#origins: the shadow fiend

[lcgerdemain]

Origins: The Shadow Fiend

"Are you sure this is a good idea? Messing with Voodoo magic stuff really likely won't fix my issue, Nia..." Daniel murmurs sitting sickly within his college apartment, hugging a blanket around his shoulders as he was freezing and shivering. It'd come back after several years of being sick free. His throat felt dry no matter the amount of liquid he drank, his Lungs ached with every breath he took. Daniel should've just ignored his eccentric roommate. When he gets like this, it's only a uphill battle to stay alive, a lethal attempt without high end medical aid in a hospital. He would watch his swahili friend mixing herbs in her mortar and pestle, eyeing it's increasingly goopy texture nervously. "Don't you worry Daniel, I called my father for help. You have somethin' real bad inside you. But once that friend of his gets here from New Orleans, we should be able to help you get through life freer." She reassures him. Though she didn't know much on this man, her father swore by him, trained under him as well. Nia fully understood as well that this may be his last chance of getting help from this sickness.

Daniel coughed, hacking and shaking as he did, feeling frail and wheezing as he felt his ribcage ache as well now from the coughing. his dulled blue eyes with pinkish film over them dragged themselves up to look to Nia. "I should really be going to a hospital instead of waiting for the inevitable..." sweat beaded on his forehead causing his pale white hair to stick to it. "He'll be here any minute, you'll see Danny, we can make you better than ever before." She would reply with her back still turned to him. He would look down at his phone beside him, it was vibrating and showing the name "Uncle Al" on the screen. Then it would end again to show four missed calls and a variety of texts from the same number and a few related numbers. If he waited too much longer they might come bust the door down to the apartment to check in on him. All the way from New York even. Another wrenching cough came to his lips and he covered his mouth again. His thoughts lingered towards the concept of death. The thing he'd been running from for so long. How he could name a few people who wouldn't mind seeing him just stop breathing. Give up. He'd come way too far... fought for every heartbeat and breath he could take each day to get to where he was... he wouldn't give up.

He refused to.

Nia would turn back to him with a wood bowl that she'd poured what he'd deemed to be something along the lines of what some women would use for "facials". "Drink up. It will clear your lungs and throat." She said bringing it forward. Daniel shivered. He could recall many a time when he'd been told to take something with a variety of colors between each substance. Yet, something so... vomit colored he would consider to be among the odder things he'd been made to consume. "If this kills me because you put something in it... I'll haunt you." He grumbles lowly before shakily taking it and knocking it back the best he could, trying to press his tongue down against his bottom jaw to prevent tasting too much of it. It tasted about as well as it looked. Bitter, sour, minty, slightly sweet, spicy, he almost felt like someone stuffed a handful of evergreen bristles into his mouth. His stomach liked it even less. It churned and bubbled, threatening to send it right back up on him. 'No, no keep it down...' Daniel thought willing himself to suppress the urge to heave. After several minutes, it did subside, and some of the ache and horrible tightness did ease some within him. "See? You should do better to listen to me. I know what I'm doing." She beamed at him, while Daniel return her remark with a bit of a glare. He hated her bubbly personality, She was so certain of herself, of the idea she could change the world, change his rather pessimistic views on it all, admirable sure.... but unrealistic. He'd been through too much to believe her now.

Augustin walked with a grin, his hat's brim just covering his gaze as he strode down the street heading towards the complex address his dear acolyte had give him. Such a giving little being to offer up someone else as tribute for more power. A giggle passed through his lips. If the little human was as dilapidated as explained, then it should be simple to take his soul... His acolyte didn't seem to mind the idea of the girl who asked for help being up for grabs either. He pondered this colder northern city. So full and bustling. Yet the soul to it was much different from the warmer southern cities he was used to. His cane clicked the concrete as he pressed forward with each step and each swing of that cane. He could already sense the sickness... third floor... second window over. His green slitted eyes looked up towards it in thought. Best to keep appearances for now and simply take the stairs. Coming to the entrance of the complex, he would reach up one black gloved hand and press the buzzer for apartment 3H. Over the comes his deep thick accented voice would reach Nia who answered from the other end. "Bonjou cheri, I've come to see the ti gason malad~" With a moment's pause, a ring would sound and the door would click unlocked. His grin grew just a little bit wider at the invitation.

Mr. Theriot took only an hour or two of what sounded like conversing with Nia in their native tongue for things to be "set up." Ruined a perfected good living room set up really is all that Daniel felt about it. This was starting to feel more and more like some kinda satanic cult type stuff and his lungs only felt worse in the time it took for them to finish. "This doesn't look safe." He'd comment, being brushed off by Nia for one with her shrug and bouncy hop following after the man as she had been like an absolute golden retriever the entire time. She was too trusting, perhaps too sheltered he felt. "Thank you so much for helping Monsieur Theriot. I admit, I wasn't too sure about this since I don't know my father very well. But you've been so cordial in this matter." Ah, and there it is. Daniel's scowl drew longer. From the first day he'd met her he knew there had to be something, she was entirely too trusting and bubbly and everything to have a really good home life. Sometimes people just are genuinely upbeat people. But other times... you just get this feeling that it isn't real. He hadn't felt it'd been genuine the entire time he'd known her. "Of course cher, now, lets get him on this table here 'n we can begin getting move bagay yo outta him." Mr Theriot replied. That was another thing he didn't like. Not a hello, not a single word in his direction, Nia had spoken his name several times... yet he made no acknowledgment of him as a person. Daniel would press his back further into the seat wincing in pain somewhat as he was still no better than before... He understood he was dying, constantly in fact. Doctors all over New York advising his parents that he wasn't worth the treatment all the time. To just... let go. But he kept fighting back because he wanted to live. Finish college, get a job, live a life he wanted to live. Death will take a back seat no matter how hard it tried to tear him down.

However even he had his limits on what he'd do to combat his sickness.

Augustin would come for him, move to take Daniel by the arm and lift him, only to find him stiff and glaring. "Is there something wrong?" He would ask lightly. "Now you decide it's worth talking to me?" The boy before him growled. Seems he's a little more stubborn than he appeared. "You didn't seem to want to speak, I wouldn't push things I didn't think would be worth the venture." He would reply simply, offering again to help him up, the response of Daniel yanking his arm back proving amusing for the moment to him. "Danny, what's wrong? He's only trying to help." Nia would intervene with a huff, that sweet demeanor of hers, that sweet ignorant demeanor. "You're investing too much trust in someone you don't know." He replied lowly, having about had it with the manners and cordial behavior and seemingly unprovoked helpfulness or at least minimally provoked help. He'd never met a man that was willing to just do something from the bottom of his heart.

While this was all going on, Augustin's patience was beginning to wear thin. The moon's light was almost in the perfect position to reflect onto the circle he'd drawn onto the floor of this disgusting living space of theirs. While thoroughly amused someone here seemed even a little bit tuned into the situation, more so than the level of attentiveness he normally gave most northerners, he couldn't remain amused for long. "Look child, I didn't come up here to simply back out now." He would tell him calmly, finally clasping a hand around his wrist once he caught the nimble thin thing and began to pull him up. But he felt like he was dragging up a very young alligator up from it's freshly made nest with how the boy thrashed in his grip, hissing and demanding his freedom. It didn't matter really the level of defiance this one had. He wanted this soul, these souls. and he was by far the simpler one he could obtain it from he figured. So frail, just the right sort of jostling and he was coughing all over again. It was all too easy too to convince this little lady that he was there to help, to invoke greater powers to help the boy.

It was at this point Nia began to question what was going on. Why was Mr. Theriot getting agitated about his hesitancy. Daniel all the time seemed to be the cause of fights or heated arguments, though after she managed to get him talking, who could blame him? He'd never had anyone talk to, even with the people that did genuinely care. Not to mention here at college he didn't have any of them to fall back on anyway. She'd resolved to be his friend, to help him no matter how angry or verbally rude he got. It was like a scared cornered cat in her school apartment. You just had to give him time. However, he'd never seen him react this violently to someone else like this. Verbal was one thing, but at this moment he was all but clawing at the other's hand on him, panic in his eyes as he was brought to their dinner table that'd been shoved to the center of the living area. She moved to come forward, to intervene, but fear stole over her as Mr. Theriot's eyes darted up to her, as if in warning for her to stay. Those were not the kind eyes she'd looked into before. "Wait, aren't we helping Daniel...?" She'd ask, still trying to steel herself enough to step towards them as the man now nearly through the frailer one onto the table. "Helping is but one word for it, cher." He would reply, snapping his hand back as he'd mistakenly allowed his grip to loosen for just a moment and within it, Daniel wrenching his hand up and biting down ferociously onto it.

In his moment of freedom Daniel attempted to roll off the table and scramble away. Nothing about this was ok. It infuriated him that only now was Nia actually speaking out, that realized something was off. For all her good will and bright personality how stupid could this girl be in "Helping him"? A cackle erupted from the other man as he swung with his other hand and gripped Daniel's shoulder, shoving him back down onto the table flat on his back. His lungs felt squeeze from the rush, a hard cough erupting from him again as he tried to shove the bigger man off, kicking and flailing under his weight. "Now now, there's no need to fight." Mr.Theriot would say as the visage of a reasonable man fell away, with pointed ears and equally pointed teeth. this sharp eyed man was no human to be sure. "Get off me! Get the fuck off!" Daniel wailed kicking again, noting the hand he bit being raised, drops of darker color blood dripping down onto the floor making the circle glow in equal measure to the moonlight that enveloped it. The shadows around the room seemingly growing darker, eyes upon them now as they closed in. Nia, fearful to being touched by one now stepped within the glowing circle. "Reye kalm ti trete mwen an... They hurt much more when you fight." Mr. Theriot replied, holding him firmly in his grasp as a blade was drawn from a pocket within his vest. A bejeweled dagger that eerily felt as dark as the shadows enclosing around them.

Daniel watched in horror as the dagger was raised above him, the man speaking some kind of gibberish that he couldn't understand but it made those shadows dance and begin intruding into the circle, it's light being encompassed by the dark. Giggles and hyena like laughter being heard now around them. "No, No I don't want to die! Stop!" He shrieked giving another hard kick trying to thrash out of his grip. Nia looked to them only now realizing how much she'd messed up in allowing this to happen. This was no ritual to help Daniel. This would kill him! Rushing forward she cried out grabbing onto the man's other arm as it came down, dragging it away from it's intended mark of Daniel's heart, but thrust it forward too far and sliced right through Daniel's neck. "No, no!" She gasped, watching Daniel's eyes go wide and mouth agape in a silent scream, neither able to process what had happened. "Tsk, tsk, if you had just let me do what was intended cher... this wouldn't have been so messy and painful." Mr. Theriot would say, watching now as the opening allowed the shadows to surge forward and inward, Nia scrambling back in horror to the sight. So much darkness digging into him, curling around him like some writhing hungry beast with it's caught prey. "W-What have we done? What have I done?" Nia murmured shaking. This has gone so horribly wrong. She asked for help, why would her father send someone here to hurt him? "It will be the same thing you will find yourself in as soon as I take the soul from the remains. Se jis bisnis li apre tout." He chuckled watching the sight unfold.... But as it went, he noticed something... something wrong about this. This he'd done so many times now, the spirits he calls would devour the shadow first, as they had done here, then the body to leave the soul. It was happening... he could see the glints of the soul peeking through as they went, but in a manner of speaking, they couldn't seem to unravel again from it.

Everything went black, from the moment he felt that slice across his throat the darkness rolling over his sight as he tried to process what occurred. It felt like something wriggled and squeezed around his numbing form, like a snake curled around him and eating at him bit by bit. Is this how it would happen? Is this really how he was going to go? After all the pain and misery and beatings and belittlement... After fighting and screaming and thrashing for every minute of life he could afford? Daniel felt cold, So very cold, and his consciousness lingered on that as he considered it. Letting go. Letting whatever was done to him drag him down finally so he could just sleep. Giggling little voices swirled around him, egging him on. For what? It was obvious he was dead. The voices echoed, "dead, yes dead very dead, hehehe~" His soul quivered within him... or what remained of him. This was terrifying. He can't be dead. Daniel didn't want to die yet. The darkness suddenly felt tense around his form... was it still there? He couldn't tell anymore. It didn't matter. He didn't want to die yet. He refused to die yet. He fought too long and too hard to just sit there and DIE. His lungs didn't hurt anymore but he could feel as if he were taking a deep breath and forced out the loudest angriest scream he'd ever let loose, feeling beginning to return to him vaguely, the ability to move. The voices changed, merged as they squealed but couldn't escape him. They ate him, he knew it now. So he would EAT THEM. They became his voice, echoing in unison with him as he wailed, jerking and writhing on the table. All that darkness, it finally began to clear and give him vision again, the drowning feeling he had from it receding as he grasped at it and dragged it inward with a crazed thought of amusement. Laughter he could hear erupting from his throat as he found the ability to sit up and look to the other two presences beside him. "You tricked us." Daniel's voice growled out, echoing with the shadows that still were dissolving against his reforming body, glowing red eyes staring dead at Mr. Theriot. He grinned at the shocked expression on his face.

Nia stared in horror at this scene. This was her fault. She killed her friend. Her sickly, depressed, pessimistic friend who just needed someone he could genuinely trust. Now look at him. A mass of darkness had all but eaten him up, with the intention of leaving nothing behind. Then it became even worse. The mass squirmed, and shifted, fluctuating as if thrashing upon the table before the visage of the man she knew lurched up against the darkness, letting out a twisted, echoing, maddened scream that sounded nothing of her friend from before. "Bon Gras, kisa ou ban mwen? What is this man?" Mr. Theriot hissed out having come and grabbed her up by her wrist, wrenching her up to force her gaze to him, Nia unable to respond before the sickening echoed voice of Daniel came through to both of them, his body could almost be picked out now within the mass of shadows that slowly seemed to be compressing against him, no... withdrawing would be the better concept. Something unholy occurred within this apartment. Something against that of very creation. Nia felt sick to her stomach watching this monster swing his legs off the table and begin to stand, the lights of the apartment flickering around them as the table cracked while his hands left it.

…… Three Years later….

Daniel Thalis has since been declared dead. But his body had disappeared from the morgue, the mortician speaking madly stating he woke up with all his blood drained and walked out, disappearing… like a shadow.

[zerofinite]

art trade | Myrah

pray you don’t bore her

belongs to @kungfukiddo on twitter

[alliedn]

I finally played a warlock and I love her so much it's insane actually

[mistrall-art]

Found some really nice pencils in the clip studio asset page and just had to draw this meme with Reagan and Magnesius ☆*: .｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆ it's from the samurai holding the white cat.

This would be a few weeks after Rae's crewe and family got killed. She and Magnesius were the only survivors thanks to Mag's mom's pretending the two were captives.

Reagan, only being 16-17-ish at the time, was in no position to take care of a Charr cub and decided to make the long trek to the Black Citadel.

[titanclashbattleofthegods]

[our-happygirl500-fan]

So I’ve been digging around the Turtlepedia wiki, going through old tweets from the team who worked on Rise & watched videos covering the scrapped Rise episodes so this is basically a post going through some of the scrapped season 2 stuff for Rise that I have found:

Rise was first written under the basis of there being three seasons

JJ Conway’s twitter posted an episode guide which showed some of the episodes that were expected to be in season two:

As you can see ‘The Clothes Don’t Make the Turtle’ was one of the last episode that was released that fit the original plan for Season 2 before most of the episodes got scrapped or changed & the Rise team had to rush to finish the series.

Some of the episodes we know the synopsis of while others still remain a mystery the scrapped episodes were listed in order as:

Wedding Smashers:

This episode involves Mikey & Raph going undercover as pretend villains ‘Shady Bug & Dr Rude’ to sneak into Ghost Bear’s Wedding after they accidentally gifted Ghost Bear one of Donnie inventions (a black hole generating toaster) as a wedding gift that they then need to retrieve.

The episode was supposed to introduce the character Ghostpepper, Ghostbear’s fiancé 

The episode also brings up some continuity in having the characters be aware that Meatsweats has been missing since the episode Pizza Puffs where he got kidnapped by ‘Shadow fiend’ at the end, I wish this episode hadn’t gotten scrapped because it shows that the Turtles are aware that their enemies are going missing when Big Mama starts kidnapping them for her Battle Nexus New York.

This episode most likely would have shown Ghostbear be kidnapped at the end like how Meatsweats was kidnapped at the end of Pizza Puffs & Hypno was kidnapped at the end of The Clothes Don’t Make the Turtle.   

Warren Stone 2: 

Donnie: Stand back total stranger we are fighting our greatest foe

April kept the arm that she cut off Warren in ‘Warren & Hypno Sitting in a Tree’ & the arm ended up growing into a second Warren Stone, despite April raising this second worm in secret Warren Stone Two ends up becoming the ‘turtles greatest foe’ after Warren Stone Two captures the Turtles, April & the original Warren Stone team up to save the Turtles & defeat Warren Stone 2

Parts of the episodes storyboards can be found on youtube, a running gag appears to be Mikey referring to Warren as ‘that other worm guy whose not Warren two’  

T-Hex

The episode T-Hex covers Mikey desperately wanting a robotic toy but Splinter saying no & Mikey having to sneak the electronic pet into the lair. Though the robot is adorable Mikey learns that it’s not as innocent as it seems & is actually a trap set by Baxter, the episode would have introduced Baxter in an Albearto mech

Psyched Out

Shred Dead Redemption

After the events of Manny Unhappy Returns the Foot Shack has shut down, Foot Lieutenant & Foot Brute open up a cupcake shop selling flaming cupcakes called  Fire and Icing which Raph wants to investigate 

The episode would have involved the Turtles doing a stakeout, a chase scene & the Foot clan putting themselves at odds with Big Mama as they investigate if her new champion ‘Shadow fiend’ has a connection to the missing Shredder.

The Island of Dr. Noe

Dr. Noe, the evil dentist from Todd Scouts ends up kidnapping Raph & Leo ends up having to lead the team in order to rescue Raph & stop the evil dentist.

Something interesting about this episode is when the Rise team were discussing this scrapped episode it was revealed that Leo wasn’t supposed to become the Leader at the end of Season 2, that’s right the iconic ‘Blue You Are The Leader Now’ wasn’t originally supposed to happen, instead Leo was supposed to be pushed into roles where he had to take charge throughout season 2 & the season would end with Raph & Leo as co-leaders.

Battle Nexus NYC (a full 20 minute episode) which was used in the series as Battle Nexus New York, the main difference between the original plan & the episode we got is that originally instead of Cassandra taking the Shredder from Big Mamma, the Grand Nexus Hotel was supposed to have fallen into the Hidden City with both Big Mamma & Shredder leaving The Foot to have to venture into the hidden city to try & retrieve the Shredder.

Toddler Mutant Ninja Turtles

A Mikey focused episode where a ‘bank robbing immortal jellyfish’ zaps Raph, Leo & Donnie, turning them into Turtle Tots & making Mikey the oldest brother for the episode. The episode is said to be inspired by the 1987 series episode ‘Adventures in Turtle Sitting’

Dog Dale Afternoon

April’s friend Dale who we first see in ‘Hypno! Part Deux’ gets turned into a werewolf by a witch & Donnie & April team up to try & turn him back to normal

Bee Story

Goyles Just Want To Have Fun

Huginn & Muninn reunite with Draxum, only to be confused when they find him working as a lunch server. Not wanting Huggin & Muninn to know how soft he’s gotten since his redemption Draxum begs the Turtles to help him look good in front of his former minions.

Rampagin’ Raph

Mikey & Leo have become more skilled in using their mystic powers making Raph feel left behind so Raph tries to practice in secret only to end up stuck in his giant form, Raph goes to to Draxum for help who ends up separating Raph & his mystic projection however the mystic projection ends up rampaging through the city becoming bigger & more powerful with the more things it destroys leaving Raph to have come clean to his brothers about what happened so they can save city. 

Hot Thrash  

Gourd Almighty 

Donnie grows a giant pumpkin for competition & has to have his brothers help him find a way to get the giant pumpkin out of the lair

Two pages of the episodes script were posted on Ron Corcillo’s twitter

A Spiders Web Widens 

Hidden City Heroes 

Gone Goat 

Draxum walks out after having a fight with the family but then gets kidnapped by the Foot. While attempting to rescue Draxum, the family has no choice but to resolve their issues relating to him.

The Key (a full 20 minute episode)

Karai was supposed to be introduced in this episode, she was supposed to have a larger role training the Turtles & with the family spanning around 10 episodes but due to the Rise team rushing to finish the series most of Karai’s episodes were scrapped.

The rest of the episode titles were not finalised however Ron Carney’s twitter posted a schedule board where possible episode titles can be seen.

Though Ron Carney also admitted that some of these titles are fake, the episode April Showers Mayhem Flowers might be real as the team admitted to wanting to do an episode about Mayhem & their status as an agent of the Council of Heads 

The Return of Monty Moose is also probably real as we can see Monty Moose appear in the Rise Movie’s scrapped intro so the team probably had plans for the character in season 2

Monty Moose is a toy line only character from the 1987 series so Rise introducing him as an actual character is kind of cool

[y-rhywbeth2]

D&D Vampire Lore Dump #4

Weaknesses and Cures Featuring that pesky sunlight problem, and how to get around it. Overview of other limitations and weaknesses of their condition (running water, invitations, etc) and how to get around those, vampires being extremely annoying to kill and how to make them stay dead, and the four ways I know of that can cure vampirism.

OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER FOR FIRST TIME READERS: D&D is decades old, spans five editions, several settings and hundreds of writers. One guy establishes a piece of lore, and then the next picks it up goes "nah" and writes something else. I collected info from four different source books, all from different editions, which naturally don't entirely agree on how vampires work. Lore never stays consistent and may contradict itself. You may see information somewhere else from a source I don't have that contradicts what I wrote here. If you read this and like some of this stuff but not other bits, take the good and ditch the rest. Larian themselves have not written BG3 totally compliant with some established D&D lore or the original games. If you want canon to work a certain way in your headcanons/fanfic, go ahead.

Feeding | "Biology" | Hierarchy | Weaknesses and Cures | Psychology

Sunlight is basically instant death and will kill vampires within moments of touching their bare skin. Even if vampires can walk in sunlight, vampires can't access their abilities while the sun is still in the sky. A sunstone, if left in the sunlight to "charge" take on an energy that will rebuff vampires with an effect much like sunlight exposure (but weaker) if they attack an individual wearing/holding the gemstone. This disorients them, cuts them off from many of their powers and inflicts a small amount of damage.

There are ways that allow vampires to walk in sunlight, although their powers will be disabled during daylight hours.

Liquid Night is a vampire sunscreen that will protect the wearer from sunlight.

Clearly, going off of BG3, the Netherese had magic that could do it. (Netheril, according to one story, was an empire whose initial magical foundation was specifically the school of necromancy, under the guidance of the priests of Jergal/Withers)

Fiends are happy to take/destroy your soul in exchange for the ability to walk in the day, as the Greater Vampire creating succubi can attest.

Vampires grow more powerful with age. One of those ways used to include that they became increasingly resistant to sunlight with age, and by the time they were 1000 years old they were fully immune to it. After almost two centuries of undeath, Astarion may be strong enough to avoid immediate death and this may be why he doesn't burn to a crisp immediately when the netherbrain dies.

Necromancers can create enchanted objects that protect vampires from the sun. One example being the Cloak of Dragomir in BG2.

They can also just keep to the shade or wear clothes that provide enough shelter to keep the sunlight from touching them. A deep hood or a parasol can help.

Vampires don't usually consider such things worthwhile, as they don't see much point if they lose their powers. They generallyhave no desire to be in the sunlight for its own sake as most vampires instinctually hate sunlight.

Vampires instinctually recoil from mirrors and hesitate to step in front of them. This hesitation will typically pass in seconds or moments. In 1e they had reflections, but their reflection turned the hypnotic properties of their gaze back at them or at least, they thought it could. After that they lost the reflections, and it's thought that the absence causes an instinctual distress for the remnants of the vampire's human psyche (reminding them that they're an accursed dead thing who's lost everything).

In a similar manner to their lack of reflection, vampires also do not cast shadows upon their surroundings.

-

Vampires who don't rest in/on their dirt-bed (usually a grave or coffin, sometimes a bed with a mattress stuffed with the appropriate type of soil) are destroyed. A vampire that can't get to its sanctuary before sunrise is utterly screwed. They tend to have multiple safe havens with prepared resting places, just in case. Vampires who will be traveling sometimes use a bag of holding, essentially taking their grave with them.

Some have suggested that the dirt dependency is actually just superstition and a vampire can sleep wherever it wants, but nobody's successfully convinced a vampire to take the risk of testing that.

-

As said previously, vampires are healed by negative/necrotic energy and harmed by positive/radiant energy (including heal spells)

Holy symbols can repel them, but the specifics can vary based on source. On the one hand there's one that says that the faith and belief in the holy symbol is what gives it power, and on the other there's one that says that the symbol is only useful in the hands of a priest. Only the symbols of Good and Neutral aligned deities have repelling properties. Evil clerics can still try to Command Undead however (the evil variant of Turn Undead - instead of repelling/destroying the undead you seize control of them.)

In terms of clerics and paladins attempting to Command/Turn Undead, vampires are susceptible to it, but are also the most resistant of undead, so it's difficult and risky.

-

Vampires are repulsed by garlic - it doesn't harm them and can't keep them at bay forever, but a vampire will hesitate before approaching. Some vampires also randomly develop other "allergies". Salt, rose petals, rice, mistletoe, lilies, small children singing, dove feathers… could be anything, really. It's generally linked to the individual vampire's own personality and beliefs. If they believe it should repel them then it may have warding powers against them.

-

Vampires will dissolve in bodies of running water like rivers or the ocean, because the running water forces them to turn into mist and washes them away. However, running water's only a problem if they're immersed in it. They can fly over it (be that with the fly spell or by shapeshifting into a bat), be carried over (bodily carried by a person, or in a boat, or by bridge, whatever) or use the water walk spell and just walk across like a basilisk lizard.

They are however, blocked from crossing a body of running water over three feet wide in mist form, for some reason. There's no answer for this, but I'd guess the vampire cloud picks up water particles and grows heavier, eventually sinking onto the water or something...?

At least 3/4 of the vampire's body must be submerged for it to count as immersion - and it must include the entire torso (the heart in particular must be below the water). The vampire must be held under for three minutes. It doesn't exactly kill them, but as their body is now thousands of particles distributed through the waterways, unable to reform, the vampire is effectively gone for good.

-

Vampires are also extremely annoying to kill. They can only be damaged with enchanted weapons or weapons plated with silver.

Upon death their body turns to mist and they return to their resting place, where they reform their physical body but are rendered vulnerable. A vampire can be paralysed by piercing their heart with a wooden stake... and then, sometimes, you get the unusual ones who need to be staked with a specific wood...! Once they've returned to their coffin the body must be damaged enough to be considered destroyed. Decapitation is a favourite method, but the main point is just to inflict as much damage on them as possible. Vampires begin to regenerate once they return to their coffin, and need to be dealt with quickly, hence the stake to pin them down while you start hacking them apart. Luckily for their would-be-killers they often wake up disoriented.

-

Vampires can't enter houses, or holy sites of residence like monasteries without permission, and can't enter sanctified graveyards of religious organisations. They can't enter temples, as these count as the residences of the deity worshipped there. A guest cannot invite somebody in, the invitation must come from a permanent resident.

Unless the owner of the house is the one who extends the invite, the invite only counts as a one time offer and the vampire needs to be invited again once it leaves the premise - so you can get invited in by a child, but for the ability to come and go as they please, a vampire needs permission from the parents/guardians in charge of the family and house. An invitation taken through use of enchantment magic or just plain coercion counts as a legitimate invitation.

They can also just take a third option and find a way to kill everyone inside from afar and then just walk through the door once there's nobody left alive to own the property. Also if the building no longer exists, for whatever reason (like if it mysteriously burns down), then they don't need an invite to get to whatever's inside. Or buy the building - if the vampire legally owns the house, and the residents are their tenants, then the vampire does not need an invite.

Public areas, inns, public graveyards and non-residential buildings do not count. Vampires can come and go as they please here.

Other people's graves can also count as privately owned residence upon which the vampire cannot intrude, hilariously. The final resting place of the deceased counts as belonging to them - providing they received burial rites. Vampires can however just animate the corpse and have it leave, at which point it ceases to be a resting place and they can do what they like. It's not stated whether they can also use speak with dead to ask permission.

---

There are four ways off the top of my head to cure vampirism. Most of them aren't cheap:

Firstly is the wish spell, which can be used to cure vampirism in one of two ways:

Using the spell to rewrite reality. You force reality to bend to your will and turn the vampire into a living being. Using wish this way is extremely taxing on the caster and may harm them permanently. They will basically be bedridden for a given amount of time and there's something around a one in three chance that you'll never be able to cast the spell again.

In its 5e variant, wish can replicate the effect of any spell below 8th level (including resurrection) while ignoring all the requirements of the spell itself.

Next up is divine intervention. Deities can remove vampirism, though the extent and conditions may be limited by their portfolio.

Amaunator (the ancient Netherese sun god, precursor to Lathander) had a temple over in Amn. You have to take the vampire and the heart of the vampire who turned them to the statue of the ancient sun god in an abandoned temple, place the vampire in the arms of the statue with the heart and it completes a ritual that restores them to life. This was part of a quest in Baldur's Gate 2 where your love interest (who may have been Jaheira) was turned into a vampire and needed curing.

Eldath, a minor goddess of peace, has also been known to restore some level of mortal life to unhappy vampires.

And then resurrection spells. The time limit on resurrection exists because when calling a soul back to its body there are numerous obstacles.

The body needs to be in a state fit to go on living. If it's too damaged or decayed putting the soul back is a waste of time.

The soul must be both willing and able to return. It has to still exist, to start with. If the soul has a new life it probably can't be recovered (be that by being sent back to the material plane for reincarnation in another life, or remade as a fiend or celestial). If the soul has been absorbed by their deity or into the fabric of the planes it can't be recovered. If the soul has been destroyed then you're shit out of luck.

The longer the target has been dead, the more likely the above scenarios are true and that the spell will fail. Also restoring a body and calling a soul from across the planes is extremely powerful, taxing magic that's hard to pull off, which makes it harder to succeed. Hence the time limit.

Vampires have the advantage that their body is perfectly preserved and intact and the soul is still on the material plane, and there's an argument to be made that this makes them resurrect-able.

Greater vampires are not resurrect-able as their soul is either annihilated or has been taken to the Lower Planes and tortured until the person has been turned into one of two varieties of barely sentient blobs of rancid flesh trapped in eternal agony. Wish may still work, but it may have a 50/50 chance of failure.

There's also the elven High Magic spell Gift of Life, which as it says on the tin, restores an undead being back to life. The catch with this one is that knowledge of high magic is dying out, so finding an elven archmage who can and will cast it on you is extremely difficult and probably involves a lot of favours and proving yourself.

[wyllzel]

🔗 Link to Google Doc.

This is how I built Wyll in my Origin Wyll playthrough. This keeps Wyll in his canon Warlock class, while also ensuring he’s handy with his trusty rapier.

The vibe of this Warlock is a spellcaster (Eldritch Blast, AOE, and Enchantment spells) with good melee action. (Very gishy! 👽) The goal is to build up both Arcane Synergy and Arcane Acuity.

Leveling up is fairly flexible, so the focus for this guide is on gear interaction. Key pieces of gear include the Ring of Arcane Synergy (Act 1), Helmet of Arcane Acuity (Act 2), and Band of the Mystic Scoundrel (Act 3).

Overall, this is a fairly standard Fiend Bladelock build, and is not so much an “end all, be all” as it is a basic (but strategic!) approach.

(Fair warning: Possible spoilers ahead!)

Leveling

Please note that this guide is really just my personal preference! I recommend fully reading through the Wiki page on BG3’s Warlock so you get a good idea of what this class can do. In this guide, I’ve added a star (⭐) next to each of the class features or spells that I especially like.

To start with, this is my Wyll’s base stats:

Since Pact of the Blade Warlock’s “Bind Pact Weapon” feature scales weapon Attack Rolls and Damage Rolls off your spellcasting modifier, I recommend heavily prioritizing Charisma. The Warlock class becomes very SAD (Single Ability Dependent) with Charisma which is very convenient.

I prioritized Dexterity after Charisma because your Dexterity modifier affects your Initiative – and the higher your Initiative, the easier it is to get a leg up in combat. Additionally, your Dexterity modifier is added to your AC (when wearing Robes or Light Armor, which this build will be utilizing).

The next prioritized stat is Constitution, which is good for maintaining Concentration spells as well as boosting your total HP.

Level 1

One Level 1 Warlock Spell slot

Select:

Subclass: The Fiend

Two Cantrips: ELDRITCH BLAST 💥, Minor Illusion ⭐

Two Warlock spells (Level 1): Hellish Rebuke, Command

The Fiend subclass gives you:

Dark One’s Blessing (Temporary bonus HP when you kill a hostile creature)

Access to the Spells: Burning Hands, Command

Eldritch Blast genuinely solves any and all problems. (Force Damage is especially good in BG3, where 99% of your enemies do not have Force Resistance.) And Minor Illusion is a really good utility spell – especially if you’re into barrelmancy and need a safe and reliable method to cluster enemies.

The added HP from Dark One’s Blessing is really good, especially in earlier levels (Act 1) when your party is extremely squishy.

Level 2

Two Level 1 Warlock Spell slots

Select:

Eldritch Invocations: Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast ⭐

One Warlock Spell (Level 1): Armour of Agathys

Replace a Spell: N/A

Level 3

Improved Warlock Spell Slots: Warlock Spells are now Level 2

Select:

Pact Boon: Pact of the Blade

One Warlock Spell (Level 2): Cloud of Daggers

Replace a Spell: Armour of Agathys → Hold Person

Level 4

Select:

Feat: Ability Improvement (ASI) = +1 CHA, +1 DEX ⭐

One Cantrip: Mage Hand

One Warlock Spell (Level 2): Shatter

Replace a Spell: N/A

Level 5

Deepened Pact: Pact of the Blade → Gain an Extra Attack with your weapon ⭐

Scaling Cantrips (ie., Eldritch Blast fires an additional beam) ⭐

Improved Warlock Spell Slots: Warlock Spells are now Level 3

Select:

One Eldritch Invocation: Devil’s Sight ⭐

One Warlock Spell (Level 3): Hunger of Hadar ⭐

Replace a Spell: Hellish Rebuke → Counterspell

The Fiend subclass gives you:

Access to the Spells: Fireball, Stinking Cloud

Level 6

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 3): Fireball

Replace a Spell: N/A

The Fiend subclass gives you:

Dark One’s Own Luck: Add +1d10 to an Ability Check once per Short Rest

Level 7

Improved Warlock Spell Slots: Warlock Spells are now Level 4

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 4): Banishment

Replace a Spell: Cloud of Daggers → Wall of Fire

Eldritch Invocation: Armour of Shadows ⭐

Armor of Shadows is excellent if you’re wearing robes. Because you’ll probably be wearing the Potent Robe at this point (early Act 2), this Invocation is particularly useful.

Level 8

Select:

Feat: ASI +2 to Charisma

One Warlock Spell (Level 4): Fear

Replace a Spell: N/A

Alternative Feats:

You may want to consider Alert to get the jump on enemies, especially when playing in Honor Mode. 

War Caster is a good idea if you plan to lean heavily on Concentration Spells such as Hunger of Hadar or Wall of Fire. 

Another good Feat for Concentration Spells is Resilient, which you’d take for Constitution. However, your initial Ability Score numbers would probably look different than how I have mine set up!

Spell Sniper is fun if you plan to lean heavily on Attack Roll spells – like Eldritch Blasts!

Level 9

Improved Warlock Spell Slots: Warlock Spells are now Level 5

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 5): Hold Monster ⭐

Replace a Spell: N/A

Eldritch Invocation: Life Drinker ⭐

Hold Monster is extremely useful in Act 3, where a lot of the major bosses you face (Orin in her Slayer form, Raphael, etc.) are Monsters.

Level 10

Scaling Cantrips (ie., Eldritch Blast fires an additional beam) ⭐

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 5): Flame Strike

Replace a Spell: N/A

The Fiend subclass gives you:

Fiendish Resilience: Once per Short Rest, choose a Damage Type to become Resistant to

Level 11

Gain an additional Warlock Spell slot (for a total of 3 Warlock Spell slots)

Select:

One Warlock Spell (Level 5): Cone of Cold

Mystic Arcanum: Eyebite

Any of the Mystic Arcanum spells are good, though! I just find that Arcane Gate, Circle of Death, and Flesh to Stone are only useful situationally. Create Undead is good for summons-focused teams.

Level 12

Select:

Feat: ASI +2 to Dexterity, or see Level 8.

One Warlock Spell (Level 5): Blight

Replace a Spell: N/A

Eldritch Invocation: One With Shadows

Final Composition

By Level 12, Wyll can have the following notable qualities:

Three Level 5 Warlock Spell slots 

One Level 6 Warlock Spell that can be used once per Long Rest

Three Damage die on Damaging Warlock cantrips – AKA three bolts of Eldritch Blast for 3d10+5 Damage (the +5 applies to each Blast bolt)

An Extra Attack (Weapon) from Pact of the Blade

Spells List and Invocations

Note: Scaling Cantrips (Level 5, Level 10) is based on your overall caster level rather than your Warlock level. As such, if you multiclass Wyll with a class like Bard or Paladin, he’ll still get the fully scaled three bolts per Eldritch Blast at Level 10.

Gear

The goal of this gear selection is to maximize the effectiveness of Wyll’s spells – particularly Enchantment spells. With the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel, Enchantment spells can be cast as a Bonus Action. Without this Band, Wyll generally won't be doing much with his Bonus Action as a Warlock – so let's fix that!

To align with his backstory, Wyll should be a formidable swordsman as well as spellcaster. As such, the weaponry in this build enhances his spellcasting, and ensures that his spellcasting enhances his sword fighting as well. (Synergizing!!!)

Headwear: Helmet of Arcane Acuity

Battle Acuity: Whenever you deal damage with a weapon attack, you gain Arcane Acuity (+1 to Spell Attack Rolls and Spell Save DC) for 2 turns.

+1 to Dexterity Saving Throws

Armor: Elegant Studded Leather

14 AC + Dexterity Modifier (18 AC)

+2 to Initiative Rolls

Can cast Shield once per Short Rest

Alternatively, you can use the Potent Robe and cast Armour of Shadows to bump your AC. However, you cannot wear the Helmet of Arcane Acuity if you do so (the helmet qualifies as Light Armor, meaning it cannot be used simultaneously with Armour of Shadows). If you’d like to use the Potent Robe instead, an alternative headwear is the Diadem of Arcane Synergy.

However, I wouldn't recommend the Potent Robe for a Fiend Warlock once you get the Elegant Studded Leather or an equivalent Light Armor. This is because the Potent Robe's added temporary HP (equal to your Warlock's Charisma Modifier) overrides the Dark One's Blessing, which will grant your Warlock temporary HP equal to your Warlock's Charisma Modifier plus your Warlock's Level.

Cloak: Cloak of the Weave

Arcane Enchantment: Gain a +1 bonus to Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Rolls.

Absorb Elements: Absorb elemental damage once per Short Rest. Take half damage from the next elemental attack targeting you, and deal an additional 1d6 of that element type on your next attack.

Alternatively, if you expect Wyll to regularly be in melee range, I’d recommend the Cloak of Protection (defensive, +1 to AC) or Thunderskin Cloak (offensive, pairs well with the Spineshudder Amulet). 

The Nymph Cloak pairs well with the Band of the Mystic Scoundrel.

Handwear: Daredevil Gloves

+1 to Spell Attack Rolls

Daredevil Proximity: Can make Ranged Spell Attack Rolls as Melee Spell Attack Rolls

For boosting the effectiveness of Eldritch Blasting! Alternatively, the Gloves of Battlemage’s Power would be perfect for this build, but apparently they’re currently bugged (as of Feb. 20, 2024, Hotfix #18).

The Spellmight Gloves, Quickspell Gloves, Gemini Gloves, and Helldusk Gloves are also interesting options.

Footwear: Helldusk Boots

Ignores Difficult Terrain

Cannot be forcibly moved by spells or actions

Use a reaction to succeed on a Saving Throw

Hellcrawler: Teleport to an area and deal 2d8 Fire Damage upon landing in a 3m/10ft zone

Utilizing infernal gear is very synergetic with Wyll’s story. However, these boots are good for characters who want to move into melee range. Alternative teleportation boots include the Disintegrating Night Walkers or the Spaceshunt Boots.

Additionally, the Boots of Stormy Clamour pair well with the Spineshudder Amulet.

Amulet: Spineshudder Amulet

Inflict Reverberation when you deal Damage with a Ranged Spell Attack

Eldritch Blasts are Ranged Spell Attacks. :)

Ring A: Ring of Arcane Synergy

Synergetic Cantrip: When you deal damage with a Cantrip, you gain Arcane Synergy for 2 turns

When you have Arcane Synergy, your Weapon Attacks deal additional damage equal to your Spell Casting Ability Modifier. This makes a lot of sense since Wyll’s highest stat should be Charisma (aka his Spell Casting Ability Modifier), and because Wyll will probably be Eldritch Blasting (Cantrip) a lot.

Ring B: Band of the Mystic Scoundrel

Illusion Quickening: After hitting a creature with a Weapon Attack, you can cast Illusion or Enchantment spells as a Bonus Action

This item is why this build prioritizes Enchantment spells! Otherwise, the only thing Wyll can really do with his Bonus Action in combat is chug a potion (or teleport), haha.

Melee Main Hand: Infernal Rapier

High Spellcasting: +1 to Spell Save DC

Planar Ally: Cambion (Summon a Cambion as an ally)

However, being able to Bind Pact Weapon via Pact of the Blade means Wyll can wield any weapon in the game! So this slot is very flexible depending on the encounter. I favor the Infernal Rapier for the +1 to Spell Save DC and the RP value.

Melee Off Hand: Viconia’s Walking Fortress

Rebuke of the Mighty: When a foe hits you with a melee attack, you can use a Reaction to deal 2-8 Force damage and possibly knock them Prone

Spellguard: You have Advantage on Saving Throws against spells; Spell Attack Rolls against you have Disadvantage 

Swires’ Sledboard is also interesting for potential Force damage. Ketheric’s Shield is good for casters in general (+1 Spell Save DC and +1 to Spell Attack Rolls), although I usually have this shield on my party’s Wizard (Gale).

Ranged Main Hand: Darkfire Shortbow

Grants Resistance to both Fire and Cold Damage

Can cast Haste as a Level 3 spell once per Long Rest

This weapon slot is less important since Wyll will be Eldritch Blasting if he needs to make a single-target Ranged Attack. The only reason he might be using a Ranged Weapon is if he’s Silenced.

As such, it’s nice to just benefit from this bow’s passives. With Fiendish Resilience, Wyll can potentially have four Resistances at once in (very late) Act 2 – Fire and Cold from the Darkfire Shortbow, Necrotic from Selûne’s Blessing, and another from Fiendish Resilience.

Additionally, an emergency Haste is great to have on the backburner.

The Bow of Awareness is another such bow that grants a useful passive (+1 to Initiative).

Ranged Off Hand: N/A

Number Crunching

If you’ve followed the above gearing, you should have 20 AC on Wyll. Hooray!

The following table should give you an idea of how Wyll performs on the battlefield as a result of his gear synergy.

Because this Warlock build has a lot of flexibility in what it can do (#gishy 👽), it’s hard to say how much damage Wyll can regularly dole out. However, in an ideal world, Wyll can take the following actions to get the most out of his gear:

Combat Round #1

Cast Eldritch Blast on three separate enemies, inflicting Reverberation on each and gaining Arcane Synergy.

Combat Round #2

Land a Weapon Attack (which uses Arcane Synergy) on an enemy, gaining Arcane Acuity.

Use Bonus Action to cast Hold Person or Hold Monster.

Land a Weapon Attack (which uses Arcane Synergy) on the held enemy; this Attack is automatically a Critical Hit.

Conclusion

Of course, this is just one way to class Wyll (or a general Warlock)! I prioritized thematic gearing over pure Damage output, so there are definitely ways to get this build even more powerful. For example, Wyll would probably be ethically opposed to using the Bhaalist Armor even though it would greatly enhance his rapier attacks. 

As an aside, there’s a funny bug with Warlock’s Pact of the Blade Extra Attack – in Explorer, Balanced, and Tactician, this Extra Attack adds to (instead of overlaps with) any Extra Attack you get from another class. 

So instead of having an Attack and Extra Attack like most other martial classes, the Lockadin gets an Attack, an Extra Attack, and an extra Extra Attack, for three Attacks total, LOL. (This bug is unfortunately resolved in Honor Mode.) Subsequently, the Pact of the Blade is a great multiclass with martial classes, but especially a Paladin (5 Warlock / 7 Paladin). 😁

Additionally, a lot of this gear is also excellent on a College of Swords Bard (another Charisma-based gish type). To that end, it may not be a good idea to have both a Bard and Warlock on the same team, as they’ll be fighting for the gear listed here.

Thanks for reading, and hope this gave you some ideas for your Warlock builds! :)

[pen-and-umbra]

Jenova, Minerva, LOVELESS, The Queen and the Gi connection, pt. 2

Part 1 - Jenova, Minerva, LOVELESS, The Queen and the Gi connection, pt. 1

The most astounding lore connection, however, is found elsewhere, concealed within one of the mini-games. At a certain stage, Queen's Blood becomes a fully fledged side quest, and the now-deceased creator of the game, Lidrehl, contacts Cloud to relay an intriguing story behind it.

(“Once, there lived a queen of peerless beauty and compassion. She loved her people, and in turn, they loved her. But one day, a change came over the queen. In a blink of an eye, her love turned to hate, her compassion to cruelty. Fair and beauteous though she remained, her heart became black as pitch. Conquest was now her cause, her subjects mere fodder to feed her boundless ambition. And so her kingdom grew as her subjects perished. Until, that is, a ray of hope appeared – a sorceress who would be their salvation. The Emerald Witch they called her. And with her arcane powers, she led the people into rebellion, captured the queen, and put her to death. Yet from the tyrant’s body spilled blood as dark as shadow. And from this wicked ichor, the myriad fiends of the world were born. And that... is the story of the Shadowblood Queen. Some call it a parable. A myth. A fairy tale. And I wish it were! But she is as real as you and I! And she is coming. Her resurrection is nigh.”)

“In a blink of an eye, her love turned to hate, her compassion to cruelty. Fair and beauteous though she remained, her heart became black as pitch”—this passage describes the metamorphosis Sephiroth undergoes during Nibelheim flashback to a tee. The language used to depict the queen's transformation - "in a blink of an eye, her love turned to hate, her compassion to cruelty"— parallels Sephiroth's own shift from heroism to villainy. “Conquest was now her cause, her subjects mere fodder to feed her boundless ambition” — anything rings a bell?

“This planet is my birthright! [FFVII Remake & Rebirth]”, “What I want, Cloud, is to sail the darkness of the cosmos with this planet as my vessel, just as my mother did long ago. Then one day we'll find a new planet. And on its soil, we'll create a shining future [FFVII AC]”, “My dominion shall reach into infinity” [FFVII Rb], “I am the chosen one. I have been chosen to be the leader/ruler of this Planet [FFVII OG]”. Birthright, dominion, and leadership are all expressions associated with the concept of a ruler or sovereign, much like a king or queen. Similarly, the excerpt stating "her kingdom grew as her subjects perished" signals a conquest and the losses suffered by the queen's people as a consequence.

Lidrehl's story thus appears to be the first case of Jenova infestation, offering a plausible explanation for the origins of the “female” entity known as Jenova. A female ruler of an unnamed people (possibly the Cetra or the Gi) appears to have had an inexplicable change of heart and embarked on a path of destruction. It is conceivable that this entity, possibly the ruler of the Gi, descended on the planet via a meteor (“subjects perished” = perhaps the Gi old world perished as a result of their queen's conquest? This implication is discussed in pt.1) in order to pursue its “boundless ambitions”. This mirrors the plan Sephiroth outlines to Cloud before their confrontation in Advent Children, emphasizing the parallel between the two narratives. “<...> …to sail the darkness of the cosmos with this planet as my vessel <...> Then one day we'll find a new planet. And on its soil, we'll create a shining future”.

On the other hand, the ruler could be Cetran, and whatever caused her to change bore virus-like nature (think of how AC! Sephiroth released Geostigma, which infected people with Jenova's organics). It's somewhat puzzling that the Temple of Ancients makes no mention of their supposed queen when referring to the malicious “celestial adversary”. Then again, it could be reflected in the account of their “enemy” being a shape-shifter who wore the faces of their deceased to spread discord among people.

In fact, the supposed queen may have been killed by this alien entity and wound up dead (as human Sephiroth was after Nibelheim), but the alien entity was impersonating her (again, much like Jenova at various points takes the form of Sephiroth in OG and Remake). Whatever corrupted the queen came with the meteor (the Gi connection again?). Incidentally, the Northern Crater is sitting on the same continent where the Forgotten Capital is located. If there was an alien virus-like substance there, it could have potentially reached the city — a detail that also resonates with Shiva summon lore, as she allegedly froze the impact region to “staunch” the wound.

“An ice-elemental entity and ruler over the world of ice. It is said that she once saved the planet from certain destruction by staunching a great wound with a glacier.” [Loading screen description of Shiva]

Conversely, the ruler of Cetran people could have taken measures to address the disaster, and got infected or killed on site. 

“Until that is, a ray of hope appeared—a sorceress who would be their salvation. The Emerald Witch, they called her. And with her arcane powers, she led the people into rebellion, captured the queen, and put her to death”. Given that the Cetra are described as being more attuned to magic and the arcane, it is reasonable to assume the Emerald Witch was indeed a Cetra. Furthermore, the term “emerald” directly alludes to the color of Mako and the Lifestream. When Aerith pacifies the Lifestream at the Temple of Ancients, she effectively becomes a Lifestream whisperer, or a sorceress.

Therefore, it is reasonable to assume the powers the Emerald Witch possessed were likely linked to the ability to manipulate Lifestream energy on a grand scale. Not too dissimilar to what Aerith does in the original ending, huh?

“Yet from the tyrant’s body spilled blood as dark as shadow. And from this wicked ichor, the myriad fiends of the world were born”—this is highly reminiscent of the Negative Lifestream from Advent Children or the dark essence Kadaj was using to infuse water at the Forgotten Capital. Or even the Geostigma.

Viewed in a broader context, this suggests the passage is referring to the manner in which Jenova's cells spread to infect individuals and animals, potentially reflecting its virulent nature or hinting at the deliberate experiments conducted by ShinRA.

The Shadowblood Queen card bears striking resemblances to the wall depictions of Jenova in the Temple of the Ancients, including hidden eyes, flowing locks, and a hairstyle reminiscent of a meteor shape. The latter, in turn, oddly echoes Rosa's portrayal in LOVELESS, the headpiece in particular.

Conversely, the Emerald Witch card shows similarities to the Goddess Materia statue (the cowl) in Crisis Core, suggesting a possible association with Minerva. The Cetra connection is further solidified by FFVII Remake's ShinRA HQ VR tour. It highlights the traditional Cetra white robe and a cowl when touching upon the subject of harnessing Lifestream's power [through creation of Materia].

As the Planet's avatar, Minerva is an ideal candidate for being a sorceress capable of manipulating the Lifestream. This implies that Minerva may have once been a mortal Cetra, the Emerald Witch. Furthermore, the flower-garland garment on the Emerald Witch card shares surprising similarities to the one Aerith wore while performing her song in the LOVELESS play.

Interestingly, the flowers depicted on the card are of the yellow variety, which provides a nod to the flowers associated with Aerith throughout the franchise. This might hint at Omni!Aerith's new role and mission, drawing a direct parallel between the Emerald Witch card and Aerith's mission.

There's another dead giveaway that connects the Shadowblood Queen and Jenova. As Lidrehl wraps up his story, we are given a glimpse of a robed figure putting their arms threateningly over him. There's no mistake here, as the robe sleeves bear the telltale tears and tatters of “failed clones”. To highlight this, the figure vanishes with distinctive purple/magenta effects similar to those of Jenovaroth and Jenova. 

What's more, when relaying the account of Shadowblood Queen, Lidrehl uses a very specific language, used only by Aerith to describe Jenova in the first part of the Remake.

Lidrehl: “That foul thing is the source of this nightmare <...>” Aerith: [before Jenova Dreamweaver battle] “The source. Of everything.”

Lidrehl’s final words are full of grim promise. 

(“Some call it a parable. A myth. A fairy tale. And I wish it were! But she is as real as you and I! And she is coming. Her resurrection is nigh”.)

Her resurrection. Not Sephiroth's. It is Jenova who will come back.

This detail lends more weight to Sephiroth's cryptic speech about his “fragmented mother” in the Temple of Ancients.

(“My fragmented mother, these errant worlds… All shall be one again.”)

From a broader perspective, the purpose of the Reunion remains the same: to bring Jenova's cell bearers together, but this time the meeting will span across timelines to make the “fragmented mother” whole again [as extensively discussed here], thus fulfilling Lidrehl's prophetic statement of Shadowblood's Queen resurrection looming. Additionally, Sephiroth's message about creating infinity/eternity to rule all the creation forever aligns with Jenova's boundless ambition for conquest, as described by Lidrehl: "Conquest was now her cause, her subjects mere fodder to feed her boundless ambition." In fact, the godhood aspiration that Sephiroth exhibits in the original game can be seen as a reflection of Jenova's/Shadowblood's own limitless ruling ambition.

(“It shall encompass worlds unbound by fate and histories unwritten. <...> My dominion shall reach into infinity”)

In essence, the Queen's Blood game retells an ancient myth about Jenova's origins and supposedly the Cetran victory over it. Lidrehl's story also seems to reveal the original identity of Minerva, suggesting that the Emerald Witch's true identity and arcane knowledge could hold a key to defeating Jenova. Whatever the case may be, Lidrehl was unquestionably killed for this knowledge, as evidenced by the threatening presence which appeared by the end of his speech, and generally we can surmise as much from the card game quest. Based on the earlier discussion, it seems that the LOVELESS play is another aspect, a precursor, or perhaps a (human?) perspective of the same story. Although some details may have been altered or mixed up over time, the similarities remain. As such, Rosa's character prototype may have once been the Queen who became corrupted. Similarly, the character Aerith portrays during her vocal performance might have been inspired by the Emerald Witch, who I believe was the mortal form of Minerva.

Lidrehl's story also seems to point in the direction of Jenova's resurrection, with Jenova being an active, sentient and autonomous agent that has a history of mindjacking other living beings. The account of a fair and kind Queen suddenly and inexplicably becoming corrupted serves as a deliberate parallel and a precursor to Sephiroth's case of a renowned hero drastically turning wicked and cruel. FFVII Rebirth's version of Nibelheim flashback further corroborates this idea, from strongly emphasizing Jenova-esque glitches Sephiroth experiences to outright superimposing Jenova's face over his, thus conveying a sense of possession.

If Jenova was indeed once a Cetran ruler, or more accurately, if it once actually infested a Cetran body like a virus and NOT shapeshifted into one, then this brings a layer of paradoxical irony to ShinRA's early findings. They were not wrong to classify the being as an Ancient. This would also lend more weight to Jenovaroth's ability to bend and control the Whispers, as he would have some of the Ancients' blood in him, much like Omni!Aerith supposedly does with White Whispers. The “choking” and “corroding” of the Lifestream to overpower and command it does evoke the Cetran characteristic relationship with the Planet, albeit twisted in nature.

This also raises intriguing questions about Sephiroth's biological makeup and may offer a clue to defeating Jenovaroth. If the Jenova substance was foreign to the Cetra's ruler own organism, then it is equally foreign to Sephiroth. If the being we know as Jenova is merely an infected Cetra, then Sephiroth was implanted with Cetran cells harboring something else. Therefore, to eradicate the Jenovaroth threat permanently, the party may need to devise a method not only to defeat Jenovaroth in battle, but to “cleanse” the infection, thereby severing the symbiotic/parasitic grip Jenova has on living organisms. This approach echoes how Aerith purged the Geostigma infection in Advent Children.

.......

Screenshots courtesy of Mapocolops comprehensive video on Queen's Blood quest. Other reads:

Jenova, Minerva, LOVELESS, The Queen and the Gi connection, pt. 1

Jenova being awake & Was Sephiroth possessed?

Jenova resurrecting itself across timelines?

👋 @pen-and-umbra

Jul 26, 2024

[astarionposting]

tell us more about ren she’s so pretty i need lore

Hello anon!! I am so flattered u want to know more about her! Ren is an alternate universe version of my usual Tav. I’m much better at storytelling visually, so I’ll explain some of my visual choices I’ve made for her character, which contains a bit of the lore I have created thus far. (also thank u for the excuse to just create a character dump post for her lol - i spent way too much time on this)

content warnings: mentions of dissection, scarring one's own face, unhealthy obsessions, stalking, religious trauma... just general fucked up Bhaalist things. + spoilers for BG3

EYES

A keypoint in her design are her eyes; Ren has the same eyes as The Dark Urge's Fiend butler, Sceleritas Fel, reflecting her origin as a creation of Bhaal Himself. Similar to other creations like her and Sceleritas, she was made with the purpose of serving and assisting Bhaal's Chosen.

SCARS

The right side of her face is deliberate scarring of her own doing during her priestess "training". Her body scars, however, are the result of the experimentation performed on her in her early training days. These experiments are often done with the purpose of making unnatural "improvements".

HANDS

I really love how Scarlet Witch's fingertips will stain black as a result of her use of the Darkhold's chaos magic spells, so I took that inspiration and headcannon that Ren's hands/arms do something similar from her "training" as a priestess of Bhaal and her use of necromancy/shadow magic and rituals.

For her general aesthetic, I was mainly inspired by the concept art for Bhaal for BG3 and this art of a priestess of Bhaal. She often wears a large dusty cloak over her usual gown. Placed on the top of her cloak, she will also sometimes wear a crown of thorns, mimicking the "spiky" style of common Bhaalist attire. During their time in the temple, before the events of BG3, she often adorned her face with a broken piece of a human skull. Since her coat is quite heavy, she walks a little hunched over… kind of like a creepy gremlin. Additionally, she will wear a small Bhaalist charm at the collar of her cloak.

Underneath, she wears her typical black gown; the top half resembles Orin’s carapace and blends into her skirt, with leg slits for better mobility, of course! When she isn’t wearing her cloak, her hair is loosely tied back and styled into a collection of braids, accessorized with Bhaalist jewelry.

*Keep in mind I am not a lore expert in terms of D&D deities or Bhaalist lore in general. I took some stuff from the forgotten realms wiki but also just made some stuff up lol, so this NOT D&D or BG3 lore accurate.

Also, again, warnings for unhealthy relationships/obsessions, as well as brief mentions of torture but not in detail.

THEY ARE BHAALISTS THEY HAVE ISSUES!!!!

Similarly to Sceleritas Fel, Ren has a lot of "care" for The Dark Urge. She favours him over Orin, and often clashed heads with her... but of course I have to have some doomed yuri content too!!!!!! so maybe they kissed once or twice >:) (but waaay before the events of BG3) Her "training" as a priestess of Bhaal consisted of torture, religious indoctrination, and extreme mental corruption/manipulation, especially by Orin. As implied before, she faced experiments in order to "improve" her usefulness to Bhaal and His Chosen. As a result, she is not the most stable person you'll meet. She is mainly chaotic evil aligned, however, her final loyalties will always lie with The Dark Urge, and she is accepting of his resistance/redemption path, as well as his acceptance/murder hobo path. She is essentially a certified Real One (also doesn't rlly vibe with Bhaal after he kills her evil Dragon boyfriend yk). The tadpole in someway also helped "release" her mind of Bhaal's influence, and while she is still an obsessive and violent girlie, she can be persuaded to not be a total murder hobo and sometimes even decides on her own to go against Bhaal's wishes (she still cool with murder though). As I previously mentioned, Ren was created by Bhaal to assist His Chosen in his duties and leading the temple, as most priestesses/priests of Bhaal do. She is more of a companion and advisor to The Dark Urge, rather than a servant like Sceleritas Fel. She is deeply (obsessed) "in-love" with The Dark Urge, and supports him over Orin. A while before the whole tadpoles, absolute, blah blah blah stuff, her and Orin had a brief history, but it was moreso Orin's jealousy of what Durge had. Her in-game class is a Bhaalist class mod! It is very fun so far, and she just levelled up to level 3 and can now has the ability Verminous Metamorphosis, so she can turn into a… RAAAAT!! 🐀 sorry, Astarion :( However, I see her as a combo of this and a death cleric of Bhaal. In terms of how her story is going in the BG3 campaign, i still haven't fully fleshed anything out yet! I would assume she would have a large impact on Durge's memory loss. Maybe she will have her own gaps in memory, but knows they have a reason to go to Baldur's Gate. As for other durge events, I believe she would be proud of The Dark Urge for such a "beautiful display of gore!" after Alfira night lol. I'm still undecided if I want to do redemption or murder hobo durge... I don't want to kill Isobel so I'm probably going to headcannon that Bhaal tasks The Dark Urge with killing her, as a way to test if he is "losing his way", or if he cares more about the life of a "mere servant of Bhaal" than his own "birthright" as Bhaal's Chosen.

For now I am just going with the flow of the game and doing some fun photo and gif series of Ren and Durge's adventure in my Durgetav playthrough!

Face preset | hair | scar | eyes | makeup + bloody lips | body tattoo & autopsy scar Orin top, arms + legs | dress + accessories | cloak | hood + crown/mask | lingerie

♡ PLAYLIST

dividers made by me with canva; graphics by @/brand314195326 and @/dhtgip. screenshots by me ♡

[dailyadventureprompts]

Mystery: Daughters of the Drossyard Pact

Originally intended to be sacrifices n a fiendish ritual , three orphan sisters managed to outsmart the warlock who’d adopted them and managed to offer him in their stead, Inadvertently becoming the beneficiaries of his profane dealings. Decades later, with the renewal of the pact looming one of the sisters has gone missing, leaving the other two in a lurch fearing the other had something to do with it. One sister desperately wishes to be free of the deal,  while the other may be willing to do anything to hold on to the power it has granted her. Neither trusts the other but both want the party’s aid in discovering the fate or whereabouts of their missing sibling.

Adventure Hooks: 

A pious noblewoman by the name of Lia Rolland initially hires our heroes to investigate the disappearance of a local playwright she serves as patron to as well as look into the strange occurrences around the theater which have only seemed to escalate since. Sleuthing around turns up a gaggle of disgruntled actors and stagehands stretched to the breaking point by an endless series of accidents and mishaps and delays. On top of everything else, prior to her disappearance Mecona, the playwright,  kept insisting on revising the piece over and over again and was prone to bringing production to a halt for days at a time while she buried herself in rewrites, which is why no one initially noticed that she was gone.  If the party are careful with their questions they may just discover that lowborn Mecona and highborn Lia are apparently sisters, a truth discovered by a snooping costumer looking in on one of their meetings. 

As it turns out, the strange occurrences are the fault of a host of dark spirits that have taken up residence in the forgotten corners of the theater, who’ve been amusing themselves by causing all kinds of minor chaos. Inevitably the party will be victim to a few of their cruel pranks or sabotauge, escilating until have to fight an entire possessed prompts department and worse as the demons boil out like a kicked hornet’s nest. 

 Into the chaoic (and potentially burning) theater strides Doc Briar, a scarred and swaggering practitioner of dark magic who aids the party in putting down the fiendish threat before warning them not to trust their employer and portaling out.  Briar will be shadowing them for the rest of the adventure just in case they get into any more scrapes, though it appears she has a motive of her own. 

Background: Once there were three orphan sisters, Rose, Camellia, and Poesy, their parents and last name taken from them by an awful war that saw them bourne from the smouldering remains of village to the big city. For years they were overlooked in the crowds of other refugees, falling ever deeper through the cracks until they were atlast taken in by a cold-eyed man who saw them brought up as servants in his great an empty house. Warry Camellia suspected the man had torrid plans for them, but ever-practical Rose was willing to put up with anything if it meant the  younger two would be saved from the street.

The cold-eyed man did have designs on the sisters, but they were far more sinister than what cruel old men usually do to those who are dependant on them. The man was an occultist of great ambition, and had spent his life seeking the means of summoning a fiend capable of granting his desire for power. After much dark dealing he’d found one, Calceinatis the profaner, but her summoning ritual required betrayal on the part of the summoner. Thinking himself clever he brought the three sisters into his home, taught them the basics of his magic,  and claimed that he’d take the most promising of the girls not only as his apprentice, but as rightfully acknowledged heir to all his wealth and holdings.  Over the next few years the cold-eyed man moved his favor from one girl to the next, hoping to stoke resentment and envy between the sisters, laying the groundwork for that most nessisary betrayal.

It was reticent Cammellia was his eventual selection, passing over Rose who wanted it most and young impressionable Posey to whom he was most like an actual father.  He passed the middle sister off to his peers as his bastard,  an indiscretion from years back that he had sheltered out of shame and only now worked up the courage to admit. Society applauded him for it, and he grinned as he introduced his “daughter” to polite society, thinking of how the other two must have watched their sister from the back rooms with covetous hatred. 

It would take a fool not to notice that the sisters had been on to his game for years, but the cold-eyed man was not just a fool, he was hollow hearted and narrow minded, ignorant of the bonds of love and convinced that all people were as motivated by the promise of power and station as he was.  While the sisters couldn’t know exactly what he had planned, they’d swore to stick by eachother no matter what, and so when their benefactor took them out to the great ash dusted badlands at the foot of the mountains as part of Cammellia’s “ascension ritual” they knew they had to act soon.   The rite had barely begun before the cold-eyed man tossed the sacrificial knife between the girls, claiming that he needed only one blood offering and the other two would be greatly rewarded if they did the deed. He drew close as the girls squabbled over the blade, unwilling to deny himself the violence that would lead him to everything he wanted, the oft imagined vision of young veins sliced open and spilling forth everything he could have wanted. 

The Cold-eyed man never could have imagined that his girls, his pawns, his wretched little orphans, would drive the knife into his belly with all the stregth their little arms could muster. That three little sets of hands would pull as one to tear open his fine suit and spill his guts into the ashen earth. 

He was still alive when the demon loomed over him, two sets skulls grinning, he was still alive when the sharp bear fangs started in on his flesh while the goat congratulated the girls on their marvelous betrayal and the boons they would be granted for this fine offering, he was still alive when the blunt goat teeth started in on his bones while the bear intoned that if the sisters wanted to keep these gifts they would need to return to this spot every sixth year and use the same knife to spill a few drops of their own blood or else… The demon did not finish what it was saying, the cold eyed man had finally died and so the meal was done. It disapeared, leaving Rose, Camellia, and Poesy to drag their father/employer’s body back to civilization, claiming to have been the victim of some savage animal attack. 

Motivations & Complications: 

Lia Rolland  (Cammellia): Forced to maintain the deception that she was the illgotten daughter of the man she helped murder has put Lia in a bind. She would like nothing more than to abandon his legacy and the pact but the resources granted to her but necessity has forced her time and again to rely on both. Wealth allowed her to support her sisters into adulthood, and the few supernatural abilities she’s allowed herself have seen her through hard times as she’s made a family and become a patron of the arts. She’d never break the pact on her own, fearing that all the good things in her life would be stripped away, but she’s terrified Briar has given in to her powerhungry nature and hurt or even killed Mecona to strike a new bargin with the demon of the drossyard.

Doc Briar (Rose):  A life spent looking out for two younger sisters convinced Briar that she need to do whatever it took to gain control of her life, which led to her fully embracing the gifts of the pact. She suspects Lia has done something with Mecona to ensure the pact cannot be restruck, and has hired the party as cover. Knowing she’s on a deadline for the next renewal of the ritual, she aims to track down both her sisters and convince them to return to the drossyard. Failing that, steal the knife and get a bit of Lia’s blood which she can hopefully use to stave off the demon for another half-decade. 

Mecona (Poppy):  Barely old enough to remember her parents before she and her sisters were taken in by the cold-eyed man, Poppy was the only one he seemed to show actual parental affection for, if only out of an attmept to make the other two resent their most innocent sibling. This gaslighting seeded her mind with confusion and guilt as to whether the cold-eyed man really meant them any harm, and if they were really without blame for killing their abuser.  These troubled feelings led her to the arts and later to the stage writing under an assumed name, having developed a real talent for portraying complicated relationships that resonated with  audiences.  As the sixth anniversary of the pact rolled around her guilt over the mater came to a boil (were they really any better than the old man if they benefited from the same dark magic as he intended to use them for?), she decided to isolate herself, let the pact end, and see just what her sisters would do with the matter. 

Calceinatis: What the daughters of the drossyard do not yet realize is that they are once again being manipulated, this time by the fiend whispering in their minds and stoking their darker impulses. Sometime while devouring the old warlock’s soul the profaner realized that the three young women could be useful tools in feeding it again, but realized it would have to play the long game if it wanted them to truely turn the knife on eachother.  By feeding Rose’s ambition, Camellia’s fear, and Poppy’s regret, the Drossyard demon has separated the sisters and set them against eachother just as the cold-eyed man once did, Now all she has to do is sit back, wait, and let momentum carry one of the three past the point of no return. 

If you want to use this in your game, why not take a look at my How to run mysteries for d&d post. 

[inaconstantstateofchange]

Raphael/Haarlep | there is wise valour (and there is recklessness)

A/N: 18+ | a pre-canon exploration of the possible origin of Raphael's Ascended Fiend form, and the begrudging rapport between him and Haarlep.

Words: 3.4k

Read it on AO3

Raphael stalks through the halls of his House – nothing so grandiose as to deserve the epithet, yet, but he is prepared to impress his will upon the universe until it is – cringing imps scattering into the shadows as they avoid his fearsome tread. A telltale haze shimmers at the edge of his vision, overwriting the dull stonework with rippling red. The door to his personal suite looms out before him, and he scrabbles at the handle, forcing it open just enough to allow him entry, then spinning to force it closed again with a barely-tempered thud. The resolute click of the arcane locking mechanism grants him some small measure of relief.

His servants, few as they are, know not to disturb him here, so he will have his peace.

This simple and inanely optimistic certainty is broken almost immediately, with the voice of potentially the last being he desires to encounter in this moment: Haarlep, his lord father’s wretched consolation gift.

Oh, he certainly did not deign to express it as such, but the timing made the implication exactly as clear as the Archduke of Cania required. Too slow to profit as he had desired – as he had planned, painstakingly – from the fall of Netheril, and the fatuity of the fool Karsus, the Crown and its fearsome power already swept up and shelved away in the vaults of Mephistar, to be ignored or studied – then ignored again – at his father’s leisure.

“Oh dear, our little lord’s in quite a state today, is he not?” The silken tones of the incubus’s voice might be enticing to another, but they grate against Raphael’s ears like the music of a fingerless bard.

Raphael grits his teeth, refraining from digging his horns into the wood of the door before him by willpower alone. Haarlep, his father had named the wretch, an insipid mirror to reflect his every action back to Mephistar. He could not afford to be known to his father in this state.

A fit of temper was one thing. Hypocritical though he be, Mephistopheles could not deny his blood ran true in such matters. An uncontrollable beast-form, however, one twisted and warped by the broken magics of Netheril? Such knowledge would bring either disdain or interest — and a scrutiny he would not be liable to profit from in either event.

“What are you doing here?” He grinds out, refusing to turn around. Poor form, to leave his back to an enemy, but better the suspicion of weakness than the truth of it, until he can master himself as he ought.

A light, chiming laugh floats through the air like gossamer webs, undulating as the incubus steps closer to him. They run fashionably tapered claws in maddeningly delicate tapping motions down his back, between the base of his wings. He’s certain it is meant to entice, but all it does is make his skin itch and crawl, hungering for slaughter – for satiation – in a ravenous manner he has not felt before.

The desire itself is certainly not new to him, but the drive to follow through, and damn the consequences? That is more of a struggle. He’d thought the beast-form would take a mighty shape, one that would augment his own power and prestige, that he could gloat about to rivals and hold over the heads of his siblings.

Instead, he is left to feel grateful for his position of no note, that he has no true household staff to warn away from loose tongues. Only a few wretched imps, too foolish to put one brick atop another were the plans directly before them, and the incubus, its true thoughts held scrupulously behind dancing eyes. Said incubus’s vexatious tapping continues, clawtips light enough to refrain from marring even a thread of his richly embroidered tunic, but refusing to respond to the intimation of his shifting motions and leave well enough alone.

“Why, I aim only to remind my lord that I am here at his disposal, of course.” The incubus’s tone is conversational, as though they are speaking over a formal luncheon, rather than after they had barged into his own private chambers without so much as a by-your-leave. Raphael’s fingers curl against the door, leaving slight gouges this time.

The incubus is not finished, however, continuing on languidly, “We have had so little opportunity to connect, you and I, since I was first remanded into your… care.” The subtle emphasis put on the last word indicates the incubus’s cognizance that the reality was anything but, and invites him to commiserate with their shared circumstance. Raphael declines. Their situations are nothing alike, and he’ll not be condescended to by this… this… wretch.

At his limit with the damned touching now, Raphael spins away, knocking the incubus’s overreaching arm to the side. “Enough, damn you!” His voice begins as a snarl but he manages to quell it to a hiss. “Your presence is neither desired nor requested, and thus you should be anywhere at all in the estate but my private chambers.” He gestures to the door in a clear dismissal. “You may count yourself fortunate that I have more pressing matters to deal with at the moment than your insolence.”

He knows as soon as the last word leaves his lips that he’s made an error. The incubus’s eyes light up behind the graceful drape of their hair, filled with a dancing glow as its plump lips curl with keen delight. “More pressing than making use of an esteemed gift? The little lord is keeping secrets.” Its tongue flicks out, long and forked, wetting its lower lip with a glistening sheen as it draws, achingly slowly, back in.

Raphael tears his eyes away from the gallingly-enticing gleam, displeased to find that, yet again, his threats are as puffs of air to this detestable creature. He attempts to draw himself up, mantling his wings with oblique menace, and flattens his voice to a firm register. “I have no obligation to keep counsel with you, cur.”

The incubus taps one long, slender finger mockingly against its chin. “Mmmm,” it lets out a long, unnecessarily drawn out hum. “‘Obligation’? Certainly not. I would not dream of prevailing upon the goodwill of your august personage to demand as such.”

It pauses, a glimmer of sweet-edged malice drifting across its face. “However… It might behoove the little lord to indulge an ally, rather than order an adversary.”

The hellfire haze, nearly dissipated while he was not paying attention, blazes back into being around him. The beast howls within, clawing at his bones, desperate to cleave flesh and willing to settle for his own if more suitable sacrifice was not provided. Raphael grinds his teeth against the cry of pain, keeping his voice unaffected even as it feels like speaking through blades of infernal iron.

“You presume much, gift-of-my-father. Perhaps too much. Why should I seek to find an ally in one so markedly bound to higher loyalties?”

The incubus laughs, light and mocking. “Loyalties? What a precious concept. A lord must have strength enough to protect his vassals, in exchange for their loyalty.” Their friendly mien drops entirely, pinning him with a flat, piercing gaze as that damned finger taps, slow and languid, against their chin. “Thus far, I have seen no indication of any such strength from you, little lord.”

At this final expression of disrespect, the delicate webs of Raphael’s remaining self-control fracture and wisp away. A hideous sound of ripping flesh and crackling bone echoes around the room, dissipating against the sound-muffling enchantments etched into the stone. Between one interminable blink and the next, his vision doubles, then trebles, the shifting haze edging out to line the fringes of his new sightlines. He looks to the incubus standing before him in triplicate – a reflection now in truth – with fury the forenote of the increasingly bestial bent to his mind. He loosens his disjointed jaw in anticipation, and awaits the wretch’s usual twist of mockery.

Haarlep stares – up, and up – at the mangled, marvelous creature before them. So this is what their little master has been hiding since his return from the broken remnants of Netheril, bare days after their own arrival. He’d slammed back into the House like a meteor strike, a furious tempest raging throughout its halls ever since. Haarlep’s sole attempt to ingratiate themself had been met with glowering fury followed by curt dismissal, and a silent, fraught détente ever since.

That, of course, simply would not do. Perceived failure at such a level would, sooner or later, make its way back to the lord of Mephistar. And, generous though the terms of his commandment had been, none were that generous.

Haarlep had bedecked themself in their finest things, gauzy drider-silks embellished with blood-pearls and ornate, embroidered sigils, and hied away to the little lord’s personal chambers for one final attempt. Either they’d finally come to some conclusive understanding, or… Well. The consequences for a failed contract with the lord of the Eighth Layer would not be pleasant. Haarlep took pain to bed as a lover as willingly as pleasure, but even their malleable form and aberrant senses had their limits.

And, at first, it had seemed like their cause was just as lost as it had initially appeared. The stubborn little brat, refusing to treat with them as their positions demanded, to engage with the realities they were – the both of them – constrained within. They’d pushed, pressed up close to his body the way they knew he loathed, needling at him with claws and words alike, pricking about for any crack in his obdurate mask.

And then — not a crack, but a shattering entire. Emerging from the stagnant shell of the lordling was birthed a monstrosity, pure and twisted.

An agglomerate skull, eyes glowing baleful and amber from cavernous sockets. Jagged limbs unsuited for movement and coated imperfectly with dappled scale, internal fire licking out from the crevices against undefended flesh, searing and cauterizing in continuous agony. Wings, groomed and genteel mere moments before — now marred with rot and ruin, mantled in tattered shreds held in place by blackened scar tissue.

What a mess. Haarlep could understand why the little master had been so reclusive if this was the shape now lurking within him. His new form’s structure might be passingly compared to that of a cornugon, but only to a witless imbecile. The bone-plate, tarnished and burnt, bore some similarity to the lustrous ossified mail of an osyluth, but lacked entirely their ordered and brutal beauty. In truth… beneath the surface, there was truly nothing of the Hells about this form at all, but rather — something far more Abyssal in origin.

Haarlep smiles, slow and sweet, their long tongue flicking out from their mouth and dragging back the scent of the beast as it returns, a delectable sweet hint of Chaos just discernible below the rest. Their smile grows wider still as they savor it, subtle fangs bared by the action.

“Little master has been quite the naughty boy, hasn’t he? Dabbling with magics too powerful for him, perhaps? Snooping around in pilfered Netherese parlors, grasping at scraps?” They tut chidingly, shaking their head at him.

The beast huffs out a gusting breath, fetid air coursing from its maw, its blackened claws all too obvious as they raise to strike.

Haarlep coos. “How cruel of the little lord to keep this lovely surprise all to himself. Why, we could have been playing together long since.”

Silence, for a moment. Then a reverberating growl shudders from its chest, emerging as a guttural hiss from its frayed vocal cords. With a crack of over-stressed bone, the beast crouches, then springs forward, toppling them both and slamming its forelimbs down on either side of Haarlep’s head. Its bone-jaws open and chitter against one another in accompaniment to its hissing. Hot, silvery liquid drips from the base of its throat, settling in searing pearls on Haarlep’s face before streaking wincingly away.

Haarlep clucks their tongue, reaching out a hand to caress along the roughened bone of the closest skull. “You can certainly take me like this, if you’ve a mind,” they say leadingly, rolling their body languidly upward to brush against the delightful texturing of the beast-form above them. Oh, it has been too long since they’ve dealt with any of Chaos’s get. An admittedly amateur transformation, perhaps, but nothing they cannot endear themself to their little lord by offering some much-needed assistance.

The beast responds with a huff, moving toward their touch for one brief moment, then away again, the creaking of misaligned joint and bone filling the chamber with a grisly cacophony. It seems the little lord isn’t particularly accustomed to his new form’s mind yet, either. That will make some things harder — and others easier.

Haarlep rolls their body up against the beast’s once more, to regain its attention and realign its purpose. Its triune head with trebled skulls, raised to scan the room around them, swings back down to pin him with those flat, glowing eyes, set so far back in their sockets. The vision on this beast-form must be disorienting indeed.

A snarling rumble rises up from the cavernous chamber of the beast’s chest — perhaps a disdain of the presumption, or an unfamiliarity with the sensation in this form. In either case, the little lord is welcome to communicate his desires to Haarlep should he choose. Otherwise, they shall do as a good attendant ought, and attend him.

They undulate again, aiming with particular focus for the most likely location of a hidden pleasure structure, sparing a moment to hope that their rash little lordling had not botched whatever ritual he’d stumbled upon with such talent as to lose that. Haarlep could certainly make an exemplary showing without any such element present – and had upon multiple occasions in the past – but it would certainly help the situation along. After a long moment, they feel an answering pressure coming from the boiling hot area between malformed limbs, and devote particular attention to encouraging it to emerge further.

The beast, plainly feeling the results of their efforts, snarls again, its claws scraping against the stone floor and leaving deep, gouging furrows. Its central skull flashes down and fastens around Haarlep’s throat, just barely stopping before it would cause true harm. They freeze for a moment, elegant neck extended, and luxuriate in the dull prick of those rending fangs — then moan, low and throaty, relaxing into them until the prick becomes true penetration.

The beast huffs, in what resembles nothing so much as sheer bewilderment. Haarlep throws their head back in laughter, relishing the bite of the bone-tooth collar, and the gentle rivulets of blood that begin to seep steadily from the punctures. “No stomach for the devouring, have we? A pity. By all means, then, allow me.”

They slither sinuously free of the beast’s hold, loosened in its surprise, earning more tender tears from the delightful drag of fang on flesh. The beast seems fully lost in its puzzlement now, crouching back on its haunches, its budding member just beginning to poke forth from the sheath at the twisted apex of its hips. Haarlep feels their mouth water, venom pooling slick and sweet, as it emerges in jerking, ungraceful spasms. Their eyes curl up in a true smile.

“Look at you,” they croon. The cockhead is blunt and brutal, with raised ridges at irregular intervals across its surface. The shape of it tapers just under the first bullying bulk of the head, then flares outward again, with diagonal, tiered ridges forming concentric circles underneath it. It looks delectable.

They slide closer on their knees, bowing their head and letting the smooth flood of their hair fall to the side to keep the nape of their neck – and its sluggishly bleeding marks – exposed. The beast observes the motion, skulls twisting to keep them centered in its vision and mantling its tattered wings, but makes no move to dissuade them by force — a clear invitation if Haarlep has ever seen one.

They lean closer, tongue flickering out to wrap around the flat tip and taste. The beast lets out a screeching cry, contorted hips juddering forward and one hand slamming down to tear at the floor. Misshapen then, but no less sensitive for it, it seems. Haarlep retracts their tongue slowly, savoring the taste of ash and burnt sugar. All things taste saccharine to them from contact with their venom, but the overwhelming edge of conflagration on the beast adds an alluring dimension they hunger for more of. And they’ve certainly never been one to deny themself an indulgence.

Prepared this time for the response of the beast – so clearly never touched before in this form – Haarlep wraps their long fingers around it, inanely delighted by the way they nestle into the hollows created by the banding ridges. The size would be difficult to fully encircle for the average mortal, but fits the grasp of Haarlep’s long fingers near-perfectly. The beast gives another rattling cry, starting forward as the stimulation encourages forth one final pulse of the cock from its sheath, a raised nodule at the base of the cock itself tugging free from the lip of the sheath.

Haarlep hums, eyeing the little structure with consideration, then moving their thumb down to caress it with the barest edge of claw. The beast growls, and the blaze of heat about it increases as it curls forward, its skulled head coming to rest in the air just above Haarlep’s upper back. They begin to feel enshrouded in the waves of heat rolling off of the beast, caged between it and caught in the dizzying miasma of Chaos.

They send their tongue out once more, this time holding the beast still by their hand around its cock. Their tongue flickers dexterously in between their fingers and the roughened flesh of the cock itself. The beast pants above them, gusts of air teasing down along their spine. With more of that ash and cinder scent filling their senses, Haarlep widens their mouth and takes the beast’s cock within them, the blunt head rubbing pleasantly up against the back of their throat. Their venom catches and pools in the crevices on the cock’s surface, easing its glide as it enters them. They shift away their fingers bit by bit as they usher the cock into their mouth, adjusting their mouth to its size before removing the last implicit constraint on the movement of the beast.

The head catches against the opening to their throat just as the beast recognizes its freedom, chasing the sensation they’ve granted it with jerking thrusts of its hips. Haarlep angles the flexible muscle of their throat to better receive it, feeling the ridges pressing back against their flesh as the beast bullies its way further into them, utterly uncaring of their own welfare. It is for the best that they’ve been the one to give the little lord’s beast its sorely needed outlet. Any other and the lordling would have more likely awoken to a shattered corpse, with the whole House aware of just how fastidious he is.

Overcome by the sensitivity of its fledgling flesh – and, if Haarlep might be so modest, the experience of their own peerless form – the beast only lasts a few more minutes before its thrusts grow even more frenzied. A sizzling heat permeates Haarlep’s throat as the cock flexes and shudders within it, seeming to grow larger for a few moments as the taste of ash and honey intensifies.

The next moment, the beast is tearing back from them, just barely avoiding slicing itself on their fangs as it stumbles backward, flesh cracking and splitting in a grating inversion of its earlier transformation. Its own form sizzles and steams, a haze in the air around it for a moment before, transmutation complete, their little lord stands before them once more. He looks lost, for a moment, before his scan of the room – now in quite some disarray – comes to a halt with his eyes on Haarlep, still kneeling gracefully with their hair cascading about them. His face twists, too many emotions to quantify spasming across it all at once, before settling on a faint, haughty sneer.

Haarlep licks their lips – and the visible remnants of their activities – slowly, sensuously. “Why, little lord, I do believe you and I have much to discuss.”

[selene-lunette]

Comparison between Shadow of the Colossus and Dororo

I've been a Dororo fan for years now and I just recently played Team Ico's games for the first time. So, here I'll try to list things that Shadow of the Colossus and Dororo have in common. My theory is that Fumito Ueda was inspired by Osamu Tezuka's work and, vice versa, Ueda's works inspired the 2019 anime adaptation of Dororo. Now, if this was common knowledge, then my bad! If that's not the case, these will be just lots of comparisons. Spoilers ahead!

First of all, both Wander and Hyakkimaru have a goal, and they are determined to reach it, no matter what. Wander wants to bring Mono back to life, while Hyakkimaru wants to collect his bodyparts, that were taken by evil spirits at birth due to a contract his father made to gain power. The demons in Dororo are 48, which is the number of Colossi Ueda initially planned to have in his game.

Now, we know that within the colossi lie severed segments of Dormin's body. As Hyakkimaru defeats a demon, he collects a body part back. So, both the fiends in Dororo and the Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus hold a piece of body. But while in Dororo once these creatures are slayed the body part goes back to its original owner, in Shadow of the Colossus Wander is the vessel of Dormin's body, which is collected through those dark trails that pierce him after each battle.

At the beginning of Dororo's original manga from 1967, Lord Daigo, Hyakkimaru's dad, enters a shrine and finds various devil statues. Here, he makes a contract with the evil spirits, the 48 devil gods. He seeks power, but the price to pay is the body of his own child. Doesn't that sound familiar? Wander also enters a shrine adorned with various idols, where he asks Dormin, the being that controls the souls of the dead, for Mono to be revived. But Dormin warns him that the price he'll pay would be heavy. Both the evil gods and Dormin, while promising what the human desires, ask for something important in return. They are also kind of making fun of the mortals for their requests.

I'd also like to add that, as the Dororo manga continues and picks up with Hyakkimaru now being 14 years old, his lover, Mio, is already dead. We just see her through flashbacks, as the boy tells his story to Dororo. We don't know what's the relationship between Mono and Wander, but it's clear that he deeply cares about her, either as a lover, friend or sister.

(While I'm not sure if this is simply fan speculation or not, wasn't an alternative ending gonna feature Mono come back to life but blind, and she would've slowly regained her eyesight? If this was an actual scrapped ending, it would literally reference a core theme in Hyakkimaru's journey).

As for the rest, the two stories are completely different, but the beginning is pretty similar, at least in my opinion. I feel like Ueda could've been influenced by Osamu Tezuka's work. Back in 2019 a Dororo anime remake aired, a retelling of the story. Just like all the other Dororo adaptations, a lot of things were changed from the original manga. The 48 demons were cut to 12, and another major change is the additional grey morality that envelops the entirety of the show. In the original manga, Daigo wanted to be a powerful ruler and gave his son away without regret. Here, he seeks help from the demons to archieve that, yes, but his lands are being destroyed by famines and epidemics. While he has egoistical ambitions, he's also helping his people. As you watch the anime, you start to question: who is right and who is wrong? Who is truly evil here? Which are questions we all asked ourselves while playing Shadow of the Colossus. While you play, you know why you're slaying the Colossi, but you do start to wonder if you're really doing the right thing. They are just giant creatures, some peaceful if not attacked, and are the only inhabitants of the Forbidden Lands. Is Wander the true villain, is it Dormin, or is it Emon? Is there even a true villain at all, or just characters at cross purpouses?

In Dororo, you root for Hyakkimaru, deprived of his own body. But, as he kills more and more demons, the lands are yet again subjected to droughts and floods. And, on his first encounter with Lord Daigo, his father asks him to stop collecting his body for the sake of the lands. The morally grey character of Hyakkimaru, I feel like, could be inspired by Fumito Ueda's work. There's a major difference in the ending though. As Wander's journey makes him loose his humanity, Hyakkimaru's is the opposite. Withing him, he also has bits of evil spirits enbedded into his soul, much like Wander.

But while Hyakkimaru is plagued by doubts, and sometimes lets the demonic part of him loose, he ultimately reaches his goal to be whole again. With the death of all the demons, the natural disasters stop, starting a period of peace. He gets his humanity back, something that Wander only archieves after being reborn.

Also, this is totally just speculation, but the thing about Hyakkimaru's demon slaying causing illnesses and epidemics might be a reference to ICO. In the PS2 manual (at least in the italian one I own) it is stated that the horned children are believed to be cursed, bringing misfortunes to befall the villages. Another thing added to the 2019 anime adaptation of Dororo is the fact that with each evil spirit Hyakkimaru kills, the idol that represents it at the shrine (where Daigo made the contract) breaks. Which is literally what happens in Shadow of the Colossus.

I'd also like to add that Dororo also has a videogame adaptation for the PS2 called Blood will tell, that contains 48 fiends to defeat in order to retrieve Hyakkimaru's body parts. It came out just a year before Shadow of the Colossus did, and it's such a fun game. It has some amazing looking fiends and, fun fact, Blood will tell's japanese cover art is also a beautiful drawing (made by Hiroaki Samura), while the western box art is a 3D rendition of the main character, much like ICO. Though, not as ugly ;)

I can't tell if this game actually influenced Shadow of the Colossus or not, but it's pretty fun to spot the similarities between the two. The final boss, Behemoth, is the biggest out of the 48 fiends, and its fight is divided in various sections. In one of these, you have to stand on Behemoth's hand so that it can bring you close to its face to attack. It reminded me of the Malus fight.

In another section, you have to climb the fiend's back to destroy its weak spots, which are horns with a very familiar blue tint that shoot lightings. This reminded me a lot of Pelagia (but also of Basaran and Quadratus).

And the last section features Behemoth charging at you while it flies, which of course reminded me of the Avion fight.

Thank you for reading all my yapping about pieces of media I love deeply! After not being able to find many comparison between Dororo and Shadow of the Colossus online, I just had to make one myself. This is my first time making a post like this, so I hope this isn't worded too badly—

[justabiteofspite]

Once again here to heartbreakingly announce that the Spear of Evening you get from burying the moon lady gays is in fact one of the most fun weapons in the game.

And extremely broken with Bhaalist armor you get from killing that annoying celestial elephant.

The team make up:

DJ Shadowheart (Origin): 10 swords bard/2 Vengeance Paladin

Astarion (Ascended): 5 Gloomstalker/5 Assassin/2 Fighter

Wyll (With the Infernal Robe) 2 Fiend/4 Thief/6 Shadow Monk

Gale (God Track): 2 Tempest/1 Wiz/9 Storm Sorc

Everyone has equipment or warlock levels to be able to see in magical darkness.

And I didn't raid the grove so I have hornless sadboi Wyll along for our evil ride lol.

This team doesn't come fully online until Act 3, and the last piece of equipment is at House of Hope so go there as soon as you can. But...it's sooooo much fun once it does. I really want to incorporate some version of these builds into a Durge evil run once the evil endings are out in September.

[elekinetic]

happy cleradin day. here are the party's classes:

straight from the handbook. my credentials: i love dnd and im right. hope this helps.

mike: paladin of devotion

a character who acts with honor in pursuit of justice and the greater good. someone who believes wholeheartedly in honesty, courage, compassion, honor, and duty. a knight in shining armor with the ability to protect from evil and compel others to tell the truth.

will: light domain cleric (multiclass: fiend pact warlock)

a character infused with radiance in service of rebirth and renewal, truth, vigilance, and beauty. someone who understands that art is a vehicle for the soul’s improvement. an enlightened soul, charged with chasing away lies and burning away darkness.

(Someone who holds pact with a fiend from the lower planes of existence, a being whose aims are evil, even if they strive against those aims. grants access to spells like fireball and an unnatural connection with a hellish plane.)

el: sorcerer, abberant mind origin

a character who can touch other minds with psionic power and alter the world around them, whose power may as a hopeful beacon to others or as a source of terror to those who feel the stab of their mind and witness the strange manifestations of their might. someone who can form telepathic connections with others, with the ability to inflict psychic damage with ease.

lucas: ranger, hunter subclass

a character who accepts their place as a bulwark between the people they protect and the terrors of the wilderness. someone who's tenacity can wear down the most potent enemies, with a steel will and uncanny ability to dodge and escape foes.

dustin: bard, college of eloquence (multiclass: artillerist artificer)

a character who can wield a blend of logic and theatrical wordplay to win over skeptics and detractors with logical arguments while plucking at heartstrings to appeal to the emotions of audiences. a master of charisma who can spin words that inspire success or failure.

(someone who can create inventions and magic items of peace and war, whose ingenious creations can brighten and save lives, or end them.)

max: way of long death monk

a character with the ability to unsettle or terrify those around them, as their soul has been touched by the shadow of death. someone who can use their familiarity with death to escape its grasp. their lack of armor may make them seem indefensible, but their handiness with a staff (nailbat) and quick speed make them a force to be reckoned with.

portions of text borrowed from here. dividers by @firefly-graphics.

[titanclashbattleofthegods]