#the city of eternal night

[psalacanthea]

The City of Eternal Night- Ch 2

new chapter of the post-canon Drow Bard Tav x Astarion fic here!

The miserable journey through the Underdark finished at last, Astarion and Zynatheri now face their first trial at the gates of the ruined Drow city they seek to claim. No, not the Neogi slavers that have claimed the city gates. Vampire sibling bickering. Again.

But even as they bicker their way towards a united front, of course everything else is going awry.

...

The potatoes Karlach had nearly lost her life to were fine, as was most of the food when Gale wasn't here.  Fine, but nothing special.  But Zyn had been eating tavern stew for over a century, it was all the same to her.  Yes, she could cook, and cook better, but...effort.

Effort was for more interesting things, like thievery or sex.

The three of them were a cheerful group, when Wyll wasn't slipping out to check on the progress of the spawn.  Eventually when they seemed to be settling outside of the city, and Wyll headed down to meet Astarion, wearing the ring of invisibility he'd attuned to last night.  That was one good thing about the Underdark.  When you were forced to adventure down here, as odious as it was, there was plenty of treasure to be found.

Astarion’s arrival quieted things, as he practically collapsed into their camp, Wyll at his heels.  

Her own concerns evaporated, as Zyn fussed over him all the way to her tent.  It wasn't that she wanted to hide him away, but he seemed abjectly miserable, and she knew there was a quick way she could help.  In the quiet dark, she held him as his fangs pierced her neck and his body melted against her.  The pain was a small sacrifice. 

Last time he'd been much calmer after he'd taken some blood, but this time he still seemed on-edge afterwards, only confirming her worries.  Now she was worried about more than if they could survive the Underdark.  Could seven thousand vampire spawn actually survive each other?  Or were they too traumatized and vicious to even stay together, to protect one another?

If so, saving them had been cruelty itself.

[theribbajack]

A malformed star born in the lightless void far away. Once destroyed an Eternal City and took away their sky. A falling star of ill omen.

It is Shadow of the Erdtree day! To celebrate, have my favorite base-game boss, Weird Space Bug. (Psst click for better quality!)

My theory is that the Nameless Eternal City is the one destroyed by the Astel. It got washed further down the Ainsel River and took their sky with it, which is why the boss arena looks like an Eternal City.

[idontmindifuforgetme]

What is a girl to do if she’s bad at driving but driving is literally relaxing to her

[ruvviks]

Mikhail and Vitali were inseparable; when they weren’t studying or getting into fights, they would hang out at Mikhail’s place to smoke and get drunk on cheap rum and vodka, to then pass out in each other’s arms and sleep most of the next day away. They promised each other— no matter what would happen— they would never leave each other’s side. Yet after starting university and college respectively, they did not see each other for a little over six years, leaving them both heartbroken and wondering what went wrong.

by lucas expedidor // catch me if you can; eden // clementine von radics, from 'courtney love prays to oregon' // sam sax, cruising: a broken tiara // 'ceramic home' by heavensghost; quote from john murillo // 'something's changed' by laiikastears // i don't want to watch the world end with someone else; clinton kane // fortesa latifi, from 'the truth about grief' // audre lorde, the evening news // frank o'hara, biotherm (for bill berkson) // heading home; ruben // 'preface to a dream' by alessandra casini // tokyo; caroline kole // langston hughes, poem // haruki murakami, norwegian wood // julie buntin, marlena // by lute // by aleksandr popov // anyway; noah kahan // christa wolf, cassandra: a novel and four essays

[wondereads]

Achillean Book Recs for Pride 2024

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

Young Adult, magical realism, 4.12 star average (my rating: 5 stars)

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Young Adult, high fantasy, 4.52 star average (my rating: 5 stars)

Ace of Spades by Faridah Abike-Iyimide

Young Adult, mystery thriller, 4.27 star average (my rating: 5 stars)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Young Adult, contemporary fantasy, 4.34 star average (my rating: 4.5 stars)

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell

Adult, space opera, 4.07 star average (my rating: 4.5 stars)

Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Adult, fantasy romance, 4.29 star average (my rating: 4.87 stars)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Adult, fantasy romance, 4.44 star average (my rating: 4.7 stars)

Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Adult, fantasy romance, 4.5 star average (my rating: 4.67 stars)

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker

Young Adult, contemporary fantasy, 3.88 star average (my rating: 4 stars)

The Buried and the Bound by Rochelle Hassan

Young Adult, contemporary fantasy, 4.07 star average (my rating: 4 stars)

So This Is Ever After by F. T. Lukens

Young Adult, fantasy romance, 3.93 star average (my rating: 4 stars)

The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Young Adult, contemporary fantasy, 3.87 star average (my rating: 4 stars)

The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic

New Adult, sports/thriller, 3.85 star average (my rating: 3 stars)

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim

Adult, high fantasy, 3.72 star average

The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis

Adult, space opera, 3.93 star average

Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson

Adult, fantasy romance, 3.43 star average

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou

Adult, fantasy romance, 4.37 star average

A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson

Adult, gothic fantasy, 4.12 star average

Darker by Four by June CL Tan

Young Adult, contemporary fantasy, 4.11 star average

Once & Future by Cory McCarthy and A. R. Capetta

Young Adult, sci-fantasy, 3.57 star average

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

Young Adult, post-apocalyptic horror, 4.2 star average

[tyranitarkisser]

Nurse Mituna?! Do you trust her....

[dragoncult-handmaiden]

I love the Nox so fucking much y’all have no idea

[queenbitchavery]

hamptons weekend getaway and a visit to the eternal sunshine house

[mail-me-a-snail]

silvervance on the brain again someone absolutely should've stopped me from listening to sleep token before bed

[radioactive-cloud]

third massive drone and missile attack in four days that was launched at 4-5 am, how i love living next to a terrorist country 😍

[thebowerypresents]

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard Unleash Three-Hour Show on Forest Hills Stadium on Friday Night

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Forest Hills Stadium – August 16, 2024

Prior to the Paris Olympics, if someone had mentioned Australia and Raygun in the same sentence, you’d have been forgiven for assuming it the reference was to a song or album by the madly prolific (and sci-fi adjacent) Australian rock outfit King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. While that country’s reputation still recovers from the breakdancer who couldn’t dance, those assembled at Forest Hills Stadium on Friday turned their attention to the Australian rock band that can, and does, do it all. Their three-hour set — the first of two weekend appearances at the venue — kicked off with the live debut of the blues-heavy “Field of Vision,” off the recently released Flight b741, the six-piece’s 26th(!) LP.

The group’s music covers a wide array of genres, and their shaggy fans of all ages were as comfortable in tie-dyes as they were in the mosh pits erupting throughout the night, first for a speedy, ear-splitting rendition of “Gamma Knife.” Fitting for the season, those mosh pits were shaped like hurricanes, with bodies increasingly moving faster toward the center, except for the inevitable one or two standing still in the eye of the storm. Friday’s show gave the band as much room as they needed to display all facets of Gizzardom. 

“Mr. Beat,” a sing-along, evolved into a jam that could be played out into infinity. With the sun still shining, the music was firmly on the boogie end of the spectrum with an equally playful rendition of the harmonica-heavy, aptly titled “Boogieman Sam.” But as day turned into night with a red sun setting into Manhattan’s hazy skies, the set turned toward the sextet’s heavier jams of the brown-acid variety. 

First came the stellar four-song string of Gizzy mind-palace classics, “I’m in Your Mind,” “I’m Not in Your Mind,” “Cellophane” and “I'm in Your Mind Fuzz.” “God is real. God is a black hole,” announced someone from the stage as they kicked off the speed-metal “Self-Immolate,” complete with an extended, slow-burning drum solo from the inimitable Michael Cavanagh. The tune itself immolated amongst a barraging backdrop of animated, burning flames. Their songs off 2019’s Infest the Rats’ Nest remain the high-water mark for intensity and rocking the fuck out, and it was a bold and impressive feat to tear through that material at the midpoint of a three-hour set, leaving it with their human drummer still intact. 

“Gila Monster” was another fan favorite, off last year’s sprawlingly titled PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation. The fans enthusiastically intoning, “Gila, Gila, Gila” felt powerful enough to summon some kind of monster from somewhere in the city, assisted by vocal effects and chants that could’ve rattled out from the depths of a didgeridoo. 

The band welcomed a fan named Gabby to sing a vocal intro to “Nuclear Fusion” that Ambrose Kenny-Smith dubbed “fucking haunting.” Just as impressive as their never-ending discography, King Gizzard & the Wizard Lizard play wildly different sets each night, an audacious feat on its own but especially so when playing three-hour shows.

Somewhere along the way, Friday’s set reached the all gas, no brakes mark and never let up, finishing with “Rattlesnake” and “K.G.L.W.” Welcome to the city that never sleeps to the world’s most prolific band. —Dan Rickershauser | @D4nRicks

(King Gizzard & the Wizard Lizard play the Stage at Suffolk Downs tonight.)

(King Gizzard & the Wizard Lizard play Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine, tomorrow.)

(King Gizzard & the Wizard Lizard play the Dell Music Center in Philadelphia on 8/27.)

(King Gizzard & the Wizard Lizard play Brown’s Island in Richmond. Va., on 8/28.)

Photos courtesy of Silvia Saponaro | @Silvia_Saponaro

[psalacanthea]

wip whenever

lil preview of the next chapter of the new fic, an introduction to the city that will be one of the main characters of the story. The City of Eternal Night (found here on AO3) will update on Tuesday <3

In the distance the spires of the ruin once called En Zhareun did not gleam, faerie fire gone, crumbled onyx surfaces nothing but ominous silhouettes.  But the faerzress, the magic unique to the Underdark, was strong here even now.  She could see the signs of it, the faintly glowing splits in the cavern ceiling that had a purple-black hue, in the humid warmth of the air.  She could feel it in her bones, like the ache of an old fracture reminding her of its presence in advance of a storm.

It was offensive, to feel belonging in a place she despised so much.

When her mother’s House had been banished from Menzoberranzan they had been led here by Lolth, or so the story Mother had told claimed.  She wouldn’t doubt it.  But when their war of vengeance had failed, Lolth had turned her back on them without a thought, left them to ruin and death.  Failure was weakness to the Spider Queen, and she was never reluctant to consume her own.

But her Mother’s house had survived, and was even allowed back to Menzoberranzan…for a price.

Somewhere deep in these ruins was the House of Zhenafaen, where the bones of the ancient Matriarch and every daughter of the house lay, murdered, desecrated, unburied.  All but one.  Her three-times great grandmother, the sole survivor and traitor to her kin.  She slaughtered them all, to regain the favor of the goddess who turned her back on them.  Slaughtering your sons in sacrifice was to be expected, but your daughters?

Now House Zhenafaen, so reduced and humiliated,  was nothing but a lesser House futilely backstabbing and conniving under the feet of the Eight Great Houses of Menzoberranzan.  Rats vying for what scraps of power were handed down.  The paranoia of her own daughters turned every Matriarch of the House into a monster, and the current Matriarch, Zynatheri’s great grandmother Kiivashti, had lost her own heir and her heir’s heir.  Her first daughter Tyn’lunel had been killed the instant she’d borne the new First Daughter of the House, so that her younger sister could claim the glory of raising the heir.

 The Matriarch had overlooked the murder because her second daughter treated the heir so well, like a true daughter of her own.  And in a House so twisted by their own mistakes and hubris that they considered only the First Daughter worthy and true-blooded, what better role could a mere second daughter have?  Unfortunately for them, Zyn’s mother was a fickle, self-absorbed bitch who had abandoned her equally bitchy family to run off with a surface Drow adventurer she rescued from the Matriarch’s dungeons.

Objectively hilarious, in Zynatheri’s opinion, and the only smart thing her mother had ever done in her life.

Besides having her, obviously.

[protect-daniel-james]

I can smell the catholic guilt all the way from here.

[opaleyedprince]

alrighty! how's this. noor, noxian consort to the stars and their personal guard karnos, an omen who befriended them in both of their youth

[m1d-45]

“he was permanently condemned to hell.” if you hear screaming and crying don’t worry it’s just losing my GODDAMN FUCKING MIND. OH MY GOD. KAEYA WITH RELIGIOUS TRAUMA HITS DIFFERENT. IT HITS SO SO DIFFERENT.

okay so with the blue blood thing we can just be like you aren’t fully divine yet so the blood doesn’t turn blue until. idk you die and ascend or whatever. that’s the excuse i use in my brain!

i interrupted myself. anyways. imagine if kaeya was the one to kill you. when he recounts your death, he has allll the grisly details of how you were pinned to the ground by a sword in your throat, almost the same way you’d pin a butterfly to a board. he smiles as he recalls the way your blood spilled onto the ground and the light faded from your eyes. for a moment, he even scoffs at the tears on your cheeks, remnants of the way you’d cried and begged.

and then he gets the news, and it turns out that he truly cannot do anything right. he tries to be honest and loses his family. he tries to redeem his home and dooms himself. he doesn’t bother praying for forgiveness - no matter how kind and understanding everybody said you were, there’s no way you’d forgive a sinner with your blood on his hands.

me when kaeya. when he. him. he’d be so guilty and fucked up post-imposter and i think it adds to his appeal heart emoji - teddy anon

i did NOT mean for it to be religious trauma but. you have a point.

if we follow my headcanon about the blue blood—that it’s swirly like a galaxy, representative of your power—then it makes sense it manifests alongside your power, and if you blur some lines and squint we can work with that.

anyway i do think kaeya should be the one to kill (that sounds bad) and you. your words man you are so good at this-

he probably wouldn’t pray. and i don’t think, other than the first night getting blackout drunk, that he’d drink, as a form of self-punishment. no, he needs to be awake and sober to truly live through his crimes, for he would only condemn himself more with liquor.

kaeya that stops worshipping at altars or attending service, simply because he doesn’t believe that somebody like him should be in such a holy place. he never takes shifts at the cathedral, and he always takes point on the bloodiest missions. not out of enthusiasm—the sight of blood, even red, now makes him a bit sick—but out of a form of sacrifice. why put blood on innocent hands when he, somebody already sunk to the lowest of hells, can take it?

[byberbunk2069]

most sensible theory about Mr. B at NCX is that he's watching V's progress, lines up with a post-Peralez thing too but works either way.

You do Killing Moon first and he's checking out this merc that So Mi mentioned is helping her out, then if you do Dream On and the weirdo phone call you get just before you close the mission works way better but doing Dream On way before Killing Moon makes things interesting like he probably already knew about V as far back as the Sandra Dorsett rescue (if this is all a NightCorp conspiracy)

and then when you go to the Afterlife in "The Sun"/(Don't Fear) The Reaper paths and he says that you'd do anything for a shot at survival (like a certain netrunner)