#just drow things

Friend:”Ohh, what companions are you picking?”

Me:” I'm only going to pick males since I play a male drow. I didn't crawl all the way to the surface to be bossed around by women.”

Friend:”You literally have Shadowheart and Lae’zel in your party?!”

Me:”Iblith doesnt count.”

*finding Minthara 20min later*

Me:” Yes, mistress, I will slaughter all the innocents for your pleasure. Step on me mommy”

Karlach: You *killed the Hollyphant*?!

I've agonized over this for like 6 hours. I tried to find the "least dark" thing that was in a shareable state. Every WIP I have is only a first draft.

Beneath the cut I've hidden: extremely light mention of spice. Light combat. Swords. One mention of a very small and superficial wound with zero descriptors.

I likely won't participate in this often but I've mentioned my writing enough in tags that I should probably share a snippet-

In the Underdark there was no sun to mark the passing of a day, only an eternal night flecked with the colorful lights of bioluminescence and magic. The Drow city was densely packed into a large cavern, with eight noble houses rising like giant stalagmites, reaching towards misty clouds that formed and fell in a never ending cycle. There were certain hours when activity dwindled and the world felt quiet and the magical glow dimmed, but it never went out.

During such an hour, when the off duty guards were in the barracks beginning to reverie, Viedyn took advantage of an empty training hall. As captain of the guard he was expected to be the best of them and he kept his skills honed accordingly. In the absence of a proper sparring partner at such an odd hour he put himself through a series of drills instead. He enjoyed the familiarity of the repetition and the weight of his sword and shield in hand. The air itself whined as his blade skillfully cut through it. He threw his power behind every practiced thrust and slash, relishing the way it made his muscles burn. The wicked black armor he wore moved fluently with his body, the metal plates sliding over one another smoothly while his long black velvet cloak whipped behind him.

The sound of footsteps that were not his own halted his sword mid air. He diverted the momentum into a flourish and brought the weapon to rest at his side, turning to see that two guards had entered the hall. His chest tightened when he realized they both wore the crimson cloak of the Matron's personal guard. Neither wore a red crested helmet or carried the large black spear they would've had if they were on duty, but that did little to ease his concern. He held no authority over them, they only answered to the Matron. They had their own training halls and barracks so there were few reasons for them to be in his, especially at that hour.

Oh my god I was gonna save this for tomorrow but my hotel is so painfully dry that I'm holed up in the bathroom steaming it up with the shower and I've got stories!

Because YES! Due to the unique makeup of their society they handle mistakes VERY CAREFULLY.

Viedyn is skilled at this because he's been doing it the longest, he's good at being or PRETENDING to be charismatic, and he's an excellent strategist. So for a "small" mistake he'll usually come up with something he can offer that will smooth things over.

A quick example is a perceived "mistake" during a surface raid is suddenly excused when Viedyn reveals it was so he could procure the forgotten realms equivalent of "really good weed" for the priestesses of his house. Something a more powerful house would typically snatch up during a raid. Of course that wasn't really the reason but he lifted the jar as a backup plan if his insubordination was noticed.

Durafein will typically just eat the punishment. He becomes a bit of a masochist because pain becomes so familiar to him.

It's the "BIG" mistakes that are extremely tricky. The brothers do enjoy a small amount of protection because each of them is essentially a weapon the Matron has honed and she wields them as such. (Viedyn literally delivered the throne to her)

They're her only children - she was pregnant with Durafein when she used Viedyn to seize power because she was certain she was having a daughter and Lolth was on her side. (That's a whole other thing)

They know she PROBABLY won't kill them but the odds are never zero. So whenever they can they use "the buddy system" which can be as simple as "heads up, you're fucked, so think of something fast" or a lot more. I've got a story!

At a couple points daughters of "friendly" houses seek out Durafein as a consort. One of them is quite the schemer and sees a much shorter ascent to power if she can become a member of Durafeins house, ally with their Matron, and secure a powerful position. She wants Viedyn's position because Durafein is close to him and would be able to "free it up" while she essentially pitched her resume.

Obviously Durafein took serious issue with that proposal and turned on her instead. He showed up in Viedyn's office, with blood still on him, panicking, because that was one of the biggest fuckups he could make.

Viedyn, being the strategist, formulated a play. He'd take Durafein to the Matron herself to prevent her from having the time to summon an audience. Her sisters would no doubt call for Durafeins execution but the Matron wasn't likely to throw away one of her favorite weapons if she didn't have to. It was the only play they could make.

Obviously the Matron was enraged. But as Viedyn expected she was too enraged to call an audience or do anything else but brandish her snake headed whip.

Viedyn watched impassively as the punishment proceeded. When it went to an extent he felt was dangerous he said "That's enough." Which was already a risky thing to do. When she didn't even take notice of what he said, and kept her focus on Durafein, Viedyn stepped between them and drew his sword in a wide arc.

He meant to destroy her snake headed whip. But they're quite fast, and he only managed to sever one of the heads. For a moment none of them even moved. Viedyn knew he was fucked.

The Matron didn't even strike him with the whip first. He got a closed-fist punch to the face that dropped him. He managed to get his arms around Durafeins body and pull his brother against him to shield him before the whip struck again. Viedyn took the remainder of her rage but it meant both of them lived. Barely. But barely still counts as far as Viedyn was concerned.

this is a compliment

Thank you ...

Enclave is particularly interesting because she's purposefully being written to be very irrational in the kind of love she ends up falling into, no matter if its a relationship or otherwise. The is paired with the fact that she's someone who will excuse and enable a lot if she does like you (including when she herself it the target of torment), and given how quickly she becomes enamoured with concepts and people it is something she's frequently being tossed around by.

Thank you for sharing your OCs with us.

I literally fangirl screamed over this, then sent a screenshot to the one IRL friend I gush about OCs with and WE fangirl screamed together. All to say - I REALLY appreciated it!

This also made me feel way better about a small info dump I was drafting for next week.

I'm HYPED to hear you're playing a Drow and I really hope you enjoy it! They CAN be quite tricky depending on their alignment but that's what I find fun about them!

I also answered publicly so I could add two things!

- my ask box and inbox are open for Drow ideas, questions, gushing, etc. I love speculating on how they may react to scenarios based on their alignment, religion, position in society, and ambitions, etc.

- I don't always reblog games! I participate when I can because it spreads joy and I enjoy learning more about OCs, but sometimes when I know I'm gonna be slammed IRL I won't reblog because I can't answer quickly. I've literally got a tab open on my PC to remind me to play with one more mutual tomorrow morning but I've gotta dive into work right after and it's gonna be a really rough day.

If I played an OC ask with you - you're ALWAYS welcome to play/ask the same thing right back at me even if I didn't reblog!

Hair all damp and tousled from the heat.

Blood spattered from killing literally everyone because Lolth Made Him Do It (tm).