[D&D-5e] War of the Spider Queen

[Dylan Scott]

Application Placeholder Updated

Can Alnor get hold of one of those Vision Items too? Lack of Darkvision is the only part of his Drow disguise he hasn't been able to replicate accurately yet

[HashtagBryn]

Character Essentials Name: Pronounced: oo - RAY - yahOuraeia Extaminos Race: Yuan-ti (MPMM) Patron Deity: Jazirian Alignment: Aspirationally, at least. Formerly NE; this is sort of new to her, and an old skin takes time to shed entirely.Neutral Good Class: In theory, this might actually be Bard 1 / Warlock 3 / Bard +5 because that gets me... um, two extra musical instrument proficiencies? Yeah, not sure I care unless I need the skills to work out differently.Warlock (Hexblade) 3 / Bard (College of Whispers) 6 Training: Coiled Cabal (as Sorcere) Selected Source Book: Xanathar's Guide to Everything

Appearance Ouraeia, as she truly appears, could easily pass for a human. She is taller than the average Chondathan woman, and with darker skin. But all of that is easily excused away as a bit of Turami heritage, as is the hint of waviness to her black hair. She wears it long, approaching mid-back. Born into a life of privilege, selected for special training, and ultimately given a position as a foreign dignitary -- irrespective of how well all those aspects have worked out for her -- Ouraeia dresses the part of wealth and prestige. She rarely chooses clothing that would expose the small scales at her shoulders, but they are easily enough concealed with makeup when circumstances call for more revealing attire. She is a connoisseur of fine jewelry, preferring precious metals such as gold and mithral to gaudy gems. And always, always, she carries herself with poise and grace. Of course, not everyone gets to see Ouraeia as she truly appears. A prodigy at the art of infiltration, she uses both Expertise (Deception)mundane and the Mask of Many Faces invocation -- and Mantle of Whispers, when things have come to thatmagical disguises to move daringly among the populace of Menzoberranzan as one of their own when the presence of an ambassador would seem out of place. The best-practiced of such faces is that of T'Elynya Platin, a young, reasonably attractive, but generally unremarkable drow woman, purportedly a minor scion of a cadet branch of the 14th House of Menzoberranzan.

Family Rank Ouraeia Extaminos, officially, is in Menzoberranzan as the Even in canon, Menzoberranzan has made minor exceptions to its traditionally xenophobic policies to host ambassadors from other races and powers. Typically, these are other Underdark races (especially duergar); the level of tolerance for them in the city depends on the level of hostility between their sponsors and the drow, of course. Mechanically, Ouraeia has the Noble Background, and I think my take on her situation there is in line with both the Position of Power ability and the on-the-ground realities in the City of Spiders.ambassador of House Extaminos and, by extension, the nation-state of Hlondeth. Accordingly, she is afforded, begrudgingly, somewhat more respect than most other non-drow in the city. A few of the more conservative houses question whether there is any benefit to entertaining a dignitary from such a distance and -- dare they say? -- irrelevant surface power. But for some time she's been tolerated, if not really accepted, in the city's small community of non-drow with wealth or influence enough to hold their own. Her private quarters are in the Duthcloim, far away from the wretched Stenchstreets where most other races are forced to reside. Her home doubles as the Extaminaar Embassy, although she doesn't have any staff to support her ambassadorial duties. Typically, that's not a problem, because she rarely has any ambassadorial duties; largely, she and what she represents here are simply ignored. Secretly, of course, Ouraeia isn't really an honest representative of her homeland these days. But that's fine, because she doesn't really want to support the dominant political infrastructure here, either. She has been using her skills and misappropriated ambassadorial resources in (largely) covert support of House Platin. "T'Elynya Platin" is the product of that arrangement. The House's books suggest that T'Elynya is the fourth daughter of the third son of the least of the Matron's wives, Emerald. Unfortunately, her "parents" Accident meaning "political assassination", of course. Otherwise, that's all true... except, of course, that they only actually had three daughters.died in a tragic accident while brokering a trade agreement in Ched Nasad, and so the young girl has been raised by the House in general. It's the sort of story that has just enough details to be plausible, but too few to be easy to check up on. By design, of course.

Background They say... They say that before there was history or time or even the other gods, there was still the World. And the Serpent. And the Serpent was the World, and the World was the Serpent. And the Serpent's children gave praise to it, and in turn, had dominion over all mortal things. But as they grew and learned, the Serpent's children had need of more guidance, called upon their creator to aid them in ever-more roles, until even the Serpent who was the World could not be all the things its children needed. The Serpent shattered into countless parts, each serving its children in the manner that was needed. But the Serpent had been greater than the sum of its scales. It's children had only its fragments to guide them, and their hearts grew colder than even their blood. Their prayers and offerings grew dark and cruel, and the fragments of the Serpent could do nothing to stop them; they existed to be the gods the Serpent's children needed, and the Serpent's children needed dark and cruel gods. And so they were, the scales of the World tarnished by power and greed. The world now is not as it was then, and there are many other gods, and those gods have many children. But the children of the Serpent still live. They are still just as dark and cruel, watched over by fragment-gods who have become just as evil as they are. They say these things, because they are all true. Except for the parts that are lies... Ouraeia hatched from a clutch of noble eggs in the secret breeding chambers beneath the Avaiary in Hlondeth, born to serpentfolk nobility. Although her line would never have a claim to rule the city or House in Dediana's place, she wanted for little and received training in whatever skills and arts she displayed proficiency with. Diplomacy, infiltration, seduction, assassination. But most of all, she demonstrated some potential for arcane magic. Such gifts are rare among the yuan-ti, House Extaminos included, but seem horrifyingly common among the "lesser" races. Neither Dediana nor Medusanna, high priestess of the Cathedral of Emerald Scales, had the means to develop and encourage this art. Ultimately, at the risk of appearing to favor House Eselemas over the Extaminaar's traditional allies among House Se'Sehen, Dediana herself decreed that young Ouraeia be fostered to the Coiled Cabal and trained in the arcane studies that only they could truly offer. The Cabal helped Ouraeia hone her personality into magical talents of enchantment and illusion. But they were not satisfied. Oout of character, this was a yuan-ti pureblood racial feature in 3.5, but in-character, it's probably a side effect of the secret problem with the yuan-ti god Sseth.Until recently, even the most human of purebloods had been able to take the form of serpents, but after the Time of Troubles, the capacity for such transmutations was becoming increasingly rare. So, with a great deal of ceremony, the Cabal prepared a ritual to restore Ouraeia's "lost heritage" by channeling energy through her nascent arcane gifts. It was... not entirely successful. Oh, to be certain, she took the form of snake, but she could not control the transformation; worse yet, the failed magics lingered within her, distressingly likely to re-emerge upon exposure to other spells. The ritual was declared a failure. The Extaminaar were incensed that a promising vrael oro had been rendered unfit for combat and field work, potentially forever. The Cabal blamed House Extaminos's tied to the Se'Sehen. The uneasy cooperation between Hlondeth and the Coiled Cabal largely ended, and Ouraeia returned home to a life of diplomatic work, rather than military arcana. Except... The ritual had done more than curse her with uncontrolled shape changes. In that first brief time that she took the form of a snake, she saw the world not only through the eyes of a serpent but through the eyes of the Serpent. She saw the shattered god-fragments of the World that was, their scales darkened by sacrifice and corruption. She saw her own patron deity, Sseth, keeper of the yuan-ti, bound in silent slumber since the Time of Troubles, with an interloper, a human god, siphoning his power and standing in his place. She saw the souls of her people -- no, her soul -- tainted by millennia of evil. And amidst it all, she saw one last fragment of the World Serpent, its scales still shining bright with color, alone in the void. Weak from his own travails and a continent distant, that light -- the coatl god Jazirian -- could take little action. But as Ouraeia's mind, wandering beyond body and time, perceived him, he perceived her. He opened his eyes. And opened hers. Ouraeia retains some capacity with arcane magic, although she's certainly not the arch-sorcerer or battle wizard that the Cabal had hoped. But her other, natural skills served her well. After all, magical accident or not, she was still a noble of House Extaminos, and she has served Hlondeth in the years since in a number of political and ambassadorial positions. None have suspected that she has come to reject not only the faith of her people, but their callous cruelty as well. She, in turn, struggled to find ways to... accomplish something good amidst so much serpentine scheming. It is with no small irony that her most recent posting has been as an ambassador to Menzoberranzan, a place perhaps even more pervasively evil than the City of Serpents. A cynical observer might even think that this was a convenient means to rid the family of a damaged operative. It is with no small irony as well that, once there, she found kindred spirits in a House that, like her, strives to be a beacon of hope in the dark. The things she is best at would not always lend themselves to making the surface world a better place, but here, in the shadows of the Underdark, she has a chance to repay Jazirian for her enlightenment.

Player Essentials Have you played with me before? No. In fact, this is my first application -- much less my first game -- at RPG Crossing. However, I've been a tabletop roleplayer for many, many years and I hope those experiences will inform my contribution to this community. What makes you want to play this game? Several things stand out for me here: I love the Forgotten Realms; it was my first D&D campaign setting and probably remains my favorite despite all of the efforts of Eberron and Golarion to convince me otherwise. I love the rich tapestry of lore that comes with it and both the challenges and opportunities of weaving a character into that background. Second, I like that this game is starting squarely in mid-level play. I don't have anything against characters straight out of the base character creation rules, and really assumed that was all I'd see here. But on the other hand, I have played sort of a lot of them. It's fun to think about what your character can accomplish when they grow up. It's perhaps even more fun to see that in action. Ninth level is high enough that the characters aren't neophytes by any measure, but it's low enough that it should avoid the sort of analysis paralysis that sometimes plagues players facing really high-level sheets without coming to understand what they've created first! Finally, I like that -- even though this is based in part off a couple of existing modules -- that it isn't just play through a pre-published adventure. I run games sometimes; I know what the burden of creating a world and a storyline feels like. But as a player, I love the idea that there's more to the world than the plot immediately ahead of us, that we can be creative and go off script and make real changes. Do you really think you'll stick with this for at least a year? How about 5? In tabletop, I've played in a Mage: the Ascension chronicle that ran to completion after something like a decade of games, or thereabouts. I am still playing in an interconnected series of D&D games that has gone on for longer than that (and has, along the way, jumped systems from 3.5 to PF 1E to 4E to PF 1E to 5E ... and back to Pathfinder 1E). I don't necessarily expect to be selected for this game. I'm a new player here, applying with an offbeat character. But writing about her has been fun on its own merits. If I am invited to play, I don't quit the things I start. You'll have my participation until we accomplish the campaign's goals, Ouraeia dies, or you close the doors on the story.

Miscellanea I don't think I necessarily have any specific magic item requests (a mundane breastplate wouldn't make me sad, though), but I would love for Ouraeia to have spent the time and money for tool proficiency with disguise kits. Although that's somewhat redundant with her ability to produce disguise self at will, you can't be too careful when presenting yourself as someone -- and something -- you're not. Happy to discuss what possible ally/enemy options from her Coiled Cabal training might be that would actually, you know, matter to this plotline. If I'm a part of it!

[Birched]

Playing with a few AI Illustrators and made some art for this game ad (take it or leave it, I'm just experimenting)

Used text: dark elves seek a path to white goodness in the dangerous city of the spider queen

[Togot]

Name: Neraka Nieloth
Race: drow
Class: wizard necromancer 9
Alignment: Neutral good

Family Rank: Neraka was adopted into the house several years ago and works under Vern. He uses his undead as cheap tireless labor

Appearance: Neraka is tall and of average build. Age and a hard life have put lines on his face. He has long wavy hair and carries a bandolier of potions and scrolls of all kinds as he knows the value of being prepared. He carries a staff made from a treant as an arcane focus. He has weary eyes due to the many horrors he has witnessed in Menzoberranzan, but in the safety of house platin, he has learned to smile.

Background: Neraka was the fourth son of house Nieloth, a minor house that desperately struggled for the scraps at the bottom of drow society, and as the youngest son, Neraka struggled to survive his own family. His older brothers Jandar, Zemeckis, and Cador delighted in tormenting him. they were all bigger and stronger, and they reveled in the tiny bit of power they experienced over the only person they could oppress, but the worst were his sisters, The twins Millia and Miria. They felt it was their duty as drow women to teach their little brother obedience and would find any excuse to whip him half to death.

When Neraka displayed magical talent, he was given a reprieve by being shipped off to sorcere. Here Neraka found some small level of freedom and began to develop self esteem as his rapid mastery of the arcane arts proved him a talented caster. The arcane simply made sense to him. It came naturally and he it became the first thing in his life that gave him joy. Unfortunately, his success was not celebrated by his jealous peers. The worst of which was a senior student named Jakass. He was an illusionist that constantly used his magic to cause Neraka grief. Making him walk into closed doors that appeared to be open. putting up walls to hide hallways to cause Neraka to get lost. Creating monstrous creatures to terrify him, but the worst was when he made Neraka grab the wrong ingredients for a potion which caused an explosion causing Narka to constantly have a minor version of spider climb active, giving him sticky fingers permanently.

Despite this torment, Neraka still considered his time at sorcere to be a highlight in his life for it was there that he met his first friend, Kavoth, an evoker with a passion for fire magic. Kavoth was everything Neraka wasn’t. He was loud, confident, hot tempered, fearless, and confrontational. He stood up for Neraka many times and often encouraged his friend to stand up for himself. Things got worse when Neraka learned he had an affinity for necromancy. Necromancers had a bad reputation even among drow society as power hungry destructive mad mages, but unlike so many necromancers of the past, Neraka had no desire to create a vast army of the undead. For one thing, zombies and skeletons just weren’t that good in combat. A zombie was slightly difficult to kill for a commoner, sure, but maintaining control over too many of them left the caster too weak to use their stronger spells. Neraka saw a better use for them. a less evil and more helpful use. The dead could mine without rest. The dead could till soil and plant crops without needing to eat. The dead could carry heavy loads without complaint. The dead could serve the living to make their lives easier. And if it came to combat, every blow the dead took was pain the living were spared from.

Then, the world Neraka knew came to an end. A rival house purged his own, killing his family in a single night. Neraka would have joined them if Kavoth hadn’t come to warn him just before the assassins made their move. Together the two wizards fought off their assailants, but it seemed to Neraka that they had only postponed the inevitable, for without a house, without their patronage, he would be expelled from sorcere and meet his end on the streets. But this was not Nerka’s fate, for his friend saved his life a second time by bringing him to the house he served; house platin.

Kavoth made an appeal to lady Platin, and she welcomed Neraka into her house, offering her protection. Under her roof, Neraka found a world utterly alien to him. no whips, no cruelty, no insults. He found safety, and he understood that he was home. There is no doubt in Neraka’s mind that lady Platin saved his life, and so he has dedicated that life to serving her and her dream in any way he can. He continued his studies under Vern who he took a liking to due to his being an undead, and to this day strives to be the best wizard he can be to prove that not all necromancers are monsters.


The Player: I played with you a few years ago and rather enjoyed the game from what I remember. I have gotten much better at play by post. I have recently finished a west marshes adventure that lasted a year and will be playing the second part of it. I am also currently running a game based on elder scrolls skyrim that has been going for over a year, so commitment is not a problem. My work schedule is Friday Saturday and Sunday 12 hour shifts, leaving me free Monday through Thursday, so I won’t have a problem posting on those days.

[Kshnik]

Application Name: Gul Race: Goblin (Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse) Family Rank: Captain of the goblin and kobold battalions. Subordinate to Leader of the Guards; Corubon. Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Class: GloomStalker Ranger 5, Arcane Archer Fighter 3, Life Cleric 1 Book +1: Xanathar's Guide to Everything Physical Description: Its large head is supported by a thin neck that rests on a short lean sculpted body. Its limbs are long and end in sharp claws. The goblins eyes, the color of dark mustard, rested underneath thick ridge brows, nestled above a large flat cow-like nose all resting on a flat face combined with big long pointy ears and wide mouth, containing many sharp teeth, give it a bat-like appearance. Its skin has dark purple colored skin marbled with flecks of a dark orange and black stripes across its sides, back and limbs. Those closest to It could smell the aroma of musk and citric that discharged from Its sweat. It paid a bit for a pair of shark skin gloves with seamed holes to allow Its nails to protrude. Over top of Its gloves It has a thumb ring, with a 1 inch diameter pentagon on one side and a protrusion on the other that looks like a long rounded finger nail, that It has in case It wants to fire a bow from Its bow. Its bow is made from zurkhwood, a type of mushroom, for its core, bone fungus for belly, sinew on the back, and wrapped from the bark of wispstalk all put together by fish glue. The string is made from fungi silk. The left side of Its wide belt supports two quivers, sprouting colorful fletching of arrows. Arrows are made with iron heads for piercing armor and V shaped to pierce skin. Iron spikes and wooden stakes, stored within thigh and wrist sheaths, can also be used as eating utensils and stirrers of soaps and drinks, each have a sap on one side and impromptu dagger on the other. Its melee weapon of choice is a single long thin blade that rests in a sheath on the right side of Its belt. Its kite shield is almond shaped, with a flat top, curved downwards to a hand width tapered end at the bottom. One leather strap and a solid grip are attached to the back of the shield for the forearm of the wielder, another smaller strap is secured for an extra hand grip, along with a long leather strap used to hang the nutshell over the back. Where the forearm rests against the shield is an arm pad. Extra padding to allow for cushion blows when the shield is struck. The shield has the ability to support one individual on the water as a makeshift raft. Grappling hooks can be seen peeking out from the shield that It uses for many things, but importantly, to clear those pesky tripwires. Its armor comes in different pieces: Head, torso, shoulders, arms, legs and sandals for feet. Except for the chain shirt the rest of the armor is made with a mixture of leather and hexagonal plates of iron bone and horn, bound together in rows by cord. The leather is lacquered with lime and sticky rice to protect It from weather and toughen It against claws, arrows and weapons. Kilt like flaps that overlap and run from Its waist to knees, protects Its groin area. Guard pieces are used to protect Its forearms that extend to the back of hands, calves and shins. On its head It wears a sun hat, with an outer layer made of straw and mud and interior made of leather, iron and bone, shape like the bottem shell of a turtle. Completing Its armor are sandals that protect Its feet. Mental Description: It, normal for a goblin in its youth, was broken down, lifted and broken down again. Yet, It feels that something is wrong. That It is flawed. It does not understand why It has issues with maiming, torturing, or murdering that other goblin and drow seem to lack. It views Its life as a commodity and It does not hesitate to keep it intact. Deep down It feels Its imprint on this world will be nonexistent as It has no real purpose or plan except to survive. It is a hunter in all aspects of Its life. Its assessment and tactics on politics, relationships, battle and the hunt are similar; observe, stealthily attack from range, observe, move, re-attack and if the situation appears advantageous close in to melee to finish off Its foe face to face. Let them see who orchestrated their demise. It may appear to be distracted but It is always watching and listening. It is calculating, manipulative and greedy. Everything is a tool to be used; some more important than others. Consequently, how It is viewed in return varies from individual to individual. Background: Its first memory is running in terror along other whelplings. Its next memory is being taught how to hold a weapon. Multiple memories on weapon training. Another powerful memory is being one of many goblins, armed, and again, terrified, sent through tunnels fighting those ugly foul dwarves. How It survived is unknown. It then got more training. Specialized training. Hunter training. It was sent on various missions in the tunnels however now It was working a bit more closely with the dark elves. Death came to many; from the foes of the dark ones or by the dark ones themselves. It was on one of these missions many years back. It happened to work with a dark one. As a hunter, more importantly as a goblin, It learned to study everyone. This male acted slightly differently than the others; didn’t deal out death like the other dark ones to goblins who made a mistake. It decided to make sure It was near this male. An ambush. It stepped in and saved this male from a blow. It hurt. It almost died. Its act did not go unnoticed. As It had studied the male, the dark one had studied It. After the battle It was sent to this male. Only a few words were spoken by this dark one at that time I am Corubon from House Platin. You are to serve me. It moved into this new house. Some things were the same but others were different depending on which dark elf was near. Life was much better but It still knew death was always around the corner. It was given training. It also observed. This cycle went on over many years. It went, in the beginning, from running one squad of goblins to being in charge of all goblins belonging to the house. It always reported to Corubon. Later, kobolds were acquired and fell under Its responsibilities. It treated those under Its wings as It had been treated by Corubon. Being by Corubon side over the years It learnt many things; Dance, Song, Weapon training and even about the gods. Recently It was contacted by one god. House Platins god. Since Its life was attached to Corubon’s life It notified Corubon of his newly acquired skills. It had never seen that look on Corubon’s face. Corubon at first didn’t think this was possible. It demonstrated. Corubon took It to the off limits part of the house and to the females. It pees Its pants a little bit. Corubon explained. It demonstrated. Looks of astonishment on all. One of the females, one with many wrinkles, went into prayer. Many breaths went by. Female opened eyes and nodded her head and looked at It and spoke You will now be called Gul. And are a member of this house. Life has not really changed. It still runs the goblins and kobolds. It still reports to Corubon. However, in Its room. It has calmness inside Itself. It also knows It will protect this house with all Its being. Player: Have you played with me before? In a game with you right now. What makes you want to play this game? Drow. R.A.Salvatore. Do you really think you'll stick with this for at least a year? Yes How about 5? Yes

[Ysolde]

Originally Posted by Birched

Playing with a few AI Illustrators and made some art for this game ad (take it or leave it, I'm just experimenting)

Used text: dark elves seek a path to white goodness in the dangerous city of the spider queen

Cool stuff!

[DiceGoblin]

Dinral's application is complete! I might add some more little details as I think of them, but the big pieces of his backstory are all done.

[Ballingray]

Ilore Shehrei Basic Info Character Name: Ilore Shehrei Race: Human Alignment: Neutral Class: Sorceress (Shadow) Family Rank: Complicated Brought into the house and spared at the mercy of Lady Platin, Ilore is not close enough to the Matron Mother to be allowed into her inner circle or to be even considered part of her trusted counselors. The First Daughter Silveria, on the other hand, is a close confidante of Ilore's. Yet, even more crucial to this is a secret that Ilore keeps to herself. She has fallen in love with Silveria, but this is something that the First Daughter does not know, and that Ilore will take very great pains to conceal as much as she can. She would rather die than divulge this truth to Silveria, believing as she does to be unworthy of the drow's attentions. Appearance Come in. Step into my world. Let me show you the way to a life that you could never possibly understand. I can bring your deepest desires, and your dreams to life. I can take away the pain of a life that never truly understood you. In my world, we will journey together to find the most amazing, wonderful things that you could ever imagine. In my world, you will be free. Come with me. Come with me, and let me take away your pain and soothe your troubled heart. The corners of the sorceress's mouths turn upwards in an enigmatic smile. Her eyes, two dark pools turn their mysterious, serene gaze forwards, almost as if she was staring past this world into the world beyond. Although she does not speak, the aura that pervades outwards is that this strange, mysterious, alien sorceress can see into very heart and soul of those that she regards. Strange drawings adorn her face, symbols and markings depicting a language that are, simply, indecipherable to everyone but herself. But then, that is the very crux of who she is. Strange, enigmatic, unreadable, all words that could be used to describe Ilore Shehrei. She lowers her head. Her eyes glimmer with a strange light. Rumours speak of this strange yet bewitching sorceress. Rumours that state that she can bewitch a man or woman with only the briefest of glances, stealing their hearts and minds with her alluring smile. Her face is adorned with exotic piercings, covering her eyebrow, her nose, lips and chin. Who she is, what they mean, all questions that have no answer, and the truth of them are locked far far beneath an impenetrable surface. The girl's voice, softly spoken, almost like a whisper, is difficult to hear. And yet, despite this, in her words is an unspoken promise. This girl, this strange girl, promises both strange and delightful sights. She offers the key to a world never before seen, yet one which, she promises, will heal the worlds ills and soothe troubled hearts. And yet, despite all this, there is one promise that she cannot fulfil. Backstory Ilore was born as the daughter of one of the families living in the Dalelands. Her early childhood was untroubled and care-free, inasmuch as one could be. Yet, she was not, and in some ways never was destined to take over the farm from her parents. Things started to change when Ilore's powers began to manifest themselves. Little did she realise when they did that this would be merely the beginning of her journey. And yet, although Ilore would not be so grandiose to call it destiny, there was no doubt that the appearance of her latent powers did mark a change in her life. It would ultimately set her on the road to the Sword Coast, and the libraries of Candlekeep, the archives of which she was sure would hold the answers to the unspoken questions that she had. Where did the magic come from? What was the mysterious lineage that infused the blood that ran through her veins. The morning that Ilore said goodbye to her parents was a sad one. Although it was marked with platitudes and promises that she would keep in touch, come back and visit, both parties knew that ultimately this would not be the case, and that their parting would be a permanent one. Neither of them were sad at this unspoken truth. And yet destiny had other plans for the quiet and unassuming woman. One that would dramatically change the road that she would travel on. She had decided to travel aboard a merchant caravan, deciding that the company on the road would make her trip safer than trying to attempt the overland travel on her lonesome, and while that logic was sensible it was, ultimately, flawed. The caravan itself was the victim of a drow raid, one that took them completely by surprise. All Ilore really remembers of the raid itself was the screaming, the blood and the smoke. Horrific images that have burned themselves indelibly across her consciousness and haunt her still to this very day. She was not the only survivor of the ambush, yet of the others Ilore can remember nothing. The aftermath of those events cast their pall over her like a dark angel casting its shroud over her. Injected with drow poison to subdue her, she was unkindly hauled into the Underdark and placed on a slave caravan on a one way trip to Menzoberranzan. Truth be told, Ilore had resigned herself to her fate on this trip down into the lightless underworld. The stories and reputation of the drow preceded them, particularly in the Dalelands where she was raised as they had suffered from drow incursions in the past. The kindest thing she could look forwards to there was a quick and merciful death, but the chances were that worse awaited her. Yet it seemed that the Lady Tymora herself had other plans for Ilore. Chained in the marketplace of Menzoberranzan like she was cattle, a Silveriabeautiful woman bought her from the slavers. Warring emotions stirred within Ilore. Fear at what this stranger would do to her, and subject her to mixed with her almost unearthly beauty, a beauty which almost laid her beating heart still. Yet what transpired after amazed her even more. House Platin…..they were nothing like the stories she had heard told. They were not cruel, she was treated well….with kindness even. They taught her how to use and utilise her inherent powers, they gave her the education she never had and to her shock, she found that this house — in the middle of a cot of chaos and cruelty worshipped Eilistraee. It was difficult at first, but as time and years went by, she not only became accustomed to her new life, but had come to adopt the house as her own. She grew close to the house…..to Silveria in particular. Over time, thoughts of escape changed, and were replaced by her own dedication to the house that had saved her in more ways than one. The Player Hello Ysolde, I’m really glad you put this up. We’ve been in games before, and most recently I’ve attempted to DM for you. Unfortunately though, recent circumstances both on here and in my own personal life have forced me to step down from DM’ing, and I think part of me had to take a step back and admit to myself that maybe I’m not really cut out for DM’ing at all. That all said though, there are two reasons I wanted to apply for this. The first is the setting, I love the Underdark as a setting and I love the idea of a game like this that is focussed on the drow. In addition to that, being in a good-aligned drow house is both intriguing and tantalising, and I’d kick myself repeatedly if I missed out on this. But secondly, and my main reason for applying to this is you. To put it so, I think you’re a fantastic role-player and I really enjoy gaming with you. And although I couldn’t unfortunately see my own game to its conclusion I would be honoured to stick with this for as long as it goes.

[Ysolde]

Table updated. Still need a cleric of Eilistraee....

[HashtagBryn]

I believe I now have a reasonably complete application, although it's certainly not a cleric of Eilistraee.

[Hal Hammerhand]

Somewhat intimidated by these stellar applications but here goes...

Hard Knocks: Name: Borrs Padfoot Race: Human Alignment: Chaotic Evil Class: Rogue (Thief) 4/ Fighter (Champion) 4/ Barbarian 1 Background: Urchin/Soldier Personality traits: - I can stare down a hellhound without flinching - I won't risk my life for the sake of others and I don't expect anyone to take the risk for me. Ideal: - Independence. When people follow orders blindly, the embrace a kind of tyranny Bond: - I owe a debt to a dead man and I have to pay it back somehow. Flaw: - It's not stealing if I need it more than someone else. Family Rank: Bought as a slave and freed. Borrs does whatever the Platin family needs him to do. Appearance: Borrs is a slim man, around six feet tall. He has an athletically-toned physique that borders on the malnourished side. His black hair is around shoulder length and just falls however it wants with a somewhat shaggy beard that doesn't quite reach his chest. His one good eye is a very normal brown that hides hardship behind it. His left eye is milky with blindness that go along with the scars from repeated knife slashes that trace around and across the eye from a rough childhood. His face is worn from harsh time in the elements and his leather armor was worn and useless from a long game of survival when he stumbled upon the Drow city. He now wears only a tunic and trousers. He wears a longsword strapped across his back and a shortsword strapped horizontally across the back of his belt along with a few more daggers strapped in different places. Backstory: Borrs was born in the slums of a city far from Faerun, a different land entirely that lacked the magic of this realm. In the harsh reality that he was forced to accept, he grew up on the streets and in the gutters after losing his parents to illness. He scraped a living the best he could, learning the hard knocks lesson of every man for themselves very early on. In the pursuit of survival, Borrs learned that others that were far more well-off than him didn't care if you borrowed their coinpurses as long as they didn't know you took it and vanished before they realized it. While this was a risky way to live, the diminutive child that Borrs was, he was quite good at it, it could be said he even had a knack. Fortunately for Borrs, this lifestyle brought him the great fortune of picking the pocket of a mercenary leader by the name of Coralis. Coralis saw fit to keep the boy, seeing the potential in him. The mercenary inducted the lad into his group, The Black Blades. Borrs started learning how to be a thief and spy for the Black Blades since his small size made him excel at getting into small places. It wasn't until he reached his teenage years that Coralis began teaching him how to use blades and he truly became a mercenary alongside the others. The style that Borrs began to prefer was something that capitalized on his lack of size since most of the men were much larger than him. It involved dodging and parrying his opponent with his main hand longsword, leading them around until he could take advantage of a drop in his opponent's guard with a smaller blade than his main weapon. He played to his strengths and it didn't let him down very often. It wasn't until his was much older when he was faced with a challenge that he couldn't win out but there were also complications. It was by this time that he was nearing his third decade, he had been traveling on a mission for the Black Blades when he was enveloped in a strange fog that transported him to another realm. In this land of snow and monsters is where Borrs' changed the most. It was somewhere in the Shadowfell that Borrs fell into a group of somewhat altruistic individuals that were set on more than survival in this snow-covered land but of doing something to help others that lived there. They came upon creatures and triumphed in battle until a pack of what he thought were wolves chased them into a cabin. It was here that they chose to make their final stand but Borrs saw the futility of it and instead chose to make a run for it. In his mind, he would have been better off fighting the pack of wolves where he had space to move or if the wolves chased him and left the other alone, then so be it. He made it out away from the cabin and his latter plan had begun to come to fruition. He discovered that the pack had a few werewolves among them and they had been clever enough to surround him. It was then that he saw that one of the other people he had met before had followed him, likely to help him. The fight was short-lived as the wolves struck down the other fighter then took Borrs hostage. He fought to escape from the wolves after they took him to their lair but he carried something with him when he went, a burden. He was forced to be a lone wolf for some time, as he fought and survived in the harsh snowy wasteland as he tried to find a way back to his own world. While trapped in a place where the wild ruled, he was forced to embrace another side of himself, a new side, a savage side. It helped him to live long enough to find a way out of the Shadowfell but much to his distress, out of the frying pan and into the fire, as he found himself in the home of the Drow. The Player: -Have you played with me before? I have played with Ysolde before and I am never disappointed. -What makes you want to play this game? I am an avid fan of the Drizzt Do'Urden book series and would love to explore the realms of the Underdark. -Do you really think you'll stick with this for at least a year? I will stick to the game as long as I am able and having fun. -How about 5? My longest running campaign was off and on for 3 years and as long as I am able and having fun, I'll do my best.

[HashtagBryn]

Originally Posted by Birched

Playing with a few AI Illustrators and made some art for this game ad (take it or leave it, I'm just experimenting)

Used text: dark elves seek a path to white goodness in the dangerous city of the spider queen

Might I ask which illustrator produced that fourth image? I see people getting really cool results with some of these AIs, but my attempts have always fallen rather short of this.

[Gaijin]

Originally Posted by Ysolde

Table updated. Still need a cleric of Eilistraee....

Oohh... that sounds fun. I think I'll run with it.

[Gaijin]

Alright, my application is submittable. I may go back to make some minor edits, but all of the important details should be set.

[Hal Hammerhand]

Wip