#naukhel

[thepoisonjackal]

Lucid/tadpoled/slightly healed Naukhel still can't speak out loud just due to anatomy, but I think they still could use drow sign language. The question then becomes which pair of hands is doing the signing

[thepoisonjackal]

I feel like its important to note that Qualnrae doesn't call Naukhel that, except when referring to it to other people. As in, someone may ask "Vel'uss zhahen dos haska ulu?" (Who were you talking to?) And she will respond "Naukhel." (Nobody)

In its own mind, it does call itself Naukhel, especially after getting tadpoled. They were somebody, now, it is nobody.

Qualnrae calls them "Ssin'urn" (Beautiful) instead.

[thepoisonjackal]

was feeling Emotional™ about them again

[thepoisonjackal]

Gotta draw Qualnrae's mermaid form for mermay. Ooooh and imagine Naukhel as like a spooky cursed deep sea octomaid thing. Could make a whole AU out of it. And depending on when I want to place it Araj could be like, a pirate or a scientist who finds Qualnrae - wait I think ive just made the shape of water again

[thepoisonjackal]

y'know. nyah

[thepoisonjackal]

Silly little oc ramble about driders, kar'niss, the relationship between Qualnrae ii and Naukhel and Naukhel's possible tadpoling

idk If I'm just like... interpreting driders differently than Larian is or if my perception is off but Kar'niss actually seems to be quite well-worded/lucid and emotionally quite tame. and I'm wondering if its the tadpole's doing? Cause in lore I swear that driders are way more aggressive and crazed than that... It might just be because of the role he plays (a guide) and hes still kind of aggressive sometimes but not as much as I'd expect a drider to be.

If it is the tadpole though its got me thinking. Qualnrae ii used to hang out with Naukhel a lot. I think due to some past relationship or some precautions she takes, Naukhel doesn't attack Qualnrae as long as its sufficiently fed. But maybe once Qualnrae gets exiled/snatched by the nautiloid it goes looking for her - leading to the absolute swooping in and tadpoling another drider.

Idk if the tadpole would then kind of establish a little bit of emotional regulation and a little bit of lucidity back? At least a little more awareness of what's going on instead of just pure survival instinct. Unfortunately it still cannot physically talk due to the hands in the mouth and lips being so stretched they don't close anymore, any attempts to speak would be pretty garbled. But there's always the tadpole telepathy.

I think Qualnrae would be the only person who remembers who Naukhel was before the transformation, though she would have been young. and if Naukhel comes back during the playthrough she wouldn't attack it. Qualnrae would run into its arms, happy that its okay because she was so worried about how it was doing after she left. It had orders to kill these adventurers but all that goes away once they're reunited.

And then she hears its voice in her mind - a voice she hasn't heard in decades, from before it became a drider. And she would just break down, finally able to hear a reply from the creature she's been talking to for years. It may be scrambled and scattered, but the person who it was before is still there, deep inside.

Meanwhile the party is just looking on horrified that she just jumped into a drider's arms and that she's crying into its chest lol.

[koukles-blog]

Naukhel’s style is basically “emo Lady Oscar”, but tbh she’s probably emotionally my least complicated/deep OC. Wears black, has a big ass sword, stabs stuff. 

I mean she was a war orphan and grew up indoctrinated into a suicide cult but she really dgaf. 

She’s a D&D character I’m currently running who rolled a 7 on INT so that probably explains a lot of it. 

Sure is easy to shop for her clothes tho!

[koukles-blog]

Naukhel