#plus the minis and maps!!!

[greatpistachiopie]

our destiny's children

[mistress-light]

Ghost of Tsushima PC • (dev. Sucker Punch Productions)

[spenceobsessed]

post prison!spencer reid x fem!reader

genre: enemies to lovers, smut with a plot

summary: spencer can't help but despise his "replacement", especially during an undercover mission in a nightclub.

MDNI 18+

“this is insane.” penelope garcia mutters on the other end of the phone call. “there’s no way jeffery was able to absolutely take himself off the internet.” she huffs, the keyboard clicking in the background. “i’m gonna keep working. i’ll be back in a jiffy, i swear!” she says sweetly before hanging up.

the unsub, jeffery hogan had abducted then murdered four young women in los angeles california. the team had been in la for three days now, and jeffery had already killed two more women before they could stop him. all of them were getting antsy and a little angry.

you sigh, leaning back in your chair as the rest of the team begins talking amongst themselves, minus spencer, who had been staring at a map for twenty minutes.

“reid.” you say, catching his attention. he doesn’t look up, but you can tell that your voice startled him slightly.

“hmm?” he says, annoyance lacing his tone. you roll your eyes. he had been an absolute dick to you since day one. the whole team had described him as a saint, yet, you couldn’t see it. yes, he was attractive, but that didn’t distract from how hateful he was towards you. plus, you had been nothing but nice to him when you first met him, doing nothing to get on his bad side.

“did you make a connection between the locations?” you ask curtly. he huffs. “i don’t see you doing anything helpful.” he snaps, finally looking up from his map to glare at you.

“spence,” jj begins, joining the conversation unknowingly. “any connections?” he smiles and turns to face her, like you hadn’t just asked the same question.

“the one common location that overlaps with all the crime scenes and significant places in jeffery’s life is the ‘night owl’, a local night club.” reid says, smirking at you when he finishes his sentence like a teenager. you scoff.

emily gives them a look that says “act professional please”.

“we have no idea what he looks like, we only know bits and pieces of his life that garcia could dig up, how are we going to catch him?” matt asks, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, a coffee in hand.

“i could go undercover,” you begin with a shrug. “most of the girls he abducted have been around my age and have my same features.” emily nods in agreement.

“one issue.” rossi says. “the unsub has always abducted women on dates.” you nod. that’s true.

“i could go with you.” matt says, standing up straight and taking a sip of his coffee. you open your mouth to thank him but emily cuts you off.

“no offense simmons, but what if we sent in reid instead? he closer matches y/n’s age and resembles the victims boyfriends more closely.”

spencer opens his mouth to protest but tara cuts him off with a smile. “great idea, you guys should leave in an hour or so, you better start getting ready.”

you watch as reid fights the urge to say something rude, but is quickly whisked away by emily.

jj helps you get ready in another conference room of the precinct, dressing you like the average clubber.

your outfit is a small, tight, red mini dress, with matching heels and accessories. you had to admit, you looked good. you found yourself wondering what they had put reid in and whether he would find you attractive in this tight dress.

“you look amazing.” a voice breaks you out of your trance as you’re putting in an ear piece. you smile, turning to face emily.

“thank you.” you say softly, using your hands to smooth out your dress. “i think i’m ready.” you add, slightly nervous. emily reassures you that you will do great and asks you to follow her outside.

that’s where you’re met with spencer reid. he looks unfortunately handsome, hot even, wearing the most casual “spencer outfit” you have ever seen: corduroy pants, converse, and a white button down. the white button down was sheer linen (very beachy) and allowed you to barely see his chest. you quickly remind yourself that he is in fact a dick, hoping that will somehow make him less attractive.

you watch as his eyes wander your body. emily seems to notice and clears her throat.

“you guys gotta get going.” she breathes out a smirk on her face.

reid walks over to the side of the car. you smile slightly as he opens the door, your smile fading as he slides in alone slamming the door behind him.

“petty bitch.” you mutter. your heels angrily clicking against the asphalt as you walk to the other side of the suv, ripping open the door and sliding in with your arms crossed. you slam the door behind yourself, eyes glaring into the side of reid’s face.

“look,” you begin, your tone angry. “if this is going to work you need to at least try to pretend not to be a fucking asshole.” he scoffs, turning to face you.

“watch your tone.” he says lowly, his voice sending a shiver down your spine. your arms are still crossed and you watch as spencer’s eyes go from your face to your tits, then back up again.

you remind yourself that indeed, he's just a man. he may be a genius but behind that, he’s simply just a man with needs. you were going to make tonight hell for him.

you smirk, eyes glaring into his. “do your fucking job and i just might comply, doctor.”

he turns his head away from you, staring out the window, a new type of tension in the air.

“can you guys hear me?” jj says through you ear pieces. “yeah.” reid says, you can hear how angry he is, just through one word.

the team gives you both a rundown and reminds you both of your parts.

“…remember you’re a couple!” garcia reminds you. the team agrees loudly on the line. “yeah,” alvez says. “pretend to like each other for one night.”

“we’ll try, alvez.” you reply as the suv pulls up in front of the busy nightclub.

you look over at reid. “open my damn door and look like you fucking mean it.” you say through gritted teeth. he doesn’t respond as he steps out of the car, shutting his door quietly and makes his way over to your side of the car. he opens your door with a fake smile on his face, putting out his hand for you to grab. you get out of the car, leaning in to whisper in his ear.

“grab my waist.” you demand. he huffs under his breath, reaching his large hand to rest on your waist. he leans in to whisper back. “you will not dictate this night. i have over ten more years of experience than you, on this team. you do not get to boss me around, y/l/n.” he says through gritted teeth, pulling away from your ear with a fake smile on his face. you don’t have time to respond as he says; “let’s go, baby.”

the nickname hits you like a brick, especially the way it comes out of his mouth so effortlessly. in an attempt to control your composure, you smile and lean against him as he rubs his hand lovingly across your waist.

you both enter the night club, the mix of bright lights and darkness temporarily blinds you as you grip onto spencer for support.

“don’t respond, but we see you’ve made it inside. go grab a drink from the bar then hit the dance floor.” emily orders. spencer nods, leading you towards the busy bar.

as you approach the bar, the bartender asks what you both want. “i’ll have a club soda with lime.” spencer says, turning his head to look down at you. “what do you want, baby?” he asks, rubbing circles on your waist softly. you smile back up at him pretending like you don’t want to kill him and subtly dig your ass into his crotch. he sucks in a breath.

“i’ll have a vodka soda.” you say with a sweet smile on your face. the bartender nods going to make the drinks.

you look back at spencer, his jaw clenched and his breathing heavy. you set your phone down on the bar and “accidentally” knock it off of the counter.

“oops!” you say dryly, bending down to pick it up, your ass now rubbing against his crotch. you subtly feel something twitch in his pants.

“y/n.” he warns you. you nod innocently. “hmm?” you hum. he moves his hand from your waist. you look back at him to silently scold him, but he quickly uses both hands to push you away from his crotch. he slides his hands down your waist, to your ass, then pulls down your dress in one quick motion. a man standing to his left begins complaining loudly about how he can no longer see your "fattie". you almost thank him, then remember that its fucking spencer you're dealing with.

he doesn’t say anything and simply hands you your drink, leading you away from the bar and the creepy men, to a nearby table.

you bite your lip to hold back hateful words that dare to spill out. you stand in silence, spencer sipping his drink while you chug yours.

"you look miserable." emily says in your ears. "do something." she adds.

"wanna dance, pretty boy?" you ask him, the nickname falling from your mouth accidentally. you pretend like it was on purpose as spencer looks up from his drink, slightly stuttering over his response.

"y-yeah, yeah." he repeats, regaining his composure. he grabs your hand and leads you towards the crowd of sweaty people dancing, only looking back once to make sure you were still there

spencer scans the crowd as he pulls you into his chest harshly.

"i'm not just some doll you can throw around, reid." you yell over the music, sick of his bullshit. he looks you in the eyes and shrugs.

as the song changes, couples around you begin to make out.

"kiss me, reid." you say, realizing the awkward dancing in a crowd of horny couples would defer the unsub's attention. spencer doesn't seem to hear you. "reid." you repeat, his eyes still scanning the room. "spencer." you say, the first time you've ever said his first name to him. this catches his attention. his gaze finally falls to you, his frame towering over yours as you wrap your arms around his neck.

"i need you to kiss me, spencer."

the usually dick-ish man makes no cocky response. instead, he simply tips his head down capturing your lips in a kiss. the kiss is awkward at first, but quickly turns heated as you press your body against his. his hands, which were loosely on your waist move downward, rubbing circles on your ass and somehow moving you closer to him.

you run your hands through his hair, feeling him moan softly into your mouth. his sweet noises immediately go straight to your now-wet-core. you break the kiss for a second, to catch your breath, your faces still inches apart.

spencer's pupils are blown, his hair is messy, and his lips slightly swollen, tinted red from your lipstick. fuck, you want to devour him.

spencer quickly resumes the kiss, this time you don't have to ask. you easily feel how hard he is already, with his cock pressed against your leg.

you groan softly as you push your tongue into his mouth, eliciting more sweet noises from the handsome man.

"nice job guys, we have a suspect at 3 o'clock." emily says into our ears, reminding us that we aren't alone.

“let’s go somewhere more secluded.” spencer whispers, his breath hot on your cheek. he wants to lure the unsub out. you nod, waiting for him to move. instead his hands are still on your ass, his eyes on you, like he’s taking a mental picture.

“pretty boy.” you say almost inaudibly. “let’s go.” he spins you around so you’re in front now, able to maneuver your way out of the crowd. one of his hands rests on the small of your back protectively as you head towards the back corner of the club, a stark contrast to the way he was treating you less than 10 minutes ago.

“the hypothetical unsub’s eyes are still on you guys but he hasn’t moved, we can’t seem to see his face on camera. you need to get him to move closer.” jj announces in your ears.

“she’s telling us to kiss again.” you whisper. he nods, placing his large hand on your cheek and swiping his thumb across your lips. you wrap your arms around his neck, leaning into kiss him. he picks you up slightly, just enough to allow you to sit on him as he takes a seat on a random couch.

as he moves from kissing your lips to your jaw and neck, you instinctively begin rocking your hips against his, feeling how hard he is under you.

he groans softly against your neck, his kisses becoming sloppier.

“y/n.” his tone desperate, the use of your first name alarming. “if you keep going i might not be able to maintain professionalism.”

you bite your lip excitedly. “do you want me to stop then, spencer?” his eyes stare into yours, his hands on your hips.

“no.” he breathes out, pulling you closer to him and kissing you again. he moves his hands upwards as his lips move downwards, slowly leaving kisses and rubbing your now-visible nipples through the thin fabric for your dress. you suck in a breath at the new sensation, your head thrown back in ecstasy.

“the unsub moved into the light, it’s jeffery. sending alvez and rossi in now to apprehend him. you guys can stand down, nice work.” emily says, startling them slightly. you pull away from spencer, your underwear undeniably wet and your cunt begging for attention. you awkwardly remove yourself from his lap, sitting next to him on the sofa, noticing that in fact he was hard, an outline of his dick highlighted in the odd club lighting. he squirms in his seat slightly, obviously trying to readjust.

“y/n,” he says, noticing your eyes on him. you hum in response, your eyes moving from his cock to his face. “bathroom.” he says simply.

he doesn’t give you an opportunity to respond, simply getting up and leaving the room. you wait for a few seconds, processing his words and attempting to wrap your head around the fact that an hour ago you hated this man and now you were dying for him to fuck you.

a few minutes pass and you make your way to the bathroom where you don’t even knock, you simply walk in. spencer is there waiting. immediately as you enter the bathroom, he locks it, then attached his lips to yours. you moan softly into the kiss, jumping up to wrap your legs around his waist. he, however, seems to as other plans as he sets you down on the sink and lowers himself between your legs.

he leaves soft kisses up your thighs, your legs now thrown over his shoulders. “spencer,” you beg, his lips dangerously close to your cunt. “please.”

he smiles as you beg, hooking his finger on your underwear and pulling them down your legs roughly. he lowers his head farther in between your legs, licking a slow stripe down your cunt, causing you to squeeze your legs around his head and moan.

hearing your reaction, spencer moans softly against your pussy, the vibrations making you gasp.

unfortunately the club music had been turned off and if anyone were to walk by, they would probably hear you making sounds. you cover your mouth with your hand to make sure you guys don’t get caught.

he moves his tongue farther into you, the sound of his mouth on your soaking wet cunt making lewd sounds that fill the small bathroom.

you moan into your hand, bucking your hips against his face.

he pulls his mouth away from you and without skipping a beat he inserts one of his large fingers into you, grinding his crotch against the edge of the sink to get himself off.

you open your mouth to tease him but he interrupts you by adding another finger into your pussy. you can’t help but moan loudly, feeling your walls clench around his fingers.

“so good for me.” he says breathlessly, his fingers’ pace rough inside you and his hips fast against the sink counter.

“spencer,” you say in between ragged breaths. “i’m so close!” he smiles at your words, removing his fingers from your pussy with a pop.

you groan softly, hating the feeling of emptiness.

“spencer.” you warn, sitting up to get a good look at him. he has a look in his eye, a smirk on his face.

“what’s up?” he says nonchalantly, licking you off his lips and his fingers. you ask yourself how he can be so calm when he was literally just finger fucking you and eating you out. his cock is still dangerously hard, a spot of pre-cum on his cute little pants. you catch yourself imagining how big he is.

“fine.” you huff, seeing how he didn’t seem like he wanted you to finish. you insert your own fingers into your swollen cunt, pumping them inside yourself like spencer had been only a minute ago.

you over exaggerate your moans watching as spencer begins to rub himself through his now tight pants.

“i’m not going to beg you, pretty boy, but i need your cock inside of me right now.” he smirks at your words, making his way back over to you, hands moving to your face, kissing you passionately.

“i’m pretty sure that was begging, y/n.” he says as he pulls away from the kiss, beginning to unbutton his pants.

however, loud knocks interrupt him. "spencer?? are you in there??" emily's familiar voice, fills the room.

"uh, yeah! i'll be out in a second!" he says, beginning to re-button his pants, his cock still visibly hard. emily says something inaudible from the other side of the door then walks away. you lean forward on the sink counter, resting your head on spencer's shoulder, his arms wrapping around you.

after a second of peace, you hop of the counter in an attempt to fix your appearance, sliding back on your awkwardly soaked underwear.

"can we please finish this later?" spencer speaks up, catching you off guard. you smile, your brain still processing the fact that an hour ago you wanted to kill this man.

"yes, please."

part 2 :)

[heartsforseo]

Straw hats with a member/ S/o who still sleeps with plushies.

A/n: so I’ve been gone for almost 2 months but shhh I got some motivation now😼😼. PLUS I got this inspo from reading something somewhere. SO TY FOR GIVING ME THE THINGY TO WRITE AGAIN. request=open requested: <yes> <no> wc:970 ft: the straw hats (excluding chopper) warning: ??

⭑Luffy honestly wouldn’t care. If he ever crashes into your room (girls' room) and sleeps on your bed, he’d even shove the stuff toys away.

⭑When he sees your pouting/sad face he’d be clueless and continue whining for you to hop on the bed with him.

⭑When you finally told him why you were mad, he just tilted his head and let out a LONG sigh

⭑Would use his gum-gum abilities and get all your stuffy back in the bed (while groaning. He does NOT want to share)

⭑Speaking of sharing, why coddle a plushie when you have Luffy? Would def get jealous and maybe even tear one of them.

⭑P.s. He did…

⭑Zoro, just like Luffy, couldn’t be bothered. He’d probably think of it as a design at first. I mean, a pirate sleeping with plushies??? That’s rare

⭑But as the creator said, everyone in the crew is a weird person. So, here you are—in your room. Shock and in awe.

⭑Believe it or not, Zoro was sleeping with one of your plushies (that looked like a reindeer…)

⭑He had always denied sleeping next/with them. (Only if you convinced him enough, he’d let out a groan but still follow)

⭑You’d have to tease him about it now. I mean, Zoro sleeping before you??? Shocking with that 3 hrs sleep schedule.

⭑And a certain chef might’ve heard what you’ve said and used it against a certain swordsman…

⭑Nami, would even tax the poor plushies:~((

⭑Jokes aside, she’ll think of it as cute and nice decorations. They’re cuddly, colorful, and good for distress.

⭑But sometimes there’s a limit. She couldn’t even sleep on her OWN bed cuz of how many you got.

⭑Would roll her eyes when she saw you pout and give you a 35% discount.

⭑To help you get “rid” (as she says) of plushies, she’ll take a mini tangerine and place it on her work desk.

⭑Now she talks to it after dinner, drawing the map of the world.

⭑Ussop I’d say would make a story about how he once traveled to a stuffed toy island.

⭑Everything there was colorful, soft, and cuddly! He’d even point at one of your plushies and say he met them on the island!

⭑Your plushie would just stare and stare and stare… Until Ussop had to let out a fake cough and do his other stuff.

⭑He’d ask for your permission to get one of your plushies for support. (You said yes ofc).

⭑Now, whenever he has to modify Nami’s weapon/ whenever he’s alone from the group—he’ll hold the small plushie tightly and hug it, waiting for ideas to pop up.

⭑Sanji the beigest of them all. I could see Sanji:

⭑1) getting jealous about it. You have a whole husband in front of you. And you’re picking the plushie to cuddle…THAN HIM?!

⭑Would give the plushie dirty stares (especially if it was given by someone not him/by his crew)

⭑When you’re doing something else, he’d wrap his arms around your waist and rest his head on your neck.

⭑He’d give the plushie a smirk and laugh a bit. (Nurse gising na po sya)

⭑OR

⭑2) Sanji would write that down in his “All about Y/n!” Notebook and put hearts all over it.

⭑He would give you plushies, and on every island you visit, he insists on getting you at least one stuffed animal.

⭑Would even sculpt one of his foods as your plushie.

⭑Plus he’d get all giddy iddy when he sees you coddling the plushie he bought. It’s really satisfying to see when the person you love appreciates what they give you.

⭑Robin would let out a smile and maybe even tease you (when she's feeling it)

⭑Might get jealous when you're spending more of your time with them. She's your crew member and s/o, you should focus on her!

⭑She once woke up with your back in front of her, and you were cuddling your plushie.

⭑Sad to say you couldn't find your stuffies for a week… :(

⭑But Robin was there for you!

⭑In the end, it was a win-win situation!

⭑FRANKY FOUND IT CUTE CUTE CUTE.

⭑While you were worrying about how he'll react (unknowingly to you, he already found out and named one of them cola jr.) Franky already made a small plushie (robot) that does the SUPEERRRRRRR with him.

⭑When he saw you sad that one of your plushies got teared up, he'd secretly take it and repatch it (w/h metal scraps)

⭑Would sweat when you confronted him about it, and even DENY IT.

⭑"Franky you're the only one I know that'd use metal scraps for repair…"

⭑"Oh."

⭑Brook is a cutie patootie.

⭑He already knows what you like, from the panties you wear to the plushies you like!

⭑Would make one of those and have some delightful little tea parties. If you're too occupied to join in, why not let your mini-version take part instead?

⭑Anyways, if you'd ever show him a soul king merch/plushie. HE'D FLY OVER THE MOONN.

⭑He didn't know they were selling those! Especially when the cane he has can be removed and shown as a knife.

⭑Our good boy Jinbe.

⭑While on his trip, he saw a lot of them. But of course wouldn't bother to buy one.

⭑I mean, you're on a business trip for sake. And a pirate should always be ready and need no time for aesthetics.

⭑Well, that's what he thought BEFORE he met you. When he saw your room he was SHOOK

⭑How did you have time for all of this? How were you gonna sleep? How will you keep them clean?

⭑Many thoughts were roaming in his head. But when he saw your adoring smile, he made up his mind and would do anything to make you happy.

⭑Even keeping your plushies clean.

A/n: I hope you all enjoyed it. nd sorry for the almost 2-month break.

[mint-yooxgi]

Kinktober Day 18 - Naga!Seonghwa + Asphyxiation & Predator/Prey

@thetypingpup Said: Naga!seonghwa, Asphyxiation + Consensual Predator/Prey A/n: I enjoyed this one just cause it's a little tamer than the rest imo. I also tried something a but different with the asphyxiation aspect, so I hope you enjoy it! Sort of a nice, calm reprise considering the last Hwa prompt I did lmaoo Warnings/Genre/Rating: 18+ MDNI - Smut, Mature, Established Relationship, Possession, Monstrous Features Word Count: 1,465 Kinktober 2024 Mini Masterlist

Nature walks have always been one of your most favourite things. It’s a way to plug out of the world of technology for a while, and just immerse yourself in your immediate surroundings. It lets you see things and experience moments you normally would ignore in favour of social media or simply being on your phone. Plus, it’s a great way to clear your mind.

Which is exactly how you found this exact trail.

Granted, it’s been a little while since you’ve explored the jungle. The trip isn’t an easy one to take, but you manage to get away to this exact location at least once or twice a year. The locals are always kind and welcoming, and the cuisine is to die for. Besides, there’s one reason in particular that you always seem to come back to these shores.

The sun is beginning to set, and you curse yourself for not bringing a map. It’s been far too long since you’ve dared to traverse this particular path. Considering it’s one of the most confusing, you realize far too late that you probably shouldn’t have decided to walk it in the evening. 

Sundown when you’re lost is one of your worst enemies.

At least you have a bottle of water, your phone, and a small emergency flashlight should you need it.

The jungle is eerily quiet, shadows stretching across the trees the further the sun sinks behind the hills. Every now and then, you hear some leaves rustling behind you, and the occasional snap of something breaking under pressure.

You swallow thickly, eyes darting around the area.

For the past few kilometres, you’ve had this creeping sensation as if someone is trailing you. Only, every time you pause to look behind you, you see nothing but foliage covering your path. Every sway of the leaves you brush off as the wind, even though you haven’t felt a breeze for quite some time now.

The sound of something dropping to the ground can be heard, much too close for your own comfort. Leaves begin to rustle as if something is beginning to move towards you, cutting its way through the bush as if it’s done this many times before.

There’s no doubt about it. You’re being stalked.

Wasting no time, you immediately hasten your pace. Using the last few rays of the dying sun to orient yourself, you take off towards the east. At least you know the town is in that direction, and even if you end up cutting through a path less travelled, it’s a much shorter distance to traverse than if you tried to loop back around to the start.

Pulling out your phone, you attempt to call for help.

No signal.

Various curses escape you as you march through the bush, tucking your phone away for safe keeping. You’d rather wear down the battery on your flashlight first before you drain your only means of contact to the outside world. Normally, you’d adhere to not even looking at your phone while on a nature walk, but this is one of the reasons you always bring it with you.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Pulling out your little flashlight, you flick the switch to turn it on. The dark shadows cast by the surrounding trees make it hard to see the final rays of the setting sun. With the oncoming darkness, a chill begins to fill the air, and a shiver caresses your spine.

Behind you, you swear you hear something slithering amongst the trees.

Your heart leaps into your throat, and you waste no time in taking off into the darkness in front of you. Feet pound the earth relentlessly alongside your racing heart, the blood rushing through your ears making it hard to hear your surroundings.

What really makes your blood run cold is the low, hissing chuckle you can hear cutting through the trees.

Panic begins to rise in your throat, and your foot catches on a root. Luckily, you only stumble a little bit, managing to stay on your feet only for both your flashlight and water bottle to go flying out of your hands. Your flashlight bounces off a rock, an audible crack sounding before the light flickers off somewhere beneath the bush.

You don’t stop running. The creature - or whatever it is - that’s following you sounds hot on your trail, and you don’t want to waste time fumbling around in the dark for a broken flashlight. Your water bottle is not more important than your life, either. 

Besides, you still have your phone.

Darting around the trunk of a large tree, you press yourself right up against it. Your lungs burn, attempting to catch your breath as your palms scratch against the hardened bark. Frantically, your eyes dart all around, attempting to see any type of movement through the darkness. Your ears strain, but all you can hear is the frantic beating of your own heart.

A small slithering sound rises from off to your right, and you clasp your hands over your mouth. Despite your heavy breathing, you’re hoping it helps to muffle your panting even just a little bit.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you swear you see a flash of gold glint through the darkness.

The faintest of breaths tickles the side of your ear.

“Hello, My Love."

Your whole body shakes, turning your head slowly to the left.

“I finally found you.”

A pleased hiss escapes him as you freeze in your spot, a scream getting lodged in your throat.

His tongue darts out to scent the air, and his eyes flutter shut.

“You smell divine.” Golden eyes open to stare deeply into your own, pupils nothing but thin slits as his tongue traces over his lower lip.

Finally, it’s as if your body catches up to your brain, and you feel yourself back in control. You go to push yourself off of the tree and scramble away from him, only for something smooth and cool to wrap itself around your ankles.

Your breath hitches, and you find yourself pinned to that tree by a long torso, deep greens and blues seeming to intertwine in the most delicate of scales.

“Ah-ah,” A wicked grin paints sinful lips, tongue darting out once more. “You’re not going anywhere, My Sweet.”

“What do you want?” The more you struggle to free yourself, the tighter he wraps around you.

His head cocks to the side, almost in disappointment.

“The first time you’ve seen me in years and those are the first words you decide to speak to me?” A pout tugs at his lips, shifting in closer to you. “I thought I meant more to you than that.”

“Seonghwa,” You sigh out his name, squirming beneath his embrace.

“I missed you. Did you miss me?” He blinks those wide, shining eyes at you before leaning in. Tenderly, he nuzzles against your neck, tongue flicking against your pulse. “It doesn’t matter. You came back!”

Again, his tail tightens around you.

Your breath hitches, finding it harder and harder to breathe. Tingles erupt on your skin, beginning to feel lightheaded as he begins placing tender kisses along your neck.

A pleasant shiver caresses your spine.

“Do you remember our promise?” He whispers, peeking up at you so lovingly through his lashes.

Taking as deep of a breath in as you can, you nod your head. Your eyes flutter shut, the ghost of a confirmation on your lips.

“I was starting to worry you had forgotten.” He says, eyes drooping. Subconsciously, his tail tightens even further, restricting your movements entirely. “You wouldn’t forget me. You couldn’t! We mean too much to each other.”

“Seonghwa-“ You manage to just choke out his name, vision beginning to fade in the corners.

“It’s okay, My Sweet. Remember our promise. You know I would never hurt you.” He hums, caressing your cheek so tenderly with his one hand. “Sleep. Fall into the arms of the one who loves you most. I promise I’ll be right here when you wake up, and then, we can finally have the start to our forever.”

Your eyelids start to droop, breathing evening out as your consciousness begins to fade. Yet, for all the danger you seem to be in, you cannot help but be completely calm. After all, this is what you wanted. It’s what you agreed to. What you both agreed to.

The moment your eyes fall shut, Seonghwa unravels his tail from around you. His arms are immediately there to catch you, a loving smile pulling at his lips to mirror your own. Nothing but tender love and affection can be seen in his golden gaze as he holds you close.

“Finally,” He hums, tracing his fingers delicately over your features. “You’re mine.”

[heyimkana]

24 Hours with You (Satoru Ver.) - Ep. 2

Series Masterlist Chapter Summary: The second episode of a mini-series where you’ll live through the hours you spend together with your husband, Gojo Satoru. Pairings: Gojo Satoru x Female Reader Genre: Domestic AU, Fluff, Romance, Humor Word Count: 9K Warnings: no plot, just a compilation of fluffy scenes that you share with your whipped, super annoying husband, Satoru. there's a bit of a smutty scene but it's not explicitly written.

Episode 2: Daylight

07.04 AM

The morning sunray seeps through your windows, kissing your skin with familiar warmth. The red roses Satoru bought you yesterday greet you with their sweet scent as they sit prettily in a glass vase that glimmers like crystal underneath the light. You take a quick scan around, expecting the worst but surprisingly, besides the bedroom, your place is still recognizable despite the drunk antics that you and your husband did last night after finishing a whole bottle of wine to yourselves. 

Your work doesn’t start until nine, and although usually, you would leave at 8.15 to avoid the risk of turning up late, after noticing what day it is, you reckon that traffic won’t be so bad. Plus, your home is only around ten minutes away from your office anyway. It’s the main reason why Satoru insisted on buying this condominium in the first place—to give you more time to yourself (and for him to cuddle with you on the sofa because you always look so snuggly in the morning). Maybe you can take it easy today. Brushing your teeth and changing your nightgown into an oversized hoodie (Satoru’s) and a pair of comfy sweatpants, you get yourself to work.

Among the clutters on the floor are your cocktail dress and Satoru’s expensive suit and tie, scattered all over the carpet, giving you a quick flashback of what happened after you arrived home from the fancy restaurant he took you last night. The exchange of heavy, scorching kisses in the elevator… Your spine pressed flat against the wall with his head between your thighs the second the front door was shut close… A bottle of red wine tasted directly from each other’s tongue… And…

You glance down at your hands, feeling heat flaring in your cheeks as your eyes land on the thin, but quite noticeable, purple bruises that circle your wrists like dark bracelets.

Last night was… wild. 

“God, we’re not young anymore,” you mumble to yourself, shamefaced, as you head toward the kitchen. There are empty plates and half-filled glasses left abandoned on the aisle, and a pizza box that you ordered at two in the morning for an emergency snack (Satoru always gets hungry after sex), but it will only take you a few minutes to clean everything up, so everything’s fine.

Today’s start isn’t so bad.

The condo that you and Satoru bought together felt too spacious and grand at first. The neat white walls somehow screamed lonely, desperate for human touch. But after living here for three years, three whole years of a happy marriage with occasional fights that never lasted a night, it felt truly like home—the kind that you’ve never had the joy to experience before. 

Silly Polaroid photos of the two of you are plastered all over the fridge. A collection of your favorite novels sits on the bookcase among healthy pileas that tumble elegantly over the shelves. Satoru’s favorite Hatsune Miku figures are there too, despite your constant begging to just throw them away, but that’s marriage, isn’t it? You just have to compromise on every single thing. Even when the color of Hatsune’s stupid hair—why does it have to be turquoise of all shades?—ruins your aesthetic.

A huge, beautiful mural showcasing the map of the world can be found painted on one side of the wall. In some countries, there are words written by colorful markers, telling a story of the memorable journeys you’ve had together. Satoru’s messy handwriting used to be there but you scrapped them all because drawing a bunch of arrows pointing at different cities and writing down the words “We did it here” or “We also did it here” and “We toooootally did it here” with wink faces on the sidedon’t exactly seem appropriate, especially since Megumi’s son often comes by to visit his favorite uncle. (The word ‘favorite’ here is self-proclaimed. Megumi never said that. His son also never said that. Satoru is just delusional.) 

You catch a whiff of your husband’s perfume, still somewhat lingering close, a sweet reminder of your chaotic days in high school and the moment your romance bloomed during your college days. Oh, also, coffee. You’re gonna need a lot of that if you want to get through all of your work meetings today. The smell of freshly brewed coffee is one of your favorite scents in the world and you smile to yourself as you pour it into your mug. 

“Someone looks happy,” Satoru sniffles as he places his chin on your shoulder, long arms winding themselves around the dip of your waist. And cuddly, he adds in his head. Though he always finds himself swooning seeing you in your cocktail dress or work attire, he adores this look the most. Messy bun, bare face with acne patches on your chin and nose, his hoodie covering your body to the middle of your thighs. You're precious.

He won’t say this to you though, not today.

“Someone sounds a bit grumpy.” You tilt your head just enough to peck him on the cheek. “Took you long enough to finish.”

“Well, it would’ve only taken me ten minutes if somebody was kind enough to lend me a hand.”

“What, your two hands aren’t enough?”

“They don’t feel as good as yours.” He’s pouting. Even if you can’t see it, you can tell he is. “I didn’t finish, by the way. Thank you for asking.”

A chuckle escapes you. “Honey, you finished, like, four times last night.”

“You’re missing the point,” he sighs. “I don’t think I’ve told you this but…” He turns your body around, making you face him with your cup between your hands and your back leaning against the kitchen counter. He’s still in his boxer shorts, you notice, but he’s made the effort of throwing on a green pastel shirt, hanging loose on his body and unbuttoned to his chest. Satoru rests his palms on the surface, trapping you between his arms. “I think I’m getting so dependent on you now that I can’t even cum on my own.” 

“You can’t do anything without me these days, actually,” you comment, running your mouth without realizing that he’s desperate for your sympathy. He gives you a look, staring flatly at you. “And I can’t do anything without you, my love,” you add with a smile, tapping his cheek. “There. Happy now?”

“Wouldn’t kill you to say it once in a while,” he answers, and you roll your eyes. “I’m just saying, I used to do it so easily, you know? I didn’t even need to look at actual porn to jerk off. I was so in control of my body. Just had to picture you naked on your knees with my di—”

“Careful.”

He cuts himself short. “—and I’d be done in, like, two minutes.”

“I see. And here I thought today was going to be boring,” you reply, sarcasm running thick in each word.

“But these days…” His eyes droop. “It hasn’t been that easy. Sometimes I couldn’t even, umm… get it hard,” he admits, blushing. It’s a bit of a confession that he’s been trying to keep to himself for a while.

“What, really? Like, at all?” 

He sheepishly nods. “There’s this one time when you were away on a business trip and it had been so long since we had sex so I wanna… You know…”

“Play with your carrot?” You suggest, taking a sip of your coffee. “Rub the eggplant? Stroke the banana?”

There’s a momentary silence where he just looks at you, unamused. 

You, also, stay hushed. 

Then, “Caress the fresh zucchini—”

“I think that’s enough, babe.”

“Oh, so when I say it, you don’t like it. But when you say it—”

“You’re not saying it at the right time—You know what? Forget it.” Satoru pushes himself away from the counter, fuming and you laugh. 

Catching him by the wrist, you whirl him back to you. “I’m sorry. You’re just so cute. I think this is the first time I’ve seen you act like this.”

“Can you be serious, please? This is actually very important to me.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” You stand on your toes, kissing his pout away. “I’ll pay attention, I promise. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“I’m a bit scared,” he says, his shoulders sagging. He looks like a sad puppy. A giant, 193cm tall sad puppy. Even your puppy didn’t look as depressed as him now when she was on the verge of death. “What am I going to do when you’re away for two weeks and I can’t even jerk off once?”

You know you don’t have to jerk off, right? Your mouth is itching to say the words. “Two weeks aren’t even that long.”

“Of course, they are!”

“Okay, so you can’t jerk off for two weeks. What is the big deal—”

“What’s the big deal?!” He gasps, as dramatically as ever, one hand slapped against his chest. “You’re asking me what’s the big deal?! What if this is a sign of early erectile dysfunction?!”

Hereeee we go. “From someone who came four times last night, what are you saying?!”

“Excuse me, are you a doctor?” His voice drops, his face solemn. “Are you an urologist?”

You sigh. “No.”

“Do you have a penis?”

“Satoru—”

“Do you?”

You’re rubbing your head, headaches incoming. “You wouldn’t have married me if I had one now, would you?”

“Not true but okay. Anyway—”

“Wait, hold up, what does that mean—”

“The point is,” he puts pressure on his words, pinching your nose so you’ll stop talking. “No penis, no opinion. Also, multiple studies by Chinese researchers have shown that in order to avoid getting prostate cancer, men should release their sperm around two to four times a week. And—” He holds up a finger in the air, shutting you down before you even begin to open your mouth. “When you orgasm, your brain releases a surge of dopamine, right? I need that, especially when you’re not around to help me manage my stress.”

You press your lips together, as tightly as you can, afraid that you’ll break into another bout of laughter if you don’t. “I see.” It’s so hard to keep your voice away from shaking. He’s so serious, it’s almost out of character for him to be this serious. “So you’re, uhh… You’re stressed, huh?”

“Oh, I am, baby. I’m so stressed out.” He swats his bangs out of his eyes, pushing back his hair. “Look at me. I just woke up and I look like this. You think it’s not stressful to look this handsome every day? I have to work twice as hard as anyone else in my building just to be taken seriously. Especially by the CEO.”

“You mean your daddy.”

“My CEO.”

“Who’s your daddy.” Right after you hear yourself saying the line, you snort, failing to contain your laughter. “I’m sorry, I’m not laughing at you. I just had a flashback of the time when you said those words to me in bed and—” You wipe a tear away, your body shaking from your titters. “God, that was cringe.”

Satoru narrows his eyes. “So you are laughing at me.”

“Yeah, but not because of the things you’re saying right now.” The more you try to explain, the more he seems insulted. “Sorry. Continue.”

His nose flares. He would’ve been vexed if you didn’t look so adorable holding back your giggles. “All the other workers think I’m not fit to be next in line—to lead the company. They think I get everything I want just because I have a pretty face and I’m his only son.”

Well, I mean, they’re not wrong, you ponder to yourself, though you know if you mention it out loud, he’s going to cry. “They’re jealous of you.”

“And then of course there’s that guy, Kenjaku, who clearly wants to take my place so he’s been trying to get close to my dad,” Satoru clicks his tongue in annoyance. “Can you believe they went golfing together? Gol. Fing. My dad never even let me touch his golf club!”

Oh, he’s ranting. He’s so upset, he’s ranting like a tired housewife and it’s hilarious. “I’m sorry, sweetie.” You spread your arms, offering him a smile. “Do you want a hug?”

“Okay,” he mumbles cutely, moving toward your embrace with his lower lip jutted out. He goes down to his knees, tangles his arms around your waist, and nuzzles his face against your belly. 

“I think they just feel intimidated by you.” You land a hand on his head. For some reason, his hair is always extra fluffy in the morning. “Smart, charismatic, and sexy? They don’t stand a chance against my husband.”

Usually, you would have him go back to his feet (figuratively and literally) right away after hearing such words, but Satoru only lets out a small hum—responding but not quite agreeing—as he buries his nose deeper in your fabric. Seems like this one is serious. “Toru, you’ll be okay.”

“I can’t do it without you, babe,” he says, his voice muffled by your hoodie.

“What, getting that promotion without people judging?”

“No. Cumming.”

“Oh, we’re going back to that.” You chortle lightly, stroking his strands. “Okay, listen.” Cupping his cheek, you lift his face to meet your gaze. “You don’t have erectile dysfunction.” You return the small space between you, your lips curving up beautifully as you bend down and give him a light kiss on his forehead. “And next time, I’ll take care of your needs. Promise.” Noticing how his eyes take a quick look at the kitchen counter, you add, “Not right now, Satoru.” 

“Meanie.” Your husband groans, playfully biting your hand. “And how are you planning to take care of me the next time we’re separated from each other?”

“I’ll do something to help you, uhh… do whatever it is you need to do.”

His eyes light up. “Will you FaceTime me and give me a strip dance with Closer by Nine Inch Nails playing in the background?”

That’s… oddly specific… “And why does it have to be that song, if I may ask?”

“No reason, really…” He averts his gaze. “Just… You know, it makes me think about you…” He seems a bit shy.

Wait. Shy? Satoru is?

How does the song go again?

You tear down my reason  It's your sex I can smell  You make me perfect  Become somebody else  I wanna fuck you like an animal

You send your husband a blank stare. Look at him. This pervert is asking you this while acting like an embarrassed schoolgirl standing in front of her crush. “If it’s not too much to ask,” he says, so cutely as if he was asking you to make him his favorite dish for dinner.

Of course, it’s too much to ask, are you insane? “Or,” you suggest calmly with a forced smile. “We can do slightly more romantic stuff like calling each other on the phone and—”

“DO PHONE SEX?” Stars in his eyes. There are stars in his eyes.

“Uhh…”

“Please say yes, please say yes!”

That isn’t exactly what you have in mind, but can you even decline when he’s like this? Telling him no right now would feel just as awful as when you (because of Satoru, of course) accidentally revealed the truth about Santa to your nephew, giving Megumi a hard time feeding his son who started a hunger strike as he went into depression mode for three days. (This is a horrible comparison, by the way. One child was asking about Santa while this one is asking for the opportunity to whisper “I wanna fuck you like an animal” in your ear when you’re a hundred miles away from home. Two totally different cases, but you know Satoru will behave the same way as your nephew if you reject his wish. Probably even worse.)

With your head throbbing, you murmur, “Maybe just a little…”

“Promise?” He holds up his pinky, grinning from ear to ear.

All that positive energy you had this morning? Drained. “Promise…”

“Yaay~” 

As you break into a cold sweat thinking about the unfortunate event that will soon befall you (aka the phone sex), Satoru, is already back to his giddy and frisky self. Well, as long as he’s happy, I guess. 

“What are you having?” He asks, jumping back to his feet. “Coffee?”

“Mm. You want some?”

“Nah. I’m craving hot chocolate.” He reaches a hand toward the high drawer to get hold of his favorite mug, looming above you and intentionally knocking his chest against your face as he traps you in between. He giggles when you glare. He’s childish that way.

“How very girly of you.”

“It’s to relieve my stress.” He pokes you in the stomach. “Also, liking hot chocolate doesn’t make me look girly.”

“Sure, but trying on my skirt does.”

“Babe, come on,” Satoru whines, his earlobes turning scarlet. “How many times are you going to hold me on this? I was just messing around!”

“Honey, you were alone in our bedroom, wearing my maxi skirt and checking yourself in the mirror.”

“It was a dare from Suguru.”

“And taking selfies.”

“So I can send some proof to Suguru.”

“Not the point, Satoru.”

“That is the point! Babe, can’t you see? Saying no to the stupid dare would’ve made me seem less manly than he is.” 

“So you’d rather put yourself in a skirt?”

“Well, duh!”

You can’t find the logic in his excuse, you really can’t. “In my defense, though,” he adds. “I thought you were gonna be out for a little longer.” 

“What would’ve happened if I were? Gonna put on my thong next?”

“No,” he scoffs, trying to regain whatever amount of dignity he has left. “Also, it’s not like you’ve never done something embarrassing before. Remember that time when we went to Megumi’s birthday dinner and you ended up telling his nana a dick joke?”

“That was also you.” 

“No, no. I meant, that one with the salaryman meeting a guy in a horse costume—” His realization falls upon him. “Oh my God, it was me.”

You shake your head, amused. “It’s okay.” You turn to face the counter once again, placing your mug on the surface before you reach forward to grab a bit more cream.   “After being married to you for three years, the only thing that will surprise me is if you grow another head. Anything else, I can manage.”

“Why does this sound comforting and insulting at the same time?”

“Because it’s both.”

With his lower lip protruding, Satoru hugs you again from behind, his chin settled on the top of your head this time. This is why he claims to be all stressed out whenever you’re away. He’s so keen on physical touch that he can’t bear even a few inches of distance between you when you’re around. He reaches up to open the counter, grabbing a jar filled with cocoa powder. His chest is pressing against your spine, his other arm never leaving your waist. “I think we run out of sugar,” he says. “Wanna drop by the mart after work? I’m gonna have meetings all day today, but I can ditch the dinner party.”

“You’re not coming?”

“Hell no. Suguru’s hosting. He makes the worst parties.”

“Isn’t he the guy who’s rumored to be in love with you? I heard about it from Shoko.”

“Yeah,” Satoru snickers, very childishly. “I was the one who started the rumor by putting a note on his desk that said ‘I wish one day you’ll look at me the way you look at your wife. Your silver hair and pretty blue eyes have captivated me from the moment I laid my eyes on you. I dream of tasting your soft lips every night.’ It was so easy to copy his handwriting, I just couldn’t help it. Yuki found out about it and she started gossiping and by the end of the day, everyone knew. I took the note away before he noticed. Suguru never found out I did that, didn’t even know what was going on. He was so confused when people tried to cheer him up. I saw Choso giving him a pat on his shoulder, saying ‘We all love you for who you are, never change.’ And Suguru was like, ‘Uuuh, thanks, but I don’t want to be a salesman forever.’ And so both of them were confused.”

Your mouth twists into a grimace. “You are evil.”

“I prefer the term genius,” he corrects you, seemingly proud of his deed. 

“Also, soft lips?”

“Aren’t they?” He seductively raises an eyebrow. To be fair, yes, they are. Even on the coldest night, they’re still as soft as a butterfly’s wing. He has claimed many times that he only used a lip balm if necessary but you don’t buy it. There must be witchcraft involved. He puckers his lips, ready to kiss you and make you experience the thick jealousy you have of his pretty mouth—because, really, all these lip balms you have and your lips are still chapped during winter. You dodge, pushing your palm against his face instead. The big puppy that he is, he licks it.

“I think I’ll be out of the office around seven today,” he informs as you scrunch up your nose in disgust, wiping his saliva away.

“Okay. Pick me up first?”

“Like you need to ask,” Satoru smiles, granting a cute kiss on your forehead. He dabs his thumb on the corner of your lips, rubbing off a little bit of sugar from the leftover doughnut that you enjoyed with your coffee. He cleans it off his digit with his tongue, randomly ruffling your hair as he makes his way to the living room. 

“Oh, wait, almost forgot,” he says, retracing his steps.

“Hmm?”

Satoru snatches a jar from the counter—the one that you just used, filled with cream—and puts it in the highest drawer, the closest one to the ceiling. “Just a little payback,” he sniggers. “For giving me blue balls this morning.”

With him being 193 cm tall, he simply needs to stand on his toes for a little bit to reach it, but you? “I think you’re gonna need a ladder.” His teeth flash in an irritating grin. “Enjoy your creamless coffee for the next few weeks, Sweetcheeks—OUCH—BABY, THAT’S MY KNEE!”

“Grab the jar.”

“Fine.” He retrieves it with a grumble, handing it back to you. “But I’m reporting you for domestic abuse.”

You raise your wrist, showing the actual bruises he left on your skin. “I’ll see you at court then.”

“Babeeeeeee~”

***

07.21 AM

“Satoru.”

Your dear husband has been lying down on the couch for the past ten minutes, a head of velvety hair—which somehow still smells pleasantly like your favorite shampoo—resting on your lap. With a pair of round glasses perched on his nose, he turns deaf ears to everything that’s going on, focusing on nothing but moving his thumbs to win the next round of Momotetsu. As his eyebrows wrinkle in deep concentration, Satoru punches the buttons on his Nintendo Switch, glaring at the screen and swearing under his breath.

“Satoru.”

“Wait, babe, I just need to choose this card and—NOOOOOOOO!” He launches himself forward, sitting up with his mouth gaping, his eyes shaking in horror. “Did I just—yep, lost a million yen. Fuck this game. A Martha card?! A fucking Martha card?! Oh, I’m gonna—” He slams his console against the cushion. Repeatedly. He’s 29, and he throws a bigger tantrum than Megumi’s three-year-old son. 

“Watch your blood pressure, Honey.”

“Who even invented this game?! Stupid as shit. Babe, do me a favor and don’t ever let me play—” His phone rings before he can finish. Throwing one glance at his screen, Satoru mutters, “Oh, great. Here we go.”

The name Dumbass Monk is written on his phone. You wonder who it is.

Satoru answers through gritted teeth. “Fuck you, Suguru.”

Ah, yes, of course.

“No, how the fuck should I know that the card was gonna choose me?!” he barks, his voice bouncing off the walls. “I wanted it to choose you—oh fuck off, asshole, you’re broke as hell, you smell like wet socks, and your wife hates you. Wait, what was that?” He suddenly switches his voice, doing his best impersonation of a nosy old lady talking about the latest gossip. “You don’t have a wife? Not even a girlfriend?” He maniacally cackles. “I don’t know, man, I don’t think I’m the loser here. Unlike you, I’ve got a super hot wife who loves me unconditionally.” 

You flip a page of the book you have sitting on your lap. “Only ‘cause you’re rich.”

“And—” Satoru continues yapping on his phone but he makes sure to poke you on your side for your unnecessary comment. “She’s not just hot. She’s a complete package. She smells like daffodils, she makes me breakfast every morning and she looks so fucking gorgeous when she fucks—”

You slap a pillow against his head.

“—feeds me cookies,” Satoru finishes lamely, wincing, one hand raised in the air as a form of surrender before he takes another hit. “No, I’m not gonna pay you, idiot, you won purely by luck!” He then gasps, his jaw dropping low. “Did you just call me a monkey? Oh, that’s it—” 

Satoru is on his feet, shouting, growling, fingers jabbing and clenching as his mouth runs wild. You can somewhat hear the other man’s voice, giving you enough idea of what they’re arguing about although you can’t make out every word. Suguru’s tone is always soft and melodious when he speaks, but his insults are truly on another level. Chuckling to yourself at the strings of expletives that tumble out of their mouths, you watch your husband yell until blood pools on his face, “Fine! Don’t come crying to me when you have erectile dysfunction, which, based on all the non-existent sex you’ve been having, I know you will! Good day!” Suguru is still calling him names when Satoru ends the call with, “I SAID GOOD DAY!”  

You flip another page of the novel you've been trying—and failing due to someone’s endless shouting—to immerse yourself in. “Seems like you two are close.”

“Oh, he can die, I don’t care.” Angrily, he tosses his device away, landing his head back on your lap with the loudest groan he can muster. “Whatever. I’m still a better player than he is.”

“Of course, you are, honey,” you respond, your hand naturally falls back to his hair, caressing it like you’re stroking a cat’s fur. 

It only takes a few seconds before your husband stops shaking in vexation, even looking a bit sleepy from your comforting touches. “Were you talking to me before?”

“Mm. There’s something I wanted to ask you.” Placing a bookmark in between the pages, you close your book and set it down on the coffee table next to you. “About before, when you told me about your co-workers. How did you know that they’ve been thinking about you that way?”

He blinks, not expecting you to return to your previous conversation. “Aaaw, honey, are you worried about me?” From wishing someone to suffer crucially from impotence to wiggling in joy like a thirteen-year-old girl at the slightest sign of affection, your husband really does have an emotional range of a teaspoon.

“Of course, I do. You’re my husband.”

His mouth curves upside-down, his eyes glimmering, “Babeee, that’s so sweeeet.”

Though you're not so sure why he’s so happy when you just stated a fact, you let him be. “So what happened?”

“I heard them chatting when I passed by the smoking room one afternoon. I don’t smoke—you know I quit a long time ago—so I didn’t know they were ganging up on me and talking shit about me behind my back. Isn’t it gross for a bunch of thirty-year-old men to gossip?” His face scrunches up in disgust. He, the same man who spent two hours on the phone talking to the Dumbass Monk about the recently hired secretary, Maki Zenin (who’s apparently so strict and vicious that, in Satoru’s words, “Almost made me cry in fear when I arrived late at my lunch meeting last week.”), actually had the audacity to ask that question.

"What did they say?” You ask him.

“They said if it wasn’t because of my family name, I would’ve never gotten promoted to C-level.”

“But that’s not true!”You catch him off guard with your sudden fervor after spending the last conversation acting so dull. “I’ve seen how much you worked for this! Satoru, you earned that position fair and square!” Your husband might act frivolous almost every hour of the day, but there were times that he missed his sleep trying to come up with a new marketing strategy to promote their upcoming products. There were hours spent with him taking one conference call after another with his clients, even at two in the morning from the comfort of your living room due to the difference in their time zones. He’s the CEO’s son, true, but he worked just as hard, if not more, as everyone else in the company.

The more it sinks into your brain, the more irked you become. “Who said this?” You snap. “Huh? Who talked shit about you behind your back? I want names.”

Satoru lets out a chuckle, his eyes thinning into a line. It’s been a while since he last saw you being this protective of him. It reminds him of the old days in high school when you, despite acknowledging yourself as being his archenemy, were always quick to defend him when someone threw shade at him. “Honey, relax—”

“Was it Naoya? Or was it Toji? It was Toji, wasn’t it? Oh, that bitch—”

“It wasn’t Toji,” Satoru says, holding you by the hand in a futile attempt to calm you down. “Though you could still punch him if you want.”

“Why, did he do something to you?”

“I just hate his face.”

That’s very Satoru behavior of him that you don’t even bother to comment. “Nobody talks shit about my husband. If they think you get things done easy for you, it’s because you’re so smart, you make things look easy.”

He sits up, turning around to face you with warm, round eyes. “You think I’m smart?”

“Are you kidding me? You’re the smartest man I know.” You give him a light punch on his chest. “If I were your dad, I would’ve still given you that promotion, regardless of our relationship. You’re just that good at your job.”

“That’s…” He swallows. “This is the first time you’ve complimented me like this.” It’s a surprise to him, a very pleasant one, causing contentment to fill his heart.

You feel awful once you notice that even though you constantly thought of him this way, you never spoke your appreciation out loud. “Satoru, I’ve always admired you.” You rest your fingers on his knuckles, apologizing. “I know you complain about having to wake up early to go to work every morning, but despite your flippant attitude, you bear a deep sense of responsibility. You always manage to surpass people’s expectations—surpass mine and I already thought highly of you.” You give him a squeeze, smiling more with your eyes than your lips. “You make me proud. Every day you make me proud.” 

Satoru mirrors your expression, a soft blush painting his cheeks as his joy engulfs him whole. He wraps his arms around you, sinking his nose in your hair as he pulls you close. “You’re not throwing compliments at me just to cheer me up, are you?” He whispers and it’s only during times like this that he lets his vulnerability show. Satoru always shines like the brightest star, his eyes brimming with confidence, but there’s still a part of him—part that he conceals from everyone else except you—that needs to be consoled. He’s still a little boy who wishes for a gentle pat on the head and you always give the warmest one.

“I’m not complimenting you, I’m telling the truth. But yes, I am trying to cheer you up.” You return his embrace, your hand sliding up and down his back. “I wouldn’t have said this if you were okay ‘cause I know it’s gonna boost up your ego even more. You’re already annoying the way you are, so…”

He titters. “Can we stick to you being nice to me?”

You echo the noises he made, returning the space between you just wide enough to kiss his cheek. You cup his face with your fingers, your thumb caressing his cheekbone. “I’m sorry people said mean stuff about you… Are you okay?”

“I am now.” His smile is softer than the clouds. He leans close, cutely nuzzles the tip of his nose against yours. “This is why I need you in my life. You act aloof around me but you always think about me more than you think about yourself. You pretend to be ignorant, but you never fail to notice all these efforts I made. You care about me more than anyone else.”

Watching him put your feelings into words makes you feel flustered but you don't deny it. Not when he speaks only the truth. “I can also kick everyone’s butt for you.”

“As someone who has witnessed your heroic tales in high school, yes, you can, one hundred percent.” You feel his smile forming on your skin as he kisses your temple. “But just having you around me right now is enough. And it’s fine. I don’t care what anyone else thinks about me, at least not anymore. As long as you’re proud of me.”

“I am,” you say without missing a beat. “I’m proud of you, Toru.”

He takes away your hand that’s been warming his face, kissing your wrist while he maintains eye contact with you. “That’s all that matters to me.”

Your stomach swirls at the intensity of his gaze, his voice—just above a whisper—bears the same kind of tenderness and affection he portrayed on the day he asked you to marry him. His lips rub against your veins, the softest kiss against the softest skin. Your hand seems tiny in his grip but it’s a perfect fit. Every part of you is when it comes to him. 

“So, uhh…” You clear your throat. “What are you going to do now?”

“I guess I’ll just have to keep doing my best so I can prove them wrong.” His grin returns. “I’ll make my wife feel even prouder of me.”

He replies to your little chuckles with a kiss, light but sweet. Despite your heart wanting more of his touch, of the heat of his lips against your own, you focus on the matter. “Why have you never told me about this before?”

“Because I never cared about it too much,” he replies with a shrug. “Work only feels overwhelming when you’re not around. When you’re with me, no matter how stressful my workplace is, I’ll feel at ease instantly.” He lays his forehead on your shoulder, rubbing his face against the fabric. “So, don’t leave me, okay? If I have to go out of town, I’ll have you hide inside my suitcase so I can carry you around.”

You chortle lightly. “And if I have to go?”

“Well…” He pulls away, his eyes fixated on the shape of your lips as he caresses them with his thumb. He looks back at you, his fingertips resting on your nape, holding you still. You find your breathing stalled as his own fanned your lips. “I guess I’ll just have to convince you to stay.”

And when he kisses you again, you know that he doesn’t mean with his words.

***

07.34 AM

“Bunny!” Satoru calls from the bathroom, his voice reverberating loudly through the hall. “Baby, come over here!”

Standing in your apron with your hands moving to fetch your chopped onions from your kitchen aisle, you try your best to focus on your cooking while answering him at the same time. “For the last time, Satoru, I’m not interested in taking a shower together with you!” You sprinkle some pepper into the dish, wiping your sweat away from your temple with the back of your hand. You take a glance at the digital clock nearby. “Not when we have to leave in an hour!”

“But I’ll let you shape my hair!”

“Not interested!”

“I’ll even let you give me a mohawk!”

“Not intere—oh shit—” It’s a given, really, that you’d accidentally pour too much salt into your cream soup from all this diversion. Taking a deep breath, you start to glare at your ceiling as you chant don’t get angry, don’t get angry inside your head. This is the reason why you try to keep him off the kitchen floor as far away as possible whenever you’re making food but even when he’s meters away from you, he still manages to annoy you somehow. 

“Babe, I couldn’t hear you. Was that a yes?”

“NO!”

***

07.41 AM

“Oooh~ Something smells good~” Satoru chirps, popping back into the living room with a toothy grin and a white towel wrapped around his hips. It’s hanging low on his body, showcasing very distracting V-lines that you (secretly) adore. You look away. No good can come from staring at your husband’s lean, perfectly shaped stomach at this time of the day. 

But then you catch a glimpse of the scratch marks you left on his back from last night, your face aflame since you can barely remember how hard you dug your nails into his skin. Satoru always likes it when you’re not careful with him—just like how you love it when he’s rough with you—but were you really that… desperate to keep him close, clutching onto him like that?

You shake your thoughts away. “Dry your hair properly,” you mutter, keeping your eyes on the plates you’re currently setting on the dining table. “I just mopped the floor.”

“Okay, Mom.” Dabbing a smaller towel against his hair, Satoru walks closer to your spot and pulls back a chair.

You eye him cautiously. “What are you doing?”

“Taking a seat, what do you think I’m doing?”

“You’re not gonna wear your clothes first?”

“Do I have to?” He takes a sip of your half-finished coffee, smacking his lips before he throws a naughty grin. “I mean, I fucked you right here last night. Surely you won’t mind eating breakfast with me only in my towel?” Before you can say a word—and you have lots to say—Satoru adds, “I’m just giving you a chance to ogle at my body as much as you want as you enjoy your food. I know you’re too embarrassed to ask, so you’re welcome. And if you’re willing to take a day off, I can be your dessert too.” 

You make a face. “Gross.” 

“And yet, you don’t deny the fact that you’re planning to stare.” Peering into your eyes, he places his chin on his hand, resting his elbow on the table. The haughty look he displays on his face is supposed to irritate you, but what it does is make your heart pound harder. “You’ve seen and touched these babies for years, and you still can’t get enough? Babe, come on.”

“You seriously calling your abs your babies?”

“Yep.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “But if you play nice, I’ll let you call them—”

“Just eat your breakfast.”

***

07.46 AM

“Babe?”

“What?”

“I have something to say but promise me you won’t kill me after I said it.”

“Okay…” You look up from your plate, feeling a bit concerned. “What is it?”

Satoru has never looked this serious in his entire life (because face it, Satoru and the word serious don’t really belong together now, do they?). 

Taking hold of your hand, he gently squeezes it, providing the comfort that you might need.

“This soup is salty as hell.”

***

07.58 AM

With the taste of salt still lingering thickly on his tongue (and a bump on his head, a masterpiece done by your fist), Satoru steps inside the bedroom with a yawn, his fingers scratching his undercut. He unwraps the towel from his waist, tossing it onto the sheets without care.

Your husband smiles the second he notices the way you’ve prepared his clothes so neatly on the desk, all the way from his tie, his belt even down to his socks. His dress pants are ironed to a crisp seam, and his phone is fully charged (after being married to him for three years, you’ve learned all of his little habits). You’ve selected a matching dark tie to go with his suit, one that he recalled was given to him as a gift during last year’s anniversary. He loves it. He loves how you always buy the things he needs instead of what he wants, even when he, himself, didn’t realize how essential they were. But what makes him the happiest is when he sees the way it makes you smile so warmly every time he wears it, like a painter landing a final stroke on her masterpiece. For someone who doesn’t speak romantic words so often, your little gesture never fails to portray what’s on your mind. You love him and it shows. 

“I’m being spoiled, huh?” Satoru mumbles to himself, nothing but elation in his chest. He spots the little notes you left him on the same table, your handwriting scribbled on a piece of paper. “Ooooh~ A love note?”

Dear husband, If you leave your wet towel on the bed again  I’ll kill you.

“Not a love note.” Wincing, he immediately retrieves the towel from the bed, his mind playing a traumatic flashback of you scolding him about it for two hours straight (because suddenly it wasn’t just about the wet towel, was it? The forgotten toilet seat. The countless jackets hanging on the coat rack because he kept grabbing a new one. The pile of hentai doujinshi piling up on the coffee table. All of them.)

With the thought of skipping today’s work lingering in his head, Satoru forces himself to dress. As he turns around to face the mirror, he captures a brief look at the kiss marks blooming on his neck, ones that you painted on him last night. They’re faint because, unlike someone in this condo, you make sure to always be considerate of his appearance (though Satoru wishes you weren’t), but even the lightest shade of red seems vibrant on his fair skin. 

Although he acts nonchalant most of the time, your husband is quite the possessive type, so it’s a given that he likes the idea of having his marks on you. He gets a kick out of watching you struggle to hide the love bites he left on your neck, even more so when someone notices it. But, of course, nothing beats the feeling of having your marks on him. If you allowed him to, he would’ve worn every bite and bruise like a medal. Proudly. Contentedly. The same way he exhibited every present you’ve given him. Satoru just loves the idea of having a wife—of having you as his wife—and he would showcase that to the world in every second of his life if he could. 

He traces the bruises with his fingertips, drowning himself in the thoughts of you gasping against his ear, your teeth grinding against his neck as he pushed your knees further against your stomach with every thrust of his hips. He wasn’t lying when he said you looked absolutely gorgeous during sex. The way you parted your lips. The way your eyebrows stitched together in pleasure. The little noises you made when you breathed out his name as you bounced on his lap—

Satoru looks down. There it is again, the ache between his legs. Funny how you’re already so distracting even without doing anything—or being in the same room for that matter. Sighing, he grouses, “Guess she’s right. No signs of erectile dysfunction.” Willing his indecent thoughts to go away, he tucks his hands into the sleeves, buttoning up his shirt before he circles his tie around his neck.

“Satoru!” He hears your voice resonating from the bathroom. “Toru, can you come here for a sec? I need your help!”

“Oh, now she’s calling me to have sex with her.” He rolls his eyes. “After I finish taking a shower. So much for playing hard to get,” he scoffs. It’s ironic that he says this because right now he’s the one who’sacting that way. With giddy hands, he unfastens his tie, rushing to take off his pants again and almost tripping on his way out. He dashes toward the bathroom, opening the door while he strives to keep his excitement in check.

“WHOA!” You yelp in surprise, your body nude and drenched, hiding behind the door with only your head peeking out. “Why are you naked?!”

He frowns, confused. “Cause we’re about to have sex?”

Now you’re confused. “Uhh, no?”

“Why did you call me then?”

“I forgot my towel.”

“You’re asking me to get you your towel?” He sounds so appalled as if that thought never occurred to him when it’s supposed to be the first thing that should pop out in his head. Before you can respond, however, his mind, delusional as always, answers the question for him. “Oh, I see,” he smirks. “You’re using codes.”

“What?”

“‘I forgot my towel’—isn’t that, like, our code for ‘let’s have sex in the shower?’”

“Satoru.” You hold yourself back from ripping the silver strands out of his head. He’s testing your patience. Again. “We don't have any secret code.”

“We don’t?”

“Nope.”

“Oh…” It almost feels a bit cartoonish the way his shoulders sag upon hearing your words. There he is, a 29-year-old male standing in front of you in all his naked glory, saddened to his core over the fact of not having a cipher for sex. Well, for three seconds anyway. “So… You wanna make this our secret code, effective immediately, or—”

“Get the damn towel.”

With a stomp, Satoru leaves the bathroom only to return with your towel in one hand and his eyes squinting in a glare. Being the brat that he is, instead of handing it directly to you, he lets the thick cloth fall to the floor just a few inches away from where you’re standing. 

“Oh, you’re so annoying.”

“Isn’t that your secret code for saying you love me?”

You throw a jab to his stomach.

***

08.24 AM

Pushing your hair out of your coat, you call out your husband’s name. You examine your appearance one more time in the mirror, tidying your strands until they frame your face perfectly. The condo is fairly clean. Your stomach is full though you can’t seem to wash away the saltiness of your soup just yet. You’re only seven minutes late from your original plan, which isn’t bad. You’re all set. 

“Toru, you’re ready to go?”

Your husband is still yawning when he meets you in the foyer, carrying his handbag with his shoulders sagging forward. He’s dressed sharply in a white button-up shirt, combined with a black suit that accentuates the broadness of his shoulders. He looks handsome. He always does.

“Well, well, well, hello, Mr. CMO,” you snicker, pulling him by the tie while seductively batting your eyelashes at him. “Do you have time to spare? I would like to have a private meeting with you.”

He’s so tired, he doesn’t have the strength to keep up with your flirting, which says something since it’s usually the other way around. He spreads his arms wide open, his pout turning more prominent by the second. “Come here.”

“What?”

“I need my twenty-second hug.”

So, apparently, Satoru believes in this theory he found recently on the internet that said when you hug someone for, at least, twenty seconds, your body begins secreting the hormone oxytocin which is known to boost the immune system and reduce stress. He said that but you know that he’s just doing it so he can squeeze your ass, and that’s a fact, not a theory.

“Fine, but don’t grope my ass.”

“As long as you don’t grope mine.”

“I literally never did that.” You bury your face in his chest, tangling your arm around his waist. Satoru’s warmth is really one of a kind, or maybe he’s just as warm as a normal human being and you’re just too intoxicated by his scent that you stop making sense. No matter what the reason is, it’s comforting to be in his arms and if he doesn’t make a big deal out of it every time (acting like you’re the one who desperately wants to embrace him), you’d probably spend hours of your day just hugging him like this.

He buries his nose in your strands. “Your hair smells different.”

“I used your shampoo.”

“Yeah? That’s hot.”

You close your eyes, basking in his warmth and enjoying the smell of his perfume. He’s wearing a different brand today, just for a change, and although it’s not as sweet as his other one, this somehow feels much more comforting. Soft and fresh, reminding you less of summer and more of spring this time. “You smell different.”

“I used your perfume. And your bra.”

You’re not sure if you’re laughing over his terrible joke or his deadpan delivery, maybe a bit of both. Nuzzling your face against his chest, you titter, “Yeah? That’s hot.” 

And he’s not sure if he’s smiling over your reply or the way you just sounded so cute giggling like that—no, definitely both. He tightens his arms around your shoulders, squeezing your body against him until you start pounding your fist against his chest, begging for a time-out before he steals all the air in your lungs. “I think we should just skip work today,” he mutters as he releases you. “We can watch a wildlife documentary and count on how many times Benedict Cumberbatch mispronounced the word “Penguin” as ‘Pengwings.’”

“That sounds productive. If you want Maki to kill you.”

He shudders in fear, pulling you back to him. “Just for that, I’m gonna need another twenty.”

Though you feel the urge the roll your eyes, you let him tug you back into his arms and rest his chin on your head. After all, he’s your personal teddy bear. You can spend your eternity just sinking into his embrace like this.

“Satoru?”

“Hmm?”

“Your hands are on my ass.”

“Yeah, but I’m not groping them.”

“You are now.”

“Well now that you mentioned it, I just have to, don’t I?”

You break away, giving a playful slap on the chest. “Enough, we’re running late.”

“Where do you find the energy to go to work every morning?” He asks with weariness in his eyes. “I am this close to throwing myself back to the bed.”

Funny how literally an hour ago, he promised you that he’d work harder to make you feel even prouder of him. “Well, I guess, it all started when I turned into a fully grown woman.” You smiled at him, fixing his tie before you dealt with his collar. He might be the youngest person to enter C-level in his company, but he still dresses as clumsily as a five-year-old if it wasn’t for you to keep his appearance in check all the time.

“I’m a fully grown man too and I still wish I could lay around all day,” he sulks.

“You’re a man-child.” Tugging on his tie, you pull him down until your lips meet his in a chaste kiss. “But I love you. Body, mind, and soul.” You beam at him with your widest grin. “How’s that for your energy booster, Gojo-san?”

To your surprise, Satoru answers you by tossing his handbag to the side and dipping his head down once more to re-attach your lips together. He kisses you with the same fervor he had last night, tongue sneaking inside to taste the minty scent of your toothpaste. You gasp against his mouth, fingers fisting the fabric of his suit as you struggle to maintain your balance. Can’t help but take a couple of steps back from how hard he’s kissing you, you stop only when your spine meets the wall. “Satoru—” You attempt to push him away by placing your hand on his chest but he clamps his fingers around your wrist, bringing it over your head.

With his body pressed against yours, you wonder if he can feel your palpitating heartbeat beating against his own. There’s no stopping him when he gets this aggressive with his kiss and it’s not like you can find any willpower within you to stop him. Fortunately for you, he breaks away, wetting his bottom lip once as his eyes still glaze over your bruised ones.

“Spirits lifted,” he smiles against your lips, sending blood to pool in your cheeks. “Thanks, babe.”

When he lets you go, you find it almost impossible to stay composed. Three years… Three damn years you’ve been married to him and he still knows how to make your knees buckle with a single kiss.

“Babe?”

You push yourself away from the wall, your fingers tangled in your hair when you try to fix it. “W-what?”

Putting on his sunglasses, he casts a smirk, “You might want to fix your lipstick.”

“Oh, I hate you.”

He pecks your cheek. “I love you too, baby girl.”

***

08.32 AM

Despite you being the better driver—better as in I’m not gonna try and bribe an officer with a brand new iPhone whenever I get pulled over or threaten him with my family name when things don’t work out my way—Satoru always insists on having his hands on the steering wheel every time you’re with him. “A gentleman wouldn’t let his lady drive, especially when she looks this pretty in that skirt,” he always says, and yes, maybe this is his gentleman sidetalking—even when the said gentleman had put on the same skirt and caressed his own butt in front of the mirror a few days back. But honestly? You know this is just a part of his master plan to control the music playlist for the next ten to fifteen minutes.

“We’re not listening to Hatsune Miku again,” you say, putting on your seatbelt. 

“Oh, we totally are,” Satoru cackles, his fingers sliding up and down the touchscreen. He has seventeen different playlists consisting of more than a hundred songs in total, all taken from his favorite albums. Which is not much, really, considering Hatsune Miku is featured in around two thousand songs by now (a fact that you, honest to God, don’t care but he keeps reminding you of).

“Satoru, if you play one more Hatsune Miku song, I swear I won't put out tonight.”

“Well, if I have to listen to cookbook again—”

“Jungkook.”

“If I have to listen to cookbook one more time then I won’t put out tonight.”

“That's fine with me,” you shrug.

“Fuck,” he clicks his tongue, desperately jumping to the next option. “Okay, uhh… Oh, I know! You’re not getting my credit card ever again.”

You have one finger hovering above the screen. “So which Hatsune album are we listening to today?”

He sends you a dead stare. “Do you only love me for my money?”

“Oh, honey…” You rest your palm gently on his face, cupping and stroking his cheek. “Of course, I do.” You give him a tap that goes a little too hard than you intended but then again, he kind of deserves it. “Now, drive.” 

Satoru doesn’t even have the energy to come up with a retort. Exhaling in defeat, he kicks in the gear while you, with your face crumpled in repulsion, try to pick the least insufferable Hatsune Miku song. Unfortunately for you, Satoru catches a title that steals his attention.

“OOOH go back, go back! I want to listen to that one!”

You sigh, selecting his song choice. “It’s too early to listen to—” Beaming with joy and oblivious to the hatred you have for that one song, Satoru sweeps in and cranks up the volume until you feel your ears ringing from the inside. 

“Oh my God—” You flinch. If his loud nagging didn’t bust your eardrum, this definitely will. “Does it have to be this loud?!”

“Of course, my goddess is singing!” He shouts, grinning from ear to ear. He starts singing along, just as loudly, if not more. At this point, you swear there are people jogging on the sidetracks looking at your car with their faces contorting into frowns. 

 “I’m the number one princess in the world, so that's how you'll treat me,” he sings, slamming his hands against the wheel, head bobbing to the beat. “Oh my God, this is the soundtrack of my life!”

Still scowling, you have no choice but to listen further to the lyrics.

It's not like I'm acting selfish, I'm not asking for much  I just want you to think from the bottom of your heart that I'm adorable I'm the number one princess in the world  Notice me! Hey! Heeey!  Keeping me waiting is out of the question  Just who do you think I am?  Whatever, I think I could go for some dessert!  Yes, right now!

You grimace. “It really is.”

***

10.54 AM 

11.45 AM 

01.10 PM 

01.29 PM

02.05 PM 

02.29 PM 

03.22 PM 

04.02 PM

05.28 PM

06.11 PM

07.06 PM 

***

AN: Thank you so much for reading! I'm so sorry for the amount of cringe that you had to suffer through while you were reading this 😭

[fatalrosecreations]

🎃 The Pumpkin Babes Collab 🎃 by @fatalrosecreations x Dissia

Public Access: Immediately Ever wanted to get spooky with your bestie and take some hotttt halloween photos? In collaboration with the wonderful @Dissia, we bring to you this smexcii collection!

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Besties Mini Pose Pack: 6 standing Poses [3 Pose sets] Using Dissia's pose hammer.

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[thesleepyfable]

~ SWTD: Still Here AU Part 9: ~

When the Walls Crumbled:

This is it. The long awaited Murine/Muirinnes chapter.

Fun fact: This is my first ever romance piece I've done for any fan-fiction. So, I have no idea if this is good or not.

Another fact: I had already completed this chapter before chapters 7 and 8. This was going to be chapter 7, but I had to map out a timeline when I decided this was going to be a mini-arc, and not a time-jump to post-rescue. Plus, during that time, I decided not to have military involvement. What I have instead you'll soon see.

Tw: Parental abuse and gambling.

Part 10:

Innes couldn't sleep. He found himself staring at the container ceiling. Drool ran down the chin, which only momentarily snapped him out of his daydream. Then right back to it. He tried, but no amount of tossing or turning was helping. Even when he was leaned against Muir, he found no comfort. A quick check from his watch showed it was 2:15am.

'Maybe some fresh air will help?' He asked himself.

With a quick glance at Muir, seeing him sleeping peacefully, Innes carefully moved from his side and made it for the door. He'll go outside, sit at the railing, and have a smoke to himself. Or he would do that if a tendril didn't wrap around his waist. Of course, Muir was secretly awake the entire time. Sneaky little shit. Innes accepted defeat with a deflated sigh and turned to see Muir lift him up and place him in front of his face.

'I thought you were asleep.'

Muir ignored the empty statement.

'Innes, what's wrong?' Because he could sense something. His heartbeat wasn't normal, and he felt it sink at the question. Then there were his eyes. For hours, Innes has had a hurt look in them. Even when he cheered for Brodie and Finlay, and when gorged on the leftovers, the look was still there. Plus, even if they've been practically inseparable, Innes couldn't bring himself to look Muir in his. Even now, Innes was clearly looking through him. 'It's okay. You know it'll be okay.'

Words filled and drowned Innes' mind.

'Stupid boy. You deserve this. How can you look at yourself? Stop being a fucking idiot!'

The words Innes would hear from his father and he'd repeat them as self-punishment.

'Don't cry. You're not a man if you cry!'

He wanted to, but a part of him was always afraid to. He feared his father would find out, even over a hundred miles away and being 6 feet under. That man left a mark that was hard to scrub off. No luck. Even Innes had a breaking point. Tears began to fall, and Muir began to wipe them away.

'Why aren't you mad at me?' A lump formed in his throat, and his heart began to race. 'I left you alone. I just ran whilst you turned into,' he gestured to Muir's exposed ribs. 'This. I'm your supervisor. I'm supposed to look out for you. You said that yourself!' He paused to catch his breath, but to no avail. 'I'm so sorry, Muir.'

The guilt had been eating away at him. Since he heard Muir calling out for him in distress. Even if no one could blame him, Innes' heart felt heavy, and he wanted to be sick. In his mind, because of him, Muir will never be human again. His body blew open and turned inside out with ribs exposed and flesh crawling along the hard-hat, which was possibly the reason it didn't spread further. He lost his hair, his mouth was stretched on one side, and most of his lips had melted away, half-blind despite having multiple eyes, and his innards hung inches from the floor. It was all his fault. Muir's cry for help will be something he can never forgive or forget.

'Innes, where ya going?!'

'INNNNNEEEEEEEES!'

'Innes? Help me, Innes!'

'Innes? Where's Innes? I just need help, eh?'

How was Muir able to break down the walls he tried so hard to build? What was this man to him? Innes never cried, and yet in one day, he cried over him twice. Not even his ex-wife got him to cry when she left him for someone else. He didn't cry when his house got repossessed through his gambling. And he certainly didn't cry when he heard his dad had passed. A tendril kept wiping his tears away. Muir pulled him closer, and Innes hugged what he could of his face. He didn't want to let go.

The last 3 years raced through his mind. Innes remembered the day he was called up to Rennick's office. At first, he thought it was because he had rolled up his sleeves and pants because of the unbearable summer heat. He wasn't too happy to hear he'd be looking after a newcomer with no prior training, but he did get a bollocking for the uniform.

Muir stepped off the chopper without a single hair out of place or crease in his uniform. Like all new hires, he had brought too much baggage. A backpack and small suitcase. Innes knew more than half of that wasn't going to see the light of day for months. Always amusing to see. He lingered at the steps with crossed arms and a smirk. Rennick introduced himself with that fake yet convincing smile to the untrained eye. In all honesty, Innes thought Muir had brided his way to become a deckhand. How can someone just leave their family farm and instantly work on an oil rig? Still, he grinned and taught Muir everything he could, even if he kept his walls up.

He couldn't tell when they began to crumble, but whenever there was a crack, he would try to mend it. It was exhausting. A fight he had to surrender because as much as he denied it, feelings started to bloom. He hoped they would go overtime, but the opposite happened. Muir's looks, his smell, his laugh, and even his clumsy nature that has gotten the pair in more than enough trouble, just made Innes -

Oh. That's why. Because for the first time in years, Innes was genuinely happy.

'I love you.' He let out a shakey breath and sniffled as he pulled away. The muscles in his neck twitched as he smiled. The hurt look in his eyes was gone, and he could finally look at Muir. His heart continued to race and skip a beat. 'I wished I told you sooner.' He noticed Muir began to cry, but with a smile on the one side of his face. One of pure joy, as if all the problems in the world had washed away. Now, it was Innes' turn to wipe his tears. He'd noticed his right eye was completely open again, and his nose at some point had been put back into shape.

'I've been waiting three years for you to say that.' He stifled a laugh and lightly squeezed Innes' waist. 'I love you too, my big man.'

'I think that's you now.'

'Don't get smart with me.'

The pair shared a mix of laughter and cries. They pulled each other together for another long hug. Innes kissed Muir above his good eye, then at the bridge of his nose, where they placed their foreheads together. They dried each other's tears. Muir moved his head towards Innes to replicate a nuzzle on a part of his shoulder.

It might be the middle of winter, but they felt warm. It was inviting. It was new. It was something they didn't want to let go of, so they stayed like this. Frozen in time.

Roy opened the door. Neither had come for breakfast, so he thought it was best to check up on them. He found the pair huddled together. Tendrils wrapped around Innes like a blanket, except for his arms hugging them in return. Muir lightly snored, stretched, and gently pulled Innes closer.

He was no expert, but Roy could tell. He slowly closed the door and left the pair. What harm would another hour do?

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

The B-52's - Roseland, New York City, April 19, 1982

I was in NYC for a couple of days earlier this month and though time was limited, I did of course find a minute to visit a local record store — Academy Records on W. 18th St. Digging through the $5 bin, I found a nice copy of the B-52's' David Byrne-produced Mesopotamia mini-album, which I've always loved, but have never had on vinyl before. A no-brainer! As I checked out, I noticed that Mesopotamia had been recorded at Bob Blank's Blank Tape Studio, and some quick Google mapping revealed that I was just moments away from where that studio used to be on 37 W. 20th St. A legendary spot, as a footnote in Jesse Rifkin's great This Must Be The Place details:

"[T]he studio's discography includes Television's seminal punk single "Little Johnny Jewel"; disco hits by Musique, Class Action, Crown Heights Affair, and Inner Life; groundbreaking remixes by deejays like Larry Levan, Francois Kervorkian, and Tee Scott; and no-wave/mutant disco albums by the likes of James Chance, Lydia Lunch, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and DNA. It was the favored studio of genre-bending auteur Arthur Russell, and classic albums by Talking Heads (Speaking In Tongues), the Gun Club (Miami), Joe Bataan (Mestizo), Ashford & Simpson (Solid), the B-52's (Mesopotamia), Miami Sound Machine (Eyes of Innocence) and Sun Ra (Lanquidity) were all tracked there."

All that and Madonna's first single, too! New York City is like this, of course — a neverending web of connections, a labyrinth of layers upon layers upon layers. You could spend your life walking down its streets, discovering the strange stories behind every building's facade. I could never hack it there full-time, but god bless the people who can!

Anyway — the B-52's! What a wonderful band. Here they are at Roseland (239 W. 52nd St.) right around the time that Mesopotamia came out. A killer SBD tape, featuring an expanded lineup: Dave Buck and Ralph Carney on horns. We get a bunch of the new mini-album, plus plenty of stuff from their already stuffed back catalogue. As with any B-52's tape, I'm sure it's not as good as being there in person, but it's still one heck of a party. Nip it in the bud!

(Oh and hey — this old Pitchfork column of mine has more live jams if you need to further celebrate the miracle of the B-52's.)

[ladybyakuya]

| INTO MY KALIEDISCOPES ( part three ) + SUGISHITA KYOTARO !

+cw. — fem!reader, fluff, comfort, domesticity,pinning.

+wc. — 1k 

+syn.—  Sugishita Kyotaro was always the first target for every impromptu plan that Umemiya made while you were Kotoha's. Naturally, when they both made plans you and Sugishita had to face each other again.

+notes. — this is for the flufftober ‘fond moments’ collab event for prompt: date night hosted by @spookuna. m\dni cuz me iz eighteen plus blog. this is part of a mini drabble series that can be read as stand alone. |  redirect to blog navigation. 

The shop that was suggested by both Haji-kun and Koto-chan is the same shop that popped up in Google Maps when you searched for “grocery stores near me.” but now that you are finally here you can tell why it was so hard to locate the shop, even for google. The town guide, Sugishita, who is accompanying you was not much of a help. Besides, talking with him is still a boat you had yet to set foot on let alone sail on it. Never in the worst nightmares you had expected to run into him, again, after that embarrassing date night. 

The shop is almost empty except for the staff at the cash counter who is practically dozing off. It is already quite late at night so you do not see a reason to blame him especially because Makochi is a forlorn town. No shop is ever too crowded to come back home empty-handed. Haji-kun wanted to have a barbeque night; naturally, Hiragi was busy helping him, more like cleaning the mess he left behind after he was done with something, as always. Kotoha, Sakura, Nirei, and Suo are helping with the setup while Kaji and Tsubaki have gone to invite others, especially the members of Shishitoren and the people at show pub Ougi bar. As a result of these patiently concocted coincidences You and Sugishita were the only two people left with nothing to do but one of the most important responsibilities: “grocery shopping.”

A heavy sigh escapes from your chest as you lay your eyes on the entire display of products while standing in front of the fridge. Vibrant in color compared to the other parts of this dull silent shop, it piqued your interest first even though it is the utmost corner. The ground shelf of the fridge, which extends from one end of the shop to the nook of the staircase which would possibly lead to the second floor, is filled with dairy products. The shelf above it is filled with frozen foods and various types of treats with different tastes like salty, spicy, sweets, and alcoholic; the last, the uppermost shelf is filled with a wide variety of chocolates. Your concern is the middle section but the level above it is the most tempting. You pick a bunch of packets from the frozen foods section and look by your right side. 

Oh god! Where did this boy run off to now? He was following you like a stray puppy just a while ago. With the shopping cart in between the two of you, it felt like he was light years apart every time you turned back to keep anything inside it. You look around unable to spot him, slowly sinking into a rabbit hole of distraught since without him you would be lost in Makochi. You would not be able to go back without him. Relying on the phone? That’s pretty useless here. The network is bad besides you do not have anyone’s number except Kotoha and even if you did make a call she would be busy in the preparations of barbeque mostly probably unable to take the call . . . Oh God! Why did Haji-kun have to send you in the middle of nowhere. . . ?

A metallic screech sucks you out of your puddle of thoughts. You look in the direction of the source and a nonchalant Sugishita appears emerging from another section of the rack that has a lot of mangas, magazines, and books, by standing on the bar of the shopping cart while hunching his upper body to balance his weight, skidding it till he comes to a halt in front of you. His head turns up towards you, eyes blinking: one, twice, thrice before he straightens himself up to stand properly. He stands looking at the fridge, the cart in between you two as you inspect him for a few seconds. He is not hunching like he usually does around Umme! The inner flesh of your bottom lip faces a rough distortion against your teeth while you empty your hands into the cart. It already had drinks, soda cans, and different types of sauces neatly kept. It felt illegal to dump those packets messily into that apple pie setup but when there was a slow appearance of a visible crease along his eyebrows the pit guilt was now filled with surprise and  . . . joy perhaps.

“Alright fine,” You chime with an ear-to-ear smile jocking down to keep those packets of frozen foods in a well-ordered manner. The dull buzz of the air conditioner, the sharp ‘clicks’ when the rotating fans switch its direction, the crinkle of plastic packets inside the cart as you organize it, the low even syncing breaths of you two; then a gruff unfiltered voice turns up in a weak whisper, “This almost feels like a date night, wouldn’t you agree? ” and then, his hand on yours.  Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. You knew this was coming. You were . . . supposed to be prepared for this. It was you who avoided him at first. It was you who created an awkward situation like this. The fact that you saw him under those dim yellow lights in such an intimate manner does not help either. Those moments so unadulterated keep coming back to you in situations like this in flashes. It makes you close your eyes, and blink rashly to be back in all sorts of coherence. 

You look up slowly. His face is close, too close not to do anything—kiss or touch— your forehead against his, rub your cheeks against his. By now your fingers have found a home in between his fingers. He shoves his right hand into his pocket pulling out a half-eaten chocolate out of it and keeping it inside the cart. You feel a strong urge to smile but instead, wet your bottom lip rubbing the back of his palm with your lonely thumb that was not interlaced with his yet.

“Would you like to start over?”

[wonderfulwitchwillow]

So like, when anyone thinks Ravenloft you probably think of Curse of Strahd. Or hell Curse of Strahd as a standalone thing. Like its one of the most popular modules of all time. But Curse of Strahd is an adaptation. One of many adaptations of 1st edition's I6: Ravenloft.

It got me wondering, how many people have actually taken time to look at this module who weren't playing in the 80s. I wasn't even alive in the 80s, and when this module came out my father was in high school playing D&D. So I doubt alot of people go back and really look at some of these older modules. And I happen to be a collector/lore nerd for all things Ravenloft. So what exactly is different? I have somewhat compiled my thoughts into a semi-cohesive analysis of I6 and Curse of Strahd.

Alot, and I do mean alot, of the module is similar to the opening and the castle in Curse of Strahd so this is your warning for spoilers for the module. I intend to talk about every major (and some minor) changes between 1st editions Ravenloft and 5th editions Curse of Strahd and give some of my commentary on what I have found, and some notes about random related facts. I am not going to discuss the overall narrative of I6 or Curse of Strahd since the only major narrative differences is in the Castle, which I do discuss in detail in that section of the post. I also know there are other adapations of I6 Ravenloft, 2nd edition has House of Ravenloft and 3rd edition has Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, but I am analyzing 1st edition and 5th edition's design choices; if I focused on all the editions, I would need more than just 1 super long post; plus Expedition to Castle Ravenloft really deserves its own post since its canon is separate from the greater ravenloft canon of second and third edition. Forgive me if my photos suck, I am using my phone and my shadows keep showing up. I have several things I want to say before I get started proper; I6 uses some derogatory words for the Vistani people, a ethnic group in Ravenloft not subtly based on the Romani people. These words may appear in some of my images but I am going to do my best to avoid showing them and the slurs will not appear in my text. I make mention of this because the Vistani are not refereed to as the Vistani in I6 but in all other versions of the module and the setting as a whole, they are called the Vistani. This is something that is an issue in second and third edition when it comes to the Ravenloft setting. It is at times, very racist. And I would not be doing justice to those who are harmed without mentioning the use of slurs or racial caricatures for a real ethnic group in this module. I am not going to talk more about them in the module since their presence outside of Madam Eva is small and racist; serving as minions of Strahd with a neutral evil alignment; which this alone is incredibly disgusting by making a real group of people evil. The harm started with this module and it is something that everyone who interacts with Ravenloft, regardless of canon, take caution and care with handling. I added IDs to each photo to help as well. I shall be discussing the module under the cut.

Part 0 - extra bits and forward

This post is incredibly long, I have tried to add mini-headers for each major subsection of this post because as I was working on it, it somewhat ballooned in scope and I want it to be fairly readable for those who are interested.

Onto the module discussion

Part 1 - Cover and maps

Forgive me for having a section just dedicated to the maps but as you would soon find out, its quite extensive in detail.

[ID]

A cardboard outer sleeve with the words Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Official Game Adventure Ravenloft. Below the title is a landscape image in a gothic horror art style.

The image is of the vampire count Strahd von Zarovich standing on his castle's walled balcony overlooking a misty cliff side. On the railing of the balcony sits two gargoyle statues. The castle itself is behind Strahd with a gateway being directly behind him. There are two castle spires, one in the foreground cut off by the artwork, one in the background with the spire's peak nearly visible. The castle's battlements are behind the right spire and go from the upper center of the artwork to the edge on the right. There is a lightning strike in the upper right corner along with bats flying out of the right spire into the night. Mist fills the lower right corner, obscuring the spire.

Below the artwork is a line of marketing text- "The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner - and you are invited. Ravenloft is an adventure for 6 to 8 players of levels 5 to 7." Below this is the TSR logo, which is an outline of the letters "T" "S" and "R". Below the logo is the copyright information "TSR, Inc. Products of your imagination. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Products of your imagination are trademarks of TSR. Inc."

[End ID]

I think I am not alone in saying but the first edition module covers are iconic. It is this generic fantasy style now but like that style is timeless to me. Its Strahd looking menacing over the chapel outlook's balcony. Its incredibly imposing. Its a different vibe and I don't think the other modules ever nail the vibe that Strahd is menacing on the cover art. He is waiting to strike or overlooking his lands. Though Curse of Strahd cover is probably my second favorite because he is less of a monster and more of a noble playing a game which is far closer to how he is played as a villian. Strahd always changing his appearance to fit in with what we consider "fantasy" for the era. I am fascinated with older editions of D&D so it makes sense why I would love this art so much. It is absolutely my taste and I am biased.

[ID]

The image contains two documents on a wooden table. The document on the left is the same document as the first image, cardboard outer sleeve On the top of the sleeve above this title is an orange header with "I6" on the left corner and "9075" on the right corner which wasn't visible in the first image.

The second document is a map folded in half showing only the right potion of the map. The map has a white margin surrounding the entire map as a a border. The top of the map has a repeating pattern lining the edge of the map invoking a gothic crown molding. The right edge of the map has a marble pillar going from the top to the bottom of the map, serving as a border. The map's legend is in the right corner. The contents of the legend are in a white box. The words Ravenloft stylized in bold font are above the rest of the legend. The Letters R and T in Ravenloft have gargoyle heads extending outwards to face the edges of the the legend. The legend is organized into 4 rows with 3 columns. The legend shows off several colors with associated elevations: Light green is associated with Elevation 0-49 feet", Dark Green is Elevation 50-99 feet. Blue Green is Elevation 100-999 feet. Purple is Elevation 1000-1499 FT. and is the end of the first column. At the start of the second column is the last color, a Reddish Purple is Elevation 1500+ feet. Continuing down the second column there are shapes to indicate map elements. Lines repeating next to each other vertically indicate a cliff wall, two parallel lines that complete indicate a road, and two parallel lines that are dashed indicate a trail. The third column shows more colors to represent buildings that are occupied: A brown rectangle indicates an occupied house. A light brown rectangle indicates an unoccupied house. A small light brown square indicates an unoccupied store. The last icon on the legend is a red rectangle indicating an Encounter Building. Bellow the columns and the width of the rows is text "Scale: 1 hex = 200 feet". Bellow the legend is a title. "Map 1. Lands of Barovia"

The map starts at the right and flows left following a white road. The maps elevation up to the city remains light green with the northern portion of the city, near a point labeled E7, becoming dark green. North and south of the road is a woods. The road starts near the letter A passing through what appears to be a gate labeled B Continuing we see two hexes with the letters C on the map on the left and right adjacent hexes. Following the road is the village of barovia, with houses indicating occupancy. There are several red houses each labeled with corresponding letters. The center has E1 and E2. South is E3, E5, and E4. North is E6 and E7. The road heads south west from the village, passing E and ending at a gate before the fold cuts off the map. Below the village is a river labeled D.

[End ID]

Moving to the actual contents for a moment - how many folks know that these sleeves/covers are not attached at all? I store my older books in comic book sleeves with backs. I don't know if this was a cost cutting measure or if comic book storage was the original intention since I could see the same communities overlapping in the 80s but like, if someone knows why, please let me know. I am so curious. I know they made comics that were released around the same time, made by DC in the 80s and 90s, so its not a stretch to say that it was expected to store modules like comic books.

[ID]

A folded out display of several maps for Castle Ravenloft as isometric cross sections. The sleeve contains Map 2. Walls of Ravenloft, Map 5. Rooms of weeping. Map 6, Map 7, Map 8, Map 9 and Map 10 all of which are associated with the Spires of Ravenloft. In the bottom left corner is a front facing image of the entire castle with size guide displaying the full height of the castle including the spire. The total height of the castle is 360 ft. The break points shown along the way up to the total height are associated with floor sizes for each of the associated maps. The maps 5 through 10 are stacked on top of each other such that 10 is at the top and 5 is at the bottom of the sleeve.

Map 5 contains a hallway with a stairwell leading down labeled K46, a bedroom labeled K42, additional rooms labeled K41, K43, K44, K45, K36, and K37 along with several corridors labeled K39, K38, and K40. There are additional stairways labeled K21, K18, and K20. Map 5 is 40 feet from floor to ceiling.

Map 6 contains roof tops labeled K53, a chimney labeled K52, 4 interconnected rooms labeled K51, K50, K49 and K47, the same stairways from Map 5 labeled K18, K20 and the top of K21 which ends in room K47, and a new stairway labeled K48 which is connected to room K47. Map 6 is 40 feet from floor to ceiling.

Map 7 contains the Straiways K20, K18, and K48. Three rooms are attached to each other. K55 is attached to both K54 and K56. K54 is attached to the stairwell K48. Map 7 is 40 feet from floor to ceiling.

Map 8 has the stairway K48 end as it reaches a spire's battlements, labeled K57. There is a stone bridge linking to the stairway K20 labeled K58. K20 continues to ascend to map 9 but depected on Map 8 is a heart. K18 continues to climb and will reach its peak in map 10. Map 8 is 20 feet higher than map 7.

Map 9 starts 50 feet from map 8 with a spire's battlements as the ending for the stairs. This room is labeled K60.

Map 10 is the peak for the stairs K18. It is spire with a pointed roof. The room is labeled 59 while the enter of the stairs is now accessible, a fall of 380 feet, labeled K18a.

Returning to the left side of the sleeve, above the front facing image is Map 2. This map is the courtyard of the castle along with some ground floor elements. The front yard entrance is labeled K1, the side gates to the back of courtyard are labeled K2, the carriage house is labeled K4, the chapel is k5 and the outlook is K6. The gate leading into the courtyard is labeled J

Above map 2 is a full 3d side view of the castle. It has the spires indicated in Map 8, 9, and 10 along with the rooftops from map 7. The walls are also clearly visible along with the chapel. The stable house is also visible but the outlook is just a flat floor.

[End ID]

Back to the sleeve, if we open it, its a map of Castle Ravenloft! Its isometric and how in the hell do you keep this hidden from your players if you ever need to refer to it while in session? You probably have to grab it out and review it as you draw on some kind of graphing paper and attach it with tape together or something or just draw it out before the game starts and come to your weekly game night with it all prepared, like how we do it now. Its also wild that this sleeve isn't attached in anyway. If you lose either this outer sleeve or inner sleeve with even more maps, you just lose all the maps. I did not grow up in the 80s or 90s when this was the way you would play, 5th edition was my first edition, so again, was this ever a problem? I could see it being a problem since cardboard is not sturdy at all and I am terrified in tearing it accidently. The pricing was also around $7 to $9 in the 80s which would be about $22 to $28, which is cheaper than modules are now but no where near cheap enough to justify the cardboard and the paper quality.

Anyway, the castle itself is 360 feet tall which is massive for an actual castle. Though most of the height is the main spire with the Heart of Sorrow like we all know all love, referred to as the Guardian of Sorrow in I6. If you did the math with all the heights for maps shown, it wouldn't be 360 ft. That is because the rest of the maps are on the inner sleeve, which is two sided. The other side has the map of Barovia, which you have gotten a sneak peak at. Lets finish up on the outer sleeve before moving to the inner sleeve with more maps.

[ID]

An outer cardboard sleeve with the following words: "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" "Official Game Adventure" "Ravenloft" "by Tracey and Laura Hickman"

"Under raging stormclouds, a lone figure stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of castle Ravenloft. Count Strahd von Zarovich stares down a sheer cliff at the village below. A cold, bitter wind spins dead leave about him, billowing his cape in the darkness."

"Lightning splits the clouds overhead, casting stark white light across him. Strahd turns to the sky, revealing the angular muscles of his face and hands. He has a look of power - and of madness. His once-handsome face is contorted by a tragedy darker than the night itself."

"Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind's howling increases as Strahd turns his gaze back to the village. Far below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a part of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd's face forms a twisted smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came. All according to his plan. He, the master of Ravenloft, will attend to them."

"Another lightning flash rips through the darkness, its thunder echoing through the castle's towers. But Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind - or perhaps a lone wolf - fills the midnight air. The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited. "

"1983 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A"

"ISBN 0-88038-942-X" "394-53465-4TSR0600" Below this text is a logo for TSR. Beneith the logo is additional text: "TSR, Inc. Products of your Imagination" On the left margin of the sleeve is a barcode within a white box with the number 0 at the start of the barcode and the number 3 at the end. Beneath the barcode but within the white box is the following string of numbers "46363 09075"

[End ID]

On the reverse of the outer sleeve, its a bunch of information on the module itself. I'll use this time to talk a bit about the creators - though I'll admit I don't know as much as I should. Tracey and Laura Hickman are iconic authors and module designers for the early years of D&D and especially Dragonlance. They also created the second edition version of I6, House of Strahd, Ravenloft 2 House on Griffin Hill (A story for another day) and so many more works. If you see their names on something, its going to be good from my experience. Its also why Dragonlance is so interconnect to Ravenloft to an extent or that's what I think atleast. Though Ravenloft is interconnected to every major setting TSR had at the time (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, and Dark Sun all have characters and dread domains from their universes). Anyway back to the Hickmans. Their works are considered what made D&D jump from just dungeon crawling to more narrative experiences and Ravenloft absolutely shows this. This culminated when Tracy pushed forward on his work in creating Dragonlance, which is one of the biggest settings for D&D. I am sadly not super knowledgably about Dragonlance but we can really feel this shift in module design moving from I6 onward. I6 has a lot of notable steps in module design, the biggest being the maps!

[ID] An image of a map. The map has a white margin surrounding the entire map as a a border. The top of the map has a repeating pattern lining the edge of the map invoking a gothic crown molding. The right and left edge of the map has a marble pillar going from the top to the bottom of the map, serving as the maps' border.

The map's legend is in the right corner. The contents of the legend are in a white box. The words Ravenloft stylized in bold font are above the rest of the legend. The Letters R and T in Ravenloft have gargoyle heads extending outwards to face the edges of the the legend. The legend is organized into 4 rows with 3 columns. The legend shows off several colors with associated elevations: Light green is associated with "Elevation 0-49 feet", Dark Green is Elevation 50-99 feet. Blue Green is Elevation 100-999 feet. Purple is Elevation 1000-1499 FT. and is the end of the first column. At the start of the second column is the last color, a Reddish Purple is Elevation 1500+ feet. Continuing down the second column there are shapes to indicate map elements. Lines repeating next to each other vertically indicate a cliff wall, two parallel lines that complete indicate a road, and two parallel lines that are dashed indicate a trail. The third column shows more colors to represent buildings that are occupied: A brown rectangle indicates an occupied house. A light brown rectangle indicates an unoccupied house. A small light brown square indicates an unoccupied store. The last icon on the legend is a red rectangle indicating an Encounter Building. Bellow the columns and the width of the rows is text "Scale: 1 hex = 200 feet". Bellow the legend is a title. "Map 1. Lands of Barovia"

The map starts at the right and flows left following a white road. The maps elevation up to the city remains light green with the northern portion of the city, near a point labeled E7, becoming dark green. North west of the village the color shifts to being blue green before shifting to purple and sections of redish purple representing mountain peaks. Continuing west, the map remains purple with reddish purple mount peaks scattered throughout.

North and south of the road is a woods. The road starts near the letter A passing through what appears to be a gate labeled B . Continuing we see two hexes we see the letters C on the map on the left and right adjacent hexes. Following the road is the village of barovia, with houses indicating occupancy. There are several red houses each labeled with a corresponding letters. The center has E1 and E2. South is E3, E5, and E4. North is E6 and E7. The road heads south west from the village, passing E continuing to a branching path marked by the letter F.

The northern branch flows north before becoming a trail passing landmarks G1 and G before meeting back up with the main road at a bridge. The southern branch flows around woods and turns north before bending south east around a mountain. The road continues to follow this mountain until the road bends north to meet a bridge, labeled H. The road flows around another mountain before going north and reaching a fork in the road, indicated by the letter I. The fork heading north is blocked by a gate, indicated by the letter B. The road continuing north and west off of the map. The fork flowing east winds through the mountains until it reaches a drawbridge gate indicated by the letter J. The road ends at a castle indicated by the letter K. Following the entire road is a river that flows through the first bridge, meeting up with the trail with G and G1, passing under bridge H, then continuing west before the river is off the map

[End ID]

There is an inner sleeve with more maps and the map of Barovia itself which is very familiar to those who know the map from 5th edition. It looks like you could just place it out and play right on it using a token to represent the players because its gorgeous and heavily colorized. Each color meaning different elevations since Barovia is so mountainous and hilly. The map only goes up to Castle Ravenloft, that is because Barovia would be expanded when Ravenloft itself gets expaded in second edition with its AD&D box set, modules, and lorebooks. The whole story we know with "I, Strahd" would be years later. The village of Barovia looks much larger than we would assume but the general town's make up and people don't change much on the way to 5th edition. WotC did a good job on preserving the setup for Curse of Strahd.

On the Reverse of this inner sleeve we see more maps of Castle Ravenloft and again, its very similar to what we know in 5e.

[ID]

A folded out display of several maps for Castle Ravenloft as isometric cross sections. The display contains the following maps: Map 4. Court of the Count, Map 3. Main Floor, Map 11. Larders of Ill Omen, and Map 12. Dungeon and Catacombs. Above Map 12 is a compass. In the bottom left of the display is the following text "1983 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 119-I-9075". Along the left of the maps is the height from floor to ceiling for each map. To the left of the maps is a key for the maps. This key is two columns and 21 rows. The first column uses flat 2d images; the second column represents the image from the first row in an isometric view, mirroring the maps.

The first row represents doors with a square and a thick line extending from the center of the left and right sides. The second row represents double doors with rectangle divided in half by a vertical line with a thick line extending from the center of the left and right sides. The third row represents secret and standard doors with a square missing one side, the letter S being placed inside this incomplete square, with a thick line extending from center of the left and right sides. The fourth row represents secret doors with the letter S with a thick line in the left and right side of the letter. The fifth row represents one way secret doors with the letter S with an arrow passing through the letter with a thick line on the top and bottom of the letter. The sixth row represents teleport traps using several small staggered inverted Vs. The seventh row represents trap doors in the floor using the letter T in a solid circle. The eight row represents trap doors in the ceiling with the letter T surrounded with a dashed circle. The ninth row represents windows with a white rectangle surrounded with a black rectangle while the isometric view shows a white trapezoid instead in the rectangle. The tenth row represents arrow slits using a black rectangle with a white triangle in the middle. The eleventh row represents bars and portcullises with sequential circles. The twelfth row represents brazier with a circle with an inner ring while the isometric view shows a brazier. The thirteenth row represents ladders with a ladder. The fourteenth row represents stairs with lines reducing in size making a shape of a triangle from left to right while the isometric depiction is a set of stairs. The fifteenth row represents spiral stairs with lines that reduce in size and curve inward while the isometric view is a spiral staircase. The sixteenth row represents a bed with a bed. The seventeenth row represents a chair and thrown with a top down cube with the isometric view is a chair. The eighteenth row represents railing with 4 black dots connected with a line, while the isometric view displays a railing. The nineteenth row represents a statue with a circle containing a black star. The twentieth row represents a curtain using a thick black squiggly line with 4 humps. Lastly, the twenty-first row represents water with repeating waves as rows while isometric view is a wavy layer on top of a white square with scattered dots. Below the key is the text: Scale: 1 Square = 10 feet.

Map 12, labeled Dungeon and Catacombs, is the largest of the maps in the image. K84 is the largest room in the map with several small one square rooms labeled 2 through 40. 1 represents a door connected to room K81. North and south of K84 are the rooms K85 and K86. Both of these rooms are mirrors of each other. East of K84 is a hallway labeled K87 with a room at the end labeled K88. Opposite of this hallway attached to K84 on the west is a stairwell labeled K18a and a stairway labeled K18. Continuing from K81 there is a trap on the floor that leads into K82, a slide that leads into K74. Across the trap is the hallway labeled K80. A staircase is attached K80 leading to the room K78. K78 has a brazier along with two statues. There are three staircases leading out of K78: the left most stairwell is K72 with the associated text "Up 70 feet to Map 11, K72", the center is K80, and the right stairwell is K83. The door out of K78 leads to room K77 which is divided by a Curtain with two chairs overlooking another room, labeled K76. K76 is flooded with water and to east is a hallway Labeled K73. K73 is also flooded which has two rooms branching north labeled K74 and south labeled K75. Both K74 and K75 are prisons with cells labeled A through H and are flooded. Attached at the end of the K73 is a staircase labeled K21. The height from floor to ceiling of map 12 is 50 ft

Map 11, labeled Larders of Ill Omen, has two stairwells that are not attached to the main map, both K18 and K831. K18A is a empty cylinder that the stairs of K18 wrap around. K18 has the following associated text "Up 30 feet to rubble blockage then 10 feet past rubble to map 3, K18". Starting in the top left corner of the map, the stairway K79 leads up to a secret door attached to K72. K72 leads into a the K70. K70 has two attached rooms, K71 to the east and K67 to the south. K71 features a stairway K20a with the following associated text: "Up 40 Feet to Map 3". K67 is a room with a double door leading to K62 to the east and K68 to the south. K68 is a hallway with the room K69 attached to the west and the stairway K64 to the south with the following associated text " Up 40 feet to map 3". K69 has 10 sections divided by walls, 5 on the north and south walls of the rooms. Room K62 has 4 rooms attached to the hallway, K66 to the north, K65 to the north but east of K66, a unnumbered room with the staircase K21, and K63 to the east behind bars. K62 has a stairway to the north, east of K65 with the following associated text "up 40 feet to map 3". In the room containing K21 there is a trapdoor between the staircase and the door to K62. The staircase K21 has the following associated text "Up 40 feet to Map 3". The height from floor to ceiling of map 11 is 40 ft.

Map 3, labeled Main Floor, contains a entry hall out to the courtyard of the castle, labeled K7. Next to K7, unattached to any of the rooms in Map 3, is the staircase K83. K7 is attached to one room, K8. K8 is attached three rooms, K14 to the east, K9 to the south, and K19 by a staircase to the north with the following text "Up 30 feet". K19 leads to another staircase with the text "Up 20 feet to map 4". K9 is connected to the staircase K21 to the east and the room K10 to the west. K21 leads up to Map 4. In the wall north of K21 is a hole labeled K31a. K10 is a large room with a secret door the the east, leading to K11. K11 leads to the a hallway, K13. K13 is attached to K11 with a northern hall and attached to the room K12 to the west. At the end of hall k13 is the staircase K64 with the following text "Up 50 feet Map 4, Down 40 feet to Map 11". K14 is a hall that leads into K15. K15 is a large room with two passages, K16 to the northwest and K17 to the southwest, which are attached to two separate stairways. K16 is attached to the stairwell K29. K17 is attached to the stairway K18 and the hollow cylinder K18a with the following text: "Down 10 feet to new wall down pas wall 80 feet to map 12". Unattached to the rest of the map and north of K14 is the room K20. K20 contains the stairway K20a and an unlabeled stairway with the associated text "Up 50 feet". A hallway labeled K13 leads into K20. At the west end of K13 is a round room labeled K12. The south end of K12 leads into a small room labeled K22. Connected to the outside and unconnected to the rest of map, east of K20, is the room K23. K23 has a staircase leading down with the associated text "Down 40 feet to map 11". The room to the north of K23 is K24. K24 has a stairway that leads up with the associated words "Up 30 feet to map 4". The height from floor to ceiling of map 3 is 50 ft.

Map 4, labeled Court of the Count, contains a throne room. This throne room, labeled K25, is located in the western half of the map and is connected to two stairwells which lead back to K19. There is a secret door in front of the throne on the south wall of K25 which leads into K13. The eastern end of K13 is a stairwell labeled K64 with the following associated text "Up 40 feet down 50 feet". To the north of K13 is the room K12. To east of K13 is the room K22. K25 has two additional rooms attached, K26 attached with a set of double doors, and K30, attached with a single door. K30 has a set of stairs labeled K21 with the following associated text "Up 40 feet down 50 feet". K26 is a small hallway with a secret door to the north that connects to the room K33 and a double door to the east that connects to K27. K33 connects to room K32 to the west and hallway K13 to the north with a secret door. Similar to the other hallway labeled as K13, to leads to two rooms and a stairwell. The room K12 is in the same location as the previous K12. K22 is to the south of K13. To the west of K13 is a large stairwell labeled K20. The stairwell K20 leads up and down and has a secret door that leads to a ladder with the following text: "Ladder up 20 feet from K34 to K20". The ladder leads to an additional secret door that that leads into the room K34. K34 has a staircase leading down off the map. K27 is a long hallway that leads to another set of double doors connected to K28. A secret door is in the middle of the southern wall connecting K27 to K31. K31 has a hole next to the small room labeled K31a. K28 has two chairs and a outcropping that overlooks the main floor over K15 that is 50 feet in the air. K28 has a stairwell that leads down to Map 3 labeled K29. To the south of K27, to the west of K28 and to the east of K31 is the stairwell K18 and the cylinder K18a. The height from floor to ceiling of map 4 is 40 ft.

[End ID]

I want to say before moving on to the module, that these maps are immaculate. Like now we are spoiled with battlemaps in modules and how they are designed but back in the 80s, they had black and white paper that feels like its a elementary workbook. Its fairly cheap feeling. Where I could describe modern books as more textbook in quality. So imagine then you had these black and white books to use for making maps. These sleeves are so much higher quality and the color is beautiful if you ask me. I can see how a dm could run this dungeon flawlessly. Even know the castle is massive and yet it always goes off without any issues. Its a testament to good dungeon design and displaying information to the dm and players. Its one of those tales that these maps are what made I6 Ravenloft popular; again I don't know any old school ttrpg fans who played this when it was new but I could absolutely see it. During my researching, this is one of the biggest factors in what made Ravenloft popular. That and of course our beloved Strahd von Zarovich.

Now onto the actual module. I am not going to have a photo of each section of the module since there is alot but I will be showing off all the images in the module plus anything of note. The layout of the module itself makes sense from a ease of access but compaired to modern module layouts, it a bit jumpy. First is Strahd's stat block and his personality. It makes sense to put this first since he is the villain and you will need to have ready access to it. Second is the fortune reading, called "Fortunes of Ravenloft". Then onto the actual setup for the module following the similar steps to what we have come to expect from Curse of Strahd: The lands of Barovia, Barovia Village, Tser pool encampment, and Castle Ravenloft. Then statblocks for the rest of the monsters. I am not going to go over the narrative of I6 since there isn't any major differences to Curse of Strahd! I6 is almost beat for beat the same as Curse of Strahd as long as we include only the portions in I6. This makes sense since Curse of Strahd is a remake after all. Now, onto Strahd's statblock!

Part 2: Strahd von Zarovich

[ID]

The image is a black and white page full of text with an image of Strahd von Zarovich in the bottom right corner. The documents text is positioned into two columns. The top of the document has a repeating border that is a shape that is a hollow rounded triangle with two curved arches on the left and right of the shape that meet in the middle under the bottom of the triangle. On the left and right of the triangle is abstract black shapes that meet up at a black thick line the top near of the page. Around these triangles are broken lines that outline the shape. A thin black line creates an outline from the bottom of the triangles around the document.

The image of Strahd von Zarovich in the bottom right corner is of a cloaked figure with a cowl. His hair is pulled back with a strong widow's peak. His eyes are white and luminous. His knows and ears are barely visible, with the rest of his face hidden in the darkness. His right arm appears to be extended but is hidden by his cloak. Behind Strahd is a full moon with three bats casting a shadow on the moon. In the bottom right of the image is the artist mark of Clyde Caldwel, A c like shape that flow into an n like shape with a dot beneath. At the center of the page is the page number, 3

The text of the document starting with the left column is as follows: "Count Strahd Von Zarovich, Vampire.

The entire adventure centers around the vampire. Always keep in mind the motives of the vampire, how he moves about, and what his cunning plot is. You must play Strahd in the same way players play their characters. Study this NPC as carefully as the players study their characters.

Count Strahd Von Zarovich (The First Vampyr) Frequency: Unique Number Appearing: 1 Armor Class: -1 Move: 12"/18" Hit Dice: 10 (55 hit points) % In Lair: 90% Treasure Type F Damage/Attack: 5-10 (1d6+4) Special Attacks: Energy Drain Special Defenses: +1 or better weapon to hit Magical Resistance: See below Intelligence: Genius Alighnment: CE Size: M Psionic Ability: Nil Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

Although Strahd can be encountered in many places, he is always encountered in the plaace indicated by your Fortunes of Ravenloft results (see p.4) unless he has been forced to his tomb. Strahd is slightly above-average vampire. He has the normal 18/76 strength and his blows drain 2 life levels from his opponents. Strahd has the usual vampire abilities. He can only be hit by magical weapons and can regenerate 3 hit points per round He can assume gaseous from at will or shape change into a large bat. He can charm person at will by gazing into a character's eyes, causing the character to make a saving throw vs. spells with a penalty of -2. Strahd is also a 10th level magic user. He learned his magic from studies during his life from subsequent studies over the centuries. His available spells are:

First level: comprehend languages, hold portal, protection from good, sleep. Second level: invisibility, locate objects, mirror image, ESP. Third level: fireball, gust of wind, suggestion Forth level: polymorph other, polymorph self Fifth level: animate dead, distance distortion"

The following text is the right column of the document: "Strahd has a variety of spies and servants. They report to him four times each day (at dawn, noon, dusk, and midnight). There is a 60% chance that Strahd knows the PC's location at these times. If Strahd knows their location, he attacks the OCs -wherever they are -within two hours. Strahd chooses the time and method of his attacks carefully.

Strahd can attack in each of the following ways once.

Strahd attacks a single PC for 5 melee rounds then leaves.

Strahd calls 10-15 Strahd zombies to attack the party. All of the zombies must attack at the same time in the same place.

Strahd calls 3-12 worg wolves to attack the party. All of the wolves must attack at the same time in the same place.

When playing Strahd, above all, keep these three things in mind.

Strahd chooses when he attacks. Strahd is supposed to be a genius, play him as one. Whenever he is aware of the PCs poisitions, he is allowed to make an attack how and where he wants. His attacks must be timed to be most advantageous to him. To do that, Strahd must move around during the adventure. However, he can always be found in the place determined in Fortunes of Ravenloft. It is your responsibility to see that the vampire uses his abilities to his greatest advantage.

Strahd knows when to withdraw. He knows when he is over his head. If he is losing a battle he becomes gaseous, polymorphs into a wolf or bat, and/or summons other creatures to guard his retreat.

Strahd's attacks depend upon his goals. There is a reason why Strahd lured the PCs into his little kingdom. This reason is determined in Fortunes of Ravenloft. Strahd's plans for achieving his goals are listed with his goals."

[End ID]

I don't know 1st edition but if I'm not mistaken (and I could be since my knowledge is based on the 1st/2nd edition dos games), is a roll under system unlike 5e's DC system. Its cool seeing spells remain at spell levels I know like invisibility being second level and fireball being obviously third level; though I feel its common knowledge that fireball was third level in 1st edition. If someone who is far more versed in 1st edition could tell me what his stat block actually means, I would appreciate it immensely.

Something awesome is that Strahd has different goals determined by the module's Fortunes of Ravenloft, something similar to the fortune reading in 5th edition. Strahd is also cunning and plays keepaway with the players, running away when he is losing and ambushing the players at any time. He even has a randomized set encounter location where the Fortunes of Ravenloft says, again just like 5e. The whole intent behind his creation and play style is that he is supposed to be this menacing calculating monster of a man, not a generic monster. This design has lasted to this day which is impressive. I may be spreading more internet nonsense from saying but the idea of the whole module to my knowledge cam from a playtest of a game with players fighting a vampire in a cave and it didn't make narrative sense.

What is also fascinating is his title, The First Vampyr. Was the intent was to set up the villain as well the first vampire in universe? I don't know when TSR started focusing on building out their universes, like Forgotten Realms, but this feels like this is something that would be kept in mind for the future. At the same time, this could just be throwaway flavor text as Strahd is referred to as a "slightly above average vampire". Which feels like they are downplaying his strength as a monster. But he also is a fairly formidable caster though I don't have the context of how formidable, I am just extrapolating using my experience with 5th edition; just 5th level spells feels like alot for any party. He is also immune to any damage not dealt by magical weapons, which would be an issue if the module didn't give the players magical weapons. But it does. We know it has the sunsword but as we will see, the module has other magical weapons as well, making this trait something the players could handle once they are in the castle.

Lastly, Strahd feels like he teleports around quite a bit given what the module is suggesting, that he should be reappearing and fighting the players before the castle. Curse of Strahd does solve this by giving him a teleportation room, a difference I highlight later, here he just has to run around using his powers. I think its fine to handwave this as Strahd can just move quickly due to his ability to polymorph since its so core to this module that he can just show up and scare the players.

Next, the Fortunes of Ravenloft

Part 3: The Fortunes of Ravenloft

[ID] The image is a black and white page full of text with three images of Cards on the top of the page, above the text "Fortunes of Ravenloft", with the first card partially behind the "R" in Ravenloft. The page itself is grey and splits text into two columns that flow similar to the previous document image. At the center of the bottom of the page is the number 4, indicating the page number. The three cards are similar with white playing card like border and an embroidery pattern filling an inner border with text in the center. At the top left of the page is the head of a gargoyle, with a line drawn down from the neck to the bottom of the page, passing behind the left playing card. Under the left most card's left side grouped together is the letter J and a heart written into the book in pen. Further down in pen are the words "Jack spades" crossed out. In text between the two handwritten texts is the text "Deal the top five cards face down". Below the right side of the left most card in pencil are the words "king of spades". Under the center card is the letter K and a diamond in pen. Under the right most card is the letter K and a heart in pen. The text outside of the cards is the following, starting from the left column and omitting slurs: "Fortunes of Ravenloft is an imitation ancient [slur] card reading. It does not resemble any real or mystical fortune telling process. Fortunes of Ravenloft determines Strahd's goals and the placement of important treasures. This card reading can add a great deal of flavor to your game and makes Ravenloft different when you play it again. You must run this card reading before playing the module. If, during the course of the adventure, the PCs have their fortunes read at the [slur] camp, run this card reading again, out loud. Substitute the new results for the old ones. Be sure to write down the results of your card reading, so you can have them when you need them. Find a regular 52-card deck of playing cards. Remove all 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, and joker cards from the deck. Now you have a set of four suits with eight cards in each suit. Shuffle the deck. If you don't have a regular deck of cards, you can get the same results by rolling 1d8 to determine the type of card and 1d4 to determine its suit. Roll again if you get the same card in any suit twice." The following text is a table that starts in the left column and continues on to the right. Around the bottom portion of the text in each row is an enclosed box. "Table 1. Fortunes of Ravenloft Places Card Place 3 Study (K37) It is in a place of tranquility, a harbor for the mighty and powerful. It is in a place of wisdom, warmth, and despair. Great secrets are there. The object is on the mantlepiece just under the portait of the women. If Strahd is there, he is sitting back in the overstuffed chair, staring into the blazing fire. 5 Treasure Room (K41) You should seek for a carefully hidden place of great worldly wealth. I see a blazing fire protecting the place. The object is set prominently atop the other treasures in the room. If Strahd is there, he is counting his ill-gotten gains. 7 Chapel of Ravenloft (K15) You may find this amid the ruins of a place of supplication. The object is on the altar, brightly illuminated by a shaft of light from the ceiling. If Strahd is there, he is standing in the center of the room-a dark shape in the vast hall. 10 High Tower Room (K60) This is a place of dizzying heights that all loathe to travel. The road winds ever upward and the rocks themselves live here! The object is in a locked iron chest. If Strahd is there he is at the window, looking over his lands. Jack Crypt of Sergei von Zarovich (K85) This lies with a fallen prince of old. The brother of dark is light and he rests in this place. The object is lying across Sergei's chest. If Strahd is there, he is lying across the marble slab, weeping. Queen Crypt of Ravenovia (K88) This is in the mother's place The object is lying on top of Ravenovia's coffin. If Strahd is there, he is in a frenzy of rage and despair"

The text in the left most card has a section in a box similar to the table. The box surrounds the middle portion of the card's text. The following is the text of the left most card: "First, determine where the Holy Symbol is (see Treasures and Tomes on Page 30 for a description of the holy symbol). Pick up the first card and read the following boxed text. This card is a symbol of great power. It tells of a powerful force for good and protection against the forces of darkness. To determine where the holy symbol is, find this card in Table 1. to determine the 'to hit' and armor class modifiers to use in that place, find this card's suit in Table 2.

The center card and right most cards' text is similarly laid out as the left most card. The center card's text follows: "Second, determine where the Tome of Strahd is (see Treasures and Tomes on p.31 for a description of the Tome of Strahd). Pick up the second card and read the following boxed text. This card tells of history. Knowledge of the ancient may help you understand a foe. To determine where the Tome is, find this card in Table 1. to determine the 'to hit' and armor class modifiers to use in that place, find this card's suit in Table 2."

The text of right most card follows: "Third, determine where Strahd von Zarovich himself can always be found. Pick up the third card and read the following boxed text This is the object of your search! Ah! I see darkness and evil behind this card! It is a powerful man whose enemy is light and whose powers are beyond mortality! To determine where Strahd can always be found, find this card in Table 1. to find the 'to hit' and armmor class modifiers to use in that place, find this card in Table 2." [End ID]

[ID] The image is a black and white document similar to the previous image. The background is the same color along with the layout of text. The page number is 5. Two cards are above the left column of text. On the right edge of the document is a face of a gargoyle mirroring the previous document. Under the left most card is two sets of text: "Jack" and a diamond are written in pencil and the number 5 and a club written in pen. Under the right most card is two sets of text similar to the left card. The text is the same, just written in pencil and pen: the number 3 and a heart. Under the The left column continues Table 1. The following is the remaining text:

"King Kings Audience Hall (K25) A king's throne is the place to find this The object is lying across the dais behind the throne. If Strahd is there, he is sitting on the throne. Ace Crypt of Strahd (K86) This is a very bad sign. This is in the very heart of darkness: his home, his source. It is his center and his life. It is the one place to which he must return. The object is in a corner of the room. If Strahd is here, he is within his coffin, ready to attack at the first sign of someone opening the lid" Continuing after Table 1 is Table 2. Table 2 is similar to Table 1; the only difference is the location of the box containing text. The box is below a section of text and is the second half of each row. Table 2 contains images of each card suit vertically aligned in the left column of the table. The suites descend in the following order: Heart, Diamond, Clubs, Spades. The suits are solid and are black. The following is the text of the table, including a text replacement of the suit to indicate its location: "Table 2. Fortunes of Ravenloft: Modifiers Suit 'To Hit and Armor Class Modifiers'

Heart The PCs gain a +1 bonus to hit and a -1 bonus to their AC.

There is a very good influence there. If you are there, the power of good will aid you.

Diamond The PCs gain a +1 bonus to hit, but suffer a +1 penalty to their AC.

The diamond blesses your skill there, but bodes poorly for your protection.

Clubs The PCs suffer a -1 penalty to hit, but gain a -1 bonus to their AC

The club sustains your strength here, but holds you from your victory, taking more time than it otherwise would.

Spades The PCs suffer a -1 penalty and a +1 penalty to their AC.

The spade is a dark shadows of evil cast over that place. You fight under its influence here." Table 3 is similar to Table 1, sharing the location of the box containing text in the table. Table 3 is the entirety of the right column. The following is the text of Table 3, ommiting slurs: "Table 3. Fortunes of Ravenloft: Strahd's Goals Card Strahd's Goal

3 or 5 Strahd seeks a new identity.

Not yet, but soon, one who appears to be your friend will become your enemy.

Strahd will try to be alone with a charmed PC. When he is alone with a charmed PC, Strahd casts a polymorph other spell on the PC, turning the PC into a vampire. The spell operates as detailed in the AD&D Players Handbook with the following clarifications. The PC takes the form of a vampire and radiates a magical aura, regardless of whether the PC survives a system shock check or not. A PC that survives a system shock check has all of the abilities of a vampire as detailed in the AD&D Monster Manual, regardless if whether that PC passes a mental check or not. Undead cannot drain levels from undead. Thus, if a polymorphed PC vampire retains his own mind, he and Strahd can fight, but neither can drain levels from the other. They can both, however, drain levels from non-undead. After turning the PC into a vampire, Strahd casts a polymorph self and turns into the likeness of the PC. Strahd puts the new vampire PC into his own coffin and attempts to join the party, masquerading as the PC. Strahd will try to persuade the party that he found a away out of Barovia. Strahd can, after all, open the gates. Strahd wants to move to another country using his new identity. The [slur] will carry dirt from his crypt to his new home.

7 or 10 Strahd wants to make a magical sphere of darkness.

This card tells of a tool of evil. Darkness surrounds and protects this tool, giving comfort to the black hearts and protection from good.

Strahd is trying to assemble a magical item that casts a continuous sphere of darkness. Such an item would greatly extend the range of his travels. Over the centuries he gather the pieces of the sphere one by one, until he is missing only one piece, a black opal. Strahd mistakenly believes that one of the PCs has black opal. Strahd mistakenly believes that one of the PCs has black opal stone. Strahd will use his natural charm person abilities to charm lone PCs. Stahd will send those Charmed Pcs back to the party asking, 'Do you have the black opal?' When Strahd discovers that none of the PCs have a back opal, he will attempt to destroy them.

Jack or Queen Strahd wants to win the love of Ireena Kolyana

The darkness lovesa light and desires it Great subtle plans are in motion about you; plans that the dead may find warmth from the living.

Strahd will attempt to charm all of the PCs, and make them attack Ireena. When they attack, Strahd will swoop down and save her from the PCs. Strahd hopes that the rescue will turn Ireena's heart to him. He wants Ireena to love him willingly rather than by force.

King or Ace Strahd wants the Sunsword.

Here is a high and noble card. One of you carries a weapon that is stronger than any other against the evil in this land. Only one part is missing from this weapon. That part is found in the evil one's lair.

See Treasures and Tomes on p.31 for details about the sunsword. Strahd wants to destroy the sunsword. He believes (correctly) that one of the PCs (a random fighter) has has been unknowingly carrying the sunsword for some time. If the sunsword hilt is found and reunited with the blade, Strahd could be in real trouble."

The text of the left card is the following:

"Fourth, determine where the sunsword hilt is (see Treasures and Tomes on p.31 for a description of the sunsword). Pick up the forth card and read the following boxed text.

This card is good for you. It is a card of power and strength , the victor's card. It tells of a weapon of light, a weapon of vengeance.

To determine where the sunsword is, find this card in table 1. To determine the 'to hit' and armor class modifiers to use in that place, find this card's suit in Table 2."

The text of the right card is the following:

"Last, determine Strahd's goal. Pick up the fifth, and last, card, and read the following boxed text.

And here is the root card. Out of darkness and chaos, this card find the reason and foundation for darkness and chaos. This card shows the purpose of all things. It is the key to life and death and else beyond.

To determine Strahd's goal, find this card on Table 3." [End ID]

My copy is used so it has some writing on it from past fortunes but I think its cute, since the fortunes are still done with playing cards, with the only difference being the reading in Curse of Strahd is far more complex. The objects are the exact same, the Sunsword, the Holy Symbol, and the Tome of Strahd. Similarly, the locations you find these items can also instead be the locations you fight Strahd: the study , his treasure room, the chapel, the top of the high tower, Sergei's crypt, Strahd's crypt, the audience hall with his throne, and Ravenovia's crypt (Strahd's Mother). Taking a step back here to talk about this decision as a whole, I have always loved the randomness. The fact that everyone's experience is always different and unique feels great. It leads to a different narrative expierence each time and gives us a reason to replay the module. I have played Curse of Strahd as a player on three separate occasions with three separate DMs and each experience as a player was unique. Other than each character having that DM's twist or personality, the items were never in the same place so my groups always prioritized different areas. I have also ran my own game of Curse of Strahd and I have felt similar as a DM. I prioritized different characters or locations to add depth to the world. This randomization leads to unique situations that could never be replicated. I think it is one of the most novel ideas that I6 presents and I am so glad all the other adaptations have kept this idea while expanding upon the whole experience.

Jumping back to I6's fortunes, what I found really interesting is that the cards drawn add modifiers to your parties AC and to hit modifier. It feels very odd to me, but also that is because this is something that we do not have an equivalent to in Curse of Strahd. The closest is the ally we get but even then, that is more impactful from a narrative lens than the modifiers. The modifiers feel like a twist that deepens or add to the feeling of struggling against the darkness. It is very mechanical and calls back to more of the dungeon diving elements of early D&D. I don't think that modifiers change the game enough to feel sad that they have disappeared. Then again, we do get something similar with Argyvost's skull in Curse of Strahd so atleast we get some kind of spiritual successor to the modifiers in the reading.

Now I mentioned above Strahd has a goal. He does, its why he grabs the players. In 5th edition, its to toy with them and have amusement more or less and then later he wants them for Ireena. In here he has 4 reasons potentially and I want to talk about each of them. One, to grab Ireena. How he plans this is wild. He will charm the players and make them attack Ireena and he will swoop in and save her since he wants Ireena to love him willingly rather than by force. This is absolutely wild to me that Strahd could play the valiant knight for Ireena. This feels the most vanilla but this is his goal moving forward into Curse of Strahd. I think its smart to make this the "core" goal since he does attack Ireena in the opening of the module and Tatyana is core to Strahd's descent into darkness. Given all the additional material that has come out focused on Strahd, Curse of Strahd made the correct call to make this his focus. I do like that he has other goals as well in Curse of Strahd, but it is a bit of a shame that he doesn't have any of the other goals he has in I6.

The second goal is to steal a player character's identity. He will charm someone, use a spell to turn them into a vampire, shove them in his coffin and then masquerade as the player character using magic. Absolutely amazing. I love this and its also so evil. Like more than most DMs would go evil. "How do you do my fellow player characters". Sadly, this also feels like its retconned with newer Ravenloft lore since Strahd can't actually escape Ravenloft and this ending if he succeeds in stealing someone's identity and convincing the party that he found a way out everyone just leaves Ravenloft. The player who gets turned into a vampire can make checks to be able to fight back and you get this vampire duel which is so cool. Vampires in older versions of D&D can drain levels from players by the way, so the book specifies undead cant drain other undead's levels. Like the set up is amazing, the idea is wild, but there is no way for this to work if we are conforming to the rules of Ravenloft. We kind of get a successor to this goal in Curse of Strahd with Strahd's desire for a consort or successor since he wants to to be able to leave; but the book calls out that Strahd will never find any of the player characters worthy. Again a DM can change this and many have so I feel the spirit of this goal lives on; but we don't really see Strahd becoming a party member only to betray the group. That would be a fun twist however.

The third goal is the only goal where Strahd fails whether the players live or die - he wants to make a magical sphere of darkness. Strahd thinks the players have a black opal stone, which is the last piece he needs to make a big old sphere of darkness to make the world dark and stuff so he can travel more at night. Strahd will charm one player who is alone and have them ask the rest of the players if they have this black opal stone. He is certain they have the stone so when its revealed they don't, he will try to kill the players. Curse of Strahd places Barovia under the magical darkness that he is attempting to create here in this goal, which I think is a perfect way of honoring this goal

The last goal is Strahd wants to destroy the sunsword. So the module recommends the players have a cleric and a fighter as a requirement since the holy symbol is for a cleric and the sunsword is for a fighter. I mention this because Strahd just knows who has the sunsword and if this is rolled, the sword is just magically on this person and not where the fortune says. So Strahd wants to kill them and take the sword and destroy it. This is very boring to me. Like it should be a given rather than an explicit goal. If Strahd has gone out of his way to destory the sword, he should just want to do this regardless if this is a goal. This is the direction Curse of Strahd goes and I think it makes sense. 5th edition focuses more on narrative and less on dungeon crawling so this change is just natural. We even get more lore for the sunsword in 5th edition, it being a sword belonging to Sergei and being sentient. I am not sad to see this goal just disappear and become a background element. It feels like a cop-out to get Strahd to fight the party early. If he knows they have the sword and he knows where they are, why not just kill them? I mean he does like to toy with his prey but if this sword is the biggest threat to his existence, I would expect him to hunt the players down once they near the castle.

Overall, I think the goal's Strahd has in I6 are a mixed bag; some are really novel and some are fairly boring or straightforward. That is my own opinion and I am very curious on how everyone else feels.

Part 4: The lands of Barovia, Barovia Village, and Tser Pool Encampment

I am lumping all of the pre-castle encounters into one section since they are more or less similar to what we know and love from Curse of Strahd.

[ID]

The image is that of a black and white document, with a layout similar to the statblock of Strahd von Zarovich, including the borders of the page. The page number is 6. The following is the text of the left column omitting slurs:

"Lands of Barovia

A perpetual rolling blackness of thunderclouds casts a gray pall over the land. The darker silhouette of Castle Ravenloft looks over the valley from its 1,000 foot pillar of rock.

Castle Ravenloft dominates the small village of Barovia. The castle stads high atop a natural pillar of rock against the cliffs to the north of the village. The dark Svalich woods surround the village and cliffs. Use Map 1 to see the relative locations of the town and Castle Ravenloft.

The road to the village and lands of Barovia goes through ancient iron gates, controlled by the will of Count Strahd. There are only two gates, one east the of village and one west of the castle crossroads up the mountain. The gates open when the PCs arrive but close after they enter Barovia. The gates will not open for the PCs again until Strahd is destroyed.

There is a deathly stillness in the dark Barovian woods. Yet the woods are patrolled constantly by the wolves and serving beasts of Count Strahd.

No one has left Barovia for centuries. This is because of the trapping fog that exists everywhere in Barovia . Once it is breathed, it infuses itself around a character's vital organs as a neutralized poison. the fog does not taste or smell any different than normal fog. It does not harm characters as long as they continue to breathe the air in Barovia. However, when they lave Barovia, the poison becomes active. Characters must save vs. poison or start to choke. Unless choking characters reenter Barovia within 24 hours, they die. The choking stops as soon as they breathe the fog again.

The [slur] were given a potion by Strahd that cancels the effects of the fog. this potion is jealously guarded by Madam Eva, who buried it in a secret place. It is impossible for the PCs to discover the potion. The fog is magically produced by Strahd and disappears entirely upon his destruction.

The poor villagers of Barovia have been terroized for centuries by 'the devil' Strahd. Only the town and the few survivors of the second ruling house of Barovia have the will to offer more than just personal resistance to Strahd. No villager has left Barovia for centuries. Those who tried never returned, dying from the vile snapping teeth of the Barovian wolves and the choking deadly fog.

Every 3 turns, check for na random enoutner. When the PCs are not in castle Ravenloft, during daytime, use Table 4 at the right, during night time, use Table 5 at the right. When the PCs are in Castle Ravenloft, use Table 6 on p.12.

Each night the PCs stay anywhere other than the castle (Area K), Strahd attacks with his wolves and bats. His attacks are intended more to frighten the PCs than to damage them. Strahd mjust toys with them. After 5 melee rounds, Strahd and his creatures withdraw.

If the PCs are indoors, every turn strahd attacks, wolves try to break through a window or door. A roll of 1 or 2 on 1d6 means that a wolf breaks through. Once a wolf gets in, the remainder of the wolves and bats come in. The wolves and Strahd never attack Ireena Kolyana. After 5 melee wounds, all of the creatures flee into the night, leaving only Strahds hollow laughter in the distance.

4-16 (3d6) worg wolves: AC 6; MV 18"; HD 4+4; #AT 1; Dmg 2-8; AL NE.

10-100 (10d10) bats: AC 6; MV 4"/18"; HD 1d4; #AT 0; DMG 0: AL N.

The bats fly into the room, getting into the way of spell casting. Characters must make dexterity checks to cast spells with material components." Some of the text in the right column is cut off. The following is the visible text of the right column including table 4 and table 5 with slurs ommited:

"Strahd may knock at the door, but he cannot enter the building until someone invites him in. Strahd tries to charm characters into inviting him in.

Table 4. Barovia Daytime Random Encounters (Sunup to Sundown)

Roll 1d6. If the result is a 1, the PCs enounter something. Roll 1d6 and us the encounter below with the resulting number.

Roll Encounter

1 2-8 (2d4) worg wolves: AC 6; MV 18"; HD 4+4; #AT 1; Dmg 2-8; AL NE.

2 1-10 [Slur]: AC 6; MV 12"; HD 2; #AT 1; Dmg 1-8; AL NE.

3 1-4 villagers: AC 9; MV 12"; HD 2; #AT 1; Dmg 1-6; AL

4 1-4 worg wolves: AC 6; MV 18"; HD 4+4; #AT 1; Dmg 2-8; AL NE.

5 1-4 [Slur]: AC 6; MV 12"; HD 2; #AT 1; Dmg 1-8; AL NE.

6 1-4 villagers: AC 9; MV 12"; HD 2; #AT 1; Dmg 1-6; AL

Table 5. Barovia Nighttime Random Encounters (Sundown to Dawn)

Roll 1d6. If the result is a 1, the PCs enounter something. Roll 1d12 and us the encounter below with the resulting number.

1-2 1-10 worg wolves: AC 6; MV 18"; HD 4+4; #AT 1; Dmg 2-8; AL NE.

3 2-10 (2d10) worg wolves: AC 6; MV 18"; HD 4+4; #AT 1; Dmg 2-8; AL NE.

4-5 3-12 (3d4) zombies: AC 8; MV 6"; HD 2; #AT 1; Dmg 1-; AL N

6-7 10-100 (10d10) bats: AC 6; MV 4"/18"; HD 1d4; #AT 0; DMG 0: AL N.

8 1 ghost: AC 0/8 if corporeal: MV 9"; HD 10; #AT 1; Dmg 10-40 years; AL LE.

9 3-12 (3d4) ghouls: AC 6; MV 9"; HD 2; #AT 3; Dmg 1-3/1-6; AL CE.

10 1-4 wights: AC 5; MV 12"; HD 4+3; #AT 1; Dmg 1-; AL LE; SA hit drains 1 energy level.

11 1-4 wraiths: AC 4; MV 12"/24"; HD 4+3; #AT 1; Dmg 1-; AL LE; SA hit drains 1 energy level.

12 1 maiden vampire: AC 1; MV 12"/18"; HD 8+3; #AT 1; Dmg 5-10; AL CE; SA hit drains 2 energy level, gaze can charm, become gaseous in same way as Strahd."

[End ID]

The first page of the lands of Barovia is setup for random encounters along with more info on The Mist. It talks about how to handle nighttime, daytime, and indoor encounters.

The encounters will only last 5 melee rounds (again 1st edition stuff, no idea sadly) so the monsters attack the players and then they flee as they serve to scare the players. Similarly for indoors encounters, just that wolves attack with the random encounter and they try to break down the doors and windows (roll a d6, on a 1 or 2 they succeed) and again after 5 rounds, the attack ends.

What is interesting is that you can get attacked by good aligned villagers or atleast encounter them? It is not fully clear but all the other encounters on the table are evil aligned so I imagine its all combats. I say that I am unsure because later on in the castle encounters, the module specifies one encounter as a non-combat. I find it interesting you can just encounter Barovians who will just be silent and treat the players as outsiders. Maybe some will be willing to talk to you? I doubt it but it could serve as a indication to the players that something is not quite right in the land of Barovia.

The night encounters look like they are all combat. My favorite is either the 2-20 wolves (roll 2d10) or the 10 to 100 bats (10d10) bats. Just the sheer number would actually terrify someone. Imagine fighting 50+ bats. That is unforgettable.

Moving on to The Mists, or as the module refers to as the fog, we get some interesting lore elements I want to talk about. The fog here is in fact the mists we think of and the poisoning fog is consistant across second edition; I skimmed through my third edition source book and didn't find a comment, other than Strahd can close the borders and third edition source books tend to play very close to second edition canon. So the poison element is Strahd closing his borders to Barovia and preventing those within Barovia from leaving. You can obtain an antidote to this poison as the Vistani do sell this but second edition calls out that you also need Strahd's permission where in I6 the cure exists but is unobtainable; its just away to explain why the Vistani can come and go. I6's poison is different the Curse of Strahd since players don't start choking in the fog and the fog itself is not poisonous, but rather magical. The fog in Curse of Strahd also gives players exhaustion which is closer to second edition which lowers the players constitution; though unlike I6 or second edition, a player can't leave Barovia even if they succeed on the saving throws.

I want to also talk about the whole decison to add the fog and the consequences to the whole lore of Ravenloft. The fog from a gameplay perspective gives Strahd more power and makes sense as to why the villagers of Barovia have never left, they cant. This whole land is Strahd's lair. In the tome, Strahd calls himself "the land" and being able to control who can enter and leave makes it far more literal. He is quite literally the land, the fog moves when he asks and it bends to his whims. I won't lie and say the early iteration of the fog in I6 is a bit cheesy, like its just a poisonous cloud of fog and the vistani just happen to have the cure so they can come and go but they way it evolves is so interesting. It starts as this trapping force just for the players to becoming the prison that keeps Strahd contained, just that he is literally Barovia itself. He can trap those as part of his curse being the Darklord of Barovia. Its a wonderful role-reversal.

Returning to the module, the next couple pages are the set up for the module and its surprisingly one of the set ups in Curse of Strahd, "Plea for Help"; down to the exact same letter the players receive. It is word for word, only with some minor changes like inserting commas

[ID] The image is a black and white document on a wooden table. It is similar to the previous image. There is text on the page laid out such that there is two boxes containing text with text in the middle separating the boxes. The first box is cutoff in the image; the following is the text starting with a cutoff sentence:

"subdued. The letter is lying before you. Dated yesterday, the ink is still not dry and the parchment is crips. The seal is a crest you don't recognize."

The following is the text between the two boxes:

"If the PCs open the letter, read its content from the following boxed text."

The following is the text in the second box:

"Hail to thee of might and valor:

I, a lowly servant of the township of Barovia, send honor to thee. We plead for thy so desperately needed assistance within our community.

The love of my life, Ireena Kolyana, has been afflicted by an evil so deadly that even the good people of our town cannot protect her. She languishes from her wound and I would have her saved from this menace.

There is much wealth in this community. I offer all that might be had to thee and thy fellows if thou shalt but answer my desperate plea.

Come quickly for her time is at hand! All that I have shall be thine!

Kolyan Indrirovich

Burgomaster

[End ID]

I shouldn't be surprised by this; the "Plea for Help" adventure hook from Curse of Strahd is one of two adventures hooks that don't really need set up or has hard requirements. It also is very organic. Someone comes in and offers your party job, shows off that they are clearly rich by buying the whole tavern drinks for the night, and leaves. The letter is also very forward and offers the party riches for help. Its very simple but effective. I am a bit shocked how the words have not been changed in the 30+ years between the modules; but as I have mentioned earlier Curse of Strahd doesn't take a lot of liberties for the content in I6. The hook also assumes the least about the players which helps with its effectiveness. The hook relies on the party desiring wealth, which in first edition was a guarantee since leveling was associated with gold, and offers some additional motivation for good aligned characters.

Continuing on, as the players enter the Svalich Woods, they also encounter the real letter being sent by the Burgomaster of Barovia village. Again this is the same letter, though some of the words are slightly different, like dropping the words "creature calling its race".

[ID]

The image is a black and white document similar to the previous image. The image has two boxes with text. Between the two boxes is a set of text. The only word legible in the first box is the word: "scream". The following is the text between the two boxed texts:

"Three turns after all the PCs enter the woods, they find a dead villager in the underbrush. He holds an envelope crumpled in his hand. The remains of his clothes are torn and raked with claw marks. Paw prints of many large wolves are pressed into the clay around the body. The man has obviously been dead for several days.

The letter is dated one week ago. It is sealed with a large 'B'. The parchment is worn and flimsy. It reads as follows:"

The following text is contained in the bottom box:

"Hail thee of might and valor:

I, the Burgomaster of Barovia send you honor - with despair.

My adopted daughter, the fair Ireena, has been these past nights bitten by a creature calling its race 'vampyr.' For over 400 years, he has drained this land of the life-blood of its people. Now, my dear Ireena languishes and dies from an unholy wound caused by this vile beast. Yet I fear, too, that the creature has some more cunning plan in mind. He has become too powerful to be fought any longer."

In small text below the box is the following: "Letter continues on next page."

[End ID]

[ID]

The image is a black and white document similar to the previous image. The border of the document is similar to the "Lands of Barovia" image. There are three potions of text in boxes, with third becoming cutoff and unreadable. Between the first and second box is more text. The first box contains the following text:

"So I say to you, give us up for dead and encircle this land with symbols of good. Let holy men call upon their power that the evil one may be contained within the walls of weeeping Barovia. Leave our sorrows to our graves, and save the world from this evil fate of ours.

There is much wealth entrapped in this community. Return for your reward after we are all departed for a better life.

Kolyan Indirovich,

Burgomaster"

The text between the first box and second box is as follows:

"Roll 1d6 every turn the PCs ar ein the woods. If the result is 4 or more, the PCs hear a lone wolf cry in the distance. One more wolf cries each round. If the PCs are still in the woods after 5 rounds of howling, the wolves attack. If the PCs are entering Barovia, only 5 wolves attack; if the PCs are attempting to leave Barovia, 25 wolves attack. The wolves stop their attack if the PCs leave the woods by entering the village.

5 or 25 worg wolves: AC 6; MV 18"; HD 4+4; #AT 1; Dmg 2-8; AL NE. "

The following is the text contained within the second box along with its header: "D. The River Ivlis

The river Ivlis flows as clear as a blue winter sky through the valley."

The following is the text contained within the last box along with its header; part of the text is cutoff and the last word visible is 'wet':

"E. The Village of Barovia

Tall shapes loom out of the dense fog that surrounds everything. The muddy ground underfoot gives way to slick, wet"

[End ID]

Continuing on, the village of Barovia is more or less the same. Ireena is also a 4th level fighter in this module. I find this interesting that she is a level lower than what the players start at (5th level) since Vampires drain levels in 1st edition and this is not so subtle acknowledgement that Ireena was attacked by Strahd and had her blood drank. It also prevents the main npc character from overshadowing the players in fights, though Strahd and the monsters he controls do not target Ireena. Ireena's characterization in I6 and Curse of Strahd is similar, a mild but strong willed fighter. I6 however says she wants to fight and kill Strahd for harming her homeland and killing her father where this only occurs if she is you ally in Curse of Strahd. Ireena is someone who's is fighting for a lost past and a future she can never have. Her life was completely upended several times by Strahd, as both Tatyana and as herself. I6 is a story about Strahd, Tatyana, and Sergei. Strahd's jealously and envy destroying his family and he is cursed to live in a nightmare for eternity as death, the thing Tatyana saw him as. Tatyana is forced to reincarnate endlessly by The Mists to remind Strahd that he can never have her. Sergei can not move on after losing the love of his life and seeing his brother in endless torment. Its a tragedy. Ireena needs to be part of the group who helps kill Strahd. It makes her and Tatyana not some damsel in distress but instead someone who is hurting and who triumphs over their pain to forge a better future; whether or not she ends up with Sergei is left to the DM depending on how the players have interacted with her. Curse of Strahd has some changes, that takes keeps the elements of this story but expands further with the introduction of the randomized ally.

The introduction of a randomized ally frees up that role to be anyone in the cast, with a few exceptions. It allows Curse of Strahd to break away from just a story about Tatyana and Sergei and to be about how Barovia, the country, is suffering at the hands of Strahd and how everyone in the cast has a dark or tragic tale because of this suffering. From Victor hating his homeland and trying to escape to Vasilka, a person who is being made as a wife for Strahd. I don't think you can have both. At the cost of Ireena being the sole focus, we get more depth and re-playability and Curse of Strahd is designed for that in mind. It also lets Ireena free herself as a character from just being Tatyana again. While both have the same ending for Ireena, Curse of Strahd's "Something Blue" special event in Krezk and the optional ending in I6, due to the length of Curse of Strahd, Ireena gets more of a chance to bond with player characters and come to understand the world she lives in and perhaps become more than Tatyana. Again this is up to the DM and the players in roleplay and narrative but I have seen this happen a handful of times. Ireena is allowed to become more unique.

Stepping off of my soapbox and coming back to discussing differences, we come to Donavich; he doesn't have a son in I6. The son is a vampire in the church's basement, that comes from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, kinda. In Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Donavich called Danovich, he creates a zombie plague after his son gets killed by Bandits. He hopes to bring him back so he keeps his corpse in the church basement; which yeah that is one hell of a change that gets rolled right back. I am not going to talk about Expedition here, but his personality in Curse of Strahd is much closer to this version than I6's version. In I6, he is close to a generic clerical figure; warm and kind while knowledgeable about evil. Donavich in I6 knows Ireena's whole backstory of being adopted, which Curse of Strahd does stay consistent with. However in I6 he has information on Strahd he is suppose to give the players, mainly info about the tome of Strahd.

He is almost a different character in Curse of Strahd because how much he is hurting from his son being a vampire. The villagers do not trust him in Curse of Strahd and he is losing his grip on reality. He is doing everything he can to save his son and clearly wants to help the players when they meet him. He is also the one to give the players the idea to take Ireena to Krezk and the abbey. And if he is your ally, you have to help him kill his son and give him a proper burrial. Without Doru, Donavich is much more put together and reasonable. He wants to help the heroes just as much but he isn't an actual cleric, he doesn't have magic. And if he were to leave, then the only place of good in Barovia would fall to darkness which gives him a reason to stay behind. I do not have a strong opinion on which version I like more. I think both fit the energy of the Ravenloft as a whole and both serve their purposes well. Doru exists to give Curse of Strahd more darkness in the opening and highlight that the players were not the first to try to kill Strahd. I did go on about the changes for Ireena but making Donavich a potential ally really fits with his I6 counterpart even if he wasn't really a fighter in I6. The reasoning for him join is very clear. He has lost nearly everything, and the only thing he has left to give is himself. A father who wants the devil to pay for killing his son. He gains a conviction, which is something that is missing in I6.

Outside of Ireena and Donavich, there aren't any more major differences until the castle. Once you get to the gate that we know would lead to Villaki, the carriage to Castle Ravenloft appears and it waits for the players to enter to go to the castle. The module breaks if you don't enter the carriage which makes sense. Vallaki, Krezk, and the rest of Barovia don't exist in lore as this is the first module. When all the players arrive at the Castle, the drawbridge drops down and it has one of the funniest and also probably most infuriating ways you can die. Quoting the book "Each time anyone except Strahd crosses the bridge, there is a 5% chance of a cross board breaking. If the cross board breaks. the character on it must make a dexterity check or fall to the bottom of the cliffs, 1000 feet below". In other words, 5% chance you need to make a dex save, on a fail you die. I had to share; first edition is fairly infamous for traps that can just kill you and I6 is no exception. I am so glad we do not design dungeons this way anymore.

[ID]

A black and white document on a wooden table similar to the previous image. The border of document is the same as the previous image. The page number is at the center of the bottom of the page; the page number is 10. The document is a black and white image of a carriage drawn by two horses heading to a large castle. The carriage is in the left corner of the document. The style of the carriage invokes victorian style. The carriage has three accents that divide the carriage into sections horizontally. At the top of the cairrage is a holding area for luggage and other objects. In front of the carriage is a drivers set which is unmanned. On the right of the drivers set is a parking lever. The back of the carriage is additional luggage space, in the shape of an "L". Below this additional luggage space is a seal that is illegible. The carriage has 3 windows each spaced equally apart on the upper half of the right side. Above the the right window is a Victorian styled lantern. The door to the carriage is in the center of the right side of the carriage. The door's hinges are on the right of the door and the door's handle is on the left. On the lower half of the door is a symbol of what appears to be a bird or bat. Three of the carriages wheels are visible: The Front right and both rear wheels. The left rear wheel is cut off by the page. The right rear wheel is cutoff by dust and the page. The front right wheel is obscured by dust. All the wheels are attached to the bottom of the carriage and each other with a bar.

The carriage is being pulled by two large black horses. Their harnesses appear to be uniform in make are similar. The harness attaches near their neck and the middle of the back, and near the hip. The horses are controlled by reins that attach at the horses mouths and face and loop into the harness before becoming no longer visible.

The castle is in the background. The castle is made up of several spires and a drawbridge. The drawbridge has two towers at the end of the bridge. The drawbridge is attached to a large barbican by a chains. The barbican has three visible towers, one at the left corner of the wall, and two towers between the gate of the barbican. Above the gate of the barbican the same symbol that is on the carriage's door. Each tower and the walls between the towers have battlements. Behind the walls is the keep. The keep has 5 visible towers, two on the left and right of the keeps center barely visible, one tower that lacks a spire on the right taller than the keep and is attached to the left tower by a bridge, the left tower is taller than the right tower and has an attached spire, and the tallest tower on the right with a spire at the top. The keep has a chimney under the bridge attaching the two towers.

The foreground has a set of trees obscured by the carriage on the left with a patch of grass in the bottom right corner. The background behind the tower is a set of mountains only illuminated by a large lighting strike. The lightning starts in the top right corner and flows left towards a set of trees in the foreground. The carriage is traveling on a dirt path that leads into the castle.

[End ID]

Part 5 The Castle

Starting of the castle section similar to the previous one with Castle Ravenloft's encounters. You can encounter Strahd randomly but the most interesting encounter is the angry villagers which make you get more encounters because they are making a ton of sound but will help out in a fight. They don't attack the players but I think its a fun bit of story telling to have others who are fed up with Strahd's rule helping the players as they explore the castle.

Before I continue onto the rest of the castle bit by bit, I want to talk about the npcs in the castle. The biggest difference in the castle is Rahadin. Rahadin is actually introduced into 5th edition. The dusk elves don't exist until 4th edition and are introduced in one of the Dungeon Magazine issues, in specifically "Fair Barovia"; side tangent on the side tangent, look into Fair Barovia, it has some really cool similarities to 5th edition and it feels a bit like 5th editions proof of concept for Vallaki. Anyway, Rahadin and the Dusk Elves just don't exist. Nothing about them at all is in the older versions of Ravenloft. The closest thing are the Shadow Fey but the whole Drow/Shadow Fey retcon is a neat topic for its own day. Gosh sorry, Rahadin. He probably is my favorite change to the module full stop. He adds so much more depth to Strahd and his own darkness. Rahadin allows Strahd to be more human. He has someone who is his weakness and vice versa, Rahadin's weakness is his loyalty to Strahd. He can be just as meanacing as Strahd and just as cold while at the same point letting the players feel above him since whenever/if ever the players have dinner with Strahd, Rahadin is forced to be the servant. Yet it feels like there is something more. He takes care of the dirty work for the master of the castle, sometimes its cleaning, sometimes its killing. Overall, I wish the dusk elves were better integrated into the story of Curse of Strahd since other than Rahadin's backstory along with the whole Patrina and Kasamir story line, they don't get a ton of flavor and because they are so recent and it makes me sad, especially since the Dusk Elves are from wherever Barovia is from and some older modules touch on this exactly, mainly the hexad modules (again another time if people want).

Speaking of Patrina - She exists! Wait I just said the dusk elves don't exist. Correct! Both are true statements. She is made into an elf vistani, which is a bit weird. 2nd and 3rd edition make it clear that only humans can be Vistani while 4th and 5th say it doesn't matter (they invent Mother Luba for Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and add her in with Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft; she is a halfling). So uh, no idea what this means. 1st edition breaking all the rules! 5th edition dropping the Vistani part and making her a Dusk Elf does let Rahadin have more depth as I mentioned. I think this element is just messy lore because Ravenloft was just a module; it wasn't intended to be the start of a setting. Weird things like this happen. Otherwise for Partrina, her backstory is more or less the same. Just Kasamir doesn't exist in I6. Curse of Strahd does a much better job integrating her into the overall setting of Ravenloft, even if it meant inventing a type of elf native to Barovia. I was honestly a bit shocked reading that she existed in I6 since elves don't have a strong place in Barovia when it comes to the greater Ravenloft canon. Patrina's expansion and role in the story along with Rahadin and Kasamir add depth that I would never want to remove and feel almost as if this was something missing from second or third edition. Something that is a one line piece of text and encounter in the crypts became something far more interesting and it makes Curse of Strahd better for it.

The next changes are Strahd's vampire brides (and Escher). They do not exist in I6. I don't have any fun facts on like when they were added or what inspired them; just that they are added in 5th edition. I am curious as to why they were included. Strahd isn't just after Tatyana, given that Patrina is from 1st edition, so it make sense he could have some wives (and someone else) so is that why? I would love to talk to someone who made Curse of Strahd and ask so so many questions but I just don't have the info on why they exist. They give flavor and depth. That's probably it. I feel a bit sad that my extent of knowledge on these characters is what it is. Escher is a fan favorite since he is such a sad man who is now over his head. WotC did a good job in adding them since they feel fundamental to the experience of Castle Ravenloft as well as add some additional encounters that are not in I6.

Moving onto another character, Cyrus is Human in I6. He is the only Belview in the module but he is human. The mongrelfolk aren't from 1st edition Ravenloft. I specify this because one, they do exist in 1st edition and two, they do exist in Ravenloft, just later. The mongrelfolk are similar to another creature in Ravenloft, Broken Ones. Just Mongrelfolk tend to be nicer and more friendly (and also have a much sadder existance in G'henna) than the Broken Ones. It makes sense they would live with the Abbot since he is a kind being (good aligned atleast) and they are outcasts who need to constantly look for a home. Just, they are completely an addition to 5th editions version of the module (and Barovia as a whole). I am not going to go into the changes 5th edition does for Barovia as a setting but I do think it would make for an interesting topic. Making Cyrus a mongrelfolk makes him more friendly and overall adds more horror flavor to the world. Every major character is human, that is so bland. The point does work though, it makes non-human characters outsiders. It works well, but adding a bit of change here or there makes the world more interesting because you get characters your players can relate to. A drow character can relate to the dusk elves for example. The Belviews add that depth and strangeness that wouldn't be there if they weren't mongrelfolk. In 1st edition, Cyrus is just an old man who tells jokes at bad times and tries to lead the players to their rooms. I like 5th edition's change; he stays this old man but is far more likable personally.

News for Pidlwick II fans, he does not exist yet sadly. He was created for 5th edition. I generally like clockwork automatons and while Barovia really isn't clockwork-y compared to other Domains (looking at some of the more advanced domains like Paridon), living dolls are so cool. He has some interesting flavor if you expand him into the greater Ravenloft setting since he could be considered a Dread Construct. The lore around Pidlwick II however, is fairly interesting. I6 and Curse of Strahd disagree on who Pidlwick the first is; well I say I6 disagrees, its more the lore given to him in 3rd edition's source books is different than the lore Curse of Strahd uses. In Curse of Strahd, Pidlwick is a fool of Duchess Dorfniya Dislisyna and Fritz von Weerg made Pidlwick II and Pidlwick II killed Pidlwick. In the second and third edition canon, Pidlwick is the husband of Dorfiya Dilisnya and the "father" of one of the most important characters in all of Ravenloft canon, Leo Dilisnya. Leo deserves his own post as well but if you know "I, Strahd" you know Leo. Anyway Pidlwick's mother gets murdered and he starts an assassination war with the Petrovna families called the War of the Silver Knives. Strahd orders the assassinations to end and Pidlwick grows to despise Strahd since he didn't avenge his mother. Leo takes on this hatred for Strahd when Pidlwick dies. Now why is he called a Fool of Dorfniya? Its assumed its because Leo isn't his son by blood and he was cucked by another character. That is such a wild difference in lore for once character but without it, Pidlwick II wouldn't exist. Yet Leo's remains do exist in Curse of Strahd in Wachterhaus but I am getting off topic.

Lastly on the who's whos of the castle: Helga, Lief, and Gertruda exist and 5th edition leaves them unchanged. They exist, they fill their roles the exact same way. It is still very cool to me to see how much of this module can remain the same over 30+ years across several editions.

Now onto the Castle proper; I will be sprinkling in throughout this section the remaining art in the module as there is only a handful more and the rest is text. Something I think that was interesting when I was looking over the other editions of this module is that they all use the same numbering for the locations in the castle. Like K30 is the Office of the King's Accountant in I6. Curse of Strahd also makes K30 - King's Accountant. Overall. I think this is wonderful and its something most people wouldn't notice and only the dedicated fans like myself would. And I love this. And it makes my life easier since I can refer to each room in the castle by its location number. Now overall, the castle is the same in Curse of Strahd as it is in I6 so I will only mention any notable changes.

The first of which is K15 - Chapel of Ravenloft. We don't actually get the name of the figure who tries to steal the Icon of Ravenloft in I6 and in Curse of Strahd the icon is more powerful. In I6 it just lets you heal any creature 6 to 21 hit points and makes the ability to turn undead stronger while 5th edition adds the Protection from evil and good radius and the augury spell. Its also said to be 10 pounds in 5th edition while 1st edition just says its small; which 10 pounds is not small. Then again its a foot tall silver statuette that is half a food wide, so I think 5th edition is correct in making it fairly heavy. I am curious for the reasoning in making the Icon stronger, the protection from evil and good spell is so useful in this dungeon and the augury spell is just fun flavor.

Next is K20 - Tower Hall of Honor or as 5th edition calls it Heart of Sorrow. Yeah, the biggest change is the name. Its called the Guardian of Sorrow as mentioned earlier in this post. The animated halberds also aren't flying swords or anything but instead how the Guardian of Sorrow attacks. The heart actually makes the players take dexterity saving throws every round or they fall down the stairs since the whole castle is shaking which is cool but annoying. The module does mention explicitly the players can move at 1/4 movement to avoid the saving throws but still awful. Atleast 5th edition had the kindness to just knock you prone when you failed the dexterity save rather than fall down to a lower floor. The heart also doesn't have any kind of life/shield link with Strahd like it does in 5th edition; it just exists. Saying it "exists" underpins the whole thematic reason its here. Like the whole purpose of the heart is to say the castle is alive, and maybe the land is alive even? The whole "I am the land" in his journal seems far more literal now, like this could be his heart! Its so brutal. 5th edition makes the link even more clear; he is hurt when you hurt the heart and the heart takes damage for him. Its a masterful change in 5th edition, it adds flavor and gives the players more reason to explore. I also like "Guardian of Sorrow" far better than "Heart of Sorrow" but that's me.

[ID]

The image is a black and white document of Strahd von Zarovich playing an organ. The organ takes up the majority of the image, being cut off by the left edge of page curving around and ending at the right half of the page. The top left to the top center are the organs pipes in two rows, each topped with a dragon head open as if to breathe fire. Part of the back row of the pipes are cut off by the top of the image. The pipes are then hidden by the organs at their bottom. The organ appears to have 4 rows of keys that make the up center of the organ. Above the top row of keys as well as the left and right of they keys appear to be buttons or knobs to activate additional elements of the organ. Dividng the buttons from the keys appears to be inlays with circles. Bellow the organ is two rows of swell pedals that get hidden behind Strahd and the darkness of the image. In front of the swell pedals is the pedal board of the organ. The right end of the organ is a ornate carving of the dragon. Below the dragon is a post carved to look like the dragon's feet. Below the foot of the dragon is the signature of Clyde Caldwel.

Playing the organ is Strahd von Zarovich. His left hand is on the second row of keys while his right hand is in the air as if to strike the keys dramatically. Both his left and right arms show a visible undershirt sleeve. The left arm has a button near the sleeve. His right hand has nails like claws. Only the left profile of his face is visible. His hair is licked back but fades into the darkness of his clothes. The rest of his clothing is veiled in the darkness and are to obscure to make out.

The chair Strahd is sitting in is mostly obscured by his cloak. The left portion of the chair is visible; the upholstery of the chair along with its front left leg. Keeping the upholstery in place are round staples or buttons. The left leg is carved to look like the foot of a lion or beast.

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K30 - Office of the King's Accountant. The biggest difference is 1st edition has less loot and the reason Lief is upset is slightly different. Lief wants access to the hidden treasury. Why he knows this is never explained but he also knows the whole layout of the castle and will give the players a map to the holy symbol like in 5th edition so I assume he knows it exists but Strahd won't let him use it. I don't know when "Manual of Bodily Health" is first created but it doesn't exist in 1st edition's version of the module so I assume it was added as more interesting loot than just money, since 1st edition has the same amount of money but the manual is replaced with 100 books worth 10 gp each. I like this minor but impactful change. If the player characters are just playing Curse of Strahd, the manual is just as impactful as if it was more money but if they go beyond Strahd into another game, this is far more impactful. Either way, its a cool and fun change.

K31 - Trapworks. The only difference here is the damage you take from being on the top of trap. In 1st edition its 3d10 with no save to avoid damage while in 5th edition is a dexterity save taking 8d10 on a failure, which is so much more. I imagine this is because players should be nearing the level cap for the module and that level cap is far higher for Curse of Strahd than Ravenloft but also I have no context for hitpoints in 1st edition, this could be much more damage. Everything else is the same, magical sleep hits the players and then they are trapped. Overall its a really cool trap, I never have seen it in action and I want to here stories about being imprisoned or the elf of the party saving everyone; seems like a really cool narrative moment.

K41 - Treasury. Similarly to Office of the King's Accountant, the 5th editions version just has far more stuff, but also its missing some things. Mainly all the magical weapons. 1st edition has a +2 sword and 3 +3 maces in addition to all the money. It makes sense to give the player a load of magical weapons since in 1st edition, vampires can only be damaged by +1 or more weapons. So this is a solution to a problem that they player will encounter when they go to fight Strahd. It also reinforces the need to explore dungeons and keeps up with 1st editions dungeon diving nature. I think this is kinda cool, I don't think I know of a module that hands players multiple +3 weapons at once. 5th edition swaps those out for the +2 shield, some potions, and the instant fortress along with the helm of brilliance, rod of the pact keeper and alchemy jug. I think both are fun treasure piles but I think 5th edition benefits from having a larger pool to draw magic items from. The shield is also unique to Curse of Strahd since Argynvostholt was added for 5th edition. I think both treasuries fit the version they are in. Like 5th edition does not focus to heavily on better gear as a requirement for fights, it just makes fights easier. So a diverse pool of gear is better than a large amount of magical weapons; especially since a magical weapon isn't needed to hurt Strahd. 1st edition does focus on that sort of progression so magical weapons make a ton of sense and as I mentioned, characters need magical weapons to hurt Strahd at all. The module is designed for six to eight characters in 1st edition; which is larger than most parties are in 5th edition. There is one sunsword but what if there are 3 fighters? This is how you get around the problem.

K46 - Courtyard outlook or Parapets in 5th edition. 5th edition added an encounter here. Neat. You have to linger here to fight Strahd's armor but you can. I don't have much more to say than it surely is an encounter that exists.

K49 - Lounge. I need to share that they changed the book titles here. One of the old ones is a gem in my opinion. "Identifying Blood Types: A Beginner's Handbook". I think it just neat. That's all.

K63 - Wine Cellar. This area is expanded quite a bit, flavor wise, in 5th edition. First off - potential encounter with a slime. Neat. Second, all the wine is explicitly from the Wizard of Wines. I like this, thats all.

[ID]

The document is a black and white image similar to the above image. The image is of Ireena Kolyana standing next to the portrait of Tatyana. Ireena's hair appears to be dark, messy, and long, going past her shoulders. Ireena appears to be wearing lipstick. Ireena's outfit is that of a traditional longsleeve vest and pants with a cloak. Around her neck is a cross with a gemstone in the center of the crucifix. The cloak around her neck is held in place by a clasp with a tassels and a gemstone in the middle of the clasp. Around Ireena's waist is a belt with three buckles, one in the center and one on each side of the middle buckle. The bottom of Ireena's shirt is a repeating pattern of a hollow white diamond with a black square in the center of each diamond and a white dot in the middle of each square. The diamond pattern is on a strip of black fabric. Ireena's pants appear to be dark in color with no discernable features. Ireena casts a shadow on the wall behind her on the left side of the image. In Ireena's left hand is her sword which she is pushing into the ground. The sword appears to be in its hilt and it cut off by the bottom of the image. The hilt has two circular inlays with gem stones. The bottom of the two inlays appears to be in the middle of a cross inlay. Near the top round inlay is a loop that has a strap passing through. Ireena's posture is tall and proud, with her right hand at her waist and her left arm leaning on her sword; clearly poising next to a portrait very similar to her appearance. She is facing the right

The portrait is of Tatyana. Tatyana is sitting in a chair, looking left of the viewer. Tatyana has the same face, hair, and lipstick as Ireena. On Tatyana's head is a crown and 3 strings of pearls from the crowns right end flowing behind her hair. Tatyana is wearing a dress with several sets of jewelry. The first is a large necklace with a round pendent with a inlaid gemstone At the end of the neck of the dress is another piece of jewelry, a diamond shaped button with a gemstone. Tatyana's hands are resting at her lap. Each wrist has a bracelet. At her waist is a cloth belt with circular buckle like piece. The chair she is sitting in has a curved back. The left portion of the chair is hidden and not visible. The right portion shows a carved accented arm that curves round into a spiral. Behind Tatyana is a curtain, that is drawn such that it curves behind her. The portrait's frame is heavily accented. The corners are three leaves facing outward, with the middle leaf being the largest, and a curved bow like accent attacked to the leaves, with the bow's guard or point facing the portait. At the middle of the frame section are additional smaller accents: A circle with a gemstone in the middle cut such that the circle looks to be two portions; from the gemstones are two curved limbs that mirror each other; where the limbs meet the circle are two small spikes pointing away from the portrait. Between all the accents are small circles in the middle of the frame's edges. Below the portait is the signature of Clyde Caldwel.

[End ID]

K67 - Guard's Hall or Hall of Bone in 5th edition. This area is very different. Like not the same area different almost. In 1st edition this is just a hallway. Thats it. Ok, Strahd does still kill is guards here, so there is stained blood still. But 5th edition adds in a whole skeleton/bone art sculpture made by Cyrus because why not honestly. That may come off as mean sounding, I think its actually just amazing. I have a soft spot for Cyrus. This can also be a spot for your treasure or Strahd's encounter which that isn't the case in 1st edition. Lastly, the ossuary has the skull of Argyvost which doesn't exist in 1st edition as I already have mentioned. Taking a step back, its interesting that 5th edition just invented a room. Like original Strahd did not have a bone room. You know, a room for bones of those he murdered. Granted he didn't make this, Cyrus made the bone zone. But is 5th edition Cyrus that much more wild compared to 1st edition then? Or better yet, Strahd just let him do this? That you can fight Strahd here or better find this tome here means he enjoys this room possibly? Like he is sitting at the end of a table in a chair of bone holding the dragon skull; what even? I don't know, there is more to say here than the bone room is cool but I love it. I need to know the reason behind the bone room minus "give the vampire a bone room". If its just that, kudos to the people fighting for this wonderful set piece. Such an amazing addition.

K75- South Dungeon. The real change is giving Emil a character. He does exist in 1st edition but he is unnamed and he just joins the party once freed to help kill Strahd but betrays the party once an opportunity arises. Emil is very similar in 5th edition unless the players know Zuleika (or she is your ally due to the reading) in which case he may join to help kill Strahd or just try to flee instead. I like that they made him a fully fleshed out character along with the werewolves without changing much of his actual role in the story unless you happen to get Zuleika as an ally which makes sense. I am not going into too much about Emil since his story is more related to the werewolves than the castle itself.

K78 - Brazier Room. This is very different/. The purpose of this room in I6 is to block the players from entering into the catacombs or other parts of the castle. Its a puzzle room with no hints other than an hourglass representing time in rounds, the golems each have unique stones their hands that can be thrown into the fire. Each stone has a different associated door and the golems won't attack unless the timer runs out. Other than this puzzle, there is a chest that 5th edition doesn't have for a good reason. First its trapped and if you open it from the front you fall asleep. If you can't be put magically asleep, the chest looks empty due to illusion magic after you open it from the front. So you need to open it from behind. Inside it has some spell scrolls, some potions, and of course a deck of many things. The deck of many things is a wonderful way to end a campaign; though I have no idea what the difference between 1st editions deck and 5th editions. I imagine not much has changed since 5th edition is quite brutal. There is probably a few 5th edition adventures that include the deck of many things somewhere but I don't personally like the item. In older editions where characters feel a bit more disposable, the deck is fine since it can just kill your character, but in 5th edition it can derail a campaign instantly. Anytime the deck has come out, the campaign almost instantly ends or becomes derailed since we now need to save a character because they pulled a card that does something awful to them.

5th edition completely changes this room to be a teleportation room to anywhere in Barovia basically using the same flame color puzzle but with a riddle which is nice and it removes the deck of many things for obvious reasons. I get the changes, it keeps the thematic purpose of the room the same and also removes the deck but also I miss the trap; one more final challenge if you need to get into the catacombs. The change also adds in flavor as to how Strahd can be everywhere in Barovia at any time, he can literally teleport. I think personally, the teleportation puzzle wasn't neccesary but the removal of the chest was. Curse of Strahd is a much longer campaign and to have it get derailed in the 9th hour would be unsatisfying for a lot of players. I6 is probably banking on the players using the deck once Strahd is dead as a treasure and hook for the next story. If you want a story with the Deck of Many Things, you could probably make it work as a way to keep your players in Ravenloft as a continuation but it might take some tweaking.

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The image is a black and white document of a knight with a sword and shield fighting zombies in water.. The image is similar to the previous image. The knight is on the left side of the image while the fully visible zombie is on the right. There are 3 zombified hands clawing up from the water; two near the knight and one in the background between the knight and zombie. The knight is positioned such that they are about to strike the zombie with their sword. The knight is wearing a helmet, scale mail, a shield, a curved sword, pants, greaves, and gauntlets. Their helmet is ornate with several curved inlays on the forehead of the helm. The top of the helm is spiked. The area of the helmet where the face would be located is open but there is no visible face. The helm curves down to guard the neck as it meets up with the scale mail. There is a strip of metal from the top of the helm to the base in the middle of the back of the helm. the scalemail flows from the neck to the upper thigh of the knight. On the knights shoulders is a set of pauldrons. The section of the scale mail around the neck is curved, suggesting that the helm scale mail section is on top of the body scale mail. The knight's overshirt is ripped apart at the chest, revealing the scale mail underneath. There is a strap from the knight's right shoulder flowing down to the left side of the knights waist with a buckle and gemstone inlay near the shoulder. At the end of the strap is a string of pearls or gemstones. Similarly, there is a mirroring strap that starts on the left should and meets the right side of the knights waist; this strap is thinner than the other strap. The shield is in the knight's left hand. The shield is round with a cross painted on the center of the shield. There is wear around the edges of the shield. In the knight's right hand is the curved sword. The sword appears to be a scimitar or a falchion. The swords guard curves up on both sides. Light creates a visible shine off the sword. The knight has a belt at their waist with six circular inlays each spaced equally. The knight's overshirt continues to the left of their body, covering part of their pants. The knight's pants are dark in color and have wrinkles near the right knee. The knight's right knee is protected by a their greaves. The top of the right boot is just visible above the water. One of the three zombie hands is grabbing at the knights right leg.

The zombie fighting the knight is crouched near the water with its left hand reaching to claw the knight and the right hand in the water. The zombies clothes are torn into rags. These rags barely cover the zombie, with big pieces of cloth dangling off the chest and left arm. The zombie's face is heavily decayed as it makes a gaunt snarl to the knight. The zombie's hair is ratty and short. Across the zombie's body are boils and scars. The zombie's chest is hidden and darkned.

The background of the image is misty on the left which flows down to the center of the image; with chains becoming visible in the right corner. The water of the image contains off colored pools around the knights legs, the middle zombified hand, and the zombies limbs in the water. In the bottom right corner of the image is signature of Clyde Caldwel.

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The crypts are the next and generally, they either received more loot of flavor since most of they crypts in 1st edition are simple. Most are just text with flavor like "Beucephalus, The Wonder Horse. May the flowers grow ever greener where he trods" (yes they misspelled the name of Alexander the Great's horse in text, look at the last image in my post, Crypt 39). Anyway those that did have significant changes are listed below. Generally, assume Curse of Strahd gave each crypt either a description of the person interred or wealth inside the crypt if I did not mention anything in particular.

Crypt 6 - Marya Markovia. Her crypt is very different in Curse of Strahd. They added her thighbone as a weapon and changed her epithet from "Great was her beauty, undone by a jealous hand" to "Dead for all time". I think this was done to bring more flavor to the morninglord stuff since Barovia really didn't have any ties to the Morninglord other than some elements in "Vampire of the Mists", one of the Ravenloft novels.

Crypt 7 - Endrovich (Endrovich the Terrible) - In changing Marya Markvoia, Endrovich had to be changed. They explicitly call out Marya Markvoia as the one Endrovich loves but since Marya's crypt is Markvoia's crypt now, he just loves a generic Marya with no surname. He also doesn't haunt a gargoyle in 1st edition, he is just a specter you encounter. He also is guarding a stack of 3,400 gp in 1st edition.

Crypt 13 - King Intree Katsky- 1st edition this is just a named crypt with nothing. 5th edition gives him a gun! And a glider. Interestingly enough, firearms are not uncommon in flavor in Ravenloft. There is a lot of imagery and artwork of characters with firearms throughout Ravenloft in 2nd and 3rd edition source books so this is a fitting change.

Crypt 29 - Ivan Ivanovich, Beloved of Anna Betrovich- Yeah this is just not in 5th edition. This crypt is just straight up different. It belongs to Baron Eisglaze Drüf and has actual stuff in it, mainly a luck blade and brown mold for environmental cold damage. 1st edition just has nothing

Crypt 30 - Perfect Ciril Romulich - Since the morninglord doesn't exist yet, 1st edition does not have a holy symbol that blows up on evil creatures. Instead its 10 +1 arrorws, a scroll of raise dead and 3 potions, one is a potion of poison (yum), one is clairvoyance, and one is invulnerability.

Crypt 35 - This crypt is unused in 1st edition. The ghoul trap is new to 5th edition.

Crypt 37- Gralmore Nimblenobs. 5th edition does Nimblenobs dirty. He has so many more scrolls plus a +1 sword that can let you cast wish. Excuse me? I get the change but come on just the three scrolls for 5th edition and calling him "wizard ordinaire" is just bullying a dead guy who knew wish.

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The image of a black and white document of a vampire on the left side of the page and text on the right like previous images. The top of the pages has a similar border as previous images. The vampire is a women in a dress with a set of jewelery. The women's hair is long and dark, partially obscured by the darkness of the background. She is baring her fangs to the viewer. Her dress straps are thin. Her right hand is raised towards her face. Around her neck is a neclace with several gemstones. Around both arms are bracelets; her left arm has two bracelet while her right arm has a bracelet with 3 visible gemstones. Around her chest are several sets of bindings, one crossing under her breasts, one crossing at the waist, and two crossing around her chest forming an "x". The background of the image is darkness that fades to light from top to bottom. To the right of her waist is s signature of Clyde Caldwel.

Not all the text on the right is visible. The following is the visible text:

"A body in white clothing rots naturally, in small chest. Whithin the chest are 10+1 arrows and 3 bottles containing potions of poiso invulnerability

Crypt 31. '$$We knew him only by his wea

There is a large, bulging chest in the center is a trapper who attacks anyone that steps up

1 trapper: AC 3; MV 3"; HD 12; hp 62; #A AC; AL N.

Crypt 32. "St. Finderway, Saint of Lost Tr

The crypt is featureless except for two al Over the alcoves is written "Pass not the mortals!"

These alcoves are transmitting and r alcoves on the east sends thoses who enter alcove in K86. Stepping into the western receives persons teleporting from the west

Crypt 33.

The stone door is blank. This crypt has

Crypt 34. "King Dostron"

Crypt 35.

The stone door is blank. This crypt has

Crypt 36.

The stone door is clawed and marked so The tomb is empty

Crypt 37. "Gralmore Nimblenobs"

The stone door only gives the name abo within, rotting naturally. About the co one wish; a scrholl with hcarm monst polymoprh self spells; and a scroll w haste, lightning bolt, and slow spells.

Crypt 38. "Americo Standarski (Inve

When this crypt is opened, three pair out. Three hellhounds attack. These damage at up to 10 feet from their sco points if the character saves vs drago breath once per round for as many ro

3 hellhounds: AC 4; MV 12"; HD 5; hp + breath weapon; AL. LE.

Crypt 39. "Beucephalus, The Won grow ever greener where he trods."

This crypt has a larger door than all rears up when the door is opened breath obscures vision, blinds oppo"

[End ID]

For the rest of the crypt, there really isn't any changes. The trap that leads you to a pit full of enemies is from I6. Sergi's armor is +2 plate mail which is reflected in 5th edition, Stradh's teleport trap is the same, and you need to be lawful good to enter the tomb of Barov and Ravenovia; though 5th edition added the squeezing part for small sized player characters. Generally speaking, the crypt really didn't get changed. What was changed in Curse of Strahd was mainly done for balance purposes or to make the crypt more align with the canon that Curse of Strahd uses.

Now about those magic items. How different is the holy symbol or the sunsword. Surprisingly not much. The holy symbol basically has a daylight affect, though its different, weaker, and you can only use it once a week. However, your turn undead feature is stronger while using it. The sunsword is weird but also basically the same. The biggest difference in I6 is that you have to build it. One of the players who is a fighter with sword has the blade portion already, just they don't know it. The blade of the sunsword when not in the proper hilt acts like a normal blade. You have to take the blade out and put it in the sunswords hilt and then its a sunsword. Its a +2 sword except against undead which makes it a +3 and it does extra damage. The flavor of it being separated by a magician and then lost is is also from I6 but the flavor of the blade being Sergei's originally is not in I6.. Lastly, the Tome of Strahd; the passages are the same. I mean "I am The Ancient, I am The Land" is iconic so it would be a shame if 5th edition changed it. Given how much of the module is the same, the tome remaining unchanged is not surprising.

Lastly, talk about is the optional ending. I mentioned when I was talking about Ireena that the "Something Blue" special event in Krezk in Curse of Strahd occurs in I6. It is the optional ending that can play out once the players kill Strahd. I don't want to talk much more on Ireena but moving the ending to Krezk in Curse of Strahd makes sense. If we want other characters to be the ally against Strahd, having her story arc end once she arrives in Krezk feels appropriate.

Closing Thoughts

I know this was a fairly long post but I think it let me kind of go off on my random knowledge I have on Ravenloft as well as discuss some changes and liberties Curse of Strahd decided to take. Its a very iconic module and the fact that it has stood the test of time more or less unchanged is a testament to how impressive and popular this module was in the 1980s. It also gave me a bit of an insight as to the decisions the designers made in Curse of Strahd and their reasoning since despite staying faithful to I6, Curse of Strahd generally made changes for the better in my mind. I may have come across critical of Curse of Strahd but that is more than likely my own bias since WotC has somewhat shown disregard for second and third edition canon which has grown to upset me. If I were to expand upon my thoughts on Curse of Strahd, I would want to talk about it as a follow up since I ignored a majority of the module. I6 is fairly short compared to Curse of Strahd. That is to the benefit of Curse of Strahd, since it is able to flex its world building far more than I6. There were also some topics I never talked about, like the the monster stat blocks. Mainly because I don't have anything meaningful to say. I have never learned how to play older editions of D&D and I really only have passing knowledge. I can take photos and add them as an addendum is someone is able to explain what they actual mean.

Lastly, forgive me if I talk over topics several times in this post. It grew in scope and size several times and had a couple of re-writes. My brain is rot and its full of gothic horror.

[agbpaints]

How To: Basic Model Photography

Far too often I see folks post their newly painted minis online only to fumble at the last hurdle with a poor picture. It doesn't matter how good a painter you are, a bad photo can ruin any model. While you can invest in an expensive light box and a purpose-made camera, there are some things you can do to get at least quality photographs with a phone camera and some items from around the house.

Light

You want as much ambient light as possible plus some extra sources to account for the scale of the minis. If you have a room with big windows and the sun isn't directly blasting through them, that's great. If not then a reasonably bright overhead room light will work too. I also use an articulated LED desk lamp as a more controlled source to light the miniature from the front and illuminate details that an overhead source might cast into shadow.

Background

Try to get some sort of flat color backdrop to photograph your minis against. The easiest method I've found is to get a sheet of paper, I use some lightly colored and textured parchment paper, and then prop that up against something sturdy to make a gentle curve before setting your mini on it. Neoprene warhammer play mats or paper battletech maps can also work great for this if you do want a more thematic background to match your game of choice. This not only makes the model stand out more without visual noise in the background, it helps control your lighting and gives your camera an easier target to focus on.

Stability and Camera Distance

Your weak, fleshy meat hands might seem kinda steady but for the purposes of doing very scuffed macro photography they almost certainly aren't, so you’re gonna want some form of mechanical stabilization for your camera. A tripod is great for this, but if you don't have one then you can just prop your phone up on whatever surfsce you're taking the photos on.

You'll also want to play with how far the camera should be from the model for the best picture- I find that about 6-8 inches works best for my Galaxy 20 but your mileage may vary depending on what hardware you use.

Angles

Because a photo is a static 2d representation of a 3d object, the angle you take a photograph at relative to the model will chance which details are most visible and how the pose is read by the viewer. Think about how you want your finished piece to look like and consider taking a couple of protos with different angles and poses tonsee what works best.

Cropping

A teeny tiny mini in the middle of a big wide photo means anyone who wants to look closely at the details needs to zoom in on it, and most people won't do that! Once you've taken your photo, crop it down so that the miniature is filling the frame.

You could also consider the Rule of Thirds- most photo editing software will give you pairs of vertical and horizonal lines that divide an image into 9 segments, framing your subject in the photo so that it ends up falling along or framed by those lines can give you a guideline to easily produce a well composed photo.

Hopefully these tips help you take better photos of your models! It does take a few extra minutes compared to just snapping a quick photo off the paint betch but the extra effort is absolutely worth the results in my opinion

[sam24]

Minivans And Pawnshops

Summary: You were out on a mission for a week, and when Tony, your self-appointed overprotective bodyguard, notices your Greek god of a boyfriend acting weird, he makes it his personal duty to figure out why. By asking Steve what was going on? Hell no. By slipping a Stark Tracker on him and shoving 11 people into an 8-seater Honda Odyssey to follow him.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x fem!reader

*****

“Take a left.” Friday’s monotone voice rang out.

“Take a left here, Happy,” Tony instructed, looking up from the Stark Map on his phone.

Happy rolled his eyes, mumbling something along the lines of I know, the robot already told me.

“This isn’t necessary, Tony,” You repeated for about the hundredth time. “Steve is not cheating on me.”

“My evidence says otherwise,” Tony urged Happy to drive faster, earning a grumble from the latter. “He’s acting very suspicious, always going out and coming back late every time.”

“Actually, I can vouch for Tony on that one,” Clint adds from his squished place in the last row of the mini-van, practically sitting in an annoyed Natasha’s lap. “He’s been acting pretty weird.”

“Doesn’t automatically mean that he’s cheating,” You defended. “He probably has other reasons.”

“Fine. Cheating or fight club. Which would you prefer?” Tony cocked his head at you, and you shoved it back.

“If he is bedding another woman, I will make sure he cannot bed any woman ever again!” Thor declared loudly into your ear, Wanda also wincing on the other side of him.

“You mean cut his dick off?” Sam piped in from the back, who was purposefully shoving into Bucky with every turn the car made.

“Um, indeed. I think so,” Thor shrugged. “I am not sure what I meant either.”

“Uh Mister Stark?” Peter turns around from the passenger seat that he was sharing with a very uncomfortable Bruce. “Did you really have to bring all of us? I have a lot of math homework to finish.”

Tony waved him off. “I have like 30 assistants back at the tower, kid. Someone will do it for you. Plus, all of us have to catch Rogers in the act and publicly shame him.”

You turned back to Tony, remembering what you both were initially arguing about after the ringing in your ear settled down. “You didn’t have to sneak a damn tracking device on him! You could have just asked what he was doing like a normal person.”

“Fuck being normal. At least be grateful that I waited for you until you came back from your mission to catch him red handed.” Tony smirked. “Or should I say cum handed.”

Everyone gagged.

“Actually, I don’t think that’s how it works,” Vision frowned, basically underneath Wanda. “The semen technically would not be in the Captain’s hand, unless-”

“Vis, honey.” Wanda just shook her head.

“Plus, I already asked Cyborg over here.” Tony pointed to the back at Bucky, who was still glaring at Sam. “He went uhh, I don’t know and ran away,” Tony said in his best dumb jock voice.

“Nothing is going on, Tony.” Bucky narrowed his eyes. “Just turn the car around.”

“I agree with Barnes.” Natasha kicked Tony’s seat from the third row. “Turn around, Happy.”

Bucky looked past Sam and Clint, who were hitting each other’s knees with their own. “Steve told you too?” He asked in Russian with a raised eyebrow.

Natasha shook her head with a smirk. “No. I’m just smart like that.”

“Too late, buddy,” Tony ignored their secret conversation, flashing a fake smile over his shoulder. “Like the great John B once said, ‘We didn’t come this far to get this far’.”

Peter whipped around once again, his eyes lighting up at the quote. “Mister Stark, I’m really glad that you’re watching my TV show recommendations, but I’m pretty sure someone else said it before he did-”

“Happy, take another left here.” Tony called out, mimicking the AI who just said it seconds before.

You rolled your eyes, the red dot in the center of Brooklyn on the phone screen catching your attention. You had no reason to doubt Steve’s loyalty toward your relationship. He loved you and you loved him and you knew that he would never do anything to hurt you. But, you were curious as to why Steve was apparently acting weird while you were gone, and what the hell he was doing in Brooklyn.

“Trust me, Tone. He’s not cheating. I’ll just ask him when he comes back, it’s probably just some stuff he has to take care of.”

“C’mon guys,” Bucky pressed. “Let’s turn around. I need to pee or something.”

“Hm, sounds like you're in denial.” Tony said to you, ignoring Bucky once again. “Don’t worry, the next step will be coming soon. Anger,” Tony announced with a grin like it was some kind of flashy news headline.

“Tony, why the hell does it sound like you want my boyfriend to be cheating on me.”

“Aw come on, it’s not like that,” Tony gestured at Happy to take a right. “I’m just looking out for you.”

You rolled your eyes once again, rubbing your wrist, remembering the death grip Tony had on you earlier as he dragged you into the light blue Honda Odyssey packed tight of Avengers in the back of his garage. He was saving it for his future family, he had claimed when you asked why Tony Stark of all people owned a minivan.

“Stop!” Tony yelled, and Happy quickly stepped on the brake, sending everyone flying forward. You heard Bruce and Peter groaning in the front. “This is it. The big reveal,” he announced.

You immediately scooted ever closer to Tony as he pressed his forehead to the window.

“He’s having an affair with . . .” Tony paused with a frown, his sunglasses sliding down the slope of his nose. “The owner of Vintage Pawn Shop?”

Pawn shop? Didn't Steve say something about a pawn shop a while back?

Identical confused eyebrow furrows made their way onto everyone’s faces, except Bucky’s and Natasha’s, as you spotted your unmistakable 6 foot 2 super soldier through the glass littered with fingerprints.

He was describing something to the old lady working in the store, looking hopeful and tired, like he had been searching for it for days. She nodded and raised her finger in a one minute, honey type of way and started rummaging through some things behind the counter. She pulled out a small box from somewhere, opening it and gently placing it in front of Steve.

You squinted your eyes, accidentally shoving Tony’s head into the window of the car as you craned your neck closer, trying to read the woman’s lips.

She said something along the lines of This might be what you’re looking for, sweetie, and Steve’s eyes lit up, a clear wave of nostalgia crashing over him. With gentle calloused fingers, he lifted a ring out of the box, admiring it with a soft smile.

“Friday,” Tony called out, face still squished between you and the car window. “Connect to the store’s CCTV.”

Before you could ask since when the hell Friday could do that, the Stark Map with a You have arrived at your destination adorned on its screen quickly was replaced with the live footage from the store’s cameras.

“Did this belong to someone that you knew, honey?” The old woman’s kind voice grainily made its way through the speaker of Tony’s phone as she noticed Steve’s eyes glistening with tears.

Everyone tried to move closer to the phone for Steve’s reply in the overcrowded car. “Ow!” You heard Clint yell, probably at Sam. “That was my foot, dumbass!” He was immediately shushed.

“Yeah.” Steve nodded, still smiling at the ring. “My ma’s.”

Multiple gasps were heard throughout the car, Happy’s being the loudest.

A weeks old, sleepy memory that was buried deep into your brain immediately flooded back.

You and Steve were wrapped around each other, your ear pressed to his heart, slowly lulling you to sleep with a familiar beat.

“Y’know, you remind me of my ma.” Steve randomly declared against your hair, and you peered up at him to meet the soft currents in his eyes. “Beautiful. Kind. Doesn’t take shit from anyone.”

He pressed a kiss to your lips as you smiled, cupping your face to pull back and look at you. He stared lovingly at you for a while, settling into a comfortable silence.

“Everything okay?” You turned your head to kiss his palm. The last time he had looked at you for this long without talking, it was right before he burst into tears after you had almost died on a mission.

“Yeah, sweetheart. Just thinking.” He pulled you back into his chest, placing another kiss on your forehead. “She would’ve loved you.”

After a little bit of silence, he spoke again. “Her ring was beautiful.”

“Oh?” You hummed.

“Yeah.” He nuzzled his nose into your cheek, a slight Brooklyn accent slipping through as he talked slowly, his words laced with sleep. “Don’t know where it is, but I wanna find it for you. I’ll look through every pawn shop in the state. And when I find it I’ll propose when the time’s right under the stars and you’ll say yes because you’re just like my ma, and Ma loved me more than anything in the world.”

If Steve had brought up the topic of marrying you during the day when you were wide-awake, you probably would have had a stroke of happiness.

But right now, it was night.

It was night and you were half-asleep, wrapped up in Steve’s warm arms, feeling more at peace there than you ever had anywhere else.

Nothing but peace.

So you just drowsily grinned into his bare chest, your hand snaking up to rest on his cheek. “She loved you more than anything in the world, huh?” You repeated. “Well then I guess your Ma and I are pretty similar.”

You looked up from the screen and back at the window, staring at the ring in Steve’s hand with wide eyes. The sunlight bounced off of it and the jewel sparkled in the light with an elegant touch. Steve was right- it was absolutely gorgeous.

A smile crept onto your face, matching the one on Steve’s.

“Why the hell are you smiling?” Tony’s voice interrupted your daze. “He’s gonna propose to the side chick!”

[rendy-a]

Hey, um hi! I'm new here, nice to meet you, sorry I'm a bit awkward with requests

So, Could we have some of the Self aware AU with Idia and Sebek? It can be whatever you want, a headcanon or a mini one shot, whichever you prefer more^^

Thank you ahead!

~~~🌟🎃

The interesting thing with Self Aware AU is that you can write it like the game characters are aware of you as you play or you can write where the player is isekai’d into the game and everyone knows about it.  Last time, I had written it in the perspective of playing the game irl.  I thought this time, I’d write it as though the player was somehow drawn into the game.  Hope you enjoy it. 

Remember, the Self-Aware AU is a yandere AU!

When you’d awoken inside your favorite phone game…well, you’d freaked out.  But then!  You’d made one rule; never mention the game to any character.  It was just strange.  Plus, you weren’t sure how they’d react!  It was a rule you’d managed to follow, until today.

You, like the character Yuu in your game, were a first-year student at NRC.  As much as you’d liked to have avoided all the game characters to prevent triggering any dangerous events, you shared class with Ace and Deuce (plus lived with Grim).  Over time, you’d been pulled into lunches and joint classes with all the first-year students.  Thankfully, the first-year students weren’t where the problem was.  That was with the Housewardens and you avoided them in every situation possible.  You were relieved that the plot of the game had you living in such a remote dorm and excused you from attending any sort of club activities. 

And yet, you sometimes wished you would meet the characters.  It would be so cool to talk to your favorites, see them in actual real life!  Only, you were also pretty sure the minute you came face-to-face, you’d say something embarrassing or stupid.  Like you did when you met Ace and Deuce.  You still cringe when you remember calling them the ‘single braincell duo’ to their faces.  Yes, it was probably for the best that you took isolated halls to class to avoid the seniors.  You wouldn’t want to turn the corner and ACK!

You rolled over from where you’d fallen and gazed up to see who or what you’d collided with.  You recoiled in horror as nebulous blue flames made patterns across your vision.  “What kind of ridiculous anime situation is this.  Real people should look at where they are going in the hall.  This place needs a mini-map to avoid NPC’s like this.  I can’t believe on the one day I have to attend class in person some extrovert is lurking in my quiet hallway…”  He hadn’t looked up from where he’d fallen but you could tell in an instant that you’d triggered some rare event and encountered a wild Idia.

You spend this small moment wondering if you should pretend to know him or not.  He’s a Housewarden, so you should probably know who he is, right?  But at the same time, he never leaves Ignihyde, so how would you know him?  Maybe you should pretend to not know him.  “It’s you,” a small voice interrupts your dilemma.  You look up at Idia in surprise only to find a matching expression of surprise on his face.  Then his mouth parts slightly and a string of words emerges.  “What should I do?  I didn’t prepare for this event.  I’m not ready to meet my Oshi in person.  How do I trigger the correct dialog option here?  I’m going to get a death flag; I just know it…”

He says a lot of things, but one thing catches your attention: Oshi.  Were you somehow Idia’s favorite?  That can’t be, right?  You let out a giggle at the absurdity of the situation.  Idia’s eyes grow large, and he shrinks back at the sound, started to hear it coming from your mouth.  “Don’t be so nervous Idia.  Nothing bad is going to happen,” you say softly.  When you speak to him, Idia loses control of himself and starts talking rapidly, “Of course!  If the Player says so, then it is so.  They are so amazing, like limited SSR class amazing.  I don’t deserve to even be in their presence.  They are probably thinking, who is this gloomy weirdo with the fire hair?  Why is he dressed so strange, he probably doesn’t have any fashion sense.” 

“That’s not true!” you shout, “I remember when your Ghost Marriage card came out!  Oh my gosh!  It looked so cool!  It was totally my favorite card.  I had to pull 200 times to get it!”  Then you abruptly stop, realizing you’ve said too much when Idia’s hair turns completely pink.  “I…I’m just going to go,” you say as you cover your face in embarrassment and walk back around the corner the way you had arrived.

The students of Ignihyde gave Idia a wide berth as he returned to the dorm.  No one dared approach him while his hair flickered so violently from gentle pink to blazing red.  Idia himself seemed entirely unaware of the bizarre show he was putting on.  He continued mumbling and giggling to himself all the way back to his room.  When he finally found the solitude of his inner sanctuary, he jumped on his bed and hugged his Player-print body pillow.  “Hee Hee Hee!” he laughs out loud for no one to hear but himself.  “I did it.  I meet my Oshi!”  Then he rolls over onto his back and stares dreamily into the ceiling, “They knew who I was.  That must mean something.  Maybe, this is fate?” 

There was only one rule all the inhabitants of Twisted Wonderland had; don’t interfere with the Player.  It was a rule he’d managed to follow, until today.  Today, Fate intervened.  If Fate wanted you two to be together, who was Idia to argue?  As he stared at the ceiling, Idia’s engineering brain went into gear planning designs for a place he could take you where no one else could reach.  A place where you’d finally be alone, with only him.  Just like Fate had planned.

Over time, you’d noticed that the residents of Twisted Wonderland treated you differently.  You remembered the first time you heard Crowley tell the aggravated student body he’d assigned weekend cleaning duty to all students to clean up the campus for their use…because he was so kind.  While all around you, students started grumbling, you’d burst out laughing.  When everyone had started looking at you, you’d choked off your laugh and covered your face.  “Sorry, he just…he said the thing,” you managed to get out between smothered chuckles. 

No one ever called you out on your strange behavior.  It was like they all collectively got together and decided that you were allowed to behave in any way you chose.  They, on the other hand, often seemed to struggle with deciding if they should act normally in your presence or not.  The number of times you’d slipped into a room of rowdy students to have the conversation cut off into a silent awe was alarming.  Today was just another example.

You’d gotten back after a class and lay in your bed, bored.  You’d think that being pulled into your favorite game would give you endless entertainment but, after a time, it just settled into being exactly like school in your world.  The only difference is you occasionally went out looking for locations or characters in the game, like a sort of anime pilgrimage.  Sometimes, you’d been caught in awkward situations, but you’d just sort of nod and say, “This all looks fine,” and leave.  No one has ever called you out on your intrusions.  So…you just felt free to invite yourself anywhere you were curious to go.  Today, you thought about things you were interested in and decided that you’d go to some of the clubs to find out what the club uniforms looked like.  After all, not all those cards were released; it’s like the ultimate preview!

You were almost used to the way things fell silent when you entered the stable yard.  Members of the Horseback Riding Club stopped what they were doing to stare at you.  Those who faced away noticed the attention of their fellows and turned to see you before they too, fell silent.  In almost no time at all, they had casually circled you, as though waiting for you to hand out some sort of instruction or give a speech.  You rubbed your head and thought, guess it’s time to break out the old ‘nothing to see here’ and bounce.  Before you could though, a call broke the silence.  “HUMAN!”

You turned toward the sound, an eager expression coming over you.  Were you about to experience the famous rants of Sebek?  As you hoped, Sebek was loudly berating students at the outer edges of the semi-circle for their inattention during club activities.  You eased yourself forward, hoping to catch sight of him.  No one tried to bar your way, parting before you as you progressed.  You easily reached his side and leaned forward to watch his antics.  Suddenly, he turns and grabs onto YOU!  “HUMAN, YOU AREN’T EVEN DRESSED YET!  THIS SORT OF SLOVENLY BEHAVIOR…” and then he trails off as he looks at your face and you can see the awareness fall over him.

His eyes go wide, and he immediately let’s go of your shoulder, visibly taken aback.  He stammers and you imagine you even see tears gathering in his eyes.  You think to yourself, time to find a way out of this before things get even worse.  “I…I’m here for an inspection…” you say carefully.  All the gathered students listen intently, standing just a touch straighter.  “Sebek, I have decided…I have decided to see how many push-ups you can do in a minute.”  It made no sense, and you knew it made no sense.  You wondered if this would finally be the time someone calls you on your BS but instead, Sebek perks up to an extreme degree.  “YES, OF COURSE!  RIGHT AWAY!” he bellows. 

You stand at his side as he begins, pretending to care far more than you do about the results of this demonstration.  Honestly, it is impressive.  The speed at which he sets out to complete the exercises is extreme.  You wonder for a moment just what sort of training Lilia DOES give to Sebek and Silver to get them to this level of fitness.  When he is finished with the allotted minute, he jumps to attention, standing much as you’d imagine he does on guard over Malleus.  You give it a moment and then say, “Yes, that will suffice.  You may all return to your duties now.”  Having ordered the students to depart, they comply with a surprising speed.  They all still watch you but now they do it while pretending to be engaged in filling buckets with water or looking over curry combs. 

You give one final nod to Sebek and say, “Good job,” before you walk away.  That was more than enough excitement for one night.  You’d rather spend the rest of the evening in Ramshackle than deal with any more things like this tonight.  Behind you, Sebek watches you go in awe.  You praised him; you told him he did a good job.  Before you quite got out of earshot, you heard one last shout, “SILVER WAKE UP!  THEY PRAISED ME, THE PLAYER PRAISED ME!”  You laughed to yourself, what a strange world this was.

That evening in Diasomnia, Sebek carefully pulled his portrait of Malleus off the wall.  Nestled behind it was a photograph of the Player.  He gazed at it reverently.  They’d spoken to him today; praised him even.  He wasn’t yet over it.  He thinks we will never get over it.  He places your photo next to his pillow as he lays down to sleep.  In the morning, he’ll put it back behind the portrait.  He’d not dare to change his room’s layout from what the Player knows!  But for tonight, he’d fall asleep to your face and the remembrance of your voice.  Someday…maybe he’d not even need to use a photograph.  ‘NO!’ he tells himself sternly, ‘the Player is not for you!’  And yet, some dark corner of his mind tells him that ‘good job’ is just a small step away from ‘I love you.’

[jame7t]

question from someone who checked out from infinite a while ago; has 343 even added anything beyond cosmetics and forge assets in the past year? feels like anytime I see a new update it's just forge maps they're putting in the queue

as far as i know there's been like, little to nothing. Some "new" gamemodes but it's still just adding stuff from previous games. 3 years into its life cycle. The game is ostensibly on life support aside from the frequently (and loudly) updated cash shop. Like, when a game wants to be a live service, it should justify a cash shop via actual content drops. Helldivers 2 releases monthly mini battlepasses & still manages numerous free content drops each month. Plus, it's prices are not absolutely divorced from reality. Sure, Helldivers is also 40 dollars, but it was a complete game on release and Helldivers' cash shop respects the fact that i've paid 40 bucks already.

Like, here's a wonderful selection from Halo Infinite's cash shop during the flood event:

These are 20-22 dollar armor sets. Also, Halo Infinite is "Free to play" but the campaign alone is still 60 bucks. "Okay, so the campaign being separate from multiplayer means those 60 bucks means a much larger campaign, right? No, because of course it doesn't. Halo infinite's campaign is technically larger in the sense that it has wider areas, but with less enemy variety, a complete lack of dynamic set pieces, literally three types of environment, & kind of a shit sandbox compared to previous games, it feels MUCH smaller. So, I paid 60 bucks for Halo, and because Halo says anyone can play for free now, all the people who bought campaign are now also stuck with the free to play prices, which is terrible. Also, to reiterate: Why are there 20 dollar armor sets in a game. why do you get to pay 22 dollars to havbe the flood shit on you. these items are priced like the game gets actual updates. Halo infinite has not received a (fun) new weapon since launch. (They added the bandit, which is a scope-less DMR from previous halo games, then added the bandit EVO, which is a variant so boring that i refused to google the difference at the time of writing this.) Anyway, Helldivers 2 cash shop costs like 2-3 bucks for armor sets, some show up cheaper. And the currency you buy them with? Incredibly easy to earn.

sorry for doing my gaming rant. if you want we can call it an infodump & we can pretend i said all this on the lap of a cooing milf who is voluptious &cares deeply about how mad i am at video games

[somerandomdudelmao]

Okay, one last thing, I don't think we've got a clear answer yet. So, once everyone reunites and stuff and we got an epic plot twist, will there be an "after"?

Like, will there be another mini-series? Will you draw a couple of panels/doodles of the aftermath? If requested so kindly? Of course, another mini-series is asking too much, I know that you want to go ahead and end this. Even though you're probably really excited to share with us you're own personal happily ever after for everyone, It's been like a year since the Baby Leo bit.

I just wanna ask because it would be pretty cool to see how the future guys would interact with their younger selves. Plus April, Splinter, Draxum, Cass, etc. I mean, we're all accustomed to F!Leo going back to the past. But all four of them? Maybe even April, Splinter, and Draxum coming into the mix? Still don't know if they're gonna be involved in that reunion. That's actually another thing I'm curious about. Are you bringing the Hamato family back to the past...permanently? Or is it a little more complex than that?

Regardless, I'm just so excited to see how everything turns out. Even though I'm gonna bawl, I can't wait to see the sketched smile on everyone's faces. Oh, the joy.

I can't really share my plans for the comic with you, because I..uhhhh....I have almost no plans. My plans are in fact "some vague desire to move in this direction". I change them all the time, so whatever I say here might not end up being true :l

However, I still have a rough idea of the tone and mood of the story, so here. I've updated my super professional map for you