Sainted Scribbles

Drinks and Dragons

Ephraim looked down at the pretty pink dice and picked them up in his hand. Rolling them over in his hands, he had wondered if Lyon was doing well during these times. Ephraim knew that Lyon didn’t leave his house often enough. But he had still missed him terribly.

Ephraim leaned over to grab one of the manuals that Genny had mentioned but when it was opened, Ephraim’s eyes lost the words to read. He shut the book again, reading was never one of his stronger suits. He didn’t have the attention span to create a campaign but he could certainly help Genny.

He leaned back in his chair to look over at Genny, “Hey, Genny, can I just help you torture your group? I don’t have the brains to make my own campaign. I can totally help you with yours though.” He grinned and grabbed his drink, espresso with cream mainly in his drink. He slowly brought it to his lips and drank a good portion of it. “And nah, Lyon gave up on his campaign when our friends had moved away and couldn’t participate anymore.”

Ephraim still held her die in his hands and just fumbled with the dice, hearing the clatter with the dice rubbing against each other. It almost soothed him.

It didn’t take long for Genny to get her overly sweet and highly caffeinated refill and she settled back into her seat as Ephraim asked if he could torture the group. She huffed a laugh into her mug. “You don’t need to make a whole campaign, just start with a single room. Here, I’ll show you.”

She pulled a piece of graph paper out of her binder and laid it alongside the book, propping it open to the dungeon-crafting index. “So you have all these charts, right? I roll a d10 to pick the starting area...” She plucked a dice from the tray and rolled it, frowning as it came up on 10. “I don’t like starting on an intersection so I’m gonna roll again.” She grinned as it came up a more reasonable 2 on the next roll: a simple 20 by 20 room with two doors and an archway. ”From here I can sketch out the square on the graph paper and then add the doors wherever I want. I just have to consult another table to get types of doors and stuff. There’s also charts for what feeling the room gives off. Let’s make this one... a death trap.”

Genny rolled another dice and jotted down some notes next to the room. “Looks like this was a fortified guardroom, which is a pretty good place for players to break into initially.” She held the die out to Ephraim. “Want to see what the doors are like?”

Drinks and Dragons

Ephraim pulled the chair out from across from the pink-haired DM. He reached out to grab the dice in his fingers and looked down at the tray that she mentioned. Lyon had shown him his dice before and would have Ephraim roll them for Lyon. Maybe he was going to be doing the same thing for this woman.

“I’ve rolled a few before, a close friend of mine used to do this stuff as well. He had dice that were purple and black swirled. So I guess the dice do match the aesthetic of the person.” Ephraim chuckled as he rolled the die and saw the 6 appear on the top. “So is that good, or?” 

Despite wanting to be a part of the fun, he had no idea what he was doing. What was this woman planning for these people? She called the victims so perhaps her plans for the game would be more devious and malicious. That was something he was used to with everything. He picked up his cup and sipped from the lid opening and then blinked, realizing he had never introduced himself.

“Ey, I’m Ephraim by the way. I got nothing going on today so maybe I could help you out with this if you want me to?”

“Used to? Do they not anymore?” Genny took note of the die roll and jotted down a trap mechanic next to a dungeon door. “High rolls are usually good, but in this case it’s just random chance. Keeps my dungeons fresh and interesting.” 

She took a few more notes and then paused as Ephraim introduced himself. “Oh, yeah. Nice to meet you! I’m Genny. I don’t particularly need help on this dungeon since it’s nearly complete... but if you want to learn a bit about dungeon crafting I have all the materials right here.” She patted the large stack of books next to her. “If you want to make something, I’d consider using it in the future.”

Genny paused again, considering, before she pulled her well-worn DM Manual out of the stack and flipped through to the dungeon building charts. “This is a good place to start. You don’t really need to know many of the rules to build a basic dungeon on some graph paper.” She held out the book along with some paper and a pencil. “Feel free to use my dice and ask me any questions you might have. I’m gonna go grab a refill.”

Drinks and Dragons

Ephraim had started to frequent a smaller coffee shop after his morning runs. The extra adrenaline was always a rush that he needed. His body was slightly sweaty but once he entered the building, the refreshing air-cooled him off. The atmosphere had always been kind to him as he had been here at least every other day after class. Fortunately, he didn’t have class today, but he was still on his morning run.

Ephraim had ordered his drink when he looked over and saw a lady sitting at one of the tables with papers scattered. She looked so deep in thought but the game looked familiar. Oh! That’s the game that Lyon plays! Grabbing his drink from the counter once his name was called he approached the woman. With a bright smile on his face, he waved to her with one hand and then looked to her papers.

“That’s Dungeons and Dragons, right? My best friend plays it. I just wanted to say your dice are really pretty too.” Ephraim wasn’t one to really settle on a normal conversation especially when everything about this pink-haired woman was radiating some amazing energy.

“You’re the campaign person? Uh.. What’s the word… Dungeon Master, I think?” Ephraim didn’t remember a lot from when Lyon would play this but all he remembered was fighting and colorful dice were involved. 

Genny brightened as the young man asked about her project. Always nice to see some nerdery appreciated after all. “Yep! I’m the DM,” she chirped as she leaned back and gestured at her scattered materials. “Planning my next game, have to keep my victims on their toes.” Her eyes crinkled with amusement as she thought about how much fun the next dungeon would be.

Starter for @restoration-prince​ ----- Papers and notebooks haphazardly spread across the surface of the back corner table of Genny's local coffee shop. The largest cup of coffee she could get sat cooling at her elbow as she scribbled feverishly into a worn notebook, only looking up to confirm her notes with one of the reference books open before her. Only a few days left and she could spring her new campaign on her players; she had a new antagonist all planned out and she hoped her group would enjoy the twists and turns she had crafted for their arc.

A roll of her pink lemonade-tinted dice and she sketched out another room in the first dungeon. Her players didn't enjoy mimics? Too bad, it's mimic time now. She chuckled under her breath and made another note on her map. The sooner she finished this preparation, the sooner she could go home and crack open her new jar of moonshine. It should be ready by now... and one shouldn't give out merchandise without testing it first.

Deep in her planning, writing out the stats for a new monster, she barely noticed the shadow suddenly crossing the late afternoon sunlight. It was only when she stopped for a sip of coffee that she saw the young man hovering quizzically over her table.

No Need To Hide When It’s Dark Outside || Open

Was this girl the second coming of Saint Elimine or something? Elen would usually just avoid talking to him whenever he needed a patch up, probably because he was always giving her the stink eye. Clarine on the hand would not shut up whenever he got healed by her. That old witch Niime probably would have been drooling if she had seen the magical feats Genny had done in that short span. Rutger was gonna need a moment.

“Holy… thanks…” was all Rutger could muster for now. The powercrept book 3 red sword unit accepted the candy even though candy was not his forte, unwrapped it, and popped it in his mouth. Sweet, chewy, and salty. It almost made him forget he had a book to retrieve, just almost. Rutger squinted in the distance at her. Just as Genny had done, the druid with the divine dark tome was able to leech out the life of the others around her.

“Ohh yeah, she can do that too. Something seems off about her though. The girl that I knew never would have stolen Apocalypse in the first place. Ahh well. Bet a silence would ground her, or a kick to her shins. If she gets a cast off at her range, all 3 of us are gonna end up in that black hole. How about I take her from the front, and you bonk her on the head with a rod from behind while she’s distracted by a familiar face? Her reflexes were not always the best, so it seems doable.”

Genny considered the plan Rutger was presenting. It seemed doable, but she would have to mix up her strategy a little bit. She popped a saltwater taffy into her own mouth and squinted across the battlefield. If you could call several gently rocking ships a “field.”

“It might take me a few minutes to get behind her, since they’ll be expecting me to teleport now. And I’ll need to drain a few more enemies on the way so I don’t pass out, but it seems easy enough,” she said after a few long moments of plotting her course. “Give me a little bit to get in position and we can take her down.”

Genny likes things that smell like fresh grass after a spring rain. There’s nothing special about it in her memories or anything like that, it just smells clean and almost sharp in its simplicity.

“The very best. I could not live without her help.” Artur cleared his throat, then cooed at the dalmatian, “I love you! I love you, Perdy!”

He stood up, smiling to Genny. “That’s a great idea. I could come up with some themed equipment - maybe swings of faith, a slide designed like the spine of a great dragon…” Artur trailed off, then added, “I’d have to be careful not to make it blasphemous.”

Artur looked at the map thoughtfully, “It wouldn’t be fair to choose a favourite, but I do love the exhibit on draconic gods. The artistic depictions of them are quite fascinating, especially those of Duma and Mila.”

Genny’s face brightened at mention of Mila. “I’m sure you know this already but Novis Priory started out as a temple devoted to Mila, before the faiths merged. My mother left me there when I was very young, but Father Nomah told me she was quite adamant I be raised in the faith of Mila alone. Quite an unusual stance these days.”

send 💣 for a stress headcanon

When angry or stressed Genny generates static electricity. It builds up in her hair, making her seem like an exceptionally poofy sheep. When she’s really angry or stressed out she starts audibly crackling. 

It is a long time before Genny settles on the thin gold band that wraps around her ankle, snug against her skin and warmed by her desert home. Her wife wears it’s twin around her wrist, on display for all to see, an object of pride and adoration.

“She’s been trained to pick things up, including medications. She’s pretty much required to do fine work”, explained Artur. He knelt down to scratch Perdy behind the ears and slipped a treat to her, “Who’s a good pup?” 

He got back up to take a look at the map over Genny’s shoulder. “There is one traveling exhibit here, called ‘Priests of Tellius’.” He pointed to the lone corner of the map, the last room of one corridor. “All others are permanent.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully, “We have run ads in the past, but it just isn’t a ‘fun family outing’ type of place.” He beamed at Genny’s idea, “You might be onto something!”

Artur gestured to the architecture of the map, “I believe this was a grammar school. The courtyard in the back used to be fenced in, had wooden equipment including a sandbox. Despite the school being closed for a while before becoming the museum, children still played in the courtyard.”

Genny cooed affectionately as Perdy chomped happily on her treat. “She certainly seems like the best pup.” 

Thinking for a moment, Genny ruffled her hand through her already fluffy hair. “If children still play in the courtyard maybe you could install some educational exhibits. The quickest way to draw in people seems to get on the good side of their children. Maybe?” She laughed quietly. “To be honest I wouldn’t really know. I work the night shift in a hospital, I am mostly dealing with adults to begin with.”

Oh, that’s such a difficult question! I like a lot of different scents, so picking just one is hard. I suppose I love ocean breeze scented things, they remind me of Novis. Nothing quite like the salt breeze wafting over warm sands. Vanilla and parchment though, that’s another I like since it smells like old libraries.

Maybe lavender. My mother smelled like lavender.