#so therefore I have defeated the bug in charge of the night time and it’s my job now

[humanmaybe]

It’s me. I’m the big bug

Biodiversity is bad, actually. I think there should be one big bug that rules everything.

[marvelvsmarvel]

MCU Sinister Six Roster Speculation (long-form)

Spider-Man No Way Home is all but confirmed to include the multiverse, Doctor Strange, and the Sinister Six which features three of the previous Sony cinematic Spidey villains:

Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock

Jamie Foxx’s Electro

& William Dafoe’s Green Goblin

If we take into consideration that this is in fact the MCU’s Sinister Six and not to be part of the Sony-Disney joint custody Venom/Morbius limbo then we should also include:

Michael Keaton’s Vulture

& Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio

Four out of these five make up the original Six from the comics (no Goblin) with Sandman and Kraven the Hunter rounding them off. Here’s where it does get iffy because if he do consider limbo picks we know that Sony recently cast the real MCU Quicksilver actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson as its Kraven the Hunter for a solo film. And then we also know that MCU Vulture was supposed to crossover in Sony’s Morbius presumably in a prison scene where Vulture and Morbius meet.

Either one makes Six but now let’s focus back on the MCU. There is Bokeem Woodbine’s Shocker and Michael Mando’s Mac Gargan who is set up to be Scorpion both of whom could possibly reprise their roles but where either one of them make Six again. So what options are there to kinda limit this search for Six?

My guess is that whoever the mystery Sixth person is would be in charge seemingly cancelling out thugs like Shocker and Scorpion. They would also need to be able to have the capabilities of accessing the multiverse to cross over the previous villains which cancels out the Kraven and Morbius as well. So while that doesn’t seem to have limited the guesses I have three that I feel incredibly strong about:

Kingpin Wilson Fisk: You mean like what Sony’s Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse did? I mean EXACTLY like the Academy Award Winning Best Animated Feature Film that beat not one but TWO Disney movies! Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk already exists in the MCU proper but recently he was rumored to have been added to the Hawkeye series as well. I have been rambling how Sonny Burch (Ant-Man and The Wasp) works for someone pretty powerful but he also made note to Hope “You think that I don't know what you've been building with all of this Quantum Technology? You can forget nano-tech. Forget A.I. Forget cryptocurrency. Quantum Energy is the future. It's the next gold rush. I want in.” That’s some serious knowledge for a mid-level shot-caller. What if Fisk is Burch’s boss? You follow the general plot that Fisk wants to reclaim legitimate power and authority behind philanthropic/business fronts. One of his investments is in a crazy former AIM (bring them back) Quantum Physicist named Dr Otto Octavius (Molina) who is trying to crack Quantum Energy. Octavius uses a harness he wears that controls four powerful limbs that assist in building massive Quantum tunnels because in no way can you get Quantum Energy from a machine that fits in the back of a truck... Anyways Octavius succeeds in finding a way into another dimension. Fisk takes this news and instead of simply running to a big press conference he sees an opportunity to become a hero to society if he can kill this public menace who murdered the superhero Mysterio assuming he actually died. In order to not have the murder trace back to him he doesn’t just use out of town killers but out of dimension killers which includes Green Goblin and Electro, and now a real multiversal Mysterio Daniel Berkhart (not Quentin Beck but still played by Gyllenhaal) who has some crazy illusion tech from his own dimension. Fisk also financially leverages a reluctant Vulture because he has experience against Spidey. This plays out level boss battle style with Kingpin being the final boss. This guess supports the rumor the Charlie Cox will reprise his role as Daredevil Matt Murdock within the film.

MCU Norman Osborn (not played by Dafoe): Talk about multiverse! Continuing me doubling down on my big guesses have Osborn be the person who bought Avengers Tower in Spider-Man Homecoming and rename it OSCORP. Within it and over the past 5+ MCU years Norman Osborn has been experimenting with Quantum Energy with the goal of solving time travel much like Tony Stark did (that no one knows about but the brilliant Norman Osborn came to that conclusion with Quantum tech himself). Have him succeed only then fall under Doctor Strange’s radar. Strange who then has his hands full with what Loki and Wanda are doing to the multiverse decides to ask Peter to stop Norman from messing with things beyond his control because “the universe depends on it”. Spidey agrees and does it in the most Spidey way which is just unintentional destruction of property seemingly destroying the machine which ends in an accident that exposes Norman to Quantum Energy that will later turn him into the Goblin. Norman starts to hear voices believing he is going crazy when it is really Quantum Entanglement just like between Janet Van Dyne and Scott Lang. Villains from other universes are calling out to kill the bug and so Norman gets back to work rebuilding the Quantum tunnel like a maniac to silence the voices. Doc Ock and Electro are brought to the MCU along with another Norman Osborn (Dafoe) who is already full on crazy. Mysterio Quentin Beck is revealed to have only faked his death and comes to MCU Norman with a plan to kill Spidey after learning about what he did at Oscorp. Vulture is again reluctantly recruited with money because of his previous experience. This plays out mob style with relentless combinations of team up attacks the ultimately leads to a Six on bug boss battle. This guess supports the growing concept of multiverse in the MCU by having two Norman’s from different timelines while also bringing the franchise in full circle paying off the moving day from Homecoming.

Nightmare/Other: Ultimately this would be the Doctor Strange 2 villain who is rumored to be Nightmare but regardless should be a multidimensional threat but I’ll use him for now. With Wanda and Loki breaking the timelines this threat is freed from the limits of or the imprisonment of their dimension and are out to send the multiverse into madness. In doing so they find themselves on earth where they will begin their takeover but must first defeat their greatest threat there. Tracing power back to the Sanctum Sanctorum they find Peter Parker hiding out there instead of Strange. Mistakening Peter for Strange in the case of Nightmare he feeds on Peter’s fears which after recent events is that ALL his villains would come after his friends and family. Nightmare existing as a multi-dimensional being therefore summons Spidey rogues Green Goblin, Doc Ock, and Electro from multiple timelines and a couple from the MCU which in turn frees Vulture from jail and reveals Mysterio as alive from wherever he was hiding out at. Nightmare incites the rest of the Six to do his bidding through their own fears but Strange of course returns in time to reclaim Nightmare back into his own dimension for a future showdown. This plays out Nightmare of Elm Street (horror) style with the villains hiding out for Peter and attacking when he least expects it with the goal for Peter to survive the night until Strange arrives as opposed to battles to win. This guess doubles down on Strange’s confirmed cameo in the film because why else need the help of the Sorcerer Supreme if not because of a threat that “could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of”.

[moonxtokki]

I Choose You

The weather was scorching hot as Synx rolled on his bed from corner to corner. He thought maybe, just maybe he will find a position that is cooling and would be able to fall asleep again. However, no matter in what position he is in, it’s still hot. He got up and sat on his bed as he sighed loudly. He unlocked his phone as he saw a notification from Piper a few minutes ago.

From: Piper

To: Synx

GUESS WHO JUST CAUGHT A SHINY GENGAR! ME BITCH I CAUGHT IT!

Right, how can he forget that there’s a shiny event today? Surely he should have remembered with how Piper was bugging him about it ever since last week. Synx likes to say that he’s a big fan of Pokemon GO and he is doing his very best to collect all of the Pokemon to complete his Pokedex. Although in the beginning, he never did see the fun in the app and proceeded to ignore the hype of it. Piper, however, was very…fanatic about it. She would show off to Synx the number of Pokemons she collected and how far she traveled for a certain Pokemon. She prided on how her Pokemon is defending a gym and never had a loss. Therefore, naturally, Synx was curious and gave it a go. The moment he threw his first Pokeball, he knew he was going to be sucked in on this hype and honestly he sort of understood why.

He looked at the phone again to see that it’s already 11:35 am.

“Shit, I’m late.” His eyes were wide as he flung his blanket away and ran to the bathroom. He showers as quick as he could, even almost slipped in the bathroom. He was late to a study session which is supposed to be at 12. Another notification pinged as he hurriedly put on his pants.

From: Piper

To: Synx

So have you met up with Ash yet? You’re not replying so that means you either haven’t woke up or you’re being the late idiot that you are.

Synx rolled his eyes at the text and reminds himself to delete all of Piper’s Pokeball on the app when he has the chance. He grabbed an energy bar from the fridge and bolted out the door. He rounded the corner and managed to catch the bus. The bus was a bit crowded but he managed to find himself a seat and plopped down near the window. The phone pinged again and he knew it would be from Piper. He put his phone away as he tears off the wrapper of the energy bar. He took a bite of it and he could taste chocolate and nuts in the mix. It could be Scre’s but he could buy him another one anyways. Although, he will get an earful from his hyung if he knew he was late to his study session.

This time his phone rang and almost made him dropped his energy bar. He looked at the caller and had a flush creeping up his neck. His heart thumped lightly as he watched his phone ringing. He cleared his throat before he answered the call.

“Hello? Synx? Are you on your way right now?”

“Yeah, I’m on the bus right now. Although, I did woke up kind of late today. I might be a tad late today. Sorry hyung”

“No no, it’s chill. I was just calling to make sure of your whereabouts. Take your time yeah?

“Alright, I’ll…see you later.”

Synx hung up the phone and slumped down his seat.

That was so lame. Oh god did I stuttered? I think I sounded normal.

He rubbed a hand on his face as he continues munching on the energy bar.

“God I’m such a loser.” The wrapper was crumpled and kept inside his bag. He’ll find a trash can soon and throw it away or it would end up being in the bag for another week. He can be forgetful sometimes. The weather is nice currently, it was hot earlier in the morning but it fanned out to be warm and Synx could feel it on his cheeks too.

Remembering that he hasn’t replied Piper, he unlocked his phone to read the recent text that was sent.

From: Piper

To: Synx

Bro? U dead? What about ur study date??? I even sacrificed our shiny event for this. We could have gone hunting D:

From: Synx

To: Piper

Yes, I’m alive you dumbass. I’m on my way to Ash’s house now AND NO IT’S NOT A DATE AND THIS IS UR FUCKIN FAULT

Synx might have regretted telling Piper about his little crush towards Ash, no actually he did regret it. He doesn’t need to be reminded that Ash will never date his ass. This whole situation is Piper’s fault anyway, he will definitely delete all of her Pokeballs. Maybe even transferred those new shiny she has to himself.

***

“Have you ever thought what colours would smell of?” Piper said as she studies the colour of a leaf she picked up.

“What the f- No? Why would I want to know that Piper? Finish your homework! We have like 10 minutes more.” Synx sighed as he erased his answers for his homework for the nth time.

They are currently in the library doing their homework instead of being in the café.  Both of them were up late catching Pokemons in the park last night that they well…forgot about their homework.

“Okay, but have you ever thought what green might smell like? Will it smell sweet? Because nature colours and all or it could be like vo-“

“PIPER SHUT UP!”

“SHUSHHHH” They immediately get a collective of shushing from the people in the library, Synx mouthed a sorry at them and glared at Piper. “What? I’m not the one who shouted.” Piper gave him a teasing look. “Are you done with yours anyways? Why you’re bothering me”

“I’m actually done way before you. I did it last night actually.” Synx stopped mid writing and slowly looked at Piper. “You what?”

“I’m done with homework last night. After we caught that Eeevee, I straight away went home and did it.” Piper grinned almost mockingly. The blood drains from Synx’s face as he realized what just happened. He grabbed Piper by the collar and shook her.

“Y-You said you will do it with me! You promised we will suffer together!” Synx whisper shouted in panic.

He could see the mischievous glint in Piper’s eyes and he knows he is doomed. He can’t do this homework on time and he would get an earful from his teacher or worse maybe detention. He still has 3 more questions to go and 10 minutes left on the clock. Maybe if he-

“Um excuse me?” a voice suddenly interrupted his train of thoughts. Synx turns around and his breath stopped as he takes in the person in front of him. He wonders if his hair looked fine. Does his tie look neat? Does his breath smells okay?

“Oh, hello Ash!” Piper said cheerily to the person.

“Hey Piper and Synx.” Ash smiled but had a certain look on his face.

“What brings you here hyung?” Synx said trying not to look directly into his eyes.

“You guys are being a bit noisy here, the students are complaining. Be a bit quiet yeah guys?” The smile reaching his eyes this time. Synx loves that smile, it’s his favourite kind of smile.  

Ash is the librarian in charge of the day and he honestly maybe want to hide in a hole and never come out. Ash must have thought he was being a nuisance but his kind and angelic hyung does not even look annoyed. That made his heart go pitter-patter. His thoughts were interrupted when Piper spoke. “Alright Ash will do! But I was wondering-“

Piper side-eyed Synx and he felt shivers ran down his spine as Piper gave him a weird smile.

“Yes Piper?”

“Well Synx here has problems doing his homework and we were wondering if you could help. Since it is English and we know you’re good at it!” She grinned unnecessarily wide. Synx at that moment wanted to strangle the life out of Piper.

“Oh? Sure, I’ll have a look at it for you.” Ash sat at a chair in front of Synx and started examining the questions.

In 10 minutes time, they were able to finish the problems and Synx felt a boulder size burden was lifted off his shoulder. He has never felt like he wanted to kiss the hell out of Ash for helping him. Could he do that maybe? Would Ash allow it?

“As expected of English genius Ash, that was fast.” Piper was about to clap but was immediately stopped by Ash and then he puts a finger to his lips shushing Piper. Is it wrong for Synx to think that was attractive? Maybe it was wrong, he should stop thinking about it.

“T-thank you for the help Ash hyung. I really appreciate it. I don’t know what I would do without you today.” Synx smiled widely happy that he gets to see this side of Ash.

“No problem, if you need help with your English you can ask me anytime.”

“Cool! I mean… I would definitely do that.” He did a finger gun lamely at Ash and it earned a stifled laugh from Piper.

“Hey, don’t we have a pop quiz next week? This is a perfect opportunity! Ash can help you with your sorry ass.”

“Well I-“

“I can help you if you want Synx.” Ash gave Synx a reassuring smile.

***

Synx got off the bus as he readjusted his sling bag and loads up the direction that Ash had given him. He looks around and started to walk through the neighbourhood. The neighbourhood seems nice and has a lot of beautiful greenery. He had never been here before and mind you he is an adventurer who goes out every night to poke hunt. Suddenly, he wonders if there is a Pokestop nearby, he whipped out his phone and loaded the app. To his surprised, there is indeed a Pokestop near the area and it is full of shinys.

“There’s a shiny Absol ! Oh god, I need to catch it. I have to, this study session can wait.”

He just needed to walk a bit further and that is what he did. Synx thought about all of the shinys Piper has caught and thought that this is his only chance before going to Ash’s house. The map also indicates that the Pokestop is in the same way as Ash’s house.

His journey soon led him to stop right in front of a house with a yellow post box. He was elated and thought,” Aha! Shiny Pokemons here I go !”

He tried swiping the Pokestop logo first but it seems that he was just a bit far from the Pokestop point.“Damn it, it’s in this person’s garden. Why is the Pokestop a garden ?! Okay, it’s fine I can just catch some shiny and go.”

He tapped on the shiny Absol and tried to catch it but to his surprised…he was out of Pokeballs.

“What?! No no no, I have to catch it !” he frantically tried flicking his empty Pokeballs in hopes that maybe his phone glitched. Lady luck sadly was not on his side and his shoulders slumped in defeat. Suddenly, he had an idea. His sight slowly panned onto the house he was in front of and thought of the Pokestop that was just in this person’s garden.

“Maybe…the owner would understand. It’s not my fault his garden is a Pokestop.” Synx breathes in and rang the bell to the house.

“Coming !” a voice from the inside calls out.

Okay okay, I’ll just say it straight to the point no problem. This is easy.

He heard the door opened and he immediately look down to get himself ready for his speech.

“Oh Sy-“

“I’M SORRY SIR BUT I’M ON A POKEMON HUNT AND I REALLY REALLY NEEDED THIS SHINY ABSOL THAT IS HERE RIGHT NOW AND I WAS WONDERING IF YOU WOULD LET ME SWIPE THE POKESTOP THAT IS IN YOUR GARDEN PLEASE.”

He didn’t lift up his head, he doesn’t want to see the look on the owner’s face. They must think he’s childish or just another annoying kid that’s bothering him on this Pokestop. However, he heard a light chuckle instead.

He lifted up his head and watched the owner of the house laughing…well, Ash laughing.

Synx felt flush crept up to his neck and is now covering his face. He has never felt this embarrassed in his life. He doesn’t want Ash to think he’s some lame Pokemon geek fan, there’s no way Ash will like him now.

“Hey trainer, I really wouldn’t mind you using my garden,” Ash said still laughing and was that a subtle wink he saw.

“No hyung, I’m sorry that was ridiculous of me. I’m sorr-“

“What are you saying? I’m not mad Synx. Actually, I’m in the midst of…catching a shiny too.” He grinned sheepishly. In Ash’s hand, his phone was on the Pokemon Go app and it shows that he just caught a shiny Pikachu which is a very rare shiny.

“Woah hyung! A Pikachu shiny is so rare!” Synx in his excitement snatched Ash’s phone out of his grasp to marvel at the rare shiny.

“Um...Synx can you-“

“Hyung ! I can’t believe you caught this! Can I screenshot this? I have to sho-“ Synx stopped mid-sentence when he saw the Pikachu’s nickname.

“Wait…that’s my name.” He slowly lifted his head to look at Ash. His cheeks felt hot but Ash looked embarrassed too or maybe shy? His cheeks also had a tint of red and he was biting his inner cheeks.

“Well…I guess you caught my heart?”

[yellowsugarwords]

Walking Dead Game FanFiction - “The Drunk Life”

[zippdementia]

Part 28 Alignment May Vary: The Rocks Speak

Welcome to post 28 of our long running adventure! We started back on the Moonsea coast with three prison ship survivors who washed up into adventure. Since then, there have been many twists and turns and only one of the original party is still alive, Karina the Tiefling Spy. Her path has taken her with two others towards the legendary Tomb of Haggemoth, where she hopes to find riches and (more importantly) answers to questions that have plagued her since she was betrayed in the war. Meanwhile, her companions have their own quests: Tyrion the Halfling Bard needs to record a tale to impress his college directors and secure his place in the famed halls of song, and Abenthy seeks the ultimate justice in the name of his father, a Fallen Angel. This post marks the beginning of the last dungeon of the campaign and will walk with the players through each room, detailing what they discover and what adjustments I have made to the dungeon. I hope players of D&D find it entertaining and dungeon masters find it helpful in running their own dungeons!

Haggemoth is a conversion from 3.5 and I’ve talked about some of my methods for conversions to 5th edition in the past. Monster conversion, in particular, is more of an art than a science, with the end goal not being perfection so much as it is to capture the correct feel for a scene or battle. One hard and fast rule to keep in mind, though, is the rule of DC. You can pretty nicely get an appropriate DC from 3.5 to 5 by taking the original DC, subtracting ten, cutting the number in half (rounded up) and then adding ten. For example, if the DC for avoiding a trap from 3.5 is Dex Save DC 19, then the conversion is

19 - 10 = 9

9/2 = 4.5 (round up to 5)

5 + 10 = 15

New Dex Save DC = 15

I use this method for every DC conversion so I want to throw it out there immediately so that it is assumed throughout the remainder of the adventure.

Anyway, the bridge across the chasm is destroyed, Tyrion is unconscious, and Karina and Abenthy are badly hurt from their battles with the Bugbears. Verrick is gone, the three soldiers are dispirited, and everyone is hungry. After eating and then collapsing, exhausted, into a long rest, the party awakens the next morning to find themselves staring at a massive door in the cliff face:

Built into the side of the mountain is an immense portico that features a pair of gigantic stone doors, each one twenty feet high and ten feet across. There is a single massive, steel-reinforced stone bar across the door, but a great deal of stone and wood debris has been piled up against the door as well.

It doesn’t take long to clear the debris, I assume this was placed there by the designer in case the players try to run past the Bugbears without stealth or fighting them: then the Bugbears can charge them, or lob arrows at them from across the bridge while the players try to clear the debris. A nasty end for anyone who thought to rush past the fight!

As it is, the players clear the door and enter the first hall. It is moldly inside, and damp and cold, with a smell like age and decay. Every so often earth tremors rock the place and bits of rock and dust fall from the ceiling:

Beyond the main doors is a large vestibule with a vaulted ceiling. The walls look like they once bore runic carvings, but these have all been defaced. Plants from the hillside have infiltrated the tomb here, and bits of root and moss hang from cracks everywhere. This chamber is filled with refuse of all kinds: plant matter, the carcasses of small animals and insects, and the desiccated corpses of several species of humanoid. As light spills into the chamber, the floor comes alive with movement.

Attacking the players are some giant centipedes. This is the first adjustment I have to make. Insect creatures are treated very differently in fifth edition than they were in third. In third, poison was a really big deal, a threat to even high level parties. It’s still not great in Fifth edition, but saving throws are all around easier and because fifth edition has done away with the touch attack (which ignores armor) creatures like this have a much harder time landing hits. So even though I can (and do) describe gross bugs falling over Karinna from the ceiling, I can’t really simulate them being “on her” as I could in Pathfinder, and as the module intends.

I compensate by bringing back touch AC for this fight, letting the centipedes crawl inside armor and up leather jerkins to get their attacks. It’s not a perfect solution, but it keeps the proper difficulty for the fight, letting the centipedes land some hits while still bring pretty tame. In the future, I’ll probably take insect fights and use swarm statistics for them, as this seems to be the way that Fifth Edition “buffs” its insects at higher levels. That said, the only rule I miss from Pathfinder is the touch AC—it just makes so much sense in certain circumstances and creates a nice difficulty balance for parties that have a mixture of speedy rogues and tankish paladins. I don’t think it necessarily needs to come back as a hard rule applied to every combat, but it would be cool to see some monsters in future DnD 5 supplements gain abilities which ignore armor and rely on pure dodging by targeting AC + Dex directly.

Mine! Mine! Mine!

Tomb of Haggemoth is my favorite kind of dungeon, in that nearly every room in it (and most of the monsters) has a reason to be there. I love dungeons that are more natural settings, rather than just endless turns and twists of caverns. My earliest experiences with Dungeons and Dragons was when my father bought Undermountain for me when I was four. I didn’t play the game, but I read through each description of every room. They were like short stories, and one of the joys for me as a player to this day is when I come to a room in a dungeon and can ultimately puzzle out the history of what this used to be and how it came to be what it is now.

There is a really interesting logic to Haggemoth that results in the first half of the dungeon being harder than the second half, but as my players aren’t there yet, I’ll talk more about that later. For now, they come to the next hallway, after cleaning bug gunk off their boots:

This hallway is similar to the vestibule. All kinds of miscellaneous debris is scattered over the floor. The doors to the south and east have been battered and smashed beyond hope of repair, but the door to the north seems to be somewhat solid. The corridor narrows to the west, proceeding deeper into the mountainside.

There are a few dead ends here. West is the actual path forward. To the north is storage, but a vicious mold has overtaken it, turning everything to poisonous rot. To the south, a Xorn has recently burrowed into the area. Originally from the Elemental plane of Earth, he covets the gold and gems in the mountainside and has stayed, slowly gathering some precious rubies and diamonds. If he ever spots Karinna, he’ll lust immediately after her “Eye of Callax,” as it is an extremely large, extremely rare, and extremely beautiful gemstone. He also knows, intrinsicially, some of the secrets of this place, and can be compelled or bargained into sharing them if treated with proper respect and offered rewards. He knows one of the biggest secrets that my players still don’t know...

My group takes the North route and almost immediately is overcome by the mold, taking massive damage as the spores tear at their lungs. Fire kills the stuff, and one of them uses a torch to light up enough of the mold to render it harmless, but the damage is done. They decide to pull back and take a rest before adventuring further. And during the night, the Xorn attacks, snatching one of the soldiers (Biggs) and pulling him back inside the tomb. The players awaken and give chase and a quick combat ensures.

Xorns are cool. Old school DnD monsters, they represent a nice bit of world building in that they come from the elemental plane of earth, thus suggesting the larger universe that the fantasy game situates itself in. They can be a tough kill in DnD 5 because of their burrow ability, in which they disappear into the earth around them, becoming completely immune to all attacks. In one round, therefore, they can disappear into the earth, appear right below someone, and get an attack off. If they wait a round and successfully make a hide check, they can get the attack off at advantage for surprise. And depending on how you want to play it from there, you can add all sorts of bonuses to their attack and/or defense because they are burrowed (DnD 5 is intentionally loose on how these things work, letting DMs adjust the rules to their own style and game). I like to add some defensive AC bonuses, but I also like to be fair about retreating: if they reburrow while they are right underneath someone, it counts as a movement and gives the players opportunity attacks. Picture all the tentacles disappearing into the ground while the players hack at them...

The players don’t seek to barter with the Xorn, but go at it headlong, getting off some very good strikes very quickly. Before long, they have defeated it, even with it burrowing and opening up right under Abenthy (that crazy high AC is helping him immensely here).

Sadly, Biggs has perished in the attack, leaving them with only two of their NPCs to carry on through the dungeon. Which brings me to another topic.

Character Cards

Our campaign has never been without allies and helpers. some may remember the half-orc barbarian woman that the group hired in Ottoman’s Dock, who lost her life to Rose of Ottoman’s Dock, or the bodyguard of the Butcher of Skagos, who perished in the Icy Wastes during a fight with Worg Riders. These early NPCs were stated out fully, like Player Characters and taken over by one of my players. I didn’t like this system, because it made a lot of extra work for us. I had to create the characters, which made it difficult to throw in improvised NPCs and companions at any given moment, and put an extra burden of roleplaying and stat tracking on my players that I felt left either the NPC or their own PC with a little less investment. At the same time, just having NPCs be “background extras” that fit into description but had no actual effect on gameplay, didn’t feel right either.

My solution was to create Character Cards. I talked about this back around the time the party was going through the Desert of Thud but since then I have refined the process. Character Cards now give a multitude of in-combat and out-of-combat options for players to use. The current cards look like this:

Xaviee, Human Fighter

Once per combat: do 1d6 slashing damage to any opponent.

Once per combat: roll 1d6. If the result is a 5 or 6, then +2 to all ally attacks and damage this round.

Reaction: Block an attack completely. Roll 1d6. If the result is 1-4, Xaviee is permanently dead.

BLAZE OF GLORY: Sacrifice Xaviee to add +4 to all ally attacks and Damage this round.

Samuel, Human Guard

Once per combat: do 1d6 slashing damage to any opponent

Once per combat: do 2d6 slashing damage to any opponent. Roll 1d6, if result is 1 or 2, Samuel dies, permanently.

Once per combat: do 3d6 slashing damage to any opponent. Roll 1d6, if result is 1-4, Samuel dies, permanently.

Reaction: Block an attack completely. Roll 1d6, if result is 1-4, Samuel is permanently dead.

You can see how Xaviee is a little more powerful, because his abilities carry less risk of dying when he uses them, representing his higher level. This is a quick and surprisingly clean way for me to represent a usable NPC/retainer with very few stats. We don’t worry about placement of the NPC on our maps, or try to simulate enemies targeting them in combat. If they die because of their roll, it’s assumed they were hit enough times by the enemy to perish. If there are certain situations where it just doesn’t make sense that they can be used, like the heroes are fighting underwater and Xaviee has been left on shore, then we take them out of use for the combat. Simple is best.

It also builds more of a connection I feel between them and the players, as these are decently powerful “items” that they do not want to lose. I am reminded of Final Fantasy Tactics, where most of your party never have a single word to say during the story, but yet you care about them simply because you use them in combat. Because they are a part of your gameplay they actually end up being more a part of your story than the actual story, as for the most part 70% of an RPG is combat and gameplay and only 30% is cutscenes and exposition. Possibly that number is even lower in Dungeons and Dragons, depending on your play style.

The character cards will continue to morph and change as we continue to play and I seek the correct balance between gameplay and function.

Halls of Bone

Progressing forward, after a brief mourning for the lost Biggs, the players come to a gigantic hall filled with bones:

This large, columned hall is replete with various carvings and relief sculptures depicting traditional Dwarven motifs: the forge, the anvil, the pick and axe, the tankard, and so forth. What was once a reflecting pool down the center of the hall now contains a thick layer of slime. At one end of the room is a 10’ tall statue of a clean-shaven dwarf, wearing a studded belt and a rune-encrusted crown with three black gems set in it. To either side, a balcony looks down on the central chamber. Phosphorescent mold on the walls and ceiling provides a dim, greenish light. What strikes you most, however, is that the floor is littered with bones – uncountable skeletons of man and beast lay scattered around the room, some still clutching to the tattered and rusted remains of armor and weapons.

“This is a trap,” Abenthy says, and the others quickly agree.

They aren’t wrong, though it is an unusual trap.

In the original 3.5 module, crossing a line within 30 feet of the statue activates the bones, which become 3d6+1 miscellaneous skeleton creatures and 1 large skeletal creature. This happens every time the line is crossed, up to a maximum of 50 skeletons and 5 large skeletons, all armed differently. These are stated out so that the little skeletons are weak hitters but very hard to kill (with damage reduction and very high AC) and the large skeletons are brutally heavy hitters and also pretty tough to kill. The design of the trap is that the players will be surrounded and overwhelmed by a bunch of regular undead who soften them up for the killing blow done by the big skeleton. When this horde emerges, some players will fall back to ranged position, while others will move up to tank and deal damage. Problem for them is, every time they cross that invisible line, whether retreating or advancing, the trap reactivates. Soon players will be terrifyingly outnumbered. Quick thinking players will realize that the statue is creating the effect and target that, but even then, the summoned skeletons don’t disappear, and players can be left in a whole heap of trouble.

Overal, the intended effect of the trapis to terrify players and set them up to be wary moving forward. They do have the option of running away deeper into the tomb, but the very next hallway is filled with spinning blades. If the players can roll high enough dexterity, they can pass the blades and effectively put a unpassable barrier between themselves and the skeletons, but it will be a tense moment, as failing the roll does grave damage and knocks them backwards, right into the waiting hands of the undead.

Translating this encounter into a 5th edition battle appropriate to six or seventh level characters is a challenge. Skeleton hordes don’t pose quite the same threat in 5th edition. In 3.5, a horde of this size could roll enough dice to grapple or trip even high level characters, setting them up for deadly coup-de-graces by the large skeletons, or weakening their AC enough to allow even the weaker skeletons to get hits off. Trip doesn’t exist in 5th edition, though, and while grapple can set up for a deadly “grapple, force player to prone” combo, it doesn’t give all the bonuses or options that exist in 3.5. I could emulate this by giving the skeletons bonuses to their grapple checks and some special abilties once they have the players grappled, simulating the “Night of the Living Dead” aspects of this encounter, but it feels like it will cause this room to devolve into a series of mindless rolls, the players rolling much less dice than me, but with bigger bonsues. That game quickly can become old, especially if they are facing fifty skeletons.

Instead, I try to figure out what frightens me. I think of the Silent Hill games and those twitchy nurses. Then I think about a room with dozens of them and I have my answer.

I design three skeletons for this encounter. The basics are below:

Twitch Skeletons

These skeletons are small in statue and their arms end in sharp points rather than hands. They gyrate as they move across the floor towards you, their jaws clicking open and closed in a silent protest of the horrors their afterlife has become.

The Twitch skeletons make up about 16 of the skeletons in the room. They have a very high dexterity and a 40 ft movement speed. They also have multi-attack, letting them get off two attempts to deal damage. The damage is not high, nor is their life, but their attack bonus is +8 and their AC in the high teens. The point is that they can close quickly and surround a foe, and after that, they can easily wear them down. As an added bonus, if enough of them are killed, the rest of them do something... interesting...

Normal Hitter

Out of the bone piles emerge skeletal warriors, wearing tattered remains of armor and wielding rusted weaponary and ancient bows. As you watch, one reaches into the bone pile at its feet and pulls free a straight arm bone, which it then nocks to its bow and fires at you from across the balconied room.

Basically regular skeletons, but I improved their attack a little to let them get off the occasional hit. These guys are truly here to hamper and physically get in the way. I also give them a little bit of an interactive option with my third skeleton...

The Minotaur Colossal

Lying broken against the dwarven statue is a large creature, tendons and strands of muscle still connecting its various bones into a humanoid shape with a massive bull’s head. The horns of the skull are stained a dull red with dried blood and across its lap lies a massive axe. As the humming in the room subsides, you see to your horror the creature stirring. When it stands, it is nearly eleven feet tall. It moves its head about and one of its empty sockets fixates on you. With a grunt, the creature begins to move forward, slowly at first, but quickly gaining speed to a charge.

This is my version of the “big hitter” in the room. I only use one of him, and as such I’ve buffed him up a little bit. He is, at core, a Skeletal Guardian as described in the monster manual, but with boosted stats and I added in a bull rush ability that can gore a player and knock him prone. His big weakness is his size, making it hard for him to manuever around the room and easy to hit, and while he hits hard he is not as accurate as his twitchy buddies. He does have the ability to heal however by grabbing a normal hitter and reworking their bones into his own, healing himself for whatever hitpoints they have left (but of course destroying them in the process).

A Clean Sweep

Unaware of exactly what the trap is, the players proceed cautiously. First, they clamber up onto the balcony, thinking that will at least give them the higher ground if it comes to a sudden fight. Then they start using Abenthy and Tyrion’s shields as makeshift brooms to sweep the bones in front of them and off the balcony as they move, trying to avoid having any behind them. This proceeds well for a good long while. There are rooms up here, too, each one leading to a small chamber carved with murals that represent the journey towards power in Haggemoth’s life. There is a depiction of him learning all the schools of magic, there is a room showing his accumulation of massive wealth (it also holds a mimic that gives them some brief trouble), there is a room showing him forging great weapons of power (including, oddly enough, a set of scales that he seems keenly interested in), and there is one showing the banishment of Haggemoth from his people and his sailing on a golden ship towards the remote island of Rori Rama.

Eventually, the players come close enough to trigger the trap. They end up triggering it twice before Karinna finally has the idea of putting an arrow into its gemstones, smashing them until she hits the correct one. This stops the trap, but not the 36 or so skeletons that have arrisen to fight them, including the massive minotaur skeleton, who easily clambers on top of the balcony to give battle.

“Hold your ground!” shouted Abenthy, placing his shield in front of him and staring down the massive bone creature that stalked the upper balcony towards him. Behind the minotaur, the masses of twitching skeletons gathered like the sea held back by a dam.

“Fuck that,” Tyrion shouted in his shrill, nasally voice. He began to play his lute and light exploded suddenly behind the minotaur, so bright that Abenthy squinted and turned away. When he looked back, the skeletons were stumbling into each other, swiping at nothing, and had stopped making any forward progress.

“They are blinded!” Abenthy called out. “Now is our chance.”

“They are distracted,” Tyrion corrected, and then followed as Abenthy moved forward, the two of them raining down blows on the minotaurian skeleton until it leapt off the balcony to escape the onsault. Even as it leapt, though, skeletons gathered below it, climbing up onto it, shifting and becoming part of it. Here, a rib that Abenthy had shattered regrew, and there the arm that Tyrion had knocked sprawling as the creature leapt was reforming out of the bones of another skeletong. Meanwhile, more skeletons were clambering up the steps to the upper levels, and they shook their twitching fellows free of their spell and turned them towards the companions. Xaviee and Samuel were the first to see them coming and the two soldiers shouted warnings before falling back towards Karinna, who was quickly disappearing inside a cloud of darkness.

Karina has used this trick before, to strong effect, in the battle against the Bugbears. The skeletons are a little more “programmed” though; when they can no longer see or hear their targets, they quickly revert to “stand by” behavior, all except the minotaur who is in a rage and goes wandering around inside the cloud of darkness, searching for the players. He finds Abenthy and takes a swing at him with a huge axe. Samuel jumps in front of the blow (using character card here) and miraculously survives, but is tossed backwards by the force of the swing, disappearing deeper in the darkness. With no hope of finding him, the players beat a haphazard retreat, making their way up the stairs towards the tomb entrance. The minotaur follows for a brief moment but after finding himself surrounded and taking some solid hits, he flees back to the bone room to recover.

Now there is a moment to breath. The players have been badly hurt. No one has fallen unconcious, but their spells are depleted (from healing, mostly) and their two companions do not seem to have made the escape with them.

“We cannot leave them in there,” Abenthy states. 

Tyrion doesn’t share his dedication to companions. “They’ll be fine,” he says in his heavy accent. “Just let’s get some sleep and I’m sure they’ll find their way back to us.”

But Abenthy is implacable and begins making his way back towards the room. The others hurry to follow, Karina’s cloak of darkness wearing off and trailing wisps of ink-black fog behind her as they descend the stairs towards the bone room.

It breathed. There in the center of the room, crouched with the other skeletons crawling over it like ants on a hill, it breathed. The creature had grown two extra arms, fashioned from the bones of its fellows. And it looked up as they entered.

“Shit,” Karina said, nocking an arrow to her bow. But Abenthy was already striding forward, his arms flung wide, roaring a challenge that was answered in kind by a shriek from the minotaur. It rose, stamped its bony hooves, and then it charged.

Karina was not sure how it happened, but suddenly Samuel was back at Abenthy’s side, and Xaviee was charging out from behind a pillar as well. The blow that would have skewered Abenthy, armor and all, instead shattered Samuel’s spine. The horn that impaled him was wide as a man’s arm and long as a spear. Samuel was lifted into the air as the beast raised its head and shook from side to side until the body of the poor soldier was flung away. Then Xaviee was there, striking at the creature’s back, and Abenthy was moving now, too. His blade shimmering with dark flame, he struck at the creature’s four arms as they reached for him to pull him apart. Behind her a mournful song was being song. Tyrion had pulled free his lute and was singing, each word soudning like sobs, like childhood, like wine spilled in rain, like sadness. She was crying, whether from the song or from everything that had happened to her in her entire life, but she was also fighting, loosing arrow after arrow at the great skeletal beast. And finally, with a mournful sound like the wind escaping a dark cave, the skeletal minotaur collapsed and was still.

Abenthy ran to Samuel, preparing a spell to heal him, but the damage was too far gone. The man was broken beyond basic healing and was taking his last breaths.

“There is another creature,” he said, blood bubbling between his lips. “One formed of the many. It escaped, into a crack in the wall. It is waiting, watching...”

Nothing more did he say. His final warning hung over them and they all felt cold.

Next post takes our players deeper into the tomb, as they encounter deadly traps and deal with the Things Left Undone in the Halls of Bone.

[exosmuttytalk]

Everyday - Exo DO Kyungsoo One-shot

Characters: Do Kyungsoo/OC, you

Genre: Fluff, smut implied at the end

Word count: 2600 approx.

Summary: Everyday situations living together as a couple ~~

"I can't believe you're doing this again."

"What thing?"

"That thing again!"

"Kyungsoo, I don't know what you're talking about."

He leaned back on his seat and crossed his arms over his chest after putting the movie on pause, leaving the main character frozen on the screen with a very stupid expression on his face.

"I've told you and I've tried to teach you so many times!" He said with a sigh. "Isn't there anything that looks wrong to you?"

She looked around the room blankly before noticing his raised eyebrows and his gazed fixed in her plate. She realized what was bugging him right in the moment she lowered her eyes to look at her food.

"Are you serious?" Her voice sounded more high-pitched than usual.

"I've taught you many times how to do it!"

"I don't need you to teach me how to eat a damn burrito, Kyungsoo!"

"But if you folded it correctly, you wouldn't have the filling everywhere in the plate. If you folded the down part of the tortilla first like..." He sat up and tried to reach for her food, but she grabbed the plate first so he couldn't reach it.

"Didn't your mama tell you not to play with food? Especially if it's not your food? Besides, what gives you the right to think my way of folding it is wrong and yours is right, uh?"

He ignored her raised eyebrow and deadpanned her.

"I make barely any mess and you have food everywhere, that's how I know."

She shrugged, and still holding her plate far from her boyfriend's reach, she took a bite out of her messily wrapped burrito.

"It's not like it's your turn to do the dishes anyway," she smiled with superiority.

******

"I think it's the third time we cross this specific traffic circle..."

His sigh was very audible in the limited space inside the car.

"I swear to you this time I looked up the route before leaving."

"Yeah, but that's no use if you don't follow the directions!"

She could swear this happened every time he wanted to drive them somewhere he'd never been before. After some time driving, he decided the directions the GPS navigator weren't correct and therefore, he started taking the ways that seemed the most convenient to his own criteria.

"What's even the point of all this fine technology your super job allows you to buy if you won't pay attention to it!?"

"But we should've arrived already, I don't know what's the problem..." Kyungsoo looked at the next sign in confusion, as none of the names where the one he was looking for. "Google maps said we'd be there in an hour and a half, and we've been here for two hours already..."

"Maybe it has something to do with the time you were supposed to turn left but turned right instead. Just maybe, but who knows..."

She looked out of the window in annoyance as Kyungsoo stopped the car in the side of the road.

"Get down. It's your turn to drive now."

******

"Kyungsoo," she left her book open upside down over her bed side table and turned around to face his boyfriend.

He was looking at the TV on the other side of the room as he frantically pressed the buttons on his controller, but it was obvious his character would not live much longer. She pulled from his sleeve to attract his attention, which made him finally lose all concentration and left his character to die in a quite gruesome way while he looked in defeat with a frown on his forehead.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry you lost"

"I was already loosing before you stepped in." Kyungsoo turned off the TV and laid down in the bed, which was the moment she used to cuddle closer to his boyfriend and lean her head over his shoulder.

"What did you want to talk about then?" He asked as he wrapped his arm around her.

"I was thinking about the names I'd give my children."

"Oh. That's...early. Don't you think so?"

"Yeah! It is! I didn't mean that, I was just wondering."

"Oh, okay." He smiled down at her. "I'd like to have my children with you."

She smiled and pressed a quick peck in his full lips.

"So what were the conclusions?"

"You're going to laugh if I tell you."

"Give it a try, you may be surprised."

"I like Romeo if it's a boy and Ophelia if it's a girl..."

Kyungsoo stayed silent for the next minute, looking down at his own bare feet.

"My love, I know you adore your Shakespeare, but you can't name our children like that."

"Why not?" She sat up on the bed with outrage in her face. "Those are classical and very beautiful names. David Beckham's son is called Romeo."

"But Beckham is a celebrity, he can get away with that kind of stuff."

"Do Kyungsoo, you are a celebrity as well."

"I know, but I've never been so extravagant!"

Silence fell down once again in the room as they were both lost in their own thoughts.

"Romeo is more or less acceptable, but Ophelia..."

"What?"

"It's a super ugly name."

"Oh my god, how dare you! She's one of my favourite characters! She's portrayed in a very skilful way and..."

"I know, I'm not questioning Shakespeare ability. It's just the name, it's awful!"

She crossed her arms and huffed, looking like a three year old who had had a toy taken away.

"Besides, think about it this way. Things are already hard enough for kids at schools, we don't want to give other kids reasons to pick on them, right?"

"Maybe the other parents should teach their kids that picking on people is plain wrong."

"We agree on that, love." He grabbed one of her hands to kiss it. "But that's not something that can be fixed in such short time, so it's kind of our responsibility to shield our kids, right?"

"I guess."

"Come on," he pulled from her arm to make her lay down again. "I'm sure there's plenty of more normal names that you love as well."

"What about you?"

"Me? I love your name." He smiled at her.

"I do not agree with repetition of names inside the same household. Imagine you'd call out my name one day and both of us answered at the same time. Too confusing."

"You think too much." He answered as he started kissing the back of her neck. "In my opinion, you need me to help you relax..."

She giggled and reached out to the side to turn off the light.

Some time later, his voice filled the room again.

"Was this all just wondering or was it your twisted way of telling me you're pregnant?"

"Geez, Kyungsoo, you're the one who needs to relax now!"

******

"Did you eat them?" Kyungsoo shook the open bag of bugles in front of his girlfriend, who diverted her attention from the screen of her laptop for a secong.

"Ah, yeah. I was super hungry when I got home earlier."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's just a bag of bugles, it's no big deal. There are still some left, you can eat those."

He grunted all the way back to his spot in the sofa.

"I can believe it."

His voice filled with dismay caught her attention and made her look away from her work again.

"What's wrong?"

"Everything is wrong!"

"Quit playing, Kyungsoo!"

He slowly raised his hands to show her. Each finger had a bugle perfectly fitting around the tip of it, making it look as if he was wearing very long and spiky, orange fake nails. It would have been a perfect manicure had it not been for the last finger, the pinky finger of his left hand, which was empty.

"I can't believe you ate everything and didn't even leave enough for my witch nails." He looked at her with tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. This seemed very alarming until she remembered he was an actor too. "I don't know if I'm even going to be able to forgive you for this affront."

She laughed as he lowered his head and started fake crying.

"I swear you're such a kid sometimes."

She stood up from her spot and sat back down next to him, took his right hand and brought it to her mouth, so she could catch the chip from his right pinky finger, as he looked on.

"Now they're even. You can pretend this witch just has four fingers." Before going back to her writing, she kissed his lips. "Don't you worry, baby, I'll get you one of the big bags tomorrow."

******

"I know you're dying to say something."

Kyungsoo was sitting on the kitchen countertop, moving his legs rhythmically and observing as she struggled with the ingredients and quantities. The atmosphere in the kitchen was very hot, because she had turned the oven on half an hour ago, despite not actually having anything inside to roast. Her hair had been pulled up in a bun, but there were droplets of sweat in her forehead and along her neck.

Last night at dinner time she had complained about some aspect of the cooking Kyungsoo was usually the one in charge of, which had led to almost an hour of bickering that ended up in her having to cook for the whole next day. He had put up stoically with the burnt toasts at breakfast time and had been lucky at lunch, as her mother had invited them for the day. But at dinner time there was no escaping for her, and he had been biting down his tongue to avoid criticising her ways in the kitchen. Rather, the lack of them.

"Come one," she teased. "What am I doing wrong?"

She smiled sweetly at her.

"That's way too much kimchi for two."

"I thought you liked kimchi."

"I do and I can take a good amount of it, but it's going to melt your mouth off."

"You're exaggerating. It'll be fine."

"You can't say I didn't warn you," he shrugged.

Later, after they had set the table and were sitting down in their spot, they both took the first bite at the same time. They chewed in silence for a minute and raised their eyes up to smile at each other. They'd already eaten half of the plates when Kyungsoo spoke again.

"If you keep pretending your mouth is not burning like hell you're going to have smoke coming out of your ears."

"Oh my god," was her only response before she jumped off the chair and run to the kitchen to take big gulps out of the milk bottle.

She came back to him with the bottle on one hand and taking bites of a piece of bread she was holding in the other. Meanwhile, Kyungsoo was still eating normally.

"I don't get what went wrong..." she managed to let out with her mouth full of bread.

"Did you follow the recipe I gave you?"

"I did, but..."

"Are you sure?"

"Kyungsoo, I am! I can read a simple recipe!"

"I'd double check, just in case..." he answered calmly.

When she came back again from the kitchen after having taken a second look at the recipe, her eyes were down and she was pouting. The vision of her defeat made Kyungsoo chuckle.

"I messed up the amount of kimchi with the amount of onion, which was next in the list. I can't believe it..."

"I know."

"How are you still eating that? It's unedible!"

"I like spicy foods."

"So does that mean I win?"

Kyungsoo's lips looked a bit more swollen than usual when he wiped his mouth with the napkin.

"Let's call it a draw. You're unable to follow a recipe, but I enjoyed the result either way."

She sat on his knees and put her arms around his neck, happily.

"But that doesn't mean you're allowed to celebrate!" He raised his finger to stop her before she could even start. "And you can't complain about my food anymore. You have to admit all my stuff is just better than this."

******

"Sit down here and wait for me, okay? I won't take very long!"

It had been a couple of very intense weeks for Kyungsoo at work, full of rehearsals and recordings, he even had to spend some days traveling with the group for a TV program shooting in Japan. She was eager for him to come back so they could spend some time together and she had prepared accordingly. She had moved the big armchair that usually dwelled in the living room to their bed room, which looked more organized than usual. She had lighted up some scented candles, so the lightning in the room was dim and warm and the air smelled floral and fresh.

She stepped into the bathroom next to their bedroom, where she was keeping a bag with the impulse buy she had made that same morning at a lingerie shop. She took off her clothes and slipped into the lacy ensemble; put on perfume in strategic spots, so he could perceive the scent but not taste it by accident; and applied a shade of red lipstick that complimented her skin. She knew how arousing it was for him to see the marks of her kisses scattered all over his body. After messing her hair just a little bit more and taking a deep breath, she came out of the bathroom and walked up quietly to the back of the armchair, whispering whatever nasty words came to her mind in that moment.

She circled the armchair to face his boyfriend, smiling, and to find him there, the exact same position she had placed him in, asleep like a log.

"Kyungsoo!" She grabbed one of the smaller pillows and threw it at his face. "I can't believe you fell asleep! What did I do all this for?"

Kyungsoo woke up with a confused expression in his face and looked around the room before rubbing his eyes. When he came to his senses, he found his rather upset girlfriend sitting down at the end of the bed, all her features pointing down.

"Oh, my love, I'm so sorry." He kneeled down between her legs to hug her and put his head down over her breasts. "I'm sorry I fell asleep, it's just been very long days and I was very tired."

"I wanted to surprise you..." she said on the verge of tears.

"I know, I'm sorry. So so sorry." He apologized profusely as he laid her down on the bed and started leaving soft kisses all over her cleavage and belly. "I was dying to be here, back home with you. You're so sexy, you're driving me crazy." He stopped to let his eyes roam all over her body. "Are those new? I don't remember them."

She nodded with a small smile on her lips.

"It's beautiful and fits you perfectly. Please, wear it often. But you know I like you even more when you're not wearing anything at all."

She laughed loudly and wrapped her legs around his waist.

"You're good at sweet-talking," she said before pushing to take him off her so she could straddle his hips on the top. "But that doesn't pay for the fact that you fell asleep. I'm going to have to punish you." Now it was her kissing down his body and nibbling at his earlobe, making him squirm. "I love you either way."

"I love you too." His hands were caressing all her skin until she made him stop by pinning them both over his head. "And I'll take any punishment you consider necessary."

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