#commits to taking the fucking necrotic damage.

[cannibalisticskittles]

okay wait actually instead of falling into their camp, she probably lands in some random spot in the shadow-cursed lands bc its connection to the feywild is currently all fucked up

makes her way to the last light inn because it seems like the best place to find more information -- the only spot that might have actual, living people, really. meets jaheira. "oh my gods it's jaheira, hiiiii jaheira i love your work"

immediately involves herself in their problems because she Just Can't Fucking Help Herself. she hears that some refugees got snatched up by cultists, and that's all she needs to know; point her in the general direction, and off she'll go

so symon and company rock up to moonrise towers and start exploring until they're stopped by some half-elf guard who's really insistent that they don't go beyond this door they're guarding and come into the room with them, and the party is secretly ready to come to blows over it bc hey, they need to do shit here, when the guard stops and just says "wait -- dad???"

opens the door, pulls off their helmet, says "oh, thank gods, i was sick of wearing this face." swipes a hand across their face, dispels their disguise, and there's a bloody little tiefling standing there instead

"i have been looking for you EVERYWHERE, what happened?? actually wait, let's talk about this later, there's more important business right now"

opens the door and there's a small pile of burned bodies that she's been trying to drag out of sight

"the people i'm looking for are a floor down but i was, um, a bit less discreet than i meant to be and i haven't been able to make my way down there yet. could use some help with this, if you've a moment to spare. either hiding or storming the rest of the castle, i'm not picky! :)"

#when they ask her how she heard abt the kidnapped tieflings #she says 'a very charming tiefling girl told me about them!' #they think she's talking about alfira but no. she means mol. #mol scoffed about how useless the adults have been and the assholes at the tower #and how mol's gotta focus on taking care of Her Kids #and amity went 'hmm. okay! how abt this: i'll kill every one of those bastards who dared to get in your way + the way of the kids' safety' #'and i will bring you their heads on pikes. how does that sound? would you like that? :)' #and thus a partnership was forged. tiefling solidarity forever. #amity tag #bg3 blogging #also she does Not have further protection from the shadows so i guess she just. #commits to taking the fucking necrotic damage. #Messages her mom #'hi mom no pressure but if i die of a curse you'll never be able to use me in your grand design :) just thought that was interesting :)' #coerces a blessing out of her mom for free #or more likely she gets help from her fey patron #hard for them to reach her there tho so it's not the strongest ward #also the door she's guarding might be the way to the kitchen #she made friends with the gnolls and killed the cultist in there for being an asshole #an impulse decision that she's now struggling to keep covered up #this is where/how you'd find amity if she was a companion

[lairofsentinel]

Mystra

I'm so new in the Forgotten Realms lore that everything I read needs always further research. So far, what got me between disbelief and mistrust was Mystra stuff meddling with humans to such deep level. Because, really... what the fuck these Gods? I always have problems with Gods in fantasy worlds. I don't like them when they are like Greek mythology entities. I prefer them when they are a mere illusion of mortals.

However, here, in the Forgotten Realms, we got them as entities like Zeus... so they can have mortal fun. UPDATE April 2021: What it’s said in this post about shadow weave and shadow weave magic and shadow magic are incorrect. In 5e, shadow weave is not mentioned, apparently a non used concept anymore. In 4e it was collapsed with the destruction of the Weave, and Shar attempted to recreated it, failing at it because she never “was” the Shadow Weave. Shar always rejected that level of commitment. However, according to bg3 [Ethel’s words] shadow magic currently is the same as netherese magic, described by Gale/Narator also as “Primal weave” or “blackest weave”. No book from 5e says a word about shadow weave anymore. 

According to what I've read, Mystra was, in fact, a young peasant girl with non-trained skills in magic, but somehow, she became the Goddess of Magic when Netheril fell. [I need to read a lot of Netheril because apparently everything bad comes from there. It's the Tevinter of the Forgotten Realms. I honestly don't understand how you just become a goddess out of the blue. One day a mediocre mage, the next one, Goddess of the Magic itself. What a gap there.]

As a Goddess, she has a system to determine who is her “Chosen One” (hence why Gale explicitly said that word, it was not by chance). The Chosen Ones have unique access to the Weave and therefore they cast powerful magic. Among their responsibilities, they need to research new magic, wander the Realms fighting the evil (and/or doing research), and to stop the abuses of magic and the imbalances of the Weave. This makes Shar followers an easy target for them to strike so far I understand, since Shar crafted an alternative Weave (Shadow Weave) from where she drags the power that infuse into her followers. However, it's a mirror Weave, extremely dependable of the normal Weave. Like Gale explained, when Mystryl died, the Weave stopped existing, and with it, the Shadow Weave fell apart too. It seems that Shadow Weave is an aberration, an imbalance of the Weave itself. [So, Shadowheart and Gale may have strong discussions on the matter.]

The man who was Mystra’s first Chosen One was a lesser god called Azuth (we found some books of this guy in BG3). The man was his devotee (despite being a low rank deity as well), his servant, his chosen one, and later, his lover (when Mystra was still Mystryl). It seems he shifted his role to a more fatherly one when Mystra was reborn [Oook]. He also was in love with another Mystra's chosen, so... divinity polyamory we have here.

Then she proceeded to accomplish a strange plan [details of this atrocity here]: to have seven immortal Chosen. So she possessed a sorceress who conceived seven immortal women with her husband [thanks god it was with her husband and not with a random man that Mystra fancied]. These women are known as the Seven Sisters, all of them are “chosen ones” of Mystra, and in a sense, they are also her daughters. [oh, boy. Greek Gods-like stuff.]

She also named Chosen One a necromancer called Sammaster who was doing research related to metamagic and dragons. The story says that Mystra appeared before him and they “spent 10 days together”, turning him into his Chosen One for a while. She apparently had a whim to choose him because soon a previous chosen one was going to die in battle, so she wanted to sort this out sooner than later. The story also says that this encounter made the necromancer feel as though they were in love. [I see the pattern now....] What it's worth highlighting: this man went into deep undead research all his life showing that Mystra has a weird moral sense of what is good from evil, which makes sense, since (magical) knowledge by itself has no alignment. Magical knowledge is never good or evil, it depends on the use you give to it (It’s also worth noting that the previous Mystra was True Neutral while the one reborn in Midnight was Neutral Good. There are two different Mystras in history.). But returning to the necromancer, the guy, in the end, manipulated by a priest of Bane, abused of his powers of Chosen and Mystra removed them. He concluded that most of his problems have been caused by accepting Mystra's role as Chosen One. Soon after that Sammaster became evil and succumbed to madness.

In short, Mystra is a goddess who loves to play favourites, and encourages research in a competitive way using a certain degree of seduction for that. So that, the Arts and the arcane knowledge will be always expanding via competition [she has such a neoliberal-magic ideas]. So, being her Chosen One seems to bring a lot of responsibility and troubles. However, it also grants you fancy benefits:

Casting more spells with less effort. 

Natural detection of magic (maybe some residual effect of this ability is what makes Gale able to sense shadow magic in Shadowheart or in the Main Character if they are a user of magic. Hence his “that gust of weave”. Gale also presents sensitivity to detect magic via smell (mirror) and taste)

Development of magical immunities, and sometimes even poison and disease immunities.

The chosen ones become harder to kill, kind of tank-wizards. [Which feels like an oxymoron, lol.]

And the most important blessing: silver-fire [this is the fire Gale speaks about when his spell failed] Which is an overpowered ability in the Forgotten Realms. It can destroy any barrier and does massive damage. It can be cast once each hour, which is... wow. It can destroy “dead magic zones”, which are zones disconnected from the Weave and therefore, places where no common magic can be cast. With Silver-fire, such zones are reconnected to the Weave and become part of Mystra's influence once more. And finally, it allows precise teleportation once a day.

What we can infer now from this info and Gale, is that... when he got Mystra’s attention, it was not just because he was a prodigy alone. It had to be whether he was doing some research that interested her (probably not) or his fate was going to lead him to unknown knowledge in a future. Considering what he did with the netheril orb, one would say that maybe Mystra saw that event in a future, and considered it interesting enough to choose Gale as the one dealing with that bit of hidden and dangerous knowledge. Because so far I read, it’s clear she can see future or potential in a certain degree, and determine who replace her chosen ones. We also saw she favours those who explore the unknown without moral issues, and she has no reserves to exploit that by seductive ways. 

Now, unlike Sammaster, why did Gale stop being his Chosen one if his fate was to retrieve that netheril orb? I believe she removed his title of chosen one when Gale got that orb stuck in his chest, not because his action was an aberration before her eyes (we remember she is quite flexible in her morals) but because the artefact was dangerous to herself. That orb looks to me like something that imbalances the Weave in great escale; it’s basically a necrotic black hole which feeds on Weave. Maybe she removed her favour on Gale because now the man had a power that could consume her. Remember the Chosen Ones are constantly in “touch with her body/weave” [lol, horny gods these gods], and considering that thing sucks all Weave... it seems obvious that could eat her up. So, maybe, all this stuff of Gale being Chosen One was just another of her plans to access to the knowledge of that tiny bit of primal Weave, completely hidden from her, and she is expecting for Gale to resolve it in order to recover his benefits as Chosen one. 

She certainly is a super smart goddess, basically a mastermind, who doesn’t care to whom she uses and discards in order to obtain knowledge. So, using Gale this way, without explanations.... it could be one of her plans. Turn into her lover a young man that would be desperate enough to risk reaching dangerous spaces to offer her precious unknown knowledge. The plan became too dangerous to Mystra, so she severed the deep link between them out of preservation, and now she is waiting for him to solve it, offering her the knowledge obtained from the process. Absolutely possible.  

But we’ll see. So far, I know a little bit more of Mystra.

Update of several days after writing this: The more I think about all this info, the more I wonder if Mystra’s Chosen One system splits her champions into two different groups: The “valuable” Chosen Ones, where Elminster and her seven daughter fall; they are the embodiment of the good use of magic in favour of neutral or good uses. And then, you have the “disposable” Chosen Ones, who seem to be more like victims of a certain degree of manipulation of the Goddess. In this category falls the necromancer Sammaster (and potentially Gale?). They can have more grey morals, but as long as they provide new knowledge and advance in the Arts, she favours them anyways. I mean… so far I read, Elminster was never “in love” with Mystra, and all that crappy dynamics between Goddess and mortal was never part of his relationship with her. His lover, though, was one of the Seven Sisters, so maybe that’s why Mystra controlled herself. I don’t know xD [These horny gods]. But when it comes to the necromancer’s story… it feels as though she encourages this seduction so the wizard will take all the necessary risks to go beyond the limits of knowledge to get her attention and favour. There is something manipulative there. 

More content of bg3 in general [here]

#mystra #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #forgotten realms #forgotten realms lore #a bit of spoilers of Gale #gale

[kaiju-z]

Seon Adventures, Episode 36:  The King, The Guard, The Blade

Last on Seon Adventures! The Cultbusters had gone and traversed through the treacherous traps of the Fallen King’s Tomb; confronted mirror creatures and bested them in riddle combat; snuck through metalic guards and browsed through the dedicated libraries...

Now, they stand before the spirit of the King, himself. A Purple Tiefling man in humble clothing as each party in this conversation genuinely wants to know truths...

He shifts his weight on his back leg and looks to each of the adventurers, expectantly, certainly hoping for no unnecessary bloodshed. And welcomes the party. Friends or foes.

Luctan, who up until now hadn’t seen any ghosts (and had his mind wiped of the memory of the time travel shenanigans) states the obvious.

“So. You’re a ghost.”

That certainly breaks the tension and the party ask the king of what had occured. Desperately wanting to know answers to questions he himself may not have reached the full legway to.

The fall happened after his passing. His temple wasn’t finished until the end of the war, or so he heard. He’s heard things around him, the builders talking about it. Kobolds. So sadly, even the king was in ignorance of the situation.

But question for question, his highness questions them on what they, themselves knew of the events. And they would recite Arryn’s story, as best as that was told and remembered. And the King would try to fill in the gaps:

The place, where he transitioned into unlife, very unpleasant to remember that event, but dragons were sent to them. A pair of black ones, large and fierce. He took one of them down with the help of some brave warriors. They took that one down and his wings have been buit into the wall.

The other was shot down and taken away to question and interrogate away by the Kingdom’s allies in Guan. After his passing, he has heard fairly one sided stuff. He doesn’t want to believe that what happened happened. It seems impossible to him, even if he doesn’t understand much of magic.

Belli tries to recall if something like that would have been possible… All of them try, but none think we can figure it out. However Malak believes spells can be amplified by multiple people. Multiples... the council, maybe?!

When prodded on why this happened. This... war. The King would bemoan the events.

The battle started with a failed negotiation. It was his mother that started it. She wanted to negotiate some Southern Lands, fertile lands. Just that, leave it at that. He thought they could do better. Then? Empty threats that turned to words spoken and words into actions. And then actions taken turning into Rot.

When the queary of who commissioned them would be brought up, the truth was that they didn’t know much. Beyond the face that they were approached by for the job, there was nothing certain. Though...  Putting things together on a certain perspective? Technically the council commissioned could have been the commissioners, but probably those, who argued with the king’s mother. Over land. And money.

The King’s Blade was and is a weapon with magical abilities. A sentient one too. Passed down the generations from one ruler to the next. He would confirm that it was still in the vault.

The King would mention that he was connected to the Iron Guardians that the party had snuck past in the smoke and that he would be able to turn them off for an easier exit. But the stone construct that was protecting the vault? That would be a daunting task only the party could deal with.

Malak, who has totally seen ghosts before (All of the ghosts) offers the king a chance to transition. Like. Right now. No money required.

And the King’d accept.

But as Malak casts his Channel Divinity feature, the king would grip at his head, panic and start running in a circle, screaming in fear and terror. Because. Well. His CR is too high for that?!!

Essentially,  Malak gave the king Existential Dread.The poor ghost man.

“Dick move.” - the king would state, once the CD would wear off. And Malak in turn would claim, in a huff, that the King wasn’t quite as committed to carrying on as he initially said.

A few minutes of this goes on, before Malak gives it a second go, this time with a Banishment spell onto the King, who was beginning to regret even telling the party of the Construct.

As he accepts the banishment, he clearly gives Malak the stink eye for the trouble and is sent away to the afterlife.

With the party never getting his name.

Fuck.

With the task done, the party consider resting in the tomb, before advancing to the treasury. But comedy ensues as Malak refuses to sleep in a place of the dead. And the party go back and forth on whether they should sleep here or not.

And ultimately agree on just going to the vault.

Also Jun takes some time to sit on the throne and more specifically the statue of the king’s lap. Because she deserves this.  Congratulations, Queen.

Leading the way afterwards is Mournimar, who mentions along the way that he and Belli had seen the construct before, while it was keeping it’s vision on Jun, Luck and Malak in the library. Something that he had forgotten to mention to them previously to this moment.

With this knowledge on their minds, the party elect to split and take a seperate route. Jun and Luck taking the upper coridor, while Malak, Mournimar and Belli (and Morgan) go for the Library entrance.

As Mournimar turns around, he sees an Orange light looking directly at him and it comes from some kind of glowing gem. It glows, the orange deepends to an orangy-red.

Roll for initiative and Luck is the first to make his move.

He elects to try and distract the construct and steps forward, clapping and “complimenting” it.  Asking it to let them pass. And holding an action.

While this goes on,  Mournimar Hunter’s Marks, swears under his breath that the party doesn’t have a choice and fires. One miss. One hit. And backs away. 11 damage.

- On Belli’s turn, she uses her Animating Performance. And animates one of the shields, causing it to end up thrusting itself away from the grip of the designed defender.

AND FOR HER BONUS ACTION!

She mocks it. Ooh, not as strong as you used to be. Bit of rust setting in. Maybe you should retire and give it a rest?” Aaand that doesn’t quite work out, sadly as psychic attacks don’t effect a machine.

On Jun’s turn... She runs over to the construct and Hexes it, taking away it’s advantage with Strength attacks..

Using her Mystic Frenzy, she casts Booming Blade. And cuts into it!  Thanks to Belli, both of Jun’s attacks hit the being and she stabs in and between the plates for a lot of damage. 36 DAMAGE O _ O

And the retaliation comes quick as she gets slammed by it’s remaining shield in turn. The requirements for Luck’s attack spring up and he tries to shrink the creature to a much smaller size, but it resists his magical influence as steam starts to billow from it’s body. White-ish, magical steam, which causes Jun and Luck to lose some of their energy, Slow-ing them down.

On Malak’s turn... he casts Spiritual Weapon right next to the Floating Shield. So it’s a nAnimated Team Up!  Smack for +8 Force Damage. Toll the Dead afterwards!

With his movement halved, Luctan can only pull his Greatsword out and swing the Evenchord, slashing it across the body of the bionic enemy.

It’s the Ranger’s turn again. Bonus action, Mournimar casts Ensnaring Strike on the Guardian. At Level 2, which turns off the Mark. With the creature restrained, Mournimar fires and hits it twice with his arrows.

Bonus action, Belli tells the shield to protect Luck and Jun.  And as an Action she tries to Dispell the Stone Construct’s control over the Slow Fog?!

With a tremendous grip on her confidence, she succeeds in this endeavor. Now free to attack, Jun cuts into herself for her Crimson Rite. For a collective 38 damage. Oil starts to leak out from it’s back.

 And a brief flicker emits from it’s gem as a reaction to the damage dealt. And the smoke pops out once more. Causing Luck and Jun to be slowed yet again.

The construct crashes into Jun again, but before it can hit again, she manages to roll out of it’s way, avoiding further damage. 

On Malak’s turn, he sends the spiritual weapon to make an attack, which connects for 6 Force Damage. And after that attempts to wound it with a Chill Touch, which sadly doesn’t work as intended... With that thought, the cleric would move behind Luck and Jun, ready to heal them if they lose their balance.

On Luck’s turn, he shiftshis sword to his left hand and channels a different kind of magic than what he normally uses, before smashing his fist into the body of the construct, in defense of Jun, citing “Now that’s no way to treat a lady.”, but like, slow like. Inflict Wounds. 9 Necrotic.

On Mournimar’s turn, the arrow sniper gets a sudden sense of inspiration as he aims for the crystal, while the thing focuses on Jun. 26! 1 damage to the crystal, a vulnerable area!  An arrow sticks out of the crystal and it’s like it’s blinking eratically at random patterns!  Second shot hits again! 24 damage ON THE GEM!!! HE SPLITS THE ARROW!

Yeah, by this point it doesn’t look great at all.

On Belli’s turn... Belli casts mage hand and carries the acid bomb to drop it onto the crystal!  It drops perfectly on the crystal. But the acid damage has little effect!

As a Bonus Action she inspires Jun.  “You got this, Queen!”

“Aw, shucks, lil’ ol’ me?!” she jokes and now full of inspiration and Bloodhunter Badassdom, Jun does the deed.  25 Damage!

HOW DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS?!

Jun takes out the Gollem’s knee, slices through it, causing it to drop to a knee. And then slowly pushes her sword through the crystal, pulling a decapitation move.

It’s fallen. Dead.

With a key in the back of it’s head.

A key.

And there’s another big metal door.

Which is big. And made of metal. But are there hinges on it?!

One can not quite tell.

Mournimar and Jun take turns trying to lockpick the vault’s door, With Jun receiving a Greater Healing Potion from Luck for her troubles in the fight, before her turn with the picks.

But neither quite gets the job done, while Malak calmly grabs the key out of their view and waits for his chance.

(Also, btw. The shield’s name is now “Simon”. And Belli wants to keep it.)

And once it arrives, he walks up to the door.

Then he touches it and mutters something, like a prayer of sorts, being a little shit as he unlocks the door with the key.

Inside are all the treasures of the King. The floor is littered with coins. And in the back of the room, on a cushion lays the King’s Blade. Behind the blade is a large skull of a dragon that was killed with it. Black Dragon Scales everywhere, forming a collage of the King.

With Mournimar vibing with Morgan and Belli finding interest in a box of animal figurines, Malak steps up to the sword, before Jun and Luck can do anything more than just watch it intently.

He asks them to wait a moment, so he can check the weapon for any curses. The cleric then pokes it gently, casting Remove Curse. Whether that succeeds or not is unknown.

Browsing the vault, the party find multiple items, some, which clearly emit magic, once Detect Magic is cast. A ring mail armor is among them, but no one finds the want to pick it up. Belli’s distracted by a box with 8 turquoise animal figurines. 8 different kinds. Dog, cat, deer, bear, gorilla, raven, owl and a gecko, while Malak gets a party’s worth of Greater Healing Potions from a box.

With a keen analytical eye, the cleric takes note that Enchantment and Evocation magic emits from the sword.  There’s also slight abjuration on the Dragon Scale Collage, but as a preservative.

And then?

Luck picks up the sword.

And speaks to it.

Asking it if it has a name? Gender? Anything like that?!

And it does speak. And she introduces herself as Ena. A very eloquent lady of a long sword, who hasn’t been held in a long while.

With a voice that makes it sound like he is almost flirting with her, Luck catches up Enaon what has and might have been going on in the time of her last use.

She is perfectly fine traveling with the party and even feels comfortable in Luck’s grasp as there seems t obe some kind of “Royalty” feeling to him. Curious of the possibilities, the party also bring along the dragon skull, placing it in the bag of holding, after Luck shrinks it down with his last remaining 2nd level slot of Enlarge/Reduce.

Before they leave, the party discuss what to do with the gold here. All this fortune could be used to help the neighboring settlements and the party agree to return one day and gather it, or send someone to gather it, who’d be careful enough to avoid the traps.

For a moment Luctan considers taking a bunch of gems, a thought crossing his mind. But Jun talks him out, bewhildered after the talk the group just had on the use of the coin.

On the way out, once the six of them make it back to the 1st level, Malak stands in the center of the open room and casts Destroy Undead to eliminate the Kobolds and the creature in the sarchophagus.

He destroys the Kobolds’ bodies, but the Mummy rises. Angry.

And a quick fight begins.

- On Luck’s turn, he casts Guiding Bolt, then charges in as he Action Surges and slices twice with Ena for some immense damage.

Then? The darndest thing happens once the Bard comes up.

Belli casts Polymorph and tries to turn the mummy into a baby. And insults it. “You’re just a stupid little baby.”

And-

And-and-

And it works?!

Jun is horrified by all of Belli’s anti-babyness and just leaves the room. The mummy baby tries to hurt Malak, but fails, as it teeths. The cleric isn’t even perturbed by the litteral ankle biter as he notes: “Hey Belli, remember that talk we had about traumatizing people?”

And Belli immensely apologizes for the situation at hand. It was a spur of the moment thing.

Not wanting to hurt a baby, even if the mummy wasn’t a real one, Mournimar looks to see if he has any intoxicants to just pass the time. But alas. He does not. He does not have the good kush.

Malak’s next. He slaps the baby, ending the toddler shenanigans and swings with the Fated Potential, damaging the creature for 5 slashing.

Luctan Mercifully finishes things off with a Quickened Guiding Bolt and a Nat 20 Slash of the King’s Blade and the Mummy’s dead.

It’s dead.

O. V. A. Ovah.

With no mention being made along the way, the party hotfoot it out of the tomb and walk over to Arryn, who was preparing dinner.

“Hot Diggity Dog”- Arryn, quoting the Dragonborn Tribes. As Luck presents the blade. When discussing what had transpired inside the home of the dead, the party ponder on the remaining dragon. Chances are the other black dragon was taken to the Capitol of Guan, which is where the party elects heading. To Necesills.

With that said, Arryn offers his stew to the party and the lot of them sit together and finally eat. During the meal, Belli receives a message in her head from Nel.

“Good evening, darlings! Just had a thought, I should probably let you know! Amelia and I will be relocating temporarily. Take care!”  Belli asks her what’s up. And then sends that in the form of a Sending spell so she can reply and not waste any spellslots on her turn.

Nel ran out of slots for it. Thanks to a work thing, Nel had to move. Amelia would have told the lot of them, when they returned, but Nel figured with her Sending it’d be a much more convenient messaging.

Belli learns that the two of them are relocating to a town called Havik. It’s the northern most town. It’s the last piece of civilization, while in Aetorumia.

With that said and done, the party prepare to get their shut eye, with watches and everything. But before they can get to that, someone clears their voice in the viscinity of the seven (+2 horses and Fey cat).

They look and-

It’s him again.

“Did you miss me?!” asks Ark’Niel with a smug expression on his face as he leans against a pillar in the sand.

Previous Episode / Next episode

#art #my art #Seon Adventures #D&D #DnD #Dungeons & Dragons #Dungeons and Dragons #Ark'Niel #Half-Elf #Arryn #Half-Dwarf Guide #Belli Narah #Half-Orc Bard #Jun #Changeling Bloodhunter #Luctan Evenchord #Tiefling Fighter Sorcerer #Malak #Human Cleric #Morgan The Direwolf #Mournimar Da'Vir #Tiefling Ranger #Sentient Weapon #Ena The King's Blade

[tigerkirby215]

5e Yone, the Unforgotten build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

A YouTube comment on “The Path“ cinematic:

I can’t top this. This comment is fucking gold.

GOALS

Asakana - Trust me as a Kayn main I’m salty that we have another half-demon anime boy who isn’t even Darkin. But we still need a mask of many demonic faces.

Three swift strikes... - “Brother, why did Elder Souma let you have two swords?” Regardless we’ll need two swords for many slashes.

Death is like the wind - Yone is dead except not really, but he’s still capable of some astral projection to fight his foes from a distance.

RACE

Yone may have been human but with a demon fusing to him that gives him just enough infernal blood to be a Tiefling! As a Tiefling your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1. Your Hellish Resistance grants you resistance to fire damage, and Infernal Legacy grants you a few innate spells which I’ll cover in the build.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You’re an anime sword boy who was second best only to your brother who is the most anime sword boy who ever did swing an anime sword.

14; CHARISMA - As the more level-headed brother you had to do most of the talking. Remember that Charisma is strength of personality; not raw attractiveness. (Though you certainly have that going for you too.)

13; INTELLIGENCE - A master swordsman needs to study the art of war, which is more theory and less art. (Feel free to set your CON higher instead if you want more health.)

12; WISDOM - Yasuo’s the hothead and you’re the calm one. Not calm enough not to try to kill your brother, and definitely not calm enough to not be a target for Asakana.

10; CONSTITUTION - You died before, and dying generally means you weren’t that sturdy to begin with.

8; STRENGTH - Being cut down by the legendary wind technique and then brought back from the dead doesn’t spell a good workout routine. Yeah Yone has big pecs but put simply we need everything else more.

BACKGROUND

You had a background before, but unfortunately dead men tell no tales. You are a Haunted One brought back to life to hunt the creatures of the night. You can choose two skills from the Haunted One list to be proficient in: Investigation will help you find any stray Asakana, and depending on if your definition of emotional demons are Religion or Arcana you can pick either of those for your second skill. (Arcana is probably going to be more useful though.)

As a Haunted One people can easily see into your Heart of Darkness, easily telling that you’ve faced unimaginable horrors in your past. No shit you have a demon mask permanently attached to your face. Regardless commoners will be willing to aid you as much as possible unless you’ve shown yourself to be openly hostile, such as throwing their promo games.

You also learn two languages of your choice: one of which must be Exotic but since you already know Infernal as a Tiefling Sylvan would be good to talk to the spirits in a dating sim. For your other language Elvish seems fitting for Ionia.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE PATH BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Perhaps not the most fitting for the honorable brother, but being a Rogue will give us the skill to strike swiftly. As well as more skills in general! Take Perception and Insight to find Asakana, Acrobatics to fight them, and Intimidation to strike fear into their hearts. You also get Expertise in two skills your proficient in: Investigation and Perception would help further with finding Asakana.

When you find the Asakana you can strike it down with Sneak Attack. If you have Advantage on an attack roll or are attacking an enemy within 5 feet of an ally you can do an extra d6 of damage. Despite the name “sneak attack” you don’t actually have to sneak, but you do need to use a Finesse weapon such as a short sword. Yes your swords aren’t exactly “short” but for the purposes of dual wielding it’s the best you’ll get.

And after striking the demon down you might need to speak its true name in Thieves’ Cant. That’s not what Thieves’ Cant is? Well regardless it’s a code language shared among rogues; perhaps you picked it up from the Navori? At least you can shout the demon’s name loud and proud as you seal it away thanks to Tiefling Thaumaturgy, along with all other sorts of little supernatural effects I suggest reading into.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

At level 2 Rogues get Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. Hiding isn’t very in-character but being able to move swiftly across the battlefield is key for the twin blade technique. Unfortunately attacking with a twin blade also requires your bonus action, so pace your movements accordingly.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Level 3 Rogues get to choose their Martial Archetype and in order to strike swift and true you’re going to want to play a Swashbuckler. Swashbucklers get Fancy Footwork to be able to slip away from enemies they attacked without provoking opportunity attacks, even if they miss.

Additionally they get Rakish Audacity which ironically provides two benefits: for one you get to add your Charisma modifier to your initiate, but you can also activate your sneak attack if you strike an enemy in melee with no other enemies nearby. Single the demon out and cut them down now that your Sneak Attack does 2d6 damage!

And finally you can cast Hellish Rebuke at second level as a reaction once per long rest thanks to Infernal Legacy. Strike a ganking lust demon with a big burst of “BEGONE THOT” damage!

LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 1

Adding a quick level in Fighter because Yone was professionally trained, so a Fighting Style would be good to have. Naturally we’ll be going for Two-Weapon Fighting to fight with twin blades. You also get Second Wind to heal for a d10 plus your Fighter level once per short rest for a quick Corrupting Pot in lane.

But unfortunately now we’re going to have to die...

(Artwory by KAIZERS02 on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 1

Just kidding of course because it’s ya boii coming back with the WARLOCK LEVELS! You can choose your Warlock Patron straight at level 1 and as someone who came back from the dead you may think we’ll be going for the Undying patron right? Well that’s where you’re dead wrong because we’re going for a pact with a Fiend.

Why Fiend Patron? - Along with the lore reasons (not all Warlock pacts have to be made on good terms) Pact of the Fiend gives us Dark One’s Blessing to recreate the shield from Spirit Cleave (W), and Burning Hands also gives us an easy-to-use cone spell to recreate a cone-shaped cleave.

Why not Undying? - Undying has a pseudo-support role and a heavy focus on not dying, neither of which Yone does in-game.

Why not Hexblade? - We need at least 12 levels in Warlock for an invocation, and that means we’d be getting Accursed Specter from Hexblade. Yone doesn’t summon spirits to fight for him and while I could normally get past that bit of flavor fail (as both Hexblade’s Curse and Armor of Hexes actually make a lot of sense for Yone) Fiend made a lot more sense given that he literally gets his powers from a demon. A DEX build also allows you to be shirtless in Ionia.

Pact of the Fiend Warlocks have the Dark One’s Blessing, granting them temporary hitpoints equal to their Charisma modifier and their Warlock level when they down an enemy for some spiritual shielding.

Additionally Warlocks gain access to Pact Magic. You learn two cantrips from the Warlock list: Minor Illusion creates a sound or small visual you can use to trick an Asakana into falling for a trap. And Toll the Dead isn’t Eldritch Blast! Excluding the war crimes I just committed by not putting Eldritch Blast on a Warlock (you’re going to be using your swords most of the time anyways get over it it’s one spell) Toll the Dead forces the enemy to make a Wisdom save or take a d8 Necrotic damage, or a d12 Necrotic if they’re injured, making it a great finishing blow after using Soul Unbound.

You can also learn two first level spells: Burning Hands forces enemies to make a Dexterity saving throw or be Spirit Cleaved for 3d6 fire damage. If you want to mark an enemy for Soul Unbound however Hex will let you do an extra d6 of necrotic damage every hit, and give an enemy disadvantage on skill checks related to an ability score of your choice. You can also cast the Darkness spell once per long rest as a Tiefling, blinding everyone in the 20 foot sphere of darkness. If only you could see through it...

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations and we actually won’t be taking the one that helps us see in the dark. We will however be taking Armor of Shadows to let us cast Mage Armor at will and go shirtless in Ionia. Your second invocation will remain empty for now.

You can also add another spell to your repertoire and Protection from Evil and Good will help a lot with fighting Asakana. A creature blessed by the spell is attacked with disadvantage by aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. Additionally they can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. If they’re already debuffed by these types of enemies they have advantage on future saving throws against them. Once you know the truth of Asakana there is no reason to fear them... or some other edgy one liner.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and hey look it’s Pact of the Blade. You can create a magic weapon in your hand as an action. The weapon counts as being magical to overcome armadillos who say “okay” a lot. And you know that Invocation I told you to hold off on? Improved Pact Weapon will let you do more damage with the blade of the Asakana. If you want to remain in character I’d suggest only attacking with your pact weapon in your offhand, but remember that Two-Weapon Fighting takes your Bonus Action so feel free to hit hard and then run if needed.

You can also now cast second level spells like Misty Step for some sick plays with Flash.

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 4

Fourth level Warlocks finally get an Ability Score Improvement: increase your Dexterity by 2 for swifter and deadlier strikes with your twin blades. Could we take a feat? Yeah, but we won’t.

You also learn another cantrip at this level on top of another spell. For your cantrip Prestidigitation will further your ability to cast small spiritual magic, and for your spell of choice we already got flash so how about Ray of Enfeeblement for Exhaust? There’s a lot of other great options though: Blindness / Deafness from the Fiend list is also a great choice.

LEVEL 9 - FIGHTER 2

Second level Fighters get Action Surge, allowing them to take one additional action on their turn. Right now that only means one extra sword swing but you can cast a spell after you attack!

LEVEL 10 - FIGHTER 3

At level 3 Fighters can choose their Martial Archetype and to unbind one’s soul you must travel to the world of Wildemount for the Echo Knight subclass. I’ve already made a few Echo Knights before on this sub so I’m going to give the cliffnotes version of a class that has quite a long ability description at level 3 for Manifest Echo:

You can summon your soul within 15 feet of you as a bonus action.

You can move your soul up to 30 feet for free on your turn.

Your soul can’t be more than 30 feet away from you by the end of your turn, or else it disappears. (Goes back to your body)

Your soul has an AC of 14 + proficiency and 1 hitpoint.

It’s immune to all conditions and uses your saving throws.

You can swap places with your soul using 15 feet of movement (regardless of the distance between you two.)

When you attack you can make the attack come from your soul instead.

Your soul can opportunity attack (using your reaction.)

Additionally Unleash Incarnation will let you attack an extra time from your soul’s location on your turn. You can use it a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier but your CON mod is currently zero. Thankfully you can use it a minimum of one time before finishing a long rest.

(Artwork by Valkhar on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 11 - FIGHTER 4

Fourth level Fighters get an Ability Score Improvement: invest further in Dexterity for 19 DEX and all the benefits that provides.

LEVEL 12 - FIGHTER 5

5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack, letting them attack twice with their main action. This means that with your bonus action you can attack three times in a round! Now would also probably be a good time to put the Asakana’s blade in your main hand instead of trying to work around your fancy passive.

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 5

It’s straight down Warlock now to become one with the Asakana we wear as a mask. Level 5 Warlocks get another Invocation and it wouldn’t be Pact of the Blade if we didn’t take both Improved Pact Weapon and Eldritch Smite! Pretend to be a Paladin by turning a spell slot into more sword damage and pretend to be your brother by knocking people over when you do so!

You can also learn another spell like Gaseous Form to turn into petals on the wind. Additionally Hex is probably wearing away its welcome by this point so I’d suggest taking Hold Person instead to CC-chain a foe to death.

LEVEL 14 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks get Dark One’s Own Luck, letting them add a d10 to an ability check or saving throw once per short or long rest. I consider this less you being “lucky” and more you going all out just this once.

You can also learn another spell from the Warlock list such as Spirit Shroud from Unearthed Arcana to give nearby enemies a Randuin's Omen while you cut them down.

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get another Invocation and while there are plenty to choose from it’s only fair for the man who collects masks of many faces to get a Mask of Many Faces, allowing you to cast Disguise Self at will! Is this mostly done for flavor and is it a bit late to get Disguise Self? Yes but it’s still a very good spell to have.

And you can learn a 4th level spell like Fire Shield from the Fiend List. You can make a Fire Shield for resistance to Cold damage or a Cold Shield to resist Fire damage which you already resist. But regardless of your choice anyone who hits you with a melee attack for the duration will take 2d8 damage of either Fire (if you chose the Fire Shield) or Cold (if you chose the other.)

Also I’d perhaps suggest replacing Misty Step with Dimension Door? Sure Dimension Door takes a full action (while Misty Step takes a bonus action) but Dimension Door has a 500 foot range which will never not be useful! Teleport can be just as useful as Flash you know.

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement: put one into Dexterity and the other one into... yeah Charisma. You also could learn another spell but none of these really interest me so I suggest holding off on it for now.

(Artwork by MizuriOfficial on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get another Invocation, and while again there’s plenty to choose from we strive for accuracy here so how about some spiritual levitation? Ascendant Step lets you cast Levitate on yourself without using a spell slot or material components, so you can float towards a wise old man who definitely isn’t an Asakana in disguise.

But most importantly you now gain access to 5th level spells! Hallow is a big spell with a lot of effects, a 1000 gold cost, and a 24 hour casting time but it’s the ultimate way to protect an area from Asakana! To seal the fate of your foes  Synaptic Static forces an intelligence saving throw on all enemies in an AoE to try to avoid massive damage along with a disorientation effect that tends to come with being knocked up into the air by a tornado.

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 10

10th level Fiend Warlocks get Fiendish Resilience, allowing them to resist one type of damage of their choosing. They can swap the resistance out on a short or long rest but damage from magic weapons or silvered weapons ignores this resistance, so probably better just to resist wind magic (Thunder damage) in general instead of specifically resisting a magic wind sword.

Additionally while you won’t learn any more Warlock spells you do get your final cantrip: for some more minor spirit projection how about Mage Hand to grab things within 30 feet and bring them to you?

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 11

11th level Warlocks get Mystic Arcanum, which are like regular spell slots which only come back after a long rest because you’re no longer special. Regardless if you want to harness the wind technique look no further than Investiture of Wind Stone, because the rock spell actually lets you knock people over.

Regardless until the spell ends you have resistance to nonmagical slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning, you can move across difficult terrain without spending additional movement, you can move through terrain without spending extra movement (but can’t end your turn there), and you can spend your action to try to knock everyone near you over with some basic wind techniques.

Yes there are better spells to take (even in the Investiture spell line, such as the genuine Investiture of Wind which would let you fly as well as block projectiles with a wind wall of your own) but you’re not your brother. You’re a simple, practical stone who gets the job done. Or you can be a wandering poet: make your own Yone - you don’t follow this build point-for-point.

You also apparently get another spell because Mystic Arcanum doesn’t count as a spell? Hold Monster is like Hold Person but it works against everything at the mere cost of a much higher spell slot, meaning that you can only affect one creature with parallelization but that should be more than enough for your little brother to get the job done and flash his fancy blue crest afterwards. You do have three spell slots now after all.

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 12

12th level Warlocks get our final Ability Score Improvement and... ugh. As much as I want to do something fun I have to accept the fact that Charisma will help us more, so you may as well grab the Resilient Feat with Charisma for better saving throws and a higher Charisma mod.

But that Charisma mod is going to get a lot of use since now you can take the Lifedrinker invocation which grants the Asakana’s blade Necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier! That’s a lot of damage? How much damage? Well...

FINAL BUILD

PROS

One to cut, one to seal - Let’s do the math for how much damage you do with your swords every round: two strikes from the Asakana’s blade (d6 + 6 slashing + 4 necrotic), one from your regular sword (d6 + 5), and sneak attack damage (2d6) for a total of... 5d6 + 25 damage (8 of it being Necrotic and the rest being Slashing) every round. Not to mention Eldritch Smites in a pinch and a large assortment of spells.

Fear, once named, controls no one - You are also incredibly elusive with 18 AC and strong saving throws. Swashbuckler lets you get into the fight fast and get out before your enemy has a chance to react, and cunning actions let you weave around the battlefield as you see fit. To top it off Echo Knight levels let you attack your foes without even being near them! "Cross the veil!"

Wear a mask long enough, and you forget the face beneath - You have a great deal of out-of-combat utility too. Language proficiencies (along with Thieves’ Cant), skill proficiencies (including expertise in two very important skills 23 passive perception, anyone?) Thieves’ Tools, several utility spells which you can cast pretty much at will, not to mention the utility of near-infinite teleportation and flat out infinite levitation.

CONS

Blink, and you'll miss your own death - Between two-weapon fighting, cunning action, and interactions with your echo there’s such a thing as too many bonus actions.

Do not wish to hide behind masks - There’s also such a thing as being too elusive. Swashbuckler gives you plenty of mobility as does Echo Knight, but putting them together means that you’ll be everywhere at once.

Are you here to usher me back? - Multiclassing a spellsword means that you miss out on some vital ability score increases. This means your Charisma isn’t topped off, the saving throws you aren’t proficient in are subpar at best, and your health is just barely over the Power Word Kill threshold.

But a hunter with many weapons will always have the right one to catch its prey. Lure out the Asakana and strike them down. Just remember that even if you alone can stop the demonic plague you don’t have to work alone. Your brother may have struck you down but if you learn to forgive the Asakana will be a lot weaker. "Long before blades and sorcery are needed, words... can save a soul."

(Artwork by @ThatwasforZED on Twitter)

#DnD 5e #dnd #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd warlock #dnd fighter #dnd rogue #league of legends #League of Legends Yone #League of Legends Yasuo #anime #weeb #demon hunter

[aspiring-immortal]

Archlich Altzmyr

I’m going to have this as an AU for this blog.  He would be about 600 years old by this time after cloning himself and dying at least five times (via the clone spell, if you’re not that familiar with D&D, here’s the description).  With each lifetime in a new body, he has had to give up more flesh, which was what finally got him into lichdom.  He has already spend around 50 years as an archlich by this time.

He did so with the assistance of another archlich that also gave him a few boons in the process.  

He’s vastly familiar with the world by this time, having been just about everywhere and spending whole lifetimes away from Faerun or even the Material Plane.  He has visited other Material Planes and done many things like founding an organization of good-aligned necromancers and undead.  

His commitment to lichdom is also for his cause in giving a better reputation to undeath and necromancy.  

He can be found back in the High Forest lounging around a pond sometimes, usually with an illusion to conceal his undeath, sometimes not.  Many travelers in the forest have mistaken him for some weird fey creature due to his appearance and behavior.  His “lair” is somewhere nearby, underground.

Possible ways to meet him:

-Your muse finds him napping somewhere.

-Your muse found him in the middle of an adventure, at epic levels, adventures are more like “Let’s destroy the wand of Orcus” or “Let’s blow up the nine hells” or “let’s kill a god”.

-Your muse got their ass kicked very hard nearby and he found you and is helping you recover.  

-Your muse found him doing something like a bardic performance, but not really.

Below the cut are his stats:

Type: Undead

Size: Medium

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Hp: 200

Speed: 30 ft.

AC: 18

Proficiency Bonus: +7

Level: 24 (20 levels in wizard, + 4 epic levels)

Strength: +0 (11)

Dexterity: +3 (16)

Constitution: +3 (16)

Intelligence: + 6 (22)

Wisdom: +4 (18)

Charisma: +2 (15)

Saving throw proficiencies: Con, Int, Wis.

Skill proficiencies: Arcana, History, Insight, Medicine, Perception, Religion.

Senses: 120 ft. truesight, 18 passive perception.

Damage resistances: cold, fire, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, slashing from non-magical weapons, 

Damage immunities: poison.

Condition immunities: all, except grappled, incapacitated, prone, and frightened. 

Langauges: Common, deep speech, elvish, draconic, celestial, undercommon, sylvan, abyssal. 

Half-elf features: darkvison, fey ancestry.

Class features from wizard: spellcasting, arcane recovery, spell master, signature spells.

Class features from necromancer tradition: necromancy savant, grim harvest, undead thralls, inured to undeath, command undead. 

Archlich features: Truesight, lich resistances & immunities, phylactery, turn resistance, legendary resistance (3/day), water walk. 

Additional features from my homebrew idea of archliches: 

Phoenix soul-can be reduced to 1 hp instead of 0 hp once a day, and bursts into fire while doing it.  

Necrotic Blessing- can take some his own hp to give to others and give resistance to necrotic, fire, and poison damage, immunity to poison for 1 hour and cure poisoned condition.  

Turn Living or Undead: can cast turn undead, or “reverse” is by turning the living instead, but can’t turn abberrations, oozes, elementals or constructs.

Counterturn: if your try to turn him and fail, he turns you back.  Fuck you.

Legendary action: Can bursts into fire like a motherfucking phoenix. 

Lair action: Can telepathically communicate with anyone within 120 feet. 

Appearance: His skin has become a dull, undead gray, but his face is remarkably well preserved with magic and fully functions.  His hair is the same in life.  His neck, top of his chest, and arms still have flesh but are shriveled.  Below this he’s mostly skeletal, and his bones have some augmentations on them with screws, ornamentation, spellstitching runes, and what was the cartilage front of his ribcage is replaced with silver.  Beneath his ribcage is some kind of metal thingy that protects whatever innards he has left and his spine.  Much of this is draped beneath clothing, which is often kinda on the flowy side like typical heavy wizard robes, but has put on some thin layers of light silk for a more ethereal look.  He wears either a flower crown or laurels often.  His eyes are a weird glowing bright violet. 

His phylactery has changed a few times.  First it was an heirloom, then a magic item, but he’s learned his lesson well after a previous incident and now it’s a small phoenix familiar. 

#AUs #gore-ish #gore mention #archlich!Altzmyr #lich!Altz #lich!Altzmyr

[efimerc-moved]

🗣+ deoksu and hayeong

MEME / @synrgetic / NOT ACCEPTING.

a beautiful breath of wind, twined between the branches of spring leaves, caught within its own symphonic whistles down the vine. it’s how he remembered her voice, sweet memories of dulcet whispers locked within the darkest corner of his conscious by a lost key: thin and elegant.

her mouth ( pouted lips the same hue of sunset coral streaking through the clouds, a shade that was once effervescent on his pale flesh ) enunciates in much the same way it used to, but words fall on deaf ears — white noise, crackling over thousands of frequencies deoksu never knew existed. 

“i graduated last december, but i didn’t even think about taking a break because…”

flames burn in hayeong’s eyes, a turquoise blaze of zeal lost at sea; he doesn’t remember the depth of her ocean, just that he could never reach the bottom, fingers grasping at smoldering surfaces to no avail. deoksu searches for the kindle of his own fire, bone crushed over bone as he breaks through another bite of overcooked rice. unlit embers without traction; nothing more than year-old soot.

and her lone conversation continues, as though she doesn’t notice the stare on the dramatized movements of her chopsticks, how they obscure portions as though he wouldn’t take note, and— not twice, not once, does she find an amicable scrap of meat on the multitude of plates before them.

“do you eat?”

though deoksu’s questions are a string held taut by the necrotized fingers of a lover scorned, what pierces through a glass sternum and the paper heart beneath is the arrow crafted from blanketed abhorrence. those flames— they die in plain sight, until she places her chopsticks on the napkin beside her plate, sweetly delicate hands folding into each other.

( smooth, like the felicitous descent of the afternoon sun, the pads of each finger lingering on his skin, as though he was a stubborn thorn she could never pull out. )

the decorative rings on her left hand vanish, but there’s a diamond past the first knuckle of the index on her right hand and it catches the light with the slightest movement of her shoulders — creates a granulated twinkle in his eyes that feigns consideration, uncharacteristic. he knows where it started but doesn’t think about how it’ll end; culpability lost its definition before his heart forgot how to beat and he lost faith in the world as it stands before him.

“of course i do,” hayeong mumbles.

( guilty. dirtily so. )

“you look skinnier,” deoksu counters.

caught by the hunter’s headlights but trapped by his immeasurable wit, doe eyes search for their reflection within the restaurant window, washed out by the blinking neon lights and irrationality of itaewon’s quietest off-center strip.  who stares back at her, razor-edged features distorted ( fat, fat, fat ) by a trick of the light, doesn’t resemble the hayeong that stepped through the door.

“we’re not here to talk about my weight.” but her voice wavers as though it’s become the very breeze he remembers, falling through musty tension without poise to speak of.

a reason why she thought it would be worth it — staring into the very eyes that wish to swallow her whole, listening to the maelstrom of a voice that broke more promises than it kept and, worst of all, being with him under the cover of a weekday evening because there was too much shame attached to what they used to be and not even the sun itself was permitted to whisper behind her back: 

closure. reconciliation. something. anything.

“right,” said as he reaches across the table for the cutlets ( medium-rare, a little chewy, because neither of them bore the patience and expertise required to cook with ease ) on her cluttered, yet equally undisturbed, plate, “what do we have to talk about then?”

he cocks his head, damaged strands of splotched black barely touching the bridge of his nose, chopsticks held between the middle and ring finger of his right hand as he shovels another spoonful of rice into his mouth. hayeong’s knuckles, dusted a gentle rouge, fade into the rancid ivory reminiscent of her mother’s collection of fine china, and she bites into the inside of her cheek, tasting raw iron on the breadth of her tongue.

( more so than she would want to taste anything else, he assumes. )

a muffled hum, questioning in nature, throws the copper ring of sharpened spurs into the spaces between her ribs, and it bothers her — that brazen nonchalance. 

“you cut me off.” he lights a separate flame at the back of her throat with rusted coal and gruff hands, venom derived from two-thirds contempt laced between the syllables jumping to an untimely death from the tip of her tongue. “then you just... you disappeared. no one knew where you went.” she softens, foolish. “the only reason i got back in touch with you is because gajeong—”

deoksu stares.

bright crimson flashes through narrowed eyes like a fragmentary omen blinking from the distant end to a winded tunnel, beckoning for her with a hand outstretched across the darkness. hayeong, vision covered by the treacherous palms of her own hands, follows on the empty promise of perseverance. a shame, he believes, because targets are drawn on every centimeter of bare skin she’s shown to him under the cover of night and, with every step forward, there are a thousand more arrows pointed at the bullseye. dead-center.

strong and tenacious may be the face she shows to the rest of the world, but cowardly are the features that stare back at him now, permanently etched into despondent frowns. ( pitiful, like the countless times she wore her heart on her sleeve like her favorite sundress and let it bleed all over his freshly-laundered clothes. )

stuffed with another piece of meat, he points the ends of his chopsticks at her, “i didn’t want anything to do with you anymore.” she swallows and tightens an impossible hold around her tortured hand; his chest aches but only for a moment, a fleeting moment he’ll long have forgotten by the morning. “or is that too cold of a truth for a spoiled brat like you?”

“fuck you.”

a useless mechanism of defense, the outburst isn’t out of character, nor does it bother him as much as the late-night patrons around them; admittance was the first step toward acceptance but she refuses to take one step forward out of sheer cowardice and, when she bows her head in their general direction — a brief restoration of an image she’s long since broken apart — he loses another ounce of respect for the person she used to be.

he liked it, once upon a time, because there was nothing to keep her from answering in the manner she wished despite the inevitable honorifics attached to otherwise dangerous words, but time never treats immaturity with tender love and shining diamonds, letting it rot within the bones it dares to live in.

“checked that off already, sweetheart.”

he moves on with his hands full of fractured emotions, without commitment, but she remains tied down by the same chain, blinking the ache from her kaleidoscope eyes as the world starts to refocus; how simple it was to forget how painful open wounds are until he pours three pounds of salt into them with a charming smile and a shrewd stare, seductive in his technique but never once merciful. 

sweat creates a layer of discomfort on the nape of his neck when he turns up the temperature of the table’s grill and he reaches to scratch it, aware of her piercing gaze but never once daring to acknowledge it. silent, she watches frozen pork cutlets bubble under the pressure, wonders which was the moment she went wrong: a year before, when their first conversation was on the couch of someone else’s dorm, or in the past hour, when she stepped through the door or when she let him take control of the matter at hand?

“you were never like this before—"

he ignores her at first.

somehow, it hurts more than what he wants to say.

“why are you here, hayeong?” he speaks when he’s finished checking how thorough he’s cooked the cutlets on the grill, reaching for the scissors beside her plate. his voice is lighter, reminiscent of how he used to speak when the last light was turned off, like he’s found a calming place among the midnight clouds and she’s become pleasant company. “there was never a relationship between us to rekindle.” 

more than half the meat ends up on her plate and it taunts her rumbling stomach in much the same way he does to her existence, laughing at her between whistling breaths.

she doesn’t want to answer him either.

so, focused on the minuscule movements of his jaw when he chews, she thinks about what she wanted, what she expected to come out of this — someone to rely on, someone who could understand her woes, someone with more than boulders for brains that would answer her calls at three in the morning and just listen to her talk, listen to her cry. 

“because i thought we could—”

he pauses before another bite of rice and meat, snorting. “thought we could, what? be friends? listen,” he sets down his bowl and utensils, crossing his arms on the table and leaning forward until the strings of his hoodie dangled precariously above the food, “it was fun while it lasted, i’ll admit that much, but i told you the truth: i want nothing to do with you anymore.”

“but—” 

she tries again and again. 

she doesn’t know why.

( desperation. ) 

“think about it, hayeongie! you should be used to that, shouldn’t you? everyone leaving you, for this or that reason.” and, after what seems like centuries, his words reach exposed bone at its weakest state and break it under their weight. “just take it in stride, the same way you always do.” 

deoksu doesn’t have to face his own demons when he forces her to do it instead, and gratification comes with the sparkle in her eyes when tears start to pool in at the edges and smudge carefully-applied mascara. responsibility doesn’t have to fall on him anymore, and he finishes the unwanted heart-to-heart with a blunt, “it’s good that you’re on a diet. you looked like a whale last time i saw you.”

#synrgetic #tw disordered eating #i don't know what else to tw this as but it's also stupidly long so its under a read more anyway #` ( hayeong & deoksu ) ⦂ ⋰ * bond . #` ( butterfly effect ) ⦂ ⋰ * drabble . #` ( song hayeong ) ⦂ ⋰ * answers . #` ( yoon deoksu ) ⦂ ⋰ * answers .