#so anyway like they ARE using the hays code with the bloody fighting and the cannibalism. it's a metaphor!!

[kate-river]

Of Dragonids and Witchers

In which two Wolf school witchers set out for a monster hunt and finally come to terms with their difficult emotional past.

Dear @ohciq this is your secret santa speaking :) I wish you very happy holidays and I hope this adds a few drops of water to your crops! ;)

Thanks @thewitchersecretsanta for hosting this amazing event!

Warnings: none

read on AO3

Geralt smelled the shabby village miles away. Humans, no matter the space they had on offer, created the stench with their infallible ability to destroy their surroundings. Over time Geralt got into the habit of avoiding such places as they were usually tied to all sorts of trouble. And it seemed like this place was no exception  

Suddenly the tracks he had been following came to an end. Geralt sighed and reigned in Roach. He had expected this to happen and still it irritated him. What the fuck was that bloody idiot up to?

Pondering his options Geralt looked around. To his left, just out of the thicket, a narrow uneven trail headed for the village. To his right, it vanished into a light forest. “Great,” the witcher mumbled. It was impossible to further track the soft hoof prints on the stony ground. But he already knew which way to go.

Still, he hesitated for a moment. Why would he hide in such a place? What had kept him from covering his tracks? Something was very fishy and Geralt didn’t like it.

Anyways, he spurred on Roach. Passing a few outcast buildings, an old decrepit barn and a small herbalist’s cottage along the way Geralt made for the village. It wasn’t a big settlement: a few wooden houses, the alderman’s clearly distinguished from the others. And of course, there was an inn. The modest horse shelter in front of it caught Geralt’s attention. A fine black horse was contentedly feeding on hay there and the witcher immediately recognized the Kaedweni bred steed.

He stopped in front of the inn and tied Roach to the shelter. The other horse, clearly trained to avoid a stranger’s touch, did not twitch under Geralt’s caress. Instead he snorted and nudged Geralt’s torso. The witcher couldn’t help but laugh quietly. “It’s good to see you, Scorpion” he whispered and pulled a sugar cube out of his pocket. Roach jealously stomped her front hoof and Geralt turned to treat her just as well. Then he headed for the inn’s entrance.

The main room was pretty dark, only a few tables fitting into the space. Some drunkards were assembled around one of them and from their babbling Geralt gathered that they must have spent a fair amount of time in that inn today.

It took them a few moments to become aware of Geralt, but when they did, their noisy chatter fell silent. The innkeeper however was not impressed by the witcher’s presence. At least he didn’t let it show “Good day to you sir”, he greeted Geralt “What can my humble establishment do for yet another one of your kind?” “Another one?” Geralt asked curiously and the innkeeper nodded towards the corner on his right. A dark figure, covered in a long dirty cloak sat separately at a small table, two long and thin packages lying next to him. Geralt smiled and the innkeeper’s façade started to crumble at this sight.

In the same instant the dark figure got up and pushed back the hood. A face, disfigured yet cordially smiling, appeared underneath. Eskel.

“Glad to see you, Wolf!“ The other witcher hugged Geralt tightly. The embrace was short, brotherly, but like music, there was more to it. It was I missed you just as well as good to have you back. And it lasted a few seconds too long adding an unspoken feeling that lingered between them.

They sat down at the small table in the shady corner and started a casual conversation. After a proper meal their merry chatter grew more serious and finally Geralt asked Eskel what he was actually doing here. Geralt carefully withheld the fact that he had tracked him. Very easily at that. In fact, so easily that Geralt had initially suspected a serious issue, since Eskel had obviously paid no attention to covering his tracks.

“Had a pretty nasty contract down in Lyria. Thought I’d better head for Kaedwen early this year. Also, this fucking weather…” he nodded toward the dirty window and suddenly went silent.

Immediately sensing Eskel’s discomfort Geralt changed the topic. It was no use asking a witcher about things he had encountered on the Path and was not yet willing to talk about. Whatever happened to him sure had been unpleasant but apparently Eskel was out of danger and Geralt decided not to inquire any further.

They slowly found their way back to less serious topics, finally joking about old stories and anecdotes. By then the atmosphere of the inn had somewhat changed. The drunkards had left and only the innkeeper remained behind the bar. While he had appeared rather brave at Geralt’s arrival, he didn’t look anything like it by now. He was frantically cleaning tankards and seemed visibly distressed.

Eskel had already caught on to it and in an instant changed the way he talked to Geralt. “I guess we have a job for Vesemir here” he muttered. It took Geralt a few seconds to understand the code phrase as he hadn’t heard it in quite some time. Focusing on his sharpened senses he also became aware of the light footsteps quickly approaching the inn. “I guess we’ll have a visitor soon”, he growled.

Suddenly the innkeeper vanished into the backroom. The witchers perceived a knock on a wooden door, the timid opening of the same and muffled voices. The man who had approached the inn tried to reach the bar. But the innkeeper didn’t let him through, insistently whispering. “She was my daughter!”, the intruder shouted at him. Eventually the innkeeper lost his patience: “Mihal, you won’t bring her back to life!” “Out of my way, old man!”

Next, they heard a thud and a stubby man with a red face burst into the room. He came running to the witchers and Eskel already raised his hand to cast a sign as the man threw himself to the ground.

“Master witchers, I need your help” he cried desperately and Eskel immediately lowered his hand. “Then speak!” Geralt commanded, adding a bit more emphasis to it than intended.

“There is a monster in the mountains! A flying dragon! It haunts our village and a week ago,” he started sobbing uncontrollably, “it killed my daughter! Please, I will pay you with all I have left. But bring justice to my little girl!”

While the man was regaining his self-control, the innkeeper returned to his place behind the bar. He was pressing a wet cloth to his head and an endless stream of curses left his mouth. “That bloody witch! The wench summoned the demon! We should have burned her!”

“I’ve heard enough” Geralt spat out and shot the innkeeper an irritated glance. He fell silent immediately. “But he’s telling the truth master witcher!”, the red-faced man interfered. By now he was on his feet again, but silent tears were still running over his cheeks. “The damn wench cursed us! She lured the monster into our village! There was a dead sheep and some smelly grasses.”

Eskel shot Geralt a glace. A dead sheep stuffed with buckthorn? The ideal bait for a griffin! Whatever was going on here, somebody really meant to attract a monster!

“Are there still any traces of the bait left?”, Eskel asked calmly. The innkeeper nodded and answered grimly. “The beast turned its back on it as it saw Mihal’s daughter hiding underneath the shack nearby. The minute Mihal ran to her rescue the beast grabbed her with its huge claws and tore her apart. I beg you, please kill that monster for us.”

Still fighting his tears Mihal added: “The attack happened at the old barn on the trail that comes in from the south.”

“I think I know where it is”, Geralt muttered. He got up, Eskel following a moment later. “We will check the area. Meanwhile stay indoors if possible!”

When they rode through the darkness next to each other a familiar feeling welled up in Geralt’s heart. It reminded him of the stolen nights they had spent in the forests of Kaer Morhen, their first attempt to try their newly acquired abilities. It also painfully reminded him of when they had overcome the fear of punishment for walking the Path together. The time they spent in each other’s arms becoming the greatest liability in their lives so far. Eventually the light feeling changed into something heavy and Geralt tried to stop his reverie.

“What’s going on Geralt?” Eskel asked. He was comfortably sitting on Scorpion’s back and seemed lost in his own thoughts. “Did they teach you mindreading at Ban Ard?”, Geralt replied half smiling, trying hard not to let show even more of the things that came to his mind. “Unfortunately, not”, Eskel laughed, “but I still know you well.”

You bloody well do Geralt thought, but he didn’t reply. The bond they had regained over the past few winters was too precious to be tested on silly thoughts.

Eventually they arrived at the barn. The grass around it was grown high and it seemed like the decrepit building hadn’t been in use for years. A crooked sign hung in front of it saying “Do not enter” in the common language.

They examined the surroundings in the pale moonlight, and within a short time they came upon the odour trail of the monster bait. They found some of the remains of a herb stuffed sheep in the thicket nearby and it was pretty clear that the bait had been torn apart by gigantic claws. The sheep had indeed been stuffed with Buckthorn, but there was another herb too. Eskel fished some off it from a tree and identified it as beggartick blossoms. It was a rare herb, and it was usually used to refine fisstech. A strange choice to put into a bait, as it was far more use to the owner when sold to some shady individual for a good price.

“What do you think, Geralt? Beggartick is a weird choice for a bait! Something’s wrong here...”

“Guess we have to have a word with the herbalist. And we should examine the body if they haven’t buried it yet.” The body of a child - disfigured by a dragonid.

“I can take care of the examination”, Eskel said softly. Geralt nodded and was silently thankful that Eskel spared him the horrible sight of a child that could have just as well died from a Witcher’s trial.

After a short discussion they separated and Eskel rode back into the village to find Mihal and his daughter’s corpse. Geralt instead stayed at the abandoned barn and started a search for beggartick in a more extensive radius. One hour after sunrise he admitted defeat and carried on to the more important task that he was responsible for. On Roach’s back he returned to the stony trail that ultimately lead to the village and stopped in front of the herbalist’s cottage.

There was a small garden around it, no curious herbs, but practical ones like fool’s parsley, ribleaf and celandine. Geralt dismounted and knocked at the shuttered door. At first there was no reply but as he knocked a second time a woman answered. “What the hell do you want? Leave me be!”, she frantically shouted.

It took Geralt some time to convince her to let him in, but finally the herbalist opened the door. As he started his inquiries on the buckthorn, she grew impatient, irritated even and tried hard to avoid the topic. But Geralt kept pushing and finally she admitted having stuffed a dead sheep with buckthorn from a nearby lake. It was intended to scare the local folk as they had accused her of witchcraft when she had started a fight with a band of fisstech dealers. She finally wanted to scare them, force them to show some respect. And then it all went awfully wrong. What she had thought to be an old wives’ tale was truly a powerful means to attract monsters. The incident with the small girl was neither planned nor foreseen. Mihal’s daughter had been playing not far from the place where the herbalist had put up the sheep and suddenly a dragon had aimed at the bait. But as it had made out the girl, it had chased her instead and killed her in an instant.

“And you’re sure it was a dragon?” Geralt asked. The herbalist gave a long but vague answer and Geralt made a mental note to discuss the possible dragonids in the area with Eskel.

When she finished the description of the monster, she added some useful information though. She had seen where the monster had come from and returned to – the mountains north of the village – and by her description Geralt was sure to find the monster’s lair there.

“And what about the Beggartick?”, Geralt reminded her after she had finished her story. She sighed and said “You see, I was really tired of this shit. All those people, they come to me for help, for, I don’t know, a magic cure, and in the same breath they call me a witch for all the things they don’t understand. Jacub’s gang is spreading rumors and now half the village would burn me if the chance arises. I simply became furious and saw my chance for revenge!”

Geralt left the herbalist after she had finally admitted the unintended murder of the girl. There was not much to say about her situation and Geralt wondered if leaving the village would change it for the better.

Eskel was already waiting for him at the inn and updated him on his finding about the corpse. In fact there was nothing new about it. Big claws, a bird’s beak and a preference for internal organs were not much to go on.

The witchers finally decided to follow the herbalist’s advice and set out for the mountains. They stuck to the path leading north and by the end of the day they had climbed a rugged hill. Beneath the shoulder of a rock they found a good spot to make camp and they decided to give both the horses and themselves a rest. For some time, they indulged in food and conversation and eagerly discussed their speculations about the monster.

When the night grew colder and the fire between them turned into an appreciated source of heat Eskel pulled out a bottle from his saddlebag. It was a fine distillate of White Gull and Geralt anticipated there was another long night ahead of them.

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

By now they were far from the amount of hooch a human could manage. Their pupils were blown wide and they relied upon their joint forces should the wilderness around them turn hostile.

“Seriously, were did you get this?” Geralt asked and raised the bottle he was holding. An appreciative gesture that made Eskel laugh.

“Won’t tell you Wolf”, he answered mysteriously and fondly looked at Geralt.

He in turn smiled mischievously and lent back against the rock. Maybe Geralt would come back on this later, there must be a good story behind it. But talking of a good story…

“Well, what about your route then? Came across your track. Twice. You’re not trying to cover it up these days?” Geralt said, a teasing smile still on his lips.

Eskel hiccupped silently. It was hard to tell where the melancholic look on his face suddenly came from. Up next, he sighed and gently rubbed his scar. “Stop this, Geralt.”

Even though Geralt didn’t get to the bottom of it, he again felt Eskel’s displeasure. There was no way around it and suddenly it took up the room between them.

“I don’t understand…”

“I see.” Eskel deadpanned and took another gulp from the bottle. Then he went silent. After some time, he stared up into the starry sky. “What do you think the Path would be like if there were different rules?”

“Well, wouldn’t make it any easier, would it?”, Geralt slurred. Through his blurred vision he tried to observe Eskel. His dark hair, the amber eyes, that damn old scar.

“What’s this all about, huh?”

Suddenly irritated, Eskel got up. His movement seemed a little too fast for his current state and his unsteady footing additionally attested to that.  

“Sorry Geralt, but this”, he vaguely gestured back and forth between Geralt and the empty bottles that had started to pile up “is giving me a headache. Good night.” His smile looked crooked and Geralt was reminded of the several times Eskel had overindulged.

When he made it to his bedroll a few minutes later, the awkward smile would not leave him though. In his dreams it turned into an evil grin, a mocking laugh, scorning the warm little feeling that had crept into his heart again this evening.

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

“Geralt?”

An ungloved hand touched Geralt’s shoulder. The touch was accompanied by a soft tingle and the scent of petrichor and leather. This stilled the white haired witcher’s immediate reaction, as he concluded that the hand did not belong to an enemy.

Geralt growled as he sat up and was pretty astonished to see a well-rested, even cheerful Eskel finishing the preparations for a sparse breakfast. Suddenly the warm feeling from yesterday evening returned.

Eskel laughed, cordially and kind this time, and handed him a mug. It contained some kind of herbal tea.

“Didn’t expect that, huh?” he smiled.

Geralt tried to smile back, but yesterday’s white gull still made him hurt. With a questioning look he muttered: “How did you…?”

Taking advantage of Geralt’s confusion Eskel put on his lecturer face and cited: “When there is the risk of intoxication, the witcher has to retreat for meditation.”

“Seriously, in your state?”, Geralt laughed in disbelief.

“Just drink your tea, Wolf!”, Eskel replied softly and started to dismantle their little camp. It was not until Geralt’s headache had ceased that he realized that Eskel must have put something into the tea.

“You bastard, it’s Wives’ Tears, right?” “Let’s rather stick to the meditation story”, Eskel grinned and mounted his horse.

They set out for the high plateau that reared up in the distance. Whatever dragonid was waiting for them it would certainly have its lair in great heights. But great heights came with difficult paths and after hours of traveling Eskel and Geralt eventually decided to leave behind Roach and Scorpion.

Not long after they had dismounted, Geralt discovered a piece of sheepskin in the bushes. It strongly smelled of buckthorn, but as it had been a week since the dragonid incident there was no scent left in the air to track. Still, both Geralt and Eskel grew tense. They were closing in on the monster.

They continued their ascent and finally reached a small trail that lead up to the plateau. By then they walked in silence - alert and ready to fight. Geralt didn’t like the way they approached the monster. The dragonid would most likely attack from above and additionally their lack of knowledge about its hiding place put them at a disadvantage. But that was a witcher’s everyday business, right?

Suddenly Eskel signaled Geralt to stop. He dodged and pressed against the stone wall. Geralt immediately mimicked his movements.

Above them a gigantic griffin raised itself into the air. Its wide-spread wings shimmered red and blue and the gigantic claws on both wings and feet flashed in the daylight.  

Eskel spat some dwarfish curses and the witchers made for the last few steps on the trail. The griffin turned in midair and aimed for them. Eskel only just reached the plateau as the monstrous beast dived over them. It didn’t attack, the dive was simply intended as a warning.

“Damn it”, Geralt cursed and drew his silver sword. How were they supposed to kill such a majestic creature? For a split second he locked eyes with Eskel.

Are you ready?

As the griffin returned Eskel certainly was. He struck it with a blow of Aard and the griffin tumbled to the ground. Geralt lunged at it and dealt a blow to its wing. The griffin reared up and Geralt could jump back just in time. As the griffin took off it tried to grab Eskel who parried the attack with a furious blast of Igni. The immense creature emitted an ear-piercing cry as it withdrew into the sky.

Eskel cursed again but he underestimated the griffin. Instead of fleeing, it turned around and dived down toward the plateau. This time focusing on Eskel only.

Something in Geralt’s brain snapped and he took a leap forward. He barely managed to shove the other witcher aside. In a split second he had to combine this protective move with the Aard sign. Geralt’s magic wasn’t as powerful as Eskel’s but it was enough to knock the griffin off its balance.

Don’t you dare.

Suddenly furious, he turned on the griffin. His movements were fast and flawless, accurate and cold. Pirouetting away under the griffin’s assaults he managed to injure it on a delicate spot just beneath its collarbone.

But then there was a single movement that slipped Geralt’s attention. The griffin tried to strike him with its right wing and when Geralt launched into a counterattack, the griffin started to take flight and grabbed him.

Geralt’s cry mingled with the griffin’s screams as Eskel pierced the beast’s left wing with his sword. The griffin let go of Geralt and turned on Eskel again. It screeched at him and Eskel ruthlessly smashed an Ard sign against it. This time it knocked over the beast and Eskel didn’t waste a second. He darted at the griffin and before it was able to move again, he thrust the silver sword into its heart.

Panting heavily, he jumped off the dead body and ran towards Geralt. The white wolf lay on the ground, hunched over, his face contorted in pain. A long bloody gash gaped over his stomach.

Eskel fell on his knees and in a first impulse he pressed his hands against the ferocious wound. At the touch Geralt screamed in pain. From then on, Eskel couldn’t remember the chronological order of events. At some point he realized that his hands were aching as he had conducted healing magic for Melitele knows how long. Next to him lay an empty vial of Swallow - some of its contents were poured over the wound and the rest of it had hopefully found its way down Geralt’s throat.

As the bleeding ceased, Eskel carefully tried to take off the pieces of armour and clothing that still covered it and he skillfully managed a makeshift dressing of the wound.

Geralt made a few muffled noises, but his heartbeat had become steady again. “Hey Wolf, can you hear me?”, Eskel asked softly. Geralt grunted and Eskel went on, “I have to get the horses – you’ll need stitches when the magic wears off and I don’t have any equipment here.”

“Hold on to me!”, Eskel continued and ever so carefully lifted the other witcher, not actually relying on Geralt’s cooperation. He laid him down under the shelter of a small rock and tried to make him comfortable with his cloak. Then Eskel bent over him and slipped his last vial of Swallow into his hands. “I’ll be right back. Stay safe, Wolf”, he whispered and turned around before Geralt could see how worried he actually was.

Searching the horses took Eskel longer than expected and when he finally managed to force Scorpion and Roach up the uneven trail, it was already getting dark. He was instantly back at Geralt’s side and sighed in relief as he realized that nothing had happened in his absence.

After Eskel had unpacked their bedrolls and prepared a small fire, he fished out his equipment from Scorpion’s saddlebags and got ready to tend to Geralt’s wound properly. He worked in silence, expert and precise, but the memories that were tied to patching Geralt up tormented him. When he finally finished, he saw that Geralt’s witcher medallion was twisted around and reached over to set it right again.

Then he saw the plain stone framed on the reverse of the medallion. It showed a hastily carved rune of Quen. Eskel remembered it all too well. He had crafted it for Geralt as some kind of protection for his first year on the Path. The older witchers had punished him for “excessive attachment” to somebody else, but the stone still remained. Eskel did not know that Geralt had kept it all along the way through everything that had happened to them.

“You kept it after all those years?”, he stammered, trying hard not to show any of the feelings he had buried deep inside, ever since their emotional attachment had turned into a problem.  

“Always”, Geralt said slowly and reached for Eskel’s hand.

The two witcher had never been good with words and so Eskel just cherished the moment. Not long afterwards Geralt fell asleep and Eskel eventually decided to rest a bit too.

He would not let go of Geralt’s hand though. Instead he knelt down next to him and sunk into a light meditation. When Vesemir had taught them how to meditate they had also started like this – with touch as their only focus.

It was still dark when Eskel opened his eyes again. The fire had nearly burned down and Eskel added some more wood to it. In the meantime, Geralt turned and made an uneasy sound.

“Are you awake, Geralt?”

Geralt only groaned, but he already tried to sit up as well as possible.

“You asked me why I didn’t cover my tracks…”, Eskel took a deep breath. Somehow the words came to him and he knew if he didn’t say them right now, he probably never would. “I missed you. Badly. There were rumours you were in Daevon, so I rode up to Kaedwen hoping to catch up with you. There was a day where I felt like I had crossed your path and from there I stopped covering my tracks. I was hoping you’d find me. Well, you eventually did. But then some foglets came first and followed me for days. It was constantly raining and I didn’t want to fight them until I knew how many of them there were. But they ambushed me and I ended up in that damn village. I am glad you found me, Geralt. I just missed you so much.”

Carefully he squeezed Geralt’s hand. Geralt reciprocated and suddenly he softly pulled Eskel closer.

“You damn fool”, he said slowly. “I missed you too, you know?” Then he pressed a chaste kiss on Eskel’s lips.

The soft touch was neither a confession nor a vow. It felt like a permission – a permission to explore unspoken feelings and experience closeness in a new way. And that was it. Plain and simple.

#the witcher secret santa #thewitchersecretsanta #ohciq #gifts 2020 #witcher fic #geralt #eskel #geralt x eskel #gereskel #eskralt #geralt/eskel #or whatever the tag is these days ;) #aaaahhh i can't believe this is happening #my first fic in english❤ #what do you think? #😊

[tabletopjourneys]

Session 34 Notes

The Silver Scale Pack finishes clearing Perfection of its worm and shrieker problem, then continues off-road until they arrive safely in Longview to meet Rana's mother.

@gher-bear @aradow @telurin @epimetala

On this day we find a dead worm, kill more shriekers, and then return to town. There we find out that Ixayl'anu's elk had an encounter of his own, saving the camels all by himself! We don't see what flying thing caused the ruckus though and call the townspeople back to safety with mirror communications. Edea takes over and we continue on our way to Longview. Along the way, we sight a thunderbird storm and find wondrous treasure in some long-abandoned wagons. Eventually we end up in Longview, upon which we immediately exit to the outskirts and meet Rana's mother, Romy. Then we end the session with a level up! Welcome to level 8 SSP!

(Read More)

(Taking a Long Rest) Before Diem goes to sleep, they recast tiny hut, rolls an 8 on watch, Rana rolls a 17. She can see the lip of the valley and sees a flash of light.

She gets a 13 survival check on mirror glint communication and recognizes this is an all clear? morse code with mirrors thing. Rana nudges Phi about it to see if she knows this mode of communication better or at least has a mirror on her as well.

Phi hands over her small mirror with a silver handle.

Rana assumes it’s Edea, messages the number 1, spells out worm, flashes “message received”

After a brief moment she gets back “not visible/query not found”

Rana: “Message received”

Rana tells Phi what was said back and forth, then leans over the building and tells Diem as well.

Phi and Ixayl’anu’s watch: 14 Ixayl'anu, 19 Phi

At 1 or 2am the most god-awful scream they’ve ever heard in their life, coyote mixed with a rabbit, loud and wailing and pained. It wakes Rana up.

Phi knows it’s deeper into the valley.

Rana scrambles to look down and check on us on the ground. Phi continues investigating and gestures the approx direction for Rana.

It continues for about 10 minutes.

Diem finally wakes up “What? Huh? What the fuck is that?”

Phi 27 perception out in the valley. She sees off in the distance and with a fairly good idea of what they look like, she sees one completely on top of the ground way off in the distance, mouth open, she can see it is “beached” and making this noise.

She pokes Rana and points it out, then whisper yells over the edge at us about it being one of the worms.

Rana with perception 7 thinks she can kinda make it out.

Phi: Half mile, ¾ of a mile.

It tapers off though and everything is quiet, too quiet afterward.

Phi keeps her eye on that worm.

Come morning, Diem gets 3 charges back on their band of shocking grasp and recasts tiny hut as we wake up, just to keep it there until it’s no longer needed.

Rana checks again in the morning and what she thought was the worm was a rock (17 perception this time)

Rana: Let’s go check out that worm.

We discuss what’s up while snacking on rations and getting ready to go. Rana and Phi bring their rats with, but we leave the albino shrieker in its box in the shade.

(Investigating a dead worm - more shriekers!)

We spread out walking toward the beached worm, Rana in front.

With a perception check of 20, Phi stops as she catches dust in the distance, but it turns out to be an actual dust devil instead; no poof poofs of worms.

Before we can even see the worm, we smell it super bad, the worst dead thing that’s been sitting in the sun, putrifying. We see it now and it’s not moving.

Rana: Was this here yesterday?

Phi: Not until last night when it started making noise.

Rana: Does it look like its been dead longer than it actually has? With a medicine check of 4, it looks fairly together. She remembers Edea did a blight spell but this doesn’t look like that.

Diem covers their nose and investigates. It’s still not moving, mouth is open, tongues are not moving.

Phi tries to shoot it, nothing happens, looks like she just hit a hay bale with it.

Rana: Well we can message Edea and tell her the last worm is dead.

Ixayl'anu: A worm is dead, are we sure it’s the last one?

Rana shrugs.

Diem keeps walking around until they finally see blood all over the ground on the other side of the worm. Eventually they get to a better angle as everyone goes around it the other way. They finally see there are no insides, it’s been hollowed out. They tell everyone else.

Ixayl'anu tries to investigate as well, but doesn’t learn much.

Diem takes a 12 investigation, sees foot prints that look like they could fit shriekers and the hole in the worm hide is ragged.

Rana walks up and smacks it hard but nothing happens.

Diem startles: Shit, Rana.

Looks like a scuffle in the area, mess of prints, two sets leading away, headed toward the other side of the Rim.

Rana: Let’s follow them.

Ixayl'anu: Do we wanna leave a message for Edea?

Rana: If you have a way to leave a message…?

Ixayl'anu: You’re the one who wants to impress her

Rana: I have a mirror.

We don’t have anything substantial to report to check in though so we decide to follow the tracks, Rana in the lead with a 21.

We see them go off into the distance.

Investigation for Rana tells her there are two sets of footprints, we gather there were 3 total.

This worm is roughly the same direction as our 2 lost shriekers, we walked through some slightly charred field, but this is quite a bit farther out than where we last saw the on-fire shriekers.

We are only barely still in sight of town. The farther we get form town, the more on edge Rana gets.

Rana sees a glob of blood and fur along the way, we keep moving while Rana makes sure we don’t get lost as we go. None of us are being stealthy, we’re trying to stick close to rocks though whenever possible.

Phi hears wet crunching sounds ahead, ripping wet munching noises.

Phi makes a stopping gesture at all of us: waitwaitwaitwait did anybody else hear that?

Only Rana hears it now too: I think they caught something else.

Ixayl’anu gets up on a rock to try and see (16): She gets the gross scent she’s learned to associate with these creatures.

We send Phi ahead to scout over the rock, stomach crawling over the top. 28 stealth: Phi sees 2 shriekers eating a dead cow. She turns her head and plays charades. Mouths “cow” then corrects to “two”

Rana to the rest of us: There are two cows, they probably belong to the village, let’s go get them. *she starts walking around to fight them*

Phi gets ready to fight as well seeing her getting ready to fight.

(Another shrieker fight)

The shriekers scream at Rana as soon as they raise their little heat sensors - she makes her save.

Rana: They’re not cows guys!

Phi takes a surprise round shot but misses. She shoots again and does 16dmg to pink - she uses her bonus action attempting to hide by sliding down the side of the rocks and moving back. 24 stealth check.

Blue rushes Rana and bites at her.

Rana flame blades, but misses. Fiery scimitar sticks around though and it will serve as a bonfire of sorts if Edea is looking at us.

The creatures LOVE it mmm so much lovely heat.

Pink also charges Rana and tries to bite the sword, bites through to no effect.

Diem rushes up and hits with one shot of eldritch blast for 3dmg.

Ixayl’anu rushes forward and takes a swing at pink, miss, hit, 9dmg.

Phi runs forward to shoot at them from behind, misses, and has no movement left to hide.

Blue tries to bite Rana with disadvantage, but hits anyway and deals 14dmg

Rana tries to stab blue with her sword, does 6 fire dmg.

These guys do not look previously charred.

Pink tries to bite Rana and her beautiful sword again, but misses.

Diem tries to parkour up the lower portion of the rock, makes it, casts eldritch black at pink, but misses both strikes.

Ixayl'anu hits pink for 8dmg, misses her 2nd strike.

Phi shoots at blue and gets a crit! 34dmg, blue is bloodied by it. Phi bonus action hides in a pile of rocks. 13 stealth - she feels sorta secure...

Blue bites at sword/rana and misses

Rana swings at blue but misses.

Pink bites at Rana and misses.

Diem casts eldritch blast at blue for 16dmg total (one crit)

Ixayl'anu slashes at pink, misses, misses

Phi has to do a con save and passes as purple screams at her from behind. It jumps down.

The others scream as well, Ixayl'anu and Diem make their saves though while Rana is immune from her previous success.

Phi runs forward (directly east) around the rocks and away from purple, she shoots at blue, misses, dashes farther away again (over 50ft away from purple)

Blue misses Rana.

Rana swings at blue, misses.

Pink misses.

Diem hits blue for 16dmg total again, kills it.

Ixayl'anu swings at pink 11dmg, misses with 2nd strike.

Purple charges Phi and takes a bite - 10dmg, she uses evasion to take only 5dmg.

Phi switches to her daggers and hits with both for a total of 13dmg, bonus action disengages, uses her movement to be closer to Ixayl'anu, slightly behind and a few paces east.

Rana stabs at pink and deals 6dmg.

Does purple look previously charred? No.

Pink bites at Rana and her sword, just barely misses.

Diem sees purple hungering after Phi and decides to try and help draw its attention toward them - Rana and her fiery sword all bright and tasty looking between. They hit purple with eldritch blast for 10dmg total.

Ixayl'anu hits pink for 7dmg, misses 2nd strike.

Purple turns around, sees the sword, but Ixayl'anu is closer so it attacks her and misses.

Phi attacks with her daggers and does 24dmg total, efficiently killing it. Phi disengages.

Rana swings at pink, deals 14dmg, killing it.

(After battle investigations)

Rana lets go of her flame blade, but keeps the remaining 10minutes of concentration to summon it back as a bonus action. She checks the cow for more information (10) it is very dead, nothing otherwise out of the ordinary.

The rest of us look around, Ixayl'anu gets a nat 20 investigation (19). She finds a shrieker halfway up the cliffs purple came from.

Rana and Phi check in on their rats, then Rana tries to climb up to the molt (17) and tries to chuck it down to the ground. It feels like a chitinous fiberglass body and cracks a little bit when tossed down.

Rana nature checks 16 - the molt is maybe slightly smaller, she survival tracks purple’s prints (another 16), it went up at the top of the ridge, previously it was following along equally with the other two, so probably the results of that 3rd set of tracks.

Diem investigates the molt for burning and finds some, points it out to Rana. It’s definitely something left over from one of yesterday’s on-fire runners, possibly from one of the three we just killed, after they shed their damaged skin.

Molt is 10-15 lbs - Rana shoulders it.

We follow purple’s tracks back to the worm, confirming all three of the shriekers we just killed were involved in wormicide.

Rana leads us back to town from there.

We talk about the 3 we killed, the 2 that got away yesterday (and whether they are the same) and handling the infestation only until we feel confident the villagers can take care of the rest.

When we get back to town we go check on the albino shrieker, Ixayl'anu cracks the lid to see if it’s still there. Little snout pops out and snaps at her fingers, gets one of her plate-gauntleted fingers before she shuts the lid.

Rana and Ixayl'anu were paying attention enough with their nature rolls they notice it’s larger than yesterday but still not as big as the other guys. There’s definitely not enough space for another one in that box. It is still all white.

Ixayl'anu squeezes a ration in there with it - it’s like trying to feed a crocodile through the fence.

Rana climbs back up to last night’s roof and pulls out her mirror, studying where the mirror flashes were yesterday.

Phi looks around to see if the town looks empty still since we’ve been gone. 20 investigation: Town looks pretty close to how we had left things. As she gets closer to the camels, she hears the elk making angry elk noises, self consoling and all worked up.

Phi tries to parkour up the building near them.

Rana starts the mirror flashes for hey look here hey hey. Listen!

Diem: Maybe we could build a bonfire somewhere and see if it draws in any more of the little ones?

Rana: (while flashing hey hey pattern) Let’s check in with Edea and see if the town people want to return first.

Edea responds with a “here/listening” mirror glint.

Rana: “All clear maybe.”

Edea: “Okay to return?”

Rana: “Should be.”

Edea: “We’ll return.”

(Ixayl'anu's elk is a hero! Recognize!)

Back to Phi parkouring up building (14 - makes it up okay); looks out into the distance at what might be wrong, elk is tossing his head and claims more space than the camels who have edged away. When he sees Phi, he bugles something, trying to tell her something and stomps his hoof and brandishes his antlers.

Phi looks out into the distances with a 24 for threats. Nothing in the distance.

Phi: Down boy (assumes elk is just not happy, elk snorts at her as she leaves).

Phi comes back: Your elk is not liking the camels, or the camels don’t like your elk, something is going on down there.

Before Phi gets back, the elk telepathically says to Ixayl'anu: I defended the camels successfully, be proud of me! *smug* your camels are safe, there was a huge battle and I defended them well.

Ixayl’anu makes her way down there anyway. On the way she describes shriekers to the elk

Elk: No it was flying like a bird

Ixayl'anu: Was it a bird?

Elk: It was weird, but it was flying so it must be a bird.

Ixayl'anu looks up but doesn’t see anything.

Rana and Diem check in on their camels

Ixayl'anu tells us it wasn’t natural, but none of us see flying creatures.

Ixayl'anu to elk: How big was it?

Elk: It was as big as me!

Ixayl'anu relays this.

Ixayl'anu: Did it smell?

Elk: The camels smell...

Rana casts speak with animals and asks her camel what happened.

Her camel is very upset by something large attacking from the air. The elk did scare it off, but now he’s been showboating about it ever since and the camels just want out.

Rana: Have you seen the thing from the sky before

Camel: No

Rana casts stone shape and makes a 5X5 passage, 1ft off the ground, carefully leading camels through the doorway and handing them off to people. Rana is playing tetris with stonework and camels, and she tries to explain to them what she’s doing, guiding them out - 20 animal handling check.

Animal handling for our camels handed over (5 from Ixayl'anu, elk’s antlers get stuck), I get a 9, Phi gets a 4, they are just too eager to be out. Phi’s camel picks her up, holding onto halter lead and goes trotting off into the greenery.

Diem’s drags them away from quicksandy dead worm area in the opposite direction, further into town rather than toward brush, but Diem does manage to see a little throughway and eventually the camel heads that way, Diem going with it to the little oasis area.

Rana helps Ixayl'anu with the last camel to get it to the brush.

We take a short rest as we wait for Edea.

Diem keeps their eyes on the skies but only rolls a 5 on perception.

Rana does the same, rolls 12, but she’s more interested in playing with her rat and there’s a lot of leaves in the way besides.

(Townspeople Return)

We eventually hear/see Edea with the group of villagers heading into the main building from across the pond. We hear large exclamations.

Rana: I think she’s here.

We go with her.

Edea is impressed by our pile of bodies

Rana warns Edea about what the elk saw, but we haven’t seen any indication. We still don’t.

Edea: We’ll keep an eye out, we didn’t see anything on our way into town either.

Rana: Don’t know if you guys heard that shrieking last night?

Edea: Yep.

We catch her up to that and the molt, edea wants to see it.

Edea: I’ve never seen anything like these creatures but I certainly wouldn’t have expected them to molt.

Rana: They look mammalian to me.

Edea: They’re definitely not insects.

Rana: Oh yeah and Ixayl'anu found a pet.

Ixayl'anu: Oh yeah (something I missed for notes)

Rana fills Edea in about el blanco’s details.

Edea volunteers to take the molt off our hands to the other druids of her circle.

Rana: As far as we can tell they love fire and heat

Diem: We thought we might light a bonfire before we leave, make sure nothing else comes after it before we move on.

Edea studies el blanco, then wrangles it, mouth together and ropes it closed.

Edea: It’s definitely malformed, compared to the other ones.

Edea pokes at the flaps and peels them up a little bit, it screams and struggles more: It definitely sees via these organs. What are you planning on doing with this one?

Rana gestures at Ixayl'anu

Ixayl'anu: (More words I missed for notes) definitely doesn’t need to come with us anywhere, just thought it might be useful to study.

Edea: Well, this was always intended to be our splitting off point anyway.

Rana: Yeah, I can get them to Longview from here.

Ixayl'anu: Yeah if it’s useful to study, we can leave it here.

Edea: Yeah this and the molt could tell us quite a bit.

Ixayl'anu: Not attached, just holding onto it as something we can maybe do something with.

Rana: Camels are by the oasis, they made it through just fine.

We talk things over, Earl comes out and sees shrieker pile “What in tarnation is going on here?”

Rana: Feel free to add to the pile

Earl: Val come look at this!

Val comes out to look.

Our plan is to wait out the heat of the day/afternoon. Diem sets up a tiny hut and we inform Edea of as much as possible.

Edea is now treating us all as competent and she’s giving us more respect as a result.

We begin our trek out of the valley toward Longview, none of us catching on that Rana is taking us slightly off-path from our plans.

Encounter roll of 19 from Ixayl'anu.

(Thunderbird sighting)

As we get to the far side of this canyon, beginning to climb out of it, we can see a lot farther than before, more regular level desert, far off into the distance, 10-20 miles away a huge thunderstorm is brewing, lots of lightning it looks real bad.

Perception checks Diem 1, Ixayl'anu 5, 23 Phi, Rana 22

Rana (excited and worried both): We need to get under cover right now! We can’t be out in the open when that thing gets here. I have never seen one but I think this is a thunderbird. I don’t think it’ll bother us if we leave it alone, but we need to get out of its way.

Phi: Is that bigger than a roc?

Rana: About the same size. I have never seen one...though it looks about the size of a roc.

Survivals: Rana 13, Diem 8, Phi 18, Ixayl'anu 6

We don’t really find a good spot. We find an overhang though, but not a big enough space for the tiny hut. We manage to be out of line of sight. It was coming toward us as we were looking for a spot.

To Diem (perception 4) it’s like being caught out in a hurricane.

Rana tries to get a look 17, Phi 11, Ixayl'anu 20

This bird is mad, something has pissed it off.

Ixayl'anu to her elk: This isn’t the thing is it?

Elk: *huddled* no this is not what I saw

We’re soaked to the bone, but it’s a warm rain. We watch for a good hour or so, we see it make a couple of dives in the desert but not near Perfection.

Phi wonders aloud if it’s mad about these new abominations in its land and it’s come to take it back and wash it clean.

It makes a couple of passes over the valley and then goes back where it came from to the North.

Rana: *grinning* Let’s not do that again.

Diem: That was AWESOME

Ixayl'anu is excited about the lightning.

Diem takes a long time to prestidigitation us all dry.

Rana picks up the lead again.

Survival rolls to get our bearings again diem 6, Ixayl'anu 7, rana 10, phi 17 - we’re pretty confident Rana knows the way.

Rana knows it would take another full day to get to Longview and looks for a game trail toward it instead of Bouldergap as we had planned (not that any of us catch on to the fact we’re off course out here.

It takes us awhile and we’re meandering a little. It takes us past dusk before we find a suitable area and begin setting up camp.

Phi: Rana, I don’t even see this path anymore...

Rana: That’s because we’re not on it. I use this path all the time, we’re almost certainly not lost *smiling*

Phi: Alright I trust you.

Diem casts alarm around the animals, then summons the tiny hut, coloured to blend with the desert sand.

Rana nat 20s first watch. Coyotes in the distance, lovely night, natural sounds, everything’s peachy.

She’s in a good mood when she wakes Phi up: It’s a great night.

Phi: Happy to be home?

Rana: More than a little. I like Rethwellian but it’s a little too green for my tastes

Phi: Well so far this desert has been nice but also a little smelly sometimes

Rana: In our defense, it’s usually not like that, hopefully they’ll be gone soon, maybe that thunderbird washed them away.

Phi: Hopefully

Rana: Alright goodnight

Phi: Goodnight

Perception 26, nothing really changes though she’s not as comfortable as Rana is.

On Diem and Ixayl’anu’s watch, Diem recasts tiny hut. Ixayl'anu gets 7, Diem gets a 4. Diem draws a bad rendition of the thunderbird in their dream journal (maybe because they didn’t get to see it so well lol).

OOC we rule that Diem doesn’t have to worry about timing and recasting tiny hut moving forward, it’ll last for as long as we need it.

Nice clear morning, Rana is pumped and ready to go, already on the camel as we climb out of our bedrolls.

(Lost treasure on the sandy deer trails)

Rana rolls a 6 for encounters - a few hours in, 10/10:30 we come to a scattering of splintered wood and strewn wagon wrecks up ahead. Rana stops because this isn’t supposed to be here. Even with an 8 she sees a wagon wheel.

Ixayl'anu: What, what’s going on?

We get close and see the remains of wagons.

Diem: Think this could be that missing caravan?

Rana: It’s possible, but we’re no longer on that path.

Ixayl'anu goes over to look at identifying marks on crates/wagons/flags

Rana perception checks around the area, Diem goes with her (22, 11)

Phi helps Ixayl'anu. She notices the wood is bleached and weathered, sitting in the sun for years and years.

Ixayl'anu: How long does it take for wagons to start looking like this? Doesn’t it take awhile?

Rana walks up.

When Ixayl'anu scrapes it with a claw it splinters like over-dry wood

Rana 10 investigates it, and agrees - very weathered and bleached, flags are tattered and bleached, light pink maybe used to be red. Rana goes up to the 2nd wagon, Diem follows. It looks like it was a goods caravan, no animals, no people, no bones (but rolled low for that).

Diem got sand in their eye (1 investigating for bones)

We are following a loose trail of debris, Rana sees the inside protected by the cloth and she sees several other crates that have been pried open, contents taken. Rana pulls one crate out

Phi and Diem both roll low on this next part.

Rana nat 20s looking this crate over, tucked away behind that crate is another one that got overlooked, barely protected, it has a strange symbol on it like the barest suggestion of an inverted triangle made with little triangles at each point and leaf blades in the center curling out toward the leftmost triangle point from a braided crescent moon along the suggested triangle’s right side, tips of the crescent poking up out of the leftmost and top sides of the suggested triangle. Rana drags it out and takes a closer look. It seems kind of heavy. Whatever is in there is well padded, no shifting or sloshing etc.

Phi 14 perceives for traps. She sees it is locked with delicate filigree on it, meaning it’s probably a trap. Attempts to disable the trap (24).

We talk about how very lost they probably were, because as Rana points out, you do not go off trail, the desert is very dangerous, it will kill you, and while we were okay off trail with her, you definitely do not go off trail with a caravan.

Ixayl'anu: I get that but how far off trail are we?

Rana: We are inadvisably far off trail, but I know where I’m going.

Phi defeats the trap and inside she finds a large teapot of red enamel with a slightly demonic face on the side of it with a large ring in its nose. When she picks it up steam gently comes up and it is warm.

Rana looks in the box for more identification. 18 investigation.

Rana 17 history checks the triangle-moon symbol too - she’s not certain where she’s seen the symbol but it’s tip of her tongue - not quite familiar, but something. She finds a very old, weathered piece of parchment with “the meal wish cauldron” written on it, along with what it does.

By putting in 10 gold (or similar value of jewels - per person?), you bring forth a great feast, including magnificent food and drink. The feast takes 1 hour to consume and disappears at the end of that time, and the beneficial effects don't set in until this hour is over. Up to twelve creatures can partake of the feast.

A creature that partakes of the feast gains several benefits. The creature is cured of all diseases and poison, becomes immune to poison and being frightened, and makes all Wisdom saving throws with advantage. Its hit point maximum also increases by 2d10, and it gains the same number of hit points. These benefits last for 24 hours.

We package it away into our own supplies for now.

Rana: We’ll get to Longview before nightfall probably.

We travel an hour and a half more before we get back to the main road again, very well trafficked, just like Rethwellian’s main roads, it’s like going from a deer trail to a five lane highway.

Diem plays off the whole bad bitch native desert dweller guide, so fuck off vibe

As we get closer and closer to early evening we can see Longview.

(Welcome to Longview)

We are going to see a small town, big enough to know everyone but only if you lived here awhile. Somewhat of a farming community, gardens behind houses are common, in the shadow of the mountain, a bit more greenery here, but not as green as Rethwellian.

Taking the main road in, not stopping, just going through town - Rana clearly knows where she’s going. “Welcome to Longview.”

Phi: So were you born here?

Rana: Yeah, I grew up here.

One person on the road nods at Rana but they don’t stop and chat. They stare more at us than her.

Diem thinks it looks very cute and cozy

Rana’s interactions are limited to nods and waves

Phi: How long since you’ve been home?

Rana: At least 2 years

We notice nobody’s trying to catch up with Rana, Diem just assumes that’s because they know Rana well enough to know she’s not much of a talker and/or they’re all very similar to her in that regard.

As we pass the inn

Phi: Are we going to stay with your family maybe?

Rana: That is the plan, yes.

She takes us to her mom’s place, taking a left and immediately leaving Longview for its outskirts instead. Comparatively small homesteading with some sheep that want fed, a small kitchen garden, that’s pretty much it. We passed a lot of farms on the way here though. This one is only about 10 acres.

Rana glances around at some to do things while she’s here, but not a whole lot, some of the fencing could use repairing. She finds a place for their camels for water and food, ties them off. While everyone’s unloading she goes to feed the sheep.

Then she leads us to the door. We make enough noise out there though that a farm dog comes out barking, excited to see her, yipping, mom comes out the back “Oh Rana you’re back!” (older, husky sounding voice, from the city, little bit more cultured, wearing very nice clothes).

Rana turns around with a grin and runs to give her a big hug

Mom: I missed you so much

Rana: I missed you too

Mom: You brought friends

Rana: I brought friends!

Mom: Bring them inside

A feathered female dragonborn, a white-haired female gnome, and a big scary human woman who looks like she could break you.

Rana: we’re gonna need somewhere to stay for a night or two if that’s okay?

Mom: Sure

Rana: I fed the sheep and the camels, I haven’t fed anything in the stable yet though.

Mom: We have some sheep that are laming too.

Rana: It is good to see you - it has been way too long.

Mom: I did hear from your brother about events.

Rana: Oh! Did he get his message then?

Mom: All 3 of them. One right after another

Rana (grinning): I’ll have to fill him in, it’s been an eventful few months

Rana waves us over.

Rana leads the elk to sheep pen so it doesn’t eat mom’s flowers. It is way greener here than the other gardens in town. Plants here are very lovely.

Rana looks around: I’ll take care of the plants while I’m here too.

Mom: They always seem to enjoy your attentions. Introduce me to your friends?

She introduces us, stops at Diem, “Drop the disguise.”

Diem clearly forgot they were disguised, but does so, looks a little out of sorts after they drop the disguise rather than their easily sociable butterfly self.

Rana introduces each of us and where we’re from, Diem says their home is a small village in Rethwellian nobody’s really heard of, not important.

We are introduced to mom as Romy

Level up!

Next Session: Feb 20th 4pm est

#Anesh #Perfection #On the way to Longview #Tremors D&D #Shriekers #Graboids #Ass blaster sequel hook #Val #Earl #Edea #Thunderbird sighting #Mealwish Cauldron #We meet Rana's mom! #Romy #Level 8!

[tellywoodtrash]

shaadi mubarak 11, 12, 14.09.20 lbs

11.09.20

bhagwan give me as much dheentness as kt.

lmaoooooo kusum eavesdropping on this juhi/preeti convo and facepalming over and over.  

poor kusum has to do the dirty work of getting rid of kt.

ugh tarun/rati.

lmao fuck off rati, she still not coming back to be naukrani to you.

preeeti classsy as fuckkkkkkkkk.

shouldn't have told them the plan. they don't deserve to know shit.

I NEED TARUN TO BE MURDERED IMMEDIATELY. LIKE 3 SECONDS AGO. HE'S LITERALLY THE RUDEST FUCKER I'VE EVER ENCOUNTERED ON ITV. LIKE, IT TAKES SOME SPECIAL SKILL TO ECLIPSE THE 4 LIONS MEN AND THIS DUDE GOT THEM ALL DOWN PAT, LOOKING LIKE THEY GOT THE MANNERS OF A SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN. FUCK. LITERALLY DIE RIGHT NOW YOU FUCKING HELLSPAWN GARBAGE FIRE PERSON.

every time rati says “pranaam”, my eye twitches from rage.

lol kusum's mad that she had to turn kt away.

bless sumedh, he's the nicest boy in this whole show, i love him so much.

what dukaaan do sumedh/juhi haaaaaaave?!?

KUSUMMMMMM, YOU JUST PROMISED THAT YOU WOULDN'T TALK ABOUT THISSSSSS TO PREETIIIIIII.

kt also has zero hope.

he's sooooo earnestttttttt, while talking about preeti and her talent. i adore that about him.

lmao preeti doesn't get kusum's sass.

KUSUM IS HEADDDDDDDDDD CHEERLEADERRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

omg she's soooooooooooo me, this is exactly howwwww i motivate my friends!!!

lmaoooooooooo ghoom-phir ke everything comes back to having sex and babies with someone who was essentially a stranger.

poor preeti. i really do get her side as well.

lo aa gaya rejection waala phone call.

i love kt's mom's saris. they're so simple and classy.

oh kt, you teddy bear of a man. i wish you happy thingsssssssss.

WHY DO THEY RANDOMLY GHUSAOFY THESE ROMANTIC TYPE OF  SCENES???!?! IT'S TOO FUCKING EARLY FOR THIS. YES THEY CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT EACH OTHER BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE ROMANTICALLY CODED AT THIS POINT.

kt's momma bear is very wholesome, but this family coddles him waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much.

kusum's being pissy and taking out gussa on khaana.

poor kajal, juhi, and preeti. kisi ko koi idea nahi how to sambhaalofy kusum's ubalta hua gussa. my god, i fear this is beyond the superpowers of sumedh too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12.09.20

preeti seems to have watched suno chanda and is using the flower petals on the pankha method to apologize/cheer up.

but lemme tell you, no average desi mom is ever gonna appreciate this method. COZ WHO THE FUCK IS GOING TO HAVE TO CLEAN UP THIS MESS HAAAAN?!?!!? EK TOH GUSSE MEIN HOON, UPAR SE MERA KAAM BHI BADHAA DIYA.

omg preeti's playing songs to manaofy herrrrrrrrrr. this is truly the most wonderful love story of this showwwwwwww.

LMAO KUSUM'S FACE.

oh no. kusum is Big Mad.

oh boy, aastha gonna take the brunt of this.

LMAO “ghar waapis chodne ki zaroorat na hai, raaste mein koi peepal ka ped mile toh wahaan thaare ko taang de; wahin pe sookhti rehna!”

kajal is alarmed by this threatttttt.

blah blah blah kt and mom love fest.

oh ho, there's some financial masla between chacha/chachi and kt's parents.

kajal is hellllllllaaaaa cute, i love her the most.

piyu is here to throw thanda paani on everyone's attempts.

why does piyu have SUCHHHHHH gile-shikwe with kusum? why doesn't she get that she's all bluster, but a goddang softieeeee on the inside?!?!!?

preeti be like child, you don't know tf you're talking about.

ok i don't really agree with this way of parenting, but like.... whatever, i get it.

PREETI KNOWS HER BESTIE SOOOOOOOO WELLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

KUSUM HAS PLAYED REVERSE CARD!!!!!!!! WE LOVE THIS FRIENDSHIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE MOST WHOLESOME EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lmao preeti realllllyyyy making her work for it, i fucking love ittttt.

“kab se apne saheli se baat karne ke liye mere pet mein dard ho raha tha, pata hai??!” “saachi?!?!!?!”

OMFG THE CUTEST.

the way preeti's face truly lights up when she's talking about something she's passionate about, it warms my cold, dead heart.

this sudden cough of kusum's is very fake and suspicious.

saamaan pohunch gaya? oh boy.

I KNOW THAT VOICE THAT'S HUMMING.

THAT'S RANGEELO THAARO BEEND, PREETI.

this incorrigible mannnnnn!!!!!!!!! 

THIS THOPDA LINE MAKES ME WANNA BREAK SOMETHING.

oh no. jhoomar has fallen. please don't let this be an awkward romantic moment.

LMAO KUSUM'S SHEER GLEE AND JUHI'S HORRIFIED FACE.

kusummmmm is sweetesttttt. she convinced juhi too!

hein abhi piyuuuu ko juhiiiiiii se kyaaaaa masla hai!?

this shoddy work doesn't bode well for you, KT.

LOL THAT DUMB MOLE, AND HER FACE AT HIS EXPLANATION. I LOVE HER FACE SOOOOOOOOO MUCH.

KT's like his own walking talking wikipedia page.

lmao, kaam kaisa laga, he asks; standing amid the ruins of this kaam.

“ji buraayi kaisi? itna badhiya baandha tha ki seedha sar pe aa gira. aur kahin nahi gira!” LMAOOOOOOOOOO PREEEEEETI I LOVE YOUR SNARK

thaaari best fraaaand ne bataaya ki tu yahaan milegi, aur kaise?!?

THIS MAN IS A CHILDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.

14.09.20

kt-saa is flashing best puppy eyes while talking about equal division of labour. dunno about preeti, but i'm convinced.

ugh agarwal is gonna be a dodgy client, isn't he?

PREETI YOU TOO SOFTTTTTTT, YOU NEEEEEEED KT TO HANDLE THE CONFRONTATIONAL PARTS.

ok those taars look fucking unsafe as fuckkkkkk.

HE'S LITERALLY A CHILD LOOKING AT  A CHRISTMAS TREE.

kuch bhi kaho, he's a quite a good judge of people. very much like a puppy that way.

lmaooooooooooo preeti walking away while grumbling about how kusum repeated literally everything to him like a totuuuuu.

please tell me the juhi/piyu backstory (and possibly tarun’s involvement) is gonna come out alreadyyyyyyyyyy.

kusum ain't no fool. just tell her already.

OUFF MANHOOS PHONE KO ABHI BAJNA THA.

i feel like i've seen this red kurta that piyu is wearing on shrenu in the ib redux??? something very similar anyway.

anyway, something reallllll shady between juhi/piyu. it's that fucking tarun. i'm sure of it.

KT YOU ARE LIKE A DOG WITH A BONEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

abbe this agarwalllllll.

OH HO PREETI, LISTEN TO KT!!!!!

ooooooh samoseeeeee. i want.

legit my reaction to foood too. excitement and heart eyes and happy wriggles.

ok just coz she knows your preferred condiment to matar ke samose doesn't mean that she knows you enough to go into lakhon-croreon ka business with you.

DUDE I WOULD KILL FOR A SAMOSA RN.

agarwal a fucking fraud. also a rudeasss bitch.

AGARWAL KA, RATI/TARUN KA, CHANDA KA, SAB KA BADLA LEGA RE TERA KTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!

KT-SAA GONNA GARAJ BARAS SAAWAN GHIR AAYO ON THIS FUCKER.

oh preeti, come hereeee. *massive huggg*

kusum holding courttttttttt and all the kids happily giggling at her stories. my heart is warm.

preeti trying to break the baddddd news.

this kt/kusum alliance is bloody amazing. though i can't wait till it's a lil more equal and kusum starts calling kt on his shit occasionally. that's when it'll shift gears into peak comedy.

LMAO WTF HAS KUSUM DONE TO THE ROOOOOOOOOM

damn i really love all the furniture in this room. i'd loveeeeeeee to have these handicraft pieces.

lol kusum last minute mein looking for the cockroach in the back of preeti's blouseeeeeeeeee

preeti ko chodo, kusum itself is gonna fall asleep on her feet.

ugh fuckkkkkk agarwal.

AWWWW YISSSSSSSSSSSSS KT IS HERE TO READ HIM TO FILTH.

kusum and fam showing support with aankhein and smug smiles.

DAMN KT, I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D BE THIS CUTTHROAT. GOTTA SAY, IT'S KINDA HOT.

ugh preeti, you're tooooo fucking nice. kya zaroorat hai ab bhi iska kaam karne kiiiii??? 

PLEASE WELCOME THE NEWEST MEMBER IN THE RANKS OF WARRIORS WHO'LL FIGHT FOR PREETI'S AATMASAMMAAAAAN: KT-SAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

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thank the heavens; preeti has finalllllllyyyyy made the decision.

#shaadi mubarak #sm lbs #episode liveblogs