Rosey Gerdy, check. Fancy bark hat cause she's half Forest Gnome, check. Dress based on one of my Goddess symbols because I absolutely had to, check.
(I'm drafting this post a couple weeks ahead of time, so, may things still be going well for her! 🙏💗 And again, an account of her thoughts on her adventures is available here.)
In my first ever DnD campaign, I am playing a lovely little critter, and decided to draw her!
Cheer and meet:
Alune!
Forest Gnome - Ranger - Fey Wanderer - Feylost
Backstory under the cut!
As a child, dreamed to learn magic-
So when she met a mysterious stranger in the woods promising to teach her, of course the child was only too happy to take this marvelous opportunity, and follow the stranger to her shire.
Alune spent a wonderful time learning spells, before realising that she was about to be late to dinner- her birthday dinner! So despite her teacher's insistence that the day was not over yet, Alune went on her way back home.
Her family's den, however, were empty and abandonded. Alune's distress caught the attention of a group of a few patrolling Goblins, who informed her the den had already been abandonded for decades. Her family was gone. How much time had passed in her teacher's shire...?
The goblins were kind to take her in, teaching her many things; after a few months, however, Alune began to change. Antlers began growing on the back of her head... The goblins grew terrified. Horned Beasts were what drove them out of their former home, after all!
The leader of the wood elves came to realise that something about the child was off. She was touched by something that elves could innately feel in their ancestry. Alune had been influenced by the feywild.
Alune decided to lave them in peace, and came across wood elven rangers she begged for shelter. It was here that Alune would begin her training to become a ranger as well.
As the leader knew that their little group were not prepared to properly train her in this direction, she decided to contact an old friend and send the child to the prestigious Academy Town of Demia, where Alune would be able to continue her developing.
Poppi Willoseed is a forest gnome rogue who can charm anyone out of their coin!
She is quick on her feet and great w a bow.
She is a sweetheart of the forest, but don't underestimate her for a minute – she is a lot stronger than you'd think! When the moment strikes her at camp, she will challenge Karlach to a friendly game of arm wrestling!
Poppi is definitely the life of the motely crew of survivors that she had banded together, and her love of fresh fruit juice is one of the several reasons why Astarion feeds from her, giving him a lovely little "high" for his many bouts of lows.
She likes to tease Gale the most, using illusion spells to play around during those long and tiring story-tellings of his.
Calling her rambunctious is an understatement. Poppi can hardly sit down for a minute, but she's learned to relax, especially when she's sparring w Lae'zel or lying on a patch of moss w Halsin after a long day away from camp.
Her rambunctious behavior can sometimes get her and her crew in a bit of extra trouble during battles. Unless Gale uses Mage Hand on her like she likes ex: gently brushing her hair, which tends to make Astarion quite the jealous vamp.
Poppi loves to entertain, (she's an entertainer) and is the life of any party or gathering. She is a good flute and lute player, which Shadowheart and Wyll cannot get enough of. Even Scratch, the owlbear cub, and Volo wiggle a bit during her performances. She tends to play better under the influence of some good ale or anything that has mind-altering abilities. Oh! And she loves singing, too w a little help from Volo!
Her natural ability to Speak To Animals has been a true life-saver when she was caught up in a tavern argument before the mindflayer abduction.
Poppi is a bright and kind-hearted gnome, but despite that bubbly personality of hers, she is absolutely terrified of getting too close to others. Even her found family could cause her to relive traumatic moments w/o meaning to, but they each have their own way of handling thoss moments and making her feel safe, though sadly, Astarion has the tendency to zyoop out of there when she has a panic attack, for it triggers his own trauma and makes him feel things he isn't used to. He's only ever cried in front of Poppi when she had confronted him about it after one of her panic attacks.
Poppi's crew is very protective over her, but no one keeps any eye on her like Astarion and Gale, which has gotten them into a few heated arguments.
Astarion will say he wasn't staring at Poppi while still pointing out that Gale was a creeper for staring at Poppi 🤣
Both of those men tend to act childish towards each other, more often than not, and most times, everyone else just stands back shaking their heads.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•
I was pleasantly surprised to know that the gnomes specifically have a lot of different dialogue choices and scenes! They are majorly underrated and need more love! <33
Oh! I only use 3 mods on pc, and those are for hair & clothing.
✨Emotional Astarion gifs✨
The scene when he tells Tav he "loves her" in act 1 w high approval w those sad eyes gives him away so hard! So does his obnoxious laugh afterwards. Poppi's shocked, wide-eyed stare is too precious!
And the scar scene is incredibly cute when my tiny Tav tells him to "shut up and turn around" after he says that "it isn't her problem" and he's like "...fine".
The group watches in stunned silence as the goblins descend upon the small band of humans huddled outside the hidden community’s gates.
Wicket is the first to move, dropping his pack into the dirt and drawing his sword with a deep sigh. “It can never be fucking easy, can it?”
Then he’s gone, moving with the stealth and speed forest gnomes are renowned for, felling two goblin combatants before the rest of his party collects themselves and leap into action after him. The skirmish is hard-fought and short-lived, with a tiefling guard as the only casualty. Lae’zel, Astarion, and Gale huddle together outside the now open gates as Wicket picks through the still warm corpses of fallen goblins, searching for anything of use.
“Our tiny companion is more impressive than I originally gave him credit for,” Astarion muses, idly flicking a bit of goblin blood from his dagger.
“He seems to be a rather high ranking cleric of Kelemvor, if I recall my religious iconography correctly,” Gale replies, subtly motioning towards Wicket.
Astarion’s eyes widen. During the fighting Wicket’s cloak had been torn away, now revealing the gnome’s long, tousled hair, and the delicate silver circlet resting on top of his head. A previously unseen amulet, a silver skeletal hand holding a set of golden scales, now hangs loose against Wicket’s shirt.
Astarion’s stomach twists uncomfortably. Being near a gnome is already an unpleasant prospect, but to travel in such close quarters with one of Kelevmor’s warrior clerics is a recipe for disaster. He will have to do something before the gnome discovers him… then again, Wicket hasn’t given any indication that he knows Astarion’s true nature. Perhaps in addition to allowing him to walk in the sunlight the tadpole shields him from the cleric’s divine senses.
Seemingly aware of the elf studying him, Wicket raises his head and locks eyes with Astarion. The elf shudders under Wicket’s gaze; the gnome’s pale, nearly colorless eyes pin him in place, like an insect to a piece of cork.
He knows.
Panic rises in Astarion’s throat. He is free for the first time in 200 years (tadpole aside); he has no intention of dying at the hands of a necrobane, and a gnomish necrobane at that.
Seemingly bored of their impromptu staring contest, Wicket breaks eye contact and continues his rummage through the dead goblins’ belongings.
Astarion clenches his fists and sets his resolve. The next time the group stops to camp for the evening, he will have to do something about his gnome problem.
