I was listening to a lot of Adam Lambert, and really loved the aesthetics in his videos! I also just really wanted to play a drow rogue, and the idea of an arcane trickster who was a failed wizard just struck me and really fit.
48. Do they relate to anyone in their group? Conversely, which person do they relate to the least?
He didn't particularly relate to any of them. But I think the turtle-worshipping cleric Rio was the least relatable. xD Fang kept trying to kill him, but at least he kind of understood why.
P. what are their feelings on the people who raised them?
(Dylan)
He loves his mum and dad verymuch!!! Dylan is a bit annoyed he got his dad's terrible eyesight, but drowdad is chill so I feel like Dylan and Anwen had a nice upbringing.
Especially since he manifested the same sorcerous abilities as her, though, Dylan was much closer to his mother. She taught him how to strengthen and control his powers- his training wasn't complete when she died, but of course he ventured into the underworld to bring her back to life- so now she can help him work through his fears of assuming his liquid form and losing his sense of self forever, hooray!
AZ. from whom do they seek validation?
(Zazz)
River. <3 River is such a strong, smart dude who always makes carefully weighted, sensible decisions also Zazz thinks he is hot but shhhhh. Zazz wants him to think Zazz is Smart and Worthwhile as well. I remember when Zazz first used 'disguise self', he turned to River all "look River, I did a cool thing!!" =D
He also repeatedly insists he is a Powerful Wizard, because...River must know this! He must think Zazz is cool!!! =(
BE. what makes them angry?
(Astrophelle)
Mr Slithers. He is selfish and manipulative, proclaiming he is the greatest wizard and the primary reason Feng Bao Long was defeated, while downplaying the efforts of his party. Then, he tries to get them to help with his personal sidequests with very little explanation??? XD
Also, he tried to get a struggling family to pay him when he healed their daughter. Because his services are 'worth' A Lot, apparently! Which really got to Astro, who volunteers as a healer for free and has saved his life on multiple occasions without asking for compensation. This complete lack of understanding and empathy, even when his behaviour is pointed out to him, confuses and angers Astrophelle.
The Betrayer also makes her angry (probably should have led with this, she hates him.) This eldritch being from another realm treats people like toys, mere objects of curiosity that he can poke to see what happens. It was the Betrayer who brought Sky back from the dead when the gods wouldn't answer her prayers, and who now makes her kill for him. The final lines of last session, when he appeared before the party and spoke to them for the first time, were:
Decided to finally share a bunch of HeroForge screenshots to Tumblr, because why not???? As soon as the colour options became a Thing, I was immediately like !!COLOUR ALL THE THINGS!!! So here are some Colored Things!!
Zazz (he/him): my drow arcane trickster. <3 Probably my favourite character I’ve ever played! I like how if you colour the eyes using glass effects, you can see the pupils through them, which perfectly matches how Zazz’s eyes Work (they glow in the darkness.) Zazz craves affection, lacks morals, and is deeply insecure.
Sivuro (he/him): my eladrin monk! From a fey court in the feywilds, he can manipulate the elements far better than he ever could his fellow courtiers (HA.) Sivuro is ofttimes whimsical, plenty mercurial, and apparently useless at both lying and haggling. He has the lowest charisma of any of these characters, so perhaps that is not overly surprising. =P
Astrophelle (she/her): my aasimar paladin! Astrophelle is covered in shiny star-like patterns and nebulae, which obviously you cannot replicate with HeroForge. xD Astrophelle is optimistic, compassionate, and a big fan of lemon tea.
Del (they/them): my eladrin horizon walker! Originally a PC in the same setting as Astrophelle, they are now an NPC, and work for a mercenary organisation called The Lament. Del is an arrogant, angry archer. =P
The odd angle makes it difficult to see, but the weapon they’re holding is their magic bow, Forecast.
Mucked around in Reroll and gave my arcane trickster a different, pretty outfit! Ft. a weird quasi-impossible poncho-cape thing which he’d adore, and a crown because Zazz deserves the pretty things I cannot give him as a non-artist.
Second one is the same but with electric blue hair because I wanted to see how it looked, since he’s dyeing his hair electric blue if I ever get a chance. Too bad this campaign is more an occasional series of one-shots! Ah well.
🌾🌾🌾 ZAZZ ZAZZ ZAZZ ZAZZ ZAZZ you know i had to do it to 'em
((We both know my heart belongs to Rivazz, but River isn’t my character and nor do I know his actual opinions on Zazz, so I’m using Kior.))
Kiortel couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment ‘I don’t find you actively irritating, lets be friends’ became more. He did have a very distinct memory of brushing out Kaztae’s soft, wavy hair while the latter complained about having to wear it a certain way that meant it got completely and utterly tangled; but all Kior could think about was winding his fingers in that hair and kissing him to shut him up. That had been a bit of an ‘oh crap’ moment, but surely he’d realised even earlier, because he could call to mind the precise shape and colour of Kaztae’s lips in memories from long before the aforementioned moment of startled realisation.
His yellow eyes too had been singed into Kior’s mind for some time now. Unfortunately, Kaztae himself didn’t like them all that much. “People in these books don’t have yellow eyes!” he’d proclaimed some weeks after the hair-related realisation, waving some piece of romantic surface literature in Kiortel’s direction.
“Because people on the surface don’t have yellow eyes, Kazazz,” he’d responded. That time Kior actually did kiss him, cutting off whatever insecure response he’d been about to make. His eyes were so round and luminous- practically golden more than yellow- and to be sensitive about something so objectively lovely was unacceptable. Kiortel told him as much when Kaztae pulled away, visibly trembling but smile radiant, staring at Kiortel as though he couldn’t quite believe what had just happened.
They talked for a long time after that, lying with their legs entangled and Kiortel’s arms wrapped around Kaztae. He was very aware of the latter’s skin glowing almost silver in the dull light, how soft his voice was when the taller drow spoke. Aware too that when Kazazz moved his right hand to brush Kior’s ear, side and hip, the latter’s skin tingled unexpectedly, but not in a manner at all alarming or unpleasant.
Kaztae was quite lovely, really. Considerate when he wanted to be, surprisingly affectionate when so desired, he was the only person who actually cared about Kiortel’s issues with his family. After a time, the latter even stopped feeling ashamed for talking to him about those. It was a mark of the kind of person he was that Kaztae never told a soul any of the things they discussed together, and Kior adored him for it.
A good friendo introduced me to the Reroll app! Such an amazing app ahhhh. <3
Made myself an Ursh (half-orc ranger 6/cleric 9), Astrophelle (protector aasimar paladin 2), and two different versions of Zazz (drow rogue 7 (arcane trickster), in-universe just a really rubbish wizard.)
I continue my spree of low rolls! 2. (But since I know they may follow your Tumblr, it can be one they already know.)
None of them follow my tumblr, never fear! I don’t think they even have tumblr. Ursh doesn’t really have secrets, but I guess a secret they don’t know about Zazz is that- in spite of his verbal insistence on him being a Powerful Drow Wizard- he’s well aware he’s not very good. He knows he wouldn’t survive on his own, and it’s a major reason he sticks with the party (he was actually a little afraid they would abandon him on that island full of vampires...but we left that last session so are now in the clear!)
(not a super exciting one- I don’t think I have any super exciting seekrits, really.)
So which of mycharacters most needs a good heart-to-heart? Zazz!
Who is superunlikely to give him said heart-to-heart? River!
I wanted to dosomething funny with this prompt but then I realised my rogue, who isa combo of all the worst drow and worst rogue tropes, has not beenwritten angstyyyy very often. Plus, only one idea for this promptactually inspired me at all. So. Here goes!
(Zazz is 100% in character. River, whobelongs to a friend, is therefore probably not.)
River sat down onthe step beside him. Zazz frowned at his knees. Maybe if he ignoredthe genasi long enough, River would go away and pretend he hadn’theard anything.
“Zazz, do I looklike I care?”
Apparently, that wasn’t working.
“I don’t know,”Zazz murmured, “because I’m not looking at you.”
“Fair point.”
River shuffledslightly, dangling his hands over his knees. Zazz stretched out hisleft leg and started counting lines on his boot. He’d counted themmany times before, of course, but there could be multiple resultsdepending on what you did and did not count as a line. Webs werefunny things like that.
“If I wasn’tsupposed to hear you say those things, then who was?” River asked.
“Dunno.”
“You didn’t sayanything bad.”
He sniffed.“Practising, I guess.”
“For what?”
“For…what tosay, like, in general. And stuff. Please just-”
He’d intended ontelling River to go away, until he realised he didn’t really wantthat, either. Zazz didn’t want River to be there, buthe also didn’t want him to not be there. How did that makeany sense? It would have been a lot easier if Rio was the one whooverheard him saying stupid stuff. Rio would have laughed but thenRiver could comfort him or something, and everything would be fine!
River adjusted hisweight again. He tapped the spider on Zazz’s left boot.
The drow frowned.“You made me lose count.”
“Please look atme.”
He set his jaw. “Uh,how about no?”
“Why are youscared?”
“I’m notscared.”
“Do you think Icare? Maybe I was slow on the uptake, but that’s not your fault.You’re…um, friendly enough, and you appreciate me, which isn’ta bad thing.”
“Mmm,” Zazzdragged a hand through his hair, catching it in an unexpected knot.“Yuck.”
“Sorry?”
“Ah, not youRiver.”
“Alright,” thegenasi settled back against the step. “I just don’t understand.You’re always complimenting me anyway. Why is this so different?”
Zazz’s breathhitched. “Because it’s…more.”
“And?”
“-and I’m notvery useful.”
River paused at thatone.
“Well you probablyshouldn’t be an adventurer, but I’m sure there are other thingsyou’re good at. You know a lot about magic.”
“Mmmm.”
“Do you think Iorganise my personal life based on how good someone is at killingthings?”
Zazz wasn’tentirely sure how to respond to that one. Didn’t that just, well,make sense? Why would you get invested in a wannabe adventurer whowas a liability more often than not, only to inevitably watch themdie in some totally stupid fashion? Especially when you didn’t havethe seven hundred or so years of mistake-making granted to elves. Ifyou got invested in someone, and they died; whether friend ormore-than-friend, you had to grieve, and waste time being miserable,and River probably had…what, eighty years? Maybe one hundred atbest? What could possibly be at all appealing in useless-ness?
Hang on.
“Yourpersonal life?” Zazz managed.
“You’re shaking.Are you cold?”
“No, no I’mfine. I’m allergic to, uh, something. What did you say?”
“My personal life?I did agree that we could go on a date. Especially since you saidyou’d pay. I don’t want to get your hopes up, because that mightbe it, but I haven’t changed my mind.”
Zazz’s gazefinally flickered to River’s face. He looked so sincere. He alwayslooked sincere, but the fact that he was still sincere right now,after this whole stupid fiasco, was unexpectedly comforting. The drowreturned his attention to his own knees. River put a hand on hisshoulder and Zazz didn’t flinch away.
“I thought youwouldn’t want to be my friend any more,” he knew full well howridiculous that sounded.
