widocasts

[widocasts]

and now for something completely different  (not really) [Id: semi-realistic painting. Three figures, one is Caleb Widogast, white skin, reddish-brown hair. He’s tied to a chair. Against him sits Astrid, pale-skinned dark-haired woman with half-lidded eyes, in a grey, simple monk-like robes. Upper half of her body turned to him and she touches his neck. The third figure is in shadow, Eodwulf stands in red  garment, with dark grey hair and closed eyes, with a metal clip on his ear. Almost everything else is in shadow, the scene is lit by a lamp between Astrid and Caleb, close to their faces. end id]

[widocasts]

volstrucker ✖️

[widocasts]

orbs  of  swirling  orange  light  hang  in  midair.  eyes  closed,  bren  breathes  deep.  with  a  slow,  circling  motion  of  his  hands,  they  begin  to  rotate  around  the  room.  his  eyes  snap  open  at  the  sound  of  eadwulf’s  voice.  “what  things?”  concentration  broken,  the  lights  flicker  once,  twice—and  go  out.  

❥     @widocasts,   CALEB  requested  EADWULF .

                   “     i have things to attend to.     ”

[widocasts]

@cupcaketrickster: 💬 jester?

send me 💬 and i will make you a starter with a random line of dialogue.

“tell  me  what  you  saw!“

[widocasts]

@catharsy: 💬 - from beau?

send me 💬 and i will make you a starter with a random line of dialogue.

“i  miss  moments  like  this  more  than  anything.”

[widocasts]

𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞! this is an independent, selective writing blog run by achilles featuring caleb widogast from critical role. i am not affiliated with the creators of this media and the characters belong to their respective creators. give my rules a read before interacting with me.

because of caleb’s story & setting, this writing blog will explore some dark themes. triggering material will be tagged upon request. this blog, like all my muses, is a sideblog to @miscelliany​. all follows will come from there.

[widocasts]

— ADJUST AS NEEDED. REMEMBER TO SPECIFY MUSE TO MULTIS.

“I know pain. I know dread.”

“It’s killing time.”

“All these thoughts have never stopped.”

“Thick as you are  —  pay attention!”

“My words are a matter of pride.”

“The future is littered with prizes.”

“What have I done?”

“I’m no hero.”

“I’m getting closer every day.”

“Right or wrong…I can hardly tell.”

“Bet you didn’t think I’d come back to life.”

“I do this with conviction.”

“I don’t do this for the riches.”

“The truth is waiting there for you to find it.”

“Your fears seem to keep you blinded.”

“Prepare yourself for the reckoning.”

“An unforgivable tragedy.”

“Sometimes darkness can show you the light.”

“Don’t let hope become a memory.”

“You’re the one who can redefine it.”

“Pick your path and I’ll pray.”

“Did [she/he/they] make you you cry?”

“You better put your kingdom up for sale.”

“Rulers make bad lovers.”

“A generation built on a lie.”

“They ain’t never seen a war like me.”

“Are you afraid your life means less?”

“Are you concern you might be next?”

“It’s much too soon for me to tell.”

“Just surrender.”

“Remember what you’ve done to me.”

“You didn’t care at all.”

“I’m not scared of the things you do.”

“When you go down, I go down with you.”

“We cannot get everything we need.”

“This is our time.”

“In this world, only the strong will survive.”

“Are you ready for the test of your life?”

“Now you’ll just have memories.”

“I prepared to die.”

“You wonder why.”

“Say your prayers, little one.”

“Walk me home?”

“So, what do you say we leave this place?”

“I know it’s getting late.”

“I can’t be alone with all that’s on my mind.”

“I ain’t ashamed.”

“God can’t help us anymore.”

“Don’t know what you’re asking for.”

“You’ve got fire in your soul.”

[widocasts]

tag dump 2

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ ASTRID.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ EDOWULF.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ TRENT IKITHON.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + ASTRID.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + EDOWULF.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + TRENT.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ THE KRYN DYNASTY.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ XHORHAS.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ ESSEK THEYLASS.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + ESSEK.

[widocasts]

tag drop 1. 

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ THREADS.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ ASKBOX.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ OOC.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ MUSING.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ META.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ HEADCANONS.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ DRABBLE.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ SELF.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ IMAGE.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ ANSWERED ASKS.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ JESTER LAVORRE.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ FJORD.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ BEAUREGARD LIONETT.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ YASHA NYOORDIN.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ NOTT THE BRAVE.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ VETH BRENATTO.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ MOLLYMAUK TEALEAF.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CADUCEUS CLAY.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + JESTER.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + FJORD.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + BEAU.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + YASHA.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + NOTT.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + VETH.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + MOLLYMAUK.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + CADUCEUS.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ THE DWENDALIAN EMPIRE.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ THE CEREBRUS ASSEMBLY.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ THE BLUMENTRIO.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ ASTRID.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ EDOWULF.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ TRENT IKITHON.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + ASTRID.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + EDOWULF.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + TRENT.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ THE KRYN DYNASTY.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ XHORHAS.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ ESSEK THEYLASS.

* 🔥 ━━━━━━ CALEB + ESSEK.

[widocasts]

caleb’s cinderbrush verse. ( hot - 1, cold - 1, volatile 1 , dark 2 ) 

i am using a modified version of the ghost skin! the monsterhearts manual says that certain liberties could be taken with their material and that players could create their own classes. i am essentially removing the ghost skin’s abilities and replacing them with the witch skin’s hexes. i am keeping the ghost’s darkest self.

• caleb, born bren aldric ermendrud, grew up outside of cinderbrush, in a more rural area. originally he went to an elite private school, where he met astrid and edowulf. he started dating astrid a few months after meeting her at the school, and he and edolwulf got along very well, too. he was naturally very academically gifted, and because of this, a teacher by the name of trent ikithon took special interest in him and his friends. ikithon was a wizard (like the witch skin!) and told the three impressionable students that he believed they could learn magic if they wanted to as well. he started teaching them, and over time, the three of them became wizards and witches themselves. caleb practiced from his room at his home most frequently when he wasn’t working with ikithon, and it was his teacher who failed to warn caleb of its dangers. 

• bren was practicing magic when he accidentally set fire to his home. trent and the others arrived too late to stop the house from coming down around his parents. bren himself managed to make it out of the house after unsuccessful attempts to quell the flames and save his parents, but he was severely burned and was suffering from smoke inhalation. trent soon realized what had happened and, for the sake of preserving his secrecy as a wizard, decided it best to finish bren off. bren confronted him for failing to warn him and the others of its dangers, but because bren was already weakened and trent was more experienced with magic, it was a short confrontation. astrid was the one to watch him succumb to trent’s attack and his injuries from the fire. 

• he came back to relative consciousness three weeks later. bren aldrich ermendrud was dead. everyone in his hometown assumed that his entire family had died in the tragic accident, the house fire. as a ghost, bren assumes the false name and identity as caleb widogast. hiding his identity as a ghost, he went into a foster program for several months before he was adopted by the brenattos and brought to cinderbrush. he claims that he lost his parents in an accidental house fire, in which he got the burn scars on the sides of his face and up his arms. his unresolved past ties into leaving his friends behind, the self-loathing he feels because he allowed himself to be manipulated and killed his parents, and the trauma related to that event. he hopes to resolve that somehow and stop trent from hurting more people. 

• in everyday life, he’s very reserved and standoffish. he tends not to try to get close to people because of his trauma, and perpetually has a sort of sad look in his eyes. people don’t pay much attention to him in school, and he likes it that way. beau is a close friend of his, one of the few. mention of fire, the sight of fire, is very triggering for him. internally, he wants to find some kind of peace, some kind of closure, so he can be very kind and thoughtful towards people when they get close to him. he wears a lot of layers to hide the scarring — long sleeves, sweaters, long pants, big coats. he has round wire glasses that are enchanted to help him see past illusions if he ever comes across them. he spends a lot of time in the library and sometimes his friends drag him to social events. 

• when he becomes his darkest self, his image doesn’t fully disappear. it stays invisible for the most part, but it flickers in an out of visibility like the flicker of raging flames. the burn scars on his face appear as though they are fresh burns. 

[widocasts]

𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒 : caleb widogast

moody | short-tempered | emotionally unstable | whiny | controlling | conceited | possessive | paranoid | lies | impatient | cowardly | bitter | selfish | power-hungry | greedy | lazy | judgmental | forgetful | impulsive | spiteful | stubborn | sadistic | petty | unlucky | absent-minded | abusive | addict | aggressive | childish | callous | clingy | delusional | cocky | competitive | corrupt | cynical | cruel | depressed | deranged | egotistical | envious | insecure | insensitive | lustful | delinquent | guilt complex | reclusive | reckless | nervous | oversensitive

𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐇𝐒

honest | trustworthy | thoughtful | caring | brave | patient | selfless | ambitious | tolerant | lucky | intelligent | confident | focused | humble | generous | merciful | observant | wise | clever | charming | cheerful | optimistic | decisive | adaptive | calm | protective | proud | diligent | considerate | compassionate | good sportsmanship | friendly | empathetic | passionate | reliable | resourceful | sensible | sincere | witty | funny

𝐒𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐒 & 𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒

art | acting | astronomy | animals | archery | sports | beach combing | ballet | bird watching | blacksmithing | boating | calligraphy | camping | candle making | casino gambling | ceramics | racing | chess | music | cooking | crochet | weaving | exercise | swordplay | fishing | gardening | ghost hunting | ice skating | magic | engineering | building | inventing | leather-working | martial arts | meditation | origami | parkour | people watching | swimming | puppetry | pyrotechnics | quilting | reading | collecting | shopping | socializing | storytelling | writing | traveling

tagged: @bracteatum​ <3 

tagging: @solemvictrix , @tex-blades , @criticalebwidogast , @commaless , @sapphiretrickster 

[widocasts]

Welcome to the Mighty Nein Essek 

[widocasts]

@iinmortales - starter for miva !  caleb had always had a strange relationship with fire. 

he stared into the crackling flames before him, his blue eyes reflecting its orange glow. it stood out against the encompassing dark of night, provided a few feet of light and intense warmth. it cast sharp shadows across his face, making the half-circles under his eyes appear darker. 

it was everything he’d ever known, but at the same time, it was his undoing — his knack for magic first manifested when he sprouted a few flames from his fingertips in his childhood home. his parents had been so proud, so glad to see his abilities recognized when ikithon brought him to the cerberus assembly. there, his power grew under ikithon’s tutelage. strengthened by ikithon’s teachings, he had struck down the traitors to the empire, had passed the final test. 

staring into the flames, his parents’ screams echo in his ears. 

years after that final test, caleb has committed himself to using his magic for good. 

the first good thing, he decided, would be putting a stop to trent ikithon and the cerberus assembly. ending the suffering he inflicted on children like himself, ending the torture, the conditioning, the killings. putting an end to the vollstreckers and the person who created them. 

it took a few days to convince the nein. 

i understand that you are my friends, he had told them. and that you want to be there for me, but this is my fight. i do not want you to put yourselves in front of ikithon for … for me. 

you can’t just … leave! nott had been one of the most insistent, aside from jester. what about the group? aren’t we in this together? what does all that time we spent with them mean if you’re just going to … go off on your own? 

it means … you and our friends have allowed me to get this far. farther than i would have gone on my own.  i … you know i care about you. but i have to make this last journey on my own. he had knelt down, level with his friend. i will not be gone long. versprochen.  now, he was closer to realizing that goal than ever before. 

he’d caught wind of a tiefling, a paladin who wielded the power of manon, a paladin who fought for vengeance. it had taken time and planning, but he had managed to track her down to a rural town outside the empire. the only thing left was to find where she was within the town, and cross paths with her once and for all.  he had arrived in the late hours of the night, and set up camp in an open field just outside town. being a small village, their inn was full, and months spent traveling with the nein had made caleb more acclimated to staying outdoors regardless. still, he found he couldn’t sleep — the memories of his hometown  and the assembly more prominent than ever as ikithon’s day of reckoning approached. 

[widocasts]

caleb’s anxieties were further eased. she appeared genuine. welcoming, even. but his stare remained analytical, careful, reserved. the longer he spoke with her, the more he learned about her, and the more he learned about her, the closer he came to deciding whether or not he could truly trust her. in spite of his paranoia, there was a certain unhindered friendless about her that reminded caleb of himself. it seemed as though her time in the silver lily had done her as much good as caleb’s time in the nein had done for him. he offered a faint smile. “ it is … good to meet you, as well. ”

suddenly, interest! a new look in her eyes. it nearly caught caleb off guard. at first, his enthusiasm mounts — what was once an anxious, flighty gaze brightens, strengthens, and fully meets cila’s eyes. but as quickly as it came, it is gone, extinguished by memories of the cerberus assembly.  “ i am … mostly self-taught. ” a blatant lie, but he has grown used to telling them. he was formally taught, but formally taught to be a war dog for the dwendellian empire — and that was hardly something to be discussed just minutes after meeting her, much less discussed with her at all. 

“ i grew up in a more, uh … rural area, so i did not exactly attend a fully-fledged school for very long. ” partially true. he had grown up in the outskirts of the empire until ikithon took him to rexxentrum. and he had only been ikithon’s student until he turned seventeen — not long enough to graduate. “ i relied mostly on what i could learn from books and … trial and error. ” he cocked his head slightly to one side. “ where did you learn how to — how to perform your abilities? ” though they were far from the empire, necromancy wasn’t a common school of magic. he couldn’t help his curiosity. 

widocasts‌:

“ cila, ” caleb repeated her name as if to ensure he wouldn’t forget it. her nonchalance was starting to rub off on him, and he found himself relaxing more and more. any suspicions that cropped up were quickly reasoned away — she can’t be with the empire, they don’t employ necromancers. she can’t be a hired hand because she’s part of a party. perhaps it was foolish of him, but he was even beginning to like her. it was an unfamiliar feeling, but not unwelcome. his time with the nein has made him more trusting, for better or for worse, and he couldn’t bring himself to be unhappy about it. 

still, he watched her. carefully. though inclined to trust her, he wouldn’t let his guard down so easily. caleb had spent years on the streets, content to be invisible for the rest of his life. when mud caked his boots, smudged across his face, when rough stubble grew on his chin, when dirt found its way under his fingernails, he welcomed it. the grime, the dirt, the shabby clothes he wore all contributed to his anonymity. he found a home among the discarded, among the ignored and overlooked. then he met nott — someone he could call family, someone who understood him. someone that was running, too. then he met the nein. 

explosive, loud, bright. three words he would fondly use to describe jester. where his hands were covered in mud, hers were always flecked with paint. she had approached him in a tavern one night without any regard to social norms — and no verbal filter, apparently. then beauregard, and fjord. they were just as loud as jester, but rougher. fjord spoke with an accent caleb had never heard before. beauregard’s keen gaze seemed to bore a hole right though him. and then he met yasha, a gentle giant to say the least. large and imposing, but with a book full of pressed flowers. and then he met — 

he snapped himself from his thoughts, raising his eyes to meet cila’s. 

“ i’m … caleb. caleb widogast. ” he almost extended a hand, but didn’t deem it appropriate quite yet. “ i have heard of the silver lily before, ja. and you are right, i am no … townie. my — my own group, the — uh, the mighty nein, we were on our own travels when we heard of your party. ” not entirely untrue. really, it was just caleb who took interest in the silver lily. “ the nein — i have been traveling with them for … for quite some time now. ” he expelled another deep breath. “ we have become … separated, as of late, but that is beside the point. ” nervous hands picked at his fingernails as he steeled himself to continue.  “ i am … also a magic user. wizard. school of transmutation. ” 

        ‘ good to meet you, caleb. ‘ which, before the silver lily, she couldn’t imagine say that and actually meaning it. before her friends, she viewed the world and everyone in it as an enemy, someone to be suspicious of. now she knew that there were good people, an, more importantly, people that would have her back. it had lifted a weight she’d carried since she was a little girl. she smiled easier now, was friendlier. and knowing that he’d heard of them made her smile wider, because she knew that she and her friends had done good, were good. 

          as he mentioned his own ability, she leaned forward. ‘ really? ‘ there was a glint in her eyes. most of the magic users she’d met had been trying to kill her, and those that weren’t actively trying to kill her still weren’t interested in a conversation. ‘ i haven’t gotten a chance to talk to many magic users. where did you learn? ‘ she didn’t want to admit how much she’d taught herself. not many out there wanted to teach a orphan street rat how to use magic, but she’d done what she could. 

[widocasts]

“ cila, ” caleb repeated her name as if to ensure he wouldn’t forget it. her nonchalance was starting to rub off on him, and he found himself relaxing more and more. any suspicions that cropped up were quickly reasoned away — she can’t be with the empire, they don’t employ necromancers. she can’t be a hired hand because she’s part of a party. perhaps it was foolish of him, but he was even beginning to like her. it was an unfamiliar feeling, but not unwelcome. his time with the nein has made him more trusting, for better or for worse, and he couldn’t bring himself to be unhappy about it. 

still, he watched her. carefully. though inclined to trust her, he wouldn’t let his guard down so easily. caleb had spent years on the streets, content to be invisible for the rest of his life. when mud caked his boots, smudged across his face, when rough stubble grew on his chin, when dirt found its way under his fingernails, he welcomed it. the grime, the dirt, the shabby clothes he wore all contributed to his anonymity. he found a home among the discarded, among the ignored and overlooked. then he met nott — someone he could call family, someone who understood him. someone that was running, too. then he met the nein. 

explosive, loud, bright. three words he would fondly use to describe jester. where his hands were covered in mud, hers were always flecked with paint. she had approached him in a tavern one night without any regard to social norms — and no verbal filter, apparently. then beauregard, and fjord. they were just as loud as jester, but rougher. fjord spoke with an accent caleb had never heard before. beauregard’s keen gaze seemed to bore a hole right though him. and then he met yasha, a gentle giant to say the least. large and imposing, but with a book full of pressed flowers. and then he met — 

he snapped himself from his thoughts, raising his eyes to meet cila’s. 

“ i’m … caleb. caleb widogast. ” he almost extended a hand, but didn’t deem it appropriate quite yet. “ i have heard of the silver lily before, ja. and you are right, i am no … townie. my — my own group, the — uh, the mighty nein, we were on our own travels when we heard of your party. ” not entirely untrue. really, it was just caleb who took interest in the silver lily. “ the nein — i have been traveling with them for … for quite some time now. ” he expelled another deep breath. “ we have become … separated, as of late, but that is beside the point. ” nervous hands picked at his fingernails as he steeled himself to continue.  “ i am … also a magic user. wizard. school of transmutation. ” 

[widocasts]

an anxious gaze traced her movements, listening as she spoke. just now he noticed the tea in her hands, a small cloud of steam wafting from the rim of the cup. breakfast. rechts. caleb had entrusted most of his funds to nott, keeping only a few coins on his person. he became suddenly aware of the hunger gnawing at his stomach. a hand slipped into his pocket to close around a gold piece — but he quickly discarded the idea. he needed to save the money he had, should this necromancer want payment. she had come in with a group, and most traveling adventurers required payment for their services. 

for the first time since approaching her, caleb fully took her in. she wasn’t exactly the image that would come to mind upon hearing the word “necromancer”. the pointed edge to her ears implied elven lineage, which meant a stronger magical potency. the smirk on her lips, her speech — it made her seem almost friendly. despite his better judgement, caleb felt a knot of tension in his shoulders unwind itself. at least he no longer had to convince her to help. 

take a seat. his eyebrows raised, any attempts at a response dying in his throat. her teasing didn’t bother him much — in fact, it reminded him painfully of jester — but it had given him the impression that she wasn’t particularly interested. her invitation suggested otherwise. slowly, he lowered himself into a seat across from her.  “ you —  ” he almost stops himself.  “ i did not really think you were going to sacrifice me to anything but — ” a small smile quirked at his lips in spite of himself. “ i am not excluding it from the realm of possibility yet. ”

[widocasts]

how is it working out? not very well, it seems. caleb opens his mouth to reply, but finding no words to reply with, he quickly closes it again.  his mouth presses into a thin line as his mind races, struggling to articulate a flurry thoughts, questions, requests. if only fjord were here. or jester. or any of the nein, really. any of them would be able to navigate this conversation better than he would. 

but they’re not here. the thought invades his mind once more, unwarranted, unwelcome. caleb is accustomed for being alone, but for the first time, he feels lonely. caleb blinks once, releases a breath, and speaks. “ i understand that it is ... early, ”  try as he might, he can’t force the apprehension out of his voice. dealing with necromancers was always tricky business. although necromancy was considered a formal school of magic, blurring the lines between life and death could prove unpredictable.  “ but you must understand, i would not — i do not ask this of you ... lightly. i —  ” another breath, a shake of his head, centering himself.    “ there are ... certain things that i need to be done that i cannot do myself. ” he is being purposely indirect, cautious of the listening ears all around them. “ raising the dead, for one.  ”

iinmortales‌:

           ‘ so, you walked in here and thought i should ask that woman just trying to enjoy her morning if she would pretty please raise the dead. ‘ she paused, pointedly taking a sip of her rapidly cooling tea. she just wanted to eat her breakfast. she hadn’t had a good breakfast in weeks. ‘ how’s that workin’ out for you? ‘

                                          OPEN: CILA WYLES