#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.

[coolcattime]

Letter from a Harpy

Authors Note: This story was written by me (@coolcattime​) and my friend @atlass-coat​. Both characters are used for a dnd campaign ran by Atlas and belong to us.

Moodboard also made by @atlass-coat​.

This story is about those characters and their friendship, it concerns the past of one of the characters and the tension that the people from that past can bring.

For more stuff about Medli (one of the characters in this story) check out her character dossier that I wrote: here.

Content Warning: Implied abuse, implied self-harm, implied school-related trauma.

Idric Ba’lor and Medli took their stay in a port town where their ilk ran through the streets. Although the outspoken adventurers and flamboyant merchants may be an annoyance to some, they made the duo feel at home. Well, as at home as a tiefling and water genasi can feel, especially when neither was interested in blending in.

The two have already been travelling together for quite a while, this town serving as just another in a short line of places they had travelled to. Upon arriving, docking Idric’s boat in the town’s port, they had started calling the local tavern their refuge.

This particular night had been spent telling tales and hearing the local fables, as well as more than a few drinks. The night had been another hectic one, ending with the two being the last of the guests to retire to their rooms.

Idric strolls out of his room just before the afternoon took hold. He walks up to the bar with a smirk while jostling his hair, and after a short conversation with the barmaid, he joins Medli at a table. She smiles at her friend, hearing the unique clack of his jackboots. She decides not to question the drink in his hand.

After half an hour of sitting in silence people watching, she chooses to talk rather than continue the quiet.

“Did you sleep okay?” She opens, cocking her head a little. She chooses to ignore her drink and the last scraps of food now her friend is up and about.

“Pretty well, I mean who doesn’t love a hay mattress, yourself?” He jokes, smiling before comfortably sipping his wine.

The conversation feels radiantly normal, a relaxingly regular set of pleasantries. It was a stark change from the high energy of the night before, but it still feels normal for the two.

“It wasn’t the worst place I’ve ever slept,” Medli giggles quietly. The comfort of the mattress didn’t really matter to her, so long as she got a full night’s rest and to talk with her friend. Actually getting to sleep soundly was usually far easier said than done but at least this night was safe.

“And it’s nice to be on dry land again, at least for a bit.” She finishes tentatively, realising how much time she’d let pass in her head. 

“I suppose the dorms in the cobbled hellscape that is Mistwalker can’t be great,” He amuses absentmindedly, rolling up his sleeves and tying them back to sit on his elbows. 

Medli shrank down an inch or two in her chair. 

“They could’ve been nice,” She speaks low with a frown, “they just need doors that lock.” She hadn’t even realised how common that was until she’d left the college.

Medli idly starts playing with her hair, mostly to distract herself but also because the quiet “whooshing” sound it makes, makes her smile. She isn’t really distracted but it stops her dwelling on the past so much, not that that was really fully possible.

“Sounds so damn safe, bet the nights were restful,” He laughs through his sentence but there’s a clear bite to it. Medli had truly suffered at that college, and though he understands that feeling, her lack of anger, or even blame towards those who caused it, never got easier to watch.

“Well,” She opens, unsure of the rest of the sentence. “At least I don’t have to go back any time soon.”

She ends her point with a smile or at least an attempt at one. The memories won’t go away on their own, but she can try to avoid them by switching into a less uncomfortable topic, “So… do you think we’ll get to do anything here?” 

“You never know what’ll come up – I’m sure something will be worth the trip,” He responds, more than happy to talk about literally anything. Idric also definitely wasn’t wrong, something always seems to come up, they would always manage to find a story worth telling.

The silence gave Idric a moment to collect himself, trying to decide how to broach the next topic and whether it needed to be done now. Before he could truly decide anything, he begins to speak.

“And you got this, the bartender says it’s from a college,” He tries to sound neutral but, he can’t help but sound invasive. He scrapes the letter across the table “So, what’s she want?”

She untied and unfolded the letter, paying little attention to its content, instead she watches her friend. His furrowed brow, scrunched-up nose, and crocked neck are pretty hard to miss.

Idric knew Clarissa was the sender but that wasn’t enough, he needed to know if his other guesses were right too.

Medli skimmed each line with bloodshot eyes, completely panicked. She spends the time she could’ve spent reading it to try and stop the blaring signs of being caught from showing on her face. This was not done well. 

“Why is there another one?” She witters under her breath, not even meaning to speak but being far too flustered to stop herself.

Idric’s face can’t decide between a scowl or a smirk, between anger or vindication.

“Exactly, oh exactly what I thought,” His theory had been proven correct, but now new theories about why this was kept from him start to swarm his mind. Meanwhile, Medli is frozen, doing her best not to scream or cry as her mind berated her.

He breaks the silence. 

“Walk with me,” Idric stands, trying to rub the tiredness out of his face. This is something best discussed privately.

He walks into his room under the stairs, Medli follows him, barely stopping herself crumpling the letter. As much as she wants to, she couldn’t bring herself to destroy it. She couldn’t destroy any of them.

After letting her into the room, Idric comes the door with a loud spin, unintentionally making Medli flinch.

Idric, in an attempt not to make another loud noise, confines himself to the bed, kicking his legs over onto the headboard and placing his hands on his knees.

“Right, so, Clarissa is doing what exactly?”

“She, erm, she…” Medli stumbles over her words, completely lost with what to say next. She doesn’t want him to be angry, even if she knows she chose to hide this from him. “She’s been sending me money.” Escapes her before going silent once more, digging her wrists into each other. 

“You’ve been getting gold in the mail!? From the Harpy Queen herself?” He can’t help but sound disgusted, the break in his voice only adding tension to the room. “And you didn’t think it relevant to your travelling companion? Your violin in crime? Am I just a set of strings to you?” Idric tries to laugh but the fire in his throat won’t let him form the sound. 

Medli feels her heart slamming against her ribs, it’s beat paralyses her, pinning her to the spot. “I…” She is barely able to speak, her voice shakes but her is body rigidly still. She tries desperately to get her words out, but nothing comes. She can’t help but think she’s within a drought, a very dangerous place for a water genasi to be. “I told her I didn’t want it, that we were— but the letters aren’t exactly nice…”

“Not exactly nice, how?” Idric over-straightens his back, interrupting her, remembering who drove this rift between them. He could sense there was something else, something she either didn’t want to tell him or just didn’t want to say.

She gnaws at her gum. For a brief moment, she considers lying her way out of this or just running back to her room, but Idric is her friend and whether he would figure out this situation or not, she can’t keep hiding things from the people she trusts.

More than a moment passes with neither sure of what to say before Medli composes herself enough to answer his questions.

“They all say that the gold is so I can get back to the college… when, I, um, I, come to my senses because you’re just going to…” Medli trails off into silence, choosing not to finish that sentence. The letters were filled with Clarissa’s usual language, the type that Medli learnt to expect would be bad but even that didn’t seem to make them hurt any less.

The question of if she deserves to hear them enters her mind with a wince before Idric responds.

“Wow, they really do not like me, do they? And gods, how low must they think of you, dear?” Idric starkly switches from guttural to a softer mumble between questions. 

He remembers feeling that kind of helplessness, anger isn’t the tool here. She needs her friend by her side, not at her throat.

“I mean, she doesn’t seem like she has a high opinion of you either,” Medli bites her lip again, trying to hold her nerve but unable to stop rereading each letter in her head.

“Apparently though, I can still corrupt your little mind with my evil devil powers, apparently,” He moves his hands in the spookiest fashion he can think of before jolting up onto his feet. His coat whips around with him, as he uses a simple bit of magic to create a gust of overdramatic wind, really selling the silliness of his words. 

He meets her eyes hoping for a laugh, or at least a smile, but only a tear-stared stare meets him. He exhales softly, trying to create a level of calm that they desperately needs. “You seem more scared than angry that I found out or embarrassed you’d been caught. That’s a hell of a plot twist, what’s this doing to you Meds?” He isn’t even sure if that made sense, but this room can’t lay silent any longer.

“Clarissa, she keeps,” Medli takes a breath of her own, attempting to push through a hive of anxiety. She needs to get her words out; she just doesn’t want to say any of it. It frustrates her. She knows exactly what she wants to say, she just can’t push through for long enough to pick the words.

“In all the letters, she said that you’re going to abandon me. I… I thought that if you found out you’d…” She doesn’t want to finish that sentence either. Everything feel like it’s in an ocean of anxiety, confusion, and a creeping certainly that Clarissa may have been right. She has always hated that thought, but she couldn’t let it silence here anymore, regardless of the outcome.

“No one’s ever stuck by me. Basically everyone at the college stayed away from me unless they were planning something that would make everything worse. I didn’t exactly make many friends before I met you.”

She finally looks up to face him, expecting anger or, at the very least, confusion. She finds neither. Idric instead produces a comforting smile, presenting a dimple she didn’t know he had. Idric had a look like this memorised from far too many evenings on the other side of it, that didn’t mean he actually knew how to help though.

“Before you met me yes, but my dear, this is after. A lot has changed and one of those things, potentially the best change, is that we are going to stick with each other,” He feels confident that would’ve resonated with him, so hopefully that’ll be enough. “I know everything’s all new but listening to the ramblings of a harpy can never be the solution.”

Clarissa’s words have done far too much damage, letting them do more is unacceptable. She will not cost Medli another friend, however clever the gaslight she holds. 

“But if I ignore them, then she’ll,” Medli shifts a little, still unable to let go of her fear, even if it felt ridiculous, she needed to give it a voice. “She’ll show up in person again.” Her whisper almost comes out as a scream, with each word laced with sheer dread.

Idric doesn’t miss a step in responding.

“Then we deal with that then, and we deal with it together,” He offers his drink with a sort of ‘half-toast’ before taking a drink. “Hence why we’re a team, I thought you knew what you were choosing when you got on my ship and not hers.”

He still can’t seem to shake her out her quivering shoulders and a winced smile. He is far from giving up, though.

“Though, if I may, I’ll remind you—” He takes a moment, stepping towards her silently, still offering a warm expression. “Clarissa’s reign is over. It’s just us now.”

She still doesn’t know how to respond. Neither of them had been here before, and she had no idea what to say. Offer gratitude and pretend it’s all fine? Start to cry? Keep ranting until he admits defeat? 

“What’s the worst thing she can do to us right now?” He tries to prompt her to speak, hoping to get her out of her own head.

“She…” Medli barely gets her first word out, too concentrated in watching her forefinger and thumb press and push at her wrist. She couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“I suppose you’re right.” She sounds hopefully insincere.

“I mean, you’re hanging with a literal devil darlin’, what’s she gonna do, tell Asmodeus we are being mean to her?” Regardless of what she’s hiding, now is a time for hope. They can face the rest of her story when she’s ready.

Medli feels the load on her shoulders lift, even if not completely, and looks up finally meeting Idric’s eyes. “It’s just… I don’t understand how she knows where we are. Every time we stop, somehow another letter comes. It’s like she’s still watching me.” Her voice sounds far less shook up, and her breath begins to catch up with her, but she still can’t seem to escape her nerves, or the ever-growing number of questions of how Clarissa could be doing this.

“We can definitely deal with that,” Idric speaks with confidence, beaming with the thought of a new plan forming. “I know a diviner or two, I’m sure they’ll know something or learn it quick enough.”

“I do love a crowd but she’s not even paying to see us.” He laughs to himself. 

“Well, I mean technically…” Medli interjects, unsure if a joke this early is okay. Idric seems to think so though, and the two share a quick laugh. 

“If we can’t figure this out though, I am sure we can deal with Clarissa the best way we know how,” Idric tries to conclude the topic with reassurance. 

“I’m sure she won’t see us coming!” Medli remains smiling, doing so properly for the first time since this mess started. Though, that smile almost breaks as the weight of the paper in her hand hits her again. “I suppose I should get rid of this.” 

“Give it to me? I want to see what we’re up against anyway,” His tone refuses to force the decision, instead he sits back on the bed, cocking his head in anticipation. She hesitates for a moment, having not sure what might be in this one; but hands it over anyway.

He reads it slowly, each of his features filling back up with anger. The second the last line is read, he sets the letter alight, attempting to burn away his seethe with the ink. Surprisingly though, it seems to work, and he smirks once more.

“That was certainly a read,” He begins. “I— I’ll go find an old friend of mine, and with their help, we will be able to go over some word choices and disputable phrases, then I am sure she’ll apologise, and we can be on our way.” Idric’s intonation falls into a level of clarity and over-pronunciation that only comes with the desperate need to hide one’s anger.

Medli, on the other hand, only has one thought.

“Do you think they will be able to find her?” Her lips can barely keep up as the words fall from her mouth.

“I’ve never known them to fail before,” He smirks reassuringly.

“Well, that’s nice at least,” She pauses, finally seeing the end of this. “Do you want me to destroy the other letters too?”

“Let me take a look at those too - if that’s okay? It’s important to know one’s public perception after all,” He lets out a singular chewed-up breath posing as a laugh.

Medli rushes off to their old table, she returns holding her bag and awkwardly begins to dig through it. She pulls out a tied stack of letters and hands them to Idric. He throws them into his coat, trying his best to not let the thickness and potential number take too much of his attention.

“You didn’t need to keep this from me, you know? We’re a team as much as you want us to be,” He offers with a soft gesture.

“I didn’t mean too. I was just scared when the first one came and by the time that I stopped being scared of that one, there was already three more and then that felt a lot harder to explain,” She almost says every word at once and can’t help but look relieved when realising they were in the right order.

“You’re a bard Medli, you’ll pick all this up as we go. Explaining the bizarre and traumatic is part of the job.”

Medli laughs a little.

“Can’t I just play violin?”

“Absolutely not.”

[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.

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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.