A two-part (four-part?) assortment for @danvariano , featuring Businesspoodle in person and a title screen via what she left behind at her favorite diner.
CHARACTER DESIGN AGAIN!!! This time it’s an NPC from Fae’s game, written and run by @n64fan
Brief context drop beneath the cut.
We met this guy, whose name we still haven’t fully learned, really early on into the campaign. At the time, he was a regular old drow, and we knew he was a member of the Drunthir family, who we have beef with. During the first fight I did NOT think ahead very well and got myself sandwiched between this guy and a mage, and even tho the cleric kept healing me, this guy kept putting me down before my next turn. Eventually Fae just played dead so he could get to his turn in the order finally, upon which he sat straight up and nailed this guy with one of his poison daggers, killing the guy. Then Fae looted his sword, which is Fae’s current poison rapier.
THEN later on, the same guy showed up again, revivified! Great! We killed him again - it was a little easier this time. Through discussion, Fae and Celosia decided that they needed to prevent an easy revival again, and Celosia suggested perhaps removing his jawbone. Fae did that. The next time he got brought back, it was via reincarnation and he had a whole different face. Fae found this hilarious.
We didn’t get to kill this new version, unfortunately, because between then and now, our friend became a drider. And after becoming a drider, he stabbed the SHIT out of Fae. Like, crit stabbed him in a surprise round, almost took me down in one hit. I did art of that too, i’m posting it asap
Finally, and crucially, recently we were recruited to a rebellion in the drow capital to be their bait/scapegoat while they do important rebellion shit. Who’s part of this rebellion? UH. OUR DRUNTHIR FRIEND. SO! He wasn’t happy to see us, and while our characters weren’t thrilled, I was. I was so thrilled. He’s decided that he doesn’t trust us to do SHIT so he’s coming with us through this dungeon, leading to some very fun antagonistic banter, I’m having a great time.
And we still don’t know his first name. We’ll get there.
Following the newly christened Wayfinder Kippa to Amnytas, the young commander Rhenn finds himself faced with a past he never knew he had. What can you do when plunged head first into a life you never got to have?
Also available to read on Ao3!
Warnings: mentions of genetic harvesting without consent (not explicit)
He wasn’t sure if Amnytas was everything Kippa had told him when she’d returned to Rata Sum, though it sounded incredible on the surface, despite her clear frustration with those stationed there. But something else was rippling underneath the surface, something she wasn’t sure how to express, her hands gripping his when he reached out to hold them. Keep her from her pacing.
Rhenn had never seen Kippa so agitated in all the years they’d known each other. “Kip… Kips, hey, look at me. What is it?”
“There was something else there.” Her voice was tight. “Someone. Her name… she told me her name is Rhiia. She’s been there since you were born, when she was fifteen. Rhenn… she told me she’s your sister. That Prikk and your mother Nixxe were her parents.”
It was like being plunged into cold water, stealing the breath from his lungs. He stood frozen, staring down at her, faintly glowing eyes wide. “My… sister? I don’t have a sister.”
She gave her head a quick shake. “I know. I know you don’t, or at least as far as either of us know you don’t, but… she looks so much like you. Her markings are a little different. I don’t think she was… modified like you were. But otherwise…”
“...I need to see her.” The tension in his voice clearly surprised her, but he lifted his hand, brushing her hair out of her face. “Not that I don’t trust you. You know I do. But I don’t know who this woman is. She could be trying to manipulate us.”
Slowly, Kippa nodded, her hand coming up to take Rhenn’s. She was quiet for a moment, then swallowed, lacing her fingers with his. “Will you come back with me, then?”
His nod came much quicker, pulling her hand up to kiss the knuckles. “I was planning on it anyway. Since I can’t seem to convince you to slow down any. You know being pregnant is usually something that gives you leeway to take a break from hero work.”
She gave him a look. “I’m still very early on, and I promise I’ll be careful. Narcisse has been my shadow ever since R’tchikk figured it out. I’m sure she will be once we get back, too. Though I shouldn’t wait long. Isgarren is… impatient about the whole Nayos thing.” She paused. “You won’t like him. He thinks he knows better than anyone.”
“My least favorite kind of person,” Rhenn grumbled, then leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I’m ready to go whenever you are, Kip. I’ll do my best to be on my best behavior.”
She gave him a wry little smile. “Liar.” But she turned to pick up her staff regardless, freeing her hand from his. “Iuno is waiting for us at the Bastion of the Natural. She wanted to keep an eye on things in case something changed while I came back to update you.”
His expression turned fond while he went to collect his hammer, releasing Kippa so he could gear up. “That’s Iuno for you. I’m glad she’s stuck around.”
“You and me both.” She stood quietly, hands folded in front of her, watching Rhenn move around the space. A little smile crossed her face, expression soft. “Ready to go?”
Smiling, Rhenn nodded, moving back over beside her. “Let’s get going before Taimi notices we’ve slipped out. The minute that girl hears you’re expecting, she’s going to lose her mind, so it’s best we try to avoid that until after we have all this mess dealt with.”
Kippa laughed, looping her arm around his. “Right, right. Come on.”
The sensation of using a waypoint didn’t change, not really, but using one he hadn’t been to with Kippa holding onto him was different. The split second in a space both here and not, emptiness, cold, and then suddenly they were on the other side, standing in a gleaming courtyard of gilded white marble. It all felt too sterile, in a way very different from what he was familiar with in the labs he’d spent his time in growing up. The air was cool but not uncomfortable, and Iuno was seated on a bench talking to an unfamiliar asura.
She was tall for an asura, though not nearly as tall as him. Her dark hair, just starting to show hints of gray threaded through her short locs, bound up in a bandanna. Her blue tinted skin matched his, dark blue eyes focused on Iuno as she spoke. Dark gray markings, thicker stripes than his own, on her forehead and down the back of her neck, and she was dressed in crisp formal armor, blue with gold trim, a spear resting on her back.
“Boss!” Iuno noticed him before the asura did, and he smiled a little when she waved. “Kippa said she was gonna check in with you. Figured you’d come back with her. Maybe you can get her to actually sit still for a few minutes. Or longer, really, since. Y’know. Baby.”
Kippa snorted. “Yeah, no chance of that. I have work to do.” She released Rhenn’s arm after that, moving forward towards the asura as she turned. “Rhiia? He’s here.”
The moment their eyes met, Rhenn watched the color drain from the woman’s face as her eyes went wide, shoulders tightening. “...Alchemy. Look at you. You got so tall…” She moved forward immediately, and Rhenn stood stock still, leaning back just slightly as she stopped in front of him, one hand reaching out as if to touch him, though she refrained. Barely. “You wouldn’t know me. Father had just taken you out of the tank when Mother had me run. She said he’d- that since you were there, he’d kill me.”
Rhenn didn’t move back, staring at her quietly as she spoke. “He never mentioned having a daughter.”
Her expression tightened, brow furrowed as she scowled. “Of course he didn’t. Father saw me as… imperfect. He thought that the natural process of birth was too random. Brought in too many variables. But he didn’t want to do anything until he was sure he could succeed. And then… you were there.”
Iuno looked between the two for a moment, her tail lashing, before clearing her throat as she gestured to Kippa. “C’mon, Kip. Narcisse will wanna check up on you. Let’s let them talk.”
Kippa looked between the two, then gently rested her hand on Rhenn’s arm, smiling up at him before moving to join Iuno as they walked further into the nearby gardens together. Rhenn gave her a weak smile, but his attention quickly returned to Rhiia, who was watching him quietly, wringing her hands together. “...I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me.”
“That’s an understatement.” It was hard to keep the frustration out of his voice, and Rhenn glanced briefly in the direction Kippa and Iuno had headed in before he returned his attention to her. “You said our… mother. Told you to run. You know she wasn’t my- I mean she didn’t-”
Rhiia nodded. “I know. Father took her genetic material without her consent. Paid off a physician who was doing a routine physical… then buried the evidence. Literally. The doctor was accused of inappropriate behavior and… repurposed three weeks after what he did. He denied allegations to the end. Mother didn’t trust him and started monitoring much more closely. She got special permission from her boss, Asuran Resources Director Miyya.”
That got a surprised blink out of Rhenn. “Asuran resources- the head of the Inquest Ethics Committee?”
“The very same. Mother was one of Miyya’s very best inspectors, and she hated Father. So she gave Mother special privileges to keep investigating him.” She fidgeted with the hem of her jacket for a moment, then let out a soft breath. “Walk with me?”
Slowly, Rhenn nodded, moving to follow her as she headed towards the edge of the floating island overlooking the rest of the bastions. “You’ve been here this whole time, then?”
Rhiia glanced up at him briefly, then looked back out ahead of them. “I have been. I was found hiding from the Inquest by Uenno, who ultimately decided to bring me here. Mabon-” Her voice caught, and she cleared it before continuing. “He trained me. Taught me everything I know. Made sure I could take care of myself should anything happen, and convinced Isgarren to let me stay here.”
“...and you were watching the whole time?”
“I was.” She stopped at the edge of the island, easing herself down to sit with her legs dangling over the edge. “Isgarren forbade me from intervening directly, but regardless of how he might’ve come off, Mabon was always a little soft around the edges. So while he’d never let me get close or do anything that may directly interfere, I was allowed to keep tabs on you. And I begged him to let me do more. To let me get you out. Bring you here. Get you away from our father. But no matter how hard I pushed, Isgarren wouldn’t budge.”
Rhenn’s brow furrowed, jaw tightening as he looked away for a moment. “Right. Kippa told me a little about him. She said I wouldn’t like him because he thinks he knows what’s best for everybody. Sounds like she was right on the gold pieces with that.”
Rhiia frowned slightly, looking back up at him. “Please don’t misunderstand. Isgarren isn’t a bad person. He’s been alive for millennia, so much longer than most of us that it’s hard to fathom. He does his best to keep Tyria safe from threats beyond the mists. It does mean he doesn’t really intervene with direct threats as much, but he really is doing his best.”
“Is he? Tell that to Trahearne. Eir and Logan. To the people they left behind.” He gestured down at the clouds below them. “Tell that to Zojja, who walks with a cane despite how hard Kippa worked to make sure her injuries didn’t kill her, or even over the fact that she’s been grieving her mentor for years after having to watch him die. Tell it to Rytlock, who had to kill his own son, who had to bury his best friend. To Kippa, even! Losing her whole damn family when the Thaumanova Reactor took Rata Thauma with it. Or to her and Taimi, when Joko kidnapped them and psychologically and emotionally tortured them for days on end. Or how about me, Rhiia. Grown in a vat by an egotistical maniac who wanted a living weapon he could control like a marionette, spending nineteen years of my life being cut into and altered and experimented on and forced to fight from the moment I could pick up a weapon, all while you watched! I could keep going.”
“Rhenn…”
“Forget it.” The fingers of one hand clenched on the ledge, jaw still tight as the other came up to push back through his hair. “What happened to Mother? I remember seeing her, but… not much. She disappeared when I was… I… I couldn’t have been older than five or six.”
She watched him for a moment, brow knitted, eyes glassy. Then, sighing, she looked back out at the other Bastions. “...it’s hard to explain. The easiest answer, of course, would be to just say he killed her. Wiped his hands of her. That he made sure she couldn’t intervene. But the real answer is a lot more complicated than that.” Her hands folded in her lap as she closed her eyes, organizing her thoughts. “Mother wanted to get you out. And she had been working with Miyya to figure something out. But while Father may have been a monster, he wasn’t a fool. He figured out something was going on. And so… he had her disappeared.”
Rhenn was staring at her as she spoke, eyes wide, a muscle in his jaw twitching briefly before he spoke again. “You said disappeared. Not killed.”
“That’s right. It’s a complicated situation but… here. Come on.” Scooting back, Rhiia pulled herself to her feet, offering a hand to Rhenn to help him up. “It’s going to be easier if I show you. Then you’ll understand.”
Though he hesitated, Rhenn finally accepted her hand up, though he mostly pulled to his feet on his own. Once he was standing, he moved to walk after her, following her towards a gate. “Where are we going?”
She glanced back at him, not stopping in her walk forward. “The Wizard Tower. It’s sort of our main base of operations between here in Amnytas and the fractals in Skywatch Archipelago. They’re kept secret, but we do have gates in each of the Bastions to get back.”
Rhiia fell silent as they continued along the way, down into a comfortable sitting area of marble benches surrounded by flora of colors he had never realized existed in nature, small glowing insects floating nearby, overlooking a serene doorway leading to a gate not unlike the asura gates he knew best. Stepping through it behind Rhiia led them to a new structure: a circular complex of towering columns and pillars of even more gilded marble.
How anyone could tolerate this level of opulence was beyond him.
“So where are we heading?”
“Up the stairs here.” She gestured for him to follow. “My room is next to… where Mabon’s is.”
Rhenn frowned as they started up the stairs. “You keep talking about this Mabon. Kippa mentioned he’d… passed, unfortunately. She spoke of him pretty highly, for having known him for such a short time. Seems like he was a pretty good guy.”
Rhiia hesitated at that, hand resting on the railing before she let out a soft sigh. “...he was. He was one of the few standing the longest at Isgarren’s side. He may not show it, but I think Mabon’s death is affecting him, which is… making his patience lower than it would be otherwise. And Kippa has a tendency to… frustrate him.”
“Good. Sometimes people like that need frustrating.”
She gave her head a shake, starting back up the stairs again. “She doesn’t seem like the type to gossip. I’m surprised she said anything that’d turn you on him like this.”
Rhenn just snorted. “She didn’t. She told me that he thinks he knows what’s best for everyone… and you knew our father long enough. I don’t trust anyone who thinks they have some kind of mandate over someone else’s life, no matter the reasoning.”
Rhiia looked at him again as she stepped up onto the landing. “...I suppose I hadn’t really thought of it that way.”
He just shrugged, stepping up beside her. “I mean, you wouldn’t. You’ve been here for… Alchemy, what, thirty years now almost? If you ran when I was born anyway. This place is all you’ve ever known, and you’ve existed thinking he was always right this whole time. Why would you assume he was anything other than on the level?”
For a moment, Rhiia just stared at him, looking thoughtful. “You’re a lot more like Mother than you realize. Than I think Father realized. Nurture is one thing, sure, but I think programming can only go so far. You’ve become a remarkable person, Rhenn.”
“I’m just doing my best. It’s all I can do.”
“It’s all anyone can ask of you.” She inclined her head slightly, then turned to continue walking, slipping into a small room next to one flanked by armed guards, their eyes red rimmed from grieving. Mabon’s room, he guessed. But he didn’t have time to really think much more on that, as Rhiia had gone to pick up a small floating golem, a cube sitting on its point like so many data drones of its type. But then, she turned to him, holding it up so he could get a good look and its sensor could register him. “Mother? I’ve brought Rhenn to see you.”
The golem’s singular sensor light lit up, turning in its socket, scanning him over before a voice, clear but distant in his mind, like remembering something from a dream, came out of it. “Oh… it is you, isn’t it? You’ve grown so tall.”
Rhenn’s breath caught, eyes wide as he took a step back. That thing, the golem Rhiia was holding in her hands, was speaking with the voice of his mother. Their mother. “...Mother?”
The golem’s sensor tipped and then swung, as if to nod. “Yes. I wish we could have seen each other some other way, but this was the only way to retrieve me from your father. I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten. I knew what Prikk was trying to create, but I was never able to see how far his experimentation had gone. I am so sorry I wasn’t able to get you out, my magnum opus.”
Rhiia didn’t look up at Rhenn, her fingers moving faintly against the cube. “When Father realized Mother planned to leave. To take you and run. He decided he had to get her out of the way. His problem was that he didn’t want to do away with her. She was too brilliant. Her mind too valuable. So he had her grabbed in the middle of the night, had her sedated. Harvested her genetic material in case he may need it later, then transferred her consciousness into a personal console before incinerating her body. I was… I tried to stop him.”
“You did more than enough, Rhiia. Prikk was a monster, and too many people knew it. But the Directors saw him as too valuable to kill. Project Genesis was his greatest achievement, his legacy.” Nixxe’s voice sounded bitter, and he couldn’t blame her. “They wanted to ensure he could continue his work. Of course, he didn’t expect Sebb… but he always was focused. Couldn’t see the forest for the trees.”
When she stopped talking, Rhiia sighed, looking off toward the door. “When Sebb tempted Father to Elona with promises that he could reclaim you by throwing in his lot with Palawa Joko, I begged Mabon to take action… and I was finally able to, since no one was there to witness what we were doing. We led a small team, took copies of everything we could. Contaminated samples that Sebb hadn’t already compromised. Destroyed as many files as we could. And then, I transferred Mother into this golem and destroyed the terminal. Sebb was furious when he came in to claim his “inheritance” and found so much destroyed, but he was able to recover enough from the wreckage to not be suspicious. He figured it was Miyya’s people, looking for ways to uncover Mother, but he couldn’t go after the Ethics Committee without risking himself.” Slowly, her gaze shifted back to Rhenn. “I have all of your files. Everything. Anything you need, anything Kippa needs for your medical care, I can provide it.”
Finally, Rhenn tore his eyes away from the golem containing his mother. “...but you couldn’t convince him to help me?”
Rhiia sucked in a sharp breath. “You have to understand, Rhenn- I didn’t have a choice! Isgarren-”
“Isgarren, Isgarren, that’s all anyone around here talks about is Isgarren! Is he a god or something? Does he have you in chains? Or is everyone afraid of losing their Ivory Tower if they go against what he wants?” Rhenn shoved his hands back through his hair. “I… I just… I need time. I need… to process this, I need somewhere quiet. I need to sit and think and… sort this out in my head.”
While Rhiia looked stricken, Nixxe sounded more understanding. “Of course, love. This must be a lot to take in. There’s a courtyard if you head out this door and down the stairs, to your left. Flowers, fool’s fire, and warm sunlight. Take the time you need.”
He nodded slowly, then turned to hurry out the door. Rhiia swallowed hard, watching after him before ducking her head. “I made a mess of that.”
Nixxe shushed her gently. “This is a lot for both of you, my prodigy. Give him time to take all of this in. You can talk to him again tomorrow, once he’s had time to readjust.”
Frowning, Rhiia let out a sigh. “Of course, Mother. I know.” She closed her eyes, letting herself sit in the silence for a moment. Rhenn’s troubled face burned into her mind, his strained voice ringing in her ears. She had hoped to bridge a gap, finally make some roads in with the brother she never got to know, but that was going to be harder than she thought. “But that doesn’t make it any easier.”
