Captain Olassa Appreciation Post
For uh....completely innocent reasons. She’s. She’s fine.
No, in all seriousness though--Olassa is the longest-running NPC in this campaign, she was one of the first characters I created who really made Suncrest feel alive to me.
(Ironically enough. She’s a paladin of the Raven Queen.)
At the end of today’s session, after acting as a rearguard to cover the party’s retreat, she sent them and their mage friend Arlette on a mission to find a way to close the breaches and cut off the invasion--something which cannot be done from within a besieged city, and if they’re going to get out of the city, it has to be done now, because by morning they’ll be cut off completely.
She gave them these orders while steadily braced and reforming a line of battle with the shattered, scrambling city guard. It was very clear that she did not intend to go with them. It was equally clear that every guard in that square is going to die.
Arlette and Nimbus both tried to convince her to live to fight another day; Andromeda, to whom she’s been a major mentor, just swallowed hard and thanked her, and promised to say a prayer for her to both her own god and to the Raven Queen.
(Andromeda, a book-dumb paladin of Pelor, has absolutely no knowledge of the long-running tension between their respective deities. She has no idea how deeply and profoundly touching--how significant--it is, what she just offered, or the fact that she burned one of her last spell slots to give Olassa Protection From Good And Evil keyed to the fae as one of their last interactions.)
Her last words were, as a quiet reassurance to Andromeda, “I am not afraid to meet my lady.”
Before that, to Nimbus, as he tried to convince her to run with them and try to regroup later:
“You are very young, Nim. Defiance in the face of hopeless odds is--is your birthright. But I am older than you, and wiser. I have oaths to uphold. I am guard-captain of Suncrest and a paladin of the Order of the Breaker of Chains, and there are things worth dying for.”
Last the party saw of her--and where we left the session--she was standing in a chokepoint, halberd levelled against the top of her shield, bracing for a charge.
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Sometimes you just have one of those moments where the progress we've made as a culture get thrown into stark relief. You look at something and go "Holy shit, that would never have happened when I was a kid."
Today, I had one of those moments when I realized that the teenage boys I'm working with are just. genuinely, openly enthusiastic about going to Build-a-Bear for their outing.
These are sixteen and seventeen year old boys! They just had a whole conversation about what to name their "cute", mostly new squishmallows! They're genuinely excited that they're going to Build-a-Bear this weekend and asking other kids to pick up specific accessories for them!!
Holy shit, that never would've happened when I was 16. None of the boys would have dared to be visibly interested - and neither would most of the girls! There would have been a million gay jokes and "Haha, you're a girl" jokes and "What are you, a baby?" jokes. Teenagers weren't even supposed to care about anything back then!
Less than 15 years later, and I'm watching three 17 year old boys treat all that as not even worthy of comment.
So let's call that a reason for hope. Even when the kids aren't alright, in some ways apparently they are alright. Go Gen Z, honestly. It's so lovely to watch you guys just openly doing and saying stuff that, when I was a teen, would've been a social death sentence.
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corrupted godhood. reluctant false messiah. prophecy as a creeping all consuming malady. does the oracle see the future or make the future? the horror of trapping yourself inescapably on purpose. the chains of destiny dragging you towards the path you are fighting tooth and nail to free yourself from. there never having been a chance to begin with. no other choice to make. but making that choice regardless.
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a piece of media that is bad: mundane. effectless
a piece of media that is bad but had the potential to be so so good: unbearable. agonizing. soul crushing even
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People who experience romantic and/or sexual attraction are so funny sometimes
They will ask "who's your crush?" And you will answer "i don't have one" and then it starts
"Why are you liying?", "you can trust me", "don't hide", "i don't belive you", "what?! Everyone has one come on", "hmhu it's [name] isn't it?".
in the extreme cases (mine once) they won't let you even leave the conversation and place it started
And so you lie
And when if "confession" comes from "name" and you reject it every single persson who made you lie will be angry.
Honey. Why the fuck are you angry? You decided a lie is more realistic than reality
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