#warlock bitty

[ancient-cats-unite]

Consider: Lil' Ubers..

[landfilloftrash]

look out, she’ll steal the breath right outta your chest

[pcktknife]

If Pearlina were in a Dnd type setting what classes would they be?

went ahead and did all the idols (- bm again im sorry big man fans) you can think of these more as them actually roleplaying than me throwing the actual characters into fantasy land cause I got itty bitty character backgrounds too lol

Callie (Elven Bard) plays as a princess who knows very little about the world outside her kingdom, but is very excited to experience it as an aspiring songstress. She also sometimes DMs. Marie (Changeling Ranger) plays as Callie's guardian.She's disguised as Callie's cousin who (unknown to Cal) died in a battle Marie witnessed. There'd probably be an arc in their campaign where this is dramatically found out by another party member lol.

Pearl (Halfling Bard-barian) basically plays the same character Callie does (princess who leaves to be a bard) except she'd already be an established world famous musician. She's prone to starting fights and used to also be smth of a gladiator. Marina (Human Artificer) plays who she kinda is in real life tbh. Engineer/Inventor behind much of her country's advanced weaponry. She felt unfulfilled having her inventions used solely for war though and dipped.

Frye (F.Genasi Rogue/Sorcerer) and Shiver (W.Genasi Warlock/Monk) play as a scavenger and pirate respectively. Their characters grew up together with no family but each other and consider each other their greatest treasure. They're pretty ruthless, have killed and will kill again (family that slays together stays together). Big Man usually DMs for everybody but when he's not he's usually playing an Earth Genasi or Firbolg and classing as a Monk or Cleric and is of course makes Frye and Shiv's group complete.

[sincerelykarai]

Guardians of the Galaxy headcanons! (Part 2)

Guardians of the Galaxy headcanon compilation! 1 2

Authors Note: If you haven't read part 1 I suggest you do because some of the headcanons might link up with eachother so context-wise read it ^^

So you know Rocket's baby raccoons named Frank and Nancy? (After Frank and Nancy Sinatra) They're the two babies who have the closest bond to eachother so that's why Rocket named them after the couple Nebula sometimes has nightmares of what Thanos did to her (the whole body parts being replaced thing) and she would definitely have some form of body dysmorphia (did I spell that right?) Since sometimes she can't tell which body parts are her actual parts and which are just body parts Adam Warlock loves learning about the ship and everything around him everytime the Guardians go to a new planet. He'd probably read a lot too so maybe he'd see a plant and just blurt out "Hey that flower only blooms during cooler weather!" Or something like that When the Guardians first formed in vol 1 Rocket had a small itty bitty crush on Gamora (hence the "No I'm serious I heard they found you attractive" comment he makes) but when he realised Quill actually liked her he laid off and the crush kinda just went away after awhile

Rocket gossips with Nebula. That's it. That's the headcanon.

Groot sheds? I know that sounds really weird but there r trees that have paper bark and that paper bark can peel off so maybe Groot just leaves little pieces of bark and sticks around the ship?

Lemme know if you want part 3!

[haldenlith]

I've started The Final Shape and got a silly little bitty idea upon hearing on of the radio messages. Don't know if I'll put this on AO3 or not, but figured I'd share it. Spoilers are minimal outside of the radio messages.

Crossing his arms over his broad chest, the Warlock took to what had become a favorite little item of intrigue.

Listening in on other people’s comms. Though, unlike outside of The Pale Heart, there weren’t exactly a lot of people that would be on the line. This time, it was Cayde and Crow. If anyone had told Hal that the two of them would be getting along as relatively well as they were, he wouldn’t have believed it. And yet…

“No, don’t apologize, dummy. Just listen to what I’m trying to tell you.” The whisper of a smirk touched Hal’s lips. It did feel good to hear Cayde’s voice again. Weird, but good. It felt better to hear someone else trying to further instill some sense into Crow, especially if it was the Cayde’s Pep Talks variety.

Hal had gotten a few of those, back in the day.

“Listen, kid, none of us around here are mind readers. Except maybe ol’ three eyes. You… never really know with her. My point is that you have GOT to start speaking up.”

Something picked at the old scars on his heart, scars he was told shouldn’t be there. A guilt that shouldn’t ache. “Some of us make stupid choices, and die stupid deaths.”

Hal still felt guilty.

Still.

A guilt that ached and consumed, that spread. If it wasn’t Cayde’s death, it was the woman that was the topic of discussion – Amanda. Old aches twisting their way into new ones.

“Will you at least let me be sorry about that?” Crow’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. A welcome distraction. He’d rather listen to his lover get berated than get twisted up in his own head.

“Shut up!” A blue brow arched up. Oh. Not often someone tells Crow to shut up. Well, not and have him not fire a rebuttal. Crow had a tongue like a sword, and he was adept at wielding it. “Life ain’t about drawing out the living part. It’s about making what you do while you’re alive matter.” A familiar lesson, intertwined with with a wish he had once worried had been granted. The lesson remained important, even if the relevance of the wish had faded. “So grow a spine and make her proud.”

Whatever Hal felt in that moment was swiftly interrupted with shock at what came next. “AND AS FOR YOU.” Oh. Cayde knows he’s listening. “Yeah, I know you’re there, you little… big blue weasel. What the hell do they feed you? I swear you’re taller than when I last saw you. Anyway, that goes doubly for you, Mr. Silent Protagonist. You might think that act is all mysterious, but let me tell you, it is plain as day you’re still doing the same song and dance. And by song and dance, I mean you’re not saying anything. To anyone. Probably not even twinkle-toes over here.” Hal glanced to the side and caught Ikora’s side-eye from afar. She could hear the radio. She was (somewhat) pretending she couldn’t.

For Hal’s sake.

“Live your damn life with the people around you. I bet you’re blaming yourself for her death, too. Stop it. Both of you. Light help me, how did I get stuck with two idiots?”

The part that made the lecture worse was Ghost staring him down.

All of The Witness’s tricks and minions were no match for the combination of Cayde’s lectures and Ghost’s judging stare.

Hal vaguely wondered how he was going to survive.

[omniblades-and-stars]

Fuck it I had a dream and got real excited about a new story idea so I'm gonna share the little bitty scenelet I wrote for it. This is definitely not Mass Effect, but I think you guys all know who I am by now I think. I don't care about keeping with the theme.

Anyways, working title (because I have to name everything I touch):

The Testament of Patience Goodweather

“Please, Patience, I beg of you, let me help you!” Thommen shouted into the forest. The world around him was lit only by his singular torch, jittering and leaping shadows cast against looming trees, gnarled giants that curled threateningly above him over the edge of the forest. Everyone knew it was folly to pass into the wood after dark, even the governor's own soldiers would not risk their lives.  And yet Patience had run into the low, snagged branches as if they were the comforting arms of a lover. The trail of blood left in her wake surely like a siren's call to whatever foul beasts lurked in the dark. He took a step forward, his toe brushing against a fern, the leaves curled around his boot and the tree above him groaned. This was not a place for men, especially without the protection of the sun’s light. “Patience!” he shouted again, hesitating. He would go in after her, knowing it would be the last any ever saw of him, but he prayed he need not. “Go home, Thommen!” Patience called shakily from the west. She sounded close, but he could not see her from his poor vantage point. It felt like the trees had moved in closer together to occlude his vision. She called back again, voice wracked by sobs, “You cannot save me from what I have done! Better it be that you pretend you knew me for a harlot and a warlock. They will spare you your life, but mine, they will not.” Thommen took another trembling step forward. The fern grew taught and snapped as he found a measure of resolve. “And what would my life be, without you in it, eh? Barren and sorrowful. If you must die, Patience, let us die together!” Two more steps, the ancient oak tree creaked and shifted but did not prevent his passage as he slowly moved towards where he heard her cries. “A better fate for our bodies to nourish the ground together, than for me to go on bearing your memory for the rest of my days.”

[raeynbowboi]

How to Play as Stolas in DnD 5e

Today, we’re going to explore how to build Stolas from Helluva Boss in DnD 5th Edition. However, because Stolas is also a real demon from the Ars Goetia, we’ll look into that as well as needed to fill in any gaps.

For his race, Stolas is a Goetic Demon that manifests in the form of an Owlin. However, with DM approval, I’d just change Stolas’ creature type to be a Fiend type Owlin. I’d give him +2 INT, +1 CHA.

Stolas is a Prince of the Goetia family, and one of the many children of King Paimon. I’d say he’s a Noble for History and Intimidation. 

As a demon, Stolas is evil, but according to the Ars Goetia, Stolas is relatively friendly and cordial, offering his knowledge to those who summon him, and can be trusted by demonologists to answer their questions truthfully. I’d call him Lawful Evil.

STOLAS’ GRIMOIRE

I had to debate whether Stolas’ Grimoire was a Warlock’s Book of Shadows, a Wizard’s Spellbook, or something else entirely. Stolas is able to do a few things without the book, but states that the book is a powerful artifact meant to be used by powerful and important demons, not itty bitty imps or humans, and scolds Blitz for letting the book fall into someone else’s hands. So clearly the book in question is a powerful magical item that allows others to access the same powers and knowledge it bestows upon Stolas. It must contain charges to cast spells or allow anyone using it to cast the spells within it, even without proper training. Paimon also gives Stolas the book while explaining his role in the Goetia family. Stolas is given his Grimoire to study the stars and foretell prophecies. The Grimoire’s two most often seen features is its ability to create an illusory projection of the cosmos (which Octavia simply calls “the stars” or “that starry place”) and the ability to open portals between Hell and Earth. So, the Grimoire must contain the ability to cast spells like Hallucinatory Terrain or Project Image as well as Plane Shift. And I think I found the closest equivalent.

DEMONOMICON OF IGGWILV ARTIFACT

This book contains the lore and knowledge of the Abyss and the Demons within it. The book also has charges which allows whoever is holding it to expend charges to cast the spells within it, including Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Magic Circle, Magic Jar, Planar Ally, Planar Binding, Plane Shift (Between the Abyss and the Material Plane only), and Summon Fiend. While it doesn’t allow Stolas to create the illusory star field and it has nothing to do with the stars and prophecies he was told to study, it is the only magic book with spells stored in it that can be used through charges, allowing even someone as unskilled as Octavia or Loona to use the book to open portals between Hell and Earth. Now, a player obviously shouldn’t start with this item. If one wishes to play as Stolas, one possibility is that he used his Grimoire to travel to Earth where his Grimoire was then stolen or lost, or another demon stole it and he chased them to the material plane, and now Stolas has to hunt down his Grimoire, giving him a reason to team up with a party, and giving him an objective to work towards. The Demonomicon of Iggwilv could also be reflavored, as Paimon states that the book serves to allow Stolas to study the human skies and human prophecies, likely meaning that instead of it being a book to help humans study demons, it might be a book that helps demons study human astronomy, astrology, and prophecies.

WIZARD SCHOOL OF DIVINATION

Stolas is tasked with studying the stars and the prophecies of the Earth skies, so Divination is the perfect parallel for his abilities. We also learn in Season 2 Episode 2 that Stolas’ powers are limited without his Grimoire, though he is still able to open the portal to Earth without it. He also implies that while he could disguise the imps with his Grimoire, he can’t do it without the book. However, it’s entirely possible to label Stolas as a Fiend Warlock with a Pact of the Tome, giving him a Book of Shadows, which is literally called a Grimoire. The main reason I picked Wizard over Warlock is because Warlocks can just destroy their Grimoires and make new ones if they’re stolen, and Stolas in real world mythology is summoned for his knowledge, not for his charisma. Stolas is regarded for his knowledge of prophecy, herbology, and gemstones. So, we’ll give him proficiency with Arcana and Nature checks.

THE BUILD

Name: Stolas Ancestry: Owlin Background: Noble Class: School of Divination Wizard (20) Alignment: Lawful Evil

STATS STR 8 DEX 12 CON 14 INT 20 WIS 16 CHA 16

SAVING THROWS STR -1 DEX +1 CON +2 INT +11 WIS +9 CHA +3

SKILLS Arcana (+11) History (+11) Intimidation (+9) Nature (+11)

STOLAS’ SPELLS

While we’ve seen some of what Stolas can do, we haven’t seen everything and the Wizard gets a lot of spells. So, I decided to pad out his spellbook with space-themed spells that fit his cosmic theme.

C Light, Mage Hand, Minor Illusion, Message, Prestidigitation 1 Catapult, Cause Fear, Comprehend Languages, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, Identify, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Silent Image, Unseen Servant 2 Alter Self, Arcane Lock, Augury, Borrowed Knowledge, Crown of Madness, Enchance Ability, Hold Person, Levitate, Misty Step, Phantasmal Force 3 Animate Dead, Bestow Curse, Clairvoyance, Counterspell, Dispel Magic, Glyph of Warding, Magic Circle, Major Image, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Summon Lesser Demons, Tiny Servant 4 Banishment, Confusion, Dimension Door, Divination, Gravity Sinkhole, Hallucinatory Terrain, Locate Creature, Phantasmal Killer, Summon Greater Demon 5 Contact Other Plane, Dominate Person, Far Step, Hold Monster, Infernal Calling, Legend Lore, Scrying, Seeming, Telekinesis, Teleportation Circle 6 Arcane Gate, Contingency, Flesh to Stone, Mental Prison, Summon Fiend, Sunbeam, Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise 7 Crown of Stars, Plane Shift, Reverse Gravity, Simulacrum, Symbol, Teleport 8 Dark Star, Dominate Monster, Feeblemind, Sunburst, Telepathy 9 Foresight, Meteor Swarm, Ravenous Void

Because we haven’t seen much of what Stolas can do, this is a lot of speculative building. But, if I end up being way off, I can always rebuild Stolas later in the show’s run. But for what we know of Stolas now when there’s only two seasons so far, this feels like a pretty good application of what he’s capable of so far. Hopefully, as the series continues, I’ll be able to do more Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel builds going forward.

[mrfancyfoot]

Raphael x Evie (f!OC) | Rating: E/varied | Chapter 1 on AO3

Chapter 5: Not Even for Eldritch Blast

Raphael offers to make Evie his warlock.

Chapter Rating: G / SFW Word Count: 516 Warnings: None

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Story Summary: All’s fair in love and war. Things are bustling in Baldur’s Gate as the city rebuilds. Life is looking up for Evie who has ambitions set on her (re-)inventions and business ventures as she juggles a certain vampire’s budding political career, the unwitting godhood bestowed upon her by a clan of fanatical fish people, and the increasing attentions of a devil who she believes woefully has no other friends. . Story Tags: Tags will update with progress, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Fluff, Humor, Manipulation, Eventual Smut, Modern Girl in Baldur's Gate, Canon-Typical Behavior, Varied Chapter Lengths, Not Canon Compliant, Possessive Behavior, Dubious Morality, Dubious Consent, Worldbuilding, Kuo-toa, She's not stuck with him he's stuck with her, Has plot-legs, Slow Burn, Friends to Lovers, Warning: Raphael, Raphael is obsessed, No sleeping with Haarlep, Girl has her shit together and that’s sexy, Neurodivergent OC, Lawful Evil meets Chaotic Neutral, Marriage Contract, Slice of Life

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Evie covered a yawn and looked expectantly towards the man standing in front of his desk.  Human this time.

She wasn’t sure if his insistence on summoning her here this late was some attempt to be covert - it wasn’t like her companions didn’t know of their meetings - or if he just wanted her tired in the hopes that she would be more amenable to…whatever.

Raphael clasped his hands behind his back.  “Korilla tells me that you have shown much interest and initiative in learning magic.  Have you given any thought to becoming a warlock?”  His gaze drifted from her to the ceiling, dropping back with each overly emphasized word until he awaited a reply, “Certainly a consideration when one does not have the time to dedicate the required long years and intense efforts to studying wizardry.”  Another sales pitch, then.  Always gotta hurry, hurry.

“Like Wyll?”  She didn’t know much at all about warlockry - not a class she’d ever played in any of her D&D games - but he was definitely an example of what could happen when your convictions didn’t match your patron’s.  The last thing she wanted was to be stuck in a similar situation.

Except Eldritch Blast, she knew about that.

“Yes, one is given power through a deal made with a patron.  Such as Wyll’s contract with Mizora.  And very much akin to your fox Aspect - you made a deal with a nature spirit in exchange for power.  Trivial power, though all the same.”  Evie found the more she watched him speak - emphatic gestures, purposeful, even over expressing with his face - the more…hypnotic it was.  Like everything was a stage performance.  “I can make you far more powerful than Wyll.  Korilla could even mentor you.”  It was a more fun mask to try to decipher than the normal ones.

“For the low, low price of my soul, I’m guessing?”  Evie side-eyed the contract that appeared near her with a wave of his hand.

“I am a bit possessive,” he frowned coyly, “so your connection with the spirit would be severed.  But I’ll let you keep the fluffy tail and ears.”  She scoffed as his frown turned into a teasing smirk and he drew his fingers together in a mimicry of claws.  “Even the itty, bitty claws and those things trying to pass as fangs in your mouth,” he finished with a sharp click of his teeth.

“No, thanks…”  She batted away the parchment.  “Though, while I’m here…if this is going to be a regular thing, can we at least agree on a day and time?”

“Absolutely, dear fox,” Raphael too readily agreed.

It occurred to her then that her exhaustion had gotten the better of her.  She should have been telling him to stop pulling her here on his whims, yet, instead, she just offered to set up meeting times with him like he was her manager.

And he certainly saw himself that way, no doubt pleased by her suggestion as it only fed the legitimacy of whatever this was.

Maybe she’d be able to get some proper sleep in before, though.

Thank-you for reading! <3

[moldrata]

My itty bitty space doomer warlock :3

My main OC and a character from my friends postapocaliptic campaign I'm playing

[britcision]

SO I TOLD Y’ALL MOTHERFUCKERS ABOUT MY PERFECT BEAUTIFUL SON HAVOC

And HeroForge has another update

With more FACES and SLIDERS to control facial features, and better clothes! So, obviously, I redid my boy (pics and crimes below the cut)

And the very most important thing to do was make sure all those new fancy facial features did not accidentally put one single brain cell behind his eyes

But see, what I also did was remake his partners (the gnome has gone genderfluid I do not make the rules)

(They are all my NPCs)

And while they are not being shown here they ARE all getting their own fancy dress up outfits, because HeroForge got some nicer fancy clothes

His girlfriend Eira got herself a nice suit because skirts in wheelchairs are not always great

His partner Ellywick got a fancy swishy dress to try and hamper their efforts to fight the fellow guests

And Havoc

My beautiful boy Havoc

Havoc is 7’ tall standing on flat feet.

And I gave his regular outfit up there assless chaps. You can’t tell easily, but I did and I know it.

His partners are either perma-sat in a wheelchair, or 3’ tall outright. And you KNOW they still absolutely took every chance available to put that gorgeous mountain of a man in heels, because HeroForge limits THEIR options to be thotty and also classy but godsdammit it will not limit Havoc!

So.

Well.

This happened.

And it started with the vest, because I demanded only the deepest v-neck and got sad when his arms were covered, I layered decals and everything.

And then. The fancier dressier assless chaps exist. But like. So do over the knee boots?

And. He looks so good.

And HeroForge allows POSES.

So, y’know. Fashion show?

And the other thing that it is Super Vitally Important for you guys to understand is that one of the minigames I made for the party is that occasionally they get to have a Dress Up Episode and go to very fancy parties, because the Bard was accidentally partially responsible for the development of the escort union by being kidnapped

(This only just came out they are all very upset and plotting to kill his kidnappers, along with the party)

The Bard has made it explicitly clear he’s not going home yet and will still be going to these parties, all his friends are there

But

This means…

There’s a reason for characters to be all fancied up in game.

And Havoc has a fancy outfit now.

And his mom the level 20 chaos warlock has to be invited to every single party or the criminal underworld has to live in fear that she might get offended and actually show up.

So fucking YES Havoc is going to the next fancy party to go see his cousin the Bard at work and meet all his lovely work friends and YES he is wearing that and YES he is immediately being invited up onto the escort dais to hang out and talk shop with the beautiful people

He’s beautiful and perfect and the party are going to fucking die and oh don’t tell them but the Bard’s kidnapper is also going to be there to be creepy and scare the shit out of the Bard and his whole thing is mind control But Havoc Has No Brains

Havoc’s so dumb he has a pet intellect devourer that they have taught to eat cheese because if it tried to eat Havoc’s thoughts it would starve to death

(Its name is Itty Bitty

Oh and Havoc’s party are the Itty Bitty Titty Committee

I introduced them as the IBTC and it took the Cleric about 3 minutes)

[pleasemymel0dy]

@wntrwrlck x

My Melody let out a itty bitty sneeze. "Achoo..!" It was quite cold in the warlock's domain, but she didn't seem too bothered by it, beyond the sneeze of course.

"...Huh...but if you do that, then you'll never know what it's like to share tea and cookies with someone. There's gotta be someone you want to be friends with..."

[sevilemar]

Hey tumblr-twin! I’m currently heading towards a hyperfixation with DnD (imagine me running full speed down a steep hill, grinning like an idiot, arms windmilling.) Have you started DMing yet? Please grace us with your DnD stories (as a player or as a DM!)

Oh wow, we really are mirror images sharing the same brain cell *o*

I have taken the plunge, ran full speed down that hill and haven't stopped yet.

I have GMed six sessions so far, and the one last week was my first boss fight where I was the boss 😎. Not because I wanted to run a boss fight this early when my PCs were all itty bitty second level, but they decided they absolutely wanted to invade the laboratory of the ninth level necromancer to help an NPC they met twice before. And what the PCs want, the PCs get, of course.

And just as they thought they made it out, with one PC dead and the others depleted of magic and HP, they got caught by the full force of the Boromar Clan security. I ended it cliffhanger-style on an offer of 'work for me or else'. The PC who is dead and the other one who decided they would never bend the knee to a necromancer have created new characters, and I have let them, even though I have no intention of killing them, or leaving them dead. I'm not gonna punish my players for doing the heroic thing and helping someone in need. They just need to learn that there are stakes to the game, and consequences.

One of my players also invited me to his twice a month online game, and I have played many a session as my angry, drunk, traumatised and deeply fucked up Dragonborn Paladin/Warlock. And then there's my other game, the one that started the craze years ago, the game I play with my friends as a second level barbarian on a revenge path. We just got send on a quest by a tree we knocked unconscious.

You can find all my adventures as a newby GM and player in my 'dungeons and dragons' tag here on tumblr, I have written down quite a lot. Sometimes, there are even lovely discussions in the chat with another lovely individual who took an interest in my DnD adventures.

Have you started playing? Thinking about GMing? Made a character? Started watching actual play shows? How does your hyperfixation manifest? Interested parties (meaning me) want to know. It's such a lovely hobby.

[rodimissliveblogs]

So I decided, re: adding background flavor to the Archfey Warlock I'm playing, when it comes to hags, that yeah, it would be fun if my reason to come back and fight Auntie Ethel to the death (maybe our deaths) is because Mae's patron asked her to. Like, I first got to the tea house, met Gandrel, booked it away from Gandrel, went and got the Shadow Druid info about Kahga, took a long rest - and then I want to imagine that during that long rest, Mae's Archfey patron showed up and was like "hey bitch. Love what you're doing. Keep it up, good luck. But hey can you do a teensy itty-bitty favor for me? Kill that fucking hag."

(Because like, okay, Mae has been pretty helpful to the people who are in her path and easy to help, but going out of the way to help Mayrina is really going out of her way and I'm not sure that Mae would be doing that naturally yet. She's got a lot of other stuff on her plate! You choose to go see a hag, that's your own problem. I play a character who I've decided has some level of selfishness to her, but then I want to explore everything, so I make up excuses to force her into that.)

Off we go deeper into the hag's lair, where we encounter the people with the cursed masks who are trying to resist the order to kill us but aren't succeeding very well on their Wis saves, because they fucking kill Astarion.

So that one's on Mae's conscience now.

[teaspoonofdragons]

Half and Half

Summary: Klug ends up having to deal with the aftermath of borrowing way too much magic from the Tome of Sealing in a desperate last-ditch effort to stall a Kaiju that doesn't even work.

That aftermath being, having to temporarily share his body with the demon inhabiting that Tome. It's more of a nuisance, than anything.

Characters: Klug, Ayashii (it/its), Lemres, Accord, Popoi

Warnings: Swearing, blatant wild making up of how magic works. That’s about it for this one lmao

Word Count: 2689

Ayashii's constant talking floats around Klug's head, intrusive and loud. It's pissed. That Kaiju just up and took off with Sig! There were others caught up in the fray as well, but that's not what Ayashii is worried about. It needs that boy. How the fuck is it supposed to get its body back without-

Could you please make an EFFORT to tone it down? Yes, Sig is gone, yes, we're going to find him, now shut up, PLEASE.

Right. It had momentarily forgotten that it was sharing this headspace. A result of Klug using an awful lot of magic on that Kaiju in a desperate attempt to stop the monster from getting to Primp. To be fair, using Ayashii's magic he'd actually manage to do... Something to stall the Kaiju, but not nearly enough. The beast had ended up teleporting a large chunk of people to God knows where, and one of them happened to be Sig.

The world experiencing an upsurge in magic was a boon for Ayashii. It meant that when Klug reached into the itty bitty tiny prison that is the book it's been inhabiting since forever now, it could temporarily house itself in his body. Well, it could if he used enough of its magic, but that was really pushing the limits back there. Ayashii's probably going to be in Klug's head for days, to the boy's dismay.

Ayashii could go back into the Tome, but that place was stuffy and it has seen enough of it. Even though taking up rent in Klug's head meant the two had to work together to perform basically anything- magic, talking, so much as walking,- this is far preferable, in Ayashii's humble opinion.

Klug does not agree. Where Ayashii is only benefiting from this exchange, Klug has to fight his own body to do what he wants it to. It's a price he's willing to pay for the magic Ayashii provides, but he finds himself hesitating so, so much more when he knows he'll be around Sig. The demon is very intent on getting to its "other half," and Klug's fully aware that that somehow includes defeating Sig in a fight, which from anyone else wouldn't be too bad, but a demon? That's a terrifying sign.

Thankfully that's not something he'll have to worry about now.

Ayashii seems busy at the moment at least, so Klug takes advantage of the rambling and starts walking. He's a little slow, without Ayashii participating, but the demon has a tendency to start going with whatever's happening when it's distracted, and start going it does. Klug is now successfully able to walk at a normal pace. Thank God.

He needs to find Lemres. He knows the warlock went back to warn the town, being able to get back the fastest, but he thinks it impertinent to mention that multiple of his classmates (and Arle) have just been forcibly removed from their original locations. Who would Lemres talk to first? Ms. Accord? Klug hopes so because he's honestly not sure of where else to go from there.

As per usual, Ayashii snarks. Klug scoffs, but tries not to think anything in response, which is very very difficult and results in something like You- Yeah well- I'm- before he's finally able to simply turn his thoughts off. Ayashii laughing at him in his own head does not help.

It's better than engaging in conversation. Especially now that it seems it's tantrum is over. Klug asks it to pick up the pace, and it complies. Whatever will help get to Sig sooner.

At some point Ayashii gets impatient and forcibly drags them into a sluggish jog that makes them sound a lot heavier than Klug's body really is. Klug gets the hint and starts actually running, cursing his lack of athleticism for multiple reasons. It doesn't take long at all for his breathing to turn ragged, and only a little longer after that for his legs to burn with strain.

It helps, however, when the school comes into view. Despite his difficulty getting air, he pushes himself to go just a little further. Please please please be in there, if not Lemres then at least Ms. Accord, please.

He throws the school doors open, making his way down the halls to the classroom shared amongst most of his friends. When he reaches it, he practically throws his weight into the door, and Ayashii lets him, feeling the toll the long distance had on their body. Klug wheezes, his attempts to get air reliably in his lungs failing him. He feels a hand on his back and a frantic voice, but his head's pounding too much for him to understand a word of what it's saying.

"I'm fine," Ayashii makes him say, slurring noticeably. "Ran."

Another voice Klug can't make out answers it. Judging by it's lack of response, Ayashii didn't quite catch what they said either. Klug feels the hand gently pushing him and follows it, stumbling when Ayashii doesn't catch on quite quickly enough. They get led into a seat, to which Klug finally looks up.

Oh, good. Both Lemres and Accord are still here.

"The monster-" Klug takes another breath of air, "The monster has some kind of, of space distortion magic. It took everyone away."

"Everyone?" Lemres asks, clearly concerned.

"We-" Klug starts, but Ayashii swiftly interrupts him. "I'm the only one left."

If either noticed the odd slip-up, they don't bring it up. They look at each other- or, at least, they face each other- and mumble words Klug can't decipher. Ayashii brings their gaze to Popoi, and stares at him for far too long. Popoi stares back at them. Klug doesn't like it, so he redirects their eyes back to Ms. Accord and Lemres. He can feel Ayashii's displeasure, but chooses to disregard it. It's clearly not enough for it to argue with him.

Klug hears something that sort of sounds like his name, and he focuses once more to see Lemres facing him again. "Do you think you can help me get back to where we saw it? We might be able to figure out where everyone went if we get there before the magic really leaves."

Klug hesitates, but Ayashii nods for him. If nothing else, it can track the magic signature for them. Klug then frowns. "What, uh, what about the Kaiju?"

"It shall be dealt with," Ms. Accord affirms. "We'll be bringing it elsewhere until we are actually ready to take care of it."

"And if you can't do that?" Ayashii asks, and Klug quickly follows up with, "I mean, ah, no disrespect of course, it's just, if it decides to teleport you as well-"

"Well, then we're all outta luck, huh?" Popoi hisses. "Quit getting your fur all bristled, we'll do fine."

Klug decides to take this answer at face value. Ayashii is still rather malcontent with it, but there's not time to argue. Klug's body comes to a stand, and Lemres takes that as the cue that they're ready to leave.

As the two (three, technically, even if Lemres is unaware) leave the room, the Comet Warlock calls out "Good Luck," behind him, and Ms. Accord replies in kind. Klug can feel Ayashii push to take control of the direction they're going in, and he hesitantly allows it. It walks at a brisk pace, keen on finding Sig immediately. Lemres has an unnatural amount of leg, he'll be fine keeping up.

A roar echoes in the distance. They silently speed up.

It feels like forever, but when they come to the area of the fight, it's pretty obvious. A huge path of destruction lays before them, a result of the Kaiju being uncaring of it's environment as it cut through trees. Remnants of magic lay about, the mana being upheld in the world refusing to let it fizzle out. It's coated the surrounding area in a dark blue shade, reminiscent of the blast the beast had used to warp space to its will. Klug winces, hoping Lemres won't find, or at least recognize Ayashii's magic in the fray when he attempts tracking his classmates.

Which is what Lemres sets to doing immediately. Klug can feel Ayashii attempting to do much the same, for its own selfish want. It notices something off, and brings Klug's body further out from Lemres.

"At the very least, it seems like everyone's together," Lemres hums. "I can't figure out an exact location, but I think as long I have the time I can get an approximate-"

"Sig's not," Ayashii growls.

Lemres looks up at them. "Pardon?"

"He was standing here. Further off from the attack."

Not as far as Klug and Ayashii were. Not far enough.

Lemres frowns. He moves to stand next to them, and repeats the procedure he'd done earlier. He furrows his brows. "You're right. That may affect his location."

He's alone he's ALONE, Ayashii hisses, I can't get to him if he's DEAD.

Shut up, Klug responds, we'll get him back.

Probably.

Lemres sighs, dragging his fingers through his bangs. "Okay, well. I'm going to need to go get a few things to find everyone properly, and then we'll send out searches to see to it they get back safely. I'm sure everyone can handle their own, but," he turns to look at the spot Sig had been standing in before getting caught in the monster's blast. "The prospect of Sig being alone is... Worrying."

Ayashii grunts, and Klug assumes that the demons' annoyance is showing on his face, because Lemres laughs nervously.

"Not that I don't think he's capable too," he corrects, misreading the intent, "he certainly is! But he's kind of..."

"Inattentive," Ayashii finishes.

"Distracted," Klug continues.

"Careless."

"Oblivious."

"Absent-minded."

Klug decides to stop talking after realizing that, to Lemres, he's the only one who's listing all of these adjectives for Sig. A moment of awkward silence passes them by, and Lemres clears his throat. "Right. All of that." He looks back to the direction of Primp. "We should head back now. Hopefully someone will have what we need back home. It'll really suck if we need to travel before we can find our friends and, uh, travel more."

Klug tries not to get too excited at the use of "we," especially with Ayashii in his head always waiting for an opportunity to poke fun. He nods instead. Lemres offers him a comforting smile, but after a second his expression turns curious.

"Hey, Klug," he says, his tone light-hearted, "have your eyes always been brown?"

Klug hisses a breath, holding it in.

"They're.... Hazel," he responds, cautiously.

Lemres' expression doesn't change. Klug can feel a nervous sweat gathering at his brows.

Lemres finally smiles again and claps his hands together. "I suppose that makes sense! I don't normally pay all that much attention to eye color, so I guess I've just never noticed!"

Klug chuckles, forced and awkward. "It's alright! Don't, uh, don't worry. About it."

Nice one, Ayashii drawls.

Quiet you, Klug retorts, this is your fault. Curse your stupid red eyes.

At least when we're like this they still come out a natural color, Ayashii grumbles, and goes quiet once more.

Klug follows behind Lemres, still feeling a little awkward. At the very least, Lemres didn't tell him to leave him alone, so he assumes it's okay to be following. He feels kind of silly, walking behind his idol without even the slightest idea of where they're going and what they're getting- he's yet to breach the topic of tracking someone down in his magic studies, given that usually implies a chase- but he trusts the Comet Warlock and that's enough, probably.

They end up going through a few stores to find what Lemres is looking for, Ayashii thankfully making no further attempts at antagonization towards either of them. Regardless, they acquire a small bag of things (that Klug so graciously insists on taking off of Lemres' hands) and go back to where his friends had disappeared.

I'm getting a sense of deja vu.

Klug agrees with Ayashii but makes no further extensions to the conversation.

He carefully watches Lemres cover as wide an area as possible in a magic circle, trying to absorb as much information as possible just by looking. I could show you that, Ayashii points out.

Sure you could, Klug snarks, but you'd probably pull something to give you complete control over my body instead.

Ayashii scoffs, audibly, and Lemres looks up at them in confusion. Klug stutters, "Sorry! That's, that wasn't, ehm, it wasn't directed at you! I'm arguing with myself."

You stop that, he chides, and Ayashii laughs at him.

Lemres stands and begins toward the middle of the circle. "I'm gonna start now," he warns, and Klug stands a few feet away from the outer edges.

You don't have to do that.

I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Lemres starts the murmering words Klug can't all the way make out from where he's standing. The circle glows, its bright golden color contrasting with the blueing hues of the desecrated forest. Klug shuffles on his feet anxiously. The wind picks up and static bites at him. A few seconds turn into a minute, and then the glow dies down and Lemres huffs out a breath.

"Well," he breathes, his normal grin coming out somewhat shakily, "I have good news and I have bad news."

Klug's heart drops into his stomach. "Go on?" He presses.

"The good news is, everyone who isn't Sig was, indeed, transported to the same area. Suzuran, I think, or somewhere close to it."

Klug winces. That's quite the ways away. At the very least, it's a peaceable town, one that doesn't get very many monster attacks due to the low amount of people with magic in the area. Not that there's no one, there's plenty enough for a monster to approach every now and then, but in comparison to the rest of the world right now it's rather tame.

"The bad news is Sig is... All the way at Madou."

Oh. Oh that's bad.

Madou is where Arle and Rulue used to live- Lemres lived in a neighboring city, but the two were one of those places where they extended so far into each other they basically became one. Madou itself was a very battle based city, a virtue which did not help it nor Lemres' home when the largest Kaiju currently known to roam the planet decided to rain literal hellfire upon it.

It's further off from Primp than even Suzuran is, and it's in absolute ruins. Lemres, Arle, and Rulue all have been making yearly visits since leaving the disaster zone, paying respects to a friend who'd been killed in the attack, and they say that even three years later the fires are still burning and the land is still coated in smoldering ashes.

Ayashii seethes. Lemres raises his hands in a would-be pacifying gesture. "We're going to find them," he reassures it. "All of them. I swear. We just need to get a search party together, and then we can head out."

A sigh leaves Klug's mouth, still evidently irritated. There was nothing to be done.

A search party, though. He wonders who'll be in it. Rulue will most certainly want to join, if not because it'll be an adventure then because her "rival," and Raffina were among the missing. Draco as well, for similar reasons.

Wow, Arle has a lot of rivals.

This is going to suck, he admits.

It is, Ayashii agrees.

It's going to suck even more with you around.

It's my pleasure.

This is going to be a long trip.

Lemres seems to sense Klug's tension and smiles softly at him. He extends his arm out to Klug, holding a wrapper in offering. "Chocolate?"

Klug accepts the chocolate with a bright grin of his own, for once not minding the loud joy Ayashii displays when he celebrates getting to taste chocolate. Maybe it'll be okay.

(Ayashii bites their tongue, and Klug immediately takes everything back. This is going to be a disaster.)

[modularnra40]

I think maybe a slightly better way to conceive of it would be less 'technical rules players' vs 'social role players' and more like 'monolith' vs 'modular' players.

Like, I think this particular distinction*does* get discussed a lot (at least in contexts where people are discussing the meta of ttrpgs lol) buuuuut I think even with the best intentions to be evenhanded and fair and your-game-style-is-not-my-game-style-and-thats-ok it ... Still often comes across as kind of patronizing towards one group or the other -- see the classic roll-play vs role-play which tends to dismiss the creative drive of players who actually know all of the rules and want to use them, or as above where I think you unintentionally came across a little dismissive of the social players -- people dont play dnd on accident: if they wanted to hang out with their friends and free-form role-play.... They would do that. If they're deep enough in it to be looking for ways to mod the game they definitely get something out of the crunchy bits of the game, it's not a trivial aspect for them. BUT I do think you are right that there is some distinct gap between the camps you described - modularity.

Digression- I played DnD from itty bitty because my father was an old school nerd. I cut my teeth on 2nd edition, and never did you see a 12 year old so incredibly precious about ThAC0 as little me. But~ my father was an old school nerd so you know I was not playing DnD as strictly defined in the rules book! No! I was playing 2nd edition DnD + some 30 odd years of house rules lovingly conceptualized and play tested by my father and his various gaming groups starting decades before my birth and continuing to this day! At one point we tested out using rollmaster tables to determine the outcomes of successful hits! (Fun, but very clunky - the rolemaster aesthetic has a lot of baked in assumptions which didn't always mesh with our games tone)

And from that context, the main distinction I see is a somewhat philosophical difference in what a ttrpg rule book is -- ie something like a board game rule book where everything sort of must be taken as a comprehensive whole? Certainly most rulebooks assume that you will be using all of the pieces, and all of the given numbers and such are given in context to each other. But it's actually... Not that hard to take (many, not all) ttrpg rule book as 'modular' - ie I'm going to grab the physical melee system from DnD (roll a d20, add the attackers to hit modifier, compare to the defenders AC), but then use some fate like system for spell casting (there are meta 'aspect's attached to various things in the story which I can invoke to improve the chances of spellcasting success, with various mechanical ways of creating or adjusting these aspects) aaaand fuck it we're going to go with a home brewed super harsh but simple '3 strikes youre out' way of tracking damage, all hits are 1 strike no nuance.

Would this be "balanced"? That's an almost incomprehensible question, or alternatively the answer is 'absolutely not' but would it be fun to play? Maybe! If the group likes it. And if not, then whatever is not fun will get thrown out, or replaced, or mutated even further away from something that is found in any single rulebook. But it's also definitely NOT social game first lol - it's hella crunchy, just not super consistent - and weird corner cases are going to be handled on a case by case basis and reading a new player into the dynamic will be an absolute nightmare hahaha

There's also maybe something about like - how literally do you take the rules-- ie the difference between 'i want to create Naruto in a DnD game so I will go and find a magic ninjas rulebook so I can create Naruto the magic ninja who uses jutsu and kunai' vs 'I am rolling a warlock who is proficient in daggers, but for flavor reasons I will be referring to spells as jutsu and daggers as kunai and my DM has given me a feat which lets me replace all material component requirements with somatic component requirements'

I think I came across as like very pro this 'modular' approach I described, and it's definitely one of my first instincts when I come across friction at the table.... But also the best game I ever ran was one where we were playing by the book Blades in the Dark, given setting, no bells and whistles, accept no substitutes etc. Lots of bullshit house rules and weird frankengames can be super fun, and are fun to conceptualize but generally speaking your group has to be really familiar with each other for it not to just cause more problems then it is trying to solve, and it's absolutely not friendly for newer players -- ymmv lol

Seeing @thydungeongal constantly wrestling with people interpreting her posts about D&D in ways that seem completely alien to me has convinced me that there are actually multiple completely distinct activities both being referred to as "playing D&D" Before we begin, I want to stress that I'm not saying one of these groups is Playing The Game Wrong or anything, but there seems to be a lot of confusion and conflict caused by people not being aware of the distinction. In fact, either one works just fine if everyone's on the same page. So far, I think I've identified at least two main groups. And nobody seems to realize the distinction between these groups even exists. The first group of people think of "Playing D&D" as, well, more or less like any other board game. Players read the whole rulebook all the way through, all the players follow the instructions, and the gameplay experience is determined by what the rules tell each player to do. This group thinks of the mechanics as, not exactly the *whole* game, but certainly the fundamental skeleton that everything else is built on top of. People in the second group think of "Playing D&D" as referring to, hanging out with their friends, collaboratively telling a story inspired by some of the elements in the rulebooks, maybe rolling some dice to see what happens when they can't decide. This group thinks of the mechanics of the game as, like... a spice to sprinkle on top of the story to mix things up. (if you belong to this second group, and think I'm explaining it poorly, please let me know, because I'm kind of piecing things together from other people saying things I don't understand and trying to reverse engineer how they seem to be approaching things.) I think this confusion is exacerbated by the fact that Wizards of the Coast markets D&D as if these are the same thing. They emphatically are not. the specific rules laid out of the D&D rulebooks actually direct players to tell a very specific kind of story. You can tell other stories if you ignore those rules (which still counts as "playing D&D" under the second definition, but doesn't under the first)And I think people in both groups are getting mad because they assume that everyone is also using their definition. For example, there's a common argument that I've seen play out many times that goes something like this:

A: "How do I mod D&D to do [insert theme here]?" B: "D&D is really not built for that, you should play [other TTRPG] that's designed for it instead" A: "But I don't want to learn a whole new game system!" B: "It will be easier to just learn a whole new system than mod D&D to do that." A: "whatever, I'll just mod D&D on my own" And I think where this argument comes from is the two groups described above completely talking past each other. No one understands what the other person is trying to say. From A's perspective, as a person in the second group, it sounds like A: "Anyone have some fun inspirations for telling stories about [insert theme here]?" B: "You can't sit around a table with your friends and tell a story about that theme! That's illegal." A: "But we want to tell a story about this theme!" B: "It's literally impossible to do that and you're a dumb idiot baby for even thinking about it." A: "whatever, jerk, I'll figure it out on my own."

--- Whereas, from B's perspective, the conversation sounds like A: "How do I change the rules of poker to be chess, and not be poker?" B: "uhhh, just play chess?" A: "But I already know how to player poker! I want to play poker, but also have it be chess!" B: "what the hell are you talking about? What does that even mean. They're completely different games." A: "I'm going to frankenstein these rules together into some kind of unplayably complex monster and you can't stop me!" ---

So both people end up coming away from the conversation thinking the other person is an idiot. And really, depending on how you concieve of what it means to "play D&D" what is being asked changes considerably. If you're only planning to look through the books for cool story inspiration, maybe borrow a cool little self contained sub-system here or there, then yeah, it's very possible to steal inspiration for your collaborative story from basically anywhere. Maybe some genres are kind of an awkward fit together, but you can make anything work with a little creativity.

If, however, you are thinking of the question in terms of frankensteining two entire board games together, then it becomes a massively difficult or even outright nonsensical idea. For example, for skill checks, the game Shadowrun has players roll a pool of several d6 at once, then count up how many rolled above a target value to see how well a character succeeded at a task. The whole game is full of specific rules about adding or removing dice from the pool, effects happening if you roll doubles, rerolling only some of the dice, and all sorts of other things that simply do not translate to rolling a single d20 for skill checks. On a basic level, the rules of the games work very differently. Trying to make them compatible would be much harder than just learning a new game from scratch. Now, neither of these approaches is exactly *wrong*, I guess, but personally, I find the rules of TTRPGs to be fascinating and worth taking the time to engage with all the weird little nuances and seeing what shakes out. Also, the first group, "TTRPG as fancy board game" is definitely the older and more widespread one. I kind of get the impression that the second group largely got into D&D through actual play podcasts, but I don't have any actual data to back that up. So, if you're in the second group, who thinks of D&D as basically a context for collaborative storytelling first and a game second, please let me know if I'm wildly misunderstanding how you approach D&D. Because I'm pretty sure it would save us a whole lot of stupid misunderstandings.

[therealeagal]

Baldur's Gate 3

I have been playing the crap out of this game and I adore it to itty bitty pieces.

I'd say my favorite class is Paladin/Warlock. Bard is a close second.

Scenario: You're some rando who gets kidnapped by psychic squid people. They stick a baby squid person in your brain. But something is rotten in the state of Denmark! The baby squid person isn't bursting out of your skull like it should. What's going on?!?

And you've got psychic powers now...armed with your wits and a bunch of randos, you set out on a whirlwind adventure to save the world.

Baldur's Gate 3 is adaptated - yes, adaptated - from the famed tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons. You fight the bad guys, you roll the dice, you don't afraid of anything. It's a riot. If it didn't get GOTY for 2013 it shoulda. Play it. Love it. If you don't, I hate you.

====

Tangential subject change. Feel free to stop reading now if your constitution and charisma stats are low.

You may recall that many eons ago I incurred the wrath of the death spiral with a rating of the companions you might encounter within the game. I won't point fingers, because it truly is on me for not expecting stans of a certain character to get pissy at me for rating him so low...rest assured, aforementioned stans, I don't actually rate him below Minthara and the Absolute and all. It was a joke.

In fairness, I could have done more to clue people in rather than relying on them to take the time to think about the tone of my rating instead of having a knee-jerk reaction to the low rating. I know what kind of place tumblr is. How could I not have seen it coming a mile off? Mea culpa. I accept full responsibility. Hate me if you will. If you Wyll. (Ha!)

Strike me down. Throw stones if you must.

As a great comedian once said, you're always taking shots from people who just don't get the joke. (that's also a joke. I should start notifying ya'll when I'm making humorous quips [that's a joke too. I won't actually do that except to mock you {just kidding! I love you guys!}])