The first time you hug her, sheās just saved your life. Again. Youāre not really "still kids" anymore, but fuck it, you feel like one again as you look up from the forest floor and see her still standing, breathing hard, no sound but calm wind and the dying gurgle of some unlucky owlbear. You stagger to your feet and over to her, mumbling "thank god you're OK," mumbling "my head hurts," drape yourself across her shoulders from behind, just seeking some comfort--
You are back on the forest floor.
The second time you hug her is also the first time you see her cry. She doesn't know yet how light your sleep is becoming, how watchful you must now constantly be at all hours, and so she fails to quite hide her ugly, wretched, silent cry. There's only one shitty floor mattress- again- so you can't help but feel her holding still as she tries to hide it, tries her hardest not to wake you. Instead, you roll a half turn to face her and wrap your arm around her.
She freezes, all sniffling vanished, stiff as a board. After a long, tense moment, she gently removes your arm from her torso and places it back at your side.
You wrap her in it again.
This time the rebuff is immediate and firm. Raini likes to sleep on her back on these shitty beds, but she curls on her side to face away from you, practically fetal. You can hear her taking deep shuddering breaths, trying to get herself under control. You're under control all day, Raini, you don't say to her. I want you to know I will never truly judge you. I want to see you sometimes, you don't say because you know she'd slap you.
So you put your arm around her again instead, and this time she lets you, curls tighter into a ball and wails until she's dry. You're not sure what brought this on, but you figure the girl needs some sort of release once in a while, least you could do is not say anything about it. Not out loud, at least.
Too bad she's a divination wizard.
The third time you hug her... well. We don't talk about that one. Zaini asked why you had a lump the size of a golf ball on your forehead. "Raini hit me with the floor" was the right answer, technically. You conveniently left out what you'd been in the middle of when you attempted a rare bout of genuine affection.
Zaini knows, though.
The [------] time you hug her, she's weak. So frighteningly weak that you don't know what to do with yourself, let alone this frail stranger by your side, staring up at an insurmountable tower topped with what can only be the literal sun. You're not that strong (what are you talking about? You're plenty strong!), and in fact, handing this pale waif off to the giant floating fish person with upsetting muscles is looking more appealing by the minute.
When she sags, though, it's you she sags against, and you fold her into your arms easily. Her head comes to rest on your shoulder, easily despite the rough pace of the climb you're settling into, and a sudden spike of pain and confusion pierces your skull.
Not the time. Later. You begin to climb.
The first time (in so long) that she hugs you, it's dark. The Neilia port district is cursorily bedecked with lanterns, but no more than any other part of the city that's not the palace. The royal wedding revels spin on into the wee hours, somewhere fifteen minutes' walk or more away, shouting their joy into the night sky.
She may be the divination wizard, but she could never sneak up on you, either. "I never thought I'd see this day," you tell her without turning around.
"I need you to stop being sappy before I smack you. I came here to watch the fireworks."
"Oh shit, really? Now? I must've lost track of time." You can see it now, as you turn fully around: all of Neilia's citizenry, arrayed on rooftops, terraced streets, hillsides, gazing expectantly up at the sky. It's jarring to see that many people at once, period.
They can't see you, though, and they aren't looking. As the first stars wink to life, as the first crimson and gold and deep purple wheels burst in the sky, a small body sits carefully cross-legged on the dock beside you and leans her whole weight into you. "Just here for the fireworks," she says, by way of explanation.
You manage to watch the show in silence for a few minutes, her head pillowed on your shoulder, this time perfectly still for her.
"Hey," and she looks up at the disturbance. "Thanks for giving our memories back."
"Don't make me push you in the lake."
"You couldn't."
She doesn't dignify that with a response, and she lingers with you far after the crowds have dissipated, leaving just the smell of gunpowder and the lingering hint of wonder in the air.
Hey, you know that 35 d&d questions ask meme? I answered all of them.
This is a long ass post. Be warned. It took up seven and a half pages in google docs. Original post here.
1. A favorite character you have played.
Would have to be Zize Fortier, dragonborn gunslinger. Their tag on this blog is #zize and you can find their bio and info on my character page. Love that bastard!! Heās sweet and bratty and a total delight to play (we are such an OP party, yāall).
2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.
UM UM gonna talk about a few here. To be fair to people I play a *lot* of games with, Iām only gonnaĀ talk about one PC per person.
- The bastard trio in my Wildemount gameā @toomanyorphans ās Nakoria, @overplannedbutunnamednpc ās Zier (also an NPC in the campaign Zize is in), and @glasyasbutch ās Nissy. They all really suck so bad but in SUCH funny ways. Theyāre varying degrees of self centered and awful, but we trust each other in this campaign, and those 3 players are SO funny in their RP.
- (RIP) Avri in my Wildemount game. They and Bly named each other,,,,Ā they were parent and childā¦ā¦ VERY sweet. huge goliath with tiny bird in backpack.
- @bekahdoesnershit ās Raini. Zizeās BFF, and her tag on that blog is rich. Sheās SUCH a bitch but we love her.
- @bhissar ās Saela. She is a dream character for me to DM forā very little fleshed out backstory with room to explore, with still-concrete events in it. Consistent character choices and personality, to the point I can sometimes predict what sheāll do. Very cool aesthetically. And overall? EXTREMELY sweet. Baby, baby bird.
3. Your favorite side quest.
Either the one going on right now in amnesia, where we have to collect brain matter from big powerful elementals, or the stop we made at a family of vampires in Acarnya (the one I played Osfyr in).
4. Your current campaign.
There are five of those, with two on hold.Ā
-Wildemount, aka the Frozen Sick module from Explorerās Guide to Wildemount (weāre almost done with that, my PC is Bly).Ā
-Amnesia campaign aka high level campaign: we woke up in hell with no memories! PC is Zize.Ā
-Hoard of the Dragon Queen module, near the beginning of that, PC is Pointy.Ā
-Horror campaign, only two sessions so far, but weāre trapped in an alternate dimension carrying out tasks for a creepy dude. PC is Vinny.Ā
-Kithan, where weāre high level monster hunting guild members searchingĀ out ancient artifacts of the gods (campaign based on the Monster Hunter games), PC is Topaz.
-Silas, party is currently trying to help dragons free themselves and stop aā¦ dude? No spoilers! I DM. On hold because I had too many campaigns going at once.
-Silas v2: extremely vaguely based on the plot of season one of the web series Carmilla. A tweaked version of the first arc the Silas party went through. On hold because it was played in person at school.
5. Favorite NPC.
I donāt really have any NPCs in my campaigns that Iām super attached to, exceptā Nikeo, a goliath rogue PC in Silas 1, had many adopted children. Three of themā koboldsā sometimes stand on each othersā shoulders, put on a long coat, and help out around their parentās store. Theyāve named themselves Koby.
As for favorite NPCs in campaigns Iāve played, I can think ofā¦ a lot. The first is Laurel, a blue dragonborn loner type who followed Osfyr and friends in Acarnya. They were kind of broody and dark, but they really drew me in. They were the first NPC we really talked toā they were sitting on top of the post office laughing at the mob scene of people protesting not getting their mail delivered.
Iād also pick Osfyrās partners in that campaignā Yelkian, a backstory love interest I came up with, a flamboyant soft sorcerer. Jupiter, politicianās niece, who took pity on Osfyrās attempts to seduce information out of her and let them succeed on both counts (seduction and information). Xerxes, extra AF rogue with a big loving family, who swept in after a fight on the back of an eagle-wildshaped Brysth (npc druid).Ā
Thereās a blue dragon in the HOTDQ campaign that we donāt know much about. I really enjoyed the way @dungeonsanddraconicqueer played him. Heās just a dude! Lexās warlock made a Deal with him to leave the town alone. We still donāt know the implications of that. Itās fine, guys.
And then, thereās Stewart the Skin Steward, a servant of False Mystra. Fun dude.Ā Very cavalierā nigh, enthusiastic!ā about the fact that his entire city was made of skin. Something of a skin connoisseur, in fact!
6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).
Saela, hands down. She got breathed on by a dragon, yo. We then had to stop playing for 4-5 months because a player lost access to the Internet. I wrote a vision/speech from her warlock patron, the Raven Queen, the night she died, and basically didnāt touch it until I read it out in game. It involved a confession that the Queen wasĀ tired of being a god, and showing Saela all the lives sheād touched. Then we used Matt Mercerās rez rules for her. She came backā but it was her choice.
7. Your favorite downtime activity.
Fucking tinkering dude!!! I donāt get to do it enough as Zize and that is entirely my fault. @ morgan, eyes emoji
8. Your favorite fight/encounter.
I LOVE creepy shit. There was a train car with people dancing in it, and party members got enchanted to dance along and eat the food,Ā and the revelers were clearly in pain, and snuffing out a candle caused a reveler to disappear. Creepy shit!
In Kithan, we had to climb a staircase, and we timed it with produce flame which is a 10 minute duration cantrip, and we were climbing for 50 minutes. We started to see things in the edges of our vision. Then someone realized it was an illusion, and it all vanished. It freaked me out so bad.
In amnesia campaign, at level 19, we were traversing a cave, and our shadows started dripping the same black goop we were there to investigate. We killed one and it took down the max hp of the person whose shadow it was, and then they straight up didnāt have a shadow until they long rested. It really freaked us out, realizing the shadows were actually creatures, but they were like CR 1. Really effective use of a low level monster.
9. Your favorite thing about D&D.
The way it has something for everyoneā¦ the way itās brought me so many friendsā¦ the way itās inspired my OC creation like nothing else.
10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.
Iām not sure if this is asking about NPCs Iāve had as enemies, or any monster in D&D canon? The longest campaign I played in didnāt have long term enemiesĀ per se. Iād say I was frustrated with the cultists that ambushed us last session in HOTDQ,Ā but I didnāt hate them! I just couldnāt seem to hit or dodge them. As for a favoriteā¦ probably False Mystra: the demon lord Orcus whoād taken overĀ the position, and therefore the duties, of Mystra, the god of arcane magic.Ā We killed it,Ā but then whoopso!! Our wizard lost her powers.
11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?
I play an ideal amount, honestly: four times a week, for about 2.5-3 hours a session. HOTDQ Tuesdays, Kithan and horror campaign switching off Wednesdays, Wildemount Thursdays cause we miss CR, Amnesia Sundays.
12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.
Amnesia: Yocheved, the party barbarian/full time fish, has a secret third arm and/or a prosthetic ass. Cylthia, the druid, does arson (but actually). Relentless is a Crown paladin, so she puts her fingers in her ears when we do crime/lie. She also has a rod of lordly might that, immediately post amnesia, she made into a 32 foot climbing pole. Yocheved eats pounds and pounds of raw fish for every meal.
Wildemount: just the shenanigans and sabotaging each other that the Bastard Trio get into. Example: Nissy was tasked with buying Zier a cloak for cold weather and purposely got him anĀ ugly one. Zier then prestidigitated it to be a nicer color.
13. Introduce your current party.
Oh boy, I have 6 of those. Here goes. Keep in mind many of these characters are played and games are DMed by my friends who have OC blogs of their own: Raini and Ayen are bekahdoesnerdshit, Ezra, Nissy, and Roona are glasyasbutch, Horror DM, Lent, Eve, and Nakoria are toomanyorphans, Wildemount DM, Saela, Daecyne, and Cylthia are bhissar, HOTDQ DM is dungeonsanddraconicqueer, and Amnesia DM, Zier, Nyxi, and Sarril are overplannedbutunnamednpc. Not an OC blog, but Yocheved, Avri, Arbor, Thraf, Nikeo, and Whisper are mickgoesabsolutelyhamforbarbie.
Amnesia (Zize): Lent, tiefling paladin, former crownsguard who āfellā (became an oathbreaker), then un-fell when we lost our memories. Cylthia, tiefling/elf druid who can shift between tiefling and elf forms and loves setting things on fire. Yocheved, 14 foot tall nereid (fishfolk) barbarian with a dry sense of humor, is the party parent. And Raini, aasimar wizard, sass machine and Zizeās bff.
HOTDQ. My PC is Pointy. Ezra, quiet human paladin. Theata, moon elf rogue. Freya, sweet (human?) light cleric who sometimes misreads situations. Eve, 13 year old (!!) human warlock who kinda sucks, but like, sheās 13. Nyxi, motherly gnome bard who Is going to adopt Pointy.Ā
Wildemount (Bly): Alene, human barbarian. Quiet and with somewhat of a parent instinct. Some sort of Mysterious Backstory. Delta, aasimar rogue, similarly shady backstory? Unclear. Sticks with Alene. Nissy, drow rune knight, sucks. Zier, drow sorcerer, also sucks. Nakoria, dragonborn warlock, ALSO sucks. (Those three make up the Bastard Trio.) Avri (F for them), goliath bard and Avriās guardian, died last session by falling on a floor full of knives.Ā
Horror campaign (Vinny): Roona, halfling bard, very impulsive, eats exclusively with her spoon that says ASS, and chills in Vinnyās fanny pack. Ayen, elven teenage warlock with a dark backstory. Sarril, Ayenās not-dad, half elf beast barbarian who got it from his wife. Arbor, dryadĀ monk, who wears an all white plague doctor outfit at all times.
Silas v1 (DM), Original party before 1 left and 1 died: Hacka (RIP), human luchador-styled drunken monk. Nikeo (left), goliath rogue with so many adopted children. Inferno, fire genasi paladin/phoenix sorcerer with anger and impulse control issues. Saela, babiest aarakocra warlock of the Raven Queen. Hackaās player now plays Voda, a stoic water genasi tempest cleric who cast Raise Dead successfully on Saela. Nikeoās player now plays Whisper, a tabaxi astral soul monk.
Kithan (Topaz): Thraf, monsterborn (universe-compliant dragonborn) barbarian. Very social, very outgoing, very stupid, and very traumatized. Fucks majorly. Daecyne, sweet tiefling druid and Topazās good friend. Viosa, aasimar homebrew class I forget the name of, uses her small stature and allure to her advantage. Damur, half-orc eldritch knight, the partyās only braincell.
14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.
Acarnya. My PC was Osfyr. Soraphine, traumatized halfling bard. Azalea, human fighter. Durzuell, haughty high elf sorcerer. James, nerdy half elf wizard. Drago, erratic Russian dragonborn monk. Kairon, slightly edgy ranger/paladin (but we love him).Ā
Nordenheim. My PC was Cap. I will admit: we only played 2 or 3 sessions, so I donāt really rememberĀ most of the other party members except Rory, a fire genasi ranger who almost burned to death.
Silas v2 (hopefully will continue; I DMed): Kysseris IV. Half-elf paladin, uptight. Tower 1-6, warforged wizard who crawled out of the desert and is looking for info on how he was made. Mae āPockā, gnome rogue, very small andĀ sweet. Josh, human trickery cleric, kind of an asshole, but in a way thatās funny and hasnāt bled over into IRL annoying.
[school] West Marches campaign (Ner): by the nature of West Marches, there was never a consistent party, but a few stood out to me. Red Foot, a hyperactive kobold sorcerer whoās level 8 against all West Marches odds. Lyra, Great Old One warlock of TzeeāMhor, an abomination goat that a party I was in accidentally created. Fildo Baggins, divination wizard who can only affect allies whose toenail clippings he has in his vial.
15. Do you have snacks during game times?
Hell yeah babey!!! I mostly play digitally, especially during COVID, and I need something to munch after DMing for a while. Shitās exhausting.
16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?
Welp! Online mostly, since everyone I want to play with has the audacity to live far away, and now exclusively online because of COVID.
17. What are some house rules that your group has?
Our Amnesia party is so rich that we just donāt keep track of money. In Kithan, a lot of rules that make characters less powerful are justā¦ abolished (like the bonus action spell rule). (The DM likes super OP characters so she can throw SUPER OP monsters at us.Ā My character has a necklace that gives 5 additional uses of channel divinity.)
18. Does your party keep any pets?
Nope. No opportunities for them. Zizeās party has a little water snake on the druidās arm but I doubt that will last very long.
19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?
Absolutely. Cursed dice get j a i l.
20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?
Acarnya got me into d&d, it was my first campaign, and it was happening at the place I lived. Iāve been playing almost 2 years. (Critical Role inspired me to DM)
21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?
Not sent a fucking letter to say goodbye to their boyfriend before the world-fate-deciding bullshit that was gonna happen and possibly destroy shit. It was fine in the end though!
22. What color was your first dragon?
Red. Man, that guy sucked, he almost killed Osfyr. We were investigating a monastery secretly run by dragons disguised as humans.
23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?
Original campaigns. Iāve never run a module before! Iām not opposed, but most of my campaigns came from ideasĀ that I had. Iāve never been short on ideas for a game.
24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?
As a player, I just open my character sheet and get out dice. As a DM, I try and think about what material I want to get through this session, and write some narration and/or stat things out if I feel like it.
For DMs
25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?
A lot of times, Inferno has rushed into battle from what Iād built as a stealth mission, and gotten her ass and sometimes the partyās asses kicked. I should really have learned by now.
26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters?
Definitely Saelaās resurrection ritual and vision.
27. Do you allow homebrew content?
Yes! Iāll check it first,Ā but Iām all for expanding the boundaries. I homebrew items and monsters all the time, why shouldnāt my payers get to homebrew their shit?
28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?
Too often in my first arc. I had like 7 NPCs running around at all times (they were Carmilla characters). Super not recommended. I have 0 right now.
29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions?
Iām still finding my groove with RP as a DM. I like encouraging my players to RP amongst themselves. I consider myself fairly good at combat on both sides of the equation, DM and player, so thatās always fun to me, especially when my players enjoy it too.
30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?
I have one actively reforming murder hobo player, the rest are diplomatic. (The character, Inferno, is having a great growth arc. Iām super proud.)
For Players
31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?
I fucking love genasi as a concept. Favorite class would have to be rogue or cleric, but gunslingerās up there too.
32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)
IĀ honestly don't have the patience to not play DPS. I love doing lots of damage. Healing is satisfying, support is satisfying, but thereās a reason I picked rogue twice and tempest cleric over other domains.
33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?
Sometimes the backstory is part of the character conceptā especially for Pointy, because I had the name first, then went hmm why would she have this name. Almost always, though, more backstory gets written during the campaign when I have an idea. Sometimes a character will act in a way I donāt expect, and itās fun thinking of a justification to fill backstory gaps.
34. Do you tend to pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?
MostlyĀ usefulness honestly. Iāll make choices among several for flavor, but Iām a big proponent of using mechanics to build character. What I mean is, think about Magnus in TAZ Balanceā his protection fighting style contributed a lot to the way Travis played him as a protective person. I love that shit.
35. How much roleplay do you like to do?
I like to do a lot, but unfortunately myĀ energy is pretty down lately so I havenāt been doing as much.
what class would your character be, based on their personality, traits, and abilities (in game, and also based on ability scores if you feel like it) if they werenāt their current class?
Hard mode: no swapping paladin/cleric, ranger/druid, ranger/rogue, fighter/barb... you get the idea.
Hmmmm letās go with a new one! Skycutter! Sheās all sorts of criminal, of course, but nooo theyāre totally a doctor and only a doctor <3 thank you. Her life is a lie.
16. has the most scars?
Probably Zize. The idea of getting a scar every time you drop to 0 intrigues me, and Zize is level 20 and was part of a 2 person party from levels 1-3. They probably went down a lot.
26. takes the most risks?
Pointy for sure. Death wish oāclock.
43. would you most like to be friends with?
Osfyr..... theyāre me but without the things that annoy me about myself. First D&D character and all that shit. I have a type for the people I hang out with, and that type is my idealized self! Iāll say it! I like seeing what personality traits I can steal from my friends and then absorb them like a horrid little Kirby!
...where was I going with this?
49. is or was your favorite to roleplay?
sophia also asked me this.... gay bitches in here.... itās zize
HA Pointy. All sorts of issues in that one. Most stem from parental trauma. We've got: a bit of a death wish, negative self esteem, impulsivity, and a pathological urge to rebel. Also, the devil/tiefling thing is gonna take some convincing that it's 1. Not her fault and 2. Not actually a bad thing.
23. is the most likely to start a fight?
Also Pointy tbh. Sheās literally specced for a duel with swords. Sheās getting better though.
40. is the best at making Hard Decisions?
Probably Remi. Sheās a royal, sheās basically been brought up in a continual leadership summit.
49. is or was your favorite to roleplay?
Zize! They and Osfyr are the characters that are most like myself, and of the two, Zize gets me more meat to dig into and better RP partners.
#project hail mary
#lana del rey
#free gaza
