#row responds

[rowscara]

OUR BEST BOY NYLEF IS BACK?????

They both are! Our group just hasn't been meeting super consistently and I have learned that really destroys my drive to work on extra doodles for the campaign, but now things seem to be stable for scheduling and so I'm back on my bullshit.

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⛔Please, if it's not your commission, do not repost anything I tag or say is a commission! Reposts of my commissioned/serious works are not ok⛔

[rowscara]

If patrons are the boss what role do the cats play? Managers? (Poorly disguised attempt to get cat pics)

Ah yes the personality hires, let me get their business cards-

The oldest cat in the house is named Hoshi (Hoho, Bubs). He's like 12 years old and loves my husband more than anyone else on this earth

We adopted him from a family friend of a friend after he ate two of their birds randomly (this is after living with them from kittenhood). The person also owned a big parrot they'd had longer than Hoho so the convicted murderer needed to be rehomed. Terribly nervous around new people, like 16 pounds, would never hurt a fly (except like he's a convicted killer). Always hungry, never been fed before.

Next is Millie (Milbus, Millieeee~), she's 11 but you'd NEVER know it. She's got cerebellum hypoplasia, you've probably seen the wobbly cats around on the internet. Acts like she's 5 months old. Perpetual kitten. Capable of great amounts of crime, has a terrible (but ever improving) vertical leap. We adopted her through the SPCA decidedly not near us - somehow I managed to convince Mr Row to drive like 2 hours to go see this poor cat who had been in care for like 3 months and had to go to a home with no stairs. She was in really bad shape when we first got her (really underweight, missing all her overcoat (SPCA had her listed as a grey cat, not a tabby), her ears were clipped by her old owners and were still scabbed over when we got her), but she's improved immensely in the like 3? 4? years we've had her. LOVES people. We've yet to overstimulate her with pats. Could be pat 24/7. Softest cat I've ever touched.

And our newest man, Sophia the Boy (Stinky, Binks) He's a little foster fail who the rescue just straight forgot about for a year and at that point we sort of were like 'ok he's ours'. He sleeps in the bed with Mr Row and I, like under the covers. He snuggles my Husband more than I can. Incredibly chirpy and merpy, still has extreme kitten energy, only like 2 years old. He's just recently been given a clean bill of health after struggling for... basically a year with what we were told was a bad prognosis. Thankfully he's fine, he's still stinky, and back to committing crime and sitting on any available lap.

We have taken to joke that each cat gets two words in the phrase "Smart little guy", being Smart Guy, Smart Little, and Little Guy respectively. And it fits.

[rowscara]

Howdy!

I don’t mean to be rude, but if I might ask, does rebloging art count as reposts in the tumblr? I’m still not very familiar with things and want to avoid being an ass/disrespecting people’s wishes.

A lot of folks seem confused which I think speaks more to the ecosystem of social media as a whole - No worries! REBLOGGING/SHARING/RETWEETING(Don't be on twitter folks)/ whatever a sites IN BUILT sharing system is - is good! It keeps the original artists posts searchable and it always links back to their original work. You can find them and more of their work, and these are almost always appreciated by all artists (myself included here). It's a good system for showing off things you like and an accessible way for artists to be found by other people, which is neat! REPOSTING is its own separate thing, though confusingly it does become 'sharing' shorthand sometimes. It is when art is saved and REMOVED from the artists original context and reuploaded elsewhere by people who aren't them. I don't allow this, unless it's your own personal commissioned piece in which case... eat it, it's yours. Plenty of artists also have a blanket 'no reposts' policy as well. Reposting removes all artist links, all sources, all context (if any), and its sometimes used as an engagement farm to take credit or eyes away from artists. Also it feels really bad!! From personal experience having your art reuploaded by a large (sometimes even corporate - yuck) account with no link back feels like shit! Don't do this! Even with links back to the original artists... I don't like it, it feels icky to me. The reblog button here on tumblr is inherently cool and good because it really just shares the OG artists post. Never feel bad about using it, it's a wonderful thing!

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[rowscara]

I keep happening upon you reblogging the piece w Nylef as a ghost and, as someone that gets updates only through the arts shared on Tumblr, it keeps making me think that some horrid tragedy befell him and Halthwyn 😭

Fear not!! The two of them are doing great actually, around the time of our campaigns 'act 1' finale so to speak things were just very up in the air and I was indulging in some angst. The worst bits of angsty 'what ifs' never even got posted anywhere you guys have no idea how sad things go.

However you are right in that I don't think I have a public facing summary for these two's story. I do extensive post-session recaps every week but nothing public, and to ease your fears we're going to be doing one now, starting from the top.

I'll likely break it into two parts for my own sanity so look out for that later this week!

Halthwyn is a mercenary at the end of her rope by the beginning of the campaign (a heavily modified Stormkings Thunder). Having run away from her family VERY young to try and protect them from the political issues which inevitably crop up in Watersdeep when you have a Tiefling kid in high social circles, she dropped her real name (Olliane Fairgrove) and joined a mercenary company called the Knights of the Grave. The group was renowned for getting shit done, and they accepted a kid as a way of training a new merc from the ground up, so to speak. She was sent south for several years to learn to fight and toughen up, having some of the worst years of her life, before returning to the sword coast basically unrecognizable as the giant melee machine we love.

By the time the years have passed and the campaign is beginning she is tired of working, tired of fighting, and tired of life, really. She's hunting for a job that's going to get her killed and decides this groups the one to do it.

It's a shame, then, that one of the party members is a cleric and Halthwyn will not get her wish.

(My server makes memes that are way better than anything I draw)

After our little group intro in Nightstone, we are whisked North into Icewind Dale by help of friendly giant just in time to assist Brynshander fight off a giant attack. It's at this point we meet Sir Baric Nylef, knight in The Order of the Gauntlet (The sword coasts most good and typical knight order), whose chasing the remnants of a failed job. Him and a group of knights took out a nasty criminal gang but the leader escaped, and he's trying to track him down in order to really call his job good and done. He hasn't had any luck gathering intel, and rumor was this criminal, known as The Weevil, was in Brynshander. It just so happens that one of Halthwyns group mates, Via, is WAY more connected to the criminal underworld and found out right away the rumors were a misdirection and the Weevil was still in Mirabar. So, since he helped with the fighting, we trade info and also decide to help him on his mission. Our group didn't have a lot of direction, and with the other thread we received pointing us to Watersdeep (with two PCs avoiding the city for backstory reasons), Nylef became our main plot. He pretty quickly reveals to us that the Weevil has a large bounty, and while he DOES want to hunt him for the first job, the more pressing thing on his mind is that the Order of the Gauntlet is sort of consuming itself and becoming this other, reactive, and racist cult hellbent on rooting out evil. The Gilded Eye is an offshoot, though rapidly growing, which has set up in the fortress cathedral to Helm, and he wants to use the money to put a stop to it. Halthwyn agrees to help immediately, since 'rooting out evil' is in fact just persecuting Tieflings and anyone else they disagree with. The rest of the party agrees as well, and so with the actual goal agreed on we head to Mirabar.

The travel to Mirabar is a lot of small convos as the whole group gets used to one and other. The two martials hit it off over both having horses and liking horses. Halthwyn whittles and gives Nylef a nicely carved replica of his old warhorse Henry. It now hangs attached to Henrys saddlebags. It's hard to pin down exacts but they're both probably crushing on each other by the time we reach the dwarven city.

In Mirabar we learn that the Weevil is alleged to be fighting in the grand tourney under a mask, claiming that if anyone can beat him the mask will come off. Winning the tourney grants the title of Champion of Winter, along with a bunch of like, relic giant hunting gear and prestige with the dwarves. It's the talk of the town that this might be the Weevil and how if he wins it'll be a farce. So only one thing to do, all the PCs and Nylef enter the tourney to try and bring the Weevil down. Nylef, our beautiful knight, our beautiful man, throws away his shot at advancing past round one to instead beat the ever loving shit out of a member of the Gilded Eye, who apparently was shit talking Halthwyn.

Via our Rogue and Thorne our warlock also get knocked out of their qualifier, but Halthwyn advances through hers after rather unceremoniously knocking Blackheart our cleric into the arena water feature. The only PC to do advance. So now all our hopes rest on her. Nylef after beating the Gilded Eye fighter bloody gets incredibly bloodied himself, and ends up in the infirmary for Halthwyns qualifier. So she gets to to break the good news to a man who is incredibly injured and fairly sure his quest is over.

Nylef is an NPC so I have no insight into how long he's been pining but I know for a fact this is Halths moment. Throwing away a shot at completing a 2 year long hunt to defend honor Halthwyn thinks she doesn't have any more? It was OVER, your gal was hooked. Halthwyn will go on to win the tourney, claiming the title, the giant slaying axe and the cassowary armor (Which you can don or doff as an action - termed the sex armor for instant removal), AND learn the identity of the Masked Dwarf is in fact, not the Weevil. It's a local older brewery owner, one who's very well respected. She doesn't unmask him publicly, and he's appreciative of that fact. Turns out the Weevil is his son is law, and the death of his daughter sent him back down to some dark roots. He's been sheltering the man, hiding him in some frontier town, but he knows he needs to be brought to justice and gives us the info we need to track him down.

Nylef for the first time since we met him actual cuts loose and we all have a drink to celebrate our success. But the job isn't done yet, and so we all have a few days peace in Mirabar and then begin south to find and capture the Weevil, which after a brief run in with a giant and some Zhentarim, goes smoothly. In order to hand him over we need to get to a Lords Alliance outpost, which takes us toward Triboar. The whole time we're traveling with the Weevil Nylef gets to think on the next steps. He's been trapped for years in the 'find the weevil' part of his journey, now finally moving past that is a bit daunting. There's a lot of writing down names, taking note of who he thinks will still be allies, who might be enemies, the success is bittersweet. Meanwhile Halthwyn is struggling with the fact that if she does pursue anything with Nylef it's just going to make his life harder. His genuine quest to right things and stop the cult will inevitably be twisted with her involvement, if they're involved... she's going through it a different way and Via, girlboss party rogue, tries to talk some sense into her. The handoff at Triboar goes about as smooth as it could for our group (Read: Blackheart gave the Weevil a lockpick but the guy swallowed it - good luck king I guess), and we all opt to stay a night in the fancy inn run by a Watersdeep Noble whose trying to be the big man in little Triboar. We all get to dress up, be fancy, have a good time and not worry about the road or quest or life for a few hours.

These two end up dancing, having some drinks, just enjoying a night together. Though neither makes moves to take it out of the public spaces, and they retire separately. Halthwyn spends the next week they're in Triboar for other quests trying to figure out if Nylef danced with her out of genuine want or just pity. Finally after wallowing for a few days she asks and he's like "what no of course I wanted to"

However nothing comes of it. Halthwyn technically is supposed to be unattached, the Merc company wants their members working for as long as possible and getting entangled with others is not how you do that. Big lone wolf energy. So Halthwyn is torn up by duty and doubt and worries that since Nylef is so bound up in his work he might think less of her if she breaks her oath... It's a big mess. Via, blessed girlboss, isn't having any of it.

She's seeing whats happening, and as the group is making our way east again toward the Evermoor manages to catch Halthwyn alone and essentially shake her down trying to convince her that it's a mistake to let this go. The phrase "If I was ruining my life by missing out on something like this, I hope you'd do the same for me" (In reference to trying to Via's attempts to push Halth and Nylef together). Halth still thinks she'll ruin his life, just like she did to her family all those years ago, so they settle in for a sad ride, though the pining continues. They have so much in common - both deeply religious, both duty bound, both committed to trying to do good. But she's just too paralyzed that she'll mess his life up like she did to her family. I'll get to a part two here soon! I'll reblog this post with it!

[rowscara]

Why does the character in your mothership banner have half a head of hair??

Glad you asked! It's because Maggie 'Mags' Chafton is having the worst fucking time possible <3

It is incredibly crazy what one failed space combat, an explosion to the face, and 210 years in cryo will do to a woman I think out of any PC I have every played Mags deserves a break the most. Will she get one? God no. Absolutely not.

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⛔Please, if it's not your commission, do not repost anything I tag or say is a commission without asking me first! Reposts of my commissioned/serious works are not ok - meme images though are alright for sharing⛔

[rowscara]

Just wanted to know how Hoshi , the lion, is doing. * send him lot of sardines *

🐟🐟🐟

Little big baby man is doing good! He's starting to get a little shaggy again after his shave, but I think it really helped him survive the summer

[rowscara]

The recent drawing made me wonder: how would Halthwyn and Maggie react to meeting each other?

We were just talking about this yesterday on the discord actually! Halthwyn is the "I have been forced into violence but my heart longs for the gentle life devoid of fighting" Type, she is actively trying to do good even if it puts her in harms way, super (to the point of self detriment) self-sacrificing, feels like she's incapable and undeserving of love. She is trying to do good for the sake of doing good and being a better person. There's a lot of atonement tied up in what she's up to these days for her time as a mercenary, there's a lot of self doubt. There's a deep desire to be loved despite everything, and to grow and change and become more like the child she was when she left home. Halthwyn craves a return to a normalcy she'd never really experienced in her adult life. She's never owned anything that wasn't able to fit in her pack or on a horse. She'd probably cry if told she got to own a chair for the first time. Maggie fucking Chafton on the other hand would sell your soul for one corn chip. She's shot at striking workers before, she got paid to shoot whoever corporate wanted her too, and she shot them, and she only loses sleep over the cosmic horrors (and powerful men) we *haven't* killed yet. Has said she'd kill a child, absolutely meant it. She likes working in a unit and runs her mouth way too much, but hates the prospect of being in charge of anyone. Responsibility scares her. Mags does have a soft spot for soldiers from all walks who get sort of washed up and tossed out, partially because she's one bad job away from it being her and realistically chains of command do not care about one soldier, and also because she does have a deep fear of ending up a crippled and abandoned marine forced to beg for subsistence. In the dystopic future of Mothership that gets a lot worse. Watching your credits tick down each day, forced to choose between starving to death to pay your air fees or failing to pay those and asphyxiate? Bad way to go. She'd probably take a second round with the carcs over it. Mags is entering into a pit fight on behalf of another PC for their personal stuff, and her thought process for the whole thing is "It'll be easy to kill a pit creature with knives for hands, we'd fought like before. But, I absolutely have to win because if I don't the others will never let me live it down and fuck if I'm gonna suffer that." Where as for the Champion of Winter Tourney and Halthwyn it was "I don't want the accolades I'm only here to help Nylef. I'd never enter otherwise, it makes me uncomfortable."

So they'd probably hate each other <3

But like, it's such a fun dynamic. I do not usually play people as quick to violence as Mags but it's been a really fun time stepping outside of my usual tropes to be a bit of an asshole. I love her dearly. Have some recent doodles here!! Thanks for the ask! <3

[rowscara]

Would halthwyn ever wear a dress 👉👈

Begrudgingly! And likely only if asked

| Kofi | Patreon | Subscribestar | Etsy | Redbubble |Ask me Anything | Commissions | Gumroad | All my Links |

⛔Please, if it's not your commission, do not repost anything I tag or say is a commission without asking me first! Reposts of my commissioned/serious works are not ok - meme images though are alright for sharing⛔