#had to figure out some names for DM and Party- this gave me motivation for that :3

[brosif40]

I just wanted to say that me and skulls-soul love your work so much. It's probably not that hard to tell but we are massive fans, your King Boo's are amazing, and your art as a whole is just awesome to look at. We love your art

Anyways I should probably leave an ask since this is the ask box so, which one out of the 3 KB's is your favorite to draw? If you don't have a specific one then which do you prefer the design of. I would love to hear headcanon's about them if you are willing to share

Waaa thank you guys that means so much 🥺

I love drawing them all ofc! It's so hard to choose which one I prefer the design of also, they all have good things 😔 but I'm pretty sure Sunshine's my fav one out of the three designs :3

And I have a few HC's I've been thinking about latley

#1: ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN HIT BY THE AUTISM BEAM

Dark Moon:

Loves to paint in their spare time, mainly studies of the plants he owns :3. Sometimes Prisboo paints with them-

Doesn't understand most slang words or memes/jokes so it usually asks their siblings to translate/explain some things (poor thang got destroyed by you just lost the game bc of them....and you did too B])

Plays chess sometimes and makes their siblings play with them, Party's good at it while Sunshine is still learning

Learned to cook because of Luigi and has enjoyed doing it ever since, likes baking the most. They also love making Focaccia bread because of the flower designs :3

Hates bright lights, prefers to be in dim barely lit rooms

Very introverted, likes to stay at home most of the time- except when visiting his siblings, Luigi and Peach (I see them as besties)

Goes by Boosimir, only some people can call them that though

Party:

She enjoys reading when they're not busy, specifically sci-fi and horror. They have a large collection of books as well

They love playing video games such as Minecraft, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing and Pikmin (he also likes games like Doom :3)

Sometimes goes invisible to sneak into games, did this once in Mario Super Sluggers (they do this at Movie Theaters also)

Is the oldest by a few minutes, calls Dark Moon little sibling because of it hehe- and Sunshine is the youngest

Besties with Daisy >:3

Very competitive (Becomes a menace in Mario Kart, mainly bc of how I play hehe)

Likes to host parties sometimes, mainly for other Boo's though- it's not too fond of people

Dislikes loud noises but tolerates them

Used to go by Big Boo before being King (sm64), but is also called Boodwin

Sunshine:

Grows his own herbs (if you know what I mean hehe), DM actually helped them figure out how to start growing them too

It's favorite fruit is durian :3, pineapples and mangoes are also a big fav of theirs

Likes getting tattoos, like the Phanta Manta one on their back :3- also lets others draw on him sometimes, mainly the lil boos

Is more of an cool uncle than a dad to the Boo's, though some of them call him dad sometimes

More outgoing than the other two, usually the best at making friends with others. When you work at a Casino you're gonna be interacting with a bunch of people so yeah-

Sometimes makes people lose on purpose, esp if they were rude to the staff. And finds it hilarious when people waste all their coins on a game.

Enjoys traveling on their free time, been just about everywhere on Isle Delfino and the other Islands surrounding it :3

Goes by Tropicaboo (which is named after Tropicabug from Bugsnax bc I am a nerd)

[jq37]

The Case File – Mice and Murder Ep 4

The Case of the Puzzling Painting 

Welcome back to Loam Hall where our Sylvan Sleuths are still hanging out in a room with a dead body. When we left off, Gangie had been snooping into Sly’s conversation about Fletcher Cottonbottom and now, he uses his Criminal Contacts feature to see what he knows, if anything, about a recent return. With a 26 he knows that his family used to be well respected but after the whole business with the insurance fraud and Sly busting it, the family kind of fell out of favor. So Fletcher was in a weird position where he was rich and a part of high society and had enough dirt on everyone to get them to do things for him but couldn’t actually show his face because he was disgraced. Gangie also knows that it’s rumored that Fletcher’s weapons running scheme was actually a front for moving art. 

With regard to more recent news about Fletcher, Gangie was never in direct contact with him but he knows that 3-4 years ago, his most trusted henchmen started going missing--people attributed it to some kind of “Cottonbottom Curse” and that rumor is part of why Gangie decided to get out of dodge in the first place.

Buck does an insight check on the rest of the PCs and, with an 18, doesn’t clock anyone there as especially suspicious (Lars isn’t there but like..it’s Lars). Ian tries to give Squire Badger his last rites but ends up pulling the knife out, putting it back in, flapping blood everywhere with his feathers, and sending Constance into a badger rage. Buck tries to help smooth over things, claiming his big screw up was a new style of avant garde church ritual (Ian appreciates the support--who ministers to the ministers, you know?) and in the process sees his knife for the first time. Which, you know. He obviously suspected before but never nice to see.

While this is going on, Daisy sneaks off to try and check on the secret door and everyone sees her do it/eventually follows her but we’ll get back to her once we check in with Lars who is en route to the kitchen. Once in the hallway, they do a perception check and, on a 15, there are 3 doors and Ally gets to pick one. There’s a kitchen where Gilfoyle is talking to a group, a door where someone is crying behind it, and a door where they can hear nothing. Ally, the galaxy brained genius, goes for the quiet door. That’s the money door and with their ears pressed against the door, they can hear Edwina and Carolyn--the two mice maids that overheard Buck’s conversation with the Badger--whispering about what happened there and wondering if they should pay back the money they were paid to by Buck.

Gilfoyle walks out and sees Lars snooping but on a Nat 20 deception check, Lars is able to play dumb and skate by suspiciousness. Also, with a dirty 20 perception check, when the mice maids leave, Lars sees that they’ve been stealing silverware. 

OK, back to Daisy who is getting to the séance room as quickly as possible. She has two rounds before people catch up to her so she’s trying to make the most of it by Investigating the painting she noticed was bolted to the wall earlier. She first rolls an 11, getting no new information. This is so frustrating to her. She’s good at this dammit! But being around Sly is rattling her terribly. She has feelings for him--strong ones. But she isn’t herself around him. How can she be with him if he makes her so unlike herself? Her introspection is enough to earn her advantage from Brennan on her second roll and boom! 25! Daisy is back. 

With that roll, she notices that the eyes in the painting actually move and can be used as a spying post on the other side. Then Sly runs in and they start bickering immediately. Daisy throws a crystal ball at him and absolutely brains him on a nat 20--the first combat roll of this very RP oriented season. 

Buck and Ian are still in the room with the body for the moment and Buck asks Ian about the first few names on the list Gangie gave him. There were a bunch of members of the Burrows family--a working class family that all died of a consumptive illness. And then the Diggories who died in a carriage accident. The connecting thread? All badgers. Buck then zooms away to follow Daisy, Ian follows, and Lars, seeing them as they leave the kitchens, also follows. 

So all the PCs are in the séance room now and they kinda have the sense of, “OK y’all, we’re all screwed but we’re al screwed together so we better throw our lot in with each other and start working together so we don’t die because no one else here is on our side.” Buck proposes an alliance and they all agree to share info. Sly asks about Buck’s knife and Buck admits it’s his but says he didn’t do it. Sly believes him--not because he wouldn’t do it but because he has no motive (that he knows about anyway. Buck doesn’t spill about the contract). 

Gangie shares the list of names from before with the whole group.It’s like half badgers and then some other critters (full list here). Sly doesn’t share any of his secret info Grant got texted. Daisy and Buck don’t share about the key (though Sly you’ll remember sat her steal it). Buck does however mention his suspicion about the fact that Gilfoyle wasn’t around when Squire Badger gave his speech and Daisy does the same about the fact that he said he would call the cops but the cops haven’t arrived yet. Lar’s remembers that Jez’s husband is gunning for at seat in parliament and wonders if this is related somehow. Daisy mentions the eyes in the painting and everyone is like way to bury the lede dude! Especially when they’ve just all spilled their secrets. Everyone checks on the painting and with a 25 Gangie can intuit that this is probably used to spy on rich people when they’re mid-séance and vulnerable and spilling secrets (which he doesn’t share but Daisy comes to a similar conclusion on her own). Buck on a 23 can smell ledgers (idk how but the DM said so and I’m reporting it) and guesses that that’s where the Squire’s real office is which means that’s probably where the contract he needs to find and destroy is too. 

 The group makes a list of their loose ends which are what’s on the other side of the painting, what’s up with Fletcher, and the smell of ozone. Plus Ian remembers that the date on the bust in the study is wrong and shares with the class. 

Lars tries to get to the other side of the room by ripping the painting off the hinges with a very impressive 26 but there is fully a wall behind it and the noise brings Gilfoyle, Harding, and the Badger kids running. Lars notes that in the stone behind the painting it says “⅓”  and then hurriedly puts the painting back. Daisy thinks that might refer to a secret third floor or basement accessible by the elevator (but my first thought was that there were 2 other spying paintings in the house somewhere).

Everyone in the room hears the Gilfoyle and co. coming and try to act natural. There is a group stealth check that they all tank so heavily that all the suspicious staff and kids need to do to suss them out is roll above a 5.

AND THEY ROLL A TWO. 

With that, Lucretia appears, totally buys that they’re doing very important spiritual work in there, and in fact guards the door for them. They use the privacy bought by their very vigilant sentry to plan their next steps. Sly, Daisy, and Ian will check out the study while they rest of them check out the elevator. As they exit, Lucretia asks if they got the answers they needed out of the spirits.

Oh yes, says Daisy, echoing Lucretia’s nonsense prediction from last episode. Either something good or bad might happen. Either way, I’m excited! 

Case Notes

How baller of a player move is it to say a line so poignant that the DM is forced to let you roll with advantage? I have been on the other side of that as the DM and it’s so great. MAD respect to Rekha for that. AND THEN THE DICE COOPERATED. You simply love to see it. 

The other best Rekha line is Daisy to Sly upon being called out about stealing the key in his normal, coy, quippy way: You saw me bitch.

Shout out to Grant also for being constantly on as Sly. The guy is on point always. Impeccable.

I am SO SO SO happy Daisy and Sly are on the same mission team. If I was friends with either of them I’d be like, “This is a toxic relationship, they make you too crazy.” But as an outside viewer I want them to be within crystal ball throwing distance always.  

The question I’m sure we’re all asking: Is Brennan enough of a minx to invoke the butler did it trope? I know everyone at the table is thinking it even if none of them have said it outright. I figured the reason the cops haven’t showed up yet was the storm but who knows?

Two pieces of housekeeping, only Buck and Gangie know what the room behind the painting is with their high rolls and, after the bit of passing it back and forth with Buck, Daisy has the key. 

I really can’t do the bit about Gangie’s mom justice. I wish there was a comedy Emmy for actual play DnD shows so D20 could get the accolades it deserves just for that bit. 

Brennan indicated that the conversation between the mice maids was the most interesting info (Gilfoyle convo to staff was too public to be juicy/they could get the info from one of the many gathered staff people and crying is info on its own--though I am curious about who the crying person was) but I’m wondering what he meant by that. Because the fact that Buck paid them might be interesting if Buck did it. But we know he didn’t. Is it the fact that they were in the room at all? Again, info that the party knows if not Lars specifically.  The fact that they were stealing silverware? What’s Brennan’s game here?

[dungeonmalcontent]

Flopsy And Fatherhood

I have been thinking a lot about one of my characters lately. If you don't want to hear about Flopsy, the bugbear bounty hunter and his journey of learning about fatherhood, scroll past this.

Flopsy was one of my first character concepts to see actual game play. Like most good characters, at least the kind that you get attached to, he was a joke character. I was testing the limits of what you could do at low level without weapons. I wanted to play a brute that could punch around corners, and it was gonna be silly. I based his appearance after a few different animated characters with long arms and floppy ears; namely Fiskerton from The Secret Saturdays and Antylamon from the Digimon franchise (don't judge me). He was supposed to be this awkwardly scary and fluffy monster that looked like he could be both cuddled and capable of snapping a few necks on a whim. And as a bonus, after the first session, his voice became modeled after Ron Perlman (granted I'm bad at voices) because he just kept becoming more of a character as he went.

He started out exactly as intended, except the DM and another player threw in a twist. My backstory wasn't really fleshed out yet, and I was asked if I was okay with Flopsy being the adopted sibling of the other players character. I have no clue if that was something the DM did on purpose for story reasons, but it has literally changed everything.

The shared backstory that I developed with the other player led to Flopsy and Thokka (the other PC) being the adopted children of a zealot monk. After slaughtering both of our villages he had attempted to Pygmalion some of the children young enough not to realize what had happened. After mostly failing the tests of our adopted father and suffering abuse for being monstrous creatures only fit for fighting, Flopsy burned the hut with the monk in it. Other zealous monks from the order noticed, gave chase to the two monster children, and the two were separated in the chaos. Thokka, a tiefling half-orc, ended up in the care of a monastery of drunken monks that couldn't care less what she looked like, and Flopsy ended up in the woods for a few years. And then a crime ridden city for a few years. And then he joined a bounty hunting guild. After a few bounties he found himself inexplicably in the same place as his sister, and that's where the campaign began.

It isn't a very complicated backstory, but it created an opportunity that our DM definitely took advantage of after a few sessions. Our game started as a job to find out what happened to a professor at a local college, and when it turned out that she had been killed by a night hag the job was basically finished. The hag escaped, but had to leave her ritual unfinished, and admittedly, Flopsy had tried to seduce the hag while it had been disguised. We all got the impression that the hag would be the BBEG for the campaign.

This is leading somewhere, I promise.

After a few other jobs, our party wound up in a small town that had been the center of some crop rot and pestilence that had spread to the surrounding area. The cause of the problem was a warlock who had used his granddaughter as a focus for demons and demonic magic to seep into the world. In the parties attempt to stop the demon's influence, we got into a fight we were quickly starting to lose. We had the demon in front of us, a collapsed little girl off to the side, and countless shadow imps all around us. Flopsy was about to go down and he was becoming increasingly less useful in the fight, so he had two plans on what he was going to do when his hit points went into the red. Plan B) Use an unknown planar artifact on himself, killing himself to potentially drag the demon and its influence back to the hells. But that is a last resort, because plan A) kill the girl and attempt to sever the demons connection to the prime material plane, seemed much easier to try first.

And when Flopsy was about to go down, he tried plan A.

And it failed.

When Flopsy realized what he'd done, and that he couldn't undo it, he was a mess. He went down to 0 hit points a few times while the cleric tried to keep him on his feet best as he could. And when the demon managed to get away with a sliver of health left, Flopsy didn't give the party the option to think of a new plan and he set the building they were all in on fire. They made it out a window with the girl's body, and the demon presumably died.

The town's problems were solved, after some other fussing, and the girl was revived through the use of gentle repose and revivify. Flopsy learned that the girl, Kara, had been abused by her grandfather and when the party realized the town did not want anything to do with her anymore, Flopsy was the first to propose the party adopt her. Or at the very least, find her a new home in a different town.

Something important to know about Flopsy, is that he is primarily driven by money. He was raised heartless, and after all he had gone through he only cared about the resources he needed to survive. That meant gold. And he was good at hunting down criminals for money. So long as he could keep himself safe, nothing else mattered.

So when Flopsy killed Kara, something changed. He realized that he was essentially killing a younger version of himself in order to spare an older version. He had further broken a battered little girl just to try and save himself. It was so many levels of realization. He had become his father, the abusive monk that only cared about survival and cleansing the world of "evil." And for the first time since he had killed that monk, he felt the urge to protect something other than himself... and it felt more powerful than the urge to protect himself. I mark this as the moment that his alignment changed from true neutral, to neutral good. Though it took some time for him to realize that.

And so when Flopsy actually realized that he had no idea what he was doing as a parent figure, he actually took the time to try and figure out what Kara needed to learn to survive. He tried to teach her to fight, to reason. The cleric taught her how to handle some of the latent magic she was left with. Thokka showed her how to have fun and enjoy life. And things were good for a few sessions. It was a strange experience to have a ward (basically) in a d&d game, I imagine it was close to how the critical role cast felt about Kiri (the similar spelling is incidental, I promise). But it allowed for a great deal of character growth and family development. It was great for Flopsy, because he had something to reign him in and prevent him from fighting in his normal reckless ride or die fashion... or that might drive him to fight even harder than he normally would.

This wouldn't be such a big deal or worth the amount of time I'm putting into this, if it weren't for this last part. The DM, intelligent woman that she is, pulled a sneaky on the party. While the party was out fighting another demon, the hag abducted Kara. And that sent Flopsy off. I had never anticipated this fictional, silly looking, angry fur ball to become so real and motivated. It felt very personal. This hag that Flopsy had flirted off an on with through her nightmare haunting ability, had become a real evil threat. This little girl that he had grown to care for and consider at least to be another little sister that he could actually help and save, was taken from him. And to make matters worse, the hag intended to experiment on her; the same thing that had been done to Flopsy.

I don't know where it will go from there. This game in particular moves pretty slowly, which isn't a bad thing. I feel like I get to savor all the parts of it. If nothing else, I'm very excited to see what this sort of situation will drive Flopsy to do. Will he swear an oath of vengeance and take some levels in paladin? Because an unarmed barbarian paladin would be amazing for smiting and hunting down a hag. Or will he end up becoming a more skilled hunter and protector against the unknown? He does already have some ranger skills and it would be an interesting multi-class if nothing else. Maybe he just learns to hone his rage even more to overpower what he knows will be an inevitable fight with the hag.

What I do know is that Flopsy has become something very real and important to me as a player. That joke about how the most silly starting campaigns turn into the most serious is accurate in this instance. I would fight to get this poor fuzzy orphan the life he needs, and that probably includes him building a family. It's one of life's greatest joys. It's also been a surreal experience for me personally, as I have become a father at roughly the same pace as Flopsy. I know the sort of anguish and rage that would stem from anything happening to my child.

I want to just keep talking about Flopsy and fatherhood now... but there isn't much to say. It's wonderful.

[ddaenghoney]

Series: of Silver

Finale  

[epilogue follows]

Attending a performing arts university, you’ve been managing just fine until the fall semester of your third year starts off by making out at a party only to realize the random guy was actually transfer Jeon Jeongguk, whom you had previously agreed to help get used to the city.

Pairing(s):

Jeon Jeongguk x Y/N

masterlist link is in blog description

disclaimer: any character depicted do not represent the actual personality of the respected idol in real life.

Warning(s)/genre(s): College!au, fluff, developing relationship, love triangle(s)??, some angst/drama here and there– Jeongguk has a dog this series isn’t allowed to be too tragic.

Tag(s): @butterflylion @rjsmochii @mahakookie @dammit-jjk @joanc24 @detectivebts @insaisissables @fuzzyballoontrash @sweet-unicorn-world @yeontanie21 @nctpity 

If you enjoyed the story, please let me know!! : )

Below the cut are final words and fun facts about the story! If you’ve read it all, thank you and I hope you enjoyed!!

Thank you for reading this whole story!!! It’s been such a fun time making it. of Silver is a nice break from the amounts of angst/drama/snakeyness I put in my other aus lmaoooooo. This one hasn’t veered too far in any way from what I intended with it! I hope you all enjoyed and maybe even connected with some of the problems/motivations the characters go through and overcome! Thank you one more time for reading it all! See you in the next story!

The name “of Silver” comes from a couple of different things. It coincides with Jeongguk’s dog’s name in the story which is Heartgold from the Pokemon game lol, where the complimenting game is called Soulsilver. Both of those are obviously from the idiom “Heart of Gold, Soul of Silver” SO the reason I didn’t put anything before “of” is because the absence is supposed to be symbolic of different things in the story you could place there. Whether it’s “Soul” or “relationship” or “person” etc., doesn’t matter because the idea is that whatever is there has gone through purification(or more accurate to the story: change) in order to be what it is. So basically the title is saying “this is what it is because it altered to become more precious(aka silver which is a precious metal aslkdjfgh)”

Seokjin’s twitter name got cut off throughout the whole story lol, but his twitter name is “Don’t DM me about dorm life” because he is the reluctant RA aklsdjfgh

I gave Jeongguk a Golden Retriever puppy because it’s Jeongguk’s spirit animal let’s be real alskdjghf no but also because of the name I gave it lol.

Seoyoung originally wasn’t supposed to have feelings for Jeongguk; in the original idea she was just using him sort of to make her feel better about herself?? But I didn’t want the story to get too far into the drama side so I made it a bit simpler.

The original profile picture Jeongguk had in his phone for Seoyoung was of them that he took; the header on her twitter is also a picture he took.

Jeongguk only lets Y/N call him Jeonggukie. He’s shut down literally everyone else from calling him that lol

I know Jeongguk and Y/N never said I love you to each other in the story, but like…. They’ve only been dating for a couple of months so I didn’t feel like it was needed to be said yet lol. Although Jeongguk admitted he does love her, just not to her alsdkjfhgk.

The location of the cafe Jeongguk and Y/N frequent is upstairs in a bookstore that you have to enter to get to the cafe; I may recycle this location in a one shot I’d like to make about Namjoon where it originally came from but we’ll see lkdjfgh

The ending contact name for Jeongguk in Y/N’s phone has emojis added by Jeongguk which explains why there’s a lot lmaooo

During their senior year Jeongguk and Yoongi would’ve got an apartment together so Jeongguk could take care of Gold. After graduation Y/N and Jeongguk(and Gold) move in together.

There were supposed to be so many more twitter fights but I couldn’t figure out how to place them in lmaoooo rip they’re so fun to make lol

Seoyoung’s friend that got into a fight with the characters on twitter is named Nia and she’s the same girl in the written piece where Jeongguk took drunk Seoyoung home.

I wanted to hug Jeongguk like every time Seoyoung dragged him, it made me feel bad writing those scenes )))):

Yoongi’s dog Holly exists in this universe, but he lives with Yoongi’s family back in his hometown (I thought I’d mention this because Jeongguk mentioned Yoongi missing Holly very early on in the story)

Gold lives with Jeongguk(or technically Yoongi in the story) because Jeongguk adopted him independently of his parents who really weren’t about to take care of the little guy out of nowhere lmao

If I ever showed Jeongguk’s contact name for Y/N it would’ve said “my baby” with a barrage of heart emojis after it and the peach : )

Seokjin was also supposed to shred Seoyoung on twitter but that didn’t happen either double r i p

This story ended up being largely more focused on Jeongguk’s perspective rather than Y/N’s in my opinion; he even got his own written scenes dedicated to himself too so

Originally I thought Jimin’s character would be more important and I thought Namjoon’s character wouldn’t be as important as he ended up being lol.

Actually, Namjoon was almost going to be an antagonist? But I didn’t want the story to get too dramatic for the sake of keeping it mostly light-hearted.

I realize a lot of the written parts take place in only a few settings/or similar circumstances, this was to show the change in their relationship behavior along the way, but also because they’re both too busy to go to a bunch of different places and don’t have much time during the day together lmaooo

The picture of Jeongguk in the red plaid and scene from chapter 38 take place where the series’ header takes place!

Thank you again for reading! If you enjoyed the story, please please let me know, it means a lot!! have a great day/night!

[thewritewolf]

Nino’s Quest Chapter 2: You All Meet In A Tavern

The party finally meets and, despite a rough start, begin their first adventure!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 (Final)

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3.  My ko-fi.

Adrien Regreste: Last session was awesome! When can we do it again??

Lord DM: Lol dude. Its only been a day ya know We can figure it out a little later

Marinoodles: id love to do this weekend with you adrien! For dnd i mean And with everyone else Not just adrien

Adrien Regreste: Your character was so cool, Mari! I can’t wait to see how you play her :D

Marinoodles: Thank you! <3 Oh um whoops I didn’t mean to send a heart, haha

Adrien Regreste: ?? what did you mean to send?

Marinoodles: Um… this? :3

Adrien Regreste: :O That’s so cute! Can I use it??

Marinoodles: Sure! Your’e fine! *That’s fine! Not that you’re NOT fine I just askdjfasdlkfjadf

Alya’ll Beware: Omg u 2 get a room

Marinoodles: ALYA

Adrien Regreste: ?????

Nino chuckled as he read the string of messages. It made him glad to know that his friends were enjoying the campaign - especially Adrien. They didn’t get a chance to hang out nearly as much as he liked and this was a perfect excuse to get them all together. Besides, watching him and Marinette interact was always good for the soul. Very adorable stuff.

Speaking of adorable, Alya had sent him a private message on Discord. He opened up the chat.

Alya: Just so u know, I’ve got ulterior motives here

Nino: About marinette, Im guessing?

Alya: Yeah Don’t you see? This is a great chance to get these two dweebs togethre!

Nino: Alya… Can’t we just let them enjoy the game? Grow closer on their own terms?

Alya: If we do that, then they’ll still be blushng at each other when we’re in university Mama Alya’s got to do some interventions. I want my nieces and nephews at some point!

Nino: … Sigh Fine.

Alya: <3

Nino: But!

Alya: </3

Nino: Only if you stay in character, okay? At least that will keep oyu invested in the game.

Alya: ...I accept your conditions, Lord DM Cappy.

------------

“Anything you’re willing to spill about today’s session, bro?” Adrien grinned as he asked, excitement sparkling in his eyes. They were both strapped into the backseat of the Gorilla’s car as they made their way to Marinette’s house. It was late, but between Marinette babysitting and Adrien’s photoshoot, it was the best they could do.

Nino shook his head. “Sorry, dude. Most of it probs won’t be too interesting, though, since we have to get the introductions out of the way.” Adrien phone went off and he pulled it out. “Who’s texting you, dude?”

“Alya,” Adrien replied absently as he read the text. The tips of his ears turned red and his eyes widened.

Suspicion settled onto Nino as he tried to crane his neck to see the text. “Yeah? And what’s she telling you?”

“Nothing much. Just some tips about how to play a bard.”

Alarms were sounding in Nino’s head. “Really? What kind of tips.”

“Just… tips. About how charismatic bards should act. That kind of thing.”

Nino pinched the bridge of his nose. “Of course she is…”

Before either of them could ask any more questions, the car came to a halt and the Gorilla grunted at them. They had reached their destination.

“Ready for your first real session, dude?” Nino punched Adrien on the shoulder as he climbed out and they headed inside.

“You know I am!” Adrien opened the door and both of them were immediately buffeted by the scent of fresh pastries. They were guided by their noses to the kitchen. “Mmm! That smells delicious!”

Marinette froze, her pupils shrinking to pinpoints as they entered the room. “That’s- thanks! I- We made it for you. I mean! For all of us. For today’s session. So we could eat it. Y-yeah.”

“That’s very cool of you two!” Adrien he took a chocolate croissant off the platter and took a bite. “It tastes even better than it smells!”

“You really think so? Well,” Alya put her hands on Marinette’s shoulders and pushed her a little closer to Adrien, “those were made by hand. Marinette’s hands, as a matter of fact. I mostly just provided commentary.”

“Sorry dudes,” Nino cut in. “But can we start soon? We got a lot I wanna cover today.”

Marinette sagged in relief. “Y-yeah! Let’s get started!”

When Adrien and Marinette had squeezed past and headed towards the living room, Alya narrowed her eyes at Nino. He mouthed the word ‘roleplay’ to her and went to follow the others.

Nino took his seat and set up his DM screen around his notes and dice. Clearing his throat, he got started. “Marinette, you and Alya are sitting at a booth inside the tavern when in walks two men. The half-elf is wearing brightly colored clothes and is holding a…” He squinted at the paper in front of him. “Dude, what’s your instrument?”

“A lyre! Oh, and he’s blonde with green eyes - like me!” Adrien beamed, practically vibrating in place with excitement as he looked between the girls and him.

“Right, right, I getcha. And standing next to him is a human in chainmail armor, the symbol of the sun worn proudly around his neck.”

“Sounds like a cutie,” Alya said with a waggle of her eyebrow.

Nino’s cheeks heated up, but he pressed on valiantly. “So, uh, what do you do?”

“W-well, do they, um, do they match the descriptions we were given?” Marinette meekly replied.

“Yup! The description the monks gave you was right on. These are the dudes you are supposed to meet up with, no doubt about it.”

“R-right. Then I’ll wave them over then.”

“Right on. Adrien, what do you want to-”

“I walk over. Can I roll to seduce?”

Nino blinked in confusion and noticed the shock written plain on Marinette’s face. Alya, however, seemed on the verge of maniacal laughter.

“I… You want to seduce someone? Why?”

“Well, that’s what bards do, right?” He looked between his friends with an excited look on his face. “So what do I do? Roll this twenty sided die, right?”

“Yeah, but,” Nino struggled to get a hold of the situation, “who are you going to seduce?”

“Marinette, of course!” Adrien said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. If Marinette had been one of Adrien’s anime characters, there would have been a gush of blood erupting from her nose. As is, it just looked like she was about to pass out. “You and Alya are… you know, so it makes sense!”

While that was definitely airtight reasoning, Nino couldn’t help but groan. “Alright, let’s see what the dice have to say about it. Roll the die and add your charisma to this.”

Poor Marinette, wide eyed and blushing from cheek to neck, watched in bated anticipation as Adrien shook the die with gusto and let it loose. The first real roll of the game, Nino reflected. And it was being used to flirt with a party member. Was this a sign of what was to come?

He watched to see what the die will land on and what it might say about the rest of the campaign…

It rolled across the table, propelled by an overeager Adrien.

It came to a stop, directly in front of Marinette.

It showed…

...A one.

There was a stunned silence before Nino began laughing uncontrollably.

“Alright, bro. This is what happens - you walk up to them, put your hand on the table, and forget your own name as they look up at you expectantly. I follow behind and introduce ourselves.”

Adrien pouted, but a small smile poked through when Marinette giggled. Some color besides red was returning to her face.

“Maybe next time, sunshine,” Alya said through a grin. “So, are we ready to talk about adventure?”

After the party’s rocky opening moments, they hit their stride as they talked over the details of their first quest together. The locals had been dealing with a band of kobold raiders who were stealing their live stock. After a farmer was found dead, they decided the raiders had gone too far, and sent out a call for adventurers. A wandering bard, a local cleric, a noble runaway, and a knight errant answered.

“You spot the kobold den. The entrance just seems to be a hastily carved slab of wood covering a cave mouth.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask…” Marinette wrung her hands. “What’s a kobold?”

“Good question!” Nino folded his hands and looked between his friends. “Has anyone here seen a kobold before? Or know something about the arcane?”

The sound of ruffled papers greeted him as the party shuffled through their character sheets. Adrien’s eyes lit up. “Oh! I’ve got bardic knowledge.” He smiled and nudged Marinette, who joltd. “I guess I’ve seen some stuff on the road, huh?”

“Sure, bro, but let’s see if you know anything about them.” Nino watched as Adrien rolled. “Nice. Much better than your last one.” There were giggles around the table and Adrien playfully rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you know that kobolds are short, lizard dudes who like to build traps. Very community based, team efforts are their gig.”

“Cool! I tell the rest of the party that. So are we going in then?”

“W-wait.” Marinette narrowed her eyes in thought. “It seems too obvious, right? We didn’t even really look that hard for the way in, we just stumbled across it.”

“Right…? Oh!” Adrien caught on. “You think it might be a trap? So how are we going to get in then?”

“Well… they have to have a way in, right? So let’s look around. Maybe there is a secret passage.”

“Okay, I’ll make a perception roll for all of you.” Nino made some quick checks behind his screen. “So - Babe, you find a small boulder that seems out of place.”

“I’ll move it.”

“You got anything on you to do that with?”

“My big, beefy, lady knight muscles.”

Nino chuckled. “Alright, dude. Roll a d20 and add your strength modifier.” He watched the die land - more than enough to heft the thing. “Nice! You don’t have any trouble shifting it on your own, but there is no way anyone smaller than you could have pulled it off.”

“Huh. Guess they really don’t want kobolds going out alone.”

“So you go down into a side passage in the cave before eventually emerging into a small room with a table and chair. There is a lever against the wall, a string that runs into the darkness, and a sleeping kobold in the chair. What do you do?”

“Well we gotta take out the kobold first, right?” Alya glanced over at the other two. “We can’t have them raising an alarm or anything. I’ll nudge Marinette towards the kobold.”

“Does it count as, um… Flat footed? Do I get sneak attack?”

“You bet, dude. You’ll hit, no sweat, but roll for stealth.” She did. “Ooo, barely. After stumbling, you manage to get over there and silence the sentry for good. Now what?”

“Um… I’ll look around. What’s the lever for?”

“Got any knowledge of engineering?”

“Yup!”

Alya made an X with her arms. “Woah woah woah. Hold up, girl. Why do you know about engineering?”

Marinette shrugged. “You never know when understanding how buildings stay standing will help. In character, my family is known for their castles. Seemed like a good choice, you know?”

“Anyway,” Nino continued. “You can tell the lever activates a trap. A boulder trap, by the looks of it. Stepping into the hallway, you notice the entire thing is on an incline and your room is well hidden.”

“Oh, wow.” Adrien tapped at his chin. “We would’ve walked right by and been crushed by the boulder.”

“Wait…” Marinette’s eyes lit up. “I have an idea!”

A few minutes later and her plan was set into motion. Adrien stood by the hidden side passage and began to play his lyre as loudly as he could while Alya struck a stick against her shield repeatedly. Before long, their characters heard clawed feet rushing up the passageway in large numbers. The first to spot them was Adrien, who ducked back inside the passage.

“Now! They can’t retreat!”

Marinette’s character pulled the lever and a loud rumbling was heard. A giant boulder rushed past the room and the brief squawks of the enemy turned to silence.

“You enter the passageway to find one heck of a mess… and no survivors.” Nino let them cheer for a moment before adding, “At least, from this group. There’s anywhere from five to eight squished kobolds out here, and you remember that the villagers were sure there was about twenty.”

They were about to continue when Adrien’s phone went off. His face fell when he looked at it. “Sorry, guys. Looks like I need to head home now.’

“What?!” Marinette exclaimed before immediately blushing at her own outburst. “I mean- it’s just- Been here haven’t long- Going now?”

“I’m really sorry. You guys can go on without me.”

Nino shook his head and stood. “No way, dude. We’re in this together.”

“...Really?” Adrien said, looking hopeful.

“You bet, sunshine! This party doesn’t split.”

“Y-yeah! We’ll wait for you!”

“Thanks,” Adrien said with a smile. “I promise, I’ll make next week work and I’ll make sure we can stay for longer. Somehow.”

After saying their goodbyes, Nino hitched a ride home with Adrien. Nino hadn’t even thought about the traps being used against the kobolds, but they managed it. As he listened to Adrien chatter about the campaign, Nino could feel that this was going to be a campaign to remember.

[damnitdyna-blog]

My Break Up Pt. II

I’ve stayed quiet and never addressed the issues that came directly after my initial Tumblr post back in November. I didn’t have the mental capacity for it, and needed time to let everything sink in. I slowly started writing this post at the beginning of the year. Unexpectedly, the world hits us with a pandemic and I became hesitant on sharing. Though I do acknowledge there are larger issues going on in the world and we’re in a place of uncertainty. The quest to continue the truth, my truth, is still the goal.

I live in a world where women are taught to use their voice and speak even if their voice cracks. When I finally found courage in doing so, I’m told some things I shared were lies by my ex-boyfriend. The same man who went radio silent on social media for a whole month soon after I shared my story but managed to send me a “cease and desist” letter via email demanding I take my post down or there will be legal consequences. To force a woman to remove her survival story is a scared tactic and a form of bullying. 

I don’t need to prove anyone wrong for accusing me of lying. However, I’d like to clear the air on some claims he's made about me.

1.) It was brought to my attention that there are claims I knew about the nude photograph he took of me and that I immediately shared the image to the internet and Snapchat.

 I’d like to elaborate on details I failed to mention in my initial post from November because I only highlighted the main points. I understand small details are just as important. But here's the full truth....

• I did NOT know nor asked him to take a photograph of me while I was showering. 

 • He did surprise me with the image after I finished showering. I laughed and called him a pervert for being sneaky.

 • I shared a CENSORED version of the photograph to my friends via Snapchat to poke fun at him for being a “perverted boyfriend.” Censored as in, it was edited with a censored mark covering my body.

 • Sharing a censored version on Snapchat does NOT give him permission to share the full raw image to a woman soon after it was taken.

 • I do NOT know this woman and didn’t realize she’s been following and interacting with me through social media this entire time.

 2.) I have legal documents signed by a judge of the Superior Court highlighting some of his response to my petition for a restraining order. "He was trying to set up a sexual tryst and seriously misread Petitioner's willingness to participate.” Claiming he “seriously misread” would indicate that a conversation such as was brought up at one point in time or place between the both of us. To my understanding, we were in a monogamous relationship. I was unaware he was having sexual relations with other people let alone exchanging nude images of me with strangers to initiate sex.

Half way into our relationship, I noticed a sudden change in behavior where he would decline sexual intimacy any time I would initiate it. There was always an excuse to avoid it that it began to worry me.  I asked him questions, but he’d reassure me how happy he is to be with me and is excited about building a future together. I would then sweep it under the rug to prevent an argument. To say he “seriously misread my willingness to participate” in a sexual activity perhaps with a third party knowing his constant refusal to have sex with me is a bit of a stretch and a slap in the face.

3.) There's claims that I broke into his apartment after I gave up my apartment key to him. 

It's OUR apartment in case there's any confusion. My name is included on the lease. He agreed to cover my half of rent + utilities February - April 2019. I ended up paying for our utilities each month including additional late fees while he kept our security deposit that we did not agree on.

April 30th, 2019 was the move out date. 

April 7, 2019, I signed the document as stated below:

The apartment key “I gave up” was not a result of me no longer living there. On March 23, 2019, I was heading home to be with family. I specifically left the key with him to give to our guest visiting from Portland, Oregon for access to the apartment building without complications. I would have kept the apartment key if we didn't have a guest. Some of my belongings were still at the apartment so I knew I would return to pick them up. Here’s my DM with our guest dated Mar 23, 2019 soon as I left.

On Saturday, April 6, 2019, I “broke into” OUR apartment to pick up the rest of my belongings out of hurt and frustration when I found out his current girlfriend was continuously at our apartment while I was away with family for emotional support. I no longer had the key to our place, so I went into the property manager’s office to request a spare one. I first contacted his current girlfriend on March 28, 2019, through Instagram, when I learned she came over to our apartment. I was alarmed that my ex-boyfriend invited another woman into our home approximately 5 days after I stepped away to be with family. I believe every woman’s natural reaction would be emotionally distraught upon learning there is another woman in your home. In the message, I respectfully notified her explaining the situation she’s in which she claims she was unaware of. I did not create animosity and didn’t demand she leave my apartment; though I had every right to. I wanted her to make an educated decision on her own whether or not she feels comfortable to be in my home knowing she’s caught in the thick of our breakup. 

4.) He claims I sent my Tumblr post to his associates and family members insinuating I was harassing them. 

I shared it with 3 women whom I’ve already had prior interactions with. The first woman is a close girl friend who marveled over his excitement and happiness since he's been with me. The second woman is his best friend’s wife who gave me motivational advices to help me cope with the break up. The third woman is his ex-girlfriend of several years. 

However, there's legal document that shows a screenshot text conversation between my ex-boyfriend and a gentleman whom I share mutual associates with. I read the gentleman telling my ex-boyfriend that he received my Tumblr post directly from me which is NOT true. It didn't take me long enough to figure out the conversation between the two of them were rehearsed or photoshopped. It's one thing for my ex-boyfriend to lie. But to create or photoshop a fake conversation because he needed an ally is wrong. 

Through my healing journey, I’m learning that the way we respond to specific behaviors is a measurement of our character and the type of individual beings we are. I can only imagine when you’re caught in the heat that you’re bound to create falsified stories to protect your image rather than taking accountability. The fact that we’re even having a dialogue about a man I was in love with whom I trusted violating my privacy is beyond disturbing. Those were personal photos and moments between myself, him, and the four walls we were in. It’s disheartening that someone like him feels entitled enough to share something like that to the world. I have no clue what this woman has done with my photograph and who she might have shared it to. If my ex-boyfriend did something like this, I cannot imagine what else he’s done that I haven't yet discovered. 

I don’t think people understand the magnitude of how traumatizing this is for me and how it’ll affect me in future relationships moving forward. It’s caused me emotional damage where I had to seek therapy. I never received an apology from him till this day other than a cease and desist letter demanding my post to be taken down to keep me quiet. Between finding not only the right lawyer but one I was comfortable with in handling a non-consensual pornography case and juggling both school + work full time, it became extremely complicated and overwhelming. It took a toll on me emotionally, mentally, and physically. I didn’t fully go through with pressing charges. Nothing can make up for the damage that’s been done. I just wanted everything to go away; the pain and heartache. Please understand that just because a case didn’t go in full effect, that doesn’t mean it never happened. 

One may seek a new partner directly after a relationships ends to fill a void if it means to ignore accountability for the suffering of others. But their biggest punishment is that they are who they are. I think back to the conversation we had in our bedroom apartment when he opened up about his estranged older sister who went on his social media leaving a specific comment about him. Going through what I went through and knowing what I know now, I question if her claims are in fact true. If they are, may God be with his new born daughter when she arrives. 

[allthetribbles]

Research and Mini-Gaunts

August 11, 2018; OIS Game Notes

{{ Research and Mini-Gaunts }}

Setting - OIS Seattle Office; 01/09/2085-01/15/2085.

01/09/2085. Had a meeting with Director Elwood to go over the last operation (01/06/2085) at the cultist location. Discussed whether it actually looked like the golden winged creature was attacking, or if it was escaping – Alan and Ryan both agreed “attacking” would be the correct term. It is becoming “concerning” that we're coming across more zombies/undead. Just under orders to keep an eye out for those that express an interest in necromancy. Also, in the future, keep an eye out for the golden winged creature – call it in immediately and either detain or TERMINATE.

Helped the interrogation of the most recent cultist (Alex Murphy). According to him they weren't working independently. Claims they were working for someone else that had given them everything and told them to “summon stuff.”

Background information on Alex Murphy – Ex-NEG soldier for the past 6 years, several tours of duty in China; discharged for mental unstability/medical discharge. Relatively clean record – reprimanded for balking at killing children. Shortly after, he started to repeatedly fail mental wellness exams. After the fourth failure, he was discharged back to Chicago as medically unfit. While in China, he spent time indulging in recreational drugs, alcohol and stims between deployments.

He disappeared from Chicago to go to Phoenix arcology for about 4 weeks before returning to Chicago. He then disappeared about a year ago before showing up in Seattle.

- > How did he he meet the cultists. He was approached in a bar by the PoI in Dec 22 raid (the description he gave of the woman – easily 6 foot/6' 1”, black hair with tattoos on her arms matches). Through her they were getting their materials and supplies (for their activities).

- > What was his motivation for joining her. He figured the best way to fight against something was to be apart of it – fight from within. He was gradually recruited against “worse things than the cultists.”

Questioning took about a week to complete. They were not told WHY they were to summon things, but just to do it. The Bahki is a minion of the witch and delivered messages to them. D'lo'trehalt AKA Del is the name of the Bahki. With what he said previously, it is assumed that the cultists knew we were coming.

------- Livia's OIS Incident Report (Ctech01.15.2085).

Incident type - Supernatural/Security Date - 01/15/2085 Incident Location - OIS Seattle Office

01/15/2085. We were in the library researching bahki and the golden creature that attacked it. We were following a lead from Pvt Alex Murphy (cultist from incident on 01/06/2085). According to his information, the escaped bahki was a minion of a woman that fits the description of the witch that escaped from the raid on December 22, 2084. The bahki regularly reported orders from Witch to the cultists. She provided all supplies and orders needed for the reanimation of corpses.

In researching unknown winged meta-terrestrials we delved into ancient christian texts – the closest we got were to the old world angels, but didn't match the humanoid type. Going further back, we started researching “Noden” - Godlike entities that oppose creatures of the mythos, avatars of an “Elder God”, not to be confused with Great Old Ones or other elder gods. Some texts did mention nightgaunts as opposition to the bahki, confirmed later by Director Elwood (that bahki and nightgaunts don't get along).

At this point, both myself and Ryan heard rattling in the vents above us. As we listened, it seemed to get closer and we called a few others to confirm. I refused to go into the vents; Franklin went up instead, looked around before opening fire. The vent kind of burst with what looked like bats without faces. As we were fighting, a closer look determined the creatures appeared to be miniature nightgaunts. Took 20-30 minutes to clear the swarm in the library; then we started  a sweep of the building.

About halfway through, Ryan realized that the fights were a distraction – we went to check on Alex Murphy and he was still alive despite being attacked by the mini-gaunts.

In the office, around 11 were flying around, but were calmer than the ones in the library. They didn't seem particularly violent except when approached. We neutralized 9; sparing two for the research department. The minigaunts seemed drawn to Ricky's desk (who was out). They seemed to take active care to avoid me (and my desk).

Tracing the entry for the minigaunts – security determined they CHEWED through an outside vent to gain entry to the offices. (How, without faces... or teeth?)

Agents involved - Alan, Ryan, Liv Witnesses - Franklin (first contact), Alex Murphy

------- (Game Notes Cont'd) During the incident, the director was not in the office for the lockdown. When he arrived he asked for the report from Livia (who recounted the above, sans mentioning the mini-gaunts being drawn to Ricky's desk and them avoiding her – she saved that for the report).

To recap – Alex Murphy still alive, despite being attacked by the mini-nightgaunts. The thing seen before is definitely not a nightgaunt, it didn't share any of the features.

DM Game Notes - Interview with Director Elwood. It went well? Told to keep an eye out for other Necromantic events. Began a series of research into the Witch, the escaped creature and start research into Nodens when they are interrupted by a swarm of mini-Nightgaunts. They deal with them and find out that some have a strange aversion to Livia... strange. Ryan figures out that it's a trick and checks on their prisoner who amazingly enough is still alive! Fates be praised.....

Date ending: January 15th, 2085, it's a good year already!

*NOTE: IMPORTANT: Let the party know how the Mini-Gaunts got into the OIS Offices

[poisonichors]

⋆ ◦ ° ☾ taylor hill + cisfemale + she/her — have you seen valery ‘val’ kashnikova? they sure have been hanging out at valdez county park a lot recently. they are a twenty-one year old known as the uncertainty principle*, and they currently work for the savages as a soldier, which they’ve been doing for five months. a heterosexual taurus, they are determined + independent, as well as stubborn + two-sided. thorns on a rose, lips against a loaded barrel, the moon cradled in tufts of white. × lacey. twenty-one. she/her. est. ×

*  ❝ THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE articulated, in 1927 by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg, that the position and the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly, at the same time, even in theory. ❞

throwz this post on2 th dash like a shit flingin monkey hENLO i’m lacey bt u may also refer 2 me as? mr steal yo girl cos i will kindly respond 2 both ty

also i am so sorry for those of you who have to read this bible if u dont wanna read the whole thing its totally ok i’d jst cover the personality n valdez sections ja feel

plots and stats pages will be coming soon but until then!! click that heart button and i’ll hurl myself full force into those DMs whether you like it or not

ANYWAYS HERE’S VAL!! MY BADDEST BABE OF EM ALL

so, the breakdown.

VAL KASHNIKOVA

Valery is the poster girl of a family based off money and status. Her father who fronts as an owner of establishments on Wall Street also operates as the undercover head of a Russian mafia syndicate. Her mother is an ex-model, now focusing on the social aspect of the family.

Her mother consistently pushes her to play the role of the socialite’s perfect daughter, and prospective wife. Shoulders back, chin up, tummy in. Smile, Valery. No one wants to marry a scowling woman.

According to her mother, Valery’s sole purpose was to marry into another family of money. Valery was taught to walk, talk, and breathe etiquette growing up. The wife of a rich man must not be outspoken, opinionated, or insubordinate. She must always do as told, and with a smile on her face.

Being an only child, Valery finds it increasingly difficult to do anything but what she is asked of her parents. Choices were always made for Val before she could open her mouth; which remains the prime reason as to why she has such a tough time deciding things for herself, no matter how small.

She always feels the need to appease her parents, now that she’s all they have left. After Mikhail passed away, that is.

MIKHAIL KASHNIKOV

Mikhail was Val’s older brother of four years. He was the favorite, seeing that he excelled in everything he did. Valery was inevitably compared to her brother, growing up. Being neglected didn’t bother her as much as seeing Mikhail take on all the responsibility of carrying on the Kashnikov name.

One sibling had to deal with all the pressure while the other child was merely pushed away. An unlikely bond was shared between the two of them, despite being in polar opposite positions. Mikhail gave Valery the affection she was denied from their parents while Val was Mikhail’s escape from the world of law and politics. This shaped a very close bond.

Mikhail was a good influence on Valery to say the least. Though she’s independent in nature, Mikhail was always there to guide her through agonizing public events, seemingly impossible assignments, or give her advice through trying times. Valery could easily say that her brother raised her more than her parents ever did.

Most would say that Mikhail was incredibly protective of Valery, but only few truly knew that she was just as protective of him. In the midst of superficial families and business deals beyond them, Mikhail would always find them ways to run up to the roof and act their age like they very much deserved. It was only during times like these which made Valery’s childhood actually feel like childhood.

IN LOVING MEMORY

On his way home from a friend’s party, Mikhail’s Bentley was severely hit by an oncoming car. Word returned that a member of their rival mob deliberately drove into her brother’s vehicle.

Mikhail was rushed to the hospital and tended to by the best doctors in the country, but it was to no avail.

Mikhail Kashnikov, 22, was pronounced dead on August 29th, 2015.

After learning what had happened to her brother, Valery, age 18, stepped in and was immediately taken under her father’s wing to train and avenge his death. She slowly turned into a fighting machine driven purely by hatred and an insatiable need for vengeance.

SEPTEMBER 2015 - AUGUST 2018

She trained heavily with weapons, only needing two year’s time to become a skilled marksman and know her way around guns and knives (which are her specialty). She’s basically good at anything that requires a target. Hand-to-hand combat could use some work, but Val is never one to leave home without a weapon of self-defense on her person.

Valery operated more as a decoy when she first began, simply gaining trust and seducing information from rivals. As her confidence with firearms and blades grew, she gradually began to carry out more gruesome tasks, thus leveling up in her field. Jobs always were a little easier for Val than the other men. Besides, who would've thought a pretty girl knew how to use a gun?

TRIPLE-THREAT

The only part of growing up that Valery didn’t mind was learning music ━ let it be singing, dancing, or playing an instrument.

Dancing operated more as a front for combat and other agile ways. However, it slowly blossomed into a passion she shares heavily with singing and playing the piano.

Mikhail would play the piano while Valery sang along, they almost found comfort in such a cheesy activity. To this day, everything Valery knows on the piano is because of him. She sometimes likes to take private trips to it; she finds an odd comfort in the belief that when she plays the piano and sings, he can still hear her.

VALDEZ

Valery ’s family has shared an amicable bond with the Savages for years. Upon news of the outbreak in Valdez, the twenty-one year old was sent to serve the Caitos as a symbol of Kashnikov support. This isn’t out of the ordinary, seeing that Val’s training included working under other alliances to gain combat experience and further networking.

Val’s current rank is a Soldier in the Savages. She’s only been there for five months, so she’s diligently working on gaining trust through carrying out tasks and slowly making her way up the ladder.

The Kashnikova’s only condition is that she is allowed to conceal her visage when operating. She’s not open to showing her face around Savage halls and prefers to seek cover as a civilian when out in public. She prefers that very limited people know of her identity as a Soldier (maybe if you’d like to snatch up a plot about that?), which proves the importance of her saving face when not on the job. 

PERSONALITY (HER FRONT)

Valery, finally away from home and family for the first time, is beginning to find herself. She’s naive and wide-eyed, seeing that she was always under direct authority and her choices were always made for her. A small fish in a big pond, if you will.

Despite not having many prior experiences, the brunette is very playful and open to new things. This makes her quite impressionable, seeing that she always chooses to see the best in people and has a hard time telling when someone doesn’t have her best interest in mind. Nonetheless, all she wants is to have fun! Bringing a smile to her company’s face is of utmost importance to her.

You can find her hanging out in Valdez County Park during the day. She can be seen either feeding the animals, teaching yoga, or trying her hand at some new instruments.

THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

so the reason i gave her this label was because while she has two personalities, it’s impossible to pinpoint who she really is or at what point she’s transitioning from one mentality to the next. I decided it was a good play on the chem theory insert collective groan here, seeing that there’s no telling if she’s just being nice or has an ulterior motive. while it’s stated above that its a “front”, it’s more so her just trying to go back to being her normal self before her life in the mafia and crime syndicates. this causes a constant teetering back and forth between how she identifies herself in varying scenarios.

PERSONALITY (ON THE JOB)

Valery can be cold and calculated if need be, just how she was back home. Her work comes first and foremost to anything else. Fooling around isn’t in her nature when it comes to tasks at hand.

Her forté includes destruction of property, extraction of information, seizure, arson, armed combat, and termination.

uhhHh still figuring her out

omg figuring almost was fingering i cried a little bye

[lewnatic]

For the D&D asks, 1-20

Oh gosh, okay. This is gonna be long so I’m gonna do it under a cut.

What was your favorite Nat 1 Experience?

I don’t think a lot of my characters have had really funny Nat1 moments, sadly. I will always remember the one when @zhixx​ made a goblin named Spook’em specifically designed to have the least survivability possible. The first time he was downed he rolled a Nat1 on his first death save. The feeling of comedic timing was just beautiful.

Favorite D&D Inside Joke?

“You are a privateer! BUT ON LAHND.”

Favorite Item Your Character received in D&D?

Phailyn was supposed to get a tome to increase his strength, but when his crush said she wanted it, he immediately fucking dropped it so she could have it. So the DM let me sneak off and get a scrying orb we’d passed up earlier. He hasn’t used it yet, but I just like the story behind it.

Ves probably considers Sikrikta to be the best item she’s received has a lot of really expensive shit she’s keeping just because she has bourgie taste. She got a bottle of wine as a gift that would have been 400g if she’d left it unopened. She’s drinking it gradually through the adventure. It’s good, but not quite as good as what she’s used to.

Teeki has a gaudy diamond crown that Bing bought for 300 gold. It does nothing. It is purely cosmetic. She loves it.

Basically I love frivolous shit.

Preferred Animal Companion (if you had any)?

Vesxlit has a familiar, if that counts. He’s a parrot named Brilliant. He talks like a normal human (in a setting where that is definitely not commonplace) and is a member of the Bardic College in the capital city of the nation we’re traveling in.

He’s a posh gentleman who helps Ves sew dresses. They spend 90% of their time arguing because, being a bird, his fashion sense is incredibly bright and garish.

Favorite D&D Battle Encounter?

Every boss fight Skaaren has done is goddamn awesome, tbh. My favorite is the first just because of how scary it was.

Keep in mind, we’re level 1 in Pathfinder, an Oracle (Ves) and a Barbarian (Cato.) We’ve just watched a big hole open up in the ground, and our characters don’t know why, but we’re looking for missing people (including the barbarian’s boyfriend Fabius, he’s important) so we figure hell, this is probably where they’re missing.

We find some of the missing people at the bottom of the hole, but we haven’t found Fabius, so we go deeper in. We find this creepy old woman doing some kinda ritual or something by a pool of water? Barbarian charges in to kill her and save his man, and… kills her very quickly.

Silence. We go to check on Fabius, and we’re not sure if we can safely move him. I’m running out of heals from earlier stuff and I pop my last one on him, and after a while of debating what to do a ton of undead start coming out of the water. Just a goddamn mob. Whatever the hell creepy-lady was doing, we were suddenly way in over our heads. Even if we picked up Fabius and ran, we don’t have a fast way out of this hole. And we start taking damage fast. Including Fabius.

I don’t remember the specifics of the fight. I think that’s a testament to how much we were panicking. I remember feeling the helplessness of being a mage completely out of spell slots frantically trying to hit things with my stupid mace.

And I remember when the fight was over, I stayed down there panicking for several more minutes, trying to determine if Fabius was even alive while the barbarian ran to get the local doctor in a town of which he didn’t even speak the language.

In the end, Fabius was okay, and we both got out of it alive. It was just that sense of dread and fear, that we didn’t know how the DM’s rolls were going or if anything we were trying had any impact. Skaaren has always done a stellar job since of bringing that sense of genuine fear into the game when he wants to, but that first unexpected taste of it was so damn cool.

Favorite D&D NPC Interaction?

Varis Vrynn was my favorite villain. Not because of his fight, or how he fit into the greater lore, but because of how @extravagantshoes​ played him. He was a slimy uppity elf in the city of Galthiel, a city with heavy class divides based on magic ability. Varis was a powerful diviner, and a lot of our party interactions involved everyone in the party trying to piss him off and Varis looking down his nose in disgust at all of us.

Then Cedlanna, our young sorcerer, got a conversation with him alone in his manor, where he wanted to make a deal with her. And she just ripped into him. Cut to the core of his insecurities and how with all of his riches on display, his manor still was incredibly empty–that for all the parties he hosted he was completely alone.

He was doing some really irredeemable things and later tried to kill us all but I still managed to feel kind of sad that we ended up gruesomely killing him.

Dumbest thing You & Your Party Did

Charging through multiple spinning saws comes to mind. Every time I try to sneak around in heavy plate armor also comes to mind.

I feel like I need to make a separate post to discuss just all the impulsive things Cato does. Turning an entire city upside down just for the chance to punch a specific guy in the face was one.

Most Epic thing You & Your Party Did

I might also make a separate post about this, but Cato and Ves convinced a bunch of lizard people that they were their gods.

Basically in this setting, the level 1 baddies generally fought are called Rapia. They’re kobold-esque in design, but they have a faith-based culture and… well, kind of a faith-based biology. Rapia need something to worship, they undergo gradual physiological changes based on the thing they follow. (Say it’s a sea creature, they might get gills.) And if they don’t have something to worship, they literally become sick and presumably die.

We’d fought a few before and looted crap from their caves, including a tiny hammer that we never could have used but the barbarian held onto cuz idk??

We later ran into some others by falling through the roof of their cave, but they didn’t attack us. They started to assume that we were the gods depicted on one of their cave walls. For the sake of brevity, a fight broke out later when we were trying to leave, and Cato gave the hammer to one of the rapia who was helping us escape. It turned out in the DM’s notes, this hammer had significance to the rapia, and was supposed to be given to the religious leader of a tribe. And so the entire tribe turned to our side and protected us. And… they started following us.

It was about this time that the DM broke character to tell us he had no plan of this happening, and I guess we just have a tribe of rapia now. And we’ve had the goddamn campaign balanced around having a tribe of rapia ever since.

What did you like about your Campaign’s World?

I’m gonna try to sum these up quickly cuz these stories have already gotten long.

The Ascension world has elements of what I affectionately like to call Pop Fantasy, there’s some genre-awareness while not being parody, and all the work on the pantheon Spi did has been goddamn amazing. I also cannot figure out the overarching mysteries and that is awesome.

Nejj puts a ton into immersing us into the world. I can always very clearly get a feel for the sort of setting he’s putting us in, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with the political intrigue he’s been setting up.

Skaaren’s got the weirdest goddamn races in his setting and I love every single one of them. He’s also packed the setting full of little cultural details, I swear to god he’s done extensive research into what we’re having for breakfast in the morning based on where we’re staying.

What was the most Interesting Lore you Found?

I seriously can’t pick a favorite here so I’m going to give a silly answer, and that’s that acolytes of Ves’s goddess commune with her by getting super high. 

Summarize Your Campaign(s) in a Single Sentence

One for each campaign:A group of weird rebels and one very ordinary guy dismantle the ruling government.Goblins discover crazy politics and necromancy, what happens next will warm your heart.Tourists getting intimate with the horrifying hidden truths of nature

Describe your whole Party Dynamic in a Sentence

The best bunch of weirdos and one stupid shady paladin.Loner rogue becomes Team Mom by sheer force of how much the other two hate each other.Bug Jesus and The Angriest Boy discover family in the form of lizards.

What Alignment do your characters lean towards?

I have a weird time choosing an alignment for characters cuz motivations change a lot for my nerds. Teeki was True Neutral but has become more Chaotic Good. Ves is Lawful Good I guess?? And Phai is a goddamn mess whose alignment has shifted at least thrice since his conception.

How do you tend to Take Notes (if you do)?

Badly! Next question.

Prefer Story/Plot Driven or No Plot/Character-Driven Campaigns?

I tend to prefer plot-driven, but I honestly think elements of both should be implemented in your narrative–occasionally giving breaks from the overarching plot to give the cast some time to dick around can give a breath of fresh air to roleplay.

Combat or Role Play?

Roleplay, of course. I actually used to think I hated D&D combat. It took a lot of great sessions to make me realize that the RP doesn’t stop for combat, and that’s when I started really getting into learning and enjoying mechanics elements.

Favorite D&D Monster/Creature?

Illithid. I would love to actually play as one someday.

Magic User or Fighter?

Magic is more engaging to me, personally, but I like both.

Preferred Weapon/Spell in D&D?

Tasha’s Hideous Laughter. In large part because of how it’s roleplayed in Critical Role tbh. I also have felt the high of Sneak Attack enough times to really love it now.

What was your Favorite Nat 20 Experience?

One time I rolled a Nat20 perception while we were on the road and it was literally just to find a coin on the ground. That might always be my favorite. 

[zmbkl]

NaNo 1

Hello everyone,

 For NaNo I decided I wanted to journal. I used to journal in high school and it was a good therapeutic way of shifting through feelings. I have a lot of stories I want to write, but I feel more confident talking about myself for right now.

I’ve been really good lately. I feel really confident in myself and where I am in life.  Work is going well, I’m financially secure and my relationship is great. I don’t have a lot to complain about.

I’ve been trying to better myself lately. I work at a Japanese company where majority of the office speaks Japanese. I thought it would be advantages to learn the language. I started out by taking classes at the Buddhist temple downtown. The class only met once a week for two hours. I met some nice people and I learn some stuff, but I wanted a more refined and structured class. After that semester, I enroll in the local junior college’s classes. I am currently in my second semester.

I am getting a little stressed with this class. The professor doesn’t use the whole class time and often lets us go early. This sounds great, but I typically only do the homework and attend every class. This usually gets me a “B”. She lets us out early and students distract her often, so I lose my chance to learn during class, so when the tests come around I do poorly.  I need to take time to study outside of doing homework, but I lack motivation. It’s kind of turned into a self-serving cycle. Since I am failing tests, I lose motivation for the class, and I don’t study. I don’t study, so I fail the tests. I guess I need a “Win” in this class the get back motivation, but I have no motivation because this isn’t for a grade because I already have my degree. I think I might take the class again next semester as the next class in the series isn’t offered until next fall anyways. I might not though, I miss having my Tuesdays and Thursdays free.

 I am also trying to keep in shape and lose weight. I have a gym membership I don’t use, but I don’t want to cancel it because it means I gave up, which is very typical of people my age. I decided to go running during my lunch breaks at work. I have hour lunches, but I only need like 15 minutes, so I use the rest of the time to talk to Alia and go running. I used to go running around the streets near my work, but my knees started to hurt me. I figured out that my knees hurt because I was running on cement. The cement had more impact on my feet. My coworker told me to try running on asphalt. I took a break from running and now I continued by running in the parking lot at work. Luckily, my COO also walks in the parking lot during his lunches so I get away with it. It’s working for me, but I don’t use the gym membership and I have stick arms. I also miss hanging out with my coworkers during lunch. Meh.

 I started to play WOW again. Alia got a Battle net gift card for her birthday and she has never played WOW before. I told her if she wanted to play I’ll play with her. It’s fun, and makes me nostalgic for the early 2000’s. It kills my days. We had all day off on Wednesday after the Halloween party and we just played WOW all day, but it felt HELLA short. I am having fun, but it can defiantly kill a lot of time when I don’t want to just kill time.

 I am playing DnD with friends on Monday nights. I had two sessions going, but the group on Sundays stopped meeting. They don’t seem to have a free Sunday, so we just stopped. It felt a little crappy because it made me feel like they didn’t like my campaign and just didn’t want to tell me they wanted out. I have some anxiety about my DnD campaigns. It’s an outlet for me to tell stories and develop characters. I put some of my creativity into it and when people don’t respond to it well it sucks. I am also not very good at conveying the story. I get nervous and anxious during play. I was playing the bad guy during the first few sessions and my players got really into it and started yelling at me. I know they weren’t yelling at ME, but the character I was portraying, but it put me in a weird head space for the next few sessions. I also got yelled out a few times for making mistakes, like skipping turns, miscalculating XP, or forgetting names. It’s defiantly a learning process, and I am trying to get good, but if I don’t get good fast enough I fear my players will lose interest. I need to start keeping better detailed notes about what works and what doesn’t. If I don’t reflect on the mistakes, then I’ll just end up making the same ones over and over again. I am still friends with the group that quit, and they tell me they still want to play. I just can’t shake the feeling like they afraid to tell me they just don’t want to play anymore. This isn’t a plea for them to tell me, it’s just something that has been on my mind. I still see them occasionally.

 DnD was always a social thing for me anyway. I originally started the group to hang out with friends I don’t normally see. I’ve been trying to hang out with a lot of these people, but never had a real good starting point for a conversation. I started the group to see them more and develop friendships. It’s been effective and I have fun playing the game. I started a new session with my old Quidditch captain from college. She was a fun person and I wanted to keep in touch, so I told her I’d DM a game for her if she got a group together. It’s been nice.

 I have my dad’s 50th birthday party Saturday. I am not close with my family. I purposely distanced myself from them after I left for college. I am not a fan of my parents and their life choices. I don’t go out of my way to be crappy to them, but I update them on my life when there is a big change, and other than that Facebook has been a way to communicate I’m alive and happy. I might talk more about my family later, but this entry is getting long.

 Have a good night everyone!

[crazyhermitdm]

3000 Followers!

So the current campaign I’m DMing has been a fun one so far. This is my fourth full campaign and my first one for 5th Edition. (I’ve done like 4 more minor ones that fizzled out) Since I’m really enjoying this campaign and this page just hit 3000 followers! I figured I’d share the premise and the PC’s that play in it. First off the premise for it is something I’ve been playing around with running for years now but I was always hesitant because I don’t think it fit the role-play style of my original play group . Basically the ‘players’ at my table have been magically transfered into their player characters by ‘me’ the DM and they have to figure out a way to get back home while having to deal sharing a mind with their PC and dealing with the characters past dealings that they have no memory of. I borrowed from several sources to develop this idea. I straight stole the premise from The Guardian of the Flames book series, than continued to borrow ideas from the Wizard of Oz, Quantum Leap, Land of the Last, The Sword of Truth Book Series, Doctor Who, Tron: Legacy as well a number of other sources. I’m using my own custom campaign setting which I was developing already from the novel I’ve been writing off and on for years but with that on hold for now I figured I’d take advantage of my dnd group to flesh out my world more and develop it more than I ever could. Anyways here’s our starring line up.

Amelia Ravenscroft (Ava) - Imagine Khalessi from Game of Thrones meets the Evil Queen from Once Upon a Time and that is Amelia. She’s the 'Evil’ Queen whose also a human draconic sorceress from the Southern Isle of Thelum who narrowly escaped being executed and ran from her kingdom after her niece Joandanna Ravenscroft usurped her and took the throne. Not being able to claim her throne Amelia/Ava being 'their’ fiery self’s have made the best of a bad situation, with a foggy memory of things of things back home both have agreed to work together instead of against one another to help Amelia take her throne while searching for a way home. 

So far she’s managed to acquire her father’s former knight Walter who is fiercely loyal to her and has already proven he’d kill without question at just the whim of her order. Mingled with the nobles of different towns and has recently started a small rebellion in Alexandria, the largest city on the continent after it became apparent that she wasn’t going to be able to get the return in fealty from the ruler of the city that her father once gave in a war that happened in decades before.

Azazel Ebonnova (Daven) - Being our Satyr Bard Azazel is literally the Swiss army knife of skill checks to our group. Much of his childhood is shrouded in mystery still and the transfer of essences has made their memory a bit foggy. Piece by piece though their memories have been coming back especially as the in game version of Daven realizes that in the land their in no one has heard or seen of a Satyr causing both to assume they’re the only Satyr in existence.

Azazel/Daven have had some unique encounters though in their shared time. Azazel is wanted by a hobgoblin tribe known as the horned riders for skipping out on the wedding of the tribal chiefs daughter because he realized it was gonna be too hard to loot the tribes crown gem on his own, he’s successfully robbed the governess in the first town the group encountered and not only that but after one his many drunken nights, won at gambling against a shephardess and acquired the woman’s daughter as a prize which he is now training to be a wizards apprentice.

Enna Nailo (Rachel) - Being a Half-Elf Thief isn’t easy but it’s something Enna makes look like it is. Being raised by humans of a more lower class Enna has been thieving since she was just a small pointy eared girl. At times she’s let her inner kleptomaniac loose by just going down the streets and helping herself to whatever she can grab off a person. Her biggest accomplishment is stealing a prized greataxe off a minotaurs back without a single person noticing. 

Being Azazels woman is far an easy task as well but Enna/Rachel manage the satyrs often at times large ego and reckless drinking behavior. Even if the goal to get home seems impossible at times the urges she has with her sticky fingers and borderline narcissistic lover keeps her going.

Evette/Alison: The relationship between Evette and Alison is often a tricky one. Since the point of the groups arrival. These two were the only ones to fully integrate as one vessel. While Evette remains in control the genius but rogue Wizard has full access to Alison’s memories. Which caused some tension for Kaid since he’s married to the half whose not in charge.

While she is in full control Evette is often quiet and mysterious. Her motives are unknown and it hard to tell whether or not she’s working with the group or for some personal cause. One thing that is known is time and time again her knowledge of the arcane arts have been indispensable and she wants to see Amelia return to power for the Thelumian bounty from rival wizard Tharkun the Grey can be pardoned.  

Kaid Wither (Brent): Born and raised along the borders of Freelands and the Elven Forest Kaid was raised by his Uncle Kirk in the arts of being a Gunslinger which in this campaign world is the only knowledge that remains of what an Artificer was or use to be. Though things were tricky at first with Evette; things have settled down now as he is now focused on getting home and freeing Alison away from the wizard. 

Being at times the moral voice of the group is probably one of the hardest jobs considering the group is far from beacon of shining light. Since arriving he’s clashed with a number of the members of the party over their decisions and actions and more recently faltered on his own when his uncle and mentor came back into his life and proclaimed that Kaid and the group need to stay out of his and his employers (a Necromancers Guild) way. Racked with guilt over the past and what has transpired between him and his Uncle, Kaid is torn between doing the right thing and stopping his Uncle or letting his past mistakes stayed buried. Either way the newly named 'Elemental Slayer’ has his choices ahead of him.

Nelg 'TwistedLimb" Wahi (Glen): Nelg is big… well big is an understatement for the groups Goliath Eldritch Knight. The hulking Goliath who I’ve teased calling him a giant because he stands over ten feet tall which for a Goliath is huge with their race being an average of eight. Though he isn’t the most graceful of the group Nelg is definitely the most imposing and his shield and axe in hand has stood toe and toe with Scions to Ancient Elementals, Champions to the Arch-Duke of Alexandria and yes even more recently a Mummy Lord

Since 'Glen’ has transferred into Nelg’s body the two have have quite a ride together and gotten themselves into a fair bit of trouble as well everything from pinning a dwarf head to a Tavern sign out of anger . For every bad thing he’s done he’s made up for it with something good. Such as saving a young boy from being executed for stealing bread. Nelg is the prophesized one known in prophecy as “The one bonded to the shield” and is foretold to become a great hero as well as figuring out a way to get back home so Glen can see his new baby boy and woman.

[foxjevilwild]

I played a fairly interesting DnD campaign with some friends I made at a local comic book store, with the game being DM’d by a longtime friend of mine named Andrew.

It was an ‘evil’ campaign, and all of us players were various flavors of villains. I was playing a Cleric of Bane, a god of merciless brutality, fear, hatred, and strength, so I was the party ‘tank’, out to prove my ability to impose my will upon the world, no matter the cost to others. I also had a high Charisma, so I became the party leader, both as a mechanics necessity and because my character simply wouldn’t accept being subordinate to someone his God hadn’t told him to (he was an active member of his cult and they were brought into the campaign a lot as our sort of HQ).

There was an Elf Wizard, seeking the secrets of magic to make himself powerful and immortal (something my character respected), a  true neutral Orc Ranger who was willing to act immorally at first for the promise of reward but got swept into our nefarious acts, and finally, my friend Mike, playing a Neutral Evil Dwarf Rogue (eventual Factotum) who rolled max on his intellect - we developed a history that my Cleric had used him as an informant and operative in the past and trusted him with being capable of almost any job.

The campaign proceeded mostly as expected - we turned on the Elf Wizard for attempting (and failing) to steal a powerful magical artifact by leaving him to die in a pit of reanimated skeletons we had successfully crossed, dooming him to eventually become a reanimated skeleton (the area was cursed). My Cleric told him to “Enjoy your newfound Immortality!” as we sealed the door to the chambers. His player re-rolled a Gnome Barbarian who took Uncontrollable Rage as a flaw and was highly useful until he simply wasn’t, so we let him die in a blaze of glory and then reanimated him as a zombie to distract a posse formed by the local temple set out to kill us for desecrating their chapel in search of another artifact/piece of the campaign puzzle. The lead Paladin became my nemesis (and was a servant of a rival god to boot) - and though I never managed to kill him I left him a cursed, unhealable wound he would always have to remember when I bested him and forced him to flee. We subsequently freed a powerful, half-demon orc spirit to help us acquire a powerful ‘control device’ and then had to figure out how to kill him again since he decided to steal the device and become the Campaign’s End Boss. The Orc Ranger on our team eventually became appalled by our ruthlessness and opposed us (after I had once convinced my God of Tyranny to resurrect him since I thought he would turn Evil eventually - so ungrateful), turning Neutral Good as an alignment shift before almost immediately becoming Neutral Dead when we trapped his soul in the place the demon orc’s was. We ended the campaign defeating the resurrected Demon Orc now possessed by an Ancient Evil he had sought to control (the party had to survive a constant, unending onslaught of demons while I attempted to cast a Banish spell on something much higher level than me, it was pretty epic) - we then took control of the ancient evil and the end state of the campaign was that we had, in doing so, covertly seized power in a shadow war and taken control of an entire region for Bane (we ended the campaign somewhere around level 12 I think).

It was probably the best campaign I ever played in - everyone had their character down and being evil lent us a bit of unpredictability that made it a more interesting story - we weren’t ‘rape and pillage’ - everyone was a subtler form of evil, working toward a shared goal for selfish reasons, and it worked SO WELL we were going to play another Campaign (a pre-written one, just to see the chaos we could cause in a ‘good’ story or how we would tackle it) before events happened on Earth and not Faerun and we mostly parted ways.

It was sad, but the best thing about it was, with things ending, I was given custody of everyone’s character sheets. My friend Mike, the Dwarven Rogue, smiled the most shit-eating grin I have ever seen in my life when he handed me his sheet, and simply said “You’ll appreciate this, I think.” I had no idea what he meant... Had he been a different class the entire time? Was he secretly good? Was he bluffing us ALL the time with an insanely high skill? No. None of those overtly clever things. It took me some time to figure it out, but then it hit me.

See, in dungeons and dragons 3.5 you make camp most nights you are travelling, and the characters will take turns taking watch, looking out for danger. You make a check against your Listen or Spot with your Wisdom as a bonus, etc etc, to see if you succeed. Mike’s character had poor skill in both, being an Intelligence character, and he almost always failed. Still, almost every check he made, he would pass an index card (we used them for note passing) to Andrew the DM and ask him to write what his character took notice of during the skill check - and because his character didn’t always have motive to be honest with us or warn us outright in those situations, since mine was the only character his trusted or knew before all this, this made some sense.

It turns out though that Mike was never really making those checks. He wasn’t listening or scanning the horizon for incoming dangers - he was making two seperate checks, but they were entirely different skills.

See, while the rest of the party was asleep, he was making Move Silently and Sleight of Hand checks. In the night, as we slept, trusting him to be on the lookout for danger for his own sake and ours - he was robbing the other 2 members of the party almost blind. The notecards were lists of items or amounts of gold he was attempting to steal, and he was covertly passing the information to the DM so that we wouldn’t protest out of character. He would write what he wanted to take, and the DM would slip back the notecard having written on it if he succeeded and what he made off with.

By the end of the Campaign, looking at his inventory, I tallied he had stolen almost 20000 gold worth of money and items from the other two players (and only some of it from the two characters we had killed). He had taken potions, magic items, covertly taken loot from dungeons we other players never knew about. His dwarf had made himself immensely wealthy through our ordeals. The kind of equipment he was using and his level of character wealth was well above the rest of the party. His knapsack was a bag of holding, a sort of ‘tardis’ backpack that is immensely spacious, and he had never told us he had one at all. 

He had played his character perfectly, and even in the meta sense - he had completely gotten away with it. It was amazing.

I asked him later why he never stole from my character. He gave me a few answers - First, his character actually did respect mine, in a sense, and knew there was always profit in working together. Second, he knew the other players weren’t as keen on keeping exact track of their inventories - so when the DM was doling out treasure or telling them how much their items sold for, they never noticed they were always shorter on total gold than they would have been otherwise. Third, he needed my character to retain most of his money and equipment to soak up damage from the enemies we faced, as his character was far more fragile. Fourth, he knew that my character had a very high Wisdom score, the same score used for those Listen and Spot checks, and his failure chance was incredibly high compared to the other two members of the party. Finally, he knew that if he did get caught stealing from me, he would be unable to bluff his way out of it as he did when he got caught stealing from the other two.

“When did you get caught!?” i was incredulous - I never saw any interaction to indicate it, and if so how did he manage to not get slaughtered by the other party members if they knew he was stealing their goods? He laughed and then explained it to me: 

He had always claimed to have found something on his ‘Spot’ or ‘Listen’ checks when he failed a check and that happened, and successfully Bluffed in character that he was simply waking the victim to alert them to the threat he had heard or seen. The half dozen or so times we thought he had succeeded on a check (or thought he had critically failed and imagined something) - he was lying through his teeth to cover his misdeeds. An entire leg of our campaign was looking for some group of sneaky goblins who had seemed to be stalking us in a particular forest - they never existed - Mike’s dwarf had made them up to cover his thefts and had kept up the ruse long enough to convince us to find a village of goblins and attack them - Goblins who, even under threat of my spiked flail, never fessed up as to what they were doing spying on us so often and sneaking around our camps... It was fucking brilliant.

That is how you play Neutral Evil.