late participation in @cnc-week day 1 : celegorm & deities
Celegorm yearning for just the smallest indication that Orome is still out there watching him, and breaking the sacred rules of hunting that the Vala taught him just to meet his wrath. But nothing happens, and he is left in despair, knowing that his god had abandoned him
Hunting is a rite. One most sacred at that. You must treat it so. If not, it becomes no better than acts of murder. Remember it, a hunt is not butchery and the woods is not a slaughterhouse.
Respect the beast - it is not meat. It will be reduced to meat if you let it, but then your eating it shall be a sin.
And Sinners I shall purge. For the forest is my home, and I have not allowed murder where is mine; by one of mine.
So Celegorm slaughters. His arrows hit nimble legs and scar ears; his blade hack at flesh without an ounce of grace; his prey shriek in torment as his brutal moves are conducted without clemency; he doesn't even listen to it fade into a choke before tossing the game aside. He doesn't collect the carcass after, just abandons them to rot.
His heart pounds all the while. Fearful of the consequences, shameful of his act, but beneath it all, anticipating. A God's wrath; a sinner's fate.
Except nothing happens.
The stench of blood has brought crows to flock alongside the trees, until one bold enough stoops down low to take a peck at the dead deer. Celegorm catches it with the blade as it ascends. Cawk.
Maybe it's a cry of pain. Maybe of anger. He cannot know it like he used to. And he wishes he doesn't care that he can't. Wishes he never understood them; wishes he had never been blessed by one whose embrace he had forsaken. Wishes he had never needed to find out.
The woods are quiet for a while before another black figure inches downwards. Celegorm shoots an arrow through its body. Cawk.
Do not dishonor the reapers as they come fetch a soul. Crows, before the malice of the Enemy had spread, were such-
Celegorm severs black feathered wings, and the flightless body drops to the forest floor.
Cawk.
Celegorm chops the body, watches flesh drop from the sky with little grace.
Cawk.
Celegorm shoots through,....
Cawk.
Celegorm b-
Cawk.
He screams as he wields his blade, unbeknownst of the tears streaking down his face.
He has abandoned me. The thought strikes him like an iron mace. He does not care. For I am his no more.
The realization brings him down on his knees, and before long he finds himself gagging and retching, still weeping as he did.
Oh hello friends I've been busy. Also tired, but busy working on something I'm very excited about.
I wrote a level 20 Greatwyrm slaying adventure, inspired by Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, and am currently play testing the module. In order to run the adventure you'll need access to the PHB, MM, and FtoD, but the mod itself is going to be free. When done, it'll include somewhere between 6-10 custom drawn maps, about 25 custom drawn tokens, 3 NPCs built with personalities and stat blocks, and a pdf with everything you'd need to run this adventure.
It's built so it can be run as a oneshot or a 6-session adventure, you choose! Each part of the adventure is modular, so you can either swap in and out what you/your players have time for, or play the whole thing. And like I said, it'll be 100% free, I'll be putting in on KoFi or something similar to distribute it but I won't charge a cent for it.
So that's where I've been, and why it's been a hot minute since I've uploaded any art. This has been a project about a year in the making, as I've had time between my day job to pick at it. I'm not sure EXACTLY when it'll be ready for release, but it should be ready before the years end.
The working titles for this adventure are "Slaying Adatok" and "The Paragon of Shatterpeak," not sure which one I'll go with if either of them, but expect to see more as time goes on and as I get through my playtesting rounds!
