#living in the Underdark and growing up as a drow really fucks you up in every way possible

[steamclouds]

That other not-so-nice Do'Urden brother

#listen listen listen I LOVE Dinin #I just finished The Legacy and I feel....BAD bad for him #living in the Underdark and growing up as a drow really fucks you up in every way possible #dinin #dinin do'urden #legend of drizzt #drizzt #vierna do'urden #briza do'urden #drow #darkelf #forgotten realms #dungeons and dragons #if you saw this yesterday no you didnt I reuoloaded it without Lolth's Embrace because I dont like the concept behind these markings #my art

[terrible-eel]

Thank you @piipaw for tagging me! Here's a game to show off your Tav, feel free to reblog and add your own or take the layout to make your own! I have a million ideas for my guy so I'm so glad I have somewhere to put a few. (Also feel free to ask me questions if you're curious, my dms are always open)

Althea|| Drow || Druid || He/it || 127

What’s your Tav’s…

Favorite weapon: Whips. When in the Underdark Althea whips were his weapon of choice. Once Althea learned how to wield magic through the Old Faith, he grew a thorny vine and nurtured it to maturity before taking a piece for his thorn whip.

Style of Combat: Althea is used to guerrilla warfare from fighting the Loth Drow, but he prefers direct confrontations, taking wildshape and eating whoever’s in front of him.

Most prized possession: He doesn’t care much for material things so he just gives everything he finds to everyone else. He does feel accomplished seeing his companions in the things he gives them though.

Deepest desire: Althea had broken away from the Underdark and traveled alone for so long that he hadn’t given it much thought until he began to get to know everyone. Now he wants to make sure his companions are free.

Guilty pleasure: He makes a terrible Druid by most Druid standards. He’s a complete hedonist and does whatever he wants,( drinks, fucks, fights etc.) feeling that following his own base nature is true worship. He doesn’t care about any gods and has no illusions about “harmony” not implying “savagery” in some ways because everything has to eat and exists on a food chain. (That being said, he hates cruelty)

Best-kept secret: His entire past is a secret. He still has family in the Underdark who chose to remain there. He’d die before revealing anything about them.

Greatest strength: Althea’s sense of fear might be a little broken. It’s not quite bravery so much as an absence of caution, which can be great in combat but might not be so good a trait in a leader.

Fatal Flaw: He falls into caretaking everyone before realizing it. He had left his responsibilities once before, thinking he’d stay independent, but now he can’t help but pick up strays and aid every person who asks, just because he feels like he can.

Favorite Smell: Amber and cloves *wink*

Favorite spell or cantrip: Wildshape. 100%. Learning that specific magic was really the first time he felt free.

Pet Peeve: Volo. The entire man.

Bad Habit: Althea doesn’t enjoy doing one thing for too long. He lacks followthrough with a lot of plans and will just think “Bored now” and find a way out of a situation if it becomes too tedious, even if it means killing someone he had built trust with.

Hidden Talent: The man could command a small army pretty successfully if needed. He has the experience. Not his proudest talent, but it’s there.

Leisure activity: Althea will gamble any chance he gets. Gold is for gambling as far as he’s concerned. Dice, cards, tests of strength. He loves watching people play games more than he cares about winning.

Favorite drink: At some point Gale makes him a cup of sipping chocolate and his life is changed forever. He lurks around when he sees Gale cooking, hoping to get another cup.

Comfort food: Any kind of roast with potatoes and carrots. He loves to eat anything he can get his hands on but roasts are nostalgic.

Favorite person: Aside from his dog and owlbear friends, he’s growing very close to Gale and maybe falling for Astarion.

Favorite display of affection, (Platonic and/or Romantic): Romantic: Althea loves directness and straightforward honesty, but Astarion’s complicated combinations of flirtations and confessions has him fixated. He wants to take Astarion stargazing and let him calm down. Platonic: Gale’s sharing of knowledge is his favorite form of friendship. He’s never bored with what Gale has to say. He wants to show Gale all the secret little magics he’s learned living in the woods. How even smaller mushrooms can reveal secrets, or how bird eggs hold life-lines like the palms of one's hands.

Fondest childhood memory: Building little forts between giant mushrooms with his siblings and pretending they had a little house together.

@basuralindo And anyone else who plays Bg3!

#Tav #bg3 tav #baldurs gate 3 #tavstarion #astarion x tav #astarion x mc #drow #drow tav #druid tav #tav game

[edoro]

angdiirn ask game: 5, 11, 20, 30!!

5. for the spellcasters, what's their favourite spell? so Angdiirn IS a druid, however, prior to getting illithidnapped and ending up on this fucked up little apocalypse-averting buddy roadtrip, it was not in any way, shape, or form a fighter - all of its magic is your average druid stuff like growing and shaping plants, healing, creating water or food, and talking to or turning into animals

in the game, i end up using moonbeam and wall of fire a lot

in-character, Angdiirn's favorite and most-used spell would almost certainly be wildshape. since it never really learned to fight, it does most of its fighting in wildshape, because you don't need any skill to turn into a giant fucking creature and hit people with your massive claws

outside of fighting, its preferred shape is the badger. it likes being underground! you can take the drow out of the Underdark but you can never take the Underdark out of the drow

for fights, it prefers the owlbear

11. what are their best skills? arcana, history, sleight-of-hand? deception and performance are two of its best! both of these are due to its background of having been raised in a Menzoberranzan brothel - it knows how to lie and it knows how to put on a show, although after 20 years of living in a burrow in the mountains with only a nearby circle of druids and the occasional ranger, hiker, or hunter for company, they're both a bit rusty.

20. does your tav have a best friend in the party? what's their dynamic like?

on a personal level, it's most friendly with Karlach, Astarion, and Halsin. Karlach and Astarion are both members of the "years and years of slavery and horrific abuse" club (so is Halsin, but Angdiirn doesn't find that out until later) so the three of them can all relate to each other a lot.

i made Angdiirn specifically to romance Astarion, so they have a lot in common in terms of their trauma, and initially what they both appreciate most about each other is the fact that they're both survivors. Angdiirn isn't as frightened and desperate as Astarion is at the beginning of the game, but it still very much has its own ruthlessly practical streak and will do what needs to be done to keep itself and the people it most cares about safe, and it recognizes that same will to survive in Astarion as well.

(also, it likes when he's a cunt. you can take the drow out of Menzoberranzan, but -)

it really appreciates Karlach's straightforward, no-nonsense nature as well as her overall zest for life. along with being a survivor, she's a very passionate person, and just generally fun to be around. she's easy to talk to and let its hair down around.

Angdiirn is very young for an elf, and while it often comes across as more mature than it is (mostly because it's fairly quiet and tends to play mediator a lot), it has a silly side and Karlach is someone who brings that out and makes it feel like it can just play around - she's pretty much the only woman in the camp it isn't scared of, although it still tends to defer to her and gets tense and jumpy if she starts shouting or gets mad.

it has the world's most painfully obvious puppy crush on Halsin basically from the moment it lays eyes on him, and ends up following him around like a little duckling from the moment they leave the grove.

it admires him intensely - he's so old and wise and strong and powerful and such a practiced druid - it wants to impress him and learn from him and perhaps be cradled gently against his bosom

it's wary of Lae'zel and Shadowheart, because mean opinionated women scare it (you can probably imagine why), but it also appreciates Lae'zel's take-charge attitude and spent quite a while trying to just let her be in charge of everything at first before it gave up.

it distrusts Shadowheart primarily because Shar reminds it way too much of Lolth, but it warms up to her and is very glad to guide her away from her evil fucked up cult, even if they're probably never going to be friends.

it finds Wyll extremely charming but also, honestly, worries about him. he's a refreshingly kind and generous person, far better a person than Angdiirn knows itself to be, and it frankly thinks that he needs to be a bit more of a bastard for his own good. he's clever and good and righteous and it can see the way he uses himself up and burns himself out, and it thinks that's just a waste of his life.

it wants to just tell him to spend less of himself for the sake of everyone else and to stop trying to make up for whatever imagined wrongs he thinks he needs to atone for, but it also knows he won't want to hear it.

it is VERY unimpressed with Ulder Ravenguard. it may have muttered "beginning to think we should have let you drown" loud enough for Wyll to hear accidentally and only felt a little bit bad about how upset it made him.

it's also very unimpressed with Mizora and pretty disturbed by the unwillingly flirtatious overtones of her relationship with Wyll. definitely brings up bad memories and makes it very worried for him. honestly she's on the list of people that it wants to bite with 100% real jaw power right below Cazador.

i don't think it knows what to make of Gale - he's a very educated man, whereas it was never even taught to read (rentboys don't need to be literate, they need to be pretty and good at sex and smalltalk), so i think that he intimidates it and it worries that he'll find it ignorant and oafish. (its Int score is like... 7...) it doesn't really know what to talk about with him, although it enjoys listening to him talk, and similarly to Wyll, the more it learns about his whole deal with Mystra, the more it thinks he could and should do better

30. who's their favourite animal companion at camp?

Angdiirn would never play favorites

it's a close tie between the owlbear cub (he's just a little BABY he needs PARENTS) and Grub (Angdiirn, too, is a nervous cat)

#bg3 #angdiirn #<-blorbos from my brain #asks

[ask-fantasy-sanders-sides]

So, wait, toes Remus know that Virgil is a dragon too?? if he does, did Virgil tell him or did he just figure it out?

It wasn’t too long after their escape from the prison complex that Remus got irritated.

He didn’t regret dragging the strange assassin along — after all, Remus probably wouldn't have been able to escape without him — but he was getting more and more frustrated with his lack of response to...well, anything.

Remus has attempted more than once to scare and/or gross the stranger out with diatribes of gore and violence, but that hasn't phased him at all. Really, Remus thinks he probably should have expected that response from a dark-elven warrior, but it was a little jarring to have his usual monologues accepted with little more than a cursory glare. It didn't help that he had to speak to the soldier in the goblin language, which neither of them knew well enough to share many complex ideas.

Then, there were his rages. Remus wasn't really himself in that state, and he knew he was quite the sight to those who had never heard of a barbarian. He's pretty sure that if he had some foggy awareness of the assassin being disgusted or even mildly intrigued by his berserk mode, he would have remembered them. As it stands, nothing.

Then, there was his trump card: The first time Remus let out his true form and went berserk on a few guards, the assassin barely even noticed the difference. Remus dismissed it at the time, assuming they had just been busy doing their thing and hadn’t seen him do it. But, as they were sneaking away from the castle spires the next day and he had to dispose of some noble-looking witnesses, Remus definitely saw the assassin look at his wings.

Still he made absolutely no reaction! He doesn’t seem to react to much of anything, unless he’s being mad at Remus for yelling too loud or missing a swing. Admittedly, being able to spark annoyance in the stuck-up soldier is a little fun, but even his moments of anger are few and far between.

This is the first and only time someone has seen Remus’s kick-ass undead angel wings and not had a damn thing to say about it, and Remus can honestly say he hates it.

So, now that they’re finally outside of the Colony walls (and Remus doesn’t have to worry about the assassin chewing him out for making a scene,) Remus smirks deviously at the unsuspecting drow.

“Hey! Watch this,” Remus shouts, then closes his eyes to focus.

He reaches deep inside himself to connect with that boiling mass of discordant energy — a frothing core of divine light that’s spoiling rotten and necrotic, burning away the mold, healing, and then spoiling again, over and over with each beat of his two hearts. As he’s practiced ever since he was a child, Remus grabs that energy and pulls it out, dismissing a weight in his stomach that he hardly notices until it's time to let go.

The instinctual protective glamor that hides his true form dissolves in the firelight of his true essence, as bone-like angel wings, void-like eyes, and a tidal wave of smoke pour out of Remus like air from a popped balloon. A sickly green glow outlines his irises, his scars, and emblazons the emblem of a sword over his chest. He can feel it as the energy unfurls, how the world spins and sears into focus, how his senses grow sharp and breathing is suddenly so much easier than it’s ever been before. This is what he truly is, how he really looks, and it is a figure that strikes fear and awe in every creature who has the misfortune of seeing it.

All except one. Apparently.

The assassin simply stares at Remus, stone-still as Remus’s whole fucked up magical girl cutscene plays out point-blank in front of him. The fear-inducing necrotic gas rolls past the assassin's feet and into his lungs, but nothing happens. A few seconds pass, and he still hasn’t moved, but he’s clearly not gone into shock or anything of the kind.

Eventually, the assassin gets the impression that Remus is expecting a response. So, he cocks his hip out to one side and folds his arms, mimicking the facial expression that he’s gathered humans make when they’re confused: a pointed eyebrow raise.

(Given his usual glowering expression, it comes across more like sass.)

The minute passes, and though Remus feels the smoke dissipate and his eyes and scars return to normal with a sinking feeling in his gut, the wings remain. Instead of dismissing them, Remus throws his arms out wide with a growl,

“Seriously? That’s it? You’re not scared!”

“Scared?” The assassin parrots lowly.

A wide smile stretches across his lightly-freckled face. In the space of a blink he’s behind Remus, gently peeling the barbarian’s tattered shirt away to get a better look at the base of his wings.

He lays one ice-cold hand against the divot between them, touching him clinically, like he’s trying to figure out how solid Remus's wings are. His hand smooths gently across the stump where flesh gives way to semi-transparent bone before Remus's brain catches up. He shrieks and jumps away from him,

“What the shit are you doing?!” Remus squeaks, eyes wide as saucers. He would be more embarrassed by how absolutely unthreatening he sounds right now if he didn’t still feel the shape of that hand on him like a brand.

(He decides that this is more because of the supernatural nature of his wings, and not because Remus hasn't been touched that carefully by another person since he was like eleven. He doesn’t have time to unpack that feeling whatsoever.)

“You told me to look.” The assassin teases, openly laughing at Remus’s expense.

Then, — and Remus could swear he’s doing it slowly just to make sure Remus sees him — the soldier takes a deep exhale, and his purple eye flashes a soft glow. Suddenly, his body evaporates until he is a cloud of shadowy smoke. This smoke quickly blends in with the surrounding darkness of the cavern, and before Remus can get a word in edgewise, the assassin has re-solidified and is poking his back again.

“StoOOP TOuching me!” Remus yelps and spins around to face him, face red as blood and hands up in a defensive position, “Since when could you do that?!”

The assassin rolls his eyes at this, his hands falling to his sides. Now he takes a moment to think, before reaching down to untie his dagger belt and pull his tunic loose.

“What are you doing?” Remus protests louder, covering his eyes with his hands.

The assassin doesn’t respond.

Though he’s reciting curses in his head and trying very hard to respect this stranger’s privacy, Remus’s curiosity quickly gets the better of him.

He peeks out between his fingers to find the soldier shirtless, his white hair parted and pulled over his shoulders. He looks up at Remus with a completely unimpressed stare.

The assassin reaches out to grab one of Remus’s hands, then turns to show Remus his back.

Remus stares for a moment, eyes tracing the thin, ragged lines of a latticework of scars. They stretch across and around the assassin’s back, some older and some deeper. Most seem to have been inflicted by animals or monsters rather than weapons.

Remus feels no sense of pity at the display — he’s got his own patchwork of scars and his own complicated relationship to them, but over all he sees them more as a mark of survival, as stories to tell. But, he is definitely curious, and his mile-a-minute brain is already spinning outrageous tales to match each and every mark.

Then the assassin guides his hand up towards the top of his back, just alongside his spine. The skin there feels leathery, and significantly warmer than the skin of the elf’s hand, though the heat seems to be emanating from someplace lower on his spine. It’s also slightly off-color, a bit lighter than the skin around it. Whatever this is, this scar is old.

Remus traces the outline of it up, then off to the side as it tapers to a thin line between his shoulder and the base of his neck. The assassin’s ears twitch at the gesture, and Remus’s hand flinches away.

He turns to look at Remus over his shoulder, his neutral grimace returned.

“We are the same. Shadow and wings. You are kitrye'maelthra, right?”

“I don’t know what that is.” Remus frowns, always frustrated when the assassin sneaks an elven word or two into their rare conversations,

“I’m not super good at reading energies, but you don’t feel like an angel… You have wings??”

“No.” He frowns, his gaze becoming soft and distant, “Not anymore.”

“Oh.” Remus sighs, now reeling at the possibilities.

What sort of dark elf grows wings, and how can they be removed? He winces at the phantom pain to his own wings as he parcels through every guess. Did a monster tear them off? The scar was so smooth, it seemed more like they had been burned away with acid. Did he fall into the pit of a living ooze, or maybe it was a punishment from some cruel cultist—

“Yours are broken.” The assassin pries, still staring at him while Remus zoned out.

“Broken? No they're not!”

“You have no skin.” The assassin remarks, like that should have been obvious, “And you look like a ghost.”

“Wait, skin? Like a bat?” Remus laughs, imagining it. He shakes his head, “I’m not supposed to have skin! —Well, I mean, I am, but also feathers. Y’know, like a bird?”

“Bird?” The assassin repeats, like he doesn’t understand the word. He probably doesn’t, goddamn Underdark.

“...Ehh, forget about it. I’ll show you one when we get up there.” Remus shakes his head.

The assassin pulls his tunic back up and re-ties it. While he waits, a sudden thought knocks Remus out of his gruesome imaginings.

He thinks he probably shouldn’t ask, but it takes him all of three seconds to snap and say it anyway,

“Hey,” Remus hums offhandedly, like he’s not extremely invested in knowing the answer, “If you could ‘go ghost’ or whatever this whole time, why didn’t you just poof yourself out of that cell?”

(“And why did you stay to help me?” Remus refuses to add, because he is not that attached to his little stray-criminal monsterboy, goddamnit. He refuses.)

The assassin doesn’t answer or turn back to him, simply staring off in the direction of their path.

Remus huffs and rolls his eyes,

“Fine, damn, keep your secrets. Bet you just can’t hold it that long~”

“Don’t xhandal me, lotha mal'dhalaruk. Usstan orn da'urzotreth dosst et'zarreth.”

“Again, I do not know what the fuck that is.”

#lets roll #long post #long answer #janus's visions #tw violence mention #tw scars #hehe toes #ive stopped making the visions all in italics. its fun flavor but it makes them hard to read lol

[the-wotog-collection]

true canon: an explanation

True Canon is set in a typical High Fantasy D&D ye olden age world, with monsters and magic and dragons galore. It started out focused entirely on Eve and Viktor and a few others’ travels through a country called Witherhurst, and as we made more characters and stories and kingdoms, we expanded the scope of WotOG (the original D&D game) to cover all of them, until we had a nice world built up around the characters. Since not all of the stories related to the events of WotOG (and WotOG part 2: Electric Boogaloo), we decided to change the name to True Canon, so we knew which universe for sure was the foundation upon which our Many AU’s Stand. Here’s a quick n dirty timeline, for reference:

(much more under the cut)

-Eve, Viktor, and a few others that aren’t relevant to the story travel around Witherhurst on a job or something from a lady who’s Definitely Not Important At All (Her name is Prenella). At some point Prenella ditches the party and they’re stuck without a cleric for a while

-They make it to a big city, and through shenanigans that include travelling the city for fun and also almost dying to a pack of rabid dogs, Eve convinces Intem to join the party.

-Eve, Vik, and now Intem (plus one more pc) unravel a cult plot, something about the end of the world, blah blah nothing really important there. They end up taking out the cult and fighting Prenella, the cult’s leader, who also happens to be a dragon. Neat.

-After that horrifying ordeal, the party reconvenes and decides, ‘fuck it, let’s go find a new place to travel together’ and thus board a ship that they then steal from the captain (after Intem’s “pet” eats said captain).

-So begins the few years the party spends as pirates.

-Things happen, they end up fighting an eldritch god for world-ending rights, and go on their merry way.

- Intem falls into the role of reluctant (but no less ruthless) pirate captain, with vik as his first mate and eve as navigator (despite the fact that she can’t read. they figure it out)

-This is around the time Intem goes from lilac-haired sunshine boy to disgruntled cynic who’s Done With Your Shit, Viktor.

-Eventually the crew docks, and picks up Therai and Pippin for a while. Eve also brings up the idea of reviving Vik’s old travelling companion, Dante (two bros, chillin in a tavern, no feet apart ‘cause they’re so gay), and Intem’s like “Sure why the fuck not” and they set off to find his grave or whatever.

-Hatch and Xander are in the area and end up getting picked up by the crew.

-Dante gets revived, and for the next year or so, everything is fine.

-Eventually the crew docks near Therai’s old home kingdom, and he dips, taking Pippin, Xander, and Hatch with him (he really only meant to take Pip). They spend a while travelling to his kingdom, Aer-Vinn, and encounter Hatch’s long time (boy)friend Aerglo. He joins the party, at Hatch’s request.

-A little while later (vague time frame I know but exact years don’t matter here), there’s some Good Therai Angst when- Shock! Horror! - they end up stumbling upon Tal, who shares ~history~ with Therai. Not the good kind, mind you. They leave soon after meeting Tal.

-There’s a few more encounters with Therai’s old companion before Tal eventually softens up and joins the party, hell yeah. Warren joins too, because he was nearby and Also shares ~history~ with Therai and Tal. (They were all in a party together before this)

-AT THE SAME TIME THIS IS GOING ON: Rain sets out on a holy mission from their church to prove themselves worthy of being a Paladin of the Church.

-They meet Rosemary along the way, and after a small adventure together, they decide to help Rose out and find Catherine with her, because a while back Rose accidentally turned Catherine into, well, a cat.

-They do find Cat, after she’d gone through some Shit in an alternate dimension featuring a Sun Goddess and her complete mental breakdown. Cat Killed A Goddess (or two, we’ll see how the campaign goes), and made friends with the cousins Mikhail and Valentine. Mikhail doesn’t matter to the timeline right now. 

-Anyway, Rain and Rose find Cat, and settle down in a little seaside village where they work together to turn Cat back into a human.

-They Succeed!!!

-Uh-oh there’s a stranger at the door- Oh! It’s just Rain’s Cleric friend from their church, Rahon! Turns out Rain kinda went MIA and everyone back home is having a Panic, so Rahon’s here to make sure Rain is alive and well, or collect their belongings if they’re not-

-But they’re alive, so Rahon calms down and decides to stay (after sending a message back home, of course), to keep an eye or two on Rain.

-Rain is Delighted :)

-The party (minus kal) were traveling somewhere, kal ended up going the same way, and they ended up in the same city for a while. rahon saw her Up To No Good, so he kept an eye on them and saw them getting stabbed, and decided to nurse her back to health, and thus Kal Joins The Party. Rahon is an absolute sweetheart to them

-Eventually Rose, Cat, and Rain head out to a nearby cave system bc of Reasons, and end up kinda sorta stumbling into a system that leads to this world’s version of the Underdark. They need help navigating, because Fuck These Tunnels Are Confusing, and come across a little hermit drow who’s living his “best” life in his underground hut with tattered clothes and ratty books and cracked glasses.

-He just wants to see the surface but is terrified of how the world will treat him if he goes up alone, so he offers to guide everyone through the Underdark in exchange for them taking him up to the surface. Everyone agrees

-Astralus, little hermit drow lad, does so, and soon finds himself stumbling out into broad daylight. He’s got light sensitivity and everything Burns, but he’s so fucking happy oh my gods. Also he’s crying but it’s okay, he’s kinda really emotional.

-Aster joins the party! And they find out he’s cousins with Rose, who practically adopted him as a brother anyway let’s be real.

-Somehow Val learns of Cat’s whereabouts, and pops by to say hi to his trauma buddy. Cue shock as he sees her as human for the first time. Aster develops an immediate crush, and takes to following Val around like a lost puppy.

-Val is having a Time because, Aster looks just like a person he knew in an alternate universe and things didn’t turn out well for them. Yikes.

-Val joins the party, if only to tease Cat and finally have a place to be for a while

-MEANWHILE: Bree finds an abomination living in the abandoned mineshafts near her village. She decides he could probably use a friend, since the entire village is pretty scared of/hostile towards him, and becomes that friend. She finds out his name is Ve, and he’s a sweetheart. She makes immediate friends and he teaches her sign language, because he Literally Doesn’t Have A Face, he can’t speak.

-A few weeks later, either Ve or Bree decide to leave bc Fuck This Town, except they don’t say Fuck because they’re both softe beans (they both legally cannot say fuck. and i actually had an idea for how they leave ovo). Either way, they leave, and through shenanigans, they pick up Three More Tieflings, what the hell, which is kinda funny because previously, Bree didn’t think tieflings existed at all. 

-Tarvaii and Trancey are travelling together as a Chaotic Mischief Duo, and end up joining the party because Bree made friends

-Same situation with Chaym, though he was alone and depressed because his entire village got massacred. Bree made friends, and Chaym joined the party

-Chaym also ended up teaching Trancey magic, specifically Necromancy, which is kinda really stupid dangerous but it’s fine, Chaym survived, why shouldn’t Trancey? (flawed logic but okay Chaym)

-Cut to a few years later, back with Eve and Co.

-They’re in a tavern, Eve sees a depressed tiefling at the bar. What does she do? Immediately go try to cheer him up.

-She finds out he’d left his pregnant girlfriend on a mission to go help out somewhere, and ended up stuck in a weird place where time passes differently for him. It’s been 26 years, though to him it felt more like a handful of weeks. He’s scared and confused and would very much like to find his family, but he has no idea where he is.

-Eve’s heart breaks bc! he’s so sad and his girlfriend is pregnant and he’s got a family and just wants to get back to them, how could she not want to help? and thus she decides to help the tiefling, Viren, find his family.

-Through a series of events, the find out Viren’s family was living in a beautiful city built into the mountains, that fell quite a few years back. Luckily, his girlfriend left beforehand, and moved to a small mining town, where she gave birth to, and briefly raised, their son. She named him Ve, after his father, who she assumed was dead.

-There was a fire at one point, and Angelica, Viren’s girlfriend, died saving Ve. Viren is absolutely devastated when he finds out, and Eve offers to resurrect Angelica, y’know, bring the family together again, even if for just a short time.

-Vi agrees, and they do so! Woo! Also Eve and co. meet up with Ve for a while so the family really is back together.

-Intem, doing a sneaky trick, makes it so Angelica’s soul keeps the body and just, lives until the body dies, be it natural or unnatural causes. He only tells Eve and Angelica about it, and waits to see how long it takes Viren to realize ‘oh shit I’m not losing my fiance so soon’

-Also Viren and Angelica get engaged! Woo!

-A little while passes, Viren and Anne join the party, and Eve gets pregnant with Intem’s kids. At this point the party’s stopped adventuring, and they all settled down somewhere nice. Anyway Eve’s pregnant and gives birth to twins, Olive and Evergreen (Evan for short), but Olive looks more like Therai than Intem and it’s kinda weird, but nobody really minds because the twins are just, so cute. Also Therai (and co) came back and built the party a nice house, so, yeah.

-Olive and Evan grow up, and Evan takes an interest in Druid Magic. Vik lets Evan access his Giant Library and teaches him general magic stuff. Olive scares her whole ass family by taking an interest in Necromancy, and eventually someone gets in contact with Chaym (and by extension Trancey), and has him come over to teach Olive.

-Olive becomes a necromancer! And then heads off with Evan in tow to start their own life of adventuring. 

-Eve has another kid, Avery, with Therai

-Olive befriends a Whole Ass Dragon, gives him the nickname Jade, and introduces him to Evan. By the time the trio make it back to Jade’s hoard, Avery’s taken on the role of Fighter and heads out into the world to do her own thing. She also meets Clover, another fighter, and they travel together for a while before joining Olive, Evan, and Jade. 

-That’s it, that’s where we stopped on the timeline of True Canon. It’ll go on, of course, but, here’s the general timeline in 4 pages

#long post #true canon #so! there's the Entire true canon timeline #with some stuff missing here and there but i'm sure we'll get there #anyway this took an hour to write and took up four entire pages on our google doc #so. yeah #mod ash

[adventuresloane]

Lup, Raven Queen, Barry, Ango and totally Ren. ;) maybe sloane also! For the HC meme❤️

(for this meme)

Kat this is……SO many oh my lord. I’m gonna put most of theseunder a cut!!!  You’re a doll tho thanksfor all the asks.

Lup:

A) What I think realistically: I love the idea that,contrary to popular belief, she’s the younger twin! When they were kids, Taakowould always be the one who had to get her out of the trouble she got herselfinto. Taako’s always been a bit more pragmatic, but Lup just couldn’t standdisrespect towards her or her brother and would always address it. She stood upto people and probably bit off more than she could chew a number of times,meaning Taako had to help her out of a tight spot.

B) What is fucking hilarious to me: Lup at one point had apretty major crisis in her life because she loves to cook for people anddesperately wanted to show her affection for Barry by cooking for him, but.This man has lived off late-night hot pockets out of his laboratory microwavefor years. He doesn’t have a palette. One time she overheard him call ketchupspicy and she just kind of stared at the wall for five minutes. She spent manyan evening slaving over recipe books to try to find SOMETHING decent that thisuncultured man would actually enjoy.

C) What is heart-crushing and awful but fun to inflict onfriends: She’s got…a number of lingering issues after her release from theumbrella. There’s a lot of talk about how she develops claustrophobia, andwhile I think that’s certainly true, I think another thing that leaves hershaken is the utter darkness inside the staff. Before she was able to get herpowers back to create fire, the darkness in there must have been absolute andchilling. Imagine how long she lay there entirely blind and unable to make outanything. I don’t think she can sleep with the lights off anymore. She alwaysat least leaves the hall light on outside the bedroom, but even that’s notenough much of the time, and she often plays with a little fireball in herhands until she can’t keep her eyes open anymore, so that she knows there’sstill light where she is.

D) What would never work with canon but the canon is shit soI believe it anyway: Griffin says that the Legato performance was the firsttime the rest of the IPRE crew realized that Barry and Lup were in love butcome the fuck on. These guys??? They’re so incredibly obvious and crazy foreach other. Even if they didn’t tell their family explicitly EVERYONE knew forYEARS.

Raven Queen

A) Every raven in Faerun is at her beck and call. The birdshave a bit of magic to them inherently and find it easy to slip from plane toplane. She’ll dispatch them to carry messages or keep an eye on things for herand report back. She VERY rarely comes to the mortal planes, but you can alwaystell when she’s on her way. Thousands of ravens circle together tightly in thesky, their iridescent wings shining, and from the almost blinding andotherworldly shimmer a portal forms through which she comes.

B) Has motherly instincts towards Kravitz but no concept ofwhat being a parent to a former mortal actually entails. At what age does onestop picking up mortal children? 35? Her idea of mother-son bonding is enactinga blood oath. She’s trying her best.

C) Kravitz became her “ward” of sorts when he begged andprayed to her for months on end to spare his sick mother and take his lifeinstead—he made a brave trade and she respected him for it, hence his positionas a reaper.

D) She grants Magnus a “limited” amount of extra time livinghappily with Julia in the afterlife but honestly do you think she’ll ever makethem stop living in that little cabin? Heck, do you really think she’s going tokeep their friends from leaving the sea of souls to visit them whenever???She’s willing to turn a blind eye to their little party for the rest ofeternity.

Barry

A) He is just……so visibly huggable tbh. You look at him andyou’re like, “That’s a man who’d be good to just hug for a little while. Chubbysoft belly. Just a teddy bear of a man.

B) The boy is a classic academic research scientist, whichis to say a damn mess. He’ll periodically crop his hair short but then won’tbother to get it cut again for months on end because he’s too busy, so it growsout all wild and looks a mess. He has one (1) mug he keeps on his desk and likenever washes because it’s always filled with coffee anyway. Shows up to work ina stained T-shirt because it’s not like anyone’s paying attention to him whenhe’s locked up in his lab all day anyway. Grody science man.

C) Next to Taako, he’s the one who takes the longest toforgive Lucretia, and I sort of think he never completely gets over what shedid. Unlike everyone else in the IPRE crew, he was deliberately isolated fromthe rest of his family AND HE WAS AWARE OF IT. That’s fucked up, and he learnedto hate Lucretia for awhile, and that’s not the kind of thing that can beerased as soon as Story & Song is over. He can barely look her in the eyefor awhile.

D) He does NOT have a mullet do not to my boy dirty likethis.

Angus

A) All this debate over Magnus or Taako or Lucretia orwhoever the fuck adopts Angus post-S&S? Screw that noise. It’s not like anyof the adult figures in his life AREN’T walking disasters as individuals—it’sonly together that they’re sort of capable of functioning. That’s why he haslike twenty parents and splits his time between like five different houses,inside each of which he has his own room and where he is welcome at all hoursof the day and night. That kid is living the dream.

B) Absolutely drops f-bombs on purpose knowing that it willscandalize the adults he talks to. This boy is a delight and has never doneanything wrong but he is NOT the innocent little one everyone thinks! Sneakyboy!

C) Gotta be honest, I don’t have the heart to actuallyimagine Angus having any suffering inflicted upon him, BUT I do like the ideaof Taako being lowkey terrified every time he goes off on his own/tries toconduct an investigation that has a chance of being dangerous. He tries not toshow it and definitely plays it cool when Angus comes back safe every time, buthe’s got so very few people he feels really connected to and he doesn’t want tolose one of them (again).

D) Controversial, but he remains a shrimpy nerdboy foreverand does not get to be buffer than Magnus sorry.

Ren

A) Hot take: she’s a soft butch. My evidence? I know a bunchof butches named Ren and also she just gives off those Lesbian Vibes. Butch Ren2k19.

B) She is…small. Just so short, even by the standards ofelves, which are on average smaller than humans. It might be partly because she’sa Drow, since I personally headcanon that they don’t grow quite as big, buteven then she’s just. A little creacher. She has to use a spoon to knock downthings from shelves that everyone else in the tavern can easily reach. Cassidyjokingly uses her head as an armrest.

C) Her family is definitely still around and definitely wereoutside of Refuge when the barrier was created around the town and they justhad no way whatsoever of contacting her. They aged while time didn’t touch her.

D) This is more in opposition to D&D lore than to theTAZ canon, but I personally don’t like to think that Ren ever faced anyprejudice for being a dark elf. The whole idea of the Drow being cursed and 99%of them being evil is, imo, very tired (not to mention racist), so I just don’twant that being a part of her story. I think maybe Underdark elves have a bitof a reputation in the surface realms for being kind of staid and dour, so inthat way Ren defies some conventions by being her bubbly self. But aside fromthat, she never had an issue with anyone thinking less of her or hating her forbeing a Drow.

And fuck it, I know I did Sloane already but I have gothbirb headcanons coming out of my ass so I’ll do her again.

A) Tbh I like to think that her alias is something she put alot of thought into and something she identifies really strongly with. Like,ravens are obviously just objectively cool and fit the goth aesthetic she’sgoing for, but also I think growing up in Goldcliff (which I picture as beingjust like the American Southwest) she had a lot of experience observing themand felt kind of a kinship with them (and probably fed them to get them tofollow her around tbh). In some folklore, ravens are considered shapeshifterson account of how the sun reflects off their wings and makes them look likethey’re changing shape. I think that by assuming the persona of the Raven, shebecomes something more than what she appears to be, and it’s a bit of escapismfor her. (Also, ravens are known to be family-oriented and mate for life sothat proves fitting later on…)

B) It kinda breaks my heart whenever people draw her (orhalf-elves in general) with shorter/smaller ears than full-blooded elves,because in my head hers are long and twitchy! She’s pretty good at hiding howshe feels and not giving away too much with her body language, so her ears don’tnecessarily move around a ton to express how she’s feeling, but they doinvoluntarily react to sound, e.g. perking up when she hears a sudden noise.Hurley finds this adorable and exploits it to no end—like snapping her fingersnext to one of Sloane’s ears and then the other to make them pique alternatelyuntil Sloane finally gets fed up.

C) This is kind of more of a headcanon for half-elves ingeneral, but I remember seeing a post awhile back that said something along thelines of “D&D cryptid: a half-elf with a good relationship with theirfamily.” It was funny, but it did get me thinking: what’s a good narrativejustification for this? One of the answers, I think, is that half-elves grow ata rate that must be completely bewildering for their elven parents. They reachmaturity at around 20, compared to a full-blooded elf becoming an adult ataround 100. There’s probably a lot of potential for friction there as elvenparents are unable to handle or understand their kids as they mature soquickly. Plus, most half-elves don’t outlive their elf parents, and knowing you’remore than likely going to bury your kid one day has got to be hard. I think allof this was sort of the situation for Sloane growing up, and it was the sourceof a lot of the isolation she felt as a child.

D) She has big biker energy and actually prefers motorcyclesto battlewagons and that’s the tea.

LAWD this was a lot. Hope you like them!!!

#i typed this in a word doc initially and it was almost 2000 words fsdkjbvkgbdlj #starlight seeker #ask meme #headcanons #lup #barry bluejeans #angus #ren #raven queen #sloane #blupjeans #taz #taz balance #the adventure zone #my txt

[a-tired-birds-ramblings]

Interview Meme

Tagged by:

@madebyeternalwords

​

Tagging: anyone who wants to do it!

1. Choose an OC

2. Answer the questions as them

3. Tag 5 others

SCADIA “SCORCHER” MORKU

(I’ll have her backstory up on my blog soon! Until then, here’s some tidbits on my newest DnD character~)

1. What is your name?

Scadia. 

2. Do you know why you’re named that?

It was apparently the name of my grandmother. I don’t know for sure.

3. Are you single or taken?

Single. Have been my whole life.

4. Have any abilities or powers?

Hell yeah! I can cast spells with the best of them, and my good friends upstairs have given me some interesting abilities.

5. Stop being a Mary Sue.

Oh, so because I’m a Drow Warlock I’m a Mary Sue? Fuck off. 

6. What’s your eye color?

Red, with black sclera. Pretty common for Drow.

7. How about your hair color?

Dark grey.

8. Have any family members?

None I’d care to speak to. Ever again. 

 9. Oh? How about pets?

Nope. My spells can get a little wild, so I haven’t gotten a familiar or anything similar.

10. That’s cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don’t like?

Ironically, most priests. A lot of them are in it for themselves, and would sooner take someone’s money and send them off with a prayer than actually help them.

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?

I love to read. The surface world’s literature is a far cry from the stuff I used to read in the Underdark. 

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?

Obviously. But never anyone who didn’t deserve it.

3. Ever… killed anyone before?

Second verse, same as the first.

14. What kind of animal are you?

Ah, probably a bat. Or a spider.

15. Name your worst habits?

I go a little... overboard, when an issue becomes personal.

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?

I read a story, once, about a Drow Ranger named Drizzt. He was regarded as a hero on the surface world. I hope I can be recognized like that someday.

17. Are you gay, straight or bisexual?

Gay.

18. Do you go to school?

Didn’t have anything like that back in the Underdark. Just my parents teaching me how to fight. I taught myself most everything else.

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?

Hell no. I would be an awful mother.

20. Do you have any fangirls/fanboys?

Hahah, not really. I do have my share of past lovers, though.

21. What are you most afraid of?

Probably... death. I’m no saint, mind you. I’m pretty sure I know what’s on the other side for me.

22. What do you usually wear?

My patron gifted me with some grey and white robes when I made my pact, they came reinforced with leather armor. 

23. What’s one food that tempts you?

Honestly? Anything sweet. Sugarcane doesn’t grow in the Underdark, so when I discovered it on the surface, I nearly lost it.

24. Am I annoying to you?

Nah, not really.

25. Well, it’s still not over!

Oh boy.

26. What class are you (low/middle/high)?

Not really sure what that means. I was part of a farm village back home, but now I just sort of live on my own. Day-to-day, you know?

27. How many friends do you have?

Only one, really. My patron, an emissary of Tymora. She saved my life, and gave me the power to fight for myself.

28. What are your thoughts on pie?

Ooh, don’t tempt me. I love it to death.

29. Favorite drink?

Honeyed mead. Once again, anything sweet!

30. What’s your favorite place?

Not really sure yet. I certainly didn’t have one back home, and I haven’t been on the surface too long either.

31. Are you interested in anyone?

In terms of a serious relationship? Only one. And she knows who she is~

32. That was a stupid question…

Hahah, don’t worry about it. You aren’t the first person to ask, and I certainly hope you won’t be the last!

33. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?

Lake. The ocean is.... far too big and open. It creeps me out.

34. What’s your type?

Someone who has their own set of beliefs that they won’t give up on, no matter what. That dedication is really admirable. That, and... any woman who’s taller than me. Just... wow.

35. Any fetishes?

Woooah, I’m not telling you that.

36. Camping or outdoors?

Wait, I thought “camp” was a noun. You’re telling me it’s a verb too? What?!

#Scadia Morku #DnD 5e

[cat-in-the-teapot]

I wish I could put this under a read more but I'm on my phone so if you hate D&D or reading just. Scroll really fast I guess Miettrie Gnome Wild Sorcerer/Bard Basically the gnome of all gnomes personality wise. He's ridiculous and really just wants to have fun. He comes from a long line of hardworking settled gnomes, all who work as theatre people, so he took up barding, like his mother, and his mothers mother, and her mother before her. One key difference, however, was his father. His mother fell in love one day, literally, in one day, with a patron who frequented her family's theatre in the city they were camped in for the month. She had never felt she could build a life with any loner gnome, because the theatre needed so many people to keep it working, but lo and behold... one day, just about one week into their month or so of performances, a handsome stranger rolled into town. He was alone, and he was dark purple. She fell in love. And he did too. They tried their best to make it work. But she realized she was pregnant. Towards the end of their stay, he promised to come with her, he just had to do one thing first. The next morning, she waited for him. He never came. She refused to believe he would abandon her, and stayed. She stayed an entire year, giving birth and raising Miettrie alone, until her troupe returned. And then. The month came. She rejoined her troupe, and everyone rejoiced the coming of a new baby boy, despite his odd looks. He wasn't like his mother, pink and blue, or like his father, dark purple and firey red, but he was monochromatic, with thick, dark black wild hair, and pale pale skin, almost like that of a fair human, but a little more purple. His eyes, like his hair, were a deep black. While this was unusual, her whole family took it in stride, and he was given his great great great great great great grandmother's name, in honor of her passing, and in celebration of a new life. That night, the man returned. Miettrie's mother was stricken. Why hadn't he come to her? Why hadn't he kept his promise? He held her. He revealed his story and his past: he was given life by the spirit of the great forest that enshrined the city, and only through paying back his debt to it could he continue to live. The entire year, he had been trying to free himself of this contract, but in the end, the only way he was able to free himself was to promise to return when he was on his deathbed, and give back his life to the mountains. Overjoyed, they left the city together. But disaster struck. Basically he's touched by wild magic. And cause he's a baby he doesn't get it. And his dad dies saving him. And so they return him to the forest, but it's too late and he's gone, and the forest asks for a substitute: Miettrie. Instead, miettrie doesn't, and says fuck you tree man, and leaves. It's all good, he's a smart baby. He grows up bardic, and his backstory is really inconsistent. Basically he likes music, he likes nature, and he loves people. And playing pranks on people. His motivation is simply to travel, and experience new things. He also likes jewelry ALOT. He kind of jingles when he walks. He's a little chaotic good. Very fickle. Left the troupe because he wanted to try being a sailor. It went poorly, because being a wild sorcerer is not really a good thing on a boat miles and miles from land. Now he wanders around, looking for new things to try, like food, or clothes, or even lovers. He's also pretty tall for a gnome, going on 5 ft! With his hood on, he could pass for a very short human. His nose and eyes make him pretty distinctive though. I think I want to give him a scar somewhere too, but I can't quite decide, because I think it'll come with his backstory. Lukan High Elf Wizard (1st level?)/ Ranger A high-elf, from a high born family, and a not very smart boy. He's very sweet, he's so very sweet, but also he's lost to a duck at checkers, so like, intellect wise, he's just :( His family has had a tradition of attending the same magic school to be educated in the ways of magic, but poor boy fails out. It's very sad, and he's too scared to face his family. So he runs away from his magic school and his magic boyfriend, and goes to be a hermit in the woods to do magic where no one can bother him. But it backfires: he can't do ANY magic without his boyfriend to help him, and he gives up, resigned to a life without class, just a boring guy who lives in the woods. Which, incidentally, is exactly what a ranger is!! So he becomes a ranger on accident. It's very cute. Lukan has a terrible habit of wildly underestimating himself, and while he would do anything to protect those he cares about, he worries about his actual ability to do that. He loves animals, of course, but is scared of most of them, and isn't smart enough to actually be good at knowing stuff about them, like, classroom stuff, but he's So Good at working with them and knowing about them in nature. That goes for plants too. Doing magic gives them anxiety. They also may or may not have a Druid/Driad boyfriend. Leilias Drow Paladin (ancient pact) She's a precious sweetheart darling who was raised by a worm queen, so she's kinda fucked up. As a girl, she was cast out of her colony in the Underdark because of her glowing skin thing that I don't remember the name of. It's not really suited to the underdark, so her colony left her as a sacrifice at the temple of the giant worm queen, who was like, oh man, check out this sweet baby girl, and adopted her. The worm queen is blind, so bioluminescence doesn't bother her, and is ancient, hundreds of thousands of years old, and a wealth of knowledge. Leilias was homeschooled. Leilias is named after the Goddess depicted in the worm shrine as the protector of the underdark from forces that would seek to destroy it, which actually matched up with her pact real nice. She is very shy, and bad at social interaction, namely because of her solo upbringing in a desolate underground labyrinth filled with Jurassic bugs of massive proportions. She's really very down to earth. It's a pun. Get it

#D&D #long post #writing #sorry

[aussieaasimar]

Sad ramblings about an npc i love under the cut ✌

okay so remember that smiling drow bard in the center of that group shot and who had the Dead Anime Mom Ponytail in the solo pic

This is him, keep that in mind, he's a wonderful goofball bard with a great personality who’s best friends with Raja.

So we knew Finniko pissed off some mob boss from the getgo, and we were supposed to go repay his debt by doing that kobold mission for the Zazz right

So we bargain with the leader in a WILD way i'll tell later and he gets escorted out to us. He'd been essentially tortured the entire time since we left, and comes out basically half dead, stripped of literally everything and in like prisoner rags. They cut his hair off,,, and this is just all a horrific insult because he and Raja are devout followers of Wee Jas who live at her temple in the Underdark, and one of her pillars is vanity/beauty, so they obviously always have Killer style

So cutting off his hair and stealing all his shit?? That has to be super rough

the theory right now after Finniko tells is some more info goes that because the Zazz is Caspian, whom Finniko killed by proxy in an accident, the Zazz blamed him, and now Finniko blames himself for the reason they were beating the shit out of him. so he thinks !!! he fucking deserved this !!! bby no!!!!!!!!!

So Raja and I are trying to keep him on his feet long enough to get somewhere safer and comply with this gang so they don't murder the fuck out of us before we leave

and we make it out pretty quickly but Svent cast Wish fucking twice in that meeting with the Zazz and is On Her Face

We get the two in the tavern door where Kaegan has a friend and we'd been staying with, and he and Svent finally collapse in exhaustion, and they're just on the floor basically

Sadya, our stoic strong silent cleric of Wee Jas, a half-drow aasimar, tries to comfort Finniko and hands him her holy symbol and he just

clutches it really tight to his chest

and starts to cry

and thanking Sadya in undercommon as the first thing he’s said since we got him back

and now I cry

he thanked her in undercommon

Finniko was teaching us because of our involvement in some pretty important things in the temple, and the Soul Shatter Blade speaks in it, so Kaegan wants to know so they can be on top of shit, and Sadya didn't grow up in the Underdark

we had been practicing it on our way back from the casino to go get him, and he taught us the basics a while ago on the way up to Remoto where the tavern's at. Mei even picked up some on the trip.

so we knew the basics pretty well but were still learning

but that is probably something both Sadya and Kaegan learned first

So they knew exactly what he was saying in a language they previously didn't speak

and also being so stressed out and overwhelmed that you go back to your first language and also the language that your temple speaks

overwhelmed with emotion and exhaustion and pain and everything all at once and I doubt Finniko was thinking very hard about it but that's just so fucking significant to me

It Gets me. I hadnt even thought about it too hard when it actually happened, I think things were moving too fast, but reading my two sentence note over after the session i just started crying.

#finniko #fantasy pokeball #svent #sadya #kaegan #raja #text

[astrifer0us]

ages and ages

an alternate universe where chal met temperance a little earlier

temperance and val belong to @celticrune, the conman and lytte belong to @kima-ladyofvord

He is 94. It’s only 6 years shy of being recognised as an adult in his community, but he no longer gives a fuck about anyone acknowledging him there.

           (Except his mom. She showed him kindness where no other would.)

           The surface world is bright. They warned him,

           (an anonymous they, faceless drow telling him “Avoid the sun don’t step into its light you will burn”)

           but Chaldira never was one for listening. No, it’s Chal now. He speaks the name out into the open air, tastes the single syllable on his tongue, rolls it over in his mouth.

           It’s warm. Not like the Underdark heat, hot air blowing from gaps in the stone walls, steam rising off pools of molten rock, liquid fire flowing like veins. It’s a comfortable warmth, rays upon his skin, and he shoves his sleeves up to his elbows, desperate to experience as much of the sensation as possible.

           But it’s blinding, and when the sun fully rises from above the horizon, he stumbles, squinting, eyes watery slits of pink. A group of dwarves passes him, and he can hear their laughter, mocking his trembling steps, like an infant just learning to walk.

           He sneers and spits an insult in low gutturals, digs out his cloak and throws it on, hood flipped up to block out the light. It also minimises the feeling of sunlight on his skin, but he will have to deal with this.

           Using his staff (rough, unpolished, but functional) as a walking stick, he sets off in the direction of the sunrise, desperate for the taste of his newfound freedom.

 ***

 He is 95. The city of Tergeste is a new experience, coastal and busy, and he slips in like he was meant to be here. His experience with trade

           (and he does thank his father for letting him handle ledgers and check books and numbers he does appreciate the trade he was taught even if the thought of the man leaves a bitter taste in his mouth)

           serves him well. He is young but he is clever and his tongue is silver. He is exotic and interesting and it’s not hard to start a business in a bustling city. So he does, and he’s good at it, and really, regular merchants are there by the dozen, it’s only logical to sidle into the underbelly, the illicit wares that are harder to come by, and pay better by extension.

           And he never did quite like using his magic, having so much power at his fingertips yet not under his control, but it makes things so much easier if he can weave a spell and make someone think what he wants, fix a broken deal, gain the advantage.

           And if there are consequences, well, he does plenty fine in a direct fight.

 ***

 He is 97. She is younger than him in years, but clearly more mature, put-together and beautiful. She enthrals him, draws him in with her words and her carefully painted smile, and he was always weak for power.

           She’s heard of him, she says.

           Hopefully, only the nice things, he jests.

           She’s interested in him.

           He tells her it’s likewise.

           It makes her laugh, and he leans in and smiles.

 She takes him home.

           He doesn’t argue.

 ***

 He is 102. Perhaps 103. The passing of the century mark went unnoticed. Who is there to prove himself to anymore?

           He doesn’t like the passing of time much. It only serves to remind him how long-lived he is; how much he has that Temperance does not.

           He can give her anything: his life, his devotion, his lips and fingers, gentle touches and brushing kisses. He cannot give her years, so he tells himself to stop counting.

           (He keeps track for her, a beautiful bouquet at every year-mark, standing out proud and bright against the backdrop of gifts from noblemen and admirers. They may shower her in opulence, dress her in jewels and gems, but he knows he is worth more to her than any of it. She tells him, so he knows.)

           She has her birds, her façade of obedient orphan girls, little swifts and sparrows taken in by the goodness of her heart. She has her daughter, the little raven on her shoulder who whispers secrets in her ear. But Chal is the one who stands at her side, who gets to hold her arm and lead her down the stairs and tuck stray hairs behind her ear and kiss her, and she pets his hair and tells him how pretty he is

           (and for a moment the strong tenor of her voice morphs into a gentler soprano, a hand stroking his long hair, a barrier against the harsh tones of a father, “my pretty girl, my sweet Chaldira”)

           and he preens like a peacock, its wings voluntarily clipped so it can stay at its master’s side.

           After all, he hardly has a need to fly when she can make his heart soar.

 ***

 He doesn’t know. He doesn’t think he cares. But years have passed

           (the bouquets blur together, but it must have been a decade at least)

           and little has changed. He is content and happy and Temperance kisses him every night and he shares her bed as she sleeps and he stares at her, or at the ceiling, or he reads, dreaming himself away into other lands, other worlds.

           Not that he’d want to go anywhere but the sweet comfort of her bedsheets.

           He is not her spy, but he is not deaf. Rumours spread quickly, after all, and soon a mysterious figure known only by the moniker of ‘the Conman’ is known by all in Tergeste.

           And Temperance obsesses. She rarely speaks of it, and so he does not ask, but he can see the way her eyes light up when a fresh snippet of news reaches her ears.

           And as her fascination grows, so does his. It is hard not to be interested in a man without a name.

           And so, when Temperance arranges a meeting

           (and she did not technically tell him he was not welcome)

           he curls around the corner, wide-eyed in curiosity.

           He doesn’t quite know just how the meeting goes, but it hardly matters when the man slips out of the room, after, and brushes by him, and stops.

           Turns and

           (“And what have we here?” he asks, and Chal freezes, head ducking down, so he can peek out from under his hair only. “One of Temperance’s birds, no? How curious to find you out here, lurking in the dark. Do birds not prefer the light of day?”)

           Temperance exits her office, raising thin eyebrows at the sight of them. Her eyes meet his.

           He holds his breath. The passing of time does not interest him, but he counts the seconds nevertheless. They seem like small pockets of eternity in the dead silence that fills the hallway.

           And she excuses the both of them, and she leads him to the bedroom as Val slips out of the shadows and leads the Conman away.

           She does not berate him, but the disapproval in her eyes hurts worse any words can.

 ***

 He is older. That much he knows for sure.

           Temperance passes the mark from beautiful young adult to stunning mature woman. Chal does not change much, he thinks. His hair grows longer, and he has it cut. His eyes are bright and curious, and if they dim a little when she tells him to stay in the bedroom while she meets with the Conman,

           (the obsession fades, and the flames of rivalry flare up. He can see it in her eyes every time she talks to him.)

well, she wasn’t looking. But he does meet the Conman again, and again, and it isn’t until Temperance accuses him of seeking the man out, that he realises the man might have been seeking him out.

           It’s confusing, but it is exciting. The Conman is intelligent, and interesting, and fun to talk with. He knows a little bit about everything, it seems

           (until he confesses, in a quiet corner of the house, that he doesn’t know much about the Underdark. Chal gives him a sad little smile and says he doesn’t, either.

           He doesn’t think the Conman buys it, but they have precious little time, so he doesn’t press.)

           and Chal learns something new every time they meet. Bits of Dwarven and Draconic, a new cardgame Chal did not get his hands on yet, the history of a small port town not far from Tergeste.

           Temperance does not like it. He knows, he knows, but the temptation is always there, and he kneels on her carpet and tells her he won’t, not again, but the Conman has a way with words that lures him in like she once did.

           When their lips press together in the sweet embrace of infidelity, he tells himself he won’t take it any further.

 Temperance ensures he does not.

 ***

 In the grand scale of things, he is young, but as he stands at her side, amidst the crowd, he feels old and weary. At his other shoulder, Val stands, watchful, the perfect daughter and a silent guard. At Temperance’s left, Lytte, the sheen of his own charm putting blue highlights in her purple irises.

           There is quiet chatter, the creaking of wood. A condemned man walking to his death with his head held high, but Chal cannot meet his eyes. Knows that he doomed him, that, even as his presumed crimes are read out to the audience, the crime that brought him to this fate was

           (stolen kisses, gentle touches, shared moments on borrowed sheets, sneaking around after the lights go down, soft laughter and whispered conversations)

           love.

 The wood creaks.

           He turns, lets himself be tucked against Temperance’s side, lets her murmur to him, his eyes closing.

           When he opens them back up, the sky is streaked with pink

           (and so are his eyes, different shades clashing and contrasting)

           and he lets himself be led away.

#the lux writes #ocs #chal #drow #this is a fun au and i love it #death tw