#like the puppet master in skyrim | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

joanathedummy · 3 years ago

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Second list: @a-elemental-warrior-for-god

Third list: @ocandpersona-information-by-jtd

Fourth list: @property-of-jtd

Fifth list: @theveiledqueen-and-herknight

Sixth list: @overlordplayer-celestial-empress

Personas:

The Crazed Jester/"Jester": [31] a murderous clown who has a soft spot for children. She was created by Maturin as a safety measure, to contrast Pennywise. Married to Freddy Krueger after being his therapist for several years, curing him of his murderous ways, and is mother of Sofia. [Straight] (Horror Slashers/body Horror)

Dovah/"the Dovahkiin": [32] Divine Dragon goddess of Skyrim. Married to Alduin, and is the mother of Raven, Dove, Koi, Flora, Donovan and Froid. She is the mother of future dragons. Used to be an imperial woman by the name of Mircella Salveius, daughter of two farmers, Corrinian Salveius and Amabia Liorel. She lost her memory when she was tackled by an imperial soldier and hit her head on a rock during the ambush on Ulfric Stormcloak at the beginning of the game. She became a divine when she proved of her good soul by forgiving Alduin of his actions, never forgetting the time he saved her from an execution by the Empire in Helgen. All eight Divines and Talos himself trained her on how to be a god. She revived Ulfric Stormcloak, helped him and the Empire unite in an alliance, and destroyed the Thalmor. [Straight] (TES: Skyrim)

Nora Heathers: [+200] Sniper-for-hire and member of the Railroad in the Fallout universe. She is married to Nate, the leader of the Minuteman, and is the mother of Shaun, their son, and Dorothy, their daughter. [Straight] (Fallout 4)

Rubí Belladonna: [29] Ultimate Hunter in the Bloodborne universe. She is the killer of beasts and men. She accidentally cursed herself after ingesting several Great Ones' blood, and became a massive swan like monster, with the legs and tail of a wyvern and a long neck that bears her large human head, for three days. [Straight] (Bloodborne)

Joana: [unknown] mysterious alicorn from the My Little Pony universe. She is friends with the Mane Six. [Bisexual] (Mlp: FIM)

Ana: [[REACTED]] [Straight]

JoanaTheDummy: [[REACTED]]

"Corrupted" Geana/"Mademe Puppeteer": the psychotic and unstable version of the normal fusion Geana. Can raise the dead and spirits, master inventor and engineer, and likes to experiment on live humans. Master necromancer. Adopted Mora.[straight]

The Celestial Empress: [?] An angel and demon wizard, she is the leader of her own guild of NPCs. She has curly and long black hair, tan skin, and brown eyes. She wears a white cloak and bares a magic staff as her primary weapon. [?] (Overlord)

Charlotte "Charlie" Miller/"The Mask": [31] Unable to take off the mask, she is a murderous and unstable woman, unpredictable in any situation. Brown hair with brown eyes and tan skin. The Mask still has the same shade of green. [Demisexual] (The Mask, Comic book and Movie)

Anna "Ann" Napier/"The Jester"/"The Twist at the End": [27] nearly dying from a explosion in one of Scarecrow's schemes, she was sent to the hospital to be healed, but ended up being infected with some of Joker's blood due to one of the Clown Prince of Crime's goons swapping out the normal blood with the Joker's. She then was "adopted" by the clown prince and works now for him. Long black hair that is highlighted in green and in a high ponytail, pale bleached skin and green eyes (occasionally turns brown when sane), and is American. Is often called "Kiddo" by her adopted father. Has a pet male white bengal tiger named Fishy (who is extremely cuddly with her, yet is known to eat human flesh) that was a gift from her father. She finds out later that she is the biological daughter of Joker and Harley Quinn.[Bisexual] (DC comics)

OCs:

Genevieve Martinez/"Dollface": [16] retired sociopathic serial killer. Wears a mask to hide her stitches and forced smile. Her victims are people who have personal information about her parents' murderer and who have committed disturbing crimes. She has met Jeff the killer before, and had a battle to the death, but they ended at a stalemate when Jeffrey was critically injured, and Dollface had to heal him. Then ended up becoming friends after sharing their origin stories. [Straight] (Short Horror stories)

Caina Abelia: [16(?)] A monster that can shapeshift and mimic the voices of other creations, but prefers the form of a young teen with dark brown hair and eyes, with deathly pale skin. Either highly sadistic or eerily calm. Inspired by the works of Trevor Henderson (@slimyswampghost). [?] (Horror monsters/cryptids/short stories)

Yuri Hamako: [18] an awkward and shy girl that attends Akidemi High. She has long black hair in a low ponytail, dark brown eyes and light skin. Carries around a leather suitcase with homework and notes. Maybe has a tiny crush on Ayano Aishi... [?] (Yandere Simulator)

Emma: [16] a young farmer and animal handler. Black hair in a high ponytail, tannish skin, and brown eyes. Wears a orange hoodie, with a green tunic underneath, comfy shorts and sandals. Inspired by The Dream Team. [Demi/demi] (Minecraft)

Nix de Pearla: [19] A half human, half enderman woman that found herself in the over world, with no memory of how she got there or why. Long black-violet black hair that almost reaches the ground, fair skin, and black, star filled eyes with royal purple irises. Tall and skinny. Wears a black turtle neck sweater and beanie, with black jeans. Inspired by Ranboo. [Demisexual] (Minecraft)

Moony the Moobloom: [20] a centaur that woke up in a forest not far from Emma's ranch, and she doesn't remember why or how she got there. Long brown hair, green eyes and tan skin, and floppy yellow cow ears. Her lower half is that of a yellow Moobloom, with flowers growing on her. Made herself a small hut and a large farm to feed her plant based diet. [Bisexual] (Minecraft)

Brim: [20] A half-piglin woman who woke up in the Nether with no memory of who she is. None of the other Piglins were hostile to her. After bumping into Emma and Nix while they were getting some gold, and was persuaded to exit the Nether through the portal (and thankfully didn't turn into a zombie), Brim decided to live with Emma and built herself a nice home, decorated with materials from the Nether, and spends her time forging new weapons. Pink toned skin, white and braided hair with streaks of gold and burgundy, yellow eyes, and an underbite. Inspired by Technoblade from the Dream SMP. [Straight] (Minecraft)

Nova de Alina/"Novi": [8] a human that fell into the underworld in the Horrortale AU, and met Aliza. She carries the soul of Bittersweetness, finding the world frightening and interesting, but allows the traumatic and depressing moments get to her head. She has wavey and curly black hair tied in a ponytail, has a red and orange sweater on with black jeans and snow boots. Her eyes are like blue diamonds, filled with sorrow and pain for the many monsters that has to suffer. She also suffers from strange visions that allow her to see the view and memories from Frisk... (?) (Undertale/Horrortale AU)

Halie "Princess" Baker: [16] infected with the T-Virus, along with her whole family. She turned insane, has immunity to several diseases, and can feel no physical pain as a result. She is the girlfriend of Clarity Baltimore. [Pansexual] (Resident Evil 7: Biohazard)

Clarity Baltimore: [17] daughter of Baldi. Is a "glitch in the system". Wants to be a teacher when she is older. Emotionally distant. Girlfriend of Halie. [Bisexual] (Baldi's Basics in Education and Learning)

Helix-Neo, a.k.a AIR (Artificial Intelligence Robot, #19.5.24.-2.15.20.): [ageless] Created by Clarity as a pet project, AIR is a cyborg/A. I. system that is designed and programed for combat, rescue, and hacking missions. Her body is capable of transforming into different parts and forms, depending on the situation (such as her hands turning into defibrillators or her feet becoming rocket launchers). Her system is incorruptible, thus preventing her data and records becoming hacked. She has complete free will and is morally good at heart. Due to the advance technology Clarity used on AIR, she can disguise herself as anything and anyone, from human to animate object to animal. [Bisexual] (Cyber dystopia)

Jane, goddess of family: [16] daughter of Zeus and Hera, and princess of gods. She is the protector of families of all kinds. [Asexual] (Greek mythology)

Esmeralda de Lolonyo: [17] the bastard daughter of Aphrodite and a mortal man named José. A young demi-goddess who has the power to charm and persuade anyone, including animals and mythical creatures. A gentle and kind hearted soul like her father. Long, loose-curled brown hair with tan skin, and magnificent brown eyes. Close friends with Jane. [Bisexual] (Greek mythology)

Mary Charles II: [28] When her uncle Claudius decided to murder her parents in cold blood, Mary became the kingdom's next queen. Fierce and witty in the battlefield, she fights to avenge her father and mother. Has multiple husbands, wives and children. Light brown hair in twin braids and brown eyes, her complexion is above everyone else, yet her heart is the most beautiful feature of her frame. [Bisexual] (King of Thrones: Game of Lust/medieval era)

Rosalinda of The Goodwills' Ranch: [25] A farmer (raven haired, fair skin, brown eyes) who lives with her two sisters on their parents' farm (owned by Sean Pablo Goodwill and Margaret Hendricks, daughter of Samuel Hendricks): Ari, a 30-year-old sheriff who works in a nearby town (dark red head, white skin, green eyes), and Callista, a 20-year-old fashion designer (golden-honey blonde, fair skin, blue eyes). They have an older brother named Pablo, 40-years-old, who is away at college to study science and religion (black hair, brown eyes, tan skin). (Straight) [Red Dead Redemption 2/Red Dead online]

Teal Diamond: [?] Sister of the diamonds, and aunt of Steven Universe. Girlfriend is Spinel. Leader of the Uncorrupted Gems army. Has a pearl, respectfully named Teal Pearl, who is dating Amethyst, and a Moonstone prophet, whom she nicknamed Moon-y, who is a gift from White Diamond. [???] (SU/SU: future)

Tia/"Ms. No-Eyes": [?] ballerina animatronic, was possessed by the spirit of a abused girl, and received PTSD and flashbacks. Does not like loud noises and hates being yelled at. [???] (FNAF/SL/ Horror Stories)

Lillian Rosa/"Lilly": [16] a Pokemon trainer that moved with her parents to Alola on her 11th birthday. Her starter Pokemon was a Litten she nicknamed Sparks, then changed it to Firecracker when it became a Torracat, and finally changed it to Firework when it became Incineroar. Lilly has several other Pokemon in her care, such as a Charzard she named Magma, all of the Eevee evolutions, a Pikachu, a Meowth, a Snorlax, a female Jigglypuff, a male Fennekin, a Mimikyu that was abandoned by it's previous owner, a Banette, a male Gendar, a Pumpkaboo, a Chandelure, a Phantump, a Shuppet, and a female Salazzle. She has long twin pigtails, dyed a cyan teal and pale pink, and has light blue eye contacts on. She is kind and caring to any Pokemon that she encounters. [Bisexual] (Pokemon: Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon)

Kenneth Denzel/"Ken"/"Kenny" (nickname by Lilly"): [17] as the son of one of the wealthiest officials in Alola, Ken lives a life of luxury, giving him all the time in the world to capture, study and train the most fabulous of Pokemon. When he met Lillian Rosa, however, he experienced love and attraction towards her like he never felt before with other girls his age. He became overprotective of Lilly and her Pokemon, and vowed to never let any harm come to her or her family. Short and styled blonde hair, blue eyes, and light skin. Ken is rather snobbish, selfish and rude towards people that aren't in his social status, but is a gentleman towards Lillian, even so much as allowing her to call him "Kenny". His two main Pokemon are Gardevoir and Hatterene, while his backup Pokemon are Gallade, a Grimmsnarl, a male Vulpix, a female Ninetails, a female Milotic, a Roserade, a Meloetta, a female Galarian Rapidash and baby Ponyta, a male Rapidash, a female Spectrier and a male Glastrier. [Straight] (Pokemon: Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon)

Onyx "Ony" Gelvira: [17] Also a child from a fabulously wealthy family that moved from the Kanto region to enjoy the relaxing life in Alola, Onyx is a girl that embraces the darkness and cold. Like Kenneth, she studies and trains Pokemon for a hobby. Although Onyx is an introvert, when Lillian first met her, the cheerful girl showed the shy goth some kindness, offering to be her friend (although Kenny was a bit jealous). Black-violet wavy and long hair that she styles differently every day for every occasion, light tan skin, purple eyes, and a curvy figure, and wears dark makeup. Ony is monotone most of the time, but well educated and formal, even keeping her posture and elegance after losing a battle. Her main Pokemon are Yveltal (not in her possession, but close friends with), Gothitelle, Chandelure, Gendar, Polteageist, and Dragapult. Her other Pokemon are a Gothorita and Gothita, Froslass, Sinistea, Hydreigon, Grimmsnarl, Shuppet, Banette, Spectrier, Giratina (not in her possession, but close friends with), Zoroark and Zorua, a female Jellicent, Xerneas, Florges, Clefable, Diancie, Magarna, and Mawile. [Straight] (Pokemon: Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon)

FeatherBlossom: [5 months/Cat years] a lone black cat. She has made several friends with "kittypets" and their human. [Straight] (Warrior Cat series)

V/ "Venus": [27] [[REDACTED]] [Ace/Aro] (Cyberpunk 2077)

Bree Ryu Akira: [22] After her poor parents moved to the United States to start a better life than be in the streets in the dangerous neighborhoods of Japan, her grandmother became a successful restaurant owner to provide enough money for her granddaughter’s education. After she graduated, Bree became a corporate, the secretary, personal assistant and secret friend of Hanako Arasaka. After meeting V and Goro Takemaura during the main story, she started dating Takemaura and eventually became his girlfriend, and finds out her grandfather was from the Arasaka bloodline. As half Japanese from her dad’s side and half white from her mom, she has a soft tan tone, green eyes and hot pink hair. Skilled hacker. [Straight] (Cyberpunk 2077)

Andromeda Atlas: [29] a researcher from the Aperture Science facility that managed to survive the neurotoxin gas. Has severe PTSD from the near-death experience, along with trauma from the sudden "death" of her adopted daughter, Alice Altas. Strangely, she's seems intrigued to find out more about GLaDOS. She has straight and short blonde hair, and has black glasses. She wears a white lab coat. [?] (PORTAL games/Sci-Fi fiction)

Alexa Aderes: [30] A researcher in the Science and Research Center in the [[REDACTED]]. Introverted and prefers to keep to herself. Schizophrenic and has PTSD from her family's death in Hurricane Katrina. Dyed red hair and tan skin, with light blue eyes. She bares scars on her neck and wrist. Married the Hard to Kill Reptile and adopted Abby. Now lives in the Imagined and is the lead scientist there. [Straight]

Gwen Maven: [24] a timid and shy scout for the [[REDACTED]] army. Dyed green and pink hair, with brown eyes. Has a scar on her left eye that was from an abusive relationship, and has a tattoo of a heart on her cheek. [Pansexual]

Genesis the Maiden/Doll: https://joanathedummy.tumblr.com/post/625192257416478720/new-rpg-oc-genesis-the-maidendoll-age-appears She is Married to Agrelia, a silver dragon. [Lesbian]

Abigail the Maiden: [appearance of that of a 16-year-old] Genesis's sister. Same wooden body, blonde and green eyes. She is a cleric/healer that acts as Geana's assistant. [Straight] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Eve Jade Martinez/"Lady Frankenstein" (alias): [ageless] Inspired by Victor Frankenstein's monster in the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (I can't believe his name was Adam!), Geana created the bride that the monster could never have. A gentle, kind and intelligent creature, this 7 ft. tall woman has long black hair, gray-pale skin, brown eyes and a muscular build. Training to be a monster hunter (ironic...). [?/Intersexual] (Resident Evil 8: Village)

Dr. Levi Bona Dimitrescu: [25] It’s the year 2046, over 40 years since Ethan Winters entered the Castle of the Dimitrescu family. Eve and Alcina have met, fought and made up. And out of this odd arrangement came their daughter, Levi. She became the village’s doctor, a kind and gentle yet intelligent woman who wanted nothing more than her patients to be well and healthy. She, along with Eve, got rid of the lycanthropes that haunted the village and created a vaccine for the disease. The House of Cures, Treatments and Remedies was created (a large carriage that is pulled by two horses), just outside of the town, where Levi works and helps anyone who needs aid. The youngest out of the daughters of Lady Dimitrescu (Bela, Cassandra and Daniela). Pale skin, brown (left) and yellow (right) eyes, and jet black hair. [Straight] (Resident Evil 8: Village)

Nemeia: [21] a sorceress-bard Tiefling that lives out her days as a musician. She knows how to play every instrument or is currently practicing. She grew up poor, with her parents having to hide her from society due to their race. Now, as a carefree and cheerful adult, she yearns to travel the world to witness the fine arts, food and literature of every culture. Virtue name is "Chant". [Bisexual/prefers men] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Jolene Luca/ "The Jest of Death": [21] A jester that became insane while growing up poor, and went into a life of crime, stealing and murdering people and creatures. Her sister, Jaylen, is a maid. [Pansexual] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Tsunami: [20] a bloodthirsty siren that roams rivers and coastlines for humans to feast on. Dark brown hair and a dark teal colored tail. "Wings" can extend from her tail to glide momentary in the air. Keeps a great white shark and a octopus as pets [Bisexual] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Bibi: [20] a siren that lost her older sister to pirates, and who Tsunami adopted. She has a dark blue tail and light chestnut hair and eyes. She is terrified of boats and sailors. (Dungeons and Dragons)

Coral: [20] a Nigerian cecaelia that loves to collect shiny trinkets and gold coins. Her tentacles are a light and dark green color, but can change colors to camouflage in her surroundings. Her hair is a bleached white, eyes are a electrified light blue, and wears comfortable but strong armour. She has multiple rays and eels as pets. [Straight] (Dungeons and Dragons)

SheRa de Drarvakme: [31] an Barbarian aasimar that came from a extremely wealthy family of Paladins. Her long hair is a dark jet black, with a gray skin tone. Her eyes glow a bright white, almost ghost-like. She led numerous wars and battles, always leading to victories. She takes care of her adopted daughter, Rosemary Malree. Dating Vilkas. [Bisexual] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Rosemary de Drarvakme-Malree: [12] a high elf that was forced to run away from her home when her parents were killed by an bandit invasion. She now dedicates her life to study the arts of Arcane Magic. She has dark red hair and light orange colored skin, with emerald green eyes. She lives in a large manor with her adopted mother, SheRa. Vilkas teaches her how to fight.

Aera: [5/Aarakocra years] A aarakocra who's main goal is to rid the world of it's demons and evil spirits. She resembles a humanoid falcon and wears light armour. Caretaker of Rose. [Straight] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Rose: [7] a harpy that was found in a abandoned temple. Adopted by Aera.

Viola/"The Lady Firehair's Zealot": [21] a cultist of the goddess of love and beauty Sune. She's chaotic good and gives her time and energy to do her matron's biding....and may have a secret crush on Sune. [Pansexual] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Susana and Lavina: [both died at 20/currently immortal] twins that died by falling off a cliff, trying to escape a large mob of anti-religious townsfolk. Susana is a Jann genie that came back with all the powers of the elemental dimensions, with bright rainbow hair and eyes and tan skin, who is carefree and calm, and has forgotten about the pain of her death. Lavina is a jinni that woke up with pain and agony from her cruel and unjustified demise, with bleached-white hair and gray skin, her colors washed out from anger and vengeance...and with the power of the Nine Circles of Hell to help her complete her goal. [Pansexual] [demisexual] (Dungeons and Dragons)

John Williams: [19] Abandoned by his peasant parents in a swamp owned by seven hags, he grew up isolated and introverted, although he was treated with shocking amounts of affection and love by the seven hags. He hunts and gathers food for the coven. He has shoulder-length long, honey-blonde hair, sucken blue eyes and a thin, pale frame with some muscles. Despite living with a hag coven, he is a good-hearted soul and wants nothing to do with violence. Dating a Beholder, who he named Arcano. [Bisexual] (Dungeons and Dragons)

The Hag Coven:

-Grandmother Ann, 200 years old, leader of the coven. Acts as John's mentor. (Annis Hag)

-Morgue, 150 years old, "vice-president" of the coven. (Bheur Hag)

-Gertrude, 100 years old, keeps a list of all magical and arcane items of the coven and deals with trading. (Green Hag)

-Ingrid, 90, the "cook" of the coven. Teaches John how to cook and bake. (Night Hag)

-Harpy, 80, collects items from the rivers, lakes and oceans. Taught John how to fish, gather and hunt. (Sea Hag)

-Eunice, 70, makes potions for trading and bargaining. Taught John alchemy. (Half-hag)

-Jean, 60, makes curses and spells for trading and bargaining. Taught John spell casting. (Half-hag)

Willow: [20] a changeling thief that steals to provide food and comfort to herself and Wisp, a baby Red Dragon that she stole from a warlock, and Rusty, a half-azer dwarven girl who she found in a alleyway. Takes the form of a athletic woman with blue-green hair, dark skin, dark gray skin and claws and talons. [Straight] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Õka-Buki ("many weapons"), Goddess of Trickery and Wisdom: [20] Born as a goddess in the Feywild and raised by an Annis Hag named Grannie Man-taker after her parents died, she went to the material plane to cause mischief and help good people. Raven black hair, fair skin, and bright emerald green eyes. She can transform into a large crow or raven with green eyes. [Pansexual/Poly] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Tamashī ga nai, God of Sorrow: [21] Born as a God in the Shadowfell and was raised by a Sorrowsworn-nightwalker hybrid after being abandoned by his parents, he went on a mission to create as much misery and pain as he could to satisfy his emptiness. Jet black hair, gray skin, and golden eyes. Can transform into a giant Dragon. Long lost brother of Buki. [?/poly] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Auriel: [ageless] An angel serving Eldath, the Goddess of Peace. Titanium blonde hair, crystallize blue eyes and light skin. Birth father of Soraya Sinikka (@a-elemental-warrior-for-god) (Dungeons and Dragons)

First form: resembles a male human, with pure white wings.

Second form: his body is made up of light, with his face full of glowing eyes. Three wings

Final form: biblical version of an angel.

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Camisa: [7] Auriel's sister. Furture servant of Helm, God of Protection. Honey-blonde hair, light skin and same crystal eyes.

First form: resembles a young human girl, with fluffy white wings.

Second form: glowing eyes and two wings

Final form: a Unicorn or Pegasus foal, an angelic deer, a ki-rin, or a coualti.

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Abaddon: [ageless] a devil who started working for the Celestials after falling in love with Auriel. He is the personal messager of Kelemvor, God of the Dead. Curved horns, red skin, fangs, yellow eyes, and black hair. Father of Soraya (Dungeons and Dragons)

First form: handsome devil wearing a lawyer's suit.

Second form: a 8 foot tall monster, with large bat wings and a long tail.

Final form: a 20 foot tall abomination, with large Dragon wings and tail, talons and claws, and a muscular body.

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Lilitu/"Lucy"(nickname given by Camisa): [6] Abaddon's sister. She fled the 9 hells with her brother to join the Celestials. She worships and serves Lathander, God of Birth and Renewal, and Helm with Camisa. Tiny horns, pinkish skin, golden eyes, sharp teeth, and wavey black hair.

First form: resembles a devilish girl in a elegant purple and red dress, with bat wings.

Second form: longer horns, black deer legs, a venomous snake for a tail and larger bat wings. Her eyes glow in the darkness.

Final form: a shadow dragon, a nightmare (demonic black horse with a flaming mane and tail), or a chimera, with a lioness, Dragon and goat heads with a large serpent for a tail and with large Dragon wings.

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Claudia Gentlewind: [3,000+] a semi-blind storm giantess that lives in Voninheim, the ice giant-home that was abandoned during the war between Dragons and Giants. Hair is literally made out of clouds that change depending on her mood, icy-purple skin, glowing white eyes...and half-silver dragon. The most kindest giant you'll ever find...and the most silent. [?] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Marzanna Arcadia Valerie Tiana Abott-Weasley: [20] In a AU where Hogwarts was abandoned due to numerous deaths and injuries in the franchise, this young witch's parents refused to let her attend the school for her own safety. At age 20, she moved into the seemingly empty school, and started teaching herself how to become the most powerful magic-caster in existence. Blue and black frizzy and curly long hair, blue eyes and fair skin. Has three pet dragons named Tymbit, Evoss and Puvrur. [Pansexual] (Harry Potter series)

Celeste "Cele" Rune: [20] a female wizard that is teaching herself all types of magic from not just the Boiling Isles, but from all magic throughout different dimensions and universes. Kind, sweet, good-hearted and loving. The moon is her favorite thing the space. Dark skin, curvy, long warm black to sea-blue hair, rosewood to azure eye colors. Her staff is a vulture-bat creature named Scraps. [Bisexual] (The Owl House)

Skylar Cloudia: [26] a mage that is training to become a sorceress and mythical-beast caretaker. Dark blue hair in a high ponytail, pale-tan skin and blue eyes. [Straight] (Runescape)

Ruth McLaughlin: [Died at 25/current age unknown] An astronaut that worked for a space program, until she was murdered under mysterious circumstances (it is suspected a alien parasite infected her, or a crewmate killed her), then resurrected 20 hours later. She killed the rest of her crewmates, and abandoned the ship. Her human appearance is a young and fit woman with brown eyes and short jet black hair with cyan highlights, and tan skin. Her spacesuit is painted cyan. [Straight] (Among Us)

Raven: [22] daughter of Dovah and Alduin. Older Princess of dragons, and is the arisen of Tamriel. Nightingale of Nocturnal and was taught the Thu'um by the Greybeards. Her wife is Madeleine and adopted daughter is Selene. Symbol of the Beautiful Darkness of the Night. Her pawn's name is Brenna, a cheerful blonde elf ranger. [Lesbian] (Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen)

Dove: [21] Daughter of Dovah and Alduin. Princess of dragons, and is the current Inquisitor of Thedas. Student of the goddess Dibella and is being taught the Thu'um by her sister Raven. A bit of a narcissist, and could care less about other's opinions. Dating Blackwall. Symbol of the Holy Light of the Day. [Straight] (Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen/Dragon's Dogma Online/Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Kiinnolsos: [?] When Dovah and Alduin, in the fusion of Fin-Nil, were fighting against Molag Bal, they were struck in battle. The blood of the wound bleed onto the floor, and the tears of pain and determination fell onto it, creating the daughter of Fin-Nil. Kiinnolsos is the youngest daughter of Dovah and Alduin, and represents that even in the darkest of times, there is still hope. A dragon who's scales are made of moonstone, and sparkle in the light. Her horns are the purest white, almost like snow, and her eyes shine like pinkest rose. Her wings are a mixture of a canary and a golden dragon. The end of her tail has some feathers on it, just like her elbows, ankles and the crown of beautiful yellow feathers on her head. Often urges mages to cast the magelight spell so she can chase the "pretty orbs". [Pansexual]

Naramath: [?] While Fin-Nil was struck by Molag Bal's mace, the blood and tears that created Kiinnolsos also created Naramath, the dragon spawn succubus that represents that there will always be "hatred behind the affection" (a hint of malice behind a good deed, thoughts of doubt, lust over love, abuse disguised as romance, ideas of betrayal, etc.). Resembles a younger Dovah, with red eyes, tan skin, long warm black hair, and sharp red and black succubi wings on her back. She also has a long tail, with a bladed tip made out of ebony. Wears dremora styled armor and wears her hair in a ponytail. In a relationship with Sanguine and Mephala (technically she's their champions) and was gifted the Ebony Blade and the Sanguine Rose. Daedra seducers worship her. [Bisexual]

Judith "Jude" Iscariot: [22] Jude was once a normal Fisher woman in Cassardis, when the second dragon strikes and she had to become the next the Arisen (after Raven). She, alongside her pawn Harth Alois, a strong and loyal warrior woman (black hair in a updo bun, tan skin and light blue eyes; obese with inhumane strength) with a meaty and muscular form, went to retrieve her heart...but sacrificed her "beloved", and ended up falling in love with Grigori. The Duke of Gran Soren offered Jude the throne, but she refused and became his personal hitwoman. She still does good deeds for kind people, but she's independent and does tasks for her own benefit. Curly and shiny red hair in a pony tail, fair skin, and pale green eyes. [Bisexual] (Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen)

Eeva "Chimes" Ameno: [23] A female Qunari swordwoman and warrior. May seem monstrous, but is sweet to others. Helps with Dove and the Inquisition. Dating Iron Bull. [Straight] (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Tello Lavellan: [30] ever since he was a boy, growing up in the wilderness, he was gifted with great magic. At 29 years old, he was sent to the Chantry Conclave by the Keeper. After the explosion, he was nursed back to health, and met Dorian Pavus while assisting Dove with the Inquisition. Vanilla-tan skin, green eyes, and semi-ponytail and short Auburn hair. Became a Elven Rift Mage. [Gay] (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Lois Trevelyan: [28] Training since a little girl to become a Templar Warrior, she was always excited to finally be able to join her brother in battle. Then she was sent to the Conclave, and the explosion happened. After assisting Cullen with his troops, they became fond of each other. Human, with tan skin, short and dark brown hair that reaches her shoulders, with blue eyes, and multiple scars on her face. Has a brother named Johnathan, who is also a Templar and looks like her. [Straight] [straight]

Dravna Firebeard: [19] Unwanted and banished from her underground home, she made her living with the Cadash Crime Family, smuggling Lyrium and training to be an assassin. Unfortunately, when she was sent to the Conclave to spy on the area, she was hit by the explosion. Fortunately, she survived and was nursed back to health. She met Sera while taking out some corrupted officials for Dove, and they immediately hit it off. Firery red hair, pale skin and green eyes. [Lesbian]

Saphria De Lezcano: [30] The daughter of a rich horse and cattle rancher, while wandering a nearby forest for apples, saw Dove in her Divine form. Enchanted by the aura, the woman followed Dove into a cave. After fighting her way though monsters, she found herself in a cavern with a glowing, pulsing heart of a Dragon. Unable to keep herself focused, she touched it... And was flooded with vast knowledge and experience. When a search party went to the cave, they found Saphria unconscious. When a dragon threatened to destroy Haven, she lost control and became a Sapphire Dragon. This got Vivienne's attention, and the two had been unseparable ever since. Long jet black hair in a high ponytail, tan skin and Sapphire Blue eyes. Became a Knight-Enchanter after joining the Inquisition, and eventually a sorceress. [Bisexual]

Sumasan Sumet: [26] A Quinari that was raised outside of the Qun in Thedas, and was planning worked for her father's mercenary company when she got older, but she became in the arts of magic, and became a healer. As a support mage, she dreamed of joining the Chantry and fall into one of the ranks. She got her wish after making to Haven to support the Inquisition, and the fallen Divine. There, she met Josephine, and after saving Cassandra's life, started dating each other. Slightly curved horns, dark skin, white and long hair and golden eyes. [Bisexual]

Marcello Lavellan: [20] Following in the footsteps of his older brother, he studied magic, but couldn't help learn all the different types of instruments in Thedas instead. As a bard, Marcello helps spread good cheer and merry around his family, and it often leaves him with new friends. When Tello joined the Inquisition, Marcello went with him to start earning money, singing in taverns and soothing the minds of the mournful. When the Dark spawn attacked, he was saved by Cole, and fled with his brother while Dove hold off the attackers. Tan skin, hazel eyes and short Auburn hair. [Straight]

Mettius Saenus: [7] the adopted human son of Varric and Cassandra, who wishes to become an Templar like his mother. Blonde and short hair, tan skin, and brown eyes. [Straight]

Conna Durvish: [7] the adopted dwarven daughter of Varric and Cassandra, who sees herself more like her father and wants to learn how to shoot an arrow when she's older. Warm black hair, pale skin and brown eyes. [Straight]

Velanowen: [10] the adopted elven daughter of Leliana, and is training to become an artificier. Shaven hair, light skin, and blue eyes. [Straight]

Jarver: [9] the adopted Quinari son of Leliana, and wishes to become a scholar. Curved horns to the front, green skin and red eyes. [Straight]

Amara-Naga: [24] An argonian from Black Marsh. Dreams of being a powerful witch, and is friends with hagravens. Adopted mother of Tikvah. [Straight] (TES: Skyrim/"Skyrim 2")

Lamia Luna: [23] a khajiit that lost her family to the Dark Brotherhood, and seeks redemption by killing every last member. Dovah aids her goal. Married to Cicero [Straight] (TES: Skyrim)

Emeline BrightGold: [25] a blacksmith and battlemaiden Half-Orc. Her mother is a human, and her father is a rich Orc chieftain. Often a lone wander, but is a kind and generous soul. Asks Dovah for advice. Currently engaged Sheogorath. [Straight] (TES: Skyrim)

Aenea Kovac: [24] One of Emeline’s younger cousins, who is a pure Orc. She is a hardworking woman, just like the rest of her family tree. And just like her family, she is a mighty blacksmith, gifted with the ability to create strong and powerful weapons. She doesn’t mind fighting, but prefers to settle a skirmish with words instead of actions. Long, straight and black hair, dark gray-green skin, and forest green eyes. [Straight] (TES: Markarth/Skyrim 6)

Aiden Blair/"Silva": [23] a Forsworn who has falmer blood within her. Friends with Amara. Strangely sympathetic with others. Cannibal. Likes shiny things. [Bisexual] (TES: Skyrim/ "Skyrim 2")

Cath: [4,000+] a snow elf that researches monsters and dark magic for a living. Owns a shop in Riften. He worships Dovah. Preferred monsters: lycanthrope creatures/griffins/beholders/giant serpents. [Bisexual] (TES: Skyrim)

Shammara Yamaji: [24] The daughter of a Yuan-ti and a Naga woman hybrid, and comes from a very powerful tribe of serpent people. Has taught herself to be able to shapeshift into any snake-related creature, is able to bend will over snakes and possesses powerful dark magic and knowledge. She likes jigsaw puzzles, riddles, books of ancient knowledge & religion and escape rooms. Her people worship Anox and Jane, along with the Christian version of God, and is very religious. Holds grudges and will never forget a enemy's face. Married to Tiamat and the Tarrasque in a polygamous marriage. [Bisexual] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Saphria, the Wandering Healer: [26] the offspring of Tiamat, Shammara and the Tarasque. She inherited the good and kind nature of Shammara, the raw strength of Tarasque, and the powerful magic of Tiamat. She often walks around the Material Plane to assist in healing the sick and injured. Half-dragon, with red scales, yellow eyes and is dressed like a cleric. [?] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Eclipse de Sol-Luz: [20] A High Elf in Elemental Master in training who's parents died in a demon invasion when she was 6, and was taken in by a priest and nun. She lives with Harmony in her forest. During the day, her appearance is that of a Sun elf, and at night she turns into a Moon elf. [?] (Dungeons and Dragons)

Anox the cursed serpent: [7,778] a snake that was cursed by a witch for bitting her and was turned into a serpent/dragon God, but cursed to never bare offspring. She is worshiped by Chinese and Japanese citizens for good luck. Has a temple in Japan. In human form, her appearance is that of a Nobel consort with magenta eyes and blue hair, and a kamoto made out of yellow snake skin. [Asexual/straight] (Chinese/Japanese mythology)

Yasmine: [30] One of Anox's Children of Luck (worshippers). Strong and a hardheaded woman, but protects those who she loves. [Lesbian]

Mora: [7] A abandoned girl that Anox adopted. She doesn't know what civilization she belongs to, nor does she care. Anox gave her the blessing of mastery of all element bending. Mental, emotional and spiritual scars from learning about her parents abandoning her. Can be very dangerous to be around. During the LOK timeline, she is immortal, married Azula (who Mora turned immortal) and owns four dragons: Bureizu, a reddish-copper colored dragon that breathes fire/ Kaze, a greenish-pale colored Chinese dragon that can manipulate the weather and air/ Chippy, a blue dracohound hybrid that acts like a mount and companion on Mora's travels/ Kaiyō, a cyan colored sea serpent that protects Mora's island home. Mora has white, crystal colored eyes, tan skin, and jet black hair that is past her shoulders in ATLA, and a stylized Bob cut in LOK. Her eyes shine like a rainbow when in the sunlight. [Pansexual] (ATLA/LOK)

Angie: [111] An air nomad that fled with Aang before the Fire Nation attacked and was frozen inside of the iceberg with him. She is close friends with the Gaang. Half of her light brown hair is shaved, with pale-tan skin and brown eyes (bleached her hair white in Book 3). Has a pet sugar glider named Nani and has a mount named Windbreaker. [Bisexual] (ATLA/LOK)

Titania Dextera: [13] Mora's older cousin and a firebender in training. Her parents are wealthy and powerful but good hearted nobles, with her father in the Fire Nation's army and her mother a successful restaurant owner. Long black hair and yellow eyes, with tan skin. Has a pet dragon named Lucoa, a war horse named Warrior, an eagle hawk named Pepper, and a wild phoenix that she named Empress. Dating Toph. [Bisexual/prefers women] (ATLA/LOK)

Vavay Alviva: [17] a cheerful and bright non-bender that makes a living on creating and selling instruments with her aunt, Alohi. Training on how to fight with weapons and practices Chi blocking. Braided, long, chocolate colored hair, light-tan skin and green eyes. Dating Ty Lee. Has a pet dog named Sochi and feeds the stray cats in her town. On the end of her long braid is a heavy sphere weight that she often uses when fighting, knocking her opponent out with a swing of her head. [Bisexual] (ATLA/LOK)

Yorata: [?] A lab experiment gone wrong; a rat and bat mutation with the thirst for blood. She is half as tall as Godzilla, and makes her home in a cave system in Mexico. Superstitious residents leave offerings for her so that she won't destroy the country. Often battles with Anox for territory. She can shapeshift into a female gangster as a disguise. [Straight] (Kaiju universe)

Penny: [101] a dragon (who used to be muted) that lives in secrecy. Only Dovah knew her location, but has forced herself to forget. Only comes out of her hiding place for food. Nords worship her to protect them from war and bring peace to their hearts. In human form, she takes the appearance of a beautiful woman with a dress made out of animal pelts. [Straight] (Nordic mythology/RPG games)

Harmony: [201] A gigantic Owl-like Goddess of Balance and Equality. Lives in a large forest in Europe. Unknown to everyone, but is a invisible force of nature. Can talk to animals and spirits, and has many woodland and water nymphs as her subjects. In her human form, she's African-American with beautiful, curly, highlighted green ringlets of hair, with a dress made of green veil and fabric, barefooted with vines attached to her arms and legs, and has a slight British accent. [Pansexual] (Fairytale lore/medieval folklore)

Fusions:

Jia: [32] (Tia + JTD) A timid, but kind robotic/puppet hip-hop dancer. Her dance style consist of tap-dancing and ballad.

Geana: [32] (Dollface + JTD) A Latina necromancer who likes to experiment on undead. Can create armies of wooden and undead soldiers. Creator of Genesis.

Anaoj: [?] (Ana + JTD) [[REACTED]]

"The Lady": [?] (____+ JTD + ____) Powerful reality-bender. Can literally erase people and characters from existence, or be a grand protector. (Male equivalent is "The Knight")

Fin-Nil ("The Void"): [infinite] (Dovah + Alduin) a gargantuan sized tusked dragon made out of shadow and darkness, with an everlasting hunger to devour the universe. They use daedric armor, and have a beautifully gold-engraved copy of Konahrik's mask. (They/them/it/its)

Revelations/"Reva": [infinite] (OCs + Personas) The ultimate and most powerful fusion in all of space and time. Each new character gives her more power and energy. Her sworn duty is to destroy those who have hurt her friends and family, and to bring peace and order between the various dimensions and universes.

Children:

Autumn & April: [15] Twin sisters. Autumn has green eyes, and has curly orange hair with black highlights, while April has brown eyes, and straight black hair with orange highlights; That's how you can tell them apart. Both are religious and good moraled.

Clark: [6] Younger brother of Autumn and April, who is a human with black short hair, green eyes and fair skin.

Debbie and Annie: [5] Fraternal twin sisters (Debbie has blonde hair in a bob, blue eyes and pale-rosey skin, and Annie has red hair with blue eyes and pale skin) that are both ventriloquist dummies, like their older sisters.

Shaun: [31] son of Nora and Nate. Black hair and blue eyes. Master inventor and researcher.

Dorothy: [5] daughter of Nora and Nate. Brown hair and brown eyes. She has small freckles. Likes to invent robots.

Selene: [35] adopted daughter of Raven and Madeleine.

Sofia: [21] Daughter of Jester and Freddy Krueger. Has light blonde hair and blue eyes. Her skin tone is a pale tan. She is half alien and half dream demon.

Koi: [20] Son of Dovah and Alduin. Daegric Prince of the Ocean and its many creatures. Blue eyes, black hair, and tan skin. Twin brother of Flora. Younger brother of Raven and Dove. Married Bibi.

Beau: [21] Daughter of Genesis and Agrelia. She is a glass dragon, a new type of dragon that rivals the strength and power of a silver dragon. In human form, her hair is a greenish-teal, and her eyes are that of the sky. In dragon form, her scales glisten in the light, radiant and beautiful, and her wings are that of a dove's feathers. Very religious and good moraled.

Donovan: [19] young son of Alduin and Dovah. Daegric Prince of shadows and darkness, nightmares and bad omens. Black hair, black eyes and pale skin.

Froid: [19] Young daughter of Alduin and Dovah. Daegric Princess of ice, snow, the cold-hearted and frost creatures. Titanium white hair with white eyes, and pale skin.

Flora: [20] Daughter of Dovah and Alduin. Daegric Prince of Fae and fairies, and woodland creatures. Red eyes, dark red hair, and fair skin. Twin sister of Koi. Younger sister of Raven and Dove.

Sola: [19] daughter of Cicero and Lamia. A half woman half Khajiit hybrid. Hunts down Dark Brotherhood members.

Roma & Troy: [5] twins who witnessed Tsunami and Coral murder their parents (their mother used to be Tsunami's ex-lover and murderer, and was a pirate), and were taken in by them. Both have blue eyes, dirty blonde hair and slightly pale skin.

Apocalypse/"Apocal": [?] son of Reva. Has half of her powers and abilities. A kind soul who wishes to help others, but won't hesitate to kill you in cold blood.

Mirror/"Mi": [?] Younger sister of Apocal and Isa. Made out of abstract art and light. Beautiful rainbow hair, and eyes that reflect light. Her skin is just a black void. Dating ENA from Extinction Party.

Mia & Miu: [12] firstborns of Azula and Mora. Prefer fire bending and waterbending. Mia has a pet tiger named Flame, while Miu has a pet Bengal tiger named Frost.

Zu: [11] second child and only son of Azula and Mora. Prefers air bending. Owns a pet Lion Vulture named Ria.

Kiki: [10] Azula and Mora's daughter that somehow perfected the art of sculpting. Earthbender. Owns a large saber tooth tiger named Dusty.

Chazona: [9] strangest and youngest daughter of Azula and Mora. A quiet and shy, she can speak to spirits and the dead. Energy bender.

Sten: [12] Younger brother to Lin and Suyin, son of Toph and Titania. Like his older siblings, he can fire and earth bend. But just like Toph, he was blind at birth. Same pale eyes as his mother.

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The Sunkissed Maidens: a group of women vampires that worship Dove, and are immune to the sun. Their hideout is in a cave system that used to be a abandoned mineshaft.

The Nightshade Wolfkin: a hidden group of werewolves that worship Raven. Most of the worshippers are werewolves brought back from the dead. They live in a abandoned village surrounded by smaller camps or fortresses.

Cult of the Wolf/Vamp Queen: a mix group of saved werewolves and rescued vampires that secretly worship Dovah. Both groups have come to realize that werewolves and vampires shouldn't be enemies and not be feared by the living. All members have immunity to common weaknesses. None worship Hircine or Molag Bal.

Children of Luck and Fortune: An all-girls group that worships Anox and lives at her temple.

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[[REDACTED]] agents:

Name: Isa

Age: unknown

Race: Hebrew

Isa is the daughter of Reva and the sister of Apocal and Mirror. She has the same moral alignment as Apocal, but has more powers than him because of her job. She has a half-shaved haircut, and dyed her hair in a rainbow pattern. On her left eye is a scar.

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The Company of Wyverns and Dragons:

A adventuring group in the Dark Souls games.

-Eilora the Shadowdancer: [29] an assassin that started the group as a way to get money, but now views everyone as her friends. Quick and stealthy, and blends well with the shadows. Black hair and pale skin, and black clothing. [Lesbian]

-Lady Jana Songsteel Many-Daggers: [30] a cleric who specializes in healing. She joined the group when she saw Eilora in a battle, nearly dead. Black with straight-ironed black hair and Dark brown eyes. [Straight]

-Lord Quogold Darkeyes, In Darkness: [31] a Knight that came into Jana's aid when a monster was chasing her. He fell in love with her ever since. Blonde hair and blue eyes, multiple scars on his face and torso. [Straight]

-Hollydiana Shipsail the Fighter: [25] a wandering mercenary that accidentally attacked Eilora, mistaking her for the wrong assassin. After repaying her dept and gaining Maven's trust, Holly was able to join the group. Dark brown hair, tan skin and green eyes. [Bisexual]

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I'm going to share two stories...

1.) The Four Victims Case

I often roleplay with a friend I have here on Tumblr. Our stories and characters often have crossovers and the like. But sometimes...things don't go as I planned it would.

Dovah was hosting a celebration for the birth of her firstborn, Raven, in her plane of Oblivion, Gaard. She decided to invite everyone from both parties (my characters and my friend's OCs) to the welcome party. But before anything good happened, one of my friend's OCs named Cooper decided it was a great idea to threaten Alduin and Dovah about the whereabouts of his friends. Long story short, Dovah and my personas were kidnapped by the SCP Foundation, Raven's first birthday was ruined, and Dovah & Alduin were emotionally scarred for the rest of the time.

Now, Raven had a prophecy to start when she becomes 20. But before that, after Dovah was released from the Foundation, she went back to Gaard to check on her family. Only to find Raven was kidnapped, and then Dovah was promptly locked inside of her home dimension by mysterious force of evil. Nora, Rubí, Jester and Joana were helping evacuate Tamriel due to a monster invasion. Cardmaster, another one of my friend's OCs, decided to join them after everyone was safely evacuated into another dimension. When he realised none of his friends were there (my group asked them nicely to enter, and CM'S friends being hotheaded individuals, they didn't listen and died trying to fight the horde of monsters), CM beat up the four women out of anger. And I'm talking about slamming Nora into Rubí, beating up Jester into a bloody pulp and breaking her windpipe, and almost turning Joana into roadkill. It was that bad that Ana had to interfere. CM, after calming down to "defeat" Ana (she wasn't even losing), he healed my characters. They were in shock, and didn't know how to respond to the man who just nearly killed them. And everything just went to shit downwards after that...

Just talking and remembering about this now makes me feel sick. But it's my fault because I didn't just stop my friend right then and there. I hate myself for it everyday since.

2.) The Incident at the Temple of Anox

Holy frick, this one left me pissed for days!

My friend and I often bring cannon characters into out stories. Mostly as friends or spouces of our characters. And I wish I could have said something when my friend decided to bring in Team Avatar from ATLA...

During another RP session with some other friends, I was roleplaying Yorata, Anox and Penny (Harmony wasn't made yet). After a hour or two of letting our characters get to know each other, Anox made the decision to invite her new "friends" to her temple in Japan (the worst mistake of my life, I made). After a watching a argument, she waits for them at her temple, letting a few snake spys to lead the others there. They arrived at the wrong time. A farmer had brought his daughter to Anox to join her worshipers. Only everyone else thought the girl was going to be sacrificed or something worse. In the chat, I was screaming at my friend trying to tell him not to make the Gaang enter, but he decided to make them enter, anyway. After ignoring every sign to urge the group to leave the Temple, and ignoring the fact that they are entering private property without permission, they got to the temple. Every girl there was armed ready to murder the Gaang, but Anox stopped them, telling the Gaang to leave. They (finally) did, but Toph decided to sneak in at night," just to make sure nothing bad was happening". She ended up alerting everyone at the temple, and when her girlfriend, Levinia, realized she was in danger (she wasn't), she threatened Anox with flooding her temple. Now THAT traumatized Anox with the thought that her Children of Luck would get killed in the process. So she ordered the girls to let Toph go. For the next few days/weeks/months, Anox became depressed, ashamed to face the world. She didn't want to be in anything our group did, giving all of her free time and attention to her daughters that were almost taken away from her.

When I first created Mora, I felt every inch of my body boil with anger and frustration. Mora is a physical manifestation of that stress and trauma Anox had to go through, with her only thoughts being spiteful and angry towards the Gaang.

After everything that happened to Anox, I kept feeling urges to just delete my account and go under a new identity. I can't stress enough that everytime I look at something Avatar related I feel this sudden pain in my chest. Like I want to take my anger out on someone. But I can't undo everything that happened in the past. And yes, there are more terrible events that happened, but those two are my biggest regrets.

#ocs

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tolrais · 4 years ago

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Tgcf Ep 6

!!!!! I loved it!!! Stuff is starting to happen! I think the thing with TGCF is that, once you've read it, the first few chapters seem kind of slow (palanquin scene not withstanding), but Ban Yue (for me) is the first place that TGCF starts to really feel like the rest of the novel, and the Donghua doesn't disappoint. Like...if the first few chapters are escaping from Helgen and the Riverwood quests in Skyrim, then Ban Yue is the first Dragonborn quest, if that makes sense?

I need to rewatch cause my internet was being shitty so I had to keep pausing, and I missed a couple of bits cause the subs go so fast (also are kind of hard to read at anything lower than 720 :/) but I'm so stoked!! The bickering between San Lang and Fu Yao and Nan Feng was great - I said last week that I was looking forward to it, and it did NOT disappoint.

I'm loving the fact that Haoliners are really going for the Yearning Looks - just THE CLOTHING ADJUSTMENT in the sandstorm, and Xie Lian offering Hua Cheng his hat and the GAZING. AHHHHHH.

That said, it's really interesting to see how the little changes affect San Lang's character. Donghua!SL does seem to be more vulnerable and open than novel!SL at this point in time, but I don't know how much of that is because of things getting lost in translation between the original text and English, but I actually really like the adaption choice - even if it is further confirming my Novel = Xie Lian POV Donghua = Hua Cheng POV theory? Joke? Not sure what to call it.

Also Xie Liannnnn ❤ I loved how his robes were animated in the wind, and the contrast between their simplicity and the idiot duos outfits was also beautiful. And like I know everyone is talking about this scene me included 😅 But can we get a moment of appreciation for the expressions??? When he was threatening/fighting the puppet? Oh my GOD Dianxia. I don't how Haoliners somehow got such a good 'I was a martial god and this will go poorly for you' into like, 2 2D expressions but they did it.

Look at this face!!!!

Also!!! First glimpse of Lady Wind Master!!!! She’s so pretty!!!!!

Also tried to sketch a lil San Lang cause the scene it paused on when buffering was funny, but I think it came out looking more like one of the idiot duo 😅

#tgcf #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #tolrais watches tgcf #tgcf donghua spoilers #san lang #long post

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two-headed-septim · 4 years ago

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OC fact sheet for An’sarri (my dragonborn)! I was gonna wait till I had more up to date art of her, but I draw so infrequently that it wasn’t worth it. Not sure how to structure this so it’s just gonna be bullet points:

She’s a Khajiit monk of a temple dedicated to Khenarthi

She was an orphan taken in by the monks at the temple

She’s a 25 year old trans woman lesbian

Overall, she’s very cheerful and optimistic, usually trying to approach situations with humor

She’s very talented at traditional Khajiit martial arts, fighting sometimes with a quarterstaff but mostly with her claws

She came to Skyrim on a pilgrimage to the Gildergreen and to gain insight on other Kynareth worshipping cultures

When she found out she was dragonborn, she became nearly obsessed with the Thu’um. It’s connection to Khenarthi felt fated to her, and she trained to become a master of the voice, integrating it into her fighting style (and just every day life)

In addition to the voice, she also was very skilled in restoration, and a tiny bit in alteration and illusion

She sided with the Greybeards readily over the blades. The blades felt violent and a tad genocidal to her, and its not like she didnt know that they were the emperor’s spies before the Great War. By contrast, monastic life (though very different than the solemn isolation of skyrim’s Greybeards), pacifism, and meditation all came naturally to her.

She would fight when she had to, but she tried to solve every conflict she could with diplomacy and cleverness. It deeply bothered her whenever she was forced to take a life, choosing instead to incapacitate most foes (like bandits on the road)

She hates swimming

However, she was able to recognize when letting an opponent live would just create more harm in the long run, and was willing to take them out if necessary

Similarly, absorbing dragon souls bothered her, and at least some Words of Power she learned through practice and meditation.

She struggled with her pacifism the more dragon souls she absorbed, being influenced strongly by the draconic urge to dominate.

Her first encounter with Alduin was deeply challenging, and she very nearly died. This left her feeling terrified of facing him again, and prompted her to seek out any more mastery over the voice she could by doing the dragonborn questline

She is deeply curious, which is what led her to seek out all of the Black Books, temporarily straying from Khenarthi as she became Hermaeus Mora’s unwitting champion.

She rededicated herself to Khenarthi after the events of dragonborn, but how easily she almost became Herma-Mora’s puppet shook her to her core

She had several partners since coming to Skyrim, but ended up in a long term relationship with Ysolda, due in part to her being one of the few nords who were kind to her before she was declared dragonborn

The two of them stayed in whiterun for the first half of the events of skyrim, where Ysolda opened a store selling all the loot An’sarri brought back from her adventures

An’sarri adopted all of the orphaned children she came across, eventually forcing them to move out to lakeview manor for space.

Ysolda’s store had become an attraction due to all of the rare items it was stocked with, so travelers came to see what new was for sale even out in the country.

Eventually, Lakeview manor became regarded as a safe haven for any children without a home or who were trying to escape a bad home situation. An’sarri would provide them shelter for as long as they needed without question

Another OC of mine, Seeks-Depths, travelled with An’sarri ever since Ustengrav. They both enjoyed exploring and finding loot and became lifelong best friends

This was probably way too long but hopefully yall like her character :)

#skyrim #tes #elder scrolls #OC: An'sarri

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whispersafterdusk · 4 years ago

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The Master’s Apprentice - ch 22

The weather over Windhelm was overcast and gloomy; Onmund hoped it wasn't a sign of the sort of "welcome" they were going to receive as they (himself, Gormir, and Kestrel hanging around his neck) crossed the bridge that led to the city. They were met just inside the city gates by a group of guards who ushered them quickly and quietly toward the Palace of the Kings where they deposited them in a side room and then took up positions to either side of the doorway, both inside the room and just outside of it.

Onmund wasn't exactly confident about this meeting - mostly because he didn't have a full grasp on why Kestrel had wanted it in the first place. Guessing at her intentions was difficult but he had a suspicion she was going to ask Ulfric for safe haven somewhere within Eastmarch, or maybe ask for permission to leave Skyrim by way of his port. As for how the Jarl would respond to any such request that too was hard to guess; after their talks at Winterhold Onmund knew Ulfric didn't see them as a direct threat, not like Korir did, and that he at least shouldn't be outright hostile to them, but that didn't necessarily mean he saw them in strictly a good light either... Though, now that there were fewer of them maybe that would erase any illusion of posing a threat, either to Eastmarch or anywhere in Skyrim in general -- after they'd emptied the College of everything they could carry and destroyed what they couldn't they'd finally had a moment to sort out who was going and who was staying. ((Continued below cut))

J'zargo and Brelyna had decided to stay, of course - they'd both seen how advanced Onmund was in his studies after his year with Kestrel and had pledged themselves as apprentices. Nirya and Urag had made themselves near-permanent residents of the library (and thankfully they'd taken it upon themselves, once he'd had taught them how, to enlarge the library to fit what books they'd retrieved from the College -- Onmund was very tired of digging dirt and moving rocks to make space for the rest of the College's contents and members, and the little underground home felt cramped even with all the new rooms so he was definitely glad they were handling this particular part). Gormir had stayed for lack of anywhere else to go and had fallen into a role of hunting and gathering to help keep them all fed (with J'zargo's help -- the two of them seemed to get along rather well, in fact).

But then, after emptying the College, Enthir had been the first to leave followed a few days later by Sergius. Drevis was still undecided but Phinis and Nelacar both had announced they intended to stay but pursue independent studies, and did not intend to take any part in any sort of rebuilt or reformed college of mages. Onmund privately believed Drevis was going to leave too but decided not to mention it to anyone but Kestrel, and overall she hadn't been surprised to see the others leave and wouldn't be surprised if Drevis did in fact decide to go as well.

"It is, after all, their choice," had been her constant response to any speculation prior to the departures. "I won't force anyone to remain."

And he did understand that it was their choice but Onmund had quietly hoped everyone would remain -- they'd lost the physical College but could have rebuilt elsewhere if they'd all just stayed together. A part of him suspected that they didn't trust Kestrel despite all she'd done to save them and there was a small voice in his head that constantly grumbled over how it seemed like near everyone they'd helped had ultimately turned on them in the end... It wasn't very fair to think that way though, and because of that it was easy enough to silence that little voice when it grew a bit too loud.

Oh well. Perhaps it was for the best -- anything they attempted to rebuild, IF they rebuilt, wouldn't be the same. And he doubted that even Ulfric would allow a new college to be built under the guidance of an ancient mage from another era that had willfully disregarded the orders of a Jarl because she'd disagreed with him. Whatever was to happen in the future he imagined it would remain a small thing: a place somewhere for them to live and study, out of sight of the rest of the world, with no effort put into attracting new students to the fold.

He did make a mental note to request that, wherever they moved next, they took steps to ensure any new apprentices couldn't literally fall into the role as Onmund had. Maybe they could find a nice, abandoned mountaintop somewhere...

The room was completely silent as they waited save for the soft sound of the chain rattling as Gormir took off the necklace housing Kestrel and silently handed it over to Onmund; rather than hang her from his neck Onmund settled for placing her in clear view on top of the stone-topped table they waited around -- it was covered in maps and scrolls, with writing tools and also tiny carved wooden pieces meant to mark out troop movements left in small piles here and there. It didn't look like anything here had been touched in awhile and there wasn't anything especially interesting to look at either; it left him wondering if this was some sort of test to see if they'd look at or tamper with the table's contents.

Finally from the other room he could hear the heavy footfalls of men heading their way; Onmund straightened his posture and clasped his hands behind his back, turning to the doorway to see if this was Ulfric arriving or someone sent in his stead.

A man dressed in furs, hides, and sporting a headdress made of a bear's head with the arms hanging over his shoulders strode in, his gaze falling immediately on Onmund.

Onmund felt a small twinge of awkwardness at the man's look -- he'd left the 'battle robes' he'd worn at Winterhold behind and was instead wearing a spare set of robes they'd found in Arch-Mage Selos's quarters. He hadn't dared go so far as to actually wear the Arch-Mage's robes of office, so to speak, but this particular set looked formal (while also possessing fairly potent enchantments for defensive purposes) and the formal look was all he'd really cared about at the time. Whatever the man thought Onmund couldn't tell from facial expression alone but based on the grunt the man let out after a moment or two of sizing him up he assumed the man didn't find him too impressive, formal clothing or not.

Ulfric thankfully entered moments later and offered Onmund and Gormir the briefest of nods before gesturing for everyone to sit around the stone table; the bear-mantled man must have taken some other unspoken order from the gesture as he quickly swept the scrolls aside and rolled up a few of the various maps before moving to stand at Ulfric's elbow.

"Does your master mage puppet you again?"

Onmund shook his head at Ulfric. "No - I'm myself. She's right there, actually--" he pointed to the black-gemmed pendant on its chain that still lay on the table in front of him.

Ulfric's gaze dropped to the necklace then returned to Onmund, accompanied with a raised eyebrow only for both eyebrows to raise in surprise when Kestrel's voice projected out of the pendant.

"I assure you my apprentice speaks truthfully, Jarl Ulfric."

The bear-man narrowed his eyes. "And what sorcery do we deal with?"

"I can't really see who just asked that but regardless I did assure Jarl Ulfric that I would not use Onmund's body longer than was necessary. As such, my soul now resides in this pendant -- and is well-protected both within and without," she added after a pause.

"Very well then. Had I known I would be speaking to jewelry I may have reconsidered my agreement to this meeting. Speak your piece and be quick about it."

"I shall be direct then: I ask for permission to relocate somewhere within your lands, Jarl - preferably somewhere off the beaten path. In return, any such mages that decide to remain under my tutelage will guard your Windhelm and protect your people."

That definitely surprised Ulfric. "Elaborate, if you will."

"Certainly. I want to stress that I am not offering to fight your war for you -- in fact, I intend to remain neutral to this whole mess regardless of what holding or territory we end up in. However you wish to conduct your war, and whether you are successful or not, is entirely up to you. What I can and am willing to do however is to look after your people while your forces are elsewhere. It hasn't escaped my attention that there's rumor that dragons seem to be making a reappearance, and your city's guards may not be able to handle one rampaging through Windhelm on their own. Additionally I was told that when you rode to Winterhold's assistance you were limited in the number of men you could spare -- the situation may be different now but this tells me you are in a position to at least consider my offer as it would potentially relieve a few worries you have here at home while you're afield fighting your war."

The bear-man scoffed. "If you're not here to fight for Skyrim then we're wasting time and breath speaking to you."

"Quiet, please, whoever you are. The adults are talking," came Kestrel's sarcastic reply.

Onmund grimaced a bit but the man didn't respond, instead looking to Ulfric; the Jarl remained quiet for several breaths.

"And if it is the Legion that comes for my city," Ulfric finally said into the silence. "What then?"

"Obviously if they march on this city then a handful of mages aren't likely to turn the tide of that battle, nor would we try," Kestrel replied. "What we can do instead is get your people out of the city and to somewhere well out of the way of their warmongering. -- the ones who will go, at least. From experience I find that Nords do not typically run from battle, even if they're hopelessly outnumbered or out-skilled. It is both admirable as well as condemnable but I won't force anyone to leave."

"Only a coward runs," the bear-man growled.

"You call it cowardice, I call it choosing the battlefield," Kestrel countered. "If I know I will lose here but that I will assuredly win in a different location I consider it far more useful to go to where victory is assured. Dead men rarely win wars and we are straying from the point of this meeting besides."

The man looked to Ulfric again. "You can't be seriously considering this?"

"Enough, Galmar. I would at least hear all the details on the table before I make a decision." Ulfric's attention moved between Galmar and the others before moving back to Kestrel on the table. "What is your intention? Another school?"

"No, though I will not turn away any who come seeking instruction. We obviously can't completely hide ourselves away - bare minimum we must have a means of feeding ourselves, we must have some sort of income to survive off of. I don't intend for it to become widely known where we are but we also cannot just disappear and still uphold our end of any bargains made, assuming we manage to come to an agreement."

Ulfric nodded curtly, then reached out to tap fingers against a map that was still left open; Onmund glanced down and saw he was tapping on Winterhold, near the cost where the College was. "And what of your College? Have you given up the castle to Korir?"

"Not willingly but yes, we have. We have taken all that we can carry from there - a detail I'm sure has made Korir even angrier as he has no spoils to go with his stolen property. If I may, however, I would ask you warn him not to try expanding beneath the main floors of that castle -- the ground can easily be de-stabilized and then he and Winterhold will have a second collapse on their hands."

That was a little half truth they'd decided to use -- down in the Midden were two things the mages hadn't been able to move or destroy: the Augur of Dunlain, and an atronach forge. The Augur was...not able to be reasoned with, so there was no hope of asking it to never approach anyone that may stumble into the room that housed it. And leaving the atronach forge out in the open where anyone could attempt to use it was too dangerous. They'd spent several days moving dirt and stone around to fill in the Midden, and then several more painstakingly replicating the patterns in the stonework of the College's floors, carefully erasing any hint of the Midden's existence.

It had been rather boring and tiring work but it was sadly the quickest solution to the problem as any sort of magical means to prevent mining under the College wouldn't last without a source to power it and they simply didn't have the spare hours and hands needed to acquire one and get all the delicate spellwork in place while also emptying the College. They had been racing against time to get everything out as it was, as Kestrel's ice-globe spell was going to eventually wear off and Korir had wasted no time either and had already had men working at rebuilding the bridge to the College the day after the mages had left (and once they had one in place the men came back armed with pickaxes -- it was a strange thing to watch from the inside but it had prompted a bit more urgency in the mages as they hurried to carry out crates and satchels and armloads of objects).

Ulfric nodded slightly after a pause. "I cannot promise he will listen but I will warn him. Anything else?"

"Yes, actually. Should you, for any reason, come across an intact corpse of an Altmer woman, I would be rather grateful if you would retain it for reasons I don't think need to be voiced considering my current situation. If you're able to have it delivered to me I would consider myself owing you a single favor in return."

Ulfric nodded again and stood in one smooth, if abrupt, motion with his expression betraying nothing of what he might've been thinking about THAT particular request. "I will consider your offer. For now I have other things to attend to. The guards shall see you out."

At that Ulfric left with Galmar stomping along at his back, the bear-mantled man pausing to throw one final glower at them before disappearing through the doorway.

Onmund picked Kestrel up and lifted the chain around his neck. "Well...it wasn't an outright no?"

"Wasn't a yes either," Gormir grunted.

"Give him time. He will be weighing the advantages and disadvantages against his game of politics and calculating cost measures with his war," Kestrel said quietly. "I did not expect an immediate answer today anyway."

"How's he get his answer to us then?"

"Nelacar was kind enough to tell me of a College member serving here within the Jarl's court -- that is how I got this meeting set up to begin with. I thought it'd be better for our chances if 'one of our own' were the one to broach the subject with the Jarl. Any messages or answers will make themselves to us through him."

The guards at the door hurried them out of the city as quickly as they'd escorted them in and Onmund pulled up his hood as they trudged back out into the wind; the weather had shifted while they were inside and it was beginning to flurry.

Gormir peered up at the sky then out toward the horizon, and shielded his eyes from snowflakes. "Looks ready to get worse."

"Hopefully it'll hold for a few hours more since I'm due back at that Azura statue," Onmund sighed. "A couple more days and that part should be done."

Gormir plodded along behind him as they headed further from the city back toward a little clearing they'd marked as a temporary portal placement in the event Ulfric actually agreed to meet them. "-not been any trouble out that way?"

"None so far as I know. Aranea's said Winterhold's been all but kissing the backsides of the stonemasons though."

Gormir let out a bitter chuckle. "I bet. Any gold is welcome now even if they'd rather stick you in the back than let you inside the city limits."

Onmund looked back at him. "What, really? They don't like dunmer either?"

"Not daedra worshippers, they don't."

Onmund found it a bit amusing that, having driven out the mages he hated so much, now Korir had to rely on the daedra worshippers he apparently also hated -- and even this source of coin wouldn't be there much longer as the statue was close to finished and the altar wouldn't take long to complete either being as Onmund wasn't the only person working to restore it.

Aranea had explained when they first met how all the followers of Azura had scattered long ago but with the destruction of the statue and altar a lot of them had come rushing back. Among them were a few of the original stonemasons that had crafted the statue in the first place; they'd been rather pleased when Onmund demonstrated how he could meld and shape stone, and they'd all worked together to create a rough plan of repair for the statue: the stonemasons would get the remaining pieces fitted together and Onmund would fuse it and then help fix any missing bits by getting raw stone set in place for them to shape and carve with their tools. It'd taken a few weeks for them to get the resources together to build a pulley system and scaffolding for the tallest parts but it was coming along and was nearly completed, and Onmund was assured that for the rest of the altar and the platform it had rested on all he'd need to do is get the stone in place and the masons would finish the rest.

Korir would have maybe another two weeks of whatever he could squeeze out of the masons and then they'd all leave again, leaving Winterhold empty. How he'd attract anyone up to his nearly abandoned hold was anyone's guess and, Onmund supposed, wasn't any of his business so it wasn't worth thinking about.

Ahead of them the clearing came into view and he was relieved to see the circle of rocks they'd used to mark out the portal spot was still undisturbed. As they got closer Onmund gently touched the pendant and, as usual when Kestrel took control, his body stumbled a few steps as her soul took a moment to adjust to the switch; being inside the pendant was like being inside a large faceted globe -- "behind" him was his own chest (with a magnified view of whatever he was wearing - he'd never really thought of what effort must go into making clothing but seeing all the details very up close had given him a newfound appreciation for what he wore) and "ahead" of him he could see the world as though he were looking out of a window. It was quiet and strangely cozy in here and he didn't mind waiting while Kestrel did whatever they'd needed to change places for -- in this case it was casting the portal spell as this was one type of magic you really didn't want to get wrong and Onmund simply wasn't practiced enough to portal long distances yet even with anchored, defined endpoints in place.

She relinquished control once they were back in Saarthal; the only downside to portaling in and out of here was they all had to climb the stairs each time they needed to go outside. As Onmund began his climb he could hear Gormir behind him still -- he supposed the man would be going out to hunt again as the smoked bear meat the others had been eating for the last couple of weeks was running low and no one particularly liked eating vegetable-only stews.

"No J'zargo this time?"

"He's supposed to be waiting topside for us to return -- he'd better be, anyway. I'm not waiting on him today."

Onmund chuckled and kept climbing (and was halfway up when he realized he was still in his formal robes...he decided it wasn't worth heading back down to change and kept going -- it's not like he planned on getting dirty and the robes were thick enough to keep him warm even if it started snowing hard). The carved dragon wall loomed over them as they crested the steps and kept going, traveling through empty rooms until they came to the main entry hall where, huddled over a small brazier, J'zargo waited.

"There you are - this one was beginning to wonder if the Jarl threw you all into the harbor."

Gormir jerked his head toward the door. "Come on, let's see if we can't find another bear - at the very least I want two deer this time."

J'zargo twitched his nose. "We shall need firewood as well - most of it was used to smoke the last hunt's gatherings."

"That's what the sled's for, isn't it?"

The khajiit huffed out a sigh. "This one will get the axe."

Gormir smirked and kept going, brushing passed Onmund and J'zargo and heading outside.

Onmund paused, glancing at Gormir's back and then to J'zargo. "You don't have to keep hunting if you don't want to, you know. I can do it when I'm done with that statue and altar."

J'zargo waved a hand, tail thrashing behind him. "It is not the hunting that bothers this one, it is the weather. Everything freezes quickly and it makes gutting anything we hunt a pain in khajiit's tail."

"At least frozen meat holds well?"

"This one supposes so...would like to taste fish again though."

"It's a possibility if we end up moving."

"Did the meeting go well then?"

Onmund glanced down at the pendant, half-expecting Kestrel to speak up; she didn't, surprisingly. "--well enough. He didn't say no but we didn't get an answer either way."

"Ah, yes, good. ...an answer for what?"

Oh, right - J'zargo had no idea what they'd gone for. "Kestrel wants permission to move to Eastmarch. Jarl Ulfric lets us settle somewhere, and we protect his city in return."

The khajiit scratched at his chin. "Interesting... At least Eastmarch does not hate mages. Perhaps if we are lucky we won't be barred from the city outright. J'zargo would not mind at all to go to the market as needed and-"

"Let's go, khajiit - weather's turning."

They both jumped a bit at Gormir's shout; Onmund hurried outside with J'zargo on his heels, carefully stepping outside and navigating through churned up, iced-over snow to where Gormir waited next to a wooden sled.

The snow was indeed beginning to pick up some, as was the wind; Onmund adjusted his hood and latched the clasp to keep it pulled in tight to his head. "Couldn't have held out another couple of hours..."

Gormir hefted one of the ropes attached to the sled and slung it over a shoulder. "The north isn't known for sunshine, mage. Ought to make hunting easy enough -- can't run from what you can't see. Stay downwind and we'll have something bagged in no time."

J'zargo sniffed suddenly. "--speaking of downwind, does anyone else smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"Something burns - something burnt. This one does not see smoke but can smell it on the wind."

Onmund sniffed deeply -- whatever the khajiit could smell wasn't strong enough for him to pick up on it. "I don't, sorry. It's being carried on the wind so..." The wind was coming from the west; he jogged back toward the wooden walkways and stairs that zigzagged down the hill to Saarthal and climbed to the uppermost one, then clambered on top of the bluff that Saarthal's entrance was dug into. Up here he could very faintly smell smoke now so he kept climbing, moving all the way up past a giant, square-ish segment of rock that jutted out from Saarthal's top (it looked like it was part of Saarthal but his probings had shown it was a carved but solid chunk of the mountain - no guesses as to what it was or why it was made that way, either) and up to a higher point on the ridge.

There, three ridges over, Onmund could make out the little pinpoints of light that marked where trees were aflame -- and here, standing directly in the wind without any parts of the mountain to shield him, he could definitely smell the smoke.

He turned around and jolted a bit when he found Gormir standing only a few paces behind him, squinting out at the far ridge. "--you move way too silently when you want to."

"What do you figure did that?" Gormir asked, ignoring Onmund's attempt at a joke.

"No idea." Onmund turned back to the ridge; every tree within view was engulfed in flames and judging by the column of smoke there was likely more of them hidden from sight further out.

Then, on the wind, came a roar muffled by distance. Onmund and Gormir looked to one another silently.

"Did I just hear a dragon?"

The two of them looked down to Kestrel then, as J'zargo climbed up the ridge behind them. "--did J'zargo just hear you say dragon?"

Onmund wordlessly gestured toward the flaming trees in the distance. "There's really a dragon over there?" That was directed more toward Kestrel but Gormir interrupted him with a rough slap to his chest, shaking him until he looked up from the pendant and back toward the trees.

A dark, winged figure darted up from the flames, circled a few times, then dove back down out of sight on the far side of the trees.

"...this one thinks we are not hunting tonight, no?"

"Oh, we're hunting, but it won't be deer."

The two mages looked to Gormir blankly -- the man couldn't be serious, right? But then again...if the dragon was that close and if it saw them, then they wouldn't have a choice--

"Interesting. Well, Gormir is correct - consider this a trial run for the eventuality that we find ourselves guarding Windhelm from one," Kestrel said into the silence.

"You actually WANT us to go hunt that dragon?" Onmund asked incredulously. "It'd take hours just to get over there."

"If I can hear from here it means it's essentially on our doorstep," Kestrel replied. "I'd rather not have this area laid to waste, again, and have our immediate resources destroyed. Believe when I say it will come to you once you've been spotted so you should probably find your way down from here and get into a more open area."

"Am curious - have you fought a dragon before, master?" J'zargo asked into the brief pause.

Onmund heard a quiet little laugh from the pendant. "I have. It was...rather messy."

"Do we actually stand a chance then?"

Gormir snorted. "Talk like that means you've already lost, boy - come on you two, let's get to low ground. And I'll be needing my shield besides."

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

So much for his formal robes (though the defensive spells in them meant that only the clothing had taken a beating and not Onmund himself).

Everything was quiet when the three of them had plodded back down into Saarthal; Onmund was thankful for that as he didn't have to immediately explain why his robes were burnt beyond saving and why J'zargo had several bald spots where his fur had been singed off.

"Ah ah, not bed - not yet. Remember?"

Onmund paused with his hand on the door to his room and sighed heavily -- right: Kestrel wanted to speak to Brelyna, Nirya, and Urag first. Which would likely mean waking all three of them up. "Can't I at least change first?"

"Fine, but be quick."

He shouldered his door open and came to an abrupt stop when he saw a hunched figure at his desk but felt a twinge of relief when he realized he was looking at Brelyna's back; she was slumped over a book, head resting on crossed arms -- asleep, by the looks of it. Carefully he crept into the room and began quietly tugging clothes free; plain shirt, plain pants - nothing fancy for now. He was tired of fancy (he was tired, period, but couldn't fall into bed just yet). Once he was clothed he headed over and gently shook Brelyna's shoulder until the woman stirred.

"Oh. You're back -- I thought you'd be back hours ago."

"So did I," Onmund sighed. "I wasn't at the statue, I was fighting a dragon."

That seemed to wake her up some. "A dragon? Really? So the rumors were true then...dragons have returned."

Onmund ambled over and dropped onto the corner of his bed. "I was hoping it was just rumor too but-" he briefly glanced at his burnt robes where they lay wadded into a ball at the foot of his bed. "-at least the combat training was useful." There was a brief pause which prompted Onmund to poke at the pendant. "You said you wanted to talk to Brelyna - she's right there."

There was still another several seconds of silence before Kestrel replied. "Mm, yes, I know. I was thinking. Brelyna, I have a research request for you, as well as Nirya and Urag. I want you three to locate all the information we currently have on dragons and gather it together for study. Something...rather odd happened with this dragon tonight -- something that did not happen with the other dragons I've slain or witnessed being slain in the past. I have my suspicions but I'd rather not voice them so I don't introduce any sort of research bias into your search."

Brelyna nodded. "I can do that, and I'll let the other two know. What happened, though?"

"It burned away like parchment," Onmund said. "It started burning before it'd even fully hit the ground, in fact. And there was this rushing wind-like effect that flew away to the south - it was quick enough that none of us really got a good look at what it was before it was gone."

"Very strange..." Brelyna muttered. "--can I go with you the next time you fight a dragon? I'd like to see one."

"I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of them as time wears on," Kestrel replied, before Onmund could. "We did bring the skeletal remains back for study however. We'll have to prepare to bring them inside Saarthal somehow -- I'm thinking into the room that once held the Eye. It should be large enough to house it and we can use the last remaining bit of ambient energies in there to power the spell to move something of that size."

"So dragons...don't die like that, normally?"

"No," came Kestrel's flat reply. "They never did. Or at the very least they persisted long enough that you could harvest useful things from them -- blood, scale, organs, bones, and by then there wasn't anything useful enough to care about if it degraded. There was only a small handful of scales that didn't burn away on this one, and of course none of the soft tissues or fluids remained. All the bones seem intact so at least there's that."

Onmund lifted Kestrel from around his neck and held her out toward Brelyna. "Here - you two go research. I need to sleep -- oh, and uh, don't make fun of J'zargo when you see him."

Brelyna gave him an odd look but stood up, stretched, then took Kestrel and left. Onmund closed the door behind her then collapsed into his bed, hoping the masons wouldn't be too angry with him tomorrow.

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

Ulfric had eventually said no. Siddgeir, Idgrod, Skald the Elder, and Igmund had said no. Balgruuf had at least apologized with his answer -- he too was concerned about what it would look like politically if he allowed the mages sanctuary in his hold. He struggled to remain neutral in this war and worried that if he allowed them to settle that it would appear he was fortifying against one side or the other (or possibly both at once, and a single hold couldn't hope to fight a war against two superior forces). They accepted each rejection gracefully and quietly arranged to speak to the next Jarl on the list. But finally...

Laila Law-Giver, Jarl of Riften, had said "yes."

...sort of.

Laila didn't want their protection or assistance (she was...strangely convinced that nothing was amiss in her lands but had at least expressed deep appreciation for their desire to protect her people) but gave them leave to settle in Ivarstead -- a city as far from her capital as you could get, but it was still permission to settle somewhere.

The people of Ivarstead at first had mixed opinion on the appearance of the mages; some saw it as a means to draw more than just pilgrims to the tiny town. Others saw it as something that would bring nothing but trouble to their peaceful lives.

They had immediately, and accidentally, gotten on the bad side of Temba Wide-Arm, who owned the lumber mill in Ivarstead and had been expecting something of a windfall out of the mages that had arrived and were in need of a building to house them. When she'd learned that they could, more or less, cause a building to slowly spring from the ground like a plant of stone she'd stormed off in a huff and had refused to even speak to any of them for nearly two weeks straight until her bosmer apprentice Gwilin had talked her into dropping the grudge and assisting them with providing wood for furniture in exchange for labor.

In fact a lot of what the mages needed they obtained either through bartering or by trading labor, as they didn't possess a stockpile of coin to buy things outright; farmwork and working at the mill were the only tasks available to help with but a few things were at least rather simple to do. Kestrel quietly taught them a few spells to increase crop yields (and Onmund taught the others how to conjure water) and nearly overnight they had the enthusiastic approval of the farmers, and once they'd smoothed things over with Temba they had both a steady supply of food and wood.

There was a large hill to the north of a barrow on the edge of town and that's where they chose to settle, and they fell into a routine of helping the townsfolk in the morning, working on their home in the afternoon, and then spending a part of their evenings socializing with their new neighbors. The folks of Ivarstead hadn't heard the story of what had happened at the College so they weren't already poisoned against the mages, and at least a few of them had questioned the decision of driving them away; it was nice to know that there were still plenty of others in the world who could see reason and the truth of things, and at last the last of Ivarstead's hold outs were welcoming of the mages and looked forward to what the future might bring for them all.

It took months but finally they had their home: their living quarters were (thankfully) above ground this time, and they'd included several empty rooms in case others came to seek them out with the intent to stay and study. There was a proper kitchen and storeroom above ground too, and a small gathering hall. Within the hill they'd dug out study rooms, a giant library, an armory, and miscellaneous closets and work rooms to hold the various supplies, tools, and stockpiles they had taken from the College. While they had been sorting through the books (they thought it best to keep Kestrel's and the College's libraries separated among the shelves) Urag had found an old spellbook that taught them all how to direct air currents so there was always a feeling of freshness to the air within the underground portion of the haven and a barely noticeable breeze flowing from the multiple air holes they'd put in.

And, both the above and below ground areas were spacious enough that everyone in Ivarstead could fit inside if the need ever arose -- Jarl Laila might not have accepted their offer of protection but it was still an option if Ivarstead ever got attacked.

Which was something they would probably find themselves testing soon -- the frequency of dragon sightings was increasing, especially to the north. Ivarstead was very open to an attack from the air and a dragon could devastate the town in minutes; when he wasn't helping at the mill Gormir had taken to sitting on the front steps of their haven, attention always turned to the sky. There was a slight but still noticeable tension to the town each time they heard anything that could be mistaken for a distant roar, or heard stories of sightings from the travelers who regularly passed through the town...it was becoming more "when" than "if" regarding an attack, and Onmund wasn't sure how they could minimize the damage to the town if they weren't able to lure the damn thing away.

'We'll just have to see when the time comes,' he kept telling himself. They wouldn't be able to plan until they saw how a dragon might attack Ivarstead -- fighting a dragon out in the forests or on the side of a mountain required different tactics than fighting one in or near a populated area. Would the dragon purposely target people fleeing it and ignore those trying to stop it? Would it prioritize damage and chaos over a calculated strike?

There were so many different ways a dragon attack could go. For now the best thing to do was try to not let it bother him too much.

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

"Tell me, Onmund -- how do you feel knowing you've been my apprentice for two years?"

Aha - so THAT was why Kestrel had insisted on going with him this morning; he paused to consider the question (and the chicken he was reaching under took that opportunity to peck at him - he shooed it away and grabbed the eggs from the nest and settled them gently in the basket he was carrying).

"I...don't know. I guess older, and smarter." He quickly moved on to the next nest and then stood -- he was pretty sure he'd gotten them all today. "But I think I'd feel that way even if I'd stayed at the College."

"No regrets?"

"Not really. Maybe if you'd asked me a year ago I would. Why?"

"Just wondering. When you're essentially a mind in a gemstone there's little else to do besides think and talk. You've endured a great deal, and it seems fate has rewarded you with what you wanted."

"It did?"

"We're above ground and no longer hiding."

Onmund shrugged. "True, but now that I have it it doesn't seem so important now considering what it cost."

Kestrel laughed quietly. "You really have gotten older then."

"And I'm only going to get older."

"Have we received word from Ulfric?"

"Not yet. I don't think we should rely on him to trade a body for a favor." He hefted the basket of eggs and headed from the coop over to the little field where Boti and Jofthor were growing cabbages. "If he was interested in a favor I feel like he would have delivered by now. If there's anyone the Thalmor would want dead it'd be him and I doubt they've only sent males after him."

Kestrel was silent a moment. "Short of skulking around a battlefield... I may have to settle for whatever we can get our hands on. I am adamant that it must be female, however."

They both went quiet as Fastred, Boti's daughter, stood up from among the cabbages and came over to retrieve the egg basket from Onmund; she gave him a shy little smile as she took it and Onmund gave her a curt nod in return and hurried back toward their haven on the hill -- Fastred was young and pretty and had taken a liking to him, something he wasn't certain how to handle as according to her parents she already had two suitors vying for her attention and he had no intention of stepping into the middle of that mess.

"From what I've heard about Riften we likely can just find a body stuffed in a gutter," he muttered. "Jarl Laila is... I'm surprised someone like her rules over somewhere like that."

"As I've said before, not all leaders are wise and not all who are wise end up leaders. You'll find that there are many who believe manipulating events while puppeting another is the best way to obtain and hold on to power. I will admit I was genuinely surprised she permitted us to settle -- being as she refused our offer of assistance I was expecting that whoever pulls her strings would not want us anywhere near their business at all."

"For all we know it's more than one person doing the string pulling."

"A possibility I did consider, yes. Did Brelyna and Nirya finish the matrices?"

"I think so. I remember Nirya mentioning she didn't think they'd hold though." His boots thudded onto the wooden steps that led up into their homestead; from this point on the hill you could see all of Ivarstead and the road that led into the town. It was a nice view and he could pick out Gormir's form over at the mill, swinging an axe and steadily building up piles of chopped wood.

"It's not really a matter of if they'll hold but if they'll work at all. This isn't something I've seen before and we're working on guesses and hypotheses. We'll find out one way or the other once we destroy another dragon."

Suddenly, almost as though she'd summoned it with her words, there was a roar echoing down the mountainside and it was loud. Onmund spun on a heel and peered up at the peak; you couldn't see very far up the mountain from its base - there were always clouds and blowing snow that blocked any view of the top of the Throat of the World. The roar had sounded like it had come from above but he couldn't see anything but the usual white cloud cover.

"Speak of the devil."

With a grunt Onmund hurried inside and down the short hall to the stairs that led into the hill; in one of the work rooms, carefully sat upon a rough wooden base on top of one of the tables, were two devices that looked like several soul gems fused into a pair of fist-sized, spiky, greenish gems, both held in a delicate copper and iron filigree. Kestrel had referred to them as soul matrices - something meant to hold a soul and amplify its properties without damaging or draining the soul itself.

Right now they were empty but only because they intended to try and trap a dragon soul inside one.

They'd fought two more dragons before they'd come to settle in Ivarstead -- much like the first one they'd found the dragon's body had burned away and some sort of wind-like phenomenon had rushed off into the wilds each time. Kestrel's best guess was they were witnessing the dragon's soul fleeing and while she had no idea why this was happening now and hadn't before when she'd personally fought dragons she was determined to catch one to examine and try to determine why.

He reached out and carefully lifted one of the matrices off its base; it looked fragile but was as solid as a rock in his hand, and he hurried over to a small side table near the door and pulled a leather pouch out of a drawer -- it had once been a waterskin but had since been repurposed into a sack large enough to carry a matrix. Onmund slid the matrix inside and tied it to his belt, then jogged back up the stairs and about collided with Gormir as the man came rushing into the hall.

"-got a dragon circling in from the northwest."

"I heard it. Sounded like it came off the mountain," Onmund responded. He sidestepped out of Gormir's way; the old guardsman disappeared down the hall and Onmund heard his footsteps turn into his room.

He left Gormir to gather his things and continued outside; halfway down the path to town a shadow flew by overhead and the dragon's screech tore through the sky followed by the panicked shouts of -- well, Onmund couldn't quite recognize Ivarstead's inhabitants just by voice alone yet but he could spot Fastred, Boti, Temma, and Klimmek hurrying toward Temma's mill.

"Just get inside and stay there - we'll handle it," he yelled at them, waving for them to keep going.

He stopped at the barrow and shielded his eyes as the dragon spun in the air with the sun at its back; this one looked strangely pale - almost white. The others had been a sort of muddy brownish-red...guess he was about to find out if coloration meant anything with the damned things.

Color aside he needed to treat this one as he did all the others, and that meant that first he needed to get its attention and get it out of the sky.

At the moment it seemed content to keep to the air and was gliding back toward the mountain but its current path would take it directly over Ivarstead; Onmund waited for it to get closer then lobbed a fireball into the air in its general direction. It didn't hit (and he hadn't intended it to) but now the dragon's head turned toward him, and its wingtip dipped as it took a sharp turn and angled in toward where he stood at the barrow's edge.

He'd stopped here mostly because the barrow was made of (and ringed with) stone and was far enough away from the town that no structures would be immediately set aflame; this dragon, however, inhaled and breathed over Onmund as it strafed by overhead and his ward rippled as it was bathed in ice.

"At least this one can't set the town on fire," he growled under his breath, shivering a bit at the icy blast of air that slipped up under the ward's edges. His boots crunched over the iced-over grass as he turned to run away from Ivarstead and out toward the wilderness.

By now he was rather familiar with the surrounding territory; there was the lake that the river fed into with its little island in the middle, and further beyond that was an old, crumbling watch tower on the far shore. If he took a sharp turn north he'd be running down into a very steep ravine that led up to the eastern side of the Throat of the World (and the river at the bottom of the ravine, which he knew was rather deep through that stretch of the mountainous area). Onmund would have much rather run to the south to the sparse forest and smaller hills but didn't think he could safely cross the river with a dragon circling overhead, and to get to the bridge he'd have to run through town which wasn't a good option either... He'd have to make do with the ravine.

With the sound of beating wings behind him Onmund took off down the hillside, moving north; he knew where the almost invisible game trails were between the rocks that jutted out of the ground here and stuck to them to avoid getting his feet tangled in the undergrowth. He went about halfway down then turned to stand his ground, watching as the dragon continued on overhead but could see how its head twisted to keep one eye on the mage.

"C'mon, get closer..."

It circled back and dipped low - Onmund took that as a sign that it was about to strafe him again with its breath. He shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and waited to hear the inhale, then danced off to the side as the dragon came gliding through spewing its ice breath at him; he kept his ward up in case it turned its head suddenly but with his free hand he hammered a bolt of lightning into the beast. The lightning struck the dragon's flank (he'd misjudged the speed a bit and had missed the wing) and the dragon shifted in such a way that it seemed to rise into the sky at almost a right angle to the ground, rapidly rising out of his reach again.

"Is a mouthful of snowflakes all you've got, dragon?" he yelled up at it. "I can do this all day!"

Movement up the hill caught his attention; Gormir came into view -- the guardsman was wearing his battered guard's armor (though he'd removed all traces of Winterhold's insignia from it) and was wielding a large, finely crafted longbow that Onmund knew rather well: it was made from some of the dragon bone they'd collected from the three dragons they'd killed so far. Coming into view behind Gormir Onmund could just see the top of Brelyna's head at the very crest of the hill -- the dragon's attention shifted from Onmund to the two up there, and he hurried back up the hill in time to see Gormir plant an arrow right into the dragon's left haunch as it turned in the air.

"Nice shot."

"Get it to ground, boy."

"Right." Onmund watched; the dragon hadn't seemed to react much to the arrow in its side and was arcing around to come at them again. He glanced to Brelyna and caught her eye, jerking his head toward the left - she nodded and brought her hands together, the flicker of flames appearing between her palms. As the dragon dipped low and inhaled again the mages shot their spells with Brelyna targeting the left and Onmund aiming for the right. The dragon clamped its mouth together tightly enough Onmund heard teeth clicking as it tried to brake its forward momentum with a sharp beat of its wings coupled with a sweep of its tail that shifted its entire body like a cracking whip; Onmund's spell missed but Brelyna's struck the wing membrane and left a large and obvious scorch mark there, and the smell of burnt hide reached them as the dragon's wings buffeted them with wind as it struggled to climb again.

Gormir drew and fired a moment after the mages and his arrow embedded itself into the lower rib region of the dragon, eliciting an angry roar that grew distorted and echoed strangely off the surrounding hills as the beast rose back into the sky.

"This one doesn't seem to want to cooperate."

Gormir grunted in response and readied another arrow, tracking the dragon's path through the sky with the arrow's tip.

Brelyna conjured another fireball between her hands. "-here it comes again. Same as before?"

"Sounds like a plan," Onmund replied. They cast again in unison, one to each side, as the dragon came down and then scattered in opposite directions as Onmund's fireball struck the wing's tip and sent the dragon into a tumble that ended with it crashing into a partially rotted tree; he took a facefull of leaves and dirt as the dragon scrabbled on the ground to right itself with a sweep of its tail but he was already casting again, sending another fireball into the creature's side and feeling the heat across his face as somewhere behind him Brelyna fired neatly over his shoulder.

It didn't take long for the dragon to get its feet under itself and in an instant it had lunged and covered the distance between them. Onmund's ears began to ring as the dragon roared at him, almost point blank - these damned things were loud when they were close - and he had to dive to the side to avoid the snapping teeth. The dragon turned to follow him and Brelyna sent a pair of fireballs in rapid succession into its unprotected shoulder and wing; as it turned to snap at her Gormir shot again and pinned an arrow into the scales right at the dragon's brow -- it was a poor angle and just barely hanging there but it got the dragon's attention and it whipped its head around to breathe directly at the man.

Onmund heard Gormir's snarl of pain as he was lashed with the harsh, icy breath; he wasn't positioned far enough in front to send a spell down the dragon's throat so he hammered one into the side of the beast's skull. The dragon jerked to the side, off balance, and Brelyna shot a maintained spray of lightning at it; it wasn't the most damaging spell against the dragon's protective scales but it definitely made it difficult to concentrate or move with finesse, evidenced as the dragon tried to bite at her and missed without the dunmer even needing to move.

Onmund hurried over to where Gormir was clumsily trying to brush away the ice clinging to him; the healing magicks he flooded the man with seemed to strengthen him and banish the numbness of the ice, and within a few breaths Gormir was reaching for another arrow and readying to fire with an appreciative nod to Onmund.

The dragon made as though it was going to bite at Brelyna again and as the mage moved (and interrupted her lightning) the dragon abruptly spun the other way and sent its tail smashing into her; Brelyna was sent rolling uncontrollably down the hillside and almost out of Onmund's sight among the scrub bushes.

Growling in irritation he summoned a small whirlwind around himself and then sent it at the dragon, filling its face with grass, leaves, and gritty dirt. It wasn't meant to really harm the thing but it did distract it enough that Gormir's next shot struck it in the throat and stuck in deep. The dragon let out a pained noise and leapt clear over their heads, landing well over halfway down the ravine and then leaping again to put itself airborne. It rose to a distance out of their reach then turned to stare them down, remaining there for a moment or two before bellowing out what seemed to be speech and then turning to fly out over the far side of the ravine and then out of sight.

Onmund kept a close eye on the dragon until it was completely out of view then looked around for Gormir and Brelyna -- the guardsman was over helping her to her feet, and while she had an obvious bruise already forming on her face she seemed to be all right.

"So much for that one..." Onmund grumbled, dropping a hand to rest on the pouch holding the soul matrix. "Should we follow it?"

"No," came Kestrel's reply. "It wouldn't be worth the time to try and track it down. This area is too mountainous to efficiently follow and then fight it, and it could just as easily be retreating somewhere that favors it."

Brelyna brushed hands across her face, healing away the bruising. "I guess we'll try out these matrix things on the next one." She too was carrying one of the pouches tied to her belt; if only they'd managed to kill the dragon...

"Let's return to town and let the others know the dragon has been driven off," Kestrel went on. "I feel we'll have no shortage of them, considering we live at the base of a mountain that houses monks that study the dragon's thu'um. ...that may be a factor in the future if it seems like we're seeing far too many dragons for one region."

Gormir snorted. "Surely you don't think the monks up there are allied with the damned things?"

"No, but dragons tended to be very prideful. If they think mortals are reaching for something above their station, especially if that 'something' is the dragon's own language, I imagine they'd have a few rather violent opinions to express about that. We'll have to keep a careful watch and headcount, and see if there's anything amiss in the coming days."

They trudged up the hill and among the trees, heading back to Ivarstead. From the top of the hill the town seemed deserted save for J'zargo - they could see him pacing near the main road that lead through the town. Onmund handed Brelyna the matrix he was carrying and continued on as Gormir and Brelyna headed back into their main hall.

"Aha, there you are," was J'zargo's greeting. "This one heard the shouting about dragons and was readying to put out fires."

"This one breathed ice, actually."

The khajiit's nose twitched; Onmund had seen that particular twitch enough to know it was a sign of annoyance. "Lovely. What don't they breathe?"

"Let's not test fate with a question like that. Is everyone inside?"

"Yes. J'zargo sent a few stragglers into the inn -- he will let them know it is safe to come out."

"For now. We didn't manage to kill it, only force it to leave. Gormir did put an arrow in its throat so it should be off licking its wounds for a bit, if it even comes back at all."

"Ah, sad. This one was wanting to practice against a dragon again. Ah - might J'zargo take the master and practice instead?"

As Onmund looked down at the pendant he heard Kestrel chuckling quietly. "Eager as ever I see. I will give you a few hours but come this evening I will need to be returned to Onmund -- there are a few tasks I need him to perform."

With a shrug Onmund passed the necklace off to J'zargo and left them to it; he headed over to the lower entrance to their haven and went inside, heading to the library -- Kestrel had mentioned tasks she wanted done and if they were anything like the other 'tasks' she'd had then he would need to retrieve a couple books and have them ready for this evening. Urag and Nirya greeted him and then left him to his own business as he wandered the shelves, looking for the titles he was careful to not let them see him taking and also was careful to shift to another shelf once he was done copying reference notes out of them.

Necromancy as a whole still made him fairly uncomfortable but he was steadily getting used to the idea that it was essentially just another tool, and that it was up to him to not abuse it. Using it didn't make him evil, doing evil things with it would make him evil. And he didn't think restoring Kestrel was inherently evil, even if they needed to somehow obtain a body to anchor her soul to -- that too wasn't necessarily an evil act if the person was already dead. And if the rumors about Riften were true then they'd probably trip over a body and no one would care if said body disappeared. That was a 'truth' that made him more uncomfortable than necromancy did, in fact.

He made it back to his room without any questioning from Urag or Nirya, and spent the rest of the afternoon thumbing through the musty tomes; J'zargo finally brought Kestrel back well after dinnertime, looking exhausted but rather pleased with himself. Once he was back in his room Onmund reached for the book rest that Kestrel normally sat on when they were pouring over books but a tutting noise from the pendant made him pause.

"No books tonight. We need to plan for a trip instead."

"To Riften?" he asked.

"Yes, and then...elsewhere. Wherever it is that seems to be seeing a great number of dragons."

Onmund moved over to his bed instead, leaving Kestrel sitting on the little table he kept beside the head of the bed. "--so, anywhere."

"Technically. We need to capture a dragon soul for study, or at the very least figure out where these souls are fleeing to."

"And you want to do that before we actually stick you back into a body?"

"Onmund, acclimating to a new body could take months. Skyrim may not have that long if the dragons are returning in full force. I've seen the devastion that even a small flight of dragons can do to a region."

"A...flight?"

"It's a term referring to a grouping of dragons. It was coined by -- well, it's not important. The man who popularized the term has long been dead and I'd rather not get started on a history lesson. Even if the old bastard would be beyond pleased to know his name persisted through several eras..." she added after a pause, sounding somewhat amused.

"So...which are we doing first, then? Riften, or dragon hunting?"

"Riften. Once we've obtained a body I know how to halt further decay - it should be fine to sit for weeks, months, or even years until we can get to it. We obtain it, bring it back here and stow it away in my quarters, then head out into the great unknown until we find ourselves a dragon or two and answer a few questions."

Onmund nodded, looking around his room. "At least I won't need to worry about food. What exactly should I be packing then?"

"Spare robes, something to sleep on or in, blank parchment and writing tools, a matrix, whatever coin you currently have or small trinkets you think you could barter. We'll visit the armory before we leave and see about making sure you've at least one martial weapon on you."

"I'm not really practiced with weapons."

"No, but I am."

Ah, right. "All right. Seems like we have a plan. When are we leaving?"

"I will give you a day to prepare, and we'll need to let the others know besides."

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

The trip to Riften had been uneventful; the trip back was done with a portal in the dead of night so no one would see Onmund carrying a cadaver wrapped tightly in cloth and leather, or hear his body casting spells as Kestrel readied her remaining coffin with the needed enchantments to place the body in a sort of magical stasis so long as it remained inside. Her spellcasting ended with a conjured magical lock over the coffin's lid and then just as silently as they arrived they left, sneaking back out of Ivarstead and heading north. It would be a long trek, skirting the base of the Throat of the World to circle around north and then west to reach Whiterun; they'd decided to begin their search there as Whiterun was a central region and a heavily trafficked trading hub, and if there was any new information to be had about dragons it would likely be running rampant in the streets as folks speculated and told tales.

Onmund secretly hoped they'd get lucky and find a dragon sooner rather than later; while Kestrel wanted definitive answers regarding the dragon souls Onmund didn't see what they could possibly do if the soul matrix didn't work -- their plan was built around the assumption that it would, and if it didn't then they'd have no reason to keep wandering around Skyrim hunting dragons...probably. This was another assumption Onmund had as, by his logic, if Kestrel could capture a dragon soul with a spell she would have done so by now.

Actually... "What do we do if the matrix doesn't work?"

Kestrel didn't answer right away; Onmund lightly hopped over a depression in the ground - he imagined it probably filled with water during heavy rain - and continued on up the far slope of the ravine. The moon was at least bright enough to light his way though it cast strange shadows that kept catching his attention as he walked.

"-we return to Ivarstead and consider another path."

"That's what I thought." He huffed a bit as he clambered over a fallen log. "-watch: Ivarstead will see more dragons than we do by the time we get back."

"I won't say that's not possible but for all our sakes I hope not."

Onmund hadn't slept outdoors since he was a young boy; the nighttime sounds of the woods were somewhat soothing as he camped under the stars, tucked in among tree roots or under rocky outcrops. It took five days to get up to the river that ran along the northern side of the Throat of the World. In all the time he'd been walking they'd not seen anything other than a few deer and a fox; it'd been strangely peaceful, and pleasant. Part of him was thankful for that while part of him wished to just get the dragon hunting part over with -- he felt rather exposed despite the tree cover, and wasn't particularly wanting to try and fight a dragon in a cramped or tree-choked area. If they could make it out onto the plains without incident he'd consider themselves lucky, even if the flat farmlands that surrounded Whiterun wouldn't offer any sort of cover and would force him to rely on his wards and wits to keep out of danger.

It took another three days until Onmund got away from the base of the mountain and finally moved out of the forest and took his first few steps out into the plains.

"Finally... I'm going to walk holes into the soles of my boots by the time we get to Whiterun."

"A hike across farmland is easier than through a forest at the least. We should make good time now."

Onmund peered up at the sky; it had been an overcast day with the faintest hint of rain on the wind for the last couple hours. It would be getting dark soon and if it was going to rain he'd rather have what shelter he could from the trees. "I think I'll camp here at the treeline and head toward Whiterun at dawn. I'd rather not be wet, miserable, and also the tallest thing in the middle of a field in a storm."

"Logical. We did recently pass a pine copse - that should suffice for a shelter."

With a nod Onmund turned to head back into the forest; his feet hurt anyway so he could use the extra hours of rest before starting out in the morning again. He found the copse and set about loosely braiding some of the lowest branches together to form a sort of ceiling, then unrolled his bedroll under it and stretched out. As night was falling the rain finally came but the braided branches over his head were thick enough to keep the water off him; the rain itself wasn't very heavy and seemed to be just enough to fill the air with the pleasant smell that came after a rainfall.

At some point he drifted off to sleep and, come morning, a roaring voice thundered down from the Throat of the World-

DOVAHKIIN!

Onmund jerked awake and kicked out at his bedroll thinking, for a brief moment, that something had grabbed him and was holding him down. Once his sleep-fogged brain caught up to him and the last echoes of the call had faded away he sat there with his heartbeat racing in his ears, staring around in confusion.

"-what the hell was that?"

"...I have genuinely no idea. But I do know the word we just heard."

"The -- what was it?"

"Dovahkiin. Dragonborn."

Onmund wiped a hand across his brow, smearing off cold sweat as he inhaled and exhaled slowly a few times, trying to calm himself down from the abrupt awakening.

"Well. Considering this sudden development I think we should return to Ivarstead and take the path up the mountain. That voice seemed to come from the top of the mountain itself, which would mean the monks are responsible. If they're calling to a Dragonborn..."

"Wait, UP the mountain? All the way up the mountain?"

"Yes, Onmund - that's typically where the top of a mountain is."

Onmund groaned. "-Klimmek complains about how rough that climb can be, and that's even when the weather is clear."

"You just spent a week walking through the woods, spending a day climbing a mountain should be easy in comparison. Had I been able to predict a bunch of mute monks would suddenly shout from the heavens then we could have waited in Ivarstead -- I so despise wasted time."

He set about rolling up his bedroll and carefully undoing the braidwork that held the pine branches in place; though he knew that returning to Ivarstead emptyhanded was a possibility it still soured his mood to have to turn around right as they got to Whiterun's territory. "Can we at least stop in Ivarstead for news and to rest? And probably a new pair of boots..."

"Yes, we shall. I hope the others have sense enough to be researching why the monks would be summoning a..." She trailed off a moment. "--I can't believe I've lived to see another era with a dragonborn existing within it, and I say that as someone who has been alive for several of them."

"What does that mean? I mean - I know what dragonborn means, I've heard the old tales. What does that mean for us?"

"A great many things."

"That's not really an answer."

"I don't want to discuss it right now. Are you packed and with everything at hand?"

"Yeah, I'm ready to go."

"Good. Trade places and I shall return us to Ivarstead and spare your feet."

Onmund placed a hand on the pendant and was quickly drawn inside it, watching from within as his hands traced the complicated shapes needed to form a portal that would return them to Kestrel's quarters at Ivarstead. After a brief flash of light they were back inside her room, and Onmund was quickly given control of himself back; he pushed out the door and wearily headed back to his own room to drop off his pack. He couldn't hear anyone moving about and assumed the others would be either in town or downstairs in the library (there was no way anyone could have slept through that noise), and let his feet take him toward the stairs to check there first.

Going down he met Brelyna coming up and he walked with her back up into the gathering hall and dropped onto one of the benches. "Please tell me you heard the shout this morning."

She nodded. "It woke the entire town up. I think everyone is excited more so than worried or anything -- Wilhelm seems to think we're going to see a rush of pilgrims in the upcoming weeks because of it."

"And one of those will be the dragonborn themselves," Kestrel cut in. "In fact, do let everyone know that if someone claiming to be a dragonborn arrives that they let us know. It would...certainly help answer a few things."

"I will. I'm just as curious as everyone else." Brelyna paused, then eyed Onmund up and down. "I guess you didn't run into any dragons while you were gone."

He shook his head. "Not a single one. I bet I will when I climb the mountain though."

"So long as you aren't knocked off the mountain."

"That won't be an issue," Kestrel interrupted again. "Get to your tasks and research -- Onmund, we have our own tasks to tend to, if you please."

With a shrug (and an inward groan) Onmund stood and headed back to Kestrel's room as Brelyna headed outside and back down the hill into Ivarstead. He closed the door behind him and slowly moved over to where the coffin sat. "So...actually getting started on getting you into the body, then?"

"Yes. We no longer have the luxury of time -- we must have this in place as quickly as possible."

"Is...is a dragonborn appearing really that bad?"

"...Onmund. You said you've heard the old tales. Do you not recall at all what they said?"

"Not...entirely, no."

He heard a sigh come from the pendant. "Let's get started. The world is about to grow more chaotic."

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

As a final catalyst to get Kestrel anchored to her new body they'd had to sacrifice the tether that bound them together; splitting them apart had been easier than expected though it left them both feeling empty and nauseous for days afterward. When the nausea finally wore off Onmund found himself starving -- hungry for the first time in over two years.

And, of course, it was during his first meal in all that time that the Dragonborn arrived in Ivarstead.

The mages made themselves available to the woman, of course -- all their knowledge, both in book form as well as instruction. Onmund had walked with her to the base of the mountain, and watched as she steadily climbed the crumbling stone stairs until she was out of sight among the cloud cover far above.

While she was gone the mages planned, and studied, and waited. Whatever was about to happen in the world was too important to stand by and simply watch. They debated and researched and made plans for this and that, and waited for the woman to come back down the mountain.

"You're sure about this?"

"You should consider yourself lucky I now have two other apprentices to keep myself occupied with while I wait for you to return."

"And if I don't?"

"Please. You are my pupil - I would consider it a great insult if you're killed by something inconsequential."

"She could just say no."

"She could. But she won't."

"You seem pretty sure about that despite not knowing anything about her."

"Trust me, Onmund. She won't turn down your offer of help and I sincerely doubt you'll be the only one following in her wake. The path this world is on is about to take a drastic turn and I'd rather it not be directly around a corner and into oblivion."

"What will you be doing?"

"Teaching apprentices, catching them up to your level and readying ourselves to step in if the situation calls for it."

"So much for staying quiet and out of sight."

"Yes, well. At least we had the forethought to include spare rooms in the haven."

When the dragonborn finally came down off the mountain Onmund was waiting, and as Kestrel had assured him his offer of help was accepted. Once again he found himself heading out of Ivarstead and into the more or less unknown.

He'd be back eventually though. Probably. Personally witnessing history was usually the best way to record it -- it was an interesting thought to consider that a book he'd penned himself would eventually find its way onto Kestrel's bookshelves and potentially beyond.

"So, where are we off to first?"

"Whiterun."

...figures.

#The Master's Apprentice #tma #The Master's Apprentice- ch 22 #Onmund #AU #Kestrel #Brelyna #J'zargo #Gormir #Dragonborn #Skyrim

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tahthetrickster · 5 years ago

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author ask game

tagged by: @luthorao3 [slav squats]

author name: its. im just tah. tah the trickster. tahthetrickster

fandoms you write for: literally whatever my current hyperfixation is (rn its league) but has in the past included rwby, overwatch, and skyrim

where you post: on ao3 mostly but i sometimes crosspost them here, or at least link to them here

most popular one-shot: god it really still is heat.............. thats literally what i get for writing the literal first two bmbleby smutfics in the fndm huh

most popular multi-chapter story: oh wild its bounty! a fic from my extremely self-indulgent series of my idiot dovahkiin dar’zahyla with her eternally devoted and exasperated housecarl lydia

favorite story you wrote: hh for sake of keeping things tidy ill keep it to fanfic only and say that its call log aka the experimental epistolary mercymaker story that decimated every reader it every had. that said,,,,,,,, moonstruck is my fav in-progress story :V

story you were nervous to post: god. either vermillion (mercymaker, extremely nsfw) or lay your head down (miss fortune/katarina, also extremely nsfw) tbh. one’s a lengthy self-indulgent bdsm fic and the other is... also that but Now With Knives. its always a toss-up abt reactions to that kinda foolishness LMAO

how do you pick your titles: shit dude i literally just stare at the blank title input field on ao3 till i think of a word or phrase or lyric or song title that seems tangentially related and i slap it on there

do you outline: what the FUCK is an outline (which is to say no except on moonstruck and only because moonstruck is an enormous undertaking and @xhuuya and i have terrible, terrible memory problems)

how many of your stories are complete: 57 according to ao3! the trick to completing things is to deal exclusively in one-shots

in progress: ao3 says 19 and i am EXTRAORDINARILY unwilling to tally up all the clips and bits and pieces i have lying around because its just not worth the effort to even begin scrounging them all up let alone taking count

coming soon: with enormous air quotes around the phrase heres the current shit im like,,., actively working on

more of moonstruck with my favorite partner @xhuuya because who DOESN’T want an action/adventure/romance story featuring heavy celestial symbolism, puppet-mastering, pining, polyamory, and pirates??

a v nsfw 3-part mf-centered story ft mf/janna, mf/diana, and mf/illaoi stop looking at me like that just trust me ok

a goofy one-shot wherein a young mf accidentally adopts the world’s ugliest street cat, who later gets promoted to first mate (and by first mate she means ship mouser)

a series of just.............. the softest diana/leona content youve ever seen. so soft. theyre babies at the solari temple and theyre shy and gay and in love. its so soft. itll be real good just trust me.

gun goddess miss fortune/PROJECT:leona au fic wherein ashe needs the very specific skillset of one sarah fortune to help further the gnetic rebellion’s cause, and also leona has been tasked as fortune’s escort. features fake dating and also a very, very flustered cyborg (it’s leona)

Local Friends With Benefits Sarah Fortune And Katarina Du Couteau Terrorize The Absolute Hell And Shit Out Of Every Tavern In Bilgewater (And Then Make Out And/Or Fuck, Probably)

do you accept prompts: i mean yall can send me league thoughts/prompts all you want and if theyre funny and/or catch my intrigue enough ill prob do at least a snippet or smthg lmfao

upcoming story you’re the most excited for: MOONSTRUCK!!!!!!!

tag five fanfic authors to answer these questions: fuck uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh @xhuuya @proudlyunicorn uhhhhhhhhhhhh shit fuck who else writes fanfic these days

#HECK..........#ask meme #about me #writing #writing clip

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midnightsramblings · 5 years ago

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OCtober Day 10: Memes

Universe: Canon Storyverse

Rating: G

Warnings: None

________________________________________________________________

Casey wasn’t exactly sure where it had all started, though given the circumstances he knew Alec was probably to blame. Ever since Lucian’s attack on the bar, both Alec and Sieti had been living at the sealed cottage, safe from the puppet master’s influence. Sure it had been a little… tense knowing his boyfriend and the child they’d adopted were living with an eldritch immortal who he barely knew. One who had once hunted humans for sport. But Casey didn’t know what weirded him out more, the fact that all of them seemed to get along so well, or that Alec had slowly been teaching Veralith about modern media.

It wasn’t just modern books, Veralith had plenty of those. To say their library was extensive was honestly an understatement. Two of the largest rooms in the cottage were taken up by bookshelves, with even more stacked around the chairs and tables. Casey had once walked in on a very heated discussion about whether or not this one set of characters were the true villains of a book series and decided it was better to turn around and walk back out. There were some things even he didn’t get in the middle of.

No it wasn’t just books that Alec had introduced Veralith to. The half-fae had decided, somewhere along the line, that since the immortal couldn’t go out into the world, he’d introduce them to the fantasy world of video games.

There was nothing stranger than walking into the living room to see a centuries old immortal running around Skyrim as a khajiit. Even if it was because Sieti insisted Veralith play as the cat like race, it was still weird.

The worst of it all was Alec introducing Veralith to the internet though. How the sealed cottage in the middle of nowhere even got internet was strange enough on its own. But seeing Veralith take so quickly to the technology was just bizarre. Casey had worked with the Sentry on multiple jobs with the Web over the years, he knew how bad that immortal was with technology. The Sentry still had trouble figuring out how to operate one of the old rotary phones, and he hadn’t been sealed in a lifeless realm for the better half of a couple centuries.

Honestly Casey was starting to be very glad that Veralith didn’t have access to the modern world while in their murderous state.

Yet even knowing that Veralith had access to the internet and everything on it didn’t prepare Casey for the morning he came home from another fruitless hunt for Lucian. He stumbled into the kitchen, brain only half functioning as he searched for the coffee. As much as he would love to sleep, he knew Thema would be expecting a report and there was no way he’d be able to write one without falling asleep on his keyboard in this state.

“You’ve seen better days.”

Casey jumped, nearly dropping his coffee mug before whirling to find Veralith sitting at the kitchen table. “Is there a reason you’re sulking in the dark?”

Rather than answering, they simply took a sip out of their own mug. “How did it go? Your hunt?”

The assassin let out a soft groan as he turned back to making coffee. “Fucking useless as always. I’ve checked everywhere I can think of as to where the bastard could be hiding. It’s like he’s vanished into thin air.

“Yeeted himself into the unknown then?” Veralith’s face remained perfectly neutral, though for a second Casey though he saw a hint of mischief in their eyes.

Casey paused, brain trying to catch up to the fact that the eldritch being that was his current roommate had just said ‘yeet’. “Run that by me again.”

Veralith took a long sip of their drink, keeping their gaze locked with Casey’s. “You heard me.”

#OCtober #Veralith #Casey #Alec #my writing #ocs #Dead End

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cripitique · 6 years ago

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Rules: Put your entire music library on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, and then choose 10 lovely friends whose music you’d like to listen to

Got tagged by @explodingcookie :o

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Superstar - Moe Shop feat. Hentai Dude

Winged Hussars - Sabaton

Master of Puppets - Metallica

Spoiler - Hyper (Cyberpunk 2077 OST)

Gekihaku - Reol

The Last Stand - Sabaton

Sovngarde - Skyrim OST

I am End - Sakuzyo

Hell March 3 - Red Alert 3 OST

Gotta tag @zclgius @need-orbs-pls @dtsukiartblog @bear-brigade @starsitter @imaginefe

#tag games #music

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ferallymine · 5 years ago

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1, 4, 14, 28!

Omg! Thanks for the ask!!! I assume this is in ref to your ask meme that i reblogged, so I’ll pick from there:

1. What is their background and backstory summarized into a paragraph?

——Celaena Raijin is a Snow Elf who was enslaved when the Dwarves took over the Falmer race. She was given to Aed Thana as a servant. They fell in love and ran away from the Builders (name of the dwarven sect the were in) and joined a pirate crew. Years and years of pirating later they have their own fleet and are CoCaptain Wives. Celaena got captured at a Windhelm raid gone bad and was taken to Helgen for execution, until Alduin showed up. Aed ran to rescue her and accidentally joined the AriaArmy along the way.

4. At the present, how are they perceived by the people of Skyrim? By the general population, and different factions?

——-The General populace heard whispers of a snow elf/dwarf lesbian pirate couple robbing people blind, but it was such a wild idea it was ignored and the people deemed “high on skooma.” Now that a snow elf/dwarf lesbian couple has emerged and the elf being the Dragonborn, those claims don’t seem as wild. Initially, they wanted them dead for the plundering, but after Celaena vored all them dragon souls, the people forgave her.

—————The DB accepts them as family thanks to Aria being the Listener and allowing them into her “army”

—————The Thalmor despise Celaena. So do the imperials and ESPECIALLY the stormcloaks. She refuses to be their puppet, saying “I was enslaved once, never again.” This starts a campaign, completely not started by her (seriously she had no part in this) by some people in Skyrim for her to be High Queen and stop the Civil War.

—————Thieves Guild? Celaena stumbled upon them while she and Aed explored Riften on their own. Ended up totally reviving the guild.

—————Blades? Celaena Fus-Ro-Dah’d them off the cliff. Don’t tell her to kill Parthurnaax. Celaena studies with the Greybeards as often as she can.

14. What is their personal favourite place in Skyrim- a town, hold, home, dungeon, or just a natural spot they happen to have a fondness for?

——Celaena has a soft spot for Riften in general. The ragged/thieving nature of the city reminds her of pirate days. The wilderness around it proves to have fun challenges and adventures. She and Aed are just big hearted idiots who love each other and silly quests full of imagination. Dawnstar, too, because of its dock/port and overall homely vibe.

————-specific place? Likely Lakeview Manor (or whatever that house you can build in falkreath is) or the Windpeak Inn. Falkreath house has adventure potential that fuels the women’s inner child, and Windpeak makes them feel like pirates again (plus scouting for new pirate crews)

28. What are their greatest assets, both in terms of in-game skills and otherwise? What gave them the upper hand that allowed them to defeat Alduin?

——Celaena is an Electromage. SHe didn’t study the magic much….it just came to her naturally. Over time she began to study into it, though, allowing her to cast several master-level spells on the World-Eater. She has a very high charm stat, as well as know-how in swordplay, archery, pickpocketing, lockpicking, sneaking, and agility/running.

#celaena raijin #aed thana #skyrim #original characters #dragonborn #the dragonborn and her wife

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eagleshouse · 6 years ago

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59, 70 and 90 for all ocs uwu

ty uwu

59) What is their favourite song? (As my ocs are all fantasy ocs, I’ll do it as if they listened to our music)

Nacoma: She’d be that stoic badass who listens to stuff like Rammstein, Metallica, and My Chemical Romance (without realising how eDgY it is), and her favourite would be Master of Puppets just because she likes to feel cool, especially in front of her fellow assassins (she’s the leader of her group)

Rohz’ti: She’d like artists such as Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Twenty One Pilots, that kinda thing, but she’d have Let’s Kill Tonight on repeat whilst on a mercenary job just to feel like a badass

Eireann: Let’s be real, she’d 100% unironically listen to Diggy Diggy Hole because she’s a Dwarf and she likes how it portrays her culture lmao

70) What do you, the creator of this OC, like most about them?

Nacoma: She’s such a badass! She started off as my Skyrim character, and just gradually became her own character, and I love that everything shapes her personality - from her background to her current family, to all the experiences she’s had as a mercenary and now, head of the Assassin’s Guild. She’s such a deep and complex character, and is definitely the hardest to convey in these posts!

Rohz’ti: She defies the social norms of her race whenever she can. She hated being a princess and being subordinate to her father (the king), and left without a word and just left the country to start a new life doing what she wanted to do ever since she was a little girl - to fight. She knows how to get what she wants, and she’ll do anything to get it.

Eireann: She’s actually me! In our DnD campaign (which is hopefully starting soon!), we decided it would be interesting if we created characters based on ourselves! However, despite this, she’s still her own person - she takes features of myself and twists them to make them her own and form her own identity. It’s super fun trying to show myself through a fantasy character, whilst also making her a deep and complex character individual to me!

90) What is a joke that they’d find funny?

Nacoma: She wouldn’t like any kind of joke unless it’s some sort of twisted joke she pulls off on her target. She finds them a waste of time unless it shows her dominance over her “prey”,

Rohz’ti: Anything crude or bloodthirsty. There’s nothing more she likes than drinking in the pub with her warrior companions (wife included) and laughing along to some joke about how puny the recent bandits they drove out were and how they were total ‘milk drinkers’.

Eireann: literally has the humour of a 12-year-old. Say something mildly dirty and she’s snorting to herself.

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knowerofunknown-blog · 8 years ago

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@ourredxmption sought knowledge

Circling silently as he paced, Hermaeus watched the Cyrodiil runaway closely. It was nigh on impossible for one to know what he was thinking or even feeling... if he felt or thought anything at all in this moment. A master of all those fleshy muscles about his face, the dark tentacles within, hidden by a Human surface, held a tight grip on every one of them much like a puppeteer with their puppet.

“Coming to a land being torn apart and raped by war, you must have good reason,” he decided aloud, knowing well the sad state that Skyrim was in. Ludicrous, but men did adore war; what they hadn’t the brain for, they settled with brawn. “Or perhaps you wish to run afoul of some dire calamity?” he asked then, pondering if she was one of those to want death. Strange Mortals.

#ourredxmption #v; tbd #//here it is & I hope its okay

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spellsword-archer · 7 years ago

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Aar do faal Diil [Pt. 3]

The sun had set by the time the trio began to approach the ruins of the High Gate nordic crypt.

Their way remained lit by the torches they each carried, but beyond this meager circle of flickering light, the night remained as black as the inside of a troll's cave. Even the stars seemed dim that night, and barely a sound could be heard but for their footsteps and the lapping of the Sea of Ghosts along the shoreline. Insects, horkers, distant wolves…

All were silent, as if aware of the terrible force the ruins now held.

Azaron walked at the head of the group, leading them with a stride that the others couldn't quite match. A knotted mass of unease and nervous excitement fueled his pace, because on the one hand, he wanted to tear Valundre to pieces…but on the other hand, he was not as eager to face Tarene in battle.

Many disregarded the Altmer upon first impression - he was a decent warrior, and a fine archer, but not Dragonborn, to them - but having fought alongside Tarene for three years, even prior to this business with Alduin, the Khajiit knew first-hand just how tough an opponent Tarene could be. A dull gleam of something metal caught his eye, and Azaron stopped abruptly. Out this far, there were no people; those who lived outside the walls of Solitude congregated on the shoreline beneath the city. The icy swamps on this side of the water were usually crawling with wolves and Frostbite spiders, and so civilians hardly ever wandered too far from the water. Therefore, any metal debris had to come from shipwrecks, or be dropped by over-encumbered crypt robbers (or unfortunate adventurers). What could still be out here that gleamed? The Khajiit passed his torch back to Vorstag as the mercenary stopped beside him, and crouched down on all fours, creeping closer to the waterline in pursuit of whatever had reflected that light with such familiarity. About three steps into the water, he found the object caught between the rocks; it was all but submerged, with only a small portion of its smooth surface sticking up above the water. Azaron balanced on his toes as he grabbed the discarded dragon priest mask and stood up, running his thumb over the silver carvings of the mask for a moment. His ears pinned themselves back, and the warrior swallowed that knot of unease as it tied itself again. A Dragon Priest was not easily separated from his mask, and for this mask to have landed where it had - more than a hundred yards from the ruins themselves, and obviously left to rust - the fight had to have been a fierce one.

Behind him, Marcurio stepped forward and leaned around him, trying to get a look at what had struck the Khajiit silent. Azaron hissed as the light flared against the mask's reflective middle, and hurriedly thrust the mask against the mage's chest. "Take it," He all but ordered, staring back out into the darkness beyond their small circle of torch light in an attempt to force his night vision to return faster. "It has a very strong enchantment…magicka regeneration, I think. You're the mage. You may have some use for it." Marcurio raised an eyebrow as he looked over the silver mask.

Indeed, when tilted properly, the mask did shine with the familiar glow of a magicka enchantment…He was an expert on nordic crypts, so he'd heard almost every story about the mighty dragon priests, and how even death had only been able to slow them down…but could a simple mask really be so powerful? Either way, it came from the face of a corpse, so he wasn't about to wear it. "That is a bad sign…" Volstag frowned. "If the dragon priest is already defeated, then Tarene must have beaten us here. He may even be waiting for us." The mercenary pointed out. "We could be walking straight into a trap." Azaron's tail lashed side to side for a few moments, and Marcurio tucked the enchanted mask into his bag. "Then we are left with no choice but to walk into it anyway." The Khajiit growled. "There are no back doors to these ruins; if we want to find and save Tarene, we have to go in the front, trap or no." He reached up over his shoulder and unsheathed his greatsword, holding the blade with one hand, and letting the point dip almost low enough to scrape the earth. "We may be expected, but that may play to our advantage. If Valundre is as confident as others from his age, then he may have underestimated us; he may be so secure in his own power, that he pays little mind to the threat of ours." "That's a very big 'maybe'…" Volstag pointed out as he handed Azaron the torch he had been holding for him. "If you are wrong, then we are in for a very difficult battle." Marcurio adjusted the strap of his bag, held his torch a little higher and marched ahead of the group, straight toward the towering shadow of High Gate crypt. "We're not getting anything done by just standing around and arguing." The mage called back over his shoulder. "We came here to save Tarene and stop some psycho wizard from using one of the Dragonborn to take over the world, and since he already knows we're here, we lose nothing by going in the front." He added. "I'm going to go in there, kill some Draugr, and send Valundre back to Oblivion - whether you two are coming or not!" Azaron and Vorstag stood for several moments, staring after the Imperial in surprise. Finally, the pair traded looks. Azaron hummed quietly, and the two hurried to catch up to Marcurio.

Deep within the crypt, Valundre lounged on the throne, scrutinizing a map of Skyrim taken from Tarene's bag.

Though the borders were quite the same (give or take a few curves), not all of the names were, and he was both amazed and a little appalled that so many little towns and villages could spring up, and yet the big cities could still be lost. This map didn't even mention Bromjunaar! The nerve! The mage curled his borrowed lips in disgust. Oh well.

Once the province was under his control, he could fix that. Setting the map aside, Valundre began to root curiously through the rest of Tarene's bag, idly wondering what else he could find. Healing potions, bundles of assorted arrows, a handful of keys, a bunch of alchemy recipes….boring. These Valundre tossed aside, ignoring the weak spike of frustration at the back of his mind that was Tarene's conscious as he continued digging.

He didn't care for all the hours it had taken to craft, buy, and gather these things. All he cared about was whether or not they could hold his attention for a moment or two. A pouch of gems and septims, a few well-worn books, and some kind of bones and scales…perhaps from a dragon? Quite fitting, for a Dragonborn. Valundre pulled out one of the scales and held it up in the torch light to examine it, dropping Tarene's bag to the side of his throne. It had a leathery texture to it, and yet it felt as hard as steel, with jagged edges where it had once connected to skin, and an almost blade-like edge on the opposite end. Such a small thing, and yet it could deflect arrows as good as any shield. Not that it had done this particular dragon any good, though.

The mage chuckled to himself as he flicked the scale away, bouncing it off the rim of an open urn before it landed, and he turned back to Tarene's bag. What other prizes did his 'living arrangements' come with…? Valundre was interrupted, however, by a Draugr rushing into the room. The reanimated corpse came limping into the throne room with as much haste as it could manage, swinging both sword and shield to aid in forward momentum. When it stopped, however, all it could do was stare at its new master, and make a low gurgling sound in its throat. Magic may have gifted the Draugr with life, but it id not give them with a voice. The mage sighed long-sufferingly and set aside Tarene's bag once again. "The rescue party has arrived, I assume?" He asked rhetorically. The Draugr bobbed its head in a nod. "Hmm." Valundre sat back on the throne and rubbed his chin contemplatively. "…stop them." He ordered. The Draugr nodded obediently and hurried out again, and the mage listened to the fading footsteps with a sadistic smile. The Draugr were loyal servants, but at best, they would only slow this rescue force. The real fun wouldn't happen until they reached him…and considering the size of this ruin, that may not bee too far off. Valundre reached over and grabbed a staff leaning beside the throne, and lay it across his lap. All he had to do was wait…and strike. He didn't have to wait nearly as long as he'd expected. Within two hours, Valundre could already hear the sounds of combat downy eh distant hallways. The mage charged up a spell in his hands, eyeing the one door that lead into the throne room. Soon, he could see shadows at the top of the steps, and then, the combatants were crashing across the threshold. Valundre lashed out with the spell, and blue lightning surged forward. Just before it struck Azaron, however, it curved, and began to swirl around the three men in a flashing, crackling cage. Azaron hissed in frustration, his teeth bared, but he made no move to touch the field. Even from here, he could feel its heat. "Welcome, welcome to my humble abode!" Valundre greeted them with a dark smile. "I'd apologize for your rough-hewn accommodations, but you did just slaughter the majority of my servants." He hummed. "I'm afraid I'm just not feeling apologetic anymore." He leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand, scrutinizing his three captives. Marcurio narrowed his eyes somewhat as those amber eyes - Tarene's eyes - skimmed over him. Such a devious, predatory look….it seemed so foreign on Tarene's face. But he knew the conscious forcing the look was no part of Tarene. Valundre was just using the Altmer's body as a puppet. "Quite the motley rescue crew, you are." The ancient Nord continued. "A mage, a mercenary and a cat walk into a crypt to rescue an elf…" He laughed. "Hah! What a joke." Azaron started to growl deeply, and Volstag reached out to put a hand across his chest, willing him to stay back, if only for the moment. "Though you did come all this way….I suppose I could humor you." Valundre mused aloud. "Your defeat would do wonders to break this elf….he just won't stop fighting, you see." The mage waved a hand dismissively. "Not that he's anywhere near strong enough to stop me, but his efforts are getting increasingly annoying." Valundre eyed the group again, a sadistic smirk growing on his face as he thought. "You," He pointed at Vorstag first. "I'll leave to the Draugr. They'd love to tear you to pieces, if they could feel anything." The mercenary gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his axe, but he bit his tongue before he said something provoking. "You," Valundre moved on to Azaron. "I might let live….The little elf seems fond of you." He chuckled. "Perhaps as a pet, then?" Azaron pinned his ears back and hissed audibly, his tail lashing side to side. Valundre turned to Marcurio last, and started to grin in a very disturbing way. "You," He smiled wolfishly. "Will die slowly, mage. The elf is very 'fond' of you…" Had the situation been any different, Marcurio might have been flattered by that statement. But as things stood, it caused a shiver to run up his spine, and not of the good kind. "A little fire, a little frost, a little lightning…." Valundre paused to laugh. "I'll release the elf just long enough for him to watch you fade….just long enough to see his 'good work'…and then he'll be all mine. I'd get rid of him if I could, of course." The ancient Nord shrugged his borrowed shoulders. "But without his soul, I wouldn't have this beautiful Thu'um…Faas." The room rumbled with the force of the Thu'um, and a wave of energy truck the three. It was weak, and faded after only a few seconds, but it struck a bolt of fear into their hearts. Vorstag stumbled and Azaron lashed his tail; Marcurio had to struggle not to grasp at his own heart, so startled was he by the sudden, crippling fear. Valundre chuckled and shifted to stand up, moving to stand at the edge of the throne's dais, his staff in his hands. "Best not to leave the Draugr waiting…" He smiled, and banged the staff down on the stone. The sharp ring was quickly echoed by the cracking of long-sealed sarcophagi, and the black stone crumbled to the floor as the Draugr entombed along the walls awoke and began clawing their way out. The magical cage surrounding the three intruders faded, and they hurriedly readied themselves for battle. Azaron threw himself at the Draugr with a furious roar, and Vorstag was close behind with a battle cry of his own. Marcurio hung back, firing blasts of fire and lightning at the Draugr from the back of the room. For as many Draugr as they cut down, more seemed to spring up…but finally, the numbers of undead stopped increasing, and the trio began to gain the upper hand. Abruptly, Azaron pulled his greatsword from a Draugr's body and turned to find himself face to face with Tarene. He only just managed to dodge the stab of a dagger, and quickly backed off out of reach. Valundre only grinned, and leveled his staff at the Khajiit. Azaron barred his teeth. He had been dreading this fight ever since High Hrothgar…but he had no other choice, now. The Khajiit held out his greatsword in front of him, and charged. Marcurio had lost count of how many Draugr he'd killed. The air was filled with the smell of seared flesh and soot, and his magicka reserves were running low. Glancing around, he could see Vorstag, and plenty of Draugr bodies…but not Azaron. The Imperial narrowed his eyes and looked again, and there, at the back of the room, he found the Khajiit…locked in combat with Valundre. They were clashing sword to staff, and the room shook as they battled their Thu'um. As powerful a sight it was to behold, neither seemed to be winning over the other….the Dragonborn were too evenly matched. Something had to be done, or this fight could drag on far too long… A sudden idea struck him, and Marcurio smirked. Tarene certaintly wouldn't like what the Imperial had planned, but it just might save his life. Striking down another Draugr with a blast of lightning, Marcurio dissipated the shock spell and summoned another fire spell, so that he were duel wielding, and hurried across the room, stepping on the backs of dead Draugr rather than go around them. He shouted out, just to get Azaron's attention, and raise his hands, combining the fire between them. Azaron's eyes widened in realization, and the Khajiit hit the floor, and Valundre turned around just as Marcurio blasted forth the fire. The massive jet of flames didn't quite reach Valundre, but it came far too close for comfort, and the ancient nord's arrogant snarl twisted into a mask of terror. Consumed by Tarene's pyrophobia, he staggered backward, and as the flames began to recede, Azaron leapt up and swung his sword. Metal rent metal, and Valundre collapsed back against the foot of the throne, shrieking and grasping at the wound on his side.

Azaron lay his ears back, unsettled at having harmed his friend, though he knew the monster in control was no ally. The Khajiit moved to stand over the cringing Altmer, and reached into the pouch on his belt with his free hand. He pulled out Meridia's amulet, and turned it over in his hands. Valundre glared up at his opponent. "I will make you regret this, cat." He vowed, spitting blood onto Azaron's armor. The Khajiit allowed himself a grim smirk. "All you will regret is provoking the ire of Meridia." He growled before he leaned down and pressed the amulet against Tarene's forehead. The silver began to glow a bright white, amber eyes widened, and Valundre howled in agony as his soul was forcibly torn once more from the mortal plane. Marcurio cringed at the sound, but dissipated both of his spells, and climbed up onto the throne's dais as the scream faded into a weak moan, and then trailed into silence. Azaron removed the pendant, and stepped back to give Marcurio space as the mace crouched down beside Tarene. Vorstag joined them a moment later, breathing hard, and having killed the last of the Draugr. The trio held their breath, unsure if the Daedric artifact had worked as Tarene's eyes flickered open again. He stared up at the three of them for what felt like the longest time, then glanced down at his armor, and then at the blood that cover his hand, and pooled beneath him. "….where am I, why am I bleeding, and what in Oblivion am I wearing?" The Altmer muttered under his breath. The tension in the room was instantly lessened, sighs of relief were breathed, and Azaron dropped to his knees, pulling his friend into a tight hug, despite Tarene's muffled whimper of protest. Marcurio summoned Restoration magic to his hands, and shifted to straddle Tarene's legs, reaching out to hover his hands over the large wound gushing blood. "We can catch you up later…" The mage replied. "For now, just lie still and try not to bleed on everything." The Altmer obediently sat still, resigning himself to sit through Azaron's (somewhat rough) show of affection; the nuzzling and hugging wasn't that bad, after all, and it was flattering to know he'd been missed. After several minutes, though, Marcurio spoke up again. "…it's good to have you back." He muttered. Tarene smiled weakly. "It's good to be back…."

#mun's writing #Azaron #Tarene

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