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judg333ment · 1 year

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cain oliviera (children of orcus campaign)

some notes before we get started!

major content warnings for cult activity and parental manipulation.

also a bit of a disclaimer! cain was originally a dnd character for a campaign that was being run by a dm who’s special interest at the time was the first season of critical role! i’ve never actually seen or listened to critrole though so anything from critrole involved in this character is probably vastly different than how it was in the show because i took what my dm gave me and RAN. so if you see anything that seems like a critrole thing. no you dont.

one final note: i have a ton of aus regarding cain, one of which i consider just as mainline as his original universe! those aus are also linked

about cain

half sun elf, half human

druid, circle of the shepherd. was 26 at the beginning of the campaign (28 at the end)

agender; uses he/they pronouns as well as the neopronouns set ve/ver/vis/verself

neutral good alignment

6ft2in (188 cm), 168 lbs (76 kg)

quiet, timid, gentle. Sometimes seems stand-offish, but is really just anxious.

likes: hydrangeas, wine, fields, trees, pigs, ravens and crows, having their hair braided by someone else

dislikes: most social interaction (unless he’s comfortable with you), conflict / confrontation in a social setting (he’s a veteran adventurer but will avoid social conflict at any cost), those who trample others for personal gain, those who purposely cheat death at the expense of others, loud and crowded spaces, not getting enough sleep

read vis story under the cut!

Cain was born into a circle of druids that worked as shepherds and was mostly made up of elves and dwarves. Vis mother, a sun elf, was the leader of that circle, but ve did not know vis father, a human, who left not long after Cain’s mother became pregnant.

One night, Cain’s circle was attacked by a hill giant settled in the area. Cain was part of the group sent to try and fight the giant off, but the group ended up being utterly wiped out. Cain was the only survivor, but was injured and rendered unconscious until the following morning. When ve returned to the circle’s settlement, ve found it entirely abandoned. Unsure of vis mother and other loved ones’ fates — and terrified of the possibilities — Cain was devastated, and no longer had a home. Ve wandered aimlessly around the Coast, lost, afraid, and terribly saddened, until ve was found by a brave (and very loud) red dragonborn named Cormack, who took ver under his wing. Cormack, a cleric and soldier, was well aware of the growing threat the Giants inhabiting the Sword Coast were becoming to the smallfolk that inhabited there was well, and decided to start a company of adventurers to help protect the smallfolk from this threat. Not wanting to leave the person ve had begun to trust, Cain reluctantly decided to join them, but was slow to trust the new members. and was often too afraid to confront the Giants.

As time went on, though, Cain not only began to trust the other members of the company, but began to consider them vis new family. Ve went from having nothing to do with them to protecting them with vis very life, often at vis own detriment. Ve was still often anxious and afraid, but worked very hard to push past those fears in order to protect the people ve had grown to love.

The company ended up working with the Giant’s Royal Family in Faerun to put an end to the conflict that had been endangering the smallfolk. During this conflict, Cain had begun developing feelings on the shopkeep of the magic items shop the company frequented. One day, after completing a mission for the Royal Family, the party went to the shop to find it under attack by a lich claiming to be Cain’s father. He revealed he had plans to have Cain come with him and join his faith, but the company fought him off. They didn’t see him for a while after that, and not long after, Cain and the shopkeep started dating. Not long after that, while trying to resolve conflict with Ice Giants, a little gnome girl named Keira joined the company after running away from her stifling noble family. Cain ended up adopting Keira, and she stayed with ver for the rest of her life.

There was peace for a few years after finally helping the Giants solve their conflict, during which Cain and his boyfriend got engaged. However, the peace could not last forever, and before long the company was alerted to cult activity popping up around the Sword Coast. Pretty quickly, they learned that this cult was Cain’s father’s ‘faith’ — a cult that worshipped the Demon Lord of the Undead, Orcus. At this point, Cain had become quite the powerful druid, but vis father — a still more powerful mage than Cain, and also a lich — still intended on forcing ver to join him, no matter what. Not only that, but the main goal of the cult was to bring the Demon Lord into the Material Plane, ending the world as they knew it. Because of vis own personal connection to the situation, as well as vis respect for the natural circle of life and desire to protect others, Cain vowed to do everything within vis power to stop vis father and the cult.

Several times during their pursuit for information to stop a cult made of liches and aspiring liches, the company would commune with and visit the Raven Queen, who took a liking to Cain and vis respect of the natural circle of life. Because of this, she offered vee her blessing so ve could continue to carry out this mission, and ve dedicated vis life (and afterlife) to serving her.

The company soon learned that the best way to put and end to this cult was to collect a series of powerful magical items and use them to destroy the cult. They spent a long time gathering these items, and nearly (permanently) died several times in the process — and in order to obtain the final weapon, they had to fight an Ancient red dragon. It was quite a while before they succeeded in defeating the dragon, and they took their time after that before returning to the city. They returned to calamity, The cult had already begun the ritual to bring Orcus into the Material Plane, and it was too far along to be stopped. Most of the people in the city had already been killed and brought back as mindless undead hordes, ready to swarm all those who approached. Orcus was here, and he already had an army. The end, at this point, was nearly inevitable.

But all hope wasn’t lost quite yet. Keira, who had become quite the great bard (she canonically events the kazoo in this universe!) knew of one thing that could potentially save the world. She cast a Wish spell that sent the company back in time with the knowledge of what was about to come, allowing them to prevent the worst. They arrived in the city just barely too late to stop the ritual from beginning, but were able to stop Cain’s father from finishing the ritual and shoving Orcus back into the Abyss themselves, stopping the end of the world.

Peace lasted after that. Cain and vis fiancee got married, and later, so did Cormack. Cain, their husband, and Keira ran their shop and lived happily together. Cain, however, never entirely gave up adventuring, and continued vis work for vis goddess — traveling the world to protect the lord against malicious undead, helping villages with burial rites, and fostering nature and life. Vis power grew until ve became an Arch Druid, and with the extended lifespan achieved for Arch Druids as well as the blessing from vis goddess, ve essentially stopped aging — gaining the lifespan of a Sequoia tree. Through the magic and power of nature and the forces that protect it, Cain would live for another 3,000 years.

#cain (orcus)#🌿

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kibleedibleedoo · 4 years

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Hero of your own Fate 2/?

Thorin x reader

Warnings - brief mention of mental illness, slow burn

A/n - sorry it's a long one

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~Thorin's POV~

It had been a long detour via the Blue mountains which unfortunately had not born any fruit. All Thorin could think about was a hot meal and a place of safety to sleep tonight. He was getting far too old to be a solitary nomad. His fantasising of his next meal led thorin down his third wrong turn of the evening. The shire was full of winding roads that seemed to follow no logical order in their constuction. Thorin could see the house up on a hill, by mahal he probably could hear the company from back in Bree, but he just could not find the right path to get there and the fading like was offering him no favours.

Thorin watched confused as the heavens seemed to rip open as Bagend was aurrounded by a vrief thunder storm and depositing a girl on top of the hill. From this distance it was hard to tell but she certainly wasnt one of his kin and the clothes she was wearing made ger look out of place in this world. Maybe you were a one of a secretive kind, some even more secretive than dwarves that few even knew the existance of. He watched as you settled yourself and entered the hobbit hole. Something deep inside him was drawn to this unfamiliar woman so deep that Thorin was taken by surprise when he knew how to get to that blasted house, to get to you.

~Reader's POV~

That evening was a whirlwind so much seemed to happen in so little time. The quest was explained along with the risks and contracts were handed out to you and the other burglar Bilbo. It took many by surprise when he fainted at the thought of incineration, sure it would be a bad way to go but an instant death was far more preferable than a long drawn out one, the only one not surprised was the leader of our company Thorin oakenshield. He seemed to react to the hobbit with pure annoyance even going so far as to question him on battle experience upon entering poor Bilbo's home. You had no battle experience at least none in hand to hand combat. You cast your mind back to one of your childhood school trips where you were taught how to fire an arrow and a bit of fencing neither of which you were any good at, at the time which gave you little hope for your ability to fight on this quest. You needed training or you would be a liability and you were positive the whole company knew it.

You took the time during Bilbo's recovery to pull Gandalf aside.

"what am i doing here?" you asked rather annoyed with the wizard.

"You offered to help in the café did you not?" he quipped knowing the answer.

"Yes but there is no point me joining if i am only going to be a liability Gandalf" you huffed, you wanted to help you really did but there was no point volunteering for this quest if it was going to end in your demise or the demise of some of the dwarves before the quest is complete.

"You posess talents aside from fighting that will come in useful that I am sure something that those of middle earth lack" the wizard mused. He was almost certainly keeping something to himself about what you could contribute. Before you could respond he continued "I took the liberty of packing supplies for you, some hygiene products from your home but mainly supplies from here for the journey. They are with your pony at the stables" Your eyes grew wide as you realised the wizard had gone through your things.

"You broke into my house!" you exclaimed in a hushed tone trying to stop any of the dwarves from prying, unfortunately you could not seem to shake the handsome one's peircing gaze. "What if my roommate saw you? omg wait what did you see in my stuff!" at this point you were starting to panic, your roommate had always suffered from anxiety and happening upon a strange man riffling through your stuff wasnt exactly something they would take in their stride.

"I was not seen, and magic comes in useful in your realm too" he chucked "the essentials come to me, they seemed nicely organised so I packed the entire bag for you" mentally you were piecing together what you would be carrying. That bag contained your toothbrush, toothpaste, a few wash cloths, deoderant, conditioner, a spare pair of panties, and some everyday makeup items. Okay so no shampoo, you werent exactly sure when you would get the opportunity to wash your hair while trekking across this world but you had heard others try a no-poo style of washing their hair so that must be what you would have to do from now on. "Along with what is already packed here are a new set of clothes to help you fit in better and if you will let me I can exchange and money you have for coin you can use here." You werent sure exactly where he had stored the fresh clothes but he seemed sincere so you handed your bag over to him.

"Dont touch anything else in there, you only have permission to exchange currency" you said in a stern voice "they might not all work here but they are important to me" you finished softly. You took the clothes to a seperate room and closed the door behind you. It was dark but you still had your phone in your pocket so could use the torch for a while. You silently thanked whatever deity was up there that your parents had got you a solar powered power bank for christmas and it was in your bag, where you always kept it, your phone might run out of battery soon but you knew that you would be able to look through your photos whenever you got homesick on this quest. You turned your attention to the clothes, inspecting each item you noticed the outfit looked like something that would have been worn during the 18th century back home. Luckily your roomate was studing fashion history at the local university so you knew where all the fabric was supposed to go. Gandalf had also been nice and provided you with a corset which did up on the front, looking at them you could almost hear your roommate telling you this style was called a 'pair of bodies' and you chuckled knowing that while this outfit might be more practical than what you were wearing it was still going to be a nuisance to put on and wear all the time. You got undressed and threw the shift over your underwear, not ready to give up your modern bra and pants just yet, next you decided you still wanted to wear your leggings. If you were supposed to learn how to ride a horse tomorrow you sure as hell were going to have some fabric between your skin and the saddle plus it would preserve some of your dignity if you fell off and your skirt flew over your head. Time for the corset, the stomacher was rock hard which you thought might provide some protection, against what you werent quite sure of yet, and the corset was surprisingly easy to lace up at the front. The next item you loved, it was a shame modern women's fashion hated them so much but these bags you tied at your waist formed huge pockets which could fit most of the contents of your bag in without anyone being any the wise. The petticoat and skirt followed and a jacket tied the look together. You decided your doc martens would be far better to wear than whatever flimy shoe gandalf had provided so with your outfit complete you returned to the company.

Gandalf sat there smiling with a bag of coins in his hand. You felt you looked slightly ridiculous, especially since your bosom was more pronounced than in your oversized tee.

"Now you look like you belong here" he took a sip of wine and nodded.

"I might look like it but I have still kept some of my modern luxuries" you responded smugly waving your t-shirt a bit. He smirked handing you over the coins and your backpack back. You stuffed the tshirt in with the rest of your stuff and made a mental note to wear it as a pyjama top.

~Thorin's POV~

Y/N had disappeared off into one of the rooms shortly after her argument with gandalf. It seemed like the company had lost both of their burglars within the space of five minutes. Thorin huffed and sat back next to Balin who was always a source of comfort to him even before Erebor fell.

"We do not have time to delay Balin, if we must leave without them then that is what we must do" Thorin sighed, fewer and fewer folk were supporting this mission a band of 13 dwarves and a wizard was hardly a match for a dragon if Smaug still lived.

"I know lad, have faith this is a worthy quest and mahal would not have forsaken us" Balin smiled reassuringly at Thorin. Balin trusted Thorin like he trusted no other, he knew Thorin would give anything for his people and would do everything in his power to provide them with a place of sanctuary. The pair sat in silence for a few moments when Y/N came out of one of the rooms in a different outfit. The dress made her look like one of them, it fitted her so much better than what she had on before and Thorin found himself staring in awe at her.

"it seems she hadnt given up on us afterall" Balin nudged Thorin grabbing his attention

"aye but does a woman belong on this quest" Thorin sighed "she looks weaker than Dis and we wouldnt allow her to join us"

"she will be fine" Balin was puzzled by Thorin's sudden change in attutude until he realised Thorin was still watching the lass like a hawk. "she will have us to protect her and Im sure you wouldnt mind training her" Balin joked.

"I will not let her presence effect this quest, we will make sure she is trained" Thorin barked back. Both dwarves knew it was already too late just her sheer presence made Thorin reconsider his priorities.

#thorin oakenshield #thorin imagine #thorin x reader #king thorin #thorin oakenshield imagine #Kilby writes #fan fic #thorin durin #king under the mountain

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helisol · 5 years

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ye s, well

it basically came to me like a prophet receiving a vision from an angry god. you know. like brian david gilberts video ideas but with more slow burn.

no really i wrote all this down in my phone’s note app because some nearly coherent things popped up in my head every time i was on the train or bus these last few days.

(after-actually-writing-this disclaimer/note: this is 2000 words of slightly edited rambling about Bagginshield in the Afterlife. i had to put it in a read more.)

so the gist of it

the botfa goes just as in the movie with minor details altered. like bilbo kissing thorin just before he dies which inadvertently causes a ripple in time and space that makes the valar curious of them both. you know. minor stuff.

so bilbo goes back to the shire, the war of the ring goes down, and the hobbit/elf gang sails to valinor at the end. classic stuff, not much alternating of universes here.

but here’s where things turn into the “my city now” meme because DUDE DO I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS ABOUT VALINOR AND HOW THE AFTERLIFE WORKS

like, I’m sorry mister jolkien rolkien tolkien, but just putting people into a hall to await being judged like a hospital waiting room? snooze, that’s boring!

so first of all, and you can fight me on this, Yavanna Made The Hobbits And You Can’t Change My Mind.

it just makes sense for her to have been very saddened by the destruction of literally all her work on arda through melkor’s poison, so she made living, growing things that could protect themselves from harm. as opposed to the ents, by the way, which were made by Eru to protect all the other living, growing things. it was a nice gesture of Eru to make those, but not quite what Yavanna wanted or had in mind, i imagine.

as with the dwarves, Eru wasn’t all happy about the existence of another race he didn’t make but you know, whatever, ‘I’ll just let this married couple have their own kids aside from mine, it’s okay’.

so he hands both the dwarves and the hobbits independent thought and free will, but under the condition (and here is where the afterlife stuff comes into play) that Aule and Yavanna be responsible for their mortal creations after their death. meaning that both races have seperate afterlives from the halls of mandos, MEANING THAT ITS COMPLETELY FINE FOR AULE AND YAVANNA TO BE LIKE “oh look honey, these two are so very in love and remind me of us, shan’t we do something about that?”

so. they do something about that. more precisely, they rearrange their afterlife-realms so they’re next to each other and someone with enough willpower could cross through the barrier. because listen, they’re valar, they can do whatever they want just for kicks.

okay so after that tangent lets get back to the meat of the matter: gay dwarves. I know not everyone has read Sansukh, a 500k word mammoth of a fic, and I don’t really intend to copy any of det’s canon, but their version of The Halls of Mahal really inspired me. basically the dwarven afterlife is one big hunk of a mountain/underground city where they’re free to live their days until dagor dagorath doing what they do best in the company of their families and friends; like smithing, crafting, building and other JustDwarrowThings.

meanwhile the hobbit afterlife is Basically The Shire and instead of being given the materials to build things, all the hobbits who go there get to grow plants and do their gardening. they don’t have to- just like none of the dwarves have to craft stuff- since there’s always enough food for everyone, but they are just allowed to do what they do best if they so desire.

now when Bilbo arrived in the undying lands he was still Old As Hell and im sorry to put it this way, he definitely kicked the can after like, a week of living there. not really so undying, them lands, huh. anyway Bilbo bites the dust and LOOK AT THAT he’s suddenly young again, and another LOOK AT THAT he’s standing in a very comfy, but Not Quite Bag End hobbit hole that has a note hung up on the front door. you wouldn’t think gods could have handwriting but hey, again, they’re gods they can do whatever. the note just tells him that yavannah made this place special and just for Bilbo but that there’s another home waiting for him. very cryptic there, lady. he doesn’t leave at first because hey, his family is here. there’s a lot of reunions and celebrating and food because its the fucking hobbit afterlife, what else would you expect

it takes him a few days of Regular Hobbit Life in his new home to realise ‘holy shit, this is so boring’ so what does a Fool of a Took do when things get boring and there’s a note urging him to do something?

HE’S GOING ON AN ADVENTURE

so Bilbo runs through the whole not-shire, meeting all sorts of people he outlived on the way (looking at you, Lobelia), as well as some elves. because elves can definitely just waltz through all the afterlives. they can walk on top of snow, you think they wouldn’t walk around wherever they please in valinor? rip to mankind, but they’re different.

he gets to the furthest reaches of it eventually, and lo and behold, what awaits him but the view of a tall mountain, an invisible barrier and a very flustered Thorin who is at his wits end as to how Bilbo even got here.

now for thorin’s part of the story we’ll have to start after the botfa again. he basically woke up in the darkness like an episode of naked and afraid, and started talking to Aule. his maker, who loves him to bits by the way since he made thorin, just tells him he’s free to go wherever his heart takes him. again with the cryptic messages from the gods.

so thorin, still very self-loathing and bitter because of his actions right before his death, sees this as Mahal’s way of saying ‘please don’t step foot in my halls u disgusting litle creacher’, when really he just meant ‘please do some well deserved self reflecting and then come inside to be with your family, they all miss you terribly’.

after his chat with the maker thorin just spawns in right at the front gate of the mountain and he has a choice to make. go inside or stay outside. and we all know Thorin’s proclivity for drama so he basically spends LITERAL YEARS just living in self imposed solitary confinement.

oh also tiny hc here, thorin was said to have taken “any work offered to him in the towns of men”, and they showed him in a smithy, but personally I believe they meant it when they said “any kind of work”. so basically thorin is a jack of all trades, master of some. he definitely has master-level skills in certain areas though, enough to build a vaguely hobbit-hole shaped house. why is it hobbit hole shaped?

oh right, the part where Thorin is absolutely enamoured with Bilbo.

"Go back to your books and your armchair, plant your trees, watch them grow. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”- HELLO? GAY POLICE? I’D LIKE TO REPORT A CASE OF ‘DWARF KING REALISING THAT THE HOBBIT WAY OF LIVING IS A REALLY GREAT ONE IN CONCEPT / WISHING HE COULD HAVE HAD THAT KIND OF LIFE WITH BILBO’

anyway it’s a long 80 years until Thorin does get to meet Bilbo again, and in the meantime we have one of my favorite additions to any Hobbit fanfic ever: Frerin

For the uninitiated, Frerin is Thorin’s brother. They also have a sister, Dís, but Tolkien never specified when she died and she was a bit younger than Thorin and Frerin so I reckon she’d still be alive as an old dwarf lady somewhere?

Anyway, Frerin. Oh boy. Sansukh, again, does an excellent job at turning Frerin into a character with a level of authenticity that gets real fucking close to Genuine Tolkien™, so most of my own characterisation of Frerin is based on that in Sansukh. With the important omission of the dwarves not being able to see the present/their still alive loved ones in middle earth through a magic mirror pool.

so Frerin takes it upon himself to leave the mountain in search of his brother because he really does want him back. but also because Mahal has had it with Thorin’s antics and suggests Frerin fetch him so he can finally reunite with his family. Mahal doesn’t talk to the dwarves a lot because he’s like an awkward and distant dad, but he does actually speak to them.

so Thorin is supposed to go see his family, which he does, but not immediately. it takes like, a solid year of just brotherly (and sister-sonly) companionship for him to open up about all his anxieties and regrets and THEN he goes into the mountain to cry in his mother’s lap. as you do.

however Thorin still feels like he doesn’t 100% belong with the other dwarves in there, so he frequently spends long stretches of time outside, building away at his house, thinking about Bilbo. the company goes out to visit him sometimes.

more details on the house tho, cuz it’s Important; it’s built halfway into a hill near the mountain, like a proper hobbit hole would be, but the lower levels are built into stone. look, he’s had 80 years to work on constructing this. it’s near perfect in every way for both hobbit and dwarf standards and could definitely fit the entire company and more inside.

now about the barrier. elves can pass through without a second thought because they’re shiny little bastards who just get to do all the cool stuff, but the other races can’t just hop between realms like that; they really have to muster up the willpower. which usually means they can’t do it because a drawback for both dwarves and hobbits is that they favor isolation from other races even in death, and as such don’t want to mingle with each other.

unless you’re Bilbo Badass Baggins though, who simply runs through the barrier to yell at Thorin for leaving him sad and alone for 80 years. he is that bitch.

there’s gonna be some legolas and gimli shenanigans if i can fit them in (cuz i dont know when exactly they sailed west together), possibly a mention of tauriel because bruh peter jackson did us dirty by not giving her any closure besides ‘lol i guess she’s banished from mirkwood??’ and Mairon. because. I also have some thoughts about him.

also Fili and Kili as pseudo matchmakers because every fic needs that

and did I mention there’s gonna be hozier lyrics for chapter titles

i said this was the gist of it but i somehow ended up at ~1900 words. well, more power to me.

#bagginshield #the hobbit #bagginshield afterlife au #this is the most coherent plot summary I've ever done for a fic so please enjoy the trash #also it's my sleepover and I get to pick which parts of canon i'll adhere by

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consequencesofargentdawn · 5 years

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My experience as a Grim Gest member from 2017-2018

I don't necessarily want you to post this as the screenshots I have would not only eliminate my anonymity but also don't carry enough weight on their own to be really effective in showing their deplorability. However, I'm fine with you guys posting the one screenshot I linked if you want because it showcases the ridiculing of a previous member. That being said the image is from November 2017 so I don't know if you do. I moreso want to share my experience being in the Grim Gest from roughly November 2017- March 2018.

I joined their ranks because I'm incredibly fond of the undead in WoW, and for the most part had a lot of fun roleplaying with them. For all their OOC faults I do truly think that they're decent roleplayers IC. The first few months were fine. I got to know the active members and had a lot of fun, but after a while of being in the guild we got a new member who was rping a dark ranger. A lot of us really disliked him as he constantly used the "I'm a dark ranger" card to silence other guilds and members, acting like his character was more important. He constantly used anti-living godmotes in his rp, famously doing a Sylvanas banshee scream in a campaign that he said would "deafen any living who could hear it" and as a result pissed off a lot of other horde members ic and ooc. A lot of us wanted him to tone it down, but Morsteth repeatedly defended the rp saying it was good and that he really liked the character. One day however (I forget what he did) the guy was removed from the guild as the officers persuaded Morsteth to kick him. Morsteth then decided to do a complete 180 on his opinions of him, and kept saying "I don't know what I was thinking that guy was awful" going as far as to eventually compile every cringey thing the guy had said ooc (shown below):

and posting it presumably in the vile PCU discord. I thought it was funny at the time but ultimately it was pretty much a character assassination of this guy.

Later on I noticed in their discord a lot of onesided political discussions taking place, one of which was on the topic of white privilege and black lives matter. I argued with Morsteth and co. about it for about a day and was essentially ganked over my opinion. Morsteth became pretty upset with the argument and stripped me of my roles, restricting me to typing in a "Toxic Lair" channel, telling me that he would talk to other officers and decide my fate once he was home despite having heard the "ooc is ooc and ic is ic" meme. That night I received an apology from Morsteth telling me "Alright, basically it comes down to our personal argument and I think we both should have left it earlier, so it's not a one-sided thing so I don't really have a reason to "hate" you or ban you from the guild as you didn't do anything wrong. Just typed some mong stuff in my personal opinion." he even admitted to "blowing [the argument] out of proportions" and apologised for putting me into the lair channel. I was a bit sceptical of this and had been having a hard time irl, but eventually I said I would stick with the guild instead of leaving.

Afterwards a lot of the members were a bit quieter with me, I was ignored frequently and was feeling strange about the whole thing. During this period I became pretty depressed and started to talk to one of the high ranking but not officer members who had been in the guild for ages. He was pretty chill and offered me a lot of advice in dealing with things, and I refrained from talking about my sadness in guild chat, only speaking to this one guy on days I felt awful. Time passed as normal in the guild, but as it did I got a little more bored with WoW. Content had slowed down and my schoolwork was catching up with me so I had informed the guild that I would be more inactive as I had school stuff to deal with. I had also made the apparent mistake to gush about my excitement at the introduction of dark iron dwarves and void elves to the alliance, saying that I was going to make one. Over the next three months my sub died, and to fill gaps of boredom I played other games that I happened to own instead of wasting money on a sub I wouldn't fully use. After 3 months inactivity I was kicked which honestly is fair enough. I asked why I was removed and I was told that it was the inactivity and also because I was apparently becoming alliance in bfa despite never explicitly deciding to do that or saying I would. I explained that I wasn't intending to play alliance and that I had been busy as my exams were coming up, but Morsteth told me that I had been playing games that weren't WoW in my freetime, but in reality I'm prone to leaving the launchers open for games sometimes. I convinced him that I'd sub back in a week once my exams finished and I attended a few rp events and spoke in discord frequently.

Exactly a week after I was invited back I saw that Morsteth was insulting some guy by calling him a soyboy. I asked why he used that insult when there was little evidence linking soy with femininity or emasculation, cited a few credible sources and was met with "my brother works in chemistry and he says its uncertain if it does impact men or not". I naturally thought this defence was ridiculous and argued with him that he didn't have any credible sources, resulting in his enragement at the fact that I believed his brother wasn't knowledgeable about the chemistry of soy. I saw how the argument was going to go and decided to halt it, apologising for arguing with him and stopping the conversation, he hesitantly agreed and saw that we didn't need to argue about it. A few minutes later I spied a Morsteth is typing in the chat, and quickly typed something along the lines of "dude if this is a 3 page rebuttal to the argument that we stopped telling me about how I'm wrong I swear to god dude" and seconds after sending this he posted two paragraphs of soy information trying to disprove me. Likely consumed by rage at this point he quickly typed "ok that's it" and booted me from the guild. I pmed him saying "are you this pissed over a fucking argument? You wanted me gone a while ago, come on be honest dude" to which he replied "you dont see it yourself but ur basically an edgy teenage jerk that rly annoys people to no end while contributing nothing to the guild, so just please stay with elder scrolls online" followed up with "you are annoying dude not just to me". Then he blocked me, and I was incredibly upset. I was so annoyed that I had spent a year in this guild for it to be over because he couldn't man up and shake hands over a soy argument. In my anger, I made a video of the image with Why can't we be friends playing in the background and uploaded it to my channel, titling the video "The Grim Gest in a Nutshell".

I was pmed later on by his lackey Seth (who I've seen on here being victimised by the guild, how ironic) who told me multiple times that I was the one in the wrong, that I was an idiot, that I was actively making the guild worse being in it and that I would never find a good guild again as I had messed up with the GG. This did nothing but piss me off further but I got over it after a long time. I left the horde as a whole and faction changed my undead to alliance, no longer wanting to play on a side populated by arguably deplorable people. I stayed in contact with one of their Officers who thought it was extreme for me to be kicked over the argument, he tried to convince Morsteth that it was a rash decision but told me that I'd probably never be invited back which I was fine with. I began rping on the alliance and managed to avoid a lot of drama in the next month before seth messaged me again.

I got a message telling me that I needed to take down my video immediately. Apparently when Morsteth tried to show another guild footage from a past pvp event he told them to search up the Grim Gest on youtube, and my video was the first to appear. I was told by Seth that if I didn't remove the video the Grim Gest alongside the other PCU guilds would mass flag every video on my channel (which I don't really care about). I told Seth that I didn't care at all, and if he wanted to flag me then he could go ahead. I messaged my officer friend who told me that Paingriever and Morsteth were attempting to compile all the dirt they had on me and make an equally defaming video despite me only posting a selfie into the discord and perhaps once or twice saying that I was depressed in discord, there was really zero dirt to find on me. I told Seth that if Morsteth wanted to talk to me he should do it himself, and got no response and remained blocked on discord by the baron. Eventually I was convinced by my officer friend that it was probably the right thing to do to move on and delete the video, but with all the utter bullshit I've seen on forums from Morsteth, alongside the COAD posts that showcase his idiotic shenanigans I felt like I had to get this off my chest.

A final meme comes from a campaign I took part in, where some dwarves were swearing excessively IC. I almost fell off my chair when I saw several Grim Gest members saying that it was making them feel uncomfortable despite a long running meme in their discord being an emote that read "unsafe" being posted whenever someone swore, it was explained to me that they had a member who always complained that swearing made her feel unsafe, and after she left they used it sarcastically at any complaints made about swearing.

In short; I utterly detest Morsteth and the rest of the PCU, these guilds are the reason that I don't rp undead anymore, which greatly upsets me as they remain my favorite race in the Horde. Perhaps once they mess up hard enough and are punished I might finally be able to play the race that I love, but that seems like an impossible future.

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guild-guardian · 5 years

Text

Spoiler Free review of “All or Nothing”

After a cut because long post, many words, skritt math.

The Story (No details)

Overall it's probably one of the best executed episodes worth of story that they’ve released in the last couple of Seasons.

The Final Battle is more akin to the kind of scale you see in the Zorah Magdaros battle in Monster Hunter World than you’d expect to find in GW2, and that was a huge improvement compared to previous Elder Dragon battles. Having an active role in the battle, along with the NPCs not just “swinging their sword Oh look they swung it again” at trash mobs, and actually being useful- firing siege weapons, fighting mobs, picking you up if you get downed

So many call backs to minor named NPCs- some personal early personal story, and others from pact/priory/vigil etc It lead to a feeling of being surrounded by familiar faces as you lead the charge. The short piece after the battle was also a well designed experience- the lack of UI and the “damage” lines that you felt when Balthazar killed you in PoF, further push the “oh fuck we’re pretty badly wounded”, along with the forced walk/limp and fall to our knees when we try to hop down along the uneven floor. The main character’s animation here was excellent and slow pace allowed Anet to sculpt a tightly designed experience that is as shocking as it is memorable. I won’t forget that last visual.

Brandon Bales and Debi Derryberry probably did the best voice work in this episode (imo- I haven't played it through on a non-sylvari male). It was extremely immersive and I totally bought what was happening as they expressed it. I appreciated that the Zephyrites’ song/choir got further development, and how its relevant to the story just made it a really nice touch overall.

I did think it felt very short- only 3 instances. It may be that they pushed the pacing to emphasise the commander rushing headlong and gambling dangerously on the first ideas that come to them, and they do love a cliffhanger at the end. It ends on a flat note though, you can’t even interact with story NPCs after you finish it- nothing in the shiverpeaks map changes, no dialogue no “I’m just checking in” updates, nothing. Final Note: WHERE ARE KASMEER AND MARJORY

The Map

Huge! Ruins! Subterranean structures! Exploring! Absolutely nailed the Guild Wars 1 Shiverpeak atmosphere.but uh...not much to do past that.

The Thunderhead Keep meta is fun- I love defense events that allow us to set traps, build barricades and ballistae. The Boss is TOO BRIGHT. It is impossible to see even with effects turned down and post processing off. Anet needs to reassess their priorities with visual telegraphing because right now you can’t see a thing, never mind reacting to the thing.

Minor Quibble. UH WHERE DID THAT CLIFF AND PIT COME FROM? I’m pretty sure that the mountains just...continued north of the keep in GW1, and a little further north you’d come to the Mursaat teleporter to Hell’s Precipice.

The dredge meta is...hard to get people to defend the 2nd and 3rd drills- I’ve yet to be successful on this one.

The delay between meta active times feels a bit long, and perhaps its just the layout of this one, but there isn’t much notification if North or south meta is happening/how long until X etc.

I don’t like that Map Completion can’t be soloed- Both metas are required. Unless you find a friendly mesmer or buy the Light of Deldrimor from the TP.

Past the Metas, I’ve seen maybe 5 or 6 events tops on this huge environment. That is pretty woeful. I get that this was probably a high budget episode with two cutscenes, unique character animations and PvE environments built to scale with the GW1 counterparts (why did dwarves build so big anyway?), but the overall quiet map is a bit of a let down- considering the variety of content available in Jahai.

I adore the skritt/priory interactions, and an above ground village of Dredge being shown in in a positive light. Even if literally every member of the survivors has had to kill their friends and family with their own hands.

The Mastery

Heavily Situational and will take some getting used to. It doesn’t have that immediate “Good Feel” as mounting your griffon midair or while gliding. Being “animation locked” for most of the launch prevents you from gliding or re-mounting, so you just plummet for the most part and lose out on any air you might have hoped to gain from using it.

At least we can be thankful it wasn’t required to complete the story or meta.

The Fractal

Dreams: Crushed Hopes: Sundered Orr: Ignored. Instead of picking an interesting pirate/corsair character that could use a bit of story development, they go with the boisterous ghost from the Lion’s Arch Jumping Puzzle.

This fractal is short (at T1- it’ll likely have more complexity as you go up) and very sparse on story. The music is good, and the environment is good. Dessa continues to be the shining star of most fractals with her responses to the situations she gets to observe. Probably won't be the new Challenge mode fractal that people were hoping for, but the fight mechanics are fun and different.

I’d appreciate it if Anet could relinquish their choke grip they’ve had on talk like a pirate day 2012 that seems to permeate all of their pirate related content- it always feels kind of like even the characters themselves don’t take themselves seriously. There's just something pretty wack with them. (and I’m not talking about all the landlocked core game pirates just living in lakes barely big enough for their bases) That’s Enough.

The Legendary

Probably one of the nicest they’ve done in a while. Initially I was put off by it- the official preview of it in the reveal trailer didn’t really show it off very well- not the steps, aura or on-draw effect. However on this video from someone who got it before release, they point out a few things about it that really sell it for me.

I love the scorch mark on draw, with the dubstep twangs the most. A little disappointed that Range LB 5 is unaffected- it could have been very pretty (ie spirit bow active visuals). It's a very refined weapon that will certainly suit a lot more characters than Kudzu, and I’ll probably make it after I finish Ipos. In like a year.

The Music

Knocks itself out of the park in a home run touchdown or however sports works. The choral piece for Aurene is very beautiful, and I especially appreciate the tarir motif used towards to the end of the track. Re-used GW1 themes in the map give a very nostalgic feel, and the fractal has a unique Shanty theme, along with what was used for this year’s Festival of the Four winds.

OVERALL SCORE 7.5/10

The story is moving and immersive, the encounters well designed and well executed, however sparse event placement on the map kinda gets :/ from me.

Fractals continuing a trend of “we can do anything in the history of tyria- but lets focus on the boring parts” is also disappointing.

PS. The .5 comes from the Skritt writing and voice acting. So pure and wholesome.

#Guild Wars 2 #GW2 #Living World Season 4 #No spoiler review #my two coppers

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shagharoldd · 7 years

Text

After Your Adad

(I wished I owned this beautiful gem, but I dont, so...image is not mine.)

Whoa, that’s a lot of words. But I really enjoyed writing this, and I hope you enjoy reading it as well. Please message me with comments, concerns, inaccuracies, etc. If you have any ideas on what I should write about, or possibly a way I could continue this, please let me know! Xx

Warnings: Pregnancy, assumed death, tearful ending

Word count: 2250

It all started days, seven to be exact, after your betrothed, Kili, had left on the greatest journey, a journey that would restructure your people’s future forever: to reclaim their homeland, Erebor. At first you thought that your mood changes were a result of him leaving. You were sad, there was no doubt about that, and maybe your new spark-plug personality was just rearing its ugly head. You weren’t normally like that though; you were normally very easy going, kind and gentle. However, you could hang with the big boys, or dwarves, if you needed to.

Then you realized that your bleed hadn’t come on time. You knew your body like the back of your hand, and being late wasn’t normal for you; it had never happened before. You decided that it was time to consult someone about your chances when you started throwing up at all hours of the day. The term “morning sickness” was incorrectly labeled, because it happened at the drop of a dime, no matter the time of day.

It just so happened that you had a planned breakfast with Dis, Kili’s mother, that morning and you figured it would be the best time to ask her about what was going on with your body. She was well seasoned; she would know.

Upon telling her, she gave you a knowing nod, and then said that she would accompany you to the second best healer, as the best healer, Óin, happened to be on the quest with your beloved. It gave you relief to know that such an experience dwarf was with the Company, but also left you a little apprehensive, as you wouldn’t be able to present him with your symptoms, rather someone else.

You truthfully didn’t know what was wrong with you, as it was obviously nothing you had ever faced before. And unlike the common dwarf family, you were an only child, so you weren’t able to experience these things through your Amad. But at the end of the day, after you had retired to your room post check up with Dis, you stared down in to your lap, utterly terrified, but utterly amazed.

You were with child.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Dis had been an angel in disguise. She had been through these very stages before with Kili and Fili, so she knew when you would need something a little extra, and when you should just be left alone. This lent itself to meals together quite often, or tea breaks mid-day so that you could rest your feet. You loved her company, her companionship, the love that she showed you and your unborn child. But all along, you wished that you had your Kili sitting next to you at the end of the night. You wished that you could share in this experience with him, as you know how much he wanted to be an Adad. He used to always talk about how he would teach his son or daughter how to properly use a bow and arrow, or how to braid hair the correct way based on how you wanted it to be received.

You were, however, alone.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Your early morning cravings got to be out of control, which meant that most mornings you would sneak down into the kitchens, and grab yourself a snack. Sometimes it would be early enough where you could poke your head out the window for some fresh air and watch the sunrise, nibbling at your founded treasure.

The first time you did so, you were caught by the cook; a short elderly dwarrowdam with kind eyes and soft hands named Milda. She knew right away what you were there for, as she looked up at you, her eyes wondering as she kneaded a loaf of bread. She cut you a piece of the freshest loaf, still warm from the oven, and spread apricot preserves on it. You had never had the preserves before, but once it touched your lips you were fast friends.

You were also fast friends with Milda, who became your early morning confidant. Sometimes you would miss her, or get to the kitchens before her, but you were never disappointed, as there was always some little snack left in the middle of the table, a small note left next to them instructing you on how to make your tea. She was like the grandmother you never had, but always wanted, and you were thankful for her comfort and care.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Life had become pretty steady, or as steady as it could be given your situation. You were expanding in all parts of your body, and you didn’t think you possessed feet any more. You had almost convinced yourself that you floated everywhere you went, that is until you looked in a mirror and saw that they were as swollen as the rest of your body.

The day had started off slow, a cool spring breeze nestling its way through your small shared quarters. That’s when you started hearing commotion outside: women yelling, some excitedly, some frantically. Word had made its way back to the village about the journey. They said that it was successful, but that there were mass casualties. Your head automatically went to the worst, and you had to lean against the doorway to steady yourself.

Later that day as you were walking to meet Dis for lunch, you overheard a small group of dwarrowdams whispering about the rumors that you head heard. From your distance, you could only make out two words, but they were words that you were terrified to hear: “prince” and “death”.

Your head flooded with all kinds of unintelligible images, some of Kili, some of the rest of the company, but you couldn’t stop the onslaught of images of Kili…dead.

When you stumbled in the front door to Dis’ chambers, your ramblings were indecipherable, and she quickly grabbed ahold of you, stating that she had heard the same things.

“Let’s get you to the bed, dearie,” she mumbled, lacing one arm around your back, the other holding your hand. Once you were sitting, you looked up at her, fear evident on every line on your face. “Dis, I-I can’t do this alone,” you shake your head, tears beginning to fall down your face. She embraced you, pulling your engorged frame to her own, and you could hear her hum.

“You should have to,” she stated eventually. “But you will not be alone if it comes to that. I, for example,” she knelt down in front of you so that the two of you were eye level, “birthed those two young dwarfs, but it is this village that raised them. The village will raise this little one, as well.” She smiled, talking your face in her hands, as she kissed your forehead.

The last thing you wanted was for your child to be deprived of knowing their father. And you prayed to Mahal that the rumors were not true, or were misconstrued. You felt relief in knowing that you were not in this alone, but you also only wanted one particular dwarf to raise your child with you.

That’s when it happened: you felt a pop and a feeling a pressure being released, followed by a puddle pooling at your feet. Your eyes went locked with Dis, whose expression was not of surprise, but instead knowing.

“I can’t do this,” your eyes became wide, your head shaking ferociously, “I just cant. I’m not strong enough.”

She paused, looking at you sternly, before taking your hand in hers. “Do you know that Kili came to me when he met you and asked my permission to court you?” She asked, helping you stand. She knelt down, taking one of your shoes off, followed by the other. As she placed the second one on the ground, she looked up at you. “He wanted to make sure that I was okay with his decision for he made it. He asked Thorin, as well,” she smiled, as if remembering.

She pulled back the blanket on her bed, and led you to it, helping you sit, before she helped you to get your feet in to the bed. “Y/N,” she finally said, sitting down next to you, “I would not, nor would have Thorin, approved a dwarrowdam that we did not think possessed the qualities that Kili needed in a mate. And since then,” she smiled, pushing a piece of your hair behind your ear, “since then you have proved yourself to be exactly what he wanted, and needed. You are strong, and brave. Kind and gentle. And you will bring this child in to and up in this world as just that.”

Tears glistened in your eyes, and you nodded, pushing yourself upright a little more so that you were more comfortable. Shortly after that, the healer made his way in to the room, followed by one of his nurses, and together, along with Dis by your side, you brought in to the world a blushing baby boy.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

The horns sounded, signaling that there was a visitor at the village’s gates. Guests were few and far between in those days, even after the war had concluded, so there was quite the clamor amongst your fellow villagers.

You wrapped your young child in a light blanket, as the summer air was just starting to turn crisp, the leaves just starting to change. You cradled the still-small child to your chest, and made your way to the gate, staying back a little ways, just in case the attention wasn’t friendly.

But when those gates opened, adrenaline raced through your body, as you saw the long-since forgotten flags of the House of Durin make their way through the gates. Just after the flag holders was Fili, riding on a pony, followed by your beloved, Kili.

Your heart raced, your palms became clammy, and it took everything in you not to race to his side right then and there. You cradled your son closer to you, and started to make your way through the crowd, your eyes not losing sight of him. And when you finally got close enough, he slid off of his pony, and looked around, angst in his eyes.

“Kili!” You screamed, waving your free hand in the air, “Kili!!” When his eyes finally landed on you, you felt instant relief. He was alive, and he was well, and he was standing right in front of you. The respite the stream-lined through your body could have made you high if you reveled in it too long, so you made your feet do all the work as you stumbled towards him.

“Y/N,” he yelled excitedly, tears pillowing in his eyes, and he embraced you, seeming like he was never going to let go. His kisses peppered your forehead, your nose, your lips, before he looked down, realizing that you were holding a little package in your arms. The baby was now fully alert, looking around, but perfectly content in his warm little cocoon.

“Y/N,” he whispered, looking down at the child, before his eyes met with yours. “W-what, who is this?” he mumbled, not being able to process what was going on. “This, my dear Kili, is your son.” You pulled back the blanket a little to expose more of the little clone of your betrothed, him developing the same color of hair as his Adad, with your eyes.

“I found out that I was with child days after you left,” you started, placing you hand on his cheek as tears streamed down both of your faces, “I didn’t know.”

“If I had known-” he coughed slightly, trying to dislodge the ball in his throat, but you stopped him, kissing the tips of your fingers, and placing them on his lips. “If you had known, I still would have made you go,” you concluded for him, “You were not going to miss walking through those doors. Not after everything our people have been through.”

He bit his lip, looking torn, and finally nodded slowly, before he reached his finger up, running it along the baby’s cheek. “Would you like to hold him?” You asked, your eyes reading Kili’s face for a shred of doubt, but instead he mimicked the position that your arms were in. “More than anything,” he whispered.

You placed the little dwarf in his father’s arms, and stepped back slightly, letting them have your moment, but also letting yourself take in the sight. All of the fears, all of the restless nights thinking about how your child might not ever be able to meet his father. All the times that you thought about Kili not making it home, and how you would try to illuminate your beloved’s memory for your child. All of the fears and apprehensions were cast aside in that moment; a moment of pure relief.

He reluctantly tore his eyes from the baby, and stepped towards you, wrapping his arms around your waist, before he pulled you up for a long, hungry kiss. “I almost forgot,” he started laughing, letting you go so that he could look at you properly, “What is our son’s name?”

You chuckled slightly, shaking your head, before taking the baby’s free hand in yours, his fingers wrapping around yours.

“I named him Vili, after your Adad.”

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