Latest Posts by huntedsmark - Page 3

Thinking about character idles!!!

I asked some friends yesterday if their pc had a character idle animation + floating talk bubble, like when you sit for a while in a videogame and your party has to sit there, what would their character idle + talk bubbles be.

Roma's would be one of those like, resting squats. the asian squat!! And the motions Roma would go through would be scratching under his chin, scratching behind his ear, and yawning, like a dog. I also imagine when everyone starts moving again he would take half a step to catch up with everyone, because he has to get up from squat position.

Roma's text bubbles would be:

(sniff sniff)

"Woof."

And if he has to wait a REALLY long time:

"Hey stupid? You're not even doing anything?"

Also, in my wildest dreams when characters in your party have shared idle animations (disco elysium style), if Roma and Ez are both in your party, I'd like to think one of the shared idles you could get is Ez using Roma like a chair/footstool LMAO

HELP was talking to a friend in dms on twit about strahd and literally midway thru the conversation i got a message that a) my response couldn't be sent and b) TWITTER THINKS IM AUTOMATED? HELLO? IM JUST HAVING A CONVERSATION

IVE ONLY BEEN SCROLLING TWIT IDLY FOR AN HOUR AND IM ALREADY LOCKED OUT THIS IS SOOO FUNNY? Anyway I don't think it'd be bad to talk here more (since I already blast out my thoughts on twitter) but I'm not used to the long format of tumblr so that may take some time to get used to (thinky emoji)

Hmm. And what if I bit you. Perchance

Hello! I wanted to do one of those 'meet the party' introduction posts for PCs and major recurring NPCs. Info below the cut, and best viewed on a blog :D Spoilers beware!

MEET THE PARTY

Robin “Basil” Cantemir (circle of dreams druid/wood half-elf feytouched) (PC) he/him STATUS: Alive CONDITIONS: Dark Power (Dahlver-nar) Cradle-robbed (literal) and forced into fey servitude. Party dad and default party face because no one else is remotely qualified. Romantically involved with Ireena and currently has her as a tooth in his mouth. 

Ireena Kolyana (NPC) she/her STATUS: Deceased CONDITIONS: is tooth A sweetheart. Party darling and moral center before her untimely death, undeath, and disintegration. Currently brought back as a tooth in Basil’s mouth.

Vicelinus aka Vice (grave cleric/variant human aka lizard) (PC) he/him STATUS: Alive CONDITIONS: none Wandering holyman and servant of the Raven Queen. Self serving coward turned reluctant protagonist. Major arsonist tendencies. Party healer and part time devout follower (sorry Raven Queen.) 

Milivoj (champion fighter/human) (PC) he/him STATUS: Alive CONDITIONS: Dark Power (Taar Haak), Dark Power (Tarakamedes) Barovian and former oniichan. Extremely normal mcnormie normalson when he’s not shaking like a frightened chihuahua or being racist against Vistani. Party tank and Basil’s figurative son. 

Roma (gloomstalker ranger/human) (PC) he/him STATUS: Alive CONDITIONS: Dark Power (Osybus) Party dog with anger issues and primary DPS. Raised by wolves and socialized via Fey and it shows. Smells awful.

Maraschino aka Elle aka Kristiana aka Twothka etc. (trickster rogue/changeling) (PC) he/him STATUS: Deceased CONDITIONS: Dark Power (Vaund) Resident carefree prettyboy, wannabe gentleman, and former face of the party. Cluelessly insensitive. Roma’s closest friend in the party before he was consumed by Vaund. Haunts the narrative.

Van Richten (NPC) he/him STATUS: Alive Tsundere old man and verified Sadgirl (TM). Roma and Ez’s mentor, and the former’s favorite person ever.

Ez (NPC) she/her STATUS: Alive  Too cool for the party. Puts “the fool” in “fools go where angels fear to tread.” Roma’s maybe friend and not-girlfriend.

Stella Wachter (Fated Ally) (NPC) she/her STATUS: Alive CONDITIONS: Existing (The Stella Condition) Doing bad! Keeps DDLG-ing the party and giving them psychic damage because of it. Party’s fated ally that they want to teach counterspell to so bad. 

---

Party doesn't have a group name, but the dynamic is four (formerly five) socially nerfed individuals and one (1) token girl. Practiced situation escalators. Frequent bickering and infighting due to conflicting value differences, stubborn egos, and the general stress of Barovia. Extremely rough around the edges, but through trial and error settled on a tenuous alliance and mutual understanding.

FULL PARTY

the last four big character tokens for my game

ko-fi

things I didn't realize were probably canon to ez's description until i started posting on tumblr bc my dm's descriptions were really lean and we both take incredible artistic liberties:

has a lip piercing???

has tattoos???

is TALL?

HELLO i want everyone to know what I lack in [CANON ACCURATE EZ] I make up with [DRAWING HER AS HOT AS I CAN PHYSICALLY MANAGE]

anyway !!! unrelated to anything here's modern day punk ez

disco elysium style portraits for ez and roma :)

stumbled on these doodles and realized i never posted them!! party busted into khazan tower late at night because we were desperate and interrupted ez and vr's beauty rest

You know if you turn into a monster I have to kill you, right?!

While several party members were off doing a sidequest, Mili made a deal with Tarakamedes, that in exchange for being able to attune to his shield, Tarakamedes would eat his heart and Mili would die in 24 hours. Ez, who was the only one around, was SO pissed.

characters that get along

CURSEMAKER

full (sort of!!) party lineup in celebration of FINALLY GETTING OUR FATED ALLY STELLA

You're 19? Do you think things will get better or worse from here?

i think i will grab things by the throat and make them what they need to be

CONSUMED

A small animatic from a scene in game. A little while ago, one of the PCs was consumed by a dark power and disappeared without trace, and they've been haunting the narrative since.

VIKTOR CHANGED ME

Some doodles of our fated ally we finally got a glimpse of, Stella Watcher. DM gave a description of her being tormented by skeletal cats, which I thought was just SO evocative.

based off that one twitter post

in between

i mean this so seriously if you have any sort of creative project you can and should be a little obsessed with it. you should reread your own writing and look at your own art and brag about your ocs its literally good for your health

Do you have a beginners guide to ez's lore for the uninitiated (me) 🥺

YOU GOT IT I LOVE NOTHING MORE THAN TO TALK ABT HER

Note: This only applies to Ez in our campaign, other Ez’s will vary. 

BASIC INFO

Ez (goes by Ez)

She/Her 

Human 

5’0” (5'8") / 25-35 yrs (her canon is 5'8" and the height I draw her is noncanon LOL)

Romani (Vistani) descent 

Action Girl (like the TV Trope)

Primary weapons are magic handaxe, saber, and the ability to call lightning from her fingertips.

An elusive NPC that’s both a world of help and a storm of trouble at the same time, Ez is protege to one of the greatest monster hunters in existence, and her nearly bottomless talent and expertise are countered only by her reckless, impulsive disposition and swiftly changing whims. Casual, confident, and deeply capable, she’s happy to share her knowledge with the party when asked, but her cat-like independent streak means she never stays for long. 

When the party first met her, she had big ‘I’ll sell you for one corn chip’ energy, and while it doesn’t seem like she’ll betray them anymore, she still feels like a gremlin and is somewhat difficult to read. The party enjoys her because she’s easy to talk to and exchange theories with. Roma likes chatting with her when she’s around, and “likes” her, which at this moment involves giving her a lot of gifts and making fun of her when she loses things. 

OTHER FACTS: 

Has a below the knee prosthetic.

Says her parents were the worst.

Seems to have a complicated relationship with her heritage. 

Running gag that she keeps throwing her ax into the figurative (sometimes literal) abyss despite not needing to at all and the party has to fetch it 

Running gag that she just loses important things, like full horses, her magic cart, and her spell components

Can do triple the amount of damage of the party in a single turn 

Lost her shadow once, and had to go on a long and difficult venture with The Twins to retrieve it back 

Talks to Roma in Goblin, a language that only the two of them and none of the party know 

Was first mentioned in Roma’s tarot reading (players are given a tarot reading in the beginning of the campaign called Tarokka that tells them important NPCs or artifacts abt the world that’ll help them in the campaign/relate to completing objectives in backstory) 

The Tempter - speaks of one who will direct you to a mutual ally; to someone who knows something of your past and who will know something of your future. you must seek out the woman of recklessness who is missing one of her legs.

Can read tarokka, but claims to not be very fluent with it. 

Agreed to go on a date with Roma. 

Gifts Roma has given her: 

Endure Elements - a spell casted on her, after first meeting, upon her departure, that protects from cold and heat and keeps casted comfortable for 8 hrs in extreme weather conditions 

20 feet of chain - forged by local blacksmith, originally 30 feet. “It’s so you can attach it to your ax and not lose it anymore.” 

A gold bracelet worth 100 gold pieces taken from the party’s first vampire kill 

The ribs from a stag, hunted by Roma and Van Richten (Roma and Ez’s shared mentor) that morning 

more ezreena thoughts

do you ever meet a woman whose expertise and existence may solve all of your problems, who is literally so strong she may be able to free you, perhaps even help you free yourself (utena music starts)

anyway. i only know as much about them as a person playing strahd for the first time could. but. They Could Be Very Good Together I Think

DAMSEL/HERO (an ireena/ez comic)

ez's cart

straightened

Hi! General announcement that this is a 21+ blog, not necessarily because this blog is nsfw or the like, but because I am an adult and will naturally talk about and post adult (general) things. Any minors I notice will be softblocked, and everyone else I reserve the right to block/softblock at any time for any reason. Have a nice day!

GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS!!!!!!

happy valentines day from barovia's #1 and #2 vampirekillers

have some old man with a huge wealth of multiversal knowledge and a dog doodles

I'm really curious about what Roma has going on with Osybus, how much he knows, how much you know... I am very eye emoji about it in general. Especially the significance of the increasingly? invisible limbs? A rad looking effect to be sure, but also hmmmmmm. (Also I saw it was your birthday recently! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!)

WAH HELLO!!!!!!!! THANK U YES IT WAS (SPINNING HEARTS EMOJI) ROMA’S THING WITH OSYBUS IS A REALLY DEEP VEIN (I personally like it a lot because it naturally interacts really closely with many of Roma’s deepest fears, desires, coping mechanisms, and personal beliefs, and as a narrative device and mechanical plaything I couldn’t have asked for anything better) 

As a general ask “what’s roma’s thing with osybus?” is one of the most pandora’s box-y things you could’ve asked, so I hope you don’t mind if this is a bit wordy and like, ALL over the place.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

Fast answer first: We (OOC party and IC pcs) believe that Osybus originally was part of I think Sessinek, or at least a larger being, and that he’s connected to the amber temple in some way. We also think that we released Osybus when Roma shattered one of the artifacts at the death house, but that’s a theory. Roma also has no idea how Deep he is in with Osybus and enters any transactional interaction with the idea that it may be his last, but I know he’s a little over halfway to being so far gone my DM takes him as an NPC. 

GENERAL BACKSTORY, Osybus is the headfriend (I don’t know the term for it but we just call them headfriends) Roma contracted with during the Feast in Vallaki. We were literally fighting for our lives in front of the church of St. Andral and things were looking pretty grim; a lot of the party was either fully missing or really badly injured, and Strahd was about to land a coup de grace by luring Ireena outside of the safety of the church via killing the party member she was in love with, our druid healer. In a last ditch effort, Roma used his turn to beg Strahd to make a deal with them to spare them, but Strahd very coldly refused because “there is nothing you could give me I would want,” and Roma was devastated. 

It was after that second Osybus contacted Roma in his mind, that he was Osybus the Immortal and that he could save them. Roma initially asked if he could save the whole party but Osybus said that was beyond his power, and that Roma could only choose one person for this gift. Roma was torn, so he decided to ask Osybus what Strahd wanted the most. 

“The girl.” Osybus answered. 

“Then he can’t have her.” Roma replied. “I pick Ireena.” And then Osybus killed Ireena!!! (Ireena was fine tho, and then not, and then worse, etc etc you know how Barovia is) 

Roma’s relationship with Osybus has morphed over time, starting from gratefully deferential due to Osybus “helping” Roma out so often and also due to Roma not having anyone he could turn to for assistance or companionship for a stint of time, to eventually pettily and one-sidedly antagonistic on Roma’s end due to VR’s warnings and some subsequent bad deals. 

That being said, despite it all Osybus is usually the one Roma turns to whenever he feels trapped and cornered, because Osybus’ power to grant wishes is often Roma’s only ripcord in situations where the options left to him are usually death or worse. Osybus has also been nothing but obliging and polite to Roma (though he has shades of sounding like, possessive), which makes interactions all the more sticky since Osybus has such a strong hold over him. 

The ghost limbs are one of the penalties from wishes from Osybus! Roma usually takes some sort of penalty whenever he makes a wish, and since I had some troubles with the original way Osybus’ penalties manifested (rot and decay) my DM kindly changed it to make his limbs translucent, with increasing transparency the more wishes Roma makes. He also has trouble leveraging their strength now that they're translucent and doesn’t have a shadow anymore! 

One of the last things to know about Roma is for a long time, he didn’t consider himself to have many strengths, but one he Did have was a VERY solid sense of self. He understood what he himself wanted, innately and always, and was really decisive about wholeheartedly pursuing whatever he believed was right (even if he was Really Not.) 

More recently, Roma also has begun to realize he has a lot more to gain in the world now that VR is back in the picture, and wants to spend whatever time VR has left to just, hang out with VR. When the adventure in Barovia ends, the first (and honestly, only) thing Roma wants to do is visit Van Richten’s greenhouse. He wants it more than anything in the whole wide world!! 

However, both of these things are now in jeopardy, since Roma is now So deep in Osybus’ penalty shootout with already so little to forfeit, that Osybus has started to change parts of Roma’s desires and personality as payment. And Roma is KEENLY aware of the changes and dissonance and the payments happening, but because they feel “natural” to his personality he struggles to disobey. 

Roma’s current dilemma is now--in extremely high stress, high danger situations-- having to choose between dying having never experience The Thing He Wants More Than Anything, or dealing with Osybus to survive to the end but risk being altered so much that the original reasons he made the deals for no longer matter. Real die a hero or live to be the villain type nonsense.