#Metastophelous

[creethebard]

I had originally intended to finish this for the birthday of my very dear friend @tigerwriter-art. Then I was offered a job in another city, and having to move and start in the new position threw my timeline wildly out of kilter, resulting in this being almost a month late. But I was determined to see it finished!

Tiger, you are an amazing person, and you've stuck with me through the good times and the bad. Together we've told countless fun and engaging stories, and you never cease to impress and entertain me with how fabulous of a writer you are. Here is just a small sampling of your awesome characters in (belated) honor of your special day. Much gushing under the cut.

Qlu- The aaracockra tailor NPC from the Temphere campaign. I thought about drawing Hush, but we always draw Hush to rep you for that campaign and I thought you might enjoy seeing someone different! Qlu has a ton of personality and passion, and is always great fun to talk to whenever he appears in a scene.

Shadowstep - The mischievous deinonychus from Naelus: The Isle of Mist. The raptors were still great characters, full of snark and big of ego. Their jovial but fiercely loyal natures were a blast to play against, and Shadowstep's gentle chiding to keep his headstrong mate Driftstone in line was always entertaining.

Leif - The OG, the first character of yours I had the pleasure of reading and interacting with, the archmage of House Jade from Medieval. It has been a joy to see this character's growth over the years, from a short tempered, antisocial loner who likes birds more than he likes people to a compassionate person who helps others as much as he is able (though still with a short temper and a fondness for birds, because it wouldn't be Leif otherwise). And of course, I had to include his black-shouldered kite Ayleth, because it wouldn't be Leif without one of his raptors.

Harper - The half-alien teenager from Wrighton: Strange Memories. Can I just take a minute to enthuse about how well you wrote this character? They read very much as a realistic, believable teenager. They understood serious, heavy situations and treated them with the appropriate gravitas, but also had times where they could be mulish and immature. It was always fun to see what they were going to do next, and their more childish point of view helped bring levity at times to my far-too-serious character from the same story.

Iskender - The sapient, super-powered, talking Turkish Angora cat from Hero City: Capital of Justice. The fluffy white cat who isn't just there for the supervillain to stroke, but IS the supervillain, and in fact the boss of the supervillains. Clearly a delightful character in concept alone, but Iske was also a blast to play against. Gleefully evil, he delighted in everything from orchestrating the break-in of high security government test facilities to shedding on the sofa just because he was told to stay off it.

Metastophelous - The demonic parole officer from Mafia 2 & 3. Technically an older character than Leif, but I wouldn't meet him until much later, lol. A 4th wall shattering, scathingly sarcastic agent of divine retribution, as like to make critical remarks about your writing as on the mafioso ghost he was in charge of. He's always got a fun take on any given situation, delights in watching his repentant sinner struggle, but also genuinely wants him to succeed and shows no such callousness towards the innocent. An enjoyably complex, nuanced take on the typical "demon who punishes sinners" trope.

Doryen - Last but certainly not least, the lizardfolk sorcerer from the Thrrasir Campaign. Often the voice of reason (considering his party members are either too idealistic for their own good or swing hard into the "neutral" end of the morality spectrum in their suggested approaches to problem solving) and yet delightfully short-tempered such to the point that it's almost a meme at this point for him to exclaim "can we just fight you already?" to monologuing villains. I look forward to seeing how he continues to grow as the campaign progresses.

Happy belated birthday, Tiger. < 3 Hope this year is a good one to you.

#Qlu #aaracokra #Doryen #lizardfolk #Leif Jade #Harper Kulkarni #Iskender #Metastophelous #Ayleth #Shadowstep

[twocubes]

Metastopheles