#hook horror

I have some companion headcanons I’m working on, but please tell me I’m not the only one howling for some monster content. NSFW under the cut because I’m about to be quite shameless. Hear me out, I’m on my knees. I’m talking about…

notes:

So in a previous post I made about Dhourn (you can read what I wrote about him here), it was mentioned he had two enemies: Xargrim and Filro, who you end up running into in the game. I ran into Filro when I last played, and... he's interesting. It's also interesting how he's one of Dhourn's biggest rivals (also a majorly pathetic drow wizard man). It says a lot about their characters.

So I first found him at this camp, snuck up on him but couldn't get to higher ground before everyone rolled for initiative, so he had the advantage and just initiated a fight. It was just him and a Hook Horror sharing this living space (there were other Hook Horrors around - but at a distance so I didn't initiate them in combat yet). And since the fight had already started I was just like, "Alright, guess this is an enemy; I guess I have to kill this guy. Idk why he wants me dead tho."

He spammed his hypnosis magic, I took out a couple of his allied Hook Horrors - but I noticed that when I killed one he would show immense amounts of grieving distress when I took down these animals. They weren't just cohabitating in the same underdark ecosystem, he seems to have a deeper affection for these guys.

He also called one of them, "my love" which is a deeply affectionate yet disconcerting thing to call a dino bird that can stomp you in half.

After the battle with the Hook Horrors I used Sovereign Glut (who I recruited to my party) to raise one of them from the dead, so I guess I've adopted it into my party now? (I've checked - it does follow me to camp). When exploring the immediate area with my party, I also discovered other pieces regarding what-I-think-is the environmental storytelling here as well.

Just a few yards away there is a giant nest. I ungrouped myself from my party and jumped to it (it's a whole ledge away) but didn't end up ungrouped from my new fungi-driven dino friend, who jumped to the same ledge I was standing on.

We were inside of a giant nest with comparably sized eggshells - as well as a chest full of humanoid treasure that someone nearby must have placed. I also couldn't help but notice that the egg shells were just the right size for the Hook Horror I just revivified.

I'm pretty sure these Hook Horrors were just freshly hatched. They were babies. These Hook Horrors were the infants of something greater and much more terrifying.

I also was forced to grapple with the uncomfortable ethical implications of the fact that I unwittingly resurrected a child like a zombie from The Last Of Us to fight for me in combat, effectively creating either a walking late-term abortion or violating multiple child labor/endangerment laws. Anyway, I hope that realization disturbed you as much as it disturbed me.

But additionally, they were also children that Filro had... adopted?

I feel like it makes sense. He's alone out in the brutal underdark, he's just this squishy lost guy (as we've seen with other combat inept magic-class drow) who is victim to circumstance (his own that he created - but still), starts to get a bit more unhinged from isolation and trauma, keeps his treasure in a nest where it's safe, plays guardian, witnesses the miracle of dinobirth, and accidentally wanders into parenthood right as some pointy-weaponed adventurers pass through. Idk, I may be really reaching plotwise here, but y'all can lmk if I am. I'd love to discuss it in the notes.

I get that he doesn't have much else going for him rn, but I don't think taking up the realm of parenthood was the best move for him. But yk, we all have to have our hobbies. If mine can be modding my way through my dark fantasy vampire dating simulator, his can be cosplaying as a kafkaesque nanny post friend-breakup with his original expedition team. Idk, there's worse things to be I guess.

But after discovering this, I thought I'd use "Speak With Dead" on him to see if I could get any more context or info for the plot.

💔 Idk, I feel like his affections could also be interpreted as iffy or questionable here, but I think it was more familial than that. Maybe it's just because it's the less uncomfy narrative, but I feel like he just wanted to be a dad. 😭

He may also be a cannibal when it comes to consuming humanoid creatures, but we can hardly fault him for that. 😅 The parentification of the Hook Horrors is irresponsible parenting rubric though. Absolutely ignoramus behavior. 4/10 for being an improvement on his nearly nonexistent survival skills. Slay. ✨️

You can also find a letter on his person that implies that he went and lost his mind and developed erratic sensibilities. He's a wizard living in the weave-dispersing field of the sussur tree atp with 8 Wisdom and mainly using magic prowess in life to keep him afloat, idk, I feel like him crashing out like this is pretty par for the course. His own family left him to be forgotten, so he wanted to be the dad that stepped up. Albeit in a ✨️delulu✨️ kind of way, but I still kinda love him for trying.

9 Charisma, no house name to his name, deciding to "lone wolf" this dangerous expedition through the underdark to search out this mystery of adventurer mythos (The Adamantine Forge), sticking to his guns regarding who's the asshole even tho he lost the shootout - RIP Filro, you would have loved Reddit. You won't be forgotten in my heart. 🫶

He's insane, his living arrangement is busted, he breaks for monster dino birds, his survival skills ain't shit, he doesn't work well with others historically, he's a single dad (probably used hypnosis to keep them from killing him) who works two jobs (being forgotten and being dead) who loves his kids and never stops (throws hands on sight) with gentle magic hands and the heart of a fighter (hypervigilant mental disorder). He did not survive shit tho. He is pathetic with weird paternal instincts and I adore him for it.