#iron-hearts-ablaze

[infernalmechanic]

Her every reaction both melted and fueled him. Dammon luxuriated in the kisses to the point their subtle taste differences blended on his busy tongue. A groan escaped him as well, when Karlach's wandering touch grasped his rear.

He followed all that coaxing with a single roll of his hips. Wonderful as the friction was, it also clearly reminded him he still had his smallclothes on. Unwilling to pull back, Dammon simply adjusted again to make quick work of the straining buttons with one hand. Half of his relieved breath was swallowed into another kiss. Though he tugged them a bit further away from his hips, he didn't bother taking the time to entirely shed his smalls. Not with Karlach's needy noises and 'I need you' all ringing in his head.

His own tail's hold on her leg tightened just slightly, while his exploring palm slid down along her side to smooth over the back of her other thigh, then further in to help align his length. Dammon allowed just a moment or two of teasing both himself and Karlach, with a slow drag of his flushed tip against her folds and up to her clit, then back down. That alone made his head spin with sheer want and anticipation. He had to break from a kiss to take a deeper, steadying breath, their foreheads pressed together and horns knocking gently.

Dammon moved his hips again, even slower this time as he pushed inside. Occasional tremors rippled through him with the effort not to thrust in all at once, while his lashes fluttered at the feel of her around gradually more of his cock. "Gods, you're incredible..." he sighed, eyes slivering open to meet hers. His supporting arm adjusted too, so curled fingers could brush along her temple. "Karlach..." A small, affectionate smile tugged at the corners of his mouth while he said her name.

Even if this was just some fun mutual relief, whether one time or more, Dammon enjoyed the tenderness far too much to withhold it.

Even as short as it was, the chance to let his stare wander over all Karlach's bared skin left him yearning to lavish every inch. Dammon knelt between her legs, one palm propped on the bed while his other mirrored hers, sliding up her side but instead pausing just below her chest. A few pale locks slipped forward off his shoulder, as he pressed into Karlach's touch at his neck.

What remained of his blush spread anew and deepened to a more apparent red. "I was just thinking the same. Almost can't believe my luck."

Dammon's sheepish smile only ebbed after he leaned in further to meet her kiss partway. Hand moving from her chest to cradle the back of her neck, just to hold Karlach that much closer, his lips parted as an eager groan quietly escaped.

While his tongue met hers for a slow dance, Dammon adjusted his posture a bit to let his supporting hand roam instead. It lingered first and longest at her breast, with an indulgent gentle squeeze and teasing rubs of his thumb past her nipple. In the meantime, his own tail curled around Karlach's thigh again, its end brushing the softer inner side. Gods, he wished this night could last a week.

[sharransepulchre]

. ☽◯☾ . cont. from here - @iron-hearts-ablaze

❝ mmh , ❞ Was the first soft, contented noise to escape the cleric's plush lips. All too easily did her emerald eyes slip shut when those strong arms found their way around her slender waist. Instinctively, her weathered hands slide down to Karlach's sturdy shoulders, thoroughly appreciating every ounce of pure strength present beneath her burly form. Her touch is nearly reverent, dexterous fingers dancing across the warm vents of her shoulders, in a soothing and careful manner. A rhythm, her palm smoothing against the burn scars of her right arm in a lazy, thoughtless path.

❝ you , out of anyone , deserves one of these . and , if i may be so bold . . . i rather enjoy these quiet little moments . it ' s truly difficult to find any real respite in such trying times , and your arms are much like the welcoming hearth of a cabin ; fully ablaze and lingering with the scent of campfire . ❞ Then, her lips turn coy, and she muses, a tease that rolls far too easily off of her silvered tongue. ❝ with only a hint of that avernus stink . ❞

[apalestar]

@iron-hearts-ablaze cont'd

Karlach’s employer fielded him earlier. A cobbler’s son clawing and fighting his way for a place in high society. Scraping for anyone in the patriars to give him that all coveted sponsorship to elevate his social status. A hard sell for a man who smelt of sulphur and shoe tact. Even as little as the nobles thought of Astarion, they thought even less of Gortash.

But his guard? She was of Astarion’s interest. He knew for a fact the little noblemen that played at swords were gods awful when it came to actually fighting. The few that had some measure of skill were already accounted for. And he just happened to be in the market for a personal guard. He didn’t trust the Fists. And the few that remained as part of Cazador’s household were… tainted in his eyes. Loyal to the very same bastard he feared might return.

He graced the tiefling in his home with a smile. Mindful at the last moment to hide his fangs. “Oh heavens, no. Gods forbid this party actually be that lively.” The dancing pairs. The food he couldn’t partake of. The idle chatter and exchange of blackmail. “Your first soiree? I promise not all of them are usually so dull.”

“Blood. Vicious rumors. An affair caught in the open. We aren’t so fortunate this evening.” Astarion appeared rather bored. “And a far cry from the celebrations you find in the taverns in the Lower City.”

“Ah, but where are my manners? I owe you an introduction. Astarion. Szarr.” He extended his palm to her upturned to receive hers in a proper greeting as social decorum dictated.

[starcunin]

@iron-hearts-ablaze sent: “  stop pushing me away.  i’m not going anywhere,  asshole.  and as soon as you get that through that thick skull of yours,  the better.  ”  

Karlach’s words hit him like a punch in the gut. For a moment, his crimson eyes narrow, a sneer curling the edge of his lips as he turns his back to her, staring into the flickering campfire. He wants to bite back, wants to snarl something cutting and cruel, something that will make her regret ever trying to worm her way into his business. But the words catch in his throat, clinging to the edges of guilt he can’t swallow.

❛ You really are a fool, aren’t you? ❜ he spits, though the venom in his voice feels weaker than usual, like it's lost its edge. ❛ Following me around, offering your support and protection like some… knight in shining armor? Do you really think I need you? I’ve survived centuries without anyone’s help. I’m not some poor, wounded thing you need to fix, Karlach. ❜ He exhales sharply through his nose, his shoulders falling with the motion. Why does she care? Why does she keep pushing when he’s given her nothing, been nothing but cruel?

His voice falters, his bitterness giving way to something quieter, weaker. ❛ You… you don’t understand. You think this is what? Some grand act of kindness? Some noble gesture? I’ve spent lifetimes watching people like you. You give, and you give, and all it ever earns you is pain. ❜ His gaze drops, settling on the dirt between his boots, shame curling through him like a slow poison. ❛ I don’t need your kindness, ❜ he says, though now it sounds more like he’s trying to convince himself. ❛ I don’t even know what to do with it. ❜

His hands tighten into fists at his sides, nails biting into his palms. He feels raw, exposed——like she’s seeing through every mask he’s so carefully crafted over the years. The charming rogue, the wicked trickster, the seductive vampire. All of it feels brittle under her gaze. ❛ I don’t know how to be anything else, ❜ he admits, voice barely more than a whisper, the weight of centuries of shame and anger dragging the words out of him.

Damn her. Damn her for making him feel like he could be more than the monster Cazador made him. Damn her for offering him something he hasn’t dared let himself believe in for two hundred years.

And damn him for wanting it.

[fxrest-bcrn]

A starter for @iron-hearts-ablaze

Tavrayn hated sitting by the fire alone: he needed to talk to people... even if half of camp would rather not be talked to. The half-drow bounced his knee as he glanced around, ears flicking as he glanced around the tents; such a disparate group, brought together by... by some tadpole? (He'd heard of mind flayers, of course... even heard of people being infected by them. But his companions seemed, well... rather uninfected.) But who could he ask about such a sensitive subject? Tav looked around again.

... And settled on the member of their crew least likely to drown him in a lecture or bite his head off... or simply ignore him. So he stood and ambled over to her tent. As he stopped in front of her, he waved a bit, a lop-sided grin tugging at a corner of his mouth.

"Hey... Karlach. I was wondering if I could, y'know, maybe ask you some questions?"

[baldurianrogue]

‘you know i love you,  right?’

send ‘you know i love you,  right?’

KARLACH HAD PROVED to have the ability of being extra stealthy, when she wanted to be. Or maybe he had been too lost, in his own gloomy thoughts. It was not until he heard the words, and turned , to face the burly barbarian, and finding her standing behind him, his own face paler than usual utterly terrified.

The extensiveness of his night terrors, as soon as they reached for the Gate, had started to take a toll on him, despite her reassurance each night.

It didn't help either that they were now, sharing, the same bed in a sweet lover's caress. The pale vampire knew it wasn't ever to be over until this one last kill to be done. By all means, he wasn't expecting this, but it wasn't unwanted .

" I.. know, " The vampire spawn replied to his lover, " And I also know, that I didn't deserve it, '' It was his fear, that there was not much left to be loved .

@iron-hearts-ablaze

[starbvund]

@iron-hearts-ablaze cont'd from here.

Young love. Halsin smiled thinking on it. Karlach doesn't lose her composure over speaking about their companions without a just reason. To see her curl inward even more telling. Right now she reminded him of newly born cubs uncertain of the world they found themselves in.

"No, Gale and I haven't spoken on subject recently. He does speak fondly of you when I'm in his company. Truly, you two care greatly for one another." The wizard was a veritable peacock showing off his colors to get the lady's attention. Any druid with even half a merit could see that.

When he first joined the encampment he had mistakenly thought the two of them were already lovers. In whatever capacity they could be given Karlach's restrictions. But Astarion had informed him otherwise. Prattled on about how the pair of them were driving him insane. Something about sexual tension and longing glances. He'd even started a running bet with Halsin over when the pair of them would finally come together.

"Do not be troubled." Halsin said gently. "I'm sure he'd have more kind words for you if you only asked."

[never-surrender]

@iron-hearts-ablaze \\ Aurelia

He was had found her, she was certain of it. Not only was he found her, but he was reaching for her, about to take her... that much her dream had convinced her of as she woke in a flurry of screams and flailing limbs. It was dangerous for Karlach to get close to her as she scrambles in blind terror away from the only person there with her, convinced that Karlach was Cazador somehow. Begging and screaming for them to leave her alone, Aurelia was blind in her utter terror, backed into a wall...

It takes some time before Aurelia notices and recognizes the sound of Karlach's voice. Curled into a tight ball against the wall to be as small as possible, Aurelia whimpered as she dared to look up, vision clearing to show her standing before her...

And the moment she realizes that she's safe? The moment she recognizes that it had been an awful dream? She practically devolves into a sobbing mess, unable to talk for several minutes as she hugs herself tightly, uncertain if Karlach would even want her going to them. Surely she wouldn't... so as she finally finds her voice, she takes a deep shuddering breath, reaching to scrub away the tears with the heal of her palm.

"S-sorry.." she manages to apologizes to them miserably, unable to look Karlach in the eyes.

[fatedmuses]

💋 from Wyll pleeeease!

Wyll had kept careful track of the days, since they'd gone to the hells. And, if he'd managed to keep time correctly, tonight was the start of the new year.

"Karlach!" In between killing demons, he pulled her close, stealing a quick kiss when he could. "Here's to another great year."

[chaoticbard]

"Okay, call me fucking psychic but I think that maybe...perhaps...somewhat....... You have a thing for Halsin."

"You needn't be psychic to pick up on that. I can't even pretend to hide my immense feelings about him."

"If he had a pair of horns and scales I'd have already long ago lost my senses."

[bloodczar]

"So you have a thing for kissing those who like black and red? Good to know."

❛ 𝐀re you jealous my dear flame .ᐣ Here I was waiting for the appropriate moment to spoil you as well 。 ❜

[warwaited]

@iron-hearts-ablaze

Having to pass among these apostates might be the most ignoble thing she's had to do so far. There hadn't been much choice in the matter - the rather impressive wooden gate to the southeast had put up an equally impressive fusillade of arrows and she'd been forced to beat a hasty retreat.

Seeing what she's working with here, though, she would almost have preferred the attempt on her life. These goblins are... awful. Seemingly completely unsupervised, for one, aside from the command team further within that doesn't want to come out and discipline their horde. Her mind goes to the particularly brash specimen who'd thought to try his odds asking if she wanted to go somewhere private.

Her nose wrinkles.

Thankfully, Rakatak's stewing is interrupted - she sees red skin and her heart leaps, only to quickly drop back down to somewhere more becoming of her station when she realizes it's not, in fact, another hobgoblin. Still, she starts wending her way over, wanting to hopefully get a chance to speak with her before the bloodbath she can practically smell breaks out.

[sharransepulchre]

a previously discussed roleplay - @iron-hearts-ablaze

This had been a long time coming. One by one, everyone was finally getting their vengeance. But, even as each companion vanquished their monsters, slayed their demons, something seemed to change for them. In their eyes, something intrinsic would take shape, something darker than before. A darkness that Shadowheart herself had recognized, something she saw too often in the eyes of those she surrounded herself with. The eyes of those hidden behind bone white visages when praying around a ritual offering bowl, with nothing but the windows to their very souls on display. People who had lost it all, and never wanted it back. To embrace that loss - that grief, of letting it all slip through their fingers, but never letting it rest.

How could they, when it was all they ever knew?

But her party, she told herself, they were different. She no longer followed Shar -- she would return to her place of creation, the Cloister of Sombre Embrace. Not as Shar's champion and Chosen, but as their liberator. There, held within the deep recesses of the inner sanctum nestled deep beneath the streets of the city akin to a sewer, surely that was where her parents were held. Aylin told her so , and the paladin did not seem like the type to fib. All she could think about was rescuing them, no matter the cost.

But, standing at the top of the towers, Shadowheart stared with what was almost fear. Before her, a blazing Karlach was slamming the desecrated body of Gortash into the chiseled stone bricks below. Again and again, although he was far from fighting, far from drawing any breath into his utterly splintered and shattered ribcage. Red painted the floor in blossoming bouquets, a macabre arboretum that stained the imported carpets and outlined the grout of the stone blocks. It was hard to tell where Gortash's life essence ended and Karlach's skin color began. It was all crimson. Splattering and eliciting visceral noises with ragged every impact, until it was surprising she could have any hold on him at all. Burning flesh, the tiefling burned hotter and hotter the more she consumed those soul coins - it was ruining her. This wasn't Karlach. This was what Zariel wanted her to be.

❝ stop . ❞ She whispered, and there was no way the massive raging barbarian could hear a single utterance. Another impact, and this time - that foul red liquid splattered against her cheek. ❝ stop it , ❞ She drew her hand up, shell-shocked, and slowly wiped the gathering of it against her skin. Hot to the touch and sticky, and drawing her slender hand back revealed how the very color stained her pale skin. ❝ you -- stop it, Karlach ! Gods damn it all, he ' s dead ! ❞ It was enough to snap her out of that stupor, where a memory had been so close within reach. Like thrusting her hand into the fog and expecting to see a crystal clear image; but it was murky, shrouded. Just outside of reach. She didn't draw any closer to the barbarian yet, who almost looked like a devil -- no, no she wasn't, what was she thinking? But Karlach burned, engulfed in that fire, she could feel the uncomfortable warmth against her frigid skin from several feet away. Even so, she willed her feet to move, forcing her closer as anger burned in her own eyes. Not so cleverly disguised, as there was desperation behind her gaunt emerald gaze.

❝ snap out of it ! damn it, can ' t you see how those soul coins are consuming you ? this isn ' t you ! ❞ She tried, voice cracking slightly in her desperation. This was a side she had never seen - a side she didn't even think had existed. This anger, she knew it was warranted - but to mutilate his corpse in such a way? There was no need for that! It had to be the soul coins, she told herself, because Karlach wasn't a monster. She couldn't be.

[apalestar]

"If I get rabies from your biting, I'll crush you! I don't care how cute you are in your bat form!"

(NOW it's me!)

@iron-hearts-ablaze are you sure about that?

He flashed his sharp teeth at her. He would bite as much as he damn well pleased. No rabies here, only vampirism. "Fear me."

[alittlebitofmuse]

📏 - 6'2 (190cm), excluding horn

Send me 📏 (ruler) + your muses height and I'll compare them to mine!

Astarion (5'10") and Karlach (6'2")

Halsin (6'3") and Karlach (6'2")

[baldurianrogue]

@iron-hearts-ablaze cont.

THE VAMPIRE LOATHED the thought of someone or something , other than him, sinking its fangs into Karlach. The mere thought leaving taste of dead rats in his mouth , and for sure those ghouls were going to be put in their place.

" How is Chomp even allowed to get this close to you. .What were you two doing?," The jealousy in his voice , started to seep through his placid tone. Astarion waved off the rest of the servants, as he set off for Chomp to be fetched.

" If the ghoul servant did as you said, he is going to suffer consequences my dear," The vampire ascendant replied curtly to his favorite . " Unless, you get soft on me again and ask me to spare him. You are not in one of those moods, are you? Although, I must say . I love how you manage to train those rabid dogs, Karlach. Sir Reginald makes excellent drinks for my guests."