#the only thing that holds me to Paladin is that it's my starting class and it fits Olympia's aes best

[turbobyakuren]

Did the Level 80 DRK quest, which fucking rules

And then did the Level 80 PAL quest, which fucking SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKS

[mirkwoodshewolf]

No following; Planet of the Apes fanfic Chap. 8

*Author's note*

Alright now this is one chapter where a viscous swear word is used. It's around the start of the chapter and its the big P word. So yeah mostly just some intense rated TR swearing words but nothing graphic happening cause as we all know Carver is a troublemaker and a dick so there's definite tension b/t him and Lin. But I hope you all still enjoy the story nonetheless :)

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@gay-and-ready-to-cry

@psychosupernatural

@queen-paladin

___________________________________________________

At 0700 hours I was waiting for Malcolm and his team to arrive alongside the pack and within 15 minutes they finally arrived.  All the members Malcolm said who’d be a part of this scouting mission were all there with guns in hand (minus Alexander and Ellie).

“Why the fuck is she here?!” exclaimed Carver.

“Lovely to see your fugly mug too Carver.” I said sarcastically.

“I told you Carver, we needed a guide to give us the best pathway through the woods and Lin’s the only one who comes here more than anyone in the colony.”

“But did she really need to bring those beasts of hers? It’s bad enough the apes killed off half the planet, those bastards will rip our throats out without a second thought.”

“Wolves are more frightened of people than you are of them. If you don’t give them a reason to fear, they won’t attack you. Tsume still hasn’t forgotten what you did to him.” I gestured to the hole above his left ear.  “If we want to do this now, we better get moving. Most of the predators are still asleep at this time.”

“Forget it! I ain’t going nowhere with you yah psychotic bitch!” Carver exclaimed.

“Quit acting like a pussy and start walking! Before I tear your little body apart limb from limb!!!” my old soldier persona came out as I glared right at Carver, my eyes showing him that I meant business and that I would follow through on my word unlike all the threats he gives me.

The pack also backed me up as they snarled and snapped at Carver making him retreat backward.  That’s the thing with this guy, most of the time he’s all bark but doesn’t have the balls to do what he says he wants to do.  Just cause he thinks holding a gun makes him all tough, doesn’t mean he has the guts to actually shoot a human being.  Meanwhile I—never mind.

“Be warned. The woods are perilous compared to what they once were. Creatures that hadn’t been in this part of the world for hundreds of years have come around so be on your guard. Nearly got caught by a mama grizzly bear just last month had it not been for the pack saving my ass.” I soon led them into the woods with the pack scouting ahead.

Having the strongest nose out of the four of them, Hige was the main scout and I’ve learned that if he lowered his head and his fur hackled, there was danger in whatever direction he was facing.  If he let out two barks, he had found something, and a loud howl meant he was on the trail.

“How do we know she ain’t leading us to our death?” I heard Carver whisper.

“Will you knock it off Carver. I ain’t getting attacked by four wolves because of you!” hissed Foster lowly.

“It’s bad enough we got the fear of the apes and the flu getting to us now we’ve got to deal with her.”

“I’ve got PTSD, I’m not deaf. If you’d like to share something then please share it with the rest of the class!” I proclaimed turning around to face them fully.  My posture tall and firm as I glared at them.  “If you don’t wanna be here then go home. But if you don’t want to waste further time, I suggest keeping your mouths shut about me being here and let’s get this over with!” I turned back around and scaled up the steep pathway that led up the mountain.

We walked for a couple of hours further uphill until we finally reached the borders of the dam.

“This is it. This is it by god this is it!” exclaimed Carver.

“How much further till we get to the power station?” asked Malcolm.

“About another half hour give or take. It’s been so long I can’t remember exactly where the main entrance is to this place.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I muttered down to Tsume who gave out a huffed bark.

“I’ll go ahead and see if something doesn’t strike me as familiar.” He then went on ahead of us and after a while the group followed close behind him.  I looked to the pack and they each looked at me before we too followed the group, but the silence of the forest was soon broken by the sound of a gunshot.

Toboe’s ears bent back as he whimpered fearfully while Tsume, Hige and Kiba all snarled and barked frantically as they raced on ahead.

“Toboe come!” he raced right at my side as I caught up with the others.  “Who shot first?!”

“It came from Carver up ahead!” Ellie exclaimed as we raced faster up the pathway until Carver’s shouts became more clearer.

“Stay! HELP! HELP! No! HEY! OVER HERE! I shot him, I shot him.” As we came around I was shocked to see that it wasn’t a bear, a cougar or even another wolf, no Carver had shot an ape.  A young adolescent ape by the looks of it.  The other one stood protectively in front of the one on the ground had blue eyes which is not common for chimpanzees.

“Did he attack you first?” I asked him.

“What does it matter?”

“It does matter if you’ve decided to play trigger happy you insolent baboon!” at that moment Hige and the rest of the pack all snarled in warning as echoing through the woods were hundreds of ape shrieks and calls.  Soon coming from above the hill and through the trees were almost 100 apes all of them wielding spears.

Toboe stood close at my side, his fur ruffled and tail raised as he bared his fangs.  Hige, Tsume and Kiba circled around Malcolm and the others and snarled defensively as the apes came closer to us.

Suddenly one appeared in front of us as it came and stood before the two young apes that Carver had encountered and shot at.  Hige snarled at the ape but the ape let out a roar which caused Hige to back off practically right away and hide behind me.

“Real helpful Hige, real helpful.” As the apes finally finished showing us their numbers and strength, another chimpanzee soon came up and stood on top of a tree stump just above us.  He held out his hands trying to cease the apes from advancing any further.

I looked at this chimp closely, he was older and had the same grim face that I now bore of someone who had seen and been through hell and back.  I looked to the left part of his chest and there I saw the familiar birthmark….. no, it—it couldn’t be…..

The chimp who had frightened Hige now held the young chimp who Carver shot and started hooting frantically, all the while signing out.

‘They shot Ash! Shot my son!’

‘Rocket, wait.’ Grunted the ape who stood on the tree stump.  Oh my god…..it really was him.  Caesar’s alive! After all these years.  While the rest of the men were aiming their guns at the apes ready to shoot if any of them makes the wrong move, I reached for my gun and put it down all the while keeping my eyes on Caesar.  Slowly I stepped away from the group and saw as some of the apes tightened their grip on their spears as I started walking closer towards Caesar.

‘Caesar?’ I signed to him, deep down thinking that this was all some sort of dream or hallucination.  Caesar’s eyes looked directly at me as his expression was stern and defensive.  Of course he wouldn’t recognize me now, I was older than I was the last time he saw me.  ‘Caesar it’s me, Lin.’

After I had signed to him my name, his harsh glare began to soften as he looked down at me with slight recognition but also denial.

“Put your guns down.” I told the group.

“You can’t be serious.” Said Foster as he aimed his gun towards Caesar.

“Do as she says.” Malcolm told his group.  One by one each men lowered their weapons all but Carver of course.  “Carver, put the gun down.”

“Hell no man.” Carver wavered.

“Carver I swear to god if you don’t lower that gun right now, I’ll have Tsume turn you into a eunuch!” I growled lowly as I glared daggers at him.  At the threat of his manhood, Carver hesitantly lowered his gun as well.  I turned back to Caesar but his face no longer held the recognition from earlier, once again the harsh and primal glare was etched onto his face.  ‘We’re not a threat Caesar. Just hear me out.’

Silence once again weighed heavy in the woods as Caesar’s intimidating glare pierced all of us until he opened his mouth and spoke.

“GO!!!!!” his voice echoed through the mountains and sent a wave of both terror and awe down our spines.  Now I alone knew that Caesar could talk because he spoke to me before he and the clan of apes had disappeared into these woods a decade ago.  But to Malcolm and the rest of the group, they didn’t know this fact and were starting to get freaked out.  Caesar hopped off the tree stump and trudged his way towards us.

“Okay, okay we’re…we’re going.” Malcolm assured.

“GO!!!” cried out a bonobo that was scarred on one side of his face and soon the apes all started hooting and hollering telling us to go.  In a panic we all grabbed our guns and raced off back down the mountain.  The pack racing on ahead and disappearing through the shrubs.

Once we reached back down the mountain, we got into our respected vehicles and drove away from the forests, but I couldn’t help but look back heartbroken.  After all these years of thinking Caesar was dead, he was actually alive as well as the other apes and not only that but they seemed to thrive stronger than before.

We drove over the Golden gate bridge until we reached the security gate that was created at the border of the city at the height of the pandemic.  The doors opened and we soon caught sight of Dreyfus coming out.   He came over to Malcolm’s truck and asked him.

“Did you find it?”

“We need to talk.” Said Malcolm.

“What? What’s wrong?” asked Dreyfus.

“The um…the dam’s pretty much intact. It could probably start generating power for us within a week. But there’s a problem. Get in.” Malcolm explained.  I revved up my engine ready to take off and leave these guys but Malcolm said. “Lin wait! You need to come with us.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“You’ve seen those woods more times than any of us at the colony. Did you know?”

“I am just as surprised as you all are Malcolm.”

“Yeah, then why’d you start making all those weird hand gestures at one of them?” sneered Carver accusingly.

“It’s called sign language you dumbass. You know the language that deaf people use to communicate.” I sneered back at him.  Carver huffed as he got in the back with Ellie and Malcolm’s son, Alexander.

“Saw what? Someone tell me what happened up there in those woods?” Dreyfus demanded.

“Just get in and we’ll explain everything. Lin, you ride with Foster and Kemp.”

“What you don’t trust me to follow you?” I asked.  Malcolm gave me a skeptical look and I huffed as I turned my bike off. “Fine you’re right, I wouldn’t have. No one touches this bike! I’ve managed to keep it running the last three years, I don’t intend on losing it now.”

“The border patrol will keep it hidden.” Dreyfus gestured for one of the border guards to come forward and collect my bike.  I then went and opened the back door, startling Kemp and Foster.

“What the hell Lin? Scared the shit out of us.” Kemp said.

“Just follow behind Malcolm. And no questions.” I told them as I leaned my head against the back window.  The second Malcolm drove off, Foster drove right behind him.  The car ride was silent until Kemp had to speak up.

“I can’t believe after all this time, they were alive.”

“And how? I mean—I was a part of the regime that helped burn the redwoods to the ground. Nothing could’ve survived that.” My eyes widened at this new bit of information.

But I couldn’t let them know I knew of Caesar and his troop.  God knows what Dreyfus and Malcolm are gonna do to me once we get back to the colony.

“Lin, did you know they were out there?” asked Kemp.

“I thought I said no questions.”

“Nah, nah, nah you don’t get to do that to us, not this time. You’re the only one who ventures deep in those woods. Did you know?” Kemp said as he turned to face me, his eyes burning deep into my soul.

“No. I thought they had perished in the fires. Like you said Foster, not even a roach could survive what you all did to that forest.” I spoke my last sentence with a distant, somber tone as I remembered seeing the news footage.

The woods I once remembered playing in with Caesar, exploring new things, playing my violin and dancing like a springtime faery.  It was nothing but a blazing inferno, the trees like torches blazed with light, as a once proud monument was then (for a time) turned into nothing but ash.

We arrived back at the colony and I helped the boys unload their stuff when Carver ran up and said.

“Dreyfus doesn’t want us to tell anyone about what we saw out there.”

“What?” demanded Foster.

“Yeah, said he didn’t want to create a panic or whatever bullshit.”

“Then it’s best to do as he says.” I advised.  Carver turned to me and he said as he came up to me, and growled as he shoved his finger into my chest.

“If I found out you knew about those beasts and didn’t warn us, I’ll—”

“Kill me?” I challenged.  “The day you decide to do that I want you to do me a favor, you be sure to look me straight in the eye. Never forget my face, because I promise you, I’ll never forget the one who killed me.” I threatened as I got up into his face, my eyes filled with a cold, harsh stare.

Carver’s anger quickly turned to fear as he inwardly cowered beneath my gaze.  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  I grabbed some of the equipment and walked inside the colony building.

After helping them unload their gear, Dreyfus and Malcolm lead me into Dreyfus’ office where I was sat down and the two of them began interrogating me.

“And you swear you’re telling me the truth Lin? You had no idea that those apes were up there?” Dreyfus asked me.

“Like I’ve been telling you the last fifteen times you’ve asked me that question. I didn’t know.”

“This is serious Lin, I’m trying to ensure there’s no panic in the colony.”

“And I’m being serious too.”

“She’s telling the truth Dreyfus. She was just as shocked as we were to see them. You can’t fake that type of reaction at seeing the number of apes that we did up there.” Malcolm came to my defense.  Dreyfus paced around a bit as Malcolm asked me, “But what Carver said back there, how were you able to communicate with them?”

“I noticed they were using sign language. Before the world went to shit, I took many classes back at school as part of my foreign language courses. Also I—had a little brother who was struck mute at birth. Sign just kinda came natural because of that.” Malcolm nodded in understandment.

“Alright, we’re done here. But until I decide what to do, I want you to stay inside the colony Lin.”

“What? You can’t be serious!” I snapped as I stood up.

“I am, and don’t try to defy my orders.”

“Okay let’s get something straight here, Dreyfus! I don’t work for you. I never have. Our deal was that I’d help you, you’d help me. That’s it!”

“Like it or not Lin, so long as you are in the colony walls, you will abide by our rules.” And with that he left his office without another word.

Rage boiled within me as my breathing began to sharpen.  I punched through a window and let out a rageful scream before sliding everything off of Dreyfus’ desk to the floor and Malcolm reached out to try and calm me down.

“Hey! Lin, Lin!”

“DON’T TOUCH ME!!” I roared as I came down from my rageful high.  I took several deep breaths before muttering incoherently to myself.

This is just like before. Back during the pandemic, during the civil unrest, my times with—them.

“You can stay with Ellie, Alexander and I. You don’t have to be alone in this place Lin.”

“Alone. We’re always alone.” Malcolm didn’t say anything after that.  I took my sniper rifle, placed the strap across my chest and walked towards Malcolm’s place.

Later that night, I was cleaning out my rifle by taking it apart and letting it soak for a bit before reassembling it back together.  I could sense that someone was behind me so I spoke up.

“Isn’t it pass your bedtime kid?” from the corner of my eye, I could see Alexander coming around and he said.

“Will your wolves come back for you?”

“As I said, they’re not my wolves.”

“Oh. Sorry, I just assumed that since they—you know are always with you, that there’s a loyalty to you.”

“It’s called a partnership. What most people never understood when getting wild animals is that they think they’re getting a prize. Something to be proud of or to stroke their ego with. Or even worse, trying to control them. That’s where you hear all those stories of them getting killed by their prized pets. I’ve learned that if you treat them with respect, and let them be who they truly are, there’s a chance of a bond happening.”

“How did you find them?” I gestured for him to sit down on the couch while I continued to reassemble my rifle.

“Hige I found trapped in a cage trying to get some food. Poor guy even after being freed, tried to go back into the cage to get the scrap of meat. I think that’s the only reason he sticks with me is because he thinks I’m a free food provider.” We both chuckled.

“And the others?”

“The red pup is called Toboe. Found that little pup abandoned in the woods. Frail and shivering. I feared he wouldn’t make it. But two weeks of rest and some food and water and he started thriving. He’s the one who seems to think I’m his mother, but he’s gotta learn how to be a wolf. That’s why I have him be around the others as much as possible when we go out hunting. He doesn’t help me catch the game, he learns by watching the others how to hunt.”

“What about the two that came with you yesterday? The grey and white one.”

“Oh those two boys. You talk about wild wolves, Tsume and Kiba are about as wild as any wolf I’ve met. They know exactly who they are, and I’ve got the scars to prove it.” I then showed Alexander some of the scars from the bite mark’s I’ve been given by each of them on either my legs or my hand and arms.  “But with them, it was a debt to be repaid. I found the two of them just shortly after I had met Hige. Or well I should say Hige found them. Both of them barely alive after surviving an animal attack. At the time I didn’t think to believe it, but now after seeing what we saw today, I believe those two came in contact with the apes and were beaten to the point of death. Kiba was the one barely hanging on by a thread. Thought I lost him a few times, but he eventually came around.”

“Well they definitely show they’re not dogs.” I paused in assembling my rifle and I said to him.

“About what I said to you yesterday, I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget that you’re still a kid.”

“I’m 15 years old.”

“Still a kid though. I can’t imagine how growing up in this world was for you.” Alexander looked down sadly.

“I lost my mom to the virus. Dad was—he was so broken after that. When he met Ellie, I…..Deep down I think he’s just trying to replace her.”

“Now I know for a fact that’s not true. No one could ever replace your mom.” Alexander looked up at me.  “Look, I know I don’t know you or your dad beyond my usual transactions of trading, but from what I can tell, he cares and loves you very, very much. And no one will ever replace your mom. But both him and Ellie lost people to this pandemic, and they were lucky to have found each other to heal their wounds and be able to love someone else again. Most people aren’t that lucky.”

“Did you—lose someone?” I closed my eyes and told him.

“I lost….everyone.” Alexander sat there shocked and in silence.

“I—I’m so sorry Lin.”

“Nothing you need to apologize for. You should get some sleep, you had a long, surprising day. And your dad would kill me if I kept you up all night with stories of my past.” He nodded and left me to resume my work.

Once my gun was fully reassembled and I clicked the magazine back into place, I set it aside and lay across their couch.  I reached into my pocket and popped in a couple of the pills Ellie gave me yesterday before drifting off into another dreamless sleep.

Just the way I prefer it.

[tf2heritageposts]

Cursed thought about TF2 as a dnd characters (warning: dnd rules used loosely pls don't correct me it's been years and also rule of cool bitches)

Demoman is a warlock who unknowingly made a contract with a minor demon for his powers (he was drunk and could barely TALK straight. Poor bloke /affectionate). Minor demon who gave him his power now haunts his eyeball socket. I know he's tall but i think he'd be a halfling. Or at least raised by them.

Medic would be a paladin cleric multi class (i know boring but hold on). He started off as a "cleric" worshiping a god that DEFINITELY should not have been worshipped (and he gives him sacrifice via Archimedes dove delivery) because it was one of the more deranged local medical academic gods. I say medical academic because he is more a god of experiments than actually healing... Which is why he likes medic so much cause he's like "let's just put a baboon uterus inside you... Fuck it let's do three". Anyway Medic is soooo devoted to this gods cause that the sheer time, planning, and effort to removed that first human skeleton while the person was alive became his oath that gave him his paladin powers. Not even the god (who later possesses Archimedes after the dove nearly dies) saw that coming.

Spy is a rogue (obviously fucking look at him) but he's also a changeling decendent of an arcane trickster, hence his shape shifting abilities and his taste for... The shiner and nicer things in life.

Scout is his fighter tiefling son who is CONVINCED his dad is this famous demon singer who wrote a song called "sex bomb" (scout does not know what a sex or a bomb is until engine sits down to explain to him). His mother and all his brothers and stuff are human nobody knows why he's the only tiefling in the fam uh *looks at spy*. He still fights with a baseball bat. Not a club. A baseball bat. And he's still from Boston. Somehow.

Also for lolz instead of pyro being a wizard who constantly casts fireball he's actually an artificer! He keeps thinking he's building cute fun weapons and weapon mods when really theyre weapons of mass destruction because when he was young he was "blessed" by the fair folk to only see good things. We both know how that's going.

On the other hand engineer THINKS he's an artificer but actually he's a wizard and his dad and grandpa's notes on complex inventions hes trying to build + improve is actually his family grimoire.

-Not DND anon but actually the allergic to alcohol and can only kiss demoman once anon

P.S. i think if i take a bunch of Benadryl first and wash my mouth out after i'll live. Me and my friends have been discussing this in detail.

holy hell this is some good hyperfixation goodness, let me respond to each one

1. that is an excellent idea for a demoman warlock concept. honestly he’d probably be a patron for something like the old one or whatnot

2. i am in such love with this concept i am about to make a fucking sheet for this for kicks lh my god

3. good idea

4. also in love with this concept. also fantasy boston

5. also in love with this concept

6. that’s an interesting take, but to be honest i really can’t see engineer as anything but an artificer. artificer wizard multiclass sounds fun though

7. you be careful with that man, talk to your doctor

[roadandruingame]

RaR Musings #22: Tested

I took the opportunity offered by a few friends to run a Road and Ruin playtest. It single-handedly renewed my loathing of ttrpgs: players are the single biggest vulnerability in a tabletop roleplaying game, and between forgetting what day it was, double booking their free time by mistake, double booking their free time ON PURPOSE, and lacking the energy, the creativity, or the enthusiasm to play for long, I was reminded why I wanted to make Road and Ruin capable of single-player play.

Such designs ended up working out for the better, though. Despite attempting to play pretend as three separate players (not characters; that would have been easy enough), I stripped the rules explanation down to the most bare bones needed to play the game. Surprising myself, that turned out to not include character creation, the play element I had spent the largest amount of time designing and reworking over the years. When all you need is the situational recognition of "a rogue, a paladin, and a washed-up oracle walk into a bar", it doesn't so much matter what all the stats of everyone are, and content-generation tools were predictable enough that they could be used to generate character stats when, and if, they ended up being relevant. Each character only had 1/9 attributes defined by the end of a rickety 40-minute intro session, made all the slower by me having to play the game essentially solo, but not in any way delayed by having to do character creation, or made more rocky by the fact character creation hadn't really occurred.

If I'd wanted to improv an entire on-rails fantasy themepark by myself for the amusement of people who'll blow off the event altogether, I'd have bit the bullet and DM'd a game of Dungeons and Dragons.

___________________

So, what else did we learn.

Firstly, that I should probably take my own [repeated] advice and simplify the character creation/progression elements of the game. If the game can run purely on generative elements, "It Does/Does Not" confirmation of theory, and extremely loose character definitions, then doing the legwork for attributes and subattributes, 60+ dual-proficiencies and skill specializations, and using xp to buy spells and abilities up a chain of ranks doesn't really seem as important.

Second, that despite how easily content could be hallucinated by random prompt and adjusted via +/- 1 of any stat, I really do need to get started on a catalogue of content that can be quickly and readily accessed by players who aren't as attuned to the game's themes and balancing.

Being able to easily grab hold of some example creatures, like a fox or an elephant, to +/- my way to a fantastical monster statblock, was part of what gave me the confidence to try to fly the story into that of a monster fight (even if it wasn't in the cards. Literally, the cards deconfirmed my theory). But characters of other races, or more specific class builds? Generating environments, like a cave network? A system for magic items, or artifacts of indeterminate narrative importance? Any amount I hesitated in coming up with random results for such things would be multiplied five, ten, a hundredfold for players unfamiliar with the system, or unfamiliar with ttrpgs or creativity in the first place. Granted, this "GM responsibility" is often handled by ttrpg players and game masters, but I wanted to smooth that out as much as possible.

______________

As an additional note to the above: I see a lot of ttrpg designers in forums and on reddit bandy about the notion of how martial classes are meant to be able to compete with spellcasters (spellcasters were never supposed to compete with martials, the fact they can is a design flaw), and how to make things feel more impactful, more rewarding tactically, and less prone to rng failure.

I'm feeling that when I go over the character creation/skills section of the game, that there needs to have more 'big' moments: that you have multiple expensive features to spend a limited resource on, but that said resource isn't so limited that you couldn't use it more than once. Players should feel rewarded and cool for spending those resources, but it shouldn't simply be "press button to win" type designs, either. It's something I'm going to have to think about some more.

[violetfoxsketches]

OC name meanings tag!

Stealing from @albatris :3

Rules: Search and post the meaning of your OCs’ names (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! Bonus if you can find something for their last name too

Emerald "Emmy" Acero:

"So, uh. Don't think I ever got the chance to give you my name. It's Emerald—" "—Like the gemstone?" "-Yeah like the gemstone. You can just call me Emmy though. Everyone else does."

Emmy's first name is pretty self-explanatory. His last name, Acero, is Spanish for Steel. His father, Orion Acero, picked it out when transitioning as a way to distance himself from his dead identity and any ties to Emmy's other father (whom has no idea he even is a father). Therefore, once Emmy was born, it became his last name as well. The only thing Emmy has even been told about his other biological parent was that he is a 'deadbeat musician' and that Orion didn't want Emmy to end up going down the same path.

OOC, Emerald was an import of my D&D rogue, Immeral (Immi), when I was invited to my first VtM game and had trouble coming up with a character thanks to Long Covid brainfog. What started as a modern clone of an existing character ended up evolving into his own being and is hardly recognizable from his D&D origins. The most notably being Emmy is an absolute heart of gold, dumb of ass. And Immi is a Lawful Evil dumpster fire. Which brings us to...

Immeral Ethanasath:

The character that would become one of my most replayed and AU'd to death (quite literally in most of his games) was a last minute randomly generated lawful evil rogue as a loyal subordinate for my buddy CerberusKnight's Conquest Paladin, Ajexs. Everything from his appearance to his subclass was randomly assigned in a scramble to have the character ready for a D&D one-shot. I had so much fun playing him I put him in a longform campaign to determine his origin story. Then COVID absolutely bodied me in mid 2020 and left me with less than stellar focus or creative function. I stopped playing spellcasters altogether because I couldn't keep up with the complexity and found it hard to create even new martial classes that didnt feel like cardboard cutouts. So I played Immi again. And again.

As for how he got his nickname, English is not CerberusKnight's first language and he had a lot of trouble pronouncing Immeral, often adding a 'd' to the end and accidentally calling him 'Immerald'. So we made it canon that Immeral loves nicknames because Common is also not his first language, so he told the paladin Ajexs that he could just call him 'Immi' as long as Ajexs let him call him 'A.J.' in return.

So of course, you can see where once I imported him to a 'human' setting, 'Immeral' naturally became 'Emerald'. I've only just recently gotten into a place of recovery where I can create new characters again, but I've been playing iterations of this disaster since 2019 and he holds a special place in my heart.

And as far as I know, the name means absolutely nothing and in canon, Immi picked it out himself when he hit a century old, aka elf adulthood.

Javier Andres Peña:

Emmy remembers the little message he found once he was awake again. Scrawled on a sticky note and left stuck to his cracked phone screen: Don’t walk home by yourself anymore, okay? —Javier

Javier, the Spanish derivative of Xavier, means 'new house'. Andres is a derivative of Andrew, meaning 'manly' or 'warrior' (hilarious, considering this man is the walking personification of toxic masculinity). Peña originates from 'de la Peña' or 'by the cliffside' or 'by the rocks'

I can't take the credit for this one. Javier started as a backstory character for Emerald (the one responsibly for Emmy's turning, specifically) created by that game's Storyteller. However, the original version of that game flopped horribly and I left it after being treated quite poorly by the storyteller and one of their players. Myself and two other folks from the game liked our character interactions so much we decided to split off and keep running the game, set in a new city. And of course, Emerald ended up reaching out to his renegade ex to escape one court and arrive safely half a country away.

Javier's role ended up being upgraded from a backstory character to a proper NPC by @zeeseal, but while sorting out Javier and Emerald's history, Javier ended up becoming our shared brainchild. Our beautiful disaster son. And of course, Emmy endearingly refers to him as 'Javi'.

I finally got a chance to play Javier as a true PC when I was invited to a game set in 1982 Melbourne Australia, as Javier's backstory included being turned in the 1980s and it seemed fun to explore what he was like before he became jaded with his new lot in unlife as an eternal 20something. I often poke @zeeseal for her input on how our terrible terrible son would react to certain things for the first time and the game has been a blast so far. Especially being American and playing an American character stuck with no home and no money in Australia with other Australian players/PCs and Storyteller.

As for tags, I'm sniping @bludoods, @whispering-jabberwocky @mayaminamoto, @sayonaramidnight, @raceofhearts and @ichithecupcake.

(And anyone else who wants to do it)

[phantom-miria]

Your WoL is so cute- can you share more about her? (This totally isn’t your fanfiction exchange assigned gifter trying to subtly stalk you. Noooo. Not at all. Shifty eyes.)

👀👀

I'm so flattered! And also I love talking about her! I actually filled out a "meet my WoL" chart a while ago that I never posted here, so I'll post that in a bit for you as a separate photo post! But I think the basic run-down is that she's a Keeper Miqo'te whose name doesn't quite match the naming conventions mostly because I carried her over from a different game I rp'd in, so uhh...Astrid Voll, Astrid Vholl, Bustle, and ANGERY CAT are all equally accurate names for her because I've just shifted a bunch of things over time. Bustle is a nickname/pseudonym for her tailoring work, and for the name not exactly matching Miqo'te syllabic patterns I mostly just figure she grew up separate from a clan and lived in Limsa instead and was named there, and apprenticed as a tailor when she was young.

Mostly sticks to magic classes (WHM main, I'm really into RDM for DPS, I also have AST as one of the main classes I cycle through and not magic but I LOVE Dancer too; I'm working my way through SCH/SMN now) but recently started dabbling with PLD, mostly because I thought the Castrum Abania paladin set was REALLY pretty and wanted it. And it's probably the sparkliest tank job :D

Palette wise, mostly sticks to reds, whites, blacks, golds, and pinks. You can't fight crime if you ain't cute, so lots of different flashy pretty aesthetics. I've cycled through a few hair styles, the big sticking point is usually if they have bangs I like :') Sidebangs for Bustle always.

Backstory and personality-wise, she lost her girlfriend in the Calamity and is a bit quieter and more jaded these days as a result. She can be bluntly rude at first and is a little afraid of getting close to people, because if you don't get close to people then losing them won't hurt so much! But then she's lonely from pushing people away, so it's kind of an ugly push-pull of social needs, and what she settles on is an uncomfortable compromise between being rude to people and testing boundaries to see if they stick around while having a very soft heart underneath it all.

But I think the WoL is such a source of hope in FFXIV's story that her journey throughout it would be a re-discovery of how much hope she still has, and ofc she ends up developing ties to everyone in the Scions, Ishgard, the Resistance, the First, etc. The story really puts the WoL through the wringer! (I'm still working my way through the story and am currently in post-patch Shadowbringers after taking a three year break, but have thoroughly spoiled myself over everything (and cried over certain parts of Endwalker that I've watched on Youtube at least 20 times) so no need to worry about spoilers or leaving parts out, I love the whole game and want content set at any part of it, no holds barred.)

Also I just love the idea of her with Aymeric because he's SO in awe of the WoL and everything they do and the idea of him being so starry-eyed over this little shit of a Miqo'te is very funny to me. And I think he's so earnest and kind that she would want very much to protect that in him, and he would be fun to tease but not fun to be rude to, so he'd be one of the only people to end up mostly exempt from her habit of needling for no particular reason (alongside some assorted Scions, but not all, because some of them it would be great fun to insult/provoke for no particular reason).

But Aymeric would get right to the soft nougaty center of her that's just filled with love. I think he'd bring out the better sides in her because he does that with everyone who isn't 100% evil because AYMERIC IS SO GOOD ; u; I think Aymeric hits a really fun balance of intensely composed and take-charge and intense about what he believes in. He's got an aura of confidence but really looks up to the WoL too, and I think he's just like. The goodest boy. And he deserves good things. Or to be hurt and then comforted with good things. And I think WoL/Aymeric in general has great potential to have these two super important people find someone they can lean on, even if the distance can make it really hard.

Anyway uhh aside from what I linked in my signup, you can find pics of her in my tag on this blog: https://phantom-miria.tumblr.com/tagged/character:%20bustle

Unfortunately it covers the versions of her I've played in other games too, so here's a few FFXIV specific posts of her appearance, including art drawn by friends. My most recent hairstyle for her is the shorter bob with the braid that's in some of the imgur images in my sign up:

and a text post that I think about sums her up: https://phantom-miria.tumblr.com/post/150662998775/byrneing-my-heart-is-guarded-but-like-very

and uhh I guess I'll go post that rp meme I filled out, and thank you so much for your interest and I hope ANY of this babbling was helpful and just aaaaa I love talking WoLs

[journalofmoonlight]

Omg okay. I haven’t thought of this before but NOW I have thoughts!

First, I would stick to the martial classes rather than magic classes from the start. Saying that, I do like the idea of certain bat fam members dabbling in multiclassing (like someone mentioned in the comments- Babs being divination wizard after retired from batgirl, it fits Oracle, okay..)

Now for specifics:

Fighter: “combatants capable of effectively wielding any type of weapon or armor”

This might be controversial, but I’m a diehard believer in Fighter!Bruce. Bruce is skilled in a variety of weapons and tech, it soothes my brain.

Monk: “skilled martial artists that uniquely blend the use of dexterity and wisdom in combat”

The vibes fit Cass and Batgirl!Babs. My first classic D&D character was a monk so, I hold a special place in my heart for the class. The use of dexterity and wisdom just got their personalities so well.

Paladin: “holy warriors sworn to oaths”

Okay, so this might fit Bruce to a T, at least this description. But I decided five minutes ago to be a diehard Fighter!Bruce. And that’s because Bruce decided to learn to fight before knowing how he was going to use it. If he had chosen to become Batman and then learned how to be Batman, it would be Paladin. But he travelled and learned and then made his oath.

So, I stand by Stephany and Damian as Paladins. I think both of them had a cause from the beginning to fight for and that’s what makes a Paladin for me.

I would even fight for Paladin!Jason. Jason has a heart for the people Crime Alley and cleaning up Gotham. He always has. It fits.

Ranger: “experienced in traversing the wilderness”

I could stand behind Tim or even Damian, but I don’t feel it strongly. Rangers are a slightly hard class to pinpoint for me. Tim definitely works not only in close range, but also multi step plans that are like dominos. So I can see him working as a Ranger.

Damian fits more of the wilderness part, but I feel he’s unlikely to stay at a distance. He likes stabbing too much.

Rogue: “specialize in stealth and are mobile characters capable of dealing serious damage from afar or with a finesse weapon”

As someone previously stated, all Robins are Rouges. It’s just facts. The question is if they stay that way. Dick, who made the Robin mantle what it is, is a rogue by nature. Nightwing is still a rogue. Dick Grayson is a rogue, albeit one who dazzles and disappears. Tim also heavily resembles a rogue. Slipping in and out and is gone.

Jason and Damian fit here too, but I live for them as paladins instead.

Barbarian: “utilize their brute strength to overcome their problems, Barbarians are resilient heavy-hitters that can draw power through their rage in combat”

I don’t think our BatFam has many, if any, Barbarians. Barbarians tend to just smash their way through things and aren’t known for their intelligence (in general, I love a smart barbarian tho). That being said, Lazarus Pit Mad Jason Todd would be a barbarian. So this feels like a multi-class, 2 levels in Barbarian for Jaybird if we’re going that in depth for these NPCs.

For flavor, and no I will not be elaborating on this:

• Druid!Damian

• Artificer!Bruce

• Bard!Dick

•Ranger!Alfred

• Wizard!Babs

• Cleric!Duke

• Wizard!Tim

Now onto backgrounds and I will also not be elaborating on this (unless you ask me to):

• Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion!Bruce or Courtier!Bruce

• Entertainer!Dick

• Knight!Babs

• Urchin!Jason or Folk Hero!Jason

• Charlatan!Cass

• Inheritor!Tim

• Faceless!Steph

• Haunted One!Damian

• Athlete!Duke or Knight!Duke

• Criminal/Spy!Alfred

I'll be starting a D&D campaign soon, and I'm thinking it might be fun to sprinkle in some of the BatFam as D&D characters, so let me know what you think each of them would be like in the D&D world, either in asks, reblogs, comments, or DMs! (Though this is a sideblog so if it's a comment I can't reply and idk if it's rude to screenshot and reblog to comment)

Also if anyone wants to help with worldbuilding I am Strugglin lmao

[arcenergy]

trying to get through dps levelling without getting banned in ffxiv for toxic chat is the hardest thing ive ever done in video games  

[beels-burger-babe]

All is Fair in Dice and War

***Soooo, @bagelsinatoaster I love this request. However, you didn't specify which board game and as I am a huge nerd I decided to take some creative liberties and combine this with another idea I've been meaning to write which is: MC introducing the demon bros to Dungeons and Dragons. I certainly had fun with this and I hope you like it!*** Summary: Leviathan's world is flipped upside down when MC tells him there is a game that basically allows him to be the Lord of Shadows in real life!! He demands that his brothers join him as MC introduces them all to the chaotic shit show that is Dungeons & Dragons. For once, it was a peaceful day in the House of Lamentation. Lucifer was lounging in the living room with a cursed record playing softly in the background. For once, Satan had willingly joined him and was sitting by the fireplace, thumbing through a book on the human world. Belphie had been passed out on the couch when he arrived and was still laying there with an impressive puddle of drool collecting near his mouth. Even Asmodeus and Beel had joined in, with Asmodeus gently humming to himself as he painted his nails and Beelzebub happily munching on a snack as he enjoyed the sight of his family getting along. Yes. It was perfectly quiet and peaceful, and Lucifer didn't even have any traces of his regular migraine. But of course, nothing good lasts forever. Everyone jumped as the door slammed open and a wide-eyed Leviathan dragged you into the room. The two you very closely followed by Mammon loudly complaining. "Oi! You're gonna hurt them! Cut it out, Levi!" Lucifer sighed and closed his eyes, momentarily mourning the peace that he had just barely begun to enjoy, and closed his book. "Leviathan, let MC go. What are you freaking out about this time?" Lucifer regretted asking the moment the words left his mouth. Levi looked at it with the expression he only ever got when his limited edition Ruri-Chan merch arrived; his eyes were wide and glittering with excitement while his face bore a grin so large that Lucifer was surprised it didn't rip his skin. The third-born was practically vibrating as he let go of your wrist and pushed you forward. "Tell them! Tell them about the game!"

You laughed at Levi's excitement and casually rubbed your wrist. "I was just telling Leviathan about a game that we play in the human world called Dungeons and Dragons-" "You get to make a fantasy world that everyone plays in, and everyone makes characters. You can be a wizard and cast spells against a huge monster! Or a war hero fighter that has been betrayed by his brother! Or a noble knight who is looking for his lost kingdom! And the best part is that it's real!" Levi interrupted, nearly jumping in place as stars danced in his eyes. You put your hands out towards him to try and calm him a bit. "Well, not entirely real. It is played in person, but it's a role play tabletop game, meaning it mostly relies on the players' imagination. That is unless you have thousands of dollars to spend on 3D maps and figurines of your characters." Levi's eyes grew even wider, if possible, as he started shaking his hands up and down. "I CAN HAVE A FIGURINE OF A CHARACTER THAT I MADE?! GAAAAAAAAAHH!" A pillow flew across the room and hit Levi square in the face as a now awake Belphegor glared at him. "Will. You. Shut. Up?" the Avatar of Sloth hissed as a dark dangerous aura grew around him. Beel gently patted his twin's head in hopes of calming him. Leviathan pouted as he noticed no one else seemed to be getting excited about it. "C-Come on guys! This isn't even a video game! It's a thing that we can all do together and personalize it to be something that everyone will like. It'll be fun! Right MC?" You nodded as you gently tossed Belphie's pillow back over to him. "Yeah. I love D&D. I played it all the time in the human world. There's action, suspense, and even romance if you really wanted it," a couple of the brothers perked up at that. "I could put together a one-shot for you guys to try it out if you'd like? I'll help you make your characters, and we can all get together for an evening and play it sometime in a couple weeks." The room went quiet as everyone thought it over. Most of them had no interest in the game itself, but if it was organized by you... "I'm in," Beel decided with a nod. "I think it will be fun. All of us trying something new; it could be neat." Satan casually flipped a page in his book, "The creative aspect of it is definitely appealing. We'd be the masters of our own fate, and that most certainly piques my interest." Asmodeus smirked as he put the cap on his nail polish. "And you said it could be whatever we want? My, one might say that this game could help our wildest fantasies come true~" he made sure to wink at you as he giggled. Belphie, who had only just got back his pillow, scrunched up his face in disgust and launched it at Asmo. "Don't make this weird Asmo," he looked over at you and shrugged, "So long as you do all the work in putting together the character thing, sure. Why not?" Mammon looked over at you from the corner of his eye. "Ya mean to tell me, that you can make it so I'm some awesome, rich, and powerful prince?" Asmo scoffed as he pushed the pillow off his lap. "Please Mammon, even the world of make-believe has its limitations." Mammon blushed as he growled at his brother. You just chuckled and teasingly elbowed his side. "Don't listen to him, Mammon. There is a set amount of how much money you start out with depending on your class and background, but I'm sure we can find something that will make you happy." The second-born blushed even more as he grumbled quietly under his breath. Lucifer tilted his head in thought. "I suppose that if everyone else is playing, naturally I must as well," he stood and began to make his way to his office. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with MC." The next two weeks were spent planning and carefully figuring out the details of the one-shot and the characters that everyone was going to play. Levi was, of course, the first one who came to you to build his character. The two of you spent hours going through the Player's Handbook and sourcebooks to find the perfect build to recreate the Lord of Shadows. In the end, you put

together a human fighter that you gave a couple magic items to make Levi's vision really come to life. It seemed basic, but for the Lord of Shadows, it was perfect. The moment the two of you finished, Levi dove to his computer and ordered a custom-made mini that looked exactly like his character. Satan was genuinely interested in the game, especially after he learned about all the lore and rules behind the different classes and races. You had just been chilling in your room one day when the door burst open. Satan stood there with wide eyes holding a copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters. "MC, why didn't you tell me there are cat people?!" You chuckled, knowing exactly where this was going. "They're called tabaxi, but yeah, they're basically cat people. Would you like to play as one?" He scoffed and snapped the book shut. "Is that even a question? Of course, I'm playing as one." After some discussion and bouncing back and forth between classes a couple of times, Satan settled on a tabaxi druid; that way he not only looked like a cat, but he could speak to them as well. After a few days of you spending time with his brothers focusing on getting their characters ready, Mammon came to you wanting the coolest, most epic character ever. At first, it was clear that he wasn't fully invested in the process, but as he saw the customizable options and all the cool stuff that his character could have, you got his attention. You ended up designing a golden teifling rogue (you tried to tell Mammon that teifling usually wasn't yellow, but he gave you such a sad look that you couldn't say no) that was decked out with piercings and gems all over its horns and tail. He tried to act like he wasn't that excited about it, but one day during class you caught him doodling what looked like a stick figure version of the character on his sheet with a big smile on his face. Asmodeus came in shortly after Mammon finished,

insisting on having the most charming and beautiful character there was. You tapped your chin at the request. "I mean, stereotypically bards are extremely charming and...well seductive...almost too seductive. But that's only thei-" Asmo had hearts in his eyes before you could even finish. "That's what I want to be!" You sighed and made a mental note not to include any dragons in the session as you marked Asmo down to be an elven bard and helped him create his character sheet. You hadn't heard anything from Lucifer for nearly that entire first week, until one day as you were lounging in the living room, he walked in holding a stack of resource books. "Ah, MC. I've been looking for you. I wanted to inform you that I will be playing a half-elf multiclassing as a paladin and hex-blade warlock." You blinked at him as he put all the books down in front of you. "O-Oh. Would you like help putting together your character sheet?" He just grinned and began to make his way out of the room once more. "I've already done it. I must admit that this was quite a bit more interesting than I thought it would be," and with that he was gone, leaving you to try and figure out what had just happened. With only a few days left until the one-shot, you had to go find the twins and get them to make their characters. Beel apologized like crazy for you having to track him in down in order to get his character made. The poor guy was in the middle of peak Fangol season and had completely forgotten. Once the two of you sat down in the kitchen with an empty character sheet in one hand and snacks in the other, Beel gave you his full attention. He put a lot of thought in his character and wanted to make it really good since he appreciated that you were doing something that they could all do as a family. He bashfully decided to play a halfling. Not only did the little creatures share his love for food, but he thought it would be neat to try being small for once. His class was also a surprise. After carefully flipping through all of the class options, he had eventually settled on a cleric. "They're the healers, right? This way I can help the others if someone gets hurt." You gave him a huge hug then and there. Belphegore, on the other hand, was not so easy to work with. "Belphie, come on. Just flip through the book and choose something!" He groaned into his pillow and rolled onto his side to glare at you. "I told you I would play if you did all the work for me. Me flipping through a book is work. It's not happening." After an entire hour of trying to get him to cooperate, you gave up. In retaliation you made his character a goblin barbarian, just to drive in the fact of how much of a brat he was acting like.

Finally, the day came for you all to play the one-shot, and much like you expected, it was complete and utter chaos. You had tried to maintain some structure and keep everyone on track, but it was hopeless. Levi and Satan were taking the game seriously and, Diavolo bless them, were the only reason their party was making any progress. Mammon was trying to pick-pocket every non-player character that they met while Asmo distracted them by flirting. This worked great for them until Mammon got caught and would've died from the resulting injuries if it wasn't for Beel. Speaking of Beel, the poor fella was trying his best to do well in the game but kept getting confused by all the rules and different stats and modifiers. Belphegor spent most of his time, trying to explain it to his twin, but in the end, Beel accidentally ate his dice and Belphie passed out on his shoulder. And then there was Lucifer. He had been mostly quiet the entire game. Surprisingly, he let Levi and Satan take the charge in any investigations and puzzle-based interactions, but he did so with a smirk. You had a funny feeling in your stomach that he was up to something, and you were right. It was the final boss. Satan and Levi were on the edge of their seats, having worked so hard to get the party to this point. You smiled, knowing that one of the best parts of D&D was finally taking down the big bad. In this case, you had prepared a beholder for them to fight. It would be no easy task. The fight should have required them to work together in an epic battle of wits, magic and melee attacks. Only, when everyone rolled initiative, Lucifer went first. The eldest smiled as his eyes sparked menacingly. "For my bonus action, I'd like to use my hex blade's curse on it, which allows me to add my plus four proficiency bonus to all damage, and makes any rolls of nineteen or twenty critical hits. I will then use my long sword with divine smite at third level to attack him and attack him again using my extra attack," barely giving you time to process what he said, Lucifer rolled his dice twice. "And that would be a nineteen and a natural twenty, meaning they're both criticals due to the curse. That should hit, yes?" "Wha-" You could only watch as Lucifer, now with twice the amount of damage due to his critical rolls pulled out a disgusting number of dice and rolled them all. And of course, with his luck, they all rolled high. "So that's 90 points of damage plus the extra damage from the curse and the bonus from my duelist ability per attack, brings this 102 points," he smugly perched his chin on top of his hands as the table gaped at him. You gulped and looked down at the beholder's character sheet, "Y-You just took o-over half of his hit points in one round..." His grin widened at the information, "What, like it's hard?" You never got the chance to finish the game, as Satan burst into his demon form and pounced on Lucifer, the eldest laughing like a mad man, while Levi tore up his character sheet in a fit of jealous rage. Levi never asked to play with everyone again after that. ***This was just so self-indulgent and I just- I loved it. It combined two of my favourite things and I have never been happier. This was more crack than fluff, but either way, it was fun and I hope you nerds out there enjoyed it 🥰 Thanks again for the request @bagelsinatoaster!*** Taglist: @mimik248 @roseytoesy @ester-is-here

[drzibs]

i am in a d&d funk so fuck it, llsmp people as d&d classes

The Southlands

Grian - Aarakocra Rogue

this is based on my love of grian designs with avian aspects, and how often he sneaks around the server to either steal shit or to gather intel for his own gain. hes chaotic good when on his green and yellow lives, but flips on a dime to chaotic evil when on his last life. like most designs go, he resembles the multicolored macaw parrot as far as plumage is concerned.

Mumbo Jumbo - Halfling Artificer

mans started hermitcraft season 7 as a halfling, hes gonna be one in my head whether he likes it or not. i think he’d be an artificer based on 1. how many traps hes considered over his short reign on the server, and the fact that he went out of his way to procure end crystals and make them his weapon of choice when he turned red. the man lacks good combat skills, but he knows at least ten different ways to take you out in a hands-off experience. like grian, definitely a chaotic good alignment on his green and yellow lives.

InTheLittleWood - Dwarf Warlock (Hexblade)

i cant really explain why, but i like to imagine martyn’s character with a dwarven build about him. Very wide square shoulders, a solid torso, wields a hammer as his weapon of choice (in my head anyways). and based on the way he edits his videos, i like to think hes attuned to his magical weapon, and as a by product hes formed a pact with the deep voice now rolling around in his head. its unclear who or what he’s made a deal with, but he doesnt seem to be the only one aware of its influence. i think he’s in the realm of neutral good to true neutral, but the voice often steers him off to do some questionable things.

ImpulseSV - Human Paladin

i was very torn about this one. impulse has an aura about him that gives me the vibes of either a human or possibly a firbolg, but ive decided that a human was a better fit based on his character skin. and because hes typically fairly selfless when it comes to his companions, the paladin class feels pretty suitable to me. hes not an outstanding pvper but he can hold his own, and i feel in a d&d setting he would go out of his way to keep his friends alive rather than to get a good swing in. i think maybe a neutral good alignment fits, as hes not really above stealing from other players to benefit his group.

SolidarityGaming - Half-Elf Wizard (Transmutation)

this man is extremely squishy - i mean, first out in both llsmp and 3lsmp? not to knock him down, but he gets himself into tight spots almost assuredly. he doesnt have a ton to offer in fighting, but hes great with tinkering on traps as well as offers a lot of good for the group. and because hes the only one who knows how to create spyglasses, he’s allowed to stick around. definitely true neutral, leaning into chaotic neutral, as he bails the minute his odds look good.

The Fairy Fort

LDShadowlady - Satyr Druid (Circle of the Forest)

she lives in a clearing surrounded by an enchanted dark oak forest, it just feels extremely fitting to me. after her first boogeyman corruption she is revered by the members of her group, especially so by her right hand in command rendog. i think she’s lawfully neutral throughout most of her time, maybe dropping into lawful evil after her home is burnt to the ground.

Bigbst4tz2 - Human Barbarian

i welcome a bit of criticism on this as i havent seen his pov, but i feel like bigb gives me pretty strong barbarian vibes. aside from rendog hes seen as the muscle to body guard lizzie from unwanted visitors, and isnt the best at controlling his emotion (when he killed cleo in a panic 👀👀). but like i said, i dont know his character that well, so this is what i have gathered from other perspectives.

Rendog - Werewolf Human Paladin (Oath of the Crown)

this is sorta what sparked my spiral into assigning classes to the llsmp members. he pledges his undying loyalty to the Shadow Queen after she offers him a home and refuge, as before he was alone in his cold tower. he has enough control to hold a hybrid appearance of sorts, but when he becomes red it will give way to his full wolf form. he is very much lawful good, upholding his virtues for the good of his troop. he mourns the longest when his Shadow Queen perishes.

ZombieCleo - Reborn Elf Warlock (The Undead)

ehehe we love an undead queen 👏🏼👏🏼 honestly though, i really enjoy the thought of cleo being a truly undead humanoid, or becoming so after bigb takes her life. her rage is so poignant and targeted that it alters her when she revives; a little sickly, eyes vacant yet full of unbridled fury, a shimmery line across her neck from her fatal wound. an alternative to the warlock class would be wizard with proficiency in evocation, because of her affinity to fire. she rides along the line between neutral good and true neutral, drifting to where she gains the most benefits.

Team B.E.S.T.

Bdouble0100 - Halfling Fighter (Cavalier)

even though he doesnt have a horse on this smp, i love the idea of him being an expert at archery from horseback. especially as someone of shorter stature than the rest of team best, having the high ground and more maneuverability would be a great advantage for him to have. he’s extremely susceptible to peer pressure and often falls to the thrall of the “boogeyman curse”, but i think overall his character falls within the lawful good to neutral good range. hes just doing his best 😰

EthosLab - Protector Aasimar Fighter (Champion)

known as the scariest fighter on the server, i feel like making him a proper deadly assailant is fitting to me. plus the man took down a wither (with help, but i digress) so hes very capable. hes mostly covered aside from his shock of white hair and asymmetrical eyes, hiding his half-celestial lineage from the others in an attempt at self preservation. hes mostly neutral good, but i truly hope theres retribution for the death of his betrothed bdubs.

Skizzleman - Fire Genasi Ranger (Beast Master)

skizz as a fire genasi just tickles my fancy in the best way. plus his hair turning red as a red name makes so much sense that i cant not do it. plus this gives room for him to have kevin bubbles malone refridgerator jimmy mad-eye dugan as his beast companion and i love that image immensely. as the creator of best he has a solid lawful good alignment, teetering into neutral evil when he ends up on his last life.

TangoTek - Half-Elf Bard (College of Spirits)

he starts off with the super charismatic approach in this server, choosing immediately to deal in lives, so i feel this fits him best with that sort of build up. (it would be really funny for him to gain a level in barbarian because of his melt down in session six lmfao) he maybe has some hand in tinkering, but as it ends up his demise, he maybe is very inexperienced with it. overall id say his alignment falls under lawful good or neutral good, as isnt quite malicious beyond being antagonized first.

Non-Affiliates

GoodTimeWithScar - Gnome Wizard (Enchantment)

if i picked anything other than wizard for my magic mountain resident it would be an insult i think. he always has a jolly reserve about him as well, so i like to imagine a little gnome wooing others with his display of expertise, and it feels right to me. (plus him making short jokes at bdubs expense is way funnier with this context) hes definitely chaotic neutral, as he kinda serves to help and also hinder everyone else on the server. because of this, however, he lives a lonely life in his home among the clouds.

Smallishbeans - Goliath Fighter (Battle Master)

a little straight-forward, but i really like the wide array of sub classes for fighters. plus when seeing him emerge as a red name, my brain just immediately went to a hulking figure at the base of magic mountain, so a goliath is a cool image in my mind. hes probably neutral evil for most of the server, as hes been red the longest and even as a green has threatened injury on multiple occasions.

PearlescentMoon - Human Druid (Circle of the Moon)

i should really watch pearls videos more, its taken all of my brain energy to make this decision. i do enjoy the dynamic she has with scott, especially with the attempt to make the green club, so i guess the best i can say on my knowledge of her is she might fall within lawful good or neutral good. i am curious to see how she handles it when she drops to her last life.

Smajor1995 - Air Genasi Druid (Circle of the Stars)

his skin combined with his role in the origin smp has fueled my desire to make him as otherworldly as possible. i dont watch his pov much either but i have enjoyed his dynamics with the southlands as well as scar! hes a bit of a true neutral, maybe neutral good as he was very against the wither coming into being and actively tried to prevent it too.

[lamortwrites]

Thoughts no one asked for

I do not like the way 5e handled paladins/antipaladins (a term I will be using interchangeably with blackguard -- they're close enough to be the same thing, imo, although I'm sure there's someone who will yell at me for conflating the two). If you've been following me for any considerable amount of time you'll know that I'm not a fan of 5e in general, but most of it I can get on board with or at least understand it, even if I don't like it. But paladins...man, they really fucked that. Paladins are so tightly tied to religion that the weird semi divorce they inserted with the oaths thing just feels wrong. Don't get me wrong, I like some of the oaths, especially within the context of different churches, but shit like oathbreaker? I hate it. I hate what they did to my beautiful fucked up class.

There's just such a fundamental misunderstanding of what a paladin is, imo -- to the point where in bg3 paladins don't even get a god! -- and all the people who started from 5e or even from bg3 just don't have the context to understand why it's so wrong. A friend once described clerics as the shield of the church and paladins as the sword, and while this is a gross oversimplification I don't disagree with the core of it.

Back to oathbreaker for a minute...if you break your paladin oath, you become a fallen paladin. Full stop. You lose your paladin abilities. You lose your god's favour. Mechanically speaking, you become a weaker version of a fighter/warrior/whatever the equivalent in your system is. And I can see why they might have wanted to remove this for balance reasons for people who don't care about the roleplaying side of the game...but if you don't care about the roleplaying aspect, don't fucking play a paladin. The fall of a paladin is one of the juiciest pieces of storytelling you can get -- I've made higher level characters with a level or two in fallen paladin, willingly taken the hit on playing a slightly weaker character, purely for the richness it brings to your backstory. I've been in a party where our paladin fell mid campaign, and he was our only healer while we were stranded in an extremely hostile environment, and the narrative immediately became richer and more interesting because of it. There are always consequences to your actions -- for characters so reliant on holding someone else's favour, like divine casters, those consequences should be harsh and scary!

The only exception to a paladin's fall into failure is their fall into worse. In pathfinder, which is the d20 system I have the most familiarity with, if a paladin falls while aiding an evil god they can choose to switch allegiance, do a straight swap of their paladin levels for antipaladin levels. This certainly isn't the only way to become an antipaladin...but isn't it the most interesting? To take a paragon of justice and honour and strip away all the goodness, dig your fingers into whatever gaps you can find in their armour and pull them out of the light? What the fuck does oathbreaker have on that?

Oathbreaker isn't an oath -- it's the lack of one. Oathbreaker should be the fallen paladin equivalent, not the antipaladin one. Yeah, yeah, there are evil oaths, but it's not the same, is it? It doesn't have the same feel to it. You should be swearing your oath to your god -- breaking it should carry an astounding amount of weight, such that it is too much for most to bear. You should never be rewarded for breaking your oath...unless it is in service of another god, who can reward you handsomely. You did so well -- don't think about all you've lost. Just swear your allegiance anew, let them fit the collar a little tighter around your throat, accept your shiny new reward. You'll fit in so well here, so long as you do as you're told.

In canon, Labrys starts off as a paladin. To Ilmater, of all options! And daddy can't have that -- they aren't allowed autonomy, certainly not if it's to act in a way that will embarrass their father, not if they are going to use that small thread of free will to devote themselves to another. If you speak to Sarevok as an oathbreaker paladin he tells you you first arrived as a fallen paladin, coated in the blood of your order. They lose Ilmater's favour, and their chance at a better life, when they are too weak to resist the hand of their father, pushing their knife into the guts of every other member of their paladin order -- every single person who could have helped save them! -- and leaving them alone. Again. Save for Scel, who is quick to reassure that them that they did so well, that he is so proud of them, that their father is so proud.

Now, they don't accept this straight away, so I don't think the straight swap paladin for antipaladin works so well as an example here, but if antipaladin wasn't alignment locked to lawful I would absolutely give them levels in it. In another world, they did accept it quicker and they did become an antipaladin of Bhaal (Labrys has cleric levels pre tadpole, for deathstalker reasons, but mechanically that's tough to reconcile since wis is easily their lowest stat...cha is their second lowest, so antipaladin still isn't a great fit mechanically, but narratively it's SO fun to think about...) which is a very interesting concept to mull over...especially since the tadpoling is a preemptive consequence of betraying the god they are devoted to, which they have already done once...maybe I'll swap the cleric levels for antipaladin levels and say fuck the alignment restriction (everything does this anyway in 5e, so I don't have to feel bad about it). I'm the dm now. Deathstalkers can be paladins instead of clerics if I say they can.

God I forgot how hot Dorn's intro is

[paladinbaby]

OOPS ALL FAITH BASED CLASSES I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT (this is probably more of a metaphorical thing but jackrabbit and i did discuss 911 tuc crossover for like 0.5 seconds one time so im intrigued)

welcome to my most self indulgent fic ever. basically at the end of season 4 i was like wouldn’t a d&d au where buck is a paladin laying hands on Eddie as eddie bleeds out in the back of a fire truck. and then bc i cannot be normal i was like to write that scene i have to block out the rest of seasons 2 through 4. the general premise is everyone is d&d classes, buck is a devotion paladin/ wild magic sorcerer, eddie is a fighter paladin multi class and the 118 are a unit of heavy armoured firefighters who go fight d&d monsters that end up in los angeles through the movement of the planes and alongside that gay shit is happening. it is very silly. at some point i need to rewrite what i have which is like still only in early s2 to be better bc it is old old writing but it does live rent free in my head.

putting a snippet under a cut bc it is long and silly

“It’s just gelatinous cubes, but be careful and be thorough. We don’t want to miss any and end up with more problems down the line.” They all nodded their way through the familiar speech and Buck took a second to feel smug about the confused look on Eddie’s face.

It felt good not being the new guy, even if he was still the baby.

“Eddie, you stick with Buck while you’re still learning the ropes, okay.” Buck turned just in time to catch the smile Bobby threw at him, knowing full well the complaints he was holding back.

Eddie faced him, not even hiding the remainder of his wide eyed confusion. “Cubes?”

“Yeah, cubes.” He sighed remembering his first days on shift, not knowing the full scope of what the force had become. “Basically as the planes, so like material - which is here - and then places like fae or heaven or whatever move things bleed into each other. Most of the time it’s just like big storms or the odd fire, but sometimes it’s jelly cubes. Did you not pay attention in the academy?”

“No,I just - cubes aren’t what I expected.” His eyes caught on the department issue sword hanging at Buck’s side. “Are we meant to be killing the cubes?”

They just had to find their rhythm, or at least that was what he told himself as Eddie asked another question. Not everyone had seen what he had on his travels and though Bobby had mentioned the guy was Army, he guessed he was from the last vestiges of the normal kind. He scanned the shorter man, he hadn’t adjusted his armour at all and he wasn’t carrying a weapon. Buck was starting to get frustrated, and understood in sudden clarity why the team had cut him so little slack when he started.

“Look, just stay close to me, new guy and don’t let the cubes engulf you.” He set off without checking to see if he was close behind him. He wouldn't let the other man get hurt, but he wasn’t going to babysit him when he had a real job to do. He murmured the sanctuary spell Bobby had taught him under his breath, hoping Eddie wouldn’t catch the extra protection Buck was putting him under.

As soon as they were in the field, he forgot his annoyance at Eddie Diaz, instead focussing on the surprising joy of swinging a sword through a cube of jelly.

He crackled with power and thankfully he felt fine. The warning of energy tingling in the tips of his fingers that so often signified catastrophic magic nowhere to be felt. He swallowed hard, it felt good to be able to fight without fear. Bobby had helped him so much since he got to LA and now he wasn’t constantly in fear of the magic surges that had defined much of his wayward and wild youth.

He was startled out of his thoughts of travel by what sounded like Eddie yelling behind him. He whipped around to see an image that could have been pulled from a legend of an ancient hero or of his wildest dreams. Eddie stood in the centre of the field, sunlight glinting perfectly off of his plate armour, wreathed in flame. Buck watched as he swung a fiery punch at a cube so hard it exploded in tiny shards, so thoroughly destroyed it left no chance of reforming.

He had to say, it was kind of hot.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Nightmare paradise; Doctor Strange x daughter reader

*Author’s note*

Now I know this may not be my best work but I have been DYING to make a Doctor Strange daughter fic since like FOREVER!! A lone solo without any real relationship patterns in tact (mostly Peter Parker WHICH I DON’T DISAGREE WITH AT ALL. I’m just saying I hardly see any other fics that just revolve SOLELY on Stephen strange and a daughter reader. THAT’S IT.) So in the end THIS is what ended up being born.

Also I LEAVE FACVE CASTING OF NIGHTMARE UP TO YOU GUYS!! I personally imagined Troy Baker’s voice for Nightmare but you guys can picture WHOMEVER you wish to be the character for Nightmare. Also this fic is LOOSELY based off of WandaVision but DON’T WORRY NO SPOILERS OF THE SERIES IS GIVEN. I just took a plot point from the series and had it work for the Doctor Strange universe. Enjoy my first Maevel fic in FOREVER dearies :)

Warnings: Swearing, the BLIP mentioned and described, Thanos mentioned (yeah he’s a warning), some battle sequences, blood (if you’re squeamish).

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queen-paladin​

@soy-guey​

____________________________________________________________

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring off.  I groaned and reached out to try and shut it off but no matter how many times I was slamming my hand on my desk, my alarm was still blaring.  Finally I got out from under my covers and unplugged my clock and saw just how bright it was outside.  I let out a groan and collapsed back to my pillows.

“Why do I have to be woken up so early?” I groaned tiredly before heaving myself upward and out of my bed.  I walked towards my jointed bathroom and took my morning shower. After that I got changed and went downstairs to eat my breakfast.

I lifted my hand and soon a pop-tart came into my hand and I unwrapped the tinfoil and took out one of the two pop-tarts.

“It somehow amuses me to see you use your mystic arts to bring you your breakfast when you could just get it yourself.” That deep familiar baritone voice spoke out to me.

“Coming from the guy who just last month used his powers to wash his car when he was teaching me the form of astral projection.” I sassed back at him.

“That was for the purpose of multitasking.”

“That’s not a real thing.”

“What are you talking about of course it is.”

“Is not.”

“Is too.”

“Is not.”

“Is too times infinity times infinity there I win!” I chuckled and teasingly poked my tongue out at him.

“When did you get sassier than me, dad?”

“More like you inherited your sass from me. But no one can out sass me.” He said as he playfully booped my nose.

“Yeah but never forget dad,” I then took his arm and kicked his leg in before tossing him over my shoulder to finally pin him down. “I’m the more clever fighter out of the two of us.” He hummed questioningly.

“You sure about that?” suddenly I was levitated in the air and constricted in a familiar red velvet cloth.  I looked down to see the cloak of levitation had my arms pinned to my sides and was levitating me just a few inches off the ground.

“You cheat!”

“The Sorcerer Supreme never cheats.”

“But my father does.”

“You know you better choose your next sentence very carefully.” My dad threatened with that growl-like tone to his voice, but the twinkle of mischief and playful smirk on his face told me that this wasn’t a real threat.

“Or what? Parlor magician.” Next thing I knew the cloak of levitation had lifted part of it’s material up and it started messing up my hair. Not only getting it tangled up but making sure it gave my hair a static charge to it.

I exclaimed as I pleaded it to stop before it was too late, but soon enough my hair resembled a porcupine with it’s quills standing up. My dad laughed as the cloak finally released me and I fixed my hair.

“Very funny dad.”

“Oh I think it’s very funny.” He said through his deep baritone chuckle.  I tried to adjust my hair but some strands still remained on end.  “Here, let me help.” He then licked his fingers and I exclaimed.

“Eww gross you know I hate that!”

“Well it’s either this or we wet your hair again and you don’t have time to argue because you’re already 10 minutes late for class.”

“WHAT!?” I looked at the grandfather clock and saw that it was already 7:50am. “Shit!”

“Ah-ah-ah-ah language!” my dad scolded me.  I growled lowly and said.

“Okay fine just fix it hurry!” he soon made my hairbrush appear and he gently re-brushed my hair to it’s normal way.  Any crazy strand that was out of place, my dad would lick his fingers and tame it down by stroking it down to the rest of my hair.

“There you go, back to your normal gorgeous hair.” I then quickly opened up a portal to my school but before I left the cloak once again grabbed my arm preventing me from leaving.

“What now?”

“You know the rules, come on. No matter how old you get you never leave the house without giving your old man a kiss.” I looked up at him then stood up on my tip toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m going to be late.”

“You’re always late.” The cloak finally freed me and I hopped through the portal and gave one last wave to my dad before closing the portal back up.  As the last warning bell rang, I quickly raced through the back entrance of the school and raced to my first class.

The day went on as normal.  First block Advance Science, second block, PE, followed by half of third block being English and then lunch at 12:15pm and that’s where I was right now. We had about a half hour for lunch before continuing the second half of 3rd block since that’s how second lunches go.

See my school has this strange set up based on whatever class you have for your 3rd block depends on your lunch schedule.  If you had an elective class (choir, drama, band, orchestra, art), a foreign language, or science class you had 1st lunch at around 10:30am (so that means you eat lunch before you would go to your 3rd block class).  

Second lunches (like me) follow under English and Math have the first half dedicated to class, then lunch then we continue our class. And then 3rd lunches are for the people who eat lunch after their 3rd block classes, they’d eat then go straight to their last class of the day (history, PE/driver’s ED, health, home economics).

I was sitting with some of my friends when I heard a voice call out to me.

“Hey (Y/n)!” I turned and saw my group of friends.  I walked over to our table and that’s when one of my friends Courtney said.

“Yo (n/n) what be up?”

“Nothing much, just trying to get by in Mr. Gordon’s class.”

“I still can’t believe you somehow managed to pass his class when a friend of mine is struggling so bad. And he’s never done bad in the advance classes.” Said another friend of mine, Bobi said.

“I think it comes from having a neurosurgeon as a father. Well former neurosurgeon.” I said recalling the accident.  Of course I never told my friends that my dad eventually became a superhero that could bend time and reality to his will all thanks to his training he did with the former Sorceress Supreme.

“Well no worries (n/n), I’m sure your dad will get back on his feet soon.” My friend Jay said.

“Yeah, he is a strong man.”

“Then how come he got bleeped away like the rest of the world did?” said Kira.  I looked up at my ginger haired friend in shock.

“What did you just say?”

“I said then how come when my dad gets the shit knocked out of him, he just bitches about it?” I looked at her confused for a second and that’s when Kelsey answered.

“Just be thankful your dad at least tries to work. All my dad does is drinks and sleep.” I patted her shoulder comfortingly as I continued eating my pizza.

When school was over, my friends and I went down to the bowling alley since it was Friday.  We reserved our usual lanes and got into our teams.  I was up next to bowl for my team, I took hold of my red bowl, lined myself up and took a deep breath in then exhaled out.

‘(Y/n)! (Y/n)!’ my dad’s voice soon screamed in my head.  His tone sounded urgent and—worried? What was going on?

“Yo (Y/n) you alright?” Mikaela came up to me placing her hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah. Yeah sorry.” She gave me a comforting squeeze on my shoulder.

“It’s okay, just make the shot otherwise we’ll lose and you are our best striker.” She went back to her seat and took a sip of her diet coke. My team was cheering me on, I took another deep breath but just as I took my run and let the ball go, my head suddenly felt like it was splitting open.

The ball went straight down the gutter and I was soon met with all these flashes.  I saw my dad, Tony Stark, Peter Parker, and these—other people including myself on what looked like a deserted wasteland of rubble.

There was this giant purple being that we were all fighting, a flash of green and then I saw my dad turn to dust.  When my vision came back I could hear my team groaning and my other friends who had their team cheering.

“WHAT THE FUCK (Y/N)!!!” Danielle exclaimed.

“Gurl you never. Miss. A. shot!” Mikaela snapped at me.

“What the fuck was that (Y/n)?!” Jay yelled.

“Ehhh thanks (y/n). Now you guys have to pay for the meal.” Courtney said as she snapped her fingers in victory.

And I don’t know how or why it happened but suddenly I was back holding the ball in my hands, staring down the pins and my team was cheering for me.  How did I get back here? Why was I back here? I felt myself step forward a few times and release the ball and soon I got a perfect strike.

My team cheered as the pins were cleared and a new set was placed down in front of me.

“Alright (n/n)! One more strike and we win!” my ball soon came back onto the ramp and I picked it up, stepped forward and released the ball and low and behold another strike! My team cheered while the other team groaned in defeat.

“Oh yasss Queen!” Chris exclaimed.

“Alright Courtney, pay up you’re buying the pizza now!”

“Damn you (y/n).” Courtney sneered at me as she took out her wallet and left the payment for all our pizzas and a tip for our waiter.

After that it was already getting dark outside and when I looked at my watch I had seen that it was now 10:30pm.

“Well guys I gotta get going.” I told them.

“Yeah I promised my mom that we’d go shopping for my sister’s wedding next month.” Mikaela said.

“Yeah and I gotta get up and ready for work by 8am. See yah guys.” Courtney said and soon all my friends and I went our separate ways.  I went into an alleyway to open up a portal to get me back home when I heard a sudden crash behind me.

“Hello?” I cried out.  Nothing but silence replied back to me. “Who-who’s there?” another crash was heard just head of me but I didn’t see anything.

The quick fluttering sounds of a cape or cloak whisked past behind me and when I quickly turned around I thought I could see the cloak of levitation, but it was so dark and so fast I couldn’t tell for sure.

I quickly made my portal and jumped through it and immediately closed it before finally starting to hyperventilate.  My knees turned to jelly as I collapsed to the ground trying to control my breathing.

“(Y/n)? What’s wrong sweetheart are you okay?” I looked up and saw my dad kneeling down beside me.

“I—I’m fine.”

“No. You’re not. Come on let’s get you up to your room and settled in your bed.” He picked me up, holding me like how he always used to hold me when I was little and carried me back to my room.

I was now in my sleep pants and an old nightshirt.  My dad made a tall glass of milk appear by my bedside and he said as he brushed a strand of hair out of my face.

“Now, you wanna talk about why I found you hyperventilating at the bottom of the stairs?” I took a sip of my milk and said.

“It’s just…..I don’t know. Something weird happened today.”

“Like what?”

“Well there was something that Kira said to me. She—” but for some reason what I was about to say slipped my mind.

“She was going to say what?”

“She……she said……I-I can’t remember. I had it but now it’s….it’s gone.”

“Okay, what else happened? I know it couldn’t be just because of what she said.”

“Yeah, yeah then there was this sense of……déjà vu. Like when I was bowling I……” but again like before, when I was about to speak about—the thing it slipped my mind once again.  At this point my dad was looking at me like I was mad. “I…..I can’t remember the déjà vu thing either. Daddy, am……am I going mad?” he pressed his hand against my forehead.

“I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers.” He said gravely. “But I’ll tell you a little secret. All the best people are.” He said with a grin. I looked at him with my bitch face which made him chuckle.

“Must you always quote Alice in Wonderland to me?”

“It’s your favorite movie and book of all time. You remember how you’d always beg me to read it to you as a little girl?”

“One look with my puppy dog eyes and you succumbed every time.” He pressed his forehead against mine as his nose gently rubbed against mine as he chuckled that deep baritone chuckle of his.  The type that always made me feel safe.

“How about this, tomorrow we just take a day for ourselves. Just the two of us. We don’t even need to leave the house.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“Great, love you sweetheart.” He leaned in and kissed my temple before leaving my room and shutting the door behind him.  I downed the rest of the milk and suddenly felt sleepy. I collapsed onto my pillow and like a lightbulb I fell right asleep.

But throughout the night I kept tossing and turning as I was hearing not only my dad’s voice but Wong’s voice too.  They were both frantic with worry as they kept calling out to me.

When I opened my eyes I found myself back at that wasteland and I saw myself fighting against the giant purple alien.  I was holding the sacred sword of Vishanti.  I saw myself leap into the air and swing the sword downward but the alien caught it with his bare hands.  The two of us struggled with our strengths until he grabbed me by my white tunic and threw me like a ragdoll.

My dad soon came in with the bolts of balthakk which broke apart the ground around the purple giant but his gauntlet glowed a bright purple and shit a blast towards my dad.  But my dad summoned a portion of the mirror dimension and used it as a shield to protect himself before sending it towards the giant.

While the giant was distracted I then suddenly came flying over my dad and sent the Crimson bands of Cyttorak to bind him while my dad multiplied himself using the images of Ikkon.  He surrounded himself around the purple giant and each image created their own binding bands which shot down towards the giant purple creep.

But he used the gauntlet again and soon my dad’s image went back to just himself and my hold on him was also severed.  He used the gauntlet to bring my dad closer to him but I couldn’t hear what he was telling my dad.

What I did see was him taking the eye of Agamotto and crush it into his palm before throwing my dad aside knocking him out.  I then heard myself scream out towards me dad and saw the rage in my own eyes.

I saw myself let out a battle cry as I leapt into action. This time using hand to hand combat using the sword as well as creating my own shields to block his attacks.  Wow I was a rageful monster with whoever this guy was.  But—why is this so familiar to me? I know this couldn’t be just a dream, it’s like—a memory? A vision maybe?

All I know was that I saw myself getting weaker with each kick and punch I tried to throw.  That was until I saw myself getting stabbed in my side.  The purple giant then said.

“I respect you young witch. But now you’re starting to become a nuisance.” I then watched as he took out the sword from my side and I saw myself collapse onto the ground bleeding heavily.

I found myself gasping as I woke up and looked around to see myself still in my bedroom.  I turned to the clock and saw that it was 1:45am.  I quickly raced downstairs, in the total pitch black of my house not knowing what I was doing.

“And just where do you think you’re going little miss?” my dad’s voice soon said.  He turned around in a chair as he turned on the light beside him.

“I-I was only…….”

“You weren’t planning on sneaking out were you? You know my rule. No venturing out after midnight.”

“No dad I-I-I wasn’t.” he stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder.  However I felt his nail sink onto my skin piercing through my shirt painfully.  I bit my bottom lip trying to keep in a scream or even a sound of pain.

“You know how it makes me feel whenever you disobey your father. You wouldn’t want to make father angry, do you?”

“N-no.” I whimpered out.

“That’s my girl.” Suddenly my dad was shot with a bolt of balthakk.  I ducked down holding my shoulder and saw a small amount of blood actually on my fingertips.

“She’s not your girl, she’s mine!” I turned around and saw Wong and my dad?! Wait what was going on here? Why were there two of them? My dad was in his full Sorcerer Supreme outfit as the cloak of levitation had him hovering over a few inches off the ground.

My dad who had been shot across the room growled out as he stood back up.

“Impossible. You were gone! I’d seen it for myself!” he hissed. My other dad smirked and said.

“14,000,605 possibilities I had seen and only one victory. That possibility has already come to pass. Now I’ll only tell you this once,” he clapped his fists together and soon his shields came over his hands and he warned my dad. “Let. My daughter go less you face the wrath of the Master of the Mystic Arts.”

“(Y/n) you need to come with us now before it’s too late.” Wong told me.

“I—I don’t understand……how?”

“Sweetheart listen to me, I’m your real father. Just come stand behind Wong and I and we’ll get you out of here.”

“Don’t listen to him (Y/n). I’m your real father. Who would know what your favorite lullaby was?”

“(Y/n) I know he may seem like me but he’s not. It’s Nightmare. He’s kept you trapped in the Dream Dimension for 3 years.”

What? Then suddenly behind me a giant green and black blast of magic shot up in the air.  As my dad’s body soon began to morph into another male’s body, wearing a familiar green and black attire, his hair growing wild and madded like a lion’s mane, his nails growing sharper and blacker like claws, his teeth turning to fangs and his eyes.  Those once warm blueish-green eyes that once held warmth now turned a frightening and haunting yellow with a black pupil at its center.

Suddenly it all came back to me.  When Thanos had snapped half of the population away, it gave Nightmare the advantage and power boast he needed to try and escape the Dream dimension and enter our own.

So three years ago I along with some other Sorcerers (those that were left) went to the Dream Dimension to stop him from invading Earth.  But due to everyone’s fear and guilt of losing their loved ones and what the world had come to, Nightmare was almost too powerful to stop.  He had killed one sorcerer who was still in her training and another one he had driven mad with fear.

In order to spare the others as well as the rest of the Earth, I volunteered myself as penance.  I told Nightmare that he could have me if he spared everyone on Earth. He agreed and sent the rest of the sorcerers I had brought with me back to Earth leaving me under his control.  I guess he had me relive a normal life with my dad where it was mainly us, no Thanos, no other Avengers, just me and him.

A haunting laughter was heard as Nightmare spoke with his true voice.

“Right you are Doctor. However you’re only partially correct this time around.” He walked right up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders gripping them once again. “Your daughter came to me by her own freewill.”

“That’s a lie! My daughter would never surrender herself to the likes of you!” Nightmare turned to me and disappeared into black smoke before reappearing behind me.

“Do you want to tell him? Or shall I?” he said as I felt one of his claw-like nails nick across my neck.  I hissed in pain and felt a small amount of blood dripping down.  His finger brushed across the cut and I could see him lick the blood off his finger from my peripheral vision.

“I’m sorry dad.”

“(Y/n)…….why?” before I could say anything Nightmare simply shushed me which in turn silenced me.  I tried to speak but not even a peep came out of me.  Nightmare had taken my voice.

“Seems she had more common sense than you did. The daughter of the Sorcerer Supreme is a precious treasure to uphold.” I felt him stroke down my hair, the very same way my dad would always do it to me.

“This is your last warning Nightmare, let her go or else.”

“Or else what? In case you hadn’t noticed I’m the one in control here. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been before. And you’re in my dimension which gives me the homefield advantage!”

“Yeah, but there’s one thing you still haven’t let go of. Your constant need to brag.” My dad said with a grin.  Nightmare looked at my father confused which gave me the chance to free myself from his grip and I binded him with the Crimson bands of Cyttorak. Wong soon joined in and pushed a wall from the mirror dimension right towards Nightmare sending him out of the room.

My dad raced up towards me and the two of us embraced each other.  I felt his left hand press against my temple while his right touched the base of my throat. I felt this warmth come over me and I said to him.

“I’m sorry dad.”

“Apologize later. Right now let’s get you out of here. You’ve been in here long enough.” He took my hand and we quickly made a run for it.

The normal streets of New York melted away and I finally saw the Dream dimension for what it really was.  A dark black shadow surrounded the sky with haunting eyes staring at you and fanged mouths snarling or taunting you with your worst fears and guilt.  Doors were also scattered everywhere, each one leading to somewhere you didn’t want to be or even get lost in.

And at the bottom of the trail we ran along at, an endless, empty abyss.  One trip or a slip, then it’s a never ending fall throughout the Dream dimension.   Wong let out a few shield platforms for us to hop across.

“Come on! The door we came through won’t be in the same spot for long.” He was the first to hop onto the first platform but then just before dad and I could even take the first leap, a python suddenly shot out from the floor and took hold of my calf.

“(Y/n)!” my dad exclaimed.  I was being dragged towards the edge of the trail.  I tried my best to scratch myself back towards my dad but the python continued to drag me towards the edge till I was finally dangling over the abyss.

My dad summoned the sword of Vishanti and threw it straight into the python’s eye which forced it to let me go as it recoiled back in pain before disappearing into a puff of black smoke.  Dad quickly brought me back onto solid ground and we both saw my leg was heavily bleeding.

“Never did I think I could hate snakes even more than I usually do.” I groaned out a joke.

“Just be thankful he didn’t conjure up a venomous one. Try to stop the bleeding.” The cloak of levitation came off my dad’s shoulders and wrapped itself around my leg, tightening itself up to stop the bleeding.

“You and Wong need to get out of here. You guys can come back with help.”

“I’m not gonna leave you here again that’s not happening!”

“Dad I can’t walk! And without the cloak you can’t fly.”

“We’ll think of something.”

‘I’m afraid there won’t be any time for you three, or should I say you two.’ That’s when we noticed that Wong had suddenly gone missing.

“Wong? Wong!” my dad called out.

‘Face it Strange, you’re in my dimension now. And thanks to your daughter’s powers I’ve grown more powerful than ever before!’ My dad picked me up bridal style and proceeded to run.

Somehow we managed to find somewhere to hide.  One of many doors that simply looked like a dark cave. My dad sat me down and that’s when the cloak unwrapped itself from my leg and my dad began to heal my leg as quickly as he could.

“Dad…..if—if we don’t make it out of here…..”

“We’re gonna make it out.”

“Dad please I—I need to say this, after five long years please just let me speak my mind.” He looked at me worriedly but gave me a nod. “If we don’t make it out of here alive, I—just want you to know that…..I’m proud to call you my father. I know we had a—rocky start especially when I became a teenager but—after the accident I thought I had lost you forever. And then when—Thanos blipped you away. I’d come so close to losing you again without telling you how I’ve felt about you. I love you daddy. I really, really do love you.” He pressed his hand against my cheek and said.

“I love you too (Y/n). I love you so, so much. I know I haven’t been Dad of the year to you, but……I thought it was because I wasn’t ready to be a dad. I thought I would screw up and have you end up broken. But I am proud to call you my daughter, my little white witch.” I smiled at him sadly.

‘How sentimental.’ Nightmare’s voice echoed through the darkness.  My dad pulled me close to his chest, his arms wrapped around me protectively, same thing with the cloak as it felt the red velvet material wrap it’s two edges around me.

“So what now Nightmare? Now that I’ve broken free of your spell you going to kill me?” I heard his haunting chuckle as he said.

“No of course not. He is.” Suddenly my dad was struck with one of Nightmare’s controlling spells.  It hit him right in his eyes and I saw the black and green magic aura surround my dad, trying to manipulate him.

“No! Dad! Dad no please fight it!” I pleaded as my dad was groaning and writhing on the floor.  He held his hands to his head as he exclaimed in pain. “Daddy no please, you’re stronger than him. You’re clever than him, you’re Doctor Stephen Strange!”

“Hate to break it to you sweetheart, but daddy’s no longer home.” Nightmare soon appeared as the cave light up by a single firepit just a few feet away from us.  Nightmare stood on top of a ledge of sorts and that’s when I heard the snarl of an animal next to me.

When I looked down that’s when I saw my dad had now shifted into a Nightmare.  Teeth like a wolf’s bared at me, gleaming like the full moon, his eyes now a haunting gold like a tiger’s eye but his pupils were slitted like a snake’s, claws like meat hooks, a whip-like tail that almost looked like a dragon’s tail and bat wings soon sprouted from his back as he stared me down snarling.

I backed up before hobbling away from him but my dad charged after me.  That’s when the cloak of levitation came to protect me as it wrapped itself around my father’s face trying to smother him.

“You know maybe I should’ve made you deal with this the past three years. Your biggest fear is your beloved father turned against you.” I fell to the ground due to my injury and backed away up against the rocky wall.  All the while I watched in horror as my dad actually began ripping the cloak apart before staring directly as me once again.

“Release him at once Nightmare! This wasn’t a part of our deal!” I snapped as I looked up to where he was standing above me.

“Contracts can be edited sweetheart. So long as I bind you to my will it doesn’t matter what you see. Unless by my word that I release you from your contract, you are stuck here for eternity.” I heard a snarl and when I looked forward, my dad was just inches away from my face.

His canine teeth gleaming right at me as he kept licking his fangs.  He truly was a monster now, there was not a single trace of my dad anymore in this beast.

“No daddy.” He stalked closer and closer inch by inch till I could feel his hot breath panting right in my face.

“Sweet dreams love.” Nightmare gave me one last taunt using my dad’s real voice.

Then quicker than lightning the beast that was once my father actually lunged for my neck and I felt his canines pierce my skin and I let out a blood curdling scream.

“Blech! Blood, blood, blood! And—death!” I said as my dad released my neck grinning at my over dramatic death scene.  I then collapsed to the ground and played dead with my tongue out and everything.

“Alright now you’re just milking it.” My dad spoke with a slightly more gravel to his normal voice (kinda reminded me of Smaug from the Hobbit films). “Besides, I think we’ve got him. Thank you Nightmare you’ve been a great costar.” Dad said as he helped me stand up.

“What?” oh the confusion on Nightmare’s face was priceless.

“Oh did you think you actually affected me with your Nightmare magic? Well spells can be contained by other spells, and your attack is trapped in the mirror dimension.”

“And I’ve been working on some other forms of magic like shapeshifting thanks to some Norse spell books.” I explained to him gesturing to my dad.

“My girl is a clever one. Cheeky at times too.” Dad said as he ruffled my hair.  Nightmare growled and said to me.

“But you forget one thing, you’re still under my control (Y/n) Strange. So says my law.”

“Yeah about that.” I then pulled out a small tape recorder from my pocket, rewind it and played the part that I needed and soon Nightmare’s voice said.

‘I release you from your contract.’

“Now by your own law, I am no longer tied to the Dream Dimension, or your control.” Nightmare’s face dropped from pride to utter defeat.

“No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

“Oh yes. It’s called a hustle bitch. Mic drop!” Soon a portal came behind dad and I and we both jumped through it sending us back to the New York Sanctum.  The last thing we heard was Nightmare’s defeated tantrums.

Wong immediately closed the portal behind us and I dropped the spell from my dad turning him back to his normal self.

“You know he’ll try to return.” Wong told us.

“Yeah and now it seems I’m a bigger threat to him than you are dad.” I said.

“Well no matter what happens, we’ll be there to make sure he doesn’t try to return to Earth. Whatever it takes.”

Later that night as I was browsing through my phone, a knock was heard at my door.

“It’s open.” My dad soon came in and he said.

“How are you feeling?”

“After finally getting some real food in my system, and finally getting to use the Internet again. I’d say I’m doing better.”

“You know you didn’t have to be the one to do it. Wong was willing to hold Nightmare off.”

“I know, but the Time stone did show you that I needed to be the one to do it. Plus a poor, helpless, defenseless little girl willing to sacrifice herself for her friends. Nightmare could never resist such a scenario.”

“But to be tortured by him for three years? I’m surprised your psyche hasn’t been damaged.” He said as he sat down beside me.

“Well truthfully it wasn’t any different than what we’re doing right now. I was basically living a normal life with you, still using our powers but it was all before Thanos ever came into the picture. It almost felt like a sitcom at times.”

“Interesting.” Dad pondered.

“In all seriousness though dad, I’m fine. Mentally and physically. Well most of me anyways.” I said raising my newly bandaged leg. “But that’ll heal in the next few days thanks to Wong’s herbal remedies.”

“Well it’s getting late, so your head goes right there.” He said pointing to my pillow.

“Nah think I’ll just stay up all night. I mean I have been asleep technically for 3 years.”

“Fine, but don’t come whining to me when I come in here at first light for your morning training.”

“Please dad. You hate mornings even more than I do. Even when you were a neurosurgeon you hated your morning shifts.” He chuckled and gave me a kiss on top of my head.

“You really are my daughter.”

“And damn proud of it.”

“Goodnight (Y/n).”

“Night dad. Glad to have you back.” He winked at me before leaving my room.  I laid back against my pillow and sighed heavily continuing to go through the web and looking at my old social media accounts that I hadn’t used in awhile and seeing just what some of my old friends were up to. “You may have created the perfect paradise for me Nightmare, but I wouldn’t trade my reality for anything else.” I spoke out loud knowing that Nightmare could be potentially listening in.

[colossal-fallout]

Can u write some Paladin Danse smut pls? Female reader maybe mention the first time they had met?? Ty

Squad Gladius

Warnings: 18+ smut, angst and description of injury.

"Where's that stimpak?!" Your voice screeches as gunshots fire all around you. The loud small explosions is enough to deafen you, but your focus was all on Paladin Danse, injured at your knees.

"I'm trying!" Haylen cries as she fires down a hallway - her targets out of your vision.

"Ah-ha!" A super mutant taunts, strutting towards you with his shitty pipe pistol that looked like he'd clumsily made it in 8th grade workshop class. "Tin Man, go boom."

Your teeth bare into a snarl; your desire to save Danse has you panicked and desperate, but your survival instincts transmute it into pure rage.

The slight gash and trail of blood on your forehead isn't even felt as you grab the only weapon close to you - a shotgun.

Looks like you have to do everything yourself...

Your body leaves Danse for a moment as you sprint towards the reloading Green-skin. He'd been smarter than your average mutant, having aimed his shots at Danse's fusion core, exploding it before he could safely get out of range.

And the only thing more infuriating than a super mutant, was a super mutant who had a bit of brain inside his green dome.

Almost in slow motion, with one arm you cock the shotgun and press the barrel right into the monsters cheek, pulling the trigger before it could even react.

You turn on your heel and run to aid Haylen, not fazed about the FEV victims grey matter scattering your clothes. It was now the norm in post-apocalyptic America.

You shove her aside harshly, removing her from the line of fire.

"Go help Danse." Is all that leaves your lips as you pluck her laser pistol from her hands.

Haylen obeys as you take care of the two brutes down the hallway, who were taking cover in adjoining doorways.

"Where - where's, y/n?" Danse croaks as Haylen begins to pull out her medkit.

"Shh..." She soothed, tears pooling in her eyes. "She's okay. Just tying up some loose ends."

She pushed the needle into his neck, it was faster to work that way, before pushing down the lever. It hisses as the chemicals stored inside successfully enter his blood stream.

"I need, to tell her..." He was out of it. Wasn't entirely sure where he was or what was happening.

His vision began to fade.

"I'm losing him!" Haylen screams just as you finish up the last enemy.

All he could hear was his own breaths as everything started to fill into an inky blackness. Your legs heading towards him as Haylen pumped his chest were the last things he saw.

"I love..." He whispered, desperately yet weakly holding his gloved hand out for you, before it crashes to the ground.

The next two days were a total blur.

You were absolutely grief stricken and seemed to just float around above your body as your comrade, friend and mentor fought for his life.

Thank god Rhys had pulled through and managed to transmit a distress pulser, a vertibird swooping down to your aid in all its glory.

But it didn't feel like a successful mission while Danse was lying in his quarters, fighting for his life.

You'd popped in to check in on him for the countless time, the bed sinking slightly as you perched yourself next to his warm body. He was shirtless, his abdomen wrapped in bandages, the shrapnel of his exploding suit no doubt gifting him with more battle scars.

Oh Danse... You think as you gently stroke his stubbled face.

You jump when his hand finds its way to your wrist, his now open cocoa eyes melting at the sight of you.

"Y/N..." He croaks.

You immediately pass him the glass of water that sat on his bedstand, aiding him as he gulped it desperately.

"How you feeling?" You asked, hiding how concerned you were. "You had us all worried there, Paladin."

"I've been better." He lets out a weak laugh.

Such a soldier...

"Well, I'm glad you're back with us, sir." You smile softly, not able to stop the silent tear that rolled down your precious face.

"Don't call me that." He wavered his hand dismissively, thumbing your tear away with his other.

You seem taken aback in surprise.

He notices your expression. "Y/N, I... Have to tell you something. I'm uh... Not very good at this sort of thing."

"it's okay." You smile, running your fingers through his raven black hair. "I heard you... You don't have to say a thing."

His brow furrows for a second wondering what you meant, before soaring up when he remembered.

"You did, huh? Sorry about -"

You silence him by pressing your lips against his. You know him all too well and you were certain he would never dream of making the first move. This man oozed testosterone yet when it came to using it on anything other than fighting, he was like a lost child.

He returns your kiss, cupping your face tenderly; the adrenaline rush from your lips against his sweeter than any rush he'd gotten from any battle.

His pace quickened, rapidly getting desperate after yearning for you for so long, keeping his crush a secret from everyone; even himself at first.

"y/n..." He breathes. "I need you."

The imprint of his excitement pressed against the sheets that covered his lower half.

"You're not in any shape for that." You laugh softly.

His eyes plead but his mouth utters; "Yeah... Maybe not right now."

You get to your feet, grabbing the zip of your brotherhood jumpsuit, your eyes transforming into the orbs of a vixen as you slowly pulled it down.

His lips parted and eyes widened hungrily, as if getting bigger would somehow take more of what he was seeing into his essence.

Your clothing fell to the floor, your body as naked and vulnerable as the day you were born; offering him your body as well as your heart.

His tongue rolls over his bottom lip, then he stutters in awe.

"Y- y/n..."

You remove the sheet that covered him before climbing between his legs.

You waited for protest. To see if he was still too hurt to handle even the most tender forms of love.

But he remained silent; say for his increased breathing.

"Tell me if it gets too much." Your voice carries through the air full of affection.

"I..." He begins, a pink hue starting to colour his skin. "I won't last long."

"That's okay." You reassured before lowering your head and running your tongue from the base of his shaft, all the way up his thick dick and to the top.

He gasps and grips the sheets, his barrel chest rapidly bobbing up and down.

Circling your tongue around his leaking tip, you delight in his disbelieving stare down at you. He groans out loudly and bucks his hips automatically as you swallow him whole, slowly working him with your mouth, tongue and hand.

All you could both think of was you wouldn't have dreamed this would even be possible back when you first met. The two of you thinking the same; "There's no way they would want me."

His quiet whimpers fill the room arousing you to the point of your insides becoming slick.

She's so... Beautiful he'd thought when he first saw her, barging into the parking lot of the police station heroically, firing down ferrals like it was a hobby.

You pick up the pace. His panting becoming more desperate, his fingers running through his hair at how good it could feel being in your mouth.

"Y/N. I'm going to cum soon." He warns.

You moan, vibrating him as you plunge him to the back of your throat over and over sending him over the edge.

He whispers an "Ah~!" as his jaw falls open, brows knitting together while he pulses thick, hot liquid down your throat. You took it all swallowing it by the cup load.

"Sh-shit, y/n!"

You didn't think you'd ever hear him curse at you like that.

Removing your mouth he lies there, a ruined mess wondering if he'd actually died the other day and was in heaven. You gently lay yourself beside him where he wraps his arms around you and plants a kiss on your head.

"...Ad Victoriam." He gasps.

"...Please don't say that after sex again."

I hope you enjoyed. Still waiting for the computer store to call me so it was on my phone. This got a little more angsty than intended 😅

[noodle-puppy]

Critical Role Campaign 3 Race and Class Hopes and Predictions

So here I am, going to throw my hat in the ring guessing what I think the cast of Critical Role are playing, giving that Campaign 3 is just around the corner. I’ll probably be wrong but I think I’ll have fun with this! Guesses are under the cut, as this post might get long...

TRAVIS: Centaur Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter

Travis seems to prefer melee combatants who just hit things and get the job done; supposedly he’s said somewhere about not wanting to play a full-caster, yet I’ve seen a lot of predictions for Wizard (though I can see why). Blood Hunter seems like an obvious choice, but perhaps too obvious - but I can’t deny that I would love to see Travis go full werewolf! Besides, with what happened to Mollymauk and all, this class needs more time to shine: so Order of the Lycan Blood Hunter it is! Honourable mentions to Bard, Monk and Rogue; as they’re also classes I’d like to see Travis play.

For the species pick, I’d kill to see Travis play a Centaur. The idea of a centaur werwolf is hilarious to me, and has evocative imagery! I know that as fey creatures centaurs can’t normally get lycanthropy, but I can see Matt making an exception for the reasons I just said. Realistically though, I think he’ll pick a Human, so if he does you can’t say I was wrong! >:)

LAURA: Tabaxi Echo Knight Fighter

My first thought was Bard, but after Jester I don’t think Laura will want to be a support class any time soon. I think she’ll be a melee combatant, probably one without magic since both Vex and Jester had magic at their disposal. Barbarian is a popular pick for her, and while I can see the appeal, I’m going with Fighter. Perhaps she’ll go Echo Knight as a fun callback to Jester’s Invoke Duplicity? It’d be a pretty cool subclass to see in action!

As for species, I think we all want to see a Tabaxi. I'm getting early 2000′s 3D platformer vibes from this character, akin to Ratchet and Clank and Sly Cooper.

LIAM: Drow College of Tragedy Bard

Liam has gone on record to say that he’s playing through the four traditional RPG classes: Fighter (Orym), Thief (Vax), Mage (Caleb) and Healer. Cleric seems to be the obvious pick here (and hey, it’s probably right), but honestly? I’d love to see Liam as a Bard. I think he’d have a lot of fun taking a class associated with cheerfulness and revelry and injecting it with his trademark angst and sorrow. Could be a fun subversion! Apparently Matt has a Shakespearian homebrew College of Tragedy subclass in the works, and I think I’d be perfect to debut here!

Species-wise my first thought was Warforged, since they exist in Exandria now and the idea of a robot with instruments integrated into its body is very cool (write that down!), I’d love to see an Elf in the main cast, and I can see Liam paying tribute to Essek by making a Dark Elf his choice.

SAM: Kenku Circle of Dreams Druid

I know that Liam picks Sam’s combo, but from what I’ve seen Sam is the opposite of Travis: he loves magic-based characters, cleverly manipulating the games with his usual chaotic glee. A Wild Magic Sorcerer is probably going to be the winner (I like the theory of him and Laura making Wild Magic siblings!), but if a man can dream I’d like to see him as a Druid. I’d like to see a high Wisdom character from him, but yet the idea of messing around with Wild Shape is too good to pass up. I have no preference on subclass, so I’ll just pick Circle of Dreams because it sounds cool.

As you can tell I’d like to see more monstrous characters this time around, and you know what would be perfect for Sam? A Kenku. I’d trust no one else to pull it off. Also a kenku usually has black wings, so they’re totally going to be the love interest of Marisha’s character. Nailed the most important question!

MARISHA: Fairy Oath of the Crown Paladin

Speaking of, Marisha has summoned the wrath of nature as Keyleth and the might of martial arts as Beau; so this time it’d be interesting to see her step back and make a support character instead. We’ve already got Liam as our healer, but I think it’s time we had someone start out as a Paladin! Marisha looks like she has the gusto to pull off any of the subclasses, but of the lot the Oath of the Crown is catching my eye.

Something I’d like to see from this campaign is some of the new races, and one of my new favourites was released just recently - the Fairy! Only problem is they can’t fly in medium or heavy armour, so maybe we’ll see an unconventional Paladin build here?

ASHLEY: Dhampir Way of the Long Death Monk/Phantom Rogue

I’m going to be predictable here and say Ashley’s playing a Monk, a class that she expressed interest in during the Vox Machine vs Mighty Nein oneshot. I’m picking Way of the Long Death as the subclass to pair well with my species choice. On a similar note, the Phantom subclass of the Rogue will also work, and after her miserable dice luck I’d want Ashley to play a character with a consistent set of skills: she’ll finally get a good Slealth check!

Ashley’s seems to like playing characters at extreme ends of the spectrum -  Pike and Fearne look innocent, yet hold terrifying power; Yasha looks gothic and intimidating, but is gentle and introverted outside of battle. I’d like to see a character from her who looks like they could kill you and will, and the Dhampir is a fairly new playable species which not only fits the bill, but could lend itself to some great roleplay.

TALESIN: Fire Genasi Alchemist Artificer/Genie Warlock

Talesin seems almost inscrutable to guess for, so it was a hard pick for me here. I’ve got to be honest and say that 99% of what you see here is wish fulfilment, so if I’m just pulling everything out of thin air I think Talesin has what it takes to be a great Artificer, considering he knows a lot about the game. And the Alchemist subclass means that he could have a lot of fun with a mad scientist character. But this party is skewing towards support, and I would like to see a proper caster here beside the Druid. It ultimately came between Sorcerer and Warlock, but I think Warlock wins in the end. The Genie subclass is maybe cliche considering the race I went with but again, I can do what I want :P

Genasi is one of my favourite playable species, and while I know we just had Fy’ra Rai, a Fire Genasi is going to be my pick here. A hotheaded scientist with his efreeti parent watching on is what I’m going for with these choices.

So that’s all I’ve got in me (my arm is so sore from typing this guys); I might reblog this with further thoughts once we figure out who the characters are once and for all!

[ganymedesclock]

I would love to hear about Taylor for the powers pspsps thing!

Taylor's powers are arguably very central to the conceit they're in, since I was thinking (as is my vast entertainment) about the rpg format established by things like dragon quest and final fantasy, and how it regards both its heroes, and its final bosses. In particular, a big part of Taylor is they're actually designed to be an inversion of a silent protagonist- I wanted them to be a strongly self-motivated character.

I also made them a healer, which, as I said a bit in my last post, I think healer characters get a bit of a rough shake in that they're often seen as just Nice, Unthreatening, Goodie Goods, which admittedly does make some sense because when you remove abstractions from magical healing you get some questions about like... basically arcane flesh-sculpting, and if you meet someone who can cast spell of bend your organs, you really hope they're on the level.

Taylor's powers are very strongly associated heavily with red thread. Their name is, admittedly, a pun- they are literally a tailor's apprentice as the story starts- and much of their motivation through the story is feeling compelled to try and fix, or tend, to 'abandoned, wounded things'. All of their party members- and themselves- have significant problems, wounds and trauma. I used red because it's a traditionally villainous color, often contrasted against a heroic blue (while I have not drawn them yet, the antagonistic royal couple is heavily blues and whites)

Part of this is deliberately invoking the superstition of the 'thread of fate', and the idea of a destiny bond with my own personal spin, that I don't think we're actually fated to anyone as much as we weave our own threads towards others. This kind of tied into that Taylor, as a person from a small community on an island with a very bleak climate, has a strong personal work ethic and relationship with handcrafts, that they tie directly to taking care of others. If they make a shirt or a baby blanket for someone, odds are very good they know exactly who's going to wear it, and might personally involve things they think suits that person, or that they like.

Much of Taylor's conflicts in the story are about being ripped away from other people, and trying to mend that inciting tear. Their sense of identity, community, and their life ambitions were all cut away. Many times, stories court the idea of the destroyed town, but they make it so that the hero was a foundling with a greater destiny somewhere else, or otherwise leaves it behind and mostly forgets about it, comes to connect with other places instead- as a kind of fantastical, "imagine if you could just leave your boring life that you kind of take for granted and go somewhere else, and yeah you'd be sad if that life burned, but think about how much else you could do-!"

Taylor as a protagonist is a person all about attachment and connection, so, even if their village is fine, being taken from it and lost in another country is actually deeply upsetting to them. It's a huge loss of identity. And that sense of holding and mending ties in well to their undead nature. The human skeleton.... is not supposed to sit together on its own. It's sewn together at many points by ligaments and sinews- so Taylor, as a being completely stripped of flesh, literally has to use their power to hold themselves together. The exposed threads on places like their jawbone, and the slightly ramshackle nature of their glamour as they start to pull it together, kind of deliberately evoke that stress for me- their stability is something they have to keep working on. Like only having one shirt with a stubborn rip in it- mending it will have to happen multiple times, and getting new pieces of fabric or trying new methods to help it stay.

But in a more positive sense, this also talks about how Taylor is actually a very magnetic person. They forge connections with people, and where their vulnerabilities may not always be enough to hold themselves together, those connections they've made to other people are able to save them in vital situations.

This actually comes back to that Taylor is associated with the water element- specifically, they're associated with blood. Blood is a potent symbol, and overt blood magic is a very 'bad guy' domain, but when you think about it, we've long used blood as a symbol of devotion and connection. Sworn brothers-in-arms sharing blood, a "blood oath"- or even in a scary sense, deals with the devil that are binding if they take our lifeblood. Taylor moving from life to undeath devours a useful reservoir they have of themselves- in line with the certainty and confidence they used to have- and while they cannot ever be unmarked by this, they will become able to build a new reservoir of self, identity, and blood, through the connections they have with others and a sort of symbolic transfusion in that sense. The red threads, in this sense, are an easy shorthand for veins, and at times might even take that form directly or emulate them.

It kind of ties in to how another very common "bad guy" trope is viscera, a sense of organic, seething life, life where it shouldn't be- which I've always found interesting when conflicts are often framed as life against death as a one to one with good against evil.

But at the same time, everyone knows that it's the bad guys who pull corpses out of the soil with new vitality, while the good guys can immolate those zombies with scathing force and resurrect their own bloodlessly and prettily.

(Yes, it's because we see in zombies a specter of death and decay, graves dishonored, and such; I'm not saying there aren't reasons for it, but I think that you could just as easily argue the opposite- that perhaps the stuff of darkness is the stuff of life)

Other than the nature and aesthetics of their powers, Taylor has a pretty classic goody two-shoes kind of mechanical 'class'- they play very much like a final fantasy Paladin who balances healing and defense with solid, reliable damage output. A condition Taylor has that's shared by many other characters in their setting is this sense of burnout and the need to maintain a reservoir- Taylor has to balance spending symbolic blood to attack, and keeping enough of it in their body to hold together in both a literal and figurative sense. As a valiant and noble person, they are dangerously inclined to pushing to their limits or waxing too sacrificial- they want to take care of everyone, and sometimes that means there's not enough left to take care of themselves.