#the abducted alchemist

[meliake]

hes so father guys :,)

[orphetoon]

i read one of the fma light novels yesterday and why is it straight up just a fanfic

[qs63]

I'm reading the Abducted Alchemist novel, which btw is hilarious, and it seems they inadvertently gave Riza an uncle and two cousins!

In the scene where they're accusing Roy of having a son, the team mentions that the General (the other Commander of Eastern command, not named) has a full grown son and two grandkids at home.

This novel predates Grumman's first appearance by a month, so while this unnamed General is technically him, he's also not. I'm guessing the General having a son was later retconned by Grumman's appearance and his relationship to Riza. Still, I find it funny that this novel has unintentionally given Riza a bigger family.

Now, I want to write/read something with Riza meeting her uncle and (apparently much younger) cousins.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Villain: The Cult of the Wyrm Eternal

Any adventurer, alchemist, or awestruck child can tell you that there is power in the body of a dragon, and like all sources of power it's only a mater of time before someone comes along to try to capitalize on it.

Enter the Cult of the Wyrm Eternal, which emerges from long buried vaults to dissect the bodies of dragonkind like flesh eating beetles. The cult originated from a time beyond remembering following the teachings of a profane text known as the Har'Khon Libram, which survives into the modern day as a sort of how-to manual for those seeking forbidden knowledge allowing them to revive the cult's practices and discover its caches of lost power.

It's in this manner that the cult has survived millennia and numerous purges at the hands of heroes, holy orders, and oligarchs: With each iteration caching away knowledge and resources for acolytes they will never meet.

Hooks:

A prominent dragonborn hero and ally of the party disappears, leaving behind few clues and a mystery to solve. Lacking a true dragon to carve up for ingredients the cult abducted the dragonborn and plans on sacrificing them after a gauntlet of strange rituals intended to suffuse their flesh with power.  Its a race against the clock for the party to find their friend before there’s nothing left of them but a grisly scattering of magical items bound for the cult’s armoury. 

The local warlord has a new pet, a young dragon provided to him by the cult in exchange for his protection and material support. Tales of him riding out to wreak destruction from its back send shivers of terror through the populace. What a surprise then when the party encounter it in the wild, rampaging aimlessly after  slipping her bonds.  Brainwashed by cult doctrine the parry find themselves  negotiating with a creature with the drives of a caged tiger, the volatility of an abused teenager,  and the destructive potential of an artillery battery.  Talking her down will be as difficult as diffusing a bomb, but they might just come away with important information or even a new ally should they help her evade recapture.

Using knowledge purloined from the mysteries of the mother hydra herself a cell of the Wyrm Eternal has been working on a ritual to create a true dragon, experimenting with drakes, basilisks and other reptilian monsters, filling the wilderness with bounty worthy monsters that will inevitably bring the party crashing into their lair.

Background: The knowledge contained within the Har'Khon Libram is cursed, part of a scheme by the book's original author in an attempt to evade both death and those who hunt unlawful immortality. Reading the book not only imparts the authors knowledge upon the prospective cultist, but also a vestige of their cosiouness, which steers them towards the same course of action that has kept the cult alive for so long: constructing more vaults, hoarding draconic power, and propogating the Libram's knowledge so that the infection can spread through time.

Hidden in the depths of each vault are tablets of further tainted lore, which causes the seed of malign presence within the Wyrm cultist's mind to blossom, opening their mind to the space between life and death and allowing their patron's thoughts to swirl into their own. In this way the party can end up fighting the same villain through many proxies, the unseen master of the Wyrm eternal studying them as they cut down vessel after vessel before formulating a counteroffence.

Dungeon Dressing:

Wyrm Eternal vaults vary by the culture that originally constructed them, but are always in remote, sheltered areas that could endure largescale devastation. Their entrances are hidden and warded against intrusion, protected by magical cyphers that can usually only be broken with aid from the Har'Khon Libram. Vaults can also contain these doors within, locking away the greatest treasures until the acolytes have further tainted their thoughts with the Libram's curse.

Undead are ubiquitous within dungeons claimed by the Wyrm Eternal, ranging from simple servitors to looming guardians to dragonbone infused war machines just waiting to be unleashed on the cult's enemies all with green corpsefire flickering in their heads. Access to these undead armouries and the arsenal of magical items that come with them are one of the primary drivers for individuals to become cultists in the first place.

Each vault will likewise contain preserved pieces of dragongore, ranging from single skulls placed on altars to whole cellars filled with blood magically preserved in clay or glass vessels. If a cult cell reached full operation, it's likely to have atleast one mummified corpse preserved in an onsite tomb, it's vital organs ( and perhaps a few spares) preserved in canopic jars waiting nearby.

Art 1 Art 2

[nalyra-dreaming]

In your (excellent) fic about Lestat telling Louis about Magnus, did you invent the idea that Lestat could show Louis these specific memories in the blood? I haven't read the books so I don't know what they say about memory sharing, and sometimes it's hard to keep track of what is in the books/show and what is just in fic. If someone else wrote a fic where Lestat shows Louis memories by sharing blood, would that feel like they were copying you, or would it feel like they were making valid use of general iwtv lore?

(Glad you like the fic, thank you for telling me!! 💕)

That's general lore (so have at it^^). Vampires can conjure illusions and visions in mortals, can read them, too, not just in the blood and can see the mental images people experience when they drain them.

For example Lestat sees memories/dreams of the woman he kills at the beginning of TtotBT, and is shown Magnus stealing the blood when Magnus bites him:

"Damn you, damn you, damn you! " I was roaring and bellowing. And he drew closer and the teeth went through my flesh. Not this time, I was raging, not this time. I will not feel it. I will resist. I will fight for my soul this time. But it was happening again. The sweetness and the softness and the world far away, and even he in his ugliness was curiously outside of me, like an insect pressed against a glass who causes no loathing in us because he cannot touch us, and the sound of the gong, and the exquisite pleasure, and then I was altogether lost. I was incorporeal and the pleasure was incorporeal. I was nothing but pleasure. And I slipped into a web of radiant dreams. A catacomb I saw, a rank place. And a white vampire creature waking in a shallow grave. Bound in heavy chains he was, the vampire; and over him bent this monster who had abducted me, and I knew that his name was Magnus, and that he was mortal still in this dream, a great and powerful alchemist. And he had unearthed and bound this slumbering vampire right before the crucial hour of dusk. And now as the light died out of the heavens, Magnus drank from his helpless immortal prisoner the magical and accursed blood that would make him one of the living dead. Treachery it was, the theft of immortality. A dark Prometheus stealing a luminescent fire. Laughter in the darkness. Laughter echoing in the catacomb. Echoing as if down the centuries. And the stench of the grave. And the ecstasy, absolutely fathomless, and irresistible, and then drawing to a finish. I was crying.

So, definitely general lore. Armand often shows visions, too, for example.

Have fun writing!!! If you like, shoot me the link per DM when you're done?

[hopelovesvideogames]

This beautiful girl is the Tav I have most connected with. I just call her Tav but her full name is Tav'ya. She is half drow, with her mother being a drown and her father is a human. According to DND lore, she has many drow traits but has a shorter lifespan, being about 120-180 years. Since there isn't much about half drow aging, she's about 50 years old, which equates to me to about 27-28 years old.

She was born in the Underdark to her mother Lyra who was a cleric of Lathander in the Dalael house. Tav's father Benjamin was an alchemist who was traveling the Underdark to find new herbs to create new potions. The Dalael house took the group of explorers that Benjamin was a part of. Lyra and Benjamin became close due to her taking care of many of his injuries that was given during his enslavement. They had a relationship throughout the years he was enslaved until his death due to a harsh beating. Lyra was distraught and left. It's then that she finds out she's pregnant with Tav.

She travels aboveground and travels around with little Tav. They go place to place. Tav knows about her father and is told about him often. Lyra stays away from the Dalael house in the Underdark to keep Tav safe.

Tav is abducted by the Nautiloid and meets Gale, who she connects with. (I'm writing the romance of Gale and Tav throughout the game right now.)

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep3 Musings - Armand & Lesmand & Nickistat (Spoilers)

We got the Armand backstory! 😭 The first half of this ep had me screaming at my screen, cuz Armand's a effing LIAR; I was rolling! 🤣

We were already told 1000 times by Assad & Sam that Armand's trying to make himself seem as sympathetic as possible. That is SUPER important, cuz although he's my favorite book character, Armand is a effing MENACE in IWTV, TVL, QotD, and TVA.

Ok, they've clarified my confusion about the weird 1556 date, cuz it implied that Armand MET Lestat in 1556, which is entirely wrong.

So I'm glad my suspicion/hope was correct, that the date was out of context. 1556+239=1795, which tracks with what Les said in S1.

So Lestat met Armand ONE year after becoming a vampire. (No wonder AMC!Armand dish-ragged him, LOL!)

No duh, if you've only been a vamp for a EFFING YEAR. (I looooove the Time-stopping Gift! So happy to see it used again--the horses are especially impressive.)

This seems like Armand's taking Marius' place as Lestat's mentor (Armand WISHES, lol). And it's kinda smacking of narcissist!Lestat using him then dumping him once he'd learned what he wanted, like Daniel & Louis implied later in the ep. (He even grabs Armand's hand & drinks w/out asking; mighty bold! Ok sure, he kissed it first, but still!?) But their dynamic is SO different in the books.

I have a looooot of issues with AMC!Magnus.

Excuse you!? Language! 😤

Armand wanna be called "Daddy" so bad. 😂

BULL.

EFFING.

CRAP.

AMC/Armand officially butchered how awesome Magnus was--he was never a Child of Satan/Darkness, or in a coven--he was a human alchemist who STOLE the Dark Gift from Rhosh's fledgling Benedict!

That means nothing, if you don't explain that Lestat is Rhoshamandes' great-grandson, and that Magnus was a WIZARD. 😒 And Armand said Les' turning was "MAYBE" a horror show? 🤨 How does he not know, if they were so close? 🙄 And how would he have even known Magnus was his Maker?

Oh no. "Come to me" was ARMAND'S theme the whole time!? 😱 Thanks, I hate it. 😭😂

LESTAT SAID KISS MY ARSE!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I mean, I would, too-the CoD/S lived like bums! The reason Magnus was so friggin rich and had all that money he gave to Lestat was strictly cuz he WASN'T a penniless bum like the other coven vampires--he hid himself away in his TOWER. (If we don't get the Lesmand tower scene Imma be so mad.) He had no Maitre/Master.

NGL, I expected the Children of Darkness/Satan to be WAY filthier. :P

So Armand really IS Indian then? As in Roma/Ukranian/Russian?

Sadly, they didn't speak on Lestat's Harlequin mask being Blackface. But woah. "Dervish" as in Muslim ascetics & mystic dancers? So was 1700s!Armand Catholic or Muslim? Is that what he thought of Lestat back then? Or what 2022!Armand thinks of him now? If the latter, Armand converted to Islam....WHEN???

Armand glossed over EVERYTHING that went down with Nicki. He seems to imply that Les got with Nicki AFTER they met, which is beyond untrue. (And not a word about Gabrielle being there for all of this mess--MIGHTY SUS.)

We know Lestat loves his gay panicking needy alcoholic bottoms.

THE FRENCH GIRLS ARE FIGHTING.

Oh lovely. More racists--I'm not even surprised; I never liked Nicki in the book anyway; bye Felicia. 🙄

Iiiinteresting way AMC/Armand gave Nicki's abduction. (Again, no Gabrielle--MIGHTY SUS!)

And LAWWWWD, lemme find out Armand was telling the truth abt him & Les knocking boots in their theatre box on some exhibitionist kink while vamp!Nicki mean-mugged from the orchestra. 😭

So Armand's still to blame for Nicki's death, but not cuz of the darkness of "self-loathing," but jealousy cuz Lesmand were an item? BISH PLEASE! 🤣

(TBF, Loumand still blames Lestat, saying he "abandoned" Armand & Nicki & the coven. Which...is not entirely true. Lestat gave Nicki the Theatre, but didn't want to be part of it or Armand's coven, so he left with Gabrielle, but still kept tabs on everyone via Eleni. So whatchu mean??????)

LOUIS SUICIDE WATCH, stop playing with me, AMC! I want to see these vamps greet the sun and "taste the fire"! (And they had the NERVE to put the commercial break there; I see you, AMC.)

They were SHOWING OFF Armand's Fire Gift in this episode--oh yeah, Louis DEFINITELY got it from him; I'm convinced now. (I'm still waiting to see if Santiago has it, too; I hope to god not though.)

Lestat was a MENACE! XD "It's a fallen tree." What a brat!

The Lesmand eye-f**kery was INTENSE--Samothy was serving~!

Don't you DARE tease me like that, AMC! YES! I want 2022!Lestat in that Dubai penthouse by the end of this season, PLEASE. 🙏🙏🙏

What does all that say? Looks Latin or French? And WTF is Armand doing biting himself? (Reminds me of Louis with Jonah.)

This is why I'm convinced that the whole "Rashid" ruse in S1 was strictly for Armand & Dan's benefit, cuz in QotD Armand specifically said Daniel was the only mortal who knew his name & lived.

Chile, this episode was A LOT, and that was just the first 20 frikkin minutes, wtf.

[lovelynim]

TickleTober2023/Day 07 - Playtime

Genshin Impact - Aether x Albedo

Aether supported his head with his hand as he leaned over the table, staring into nothing as he lazily spun a pencil between his fingers with his free hand. He was starting to understand why Klee liked to see things go “boom” after times like this.

Letting out an unamused sigh, the traveler looked to his side with the corner of his eyes, noticing how abducted by his sketch Albedo was. Sitting like an actual prince, with good posture and legs crossed with one knee over the other, the chief alchemist continued to gently brush the pencil over the paper sheet, one line after the other, making his drawing look more and more realistic.

“Is something wrong, traveler?”

The blonde snapped back to his senses as Albedo’s words reached him. Blinking rapidly a few times, Aether was met with the confused, but gentle gaze of his partn- ahm, friend.

“A-aha, sorry, I just got… a little distracted.”

“I see,” Albedo continued, placing down his sketch and smiling at the other guy next to him. “This might not be as entertaining to you as I imagined, I apologize.”

“W-what? No, pfft,” Aether scoffed, already feeling guilty for making Albedo think about something like that. “It’s just… that I had something else in time when you invited me over to ‘help you study’, you know?”

The alchemist tilted his head, feigning confusion when he knew the intention behind those words. “And what would it be?”

Aether felt the heat reaching his face, faking a cough while he promptly averted his gaze. “Y-you know, why don’t we have a break?”

“Hmm, that could be of some use. I… no, we have been studying for quite a while, so there shouldn’t be any harm in having some playtime.”

“Good,” Aether said, eagerly placing his empty paper sheet away and snatching Albedo’s sketch from his hands seconds later, “because I’m really needing it.” He grinned.

Barely having time to process what was happening, the last thing Albedo remembered was the traveler tackling him down in his seat, taking both of them down, and a pair of hands latching onto his sides. Truth to be told, he should’ve seen something like that coming.

“A-Aehehether! Wait! Ahah, y-yohou’re gohohoing to mahahake us fahah- ahAHah!” Albedo chuckled, battling the urge to press his arms against his torso to protect himself from the tickling just to keep holding the traveler, trying to make sure none of them would fall off his seat. “Stohohop it!”

“What? No way, Albedo ~” Aether teased, pinching right over his ribs and making the alchemist scrunch up his shoulders as he giggled. “You said it yourself that we could use some playtime, so don’t take it from me now!”

“AhAHAH, n-nohoho!” He laughed, managing to look up to see the traveler grinning down at him while making him cackle like a maniac. Was that his concept of “playing”? 

Regardless, Albedo didn’t try to make it stop. If getting tickled was the price he needed to pay in order to see the traveler smiling, then he was willing to pay for it.

A/N: Aaaand, with this one, we finish our first week! I'm so excited for the upcoming days and I hope you guys are too, heheh ~

[theyoungprinceling]

[For anyone else who wanted a "dad" drop from Ed to Roy (like me) or a "son" drop from Roy, no matter if it's teasing or not, I present to you some passages from the 2nd light novel "The Abducted Alchemist":

You're welcome.

Here are some other passages I liked:

[theygotlost]

Post-canon thots:

In my heart, Pete and Billy get married for the tax benefits, and to make Billy's mom happy, and for personal reasons neither of them are ready to examine.

Hank is allowed full freedom (within a very restrictive budget) to plan the wedding, which involves many shenanigans and Hank having a full bridezilla moment. Despite his best efforts to squirm out of it, Rusty is the best man, and must enlist the aid of every married/divorced man he knows to write a reasonably inoffensive toast for the reception (Al the Alchemist provides the best advice). Brock takes over bachelor party duties out of pure pity.

Pete nearly gets cold feet twenty minutes before he's due to walk down the aisle; he overhears Dean, the ring bearer, musing outloud to Helper and RoboBo (fellow groomsmen) about gender roles and finding happiness that's "outside the box," even if it's scares you. Pete realizes he wants this marriage, and the wedding vows are exchanged.

Just as the priest says, "you may now kiss the groom," St. Cloud interrupts with a giant robot. "I OBJECT," he whines, and everyone points out that he already missed that part. Undaunted, he abducts Billy, and the gang comes together to celebrate love and kick robot ass.

✌️

this is so exquisite and so real. its like im there...... thank you for sharing ❤

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Girls Group 1 Match 23

SUBMISSION PROPAGANDA:

Hikaru -

"She loves constellations and space. (that one’s straight from the opening) She loves sci-fi and aliens so much that her classmates genuinely thought that she just WOULDN’T NOTICE being abducted by aliens."

Winry -

"she loves mechanics and prosthetics and making automail and attacking Ed with a wrench <3"

[qs63]

Fullmetal Alchemist: The abducted alchemist

Time for another FMA novel review!

This one much like the previous novel, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Land of Sand, happens in early canon. That means the brothers are still searching for the stone, however this particular novel focuses on a Military case and is very Roy centric — which admittedly is what I'm here for.

Spoilers ahead!

The story follows mostly Ed and Roy as they investigate a series of seemingly random bombing on the railways by a group of terrorists. The plot is quite simple, there aren't any big surprises or particularly memorable side characters. What this has is a lot of comedy and banter, which in my opinion is its saving grace.

There are a lot of funny moments: Roy being a shameless flirt, team Mustang interrogating him about a supposed "son", Havoc terrorizing Breda and Al with a car, Ed going ballistic about his height, Ed pretending to be Roy's son. The paternal Roy-Ed angle is played A LOT throughout the novel, so if you like this you'll have plenty to enjoy. I'm personally not a fan of it, but as it's mainly played for comedic relief it didn't bother me as much as I would've expected.

The best part of this story, for me, were the small Royai moments. You have Riza bringing Roy tea, the two of them discussing strategy alone, obligatory questioning of their past and guilt, and the two of them trying to save each from the same target. It really made me smile.

The worst part of this was Roy and Ed teaming up. It's very obvious the author ran into the same issue Arakawa did while writing the Promised Day arc. Roy is too dang OP so if you leave him alone he'll steal all the thunder from Ed. No, unlike Arakawa's own elegant solution (to blind him for the final fight) the author just inexplicably powered down Roy's abilities and alchemy.

There's a whole paragraph explaining how Roy can't hit the big bad because he's carrying a gun and ammunition on his back, saying that his skills aren't good enough not to hit him without setting off the ammunition. This novel was of course written before we had seen the whole might of Roy's flame alchemy, but that explanation rings so wrong and hollow after seeing Roy burn Envy's tongue and eyes with such accuracy that it was scary…

I wish the authors had found a less bullshit way to have Ed be the one to save the day with his automail blade.

The lack of understanding of Roy's past and abilities is also very noticeable in his final punchline to the terrorist leader, where he said something that almost made me put down the book entirely: "You know the difference between us? We don't use kids and money to try to win people's hearts. We kill, but we don't hate."

Considering all the evil the military did in Ishval and later, and how Roy himself burned innocent children, women, elderly during the war, that phrase left a terrible taste in my mouth.

In conclusion, the Abducted Alchemist is a funny story, worth reading if you want some mindless banter between the brothers and team Mustang. That being said, the plot is quite weak,and the lack of understanding of the characters — especially of Roy — did put a damper on my enjoyment of the story. For all this, it gets a 6.5/10 from me.

[a-spawn-on-my-lawn]

✨Let's talk about OCs!✨How would you describe your OC's personality/aesthetic? What's your favourite thing about them? Tell us a fun fact(s) about your OC or their creation!

❤️Send this to at least 3 people to spread some OC appreciation!❤️

This is Nalae!

She is a Woodelf and a Wild Magic Sorceress.

Facts about Nalae:

She grew up in a woodelven tribe in the Forests of Tethir

As a sorceress she had a very hard time learning about her powers and finding out what she is since woodelves are not very familiar with magic. Especially being a wild sorceress was hard.

She has an older brother who has a family on his own

She grew up with very loving parents and is very community oriented since she is used to a life where community is most important

Her mom is a healer and her dad is an alchemist who owns an apothecary

She loves and protects her family at all cost, which also ofc includes Astarion

While other woodelves don't really appreciate civilisation, she is very curious about large cities and went to waterdeep to study before she was abducted

Her family welcomes Astarion with open arms and accepts him, so now he has a family, no matter if he wants or not :)

Of course she loves all things nature and is not disgusted by slimy mushrooms or muddy lakes. She's used to growing up with the weirdest monsters around, because it's tethir forest afterall!

Astarion had a hard time visiting her tribe for the first time because of the culture shock but then he slowly learns to appreciate the forest with all its bugs, mud and weird mushrooms.

Nalae has a friend named Hugo. He is a giant fruit bat who enters her room uninvtied through the window during monsoon times, because he hates rain.

Funfact: Astarion delighted her nephews and nieces with several demonstrations of "Five Finger Fillet" at a family gathering. The kids love him ever since. :)

[valiantvillain]

Also please just give me more about Bei - I know she is incredibly beautiful and romanced The Best Man in Faerun.

What is her background? What makes her tick? What drew her to Wyll? Is it plain sailing for them or is there any tension along the way?

Beitris is a wild magic sorcerer born to a rather dysfunctional family that was the result of an arranged marriage for business reasons, a union that basically put all of her alchemist mother's ambitions to pasture to support her husband's ambitions and take care of a growing family (though not entirely willingly as dear dad preferred business to family). Bei grew up the youngest of five siblings and the only girl in the family, and of the various members of her family it was her mother who was the most patient when it came to Bei's wild surges and taught her alchemy. She also liked to entertain Bei with fairytales and stories. When she died, however, dad decided to saddle Beitris with all the household labor (*cough*servitude*cough*) that had once been relegated to her mother, ever making the consistent comment that at least her prettiness might let any potential marriage prospects overlook her wild magic. When he did manage to find a husband for her in one of his more unscrupulous business partners, Bei ran away with the help of a friend of her mother's to escape being in the exact same position her mother once was.

Her mother's friend, whose shape the Guardian took on in the visions, helped Bei get a job working in a fairly successful alchemist's workshop. Things were good for a bit. Bei was actually able to start putting money towards her future, get used to having independence, she liked the work, and the occasional flash of a smile and batting of her eyes had a good success rate of getting customers to purchase more than they intended. But then a wild surge happened at a most inopportune time while the owner was showing an important client around the shop and Beitris sent half the store up in flames with a fireball. Despite having been caught in the blast herself, she was fired and had to find another way to get by on her own.

Unfortunately, the incident seemed to get her blacklisted and she struggled to find a job. So she turned to swindling and eventually became quite the effective charlatan, no doubt helped along by having a pretty face. People will believe almost anything if the words come from a pretty face, don't they? She did have some scruples though. She would only target rich people and those who deserved it. After all, how much of that wealth was ever gained entirely honestly to begin with. For a time she even somewhat liked it, got a thrill out of how easy it was. Although Beitris was never exactly proud of it, but she wasn't going hungry and she kept telling herself that once she had enough to live a cushy life she'd go on the straight and narrow. Just a rich woman who would open her own alchemy shop, live in a nice house, occasionally donate to charitable causes, and enjoy her own company since the idea of love and romance had long lost its luster as unrealistic childish fantasies. At that point, she'd heard "i love you" from enough marks and criminal rivals to know how cheap a sentiment it was. Though she does still love a good romance novel.

Bei was so close to her goal when the mindflayers abducted her after her latest succession of scams in Neverwinter. And suddenly her nearly-realized dream went up in smoke and she had a tadpole in her head and a bunch of people apparently looking to her to help deal with it. But hey, she's charming and she has magic, surely that will get them somewhere even if Gale's presence is starting up the good old wizard vs sorcerer rivalry among the group, Lae'zel and Shadowheart give her charm a workout in keeping the peace, and Astarion is being...well, himself. And then Wyll joins up with them.

She's heard of the Blade of Frontiers, even had a passing admiration for the tales if they were as true as people claimed. They reminded her of the stories of heroes and handsome princes her mother used to tell her. Yet surely no one's that selflessly heroic, no one's that nice, not in her experience. But then he turns out to be the exact person the stories made him out to be. He is charming. He is selfless. He is heroic. And it's no more clear to her than when he becomes a devil all for refusing to kill Karlach. He is the Blade of Frontiers and he deserves so much better than what fate has given him. Because unlike her, he saw the cards he was dealt and didn't let it sour and turn him bitter like she did. She envied yet admired that about him.

I think Wyll might have perceived it as much more smooth-sailing than she did as romantically and emotionally, Beitris just went in with more hang-ups. Her parents were a rotten example, she'd manipulated people using her looks for years, and the few serious relationships she'd had did not end well. In addition to that, she didn't feel she deserved someone like Wyll. I like to think she was very open about her past, perhaps especially in his presence in this attempt to warn him away from being interested in her. "You hear this? You hear about the things I've done? The chaos I've caused? You sure you this is the mess you want?" Only for him to judge her by the actions he actually saw her take: times she used her charm to save someone's life, to talk them out of dangerous situations, how she doesn't shy away from after his transformation, and how even if she visibly wars with herself a bit she does do the right thing (in particular, helping the tieflings and animals). And perhaps he can't help but appreciate the broad smile on her face when a wild surge actually works in their favor. The excitement and the relief that just dance in her eyes.

And he's so genuine that he just slowly and so easily breaks down her defenses. Internally, Bei finds herself cursing him for making her believe in fairytale romances and Prince Charmings again like a little girl. Someone who makes her like the butterflies in her stomach and find joy in flirtation again. Someone who remains in good humor after a wild surge turned them both into cats in the midst of a boss fight (that did actually happen). He makes her think she's deserving of a great love, and by his act 2 dance scene, she was in love with him. And she'll be damned if she's not gonna get him the happy storybook ending he deserves.

[dude-wheres-my-ankheg]

19 and 27! :))

19: How do you think they'll meet their end?

Ooooh, I've not really thought much about this one to be honest. Long after the events of the game, he finally buys that shop he's always wanted and becomes an alchemist full time. He's a pretty simple guy and is happy doing this. He might get roped into some big adventures every now and then but as a general rule he doesn't go looking for trouble and, as a very powerful sorcerer at this point in time, it doesn't really go looking for him. As such, I imagine he would die old, but how I'm not sure yet.

27: What was their life like before the events of BG3?"

Elorin had just gone through yet another huge life change right before the events of BG3. Though slightly less chaotic and terrible than when he had to flee Menzoberranzan, fleeing Ust Natha was still a bit of an ordeal (though at least this time he managed to take some items and a bit of food and money with him). Instead of running to yet another drow city, he made the drastic choice to go to the surface. Despite all of his research, it was still a very steep learning curve and culture shock. He was looking for a place he might try to make a life for himself and had just made it past the Amn border from Tethyr when he was abducted by the nautiloid, just ten days after he came to the surface.

[infjtarot]

Empress. Mystic Spiral Tarot

Themes and Keywords: Fertility. Creativity. Maternity. Love. Sensuality. Beauty and attraction. Wife or mother. Receptiveness. The womb. Life and death. Fructification. Love and war goddesses, also the goddess. Mother Nature. Astrology/Element Other than the sun and moon, Venus is the brightest object in our sky. Trailing the sunset, she is the evening star (Hesperus); preceding sunrise, the morning star (Lucifer). Like Inanna of the seven veils, she reveals herself to us in phases. The planet is mysteriously veiled by clouds—and incredibly hot! Venus signifies female attributes, beauty, and how we attract and go about getting what we desire. Her glyph suggests a figure with welcoming arms, and is comprised of the circle of Spirit over the cross of matter. It looks like the Egyptian ankh, meaning “life.” Life emanates from nature. The appetite of life for procreation is born from humankind (the cross) seeking completion (the circle). The glyph is the only one which connects all the sephiroth of the Tree of Life. The planet Venus symbolizes all we find worthy of desire—usually love and money! Venus loves luxury, pleasure, and relationships of all kinds. She rules two signs: airy Libra by day and earthy Taurus by night. Libra, the seventh sign, represents beauty, harmony, balance, and marriage; Taurus, the second sign, is concerned with the comforts, pleasures, and necessities of life. As the lesser benefic, Venus bestows gifts. Her earthy presents are sensuality, refined taste, and resources: favors that grant prosperity. Her airy presents deal with charm, culture, physical symmetry and beauty, diplomacy, discernment, and popularity. In her fullness she represents all that is creative, whether that involves nurturing children, making music, or the creative arts. Her exaltation in Pisces shows that it is through compassion that she best expresses her ideal of love as sacrifice. Mythology/Alchemy The Empress is the representation of alchemical salt. In alchemy salt is the body and base matter. It is what remains after the process of combustion, the substance that survives death and generates new life. Salt is an enigma; it both preserves and corrodes just as Venus is described by the alchemists as “external splendor and internal corruption.” Salt dries things out yet is harvested from the waters of the sea.

Heavenly Aphrodite, born from sea foam, is the “Amorous One,” “Mother of Passion and Peace,” and the “Giver of Life.” Portrayed as an infinitely desirable woman, her domain is that of love, pleasure, and procreation. We must never forget though that her favorite lover was Ares, god of war, and that her predecessor, Astarte, was both a fertility and a war goddess. Like the Priestess, the Empress is associated with Hathor. She is also associated with Isis, in her role as Queen of Heaven, wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus. Yet Crowley reminds us, “not only Isis, but Nephthys.” 9 Nephthys was the sister of Isis, nursemaid of Horus, and bride of warlike Set. She was called “Lady of the Enclosure,” representing the gateway much like the Empress is often referred to as the “Gate of Heaven.” Where Isis guides the passage of birth, Nephthys guides passage through the gate of death, for one is inherent in the other. Demeter (Ceres), called “She of the Grain,” is a goddess of agriculture and maternal relationships. The name Ceres comes from roots meaning “to feed” and “to grow.” The suffix -meter in the name Demeter refers to the word mother. The prefix de- is an old name for a chthonic earth goddess; thus, she is the “Mother Earth.” Her most famous tale involves her mourning the abduction of her daughter Persephone, causing the earth to wither in winter. Don’t mess with Mother Nature! Susan T. Chang