#not on the level fabian needs

[biblicalhorror]

Aroace Riz real but also Fabian is SO clearly in love with him and Riz has no idea

[vexillologyisenjoyable]

Brennan’s trying to get them to have levels of exhaustion. He makes Adaine need a job then gives her an 8 hour graveyard shift. He know gorgug wants to multi class so he makes him have a 400% course load. He’s trying to get Fabian to not have access to food and water by making him unable to find food and water in his house(I’m not sure starvation is how levels of exhaustion work, but just go along with it). Fig ends up taking three classes. I don’t think riz can suffer from exhaustion because his blood is mostly coffee at this point. so yeah that’s just a theory, a dimension 20 theory.

[aflamboyanceofflamingos]

Ranking FHJY crash outs (I love all of them):

1. ‘Do you have a fucking warent?’ You knew this was going to be first

2. “Because I want to see you fucking dead- I want to see you die fucking slowly! I’m Figeroth Faeth and you wasted my fucking season! You were a: Waste. Of. Time. […] You Suck! You don’t deserve a ninth-level spell- Your music sucks now, it sucked then. There is no genre in which you can take refuge. Your natural shittiness will leak into every chord you play for the rest of your life- Which is going to be fucking short.”

3. All the other Gorgug crash outs during the Frostyfaire Folk Festival- Ruben saying he doesn’t go to the bathroom, dildo lawnmower, everyone needs to leave now- and as an addition Zac’s “There was a carbon monoxide leak in the dome”

4. Brennan vs British Kristen

5. “So tactical, so late” *sounds of Murph dying*

6. “Who’s the bitch on her lap, Ragh?”

7. The absolute rage in Riz/Murph’s voice about EXP Grinding

8. Fabian burning his baby clothes

9. Every other Gorgug crash out- Cloaca, Him v Telemaine (mostly because of how funny it was in Sophomore Year), etc. The entire season is him crashing out and Zac is so good at delivering lines where you can feel his eye is twitching

10. Adaine’s commitment in refusing to say Clamface Cunthead’s name

11. Honestly, Kipperlily going “I want you to go fuck yourself” was iconic

[who-is-there]

And what if I said I wanted a FH au where Gorgug is a barbarian/artificer teacher at Aguefort academy, specialising in helping multiclass students, who has a workshop and builds commissions as a side business (he has a high level of barbarian clients, who usually break or ruin regular artificer machines).

What if I wanted a FH au where Fabian becomes a bard/fighting teacher, using his mother’s sword lessons to teach students, taking over both dance club and bloodrush coach (who on weekends does dance classes and dances in local and national shows).

What if I wanted a FH au where Kristin recognises herself in the confused cleric students who are suddenly learning more about religion than their families taught them, and decides that she can assuade their doubt (they are encouraged to ask questions always, and she assures them that they don’t need to be certain to deserve kindness).

What if I wanted a FH au where the Aguefort academy has a sort of careers day, for those not looking for an adventuring career, and the students get to watch as their cleric, barbaficer and bard fighting teacher walk in with the most successful PI of Solus, the Elven Oracle and famous singer and Devil of Rebellion, acting like they’ve known each other forever.

What if the students look, and find an old photo in Agueforts office, of the six of them, fire and rubble in the background, hugging and laughing, with a post it note on the back of -the bad kids, do not seperate-.

[applebees4prez]

“it’s not fair” seems to be a theme of the season especially in how the people around the bad kids don’t seem to realize that it’s not fair for them either.

cassandra doesn’t realize it’s not fair to kristen that she’s a teenager with a life and other responsibilities who is the sole being keeping a god alive.

the rat grinders don’t realize that it’s not fair that they get to xp level with critters while the bad kids have to save the world. they don’t take into account how each of them have died before and/or watched their best friends die while coming extremely close to death. the bad kids have experienced so much pain and exhaustion and they don’t even get the special treatment that the rat grinders have accused them of.

porter straight up ignores how gorgug is going to struggle with a 400% courseload because he took a hit to his pride. he sees a student so passionate that he’s willing to do four years of school in one and doesn’t think to cut him a little bit of slack.

it’s not fair that adaine grew up with shitty parents and now has to work eight hours a day to pay for her equipment in exchange for getting rid of them. it’s not fair that kristen has to dedicate everything to a god at 16 years old when she has so much else she needs and wants to do. it’s not fair that gorgug has taken on a 400% courseload because of porter’s pride. it’s not fair that fig is cursed to be unlucky and has something going on that she doesn’t understand at all. it’s not fair that he has to work so much harder to get into college and has to manage his entire party because they aren’t as passionate about school as he is. it’s not fair that fabian was abandoned by his mother and is so, so goddamn lonely or that he had to kill his father.

and while everyone else is whining about how unfair everything is (except for cassandra who is valid in her concerns), the bad kids have taken everything in stride. they don’t complain to anyone even though they absolutely have the right to, not even each other.

adaine refused to tell her dad about the things she needed, despite the fact that he would have helped, and got a job. kristen takes the blame for hurting cassandra and keeps dropping the ball because she can’t handle everything and feels so guilty. gorgug took the courseload because he’s so passionate about the things he wants to do and is trying his goddamn best to keep up with it. fig hasn’t talked to anyone about her confusing situation until it caused major problems because she was going to suffer it in silence. riz plasters on a smile and takes everything that he can get in hopes of it impressing schools. fabian hints to his friends that he wants people at his house but never confides in them or questions his parents even though they both had so many issues.

it’s especially not fair that none of them feel like they’re allowed to say it’s not fair. that they take everything in stride until they will someday break down.

[serra-says]

Fabian in Leviathan being ill with two levels of exhaustion and being grilled by his friends. his not wanting to fight Whitclaw the night after nearly being murdered by the illithid captain, being doused in the ocean and contracting pneumonia is met with Riz's comment of "This is real Gilear energy."

Fabian being cornered to talk about his experience and talking about his insecurities, "—Honestly I probably have one follower who's running around, he's not even mine, he's my father's, just like everything else I have," and "He's just going to murder all of you, and I'm going to feel awful—" and Kristen interrupting by slapping him.

Fabian being hurt and sick and upset, slapped by one of his closest friend for verbalising his despair while the rest of their group watches, and being told by Kristen "Fabian Aramais Seacaster, we need you, okay. We brought one Gilear, we made that mistake, we did not mean to bring two."

the first action after this being Fig, scrambling to cast Suggestion on Gilear to tell him to believe in himself because "a lot of mean stuff is being said." Kristen saying she needs to direct that at Fabian.

just. imagining being so out of your mind scared, vulnerable, unwell, being cornered to talk and watching your friends debate casting a spell on you just so you stop having your feelings and can go back to being of use to them. being physically hurt for being mentally scrambled. knowing Adaine's panic attacks were treated with grace and understanding but being pushed beyond your capabilities when it's you being terrified.

airing your insecurities of being tied to your father's name and fearing that the only reason you are here, that you have friends, the thing that makes you worth anything is being your father's son. having Adaine say "That's the least likable thing about you." having Riz say "It's pretty insufferable sometimes." having Fig say "Yeah, it's kinda like get over it, you know." knowing it's the one thing that you announce yourself with, that matters to you more than anything in the world, regardless of whether it's good or bad.

having your friend's werewolf girlfriend, who is an acquaintance of yours at best, be the first and only one in this circle to offer up a kind word, suggesting it's bad to shout at a depressed person, and hearing it be dismissed instantly by your best friends saying you can't be depressed because that's a long-term thing, and that your life rules 95% of the time. that your friends justify their yelling at you because you've only had "one bad day." a "vaguely mediocre day," even.

hearing your friends blame you for going off on your own, and tell you that that's why you got hurt. it's your own fault for having rando's instead of your friends.

knowing that, should he ever be ill, or scared, or hurt again in the future, there will be no compassion, from either his party members or anyone else. knowing all that is in his future is being slapped, or having his experiences downplayed, or instead your least likeable characteristics being brought up. no one will extend a kind hand because they've determined on their own that your life is too good for you to be sad about it.

no wonder Fabian doesn't ask them for help, in senior year. no wonder he lives in his mansion, alone, never reaching out or asking them to take his fear of rats seriously. not asking them for help with Chungledown Bim (which is a whole new can of worms what with the new show coming up). Kristen, Adaine and Fig have Jawbone and Sandra Lynn and Lydia and even Gilear occasionally available. Gorgug has his parents. Riz has Sklonda, who despite being busy still makes time to spend time with him. Fabian has absentee parents, a faraway maid and dismissive friends. he has an empty house filled with memorabilia from seafaring trips bearing his father's name. he has his father's name, too. that's all he has. it all comes back to this. it always will.

[housesunstone]

I'm just thinking about how things are going for Fabian this season. He comes home from a restless summer of saving the world again, only for his mother and his stepfather to leave him alone in a giant house. Fabian has never been alone; he doesn't know where anything is. He doesn't know what to do. He is, for the first time, truly alone. So he decides that he is going to be THE popular guy at school and throws the biggest party during the first week of school, complete with a shrimp jump, so his giant home doesn't feel as lonely. But that's not enough, on weeknights he's still alone. So, he makes a study space and invites all the grade levels just to not be alone. But that still isn't enough. He then has the owlbears, where he can be not only with his team but with one of his best friends, but then that best friend isn't into blood rush, and suddenly it dawns on him that he wouldn't have that time with his friend anymore. He's home alone, missing things, and wants and needs help, but he can't call Riz again it's been 4 times today alone. So instead, Fabian sits in his big house alone, missing his mom and dad, and he's scared that he's too reliant on his friends. He's the most popular kid in school, but that popularity means nothing when you have to sit alone every day because no one else is there to fill the all-too-quiet home that feels less and less like home every day. No one wants to stay ones the party ends and once the dust settles its just Fabian alone again.

[qu-incy]

🗣MAXIMUM🗣LEGEND🗣

big fan of fabian seacaster (level 6 battlemaster fighter) (level 6 college of swords bard) (killed the vice principal), who is canonically the most popular kid in school and has shit himself in bard class,

(aside) i sure hope i dont wake up tomorrow and find a mistake i made and need to reupload 🙏💗 would be soooo funny if that happened teehee

[kyoodledoodle]

GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS

WAH BA BA BAAAAAAAA

ITS KYOODLE HEADCANNONS TIMEEE!!! FANTASY HIGH EDITION!!!

general

Height order from tallest to shortest: Gorgug, Fabian, Adaine, Kristen, Fig, Riz

the van has seatbelts, but they go unused by everyone except Adaine, Gorgug, and Gilear

the bad kids all have matching I <3 vice principal Gilear hats. Fabian never wears it. Riz, Kristen, Adaine, and Gorgug ironically wear it. Fig unironically wears it all the time.

Fig

short queen (5’3)

Always has a certain intimidating aura of chaos

so does Riz

she has hypoglycemia, and since she and the bad kids are running around so much, she forgets to eat a lot and gets hypoglycemic; but it’s enough that everyone else just recognizes it and someone always has a pack of ritz crackers or a juice box or something for her

Has a little tiefling tail, and she has piercings and rings on it that are very jingly when she swishes it around as she walks

Bc she grew into her horns at a later age, I think up till then she looked completely elven, but when the horns came in the red skin also started forming a bit like vitiligo; its spotted around her eyes and across her nose, down her back and shoulders, and down her legs a bit

relating to the above, her right eye is fully red, but her left one has partial heterochromia w/ red and brown

kinda just, bites people sometimes

learned music from both Sandra Lynn and Gilear

often mimics Aydas little bird noises

built like me fr (squished)

cat stretches

Riz

Riz climbs on people all the time, so more often than not he can be spotted just on people’s shoulders

he’s far-sighted but I very begrudgingly wears his glasses bc they make his big yellow goblin eyes look absolutely massive

he’s bits his nails and lips and whatnot, so he started carrying around a ton of fidgets, but now everyone (especially Adaine and Gorgug) borrow them when they want (Fig doesn’t borrow she just takes)

He gets a little mustache like Pok’s that grows in eventually

incredibly tense. Just all the time.

also kinda just bites people sometimes

Kristen

Kristen always wears sunglasses; everyone thinks she does it to look cool but she just has sensitive eyes

after freshman year she cropped and cut off the sleeves of nearly all her tie dye shirts

hair has light streaks in it from her chosen-by-Helio stuff

gives the best hugs in the group

Fully convinced she’s the best cook in the group (she isn’t, it’s Gorgug and it shows)

Despite her magic healing skills, she has a strange amount of knowledge on the human body, but not necessarily about healing stuff. I think she picked up a ton from summer camps where she often found herself with younger kids showing them how to splint broken fingers and help poison ivy and how wounds heal when she had to bandage a cut knee

One of the bad kids: oww I hit my funny bone Kristen: oh you hit your ulnar nerve Bad kid: my what

i think she goes so far as to take like, college level anatomy quizzes just for fun, and if she’s stuck she has someone model for her so she can poke around them to jog her memory

After dying to the great unicorn, sometimes her heart just kinda- stops?? And she just freezes until someone clocks her in the chest. One time Gorgug hit her with the flat of his axe to restart it and sent her absolutely flying out the back of the van

Fabian

Sophomore year, after he got more in touch with his elven roots, he got his ears pierced and wears a lot of traditionally elven earrings and other jewelry

crochets and knits

on the above note, if any other of the bad kids clothes end up in his hands, they are more often than not returned back to them with any damage mended with expensive silk thread

has come up with silly nicknames (like the ball) for everyone in the group but just doesn’t ever use them

Is so unbelievably tense whenever he’s not in battle

he helps Kristen try and stretch her muscles more before battle n whatnot but she always deflects and is like “no dude you need to stretch” while he’s just standing there upright stiff as a board

in battle he’s fine tho

since he knows glass blowing, I think he works with other forms of glass to, and he makes gorgeous intricate stained glass pieces and ornaments with 3d scenes of things that happen on their adventures

on the above note, one of his biggest projects is a stained glass piece on his wall of him fighting alongside his father

Adaine

Sophomore year she realized she hadn’t gotten a haircut in a while, so Kristen volunteered to give her one, but Kristen instantly screwed up, so she settled for a shaggy, wolf cut sort of thing (and ended up keeping it bc the liked it)

when she gets visions she just straight up blacks out, and depending on how long they last, she kinda just passes out for a sec; everyone was super worried when she first started getting visions, but now if she just blacks out and collapses someone always catches her on instinct (except Riz bc he’s a little guy)

balance is shit

As she does more oracle stuff, some light streaks become more prominent in her hair

not a morning person; wake her up before 7 and she’ll walk into the wall she’s so groggy. Occasionally she’s tripped down the tower stairs when she wakes up early for school more than once Jawbone has had to just- drag her off the floor to get breakfast

after sophomore year, she realizes that she’s like, a solid 4-5 inches taller than Aelwyn and never lets her live it down

Gorgug

Fig convinced him to dye his white streaks blue for a period of time

headphones are so insanely beat up and everyone tries to get him new ones but he refuses; same with like, most of his clothes too

he needs braces for his tusks but he didn’t mention it to anyone bc he felt home his tusks already drew enough attention to him

Also sings for Fig And The Cig Figs

when he and Fig are practicing singing together everyone just crowds behind the door to listen bc they sound so good doing duets

in ep one he mentioned drawing so i think over the course of the years his drawings progressed from little sketches to full blueprint style stuff that took after his parents style of designing stuff

he and Fabian make trinkets together; he metal works and Fabian works with glass and they make really intricate ornaments and keepsake stuff for people

Other characters

Aelwyn didn’t quite fully recover from calethriel tower, and she has chronic fatigue and uses a cane sometimes (upon Adaines insistence)

When Adaine was born Aelwyn was super clingy and wanted to hold her and play with her at every given moment

before the school pressure started from their parents, Aelwyn was a rough playtime kid- like I think when she was like 5 and Adaine was like 3 she used to just pick her up and fully body slam her

I fully believe that in another universe Aelwyn could’ve been a martial fighter (def not saying this bc I love the dynamic of siblings where one uses magic and the other uses fists)

Ragh sooooo needs glasses but he just thinks not being able to read teachers writing on boards is completely normal

the bad kids got Ragh an actual pet lobster for his birthday and he immediately fell in love with it and named it Monster (Monster the Lobster)

Tracker sometimes instinctively does big ole puppy eyes at Kristen for attention but she gets embarrassed when she points it out. Jawbone also does this with Sandra Lynn but he fully knows and doesn’t care.

when Fig was a kid Gilear was definitely the overprotective parent while Sandra Lynn just let everything happen

Ayda’s hair can be styled, it just takes some special tools and/ or stylists that won’t be engulfed in flames

[saphic-with-t]

For senior year I think the bad kids would be insanely over powered (high level dnd is nutty) so here are some fun ideas to spice up encounters in a zany sit-com sort of way. This is a long post btw.

1. Physical regression fight

The bad kids are reverted to their freshman bodies and have to fight as their original level one forms.

I’d imagine it as a Last Standard Exam style onslaught. They start as their level one characters and after each semi-quick wave they regrow a little bit, regaining a few levels, until they finally re-reach their present body. Also funny if they have to go through their bodies most awkward puberty stages again.

2. Freaky Friday

The bad kids all swap bodies. All of the players swap character sheets and have to play their character but using the stats/classes entirely of another character. Extra fun if they can’t meta-game by reminding each other of certain abilities or actions they can do irl, as to hammer in how inproficient they are at being one another.

3. Dance Fight

Similar to the Broadway fight from unsleeping city. All the bad kids have to fight in the middle of some major performance/dance act. Maybe it happens during some sort of audition or performance Fabian is doing.

They all have to navigate doing very high level performance and acrobatic checks which means balance actions and recourses have to be spent on both making sure everyone is good at performing and also on fighting well.

4. Doppelgängers

The bad kids fight themselves. Exact same levels, exact same stats.

Extra points if they don’t know which ones are the real ones, so half of the players are fighting with npc versions of the other half and vice versa. This means they have to also figure out which ones are the fakes mid-fight and some of them were actually playing as their own doppelgänger, semi-similar to the Baron fight in junior year. This also means Brennan would be playing as some doppelgängers but also as some of the actual real characters since those players are unknowingly the doppelgängers.

5. Shipping wars

Some ultra-powerful weirdo god-monster is running a spicy dating game and has kidnapped the bad kids. It is super over the top and annoying and is trying to convince/make the bad kids date eachother and fight eachother as couples. The fight is about tricking the freaky god-monster into thinking they actually have fallen for their assigned partner while pretending to fight the other pairs, with the eventual goal of killing it.

Can’t think of any pairing combo that this wouldn’t be funny with. Adaine and Riz would be bad at acting no matter what, Fig and Fabian would be way to convincing, and Gorgug and Kristen would be super awkward with their partner and also not fully know if Fig and Fabian were actually being serious about their respective partner.

6. Babysitter

Fabian has to spend the entire fight protecting/dealing with new baby sibling. Can hand them off to friends if need be. This includes dealing with a child who has 1 hit point in a high level battle, but also doing stuff like making sure they stay asleep (somehow) or changing a dirty diaper.

7. Freaky Friday 2: Parental Controls

All swapped to their parent’s bodies. Adaine becomes Jawbone, Fig becomes Sandra Lynn, Gorgug becomes one of the thistlesprings, Riz becomes Sklonda, Kristen becomes Lydia Barkrock (her secret mother figure), and Fabian becomes Hallaarial (or funnier option, Gilear).

This is funny to me because whatever spell or curse did this considers adoptive/non-genetic parental figures over biological/legal Gaurdians. Also this is extra funny if they have to team up with their parent who has swapped with them. So Adaine has to deal with Jawbone being in her body, Fig with Sandra Lyn being in hers, Gorgug with one of the thistlesprings, etc.

Also funny if other npcs show up (Ayda became Arthur Aguefort, Bucky Applebees as either Mac or Donna, etc).

Would love to see all of these honestly, would love to hear other dumb silly fighting bits y’all would want to see.

[thistlerock]

Gods I love Fabian's battle sheet so much the idea of it is just so. Good??

Like, first of all, the aesthetic. What is Fabian Aramais Seacaster if not the moment. The beautifully woven elven sheet with the ridiculous thread count sparkling in the light of the fire as he battle ballets* just goes hard.

(*well I think he combines all sorts of dance styles during battle but probably a lot of it is capoeira venturing into hip-hop venturing into. Like. Modern dancing? Classical high-elven dance is to me a folk thing that's very ballet adjacent and then Fabian puts his own spin on it and carves out his niche further as he levels up.)

Then obviously the battle sheet is significant story wise? Fabian's arc is so genuinely nice I love him connecting with his elven heritage through dance. I love that he learns to step out of his father's shadow and comes into his own by exploring a part of him that previously went ignored not even because he thought it to be bad or lesser but simply because he wasn't even aware of it. It wasn't his father's so what did it matter to him? His mother wasn't exactly an active participant in his life (or her own life, really) until shortly before that, of course he'd never even thought about what it means to hail from Fallinel. I love that what really does it for him is protecting his friends, scrambling to extinguish fires with increasing confidence in his grace and just. Yeah.

Idk if they ever go into detail about it mechanically, but to my understanding it technically acts as both Fabian's spellcasting focus for his bard spells and a shield, because you need a shield for the protection (imposing disadvantage on attacks on allies) fighting style and Lou describes Fabian whipping out his sheet when he does it. Idk if it actually grants him +2 armor class, maybe? His AC is 19 which is pretty high and I really don't know how he got there because I think they mechanically use regular armor stats and Fabian for sure doesn't have disadvantage on stealth but hey. (Studded leather + his dex(5) + 2 from a shield?? Better armor stats that max out at +2 from dex but without the stealth disadvantage because they don't stealth that much anyway??) Either way the battle sheet is cool as shit. I love you Fabian's battle sheet.

Also I like when people make it perpetually warm because of the fire elemental in fanfic, very fond of that :) especially when he uses it as a blanket for his friends or something. Or when it's like yeah wrapping Riz up in soft warm blanket, comfy, absolutely swaddled. Big fan.

[mulligans-tavern]

https://www.tumblr.com/doomed-to-wanda/747617028751474688?source=share

Inspiration above

TW death, grief

---

Five Funerals

They lose Fig first.

Comes with the territory when you're an archdevil - somebody's always looking to take your spot. "Don't worry about it," she says, opening a Planeshift to the recording studio. "It's just the usual rebellious fiends. Icythorz and Bolhondrus and the rest. I'll be back before you know it." She looks resplendent in black leather, the Unfaithable Bass slung across her back, riding the fiery Daymare surrounded in jagged red shards.

Adaine knows before everyone else, but can't believe the vision to be true until she learns that Ayda is gone, too. She scratched every memory of Fig out of her notes before starting over - it was too much pain to bear. The five of them know how it feels.

---5---

It's a few years before they take another hit. Another mission to the Mountains of Chaos, another world-ending calamity to be stopped because Who Else Is Going To Save The World? A small misstep, a miscalculation (six where there should be five, they're only five now) and suddenly the routine becomes deadly.

Riz takes the fall. "It's easier this way," he says, in his last moments. "I'll still see you." And he does. Agent Gukgak Jr., now, with some extra responsibility. But he still comes by. Sometimes. Every so often. Often enough.

---4---

Kristen is next. Only one thing could bring down the most gifted cleric of the age - sacrificing herself for her friends. Third time's the charm when it comes to death, it turns out.

Gorgug is the most hopeful that she'll come back, that she'll find a way again, like in the Nightmare Forest. But Adaine knows this is the end. Even Arthur Aguefort agrees. He quotes Alanis Morissette at her funeral. The followers of Cassandra pull out all the stops.

Adaine, Fabian, and Gorgug have their own ceremony at Ashgrove, next to the Gukgak family plot. It's quiet. Bucky cries into Ragh's shoulder. Aelwyn, Jawbone, and Gertie collect flowers. Tracker stays for a few minutes to say goodbye.

---3---

They quit adventuring after Kristen's funeral. And they don't lose anyone else for a long time. Riz still visits, every few years. They talk about the good old days, how silly it was that Baron was so terrifying when at the end of the day it was an honest conversation that finally did him in. There's rumours that Kristen has ascended to goddesshood herself - Adaine doesn't buy it. She's not the type to be revered.

They come out of retirement for the only reason they would - to bring back one of their own. They finally found Fig's soul, trapped in a ruby in the darkest levels of the Abyss. They can't ask anyone to come with them - it's too dangerous, it's too personal. It's missions like this that kill people.

And when it's all over, when Adaine carries Fabian's burnt, unconscious body back to Morded Manor, they have another funeral to plan.

Gorbag and Roz have already passed, and Wilma and Digby are too old to make preparations, so it falls to Jawbone to organize it. He knows they don't want a lot of fanfare. It's at Ashgrove again, just Adaine and Fabian and the Thistlesprings, and Aelwyn and Ragh. Sandra-Lynn is back in Solace - she sends Adaine a heartfelt text saying she appreciates the invitation, but she can't bring herself to come.

Riz doesn't show for the ceremony - he's desperately scouring the heavenly realms, trying to make sure Gorgug ended up somewhere he wasn't afraid of. Orcish heaven doesn't have him, he reports, and neither does Cassandra.

If he's trapped in the Abyss with Fig, at least they have each other.

---2---

Adaine sees Fabian's death the night of Gorgug's funeral. She needs to prepare, she tells herself. She knows it's going to be hard. She needs all the time she can get, and she needs to know which goodbye will be their last.

They grow old together. Not romantically, although some speculate. Fabian becomes a multiclass advisor at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy. Adaine works in Bastion City as an archivist, with occasional trips to Fallinel for Oracle services. They go for vacations sometimes, but never for too long. The memories find them no matter where they go. Sometimes Adaine wishes she could be Ayda, scrape off the old wounds and start fresh. Arthur talks about her sometimes. She's never had the same spark as that one lifetime, he says.

Adaine watches the wrinkles grow beside Fabian's eye, watches his hair turn grey, watches the Future of Dance become its Mentor. He trades his Battlesheet for a cane-sword, then a regular cane. He takes to wearing the Gregorian necktie to classes, no matter how much it clashes with his outfit. They both wonder how many of their own teachers lost party members.

Adaine holds Fabian's wrinkled hand on his deathbed, in his old room at Seacaster Manor. He grins, flashes the same perfect teeth as on the first day of Freshman Year. "Bet you didn't see this one coming, did you?"

"I did," she whispers, tears streaming down her young elven face. "I knew it would end like this. But I always hoped it would last forever."

They're the last words he hears.

It's not the first funeral Adaine organizes. All the Bad Kids held one for Buddy Dawn, back in high school. She and Fabian worked together on the services for Jawbone, Ragh, and Chungledown Bim - who finally caught up to Fabian in both of their old ages. It is the first funeral she has to organize alone.

Some of Fabian's students attend. Arthur Aguefort gives a short speech, and a few students hear the story of Kalvaxus' return for the first time. Adaine sits with Aelwyn in the front row, a few seats down from Hallariel. Gilear records the service to show Telemaine later. Riz is somewhere deep undercover - he maybe hasn't even heard yet.

She always knew she'd be the last. She didn't expect it to hurt so much.

---1---

Adaine stumbles through a few years before she finds herself again. They pass so fast without a mortal lifespan to hold up against them. She drifts between Fallinel and Bastion City for the most part, with occasional return trips to Elmville. Aelwyn always has a place for her to stay. Seacaster Manor was turned into a dormitory for Aguefort students who needed a place to study, or sleep, or stay away from home for a while. Tracker converted Morded Manor into a temple/bed-and-breakfast for worshipers of Galicaea. Strongtower Luxury Apartments was demolished soon after Fabian started teaching at Aguefort. It seems like everything is different now.

Adaine visits Leviathan once, on a whim. The Compass Points hasn't changed a bit. On a chance meeting in the stacks, Ayda looks at her with a spark of familiarity.

"Adaine Abernant?"

"Yes... you remember me?"

Ayda shakes her head. "There are mentions of you in my journals. I leave journals for when I regenerate-"

"I know. I remember."

Ayda looks intrigued. "I wrote that you were a great wizard, and a good friend. I hear from other sources that you are the Elven Oracle. Perhaps you can shed some light on why the pages around yours are torn to shreds or redacted to the point of unreadability?"

Adaine places a gentle hand on Ayda's shoulder. "I don't know if you'd want that. You lost someone you cared about, so much that you thought it was better to forget her than to bear the pain of losing her."

Ayda considers this. "Is it better to forget?" she asks. "Would you give up the memories of those you lost, in order to keep a logical mind?"

"No. Not for anything."

"Then we should talk."

Adaine smiles. "I'd like that."

---2---

*end

Thanks for reading all the way through! I wrote most of this at 2am and the conclusion the next morning. Please take a reblog to share with your friends or drop a like to let me know you enjoyed - or hated - the story!

Ask me anything about it, please, I love discussing these kinds of theories!!!

[bloodyshadow1]

it must be crazy to think of Adaine and Riz from the persepective of any who was a freshmen or Sophomores they started at Aguefort who was at Rock the Boat/Fabian's birthday bash. All the bad kids changed a bit, but Adaine and Riz probably the most, (except for Kristen who needs her own essay)

Think about it, Adaine was a scared elven maiden with a 2 feet in diameter orb, wearing a hudol uniform, shaking like a leaf. Riz was a goblin dressed like a newsboy, with a briefcase who handed out business cards and asked a lot of questions about some mystery he was trying to solve. As an Aguefort student you know that the bad kids are the top adventurers in the school, but it's another thing seeing it.

Even if it's all a music video illusion, seeing the scared Elven maiden you saw as a freshman run up to a blue dragon and punch its head off in one blow. The square nerdy briefcase kid, he's fire two cannons faster than you could fire one and just finished off a massive ancient blue dragon. And he's smoking.

None of their peers have really seen the Bad Kids in action, most who were freshman and sophomores in their freshman year probably weren't at prom. Most who were at prom didn't stick around to watch or graduated already. Even if it's all fake, it's still probably incredible to see from the perspective of other students who are probably level 8 at most.

[punchspeedchunk]

Got the Sketch pretty much done, no real BG because I got distracted drawing other shit once all the Gob Squad were in.

They are fighting a Category 2 Krasus here. Which is also a Lizrog. Because DnD re-uses art elements I guess. I took liberties on top of that also. Riz just ran clear across the arena to distract it by slashing it's belly with his sword so the others could ambush it. Shmim is leaning over to ask if he's good lol.

ANYWAY, specific context under cut because it's A LOT And if you need context for the context, you can find it all in THE BIG AU DOC

So, when Fabian’s and Riz’s kids are still young, someone brings up the fact that they’re all old enough to compete at the Adventuring Olympics if they want.

This is a thing that is held every 5 years in High Court, and you have to be both old enough (25 and older) and high enough level (16 or higher) to compete. Fig is the one to suggest it, since she realised the last time that there is an event that the Last Stand was based off, and they could absolutely kill it.

The Gob Squad hear about this and go ‘bet we could beat you lol’, and then Adaine points out this might be true, but Riz is in both their parties, and he would have to pick one to compete with, which wouldn’t be very fair.

Riz goes ‘why not both?’

There is a LOT of debate over this, until they check the rules and find out that while there’s nothing preventing him from signing up with two adventuring parties in that event, it’s not something anyone has ever done successfully - as in, anyone who’s done it has been unable to compete in their second match due to exhaustion/injuries acquired.

Riz goes ‘bet. I won’t even be using any of my Fae powers, im doing this pure rogue’

The Seven Maidens also get in on this because they think it’ll be fun and they will NOT be outdone by the Bad Kids and Gob Squad.

So the event is endurance based, with rounds of monsters that adventuring parties have to take on. They go into the arena with a limit on their weapons, items, steeds/vehicles, and rations. It’s both easier and harder than The Last Stand - they don’t have to answer questions or keep a proctor safe, but there is no limit to the rounds of monsters they can face. 

They just have to last as long as possible, and their round ends when no members of the party are able to fight any longer, or the nominated team captain calls that they’re done. The monsters they are facing are generally more dangerous than the ones they dealt with in the Last Stand as well.

The organisers, looking at Riz, then looking at his adventuring rap sheet, decide that the Gob Squad’s round will commence on the first of three days' competition, and the Bad Kids will go on the last day, so that there is as much time between his rounds as they can give him. They do not expect him to do any better than any other competitor that has attempted two rounds with different parties, but he has good stats, and he’s got a reputation they want to utilise if at all possible to get better engagement with the games (They are looking at suspending them indefinitely after this year due to a lack of engagement. Higher level adventuring teams had grown bored of the games, audiences were bored of watching the same parties compete, and fresh blood hadn’t decided to compete during years of turmoil with wars looming all over the place).

So, Gob squad come in with very little reputation ahead of them, everyone is expecting them to last maybe twenty minutes to a half hour, most teams do like an hour and a half roughly. There is some curiosity over the fact that they don’t seem to have much gear on any of them, except for the big guy sitting in what is essentially a mech-suit.

The mech suit is something Shmim developed over several years after that one concert where both Bad Kids and Gob Squad fought off the cultist invasion. He got the idea of having a mobile battle station that could concentrate his bardic magic when DJing so he could turn it into really hard hitting attacks (imagine, if you will, concentrated, amplified Dubstep attacks - Psyonic monsters get their eardrums and brains scrambled, they never stood a chance).

He burns one of his famous DJ identities and outs himself as the Artist known as Avalanche when he plays a full set for the entire duration of their fighting… which turns into HOURS. Not only is the Mech basically his Bardificer battle platform, it provides cover/shielding/pack support/a rest spot for the rest of the party as well.

The others are stashing their packs on this thing and grabbing items as they need them, leaving them free to run the field without dealing with their bags. There’s a little nest platform on the top back where they can sit and have a drink and a snack when tapping out, and while the mech is not fast, it is an absolute tank, so it takes hits pretty well, and even when it’s mobility is compromised, it’s an effective shield, and Shmim can still keep the tunes flowing and the bardics coming.

The other advantage to running a constant music set is that Shmim can use it for communicating strats and targets to the other Gob Squad members. Certain tunes will herald formations for different enemies, and sometimes just act as hype tracks for individuals (Every Gob Squad member gets a highlight when their song comes on and they get to wreck shop on their own).

Basically, everyone in the stands is losing their mind. Who the FUCK are these guys? They’re just a bunch of goblins, how are they wrecking so much shit? Why do they have a guy who can barely be seen unless he’s in a melee attack? How is that stoner guy doing so much damage with that longboard without breaking it? Did that one with the over-sized wizard hat just fucking re-animate the T-Rex they killed to fight for them? Is that safety goblin saying a prayer to a Dwarf God??? HOW has the tiny dance bard not been eaten by anything yet how is their Bard a famous DJ what the fuck is HAPPENING holy SHIT did the fucking business rogue just take out a Wyvern SOLO???? (Of course, any Goblins watching know who these guys are and expected no less. After the events of 'The Long Road Home', the Gob Squad are known as The Goblin King's High Guards, so OBVIOUSLY they're going to smash it).

It’s like, 4 hours and 45 minutes before they’re out of spells (They had been eating dragon livers to replenish spell slots, as well as just keeping their strength up. Who needs provisions when you can eat your enemies as you go?) and finally dropping from injuries and effects from enemy spells and stuff. Riz and Dex are the last ones on their feet, and they could keep holding stuff off until they fall completely (Shmim’s out for the count but has tunes still auto-playing from what’s left of the mech-deck), but they call it for the sake of having already smashed the Olympic record at the 3 and a half hour mark.

Needless to say, the Gob Squad become absolute fucking legends (outside of just Goblin culture that is). It’s a lot for the other competitors to live up to, and most don’t until the Seven Maidens take their turn right before the Bad Kids on the third day.

Riz rests the whole of the middle day in the Fae Wilds, not because he wants to use Fae magic to heal up and recuperate (He doesn’t, he thinks that’s cheating) but because he can use the time dilation of just being in the Fae Wilds to get extra rest.

So when Riz comes out on the field with the Bad Kids, he’s basically fine, only a single level of exhaustion to hobble him, and the Seven Maidens threw down the Gauntlet by beating the Gob Squad time by two whole minutes.

So obviously the Bad Kids have to beat that.

It takes Five hours and fifteen minutes before the Bad Kids call their match, and it’s only because they ran out of revivify materials and Kristen is at 1 hit point. None of them are actually down, they just have various status effects they can’t shed and figure they did good enough smashing the record to absolute pieces and making it hard for anyone else to match.

Plus Fabian and Riz want to go back to their babies, who were in the stands with Pok, Sklonda and Kari, getting more bored and squirmy the longer the match went on. 

The organisers are sweating bullets, they were pulling emergency monsters directly from other planes of existence just to keep this match going, they never anticipated something like this, if the Bad Kids hadn’t called it, they were looking at the prospect of just straight running out, and that would have been embarrassing as hell for the prestige of the Olympic Guild.

[serra-says]

also a little meta to think about but I can't get the entire scene of Fabian and the Bad Kids on Leviathan out of my head.

Fabian's down in the dumps. he narrowly escaped death by illithid pirate captain, then death by dumped-in-the-ocean-by-Kalina, and is ill with two levels of exhaustion, actually admits that he's scared and is hurt.

it's not a joke. Brennan gives him Ragh to talk to and to keep him company, gives him Cathilda to try and soothe him (even if that brings him up to two exhaustion levels instead of just the one he previously had) and shows him kindness.

then the Bad Kids show up, the Intrepid Heroes, and they tear into him, kick him while he's already down. they make jokes about Chungledown Bim while Fabian's obviously distressed and terrified. he tells them that Whitclaw killed numerous of his siblings and nearly killed him, and Adaine's first concern is whether Alistair is dead. no one else responds to that.

Fabian admits insecurity about his legacy and not being his own person, and Kristen slaps him. she tells him that the Bad Kids need him, and compares his behaviour to Gilear's, telling him it's a mistake to bring Gilear along and implying that bringing Fabian is a mistake too unless he manages to make himself useful to them again. Fig and Kristen joke about casting a spell on Fabian to stop him from feeling this way so he goes back to being useful.

Brennan steps in with Tracker ("You see Tracker looks at you and goes, "Jesus.""), and lets the others do a bit, before stepping in again with Tracker and having her try to defuse the situation. has her say that Fabian might be struggling and that they shouldn't yell at him.

Adaine immediately cuts in and says Fabian can't be depressed, it's just one vaguely mediocre day. Riz adds that Fabian's life "rules 95% of the time." Fabian says he watched 14 men die on his orders, and Kristen reiterates it's just one bad day.

Brennan has Tracker step in again, and say "We might be catching this at the beginning of this process." Adaine resumes to make a joke about calling Chungledown Bim. Gorgug says they're going to fix the situation with or without Fabian. Riz says Fabian got hurt because he went off without his friends, and instead with a "bunch of randos". The kids move on in the conversation.

Then Brennan steps in again, with Cathilda, who is besides Tracker the only one in this circle to offer a kind word. To attempt to help or support him. To make him feel better.

Five co-players. Five other people in the circle, watching their sixth friend play a distressed character and yes, he makes it funny, and yes there's silly names and Lou is an incredible storyteller, but I think there was definitely a mistake made in that the only person to see the situation for what it is and step in with support, is the DM.

Cathilda vows to protect Fabian, makes him feel better and helps him, and immediately Kristen tries to hold Cathilda's hand and says she's hot. It's back to being a joke.

This is a common trend in how Fabian's issues are treated throughout the series, but I think it's the first time we see it so blatantly and it's set the tone for the remainder of the season and especially for Junior Year.

Fabian's issues are jokes to laugh about. Lou makes it funny, and thus we joke around the fact that there's a teenager abandoned by his caregivers, unable to maintain his house, incredibly lonely and pressured and torn by expectations, and only ever laughed at. punished for showing vulnerability. hell, his friends even team up against him and cast spells on him in support of someone they just met simply because they decided he was rude.

I think the cast are great at what they do, and I like their characters, but I think this situation specifically in Leviathan was not handled gracefully, and the fact that Brennan as the DM felt the need to step in three times to provide what five other people at the table missed... that's something I keep coming back to, too. there's such a disregard for Fabian as anything but a bit, and I have many thoughts about it.

[the-greatest-magic-of-all]

Leaving a mini offering for when you awaken - Thanks for chatting with me while work has been boring me to death :3

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

Fae Wilds

Fabian flinched his hand away when Riz swatted at his fingers, the goblins hand connecting with his knuckles with a stinging crack since he wasn’t pulling his punches. Not anymore. The creature that had tried to hand Fabian a strange piece of fruit snarling at the goblin and earning a venomous hiss from the detective in response before it skuttled up the tree and out of sight into the canopy.

“Just because someone is handing you something doesn’t mean you have to take it.” Riz took a calming breath, rubbing at the bridge of his nose under his glasses before resettling them on his face properly. “In fact, put your hands in your pockets. Please.”

The goblin had needed to explain this to Fabian six times already but the Fae Wilds tended to make most people who weren’t native a little vague at the best of times. He wasn’t mad at his friend, not really, he was just kind of wishing he hadn’t let the half elf invite himself on this little mission in the name of ‘watching Riz’s back’ for him. Sure, adventuring with a partner was much more enjoyable than going solo like he usually did but gods was it stressful when he had to keep an eye on Fabian the entire time. If he’d known Fabians human heritage would cause this much of a handicap on his resistance to the confusing influence of this realm he wouldn’t have let him come at all.

This excursion wasn’t in relation to Fabians case anyway, the leads on that one having run dry a while ago, but Riz still had bills to pay and the half elf was fine with him taking other clients in the meantime. They were in the Fae Wilds searching for information, the detectives current client swearing that his daughter had run off with a member of some fairy court and wanting to know where they’d gone. When Riz had gone through his daughters things he’d had to agree, some of the items and letters she’d left behind faintly humming with traces of magic from this realm when he’d checked them over.

So here they were, just the two of them, trying to find someone they could get information out of without trading away something irreplaceable. Riz had gotten a few leads from some of the less dangerous creatures in the area and had been verifying some of it with another when he heard Fabian speaking with someone behind him. The goblin having to whirl around quickly to smack Fabian on the leg to stop him from saying his name to a beautiful, naked woman that looked like they were carved out of a still living tree. Riz narrowing his eyes and baring his teeth when they ran a flirty finger under Fabian’s chin before giggling and wandering away into the forest around them.

“Oh, sorry The Ball. You were trying to get my attention?” Fabian had stared wistfully after the retreating figure until they were impossible to spot among the foliage, the half elf making a choked noise when Riz reached up to grab him by the collar of his jacket and yank him down to the goblins eye level.

“Stop. Saying. Your. Name. and REALLY stop saying your FULL name. Even if they don’t want to steal it they can do some pretty horrible stuff to you if you’re not careful.”

“Ah. Right. Sorry. Force of habit.” Fabian grinned, happy to let the goblin manhandle him around if he wanted to even though it would be very easy to resist. It meant he got to look at his face up close, even if his brows were knitted together in a frown and his ears were pinned back in a way he knew meant he was upset or worried.

“Fuck, okay. I know you’re having issues remembering all this because of-“ Riz let go of his collar with one hand to gesture vaguely around the pair of them, indicating the fae wild at large. “-but it’s going to cause problems if you keep doing that. So. Give me your name.”

“Hmm? Okay, It’s…” The half elf frowned, his own ears drooping slightly while his eye darted, unfocused, from side to side as he tried to think. “I don’t… why can’t I remember?”

“Oh, good. Excellent. I still remember it so that worked.” Riz let go of his collar, pressing their foreheads together in a brief nuzzle before stepping way from him. “You gave me your name. I’ll give it back once we go home but at least I can keep it safe for you until we do. For now you’ll just have to go by… I dunno. Maximum Legend until we leave.”

Now that a creature of this realm had control of the half-elfs name hopefully it would have the duel effect of helping to clear his mind somewhat. Maximum Legend, for his part, was doing an excellent impression of a stunned fish. Mouth hanging open slightly as he stayed crouched in the position Riz had left him in.

“That’s…. what the fuck The Ball? How in the Nine Hells did you even do that?”

“I am a creature of many talents.”

The half-elf scoffed in response but didn’t argue, standing back up to his full height and following along behind Riz as he started walking again.

It's always a delight to chat with you, and it's one of my favourite things to do! Thank you for this gift. Here's a little something in return, pulled from some of our recent chats.

Maximum Legend—ugh, he couldn’t believe Riz was throwing that one drunken night on Leviathan in his face—kept a hand on the hilt of his blade as he stood back to back with Riz as several masked goblins surrounded them. They’d been on their way through a forest of trees as tall as skyscrapers with thick and colourful underbrush. Following their only lead regarding the location of Riz’s client’s daughter, Sarah. Up until they’d been ambushed, of course.

He’d been ready for a fight, but he felt Riz hesitate at the same time he did, thanks to giving their attackers a second look over. Rusty pitchforks, worn sickles, and recently repaired spears. Masks made up of ripped fabric and threadbare work clothes covered with patchwork leather armour. If they were bandits, they had only just started out, but something told them that these people weren’t even that.

Riz glanced at Maximum Legend to make sure they were on the same page before he called out to one of the goblins in Gukliak. Maximum could only follow parts of the back and forth that occurred. He could surmise that Riz had asked the troupe if they’d seen a Halfling girl running around with a member of one of the nearby Courts.

For a moment, the goblins looked shifty about it, but Riz… insisted that her father only wanted to know that she was safe and bring her home if she wasn’t. A bit of conferring between the troupe and another quick exchange with Riz before they lowered their weapons. Giving them both a nod to follow.

The troupe of goblins kept them close as they led them through the forest toward a small village by a winding creek. Small farms on the outskirts of it with farmers tending to strange beasts and even stranger crops. Little houses and shops were built into the massive ivied tree trunks or carved out of giant moss-covered boulders. A village square with a tall pole wrapped in colourful ribbons and flowers that goblin villagers pass by and congregate at to stare at him and Riz as they’re led deeper into the settlement.

Eventually they are led to a hollowed out giant tree stump where the missing daughter, Sarah, a young ravenhaired Halfling woman, sat in a garden of tall grass and wildflowers, playing a guitar for a hoard of young goblins. It was a sweet sight to watch for a moment or two. But sooner than later, one of the kits noticed their and their guides’ presences and a whirlwind of chaos erupted.

Sarah stopped strumming, sitting up alarmed as some of the kits raced towards a couple of the goblins who guided them here—their parents, obviously. While others, the ones on the older side stayed and began to swarm Sarah as if they could hide her with their bodies. And that is nothing to say of a matronly Goblin woman bursting out of the stump and rushing to put herself in front of Sarah and the kits as she hissed at the guides and the outsiders.

Maximum watched as Riz lowered his ears in submission to her obvious authority in this place as he began to speak to her slowly in Gukliak. At first, she wasn’t having it; not even some nudging from their guides was enough for her to let them come any closer. But luckily, Sarah was far more willing to humour them.

Slithering out of the pile of kits, she threw her guitar over her shoulder as she walked over to the Goblin matron to put a hand on her shoulder. Telling her that they most likely weren’t here on the Goblin King’s orders. She recognized their clothing; they were from her home plane. Here to rescue her. Sarah smiles at them and tells them that Drezza is just worried about her because she sees her stolen daughter in her, that’s all. She’s happy to talk to them and explain what happened to her.

You see, Sarah Timbersage had been having a really tough time at college, at her dead-end job and at home and… she’d met a guy. Handsome, almost too good-looking for words. Elven, she’d guessed at first, but he’d been light on the details. They’d exchanged letters, back and forth; old fashioned, but she’d liked it. He’d said that she could come live with him, that he’d take care of her, and she’d want for nothing…

As the fifth daughter of eight children, it was an enticing offer. Believable, too, he’d given her a beautiful necklace as if it were nothing. She hadn’t even realized she’d been enthralled until she was deep in the Feywild, within the Castle of the Goblin King. Who, she’d quickly realized, was only going to add her to a collection of “brides” he kept as a testament to his power. Including Drezza’s daughter, Pollina, though Sarah hadn't known that then. Only by pure luck did she manage to escape the fortress and disappear into the forest surrounding it.

Sarah doesn’t know how long she wandered, but one morning, after spending the night hidden in a rotted log, she was found by some of Drezza’s children. The sweet things had realized that she was not only hungry and thirsty, but also the mortal woman the Goblin King had sent scouts to find.

Now, you have to understand. Within the Goblin Court, you’d be hard-pressed to find a soul that actually revered or even liked their King. Hell, they hadn’t particularly liked their last dozen Kings! Might makes Right in the Court of Goblins, so one of the most popular ways for anyone to gain power is to kill a more powerful being than themselves and assume their title.

The worst thing is? It's an arcane issue. It doesn't matter if the courtiers and subjects of the Court despise whoever holds the title of Goblin King, no matter how this so-called King drags their Court’s reputation through the mud unless one of them can defeat him? There's nothing they can do to strip the Court-given powers from him. As much as they hated to admit it, the current Goblin King was very powerful.

And if the smoke signal from the outermost of the village's farms was correct, he was on his way here.