#nogvurot

[exandriacityshowdown]

Round 1 Stage 3 Poll 6

Nogvurot, Wildemount: Nogvurot is a city in the north of the Dwendalian Empire. While Mollymauk Tealeaf and Yasha Nydoorin were members, the Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities visited. Later, the Mighty Nein heard rumours of kidnappings in Nogvurot, but they never went to the city. 

image from the mighty nein origins: mollymauk tealeaf, by hunter severn bonyun and cathy le

Kamordah, Wildemount: Kamordah is a Dwendalian town built on a hotspot of geothermal activity. It is known for its wine. The Mighty Nein’s Beauregard Lionett is from Kamordah, and the party visited once while trying to break a curse.

image from crit recap animated

[essektheylyss]

You know what I think about every so often? How many souls were in the beacons that Essek handed to the Empire. It's possible that there weren't any, but it seems unlikely, especially considering the elven population is pretty high in the Dynasty and elves do not tend to have children that often. And it's been ten years in game, so surely there are some kids in Rexxentrum or Zadash and the surrounding areas who are starting to have some weird ass dreams. If those kids show up in the Dynasty in another five to ten years, what does Leylas do? That sure as hell would confirm that someone in the Empire was lying out of their ass about not having actually stolen the beacons. Does the Empire throw Ludinus (who, we can hope, will be an oil stain on the moon by then) under the bus to get out of another war? This is also presuming that Bertrand Dwendal is still alive and the Assembly hasn't eaten itself alive, which would introduce an entirely new element of "no one in this entire government knows what you're fucking talking about" in the face of Leylas Kryn, Exandria's Grudge-Holding World Champion. We all talk about consequences for actions but when do I get to hear about the fallout of that.

[dent-de-leon]

Okay, okay, but--Mollymauk was masquerading as a Duke in Nogvurot?? The place where a bunch of Consecuted children were "kidnapped"--you know, returned to the Dynasty--

That job that the Nein were seriously considering taking?? If they'd followed up on that, would those kids have recognized Molly as the kind, ridiculous Duke who visited their little town? Are there children in the Dynasty who still tell stories of the time they met royalty?Imagine if King ever visited and was greeted as "Your Grace--"

See also: Cree mentions Tyffial was apparently in Nogvurot. Someone please tell me right now immediately if she heard rumors there of a purple tiefling dressed like royalty who sounded suspiciously like Lucien--

[grayintogreen]

For the fanfic writer ask game:

LitMoR #1-3

Start to finish, how long did it take to plan and write? Did you take breaks during the process?

Three years! I think I started toying with the idea around the time the finale aired and I was sort of figuring out what I wanted to do with it. Originally it was a thirteen chapter jaunt that turned into, uhhhh... Not that. I mostly worked on it pretty steadily throughout those three years, though there was a period early on when it wasn't my main narrative and I was still writing other fics and then suddenly it became the ONLY thing I wrote. Until this year when I took a month hiatus and wrote the start of Roseverse. It's still an insane turnaround time because IT IS LONGER THAN THE ENTIRE DARK TOWER SERIES. YOU KNOW, A STORY THAT FAMOUSLY TOOK DECADES TO TELL. AND I WORK FULL TIME.

2. How did you come up with the idea?

I wanted to write a story where Cree joins the Nein, inspired by the deleted plot threads from the Harvest Close notes which seemed to imply that WOULD have happened if they pissed off the Gentleman. I was fascinated with the idea of Cree becoming the tagalong NPC. However, I love the Gentleman and I love his relationship with Jester, so instead of, like, novelizing the idea of the notes as written (the original idea), I came up with the scenario you see in OUADYA, which turned it into a Molly Lives But At What Cost narrative on top of a Cree of the Nein story.

3. Did the idea change at all by the time the fic was complete?

YES IT DID. SEVERAL TIMES ACTUALLY.

So the original thirteen chapter "treatment" was basically just the Sour Nest, Zadash, Nogvurot (no heist), the stuff in Rexxentrum, Nicodranas (no Court of Nightmares plot), the attack on the Lavish Chateau and the eventual fleeing to Icehaven where the Tombtakers meet them. The fic would end with Cree and the Nein on the ship headed for Eiselcross. Upon completing the Sour Nest stuff, I was immediately like oh no there is NO WAY I can tell the story I want to tell just with this. There needs to be a buffer here between Zadash and Nogvurot, so I threw in the arc with Stahlmast which while seemingly "filler" does give us a lot of character stuff. By the time that arc completed, I was committed to setting up for a sequel and had a lot more ideas to divide the narrative into specific arcs, so the process of shifting things around happened VERY early in the story, which is why I don't think it actually shows that the story started out a certain way and ended up expanding beyond that I think the Pride arc is a little filler-y, because it was sort of MEANT to be, which is fine!

YCDHN was planned from end to end and I don't think a single thing changed besides a few piddly things that weren't working. You can tell by the fact that the chapter count and arcs NEVER ALTERED, whereas OUADYA changed chapter totals like wow.

DIRECTOR'S CUT FIC ASKS.

[soath]

Zwiefacher spoilers

jester: okay, we all met ages ago in trostenwald—well, most of us. there was this circus and an evil frog eating a little girl and me, and yasha, and molly, and fjord, and beau ended up defeating the frog just barely. but nobody believed us and we ended up in prison! so we broke out of prison, along with nott who was also in jail there and were on the run, sort of. not sort of, we were definitely on the run. fjord really wanted to go to rexxentrum to learn about his wet dreams so we thought, it’s a big city, they can’t be looking for small town criminals there.

so we headed to rexxentrum and on the way we stopped in alfield and killed some gnolls and molly came up with our name. we skirted around zadash ‘cause beau was worried people there might recognize her from the scene of our last crime. ended up taking a swamp detour and met these two little lost bird girls? kiri and siri they were so! sweet! also fjord wrestled a fish so he could eat a ball and we nearly got killed by a troll. we ended up in druvenlode helping a bunch of miners assassinate their boss—don’t worry, he totally deserved it— when we heard there was a war?! and we were all like ‘we don’t want to die in the war!’ so we skipped town again.

a bunch of dwarves offered us money to escort their family out of nogvurot but when we got to nogvurot it turned out the kids didn’t want to go, they were talking to the kryn soldiers under the city, and it was very sad and we learned a lot about the kryn and how they can only have babies with their special thingy. unfortunately the army did not like them leaving and it got hot the next day. so we had to look for somewhere else to go. the local criminal guy had an odd job carrying a bunch of these cages to a place called shadycreek run but it turned out the cages were going to a group that was selling people! we took a group vote and turned on them and a bunch of us nearly died, and yasha did die, but luckily we took her to caduceus and it turns out she comes back to life really easy. molly lost an arm but decided not to get it back. also beau got to have sex. then caduceus came with us because we were his fate. a bunch of the people in shadycreek were super mad because we killed their guys, and also molly made them super mad before he died, but this lady named ophelia stole us and was all like ‘i’ve wanted them dead for a long time, thank you, you work for me now, do crimes for me,” so we did even more crimes for her. then she said “now come with me to zadash”

so we went with her to zadash even though beau didn’t want to, but it was fine because we met pumat and the gentleman, who turned out to be my dad—we didn’t know that yet though. we helped save the city from this horde of invisible spiders living underneath and destroyed a portal to the abyss! and when Beau went back to the cobalt soul it turned out they cleared our name for the frog stuff ages ago and no one was even looking for us in druvenlode or nogvurot! a really important monk named yudala even offered to be her teacher and was all ‘you’ve learned techniques on your own that most take years to master rawr, you’re undisciplined but strong, what are you doing’ and she got so. much. training. uh, and then we learned that the gentleman was selling people too and because we didn’t know he was my dad we kind of turned him into the cops. yudala liked us a lot more after that. ‘cause we had clear raps, and molly was looking for more info on their past, and caduceus wanted to know about his family, and fjord’s sword swallowing was getting to be, like, an issue, we tagged along to rexxentrum with yudala.

that’s when we met you! you showed us around the academy and the city and helped fjord and nott and were super coo. gave us odd jobs to do to earn money, took us out dancing... you were the best, we would have been so lost without you, we were going through a lot. it turns out yasha did not come back from the dead all the way okay, she kept having these creepy dreams and disappearing—different from normal yasha disappearing—in the night to stand outside this temple. and people were saying the traveller was a cult! And that fjord was also in a cult but for the betrayer gods! nott was crying because they were saying turning her back into a halfling was impossible. plus one of your archmages kept looking at molly funny and calling him lucien. the last one was actually a biggie. it turns out it’s really hard to spy on an archmage but we finally snuck nott into a meeting to eavesdrop and they were talking about her husband? nott’s husband, not vess’s. we didn’t even know nott had a husband back then.

nott was all, ‘let’s go, go go! we gotta save my husband’ and we skipped town again. but before we left we said goodbye to you and we said that we were scared we’d be watched cause vess was so hung up on molly, and you gave us our necklace! it kept is safe as long as we stayed really close together on the road. you’re probably the only reason we made it to felderwin safely. as soon as we got there we had to murder the guard protecting yeza and the beacon. as was all ‘waah?’ and we went ‘the assembly is super evil and also your wife is a goblin now, grab your kid let’s go!’

we ended up having to use the vibrator we got from the kryn in nogvurot. they said it would only help if there was a purple worm nearby—but luckily there was! And the kryn came out all suspicious but beau held up yeza with the beacon and went ‘yo, take us to your leader, we need to get out of this country pronto”

anyways, we’re heroes of the dynasty now? a lot happened since then, we snuck across borders to see my mom and my mom told me i got my dad arrested which sucked. fjord realized he needed help with his snake after he let it go, then we met yussa and realized we stole the other arcana’s name, molly might be haunted and he spent time in the forest hanging out with old people. there were a lot more abyss portals, beau was doing this whole spy vs. spy thing in rosohna with another person from the cobalt soul, and we saved the bright queen from assassination so now we’re, like, double heroes of the dynasty. we went to bazzoxan and there were lots of evil temples, fjord got bitten by spiders, yasha got super-duper possessed and unpossessed again which let us figure out an evil cult is trying to take advantage of the war to let out the hungriest evil shadow ever. but we got back on yudala’s good side and said, ‘we’re totally not traitors, we did all that for the empire!’ and dairon backed us up cause we have been helping them try to minimize the impacts of the war. So we came back and stopped tharizdun—yasha died again by the way—and the bright queen told us specifically that we’re allowed to negotiate terms if they pinky promise to give the beacon back. dairon was with us and we gave the king all sorts of evidence that the assembly is super evil, kill them all and give us the beacon please! and he was still like; hmmmm, idk.

and traveller con is in a month!

bren: kittenwhoonlythinksofmurder.jpg

[mareastrorum]

TF&TS Meta: The Tombtakers' Levels and Classes

Since I am posting another chapter on Friday, no WIP Wednesday excerpt today! However, I usually throw out a meta post 2 days before each chapter to tide people over.

This post goes over the Tombtakers’ levels and classes.

See the directory for other meta posts.

I’ll do separate meta posts on each individual Tombtaker to discuss the specifics of their character sheets and backstories, but for now, this generally goes over why I chose their levels and subclasses.

At some point, Matt’s notes for the Harvest Close Festival were posted publicly. In this document, Matt had jotted down some things for the Evening Nip, including Cree and a list of the other Tombtakers. Zoran was listed as simply a Ghostslayer, Otis as Profane Soul, Tyffial as rogue/Mutant blood hunter, and “Jurrel” (not Jurrell) as deceased. Lucien’s name was also spelled “Lucian.” Interestingly, Cree’s notes also listed that the Tombtakers’ old stomping grounds included Berleben, Hupperdook, and Nogvurot in addition to Shadycreek Run. Their levels—and Tyffial’s level split—were not included.

Obviously, some things had changed between that time and the Aeor arc. I’m not sure if Matt leveled up the Tombtakers at any point or if he just scaled them to the Mighty Nein once. That could get really complicated. So, first, I decided to sort out what levels all the Tombtakers were during the Aeor arc of the stream.

Lucien was at least level 17. In episode 139, he did 10 damage to himself to amplify a blood curse, and blood hunter hemocraft dice upgrade to d10 at level 17. That could have been specifically after he absorbed Cognouza, but it’s a blood hunter ability, so I doubt it. He also had the Rite of the Oracle (psychic damage), which requires level 14.

In episode 123, Cree flung a Firestorm at Gelidon, so that confirmed she was at least level 13 to be able to cast 7th level spells. She should have had access to Control Weather by then as well, but she used a scroll to cast that spell at the lava river in episode 121. It could be that she did it to save her spell slots, but that’s a really expensive thing to do… unless she looted it from Vess DeRogna, who flings money around like it’s nothing and had just been murdered and robbed by Lucien. So that could have been what was going on (assuming Cree didn’t have anything strange going on with her known spells). Alternatively, Matt wanted to include a hint that the Tombtakers had no plans to return from their trip (one-way only across the river) and he ignored that Cree could have cast it anyway, or perhaps he was trying to hide what level the Tombtakers were in the early encounters. Later, in episode 133, after the Mighty Nein ambushed the Tombtakers in the ice tunnels below Aeor’s surface, Cree cast Earthquake once she and Lucien escaped. Earthquake is an 8th level spell, so she had to be at least level 15 by then.

Tyffial was at least level 16. In episode 123, during the Gelidon encounter, she activated a unique blood rite that the others hadn’t, and Matt compared it to some of Fjord’s warlock abilities. I’m guessing the black energy was the Rite of the Dead, which deals necrotic damage and is available to blood hunters at level 14. In the same turn, she also did Action Surge, which is available to fighters at level 2. Thus, level 16 minimum, even higher if she did have some rogue mixed in (though we never saw sneak attack damage).

Zoran was also at least level 16. In episode 123, during the MN versus TT fight, Zoran used Action Surge (so level 2 fighter) and Matt mentioned that Zoran had advantage against charm effects. That’s not from being a goliath or a fighter—Ghostslayers get Hardened Soul at level 14. So he’s also level 16 minimum.

Otis was harder to place. Profane Soul blood hunters get level 3 spells at level 13, then level 4 spells at level 19; that’s a big gap doesn’t doesn’t show a lot of external progress. We also didn’t see Otis cast any of the Unsealed Arcana Spells (nor the Revealed Arcana spells), so we can’t glean their level from that, and we don’t know which pact they were. Unlike the other Tombtakers, Otis didn’t use action surge. Matt would have absolutely used that if they had it, so not a fighter multiclass. They could have been a warlock multiclass, but if Matt already had a lot to track, I doubt that was the case.

(Side bar: Matt also usually didn’t bother with any of Tombtakers’ Brands of Castigation, so we can’t use the bonus effects to determine levels. My thoughts are either that (a) he forgot, (b) thought that would be too much to track, and/or (c) decided to cut the players a break. After all, Fjord got branded by Lucien, and Matt still let Fjord teleport away from the Vurmas Outpost to Nicodranas. At level 13, blood hunters receive Brand of Tethering, which requires a wisdom saving throw to teleport. Failure would have stranded him there until Essek could both dispel the brand (DC 18+ dispel magic because Lucien was presumably level 17 and his Brand was the equivalent of an 8th level spell) and teleport him to the Nein, but Matt didn’t make Travis roll for that. However, that would have been pretty shitty to keep one player stuck alone with Essek.)

Altogether, it seems like each of the Tombtakers was probably at least level 16, with Lucien at least level 17. That seems pretty balanced against a larger group of level 13 players.

I seriously considered keeping them at level 16 for the entirety of TF&TS. After all, narratively speaking, the Tombtakers didn’t do all that much from time they resurrected Lucien to meeting the Mighty Nein except get to Eiselcross. They didn’t even fight DeRogna, so it’s not like that would have been level up worthy. I could see an argument that they did at least one level’s worth of work in that time, maybe more, but with how much Matt had to work on a whole team of blood hunters to fight the players, I don’t think he added levels during the course of the arc. I think their level was static on the stream.

However, that means that at the start of TF&TS, the Tombtakers should have been level 16+. And they would have crushed the level 6 Mighty Nein. Seriously, it would have been no contest. Lucien would just need to hang back, let the Tombtakers massacre everyone, then come up and deal the killing blow to Molly like some level 1 WoW newbie getting carried by a few raiders decked in AotC gear. That wouldn’t have been very fun.

That said, scaling down the Tombtakers wouldn’t have made much sense either. It’s probably what Matt would have done, at least partially, if Molly had survived and the Mighty Nein had to fight off the Tombtakers as recurring enemies. But, if I had made them all, say, level 9, there’s no way Cree would have been able to resurrect Lucien. With how long he had been gone, Raise Dead—5th level spell with a 10 day maximum—wouldn’t have worked. Even if she could “cheat” and count the days from Molly’s death instead of Lucien’s, more than 10 days had passed from Molly’s death (22 Fessuran) when Fjord informed her of Molly’s death (26 Quen’pillar), let alone when she discovered the grave in the stream. She’d have needed to cast Resurrection—7th level spell with 1 century maximum—meaning she had to be at least level 13. It wouldn’t make sense for only Cree to be level 13 while the rest are lower if she was of comparable level in Eiselcross, so then all the Tombtakers had to be at least level 13. Maybe that would have worked if Matt had done it in canon, but it wasn’t sensible for TF&TS now that we know how the Aeor arc played out. And, at level 13, in a straight on fight, the Tombtakers still would have demolished the Mighty Nein.

The Tombtakers are no joke.

(Another side bar: This was why Caduceus couldn’t resurrect Molly early in the campaign even if Taliesin had made a cleric with that intent (which I doubt, but I’ve seen the idea floated by a few people). Maybe the players could have pressed Ophelia Mardoon about the family’s personal staff in case she had a level 9+ cleric available to use Raise Dead on Molly before 3 Quen’pillar, but they didn’t for whatever reason (I doubt they had a 500g diamond, but perhaps they could have requested that as partial payment). After that 10 day period elapsed, unless the Nein dug up Molly and took his body with them in search of a level 13+ cleric/bard, they would have had to recruit and take someone to his grave to resurrect him. That’d get really awkward without something like the portable hole. (Could he fit in the bag of holding? Maybe? Imagine the horrible conversation of cutting up Molly’s body to fit him in the bag to resurrect him later. Taliesin would have loved it, Caduceus would not.) The Nein hit level 13 at the end of episode 108—and after information gathering about the Eyes of Nine in 109, they started talking about bringing Molly back in 110.)

Anyway. I compromised. Given that the Tombtakers were going to outclass the Mighty Nein regardless of the level I set them at, I chose level 14 (so they could have 3 ASI plus 2 levels if they multiclassed), reasoning that the events of the campaign could have provided up to 2 levels of encounters from resurrecting Lucien through meeting the Mighty Nein. It also seemed generally feasible that, as the leader, Lucien was a level or two ahead and reached level 17 by the end of the Aeor arc. The Tombtakers gaining new abilities also adds some drama and fun along the way.

I want to be clear: The Tombtakers can massacre the Mighty Nein. They are leveling up, too, so the Nein are never going to outlevel the Tombtakers. That is the choice I made. They will absolutely TPK the Nein in a fair fight at every point in this story.

Then I checked the outline and found ways to give the sufficient advantages/disadvantages to each team for lower level encounters so that Molly has a chance for survival. Only Molly. Everyone else has to hold onto their butts and pray, but at least they have the benefit that the Tombtakers really only care about killing Molly, and it has to be Lucien that does it. Of course, the Nein are going to get in the way, so they’ve gotta be strategic.

As it turns out, that works pretty well. I plotted out the actual fights, each character’s position, and then did each roll. I’ve only had to do a few tweaks to make these encounters interesting and relatively survivable.

Next, I had to sort out what classes to make each of the Tombtakers.

Lucien and Jurrell are dead. Sorry dude, whether they multiclassed doesn’t matter. We had no indication that Cree had multiclassed, nor did there seem to be a narrative reason for it, so she’s just a Blood cleric the whole way through.

I decided to limit Otis to Profane Soul. Multiclassing with that subclass is rough. The spell progression is even worse than warlocks, and they have a very specific niche they fit into: Eldritch Blast and weapon attack combos. Like Hexblade but not as fun. Given Profane Soul’s very limited spell list, it’s best to pick either ranged or melee and stick with it, and Otis used a crossbow, so they’re stuck with ranged attacks, which limits multiclassing even further. Since Otis was from Trostenwald, they were also already in the Marrow Valley, where the blood hunters’ headquarters was located, so it followed that they could have joined the Claret Orders at level 1. Mechanically and narratively, it made sense that Otis didn’t bother multiclassing.

The Harvest Close notes indicated that Tyffial was multiclassed into rogue, but both she and Zoran used Action Surge in Eiselcross. Logistically, it’s sensible Matt made a DM decision to streamline the Tombtakers and gave both the melee members at least two levels in fighter so they could Action Surge. It’s much easier to track than making one a rogue (who is gunning for advantage at every opportunity), and it’s a bit better for balancing purposes and action economy if two Tombtakers can deal larger bursts of damage. Thus, Matt probably changed his mind, and Tyffial had no rogue levels in the stream.

However, I don’t have to do that. I’m writing a story, so there’s no DM-minded benefit of having either of them multiclass into fighter. I could do that, but the story is what really matters.

Given that I wanted to explore the Tombtakers more than the stream did, I opted to go with Tyffial as a rogue/Mutant multiclass and Zoran as a fighter/Ghostslayer multiclass. My reasoning was that, with their backgrounds, they would have had several years training in some other specialty before joining the Orders. Rogue was going to add more unique flavor for Tyffial, so no fighter levels for her. Besides, since she’s a Mutant, she can switch between Strength and Dexterity as she pleases—which works well with having both a longsword and a rapier. (Matt got mixed up whether Tyffial was human or elven and had a rapier or longsword, but it's also possible she had two weapons.) Fighter also makes sense for a goliath, and it meshed well with the backstory I had planned for Zoran, so he stuck with the multiclass Matt chose.

I’ll get further into each of their subclasses, feats, and equipment in separate meta posts. For now, there’s one key take away: if the Mighty Nein try to take the Tombtakers on, they’re gonna die.

:D

[strwpup]

re: why essek might be so against ikithon

i had a though that connected that to my theory that trent's current students are nogvurot kids going through anamnesis

and I'm imagining trent asking vague questions about anamnesis, or rebirth, under the guise of beacon research

then one day recently ikithon is in charge of talking to him instead of daleth, and ikithon brings a student for safety, and essek realizes all the information he gave put specifically consecuted children that he could have known in a past life in more danger and pain with ikithon

but essek can't warn anyone, because there's mutually assured destruction, so he just sits there and takes meaningless shots at ikithon where he can

i also want to believe essek has something to do with the blue residuum

i could see trent giving him some normal residuum early on as a gift and a show of goodwill from the assembly (and something that can be used to tie essek to his crimes if he needs blackmail)

we know essek has some kind of leyline research at his towers and something something residuum is connected to the moon, and ryn's notes said the moon is connected to leylines, and i bet essek knows a lot about precalamity cities

i personally believe there's a chance essek improved on the residuum in his research and was excited to talk about it with a peer as a concept, not knowing his research was putting children in danger until he saw the scars on a consecuted protégée

[seafleece]

i want to write about the nogvurot kids sometime, like, the title itself gives me this view of these scrawny almost-teenagers who never really fit in, who got called old souls, and then over a few years they start having the WEIRDEST dreams. and on the other side of it, without proper meditation, they’re looking at each other and having double vision where they see both these other equally confused kids and their moms, their political advisors, their doctors from 200 years ago (and vice versa, their kids, their leaders, their patients)

and they keep getting news that these people they’re remembering themselves as, well, the empire hates them. are they even afraid of getting taken back, or are they more afraid of being found out by these people who are supposed to be their parents but some of whom are gearing up to go to war against.... them???? the ones who’ve started to remember, are they trying desperately to reach out??

[brit-blade]

I put this on Twitter too (@britblade 😘)

theory: THE LAST BEACON IS IN NOGVUROT

zedash episode 9, the town crier said "crick kidnappers stealing families away in the night"

NOW how long has the empire had beacon #4? we don't know

but maybe long enough for children to be reborn in nogvurot with memories of xhoras (so krynn died in xhoras, the beacon was moved, souls reborn into children in the empire)

maybe faked news that krynn are stealing families. actually, cerberus assembly finding out these children have memories, taking them for interrogation to get xhoras secrets.

but they said families! well how much would a child actually say if they're scared in a new place? bring the parents, who were concerned about all this weird stuff the child was saying and remembers everything they said because it was so odd. also keep the parents close, the child feels comfortable enough to keep talking

yeza was doing experiments for dunamis, it's not unlikely that beacon #4 was being experimented on in different ways by someone with different experience (druids have experience/spells with reincarnation)

but they said crick kidnappers!! but it's not hard for people to disguise themselves, sneak around, take kids and teleport away, or implant fake memories in anyone who saw them, and if they are taking parents too then theres no witnesses anyway

also it wouldn't be hard for a powerful organisation like the Cerberus assembly to just spread the news that oh it was the evil evil people from over there, definitely not us

OTHER OPTION: krynn ARE stealing families

why would krynn steal families from nogvurot for no reason? bright queen was clearly into retribution and bloodshed, not stealing a couple of family units for nothing. yeza was only taken because he was USEFUL. what are these families /all in one place/ doing to be useful?

if children had old memories then the bright queen would DEFINITELY know where beacon #4 is, look at all these kids from a specific place in the empire remembering xhoras, but in her chambers she said she ASSUMES it's in the empire.

so she doesn't know where beacon #4 is. so why would the krynn bother stealing a couple of families away, when they took yeza they ATTACKED felderwin. no mention of an attack in nogvurot.

also the M9 were at sea for a bit so off the grid no news doesn't help

[angelsndragons]

taking a break from caduceus meta and just thinking about how lucien would have appeared if molly was in the picture. i know a lot of people think that lucien would have been a body hopping antagonist seeking his revenge and while that is hilarious....

i actually think lucien would have been in molly’s mind, peeking through every now and again, a siren calling the last piece of himself home. having a conversation. trying to reason with molly. the higher molly’s blood hunter level got, the more lucien would be able to chat or activate the eyes or even take over. the somnovum digging into molly’s mind and dreams and memories, clawing and dragging him back towards lucien and towards their ultimate goal. i think there would have been a corruption system similar to orthax and percy and with a ticking clock. the tomb takers chasing down the nein like uk’otoa’s assassins, to kill molly long enough for lucien to be resurrected. 

let’s face it, that would have been such a long, creepy arc and taliesin would have loved it.

[apricotsndots]

I’m still too soft about the Wildemount kiddos in one of my campaigns ;A;

Sometimes you are just a little zemnian lass with a halfling best friend you like to tote around, and discover you’re both consecited and you were WIVES last life

[essektheylyss]

Nogvurot is my Roman Empire. What the fuck was up with that. This little town is closer to Rexxentrum than Vergessen is. It's a solid third of the way into the Empire. There was apparently a military incursion from the Dynasty there twenty years ago that was large enough to warrant sending a beacon with the troops. And somehow THAT didn't spark a war? When the Dynasty and the Empire had had increasingly tense interactions for almost a century?

And I was going to add a caveat that we only have Essek's word for it that that's what happened to lead into kids going missing there, as supposedly they were consecuted soldiers who were reborn there and returned to the Dynasty upon remembering their past lives, but there's no reason for him to lie, and there's also not really any other explanation based on the situation around the War of Ash and Light as to why else the kids would have gone missing. The Dynasty is now engaging in outright missionary efforts, but they do not seem interested in the Empire, and prior to the war they seemed to be working in pretty small pockets where they'd be largely unnoticed like Vurmas in Eiselcross.

Why did this incursion happen. What was the point of it. How did it not spur full warfare. How did the beacon end up lost in the area for long enough for a seemingly decent number of children to be born and when was it recovered. This is a truly wild piece of information from a geopolitical standpoint and I need to understand what happened.

[dent-de-leon]

I do love that Molly promised Nogvurot he'd return one day--and not just as the Duke again, but as himself. Thinking about King visiting that town one day, and receiving a big royal welcome. Being so beloved, feeling regal--just like he did in his dreams. Molly always meant to come back and visit someday, but he never got the chance to (would he have like to?...did he mean to return one day, with the Mighty Nein?)

But even if he never got the chance to go back, maybe one day King will wander by, and be treated like an old friend. And it'll feel like he's back in that nice dream again--

[grayintogreen]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Hello, hello, it's that time again! I'm about halfway done with Chapter Twenty-Four of YCDHN, so here's a scene for you!

The Olly, Oxen, & Free was a pub that had not been built so much as it had been carved out of the rock walls of the section of city known as the Liber Disk, and owned by a set of dwarf triplets. Molly made a dry comment that if your parents name you things that can be shortened to ‘Olly, Oxen, and Free’ you really didn’t have much of a choice other than to forgo all other options and name a pub after yourself, but the mead was good and therefore he forgave them for being predictable.

They were too deep underground now, and even with the knowledge that there was nothing covering the sky above them, it was no longer visible and that alone was enough to make Molly even edgier. Their confrontation with Reani had occurred just outside the city proper after Caleb dropped them on the mountain and Molly had expected something a little closer to those mountain towns right at the edge of the Empire- even fondly remembered a certain one with so little of a name to it that some mistakenly labeled it as part of Nogvurot even if it was at least sixty miles away from it. But no, Cali had led them downwards into a city built like an auger that was beautiful to behold and anxiety-inducing to keep moving downwards in. He would have been happy to have taken up in one of the taverns on the disk above this one, but Cali said this one was closer to where Reani was taking Fjord and Caduceus and she wanted to stay close.

She had both of her hands on a massive tankard of mead she wasn’t drinking, her lank hair falling to cover the dragon side of her face almost entirely, but when she pushed it aside a bit to speak to locals who came up on her while everyone else was collecting themselves and drinking, no one flinched away at her. Her dragon tail, curled beneath her chair, even thunked a little at the gentle conversation.

“People really seem to like you here, Cali,” Jester noted as she sipped a cup of goat’s milk, her nose wrinkling as she tried to decide how she felt about the taste.

“Oh… Yeah. They do.” Cali’s cheeks pinkened. “They’re some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I wanna do right by them, so that’s why I help Reani with-“ She cut herself off. “Never mind. There’s a lot of stuff I can’t talk about, but I also don’t want you to be angry with her. Reani’s done a lot for me, but so have you and she knows that.”

“She must care a great deal for you to put aside her morals for us,” Caleb drawled. “Not to put more stones in my pockets, but we are, indeed, still assholes.”

Cali was no longer so much pink as she was the color of an unripened strawberry. “You got my letter?”

“Ja, it came at a… very good time for us.”

“Right after we almost got arrested for trying to do the right thing,” Beau shrugged and tried to draw attention to the blue roses in her high ponytail. “Happens to us a lot.”

She, predictably, reacted. “You’re even wearing the roses I got you!”

Jester showed off her own gifts and encouraged those who could at the table to do the same. “We’re all wearing your stuff, Cali. We thought about you all the time. I really wanted to write to you, but it’s been a lot, like, all the time.”

Cali buried her face in her tankard. “I understand. And I never felt anything bad about you for not writing. You’re all actually serious adventurers and heroes and I’m… well, I’m still working on what I am.”

“Ironic, considering you met us at our least serious and least heroic,” Molly chuckled into his drink. Cali gave him a deeply tragic look.

The next few minutes were a blur of Jester trying to shove as many details of the last year of incidents without giving away details that shouldn’t be shared in either public or with someone Lucien and Cree didn’t know- who were currently watching from their space at the table, judging every reaction and microexpression, though there was more of the former than the latter (even now Cali couldn’t keep her business to herself).

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Cree, Mr. Lucien,” she said, at the conclusion of the explanation. “You all have been through a lot, it seems. I’m sorry that the Empire is chasing you because of something that wasn’t your fault.”

“Shit,” Beau suddenly swore. “Should we have been disguising ourselves if those wanted posters made it this far north?” She eyed everyone in the tavern suspiciously, but no one so much as raised an eyebrow in their direction.

“Most people in the Wildlands don’t care for Empire business and after awhile bounty hunters stopped asking questions about you lot.” Cali sighed with relief. “It made it easy for Reani to let it go too, until you came into town like this. No offense, Mr. Lucien.”

Lucien made a noncommittal noise into his drink. Cree was the one to actually speak. “I have heard a great deal of what you are doing now and what we have been doing, but not so much about how you all even met.”

Jester leaned closer to her. “Do you remember when we went to investigate that safehouse in Berleben for my dad?”

“Aye.”

“Well, Cali was also looking for a-“

Cali made a sharp growling sound and then immediately covered her mouth. “Oh! I didn’t mean to do that. I’m so sorry, Jester, but… I, um… That is, Reani doesn’t know about my history with Serissa and her cult. I will tell her, eventually! But right now she just thinks I’m… I’m sort of a vigilante myself, just like her. And it’s been really nice.”

Molly lowered his tankard to the ground. “You know if you can’t tell your friend that you used to be in a cult, she’s not really your friend.”

“Exactly!” Nott exclaimed. “Lucien and Cree here were in cults and we don’t like them any less for it.”

“Thank you, Nott,” Cree deadpanned.

Lucien narrowed his eyes. “Oh is that so?”

Only Molly picked up on the sudden churning emotional dissatisfaction moving like storm-tossed waters in his head. His face remained a mask of blank consideration, while Cali dug her hole a little deeper.

“I just don’t want her to think less of me. She might look at all the things I did and not be as kind about it as you all were. I want her to like me so much… and I will tell her. I just… I need her to know without a shadow of a doubt that I’m a good person, despite everything I did for the Caustic Heart. Do you understand?”

The answer was a murmured assent that was less than convincing, but before Jester could rise to the occasion and help encourage Cali to be honest, Lucien slammed his tankard down with enough force that the contents spilled over onto the rough-carved woodgrain of the table. “So. Let me see if I’ve been followin’ this tale correctly. You wandered into the swamp with this girl- who openly admitted to formerly bein’ in one of the worst cults in all of Exandria, and trusted her word that she stood against them with minimal suspicion thrown her way?”

“I would not call it minimal,” Caleb deadpanned.

Jester deflated and sank down into her chair, her intentions forgotten. “There was a whole thing with a bowl and everything.”

“They definitely didn’t trust me, Mr. Lucien! But I also didn’t tell them all of this up front either. I deserved their wariness.”

Cali’s anxiety and the admittance of the Nein’s distrust was barely anything more than salt on the wound. They hadn’t bullied her or else she wouldn’t be speaking so kindly to them now. They hadn’t treated her or Cree with nearly the suspicion that they had given Lucien. That was all because of Molly, himself- he’d painted them a picture and they filled in the lines with their own biases. Lucien had walked into a game he couldn’t win before he’d even tried to play it.

“Seems to have worked out for you, though, eh?” Lucien leaned in a bit and Cali leaned back. She had the look of someone trying not to be uncomfortable because being uncomfortable might make the situation worse. “Wasn’t quite so easy for me.”

Cali, lighting on something, leaned forwards again. “What cult were you involved in?”

“Oh we don’t have to discuss that.” He waved her off. “We’ve done our bonding, haven’t we? Took a few months, but perhaps I’m not nearly as adorable as she is.”

Beau pursed her lips. “Man, I really wanna fight you on this, but I don’t think I can without looking like a dick.”

Lucien rested his chin on his knuckles and bared his teeth in a grin. “Oh, but I want you to try anyway.”

“All right, all right,” Molly cut in before the moment could go off like a lit match close to Nott’s cloak. “Point taken. Let’s move on.”

[ankcoolosaurus]

Please look at all my favourite good dino bois ft. some name references

[mareastrorum]

WIP Wednesday: TF&TS (Tyffial)

Here is a scene from an early chapter of a longfic I am working on.

Fanfic Summary: Mollymauk Tealeaf survived the encounter with the Iron Shepherds, but a short time later, a spirit had begun hunting him, claiming that he stole his body. This Campaign 2 AU begins with Episode 26 and continues on from there.

This fanfic will be posted on AO3 starting in June or July.

Tyffial Wase was not usually the type to take her time when others were waiting on her—at least, not when it was people she liked—but circumstances warranted a more gradual exit from Nogvurot than she preferred. She gracefully resigned from her bodyguard contract, paid off a few debts earlier than needed, sold off what she would not carry, and traveled to Zadash by way of the capital so that she could hire a carriage to make up some time.

It was not unexpected that Cree followed up with a few more spells to exchange messages. Tyffial was somewhat annoyed to hear that even Zoran had beaten her to Zadash. But it could not be helped.

It had been a shame to lose Lucien to that botched ritual. Losing Jurrell only a short time later had been so much worse because of it. But if Lucien could be brought back, then so could Jurrell. They both deserved better, and Tyffial was happy to spend her time and effort to bring them that opportunity. After all, she had the time to spare, and heartless though she may be, she did play favorites.

Jurrell had been a favorite to remember: soft and rugged, wild and tame, beautiful and hideous—a mess of contradictions that seamlessly flowed into each other. She had loved to live and to take life, savoring both peace and war. She embodied nature in all its glory and saw no reason to choose between the extremes that she adored. And when she had been caught by those who hated her for it, Tyffial had been unable to save her from the executioner’s block. Unable to even retrieve the body to attempt bringing her back.

At least Jurrell had died with a smile on her face.

Even so, Cree might yet find a way. She and Tyffial had discussed such things in their letters, chasing rumors and stories about ways to bring back the lost. Fanciful daydreams, honestly, yet commiserating over such losses had helped them both to continue on.

But if Lucien was back, then the Nonagon could bring back the city of Cognouza, and then such dreams could be made into real choices. Now that was worth pursuing. If it had been someone else, Tyffial would not have entertained such a notion, but the young tiefling was a natural at making things happen and stirring up others to follow his lead.

Tyffial first met Lucien at the Claret Orders, though he had not realized how early on that had been. She was one of the few trained to brew a portion of the many poisons (and they were poisons—no matter what the Orders claimed) used in the Hunter’s Bane, and she oversaw their application in one of many phases. She had not expected him to survive due to his age.

Months later, Lucien eventually caught wind of Tyffial’s skill with alchemy, first seeking to learn a few things about it and a related blood curse, then later still offering a chance to be business partners. There were an awful lot of blood hunters in need of certain types of remedies that the Orders were unwilling to provide. The clever little shit knew how to seize an opportunity and manage risk. Inevitably, when he intended to strike out on his own, he offered Tyffial a spot on a mercenary team, so she joined alongside Jurrell. Working for honest pay—well, as honest as mercenaries ever were—had been far better than poisoning orphans every few months and watching them melt from the inside out, their blood turn to sludge, or their organs necrotize one by one.

Tyffial had a heart once, a long, long time ago. The Orders would have rotted it away if she had not ripped it out already.

The Tombtakers were a far better venture. Good money, thrilling escapades, wonderful entertainment. Not an insignificant number of times, Tyffial had played along with a ridiculous plan primarily to see if Lucien would trip onto his own face, but somehow, those schemes usually ended with the outcome he had intended and that aggravatingly smug grin, as if there had never been any doubt.

Until Lucien had died. Yet, he came back, and he would again, so there was still a chance that this would end the same way. If it did, it would be a hell of a story.

Arrogant as Lucien was, Tyffial respected his cunning. He rarely lied directly, instead weaving narratives out of half-truths and strategic omissions, then presenting them with unexpected charm for a tiefling mercenary out of Shadycreek Run. Anyone who attempted to expose him could often be dismissed as rude or needlessly hostile, at least, unless they had proof. His hunting skills often translated into social manipulations and vice versa, making him a surprising threat wherever he went. He was a quick study, ever eager to learn new skills, though patience was not his strong suit.

As a result, Lucien’s charisma had saved the Tombtakers quite a lot of hassle when dealing with Empire or Uthodurnian authorities. That was the boring kind of trouble. Getting in over their heads in Veluthil Forest or Molaesmyr was far more entertaining. There was a morbid sort of satisfaction to prowling those old haunts with a team full of budding misfits.

Of course, every now and then, a con had required a partner or the target was simply not going to be swayed by a young man with… an exotic heritage. Zoran was too much of a brute to be believable, Otis and Jurrell had been far too excitable, and Cree—a sweetheart, really—did not have such deceit in her.

So Tyffial put her background to work, acting out whichever part suited the ploy at the time, whether it was an elven noble from Bysaes Tyl, a pirate from Darktow, a traveling lady from Tal’dorei, an alchemist from the Menagerie Coast, a merchant from the Kryn Dynasty, a hermit from Issylra, a small-time wastewander from Marquet, or a roughneck bodyguard from Nogvurot.

Lucien was not even aware that those were actually true. Well, Tyffial had not really been a bodyguard during her time in Nogvurot, but the rest was true. She used to have more personae that she could whip out as needed, but after enough time, some just were not believable anymore. As far as Lucien knew, Tyffial was far closer to his age and simply had met many muses that had inspired her roles. He was not wrong either, she supposed. It just so happened that all her muses were her past selves that she killed off when it suited her. Planning how to fake her own death turned out to be a great hobby.

Tyffial was not any of those people anymore. She had been reborn many times, changing her name and voice and hair as it suited her. Currently, she had dark brown hair, seemingly black in most light, hazel eyes, and lightly tanned skin. (She had a darker complexion and lighter hair years ago, but spending so much time in the dreary north had faded her skin and her sun bleached locks had grown out.) Her more recent training as a blood hunter made it easy to change her skin and face on demand, which was lovely. But those experiences were useful all the same, and Lucien was not the type to pry into anyone’s past.

The short-lived races were so charmingly self-centered. Their pride was based in ambition and improvement. It was far more endearing than the elves, who thought their age alone was a sufficient basis for respect. The young were better: they dreamt, they changed, they challenged.

Tyffial hoped to maintain her youth forever. And as far as anyone else knew, she had.

Well… There were some exceptions, and she could not be rid of them. Yet.

Unfortunately, there were certain steps Tyffial needed to take to ensure that she disappeared when needed. It was a constant project to erase her tracks wherever she went because of the Cobalt Soul’s ridiculous need to catalog everything. Offhand references to an old name were not catastrophic, but the more records she could eliminate, the better. Illustrations and descriptions were the most troublesome. Names were far easier to shed.

So, when she arrived in Zadash to hear Cree’s story of how she summoned Lucien’s ghost (which Tyffial fully intended to dig into further, though it could wait for now) and needed to track down a mercenary band that had stolen his body, Tyffial was struck with inspiration. One of the mercenaries was a Cobalt Soul monk.

How delightful.

Tyffial’s errand would not take too long, and Cree needed some time to negotiate a prolonged absence with her employer anyway. The naive dear had intended to simply bolt once the Tombtakers had gathered, but Tyffial and Zoran insisted to the tabaxi that it was better to leave on good terms when the Myriad was involved. Thankfully, Cree had not taken much convincing when both Tyffial and the knucklehead actually agreed on something.

Once Tyffial listened to Cree and Otis describe what they knew of the mercenary band, she quickly stopped by the bathhouse to clean up, then prepared for a visit to the nearby Valley Archive of the Cobalt Soul. In a little less than an hour, Tyffial had woven the proper braids into her long hair, dressed in appropriate noble’s silks and ridiculous skirts, adorned some of her jewelry, downed one of her mutagens to modify her voice and skin—taking special care to disguise the numerous scars on her hands and face, stretch marks along each limb, and spider veins scattered about—and made her way to the Archive by a rickshaw to establish a respectable presence.

The monks at the entrance were hesitant to call on anyone for Tyffial, which was annoying, but eventually they sent word for the correct Archivist. Terrible security though. They were so lax that they had not bothered to search her skirts nor sleeves for her blades, poisons, or mutagens. So much pooled knowledge and so little common sense. Zoran could probably sneak a weapon into this place, even that ridiculous mace he commissioned.

After several minutes, a delicate looking male elf with curly blond hair walked into the foyer, stopped dead, and gaped at Tyffial. Tyffial was tall for an elf, even more so in heels, so she looked down on him from afar. She could not help but smile coyly, though she maintained the rest of her presentation.

“Good afternoon, Adon,” Tyffial crooned in a saccharine alto, putting on her best charms. “It has been quite a while since I had a chance to visit. I hope you are well. Is there somewhere we could speak privately? I would love to catch up.”

Archivist Adon Zeenoth gawked at her for several more seconds before he nodded and eked, “Y-yes, ah, this way.”

He turned and led her through the hall, ignoring the monks. Tyffial smiled demurely and followed, stepping delicately as a noblewoman should. Of course, the short steps helped to avoid noise and movement from her supplies.

After a brief walk in silence, save for the clicking of Tyffial’s heels, Adon led her to a small office on an upper floor, holding the door open for her and then swiftly closing and locking it behind them. (Judging by the path, second window from the left on the east side, third floor.) A map of Wildemount covered most of one wall, with several shelves filled with books and scrolls on each of the others, a few small windows letting in daylight from the south. The desk was more of a table, numerous tidy piles of tomes and papers covering a majority of it with a small writing space left open near a chair. It smelled of dust, ink, and decaying paper.

Quaint.

Adon nervously moved past Tyffial to his desk, though he stood at it rather than taking a seat. He pulled a journal from one of the piles and began opening a bottle of ink. Tyffial pulled out a pouch of coin and left it on the desk as she leisurely walked to the map wall. It was only right to pay for services rendered, after all.

“Ah, ahem, I suppose you came with a request in mind, ma’a—I mean, miss?” Adon asked anxiously.

“Oui, I require some information,” Tyffial answered calmly as she perused the map on the wall, amused by the monstrous depictions near Xhorhas. “I need copies of all the records you have on the ‘Mighty Nein,’ spelled N-E-I-N, Zemnian for ‘no,’” Tyffial turned to look at Adon when she heard a slight hitch in his breath and his scribbling pause at her mention of the Nein, “and each of its members, as well as a list of any organizations they are members of. I take it you know of them?”

“N-no…” Adon stuttered unconvincingly, not looking at her, then he sighed, “Yes, ah, but… yes, I know them. I can get you the information.”

“Good,” Tyffial smiled sweet as honey, turning to face him squarely while she stared him down. Judging by his cowering, there was something else, so she waited. He squirmed under her eyes—only allowing himself darting glances—and did not move, probably paralyzed by fear.

The poor dear needed motivation.

As Tyffial began walking toward him, Adon stumbled, still avoiding eye contact, “Ah, um, Miss Le—oh, m-my apologies, Miss Wase, ah— it’s just… well, th—”

Tyffial hooked her pinky into the loop of her karambit and slid it out of her sleeve, the small, curved blade spinning into place in her palm as she gripped Adon by his jaw. The weapon settled lightly against his skin just under his left eye without cutting as she forced him to look up and meet her gaze. The poison shimmering on the blade seemed to sting on contact, judging by his flinch and whimpering (too much acid; less black pudding extract in the next batch).

“We have an arrangement, young man,” Tyffial all but sang in her previous life’s silky soprano, with a sharp smile. “I expect you to abide it. Respecte tes ainés.” She released him gently, spun the weapon back into the sheath hidden in her sleeve, and returned effortlessly to a prim demeanor.

“Y-yes, of course,” Adon replied timidly as he returned to his notes, furiously jotting things down and rifling through his journals.

Tyffial watched him closely, memorizing which books he referenced, which drawers he opened, which documents he consulted. She had every intention of double-checking everything herself that evening. One did not live as long as she had by trusting those who were easily bought and intimidated.

It was too bad that Lucien was not here to observe. He might have learned a thing or two.