Cool D&D stuff

Harpers? More like Larpers amirite xd Main Blog: Argaven

[shmaba]

Swordtember 2022 prompts 19-24

Moss

Shattered

Musical

Nordic

Iconic

Morbid

Jump to set in series: [1] | [2] | [3] | 4 | [5]

Downloadable pdf available on Gumroad

[carolinedoesmagic]

Potential allies?

I spent the next several minutes blushing to inappropriate jokes and reconsidering the cultural parts of my education before gathering the courage to change the topic back to serious matters. Returning to the topic of Tufo and what his nefarious plans might be, I ended up sharing most of my knowledge with these complete strangers, barring nothing but the demon and my Headmaster’s involvement.

They nodded along, asked follow-up questions, but generally seemed confused that I was even sharing any of it.

‘Are you looking to ask anything of us? And are you putting yourself in danger through these disclosures?’

In the spirit of radical honesty, I told them that all I needed was potential support. The more people who didn’t like Tufo and held any type of power there were, the better. And if I couldn’t do anything in particular to stop him myself, I could at least make others aware of him.

I didn’t have enough time to gauge their reactions before a beautiful half-elf girl walked down the stairs, stopping mid-sentence and looking at me, confusion in her gaze. She was purity incarnate, blueish and blonde, limber and slender, and also very quiet.

The older man rushed to introduce me.

‘Lyra, this is Caroline. She led the search party to find you.’

I shrugged and smiled, but she kept eyeing me with a blank face.

‘Thanks?’ Her light voice permeated the room, but she said no more, just sat next to her father.

It turned out that the girl had no memory of the previous several days. She’d been walking one evening, and the next thing she knew, she woke up in her bed. She’s slept through most of the few days since we found her, slowly regaining her strength and feeling slightly jittery.

A part of me that didn’t feel frustrated that I couldn’t learn more about Tufo’s plans was glad. Whatever he did to her, it couldn’t have been nice.

The conversation stalled with her entrance and I took it as my sign to leave. They all waved and the butler silently appeared to follow me out of the house, presenting a bag of money too heavy for me to carry. I waited for him to close the door before dropping and dragging it to Clarissa and East, who I saw leaning on Fuin’s gate across the field.

They seemed to have been there for a while, but pretended to be arriving when they noticed me. Their guard clothing was now scrapped, only the leather armor and bands remaining from the official uniform. I found them endearing.

East rushed to help with the bag and we soon stood around it, eyeing its size.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Caroline discovers polyamory (and some things about Tufo’s motivations)

AN: Back from vacay back to posting. Honestly just feel like writing third-person snippets at this point but I like this story and want to see it all on this profile. Also pardon the triad here, it doesn’t really fit but they’re not major characters and I love the illustration.

It was time to approach the girl’s family, who stood in an aristocratic trio, all quiet words and solemn expressions. The woman and one man seemed in their fifties, graying hair and thin lines of sharp faces and piercing eyes. The other man was a bit younger, human but emanating an otherwoldly glow — it was something about the eyes and the posture that made me think of gold and pearls and opalescence.

I didn’t have much time to stare before they eyed me up and down, realized who I was, and launched into a round of sound thank you-s, which I promptly deflected. It was nothing, just doing my duty. They smiled indulgently but didn’t outright dismiss me, so I took it as an opportunity to probe. After all, Tufo was after their daughter (or sister, if I could judge familial ties by age), which could’ve been, but didn’t have to be, an accident.

‘Oh, we have no idea. Any potential ties we have to that awful man are his fabrication.’ The man spoke in serious tones, but something about their glances told me there was more to the story.

An invitation to have lunch at their home gave me a happy opportunity to dig deeper, so I agreed to follow.

The silent walk took us to the hill overlooking the city, one speckled with several large homes and one I instantly recognized. These peoples’ house wasn’t as impressive as Lord Fuin’s mansion that sat across from theirs, but its tall, broad columns and well-kept greenery spoke of wealth, care, and power nevertheless.

The interior was as gorgeous as the exterior, daylight streaming from large windows and shining against polished surfaces. An unassuming butler crept up, took our bags — although I was reluctant to give mine away — and led us to the sitting room.

We sat, had tea served to us, and led polite conversation.

The talk revolved mostly about Fuin (the strange neighbor they’ve never seen) and the city, and I learned that they were sent in by the Eglasian queen to observe the town’s behaviors and inform the leaders of our continent of any notable events. The conversation was strained, however, the elephant in the room reflected in my starts and stops every time silence fell. I coughed-muttered Tufo’s name once more. A repeated claim that they knew him in passing was met with a rather rudely raised eyebrow on my part.

‘I see you’re not one to back down, girl,’ the woman now spoke, but not with maliciousness. ‘Alright, we’re safe enough here.’

The older man coughed and chuckled at his wife’s reaction.

‘It’s not such big of a deal. Our best guess is that Tufo was performing a dark ritual, and human blood only half-works on that. Half-elf blood, on the other hand… That’s the likely reason our baby was targeted.’

A half-elf heritage was a likely reason Tufo chose her for his nefarious acts, I thought before I got truly confused. Neither of the parents had any non-human characteristics — they were beautiful but in a rather mundane way. A flash of teeth so white they bordered blue drew my attention to the younger man sitting a bit to the right, now grinning directly at me.

My gaze darted across the now oh-so-familiar characteristics, as I did sleep next to a half elf for a month now. His bluish skin, piercing eyes, silent grace, and shaggy hair covering the sides of his face suddenly made sense. But. He was young. And the two of them were so obviously a pair.

Noticing the shock on my face, he grinned and nodded.

The other two seemed uncomfortable, so I quickly clarified that I had no issue with any elven folk and that I was just unfamiliar with Eglasian partnership structures, to which they visibly relaxed.

‘Oh I mean we do always accept new blood if you want to learn more about… partnership structures.’ The woman joined the teasing, while the older man looked at them disapprovingly.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Important people enter the picture

And with that a calm overcame us all. A weight had been lifted and people shifted, as if testing the new ground. I was never one to pay much heed to religion lectures Otto used to give, but at that moment, I’d have given a thousand honors to the Goddess.

Realizing that I was standing with a peaceful smile and that I might be acting inappropriately, I approached the pair of my previous comrades. I learned that the other guard, East, was Eden’s brother. He would now be living with Clarissa, as they were all childhood friends. I didn’t even question the arrangement.

We were soon engaged in lively conversation while walking back to town. They were telling me that they’d quit the guard, a surprising lack of bitterness in either of their voices.

‘It simply wasn’t what either of us hoped when we taught ourselves how to fight and joined.’

‘Instead, we would like to become adventurers, just like you.’ I felt it was a bad time to advise them against the lifestyle, as their excitement seemed to stand as something of a better future after a terrible event.

I was learning about the Eglasian disregard for the local issues, which led to the four of us going solo to save the girl, which ultimately led to Eden’s death, when Clarissa leaned in and pointed at another couple, whom I hadn’t noticed before.

‘Those are the parents of that poor girl. I think they want to pay you for the quest,’ she whispered and nudged me towards them.

That felt off. So I pushed the two of them to take however much gold I was to get, which they refused with silly pride at first. A compromise was to split it — we’d all lost something in the battle, but my innocence was nothing to their brother, friend, or lover. They budged.

[nailsofvecna]

It's not quite imprisonment, but this curse is mighty difficult to escape from without magical help. Better get comfortable!

[nailsofvecna]

Be careful when drinking unlabelled potions of slaying: more than one unfortunate soul has consumed a potion of humanoid slaying and then suffered a fatal paper cut.

[bugbearbrothers]

The Delian Tomb was the brainchild of D&D YouTuber Matthew Colville, and is featured in his first Running the Game video, titled ‘Your First Adventure’. As of the moment I’m writing this post, the video has racked up a staggering 1.2 million views. As you can see, many folks have taken the time to flesh out this simple little dungeon. Ironically, D&D adventure modules perform the poorest in terms of sales on the market—so why has this tiny little scenario taken off? Well for one, it’s free. Just like open source software, dungeons available to the public tend to get more eyes on them and thus more creative love. However, there’s another reason this dungeon has become famous—it distills the game experience to only its most crucial ingredients: monsters, traps, puzzles, treasure, and narrative! It’s just enough for a clean, self-contained night of gameplay. If you were to make your own 3-room dungeon, what would you change?

[earlymorninghomebrew]

Doing a 14 Days of Spells over in Instagram and Twitter for the next two weeks! The first three spells have been posted with many to come.

Feel free to check out Early Morning Homebrew and keep an eye out for a spell compendium coming soon with 100+ homebrew spells!

https://instagram.com/earlymorninghomebrew?igshid=1y216nvkhma4i

https://twitter.com/earlyhomebrew?s=21

[carolinedoesmagic]

Caroline enjoys school days and once again gets confused

The days to follow were a daze of new faces and knowledge, streaked with calm evenings on wooden benches behind the inn, sprinkled with moments of profound calm and deep worry for Odeta. 

My first week of lessons commenced as soon as I’d paid my tuition - courtesy of Lord Fuin’s bag of gold - and I was tossed into a never-ending torrent of information about magic and its inner workings. I mentally thanked Otto for never going easy on me, which allowed me to follow, to an extent, what was being poured into my brain, but I still struggled. A part of that fight with myself stemmed from the simple fact that my teachers seemed like the most interesting people in the world, making it much more challenging to focus on the practices of spellcasting and the theory of channeling one’s magic. 

Apart from the enormous amount of knowledge, the Hedron Tower contained people, young people, other young people not only versed in the workings of magic but willing to speak about it, and speak at length. I admit that my eagerness and lack of appropriate manners caused strange looks here and there, but I still got the chance to spend hours in the library, rummaging through books suggested to me by my new-found, learned peers, exchanging banter and absorbing rumours.

One communication stood out from the rest, and for its strangeness. A boy walked into the massive room one day as I was getting a new tome from the librarian, stood next to me, our shoulders almost touching, and gave me a head-to-toe inspection kind of look. That gave me the chance to look back at him, his shaggy hair and strange pink shoes with what seemed like wheels underneath his regular mage robe. 

‘Heyyyyy, you’re the new girl here. I know about your duel. What I would give to have a girl like you finish me like that.’

He grinned and turned away before I could even stammer a response. Back at my desk, my new friend June informed me that he was the best wizard student in the tower.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Caroline is rightfully confused

I tiptoed out of the room the next morning, careful not to wake my sleeping partner, pausing for only a second to marvel at the lines of her face and the soft curvature of her neck. As soon as I was out of the magnetic field that was her being, worry overcame me once again.

If anybody could know anything about the world, including cases such as this catatonic state of being, it was Trevor, so I spent my breakfast with him, inquiring. He was sympathetic but not quite helpful, adding to the pool of my concern. 

However, when I told him about Hedron’s Tower and my new membership, he responded saying that he’d continue being my bard, traveling around the county as long as I agreed to some adventures. I said I would, although I was, and still am, unsure of how it’ll work, trying to learn the theory and practice of the world at the same time. I was moved by his desire to be my companion, the warmth melting away at the cold pit of my stomach.

There was no time to waste on worry, however, as my crossbow lessons were scheduled for that morning.

The old man from last night was sitting in the shooting range backyard, polishing a weapon.

‘Oh hello girlie. I’m not the one to teach, at least not the likes of puny girls such as yourself. Go wake my daughter. She’s in the back room.’

I knocked at the back room door, but there was no answer, so I did the brave thing and pushed them open. When I did, I was greeted with a sight of a naked, muscular girl half-covered in sheets. She stretched, smirked at my blush and got up - totally naked - while I stammered through an explanation. She found it absolutely hilarious, and I left as soon as I could, my limbs shaky from the discomfort. 

Luckily, she remained professional during the lesson, so I could focus on the actual shooting. I was…okay? for a newbie, but after it was over, I still had at least several more hours in the range before I could shoot an actual person, if my morality would ever allow it. That was a question I couldn’t answer, but I did find shooting fun. 

In the end, the girl - Alphie - told me in her gruff voice that I could visit outside her working hours, which again confused me. I imagined that a date would be a lot of fun for her, but I wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy being the mouse to her cat.

[carolinedoesmagic]

I’m a gentleman, take my gentle hand

I arrived at the bar with butterflies in my stomach, full of impressions I wanted to share and parse with the help of other people. Damn, did it feel good to have friends, even those so far removed from my life that they would likely fail to understand half of the day’s developments. My enthusiasm was once again cut short.

Having entered the crowded, ale-smelling main room, I was met with Myra’s worried gaze. I rushed to her, asking what was the matter and why Odeta was nowhere to be seen.

‘That’s the problem, honey, I don’t know. She left an hour ago to freshen up and hasn’t been down since. I was waiting for you to return… you know, I’m not sure she’d let anybody else come in.’

I climbed two steps at a time, suddenly worried out of my mind, my inner monologue cursing me for leaving her alone all day long, and on her first day of normal life. The room was dim and she was facing the window, her hands cupped and expression totally blank. She answered my succession questions in a dazed voice and single sentences, evocative of her state on the day I found her. 

‘I’ll just go to bed’ was the last thing she said, and my growling stomach overcame my concerns. While I was having dinner back downstairs, a man got up from a table of gruff, drunk, obvious mercenaries and approached Myra. 

‘Hey gorgeous, can me and my men get some more drinks…. And can that pretty waitress serve them to us? That’s an extra gold piece for you, sweetie.’ 

Myra simply rolled her eyes and informed me that they were bothering the staff all night long. Having learned that Odeta was their main server that night, I saw red. Myra could take such advances in her stride, but the poor, traumatized girl couldn’t. I wanted vengeance.

I went outside to blow off steam but then got a good idea. There was an outside toilet some five feet from the inn, and I hid behind it. Soon, one of the mercenaries stumbled outside for a piss. It wasn’t the same man, but at that point, all of them were culprits in my mind. As he whistled something and urinated away, I cast a blinding spell on him. 

My most intimidating voice on, I whispered from the shadows that he’d stay blind forever if he didn’t change his ways, but the fool was too drunk to even realize he’d been affected. It was time for another strategy, so I summoned a gruesome image of a demon from children’s tales. I then went out from the shadows, controlling my illusion, and it worked. He almost pissed himself and promised that he and his pals would stop harassing young women…or else.

Satisfied, I went back in, ignoring the terrified looks from the previously drunk and jaunty table of guests, and found that nice doctor lady who’d helped before. I hoped she’d tell me about a cure but I only learned that I needed to be there for Odeta. 

This caused a conflict - how was I to pursue all my goals with a girl in my room needing me for hours on end? Heroic responsibility was a bitch, and one I wasn’t ready to take on. Instead, I went upstairs and read for a few hours. After a while, Odeta approached me and placed her head on my lap, falling asleep with my book on top of her head. We shared a bed that night.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Caroline becomes a student

Keeping these snippets short so I wouldn’t fall off the wagon once again.

There were cheers coming from the above areas, but more mutterings. As I walked out of the dueling range and back to the hallway, I was met with many confused looks, putting in the last of my strength to keep my head high and my demeanor relaxed, as if nothing of great importance had happened. 

Luckily, the Headmaster soon took me back to his office and away from the prying eyes, the burning gaze of the boy I’d just beat piercing a hole through my skull. Back in the safe space, the kind man introduced himself as ‘Ali’ and informed me that the boy - Kurtis - would have to leave the school. My first instinct was to jump to his defense, but my weak arguments were cut short. It wasn’t because of the duel, Ali told me, but because of stealing he was suspected of for months before I’d even entered the picture. The story about thieves was only the last drop. 

Seeing my relief, the Headmaster then proceeded to enroll me in this famed school of magic. Before I knew it, I became a non-regular student (due to my vague hints that I’d likely go adventuring) and 120GP lighter. He assured me I’d learn the details with time and sent me off my way. I could only nod - saying no wasn’t an option, not with all the potential knowledge and skill I’d be able to gain with access to Hedron.

Excited and overwhelmed, I went back home, having just enough reason to book a crossbow lesson first - if more people would become as angry with me as Kurtis was, I’d need the skill. Then I proceeded to the inn, wondering what my friends would say at the development.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Caroline has her first duel

I THINK I can promise to make this a regular affair once again. As a reminder: Caroline was challenged to a duel by that random boy in the Hedron Tower. Let’s see how it pans out.

also the duel didn’t look as cool as this but the Hedron Tower is homebrew soooo

My musings about the fairness of the impromptu duel couldn’t lead anywhere, at least not at that time. Nothing could be done about it, despite my cluelessness, the dueling magic having already been evoked. 

I was soon informed of the basic rules - no necromancy spells or those potentially causing lethal damage - and we were on our way to the dueling area, me too nervous to observe much of my growingly impressive surroundings. The tower was bigger on the inside than it was out, towering up to the blue sky above, lit by invisible lamps, ideal for reading but also sneaking. Before I knew it, we were in the central circle all the way on the bottom, with many stone terraces surrounding us, and several faces peeking to see what the commotion was all about.

Those outside sights were blurry, though, as my gaze was focused on the boy smirking from across the dueling range. My mind went into panic mode, which was thankfully how I managed to survive thus far, and I quickly concluded that my first move should be the one to stop him from flinging spells my way. I had no idea what he was capable of, and I wasn’t ready to find out, so I sent a blinding spell his way, muttering the word ‘darkness’ under my breath as I evoked a sense of helplessness and channeled it toward my opponent.

My tactic was successful, but only to a degree. My perception got dazed for a second from the power of my magic, and when I could see clearly again, the boy was no longer in front of me. This threw me off balance, but I continued with the same approach, casting my go-to sleeping charm in the rough direction of where he used to stand. I felt the surge connect to another being and he reappeared, on the ground, eyes closed. It was all over before I knew it. I’d won.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Things going ALMOST too smoothly

I didn’t manage to find a mage capable and willing to perform long-distance communication magic, but I did learn that I could ask the Headmaster to Send a message to Otto directly, and also some interesting things about familiars, which I also filed away for future consideration as I made my way to the Tower itself. Soon, I found the teleportation circle that I saw that angry boy use, took a deep breath in and gathered all my courage and confidence to prepare me for this one moment, and managed to make my way indoors. 

As I entered, all I could see were hallways, magically lit but in a more obvious way than in the temple, one of them leading to a reception desk. Naturally, I headed that direction, only to have an angry-looking lady promptly turn down my request to talk to the Headmaster, who was apparently the one handling new students. However, before I could sneak or dejectedly leave, I heard a familiar angry voice yelling in my direction, blatantly calling me a thief. The boy-mage I helped the day before was standing down the hall with a tall, kind-lookig man who turned out to be the Headmaster. He shushed the yelling, introduced himself to me, and invited us both to his office like a pair of insolent children. 

Once there, I tried to ignore my astonishment at the amount of magic items just lying around and simply explain what had happened from my point of view, which was taken well by the man, but not by the boy. The Headmaster nodded once I disclosed everything, without even trying to cover up parts of the story. Seeming satisfied with my explanation, he cut any attempts at aditional conversation on the side of my opponent in this discussion.

One thing about my story did interest him. My magic feats led to him asking whether I wanted to enroll in Hedron before I had the chance to broach the topic myself. When I excitedly nodded, he inquired a bit more about my history, his eyebrows shooting up at the mention of my previous teacher. He nodded once more, summoned a magnificent little unicorn of magic light, and sent it galloping in what was supposed to be Otto’s direction. The boy-mage, whose name was Kurtis, glared at the exchange, fuming but saying nothing at first. 

It was then my turn to sit in silence while the two discussed some class or the other, until they were interrupted by the magical animal making its way back to the office, carrying a letter on its horn. I didn’t get to see what the writing said, although I ached to lay my eyes on the familiar handwriting, but it seemed like my ex teacher did me justice, if we were to believe the Headmaster’s smile and impressed gaze which he would lift from time to time to look me directly in the eye. Having read it, he nodded the third and final time, and announced that I could enroll, explaining where I could go for additional information. 

I beamed, which seemed to be the last straw for Kurtis. He jumped up, glared at me with intense anger, drew his wand, and announced a challenge for a mage duel, non-lethal. Apparently, I had no choice but to accept, or else I would lose my magic, something I wish I’d been told about the world of mages before exposing myself to such short-tempered members of its society.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Not all libraries are that useful, apparently

Having entered the library, I was first astonished by the size of the shelves and the wealth of the books on them, astonished enough to forget about my identity blunder. Unfortunately, I soon realized that most of them were religious texts about the deity. 

My main topic of interest, dark magic, wasn’t accounted for, but I found information about the Hedron Tower, vampires, and my family, albeit mostly historical in all three cases and no more useful than the stories I could hear from a well-read townperson. Weirdly, a sheet of paper from the Hedron book, right where it was supposed to discuss the experiments done by the mages, was ripped out. I filed that strangeness for later consideration. 

Taking one last, somewhat disappointed, glance at the shelves, I noticed a black book whose over-the-top inconspicuousness got my attention. I tried to take the black leather tome off the shelf, but it wouldn’t move more than several inches. My action wasn’t in vain, though. A shaded door materialized at the back of the room. Noting that nobody in the near-empty space was paying attention to me, I entered. 

The room was cold and clean, magically lit from all angles. It contained several of the supposedly one-and-only Vecna’s box of knowledge, able to be opened only by a transcended cleric of the deity. That artifact didn’t interest me much, if I’m being honest. There was also a small shelf stacked with several books, which were much more enticing to my curious mind. I approached it with great care, components pouch on the ready, but a hand on the tomes caused nothing to jump out and try to hurt me, so I picked up one book at random and sat on the floor. It seemed quite normal, more religious tales only more ancient. I continued to rummage through the shelf.

Closer inspection of the titles informed me that the several tomes at the end weren’t human or halfling-made, but by elves, which was strictly forbidden for other humanoids to read. I opened one, but before I could read a word, a weird, cold sensation overcame my hand and arm - as if my magic was being drawn out. I dropped the book, terrified, and tried to cast a simple illusion, fearing a childish fear that it took my magic for its own dark purposes and left me with none. 

Luckily, I succeeded, and went on to use a pair of pliers to examine the object. The sensation was still there, but much weaker, and I was soon attempting to decipher moving illustrations and incomprehensible elven words. Seeing that not a lot of progress was possible, I soon exited the mystery room and continued to my next task of finding a mage who could help me get a letter of recommendation from Otto, and therefore, allow me into the Hedron Tower.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Caroline makes her first big mistake

And some small ones for the sake of spice.

Also Tumblr didn’t allow me to add a pic?

I woke up with a throbbing headache, a fuzzy recollection of what had happened last night, and Odeta in my bed (???). Her head on my shoulder, sunlight making her hair and skin almost silver, she left me staring for minutes, a voice in the back of my mind yelling questions but most of it silent in absolute awe with the girl.

The peace was broken when she moved, tilting her head and looking up at me with her purple eyes. The first thing to come out of my mouth was something in the vein of ‘why are you in my bed.’ I wanted to clear things up with that question, but a slight twitch on her face told me that I was too blunt for my own good. She muttered something about not wanting to sleep alone and got up, avoiding eye contact. 

Saying that I panicked would be an understatement. I encouraged her to ‘go and work the day away,’ something I knew she was yet to become capable of, and fled the room, cursing myself with each step down the stairs. 

‘Well, hello there, little star. How are we coping with alcohol this morning?’ 

Myra was as playful as ever, but understanding of my desire not to speak. She provided light breakfast, which I hesitantly ate, and suggested that Trevor might have a ‘hangover potion,’ a magical liquid I’d never heard of before but made me appreciate the work of mages more than any spell I’d learned thus far. After a quick visit to his room, I was on my way to the Temple of Vecna and trying to figure out how my bard friend managed to fit two girls in his small bed.

My first attempts at lewd thought were cut short when I pushed the door and entered the magnificent building. It was white stone, columns, cool, and smelling of incense. The first room was empty, except for carvings on the walls representing the image of the kind god of wisdom on his various missions. There was a table, too, and a man in emerald robes behind it writing away at a piece of parchment. He lifted his calm gaze and raised his eyebrows, and I fumbled at a request to enter the library, suddenly feeling large and loud in the calmness of the space.

‘Of course, child. You shall have to put in your name first. We aim to keep track of people seeking knowledge.’

He produced another parchment and a special quill, explaining that such magical items were used to prevent ‘lies from muddying the well of truth.’ I froze for a second, wrote my first name, and tried to follow it with the generic last name for orphans in these areas, which was my go-to alias. Trying to spell the capital T of Thoma sent a jolt through my arm, and the man looked up. Unsure what to do, aware of its reputation, I wrote Exter, mostly to save face. He looked over it, nodded, and pointed me towards the proper door, which I approached with a sinking feeling in my gut. This decision would come back to haunt me.

[carolinedoesmagic]

Caroline has a long, exhausting night

it’s not lazy writing if the protagonist is actually tired

I stood and stared. The man’s voice was enchanting, and when he was finished, everything went quiet and stayed that way for the longest minute of my life. My trance was interrupted by Lord Fuin’s hand on my shoulder, and a sharp glance telling me to follow him. The last thing I saw from the ball were the glazed eyes of the other guards in the row.

We went out to the entrance hall, where he gave me a searching, worried glance and spent another minute in silence. When he composed himself, he spoke in a voice that had a stronger tint of emotion than I’d heard from him ever before. 

‘Caroline… I have to apologize for the behavior of Lord Kalinys. I think you should go now. Of course, you shall be paid, but it would not be good if you stayed any longer.’

With that, he produced a heavy bag of coin and headed back to his ballroom, even as I was asking for an explanation. My confused words echoed in a now empty room.

Not knowing what to think and feeling that a return to demand answers at this moment would lead to nothing but a lot of pain, I stripped myself of my armor, gathered the gold, and commenced my return to the inn, dazed and confused.

Walking to the Black Tide Inn, I had the chance to see a bit more of Tolfiskali nightlife. Multitudes of people were walking through the streets, tired or drunk I could not say. The blue thunder street pulsated with energy that felt arcane, although no lightning was shooting down on the buildings, leaving me excited and as if I was supposed to do something. I did not know what. My shadow multiplied and danced against the walls, unlike those of other people passing through, but I decided to call it a bout of frightened imagination and look into it with a clearer head. A moment of lucidity allowed me to notice a sign over a crossbow shop near my destination. It read: 

‘All the noblemen are using them! Hand crossbows 80 gp, heavy crossbows 55 gp, imma teach you how to use them for an additional 5 gp.’

With another task on my list, I realized that I was too tired for planning, too tired even to dread the idea of seeing Trevor perform. I simply walked inside, saw the familiar figure play a tune I’d already heard, sat down at the bar, and ordered a cider, the one with alcohol that I’d never tasted before. Sipping and listening, I almost failed to notice Trevor approaching me, raising my hand, and attracting all eyes on me.

‘Here’s the hero of my new song!’

People cheered. I was a hero in their eyes, especially after Trevor sang his song again. I smiled at the people, shook several hands, my mind dizzier with each sip, until I was in bed, unsure about what else had happened that night.