#ask morrigan

I sometimes re-write scenes from my dnd games in full prose form, and I also sometimes write little "vignettes" of moments from the characters' pasts, also in full prose. So far the only two who have gotten that kind of treatment are Rook and Carrion, but I hope to do it with others eventually.

So anyways, I've had in my head for months the idea to write out a prose vignette of the backstory behind Carrion's name. But the idea was always very vague: Reverence attacks one of his fellow paladins and is left for dead because of it. (Hence the line, "Soon you'll be nothing but carrion" that struck me like a bolt of lightning.)

Talking with the DM of Carrion's game (hiiii Izzy 💖💖💖) a couple of weeks ago gave me a better idea of where I wanted the vignette to go (a tragedy of misunderstandings / no one wanted to hurt anyone / the path to hell is paved with good intentions). And then exactly one week ago (down to the minutes, actually. I was writing between 7-8:30pm) I actually sat down and wrote the damn thing.

And because it's me, it turned out sadder than I expected it to. (And the concept on its own was already sad enough.) Orion here is a BIG part of that. He originally wrote himself into the story as a bit of a plot device. A young, freshly knighted paladin who wasn't allowed to go on the mission that got them the Delirium shard. So he begged the older paladin stationed on guard with him (Reverence, aka Carrion) to let him have a peek. Reverence relents, Orion opens the chest, and Carrion transforms. It only lasts a few seconds though, before he's back in his normal body.

Now, as far as the paladins know, any transformations are permanent, and essentially result in your death. So they try desperately for WEEKS to find someone who can "cure" him. Unfortunately they're wrong, and the ticking clock they're all imagining doesn't actually exist. But they exhaust all of their resources and options in an attempt to help one of their own.

Now, Reverence has been confronted with the fact that he's going to die at any moment (or so he thinks), and so he's understandably in a bit of a shitty mood. He keeps his distance from the other paladins when they camp, but is eventually approached by one of his friends, a guy named Beren. (I have a sim of Beren, too. I'll add his pic at the bottom of this post.) Reverence and Beren talk, and they're having two very different conversations. Rev assumes that Beren was sent to watch him because he's dangerous now, meanwhile Beren volunteered to hang out with and keep an eye on his friend who recently got bad news.

Things get a little tense, and Orion (who has also volunteered to hang out with Rev, but had gone to get food for the three of them) walks in at just the wrong moment. He assumes Reverence is threatening Beren, and draws his sword. The combo of the reminder of how this started and a fear instinct, on top of the already heightened emotions and stress he's feeling, makes Reverence snap, throwing a punch at Orion.

Not having control of things, he transforms mid-swing, and by the time he realizes what's happened and that he might actually truly hurt Orion, it's too late. Orion goes down, and Reverence is tackled by the rest of the paladins.

After that, he wakes up in chains hearing Beren try and persuade Theodore (the leader of the paladins and Reverence's mentor) that he should have killed Rev while he was unconscious. Rev tries to ask about Orion, but gets no straight answer.

Because Theodore is too selfish to do the (based on their knowledge) "right" thing and give Reverence a quick death, they leave him bound on a ledge about 40ft down a cliff. The last thing Reverence hears as the paladins walk away is Theodore saying to Beren "Put Reverence out of your mind. Soon he'll be nothing but carrion."

When he survives, he takes that name and plots to kill Theodore, not knowing or understanding that Theodore did what he did out of love, and also has regretted it every day since -- to the point that he literally lost his divine magic over it.

Now, here's the kicker. I never specified if Orion lived or died. And I told the DM that it was her choice. So we'll see what happens. Both options are thoroughly upsetting for Carrion, so I'm happy with either.

As promised, here's a pic of Beren.

And I love that they pulled absolutely zero punches. Caleb was complicit. Caleb was both a victim and he committed atrocities. He did it all willingly. Him forcing a man to literally gut himself (and with a little joke, too)... MWAH.

Side note: Getting to see all of this and the Essek stuff side-by-side is fucking glorious. My wonder beautiful beloved traitorous wizards. They're such perfect mirrors of each other. (Fun fact: I actually had an edit WIP from literally years ago of my sim versions of Caleb and Essek. Maybe I'll have to revive it sometime.)

The contrast between Beau telling him he's the "good monk" and then her chickening out and him TORTURING Owelia... amazing.

Augh, it's all so good.

I will say, Frumpkin pawing at the window did make me lowkey nauseous because while I will clap and cheer for humans getting hurt, I do actually have semi-functional empathy for animals, and my two worst fears are 1) my home burning down, and 2) my cats getting hurt (which feeds into #1). So um. Yeah. That specific note of Caleb's backstory is always slightly distressing to me. (If Frumpkin wasn't inside, it would be fine, lmao.) (I very much can understand and appreciate the choice. Trust me, I can. I've done all kinds of horrible fucked-up shit to my OCs, and I even am considering taking inspiration from the Frumpkin thing (in a less graphic and much more passive way) for my lead-in to Carrion's backstory. But that hyper-specific combo does make me a little upset.)

And I absolutely love him just fucking OBLITERATING Owelia. It's both in contrast to his early-game mechanics with the WIS saves, but also not, given that he passed out directly afterwards.

Speaking of passing out: Fucking phenomenal whumpy shit this episode. Fjord in the background dying of poison!!! (and giving a chance to hint at parts of Nott's backstory, which as my friend pointing out, there's no way they're letting that linger until the equivalent of Episode 50-something in-campaign.)

(also, added side note, someone on here pointed out that two of Trent's torture victims have been played by Travis (just for screams), and I think that's fucking hilarious. They really just said "let's torture this dude". I mean, I know he's one of the EP's on the show, so it makes sense that he's just... always there, but still, very funny.)

btw, idk if you follow it or not, but my personal blog (where I talk about CR and also my own dnd adventures, among other things) is @six-improbable-things