Crimson Paladin

A tribute to the former fans of Star Wars

The more I think about it, the more I realize that the First Order are basically the Spaceballs. They have a ridiculously large flagship, and their leadership consist of a petty, whiny manchild in a goofy black helmet who talks to inanimate objects, a long-suffering officer who has to put up with his antics, and an evil overlord that falls flat as a BBEG. They even have a similar salute.

A tribute to the former fans of Star Wars

The back-and-forth nature of the Sequel Trilogy reminds me a bit of the KOTOR series. It starts out traditional and somewhat formulaic (TFA and KOTOR), gets handed to someone who takes it in a subversive, deconstructive direction (TLJ, KOTOR II), then all of that gets chucked out the window harder than Mace Windu when the previous director/developer gets ahold of it again, the result being pure skub (ROS, SWTOR).

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

I was in the previous RP, and my first guess was still waaaaaay off.

Dungeon Clearer! The Wonderful World of an Adventurer

Léon Reverdin

It appears I have arrived just in time for the new jobs to be posted.

A young man stepped through the door, carrying a small basket with a few pieces of fruit. The first thing he noticed when he entered was the crowding around the job board, and the commotion coming from there. He had arrived too late to know what had happened exactly, so he wasn't quite sure why Sophie was going off on a tirade, although it sounded like someone bumped into her trying to be one of the first to get to the job board. It wasn't really any of Léon's business, and either way he wasn't in any rush to get to the job board. Currently, his only concern was finding a place where he could sit down and eat his breakfast in peace.

After looking around a bit, he spotted a mostly-unoccupied table in the corner, occupied only by Jane with a neat stack of papers. More jobs for the board, perhaps? It didn't matter too much to Léon. Even if there wasn't another wave of jobs to be posted, he saw little need to trip over himself (potentially earning himself a verbal beatdown in the process) to get first dibs on a quest. Léon's abilities to heal, bless, and ward were always in high demand in the guild, even for a lowly 4 of Cups like himself. Truth be told, he was better at swinging his hammer and scepter than healing or blessing, but he reckoned he'd have more opportunity to get into a party as a 4 of Cups than as a 5 of Swords.

Of Jane himself, he knew very little of her, other than what everyone did. She was a 4, same rank as him, and seemed more comfortable with doing Guild chores than adventuring. Other than that, she was a closed book, a reclusive fellow who never discussed her past and never showed her face due to having suffered some sort of gruesome injury that left her face disfigured prior to joining the guild. Whatever her past was, her armor and weapons seemed to be of fairly good quality, far better than would be expected for a guild errand girl.

Poor Jane. Whatever happened to her, she still seems pained by it, he observed, briefly looking down at the Mayonite holy symbol he wore around his neck. From what he had observed of Jane, her pain seemed to run far more deeply than the physical disfigurement that prompted her to never show her face. Undoing the grisly damage to her visage was no doubt beyond his ability, but perhaps if she could be brought to know the comforting grace of Mayon, whatever spiritual scars that seemed to afflict her could be healed. In the very least, if her injuries carried with them constant physical pain, he could at least be able to temporarily alleviate that. Either way, he needed some place to sit.

Léon strode over to the table and sat down opposite Jane. He removed the fruits from his basket and placed them in front of him, careful as to not disrupt her stack of papers. He gripped his Mayonite symbol with his right hand, silently calling upon the Goddess for support.

Mayon, Goddess of the Moon, please help guide me as I endeavor to aid this pained soul.

"Good morning, Jane," he said to her, trying his best to be friendly. He was about to make small talk by asking about the papers, but he stopped himself. No, if I do that, it'll sound like I'm just trying to get first dibs at the jobs. Best not to mention that at all.

"Are you hungry? Would you care for some food?" he asked, after an awkward silence of trying to figure out what to say. It was true that she couldn't exactly eat in anyone's presence, not with that helmet on, but the gesture couldn't hurt.

@PaulHaynek

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

Currently, Warcraft 3 Reforged has been review bombed down to 0.7 on Metacritic, making it the second-lowest user rated game on the site, after Day One: Garry's Incident. Even for a company that has been making quite a few missteps, I'm actually kind of impressed at how badly Blizzard has managed to mess this up.

Video Games: The General Discussion & Community Thread

Evidently Warcraft 3 Reforged is off to a very bad start. As in "currently sitting at lower Metacritic user score than Fallout 76" bad. It's a shame, I liked the old Warcraft RTS games.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Fleuri Jodeau

"Watch the crowds, that Princess isn't as safe as you might think," the girl whispered to Fleuri.

It was an odd thing for a child to say. It could be the playful imagination of a child, but when Fleuri glanced back at her, she was gone without a trace, and without a sound. This by itself was enough to unnerve the knight and lend credence to the idea that it wasn't just a little girl playing around, but what truly convinced Fleuri was when he heard a commotion around him and looked up at the dessert table.

By Reon, what is going on? The massive cake that once stood at the table had vanished into thin air in the time span of at most a few seconds! It couldn't have been moved, lest he'd still be able to spot it towering over the heads of the attendees, and he knew from experience that something of that size falling over would've caused enough noise and commotion to bring the entire ball to a screeching halt. The only explanation was that magic had to be involved, and that meant that the girl's warning could not simply be dismissed as a child's fantasy.

I don't know what's going on, but I must warn the others. Abandoning his plate and wine glass on the table, Fleuri weaved his way through the crowd to where the rest of the knights had more or less congregated. A few times he brushed past a guest and uttered a hasty apology, unconcerned with the consequences in his haste. Just a minute or two ago such a reckless disregard for etiquette and personal space would have mortified him, but what Fleuri had seen and heard had thoroughly spooked him beyond the ability to retain concern for such matters. The duty of the Iron Roses came before the dignity of House Jodeau. Once he reached where he could see the Princess and a few of the other knights, he stopped to compose himself and assess the situation.

The Captain is talking to the Princess. I can't directly approach them, not like this, he concluded. If he mishandled this it could create a panic or worse, an incident. Alright. Yes. That's what I need to do. Fleuri looked about the room, watching the crowds as the girl had suggested, and looking for the diminutive figure of Tyaethe and hoping she hadn't wandered far. Fortunately, even with her small stature, the First and Youngest was not difficult to pick out of a crowd. Fleuri made his way to the paladin, who was currently in a conversation with Sir Jerel Ban.

"Tyaethe, Jerel, something's wrong," Fleuri interjected worriedly, speaking softly as to not draw too much attention. The change in his composure was as clear as night and day- up until now he had been one of the most comfortable of the attending knights, thoroughly in his element and quite formal in his interactions with others. "I don't know what I just saw, but someone- a mage, I reckon, warned me to 'watch the crowds', that the Princess isn't safe. Then she disappeared and somehow made...that...vanish with her," Fleuri whispered, pointing to where the cake once stood. "Look, I know this sounds flimsy, crazy perhaps, but I believe something is amiss."

Reon's mercy, I hope I didn't just make a massive fool of myself over nothing.

@VitaVitaAR@jdh97@Raineh Daze

Dungeon Clearer! The Wonderful World of an Adventurer

@Lunarlord34
If your character is a Mayonite paladin, then perhaps she may have known my character before he became a shrine keeper.

Dungeon Clearer! The Wonderful World of an Adventurer

@PaulHaynek
I don't think the IR timeline would allow for this, but it'd be a tragic irony if it turned out that Rose wasn't wanted for treason because the soldier who interrogated the bandit chief ended up getting killed by Jeremiah in a subsequent skirmish before they could report Rose's cooperation.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Fantasy Knight RP

Fleuri Jodeau

Fleuri weaved through the crowd, with the child clinging to his sleeve and humming to herself all the way. It was easy enough for him to home in on the sweets, with the cake rising above the heads of the attendees like a beacon. His little journey nearly came to a disaster, however, when he briefly failed to keep his plate balanced and upright. Fortunately, the contents seemed to stay put long enough for him to correct it, and the knight gave out a sigh of relief that a potential disaster had been averted.

That could've been even worse than that red wine incident, he thought to himself. Spilling his plate at a formal gathering was bad enough, but if he had the misfortune to spill it on someone important, there could be consequences for him, House Jodeau, and the Iron Roses. After clearing those worries from his head, the two of them finally made it to the sweets table. The girl seemed happy with the selection, but before Fleuri could turn to return to the others, the girl spoke to him.

"Thank you! Come here, Sir Knight! I need to tell you something important," she said, leaning closer and gesturing for Fleuri to do the same. Fleuri complied, kneeling down to her level so she could speak to him. It was doubtful that whatever she had to say was important, but it was the courteous thing to do, and besides, Fleuri couldn't resist the opportunity to hear a little ballroom gossip.

"Alright, I'm listening" he whispered to her, "What do you need to tell me?"

@VitaVitaAR