#sunwillow

[freaks-and-facades-ravenloft]

Freaks & Facades: Session One - Vignettes Part One

Welcome all to the first full recap of Freaks & Facades, a D&D 3e/3.5 campaign that has drawn strangers from across the Planes for reasons tenebrous and strange.  

We will be splitting this story into several smaller posts to keep you, our lucky reader, from being overwhelmed at the start.  This is a recap of the first session, a series of Horror Vignettes that introduced our amazing cast of characters and drew them together.  

These are the individual horror stories of how Pryrrish, Schrödinger and Fenri were drawn into Ravenloft by the Mists!

Warning: this is a horror campaign setting, so bear that in mind before reading.  Possible triggers for these first vignettes: claustrophobia, fire, falling...

We hope you enjoy!  *starts projector* - Aboleth Eye

Pryrrish Norfaer

Pryrrish wanders the Mournland, the magical wasteland of what was once Cyre.  She is guided on her quest by the Tome she carries, a massive book of dark symbols only she can read.  She is searching for a long-lost subterranean prison beneath the dead city of Making.  Supposedly it was where the rulers of Cyre imprisoned and studied outsiders, and the Tome draws her towards the lost prison.

She finds the prison entrance and enters the misty darkness.  But Pryrrish finds nothing but dungeon-cleaning oozes and empty cells...  Until she spots a cloaked figure down a hallway.  It runs from her down into the dark depths of the prison, and Pryrrish follows!  

It leads her down a spiraling stairway, deep into the earth.  The elf swallows her fear of tight spaces and runs down.  Down, down, down.  Into darkness and rising Mists...  Always the figure ahead is just around the corner...  How deep has she gone?

Pryrrish turns around, struggling to find her step as the Mists swallow her augmented vision.  She hears footsteps from above and watches a shadowy afterimage pass her by; a translucent silhouette of herself.  

She begins to panic, the stairwell never ends!  The mists are impossible to see through.  She couldn’t read the Tome at her side even if she wanted to, she has nothing to guide her except her instincts. But everything is murky and opaque!  And then she finds the curved wall, her only support on this endless stair, has also become unsure.  Pryrrish could pass through it towards... What?

Pryrrish, surrounded on all sides by the Mists, decides to risk this new unknown path rather than be trapped forever on a downward spiral.  She pushes through, defying the physical limits she knows should be present, and walks on a sideways path.  Still unsure and shrouded in Mist, but her own decision.

This new path is murky as the spiral, but now Pryrrish knows she’s not alone.  Sounds of scraping reptilian claws.  Flapping knife-edged feathers.  Snarling maws that drool at the sight of her exhausted flesh.  She hears so much around her in the endless bank of Mist, finding the strength to run forward.  But the sounds keep pace.  She runs and runs, dagger in hand, clutching her Tome!  There’s suddenly a doorway, of purest light that defies the Mists and Elemental Dark surrounding her!  

She rushes inside!  The doorway slams behind her...

Ludwig Hössler Schrödinger

Young lord Schrödinger needs to leave Ludendorf tonight!  His endeavor to share his experiments with the so-called Syndicate of Enlightened Minds has put all he’s worked for, and all the support his parents put into his studies, at risk.  His first time in Lamordia’s biggest city, strolling in with luggage for a prolonged stay, is now ending with him jamming everything vital in a single valise.  He hears the mob coming down the street to his hotel, the fools and deniers of true science with their pitchforks and torches!

Betraying his height and build, Schrödinger miraculously leaps from his hotel window to the rooftops across the street.  But unfortunately, such a sight has easily caught the mob’s attention.  They fire upon him as he dashes away on the roofs of Ludendorf.  He poorly slides down a drainpipe to an alley entryway, rushing into the misted corridors.  If he can reach the next street over he can lose the mob and leave the city!  He must return to Schwartzsteinburg, his home, and to the open arms of his beloved parents.  They understand him, they will protect him as they always have...

But the alleys of Ludendorf confuse the nobleman scientist.  The Mist spills out from every corridor and sewer grate, making it impossible to navigate.  And yet the mob appears to know every turn and twist he takes!  The sounds of their shouts echo through the abandoned alleyways!  The lights of the torches grow brighter and brighter!  Is he fleeing or being herded?  

Schrödinger finds himself finally at a dead end.  No way to jump to the rooftops from here, no doors to break down.  The mob grows louder, closer, more eager to tear him and his life’s work to shreds!  He looks around, begging fortune to smile upon him...  Only an open sewer grate, Mist spilling out like a wellspring, is before him.  Does he dare degrade himself further to trekking through the sewers?  Already humiliated and despised by those who dare to cull the unique and new?

Wounding his pride, Schrödinger leaps into the sewer...

He falls a long time.  Far, far, far too long.  All is darkness and icy fog slashing past him as he falls deeper and deeper into the Misty nothingness.  This defies logic greater than anything.  Will he fall forever, slowly eroded by the Misty winds that make his bones shudder?

No.  Suddenly Schrödinger knows the ground is fast approaching.  He cannot see it, but he knows he will be crushed by the impact.  Him and all he’s pursued, his life’s work; destroyed all the same as if the mob had claimed him!

Staring down at his inevitable demise, bracing for the impact, Schrödinger is thrown once again as a doorway of light opens up!  He sails through it, gravity lurches a completely different direction.

He rolls and rolls against solid wood, tumbling helplessly until he collides with something hard and stable.  His eyes adjust to the light...

Fenri Sunwillow

In the vast city of Greyhawk, Fenri the halfling sits in the loneliest and dirtiest tavern possible.  The food and ale are terrible, the lone minstrel is pitiful and the barkeep is very unfriendly.  Fenri sits alone, all her companions have abandoned her.  But despite this hopeless atmosphere, Fenri Sunwillow has faith that Pelor the Dawnfather will see her through.

Suddenly a group of thugs burst in and begin to spread out through the tavern.  Their leader, a terribly cruel-eyed dwarf with massive iron boots, stomps in and begins to threaten the barkeep for not paying protection money.  Fenri skips over and tries to be the diplomat, offering the thugs and their leader friendship and a chance to use their obvious strength in great adventures.  They laugh at the halfling cleric.

But suddenly the thugs leave, the tavern’s “debts” still unpaid.  They close the door behind them.  Fenri tries to follow but the door is blocked for some reason...  The back is blocked as well.  Panic rising among the two other people in the tavern, Fenri channels the strength of her god to throw a table through a window.  Only to find the thugs outside ready to toss in vials of alchemical fire.

The tavern erupts into terrible green flame!  The dwarf uses a scroll to create a wall of stone before the newly broken window, sealing them all inside to burn with the building!  Fenri looks about, and she realizes tavern’s large fireplace has a chimney big enough to climb up!  With her divine strength she rushes in and climbs!  The sounds of burning agony behind her...

Fenri climbs, green and gray Misty smoke choking her lungs and obscuring her vision.  She climbs higher.  And higher...  The flames are beneath her always, ready to lick at her feet, despite her being unable to see.  Higher and higher she climbs...  Surely the building was not this tall?  But through the acrid smoke Fenri sees nothing but the chimney opening above, never closer.

The climb is getting to her.  Fenri knows the strength of Pelor is only hers for a short time.  She is alone, no sound of those trapped with her climbing up after...  The green and gray fire roars and roars.  The chimney is nothing but gray smoke, her tiny hands clutching desperately at the murky stones...

Time inevitably, and despairingly, catches up to Fenri.  The divine strength of her clerical domain, her faith in Pelor augmenting the strength of her tiny body, suddenly vanishes.  And Fenri falls!  Slowly.  So slowly, the flames beneath her awaiting their morsel...  Regrets and despair weighing the halfling cleric down, the Sun now out of reach...  She looks  to the opening, and realizes it was blocked off by a board this whole time...  

Suddenly, a flash of heat passes her by and Fenri rolls rapidly on  solid ground.  She collides with something large and soft, staying curled up in her armor for a few moments.  Then... she opens her eyes a peek...

Freaks & Facades: Vignettes - Session One will continue in Part Two!  Click here to read on!

Thanks for reading!  We hope you enjoyed these first tales of our friendly freaks as much as we do!

Parts: Zero/Cast, One P1, One P2, Two, Three, Four [tbd]

Aboleth Eye, 05/02/2023!

[dreamsy990]

series tier list btw

just so you know if i seem more insane about dragons lately its because i got bored and reread wof books 3-10 in less than a week and also i reread all of arc 3 not too long ago and also darkstalker and im currently halfway through rereading dragonslayer and i reread all the wingelts a little while ago too and really the only wof books i havent reread in the last few months are 1 and 2 anyways what do you mean. im so normal about the dragon books

[t4tdanvis]

hi gamers we got a cohost account now!!!!!! sunwillow on cohost, go follow us there we will try to be more active teehee

[silentclan]

silentclan, 73 moons

mistypaw and sunpaw are given their warrior names: mistycliff and sunwillow.

while on herb gathering patrol, lichenspots comes across puddleblur and their newly born kits: jumblekit, splinterkit, and wisteriakit. they are all brought back to camp.

daisy is caught breaking the warrior code.

petalgaze and snakebelly have become mates.

fernflake succumbs to their wounds and passes on to starclan.

spiderpaw is given their warrior name: spiderfreckle.

flitsplash and hickorycloud have a litter of two kits: garlickit and whorlkit.

larkkit, nightkit, whirlkit, daisykit, and applekit are made apprentices, and are assigned daisy, strikeshade, shadowmark, fallingspeck and nettleclaw as their mentors, respectively.

gravelshade and thistlefur have become mates.

hemlockbriar returns to camp with two kits: frondkit and hatchkit.

barleykit and rosekit are made apprentices, and assigned brambleheart and sunwillow as their mentors, respectively.

mousefern decides to come out of retirement to become a mediator for the clan.

gillypaw and fumblepaw are given their warrior names: gillybird and fumbleface.

whistlekit is made an apprentice, and assigned frecklestripe as their mentor.

jumblekit, splinterkit, and wisteriakit are made apprentices. splinterkit decides to become a medicine cat apprentice under lichenspots, while jumblekit and wisteriakit are assigned fumbleface and yuccaflight as their mentors, respectively.

sporepaw is given their warrior name: sporecloud.

benito is found by snakebelly and bushmask after giving birth to two kittens: waterkit and gingerkit. they are all brought back to the camp to recover.

nimblerose is round by bushmask and thymepatch after giving birth to three kittens: basaltkit, palekit, and erminekit. they are all brought back to the camp to recover.

sunny joins the clan after being abandoned by their two-legs. they decide to adopt a more clan-like name: sunshadow.

garlickit and whorlkit are made apprentices and assigned gillybird and pikeleap as their mentors, respectively.

puddleblur was attacked by a dog and killed while on patrol.

daisypaw is given their warrior name: daisyleaf.

larkpaw, nightpaw, whorlpaw, applepaw and rosepaw are given their warrior names: larkrush, nightflake, whorlivy, applefrost, and rosespot.

frondkit and hatchkit are made apprentices, and are assigned daisy and honeydapple as their mentors, respectively.

crescent, a loner, is found injured and taken back to the camp to be cared for, but later dies of their injuries.

barleypaw is given his warrior name: barleyscar.

[stardomthenightwing]

Sire, I believe the proper word to refer to the perfect, lesbian pair is Window.

[incorrect-wof]

Sundew: I don't need to go to bed. I'm not tired, I'll be fine.

Willow: But, darling, I'll be so lonely without you. Come curl up in my arms so I can feel whole again.

Sundew: O-oh. Well. Are you trying to seduce me into healthy sleeping patterns??

Willow: Is it working?

[alatoartsalot]

Sundew: someone will die Willow: of fun ...right? Sundew: Willow: Right?

[ston3d-gr33n]

sunbathing baby

[bugthedragonn]

A bunch of Featherhead NPCs! In Featherhead, hybrids are allowed (and even encouraged a little bit!), and characters are allowed to be grandkids/descendants of canon characters! Featherhead takes place 50 years AFTER the current timeline.

Below are the names, tribes, and canon character relatives (if they have any!) of these characters!

1. Galaxy, Rain/Night, Glorybringer granddaughter

2. Ebony, Sea/Night, Queen Coral granddaughter

3. Aviur, Sky/Night, no canon relations

4. Sandstone, Sand, no canon relations

5. North, Night/Sand/Ice, Moonwatcher’s granddaughter

5. Holly, Leaf/Silk/Hive, Blicket and Sunwillow granddaughter

[jellifishies]

sundew and willow make me SO happy like a lesbian relationship that is actually functional and super adorable???? yes please!!!!

[freaks-and-facades-ravenloft]

Freaks & Facades: Session 0 - Cast of Characters

Welcome to all you wonderful readers!  

Here is an introduction to the wonderful character cast for the Freaks & Facades campaign!  This is meant to be a brief overview on the characters’ starting personalities and goals (with some insights gleaned after feeling them out between sessions 1 and 3). 

We hope you love them all as much as we do!   Check them out below the cut!

-- Aboleth Eye!

Pryrrish Norfaer - ( @moonstruck-vixen )

Pryrrish of House Norfaer was once one of the serene and mysterious star elf race; now exiled from their cloistered and dying realm of Sildeyuir.   

She is a forsworn scholar, hunting for the most hidden secrets of the otherworldly.  In her hands she clutches a tome of spiraling script, the cause and salvation to her quest for knowledge.  Only she can truly understand what the maddening, spiraling script deigns to tell her.  For her eyes and souls both hold that same spiral of unreadable darkness within them…  

Her youth was cut short after witnessing devastation on the Material Plane.  The dreaded Day of Mourning.  And when she endeavored to uncover how it had come to pass, that foolish quest brought her no answers.  Only terrible personal disaster.  Paying a price she never anticipated, Pryrrish was branded a heretic.  Forced to embrace the darkness of her new accursed patron--the Elemental Dark itself--to save and begin her life.  The dark book’s secrets both doomed and saved her; perhaps it will now guide her to what it all means?  There must have been a reason behind her misfortune.  A reason for why she was offered the brand of the Elemental Dark upon her soul…  

Will she find what she seeks through her determination to reclaim knowledge thought lost?  Or will the Elemental Dark, forever whispering in her ear, consume her in this foolish quest’s end?

Star Elf Warlock 6

Ludwig Hossler Schrödinger - ( @atlysium )

Ludwig Hossler Schrodinger is a young man fascinated by the world around him; and people fascinate him more than anything, for reasons we all take for granted...

He appears a proud scientific noble of Lamordia, tastefully austere and rational to a fault.  Except when it comes to human osteology, the study of bones.  His parents (who love him very very much) helped him acquire a taste for this little-understood branch of science.   But they never truly introduced to the world beyond their cryptic household.  How odd, considering their influence as Markgrafs of the mountain village of Schwartzsteinburg…

It was a great surprise when Schrodinger’s idea to travel beyond the town was embraced wholeheartedly by his parents.  For their darling son hoped to meet with the Society of the Enlightened Mind in Ludendorf!  Lady and Lord Schrodinger thought it would be a life-changing opportunity for their son to share the fruits of his labor in the field of osteology (and osteomancy).   And so, departing from the safety net of his protective and equally gifted parents, he has proudly shared his life’s work to the Society! But the Society, unfortunately, quite misunderstood his enthusiasm for this strange new science.  

Is he a victim of academia tirelessly struggling to be understood?  Or, perhaps, the Society saw his endeavors in self-experimentation as the unnatural obsession it truly is?  

Human Boneblade 6

Fenri Sunwillow - (Redbrown [not on socials])

Fenri Sunwillow is an exceptional, strong-willed halfling priestess; her smile lights up a room even in the darkest of times.  

She is tirelessly devoted to the teachings of the Dawnfather Pelor–God of the Sun, Healing and Mercy.  With her unshakeable faith, Fenri has gone on many adventures beyond the Free City of Greyhawk.  She has faced monsters, scoundrels and failure, all alongside friends who welcomed her gifts and her optimism.  She treasured them wholeheartedly and offered them the grace and healing of her god!  

But now Fenri the halfling is no longer among friends.  She is a light with no one to shine upon.  She continues what the tenets of Pelor ask of her, seeking to find those most in need of her gifts.  And her friendship.  Everyone is a friend Fenri hasn’t met yet!  But life is hard on such a small bundle of joy, and the Sun does not shine all day without rest.  And yet Fenri shines and shines–through true faith, inner strength or misguided delusion, who could say?  

Will she push through what awaits her, through the darkest time in her life?  Or shall the Sun inside her heart not be enough to sustain her once its out of reach?

Halfling Cleric 6 (Patron Deity: Pelor)

Channa Devir - ( @aureliagaming )

Channa Devir knows much about sacrifice; and she is willing to risk much in order to reclaim what is hers.  

An aspiring prodigy in the arts of elemental theory and magic, Channa was lifted up and taught by some of Khorvaire’s greatest conjurers.  They taught her about the laws of reality, and how to make a life with the gifts she was given.  She followed their guidance and friendship, becoming attuned to the  principles of elemental earth in the process.  Earth is steadfast and patient while the world seems in flux.  And she felt through her mentors she had sacrificed enough of her body and soul to have real achievement in this crazy world.

But then her foundation for living was suddenly lost.  Her best friend; gone without a trace; not even a note...  She went to their mentor, supposedly the greatest conjurer in the realm for answers.  Together Channa learned more and more, hoping to unravel the elemental ritual left behind by her friend...  But then her mentor, her only support and teacher, vanished as well.  The ritual remnants in their laboratory...   Channa had lost everything to this mystery, so she decided to follow in her friend and mentor’s footsteps.  To make them answer why they had abandoned her.  The sacrifices needed to for such a ritual would be great, but Channa would follow it to the end.  To be with them again!

Will those she searches for weep that she was drawn onto their same path of mistakenly pursuing knowledge?  Or has Channa offered herself before a hungering evil that has fed upon greater mages than she and her friends?

Human Duskblade 6

Solange Therese Charron -( @owldork1998 )

Solange Therese Charron has long embraced her lot in life, forever on the outskirts.  

She had a rough start of it: a strange foundling raised by a pair of poor gravediggers, just beyond the walls of decadent and lively Port-a-Lucine.  She was born touched by the grave in more ways than one, however; for Solange is a caliban, a creation of humanity’s aspirations twisted by the darkness of taboo and unforgiveable sin.  She is forever forced to hide her  deathly beauty behind the veil of the mourner; which suits her fine.  No one asks a  gravedigger why they hide their face...  But those that linger beyond death have taken notice of her, a being trapped between worlds.  And to hone this connection and defend the living, she was invited to watch over the crypts of the city’s oldest bloodlines.

She became a gravekeeper of St. Leonburg’s Cemetery by night, hoping to earn the experience to see what the Order of the Moonlit Vigil protects within the uncharted catacombs below.  The dark of those bone-decorated labyrinths calls to Solange, but she instead pushes towards her duties of protecting the noble dead (and tolerating the living nobles who visit the cemetery to socialize and scheme).  But she cannot truly escape the call, literally and metaphorically...

Can one seemingly born to serve death find peace in her duties among them?  Or must Solange dare to walk among the living to find answers about her spectral-afflicted existence?  

Caliban Gravedigger 6

Read the next part, Session One - Vignettes (Part One) here!

Thanks for reading!  We hope these characters fascinate you with their tales!

Parts: Zero/Cast, One P1, One P2, Two, Three [tbd]

-- Aboleth Eye @aboleth-eye

[beegrowart]

🐉🐉🐉

[toomanyreptiles]

they cuddling!!!

[stormheartsart]

Sunwillow cuddles

[trunswicked]

willow and sundew as leafeons!

[stardomthenightwing]

I love the ships in wings fire but I don’t think it was really ok to have same sex couples (sunlow and jamapple.) it is a kids series and I do like sunlow but tui is really just throwing out mlm and wlw ships. my sibling is constantly asking about why sunlow is a thing and she asks about why it’s expectable for this to be in a 8yo book.

I respect your cautiousness for the younger audience that reads these books. Same-sex couples have been a controversy throughout all of our history, so it's not something new. It just so happens that it has gotten really popular in modern media, and I agree, media that includes LGBTQ makes understanding others more cumbersome for youth. It's kind of a problem to be told your whole life that males only get with females and have your core values changed by a children's book so suddenly. As a parent or older sibling, it's really difficult to speak with your child about these things, and I get it because I have a younger sibling who looks up to me.

Your viewpoint is valid, but mine differs. I personally think that including LGBTQ themes in children's media can be a good thing because it helps children determine things for themselves and gives them a head start on figuring out their philosophy and view on the world. As a child myself, I was exposed to many adult concepts, and that turned me into the intelligent person I am today. It depends on the path you want to take in life what you make of controversies, and children who want to endure the difficult understanding go down a much more rewarding and thorny path than others who prefer to ignore it. And to keep prejudice from arising within our society again, I think Tui's demonstration of these relationships is tolerable, even for people who don't think LGBTQ people are valid. Children should decide for themselves what they make of these relationships, and it's better through a book than a possibly biased parent.

Opinions aside, you've got to respect Tui's boldness and desire for change. She clearly strived to do something different, all the while knowing how some people would receive this, and I really admire that 'true' demonstration of courage.

Now I totally see your other concern, the fact that Tui might be cashing in on LGBTQ. She's throwing all these LGBTQ characters into her books to feed and fuel the desires of her fanbase, and from a certain point of view, it would appear that Tui is exhausting that category of character and cashing in on it. Too many LGBTQ characters can be a bad thing, and my personal opinion is that Tui doesn't have too many yet; we will see what happens in the future with that.

If you are searching for advice to explain this to your sibling, you came to the right guy. If I were you, I would tell them that times are changing and that people are changing with those times. LGBTQ people aren't bad people, neither are furries, stans or any of those other silly types of people you hear of on the internet. A person is defined by their actions, not by their sex, color of skin or mental conditions. You should never hate a person, only the bad actions a person does, because all people are allowed to change but not what has already been done. Sunlow is a thing because Tui decided to represent one of those kinds of people, and that's acceptable because the sexuality is depicted fairly and not misleadingly. There are many different kinds of people in this world, and it's up to you to decide who you accept and who you do not.