#rangers are what happens when a Druid and a Paladin come together

[ranger-danger]

Still do not get why people hate on rangers so much. Especially when they don’t even know what they’re talking about and only watched a 3 minute video about how “rangers bad because they’re not rogues” like no fucking shit they’re not rogues THEYRE DIFFERENT CLASSES FOR A REASON. Are you going to sit there complaining about how sorcerers aren’t wizards or warlocks? Or how paladins aren’t fighters?

[definitearticle]

Shared with permission:

What to do:

Choose your class - we have a big fight coming up, and we need everyone.

Artificers: It's time to make sure your 3D printers are working, and you are linked to a good maker group. Access to all healthcare, not just reproductive rights, will be at risk soon, which means we should have a good network for ensuring that people can access 3-D-printed prosthetics and accessibility equipment. https://3d.nih.gov/collections/prosthetics

Barbarians: protests are coming. We don’t even know what for yet, but if last time is any indication, there will be a lot. Check your boots/walking shoes. Make sure your go bag is packed for game day. https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/race-inequality-law/protest-tips

Bards: I see you already. Posts are up, and videos are rolling. Ensure you’re formulating a good network of people you’re watching and promoting. Guild bards get more done. And the traditional media bards seem not to be getting the support or are being silenced, so let’s make our own. Support and promote Substacks and Patreons for creators and writers who may get silenced on other platforms soon.

Clerics: Open the sanctuary doors. Start placing the bookcase in front of the attic door now so it won’t raise any eyebrows when needed later.

Druids: Document everything. We’re about to lose a lot of our ability to monitor our natural resources, which means that science will have to look at the data you’re collecting in the areas you love to piece together what is happening to our world. Take daily pictures of the forest document, note the temperatures, and notice the movement of animals. Only time tells when things deviate from the norm, which means getting the data. (It's okay to buy a pretty notebook now)

Fighters: Honestly, it's a lot of the same stuff that I just told the Barbarians, except your go bag will have to be a lot more flexible: Bandanas, water bottles. Review the tapes of previous protests and see what was learned. https://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/race-inequality-law/protest-tips

Monks: Watch, be patient, and be prepared to move quickly and reorient an attacker's energy back at them. https://www.aclu.org/

Paladins: Remember you are strong both offensively and defensively and capable of healing and buffing allies, while also dealing significant damage to foes. But your powers are tied to your adherence to your moral code. So, know what that code is now. Know what your boundaries are. Write them out. Align yourself with missions where you can do the most good, not where you stand in your way. Remember that sometimes, you are at your strongest at just being the wall of moral good between evil and those that evil would hurt. You don’t have to look for the fight. Look for the person in pain. The fight has already come to them. https://transequality.org/

Rangers: Warriors of the wilderness. Defend the forests. Don’t let them come after the USFD again. https://www.fs.usda.gov/

Sorcerers: Look into getting an IUD or vasectomy or support a friend in doing so. Plan B lasts 4 years. Pick up some now. Pick up extra. Remember that Plan B’s efficacy diminishes by 14% for every 15 pounds above the recommended weight threshold, as stated by the manufacturer. Talk to a medical health professional now to know your dosage for the future.

Warlocks: Time to find a larger group or cause to team up with. https://www.aclu.org/campaigns-initiatives/project2025

Wizards: Start creating copies of valuable research now. Look at the government-run agencies and their websites before the turnover, before they are altered or shut down again. https://www.weather.gov/

[darthmasterchief]

Once she was alone, Ulla dropped to her hands and knees. Her hair, which had been draped over her right shoulder, fell down onto the floor and partially obscured her vision.

“Mighty god, goddess…whoever you are.” She said softly. “The one who gave me these powers. Please hear my voice.”

She repeated herself in Undercommon, Abyssal, and Gnomish.

“Hello, child.” A woman’s voice said in Common. “I am Mielikki.”

The words somehow seemed to be coming from both behind Ulla and inside her head at the same time.

“Yanyth’s goddess?” Ulla asked.

“Hers and yours.”

Although Ulla couldn’t see Mielikki, she could tell the goddess had smiled at the mention of the Winter Eladrin.

“I thought you were worshiped by Rangers and Druids.” She said. “I’ve never heard of a Paladin worshiping you.”

“It’s true that most sentient creatures who worship me are Druids and Rangers, but they’re hardly the only ones.” The goddess clarified. “I’ve made pacts with Warlocks and given my blessing to Clerics, so why would I draw the line at Paladins?”

“I understand that, but a Vengeance Paladin?” Ulla asked. “The Oath of the Ancients seems more your territory. I imagine Devotion or Redemption would also fit, but not Vengeance.”

“Vengeance may not be pretty, but like conquest, it has its uses.” Mielikki explained. “Most mortals who are seen as evil are simply misguided, but those whose hearts are truly darkened must be stopped. Now, I imagine you must have some more pertinent questions for me.”

“What…why?” Ulla asked. She had so many questions, but she found herself unable to properly put them into words. “Why me? What happened? What…”

She let her voice trail off. After a moment, a hand entered her peripheral vision and came to rest on her left shoulder.

“When I first saw you, you were an empty shell, sewn together from the bodies of five women and infused with necrotic energy.” Mielikki said, her voice gentle. “One of eight that Jia had successfully reanimated. When she moved on to a new method of creating life, she decided that you no longer mattered. She elected to pick one of you at random to keep as manual labor and destroy the rest. When she rolled her dice to choose, I intervened, because I saw something in you I didn’t see in the others.”

“What?” Ulla asked. “Heart? Some other bullshit?”

“Of course not.” Mielikki replied, seemingly indifferent to Ulla’s snark.

“Then what?”

“A spark of will, so small and insignificant that I almost missed it. Somehow, when she sewed your parts together and infused them with necrotic energy, it captured a sliver of each body’s soul and bound them together. Even I’m not quite sure how it happened.”

Ulla snorted. “So, what, you took pity on me?”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

She took a deep breath. “I suppose not.”

“I helped you because I saw your potential.” Mielikki explained. “Where she saw a slave, I saw an avenger.”

“You freed me from her control so you could lead me down a path you chose for me?”

“You chose this path on your own, child.” Mielikki said gently. “I simply gave you the tools to pursue it. You’ve had countless opportunities to stray, to leave it entirely, yet here you are.”

Ulla nodded. “The women who were made into me. What were their names?”

“Jalyn Dewstalker, Hydia Moonmusk, Dezmyr Shadowdusk, Valeska Ravenward, and Eliana Crestwhisper.”

Ulla was silent for a moment.

“So, once I have my vengeance, then what?” She asked. “Will I have completed my oath?”

“A Paladin’s oath is never complete.” Mielikki replied. “The Oath of Vengeance is about punishment. Those who take the oath swear to hunt down and punish those who have committed grievous sins. That path often begins with taking revenge against those who have wronged you, but such a thing is not a requirement.”

Despite not needing to, Ulla took a deep breath.

“Did you plan for Yanyth and me to find each other?” She asked. “Was she a factor in your decision to help me?”

“No, child.” Mielikki replied. “It is true that I sought to end Yanyth’s loneliness, but I never imagined the two of you would even cross paths, much less grow as close as you have.”

“Is that a problem?”

Mielikki laughed. It was a beautiful, almost melodic laugh - the kind usually accompanied by a wide grin.

“A problem?” The goddess asked. “Child, words cannot describe the joy I’ve felt watching the two of you bond. From the moment she found me, Yanyth has held a special place in my heart, and it warms my heart that she’s found you.”

For the first time in her life, Ulla began crying with joy.

“Go.” Mielikki whispered. “I’ve taken enough of your time. Be with her.”

[squidproquoclarice]

Yeehawgust Day 30: Spellslinger

“Pass the Doritos, please?”  Sadie handed them down to Javier without looking, eyes still on the town map laid out in front of them on Hosea and Lizzie’s living room table.

They’d come to the town of Huckleberry, the six of them, nestled in the foot of the mountains, chasing a vague lead about a crooked mayor and an advertising campaign about it being a health resort that people never seemed to return from.

“Cult,” had been Lenny’s immediate opinion.  Sadie herself might be that skeptical, but her bard, Lara Lucinia, wasn’t nearly so credulous.  Lara firmly believed in sunshine and rainbows and the healing power of song and love.

OK, so Sadie was basically playing a sweet Sailor Moon-slash-Magical Girl character in a fantasy Western, and it was a riot.  They’d all gotten together and agreed to play more or less a tropey character from a non-Western concept, and the fun challenge would be to see what happened with those ideas across a long campaign by playing them straight.

Lenny clearly took his ranger Eggolas Strider from Lord of the Rings.  Javier’s artificer came from Batman, a brooding gadget-wielding millionaire from the Big City whose parents had been killed when he was a kid.  Molly’s druid, with her wild shape abilities and obsession with an alien invasion, was from Animorphs.  Mary-Beth’s barbarian was a quintessential 80s action movie hero, right down to the quips and the testosterone.  As for Arthur, his paladin earnestly drew from Captain America. 

They were a hell of a band of misfits. It’d be a riot, if Hosea didn’t kill them all first, though he seemed as amused by the challenge of seamlessly weaving all this batshittery into his campaign setting as anything.  To his credit, he’d done a hell of a job of it so far in the three sessions they’d had, which saw them get off the blizzard-blocked mountain where they’d begun, stuck there while fleeing from pursuit by black-clad riders during some major upheaval in the region.  For what, and how they’d all individually ended up in Midnight River in the first place to have to flee, they didn’t know just yet.  Hosea was leaving it up to them to come up with that story.

So in the saloon now, gratefully having a drink after a hair-raising couple of weeks on the run, imagining the moment, Sadie could just about feel Lara relax.  She’d done her best to keep spirits high with her inspiring songs and words.

Hosea spoke up.  “Then an older man who’s been sitting at the bar nursing what looks like sorrows as well as a beer looks at you.  It’s not every day that a group comes into Huckleberry.  He gestures you over.  Does anyone go talk to him?”

“Side quest,” Molly said with a snort of amusement.  

“Is there any other NPC to focus on in this entire establishment?”

“Arthur…”

“Fine.  I go talk to Obvious Plot Hook.”

“I’ll go with him.”  Obvious Plot Hook introduced himself as a writer, desperate to finish his story, but unfortunately stuck in Huckleberry due to the recent upheaval of things.  “You look like a capable bunch.  Do you know anything about the legendary spellslingers like Benny Dawn?  Black Bessie?”

Sadie sensed a guest NPC coming in for Black Bessie, played by none other than Elizabeth Matthews herself.  Lara turned to Arthur’s character, Lee.  “Oh, Lee, we should help him.”  Lara was in favor of any chance at all to help people.

“Lara, he hasn’t even told us what exactly he wants.  He could want us to go fight all of them.  Or we’re being sent to assassinate them, for all I know.  I’m not that type, buddy.  I’m here to help protect people, not hurt them for no reason.”

“No, no,” Obvious Plot Hook hurried to reassure them.  “I mean, if you want to fight them, that’s on your own time.”

“I hardly see the need.  What’s dueling a spellslinger get you?  Death or glory?  Nah.  Besides, they’re old farts.  They were the stuff of legend when I was a kid.  What honor is there in fighting someone like that?”  

“OK, OK.  I can see you’re a man of principles.  Like I said, I’m a writer.  What I need is stories about the old days from those folks, about their exploits and duels and whatnot.  And since you can’t hardly go past the Huckleberry town limit these days without the Black Riders coming after you for one reason or another, here I stay.  But your group looks a lot hardier adventurers than me.”

Lara clapped her hands and looked over at Lee, beaming.  “Let’s do it.  I’ve always wanted to meet Black Bessie.  And it’ll give us something to do.”  

Not to mention some gold in their very empty pockets.  Lara might be a Magical Girl, but she was nobody’s fool.  She realized you couldn’t eat sunshine and rainbows, after all.

[kukukuna]

Where the Dandelions Grow

Tiefling!Rogue!Sakusa Kiyomi x Elf!Druid!Reader

Chapter 1

Fem pronouns and body

Warnings: slight blood, talk of religion

Genre: fluff with a hint of angst. Slow burn

wc: 1.8k

Masterlist

an: just a warning, i've only played d&d once. It was right before the pandemic and I haven’t been able to find another group to play with. So please be nice if I mess anything up :’) (unedited)

Waking up is just like any other day. The slowly crumbling roof of the inn greets my eyes as I blink awake.

Getting dressed is a hassle because of how many weapons and talismans I have strapped to my armor.

After getting dressed and ready for the day ahead I exit my room and meet up with the rest of my band for breakfast.

The table is quiet this morning as sleep still clings to our tired bodies. Except for Hinata. He’s always buzzed and ready for anything.

Once our bellies are full and our eyes less droopy our party stands to head outside.

A large gathering is happening today. Fighters from all over the region come to show their skills; if they’re lucky a band will offer them a spot to join.

The town is alive today. The townsfolk have been preparing for this event for a whole month. Planning for the fights and the celebration after.

The crisp morning air seeps into my skin and gives me the final push into waking up fully.

Music and laughter flood the large field where bands, townsfolk, and contenders alike gather to watch the fights. At the edge of the temporary arena a large board has been erected and a bracket has been drawn out in white chalk. Many people have signed up this year, but only one will win the whole thing.

Our leader, Bokuto, a half-orc, is recognized as being the head of the most powerful band in the country. Which means that my friends and I get special seats with a perfect view of the arena and first choice on the winners.

The rest of my group is a rowdy bunch.

First there’s Bokuto Kotarou. A barbarian half-orc from the northlands. He is ruthless as he is gentle. Outspoken and kind but serious when he needs to be makes him the perfect leader.

Miya Atsumu, the bard and shifter. Two things that don’t go very well together. With charisma galore and the ability to change into the most attractive people, seduction is an easy game for him.

Hinata Shoyo, a human paladin, is the inspiration for our entire team sometimes. When it seems as though all is lost in battle, he stands on shaky legs and shouts a rousing battle cry that would get even the most cowardly of creatures to stand tall.

Shimizu Kiyoko, I’d say, is the most levelheaded of our group. She keeps everyone healthy with the medicines she brews. As a half-elf and the ranger of our band she is our primary strategist.

Lastly is me. I am an elf from the east and was raised as a druid in one of the holy temples. But the more I grew and the more I learned what the other druids believed I became cautious. The higher power they believed in was not the same as mine. So, one day I ran. I gathered as many of my belongings as I could and left the only place I had ever known.

I traversed the countryside until my legs gave out and fell unconscious.

I was awoken by a low rumbling emanating from the trees surrounding me. Somehow the bright forest I remembered from before seemed much darker now.

I tried to stand and run but a large beast sprung out onto the trail ahead of me. Frothing teeth and beady eyes rooted fear in my veins and froze me in my place. Even when it lunged at me and came for the kill I couldn’t find the strength to move. I closed my eyes preparing for death, but it never came.

Instead there was a gust of wind, a grotesque pummeling sound, and a thump. After a moment I opened my eyes and was greeted by half of the beast's head smashed in. I turned to see who had saved my life and saw a large man standing to my right, a war hammer clutched in his hand.

“Are you alright? You almost just got eaten! Man you’re sure lucky I was here or else you’d look way worse than him.” At that he gestured to the fallen animal. “the name’s Bokuto, you?”

Peeling my eyes away from the bloody oozing mess below me I stuttered out “Y-y/n. u-uhem. Thank you for saving me. I must be going now.”

I side stepped the beast and briskly continued down the trail. Not a moment later Bokuto called out to me.

“Hey wait up! I’m headed that way too! We can travel together.”

Heavy footsteps soon matched up with mine. I gave him a glance but said nothing.

And travel together we did. Getting to know one another and collecting people and memories along the way.

Soon our traveling party turned into one of the most feared and respected bands.

Which brought us to today and the events that are about to begin.

--

Trumpets sounded and flags waved as the announcer introduced the first pair to battle. Cheering and booing from the audience kept the air alive and buzzing with energy.

The first seven rounds weren’t anything spectacular, but it was on the eighth that the audience held their breath.

A name had been whispered through the crowd with prices for bets hanging onto its tail.

Sakusa Kiyoomi.

A silent contender who kept his face hidden at all times. He had only been heard of a few days prior to the event. Someone witnessed him sign up. They swore he was as cold as ice and had an aura that screamed strength.

He was who stepped into the arena next and held the audience captive.

“And now, please welcome Sakusa Kiyoomi and Daishou Suguru!”

Screams erupted, creating a bubble of barely contained anxiety and excitement.

The two contenders stepped up to each other and the beginning stare down began.

Everyone in the stands waited with bated breath as the two assessed each other.

The fights only allowed fists. No weapons. So, both were missing a lot of their usual armor. Kiyoomi stood tall, around six-foot three give or take. Wearing all black with a hood and mask covering most of his face he looked like an embodiment of death.

His hood had slits in the top, allowing his horns to poke through. A tail whipped menacingly behind him. Like a cat stalking it’s prey.

When I had first heard the rumors about him I had thought of an orc or Dragonborn. But him being a tiefling just increased my interest in who this man is.

Daishou, however, was slightly slouched with his hands on his hips. A mocking posture if I’ve ever seen one.

Most of the time in fights the person to attack first is the one to lose. But this fight was clearly going to be different.

Sakusa lunged left and Daishou followed, only for it to be a feint. He instead redirected his weight into a kick to Daishou’s left side, sending him straight to the ground.

The masked man stood and backed off a few steps to avoid any leg sweeps that might occur. At this point his shoulders relaxed and he lifted his head to stare Daishou down over his nose.

The whole display made Sakusa look like he had already won the fight.

Daishou stumbled to his feet with a snarl on his teeth. Probably thinking himself so high and mighty that no one would dare use a feint on him, then getting hit with one.

Fists were thrown and punches landed but Sakusa only received them with his forearms in the form of a block.

Then something strange happened.

Sakusa blocked another hit but it was followed with a squirt of blood. Everything turned into a blur and the next moment Daishou was on the ground with one arm being restrained behind his back.

A medic and the town sheriff came running. Daishou was escorted off the field.

The medic assessed Sakusa’s arm and ended up wrapping a clean white bandage around it.

Murmuring words were whispered over the crowd.

“I’ve just gotten word that Daishou used a trick ring with a hidden knife to slash Kiyoomi!” The announcer nervously shouted.

The crowd gasped and booed.

“Since there are no weapons allowed in these events, Daishou Suguru has been disqualified and banned from joining next year. That means Sakusa Kiyoomi wins!”

As the surrounding people cheered and the next fight was announced Kotarou leaned over to whisper, “I want him to join our band.”

--

Sakusa didn’t end up being the overall winner of the tournament, but he was the talk of the night as people gathered in the inn.

Many theories said that he was toying with Daishou. With how fast the fight ended after he was injured, he could have ended the fight before it had even begun.

Kotarou called us all to his room at the end of the night to discuss our options.

“I think that Oikawa guy was really cool! His punches were like whoosh! And whizz!” Hinata voiced as he made a bad impression of the graceful fighter’s moves. “It’d be nice to have an elegant guy on the team. The only elegant people we have are both girls.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” piped up Kiyoko in her even, yet slightly annoyed, voice.

“N-nothing! Forget I even said anything! Shimizu, have I told you how perfect you are to have on our team today? You manage us so well.”

Kiyoko rolled her eyes and sent me an amused smile as Hinata went on with an apology that wasn’t necessary.

Atsumu sat in the corner not saying much. The glassy look in his eye tells me that he’s spaced out, probably thinking of all the attractive fighters today. Or his brother, he’s been a little down lately and Osamu is usually the reason why.

Atsumu left his village a while ago. Adventure called his name. It had called to Osamu as well but his dream of running a pub called stronger.

The brothers had fought and Atsumu had left in a rage.

Kotarou and I had found him shivering by a tree and mumbling his brother's name in his fitful sleep.

“Thanks for your input, Shoyo. But I’d like to know all of your thoughts on Sakusa Kiyoomi.” Kotarou spoke and thus started the meeting.

“He’s skilled and strong, we know that much.” Kiyoko said.

“He was the mysterious one, right? With the hood? I like him. Seems smart.” Says Atsumu.

“He seems scary, but I like that. Scary in a good way y’know? Like, like a ninja.” Adds Hinata.

“I think the rumors are true. That he was playing with Daishou. So, he’s a little cocky. He knows he’s good but won't act like it till necessary or he gets bored.” I say.

Kotarou nods along with all our comments then says, “I’ve been thinking about it ever since his fight ended and I would really like for him to join our band. I think he’d be a good addition. Any objections?”

The question is met with silence.

“Good. At tomorrow’s selection I will choose him. If Sakusa declines, I will not select another. No one else felt good enough for our band.”

Everyone voices their agreement, says their goodnights, and retreats back to their own rooms to rest.

Chapter 2

[marauders-fest]

Day 2

Title: New Dogs and Old Tricks By: @bubbebruja​ | BrujaBanter Rating: E Prompt: F27 Summary: In which Harry's eyes aren't terrible like Lily's after all, wine glasses are foregone, Remus and Sirius fall more in love the older they get, and Harry certainly is not jealous. OR The consequences of all the things Harry puts off for later. Word Count: 9.1k Tags: Character Study, Character Study, Growing Old Together, Coming Out, Identity Issues, Shifting perspectives, Kink Exploration, Sexual Content, Threesome- M/M/M, Group Dynamics, Power Play, Top Harry, This Accidentally Got Filthy, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Dirty Talk, Rimming, The Author Was Apparently Working Through Something, Everyone is Entirely Of Age Extract: They aren’t the same. Harry’s eyes are almond-shaped and hooded, Lily’s round and open. And while Lily’s eyes opened like flowering buds, willing and eager and ready, Harry’s open like a Venus flytrap, reluctant and cautious and as if they might lose their grasp on the very thing that keeps them alive. Carnivorous, those eyes. It’s that last bit that Sirius has come to take note of. LINK

Title: Of Rangers, Paladins, Druids, and Sorcerers By: @kathakdancer | KathakDancer Rating: G Prompt: B44 Summary: What happens when the Marauders have to retrieve an accidentally sold item? Shenanigans! Word Count: 2.2k Tags: DND!AU, Paladin!Sirius, Ranger!James, Druid!Remus, Sorcerer!Peter, Marauders, Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), MaraudersFest2020 Extract: “Oh! Yeah, I just sold it for you! Plenty of coin for it too,” Peter replied, running a hand over his locks. Remus’ face paled. “Peter, you what?” Peter tilted his head. “Yeah, it was just an uncommon stone, right?” Remus groaned and put his head in his hands. “No, it wasn’t." LINK

Title: Inconceivable By: @engie-ivy​ | Engie_Ivy Rating: T Prompt: B30 Summary: For the past months, it had seemed inconceivable to Remus that he would ever talk to Sirius again. Now, as he stares at Sirius’ closed eyes and the dried blood on his shirt, something much more inconceivable comes to mind: that he would never talk to Sirius again. It's not that Remus hasn't forgiven Sirius yet, he just hasn't accepted that he has forgiven Sirius yet. He just needs a little more time. However, a gruesome Quidditch accident makes it evidently clear that you should never just assume more time will be given. Word Count: 5.1k Tags: Post-Sirius Black's Prank on Severus Snape, Hurt Sirius Black, Hurt Remus Lupin, Sirius Black Needs a Hug, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, James Potter is a Good Friend, Protective Sirius Black, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Getting Together Extract: I didn’t even get to yell at him. Strange enough, it’s Remus’ first thought as he watches Sirius fall down, his broom left adrift in the sky above. Remus gets up from the stands and runs down the stairs, pushing people out of the way, but hardly being aware of it. He wasted the last two months not speaking to Sirius at all, and now he has no time to lose. I didn’t even get to tell him he’s an idiot. LINK

[eldritchamy]

I’m gonna be playing my first D&D campaign soon!

It’s gonna be my first roleplay experience, and it’s gonna be a wild one.  We’re playing in the Ravnica campaign setting (which I knew nothing about, but it’s like an endless city plane from the Magic The Gathering universe, sort of like D&D on Coruscant).

And let me tell y’all, I have come up with a really interesting character that I’m very happy with.

The premise: we’ve been recruited to a special organization called the Emerald Magistrates that act as arbiters to inter-guild conflict (Ravnica has 10 Guilds that are in a constant power struggle with each other; all have vital functions to the city, but all of them ultimately plan on dominating the others and ruling Ravnica). It’s our job to settle disputes, peacefully if possible, and try to keep the guild conflicts from causing mayhem.

The party:

A Selesnya Conclave (harmony with nature) Paladin named Gabby who became disillusioned with the injustices of the church and lost her faith. She now seeks to do good whenever she can, but follows no god.

An Izzet League (technomagic engineering) mad scientist Kalashtar Artificer (modified to use Charisma as her casting stat) named Mevraki, who is probably more mad than scientist, and works for a Warforged named Adam Salvage

An Aasimar Cult of Rakdos (murderfuck devil clown orgy guild) Bard named Turala. She plays a keytar and the courier who delivered her Magistrates recruitment spent the whole time staring at her chest.

An absolute dumb as rocks klutzy Firbolg Ranger named Candle, who defies the standard array starting stats by having some kind of curse or permanent concussion that lowers her Intelligence and raises her Charisma. We’ve preemptively decided that she will be a cowgirl himbo and we all love her. She was sent on an impossible quest as a soft exile when she accidentally set a sacred tree on fire. She may have joined the anarchist druids (Gruul Clans) by accident instead of Selesnya.

My character, a Tiefling Sorcerer-turned-Warlock named Ash Rose

I’ll be playing a “Bloodline of Erinyes” Tiefling (which I homebrewed myself). Her mother was a Monadic Deva, whose brief relationship with a succubus (and subsequent questioning of the gods) abruptly ended with her being cast out of Elysium and falling to the sixth plane of hell and being burned into an Erinyes. She meets another Erinyes there who helps her carry and raise a little Tiefling baby before planeshifting them both to the Prime Material plane.

Ash grows up in the wilds with her mother, near a druid settlement but hiding from it.  As a child, Ash starts sneaking out to play with a winged tiefling from the village named Aria Vernus. They are each other’s first and oldest friends.

One day Ash’s mother doesn’t come back from a supply run to the city. The druids can’t or won’t help, and Ash and Aria, now teens, make a plan to go alone, and run away together.

They end up joining Selesnya because it’s the most logical place for them to end up, having grown up in the woods. Aria becomes a Moon druid. Ash starts to make a living as a leatherworker, building relationships with merchants and trading favors and information with them in the hope of learning what happened to her mother. Her special bloodline lets her conceal certain features to blend in (the way an Erinyes or a Succubus can make themselves appear to be an attractive mortal rather than a fiend; she can hide her horns, tail, and wings (which can be either angel or devil wings) as a bonus action, but she is not considered a true shapeshifter and can’t truly DISGUISE herself that way, only blend in among people who don’t recognize her face).

Ash also has some innate magical talents as a level 1 Psychic Soul Sorcerer (who thereafter will go Warlock, Pact of the Chain + Genie Patron). Her charismatic approach to gathering information catches the notice of a stranger who recruits her to House Dimir, the secretive spy guild that most of Ravnica either doesn’t know about or believes is merely a deranged conspiracy theory. She becomes an information broker for Dimir, and forms a close mentor relationship with her handler.

Ash and Aria make a comfortable little life together and inevitably end up VERY happily married.  Ash cashes in some favors to commission a well-crafted ring of brown metallic stone affixed with bits of green glass that look like moss, designed to look like the ring was druidcrafted.  But Aria proposes at nearly the same moment, with a ring of black, speckled opal that resembles something like the milky way or a nebula.  In Aria’s words, it’s because Ash in the moonlight is the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

They have a little home together where their two cats (one a blue-green glowing skeleton and the other a cat-shaped clump of animated moss) just had a littler of kittens that almost look normal, except they sprout mushrooms when they purr and leave a faint trail of spores as they bounce around the place.  This is not relevant for the campaign.  I just worked really hard on their backstory and I’m in love with how gay my OCs are.  

Aria may make appearances, but Ash will be my character for this campaign.

I’m very nervous, but also pretty excited.

We’re going to be a 4.5 out of 5 Charisma heavy party.  We’re not the heroes Ravnica needs, but none of us rolled less than a 25 on our Persuasion check so they damn sure think we’re the ones they need right now.  We’re just gonna be four chaos clowns and a hot topic warlock vs the world.

[november-clipse]

Dear Nov, What's the last case you remember working on with your partner? Yours truly, Wizteria

Oh, give me a mo. Uhh......

Oh, yeah! You rememeber the pub owner, right? Gaku? Bright guy, backflipping over everywhere, honestly should tone down the PDA because literally everyone in the town knows how he's head over heels for his husband, all that?

Yeah, so. Long story, so sit down for a bit.

Gaku was a talented ranger with an insane amount of druid magic held in. I mean like, he's Talented talented. His movements are fucking unreal, even. I literally still see him parkour across building walls for fun sometimes. Anyways, he performed dance moves on the stages for a living when he was not out for quests- there were quite a lot of work thrown at him for his known talents in battle- his dance team was pretty famous, you know. His impromptu dance team used to get minor injuries here and there, so I got to know him as a really close friend. Used to chat with him whenever we had time- he was in good terms with the city guards since he helped out against monster hunts, too, so it was my job to patch him up as he excitedly talked about how they hunted the monster down. All in all, a very good friend.

Then suddenly, one day, he disappeared, with a single note left saying he found a person to travel with.

Well, not exactly too suddenly, come to think of it. He kinda got into a fistfight with a grumpy, armoured man after arguing about their beliefs around the use of their own power the night before that and- oh my god, that was Yuta, wasn't it. The fucking spear. That definately was Yuta. Goddamnit. Who gets into a bloody fist fight with their future spouse?? And decide they're the perfect person to travel with, right after that?? Now I need to renew a bet on- oh, sorry, I got derailed again.

*clears throat* Anyways.

Then like... Months later, there was like, a distant news about a crazy dark emperor who was trying to literally pull his entire kingdom and the neighborhood ones under complete control with magic involving plants that grew over everywhere and made people who touched them plant monsters, then another news about a group of heroes beating the shit out of him, then the news turned into the genuine stories of the hero team- A royal knight of spear who had rebelled against his emperor, an artificer with a knack on guns, a paladin with a plate of shining white armour, and a bright ranger that lead the team with a smile.

Then Gaku returned with a hoard of gold, and a ex-royal knight by his side- that would be Yuta again, still in his love denial phase- and after a big moment of citywide realization that Gaku, (goofy idiot extraordinare) was that ranger from the story, and a Big celebration party that was put together like a week later, they decided to settle down with a inn and a pub with a portion of the loot he got.

The unresolved sexual tension between them was so thick for months, it was unreal. Like, come on. You guys settled down together. Guys. They were dancing around each other for so long that we had a city wide betting pool by the time they finally confessed. Ryu won. He got so much gold that it was enough to hold a dinner party for the entire city guard force. Was a really good dinner party, actually.

Anyways, back to the case.

So, one day, Gaku crashes into our office and hands us a letter with a grin. Says it's a case for us to solve. Yeah, remember the Artificer and the Paladin from the team? They sent him a letter- their family emblem on the wax, he recognizes, (apparently, they are brothers in a noble family- the paladin being the older one) but he doesn't understand what they are trying to say since it's in some 'Fancy letters he's too dumb to understand'.

It was Elvish. I understand Elvish- a lot of holy books are written in elvish, so I'm pretty good at that- so I was sitting there, squinting my eyes so I could read through fancy elvish cursive as Gaku looked at me with awe.

("Did you travel with Two high-class elves, and didn't tell anyone? What the fuck?" Says Enoch.

Gaku gives a small shrug and says that he was kinda busy flirting to the dumbest rock in the entire universe to actually sit down and tell the tale.

Enoch buys the explanation immediately and goes "You know what, fair enough.")

Anyways, the letter is pretty simple. The brothers are inviting the couple to the kingdom, saying that they rebuilt it from scratch and is now having a new, elected king to lead the country. They want them to visit since it's functional and happy with no plants trying to kill people, and they have a king's welcome ready for their two heros.

(Also, in big purple letters in the end- <P.S. If you guys somehow haven't hooked up yet, I am personally going to gun Yuta down myself. With love, Mitch.>

"Yep, classic mitchy." Gaku grins. "That's him alright. Glad to see he's doing well.")

Gaku then told us that Yuta doesn't really want to go back even if it's rebuilt, since he's still healing from... Whatever happened back there. He didn't elaborate, we didn't pry.

So he told me to write a letter to them, telling them to visit his town instead- he got a inn and a bar, it's great. We do, with a big p.s. in the end telling them to write common, dammit.

They, surprisingly, accept the offer and visit our city like a month later. Imagine this- two elves, dressed up all fancy and glittery and royal with silvers and gems and cloaks, one a paladin and one with a gun, showing up on the small seaside town to ride down the street to the inn with everyone staring at them in absolute confusion and awe as they go.

Gaku (a small, normal man) literally launches himself at them for a hug as Yuta watches them from the side with amusement- I got introduced to them soon enough (The younger one is called Mitchial, Mitch for short. The older one is called... Ah, I forgot, but everyone called him Tora and he hated it.)

They were both good people, although Tora didn't talk much with his grace and everything- they never saw the sea, too, so it was a blast watching two graceful elves struggling as the waves crashed upon them, sputtering like a cat underwater.

It was a good time over all. They enjoyed our city a lot- apparently they didn't have time to just relax and chat around because of everything. I even got the tale of their adventures (Yuta didn't want to talk about anything from his past, and Gaku didn't think it was too important so we never got the whole story) from Mitchy after a few drinks, too. It's, again, a long story- so if you're curious about it, just ask. I'll tell you.

We still write to them to this day, even after they left. They're planning to visit soon again, I think. It was one of the memorable cases we got, and I'm glad I made a friend even outside the city!

@wondrous-wizteria hope you liked the story, miss wiz!

[honourablejester]

D&D Wuxia

So. While on lockdown, I’ve been tinkering randomly with d&d character concepts, mostly out of boredom (I’ve also been playing lots of minecraft). For fun, I decided I’d come up with at least one character concept per d&d race. We’ll see how that goes. But! I’d hit aasimar, and honestly I was struggling? It’s not a race that immediately appeals to me (despite cleric being my instinctive favourite class). I was rooting around for ideas, and two things converged. One, I’ve also been watching cdramas (Story of Yanxi Palace) on and off, and two, I had something vaguely like an aasimar character for a completely different story (actually angel offspring, but sort of close enough), so I borrowed elements of both, and …

Accidentally came up with a vaguely wuxia inspired party?

Sikou Jia, Aasimar Courtier Lore Bard, 64 years old. An auspicious child blessed by the gods, but cursed with greedy parents, he was sold to the Court of the Silver Emperor as a young boy, and spent more than thirty years as a courtier and court functionary. At first he saw this as an opportunity, to bring the visions of his celestial guide (Karuna, neutral good deva) directly to the highest levels, but over time he realised that the machinations of the court poisoned all his efforts, often deliberately. He fell into despair and anger, especially as he suffered mistreatment, and came perilously close to Falling as well, before fate (or divine providence) intervened and he was blessed with a daughter by a lover, who used him cruelly, but gave him the single greatest gift of his life. With a child to consider, he finally mustered his courage and escaped the city altogether, taking his daughter with him. They ran away to the White Mountains, where he (and his daughter as she grew to adulthood) slowly formed an alliance from the scattered bandit clans and misfits of the mountains to be a force for good, as his devic guide wished.

Sikou Lan, Human Outlander Hunter Ranger, 26 years old. (Assuming aasimar kids revert to the base race). Jia’s daughter, gifted to entirely him by her mother when she failed to prove equally blessed. Raised in the wilds of the White Mountains by her slightly paranoid but fiercely devoted father, and taught by the various virtuous(-ish) bandits of his alliance. Fiercely independent, she grew increasingly disdainful of ‘civilisation’ as she grew older and learned more of her father’s and other people’s histories. She was scarred deeply by an encounter with a spectre as young child and by the increasingly haunted nature of the White Mountains (favoured enemy: undead). While she approves of her father’s divine mission, and willingly joins him on it, she sees it as particularly to protect those like themselves, outcasts from the great nations, often in need of protection from those nations. She did get a little bit of her father’s blessed nature, in the form of luck.

Liu Ling, Wood Elf Hermit Open Hand Monk, 247 years old. Tormented in her youth by what she felt were loose passions and a lack of clarity, she found solace in the teachings of a great teacher (Xu Xinyi) at Tenshi Peak Hermitage. Though her teacher eventually moved on, Liu Ling remained in the White Mountains to pursue solitary contemplation and inner clarity. As the years and decades went on, though, she became increasingly aware of disturbances in the White Mountains and further south, into the lowlands around the Silver City. The dead rested unquietly, and unclean things walked the forests. She slowly realised that some dark force was rising in the nation, and that it seemed to be heading for the Silver Court. She viewed the coming of Sikou Jia to the White Mountains as an omen that the time had finally come to do something about this dark secret she’s been tracking, and went to join him. Without necessarily telling him any of that, because she’s been alone for years and was never a naturally confiding sort of person.

Hu Yin, Tiefling Criminal Ancients Paladin, 34 years old. Outcast from a young age because his black eyes and ox horns announced him as a demon, an embittered Yin turned to banditry to survive. Waylaying travellers on the road and frightening them with his strength and demonic features, he made quite a name for himself as the Ox Demon of the White Mountains. This all changed when he met (attempted to rob) a mountain priestess and forest giant named Guan Qiu, who promptly subdued him. Expecting to die, and oddly cheerful about it, he asked her for a last meal. Amused, she obliged, and over some years the pair grew very close. She taught him about the Old Faith of her people, and gradually Yin felt a change of heart. He regretted his career as a bandit, and wanted to do something good with his life, so he became a warrior of the bright places to honour his friend. Eventually, he heard of the White Mountain Alliance and Sikou Jia, and became curious about the blessed man, in light of his own heritage. He decided he wanted to meet him. Guan Qiu was wary and thought him an idiot, since a demon seeking out a blessed man would only end in tears. Nonetheless, she accompanied him, and while the introductions didn’t go well, everyone survived to get to know each other, despite fears that he’d come to try to kill and/or eat Jia.

Guan Qiu, Firbolg Sage Mountain Druid, 313 years old. Nearly two centuries ago, Guan Qiu’s clan was destroyed by a great beast, leaving her to make her way alone among the high peaks of the White Mountains. For a time, she fell into a great despair, but patience and stubbornness won out, as well as the solace of the Old Faith. She decided after a time to devote herself to study, of magic and nature and her mountains. She travelled the length and breadth of them in this cause, consulting with other priests of the old faith, and spending time cloistered in the great monasteries of the Mountains, such as Tenshi Peak. She made a reputation for herself as a respected sage, the Wise Giantess of the Mountains. Over time, she also grew concerned over the darkening of the Mountains, though she focused mostly on healing what symptoms she could as they came up. Eventually, she met Hu Yin, and became very fond of him as a friend and almost son. When he decided to join the White Mountain Alliance to further make up for his past misdeeds, she joined them alongside him, partly because it was a good cause and she wanted to help, but also partly so as not to lose a loved one again.

I’m guessing campaign-wise that Jia’s birth was in fact an omen about the great evil building in the land, and that said great evil is probably undead/undying, and that Jia came extremely close to being a very short-lived plaything for it if he hadn’t gotten out of the Silver City when he did.

Other thoughts:

Tieflings and Aasimar play amusingly together lore-wise, especially given a wuxia-ish demon/holy man element

Tiefling virtue names and Chinese courtesy names gloss interestingly, but I don’t have near enough confidence with them to come up with a good courtesy name for Hu Yin to have taken

I like ancient mountain ladies, apparently

Despite none of them being directly built for it, the party was doing quite well on stealth with high dex until Hu Yin happened. The criminal stealth proficiency just barely lifted him out of negative numbers. He’s, ah. He’s not a stealthy boy. I feel like this is at least half the reason Guan Qiu despairs of him (she’s actually nearly as bad, except magic)

I had fun giving Jia all the face skills, followed by Hu Yin, realising that if they ever actually have to go to the Silver City the only diplomatic characters the group has are a demonic ex-bandit and an escaped slave/courtier who is really memorable and likely being actively sought by the big bad

The ladies, meanwhile, are all significantly more likely to just shoot the Emperor in the face. Also the big bad, if they happen to be in the same vicinity. Or, at least, Lan and Ling would. Qiu is possibly gentle enough to want actual provocation first

I decided to give them all names in the same language because three are human based/raised, one is probably giving the local Common translation of her name, and the last doesn’t generally bother with names unless other people want one and she’s mostly been around humans and/or elves

I’m cherry-picking name meaning lists for the names, by the way. Apologies if they’re not quite right. Sikou is the surname I’m least confident of, because it’s apparently a fairly specific title in origin (Minister of Justice), but I read a translation somewhere that translated it as ‘Minister of Bandits’ and it tickled me too much to give up

Also, lockdown leaves you with entirely too much time on your hands, and oddly not a lot of motivation to do much with it

[noodledog]

Music for DND classes

This isn’t so much what the classes listen to (which I might make some day) and more music that exemplifies them. I’ve tried my best to not fall into the usual songs for each class cause like.... We don’t need a list of only the LOTR/GOT soundtracks.

Most of this is based off my own experiences with DND but some of it is just working off the wiki pages, oh well! Everyone’s characters are so different, it’s hard to distill a class to so little!

Since there are so many different subclasses (There are 18 for clerics!!!) I’ve decided to split each class into three; Standard (the archetypical figure), Legendary (Those that are more mystical leaning or overall high fantasy, think those who want to fight God vs standard adventurers) and Social (For those big on intrigue, seduction and diplomacy)

Thank you so much to @momnar and @plinzer for helping me find songs.

On to the music!

Barbarian

Standard: Your standard barbarian is a strong, rage fueled berzerker who decimates their foes in battle and probably isn’t the brightest bulb outside of it. As one can expect their music is usually loud, aggressive and bound to get your heart pounding. If they could rip the head off a deity, they would. Most of the time they’ll be played a bit goofy outside of battle.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: Totem barbarians are the most magical version of Barbarians in the game (I’m not entirely happy with this whole barbarian/totem connection, but take that up with Wizards of the Coast) They are more connected to nature with animal guides granting them additional strength in battle. They use their righteous anger to protect what is under attack or just at risk of being lost to ‘civilization’. They’re Momma Bears. Their music is more focused on traditional sounds and punk messages. That can be defending the environment, traditions or even people.

Example:  (X) (X) (X) (X)

Social: You want to play a barbarian in an intrigue game? Doesn’t sound like the smartest idea, until you realize that Barbarians may know obscure languages others don’t, and have the intimidating presence of a bull moose. Songs about them are more downplayed, full of the steady, long lasting burn that a grudge can hold.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Bard

Standard: Bards love to be the center of attention- but maybe not in battle with how squishy they are. As the most musical class, clearly just about any song fits with them, but even better if it’s bragging or insulting another!

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: These bards will gather together a mob with their voices and insult Gods to their faces. Songs will be sung about them for ages (and they wrote most of them!)

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Social: Social focused bards will tempt and trick others without them even realizing what is happening. They have friends and lovers everywhere, and a quick exit prepared for when something backfires. Their music is usually about getting along or getting into bed.

Example: (X) (X) (X NSFW warning!)

Cleric

Standard: Squishy. Praises God. Is the only one keeping you from dying. Stressed. Somebody save them. Expect spiritual music, and some calls to please get along, for once?

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: Will drag you right back from the dead so they can slap you. They have the power of god AND anime on their side. They are done with dancing around difficult situations and they WILL get it sorted out.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: I CAST ZONE OF TRUTH! Kindhearted but kind of a one trick pony when it comes to stepping in, and that’s mostly catching others doing the wrong thing and supporting others (emotionally or more often than not, by undoing curses and poisons).

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Druid

Standard: Hermits in the woods, lots of quiet ambient music with sounds of wildlife, or maybe some simple folk tunes than can be played alone with simple instruments. Pretty relaxed. (But we really know you just picked druid to shapeshift)

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: You're gonna shapeshift into a dragon and nobody can stop you! Oh, and probably control the weather and become the Avatar, but DRAGON!

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: Druids are supposed to be hermits, but that never stops players. You're probably performing for the crowds as a dancing bear, or looking elegant by moonlight with a deer. Maybe making friends through 'Magical Herbs'. Think folk and Indie music.

Example: (X) (X)  (X) (X)

Fighter

Standard: Rough and tough fight boys (and girls and others) They hit stuff and they hit it well. Not afraid to get in a scrap and willing to protect their friends. Their music is simple, motivated and perfect to work out to.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: They have mastered the art of fighting! Arrows miss their marks, foe's armor is no obstacle, they lead a battle charge with a fearless yell. Punk, heavy metal, or just ol rock and roll is a good baseline to start from musically.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Social: Elegant fencers, charming folk heroes, a social focused fighter inspires others through their fighting skill. They're less likely to be on a battlefield as they are to be accepting a duel or scrapping in a bar with their friends by their side. Changing minds one fight at a time.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Monk

Standard: Meditative fighter with the sneaky ability to channel their chi or disrupt another’s. They have complete mastery over their body. Their music reflects their contemplative, inner-looking and martial arts background.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: Breaking the speed of sound and paralyzing foes. Pretty much the closest thing to an anime character.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: I haven't met any monks yet that were focused on the social game, they are supposed to be rather focused studious types after all, but the closest were those attempting to promote peace or distract a crowd with a demonstration of their skill. The focus is less on the music and more on the performance with the music.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Paladin

Standard: Often Lawful Good, the epitome of valorous conduct. Paladins are here to protect and smite with divine blessings on their side.

Example: (X) (X) (X -Vengance paladin, probably evil-aligned)

Legendary: If the gods are wrong, this paladin will do all in their ability to correct things with blinding, burning light. Possibly even ascending into godhood themselves.

Example: (X) (X) (X -For Broken Oath)

Social: The social focused paladin sees the good in all people and strives to change minds rather than smite evil. With a heavy focus on uplifting the downtrodden, bringing hope to the hopeless and shielding the vulnerable. Their music is about acceptance and strength.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Ranger

Standard: Look we know you just picked this for the animal companion. That you basically get to be Legolas is only a bonus. Think folk music. Something that can be played around a campfire by a solitary traveler.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: You can snipe just about anything and make friends with any animal (and maybe a few people, if you HAVE to)

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: Rangers are often individualistic, but I prefer to think of it as self-sufficient. They can live off the wilds by themselves, far from civilization, but give them a bit of companionship and they’ll be very glad for it. They might protect and guide others, but they won’t put up with stuffy personalities. Find some music that’s kind of awestruck and happy that they’ve got people with them, or heartbroken lonesome songs.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Rogue

Standard: You’re sneaky and that’s how you like it, squishy as you are. People will catch you humming the mission impossible theme at random moments, but you commit the biggest sin the most often: DON’T SPLIT THE PARTY.

Example:  (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: People can’t hit what they can’t see. You also have a handful of spells up your sleeves to trick people or steal things at a distance. You’re essentially a living poltergeist.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: Be professional. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

Example:  (X) (X) (X)

Sorcerer

Standard: Sorcerer is just bursting with magic! You’re kind of show-off-y and this all comes naturally to you! But... Sometimes things get a bit out of control... You’re still working on finding that balance. Grab some tunes you can dance/groove to.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: You’ve tapped into your magical heritage to it’s fullest extent. You hardly even seem like a mortal anymore.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: EEEEEY WHO WANTS TO SEE ME SHOOT FIRE OUT MY ASS??! Party themes. It’s gonna get weeeeiiiird.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Warlock

Standard: Flunked out of Wizard school? Desperate for some power fast? Willing to have a sugar daddy? Try Warlock today! Bonus that you get to be spooky and pump out the most powerful spells, at the cost of having the magical stamina of an overweight pug. Have some spooky magical tunes that are really more about your patron than you.

Example: (X) (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: Somehow having next to no hp and only two spell slots didn't kill you! You're now ready to shape reality to your whims! (So long as you ask your patron first)

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: A social warlock is dripping with charisma, spying spells and hypnotic magic. Like a terrible child of bards and rogues, they'll control the social scene, but also like them they they better have an exit strategy if they get caught. Their music is charming, but also hypnotic.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Wizard

Standard: You wanted magic but you weren’t born with it. You didn’t cheat like SOME classes (warlock) and got your talents through diligent study and hard work. Think music to study to, especially classical.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Legendary: You’ve unlocked knowledge that nobody else has! You’ve pulled together science and magic to bend the world to your whims! Either you want to rule people, help people, or have them leave you alone for once.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Social: You can do MAGIC. Why aren’t people listening to you?! (You’re pretty much the fantasy equivalent of a University Graduate who’s working a minimum wage job. That’s why.) Your snark won’t help here.

Example: (X) (X) (X)

Bonus: The DM: (X) (X)

Bonus, for the whole group: (X)

[dungeons-and-drangons-my-dudes]

So, what is D&D?

Perhaps the biggest cultural phenomenon in years, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D, DND, dnd - depending on how formal you want to get) is a Table Top Role Playing Game (TTRPG). A group of friends (or strangers, sometimes) sits down together (or virtually) to tell a fantasy story set up in a world that has defined rules. Sort of like making up a story when you’re bored with your siblings in the car, except this time when your sister yells “The queen likes me better so she’s making me the heir!” there are rules to stop her. 

For the purposes of this explanation, I’ll be using 5th edition dungeons and dragons. 

There are some key vocabulary pieces you need to know in order to understand how D&D works: 

Dungeon Master (DM) - one player is designated as the dungeon master, who, instead of playing a single character, is in charge of mediating the rules, playing every other character in the game who isn’t a player character, and in general deciding what happens when your wizard says “I cast fireball, centered on myself!”. The DM has final say on any rules questions, and is tasked with creating the general plot thread. 

Player - any member of the group (including the DM) but generally used to describe the rest of the group ‘excluding’ the DM. Oftentimes, DMs will say things like “my players”, and it’s not uncommon for anyone to reference others in the group as “the other players”. 

Player Character - Each player (aside from the DM) has one single character that they play as until that character dies or leaves the group for some other reason. 

Non-Player Character (NPC) - each other sentient being in the world of the story that is not controlled by a player. These characters may make frequent appearances, or they may only be in the story for a few minutes. If you consider the Player Characters to be the main characters, then the NPCs are everyone else, from the supporting roles to the extras. 

Stats - the numerical representation of each character’s strength (STR), dexterity (DEX), constitution (CON), intelligence (INT), wisdom (WIS), and charisma (CHA). Also referred to as your ability scores. Typically, these stats are somewhere from 8 to 20, but they can be as low as 3 at character creation. 10 is considered perfectly average. 

Ability Score Modifier - a number (taken from a table) that is smaller than your ability score but calculated based off of it. Generally, when you make a roll, you add your ability score modifier, not your ability score. 

Session - actually getting together to play D&D. Generally, sessions are at the same time each week, but there are groups that meet only a few times a year or as frequently as each day. It all comes down to the players’ availability. 

Dice - the tools of the game! D&D uses a variety of various polyhedral dice. A standard set has seven different kinds; d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, d%. A d4 has four sides, a d6 has six sides, and so on. A d% looks like a d10, but it has 00, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 printed on its sides. A d% (usually called a percentile dice) is rolled with a d10 to create a d100.  

Skill - the various abilities your character possess that the DM may ask you to roll to complete a task. Each skill is associated with a specific stat. Additionally, skills are something you can have proficiency in. 

Proficiency - if your character is proficient in something, they get to add their proficiency bonus to that thing when they attempt to use that ability. You can be proficient in skills, weapons, languages, and tool sets (anything from an instrument to a loom). Your proficiency bonus goes up as you level up

Feature - a feature is any “unique” ability that a character possesses that not every character possesses. For example, not all characters have darkvision, so darkvision is a feature. 

Hit Points (HP) - how much health your character has. When this number drops to zero, you start dying. 

Hit Dice - the dice you roll each time you level up to calculate your HP. This is calculated cumulatively, so you are always increasing your HP. What dice you roll for HP is determined by your class. 

Enough chatter, how do I play!? 

Generally, when a group of people want to play D&D, they settle on who is the dungeon master and when they want to meet. Once that has been established, it’s go time. 

The first session, typically called session zero, is when you create your character. This has a number of steps: 

First, roll your stats. In 5th edition D&D (5e) there are many ways to do this - your DM will tell you what method you should use. Perhaps the most common is to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, adding the remaining three dice together to form a number from 3 to 18. You do this six times, coming up with six numbers. Once you have these numbers, you can begin to assign things to your character - you can do these next steps in any order. 

Choose a class - a class is a stand in for your profession. In 5e you can choose from cleric, paladin, fighter, bard, barbarian, artificer, ranger, rogue, wizard, sorcerer, druid, or warlock. Your class will provide you with various features as you level up by playing the game. A class also provides you with various skills, features, and proficiencies at the beginning of the game, during character creation. 

Choose a race - a race dictates what kind of creature you are. In 5e there are many, many options due to the expansion source books, but the central races are human, elf, dwarf, tiefling, dragonborn, halfling, half-elf, half-orc, and gnome. Your race provides you with stat bonuses and additional skills, features, and proficiencies. 

Choose a background - your background is what you did in life before you became an adventurer. There are many to choose from, and they typically provide you with additional features and proficiencies. 

Once you have selected all three of these things, apply them to the stats you rolled earlier to generate your character. You will also calculate your health (your hit die’s maximum number + your CON modifier) and recieve your starting equipment from your class and background. Fill in the details; personality, appearance, and a light backstory, and you’re all good to go! 

When you’re done making your character, make sure to check with your DM so they know what your plan is. Constant and friendly conversation between the players and the DM is what makes D&D work out the best! 

After you’ve had your session zero, you’ll have your session one. Make sure to bring your character sheet, a pencil, and your dice. Some groups also encourage communal snacks, might have rules about phones, or may want you to even dress up a little. Check with your group to make sure you understand your group’s norms and make sure that everyone is on the same page. 

Session one will probably go down something like this: 

Your dungeon master sets the scene, describing where you are and what is around you. They might go into a lot of detail, or they might be more vague. Either way, once you have all been told where you are, the DM will say something along the lines of “what would you like to do?” - at this point, the story falls into the player’s hands for the first time. 

Once you’ve been asked what you’d like to do, you describe what you’d like your character to do, and depending on the difficulty level, the DM may ask you to roll a skill check. A skill check is when you roll a d20 and add any modifiers you might have. You always get to add the modifier for whatever stat the skill is tied to, and if you’re proficient, you also get to add your proficiency bonus. 

Typically, players act differently when they are in character vs when they are out of character. A shy player may play a particularly outgoing character, or vice versa. Either way, you want to come up with a way to signal when you are acting in character vs when you are out of character. A lot of players use a character voice for this, but any number of things - including simply saying “okay out of character” work just as well. 

So, you say what your character does, and you say anything they might say. The DM moderates this - you ask the bartender a question, the DM puts on an accent and replies. They might be truthful or they might lie, it is up to you as the player to determine that. If you want to do something, you describe what you want to do, and the DM determines what kind of roll you should make. If you say “I stab the goblin” then the DM will ask you to “roll to hit” - roll a d20, add your proficiency bonus if you’re proficient, and your attack modifier - which can be any number of things depending on what kind of attack it is - but that’s a conversation for another time. 

If you get into a fight, the DM will probably ask you to roll initiative (a d20 + your initiative (your DEX) modifier - although there are other things in game that can increase your initiative modifier, just not at level one) and then you will proceed from there in descending order of initiative. Once everyone has gone, the “round” is over and it starts over, which repeats until one side has won. 

Combat can be staged on a grid with miniatures, or it may be done using theater of the mind. All attacks and spells have a “range” in D&D, and so using a grid assists with measuring out those distances. The standard is that each square of the grid is 5ft. 

The game goes on like this. You’re encouraged to stay in character as much as possible, discuss things with your fellow adventurers, and make decisions and react as a group. The DM will present you with mystery, intrigue, and a story, which you will have as much of a part in telling as everyone else. 

[puppetmaster55]

Thoughts on VLD

What is there to say about this series? How does one encapsulate in one sentence all that this was, all that it ultimately came down to be?

You can’t.

But, in this essay, I will try.

So, let’s start with the simplistics.

The first two seasons are the strongest of the series, with the tightest storytelling and does so much to convey things about the plot and characters to the viewing audience at a pretty fast pace, one that makes you want to keep watching.

The characters, all of them, throughout the series, are memorable. They are unique personalities and are pretty decently individualized in design. They’re great, and I love them. The lore, too, I love.

...I came into this series with about as much understanding of what voltron is, as any new viewer. The most I could say about it is what Deadpool described it: five mini lion bots come together to make one giant megabot.

I thought it was gonna be a lot like power rangers. But, like, in space (no, not like that one iteration of power rangers literally called Power Rangers In Space).

Instead, the series looked gorgeous, the animation from beginning to end is stunning, the music incredible, the voice acting stellar.

And the writing?

The writing had so much potential, the kind of potential that you can physically see on the screen.

But getting back to the point. The first two seasons are the strongest, and for one simple reason.

The protagonists had a clearly defined end goal: to defeat the antagonist.

Voltron must defeat Zarkon.

And they do! In the incredible finale, Voltron defeats Zarkon at the end of the second season, culminating the end of the first arc.

Which makes everything that happens afterward hurt so much more.

Because what happens next? What happens when you have the protagonists defeat the antagonist one-third of the way through the series?

A mess, apparently.

Lotor comes into the scene, and is framed as an antagonist, until he isn’t, until he is, until he isn’t. Shiro returns, but not even the writing can decide if this is Shiro But Brainwashed or Clone Shiro. And then he is a clone, but he’s brainwashed, but he’s evil, but he’s not, and also the Shiro from before is dead, and…

Yeah, they needed better writing.

The clone storyline was something that, done well, I would have accepted wholesale. As it stands, it was drawn out for far too long, criminally underexplained, and had an ending that I am still upset about.

The Galra Empire was the enemy, with the Galra being the enemy, until they weren’t, and then they were, and then they weren’t again. And while I love the Blade of Marmora, and I love the idea they presented of things being murkier as the dismantling of the empire happened, and while “what do we do with the Galra afterward” is a great question… we didn’t get that.

The Galra Empire effectively was reformed under the Blade, in the end.

And Allura died.

Every character deserved better. No one had any real development after the second season, since they didn’t have a goal anymore to grow towards, no end villain that the series was building up to.

And no, Honerva doesn’t count at this point. She could, but with what her final endgame was… no. Her endgame is not what the series was building up toward.

Frankly, there’s only tenuous connections between the starting point and the end point of the series, and while protagonists evolve (I guess we can count what happens as character evolution) and new antagonists appear, where a series like this ends should be the rightful culmination of where it began.

Which isn’t to say that it couldn’t have had a better ending, that we couldn’t have kept Zarkon’s defeat at the end of s2 and still had a great ending without him. It was there, for sure (yes I know, this is getting into my fix-it territory).

But with season 3, with the dogged determination to put Keith in the leadership spot, came the dismantling of what could have been a great series. Allura’s leadership was undercut, and everything she tried to do she somehow got punished for (connecting to Altean culture? Oh, her new love has been hiding a secret Altean colony whose members worship him and whom have had a number of their people straight-up die/get siphoned for quintessence. Build the coalition? Oh, it’ll fall apart as the war starts back up. Make a new Voltron? Oh, it’s gonna be used for Eeeevil).

Allura sacrifices and sacrifices and loses more and more until all she has left to give is her own life.

I have never read The Giving Tree, but at this point I don’t think I have to. Is it at all like Allura’s treatment? Yes? Okay, I don’t need to read or know anything more.

Pidge finds her family, after a pair of fake-outs that, while yes one of them does provoke a lot of emotion, amount to nothing that really challenges her. She’s never presented with a situation where she has to choose between helping her team or finding her family, not intensely.

Lance constantly worries about his place on the team, and it’s never addressed or resolved and in the end he comes across as depressed and sad and deciding that his only worth is loving Allura. He’s never given support by his team, instead they end up mocking him or making fun of him or not standing up for him when a literal god-like entity does the same.

Shiro dies and dies again and again, losing more and more with each death, until he ends up losing even the most basic of story points afforded to him (defeating Sendak) or even being a main character.

Hunk… gets one arc, in the first season, and then gets the arc steal from Lance on Earth. He doesn’t get anything else. Once upon a time he was an engineer, a brilliant one, and in the end… he wasn’t. Yes, he was also always something of a gourmand and a chef and he ended up being a chef.

Which… yes, that’s nice and fits what he liked to do, but not at the expense of the series completely forgetting that he was a brilliant engineer.

Keith… honestly? He was better in the Red Lion, as the red paladin. He took too much spotlight away from the others, the story twisting itself to make him out as the better person even when he was shoving his way out of Voltron. The narrative forcing him to combat Shiro for a spot that he shouldn’t have: the central protagonist. There’s even an entire episode about it, where they literally fight and in the end the Black Lion flies to save Keith, the Black Bayard appears for Keith, and much later on the original black paladin gives his approval to Keith.  

He comes out of the series with a magical dog, a magical sword, an alive parent, the status of leader, and the status of main character. Of those, only one we have seen him struggle to retain (the magical sword).

Lotor was set up and played out as an antihero, someone who tried hard to do good but through evil means, someone with a terrible past that he was working hard to overcome and be better than, and… he ended up accused of something that we still don’t know if he really did, was pushed to the breaking point and then left for dead. He was accused of becoming his parents whom he didn’t want to become anything like, was forced by the plot to become that which he dearly didn’t want to become, and died horribly for it.

I could go on, could list out characters that were underutilized (Coran, Kolivan, Matt, Olia, Slav, the rebels, the blade, the coalition, the generals… basically the whole group of side characters, and half of the main characters) but instead…

Lost potential.

Wasted potential.

These are the most I can say of this series. There was potential, even to the very end there was potential. But instead there was nothing left that didn’t get explore enough, didn’t get anything enough.

The potential is there, more than enough to fuel fandom for years, but none of it got explored or developed within canon.

Lance got a sword upgrade, and did nothing with it.

Hunk got a turret upgrade, and nothing came of it.

Keith got a teleporting cosmic dog, and… honestly? When it went off was so strangely placed that it didn’t feel like a payoff. That whole fight with the druid felt so strangely done, that I didn’t feel as engaged as I should have been.

They could track the comet in s3? Well then why did Voltron stop tracking the comet entirely.

Pidge and Hunk were combining Galra and Altean tech and using it to improve the Castle? Well then why was it someone who didn’t do exactly that to build the Atlas. Why was it Sam Holt and not Coran, Hunk, and Pidge leading the construction?

Why, then, did we have to have that weird backdoor pilot to the MFEs in the middle of season 7? Well because they’re a better found family than our Paladins, apparently.

Seriously, they are. The MFEs are a group of people all brought together and become more like a found family than our Paladins, simply because we see them all dining together, and hanging out when they’re off-duty. They come across as actual friends, having actual conversations with each other instead of grouping off and low-key antagonizing one another when they have half a chance.

Our Paladins are not a found family. I hesitate to say that they’re even friends. At best they’re close workplace colleagues. The Paladins we assume would be friends (Lance and Hunk, the Garrison Trio) are not, and we’re heavily lacking in seeing them together in groups. Shiro and Hunk don’t share a conversation, nor do Keith and Pidge, and Lance is just… again, I use the term “workplace colleague” to describe his relationship with anyone on team Voltron.

I’m biased toward Lance, I admit that, but even then I still wanted more. Not just for him, but for everyone. They are all fantastic characters in an incredible world and they deserved better writing than they got.

Entire elements are missing from the story, to the point where having transcripts of showrunner interviews is required to understand what’s happening.

And that’s not good.

Shiro is revealed as gay in the same scene where he’s revealed to be slowly dying of an unnamed illness. It’s not explained in the series that he was ever cured, or that his clone was ever cured.

Shiro is brought back to life, is saved from a permanent death by the Black Lion, and what comes from it is… he’s suddenly not a part of Voltron anymore.

No, really. Discount anyone who heard from that interview, and just from the text of the show nothing about Shiro has said that he was unable to fly the Black Lion, or is no longer the Black Paladin. Nowhere in the text of the show does it say that, only that for some unknown reason Shiro just isn’t a part of the team anymore.

The mark of a good story is that you can create meta connecting the lore and everything tracks perfectly. You’re as much filling in the blanks as you are discovering that there are no holes in the story. It’s not necessary to understand the story, but the meta uncovers new depth and puts to words why and how the story comes together.

The mark of a poorly done story is that you have no choice but to create headcanons and fanon to get everything to track. The more you’re filling in the blanks the more you’re discovering that the holes get bigger and bigger, and there are more and more of them. Eventually you’re not doing meta, you’re doing fix-it fic. The difference is that meta helps understand the story, while fix-it fic makes the story make sense.

In an earlier point I said that the first two seasons are the tightest and the best of the series, and I meant it. I still mean it, even in light of the series itself.

To make a good series, or to make a story, means that there needs to be an end goal, something for the plot to have a climax toward, and all the development to build up toward.

Fitting that, is the first two seasons. And only the first two seasons.

Everything that happens after the first two seasons, lacks something that it was all building up toward. The series lacks something that it was all building up toward. From the start, the thing that it was building up toward was the defeat of Zarkon. Which was what we had happen one-third of the way through the series.

If Zarkon was not the end goal for the series, then the tilt-shift should have been better done.

If the clone storyline was meant to exist within the series, then it should have been better done.

There is a way to have kept a solid track, where Haggar/Honerva was the Final Villain, that could have had good buildup. There was a way to have the clone storyline, and to have the Lotor storyline, and not have it all feel like set dressing to the Next Big Battle.

Everything from season three onward is a series of events with little connection or bearing beyond “here’s a set of character names and putting them into different events with different accessories that have no bearing beyond the episode they appear in” and even then it’s a stretch.

Oriande meant nothing. The White Lion meant nothing. Atlas meant nothing. Sincline meant nothing.

Kuron meant nothing.

Lotor meant nothing.

They were all pretty set dressing on the way to the Next Big Battle.

All of it was either buildup with no payoff, or payoff with no buildup.

VLD, in the end, was like a flat painting that tried to play at being a sculpture without any of the necessary work. It looks pretty, and has great individual parts, but the depth is fake and only gets even more fake when more fake depth is piled on top of it to distract from all the depth that isn’t there.

And eventually, it got to the point where you can see the seams.

The final two seasons were written with certain things in place, and then the final season was rewritten, supposedly because Keith was most desired in the Black Lion. And then that gave us most of what we got for the final season (subtracting the late-stage additions).

But those certain things that the final two season were written with?

Shiro’s return to the Black Lion.

Keith’s return to the Red Lion.

Lance’s return to the Blue Lion.

Allura taking up the helm of the Atlas.

But season eight was rewritten, late in the game, so season seven was altered into what we got, removing all of that.

Removing Shiro entirely.

At least until he was put back in.

Others have said it better, the copy-paste theory. They’ve also said it better about the morals and lessons the latter part of the series meant viewers to take away compared to the early part of the series.

But honestly? Whatever better version there ever was, it’s long gone. All we can do is see in the final two seasons the ghosts of that better version, in the dialogue (Shiro’s lines are now Keith’s, Keith’s are now Lance’s, and Lance’s are now merged into Allura’s and Shiro gets the scraps) and in the visuals. The furthest that better story ever got was into the storyboards, working with those scripts, and other than that it is long gone. There’s no getting it back.

So… what do I have to say, in the end?

We got so close to a perfect iteration. By hook and by crook, we got close to something great. 

Maybe next time we can actually have it within our grasp.

[speculativefictioneer]

For the d&d ask: 31, 32, 35

31. Tell me about your current party!

Well I’m part of three very different parties currently, and they’re all quite something, haha. In my Wednesday group for Pathfinder we currently have a human warpriest (fighter/cleric hybrid), tengu magus (crow person fighter/wizard hybrid), gnome pyrokineticist (he does a lot of fire), and a half-orc hunter (ranger/druid hybrid that uses an animal companion) with a bear as a companion. We’ll be getting an old player returning soon-- not sure what he’ll be playing.

The dynamic there is... interesting, to say the least. We’re all strangers for the most part--I’m good friends with the gnome, the GM and kenku are friends (as is the returner), so we all don’t quite know each other still. It’s also a brutally crushing Adventure Path we’re playing, so I’m not sure how much longer this party is going to be together. We’ve all had close brushes with death, and we’ve had four PC’s die in the few months we’ve been playing, which is... a lot.

My Friday group is small, but I tend to like the intimacy. We have a half-drow druid, half-elf warlock, fire genasi blood hunter, and an elf rogue. The dynamic there is pretty good since we’re all good friends, but we never seem to have any idea of what we’re doing, and we NEVER do what the DM expects of us, which is kind of unfortunate. But it’s a fun game and we do our best.

And finally my Sunday group, which is a human wizard, kenku cleric, aasimar warlock, aasimar paladin, halfling bard, and tiefling monk. This group is the one that has the longest running game--we’ve been playing this campaign for over a year now. The dynamic here is pretty good! It’s been a blast playing with this group, and we generally tend to gel together, though sometimes we’ll butt heads. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing where this game goes and how things evolve.

32. Most memorable NPC you’ve encountered in a game you’ve played in?

This is such a tough question because I’ve met SO MANY memorable NPC’s, so I’ll mention a couple of them.

Carrion Margaster-- A servant of Orcus who possessed a lot of power in Waterdeep and became personal enemies of my rogue PC Damien. He was one of the main antagonists for the campaign and was an absolute slimeball. I despised him with every fiber of my being and loved every second of it. We made the unfortunate mistake of not making sure he was dead when we fought him, and now he’s come back to haunt us in the sequel campaign (my current Sunday game). I’m pretty sure we’ll get him this time though. 

The Merchant-- A mysterious entity who I am fairly confident is some sort of trickster, met in my current Friday campaign. Talks fast in a New York accent and gave us free items (and sold some), as well as some hilarious moments when we met him. I’ve never quite seen a merchant NPC done so successfully, and he’ll definitely stick with me.

35. Favorite classic D&D trope?

Fighting dragons! There’s really nothing in D&D that compares to actually fighting a dragon, but it rarely seems to happen in campaigns these days. I’d love to play in a dragon-focused campaign someday.

Additionally, I love the struggle between good and evil. I like classic stories of heroes blessed by the gods who take on the forces of darkness. I know it’s kind of passe these days in favor of more morally grey struggles, but I like some classic black-and-white factions. 

[chaosunit0010]

Campaign Prologue and Concept: Lord of Destruction

So I've been running a 5e campaign for the last eight weeks under the name of "Lord of Destruction" on Roll20. The campaign has been using a custom setting that I had been working on and off for a few months. The campaign setting is intended to blend sci-fi and fantasy, where a perfect world if being set upon by a seemingly unstoppable force. I wrote the prologue when I originally posted the campaign when I opened it up to the public when looking for a party to start the campaign. The game has been going well, apart from an early rocky start. I eventually plan on taking all the content I'm creating for the campaign, including homebrew monsters, classes, subclasses, deities, magic items, and weapons. But I've found myself taking a look at the prologue and was curious what other people thought about it, as well as some of the early campaign events that occur.

-

Prologue:

Long ago the world of Serune was consumed by chaos and turmoil. The war saw its civilizations and empires fall and rebuild as agents of evil and chaos brought death and destruction in their wake. Unleashing countless horrors upon the world. From horrible nightmares from the abyss. Unending hordes from the negative plan. Unknowable terrors from the farthest reaches of the stars. And cruel twisted and vile tyrants lording over the people of the world. There seemed to be no end to it.

Until one day a group of adventures rose to the challenge and fought against the tide of evil that was certain to bring complete destruction to the world. Twelve champions rose from the ashes and sorrow, ready to face the evil that had torn their world apart. They were known as the Guardians, The Wizard Korvu, The Cleric Sunarra, The Paladin Nicholas, The Bard Gold, The Barbarian Vendris, The Warlock Shadow Man, The Ranger Thorn, The Sorcerer Resona, The Druid Swan, The Rogue Dust, The Monk Jet, and The Horned Guardian. Though their goals did not always align and all them were not of pure heart, they put their differences aside to ensure their world would have a future.

They fought for many years tearing down foe after foe and surviving crisis after crisis. Gaining many trusted allies on the way and lost many friends during their adventures. Forming organizations and armies that they lead into battle in the pursuit of bringing peace, stability, and protection to the land. After many grueling battles and great loses at the hand of their enemies. They faced their final foe, a king that had once ruled over much of the world, now empowered by demonic energy after sacrificing the souls of his people.

The final war was long, with many champions falling during the fight as the two forces went to war. Then during the final battle, the twelve heroes faced the king alone. This would be the greatest challenge they ever face. As the champions began to fall victory seemed to flee from their grasp. But in one last desperate attempt to stop the King, The Horned Guardian channeled all of his life force into a single attack, shattering the king's soul, destroying him forever.

With the death of the king, the world had finally found peace. The Horned Guardian was honored by the City where he died, as it was rebuilt in his honor and a tomb was created for his final resting place. The people celebrated and exonerated the Guardians for their work in protecting and saving them. But the Guardians would soon disband.

With their final goodbyes the remaining heroes went their separate ways, never to see each other ever again. Resona would remain behind and help in rebuilding the city and standing vigil over The Horned Guardians Tomb. While the others went and began helping rebuild the other cities that had been destroyed during their long war. They would spend their final days helping bring up the people out of the ashes and bring forth a new age of prosperity.

The Eleven cities reborn from the efforts of the heroes would continue to grow long after their time. After the passing of 1000 years, the world had completely changed. As an age of industry was born with research in magic and technology saw rapid advancement, with the creation of firearms, mechanical servants and other wonderous inventions. The Cities continued to expand far beyond anyone could ever imagine. The cities had grown twenty-fold. Each now the greater in size then the kingdoms they were once a part of.  These would be known as the Prime cities.

The cities became self-sustaining providing all the needs of the people. Transportation between the cities grew to allow easy passage for the people. As a result, fewer people ventured out into the wildlands outside the kingdoms. As even greater changes happened outside the walls of the great cities, as the former monstrous races began to grow and undergo their own rebirth.

Many of the races that had been for so long-chained and enslaved by their evil masters and gods grew free from their hold as the generations grew more and more distant from their dark origins. They had now created stability for their people, creating their own societies free of the evil that had dominated their lives. They were now following in the footsteps in the humanoid races that had come before them. Claiming the wildlands as their own domain to be built and transformed as they saw fit.

With all these changes the world has grown into a great age of peace and prosperity unlike anyone had seen before, but sadly it will not last forever. As a new threat has begun to emerge from the shadows. But not from the former foes faced so long ago or from any of the dark corners of the world that remained. But instead from beyond the stars themselves. As a new evil greater than any seen before approaches to bring down an iron fist, to conquer this world like so many before it. Greater than any champion, king or hero, a Lord.

A Lord of Destruction

-

This was the original hook for the campaign setting much of the background and ideas that the campaign would explore in the future. With this image of an evolving world with increasing technology, as both magic and science are being merged together.

-

Campaign Start:

Now the campaign starts, all the layer characters start as simple level 0 characters, to represent they they are just normal average people. The players are riding on a train, traveling between two of the major cities of the world. On the last night of the journey, the train is abducted by an alien ship, though the players are unaware of this. The players awaken on the ship with no weapons or equipment inside this forcefield holding cells. One by one the prisoners are taken from the cells and have these nodes implanted into the back of their spines. When the last prisoner is tagged they are placed back into their cells until the next operation can begin.

But before that can happen, they are rescued by a mysterious figure whos works for one of the campaign settings factions. After rescuing them he tells them they have been implanted with devices designed to mind control them and the only way for them to be removed without killing them was to meet with his leaders. The figure gives them all weapons and equipment to help them survive, as well as giving them strange gems. When these gems are broken in the hands of the players they grant incredible powers to the characters wiving them three levels in their chosen class. Though they are warned attempting to use multiple gems would have disastrous results. Then the figure helps the players escape the ship and sends them back down to the planets surface, unable to join them because the ship needs to be sabotaged.

When landing on the planet's surface, there is a total of six locations they could land. Including one of the major cities, a massive territory of swamps, a deserted island with ancient ruins, a valley with a massive canyon that is spewing out the undead, the middle of an enchanted forest and a frozen wasteland. This would determine the first arc of the campaign. Before the players are sent down to the surface, the stranger gives each group of prisoners a magic scroll that shows a map of where the players need to go to meet with him and his leaders.

-

This is the general overview of the campaign started. I plan on reworking some of these elements and ideas once I start creating the campaign book, but was curious what other people might think of it. Please feel free to ask any questions or if you're interested in any additional details about the setting, as well as your thoughts about the setting.

[milf-shizun]

Vorna - Barbarian, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock (if not now then in past is also good); Luca - Ranger, Druid, Wizard; Althea - Monk, Cleric, Bard

Vorna

Barbarian: What causes your character to become enraged more so than anything else?

Being lied to or manipulated. That's a big, big sore spot for Vorna, and if she catches anyone in the party lying to her... Well, right now, it would probably make her just not trust them for the remainder of their time together. She'd be real hostile. At the worst, she'd want to leave the party herself, or make the offending party leave. But I think once she comes to care about them more (and at the rate things are going, that's deffo gonna happen), I think it would really wound her. Vorna's trust is not easily won, and it's nearly impossible to get back once its lost. At least it is with the way she is right now, anyway.

I'm excited to see if that changes.

Paladin: Does your character have an oath, a mantra, or a code by which they live their life? Do they ever defy this code, and if so, what are the consequences?

As a paladin herself, she kind of has to. She strongly believes in the idea that the strongest should rule, and that's one reason as to why she was so drawn to Sorath. But her idea of a "strong leader" is very situational, depending on both the abilities and the character of the person. Most of all, she believes that the strong have an obligation to protect and raise up the weak.

However, this ideology is one she only very recently adopted. She used to think very differently, so... she's still trying to figure out what that means. And it's kind of why she's been hesitant to assign anyone in the group the "leader" role, including herself.

Sorcerer: What comes naturally to your character that would require other people to train or to study in order to accomplish?

From day one, I knew I wanted Vorna to be naturally very good at battle strategy. However, Joey is not good at battle strategy, which makes roleplaying this very hard. But trust me, it's in her somewhere.

Warlock: What alliances does your character rely on for survival? What do these relationships offer them - protection, power, wealth, love, etc.?

You specified about her past alliances, and I didn't talk about that before, so I'll do that now. Vorna used to belong to a clan, and so naturally she relied on them heavily for survival. She loved them dearly. She did whatever she had to do to keep them safe, and she was happy to do it.

They offered her protection and love and a sense of community. They gave her her family. They were her whole life. And leaving them so suddenly was one of the most painful things she's ever gone through.

Luca

Ranger: What one thing does your character hunt for - money, a family heirloom, a source of power, a lost love, a missing relative, etc.?

Luca's huntin' for demons! Meemaw told him to fuck up some demons, and that's what he's gonna do. Even if, uh....... one of them happens to be a demogorgon. Ha,,, ha,,,,,,,,,,

He's also on the hunt to make JS like him after the last session. He almost got real emotional when JS put himself between the hag merchant and Luca, and it's the only reason he walked away from the Swiss Army Polearm. Which Joey STILL DESPERATELY WANTS. Ugh, the things I do for roleplay.

Druid: Does your character have a positive or negative opinion of nature (animals included)? Do they prefer the outdoors or the indoors?

Luca spent a lot of his time on the road, but I wouldn't say it's nature that he has an affinity for. He definitely loves small animals, though.

Being such a big, clumsy guy, the indoors and Luca don't mix very well. The indoors are just very restrictive to him, and there's nothing that makes him more anxious than feeling restricted. So Luca's an outdoors boy, for sure.

Wizard: What does your character consider more important - natural talent or work ethic? Regardless of their convictions, do they rely on their training or their talent more often than not?

Well, I wouldn't say Luca cares much about either. He doesn't have a lot of natural talent outside being Big Strong Boy, but that talent got him put through some shit in the past. But he also did a lot of hard labor as a kid, and so his sense of "work ethic" is kinda messy because he didn't work out of a sense of ethic. He was kinda forced to work.

But he definitely relies on natural talent more often than not. He's had no formal training in pretty much anything, so he relies on his muscles and his magic grandma to get the job done.

Althea

Monk: What natural physical abilities does your character possess? Can they perform acrobatic stunts, can they effectively punch an opponent, or can they do nothing but cower in fear when danger comes?

Well, Althea had a dex mod of 0, and she once tripped so hard that she knocked herself to 0 hit points. And she wasn't all that strong, either. She had a mace, which she swung when she was really frustrated, but she wasn't all that effective with it.

Most of Althea's power is brain power, but that combined with her spells got her very far. She started out the campaign thinking that all of her reading would be all she needed in battle, but once she was actually faced with real-life enemies and had to defend herself and her party, she floundered big time. She panicked.

But by the end of the campaign, while she still was a panicky mess, she found her strength in herself and her allies. She doesn't have a lot of physical prowess, but she's far past cowering now.

Cleric: What does your character place their faith in - a deity, universal energy, themselves, the government, etc.?

Oh, Althea is very much the opposite of Vorna. Althea put almost all of her faith in her deity, Oghma, in the beginning. She still puts a lot of her faith in Oghma, being a devout cleric, but she also is a lot more self-assured now.

She also puts her faith in Aolis and Terri to do the things she can't, and she's always put her faith in knowledge. The more you know about your situation, the higher your odds of overcoming it.

Bard: Can your character recall a time that music has had a special power over them? What was this song, where did they hear it, and did it affect them positively, negatively, or neutrally?

I don't think music has ever been particularly important to Althea. If it's a song that tells a story, she can appreciate it immensely, but she prefers reading. I think that songs sung to her as lullabies when she was a child still touch a special place in her heart, though.

[littlemissgeek8]

Okay I just wanted to say I love your dnd art like so much!! It’s amazing!!! If you don’t mind me asking, can you summarize what you’ve done in your campaign with Jemima Appleblossom so far? She’s so cute and I would literally die for your PC

Aww!! Thanks! It’s always a joy to run into people who likemy characters! :3 I can totally give you a summary of our campaign thoughunfortunately it is 30 episodes atthe time of writing, with 31 going up later today, and I was unable to shrinkit to a reasonable size. I’ll put it under a cut to save on people’s dashspace, and I’ll also put links here for the youtube playlists in case there’sanyone who’d like to watch it instead of just reading about it. XD And for anyone interested in the series, this recap will catch you up in time for today’s episode to go out!

For those not wanting to read through all 8,930 words ofthis, TL;DR: “Ragtag group of adventurers get pulled into another world wherethey find themselves rubbing elbows with gods, fighting monsters, makingfriends, reviving demigods and unwittingly unleashing some massively dangerousthings onto the planet. In between accidentally dying a few times.”

[Ghostwolf] [EscoNitz] [CriticalHat]

Well, we started off in Parnast, sent by our individualfactions to investigate a missing wizard. My halfling bard Jemima is a Harper,same as our other bard, the human Gineye. Our other party members included Lei,the Tortle Paladin, Zuradar the Tiefling ranger, Lilystra the half-orcbarbarian and Zareem, the Aasimar warlock (who works for the Zhentarim, theonly other faction I remember.) On our way to find the missing wizard, we raninto a bunch of Kobolds who attacked us, but one Kobold --with distinctivewooden legs and one arm-- was trapped inside a cart by his own people and gaveus some assistance. When we finally found the wizard he was in the process ofsummoning something that turned out to be a Water Weird, which subsequently atethe whole party, ending the first session.

We woke up a week later inside an infirmary, which we soondiscovered was in an underwater city—the water weird didn’t just eat us, ittransported us basically to another dimension far away from Faerun. Seeing usas adventurers, one of the triton soldiers from the town we woke up in took us upto the surface to the port town of Audio Bay. (I might be spelling it wrong,sorry, I don’t have good notes this far back.) There, a dwarven merchant namedJonah gave us a quest to track down some missing gear that was stolen from him,a quest which lead us to a well with a Zhentarim symbol on it (surprisingly,since none of our factions exist in this dimension) and inside said well, weencountered a “dungeon” of a dubious nature filled with hobgoblins and bugbearsin leather armor and chain shirts. (Yes it was a kink dungeon, no I don’t wantto remember much about it. XD) After thoroughly stomping everyone involved, aminiscule orc calling himself “Bob” entered the room, shouting at us forhurting his people (whom he then revived with no effort at all.) We told him ofour mission and he agreed to let us take the stolen weapons back, along withgifting us a mysterious box filled with magic coins and a magical shield to ourpaladin. It wasn’t until later that we discovered that “Bob” was actually thegod of slaughter, not until after Zareem managed to roll a natural 100 and hithim with an eldritch blast.

As we left the dungeon, we were greeted by a pack of strangelooking wolves and a tall, blond man in a black coat who asked us to give himthe weapons we’d retrieved. He wouldn’t accept “no” for an answer, nor did wehave much time to try convincing him that we’d been assigned to collect thembefore our hair-trigger warlock decided to cast Charm Person on this newcomer.Unfortunately, the man was carrying a Staff of Charming and nullified the spellbefore it could affect him, before wildshaping into an earth elemental andproceeding to do his best to squash us. It wasn’t until Zareem and Zuradarmanaged to capture one of the “wolves” who turned out to be another druid thatthe man relented, changing back and calling off his friends. He admitted hisactions were hasty and together we traveled back to Jonah’s store with thestolen weapons, where it was revealed that the weapons were a special orderfrom the druid himself, Edan. In return for the weapons, Edan financed someupgrades for our group through the organization he works for (including a sweetring for Jemima which changes her vicious mockery from a d4 to a d6.)

The next day saw Edan taking us to an open air market on thedocks to shop around for supplies, before taking us to a tavern and treating usto lunch. (It was a pretty low-key session though there was a lot ofnon-story-important horseplay.) At the tavern we ran into the druids we’dfought the day before as well as a familiar face: Hanzi, the Kobold with thewooden limbs. While we ate, Edan mentioned that the druids, Hanzi and himselfwere all from Faerun originally and offered to let us join the organizationthey were working with when they went back to their base at the end of themonth. Shortly afterwards (after Jemima spent some time performing for thetavern patrons) Edan left the tavern, citing a “call” from his celestial parent(which Jemima immediately recognized, due to her own bardic master having beenan Aasimar as well.) Before they could pursue, the party was given a quest toinvestigate something in the tavern’s cellar, which turned out to be a wholeton of giant spiders (and a lot of screaming from Jemima) as well as a mimicwhich had taken the place of a box intended for Jonah.

As we returned to Jonah’s shop with his shipment, a heavystorm had started rolling in off the ocean, and after checking in with Jonah(and asking him if anyone would have been trying to kill him by sending him amimic) we headed out to the courtyard to find Edan standing by a scorched areawhere several lightning strikes had taken place. One of the lightning strikesleft behind a glowing orb that turned into a box which he quickly pocketed andrefused to tell us what it was, but we learned some troubling information aboutthe how though the portal we’d come through was a common occurrence, somethinghad interfered with it and kept his organization from closing it on time. Afterthings nearly came to blows between him, Zareem, Zuradar and Gineye, we allheaded off to prepare for whatever the next day would bring and eventuallysleep.

The next day was stormy again, but we set out with Edan anda few others to the docks, hoping to stave off whatever horrible thing wasapproaching the town from the portal in the ocean. Almost immediately, Edanflew off towards a monster out in the ocean, leaving us to deal with a largenumber of minor water elementals who did a good deal of damage before welearned we could destroy them by damaging the summoning circles they came from.Meanwhile, Gineye (with his Special Eyes) noticed “Bob” and several cloakedfigures watching the proceedings from the air nearby. As we defeated theelementals, a massive bolt of lighting shot from the storm over the ocean,right into the monster Edan was fighting, killing it and throwing Edan’slifeless body onto the docks nearby. Jemima tried in vain to use Healing Wordto revive him, only to be shut down by someone sending her a clear mentalmessage that she was wasting her time. Soon afterwards we found ourselvesfacing the same Wizard we’d been sent to find, who had merged himself with thewater weird. The battle was short and fairly one-sided as we all charged himbefore he could do much, eventually leading him to attack Lei one-on-one.Nobody’s entirely sure what happened but the wizard disappeared and Lei learnedhe could shoot a beam of radiant energy from his mouth.

That concluded, the realization of what happened to Edan hithome as a few of us tried to go over to him, only to be stopped by two of thecloaked figures Gineye had seen. One, a massive bugbear went to solemnlycollect the body, while the other (a skeletal form we couldn’t see well) tooksome glowing orb from Edan’s head before leaving. We’d managed to save thecity, but we’d lost a friend in the process. The next week was spent helpingthe city rebuild from the attack, though for Jemima it was a week of privatemourning and a grim realization that the fairy tale heroics she’d dreamed ofwere only a fantasy in the face of harsh reality. Then, we were called in toJonah’s again, only to find “Bob” sitting there, along with a large box and thedruids we’d met earlier. He gave us a mission we couldn’t really reject—travelwith Jonah and the druids to take the mysterious box to a town calledSylvenstand, checking in with a few towns along the way. When asked why hechose our group to do this, he admitted that we’d been specially requested, orrather Jemima had been requested for this job and it followed that everyoneelse would come too. In addition, Jemima was given three gifts—the owl-headedStaff of Charming that Edan had used, his bag of holding, and Bob’s holy symbolon her wrist as a sign of protection. And so, the group set off cross-countryto Sylvenstand in an enchanted cart with a box they weren’t allowed to touch(or let anyone else touch either, save for one contact they were told to meet.)

Their first destination was Flatol, where they were sent toinvestigate some reports of some strange goings on. This lead the party toinvestigate a crypt, one decorated with symbols and writing praising Orcus, andinside we found the necromancer that we’d been sent to find who almostimmediately trapped us into seeing our worst fears, but before anyone couldreally dwell on them, the Necromancer himself was murdered by the thingconjured up by Hanzi’s fear: a terrifying shadowy cleric. The battle thatensued was brutal, with us trying to defend against the cleric’s powerfulattacks or healing each other as best we could, but in the end the nightmarecleric was defeated. However, the cost of fighting him turned out to be Lei’slife, for the killing blow on the cleric sent our unconscious paladin into hisfinal death saves (Thanks, Zareem for not moving your Shatter spell somewhereelse.) However, instead of outright dying, a glow surrounded him, bringing himback but without his hard shell and with a much longer tail. The coins we’dreceived from “Bob” on our first meeting with him had each bonded with one ofus and this was the first time they’d revealed their powers: saving the bearerfrom death but bringing them back with a change or two.

We ushered our now semi-naked Tortle back to the cart andprepared to move on (though not until after a horrifying lunch in which ourTiefling nearly petrified several people with some of the dishes he’d made and did actually petrify himself for a shorttime.) Then, we moved on to Glens, the next town on our journey. TheNecromancer we’d run into had gone to Flatol from Glens and we were informedthat another necromancer had been in town as well, along with a frighteningbounty hunter who was hunting him down. Our search for clues turned up little,but as we all went to meet up in the town square, a huge hulking barbarianleaped down into our midst, wielding a massive axe. We weren’t much of a matchfor him, until Lei managed to grapple him, giving Gineye a chance to use a boltof petrification he’d picked up earlier. The Barbarian failed his save hard,turning to stone before our eyes, but as Gineye removed his hood, a familiarface stared back—Edan’s, thoughframed by dark hair instead of blond. Needless to say, Jemima didn’t take itwell, and we carefully moved the petrified man back to the cart to be restored.Before we left, however, the axe the barbarian had been using decided to attachitself to Gineye, revealing itself to be not only cursed but sentient as well.

A cleric who was currently traveling with us managed torestore the barbarian, and a conversation later revealed that he was not, infact, Edan. He introduced himself as Ivan the Lucky, a bounty hunter who hadbeen chasing down the necromancers we had run into, and he’d been working longenough to have a solid reputation, so the chances of him being Edan withamnesia or something was extremely low. However, we couldn’t let him leave asone of the jobs in our contracts was to investigate the grisly murders in Glensand there was a good likelihood he was involved somehow. So, with Ivan in towwe headed off to the next town, Crance, which was currently embroiled in arebellion of some kind. However, we had to stop there to meet up with acontact, and since we weren’t given a description of the contact we had tocross our fingers and hope we found him. A couple of men in a tavern claimed tobe the people we were looking for and agreed to come back to the wagon inexchange for some help with a situation they were in. It was only after givingthem the information we had and letting them inspect the box (which thankfullythey didn’t tamper with) that we found out they were not, in fact, our contact,but a mysterious half-orc in town might be. They were with the resistanceagainst the tyrannical government in the area and they directed us to a guardshack where the half-orc and some of their own people were being held.

Our group headed over there and found the guards to besurprisingly easy to defeat, and in the cells were a group of heavily injuredresistance fighters and one massive, angry owlbear. The half-orc however wasnowhere to be seen, until we headed to a room in the back. There, we found himstanding over the corpse of the head guard, pulling a knife out of thestill-warm body. The distinctive red teardrop tattoo on his face marked him asthe person we were searching for, since it matched the mark Jemima had receivedfrom “Bob” at the start of our quest. The half-orc, Grug, followed us back tothe cart to properly inspect the box and pay us for the tasks we’d alreadycompleted, but took an immediate dislike to the currently sleeping Ivan. Heexplained that Ivan was Edan’s Alternate—somewhat but not quite the same personborn in another dimension, though many differences in environment and home lifecan lead to wildly different characteristics, jobs and lives. He then warned usto keep Ivan away from the box, stating that it was dangerous to have himaround when Edan was in such a “weakened state.” Yet again, Jemima freaked out,demanding to know what he meant by that before Zareem completely stopped theconversation by boasting about how Bob approved of him b/c Zareem had managedto hit him. In a fit of rage, Grug dragged Ivan’s sleeping body away andunleashed a bunch of monsters on us, since pissing off a paladin by boastingthat you’d hit his god is probably the worst idea ever.

Once the monsters were defeated we raced outside after Grugand Ivan, finding Ivan yet again possessed by Gineye’s axe as he’d been thefirst time we fought him. After getting the axe back from Ivan (which sent thelarge barbarian back to sleep) we turned our attention to Grug and the animatedswords he was currently attacking our cart with. A few near deaths later, ourfight was interrupted by Grug vanishing and “Bob” appearing in his place,demanding to know what was going on. Thankfully we were in our rights to defendourselves and “Bob” admitted that Grug was overzealous and a huge problem forhim, but he was obligated to keep the half-orc around due to Grug’s familyconnections. Still, Bob fixed our wagon for us and decided to travel with us toSylvenstand, stating that he couldn’t just teleport there due to the nature ofthe place. A few days of travel later, we reached the woods surroundingSylvenstand, a dark frightening forest that seemed to twist and move around,confusing travelers who dared venture into it.

Which is when we ran into the dinosaurs. About halfway intothe forest we were stopped by a dead end and a voice demanding to know why wewere there. When we explained our mission, the voice told us we could only passafter it had “tested our mettle” upon which an allosaurus and a swarm ofdeinonychus showed up. The battle was surprisingly long, made worse by thearrows being shot from an unknown source deep in the woods. However, thedinosaurs eventually backed down, but not until after Jemima heard a veryfamiliar male voice saying the phrase “You can do better” before their woundswere healed. The fight over, we trooped back inside the cart, following theAllosaurus (named Sharp) to the secret town of Sylvenstand.

When we arrived, Jonah took the mysterious box away, whileour group accompanied by “Bob” went to a building built into the massive treein the center of town. Before we could turn in our quest, we checked in with aman at the front desk by the name of Eldon. It was he who finally explainedwhat exactly it was we had been transporting all this time—Edan’s body,magically preserved and warded to prevent decay so that a reviving ritual couldbe performed once his soul was reclaimed. Then, we were ushered upstairs intothe massive tree to an enormous room where a humanoid figure seemingly made ofwood or possibly completely encased in wooden armor sat. Seeing as it wastechnically her quest, Jemima was chosen to speak for the party, turning in theletter they were sent with as well as being given a bag of coin to be dividedamongst the team later. Lei’s divine sense however, picked up the massive amounts of divine energy comingfrom the figure in front of them, as well as noticing the oak leaf symbol onthe man’s chest. Though the contract said we’d been sent to report in to a mannamed Tay’rados, there was little question that the true originator of thequest was none other than Silvanus, the god of nature and druids himself.

After some impromptu shopping at a small bazaar in town, weheaded off to the temple district to meet with one Captain Taylor who wassupposed to be able to help Zareem with a mysterious mark he bore on his chest.Captain Taylor agreed to help on the condition that we spar with him, anexperience none of us were quite prepared for, as he turned out to be anextremely high-level paladin who was pulling his punches. Midway through thefight, having taken a decent amount of damage, Taylor grabbed Jemima beforereaching an arm into her bag of holding, coming up with a purple coin that she’dnever seen before (she’d been getting small trinkets including a bag of dragonbone from Edan’s bag over time, but never seen that coin in all her searching.)Again, Edan’s voice chimed in with the phrase “You can do better” as Taylor’swounds began to heal. In an almost uncharacteristic display of kindness, Zareemhelped her get the coin back and to keep Taylor from taking it again, Jemimadropped it down the front of her shirt with a glare. Then, taking the staff ofcharming she’d inherited from Edan, she stormed over and slapped him deadbetween the eyes, shouting at him “How dareyou touch my things?” only for Taylor to shout back “How dare you take mybrother’s things?” When the fight finally ended, she confronted him about thosewords, discovering that Taylor (who is, in fact, the real Tay’rados and thenext in line to take over for Silvanus) wasn’t kidding about Edan being hisbrother, and the coin he’d taken was an Ioun stone that Edan had obtainedduring one of his many travels. The voice she’d been hearing was simply theHealing Word spell he’d kept inside it being activated.

After our sparring match ended, Tay invited us to join himat the local tavern for drinks to celebrate Edan’s approaching revival, thoughnot before we returned to the large tree building to answer a few questionsabout the wizard we’d fought back in Audio Bay. That was where, after the armorthe wizard had worn attached itself to Lei, that the wizard hadn’t justdisappeared that day, he’d been stowing along in Lei’s brain the whole timewithout anyone knowing. He hasn’t shown his hand yet, but the eventual effectsof this are unknown. Then we trooped off to the tavern, Lei and Zareemintending to party and have a good time, Zuradar and Gineye picking a fightwith a time-manipulating satyr who’d magic’d away some of our gear earlier (wegot it back thankfully) and Jemima meeting a nice man who gave her a book oncreating a Guard Drake from dragonscale (which she conveniently had thanks tothe bag of bones and scales in Edan’s bag of holding.) The party lasted allnight, though most were passed out before it got too late, particularly Zuradarwho was the first out after he failed to seduce an elf lady two times in a rowand left to drink until he couldn’t remember anything.

The next few days were less eventful, mostly everyone havinga bit of downtime and resting up, preparing for the next phase of the revivaloperation: retrieving Edan’s soul from wherever it had ended up. The owlbearthat we’d encountered in Crance had been put into a crystal by Grug fortransport, and thanks to Eldon, it was healed (though it had to be magicallyde-aged to save it) and given to Zuradar as a companion under the name Pip.When the time came for the expedition to set out, Jemima made sure our team wasinvited, since she desperately wanted to be able to save Edan. The expeditionwould leave Sylvenstand through a portal that had been set up over the last fewdays, though the endpoint was unknown until the portal was actually opened,bringing with it a group of dimensional ��police” who wanted to know why we hadopened a portal onto a plane known as “Lunacy.” Tay seemed visibly distressedat the mention of that location, but in the end we were permitted to pass,providing he didn’t come with us (astipulation he didn’t challenge at all.) Armed with a glass jar with a locatingspell cast on it, we headed off into Lunacy.

The jar lead us through marshy woods until we came upon ascene of grisly carnage. Two hags had been torn apart along with a shambling moundor two, and as we approached we saw the one who had caused such destruction: acreature seemingly formed of wood with a featureless wooden mask. Immediatelythe jar Jemima was holding began to glow and vibrate, but just as quickly thecreature melted away into the ground, causing the jar to go dark again. Afterwe were set upon by another hag (and discovered that the damaged Weave on thisplane made casting spells a risky chance that often triggered wild magic tohappen) we continued on, the trail having been picked up again by the jar.After some walking we came upon a small tavern, the inside of which was emptysave for a lone barkeep in fancy eveningwear. He offered to give us informationor magic trinkets, and explained that the creature we had encountered, the“Beastmaster” was keeping him trapped. Our whole party was sure it was a trap,with the notable exception of Zareem, who made an agreement to smuggle a blackshard out of the plane in exchange for a magic sword and an axe.

Thoroughly disgusted at our companion, we continued on untilwe came to another clearing. As Zareem dashed across the grass towards a gate,the ground turned into more shambling mounds which proceeded to attack theparty. Midway through the fight, a large bear with a wooden mask lumbered in,attacking the mounds with us. However, once the mounds were destroyed, the bearturned towards us instead. Jemima had already put together that the jarresponding to both the Beastmaster (whose mask looked shockingly likeSilvanus’s) and the Bear (one of Edan’s common wildshape forms) were somehowconnected to Edan’s soul and she was reluctant to fight until being remindedthat druids change back from their wildshape forms after losing all their HP.When the bear finally fell, it morphed back into Edan, before dissolving intodust with a cry of distress, causing part of the jar to light up. This spurredthe party forward, towards the next location. There they ran across Eldonagain, who had followed them into the plane. He was badly wounded butsurrounded by corpses, including one giant spider wearing a wooden mask.Another piece of the jar lit up as Jemima approached it.

Then, Gineye managed to spot something across a nearbylake—on an island in the center, strapped to a cross-like structure, was Edan,or at least his soul. Coming from his body were five tendrils, two of whichwere rapidly dissolving. Using the teleportation that he had gotten from a wildmagic surge, Gineye teleported over to the island and summoned his axe, usingthe soul-collecting power of the axe to free Edan by having him slice off thetendrils. Edan’s soul disappeared, along with the fragments in the jar and theBeastmaster across the lake, but as soon as he’d done that, a massive shapeappeared in the distance. Sensing danger, Gineye returned, driving us all torun with Eldon in tow, back to the portal we’d come through.

The giant creature, which revealed itself to be a Terrasque,chased us all the way to the portal, eventually parking itself right on theother side of the portal but very much within striking range should we try toescape. Then, it revealed itself to be the same person Zareem had made a dealwith--the one who had marked him with the symbol of Vecna—itself an old andpowerful Primordial. It offered to let us pass as long as we kept the guardsbusy enough for it to escape, since the plane was rapidly dissolving around usas the weave unraveled. We agreed, while secretly planning to alert the guardsonce we were through, and escaped through the portal. The dimensional “police”were on hand to help, and drove back the massive claw that came through, butdespite our efforts, a tiny portion of the creature broke off and disappeared.Still, we had what we had journeyed for and after relinquishing the axe to Silvanus,so that he could extract the soul, we nervously awaited the revival itself. Wewere graciously allowed to be present for it, and the process went surprisinglysmoothly for all the trouble we put in. Upon waking up, groggy and disoriented,Edan asked for his bag which Jemima unquestioningly returned. However, insteadof keeping it, he simply took out the wooden box from the month prior andopened it, revealing a deactivated Void card from the Deck of Many Things. Witha glare he turned to Silvanus, telling his father to try harder the next timehe wanted to kill him before storming out of the room (just in time for Gineyeto return from searching the town for a saxophone in order to serenade Jemima’sreunion with the man she was clearly crushing on.) Gineye’s return lead to anembarrassment-fueled brawl, culminating with the party members involved (sansZuradar and Zareem who had left to talk to Jonah again) waking up the next dayin the infirmary.

When the party reunited in the tavern the next day theyfound out about a list of jobs open to them, now that they had been acceptedinto Mantle, the organization based in Sylvenstand. The party was very excitedover an upcoming tournament (though Jemima had her eyes more on the Bardcollege which nobody even looked at twice) but Gineye demanded they go to thecapitol city Paplus first, upon seeing not only the capture of the resistanceleader they’d encountered in Crance, but also a name he recognized—Lord Darius,a man he’d known before we first met up who seemed to be somehow connected tothe scars Gineye hides under a porcelain mask. As we geared up to go, we askedEdan if he wanted to come along, which he agreed to do, as he wanted to get asfar away from Sylvenstand and his family as possible.

The furthest we could travel by portal was to Paplus’sneighboring town StoneHelm, a two day’s walk from Paplus. Once the journey byportal was completed, Edan took his leave, stating he would be taking the jobat the Bards college there, though the party (save for a heartbroken Jemima)were too busy making plans for marching order and cooking arrangements to evennotice. A days walk later, they set up camp, dividing the nighttime watch intoshifts. During the second shift, after Jemima had bedded down for the night atthe end of her watch, a group of drow appeared, demanding Zuradar tell them thename of the halfling in the nearby bedroll, and at her last name ofAppleblossom the drow attacked, easily subduing the sleepy party and cartingthem off.

We awoke in darkness, with our arms and legs bound, with theexception of Zuradar who had been inadvertently untied by his owlbear Pip, andZareem who instead found himself in a nice room as if he’d been invited as aguest instead of kidnapped. It wasn’t long before the drow returned, removingtheir blindfolds and walking them out of their cells to a large central roomwhere they saw Jemima trussed up and suspended over a fire, and a hooded man atthe end of the room. The man demanded Gineye be brought forward and demandedhim to take off his mask or risk Jemima’s life. Grudgingly, Gineye complied andthe man removed his own hood, revealing the face of a man Gineye had worked withbefore during a similar rebellion back in Faerun, Tiberius. Like many of the peoplethey’d met, Tai had found his way to this world as well and joined the currentrebellion due to his own curiosity at how similar it was to the one in theirown world, even down to the blonde lady behaving shockingly like Gineye himselfhad done. A betrayal from within their ranks had gotten her caught by LordDarius’s forces, and the traitor in question happened to be the reason theywere captured in the first place—they were searching for a young halfling manwith the last name of Appleblossom who was known to use polymorph spells withthe aid of an enchanted broom. Alternates again, the party realized as theygrouped back up.

As we had found our way not only to Paplus but the rebellionwe were supposed to aid, we found ourselves tasked with helping them take downsome high-priority targets. Namely, we were sent to investigate a guard house(since trying to talk a gnomish inventor into helping us without copiousviolence was sadly not anywhere close to our forte.) Inside we found no guardsat all, but instead a massive iron golem guarding the place which we wereforced to fight after the attempts to bluff our way past it failed. With sometricky maneuvering (and a hand grenade), Gineye managed to deactivate the golemand we entered the captain’s office. Our suspicions were on high alert when theguard captain’s voice didn’t quite seem to match his body, but before theErinyes possessing him could do anything, Gineye petrified the captain with acrossbow bolt, then shattered the resulting stone form to prevent the Erinyesdoing more harm.

By the time we returned, the other team had safely securedthe inventor who was currently very clearly possessed himself. After a gooddeal of fooling around and failed attempts at exorcism using the Command spell,Lei realized that as a paladin, he could perform the exorcism himself. With theinventor finally free of possession, he demanded we shut down the factory thathad been making the golems and mechanical enforcers for Lord Darius, butinsisted that we not harm Darius when the time comes for he was in fact, a goodman. The revelation that the revenge Gineye sought would be deflected by yetanother Alternate did not go over well.

So, we set off towards the golem factory with Gineye leadingthe charge, revenge still smoldering behind his mask. When we arrived, thefactory seemed deserted, but when the guard dogs that came out of a few nearbykennels turned into hellhounds, and an ice devil dropped in from above, werealized we were in trouble. The battle, though brief, was tough, painful andlikely made worse by the absence of help from Zareem (who spent all of his timeattempting to get one of the hellhounds to trust him in an attempt to keep it.)Meanwhile, the ice devil managed to get inside the mental world Gineye used toconverse with the spirit of his axe and begin to corrupt it, leading to Gineyebeing unable to get back in. In a desperate bid to regain control, he demandedLei kill him, hoping that the soul trapping powers of the axe would give him aback door and a chance to find “Axey” again before his coin revived him. With aheavy heart, Lei and Zuradar complied, using their own weapons to kill theircompanion.

Gineye fell, then disappeared, reappearing shortly afterwardsacross the room, but something was very much different. Instead of the cheerymask he wore, there was a more sinister one with a jagged smile and a sinisterred glow from his eyes. As it had several times before, the axe had taken overGineye’s unconscious body, puppeteering it into using all of its abilities toattack his friends. Hoping to somehow break its control, Lei, Jemima andZuradar threw themselves into combat while Zareem continued to ignore the fightand attempted to gain favor with the hellhound in the corner. Even aftercalling for help, Zareem didn’t join the fight, stopping only to retrieve anice spear that had fallen from the ice devil’s body and throwing it into a furnace,completing the job of destroying the factory that they had been given.

Meanwhile, inside his head, Gineye was locked in a battlewith a being that resembled a corrupted version of the mostly benevolent spirtwho had helped him for the last several weeks. Assuming (probably correctly,though no confirmation has been given on this point) that this was in fact thepower source of the axe, built from the many slaughtered souls trapped insideit, and having corrupted the actual “Axey,” he sought to free her from thecorruption. A few times her consciousness seemed to flicker, as if his attemptswere getting through, but he was running out of ideas. In one last desperate move,he pulled her into a hug, and when that didn’t work, he used the power of theaxe to summon two spears, stabbing them both through her back and into his ownchest, aiming for the coin around his heart.

Back in the real world, the spear tips manifested out ofGineye’s body before they and he vanished again, leaving only the axe behind.The party barricaded the factory and then rested, worried about their friendbut too battered and tired to leave (save Zareem who had done basically nothingthe whole fight.) As they were ending their rest, a figure began to crawl outof the axe nearby, eventually solidifying into Gineye, though mysteriouslywearing the dress his spirit friend had worn. Naturally the team had questionsbut Gineye was evasive and wanted to move on, stopping only to shoo Jemima awayafter noticing that her poking his leg was causing no sensation of touch.

Their mission complete and their party gathered, theyventured forth to return to the rebellion’s hideout, only to find the doorwelded shut and a trail of blood leading them towards the other door and an unconsciousTai. Thankfully his injuries were minimal, but Tai’s story was grim: during thetime they were away, the hideout had been attacked by the robotic enforcersthat Lord Darius was using, but during that time they had made contact with adivination wizard by the name of Monty who was also a transplant from Faerun,one willing to aid them in their cause. Monty had given them a tip, telling thatthe leader of the rebellion was going to be publicly executed the next day, whichhappened to be only hours away now. Together they went to the town square, nowfitted with a gallows and a horde of people gathered to watch the execution.

Something was very much off, however, as the party hid amongthe crowd, waiting for their chance to strike. The man introduced as LordDarius was a far cry older than the man Gineye had known, and something feltvery wrong about the whole scenario. Those feelings were proven right whenGineye was attacked by one of the masked enforcers and the cloak was knockedoff of the “prisoner,” revealing yet another masked enforcer. The crowd ran asour heroes found themselves surrounded by more of the metallic men. Having dispatchedhis own attacker, Gineye used his axe to create a rope and swung over to thebox with the elderly Lord Darius, soon after followed by Lei using his ownmisty step ability to teleport over.

Inside the box, while the old man may have been recognizedas Lord Darius to the crowd, behind him, hidden from the audience, sat a muchyounger man with a stony expression on his face. The same Lord Darius who hadscarred Gineye’s face. Gineye readied one of the many small powder keg grenadeshe owned, but before he could exact his revenge, the two figures flanking theyounger Darius revealed themselves—one, an arch devil and the other, a demonlord. The demon quickly whisked Darius away, while the arch devil took off intothe city, leaving a swath of destruction in his wake. Before long, our heroesfound themselves in the midst of a holy war, with hordes of demonic forcespreviously hidden in the town, rising up to fight an onslaught of paladins, clerics,and other warriors blessed by divine forces.

Flanked by Zuradar, Gineye ran after the arch devil that hadfled from the observation box, but quickly ran into a group of paladins andclerics who were also pursing the same target. Two of the group, marked by thesymbol of the Raven Queen, immediately took offense at Gineye’s existence, callinghim a “filthy undead” as one attempted to smite him with a lightning bolt. AsGineye protested the inhumane treatment (while the gaping hole in his chestproved their accusations correct) a paladin marked with the symbol of “Bob,”the god of slaughter they had met previous, came over and uppercut the one who castthe lightning bolt (said storm cleric looking shockingly like Zareem.) Thepaladin of Bob revealed soon himself to be in fact Grug, released from thepunishment he had been given by Bob, who urged them to leave before somethingworse happened.

The older Lord had been retrieved from the observation boxby the time Gineye and Zareem returned, but as they returned so did the archdevilwho Gineye had failed to catch before. Introducing himself as Bael, he demandedthe old man be turned over. The party refused, attempting to stop him throughcombat, but their efforts proved futile as he simply walked over and took whathe wanted, before disappearing. Through the use of a haste spell and his own paladinskills, Lei was able to track Bael’s movement back to the Lord’s castle, but itwas decided that the party should rest before continuing on. After a short rest(in which Jemima hounded Gineye for a while in regards to his new undeadstatus, one he couldn’t really deny when the gaping hole in his chest magicallypatched itself up) they trooped off to the castle, preparing for a confrontation.

Lord Darius was inside when they entered, Gineye fullyprepared to take him down one-on-one, were it not for the young noble killinghis older counterpart in front of the bard. Remembering the request from thegnome earlier, Gineye used a new spell, revivify, to revive him before whiskingthe old man outside to protect him. Then, as he returned, finally ready for hisrevenge, that moment was stolen from him as a dark shape appeared behind theyoung Darius, taunting the party before snapping his neck and summoning shadowsto attack our heroes. After having fought them once thanks to Grug, the partyknew how to deal with these shadows and the fight was brief, but by the timethey finished the shadowy creature had left, leaving behind the empty husk thatwas once Gineye’s most hated foe.

Gineye was all set to use his magic to revive or preservethe body, but the arrival of a man through a dimensional door stopped him. Itwas Monty, the diviner they’d been told about, who was more than happy to usehis magic to prove that even if Gineye preserved the body, there was no soulleft to revive him. However, Monty was able to speed them along on their waytowards finding the rebellion’s missing leader, as he directed them towards a dungeonarea that his scrying couldn’t see into—which must be the place as he couldfind her nowhere else.

Inside the dungeon lay a maze of traps, pitfalls andsentient doors who kept their rooms locked with riddles. Inside the very last doorin the maze was a set of stairs leading down to a large room, where a strange,sinister ritual was taking place. A number of cultists surrounded summoning circles,two of whom were wreathed in flame, the one in the middle conjuring up a domeof solid darkness. As stealthily as they could, the party slid closer, Gineyemanaging to make it all the way to a door on one side of the room where he cameacross a terrifying sight: the same exact cell in which he had been tortured.

Unleashing the full power of the axe, he demolished the cultistsin a single hail of swords, which left the summoned fire elementals free toattack at will. Again, the fight was short, the most notable event was Jemimadoing her best to attack one of the elementals with the rapier she’d beencarrying all this time—while forgetting that without magical properties to it,the enchanted fire could easily melt it. Rest in peace, rapier, you were loved.Once the fires died down (literally) the team set about investigating the roomand the dome of darkness in the center of the room. Sadly, efforts to dispel itproved fruitless so the party turned their attention towards a mural on thewall, one depicting a multi-segmented circle, each with a crowned creature carvedinside. After close inspection—including noticing that one segment seemed todepict the same tarrasque they had unleashed upon the world previously—the partyguessed the mural was related somehow to the cult they had encountered, worshippingprimordials from the different planes (each of the elementals seemed to bedepicted, along with ones that looked celestial and infernal.) Finally, theygave one last attempt to dispel the dome, finally breaking the spell with awell-placed arrow, but instead of finding the leader inside as they’d hoped,all they saw was a shadowy creature who disappeared in seconds, followed by hermagical cloak which Zareem kept for himself.

As they went to leave, who should they run into but Grug andthe same paladins and clerics from before? Gineye, remembering their reaction tohim, attempted to hide in the stairwell, but the storm cleric (who still lookedshockingly like Zareem) detected him with his own divine sense. As the partyrushed to protect him, Zareem himself squared up, drawing his sword anddemanding that the paladin face him instead. It only took one single mightyblow from the paladin’s mace to instantly kill the already injured Zareem. Therepresentatives of the Raven Queen left, telling the group to keep “theirundead” on a leash, as everyone tried to figure out what to do now. It was thenGineye posed an idea: someone should let him borrow a 3rd levelspell slot. His words were cryptic, but nobody had any third level slots leftafter the long day they’d had, so Gineye lowered it to a second level slot. TentativelyJemima offered him one of her second level slots, and Gineye in responseplunged his hand into his own heart, pulling out an axe and handing it to her,fading into the axe as his mask appeared on her face. From inside her mind, heused her body and magic to cast a spell to preserve Zareem’s body, before the groupset about a much longer rest.

About halfway through their rest, Zareem revived, his coinhaving activated—giving him permanent wings and a new set of powers. Gineye leftJemima’s mind and reformed in the physical world, and after a bit of foolingaround with him trying to mind-hop into Pip the owlbear’s mind that ended withGineye accidentally killing (and immediately reviving) the poor creature, the teamdecided it was time to move on. The war had died down across Paplus, and theirmission was over though at great cost. After delivering the news of the outcometo Tai, the team set off in search of a Gnoll paladin of Silvanus who they weretold had a scroll for them

What they found instead was a mysterious bar—the same barthey had encountered in Lunacy, still run by the extremely shady feeling manwho just so happened to sometimes be the primordial of Earth. Zareem andZuradar both asked to see what goods he was peddling today, leading to Zareemgaining a +1 chain shirt and Zuradar acquiring himself a +2 bow (for only twoof his hit dice, a total “bargain!”). Meanwhile, Jemima found the gnoll seatedat a table and retrieved the scroll from him. The man let them leave afterthat, noticing how uncomfortable the other three were, but with a reminder thatthey could find him if they only looked for him.

Outside the shady bar (which had mysteriously vanishedagain) they discovered that the scroll was a teleportation sigil, but one thatthey weren’t capable of activating. One person however, was, and it took only asingle utterance of Monty’s name for him to appear through a tear in reality,casting the spell that would take them off to the tournament.

After the chaos of a holy war and a rebellion all in thespan of less than a week, the gang was happy to have a chance to settle down andrelax. Once in the tournament building, they had to sign up, either in solo matchesor groups of 2, which lead to Zareem and Zuradar becoming a group (fittinglynamed Heaven and Hell), Lei and Jemima teaming up (as Swords and Chords) andGineye going solo (under the name “The Entirety of France.”) Then, with an hourto prepare, the teams wandered the building, discovering their old friend Jonahhaving set up a merchants stall there. Jemima immediately informed him of theloss of her rapier, relinquishing the melted remains. In return, he gave her asword he’d fashioned from some of the dragon bones she’d given him, a rapierelegantly combining master swordcraft with the sublime beauty of the naturalworld.

Geared up once more, the matches began. Zareem and Zuradarfound themselves heavily outmatched by a pair of orcs. After Zareemaccidentally hit the younger (and far more badly damaged) of the two with acritical hit poison spray, inadvertently killing the orc, the older and moreexperienced orc proceeded to knock both of them out. Jemima and Lei’s roundwent much smoother, against a lizardfolk and a man in a strange leather dusterwho carried what could only be referred to as guns. Despite the strange man’sapparent prowess with his weapons, he managed to score only one hit on Jemimabefore he was knocked unconscious himself, and the Lizardfolk surrendered soonafter.

Gineye’s match however was stranger still. His opponent wasa man who seemed to disappear shortly after the match started, stayinginvisible or hiding behind dust clouds the whole match, but doing significantdamage to Gineye in the process. Finally, angered, Gineye readied a crossbowbolt, striking as soon as he saw the man’s arm clearly. The petrification boltworked perfectly, petrifying the man and winning Gineye the match (though notbefore a contingency spell activated, using lesser restoration on the man whograciously conceded.)

After their match concluded, Gineye left to find his friendsin the infirmary (though only Zuradar and Zareem needed much attention.) In themidst of their conversation, the man he had just fought walked in, joining thediscussion of the fights he had witnessed. He introduced himself as James and extendedan offer to Gineye to meet him for breakfast at a specific tavern the nextmorning. Tired from their battles, the group headed out to an inn to rest. Itwas agreed that Gineye should go to the tavern to meet James the next day (sincethey might be more relaxed if it was just him) while the rest would return tothe tournament location to find out what was going on. The tournament itselfwouldn’t start for two days, and the actual matches were entirely team-based,but since Lei and Jemima both had passed their matches (as well as Gineye) theywere allowed to form a team and invite the two who had failed their matches aswell.

Gineye’s investigation only put him more on edge. Jamesseemed very eager to recruit him away from the others, even offering to “helphim leave” should Gineye need it, in a way that suggested assassination wouldbe involved. He also knew more than he should, particularly about the war inPaplus and how Gineye’s party had come through a portal in Paplus that shouldhave originated north of the town of Tance, the same as another group whoarrived recently (where, unknown to James, the hidden town of Sylvenstand waslocated.) Gineye played along as best he could, mocking his teammates and theirdecisions and offering to send a package later that day that might be useful toJames’ group. However, once he returned, he clearly wasn’t eager to join such ashady group, but instead had Lei send a package over to the tavern—one containingthe Axe Gineye had pulled from his own heart yet again. However, to his dismaynobody actually took the axe while he was there and in fact nobody was home forthe full day, leaving him to sneak out the next night with a pilfered spellbookand a sour mood.

Finally however, the day of the tournament arrived. The gangwas among the first to compete, finding themselves soon in a large arena packedwith thousands of onlookers. In the middle of the arena, a Kenku introducinghimself as Veo Elmwood was acting as the Emcee, introducing first our heroes asthe “NaCl Pain Delivery Service” and their opponents as “The Hands of Nature.” Theparty (and especially Jemima) were pleased to see Edan again, along with hisalternate Ivan, the ranger Alice (whom Zuradar had attempted and failed to seduceback in Sylvenstand) and Leafsong, the Gnoll paladin from earlier.

However, instead of a fighting competition as the party hadexpected, it was instead a series of games and tests of skill, each with a “firstto 3 points” system of one-on-one matches. The actual games were chosen by diceroll, with the first being a drinking contest. Gineye stepped up, certain hecould win with his undead constitution, even against his opponent Ivan, butonce again Ivan’s luck was on his side as he came back with three points toGineye’s two. Next, Jemima found herself face-to-face with Edan in a challengeof pure luck as they rolled dice, each hoping for a higher roll than theiropponent. Right at the last moment, when it looked as though Edan would scoreanother point for his team, Jemima caught a glow around Ivan’s hand for amoment as the dice flipped over onto a natural 1. Finally, it was Lei and Leafsong’sturn, a test of endurance as they were forced to withstand increasingly harderthrown rocks without crying out in pain. In the end however, Lei managed tohold out the longest, scoring another point for our heroes. And as we left themat the end of that session, they were preparing for the next round of combat: atrial by combat, forced by Ivan again using his luck to twist the die to his favor.

And there you are, thirty episodes summarized as best Icould, with deep apologies for not being able to condense it even further. Ihope you enjoy reading it, and feel free to check out our episodes on youtube!