#even if hes received hate dms before he may simply not have known people would lash out at upset's wife specifically

[theaviskullguy]

since yall need to see it

i have a coroika fantasy/dnd au (it has some dnd elements but its not directly a dnd au) so have this

Goggles: Chaotic neutral human rouge

Noble background

thief

he a stealy boi

but he’s got a heart of gold

back when he was a noble he saw that there was a lot of people that needed help that his family didn’t even think about helping

so goggles took to stealing from his family and other’s riches and giving them to the poor.

As a result he was disowned and cast out from his family and earned the name “Blue Bandit” due to his thieving habits and his blue hair

Rider: Neutral good human barbarian

Soldier background

Basically Rider was born into a magic-using family but was known as the family disappointment by his parents and extended family since he had none of his own (his siblings were chill about it)

So he thought that he could make them proud by joining the military and becoming a hero of his village

And he did but his parent’s still hated him simply because he had no magic

So, Rider left his village to find something else to do

Army: True Neutral half-elf warlock

Noble background

Patron: Actually one I came up with named Phyria. She’s a fiend patron but she give extra fire spells

anyways, Army comes from a line of kings, each worshipping Phyria, known as the Blaze Kings.

Army’s father was the first to act as a Tyrant. He wanted to rule the world and groomed Army to do the same.

Basically, Army was manipulated to believe that he was the only one who was “pure”. Everyone else were filthy wrongdoers.

When Army’s dad died, it wasn’t made public, and Army ruled as The Blaze King with people still believing his father was the ruler

He got news of a rebellion (basically the gang having decided to go and stop him) and decided to go down and masquerade as...well, himself kind of.

As he traveled with them he began to question all he was taught to believe. 

So basically the gang lead him through an unintentional redemption arc.

Aloha: Chaotic good human bard

Entertainer background

of course aloha’s a bard

anyways, his parents died when he was 5 and he was taken in by his uncle, who ran a tavern.

As he grew up he learned how to make food, serve drinks, and became pretty well-liked in the town

But what Aloha really liked was the traveling bards that came and went at the tavern. He’d learn their songs by ear and sing along.

It came to the point where he was gifted a lute by one of them and his uncle sent him off to learn how to be a proper bard

And when Aloha came back ten years later his town had been burned down. Literally no one was left, and everything was just in ashes

Other than this one knife that had the tavern’s symbol on it.

So, Aloha took it with him in his travels.

He still has it and he still uses the lute given to him by the bard so long ago.

Mask: Chaotic neutral undead drow necromancer

hermit background

“Dude you made him an accidental lich” -My DM friend when I was explaining my idea to them

Basically Mask always had a close connection to the dead

He’d be mourning people he didn’t even know, he would talk to seemingly the void whenever at a grave, and he was always pretty close to death himself, being a pretty sickly person

So when he became an adult he hid himself in a cave, practicing his craft of necromancy

He brought back a sick cat he named Ash who decided to follow him around

Anyways as for the undead part

One day Mask got a nasty infection and he went to the market to get a cure

and he was scammed, getting a nasty poison instead

so Mask drank it and died, but somehow he came back as an undead himself

he decided “fuck it” and went off adventuring along with Ash

Skull: Lawful good Drow-Wood elf ranger

Urchin background

So basically Skull was born to two moms; a drow huntress and a wood elf archer.

He tends to look more like a drow though

anyways, he learned how to fight, hunt, gather, and shoot a bow and arrow thanks to his moms

he was also raised in a really pretty forest

his parents do be living the cottagecore dream...

anyways one day skull came back home after hunting (he had caught a raven all by himself and wanted to show his moms) when he found-suprise suprise-that his house had burnt down

his moms were alright and sent him to live in the city with his grandparents, while they go on a mission to find out who did this

problem is his grandparents hadn’t seen him before and don’t really like drow

so they kicked him-a 12 year old in elf years btw-on the streets

he taught himself to survive in the city-he didn’t know the way back to the forest-and after a few years of begging on the streets, and occasionally stealing, he finally had enough for a bow, quiver, and arrows. And he knew he could sustain himself by hunting for his own food and selling what he didn’t need

so he did just that

he commissioned a bow, arrows, and quiver and in the process met aviators- a wood elf who really loved crafting of any kind-who took on the job and made him a beautiful bow

as thanks, even though he payed, skull always made sure to give avi and his family extra food he collects.

and as time went on he and avi fell in love because aviskull supremacy

But later avi was relocated to a different city, so Skull and him made a promise to get married when they next saw each other

since then, skull joined the gang, took down a tyrant, and is now just searching for avi along the gang’s adventures

Prince: Lawful good High elf cleric

Acolyte background

basically-this is also emp’s backstory too-prince, emp, and prince’s twin regent are royals of a magic-based kingdom

but you see regent didn’t really like non magics, and thought they should be slaves under his rule

Prince and Emperor didn’t like that, so Emperor challenged Regent to a duel

you see, in the case of multiple heirs to the throne, the strongest one would ascend to become the ruler.

it would be prince, seeing as in addition to being a healer, his patron had given him a spellbook, filled with plenty of dark and powerful spells

but clerics and priests are forbidden to take on positions of political power.

so regent and emperor fought in battle and regent won, becoming king and his first act was exiling prince and emperor on the spot, not even letting them take the things in their rooms.

regent thought that, since prince had left his spellbook in his room, that he could now have access to the power his twin had, but prince was clever

when he had received the book, he placed a curse on it so only he may use it without repercussions. Anyone who even so much touched it would get a nasty curse only Prince or his patron can lift

 anyways so now regent’s paranoid that prince would somehow return, take the spellbook, and kill regent

also prince has a familiar with him; his kitten, kia.

Emperor: Lawful neutral High Elf Sorceror

Noble background

basically same backstory as prince tbh not much to say

Gloves: Chaotic Good halfling Druid

Outlander background

Basically, in the village they lived in, pink eyes are considered bad luck. so when gloves opened their eyes to show pink, their parents left them to die in the woods

jokes on them

Gloves was found and literally raised by wolves until they were 10 in halfling years

Then they got found by two human hunters and was taken in

Gloves just. ran away from them. They hated being constrained and punished for even mentioning that they missed the pack

They never found the pack again, but after years in the woods, they learned how to transform into a wolf themselves.

Nothing too big after that, just the bab joins the group and now the gang has a wolf enby!!!

And i dont have anything for Vintage...suggestions are welcome!!!!

#splatoon #coroika #coroika au #coroika aloha #coroika army #coroika rider #coroika gloves #coroika prince #coroika emperor #coroika skull #coroika mask #coroika goggles #Galax Writes #dnd au

[sun-to-my-luna]

“- Loca“  the Serial Liar.

Disclaimer:  My blog doesn’t support or condone sending hate. Take the information in and simply  learn to not let anyone or anything get  to you so easily. I’m going to be using screenshots that have been provided to me by two very trusted  individuals. These screenshots will be conversations between those two individuals and said person that will be mentioned below. Their identities won’t be revealed  as they both wanted me to keep them  anonymous.

With that being said,

Before believing that anyone is anything other than what they claim, remember that artists have contractual agreements.  No one you look up to can be giving you information or be personally dm’ing you as that’s breaching contractual NDA obligations.  Blatantly pretending to be someone that’s posting on behalf of a celebrity, a celebrities friend, or blatantly pretending to be a celebrities entity, let alone two, is infringing their personal identity. No one  let alone a celebrity would be stupid enough to do that.  That is unless they’re not the people involved.

Their blog is out in the open convincing people that they’re someone that they aren’t and I will not stand for that.  You’re talking to a wall and need to wake up.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. My Email.

 It starts Early in May ( i knew they weren’t an actual insider even way before that) when I opened up my email.  I was receiving asks from this person but when I read them I felt like they were pretending to be Lauren. (You’ll see later on that I wasn’t wrong.) Therefore I completely disregarded their messages but they wouldn’t stop. They kept spamming my ask box. I noticed that the situation was  also escalating. The fandom began believing that this was person was an insider but they’re not. 

I received the same exact message, with the same exact punctuation, and the same exact spelling. From an account called “innoccenthansen” that has since now been deleted. They also had another account called “Loca2012″ that has since also been deleted. That’s not all they would use different nicknames on different blogs. Names such as “D//” aka. “innocenthansen” which is known as an alleged Dinah Stan. 

Loca2012 was mostly hidden in the shadows watching our every move and because nobody would pay enough attention to their asks or their blog they deactivated it. They created and started a new one with a different strategy. Sending cryptic messages that would make you question their authenticity. Making you believe that they’re someone that’s an insider. But as you’ll see below:  they’re not an insider and they’re not reliable.

Now ask yourself:  Why would anyone honestly need more than two accounts?

Simple. This is the behavior of someone  that’s trying to infiltrate the fandom. You could even call it astroturfing. Except in this case it isn’t to convince you that camren isn’t real. It’s to get you to trust them and believe that you can trust them. To make you believe that you’re talking to Camila and Lauren when you’re not. 

Which leads me to this:

#2:  Blatantly Pretending to be Camila and Lauren. They would switch between each of their “personalities.” Often talking in third person to first and second person.

#2.P1:  Pretending to be Lauren. (This is where the first person’s screenshots come in.)

Even though they previously had no idea who the hell Aurora was.

#2.P3:  Pretending to be Camila:

#2.P3:  3rd. Person.

The person that sent me the screenshots told me that they felt the Lauren “personality” was more predominant and that the Camila personality was off every time they talked to them.  Even as an outsider you can see that them pretending to be Camila doesn’t sound like her nor look like her writing style. Myself and many others also feel like they’re trying hard to replicate the girl’s tumblr’s. Rebloging things that are extremely similar in nature but they didn’t get their personalities right as their blog doesn’t capture them correctly. 

#3:  Why they choose the blogs they did to talk to

Me of course being one of those blogs. However since my blog is co-owned I can’t receive nor send DM’s so they decided to send me asks. But like I said at the beginning they were pretending to be Lauren and Camren (the messages above) so I never gave them the attention they wanted. 

They wanted people that were “healthy enough and that weren’t going to blow their head off.”  In other words they wanted people that were vulnerable enough to fall for their shit and would believe in them and their manipulation.

4. Their Age.

They straight up flat ass lied to my friend. They’re not only a liar but a manipulator. They told her that they were Camila and Lauren. They confused her.  The same way they confused the entire fandom.  Sending cryptic  ass messages pretending to be Lauren or some insider.

How the fuck are you just going to pretend to be Camila and Lauren and then straight up lie about your age?  Neither of them are 24 but here you  are messaging my friend telling them these things and pretending to be Camila and Lauren to their fucking face. Have some dignity.

#5. The 2nd person’s screenshots

These messages are pretty self explanatory. The person that sent me the screenshots asked them about Cuban cuisine in Miami to which whoever this person is had no idea. Then they get confronted about Lauren not being in Paris.  Because Lauren wasn’t in Paris. They switch over to the “Lauren” personality from the “Camila” personality and responded.

#5.P2:  Thunder

Now that we know that this person is a manipulative liar we know that everything they send is fake.

Like me the person that sent me the screenshots knew immediately that that wasn’t Thunder but instead a much older dog. That also looks like a completely different breed.

#5.P3:  Thunder:  DEBUNKED

The photo that this person sent isn’t Lauren with Thunder. As this picture was taken with the person’s right hand and the left hand is pictured. The picture was also taken at an angle where Lauren’s bee tattoo would be noticeable. Another thing to notice is that person’s prominent mole on their left hand.

Lauren always wears her hair tie on her right hand not her left hand.

Lauren doesn’t have that mole on her left hand.

Her right arm is the arm that has more prominent birthmark moles, not her left arm.

In case you want to check it out for yourself here’s the original photo. Where you can also see more clearly that she doesn’t have that prominent mole on her left arm.

Now here’s a real picture of Thunder.

As you can tell he’s a much younger dog than the dog that “Loca” sent. He doesn’t have grey fur in the areas that older dogs get.

Here’s an older dog of the same breed that has the same patching of grey fur as the dog that “Loca” had sent.

#6.  Incorrect Industry Vocabulary. (I’m tired of re-typing and grateful that I actually took a screenshot of this part.)

With that being said,

Please. Please Think before you believe anything or anyone is anything other than what they claim. Read paragraph 2 before opening this post again or as many times as you need and remember to breathe.  You can even personally ask me if I think someone is legit if you ever have doubts that someone is playing you. 

One last thing throughout their private conversations with my friends they used UK writing and spelling. In America we spell “realize”  as “realize.”  We don’t spell it “realise” that’s only in the UK or outside of the UK. Therefore this person clearly isn’t native to the U.S. 

Be careful and take care.

#please read #this is incredibly long but as promised #L//o//c//a//

[darkmccns]

( i haven’t even done his theme yet but i was just so excited to write joon’s intro that i had to do this before anything else !! )

hello ! i’m beeba, 19, in pst !! it’s lovely to be back, and i’ve brought with me a new, debatable-if-improved version of my baby boy yoojoon. things have gotten a bit darker and twistier with him this go-around but i can assure you that somewhere deep.....deep........deepdeepdeep down he’s still a soft boy. HENNYWAYS ! under the cut you will find a bio, headcanons, and wanted connections !! 

give this a like if you’re interested in plotting uwu. i’ll hit you up in the dm’s, or you can add me on discord @ namjoon’s “brrrrrrt” in cypher 4#2323

☾*✧･ﾟ:*「 kim seokjin. cismale. he/him. 」did you know that there’s a wizard in haneul known as moon yoojoon? they have been living here for the past  eleven years and is a strategist for the hyeon mu. they are currently twenty seven and was a student at crocus institute of higher magic in the house nightshade. i heard that they are known to be unyielding, but worry not ! i heard they are also very selfless too. remember to stay out of trouble, the ju jak are lurking around every corner !

( tw for familial death, alcoholism, abuse, violence, murder, and gang activity )

BIO: 

yoojoon was the youngest of four boys born ( accidentally ) to moon hojoon and moon jisoo, in the small town of punggi. 

his mother was a tarot card reader/fortune teller who worked out of their home and his father a retired duellist for the hyeon mu. they lived off of his mother’s meager income and his father’s military pension that the hyeon mu provided since he was honourably discharged after a combat incident that left him traumatized.

his birth was considered a hindrance to his father more than anything else. another mouth to feed with the little they had. 

hojoon was a very heavy drinker, using it as a coping mechanism to deal w/ his trauma. he often took his anger out on his sons and wife --- rarely laying a hand on them, but often yelling so loudly the house would shake.

yoojoon had a very close relationship with his mother and his eldest brother saejoon who was twelve years his senior. his two middle brothers mostly brushed him off out of fear of their father.

he didn’t begin showing signs of magic until he was five, and his mother was worried for the first few years that he was a squib, due to all his brothers showing signs of magic in infancy. 

the first thing yoojoon ever did magic-wise was make a bush of azaleas in their back garden bloom out of season. his entire family celebrated his feat that night, even his father.

as he grew older and began to attend school, he decided he wanted to be a duellist like his father was. he did well in all his classes in the hopes that when the time came he could move to seoul and attend crocus to receive proper training

was a very happy, bouncy little kid with a love for flowers. could most often be found out in the garden with his mother as she tended to the seasonal blooms. 

had a knack for potion making from an early age. his mother always told him that he should pursue a career in potion making but he adamantly refused because he wanted a manly job. 

when yoojoon was ten, saejoon left punggi for seoul, with plans of joining a vigilante resistance group disassociated from the hyeon mu. they considered themselves freedom fighters who sought to bring an end to the ongoing war between the magi and the ju jak through methods such as peaceful protests and attempts at reconciliation. 

their father was more than displeased. he told his eldest son that if he did leave he would never be welcomed back, but he left anyways with the promise of writing to yoojoon as often as he could about his “ adventures in the big city. ”

tensions in their household only rose after his brother left. his father drank more, his mother threw herself into her work. his two remaining brothers left for school, leaving him alone to handle his parents. 

saejoon never ended up writing him, and yoojoon began to resent him for leaving.

at fourteen, yoojoon received new that his brother had died at the hands of the ju jak --- “ another tragic casualty of war ” as the letter stated.

the two years in between his brother’s death and him starting at crocus are kind of a blur for him. lots of heated arguments with his father over the nature of saejoon’s death that would turn into physical altercations, nights spent sobbing silently in saejoon’s empty bedroom. he was a whole ass mess, with good reason, and acted accordingly.

when he was sixteen he finally moved to seoul, having come to terms as best he could with saejoon’s death. he realized he couldn’t put his life on hold to continue mourning, and that that was not what his brother would have wanted for him.

he was put in nightshade upon arriving at crocus, and despite words of encouragement from his professors to go into potion making he stayed firmly on track towards becoming a duelist. he was now more determined than ever --- hellbent on avenging his brother’s death and taking the ju jak down one by one.

a year into his education he was approached by a group of boys who were apart of the same vigilante group his brother had been in, called the faceless ones. wanting to follow in his footsteps and aide the war effort, yoojoon joined.

attending school falls second to attending group meetings in a grungy warehouse downtown. it seems innocent enough at first --- passing a bottle of soju around a fire, sharing stories of the ones lost to the ju jak. but as time goes on and tensions between magi and humans grow further, things become more serious.

the boys don masks with magi emblazoned on the front to cover their faces as they wreak havoc in the human-populated areas of the city. they lights cars on fire, vandalize businesses, and some go as far as attacking innocent people --- ju jak or not. it takes some impressive mental gymnastics on yoojoon’s part to justify the actions of his peers, but he manages when he’s got enough liquor in his system. 

his knack for potions makes him the ideal candidate for making simple weaponry --- pipe bombs, pouches full of noxious herbs, tinctures that when applied to the skin melt it clean off the bone. but working behind the scenes wasn’t what he joined to do. he joined to kill ju jak.

and so he does. indirectly at first --- more of a mastermind than an executioner --- but growing more bold as time goes on. the first time he takes a life with his own hands he’s just turned seventeen, and he hates the rush it gives him.

he attends school during the day and uses the skills he learns to kill by night. he is methodical, unlike the others, careful. he plans his attacks for days before carrying them out, and enacts his plans with professional ease. he becomes well known to ju jak and hyeon mu alike --- and both groups want him caught.

however, one poorly executed plan leads to him falling into the hands of the hyeon mu, and they give him a choice. he’s either to join them as a duelist --- because his talents, though being used poorly, cannot simply be thrown away --- or rot in prison for murder.

it’s an easy choice, and when he’s just shy of eighteen he’s officially a member of the hyeon mu.

as far as rookie duelists go, he’s considered one of the most talented. his prior experience ( though they don’t like to admit it ) gives him a leg up on the others his age, and he finds himself climbing through the ranks quickly. 

he figures if he can’t change the way the magi deal with ju jak as part of a rebel organization, he may as well work on it from the inside. 

he’s an accomplished duelist with a very high number of confirmed kills and arrests.

by twenty three he’s no longer a duelist --- they prefer to use his talents in careful planning over his manpower. he’s appointed to the committee of strategists that work closely with the leaders of the hyeon mu to gather information on the ju jak and plan out attacks accordingly. 

he’s frickin amazing at it. it’s truly what he was always meant to do, and he makes triple what he did as a duelist without needing to be in the field.

now, at twenty seven, he’s now the head strategist with a small committee working underneath him.

he rly out here tryna revolutionize the way the magi and the hyeon mu deal with the ju jak, because he feels as though he has more relevant field experience than many of the higher ups who have simply been observing this war rather than taking part in it.

truly believes that they could be doing more, but for whatever reason are not. in his eyes the hyeon mu is not functioning at it’s full capabilities, and their efforts are sitting stagnant as the ju jak grow in number. 

the most anti-government government employee you will ever meet. often accuses the president of sitting on their ass with their security detail to protect them while the common people are terrorized.

however, as much as he calls out and openly bashes the hyeon mu’s methods, they can’t afford to lose him because he rly has made a ton of progress and at this point with the amount he knows he’s irreplaceable, and too much of a liability to let go of.

so now he sits in his cushy office on the top floor of a gorgeous building, overlooking the city and planning various ways to absolutely pulverize the ju jak at whatever cost.

HEADCANONS & RANDOM FACTS:

still very close with his mom !! she often comes and stays in the city with him, and he spoils the hell out of her :’)))

he has a familiar: a fat, orange cat named calcifer whom he adores endlessly.

is a hobby potion maker. it relaxes him.

loves a good vodka soda w/ lime.

while he isn’t very social, he loves to attend high society parties because it gives him an excuse to wear one of his many fancy suits.

quite a snarky asshole, will give you shit regardless of your position or status.

enjoys eating sticky rice.

public speaking is like.....a weird talent of his ? he absolutely loathes it, but he’s read in newspapers that he inspires the common folk with his passion so he just kinda rolls with it.

is rly just out here trying to make life better for the average magi. he doesn’t do what he does because he’s endlessly loyal to the hyeon mu --- he does it for the people.

basically lives in his office because he’s Always Working. he has like, a kettle and a hotplate and a mini fridge, blankets, a bed for calcifer ( who he often brings to work with him ) and all sorts of random crap that he’s accumulated to make the space as homey as he can.

keeps fresh bouquets of azalea’s in both his office and his apartment because they remind him of home and of his mom uwu

very messy, misplaces things within seconds of picking them up i swear to god. has defs lost important paperwork and spent hours scrambling to find it, just to see he placed it on top of a cupboard by accident when he got up for a snack.

has ptsd from his time in the faceless ones as well as his time as a duelist in the field. he frequently has nightmares because of this.

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

literally anything bc im a thirsty thot

other ex-members of the faceless ones: 

the relationship between members was a very familial one, and it’s very likely that other members were apprehended and given the same ultimatum as joonie. whether they’re now in prison or decided to join the hyeon mu, it’s very likely joonie tried to stay in contact.

current members of the faceless ones:

this connection would be a bit more messy. they would probably consider joonie a traitor or a sell-out and feel very betrayed by his actions.

his assistant:

idk why he’d have one.....but i want him to !!! we would obvs flesh out the actual aspects of it but i just think it’d be cute lol. playin mini-office-basketball ? gorging on donuts ? arguing over the filing system ? yes please !!!

committee members:

other strategists who work with joonie !! they could be chummy coworkers, rivals, u name it !!

other members of the hyeon mu:

MORE COWORKERS !!!!!!!!! someone pls gimme an angst plot where joonie slept w/ someone from a diff department and now they make awkward eye contact when they pass one another in the halls thank u

AND ON THAT NOTE !! ex-hookups:

he would have been much to involved in his work to ever have an actual relationship, but he defs enjoys a good fling every now and then and probs got down and dirty with a lot of people

current hookups:

he still gettin down and dirty with a lot of people...........lmao

friends:

even this tragic annoying man gotta have friends ig. someone to play billiards with and force him to go out once in a while.

enemies? rivals? anything angsty?

IDC WHAT IT IS !!!! JUST GIVE IT TO ME !!!!

anyways that concludes this mess of an intro. it’s 6:17am so please excuse any errors or inconsistencies, i’ll fix them once i’ve rested lmao. can’t wait to write with you all !!! if u read all of that bless your heart. peace n love xoxo, can’t wait to see u  in my dms.

#haneulintro #[ tag tbd ]

[terrahistorian]

TELL ME ABOUT JAX'S BACKSTORY :D

Okay, so, this might get a bit long. Jax is one of the most funcharacters I’ve played in D&D in years, and his story has takena lot of turns I didn’t expect, as the best ones always do. Thefinal draft of his backstory was born from several conversationsafter the game began, ways of integrating his story into what we weredoing, and giving him a personal stake, without redefining him.

JX-195 is a 6 year old Construct that killed his creator.

His first memory was of looking out from a pane of glass, floatingin this strange, viscous fluid. After many tests were done on him toconfirm he’d survive his, “Birth,” he was taken out of thechamber, and given his designation, JX-195. The Archmage who createdhim was never given a name, simply being referred to as, “MyCreator.” JX-195 was but the latest in a string of experiments,constructs made using different parts, different methods, differentarcane tricks, all in the hopes of reaching, in a sense, godhood.Creating life from nothing. In order to blend the organic andinorganic parts in JX-195′s creation, the Archmage developed avariation of the Mending spell, transcribed as runic tattoos alongall of his joints. This kept his flesh from rejecting the densermaterials comprising most of his skeleton, but had an unforeseenconsequence; every wound JX-195 received scarred rapidly. Overtime,he’d be more wound than flesh.

JX-195 was a failure. Through teaching him how to read, write, anddispatch of some of his lesser, “Siblings,” his creatorlearned that while JX-195 was an impressive machine, he had noemotions to speak of. No drives, no sorrows, no joys, he simply didas he was told. The archmage saw JX-195 as a blemish on his work,something to be wiped away quickly and thoroughly. JX-195 disagreed.So he took a surgical knife, and stabbed his creator in the backuntil he stopped twitching.

Taking the clothes on his back, the coins he’d been told hadvalue, and his creator’s hidden research notes on his construction,JX-195 set out to see what was out there in this grand world that hadbeen kept from him. He soon learned, however, that his creator wasnot the only foul being out there. In fact, he was nothing if not thenorm.

Beaten, bloodied, his coin stolen, barely holding ontothe, “Meaningless gibberish,” that were the tomes of hisbirth, JX-195 was found by a seemingly generous man. He offered warmmeals, a roof overhead, and work that involved travel and delightsbeyond imagining. He was a slaver, and appealed to JX-195′s baseneeds. Which, technically, were met, and JX-195 understood his placein the world. While there, he was branded across his right eye, andmarked as property of The Matron.

One night, bandits came. Freedom fighters, slaughtering themasters and freeing their slaves. Their leader, Cre’en, an old,jaded, cynical man, who was in it more for revenge than freedom, sawthat JX-195 had nowhere to go, and asked if he wanted to join him fora bit. Thus, JX-195 joined forces with The Wanderer, who gave him hisfirst proper name. Jax. Jax traveled with Cre’en for a year,far longer than most who stayed with him, and was taught how toprotect himself, and how to live among, “Normal, not crazy,slavin’, ass people.” Then, one night, Jax had his first dream.

A crossroads, his first real choice. Down one path, ease, andsolitude, a measure of peace, but ultimately a death and destructionthat shatters the heavens. Down the other, strife, battle, sorrow,but ultimately survival and peace. Along the second path strode threesilhouettes, under the marker of a town not too far from where Cre’enhad made camp. But above both paths, two warriors in gleaming sets ofarmor, beautiful, beguiling, and deadly, to any in their path. And onone warrior, Jax recognized a silken cloak, that had played a part inhis creation.

That night, Jax packed what supplies Cre’en had given him, andleft without a word. Making the short journey to the town in hisdream, it wasn’t long before Jax was found by those threesilhouettes. Mordai, the Tiefling, and defacto leader of this motleycrew. Sparky, the Ifrit, who was literally only there because agolden pineapple he stole told him to. (It was actually Mordaithrowing his voice to make it seem like the pineapple was talking. Atleast, at first) And finally Eren, an Elven cleric who always seemedjust a bit miffed that her god had forced her to work with the othertwo. They had also received dreams from various gods to find eachother, and hunt these two sets of armor. We later learned that theywere called the Greyguard and Paladin sets, eons old artifacts ofHoly Grail level of power and obscurity. Jax lead the way to thefirst piece of armor they’d collected, the cloak he’d recognizedin his dream, and bought his way into the group.

Some time later, the party found another piece, a brass bottlewith a cork topper, in a clearing without any hint of wildlife. Withthe usual stupid bravado of adventurers, we opened it, and a plume ofpurple smoke erupted from the bottle. Rising up out of it, a form farbeyond the size of the bottle itself, a creature of flame, smoke, andmagma rose up to it full height; an Efreeti stood before us, a FireDjinn.

Now, it’s important to note that my DM likes to leave as much tochance as physically possible. She plans a lot, but it’s largelybased on rolls, so twists are as much as a surprise to her as theyare to us. This bottle was no exception. As soon as the bottleopened, she rolled a percentile die. There was a 10% chance that theEfreeti would come out enraged, most likely killing us all. An 80%chance that it would do our bidding for an hour, then disappear. Andfinally, a measly 10% chance that it would arrive magnanimous,offering us three Wishes.

Her dice either hate her, love us, or some sick mixture of thetwo, because the Efreeti bellowed out in Ignan, “What are yourwishes?”

Two game breaking wishes later, that our DM is still pissed offabout, our party was trying to figure out what to do with the finalone. I mean, it’s a Wish, they can’t just be wasted on limitlesscoin and a fast travel system (Oh wait, we already did those). So, mylittle soulless self piped up, “Humanity. I want humanity.”

After some convincing, Mordai, the one who opened the bottle andhad to word the wish, started rattling off a list of, “I wishfor a soul that is kind, just, loyal, brave, trustw-”

The Efreeti cut him off by simply saying, “You cannot havea soul that is all good,” before a glowing orb of color appeared inhis hand, he rammed it into my chest, and disappeared as Jax fellunconscious onto the grass.

That day, Jax had his second dream. He was in a dark void, litonly by the six figures in front of him. They were all differentsouls the Efreeti owned, either by trade or force, and one was to beJax’s. They were of different races, genders, heights. Drow,Dwarves, Humans, and on the very end, a 6 foot tall Dire Pigeon. Ithink that’s the one my DM was hoping I’d get. One roll later, Igot the soul of Yeska Kreskoff, a human cleric, and inadvertentlyestablished Russia as some part of this fantasy world.

This started an arc where Jax struggled to understand threethings. First, his newfound feeling, both emotional and tactile.Second, the lingering consciousness of a tortured and insane Yeska,who began trying to take over Jax’s body to reclaim his life.Eventually, Jax had to beat down and kill Yeska’s consciousness,during a particularly vivid dream. This freed both Yeska and Jax, asJax claimed his soul as his own, and Yeska finally found peace withRoe. And finally third, Jax worked to understand the connection henow found with Yeska’s god, Roe. It turns out that Roe was the onethat sent Jax his first dream, which pointed him down the path offreeing one of his acolytes, and eventually stopping whatevercataclysm is connected to these armors.

So, Jax multiclassed from Fighter into Cleric, as a way to bothatone and thank Yeska and Roe for their sacrifices in freeing Jax.And that choice has been a lot of fun, and I’m really proud thatwas able to give my GM pause with one of the questions I posed Roeduring a communion with him. It had been a few months, and I simplyasked, “Are you pleased with how I’ve grown with this soul?”

It took her a few minutes to answer, but it’s stuck with me eversince. “It’s... Not about me. Am I happy? Yes, absolutely.But all of this is for you, and your growth, and your learning. Whatmatters here, and what I hope you remember, is that you’re not mypawn. You’re not a toy for me to tire of and set aside. I thinkthere are good things we can do together, and ways I can help you,but it has always been, and will remain, about you and your newfoundhappiness. So, if I may ask you a question. Are you happy?”

I ended that communion with a quiet, “Yes.”

Sadly, that was the last truly happy memory Jax has. Since then, him and his party have been collecting more and more of the Armor, and now they have completed both sets. Utilizing their power, the sets have been split among the party, and just recently we’ve let individuals wear a full set. Jax, specifically, has been wearing the Greyguard set. The Alignmentally Evil set. Each set has a consciousness connected to it, and a desire to be used for their own purposes, and the Greyguard has been patient with Jax. The longer he’s worn it, the less he sleeps, the more he depends on the armor, and the more open he is to death. At one point, Jax even contacted the Greyguard’s steed, an Ancient Black Dragon named Dryn, and struck a deal with him. Knowledge for power. I told Dryn all of our plans, everything we had done, and in return he allowed Jax to cast Power Word Kill once a day so long as he wears the full set of Greyguard armor, whose continued use is fraying what stability Jax has left.

Jax has never known peace. His six years have been nothing but imprisonment, battle, slavery, harsh travels, and feeling as though he’s a hacky sack for the gods. But I doubt that’s how his story will end. I suspect something with books, maybe a library. He hasn’t found his happy ending, but his story isn’t done yet. And I think that’s all any of us can say.

[freedomscall-aa]

General Information

Hi, call me Autumn. I’m 25+, have been rping for 15+ years on and off with 10 years experience roleplaying on Tumblr, and prefer they/them or she/her pronouns. I have a discord that is available on request for general ooc conversation and plotting, all you have to do is ask for it.

I’ve been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and a chronic social phobia, so typically I’m pretty shy and awkward starting off when you first talk to me. Due to my mental illness I get stressed out pretty easily over things and at times will take a while to get around to replies and starters, so please don’t think that any slowness on my part means that I’m not interested in interacting with you!

Just because it needs to be said, Mun =/= Muse ; Muse =/= Mun. I play a character who is pretty moralistically grey and may do or hint at doing problematic things at times. This does NOT mean I support those same viewpoints. 

Anders is a super complex character who’s actions ultimately result in something so powerful they send a good chunk of the world into turmoil. I want to stress that Anders’ plot to blow up the Kirkwall Chantry was a terrible thing done by a person who felt as though they had no other option when every other peaceful measure he attempted failed. Could there have been other ways of solving the problem? Maybe. Did anyone actually listen? No. Regardless it was the only a matter of time before the powder keg that was Kirkwall’s tensions between Mages and Templars blew up given that you find out in the final act that Meredith had already written to the Divine to request permission to enact the Right of Annulment in advanced.

Either way, I’ve adore Anders as a character ever since DAO Awakening so whatever hate or arguments you might see fit to send me isn’t going to change my mind on how I feel about him. Naturally I’m fine with him suffering people’s vitriol in character, but I won’t tolerate receiving that kind of behavior out of character.

I generally use Pearl from Steven Universe as an out of character face claim. I’ll be using Toby Regbo from his appearance in Reign as Ander’s IRL FC.

On Following

I’m usually too nervous to follow people first, due to anxiety issues, but if I do follow you first it means I definitely want to try writing with you! Usually I’ll follow back Dragon Age canons unless something about your blog turns me off for some reason. Anyways, the same typically goes for OCs with reasonable Dragon Age verses that I feel could allow for interactions with Anders.

I’m going to be more picky about non-DA canons ( unless I already have an AU for their source material ), even if they have an DA themed verse or two– so please don’t feel bad if I don’t end up following you back. :c

Threads and Replies

On average I write anywhere between one and a half to two paragraphs per reply, though I have been known to write four+ depending on how inspired I am. If this for some reason bothers you or if you’re simply looking for super casual, one line replies with or without dialog every thread, I’d advise you not to follow me.

That IS NOT to say that I’m against short replies though! I can usually work well with two or three sentences so long as I feel like I can actually reply to it and in cases where I can’t, I usually ask my partners to add more if possible instead of outright dropping the thread. TBH, I just feel like it’s super discouraging to write a paragraph or two and only get a single sentence with or without dialog back in return. :c

I am notoriously slow when it comes to replies and am prone to dropping threads once I feel too overwhelmed. If you suspect that I’ve dropped your thread and would like to continue it, feel free to contact me over my inbox / tumblr im or via skype / discord if you have it.

If I follow you first or follow back, feel free to reply to any of my opens and memes I reblog or contact me via my inbox / tumblr im if you have any ideas, but please note that my ‘like for starter’ posts are for mutuals only.

Feel more than welcome to reply to asks and continue the conversation if you like what I answered with, I only ask that in doing so you start a new thread with a link back to the original ask and not reblog the ask itself.

I don’t care if you use icons or not. Sometimes I don’t. Icons aren’t an indicator of quality to me. Typically icons will accompany most short posts given I have one that fits the thread. It is possible that I will avoid attaching icons to longer, multi para threads depending on how I feel.

NSFW Threads

Both mun and muse are over the age of 18, which leaves everything open to possible NSFW sexually based threads. Personally, I like writing smut, but I prefer to ship chemistry more than anything and will not do pointless nsfw threads unless I’ve rp’d and spoken with you ooc for a while.

I WILL NOT write sexually themed or exceedingly violent / gore-y threads with individuals under the age of 18. I’m generally not going to follow anyone younger than 18 just because I don’t really feel comfortable with following those who are more than ten years younger than me even on my personal blog. I check for ages and if I find out you’ve lied just to write smut at any point I will not hesitate to block you.

Relationships / Shipping

I’m generally open to the idea of pre-established original character relationships (semi or whole friendships / crushes / enemies / etc) between characters as they can make interactions considerably easier for me, so feel free to present any ideas if you’d also like to go that route via my inbox / tumblr im or skype / discord if you have it!

If you want to go the route of an established OC relationship outside of an obvious casual connection, please be aware that I will ask you to dm me via tumblr im or discord, since I find it easier to develop relationships with other characters while having a chance to occasionally talk ooc with those involved. As a plus, it makes rp'ing with you much more comfortable for me.

I mostly ship Anders with M!Hawke and F!Hawke, but am open to other canon characters as well so long as it’s workable. Obviously, I’m also willing to develop romantic ships with OCs granted I find them interesting and if I feel like there’s good chemistry! You also get big bonus points if you’re a rivalmance Hawke because I’m super weak for that dysfunctional shit.

Triggers

This blog is generally not safe for work, just to be clear. There are times where it may contain triggers that I will try my best to tag in a coherent manner, but please be aware that I will not always tag things unless a mutual requires it their ooc page. I by default tag anything related to NSFW situations, anything related to abusive scenario, and anything else involving blood.

I have no triggers, personally, but I do have things that make me uncomfortable. These include topics related to cheating / infidelity and hypersexualizations. I would appreciate if partners would consider tagging content related to these, but it’s not necessary.

#[ ☄️ | andraste's nickerweasels! ( ooc ) ]

[your-dungeon-is-problematic]

Hobgoblin (AD&D)

Hobgoblins! Like goblins, only...hobbier? Or rather, they’re bigger and stronger and...more orange than regular goblins. And I hear they’re highly militarized in structure. But only the parts of the military that make them more evil. Let’s take a gander, then!

General:  “Hobgoblins are a fierce humanoid race that wage a perpetual war with the other humanoid races.” So, first sentence, and we already are embroiled in a war of racial violence. ...This doesn’t bode well. “They are intelligent, organized, and aggressive.” See, if it wasn’t for the previous sentence, or the adjective “aggressive”, they could simply be intelligent and organized. But no, to hell with that, they’re evil, because my fighter isn’t going to getting to Level 5 by not murdering people. “The typical hobgoblin is a burly humanoid standing 6 1/2′ tall. Their hairy hides range from dark reddish-brown to dark gray. Their faces show dark red or red-orange skin. Large males have blue or red noses. Hobgoblin eyes are either yellowish or dark brown while their teeth are yellow.” Wait, really? I’ve never seen it portrayed where their face is a significantly different color from the rest of their body, not to mention their noses. It makes them sound almost like baboons, or mandrills, or other weirdly colorful apes... And of course, they have terrible dental hygiene, because it’s not like anyone who wasn’t evil didn’t have terrible teeth, too. Heaven forbid a good person ever be unable to receive or afford dental care, right? “Their garments tend to be brightly colored, often bold, blood red. Any leather is always tinted black.” I’m struggling not to quote “Paint It Black”, here, guys. “Hobgoblin weaponry is kept polished and repaired.  Hobgoblins have their own language and often speak with orcs, goblins, and carnivorous apes. Roughly 20% of them can speak the common tongue of man.” ...Wait, the common tongue of man? Since when has humanity ever, ever had a common tongue? I mean, you get lingua francas from time to time, but even those are usually known more by scholars or merchants or the like, not all people, everywhere. Hell, the closest we’ve ever gotten to a “common language” is English, and that’s only due to the cultural influence of both Great Britain and the United States over the last two centuries, after the Industrial Revolution was well underway, and then even more so after the advent of television, and later the Internet. To me there’s a gaggle of weird and/or unfortunate implications by having a “common language” that is explicitly “of man” in a pseudo-medieval setting. Not to mention, if dwarves and elves have been around longer, as they so often are in D&D settings, why wouldn’t any lingua franca descend from Dwarvish, Elvish, or hell, even Draconic?? ...I’m sorry, I got off on a tangent, so allow me a very small one: “Carnivorous apes”?! Where are the carnivorous apes?! I haven’t seen any carnivorous apes in this book, much less ones that are sapient to the point of using language. Did I miss them?? I mean, they can’t be using an insulting term for orcs or goblins, because they’re mentioned by name alongside the “carnivorous apes”. Where are the apes?! Alright, sorry, moving on.

Combat: “Hobgoblins in a typical force will be equipped with polearms (30%), morningstars (20%), swords and bows (20%), spears (10%), swords and spears (10%), swords and morning stars (5%), or swords and whips (5%).” You know, with a diversity of arms like that, and if you read up on the necessary strategies to portray this in-game, you could make the hobgoblins masters of combined arms tactics. A squad of spearmen defending the archers, and such. I mean, I suppose a high enough level wizard could blow through such groups with fireballs and the like, but on the other hand, if it’s just the one wizard against an army of hobgoblins, an army has more men to spare than most wizards have spells for the day... “Hobgoblins fight equally well in bright light or virtual darkness, having infravision with a range of 60 feet. Hobgoblins hate elves and always attack them first.” I...well. ...That came right the hell out of nowhere, didn’t it? No context of any kind, before or after, this is the last sentence of this section. Just leave us on that note, eh? Is this just to remind DMs that if the party has an elf in it, any hobgoblin armies will just beeline towards them for murder? What’s the point?

Habitat/Society: “Hobgoblins are nightmarish mockeries of the humanoid races who have a military society organized in tribal bands,” Ah. Just starting off with a right hook of “evil AND ugly”, eh? Well. “Nightmarish mockeries”? Seriously? Just because they do have a military society, and are perhaps not as “classically beautiful” like the elves are, doesn’t make them “Nightmarish mockeries”. I mean, most dwarves aren’t exactly lookers, themselves, and their society is all about mining and killing whatever disrupts their mining, but that doesn’t make them “nightmarish mockeries” of anyone else who mines and is militaristic. Hell, “nightmarish mockeries” would make more sense if they were corruptions of a different race, like how Tolkiens orcs are thought to be corrupted elves, or if they were just manufactured by some evil entity, but as far as I can tell hobgoblins arose as naturally as any other race in Dungeons & Dragons, and yet you’re just going to call them “nightmarish mockeries of the humanoid races who have a military society”.  Right.  “Each tribe is intensely jealous of its status. Chance meetings with other tribes will result in verbal abuse (85%) or open fighting (15%).” This just gives me the hilarious mental image of some scribe shadowing a hobgoblin tribe and recording the reaction whenever they came across a different tribe over the course of a year or two. “It just gets into a metaphorical pissing match 85% of the time.” “That’s ludicrously precise.” “Hobgoblin tribes are found in almost any climate or subterranean realm. A typical tribe of hobgoblins will have between 20 and 200 (2d10 x 10) adult male warriors. In addition, for every 20 male hobgoblins there will be a leader (known as a sergeant) and two assistants. These have 9 hit points each but still fight as 1+1 Hit Die monsters. Groups numbering over 100 are led by a sub-chief who has 16 hit points and an Armor Class of 3. he great strength of a sub-chief gives it a +2 on its damage rolls and allows it to fight as a 3 Hit Die monster. If the hobgoblins are encountered in their lair, they will be led by a chief with AC 2, 22 hit points, and +3 points of damage per attack, who fights as a 4 Hit Die monster. The chief has 5-20 (5d4) sub-chiefs acting as bodyguards. Leaders and chiefs always carry two weapons.” ...This implies a much more complex and organized society than the monstrous manual will deign to elaborate on. And on a minor note, why didn’t they go all the way with the military ranking thing? Like, okay, so you got sergeants in charge of 20-man groups, why isn’t the “sub-chief” called a “captain” or a “colonel”, or something? Why isn’t the chief a “general” or “warlord”?  ...Don’t tell me it’s because by using “tribal” terminology it makes them seem more “primitive” and therefore less “cultured” and therefore because they don’t contribute much in the way of “culture” it’s “more okay” to exterminate them, because that would be nothing short of absolutely hideous. “Each tribe has a distinctive battle standard which is carried into combat to inspire the troops. If the tribal chief is leading the battle, he will carry the standard with him, otherwise it will be held by one of his sub-chiefs.” ...Well, uh, good? Is there some morale bonus for depriving them of it? If there is, you don’t expound upon it here. Is it in the DMG? “In addition to the warriors present in a hobgoblin tribe, there will be half again that many females and three times as many children as adult males.” Oh, my God. So literally for every two hobgoblins you’re killing, that’s three hobgoblin women and six hobgoblin children you’re leaving without a father/husband/brother/what-have-you? That’s awful. You keep doing this, Monstrous Manual, you keep telling us about the women and children, right after telling us that this species can be killed without any moral quandaries, and then don’t tell us what to do about the noncombatants that the party will leave behind, traumatized, if you play them as written. It is baffling. “Fully 80% of all known hobgoblin lairs are subterranean complexes. The remaining 20% are surface villages which are fortified with a ditch, fence, 2 gates, and 3-6 guard towers. Villages are often built upon ruined humanoid settlements and may incorporate defensive features already present in the ruins.” See, this shows at least as much knowledge of construction of fortification, or ingenuity in utilizing old construction, as the armies of Rome did in ancient times, but I hardly think you would call Rome ‘uncivilized’ or free to exterminate, eh? Despite the Roman Empire being at least as devoted to military expansion as these hobgoblins you’re trying to portray as irredeemably evil.  “Hobgoblin villages possess artillery in the form of 2 heavy catapults, 2 light catapults, and a ballista for each 50 warriors. Underground complexes may be guarded by 2-12 carnivorous apes (60%)” It is things like this that I like, because they do portray the military focus of their society, even though I know it’s to show DMs how to design these fortresses that their parties are inevitably going to infiltrate and burn to the ground.  ...Also, again with the carnivorous apes?! Did I overlook an entry in this book? Where are the carnivorous apes?? ......Oh, they’re under ‘Mammal’.  ...Huh. See, it’s just weird that, first of all, they can be spoken with in a manner they can understand, and also as far as I know there are no apes that are obligate carnivores? ...I mean, I suppose more than a few are insectivorous, but that’s a little different from red meat, you know? Though who knows, I could be wrong. Moving on! “They are highly adept at mining and can detect new construction, sloping passages, and shifting walls 40% of the time.” See, between the mining, the stout defenses and fortifications, and the racial hatred towards elves, explain to me in what way hobgoblins are different from most dwarven kingdoms.

Ecology: “Hobgoblins feel superior to goblins or orcs and may act as leaders for them.” ...In a “white man’s burden”, kind of way, or...? “In such cases, the ‘lesser races’ are used as battle fodder.” Ah. ...Though in practice, that’s usually how the “white man’s burden” mentality seems to play out, too... “Hobgoblin mercenaries may work for powerful or rich evil humanoids.” But only evil ones, because since when have good humanoids ever been powerful and/or rich? Like, this is especially odd, considering if you’re mercenaries, you work for the highest bidder, usually, right? So if the good guys pay you better, could you convert hobgoblin mercenaries to your way of thinking? Or, because they’re EEEEEEVIL, would they take the money and run?

Koalinth: “This marine species of hobgoblin is similar to the land dwelling variety in many respects. Koalinth dwell in shallow fresh or salt water and make their homes in caves. Their bodies have adapted to marine environments via the evolution of gills. Their webbed fingers and toes give them a movement rate of 12 when swimming. Their bodies are sleeker than those of hobgoblins and they have light green skin. They speak an unusual dialect of the hobgoblin tongue.” ...So does anyone else get vague flashbacks to the seadweller trolls from Homestuck? Because I’m getting vague flashbacks to the seadweller trolls from Homestuck. ...Also, hold up, they evolved gills? So evolution in Dungeons & Dragons is confirmed. So are hobgoblins some manufactured-to-be-evil race, or did they arise through natural evolution? Because if they evolved naturally there is no reason that I can think of that they would be absolutely bugfuck evil, to a man. “They tend to employ thrusting weapons like spears and pole arms. Koalinth are every bit as disagreeable as hobgoblins, preying on every thing they come across, especially aquatic humanoid and demi-human races. They detest aquatic elves.” Well that’s self-destructive as hell. If you destroy anything and everything that is not you, then anything that isn’t you is going to gang up on you and take you out. It’s societal suicide.  ...And again with the weird, specific elf hate. No expounding on that point at all, just “they hate THESE GUYS in particular”.  I mean, I suppose racism doesn’t really have any good explanation, but usually they try to think of some threadbare justification to sate their own warped consciences.

General: Well! I mean, if nothing else, you can’t say their society isn’t organized. ...But if the males are implicitly all warriors, does that leave the women to farm and feed these armies? Because I mean, hey, an army can’t fight on an empty stomach, right? At least, not very well. And raiding and pillaging neighboring cities only works for so long, once their scouts tail you back to the lair and call down a siege that you can only outlast if you actually do have farms to feed off of. Like maybe I kind of harp on this, but a society needs an infrastructure to realistically survive. It can only mooch off of others for so long. Like, I suppose if they get big enough to actually conquer a human kingdom, they could use their new vassals to farm for them, but the entry as written implies hobgoblin settlements are usually individual fortresses with relatively small garrisons.  Also, the children! What are you going to do with the hundreds of children?! You could raise them as your own, but then that almost plays into all sorts of “white savior”/”white man’s burden” narratives, and... It’s all just a little frustrating. Like, okay, yeah, the whole “they are military-based, and are evil” isn’t that much better than “all they do is banditry. Banditry all the time, 24/7, 365 days a year, they’re evil”, but it at least is more easily made into an actual workable culture that can realistically be portrayed in a setting? Like history is no stranger to military dictatorships. You can play up the Lawful bit of their Lawful Evil alignment, make them be very heavy on the hierarchy of the chain of command, give them a very zealous military police, a court martial, all that. Like, if their theme is “military”, play it to the hilt, I’d say.  And they still needn’t be evil, even at that point. They could just be an overly zealous, overly paranoid obsessed with making sure their people are not conquered. Hell, make ‘em Sparta. A proud military city-state that doesn’t take no guff from outsiders. Until they bite off more than they can chew, are conquered by a much larger outside empire, and are quickly rendered irrelevant for the rest of time, if you’re going to go all-out with the analogy, but still. I guess what I’m saying is, and really this applies to every entry on this blog, is that you gotta work for it. Maybe they’re an isolationist city-state, maybe they’re an expansionist empire, maybe you drop the militaristic culture entirely and make them peaceable agrarians, just take the “monster” given to you and give them just a modicum of depth. Or at least, deeper than what the Monstrous Manual offers. Shouldn’t be hard. :P

#hobgoblins #your dungeon is problematic #D&D #dungeons & dragons #like my beloved giff only evil #and with a tidal wave of children #what is the gestation period for a giff anyways? #are they more analogous to those of people or hippopotamuses? #completely off-topic tangent in the tags #my apologies

[zippdementia]

Part 41 Alignment May Vary: The Council at Drellin’s Ferry

This is the ongoing adventure in the 5e conversion of classic 3.5 adventure The Red Hand of Doom! Not only does this detail the adventures of my three players but it also give detailed suggestions on how to run a 5e conversion of this campaign.

Tools I reference a lot: The 3.5 Red Handbook of Doom, The beastiary Revenge of the Horde, secondary beastiary Tome of Beasts.

At this point in the campaign, the players should have cleared Vraath Keep or at least scouted it, they may have the map showing the Red Horde Plans, and they have a couple directions they could take. Some may wish to head back to Drellin’s Ferry, feeling their mission is accomplished. Others may want to push back into the woods and try to see the forces at Cinder Hill. As DM, it is your job to manage these two different paths and to keep the action moving. To this end, if the party does go back to Drellin’s Ferry, you need to put things in place to move them back into the action. The easiest way to do this is to set up Skull Bridge Point as a key factor in the approaching horde’s plans.

If the players got the map from Vraath Keep, then Skull Bridge Gorge should be pointed out on it as a choke point that, if destroyed, should buy the party enough time to evacuate Drellin’s Ferry or set up better defenses. Taking out the bridge should become the next goal of the party--or preparing for the consequences of failing to do this.

If the party did not receive the map, there are still plenty of ways to come to this information. Skull Gorge Bridge might be known by Jorr, or one of the hobgoblins might still be alive after the battle and will offer up the information in exchange for mercy. If all else fails and the players truly are treating the adventure like its over, then Drellin Ferry can come under attack by an advance scouting unit consisting of a chimera and a band of hobgoblins. After the raid, one of the hobgoblins who died has a letter on him dictating that “the main force will be crossing Skull’s Bridge in three days” or some such.

Point is, you have options.

Our group decides on a dual plan: they ask Jorr to continue into the woods to scout out the bridge while they return to Drellin’s Ferry to report on what they’ve seen. Jorr agrees, as long as Xaviee goes with him for protection in case they run into trouble. Jorr has been acting more ornery than usual since they cleared out the vaults of Vraath Keep and found the body of Lord Amory, the foolish lordling who got his people killed by instigating war with the giants. Jorr even kicks* the corpse of the long dead lordling before they leave the vaults, but it does nothing to improve his mood. Regardless, he agrees to meet back up with them in Drellin’s Ferry.

The heroes head back to town, unsure of how the town’s leader will react.

*edit: originally I mistyped "keeps" here, causing some confusion. Jorr did not keep the lordling's body. That would be weird. Although maybe weirdly in character for what will happen in a couple of sessions.

“Three to five days. That’s what we have, Wiston.” Delora Zann punctuated her statement by holding up five fingers, then three, and then closing her hands into fists. They were calloused hands, especially along the insides of the fingers, where they would wrap around the hilt of a blade or mace or spear. Zann’s name was unknown to Tyrion, but he had seen her sort before. He guessed she was a retired adventurer. Her face had the hard lines and her voice a certain stubborness that told him she was used to having to make quick decisions in bad situations and to stick by them, for better or worse. He knew the feeling well.

“Well now, Delora, let us not get ahead of ourselves.” This voice belonged to the other halfling in the room, Kellin Ferryman, owner of the Old Bridge Inn. His voice was silk and his manner sweet honey and Tyrion hated him on sight, despite him probably being a far far distant cousin (an old saying said that all Halflings were related, one way or another). “We have a map, yes, and we have the word of these adventurers, but that is all we have. To take this and use it as evidence to evacuate an entire city, well now... that seems overzealous to me.” He smiled sweetly at the companions. “I mean no offense, good travelers, but you must understand—we don’t know much about you. If a stranger came to you and told you you must leave your home as fast as possible and leave all your valuables behind unprotected, you would be a little cautious, too, I think.”

The implication caused Tyrion’s temper to flare. Nysyries, too, if the growl that came from the Dragonborn’s throat was any sign. Trakki was quicker to speak than either of them, however.

“My lords,” the wood elf began. “You yourselves hired us to investigate the disturbances around this town and in these woods. We are simply reporting what we found and giving our reccomendation for what path you should next pursue. If we had wanted to rob you, we could have hatched less complicated schemes.”

“What he means,” Tyrion broke in, “is that if we wanted your pitiful belongings, we would kill you all and take them.”

Pandemonium broke out at the council table. Kellin was smiling a knowing half smile that Tyrion longed to take his axe to. Delora was pounding her fist at the table and yelling at the uncaring halfling. Captain of the Guard, Soranna, was rubbing her forehead. And old man Iormel was shouting that outsiders could not be trusted and Tyrion’s threats were proof. Trakki glared at the halfling, which was impressive considering Trakki did not have eyes. Speaker Wiston stood finally and held up his hands, which has the slow effect of quieting the noise at the table.

“If we have taken offense at the bard’s words, it is only because we gave offense first. Kellin, the veracity of this group’s information is not in question. The matter laid before us is what to do about it. We must now assume a large host of hobgoblins, perhaps accompanied by Dragonborn warriors, is coming to our town, perhaps to sack it. What are we to do?”

“Evacuate,” Nysyries broke in. “The one advantage we have here is time and the more we sit here talking, the more of that we lose.”

“I do not question the group’s truthfullness,” Iormel said in response. He was an old man with a face like a dried plum, puckered and wrinkled. “I question their bravery. If all Dragonborn are as craven as this one, why then we should never fear a horde of them. All we need to do to defeat them is draw an ominious map.” He laughed, a mean little sound.

Nysyeries’ fists clenched. But Trakki kept calm. “Maybe there is something we can do,” he said. “If we can destroy that bridge, we can delay the army long enough to get everyone safely out of town.”

Iormel scoffed. “Back to evacuations and fleeing! I will not run, I will--”

“You will be silent,” speaker Wiston broke in. “We have all seen the evidence, even before these good adventurers arrived. We have seen the increase in the attacks outside the village. No one dares take the Dawn Way through the Wytchwood anymore. And the Druid tells me that dark things move in the woods. Why, wasn’t it Franco who swore he saw a goat carried off by a three headed beast just last month? Our village is not safe anymore. We must now turn our thoughts to how to protect ourselves.”

Soranna took over from here: “If you three find a way to destroy the bridge, then I will work on the evacuation.”

“And runners should be sent,” Trakki added. “Runners should be sent to the other villages and cities of the area to warn them: the horde is coming.”

Delora stood. “I’ll get a few good men and we will head out tonight.” She shook her head. “The horde is coming... what times we have lived to see.”

The next morning, the party headed up the hill to Sera’s mansion, to see how the halfling wizard was coming along with their special project. As they approached, a loud explosion suddenly boomed out across the town and black smoke began to pour from the open windows of the upstairs floor of the mansion, roiling out into the summer sky. The party increased their speed.

“Sera!” Tyrion called in alarm as they pushed open the mansion’s front doors.

The wizard came stumbling down her stairs, face black with soot, coughing and waving a hand in front of her face to ward off a cloud of smoke that followed her into the main receiving room.

“Did you all sleep last night? Because I did not sleep last night. Do I look like I slept last night? I’m probably a mess. Do you want any tea?” All of this was delivered by the halfling wizard in a breathless monologue and before they could answer, was followed up by: “I did it!”

What Sera had done, exactly, was to build them a device that held enough explosive fiery power to destroy the skull gorge bridge. It looked like a medium sized rectangular package (”I call it Contained Corrosive Catastrophic Compound, or C4 for short!”) wrapped in thick wet leaves (”They are soaked in a stabilizing compound, it’s not a very, um, safe device. I didn’t have time or the materials to make sure it doesn’t explode on impact, so, um, avoid getting hit real hard”).

The item wasn’t quite ready yet: it needed some finishing touches. In two days, they would return to take it and head off to their mission at the Skull Gorge Bridge. And hopefully by then, Xaviee and Jorr would have returned to report on what they could expect to face there.

Notes on Setting up for the Skull Gorge Bridge

When Dungeons and Dragons is at its best, it plays like a series of set pieces, each with different challenges. It needs to be more than just the stats on a page, otherwise it quickly becomes a game of dice rolling to see who got highest, the tactical equivalent of the card game WAR (aka the most boring card game in the world). I’m always looking for ways to make a scenario more interesting and in this case found the opportunity to add in several elements to make the attack on Skull Bridge an epic moment:

High stakes: the invasion is coming! Skull Gorge Bridge is the key point to slowing this invasion. If the players succeed or fail here, it will have an impact on our story. Letting the players know that through the council and all the set up has made this battle more important than just another battle hub in a campaign of battles.

A goal that’s different from “kill everything” and “survive”: this one is key. Almost always, the goal in DnD is to survive and kill most everything. Beat the boss monster and you win the session! Mixing up those goals are the number one key way to make a campaign more interesting. In this case, we’ve set up a great goal of “blow up the bridge.” Doing so may happen without killing all the monsters and it may happen without everyone surviving. It also forces players to use their skills and abilities for more than just monster slaying and forces them to think outside of the box in terms of “I’ll just rush everything.” It also allows me, as a DM, to come up with some pretty challenging monsters, since the goal isn’t to defeat them all.

A wild card item: Items that add excitement to a game are a huge help in keeping it interesting. The Cursed Axe Tyrion wields changed his entire character progression, for instance. Now I’ve thrown in the C4, which comes with both a risk and a possibility. The risk is that if I determine the situation is right (they’ve been dealt a critical blow, or have fallen prey to a fire effect spell, or a thunder spell) I’ll make them roll a d100 to see if the bomb explodes. The possibility is that this is the item that can in one shot destroy that bridge. Even then, there will be a small chance it doesn’t go off and (Sera makes an offhand joke about this, but I do intend to roll for it) a 2% chance that it magically goes awry and builds a new bridge. I make the item this way because it adds excitement, but also because it lets me use the magic crafting rules in an interesting way. By all indications in the official rules, building a bomb like this should take weeks and lots of gold. But my party doesn’t have that kind of time, and I’m not going to let the rules turn me away from an interesting scenario. So instead Sera charges 500gp and builds the bomb in a few days... but it has a ton of flaws. It’s a way to let the rules inform the world building while also not letting them dictate your scenario and story.

A time limit: The players will have one chance at the bridge. They don’t have time for a second run, nor will they have time to strike, then short rest, then strike again. This is going to be one glorious one-shot battle.

Next time we will see how it plays out.

#Red Hand of DOom #DND 5 #Dungeons and DRagons #Campaign Journal #Fantasy RPG