#they become by minions spreading it to their other friend groups

[nebelpanda]

Whumptober 2024 - Set up for Failure, Left for Dead

A Yuan-Ti is racially profiled by a member of the Soradeen guard, whose compatriots turn on him out of nowhere and both are arrested on the spot. The mastermind with the empty sleeve remains in the shadows.

A thief infiltrates a church to Anthalma that same night and is caught by its inquisitor. When the authorities show up, they somehow believe the inquisitor to be guilty as well and both are thrown in prison. A mere glimpse of pink hair from the agent of chaos at work here cannot save the righteous man of justice.

A simple druid making pots in the woods is hunted and taken into custody for abandoning a cruel servant’s life that he doesn’t even remember.

All five find themselves in the same cell block. Convincing their warden both with and without magic, they escape their cells only to find the main exit gone. All they can do is descend the hidden staircase into a god servant's trap. While gaining an infernal mark and Mimic ally in the dungeon, they lose their unjailor to the minions of evil that herded them.

Ultimately this group, most unlikely to have joined forces, makes it out of the castle dungeons with the help of an ally to the thief. Within unprejudiced lodgings they meet a grand wizard, who reveals to them the nature of their marks. 

It means death. It means becoming prey to infernal hunters of a destructive god long since sealed. Their souls have been claimed for divine consumption. Shall the god gain enough soul power to break the seal, the material plane would be in mortal peril.

The only way to save themselves, and ultimately the world at large, is to seek out the other grand mages, who spread across the land to protect the seal. With their powers combined the marks on their souls will be erased. Oddly, their locations are indicated on the mark itself, as the form of it resembles a map of the land.

And so their journey begins. A journey on which they would not only be hunted by infernal forces, but by false charges under the law as well. Strife counters them at every corner, yet they find the time to aid many a soul along the way to their salvation.

-> Basically, a fancier summary of the inciting incident of the D&D campaign I was the DM for. It ran from 2021 - 2023. Fun times with friends~ :D

[anueutsuhos-touhou-profiles]

Sumireko Usami, Part 1:

Sumireko Usami is a high school teenager from the Outside World. She suffers from what Japanese people call Chunnibyou, or "Eight-grader syndrome". Basically it's the point in a child's life where they learn enough they start thinking they know everything and are the greatest being in the universe. That said, ZUN doesn't hate this mentality, he feels it’s just a normal part of growing up and a passionate lashing out at an artless, uncaring world.

Sumireko was a high school freshman when she first appeared, so she was around 15-16. Chances are she's still a freshman, considering Touhou Project works on Simpsons time as mentioned earlier.

She became very overconfident thanks to her mastery of the internet, and her psychic powers, to the point of becoming a loner. It's not that other people were scared of her, far from it: many people tried to approach her in friendship. She just rejected them as she felt they were inferior beings. She didn't mind this, she liked being alone.

She was a model student with amazing grades, and she was eventually admitted to a private prep school called Higashifukumi High. There, even more people tried to become friends with her, which alarmed her, as she didn't want to be dragged down to their level.

So she formed a club. The Secret Sealing Club, a group dedicated to studying the occult and finding ways into other worlds. Just as expected, everyone suddenly thought she was crazy, and no more people wanted to be friends with her.

She eventually found a real way to enter other worlds, and she came across Gensokyo. She was able to appear in Gensokyo as an invincible shadow, but she couldn't stay for long. She managed to spread rumors about the Occult Balls, which truly did not grant anyone's wish but her own: to enter Gensokyo properly. However, collecting the Occult Balls instead pulled the person who got them all into the Outside World, represented as an empty city in nighttime. This person then attacks Sumireko in anger, both at trapping them and for being so arrogant.

Thus, she is the main villain and final boss of Touhou 14.5: Urban Legend in Limbo.

Sumireko is initially baffled that everyone keeps attacking her, but realizes quickly that this love of violence is in the nature of Gensokyo.

Eventually, Mamizou and Kasen grow tired of her shenanigans and form a plan to teach Sumireko a lesson. Mamizou had one of her tanuki minions turn into a fake Occult Ball that she claimed would allow Sumireko to travel to Gensokyo anytime she wanted. Sumireko took the bait and used it to enter Gensokyo. Once she got there, the Occult Ball turned back into a tanuki, trapping her there. She gets attacked by all kinds of youkai in Gensokyo (and Marisa who still hates her), to the point it traumatizes her. Believing the youkai of Gensokyo to be out for her blood, Sumireko decides to use the full power of the Occult Balls to destroy the Hakurei Barrier, and Gensokyo with it. This would kill her in the process, but she doesn't care anymore. Luckily, Reimu arrives on the scene thanks to Kasen opening a hole in the barrier, allowing her to reach Sumireko in the Outside World. After desperately trying to talk Sumireko out of it, Reimu engages her in a final battle, which knocks Sumireko out cold.

Sumireko is tied up while Reimu, Kasen, and Mamizou figure out what to do with her. They eventually decide to just release her into the Outside World, since she couldn't be any more trouble without the occult balls.

Soon after this, Sumireko suddenly returns. It appears she's now somehow able to come to Gensokyo whenever she dreams. She seems to have emotionally recovered from her little spook tour. It takes a while for the explanation to come to light, but until then, Sumireko is escorted wherever she goes by Reimu to make sure she's safe and not attract attention from the outside world.

Since then, Sumireko has become a regular visitor to Gensokyo, to the point of being almost one of the main characters for a few years. Most notably, she's become a part-time worker at Kourindou, and has struck up an unlikely friendship with Rinnosuke Morichika. She's paid in old junk she finds interesting in exchange for giving him things from the modern day.

During an interview with Aya Shameimaru, Sumireko revealed she actually went to Gensokyo once before on accident. When she was a little girl, she had found the dilapidated abandoned Outside World equivalent of the Hakurei Shrine and took a nap there. She dreamt of a land that she now thinks was Gensokyo. When she woke up, she found that her parents had been looking for her for three days and even got the police involved! She appears to have been spirited away, as they say.

Sumireko has, as mentioned earlier, a belief in her own omniscience, to the point of not realizing the gravity of situations.  She's convinced that playing Yokai Watch means that the youkai of Gensokyo are powerless against her, and declares that high school girls are the most powerful beings on the planet.

She thinks very negatively about Outside World society. She gets good grades yet considers it a waste of time, and largely views her peers as slaves to trends that get drunk and party instead of focusing on the important things in life. Sumireko herself, being a minor, does not drink, in case you were wondering. She's also a bit of a hypocrite, condemning her peers for being obsessed with smartphones despite she herself using one constantly. Overall, she feels the world as it is sucks, and is too corporate and stagnant.

She naively believes that Gensokyo is free from all this... only to find out that everyone there is in fact drunken party animals that don't focus on the important things in life. Still, she feels the playful chaos of Gensokyo is much preferable to the dreariness of our world, comparing the flesh eating youkai to enemies in a video game (if only she knew). She feels that she's become a much happier person since coming to Gensokyo. Sumireko also acts way too friendly around the people in Gensokyo who should almost all be older than her, like giving them nicknames such as "Reimers". She also has this bizarre obsession with kidnapping Shinmyoumaru Sukuna and taking her home as a pet.

While she was initially reviled, in time many residents of Gensokyo have taken a shining to her. Most notably, Fujiwara no Mokou considers her the best fight she's had in millennia, and in turn Sumireko admires Mokou as a total badass. Kasen also regularly visited her in the Outside World while looking for her missing arm, before she actually found it. Reimu, despite the embarrassing nickname Sumireko gives her, actually considers her fun to be around.

Sumireko uses her smartphone to frequently take photos of Gensokyo and posts them online. However, few if any believe them to be real, comments saying things like "nice roleplay!" or  "oh god get this creepy cultist shit off my timeline" 

Sumireko has actual psychic powers. How she has them is unknown, but she's had them ever since middle school. These powers mostly manifest as glowing purple energy. She uses them primarily for using telekinesis on random junk, with one attack having her drop an entire radio tower on you! She also has pyrokinesis and is able to create psychic explosions and purple laser beams.

She also has a gun. Like, an actual gun. Granted, it was 3D printed and bright cyan, but still, she just has a spellcard where she pulls out a gun and shoots you.

Her final attack in Urban Legend in Limbo involves harnessing the power of the Occult Balls to attack based on each of the Mystery Spots: green Nazca line birds, pillars of energy for Stonehenge, fires of Hell Valley, dark purple energy orbs from the Tower of Babel and Yomotsu Hirasaka, and yellow triangles for the Pyramids. The Lunar Capital occult ball makes the attacks even more powerful.

...wait, her name is Sumireko USAMI, she has that familiar hat, and she founded the Secret Sealing Club. Just what is her relationship with Renko Usami, Maribel Hearn's best friend and/or girlfriend? Some have suspected she's Renko's grandma or other such ancestor, but we may never know for sure.

TO BE CONTINUED. The rest of this profile will require the context of further games in order to make sense.

[neotriobrainrot-reborn]

Pspsps lwa x EE pspsps

Had some random thoughts about a Little Witch Academia x Epithet Erased au (with the Lwa characters in the EE world). I don't have anything concrete at the moment, so I'll just post stuff I brainstormed. I'll post more about the au in future posts. I'm considering naming the au “Dumb Little Spark”, which I like, but I don't just wanna go with the first thing I thought of. Let me know what y'all think the au name should be!

Lwa x EE Braindump!

Ursula had a large reputation in the public with the persona of “Shiny Chariot” for being the most wanted Vigilante in Sweet Jazz City. Despite this, people weren't afraid of her. If anything, most people looked up to her as someone of hope for helping more than the entire Sweet Jazz Police force. For a while, things look great. But as expectations and pressure grow, it becomes too much for her. One day, Shiny Chariot dissappeared without a trace, like a star in the sky that burnt out. No one knows what happened, but regardless of her disappearance, her impact on the city was insurmountable, bringing inspiration of hope and change to many adults and adolescents alike.

During the night, Akko takes on the role of a vigilante with the job of keeping Sweet Jazz City safe. She was inspired by her idol, “Shiny Chariot”, and when Shiny Chariot had disappeared, Akko had taken the initiative to spread the same kind of hope as her idol. Most underestimate her because she's a mundie, but those who do won't get the chance to make that mistake twice

Akko and Lorelai know each other. Despite them being complete opposites, they're actually friends with each other, though it's somewhat strained.

Sucy and Mushroom Girl are siblings, with the former being adopted into the family

Sucy became one of the chaperones of the field trip because the teacher of the class wasn't assured, with Martin being the only person to sign up as a chaperone. The teacher begged their dad, and the two managed to reach a compromise where the teacher would pay the family if Sucy signed up.

Lotte had the chance to go to college like Sylvie and get a degree before becoming an adult, but she declined as she said that it would be too much for her to handle. They told her that she could be a big-name famous person, but didn't realize that Lotte would rather dig her hand in a vase of poisonous snakes.

Giovanni gace Sucy a handmade invitation to try and get Sucy to join his boys. Everyone but Crusher didn't believe that it would work, but was surprised when Sucy actually accepted Giovanni's invitation. Till this day, nobody knows how Gio managed to convince her.

Lotte's epithet allows her to interact with the souls of others and herself. Because of that, she did gain a decent reputation for helping people with physical and mental health complications with their epithets for free. This had put her on Phoenica’s radar, and she's dead-set on meeting Lotte and convincing her to join her group of magical girls

Ben found Sucy creepy and objected to her becoming a minion, but Giovanni was having none of it and shut him down. Ben thinks she's going to poison them in their sleep

Constanze signed up for an internship with Howie, who found her inventions helpful for helping with construction

Whenever Constanze goes to the Blyndeff emporium, she just glances at Molly, and she immediately knows what Constanze specifically wants without a single word being exchanged (Constanze is her favorite customer because of this, and because she pays extra)

The Cavendish family is known as well and widely as the Fleecity family, becoming famous from a Cavendish and Fleecity working together when the Songstress first arrived. Since then, both families have had a rival relationship. They'd compete with each other but won't hesitate to team up when the arrival of the Songstress is near.

Trixie and Sucy know each other, and Sucy will sometimes help them with their potions

[silwer999]

Written from memory list of some things Junko did to spread suffering and pain: 

Emotionally abused her sister for their entire life

Led to the death of Hope's Peak's Student council

Convinced the class 77B to become her minions, which later led them to kill their friends and families, commit acts of self-harm and do other atrocities in the name of her ideology

Killed her own boyfriend 

Led to the mass suicide of the school reserve course

Started off the worldwide riots, wars and mass murders that left the world almost completely destroyed

Convinced a group of kids of her ideology which led them to brainwash other children and conduct mass murders of adults

Killed Hope's Peak's principal in painful execution

Memory wiped her classmates who were being protected in modified Hope's Peak so that they would not know about the state of the world and try to escape their supposed entrapment

Force those classmates into taking part in a killing game to escape the school

Killed her own sister

Kidnapped her classmates, friends and families so she could further blackmail them into going along with the killing game

Thretheend to spread their secrets to blackmail them further

Killed several students in gruesome painful executions

Stole a suicide note one of her classmates left and switched it for a fake one to make the suffering and grief of the victim's best friend worse, which almost led to the death of other remaining students

Smashed to pieces the AI that the other students relied on to escape, it was heavily implied that the AI could feel pain

Desecrated her sister's corpse

Set up a false murder so she could implicate the student most threatening to her

Left the body of Hope's Peak's principal on display for his daughter to find

Attempted to break the spirit of the remaining students so that they would agree to kill her hopeful opponent

Put herself through gruesome painful execution

Saved her personality as an AI so she could spread despair even after death

With the help of her coconspirator infected the peaceful virtual world that was meant to rehabilitate her minions to turn it into another killing game

Killed several of her ex-minions in even more gruesome painful executions, including manipulating one of them to accidentally seriously hurt her closest person right before dying

Infected several of the game participants with a plague that would last till somebody was killed

Starved the game participants to get them to kill somebody

Tried to manipulate the surviving game participants to let her infect the bodies of their fallen comrades so that she could live again to spread despair

Junko Enoshima (Danganronpa) "Junko loves nothing more than destroying hope and bringing pain and suffering to all(even herself). This is literally the only thing that makes her happy. She loves destruction so much that she ruined the world just so she could watch everybody suffer. She also started a cult of sorts(a very Desolation-like move) filled with people she brainwashed and used them for her goals. Important to note is where Junko starts off her carnage and her favourite victims as Desolation is also the destruction of potential. Junko attended Hope's Peak Academy, the most potential-filled place in Danganronpa's universe. Hope's Peak Academy is a school that only accepts those with exceptional talent, i.e. the most potential, and this is the place where Junko starts her reign of terror. She turned one class of hopefuls into her aforementioned cult, led to the mass suicide of reserve course students and started the end of the world from there. Later she forced her own class out of what was supposed to be a shelter for the future into a killing game where she psychologically tortured and killed them, broadcasting the carnage to kill hope in the hearts of what was left of the world."

Shabriri (Elden Ring) ""The most reviled man in all history" of the Lands Between, who has been serving the Frenzied Flame by preaching chaos and destruction long enough that "It is said that the sickness of the flame of frenzy began with [him]." According to the Talisman called Shabriri’s Woe, “It is said that […] Shabriri, had his eyes gouged out as punishment for the crime of slander, and, with time, the blight of the flame of frenzy came to dwell in the empty sockets.” He encourages the Tarnished to shirk the role of Elden Lord and instead become the Lord of Frenzied Flame. While at first he paints it as a more "noble" means of attaining Lordship (since it doesn’t require killing your companion Melina), he makes no effort to lie about the fact that becoming the Lord of Frenzied Flame will burn the world and everything within it--in fact, he's rather vocal about his excitement at the idea of Chaos taking the world. The Frenzied Flame is an outer god associated of madness, destruction, flame, chaos, and the end of life, which seeks to create a Lord of Chaos through the Three Fingers. It is drawn to people who succumb to despair and grief--it was summoned into the Lands Between by the dying wish of the genocided nomads, it infects Edgar after his daughter Irina dies, and soldiers on Mt. Gelmir (site of the most horrific battle of the Shattering) use Frenzied Flame Incantations. Hyetta (who might be Irina) set out to become a Finger Maiden to the Three Fingers by consuming “Shabriri Grapes”--shriveled, oozing eyeballs apparently infected with the Frenzied Flame. She claims that the Frenzied Flame despises the Greater Will for fragmenting an ancient source of life, the "One Great," to create the lesser forms of life that populate the Lands Between; the Frenzied Flame would see the One Great restored, which necessitates the eradication of all forms of life and the scorching of the entire world by the fires of the Frenzied Flame. So feared and reviled is the Frenzied Flame and its goal of universal destruction that even the adherents of other gods, themselves mortal enemies, teamed up to curb its influence. If the Tarnished follows Shabriri’s advice and inherits the Frenzied Flame, they'll become the Lord of Chaos who will burn the Elden Ring, the Erdtree and likely all life, which is basically a successful Desolation Ritual à la “The Scoured Earth”."

[lycheepocketwitch]

𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐚 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 - 𝐨𝐧𝐞

pairing: cheerleader!wanda maximoff x fem!reader

summary: it's a typical high school day. people love to talk and you hate the drama, but your bad sense of timing lands you in detention. at least you had an entertaining show and two visitors to keep you company. hell, you even got to see one of the main stars after the show.

warnings: tony, vision and pepper are lowkey assholes oops (like for this whole series)

word count: 4.7k

a/n: this is like the 3rd repost bc the other posts didn't appear in the tags🙃

series masterlist | main masterlist | also on ao3

If there was one thing that remained constant throughout your high school experience so far, it was the incessant rumors about everyone and anyone that spread almost as quickly as chlamydia had when there was an outbreak among last year’s senior class. You would think that people would get tired of meaningless gossip, especially when 99% of the time, it was all bullshit. However, it seemed like students foamed at the mouth when they heard just about any new piece of information about their peers.

“I’m telling you, Maria is hooking up with someone,” you heard someone whisper.

“And why exactly do you think that?”

“She’s my lab partner and usually, she’s an absolute pain in the ass, but she’s actually been quite… tolerable lately.”

“Mr. Rollins, Mr. Sitwell, care to share what you find so funny with the rest of the class?” The teacher asked, interrupting the resident bullies, who were really just Brock Rumlow’s minions.

“It’s nothing, Mr. Heimdall,” said Jasper as he nervously pushed his glasses back up. His friend, though, was having none of it.

“We were just talking about how Maria Hill is back with her ex,” Jack said, meeting your glare with a smirk.

You weren’t Maria’s ex. You didn’t even remember talking to her other than that one time you left Yelena and Natasha’s house and you bumped into her as she was leaving. That didn’t stop the entire from speculating about your supposed relationship, especially the last people you were apparently hooking up with were seen tonguing each other at a party.

“Alright, alright,” said Mr. Heimdall, trying to regain control over the classroom full of chattering juniors. “This isn’t a gossiping period. Go back to working on your Great Gatsby worksheets unless you want additional work to complete as homework.”

A collective of groans was heard and the students quieted down, but you could still hear murmurs from those near you.

“I heard Maria is dating Romanoff though… You think Maria is cheating on her?”

“Ugh, I would never show my face again if my girlfriend was cheating on me with her ex.”

“Guys, Jack is totally lying. I bet it’s just some bullshit Rumlow fed him. I think she’s actually hooking up with Nebula now.”

“Nebula? Gamora’s weird emo sister?”

“Well, maybe she has a type. Remember how Wanda used to be emo? And those two used to be close. I bet you they were hooking up before Wanda became a cheerleader.”

“Damn. Imagine hooking up with Wanda Maximoff, then she becomes hot and dumps you for a nerd.”

“He’s rich though.”

“Even worse. There’s no way she’s looking back your way then. I don’t blame her for turning into a player and trying to seduce every single girl at school.”

This time, you couldn’t stop yourself from facing the group of snickering teenagers and flip them off. Of course, Mr. Heimdall chose this moment to pay attention to the class, catching you in the action. He sighed and gave you detention before asking you to stay after class.

“Couldn’t you have until after school to do that?” he asked you once everyone filed out of the classroom after the bell signalled the end of the day. “Or at least when I’m not looking?”

You smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of your neck. Mr. Heimdall was your favorite teacher and he always had a soft spot for you. “It won’t happen again,” you promised.

“I’m holding it to you. Now, about that internship,” he chuckled at the way your eyes immediately brightened. “I talked to my friend, and Frigga said that she was impressed by your portfolio and your resume. You have an interview scheduled in 2 weeks.”

“Oh my god! Thank you so much, Mr. Heimdall!” you squealed in excitement. The tall English teacher gave you a warm, fatherly smile as he packed up his things to leave.

“It’s your work that got you the interview. I was just the messenger,” he shrugged. “But Frigga is very particular about her interns. She doesn’t just accept anyone to work at her museum. So, you need to be on your best behaviour. You don’t want to be stuck in detention and be unable to complete your internship, now do you?” You gave him a mock salute and nodded. “Alright kid, go on then. Dr. Lawson is the one supervising detention and you know how much she hates tardiness.”

You gave your teacher one last thank you before leaving. You were nearly skipping your way to your locker to grab a few things before heading to Dr. Lawson’s classroom in the STEM wing of the school for detention. Right when you thought nothing could bring down your mood after receiving such great news, you came face to face with Tony Stark’s little group of friends, and Pepper and some of her cheerleader friends standing near your locker.

“So, rumor has it, you’re the reason Hill isn’t as cranky during our robotics club meetings,” Tony sneered while Pepper pulled him back and chastised his behavior. Although, her weak grip on his arm and the slight curl of her lip betrayed any kind of sincerity in her actions.

“Have you ever thought that maybe she’s in a sour mood because she has to be around your arrogant ass all the time?” you challenged him with the raise of a brow and turned to the rest of his group. “You know, our classrooms aren’t all that big. It gets pretty hard to breathe with your big heads taking up so much space.”

“Listen here—” Vision was always the more even-tempered of the Stark brothers, but any attack on his loved ones would rile him up in a matter of seconds.

“What? You think I’m scared of you because your name’s on the building? It just proves to me that you’ll never achieve anything without daddy’s money.” You took one step closer to the group, eyeing both Stark brothers and the rest of their group, not missing the way Tony’s best friend, Rhodey huffed and puffed while Bruce just stood there awkwardly as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.

Your little stare-off was cut short by the clearing of the throat from one of Pepper’s cheerleader friends, Thena. You actually weren’t sure if they were really friends or if they only tolerated each other because Pepper was the captain and Thena wanted to stay on the squad.

“As fun as this little squabble is,” the tall blonde said, twirling one hand in your direction, “I only agreed to wait because Pepper said she had to grab something from her locker. So, either you hurry up to get to my car or you find another ride home.”

Without waiting for a response, Thena turned away from the group and threw a wink in your direction. You watched her walk away, trying to suppress a smile. You were sure she was going to tell Makkari all about your encounter with the Starks and your friend would inevitably tease you about it.

“Whatever, have fun in detention, Casanova,” Vision muttered before pulling his ex-girlfriend closer to him who pushed away with a scowl. Right as they all started to leave, you briefly made eye contact with Wanda, but you promptly turned your attention back to your locker to retrieve the notebooks you were looking for and headed to detention.

Obviously, you were late and Dr. Lawson wasn’t pleased about it, but she was also busy with grading tests, so she let it slide this time. Looking out from the window in the chemistry lab, you saw the group from earlier all try to get in the car. Thena was leaning against the driver’s door while typing away on her phone, completely uninterested in the scene Pepper and Tony were causing. The three other guys were trying to calm the couple down while Wanda just stood to the side with her arms across her chest.

As if sensing you watching her, she tilted her head up and met your gaze. You were sure that had the others not been so focused on Tony and Pepper (save Thena), Wanda would’ve never risked staring your way. It was like an unspoken rule you two had. It hadn’t always been like this, but after she became a cheerleader by the end of freshman year, something just changed between you two. She acted like you didn’t exist and being the normal human you were, you did the same. You couldn’t remember the last time you had an actual conversation at school.

A small scrunched up piece of paper landed on your desk, preventing you from reminiscing about your lost friendship any longer. You found a grinning Makkari standing in front of Druig. You craned your neck in search of Dr. Lawson who would’ve surely reprimanded them for disrupting detention, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Dr. Lawson went to get something in her office," Makkari informed you as if reading your mind.

“Now, please tell me you won your little fight with the Starks,” Druig pleaded, pulling out chairs for both him and his girlfriend.

“First of all, I didn’t fight anyone,” you said, narrowing your eyes at the couple. “Second of all, I think Thena might a faster texter than you,” you told Makkari while gesturing finger guns, then pulling both your index fingers and your hands closer to you, and the texting sign before pointing to her.

"She’s just a concise texter," Makkari responded, shaking her head. "I’m definitely faster than her."

“Stop trying to change the subject, what was your fight about?” Druig nudged your arm, a mischievous expression on his face.

“I already told you, it wasn’t a fight,” you repeated, staring back down the window to the group still on the side of the street. “But if you’re looking for a fight, there’s one happening down there,” you gestured out the window.

Makkari and Druig quickly mirrored your position to watch the scene below. Tony was seemingly trying to comfort Pepper while their friends watched them on the side and Thena took refuge inside her car.

“They were probably fighting about not having enough space in Thena’s car. The girl drives a freakin’ sedan, and they’re out here trying to fit six passengers in there,'' you guessed, but then switched your attention back to the World History assignment on your desk.

"The guys don’t usually carpool with the girls," Makkari noted with a frown, but then snorted in realization. "Thena definitely didn’t remind Pepper that she doesn’t have enough space in her car. How long have they been out there?"

“How ever much time it’s been since school ended,” you shrugged before writing down an answer on your worksheet.

“And has Wanda been stealing glances your way this whole time?” At Druig’s question, your eyes snap back up then down and sure enough, green eyes stared back at you, accompanied by a slight furrow of the brow. But just as quickly as she’d been caught, she turned her head back to face her friends.

“Be honest with me, Lothario, you are aware that Wanda Maximoff totally has the hots for you right? I know you keep saying that you’re not the reason Wanda and Vision broke up at the end of the summer, but come on. You two used to be joined at the hip before sophomore year. And now ever since they broke up, it’s like the eyefucking has only intensified!” Druig argued, leaning against the ceiling-to-floor window.

You rolled your eyes and shook your head. “Can you not call me that?”

“Got it, would you prefer lady-killer?”

"Druig, stop." Makkari lightly hit his arm and just as you lifted your hand to your chin to thank her, she added, "She’s clearly Romeo. Can you not feel the star-crossed lovers energy? You know, the popular cheerleader and the withdrawn artsy kid."

Your smile dropped as you just stared at them, unamused. You observed the giggling couple for a few moments before you interrupted them, “I don’t know why you insist on calling me that we all know those rumors are bullshit.”

Dr. Lawson chose that exact moment to walk in. Neither one of you said anything until the chemistry teacher just sighed. “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear or see anything,” she said but motioned for Druig and Makkari to leave, which they did while expressing quick apologies.

Just as you were about to go back to actually doing homework, your phone lit up with a notification. Seeing that Dr. Lawson was back to being focused on her own work, you discretely responded.

red: see u later? yellow: 👍

─── ᗢ ───── 💔 ───── ᗢ ───

After closing your bedroom door behind you, you shrugged off your backpack and your brown work jacket.

“If you’re not gonna wear that, can I wear it? I’m kinda freezing in my cheer uniform.” The voice made you jump and quickly flicked on the lights.

“Jesus, Wanda!” you exhaled and clutched your chest. The intruder had absolutely no remorse though, judging by her bright expression. You opened your closet and pulled out one of the hoodies you knew she liked wearing. She was likely going to return it to you in about a week’s time once it no longer smelled like you, instead smelling like the perfume she had started wearing the summer of freshman year. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“Obviously not, if you die, who’s going to cuddle with me while watching movies?” Her pout was wiped away as soon as you presented her with her favorite hoodie. Snuggling into the soft garment, she smiled shyly at you. “Hi,” she said softly.

“Hi,” you responded, matching her tone. You pushed away a loose strand of hair behind her ear before placing your hands on her waist, pulling her closer to you while she wrapped her arms around your neck. Your eyes trailed down at her lips, back up at her eyes and then back down only to see her teeth now catching her bottom lip. Slowly, you leaned forward to press your lips against hers, a smile spreading on both of your faces. She giggled and hid her face in the crook of your neck.

“I missed you so much,” Wanda murmured against your skin.

“You saw me like two hours ago.”

“You know what I mean.”

You fought the urge to tell her that things didn’t have to be this way. You were the one who had agreed to this secret arrangement, and you would never pressure her into doing something she wasn’t ready to do. Besides, fighting with your favorite person was a dumb way to spend your limited time together. So, you joined her on your bed, making her grin in the process. The moment you laid down on your back, she shifted her body to lay on top of you, her head resting on your chest while her left hand rested on your stomach. You began to stroke her hair, enjoying how soft her hair felt between your fingers.

“Remember that internship I told you about?”

“At the Odinsons’ museum?”

You hummed, “I have an interview soon.”

Wanda quickly pushed herself up and beamed at you. “Oh my gosh! That’s great news! I’m so proud of you, baby.” She started to pepper your face with kisses, making you laugh.

“It’s just an interview, it doesn’t mean I actually got the internship.”

“Still,” she insisted. “When is it?”

“In 2 weeks.”

“After homecoming?”

You nodded, your mood slightly dimming. You couldn’t care less about homecoming. You didn’t even understand the point of having a dance every year after a sports game. At least this year, it would be after a basketball game, which meant you wouldn’t have to freeze on a cold October evening while watching a bunch of sweaty footballers tackle each other. Instead, you would get to watch some of the most attractive girls at your school swiftly pass the ball between them to make a basket.

Alright, so you were a little (very) biased, but it wasn’t like it really mattered when your focus wasn’t on the players most of the time. No, your attention was solely on a certain brunette cheerleader encouraging either team that played that year. Even before she was a cheerleader, Wanda had been the only person that made homecoming games tolerable for you.

Even though Yelena liked to claim that she had been the one who succeeded in dragging you to the football game by bribing you with food, she was wrong. It was really the thought of having an excuse to see Wanda for more than a split second as you “accidentally” made eye contact with her in the cafeteria that pushed you to go.

This year, you still couldn’t openly show any affection towards Wanda, per your agreement, but at least you didn’t have to try so hard to pretend you didn’t find her utterly adorable during pep rallies. You had already planned to spend the weekend with her since your parents were going to be away visiting family, and you also had an extra homecoming surprise for her.

Just because you didn’t quite get homecoming didn’t mean you wouldn’t try for Wanda, especially when you knew how much she loved homecoming. Ever since you were kids, she talked about how one day she wanted to be homecoming queen and she would want to dance with her lover under the bright lights. She would talk about how she wanted a romantic proposal, but it didn’t actually matter how the person asked her as long as it was someone she loved and who loved her back.

Freshman year, nobody knew her (nor you), so you had planned a small homecoming proposal at her house, but it didn’t mean much since you were asking her as a friend. (That was what you told her anyway). Last year, Vision had asked her. You had heard all about the dozens of roses he had showered her with along with the digital announcement board in the hallway from the main entrance being used as his proposal sign. Although you didn’t see it, you were sure Wanda loved it. This year, she and Vision were no longer together, but he was still trying to win her back and he would undoubtedly attempt to do so with another extravagant homecoming proposal.

“Are you going this year?” she asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

“Maybe? I don’t really have anyone to go with, but Yelena is probably gonna force me to go again.”

“You could ask Maria Hill,” Wanda said in what you assumed was supposed to be a joking manner, but the girl was absolutely terrible at hiding the green-eyed monster residing inside her heart.

“I don’t want to fight tonight,” you said as she suddenly gained interest in fiddling with the sleeves of your hoodie.

“I don’t,” she affirmed as she sat back up, cross-legged. “I just don’t get why you let people say those things about you,” she said, sitting back up cross-legged.

“What am I supposed to do?” you ask, exasperated.

“Tell them it’s not true!”

“I have always denied any rumor about me dating or hooking up with someone. It’s not my fault that people are too dumb and would rather live in delusion than believe me.” You pushed yourself up to sit up and face her.

Most of the time, you didn’t mind the whispers in the hallway. They were dumb and had nothing better to do than to make up things about people they didn’t know. And the first time, you were even a little flattered that people thought you had managed to grab Carol Danvers’ attention. In hindsight, the only reason people thought you were dating the basketball team’s captain was probably because you two used to be the only ones out of the closet back then.

What you initially believed to just be a one-time thing became the reason you now had the reputation of being some sort of heartbreaker, making Sappho proud. That was when you started to harbor contempt for what your classmates liked to say about you. It started to make you wary of how you interacted with anyone and everyone, paranoid that people would misconstrue a polite smile as a flirtatious smirk.

Stil, no matter how careful you were, people still found ways to link you to just about any girl at school. After Carol, you were apparently hooking up with Valkyrie, the resident stoner, but that rumor died pretty quickly after Carol and Valkyrie were seen making out at a party. Then, Maria Hill had the unfortunate consequence of being attached to your name after defending you from people talking about you in the locker rooms. (Months later, when you saw her at Yelena and Natasha’s house, she assured you that she didn’t mind since those people were assholes who didn’t shit anyway.) People also thought you were seeing Nebula and you had absolutely no idea where that came from. At least with Yelena, you knew people thought you were dating because she only hung out with you the moment she transferred schools. And lastly, Natasha… well, if you weren’t seeing Yelena, then people would settle with linking you to her older sister who often gave you lifts back home after school whenever your art club meetings ended at the same time as her dance club practices.

So yeah, as great as all those girls were, you didn’t enjoy being the subject of your classmates’ gossip chain, but rarely did you do anything about it. It was just easier for you to ignore them than to fight them. You were already halfway done with high school and then, you would never see the vast majority of them ever again.

Wanda remained silent with her eyes glued to the floor. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I know you don’t like people constantly talking about you.”

“I’m sorry for lashing out,” you said, reaching out to tilt her chin back up so you could see those green eyes you loved so much.

Wanda shuffled to get close enough to rest her forehead against yours. “I wish I could block out those people’s voices and ignore them like you do. You make it look so easy,” she admitted with a sad smile.

“You’ll get there some day,” you told her before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. You knew she wasn’t talking about the rumors anymore. Well, not solely that anyway. There was a reason you two had kept your relationship secret. Wanda wasn’t ready to come out to everyone yet. She knew her family would still love her and most of the school would be accepting of her, but she also knew people would talk about her. She also didn’t know how the cheer squad would react, and despite how unpleasant they could be sometimes, she genuinely liked being part of the squad.

You told her you were okay with keeping things between you two. And you truly were. There were just days that were harder than others. Days where you wished you could just hold her hand in the hallway. Days where she wished she could tell her classmates to fuck off and stop bothering you. But those days weren’t possible. Not yet.

Suddenly, you heard the front door of your house open and the telltale sounds of your parents coming home. The thuds of boots being kicked off, the rattling of keys being tossed in the key tray on the entryway dresser, a “honey, we’re home” being yelled.

You groaned, but pulled away from Wanda so she could go grab her belongings. You hugged her one last time and kissed her goodbye like you had grown used to doing.

“We’re still on for Friday?” She asked, as if you would suddenly bail on her.

“Of course,” you said and pecked her cheek.

“See you on Friday, sunshine.” Wanda grinned and carefully climbed out your window that looked out on your garage. She crawled towards the edge of the garage roof and grabbed onto one of the thicker branches from the tree planted next to the garage. Once she made it safely on the ground, she waved at you and pulled her bike from the bush. You waved back, watching her figure disappear as she biked down the street back to her house.

─── ᗢ ───── 💔 ───── ᗢ ───

Back at school the next day, it was as if last night had never happened. You walked from the bus stop to school, your steps matching the beat of the music you were listening to.

“Hey, loser!” You heard a faint voice yelling, mixing in with the song playing from your earbuds. Pulling out one earbud, you heard the voice again coming from behind you, but clearer.

“Good morning to you too, Lena,” you greeted your best friend with a quick side hug. The blonde girl was having none of it though. She groaned and pulled you in for a proper hug, arms wrapped tightly around you and your backpack, head on your shoulder and everything, effectively blocking traffic right in front of the staircase leading to the main doors of the school. You gave apologetic smiles to those around while you shuffled to the side of the stairs.

From the corner of your eye, you caught some of the cheerleaders coming out of Gamora’s SUV, along with her boyfriend, Peter Quill, and her grumbling younger sister, Nebula.

“Did you hear, Pepper and co. were stuck at school for like an hour because she invited Tony to carpool with them but he also brought his friends with him. So, they were like 15 trying to fit in Thena’s car. She had a breakdown and everything on the side of the street,” Yelena said when she saw who you were looking at.

“Yelena Belova,” you gasped dramatically. “Don’t tell me you’re into gossiping now?” The cheerleaders walked towards you, but the only one you cared about was the brunette with the red backpack wearing the same hoodie you had given her yesterday.

“I can’t help it when it comes to them,” she replied, venom lacing her words.

“They’re not all bad,” you argued right as you caught Wanda’s eye. A shy smile on her face, she looked back down at the ground, tucking her hands in the pockets of her (your) hoodie.

“Right, because the one person you were actually friends with in that group didn’t ditch you the moment they welcomed her in their little clan.”

“Lena,” you warned. Sure, you had been somewhat bitter after you and Wanda had your falling out, but you could never speak badly about her. Not even when you met Yelena and told her about your tricky past with Wanda. Even though you didn’t quite understand what happened to your friendship, you couldn’t bring yourself to badmouth the girl you once called your best friend. Yelena didn’t understand how you could just move on without closure, but she respected it anyway.

“Fine, fine, fine,” she surrendered with her hands up in the air right as the cheerleaders walked past the two of you, not paying you any mind. Just as they walked by you, a waft of the perfume they all wore invaded your nostrils, making you grimace.

“VS Bombshell must be the cheerleaders’ version of the football guys’ AXE body spray,” you remarked once you thought the girls were out of earshot. It turned out that a whole staircase wasn’t far enough since they all turned around in search of the offender. If it weren’t for Yelena’s loud cackling and you smacking her as an attempt to shut her up or at least quiet her down, you probably would’ve gotten away with it. Instead, you had to deal with nearly half a dozen cheerleaders’ deathly glare, including Wanda’s.

“Come on,” Yelena said, slinging one arm around your shoulders. “I’ll protect you from the scary little cheerleaders.”

“My knight in shining armor,” you cooed and snorted, but leaned into the blonde girl.

The cheerleaders were likely going to make their displeasure over your little comment known, probably by spreading another fake rumor about you to make sure you wouldn’t make the same mistake again. For now though, you just enjoyed the comfort of your best friend as you tried to get through another uneventful day of high school.

next >>

[greenishghostey]

A Tuesday in '83

Author's Note: Saw this post, got sad, had a brainstorm with myself while doing a face mask, and now here we are. This is super dialogue heavy but I felt that was the best way to approach this idea!

So, here's 17-year-old Eddie helping with the search for Will Byers and helping cheer Jonathan up, at least a little bit.

Word count: 3,120

///

The news of little Will Byers vanishing into the aether of Hawkins spread like wildfire around the town. Storefronts were covered in missing posters, with the kid’s cheery little smile beaming away. Everyone around Hawkins High School spoke in hushed tones and stole unsavoury glances towards Jonathan Byers. 

Eddie didn’t do this, though. Eddie was far too used to dirty looks and pointing from other students. He was the town’s punching bag - the weirdo who lived in the trailer park and worshipped the devil. The brother of a missing kid didn’t deserve the same treatment he got. Even if said brother listened to The Talking Heads, that was something Eddie had to judge at least a little. 

Eddie had made a point of “freaking out” anyone he caught being less than civil towards Jonathan. The two boys weren’t friends, they’d never spoken, but they were both dubbed weirdos in the eyes of the student body. 

Since middle school, Eddie knew that he was a caring person. He was too aware of the sour attention that clung to him. It was a lonely experience for him when he was a little kid, so he found ways to make it better. Gathering up his fellow freaks, geeks and weirdos had become his life’s calling. It didn’t just stop with Hellfire Club - Eddie could take every figurative and literal punch and kick from the town when others couldn’t. Therefore, he took his “freak” and dialled it up to eleven. 

Being dramatic was one of Eddie’s favourite hobbies. He had increased the frequency of his cafeteria table speeches and taken to drumming on locker doors super close to the many whispering groups. His toothy manic grin worked a treat at drawing attention away from Jonathan. A lot of people despised his smile - but it was okay; it was all part of his show. 

-

It was a dull Tuesday lunch period, and students were mulling around in the hallways. Chattering, giggling, and the squeak of speakers surrounded Eddie as he organised the small pile of dealing notes in his locker. He would have appreciated it if the notes were a little more polite than just having a name and a time messily scribbled. Wasn’t his humble drug service worth a “hi” or a fun doodle?

Out of the corner of his eye, Eddie noticed the sandy, messy hair of Jonathan Byers. He had prominent dark circles under his eyes and appeared to be wasting away under his denim jacket. Poor dude already had a rough time in high school. That Harrington guy and his minions took a little too much pleasure in messing with him. 

Jonathan hauled a fresh stack of missing posters out of his bag, along with a small box of pins and tape. “Have you seen me?” Those words stared at Eddie from the bulletin board near his locker. He’d seen the description of Will Byers everywhere, making sure to read each missing poster he saw in case new information was added. 

“Hey, Byers?” Eddie voiced, shutting his locker quietly. “How many of those posters you got?” 

Jonathan jumped at Eddie’s voice, flinching away slightly. Eddie couldn’t blame him. It was a standard reaction to the town’s pariah’s presence. 

“Uh, my mom gave me thirty,” Jonathan mumbled, avoiding eye contact. Eddie had an intimidating gaze; he was almost too aware that his eyes were huge - Wayne always told him he needed to remember to blink more.

“Need help putting that many up?” Eddie asked, raising an eyebrow at the bulletin board. “Not really feeling the mental strain of History next period. So I got time.” 

Jonathan’s stare was trained on Eddie’s beat-up sneakers. He was in shock, quite frankly. Why would Eddie Munson offer to help him? Hell, why was he offering to help full-stop? 

“Um, no, it’s fine. Really.” 

“No worries, man. I get it. Oh, but I meant to ask, though, are you guys doing a search tonight?” Eddie spoke as softly as he could. It was an almost jarring surprise for Jonathan - truth be told, he found Eddie sort of scary. “I know the woods like the back of my hand, so I wanna help out.” 

The two boys finally made eye contact, and Eddie’s pure intentions were made clear. He wasn’t looking at Jonathan in jest or with pity. He looked hopeful. Jonathan hadn’t seen a lot of hope since Will disappeared. 

“It’s just a citizen search tonight. But - but the help would be great.” The younger boy’s voice faltered ever so slightly, his hands' grip on the posters loosening. “You know much about the woods around Lover's Lake?” 

“Know it? That’s my stompin’ grounds.” Eddie laughed. “Dude, I’ll be such a big help. My uncle’s got this huge camping torch too. He won’t mind me swiping it for a few nights.”

“A few- you’re gonna help more than once? Why?” Jonathan pressed. He couldn’t really believe the conversation he was having. Eddie didn’t care about anything or anybody, so why would he help look for Will? Jonathan prided himself on never judging people too harshly or without good reason. But maybe he had messed up when it came to Eddie. Listening to the hums and haws of Hawkins never was the best idea. 

“Your little brother’s missing, Byers. He’s a kid. Course I’m gonna help,” Eddie gestured for Jonathan to come closer. “Contrary to popular belief, I’m not actually a vessel of the damned.” He tried not to sigh when regurgitating one of the lines that the god squad of Hawkins liked to throw his way. Jonathan was still hesitant towards Eddie’s casual demeanour, rightfully so since they knew nothing about each other. But that hope was still present in Eddie’s eyes - it was optimistic, and lord knows, did the Byers family need some positivity in their lives right now.

Jonathan turned to fully look at Eddie - taking in his heavy leather jacket, his t-shirt that had some kind of shrunken-skinned zombie on it, and his long shaggy hair. The people of Hawkins tended to act like the metalhead was the second coming of Charles Manson - Manson was even a taunt he got fairly regularly - but Jonathan was beginning to see past that illusion. It only took a peak behind the mask to see that Eddie was a good guy. He really wanted to help out with the search for Will. Sheriff Hopper was going to flip his shit. 

“We all meet at my house at eight. We have to have a register since Sheriff Hopper’s got to be there, but he won’t bother you.” Jonathan explained, noting Eddie’s alarmed expression at the mention of the cops. “He’s sorta scared of my mom right now. I promise he won’t say anything to you.”

“Thank christ. At least it’s him. He caught me setting off fireworks behind the trailer park last fourth of July but just yelled at me and marched me home. He said he liked my t-shirt, though. Weird guy.” The little anecdote made Jonathan laugh, it wasn’t more than a breath, but he laughed. It had been the first time in a long time. However, the image of Eddie being hounded and dragged back home by Hopper was too funny to let slide. 

Jonathan gave Eddie the rest of the information about the search party - the Byers’ address, supplies that would be helpful to bring, and another reassurance that the police and other residents wouldn’t make any comments about him. 

Before the two parted ways in the emptying hallway, Eddie swiped a few missing posters from Jonathan’s loosened grasp. “I’m gonna steal some tape from Miss O’Donnell and get these up ASAP. See ya later, Byers!” Eddie took off around the corner in a flash. He was heading in the direction of his history class; he wasn’t going to stay in there for more than five minutes. 

Jonathan was left beside the bulletin board, down twelve missing posters and having recruited the most unlikely member of that evening’s search party.

-

The small group gathered outside the Byers' house made their dislike of Eddie’s presence all too clear from the second he turned onto the street. He had quietly walked up to the group in one of his uncle’s old high-vis vests from work and with his large camping torch. Eddie knew that his dramatics didn’t need to make an appearance while searching for a potentially dead kid. But the grimaces and dirty looks being shot his way had him itching to act out - whether it was in defence or defiance, he wasn’t sure which it would be. 

The whispering was painfully obvious. Eddie knew that people probably thought he’d sacrificed Will Byers to the devil to pay for his guitar or something equally as demented. It took a monumental effort to avoid eye contact with everyone besides Jonathan. Honestly, Eddie hated that he had become the centre of attention when he should be the least important thing on anyone’s mind. It made him feel sick. 

Sheriff Hopper was there like Jonathan had said. He nodded at Eddie while listening to a short brunette woman, likely Mrs Byers. The silent reassurance from the police sheriff was something Eddie never thought he would experience, but then again, the situation was far from normal. Hawkins had become far from normal. 

Mrs Byers started approaching Eddie across her lawn as his gaze remained firmly trained on the browning, dry grass under his boots. 

“Hi, you’re Wayne’s boy, Eddie, yeah?” Mrs Byers asked, her voice sounding a little hoarse and tired. The amount of stress the woman must have been under made Eddie feel even worse for drawing attention away from her youngest son. He’d even made a point of dressing in his plainest clothes, but unfortunately, they were all black. 

“Hi, ma’am. Uh, yeah, that’s me.” Eddie mumbled, meeting the woman’s gaze but fidgeting with the heavy rings on his fingers. “I wanted to come lend you guys a hand with all -” Mrs Byers raised her hand and gave Eddie a warm but tight-lipped smile. 

“Jonathan let me know you were coming along. Also, you can call me Joyce.” Joyce said gently, waving to other search party members who arrived. Before she could continue speaking, Eddie blurted out a thought that had been swirling around in his brain.

“I know me being here is a bother, but I’m only here to help.” 

“Eddie, as I said, Jonathan told me everything. He said you helped put up the posters. You’re the first person outside of Will’s friends to do that for him.” 

“He had like thirty of ‘em; can’t be fun having to put up that sort of stuff,” he grimaced at his words. No shit putting up missing posters for a twelve-year-old wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. “I mean, I know none of this is fun -“

“You don’t need to worry so much, I promise. You’re here to help, and that’s all that matters. Besides, I know you’re a good kid. You wouldn’t have shown up and stood here otherwise.” Joyce soothed. It was impressive how well she was holding up, all things considered. Maybe it was a “mom thing”? She saw a gangly teenager getting too much in their own head and had to intervene. Eddie couldn’t remember “mom things”, but Wayne tried his best to replicate them when needed. 

Eddie couldn’t hold back the bashful smile on his face, “I’ve got a weirdly good lay of the land all around town. The woods are easy to get lost in, but there’s a good amount of places where a kid would be able to rest.” 

“You can’t imagine how nice that is to hear.” Her big brown eyes were shining, possibly from blooming tears or a beat of relief. 

She was right. Eddie couldn’t imagine it. But any comfort Eddie could provide was better than nothing. Since Will had disappeared, Eddie had seen Joyce and Jonathan around town much more. He had never seen people look so much like husks of humans. It was almost like seeing ghosts haunting the streets. How the entire town wasn’t standing outside of the Byers’ house was beyond him. 

“If there’s an overhang or crevice in those woods, I’ll be able to sniff it out. Oh, yeah! My uncle wanted me to say that he’s gonna come help too - when his shifts get shuffled around anyway.”

Joyce didn’t say anything; she simply brought her tight-lipped smile back and squeezed Eddie’s forearm slightly. 

-

The search party was quite small, so everyone was put into pairs for safety. Eddie had nearly clung to Jonathan when everyone was paired up and sent on their way. The area of ground that was being searched that night was the lake shore and the forest surrounding it. Everyone was silently praying that they weren’t going to find the pale, bloated body of Will Byers in the freezing water. 

Eddie took the liberty of driving him and Jonathan to the area. It was the least he could do. The journey was silent. No talking, no music. He felt that the situation called for quiet. Eddie hated quiet; it made him restless and uncomfortable. 

Once the van was parked, the two were off, marching through fallen leaves and solid mud. The somewhat comfortable silence between the teenagers continued for some time after that. The only noise from either of them was the occasional call for Will, which echoed off the towering, inky forest walls. 

The harsh, bright beam from Eddie’s torch startled many squirrels trying to gather up their dinner - he shot them apologetic looks as he wandered by. Jonathan caught each of those looks and his mind continued to reel even more than it had been for the past week. Out of everyone in the entirety of Hawkins, one of the few people to actually make an effort to show was the most hated teenager within a ten-mile radius.

“Hey, um - your club at school, it’s not really a cult, is it?” Christ Jonathan was awkward at the best of times, but he was reaching new lows trying to think of small talk. Searching for Will was disturbing for him, but Will had always said he needed to put himself out there and make some friends. “Like it’s just an edgy name, right?”

Eddie was hit with a wave of shock from the line of questioning. “Uh, yeah. It’s just a name I thought sounded cool. No demon summoning or blood rituals. We just play D&D,” Eddie replied, kicking some crunchy leaves as they continued walking. “That’s Dungeons and Dra-”

“Will never shuts up about that game. It’s like his whole life lately.” Jonathan snorted. “Him and his friends camp out in the Wheeler’s basement and play it for, like, eight hours.”

“No way? You know what character he plays?” Eddie said in a curious tone. He tried to squash down his immediate excitement at being able to discuss a hobby that was so special to him.

“He plays a wizard, Will the Wise - might be a sorcerer, actually; I know the classes are a little different. He’s got a whole costume for when he leads their games - which is most of ‘em.” Talking about Will with fondness was cathartic for Jonathan. Everyone only wanted to talk about his little brother in the past tense - like he would never come back or was already dead. That wasn’t true. Will was going to get home soon, and his D&D costume would be waiting patiently in his closet.

Eddie’s eyes had filled with that bright hope once again, “He’s a magic user and the Dungeon Master!? Shit, this kid’s gotta be really good if he can balance all that!” The excitement couldn’t stay contained, no matter how hard Eddie tried. However, Jonathan appreciated the outburst of happiness. The constant sombre cloud that hung over his and his mom’s heads day in and day out was getting harder to deal with. Getting to be Will Byers’ biggest fan again was a good feeling. It was the first time Jonathan could feel himself cheering up, even a little bit.

“He’s crazy about it, man! All he wanted for Christmas this year was more of the books for it.” Jonathan enthused, his eyes still shifting around the illuminated forest for any movement. “I eavesdropped on one of their sessions a few weeks back, and it sounded so fun. Something about demons and gorgons following Vecna - not sure what that is, but Will made it sound like stuff straight out of a book.” 

“Going for a Vecna storyline with a buncha twelve-year-olds? Fuck, your brother is a hardcore little guy.” Eddie grinned. He used to be the same when he ran campaigns back in Middle School. A Dungeon Master, as well as Edward, the half-elf bard that gave the most metal inspiration during battles. “You ever thought about trying your hand at it?”

Jonathan hesitated. “Thought about- uh, going to one of those open Hellfire things you guys do at the start of the year, actually,” he mumbled, starting to feel embarrassed. It was true. He had considered going to Hellfire once or twice to understand D&D better for Will’s sake. Any time he proofread Will’s campaign notes, he was lost on its details. 

This conversation was strange, but a good type of strange. Jonathan had been dreading the night search, as he always did. However, having the company of a high-vis-clad metalhead was surprisingly nice. Jonathan knew not to entertain the idea of friendship; Eddie was two years older than him, after all. But the brief moments of comradery and compassion were rare in Hawkins. 

“Huh. Well, we’re a “the more, the merrier” kinda crowd. So don’t be a stranger, Byers.” Eddie smiled, nudging Jonathan’s side with his elbow. “We meet after school on Fridays. Make sure to bring Will the Wise with you too. I wanna see this kid absolutely destroy everything I have planned.” 

Will Byers was a lot more than a missing little boy. Eddie felt that when he met the kid, he would see a scary amount of himself. Jonathan and Eddie had silently agreed that Will couldn’t be dead. It just wasn’t a possible outcome to the chaos that spread across the town. 

Jonathan and Eddie continued to chat about anything and everything - D&D specifics, music, school, and their hobbies. Both boys continued to be ever vigilant for even the smallest rustle of leaves or shift in their surroundings. Bright beams from their flashlights continued to scan the pitch-black forest - fading away into the depths of Hawkins. 

It was almost like walking straight into hell, but at least they wouldn’t have to do it alone.

///

Tags: @vigilanteshit @lunatictardis @chainsawmunson @mantorokk-writes

[riacte]

Dogwarts / 3rd Life Cheat Sheet for MCC 15 Purple Pandas

Ren and Martyn were buddies in Season 1 of the 3rd Life SMP and they are an alliance known as the Renchanting duo/ Kingdom of Dogwarts. Now they’re finally teamed up, and the 3rd Life SMP members have a habit of referring to 3rd Life in MCC. The Ren-Martyn fandom also talks about Dogwarts a lot. If you have no idea what is a Dogwarts and why people love them, no fear! This post will try to explain it in simple terms.

3rd Life SMP is a SMP started by Grian. Season 1 has 14 members (roughly half are hermits, other half are friends of the hermits. You can find the full list in the description of Ren’s 3rd Life videos.) Everyone on the server has three lives— the first life symbolised by green names, second by yellow names, third by red names. If you lose all three lives, you permadie. Green names and yellow names are not allowed to be hostile unless they were attacked first, but the goal of red names is to kill everyone on the server. The three lives are also symbolised by three hearts, like this:

(Fun fact: Because of the green-yellow-red colours, the subtwt for 3rd Life is called traffictwt after traffic lights. The 3rd Life tumblr fandom is occasionally referred to as trafficblr.)

3rd Lifers record every week for three hours at the same time with proximity chat. The server has a small border to encourage interaction. They are eight sessions in total, and they’re all cut into YouTube episodes (no streams!), so it’s fairly bingeable.

So what’s the deal with Martyn and Ren?

Ren decided to set up an enchanting shop during the first session. Martyn was wandering around and having fun scaring people with creeper noises until he came to Ren’s enchanting shop. Martyn then used Ren’s enchanting service without paying (essentially a robbery), but Ren let Martyn go on the condition Martyn would act as a walking free advertisement. Martyn agreed, and they became business partners. Martyn actually coined the name Renchanting and its motto “Don’t be a Dog, be a God”. Ren named Martyn as his “marketing manager” (which sounds a little like Martynmanager).

True to his word, Martyn went around and spread the good news of Renchanting to everyone. Martyn brought business to Renchanting, and when Ren was being threatened by customers (who harassed Ren into lower his prices/ giving out enchantments for free), Martyn acted defensive of Ren and even said Ren was being “bullied”. Ren was being taken advantage of because he was too nice. (Martyn did do some stuff not related to Ren, but since this is a Dogwarts cheat sheet I won’t be mentioning that.)

Then came GoodTimesWithScar. The main “villain” to Renchanting, if you will.

Basically, Scar was playing the role of a cartoon villain. He scammed people out of their armour and possessions, and eventually found his way to Renchanting. At that point, Martyn and Ren were loyal to each other. Scar asked for Ren’s enchanting table. In return, when Scar turned red, he would not kill Ren and Martyn. Ren appeared to be torn, but due to Martyn depending on him and the business, he refused Scar’s offer (“you can’t take the enchanting out of Renchanting!”). Scar also acted condescending to Martyn (Martyn was seen as Ren’s “minion”). So Ren and Martyn were officially on Scar’s kill list, but Ren did not regret it.

At some point, Ren got tired of people walking into his store and stepping all over him, so he built high walls around the Renchanting building. Everyone (including Renchanting themselves) broke through the walls, and this was a running gag. Ren declared himself king by wearing the crown he got from MCC9 Blue Bats.

Note: Ren was kind, and it was the cruel world that forced Ren to be defensive. Other POVs paint them as the villain but Dogwarts enthusiasts will say that is not the case AT ALL.

Time passed. Scar turned red. He and his buddy Grian set up traps at Renchanting, and one blew up Ren and a bunch of other people. Ren, now a yellow name, was furious, but could not get his revenge because yellow names were not allowed to hurt other players. So naturally, Ren decided to become a red.

Ren renamed an axe to “RED WINTER IS COMING” and gave it to Martyn to chop his head off. (There’s some dramatic roleplay here, highly recommend a watch.) Martyn painfully did, and the message “Red Winter is Coming” was shown in the chat, which told everyone that Ren meant business. To test Martyn’s loyalty, Ren told Martyn he could kill him if he wanted to. Ren, freshly respawned and without armour, punched Martyn. Martyn, as a green name, could attack Ren due to Ren attacking first. However, Martyn did not kill Ren, and dramatically declared Ren was the one who showed him life, and thus he would return the favour.

So Ren was known as the Red King (with grey skin, bloodied MCC crown, and a Scottish/pirate accent). Martyn became known as the King’s Hand, and called Ren “my lord” “my liege”. Later, Martyn acquired an outfit with a cloak and a red hand on the back of the cloak, which is now used to symbolise Martyn.

They established the Kingdom of Dogwarts (after Hogwarts and the enchanting/magic gimmick) to find more allies (notable ones include Ethoslab and Skizzleman). Allies could stick a Red Banner in their base to show loyalty, members were called Red Knights / Red Army.

A Red Banner (the design is supposed to be blood dripping down):

Without spoiling too much, Ren and Martyn remained loyal to each other till the very end. They were very dramatic (even jokingly called homoerotic by some lmao) and had many hardcore quotes, and are highly beloved. They are the most dramatic and RP intensive group on the server. So people want Dogwarts, the king and his hand, together again.

A small sample of quotes that might be referenced:

I think going red next week is in my fate. It’s in my cards. There will be blood, for this. A king cannot be king without war. (Ren)

I won’t do it! You took me in when I was a lowly traveller, goin’ across the lands, searchin’ the four corners of this world. I learned that there was nothing in this world for me. Nothing but walls, corners, edges. And you know what? You showed me life. As much as I’ve taken it from you, you gave it back to me in bucket fulls. and I just- I’m with you. This is us now. This is us. (Martyn)

If we're going to survive the Red Winter, we gotta do it together, laddies. Hand in hand. Rotten hand in hand of the living. To the end! (Ren)

It’s just the world versus us. (Martyn)

(Note: Dogwarts refers to the group of people allied with Ren and Martyn, including Etho and Skizzleman. Renchanting duo refers to Ren and Martyn ONLY)

Other references:

Joel notably screamed “THE RED KING DIES TONIGHT, FELLAS!” with a crowd of wolves following him

Dogwarts killed Grian and Scar’s llama Pizza because Scar stole a Red Banner

Jimmy and Scott were flower husbands. Jimmy thought Renchanting was going to sacrifice Scott.

Everyone else in MCC (Grian, Scott, Jimmy, Joel) were enemies with Dogwarts

The 3rd Lifers reference 3rd Life a lot despite it being over. Martyn even fought for Dogwarts in MCC14 and MCCP but failed. Haha.

The fandom commonly refers to Purple15 as King (Ren), Queen (False), Ace (Illumina), and Joker/Hand (Martyn) after playing cards.

This is it, I am tired, this is probably too long but I feel I skipped a lot of details. If anyone has anything to add or correct, feel free to do so. Also, I’m pretty certain this won’t appear in the tags, so please reblog! Thank you, and Red Winter is Coming.

(I might add a reblog detailing False’s very much fanon involvement in Dogwarts, and why everyone was so hyped for Renchanting + False.)

[feanorianethicsdepartment]

the continuation of my take on adopted!fëanorian!tauriel! this one’s mostly about her early days with aman’s worst elves, when she was more of a family friend than part of the inner circle. that will change, though, believe me. part 1′s here

tauriel spends... not all of her time in tirion, she’s still got a job, but a decent chunk thereof trolling about with the ambarussat

they tour interesting places around town, break into the forester’s guildhall, get into multiple barroom brawls, scare the shit out of random passersby... it’s a pretty good time

they also do Antics. if you give her something to kneel on and sit her in one of his spare wheelchairs, tauriel looks a lot like amrod from behind. the three of them exploit this decoy ability as hard as they can before court catches on

she’s also a lot smaller than either of them and can fit into places they can’t, which is a useful tactical options

it’s a wild couple of weeks, which in taurielspeak is 1000% a compliment

they’re also just. fun guys to be around. she likes the pair of overambitious doofs

when legolas and co leave tirion she’s a little bummed to leave them behind

but politics continue to happen, and soon enough, legolas heads back into tirion. the twins aren’t in the palace this time, but they are in the city, and she meets up with them again at one of their loitering spots

her and amras do this elaborate mostly-improvised handshake ritual that ends in a full-force high-five, and she calls amrod a troll-faced spiderfucker in noldorin sign language

and just like that, they’re a team again

(legolas tries to talk her out of it. he gets two sentences into his speech before realising she’s not listening and giving it up as a waste of energy)

tauriel becomes a regular sight around what the official tirion guidebooks call the bad part of town

she comes around whenever she’s in the city, which is more often than you’d think. politics, sure, but legolas’ group is settling near enough to tirion she can feasibly swing by for a couple of days if she feels like it

they have fun. they do a lot of stuff that gets them arrested, but they also just hang out? wander off into the woods, chat about how their lives are going, wrestle, play stupid games. sometimes it’s just her and amras or her and amrod, meandering outside the city, chilling

and over the course of their acquaintance, she naturally meets the rest of the brothers hellspawn

her first meeting with maedhros, she looks up, and up, and up. ‘yeah, you would never have fit under my bed’ she says, a sentence that takes irritatingly long to explain

she gets along with some of them better than others. celegorm approves of her almost immediately and takes to following her around just to see what she’ll do next. caranthir never quite forgives her for the owl incident

she instantly recognises maglor as a fellow horrible half-feral short person, and the two of them immediately form a relationship that’s half territorial posturing and half mutual battlefield support

she thinks curufin is hilarious. so does celegorm, this is part of why he likes her

she even meets nerdanel, who lives in the same house she’s had since fëanor left and deliberately ignores the passage of time. at first tauriel gets the vibe she’s checking her sons aren’t taking advantage of her? as soon as it becomes clear they get along with tauriel because she’s just as nutballs as they are, though, nerdanel laughs, pulls her into a massive one-armed hug, and tells embarrassing childhood stories about her boys for hours upon hours

and as legolas’ people settle into their new home, tauriel finds herself spending more and more time in the orbit of the house of fëanor

she explores the wilderness of valinor with the twins and celegorm and various pals of all four of them. she strolls around the definitely-not-fëanorian quarter of tirion, slurping weird experimental drinks and playing guess-what-caused-that-explosion. she’s still a sylvan elf, she still spends the majority of her life roaming the wildwood with the people she’s always known, making a place for them in valinor

she’s just also got some extremely interesting friends

it’s in this time period that two things happen. first, people, particularly the  fëanorians’ definitely-not-minions but also the residents of tirion in general, start calling her ‘nelyarussa’

second, the Rumours begin to spread

the first inkling tauriel gets of this is when a guy she doesn’t know is angrod looks at her, groans, and mutters ‘oh balls they’ve figured out cloning.’ there’s a lot of talk about this redhead who suddenly showed up in the retinue of the local kinslayers, and the sylvans are isolated enough accurate data is somewhat hard to come by

so the tirion gossip mill is left to speculate. and because these are noldor, their guesses get squirelly

she’s a secret supersoldier they grew in a test tube for nefarious anti-valar purposes. they’ve taken to kidnapping people off the street and brainwashing them into joining their house. nerdanel and fëanor managed to conceive another child despite one of them being dead. they get weirder

tauriel is at first a little bemused by this - it’s a noldorin thing, she’s discovering, they take something with a really simple explanation and concoct elaborate unnecessary conspiracy theories - but she learns to see the fun it it. she doesn’t come up with theories herself, but she does confirm absolutely every idea someone asks her about, mostly to see their faces

she was worrying for a while back there that she’d never really belong to aman, but now she’s having the time of her life, going on adventures with both her old and new crew

[parasite-core]

so! you wanted to talk about your ocs, yeah? hm, idk about them so can you give a little introduction about who they are and their likes or something like that? or at least about some of them? thanks! 🥰💞

Thank you! Sorry for the delay I wrote way too much then wrote less but still too much then I took medicine that knocked me out lol.

So I’m going to talk about Draven because he’s who I’m fixated on, but if you want me to jump to another OC just say the word and I’ll talk about someone else instead.

So my first attempt at answering got out of hand and was not a “little introduction” so I’ll tag you in a separate post with all that if you feel inclined to read it after seeing the ‘short’ answer lmao. Even this answer got long so you can imagine the other went very detailed.

Let’s start with the part that’s short, his likes and dislikes.

Likes: Cats, he grew up with a big blonde cat named Captain who only liked him and he’s loved cats ever since.

Leto, his surrogate brother.

His friends…begrudgingly sometimes.

Music, he’s a big music lover, especially violin music but really anything he can tell had real passion put behind it.

Makeup and generally making himself look beautiful: it offsets the scars a bit and people—including his enemies—already call him uncomfortably pretty so why not lean into it. Plus it makes him feel good when people call him pretty/beautiful. (He might be slowly having some gender self-revelations but Draven isn’t very insightful so it’s taking him a while)

Dislikes: Demons, demons, demons. Glabrezus (treachery demons), Succubi (you know), you get the point. He really hates demons. He doesn’t mind tieflings/ abyssal sorcerers/ other people who just happen to have demonic blood in them, so long as they don’t let it define them. Which is good for him since he recently discovered *he* has demonic blood in his bloodline so he’d have had a way worse breakdown if he’d been upset about the blood in general not just which specific demon it belonged it (Jerribeth, a Glabrezu, and likely the cause of his entire family’s deaths…so yeah, baggage)

Other things he hates…people telling him how he should feel about something. He’ll feel how he should feel in his own time and not a moment sooner.

Having people’s lives in his hands. He’s a commander of an army he has no choice in the matter but he hates it so much he wishes he could just be a front line grunt fighting demons and risking his own life not giving the order that might kill dozens or more of others if things go wrong or he miscalculated. He carries the weight of every person who has died under his command and take it very personally.

People insulting tieflings for their existence.

About: this still got long but less long than the first time.

Draven Imani is a warpriest of the goddess of righteous valor, justice, and honor, Iomedae. After his family was killed by demons when he was 8 and he was the sole survivor, he was saved by Iomedaen crusaders. After he was healed, except for a Mark of Deskari on his wrist that festers and remains open no matter what healing is applied, they had him bandage up and keep it secret, although vicious rumors already began spreading. He was taken in by an Iomedaen orphanage called the Light-Oath Orphanage. This is where he gained his faith, and his desire to follow in the footsteps of the crusaders who saved his life. This is also where he met his best friend and surrogate brother, the tiefling Leto, who he’s been inseparable from for 13 years.

The two of them made a group of 6 who all wanted to join the crusades for various reasons, and they set out for the Crusader hub city of Kenabres. Unfortunately when they were an hour out of the city, a demon slipped through the wardstone barrier. Draven sensed it first, the evil mark on his wrist burning and bleeding in response. It was too late to flee or warn the others, and one by one they fell. Draven lost his eye while trying to protect Leto, and doesn’t remember the rest of the fight from the shock and trauma. Next thing he remembers is waking up in a healer’s bed in a temple of Iomedae in Kenabres, Leto waiting for him, his other friends dead, and unable to see out of half his vision.

The for next year he retrained himself how to fight with his sword and shield with only one eye, relearning to judge distances and to mostly figure out his spacial awareness. However because everyone saw him as irreversibly damaged, he got relegated to the lowest, least prestigious, most mocked rank of the crusades: the Raven Corps. And there he rotted in guard duty and being degraded by both townsfolk and other crusaders, all of whom see the Raven Corps as the lowest of the low.

Then the Wardstone protecting the city was destroyed, the Stormking, one of Deskari’s generals, lead an attack on the city and began slaughtering everyone, and the party was swept underground by the silver dragon Paladin of Iomedae, Terendalev, who told them they had a destiny to fulfil.

And then Auriel Answerer, Draven’s friend and mentee from the Raven Corps died right next to him striking a fatal blow against a Baphomet cultist. And it turned out Auriel was supposed to be Iomedae’s Chosen One. So because Auriel vouched for Draven, now Draven is the one allowed to wield the Holy Sword Radiance—although Radiance themself seems begrudging of this.

Draven met his hero, Commander Irabeth Tirabade, a half-orc Paladin and former Raven Corps member who once saved the city and was promoted to commander of the prestigious Eagle Watch Legion in recognition. Irabeth immediately gave Draven a field promotion to acting captain of the Raven Corps for recent events. No pressure or anything.

We destroyed the final wardstone shard that Deskari cultists were trying to corrupt into a weapon, via our archer Hiskaria avoiding a boss battle while the party fought her and kept her distracted by being bigger threats until it was too late. Then Hisy jabbed the stone with the rod of cancellation and it broke and destroyed her and two of her minions. And a single shard hit each of us after we had a vision of what had meant to happen—of the doomed world we weren’t meant to save—and how our actions had literally broken fate. Afterwards in reality the Wardstone shards sank into us and bequeathed new powers to each of us.

The night after becoming Mythic Draven met Iomedae in our dreams and received a number of really helpful boons from her. So Draven was in awe there. And learned from meeting the warrior goddess that maybe he should be less self deprecating about his own facial scars.

Since then he met the Queen of Mendev, got promoted to Commander of his own legion (The Adamant Shield Legion) with Irabeth friggin Tirabade as his mentor and advisor, they liberated an impenetrable citadel in two days, found out Leto was now working with the cult of Baphomet for unknown reasons, but he promised Draven that he wouldn’t let them hurt him. It turned out he’d been acting strangely since meeting a Glabrezu on the battlefield, and when Draven tried to ask over sending Leto only told him that “wishes come true at the most unexpected times”.

Since then. Dray’s learned that the mark on his wrist means he also made a wish to a Glabrezu, that he doesn’t remember because he was a traumatized child who was just tortured and saw his family killed when he got his mark. And not just any Glabrezu—Lady Jerribeth, the original architect of Drezen’s fall, and very likely the cause of his family’s deaths. And not only that, but Jerribeth’s blood runs through his veins, from within the last few generations of his family. So the Crusader, the demon slayer, who fights demons but embraces tieflings, is struggling to put his money where his mouth is when it’s his own blood touched by a demon’s influence. Also killing another mark bearer places a new mark of Deskari onto him, so he has a new one on his neck now from killing a raider half-fiend berserker who also shared Jerribeth’s blood and mark. He’s scared of the implications.

And that’s Draven so far.

[dmsden]

Campaign Basics 11 - News & Rumors

Hullo, Gentle Readers. Our Campaign Basics series has been exploring the Angel of Chaos storyline, and, this week, we’re going to create a year’s worth of news and rumors for our campaign. As I’ve mentioned in earlier articles, having things happening elsewhere in the world generates a level of faux realism that will help your players believe in your campaign world.

You can come up with three major events happening in distant lands, fairly major events happening in the area of the campaign (in this case, Calengard), and absolutely bonkers rumors that might just have a shred of truth to them...or not. This gives you a fair amount to work with, and you can weave the actions of your major villains and NPCs through these events, and then even have the events of your major NPCs become news and rumors themselves.Since the hypothetical date of the beginning of the campaign is “1835 DR”, that’s what we’ll be working with. 

Let’s start with a bang and state that, in Deepnight 1834, an adult black dragon moves into northern Calengard. Obviously the dragon isn’t announcing its presence by hiring town criers, so, instead, we’ll use what the Monster Manual says about lairing black dragons. Maybe the first anyone knows about the black dragon is that thick fogs and swampier than usual terrain are making travel near the lair difficult and dangerous. “My Uncle Finn was waiting for a caravan to come to the tavern he runs up north. They’ve been having odd weather, though. Thick fog doesn’t usually spread this time of year, and the swamps are usually frozen over, so travel’s not so bad. But they’ve had thick mud and thicker fogs, and they think the caravan might’ve just disappeared into the swamp!”

Let’s go with a distant disaster in Frostchain of 1834 and say that an earthquake strikes far off Nath-Hilum, causing the ruin of some ancient structures and maybe the uncovering of an ancient tomb or forgotten dungeon. This might be good grist for a later adventure.

Finally, let’s end 1834 on a positive note and say that, in Aelwyn, a marriage is celebrated. Perhaps the Queen of Aelwyn finally finds a Prince Consort. That can be useful for later developments as well, depending on how things go.

As Deeprain of 1835 comes, our Black Dragon is finally spotted. “They think they finally figured out what caused that caravan to go missing a few months back up north. A Calengard knight saw a huge black dragon flying over the swamps up there. Best to avoid it! A dragon that big is likely to be mighty powerful.”

We don’t want to lose our main plot, so we’ll go with something related in Planting of 1835. Maybe a ranger who is a member of the Wardens of the Wildwood comes to town and warns about activities in the Caves of Chaos. “I ambushed a goblin who had strayed from his raiding party. He spoke of some new priest of Chaos trying to unite the factions in the Caves. It may be nothing, but be wary if you travel that way. There may be more than meets the eye.” I feel like I would hit the PCs with this rumor just before they depart of the Caves to give them a hint that something’s going on.

Let’s do something local and related to Calengard in Highsun, perhaps mentioning that the Castellan intends to hold a feast and tourney in Sunwane. This gives some interesting info, and the actual tourney could be an opportunity to get noticed by the Castellan or another powerful NPC or to make allies in the Keep.

Let’s do another distant one in Fireborn, this one a bit more neutral and state that conscription of soldiers has begun in Valkenholm, bringing worries of possible raiding parties or fighting. Other kingdoms quietly prepare, and the PCs might feel some of the effect of this in soldiers stopping them on civilized roads, stronger guard presences in towns and such.

Smokewatch could bring us a simply bizarre rumor. “My cousin Garnet says that the reason Valkenholm is arming for war is because the ruler of Aelwyn has fallen under the control of a vampire! The Queen is enthralled by the man she married, and neither of them are ever seen during the day any more! The Valkenholmers are getting ready in case this fiend orders war against them!” This can be blatantly false, or there could be some truth to it.

Sunwane brings the tourney, and, perhaps, some news of the Angel themselves. “I heard a strange story from one of my brother knights. He and his followers were deep in the Borderlands fighting the minions of Chaos when he felt a prickle on the back of his neck like someone was watching him. He turned and saw a little girl, standing on a hill. He turned to block a blow, and, when he turned back, someone was standing over her with huge wings...then they both vanished. I know not what it means, but there’s something strange out there.”

If your PCs might be powerful enough to take on the black dragon who moved in up north, then in Harvesting, maybe the Margrave offers a reward for its destruction. This is a good way to get the PCs headed in that direction.

Let’s go with a bad local piece for Treeblaze. Maybe local farms are having a really bad year, with crops being ruined. This could be for many reasons, from bad weather to a hag causing trouble. I’m sure you’ll decide one what’s best for your campaign.

Coldsnap brings in the cold weather and a crazy rumor, perhaps. “Did you know that mind flayers are terrified of gnomes? Apparently something about the way gnomish minds work is completely inedible to them, and they’ve been known to flee from groups of gnomes who all come together to sing at them. It’s true! My cousin Amber said her friend heard about it from a knight!”

We’ll end the year of rumors and news in Snowfall, with a piece about the Angel. “There have been rumors about an Angel appearing all over the Borderlands. In some cases, it helps people, but, in some cases, it’s protection goes to goblins, orcs, and other spawn of Chaos. Something strange is going on and no doubt about it!”

And there you have it. We’re starting to see some patterns emerging, and we have the beginning of a framework and timeline to hang the events of the campaign on. Next time, we’ll start thinking about the first major confrontation between the PCs and the Angel and what that might look like...especially if the PCs outright win.

[rainydaydream-gal18]

Steve Rogers x Reader: The Nutcracker(AU) Part 4- Final Part

   (Warning, this is kind of long)

You noticed as the four of you wandered the island, it began to grow warmer.  It wasn’t a major change in the beginning, but after a while you were able to shed your coat.

   “Anyone else feel it getting warmer?” you called.  The group had split up to explore.  You saw Tony a little ways away give a shrug.

   “It hasn’t been this warm anywhere in the kingdom since the Mouse King took over,” he called back.  “For once, I have no explanation.”

   “It’s the Sugarplum Princess,” Steve called from the other side of a ruin. “She’s on the move.”

   “Oh my goodness, this is turning into Narnia,” you muttered under your breath. Still, you started to feel something. Something was calling you, beckoning you further into the island.  With a final glance at your comrades, you started heading in that direction. However, you halted at the sight of a figure wandering in what looked like it used to be a courtyard.  It looked like Thor from the Marvel movies. It was, sort of.  He was wearing princely garb similar to Steve’s, but in his usual gray and red colors.

   “Hello?” he called, noticing you.  “Who goes there?”

   “Hi,” you greeted, noticing him raise his hammer in an attack stance. “I’m ____________.  I’m a friend, not a foe.”

   “Is that so?” he gazed at you seriously.  “How do I know that you are not a follower of the Mouse King?”  

   Huh.  Good question.  How do you prove something like that to a stranger?  You did the only thing you could think of in that moment.

   “Steeeve?” you called over your shoulder.  “Natasha?  Tony?”

   The three of them appeared momentarily.

   “Your highness,” Steve greeted with a smile when he saw the man in front of you.  “It has been far too long.”  

   Thor’s shoulders relaxed as he lowered his attack stance. “Prince Steve Rogers!” he boomed with a jolly grin.  The two clasped their hands on each other’s forearms in a warrior-like sort of greeting.  Then, Thor called over his shoulder, “Bruce!  Come hither!  It is Prince Rogers!”

   Bruce Banner poked his head around a ruin, looking nervous at first before he noticed Steve.  “Oh, it’s the prince!”  He approached, pushing his glasses up his nose, looking quite overwhelmed.  “How’s it going?  You guys notice it got warmer here?  It’s been a long time since it was this warm.  You look different, Steve.  Are…are you a nutcracker?”

   “Good to see you again, Banner,” Nat spoke up.

   “Oh, hi, Natasha.  You look well.”

   “As do you.”

   “Bruce,” Tony greeted, going in for a bro-hug.  “What on earth are you doing out here?”

   “We have come in search of the Sugarplum Princess,” Thor stated.  “Is that why you all are here?”

   “As a matter of fact, yes,” Steve nodded.  “This is ____________.  She is a victim of the Mouse King’s crazy tricks too.  I brought her here in hopes that the Sugarplum Princess can change her back to her normal size, turn me back from a nutcracker, and even restore the kingdom.”

   “That’s a tall order,” Bruce said.  “But legend says she could do it.”

   “That’s if we even find her,” Tony, ever the skeptic, pointed out.  “It did get warmer here all of a sudden, but I don’t see any signs or arrows pointing us in the right direction.”

   “Well….” You interjected quietly, and everyone looked at you, making you feel a little overwhelmed at seeing so many fictional heroes in one place. “I’ve been getting this weird feeling, like something’s calling me.  It was leading me that way before I came upon Thor.”

   “Then we need to go.  Lead the way, ____________,” Steve said.

   “Just like that?” Tony protested.  “Could be last night’s dinner calling her, for all we know.  Shouldn’t we think this through?”

   “You said it yourself,” Nat retorted.  “We don’t have anything else to go on.  ___________ says something’s calling her, and I believe her.”

   “I agree,” Thor said.  “Banner and I have been here for some time now, and we found nothing until you all arrived.”

   Tony held his hands up.  “Alright, alright.  Good point.  Go ahead,    _____________.”

   You nodded and began heading in the direction that feeling led you to. Meanwhile, you found out that Thor in this story was the prince of a neighboring kingdom and Steve’s good friend. Bruce had been another scientist in the land, and due to an accident, he had the ability to turn into the Hulk- just like Bruce in the movies.  The Hulk was a member of the royal guard and would only be called upon in the direst situations.

   You couldn’t help but notice Steve remained at your side the entire walk across the ruins.  Even as he conversed with others from time to time, he didn’t leave you for a second.

   “You okay?” you asked.

   “Yes,” he assured you.  “I’m just trying to be ready for whatever it is we find.”

   “Do not worry, Steve,” Thor nudged him.  “There are many great warriors here.  If we must fight, there is no other group I’d rather be with!”

   “I agree,” Nat said.  “We’d make a pretty good team in battle.”

   “It’s a good thing you think so, Nat, because it looks like we’re going to have to test that theory,” Bruce said.  All of you looked ahead to see the Mouse King and his soldiers surrounding a glowing light in the center of what looked like it used to be a vast room in the palace.

   “How did he get here?” you asked, drawing closer to your nutcracker.

   “Not sure,” Tony replied.  “He must have some transport that we didn’t know about.”

   “Greetings!” the Mouse King called, raising his scepter.  “Why, don’t you all look so good together?  Ah, brother, it’s been a while.”

   “Stop this madness,” Thor told him.  “Step away from that glowing orb.  Come home to our palace and give up this poisonous dream.”

   “I’m afraid I enjoy ruling far too much,” the Mouse King smirked.  “If I go back to our little kingdom, I have no chance at being a king.”

   “He’s not standing down,” Steve said.  “If a fight is what he wants, it’s a fight he’s going to get.”

   Natasha and Steve both got into fighting stances on either side of you. Tony did something to his watch, and a steam punk Ironman suit generated from it to envelop him.  He lowered into an attack stance while Bruce morphed into the Hulk beside him.  Thor raised his hammer.

   “____________,” Steve said in a low voice that you barely heard.

   “Yes?”

   “We’re going to distract the Mouse King and his minions.  I need you to find a way to that orb.  Can you do that for me?”

   You took a deep breath.  “Should be a walk in the park, Prince Rogers.”

   He gave you a sideways glance and chuckled.  “Be safe.  I’ll cover you.”

   “You be safe as well.  And thanks.”

   Then, Steve raised his voice to shout at the Mouse King.  “We’re here to avenge the kingdom. We are-”

   “The Avengers,” you whispered.

   “The Avengers!” Steve called.  Then, he grabbed his shield from his back.  “Avengers, assemble!”

   It was an interesting battle.  Despite the seriousness of the situation, you were fangirling big time. Steve was taking down chitauri left and right with his shield.  Tony was blasting the minions in his suit.  Natasha was doing her awesome Black Widow thing, defeating enemies swiftly and with precision.  Thor wielded his hammer and even shocked some chitauri at  one point.  Hulk, well…he smashed.

   You managed to slip past the fight and head for the orb.  The Mouse King even joined the fight, facing off with Steve himself.  This gave you the perfect opportunity to approach the glowing object and see what would happen.  This was what had been calling you.  You extended a hand, feeling it grow warm as you reached out to touch the orb.

   “Very clever,” you heard Loki’s voice behind you.  “But you see, this orb is the key to my victory.  Do you think I’d leave it unguarded?”

   He had used his scepter to create a double of himself to fight Steve, but the real Mouse King had been waiting by the orb, blending in with the scenery with his illusion tricks.  He raised the scepter, and his double disappeared.

   “No!” Steve called.  “___________, get back!”

   In a moment of quick-thinking, you snatched up the orb before Mouse-Loki brought the scepter down on you.  The glowing brightened into a flash of light, and the warmth spread from your hand throughout your body.  A blast of energy left your other hand, sending the corrupt king flying.

   “_____________!”  Steve came running over as you fell to the ground.  “Are you alright?”

   “Yes, I’m fine,” you replied, staring straight ahead in shock.  Then, you laughed.  “Did you see that?”  You held the orb against your side as you rose to your feet.  The light in it had subsided to a soft glow, but something else was happening.  Your clothes began to shimmer.

   “What’s happening?” Nat asked, hurrying over.  The chitauri had been defeated; save for a few that seemed stunned as they watched what was taking place.

   “I’m not sure,” Steve murmured.

   You were enveloped in the glow entirely until you didn’t see around you.  Moments passed until the light faded and you were met with everyone’s surprised looks.

   Hulk had reverted back to Bruce, fortunately clothed.  He adjusted his glasses and smiled.  “It’s ____________.  She’s the Sugarplum princess.”

   You glanced down to see your outfit had changed.  It was a shimmering dress of (favorite color) that flowed to the crystal shoes on your feet.  The long sleeves were sheer and sparkling, and the glowing orb had become a large, singular pearl on a necklace draped around your neck.  

   “Well, this is a game-changer,” Tony said in his suit.

   “I’m-?”  You paused, unable to comprehend the situation.  “I’m the Sugarplum princess?  How?”

   “It all makes sense,” Steve said in awe.  “I left the Kingdom in search of a solution, and I found you.”

   “But…”  You gave a humorless laugh.  “I’m no princess.  I’m just ____________.”

   Natasha walked to your side, resting a hand on your shoulder.  A soft smile played on her lips.  “Sometimes it’s hard for us to realize how special we are.”

   “And princess or not, you’re special,” Steve added.

   “Well, thank you.”

   “I really hate to interrupt this touching moment,” Tony interjected.  “But what are we going to do with the Mouse King, here?”

   Thor cracked his knuckles, jaw set.  “Do not fear, I will handle this.”  The Mouse King’s eyes widened from his spot where he lay pitifully in the snow.  Thor marched up to his brother, but you hurried forward and stood between them.

   “Wait, no.  I think I know what to do.”  You offered a smile and turned around to face the Mouse King.  Closing your eyes, you focused on the pearl’s energy and saw the light flash in front of your eyelids.  You looked to see the Mouse King’s fur giving way to pale skin.  

   “No!” He snarled, writhing in the snow.  “You can’t get rid of me!  How dare you?”

   Soon, it was Loki sitting in the snow in green and gold princely garb.  His eyes were wide from the transformation, looking totally different from the twisted creature he was.  He looked at his human hands and actually smiled, the expression making his eyes crinkle with genuine happiness.

   “Princess,” he said, standing to his feet.  The smile never left his face.  “My greed and lust for power cursed me.  The Mouse King took over until I was almost gone, but you’ve brought me back.”  He got down on one knee, bowing his head in respect.  “Thank you.”

    “Of course.” Then, you turned to gaze at the ruins around you, feeling a pull to restore this palace to what it was before. “Looks like I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

   - - - - 

   The ballroom looked magical.  Lights were strung across the ceiling and along the walls to give the room an elegant shine.  An orchestra played music that made your heart swell as you watched your friends on the dance floor.  Bruce twirled Natasha, Tony dipped Pepper, and you even saw Coulson on the scene with Maria Hill.  The ladies wore stunning dresses, and the gentleman looked handsome in their suits. Loki and Thor stood off to the side, looking rather dashing in their princely uniforms even as they talked idly. Steve, the nutcracker, was nowhere to be found.  For whatever reason, you hadn’t been able to change him back.  With that being said, you refused to return to your normal size and go home until he was back to normal.

   “I’m sure he’ll be here any minute,” a deep voice said beside you.

   “I don’t know, Fury.”  You bit your lip.  “I think he’s angry with me.”

   He shifted and gave you an incredulous stare.  

   You raised a brow.  “What?”

   “You really think Prince Steve Rogers is mad at the young woman who defeated the Mouse King and brought order back to the kingdom?”

   “Well, he’s still a nutcracker, and I have no idea why.”  You sighed, glancing down at the pearl necklace.  “I wish there was some sort of manual for this thing.”

   Fury shrugged.  “How did you go about fixing the castle and turning the Mouse King back into Loki?”

   “I don’t know.  It was just instinct.”

   “Then instinct will tell you when the time is right.”

   As you soaked in his words, someone tapped your shoulder.  You turned around to see none other than Prince Steve the nutcracker.  He extended his wooden hand, smiling, and you took it.

   “May I have this dance?”

   “Of course you may,” you said.

   Your cheeks grew warm as the crowd parted to make room for you and Steve to dance in the center.  The next song began, and you giggled as Steve twirled you in a circle.  The faces around you began to fade until it felt like it was just you and him.  Your feelings had definitely grown over the course of the journey.  You saw beyond his appearance to the man inside with a kind heart. If only you knew how to change him back…

   Suddenly, the pearl necklace began to glow.  You paused, glancing down at it and then back up to meet Steve’s surprised expression.

   “Prince Steve,” Natasha called.

   He began to change.

   “What’s happening?” you asked, and he gave you a joking smile.

   “I was hoping you could tell me.”  The nutcracker was surrounded in the light until he was no more.  In his place stood Steve Rogers in his princely garb and not made of wood.   His eyes crinkled at the edges from the smile on his face as he gazed at you. “_____________, I’m me again.”

   Tears welled up in your eyes as he stepped forward and took your hand in his. It was soft and warm, and you ran your thumb over his knuckles while reaching up with your other hand to cup his cheek.

   “I have no idea how I did that,” you murmured.

   “Maybe it was the dance?”  The two of you shared a quiet laugh, and he leaned his forehead against yours.  The small act took your breath away as you gazed into his blue eyes that glistened in the lights.  He let out a shaky breath and whispered.  “I want to try something.”

   Goosebumps bloomed along your skin at his words.  “Yes?”

   “I want to…”

   “Kiss me?” you offered.

   He pulled away slightly and nodded.  “Is that okay?”

   “Definitely okay.”  You smiled, and he leaned in to brush his lips against yours lightly.  You responded quickly by resting your hand on his shoulder and returning the feathery kiss.

   Applause broke out in the dance hall, and you ducked your head in embarrassment at the realization that you still were surrounded by his subjects. Natasha was giving you a thumbs-up, and Bruce smiled happily and clapped.  Tony was rolling his eyes, but smiling.

   Everything felt right.

   And then you woke up.

   You sat up on the couch, breathing out a sigh.  You had returned your grandparents’ house, and the fire had burned out in the fireplace.  Feeling rather chilly, you reached over for the blanket that was kicked onto the floor and pulled it over your form.  All the while, you wondered how you’d gotten back.  Their old clock struck eight in the morning.

   Had it been a dream?  You wiped the tears that threatened to fall.  It had to have been a dream- a wild one with Avengers and nutcrackers and mouse kings. Your Prince Steve wasn’t really there.

   Prince Steve.

   The nutcracker.

   Your gaze darted to the floor in search of any sign of the gift from Aunt Lily. You lifted the blanket and sat up, running your hand along the cushions in case he was trapped in between them. There was no sign of him.  Perhaps your brother knew.  He had already taken him without permission once before.

   “Good morning, ____________!” the feminine voice cut through your thoughts, and you jumped.

   “Oh, good morning, Aunt Lily.”  You hadn’t even heard her come down the stairs.  “How are you?”

   “Excited!” she practically squealed.  “I just got a call from my friend, Barbara.  She’s stopping by later, and she’s bringing her nephew. He’s young, handsome, and is related to royalty in Europe.”  She gave you a nudge and a pointed look.

   You rolled your eyes.  “Yeah, right.”

   Little did you know, you’d be absolutely captivated by the man.   It was late in the afternoon, and you were doing a more thorough search for your nutcracker in the living room, lifting couch cushions and checking under the coffee table.  Several voices could be heard in the other room, and Aunt Lily’s rose above the others.

   “Oh, yes!  You must meet my niece, _____________!”

   You sighed, arranging the couch cushions in their rightful places, and stood up straight when your Aunt Lily poked her head in.  

   “There she is!  Come, darling, meet my good friend, Barbara, and her nephew.”

   “Okay,” you said, managing a small smile.  Meeting new people could be intimidating enough, let alone people who were related to royalty.

   When you rounded the corner, two bright blue eyes captured your gaze to the point where you couldn’t look away.  They were very familiar eyes, but yet distant like you’d seen them in a dream. The person belonging to those eyes extended a hand in greeting.  Your hand was warmed by his, and that’s when it clicked.

   But with so many of your relatives looking at you, you just smiled. “Nice to see you.  I’m ___________.”

   “I know,” he said, and when he got a curious look from you, he corrected, “oh, I mean, your aunt has told us a lot about you.”

  “Hopefully nothing embarrassing.”

   “Certainly not.  She speaks very highly of you.”

   “Aw, they’ll get along well,” the woman you presumed to be Barbara gushed, and she turned to speak with Aunt Lily.  

   When all eyes were off you, you looked at the blonde and mustered a quiet, “Prince Steve?”

   He looked at you with a twinkle in his eye.  “Hello, Princess ___________.  I missed you.”

[mythgirlimagines]

Here’s a brand new talentswapped Myth, just for this Tuesday! Get ready to dive into to a world of fantastical beings, for you are about to meet Myth, the Former Ultimate Novelist!

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BACKSTORY AND TALENT

With a rich inner world and a love for all things creative, Myth has been destined towards the arts, ever since she could hold a pencil. Despite her rather isolated childhood, Myth had a great starting support system in the form of her parents, elder sisters, and childhood friend Wyre. While Myth had a great variety of genres in her vast collection of works and future works, her main genre is a toss-up between romance and fantasy, with both of them being really passionate interests for her. Some of her most famous works include “Whispers of the Rain”, a mystery book series centering around a ragtag team of investigators snooping around for clues centering around supernatural happenings at the summer camp they attend, and “H34RT63AT”, a speculative sci-fi fiction work on a robot society that is capable of romantic feelings and copulation. Besides being famous for her literary works, Myth is also famous for her hospitality towards her fans, despite her eccentric attitude.

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RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Idol

As well as being Myth’s childhood friend and the only one of the Anons to know about Myth’s mysterious “base personality“ (aka. the personality Myth had before she started her illustrious career), Wyre is also the leading lady of the rock-idol group, “Saurus”. The members of Saurus, but Wyre in particular, are famous for their boyish charm and wild vocal performances, which matches with their punk aesthetic and appearances. Whenever either Myth or Wyre need privacy and time away from their massive fanbases, they regularly visit each other’s houses and relax with a good book to some good ambience music. 

Outfit: A sleeveless black leather jacket over a ragged white shirt with her group‘s logo on the front, black pants with a red stripe on either side, black buckled boots.

Anon Scar, Ultimate Baseball Player

Despite her eccentric fashion and speech patterns and continual talks of an “eye of power”, Scar is famous amongst baseball fans for her strong throws and accurate bat swings. Off of the diamond and on the sidelines, Scar is commonly regarded amongst her team mates as being the “team mom”, always prepared with cold compresses and water bottles to her sore and dehydrated teammates. Despite her own eccentricities, even she is weirded out by the eccentric personalities of Myth, even if Scar considers Myth’s books amazing. Scar reminds Myth of her Fantasy persona, and wishes to combat with Scar, sword-to-bat.

Outfit: A purple and black baseball cap, a matching eyepatch on her left eye that she claims hides the “eye of power”, a white baseball uniform with a big purple “6” on the front and back, black shoes, scarf from original design.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Fanfiction Author

Underneath the internet pseudonym of “FatherFigureFusion”, Fusion garnered fame for his well-written online stories that are beloved by mutual fans of his favorite works, whether they’d be cartoons, video games, or books. Upon finding out that one his favorite novelists is present at the Kibo-Con, this gentle giant just couldn’t hold still and wishing to bombard Myth with questions. Luckily, Myth has endless patience for her fanbase, and happily obliges to answer her underclassman’s questions. They love talking to one another about the trials and tribulations of the writing process, and regularly exchange their beta works together. 

Outfit: Same outfit from his original design, but with fandom pins all over his hoodie and backpack.

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Detective

Being one of the most competent homicide detectives in her hometown, despite her age, Fusion II has a great eye for investigation and an analytical mindset, just like her crime-solving parents. As hard as she tries to play up the “rebellious problem child and hardened grizzled detective” image, upon finding out that her favourite mystery novelist is attending the convention that she’s attended, her inner nerd and mystery geek just springs out, much to the detective’s embarrassment. Every time Myth talks to Fusion II about on-the-job incidents, Myth gets brand-new ideas for her future mystery novels, much to the excitement of II.

Outfit: Same outfit from the original but with a white trench coat and matching fedora, as opposed to a gakuran.

Just Anon, Ultimate Swimmer

Famous amongst the athletic community for his speedy movement through the pool, Janon seems to be the complete opposite when on the land: sluggish and lethargic. If it were up to Janon, he would gladly spend the rest of his life under the sea, without any annoying paparazzi and teachers to bother him. Because of the differing domains of their talents, Janon and Myth don’t interact much with each other, but Myth could sympathise with Janon’s struggles with an adoring fanbase. What Myth doesn’t know, is that Janon is a fan of one of Myth’s fantasy books, more specifically “Attack on Aquarius”, a story on the misunderstood mersharks.

Outfit: A blue and white shark hoodie (gawr gura) with nothing but pink and blue swim trunks underneath and matching flip flops on his feet.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Martial Artist

Sparkle is commonly known in tournaments by the self-made epithet, “THE COMBATIVE QUEEN”. Despite her eccentric attitude, her sparkly fashion and her genuine belief in magical girls and childhood desire to become one, Sparkle’s prowess in martial arts is nothing to be laughed at, for she dominated tournament after tournament with her combat skills. Just like with Scar, Sparkle reminds Myth of her fantasy author personality, who Sparkle happens to be a mutual fan of. Because of the martial artist’s emotional and over-exaggerated personality, both Horror and Romance Myth‘s interactions with Sparkle lead to inevitable comic gold.

Outfit: Hair cut into a bob, a sequinned leotard with a pink to blue gradient and magical girl frills, bandages tied around her arms and legs, contacts.

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Programmer, and Wet Sock Anon, Former Ultimate Clairvoyant

Egg and Wet Sock are as different as night and day, with Egg being energetic and all about tech, and Wet Sock being more sullen, aggressive and all about the supernatural. Despite the two differing domains of the twins‘ talents, there is one particular thing that they both have in common: their shared penchant for inserting unnecessary and cursed comments into every conversation they enter. While they love to playfully tease Myth with her cursed comments, when Myth switches to Horror Myth, they quickly submit to the true Queen of Cursed. The Queen of Cursed and her twin minions set out to spread the cursed, much to the dismay of the other Anons.

Egg’s Outfit: A green and blue tracksuit with pixelated earrings and white sneakers, glasses from original design.

Wet Sock’s Outfit: A black and white tracksuit and an ominous black cloak that goes over their head.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Lucky Student

With a passive and go-with-the-flow personality and a love for whatever is popular these days, Curious is as normal as one could get these days. In fact, winning the Hope’s Peak Middle School lottery was the most monumental event of Curious‘s entire life. Curious seems to be a people-pleaser, for they regularly flatter others and go along with what others say, which has a tendency to breed trouble. Because of Eldritch, Curious seems to be convinced that all of Myth‘s personalities are four separate people, and Myth has since given up trying to convince them, and now plays along with the separate people schtick.

Outfit: Same outfit from the original but with messier hair, patchy overalls and a clover design on their tie. 

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Affluent Progeny

As the most prolific child in an already prolific family, Nerd is the vicious and ambitious head of the DEXTER conglomerate, only the prime company when it comes to technology. Nerd always has at least one piece of his company’s technology on his person, just so he can blast away annoying peasant that get in his way, with Myth (Romance Myth in particular, with her alluring figure and maternal energy) being the number one target for his ire, much to the anger of her over-protective childhood friend. Myth isn’t stupid, and knows that Nerd just needs a little redemption arc to help him loosen up and realise his true feelings for her.

Outfit: Same outfit from the original. 

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Biker Gang Leader

Mysterious sightings of a large group of helmeted people were spotted all throughout several towns in the area, and eventually they were traced back to the “Apocalypse NO” gang, a band of secret apocalypse preppers, who wish to topple the “oppressive“ government they claim to be living under. Eldritch is currently trying to indoctrinate the other Kibo-Con members into his biker gang, but only succeeded in indoctrinating Curious. Myth may not understand a good majority of Eldritch’s anti-government rambles, but she thinks that his biker gang would make for a good sci-fi plot. If only she can convince him that her alternate personalities are all the same people.

Outfit: A black motorcycle helmet that covers his face, an entirely black jumpsuit, spiky black boots, and a red scarf.

Dream Anon, Ultimate Soldier

Seeing Dream in person and hearing about her talent would leave one feeling shocked and confused. When you look at this bouncy, cheery, and childish little lass, you would never guess that she is a master at piloting tanks and aiming fire at foreign combat enemies. Now that she is off of the battlefield and into a school environment, she’s trying her best to adapt from the life of warfare that she was forced into at a young age. Myth may be no expert on warfare, but she did her research and even she knows that being exposed to such violence at that age can’t be good for a young girl’s mind, no matter how many times Dream denies it.

Outfit: A barrette that resembles a sniper’s scope, a dark brown sleeveless parka over a camo hoodie, blue jorts, and black army boots.

Iris Anon, Jr. Ultimate Fashionista

Iris has had a passion for fashion ever since she was little, and with that passion, came a passionate following of like-minded people. With a belief that there is no such thing as a “fashion curse”, Iris carries herself with confidence and optimism that can be seen, even in pictures. When Myth first met Iris, the first thing the fashion icon did was compliment Myth’s patchy hand-me-down jacket, and how it went well with her otherwise high-class appearance, and that compliment makes Myth smile, just by thinking about it. Iris also appreciates how, just by a little change to her hair and jacket style, Myth can almost become a different person.

Outfit: A white beret on her head, a white jacket with a pink trim over a pink t-shirt and matching shorts, white boots, glasses and barrettes from original design. 

Purple Anon, Ultimate Gambler

Despite looking and acting shy and innocent, in a good majority of situations, Purple is a mastermind, when it comes to the underground hive of gambling. With a hard-to-read expression and vocabulary, Purple is an enigma, even amongst her fellow gamblers. Fortunately, because of her talent, Myth can understand exactly what the verbose gambler is trying to say to her. According to the gambler, Purple came from a formally-wealthy family that lost all of its riches, and Purple resorted to gambling in order to win her family’s riches back. Needless to say, Myth both feels sorry for Purple and inspired to write a brand-new story.

Outfit: A black scarf with a card suit motive that makes her expressions harder to read, a black vest over a red tie and purple dress shirt, a black skirt, leggings and shoes from original design.

This series centers around an “eccentric” novelist, as she gains inspiration from the colorful individuals around her, and weirding the colorful individuals out with her odd personalities.

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APPEARANCE

Myth normally keeps her purple-dyed hair that reaches to her mid-back down, only to tie it up in different styles, depending on which “personality” takes over. As for clothing, Myth wears a brown and patchy jacket that belonged to her father, and has writing supplies stashed in her massive pockets, over a black vest with blue outlines, which in turn, is over a white dress shirt and a pink necktie. Myth wears a skirt that’s the same color as her vest, baggy gyaru-style socks and black loafers. 

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PERSONALITY

The odd part about Myth’s personality and appearance is that it shifts, depending on what the genre of her latest work is, which, according to Myth, is meant to be “getting into the genre” and a sort of immersion/method acting. 

Her personalities and genres go as followed:

Romantic!Myth: Wears her hair in a side plait, switches to contact lenses and ties her jacket around her waist. Carries herself with an almost maternal air. Very teasy and flirtatious, and loves to toy with others, gives off serious “Ara, ara!” vibes. A massive sucker for suckers.

Fantasy!Myth: Wears her hair in a ponytail and wears her jacket like a cape. The “Chuuni” of the personalities, acting like a ruler of a fantasy land and refers to others by similar fantasy-esque terms.

Horror!Myth: Puts her hair into pigtails, lets some of her bangs down and slouches down. The most cursed and pessimistic of the personalities, interested in the supernatural and prone to adding horrific and cursed comments to any conversation, much to the dismay of the Brain Cells.

Mystery!Myth: Pops the collar of her jacket, so it resembles a trench coat, puts her hair into a bun and wears a white fedora, so she basically resembles Carmen Sandiego. Very calm, pensive and analytical, and all about the academia aesthetic, acting like a hardcore and grizzled detective. Also a massive sucker for suckers.

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I have a feeling that you would enjoy this talentswap, considering this is one of your dream careers! Let me know what you think of this swap!

-Fusion Anon

[sparkexplosive]

Sentiment [Izuku Midoriya] ; 01 ; rewrite

Masterpost of all chapters!

Proceed with Caution: This story will contain angst. 

Word Count: 2,615

The sun shining above birds chirped happily beside their own families. Small children are holding their mother’s hand as they walk across the busy street. 

The tall purple walls that surround the grounds of U.A High School, which protects their students and staff from any uninvited citizens to enter into their property. The security of the school has improved ever since the incident with the League of Villains. 

Students wearing their respected uniforms. They are chatting away with their friend groups from their dorms. 

Meanwhile, you are holding hands with your green-haired boyfriend, whose cheeks were slightly flushed in red since he’s still not used to this kind of affection despite the fact you’ve been dating for almost twelve months. 

Your first anniversary is coming up.

You cannot believe it has been so long. You can’t help but ponder on the reason why you even started to date him in the first place. 

You knew how messed up this was, taking advantage of Midoriya’s crush on you for your own personal gain over a stupid deal you made with an acquaintance. It’s just wrong and isn't you. 

You took the offer at a time when you were in a tight spot in your life without any hesitation. You didn’t think through it before accepting the deal. it. You just needed the money for your own family's sake.

At the very beginning, you didn’t have any necessary feelings for him in that sort of light. However, you could not avoid developing true feelings for him throughout the relationship.

Once you get the chance to get to know him better, you start to realize who he was behind his reputation of being one of the top students within the Heroes Course and well known for breaking his bones in his first year. 

Midoriya Izuku is very sweet and protective over his loved ones. You took notice of the small habits such as rambling on like a voicemail machine. 

You started to learn to love those traits about him, even if he’s a constant blushing mess. You remembered the times when he was a complete klutz during the dates you went on together, especially the first one. He was shaking on your doorstep with a gift in hand.  

Throughout your relationship, when he thought this relationship would last. He thought your guy's relationship was serious enough that when he brought you home to meet his mother. He was extremely nervous and worried about his mother’s opinion of you. 

You were nervous to meet the most important person in his life. It worked out in the end. His mother loved you dearly and would often ask for you to invite you for dinner on the weekends.  

Clearly remember how you felt the day when reality finally hit you like a truck. 

You were falling in love with an adorable dork who has a big dream of becoming the number one hero. You admired that part of him. You loved his resolve of becoming the selfless hero who puts his own life on the line to save others, although it does worry you at times. 

On a particular day, it was raining and clouds crowded over the sun. 

You were soaked wet from head to toe while walking away from the U.A building to get supplies for Deku’s costume to repair damages. There weren’t any of the supplies you need for his costume. Power Loader handle over a credit card to get the stuff you needed since they didn’t have the supplies. 

You could clearly remember the running footsteps hitting on the wet ground behind you. 

You had turned your head around out of curiosity to see who it was and stopped to only be surprised to see Midoriya.

“(Name)! Wait!” You saw him running to you with an umbrella in his hand.

“I saw you walking out in the rain without an umbrella.” He nervously looks up at you. He scratched behind his neck. 

“I didn’t want you getting sick because of me. I was the one who ruined the costume and the reason you needed to go and get the supplies to have it fixed in the first place.”

Your eyes widened at hearing his statement and you were flabbergasted. You didn’t know what to say. He nervously smiles before he looks down at his hand holding an extra sweater. He motions for you to grab the umbrella, which you did. He immediately flaps the sweater open, before taking the edges of the upper section. He quickly walks behind you and places the sweater over your shoulder, and you slipped your arms through the sleeves. You had switch hands from holding the umbrella. 

His dry sweater hugged your soaked body. You could feel the heat coming up to your cheeks and your throat was becoming dry as your heart started racing against your ribcage.

The realization falls on you very hard as you are beginning to catch feelings for him.

“Thank you, Izu.” You gave him a sheepish smile. 

That day, the two of you had a conversation with the store and back to school grounds. 

Overall, ever since you developed feelings for him, you could not help but feel guilty about it, which is why you were planning on telling him the reason sometime this week. 

You knew you shouldn't have waited for so long to tell him, but you were trying to convince yourself that perhaps you would find the correct moment to bring it up. However, deep down you knew there was never gonna be a right moment for something this big that spark the romantic relationship between the two of you to even happened. 

You want to be sincere with your feelings with him and tell him the truth about everything and hope for the best before he could find out by someone else. 

It would just make it more complicated than you tell him yourself. 

___________________________

Everything started within the first few months of the second year being Midoriya’s department of support partner, the two of you would spend a lot of time together for his suit and the equipment that he needed.

He would start acting more weird than usual. You would find him staring at you with admiration when you are using your quirk, heat vision. You were heating two loose pieces together within his mask and when you were finished, you would turn your head to him and raise an eyebrow.

He wouldn’t stop staring until you call his name, which immediately makes him snap out of his trance to knock over a wheeling cart with different sizes of screws and nails. He tried to clean the mess up but instead face planted on the ground and continued to apologize for his clumsiness. You had to help him clean up the mess he made.

That was the day when you realized why he was acting weird around you. All the signs, he has shown signs of having a crush on you. You didn’t understand why he would. You were not someone from the hero course, but someone who is from the support department.

You weren’t anything special to even gain his attention like that on you. 

However, once the word got spread around school that one of the students from Class-A of the hero course has a crush on someone within the support department, there was an uproar but it didn’t take long to find out who it was.

This was the day that sparked everything. You clearly remember the day when you accepted a stupid deal that could cost you a relationship with someone who genuinely cares about you.

You weren’t happy that you got ambushed by one particular classmate with their minions within the same department as you. They hid your tools, which you couldn’t do anything without them.

“You’re the one who’s partnered with that bushy-haired boy who used to break his bones constantly during the first year.” Your classmate states, making you roll your eyes and trying to find your tools in the supply area.

“What about it? If you want to ask about someone, the least you could do is learn their name.” You kneeled and started looking underneath the tables.

Your classmate completely ignores what you said then continues, “Well, let’s make a deal.” which made you stop and retreat your body from underneath the table. You glanced over at your annoying classmate.

“About?” You were curious about what they had to say.

“You ask out that klutz of a hero and maintain the relationship for a whole year then break up, and in exchange you get money. You would make that boy’s dream come true for a year and you get money as an exchange. Doesn’t it sound like a good deal?”

“But what’s the catch?” You asked.

There is always a catch in any kind of deal. 

“If you could not do it, then you have to clean up our messes for the rest of the following year.”

You ponder on the thought and glance over to your working station to see the yellow envelope from the hospital on the same spot where you left it.

“How much money are we talking about here?” You asked.

“I have plenty of money.” Your classmate cockily says, taking a sticky note from your desk and a pen before he writes something down. He throws the sticky notepad at you. You catch the sticky notepad and look at it.

You bite your lip in thought, before looking up at him. “Why did you choose Midoriya out of everyone?”

Your rich classmate clicks his tongue. “I have a grudge against broccoli. It’s just vengeance in a sense. Are you gonna take it or not?”

Your rich classmate holds his hand out for a handshake. You took a deep breath before looking at the yellow envelope again and returning your eyes to him and lifting your hand to grasp and shake his hand. “Deal.”

“Nice making business with you. (Last name).” He snickers and wave his hand to only have your tools to start appearing on your desk.

You could feel a pair of green eyes on you snapping out of your thoughts to glance over at him. His innocent green eyes holding worry and unease for you. He opens his mouth and shuts it before he makes another attempt to finally have the words come out of his mouth. “Are you okay?”

You return your gaze to the building in front of you, U.A High School Building. You lick your lips and nod your head.

“Yeah, I am. Don’t worry about me. You have to worry about passing that exam today.” You smiled and boop his nose. Instantly, he covers his face and a slight reddish blush appeared on his freckled cheeks.

You grin brightly and laugh at his reaction. You could never get enough of him being a complete dork, which is one of the reasons why you fell in love with him.

You lean over and peck his freckled cheek. He was completely distracted, and you took the opportunity to take his wallet. You let go of his hand and wave his wallet in front of him. He immediately touches his pockets with a bewildered expression. You snicker in front of him before you start to sprint away from him.

He runs after you, soon enough sweeps you off your feet. Thankfully his training paid off since he can run a lot faster than you.

Both of you were laughing at the silly goose chase. He has gotten used to your teasing but always gets off guard. You press the tip of your nose against his, making him grin brightly and you smiled along with him. He puts you back onto your feet on the ground. 

What you didn’t notice where students who are within the building giving you dirty to disgusted looks from the windows above. 

You are the first one to pull away and take his hand. Both of you are walking into the building, and you drop him off to his homeroom since it is the closest.

“See you later. You wish the best of luck.” You peck his cheek and bid goodbye with another good luck peck on his other cheek for his exam.

______________________________________

When Midoriya Izuku opens his locker in the boys' locker room after coming back from his exam. 

A white envelope falls onto the ground between his feet.

With an eyebrow raised, he bends down to grab the envelope with his hero name on the front “Deku”. 

He wants to open it but decides against it. He places it on the top shelf of his shelf as he changes into his school uniform. 

The back of his mind was itching to know what was inside. 

Everyone was slowly leaving to go to the cafeteria. He opens the white envelope to only reveal a photocopy of a paycheck with writing on top. 

His eyes widened at the moment when he read the wording. 

“Your relationship with (Name) is a lie.”

His legs weaken with his weight causing him to stumble back as the back of his knees hit the bench. He sits on the bench. 

He has so many questions, but the evidence is in his hands. 

A paycheck with an enormous amount directed to your name. 

Iida comes back to see Midoriya shoulders trembling sitting on the bench. Midoriya hands were clenching the piece of paper in his grasp. 

The president of the class walks over to him to see the piece of paper and what's written on it. 

His eyes widened, but he was overcome with sadness for his best friend. He reveals a secret that he has been holding to himself. 

“Midoriya, I did hear rumors.” 

Izuku could feel my mouth going dry. It was begging for something to drink. 

“I thought they were just rumors. I didn’t think to tell you. You know how it is sometimes, but I am sorry.” Iida speaks, causing Midoriya to put his head down in shame. 

His voice was cracking at each word that comes out from his lips as his eyes were blurred with tears. “Was I foolish?” 

The realization hits him when he thinks back at the beginning of the relationship. The way you acted in the very beginning but it changed over time.

He doesn’t want to believe it. He hopes it's all a lie. It is just a cruel prank. 

But deep down, the thought of the chance of this to be true is high. 

Was he fooled or even blinded by his crush to see the truth? 

Is he that gullible? 

He runs out of the locker leaving Iida alone. He ignores his calls for him. He was too deep in his own thoughts. 

He needs to take a walk to breathe.

No. He needs to run to relieve the heaviness on his chest.  

He could already feel all the stares of his classmate out of pity when everyone finds out. 

His stomach and heart wrenching so hard as if someone took his heart-crushing it with their bare hands. 

He rushes past students who were whispering to each other. 

“Did he find out?”

“What a pity. To play with kind-hearted boy feelings.”

He could feel the room becoming bigger and bigger. He has a hard time breathing, almost as if someone had punched him in his gut harshly. 

Once his feet went the ground outside to only scream his heart out while tears running down his freckled cheeks. 

His whole relationship with you was it a complete lie?

-__________________

Feedback is appreciated!

Please be kind within the comments. I hope you are enjoying the story.  Sorry for any spelling or grammar errors.

[clockworklozenges]

So, I think it may be time to regale you with the story of the worst heist that I, as a player, was involved in. It was in 3.5e, and genasi were a thing (thanks to the planetouched book) and with the DM getting the Savage Species book (those who read my post about Damien Fucking Bloodmoon will see where this is going, and that it will be going poorly) our group, fresh off an embarrassing TPK to what were, ostensibly, Minions who were aware of their existence being heresy in the eyes of Mother Nature, Father Time and Kooky Uncle Pop Culture - before the advent of the yellow tic-tac banana fetishists - decided that it was time for what could charitably be called the "monstrous regiment".

More accurately, it was Car Crash DnD.

The Monstrous Regiment was a mercenary group formed of the surviving crew of a plane-crossing Spelljammer vessel which had crashed in the Forgotten Realms, leaving most of the crew as social outcasts deemed as enemies of civilisation (fair enough with General Nibbles the Cannibal Goblin, though he insisted on proper table manners when eating people he respected) by the world at large, as we were all what many would deem 'exotic' or 'monster' races.

We had General Nibbles the Cannibal Goblin (not a general, General was his first name because he ate a general once and saved the nameplate from his desk, which he used as sunglasses), a Ranger who was the ship's cook and also had a level in rogue for the acquisition of what could charitably called "mystery meats". We had Table, who was a humanoid-shaped mimic bard, who could only communicate in nouns. This sounds like a handicap, but he effectively became a stellar country music singer. He was somehow the party face, since our other party members were an owlbear cleric who thought he was a bee (a big one, though. He was delusional, but not stupid), a zombie orc fighter called Mighty Green Chad and myself. I was playing as a water elemental Sorcerer called Andalf, who had water themed spells, but had been affected by the crash of the Spelljammer, making it so that he would, in moments of extreme emotional stress, explosively transform into a fire elemental called Malrog, whose spells and personality were much more firey and damaging than the calm and supportive Andalf.

An important note for later is that I could not choose when I changed between Andalf and Malrog. The DM would give me a Will Saving throw with a changing DC depending on the situation, and if I failed I changed, if I passed then I would sustain the form I had.

We had found that, in order to fix our ship and leave Ed Greenwood's magical prostitution brothel realm, we needed the aid of a wizard, who was trapped in his tower under house arrest. The key to the tower was stored in the Inn, where we had to disguise ourselves to even enter. In this respect, General Nibbles made a passable gnome (we did not ask him where he 'found' the skin-suit, but noticed that the gnomish population was less and less prominent with each day we remained in the town), and Chad, Table, Bee and myself used illusion spells and shapeshifting magic to blend in. We needed the key, and Andalf, the calm and collected Sorcerer with no damage spells at all, devised a plan of genius equivalent to the innovative spark of whichever fellow decided to stab bread before selling it.

Firstly, we have General Nibbles...do his thing and run diversionary tactics to distract the town guards, since two of the ten are always at the wizard tower, Nibbles will be given firebombs and potions to increase his speed and stealth, whereupon he'll use his chloroform (um. Don't, uh, don't ask why he has that) to give one of the bar staff a "surprise day off".

Table will mimic the...holidaying staff member, and ensure that they can ingratiate themselves with the Inn customers.

Chad, Bee and Andalf will enter as bar patrons, and whilst Chad and Bee entertain the crowd with what they certainly thought was a humorous stand up comedy routine, Andalf will distract the innkeeper and see if he can access the safe using his enchantment spells.

We leave.

Profit.

Things didn't go as planned.

For a start, Nibbles got...peckish, and ate the waiter Table was meant to become, accidentally used an explosive arrow on the second waiter we tried to ambush and exploded him, and ended up carrying the one we actually got intact with him for his part of the plan, acting like he was starring in discount, arsonist Ratatouille, dragging the unconscious waiter behind him. This meant that the bar staff was whittled down to just the innkeeper, the cook and Table.

Table himself decided, after seeing rich guests, to start doing a precarious dance and using enchantments to lock those aforementioned rich guests in their ensuites and rob them blind, meaning that nobody is keeping watch on the door, me or the civilians (especially since most think they're chickens clucking away in ensuites more like indoor outhouses than bathrooms, and the others are transfixed by the bizarre antics of Bee and Mighty Green Chad).

Bee and Mighty Green Chad get drunk, make friends and then take over the stage, performing karaoke, ventriloquism, expressive dance and a 'comedy' routine which relied on two things: one, that the audience knows that they're an owlbear and a zomborc and two, that the audience is so drunk that they would laugh at James Corden making fart noises during an Adam Sandler film. Fortunately, the bar patrons had passed that point and had reached "you're my best pal, you know" and teetering on the "you fancy a kebab? I fancy a kebab, let's get a kebab, no, the health rating doesn't matter, I fancy a kebab" stage of drunkenness.

This does mean that, of the people in the bar, the only clear-headed people are either me, the innkeeper or an abruptly kleptomaniacal mimic. The cook doesn't count as Nibbles had finished his jobs and had stuffed both the cook and the waiter into a barrel of ale, which he was also sampling judiciously.

After, the DM remarked that Nibbles thought it a fine vintage, if a bit too flammable for his tastes.

So, to sum up- the guests are trapped in their bathrooms clucking their lives away, our spy is robbing purses, our demo man is drinking not-yet-quite-corpses wine in the yard and our muscle is drunk and acting out the Two Ronnies Fork Handles sketch in slurred Scottish accents. With all this, Andalf walks in and I hear the dreaded...

"Make a Will Save"

I pass, but only just, and sweet-talk the innkeeper, using Andalf's silver tongue and high Concentration skill to get into the back room and maintain my illusory Antonio Banderas face (judge me all you want, I have taste in fake faces), and she leaves the room to get some Elven wine from the next room. With only a thin wooden wall between me and her, I find the key, but to grab it is a risk...and of course...

"Make me a Will Save"

And whilst I get the key from the draw...I fail the will save, becoming Malrog, flinging the key across the room and causing the innkeeper to rush back in, howling about a demon who burned up the man she was seducing. Then she sees the fire.

So, as part of the transformation, the DM flavoured it as a small wave of flame or water pulsing outwards from the now-Malrog or now-Andalf respectively. Whilst it did a tiny amount of damage, the flame burst from the Andalf to Malrog transformation would ignite anything flammable in a 10-foot radius around me. This includes wooden floors, ceilings, furniture and, sadly, innkeepers.

So, the innkeeper runs out screaming about a demon (and being on fire, which is understandable when you're on fire) and leaves me alone, the key in a raging inferno near the safe, the room on fire and the fire spreading into the rooms filled with alcohol. And as I reach into the fire...

"Make me a Will Save"

Upstairs, the party have noticed the fire, and whilst Table the mimic leaves out the back window (landing on Nibbles), Bee and Chad drunkenly herd equally drunken civilians out, vaguely aware that the Very Hungry Goblin out back ate the waiters responsible for putting fires out, and the guards are dealing with multiple smaller fires across town.

I fail the will save, burning myself on the key, which causes me to re-transform after another failed will save, melting the safe key in my hand and causing the alcohol to explode, making the inn begin to crumble around me.

Bee and Chad are eagerly trying to get out, to the point where they're just throwing commoners out of the windows and through the walls to get them out of the way. They escape, and hurriedly leave before the cops turn up.

Faced with death, Malrog burns up all his spells to try Melt his way into the safe since the key is gone. This melts the safe shut. As a result of the stress from thoroughly beansing up the one job I had, I change back, and now begin to take fire damage as well as bludgeoning from the falling debris.

We did all escape, thanks to Nibbles being unable to resist the smell of cooking flesh and finding our unconscious bodies. However, the inn burned down, the innkeeper mourned Antonio Banderas and we left that wizard to die of starvation in his tower, along with the town.

After all, it pays to know when your welcome is worn out, and when it is burned to cinders.

[maswartz]

Power Rider Arcade

(Logo by Markolios and @riceyhot)

Years ago a team of programmers working for Magnus Games attempted to create the world’s greatest video game. It would be called EX-AID (Electric Xenosis- Adventure in Datatropolis). Part of what would make it so unique was that the game would learn and adapt to the player meaning no two playthroughs would be the same. Enemies would adapt to player techniques, the player’s characters would level up and adapt to the players style. Even the worlds would subtly adapt to the player. This system was called V.A.I (Virtual Artificial Intelligence)

The plot was that in the world of data and code existed a land called Datatropolis. The various worlds lived in peace with one another until the evil VAI attacked with his viral minions. A call went out from the capital city for help. A group of Heroes answered the call.

From the Hall of Heroes came Vic, the greatest of heroes (Action/Platformer)- “Let’s play a game! *item collection noise*” From the Kingdom of Fantasy came Sir Valor, the noblest of knights (RPG)- “Let us go forth into battle! *swords clash*” From the War Zone came Sargent Sniper, expert with all firearms (Shooting)- “Lock and load! *gun loads*” From the racetrack of Velo City came Speedstar the fastest racer. (Racing)- “Race ya! *car speeds off*” From the Sport Stadium came Athy Lete master of all sports (Sports)- “Let’s make it sporting! *crowd cheers*” From the Institute of Intelligence came Eyeque, the host of the Premium Puzzle game show (Puzzle)- “Have I got a puzzle for you! *game show buzzer*” From the Combat Arena came Champ, the strongest of fighters. (Fighting)- “Step into the ring! *bell rings*” From Terror Town came the Night Mayor, ruler of horrors. (Horror)- “Behold the horrors of the night! *ghostly wail*” From the Harmony Concert Hall came Melody, the most popular pop star (Music/Rhythm/Dancing)- “Time for the big show! *musical scale*”

These Heroes would unite to fight VAI and his forces.

However before the game was completed the budget ran out and the project was canceled. Two of the programmers began to delete the data, however when they tried to delete V.A.I he managed to escape it. Before it vanished V.A.I vowed revenge for being thrown away like garbage. As it escaped V.A.I managed to steal the data of many of the Heroes

When the pair tried to warn the others they were laughed off. So the two transferred the data of the remaining Four Heroes to a new computer should the day come that V.A.I returned.

In the meantime the pair married and opened an arcade. Soon they had a son they named Elliot and the threat of V.A.I seemed so far away.

However one day V.A.I returned with a vengeance. Having gained the ability to create viruses monsters called Virugs he launched his attack. While fleeing the first attack Elliot and two other teens found a hidden base under the arcade containing the computer with the data of the Four Heroes on it.

The programmers revealed the truth behind EX-AID and V.A.I to the teens who volunteered to fight back. And so the teens and the Heroes united to become Power Rider Arcade.

The Heroes act as avatars for the teens, giving helpful hints similar to a tutorial. In battle the teens would head to a location where the Virug virus has emerged and using the Avatars of the Heroes fight a monster until it crossed over into the real world at which point they transform into the Riders to defeat it once more to destroy it.

At first Elliot and the others clash due to conflicting personalities but eventually they unite to fight the true threat.

They would face many dangers including a dark warrior called Glitch who used data from some of the fallen Heroes to fight the Riders. Glitch is soon joined by Coder an enigmatic warrior who serves V.A.I as well.

Shortly after the defeat of Glitch it is revealed that the CEO of Magnus Games, Stan Magnus was behind V.A.I’s rebellion. Stan believed he could use V.A.I to conquer the world and the only ones who stand in his way are the Arcade Riders.

Soon after this revelation V.A.I creates and mass produces cartridges that allows normal people to become Game Riders and Stan sells these through Magnus Games. However in reality V.A.I is merely using them to increase the power of the Virugs by having them use the Game Riders as practice. Furthermore the Game Riders are turned against the Arcade Riders by telling them they were enemies in the “game” and to make matters worse if a Game Rider is defeated they die for real.

Special monsters called Power Up Pals (P.U.P) merge with the Riders to unlock new forms. In game the P.U.P were friends and allies with the heroes.

Energy Items are formed when the Virug emerges into the real world and grant different abilities Speed High Jump Health Confusion Metal Giant Muscle Tiny Invisible Hint

Digital Dragon- In game this mighty beast was the ancient protector of the land however V.A.I’s attack left it weakened so it created Totems for the Heroes to use. The Totems would bestow them with armor and power. However when V.A.I escaped the Dragon was thought lost so the programmers saved the Totems just in case

Arcade Player 1 “Warrior”-Vic Name: Elliot Booth

Age: 16

Personality/Bio: Elliot grew up in an arcade, as his parents were two of the original programmers working on Magnus Games' 'world's best video game', who eventually married and opened up an arcade. As a result of growing up in the arcade, he is a lifelong gamer. Perhaps because of his parents' dedication to deleting the data of the failed video game and stopping the spread of V.A.I., he is the Rider most dedicated to defeating V.A.I. when it's apparent that V.A.I. has returned for revenge. During V.A.I.'s first attack, Elliot and the other Riders discovered a hidden base underneath the arcade. His parents explained everything to them and they agreed to take up the mantle as Power Rider Arcade. As Power Rider Warrior, his personal weapon is the Smasher Slasher. His Hero aid is Vic. Elliot soon gains several new forms to defeat increasing threats.

Face Claim: Nathan Kress Transformation Device: Player Belt Transformation Call: Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Moves- Rider Warrior Smash/Slash/Kick/Punch Vehicle: Speedstar

Powered Up Mode- After freeing a P.U.P named Punchbot, Elliot gains an armored form and a rocket fist Finishing Move- Rider Power Punch

Digital Dragon Armor- Gains armor, sword, and blasters. Finishing Move- Rider Warrior Dragon Slash/Shot

Super Mode- Multiplayer Mode- Vic and Elliot each control one Body in both Avatar and Rider mode. Rider mode splits into two, one controlled by Vic the other by Elliot.

Final Mode- Victory Armor/Power - Two modes. Armor gains increased stats and Power grants temporary invincibility and the ability to permanently delete Virugs. Finishing Move- Rider Victory Kick/Punch

Arcade Player 2 “Knight”- Sir Valor Name: Harvey Ritter

Age: 16

Personality/Bio: Harvey is a bookworm and isn't afraid to let others know just how smart he is. He and Tara, Power Rider Soldier, don't get along due to a grudge between them, stemming from years ago. Harvey mostly keeps to himself, his nose always in a book, but Elliot, little by little, slowly brings him out of his more arrogant loner shell, making him a much better person later on. Eventually, due to the efforts of Elliot and Nicole, he and Tara resolve their grudge and patch things up. They don't quite become friends, but they recognize each other's strengths and weaknesses, both on and off the battlefield. His Hero aid is Sir Valor and his personal weapon, as Power Rider Knight, is the Sword of the Frozen Flame. Much like Elliot , he gains access to more powerful forms as the battles get tougher and tougher.

Face Claim: Kevin G. Schmidt Transformation Device: Player Belt Transformation Call: Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Move- Rider Knight Slash

Powered Up Mode- After freeing a P.U.P named DeeJay, Harvey gains sonic based attacks Finishing Move- Rider Power Sonic Blast

Digital Dragon Armor- Gains armor, sword, and blasters. Finishing Move- Rider Knight Dragon Slash/Shot

Super Mode- King Mode- Can summon an army of Virugs and channel great energy. At first King Mode is corrupted by the Virug virus however in time he manages to erase the virus leading to the True King Mode Finishing Move- Rider King Judgement

Arcade Player 3 “Soldier”- Sargent Sniper Name: Tara Katona

Age: 17

Personality/Bio: Tara is a girl living in the lap of luxury due to the wealth of her parents. Her parents spoil her and treat her like a princess, but in return, she hides her true self from them. Her true self is a tomboy who is quick to anger and who holds a long-standing grudge with Harvey. Eventually, she and Harvey reconcile and become more understanding of each other. She is a fierce protector of her friends, especially Nicole, whom she treats like her little sister. Her Hero aid is Sergeant Sniper and her personal weapon, as Power Rider Soldier, is the Sniper Pistol. As with Elliot and Harvey's powerups, Tara receives her own, allowing her to fight on par with them.

Face Claim: Nicola Peltz Transformation Device: Player Belt Transformation Call: Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Move- Rider Soldier Blast

Powered Up Mode- After freeing a P.U.P named TakeOff, Tara gains a jet pack and cannons. Finishing Move- Rider Power Blast

Digital Dragon Armor- Gains armor, sword, and blasters. Finishing Move- Rider Soldier Dragon Slash/Shot

Super Mode- Commander Mode- Gains a large amount of guns and blasters and can track and target any foe. Finishing Move- Rider Commander Artillery

Arcade Player 4 “Biker”- Speedstar- Kyle (later)- At first Speedstar fights alongside the teens by being uploaded into a bike however during a battle with Glitch Speedstar’s Rider form is damaged beyond repair and must remain in his bike mode.

Transformation Call: Let’s Ride Finishing Move- Rider Biker Rush

In his vehicle form Speedstar can reach incredible speeds in a short amount of time, however he lacks many of his attacks and cannot interact much.

Powered Up Mode- After freeing a P.U.P named Sammy Rai, Speedstar gains a body to fight with Finishing Move- Rider Power Arrow

Digital Dragon Armor- Gains armor, sword, and blasters. Finishing Move- Rider Biker Dragon Slash/Shot

Name: Kyle Stevens

Age: 16

Personality/Bio: Kyle is a BMX biker and Elliot's best friend. They met on the first day of school and have been friends since. After his friend keeps disappearing, he decides to investigate. His investigation leads him to the Booth family arcade, where he discovers the hidden base of the Riders. Elliot makes Kyle promise to keep everything he's seen a secret, to which Kyle complies. Kyle eventually meets a newly repaired Speedstar, who asks him to fight alongside him as Power Rider Biker V2. At first, Kyle is a bit hesitant, not wanting to give up BMX biking in order to save the world, but Elliot manages to convince him that he can do both. Kyle finally accepts, knowing that if he wants to continue BMX biking, he must have a safe world to do it in.

Face Claim: Jaden Smith Transformation Device: Player Belt Transformation Call: Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Move: Rider Biker Rush

In this new form they are able to utilize Athy Lete’s data as Glitch once did Finishing Move- Rider Biker Discus

Arcade Player 5 “Dancer”- Melody Name: Ashley Sharp

Age: 17

Personality/Bio: Ashley is a cheerleader at the school Elliot and the others attend. As one of the popular girls, she tends to manipulate those around her into doing things for her, such as carrying her books to class and holding doors open for her. Due to her manipulation skills she is kidnapped by V.A.I. and brainwashed into fighting the Riders as Hacker. She is also used to distribute the Game Rider cartridges as part of V.A.I.'s bigger plan. She is eventually freed from her brainwashing through the great efforts of Elliot, to whom she feels a bit indebted for saving her. She joins the Riders as Power Rider Melody in order to fight against V.A.I. and prove that she's can become a much better person and prove V.A.I wrong.

Face Claim: Ashley Tisdale Transformation Device: Player Belt Transformation Call: Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Move- Rider Dancer Concert

Arcade Player 6 “Secret”- Tory Name: Drake Magnus

Age: 25

Personality/Bio: Drake is the son of Stan Magnus, CEO of Magnus Games. When he discovered the truth about his father and V.A.I, he stole a Rider Cartridge from him. This cartridge contained a hidden character, Tory, who is a palette swap of Vic. Tory allows Drake to transform into Power Rider Secret. Drake later uses reclaimed data from the Night Mayor game to upgrade his Rider form and can charge his attacks with dark energies.

Face Claim: Milo Ventimiglia Transformation Device: Player Belt Transformation Call: Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Move- Rider Secret Kick/Punch

When using the data of Night Mayor Drake can charge his attacks with dark powers. Finishing Move- Rider Secret Horde

Name: Nicole Jimenez-Kalea

Age: 15

Rider Designation: Gamer Rider Personality: Headstrong, a little bratty, keeps cool under pressure, wary and shy around things that weird her out, unafraid to show her emotions, especially disgust or contempt

Bio: Nicole is a long time friend of Tara, and treats her like a big sister. She's a genius gamer and proud of it. Any time her winning streak is broken, she locks herself in a room for a few days and trains until she gets them back. But Nicole doesn't her idolization of "big sis" Tara stop her from bullying Tara into doing things like social interaction or beating up people that break her winning streaks. Nicole and Tara were practically glued at the hip since first grade, so when Tara started disappearing with Elliot and co more and more often, she followed them to figure out what they were doing with her "big sis." After learning the weird armored people running around town were Tara's friends, she promised to keep their secret, but she didn't keep her promise to stay out of danger. Nico follows them around on missions, cheering them on from the sidelines. She immediately buys a Gamer Rider cartridge when Magnus Games starts being distributing them. She proves her fighting prowess based on her gaming skills immediately and Tara grudgingly allows her to help out.

Face claim: Auli'i Cravalho

Transformation Device: Gamer Belt Transformation Call: Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Move- Game Rider Kick/Punch

V.A.I’s forces

Glitch- First warrior, as the battles continued V.A.I gave him data taken from Athy Lete and Night Mayor. Eventually destroyed and the data was retaken by the Riders.

Finishing Moves- Glitch Kick/Punch,

When using the data stolen from Athy Lete Glitch gains armor and throwing discuses Finishing Move- Glitch Sport Slasher

When using the data stolen from Night Mayor Glitch gains a new form and the ability to survive mortal blows. His attacks are charged with dark energy Finishing Move- Glitch Horror Assault

Coder- The second warrior created by V.A.I using the data from Eyeque and Champ. In Puzzle mode he can utilize energy items in unique combinations and in Fighter mode he gains fiery punches. He then gains the power to combine the two to form Combo mode.

Eventually he is betrayed by V.A.I and Magnus after outliving his usefulness. He is forced to defect to the Riders and his damage causes him to become an Avatar to assist Perry Peterson, a nerdy teacher from the school the teens attend.Perry then becomes Power Rider Scholar.

Name: Perry Peterson

Age: 30

Personality/Bio: Perry is a rather nerdy instructor at the school the Riders attend. After Coder is heavily damaged and betrayed, he defects to the Riders' side and becomes an avatar for Perry, who uses him to transform into Power Rider Scholar. As their teacher, and oldest of the heroic Riders, Perry watches over them both on and off the battlefield. He originally had no idea his students were the Riders until he received his powers and began fighting with them. His students discovered Power Rider Scholar's true identity after he finished fighting off a group of Virugs attacking a group of people. He de-transformed, but hadn't realized there were people watching him. After his students found out who he was, they were shocked, but Elliot invited him to fight with them, an invitation which Mr. Peterson accepted. If anyone asks what the group is doing, when they go off to fight Virugs and V.A.I.'s forces, Mr. Peterson says they're going to a Gamer's Club meeting, being held at the Booth family arcade.

Face Claim: Ben Savage Transformation Device: Player Belt Transformation Call- Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Moves- Coder/Scholar Quiz/Knockout

Mal Name: Stanley "Stan" Magnus

Age: 45

Personality/Bio: Stan began the war with V.A.I. when he helped the virus escape, intending to use it for world conquest. He was promised power and conquest by V.A.I., but is eventually betrayed after he outlives his usefulness. Stan becomes Mal and outfits his form with cheat codes in order to gain an advantage against the Arcade Riders. His advantage is erased, however, by the arrival of Elliot's Victory Power form. Stan is overtaken by V.A.I. after his betrayal, giving V.A.I. a physical body with which to personally fight the Arcade Riders. Stan is the CEO of Magnus Games and the father of Drake Magnus.

Face Claim: Keanu Reeves Transformation Device: Player Belt Transformation Call- Let’s Ride Transformation: A field of binary code covers them forming the armor Finishing Moves- Mal Crash

V.A.I- Virtual Artificial Intelligence- The virtual enemy that started it all. He was programmed to adapt and learn with each battle with the player, making each play though that much harder. However they programmed him too well and he gained sentience. He influenced Stan with promises of power and conquest only to betray him when he outlived his usefulness. V.A.I then took possession of his body to fight the Riders personally.

V.A.I- After his “rider” form is defeated he absorbs a large number of Virugs to mutate into his true boss form. This form is able to further mutate into a large monstrous form.

Power Rider Phantom/Arcade: The ghost of a video game programmer emerges across the internet and it’s up to the combined forces of the Phantom Rider and the Arcade Riders to exorcise the internet.

(Bios by @rosegrl18 and @highkickin-cylon)

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How not to Write a Campaign

I have been playing RPGs for a very long time. Back in the day, I avoided any and all pre-written adventures of any sort because my limited experience with them was... just frankly terrible. Weird inconsistencies in tone, unfair encounter setups, too many assumptions about PCs’ motives and actions, etc. Then much later I discovered a group of writers who actually got it, wrote things perfectly in line with how my friends like a game to go, and we’ve been all in on those for a decade and change. But I just finished running a ROUGH one, and I want something good to come of it.

I don’t want to make this a specific review, because... I’m in the industry, I know the people who wrote this campaign, I can guess at some of the problems involved, and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or reputation, so let me just refer to the offending prewritten campaign here as the Amnesia Campaign. It’s for a big fantasy RPG, it riffs of a particular author’s work, you can probably guess what it is from that, but, I’m trying.

The first problem I need to bring up with the Amnesia Campaign is that it just commits the cardinal sin of long term RPG campaign writing- The mustache-twirling villain who always manages to escape from the PCs at the last minute. I cannot convey just how important it is that you never, ever do this. The worst sort of example is when you plan around the PCs actually confronting your villain multiple times, and failing to kill them, which is a terrible idea because there really is no way to ever stack the deck and account for every contingency to make an unwinnable fight, or even one where escape is always possible, and especially if you’re publishing adventures, some number of groups will kill the villain too early, either shorting things out or forcing a handwave to keep an ineffectual villain in play and pretend they’re still a threat.

The Amnesia Campaign doesn’t quite go there. Having an actual chance to go toe to toe with the villain is reserved for the very end, but it does use another variant, where no matter what happens, the PCs arrive just after the villain they’re chasing has left. Now... there’s a way you can make that work. If you have a villain who cannot be reached in practical fashion, and can launch attacks anywhere within a huge region, you can build a whole campaign out of characters reacting to the aftermath of evil actions they could not be expected to even learn about until the villain has left the scene. Here, meanwhile, we have a villain with a big elaborate plot that requires traveling all over the world gathering things, based on research he does at the very start which the PCs can, and indeed are expected to do, quickly pick up on these research notes, and basically know everything the villain plans to do from nearly the start of a very long campaign. And... frankly, the villain has no real edge to keep him believably one step ahead. He is a mildly wealthy man hiring goons, mundane forms of transportation, and having to negotiate and fight his way through to various sub-objectives needed for his plan, and it is at least strongly implied that he doesn’t have a lot of lead time. When presented with a scenario about someone needing to be chased down and stopped, PCs can pretty reliably be counted on to constantly be rushing forward, coming up with clever ways to accomplish what they need to in less time, and cut down if not completely nullify their travel time. But, like with battles the villain somehow keeps escaping from, I am forced to continuously state to my players in running this that no, somehow even after avoiding this whole side quest by reading the mind of the person with important information, and directly teleporting to where the villain left for by riverboat, he somehow beat them there, and once again, just left. It’s frustrating, and implausible. We end up with a villain who seems overwhelmingly outmatched, but keeps succeeding because... well, he has plot armor so we’re railroading this.

Admittedly, having a good villain when writing a full campaign in advance can be tricky. The safe and tested formula is generally to start off with minions of your main villain, starting with some who don’t even know who they’re ultimately working for, gradually build up to who’s calling the shots and to what end, have a big side trip to prepare for the final confrontation not directly involving the villains, than cap it with a big showdown. If the PCs know who the main villain is from the very start and where to find them, it becomes hard to rationalize anything between. Sometimes you can pull it off if they’re leading an army or ruling a country, but even then, you want to work up a food chain to them.

A similar problem, which crops up a bit towards the end of the Amnesia Campaign, is making too many assumptions about how the PCs react, and who they befriend. In RPG writing, you need to make as few assumptions as possible about the specifics of what the PCs will do in any situation. You can count on the real broad strokes. The party will investigate the situation described in the adventure, they’ll explore the area, find the villains, fight them, win, learn something to keep the larger plot growing, but that’s it. You can’t assume they’re going to team up with this NPC, enter this room from that direction, or otherwise reenact what you’d imagine you’d do in their place, or what happened in your test play of your adventure. This is particularly important when you include a little sidequest unconnected to their primary goal, or you’re presenting an open-ended investigation.

Ideally, you just have a sensible location, have some villains in it with clear goals and personalities laid out, and you scatter around some things to enable various clever tricks if players think to try them, without mandating any of them. Mention where windows are, and chandeliers, and holes just too small for the average human to fit through, but don’t, as part of the Amnesia Campaign does, invest heavily in the assumption that the PCs will start investigating a sewer system when investigating how a cult gets around a city and go sparse on other possible clues. Also don’t waste adventure background note space on thousands of years of history at the expense of what the actual current problem in the area is and who or what is behind it.

The next problem is one that, were I the average consumer just buying this book would bother me a hell of a lot more than it does as someone who knows how the sausage gets made. Put mildly... you do not want to play a rogue in the Amnesia Campaign. Nor do you want to play a swashbuckler, a critical-hit focused character of any stripe, really any class out of the... roughly 25% of all classes who rely on knowledge of where to make a hit count the most to do the full amount of damage with their attacks, because practically everything is immune.

Now, again. I partly understand how this happens. We have several different authors writing different chapters of the campaign, simultaneously, in pretty unforgiving crunchy conditions, with just a rough outline to go off. Nobody really has a chance to confirm notes and say “hey, did your chapter totally invalidate one of the foundational character archetypes, because I was thinking of doing that and having two of those back to back would be a bit much.” And while the publisher of the Amnesia Campaign does throw out little booklets of tips for players on what sort of character concepts will/won’t work, they’re not written last, so this sort of tip is missing there too. On the other hand, it’s a huge problem within nearly any given chapter just on its own. If you’re making the call on what all monsters to include in a multi-level stretch of a campaign, you should generally avoid choosing nothing but monsters immune to one of the most common bread and butter class features. And honestly, given how the subject matter naturally lends to the deployment of a particular monster type, erring on the side of assuming everyone else is heavily deploying them wouldn’t be a bad assumption for any author to make.

This though, unlike the rest of my gripes, is ultimately a high level problem that needs a high level solution. When you’re publishing a whole campaign, and you’re doing it in a game where several foundational character concepts kinda live or die based on things like whether things are properly harmed by particular flavors of damage, or whether a decent percentage of enemies fall under a certain classification, that really shouldn’t be a double-blind. Coordinating to get all authors to use a decent spread, or include outline notes like “it’d make sense for about half the enemies in this chapter to be fire elemental themed in various ways, but keep a good variety otherwise,” and/or trying to get a rough handle on emergent themes to adjust for/warn about in player-facing pitch material. Even the best-written campaigns are prone to rude awakenings or hilarious reductions in challenge as turns out, say, going all in on cold damage does indeed pay off for the one with Fire in the title.

Meanwhile, on the other side of that coin, more or less, huge swaths of the Amnesia Campaign really just completely break down by failing to account for some basic standard issue capabilities of a typical party. Particularly the fact that past a certain point, you need to account for the fact that the PCs are almost certainly capable of flight. It’s a thing that happens. If you are really keen on writing adventures where local warlords are chilling out on the open-air rooftop patios of their otherwise heavily fortified fortresses, or melee-oriented monsters plan an ambush in a canyon in a vast wasteland, or a dangerous leapfrog between a series of elevated platforms over something dangerous, you want to make those low-level adventures, or else a typical party, possibly even accidentally, will just completely circumvent the whole thing. There is a whole lot of that in the back of the Amnesia Campaign. My group... literally skipped giant swaths. Heck, there was a whole side quest in the last book where the PCs are rewarded with the location of a giant obelisk which I had to cut because... it was in the middle of a big open outdoor space, and they flew over the city on the way in. They definitely had a view over those hedges.

This sort of dovetails into the next issue, consistently escalating threats. The whole fantasy RPG gimmick is that at level 1, you’re a helpless peasant barely capable of doing anything remarkable, and by level 20 you’re literally punching gods in the face and have more money in your pocket than everyone else in your home country combined (with the obvious exception of the other people in your party). Now, mechanically, balancing around that is a very easy math problem. Characters of level X are meant to deal with threats of level Y, either pull a Y level monster out of the book, or slap levels on something lower to bring it to that point, or spread that out over more enemies, then they drop Z amount of fancy loot. Easiest thing in the world. But you also need things to fit together thematically. You can absolutely throw fighter levels onto the local chicken-stealing goblins to make them mechanically as threatening as a demigod bursting through from another plane of reality, but when a group of characters is at a level where they can be expected to handle the former, it’s just plain weird for them to end up dealing with the latter. Like, yes, these particular goblins have 200 HP instead of the usual 4, so the local town guard can’t handle them, but that should never be true of chicken-stealing goblins. You don’t get that tough stealing chickens, and once you’ve gotten that tough, you should have your sights set a good deal higher than that. At least be stealing rocs or something.

The 4th chapter of the Amnesia Campaign is a particularly blatant example of not getting this, featuring a large number of “please be aware the party can fly at this level” moments mentioned above, and also just demanding the PCs deal with problems that really are beneath them at that point. Seeking out local guides, impressing petty local warlords, getting challenged by giants they must impress to rest safely when crossing a huge desert. These are... not appropriate speed bumps at a point in the narrative where the party is traveling to a location where they are going to literally fight a god, weakened or otherwise. The whole setup would be wonderful as the first chapter of a campaign, but that far in, it just doesn’t work. Particularly when the actual opening of the Amnesia Campaign sets the tension very high right off the bat, with extradimensional threats, shapeshifters, an evil cult, things that typically come later as things start to escalate.

This isn’t to say you can’t mix things up a little. Dealing with threats well below a party’s capabilities can be really nice as a chance to just sort of flex, and get some perspective on how much more capable they’ve grown over time, but you have to do it in a low-tension point of the narrative, and a little self-awareness about it doesn’t hurt.

Finally, while I really kinda hate modern wealth-by-level assumptions, they are baked into the design of the game, so if you’re running with it, you really need to make sure you’re really giving the players something they can use. The Amnesia Campaign really leans heavy on treasure being weird oddities that may be of value to a collector... while also being set, generally, in places so totally removed from civilization that shopping trips aren’t really practical. Much less those needing the party to really find the right sort of buyer.

Really, you want to give out entirely practical loot (really hard to do without knowing the party makeup, but variety can work), big piles of cash/sellables along with sufficiently large cities along the way for viable shopping, or raw materials suitable for crafting plus ample time to really do something with them.

Anyway, hopefully this has come across more as practical constructive advice for anyone writing a campaign, either as a printed product or just for your home game, not just me tearing into the Amnesia Campaign at length.