#its like dnd but somehow worse

[silence-of-autumn42]

I really wish Bungie would remove the clan raid triumph from the raid seal requirements. I don't have six friends and I live in Australia, this is an impossible requirement

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Lemot Sediam Juste

Domain: Scaena Domain Formation: 732 BC Power Level: 💀💀💀⚫⚫ Sources: Domains of Dread (2e), Islands of Terror (2e), VRGTR (5e)

Lemot Sediam Juste is the Darklord of the traveling Domain known as Scaena, which means “stage” in Latin. However, this failed playwright and has-been actor may have missed that obvious reference to his eternal prison.

A tall, skeletal-thin man with greasy black hair, Lemot was a renowned actor and writer of the stage known for his dramatic and comedic roles. As with many overinflated egotistic performers, this was not enough for him. He wanted to be known for all styles of writing and acting. Type casting was decidedly NOT for Lemot.

However, he could never portray tragedy without it coming across as melodramatic or unintentionally hilarious. His writing and direction was no better and he deceived himself into believing that it was entirely his troupe’s fault. They enjoyed heightening the comedic aspects of his plays and, to Lemot, they ruined his visions.

A rational man, Lemot decided to seek vengeance for this affront. He wrote a play with countless, horrific death scenes in which the bodies of each victim would lay on the stage for the entire production. The night of the play’s debut, Lemot replaced all of the prop weapons and poisons with real ones.

He joined the audience, watching gleefully as his troupe unknowingly killed one another on stage. It is odd that not a single actor noticed anything amiss that evening. No one, and surly not those that acted under Lemot’s direction, is that good of an actor.

Lemot’s play, which was just a bloody mess, ended with a chorus of boos from the audience. This infuriated the playwright who wanted nothing more than to bask in his revenge. Being the overdramatic has-been that he is, Lemot snuck outside and as the audience waited the final bow, he barred the doors of the playhouse and set it ablaze. Once the constabulary arrived to quell the fire and locate the cause of it, Lemot, in a rare moment of clarity, skulked away and hide in another theater. He fell asleep within and when he came to, he was alone and a thick Mist, in which he could not venture, surrounded the theater. Scaena is one of the smallest Domains in Ravenloft, made up of only a single theater. It can travel to any other Domain as well as any other plane of existence, typically forming over the location of an existing theater. A feat wasted on the showboat Darklord who does not realize where he is. Within Scaena, everything Lemot writes becomes reality upon the stage of the Scaena Theater. Because of this, he believes that every single being that appears on his stage is his creation and are only there to act out his visions. Despite Lemot being nothing more than a spindly writer forever unsatisfied with his creations, he is difficult to defeat. Those that wander onto his stage are forced to enact his visions without seeing Lemot writing behind the scenes, for he is engulfed in layers upon layers of illusions. In fact, Lemot can create an illusionary version of Scaena over the real, making his “creations” believe they are fighting him when they are not. The only limit to his creation is his own imagination, which makes him not only a powerful individual but an entirely annoying one to deal with. Like Lemot himself, many who visit his Domain find themselves constantly questioning reality.

In the “good” doctor’s latest guide, Lemot is now Lemont and instead of replacing the props in his play, he joined the stage after his audience grew bored and demanded blood and gore, which he delivered by brutally murdering the entire cast before their eyes. Here, Scaena was once part of Dementlieu and became its own Domain after Lemont’s bloody debut. It does not appear that this new version of Scaena has the ability to travel through planes of existence.

[eyes1nthewoods]

its so crazy how pwotr is pretty much my dream game and its been out for 3 years

[upsidedownmvnson]

dungeons and douchebags | eddie munson

where eddie munson kills your dnd character out of spite & you end up in the hospital in the same day. eddie, of course, blames only himself.

full fic of this blurb :)

AN: i named the third guy keith bc he needed a name, and if his role was pre-established im SORRY but hes a mage. a lot of the dnd stuff im sure is wrong and doesnt work but let me live

also i love this so u should to

also also I KNOW ITS A SHITTY THING FOR A DM TO DO - thats the point

Eddie’s annoyed with you when you’re not on time for Hellfire.

You know he’s sensitive about starting on time, but still you were running late again, even though this time you promised it would be different, and you would even be early.

And Eddie had foolishly believed you again. It hurt especially, because even though you were just friends, Eddie was so painfully in love with you. All day every day, he was pining, yearning, longing. You were on his mind all the time, and you... you couldn't even bother to be on time for Hellfire.

When he begged you to be on time earlier in the day, he had made sure to mention that it would mean a lot to him if you were on time. And he thinks that if you love him back, you'll definitely care when he communicates something like that.

He knows he shouldn't let himself feel like this, but every Friday he's reminded that he's not special to you. He's not the one person you're always on time for. Eddie thinks, somehow, that if you're on time for Hellfire, well then maybe you like him too. It's silly, but it's what he does. It gets more painful as time goes on and you're still not there.

The mood slowly shifts to something tense as time ticks on. You’re always a couple minutes late but nearly an hour? Eddie is painfully frustrated, and his feelings are hurt. Eddie has overthught himself to a dramatic conclusion that you've decided you're above Hellfire.

While the party chats on totally unaware, barely even recognizing that they still haven't started, Eddie thinks you've looked in the mirror and recognized that you're better than them. That you can, and should, have everything and everyone you want. He thinks you'll want to be with a jock. Or maybe a cheerleader. He thinks you've decided not to love him.

In a fit of self pity and rage, he decides to leave your character behind, so the party left you alone, sleeping in a cave.

"Attention," Eddie says, "the sun is rising. It's time to pack your bags and move on."

Dustin looks confused, "where's y/n?"

"Who knows?" Eddie tries to look unamused to hide his pain, but it slips, and ends up just looking angry.

Eddie rolls a perception check for you to see if you wake up. He rolls an 18. And with your build you would've noticed the group leaving without you. Eddie is still think about you in the arms of a jock. "She fails." Eddie looks at the group with an evil grin. "You leave the camp unnoticed."

As the game goes on, Eddie feels crappy. He's never cheated like that before. Like, sure, he's changed a roll or two to make the plot better, or to not totally kill one of his players because some random NPC got a nat 20. That was his right as DM. But... leaving you like that was less than cool.

But even worse, when they return to the cave later, you're stuck in a bandit situation. Eddie really, truly, genuinely expected the party to save you. Except, one thing led to another, and you were stabbed through stomach, making you bleed out. Normally, this is where you'd roll your life saving throws.

It wasn't really supposed to play out like that. But he didn't expect the party to roll such terrible throws, all of them accidently leaving you defenseless. Eddie kinda feels bad, but you hurt him first.

What he doesn't expect is Steve Harrington bursting into the drama room, looking frenzied, just a few moments later. The party halts. The last thing happening in the game was the party finishing off the last bandit, and running to your aid. But now, they were all just staring at Steve. Eddie approached his friend, worried about the look in Steve’s eyes.

Steve stood up straight, and cleared his throat. Weakly he says, “something terrible happened.”

And then Steve tells them all about your car accident, and Eddie feels sick. His knees buckle, and Steve has to hold him up. He’s totally disoriented by this news. He feels his heartbeat pounding behind his eyes, and his ears ring loudly, barely registering the panicked talking going on around him

“They're alive,” Steve was shouting, but because people weren’t letting him talk, he had to keep shouting it over the hundred questions. They wouldn't be able to handle it. Not again. Not when Max still hasn't woken up. “Eddie? Can you hear me buddy?”

But Eddie was in shock. He was blaming himself. He killed you.

“Can you walk? I'll drive you,” Steve says, as Gareth searches Eddie's pockets for the keys to the van. “Dustin, get over here, help me get Eddie to the car.” Eddie overhears Jeff tell everyone to meet at the van.

As soon as they get moving, the adrenaline starts pumping through Eddie’s body. He was suddenly able to break free of his friends' aid and pick up his pace, and the three of them ran through the school and into the parking lot. The dim light Steve parked by was flickering, putting a weak spotlight on Eddie as he tugged the door handle on the passenger seat

“Let me unlock it,” Steve snapped, fumbling the keys in his hand. He dropped them, the pressure of Eddie’s stare was kinda terrifying. He got the door open and unlocked the others.

When they were in the car, Eddie was finally alert, if anything overaware.

“What the fuck is going on?” he snapped.

No one said anything. There was nothing they could say that would make Eddie feel better, or calm down. Steve sped out of the parking lot, blowing the stop sign. He really shouldn't have, given the whole reason you were in the hospital.

Eddie squeezed his eyes shut. This wasn't happening. He was wrong. He was being petty and he was hurt because he thought you were being a dick but you were - he was gunna throw up - you were somewhere bleeding. While he was busy killing you, you were actually laying on the asphalt after a violent car crash. And he was thinking you're an asshole

“Their character died,” Eddie said, “I've killed them.”

“It's not gunna happen,” Steve said, gripping the steering wheel. It was a statement he couldn't back up.

At the hospital, Eddie barely waited for the car to stop before he was running inside, tripping over his own feet as he rushed to get to you. dustin was hot on his trail and steve was parking the car.

Eddie saw Nancy with Jonathan over by the nurse's station, and when Nancy saw him, she came hustling over, putting her hands on Eddie's arms. Dustin spoke quietly with Jonathan in the background.

“Relax,” she said, “please breath. They’re okay right now, they’re in surgery, and it's going really well, okay?”

“Wheeler?” Eddie asked, eyes filling with tears he had no control over.

“It has to be fine,” Nancy said, “sit with me.” Nancy Wheeler was not going to lose another friend today. Not again.

And with no other options he listened, following Nancy to an uncomfortable plastic chair that squeaked when he sat. Nancy held his hand over the stiff arm rests, but he didn't find any comfort. He didn't think he would until he was with you again.

Jonathan sat beside Nancy, giving her a sad smile and handing her a bitter coffee. He sat quietly, letting Nancy give Eddie her attention. Dustin sat on the other side of Eddie, also opting to stay quiet. What was anyone supposed to say?

Honestly, the only thing Eddie wanted to hear was your voice.

Nothing changed for the first two days. But on the third day, the only change was in Eddie. He went from sitting quietly by your side to scribbling stuff in a notebook like a crazy person. He would also dip out to go use a library computer, or "check on some things," as he explained to Nancy.

Her and Steve were mutually concerned about Eddie's state. He was constantly babbling about saving you, and how he's figured it out they just have to succeed.

Everyone else got a chance to be worried when they got a call Tuesday saying there was a mandatory Hellfire meeting and anyone not in attendance would be left behind, and unwelcome for the rest of the campaign. He couldn't risk a single missing member. Not with the stakes...

Tuesday evening, Gareth, Jeff, and Keith are the first to arrive. They are curious as to what the hell their bandmate had cooked up, but they were more worried than excited. Eddie hadn't exactly been himself the last couple of days.

They don't expect a set up even more elaborate than usual. The lights are red and blue, making the room feel eerie, and small.

"Welcome to Hell," Eddie said, grinning and holding his arms open wide.

Gareth and Jeff exchanged a look, but were too nervous to speak. Eddie didn't want to explain the objective twice, so he waited for the rest of the party to arrive before he said anything, but the look in his eye feels sinister. His friends suddenly realized how truly fucked Eddie would be if anything happened to you.... like... for keeps.

When the rest of the party is there, they look to Eddie expectantly, but he just continues to smile like a maniac and tells everyone to take their seats. Dustin is confused to see Steve Harrington sneak into the room and lean against the wall.

"I cheated," he says when he has the attention of the flock, "y/n didn't fail the perception check, and therefore their death wasn't fair. However, death is death. So we're going to have to bring them back."

Dustin notices that Steve Harrington's presence is not explained.

Nancy sits at your bedside like she has for the better part of the last four days. She holds a book in one hand, and the other rests casually beside you, near your hand. She looks at you, and then her hand. She gets a supernatural chill.

She puts her book down, and speaks your name quietly, looking for any sign of life from you. One more day of your glass features and she was going to crumble. Nancy shakes the bizarre feeling from her head, and pats your hand.

She shocked when you're ice cold to the touch. She recoils, pulling away fast. But after the initial shock fades, she touches you again. There was no way that was right, right? You were freezing. What the hell was that about? Nancy starts a search for a blanket to warm you up.

A mage freezes your body. The party scavenges for anything that can help and then leave the cave, your frozen body in tow. Another player can't make life saving throws for you, so they were thinking outside the box. They would take you deep, deep into an ancient necromancer's lair, and steal the resurrection stone from around his neck.

Nancy returns with a simply grey blanket, and a very friendly nurse. They had gotten to talking, and Nancy has simply explained how cold you had been, having not thought too much of it. The nurse, Sophie, had decided to come check it out too.

"Oh my gosh," Sophie says, feeling the ice cold skin. "Oh my gosh, she's like ice!"

And leaves Nancy feeling a little worried as she scurries out of the room. It was like she'd never seen anything like it. Nancy feels uneasy, and makes a quick phone call from your bedside phone. Jonathan picks up, and as soon as he hears the concern in her voice, he's on the way.

Nancy hangs up, picks the phone back up, and calls Steve. He picks up on the first ring.

"Something is like... actually happening over here," she whispers, shocked to even be saying it.

"No shot," he says, nearly laughing at the idea. He whispers the next part so the group doesn't hear anything, "I thought we agreed Eddie was just crazy, and this whole 'saving her character will save her' was just to show him that he didn't cause all this."

"I know we did," she said, "but y/n is cold as ice."

Eddie's voice booms as he narrates the perilous journey. After trap rooms, fighting devil dogs, two gargoyles, and a Molydeus that nearly killed Mike. They had made it into the inner sanctum, but had all failed to roll perception upon entering, and set off a fire trap. One that melted the spell on you, leaving you warm enough to die. "Hurry!" Dustin shouted, "engage the necromancer! Hit 'em with everything we got."

Nancy is already back into her book, Jonathan sitting on the floor beside her, leaning his head against the armrest, while she dangles a dainty arm over his shoulder, letting it lay relaxed on his chest. A single beep draws her attention. She notices something different, but she can't say what. Your cheeks are rosy.

Nancy brings her hand off of Jonathan, drawing his attention too. She puts a cool hand against your forehead, and is again shocked by how you feel. You're burning up. You're fucking hot. Like boiling. Nancy runs to find Sophie again.

The turn is Keith's, his mage more powerful than the others, but instead turns his attention to your character. "I cast flesh to stone on y/n!" the mage shouts. "She'll die if she stays like this." "Roll for it!" "18!" "Pass!" Your body is frozen again, this time encased in stone. Another stall, and Eddie knows the party is running out of time.

"You have to feel her head," Nancy says, speed walking with the bubbly nurse hot on her trail. Sophie complies, and gasps.

"It's not possible," she says quietly, "I'm getting the doctor. There's something strange about your friend."

Nancy looks down at you, and jumps out of her skin when the machines start beeping wildly. All of them making different noises, all of them loud. Sophie rushes back in, with more staff behind her. Nancy and Jonathan are ushered out of the room by a woman who explains that you're in a code blue, which means they have to resuscitate you.

Nancy looks around the white hallway. She's overwhelmed and underpaid.

"Stay here," she tells her boyfriend. "This is crazy!"

But she runs off before she explains anything else. She's after a phone, which she finds with no trouble. She fishes a quarter out of her pocket, and uses it to call Steve again. He picks up as fast as last time, desperate for something other than watching dnd.

"Whatever they're doing, tell them to hurry up!" she's shouting, drawing the attention of patients and staff around her. "Something's happening! She's not breathing!"

The necromancer stands injured. The party cornering him, making him cower. He trembles, and begs for his life. He explains that the party came to his home, killed his people, and now wish to rip off the very thing that keeps him alive. "I stab him through the heart, and I take the necklace." Dustin says. As he looks at Steve, he thinks he understands what's going on. "Roll." "For what?" "Dexterity." Dustin rolls his die. The table is silent. The little D20 lands. the group erupts when they see the Nat 20 he rolled, effectively grabbing the necklace and throwing it around your neck from a metre away like horseshoe. As it lands on you, the ground shifts under the party's feet. Everyone stares in silence, both in the campaign and real life. Your character opens her eyes, coughs, and rises.

The party roars to life at the table, cheering at a job well done and slamming hands on the table in excitement. But the cheers are short lived, silence coats the room but this one is different. It's serious, eery. They can see that Steve looks worried, and he's trying to get Nancy to answer him, but he's getting nothing. looking at Steve expectantly. Apparently, everyone had figured out what the plan was. They all knew they were trying to wake you up. Steve says nothing. Just hangs up the phone, looking up with a disappointed frown.

"The line went dead."

Steve is once again driving Eddie to the hospital. And he's a nervous wreck. You're like schrodinger's cat. Eddie doesn't know if you're alive or not. He chews on the side of his thumb during the entire ride. The rest of the club was waiting patiently in the drama room. Eddie and Steve promised to call as soon as they knew anything.

Eddie can't fucking breath as he sprints down the hospital hallways, ignoring every sign and person telling him not to. He doesn't care. He has to get to you.

Wheeler is outside your room talking to a doctor, but with her back to him he couldn't see the bright, beautiful smile on her face talking excitedly about your miraculous recovery. Eddie runs right passed her to your room, and uses the doorframe to propel himself in, scaring both you and Jonathan who had been sitting quietly.

You look pale, and there are bags under your eyes. But you're sporting a weak smile, shaky hands holding a cup of lime jello. Eddie can't help but smile. You're awake, sitting up, and smiling at him. He has to laugh at the like, ten empty jello packages. Jonathan slips out the door without a word, and Eddie takes his seat by your bed.

"I was so fuckin' scared," Eddie says, tears falling from his eyes before he could even process it. He hadn't realized.

You hold your hand out for him and whisper, "Eddie," and he looks up, puppy dog eyes glossy with lingering tears, and heartbreaking to see. He takes your hand. "You didn't do this."

And he cries harder, leaning down and holding your hand to his forehead and begging your forgiveness anyway. "I did," he cries, "out of spite and jealousy, I tried to hurt you, and I did. I let them leave you alone. I made them and I cheated-"

"-Eddie-"

"-and you should've seen the party-"

"-Eddie, seriously-"

"-leaving because you totally passed the, ow, hey!"

You had flicked him on the nose, his babbling giving you no other choice, but as usual he was being dramatic, you hadn't actually hurt him at all.

"Eddie, stop, and listen to me," you say, "you didn't do this. You're not actually all powerful, you know that, right?"

"But-"

"But nothing," you say, smiling. "But Nancy told me that you saved me so no hard feelings."

Eddie smiles back at you, letting you wipe the tears leftover on his flushed cheeks. He leans into your touch and your heart swells. In your mind, you beg him to kiss you. You beg and plead and hope that this will be the time he makes a move.

He knows this is his chance, he leans closer to you, slowly, gauging your reaction. "Is this okay?" he whispers, when he's just an inch from your lips. You feel his breath as he speaks and you can't resist, pushing yourself forward to close the gap. And he kisses you like he's kissed you a hundred times before. Like he already knows everything you will like, even before you do. His lips are so fucking soft against yours, all plush and warm and taking over your senses.

"Well, I guess I can tell the others that you're fine," Steve says, and Eddie pulls away from you. His sudden absence is cold.

"I saved her," Eddie says, grinning. "Nancy said so."

the hair on the back of will's neck having a disco party during this entire fic

[tiredfox64]

So like,,,,,

Imagine if Bi-han and readsr went on a mission, oh yeah things r going very well, but then they stumble on a place that has like woah magic potion, the reader just "hey wld it b funny if I dr-" "no", but then Bi-han wasnt looking and somehow they end up with a reader thats just, the size of his palm

The rest is up to u!

Love ur writings!!!

Pipsqueak

Prior notes: This would be something that would happen to me cause I keep trying to eat inedible things. I've been told to stop trying to eat my DND dice.

Pairing: Bi-Han x Gn reader

Warnings: Hehe you're so small

“Don’t touch anything.”

Bi-Han tells you that every time you go on a mission together. If he can’t have his brothers by his side then he usually picks you to come with him on a mission. Though you have a problem with being serious. You have a habit of making things comedic during serious moments like missions and briefings. You also have a weird habit of touching things that aren’t yours and putting them near your mouth. No one knows why you do it, neither do you. You must be lacking vitamins or something.

Whatever it is, it’s a hazard when you’re on missions. That’s why Bi-Han is always warning you about doing something stupid. It’s for your own good. You don’t know what could happen to you if you touched the wrong item or ingested something you shouldn’t have. The world you live in is a strange one, you never know.

So far, you’re acting right. Liu Kang sent you and Bi-Han out on a mission to investigate a possible rat in Earthrealm, aka a sorcerer. He warned you both to be careful which Bi-Han emphasized that point. He was right to do so.

When you both arrived at the suspected location there were walls filled with strange ingredients and hanging animal carcasses. Creepy. There were rows upon rows of colorful looking potions in wacky bottles. There was one potion in particular that caught your eye. It rested on a wooden desk with different ingredients surrounding it. It looked like whoever was brewing it was making more of a cocktail instead of a magical potion. Citrus peels, brown sugar, and finger lime caviar. It confused you so much that you didn’t take notice of the other potions that were being mixed into the strange concoction. You grabbed the potion that caught your eye, sniffing it and getting hit with that strong citrus smell. Its aroma was tempting you.

“Hey Bi-Han, wouldn’t it be funny if I dr-”

“No!” Bi-Han glared at you.

He motioned for you to put it back where you found it. You did as he said until he turned his back towards you. He started going off about how he wanted this mission to be over and he can’t risk any delays. You weren’t paying attention since your attention was on the potion. It just looked so pretty and smells as sweet as lemonade. It couldn’t hurt to take at least a lick of it. You placed your mouth near the bottle before leaning it up, the liquid flowed slowly to your tongue. You licked it up quickly. Hmm, it does taste like lemona-

Bi-Han heard a poof behind him. He swiftly turned around and saw a cloud of smoke that matched the color of the potion. Once the smoke cleared he tried his best to look for you. But when he looked down all he saw was you with the bottle trapping you inside. Ah geez, you’re small.

He stared in disbelief. It was clear what just happened. You didn’t obey your grandmaster.

“What did I tell you!” He yelled which sounded much louder to you since you were so tiny now.

You looked very guilty. Your head was lowered in shame. You looked up at Bi-Han with pleading eyes, begging him to get you out of the bottle. He has no choice, he has to. He picks up the bottle and begins to dump you out onto the palm of his hand.

You’re putting him in a difficult position right now. One wrong move and he could accidentally crush you. Or worse, even freeze you. You didn’t like this outcome. You look like you were on the verge of tears even though you were warned. He groaned as he contemplated what to do now. Should he abandon the mission and bring you back safely? Or should he march forward and try his best to keep you safe? He didn’t realize it but he was so lost in thought he didn’t hear you yelling at him.

“Please, have mercy!”

When he looked down he saw he was gripping you tightly. His thumb was rubbing the top of your head which messed with your hair. He opened his hands, allowing you to breathe. This situation was already sucking. This can’t go on; he has to bring you back. Maybe Lord Liu Kang can reverse this mess.

Bi-Han didn’t want to keep you in his hands just in case he needed to fight. The problem is he has nowhere else to put you. Each possible area he could put you in would possibly squeeze you. The only spot he could think of was…sigh. He raised you up before placing you at the top of his head.

“Just hold on tightly please.”

You listened this time. Too well actually. Your impulsive thoughts won and you ended up yanking a strand of his hair on the left side of his hair. You had your Ratatouille moment. He actually raised his arm just like the movie taught you! But he might have been doing it just to smack you for yanking.

“NOT THAT TIGHT!”

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

Getting a hold of Liu Kang was difficult. No one knew where he was or what he was doing. Not a good time for him to be MIA.

Believe it or not, Bi-Han was getting very worried about this situation. Having you as small as a rat made him worried about losing you. He was keeping you close to him at all times, not even allowing Tomas or Kuai Liang to poke you. In his eyes, you were as fragile as a glass animal now.

He kept you with him until someone could get a hold of Liu Kang. He kept you on his desk to keep a close eye on you. It felt like you were being treated like a child. Every time you moved close to the edge; Bi-Han would tense up before blocking you with his hands. He would drag you back by pinching the back of your uniform.

“Stay still. Are you trying to get yourself killed?” He asked.

Then he tried keeping you in a birdcage he so conveniently had. You wouldn’t stop moving! You were put in little creature jail for little creature crimes. Yup, you still wouldn’t listen. You would try climbing the sides before trying to squeeze yourself through. You thought you succeeded until your hips hit the bars. Bi-Han was about to lose it on you but if he yelled he might burst your eardrums. He tried pushing you back in but every time he would poke your face you would bite him because it was uncomfortable. He did not want to try your backside. He eventually had to break the cage a little to allow you to crawl out.

That didn’t work out in his favor, what else he got?

He placed you right in front of him with his arms surrounding you. It allowed him to continue doing his paperwork while keeping you in one place. If you tried to run past his hands he would smack you back. Try climbing up his arms and he would twitch his muscles to make you fall. Like a horse trying to get a fly off. Front is no good, sides are no good, you went with the back. You started climbing up his clothes. This was the last straw for Bi-Han. You were like a devious rat that couldn’t listen to its master.

He snatched you up before shoving you into his top. The multiple layers of his uniform were usually tight against his body but there was enough space to shove you into it. Your back was pressed up against his chest area which felt like a brick wall. You tried to scramble out of there but the clothes were pressing you tight like a weighted blanket. You were tucked in nicely against your will. You struggled and struggled until you tired yourself out. You don’t have much fight left in you which was fine by Bi-Han. It was a long day already and that little fight you put up drained you out. You started to succumb to the comfort that enveloped you. It was no use, you were falling asleep.

After a while, Bi-Han noticed you weren’t saying a peep. When he looked down he saw you were knocked out. It was night and still no Liu Kang. Hopefully he will have better luck tomorrow. He should find a better place for you to sleep where you will be safe. He took you out and placed you on your stomach in the palm of his hand. He petted your back with one finger to prevent you from waking up. He kind of likes you this way. So punny and pathetic, it’s so adorable. You would have no choice but to depend on him for everything. Ah, he shouldn’t be thinking that way. He should focus on you getting back to normal. Still can’t help that he finds this situation a bit entertaining. Maybe he’ll drag this out a little longer just to see what else he could do with you.

After notes: All I could think of was Marc Anthony and Pussyfoot when writing this. That was the energy I was getting. I just saw a drawing that was like this idea which included Bi-Han. Strange. Adiós!

[sprintingowl]

BEANJACKERS

Hey. We need to talk about BEANJACKERS.

BEANJACKERS is a tabletop roleplaying game that looks like Jack And The Beanstalk and plays like One Piece.

It is twenty pages. It is easy to read. And it's got about as many rules as DnD 5e. They're all packed densely into it, and you can read them and learn the whole system in about fifteen minutes.

From a design perspective, I'm angry. When you make one of these things you're supposed to have to pick between having detailed rules and having easy to comprehend rules and having a short book. BEANJACKERS casually picks all three. It's a triumph of miniaturization. And worse, it's fun.

Character creation includes multiple classes and multiple professions, each with branching choices, plus a full equipment list and a spell list. This makes characters quick to roll up and unique---but the most compelling part of making a new character is somehow assigning their stats.

Each stat is split into a Guard and a Boost. Your Guard is your defense with the stat and your Boost is a pool you can spend to buff rolls. This gives you a *lot* of control over the dice during play---but then a bunch of things like how many objects you can conceal on your person scale off of how many points are currently in your relevant Boost pool, so you're constantly weighing your ability to stay safe vs your ability to go loud and take big risks.

Also the writing is great.

BEANJACKERS takes itself seriously, even while knowing that it's called BEANJACKERS. But the setting's currency is in pulses (gold pulses are GP, silver pulses are SP, etc.) The world exists in a sort of post-beanstalkpocalyptic airship feudalism. Beans are basically Devil Fruit, and they bestow great powers on those who find them.

My only complaint about BEANJACKERS is that it came out this year (2024), and so there's currently only the core book. It feels like a game that desperately needs a wave of third party content---not because anything in core is lacking, but because I desperately want to see how big this setting can get.

It's also not a game that I think *replaces* any other system. It's not a 5e killer. It doesn't outdate Into The Odd. It's dang good in its own right, but you're going to want to sit down and write an adventure and do some worldbuilding before you run it.

I think anyone who likes osr is going to have their brain light up when they read BEANJACKERS---same as with anyone who likes Shadowrun or One Piece. I also think folks who homebrew 5e will *really* want to take a look, as it's almost a best practices guide. Lastly, I think anyone who likes games with goofy concepts (this is how it got me) will be very pleasantly bowled over by BEANJACKERS, which starts with a zany premise and uses it to become one of the best games I've read this year.

[davekat-sucks]

Im not a poc, or at least if im mixed im white passing so maybe i dont get an opinion on this

But i dont get why people want so badly the trolls who would be out to be racist charactictures of poc, to be poc? Like just because they are stereotypes and shit, it comes off like theyve never interacted with actual poc in their life?

For every "poc druggie" gamzee type ive met, ive met three more who were white or white passing.

Same for like eridan, feferi, meenah, etc. Etc. They all remind me of white people ive met irl over any poc i met. Ive met a lot of meenahs, eridans, feferis, during my life- all white. Most of the time black people ive met or poc on general just break all those molds, while white people just fill the niche? If that make sense? Like theyre stereotypes for a reason, more often than not theyre not accurate, their slander or even just projection.

Hell feferi comes across as one of those white girl who have white girl savoir complexes but still fuck up and fail and secretly hate all the responsibility theyve put on themselves trying to be "perfect ally".

Also Hs^2 attempt to retcon the symbolic black silhouette used for older/adult trolls to make that come across as mythologically mysterious and stuff that were being accused of being black face back in the day that are now just no actually trolls skin just gets darker with age, as if thats not arguably worse? Its a retcon to "unproblematic-ify" the problems of HS proper, but in its attempt to do so.. is worse somehow???

Like as a hole, the fandoms attempt to retcon and fix fhe racism...feels like its just being actually racist. Like go ahead and read into and pick apart Hussi's writing decesions all you want, but like. Even in well meaning jest, i feel like they fail, so terribly hard.

Homestuck trolls are trolls. Not humans. Yes part of the joke is their culture largely is earth but trollified. But i think in their rightousness to do better then the yeah, admittedly shitty aged comic we all love, theyve done it and themselves dirty. Theyve took the joke too far, and i dont think they are even in on the joke at all.

Adult trolls being only shadow black silhouettes were suppose to mirror the human Guardians as they are all white. Part of it was for the mysterious theme, as said. But likely have became an actual thing because of The Condesce being the only living adult troll at the time, who still appeared as a black silhouette even up to her death. She could have possibly stayed that way as a familiarity of kids vs adults and how she is intimidating and the final boss, but it's a thing now that trolls having darker skin as they age is canon. Hey, the fandom wants dark skin on trolls so they can project POC on it. They got their wish. I think when people try to make trolls or humans as 'accurate' as possible for being POC, it soon becomes more of a stereotype than actual diversity and representation. They deny about it and some praise that the over-exaggeration of traits is good representation. The characters become more like someone's OC than the actual characters they were from. Drawing on-model is a sin in the Western fandom. Some also don't realize some implications considering what happens to certain characters to a series. Like if someone headcanons that Eridan was trans, people forget that he was killed by Kanaya. Does that mean Kanaya was in the right for killing a trans person then? What about Vriska being black and Aradia as Asian? Her killing an Asian person is now okay? It's why we got shit like people being upset that Gamzee and Meenah are supposedly black stereotypes.

It's sad that nobody can accept fantasy or sci-creatures as they are. It's why we got shot like orcs in DND now being GOOD people when they were just monsters. Everything has to be connected or related to human standards. They can never have their own customs, cultures, or beliefs.

[calextheneko]

Mind Flayer Transformations, the Soul, and the Self

So before we get started, this is gonna be nerdy, breaking down some details about how a monster works and is created in DnD. It's also going to contain some Baldur's Gate 3 spoilers which I will put a warning about once we reach that point.

So Mind Flayers... The opening scene of Baldur's Gate 3 has you have a mind flayer stick a tadpole that crawls under your eye into your brain and yeah that's horrifying. Even more terrifying is the fact that in a matter of days, the tadpole will transform you into a mind flayer, and the person you are now will cease to exist and your new body becomes part of the hive mind.

Now, here's where things get really scary and why the situation is so dire in the game for those who don't know DnD lore. Turning into a Mind Flayer is a fate worse than death. They're like vampires but worse. Vampires need blood but have the option to feed on non-sapient creatures. Mind flayers will literally die of hunger unless they eat the brains of sapient creatures. If you somehow manage to keep your sense of self after the transformation, there is no moral lifestyle you can live. You are an inherently destructive creature that can only survive by brutally murdering other sapient creatures. You can try to go after evil people only but, how much can you trust your judgement? How long till you make a mistake? And do you have the right to act as judge, jury and executioner? Is your own morality so well defined that you have the right to decide who lives and who dies.

Now... Moving on from that, there's an even more terrifying fact. And this is the fact that when you become a Mind Flayer your souls is destroyed. ZIp, gone, poof. Nothing remains. This means the second you become a mind flayer you are barred from the afterlife forever. Which we have multiple confirmed afterlives in DnD so you know... This is something where it is a definite loss. Instead of an eternity of paradise (or punishment if you were evil) you just flat out cease to exist. No reincarnation for you, no afterlife. No soul. Of course, for some evil people, this might make the transformation appealing, seeing it as a way to avoid an eternity in Hell. Because much like lichdom this will keep them from dying of old age and could in theory allow them to live forever escaping punishment for all their evil deeds.

Except there's a key difference between a mind flayer and lich. A lich still possesses their soul. It's simply not in their body, but kept in a safe place that they have access to. This means if a lich is destroyed properly their soul will go face its eternal judgement. A mind flayer has no soul at all.

And here we come to the horrifying implications about Mind Flayer transformations. The transformation is lethal. A soulless body is just a husk, you can see this in this universe in spells that steal a soul and just leave an empty body with nobody home assuming the body isn't destroyed in the process. Your soul is who you are. So what does it mean to not just lose your soul but to have it destroyed and yet still somehow retain your sense of self?

Simple, you're not yourself. You're dead. You no longer exist. But, the mindflayer is a newborn. If they were just born, and are not connected to the hive mind through an Elder Brain, then the only thing they have to go on about who the are would be the memories storied in the brain that was used to create them. In short, when you become a mind flayer the real you dies. What is left is a mind flayer that believes it is you because it has all of your memories and experiences so concludes that must be its identity. This is sort of like Buffy vampire rules. When someone becomes a vampire, soul is gone and a demon inhabits the body that can retain aspects of the original person's personality but is still just a demon wearing their face. That's what a mind flayer with a sense of self is. Just a demon wearing the face of the person whose body they stole and soul they erased.

And this is why the stakes in BG3 are so high for your characters personally. You're not just trying to stop the transformation and survive. You're trying to avoid being completely erased from existence.

And now we start the actual spoilers.

There are a couple of 'friendly' mindflayers you can meet throughout the game who claim to be the original selves. As stated earlier, without a soul this isn't possible. They would be beings who simply believe themselves to be the original, unaware themselves that their creation erased the original from existence. It's like... If someone made a clone of you then killed the original you, the clone exists and claims to be you but the real original you is gone.

And there are signs.

Let's discuss the Emperor first. At first glance, he seems to be helpful. But, he's also extremely manipulative and is all take and no give. He stresses the need for trust, but never actually trusts you while demanding you trust him unconditionally. If you try to keep anything secret from him he will force his way into your mind and pry out the secret from your mind. Throughout the game he will show a complete lack of empathy for your situation, a complete failure to understand why you might take any issue with the morality of his methods, excusing it as pragmatism which he does some pretty evil acts. He's keeping a a person imprisoned for all eternity so he can siphon their power. And they're aware of it. That's messed up.

But it gets worse. If you decide to go evil, and at the end of the game decide to hijack the Netherbrain and take over the world. If you do so with the Emperor's assistance, he reveals he had already considered the idea. His reasons for being against it aren't on any moral basis. No, they're because doing so would put you at war with the gith that would only end when one side was wiped out a war he's not sure he could win. In short, self-preservation is the only reason he doesn't want to take over the world. If you convince him you can win, he will enslave the Netherbrain, but not stop there... He will transform you and your party all into his thralls completely under his control despite insisting he was a friend. Even if you romance him. There's no morality here, just a monster who needs pawns outside the prism he's in to survive, and would gladly become the main villain himself given the chance. In fact, should you not 100% agree to go with his version of the plan, he will immediate betray you join the Netherbrain and show up in the final battle, dominating your forces to serve the Netherbrain. This is a far cry from the hero he was before his transformation in attitude. And brings into question a lot of things you know.

Furthermore... You can get some interesting bits out of him should you anger him enough. His previous lover... If you make him angry enough you can get him to admit he actually made her his thrall. And if you argue with him a lot he will specifically refer to you as his puppet. The Emperor doesn't understand morality. He has no soul, how could he? He understands what he needs to survive, and so long as that equation include you then he will keep you on your side.

Next up, I forget his name... But there's the mind flayer you meet in the Underdark. Now, we don't get to know him as well but he says a lot of rather scary things if you take the time to think about it. When you ask him about how he survives his hunger, he talks about how he had an arrangement with a lich.

"The lich needed souls and I needed brains."

He helped feed souls to a lich to acquire brains. And while he says the agreement broke down because of moral disagreements.... Like, feeding a lich souls so you can then eat the brains is already crossing the moral event horizon.

Now he says he feeds on those who act against the interest of the Society of Brilliance while working on a way to find a way to survive without brains. Now this might sound good at first... But remember the Society is... kind of terrible. And has official experiments like... Let's kidnap an unborn gith child while they're in an egg so we can raise them away from their people and see what happens. So, if you're morally opposed to kidnapping unborn children. Congrats, you're acting against the interests of the society and now free game to be a brain snack. The Society is a group of scientific discovery but not one restricted by morality. This means a lot of innocent people can wind up dead simply for refusing to participate in experiments. After all, if you get the gith egg for the Society you'll most likely have to kill off all the caretakers in the nursery to get it.

Now, there's also your player character if they become a Mind Flayer. So... Again, they act like themselves, but again no soul, you ceased to exist. At this point you are someone who thinks they are you because they have their memories and your original character is gone. Can even see some hints of this in the ending with possible dialog options where they think about ending themselves... Or completing embracing what they are and eating all the brains that they can want.

Finally, Prince Orpheus himself, the Comet Prince, last hope of the Gith. And probably the closest thing we have to an actual moral mind flayer should he transform. The second he does, as established Orpheus is dead, what stands before you is an Orpheus clone with his memories and thinks he's him but isn't.

And some may ask well what's the difference. And I point back to the clone point earlier. If someone makes a copy of you and kills you, the copy going on to live doesn't mean you live. Just a copy. So, Orpheus like all mind flayers his original self is dead and someone with his memories is born.

The reason I say he's the most moral. All of Orpheus' memories point to him seeing mindflayers as the ultimate evil, things that should be destroyed on sight. Since he believes these are his memories and personality. He kills himself once the final battle is over. His memories recognize the urges he feels and recognize him as a being of pure evil that he's become and so he ends his own life rather that allow that evil to exist. If anyone else without such strong memories and thoughts about how evil mind flayers were and how uncontroillable their urges were, things could end much worse... Like some endings with a player character mind flayer and like what the Emperor becomes.

So... Yeah... There is no Mind Flayer version of you after the transformation. You're gone. Freaking Jergal himself confirms mind flayers don't have souls. Wait, I mean Withers. (Spoiler alert, Withers is Jergal) And as the original god of the death who has domain over all souls he's a bit more in the know about what does and doesn't have a soul than a mind flayer. So much so that he mocks the Dead Three in the ending for their plan being flawed from the start. Talking about how their plan was self-defeating. They hoped to control a bunch of souls by infecting them with mind flayer tadpoles and collecting those souls for power. But since the second the mind flayer transformation occurs those souls cease to exist, their plan would not result in them getting an ounce of power to bring themselves back properly or act out future plan. There's a reason I prefer to call them the Dead Twats.

So um yeah... This conclude my Ted Talk on Mind Flayers and why no, you do not want to become one, because doing so is instant death. Thanks for coming, and have a good one.

Edit:

Oh shoot all my post are DnD and Baldur's Gate related but one right now. I better start posting some Pathfinder lore and content posts before people mistake me for a 5e Player.

[midnightsun-if]

*cracks fingers* we need more lore

(Disclaimer I've been trying to keep up w/asks; but your pretty darn active (tytytytyty soo much for that!) and I might have missed something)

Assumption: vampires can enjoy food and not just liquids (otherwise our sis might be torturing us with the smell of cookies; ooooff) Is a vampires sense of taste also enhanced as it goes hand in hand with smell?

Assumption: Vampires can cry, is it normal tears in the game or blood? (Down for either tbh just curious at this point)

Is silver something a vampire or a werewolf should generally avoid? (Does it burn the skin, does it cause a unique reaction in their blood, does it somehow weaken them ect)

Werewolves; I do not believe anyone has asked what happens on a full moon? Is it just "a legend"? Do they have to transform that night? Or do they simply get grumpy, or anxious, or irritated, ect?

A lot of lore has elemental beings such as Phoenix's being weak of the climate of there opposite element(aka North Pole bad). Do Phoenix's experience this? Or is any race weekend by climate for that matter?

I am also assuming Phoenix's do not just...burst into flames and rebirth when very injured based on other questions about immortality/races/C?

Speaking of my favorite RO! How large is their bird form more or less? We know that the wolves are literally big enough to put a saddle on apparently; flames aside, would a Phoenix theoretically be able to carry a person? Even if its LoTR style eagles in claws?

Regarding the Shadow-Kin, are they more rogue/spy vibe....we talking full on DND assassin stabbystabby or more corporate espionage?

I’m always willing to give you more lore whenever I can! Of course, things are subject to change as I flesh things out, but I’ll try my best to give you most concrete ideas I have!

I enjoy interacting with you all as much as I can! It’s something that brings me tremendous joy, especially when you all include little blurbs about my characters and what you’re excited to see. I truly appreciate all the support that Midnight Sun has acquired. ❤️❤️❤️

Vampires can enjoy food, not just liquids?

Correct. Though I wouldn’t say they enjoy it necessarily. Vampires can definitely eat human food but it doesn’t really do anything for them, and some vampires find the taste absolutely revolting or just muted so they don’t see the point of doing it. Most of the time, for the vamps that do eat human food, and actually wish to enjoy it (somewhat), and get sustenance from it, blood is added into the mix. So you’ll have things like blood cookies, or blood suckers (lollipops), and various other things.

Is a vampires sense of taste enhanced?

It is in a sense, but not in a way that you’d be able to pick out every single ingredient individually, which is another reason why the vampires that find human food revolting stay away from it. For the ones that don’t it just adds a little kick, but nothing that’d be considered detrimental to the “experience”.

Vampires can cry— is it normal tears or blood? Something else?

It’s actually broken down venom! As you’ve probably noticed a vampires venom is of great importance— not just because it’s the thing that changed them/keeps them still kicking, but it offers a lot of other bonuses that wouldn’t otherwise be available. Vampires, and the venom in a sense, try to copy humanity as closely as it can (with some obvious differences) due to the fact that humans used to be the main food source, it’d made hunting easier and blending in a smooth transition.

Hence vampires being able to “bleed” if a wound is deep enough. As the blood a vampire drinks not only satiates their hunger but it also flows through their veins to give a semblance of… being alive, I guess. It’s why if a vampire hasn’t fed in a while they start to turn colder (in a temperature sense), look a bit more pallid, and generally look a bit worse for wear. (Of course, the blood that you’d bleed isn’t actually yours but that’s just semantics.)

Is silver something that vampires or werewolves should generally avoid?

Not at all! No one truly knows how that myth started up— some suspect it was just a ploy to make Hunters think they had the advantage when they actually didn’t— but it’s not the case in the slightest.

In fact, when the Voltaire Family has to host the annual unity ball (let’s just call it that) wherein Hunters attend, Scarlett wears silver everything (necklaces, rings, etc), because it’s a long proven myth that’s been debunked but is still a wound in the Hunters ego. She has a blast every time she sees their faces. (For those wondering why Hunters would be allowed near other supernatural species, it’s because since the supernatural world has tried to integrate with humanity they haven’t really needed to be in supply. They’re more bounty hunter type things now, going after criminals and the like.)

Does the full moon have an influence over werewolves like in the myths?

Yes and no. Younger wolves, that haven’t really learned control, or haven’t been trained accordingly, can be swayed a bit more by the moon, but it doesn’t force them to shift, nor does it turn them into mindless hunting machines. However, the legend does have a kernel of truth on why the myth started in the first place. Centuries before, when the supernatural world was still hidden, werewolves typically had big hunts on the night of the full moon, as it gave off more light, and one pack in particular was quite… ruthless. Stories spread of it, of that pack and it’s unrelenting intensity, and the werewolf myth with the full moon began.

Some wolves do get a bit grumpy during it though. Not because the moon is doing something, but because people always have something to say about it. (Sloane has never had a good time.)

Are Phoenixes weakened by the cold? Are there any species that are?

Phoenixes are quite hardy, they have to be, but do they enjoy being in colder weather? Not particularly, but it’s not something that’d be of great detriment to them. Are they comfortable? Not really. Would they be able to survive? Yes. It’s something that they could do, in a sense, but wouldn’t particularly enjoy. Though Ice Phoenixes feel the exact same way about fire.

As for other species? The underwater species tend to avoid heat, at least an excessive force of it, due to the fact that it feels like they’re drying out (though it just depends on the different types), but I’ll have to go back through my notes to look at specific species! I’ll have to remind myself to make a post about that!

Do Phoenixes get reborn?

They used to. It’s a gift that has since been lost. For reasons that you’ll uncover within the game.

How large are Phoenixes?

Phoenixes, at least when you’re talking about the shifters, vary in sizes from a Peregrine Falcon to a Martial Eagle.

However, actual Phoenixes, where the name was derived from, were much bigger and would easily be able to carry a person. (Like with Dragon Shifters, actual dragons are always bigger.)

Unfortunately, Phoenixes have gone extinct and only the ones that had been blessed with their gift are left.

How big is C’s shifted form?

C is quite large for the typical Phoenix. They have a wingspan of about, roughly in any case, 13-14 feet.

Shadow Kin specification?

It’s more corporate type espionage, at least in the scope of Midnight Sun, but afterward, you can HC your MC taking various other paths!

[jazlynriddle]

Welcome to your life - Pt 2:

Acting On Your Best Behaviour Ch 3:

Summary:

They'd seen it in their fellow orphans often enough to recognise the pattern and were now forced to admit, despite their hopes to the contrary, that Isidora had likely suffered similar side effects.

No… they'd always known she had. The Keeper had just wanted the power that Ranrok had, enough to convince themselves that they would be able to handle it better than that naive woman.

With the start of the Keeper’s sixth-year in Hogwarts, comes a whole slew of headache-inducing challenges from the most unexpected of places. Between insignificant pests throwing wrenches into their plans and tedious teenage drama, that the Keeper is entirely unprepared for, they wonder if they'll make it to their NEWTs without losing their sanity.

Or worse, Ominis or Sebastian.

Warnings: Sebastian x MC x Ominis! Drug Addiction! Spoilers! Slow-burn corruption! Dark content! Fucked up 1800s orphanages! MC has no love for Anne or Solomon! Dubious happy ending (it's happy for MC, Seb and Ominis at least).

You can also read on AO3! (chapter specific warnings below)

Notes:

Warnings: Cuddles! And that 'drug addiction' AO3 tag is on this second installment's tag list for a reason, so trigger warnings for that sort of thing!

Also, big announcement! I will be taking a three week break from posting, because my wonderful partner who is both my muse and my beta, is going on an overseas University grad trip holiday! So, I'm taking a holiday too!

Or well, more like I'm going to take the time to work on my DnD campaign and stock piling chapters for this fic too, this chapter literally just finished editing today, and I like having a few chapters of buffer before my uploads.

So, this'll be good for me, hope ya'll understand and don't worry, in the words of everyone's favorite T-800, I'll be back!

As Sunday drew closer, the Keeper found themselves experiencing a strange sense of anticipation, not unlike the feeling they'd get when approaching a pensive after completing one of the Elder Keepers' Trials.

The feeling only grew as the day finally arrived. Even Sebastian seemed excited as the three of them flooed to Feldcroft, shadowed by their stalkers as always. The Keeper found it beyond frustrating that the floo system required that its users loudly and clearly proclaim their destination for all to hear, but regardless.

As they made their way to the house, the Keeper felt their anticipation peak. Making it difficult to contain their eagerness as they pushed open the door, their eyes immediately drawn to the brick they'd hidden the last jar behind.

"Looks like the idiots got waylaid by the Ndiaye twins." The Keeper barely heard Sebastian as they strode quickly over to the wall, waving their wand to accio the brick out of the way.

"At least we'll have some proper privacy now." Ominis' voice was tinged with relief.

The Keeper sighed as they took the jar into their hands. It was so tempting to just partake of its contents immediately, but they were here to rest, a boost right now wouldn't make sense. Surely, they would be better served saving it for later, but somehow, having it in their hands made that hard to remember, as they stared at the energy swirling invitingly in its containment.

Suddenly, a pair of arms draped over their shoulders and the Keeper jolted in surprise. How had they not noticed Sebastian's approach-

"What have you got ther- oh, you still had a jar left?" Sebastian's voice was merely curious, but the Keeper felt strangely defensive at his words.

"Well, two is one and one is none. I always plan for contingencies." The Keeper tried to pass it off casually with a dismissive wave as they shoved the jar into their pouch.

"...did you suggest coming here just to retrieve that?" Ominis asked hesitantly, his suspicion barely concealed.

The Keeper had to force themselves not to tense, since Sebastian would most certainly feel it. "Of course not, it just happened to be a secondary goal I took into consideration."

Ominis didn't look all that convinced but mercifully dropped the topic, sitting on the bed and holding a hand out. "Alright… then come, I can hear your feet dragging. You must be exhausted."

Sebastian nodded in agreement, removing himself from their back and guiding the Keeper towards the bed with a hand on their waist. With a fond sigh, the Keeper allowed themselves to be led, taking Ominis' hand, and letting him pull them down to the bed with him.

Ominis smiled as he sat against the headboard, guiding the Keeper to rest their head on his lap, stroking his long fingers through their hair. Forcing themselves to not think about the jar, the Keeper took a deep breath, focusing instead on the soothing sensation and allowing their mind to drift as Sebastian also climbed onto the bed.

"Finally." Sebastian sighed contentedly, as he wiggled under their arm, snuggling up against the Keeper's side and resting his head on their shoulder.

It was surprising how much he'd missed cuddling with his partners over a single month. Not that he was a particularly cuddly guy, he just, well, it was nice. It was… comforting to be able to hold his loved ones close, to have Ominis and the Keeper safely in his arms, knowing that they weren't going anywhere.

Over the holiday, Sebastian had gotten used to having the ability to freely soothe the anxiety, that would randomly attack him during the day, by pulling one of them close. While the three of them had still gotten to spend time together during meals and classes, it wasn’t enough, and the stalking had proven to be incredibly intrusive. None of them could feel comfortable, knowing that they were being watched.

Which deity had they pissed off to the point that the Keeper was sharing all their classes with either Macnair or Selwyn? Fine, the chances were already high, purely because the Keeper was taking so many NEWTs in the first place, but he still didn't like it anyway.

It felt too much like how Anne had been shadowed by their uncle all over again. Unable to have a peaceful moment just being with the Keeper and Ominis, without the stress of knowing someone was just waiting for one of them to fuck up and give the bullies leverage against the three.

It helped that he could still spend some time alone with Ominis, but he missed the long hours he'd spent running through the forest, along the coast and over the mountains with the Keeper.

Last year had been full of stress, pain, and fear, but fighting alongside the Keeper, doing everything they could to reach their goals, had kept him going. Looking back, he almost missed it, for the freedom they'd had.

Sebastian admittedly hadn't expected the Keeper to be quite as affected as they seemed, drifting from class to class and errand to meal, in a distant daze, looking exhausted. He'd also noticed that the Keeper had suddenly developed an entire range of tics, from bouncing their knee, to digging at the skin around their nails.

In all the time he'd known the Keeper, they had rarely shown anything less than confidence, only dropping their stoic facade when in battle. So, it was disturbing seeing them so unsettled, and Sebastian had never been at such a loss for what to do. At least with Anne, there was a clear objective, a problem that needed solving. Here, he couldn’t even tell what precisely was distressing the Keeper.

He could tell that this was wearing on Ominis too. Ominis had always been sensitive to the feelings of people around him and, as an overthinker, he was never very good at dealing with prolonged stress.

Sebastian hated not being able to alleviate any of the stress his partners were under. He couldn’t even help the Keeper with the bullies since he and Ominis were already targets as well.

At this point, the Keeper was spending more of their weekends with Poppy and Natsai than with Ominis and himself. It burned, knowing that he couldn’t help more than two girls who didn't even know what was going on.

Speaking of Poppy, now that he was paying more attention, he'd quickly noticed what Ominis had been speaking about. She was just a little too… eager around their Keeper. She hadn't done anything 'bad' but there was definitely something irritating about the way she kept trying to catch the Keeper's attention.

Worse still, was that the Keeper never really rejected her advances. They'd deflected her invitations occasionally, but the Keeper never firmly put her in her place, and now that they were accepting her invitations more often than not, Poppy had been getting bolder.

She'd even interrupted a conversation between the Keeper and himself on Tuesday! The nerve, strolling up to them to invite the Keeper to a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks on Saturday. It stung when the Keeper seemed unbothered by the intrusion and even proceeded to accept her invitation, right in front of him.

Sebastian understood that the Keeper had an easier time keeping the bullies busy with company, and that accepting Poppy's invite had given him a chance to oversee the construction of the secondary gate yesterday.

Didn't mean he liked the fact that the Keeper had basically rewarded Poppy for being rude towards him.

"Can't sleep?" Ominis' voice interrupted Sebastian's thoughts, he wondered for a moment if Ominis was speaking to him, but it wasn't likely since he wasn't the one here to sleep.

"You could tell?" The Keeper sighed, their voice rumbling into Sebastian's ear, pressed against their chest.

"You have a few tells when you sleep." Sebastian could hear the smile in Ominis' tone.

"Do I? Like what?" The Keeper asked curiously as Sebastian opened his eyes to peer at his partners lazily.

Ominis chuckled, flashing a mischievous grin. "If I told you, I would no longer be able to tell when you're actually sleeping."

The Keeper snorted in amusement, running the fingers of their left hand through Sebastian's hair. "Fair."

Sebastian opened his mouth, words on his tongue when he was interrupted again, this time, by muffled voices from outside the house.

"...came here just to… haven't visited us since… and now… all day… here watching… instead!?" An indignant feminine voice reverberated through the window.

"...not that babe… mudblood… dangerous… protecting…" That sounded like Macnair.

"...attacked us… stay away… for…" That was a bit harder to make out but the cajoling voice was most likely Selwyn.

"...can't believe this!" Another feminine voice shouted.

"Wait babe!" Selwyn called out, and the sounds of footsteps faded into the distance.

Sebastian rolled his eyes at the bits of conversation he'd made out. "Sounds like those idiots are getting scolded for neglecting their girlfriends while stalking us."

"Good, serves them right." Ominis muttered irritably.

Sebastian grinned. "Wonder if we should have given the twins the porn mags I found in their trunks. That would have been fun to watch."

"Ugh, no thanks, I wouldn't even want to touch them." Ominis wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"You guys found porn?" The Keeper asked in a bemused tone.

"For once, I was glad to be blind." Ominis sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"It was pretty bad." Sebastian chuckled. "The women in them were all ridiculously disproportionate, there was one with breasts larger than the stew bowl at dinn-"

"Merlin Sebastian! Finishing that description will surely make my ears bleed.” Ominis exclaimed, pressing his hands over his ears protectively. “I'm already blind, I don't want to go deaf too!"

The Keeper burst into laughter. "And there goes your mental image of bowls."

Ominis groaned as he lowered his hands. "Honestly, I can't say if my mental image of anything is accurate after growing up with this one."

"I am absolutely offended, I should like to think that my analogies are perfectly accurate." Sebastian protested, sitting up and crossing his arms indignantly.

"It's called tact, Sebastian. Not everything should be perfectly accurate." Ominis rolled his eyes.

"Aha! So, you do admit that my descriptions are accurate!" Sebastian beamed triumphantly.

The Keeper grinned fondly, propping themselves up on an elbow and reaching up to pat Sebastian on the head. "Yes love, they're perfectly accurate."

"...somehow when you say it like that, it no longer feels like a good thing." Sebastian replied in a flat monotone, the petulant air around him tickling one of the Keeper’s favourite rare chuckles from Ominis.

The Keeper had first heard Ominis laugh that way while searching for the Scriptorium entrance and it still bothered them how much they'd liked the sound. Even more upsetting was the fact that they hadn’t found a way to consistently coax that sound from him.

"Are you sure you don't want to try to sleep more?" Ominis' concerned voice interrupted their wandering thoughts as he brushed a hand over the Keeper’s cheek, feeling the heavy bags under their eyes.

The Keeper smiled ruefully, that was a tone they liked much less. Yet another odd occurrence was how much it bothered them, hearing Ominis worried. They'd never been all that concerned with other people's feelings, as long as it didn't come back to bite them in the ass, but these two boys somehow kept managing to garner strange reactions from them.

Sadly, the Keeper couldn't do anything about it this time, they'd tried their best and really couldn't sleep. Perhaps if they'd managed to fool Ominis, they'd have continued lying down, but that certainly hadn't panned out.

"It's alright, it's enough for me to spend a few hours relaxing with the two of you." The Keeper sighed, pressing a kiss against Ominis' palm.

Ominis shivered slightly at the softness against his sensitive hands but relented with a sigh. "I suppose that will have to do."

The Keeper smiled, pleased to have successfully consoled him. They'd had some concern that Ominis would regret calling them out on their attempt to feign sleep.

"It's almost one, maybe we should have something to eat." Sebastian suggested helpfully.

The Keeper hummed agreeably. "Not a bad idea, and since our stalkers seem occupied out of earshot, perhaps it's also a good time for me to get a proper report from Tynx…"

"Whatever happened to relaxing?" Ominis sighed as he shook his head.

"There are still many hours in the day, surely we can spare a moment." The Keeper waved a hand dismissively as they properly sat upright on the edge of the bed. "Tynx, Tibsy."

Ominis sighed again as the elves appeared with a pop.

Tibsy took one look at the Keeper and immediately her eyes widened with concern. "Is Master ill?"

The Keeper shook their head, ignoring the vindicated glance Ominis levelled at them. "I'm alright Tibsy, just tired. Please prepare a hearty lunch for us."

"Yes Master!" Tibsy squeaked eagerly and began shuffling towards the kitchen area, disappearing behind the dividing curtain.

The Keeper turned to Tynx, who was also regarding them with a concerned and searching gaze. "And Tynx, I would like a full report."

The elf hesitated for a moment but nodded professionally. "Yes, Master. We've been making good progress with the castle grounds. The outer wall foundations have been laid and we are beginning to work on the walls themselves. We have currently finished the first and second gate segments and are slowly constructing the rest from that point outwards."

"How soon do you think the walls will be completed?" The Keeper asked thoughtfully.

"At our current pace, I'd say the construction of the outer walls will likely take another two or three months depending on weather conditions." Tynx replied with a firm nod.

"Hm, very well, continue." The Keeper frowned, they had hoped that development of the castle would go faster during the school year but with only one of them being available to aid the elves in the construction every weekend, they supposed it was to be expected that progress would be slower than they’d originally predicted.

"We've also finished flattening the castle grounds, laying the castle foundations and are currently excavating underneath the area intended for the castle itself when the weather is not ideal for outer wall development." Tynx paused, before asking cautiously. "Are you sure you do not want us to begin developing the castle's upper floors, Master?"

"I am certain. We can construct the castle later, I want the two of you to remain focused on the task at hand." The Keeper nodded, pleased that Tynx was becoming more comfortable with questioning them.

If the Keeper had wanted a mindless slave, they wouldn't have chosen an elf that couldn't be broken. Their experience had taught them that no man was an island, every visionary needed loyal followers who genuinely wanted to see that future realised for themselves. The type of supporters who would take initiative and help to carry the burdens of day-to-day reality.

"Yes, Master." Tynx bowed his head deferentially. "The three underground floors should take another two to three months to construct."

"We can probably help with Dìon during the two-week Christmas and Easter holidays, I doubt those idiots will sacrifice their holidays to bother us." Sebastian added. "That should help speed things up."

"Hopefully, we'll see when the time comes." The Keeper gave him a conservative nod, before returning their attention to the elf. "How are you and Tibsy’s living conditions? Do the two of you still have sufficient funds for your daily expenses?"

Tynx nodded gratefully. "Yes, we appreciate Master's generosity, we actually saved a little extra this month, so Master needn't give us as much next month."

The Keeper hummed in approval, their calculations for the elves' expenditures had been fairly tight, so any savings must have been well earned. While the Keeper's funds were depleting steadily, they didn't believe in leaving hard work unrewarded, no one was selfless enough to work hard for nothing and that was the easiest way to allow resentment to fester.

They would simply have to run more errands to rebuild their finances during the year. Fortunately, the stalking hadn't impeded that aspect of their Hogwarts life too much. The Keeper was fast gaining a reputation for being an expensive but reliable freelancer with a wide variety of services, and that made getting requests easier.

Although there were certain types of errands that they weren’t currently taking, since they wouldn't want their stalkers to see them fulfil requests of a darker nature, such as breaking and entering, most of the requests around school weren't too terribly affected. Still, their current rate wasn't very sustainable. Yet another problem that they would need to think of a solution for.

The Keeper shook their head, waving a hand dismissively. "Keep it, any money the two of you save is yours to spend as you wish."

Tynx's surprised expression lasted barely longer than a second, shifting quickly to respect. The Keeper was pleased. Good, he was starting to internalise the idea that his owner was generous and 'good'. That concept would reinforce itself the more the Keeper maintained that image, until the day came, that they no longer needed to.

"Thank you, Master, we will not waste your generosity." Tynx bowed his head.

Nodding in acknowledgement, the Keeper made a sweeping gesture. "Anything further to report?"

"That is all." The elf shook his head, pausing a moment before continuing. "I believe Tibsy should be done cooking, perhaps Master should try to sleep after eating?"

Tynx gave a wry smile. "I had never thought wizarding school so taxing, I'm almost relieved to have been born a house elf."

The Keeper blinked at him as they processed the unexpected statement. At the same time, Sebastian snorted in amusement while Ominis burst into laughter.

"Only if you tackle life the way they do." Ominis replied after a moment, shaking with restrained chuckles.

The Keeper shook their head as Tibsy poked her head through the curtain curiously. At least the laugh it'd gotten out of Ominis was worth being the butt of the joke.

The Keeper sighed as they locked themselves in the toilet stall, withdrawing the jar of pain magic and gazing at it eagerly.

Finally.

Not that the Keeper hadn’t enjoyed their time relaxing with their partners, but it had been nigh unbearable to have it in their pouch the whole day. Now, they could finally answer its call.

The seconds spent unscrewing the cap were both agonising and comforting. The motion of sliding their wand into the jar, smooth and swift.

Drawing out a small portion of the energy by their wand, barely a fraction of its contents, the delicious bubble of red and black oozing together tantalisingly.

In a split second it was over. The Keeper revelled in the ecstasy that tingled down their throat, but it wasn't enough. Their thirst still wasn't sated.

Surely, a little more wouldn't hurt…

Helpless to resist, the Keeper drew out another small bulb and consumed it.

More.

It still wasn't enough. Just a little more…

Notes:

Keeper gonna learn real fast why we don't give in to the urge to eat another chocolate chip cookie at a buffet. Also, I feel like Sebastian and Ominis are rather opposite in an interesting way.

When it comes to social interaction, Ominis is observant and sharp, he notices behavioral tells quickly and understands them even faster.

However, despite knowing what he wants, his fear of being hurt makes him indecisive and costs him the willpower necessary to put his foot down in confrontation without becoming emotional, which makes what he's trying to communicate come out poorly. It also fucks him over for any 'go hard or go home' situations.

Sebastian on the other hand, is not very intuitive when it comes to understanding other people and even himself, he picks up on social cues slowly or misses them entirely unless it's been pointed out to him. He's socially awkward but good with words thanks to being a nerd who likes reading complicated books that are way over his head.

I would know, I'm a socially awkward nerd with an A1 in English and can debate just fine, but can't take social stress despite sounding confident whenever I open my mouth. I don't understand why some people characterize him like a popular flirty chad, the man's first "Can I help you?" to us screamed "Fuck off, I'm reading." so hard that I actually felt bad for disturbing him.

However, despite all this, Sebastian doesn't hesitate to put 100% into every social interaction, albeit clumsily, this makes his anger hotter but also makes his kindness sweeter and, unfortunately, makes him more easily hurt by others... and by himself when he fucks up. Still, he is honest with both himself and others, which actually makes him easier to teach, with his 100% effort in everything and some guidance, he could become someone amazing.

Because of all this, I feel like they are both likely to be loners, Ominis would have interactions with people but very surface level interactions because he fears getting invested while Sebastian simply finds interaction tiring and thus avoids it. Throw in Ominis' family's bad rep and I imagine both would be crowd haters because of the undue stress it causes them.

This is the reasoning behind why I have all three of them unable to relax while being stalked by malicious people, which is causing stress that is amplifying all their worst traits.

You know, besides the fact that being stalked by malicious people would be stressful anyway so I didn't really need to write all that but people said they like my notes so I'm putting in less effort to stop my ramblings, if you're not interested, just skip these, it's fine, it's not super important to the story xD

[elftwink]

so this is from someone who also actively plays in and dms campaigns with other systems but personally i love dnd partly because i like the number of arcane rules. i think part of what it is, is my table experiences have been so combat-lite that for me the system has just become tools for solving puzzles and situations. encounters are so few and far between with my usual dm that they become very intense and scary when they do happen, and you can maybe say well that's dnd guy cope to say that this combat sim is better without the combat, and that probably is true. the best version of dnd for me like if i were writing 6e would be to shift the game's mechanical focus away from combat, increase the prominence of utility/ roleplay oriented spells and skills, and encourage DMs not to rely on combat to fill space in the game

yes!! ik im being a hater in my posts rn but i also love dnd, and especially the magic and spell system. it's not perfect obviously, but i have yet to find a ttrpg whose magic system is as engaging to me personally as dnd is. idk it's like exactly the right amount of rules to feel very bound by them while still leaving wiggle room for creative magic choices (either by way of flavour which is whatever you make of it, or by way of doing something that is Technically covered by the spell but probably not intended, which almost always fucks extremely hard).

& also i agree that dnd is kind of too combat focused, and i actually do think it would be better with less (although i suspect that given theres a pretty large contingent of dnd players who play mostly or solely combat, i dont think this is a universal opinion lol), or at the very least if it didn't feel like it dominated the meta decisions you have to make. like when i take new spells i often have to deliberate between the cool utility spell i actually want to take that has no damage component, and the damage based spell that will keep me viable in combat. i wish often these choices were less at odds with each other, or at least if you had a character who needed to be carried through combat that they would have more utility in non-combat scenarios instead of just kind of feeling like dead weight (now i sound like someone who should try another system, lol. but its more varied spells in the existing dnd system that i want!)

also i kind of think dnd has a problem esp at the mid level with keeping combat high stakes and genuinely scary, which is a whole other post where i could ramble lol, but honestly in terms of per table solutions "do combat a lot less" sounds like actually an extremely good way to deal with it. the worst thing in dnd is when combat starts to feel repetitive and like a slog. if it happens rarely it just so so so much easier to avoid that. i could say much more about this but ive already been typing this ask for a gazillion years but the point is i'm stealing your dms tactics for next time i run a game

also to contextualize my baseless haterism posts, i just want to clarify that i don't care in any way if someone plays only 5e/dnd and refuses to play other systems. this is whatever. what annoys me is when such people insist this is because every other game on earth is worse than dnd at everything, somehow, even though they do not know the full rules of dnd and are not super interested in learning. there's a lot to be found there in dnd but you have to like, engage with it. your dm cant read it for you. & its always more fun to be at a table where everyone knows wtf is going on than with players who barely know enough to scrape by and treat the DM like a rules dispensing machine

anyway. your 6e ideas sound awesome, especially more utility spells pleaseeee wotc. life could be so beautiful

[dragon-fics]

DnD: Hungry for Freedom pt. 2 (Themberchaud)

Summary: Now out of Gracklstugh, exploring the overworld for the first time is a whole new challenge, that requires the aid of a mysterious ranger...

Requested on wattpad

Please like and/or reblog as my account is small and I'm in some financial trouble and my work is made for a select few

pt.1

“You could’ve warned me about being needed!” I heaved and puffed as I attempted to open one of Themberchaud’s shackles. The hinge was clogged with dead scales and rust, practically fused shut.

He huffed, flopping his tail on the ground. “It was a very last-minute decision! I didn’t know what to do!”

I bit my cheek and shoved the toe of my boot in under the latch of the shackle and forcefully tried to turn the key. The key suddenly clicked into place and the joint separated, the iron falling off Themberchaud’s wrist with a hefty clunk that rang through the open-aired lair.

I slumped against Themberchaud. “There we go,” I sighed and thought about the endurance I’d need for the other three… and his collar. I groaned, face against his scales. “Well… I need a new cane now… and I have no money. All that’s at home.” I forced myself to stand and hobbled over to his rear leg.

Themberchaud watched me. “Oh… I didn’t think of that. I… I’m sorry,” he sniffled, and his voice strained, like a child getting in trouble for the first time, tragically mourning its parent’s pride.

I turned to look at him and reached for his face, big round black opals set in topaz shone back at me. His eyes were too pretty. “No, no. It’s okay… We’ll figure it out somehow.” Stroking my thumbs on his cheeks, I shushed softly to soothe him. “It’s okay.”

The corners of his mouth curled up a little. “Okay, (Y/N). If you say so,” he nodded, gaining his confidence again.

I smiled and dipped my head. “Then let’s work on this.” I turned back towards his shackles. It was a struggle, but my technique seemed to work; jamming my toe between the metal and his scales and forcing the key to turn. The hardest was the collar on Themberchaud’s neck. He kept laughing and flinching and shaking all over. I could never imagine someone being so ticklish, and his huge jiggly mass made it worse. I plopped down beside him, feeling my leg give out and burn.

“There. All done,” I huffed and rested against him, hand on his muzzle.

Themberchaud hummed. “Does your leg hurt?”

I nodded. “I’ll need to find a new cane soon. The floor here is… uneven.” I took it all in. It was a huge crater in a hollowed-out mountain, moonlight illuminating it all… not that there was much. The greatest decoration was the stars high above. All we had was whatever gems Themberchaud had brought with him. And I presumed it would all be needed, like the chain he’d brought to fly. We were curled up in a nook of the stone wall. Outside was a sea of trees. We were south of the Evermoors, that much I knew.

Themberchaud hummed. “We could try fly to a town? I think I saw a few close by.”

I shook my head. “I’ll go alone. You need to stay safe. I’ll… figure it out… somehow.” I sighed and stared up at the sky. I’d not seen the sky much ever. Jack had snuck me out a few times during the winter to come see the stars from the docks…

Now everything was so different. I was out in the overworld… alone.

Themberchaud sighed and rested his head down, getting ready to snooze. I suppose I wasn’t alone-alone, but he knew next to nothing about living. He had very few skills. None of which were useful. No could I imagine they’d be useful.

I put my head on my bent leg. I had no skills either. The most I’d ever done in life was feed Themberchaud. We both had so much to learn…

*~*~*~*

The following morning was a struggle. The nearest town was not as near as I’d had hoped. And with a weakened leg, the distance was longer. Thankfully the town wasn’t walled off, it seemed relatively unpoliced. More like a trading post that had evolved into a town. Travellers and rogues wandered the street, buying from stalls and passing charms and papyrus between each other. I felt some eyes land on me as I rested against a wall. Curious or judgemental eyes mainly.

I returned the favour, watching all the people in the cobbled street. Not a single one of them seemed to be a settler of the town. There weren’t many houses to live in either. What sort of village was this? I thought this would be a more permanent place like Gracklstugh. The River Surbrin bubbled close by and I passed a fairly unkempt cemetery on my way in. From asking around, it had no real name, it was just called the Travelling Post. Not a town nor village, just a place. Nowhere really seemed to be fitting to find a job. I found a few loose coins in my bag and bought some bread, spuds and a dull dagger. It’d have to do for now.

I spent most of the day sitting, ragged and exhausted. I must’ve looks like a beggar with my damaged leg outstretched. I suppose I was a beggar. I had no home, little food and an injury to take pity on. Can’t say I was surprised when some coppers were tossed at me through the morning.

But such an appearance had its advantages; I started to hear things. After only a few hours I’d heard of a new Lord of Neverwinter and the suspicions regarding the last one’s death. Something about the sorcerer the new lad had brought with him.

I was invisible to these people.

Another group that passed seemed hopeful, but ragged. A bit of eavesdropping revealed that they were headed to Mornbryn's Shield, hoping to meet a ranger. Xenk or something. Their hope was for him to help one of their companions, that he had a wide knowledge of all things magic. That seemed promising… hopefully his knowledge extended to dragons and where to hide them.

“We’re not far now,” said the older of the women as their wagon’s wheels creaked and clicked on the cobblestone road. She reminded me of my mother, short and plump with greying hair. “Mornbryn’s Shield is just west of here.”

A lump burned in my throat, and I turned away. Now was not the time to be upset and regretful, I had so much to figure out.

A cool wind from the lake grounded me. It was time to move. There was nothing here for me and if people were travelling for a ranger, he must be willing to help anyone. I pushed myself to my feet and looked at the as the matriarch pulled the pony to a stop. Would they be willing to help?

I drew in a breath and hobbled up to their wagon. There were a couple of children, presumedly their mother, and grandmother, all on the small wagon. Their mother was a few years older than I, with two wee lads about six years old. I wasn’t sure how willing they’d be to take on someone else for the last few leagues.

The taller of the boys, definitely twins, looked at me as their mother hopped off the cart to go to the baker’s stand. I gave the boy a smile and hobbled over slowly. “Excuse me?”

The grandmother looked over at me. “Oh, hello!” she smiled and looked me over. Her gaze was fixed on my lower leg as I moved. Maybe it would be an advantage this one time. “You’re having some trouble?”

I nodded and stopped a few feet away from the cart to avoid pressuring her—not that I seemed anything more than hapless. “Aye, I am.” I held the strap of my bag. “You wouldn’t happen to be headed to Mornbryn’s Shield I suppose? Or even close to it?” It seemed wiser to act like I’d not heard her conversation.

She nodded. “We are indeed. You too?”

Again, I nodded. “Aye. I walked from the forest just south of here.” I gestured my hand towards the wall of green in the distance.

Her face darkened. “The High Forest?”

I tried not to make a face. I’d fucked up. “Aye, well, just on the outskirts. My friend… he’s in no shape to move so I thought I’d find someone to help here and well… that’s not really possible.” I looked at the stalls and travellers around.

She glanced at her grandsons, then her daughter coming back to the wagon. “Just… give me a moment.” She shuffled to the other side of the bench to lift food onto the wagon and, not very subtly, talk with her daughter.

I looked away and thought while they talked. The Undercity’s education never really covered the geography and name places of the Surface. This was my first time seeing the trees and so much sunlight. I needed to know the land better.

“So, you need a lift to Mornbryn’s Shield?” the daughter asked, getting me out of my thoughts.

“Aye, I do. Just if you’re willing. I’ll figure something out somehow.” I shrugged.

She looked me over, just as her mother had done. She noticed my weaker leg bent, toes barely touching the ground through my boot. “Do you have a cane?” her mother tapped her head from her sea on the wagon. She snapped her head around to give her a look.

“I did. But it snapped on me yesterday and we needed to use it for firewood.”

She looked at me and thought for a moment, glancing at her sons. “I suppose it won’t be for long. Welcome aboard for the next hour or so.” She held out her hand to me.

I smiled and shook it. “Thank you very much. I have just a spare copper to offer I’m afraid.”

Ther grandmother shook her head. “Oh don’t be silly! Just hop up and sit with the boys and we’ll be fine!”

Her daughter seemed content with that, though I presumed she was still wary. She stepped aside to let me get on.

I nodded and gripped the handle to pull myself up. “Thank you, again.” She tried to reach to help me but I levered myself up quickly to avoid that. “I’m alright!” I moved to sit beside the end of the wagon and the boy that sat on that side moved to sit with his brother. I could hardly blame him. This close to him, I saw that the smaller boy had some sort of large scar, or birth mark, on his face.

It was spread over the left side of his face, and down his neck. It was a pale purple, like a healing bruise, brown spotting of the rest of skin peeked out in places. I felt bad for him. It looked like it hurt. I shifted my gaze away. The judgement from scars and weaknesses always felt so shameful.

The grandmother looked back at me. “I’m Shyla. This is my daughter Kait.” She smiled warmly.

“(Y/N).” I inclined my head. “Pleasure to meet you all.”

They made a nice travelling group. The boys murmured to themselves and Kait and Shyla yapped to each other. I pulled back the sleeve of my jacket to looked at the bracelet Themberchaud had given me. He’d want to know what I was at.

I touched the ruby and closed my eyes. An image of him slowly formed, lying down on the cool cavern he’d settling in.

“Heya Thember!” I called.

He perked up. “(Y/N)! Are you on your way back? Did you get a new stick for your leg?”

I shook my head. “No. not yet. I’m on the way to hopefully get help. There’s word of a ranger, maybe he’ll know something. And proper village that should have somewhere I can buy a cane. And food.”

Themberchaud pulled a face. “I don’t like that plan. We don’t need a human interfering.” He huffed.

“A human was what got you out of there. Two actually.”

He growled. “And hundreds have kept he enslaved! Who’s to say he won’t do the same?”

I was silent for a moment, trying to stay focused on him as my body grew cold. We were passing under a shadow.

“See?! You know how bad humans are!”

I chewed my cheek. “Oh stop it! People are coming from all weird corners of Faerun to get this lad’s help!” I calmed myself. “He’s obviously a good guy. But if I find him to not be trustworthy, I’ll scrap that plan. Deal?”

Themberchaud thought about it for a moment. “Alright. I understand. You made a good call with your brother so maybe that’s enough.” He nodded. “If he’s mean though I get to hurt him, right? And burn them all?”

I stared at him. “Absolutely not.”

The sun stunned me out our connection and I blinked to get the red hue from my vision. As my eyes righted themselves, the boys opposite me were staring at me.

“What?”

The taller of the two lifted his nose a little. “Where’d you get that?” he pointed at the bracelet.

I tugged my sleeve over it. “From my friend. The one I’m trying to help.” It was then I’d noticed that my weak leg had been outstretched to be more comfortable during the connection. I pulled it closer with my hand to lessen the pain of moving it.

“What happened to your leg?” the other, scarred, one said.

I glanced at it. How many stories had I made up about why it was this way? At least a dozen. “The story I tell everyone,” I leaned closer to them, “is that I was sleeping in my home, when a red dragon came along and lit our house on fire. And my leg got caught in the flames as I escaped!”

The boy covered his eyes and squeaked, drawing his mother’s attention. I looked at him softly.

“But that’s not true at all. I was born in the undercity, Gracklstugh. The lack of sunlight made my leg weak. It’s not uncommon.” I smiled softly. “I’m just born this way.”

The smaller boy looked at me. “Oh well… That’s better than fire I suppose.”

I chuckled a little. “Yeah. I suppose.” My smile dropped. It didn’t feel better. A burn would’ve healed. This issue went right to the bone.

*~*~*~*

I hopped off the wagon as the boys grabbed their bags. I offered a hand to them to hop down. Kait appeared opposite me and one after the other they jumped down from the cart.

“I’m sorry about your leg,” she said as the boys ran off.

I nodded, dismissive of these comments. “It’s fine. I gotta make do. Thanks again for the lift. You’ve saved me a bunch of time.” I rummaged for my spare copper.

She lifted her hand. “No. keep it. Hopefully you get the help you need here.”

I stopped my rummaging. “Thanks. And you too.” I faltered. “Or whatever you’re here for. I hope it goes well.” I gave Shyla a wave and quickly limped away, leaving them confused and probably concerned.

I walked into a crowd of people and hugged the corner of a cottage.

Leaning on the wall, I thought. I needed to find Xenk. Maybe the ranger could help. He was a kind man with some sort of power. Good to know. So, what did I need exactly?

Somewhere to hide Themberchaud… could the ranger be trusted with that?

“Hello. Hello!” My attention was drawn to a tall man opening the door to his—I presumed—home. He was of lean build with some sort of scar or tattoo on his forehead. He was talking with Shyla and Kait. He nodded as he heard their story and invited them into his home. I watched for a while. When they emerged while later, the smaller boy’s face was unmarked. He was grinning and bouncing with his brother. Shyla held the man’s hand in hers as she and Kait thanked him.

It was amazing… and terrifying. How could he do it?

I watched the family leave and run off to an inn close by. Would it be selfish to want the same for me? He’d hardly do it for a single copper would he?

“Impressive, ain’t he?” chimed a man from behind.

I nodded. “Absolutely.” I looked at the man. He was a few years old than me, strong and hairy, much like Jack. “Does he charge much?” I looked away.

“Nay. He wants nothin’ in return. Xenk’s a good man like that. Not too sure where he came from. Lotta rumours goin’ around.”

So that was Xenk. Impressive. Hopefully he could help me… and Themberchaud. I looked back at the man. “What does he do?”

He shrugged. “Protects the town. Just being here chased off any ill-will from comin’. And he’s a skilled man. Bow or sword, he’s there to protect and heal and help howeve’ he can.”

I nodded slowly. “Thanks.” I shuffled away and gave him a half-wave to be polite. I made my way towards his home. I felt more exhausted than ever just getting closer. I was about two steps away from the door when it swung open, Xenk appearing.

I flinched and he stared at me, his eyes peering at me for a long moment. He looked around at the people passing through the street.

“Come in,” was all he said and before I could do so myself, he grabbed my arm and tugged me.

I yelped and pulled my arm away with a huff as the door clicked shut. “What—?!”

His gaze was firm on me. “You’re in trouble.”

My face twisted into a sceptical frown. “No I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Come.” He turned away and strode down a hallway.

I followed as quick as I could, entering a small room filled with shelves lined with various books.

“Tell me your name.” He stood in the middle of the room, spinning perfectly on the spot to face me. Behind him was a solid oak table with a map and papers laid out.

I watched him. “(Y/N). I’ve come from Gracklstugh.”

Xenk didn’t move at all to acknowledge what I said. “That explains it,” he said without missing a beat.

“Explains what?”

“Gracklstugh just lost its dragon did it not? Part of the city was damaged in its escape.”

My heart dropped and I leaned on the nearest bookshelf. Had I hurt anyone? What was destroyed? What did they th—?

“You didn’t know?”

I lifted my gaze to him slowly. “I did not,” I whispered.

His gaze softened a little and pulled out a chair by the table in the middle. He tapped it and I felt compelled to come forward. My leg was ready to give way in both exhaustion and shock.

I slumped down and my vision blurred. I had doomed them…

I don’t know how long I was zoned out; I was brought out by Xenk putting a small porcelain cup beside me, a soothing scent taking me out of my wordless sorrow. My gaze shifted to him sat across the table with his own cup.

“You came to me for a reason, correct?”

I bobbed my head and grazed by hand under my eye to wipe my tears.

“And it’s not to help Gracklstugh, because you did not know of their fate. So why are you here?” He leaned on the table, cradling his cup between his hands.

I drew in a shaky breath and took a sip of what he had offered. It gentle, warm and a little sweet. My throat cleared and my breathing calmed. “I helped the dragon escape… If I didn’t, I feared… I feared he’d do worse to the city. He’d burn it all, tear down every pillar, kill us all… I thought, maybe…” I looked at the cup, the white transparent liquid reflecting my face and shaken state.

“I see… you were noble in your act. There is no news of a loss of lives. Reports said that the people were evacuated far from where he would escape.” He watched me with an expectant yet knowing eyes.

I nodded and sighed. “Aye. With my brother, we stirred up some talk, got everyone out of the way… well tried to. I can’t be sure no one was hurt.”

Xenk was silent for a few moments. His face seemed blank but something about his eyes told me he was thinking. “So why are you here?”

“Well… I heard people come to you for help. And maybe you’d have knowledge of the land, enough to uh…” I dug a tooth into my lip, “Help me find somewhere to keep Themberchaud?”

That made him falter, and a pit opened in my stomach. I was about to plead when he stood up. “I may have somewhere for him.”

*~*~*~*

My mother always told me to beware of men who kept secrets and bore blades—even though she’d tried convincing me to court a guard for a summer. Themberchaud was starting to sound like her in his suspicion.

“Why are we trusting him again?” he grumbled as we walked out of the High Forest. I was looking at a luminescent map Xenk had given me from my seat on Themberchaud’s shoulders. Our target and path were mapped out from us in glowing blue and yellow ink.

I’d learned that the forest we’d been staying in was deemed the most magical place in all of Faerun, fabled for its history and even now its home to so many races… and for Inferno. Who we had thankfully avoided.

“Because I think we can. He gave me a new cane and everything, and he’s helped so many people that it has to be worth it.” I tapped his scales. “Please, Thember. We know next to nothing about this place and Xenk has basically handed us the key to get you a nice home.”

Themberchaud snorted. “I don’t want to be underground again.” He forced his way through the trees. They bent and snapped and splintered against his weight and force.

I nodded. “I know big guy, but I don’t know where else to put you. Until you can hunt and fight, a mountain would be off limits. This is the only place not held by a dragon that’s big enough to hold one.”

He was quiet for a bit, the moonlight catching his big puffs of breath. “Okay. But you better not plan on leaving me after.”

I hadn’t even thought of that. Where was I going to stay and live? What was I going to do?

“I will do my best to stay close to you, Thember.”

Xenk waited for us at the edge of the forest. Themberchaud looked at him and sniffed at his armour and blade.

“Well, aren’t you magnificent.” Xenk bowed his head in appreciation. “You, Themberchaud, are the only dragon I’ve ever seen this close up before.”

“Careful I don’t make it your last.” He snapped his jaw at him. Xenk didn’t move.

I swatted Themberchaud shoulder. “What did I just tell you?!” I hissed.

Xenk chuckled and waved his hand. “Don’t worry, (Y/N), I’m sure he was just being playful,” he said as he turned around. Themberchaud snorted, unamused. Xenk either didn’t hear him or ignored him. “Let’s make our way to the Underdark shall we?”

With only flying for short lengths of time, with a slow walking pace and only travelling at night, it took several days to reach the Sword Mountains.

“There’s a large entrance to the Underdark in the mountains. It should be big enough for you to get through, Themberchaud.” Xenk looked up at him, who was a panting mess yet again from flying over the Long Road and manoeuvring around the foothills.

I slowly slipped off his back and stroked his neck. I looked at Xenk “Thank you for your help.”

He bowed his head. “I’ll lead you into it, and help you get settled. Both of you.” He gave me a smile.

I wasn’t sure what that smile meant, other than he had a plan or an idea that involved me. I pulled out my cane to distract myself.

It was foldable, which would be good for storage and travelling. Made of some sort of dark wood with hinges at the folds and a handle cushioned by a spongy wrapping. The first length of it concealed a small blade. I liked it a lot.

When Themberchaud had caught himself, I nodded to Xenk. “Let’s head in.” The sun was lighting up the horizon and we had done so well to keep eyes off us so far, even when crossing the Long Road, which never seemed to get a break.

Xenk led us to a partially buried entrance, blocked off by loose boulders.

I frowned at the wall and looked at Xenk. “How’s this supposed to work?”

He winked and walked forward, walking through the stones. One second, he was before us, the next we saw were the bare stones.

Themberchaud bared his teeth. “Magic,” he growled.

I attempted to soothe him by petting his cheek. But he wouldn’t have it. He thumped his tail on the ground. “I won’t be surrounded by that stink again!” he roared.

I flinched and gripped by cane in fright at his intensity.

Xenk reemerged. “Do not worry, Themberchaud. This will keep anyone away from you and let you live in peace while having easy access to the Sword Mountains and the Kryptgarden Forest.”

Themberchaud glared at him. “I will not have magic around me!”

I looked up at him. Maybe I was tired and sore. Maybe I was homesick. Maybe I was just done with him. Maybe it was all that, but I couldn’t take it anymore. “This is the only way to hide you Thember!” I hissed. “This is the only way to protect and keep you from even worse powers. Do you want to go back to Gracklstugh? Do you want those magicians forcing you to be a puppet?” I glared at him, my heart thumping. He blinked at me with widening, wet eyes. “I sacrificed everything for you! My brother is hurt, Gracklstugh is broken. We hurt people by getting you out! This is the only home for you now until you’ve learned to fend for yourself. You’re not the only one stranded here! This is the only spell we’ve encountered. And it’s going to help us. So please! Stop complaining and trust Xenk! Trust me.”

I stood heaving for a while, leaning on my cane. Tears trickled down my cheeks and I wiped them furiously. Themberchaud lowered his head and whined softly. “I’ve not led you wrong. And Xenk hasn’t led us wrong… please. We’re almost safe. Let’s rest. I’m tired,” I sighed.

He was silent for a little while. “Alright… But if anything happens—.”

“—aye. I know. You can do whatever you wish. Crush and bite and devour. Just please, step inside.” I reached a trembling hand to his snout.

Themberchaud hummed and lifted his head. “I’ll go. But you’ll be the first to be devoured if something goes wrong.” He glared at Xenk.

Xenk, of course, was unmoving. None of Themberchaud’s threats ever made him move. Themberchaud could have his maw spread open to Xenk and he’d be motionless. At least, that’s what I’d imagine would happen…

*~*~*~*

Thankfully Themberchaud had taken to the Underdark.

Unfortunately, I was still left without a place to call home.

Xenk quickly left once Themberchaud was settled. He was still as mysterious as the day I’d met him, despite travelling for almost a week together.

“I must take my leave now. My job is done.” He bowed his head and rested his hand on the pommel of his sword.

I faltered, the peak of my exhaustion had finally hit, and the warmth of the midday sun was challenging me in my quest to remain awake. “Oh… well uh, travel safe?” The idea of him leaving opened a void in my stomach. I needed him.

“Do not doubt yourself, (Y/N).” Xenk put a hand on my shoulder. “Your determination and heart will guide you, just as it has now. Plus, you have a red dragon on your side—”

Themberchaud hummed from behind me. I looked over to see his head poking out from the fake stone wall and nothing else.

“—and he won’t let anything happen to you.”

Themberchaud nodded in agreement. “No, I won’t.”

My lips lifted a little in a smile, but it fell quickly. “What should I do though? I can’t hunt. Nor can Themberchaud.”

Xenk drew in a breath and pointed to the Long Road. “There’s a town called Triboar. You should be able to find some work there. Travellers pass through all the time. They’d need some permanent staff.”

I considered his proposal. “That sounds reasonable. Thank you, Xenk.” I looked away for a moment to fetch my last copper, but before I could fish it out, he was gone.

Themberchaud warbled. “He moves quick for an old guy.” I turned to him and frowned. “Don’t look at me like that! You’re grumpy because you are tired. Come sleep. You still have a bag of food that the ranger left.”

My brow creased deeper. “What food?”

Themberchaud was right. Xenk had subtly left a bag of food and supplies for me to get more comfortable in Themberchaud’s new lair. It was enough to help me temporarily; some meat and cooked vegetables, bits of wood to burn, a lantern and a bedroll and pillow. The pack itself made me look like a real traveller, which would help with the backstory I was about to make up.

And Xenk was right about Triboar. The constant stream of passersby made the prospect of a permanent worker very appealing. The issue was, of course, my leg. Most wouldn’t hire a crippled woman, much less one that had shown up as a refugee from Gracklstugh. But one took an interest in me.

“Don’ y’all have a dragon ‘n da city?” Bernard gnawed on the end of his pipe. He was heavy man with dirt across his forehead and sweat around his pits and chest. He seemed kind enough, if the swarm of animals around him were any indication.

“Aye, sir. We did.” I glanced at the dog licking my free hand while a kitten used my cane as a scratching post.

“Were ya e’er close to it?”

I found myself nodded before I could lie. “A-aye.” I cleared my throat. “Aye. I fed him regularly actually.” That probably sounded more like a lie than an actual one.

“So yer good wi’h big animals?”

I nodded. “Huge even!”

He thought again for a long moment. “Alrigh’ then. Let’s see wha’ yer like, seeing as Sandy and Pumpkin like ya so much.” I must’ve pulled a face because he gestured to the golden dog and the ginger tabby. “Sandy is my right-han’ dog in e’erythin’,” he started off across his bustling yard, “an’ Pumpkin is da newest kid on the block.”

I hobbled after him, Sandy and Pumpkin following me. “Well, I’m glad they like me then?”

Bernard laughed and walked me into the stables. “Sandy ‘as a good sense fer folks. I trust ‘im with helpin’ me find the righ’ stable hand fer years now. Anytime he wasn’t all ove’ them, I learnt quick enough why.” He leaned on a stable door, his huge palm on the heavy half-door. “So, if he says yer worth hiring, I’ll listen.”

I looked at Sandy, then at him. He seemed very serious about Sandy’s judgement of me. “So, where do I start?”

He liked that answer, grinning. “Tha’s the a’itude!” With that, the large head on a bay mare was lifted over the stable door to look at me. “Let’s get you started.”

Never in my life did I think that my experience in Gracklstugh would pay off, but there I was, taking care of travellers’ horses, day-in day-out. I liked it actually. I could sit most of the day and Sandy helped me carry, or drag, anything heavy. It wasn’t very taxing either. Just had to do what was asked of me; feed, water, groom and/or polish tack and armour that the mount had. The only hard part was saying when we couldn’t lodge horses in the stables. This was nothing compared to feeding Themberchaud.

And I got tips too, which when added to my pay and my lodging with Bernard—and his family—made getting comfy easy enough and getting Themberchaud new treasure. The hard part was getting to see him.

Mid-week was when there was slow filing of travellers through Triboar. So that was my weekly meeting with Themberchaud happened. Most of the time I brought large cuts of meat or trinkets with me. He was even starting to hunt himself, so he wasn’t shedding much weight, but his flight was getting stronger. He was liking the peace. We both were.

But about a year after we’d gotten settled, Xenk came to visit.

I sat on an upturned bucket, plaiting a filly’s tail, when I felt a shadow fall on me and cooling my skin from the late morning light. “I’ll be with you in a moment!”

“Please. Take your time.”

I snapped my head up and blindly finished the braid. “Hello!” I stood up quickly, grinning. The bucket fell over and the clatter startled the horse. I reached for her lead. “Eh… one sec!” I turned her out into the small paddock with the other horse’s she’d arrived with.

I rushed back to Xenk, hurting myself more than I’d intended. “It’s great to see you.”

He smiled. “And you too! It’s good to see you doing well for yourself.”

I nodded. “Thank you. What brings you to Triboar?”

Xenk looked at me warmly. “I need your help.”

I hesitated and stammered. “My help?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

I managed to be more confused by that. “Alright? Uh, let me ask my boss so we can talk.”

He nodded and stepped aside. “That would be appreciated. This is urgent.”

I grabbed my cane and walked to Bernard in his home. His children were helping him bake bread. “Um, Bernard? Do you have a minute?”

He lifted his head slowly and glanced at Xenk shadowing me. “Is thi’ da ‘friend’ you run off ta meet e’ery week?” He crossed his big arms.

I shook my head and tried not to pull a face. “No! No. Xenk is a friend of mine. And one I owe a huge favour too.”

I felt Xenk looked at Bernard over my shoulder. “I assure you, kind sera, this is a matter of urgency that only (Y/N) can help me with. It’ll take no more than two days. But we must leave immediately.” Looking at him, I saw his gaze was firm and sure.

Bernard was silent for a bit. Xenk has the effect of confusing, stressing and assuring people all at the same time. It must be a strange power to have, if he knew it was even a power. “Alrigh’. You can go.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Bernard.”

I followed Xenk out and he led me to a small group of people leaning on the paddock fence with a few horses. One was a bard, with his instrument on his back, a stubbled beard and bangs curtaining his face. He seemed to be impatiently thinking, it made me nervous. Then there was a barbarian woman, strong built and a heavy axe to her side as he munched on some fried potato bites from the stall down the road. Then there was a lanky-looking boy, maybe a sorcerer? There was no sign of a weapon or staff. The final member of the group was, I believe, a Tiefling, red locks, horns, and a tail. Her shades of green made me think of a druid and their ties to nature. A mixed batch of a party.

The bard turned to me and looked me over with those worn-out eyes. I had a feeling all of the people with him were some sort of recruits, additions to the party. He didn’t want anyone else to join. “You never mentioned you had an addition to the team?” his tone made it sound more like she’s not coming. Don’t fight me on it, Xenk.

I shifted uncomfortably and looked at Xenk. “(Y/N) is necessary for what we’re about to do.” He put his hand on my shoulder.

The maybe-sorcerer peered about the bard’s shoulder. “Why?”

“Because we are about to face something in there only (Y/N) can tame.”

I looked up at him. “What are you lot doing exactly? And why would I be useful?”

Xenk turned us around and took a few steps. “We need to enter the Underdark. We won’t go near Themberchaud. But even so, I need you there to keep him calm.”

I stood there blinking in confusion. “You’re joking right?”

“Why would this be a joke?”

I sighed and rubbed by face. “Why do you need to enter the Underdark and why—?”

“Please, (Y/N). I need you to help us. What they are doing is very important.”

I clenched my jaw and glanced back at the party. “But if I can just tell—”

“Is she in or not? We don’t have time!” the bard called. I had a feeling I was really going to dislike him.

With that, I sighed and Xenk said; “yes! (Y/N) will join us.” I hid the bracelet under my sleeve. I wasn’t going to get a chance to warn Themberchaud.

*~*~*~*

I learned their names quick enough: Edgin, Holga, Simon, and Doric. They were headed for Neverwinter. And after that I didn’t dare get nosy. With the help of a borrowed horse, I was able to ride with them to the Sword Mountains. They didn’t seem too interested in me for the most part—which was fine. It was better for them to not care than to care in the wrong way.

As we met the mountains, I nearly turned off, but Xenk grabbed the reins. He shook his head and I stayed with the group. With the travelling, I couldn’t let Themberchaud know what was about to happen. Nor did I want to get robbed, which was apparently what this lot did. I chewed my lip.

Next was the Kryptgarden forest. The ground was uneven and after only ever riding on the smooth ground of the Long Road, which made me a nervous rider with a bad leg. My mare didn’t like how much I pulled at her reigns and hugged her flanks.

As we dismounted, Edgin was conversing with Xenk. “Orifices?”

Xenk assured his rope was firmly around a wide trunk, giving it a strong tug, before walking in a straight line onto bare ground. “The Underdark has many entrances.” He stopped and slowly turned around, rope in hand. “This is one of the less conspicuous.” With nothing else, he leaned back, and the ground gave way beneath him as he fell.

I yelped covered my mouth in shock. Stepped closer, there was a jagged, black hole. “Great.” I grumbled.

“I’ll go last,” Simon volunteered.

I sighed and after Doric I made my way down. Xenk had left yet another secret remains hidden; it’d take a day to get to the helm they were after. I trailed after the rest; my role would probably not even come to pass.

I hoped not at least.

*~*~*~*

My mother always told me to beware of men who kept secrets and bore blades.

Maybe I should’ve listened to her.

Xenk was both mysterious and carried a blade—many blades it turned out, and while he protected others from danger, he was in the habit of drawing attention.

The murderous and stalking kind.

Like Thayan assassins.

Which were, apparently, undead. Another secret to the pile.

But their mistake was not to challenge, Xenk. Their real mistake was come to come to Dolblunde, so close to Themberchaud’s lair.

I’d stayed on the suspended city, close to where the helmet had been kept for who knows how long. I was of little use to a fight and much less able to run from assassins.

First, I heard a mighty huff, and taking a peek, saw the party was thrown back. Then came the glowing eyes, the roars, and growls, before Themberchaud made his entrance into the light.

Even undead assassins know to fear a dragon.

It was amusing seeing Themberchaud roll down his hill of bones as he gobbled up each Thayan assassin, one after the other. By the time the party and him had made it to me, they were all eaten.

I made my way to my feet, and Holga grabbed my arm.

“Come on kid!” she yanked me.

I fought against her. “Stop!” I held out my hand and Themberchaud slid to a stop before me. His pupiled widened rather cutely.

“Surprise?”

I pet his snout. I knew it was wrong to be mad at him, especially after he helped deal with the assassins. “Good job!” I scratched his muzzle and made my way to scratch his horns as best as I could.

Themberchaud smiled and tapped his tail on the ground in bliss. I stopped after a bit, feeling eyes on me. He stood up and looked at the party behind me. “I uh, can explain that. They didn’t mean to disturb you.”

He hummed and eyed them suspiciously. “And?”

“And they’re done now. They’ll be on their way soon enough.”

Xenk walked towards us first, and the party, more warily, followed him. “Well done, (Y/N). And thank you for aiding and sparing us, Themberchaud.” He bowed his head.

Themberchaud watched him for a moment. “Oh. You’re the guy that brought us here!”

I tried to stifle my laughter. “Yes. This is Xenk, Thember.”

“Wait so you,” Edgin, the bard, started, “led us into the lair of a dragon knowingly?!” he jabbed a finger into Xenk’s armour.

“I had no intention of stirring him. But that is why I brought, (Y/N). In case this—” he gestured to the entirety of the Dolblunde. “—happened.”

Themberchaud bared his teeth. “You’re not so pleasant yourself.”

Holga chuckled from behind Edgin. “I think he’s cute.”

“Themberchaud is quite the dragon.” I nodded and looked past him as best as I could. His lair was easily accessible from here, as would the hidden tunnel.

I looked at Xenk. “We should probably leave right?”

He nodded. “Yes. Best not disturb this place much longer.” He turned to leave the way we’d come.

I looked at Themberchaud and nudged him gently.

“There’s…” he huffed, “a shorter way out.” He gestured a wing towards his lair.

I petted his head. “That’s it,” I whispered.

Xenk turned around. “That is appreciated, Themberchaud.” He looked at Edgin.

He sighed and shrugged. “Sure. There’s weirder shit that’s happened today.”

[silvery-bluish]

9, 15, 15, and 7 (because im on the dnd brain rn) for Arsinoe (and BB as well if you want!!)

YEAH this one's really on me for reblogging two ask games with numbers in a row huh. Thank you for the ask though!! i'm going to assume one of those 15s was meant to be a 14? Let me know if I'm headed in the wrong direction.

Ask game in question is here!

Ars

9. how honest are they?

Arsinoe does lie. They lie, and they omit the truth, but they. Kind of always want to be telling the truth instead? Building relationships on lies and misdirection means those relationships are always going to be-- unsteady, foundations made out of sand, even if the other people involved don't know that they can't be REAL until everything's on the table.

They want everything on the table. They want to be understood. They're just. Caught in the inertia of not telling people things, it feels like, and telling the truth is going to knock all of those foundations down.

14. are they more daring or more cautious?

Local Idiot Bounces Wildly Between the two, more news at 10. I tend to think of Arsinoe as a very cautious individual overall, with a tenancy towards terrified-out-of-my-mind-holding-my-breath leaps of faith. In-game, this reflects as 'daring enough to take the Anathema name and then dipping down to basically be 50/50 all Retri' which seems to read as 'balanced' but. in my mind. it is actually them jumping wildly between the two.

15. what is their greatest flaw?

They'd say their inability to control their own emotions (Its Complicated with Ricardo for like a decade at this point, getting emotionally mugged by Danny, somehow friends with Chen now??? all of this is very inconvenient and they can't manage to knock it off) but I don't think they're right. I think it's their tunnel vision tenancy, their disregard for the fact that First Impressions Aren't Always Right. currently they're in the 'danny is an outlier and should not be counted' thought train but uh. Buddy.

7. what is their dnd alignment?

True Neutral baybee!! They're altruistic for people they care about, screw the rest of 'em. Some rules matter, some don't. They've got that Justice motivation 'cause the people they care about were hurt, not because of some overall concern for humanity or even Los Diablos.

BB

9. how honest are they?

BB doesn't have a honest bone in his body. He's keeping aaall of it close to the chest. Yeah he's fine stop asking. There's nothing more to what Outlaw's doing than your standard villain beat-'em-up. Don't worry about it, just look at the elaborate monologues he's been rehearsing and stop trying to look past the gilt.

...it might be more correct to say the only honest things are his bones, tbh. Fronting aside, there's honesty in what he chooses to DO-- Prep Them hero hunter, saving civilians just because he'd Feel Bad if they died. Actions speak louder than words, or something, so to make up for it he brought a megaphone.

14. are they more daring or more cautious?

Tilting sliiiightly onto the daring end of things-- BB Bites Back, he's got confidence in his Persona as Outlaw, and he's not afraid to make a mistake. Except when he takes the mistake Personally and seethes about it for like 6 months straight. A little bit of a leap before you look because. Well. If you project the confidence people will just let you walk right in, you know.

15. what is their greatest flaw?

answered here!

7. what is their dnd alignment?

Gonna say Neutral Good for BB. He's-- playing a part, sure, playing a part that he was always going to play, but. He may not know much about himself past the Acting of it all, but he knows hurting people makes him feel bad, killing people would make him feel worse :| And he'll restructure what he can of his plans to avoid doing it more than necessary.

[gardenergulfie]

Hello mutual in law gardnergulfie. Could I perhaps inquire about the npcs from dnd

So that "cow man" is named Simon and he's a member of the rival adventuring party to my players! I'll tell you all about them rn!

(Art by @autisticzedaph and @cuuno)

Ok so Simon, Simon McOwens, is a minotaur wizard (formerly a paladin till situation caused him to renounce his oath) and he's the leader of the rival party. He's a friendly but sometimes awkward guy who's charisma comes from just how outgoing he is! He'll cheer for you even if the two of you are racing! He's the one who has the wrangle the more rowdy members of his group in line, to varying degrees of success. Oh and also he's Transhet and uses he/him pronouns!

Next is Nectarine Everloam: a dwarf artificer and the unoffcial second in command of the group. The voice I do for her is based on Fluttershy MLP and thats a pretty good indicator of her personality. Thought quiet and shy, she's actually quite respected by her group and can silence some of them with a look and a few words. She doesn't get angry, just disappointed (which is worse honestly). She also has a lil pet mouse construct! Deffo has adhd/autism. She uses she/her and is a lesbian!

Then we have Took Lil-Tell: an owlin ranger/warlock who wants you to think its a rogue! Very much the "Oh he's a lil guy -> oh he's a bit fucked up actually!" Looks like a sweet, trustworthy tbh creature, big fan of knives, mischief, and thievery. But look at their lil face, you wouldn't hurt them would you? No, you can't, and while you're unable to fight them they're snickering and giggling at you. Awful, I love him. It's aroallo and uses it/they/he btw!

Finally we have the beloved bastard: Sir Finley Prayfallow. A rune knight fighter tabaxi who should probably start investing in barbarian because Wow is she easily riled up. This cat is Miles Edgeworth meets Pirate Joe and he sucks soooo bad. Like, most stuck up cat Ever. British /neg. Kinda pathetic too. I love her, I hate her, she lives in my head rent free. He literally went to a school for knights and yet somehow has the strangest honor code ever. He would call you a slur but only one he can reclaim himself. I hope he changes or dies <3. Also she uses he/she and is very gay.

So yeah those are my blorbos I have Many More in my backpockets but those are the main ones me and the party obsess over. Hope this is enough info!

[1stunseeliefaelass]

Video Game DnD Adventure

(This is an idea sprung up randomly where in I had to wonder what may happen if certain video game characters existed in DnD. Not in an isekai way, but as if they were from Faerun or other places in the DnD universe. Featuring Death from the Darksiders series, Nikki from Love Nikki, Kain & Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series, & Alice from the American McGee's Alice franchise. Bare in mind this is a slight DnD interpretation of them. So not everything will be spot on but I will certainly do my best, course some light headcanon may be mixed in as well, you've been warned. If you want more of this do let me know. For now I'm just doing an introduction for funsies. Hope you all enjoy.)

Within Faerun, a lot of dangerous creatures exist. Some are more vicious than a demon. Others are extremely, dangerously intelligent. Some will simply eat you, others kill you, or worse. Death has seen it all, having grown a vast reputation for his capabilities in the slaying of beasts alongside his siblings. Leading them into victory on numerous occasions in the name of their mysterious masters. Rarely when not in service to them however, he takes on other work to pay the bills and all. Normally he'd bring his siblings if he felt is was needed, but this time he was asked to come alone. This much he reread many times on the parchment he'd been given. First asking the local curior of where he'd chosen to live if he had the right place and person. Upon being assured that yes everything was in order, he took it inside. He still struggled to believe what he ultimately saw in the writing. Aside from being told to come alone, he was only given a location and a payment amount.

"This doesn't seem right.", He began to say to himself, "Sure the pay is good, and I don't mind a lone job now and then. But normally I am given at least some details. This seems suspicious, maybe I shouldn't..."

Suddenly he heard a knock on his door, and opened it suspecting the curior to have returned. He was not expecting too much beyond there to have been a mistake as he thought.

"H-hello..*pant*..again..*cough*..sir.", the lad told him in a wheeze.

"Let me guess, mistake after all then?"

"Oh no...it's not that. I just...*huff* *cough*...missed this.", He replied before handing off a long and thin box.

Death took it and handed the young lad a flask, "Eh thank you. Here, for the road. And do try to take it easy."

"Oh thanks sir, and will do. *cough cough* Good day."

"Good day."

Death then shut the door behind him and opened the package to find a board and ouija planchette. He panicked at first and hurried about for something to burn it with, and in. Then something caught his attention, a strange whispering coming from the board. He froze and tried ignoring whilst continuing to search, but eventually the draw on him was too strong and so he went back up to it. Cautiously he touched the planchette upon its surface, and moved it slowly across the board. He only grew more nervous as nothing happened before finally feeling a presence.

He about moved the planchette to goodbye, until he heard a man's voice tell him, "Wait...through this method...you among many were chosen...Search among the ashes."

At a glance, he finally noticed the ash on it obscuring some oval shapes. Carefully he brushed it away and saw an image of himself, and three others that somehow were not burnt. There was also a few burn spots with outlines of where some images seemed to have been.

"I consulted the spirits...seeking gifted individuals...some like you...others not. You and the others have been chosen...So I implore you...come to the noted location..."

"Well, I would be angrier about a spirit invading my home this way but...", Death started to say.

"I am no spirit myself...just a medium like you sir."

Death narrowed his eyes a bit, "And a capable one at that. Especially to get passed my wards unnoticed by me until now. However, I would know what I'm needed for first. So tell me."

"Trapped souls need your help..."

"That's it? That's all you're giving me? Why should I even agree to this?"

"You'll learn more on your own...as is wished for."

Death groaned in annoyance, "Ugh fine then, I'll help you. Now would you kindly leave my home?"

Upon his asking, the presence faded away. He stood for a moment in silence before breathing a sigh of relief. He then took a moment to glance at the board again, taking a closer look at the other unburnt portraits. One was of a young looking girl with a flowery dress, rather unassuming. Another was of a man who looked a bit 'demonic?' 'draconic?', strange indeed but definitely someone capable in some way. The third was a black haired, green eyed girl. She appeared to be the polar opposite of the other girl, but aside from a bloodied blue and white dress with a knife in hand, she looked only somewhat harmless. Well to himself at the very least. Regardless he prepared a sack of his things to bring, the usual odds and ends of dealing with restless or trapped dead, and headed out. The board disappearing just as he walked out his door.

Meanwhile, Kain was met with a similar package. Finding it haphazardly left on his doorstep, clearly the deliverer was in a hurry to leave. He chuckled before bringing it inside, out of a morbid curiosity. The Soul Reaver lightly resonated as he placed it down, somewhat concerning him. He used his necromancy to reach out to the Reaver, to Raziel. Vaguely, he could sense Raziel feeling cautious about the box.

"You're not the only one Raziel, believe me you resonating with it's arrival is indeed strange to me.", Kain responded simply, not expecting to hear any in return.

Kain then opened the box and found a strange ashen board with a planchette. He was unsure of what it was initially, but seeing a portrait of himself and three others among the ash did pique some interest. The first image was a young girl who didn't seem to be a threat, but his experiences had taught him to avoid underestimations. 'I'll reserve my judgements, for now.' The other contained an image of a heavy set man in a skull like mask. 'Now this one looks unsavory, however so do I. So again I'll be careful in my judgments.' The final he glanced at was a girl no older than previous one. This one however, struck him as someone oddly powerful. Her piercing emerald eyes exuded confidence despite the innocent blue and white dress she wore, as bloodied as it was. Even with such a small blade in hand, Kain could tell she was competent with it. 'A competent warrior is often a great one indeed. Rare to see such tainted innocence incarnate. Then again, I suppose I'm one to talk aren't I?'

Kain then huffed under his breath, "What do you think Raziel?"

Once again, nothing was heard. Instead he got a stronger feeling of caution, but yet also curiosity from the blade as well.

"Your curiosity may just be the end of me one of these days. Although, it is rare to see you react to anything like this. So I suppose we can look further into it.", Kain then searched the box again before finding a simple note. On it was a location and a request to come alone, "Huh, well I can't imagine me bringing you would count against me really. You're not exactly...living, so surely not."

Kain felt a brief annoyance that faded as quickly as it came, getting a chuckle from him. Suddenly, a group of new feelings went through Kain's mind one after the other. First there was a sudden twinge of anger mixed with disbelief, then passive aggression, apprehension, caution again, and finally settling down into an acceptance of sorts. Next Kain caught very brief sight of a humanoid shade roaming around his halls. His hand palmed the Reaver as he watched it keenly. It stopped at the board before picking up a quill nearby, and with a dip of ink began writing upon some spare parchment on the table the board now laid upon. Kain settled a bit as the shade suddenly disappeared and glanced upon its writings.

"'You may bring him.', How curious. Is that what was going on then? A discussion between you and...whatever it was that entered here?"

A feeling of affirmation, and Kain simply nodded in understanding. He needed nothing from his home, save the location he needed to reach, and so left with only himself and the Reaver on his back.

Elsewhere, Nikki got home from a day out with friends. Her anthropomorphic cat and friend Momo was complaining as per usual for food. His stubby body hopping about in impatience until he had to adjust his yolk yellow cloak. Nikki giggled softly through the moment, and began searching her pantry and icebox for fish. Eventually finding just that and going outside to grill it. Nikki soon returned inside and placed the plated grilled fish down for Momo before returning to kitchen to make her own meal. Then she heard a simple knock at her door as Momo struggled to hop into his seat. She then opened it to find a young delivery man at the door.

"Hello, is this for me?", she asked him warmly.

"Uh uhm yes ma'am. I only know that it was apparently urgent. You also have other mail. Looks like more letters."

Nikki's eyes lit up, "Must be Mom, and a few others heheh. Thank you, and have a nice day."

"Uh you too.", the boy said before walking away awkwardly.

Nikki smiled before walking inside with her mail. Momo listened intently as she read out the sweet letter of her Mom and the fun filled adventures her sister wrote about. She then finally made herself a meal, and began eating as Momo began inspecting the package. His fish near finished on the plate in front of him.

"Hey Nikki, you forgot one. Did your Mom send it? Is it grilled fish? I'll bet it's grilled fish."

"I don't know Momo. Let's finish eating first ok?", she told him simply.

Momo agreed and sat down beside the package, watching it closely with curiosity. Eventually as Nikki began to put her dishes away, Momo suddenly yelped out. Nikki rushed over to find Momo up his cat tree and the package opened. Sighing softly she walked over to inspect it before finding what scared Momo. An ash covered board with a few pictures on it, including her own. It was kind of creepy, but not as much as the fact that the board looked burnt and yet four of the pictures were somehow untouched. One looked like a girl about her age, with a darker color palette than her. She did like the white and blue dress she wore though, but the blood and knife did seem offputting. She did have to admit though, the woman had some things Nikki struggled to keep hold of. 'I wish I had her confidence, she looks so strong too.' The other two images also held the same confidence and strength of the woman. Two men who looked vastly different from any man she'd seen, even those seemingly among the divine of Miraland. Nikki found them scarier than the woman though. Especially the one who looked like some sort of demon, even if the other's face was hidden by a bone mask. She took the board from the box anyway, and placed it on her table. Ultimately wanting to learn more about what was going on with it.

"Nikki are you crazy?! That thing is just creepy!"

"I know, but this isn't our first time dealing with creepy things."

"We got lucky in Miraland, who knows where THIS might take us!", Momo retorted, stamping his foot.

Nikki sighed again before just touching the board. She felt a sense of urgency come over her, then quickly rushed to the box. Inside was a note with a location on it and request to come alone. From here she felt like something or someone was pleading. She touched the planchette the board came with next and then found herself witnessing the past from what she could tell.

Within the vision was a message to her from a strange man, "Hello Nikki, my name is Balthazar Gabriel. If you're seeing this, then you've recieved the board. I know it must look very concerning, but I've heard quite a lot about you. I must say I'm most impressed with your immense capacity for empathy. The fact you could reach your friend past the clutches of an angered goddess is an incredible feat. Not to mention how quickly you can form bonds with others and your talents in psychometry to better understand those whose designs you wore in Miraland. With these qualities, I believe you'd make a perfect addition to the team. These three may seem intimidating and certainly have their dark sides, but I have no doubt you'll be able to keep things civil. I would tell you more on them, but they both prefer their respective privacy, so I'll leave it to you to learn about them in time. That said, go to the location on the note and all will come to be revealed there. I must also ask you come on your own, as your beloved cat companion Momo would likely not be able to handle what I'm asking of you."

Nikki held her hand to her chest at this before suddenly feeling a sharp pain in her legs. Looking down she sees Momo scratching her and that she's back at home, or rather she never left it. Luckily her leggings took the brunt of Momo's claws and her legs themselves didn't hardly get all that hurt.

"Give back Nikki! Give back Nikki!"

"Momo!"

"Ah! Oh Nikki!", Momo shouts before immediately hugging her, "I'm so sorry! You suddenly went all ghost-like and I could hear a man talking to you. I couldn't do anything! I just wanted you back."

Nikki picks Momo up and hugs him tightly before sitting down on the couch with him. After a bit of comforting he settles down enough for Nikki to explain herself and what happened. Momo is upset about her leaving but agrees he's had his fair share of scary stuff. Home is much safer than that after all. Nikki then calls upon some friends to watch over Momo until she can come home. Upon getting their promises she changes into a more suitable outfit for the trip and heads on her way.

Alice luckily had little incidents after her initial introspective trip in the opera house. Continuing her work there in the backrooms of the backstage area for money. Managing to survive well enough most days. Even using her newfound capabilities to aid those around her. The actors and actresses often being able to release their stress easily with her help somehow. Unfortunately as the show season died down she was forced to consider other options to earn extra money. Sure she still had a job, just wasn't needed as often and her pay reflected that. This day however, one such opportunity finally presented itself. A small package came to the Royal Opera House with her name on it. Upon recieving it, Alice found herself examining it cautiously.

"Another strange package. Wonder if it's the same sender who gave me the portrait of my family whilst I was at Bumby's?", She mused before outstretching a curious hand.

An all too familiar voice soon made itself known, "Curiosity does usually kill the cat you know. Or rather in your case, leads down deep rabbit holes."

"Come to visit again Cheshire?", Alice inquired with a quiet sigh.

To which he chuckled out, "How does one visit that which they cannot leave?"

"Typical. Though I am guessing I have good reason to be cautious if you've shown yourself?"

Cheshire's ears cocked to and fro, "It would do you well, hmhmhm but where's the fun in that? After all your curiosity often brings you to your best self.", ending off the spiel with his usual sly, wide smirk.

Alice simply nodded at this and opened the parcel before her. Inside she found a strange board with lines of ash laid on it. Alongside four photographs somehow untouched by the flames that once burned. Though it also appeared other photos had been burnt completely. Looking at the anomaly more closely, she recognized an old photo of herself from a newspaper. Her eyes narrowed a brief moment before they glanced towards the others. One held the image of a girl no older than herself by the look of it, though her color palette seemed more pastel and frilly like than hers. An otherwise 'normal' girl, also unlike herself. As for the other two images, she couldn't help but question their authenticity. Both were men by what she could tell, yet looked like Wonderland residents to her to a degree. One having a draconic air to him, with only three fingers or perhaps claws on each hand. The other looking particularly odd with a bone mask hiding his face, and eyes like fire that seemed to stare through her. She took the board up to place it on the table the parcel was on, and next found a planchette waiting inside. With a brief glance to Cheshire, she kept going into this latest rabbit hole. Placing the planchette upon the board, to no real fanfare. She turned around to look at Cheshire again before realizing the room around her had shifted. Instead of a storage room with a table, she was greeted by a study like space. Bookshelves aligning the walls, a strange device with a large globe at the center, and in front of it was a man. As he turned to face her, Alice went for the Vorpal Blade, knowing it'd be at her side.

"Do not worry Ms. Liddel, I mean no harm by triggering your abilities."

Her eyes narrowed at him, "It's one thing to do it myself, it's another to be controlled. Tell me who you are, right now."

"I am Balthazar Gabriel, and you are now within my Wonderland, so to speak."

"Why bring me here? You don't seem in need of much help, compared to others that is."

He only smiled warmly, "You are correct, Ms. Liddel. However, there are others in need that your abilities could help save. Trapped souls lost in limbos of their own making. You've saved yourself and do the same for others. I can promise you as well that you'll be well compensated for your time."

"Suppose I agree, how am I to find you?", Alice questioned whilst slowly lowering her guard.

"For that answer, look inside the parcel once more."

She did as he directed, and found a train ticket waiting for her, alongside a map with a circled location and trail leading to it, "Oddly convenient, but generous of you nonetheless."

"If there's anything that makes the trip easier, I'll ensure you recieve it promptly. I hope to see you soon. Do give the others my regards if you'd please as well."

With that he and the scene before her faded away before Alice shut her eyes instinctively. Upon their reopening, she was back in the storage room. Still grasping the ticket she'd been given, though the parcel and board were now unaccounted for. She couldn't be sure of their whereabouts, but chose not to question it for now. Instead she decided to look into this mystery after all. Waiting until her latest shift ended before informing her employer that she'd be away for a time. He surprisingly accepted this, stating he'd recieved a letter telling him that she was required and that he'd be paid for the troubles of being without her. Alice was unsurprised, suspecting this Mr. Gabriel to be behind it. Taking it as is before finally taking her things and heading off to see to this latest job opportunity.

Kain was the first to arrive, and began to wait patiently for the others to come. At first the place was a barren spot for a time. But had some places to hide during the day. Kain had nothing to fear from daylight unlike most of his kin, but being seen was a different story entirely. Better to avoid unneeded conflict with random strangers unrelated to this task. Unless he needed to feed that is. Eventually though, the barren spot was caught up in a strange dust devil like storm before a massive house materialized there. Kain though caught off guard initially, felt Raziel reacting within the Soul Reaver once again.

Suddenly he heard that long since lost voice, "Kain?"

"Raziel?", Kain asked a bit shocked before speaking up again, "How can this be? After all this time?"

"I am as confused as you are. But this is not an unwelcome thing really. It's...nice. Being heard again."

Kain responded in solidarity, "It's nice to be hearing you again. Been far too long Raziel."

"Indeed it has. Someone's headed over, be on guard."

"Always."

[notcatherinemorland]

things that are new with me, o! tumblr diary

holy shit i didn't think the death of my grandma would hit this hard

watching frasier with my mother. she used to watch it with my dad. we have the same bark of laughter. i feel very bad for my mother

no literally my mum is having the worst 2 months of her whole goddamn sodding life and i am just stood here like 'i gotta write about jane eyre, stay alive until february please'

i have an ear/sinus infection and want to rip my face off. also the antibiotic schedule has massively retriggered a really specific anorexia behaviour i thought i'd kicked for good. i am not vibing, quackidee

ive depression session watched 5 seasons of cop show ninty nine. its surprisingly funny. ive also started writing a fanfic that is several layers of absolutely demented choice. but it could be funny. (fake dating undercover case fic!au and it's got a whole op ed about asexuality in there. its gonna be insane if i finish this)

bought 100 faber castell pencils bc they were 55% off and therefore a stunningly good deal. they aren't lightfast / artist pencils, but im going to draw my dnd oc with them and have a fuckin ball about it

i am one poor week of health away from walking up to a&e and sitting there until they tell me whats wrong with me. aside from the sinus face removal thing.

there is also, like, so much more going on with me, to be clear, but contrary to my portrayal of myself online here, i do actually have boundaries. but like holy shit. 2023 was the worst year of my fucking life, but 2024? it's day 5 and it can already rot in hell. jesus fucking a. somehow it is worse and bad also!