Cappie (DM)

✨ recap ✨

Ra Mana leads the party through the city, and at least accompanied by him, the rest of the residents of The Top don't seem to think they're as much of a threat.

While they expected to be lead back to his home, he detours them first towards a large temple. A garden entrance leads them into a high ceilinged room, decorated with faded murals that hurt Amoré's neck to look up at. Two tapestries stand on opposite walls, leading up to statue mounted on a pedestal.

As they get closer, it becomes clearer that it is a statue of a dragon, though aged, and upon closer inspection, unfinished.

Ra Mana leads them up to it, introducing them to the god Ba'al.

Amoré's head snaps up upon hearing that and her mouth is moving before she can even think.

"Diana, isn't that the one who cursed you?"

Diana doesn't even get a word in over the outraged sputtering of a dragonborn priest that Amoré just now realized was standing nearby. Well, he was...before he huffs off in a flurry.

Ra Mana also looks slightly scandalized by her question and hastily explains to them that Ba'al doesn't really do curses. That's more Yow's territory. Ba'al actually had protection as one of his divine domains when he was alive. Hence the...offense the priest had taken to her insinuation.

He quickly redirects the conversation by showing them how to offer their respects to the dead god, and tells them to think "happy Ba'al thoughts," to let him know he has not been forgotten wherever he may be now.

Sylphi does so enthusiastically, and Diana more hesitantly. But as Amoré faces the statue's incomplete face, she has no idea what to say to any god...let alone a dead one. They've never been in her corner before, and for as long as she could remember, all her prayers fell on deaf ears.

She pushes down her bitterness for a moment as a thought rises up in the back of her head unbidden.

"God of Protection...if you had been around back then, could you have stopped all that from happening to me?"

She feels foolish immediately as the thought finishes. But she shoves the feeling aside. After all, at least a dead god can't disappoint her.

Then Sylphi lets out a giggle and her head snaps up. Amoré has never been more sure of anything that Sylphi just heard something from a dead fucking god.

She turns to see if Diana has also come to the same conclusion but her question dies on her lips as she sees Diana is obviously preoccupied. She looks stunned, eyes slightly wide in a way that wouldn't be huge tell for anyone here but Amoré about how unsettled she is.

She felt someting.

Amoré feels burning resentment bubbling up in her throat.

What is she doing so wrong that they would choose to talk to someone like Diana, who is as agnostic as you can get in a world where gods are real, over her? Someone who supposedly possesses a divine soul.

Amoré only hears half of what Ra Mana says as he continues talking about the history of Ba'al. She vaguely understands that this is not the original dragonborn homeland. That they fled here and not much survived the relocation, and what did was damaged or incomplete.

Diana's voice cuts through the fog in her head, asking Ra Mana for one of the old statues, and her resentment spills out of her. It escapes as a snide remark about wanting to steal artifacts form the dragonborn after they just got a whole lecture on how little made it here. After all, Diana probably only wants them to trade Agatha for more Earrings of Sending.

Ra Mana attempts to smooth over the conversation by offering a chunk of white marble from the temple instead. Diana accepts and he leaves them in the room. He hasn't even been gone a minute before Diana starts poking around, pulling back a curtain only to abruptly come face to face with the priest that stormed off earlier.

She spooks him, and he still looks uncomfortable with them being there, though Amoré isn't sure if it's because of their general status as "outsiders" or if he's still mad at her for earlier. But despite one or both being true, Sylphi is still able to convince him to tell them more about Ba'al.

They are led back behind the curtain into a the main room of the temple, and the priest starts up a mini mass. They take seats in the pews up front, and Amoré throws her feet up on the seat in front of them.

The priest begins droning on about the the creation of the gods. How the forces of Light created Cyllo, Magnus, Yow, and Kalos while the forces of Darkness created Ba'al, and the other gods who's names have been forgotten. While Ba'al was originally created by the forces of Darkness to fight for them in the God War, he had a change of heart towards the end of it.

He ended the war by sealing away the Dark Creator and the other gods they created for this conflict, overusing his magic in the process. His item broke apart as he died, any now, legend has it that whomever can find the pieces and restore it, it shall grant the worthy weilder one wish.

Amoré's heart leaps and she presses the priest on the limitations and parameters of the wish. The priest insists that so long as the weilder is worthy, Ba'al will repent for his actions by granting them any wish.

Her hope dies as quickly as it flared. If what happened outside was any indication of where they stood, she already knows how Ba'al (even if he wasn't totally dead and this wasn't some bullshit fairytale) would feel about her.

Ra Mana finds them at the end of the sermon, arms laden with a pile of hunks of white marble. He sets them down and says Diana is free to take whichever she pleases.

Once she does, Ra Mana leads them back into the main part of town and sets them up in a lodge for the night. It's a large room, full of circular beds that while not offering much in the way of privacy, seem to be the most comfortable place they'll have slept in weeks.

As always, Diana : @wolfy1298 , the Voice of God (but not the gods) : @cappierong

The bickering is audible before the two figures even enter the ballroom. A tall blue tiefling and a short, pink haired aasimar enter arm in arm, brows furrowed and eyes narrowed.

Lord Italus Bluestone of Yeothia, and Lady Amoré Bellridge of Civania.

Are they dressed like each others dates?

Yes.

Are they actively taking cheap shots at each other, looking like they'd take every opportunity to stomp on each others feet during a dance?

Also yes.

But of course...they didn’t put all that effort into getting dressed up to not show off. And contrary to popular belief, they did not coordinate this at all.

They will not be discussing what that implies about their tastes.

They are shadowed by a tall, sullen faced girl, standing at attention with her hands loosely clasped behind her back. She looks like she's being held here against her will and is five seconds away from fully disassociating.

As the pair stops at the foot of the stairs they go silent as if by some kind of signal, as they take in the room and the attendees. A syncronized side eye tells each other everything they need to know before they drift off to the edges of the ballroom where they can sample the wine.

They find a comfortable place to lounge for the next hour or so, gossiping and talking shit about the attendees they recognize in low voices. When they run out of targets among the crowd, Amoré takes the opportunity to catch Italus up on her latest exploits.

"And then she tried to come for me yelling that I was trying to steal her man," she recounts, accenting her words with a flourish of her hand. "And I was like. Girl . No one but you wants your man!"

“Oof...been there, dealt with that,” Italus sighs as he sips his wine.

"And then she tried to break a bottle on my head! I swear Italus, this is the last time I ask you for tavern recommendations, you said this place was reputable."

He hums noncommittally in response.

At this point, Amoré can see his gaze start to wander, fixing on a point somewhere in the middle distance as his fingers absentmindedly stroke over the flowers embroidered on his clothes.

Her lips press into a thin line and she knows where this is going. The conversation has run out for now, and she'll have to find other means of amusing herself while he comes back to himself. She flounces to her feet abruptly, setting her glass down next to him with a pointed clink.

"Ugh, I'm really not cut out for being a wallflower. Don't forget you have to dance with me at least twice at some point before we leave. And don't step on my foot this time, I have open toed heels tonight."

He blinks, before the focus returns to his eyes and he slides his gaze back to her.

“Keep your feet out from under mine and we won’t have any problems." He gives her a smug look, and she feels relief that she's made the right choice. "Or, you could dance with a certain purple shadow of yours instead.”

A wicked grin spreads across her face as she turns back to their silent companion.

"Diana. We're dancing now."

She grabs the tall, sullen faced girl (who had at this point been more than content to fade into the background), by the wrist and drags her through the crowd onto the dance floor. It probably only works because the other girl had been led into a false sense of security of Amoré having walked in with Italus.

Though at this point Diana really shouldn't be that surprised...

✨ recap ✨

...And nothing happens.

Diana and Sylphi begin contemplating adding their scales from Ko Kiri into the basin, but opt to add a little more of Diana's blood before resorting to parting with their scales. Incredulously, Amoré watches Diana slice a deeper wound into her palm before squeezing the blood into the pool of water.

The Dragon's jaw opens, and after they all pretend that didn't make them jump, Sylphi suggests that Diana stick her hand in it's mouth. Diana only hesitates for a moment before doing just that.

And then the jaw snaps down on her arm.

Amoré doesn't even have time to begin panicking before the ground begins to shake and a large scraping sound fills the cavern. A large mass of rock begins to move on the other side of the water, revealing a previously inaccessible tunnel. The statue releases Diana's arm, and only when she confirms that nothing is broken does Amoré begin to summon another ice bridge.

They are less careful on the way back, but are able to make it back to shore in half the time. Though just as they've got their feet on solid ground again, the rumbling begins again and the rock moves to slide back into place.

Sylphi, who elected to just swim back to shore, is already over at the rock trying to keep it open for Diana and Amoré, but quickly realizes that she doesn't have any spells that can keep the tunnel from closing off again. She yells for them to hurry, and despite hauling ass over to the opening, the two of them barely make it with enough time to squeeze through.

When the shaking stops, they find themselves in cramped stairwell. It's almost total darkness with the temperature dropping fast now that they are cut off from the cavern. Distantly, Amoré hears the moment that Sylphi and Diana realize that they have left their new winter cloaks on the shore of the lake...

But they may as well be talking at her through water as Amoré can only feel the darkness press in on her. Hands trembling, she fumbles for her light stone with numb fingers, only to realize in a bit of a haze that she dropped it as she was trying to squeeze through before the rock slid home.

Her throat tightens as she stumbles forward a few steps, hand feeling along the rock for something new to cast Light on, when the faintest bit of torchlight peeks out from around the corner.

She feels the other two walk up behind her, though everything still feels a bit muffled.

Sylphi leads them further into the tunnel with her darkvision, and they find that the light comes from a rather nicely made staircase lit incrementally with torches. Its seems to stretch up endlessly. And the first thing Amoré feels as as her panic receeds is a different growing sense of dread.

They start to climb, and as they get higher, the staircase widens to accommodate them. Soon enough, they can all walk side by side. Not that they do, given that Amoré's more...sedentary lifestyle...puts her a good few stairs behind them at any given point.

Though she pushes herself to continue on for sheer visceral desire to no longer be underground.

Eventually, they are met with a large set of blue double doors carved with ornate dragons. It is all Amoré can do to not collapse on the top steps in front of them as the other two busy themselves with finding the way to open them.

With the icy air burning in her lungs, Amoré is just delirious enough to grab Diana's hand and attempt to stick it into of of the dragon's mouths. Diana just gives her a deeply unimpressed stare before just pushing the door open single handedly.

She's momentarily blinded by the sudden reintroduction of sunlight, but when everything comes into focus again, they are standing on the outskirts of a rather large settlement made of white stone. Everything would almost blend into the snow if it weren't for the bright blue roofs accented with gold, glinting in the afternoon sun.

While she maybe had expected to finds some kind of ice fortress up here, she can't help but be a little in awe of this place. For a moment everything is still. Like something out of a painting.

Then spell is immediately broken as they step out of the shadow of the mountain and immediately begin to attract the attention of the locals.

As always, Diana : @wolfy1298

This was only supposed to be for ONE of them 🫠 but then I made a realization…

I promise they were supposed to have different costumes, though I do appreciate how they all seem to be different flavors of this trope (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

Happy start to spooky season.

There will be more of these because what are dnd characters other than part time dress-up dolls

Ok, we ended Art Fight with a bang and if I mess up, I officially have to forfeit my title as group note taker

No pressure right? 🫠

I don’t always draw angst, but when I do, I use it to obliterate my sister in art fight

✨ recap ✨

Sylphi follows Amorè out of the cottage, leaving Diana inside alone. She catches up quickly, pulling Amoré aside and handing her a Goodberry “just in case.” Amorè has no idea what it is and immediately pops it into her mouth, unknowingly wasting its +1 health effect (but hey she’s got a full stomach for 24 hours now). Sylphi tries to hide her distress and hands her another, this time instructing her to save it for any emergency healing she may need.

Agatha leads them into her forest and to a small clearing. She instructs Sylphi to stay back with her and Amorè to step in to face her test.

Amorè does so, and three wolves appear among the trees and begin running straight at her. She casts Ray of Frost but just barely clips the paw of one as it pounces and bites into her arm. The second bites her as well, and the third keeps its distance. Amorè releases a cloud of Poison Spray on the two biting her, and one vanishes while the other releases her leg. She retreats, narrowly missing a bite from it and is able to take cover behind a tree.

She pulls out Sylphi’s Goodberry and eats it before popping out to cast Color Spray. The wolves are blinded, and she goes to take cover again, but is rather caught off guard when the ground shakes and the tree she was planning on hiding behind comes to life and runs her over.

Her vision goes dark and she comes to on the couch in Agatha’s cottage.

Once she realizes that she failed the test, and that she failed so thoroughly and quickly, she is absolutely humiliated. Diana, who had been reading a book in the chair next to her, checks in to see if she’s sick. But she can’t get anything other than angry and frustrated incoherent rambling from Amorè. Sylphi brings over some tea, but Amorè barely realizes it’s being offered to her.

Diana and Sylphi continue to try and offer comfort as Amorè spirals. But each attempt to console her is met with misplaced anger, making Diana uncomfortable. She gets up to leave and go back upstairs to the rooms Agatha had provided them, and Sylphi continues to try and break through to Amorè.

But all her attempts are rebuffed. She tries to praise her performance, but knowing how quickly she was taken out, Amorè doesn’t believe her to be genuine. Sylphi tries to gauge if this test had hit some weird deep rooted insecurity that Amorè’s been ignoring, and Amorè abruptly goes quiet. She then declares to Sylphi in a slightly disturbing calmness that the suggestion was laughable, and insists that there’s nothing like that to worry about.

Sylphi then admits, probably in a last ditch attempt to save the conversation, that she had prayed for Amoré’s success in her test. This has…the opposite effect. Amorè’s rage immediately rekindles and she makes Sylphi promise to NEVER pray for her again. That finally chases Sylphi back upstairs, and Amorè spends the rest of the night on the couch in a depression burrito.

✨ recap ✨ (non consensual therapy incoming)

The next morning, Amorè refuses to leave her depression burrito. Sylphi leaves a plate next to her on the floor, and over the course of the next few hours, her hand emerges occasionally from the pile of blankets to snatch some food.

Around noon, Agatha has finally had enough and uses Mage Hand to forcibly evict Amorè from her burrito, scolding her for her undignified conduct. Amorè has still not gotten over the humiliation of the night before and is still snappish at everyone, avoiding all attempts from Sylphi and Diana to ease her out of her funk. Agatha heads upstairs as Sylphi begins to lose her patience and turns the conversation back to Amore’s behavior and fainting spells.

Absolutely fed up with Amorè’s refusal to answer either of them, Sylphi casts Charm Person on her. Amorè fails her saving throw, and is made to spill her guts to Diana and Sylphi against her will.

She admits to being riddled with anxiety about failing Agatha’s test. This woman she didn’t even know existed until a few days ago has the ability to strip her of her family name if she finds her unworthy of it. It terrifies her to know she wasn’t strong enough to pass, and she thinks this is just another strike against her. She admits to having gaps in her memories, and an inkling that she’s forgotten something important, but every time she tries to examine it, she ends up feeling a deep sense of dread. She knows there’s something wrong with her and her family knows it. They act like she should have accomplished something by now, but she can’t find out what it is. She feels alone…She admits that she doesn’t trust Sylphi, and she thinks Diana does not care about her.

Diana confirms that she does care about Amorè before going upstairs, leaving Sylphi to pry deeper into Amorè’s emotional response.

But there are questions Amorè cannot answer, even under the influence of the spell. Her mind draws a blank, and it scares her, so she copes by acting aggressively towards people who draw attention to it. She confesses that she knows everyone around her acts like she’s a ticking time bomb, but she has too much pride to confide in anyone so she just keeps bottling it up. And who even would she confide in? Her parents don’t even seem to notice how much she’s struggling, they don’t even see each other very often.

Sylphi suggests they find a way to monitor her and find out what really happens when these fainting spells happen. She leaves to go ask Agatha about any magic items she may have that may be able to help them, and leaves the spell to fade as she heads up the stairs.

The moment she is no longer in range, icy clarity washes over Amorè as she realizes everything she’s just admitted to. Humiliation washes over her and she begins crying. Actual, ugly crying, that almost has her sinking to the floor in a heap. Birch tries to comfort her, but she gets up, and staggers out of the cottage, slamming the door behind her and heading into the forest.

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✨ recap ✨

Amorè walks aimlessly into the surrounding forest with no real destination in mind, just a desire to get as far away from the house as possible. Birch helps her stay on her feet as she stumbles along, though eventually she does fall and just stays down. Birch curls around her and she just cries hard, cuddling into him in a rather uncharacteristic display of vulnerability.

Eventually, Diana finds them curled up under a tree and sits down on the other side of Amorè. They sit in awkward silence for a moment as Amorè attempts to stop herself from crying (with little success) before she finally asks Diana why she let Sylphi charm her. Diana responds that she didn’t really have time to react, and Amorè presses why she didn’t stop her from embarrassing herself once she started spilling her guts.

It’s like pulling teeth, having this conversation. But they have a sort of bonding moment, and Diana offers an olive branch. She reiterates the sentiment that she does care for Amoré, even if Amoré doesn’t believe her. And she’ll try to be more vigilant about this kind of stuff from here on out. Diana knows very little about magic and how it works, but she’ll try to make up for it.

Amorè admits that despite everything, she still cares for Diana too, and that’s why this has all been so hard. A lot can happen to a person in seven years. They had once been friends, and they clearly weren’t those same people anymore. Things are strained, and there is a lot between them they are unwilling to talk about.

So they decide to try and start over, and agree on “reluctantly acquired travel companions,” until they can relearn their old relationship. Amorè even promises Diana a nice crystal from her shoes once they’re big enough to harvest.

They sit in quiet as Amorè composes herself, and she quietly confesses that she’s scared to tell her parents she failed Agatha’s test. She knows they wouldn’t be angry, but that somehow makes it worse. She understands anger. She can deal with anger. But disappointment? Diana suggests they take the scenic way back, and maybe she could try the other version of the test Agatha alluded to instead.

Sylphi eventually finds them sitting under the tree. She keeps a distance, as Amorè lets it be well known she’s still furious about everything, and she’s decided that she’d like to leave Agatha’s as soon as possible. They let Birch lead them back to the cottage. As they walk, Sylphi approaches cautiously and hands Amorè a ring set with a clear stone, informing her that it will help monitor her fainting spells, though they’ll have to get the details from Agatha to figure out how.

At this point the three of them realize that Birch is not taking them back to the cottage. Instead, they end up in a clearing full of honeysuckle, and he leaves them to enjoy eating the flowers (at Sylphi’s insistence). He disappears into the tree line and returns sometime later, dragging a dead jeweled lizard behind him. He offers it to Amorè, and keeps swatting Diana and Sylphi away from it.

Amorè collects the gems from the carcass and Birch eats the rest when she’s done. Diana tries to snag a few gems, to no success, to (surprisingly) Amorè’s own amusement. Birch leads them back to the cottage for real this time, and Agatha is waiting for them at the table.

Sylphi goes up to her to ask about the ring, and Agatha instructs Amorè to put it on, though mentions once it’s on it is not to be removed. Sulkily, Amorè does as instructed, and feels a slight prick. Agatha explains that the ring will absorb some of her essence, and they all watch as the stone in the ring turns a light pink.

They sit down at the table to discuss where to go from here, and Sylphi convinces them to go after Ko Kiri. She’s still worried about her getting this place that may or may not exist on her own. As the pack up to leave, Diana tries to get a few more Earrings of Sending for the road. She’s able to get five from Agatha though she’s warned she’ll have to pay for them going forward.

As they head out towards their borrowed horses (Micycle, Bicheal, & The Darkness (aka Steven)), Agatha stops Amorè and pulls a necklace from somewhere in her scarves. She drops it into her hand and tells her it will let her know when to return for her next test.

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✨ recap ✨

Upon inspection, Sylphi recognizes the orb as an item of Ba’al (assuming that it is real). She explains, as Diana picks it back up, that according to her studies his domains as a god are barriers and promises. So she can’t understand why one of his items would kill on touch. Shockingly, no one else is eager to volunteer taking it from Diana to see if it is the real thing. Sylphi instead decides to test the orb on a seedling.

She pulls a seed from her pocket and infuses it with some of her magic to get it to sprout before placing it on top of the orb. It sparks from the center and it begins to glow before the seedling begins growing rapidly. It encases the orb almost entirely with its roots, causing Diana to drop it before they can grow over her hand.

It smashes back down into the stone floor, and Diana swoops down and begins to hack at the roots with one of her daggers to free it, but they will not cut. Between the roots and her gloves, Quincy feels like it’s safe enough to risk touching it, and picks it up gingerly to inspect.

She’s quiet for a moment before suggesting that this orb is a failed attempt to recreate Ba’al’s item. As far as she can tell, whatever it may have been intended for, the orb may just end up giving anyone who touches it Dragonborn characteristics. She then calls up the staircase to Agatha to see if she suddenly feels “dragony” since that seedling wrapped around the orb was from her forest.

Agatha irritataingly confirms she does not from somewhere upstairs.

Quincy decides she is intrigued by all this and hands her card and a communication stone to Sylphi. She explains that the stone can teleport one person temporarily for brief meetings or just for voice check ins, and that the seal on her card will bring them straight to her if they ever stop by her shop in Yeothia. She’d love it if they could keep her informed on any changes they may observe with anything that may come into contact with that orb.

She goes to head out, before pausing at the door to toss some spark rocks to Amoré…who does not catch them and they explode around her feet, before bidding them farewell and ducking out of the cottage, ignoring Amoré’s string of curses.

Anagtha decends the staircase to see the noticeable hole and slight scorch marks on her floor before flatly stating that it’s a good thing they just got paid because she expects Diana to fix that. Diana sheepishly acquiesces and hands Amoré and Sylphi their share of their payment while she’s at it.

While Amorè is tucking her gold away, Diana steps up to her and also places a small purple scale in her palm. She explains that it’s a gift from Ko Kiri, that she left one for each of them. Amorè muses that she doesn’t understand what about their time together warranted a gift, especially to her, and Diana hesitantly asks if Amoré knows what it means to receive a scale from a Dragonborn.

She admits she doesn’t, and proceeds to tuck it away in her pouch. Diana stays quiet and does not elaborate any further.

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The Extroverts take out their Introverts

So yeah this may be the single most self indulgent thing I’ve ever drawn. Just imagine it takes place some nebulous time before either campaign lol. It has been an honor playing dress up with you all✨

As always, Diana : @wolfy1298 , Aqua @captain-cappie