#he's the definition of a flamboyant tiefling

[crayonurchin]

help I love this family of street rats and I have perished in the middle of the streets ;A;

🌲, 🌿, 🌾, 🌸 and 🌻 all for my best girl, Drina :D

🌲 What is the kindest thing your OC has ever done for someone? What is the kindest thing someone has ever done for them? On the flip side, what is the worst thing your OC has done to another person?

Hmmm... I think... I think the kindest things Drina has ever done are the things she does just. without thinking about it. because that's what you do.

Rounding up two little tiefling boys, then a quiet awakened zombie, and then a very frightened gnoll, and giving them all a good meal, a blanket, and a warm bed when she could. Making them family.

The kindest thing that's been done for her... Is pretty much the same. The Hammerhearths taking her in, and then Orn helping her find her way out of the grief when she lost them. Ideal and Margo signing on to help her take down Arthas in that one timeline, and then them still choosing to be her brothers when they reunite much later in the "main" timeline.

The worst thing Drina's ever done... I don't know. I didn't get to see a lot of the aftereffects of her mistakes in the game, unfortunately. I think... Hm. I think, when she was a kid, she had an opportunity to share her night's shelter with another street urchin. A kid who was bigger and stronger than she was, but wasn't trying to oust her... Yet. No, they offered an alliance -- two heads together, watching eachother's backs.

It was a gamble, trusting someone. She'd lost shelters that way before -- older street rats sweet-talking her into letting them in, before they turned around and stole what little she had, leaving her out in the cold. She decided not to take the risk, and told the kid to find somewhere else to shelter -- They were older, and bigger. They'd be fine.

...Two days later, she saw the kid getting hauled away by the city guard for stealing. And the guards weren't being nice about it, either. The kid made brief eye contact, just long enough to give Drina an understanding smile -- he got it. He didn't hold it against her. He understood.

Years later, she still thinks about that boy. Wishes she'd let him in, brought him in to stay with Mama Ferga at the inn. She promised herself she'd never let it happen again.

🌿 What is something true about your OC that they refuse to admit about themselves? Is there any reason to this besides embarassment?

Hmm. Drina struggled a long time with admitting that she was in a leadership position in her adventuring party. This was mostly due to a lack of confidence, which was also part of why she didn't want to admit she'd gone and fallen in love with the party's rogue. There was a lot of complicated stuff there, including Drina's fear of vulnerability, and her own lack of understanding of emotions -- both her own and other people's. I wish we'd gotten the chance to play it all out, but the world is what it is. That same kind of thing was repeated in the timeline with Molly, where Drina didn't want to presume anything, but came to terms with the fact that she had adopted Molly as a daughter, and been adopted as Mama in return.

🌾 What would your OC be like if they were evil. Or if they’re already evil what would they be like as the good guy?

Oh my god, Drina is a woman who is absolutely ruthless when she's angry. She came real damn close to being a villain, in fact, in her need for revenge against Arthas. In the version of events that lives in my brain, it was the party (and Damian) that pulled her out of that mindset and grounded her again. But Drina is... She's fall. Warm campfires and harvest season and s'mores and ghost stories. But she's also storms and frost and clouded skies and bare trees.

Drina, as a villain, is vengeful. Singleminded. Cold. Focused on the total annihilation of whoever invoked her fury. You can't stop her any more than you can stop the turning of the seasons. She won't rest until she's made her enemies pay.

🌸 What would your OC do if they were given god-like powers or the ability to change anything about the world for a whole day?

"...I get to be a god? For an entire day?" Drina laughs. "Okay, first of all -- No more children go hungry or cold. There's a million people out there who wanna be parents, and a million kids out there who need 'em. Let's match them up. Second of all, let's get the Forsaken who want to be human again back to that, and stabilize the ones who don't. Third, I'm calling a permanent end to this stupid war -- No no no, you said I got to be a god for the whole day. You sit back down. Have some soup."

🌻 What advice would your OC give to their younger self? What advice does your OC need now?

Drina, nine years old, cold and frightened, stares up at this warrior. She carries herself with easy grace, her copper hair streaked with gray and twisted into complicated braids that wind around her head and fall down her back in a single heavy plait. There's nicks in her ears -- two in one side, one in the other. She's strong, she has to be. Her arms are well-muscled despite her age, and she's got the kind of softness to her that comes from eating well. She wears a simple apron dress, fixed with two large clasps on the straps and decorated with embroidery and trim. It's some kind of nice, sturdy wool, too. Warm and heavy -- nothing too fine for work, but miles better than the thin, ill-fitting clothes Drina stole off a washing line.

This must be the Lady of some House, a Hero like in the stories she vaguely recalls her nannies telling her, the stories she tries to hear again when she sneaks up to the window of the schoolhouse.

The woman kneels in front of Drina -- tiny, grubby Drina -- and kisses her on the forehead. Her hands stroke Drina's dirty, tangled hair and wipe the tears from her eyes.

"It's gonna be alright, little lamb." The woman pulls Drina in for a hug. "I wish I could take you with me, but the magic won't allow it. You'll just have to trust me -- and I know how hard that is right now. But if you take it one day at a time, one hour at a time if you have to, it'll be alright. Head down towards the Merchants' Quarter, when you can. You'll have better luck there than here in the Mages' District."

And just like that, the woman disappears. Left in her wake is the smell of cinnamon and petrichor, the warmth of a campfire.

--

Back in the kitchen of the New Hammerhearth Inn, Drina sinks into a chair that Ideal had waiting for her. Margo passes her a mug of mulled wine, and Molly lays a blanket over her shoulders. Blitz, ever the therapy dog, lays her giant white head in her ranger's lap.

"Did we fix it?" Drina looks to her little brothers. "Did we close the loop?"

Ideal shrugs. "Well, we're all still here. I think that says a lot."

Drina sips from the mug. "...I wish I could do something more useful than just... Maintain what happened. I want to keep you guys from going through everything you went through. I want to fix things. For all of us."

Margo shakes his head, ghostly white hair still floating in a cloud. "If all of that hadn't happened, Drina, then we wouldn't be here in your kitchen, would we?" He bites into a fruit pie, continuing with his mouth full. "An' I wouldn' be ea'ing thish tas'ee foob."

Drina laughs, pretending not to see as Margo slides another pie up his sleeve. She hears the words under what's spoken -- Focus on what we have, not what could have been. I love you and I'm glad you're my sister. "...Right. Can't take spices out of the stew, after all."

"Exachly." Margo nods, shoving the rest of the pie in his mouth.

"Save some for the rest of us, you greedy little twerp." Ideal reaches over Margo's head to grab a pastry off the platter. There's no anger in his voice, just the exasperation of a loving brother.

"I can make more," Drina insists. "If Blitz'll move, that is. Scooch, ya lump! Molly-lamb, do you want to learn your Grunkle Farrus' dessert recipes? I think there's some less-sweet ones you'll enjoy..."

[meanbossart]

I appreciate how you write Astarion so, SO much. I feel like way too many fic writers infantilize him to a point where I honestly start wondering if I'm the one who misinterpreted him so badly.

I'd love to know more about what you think of his character and his arc. Personally I saw him and immediately went "oh god this guy is gonna be the irritating tumblr sexyman of the year🙄" and it took me until Araj basically to warm up to him. What were your initial thoughts and did they change much while playing the game?

OH thank you so much!!! That's a shame if it's the case, and a little surprising to me, to be honest! While he's definitely written be an aloof jerk a lot of the time, I always found him to be surprisingly mature and introspective whenever he's not dishing out witty remarks. He comes off to me as the kind of person who learned to benefit from seeming dumber than he actually is, overall.

HAHA I had a VERY similar experience, not just towards Astarion but all the characters, really (I really disliked Shadowheart at the beginning, too). I had only seen pictures of him and pretty much expected a vapid character that was being carried to stardom because of a talented VA - and because people go nuts for anne rice style vampires lol.

While I was definitely enjoying his voice lines from the start (Again kudos to Neil) I definitely wasn't expecting much else. He piqued my interest after so devastatingly turning my character down at the tiefling party without me even having inquired, and that's when I, the gamer, was like "well, alright, I GOTTA fuck this guy now" (this is also where DU drow's personality began to come out as you can probably guess)

Obviously, if you have two neurons to rub together you can gather pretty quickly that he's not trying to woo you because you're so interesting and wonderful, so I started getting curious! With that dynamic being so different from what you usually expect of romances in these types of games, plus the charming way in which he is written, I started being won over.

I think what really did it was how gradually his attitude changed when responding to new, mostly trivial dialogue options and doing his greetings as you earned his trust, and ESPECIALLY with how he responds to your tav when you express any kind of fear or insecurity during his romance - which was with a lot of sincerity and confidence in his resolve to support you, and in you as a person, a complete 180 from his usual front - Which, again, makes me all the more surprised to hear that he's often painted with such an immature brush.

And obviously he has a DEEPLY ugly side to him (if you've read ANE, hopefully it's clear that I know this, and that I like to explore it just as much as anything else lmao) but it's very interesting to me how it seem to always come in the form of outbursts, rather than a constant evil-streak, usually followed by a glimpse of self-awareness. It feels very much in line with someone who's actually making a great deal of effort to manage their RAMPANT emotions and going through a lot of internal conflict in the process.

GAH. Yeah if you can't tell by this friggin' thesis I just wrote, I love the way they wrote this character a lot and I was definitely proven PROFOUNDLY wrong in my first impression of him - which, if that's not irony at it's finest I don't know what is.

And as an aside! I also very much appreciate that he's a "queer" coded character who's effeminate (in the Old Homo kind of way, but I digress) and flamboyant, but taken Dead Fucking Seriously. With as much progress as we've made in LGBT rep in media, I still often feel like gay men will only get that kind of treatment for as long as they "Aren't That Gay" (I know Astarion doesn't have a set sexuality - But lets not mince words: stereotypes exist, and he fits into most of them) and as a thin-wristed gay guy who's a little too found of linen shirts, I can honestly say that experiencing a character like that helped me with my own confidence.

[skullhaver]

desperately trying not to be obnoxious and sending approximately 14-23 blorbo questions at once,,, 4, 16, 36, 37, 43 for athren

Let's get blorbo-ing!! Obligatory clarification for anyone curious: Athren is my drow rogue currently engaged in the endgame of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist. And Rae is our super cool DM!! 4. How do they perceive themselves?

Truly in a perpetual pendulum swing between believing he is hot shit and consequences are things that only happen to other people, and the grim certainty that one day his luck will run out and some bigger and badder adventurer is gonna eat him alive.

16. What scents do you associate with your PC? 

The smell of being deep underground (stone, still air), leather polish for the equipment he takes careful care of. Now that I'm thinking of it, he's definitely the kind of person who would wear fragrance when he's out and about. Probably something that smells "exotic" and expensive to him, like fruit or flowers that grow faraway.

36. Your PC meets a trickster being whose face changes to the most beautiful face a person has ever seen. Whose face is your PC seeing? 

FASCINATING question. If it's purely a matter of physical beauty, it might be the tiefling opera singer Overture the Resplendent?? Athren admires people who lean hard into flamboyant, over-the-top self expression, and Overture definitely fits the bill. And her raw charisma and stage presence are definitely impressive.

37. What flower represents your PC? 

Rhizanthella, underground orchids from Australia that live symbiotically with fungi. The underdark/underground connection is obvious. They have showy, weird flowers but they're usually covered by leaf-litter, which I think reflects the way Athren often feels torn between wanting to be exceptional and wanting to blend in and be safe.

43. When your PCs make decisions, who or what are they making those decisions on behalf of?

Interpreting this as "what values/factors go into their decision-making?"

Usually Athren's decision tree is something like:

Is this thrilling/does this spark joy/do I want it? (Athren is a hedonist and fundamentally he just wants to surround himself with money/pleasure/beautiful things. It's hard to make him want to do something if there isn't immediate material gain involved.)

Is this dangerous to me to pursue?

Is this dangerous to my family if I pursued it?

Is this dangerous to my party/my closest allies if I pursued it?

Is it worth the risk tho? 😏

[microwavedautism]

When I buy BG3 I want to make my character Brilliance, a flamboyant tiefling bard. Hopefully I'm given options so he can flirt his way out of situations because I just find it so funny for some reason.

Of course he will try his very best to.. get around.. to all the companions, he is a great friend after all!

..but maybe I should make a barbarian for my first playthrough.., just a big himbo who would prefer not to cave your head in but definitely can 😇

[vvozzy]

Now I'm struggling to decide which OC to use for Wyll romance.

Daevos?

Big tiefling mommy fighter. Bold, sass and chill. And she's indeed a mommy material who not going to hesitate to spank you if you misbehave.

Zenora?

Gentle, sensitive moon elven lady with broken heart. She needs a knight to save her, she needs a hero to sing about. And Wyll is a perfect match.

Aeneas?

Cocky flamboyant mortal man warlock raised by feys in Feywild. Has the most perverted family. He's not afraid of his patron because his own mother is his patron. He is the definition of love and charm.

[eve-is-obsessed]

everything I know about critical role campaign 2 (I have not watched it)

hi! I'm a new Critter who as of now has not watched any of campaign 2 aside from random clips in compilations and shit, but thanks to The Internet and also my friends, I know some things now. so before I start watching c2, here is all the stuff I know about it!!

I realized I knew a lot less about c1 than I thought (post here), but I definitely have more c2 knowledge so let's go

here there be spoilers!!! for the whole campaign!!! are they all CORRECT spoilers? probably not. but I do not know! be careful!

player characters

Jester Lavorre is my beloved and she’s played by Laura Bailey. she’s a blue tiefling cleric who worships a god called the Traveler, who I think is just a dude in a cloak who started a cult. I thought she was like 12 but apparently she’s actually an adult, weird. she does sendings that are very funny, and I mimic her horribly every single day bc her voice fills me w joy. she’s from Nicodranus (do I know what or where that is? nope!) she's rich but had a shitty family, and her mom is apparently the best lay ever? not sure what that's about. also I think her spiritual weapon is some sort of baked good bc she really likes them?

Beauregard Lionett, Marisha's character, is the definition of hot monk shit. she is gay and sexy and buff and represses emotions like no one's business. despite my deep love for her, I actually know very little about her backstory or literally anything she does. I do know the important thing though, which is Lesbian.

Yasha Nydoorin is Ashley's character and she's a fallen aasimar barbarian. I pronounce her last name like the Pokemon Nidoran because I have no clue how it's supposed to be. she wears badass makeup but it also might be tattoos or just her skin patterning? also she has skeletal wings sometimes but then through the Power of Love they heal. and she's very buff. she is in loooove with Beau and very shy and awkward. OH she has a dead wife who someone killed because homophobia or something, and she really likes flowers and doesn't know where her wife is buried so she can't bring her flowers :'(

Mollymauk Last Name Here is a funky purple tiefling, Taliesin's first character. he has cool ass clothing and he is so gay. magic??? he is flamboyant and maybe a fuckboi and then he dies in like episode 20. rip. he's friends with Yasha and I think was in a circus.

Caduceus Clay is Taliesin's second character. he's a pink firbolg and he likes tea and I want him to hug me. he worships... somebody... because he's a cleric and heals people. I think he's aroace confirmed? "help, it's again" is the only scene I've seen with him in it.

Caleb Widogast (?) is Liam's human wizard and his last name sounds like a Pokemon. my roommate is obsessed with this man, which makes sense because he is an angsty gay guy. German, apparently doesn’t eat? I am worried for him. he has a cat named Frumpkin and a boyfriend named Essek eventually. he has fire magic and killed his whole family. rip. OH ALSO he grew up in the Empire and was part of a gay polycule???

Nott the Brave/ Veth is Sam's character, and she's a goblin. I do not know if she's 7 years old or a mother, but it's one of those two. also I think she was a different race originally but got turned into a goblin and also hates goblins and also is an alcoholic. sure.

Keg (is that really her name?) is a guest character. she’s a dwarf? and a lesbian and has the hots for Beau. mood.

Fjord ??? I straight up forgot about this man. he's a green guy played by Travis, maybe a half-orc? and he's a pirate. warlock. does he have a last name??

non player characters

Essek is Caleb’s boyyyyfriend and he’s a purple drow. I think he starts off bad and betrays the party but over time becomes good or something. he can float and is hot!

Zuala I don't think actually shows up but she's Yasha's dead wife. [sobs forever]

Marion Lavorre is Jester's mom and she's a red tiefling who I'm pretty sure is a prostitute?

The Gentleman is apparently Jester's DAD and every time they sent him a message, I thought they were speaking to multiple gentlemen but it turns out it's just one.

Astrid I-don't-know-her-last-name is connected to Caleb somehow. I think she's also a wizard and has tattoos but I know nothing else

plot points

Jester almost gets her hands cut off, but then she persuades the hand-cutter to eat a blueberry cupcake and then casts Modify Memory and avoids getting her hands cut off

Keg and Beau have sex

Jester helps Yasha write a poem for Beau and I have the whole thing memorized

at one point, Fjord, Jester and Yasha got kidnapped but it was because their respective cast members were all gone. I think this is when Keg came in to help the rest of the party find them

clearly I have a very good grasp on the plot of this show /s

that's all folks! vox machina post here :)

[tenranfree]

Is four a lot? Depends. Four party members making death saves, yes. Four different forms for one character? Nah ~

My darling tiefling Tenran is a little bit of the eccentric type (read; really flamboyant bisexual disaster with a magical sugar daddy). At some point in our campaign, I shoved a chaos orb into his body which gave him the ability to shape shift. Because of that he’s got three standard bodies; the more human side, the more demon side, and his normal tiefling body. In addition to that there is the incubus/succubus body, because of course my boy is the son of a demon. Love that his backstory can be considered edgy but absolutely no one is playing it that way (same could be said for the rest of the group tho lol). He spends most of his time in either the tiefling body or human body, the tall demonic form is a bit...much?? For just regular travel, it is a bit much. He’s only half demon, so he can’t really use his incubus form or it’s powers, but that’s ok cause he’s got a sweet sweet Frost fairy magic from his Patron ~

I just love my boy so much, from his stupid little gremlin personality to his horrible pun name (Tenran Friloran, Tenran Free??), and his horrible Mary-Sue-ness with all the stupid important background characters that have strong ties to him lol. I mean he’s definitely not the party Mary-sue cause he’s not loved by the universe buuutttt he’s also not here to be the Mary Sue so yea

[kirksfattitties]

okay here’s more about the tos crew playing dnd au/hc/whatever

mccoy: dungeon master. grumpy old fuck, perfect for keeping players in line and not taking any bullshit. also creative and funny and would think of interesting storylines.

kirk: human paladin (oath of devotion). really loves the roleplay aspects and REALLY gets into character. always talks about how he can’t break his oath. tries to talk his way out of situations but it usually doesn’t work and he ends up getting hit, but that’s okay because his character can put up a good fight. also keeps flirting with npc’s but strikes out

spock: half-elf wizard (school of necromancy). spock originally didn’t want to play but jim convinced him saying it would help him understand human interactions and get to know his coworkers better. he also said that there was math and strategy involved which intrigued spock. spock picked a wizard because he admired how wizards gain magic from studying (nerd). he SAID he picked necromancy because it’s “an intriguing concept” but everyone knows it’s because he’s goth. he picked half-elf in an attempt to humor his human friends (it worked and they laughed). found the roleplaying difficult at first, but has gotten the hang of it now. his character keeps almost dying because wizards have shit health (bones teases him because a NECROMANCER almost DYING). also memorized the entire rules books and holds everyone to them. also helps everyone with Dice Math. also YES he has a familiar and YES it’s a black cat.

uhura: tiefling bard (college of creation). amazingly good at everything. good at roleplay, good at combat, and makes really good plans. usually suggests being The Distraction in whatever plan they do. about 80% of her rolls are Really High and bones keeps accusing her of cheating, but spock made some nearly-perfect balanced dice and she tried them out and rolled two 20’s and one 19, so basically everyone concluded that she’s just lucky. also flirts with all the npc’s but actually scores with them (unlike jim’s character). spock lends her his vulcan lyre so she can play music to sing along with. she also has a book of little poems she’s written (for bardic inspiration and spellcasting) but she can also come up with them on the fly pretty well.

sulu: human rogue (swashbuckler)/fighter (samurai) multi-class. LIVES for the fighting and also tries to show off and do cool flips whenever he can. has the highest kill count in the game and hasn’t yet been knocked unconscious. whenever the roleplay or the planning gets boring he’s just like “can i hit something now?” (the first time he said that, bones was like “ok” and had a dozen goblins ambush him, but sulu singlehandedly killed all of them. bones didn’t do that again.) also rolls his eyes when people ask for a rest. (it’s all just performance though, he actually likes the stories that bones makes and likes playing with everyone)

scott: rock gnome artificer (artillerist speciality). he keeps trying to make a phaser inside dnd, which is kinda(?) possible. he accidentally (“accidentally”?) makes a lot of things explode. his character always has some type of alcohol on him (scotty uses this as an excuse to bring alcohol to the sessions, bones usually doesn’t start drinking until someone does something dumb and scotty will slide him a glass). he’s usually with sulu on the “can we fight now?” train, but he has shed a tear or two when some genuinely touching roleplaying stuff happened.

chekov: satyr ranger (fey wanderer). his character’s feywild gift is “fresh, seasonal flowers sprout from your hair each dawn” because why the fuck not? his character is quite literally a party animal, but knows when it’s time for business (well, at least most of the time). chekov keeps pointing out random things and has his character say that it was “inwented in the feywild” (the first time he did that, bones stole scottys drink and drank like half of it). bones started calling chekov’s character “the kid” as a pun (“because satyr... goat... kid.... baby goat..?”) and no one laughed but then later on chekov made a joke and said “i’m just kidding” and everyone laughed (except bones [okay, and spock but you could tell he was amused that bones was mad]). chekovs character is not really “good” at too many things, but he keeps everyone laughing (or annoyed). chekov usually rolls pretty low and they’ve written it off in canon as his character being very clumsy. he’s often in need of saving from the other party members. the kid’s a pretty great shot tho

rand: human warlock (pact: the great old one). rand doesn’t play every session (she’s usually busy), but when she does it’s really fun for everyone. her character is really op and always bringing out some unexpected spell or feature or object. despite being a powerful and intimidating warlock her character appears very flamboyant and flouncy. her character is very nice but can also be very ferocious.

chapel: water genasi cleric (life domain). CONSTANTLY fixing people up. about half of the time, it’s spock and/or jims characters trying to save each other and she has to heal them (bones is like “now you see what I have to deal with”) and the majority of other times it’s chekovs character. her character is also the Mom Friend and helps all the other characters with their Issues (because they all have Tragic Backstories). Her character is the only one without a Tragic Backstory and her backstory is basically just “i wanted to heal people and make the world a better place :)”. she’s basically everyone’s favorite played character and she can Do No Wrong (even when she definitely does do something wrong).

[fisherrend]

Things I love about the Mighty Nein characters

As a sequel to my surprisingly popular “Things I love about the Critical Role cast” post; here’s one about the Mighty Nein members!

Mollymauk: Purple. Tiefling. Fortune teller! What’s not to love? Fabulous flamboyant asshat with a golden heart. Sorely missed. Would love more lore drops about him at some point.

Fjord: Precious misguided bab. Amazing character development. So supportive, will walk through fire for the others, but easily feels betrayed. Such sweetness. He just wants to be a good boy.

Jester: Definitely in a cult. Doesn’t know shit about actual relationships but has come a long way. Bundle of sparkles and glitter. Always ready to sacrifice everything in order to save her friends. Please let her player roll better, oh glorious dice gods.

Beauregard: Perfect balance of trying to be a badass punk but still wanting to make her friends proud and protect them. Her love for her friends permeates everything she does, no matter how sour of an attitude she’s wearing.

Nott the Brave: Such a complex range of emotions. Hides behind being ‘the drunk greedy goblin’ but there’s so much more. Would love a chance for her to just talk feelings again! For reals. Much feels.

Yasha: A soft-spoken brute is my favorite kind of brute. She’s so gentle and sweet but so ferocious and wild. A fascinating mix! Love the amnesia part. Can’t wait to learn more.

Caleb: Oh Caleb. Such angst. Such sadness. Such guilt. But all that grief makes it so much more sweeter whenever he smiles and has a nice time. Beautiful little bookworm. 

Caduceus: The lichenclad guide to the grave, the maker of the cemetery blend, keeper of beetles and allseeing dimwit, our very own Caduceus Clay. There is nothing I do not love about Cad. 10/10 would want a rumblehug from Caduceus.

[eyeloch]

Virtue names, and some tieflings that have ‘em

Aesthetic

They are, somehow, even more flamboyant than you may imagine!

Ascetic

Is always very grumpy when people mix-up their name with their sibling’s!

Benevolence 

Is definitely not a scam artist.  But does need some of your enchantments in their quest to save the material plane!

Love

Has never experienced attraction, but does wonderful work for their friends, family and community - easily fulfilling their name.

Fury

Actually a very chill monk, who named herself that as a reminder that she should hate injustice.

Parsimonious 

Despite his best efforts, he just can’t stop giving gifts to people.

Also despite his best efforts, people nickname him “Parsnip”

Silence

Despite his parent’s best effort, has become a bard

Vengeance

May or may not be an overgrown angsty teen

Might actually not be all that torn up about the event they’re supposed to dedicate their life towards readdressing

Passion 

Loves fruit

And also fruit trees 

Hunger

They chose this name to remind themselves to take regular meals

Epicureanism 

Is very chill, and living their best life!

Cowardice

Despite a first-rate education in thievery, this barbarian/paladin still disappoints herself (and her mum) with her headlong rushes into extreme danger

Chastity

Is a bard

Hope

As a life-long cynic, they chose this name to redress the balance in their life.  They are trying to live up to this name.  They’re trying their best.

Aponia

A grave cleric, who will always find a way to ease everyone’s pain.  This does (unfortunately) require killing, at times.

[nyf-archive]

👫 molly x d'art

Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship

1. when molly and d’art first meet, it was definitely lots of too-long taken glances from the tiefling’s part...which probably only boosted the half-orc’s confidence. molly, though extremely flamboyant, was still very unsure about flirting and possibly finding love, seeing as though he has no idea who he is or where he’s come from; did he have a companion before? was he in love? so d’art has to go very slow with molly who so desperately wants to love and be loved.

2. d’art is absolutely a care taker. no matter how much molly tries to be the one who does most of the work, d’art always beats him to it. Seeing as though he’s usually stuck in the shop doing the tailoring jobs he’s supposed to be finishing up, he still tries to get the house work done as well. and then when they pick up shop and begin traveling, molly tries even more so to do all that he can to help around in the caravan. he cleans, cooks, and makes sure that the horses are well taken care of.

3. molly wants to be near d’art as much as possible. for so long after waking up, he felt like a part of him was missing. and surely it was. he lost his family, his friends, and even though he didn’t know that, it hurt him so. he desperately wants to be apart of something bigger than just himself, so when d’artangan finally comes along, mollymauk  refuses to let himself push him away. he wants to be loved on, to be touched by this man, to be everything he could ever want or need, while still being his own person, of course. he has to show everyone that he is still strong and that he can do the things that no one thinks he can. he shows them who he truly is; a wonderful trickster as well as an amazing tailor, but in private, is all that he can be for d’art.

4. molly embraces all that d’art is and who his family is. when he first meets the family, he is swept away by their culture and their idea of family and what it means to be together. he learned how d’art’s family works and he knew right away that that was what he wanted to be apart of. and d’art is happy to show him all of his world (as much as he was sure molly could take at once). molly never thought he could be as happy as he is now; d’art is the blessing he never believed he could have.

[luvr4fantanim]

So let me talk about Molly one last time

So, with the cast officially leaving and moving on from Molly’s grave (and all reunited) it seems to me that we won’t see our purple tiefling anymore during this storyline. A lot of people are wondering why some still haven’t gotten over the fact that he died or upset about the fact that no resurrection attempts were done. And, while I can’t speak for all of us, I want to share my little experience going through Molly’s death.

For a little bit of background, I love every single member of the M9. I love their interactions with each other, how they grow, how they’re developing and all of their backstories are so interesting and exciting! So, why am I hyperfocusing on this one?

First of all, when Molly first appeared he didn’t immediately go to be one of the baes. He wasn’t a favorite then (honestly for a long while Caleb held that spot) and while I was interested in him, I was still not fully into him. And then episode 7 hit.

If anybody knows me, I’m a sucker for Widomauk. I shipped them lowkey in the show but super Highkey in the fandom. I wasn’t expecting them to become canon but I had a bit of hope that they would waaaayy down the line. This wasn’t the episode where I necessarily started shipping them, but it’s the one that got me the whole “hmmm interesting” vibe you get before starting to ship something.

But this is not why episode 7 hit me. Personally I didn’t find the kiss to be super duper shippy... but I felt it was important and while it gave hints to Caleb’s past, it also gave hints to Molly’s personality. Molly, a dude from a circus who barely knew Caleb and who could’ve definitely just left the handling of his panic attack to his much more closer friend Nott, decided to personally douse the flames and attempt to help him out of it (not in the most healthy way or correct way but he’s not the smartest one of the bunch). And so... I became a little bit more interested in him.

What took the gold was episode 9 and the Syphillis bandits and that... was it. After that incident I knew I was a goner and that he was going to be the fave of this campaign. The way he handled it, the way he treated the bandits and the way he kind of did it with some excellent lines along the way? All good shit.

I became more intrigued with him after episode 13 and the reveal (or partial reveal) of his backstory. There was so many possibilities and so many things with it that I had questions and I was excited to find out. So, even more tabs on him were placed.

What got me in the next episodes was the fact that... he didn’t shine in a lot of things. He was an ok character in battle (doing a lot of damage and some disadvantages but not a lot of defense or long range or healing), he didn’t have high charisma (so no talking himself out of stuff, which is something that Tal excels in ) all he had were exceedingly good character moments (Nott and the letter, the swords with teleportation, dunking Fjord in the water, the vases in the dungeon, the tapestry, inciting a drinking competition, etc.)... so then why is he fave? It’s because I could relate to him a lot. Not just because of his representation (which as a fellow bisexual, it is important to me as well) but because of his pseudo confidence, the way that he just put up a wall of bullshit in front of him to prevent people from touching his past or himself... it’s something I personally do sometimes. A wall of flamboyance and overconfidence. The only person that I actually saw him bring it down a little was Yasha whenever he interacted with her. And slowly, so so very slowly, the others.

So, when episode 25 happened and I learnt he was going to be in a situation that forced him to interact with the teammembers he usually had not exactly the closest relationship with? (He essentially had his best friend, current roommate and growing friend, and the tiefling that he instantly clicked with gone and would be forced to interact with the disaster lesbian he was always fighting with, the goblin whom he had a strange but friendly? antagonistic relationship and a wizard who was still dealing with the fact that he was #aLot) and I was very, very VERY excited. Because he was going to have to interact with them, he was going to be forced into a very stressful situation with them and stressful situations could lead to unification. And I was. So. For. It.

A bit into my personal life for this, around the same time that 25 hit major changes were happening in my life. Major stressful changes. A lot of things were happening that I had no control over and that I understood that things wouldn’t be the same. Because I was in the middle of it, I essentially compartmentalized it and focused on CR2, which was my leading fandom at the time (like when we obsess over something for a long ass time because we’re like WOAH) mostly because it was a lot less stressful than what my life was. During the break week between ep 25-26, I had to say a lot of goodbyes to people I really care about and so I was not in a very happy place. So I went into 26 being very excited about this character I super related and was excited to see their development because people kept saying that he barely had any development with other characters before.

And then... IT happened.

I wasn’t even watching the livestream because I was already emotionally exhausted but I tuned in on Twitter to see if the episode was over and saw people freaking out about it... so I tuned in... and within 5 min of me opening the new twitch tab, Molly died.

And everything in me exploded.

And it was dragged out. Because I knew it was very impossible for them to resurrect him on the spot (being a D&D player myself I knew the limitations). I knew that there may not be a high level cleric around. Or anything else. And yet I kept on hoping and hoping and hoping until it was official. Because all I wanted to see was him growing into this family he created and now we may never get a chance to see it.

So of course I’m upset. Not just because of the lack of potential. Of us potentially never finding out what was up with his backstory. Of us never seeing the true winner of the initial shipping wars. Of him and Fjord starting their own version of a prank war. Of the disaster tieflings. Of the unpleasant and obnoxious duo. Of him and Nott snarking at each other constantly. Of him slowly starting to spread his physical affection with the rest (mostly Mr. Caleb-still-can’t-admit-theyre-friends). Of his relationship with Yasha. But because he was somebody I really identified with. Somebody I wanted to see canonically grow into a better and different person. And now I can’t. And it’s unfair, and it’s sad.

I do like Clay. I do like his backstory and his design and the peace he brings to this group that is desperately in need of somebody like him. (Hell I wrote a fic about him because I do believe he does the M9 good.) And he’s not replacing Molly and I don’t think he ever will. And while I’ll be very happy to see his interactions with the rest of the group, it still won’t be the same. And that’s ok! New characters bring new and interesting dynamics, but it doesn’t stop us from missing the old ones.

And so, because of all the mess of emotions that became tangled with ep26. I still can’t go back to the series. But I do still love critical role. And I do want to see the end of it. I just need to re-discover why I love it.

A good friend of mine once lost a character she really liked in a series (he died permanently as well, and well before his time too). And she took a break from it because all she kept seeing was how people moved on from him and while it was beautiful and good, she couldn’t handle the fact that her fave was not there anymore and that people were already moving on. Surprisingly, I got into the series about a year after this happened and because I kept texting her about it and being super duper excited about it... she got back into it and got up to date with it despite what had happened.

And so, I will definitely get back into the series (and writing more stories about it). And I still wanna know what’s up with the rest. But it will take some time and some healing. And then I’m sure I’ll find myself being super duper excited about something that happens that I’ll just HAVE to start watching it again.

But for now I’ll rest up. So don’t blame people who are still sad about this. And don’t expect people to not be upset about a character that died early on in the series. People associate fandoms and art with different things and we still need time to process stuff.

And so. Rant ended. I’ll see you guys in a few after I finish CR1 and get my feelings back in order. But I know I’ll get back into it my own way.

[royvdhelart]

For those who like cute family stuff <3 A new sketch, featuring Vera and Roy with their youngest/third child “Sammy” (Samuel) and two older sketches also featuring their older kids Erik and Natasha. More information about this cute family:

Roy was quite a dork when he just started adventuring, he was clumsy and got himself into a lot of dangerous situations and used to be a little shy around people, worrier but he had a gold heart through and he's a lot wiser than you would expect. He also used to wear glasses because he has horrible natural-eyesight, which is "fixed" later in his life by him wearing an artifact that improves his sight, which Vera made for him. He was also covered in scars when he was younger but was eventually able to remove most of them himself with the help of his Cleric-magic. Over the years roy became a bit more neutral alignment-wise, as his harsh adventures learned him that being too kind can kill you, but he always kept the will to help and do good. Now he's enjoying the retired life as a stay-at-home dad and writer/illustrator of his own books, which became rather popular.

Vera might be a bit too reckless at times and maybe a tad too positive but Vera is adventurous, quirky, a smart woman and has always been like that. She loves altering and customizing magic, making silly magical objects, meeting new people and discovering all the nooks and crannies of the exciting magical world she grew up in. After she retired from adventuring she became an artist/inventor and she can usually be found in her workspace working on some kind of project.

When Roy and Vera met, Roy was gathering information about a cult, by pretending to be a member. A few months later they met as Vera was about to destroy it. After having a somewhat quick fight, because of Vera mistaking Roy's defensiveness for aggression (Vera was using fire magic, which Roy is deadly afraid of). Vera ended it by semi-accidentally smashing Roy’s glasses. She led him out of the cultist’s lair, blew it up and they both went their separate ways after Vera let him go, to meet again at a bar, years later. This time on friendlier conditions, although Roy was a little startled when he saw the "scary" blond woman again, after some talking he decided to join Vera's little "group". Months later they would find themselves slowing developing feelings for the other. Eventually, after ignoring their feelings for a while (and annoying the crap out of the other group members), they decided to start dating and stayed together ever since.

They adopted Erik after being settled down for a few years when he was about 3-4. From an orphanage in a village called "Parat". Erik is a kid with a heart of gold, who has a lot of empathy for everything around him, with a positive attitude that could light up an entire castle, however, Erik isn't the smartest, very easily distracted and very, very clumsy, both as a kid and an adult. He leaves home when he's around 20, to find where he belongs and after a lot of trial and error found himself working in a castle as a "guard", or rather "cheer people up and help around the castle guy" as he's quite an awful guard.  This becomes more manageable with age through and Sabat (his future husband) definitely helped him a lot with learning how to focus and manage his clumsiness. Natasha was born about 2 years after adopting Erik, being quite the ehm,... "happy-accident", she was unplanned, the result of using semi-legal "party-potions" and Roy and Vera having some fun with a Tiefling called Vex, big surprise as Vera and Roy thought they were both infertile. Natasha's biological parents are Vera and Vex. This could have been somewhat of a challenge to explain to young Erik, but he was just happy to become a big brother soon. (sta.sh/021zz7qlqxa). Natasha was sadly born in very critical conditions, needing 24/7 surveillance and healing for the first 2-3 weeks of her life. This didn't have much of a direct effect on Natasha later, however, it did make Roy very protective/Unnesairaly worrisome about her. Natash is a bit of an odd kid, she has a passion for bugs, getting dirty and dead things (Taxidermy) and has a lot of difficulties expressing herself, being a quiet almost selectively mute kid. When she's a teenager, she has quite the falling out with Roy, which luckily later gets resolved but does create some tension between them for awhile. She later grows out to be a smart, snarky, confident woman, who still finds it hard to express herself but hides it under a friendly smile or a stern expression. She is still into Taxidermy and also became an apprentice Alchemist to her Biological mother, Vex.

-Erik still calls Natascha, “Eggy” playfully, which he used to call her when she was still in an "egg" and it was unclear if she would be a boy or girl. (Magically-artificially-made-womb so Vex didn't have to carry the child.) Samuel is Vera and Roy's only fully-biological and last child. He was born when Erik's around 25 and Natasha's around 20, so there is quite a large age gap between them. Roy and Vera decided they wanted another child, after taking some time to travel again after Natas and Erik both left the nest. They considered adopting again for a while until they decided they wanted to try to have a child themselves this time.  They asked Roy's deity "RoH" for help as they were both mostly infertile and infertile, who agreed to help them, it still took them about a year to become pregnant. Sam's childhood is pretty normal, and Roy and Vera were overjoyed to have another little wonder in their life. Samuel or Sam as he's usually referred to grows up to become a flamboyant, confident, adventurous, clever young man, who takes shit from nobody... but he is most definitely not the wisest and has a hard time estimating danger. He does what want, and if he want's to wear heels and a leather jacket then he will wear heels and a leather jacket, to him gender norms are complete bull-crap. He doesn't mind being called "she" or "her" but identifies as male. To Roy and Vera's surprise, Sam finds a passion in Music and legends and tales of the land, which eventually leads to him becoming a (Lore) Bard and an adventurer like his parents. Which is maybe something his parents are too happy about...

--

Didn't feel like these would have fit the sketch-dump, so decided to upload them on their own. These are Roy and his little family, his wife Vera, his son Erik and daughter Natasha.

--

Want to know more about Roy?:

romyvdhel-art.deviantart.com/a…

Want to know more about Erik?:

romyvdhel-dnd.tumblr.com/post/…

Want to know more about Natasha, Vera and Sam?:  (references coming, but if you are curious you may always ask for more info!)

[frowningfox]

Top 5 D&D characters

How very dare you… 

Roughly in order, as before.

1. Azverith Vergazil Hybrid character that took me a whole night to write up a sheet for. For simplicity’s sake, let’s say he’s a drow paladin with issues. Loving dad. Hits things really hard. Has one eye. Very rarely, if ever, seen without his armor.

2. Glass* Gnoll Paladin. Drinks his problems away. Has the lowest sanity score out of all my characters. Is tank. Tries to keep Quillix and Xavial out of trouble but rarely succeeds.

3. “Uncle” I’ve not really gotten to play much of him, but I love him as a character and concept. He’s an armless hobgoblin monk. And also a complete fraud who wants to steal everything but feels bad about it. He’s a terrible criminal.

4. Quillix* and Xavial* (they’re a package deal) tiefling siblings

Quillix:“Magical Girl” Sorceress Full of magic, theatrics. and bad decisions. Also, she’s like… 13 or something. Should be in school but definitely is not. Self conscious to the extreme but covers it by being very flamboyant.

Xavial: Nerd-wizard, kid detective, constantly experimenting and trying to create new spells. Sometimes succeeds… sometimes… uh, not so much. Necrotic scarring is a thing. Should also be in school but definitely is not. Does have a private tutor though, unlike his sister. Secretive. Shy.

5. Chuckles in the Dark Undead Gnoll Druid-Monk. Is 7 foot tall, all legs, 16 years old, and I play his low charisma as him being bad at common. Licks things to make arcana checks.

Honorable mentions:

Mancha* - race; dog, class; really old. Belongs to Quillix and Xavial. Has her own special character sheet because she’s a good dog.

Guts - race; giant centipede, class; druid pet. Belongs to Chuckles. Likes nibbling on things.

*from the single player campaign I’m running for thisragingpeace. The rest are my personal characters and/or are for a different project.

[curlzformetal]

Alright, so -

Non-binary tiefling bard is actually Very Flamboyant Badass? Also not dead (yet) so that's a bonus.

Jester is a CLERIC?? I love her. What a gal. How, is my other question.

Dirty gunslinger man is actually a dirty bookslinger. Definitely Anders from Dragon Age. I stan a single trashcan man.

Tall woman is...basically the same, except she's now mysterious and the amount I want her to step on me has increased by at least 10000x.

Beau is - I love her. That's it. That's the show.

Fjord is cautious. Not much character yet, but he's GREAT at catching liars. I'm looking at them damn high Insight rolls, my friend.

Nott the Brave is the Best. Nott the Best. One small plucky goblin lass who likes shiny things?? Yes please. Give her the shiny things, let her be a dragon. Just,,, let her be a dragon.

THERE IS NO SOFT NATURE GOD OF COWS. I AM SAD.

Also, I'm missing one? Why should there be nine I'm so confused.

To be continued later, with doodles.

I’m starting critical role, and here are my impressions of people pre-starting.

There’s a non-binary purple tiefling who’s super hot? Probably a bard. They (he?) is also dead? Or not? There’s so much art of them (him??) crawling out of a grave. I’m really excited.

There’s also a blue tiefling who is definitely a rogue. Kind of an airhead? Has a Mighty Thirst for the weirdly colored orc. She might be a pirate?

The weirdly colored orc has a twin, or an evil nemesis. He also made some sort of pact with a giant eyeball. I’m going assume he’s a warlock. People keep mistaking his twin for him.

There’s a very tall lady who I want to step on me. 10/10 a barbarian. Hot. She’s also got a traumatic backstory involving flowers.

A gunslinger man who looks like Alistair from Dragon Age. He even has a cat. Hopefully he doesn’t blow up any churches?? He also smells really bad and is a Trash Can Man. My favorite.

A small lady who has issues with the mask she’s forced to wear? I think she’s a goblin or like,,, a kobold? She wraps her self and I have no idea why. The aesthetic probably. A very small monk or a rogue.

The human monk who is definitely bisexual and in love with the Tall Barbarian Lady. Her name is Beau and she has a bo staff? Funny. I support her choice to stick to a color scheme.

There’s also a cow man who’s a druid? Who brought back the dead lavender bard? I’m going to assume he’s an NPC, but I’m just a little confused about whether or not he’s a soft nature diety. Is he in love with the dirty gunslinger cat man? No one knows.

Also there’s a bathtub scene that’s apparently Iconic. There should be nine of them but I’m Unsure. My math is really bad. Anyways. Wish me luck in discovering all of these children and their stories.

[coolcattime]

Character Dossier: Medli

Name: Medli Mistwalker

Age: 19

Race: Water Genasi

Class: College of Whispers Bard.

Sexuality/Pronouns: Lesbian, She/Her

Short Bio:

Medli is an excitable, teenage water genasi with a love of music and an obsession with magic. She will go out of her way to learn more about magic, finding a lot of joy in both knowing about it and practising it. She is quite a charming individual, having a talent with making up stories and mimicry. Some would call it lying but she would be quite insistent that such wording downgrades the talent involved.

She is quite clumsy, though she also seems lucky enough to find a way to turn clumsiness into something that looks impressive. It is hard to tell what is intentional on her part and what is just an accident. If she intended to cartwheel the whole time or simply tripped and then did so to avoid falling.

Medli is completely against violence, getting quite upset if she ever has to hurt anything. Due to this, all of her spells are ones that can’t hurt people and Medli tries to avoid fights if she can. That being said, she isn’t completely defenceless and has some tricks up her sleeve if she does need to do some damage, though she prefers just to help keep the people she’s with safe instead.

Physical Description:

Medli is quite an odd-looking individual, with blue skin and hair, her features look being more similar to a tropical ocean than they do to most humans. She is shorter than most, standing at about 5’2”. She is about average weight, though her genasi heritage, general lack of muscle mass, and odd diet means that her weight is mostly made up of fat.

She has scales on her forehead, cheeks, neck, shoulder, hips, lower back, and upper legs. Many of them have small scars around them, and quite a few are missing. She also has gills on the back of her neck though one is damaged and has a scar over it along with part of her neck. Other notable scars she has are multiple small ones under her hair and one on her left wrist that extends slightly round onto the front of her arm.

 Hair:

Medli’s hair is deep blue in colour and acts like it’s constantly underwater both in the fact that it moves and flows by itself and that it’s always wet. This fact is inconvenient in the winter and in general when in a colder climate as it freezes, becoming brittle which causes Medli a lot of stress. If it ever was still it would go down to her waist. To Medli, her hair is her most beloved feature, with a good amount of her self-esteem tied to it.

 Outfits:

Medli usually wears a simple outfit made up of a white off-the-shoulder crop top, an orange tiered maxi skirt, and a pair of old brown gladiator sandals. They are all made of a cheaper but comfortable material designed to be easy to perform in. She has a single ear piercing, a hoop made of dark blue metal.

She also has two accessories she nearly always wears, the first being a silver circlet made up of two metal rings with four blue jewels as a centrepiece. When she first received it at twelve years old, it was too big to fit her correctly, though that didn’t stop her from attempting to wear it (it often becoming a necklace). Now she has grown enough to properly fit it and she wears it as much as possible.

The other is a green blanket, decorated with an orange sun on one edge and an orange moon on the opposite one. It’s made of thin material, enough that that is almost see-through when it’s stretched out. Medli wears it folded and tied around her waist so that the sun can be seen. Medli has always had the blanket with it being the first possession she ever had, though she has done her best to take care of it. The most notable damage done to it is that at one point it was cut in half, though it has now been sewn back together along with being embroidered with constellation patterns.

 Interests:

Medli has a passionate interest in magic and magical knowledge. She spends a lot of time practicing magic and studying arcane theory. She has a journal detailing her notes and theories on different spells, some of which is completely ridiculous but that is generally stuff that Medli cannot cast herself. The notes on spells she can cast usually detail the uses she can think of for them, as well as the way she’s seen other people cast them and their general effects.

Medli also loves playing instruments, she can play three different instruments but her main focus is the violin. She loves making music and did so even before she began to learn bardic skills that linked music and magic together. Even though she isn’t an expert, she loves playing the violin and it brings her a lot of joy, though she can get quite stressed about any perceived imperfection or when attempting to play an unfamiliar piece.

Important Relationships:

Lady Clarissa Mistbreaker. (She/Her) A middle-aged, half-elven woman who has gotten to her current position through being ruthless and manipulative. She has been the Baroness of Mistwalker Island, a title held by the head of the college, for the past four decades. It is a well-respected position, given to the best bard at the college as chosen by the previous Baron or Baroness, though there are only rumours of the trails Clarissa had to go through to prove herself.

She dresses in refined, formal attire, wanting to make sure she always looks prepared and professional while also being imposing. This is seen clearly in the long, green military-style coat she usually wears; the collar being decorated with the fur of an Arcanaloth. She is also never seen without at less one of her custom weapons; one a short whip made of a violin string, and the other an enchanted hand-crossbow.

Clarissa has known Medli since she was a baby, having been the one to find her abandoned on the docks of Mistwalker Island. At first, she has little interest in the girl, simply putting her into the care of the college but then she realised the unique opportunity she had been presented. She would shape her into the perfect prodigy.

So, Clarissa started mentoring Medli, giving her private lessons from a young age. Medli enjoyed most of these lessons, especially those where she learned to play instruments, looking up to Clarissa as most of the students at the college did. However, there was a darker side to the mentorship as it led to Clarissa abusing her prodigy under the guise of teaching her. She would belittle her for nearly everything, for asking “stupid” questions, expressing her fear or dislike of violence, and even the names she chose for her pets. When teaching her violin, she would whip her across the wrist whenever she made a mistake or used a technique different from what Clarissa thought was best. She also did her best to make sure Medli feel isolated from the other students, including encouraging the bullying Medli experienced.

Throughout Medli’s life, Clarissa has controlled her actions, and even running away from Mistwalker hasn’t stopped her from attempting to do so. Medli is her prodigy, and she can’t allow her to leave while she is still learning and Clarissa especially can’t allow her to be corrupted by the untrained tiefling she is now traveling with.

 Idric Ba’lor. (He/Him) A tiefling man who with only one remaining horn, with the other being wore as a necklace after being smashed off when he was younger and first getting a footing in life.

Being a few years older than Medli, Idric has become a fairly well-known, if potentially polarising figure, playing roles as a violinist, merchant, and generally charming adventurer. More recently Idric captains his namesake ship: The Balor, a former cargo ship turned home and stage for performers and merchants. Idric is usually found in flamboyant attire, most notably a buccaneer’s coat that looks to have been originally designed for someone far taller and broader than Idric. The coat now is littered with marks of by-hand-tailoring, both intentionally and not; the most obvious of these being a series of embroidered constellation designs.

Idric first met Medli a couple of years ago, back when she was running anyway from Mistwalker and before he became Captain of the ship that he took his name from, and have since become close friends, with Idric taking a mentor-like figure. Though it took a while for Medli to come out of her shell, she trusts him fully and looks up to him a lot.

When working beside him, whether it be selling items with outlandish, largely false backstories or falling onto whatever adventure they accidentally started and are now roped into, Medli has felt useful in ways she never did back at the college.

Idric also holds a lot of contempt towards Medli’s former ‘mentor’ Clarissa, a feeling that definitely is mutual. The two first met when she held an open-challenge violin contest at the college, one that quickly became far more of a “duel” with Clarissa failing to best the younger violinist. Clarissa took this as a personal humiliation, for one he was self-taught while she was in charge of a bard college and for another, this battle took place in front of a crowd, her crowd. This hatred has only grown since Medli left the college, with Clarissa believing that Idric has manipulated and stolen her prodigy away and Idric continuously learning more about the treatment of his friend at the hands of a supposed mentor.

 Heather “Heath” Mistwalker. (He/Him) A fallen aasimar the same age as Medli, Heath is another student at Mistwalker College, having become a student a little over a decade ago. It was only when he came to Mistwalker that he started calling himself Heath, wanting to sound tougher in the vicious environment of the college. He looks relatively normal for an aasimar, lacking a defining odd feature that most of them possess. Some say that he is quite attractive, some say he would be even more so if he changed his hair cut to something more flattering.

It wasn’t long after becoming a student at Mistwalker that Heath grew to dislike Medli due to an incident that ended with the small group of friends he had made being expelled, with him only being allowed to stay due to this being so soon after he had started attending the school. They had told him that Medli was nothing more than a spoilt brat, getting away with more than anymore else in the college due to being Clarissa’s favourite, and losing the friends he had made because of her proved this to Heath. The fact that he and his friends had stolen Medli’s goldfish and nearly killed it seemingly not being important his mind.

Since then, he has been a bully to Medli and desperately attempted to gain Clarissa’s favour and attention, the small amounts of attention he did get further fuelling his actions. Though Heath doesn’t know that Clarissa subtly encourages the behaviour in an attempt to toughen Medli up, having no particular interesting in him. He is instead sure that he is slowly winning her over by proving how inept Medli is. After all, he knows that he is better than her, that he deserves to be the school’s prodigy, no matter what he has to do to prove it.

 Mouse Mistwalker. (He/Him) A goliath a few years older than Medli, Mouse is large and muscular enough to intimidate people without intending to while still being surprisingly light on his feet. During his time at Mistwalker, he was studying to be a rogue. He knows a few spells, though is most knows for using Mirror Image.

Mouse met Medli during a family visiting day at the college, where both were alone and not expecting any visitors. On this particular day, she has gotten curious about her parents and asked Clarissa, only to be yelled at, and was found by him crying in the corridors. Mouse conformed Medli, telling her that family is over-rated anyway. He managed to cheer her up, and the two spend the day talking, with Medli being extremely happy to talk to another student without being yelled at, and became fast friends.

Even as Medli was outcasted by basically everyone else in the college, Mouse continued to be her friend, thinking a little of those who would pick on someone smaller or weaker than themselves. After one particularly bad incident when Medli was twelve in which nearly all her hair was cut off, he gifted her a circlet as she had previously mentioned wanting one. It didn’t cheer her up as much as he would’ve liked but she did like the gift.

Mouse graduated from Mistwalker College a few years ago and Medli hasn’t seen him since.

 Altair Delphine. (They/Them) A Scourge Aasimar with chaotically formed shapes and winding veins of embedded stained glass indiscriminately coating parts of their body. Between the multi-coloured glass and blueish, almost bruise hued skin, Altair has a unique look.

Having attended the prestigiously brutal Penattrey Institute, Altair has received unparalleled exposure to powerful magics, influential mages and limit-breaking situations. Their feelings on this time are complex, however, especially considering the crushing expectations forced on them by their parents, school, and divine heritage.

Said immense pressure led to Altair running away from the Institute, just before receiving their final exam results. And so, Altair needed to find a way to support themselves.

Which, after a failed stint at opening a diviner’s tent, meant Altair took an ominous offer as an apprentice for Lady Clarissa herself, using their prolific divination abilities directly for her.  

This is where they met Medli.

A mutual struggle to fit in at a college designed to spark a killer instinct neither was interested in, led to a fast friendship forming between the two mostly on the backs of an avoidance of responsibility, something Altair very much enjoyed doing. For this duo, it mostly meant skipping obligations and finding a quiet spot to indulge their passions, for Altair this was mostly creating and maintaining a custom deck of tarots as well as tailoring and redesigning their outfits.

Despite Altair’s floundering social skills and occasional unintentional insensitivity, Medli was glad to have a new friend, someone she was genuinely excited to talk to. She loved listening to them discuss their passions and watch them draw or paint and was happy to be able to share her passions and hobbies with someone genuinely interested in them instead of mocking or yelling at her. It didn’t matter that their interests rarely aligned, the two developed a sincere and safe bond.

This bond was tested regularly by Heather and the other bullies who regularly made odd demands or interrupted the duo just to make them uncomfortable. Coming to a climax with a particular argument about Medli skipping “Poisons and Other Untraceables” that led to a particular nasty outburst and then Altair drawing out a flash of smoke from his deck with Medli lying about the “toxicity” of the spell.

Altair was still at Mistwalker when Medli left, though they left not long after. Medli doesn’t know why they left or where they may be now.

 Misc.:

Medli was raised in and received an education from Mistwalker College: a once prestigious boarding school, the reputation of which has become shadier over time. The college has always prided itself particularly on its powerful bards, but also on the wizards, rogues, performers, and politicians that are raised within its walls. Though those who investigate see the pattern of suspicious, usually manipulative, and sometimes downright criminal behaviour the graduates often show.  They are also well known for taking in taking in orphaned or abandoned children and raising them. Most who graduate from the college end up taking the last name Mistwalker, seeing joying the “Mistwalker family” as a great honour, quite a few returning to the college whether they take on a full-time teaching position or simply to help out with any problem the college might have.

Medli suffers from night terrors. Despite how often she has them, she doesn’t like telling people that she does until she is sure that she trusts them, to the point of sometimes lying about having one when someone finds her either having one or just having woke from one. They happen more frequency when she is stressed.

Medli has had four pet fish over the years: Mister Bubbles, Coyrim, Talula, and Mister Bubbles the Second. Unfortunately, all of them have passed away.

Medli is a vegetarian which was a problem while at the college due to a lack of options, meaning that she mostly ate pasta and bread as they were always available. Since starting to travel with Idric, she’s expanded her diet a lot.

[The characters Idric Ba’lor and Altair Delphine belong to @atlass-coat​ and their character descriptions were written by/with him]