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eclipsecrowned · 6 months

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What The Fuck Is Wrong With Tief Hel: (Grand)Parental Pacts, Patrons, and Pain. or, Why Hel Looks Like That Instead Of Like The Rest of Her People.

TW for body horror, health discussion. Long post, consider reading on blog rather than dash.

PT. 1: WHAT’S THE DAMAGE

For those not in the loop/who are being introduced to this muse on this blog rather than her old solo venture, we’re dealing with an AU version of my mythological Hel muse. In Norse mythos, Hel is a goddess of the dead, and has a vision that represents the limbo in which she serves. A living entity who rules over a realm of death, to one side she is a legendary beauty – and on the other, a horrifying corpse woman. Think Two-Face but substantially more Goth/Upsetting.

This is a deformity I carry into all of her verses, because disability in the divine is kind of an awesome concept actually, but the whole ‘half dead’ thing sometimes doesn’t translate very well into different verses. Sometimes, she instead has severe life-altering burns over half of her body, sometimes she just has a skin/muscle/nerve condition that largely effects one side, and sometimes it’s just a form of partial mummification in terms of look. One side of her will always, however, be affected by a chronic condition involving skin/muscle/veins/nerves. I’ll dig deeper into what this means for her mobility and health later. For now, we’re speaking strictly on what her actual appearance is.

In the verse in question – Galdur’s Bait 3 – I follow the schema of ‘disfiguring skin condition with underlying issues beneath said skin.’ That is to say, her left side is looking rather withered, skin drawn tight against her bones, looking fragile and rather spent. It isn’t a perfectly even 50/50 spread, but does appear to ebb and flow more to the right or only taking up a small fraction of her left side. It runs from her brow down to her feet themselves, though she dresses to obscure this fact and make it appear it’s only her face affected. It’s actually a key part of her early romance arc that she exposes her condition to the PC in full.

The impression this gives is… Unsettling. I’ll also go more into depth with this in a later point, but most common folk prefer not to look at Hel, and it’s often assumed she’s under the effect of some curse or an Undead. The point is, she barely looks like a natural Tiefling… Which is not an incorrect assumption, actually. Hel wasn’t created by cavorting with Cambions or trueborn tieflings having trysts. She’s not of Asmodeus, Mephistopheles, or Z*riel’s loins, metaphorically or otherwise.

Hel’s infernal lineage was a gift, you see. An Infernal gift, of course, but not from any of the usual suspects. She doesn’t owe her race or appearance to a Demon.

She owes it to a Dragon.

PT. 2: DAMAGE GETS DONE

Hel is not a first generation adventurer. She’s not even second generation. Lifetimes ago, there was a band of adventurers traipsing through the North. Two of these will be important to this meta moving forward – Farbauti Sudden-Striker, a Reghed Barbarian, and Laufey Liesmith, an Ill*skan of N*therese descent. As stated, Farbauti was a melee build, while Laufey supported he and their companions with magics. That should come as no surprise, given her heritage as one of the diaspora of that doomed empire, nor should her prodigious talent with the Weave.

Pivotal to this story, however, is the fact Laufey was an ambitious woman, and one who sought to supplement her already great powers with something more. The much touted Sorlock who built upon her inborn Sorcerer capabilities with a Warlock Pact, she worked tirelessly to hide that fact from others. Such an attempt to hide her deal only highlighted its nature: Infernal.

And there was plenty of reason to hide that fact. Not only was the North none too kind to such meddling, but she had not settled for more minor Patrons. Between her alarming natural power and her excellent breeding, she would serve only the best and darkest – or the most colorful, as the case might be. All of this pride led her to the altar of a then-Archdevil. With mutual aims towards power and control, and the agreement that Laufey would tirelessly serve her lady’s aims for domination and treasure both, Laufey signed herself to Tiam*t during her reign over Avernus.

She served with grace and discretion, collecting gold and land in service of her dark lady. Driven but lawful, many would be put off by such loyalties. Farbauti, for his part, was drawn into that gravity. Beautiful, brilliant, and with a distinct danger about her, Laufey was a lady worth fighting for, someone whose wit could help his own ambitions come to fruition. Theirs was a perfectly balanced union that produced two sons.

That is where it all falls apart. Despite being Humans both, the pairs first son was born wrong, possessing his father’s crimson hair, his mother’s pale complexion, and both a tail and the first hint of future horns. Laufey’s pact came back to haunt her during a lull in her adventuring, but the boy – Loki -- bore no outwards signs of her Lady’s favor besides the difference in race. The family left the North, finding it inhospitable for their son, and seemed like they might have made it.

A second son was the death of Laufey. The loss of Laufey was not the end of Tiam*t’s stain on the family.

Loki, for his part, took up his parents adventuring ways as he came of age. His lifestyle eventually led him to the Storm Horns, where he fell in with a Goliath clan and made something of a more permanent life with its leader. Each of their children were, per the rules of the setting, Tiefs like their father. The first son was about as normal as the offspring of such a union could be, reflecting more of a Goliath’s height and build as he grew. The second son had a strange way of growing scales rather than the natural ridges of his people, but was otherwise to standard.

And then there was his only daughter. Hel, who was born horrific, with disfigurements that could not be solved by magic and failing health that eventually saw her sent away from the mountain as an act of mercy. Her apparently degenerative, accursed appearance was much speculated about, but ultimately chalked up to divine mischief: Her father was an agent and acolyte of Mask, and his daughter’s conception lined up eerily with the end of a conflict against the Church of Cyr*c.

Those who look closely enough, however, will notice a few traits that point instead to her grandmother’s Patron, and perhaps even a sort of ‘blessing’ from the Chromatic Dragon.

PT. 3: SYMPTOMS AND SOCIETAL SIDE-EFFECTS

Maybe you’re saying to yourself, ‘Wow, Kadi, what interesting backstory lore you cooked up for your playthrough!’ More likely you’re saying, ‘Why the fuck did this bitch make me read that entire wall of text???’ Either way, I’m sure you’re at the conclusion of ‘What the shit does that have to do with your thesis statement?’ And I’m here to answer that question, with sources.

First, let’s get a little more in-depth with Hel’s appearance: The grey-tinted skin of her Goliath heritage, the slightly above average height that is also a gift from her mother, the back-swept horns and the prehensile tail and the vibrant eyes swimming in pools of black sclera that are so common among Tiefls. But the first thing anyone will notice about this woman is aforementioned textural/disfigurements from part one.

That isn’t just for show, by the way. It’s far more than skin deep. Per a past meta I wrote on the subject:

“For the most part, these aforementioned malformations outwardly exhibit themselves in neurological damage to her sensory and motor capabilities. This damage is commonly expressed in loss of sensation, reduced range of motion, and muscle weakness, as well as occasional fits of twitching or shaking in her extremities, digits, or facial muscles. More rarely, she might deal with temporary bouts of pain and partial paralysis through her rotted half, both of which can be quite debilitating and interrupt her routines, or even leave her bedridden in especially severe cases. Besides these neurological issues, there’s also the matter of reduced blood flow and vein problems running through half of her body. There is an underlying heart issue at play here, which poses a much more sizable risk than her constant but stabilized nerve problems. Coldness of extremities might be the most obvious that many will see – or in this case, feel. – but it’s just the first of many underlying problems. Lethargy and fatigue can also put Hel out of commission for a time, and can be especially worrisome when coupled with the aforementioned, infrequent periods of nerve pain. The moment where these two issues really wreak havoc on each other is when swelling of extremities puts further strain on Hel’s already damaged nerves.”

So what we have is Hel, who was born with debilitating but far from fatal chronic pain, which cannot be healed by any means. She also has visible malformations that only make her life more difficult-- this is not an invisible struggle on her part. It has been quoted in past editions that Tiam*t, dubbed the Undying Queen, is not fond of healing magics, and all but demands her faithful embrace pain to come out the other side of it stronger. It’s not an immediate tell of her heritage/the cause of recent Infernal twists on the family tree, and indeed no one is likely to cotton on to this side of Tiam*t’s doctrine in line with Laufey’s only granddaughter, but from a Meta perspective it can be inferred that Hel has suffered for all 35 years as a counterbalance or even as a sign of favor for her grandmother’s loyal service.

There’s more to it than wounds that will not heal/physical pain builds character, however. There’s physical tells unrelated to her malformations that also act as a walking advertisement of a Pact made generations before.

As has been pointed out to me by a friend, there is one aspect of Tiam*t that has endured through all editions and depictions. It’s a subtle thing, but the shape of her tail is singular. While Hel does not have a 1:1 ‘recreation’ of this aspect, she sure doesn’t have the standard spade or smooth tapering end that many Tiefs possess a their tips. It much more resembles a stinger, though the cartilage is neither hard/sharp enough to actually be used as a weapon, and this ‘stinger’ lacks the venomous capabilities of Tiam*t’s own tail. There is also the fact Hel’s ridges are scale-like in texture, which is something she shares in common with a brother.

Of course, the average person is not going to look at Hel and put together ‘Ah, Tiam*t influence.’ They are going to look at her and ask if she’s dying, planning on leaving anytime soon because she’s frightening the children and a fair few adults, or just draw weapons on what they take for an Undead. Too few people want to look at her long enough or have a deep enough understanding of the Chromatic Dragon’s aesthetics/doctrine to draw the correct conclusion. Even if they did and passed a perception check to recognize her for what she is, it’s just another mark against her, another reason to drive her out or draw blades.

That’s not likely to happen, however. Not even Hel’s own family can put the pieces together about her connection to the grandmother she so favors, as the family’s bet is actually on the fact her father pissed off Cyr*c before riding home to sire her.

PT. 4: LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

So that’s how we got here. What does it mean for Hel moving forward?

Well… not a lot. She’s not particularly invested in the Infernal, and already sold herself off to K*lemvor as a Cleric decades ago. Her grandmother is long dead and buried, so learning the truth from Laufey is a non-starter. Hel has a perfectly serviceable answer for why she is ‘like this’ in the assumption about Loki’s past activities she’s been made aware of. The strangeness has thus far gone no further than her, as in both endgames where she has kids they’re far more baseline as Tiefs go.

She’ll still have that wound that will not heal in her physical capabilities, but then, she’d have that even if there was a less fantastical reason for their existence. Even if someone were to come forward tomorrow and out all of this to her the day after the epilogue, there’s not much she can do with the information.

It can, however, open the door for several adventure hooks. I’ve even toyed with loose ends tying party lore together in Laufey’s cult was the seed from which grew the attempted attack on the Gate that another companion thwarted. That both have something to lay to rest while dragging their mutual friends along for the ride. That in any ending that leads the party to Avernus, there’s either roses or scorn thrown at one who reeks of the Chromatic Dragon. That the shades of the past start reaching out for Hel, drawn either to her resemblance to Laufey or her future friction with her chosen God. And then there is always the long-shot possibility someone recognizes Hel for these ‘tells’ of a past pact with Tiam*t and comes to collect a pound of flesh or incorrectly assess she’s caught up in worship of the Dragon in question.

#heltbt #body horror //#long post //

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illegiblewords · 9 months

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Made some adjustments to Tavs and guardians, discussing below.

First, a disclaimer: these aren't actually all of my Tavs lol. I have a male human fighter named Murad too, who looks like this:

and I plan to have him romance Minthara/betray all tieflings without being Dark Urge. But I don't remember his guardian and haven't settled on story/psychology beyond having been a soldier. I'm also still mulling over if I want to do a lady bard to pair with Karlach and what she might look like.

Top to bottom, the design ideas are basically as follows.

Anat, a Mephistopheles tiefling Great Old One warlock. Patron is Hadar. Design is cold and wet but carries vitality. Evokes both the sea and the stars. Avoided hyper-saturated colors for cast coherence and because I also wanted to visually mesh with Gale for pairings. Water/wind motifs in that pairing. Guardian meant to evoke heroic figures who have been lost as per backstory. Hot, dry, and barren visually--eyes evoke the sun a bit with yellows and reds. Contrast a living and close sun with distant stars for him versus Anat. Similar use of faded browns in design to create a mirroring effect. Relationship between Anat and the guardian should be two heroic figures who are similar in many ways but are opposites in others. Note that whether the ocean or a desert, not a lot of freshwater for either when that's necessary to survive.

Cassian, half-high elf and cleric of Selune. Wanted to evoke red elves conceptually and lunar eclipses/blood moons. Figured it'd be fun to evoke an impure/ominous aspect of the moon in contrast to what is usually associated with Selunites. Cassian specifically is noble-born and was raised in faith. That strain of worship was fairly sterilized though, mainly used as a tool to claim moral superiority--his elven mother being particularly egregious about it. Cassian was left disillusioned and Selune took note. He began to receive dreams of the Dark Moon heresy. Wanting answers, Cassian left the comforts and privileges of his position behind to learn more. It is years into this mission that he gets abducted by mindflayers. His guardian reflects how he perceives his own goddess. I'm planning to pair him with Shadowheart, with her being mainly black and white motifs versus Cassian leaning more toward red and white.

Uzal, another Mephistopheles tiefling--born a draconic sorcerer (white) but primarily a cleric of Ilmater. This is my Dark Urge run lol. I didn't want to go full white dragonborn but did want to pay homage to that with a more humanoid option. I figure the Bhaal connection also fits with some of the odd blood combinations here. My initial plan was to make the Guardian a white dragonborn with the default design, but this is beyond the game's abilities so I made an ominous red version of Uzal instead. There are probably some self-image issues there lol. I plan to pair Uzal with Astarion but with less focus on the Dark Urge by itself, more on the angle that this Dark Urge has been chosen by Ilmater. Uzal is basically Patrick Bateman from American Psycho but is doing his best to become a man of god now. He's an inverse of Anat too in that she's mainly good aligned with an elder evil patron while Uzal is mainly evil aligned with a good deity supervising. In terms of visual connections for pairings, I originally knew I wanted to make a white draconic sorcerer tiefling Dark Urge and that I wanted to pair Astarion with a cleric of Ilmater--but it was feeling like more alts than necessary even for me. Crossed my mind that for the themes and story stuff I had in-mind it'd be more efficient to just combine two concepts. Works out though--Astarion has white/red visuals against Uzal with white/blue visuals. Overall similarity makes the accent colors stand out more.

Behati, a Zariel tiefling fiend-pact warlock. Patron is either Zariel or a devil in Zariel's service. I've done a lot of fiddling with her in terms of design to visually stand out against Karlach while linking to Wyll and creating visual consistency with the Zariel tiefling subtype in character creator. I also never use orange so it was a step out of my comfort zone there lol. I wanted to set Behati up specifically to pair with Wyll in a way that would challenge him as a character somewhat. Knowing Wyll is selfless perhaps to a fault, I decided Behati would be a very selfish person initially. She's a charlatan and a cheat (embracing what people expect tieflings to be and trying to do it far better than expected) compared to Wyll trying to make himself into the Blade of Frontiers as a heroic figure. She embraces her warlock pact while Wyll wants to escape his own. When Wyll is transformed and feels upset about the changes, Behati has had to embrace her own fiendish features because there was never any getting rid of them. I like the idea that at her core, Behati is actually a better person who does care more about others than she likes to admit. Contrast with Wyll suppressing his own personal needs and justified anger/grief on his own behalf. I don't think Behati would go so far as betraying the tieflings, but do think she makes some morally questionable choices at times. Behati's guardian I think on the one hand reflects Behati having an aspirational concept of fiendish beauty (like a tropical flower here), but also--that purple has mindflayer undertones.

Tarmyr, half-drow necromancer. I haven't worked all the details out about this guy tbh and as a note, I'm trying to explain my intentions for him without spoiling buddies who haven't finished the game. I plan to pair him with the Emperor and am going to shape his choices accordingly. Tarmyr probably has weird complexes about control--over the dead via necromancy and the living with psionics. He probably went through some terrible shit to cause that. His guardian is modeled off of Balduran as best I could manage. I can say with Tarmyr's design, I wanted him to be very desaturated but with vibrant eyes. Mostly blue, a bit of violet at the center.

Kodos, a githyanki monk. Planning to pair him with Lae'zel. I've been trying to sort out what kind of character he is and I think he's specifically a negotiator. If knowing your enemy is a useful tactic, it's his job to evaluate and utilize both githyanki and non-githyanki to the greatest advantage possible through manipulation. He'd be a monk specifically because during negotiations it's sometimes expected for emissaries to disarm. This can be exploited by those approaching in bad faith. As a monk, he'll never have cause for concern. I think Kodos privately has theories about whether eusocial, presocial, subsocial, etc. forms of interaction are the most efficient. He believes Vlaakith is trying to mold githyanki into a kind of hive society, but in such situations an isolated member fares poorly. Moreover, whether such a society could be called free anymore is uncertain. It reminds him a lot of elder brains and mindflayers but to express as much would practically be treason. His guardian is a githyanki with a few features reminiscent of mindflayers, as per his own private concerns but with further subtext regarding how the guardian means to approach him. I wanted Kodos to have features common to Githyanki/not to stand out too much, but to also look visually coherent with Lae'zel. I also didn't want the green body spots to clash honestly lol, since those aren't changeable. Thematically I wanted to make a githyanki character who offers another way of seeing things to Lae'zel while still being firmly rooted in a githyanki background.

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leopardmuffinxo · 11 months

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Hey, hope it's ok to send you an ask too!

First I wanna say you are SO insanely talented at character creation and making gifs, oml, whenever I see your OCs on my dash I'm like woow hello gorgeous! Love that they all have such cool stories too!

So here's my question, which of your OCs would get along, which wouldn't and if you could have one in your party as a companion, who would it be and what would their dynamic be?

Also, do you play them all simultaneously or finish one run and then start another?

Hope you'll have a great day!

slkjdflksjfklsdjf !!! Omg this legit made me tear up just a bit. Thank you so so much. You're too sweet! ♡ Asks are always welcome! I just sometimes take a second to respond lol.

Character creation has always been one of my favorite parts playing any game with a CC, and gif making is so relaxing for me when I don't feel like gaming, so that truly means a lot. ♡

Now for your questions. I'll stick to my BG3 OCs (that have current playthroughs going on), otherwise we'll be here forever lol. I've actually thought about this a lot in the past, so answering this on my blog is fun. Just be jabbing myself a bit, but I feel like I'm not the best at putting my thoughts together and I tend to ramble, so this may be a bit all over the place. Good ol' ADHD brain. Hopefully one day I'll have ALL of their backstories written in a way that makes sense lol.

Who would they would/would not get along with:

Raven: She's snarky, sarcastic, and flirty but also very closed off to deeper conversations from anyone she's not close to. (In her mind, sharing secrets to her gives someone a power over you, so she avoids things like that at all costs.) I like to compare her to Mazikeen from the show Lucifer, because they're incredibly similar with their personalities. For this reason, she would get a long with almost everyone listed, except for Ember or Talon. Her and Kyvoni would def get along the most, as they share similar humor (and pasts). Her and Iris have... physical history, so Iris is still quite hurt regarding it, so they're wouldn't be on the best of terms.

Ember: To those who don't know her, she comes off as very serious and stoic, with a very regal aura about her. Also the literal biggest bookworm. Her and Juniper are sisters, with Ember being the older one, so they get along as well as and bicker as sisters do. Raven and Kyvoni would get on her nerves with their constant snark, so she would avoid them. She, Iris, Velvet, and Khione would get along amazingly. She would def pick Khione's brain about all things magic and share their favorite books. (Khione also writes and reads smut, so I always thought about her introducing those things to Ember lol.) Ember and Talon... might just kill each other. Keep them apart.

Juniper: She's pretty much the opposite of her older sister. Very much go with the flow and completely fine with spontaneity, unlike Ember who prefers structure. While Ember loves her younger sister, they bicker a lot now that their older since Juniper took the warlock route, instead of learning magic the "old fashion way" like her sister. Her patron is a couatl, so it's not like her pact is evil, but Ember still isn't happy with the way she went about things. Her and Iris would be best friends in an instant. She'd def lock on to Khione as another older sister figure, due to her draconic sorcerer background. She's pretty indifferent about the others, although she might pick up some of Raven's lewd humor.

Iris: An absolute sweetheart of a bard. Natural flirt, of course. Who doesn't love a pretty purple tiefling? As mentioned above, she had a fling with Raven and fell hard. Raven didn't return her feelings, so there's some hard feelings on Iris' end. She would get a long great with everyone, and even get Talon to crack a smile every now and then. She loves to bring positivity to any situation, so it's hard for most people to dislike her, as hard as they might try. Her and Velvet would be best friends.

Kyvoni: He's pretty intimidating on the outside, which he prefers. It keeps most people out of his space and out of his business. He can be snarky, usually going off into asshole territory with some of his sarcasm. Ember and Juniper wouldn't dislike him, but probably wouldn't pursue a friendship with him. They're just too different in that aspect. Him and Raven get along great and have constant banter. They sometimes both have a very lewd sense of humor, which gets on the others nerves quite often lol. Him and Talon would be fine, and have a mutual respect for one another.

Talon: She's very prickly lol. She's pretty abrasive and blunt most of the time, even when it's not needed. She has tattoos over a lot of her body, mostly depicting snakes within them, so she looks intimidating to most people. (I'll figure out how to implement them in game one day.) Due to this, she doesn't get along with most of my other OCs at first, but would eventually warm up to Iris and Velvet, since they would go out of their way to get to know her softer side.

Khione: She's incredibly intelligent, and sweet... most of the time. Think Evie from The Mummy. She is a draconic sorcerer, so of course she's well versed in magic without trying, and specializes in ice magic, though she's not really much of a show-off. She prefers to let her mind impress people. As mentioned above, she's a bookworm and a writer, so her and Ember would get along great, especially after she helps mend her relationship with her sister. Khione can match Raven and Kyvoni when it comes to their wit, which will throw them both off at first, but they'll come to be good friends.

Velvet: She's very much a mix of sweet and spicy. She feels the spice is needed, as some people are put off by her being a half-drow, necromancer, and for her eyes which are black voids. (A side effect from a spell when she was younger and just getting into necromancy.) She would get a long with Talon, despite Talon's spiky nature. They have a lot in common with their backgrounds, so Velvet would be able to crack her shell. Iris constantly comments on how pretty she is, which blossoms their friendship. She would get a long fine with the rest of them, though they might not become as close as Talon and Iris.

If you have any questions about ones I maybe didn't mention together, feel free to ask!

Obviously I love all my bbys, but if I could have one in my party as a companion, it would be Kyvoni. He's an ex member of Zhentarim, and has a long, sordid past he would prefer to keep secret. He would def agree to anything that gets you paid or intimidation tactics at the beginning. He has a bit of a temper, and can be incredibly impulsive. He would be a tough nut to crack in opening up when it comes to his past or feelings about things, whether it be a friendship or romance path. A romance path would def have a scene were he intentionally pushes you away or tries to get you to hate him. He's dangerous, and already had someone close to him hurt because of it. He doesn't want to go through it again and has sworn off of matters of the heart. (Hoping to eventually dig deeper into what everyone would be like as a companion.)

I play all of them simultaneously, just depending on who's story I feel like playing at the time. Sometimes I play a certain character for days; other times, I switch characters multiple times within the hour. Just depends! I actually still haven't finished the game, but didn't really mind ending spoilers, so I have a good idea of who will do what. I'm currently working on act 3 with a lot of them.

Thank you so much for the ask! Sorry for the rambling lol. ♡

#answered asks #thebookishfeminist #showing everyone how all over the place i am lol #thank you again for the ask #your comments made my week ♡

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dragonsfell · 8 months

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IZZY'S DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS CHARACTERS

YASSARRA / Yuan-ti Warlock. Patron: the Great Old One, Dendar the Night Serpent / Featured in a completed Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign and post-campaign one shots / reached level 20 via epilogue one shots

Raised in the jungles of Chult to a Yuan-ti temple and given the mission of gaining power in Port Nyanzaru (after all yuan-ti were home to chult first, and others should remember that). Yassarra was a prime candidate for making her name known among the streets of Port Nyanzaru as an agent for her people. She had all the markings of a proper kin; ambitious, silver tongued, and human looking enough.

For years, she was a courtier for the Merchant Prince, Wakanga O'tamu; the Chultan human had taken interest and made alliance with her, due to being well-versed in arcane and occult matters given her warlock pact with Dendar. At first, she was very goal orientated in gaining favor with the Merchant Prince of Magic and Lore, and making her name known among the other Princes as well. Slowly accumulate her own wealth and look for the chance to grow in power, possibly even a viable candidate to take over one of the seven merchant prince's places if something were to happen.

All this would change when a large street war between the Zhentarim and Harpers had broken out; and the chaos only ensued with the Flaming Fist got involved (for true Chultans, the Flaming Fist are a blemish in the Port, a foreign power trying to make claim to their home). It was when Yassarra had been cornered by a few Flaming Fists mercenaries and left rather battered and bruised, when a glorious half elf woman and a few of her friends from the Ytepka Society saved her. The woman, a bard, Audrey had been someone that Yassarra had seen around before, at parties and in the ears of a few of the Merchant Princes, especially a guest at Wakanga's palace.

under the cut for the rest, warning it is long (i will make this a word document later too for bigger font/headings)

This would be when Yassarra would have met her future wife; she and Audrey now in the proper acquaintance of each other, would continue to be in each other's orbit and Yassarra found herself quite smitten. Audrey had even more of a silver tongue that Yassarra had, and she's the one who Yassarra would claim taught her how to love. Audrey is the one who took Yassarra's self-centered and hostile ambitions and twisted around; sold her on noble ideals and is why Yassarra would become one of the Ytepka Society, as well as would join Audrey (this would be years later, after they have become girlfriends) in making a formal alliance between the Ytepka and the Harpers (as they had similar goals).

For years, they would be happy together and found themselves considerable comfortable. Wakanga would become a good friend, whom Yassarra changed from taking his place to ensuring that the one Merchant Prince sympathetic to the Harpers kept his power in Port Nyanzaur and all of Chult. Yassarra and Audrey would marry, and even raise a son together, Calin, four years into their marriage.

When Calin was about the age of twenty two, tragedy would strike when Yassarra would be returning from Samargol in Samarach; and she came home to her wife and son slain in their home. First, Yassarra felt fury and burnt many bridges, many friendships, until she had answers and revenge; of which she had gotten. Her family's killer paid their price tenfold; and then after that she sought out true resurrection, bringing her family back without being undead. (to which she would achieve much later).

[ spoilers for the pre-made campaign, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden ]

Yassarra didn't care how long it took and at what cost; even that took her far from Chult, far from her home in Port Nyanzaru. Not all her bridges had been burned; Wakanga and one of Audrey's friends were kind enough to take care of her home and the assets she had left behind; that she would have a home to return to, for her, Audrey, and their son. It was Wakanga that would send her as far as the Icewind Dale.

It was in the Ten Towns, in the town of Easthaven, where Yassarra would meet a group of adventurers who were looking for the same Bard as she had been; this party would be Rory the wildhunt cat Shifter, a beastslayer ranger; Wulfric the goliath, beastial barbarian, Belladonna the firbolg, druid of the stars; Lynn the high moon elf, the eldritch knight; and Aelin the water genasi, a four elements monk.

She would join them for their adventures, as the cold of the Icewind Dale had left her weakened (how we agreed as to why yassarra w/ her backstory is now a level 3 warlock). She would join them in preventing Xardorok Sunblight in unleashing terror and unearthing the mystery of the Chardalyn Dragon.

They would beat Xardorok and his cult, with help from inside the fortress (Yassarra had to use spare the dying like three times in this boss fight), and the party barely had time to rest when news of the Chardalyn Dragon unleashing havoc upon the Ten Towns, namely at Dougan's Hole (Rory's home) had reached them.

( there were a lot of sessions from Yassarra joining the party, some side quests, events happening in Easthaven, Caer Dineval and Caer-Konig [where we would be faced with Sunblight loyalists], as well a Bryn Shander before we got to Xardorok's fortress but i am skipping the deeper details / as they had started level 3 and were level 6th by the time they faced Xardorok )

The party would rush to Dougan's Hole where the party had to balance between rescuing villagers and trying to down the Chardalyn Dragon. Help would come in the form of Vellynne Harpell. The fight with the dragon was mighty, and it came at great costs. Wulfric would sacrifice his life in taking down the dragon. Much of Dougan's Hole was in need of repairs (Rory's family was saved!).

The party took some time to aid in the rebuilding of Dougan's Hole as well as grieve the loss of Wulfric. It was at this time that the party had started to see a softer, more open side of Yassarra and her parts of her past revealed. She was instrumental in organizing the town in it's rebuilding, as it was left without a speaker, and would aid in the election of a new speaker. The party saw that she was someone who could lead and organize, versed in diplomacy, as well as she seemed to care about the town (it was because of Rory that she did). She would be the first and was the first, who swiftly dismantled an angered elder of Dougan's Hole who cast the dragon attack as all at the blame of Rory [she scared the hell out of this man :)) using telepathy and nightmare shit]

The party would found themselves with two new members, Floki (Wulfric's player) who was a Shadowdancer rogue who was Wulfric's nephew, and Don Feo (Belladonna's player) a friend of Belladonna who had decided he wanted to remain and continue helping Dougan's Hole heal more. Don Feo was a fairy, who was wild magic sorcerer; who would join them in helping Vellynne of Arcane Brotherhood's quest in finding the Codicil of White and finding their way into Ythryn, a fragment of the Empire of Netheril. This would particularly interest Yassarra, as the Bard that Yassarra had been looking for was part of the Arcane Brotherhood; as well as it was it's Netheril magic; there would surely be a way to return her wife and son to life there.

The party were helping because they sought a bring an end to Auril's never-ending harsh winter; while Yassarra's intent was more personal related. This would be revealed to Rory, as well as the rest of the party as their first clue to finding the Codicil was in Revel's End. On their trek toward Revel's End, a Remorhraz attacked and left the party needing to long rest after a few close calls in the fight.

[ this next bit will be describing on of the best roleplay scenes i ever had played/had with another player ; we had the party and dm in tears ;3 ]

While on this long rest, Yassarra would take note of Rory isolating herself and went to settle down besides the young girl. Yassarra asked Rory how she was feeling, they hadn't really talked about the dragon attack, her family being in danger, wulfric's death, or the tense conversation Rory had with her mother when Rory was setting out with the party again. The two of them had a heart to heart, with Yassarra providing Rory with comfort and guidance, talked about Wulfric and the whole of their adventure, how they feel about people they've met and they had a lengthy chat about Rory and her family, about how Rory feels being cursed as "werecat" and choosing to leave, stay away from Dougan's Hole, and how her mother can be, and how her mother hadn't wanted her to leave.

Yassarra talked about how she was worried, because she loves Rory, that she doesn't distest a thing about her daughter, and that it probably scares her that she can't help her daughter more, or wipe away the pain and fears Rory has, the otherness she feels being a wereshifter. At this point, Rory had been leaning against Yassarra's side, who had wrapped an arm around Rory. It was then that Rory said "you are really good at this, Yassarra" and then Yassarra nodded her head, whispered softly "Because I know what a mother feels" and it got really quiet for a moment, and silence hung in the air before Rory said "i am really sorry you lost someone, Yassarra" and it was quiet again and then Yassarra had turned her head to kiss Rory's forehead. A few more moments, and then Yassarra began to tell Rory about her wife Audrey and their son, Calin and admittedly; Rory reminded her of Calin (they were alike; both young rangers who had big dreams).

[ we had paused a few times to make sure the rest of the party and dm were cool w/ us taking a big chunk of this session for this; and everyone was so down and emotional. we got two inspiration each for that roleplay scene ]

From there we would make it to Revel's End, where we broke into the prison and broke out of the prison, to get information from a mad wizard in jail (yassarra lied her way with him and he believed her that she would break him out) and got information about the Codicil of White as well as about Vellynne; to which the party was already getting suspicious of. This is where Yassarra, who had been seemingly the biggest ally of Vellynne (they would talk arcana a lot), reassured that if she much as turned against them, Yassarra would end that so fast; as well as she had no intention of trusting or letting Vellynne ever touch the Codicil.

From there we had full known of how to find the Codicil of White, as well as what it can really do, and subsequently "betray" Vellynne at this point, and left her behind and knew we needed to make for Island of Solstice and Grimskalle. How we were going to getting there was riding Angajuk the Sperm Whale.

While were riding with Angajuk, we came across the shipwreck of the Dark Duchess, and took a detour there to check it out. Which resulting in us finding some troubles and the party starting to bicker with each other about the events that occurred in Revel's End and Vellynne. It was while they were bickering that they were startled by Arveiaturace the White Wyrm; whom Rory, Floki, and Lynn had immediately wanted to take down (as natives of the Ten Towns) while Aelin, Don Feo, and Yassarra were on the fence. Aelin and Don Feo eventually joined in fighting the dragon; but it was during this fight that Yassarra who had insight checked on the dragon noticed the frozen corpse on her back.

This is when Yassarra hardcore refused to take a single attack against the dragon; because as she watched how the dragon talked and fought; she realized something. SHE'S GRIEVING. Yassarra actually got downed twice to the stress of the party; and had started taking each other her turns to yell at the dragon that she understands her; understand her sharp denial that the one she loved was gone, and she did that too! Asked for Dendar to give her nightmares, so that she could just see her family's face again, even if it twists in pain; would allow Dendar to visit her friend's dreams, give them nightmares, so that she could dream about dates with her wife, memories of outings with her son. That she understands burning every bridge down because the hurt is too much, and she would hunt like hell, hurt otheres like hell until she got her love back. This emotional plea was successful, in that the part stopped attacking Arviaturace and apologized, and this did result in the White Dragon letting the party go. [ Yassarra was on like 2 hp lol after being downed a second time ]

The party returned to Anhajuk and continued to the island, where while they were making the trek to Grimskalle they came across the frozen corpse of Nass Lantomir, whom has stolen Vellynne's professor orb, and Yassarra in falling check to try to get the orb; had Nass possess her [ yassarra got a natural 1 on a charsima saving throw ]. Yassarra mangeed to wrestle control of herself back from Nass, but instead of getting rid of Nass. SHE KEPT HER and for the rest of the adventure [ and to this day ], Yassarra has a ghost in her, who speaks in her mind and doesn't have control unless she lets Nass have control. [ truly one of yassarra's most unhinged decisions / the dm and i had fun having nass and yassarra bicker ]

So after Yassarra acquires a permanent passenger in the head [ once again tadpoled characters from bg3 or anyone w/ telepathy or detect thoughts have a fun time with nass screaming at you for the intrusion and like /that's not yassarra/ ] the party continues exploring the island and making the climb for Grimskalle.

The party reach the Fortress, upon which they enter the fortress whil Auril the Frostmaiden is away weaving her nightly spell. We make our way through the first several levels of the fortress without too much trouble and make all the way to the Tests of the Frostmaiden.

No one could know what exactly the tests unless passed an insanely high insight check ( which guess who had a passive insight of above 20 as well as expertised insight? ) Yassarra was the only one who passed it so she knew what each test was. She lied about what the first test was and said she would take it ( test of cruelty and most of the party were extremely kind/good people or strong moral codes/compasses? no way is she letting any of them in there) She did tell them the other three tests were called Endurance, Isolation, and Preservation.

The first test, the Test of Cruelty, is handled easily by Yassarra alone. It came utterly nature for Yassarra, and she choice to bare this test alone. As to pass this test, a character much perform a cruel act. She is placed in a scenario with starving elders and a cruel king, given the option to leave or kill the elders; Yassarra went for much more brutal than that. She killed the king, and when the elders thought she had saved them (which would have been a way to fail) Yassarra then killed the elders. For that was the ultimate act of cruelty, to trick the elders into thinking they were saved and then snuffing them out herself. Or as she explained "the truest form of cruelty is watching hope die in the other eyes as they realize their savior is worse than their captor. Cruelty is hope dying." This was how Yassarra returned with a symbol of Auril and the first test passed.

She was not proud of how easily such cruelty was still instilled her; but better her bare this weight than the rest of the party.

Cruelty. “Compassion makes you vulnerable. Let cruelty be the knife that keeps your enemies at bay.”

The next test is the Test of Endurance, which Aelin and Lynn decide to take the test together. Aelin and Lynn help the nomads in the test take down their tent, and join them for the journey, both of them managed to complete the harrowing journey with fewer than four levels of exhaustion.

Endurance. “Exist as long as you can, by whatever means you can. Only by enduring can you outlast your enemies.”

The third test was the Test of Isolation, which Rory had chosen to take on alone [ me and yassarra were no adopted daughter no! ] In Rory's test, she is left to watch over the Tiger Tribe's camp while the whole camp goes on raid. It is only suppose to last two days, but instead last six days and nights. Rory manages to survive alone while having to succeed in 12 indefinite madness checks [ the stress of this my guys the stress if anything happened to rory, yassarra would be devastated ]

Isolation. “In solitude you can understand and harness your full potential. Depending on others makes you weak.”

The final test was the Test of Preservation which Don Feo and Floki take on together, as the only two without Symbols of Auril received. In this test, they come across a tribal camp left to slaughter and the sole survivor a nine year old boy. Floki and Don Feo together defend the boy from vultures, and then Don Feo takes to soothing and comforting the boy when the boy's tribe's murderer comes back to kill the boy. Floki takes on the murderer alone while Don Feo defends and soothes the boy. The murderer is slain and the boy is safe, and together Floki and Don Feo pass the test.

Preservation. “Every flake of snow is unique, and that which is unique must be preserved.”

[ so a lot of this is different than what the book of Icewind Dale has as it fit our narrative better / hence why the dm divided the tests, so not everyone had to do each one; it was more meaningful to us so if you've played RotFM and remember this part / we have already gone pretty divergent from book as written ]

With the test complete, the party makes it to the vault door and the Hall of Four Winds and further more we reach the chamber of the Codicil. It was here that we had finally found the Codicil of White and retrieved it.

As we had no encountered Auril in full, and she was very much alive; the whole of the part had gotten the offer from the Frostmaiden herself telepathically contacting each of us asking "Will you court death to receive my blessing?" Three of our six party members had said yes.

[ the stress we felt when we found out that it was con save of 21 was so much; cause yassarra has a +0 modifier, which like meant OH thank got she got an item that gave her proficiency in con saves, so at least she could add the +3 proficiency bonus ]

Rory [girl stop stressing snake mama out], Floki, and Yassarra had all said yes and we all thankfully made our saves [or burnt our inspiration to reroll] As we had all agreed to receive the blessing, our eyes became cold, we all gained immunity to cold an could cast cone of cold once per long rest. Auril's Blessing could be rescinded any time while she was alive.

Don Feo, Aelin, and Lynn had refused. BUT WE DID IT ! We got the Codicil and were now going to go to the Reghead Glaicer, get into Ythyrn and end the save the Icewind Dale.

While on our travels back, and on our race to the Glacier. This would be while we are still on Angajuk, Lynn had been the chosen to hold onto the Codicil which has remained unopened. Everyone had agreed we were not going to touch it until a greater decision as made; however Yassarra wasn't satisfied with this. She's greedy about magic items, and she's ever closer to finding ways to return to her family to her.

[ this was another amazing roleplay scene we had and everyone consented to some PC vs PC conflict ]

Yassarra and Lynn had a late night discussion about the Codicil, as the eldest of the group, and as the two who kept their secrets closely guarded. Both had reasons for wanting the Codicil. Yassarra had two, her own personal need for higher magic, an answer to returning her family back to life, and Nass in her brain chanting "take it take it take it" and fighting for control from Yassarra to take the Codicil.

This is where Yassarra casts SUGGESTION on Lynn, telling her that "she should hand the Codicil over to her and say nothing about it to anyone" and Yassarra's spell dc is 17 and Lynn has a -1 saving throw. Lynn failed the saving throw; and did as suggested. She handed it over, and couldn't say everything. Lynn knew Yassarra did something to her, but she couldn't save.

Rory would notice this, and Lynn couldn't say anything and Yassarra dodged the questions. The rest of the party started to gather as Rory was trying to work out the tension between Lynn and Yassarra. Rory couldn't trust that Yassarra wouldn't lie or that she'd be able to catch Yassarra in her lies; so Rory casted Zone of Truth. Here's where it goes interesting, no matter what Rory will know something is up. Most of the party willing accepts the cast, foregoing the saving throw and thus choosing to speak the truth.

Now Yassarra had a dilemma, she could submit but she doesn't want to tell; or she can resist, and she knows Rory will know she resists. Yassarra resists, and succeeds against telling the truth. Rory knows this, and instead drops the zone and drops the subject. Telling the party it was nothing, but she looks at Yassarra disappointed.

The rest of the party is clueless (we were good players about no metagaming) and react normally to Yassarra now having the book, and just assume that Lynn gave it willingly and even after suggestion wears off; Lynn kept what Yassarra did to herself.

Things are a little tense between Yassarra, Lynn, and Rorry [ don't worry pals ] for while, and then Yassarra reads the Codicil of White.

With reading the Codicil, she uses the spell Frost Fingers [but wait she's not a wizard! she's a warlock! hold on friends] which she is able to learn because of Nass, a wizard, still being a passenger in her brain [ yassarra basically got like one per short rest use of frost fingers is how the dm did this mechanically ] as well as she got to read the poem called "Rime of the Frostmaiden" which is an incantation which can split a glacier (the glacier we were rushing to get to) and now Yassarra has knowledge about Ythryn, the glacier, ending winter, and a lot more that'll help the party.

A few days of travel, and some encounters; Yassarra does ask for Lynn and Rory to speak with her during camp one night. She apologizes to Lynn and Rory, adding she knew what she was doing, knew she chose to hurt them this way; and admits why she did this and that she isn't a better person. She doesn't use Nass as an excuse which Lynn asks and tries to support Yassarra because Nass does fight for control and has succeeded a few times while they were making it to the glacier and into the Caves of Hunger.

Yassarra says while yes Nass was nagging nat, even without her telling her to do this; she would have done this and she needed to know. Yassarra even admits that she would do it again; even if it burnt her bridges with them, hurt them and hurt her. However, Rory calls bullshit and she's somewhat right. After the three of them make amends; Yassarra says she'll tell the rest of the party and leave it up to them.

Ultimately, things are okay because they know how fiercely Yassarra cares for them; and that sometimes you hurt the ones you love and that she can make it up. Rory brings up Audrey, which Yassarra has told Rory bits and pieces (we had little rp channels between characters for "down time chats" / wee played via voice call on discord) over their journey since Yassarra's family reveal after the Remorhraz fight.

Yassarra apologizes, and will think twice, and she does want to be better person that she was, back when her wife was around, and even realizes she should just be that without her or her son alive.

OKAY. SO MOST OF THE CAVE OF HUNGERS I can skip besides the fact that Yassarra got downed and rolled death saves again (she goes down a lot) and a few times Nass takes control, but actually manages to saves Yassarra's life as a result.

Now finally, we reach Ythryn, frament of Netheril, that rests inside of the silent depths of the Reghed Glacier. Ythryn is now a corpse city. As they enter the fallen city, the party manages to deceive and succeed on a DC 13 Charisma/Deception Group check against Iriolarthas the Demilich, of whom now believes belong to Ythryn, and are a rescue team and thus pass into Ythryn unharmed (for now).

The party explores Ythryn, and Nass is going wild in Yassarra, fighting for control an wanting her to steal all of Ythryn's magical secrets. Yassarra succeeds in keeping Nass at bay, and does have self control when it comes to magical secrets. She has a goal, two goals in fact, add the rest of the party in finding a way to end Auril's Endless Winter in Icewind Dale (the goal of Floki, Rory, and Lynn; as ten town natives, and Don Feo who is there in place of Belladonna who also wanted this) and her own of finding a way to truly bring back her wife and son without them being undead.

Through the Necropolis they go, through all eight towers of the foundational magic (abjuration, necromancy, you get the point). We do at some point piss of Iriolarthas and our deception fails; so now we encounter a lot of fighting and so many puzzles. The finer details we will leave out. Just know when we reached the study, that Aelin accidentally deactives the force field around the spire and Ythryn Mythallar; cause she accidentally learned the command word and used it [ we gained a level for this during our mid session break / yassarra's other adoptive daughter bless her soul ]

I haven't described the involvement of the Arcane Brotherhood as a whole; but we run into Vellynne again who has been turned into a Nothic. We meet another of the brotherhood, Avarice who Nass starts screaming in Yassarra's head and fighting for control as Avarice was the reason for Nass's demise. So that was a fun headache for Yassarra to deal with.

Avarice helped us with some lore about Ythryn and getting around; but the party as a whole don't trust her or anyone from the Arcane Brotherhood (considering some of the Vellynne stuff and Nass). So Floki and Don Feo kind of fuck Avarice over; which Yassarra comedically just says "Thanks, you've shut up the nat" referring to Nass in her head (since yeah Yassarra is still like /nah i'll keep her/ and Nass has been useful)

Once we have explored all the city, and because we have not confronted Auril yet; Yassarra, Floki, and Rory who have been immune to cold and had Auril's blessing feel it suddenly go away; which alerts us to the Frostmaiden arriving in Ythryn herself. We dispatch most of Auril's minions whom were sent to patrol looking for us.

Eventually, Auril has to go hunt for us herself and we managed to get a long rest in; and stumble upon Auril herself. AND THUS. We fight Auril, three times, in all three of her forms. It's a pretty intense fight, and I won't go into too much detail here. However, all of the party survives and we defeat Auril; thus releasing the Ten Twos and Icewind Dale from endless winter until Auril returns again as the gods never die permamently (for any god with mortal followers alive can be resurrected); but it does give the Ten Towns and Icewind Dale a reprieve from harsh winters.

[ The players and DM have a little OH MY GOD what a moment to complete a campaign together; for all the players this as their first campaign that had a definitive ending, start to finish, did not get cancelled or postponed indefintiely and had like upwards of 52 sesssions (i can't find the exact count) from 2020 to Jan 2022. ]

We agree as some after action; the party makes it out of Ythryn, but not without the entire party telling Yassarra they would help find her a magical item/secret in Ythryn that will bring back her son and wife ( they succeed ). We return to outside world, and for the native player characters who lived in Ten Towns, they see sunlight for the first time and already feel the Icewind Dale warming up. We have some cute final scenes and wrap up.

[ We would then do eeither a one shot to three shot; at increased levels for a mini plot for each of the Party / we ended up at level 12 and have 6 epilogues, that our dm would write for the characters / i am only going to describe parts of Yassarra's but all the other ones were fun as well and everyone's epilogue was fun as well, Floki, Lynn, and Rory we got to see all the other seasons in Icewind Dale and other things (Lynn's redemption with her Knight order / Rory being comfortable with herself and helping her with exploring the new Icewind Dale / Floki and Raven tribal drama, as well as a memorial for Wulfric).... Aelin, we got to go see her return to her monastery and have a whole /graduation/.... Yassarra has the party visit Chult and they help her become the Merchant Prince of Magic, with her wife and son there too, cause Wakanga got assassinated) and the final two shot as Belladonna and Don Feo face the Courts of the Feywild at level 19/20 (whack to play).... We tried to start a Strixhaven campaign; but schedules changed and fridays that worked for two years didn't work anymore. ]

[ end of spoilers for Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden ]

Okay, so level 17 one shot that finished Yassarra's story goes as follows.

The party reunites once again to visit Yassarra, whose been home with her wife Audrey and son Calin, and finally gotten the chance to return to Chult. She is rebuilding their life, their home safe and she is making amends for all the burnt bridges. We have some great scenes of this, Yassarra so proud to show off her wife, show off her home, and introduce her son to everyone (especially since Rory and Aelin and Belladonna and Floki were like her adoptive children; all around Calin's age and reminded her of her on). IT IS WHOLESOME. Except you know..... I wanted politicial drama and action and chaos.

There's been rising tensions between the factions in Port Nyanzaru, and the Merchant Princes as well as the Chultans and Ytepka Society, fear that the Flaming Fist and Lords' Alliance has gained too much power over their city; as well as rising tensions of the Zhentarim and Harpers. The Harpers are in alliance with the Ytepka, or if push comes to shove, will support the native Chultans if they decide to try to push out the Flaming Fist and Lords' Alliance.

Many of the Merchant Princes have been on high alert, due to treasury robberies, their customers being attacked, and death threats along with assassination attempts. Although, there is in fight among the Seven Princes as well, give some have alliances with the Harpers and others have alliance with the Zhent. The Ytepka Society is what keeps the Princes together and bands them together to keep foreign powers (Flaming Fist and Lords' Alliance, which fun fact; involves Ulder Ravengard) from dismantling Chult society.

So tensions high, and chaos breaks lose when the Merchant Prince of Magic and Lore (Yassarra's long time friend, business partner, and boss) Wakanga O'tamu turns up dead in the streets with no proper successor and fingers pointing in several directions of who was responsible.

To cut this a little shorter, after a lot of back an form of policitical debate and mystery; Yassarra trying to band the Princes together and warn them they could be next, and cut contact with their foreign alliances or even several their alliance ties until it is found out who killed Wakanga (except to the ones who are secretly with the Ytepka Society, so only Zhanthi, as the Ytepka is a Chultan secret society against foreign rulers).

It was a mess of trying to get the remaining princes to get along especially since Kwayothe hates Zhanthi, and other conflicts like everyone pointing their fingers at Jessamine, who deals in plants poisons and assassinations. It was neither of them, but instead on of Ifan Talro'a 's Zhent contacts (who was actually spying on Ifan for the Lords' Alliance which like include Baldur's Gate's Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard [it was not him], and other BG official as well other officials from Waterdeep and Neverwinter [it was a Neverwinter official]) who had carried out the hit, with the help of some Flaming Fists to kill Wakanga and sow chaos and dismantle Chult's natural governemnt (the Merchant Princes) so that Port Nyanzaru and thus all of Chult can become a resource/subsidiary of Neverwinter.

Long story short, after this Yassarra and the party convince the Six Princes that without Wakanga and a swift successor chosen as replacement, all of their own power and wealth along with Port Nyanzaru and the Chultan pride would lost to foreign powers; and considering how close Yassarra was to Wakanga as well as her extensive arcane knowledge (btw Yassarraa still has Nass; who occasionally lives in the Professor Orb from RotFM w/ Professor Skant and one the occasion gets to ride along/parital possession Yassarra) as a Warlock (and the wizard in her brain who occasionally is just secondary wizard in an orb) who is a proud and true Chultan, because Yuan Ti were Chult's first people and Empire; and her own wealth and so on; that she should inherit Wakanga's wealth and possession (to which she promised a magical boon from Wakanga's vault to each prince).

And this how Yassarra became the Merchant Prince of Magic in Port Nyanzaru, Chult. She kept true to her promise of a boon or gift; and is continuing to secure the power dynamic of Chult as well as improve things with the assistances of the Harpers, who now have a formal secret alliance with the Ytepka Society to bring peace, order, and well-being to all of Chultans; including the poorer of the city's outer territories.

Check out the the verse link on the pinned post for BG3 involvement.

#[ MIRROR ] Yassarra #[ ABOUT ] Yassarra #[ ABOUT ] All Headcanons

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wetbloodworm · 7 months

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doing a merripen run in bg3 so some notes on that. not spoiler-free!!

technically i started a run and lost it to patch/mod fuckery so i had to start over but i'm not too mad about that. i used a masc body and voice for him in the first run before realizing i don't have to do that just because he's a man. body 1 and one of the fem voices fit him better. he doesn't have to look or sound any particular way to unequivocally be a man. this is so freeing and when i remade him i was like YES this is IT that's MY BOY!! and ty larian for just letting me select his gender separately from these factors, unlike some games [makes direct eye contact with cp77]

went with great old one for his pact bc fathomless isn't an option. there's one on nexus but from what i can tell it doesn't utilize any dialogue tags, so great old one is good enough. they've both got tentacles it's fine

i'm gonna do something fun with this, which is decide when beul would be likely to try to take over and then use their lvl 10 character sheets to do a wisdom contest to see who wins. if beul wins, i'm playing it either until it would decide to pull back or at the start of the next long rest. this could have... consequences, considering beul is deeply homicidal. it's most likely to take over if it feels like the body is in danger and merri isn't handling the situation to its satisfaction, or if there’s an opportunity to gain power, or if there's an irresistible opportunity to kill people that merri isn't acting on. also if there's water nearby that it wants to jump into. the two can negotiate sometimes so it won't be EVERY time, but the two also don't get along great and beul can be spiteful. so we'll see how it goes.

merri really won't care about the tiefling/druid situation, like he gets feeling anxious about outsiders considering his upbringing but he also thinks the druids are being dicks. but it's also so not his problem. please just tell me where your healer is my brain is getting so crowded. since he's there he'll relay some info back and forth but he's not interested until zevlor implies someone should get rid of kagha. merri like well hang on now, THIS i can help with, if you can pay. i just have to figure out if merri would do his research first to minimize damage or if he's gonna just go after her immediately. might uh. might wait to level up some first if i'm turning the whole grove against me. because merri was not trained to minimize damage.

during the first run i was really not expecting him to go for laezel, but it turns out he really likes how direct and intense she is! when you agree to hook up she says something like 'i will come to your tent tonight and take you' and merri was just like

during her sex scene she also directs you and if you follow you're referred to as a lapdog and, yeah. yeah. merri's into being bossed around apparently.

i made a joke later on about him worrying about taking credit for something laezel did and wondering if she'd beat him up over it, but also is that actually a deterrent for him

i don't know if he'll do the full romance but we'll see

he does let astarion bite him though he makes him stop quick, and there's a war in his head because beul HATES this while merri is just yelling WE NEED HIM WE NEED HIM THERE'S A WORM IN MY BRAIN WE NEED OUR ALLIES DO NOT STAKE OUR ALLY!!!

merri is interested in power but not as much as beul. for instance, he would be on the fence about letting the hag take mayrina but beul might try to shove forward and agree to the deal. merri has NO interest in becoming the absolute but beul is super down for it. stuff like that. it'll be fun to see who wins out.

i just want wyll and merri to have warlock chats. oh your patron fucking sucks and took advantage of you in a dire situation? bro same. like the magic's great, but oof! the cost!

that's all i got for now except for this: a boy

tattoos are the closest i'm getting lmao. he should be bluer tbh i'll tweak that

#merripen tag

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bakafox · 1 year

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I need to actually snap some shots in cinematics where close ups can happen or at least she's bigger- I misnamed her in earlier posts, but this is currently what I guess you could call my 'main Tav.'

Ifrig is a half drow great old one pact of the blade warlock based a bit on a full-drow pact of the blade warlock/shadow sorcerer that I briefly played with @the-lazy-old-fox in an online game where their character was mine's twin sister.

She was my third char I rolled for the game and the first of my many that Astarion went for, so she's his romance. She's maybe a little too heroic for his tastes a fair amount of the time, because I am chronically incapable of playing any char in a videogame who is more than a middling asshole. She is power hungry, though I'm still debating if she'd actually try using the skin book of evil, since I also do picture her as being wary of making bad deals and getting cursed/in hotter water than her patron cares to fish her out of.

At level 5 she's one of the two highest level chars I've got/stuck with as I've been rolling at least one character of every class, and I'm having to debate with myself if she'll multiclass like my original TTRPG version of her, even if shadow sorcerer isn't one of the available flavors in BG3. Tempest sorcerer could fit her.

(The 'joke' in the original TTRPG game was she and her twin were great disappointments to their parents for not being talented at wizardry and not being sorcerers or anything like that, so she went warlock to try and prove herself to them, which backfired, and then only after leaving home/running away from the assholes, her sorcery manifested.)

#bg3 #a bakafox tav

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anistarrose · 3 years

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Does the Night have life-extending powers?

To no one’s surprise, this is a post inspired by Marcy and whatever the hell is happening to her in the Season 3 intro. That said, I don’t think she’s the only beneficiary of lifespan extending-magic, nor is she the first — because after all, Andrias is over one thousand years old.

You could argue that IRL giant salamanders do live a long time for amphibians, but Andrias is older than society’s collective memory and essentially all of Amphibia’s publicly available written history. It’s implied that he’s the only person still alive to remember Newtopia’s “great” past, and that’s just too ridiculous to be natural.

Now, Andrias summons a glowing shield out of nowhere to defend himself from Super Saiy-Anne, and said shield is orange and black, just like the “Night”/basement monster’s color scheme. It also basically disintegrates into thin air once Anne shatters it, which is another point in favor of it being some form of magic, not a robust physical object.

Basically, I think that Andrias has a pact with the Night, where in exchange for his servitude, it keeps him from dying of old age and lets him draw upon its power for occasional magic tricks like that shield. Kind of like a warlock’s patron in Dungeons & Dragons Creatures & Caverns.

Andrias seems very familiar with the Calamity powers, and how once the gems are charged, the powers are supposed to be disconnected from their wielders forever. He instantly recognizes what’s going on with Anne and the Heart gem, but he’s also blindsided by it, having truly believed her powers were locked away.

So perhaps, Andrias once held one of the gem powers, believed he lost it when the box was stolen while charged, and arranged his pact with the Night to try and regain a fraction of that power? That would make an eerie parallel to Marcy, who was also drained of her Wit power, and is now hooked up to the Night and presumably being kept alive by it...

Hopefully, our poor artificer/rogue won’t be too traumatized if she’s forced to multiclass as a warlock with the Big Bad as her patron.

#amphibia #amphibia theory #marcy wu #king andrias #true colors spoilers #amphibia spoilers #rosalia writes meta

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grailfinders · 3 years

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Fate and Phantasms #167

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re making the single horniest character in FGO (in every sense of the word), Heaven’s Hole, a.k.a. Kiara Sessyoin. One half enlightened saint, 99% insatiable demon, all NSFW. Kiara’s an Open-Hand Monk to give off that aura of purity she loves so much, but she’s also a Great Old One Warlock to finally answer the question, “Can you really be a warlock if your patron is yourself?” (The answer is yes)

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Cheer for your empress! Wooooo!

Race and Background

Kiara may be human, but she’s been infused with the spirit of an otherworldly horror. That’s a Kalashtar, baby! This gives her +2 Wisdom and +1 Charisma, as well as some other mentally themed goodies. Your Dual Mind gives you advantage on all wisdom saves, and your religious training gives you the Mental Discipline to resist psychic damage. You can Mind Link to creatures within 10 times your level in feet, speaking to them telepathically for up to an hour or until you end the effect or link with another creature. Finally, you’re Severed from Dreams, meaning you’re immune to spells involving your dreams. Sleep still works, Dream doesn’t. God I wish that was me, it would make youtube so much less annoying.

As a Devilish Bodhisattva, you’re kind of a Sage, giving you proficiency with the Arcana and History skills.

Ability Scores

First things first, you’ve got to be so hot you can make people masturbate to death. That’s non-negotiable. I’ll leave the exact mechanics of that to your imagination, but it’s probably based on Charisma. Aside from manipulating people, you’re also just as good at reading people, and that’s Wisdom. You fight in a habit and do it all without dying, so your Dexterity isn’t that bad either. Unfortunately this leaves your Intelligence a little lower than we’d like. You’re a hacker nun, but we needed other stuff more. Your Constitution isn’t that great, you’re so eager for pleasure you don’t last that long. Finally, dump Strength. You’ve got a demon god to do all the lifting for you, who needs muscles?

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: Starting off as a monk gives you Unarmored Defense, which is really useful for that “not dying” thing you like to do. You also get Martial Arts, letting you use your dexterity for your unarmed attacks. You can also attack as a bonus action after attacking with your action, and your unarmed attacks deal 1d4 damage, and they grow as you level up.

You get proficiency with Strength and Dexterity Saves, as well as Insight for your psychological training, and Religion for the whole nun/buddhist thing. You have a lot going on as a character, to be honest.

2. Monk 2: Second level monks get Ki Points they can spend to attack twice, dash, disengage, or dodge as a bonus action. You also get Unarmored Movement to speed things up a bit, and you get even faster as you level up.

3. Monk 3: Third level monks can summon a bit of demon pillar to Deflect Missiles, slowing down incoming ranged weapons and possibly even shooting them back as a reaction. (Obviously the demon thing isn’t all monks, but hush.) You also set down the Way of the Open Hand, learning the Open Hand Technique in the process. When you hit a creature with a flurry of blows attack (the two attacks as a bonus action thing), you can: force a dexterity save to knock the enemy prone; force a strength save to push it away; or remove its ability to react for the round. I’m not sure how you touching a person makes them fall to their knees or get distracted, get your mind out of the gutter.

4. Monk 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Dexterity so you can actually hit people with your fists. You can also Slow Fall to reduce falling damage, presumably by swinging around on a demon pillar like some kind of spider woman, and you get Quickened Healing, letting you spend a ki point as an action to heal thy burgers. Despite your looks, you’re pretty tanky with all that healing.

5. Monk 5: Your Extra Attack does exactly what it sounds like, attacking twice in a single action. You can turn any of your attacks into Stunning Strikes, forcing a constitution save against getting stunned for a round. Ironically this is just leading into the explosive climax, where you beat the hell out of them. Where did you think I was going with that?

6. Monk 6: Sixth level monks get a little magical thanks to their Ki-Empowered Strikes so now your unarmed attacks ignore nonmagical damage resistances. You also gain a Wholeness of Body to heal yourself as an action. Unlike quickened healing, this baby heals you for 3 times your monk level once per long rest.

7. Warlock 1: Making your hands a little magical is nice, but we want to make stuff a lot of magical, and for that we’ll need to make some questionable deals. That’s where the Great Old One comes in, giving you Pact Magic you can cast with your Charisma and an Awakened Mind. It’s more telepathy. Not a huge boon, but now you can talk to two people at once, neat!

As far as spells go, Chill Touch lets you make creepy hands (kind of your thing), and Eldritch Blast gives you some generic magic projectiles. Charm Person makes you a bit more charming, and Protection from Evil and Good will help cut through those pesky rulers more easily by just straight up ignoring their god.

8. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, to customize your soul pact a bit. Beguiling Influence makes you proficient with Deception and Persuasion to help cover up the whole demon pillar thing, and Thief of Five Fates lets you cast Bane with a spell slot once per long rest, further weakening your enemies.

You can also cast Arms of Hadar to launch more arms all around you for an AoE attack.

9. Warlock 3: Kiara’s definitely a weird one when it comes to her pact boon. Books have kind of fallen out of fashion by 2030, she doesn’t use weapons, and she really doesn’t care for a sidekick. That leaves her with the Pact of the Talisman to make her a little bit better than everyone else, letting the wearer add 1d4 to a failed ability check Proficiency times per long rest.

She can also cast second level spells now, like Enthrall! She’s the only person in the world according to herself, and now she is to you too! Just fail that wisdom save and you’ll have disadvantage on perception checks to notice anyone else!

10. Warlock 4: Use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for stronger warlock spells. You also get the On/Off cantrip from a super old UA to become a bit of a hacker, magically turning on or off an electronic device within range. You can also Detect Thoughts to be one hell of a therapist, being able to read the mind of a nearby creature as an action while the spell lasts. You can read surface thoughts over and over again, or you can probe deeper into the mind of a creature you’ve already read, forcing a wisdom save against the intrusion. Also, creatures are aware you’re reading their mind, and they can force a contested intelligence check to end the spell while they’re being read.

11. Warlock 5: Your first 3rd level spell is Hypnotic Pattern, to help dominate the minds of crowds all at once. You can also Mire the Mind to cast Slow once per long rest with a spell slot. Up to six creatures make a wisdom save, or they have their speed and AC reduced, take a penalty to dexterity saves, and can’t use reactions. On their turns, they can make either an action or bonus action, not both. It also can’t make more than one attack per turn. Finally, spellcasters affected by the spell have a 50% chance of taking 2 turns to cast a 1 action spell. Another wisdom save at the end of each turn can end the effect.

12. Warlock 6: All those hands and mind tricks coalesce into an Entropic Ward this level, letting you spend your reaction to impose disadvantage on an incoming attack. If it misses, you get advantage on your next attack against that creature. You can use this once per short rest.

You can also slip into your Heaven’s Hole persona by donning a Spirit Shroud, dealing more damage within a short area around you, preventing healing from enemies you hit with attacks, and slowing them down even further.

13. Monk 7: Bouncing back into monk gives you the Stillness of Mind to end effects messing with your thoughts as an action. The only person around here doing any charming today is you, thank you very much. You’d also be correct in saying the only person around here period is you, but I digress.

Your Evasion boosts your dexterity saves, so your failures are as good as other people’s successes, and your successes avoid damage entirely.

14. Monk 8: Use this ASI to bump up your Wisdom to become more observant, and get stronger techniques and a higher AC.

15. Monk 9: Ninth level monks get an Unarmored Movement Improvement, helping you run straight up walls and over water, as long as you end the turn on solid ground. Admittedly that’s not very in-character, but you’ve got tentacles growing outta ya, I’m sure you can justify it somehow.

16. Monk 10: Tenth level monks have a Purity of Body that makes you immune to poisons and disease.

17. Monk 11: Your final level of monk grants you a Tranquility that makes you harder to hit, effectively giving you the effect of a Sanctuary spell starting and ending on your long rests, though the spell ends early if you directly attack or cast a spell at an enemy. While active, creatures trying to attack you directly have to make a wisdom save. If they fail, they have to choose a new target or waste their action. The DC is 8 + your wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus.

18. Warlock 7: Seventh level monks get fourth level spells, like Evard’s Black Tentacles. A 20′ square becomes a mass of tentacles (or demon god pillars), forcing a dexterity save against taking bludgeoning damage and get restrained. They can use their action to try and escape the tentacles, otherwise they don’t get a save on their next turn to avoid damage.

You can also use your Gaze of Two Minds to see and hear though a willing humanoid, like, say, your enthralled servants. Great for espionage, or just being a creep in general.

19. Warlock 8: Use your last ASI to max out your Charisma for super strong spells and the most sex appeal you can squeeze into a single servant.

You can also cast Summon Aberration now to give Zepar a bit of breathing room outside of your body. Honestly the poor guy deserves a break.

20. Warlock 9: Ninth level warlocks get fifth level spells, and Dominate Person lets you completely take over a creature’s mind. They have a wisdom save to avoid it, and they can make another every time they take damage, but if you’re forcing them into a really one sided fight, like say, against an agent of the counter force, that’ll be a one hit kill, so you don’t have to worry too much.

You also get one last invocation, and the Grasp of Hadar turns your eldritch blasts into even more hands, so once per turn you can pull a creature hit by the blast 10 feet closer to you. Bet they thought they were real smug waiting on the other side of your tentacle pit, huh?

Pros:

With an AC of 16, tons of mobility, and a wisdom save between you and even getting hit in the first place, you can be tough to attack, giving you a weird sort of tankiness to avoid conflict altogether.

You’re also good at manipulating people, with charms, mind reading, and just good persuasion scores making it easy for you to turn the tide of a conversation in your favor. Also if you’re having trouble with an enemy you can just dominate them and tell them to jump off a cliff, really easy. You won’t even have to fight if you can just inspire a mob to do it for you.

While the biggest part of your defense does come with a caveat, you’re good at indirect combat, which will keep your sanctuary up longer. Sure, you can’t cast spells affecting a creature, but you can always cast a spell now, and have it affect a creature later, the old “I’m just moving my fist and walking forward, if you get hit it’s your own fault” technique. Putting Evard’s Tentacles down between you and enemies, summoning aberrations, and just using On/Off to cause industrial accidents are all ways to get around this restriction and leave you looking clean as a brand new pair of panties.

Cons:

Your dexterity isn’t great, especially for a monk. That’ll make it harder to effectively use your martial techniques later in the game, and it also hampers your AC.

Despite all your defenses and healing, you’re still only rocking a touch over 100 HP, meaning a light sneeze will put you into power word kill territory. Which is, admittedly, still affected by your Tranquility, so it might not be a bad way to trick people into wasting a 9th level spell...

You only get two spells per short rest, that just isn’t enough to manipulate everyone you want to, so you’ll have to learn to pick and choose what happens when.

#fgo #fate grand order #DND #D&D 5e #Kiara Sessyoin #Monk #Warlock

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the-big-nope · 4 years

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While I’m certainly nowhere near ready for the story of the Mighty Nein to come to an end, I am also a D&D nerd and there’s a new sourcebook coming out soon with a bunch of new subclasses in it. By the time Campaign 3 of Critical Role gets underway, that book will be published, leaving a wealth of new options for the cast members to choose from, so why not entertain myself by making barely justified predictions of what the cast is most likely to pick for their next characters! (Disclaimer: Some of the new subclasses have been confirmed and some haven’t, so for a few of these picks I’m just going off of what I think is going to be in the book).

Travis

Cleric (Tempest Domain): Travis has been playing lowkey EMT since campaign one, and Laura’s already confirmed that Travis almost went cleric for campaign two. Between Grog with his barb-boosted movement speed to get around the battlefield so he could shove healing potions into his squishier teammates, and Fjord multiclassing into paladin and lovingly tapping his friends with single hit points to get them back up, it would be delightful to see him fully jump in and embrace the classical healer role. Of course, this is Travis, so I don’t see him picking a cleric domain that doesn’t allow for at least some whoop-ass, and Tempest Domain brings plenty of it. You get proficiency with all armor and weapons, Divine Strike at level 8 for boosted melee damage, you can use a reaction to inflict lightning or thunder damage against any enemy within melee range that’s hit you. And if you climb up high enough in levels, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking one whenever you’re outdoors. Pretty nifty, and makes for a fitting subclass for a guy that’s voiced Thor on multiple occasions.

Blood Hunter (Order of the Lycan): I mean, come on. The only reason it isn’t number one is that it was already widely assumed this would be Travis’s pick for campaign two, and I wouldn’t put it past him to surprise us again. But still, we saw him get a taste in Liam’s one shot and he was clearly having the time of his life. Besides, we lost Molly far too early to really see the blood hunter’s potential come to life; it would be damn cool to see someone else take a crack at it, and Travis is enough of a D&D gambler to not shy away from the class’s riskier features.

Artificer (Armorer): Speaking of Marvel connections, if Travis doesn’t lean toward fantasy Thor, then fantasy Iron Man might catch his attention instead. Artificer is an official class now, and since it’ll be reprinted in TCoE by the time campaign 3 gets underway, it’ll be a lot more visible as an option. The Armorer sits in almost a perfect middle ground of what Travis has done before: tanky and a frontliner, but also still has spells and tricks to help the party. Plus, you get a badass suit of power armor out of it. What’s not to like?

Marisha

Bard (College of Creation): After Hazel Copperpot, we all saw the pure magic that was Marisha Ray playing a bard. I know she implied that Hazel was supposed to be her campaign two backup character, but I hope this doesn’t discourage her from making another one. There are quite a few bard subclasses, a number of which I could see her being drawn to (Lore, Glamour, maybe even Swords), but I really vibe with the idea of Creation. I can’t exactly say why; maybe the idea of the ‘dancing object’ feature in Marisha’s hands is very funny to me (remember Keyleth’s adorable “Be Our Guest” moment? That, but this time it’s a walking wardrobe beating the shit out of the enemy).

Paladin (Oath of Vengeance/Conquest): As of yet, no one on Critical Role has ever played a paladin from the start, only multiclassed later down the line. I think this would be a cool departure for Marisha. Both campaigns she’s played characters that were either suspicious or at least indifferent to faith and the gods. Paladins are typically associated with deities, but they’re not tied quite so closely to them as clerics are. It would be fascinating to see what she did with it. As for the subclass, I just think Marisha’s earned her turn on the Goth Character Carousel, and while I know Conquest paladin is very unlikely given its moral grayness by default which might cause undue conflict and that Vengeance is a much more likely and acceptable pick, I just think it would be a sexy character choice.

Wizard (Bladesinger/Graviturgist): This is a much more pie-in-the-sky, wishful thinking pick on my end, but not impossible imo. Marisha has experience with heavy spellcasting already, so she probably wouldn’t shy away from a wizard, but like Travis I suspect she likes a bit of oomph to her characters, and probably wouldn’t play as support heavy as Caleb does. To that end, Bladesingers get a bit more survivability and some modicum of physical prowess alongside their spells, while Graviturgists are definitely on the more aggressive side of the spectrum for wizard subclasses, with unique dunamancy spells to boot. I’m not sure how restrictive Matt would be about Xhorhassian characters in the next campaign if it takes place on another continent, but hey, you never know. Plus, she picked one of Matt’s homebrew subclasses for the current campaign; it would be cute if it happened again.

Liam

Druid (Circle of the Shepherd): At some point before Critical Role comes to end (hopefully far in the future), I know Liam’s gonna play a druid, I can feel it in my bones. He's too big of a Kiki fan not to. However, while Circle of the Moon might feel obvious given the potential for homage and how much he likes turning into animals, I feel like he might regard it as getting too close to old territory (also, I don’t know if Circle of the Moon is like an exclusive thing to the Ashari tribes, and if it is that would be rather restrictive for building a backstory). If that’s the case, Circle of the Shepherd feels like the next best bet. It has some great support options via the totems you can put down, and rather than becoming badass animals, you instead just get really good at summoning a fuck ton of them. It’s like Frumpkin, but ten of him. And they’re bears. (Honorable mention: If Circle of the Moon would feel like treading old territory then I’m certain Circle of Wildfire would too, but I’d bet my dice collection it would at least be tempting).

Cleric (Unity Domain): Listen. The pure sap potential that would be at Mr. O’Brien’s fingertips with this subclass is incredible. The domain all about strengthening and protecting the bonds between friends and loved ones?? The domain with the Channel Divinity that can spread damage taken by one creature across the party however the cleric chooses to distribute it to lessen the blow to the individual??? The domain that used to be called the Love Domain???? I’m practically gagging on the soft moments and unspoken devotion conveyed through spellcasting already.

Fighter (Rune Knight/Psi Knight): Liam has yet to play a tank in a long-term campaign, and while I’m more enamored with the potential of the above classes, it would be novel to see him play a character with an actually respectable amount of hit points. However, I feel like if he was gonna commit to a straight frontliner, he’d probably want something a little more unique than a Champion or Battle Master (especially since he’s played those already for one-shots). Rune Knight has some fun options and built-in flavor, and with Psi Knight you can basically be a Jedi. Not bad options at all if you ask me.

Taliesin

Warlock (Fiend): Yeah, it might be expected, or Percy might have been too close to warlock anyway to feel like there’s new ground to cover, but hear me out. Both Percy (who, let’s face it, was a warlock multiclass in all but the actual mechanics) and Fjord were the classic reluctants. They got in over their heads without really knowing what was going on, and once they did they wanted out, cutting ties with their patrons and getting clear with only the scars remaining. I want to see Taliesin commit to a warlock in a way I imagine only he could manage to pull off. How fun would that balancing act be, to have a character that has no intentions of breaking their pact, who’s here for the powers, and is willing to work that delicate balancing act between keeping what he’s got and not letting his contract holder get the better of him? Give it to meeeeee.

Sorcerer (Psionic Soul): Psionic Soul has a bit of that eldritch flavor that vibes with Taliesin so much, with the added interest of introducing a brand new feature to 5E, the Psi Die (with this subclass, using them can do things like letting a sorcerer learn a spell they don’t already know for a few hours, allow you to cast spells without needing verbal, somatic, or material components, and can give you telepathy). Taking both Percy and Molly into account, it seems Tal likes to lean into those unique additional mechanics, and while Psi Die aren’t as risk-heavy as Gunslinger or Bloodhunter, they do add a layer of variability and unpredictability that seems to match his style.

Rogue (Swashbuckler): We only got a little bit of time with Molly, and so missed out on the opportunity to see Tal play a more cavalier character this time around. If he feels like leaning away from spells next time and back toward martial, I think a high-charisma, high-swinging swashbuckler from Tal would be a delight to watch.

Laura

Barbarian (Path of the Ancestral Guardian): Laura deserves to hit things, okay? Yes, spellcasting is great and comes in clutch frequently and Jester’s amazing, but you can tell Laura misses doing fat stacks of damage to the enemy in a single round. I personally think it would be amazing to watch her just cut loose and go full rage machine. As for the subclass, I’m not glued to the idea, but Ancestral Guardians are pretty kickass, have decent support capabilities for a barb without detracting from their DPS at all, and it doesn’t tread on any previous characters’ toes or their aesthetics.

Rogue (Scout/Soulknife): Laura deserves to play her favorite class at last, okay? She’s been class poached two campaigns in a row, and though that resulted in both Vex and Jester and I wouldn’t trade them for the world, Laura has earned first pick. Seeing as she already dipped into Assassin as Vex and Sam took Arcane Trickster, I could see Scout being a viable subclass choice. It’s in the classic sneaky vein, relatively simple in concept, but comes with features that grant easy-to-understand benefits that you can never turn your nose up at (boosts to movement, advantage on initiative, giving advantage against a target to everyone else in the party, etc.). If she’s looking for something a bit flashier, Soulknife has the benefit of retroactively dunking on Vax by taking the basic knife-rogue and making it better, with psionic knives that you can manifest with a thought, that can teleport you around Whisper style, and cranking up that stealth to ridiculous levels by just being able to turn invisible for ten minutes, no concentration or spell needed. The psionic die mechanics are a little funky of course, but I don’t imagine it’s any trickier than learning to manage all those cleric spells.

Monk (Way of the Open Hand): Between Beau just being super cool and her brief stint as Farriwen Breeze, monk wouldn’t be a surprising pick from Laura. An Open Hand monk might be the definitive version everyone knows, but you can’t deny it’s a solid subclass, and between previous overlap and the concepts of the other subclasses just not seeming to fit, I could see the classic being what she went with. But hey, it’s Laura Bailey. She could surprise us with Way of the Drunken Master or something.

Sam

Ranger (Monster Slayer): Let’s be real, I don’t think this would be his actual first pick for a Campaign 3 character, but the amount of shit-stirring he could achieve by making a character with the aim of pissing off Laura Bailey specifically would be hilarious (and since Matt isn’t completely opposed to UA and acknowledges that PHB ranger has a lot of issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went Revised Ranger this time).

Warlock (Genie): Actual first pick here, Pact of the Genie Warlock is confirmed by now, and the potential of a warlock in the hands of Sam Riegel is pretty vast (for some reason I’m imagining he would go the ‘spoiled sugar baby’ route). The subclass doesn’t matter as much, but the Genie one is nice in that, depending on the type of genie patron you pick, you can get a wide variety of extra spells, you get a container like a classic lamp or lantern that you can bamf into for short rests, and you get a limited Wish ability for your capstone, all features I feel like would especially appeal to Sam.

Barbarian (Path of the Wild Soul): I want to see Sam play a fairy barbarian. ‘Nough said.

Ashley

Fighter (Eldritch/Echo Knight): Ashley really seems to vibe with the crushing power of martial classes (she does love her brutal kill descriptions), so I could see her sticking with it rather than going back to full caster. However, I do see her picking one of the magical subclasses for some variety after Yasha. Eldritch Knight is a classic and reasonably easy to manage, but tbh I’d LOVE for it to be Echo Knight. And think, if my wishful thinking came true, with Ashley picking an Echo Knight and Marisha playing a Graviturgist wizard, they could link up their backstories and be a traveling Kryn battle duo that left their homeland behind to explore the world!

Sorcerer (Draconic): If she does want to go back to full-time casting, Sorcerer doesn’t require near as much bookkeeping as a cleric, druid, or wizard while still having decent variety, and the Draconic subclass is a bit beefier than the other subclasses. Also, it would be the third campaign in a row where Ashley Johnson’s character eventually got wings, soooo...

And tbh I have no idea what a third pick might be for Ashley, so I’m just gonna throw a dart or two at the board and say either College of Whispers Bard or Way of Mercy Monk *Shrug* We can only wait and see!

#critical role #if anyone else has thoughts i'd love to hear your guesses!

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theriverpersonshadow · 3 years

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Lamia Drama Part 11

Heyooo. Guess who’s back... kinda. ^^;;; Not my favorite chapter by a long shot, but the idea got stuck in my head just enough to type out.

I hope tumblr doesn’t mess up the double-space formatting between texting and Liam’s thoughts, but I think it’s still distinguishable regardless.

A little bit of context for those who don’t play much DnD: Hexblade warlocks get their power from a patron who gives them a magic weapon. Fighters get a fighting style that allows them perks based on what kind of weapon they use. Sorcerers have inborn magic, and wild magic can make weird things happen sometimes.

Also, I know that it’s spelled y’all, but for some reason my fingers insist that it’s ya’ll??? Idek.

Aaaaaaanyways, these lamia species come from @vex-bittys ! Enjoy! <PREV | BEGINNING | NEXT>

Liam sighed happily as he stretched himself out in his enclosure. His skull-cap had been removed for the night. In theory he could, and probably should, leave it on, but the tacky substance that held it in place irritated his bones and itched horribly. Plus it just felt like something was sitting on his head all the time. It’s not like he had any nerves in the fake-bone, so it just felt like a dead weight. Bandage and cloth wraps were far more comfortable and did just as good of a job at keeping things out of his head. But in the safety of his own habitat with daylight hours away? There wouldn’t be much harm in letting it air out a little. Air swirled into his skull as he moved, tickling the inside, as he slid on top of the silky, plush pillows and under a warmed up heating blanket.

Normally he wouldn’t put on heat for the night unless it was freezing, it was easier to sleep in cool air, at least for him, but his eyes kept darting to his phone on its charger. Normally he’d have put it away by now, but they’d gotten Alex’s number and added her to the DnD group chat, Snarls and Snakes, so everyone with a phone was still chatting (save for Nikolai).

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): i demand you guys pronounce it G’nome. yeah i wear the pointy hat. m a G’arden G’nome

Devising Machinations (Keith): Your character still needs a NAME.

Pledged Companion (Trousle): YES, LAZYBONES!

Proxy Child (Alex): Names are hard, I get it m’dude.

Problematic Changeling (Liam): Still, that’s just lazy.

Devising Machinations (Keith): Oh hey, ya got your phone back. Nice :)

Problematic Changeling (Liam): They couldn’t keep it from me~

Pledged Companion (Trousle): THAT ISN’T EVEN YOURS!

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): dude caps

Pledged Companion (Trousle): I AM SMALL, YOU WILL NOT HEAR ME IF I DON’T SHOUT

Proxy Child (Alex): That… That isn’t how text works???

Pledged Companion (Trousle): ALSO THE SHIFT KEY IS STARTING TO ACT BUGGY. I DON’T WANT TO ASK FOR A PHONE OR KEYBOARD UNTIL THIS IS DEAD THOUGH

Devising Machinations (Keith): *nods* Understandable.

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): p sure that liam got it for good behavior

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): suck up

Problematic Changeling (Liam): IT IS A VALID HUNTING STRATEGY!!! Deception is JUST as valuable as being able to bite things. Sometimes. I’m more fond of biting deer than trying to play mind games with them.

Or he assumed he would be, if he got to see a deer. He was old enough to be rented out to handle overpopulated areas, but he wasn’t very popular… People saw the eye and all other thought seemed to go out the window. Nevermind that deer and rabbits pound at the ground like they were trying to break the earth, no one cared about that. They only cared that he was down an eye. Fuck them.

Devising Machinations (Keith): Everyone happy with their characters before I get started with anything in depth? I’ve talked to Hux, dude’s fine ^u^

Proxy Child (Alex): I think so??? I’m still trying to figure out whether or not to main in Hexblade or just go straight fighter. I mean, getting the fighting style is well worth dipping into it regardless, but, like, would my character *want* help from another fae, or is this something she felt she needed to do herself? Like, making pacts and stuff would make her seem more fey-y, but does she WANT to be fey-y? Or would I rather have her intentionally shun all of it?

Devising Machinations (Keith): Not a call I can make, but can’t wait to hear about it.

Problematic Changeling (Liam): I’ve had similar questions… I do think I’m going sorcerer one way or another, wild magic of course, since they’re inherently magic, but would they have been trying to learn other things as well?

There was something he couldn’t quite put his finger on with their characters. They seemed so juicy already, enough angst and plot potential for them both to sink their teeth into, but something felt slightly off…

Proxy Child (Alex): I guess it comes down to whether my character (who I will give a name to, eventually) would want the “crutch” of a more powerful fae helping them out, or if they’d rather prove their own worth.

Liam’s fingers were typing before he’d even thought it through.

Problematic Changeling (Liam): Prove your own worth. You don’t need someone hand-holding you through life.

Pledged Companion (Trousle): I DON’T SEE WHY NOT. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH NEEDING ASSISTANCE, BOTH IN GENERAL AND *ESPECIALLY* WHEN EVERYONE AROUND YOU CAN DO THINGS YOU CANNOT.

Proxy Child (Alex): Ya’ll both have points, just ain’t sure. I might have to try writing or RP’ing her a little to figure out what kind of person she is. Have to get a feel for her first, y’know?

Devising Machinations (Keith): That’s fine by me. No pressure ^^

Pledged Companion (Trousle): YES, NO REASON TO STRESS ABOUT IT, YOU’VE GOT AT LEAST A WEEK! YOU’LL COME UP WITH SOMETHING GREAT!

Proxy Child (Alex): Thanks dudes.

Proxy Child (Alex): I really like your character btw, Liam. Kinda wish I’d come up with that first XD It’s relatable, y’know? Though maybe a little too close to home anyways, ya’ll ain’t my therapists. Can’t wait to see how you play them out.

Problematic Changeling (Liam): It’s going to be awesome, naturally. Are you sure you can keep up with me?

Proxy Child (Alex): Honey, I don’t think you know what kind of angst machine you’re dealing with here >:3c

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): oh boy thisll be fun

Pledged Companion (Trousle): GUYS I’M PUTTING YOU ON MUTE. I’M KEEPING EVERYONE UP. GOODNIGHT! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): night trus

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): also you should just play every single class at once

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): itd be HISSterical

Devising Machinations (Keith): XD Dude. No. Just no. Also, you’re ripping that off from Puffing Forest

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): lies and slander

Problematic Changeling (Liam): You watch it *while we game* sometimes. I’m half deaf and I can still hear it!

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): it aint my fault you take 5ever on turns sometimes

Problematic Changeling (Liam): Well SOME of us know how to strategize.

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): yeah, trus

Proxy Child (Alex): PFFFFFT. Oozy omg. XD But I oughta go to bed. I’ve got work tomorrow. Sleep tight ya’ll!

Devious Machinations (Keith): Niiiight!

Problematic Changeling (Liam): I’ll get you back for that Oozy. But really, I’m looking forward to this. It’s been a while since we got fresh blood in.

The last time they had was Trousle. Being the only bitty and the youngest of the group, they hadn’t been friends with him nearly as long as with each other, but he was still quite fun to have around. He was starting to grow on Liam, honestly. Liam had to respect his relentless optimism, at least to a degree. Albeit, Papython in general tended to be unwaveringly positive, but it seemed deeper than the surface-level sugar of some of his breed.

Pointy Combatant (Oozy): sleep sounds good actually. Night

Devising Machinations (Keith): Saaaame. Night everyone

Problematic Changeling (Liam): Goodnight.

Liam put the phone back and turned the heat off on the blanket, putting it over his head and settling in for the night. He was grateful that his wing tended to be pretty quiet; he never could sleep well with noise, lights, or too much movement, though the pillows muffled the vibrations in the ground nicely. No one was going to come anyways, not this late. Even if they did, he was a light enough sleeper to wake up and bite before the other even knew what hit them. He drifted to sleep alternating between contemplating his DnD character, and imagining hunting a deer.

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baguettemagiqu7 · 4 years

Photo

My BG3 character, Mia <3

Name: Amelia Rosencrantz (Mia)

Race: Human

Class: Warlock (Great Old One)

She lies to the party about her true identity and pretends to be helpless and weak, with the secret becoming a major plot point later on as the party struggles with whether they can trust her.

Story: She has most of the nobles of Baldur's Gate convinced she's a fellow noble, but in fact she grew up as a street urchin and traded her soul to a Great Old One patron in exchange for wealth and manipulating the nobles' memories to accept her as one of her own. This doesn't work on Cazador and Astarion bc lol vampires, so they're hella sus bc this rando just showed up claiming to be a part of a noble family that does not exist and has not existed for centuries. To keep up her part of the pact, she became a serial killer and brought the souls of her victims back to her patron, until she was captured by the mind flayer ship.

This brings us to the events of BG3, where she immediately becomes dangerously obsessed with Astarion, but puts up a sweet and innocent front because she thinks that's what he likes. For his part, he initially doesn't care for her except that he likes being worshipped and adored. But eventually he becomes interested in her as he realizes the depth of her twisted obsession with him and also curious to learn more about who she truly is as it becomes evident that there's a lot more lurking beneath the surface. He does eventually learn the truth before the rest of the party and they bond over their common interest in torture, deceit, etc. And this actually helps their relationship because they're finally being themselves around each other, hurray (he drops his smooth façade around her too, showing his genuine self to someone for the first time in centuries).

Fun facts!

Mia's patron is an Alhoon - a magic-using Mind Flayer that has achieved a limited form of lichdom. His name is something like Svuoophrakt or something, but he goes by the human name Judas to blend into human society

Mia collects severed heads to bring souls and brains to Judas. Technically, he really only needs the souls to sustain himself, but sometimes he just wants a snack, namsayin'?

Judas speaks to Mia in deep speech, but she responds in common, much like how my parents speak to me in Chinese but I talk to them in English

Mia and Astarion knew *of* each other from high society before being captured, but had never properly met until after the crash

Judas is the only family Mia has ever known; he's like a father or brother figure to her. Also because I am a weeb, he takes on a human appearance of a beautiful bishounen butler when he needs to interact with other people

I've been toying with a few different ideas about how Astarion would learn her secret; one possibility was that he would stumble upon her while she's taking heads out of her personal trunk for some kind of eldritch ritual

Before the party learns her secret, they leave her at camp while they do all the important adventuring because they think she can't fight. She uses this time to kill goblins, adventurers, etc. and brings them to Astarion for "supper." When asked, she tells them she just "found them over there" or "they were trying to invade our camp and Halsin killed them." BIG SUS

Gale is ok with her but finds her kind of dimwitted, Shadowheart likes that she doesn't ask questions, Lae'zel appreciates her curiosity about the Astral Plane and the gith. Wyll initially liked her because she seemed like a damsel in distress, but he’s the most hurt about her secret. She also really likes Skelly (not reciprocated)

Mia's favorite books are romance and smut novels; she's very big on the "someday my prince will come" fantasy. She thinks it's Astarion. For his part, he makes her read them out loud to him and he likes making her blush by reenacting the scenes

She gets along well with Omeluum because he reminds her of Judas, makes her a bit less homesick. Definitely offered him some duergar brains at some point

#my art #OC: Mia

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gaspodewonderdog · 3 years

Text

Tagged by: @quixqueen. Thank you! :)

Tagging: Anyone that wants to do this consider yourself tagged.

Note: Please bear in mind that Baldur's Gate 3 is my first experience with DnD stuff so lorewise everything I know comes from either in game or what I can find online (mainly through reading the forgotten realms wiki pages). Please excuse any errors. Oh, and I added a break because this post gets long.

Name: Rosemadder Brightfast

but just call her...

Alias: Maddie

Age: 32

Species: Lightfoot Halfling

Zodiac: Aries

Abilities/Talents:

Maddie loved to draw and paint from a young age and grew very talented at it, enough that when she grew older she was able to make a comfortable living as an artist in Baldur's Gate.

Maddie is fairly competent in the use of daggers, thanks to some tutelage from her grandmother, who wasn’t about to let any granddaughter of hers grow up without knowing how to handle herself. She is capable enough that she’s able to deal with petty thugs and suchlike, especially if they are unused to a small and nimble opponent (and especially if they haven't considered a person doesn’t have to be able to reach someone's neck in order to be a threat). Against a well trained fighter however, she would be at a disadvantage.

Maddie is also a warlock. About 4 years prior to her mindflayer abduction, she inadvertently came into contact with her Great Old One patron through studying an unusual painting, which she received as a well-intentioned but disastrous gift. Despite finding it more than a little bit creepy, she'd never seen anything quite like it before and she felt drawn to study it. Curiosity overruled her instincts, which told her that this was a spectacularly bad idea, and over time it became an obsession. She could swear that parts of the picture seemed to twist and move as if alive. She was determined to uncover more about it. She would attempt to recreate it but somehow it always seemed too big to fit the canvas. Then the dreams began. Her mind filled with bizarre images from far off realms and fragments of thought without context and beyond her understanding. Maddie started feeling an inescapable compulsion to capture these images through drawings which often had an unsettling quality about them. As her studio filled up with these pictures and she began to see how much it was taking her over, she attempted to resist completely, but this ended... badly, to say the least. Over time, she learned to manage her 'condition' (for lack of a better word) and to claw back and retain her sanity and sense of self but it was a tough fight (and after all that she is NOT about to lose it all to any brain-slug thank you very much).

Maddie knows very little about her patron, what it wants, the nature of her pact, the purpose of her drawings, or where her powers come from. In regards to the latter, she suspects that there is something about the images she is compelled to draw that brings together foreign ideas in her mind until something… clicks. Deep down Maddie fears that she may have unwittingly become a tiny cog in some great unknowable evil plan. Then again, for all she knows, she may be completely insignificant and her patron doesn’t even care about her in the slightest. Maybe she just poked something big and nasty with a metaphorical stick, uncovered more than she bargained for and this is all just her subconscious trying to make sense of all the crazy shit she keeps glimpsing in her dreams. These days, Maddie prefers not to worry too much about the brain-aching details. She feels like she's in control again, she isn't hurting innocent people and frankly if wasn't for magic she likely wouldn't survived the fights aboard the nautiloid or those that came after. After being forced into using her powers out of necessity, she found the experience rather thrilling and has begun to enjoy having them.

In spite of all her struggles, Maddie retains a cheery, optimistic persona and finds herself generally well-liked. This makes it easier to persuade others and avoid unnecessary conflict.

Alignment: lawful / neutral / chaotic / good / neutral / evil / true (maybe... I keep changing my mind on what fits)

Religion: Maddie isn't deeply religious but she broadly worships Yondalla and the rest of the halfling pantheon. In times when she is either struggling or is especially grateful for something, may offer up a quick informal prayer to whichever deity is most appropriate to the situation. She includes Tymora in this, because she feels owes much of her survival in the face of her 'everything tells me this is a really bad idea but to hell with it, I'm going to do it anyway' decision making to luck.

Sins: envy / greed / gluttony / lust (not necessarily sexual) / pride / sloth / wrath

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility / justice / kindness / patience (with people at least)

Languages: Common, Halfling

Family:

Maddie had a rather idyllic childhood. She grew up with her mother, father and brother, Murrey, near Baldur's Gate, where her parents run a small dyeworks. She is close to her family and she loves them dearly. Her maternal grandmother is a retired adventurer and Maddie would visit her house often to listen to her stories.

When Maddie grew upon left home for the city proper, her brother left with her, hoping to seek his fortune. It was there that he fell in with a group of wannabe adventurers and they would travel the sword coast from tavern to tavern, leaving unpaid bar bills and hordes of angry innkeepers in their wake. Each time he returned home, he would, without fail, bring Maddie a gift, the so-called spoils of his epic quests. Even though Maddie knew they were really just cheap knick-knacks from a local market, she appreciated every single one.

Then debt collectors start showing up looking for her brother, getting bigger and more thuggish each time. Her brother had got himself in way over his head. "But there's no need to worry because I've got this job that will solve everything," he told her. Despite her worries and objections he took the job and this time when he returned, he brought her back a strange old painting, knowing how much she loved art.

Murrey witnessed Maddie at the worst point of her madness and he became scared and horrified, especially when he came to realise his part in it. He moved back home with their parents and has refused to see Maddie since despite her attempts at reconciliation. She still writes to her parents but hasn't seen them since becoming a warlock and so far her brother has still never replied to her many letters.

Friends:

Maddie had a best friend in Baldur's Gate who stayed with her and helped her when she started losing her mind. Tragically she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed when the people who had hired Maddie's brother turned up looking for the painting, having realised it held the connection to Maddie's patron.

Maddie is generally well liked by the people she meets but she has avoided making close friends since becoming a warlock. This has changed since meeting her new companions and she considers them her friends and her family whether they like it or not. She is fiercely loyal and protective of those she does call friend.

Sexual Orientation: heterosexual / bisexual(?) / pansexual / homosexual / demisexual / asexual / unsure / other

Relationship status: single / dating / married / widowed / open relationship / divorced / not ready for dating / it's complicated

Libido: sex god / very high / high / average(?)(you’re definitely asking the wrong person questions like this😂) / low / very low / non-existent

Build: twig / bony / slender / average / athletic / curvy / chubby / obese

Hair: white / blonde / brunette / red / black / other: reddish-brown/auburn

Eyes: brown / blue-grey / green / black / other

Skin: pale / fair / olive / light brown / brown / very brown / other:

Height: 3′1″

Weight: 46lb

Scars:

Facial Features:

Tattoos: None

Dogs or Cats?

Birds or Nugs?

Snakes or Spiders?

Coffee or Tea?

Ice cream or Cake? — They’re both delicious. Please don't make her choose.

Fruits or Vegetables?

Sandwich or Soup? — With some nice fresh crusty bread😋.

Magic or Melee? — Bit of both

Sword or Bow? — Well, daggers technically but she's so small I guess they’re kind of of like short sword to her. She's never handled a bow and uses magic at range.

Summer or Winter?

Spring or Autumn?

The Past or The Future?

#brevity is not one of my strengths 😄#one day i might write up a backstory properly #in the meantime here's some disjointed bits and pieces #bg3 #my oc: maddie

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