He pursued me. I acquiesced, because in all honesty I was lonely and struggling to make meaningful connections in a new city. I was in a pretty bad place mentally, but it felt good to receive attention. We also met at a film screening, so there was some common ground and a shared appreciation for film and media.
Months in, I find out...
He has a keen, particular interest in Asian film and media - particularly East Asia - Japanese, Korean, and Chinese films.
He follows Asian cooking channels (by white expats / travelers only) and tries to connect with me through his "knowledge" of Asian food and primarily only cooks Asian food. He'd also try to "bait" me by asking me to come over and that he has prepared familiar, cultural dishes that I grew up on. I thought this was innocent at first, until he would control and lecture me on how to properly prepare the food when we'd try to cook together.
He asked me to shave so I look more "smooth" and to fit his pornified, aesthetic preference. I was uncomfortable at first and bewildered by this request so early on, but I did it anyway because of shit boundaries.
He tries so hard to connect with me to "my culture" through superficial things like media and food, but when I engage with him in deeper sociopolitical issues concerning our community, seeking a more emotional response, he falls silent, weak, and invalidates my experiences as "doom scrolling." This is the most aggravating crux of some White men who have this "Asian preference" - it's the consumption of my body and culture, but ignorance of my humanity. The last part - willful ignorance - is what makes this problematic and painful for us. Yes, not all white guys, but some.
He is not the most politically informed, well-read, yet holds highly opinionated beliefs of certain Asian countries from what has been espoused by Eurocentric media. You enjoy my "culture" and "beauty," but still deem my country of ancestry as inferior, whether consciously or not.
He has an obsession over a new ultra-girly K-Pop band that consists mostly of underage girls - musical choice that is not deemed socially appropriate for his age. I completely got the ick.
He has a Chinese calligraphy tattoo on his ankle that he supposedly regrets and wants removed, but I saw him shamelessly wearing ankle socks and cargo shorts in the summer and he has had this tattoo for almost two decades now. Absolute ick.
He jokingly (but not really) called me, "arm candy" and was pretty fixated on my looks.
He likely has a history of dating and pursuing Asian women and/or non-white women in general.
After all this coming into realization, I just felt too uncomfortable and dissonant to continue. I'll never know the 100% truth, but I eventually listened to my intuition.
My shame and regret comes from staying for too long and not listening to my own values, boundaries, and feelings. I'm sure there were elements of genuine like and attraction toward me, but it doesn't discount this feeling I couldn't shake that I was pursued initially because of my "Asianness" ("East Asianness," probably his fetish of choice, ignoring the massive, diverse region that is Asia-Pacific) and projected a lot of his East Asian interests, obsessions toward me and objectifying me as his young, "arm candy" Asian girlfriend, without the responsibility or baggage that comes with interracial dating in a racist society.
Dating is hard, especially for us, and what this experience taught me is to ruthlessly cultivate self-love, healthy mental well-being, more disciplined boundaries, higher standards of dating, more initial vetting and questioning, listening to my damn intuition, and just deeply knowing yourself and holding yourself with pride and self-respect to be more than just some White male chauvinistic fantasy projection.

There’s so much confusion around tattoo removal and all the information seems to be conflicting. Some peoples tattoos are seemingly non-existent after a few sessions/months and others repeatedly say that it’ll take at minimum 3-5 years (perhaps they’ve had 20+ sessions themselves)… I think at the end of the day it comes down to three things: the knowledge of the technician, genetics, and the lifestyle of the person having their tattoo removed. I’ve spent far too much time scrolling on this forum and this seems to be the common denominator. There’s also tons of people who regularly have removal who don’t post on here. Reddit attracts people who are struggling with their own removal who then look for support from others. Sure, ink color and depth are also important, but these seem to be the factors with the most influence. Do you guys agree?

Hey guys, a little about me. I'm a 32 year old gay man, currently single. I've been through my wild stage where I hooked up with whoever I wanted to, and have also had long periods of being in a relationship. Now that I'm in my 30s, the desire to settle down is getting stronger, and the thoughts of whether I want to be married are also coming into mind.
Specifically, I'm good friends with a couple who have been together for quite a while, and have been married for 2-3 years. One of them is in the military and the other works in sales. They made a big deal out of their wedding and the one who is in the service became an unofficial poster boy for the military as a gay service member, often bringing his husband to military balls, etc. Because of this, they started getting invited to important social events and everyone admired them and their marriage. I very much looked up to them, and they had the kind of relationship I hoped to have one day.
Then a couple months ago, I was randomly scrolling through some porn and recognized a tattoo that looked very familiar. Long story short, the non-military husband has a huge secret life of serving as a scene partner for many OF performers and from what I can tell, has a small-ish OF page of his own. This person serves as a gaping hole cum dumpster for basically any OF performer who asks him to participate. I admit I watched a few of his scenes and was really shocked at what I saw. It was very odd for me to see this person who seemed to sincerely adore his husband engaging in very intimate kissing scenes as well as taking raw load after raw load from people he barely knows. (And please let me be clear - I'm not a prude. I've been around. I've had many one-night stands. I believe in sexual freedom.) But what got me was what seemed to me to be massive hypocrisy. I cannot count the number of times I've been around them engaging in (admittedly sappy) lovey-dovey type behavior where they say things like, "You're my one and only. You're the only man for me. I'll take out anyone who tries to get their hands on you," etc etc. I should also clarify that I know the military partner knows of the other's participation in these videos because I briefly saw a reflection of the military one's tattoos serving as the cameraman for one of the videos.
Since I found this out, I've been around them twice, and when they started this sappy stuff, I couldn't help but roll my eyes and one of them noticed and called me out for it. I played it off without any ruffled feathers. But this has caused me to have two thoughts: 1) Can I continue to hang out with these guys and listen to their bullshit "I'll kill any man who touches my baby" statements while keeping my mouth shut and 2) Is there any hope for me to have a monogamous relationship in the future or do most gay men expect to have open marriages these days?
As to question 1, it's really not hugely important, I just wish they'd be real and say - hey, my man likes to serve as a cum dumpster to any cock that will have him and we are both ok with it." It makes us happy. I could and would be 100% on board with that. But their whole persona now feels fake to me. Not that they owe me the details of their sex life, but they have been open about it in the past. Once they got married, they started to act like jealous lovers - and it turns out it was all an act. So any advice as to how I can continue to hang out with these guys while sitting there listening to their fake, sappy, statements of love and jealousy for each other? (Actually, I do think their love is sincere. It's the hypocrisy that's getting to me.)
As to question 2, please give me hope. When I find the guy I want to settle down with, I really do hope I feel like he's mine. I hope I feel jealous of anyone who tries to hit on him. I want to share something special with him that no one else feels/has. It just seems like every time I come across a gay couple that's been together longer than 5 or so years, inevitably it turns out they have an open relationship. And that's great for them, but I don't want that. I want that silly romantic love that I'm beginning to think isn't real/possible. What do y'all think about this?

[Online] [1-20 Ravenloft campaign][Looking for 2 players]
5E Ravenloft campaign 12-20 possibly to 30.
Date & time: Thursday’s at 17:00 (EST) Frequency: Weekly Online: Fantasy Grounds Unity (Only need demo I have the master license) Voice: Discord (push to talk) Have: 2 players Looking for 2 players Current level: 12
This campaign will has a lot of dark elements in the official module. It is very similar to the Witcher series in tone as noted below.
Potential triggers/Content warning child abuse & neglect, emotional & physical abuse towards vulnerable adults, murder & attempted murder, including that of children, kidnapping, stalking, gaslighting, abuse of power, racism, sexism, cruelty, torture, references to colonialism & genocide, mutilation, mind control, the desecration of the dead & of places of worship, cannibalism, including involuntary cannibalism, mercy killing, situations paralleling sexual assault, parental death, child death, reference to stillbirth/miscarriage, partner death, mental illness & the mistreatment of the mentally ill, possible exploitation of physical disability, maladaptive grieving behaviors, starvation & food horror, cruelty to animals, prolonged & painful deaths, body horror, transformation against ones will, insects & infestation horror, abandonment, including child abandonment, decay, betrayal; including partner, family & parental betrayal, consumption of alcohol including portrayals of alcoholism, consumption of narcotics including portrayals of addiction, portrayal of hoarding behavior, potential incest, involuntary homicide, graphic depictions of death & violence, implied necrophilia, self harm, suicide, victim blaming, corruption, xenophobia, non-Human species discrimination, & cursing others & being cursed.
Free level 1 feat to expand on background can't be combat related. Human variant gains 2 feats at level 1. One of which can not be combat related. -feats don't grant ASI's & at ASI levels one gains both a feat & stat increases.
-Stats: point buy (30), Array (add an 11) -Max starting stat after bonuses = 16. -Outcast scores per character based on species. Ravenloft is isolated & superstitious, they treat demihumans poorly in most domains. Some aren't allowed in towns. Providing a negative to persuasion, deception, & performance. Same number is a bonus to intimidation. -Starting gear = just clothes at arrival to Ravenloft if playing a local -Languages = standard languages only. [Common=Domain language.] (Many domains have their own unique human dialect.) -Some NPC dialogue will be done through Syrinscape.
-facing for PCs, adds a reaction to turn on a move, grants ADV to attacks, & stacks with flanking. -+2 flanking -bonus action potion drinking self action for others -3 inspiration slots (crit failure = +1 inspiration) -hitting 1/2 HP while flying causes one to fall, a reaction can be used to fall safety -optional actions from the DMG -Remove curse allows for a saving throw to be rolled -Dark powers checks (the Dark Powers "reward" those who fight evil with evil with twisted powers. At 7 to 10 failures one becomes a Darklord themselves. ) -Expanded skills -Added tools: ie tattoo tools (scrolls copied onto bodies) -Added weapon & armor properties & types -languages will have some importance (Locals get 1 starting language for non nobles, & 2 for nobles) -Healing kit dependancy -Empowered necromancy (always a dark powers check to cast 1%×spell level cast at. +1 spell level, +1 Attack, +1 DMG per die, cantrips are half damage saves) -horror, sanity, & fear checks -Encumbrance & ammunition tracking -Converted rules & features from 2E/3E that adjust class ability mechanics, some spell mechanics (ie, banishment teleports one randomly in Ravenloft it does not provide a means to escape).
-Animal companions & familiars are always evil, though share the ethical alignment. They gain +3d6 INT resist non magical physical damage, double HD, & two attacks. This is due to fact that there is no extra dimensional space for familiars to be sent to.
-Mechanical Alterations to magic: Ie "Wish: This spell functions only if the Dark Powers allow it to. The Dark Powers usually grant the wish, but they always try to pervert its intent. Thus, this spell rarely performs as desired when cast in Ravenloft. When evil characters wish for something dark and twisted, they have a 50% chance of receiving their wish exactly as requested, indicating that the Dark Powers deemed the wish's intent to be already corrupted.
A wish intended to allow you to escape from Ravenloft, destroy a darklord, or otherwise violate one of the basic tenets of the land simply fails. Any wish used for evil requires a powers check." -Banishment doesn't allow escape from Ravenloft -Summoning outsiders, & elementals trap them in Ravenloft, & they know it. -Raised dead get a save to retain their individuality

My last few sessions my party has been in the midst of a lot of action and some dungeon crawling. They have a lot of gold stock pilled and I think deserve a bit of a break, so they'll be visiting a Magic Item Fair, where sellers from all over come to show their creations or finds to sell. Help me make a list of different types of vendors and what items they have! Some specific sellers or ones selling just one treasured item will work super well, along with any general ideas! I made a list of 10 to start things off. And for reference, it's a high magic setting with a lot of wild west themes, so stuff like fire arms do exist! And if you want to come up with a 1 off seller, with a specific magic item, my party just hit level 9 so they can handle some stronger stuff.

Magic Vendors

1. Magic Seamstress, sells magical clothing items
2. Potion Maker
3. Spell Scroll Collector
4. Magic Weapon Smith
5. Magic Armor Smith
6. Mythical Pets Raiser, selling exotic and magical animals
7. Magic Jeweler
8. Charm Collector, selling magic knick knacks and smaller magic items
9. Arcane Book Seller, selling tomes with magical secrets
10. Arcane Tattoo Artist, able to imbue their work with magical affects
11. Petty Diviner who can help find small scale items (u/mel-alt)
12. A Fabricator, who can help make small scale items and buildings (u/mel-alt)
13. Artificer offering weapon upgrades (u/mel-alt)
14. Living Toy Vender (u/snakebite262)
15. Magic Snack Salesman, offering snacks that provide small magical effects (u/snakebite262)
16. Bookmark seller, Sells bookmarks with living pictures, or a magically updating counter for words left in the book/total books read, and minor magical effects like light that can be tapped back and forth between natural and florescent (u/azul_plains)
17. Knife Specialist, Knives with exotic metals, custom handle wraps, and edges, most expensive piece is a knife enchanted to return to you after being thrown; also sells magical oils to add temporary elemental affinity during combat (u/azul_plains)
18. Seasonal Tailor - Only stocks clothes relevant to the current season. Sells slim winter coats with warming enchantments in the liner, in all kinds of patterns and profiles, scarves that prevent your breath from fogging glasses, most expensive piece has extra large pockets (think bag of holding), and hats with enchantments to keep rain out of a person's eyes (u/azul_plains)
19. Astrologist- Will create a birth chart and provide a horoscope, for a fee, and provide a neutral perspective/insight into a single event from the character's past based on the celestial alignment of the planets at that time. (u/azul_plains)
20. Beast Artist A painter who specializes in monsters in motion, who has several small peaceful pieces of non-violent grazing/hunting creatures and a large dynmaic canvas of an unusual enemy (such as a mindflayer or gnothic); will share the story of how they got inspiration for the work and give a little information on how the creature fights. (u/azul_plains)
21. Herbologist A component seller that specializes in twigs, leaves, spider webs, and other pieces useful for magical spells. Also sells healing salves and compotes, and a beautiful multicolored magical orchid in a sealed drop-resistant glass case that can be set in any position desired. (it functions like an immovable rod). (u/azul_plains)
22. Wand Specialist- Has a wide assortment of wands, most of which are cheap and designed as gifts for fun (sending out colored sparks, multicolored smoke, joke wand that makes a creepy laugh when tapped three times...); most expensive pieces are single use of a cantrip or spell like light (functions as a safe/lightweight one-use torch), create water, and goodberry.(u/azul_plains)
23. Madame Ruby - Sells rubies of different clarity and sizes, in intricate golld/silvemythril settings, in dagger handles, in woven handkerchiefs, and as carefully packaged spell components; most expensive piece is a blood-red ruby beaded necklace with several beads (each bead is a single-use cast of Fireball) (u/azul_plains)
24. Druid offering magical seeds and saplings (u/World_Of_Ideas)
25. Enchanter offering temporary enchantments on armor, weapons, and gear. (u/World_Of_Ideas)
26. Fortune teller offering a glimpse of your future
27. lluminator offering various magical lights (gems, head bands, lanterns, torches, etc) (u/World_Of_Ideas)
28. Magical appraiser. Will appraise and identify any magic item for a price. They can also find a buyer if your interested in selling (u/World_Of_Ideas)
29. Magical potter selling enchanted pottery (u/World_Of_Ideas)
30. Magic carpet salesman (u/World_Of_Ideas)
31. Magic mirror salesman (u/World_Of_Ideas)
32. Music shop. Sells magical musical instruments (u/World_Of_Ideas)
33. Origami mage selling magical paper constructs (u/World_Of_Ideas)
34. Smoke shop. Sells magical pipes and magical tobacco (u/World_Of_Ideas)
35. Summoner selling bound elementals or spirits (u/World_Of_Ideas)
36. Necromancer offering skeletons or zombies (u/World_Of_Ideas)
37. Rune carver, specifically for little amulets and talismans that imbues magic into the object. (u/smiles__)

TLDR: I’ve been at my job for 2 years and have 7 facial piercings that they are only now forcing me to finally take out.
Hopefully this post is allowed here
Yeah, I’m just feeling a myriad of emotions and wanna see what yall think. The job I currently work at is a very big animal shelter with lots of media presents, it’s had its own TV show on animal planet in the early to mid 2000s, holds events that raise a million dollars, have donors who have it in their will to give us an insane amount of money when they pass and everything. I’ve been here for 2 years which is significant because the turn around rate is 6 months (actual statistic). When I got hired at 18 and I only had my snakebites and maybe 2 standard nose piercings but I could be wrong about that, during the interview I asked if it was going to be an issue and that said I have the option to take them out or wear a mask, I said ok I’ll wear the mask and it wasn’t an issue, I ofc get hired and life moves on. When I first started I worked with the public and I continued to get more and more piercings, my manager at the time was incredibly reasonable but super strict because of the people above her were really laying the hammer on dress code, not only with facial piercings but stuff like no holes in jeans, wearing name tags, proper shirts etc etc. I really pushed my luck with being so lax with my mask (having it down around my co workers and when no one is in the building) and ended up getting written up for my facial piercings, at the time it crushed me because I was one of five other employees who had facial piercings, but I’m the only one who wore a mask because as they put it ‘mine are more noticeable’ but life goes on and there wasn’t any hard feelings associated with it, fast forward a bit and due to several unrelated reasons I transfer to the back (the hospital department) where I’ve currently worked for the past 1 1/2 years, i’m currently working on getting my vet tech license and just applied for a vet tech assistant (if I get this position i’ll finally be able to work on that) i’ve spent the last one and a half years building connections, rapport, relationships and learning all the things I need to know before I apply for this position,I’ve been busting my fucking ass here, I come in on time, i’m always working on something, I follow protocol to the fucking T, I make sure I help my coworkers, I help my managers and higher-ups with miscellaneous task, I talked to my higher-ups and coordinators to figure out how I can manage my time in a way where I can leave my position for a bit to help in other departments like surgery and rehoming to learn a few things just so I can have a little bit more knowledge for when I apply to help my chances of getting the position I guess, anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I’m not a lazy employee, I really make sure I do my best every day. But the past one and a half years i’ve been having constant issues with the person who overlooks the entire vet staff department (she also overlooks the entire counties animal intake) so she’s a very important person not only to our company, but to others. Because she’s so high up, she has very little to do with my department on a personal level, but for example, I was in a work room by myself doing dishes and I was just chilling waiting for my dishes to be done in the dishwasher which takes roughly 40 seconds, for no reason she just pops her her head in and asked me if I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, I looked at her confused and just said “yes?” And she says “OK just making sure” that really confused me because she wasn’t asking for me to do something and was just making sure I wasn’t busy so that I could go do it (that’s not something she would do for her job anyway) she was asking because I was standing there doing nothing (because I was waiting for my dishes to be done) and it seemed like she was trying to catch me doing something I wasn’t supposed to, that was the first time it happened, so I just kind of ignored it, but the most recent times I was literally on my lunch when she pops in and asked me if I was on my lunch, for context, I eat in a room just adjacent to the designated eating area by myself because I just do, and she just looks in and ask me if I’m on my lunch as if she’s trying to catch me being lazy or hiding. This really upset me but again I ignored it bc it was only the second time and could have been a coincidence. Just last week tho the same exact thing happened, I was eating lunch when I got up to go to the designated eating area to get something form the vending machine In there, just as I was Turing the corner, there she was , I turned my head quickly to the side so that she didn’t see my piercings and quickly put my mask on, she then follows me to the vending machine and starts to ask me really weird questions, “Are you on your lunch” “Yes I am” “why where you sitting on the floor” “I wasn’t sitting on the floor” (I have no idea where she got that from bc there was a table and chairs in there that I was using) “Oh, well why where you taking pictures on there” “I wasn’t taking pictures of anything I was scrolling on my phone” “Ok, I know about the piercings you’re not supposed to have” I sat there and awkwardly laugh and she just walks away This really scared me bc she’s also in charge of disciplinary action and if I get a write up I won’t be able to apply to the vet tech assistant position for another 6 months and at this point the position was about to open, I confided in my coworkers to see if any of them had any similar experience and they all said no which makes me feel like I’m being tarted but I’m sure that isn’t the case Fast forward to what Happed this week. I showed up to work 30 mins early just to get a head start, I didn’t have a mask on bc I wasn’t even clocked in yet and I was omw to go do that, I get to the door and I unknowingly open the door for the fucking CFO, I only learned that after the fact, he saw me and asked somewhat aggressively if I had piercings and I ofc said yes bc he’s looking right at me, and he asked me if I take them out for work, I said yes (even though I wear a mask instead of taking them out) he said ok and asked for my name and then left, this made me shit brick bc even though I didn’t know exactly who he was I got the idea that he was probably important, he reported it to my boss who doesn’t really care about my piercing but this was the final incident that made me get retainers for my piercings, it sucks because it’s like the perfect storm, if I didn’t just apply to the position I wouldn’t care that much bc I could still work on my skills to be a better match for the position I’m applying for, I just wish they were less strict on the piecing rules, they mean quite a lot to me and hold sentimental value, I’m not trying to do anything harmful by wearing them and I don’t even work with the public, I try very hard to compromise and wear a mask but it doesn’t seem to matter even though that’s what was initially agreed upon, it just sucks, I’m also worried about infected or irritation bumps by taking them in and out everyday, I just with they knew people had lives outside of work, literally in like 10 years it won’t be an issue as society changed and develops , like with tattoo, 10 years ago you could have butterfly’s and flowers on your forearm and that would be a job stopper but now as long as you don’t have face tattoos you are generally fine, it’s happening slowly but surely, at my job I’m now 1 of 7 who have face piercings and I’m still the only one who gets talked to about it and has to wear a mask, they all have nose piercings but nothing extreme like I do so I guess i get it, I still don’t see it as fair tho, if I gotta take mine out they do to,
Sorry for this novel I’m just really upset

So I have a huge over arching quest that has started from level one. It goes until level 15
Basically Every one has a tattoo on their arm that powers up. The way it powers up is the characters are using devices to pull powers from the space between planes when ever they planar traval. Because of the way my campaign is made they do that 5 times.
As they do it I have a bunch of random encounters that escalate that are themed from the different planes.
At the end of the quest they have two options. They must remove their arms and destroy them in a ritual (which is not a big deal in eberron). But they lose their arms and this mega powerful legendary artifact essentially.
OR
They can choose to destroy one of the other Planes. I have Ideas on how to handle this but it would obviously be devastating and world changing.
If they dont do it what are some consolidations? Obviously a masterwork prosthetic. But what can I give that to make it at least kind of worth it.
heres what I have so far.....

Magic Tattoos: Havoc Seal

Every player receives a glowing tattoo known as the Havoc Seal. These tattoos can be upgraded by the tattoo artist located at the Sharn headquarters once the stolen ledger is retrieved. :  {width:325px,mix-blend-mode:multiply}
:

Clive Arcane Tattoo artist

Clive is a middle aged gnome that is obsessed with magical tattoos. He has found a way to refine the fabric of reality into ink is looking for a team to obtain Starlight Condensate using his home made gathering crystals
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Enhancements Overview

The tattoos can be enhanced when working with the tattoo artist. He can use special resources that are gathered to add attributes to a person’s arsenal. : The Players should come to rely on these tatoos. They should be powerful but not game breaking. Feel free to not allow certain combinations due to arcane imbalance or backlash. :
{{note Collection of Starlight Condensate: - Description: Starlight Condensate is a mystical, luminescent liquid that forms only in places where the veil between the Material Plane and the Astral Plane is thinnest. This rare substance, believed to be the crystallized essence of astral light, has traveled across the cosmos and permeated the fabric of reality. - Properties: When used in the enhancement of magic tattoos, the Condensate imbues them with celestial energy, unlocking latent powers and allowing for deeper customization and more potent effects. - Collection Method: The tattoo artist provides each party member with a hollow crystal. When traveling through a rift between planes, this crystal fills with Starlight Condensate. }}
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Consequences

Planar Instabilities

The Havoc Seal tattoos provide incredible power, but their use can destabilize the boundaries between planes, leading to increasingly severe consequences.

Detecting Destabilization

Whenever the party traverses a planar portal, they can roll a d20 Arcana check to sense the destabilization.
Flavor Text: "As you step through the shimmering veil of the planar portal, a wave of arcane energy washes over you. The air tingles with the resonance of distant realms, and a deep hum vibrates through your very being. A sense of unease settles in as you instinctively reach out with your arcane senses, trying to grasp the subtle threads of reality that waver and distort around you."

Tier 1: Minor Disturbances

• Planar Overlaps:
  
  • Problem: Subtle fusions of the Feywild or Shadowfell with the Material Plane cause minor anomalies and the appearance of strange creatures.
  • Stabilization: Perform basic rituals, secure minor artifacts, or seek help from plane natives to close small rifts.
• Temporal Distortions:
  
  • Problem: Slight irregularities in time flow, with minor accelerations or decelerations.
  • Stabilization: Locate and use Chrono Crystals or consult mages for minor time flow adjustments.
• Elemental Imbalances:
  
  • Problem: Small-scale weather anomalies and minor elemental disturbances.
  • Stabilization: Conduct elemental rituals at key sites, possibly with elemental gems.
• Planar Gateways:
  
  • Problem: Occasional opening of small portals, allowing minor creatures to pass through.
  • Stabilization: Use basic spells or tools to close portals and guard against minor entities.
• Ghostly Incursions:
  
  • Problem: Increased sightings of ghostly apparitions and minor hauntings.
  • Stabilization: Use Veil Stones or simple rituals to calm spirits and strengthen barriers. :: ## Tier 2: Significant Anomalies
• Planar Overlaps:
  
  • Problem: Noticeable merging of planes with more pronounced environmental changes and aggressive creatures.
  • Stabilization: Perform advanced rituals, secure significant artifacts, or gain aid from powerful plane beings.
• Temporal Distortions:
  
  • Problem: More severe time flow issues, with significant accelerations and decelerations.
  • Stabilization: Find powerful Chrono Crystals or consult high-level mages for major adjustments.
• Elemental Imbalances:
  
  • Problem: Pronounced weather disturbances and frequent elemental manifestations.
  • Stabilization: Perform complex rituals and use powerful elemental gems or seek aid from elemental spirits.
• Planar Gateways:
  
  • Problem: Frequent openings of larger portals, allowing dangerous creatures to pass through.
  • Stabilization: Use advanced spells or tools to close portals and maintain vigilant guards against more dangerous entities.
• Ghostly Incursions:
  
  • Problem: Frequent ghostly apparitions and severe hauntings.
  • Stabilization: Strengthen barriers with powerful Veil Stones or perform complex rituals to calm spirits.

\page

Tier 3: Severe Instabilities

• Planar Overlaps:
  
  • Problem: Extensive merging of planes with drastic environmental changes and powerful, hostile creatures.
  • Stabilization: Conduct major rituals, secure legendary artifacts, or gain aid from ancient plane beings.
• Temporal Distortions:
  
  • Problem: Extreme irregularities in time flow, with chaotic accelerations and decelerations.
  • Stabilization: Use legendary Chrono Crystals or seek out archmages for significant recalibrations.
• Elemental Imbalances:
  
  • Problem: Widespread elemental chaos causing natural disasters and summoning of potent elemental beings.
  • Stabilization: Perform major rituals at critical sites and use rare elemental gems or powerful spirit aid.
• Planar Gateways:
  
  • Problem: Constant openings of massive portals, unleashing powerful and dangerous entities.
  • Stabilization: Utilize legendary spells or tools to close portals and maintain constant vigilance against formidable entities.
• Ghostly Incursions:
  
  • Problem: Overwhelming ghostly presence and widespread hauntings.
  • Stabilization: Use legendary Veil Stones or conduct powerful rituals to calm spirits and restore peace. \column ### Interacting with Clive, the Tattoo Artist

Clive’s Reaction: - Initial Concerns (Tier 1): When the party mentions minor disturbances, Clive dismisses their concerns with a casual wave. "Oh, just a little side effect of tapping into such potent energies. Nothing to worry about!"

• Growing Anomalies (Tier 2): As the instabilities become more significant, Clive remains nonchalant, brushing off their concerns with a laugh. "A few quirks of magic! You’ll hardly notice them in your grand adventures!"
  
• Severe Instabilities (Tier 3): By this stage, Clive’s demeanor changes. His eyes have a wild gleam, and his reassurances are laced with a hint of madness. "The chaos is a small price for such power! Don’t you see? It’s magnificent!"
  

Escalation Summary: - The instabilities start as minor disturbances, growing in complexity and severity as the party continues to use their enhanced tattoos. By Tier 3, the destabilization is profound, threatening the very fabric of the Material Plane and revealing the depths of Clive’s obsession with the arcane power he harnesses.
\page

Quest: Tattoo Undo

“The Anchors of Reality”
Objective: Stabilize the planar boundaries to prevent further destabilization caused by the Havoc Seal tattoos.
If the players have never noticed the chaos in the world or they don't care

Receiving Tier 4 Tattoos

• Event: The party receives their powerful Tier 4 tattoos from Clive.
• Consequences: Immediately after, the whole of reality shakes, signaling a severe destabilization. {{note “As the final strokes of the tattoo needle embed the last of the powerful runes into your skin, the very fabric of reality quakes. The ground trembles, and a ripple of distortion pulses through the air, a harbinger of impending chaos.” }}

Part 1: Discovery and Conflict

A team of magical researchers burst into HavocHavens' front doors shouting for what ever we are doing to stop. The whole of reality is caving in on itself

Clive’s Revelation:

Confront the tattoo artist Clive at the Sharn headquarters. He reveals his true intentions, showing signs of madness, obsessed with the chaotic power of the tattoos.
{{note “Clive’s eyes gleam with a manic light as he dismisses your concerns with wild gestures. ‘Can’t you see? The chaos, the power—it’s magnificent! We’re on the brink of something extraordinary!’” }}
\column

Part 2: Quest for the Anchors

• Gathering Information:
  
  • Objective: Uncover the locations and nature of the Anchors.
  • Tasks:
  • Libraries of Morgrave University: Delve into ancient tomes and scrolls.
    • Challenge: Solve intricate puzzles or decode encrypted texts.
  • Consulting Planar Beings: Seek wisdom from entities like planar guardians or spirits.
    • Challenge: Negotiate or complete tasks for these beings to gain their knowledge.
  • Retrieving Ancient Texts: Explore ruins or hidden vaults in Sharn to find lost writings.
    • Challenge: Overcome traps and guardians protecting these texts.
• Repairing the Anchors:
  
  • Objective: Restore the stability of each Anchor.
  • Tasks:
  • Puzzle Challenges: Solve complex mechanisms linked to each Anchor.
  • Guardian Encounters: Defeat or appease powerful beings guarding the Anchors.
  • Cleansing Corruption: Purge dark energies or malevolent forces corrupting the Anchors.
• Planar Travel:
  
  • Objective: Journey through diverse and dangerous planes to reach each Anchor.
  • Planes to Explore:
  • The Feywild: Navigate enchanted forests and negotiate with capricious fey.
  • The Shadowfell: Traverse shadowy landscapes and confront undead horrors.
  • The Elemental Planes: Brave the fury of elemental realms and their denizens.

\page

Part 3: Final Confrontation

• Confronting Clive:
  
  • Scenario: Clive, now a powerful planar entity, stands at the heart of the instability.
  • Choice:
  • Confrontation: Battle Clive to stop his reckless plans.
    • Challenge: Overcome Clive’s enhanced abilities and his chaotic manipulation of planar energies.
  • Alliance: Convince Clive to assist in stabilizing the planes.
    • Challenge: Persuade Clive, possibly through trials or showing the dire consequences of continued instability.
• Resolution:
  
  • Fate of the Tattoos:
  • Option 1: Sacrifice Arms
    • Objective: Perform a ritual to sacrifice their arms, stabilizing the planes.
    • Outcome: Gain magical prosthetics with unique powers.
    • Magical Prosthetic Arm: Infused with stabilizing magic, granting enhanced strength, arcane capabilities, or unique defensive traits.
  • Option 2: Sacrifice a Realm
    • Objective: Stabilize the planes by sacrificing one of the realms.
    • Realms and Consequences:
    • Feywild: The loss of the Feywild causes a decline in natural magic and the disappearance of fey creatures.
    • Shadowfell: Sacrificing the Shadowfell diminishes the influence of death, making resurrection easier but disrupting the balance between life and death.
    • Elemental Planes (Fire, Water, Air, Earth): Each elemental plane sacrificed leads to a permanent imbalance in the corresponding element, causing long-term natural disasters.
    • Ethereal Plane: Losing the Ethereal Plane makes ethereal travel and spells impossible, weakening connections to spirits and ghosts.
    • Astral Plane: Sacrificing the Astral Plane disrupts long-distance planar travel and weakens the power of psionics.
    • Dal Quor: The loss of Dal Quor ends dreams and nightmares, affecting all beings’ rest and creativity.

Flavor Text for Resolution: “As the chaotic energies subside, you stand at a crossroads. The choice before you is monumental—sacrifice your own power and flesh to restore balance, or condemn an entire realm to save the planes. The weight of your decision will echo through the planes, shaping the future of Eberron itself.”
Heres the enhancments. I am crediting GM GUILD book ancestral weapons for the powerups as I like them

Havoc Seal Enhancements

Tier 0: Level 1+ Upgrades

• For your Eyes Only: Once per short rest you can encrypt the contents of a single page. This page can only be encrypted by some one who also has a Havoc Seal

Tier 1: Level 1+ Upgrades

• Duelist (Level 1): When you are hit by a melee attack you can see, you can channel the tattoo's energy to increase your AC by 1 using your reaction.
• Enhanced Combat (Level 1): Gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with any weapon you wield.
• Infusion (Level 1): Upon activating this tattoo, select a damage type (acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, thunder). Your attacks deal an additional d6 damage of that type.
• Magus (Level 1): While you channel through any weapon, gain a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls and AC.
• Magical Core (Level 1): Embed a cantrip within the tattoo. Use an action to cast this cantrip. Can be used twice per long rest. Spell attack bonus is +4, and spell save DC is 12.
• Slayer (Level 1): Choose an enemy type (beasts, fey, humanoids, monstrosities, undead). Attacks deal 2d6 additional damage to these creatures.
• Spell Link (Level 1): For spellcasters only, gain an additional level 1 spell slot, refreshed on a long rest.
• Spell Storing (Level 1 & 2): Store a level 1 or 2 spell within the tattoo. Cast it using an action; long rest required to recharge. Spell attack bonus is +4, spell save difficulty is 12/14 respectively.
• Bully: Gain advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks when visible to the target.
• Charmward: Gain advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
• Darkvision: Gain darkvision out to 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, extend its range by 60 feet.

\column

Tier 2: Level 5+ Upgrades

• Amplify (Level 1): Gain +1 to an ability score of your choice, up to a maximum of 20.
• Duelist (Level 2): Use your reaction when hit by a melee attack to add 2 to your AC.
• Enhanced Combat (Level 2): Gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls with any weapon you wield.
• Proficient (Level 1 & 2): Gain proficiency in one or two skills of your choice.
• Guardian (Level 1): Gain proficiency in a saving throw of your choice.
• Magical Core (Level 2): Embed any cantrip within the tattoo. Cast at will; Spell attack bonus is +4, and spell save DC is 14.
• Spell Storing (Level 3): Store a level 3 spell within the tattoo. Cast using an action; requires a long rest to recharge. Spell attack bonus is +6, spell save difficulty is 14.
• Mobile (Level 1): Increase your base movement speed by 5 feet.
• Bolstering: When targeted by a healing spell, regain additional hit points equal to your Constitution modifier.
• Ritualist: Halve the time required to cast spells as rituals while the tattoo is active.
• Shadowed: Enhance your cover in combat; ½ cover counts as ¾ cover. \page

Tier 3: Level 10+ Upgrades

• Duelist (Level 3): Use your reaction when hit by a melee attack to add 3 to your AC.
• Enhanced Combat (Level 3): Gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls with any weapon you wield.
• Flying: Gain a flying speed equal to your movement speed.
• Infusion (Level 2): Choose a damage type; your attacks deal an additional 2d6 damage of that type.
• Magical Core (Level 3): Embed any level 1 spell within the tattoo. Cast twice per long rest; Spell attack bonus is +8, spell save DC is 16.
• Spell Link (Level 3): For spellcasters only, gain an additional level 3 spell slot, refreshed on a long rest.
• Spell Storing (Level 4): Store a level 4 spell within the tattoo. Cast using an action; requires a long rest to recharge. Spell attack bonus is +8, spell save difficulty is 16.
• Indomitable (Level 2): When reduced to 0 hit points, take the Attack action before falling unconscious.
• Elemental Resistance: Gain resistance to one damage type of your choice (fire, cold, lightning, etc.).
• Proficient (Level 3): Gain proficiency in three skills of your choice.

Tier 4: Level 15+ Upgrades

• Amplify (Level 2): Gain +2 to an ability score of your choice, to a maximum of 20.
• Guardian (Level 2): Gain proficiency and advantage on a saving throw of your choice when you can see the source of the effect.
• Magical Core (Level 4): Embed any level 1 spell within the tattoo. Cast at will; Spell attack bonus is +8, and the spell save DC is 16.
• Slayer (Level 2): Choose an enemy type (beasts, fey, humanoids, monstrosities, undead). Your attacks deal 4d6 additional damage to these creatures.
• Spell Storing (Level 4): Store a level 5 spell within the tattoo. Cast using an action; requires a long rest to recharge. Spell attack bonus is +8, spell save difficulty is 16.
• Spell Link (Level 4): For spellcasters only, gain an additional level 4 spell slot, refreshed on a long rest.
• Truesight: Gain truesight while the tattoo is active.
• Beacon: Use an action to emit a divine light from the tattoo. Allies within 15 feet gain a +1 bonus to AC and their attacks deal an additional d6 force damage for 1 minute. Allies can move half their movement towards the light without provoking opportunity attacks. Requires a short or long rest to recharge.
• Spectral Reach: Increase the range of your attacks by 5 feet for 1 minute, inflicting an additional d4 damage. Requires a short or long rest to recharge.
• Venomous: Each creature damaged by your attacks must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution save or suffer 2d6 poison damage at the start of their round for 1 minute. On a successful save, the creature is immune to this effect for the next 24 hours.
• Vicious (Level 2): If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, your critical hit deals an extra 4d6 damage of the attack’s type.
• Will (Level 2): For spellcasters only, when you fail a concentration check, you can choose to pass it instead. Requires a long rest before it can be used again.
• Whirlwind: Use your action to perform a melee attack against each creatu*/897re within 5 feet.
• Keen (Level 2): Attacks made with the tattoo's power cause a critical hit on a roll of 18, 19, or 20.
• Mentor: For spellcasters only, cast any spell you know, even if not prepared, by expending a spell slot of the highest level available to you. Requires a long rest before it can be used again.
• Mobile (Level 2): Increase your base movement speed by an additional 10 feet.
• Piercing (Level 2): Gain +4 on attack rolls against enemies with shields.
• Power Surge: Once per day, you can use a spell slot to cast a spell you know of up to 2 levels higher than that of the spell slot.
• Precise (Level 2): Reroll damage results from your attacks; you must accept the second result.
• Proficient (Level 4): Gain proficiency in four skills of your choice.
• Protective: Make a saving throw with advantage. Requires a short or long rest before it can be used again.
• Rallying: Use an action to raise your spirits (or symbolically, your weapon) in the air, bolstering your allies. For the next minute, your tattoo radiates a shining aura. All allies within 30 feet gain advantage on Wisdom saving throws and are immune to the frightened condition. Any ally moving directly towards you during this time can increase their movement speed by 10 feet. Requires a short or long rest before it can be used again.

So I have a huge over arching quest that has started from level one. It goes until level 15
Basically Every one has a tattoo on their arm that powers up. The way it powers up is the characters are using devices to pull powers from the space between planes when ever they planar traval. Because of the way my campaign is made they do that 5 times.
As they do it I have a bunch of random encounters that escalate that are themed from the different planes.
At the end of the quest they have two options. They must remove their arms and destroy them in a ritual (which is not a big deal in eberron). But they lose their arms and this mega powerful legendary artifact essentially.
OR
They can choose to destroy one of the other Planes. I have Ideas on how to handle this but it would obviously be devastating and world changing.
If they dont do it what are some consolidations? Obviously a masterwork prosthetic. But what can I give that to make it at least kind of worth it.
heres what I have so far.....

Magic Tattoos: Havoc Seal

Every player receives a glowing tattoo known as the Havoc Seal. These tattoos can be upgraded by the tattoo artist located at the Sharn headquarters once the stolen ledger is retrieved. :  {width:325px,mix-blend-mode:multiply}
:

Clive Arcane Tattoo artist

Clive is a middle aged gnome that is obsessed with magical tattoos. He has found a way to refine the fabric of reality into ink is looking for a team to obtain Starlight Condensate using his home made gathering crystals
{width:320px,mix-blend-mode:multiply,border:"2px solid",border-radius:10px} :

Enhancements Overview

The tattoos can be enhanced when working with the tattoo artist. He can use special resources that are gathered to add attributes to a person’s arsenal. : The Players should come to rely on these tatoos. They should be powerful but not game breaking. Feel free to not allow certain combinations due to arcane imbalance or backlash. :
{{note Collection of Starlight Condensate: - Description: Starlight Condensate is a mystical, luminescent liquid that forms only in places where the veil between the Material Plane and the Astral Plane is thinnest. This rare substance, believed to be the crystallized essence of astral light, has traveled across the cosmos and permeated the fabric of reality. - Properties: When used in the enhancement of magic tattoos, the Condensate imbues them with celestial energy, unlocking latent powers and allowing for deeper customization and more potent effects. - Collection Method: The tattoo artist provides each party member with a hollow crystal. When traveling through a rift between planes, this crystal fills with Starlight Condensate. }}
{width:350px,mix-blend-mode:multiply,border:"2px solid",border-radius:10px}
\page

Consequences

Planar Instabilities

The Havoc Seal tattoos provide incredible power, but their use can destabilize the boundaries between planes, leading to increasingly severe consequences.

Detecting Destabilization

Whenever the party traverses a planar portal, they can roll a d20 Arcana check to sense the destabilization.
Flavor Text: "As you step through the shimmering veil of the planar portal, a wave of arcane energy washes over you. The air tingles with the resonance of distant realms, and a deep hum vibrates through your very being. A sense of unease settles in as you instinctively reach out with your arcane senses, trying to grasp the subtle threads of reality that waver and distort around you."

Tier 1: Minor Disturbances

• Planar Overlaps:
  
  • Problem: Subtle fusions of the Feywild or Shadowfell with the Material Plane cause minor anomalies and the appearance of strange creatures.
  • Stabilization: Perform basic rituals, secure minor artifacts, or seek help from plane natives to close small rifts.
• Temporal Distortions:
  
  • Problem: Slight irregularities in time flow, with minor accelerations or decelerations.
  • Stabilization: Locate and use Chrono Crystals or consult mages for minor time flow adjustments.
• Elemental Imbalances:
  
  • Problem: Small-scale weather anomalies and minor elemental disturbances.
  • Stabilization: Conduct elemental rituals at key sites, possibly with elemental gems.
• Planar Gateways:
  
  • Problem: Occasional opening of small portals, allowing minor creatures to pass through.
  • Stabilization: Use basic spells or tools to close portals and guard against minor entities.
• Ghostly Incursions:
  
  • Problem: Increased sightings of ghostly apparitions and minor hauntings.
  • Stabilization: Use Veil Stones or simple rituals to calm spirits and strengthen barriers. :: ## Tier 2: Significant Anomalies
• Planar Overlaps:
  
  • Problem: Noticeable merging of planes with more pronounced environmental changes and aggressive creatures.
  • Stabilization: Perform advanced rituals, secure significant artifacts, or gain aid from powerful plane beings.
• Temporal Distortions:
  
  • Problem: More severe time flow issues, with significant accelerations and decelerations.
  • Stabilization: Find powerful Chrono Crystals or consult high-level mages for major adjustments.
• Elemental Imbalances:
  
  • Problem: Pronounced weather disturbances and frequent elemental manifestations.
  • Stabilization: Perform complex rituals and use powerful elemental gems or seek aid from elemental spirits.
• Planar Gateways:
  
  • Problem: Frequent openings of larger portals, allowing dangerous creatures to pass through.
  • Stabilization: Use advanced spells or tools to close portals and maintain vigilant guards against more dangerous entities.
• Ghostly Incursions:
  
  • Problem: Frequent ghostly apparitions and severe hauntings.
  • Stabilization: Strengthen barriers with powerful Veil Stones or perform complex rituals to calm spirits.

\page

Tier 3: Severe Instabilities

• Planar Overlaps:
  
  • Problem: Extensive merging of planes with drastic environmental changes and powerful, hostile creatures.
  • Stabilization: Conduct major rituals, secure legendary artifacts, or gain aid from ancient plane beings.
• Temporal Distortions:
  
  • Problem: Extreme irregularities in time flow, with chaotic accelerations and decelerations.
  • Stabilization: Use legendary Chrono Crystals or seek out archmages for significant recalibrations.
• Elemental Imbalances:
  
  • Problem: Widespread elemental chaos causing natural disasters and summoning of potent elemental beings.
  • Stabilization: Perform major rituals at critical sites and use rare elemental gems or powerful spirit aid.
• Planar Gateways:
  
  • Problem: Constant openings of massive portals, unleashing powerful and dangerous entities.
  • Stabilization: Utilize legendary spells or tools to close portals and maintain constant vigilance against formidable entities.
• Ghostly Incursions:
  
  • Problem: Overwhelming ghostly presence and widespread hauntings.
  • Stabilization: Use legendary Veil Stones or conduct powerful rituals to calm spirits and restore peace. \column ### Interacting with Clive, the Tattoo Artist

Clive’s Reaction: - Initial Concerns (Tier 1): When the party mentions minor disturbances, Clive dismisses their concerns with a casual wave. "Oh, just a little side effect of tapping into such potent energies. Nothing to worry about!"

• Growing Anomalies (Tier 2): As the instabilities become more significant, Clive remains nonchalant, brushing off their concerns with a laugh. "A few quirks of magic! You’ll hardly notice them in your grand adventures!"
  
• Severe Instabilities (Tier 3): By this stage, Clive’s demeanor changes. His eyes have a wild gleam, and his reassurances are laced with a hint of madness. "The chaos is a small price for such power! Don’t you see? It’s magnificent!"
  

Escalation Summary: - The instabilities start as minor disturbances, growing in complexity and severity as the party continues to use their enhanced tattoos. By Tier 3, the destabilization is profound, threatening the very fabric of the Material Plane and revealing the depths of Clive’s obsession with the arcane power he harnesses.
\page

Quest: Tattoo Undo

“The Anchors of Reality”
Objective: Stabilize the planar boundaries to prevent further destabilization caused by the Havoc Seal tattoos.
If the players have never noticed the chaos in the world or they don't care

Receiving Tier 4 Tattoos

• Event: The party receives their powerful Tier 4 tattoos from Clive.
• Consequences: Immediately after, the whole of reality shakes, signaling a severe destabilization. {{note “As the final strokes of the tattoo needle embed the last of the powerful runes into your skin, the very fabric of reality quakes. The ground trembles, and a ripple of distortion pulses through the air, a harbinger of impending chaos.” }}

Part 1: Discovery and Conflict

A team of magical researchers burst into HavocHavens' front doors shouting for what ever we are doing to stop. The whole of reality is caving in on itself

Clive’s Revelation:

Confront the tattoo artist Clive at the Sharn headquarters. He reveals his true intentions, showing signs of madness, obsessed with the chaotic power of the tattoos.
{{note “Clive’s eyes gleam with a manic light as he dismisses your concerns with wild gestures. ‘Can’t you see? The chaos, the power—it’s magnificent! We’re on the brink of something extraordinary!’” }}
\column

Part 2: Quest for the Anchors

• Gathering Information:
  
  • Objective: Uncover the locations and nature of the Anchors.
  • Tasks:
  • Libraries of Morgrave University: Delve into ancient tomes and scrolls.
    • Challenge: Solve intricate puzzles or decode encrypted texts.
  • Consulting Planar Beings: Seek wisdom from entities like planar guardians or spirits.
    • Challenge: Negotiate or complete tasks for these beings to gain their knowledge.
  • Retrieving Ancient Texts: Explore ruins or hidden vaults in Sharn to find lost writings.
    • Challenge: Overcome traps and guardians protecting these texts.
• Repairing the Anchors:
  
  • Objective: Restore the stability of each Anchor.
  • Tasks:
  • Puzzle Challenges: Solve complex mechanisms linked to each Anchor.
  • Guardian Encounters: Defeat or appease powerful beings guarding the Anchors.
  • Cleansing Corruption: Purge dark energies or malevolent forces corrupting the Anchors.
• Planar Travel:
  
  • Objective: Journey through diverse and dangerous planes to reach each Anchor.
  • Planes to Explore:
  • The Feywild: Navigate enchanted forests and negotiate with capricious fey.
  • The Shadowfell: Traverse shadowy landscapes and confront undead horrors.
  • The Elemental Planes: Brave the fury of elemental realms and their denizens.

\page

Part 3: Final Confrontation

• Confronting Clive:
  
  • Scenario: Clive, now a powerful planar entity, stands at the heart of the instability.
  • Choice:
  • Confrontation: Battle Clive to stop his reckless plans.
    • Challenge: Overcome Clive’s enhanced abilities and his chaotic manipulation of planar energies.
  • Alliance: Convince Clive to assist in stabilizing the planes.
    • Challenge: Persuade Clive, possibly through trials or showing the dire consequences of continued instability.
• Resolution:
  
  • Fate of the Tattoos:
  • Option 1: Sacrifice Arms
    • Objective: Perform a ritual to sacrifice their arms, stabilizing the planes.
    • Outcome: Gain magical prosthetics with unique powers.
    • Magical Prosthetic Arm: Infused with stabilizing magic, granting enhanced strength, arcane capabilities, or unique defensive traits.
  • Option 2: Sacrifice a Realm
    • Objective: Stabilize the planes by sacrificing one of the realms.
    • Realms and Consequences:
    • Feywild: The loss of the Feywild causes a decline in natural magic and the disappearance of fey creatures.
    • Shadowfell: Sacrificing the Shadowfell diminishes the influence of death, making resurrection easier but disrupting the balance between life and death.
    • Elemental Planes (Fire, Water, Air, Earth): Each elemental plane sacrificed leads to a permanent imbalance in the corresponding element, causing long-term natural disasters.
    • Ethereal Plane: Losing the Ethereal Plane makes ethereal travel and spells impossible, weakening connections to spirits and ghosts.
    • Astral Plane: Sacrificing the Astral Plane disrupts long-distance planar travel and weakens the power of psionics.
    • Dal Quor: The loss of Dal Quor ends dreams and nightmares, affecting all beings’ rest and creativity.

Flavor Text for Resolution: “As the chaotic energies subside, you stand at a crossroads. The choice before you is monumental—sacrifice your own power and flesh to restore balance, or condemn an entire realm to save the planes. The weight of your decision will echo through the planes, shaping the future of Eberron itself.”
Heres the enhancments. I am crediting GM GUILD book ancestral weapons for the powerups as I like them

Havoc Seal Enhancements

Tier 0: Level 1+ Upgrades

• For your Eyes Only: Once per short rest you can encrypt the contents of a single page. This page can only be encrypted by some one who also has a Havoc Seal

Tier 1: Level 1+ Upgrades

• Duelist (Level 1): When you are hit by a melee attack you can see, you can channel the tattoo's energy to increase your AC by 1 using your reaction.
• Enhanced Combat (Level 1): Gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with any weapon you wield.
• Infusion (Level 1): Upon activating this tattoo, select a damage type (acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, thunder). Your attacks deal an additional d6 damage of that type.
• Magus (Level 1): While you channel through any weapon, gain a +1 bonus to spell attack rolls and AC.
• Magical Core (Level 1): Embed a cantrip within the tattoo. Use an action to cast this cantrip. Can be used twice per long rest. Spell attack bonus is +4, and spell save DC is 12.
• Slayer (Level 1): Choose an enemy type (beasts, fey, humanoids, monstrosities, undead). Attacks deal 2d6 additional damage to these creatures.
• Spell Link (Level 1): For spellcasters only, gain an additional level 1 spell slot, refreshed on a long rest.
• Spell Storing (Level 1 & 2): Store a level 1 or 2 spell within the tattoo. Cast it using an action; long rest required to recharge. Spell attack bonus is +4, spell save difficulty is 12/14 respectively.
• Bully: Gain advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks when visible to the target.
• Charmward: Gain advantage on saving throws against being charmed.
• Darkvision: Gain darkvision out to 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, extend its range by 60 feet.

\column

Tier 2: Level 5+ Upgrades

• Amplify (Level 1): Gain +1 to an ability score of your choice, up to a maximum of 20.
• Duelist (Level 2): Use your reaction when hit by a melee attack to add 2 to your AC.
• Enhanced Combat (Level 2): Gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls with any weapon you wield.
• Proficient (Level 1 & 2): Gain proficiency in one or two skills of your choice.
• Guardian (Level 1): Gain proficiency in a saving throw of your choice.
• Magical Core (Level 2): Embed any cantrip within the tattoo. Cast at will; Spell attack bonus is +4, and spell save DC is 14.
• Spell Storing (Level 3): Store a level 3 spell within the tattoo. Cast using an action; requires a long rest to recharge. Spell attack bonus is +6, spell save difficulty is 14.
• Mobile (Level 1): Increase your base movement speed by 5 feet.
• Bolstering: When targeted by a healing spell, regain additional hit points equal to your Constitution modifier.
• Ritualist: Halve the time required to cast spells as rituals while the tattoo is active.
• Shadowed: Enhance your cover in combat; ½ cover counts as ¾ cover. \page

Tier 3: Level 10+ Upgrades

• Duelist (Level 3): Use your reaction when hit by a melee attack to add 3 to your AC.
• Enhanced Combat (Level 3): Gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls with any weapon you wield.
• Flying: Gain a flying speed equal to your movement speed.
• Infusion (Level 2): Choose a damage type; your attacks deal an additional 2d6 damage of that type.
• Magical Core (Level 3): Embed any level 1 spell within the tattoo. Cast twice per long rest; Spell attack bonus is +8, spell save DC is 16.
• Spell Link (Level 3): For spellcasters only, gain an additional level 3 spell slot, refreshed on a long rest.
• Spell Storing (Level 4): Store a level 4 spell within the tattoo. Cast using an action; requires a long rest to recharge. Spell attack bonus is +8, spell save difficulty is 16.
• Indomitable (Level 2): When reduced to 0 hit points, take the Attack action before falling unconscious.
• Elemental Resistance: Gain resistance to one damage type of your choice (fire, cold, lightning, etc.).
• Proficient (Level 3): Gain proficiency in three skills of your choice.

Tier 4: Level 15+ Upgrades

• Amplify (Level 2): Gain +2 to an ability score of your choice, to a maximum of 20.
• Guardian (Level 2): Gain proficiency and advantage on a saving throw of your choice when you can see the source of the effect.
• Magical Core (Level 4): Embed any level 1 spell within the tattoo. Cast at will; Spell attack bonus is +8, and the spell save DC is 16.
• Slayer (Level 2): Choose an enemy type (beasts, fey, humanoids, monstrosities, undead). Your attacks deal 4d6 additional damage to these creatures.
• Spell Storing (Level 4): Store a level 5 spell within the tattoo. Cast using an action; requires a long rest to recharge. Spell attack bonus is +8, spell save difficulty is 16.
• Spell Link (Level 4): For spellcasters only, gain an additional level 4 spell slot, refreshed on a long rest.
• Truesight: Gain truesight while the tattoo is active.
• Beacon: Use an action to emit a divine light from the tattoo. Allies within 15 feet gain a +1 bonus to AC and their attacks deal an additional d6 force damage for 1 minute. Allies can move half their movement towards the light without provoking opportunity attacks. Requires a short or long rest to recharge.
• Spectral Reach: Increase the range of your attacks by 5 feet for 1 minute, inflicting an additional d4 damage. Requires a short or long rest to recharge.
• Venomous: Each creature damaged by your attacks must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution save or suffer 2d6 poison damage at the start of their round for 1 minute. On a successful save, the creature is immune to this effect for the next 24 hours.
• Vicious (Level 2): If the d20 roll for an attack is a 20, your critical hit deals an extra 4d6 damage of the attack’s type.
• Will (Level 2): For spellcasters only, when you fail a concentration check, you can choose to pass it instead. Requires a long rest before it can be used again.
• Whirlwind: Use your action to perform a melee attack against each creatu*/897re within 5 feet.
• Keen (Level 2): Attacks made with the tattoo's power cause a critical hit on a roll of 18, 19, or 20.
• Mentor: For spellcasters only, cast any spell you know, even if not prepared, by expending a spell slot of the highest level available to you. Requires a long rest before it can be used again.
• Mobile (Level 2): Increase your base movement speed by an additional 10 feet.
• Piercing (Level 2): Gain +4 on attack rolls against enemies with shields.
• Power Surge: Once per day, you can use a spell slot to cast a spell you know of up to 2 levels higher than that of the spell slot.
• Precise (Level 2): Reroll damage results from your attacks; you must accept the second result.
• Proficient (Level 4): Gain proficiency in four skills of your choice.
• Protective: Make a saving throw with advantage. Requires a short or long rest before it can be used again.
• Rallying: Use an action to raise your spirits (or symbolically, your weapon) in the air, bolstering your allies. For the next minute, your tattoo radiates a shining aura. All allies within 30 feet gain advantage on Wisdom saving throws and are immune to the frightened condition. Any ally moving directly towards you during this time can increase their movement speed by 10 feet. Requires a short or long rest before it can be used again.

My husband and I have been married 8 years. We are both Catholic, and we met because of the church, both volunteering playing music for some of the masses. We have one kid, a daughter, who’s 7 years old. My husbands never been into sex, which was fine, because neither was I. Not that I hated it but, it was definitely something I could live without, and to be honest I’ve never really wanted that much, it always sounded weird to me. And, because of our religion we both waited til after marriage anyways. I discussed my thoughts about sex with my husband before we were even married, and I was relieved because he felt the same way, because not many men do. So many men especially in modern society pressure women into sex so lucky me! I find one who doesn’t! Except flash forward more than a decade after meeting and apparently he’s gay. We’ve had sex to have our child, obviously, having a child was something I’ve always wanted despite my disinterest in sex and my husband seemed mostly into the idea too, so after we got married we did try to make a child, however after I got pregnant we’ve just never had sex since. Which, in retrospect, I really should’ve seen as a sign, but for years I just assumed we were on the same wavelength of not needing sex in our relationship.
Anyways, as to how I found out he was cheating on me, it really wasn’t even intentional. This last Monday night my daughter, who‘s 7, had this idea to steal my husbands phone when he was asleep and use his thumb to unlock it. It’s the kind of thing a 7 year old does to be mischievous I guess, I’ve never felt a need to snoop on my husbands phone myself, I really assumed up until this he was loyal, I’m close friends with all his female friends so why would I need to worry...! Although in retrospect too I missed a lot of signs, and he was always sort of secretive with his phone, but he’s also always talking about how Apple and Facebook are spying on you, that there’s hackers and that kind of thing... I don’t know. It feels stupid looking back on. Anyways, I walked into the living room after taking a shower to find my husband dead asleep on the couch from a messed up sleep schedule, and my daughter playing on an iPhone that’s definitely not hers as she doesn’t have a phone, so I asked her what she was doing, she admitted pretty fast and handed the phone over to me. It was open on the notes app she was using the drawing feature to make a drawing, I exited out of the app and on the Home Screen I saw a few apps that immediately stood out to me. Namely: Tinder, Grindr, and Daddyhunt. I wasn’t 100% sure what Grindr or Daddyhunt were but I immediately had a sick feeling in my stomach, as well as a suspicion, which was soon confirmed. I opened Tinder and scrolled through just the screen where it shows your messages, and they were all male names and profiles. I definitely must’ve looked as shocked as I felt, because my daughter asked me what I was looking at to make “that face”, so I said it was nothing, closed the app and turned off the phone like nothing happened. I then got my daughter ready for bed. Later that night I researched what Grindr and Daddyhunt were, which of course were what I thought, I’d even heard of Grindr before but when I first saw the app name I really tried gaslighting myself.
But there’s no ignoring it, now. I feel like an idiot for ignoring all the signs. Not only was there the disinterest in sex, but I look back and see a lot of things, the way he would smile at his phone and I’d ask why and he’d say “nothing, just something a friend texted”, the time he complimented this strangers gay flag tattoo, all the times he’s gone over to a friends house or that he had to attend business at his job, not stating which friend or what specific business, his interest in romcom movies like Legally Blond, Heathers, Mean Girls… like, am I stupid? Has he always been carrying this big gay flag around and I’ve been too blind to notice? For a decade. How long has he known? Who else has he had sex with? How many people is it? Does he love any of them? Does he love me? This entire decade of my life, spent with him, and he’s gay.
And the worst part is, I’m not even sure if I should tell him. Or if I want to. If I do, then it’ll mean most likely divorce, which I really do not want our 7 year old daughter to suffer through. Or worse maybe is if I tell him and we stay together, then he’ll know I know and our dynamic will have to shift. Already we haven’t been sleeping in the same bed most nights, most nights usually either I or him sleep in my daughters room, or he’ll fall asleep on the couch, it’s rare we actually spend the full night sleeping together. Before having our daughter, after we married, at least then we would every night, for that first year. But then with job changes, moving, and of course our daughter, I guess it all shifted, and it happened gradually and at a pace I never even noticed how disconnected we had become. Because of how connected we were at the beginning, I assumed our connection still stood, and now I’m realizing how distant apart we are. A selfish part of me also doesn’t want to confront him because it would mean having to explain to my family, coworkers, friends, that I’d married a gay man, we’d had a relationship for 10 years, and he was cheating on me. Even if I don’t get into specifics with anyone outside immediate family and the closest of friends, I have to admit I see it as embarrassing, on my behalf. If I don’t confront him it means everything can stay the way things are. But another part of me knows too that the way things are right now is mostly surface level, not real, and that by not confronting him I’m continuing this false narrative in favor of fake happiness. And doesn’t he deserve to know the truth? And deserve a life without me, if that’s what he wants? I’m not even pissed at him. I should be pissed, I really should be, but I‘m not. I’m mostly just in shock, and pissed at myself for not noticing. I’m not mad at him like I thought I’d be. I’ve continued on this week as if everything is normal, and it’s been surprisingly easy to play this part as if nothing happened.
I think I should confront him, but I am so, so conflicted. I cried just a bit ago for our marriage, and I think also from stress, whereas I haven’t cried at all this week before today. I have no one to talk about this with in my real life. Should I confront him? Would it benefit our relationship, and benefit our daughter, would it be the good thing for him and for our family? If so, how do I do it? Do I just tell him bluntly that I know? Do I gather more evidence first? How do I start that conversation? Is there a certain way to word it, to make the conversation go smoothly? If I don’t, then what then? Do I continue pretending like everything’s okay, and that our marriage is not a sham? Do I try to rekindle our connection, if not even romantically, just to be closer, so that maybe he can tell me himself? Will he ever tell me himself? I’m so exhausted. It’s 6 AM that I’m writing this, and I woke up 3 AM alone in the bed unable to sleep, and cried.

Inspired by this post. Dated a girl last year for 5 months
5'4, dirty blonde, AirPods in all the time, loves going to parties and concerts, gym rat, scrolls tiktok for hours a day, works at some creative agency, prefers to thrift, obsessed with astrology and generations, very emotional, uses all the typical young people slang. Loves talking about and listening to taylor and lana and olivia rodrigo and tate mcrae
You'd think I'm just describing your typical Zoomer girl born in like 2003. No, she was born in 1993. And I'm using her birth year instead of just saying she was 30 because she really really liked making a point out of being a "February 93 baby". I was 22. She'd literally call herself a "28 year old teenager" even though she was 30.
Here are a few other fun facts:

• Her favourite fit was an overgrown pink crewneck, the shortest shorts possible, and Birkenstocks.
• Took her to a basketball game and she spent most of it recording and editing her tiktok (she has 70k followers)
  • She made a post about me that was captioned "when you pull a younger guy 😊" and the comments were all calling her a girlboss and icon, just imagine if the roles were reversed
• She has a tattoo on her arm that reads "Spicy Pisces" on her waist
• Because she worked remote and didn't really have to clock in, she'd stay up till 2 am doing art and wake up at 12 everyday
• She once started crying when she caught me just dozing off in the general vicinity of some girls my age in a restaurant
  • "Would you love me more if I was 10 years younger?"...we've known each other for two months at this point
• I met her friends once and they spent an hour dissecting my astrology sign, birth year, what type of gen z I am, what I was in a past life
  • Apparently people born from late 1999 to mid 2001 are "mostly gen z'ers with suppressed young millennial tendencies"...I still don't know what that means
• She was really crazy; we watched the scene in Avatar 2 where the brother tragically died and she started laughing like crazy. When I asked how the fuck that was funny she told me "he was a mid as fuck be fr"...literally tiktok speak irl
• She kept bringing up our age "idk if I should really be dating you, do you feel like I'm ever manipulating you?"
  • You're mentally 19, I think we're good

I know I've said mostly negative things about her but she had her strengths as well. She was sweet and had a good heart. Very playful and infectious laugh. Funny and always kept me entertained Definitely has a young soul. Physically, she was a 10/10. Really cute face with fiery green eyes and an absolute PAWG as well. Pussy game was bomb and sexual chemistry was butter. We broke up because her BPD got worse. If she wasn't so crazy I'd wife her up and we'd have 3 kids. Thinking of hitting her up again.

I can vividly remember the last dream of my sleep, especially if I get up in middle of it. I had an unhinged dream today. I have never dreamt about funger at all, at least to my knowledge. This is going to a big nothing burger of a post. This is how it went-
I was on a bed with 3 of my "housemates," playing uno. They weren't my actual housemates. Just random strangers but in my dream, I felt like I have lived with them for a while. So, my housemates (2 ladies and a gentleman (he was wearing a suit for some reason) all had dozens of cards in their hand and one of the girls just threw all of hers cards and said "my uncle is dead and this is all I got from the will." She turned her handbag upside down and revealed to us a pile of metal jigsaw pieces. I just knew that it will form a cube if solved and it looked awful lot like somehow just sliced the cube of depths into many jigsaw pieces.
I started freaking out, saying she shouldn't keep it anywhere near her or our house. I was screaming "get that thing out and bury it. Idc throw it into a lake! Don't even touch it with your hands! It is just evil!it will bring disaster to your life and you won't want it!"
The guy said "didn't think you believed in these things! Calm down man. It is not like it will kill you."
Others were making fun of me as well, but then I unleashed my funger knowledge. For some reason I was sure if someone touches the cube, they might find themselves at the dungeon. I said, "No! No! Stfu. You will be put in a dungeon that is cruel and evil. There will be monsters and abominations, and weird freaks in there! Even if you somehow get out, it would turn out to be a trick of your mind. You will become suicidal and depressed and might accidentally aid in the birth of a god! You wish you were dead! There is this guy called torturer and he will chop your hands and legs for fun and watch you crawl around. There are horny monsters with big dicks trying fuck you"
The girl who brought the cube pieces was like "that's kinky."
And then I slapped her hard. "No. You will bleed to death. Not to mention that crow guy or the jelly fish looking monster. The only way out of the dungeon is through and you wouldn't want anything you will find there. Even if you figure out to get some treasures and find your way out, you will have PTSD and be a mess of human being! I mean if you get lucky you can get a sick fucking dog. That's the best case scenario. Second best case you can ascend to godhood but you would still not be an actual god. It will be like archons getting the power from gnosis which inturn makes them slaves to the bigger god. I ain't risking anything. I'm going to find something online on how to get rid of it. Where is my phone!"
They were all looking at me Weird so I walked out of the bedroom, looking for my mobile and 2 of my housemates just followed me for no reason. I saw them and asked why they left her alone in the room with the cube.
I ran back and found the cube out together, but the housemate who got the cube pieces just disappeared out of the room.
Then we were arguing what could have happened and someone kept knocking on the bedroom door from the other side. The guy in the suit just walked up to the door and opened it, when I told him to not do anything.
(This is where the dream got weird and horrific because I started to get visions of what happened in dungeons to my housemates, but it looked like a mix of termina art+begotten movie but animated)
The person who was knocking at the door was the girl who disappeared and as soon as the door was opened, she started screaming and her hands started to get cut off by something.
The vision stopped but I still slammed the door shut but the guy went up to the cube saying "you are right! I'm going to throw it out." Then the moron just grabbed the cube with his hand. He got ruptured in front me and the other girl.
She snapped her fingers and said "I'm going to dismantle the cube! I got it im genius!" She touched it and got zapped as well.
To my surprise, I just walked out of the room casually mumbling "I warned them. Fucking morons. Can't do anything." But the damn visions kept coming. Flashes of them being chased and tortured and slammed around left and right. I can speak with them during the visions, but I just kept saying "not my business!" "you aren't getting me to touch the cube" "try fighting I don't know. You touched the stupid cube"
Then I realised I can't sleep if these visions kept coming. Then I started to guide them out of the dungeon, but they kept making the worst decisions. I told the first girl who got sucked into the dungeon to use torch so she can see in the darkness. She somehow burnt a library down and got carbon monoxide poisoned, because she torched it. After that I gave up and figured the visions will stop when they get themselves killed (I'm not a sociopath.trust me) then the guy somehow figures out a way out of dungeon because he is the only one trying to climb up the levels of dungeons and I asked him "how did you get up?"
"I just kept walking towards the barking noises. I want me some pets!" He said
"You mean pet? There is only one moonless. I'm telling you. One single badass pet!"
"No dude. I can hear 2 dogs!" He said and ran into the 2 dogs at the entrance. He stood no chance.
Then I was thinking about going full Doom guy mode into the dungeon. Doing lots of prep and stocking up on weapons and supplies before touching the cube so I can kill everything. That's when I started to think about how to get affinity with gods. For some reason I wanted to book a tattoo appointments to get all the sigils tatted on my arms.
Then I got a vision of the final girl and she was just screaming and feasting on a big mound of dirt. I asked her how she is already hungry and she said "hungry? I'm not hungry. I got nothing better to do here. A catman wanted this silent creepy kid and he gave me the dirt for the kid. So long sucker!"
I went back into the room, still looking for my phone and found an empty scroll next to the cube. My first thought was to look up a cheat code to get more empty scroll from this one. Then I nearly touched the scroll, planning to get phase skill, but stopped because I ain't touching anything from the depth of the dungeon. Then, I thought about drawing cross on my forehead to get Alllmer affinity. That's where the whole dream just spiraled out of control because of me becoming too aware.
"Wait. Didn't allmer become sulphur after ascension? Can I trick the dungeon if I gain trickster god affinity? Fuck I'm atheist. I can't gain jackshit affinity. Why is she eating dirt? Wait, I don't have to get the god of fear and Hunger sigil tattooed because she hasn't ascended yet. Do I go to an eye doctor to stop these visions or brain doctor! I need House. Oh no he will probably make things worse to figure out what's wrong .... Wait. Girl didn't become the fear and Hunger god. Is that why my housemates aren't hungry? Wait is that why they are fucking dumb? At least leg guard didn't cause world war 2.... Fuck that means no internet. No wonder I couldn't find my phone. Where am I going to play GENSHIN. Should I burn the bedroom down? Shit the cube won't melt. Why do I remember about phone and internet if my housemates can't?"
And then I got up because I got too meta in my dream

This nonsensical build requires buy-in for AEG and SS books from 3.0.
The main character is a Cha-maxing Sorcerer 6 / Wyrm Wizard 1 / Pale Master 10 / Tattoed Monk 3. Starting at 18 Cha and +2 race, +5 from levels, +5 inherent, +6 item, +2 age category, equals 38 (+14 mod). After it uses Bellflower Tattoo once(Cha mod as enhancement bonus to any ability), it now is 46 (+18 mod). Again, Cha 50 (+20 modifier).
This makes Pale Master touch abilities have DC 40 for a short while(3 rounds to be precise). This will be important later.
However this build is not about this guy.
Meet Devastation Spider. 128 HD Colossal Vermin of CR 41 with poisonous bite.
Step 0 is finding... Not him, actually. What we look for for now is Colossal Monstrous Scorpion. This is a mid-CR non-unique creature, so its a question of money. Not much money, even. From a safe distance Limited Wish to reduce next save by -7, and then Deathless Master Touch. With its Fort save being +25, it guaranteed fails the save and becomes our dead thrall. Awaken him and equip Shrink Collar. This provides a capable minion with 1d10 Con primary/secondary poison of DC 51.
Step 1 is now finding DS. Also a non-unique creature so we just need to spend more money. Earning it back with CMS is not particularly hard. Now, use Spectral Hand to deliver Maximized Empowered Shivering Touch(18+3d6/2 Dex damage, no save) until effective Dex is 0 and there is enough gap to not worry ever again. Put second Shrink Collar on it for ease of moving.
Step 2, track down Master of Flies 9 and convince them to Awaken Vermin the captive DS. Bonus points for Maximizing it, but while nice it is not critical.
Graft fiendish wings. Which ones is not important.
Now methodically use Deathless Master Touch until it fails(which only happens on 1). Chances of it are about 14% per day. We are in no rush at all, we can refuel Dex damage on daily basis, and all expended resources are renewable. Optionally, acquire a source of Desecrate and matching altar for +2hp/HD when it works.
Eventually, this happens. Now we got a 256 HD Colossal-shrunk-to-Small undead pet. Re-Awaken it, maybe with Max and Emp(for 12+1d6/2). In that case, Limited Wish(or regular Wish from scroll) to get maximum roll. It should be within reach of either spell even if I am not sure which. Acquire an use of Psychic Reformation in some form that will not cost XP to subject, instruct DS to shuffle its last feats into Ability Focus(poison), Virulent/Deadly Poison, and finally Spit Poison. As a result it gets a 30ft ranged touch attack at casual +146, with equally casual DC 140 of poison for 2d12 Con primary 4d12 secondary.
Wait, Small? Thats not funny. How about...
Apply two Manifester Level 20 Psionic Tattoos of Extended Compression, augmented for duration and secondary size category. Attach Capacitors. If needed(experiments should have been done before), swap yet another feat for either Talent to feed them, if they wouldnt recharge on creature with insufficient power points. Twice every 11 days this little guy can become a Diminutive(1ft space) spider. That also raises Dex and improves SIze Modifier for even funnier attack bonus. Meanwhile from graft he got a fly(average) speed of 120ft.
If owner manages to milk the poison into usable form its DC is actually 2 higher(which is lost in conversion to touch attack). Prices of one dose are something I am willing to inquire.
For fun, Spellstitch it for 2/day Dimension Door(range 10640 ft), 2/day Enlarged Dimension Door(range 21280 ft) and 1/day Teleport.
For different kind of fun, substitute one or both Dimension Doors for Wings of Flurry and reroll two more feats for Max and Emp SLA. 1536+256d6/2(avg 1984) AoE damage.
~~~
If hunting Epic creatures is not to publics taste, perform same with Colossal Monstrous Spider out of the gate. This makes 64 HD pet with +41 attack bonus and DC 46 1d10 Con primary / 2d10 Con secondary ranged touch attack. Thats much less inch resting since creatures start resisting this DC eventually, but it still hurts quite some.

“You don’t need to worry about doing the design, I’ve already done it for you!” It was the worst melty clock I’ve ever seen with random kanji-esque squiggles instead of numbers hahaha. For one it’s insulting that they thought I couldn’t draw a clock and flowers, but also I think the general public can sometimes forget about the “artist” part of tattoo artist. I like giving people the benefit of the doubt, and I think they were genuinely trying to help (or may have been looking for a discount), but I then had to explain that I’m an artist and design all my tattoos because I love it, it’s not an inconvenience that can be made easier with AI, it’s something I genuinely love to do or I wouldn’t be doing this job. They were happy for me to redesign and were much happier than with the design AI generated piece. (Who would’ve thought a tattoo artist would know more about the rules of tattooing, and what makes tattoo art look good on the body, than some random code that uses a database of stolen work to generate images, shock.)
Edit to add: I’m not against AI. I think it could be a useful tool. I do think it’s unethical because it uses stolen artwork. If there was an AI program that got consent from, and/or compensated the creators of the artwork it uses, I wouldn’t have an issue with it at all. It’s the fact that it’s powered by stolen art. Sources:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/is-ai-art-stealing-from-artists
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/midjourney-ai-artists-database-1234691955/

LMAO edit actually 19! still trying to get use to saying that lol :p Hey hey everyone! How's y'all's nights going? Working 3rd shift has ruined my already dead social life. Looking to make some long term friends who don't ghost me after talking for 3 days
A bit about me:
I work 3rd shift,, typically awake from 5pm to 8am my time (EST)
Massive gamer and nerd in general
Games I play: overwatch, borderlands (series), monster hunter world/rise, animal crossing, Fallout 3/4/76, Elder Scrolls Online, Skyrim, Project Zomboid, and so many others lol
Other hobbies besides gaming: drawing, painting, cooking, music, watching anime
If you listen to Hollywood Undead you are instantly my bff. Other music I like is rock, emo, pop rock, punk, and musicals
I have a fat cat named Cheesecake, he's my baby
Zombies are like my special interest, just think they're so cool
I have tattoos and piercings (11 tattoos, 8 piercings)
anyways you should dm me! If you do I'll make you jealous with pictures of my cooking

“Echo, we don’t have time for this…” Irezumi said, watching her brother do pull ups from a bar he found in the ceiling of the main floor. “Speaker Astarte will be here any minute, and you still haven’t put up the ‘Closed’ sign.”
“We have time…” Echo said in between reps. “Besides, it’s not like we’ll have any customers, we just opened, no one even really knows about us yet.”
As if to spite him, The bell above the door rang, as the door swung open, admitting their first customers.
“Welcome to Nezumi’s Spirits!” Echo called as he finished one final rep. He slowly lowered himself with one arm, and dropped the last foot or so in front of the entering customers. “I’m Echo.” He said, taking a small towel from his waist and wiping away the sweat from his body. He was surprised to see two people, both tall for non-pandorans. “How can I… Wait.. don’t I know you?” He asked the woman that stood infront of the pair.
“Ohhhhh.. These are the cuties from the other night!” Irezumi said. “Remember, they were at the square, being harrassed by those ‘out of towners’?”
“That’s right!” Echo exclaimed. “Please.. Come in. What can I help you with? I hate to rush, but we were just about to close, we have a meeting with Speaker Astarte.”
Fortune stared in wide eyed wonder, It wasn’t often that she met someone taller than her, but in just as good of shape too. She was nearly stunned as she watched the muscles of his chest ripple under his tattooed skin. The beads of sweat running down his stomach. She was startled as her brother nudged her forward, breaking her train of thought, and bringing her back into reality. “Uhh.. Ye-Yes! We just came to get some magical supplies.. For beginners? Is that something you have?”
“For beginners? Deciding to branch out, eh?” Echo said with a quick smile and a wink. Fortune nearly fainted. “Sure, I believe we have something to help out. I hope you’re not bargain shopping, Magic supplies are fairly expensive. We have basic componant packs that start at 1000 crowns, and a basic equipment pack for another 5000 crowns. That does include a spell book, ink, quills, a Gemstone focus, an astrolab, complete Star charts for Rammanaria, and a scroll case with 10 full size blank spell quality paper. Each comes with a very nice durable beasthide leather bag.”
“Uhh.. Ye-yes. Umm.. two of those please.” Fortune stammered.
Echo smile. “Excellent. Did you want two of the componant kits? Or Two of the equipment kits?”
Fortune nodded.. “Uh huh..”
“Two of each?” Echo joked.
“yes..” Fortune said, shaking herself out of her daydreaming. “Yes, Two of each.”
Echo raised an eyebrow. “Well now. Alright! Twelve thousand crowns, if you will.”
Fortune glanced to Chance for the first time since they arrived. He stepped forward with a decently sized bag. He began to pull out several smaller bags. He left twelve of them on the counter. “Each one is a hundred Colonies.” He said quietly. “But please, Count away, we understand.”
Echo glanced at the twelve small bags on his counter, he wasn’t expecting them to accept his initial price. “I’ll tell you what, normally, I would count them all. But, I’m going to go ahead and trust you both, just this once. I have a meeting with Speaker Astarte here in just a few minutes, so, Time is of the essence.” He nodded to his sister, who walked into the back room, returning quickly with four leather bags. Two small, and two larger.
Irezumi handed a pair to Fortune, with a slight bow. “My thanks for your purchase.” She said. She then turned to chance, handing him the second pair. “My thanks for your purchase.” She repeated, but with a wink and a flirty smile. She allowed her hand to linger on his as she passed him the bags.
“I hope you both enjoy, and study hard.” Echo said to Fortune. “When you move on to more advanced studies, come on back, and we can get you set up for that too.”
“Of course.” Fortune said, awkwardly bowing to Echo. “Thank you so much.” she muttered, before her nerve gave out. She turned and walked quickly for the door, pulling Chance, still smiling dumbly at Irezumi, along behind her. As they opened the door, the blood drained from Fortune’s face.
Standing in front of her, was Kessine Rammanarian, and Quorin Astarte. She stared in startled fear for a moment, before bowing. “Speaker Astarte, Lady Kessine… It’s good to see you both this morning.”
“The Speaker wishes to inquire about your purchase.” Kessine said, pointing to the bags that each carried.
“Oh, we’re buying beginners supplies.” Fortune answered.
“The Speaker would think that you would study with your Aunt Riverra.” Kessine said, her eyes narrowing. “She keeps a well stocked magical pantry.”
“Oh, uhh, yeah, I suppose we will learn from her.” Fortune said. “Father wanted us to purchase our own supplies, if we were serious about the venture.”
“And are you?” Kessine asked. “Serious about it, I mean.”
“Yes, My lady.” Fortune said. “Very. I’m sure we’ll be spending a lot of time here.”
Kessine looked through the open door at the still shirtless Echo, and the distinctly under dressed Irezumi. She made eye contact with Fortune again. “I’m sure I can see the appeal.” She said archly. “We have business. Good day.” She dismissed the twins before entering the store with Quorin silently giggling behind her.
Kessine held the door for Quorin, and then firmly closed it behind her, turning the sign to “Closed” and sliding the bolt. She strode into the main room, looking about, before nodding to Quorin. She noticed Irezumi studying her closely. “Something amiss, young Lady?” She asked the girl.
“Your Spirit..” Irezumi said, “Wild and Savage. You fight to hold it at bay.” She said, with a small concern.
“Indeed.” Kessine said simply. “Speaker Astarte wishes to know why you’ve called him here.”
“Ah. Follow me.” Echo said, moving to the back room, followed by Irezumi, Kessine, and Quorin. “Shortly after moving in, we found this.” Echo placed his hand on one of the bricks and pushed, just as before, a doorway swung open. “We figured you would want to know, before we decided to explore.”
Quorin stuck his head through the door, he waved a hand and sent a few magical lights down the stairs, and watched the light play, on the strange red-gold bricks.
He glanced back over his shoulder, Kessine looked to Irezumi. “The Speaker says that this is an entrance to an ancient Labyrinth.. Very dangerous.”
“I understand the warning.” Echo said to Quorin. “I should note. Saying that to a Pandoran is simply encouraging them to enter and explore.”
Quoring looked back to Echo with a grin.
“Yes, we can restrain ourselves.” Echo said. “Only because you asked nicely.”
Kessine looked startled that Echo could understand the Speaker.
Irezumi smiled at Kessine. “It’s a family thing. Some of us have very very good hearing.”
Kessine nodded. “The Speaker asks that you not allow anyone through this door. Without his permission. Meanwhile, we will look for a new location for your store.”
“I don’t think a move is necessary.” Echo said. “I rather like this building, and it’s location. I can keep people out of the door, if that’s the problem.”
“The Speaker is more concerned about what may come out of the doorway.” Kessine replied. “It would be a shame should you be accosted in your sleep, or during a busy day.”
Echo patted his sword. “We are used to such things, at home. I am not worried.”
Quorin gently closed the door, listening for a ‘Click’ as it locked itself. He looked back to Echo.
“He is more worried about your customers.” Kessine translated to Irezumi. “That, and, once this information gets out. And it will. You will be beset with Adventurers trying to break in.”
Echo still did not look concerned, but was interested in playing nice with those that controlled the city he chose to do business with. “What do you suggest?”
Quorin sat in a nearby chair. Motioning with a hand.
“The Speaker suggests, that if you are unwilling to locate, then he would like to station a guard.” Kessine translated. “A small one, four or five at most, rotating day and night. He assures you that they will not interfere with business.”
Echo looked to his sister, curious for her thoughts. A slight nod was all she gave him. “I think that is acceptable. I do have a thought on the matter though.”
Quorin gave him a questioning look and motioned for him to speak.
“If people trying to get in here is going to be a problem.. Why don’t we let them?” Echo said.
Quorin’s brow furrowed..
“No no.. Not just let anyone in. but, you can liscense it. Say, 1 gold per entry, per person.” Echo said. “That way, you make some money in your city coffers, and people, instead of thinking up ways to sneak in, only have to come up with a small pittance, for adventurers anyway. Much easier than doing the crimes, and risking the punishments.” He paused as an idea came to his mind. “In fact.. If you’re interested in a BIG boost to the local economy.. Hold a festival.”
Quorin gave him a genuine look of confusion.
“It’s simplicity itself. We create an adventuring competition.. ‘The Great Qadar Games’ or some such. Make first prize free entry to this ‘Labyrinth’.. for life.” Echo said. “This will bring people from all over. Those people will need to eat. Need new weapons, armor, clothes. A place to stay.. Magical Supplies.. I mean.. Pretty good for everyone in the city, when you think about it.”
Quorin slowly nodded as he thought about the possibilities, then he glanced up at Echo.
“That’s simple.” Echo said. “The Businesses of Qadar can pay for it. We can act as ‘Sponsors’. Here. One moment.” Echo walked through an ink drawing of a door on the nearby wall. He was gone for maybe ten seconds, before he re-appeared holding a very large, irregular, but clear stone roughly the size of a bull’s head. “We found this a couple years ago, while tilling our rice fields. It’s a diamond. Consider this, your first sponsor payment.” He said, handing the large diamond to Quorin.
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Two Days Later
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“Fortune!” Emmy called, outside the door to her daughter’s room, she knocked rapidly. After a minute or two of no answer, Emmy simply kicked the door off of it’s hinges and entered. The Two twins were sitting at a table, both sleeping with magic books stacked around them. They both started awake as the door crashed down.
“Mom! Geez!” Fortune said, wiping away the sleep from her eyes.
“You two have been holed up in here for two days.” Emmy said, “I’m worried about you, and I have an assignment for you.”
“We’re fine mom.” Fortune said. “And find someone else for the assignment, we’re studying.”
“I really think you will be interested in thi-..” Emmy started talking before Fortune cut her off.
“Mom! We need to study!” Fortune said. “We don’t have time for assignments and errands.”
Emmy’s eyes blazed gold, and a horrible growl came from her throat. “I think you’ld better think again who you are addressing! You speak to my Avatar. And when she speaks, you listen.”
Fortune and Chance scrambled from their chairs, to kneel before The Avatar of the Choice. “I’m sorry, Mistress!” Fortune pleaded.
Emmy’s eyes slowly faded, and she took a deep breath. “Now, as I was saying. I have an assignment. Which you both will accept. Yes?”
“Yes Master!” both twins nearly shouted.
“Good. From this day forward, you will spend your days at Nezumi’s Spirits.” Emmy said. “You will Guard a door in the back room, from anyone that wishes to enter, without the express permission from Speaker Astarte. You Two will meet with Two members of the Vanguard, and coordinate with them. Clear?”
“Yes Master!” They both said.
“Excellent. You are late. Best run.” Emmy said, before turning away from the wreckage of the door.
The Twins leapt up and ran out the door.
*******************************************************************
Fortune was extatic that they had been assigned to a security detail for Nezumi’s Spirits. “This is the best assignment possible. Nothing could ruin my mood today!” She said.
Chance winced. “You had to say it.” He said solemnly as he reached for the simple wooded door to the shop. “You can’t just say things like, ‘Nothing could ruin my mood today.’”
“I mean it, Chance. We have days.. No Weeks to spend with Echo.. and Irezumi, in your case.” Fortune said. “and our only competition? Some Vangaurd people? I mean, seriously, this is perfect!” she was saying as she walked through the door. She stopped dead in her tracks, her face fell from extatic to dread, as she laid eyes on Faedrin Colbert. The Beautiful Tiefling of the Vangaurd, stood in her shining, form fitting armor, and red ribbons flowing from the top of the shiny black horns on her head. “Oh no..”
“Hi Fortune, Hey Chance.” Faedrin said sweetly. “I heard you were assigned here. I was worried that something had happened to you, it’s not like you all to be late.” She took a step closer. “Have you met our newest recruit? Tambori Windsong, This is Fortune and Chance Aristi. They will be joining us.” Fortune felt her stomach lurch as she laid eyes on a creature equally as beautiful as Faedrin. She knew Tambori.
“We’ve met.” Tambori said to Faedrin. She walked from the door to the backroom to give Fortune a hug. “We used to play together when we were little.”
Fortune’s heart spiralled. Her two biggest rivals, here, with her. She didn’t even notice Echo and Irezumi cleaning and straightening up the shop.
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Six Months Later
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“Come on, Fortune.” Echo said, taking her by the hand. “We’ll miss it if we don’t hurry.”
The two ran through the streets of Qadar, heading for the Statue Ward. Irezumi had stayed back with the others to watch the store. Fortune’s heart fluttered at the touch of his hand.
The two stopped at a small stand just outside the ward, and Echo signed them up. The Six of them were entering the ‘Qadarian Games’. Registration started today. Echo payed the entry fee for them, and then, they stepped back, to join the crowd and watch.
Up on a raised platform, Moro Anduin and Speaker Astarte stood and addressed the crowd.
“Greetings Qadarians, and welcome to Visitors and Competitors!” Moro Anduin’s magically amplified voice called over the crowd. “We welcome you, to the Opening of the Qadarian Games!”
The crowed roared in response. The Moro waited for quiet once more. “Now, The games wouldn’t be much, if we had no place for them. With that in mind, Please, enjoy they show!”
A woman stepped up beside the Moro. “That’s Tambori’s mother.” Fortune whispered to Echo.
The woman began to sing, and as her voice traveled over the crowd, and then over the hundreds and thousands of standing stone statues in the Statue Ward, Those statues that had stood for generation upon generation began to move.
https://youtu.be/aR-KAldshAE
The statues each picked up the flagstones that they stood on, and began to stack them up, then stand. After only a few moments, a large arena had been constructed, The stone statues standing in the archways, as if to welcome guests.
***********************************************************************
They could hear the sound of the song, and the movements of the statues, But here at the Inn, they were preparing for registering the Junior Adventerer Teams. Each of the coaches had claimed a table, and they began preparing for the youngsters from Qadar, and abroad to come in and choose one of them.
Avalin Threadspinner was the first one there that morning. He meticulously placed himself with a good view of the door. He laid out refreshments, and prepared his ledger. He brushed a bit of lint off of his shoulder as he sat and waited.
Everytime the door opened, he would excitedly greet whomever came in. He watched as all of the other coaches were chosen, and he waited, and waited, until he was the last table to be filled. Avalin sat and stared at the door, willing it to open. Excited for the chance to coach some young adventurers.

Seems like everyone suggests things like;

• Wand of LongstrideTailwind/Spell that lasts 8+ hours/Spell that will be cast once per day
• Scrolls for spells that will probably come up a few times (Comprehend language, etc)
• Boots of Bounding
• Doubling rings/Blazons of shared power
• Something with flight (Bat cloak/tattoo)
• Something with darkvision
• Extra storage
• Items with a skill bonus
• Apex items

which makes sense because they are just always going to be useful no matter the game.
What are some less well known items that bring something to the table?

A bit of a hot take but newer fans tend to sometimes be very judgemental about any sort of discussion on who inspired the songs and what the relationship was like, often claiming that a big amount of songs are entirely fictional or that it doesn't matter anyway because the music is the music and we must project our own experiences onto that blank canvas and whatnot.
But here's the tea. The gossip surrounding Taylor's personal life, both the true and untrue tabloids about her, they're all the starting point of most of her storytelling. A photo of her wearing a scarf holding a latte with Jake Gyllenhaal is the prologue to the first chapter she wants to write of her book, and she writes with that previous knowledge we have in mind. And she wants us to connect the dots. Why else write "like a tattooed golden retriever"? Why call a song "Style"? I kinda feel like she even wants the guy to be able to identify it and not be able to deny her truth.
You can absolutely enjoy the music and even a lot of her lyrics without knowing any of that stuff, but when you know what she's talking about it makes her even more genious Shakespeare reborn, makes it even richer. New fans weren't aware of this very specific side of her storytelling, because she was in jail writing Morse code for a while, but even Folklore, Evermore and Midnights are a lot more biographical than we first realized.
And I also want to address that metaphorical and fictional are not the same thing. Taylor is very often a metaphorical writer, but not often fictional. So, for example, she's probably not looking into people's windows, but she means she's scrolling on social media. She never had a husband who cheated, but she had a 6 year relationship with someone and "he was with her in dreams". See what I mean? She takes artistic liberties with the details and we don't need to take everything literally, but it's all there. She might not have drown in frigid water, but she's the bolter. She's the albatross. It's all her...

Hiiiiii, I’m hoping to find a longterm RP partner for a dark, high DND style fantasy plot, vaguely mimicking Tangled, with the option to double in a reversed plot for your pairing, or a new one entirely. I am looking for a FXM Jaskie Geralt and Rapunzel/Flynn dynamic.
Tropes I’m hoping to hit are…
– grumpy repressed trauma x soft who’s secretly also as fucked up and uses being happy to avoid emotions
– mage/sorcerer x paladin/fighter
– enemies to lovers / forced proximity / more in common than previously imagined
– classic fantasy-style racism and sexism (dragons vs elves vs humans)
– cross-country travel and adventure, perhaps a tug-of-war end-destination argument, with some give either way occasionally
– military personnel (hopefully a semi-disgraced folk hero, but a deserter or bounty hunter works well) / sheltered shrine keeper mage-templar
– fated mates & marks
– pining slowburn, “going against every taboo they’ve been taught” and will they won’t they, maybe some blurry lines
– long-term cultural, social and racial miscommunication / misunderstandings and knowledge gaps being bridged by both sides
– raid bride / arranged marriage / marriage of convenience
– obligatory at least once “there is only one bed + nightmare wake up, soothed back to sleep”
I am hoping to make character sheets using 5E in the loosest terms, extremely homebrew character creation mish-mashing class features and such, that will serve as more baseline for our abilities than actual rules. The stats will also serve as a way to give more randomization of what may happen, with a little wriggle room should we not like the outcome or come up with something better. I can discuss my ideas for this in more detail if you’re interested.
This Might Suit:
A forever DM, not ready to throw an entire party into a full campaign but still really want to show it off to *someone* to appreciate – this might really suit.
A player (especially one who may want to DM), who prefers RP and exploration, can’t make discord calls, and is sick of overbearing min-maxer players commandeering the plot.
A long-term online RP’er who hasn’t played D&D yet, and would like to. Maybe you tried but found it hard to learn in a call environment, or at a large table. I’ve played for 8 years and have taught multiple beginners.
I have a homebrew world we can use as a backdrop, and if you have one of your own, with similar themes, we can blend them or switch between with a pairing in each. We can double or dual RP, taking the rein as the narrative bricklayer for one, and a backseat in the other.
I have a plot in mind for my female character paired with yours, which we can easily flip gender-wise and tweak for your pairing, or completely do a new one for yours! I can play a male character if you’d like, but prefer a woman. I’d prefer we run two FXM relationships but I can do any gender romance mix if it’s really desirable. If we do a same-sex romance, my smut may be lacking, but am willing to write it and learn.
I am 20 looking for someone 18 to 25, and am uncomfortable with both higher and lower than described, thanks! Because I do enjoy contextually appropriate erotic scenes and moments, this has the potential to end up with some smut elements and the occasional lewd emotional struggle or thoughts of a character.
My timezone is AEST. I don’t mind messaging people several hours apart from me, and keep waking hours that seem to suit most folk from CST, but you might find that doesn’t work for you! I’m only looking to RP via Discord.
I am what the kids call “chronically online” and glued to my phone, so replies will atleast be a good few a day, minimum few minutes between or a few hours (6~) apart, and if I catch you at a good time for us both, we can really get a rapidfire set going.
I write at a level I believe is called lit or semi-lit, and if we click and connect to each other’s bluetooth, novella-style is even in the cards. 1-5 paragraphs is my general preference, and I would expect the same, although I understand that some simple actions and feelings don’t require you to write that much, and some things are so specific they *do* require multiple posts.
I love aesthetics and visuals – a picture tells a thousand words, so if you like to send those, all the better, as so do I. Not to say my description is lazy, but I find it bridges a gap in explanation and visualization – supplement not replacement.
As I write, I get more excited, causing more grammatical errors than normal, but I am fluent in english and do my best to be correct and punctual. For POV, I fluctuate between first and third, but can *attempt* to stick to one if you *want*, but it’s a really hard habit to lose – I have no preference on which one you stick to.
Be ready for me to become obsessed with your character(s), and gush about them. You can be certain I’ll send you things I think might suit them on Pintrest, Tiktoks that apply to them and songs for their Spotify playlist.
Talking OOC is just as important to me as the RP, and I would hope it is for you too.
Setting Inspirations include.....
Media – Game of Thrones & House of the Dragon
Games – The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, Dragon Age, Skyrim, Genshin, Outward
Books – LOTR, Six of Crows, ACOTAR
Below is a small blurb about Belgrieve, and the general plot I’d like to take with her and your male character.
= =
Belgrieve Omenyra
Belgrieve Omenyra, not her true name but one she identifies with, was born to the elvish king Silvio Tellura and queen Vyneon Tellura of Tresluna, but soon after birth, was taken by an elvish septa / priestess and raised in a far away hidden temple. Her mother had a difficult birth and was given an experimental magical tonic, as well as being blessed by elvish god Reielle in the form of a unicorn. She was born a Brightmaid, a elf with equine – alicorn – features and a horse form she could take at will. The court priestess believed this would make her the most magically adept child of the century, and the ultimate weapon against the empire. Stolen under the guise of “being for the greater elvish good in the long run”, she remained missing to her family, instead brought up a shrine servant beingh taught magic under the guise of religion and a generouslly adopted orphan.
She at first proved a prodigy, incredibly smart and adept, but an accident with a too handsy male septon turned him to stone, and her magic began to twist in chaotic and dangerous ways. Able to manipulate blood, and lightning, and the weather, she proved too unruly and blessed for the septa’s to handle. They bound her magic inside her, making her powerless and useless – this also turned her into a blightmaid. They sealed most of her form away. Unable to give her back to the king and queen, with nothing to atleast show for their strife, they had no choice but to keep Bel around. They managed to wipe most of her memories, and kept her as a shrine keeper. But although the magic was trapped, it came out in other ways – it gave her an eerie, disturbing aura that made people uncomfortable around her. A series of terrible incidents, misfortune and bad luck began to follow Bel around as she grew up, which isolated her from her peers more than she already was, in the small and small community.
A century or so, when she was old enough to fend for herself and manage most temple duties, her peers packed up and left under the pretense of leaving her to care for it in their absence. They were supposed to come back, but couldn’t give her a concrete time frame for when this might be. They left with her a few human caretakers, who would eventually grow old while taking care of her that last bit. These caretakers, aged and died, leaving her entirely and truely alone. Belgrieve was diligent and dedicated to her temple duties, but was also obsessed with the world below.
She read everything the temple contained and stored, yearning and fantasising about travelling the world once her peers came back from fighting the war with the empire. She was also enchanted with the many moon-lantern flowers that would float on the winds to her on her birthday, and wished to find the source of them. As time went on, Bel’s seal began to weaken and one day broke entirely, allowing her to turn into her horse form. This freaked her out, and made her quite afraid of herself and magic. She researched heavily in the library of the sept for answers, and come up mostly empty. She believes this is why people didn’t like her, and why her magic is hectic. She calles herself a bad luck charm, or an omen of evil, and understands she was kept here under divine protection for her own and other’s safety.
She never dared leave, only getting to the bottom steps and looking out at the forest surrounding the mountain. She remained on task, keeping the shrines clean and the temple tidy, but would often get distracted in her hobbies. She took up learning more magic, from books left behind by her less than dutiful and rule abiding peers, and for that she was thankful. Her learning was not always straight forward, or safe, often causing small disasters and accidents.
She continued this, getting into a routine, but growing ever more worried and suspicious that her peers had gotten into trouble and she should leave – they could need help. But she remained faithful to her promise, and stayed. Occasionally, a adventurer would stumble up, and seek refuge. She would host them and badger them for news of the empire, and if they knew her peers. Rarely did they have the answers she wanted to hear, but she listened anyway. They often saw her form, a creature that is hunted to extinction in many places, and this would prompt them to attempt to murder or capture her and end up with these adventurers perishing at her hand, usually unintentionally.
Sometimes, thieves would try their best to infiltrate the temple and find themselves earning a one way ticket off the mountainside with a magical boot to the arsecheeks. But not before she took some of their things, normally rations or information such as books and magical supplies.
= =
General Plot
You are from a noble house that was once the hand to the empire, but recent misfortune has befallen your and your kin. It places you, a very loyal, desperate imperial who came from nothing, and now have everything to lose (and also someone who had hopes of making the emperor’s main guard, the Prime Daeturion) in the sights of the court and authorites. Your loyalty has been called into question. You managed to plead and claim your devotion is still true, and have been given a lenient second chance. The chance to bring honour back to your house, and gain the emperors eye and all the money you could ever want in this life if you agree to a task.
You agree, eagerly, desperate to prove yourself. You are to bring back to the citadel a religious, social or cultural artifact or a person of great importance from the elvish realms, as a raid bride, to be reduced to being a surrogate broodmare for more empire-born murderers. A trophy, or trophy bride, once boiled down to its roots.
Although you stand for the empire and all it’s values, the raid brides are something that even seems to you as needless cruelty. You opt for the artifact, also not ready to settle down, and not fond of having heirs perhaps stemming from your own family trauma and love for your own raid bride mother. You are given time to research and come across tales of an important scroll in distant elvish lands. This scroll, when translated, and arranged correctly, resembles an ancient song that calls elves together, like a musical sleeper agent. The use of such a thing in empire hands is unfathomably great. You look no further and set out for this item.
Lugging yourself across the lands, following threads of information back to it’s source, you locate the last known location of the scroll, on the edge of nearly abandoned elvish lands, for newer more resource rich areas. You travel to this dilapidated temple, after a treacherous journey up it’s path, clearly unused for centuries – which speaks well to your chances of having an easy search in an empty temple, but bad for the likelihood of the scroll remaining here. But perhaps a clue will remain, and you are too tired to head back down the stairs, so you continue up.
You make it to the top, and begin your search, still on guard. You run into many set up traps, home alone style, and things that imply someone lives here or did, recently. Classic goldilocks style, you help yourself to their things, and keep inspecting – only to open the same cupboard this temple’s last remaining shrine maiden was hiding in, with a weapon in hand.
She threatens you and demands you answer her what you are doing here, and asks if you are you from her clergy, come to tell her the war is over and they are coming back. You realise, from what you’ve gleamed around the buildings, and the trek up – elvish messages warning people to turn back, talking of a monster inside – she was left to “guard” the temple alone, years ago, by her people, under the pretense they were coming back. Presumably for some dark curse upon her, or monstrous entity within her.
You lie, taking advantage of this sheltered woman’s naivety, and claim you were sent by her people, with news of the elves' cooperation under empire rule. You have been sent to retrieve the scroll and would like to know where it is, so you may take it home. Having not seen another living soul for so long, never any one of your kind – only read about you in her books – she is both all-too-trusting and suspicious, but allows you to see it.
However, when you go to take it, she refuses to let it go alone. You must take her with you. You argue, and find out that she has never once left the temple save for when she was born and sent here. This has made her extremely desperate to experience the real world, and thus will not let the scroll leave without her. You begrudgingly agree to take her on, although entirely disgusted by her being, hoping to take it from her in her sleep, or overpower her, although you are wary of trying such a thing, given how legendary the training of her kind was touted to be before they stopped appearing on battlefields.
You leave, and take rest not far from the temple, when you are ambushed in the now almost neutral territory, no longer well patrolled by elvish forces in its abandonment. You put up a fight, but make the rare mistake and are subdued, as well as Bel. While they rifle in your things, they tear up your citizenship documents, take your weapons, destroy the items used to contact your empire, and unknowingly tear up and destroy the all-important information you came seeking from Belgrieve’s temple.
Belgrieve is forced to use old and disturbing magics to free yourselves and scare the attackers, who flee with most of the things you had. You both reel from the attack, and you are now distraught about your current predicament, and mildly terrified of your companion for her magic. The scroll is ruined, and try as you do to salvage it, the information is beyond mendable. Carefully, and quietly, Belgrieve offers you a olive branch and attempts to bring light to the moment, and brings up a long sleeve to show inky dark tattoos of arcane text wrap up her arm and disappear under her clothes.
Lucky for her, and eh, perhaps, frustratingly inconvenient for you - in her years of solitude, Bel accidentally destroyed the scroll, but managed to copy it and has painstakingly painted the text on her body. However, it is in her native and almost dead language, and refuses to translate it, seeing this as an opportunity to guarantee her safety and to see the world outside her home all in one neat ribbon of mild coercion.
Now a living scroll, she is the valuable ticket to your retirement, and repairing your house’s honor. No longer having the choice of artifact, but instead a raid-bride in the loosest sense, you bind yourself to her through the magical bond your kind does to captis qouya – telling yourself it’s only to keep her from wandering out of sight and getting damaged. Only until you get home and get the thread cut. You’ll have all the money you could want when you bring her back - maybe your brother or uncle can keep her. The empire wouldn’t let her go free, atleast.
Either way, you have no option but to work more cooperatively, as this turn of events has placed you in more equal standing - priceless artifact and handler rather than captive and captor. And stress is mounting, as you must return in a timely fashion – for you left your family as collateral in the capital court’s hands. The longer you take, the more chance there is you will be declared a deserter and your family punished in your name.
You and Belgrieve trek through both elvish lands, neutral and empire territory, all coming with their own vices and issues, as well as bonding moments – learning to coexist and get over the difficulties of the situation. Eventually, a tentative relationship slowly grows between you, as closeness breeds familiarity…. and your mission gets more complicated as your your beliefs waver and heart grows fond of your companion.
= =
If this interests you, message me!