “Do I really look this good? I think the artist took a bit too many liberties here.”

Eskel’s hand went to Lambert’s chin and gently pulled him into a kiss. Eskel rarely kissed roughly or with too much force. It wasn’t in his nature. Eskel kissed Lambert like he was drinking the sweetest, most refreshing nectar from the saints themselves. Eskel tugged at Lambert’s bottom lip with his teeth to draw out a moan but that was as far as Eskel took it. 

“You do. I—” Eskel had to remind himself to breathe when Lambert was gazing at him like he was now. “I can’t stop myself.” Eskel caressed Lambert’s cheek, fingers being extra careful on his scars. “I’m always afraid I’ll take too much if I don’t keep myself in check.” 

Lambert exploded out laughing. He leaped from his spot against Eskel and clutched at his stomach. His laughter was overwhelming. He had to wipe the tears from his eyes when he was done. “Are you some sort of princess, Eskel? Do you think I’m some sort of noble that’s going to get scared by your advances?” Lambert chuckled at his own words. He reached his hand to the back of Eskel’s neck and wound his fingers in the short hair there, pulling the older witcher closer. “You can have me anyway you please.” Lambert kissed Eskel and refused to leave up for air until Eskel had to pull himself away lest they pass out in each other’s arms. 

“C-could I draw you in bed?” Eskel whispered the request earnestly in between breaths. 

“You can even tie me with ribbon.” Lambert winked. “I bet I'll make for a lovely picture.”

[fandomwarehouse]

At least once, I want Eskel to be like "Do you see this shit, Lil Bleater?" like the Applejack Spiderman meme

[madamemelancholysstuff]

that was sooo cute 🥺❤️‍🩹

Hi! This isn't a request or anything like that, but I just finished the entirety of Chamomile and Gwent and I am filled with warm, happy thoughts about Geralt and his wifey! And I was thinking, since Geralt can't have kids anyway and Reader is also hinted to be unable to have kids, what if a few years later during their travels (maybe they're traveling for the holidays) they pass by a village that has been terrorized by monster attacks (in my head it's a werewolf that's exhibiting bizarre behaviour but that's just me) and as they investigate, they happen upon a baby (in my head it's a little boy) that's barely a year old, face scratched up but otherwise unharmed. Reader insists on caring for it alongside the village's very old midwife-slash-healer while they try to figure out what's happening and why it's happening. The child has been left an orphan because of the most recent attack and the people of the village are either superstitious and think they baby's a demon or they think its cries attracted the monster in the first place so for everyone's safety it needs to go somewhere else where it's safer and ta da! Geralt and Wife™ end up with a baby😂 I don't think I could ever write (and publicly post) this idea so I thought I'd share it with you instead if that's okay with you. At this point I think I'm more in love with the Reader in your story than Geralt LOL and every time she just gives her bleeding heart to anyone who's suffering I give my computer screen heart-eyes haha but I also love the idea of Geralt with a little boy! His relationship with Ciri is so beautiful and heartwarming to me but I can't help imagining him with a boy too! A little Vesemir Jr maybe lol. What do you think about this idea? I hope it's okay that I'm picturing the characters in the way you've written them in my head for this! I hope this made sense since English is not my first language and sometimes I'm not sure how to translate it from my mother language to English.. I've been reading your works on Ao3 much more regularly than looking at your Tumblr account since I don't use this website so I'm not sure I understand how to navigate it in case you have rules or guidelines for this blog. Apologies if I've overstepped!

OKAY THIS IS SO SWEET.

First of all, I'm so thrilled that you enjoyed Chamomile and Gwent, and I genuinely love the idea of people fantasizing about Geralt and Reader's future together and what you think it might look like! The fact that you basically came up with a whole story for how they might pick up a kiddo during their travels? HELLO I'M SO FLATTERED 😭❤🙏

I'll be perfectly honest, I'm not much a kid-fic writer, but this scenario is so sweet that I had to write you a little drabble -- see below the cut!

It’s a peaceful winter morning at Corvo Bianco. You’re warm and cozy in your bed, drifting in and out of a dreamy doze with Geralt’s warm naked chest pressed to your back, when you hear the distinct sound of the front door creaking open.

The sound of the door doesn’t disturb you, though. What disturbs you is the loud and slightly-sarcastic voice that follows. “Yoo-hoo. Honey, we’re home.”

A second, deeper voice follows. “Shut the fuck up, Lambert. They might be sleeping.” 

“Not anymore,” Geralt groans, and you know why he’s disgruntled: the voices in the hall have roused the child who was, until moments ago, sleeping soundly in the cot beside the bed. 

He’s awake now, though — awake and starting to fuss. You throw back the blankets and sit up, but Geralt is quicker than you: the child is already in Geralt’s arms, his whimpering quieted to a happy coo as Geralt bounces him gently and pats his diapered bum. 

“See, there you go,” Geralt murmurs soothingly. “Nothing to fuss about. Not until you see Lambert and Eskel’s ugly mugs, at least.”

You tut playfully at him as you put on your dressing gown. “Don’t tell him that they’re ugly. All three of you are perfectly handsome, scars and all. All four of you, I should say,” you add, and you drop a kiss on the baby’s dark-haired head. 

You reach for the door, but before you can open it, Geralt touches your waist. “Hey,” he says. “Where’s mine?”

“Your what?” you say in surprise. 

“My kiss.”

You shoot him a grin, then pop up on your toes and plant a kiss on his bearded cheek. “Apologies, master witcher. How could I have forgotten?”

He smirks and gives your butt a tiny spank, and you grin cheekily at him before opening the bedroom door. “Welcome home, boys!” you say, and you hurry over to kiss Lambert on the cheek. 

“Hey,” he says, with a pat to your back. “So this is the brat, huh?”

Eskel scoffs. “Real nice, asshole.”

“Eskel, language,” you scold.

He grimaces. “Sorry, sorry. Gonna take some getting used to.”  

You smile and kiss him on the cheek before turning to Geralt. “May I?”

“Sure thing,” Geralt says. “All right, Ves, your mom’s got you now.”

Ves burbles happily and reaches for you, and Eskel raises his eyebrows. “Ves? That’s his name?”

“Yeah,” Geralt says. “Short for Vesemir.”

Lambert scoffs and folds his arms. “You guys are soft.” 

“I think it’s a great name,” Eskel says.

You smile at him, then rub Ves’s back. “These are your uncles, little wolf,” you say softly. “Uncle Esky and Uncle Lamby.”

Geralt chuckles and Eskel grins, but Lambert’s expression is surprisingly serious, and his golden witcher’s eyes are on the baby’s face. He studies Ves’s face for a moment, then sighs and shakes his head. “Damn. He got fucked up good, huh?”

He’s referring to the wicked-looking scars on the right side of Ves’s face — long and ragged scratch marks spanning from his forehead down to his jaw: the souvenirs of a terrible wound took Ves’s right eye, but spared his life. 

Eskel grunts. “Yeah, he’s gonna fit right in with us someday.”

“Yes, he will,” you say firmly. “He’s going to be brave and strong like you boys, and just as handsome as all of you. But hopefully with better manners than some,” you say sweetly to Lambert. 

He smirks. “Ah, fuck off.”

“Language,” Eskel and Geralt say.

You laugh, and Lambert’s smirk widens. He rubs the back of his neck, then gestures to you. “Ah, what the hell. I’ll hold the kid.”

You carefully hand him over to Lambert, who holds him rather awkwardly. Ves giggles and pats his face with enthusiasm, and Lambert wrinkles his nose. “Hey, buddy, watch who you’re throwing hands at.”

“He’s got the right idea, throwing hands at you,” Eskel says with a grin. “Here, hand him over.”

“I just got him,” Lambert complains. “Wait your turn.”

Ves burbles happily and tugs on Lambert’s witcher medal. Eskel edges closer and tickles his chubby neck, making him squeal with laughter, and Geralt sidles closer to you and drapes his arm around your shoulders. “Never thought I’d see these two making a fuss over a baby,” he murmurs. 

You smile and wrap your arms around his waist in a loose embrace. In truth, having a baby wasn’t something you had ever expected, either. But if your life with Geralt has proven anything, it’s that the best things can have a way of sneaking up on you when you least expect them. 

[elfsroot]

[donovaneagle2098]

A Complete Encyclopedia of the Lore of Every Witcher School

This is a project I've been working on for a long time. The Witcher Schools in general have lore spread across 3 or 4 different sources, so it's very easy to find inaccurate details about each school due to a person only going off of one source without even knowing of the others. Hell, I've been guilty of this in the past. So I've gone out of my way to find every source available for the various Witcher Schools and compile it into one master post, mostly pulling from the standalone Gwent game, and the Witcher TRPG, as well as an email conversation I've had with the TRPG's writer, Cody Pondsmith. Without further ado, let's start out with the original school, the Order of Witchers.

Witcher schools are like the Clans of Skellige, subtly different, but largely united by their common ground, and that common ground is the Order of Witchers.

The Order of Witchers began as an experiment by the rogue mages Alzur and his mentor Cosimo Malaspina. They "recruited" tests subjects from orphanages, buying them from neglectful parents, or outright kidnapping street kids.

From Cosimo's Gwent Card:

"Children keep asking him for gifts. He doesn’t know why, but it really helps with finding subjects for his experiments."

The main goal of this project was to create an order of knights artificially mutated and imbued with extreme levels of magic to protect people from a world where, at the time, monsters were often literally around every corner.

The mutation experiments were grueling, and most early candidates died horribly, the girls especially, as the mutagenic compounds the mages were working with at the time were better suited for a boys physiology, and they quickly stopped trying to find a mixture that worked well with women, instead refining the more successful candidate pool to meet deadlines. Even with these refinements, however, the Witchers couldn't actually generate much in the way of magical power, at least not nearly as much as those funding the project had hoped for.

These early candidates were encouraged to stick to political neutrality, were told of their duty to protect the common people, and their sword instructor tried to encourage them to take on knightly virtues to live their lives by, though only a few candidates actually bought fully into these particular knightly ideals.

The school developed a training regimen that all later Witcher schools would put their own small twists on. They perfected the whirling sword style, practiced on the Pendulum and Gauntlet training courses. They learned the Witcher Sign magic, created by Cosimo. They were taught hunting and monster lore from experts hired from across the world, and master alchemists crafted the famous Witcher potions.

Ultimately, funding from this school would be pulled due to the Witcher candidates lack of truly powerful magic ability, and the order would start to fracture. Witchers dissatisfied with their lot in life after being forcibly mutated, and railing against the Order's enforced ideals began getting combatative with other Witchers over petty contracts. At this time, contracts were so plentiful that there was no real need to fight over them, but these dissident Witchers did so anyway out of a desire for autonomy and to be free of the Order's code, which they saw as having no practical purpose to prepare new Witchers for the road ahead, and hypocritical as it was forced on them by the mages who never cared for the Witcher's lives. This culminated in one such outspoken Witcher, Arnaghad, attacking another Witcher who poached a contract from him.

After being forced into the painful life of a Witcher, Arnaghad loathed anyone who imposed their will upon him, the Order and it's codes especially. He led an attack on the Order proper, aided by fellow Witchers who respected his defiance towards authority. Once they were beaten back, these dissidents fled to the Amell mountain range to start the next Witcher school, the School of the Bear.

The School of the Bear is one of the most misunderstood schools of them all, owing to the first major lore drop about them being largely in-universe rumors and conjecture surrounding the school, and as such I may need to go more in depth. The two major misconceptions stemming from this is the rumor about their armor, which claims that they don't bother dodging like the other Witchers and instead take blows head on (generally a bad idea, according to Geralt in the books), and the rumor about them attacking most Witchers they meet.

I contacted Cody Pondsmith, who wrote a great deal of this lore, and he mentioned that Bears do often threaten or even fight other Witchers, but in a very Skellige way, only to ward off the other Witcher from contracts they want. The Bears just want to live lives where they aren't commanded by others, and were trained especially brutally, and so will fight for what contracts they want. However they will NEVER kill another Witcher, just draw first blood (outside of duels to decide who runs the school, which occasionally turn deadly. It's unknown if Arnaghad has ever lost these duels) and if that other Witcher stands up to the Bear, they'll let them have the contract and if they meet up and work together enough even maybe become a lifelong friend.

To quote Cody himself: "I like to think of the Witcher Order as a big family in which the Bear School is the blunt, no-nonsense brother. He can be prickly and a bit of a bully sometimes but he takes his job seriously and he can be a good drinking buddy if you get to know him. Not the friendliest of people but far from evil. If you stand up to him and show him you're not afraid of him, he'll respect you."

The other rumor is also an exaggeration. The Witcher TRPG mentions that the Bear armor was designed with flexibility in mind, and while they trained to take on weaker blows with their armor and "mastery of the Quen sign", they also trained how to move quickly in their armor if they needed to dodge a fatal blow. The Bears also still trained on the gauntlet and pendulum like the other schools. Cody Pondsmith also confirmed that the Bears are just as agile as the other Witchers.

The Bears' core philosophy is almost very Lambert like, viewing Witcher's work not as a duty, or knightly virtue, but as difficult, brutal work. The only reason they stick to this work is to do a job where no one else commands them and they're left in peace. They focus only on the practical aspects of their profession, and as such discourage their students from working together in training, since Witchers work alone. As Arnaghad said, "We pass through life alone, better get used to it!" As a result, Bears are very isolated, preferring their own company to that of other Witchers, and were encouraged to value their autonomy and self care above all else. The Bears' approach to teaching was embodied as "let them better themselves through practical, dangerous trials. Survival of the fittest", embodied by final trial, that involved climbing to the top of Mt. Gorgon and back, and any who died from the cold were left "as a sobering reminder of the dangers of their trade". This resulted in the students of the school seeing things in a very callous, survival of the fittest way. Be as strong as you can, and let the perils of Witcher training and life pick off those who can't keep up. As a result, the Bears were by far the smallest Witcher school.

Despite this, the TRPG has a list of random early training events Witchers from all schools can have, and Bears could sometimes make friends amongst their fellow witchers in training just like members of every other school.

Once the new Bear students left their keep of Haern Caduch, most wouldn't return to winter there, unlike the other schools. They developed a reputation as being terrible to fight, and for being firebrands, often speaking very bluntly and quick to anger no matter who they spoke to, authority included. One such Witcher, named Gerd, was asked by a Duchess to help kill her father. He insulted her so badly he got a warrant for his death placed on him, though all the peasants he met spoke rather highly of him. As a result, Bears found it easiest to make friends amongst the similarly minded Dwarves and Gnomes of the Amell mountains, and people of the Skellige Isles. According to Cody Pondsmith, this is the main reason the Bears stayed together as a group at all. They valued autonomy above all else and so long as they functioned as a Witcher school, they were left alone and no rulers would try and command them. They also largely take their ideals of free will and apply it to others, never seeking to rule over others. They simply wish to live their lives free.

One of the original Witchers to side with Arnaghad, Ivar Evil-Eye, had extra mutations done to him by the Order of Witchers during his trial, allowing him to see into other worlds. In these visions he saw the Wild Hunt rampaging across them, conquering them. Ivar became obsessed with stopping them, and tried to kill Arnaghad to take command and lead the Bear school against the Hunt. This failed, so he and his supporters left to form the Viper School.

The Witchers of the Viper school, based in Gorthur Gvaed, were said to be the most secretive, taking contracts as both assassins and witchers. They at first dedicated themselves finding a way to stop the Wild Hunt, amassing a massive library on the subject. Fighting with an unpredictable, ambushed based variant of the Witcher fighting style, Viper Witchers employed poisons, brewed by skilled Viper alchemists, on both their swords, and a dagger in their offhand, their biggest deviation from typical Witcher combat techniques.

Vipers, for an unknown reason, eventually forgot their purpose. In his time, Letho of Gullet could only guess at why the school had been founded. Instead, they became famous for their skill at political killings, dealing with the nobility of the southern countries before Nilfgaard had even become a large-scale power.

Viper students had a different type of trial, after more grueling than typical training. Instead of any physical task like the other schools, the Viper students were given a pet at their induction to the school. And to graduate, they simply had to hunt it down and kill it, showing their lack of mercy.

While most of those who supported Ivar followed him to the Viper school, one group broke off and west east, across the Korath desert, to Zerikania, founding the School of the Manticore.

The School of the Manticore was founded by the Witcher Iwan, from the School of the Bear, following Ivar's assassination attempt on Arnaghad. They got work in the Korath desert as caravan guards, earning the attention of the Zerrikanian Queen after a deadly battle with a manticore. The Queen sponsored the Witchers of the Manticore, making them the only school to be officially backed by any government. They were experts on potions and anti-toxins, a necessity of dealing with the poisonous creatures of the Korath desert.

A unique adaptation to the monsters of the desert also had Manticore Witchers employ shields into the whirling combat of their Witcher training. Given their extra support, the Manticores held two keeps, Behelt Nar and Bailsuf Alsarea, on opposite sides of the desert, so that they might better patrol and guard those within it.

The Manticore is the final school to come from the schism Arnaghad had led. The other voices of dissent against the ideals of the Order would soon hear of these new schools and decide to break off as well to form the School of the Cat.

The School of the Cat was founded out of a response to the hatred and distrust Witchers received. They desired to be seen in a better, more respectful light. Ironically, they would end up doing the opposite. The Cat School stole away with several of the mutagens needed to make more Witchers and headed to Ebbing, and Stygga Citadel, where they would begin to experiment on human-elf children in an attempt to perfect the mutations. Its possible that the mages at this time furthered experiments on making women Witchers, but this is not confirmed yet.

Attempting to make a name for themselves, the Cats hired themselves out as spies, assassins, and mercenaries, genuinely earning them some respect from common folk for killing bandits.

In their attempts to perfect the mutations and further dull the emotions of their Witchers, the Cat school experimented harshly on a group of children that resulted in the opposite, giving these Witchers hightened emotional responses instead. These students, cast aside and left for dead, fled into the arms of a group of elves, who agreed to support them if this branch of the Cat School supported the elves' fight for freedom.

This branch, led by Gezras of Leyda, attached itself to the Dyn Marv caravan and traveled the continent, lending their services mostly to those nonhumans who could pay, while the main Cats at Stygga ended up getting assaulted by angry royals incited by their political maneuvering. This left the Dyn Marv branch as the only functional element of the School of the Cat. These Cats would train students' agility in a light, fast Elven take on Witcher fighting style, and would train their balance by making students walk a tightrope, starting low to the ground at first, but getting higher and higher each attempt.

The Cat school's breaking of Witcher neutrality and reputation for bloodlust earned Witchers such a bad name that those in the Order who most cherished their old swordmaster's knightly virtues would leave to form the School of the Griffin.

The School of the Griffin, led by Erland of Larvik, wished to truly achieve the dream of the original Order, and Gryphon, the Order's sword instructor. They traveled north to Kaer y Saren, an old fortress the Order once used, and cleansed it of the spirits of those who died in the first Witcher mutations. From there, they began a Witcher school focused on respectability and honor, believing in their knightly duties. And it worked, somewhat. The Griffins were sometimes advisors to nobility, and seen as honorable, but the prejudice against Witchers would never leave, and most would never see a Griffin Witcher as anything more than a monster playing at being a knight.

These Witchers tried their best to cushion their students against the pain of their lives on the Witcher's path, and were more brotherly than the other schools, though their knightly virtues and brotherhood were oftentimes cold comfort to Griffin students.

From the Witcher TRPG Sourcebook:

"Witcher I knew couldn’t really remember much ‘bout his past. Heh, too young to really form a lotta memories when they took him to Kaer Y Seren. Told me that the memory he did have made the mutations easier. Poor bastard clung to a memory of his pa takin’ him on a horse for a ride in the fields. Don’t know why he chose that one. Probably the only normal memory he had."

The Griffins amassed a huge library of magical knowledge, though they could only push sign magic so far, and the books were likely wasted being in a Witcher library. The library held several incredibly famous tomes on magic within, and was the envy of full mages across the Northern Realms. Despite all their efforts, they never could achieve their goal of bringing about the Order of Witcher's vision. The Griffins even had their own breaches of Witcher tradition in pursuit of their knightly heroics. An often said mantra of the Griffin school in Gwent is "To slay dragons! Tis our knightly duty!" despite dragons being largely innocent, intelligent beings who mostly wish to be left in peace.

Code Pondsmith had this to say about the Griffins:

"The Griffins stuck to the knightly traditions that the original witcher order tried to uphold. As a result it's safe to say that the Griffin school taught that monsters were the enemy of mankind and must be defeated. I don't think they would all be blindly overzealous but they wouldn't have any qualms about slaying sapient monsters if they believed it was for the good of mankind. Similarly, it's likely that they would side with humans in any conflict between monsters and humans. In a way, the Griffins' knightly virtues made them easier to manipulate than the other witcher schools. They were bound to protect humanity and thus were more likely to be convinced to hunt a monster if a local noble or alderman claimed it would be for the good of the people. This is the case with the dragons. The kingdoms and jewelers guilds of the North convinced the Griffin School that dragons were a blight upon humanity and the Griffins started slaying dragons regardless of whether all of the dragons they slew deserved it. Additionally, the knightly values might make Griffin school witchers more likely to take pity on desperate humans and work for free."

Those few Witchers remaining in the Order by now traveled to northern Kaedwyn, and started a school based on their tempered, traditionalist, and realistic view on the Order's goals. They based themselves in Kaer Morhen and dubbed themselves the School of the Wolf.

The School of the Wolf is the most famous Witcher school, known for their professionalism and efficiency. They don't kill humans like the Viper or Cat. Aren't bold or brash like the Bear, or put Knightly virtues above Witcher ideals like the Griffin. I mean, anyone reading far this knows who the Wolf Witchers are, so I'm not going to get into to much detail. They're Geralt's school. Ciri's school. While the Griffins school wasted it's energy on trying to be what Witchers were supposed to be, the Wolf set its goals on being the best they realistically could be.

They took a balanced approached to Witcher life and as such trained Witchers who were the best adjusted out of the schools, with neither the Bear's harshness nor the Griffin's egocentrism. They perfected the Witcher's style of combat, refining their swordsmanship into an incredibly graceful dance. Combined with their professional attitude and teachings that allowed Wolf Witchers to adapt very well to most situations thrown at them, Wolf Witchers were lauded all across the Continent.

With all Schools formed, the Golden Age of Witchers began, at first with the Bears and Griffins making peace. From Erland of Larvik's Journal (The TRPG's monster manual):

"Surprisingly enough the fracturing of the witcher order had lead to a more effective organization for us witchers. Spread across the Continent and each making more witchers independently, it was no longer the task of 60 or 70 witchers to patrol the entire Continent from Nilfgaard to Kovir. Each school patrolled their own path and when a Gryphon met with a Bear each knew they had their territory and any infighting wouldn’t be worth the bloodshed. We managed to broker peace and live as somewhat estranged brothers rather than bitter enemies"

Witchers at this time were seen largely as heroes, with their detractors' voices largely simmering underneath. With Witchers around to kill monsters, people felt safe and so ignored any misgivings they might have.

Witchers, no matter the school, aren't too dissimilar from each other, and so the Cintinent at large formed an overall opinion of the Witchers based on the traits they all shared. From the TRPG:

"In the heyday of witchers there were many many seperate schools, which all mutated new witchers and taught them the neccesary skills to hunt monsters and lift curses. While it’s generally agreed that there is a core set of skills required to a be a witcher, each school taught its students differently and focused on different aspects of witcher training. Thus, witchers from different schools often act differently and go about their jobs in similar but varied ways."

During this period, the Schools all would produce hundreds of Witchers (though at any given time, most schools had about 20 Witchers running the school, a handful of novices undergoing the trials, and around 30-50 Witchers on the path hunting monsters. This fluctuated from school to school. The Bear's brutal training resulted in the lowest number of Witchers amongst the schools, while the Wolves' prolific status and high success rates meant they took in more candidates and had more Witchers than the other schools), and each was their own person, With their own preferences and personality, despite the schools themselves having reputations for Witchers with only a few certain traits. For instance, the Bear Witcher Ivo of Belhaven fought like a Viper or Cat Witcher, but in personality was a perfect fit for the Bear School with how standoffish he could be. The schools kept to their own territory at first, but as time went on and contracts got ever more rare, these already thin lines fell apart and the schools stopped caring much about territories.

They also all customized their gear in different ways, usually keeping their gear in similar fashion to their school's, as its what they trained in an were used to. For example, Bear Witcher Junod of Belhaven wore what appears to be a set of Wolf School armor he had modified to fit Bear Witcher style.

Witchers also at this time experimented with signs. The Griffins obviously focused on making them more powerful, and the Bears pushed Quen to a level beyond any other school. But the most interesting case is that of Warrit, a blind Viper Witcher who used the lesser known Suppire sign as a form of echolocation.

The Golden age lasted for around 150-200 years or so, ending around 1160 when the monster populations had been hunted down enough that people's main concern stopped being the monsters, and became the Witchers themselves.

The Griffin School, refusing to share the knowledge of its library, was destroyed by jealous mages. A group of peasants and mages attacked the Wolves' keep out of nowhere. The Bears failed to destroy a powerful cabal of vampires and, when peasants rioted and came for their keep, chose to disband rather than engage in needless slaughter. The Cat's keep of Stygga is destroyed, but the Dyn Marv chapter may still be alive and well. The Manticore School failed to protect an important prince from a fire elemental, and so lost their funding and closed. The Viper refused to support the Nilfgaardian usurper and were destroyed.

If you've made it this far, holy shit, thank you! I hope you have a great day!

[helpfulhellhounds]

first year on the path | thought it would be heartbreaking fun to paint the kaer morhen wolves when they were baby witchers!

featuring: a single moment where geralt is on the path for the first time, eskel has a couple years of witchering experience, and lambert is still a kid at kaer morhen (he misses his bros).

[naidleen]

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015)

[churchofpossum]

Merry Christmas!

Supporters voted for a thing and I was happy to oblige XD

[marbienl13]

***Wrath of the Lamb*** When the hunt is over and reality sets in...

[cosmos-coma]

Prey of the Hunt- Chapter 7

A/N: Listen, I edited this when I was pretty tired.... I also wrote this when I was pretty tired... But prepare for overall angst and some Eskel Fluff!

Pairing: Eskel x Reader

Words: 2.6k

Summary: A new visitor comes to the Keep... and they bear ill tidings.

Chapter 8

_________________________________________

It was a few days after your big talk with the guys that you all were gathered around the dinner table once again. Everyone's body was sore from doing constant construction and you’re pretty sure you've developed the white lung from all the mortar dust you’ve been mixing. 

“How does Vesemir do this all year?” You asked with a cough, surprised that it didn’t come with a puff of dust too.

“I don’t know, but I sure don’t envy it,” Eskel remarked as you took a seat beside him, sliding in until your legs touched his. “You know what's for dinner?” 

You shook your head, “No, but I hope it's something warm… The snow is starting to stick to the ground now and I don't particularly care for the cold.” You huffed in mild annoyance; winter had finally started rearing its ugly head and you were already tired of it. 

Eskel only raised his eyebrow as he looked over at you with an expression that seemed to say ‘really? You’re kidding.’

You nudged him and rolled your eyes playfully, “I mean- If I don't have to deal with the cold I don’t want to. Besides, I think magical cold hits a little differently.” you commented with a shrug.

Geralt raised his hand in a wave as he came over to sit across the table from you both. He also looked a bit tired and maybe bored; you couldn't blame him, this kind of labor isn't exactly on par with their usual work and was probably a lot less exciting than dealing with even the slowest drowner.

“Hey Geralt, do you know what’s for dinner tonight?” You asked him as he brushed away some rubble camouflaged in his hair. 

“No, but I hear it’s Lambert’s night to cook so… warn your stomach.” He said with a bit of a smirk. 

“Stop exaggerating!” Lambert yelled from the kitchen, his Witcher hearing easily picking up on the conversation. “Gods you slightly undercook bear ONCE and everyone becomes a fuckin’ critic….” 

Vesemir came down to join you all shortly and Lambert brought out dinner, which admittedly looked pretty good, but you weren’t gonna give him the pride of telling him that in front of the others. 

Everyone had just started eating when violet light filled the room, stemming from the portal that had opened up across the room. It swirled, idle for a moment before a young woman with green eyes and ashen hair came tumbling through. She rolled onto the floor in her rush to get through and came to a stop just as fast, the portal snapping closed behind her. 

Geralt stood and immediately rushed over to her, “Ciri, what the hell happened?” He asked, arms immediately extending to help her up as his fatherly nature took over. “Y/n, go grab a medical kit…” He half asked half ordered as he looked at you with eyes that held worry, veiled thinly by his stony expression. 

You noticed she did have a sharp and bleeding cut laying just above her pant line, across her hip. Her legs and cheek were littered with other shallower scratches and slashes here and there. You nodded quickly and went off to grab the closest kit as Ciri held up her hand to try and stop you, but you were already gone. 

“I’m fine. Really… Just bruised up is all. Ah- “ She hissed through clenched teeth as she stood with Geralt’s help. “I’m alright, Geralt. I just need a minute.” She assured and sat down on the nearest bench. 

You came back quickly and opened up the kit on the table, cleaning up the open wounds before Geralt followed and bandaged everything up. Once he was satisfied and Ciri had had a moment to catch her breath the other witchers came over to excitedly greet their niece and squeeze about a hundred hugs into the small-framed woman. 

You hung towards the back of the pack as Ciri greeted all of the Witcher’s hellos with a bright smile, despite the obvious bruises she must’ve held below the skin. When they finally stepped back you were able to wave and greet her as well.

“Hello, Cirilla… It’s nice to see you again, I don’t know if you’ll remember me-” 

“Gynvael!” Ciri interrupted you as she exclaimed excitedly and grabbed your arm, pulling you in for a tight hug. 

“You… remember me…?” You looked around at the guys with an expression of mixed surprise and confusion. “Not even Geralt remembered…” 

Ciri sighed with a sense of relief as she finally pulled back and ushered you to sit next to her. “Well Geralt is already bad at  portals, but when we had made our way off Tir na Lia we got separated and I think he must’ve gotten a little lost in the stream between worlds and forgotten everything.” She explained with a nod before looking to you and smiling once again. “But I’m glad to see that you made it out… I’d been wondering about it ever since we left. I always worry about the people I have to leave behind in those worlds…” She stole a glance at Geralt as her tone became morose. 

“Well, I couldn’t have gotten out without your help. I managed to find Ihuarraquax and get a portal home… I mean- It would have been nice to know that I was looking for a fucking horse-”

“Unicorn…” Ciri corrected.

“- a fancy fucking horse.” you corrected further with a light chuckle. “But… thank you. Really.” 

Ciri nodded and smiled in response, patting your back gently- not unlike you had seen Geralt do time and time again. You see now why people instantly recognized them as father and daughter. 

“But speaking of the Wild Hunt…” She said, her words drifting off at the end, “That’s actually something I wanted to talk to everyone about. But first I’m absolutely starving- please tell me it wasn’t Lambert’s night to cook.” 

“My cooking is FINE!” Lambert retorted loudly, causing everyone to burst into laughter, immediately lightening the mood for the moment. 

The group drifted into a looser clump and Ciri had a chance to grab some dinner before another violet portal opened up this time, dispensing a dark-haired woman this time. Her complexion was more bronze than the others, her violet eyes like that of her portals, and the scent of lilacs and gooseberries that seemed to follow her as she walked past. 

“Good heavens… Geralt, I’m starting to understand your disdain for portals. Running through a good twenty or so in a row makes me more nauseous than that pheasant pie you tried to make me for my birthday three years ago.” She grumbled as she held her stomach, doubled over.

“HA!”  Lambert's voice rang out in vindication. 

“Alright, alright- Let's get back on track. Ciri, Yennefer, what happened?” Eskel asked, trying to settle everyone down again. Shortly everyone had taken their seats at the table, ears keen, and the two women could start to tell their story.

“So- I’ve been getting followed by the Wild Hunt lately and I worry that they’re beginning to catch up with me.” Ciri cut to the chase. “I’m lucky Yennefer was with me today or I might not have the head start I do. She opened series upon series of portals to throw them off, dropped me here at the keep, and then kept going to throw them off when they inevitably try to track us.” She shook her head and took a bite of dinner as Yennefer continued. 

“But I only had so much energy to make portals that I wouldn’t be surprised if they show up soon.” She explained with a sigh that teemed with weariness and burden. 

“And if we already have another fugitive,” Ciri pointed out, motioning to you now. “Then it's all the more reason for him to show up. Kill two birds with one stone and all that”.

All tensions were silent but strong around the table, and even you felt it pulling your shoulders tight. The expression the witchers had held grimaces or just plain, tight-lined expressions as you looked around. Everyone understood the gravity that a battle like this would cause- the Wild Hunt chasing you was one thing, but chasing Ciri? That was a whole other game that was bound to have numerous casualties.

“Well, with any luck we should have some time to prepare for whatever comes. Doubtful they’ll show up immediately after they were here just weeks ago.” Vesemir tried to assure with a nod. “But we’ll all take the proper precautions and start getting prepared, which Ciri of course will help oversee because I’m getting far too old for this shit.” He finished in a grumble. 

You almost jumped as Eskel’s hand found yours under the table, your brain having been too caught up in the noise of the situation to be aware. You glanced over at him, carrying a light smile despite your brows being drawn together in worry. You squeezed his hand gently, to which he responded in kind, both of you being able to ease some of the tension from your shoulders. Your head had swirled with events of the past, present, and future as you listened to Ciri- but the weight of Eskel’s palm in your lap now dispelled that foggy vortex for the time being.  

“As for the preparations-” Vesemir spoke up again, “Lambert, I want you on bombs. Eskel, you're on traps. Ciri, I want you to ensure the weapons and armor are up to standards. Add glyphs as you see fit.” He nodded to each of them, then turned to you, Geralt, and Yennefer. “Geralt, Yennefer, I want the two of you gathering as many reinforcements as you can- anybody whose willing to help is welcome. Y/n, you’ll be with me making as many potions as we can before time is up.” He directed to the rest of you, receiving nods all around. “Anyone who feels like they've finished early can help wherever else is needed.”

Dinner was fairly quiet for a while after that- only picking up when you introduced yourself to the sorceress known as Yennefer. But even that dwindled off into fewer and fewer words after a while. 

After dismissing yourself, you and your witcher made your way back to his room, hands held in one another as you quietly bumped shoulders. Softly, Eskel closed the door behind him and let out a sigh that could rival the weariness of Atlas himself as he carried the world on his shoulders. 

He ducked past you to light the room’s fire, granting the dim room a gentle warm light. 

“Eskel…” You whispered his name as you rested one hand on his shoulder. Your other hand came up slowly, with no sudden movements, to cup his scarred cheek. “Look at me..?” 

Slowly his feet shuffled, his body turning to face you now. Your palm pressed against his cheek, fingers extending naturally along the groves of his face. A content rumble vibrated from his chest as he turned onto your palm.

You couldn’t help the small smile that slipped onto your features as you watched him. Your thumb brushed over the corner of his lips with a loving touch, going over the notch in his smile an extra time or two. 

“I can see you're overwhelmed, Eskel. You carry it in your shoulders- we both do…” you spoke to him, with a voice that was as tender as the night was quiet. 

He let out another breath and tried to relax his shoulders once again, even if he knew it was a temporary fix. 

“It’s okay if you can’t push it all away right now, I know I won’t be able to either.” You used your hand to bring him down a little closer to your level and rested your forehead against his.

“You shouldn’t have to be the one consoling me right now.” His low voice rumbled out, but he made no move to pull away- instead, he brought his hands to now rest on your hips.

“Eskel..” you frowned slightly, “don’t think like that. I’m going to be here for the times that you need someone, okay? Just like you've been there for me this whole time”. You looked down as you reflected for a quick moment, “and I’m eternally grateful for that. I know I’ve been rather… slow moving with things like- well, like this.” you said and motioned between the two of you. “But you never stopped standing beside me, holding my hand, even with all of my confusion and lost memories. Hell- you still held my hand when I  admitted to being a rider of the hunt. A murderer! A raider!”

“Y/n, no-” Eskel tried to interrupt, but you laid a finger across his lips, shaking your head.

“I won’t deny it, Eskel. Willing or unwilling, I recognize what I did… But that's beside the point- You’ve been so patient ever since you met me and I-” You paused again a moment, finding courage instead of words this time. “If all goes well when the Hunt comes… If it’s okay, I’d like to walk the path with you come springtime, just as you've walked my journey with me- hand in hand.” Your cheeks blazed with heat and color as you confessed to him your hopes of staying by his side. 

Eskel’s face was wrought with surprise and a genuine full smile, his shoulders even easing into their natural relaxed position as he became momentarily distracted by all that had just come before. “Y/n, I- Well, I mean- Uh… can I kiss you?” He somewhat sputtered out, his thoughts moving faster than his mouth could.

You broke out into a quick bout of laughter, shocked by his question, and nodded, your forehead still against his. “As long as it's a yes, then, of course, you can,” you replied, barely getting the last few words out as Eskel’s lips pressed firmly against your own. Your slightly chapped winter lips met the same as your breaths mingled for moments that you wouldn’t have traded the world for. 

He had a small smile now as he pulled back, still close enough that your noses just brushed together. “I would love to have you on the path with me, Y/n….” he spoke, leaning in for one more quick and chaste kiss before he fully pulled back. “You have more than enough training to hold your own against most monsters and you're smart enough- and determined enough- to figure out how to handle the rest for sure.” He laughed a bit, looking down as he captured your hand in his. “I’m… I’m excited not to walk the path alone anymore, admittedly.” He brought your hand up to press a kiss against your knuckles as well, seemingly needing to get out some of the physical affection he’d been holding back.

A lightness sparkled in your eyes as you watched him and you couldn't help the chuckle that bubbled in your throat. “Me too…” You let your thumb caress his cheek once more before dropping your hand back to your side, “let's lay down now… our worries can wait until morning.”

You and Eskel went about your nighttime routine like any other night, only this time with more grazes here and there as you two bumped into each other's paths- just as you had that fateful day.

________________________________

Taglist: @writingmysanity @open--till--midnight @dark-academia-slut @weaponizedvirtue @madamemelancholysstuff

Wanna be added/taken off the taglist? feel free to DM or ask!

[dukeofdogs]

Companion mini figures from The Witcher: Path of Destiny

[ladycibia]

Handsome Eskel ?

my brain read "awesome" instead of handsome, but yes

[ijustfakeit]

Finished!!!! This one kind of hurt.