#i’m like. i never have done anything dnd related so i know close to nothing abt it

[jackienautism]

WHY DIDNT ANYONE TELL ME JUSTICE SMITH WAS IN THE DND MOVIE!!!!

#mine #text #SOPHIA LILLIS TOOOO #it was nice seeing her again #i’m like. i never have done anything dnd related so i know close to nothing abt it #would ryan be a sorcerer? i have no idea but #my hs DID do she kills monster so that was fun #but my knowledge starts and ends there #i rly enjoyed it actually! wasn’t expecting to as much as i did tbh #should’ve been more animal characters tho smh

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

My friends and I occasionally play that made-up game called "Kerfuffle" - A bit like DnD but with everyday life tasks and not as nerdy (sadly :D). You pick a random politician, TV char., etc. and try to overcome some challenges in a way you assume they'd do it. Last time we played, I obv picked s.o. from ST - Joyce. That was when a random thought crossed my mind: If s.o. were to name each ST main character's greatest weakness/ strength, what would be the outcome? I immediately thought of you. :D

Ok, now that the election is over, and my anxiety has come back down to its usual “only a little high” status, it’s back to business here. This is an interesting question from my pal @sollody here. I’m not going to be able to go too much into depth given the breadth of the question here, but it’ll be a nice look at several characters. Perhaps this will result in requests for more in-depth looks at some of them individually. For the sake of having a defined meaning of “main character,” I am only going with characters who were in all three seasons and were directly involved in the action (sorry, Mr. Clarke). I will make an exception for Max, as she’s just too central to leave out.

The Party

Mike

Greatest Strength: Determination. Once he sets his mind on something, he does everything in his power to see that it happens. Do not try to come between Mike and his objective. God help you if you try to stop him when his objective involves Will or El.

Greatest Weakness: A lack of emotional intelligence. Mike reacts to his emotions as they come. There’s no apparent self-awareness, and this results in impulsive behavior that leads to negative outcomes for himself and his relationships. The feelings themselves aren’t the problem. Mike just doesn’t understand them enough to react appropriately.

Will

Greatest Strength: Quick thinking. I was tempted to mention his compassion, but really Will’s greatest asset is his mental acuity. Since season 1 he has shown an impressive capacity for quick thinking in stressful situations.

Greatest Weakness: Insecurity. Will has self-esteem issues resulting from not only the Upside Down situation, but also more mundane personal and family experiences. He worries about how people view him and fears that he’s being left behind. This leads to him keeping important things to himself, things nobody, especially a child, should be expected to deal with alone.

Lucas

Greatest Strength: Rationality. Lucas has generally been the member of the party with the most down-to-earth mindset. Regardless of all of the supernatural goings on, Lucas has tried to view things realistically. His approaches to the events of the series have typically been the most practical, skeptical, and grounded. Ironically, this actually does make him a good Winston, though I wouldn’t want to be the one to tell him this.

Greatest Weakness: Overconfidence. Lucas is very sure of himself, sometimes too much so, even when warned off by others. From being sure that El was trouble, to risking a beating from Billy, to thinking he’s some suave expert on women, Lucas has made trouble for himself and his friends. He doesn’t meant to, of course, and a lot of this may come from some desire to “be a man.” Lucas needs to learn to accept himself as he is.

Dustin

Greatest Strength: Curiosity. Dustin is always looking to learn more about anything and everything. Nothing is too weird or off-putting for him. His knowledge has come very much in handy for the Party, and this general attitude has led to him accepting the supernatural events in stride.

Greatest Weakness: Recklessness. Dustin, in his pursuit of satisfying his curiosity, or some other goal, can fail to see clearly obvious dangers. Find a strange creature? Raise it yourself. See a strange growth in the underground tunnels? Go get a closer look. Find out about a possible Russian base in the mall? Let’s go check it out! His goals are often admirable, but his approach is often foolish.

El

Greatest Strength: Adaptability. El has managed to escape a government facility, survive in the woods, and travel to unfamiliar locations despite her young age. While she has been somewhat dependent on her powers, she’s managed to accomplish some impressive feats for someone who hasn’t had anything close to resembling a normal upbringing.

Greatest Weakness: Ignorance. This isn’t the “you’re so ignorant!” meaning of the word. I mean it in the truest sense of the word: El just lacks a lot of information in life. Most critically, she’s emotionally and socially unaware. A lot of her schemas for relationships come from TV shows and what little she picked up from Mike in season 1. She’s gotten somewhat better as the seasons moved on, but there’s just a lot she doesn’t know. This had led to her being suspicious, angry, and possessive (specifically of Mike), harming her relationships with others.

Max

Greatest Strength: Acceptance. Max doesn’t unduly judge anyone. Her issues with Mike stemmed from his treatment of her. Aside from that, some light teasing aside, she was more than happy to accept the Party as her friends. She didn’t let Lucas’ race get in the way of their mutual attraction, despite knowing what Neil and Billy would think about it. She wanted to be El’s friend from the start, and, despite being harshly rebuffed at first, she accepted El when she sought Max out in season 3. It’s really a testament to how determined she is to not continue the cycle that Neil and Billy brought into her life.

Greatest Weakness: Family. Honestly, Max’s biggest drawback is her home life. She’s worried that she may end up going down the same angry, abusive road as Billy and Neil. She’s mistrustful, snarky, and blunt even when not worked up, behaviors she likely developed due to exposure to Billy and Neil. She also seems to still love Billy despite his abusive behavior. This sort of family dynamic can be very damaging (and it was probably just as harmful to Billy). Hopefully, Max’s found family serves to offset the harm done by her “real” family.

Older Teens

Nancy

Greatest Strength: Determination. It must be a family trait. Nancy is relentless, and she will get to the truth of the matter, one way or another. Nobody, and indeed no monster, will keep her from what she’s after.

Greatest Weakness: Egocentrism. Nancy can easily lose sight of how things impact those around her. Her desire to prove herself has left her somewhat blind to the difficulties other people face. She has trouble relating to people from other situations.

Jonathan

Greatest Strength: Compassion. Jonathan has sacrificed a great deal for his family, and he’s apparent done it without any noticeable resentment. His treatment of Will resembles the ideal that a lot of parents hope for in their kids (though in reality Mike/Nancy or Lucas/Erica is the more realistic outcome). Jonathan just wants those important to him to be happy.

Greatest Weakness: Social Awkwardness. Jonathan has a great deal of trouble interacting with other people. This likely stems from his family situation, as his father leaving left his family as pariahs of sorts, and it also left him having to be a sort of father figure when he should have been able to be a regular teenager.

Steve

Greatest Strength: Courage. Yes, Steve has been freaked out by everything, but that’s irrelevant. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the ability to feel fear and not let it control you. Steve has willingly put himself in harm’s way for the sake of others in all three seasons. The only thing that scares Steve too much to overcome is social judgment...

Greatest Weakness: Insecurity. Yes, our buddy, King Steve, has self-esteem issues. This is why he’s always trying to play himself off as a hotshot. He’s simply too afraid to just be himself. Sadly, it’s only when he lets this guard down that he’s at his best. He’s made some stride at overcoming this, and I’m hopeful that he continues this in season 4.

Adults

Joyce

Greatest Strength: Ferocity. Do I even need to explain this? Do NOT threaten Joyce’s loved ones, especially Will. Just don’t.

Greatest Weakness: Emotional Reactivity. When stress hits Joyce, she reacts hard. It’s perfectly normal, given the level of stress she feels, but it leaves her seeming “crazy” and makes it hard for others to understand what she’s trying to get across. As a result, her message, warning, etc. is lost and her credibility is damaged. In less serious occurrences, she instead just comes across as belligerent or annoying, even though she’s generally right about whatever she’s on about.

Hopper

Greatest Strength: Compassion. Hopper is at his best when he’s trying to protect others. Despite having worked to close himself off from the world after his personal trauma, Hopper still feels compassion. He probably never wanted to feel anything for anyone again (perhaps why he returned to a boring town like Hawkins), but when tragedy struck it brought out the best in him. Though, that brings us to his weakness...

Greatest Weakness: Insensitivity. Perhaps ironically, Hopper’s weakness is the complete opposite of his strength. Hopper is a man who runs hot and cold. Which version of him that you get depends on his mood. If you get his bad side, prepare for harsh words, and perhaps harsher fists. This may help him get the job done at times, but it harms his relationships. He has a tremendous fear of loss, which results in him lashing out fiercely at those he cares for if they do something to that risks him losing them.

Ok, that’s the best I could come up with. I’d love to read other people’s thoughts on the matter.

#stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #lucas sinclair #dustin henderson #eleven #max mayfield #nancy wheeler #jonathan byers #steve harringrove #joyce byers #jim hopper

[dndaddyissues]

Hi there! My friends and I just started playing DnD and we want to play a second campaign (our current DM is not available a lot) but none of us have any DM experience (and we've all only done one campaign, our current one). Do you have any tips/resources on how to start DM'ing? I really don't know where to look/start😅 thanks already for replying! Love all the memes on your blog haha

hello! yes! i’ve answered similar asks here, here, and here, but i’ll also add onto those lists with these quick tips/reiterations:

- run a session 0. since you’re all friends already, you probably know each other pretty well, which is fantastic. but it never hurts to gauge what players want out of their dnd experience. do they wanna kill shit? do they want a politically intricate world? how about hot NPCs to romance? how about a post-apocalyptic setting overrun with monsters? meet your players where they’re at – some will have a deeper and more concrete understanding of what they desire, while others will likely just shrug and say “idk, i just wanna tell a story with friends.” both are fine. take notes during your session 0, and use it to design a campaign around your players’ “wish list.” you can also run character creation during this session 0, during which you should decide if your players all know each other already, if they’re just meeting for the first time, or a combination thereof. finally, a session 0 can be used to determine meeting frequency, scheduling logistics, and “squicks” – topics players want to avoid in the campaign. you can also introduce a “campaign menu” to your players during session 0, so your players can pick their favorite plot hook from it and you can plan your first session based on the characters they make surrounding the hook. easy peasy breezy beautiful  covergirl.

- control the pace. as the DM, you control the speed, tone, and pace of the story. if players are just sitting around, confused and unsure of what to do, throw an encounter at them. combat, roleplay, exploration, any of those things, all of those things. anything to move the story along. if your players take forever to get to the plot hook, bring the plot hook to them. if your players decide to split up, generate quick cuts between scenes so we don’t spend too much or too little time on one person. if your players are confused about a rule, you can spend 5-10 minutes looking it up and delaying gameplay – or you make an executive decision on the spot. just be sure to make it clear to your players that this is a quick ruling to move the story along, and that you will look up (and implement, if you want) the actual rule later.

- who’s afraid of the big bad railroad? ok, this might be controversial, but whatever. in my experience, a genuine “sandbox” campaign can be deeply frustrating and feel pointless if players are just running around, from waypoint to waypoint, killing dozens of goblins in random encounters that have no bearing on the greater world. that’s why i honestly prefer what people might mistakenly call a “railroad” campaign – basically this is just a campaign with concrete and visible goals in sight, and a cool “endgame confrontation” on the horizon. at the end of every session, your players should feel like they’ve accomplished something – or, at the very least, are on the way to accomplishing something. that often makes sessions more fun. 

- start in media res! ah, session 1, that most terrible and beautiful of sessions. nothing wrong with starting in a tavern – many of the most memorable campaigns start in one. but there’s also nothing wrong with starting in the middle of the action. this doesn’t necessarily have to be combat, though it certainly can be. throw your players into the middle of a plot-relevant situation, and see how they respond. they can be the main agents – perhaps they’ve stalked an evil wizard to this lair, and are facing down his horrific automatons at the top of  session 1. or they can be background characters, in a “wrong place wrong time” situation – they’re all in a fantasy elevator, a man walks in with a briefcase, the door closes, and the man falls to the ground, dead – with a dagger coming out of his back. your players get a chance to look at each other, talk this out, make decisions, before the elevator stops, the door opens, and there are a bunch of fantasy police and bystanders milling about. what do they do?

- take notes! TAKE NOTES! i’m really guilty of not doing this often enough. it’s my greatest vice. but yes, take notes during your sessions! what NPCs did you make up on the fly? what improvised magical items did you give your players? where are they going next? what information did they uncover? etc etc. write notes during natural pauses in the game, or when players are arguing with each other about which road to take.

- prepare! some GMs improvise everything. i am not one of those GMs, and i am terrified of them. when i improvise my sessions, they either turn out great or horrible. i’m a risk-averse person, so i want to avoid that coin toss. my solution? prepare my sessions in advance. if you have the time, draw out maps of big set piece battles you think might occur. prepare lists of NPCs that the PCs might encounter in an area you’re pretty sure they’re going to reach. write out some random plot hooks (brownie points if they’re related to the greater campaign story) just in case weird downtime occurs and the players feel lost /listless /confused. and, if you want, prepare a written narrative speech – brief, vivid, visual, and performative – for the beginning and maybe end of your session, vividly describing where your players are, what the environment’s like, what’s around them, and what they could do with this information. having a written “speech” (but no longer than a paragraph or two) ready for just the top of your session really helps make you seem like you have your shit together lol.

that’s all i can think of right now! what advice do other folks have?

#ask #dnd #dm tips #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd ideas #long post /

[transhitman]

TMA D&D Homebrew

So fellas, I’ve been working on a TMA dnd homebrew, and I thought I’d share what I have so far. I’m not sure if it’s balanced. I’ve never really delved deep into the rules of dnd, so I would love some input! I’ve been writing this with a modern setting in mind, and so far I’ve been working on the powers as warlock patrons. I have 5 done so far: Beholding, Buried, Corruption, Dark, and End. I also added a level 20 patron ability since there seems to be some kind of ascendance point where the avatars become irreversibly inhuman, and it felt a little anticlimactic to just have the final ability at level 14. I’ve also nerfed the actual spellcasting, so there are less spell slots, and the actual spells you can know (as well as the eldritch invocations) are limited by patron. It seemed fair since the actual patron abilities might be a little bit OP. I’m aiming to edit most of the other classes, but I might remove some classes altogether (druids wouldn’t really work IMO). I’ve also been trying trying to word in in a way that’s accessible to people who aren’t familiar with TMA, so it gets a bit verbose at times. It’s not meant to reflect cannon 100% accurately, but I did my best. I also made it so that a lot of abilities can be subject to house rules, and some abilities rely on the RP aspect of the game. If you end up using this stuff, feel free to edit it! Since it’s built around a modern universe, a lot of it might not fit with actual dnd lore. Anyway, the five “finished” patrons are under the cut. If you read, please tell me if I should keep on this track or if I should change some things up before I commit to it completely : )

THE BEHOLDING

Expanded Spell List

1st - Identify, Healing Word 2nd - Detect Thoughts, See Invisibility 3rd - Clairvoyance, Sending 4th - Arcane Eye, Divination 5th - Legend Lore, Modify Memory

Lv.1 - The Pen is Mightier

You are proficient in all intelligence skills, as well as the medicine and insight skills, and you may learn one extra language of your choice. In addition, when attacking, you may choose to use your intelligence modifier in place of your strength or dexterity.

Lv.6 - Media Consumption

The acquisition of new factual knowledge restores your strength and sustains your body. When you acquire a large amount of knowledge at any time, you may choose one of the following effects:

You heal yourself for 2d6 health. This increases to 2d8 at level 10, 2d10 at level 14, 3d10 at level 17, and 4d12 at level 20.

You negate any effects of exhaustion.

You regain expended spell slots in a quantity equal to your proficiency bonus.

For the next 24 hours, you don’t have to sleep in order to gain the benefits of a long rest, rather you may use the time to do non-strenuous activities.

You do not need to eat for the next 6 hours. If you were previously hungry, no are no longer hungry.

You gain a +1 bonus to dexterity for the next 6 hours.

The knowledge you gain in order to create this effect must be substantial. You can not simply google a list of facts and read them one at a time in order to abuse this ability. If you are reading the information, it must be a complete series of events that takes place over more than 5 minutes, or it must be an academic paper long enough that it would take a narrator at least 10 minutes to read out loud. You may read it more quickly to yourself and still gain the benefits if you are able. If a creature is telling you the information, it must sustain communication with you for at least 5 minutes or until its story has come to a close. If the new information you gain is related to true supernatural events, you may heal yourself for the maximum amount possible, or if you choose to use another ability, heal yourself for one warlock hit die + your constitution modifier. This ability can be used once per day.

Lv.10 - The Truth and Nothing But

If you ask a creature a question, they are compelled to answer truthfully no matter what. There is no limit to what kind of questions you can ask, or the amount of times you can ask a creature questions. A creature can only answer your question if it knows the answer. If a creature is aware of the nature of this compulsion, it may make wisdom save against your spell save DC. The player in control of the compelled creature makes the roll in secret. On a success, the creature resists your compulsion and may answer however it likes. This ability bypasses any spells that would normally prevent a similar compulsion. Creatures that don’t understand your language, or who can not speak are immune to the effects of this ability. You are automatically aware of this compulsion if it is used on you. Any acolyte of the Beholding has advantage when trying to resist the compulsion.

Lv.14 - Found in Translation

You are able to comprehend any language that exists, be it written, verbal, visual, digital, or psychic. However, you can not speak the language. If a humanoid is communicating in a way that is not a real language, you automatically know the general message it is trying to get across.

Lv.20 - The Watcher’s Crown

You look human, but no man could know such things. Choose a creature whose name you know or whose face you can recall with decent accuracy. No matter where they are, you can see and hear exactly what they are doing. This ability bypasses any anti-divination effects. While in the watcher state, you are aware of your own surroundings, but moving or focusing on a different subject breaks the effect of this ability. In addition, you have disadvantage on perception checks regarding your actual surroundings, and your AC drops to 10. The subject feels like they’re being watched, but has no way to detect you. Furthermore, if you are familiar with a subject, you may learn anything about their past, even things the subject does not know themselves, such as things that happened to them as a young child, or the feelings and memories of people they knew in the past. Using this ability, you may attempt to break the subject’s will by revealing information to them that they don’t want to hear, and planting detailed information in their minds. For example, you could show them how painfully one of their loved ones died, or you could tell them the reason their family hates them. Doing so will emotionally incapacitate the subject, the effect of which is up to the DM’s discretion. You can stay in the watcher state for as long as you can concentrate. You may use this ability once per short rest.

THE BURIED

Expanded Spell List

1st - Catapult, Earth Tremor 2nd - Dust Devil, Earthen Grasp 3rd - Erupting Earth, Meld Into Stone 4th - Stone Shape, Stone Skin 5th - Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone

Lv.1 - Deepsight

When in complete darkness, magical or not, you see your surroundings as vague, white outlines and shapes against a dark background, similar to a wireframe in animation. Creatures concealed by illusion magic still remain hidden, and your sight is not detailed. If you are lost in an enclosed space, such as a cave or subterranean building, a bright point of light will appear, leading you toward an exit.

Lv.6 - Architectural Nightmare

You are able to alter the architecture of the building you are currently in. You may choose a room that is no more than 20 ft wide, 20 ft tall, and 100 ft long. The alterations you make do not damage the structural integrity of the building, and the room returns to normal after a set amount of time. Choose one of the following effects to apply to the room:

The walls begin to slowly close in on the occupants at a rate no more than 12 ft per minute. The occupants must make a perception check to notice the moving walls, and will take no action to leave the room if they don’t notice it. (The creature may still leave the room for unrelated reasons.) If the creature notices, it will attempt to leave through the nearest possible exit. If it is unable to exit, the walls will close in on the target, trapping it in a tight box. While it is trapped, you may deal 2d6 bludgeoning damage per round until the creature drops to 0 hit points. If the creature dies, the walls return to their original place, and any objects in the room are also put back in place. If you choose to simply trap the creature, you may maintain concentration for up to an hour, after which the walls return to their original position at the same rate they closed in,

An empty room becomes a maze of small passages. The maze must have a path from one entrance to another, but can be as complex as you want it to be. If a creature attempts to navigate the maze, they will take an amount of time in minutes equal to your warlock level (a minimum of 6). You can extend this time by a minute by using your action to change the layout of the maze. You can change the layout an amount of times equal to your proficiency bonus. The maze lasts for an hour, until you dismiss it, or until you become incapacitated.

You create a stairway leading downward in any part of a room you occupy. This stairway ignores the layout of the building you’re in and can not be seen from the outside. It extends up to 500 ft underground and terminates in a plain oak door. The way down is shrouded in total darkness, and lights can not illuminate it for more than 5 ft. If you are not on ground level, your distance above the ground does not count toward the 500 ft limit. The door at the bottom of the stairs leads into the nearest man made underground structure. The door is locked to anyone aside from you and creatures you specify when you create the stairs. The entrance to the stairway lasts for only a minute after you cast it, but the stairs and the exit last until no creatures remain inside the space you created. Anything trapped in the stairway, such as creatures and objects, will be able to exit through the top of the tunnel again when you next use this ability. While within this space, creatures do not need to eat or drink. No health can be regained in this space, and for every hour a creature aside from you remains within, it takes 1d4 psychic damage until it has 1HP remaining. If you die while a creature is in this space, it is ejected in the empty space nearest to where you last used this ability.

You may remove all windows from a room, replacing them with walls that mimic the appearance of the rest of the room for 8 hours.

This ability can only be used in man made structures. You can use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.10 - Pressure Cooker

Choose a target. It makes a constitution save against your spell save DC. On a failure, roll a d10. The result of the roll determines the effects of the spell.

1: The target takes 1d10 bludgeoning damage.

2-3: The target takes 3d10 bludgeoning damage.

4-6: The target takes 3d10 bludgeoning damage and is knocked prone.

7-8: The target takes 1d12 bludgeoning damage every round for 4 rounds, and must make a constitution save against your spell save DC or be paralyzed.

9: The target takes 1d12 bludgeoning damage every round for 4 rounds, and is paralyzed for the duration.

10: The pressure hits, then reverses itself, creating a vacuum around the target. It takes 4d12 bludgeoning damage with the initial strike, then 2d6 fire damage as its blood boils inside its body. It is knocked prone.

On a successful save, the target takes 1d8 bludgeoning damage. You may use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.14 - Waking Grave

Choose a creature. If it is unwilling, it must make a wisdom save against your spell save DC. The creature is teleported into a box just big enough to fit it inside. For every minute that passes in real time, the creature in the box experiences 10. The creature has absolutely no way to contact anything outside the box, and while in the box is immune to any divination spells and psychic damage. It also does not have to eat, drink, or defecate, and it is unable to sleep. Every minute in box time (6 seconds real time), the creature may attempt to make a strength save against your spell save DC, though it does not have to. On a success, the creature frees itself from the box and reappears back in the real world, taking 1d6 piercing damage in the process. On a failure, the creature takes 2d8 piercing damage from splinters lining its coffin. If you so choose, you may summon the box into the real world. It appears where the creature was before it was teleported. All the same effects still apply, but you may move the box freely and it can be opened from the outside. The spell lasts for a week in real time, until you release the creature, or until the creature breaks free of its own volition. You may target only one creature at a time, but you can have up to 5 creatures trapped this way at once. Per long rest, you may use this feature a number of times equal to your charisma modifier.

Lv.20 - DIG.

Dig. The earth within 20 ft of you begins to sink at a rate of up to 10 ft per round, the ground at your feet sinking faster than the rest and creating a slope. The area becomes difficult terrain for any creature that is not an acolyte of the buried. You remain suspended above the center of the area and can not move until the hole stops sinking. If a creature who is not an acolyte of the buried starts its turn within the sinkhole or enters the sinkhole at any point during its turn, it must make a dexterity save against your spell save DC or slip 5 ft toward the center. Upon reaching the center of the hole, the creature is pulled beneath the earth and takes 3d12 piercing damage per round. A creature may use its action to make a dexterity or strength save against your spell save DC to pull itself out of the earth. The body of a creature that dies while in any part of the sinkhole is pulled beneath the earth and lost forever. The hole can be up to 100 ft deep. As an action on your turn while the spell is active, you can attempt to compel a creature to enter the sinkhole through a contest of charisma. If you succeed, the creature moves toward the hole to the best of its ability. The sinkhole lasts for 10 minutes, until you dismiss it, or you are incapacitated. When the spell ends, the earth reverts to its previous state with no trace of the hole. If a creature is submerged in the earth when the spell ends, it remains submerged but moves toward the surface as the ground returns to normal. In order to use this ability, you must be standing on unpaved ground. You can use this ability once per long rest.

THE CORRUPTION

Expanded Spell List

1st - Detect Poison and Disease, Ray of Sickness 2nd - Acid Arrow, Lesser Restoration 3rd - Life Transference, Stinking Cloud 4th - Giant Insect, Vitriolic Sphere 5th - Contagion, Insect Plague

Lv.1 - We Swarm

You are immune to all disease and resist poison damage. Eusocial insects, rodents, and birds associated with disease or scavenging are drawn to you. As an action, if such creatures are within 120 ft of you, you may command them to take one of the following actions on your behalf:

Attack a creature. Make a ranged spell attack. On a hit, the swarm deals 1d4 piercing damage and 1d4 poison damage. The damage for both damage types is increased to 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 10th level, 1d10 at 14th level, and 1d12 at 20th level.

Scout out an area that you can’t reach. Upon their return, you know the general layout of the area, how many creatures are in the area, and the location of any traps in the area.

Cover any artificial light sources.

Swarm a creature and attempt to frighten it. The target makes a constitution save against your spell save DC. If it fails, it is frightened for a minute or until it takes damage.

Per long rest, you may take this action a number of times equal to your warlock level.

Lv.6 - Taken Ill

Choose a creature. It makes a constitution save against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it suffers one level of exhaustion and takes double damage from poison attacks for the next 12 hours. The sickness can not be cured by non-magical means. You may use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.10 - Subdermal Residents

A colony of eusocial insects of your choice has made its home inside your body. Most of your organs have stopped working. You have resistance to piercing and necrotic damage. You no longer need to eat, drink, or sleep. These insects are vital to your survival, so you must protect them and keep track of how many units you have left. Losing 70% of them inflicts one point of exhaustion on you, and losing all of your swarm will result in your death. Using your swarm, as an action, you can use one of the following abilities:

Your swarm revitalizes you. Recover 1d8 heath for every 10% of your swarm that remains. This increases to 1d12 at level 15. You lose 1d4x10% of your swarm.

You may sacrifice 1d12 health to regain 10% of your swarm.

Your swarm eats through a barrier. It takes a base time of 15 minutes, with one minute subtracted for every 10% of your swarm that remains. This causes you to lose 5% of your swarm for every inch they bore through.

Make a ranged spell attack. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 poison damage and 1d6 piercing damage for every 10% of your swarm that remains. This causes you to lose 20% of your swarm. Both types of damage increase to 1d12 at level 15.

Your swarm protects you. You may use your reaction to negate all physical damage of one attack at the expense of 20% of your swarm.

When you kill an enemy, insects burst from the corpse. You regain 1d4x5% of your swarm.

Your swarm lies in wait for its next victim. You can plant a trap that deals 3d12 poison damage when it is triggered at the expense of 30% of your swarm.

Your swarm stows away in a person’s belongings. You may track a creature over a distance of up to 50 miles at the expense of 10% of your swarm.

The first time you drop to 0HP while over 50% of your swarm remains, you are automatically stabilized. A return to full health restores the use of this ability. During a short rest, you regenerate 20% of your swarm, and during a long rest you regenerate 50%. If you have access to meat of any kind, you may use it to regenerate you swarm at any time you aren’t in combat, regaining 1% of your swarm per pound of meat.

Lv.14 - Fetid Aura

Any time a creature within 30 ft of you takes damage, you may add 1d8 poison damage to the attack. This increases to 1d10 at level 17, and to 1d12 at level 20. Furthermore, if an ally within 30 ft of you takes poison damage, they may roll the same die and reduce the damage by the rolled amount.

Lv. 20 - Postmortumorphasis

For all intents and purposes, you have become your swarm. You are immune to poison, piercing, and necrotic damage. You may now exceed 100% of your swarm, and all attacks you make with your swarm deal an extra 1d12 psychic damage. If you die and have at least 5% of your swarm left, you have 1 hour to find a new host. The host can be any living human. In order to infect a person, at least one of your bugs must burrow into the hosts flesh for at least a minute. From the time of infection, it takes you a week to fully infest the new body and take control. While completing your infection, you can compel your host to perform the tasks you want through a contest of charisma. Once your infestation is complete, your host will die and you will have complete control of their husk. The new body takes on the stats your original body had, but you can’t alter your appearance. You may also attempt to infect others with this method while you are still alive. If you manage to do so, the creature retains its own will, but becomes a new acolyte of the corruption, and thus entirely loyal to it. You may have only one such infection in progress at a time, and such an infection takes a month rather than a week.

THE DARK

Expanded Spell List

1st - Faerie Fire, Sleep 2nd - Blindness/Deafness, Pass Without Trace 3rd - Blink, Nondetection 4th - Black Tentacles, Greater Invisibility 5th - Mislead, Teleportation Circle

Lv.1 - Shadowcery

You do not have darkvision, but you have a 6th sense with which to navigate the dark. You can sense creatures and objects up to 30ft around you, and if a creature you’re familiar with is in the dark with you, you know exactly who and where it is up to 60 ft away. You have command over the shape and darkness of shadows. You can not create new shadows or erase shadows, but can extend existing shadows up to 10 ft as an action. While in shadows (dim light or total darkness), your speed increases by 5 ft. This increases to 10 ft at level 10.

Lv.6 - Blackout

You can snuff light sources with a thought. Roll a d10. The result determines the result:

1: Light bulbs within 10 ft of you flicker for a minute.

2-3: Light bulbs within 10ft of you burn out instantly, and those within 15 ft of you flicker for a minute.

4-5: Light bulbs within 20 ft of you burn out instantly, and any torch-sized fires within 10 ft of you are snuffed. Flashlights cease to work for a minute.

6-7: Light bulbs within 30 ft of you burn out instantly, light bulbs within 50 ft of you flicker for 5 minutes, and any campfire-sized fires within 30 ft of you are snuffed. Flashlights cease to work for 5 minutes.

8-9: Light bulbs within 60 ft of you burn out instantly, any campfire-sized fires within 60 ft of you are snuffed, and any screen that emits light bluescreens for 5 minutes. Flashlights cease working for a half hour.

10 - Light bulbs within 60 ft of you explode. Bonfire-sized fires within 60 ft of you are snuffed. Flashlights cease working for an hour. All electronic devices show static for 10 minutes.

You may use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.10 - Antilight

Choose a point within 30 ft of you. This point emanates darkness for 120 ft in all directions. The dark acts as light does, being blocked by opaque objects and diffused by translucent ones. Where the dark is blocked from reaching, light can still shine, but the dark does not create new light. Concentrated beams of light (strong flashlights) can penetrate the dark, but fade away after 5 ft. While in this darkness, your shadowcery extends to any place the antilight touches. Creatures with darkvision can only see half as far, and divination spells, including The Watcher’s Crown, have a 50% chance of being blocked. The darkness lasts for 10 minutes. As an action, you can move the antilight source up to 30 ft per turn. The antilight dissipates if you are incapacitated. You can use this ability once per long rest.

Lv.14 - Predatory Dark

You can make shadows tangible, and very, very aggressive. As an action, on your turn, if a creature is within 10 ft of a shadow or within an area of darkness, you can make a spell attack roll against that creature. On a hit, deal 3d10 necrotic or cold damage to the target. Once you have successfully dealt damage to a target, the shadows latch onto it and deal 1d10 necrotic damage per round for 5 rounds, or until you dismiss it. On its turn, the target may try to make a strength save against your spell save DC. On a success, the shadows detach and you regain an amount of health equal to the damage the shadow dealt. If a creature dies while the shadow is attached to it, choose another target. The shadows automatically attach to that creature and you gain 20HP instantly. The health you regain stacks until the shadows return to you. Per long rest, you can use this ability a number of times equal to your charisma modifier. This ability deals an extra 2d8 damage when used in tandem with antilight.

Lv.20 - Sandman

Pray the Sandman only brings you sleep. Choose a creature. That creature must make a wisdom save against your spell save DC. On a success, the creature takes 3d10 psychic damage and falls asleep for 10 minutes, until its allies rouse it, or until it takes damage. On a failed save, the creature falls into a deep state of sleep paralysis. It can not be roused by any means short of your own will. While in this state, the target begins its hallucinations. It sees a creature, the sandman, carrying a sack. Black sand flows from its mouth, warping the world where it touches until there is nothing left. Darkness surrounds the target, pressing in around it everywhere but their eyes. The creature takes 30 psychic damage per round for 10 rounds or until it escapes or dies. While in the nightmare state, the creature can perform actions on itself (such as healing), but not on any other creature. As a bonus action, the target can attempt to break free by rolling a d20, to varying effects:

20: The target breaks free.

17-19: The target breaks free and is blinded for 24 hours.

14-15: The target breaks free and is blinded for a week.

2-13: The target remains trapped in the hallucination.

1: The target breaks free, takes 1d10 slashing damage, and is blinded permanently.

The blindness inflicted by this ability can not be healed by any means short of replacing the damaged eyes. If an acolyte of the beholding rolls a 1 to escape, they are blinded for a week, and lose the use of one eye rather than suffer total permanent blindness.

THE END

Expanded Spell List

1st - False Life, Wrathful Smite 2nd - Healing Spirit, Silence 3rd - Feign Death, Revivify 4th - Aura of Life, Death Ward 5th - Raise Dead, Cone of Cold

Lv.1 - Life’s a Game

Once, you gambled for a second chance at life. You won, and thus were damned. You have advantage when playing any kind of game that involves chance. If you are subject to an effect that would normally insta kill you, you can still make your death saves. Once per long rest when you drop to 0 HP, you return to life with 5% of your maximum health instead. You no longer age.

Lv. 6 - Planchet

As an action, point at a creature you can see. You now know exactly how much HP it has, any disease or injury it suffers from, how many people it has killed, and in certain cases, how it is fated to die. Using this ability on an ally reveals the source of its next injury to it, and grants it a +1 to AC until its next turn. Using this ability on a corpse reveals the wound it died from, but nothing more. The creature you use this ability on knows that you cast a spell on it.

Lv.10 - Rigor Mortis

Death does not come easy to someone like you. You gain a +2 bonus to AC and are resistant to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (chose one). Any time you are healed, add your constitution modifier to the amount healed.

Lv.14 - Cauterize Emotions

You and any ally within 30 ft of you is immune to the frightened condition. As an action, you may choose a target. The target makes a wisdom save against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature does not feel emotion for 24 hours and becomes incapacitated. On a critical failure, choose an emotion. The creature can not feel that emotion ever again. A creature can only ever have one emotion cauterized. You may take this action once per long rest.

Lv.20 - Exxus

You are death incarnate, and you don’t have to play by your own rules. You literally can not be killed by anything short of having your soul destroyed. If you fail your death saving throws, your body appears dead until you are sufficiently healed. Even in the event of the total destruction of your body, part of you is guaranteed to survive and find a way to rise to full power once again. You may extend this immortality to one other creature. The creature you choose becomes exempt from death. They cease aging and gain the benefits of your Life’s a Game and Rigor Mortis abilities, and if their body should die, their ghost becomes bound to you for as long as your soul remains intact. In exchange, they become entirely loyal to The End. You can grant immortality only once, and it can not be revoked. Chose wisely.

#the magnus archives #dnd homebrew #not art #long post

[cielleduciel]

I have some sensitive questions, and you totally don’t need to answer if they’re too much, but here they are. Did you ever struggle w internal homophobia? If so, how did you manage to overcome it?? And my last question: any tips for softly breaking it to Albanian parents? I know people are individuals but its still the same culture so..

• Same anon as before!! I am an 18-year-old girl that was born and raised in the US. Thank you so much, and take as much time as you need to answer.

• I would also like to add that I’ve struggled with this for a pretty long time now (since I was around 12), so it’s not like I realized my preferences just recently. For years I’ve been telling myself that it’s just a phase or I’m just starved of affection (so I’m looking for it in the wrong place) or that I just haven’t met the right guy yet. I feel disgusted with myself, and it’s very tiring and emotionally consuming. Add in my Albanian relatives on top of it, and I’m just done with it all.

thanks for your patience anon, this last week’s been a bit hectic for me

first off i’m flattered by that first question, bc i was the most self-hating repressed closet gay i knew. i started off as that kid that was like “i don’t have a problem with gay people i just don’t think they should get married and i hate it when they ‘act’ gay”. i went through three boyfriends and two different sexual orientations before i finally accepted i was a lesbian, which took me until april of last year. so if that’s hard to imagine then i know i’m doing good for myself, and maybe it can give you some reassurance too

tbh i don’t think any of us can ever actually avoid or stop struggling with internalized homophobia, given that we’re all inundated with those messages every day in big or small ways. i think at best i just learned how to stop listening to it so much. it took me a really long time though and honestly at your age you’re already way ahead of me than i was, the questions you’re asking yourself now are ones i couldn’t bear to face even in my early 20s

my personal struggle has been very much connected to my family and growing up as a 1½-gen albanian immigrant. if your family and upbringing are anything like mine, then you might understand, and they’re probably just as closely related to your struggle as well. don’t take what i say here as gospel since this is all from personal experience and i’m not even 100% where i want to be yet. but i know how lonely it is for us out there, so i’ll try to be as real with you as i can without getting too personal (idk if this readmore will work on mobile so my apologies and just scroll down really fast @ anyone not reading this)

first thing: don’t be in a rush to tell your parents, even if you’re an adult, and especially if you’re still dependent on them. i assume you’re asking for tips because you already know or have reason to suspect that they won’t take it well. and if you’re still struggling to accept yourself, your parents’ & relatives’ opinions are the last thing you need to be worrying about right now (i know easier said than done we’re albanian i Understand but like. trust me)

second: i really think learning how to stop listening to that internalized homophobia is just a slow process of learning to normalize your feelings in opposition to it. truly the most important thing i did for myself was surround myself with other bi/lesbian women as a way to counter everything else in my life that was telling me to hate myself. the key here is that i did that for years. the logic goes like this: if my world was already and will always be filled with heteronormativity and homophobia, then to fight it, i needed a space i could come back to that’s filled with what i needed to see and could make it feel as normal as i logically knew it was

i didn’t have the freedom to reach out to others IRL so i sought out bi/lesbian women online and immersed myself in those communities. i filled my online spaces with people like me who could show me every day that what i was feeling was genuine, normal, healthy, whole, positive, and worth embracing. when i really began to internalize that, self-confidence and assurance just kind of naturally followed, which made it easier to shout down and ignore the Internalized Homophobia Gremlin in my brain

another thing too, and this’ll sound silly. idk if you’re into video games but they were also a big part of my normalization process. i love role-playing games and for years i used them as a private, risk-free, judgment-free way to “experiment” with women and allow my feelings to “run free” after repressing/ignoring them for so long. i personally know other LGBT people who discovered themselves in similar ways (through DnD, for example). something to consider if that’s your thing. but media of all kinds can be powerful normalizing tools too, if you can find decent ones to your liking 

i had to be really patient and gentle with myself though, and you’ll have to be too bc there really is no quick fix, we’re up against years of internalizing this crap since we were born, basically. do whatever you need to fight against it though, bc there is literally, objectively, nothing wrong with you. you deserve to be happy just as you are, you deserve love and to be able to find it with another woman, and remember you’re never alone in this even if it feels like you are. i think that’s the most powerful reminder

back around to your last question, worry about coming out to your parents when you’re on more solid ground, bc it doesn’t sound like you are rn. everyone’s parents are different but as a general rule i’ve found that when trying to broach a difficult subject, you really need to have your back up against a point that you refuse to budge on, and plant yourself there. you can negotiate or make arguments around it but you need that one point that you’re absolutely sure of where you’ll always hold your ground

in coming out to them, that point needs to be your identity and everything attached to it, so your confidence and sense of self need to be as solid and unmoving as a fucking mountain so that they can’t dig into you and undermine your conviction. esp bc tbh it’s entirely likely that you’ll have to have that conversation several times. so that’s why i stress working on yourself first. for your own sake, don’t jump the gun on this

also, it’ll be much easier on you if you’re not always stuck under the same roof, or at least not totally dependent on them. and i know that’s tough and complicated because a lot of us never truly “move out”, per se, and it’s normal for us to stay with our parents/family for a very long time. but if you can find a way, arrange something with friends, etc., i find it really helps with your general confidence to know you have somewhere else you can go unconditionally, without restrictions. and i don’t mean “rush to move out as soon as you can”, bc like i said, i know that’s hard on us for many reasons and it may hurt you more than you think it will. but if it’s a point you can get to eventually, it does help

after all this, if/when you eventually do decide to come out, i recommend you tell only one of your parents at first. whichever one you’re closer with or find easier to talk to (i’d say ideally whoever’s the least homophobic but like. lmao). do it privately and when you’re both in a good mood. i find altogether this makes the atmosphere less confrontational and more personal, a show like you’re “confiding” in them moreso than making an announcement. depending on how it goes i think you can adjust your strategy from there 

even still, i can’t say with any confidence that it will go over well, but it’s as gentle a way to break it to them as i know. if on the very off chance you have another relative who you know is sympathetic and won’t go telling the entire rest of the family immediately, i’d say try reaching out to them first, as it’ll give you “practice” talking about it and they may be able to advise you about your own parents better than i can, as well as support you directly. but even this i would only do after you’re more confident in yourself and your identity

in the end, keep in mind that you don’t have to come out either. it’s not like a requirement for loving yourself. many of us stay closeted to our families for a very long time simply bc it’s safer, easier, and smarter wrt our situations. again, i know that’s complicated because of how tight-knit our families are traditionally, and how much we may want to remain close to them for cultural reasons. at some point it may make it difficult to hide (my mom started suspecting i liked girls before i even knew i liked girls. it was scary). but like, i’m 27 and i’m still not out to most of my family (my dad doesn’t even know). it doesn’t stop me from being a proud albanian lesbian, or from having and maintaining a happy & healthy relationship with my girlfriend. it doesn’t have to stop you either

and…. i think that’s really all i can say. sorry for taking so long and also for talking so much. i hope i could help even a little, or if not, at least offer some reassurance. it’s a good sign that you’re reaching out and trying to get a handle on your feelings, so keep at it, and remember you’re not alone out there. there are so many of us in the world living our lives and trying to build a future and support each other. i really think you’ll be fine

#asks #blog chatter #long post

[rahkshirock]

please take my advice, as an absolute dumbass with a shockingly high IQ: neither of those contribute towards having a personality.

what do I mean by that? well...

I got tested at a university at 11 years old, and again at 17 when I was ready to go into college, and my iq score is 156, a very respectable score, and one I put on my college applications. I am fantastic at fast math, problem solving, three dimensional thinking, reading comprehension, and pattern recognition

I then failed out of college after a semester and a half, having passed no courses due to undiagnosed mental and physical health problems.

so! recovering from that, I tried, instead of being extremely competitive and debitive in conversations, to make new friends by being a loveable, relateable, self-deprecating self-proclaimed dumbass, but one that can tell funny puns!

that ended up depressing not only other people, but also myself.

what Has earned me friends is my effort to improve myself. to listen to others. to check out things they enjoy and try to have discussions that include rather than compete, to go to movies and play dnd and read books, not out of intellectual superiority, but in order to come out with an experience that I can share with others, or that I can simply enjoy on its own merits.

also? my self-respect has improved greatly for having done that. I’ve stopped being a sort of sad clown, and actually work to dig myself emotionally out of the crater I blasted myself into in my teenage years, even if i’m still physically trapped here. I shower every day and wear deodorant even though I hardly ever go anywhere, because even if no-one else smells me today, I Will, and I Deserve Better. 

like, there is a place you can reach (and I am not anywhere close to neurotypical saying this, fuck off) where your self worth is both high, and not based on being at the top of a hierarchy via putting others down, and ive never felt more at peace than now. 

like, I used to consider myself a gamer right? I used to try to beat everything on hard and got frustrated and depressed if I didn't succeed at anything, because the whole point of playing for me was to beat the game and put that accomplishment on my shelf: I beat Dark Souls, therefore I am good

then after I collapsed, I quit playing altogether. I convinced myself I had an addiction and that video games were the reason I failed at everything (wild guilty conscience based Christian upbringing) and I quit.

but that left me with very few coping mechanisms since I couldn't access any actual treatment for my issues, leaving my brain to chew itself over with guilt since I had nothing to distract myself with when idle.

now? I play when I feel like im overwhelmed and I have the time, which is usually. I’ve played through a bunch of stereotypically brutal games not because I have to, but because its a good challenge to keep me occupied. it helps. it is something to talk about, but all that said, it isn't a personality trait. its a fun tool.

I don't know where I was trying to go with this. its 2:am. gnight.

[crasherfly]

I thought I’d have something important to talk about today...

About 30 minutes into my therapy appointment I had run out of things to talk about. I had done my best to summon...something...anything...to the surface.

But I had nothing. I got nothing for this space either.

I’m doin’ fine. Like, I’m not any worse than normal or anything. I just...am having kinda a blank week/month. It happens.

I’m trying to get back into running now that the gym is closed. It’s hell. I miss my weights. I know I’m going to be okay. It’s just going to take some time to really get my head around this. There are bigger problems in the world than my personal fitness and self-image. I have better safeguards in place for myself, emotionally, so I know I’ll come out of this better than I did during the the start of the pandemic. I’m taking this as an opportunity to improve and come out stronger in a different way.

I’m still sober. Haven’t decided if I’ll have a beer or two for Thanksgiving. I didn’t give this much thought when I started. But now I’m here. I guess I’ll have more thoughts when and if I end this streak. I wouldn’t say that it’s been a lifechanging experience, but it’s been good to break routines and try something new.

Haven’t done much else beyond the usual gaming and other nonsense. More on that below. :)

Aight let’s talk about games.

I picked up a new TV this week at Best Buy! I’m uh, like, a third of the way ready for the new generation!  If it’s a bad tv, please don’t @ me. We got the one that made the most sense for us.

Now just gotta find a Series X and a Yamaha receiver that can do 4k. Simple. Right? RIGHT?

Had sorta a light week for games. I worked a lot on DND stuff this week- more on that below, or, if you’re especially curious, you can find my DND blog HERE.

Red Dead Redemption 2 (PS4)

I’m not sure what prompted me to get back to the world of Red Dead Redemption 2. I had no prior inkling that there would be anything newsworthy happening in RDR2- but of course, we now know that soon Red Dead Online will be a stand-alone game of its own, the single player campaign relegated to the backseat as an add-on feature.

I first spent time with the single player world. Needless to say, spoilers to follow here, so if you’re still behind on this game’s story- well, read no further.

Still with me? Great. Okay, so it’s no shock that Arthur dies at the end of RDR2. It had to happen. It’s a damn shame because i found him infinitely more relatable than John Marston of the original game, but to each their own. 

Arthur dies and you go through a kind of reset where you take over the story, such as what’s left of it, as John Martson. It’s a bit of a momentum killer, from a power curve point of view, but from a narrative view- it’s necessary. The ending to the main “campaign” is pretty good. You get revenge and the story wraps up nicely in anticipation for the the start of the game that...released a generation ago.

I...okay, I’m not getting into this here. This isn’t about my thoughts on the campaign, which I swear are mostly positive! (I actually think RDR2′s story is far and away superior to the first game’s, and it’s not a close contest, prequel issues aside) This is about why I came back to RDR2.

I guess I needed a big, immersive game world to get lost in for a while. And RDR2 certainly offers that. It doesn’t quite have the variety of its big brother, Grand Theft Auto 5. And it isn’t nearly as spontaneous as say, Yakuza 0. But it is still very, very big and chock full of narrative secrets. So much so that I found myself surprised by how much game was still there after the final credits rolled.

I took my hand at bounty hunting, bought a few new pieces of equipment I hadn’t seen before, and trolled around towns as a downtrodden, violence prone John Marston. I found some new secrets I hadn’t seen before, including a couple of cinematic moments with characters from the previous story. It was fun! I killed probably...5-7 hours just trolling around the virtual West. 

I will say it got a little tiring hearing everyone I met tell me how great a guy the previously killed protagonist was. Like. I know he was great! I played as him! I wish I still was! Ah well. 

This experience has me thinking about how...SERIOUSLY...we analyzed RDR2 when it first came out. Like, the discourse surrounding this game’s narrative experience was freaking BREATHLESS. But I think something that got lost in all that talk about the story- and more importantly- the culture of the studio behind it- is just how incredible the world they built really is. 

The world the devs for RDR2 built is simply...massive. Massive to the point that it might actually be unknowable. The only scale I can think to compare it is that of the Bethesda RPGs, and even then, that feels like a rough comparison.

Of course, size isn’t everything. They have to populate the world too, and again, they manage to do so with striking detail. Every city, town and settlement feels real. I mean, I still remember the first time I rode into Valentine and was struck in the face by the sheer choreography of it all. It actually made me want to make my character WALK instead of run, ‘cuz I didn’t want to break the immersion of the moment. That’s the arresting power of this game world.

Rockstar announced that the RDO experience will live on for at least the foreseeable future. There’s going to be plenty more written about the culture of Rockstar and the indulgent microtransactions that their games are trending toward. I’ll leave that to the journalists. 

But as a player? I’m glad the game world will continue to find life. It’s too massive, too finely crafted to merely be discarded by something as arbitrary as the passage of gaming “generations”, if that’s even really a thing anymore.

I have more thoughts specifically on playing Red Dead Online, but I’ll have to save them as this is already running long as it is. I also don’t think my thoughts are terrible revealing. You know what RDO is gonna be when you log in, and for the most part, that’s what you get. I think it has fewer problems than GTAO, but it is still a tightly controlled experience- likely by design.

Muse Dash (PC)

Muse Dash is a rhythm game where you tap a combination of 2-3 keys on your keyboard to the beat of a catch J-Pop song. Your character, or muse, on screen, dispatches foes who serve as visual cues for your keystrokes. You must string together as many perfect sequences as possible. There’s a combo meter and HP system in there too, if you’re into that kind of thing.

I first encountered Muse Dash on V-tuber Gawr Gura’s livestream. Unfortunately, the video appears to be missing from her archive now. I was struck by how much its short, energetic tracks reminded me of a different rhythm gaming experience- Dance Dance Revolution.

Fun fact- I used to be a DDR FIEND back in my high school days. Had my own mat and everything. I even used a barstool for extra support so I could hit those really intense combos.

*sigh* To be young and able to play DDR without risking a heart attack...

Anyway, suffice to say Muse Dash caught my eye. An endless supply of J-pop tracks, cute anime visuals, and some low-key rhythm gameplay? Tag me in!

It’s made for a good, chill change of pace. The price of entry is low...like, five bucks on steam? And you can purchase more songs if you’re into that. I recommend it!

Dungeons and Dragons: Ghosts of Saltmarsh

As I said above, most of my freetime last week went into prepping for my local DND group’s campaign set in the world of Saltmarsh.

If you really want to hear a play-by-play, I’ve linked my related blog above. 

Overall? I really enjoy the world of Saltmarsh. It’s spooky and moody. There’s pirates, but there’s also no shortage of sea monsters, ghosts, cultists and even vampires to keep you busy. It has strong Dark Shadows feels, where many of its included modules feel reliant dramatic tension and investigation ahead of a dramatic showdown with a big, bad monster of the week.

 I still have a lot more prep to do, but at least for the moment, I can take a breath and ease up. The first session went well and the players seem curious. I hope that keeps up as we really start to dig in to the world itself. I’ve never run a full city before, and finding ways to insert all the separate modules as plothooks has been a challenge unto itself. I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes!

Anime

I haven’t watched much lately, and that admittedly sucks. I tend to go in phases, and lately, my time just hasn’t been going to anime the way it has in other seasons. 

I’m still very into Jujutsu Kaisen and am tracking with the season ending to Fire Force. I’m avoiding season 2 of Re:Zero like the plague, partially because I need to wait until the full season is done so I don’t have to torture myself by waiting week to week, and partially because I just know season 2 is going to absolutely destroy me in ways I’m not sure I can fundamentally handle right now.

I keep meaning to go through my queues and create a proper watchlist across VRV, Crunchyroll and Funimation. Maybe I’ll do that later tonight.

That’s all for this week! Hope everyone has a good and safe Thanksgiving.

Haven’t played anything on multiplayer for a while now. As always, if you have a specific game you’d like to play online, my DM’s are open. Please feel free to send me an invite <3

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

Resource Management, pt28

Word Count: Tags: @supermoonpanda @rayleyanns @sistasarah-sallysaidso @feelmyroarrrr @anyakinamidala @dirajunara @little-study-bug @rampant-salamander @goodnightwife @samaxraph99 @anotherotter  @outside-the-government @kingarthurscat @coyote-in-space @originalpottervengerlock @dolamrothianlady @curiositywillbethedeathofme @superheroesofbothuniverses @mtriestowrite @wanderingkat77

Author’s Note: OMG EDMONTON!!! You know people who live there!!

From Yorkton I pushed through to Edmonton. I sent a quick message to Tony asking if the caretaker was going to buy groceries for me when I checked into my hotel. His response was quicker than usual. Either he was concerned about me going shopping, or he was anticipating the question.

“Yes, the house is stocked. Is there anything special that you want that can’t be purchased in town?” He had told me that he’d spent quite a bit of time at his cabin, so he knew what kind of groceries were available there. I’d grown up two hours away from the village nearest the cabin, and also knew what kind of groceries weren’t available there.

“Is he willing to drive into the city and go to Costco? I’ve got a fruit list a mile long.”

“Forward me your usual weekly menu and I’ll make sure the food is there. I don’t want you stopping in the city.”

“Yes Dad.” I powered down and hit the bed. The short nights were wearing on me, and I was exhausted. But I was so close. If I stuck to the speed limit, I would pass through my hometown in about ten hours of driving, which should put me at the cabin within twelve. But in my experience, it only took me eight hours to get home from Edmonton. And I’d driven that road a lot. I’d done my undergrad at the University of Alberta, and had headed home every free chance I had. I could probably sleep while driving; I knew the road so well.

I slept longer than I’d expected, waking at five am. I showered quickly and packed up my things into the jeep. There was a Tim Horton’s beside my hotel, and I went in to get breakfast and a coffee for the road. I had just paid and was heading out when a short woman bumped into me.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t spill on you, did I?” I asked. She looked over herself and looked up at me.

“No, I walked into you, I apologize.” She looked up at me and a flash of recognition crossed her face. “Anna Ellis, right? We did Shakespeare together. Samantha King.” She spoke quickly, and that was actually all I remembered about her. Well, and she had a big mouth. And she didn’t understand Shakespeare at all.

“No, you must have me confused with someone else.” I affected my best D.C. accent and shook my head. She tilted her head skeptically and looked at me like she was taking in every detail of my appearance.

“You look just like her. Except the hair, Anna is blonde. She went somewhere to the States for grad school. Are you sure you aren’t her? It would explain the accent.” Sam King had also been like a dog worrying a rat when she thought she was right, I recalled. I sighed heavily.

“Statistics suggest there are six people in the world who look the same as you. Your friend must be one of my six. I’ve never been here before. I’m on furlough and wanted to see Alaska,” I lied smoothly. She raised an eyebrow.

“You know you’re in Alberta? Not Alaska?”

“I’m driving. From the east coast.”

“Wow, and you haven’t been recalled? We recalled most of our troops after the big SHIELD collapse. I work for the DND. I’m sure that all American military personnel have been recalled.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a phone. With a few flicks, she nodded. “I knew I had an email about it. Yes, all NATO personnel are on alert and have been recalled to home bases. Do you need me to help you get into touch with your commanding officer? We can have you on a flight out this afternoon.”

“I’m sorry, what gave you the impression that I was military?” I was on the verge of panicking. I took a slow breath and tried to mask the shock and dread of my discovery.

“You said furlough instead of vacation, I just –“

“It’s a very specific term, I know, confusing. I’m not military. My husband was, I’ve never got out of the habit. I’m on holidays.” I smiled, blurting the words out. I hoped my words would imply enough that she backed off.

“Was?” She asked and then her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh god, I’m sorry.”

“I really have to get back on the road.” I pushed past her and headed out the door. When I got to the jeep, I made my way out of the city as quickly as possible. I called Tony as soon as I was on the highway west.

“Why are you phoning? You haven’t phoned yet.” His voice was tinny through the speakerphone.

“I ran into someone I went to university with while I was getting breakfast. I think I convinced her I wasn’t me, but the woman has the biggest mouth in the universe, and works for the DND. I know she’s going to talk to someone,” I blurted. I heard Tony’s sigh of resignation.

“I wasn’t expecting this from Edmonton. Name?” He asked.

“Samantha King,” I breathed. I reached for my breakfast sandwich and took a bite.

“I’ve got it. Anything else?”

“Do you know if Erin is okay?” I asked. I’d been thinking about her a lot as I drove. Her boyfriend was awarded a position on one of the Insight carriers. So he was likely HYDRA. I had to wonder if she was too.

“She took a bullet in the shoulder when everything went down. Apparently one of the old broads in your office was HYDRA.” He sounded tired.

“But she’s alive?” I persisted.

“She’s alive. Should be out of the hospital tomorrow. How’s the drive been?” Tired, but reassuring nonetheless.

“Long. I’m exhausted, Tony. I’ve been trying to avoid the news as much as possible, so I’m not really sure what’s going on, but even in the podunk towns people are talking about SHIELD and HYDRA,” I offered. It had been weird to hear people talking about it while I gassed up the vehicle in the middle of nowhere, somewhere west of Saskatoon.

“The global fall-out has been pretty profound. The World Security Council is trying to place all the blame on SHIELD and there’s a lot of innocent people who are going to be affected by that. You’re kind of all out of jobs at this point. I hired Hill this morning.” He was back to speaking at his usual over-caffeinated speed. I found it particularly hard to follow, as I was so incredibly tired.

“I should probably go focus on the road, Tony,” I sighed, “thanks again.”

“Anytime, kiddo. Remember. No more stops except for gas.”

My heart started to get tight as I left the rolling farmland west of Edmonton behind and headed into the Rockies. The mountains around Jasper had been the playground of my summer vacations. I had so many memories of my dad taking me hiking and camping, climbing the craggy rocks, learning to build a campfire using nothing but a single match and what I could find around the campsite. Roasting marshmallows over the same fire I had triumphantly started, the hot melty sweetness of the marshmallows dripping down my fingers and chin. I could feel myself tearing up when Mt. Robson came into view, and I pulled off to use the washroom and get a snack. I found a picnic bench near the parking lot, and sat there, eating my bag of chips and drinking my coke, staring up the mountain remembering my last trip with my dad.

It was the summer before my last year of undergrad in university, and we hadn’t gone camping in at least a couple of years. Dad was considering early retirement, and wanted to go for a hiking trip to get the fresh air into his lungs before he made any final decisions. Mum had accepted that was how my dad worked years ago. He’d gestate an idea until he could practically birth it, all eventualities intact and considered, and one of the steps to getting there was getting out into nature, using his hands, relying on his wit and instinct. I loved trips where he was thinking best of all the trips we’d ever taken because we worked our hardest, hiked the furthest, and fell into our sleeping bags exhausted at night.

I was lost in my thoughts when someone sat down next to me. I jumped, startled out of my reverie, and looked at him. He smiled and I was taken by how handsome he was. He’d sat down, too familiar and close for a stranger, his thigh running beside mine with barely a thumbs width between them. His legs were long. He was slim, but wiry, the kind of physique that related to hard work, or long hours in the gym. He had a few days growth of beard on his face and a deep tan, which just accentuated how incredibly blue his eyes were. Along with the tan, the evidence of his hours working outside was evident in his sun-bleached curls. He was one of those suspiciously hot men. I didn’t need my intuition to tell me twice to leave. I returned his smile and rose, nodding at him as I collected my garbage. He followed me to the garbage can.

“You look tired, darling.” His deep voice betrayed an English accent. I stopped and tilted my head, taking his whole package in again. He was gorgeous. And tall. And for whatever reason, I found him incredibly creepy.

“Yeah, I’ve been staying in hotels since Toronto,” I admitted, and began to move toward the Jeep. I’d parked away from the cluster of vehicles at the front of the store, and was regretting the choice. I was moving away from the sparse little bit of population at the rest stop toward the base of the mountain and the trail entry. It was not my smartest move, and lately, I’d had a long line of stupid decisions to make me question my intelligence. This was feeling like yet another. My intention had been to take a half hour and walk up the trail a bit, offer my thoughts about dad to the sky and continue. Now I was wishing I’d parked right in front of the store.

“You should stay the night. Looks like you have camping gear. Me and the lads have a great set up at the campsite. It’d be lovely to have some female company,” he offered as we got to the Jeep.

“Oh, uh.” The confused look on my face must have been telling because he laughed a little and put a hand on my arm. I guess to reassure me, but I had to restrain myself from grabbing it and tossing him over my shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I should have introduced myself. I’m William Barrett. You can call me Will,” his voice was very soothing. And the more soothing it got, the more on edge I felt.

“Barbara,” I replied. My fake name felt thick on my lips. The joke was not lost on Will. I caught his eyes flicking to my chest before he looked at me earnestly again.

“Can I be straight with you, darling? My mates and I, we’re rubbish campers. None of us have ever been out of London for longer than a week or so, and we’ve never really camped. It would be lovely to have someone around who obviously has some experience,” he gestured toward the back of Jeep, at the camping equipment that hadn’t even been out of the vehicle yet.

“What makes you think that because I have camping gear in my car I know anything about camping?” I didn’t think it was possible to become more suspicious, but the warning bell that had been gently dinging in the back of my head suddenly became a claxon, nearly deafening me. Will smiled at me, all brilliant white teeth and gorgeous blue eyes. He was perfectly dressed for maximum sex appeal, while still looking like a camper. Cut-off jeans that stopped mid-thigh, with strands of white thread showing off exactly how perfectly tan he was, a fitted flannel plaid shirt, unbuttoned just far enough to show of the smattering of chest hair between his pecs. Everything about him was screaming façade, and I knew I had to go. As soon as possible.

“Why would a woman alone have all that camping gear, half-way across the country from where she started, if she wasn’t experienced?” He laughed. Whatever he actually was, he was also confident and usually successful with women. I unlocked the Jeep and opened the door.

“I appreciate the offer, Will. But I have a long drive ahead of me still today. I hope you and your friends enjoy your camping trip,” I shut the door and waved as I backed out of my parking spot. I hit the button on the GPS to access J.A.R.V.I.S.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., can you please scan the vehicle and make sure nothing is wrong with it. I just had an encounter that is making me uncomfortable.” I requested.

“Scanning, Ms. Ellis. All systems are operational. No evidence of tampering. Should I forward a report to Mr. Stark?”

“No, but can you look up William Barrett? That’s the name of the creep I just met,” I asked.

“Of course, Ms. Ellis.” J.A.R.V.I.S. paused for a moment, obviously working. I turned from the parking lot onto the highway and set the cruise control for the speed limit. “William Barrett is a barrister working for the Shufflebottom & Knight law firm in London. He specializes in criminal defense.”

“That explains the skin-crawling badness I got from him. No connections to HYDRA?”

“To be fair, Ms. Ellis, we are only just discovering the extent of HYDRA. It had been considered dormant since the war.”

“He gave me the wiggins, J.A.R.V.I.S.” I could feel goosebumps come up on my skin.

“I’m not familiar with that term.”

“Heebie-jeebies? Creeps? Chills? Subconscious spook detector went off?” I tried to clarify. It was hard to know what an artificial intelligence would be familiar with.

“You should always trust your instincts, Ms. Ellis.”

“Thanks, J.A.R.V.I.S.”

I headed out of the mountains into the interior of BC, toward the city I’d grown up in. The farmland just west of the mountain gave way to tall stands of trees and curving highway. It was midweek, so there wasn’t a huge amount of traffic, but when I came across logging trucks I made sure to pass as soon as it was safe to do so. There were frequently moose along this stretch of highway, and semis had a habit of hitting them and swerving. I preferred not to be stuck behind them. Apparently the motorcycle that had been behind me since Mt. Robson was also familiar with the issue, as every time I passed anything, the driver was quick to follow suit, staying just near enough to me that there was no space for wildlife to see an opportunity to jump between us. On any other stretch of road, I would have found the motorcyclist’s decisions to be as creepy as I’d found William Barrett, but with the amount of wildlife activity between McBride and Prince George, I didn’t blame him at all for tailing me.

#avengers fanfic #avengers fanfic with OFC #Phil Coulson x OFC

[janehopperra]

OOE:

So in order to take back some of the order on my blog, I’m gonna keep the tally for today’s stuff on one post, then when I’m done watching tomorrow, I’ll put that tally on here as well.

This is also to save the dashes of whoever likes to keep them clean. I apologize for the mass ooc. I just finally felt like I could safely let my saltiness over s3 run rampant.

Bad: The makeout scene Good: Will taking care of everyone in the party making sure everyone has snacks for the theatre Bad 2: Mike being a whiny brat right off the bat Good 2: Steve immediately flicking the switch on and off to spite Robin Good 3: Jane playing pranks with the party with her telekinesis. Bad 3: The Karen and Billy Thing Good 4: IT IS CONSTANT… CONSTANT. Bad 4: ‘Curfew at 4:00pm’ Bad 5: The apparent focus of Will’s character only being that he’s jealous of Mike and Jane and also that he can sense the mindflayer. literally nothing else. Bad 6: Karen and Billy Again Bad 7: Joyce eating tv dinner alone while thinking about bob :( Bad 8: Makeout scene 2.0 Good 5: Hopper yeeting himself to another plane of existence in the next room Bad 9: Mike whispering to Jane right in front of Hop ( As if I didn’t find this creepy enough ) Bad 10: I gotta admit Hop lying about Mike’s grandma is bad Good 6: Hop being an actual dad and placing boundaries between Mike and El makes up for that though. Like that needed to happen. Bad 11: Dustin being left alone at the radio tower. Bad 12: Karen??? what the fuck are you doing??? Good 7: Karen coming to her senses. Bad 13: Billy.. jfc

First episode - 7-13

Good 8: Boundary establishing actually working. Bad 14: Mike lying through his teeth, keeping the lie up even after Karen caught him in it. Bad 15: “You lie?” “What? No! Friends don’t lie!” Good 9: Hop scream singing his song in the Blazer. Bad 16: Nancy’s boss being an absolute??? Jerkwad??? They were that way in the 80′s to women yeah but yikes. Good 10: Dustin and Steve’s handshake Good 11: ‘Mike’s a piece of shit!’ Snaps fingers hell yeah he is Bad 17: ‘You don’t understand lucas! He’s lost his mind!’ How about stop??? Blaming other people??? For how you acted Mike??? You had a choice not to lie dumbass. Bad 18: The boys acting like this is some sort of battlefield where you need combat strategies when in reality you need to speak the truth. Bad 19: Them constantly leaving Will hanging, poor boy just wants to play dnd :( Bad 20: More Karen and Billy like tf Thank god Billy told her to stay away Good 12: The girls going out and having fun!!! To hell with the boys!!!! Bad 21: Joyce forgetting about Hop to solve the magnet issue ( wasn’t her fault but yeah ) Good 13: The Material Girl skit!!! The photographer session! High heels! Jane pranking the binch that rejected Dustin at the snow ball. There’s more to life than stupid boys! Bad 22: “Can we play DND now???” “NO!!!!” Bad 23: Mike trying to change the subject and recoiling when he’s caught at the mall, like he thought he would get away with the lie??? Good 14: I dump your ass. Bad 24: The face Mike makes when Jane walks away, like you’d think if he’s so??? in love he’d be at least a little more devastated??? He looks like a brat. ( No offense to the actor he’s great, the character’s a brat ) Good 15: IT’S CUTTING EDGE STUFF MAN!!! Bad 25: Hop being left at Enzo’s :((( He was so excited man Good 16: The scoops troop solving stuff. Bad 26: Hop taking the whole bottle of alcohol and leaving, kind of shit faced, DRIVES HOME SHITFACED. You’re a cop, Hop! For fuck’s sake.

Episode 2 mark - 16-26

Good 17: Jane and Max acting like best friends Bad 27: “I don’t understand what I did to deserve this why is she treating me this way I’m the victim” I honestly can’t. Bad 28: ‘We’re trying to solve the great mystery of the female species’ oh yikes. Bad 29: Hop arriving home drunk and barging into Jane’s room thinking Mike was with El and the door was closed. Bad 30: Hop.. acting like a bit of a creep and then cracking open the bottle of wine for more drinking!!! In the presence of El. After what he just did. Good 18: Honestly I think it’s kind of cool that Max and Jane have made a game utilizing Jane’s powers instead of shoving them away. Bad 31: The boys mocking Will for taking the chance to play DND. Will honey its okay Bad 32: Hopper being a weird disgusting bear, and also being kind of spiteful towards Joyce. I get she hung you up but like come on man, you know she wouldn’t do that without good reason. Bad 33: “You stand me up, no phone call no apology because you had to go to Scott Clark’s house” NOW IT’S TIME FOR HOP TO GET BASHED. Bad 34: Hop pretending to understand how Joyce thinks the magnetism loss thing was the lab then going back to being spiteful and a smartass. Bad 35: Max in denial about the Billy situation Good 19: Scoops troop being funny little shits. They’re the only pure group in this nonsense of a season. Bad 36: The boys still mocking Will during DND. Guys just humor him for fucks sake, he’s been dealing with yalls shit all summer. Bad 37: Mike recoiling when Will finally has enough of their shit and leaves. Bad 38: “You guys are never in the mood anymore! You’re destroying everything and for what, so you can swap spit with some stupid girl” “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” Honestly, low blow on both ends. Yikes. Good 20: Honestly the horror in this season is good so it gets it’s own good point for that. Good 21: Hop actually going to the lab with Joyce to soothe her worries about the magnetism loss. ( Also poor joyce remembering Bob’s death ) Good 22: The scoops troop again being on the case, only to then find out the guy they’re chasing is a yoga instructor. Good 23: Hop trying to make sure everyone feels safe and at home. Good 24: Hop opening up just a tiny bit about what he did after Sarah died, trying to relate to Joyce. Bad 39: The fact that Will felt so alone and outcasted to the point that he felt the need to tear the castle down after looking around at all the memories in it and bursting into tears. My poor lad. I’ve been in the same boat, fuck the boys honestly. Good 25: The scoops troop at it again, actually being productive in their side of the story. Bad 40: Something I just don’t get at all is the fact that Jane just.. introduces herself as El, giving herself away almost immediately. Hun, you have another name, you’re not still a number. Idk that thing just irks me. Bad 41: And again, Will just being used for the ‘woe is me/enemy locator’ trope.

Episode 3 mark - 25-41

Good 26: Max introducing the wonder woman comics to Jane after listening to her. Bad 42: Max still being in denial about Billy and Heather. Good 27: Joyce taking care of Hop, SOMEHOW dragging his ass back to the cabin. Bad 43: ThIs iS a CoDe ReD ( I don’t blame Max for turning the radio off I’d throw it across the room after all that’s happened ) Bad 44: Again. Will’s only purpose being that he senses the mindflayer– like what the fuck he could be used for so much more. Bad 45: This is just a thing– I honestly hate that we only get one scene with the hoppers and also the byers acting like a family. All that build up in season 2??? wasted. All that potential wasted. Bad 46: The mayor taking a jab at Hopper and his ‘dead daughter sob story’. Damn right you deserved that fucking punch. Good 28: Joyce pulling the phone line when the receptionist tried to call the police. Good 29: The scoops troop and their hilarity. Bad 47: Max continuing to be in complete denial over Billy’s role with the mindflayer. Good 30: “Don’t you love your country” “You can’t spell America without Erica” I love Erica so much Good 31: “I want you to forget about sales and come work for me at hawkins pd.” “And have to look at your face every day? I don’t think so.” I have to admit that was cute Good 32: Karen actually being a mom for a change and listening to and supporting Nancy. Good 33: “He made me lie, I mean–” “What if he’s right?” “No no no he’s just a crazy old man” “No, if I only see you and I’m a different species, maybe I should be with my own species more.” Bad 47: “Wait you spied on me? That’s totally against the rules!!!” Mike she’s a telekinetic who can locate people and also implode your brain. There are no rules. Good 34: “I make my own rules.” Except hers. Good 35: “If you die, I die” “Okay” Dustin’s such a ride or die bitch I love it. Bad 48: How many times has Will been used for mindflayer location? 4-5 times? Bad 49: Jane relenting when protecting herself and her friends. I’m sorry but if someone’s had a hand to her throat or face or anything she’s thrown whoever did that through a wall, caught off guard and not. Good 36: She eventually did throw Billy through a wall but still the point remains

Episode 4 mark - 36-49

Bad 50: Joyce’s bad throwing skills. Hun you’re throwing a gun not a baseball. ( jk ilu mom ) Bad 51: This terminator guy gets a bad point. I don’t think they explained him at all? Even if they did.. eh. Good 37: “Why wouldn’t he be safe? Nancy?” For once someone’s worried about the welfare of these kids. Good 38: Hop’s big butt sprawled over the Blazer gets a point. Bad 52: Hop calling Alexei Smirnoff gets an… eh point for me. Idk why it turns me off a bit. It’s a funny name and all but eh. Bad 53: The beloved Blazer exploding gets a bad point. Shame on you for killing it, st writers. Good 39: “Ill-annoy” cute. Bad 54: “ThEy’Re CoNsPiRiNg AgAiNsT mE” Not everything’s about you, Mike. Good 40: “She was making bad screams” “What’s a good scream” Max: “Doesn’t matter–” Bad 55: Hop making the joke that every man Joyce talks to must be another version of Clark. Yikes man, she burned you that bad? Good 41: “He’s a dangerous child murderer” As Alexei smiles whilst sipping his cherry icee.

#OUTOFEGGOS #so far this whole season has been yikes from start to fucking finish #Moira watches s3 #now I must go and delete the mass amounts of ooc

[the-nerd-that-was-promised]

A Poacher’s Tale

Hey everyone!! I recently started my first DND campaign with some friends, and have been inspired to write some stories based on our characters. I know it doesn’t really fit the theme of my blog, but I hope y’all enjoy it! Thank you!!

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

It was a crisp fall evening in mountains running along the northern border of the City State Kubon. The final golden rays of the sun tinted the world gold as two travelers made their way along a makeshift path. “Oye, Mardin”, the lankier of the two men spoke up, “hows about you carry this thing for a titch. It’s makin’ me shoulders sore”. He shrugged his shoulders, to emphasize the large, deceased, Golden Eagle hanging from them.

“I’m the one tha’ killed the damn thing Telford, the least you could do is carry it,'' retorted the fellow poacher. The lanky man could only roll his eyes, as his narrow shoulders were too fatigued to follow through on the gesture. 

They continued on in silence for a time, until Mardin, a skilled hunter with ears trained for the quiet of the wilds, caught the faintest voices on the wind. Silently, he gestured his companion to stop, and get low. The party could very well be harmless, Mardin reasoned, but you could never be too careful with illegal game slung over your shoulders. 

He sat for a moment, trying to zero in on the source of the voice, until he located it off the beaten path. Quietly, he began creeping through the dense underbrush and around the pines of the Northern Wilds. For any others, stealth would be impossible, but these men made their living in the silence of the dense brush.

Slowly, but surely, they approached a clearing, completely hidden from view from the

traveling path though it sat less than 30 full paces away. Mardin peeked through the bushes to see a man in rough leather and fur robes, his mess of hair pulled back into a bun, standing outside a sizeable lodge and speaking to the most beautiful woman the poacher had ever laid eyes upon. Her hair shone like copper as it fell down her back, and a gown that looked as though it was crafted from the forest itself flowed elegantly around her glowing frame. Perhaps most shockingly, black-and-golden feathered wings sprouted from her back. From where he sat, Mardin could see her eyes were quite literally golden, as the setting sun shone down upon both the figures. An Aasimar! 

“It’s as I feared Lorras, poachers. The eggs were left shattered in a nest full of blood”, the melodic tune of the woman’s voice drowned out the horrors of her words, and the guilty party that it implicated. Mardin was awestruck by the woman, though Telford seemed to maintain his wits. He gestured his head away from the clearing, though Mardin only held up his hand to say ‘one more moment’. 

He returned his attention to the two strangers. The man, who seemed lost in thought while stroking his close-kept beard, began to speak. “None shall bring harm to our woods and not see the consequences. Use your methods, gather what information you can, they can’t have gotten far.” The celestial woman nodded, and walked into the trees opposite where the men sat in hiding. 

Upon hearing this, Telford decided to take matters into his own hands, and began creeping around towards the backside of the lodging. Perhaps he turn a quick profit while the hermit was distracted, and if not, at least he could escape. Though gods know he would need to be careful. He was several paces ahead before Mardin returned to himself and tried to follow, though in his daze, he crushed a twig underfoot. The Hermit man’s head snapped in his direction almost instantaneously. “I have lived in these woods for many decades, and I know the sound each creature that inhabits it makes. That would be a man. Come out from your hiding place traveler, do so unarmed and you have nothing to fear”. 

Mardin hesitated. The strange man had no visible weapons in sight, and even dressed in furs was probably half of Mardin’s weight. He figured the man was correct, he really did have nothing to fear, and perhaps he could provide a better distraction. After all, Telford still held the eagle, he could play it off. He stepped from the shadows of the underbrush and into the clearing.

“How do you do my friend, this is quite the homestead you have yourself”, he gestured to the clearing with a jovial display, “I did not mean to intrude, was merely passing through when I heard a commotion, so sorry to bother.” He looked to where Telford had just stepped out of the shadows, his eyes darting back too quick for any human eye to notice. 

The man in furs raised an eyebrow, but continued, “No worries my kind sir, it is not often that I see visitors here all by my lonesome. These mountains get awfully quiet this time of year. The only traffic we see is poachers and caravans along the King’s trade routes.” Mardin swallowed hard. He had taken this man for human, but as the dying sun’s rays struck his eyes, there was the unmistakable glow of the Fey hidden in that deep green, and the slightest point to his ears. 

“Poachers ye’ say? How horrible. But I’m afraid I’m neither good sir, just a weary traveler”. He gave a toothy grin as his hand slid slowly to the crossbow hanging from his belt. If the stranger noticed, he gave no signs. Out of the corner of his vision, Mardin could see Telford now almost reaching the backside of the lodge, that damned eagle still hanging from his shoulders. 

“A traveler you say, traveling alone in these parts? My good sir, one must always have a companion on their journeys”. 

Mardin’s hand now rested on the handle of his weapon as he replied, “There ain’t nothin’ in these woods that I fear, I know these parts well. I can handle myself.” 

The man grinned. “Is that so? Then who is the man currently sneaking around my home? Am I to believe you bear no relation to him?”

Mardin felt his heart beating out of his chest, and in a single motion raised his loaded crossbow level with the man’s head. Before he could loose a bolt however, he was met with the man’s raised palm glowing purple, and a searing pain in a ringlet around his head. It felt as though someone had wrapped a length of barbed wire around his temples and pulled it taught, and though he tried to scream out in pain, tried to release the lever on his weapon, tried to do anything at all, he could not. He stayed there, in searing pain, locked within the confines of his own mind. He watched in horror, a bystander, as his arm slowly turned away from the stranger, pointing the crossbow at Telford some fifty yards away. He fought against his own body with all his will, but was powerless against the man’s elf magics. He tried to no avail to scream a warning to his friend.  Slowly, then all at once, his own finger pulled the trigger. The bolt struck Telford in the jugular, and he fell to the ground without a sound and was no more. 

He felt the pain in his skull abate, and he fell to his knees, tears and blood now streaming freely down his cheeks. “We do not take kindly to poachers, or liars”, were the man’s only words. 

We? Mardin thought. And then he remembered the forested Aasimar woman from before. At that very moment he heard light footsteps from behind, that must be her. To his great horror, he turned to find a great Direwolf where he expected to see a beautiful woman. He let fly a high and wretched scream, as the beast let out a low snarl. 

“Draviza my dear, I believe we have found our poachers”, the elf-man spoke as the beast padded its way to his side. Mardin saw a deep and terrifying intelligence in the golden eyes of the beast.

“Please sir, let me go, I’m sorry. I won’t never set foot in these here woods again, I swear it!” he pleaded. 

The man’s hand began to glow the color of fire, “You have done irreparable damage to the creatures of these woods, poacher. You will pay your debt in blood.” He touched his hand to the great beast’s snout then, and the last thing Mardin the poacher saw was flames flickering in the maw of a direwolf. 

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #short story #fiction #elf #half elf #aasimar #chaotic neutral #my characters #dnd sorcerer #druid