#that chasm explorer lady

[atalante241]

Genshin NPC’s my beloved

[thewritetofreespeech]

kinktober: frottage

tags: frottage, making out, secret relationship, targaryen incest [aemond/rhaenyra's daughter], immense pinning by aemond

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“Where is Aemond?”

“I do not know your grace,” Larys replied. Remaining calm in the Queens frustration. She had been hunting for her middle son for hours, and he was no where to be found. “I have checked with the guards and sentries, and no one has seen him leave by Vahgar or horse.”

“So, he must still be in the city.” Alicent deduced. Hoping he was still in the castle as well. “The conclave starts soon, and we need…a united front for the court.” The plan to weave her family’s place to the crown was to start today. First, but claiming Driftmark back from Rhaenyra's brood. Then, with them illegitimized, start making the case that Aegon should be king. “He knows how important today is. How could he do this to me?!”

“The prince is nothing but a servant to duty.” Larys assured her. He may not see eye-to-eye with the prince, at least with the one he had left, but the Lord did respect that he seemed committed to his family and their goal. “I’m sure he will come out of hiding eventually.”

In a further, deeper part of the castle, indeed hidden away from all those who had not truly explored it, Aemond laid sequestered with his maiden. Marveling at her beauty in the low light between kisses. Beads of sweat forming at the back of his neck from the warmth of the candles in the small space and their hot, panting breath. Bucking against each other with soft gasps & grunts in the nest he had built for them

“We have to go.” His lady insisted. For the umpteenth time, yet neither one of them had made a legitimate effort to move.

“No, no. Not yet.”

Aemond didn’t want to go back to the ‘real world’. A world where his family and hers were fighting. Where the rift between them seemed to grow every day. Separating them. Lines in the sand now a chasm that seemed impossible to overcome.

He also knew what was to happen today to Rhaenyra's bastards, and that she might not forgive him for his part in the plot of disinheriting her brothers. Aemond wanted to stay here a little longer, where she wouldn’t be mad at him.

“People will be looking for us.” She told him as he moved to her neck, which was freely given.

“They’ll never find us.” It had taken him years to find this place and even then it had been difficult to remember where the opening was until he had committed it to memory.

“Oh yes. Because you’re so clever. Ow!” His lady yipped but then moaned when he bit at her neck. A true Targaryen. Wanting a little pain with her pleasure.

“We should just leave and never come back.”

He’d made the offer before. To take their dragons and ride until they reach new land. Conquer it like their ancestors. Build a new kingdom, instead of being stuck in this conflicting one.

Yet, every time, she just laughed it off as a joke like she did now. Not realizing the seriousness of how much he wanted to leave, and never come back, and just be the two of them in the world. “You would miss the tarts too much if we left. Come on. Let’s get going.”

Aemond finally let her go, though disappointed about it, and let her right herself.

In the right light, her mused hair and clothes looked like she had been riding. No one would think where Rhaenyra's Targaryen jewel had truly been. In the arms of her scorned, much less beloved uncle. His cock throbbed in his breeches. Desperate to make her truly his, but he would not take such liberties. Aemond would not tarnish their jewel nor besmirch her honor. He loved her too much for that. That’s why he wanted her to run away with him, so they could be together. Growing up in a world beloved & adored, she does not see that her parents will never allow them to marry. Never allow them to be happy. Their jewel will be given to someone politically inclined to help secure her mother’s place on the throne, and Aemond would be unhappy & unfulfilled.

He would join the Watch before he call anyone but her wife.

Righted and upright, Aemond tucked a lock of silver behind her ear. Marveling at the affection reflected in her eyes. “Will you see me later? After the conclave?”

“Of course.” She told him. Her earnest something he wanted to hold on to. “Here, or somewhere else before dinner?”

“Here.” Where he could pretend. And if he spoke his words sweet enough maybe she would take him up on his offer to finally run away.

They exit their nook and depart. Her back to her family and Aemond to his. His mother found him readily enough, given how frantically at this point she had been looking for him, and asked where he had been.

“Day dreaming.” Was all he told her. It was a peculiarly enough answer that it halted all further questions from his mother and left him to get ready for the meeting.

After today, his daydreams where all he might have left. Let him keep them for a little while longer at least.

[random-mailbox]

Random-Mailbox's Favorite Sailor Moon Fics - Week 49 - Proposals

Today’s stories are all about proposals and I think including them into this list is more spoiler-y than usual. Sorry! But they are all amazing ♥️

As always, my apologies in advance for spoiling some of these for you (Fic Titles are linked to either FFN or AO3 entries).

Walk These Old Roads With Me - @queenrisa14

To reconnect with Usagi after his Galaxia-inflicted disappearance, Mamoru whisks her away to the mountains, trying to get over the chasm that has formed between them.

Let's Try This Again…- @areptiledysfunction1107

To make up for his Galaxia-induced botched proposal at the airport, Mamoru decides to rectify things by taking Usagi to check out the Perseid meteor shower and tell her his wish. This one is a lemon.

King of Earth, Fool of Love (and Fashion) - @midnightdrops

Mamoru finally worked up the courage and made a plan to propose to Usagi. That is until the rest of the senshi got involved “to help”

(Im)perfect Proposal - @kaleidodreams

Helios tries his best to propose to Lady Serenity, with everything going absolutely sideways.

Belonging - @tinacentury

This story is set in Sailor Stars if Mamoru DID make it to Harvard but Usagi still didn't realize that the ring he gave her was an engagement one. My favorite part was seeing Mamoru react to one of the best episodes of the season "A Night Alone Together: Usagi in Danger" unfold outside-looking-in. 

The Reveal: Chapter 11: Theme: Secrecy - @kasienda

Mamoru is trying his best to propose to Usagi, except that Sailor Moon and her paranormal activities keep getting in the way. This story is definitely miscommunication done right!

---

Next week we will cover the trop of "Locked In" - be it closets, islands or other tight spaces.

Here are the links to the previous Tumblr posts in these series to explore more amazing works based on different themes - make sure to check them out if you haven't had a chance! (Click on title name to go to the post) - I will keep updating the list every week as new posts come up:

Week 1 - Groundhog Day

Week 2 - Established Relationships

Week 3 - Sex Positivity

Week 4 - Unfinished Stories

Week 5 - Darker Stories

Week 6 - Potions 🧪

Week 7 - Reveals

Week 8 - 👻Halloween🎃

Week 9 - Wrong Perceptions

Week 10 - Non-Senshi AU

Week 11 - In-Progress Fics

Week 12 - Mutual Pining

Week 13 - Enemies to Lovers

Week 14 - Slow Burn

Week 15 - Christmas Part 1 - Ugly Christmas Sweaters and Santa!

Week 16 - Christmas Part 2

Week 17 - New Years

Week 18 - High School AU

Week 19 - Slice of Life

Week 20 - Coffee shop AU

Week 21 - Huddle for Warmth

Week 22 - Friends to Lovers

Week 23 - ❤️Valentines Day❤️

Week 24 - Do a Grouch a Favour Day (or Cheer Up Fics)

Week 25 - Soulmate AU

Week 26 - Amnesia Fics (and resources)

Week 27 - 🍀St Patrick's Day🍀

Week 28 - Fix it Fics

Week 29 - Prompt: Mug

Week 30 - Flowers

Week 31 - Traditions

Week 32 - Dreams

Week 33 - Friends

Week 34 - Body-Swap

Week 35 - Medical Assistance

Week 36 - Sex Pollen

Week 37 - Psychometry

Week 38 - What If

Week 39 - Missing Scenes Part I

Week 40 - Green Jacket

Week 41 - Dr Chiba

Week 42 - Birthdays

Week 43 - Fluff

Week 44 - First Kiss

Week 45 - Reviving Shitennou

Week 46 - Tutoring

Week 47 - Thunderstorms

Week 48 - Food

[2baddiesfanfics]

Losing Control

Pairing: Ningguang x Beidou

Tags: Orgasm Denial, Orgasm Delay, Sensory Deprivation, Oral Sex, Cunnilingus, Vaginal Fingering, Bodyguard, Hurt/Comfort, Blindfolds, Gags, Restraints

Summary:

Ningguang, Beidou, Yelan, and Yanfei set off on a journey together to bring a long-lost artifact back into the right hands. With Beidou acting as bodyguard while the Tianquan, agent, and law expert determine how best to handle the situation, the uncrowned lord of the ocean must deal with a demon from the past – despite Ningguang’s multiple warnings. How will the two handle such a delicate situation?

Read on Ao3

Beidou had always preferred roughing it on the sea as opposed to land. As the Uncrowned Lord of the Ocean, her domain was among the waves. But every once in a while, when she was asked for by name, she’d agree to missions that brought her away from the deep.

This was one such case. Ningguang had dubbed the occasion so important that she personally took the role of lead - an extremely rare circumstance. Beidou knew this wasn’t going to be easy if she was taking it upon herself to plan and execute.

They had received a report from Yelan that she and her network believed they’d discovered a long-lost artifact dating back to the time of Rex Lapis as they were exploring The Chasm. Ningguang had tapped Yanfei to make the journey with her so they could confirm its authenticity and determine how best to protect it as a part of Liyue’s history.

And that brought them to Beidou. As the muscle of the team, she’d act as a bodyguard in the event of any interference by outside parties. Naturally, this trip would require them all to camp out for multiple days, and she was already dreading hearing the Tianquan’s complaints about “roughing it.”

They had taken the route between Lingju Pass and Qingxu Pool and stopped for the night just before they made it to The Chasm. Beidou knew they could have easily made it there faster had it just been her and Ningguang, but with Yanfei in tow, she didn’t want to push.

“Let’s go over the plan once more,” Ningguang instructed as they sat around the campfire. “Yelan’s sent word that there are plenty of treasure hoarders out there who’d kill to get their hands on what they’ve found. Listen to me now because I will not repeat myself, Captain Beidou,” she said as she cast a serious glance in her direction.

“Uh, Yanfei’s here too, ya know. She can be quite the firecracker,” she shot back with a scowl.

“It’s not Yanfei I’m worried about, as I think she’ll agree with what I’m about to say next. We are to take these criminals back to Liyue alive with no serious injuries. I will have them answer for their crimes. They’ve terrorized the good people of the surrounding villages for long enough.”

“Yea, yea I hear you,” Beidou said with a roll of her eyes. She didn’t make a habit of roughing people up more than was necessary to get a job done. It was rare she ever needed to take more…drastic measures.

“Lady Ningguang, before we get a good night’s rest, there are a few different scenarios I’d like to run by you. Would you mind staying up just a bit longer?” Yanfei asked.

“Not at all. Beidou, please take this opportunity to sleep before your watch begins,” Ningguang said dismissively.

“You’re the boss,” Beidou huffed under her breath.

The rest of the evening was uneventful, and Beidou had only slightly drifted off a few times. The group packed up camp and hiked for half a day before meeting up with Yelan and her squad.

“Wow, Beidou. You look like shit,” Yelan cracked. “Seems like not much has changed since the last time I saw you.”

“First of all, that’s Captain Beidou to you. Second, I can’t say you look any better, you fu-“

“Beidou! Yelan! Enough,” Ningguang barked.

The two looked back at her like children who’d just been caught doing something they shouldn’t.

“We don’t have time for petty nonsense. Yelan, take Yanfei and I to the location. Beidou, I expect absolute vigilance. Violence, if necessary, but remember…”

“I KNOW. Alive. Heard you the first fuckin’ time,” Beidou said between clenched teeth.

The team had been gone for nearly an hour before Beidou heard a rustle in the trees.

Of course this wasn’t going to be easy.

One, two…three shadows appeared in the shade of the forest. She’d be outnumbered, but not overpowered.

“You might as well just come out. You’re not exactly Inazuman ninja. I’ve seen hilichurls hide better than you. Let’s get this over with, shall we?” she taunted.

An arrow ripped past, and she moved her head just in time to dodge it. The other two men charged forward, weapons drawn. Beidou raised her claymore, parrying their blows in succession.

“That’s the best you can do? Shit, I was hoping for a little workout, but this is just sad.”

One of them lunged at her, and with a swift chop to the back of his neck, he was out cold.

See, Ningguang? Unharmed. Not that hard.

Another arrow shot forth, this time close enough to leave a scratch on her cheek.

Damnit. Gonna have to take that sucker out before I deal with Mr. Thinks-he’s-a-samurai over here.

Driving her claymore into the ground, she let forth a powerful burst of electro energy directly through the earth toward the man taking refuge among the trees.

“Aghhhhhh!”

“Got ya!” She chuckled. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a boring fight after all. Turning her attention to the last man standing, she paused to catch her breath.

“So, tell me…is this all really worth it to you guys? What’s the endgame?”

“You cocky bitch! You’re privileged enough to not have any clue what kind of effect obtaining that artifact would have on our lives.” With a swing of his sword, the two fighters met once more with a loud clang.

“I don’t know, looks like you bunch of clowns are the ones with your heads up your asses. Didn’t your mothers ever tell you not to take what isn’t yours? From what I hear, this is a piece of history that belongs to all of Liyue, and we intend to keep it that way,” Beidou explained as she gave him a forceful push backward.

“What a load of bullshit! We know what kind of woman the Tianquan is. She’ll take it for herself and just add to the wealth she already has! She doesn’t give a shit about the people! It’s why I moved to Inazuma for a time.”

Now Beidou was getting mad. She and Ningguang had their differences, yes. But she, unlike anyone else, got to see a different side of her - in more ways than one - when they were behind closed doors.

“You better shut your fucking mouth before I do it for you,” she warned, taking another swing. “If you’re so dissatisfied, why are you back in Liyue, huh?”

The treasure hoarder jumped out of her range just in the nick of time.

“You really don’t remember me? Wow. You’re just like the Tianquan, aren’t you?”

Beidou lowered her weapon. “Excuse me?”

“Back in Inazuma, I fought for the shogun. You were there with the resistance, weren’t ya?”

She froze in horror. Her eyes narrowed. Beidou was now shaking with rage.

“You.” There was no doubt her crew’s participation in that battle was vital, but knowing that didn’t make the losses from that day hurt any less.

Now that she was looking directly into this man’s face, she recognized him. He had taken the life of one of the newer members of the Crux and it had pained her immensely. Someone so young, so promising…gone in his first battle.

“You fucking bastard!” With renewed strength, she struck his sword so hard it flew from his hands. Tossing her own weapon into the dirt, she nailed him across the face with her fist and tackled him to the ground.

“Beidou!” Ningguang had just exited The Chasm’s opening with Yanfei and was now rushing to stop her. Again, she screamed, “Beidou, STOP! What did I tell you?”

One jab after another after another. Blood marred her knuckles - whether it was his or her own, she could no longer tell. Ningguang’s warning was nothing but a hazy memory, her screeching voice not even registering in the distance.

“Is that…” PUNCH. “…All you’ve…” PUNCH. “…got?” PUNCH. The treasure hoarder jeered at her between hits. He spat in her face and laughed. “You better…end me…now or…that bitch…of a boss of yours…is next…” Blinded by fury, she wound up the strike that would end his existence. The mocking tone of his voice buzzed in her ears.

“BEIDOU, cease this instant!” Suddenly, she felt the familiar warmth of Ningguang’s hand grabbing her wrist.

“I…I…Ning…you don’t understand…” she choked out. Her vision blurred. Rage. Frustration. Guilt. Turning her head to meet Ningguang’s gaze, she collapsed.

The next time she opened her eye, she was looking at the unfamiliar canvas roof of a tent that wasn’t her own.

Where the hell am I?

She had sat up far too fast, her head pounding as if someone was slamming it against the ground.

Fuck.

Breaking into a cold sweat, every scene from the day came rushing back at her. She had been given one simple instruction and completely disregarded it. Surely Ningguang would understand. She had to. Didn’t she know what it was like to lose someone you were responsible for?

A hushed whisper blew through the tent.

“Beidou? Are you awake?” Ningguang’s head peaked through the opening.

“Ning…I’m…I’m so, so sorry. You have to give me a chance to-“

“Silence.” The Tianquan commanded. She didn’t yell. She didn’t even raise her voice. When she was truly furious, Beidou knew she need only utter this single word calmly.

“Tell me: Was I speaking a different language last night? What part of no serious injuries did you not understand?”

“You don’t get it, he-“

“Shut. Up.” Ningguang grabbed her by the chin forcefully. “He wasn’t just injured, Beidou. You beat him within an inch of his life. He’ll probably suffer for the rest of his miserable existence.”

“And he’d deserve it, too!” Beidou tore Ningguang’s hand from her face, gripping her wrist so hard her features contorted in pain. “He killed one of my men, Ningguang! Back in Inazuma!” Moisture gathered in her eyes and she fought to keep her composure. “He deserves much worse than I could ever do to him…”

Ningguang sighed deeply. This made much more sense. Beidou was hot-headed, yes, but never one to blatantly disobey her commands. She had always had a heart too big for her own good. When one of her crew members suffered, it might as well have been her own flesh and blood.

“Ok! Ok,” she shook her hand free and instead moved to stroke Beidou’s cheek. “I understand your anger, Beidou. You clearly have reason to be upset. But I need you to realize something. I cannot have you acting against my authority.”

Beidou was about to fight back, but Ningguang gently pressed a finger to her lips. “I know these circumstances were…unforeseen. But regardless, if I make an exception for one, it sets a precedent. What we have together is everything to me. You know this. But we cannot give others a reason to suspect you’re receiving preferential treatment. Please…understand.”

She leaned forward, her lips taking her finger’s place. Beidou felt her rage melt away. With this one act, she could see clearly. Taking one life for another would solve nothing. Pulling her closer, she let her actions reflect her apology. Her tongue begged entrance and Ningguang acquiesced.

Thankfully the rest of the group had retreated to the entrance of The Chasm, with Yelan’s spies taking guard duty in shifts.

Ningguang pulled back for a moment, her hand now seeking Beidou’s. She tenderly raised it, observing the damage. Layer after layer of bandages covered her knuckles, now swollen to twice their original size. Ningguang placed gentle kisses across the injured area.

“I love you, you know. It pains me to see you injured physically or emotionally,” she chastised.

“I hear orgasms are a great pain reliever,” Beidou muttered half-jokingly.

Ningguang rolled her eyes and let out a laugh. “You may be onto something.” She cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re up for it?” She kissed her neck and felt Beidou twitch.

“Mmm…you kidding? It’d take a lot more than roughing up that sack of shit to take me out,” she said, her hands wandering to grip Ningguang’s slender hips.

A moan escaped the Tianquan as she felt Beidou’s calloused fingers sink into her flesh.

You’ve got to keep the upper hand here, Ningguang. She’s not getting off this easy for going against your orders.

Gently brushing her hands off her, Ningguang moved to settle behind the injured woman. She didn’t want her to exert herself and exacerbate her injuries.

“Hey, hey! What’re ya doin’?”

“Oh, shush. You need this more than I do. Just relax and let me take care of you,” she whispered as her hands traveled across her chest and underneath her shirt. Her slim fingers, well-versed in pleasuring her, met with Beidou’s already taut nipples.

Beidou let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “Okay then…who am I to disagree…” she hummed, her head tilting back on Ningguang’s ample breast.

“This doesn’t mean I’m not still upset with you, just so you’re aware,” she said as she gave her a rough pinch. A groan from Beidou made it obvious this didn’t feel like punishment to her. Ningguang moved one hand down to the hem of her pants.

“You’re lucky I’m merciful. If you were just some two-bit mercenary, you’d be sitting in prison right now. I’ll have Yanfei work her magic, of course…” Her hand slipped under her waistband and her fingers dipped into Beidou’s wetness.

“Ning…I already apologized…don’t ruin this…please…” If Ningguang really was perturbed, her fingers must not have gotten the message. Her slow teasing was building to a steady pace.

“Ruin this? Why, I’d never. That’d just be cruel. Do you think I’m cruel, Beidou?” She whispered, her breath heating her ear.

“N-n-no…so great and merciful…ahhh…don’t stop…” Ningguang knew by the pitch of her voice that she was teetering dangerously close to the edge of orgasm.

“Hmmm…I’m so glad you think that,” Ningguang said coldly as she withdrew her fingers from her. Beidou spun her head around at looked at her incredulously.

“What!? What gives! Ning, I was right fuckin’ there!”

Ningguang weaved a hand in the hair at the back of Beidou’s head and forced her to look her in the eyes.

“You will swear to me right here and now you will never do something so stupid again. One murder doesn’t excuse another, Beidou. Trust me when I say you would have regretted that for the rest of your life had I not stopped you.”

Beidou’s face crumpled. She knew Ningguang spoke with great wisdom. She didn’t do what she had just done to spite her - it was to make her pay attention and learn a valuable lesson.

“You’re right,” her head fell forehead first on Ningguang’s shoulder. “You’re right,” she repeated, nearly inaudible. Ningguang kissed her temple. Once more, her hand dipped down to where it had been.

“I know I am. But thank you for admitting it. I think that deserves a reward…” Again, the pad of her thumb circled Beidou’s clit, eliciting chokes of pleasure from her. “It’s ok…let go…”

Beidou pulled her in with a vice grip. The intimacy they shared was a comfort that brought solace to her heart after a long, difficult day of revelations and rule-breaking. Having Ningguang break her free from her own thoughts in this way was enough to help her over the edge.

The two held each other for quite some time before they knew the others would come looking for them.

“Get some rest. We start the trek home tomorrow,” Ningguang informed her as she gave her a chaste kiss goodbye.

The next day was spent hiking back to the city they called home. Once more, they’d have to stop and set up camp just before they hit the base of Mt. Tianheng. Yelan pushed for them to make the trip in one day, but Ningguang had advised against it. She was still worried about Beidou’s injury and didn’t want her overexerting herself. Clearly irritated at the situation (she had always suspected something had been going on between the two), Yelan reluctantly agreed.

Funny enough, Beidou felt great. Ningguang always did have an indescribable calming effect on her, and her words last night had hit her just as hard as the orgasm. She had been foolish to let her emotions get the better of her. Why had she let that scoundrel get under her skin?

Yanfei had come to her tent before bed to quietly comfort her with the knowledge that he would answer for the crimes he had committed both here and in Inazuma. Beidou was able to take solace in this and ruffled the young lawyer’s hair before bidding her goodnight.

Well, that’s a relief. But I still don’t feel like going to bed just yet. Maybe I can see what Ning is up to…

Beidou used her good eye to look out of the crack of the opening of her tent to see if the coast was clear. Ningguang had warned her if someone caught her, it’d be a pain to come up with a cover story. It appeared everyone was worn out from the long day of travel and had decided to head to sleep early.

She made her way over to the Tianquan’s shelter, careful not to step on any stray branches or anything else that would make too much of a racket. Slipping through the fabric that served as doors, Ning glanced up with a worried look on her face.

“What are you doing here!?” She questioned in a harsh whisper. “Beidou, are you crazy?! What if someone comes in to check on me? Go back to your tent and go to sleep!”

Beidou had a devious grin on her face. “Shhh! I felt bad you didn’t get anything in return for last night, so here I am. Dealing with treasure hoarders this weekend gave me a fun little idea. I figured we’d create a new memory to associate with this archons-forsaken hell of a trip.”

Ningguang cocked an eyebrow. “…I’m listening.”

Beidou strode over to her bedside, surveying the tent for materials that would work for what she had in mind. Thankfully Ningguang had everything they’d need on hand.

“Do you trust me?”

Ningguang pondered for a moment. “I suppose, although this incident wasn’t exactly a booster shot for confidence,” she mocked. Beidou rolled her eyes.

“Actually, that attitude of yours only makes me want to do this even more,” Beidou said as she walked over to a corner of the tent. She grabbed a length of extra rope they had brought in case they needed to secure more than they originally had thought, as well as a handkerchief she found hanging out of a backpack.

“I think you’ve done enough chastising for a while. Open,” Beidou said as she took the handkerchief and tied it around Ningguang’s mouth.

“And you won’t be needing these either,” Beidou stated as she brought both of Ningguang’s wrists together and tied them with a secure but safe knot. Testing to make sure neither restraint was too tight, Beidou pulled her to her feet.

“I think there’s a part of you that fantasizes about being at my mercy. Lacking control over your senses and letting someone else take over. You’re lucky those treasure hoarders were a piece of cake to take down. Maybe I’ll be a bit gentler than they would if they had you in this position,” she whispered in her ear. Dragging her to a corner of the tent where some crates sat with extra supplies, Beidou bent her over one.

Unable to speak, the whimper she let slip was enough to confirm this was the truth. Thankfully she wore pajamas that provided easy access to all the right places. Standing behind her, Beidou’s hips pressed Ningguang’s further into the edge of the crate.

“Then again, I think you’ll be even easier to dominate than they were,” she said seductively as she pushed Ningguang’s long hair out of the way, giving her better access to her neck. Her tongue trailed down to her shoulder, and she bit down. The pressure made Ningguang clench her teeth around the makeshift gag.

“Mmmmhmhmmmg!”

“Hey, now. I thought you were the one who wanted to stay quiet,” she chastised. Her hands wandered under the thin silken fabric of Ningguang’s negligee. “This is a pretty little thing…how come you’ve never worn this for me before? Oh, right, I wouldn’t be able to hear your answer anyway.”

Beidou’s fingers were still chilled from the walk across the campground, causing her to shiver. Palming her breast, Ningguang arched back into her. As she kneaded with one hand, her other snuck under the hem of her pajamas.

Ningguang sighed as her body heat began to warm Beidou’s fingers. Sliding her knee between her legs, Beidou coaxed her into a wider stance. Dipping her fingers into her core, Ningguang let out a muffled groan.

“Too bad you can’t use your hands…I’d make you take care of yourself after what you put me through last night,” she said, punctuating her words with thrusts of her fingers.

“Mmm…mmmm…mmm!”

“I’m glad I can’t understand a word you’re saying, because knowing you, it’d probably be some smart-ass remark. It’s kinda fun to see you this helpless.”

Her other hand joined in the teasing, one playing with Ningguang’s clit while the other pumped in and out of her. She could feel the Tianquan’s knees start to wobble and figured she just needed one more push.

“Next time maybe I’ll fuck you like this in front of Yelan. Show her who owns you...”

And that was that. Just as she hit her peak, Beidou yanked her gag free.

“Fuckkkkkk Beidouuuu yessssss!”

They froze as they heard a flurry of footsteps approach the tent. As if on cue, Yelan’s perturbed voice penetrated the tent.

“Will you two give it a rest already?! I thought last night was bad enough, but you both must want the entire nation to know! I’m trying to get some rest, damnit! Shut. The fuck. up!”

Ningguang and Beidou looked at each other and burst into laughter. After such a stressful mission, sometimes all they needed was a reminder that life was so much more than playing by the rules.

[totkdaily]

Day 41: Trouble in Kakariko Village

At dawn, I head out again from Dueling Peaks Stable. It's a gorgeous morning.

As I ride up the hill I see Naydra flying almost out of the sunrise over the hills towards the peaks. Stunning. 

I check the secluded area past the rocks up the hill for old times' sake - there used to be a monster camp there. But now it looks like this is where the Stable Trotters' Beetz is camped.

It's a beautiful outlook here, to be fair.

He's trying to summon bees. He wants honey to make Mastro some honey crepes to cheer him up. He needs three combs of courser bee honey - apparently there's a chasm near Kakariko Village and bees nearby - so why's he camped here, so far from the village? Oh. It's scary. Fair enough. I give him some of my honey and let him know the Stable Trotters are actually just down the hill. 

In the pass between the hills, Addison again! How many signs can one guy build? 

There are ruins right by the village entrance. Letty and Totsuna are investigating. They point to one down the hill, which apparently the Princess has forbidden entrance to. I sense shenanigans. Letty and Totsuna want to be part of the Zonai Survey Team, and they think pinching parts of the ruins for personal study is the way to go about it. 

Garshon is riding out of town, and says we met at New Serenne Stable. He got sick of his brother's arguing about swords and beasts - ah, I remember! - and went off to explore caves and ruins himself. He's got a good memory for faces - it must be nearly a month since I saw him.  

At the top of the village, Lasli is worried about her grandmother - and Claree, who runs the clothing shop. I remember her - I hope I have enough gems to trade for some sneaking clothes. Lasli's grandmother got too close to the Gloom and is sick.

The only thing she can eat is porridge made of hylian rice, fresh milk and wild greens - and Lasli needs a porridge that will cure gloom sickness. I have the sundelion I think will do the trick, but no rice and milk.

I'll come back. There used to be a grocery shop at the bottom of the hill.

Ruins have fallen on the house opposite the clothing shop. Wasn't that Dorian and his daughters' house? I hope they're alright!

Part of the ruin is being used as some kind of workshop - Wortsworth is here, from Lookout Landing. He's translated the tablet that landed at Lookout Landing - it reads:

"Once held in honor as 'hochmayde' (handmaid?) to King Rauru and Queen Sonia, thereafter to his sister and to Princess Zelda. Here on this great stone and twelve more 'withalle make y endite min time' with the royal family. So might 'heore' remembrance preserve for the sake of him on whom our hope rests."

The author says she wrote 13 stone tablets in total about the Royal family. I wonder if more of them will mention Zelda? Wortsworth reckons she's a chambermaid of some kind. 

Wortsworth thinks Zelda's mention proves the name is as old as Hyrule - which is, I suppose, technically true. He'll reward me for pictures of any other stone tablets - though the translation will be reward enough for me. 

I visit the clothing shop. 5000 rupees for the stealth chest guard?? I may not have enough gems after all. How can they be so much more expensive? 

Claree is Lasli's older sister - ah. They want the money for their grandmother's treatment. That's fair enough, but I can't afford it. I might be able to gather the ingredients they need, though.

I just need to register the shrine here, and then I can nip back to Lookout Landing for the supplies I need. 

I visit the Goddess statue for stamina first. Koko is selling ring garlands in the square - very sweet. She's grown since I saw her last.

Then I head to the Chief's House. Impa's away looking for geoglyphs, so who's running things here? 

Dorian's guarding the Chief's House. He says Paya is in charge? Well, it's Lady Paya now. But the last time I saw her she could barely speak to anyone.

Dorian has been assisting her, for which I'm glad. But he says all she thinks about is the ring ruins. He asks me to speak to her, to try to remind her of her other duties. 

I squelch through the rain to meet her - she's talking with Tauro. She doesn't seem confident in being chief… I suppose she had no choice when Impa left. 

I have to tell her that the Princess is still missing. But Paya says she's seen her? Immediately after the Upheaval? She confirms what Letty and Totsuna said - the Princess has forbidden anyone to investigate one of the five ring ruins.

I can't imagine Zelda forbidding research. And it just doesn't make sense. Surely this is the imposter's work? She left suddenly once she'd delivered the instruction, which is a pattern I'm beginning to recognise from the imposter. 

Paya and Tauro agree it doesn't make sense, but they say that the Princess must have had a reason, so we still can't go up there - annoying. 

Calip of the Survey Team is guarding the ruins and won't let me even walk beneath them - does that mean people can't even visit the graves that lie beyond? That's unreasonable.

I think of Koko and her sister, and their mother's grave. Paya has to see sense. 

In the Chief's House, I find a journal of anonymous worries. Someone only finds comfort sleeping on the stone slabs in the ring ruins - weird. Lasli wants to know how to cure Gloom sickness - I know why. Monsters have appeared at one of the ring ruins out west - Drenja from the Zonai Survey Team needs help. Trissa can't find where the cuccos are laying, so the stores and the village are running low. Cottla - sorry, Not Cottla - has found a secret base for her and her mother - presumably because she's not allowed to visit her mother's grave. 

A litany of concerns and worries. All ignored. How could Impa abandon these people? How could Paya not see that they need her?

I find Purah's diary under Paya's bed - what's it doing there? She says she's hiding volumes of her diary around - she must have begun this before the Upheaval, I can't imagine she'd bother now. She writes that there's one in her own room. One at the Hateno Lab. One here. Where's the fourth? 

Paya's Diary of a Chief is on the desk, so I read that too. She writes of the swiftness with which Impa made her chief and left her to it. Dorian was concerned but said nothing to stop it. She documents the Upheaval, the fall of the ring ruins and the opening of the chasm. It was after that that Impa left. She had been reading a book with eleven symbols - are there that many geoglyphs? Or is this something else?

She says the Zelda who visited was "like a doll of herself… the same outside, but no spirit within." The description chills me. Others have said that they've seen a cold, emotionless Zelda. Surely this is the imposter. The Princess I know has always been warmth personified.

Paya believes the village has been reinvigorated by the ring ruins, research and tourism. How can I make her see the truth? Her people need her.

I head back outside. Letty and Totsuna are sheltering from the rain in the inn. The guy behind the counter, Dai, briefly tries to charge me 10,000 rupees for a bed - but quickly reveals he doesn’t work here. The owner left to make up the Survey Team’s beds and hasn't come back. There’s four camp tents around the village, so he could be anywhere. If I see a sleepy guy, Dai asks me to send him back to the inn to take over. Fine.

Outside, I meet Bugut. He’s come to see the ring ruins, and specifically the stone slabs with writing on, but he’s deathly afraid of heights. I’ll get him some photos. 

The weather clears at dusk. Trissa, in the produce store, says the old guys who stock it are busy driving off monsters - is this related to the call for help from the Zonai Survey Team I read in the Chief’s House? Probably - she says to head west to find them. 

I climb the hill to start heading to the shrine, finally, and find the Southern Ring Ruin Research Camp - complete with journal by Cori. They’ve found sundelions here and are cultivating them in the plum orchard. They’ve also found a Device Dispenser, which baffles them but is very useful for me. 

I take the scaffolding up the hill for a better gliding point to the shrine - and of course, by that point I might as well go and check out the ring ruins. Tauro’s left some translation notes from this ring: 

“There were (those) known as sages...who protect(ed the kingdom) of Hyrule from the Demon King together (with) King (Rauru).”

Nothing new there. But I do wonder if the others contain any new information. 

I glide down to the shrine, and spend the rest of the night solving it.

[hungnitan]

Spoiler Fontaine Archon Quest 4.0 :

How should I put it, this archon quest somehow fresh and took different route than previous area which make it enjoyable. The writer putting jokes and high tension scene pretty well together.

Klutz Furina really funny to see hahahaha

Ace of attorney story like are interesting enough to read (lol)

The one really suprise me after read many spoiler, Arlecchino came from Fontaine ! Which explained house of hearth somehow lean on saving Fontaine aside their allignment. It would be suprised if Arlecchino join fatui, picking house of hearth and basically spying mission join as harbringer all because she know the propehcy will happens if she don't do something.

As I thought, Furina Neuvillete relationships more like cheeky young lady and all round butler so yeah Alois Claude (lol). It gonna be interesting to read Neuvillete Furina character story later to see the reasons they join together. I hoping like he's into controlling from shadow ruler type or Furina cheeky personality interest him (but seems not lol)

Aside the fact this archon quest focused on Navia, funny enough Neuvillete which had less line took most scene there (lol) and I guess we wouldn't see her for next archon quest since well... she finished her role, right (lol)

Neuvillete in this archon quest really interest me ! He's very rational kinda like machine but somehow he's still in research for human's hearts. And the things with rain, everytime rains happened, it's after a case or trials and at the end of archon quest when he's at Callus grave so yeah I guess Neuvillete is just someone can't express his feelings...

Aside the fact Tartaglia fanboying traveller and forgot his debt collector job (lol), it's funny he say about his families to us and forgotting our archenemy relationship.

The quest finished with Tartaglia arrested just because oracle saying he's guilty (he's guilty for taking too many female's hearts lol). But wow Neuvillete can stop him with only one move before going full foul legacy mode, I guess dragons pretty much a supernatural (lol)

I think Tartaglia will play a very big part in Fontaine archon quest, maybe as key person or just clown like Liyue (lol)

So far, Fontaine archon quest have three big forces play their parts : Fontaine, current house of hearth member + tartaglia + traveller and third forces. I really suspect these third forces came from previous house of hearth father, if so it explain new fatui enemies at 4.1.

So yeah it's very balanced story, not bad but not so good. But I still wondering how to do Fontaine 100% exploration with it's basically chasm underground + dessert mouseleum combination map. For now without touching any quest, I still around 30% overall and unlock most teleport waypoint while doing some chest

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 8- Part 5

Well, I don’t want to go too far east yet, so let’s go up north- at least this way, we’ll probably reach a dead end due to that chasm, so we can say we’ve crossed this street off our list of new places to explore.

Oop, okay, here’s a new Trainer-

Yet again, Xera is just walking there, she is just standing there-

Togedemaru, huh? Alright, let’s send in Prong with the Mud-Slap!

The Togedemaru is using Rollout, but luckily it isn’t very damaging with the first hit.

Mud-Slap’s Accuracy drop should stop the Rollout from doing too much more- after all, Rollout by itself becomes less and less accurate the longer it goes on, so an Accuracy drop should heighten the odds of it missing!

Or…not. Okay, well, another Mud-Slap should remedy that-

IT’S STILL HAPPENING, THEY’RE STILL BEING LEFT WITH MINISCULE RED HEALTH-

Also, I had to use a Potion to get Prong’s health back up because Rollout is still hitting?? Somehow?? Whatever, just finish it with Bug Bite-

That Togedemaru managed to hit get a Rollout streak at, like, four times at the max before it finally missed- even at -2 Accuracy! If I tried to pull that off, my Pokémon wouldn’t be able to get above, like a streak of two, I guarantee it!

I thought the place went out of business because of earthquakes wrecking the ward? Eh, maybe it was just an additional set of circumstances.

Ah, there’s the Day Care- probably not gonna use it, but good to know where it is. But even more importantly…the Pokémon Center!! Let’s head in and heal and see what NPCs are inside!

Oh- wow, there are a LOT of people here, whoa.

Oh- that’s, uh…rough, lady. (The boyfriend’s totally dead, isn’t he?)

Again, probably not a natural occurrence, not at all! Probably a result of that “machine” the drunk guy talked about- whatever that is and whatever it did…

Sure, grandpa, I think Nurse Joy should get you back into bed now-

Okay like on one hand, I do feel like the plants would be removed if people had, like, Fire-types or stuff to cut down trees, but on the other hand…DID YOU NOT SEE THE GIANT CHASM RIGHT OUTSIDE??

Aw no, that’s terrible, lady! (The son’s totally dead, isn’t he?)

(Future edit: Actually, now that I think about it…didn’t we see the one kid just kinda by himself when we first came into Obsidia Ward? The one who was like “I’m scared”? Was that- was that him? Was that this lady’s missing son??)

Okay, seriously, I get that there isn’t much anyone can do about the buildings and streets being torn apart, but like- does no one around here have any Fire-types?? Where’s the Fire-type Gym Leader, call them in and maybe have them take out a few of the trees and vines! 

(That won’t have any unintended consequences, surely- what’s a forest fire?)

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[evelynmlewis]

The Boy in the Castle: Chapter 7

Previous

Chapter 7

General Boris arrived the next morning.

Ilya found out when the soldier, called Sergey, came in that morning to bring him his bread and water.

Alexei did not appear that day.

Later, when Sergey came back for dinner, Ilya dared to ask a question.

“Is there any news from upstairs?” he ventured.

“Aye. You’re in trouble, coachman. Boris got out the lady’s paperwork. She’s got the royal seal all over everything. She was bound for Stosla, so we know where you were going.”

“Ah… what’s going to happen to her?”

“She was executed this morning just before noon. The General beheaded her and threw her body over the wall into the chasm.”

Somehow, though he’d anticipated it, the news still came like a cold shock. Ilya flinched. Poor woman. So that was the end of that feeble hope. He wondered if the boy knew. For a moment, then, he felt a stab of panic, wondering if the boy had been turned over among the documents that Anatoliy had surrendered, but quickly he reasoned there had been no mention of the child. If they had discovered him, surely Sergey would have mentioned it.

Still, he wasn’t sure what he could do to help the boy at this point. If Olga was dead, it surely wouldn’t be long until he was next.

But nothing happened. After Sergey left him, he sat alone for the rest of the day, and into the night, in growing dread, shifting uncomfortably with a twisting feeling in his stomach. The next time anyone came, it could well be the time for his execution. Boris was only busy, had better things to do than worry about some coachman, and he was left to try and make his peace.

It was some time during the night that the boy appeared.

Ilya hadn’t known that he’d been sleeping, but he startled awake to find the boy standing in front of him, illuminated a gold color in the orange glow of the flame.

“Alexei!” He clamped down on the volume of his voice, and hissed the word. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I know.” The boy’s face was pale.

“You’ve got to—to find a way out of here. Go through the tunnels. If you ever did find a way to escape, do it now. If you didn’t—try exploring at the back of this cave. There’s got to be one that leads out of here.” Before, the boy had at least had his mother in the castle to stick around for. Now there was no reason to stay. There was no reason to assume Anatoliy’s protection was strong enough. It hadn’t saved Olga.

“I want you to escape too. I’m going to help you escape.” The boy’s teeth were gritted, his face was set in the most determined expression Ilya had ever seen, despite the tears starting from his eyes.

“Please. Don’t do anything dangerous.”

The most important thing was that he found some way to protect the child— if there was anything useful still that he could do with his life, it might be that. If only he could think of something. The child was innocent, indeed better than he was anyway, and more worth it.

“Don’t worry,” Alexei said. “I’ve already done it.”

“What? What have you done?”

“The doves. I let them go.”

He blinked in confusion.

“I got into the – the aviary. It’s at the top of the tower… above Anatoliy’s room. I didn’t have to – to open the door, I j-just climbed out the window and… up.”

Ilya’s eyes widened, genuinely impressed.

“I grabbed onto the stones. They are all uneven up there. I found the white doves we brought and I released some of them. They will fly to the King’s army straightaway. I had written a message telling them that we are captured by the rebels at Castle Tyrna. Then I climbed back down.”

“Didn’t anyone see you climbing on the outside?”

“I – I don’t think so. It was early morning, before the sun came up.”

Before the execution. Before he found out. Ilya felt pity for the boy, but he also felt almost a bit relieved. Was that truly his entire plan? It was a touching thought, and at least the boy had been successful.

“It is a miracle,” said Ilya, “that you weren’t apprehended.” He paused, since the boy was already on the verge of tears. “It was very brave. And now the King’s army will find out where we are.”

Though they wouldn’t come to the rescue. There wasn’t enough time. Not for him. He would be killed before they arrived. But maybe for the boy, he thought, desperately.

“Don’t try anything else like that. Just try to escape through the rock. Please.”

He waited for an answer, but received none.

“Please, just go now.”

Alexei didn’t move, just kept standing there. The silence surprised him for a moment, until he realized that it was a glazed look, a kind of stupor. The boy’s eyes stared past him, into some distance beyond the walls of the cave. Perhaps his words hadn’t even been heard.

Ilya did not repeat his instructions.

Slowly, the boy fell to his knees, and crawled toward him, beginning to weep with great, desperate sobs, until he had fully curled up into Ilya’s side, and continued weeping. Ilya slowly, uncertainly, put his arm around him, like he was afraid to crush the child. Eventually, however, he was forced to relax. Soon he would really have to send the boy away. There was no sense in letting him be discovered. But just for a moment, for this moment, he could be of some comfort.

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[talenlee]

How To Be: Samus Aran (In 4e D&D)

How To Be: Samus Aran (In 4e D&D)

In How To Be we’re going to look at a variety of characters from Not D&D and conceptualise how you might go about making a version of that character in the form of D&D that matters on this blog, D&D 4th Edition. Our guidelines are as follows:

This is going to be a brief rundown of ways to make a character that ‘feels’ like the source character

This isn’t meant to be comprehensive or authoritative but as a creative exercise

While not every character can work immediately out of the box, the aim is to make sure they have a character ‘feel’ as soon as possible

The character has to have the ‘feeling’ of the character by at least midway through Heroic

When building characters in 4th Edition it’s worth remembering that there are a lot of different ways to do the same basic thing. This isn’t going to be comprehensive, or even particularly fleshed out, and instead give you some places to start when you want to make something.

Another thing to remember is that 4e characters tend to be more about collected interactions of groups of things – it’s not that you get a build with specific rules about what you have to take, and when, and why, like you’re lockpicking your way through a design in the hopes of getting an overlap eventually. Character building is about packages, not programs, and we’ll talk about some packages and reference them going forwards.

Really gotta specify that ‘in 4e D&D’ on this one.

When we talk about How To Be, the point has always been to take characters that are interesting in some particular way then see how we can carry that vibe into the creative space of 4th Edition D&D. What we’ve seen, when we try and make things like a real-world-alike gangster or a robot dinosaur, is that there are some concepts that seem very easy to translate into the play space that really aren’t. Zelgadis is a D&D character and he was very challenging to translate to the game just because he’d already been filtered through another set of different game rules. Minfilia showed us that when a character leaves large parts of their method and ideology as blank slates, there’s a challenge creating something in the space that fulfills that character.

Extremely defined and extremely vague characters, in both directions, are hard.

Anyway, let’s look at Samus Aran.

Examining Samus aran

Samus Aran is a great big tough, heavily armoured lady walking around with basically a tank on her shoulders, a gun for an arm, and a basket of tricks that just happen to make exploring and moving really fun and engaging. She’s also one of the longstanding combat characters in the videogame Super Smash Bros, which adds a complication of being a game that’s already about translating Samus from one form to another and in the process present just the way the character feels.

Samus has a lot of different ways to apply her guns, with bolts, missiles, charged up beams, freezy beams, waves that travel through barriers, bombs, bigger bombs, bigger missiles, and probably some other stuff I forgot from one of the games or other. Essentially, ‘has and uses gun’ is a lot of what she does, which tends to look like ranged attacks. Ranged attacks and big dump-truck tough armour aren’t a common overlap in D&D.

In some iterations (mostly Smash Bros), she’s also got a whip or some form of lash ability that gives her short-ranged melee attacks that nonetheless let her huck people around. This iteration is also the Zero Suit look, which eschews the heavy armour in favour of jet boot high heels.

Across a huge number of games, though, Samus cooks down to being extremely mobile, with the ability to turn into a little ball and roll through tubes, jump very far and across chasms, and even eventually, kinda-fly with screw attacks.

All told, that gives us this list:

Highly mobile

Shoots things

Doesn’t die

Heavily armoured

Badass

The Unified Samus Theory

… Okay, we’re screwed on this one.

The list of Samus Aran traits we have is a little bit like one of those ‘pick two’ triangles, where you can have cheap, fast or strong. Heavy armour works against mobility. Mobility tends to be paired with melee damage, not ranged damage. Ranged damage tends to not work with heavy armour.

What this means is there’s no real overlap between all the options here. Instead, these Samus Arans are all going to be bespoke.

Samus The Snake

First up, let’s look at Samus Aran as a combination of infiltrator and damage dealer. Armoured or not, Samus can very much be a high-femme high-heels wearing run-and-gunner who has an armoured suit for most of the time, but without it, is still basically a stealth game protagonist who can best the space pirates with ingenuity and wits. In this context, the most important part of what Samus does is kill people in the face with her laser weapon, even if sometimes that laser weapon is letting her charge people shoulder-first or even sneak through their ductwork as a ball or a person.

This version of Samus goes where she wants and deals a lot of damage. This build also avoids a conversation about whether Samus is strong or charismatic by instead forwarding that her most important stat is her wisdom. Pick a target and chase it down, like a bounty hunter does.

Here’s the problem: Avengers don’t favour heavy armour. In fact they have a lot of things that benefit from not being armoured, including an armour bonus that makes your armour class almost as good as wearing heavy armour you’d have to spend feats on. This build definitely gets you the reliable, hostile and agile Samus Aran, but the armour, the power suit, lacks substance.

I think this build is only going to be satisfying if you’re looking at the Zero Suit Samus as a default, and want to play with that aesthetic. The lack of heavy, chunky armour feels like it’s a hard stop for the idea, and that’s okay! But it’s also the simplest version of the character and the version I’d recommend you pick up to start with. This blasty build would do things like pull enemies away from the tank to deal with them one-on-one, leaping away and keeping them chasing you. Very in keeping with how Samus plays, but it doesn’t play how she feels like she should play, right?

Samus The Tank

Gunna level with you, there’s a Samus from twenty years ago that the current Samus evolved out of and she’s a very different person. She’s big and strong and green haired and makes promo videos of herself. The personality of the quiet, introspective stoic Samus Aran we’re used to now, complete with the blonde hair, beauty spot and Zero Suit, is pretty much not evident here even if this character is also equally the work of fanfiction distributed by Nintendo Power.

On the other hand, in terms of play experience, it’s hard to look at a seven foot tall woman wearing heavy metal armour and not think of her as being tough by definition. Samus can be seen as a deadly opponent (because of all the killing) but she can just as much be seen as someone who endures enormously difficult circumstances to protect other people from the threat she’s in a position to stop. Basically, there’s a tankiness to the idea of Samus Aran. With Metroid: Dread adding more blatant melee combat finishers, and Smash Bros presenting us with more of Samus’ physicality, it’s very possible you have a long history of thinking of Samus in terms of who she can beat up.

(And then the Zero Suit version gets involved there too and it’s complicated all of a sudden.)

If you want to do this kind of Samus, you have options that can range from the simple to the weird, but I’d start with the Paladin as my baseline. Talk to your GM about it, since she by definition doesn’t have a hand free (because of the gun) and this is just a question of how it looks. Treat the armoured fists of the suit as a hammer, and play a melee Paladin who smashes things very hard. There is of course, one little wrinkle here, because uh…

It’s kind of hard to neglect the gun. The question becomes ‘how do you make a mostly-melee character who still wants a ranged attack?’ And how do you make that ranged attack good? Ranged attacks can open you up to attacks of opportunity, and that’s bad.

The solution gets a little ugly. The two best options I found for getting a shooty beam on the melee paladin Samus are both multiclass-like:

Use the half-elf to pick up a Warlock blast like Eldritch Blast that uses your constitution or Charisma, depending on your type of Paladin. Eventually, you can use Razordark Bracers to protect yourself from the attacks of opportunity.

Multiclass Battlemind with the feat Awakened Potential. Then, power swap one of your at-will powers for Concussive Strike, which is a blast 3 that provides meaningful utility and provokes no attacks of opportunity.

Another option, which means you shoot less often but do shoot well is to take a Cavalier, and to treat her Righteous Radiance as blasting people who get close. This build can also spend powers choices to pick up the big splashy daily beam powers, like Radiant Delirium. This kind of split attacking does mean you’ll need to improve her Charisma as well as her strength, but it’s the best way to do it all if your thinking of Samus is as a physically impressive, tough shooter.

Samus The Samusn’t

In Metroid Fusion, we’re treated to the presence of the SA-X, a pile of goo made out of a shapeshifting monster that wants to be Samus Aran. It stomps around after you for most of the game, stalking the original Samus in the look of her original design, and eventually, after being fought and defeated, winds up teaming up with you (and sacrificing itself) to fight the most dreadful of Metroids you’ve met(roid) so far. This Samus Aran has ranged attacking powers, a dreadful melee threat, and can shapeshift into a monstrous form that controls the space around her by slapping you around and shooting you.

That’s right.

This is a druid build.

I’m not just doing this because I want to talk about a druid build. I’m also doing this because I love character who are the monster that wants to be a person. The fountain of blood in the shape of a girl. The Samus Aran that is trying very hard to be Samus Aran because being Samus Aran feels good. I love that stuff!

First up, the druid. Druids can wear bulky armour (hide, but you know, it’s not bad), and make ranged attacks in a humanoid form. Then they can shapeshift into a beast form that makes melee attacks to control enemies. By default, they start out pretty tough (12 hit points, 5 hp a level, 7 healing surges, the top standard for controllers), and their ability to corral a single target makes them pretty safe from day 1. They also get elemental blast powers, like Chill Wind, that lets you shove enemies around and pick where they stand (and allies too, really).

Druids can benefit from picking up powersets that care about distributing slows, or about forced movement, which tend to blossom as you advance in the levels. The Alfsair spear, available very cheaply, lets you use spear feats on your attacks in both beast and human form, which can include polearm feats and oh look who put Polearm Momentum in here? Even if you don’t want to multiclass fighter for the Most Stolen Feat Chain, you could look into using Savage Rend and proning tools to make ‘sitting on the enemy’ your job.

Basically, a druid build can be a single opponent’s boss monster.

Junk Drawer

The challenge of needing ranged attacks, heavy armour and high mobility are very much in your ‘pick two’ category of character building. I did look at and reject a lot of almosts and not-quites, with the Warlock lacking the toughness, Sorcerer/Paladin hybrids lacking coherence, and the elegance of the Battlemind crashing into the limits of a class that doesn’t quite work at range despite having powers that want to keep you there.

Samus is a really awkward character to love because almost everyone who loves her tends to love different versions of her, different ideas of her, and most of them are doing so without any want to diminish other people’s (but…). She’s iconic, but like all icons, she’s been reduced at scale and distance to make sure that whatever she is, it doesn’t hurt your imagination of what she is or should be.

Because we did that once and it sucked.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#DungeonsDragons #Games #Making #DnD4E #HowToBe

[actualaster]

Plot spoilers

Okay, taking a break from exploring everything (got all the depths and most of the shrines, still a bunch of Sages wills to go), enhancing gear, side quests, etc. to touch the main story again.

(I got so involved with the gameplay lol)

Yunobo, dude, the fuck happened to you???

...Fake Zelda lady, eh? Yiga connection, or something else? Like since I did another quest first I know that is NOT our Zelda, but I wonder who she is.

Wait hold on, back to a different quest for a second

Oh man, Deku tree looks terrible. Oh there's a CHASM INSIDE IT. Thankfully I was prepared because I HATE THOSE BAD TOUCH MONSTERS.

Oof, looks like it hurt trying to pull the Master Sword out of the Light Dragon. BUT ALSO. ZELDA REFERRING TO THE SWORS AS "SHE". YES. YES YES YES.

And it's almost 8am oops I should sleep

[seeminglyseph]

I also have realised this is my first time playing a “Balanced” game instead of “Explorer” because I’m a fucking pussyfoot coward

And also I have not upgraded anyone’s armour yet and maybe that’s why everyone is fucking dying repeatedly in battle. I actually had to use Whithers’ resurrection powers today.

Which I guess at least got me an approval stat boost from everyone else? Just for being like “yeah here’s the money gimme my friend back shit shit shit shit”

Everyone likes when you revive your friends. So that’s cool? That balances out the absolute panic of the dead body and not being able to use a revivify scroll and standing there post-battle like “fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.” And then spending 200 gold. And also all the healing potions I used trying to keep him from not dying in the first place. I’m doing a proper store run now to get some decent armour upgrades and stuff and sorting through all the shit I have hoarded in my camp travel container to see what will work for my allies and what will work I can sell and if there’s stuff I can buy that will make this journey better and if I can get some more healing potions.

I’ve been at least playing Py as like. A wizard who’s something of an Alchemist because baybe I love foraging and potion making. I do the same thing with Lake admittedly but with Lake it’s like… Apothecary style. With Pyrite it’s a little bit Mad Science. I imagine him very like… half the shit he’s mixed together might cause an altered state of consciousness because he read about it in a book and was like “that sounds fucking wild. Become ungovernable. Let’s see what this fucker does.”

Py is absolutely the type of wizard who seems dignified but also because he’s half Drow he’s way older than he looks so he’s like… “no yeah, I’ve been fucked up. Let me give you advice on the best way to get fucked up so you don’t end up getting more fucked up than you wanna be.” Like he’s drawing on my experience at least to be like “oh, yeah. If the edible starts hitting too hard take some vitamin C.” Or accidentally identifying my sister’s ex as having been on antidepressants because he was telling a story about taking shrooms with friends and being the only one not tripping out and I was like “oh your receptors were occupied.” Because shrooms and SSRIs hit the same parts of the brain and often SSRIs will block hallucinogenic signals.

I have not gone to fight the goblin horde yet. Not sure what I’m gonna do, but I am a half Drow this playthrough so it’s easier to get into the goblin hideout as a Drow than as a tiefling. They already expect Drow there. You can just be like “fuck you bitches I’m part of your fucking army you just can’t identify me.” And they’ll be like “well, good enough for me.” But once you start murdering bitches they start killing you. Which is a pain. I gotta armour up. And try not to push the Drow lady into a Chasm this time. I want her fucking clothes. Maybe I can push the Hobgoblin in a chasm. I don’t want his clothes. Fuck.

[wuilllstuf]

Chapter 6: Shadows of Obligation Part 1

Three years ago:

Within the opulent halls of the Capulet household, Lady Capulet, a woman of both grace and ambition, wove a tapestry of influence and alliances. Unbeknownst to her daughter, Juliet, Lady Capulet had orchestrated a carefully concealed betrothal—a union that would bind Juliet's fate to the first son of the esteemed Gavia family. They had been favored by the Doge and council for generations, and held the coveted number one position, while the Capulets resided as respected contenders in second place.

However, Juliet's father, Lord Capulet, a man rooted in tradition and deep affection for his daughter, vehemently opposed this arrangement. He believed that Juliet, a tender blossom not yet of 14 springs, deserved the freedom to grow and explore life's possibilities before being bound by the chains of matrimony.

One evening, within the privacy of their chambers, Lord Capulet confronted Lady Capulet, his voice tinged with worry and pleading. "My love, please reconsider. Juliet is still so young. Let us wait a few more years before marrying her off to the Gavias. She deserves a chance to experience life and find her own happiness."

Lady Capulet, resolute in her decision, held her ground. "My dear husband, you must consider the benefits this union would bring to our family. The Gavias hold significant influence and favor in court. It would secure our standing and protect our future."

Lord Capulet's concern deepened. "But at what cost, my lady? If we proceed with this arrangement, Juliet will cease to be a Capulet. She will be at the mercy of another family, and I fear I won't be able to protect her anymore."

Lady Capulet, her voice gentle but firm, countered, "I understand your fears, but consider this: by aligning ourselves with the Gavias, we provide our daughter with a powerful alliance and an opportunity for a secure future. We must act in her best interest, even if it means relinquishing some control."

Despite Lady Capulet's reasoning, Lord Capulet remained unconvinced, his love for Juliet overshadowing any potential benefits. The weight of their disagreement settled heavily upon them, creating a chasm in their once-united front.

------

The next day, Lady Capulet sought out the nanny, her heart heavy with a sense of urgency. She needed to find Juliet and share the news that had been set in motion. Making her way through the corridors, she approached the nanny, her voice filled with concern.

"Nanny, have you seen Juliet?" Lady Capulet inquired.

The nanny looked up from her tasks, her face wrinkled with years of wisdom and care. "Oh, my lady, Juliet is in the playing room, engrossed in her world with her dolls," she replied with a warm smile.

Relief washed over Lady Capulet's face as she nodded her gratitude. "Thank you, Nanny. I must speak with her immediately."

With a renewed sense of purpose, Lady Capulet made her way to the playing room, where she found Juliet surrounded by her beloved dolls. Her heart ached at the innocence and joy that radiated from her daughter, knowing that soon she would have to disrupt that blissful state.

Approaching Juliet, Lady Capulet took a deep breath, bracing herself for the difficult conversation ahead. "My dear, I have news to share with you," she began, her voice tinged with a mixture of sadness and resolve.

Juliet looked up, her eyes bright with innocence and curiosity. "What is it, Mother?" she asked, her voice filled with trust and anticipation.

Her mother's heart ached as she remembered the conflict with her husband, but she knew she had to discuss an important matter with Juliet. With a heavy sigh, she approached her daughter, her voice tinged with a mixture of sadness and concern.

"Tell me, my dear, how stands your disposition to be married?" Lady Capulet inquired, her gaze searching for any signs of readiness.

Juliet looked up, her eyes bright with innocence and a touch of mischief. She paused for a moment, contemplating her response. "I know it is an honor... that I dream not of, Mother," she replied, her voice reflecting the naivety of her thirteen years. "I think my cousin Rosaline would dream of the married honor more than I do."

"Well, my dear, it is time to think of marriage now," Lady Capulet insisted, her voice firm yet tinged with a hint of sadness. She paused for a moment, contemplating the weight of her words. "You see, my darling, your father and I have decided on your betrothal to the Gavia household. It is for your own good, Juliet. We believe it will secure your future... you will be safe with them"

As the words left Lady Capulet's lips, Juliet's eyes widened with shock and disbelief. "But... why must I marry the Gavias?" Juliet questioned, her voice filled with confusion and concern. "If I marry, then... then I will be away."

Lady Capulet, her voice filled with a mix of authority and concern, tried to reason with her daughter. "Juliet, this is for your own good. The Gavias are a powerful family, and this union would secure our standing and protect your future. You must trust that I am doing what is best for you."

Juliet, though hesitant, nodded in acknowledgment, her mind racing with conflicting emotions. Without uttering another word, she swiftly made her way to the door and dashed through the corridors, her petite figure propelled by a fierce determination. Her destination was her father's study, the place where she hoped to find solace and support.

Part 1 concluded

Previous / First / Next

[meh-papuh]

Chapter 6: Shadows of Obligation Part 1

Three years ago:

Within the opulent halls of the Capulet household, Lady Capulet, a woman of both grace and ambition, wove a tapestry of influence and alliances. Unbeknownst to her daughter, Juliet, Lady Capulet had orchestrated a carefully concealed betrothal—a union that would bind Juliet's fate to the first son of the esteemed Gavia family. They had been favored by the Doge and council for generations, and held the coveted number one position, while the Capulets resided as respected contenders in second place.

However, Juliet's father, Lord Capulet, a man rooted in tradition and deep affection for his daughter, vehemently opposed this arrangement. He believed that Juliet, a tender blossom not yet of 14 springs, deserved the freedom to grow and explore life's possibilities before being bound by the chains of matrimony.

One evening, within the privacy of their chambers, Lord Capulet confronted Lady Capulet, his voice tinged with worry and pleading. "My love, please reconsider. Juliet is still so young. Let us wait a few more years before marrying her off to the Gavias. She deserves a chance to experience life and find her own happiness."

Lady Capulet, resolute in her decision, held her ground. "But my dear husband, we must consider the benefits this union would bring to our family. The Gavias hold significant influence and favor at court. It would secure our standing and protect our future."

Lord Capulet's concern deepened. "But at what cost, my lady? If we proceed with this arrangement, Juliet will cease to be a Capulet. She will be at the mercy of another family, and I fear I won't be able to protect her anymore."

Lady Capulet, her voice gentle but firm, countered, "I understand your fears, my love, but consider this: by aligning ourselves with the Gavias, we provide our daughter with a powerful alliance and an opportunity for a secure future. We must act in her best interest, even if it means relinquishing some control."

Despite Lady Capulet's reasoning, Lord Capulet remained unconvinced, his love for Juliet overshadowing any potential benefits. The weight of their disagreement settled heavily upon them, creating a chasm in their once-united front.

The next day, Lady Capulet ventured into Juliet's chambers, finding her daughter engrossed in play with her dolls. Her heart ached as she remembered the conflict with her husband, but she knew she had to inform Juliet of the plans that had been set in motion.

With a heavy sigh, Lady Capulet approached Juliet. "My dear, I have news to share with you," she began, her voice tinged with a mixture of sadness and resolve.

Juliet looked up, her eyes bright with innocence and curiosity. "What is it, Mother?"

Lady Capulet paused for a moment, contemplating the weight of her words. "You see, my darling, your father and I have decided to proceed with the betrothal to the Gavias. It is for your own good, Juliet. We believe it will secure your future and provide you with opportunities beyond measure."

As the words left Lady Capulet's lips, Juliet's eyes widened with shock and disbelief. "I won't do it!" Juliet exclaimed, her voice laced with defiance. "I won't marry someone I don't love! Besides, the Gavia's son is probably ugly!"

Lady Capulet, her voice filled with a mix of authority and concern, tried to reason with her daughter. "Juliet, this is for your own good. The Gavias are a powerful family, and this union would secure our standing and protect your future. You must trust that I am doing what is best for you."

But Juliet's resolve remained unyielding. With tears welling in her eyes, she fled from her chambers and ran through the corridors, her small frame propelled by a fierce determination. Her destination was her father's study, the place where she hoped to find solace and support.

As Juliet reached her father's study, she burst through the door, panting and tears streaming down her face. Lord Capulet, startled by his daughter's sudden appearance, immediately rose from his seat.

"Juliet, my dear," he said, concern etched on his face. "What has happened? Why are you in such distress?"

Between sobs, Juliet managed to choke out the words, "Father, Mother... she said that both of you want me to marry the Gavias' son! I don't want to, Father! I don't want to leave our family!"

Lord Capulet's heart broke at the sight of his anguished daughter. He reached out and pulled her into a comforting embrace. "I'm sorry, my love. I tried to convince your mother, but she refused to listen."

Lord Capulet's heart ached at the sight of his distraught daughter. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, an idea forming in his mind. "Juliet, my dear, perhaps there's a way to buy more time. We can tell your mother that we need to find another suitor, someone just as worthy as the first son of the Gavias. That way, we can delay the decision until you turn sixteen and are considered a Lady."

Juliet's eyes widened with hope, a glimmer of light amidst the darkness that had enveloped her. "Yes, Father! That might work! There must be other suitors out there, right? We can find someone better!"

Part 1 concluded

Previous / Next

[vi0light]

 head  of  moonbathed  curls  cants  back  and  from  her  lips  spill  cackles  ,  witch  ,  how  original  .  not  a  moniker  she  entirely  detests  ,  though  used  in  an  attempt  to  damage  her  ;  a  feeble  attempt  to  regain  even  a  morsel  of  control  .   on  the  contrary  ,  it  was  difficult  to  regain  what  one  never  possessed  in  the  first  place .  perhaps  that  was  unfair  to  the  love  they  once  shared  ,  but  rhaenys  was  no  longer  in  the  mood  for  niceties  .  patience  for  him  had  snapped  long  before  the  ball ,  long  before  the  joust  even .    ❛   well  as  things  currently  stand  ,  cub  ,  i  am  more  worthy  of  her  affections  than  you  are .  i  do  wonder  what  your  good  lady  will  do  when  she  see's  us  so  close  and  intimate .  ❜   lilac  optics  roll  with  her  familiar  flare  for  the  dramatic  ,  his  tightening  grip  on  her  rousing  a  small  fragment  of  tension .   perhaps  toying  with  him  and  his  wife  was  not  enough  to  free  her  ,  but  baris  was ,  it  was  only  a  pity  that  it  had  taken  her  so  long  to  realise .   a  sigh  of  boredom  parted  lips  ,  an  easier  reaction  than  exploring  the  vulnerability  in  his  tone .  for  as  much  as  she  loved  baris  ,  antony  was  still  and  perhaps  always  would  be  a  weakness  of  sorts .     ❛  i  do  not  recall  dramatics  being  your  malady .  it's  quite  tedious .    ❜   had  she  been  honest  with  herself  ,  rhaenys  may  have  recognised  the  pang  of  sentiment  tug  within  the  chasm  where  her  heart  should  be .    ❛  oh  make  me  your  villain  if  it  eases  the  burden  of  your  desires  for  me ,  antony .  but  you  were  the  one  who  cast  the  first  stone  ,  though  i  imagine  that  means  little  to  you  –  you've  never  been  the  best  as  taking  accountability  . ❜   she  ponders  briefly  ,  to  what  extent  he  will  humble  himself  to  get  back  into  lady  arryn's  good  graces .  how  deeply  will  he  curse  her  name  now  that  he  cannot  moan  it .   music  ends  and  rhaenys  is  quick  to  tear  herself  away  ,  but  not  before  she  presses  one  final  whisper  to  his  ear  .    ❛   i'll  see  you  in  your  dreams  ... or  nightmares  ,  little  cub .  ❜ 

[...] Antony unravels before the dragonness, a moniker that he held lightly the same he did when in the passions of their youth; without recourse of what lineage had fashioned her beyond his reach. She was a vision of wildfire and teeth directed at him, now, the full heat of her ire causing his break in mask and perhaps the waver of something sad in his gaze; be that he was one of Mormont's bears, he was only human. His error was quickly rectified when she hardened her stance and her purple gaze, and he scoffs. Whatever once was, she was as Targaryen as the rest; a testament to a crumbled capital, and heretical with dragons tied to their names, and that was something he would never tell her; if only to fully admit their hold on one another was doomed to end bloody and devoured. A low whisper, tense, " Don't start. " He became acutely aware of his tourney's injuries, jaw clenching as he practiced his own steps and deigned to lead their dance; or perhaps, she was the one who led, or perhaps they both were unconsciously in tandem. He leans into her when she does into him, and for once, he's speechless.

His own grip around her tightens only a fraction, and he doesn't dare break his scathing gaze which settles on her; the court was no longer his chief concern, not when she so deftly riled all senses rigid. " And it wouldn't be enough, witch. Woo her, pleasure her if you think yourself so worthy of her affections, " She knew how to push him, to dig into old wounds—but he was no longer the impulsive boy who once chased after dragons. " but it wouldn't be enough to free you from this hold. " He takes the lead, and the distance closes only a fraction; the tension palpable with a motley of emotions that seemed to seethe from both of them. His own breath was low and warm against her cheek, " Night and day, you have already fucking plagued me and now you see to it that my own death must be by your own hand? " Unravelling more at the seams; how close his fear of her lay beside his affections. There's something vulnerable in his tone. " How much more of me must you have, Rhaenys. "

[lilyandthegenshinbrainrot]

have I told yall about mona bc mona and her master are so funny to me in the queer and suspicious way

okay so!! let's talk about the funny little mona things!! starting with her vision,

in her vision story, mona starts with "...that her vision was sent to her from the gods doesn't mean a great deal." and she further explains that the gods still have to follow the laws of the universe so they aren't that much more special than anyone else. after this, it's said that " [the vision] was gifted to her by her teacher as a teaching aid, and it is the only evidence of their time together as master and pupil."

- so the vision mona has is a dead one she revived ???

her first voiceline about the vision is "when i first received my vision, the elderly woman that gave it to me, she put on this air and said "may your heart of truth be with you." and she complains about it getting her wet

her second line about it is that it's not all bad and "it is, after all, the one useful study tool that miserly old lady ever gave me, in a rare act of generosity."

Now going into speculation, esp regarding her master,

we understand that Mona's master is the professional/academic rival to Alice, who is. so interesting for many reasons but for this case, her apathy towards divinity and her own abilities. Alice is known for talking about how she could have shaped Mond. better than Barbatos did and also telling Zhongli that Jueyun Karst belongs on the ocean floor. (also the summer event when she admits to personally rearranging submerged islands in just the right order for her baby immortal-) Additionally, she's lifelong friends with Gold, an alchemist from Khaenri'ah? Literally what kinda of people does Mona's master run with.

- so this just sums up to say that like attracts like, and you have to wonder just what Mona's Master is capable of and who exactly she may be if she regards someone like Alice as an equal, someone who scorns archons and befriends "the great sinner" herself

however, since my headcanon first developed, it's been brought to light that archons do not personally hand out visions thanks to ei's voicelines (thanks ei I'm more confused now)

We also know that Mona is part of the Hexenzirkel (translated to coven/circle of witches in German according to the wiki so maybe it has foundings in Mond as Mondstadt is genshin's Germany?), as Lisa declines any involvement or interest in. There is jack shit known about this organization, except the fact that they explore the Irminsuls (the trees in domains that are connected to the abyss and leylines)

This is interesting bc Mona's magic, as some of yall have noticed, looks terribly similar abysmal magic, and if she's part of an organization where they study the connections between the abyss and the overworld..

The symbol on the house she now lives in was the same symbol as hydro mages summoning their shield

The language that is her hydromancy, in her idle when she pulls up a constellation, has the same characters found around the chasm and enkanomiya walls

Her charged attack looks like the abyss teleportation portals

actually her charged attack AND taunt has the star of Khaenri'ah in it, and idk why

so, as her voicelines confirm that she doesn't need her vision to perform her magic, you have to wonder where's she is getting the information she has, and again I wanna ask, why does Mona's master run in the same circles as Alice and Rhinedottir?

(also if mona has ties to the abyss, then her voiceline about venti and the wind's reaction to her trying to scry on him suddenly feels much more threatening,,,)

[pearlywritings]

Oh, can I get little peak of your Dainsleif x former lady-in-waiting reader fic? It's very rare of people to write about him (and write good) so I'm very intrigued at what you're cooking there?

Also, I relate to you about having many fics to finish. Since I speak two languages, I have plans to write in my native one too, so now I feel like I'm in a tango.

I am gonna be honest...

I haven't touched the first (not in a chronological sense but in a storywise sense) fic for him in TWO MONTHS and I am 90% sure when I open it I am gonna just straight up start editing cause time passed and now I don't like certain things about it.

But I can give the main idea: it's right after the quest with him in Chasm (and if you played it, you should know what happened and in what condition the man is) and, basically, reader, being a fellow Khaenri'ahn and having experienced the same thing, is not having it and convinces Dain to go to [...] for a small vacation, because in such state there is no use trying to chase the Abyss Order if only he doesn't want to end up more hurt. Of course, exploring the nature of their relationship along the way.

As for having many fics - my brain comes up with ideas much faster than I can tend to them, so I just write them down and occasionally work on this or that, depending on what my mood strikes for at the moment.