Shiva

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

So much angst

Shiva's Art Gallery

Well hello there!

A lot of you have probably seen me around before, but for those who haven't allow me to extend a warm greeting and introduce myself. I'm Shiva, and I've been a member of the Guild for a good long while now, and while I primarily write and GM roleplays I occasionally will dabble in the world of art and character design. It's been a while since I created an updated thread, so here! My last one isn't accurate to my current abilities and it makes me cringe every time I look at it, so uh... Yeah I'm just gonna post my new stuff here.

If you'd like to see my older stuff, please feel free to visit my Instagram page or my old art thread! (It's hideous, don't look at it).

And now let's have some art, shall we?

This is Eliza, my human mage character and her owl familiar Alexei.


This is Vierna, an angsty drow rogue (typical) and former assassin, but don't let her looks scare you, she cries at the drop of a hat.


My friends character Sedriso. He's the best, and he really likes purple.


Sedriso's father, Zilvaghar, who is my character. Just a sappy old man tbh.


This is Adria! Absolute bean of a tinkerer who is too shy for her own good. I love her so much.

Forsaken

If Cinder had a coin for every time someone in this room asked a stupid question, she'd have... Well, a lot of coins. She hadn't exactly been keeping track of every person's questions, but a couple of them had managed to make her roll her eyes. The orc it seemed was practical and greedy, which she could respect. He also didn't seem keen on talking to anyone that he didn't have to, and this she could also respect. Cinder had been known to socialize on occasion, but for the most part the genasi preferred to mainly enjoy either solitude or the company of her dragon Ulleiss, who wasn't prone towards towards being irritating or otherwise unpleasant to be around. At least not until he started lecturing her...

The tiefling was charismatic and charming (typical), and seemed very keen to get information on the phoenix that they were supposed to be transporting. Cinder would be lying if she said that it didn't pique her curiosity as well. However she had no intention of jeopardizing her payday by sticking her nose where it didn't belong, and frankly she didn't understand why anyone else would want to do so either. What good was that going to do them? Sure, a phoenix was a rare sight indeed, but the fact of the matter was that it wasn't their problem who it did or didn't go to, and she very much doubted that a well-known businessman such as Mr. Garrick would involve himself in anything that was overtly criminal or worth sticking their nose into, and if he were going to do so she found it hard to believe that he would hire a bunch of wayward strangers to transport the cargo. It just wasn't logical. Wouldn't it make more sense to just send people that he trusted on an undercover errand, and to avoid the show of it all?

Then there were the two tabaxi, who appeared to be siblings. They seemed fairly unproblematic. The one was quiet as a dormouse and spoke very politely, and overall seemed like a decent fellow. Poor thing. It also seemed that Val had caught his eye, and Cinder almost cringed in sympathy for the young Tabaxi as she imagined how many different ways Val would have him twisted around her slimy fingers. Perhaps she should give him a warning... Well, she wasn't going to interrupt the meeting to do it, but if an opportunity presented itself she'd probably say something. It would be cruel to not at least try and save the poor boy some heartache. Hopefully his brother would see an issue with it as well and say something, but Cinder wasn't prone towards relying on other people to do the smart thing. That being said his brother didn't seem terrible either. He was a lot more talkative (and perhaps a tiny bit mad), which could be annoying if he started to pester her, but as long as he minded his business and didn't try to interact with her too much she'd be fine with him.

Then there was the goliath... She had a feeling that he was going to be a problem. He seemed to be the dramatic type, and his questions indicated that he thought there was some sort of conspiracy as to how Mr. Garrick had come to hire them. Cinder's question was why? It was hardly unusual for a wealthy person to gather several different people to form a party for a task that they'd rather not do themselves, and if she remembered the letter she received correctly then he had been gathering people "of some repute," meaning that all of them would have a reputation of some sort in their field of work. Was he really that surprised that someone had recommended him? That didn't give her much confidence as to his abilities, but then again, she wasn't the one paying him so she supposed that it didn't really matter all that much. Then there was his question about transportation. What did he think this was? A charity? She figured that most reasonable people would have arranged for their own transportation when informed that they were going on a drive across the continent, but maybe she was just crazy. Cinder gave him in particular a rather long and unimpressed glance before her attention was called away by Val.

Ugh, Val... The pointy-eared devil was a menace, and Cinder just hoped she'd decide this drive was too much work for her. She really didn't want to deal with her for the entire drive.

"I have just one question, sir," Cinder spoke up once it seemed that everyone else was done.

"What time is dinner?"

Mr. Garrick chuckled at her question.

"It'll be at 5:30 sharp. All of you are welcome to roam the grounds and explore a bit until then- I know one of you fine boys wanted to see the livestock you'll be transporting, yes?" He nodded towards the two tabaxi.

"Just listen to whatever the guards tell you to do and mind your distance from the fences. Some of the creatures are docile, but others... Not so much. I'll send my butler to call after all of you once supper is about to be served. Unless there's anything else, y'all are free to collect your down payments and go."

"Thank you."

Cinder walked over to the desk and waited as the old man reached down and pulled out a drawer, producing a sack of coin which he then handed to her. She gave a respectful nod before backing away from the desk, turning on her heel, and quickly making an exit out of the room in an attempt to escape before Val or anyone else could try to talk to her.

Forsaken

Cinder was trying to compose herself from the frankly horrifying realization that Valanthe was going to be a part of this job. She hadn't seen the elf in probably a good six months, and unless memories failed her, Valanthe had been well and locked up in a jailhouse somewhere. Again. How she got out was anyone's guess, but Cinder imagined it probably involved her donning the persona of some innocent, meek girl that had been falsely accused by the "brutish, terrible genasi." At least that was what had gotten her out the last twelve times Cinder had gotten Val thrown in jail. The distinct tang of smoke was starting to fill the room as her hair crackled and burned, her face now etched into a scowl as she tried to swallow her temper down and appear at least half way professional. After all there was too much money at stake for her to lose herself within the first ten minutes. Instead of continuing the conversation with Val, Cinder busied herself by examining the others that had entered the room.

The orc had made a good enough first impression. He'd entered and immediately gone to sit down without a word, not so much as greeting her before silently minding his own business and letting her be. He was, predictably, a rather large fellow, and Cinder imagined that he was probably some sort of hired muscle. Then again looks could be deceiving and she wouldn't be surprised if he had some sort of knack she didn't know about. If nothing else he was quiet, and that was enough to assure Cinder that they would get along just fine. No needless chit-chat meant they'd probably avoid getting on each other's nerves, and the gods knew that Cinder was going to need someone quiet around to help her keep some sanity since Val was going to be there.

Next had been the tiefling. Oh, gods, not a tiefling. He had red skin, gold eyes, a warm smile, and his attire seemed completely out of place for this part of the world. There had been some merchants from the east with similar garb in the market she'd passed in town, so Cinder assumed he must be a foreigner from those parts, though she couldn't imagine how he'd ended up in Forsaken with them. A sneer of disdain crossed her face as they made eye-contact. Unlike most people Cinder's prejudice didn't stem from some sort of deep hatred for anything remotely fiendish. As someone who didn't really have much of a race to call her own, she had never really understood the culturally ingrained hatred for other races that seemed to be prevalent amongst the more common species. Her own prejudice towards the horned devils was much less complicated than all of that nonsense. She'd once fallen in love with one of their kind, and even married him, but then the sorry bastard had gone and stabbed her in the back by sleeping with someone else. She now hated tieflings on principle, especially the men. Cinder wasn't exactly going to go out of her way to make things difficult for them or hunt tieflings down, but she avoided them wherever possible. Ulleiss had gotten onto her about that several times.

The next two to enter had been a pair of cat-folk, presumably relatives of some sort judging by the resemblance they shared. One seemed to have some sort of prosthetic which intrigued Cinder, and she might even ask about it later if they managed to get enough drinks in her, but now was hardly the time or place. One of them looked like he'd scurry out of the room in a heartbeat if anyone so much as yelled at him. Must be his first time being in a place like this. Cinder felt a little bit of sympathy for the poor sod but reminded herself that he'd get used to it eventually, or he'd just end up quitting. Either way it wasn't her problem nor her responsibility to make him feel better. At any rate his relative seemed a little more at ease and spoke quite a bit to the group, addressing the orc specifically. Ah, so those three were locals. Technically Cinder supposed she was a local as well, given that she'd grown up in these parts, but it had been so long since she'd been back that it may not count anymore.

Then there had been the goliath. Cinder couldn't read much from him other than he seemed to be your pretty typical goliath; big, bulky, and constantly having to duck in order to avoid hitting his head on things. He was tall, even for one of his kind, and even as he sat on the floor he was still nearly as tall as Cinder was herself. His little gesture of swiping the dust off of the shelves had earned a slight chuckle from the genasi. It seemed that, at the very least, they could all agree that the butler was a judgmental and pompous ass, and she'd certainly worked with parties that had much less in common. The racial dynamics of the group were sure to cause some interesting interactions, but Cinder intended to stay as far away from the middle of that drama as possible and just enjoy watching the others crash and burn as misunderstandings and chaos ensued.

A few minutes after Val came in and did her little entrance the door opened again, swinging open to reveal an older human man who looked to be in his late eighties, though he seemed to still be moving well, walking only with the aid of a surprisingly simplistic wooden cane. His posture was straight, a gray pin-stripe suit adorning him with a silver pocket watch hanging from the pocket of his matching vest, a fine white dress shirt underneath. His hair was white as snow with not even a trace of whatever color it had been before remaining, and his eyes were a bright blue, their size seeming almost too big for his face as large round glasses magnified them somewhat. His expression was warm, a soft smile causing his eyes to wrinkle at the corners as he greeted all of them with a slight nod of the head.

"I'm glad to see you all made it here safely. I know some of you had a longer journey than most," he said, his tone seeming genuine in its address as he made his way over to the desk in the room and sat behind it.

"Please, all of you make yourselves at home, and should any of you need refreshments don't hesitate to ask. I'm very grateful that you've accepted my invitation. I know that my letter was rather short and you must have questions, so please, feel free to ask and I will do my best to clear the air where I am able."

Forsaken

Just in case anyone is still lurking here, the first post has been made and as such character submissions are closed. Thank you very much to everyone who submitted, and I'm excited to see where this rp takes us!

Forsaken

Cinder had arrived in Forsaken a day before the intended meeting date. She had a lowlife bandit in tow that had tried to mug her while her and Ulleiss had camped, and unfortunately for him he had bitten off a bit more than he could chew going after an experienced bounty hunter. It had taken her maybe five minutes to tie him up and get him on her dragon companion's back. Unfortunately, this meant that she had to rush the rest of her journey to Forsaken since she'd have to arrive a day early to take care of all the wonderful paperwork that came with turning in these bastards. His bounty was meager as well. She received a whole fifty gold for her effort and got some half-assed deputy that didn't want to be there to write up the paperwork for her. It took literally all day before she was finally able to leave the jail and go find a place to sleep for the night.

The next day Cinder took her sweet time in meandering over to the Garrick Estate, taking about an hour to eat her breakfast and take the time to catch up on the local newspaper and see what as going on in the city, and so far it seemed to just be the same old boring nonsense. Bar fights, lots of crime, the Forsaken mine being in a bit of a financial crisis, the works. It was exactly as she'd left it.

The Garrick Estate itself was by no means difficult to find. It was an enormous ranch just on the outskirts of the city, and it's appearance stood in stark contrast to the dirty, dusty town it neighbored. White stone walls lined the property, stretching for a mile or two before turning inwards and starting to curve, forming a large circle that encompassed thousands upon thousands of acres. From her view in the sky Cinder could see the vague outlines of creatures on the ground. Some were larger than Ulleiss, others small enough to carry in her arms, but all of them were presumably some sort of magical creature. Cinder was just glad she wasn't one of the ranch hands that had to keep an eye on the monstrosities... Though she supposed she'd be close enough to being one before much longer. Thankfully the aid of flight helped her to reach the main manor of the estate with time to spare. The outside was lined with alabaster and fine woods, and was just as pretentious as the big golden gates at the front of the property, and it was clear from the decor that this man was what one might call obscenely wealthy. Cinder wasn't sure whether to be impressed or disgusted.

"Excuse me, miss, may I help you?" A finely dressed half-elf butler approached, looking her up and down briefly with that slightly condescending expression that all butlers seemed to have. Granted she'd only ever met two, but it was odd that both of them had the same expression, right? He had long, reddish brown hair that went just past his chin, gray eyes, and a seemingly omnipresent sneer engraved into his expression. Lovely.

"Hi, yes. I received a letter from Mr. Garrick, an invitation to discuss a business proposition."

"Ah. The new hippogriff wranglers," he replied, nodding slightly. "You may come in. Will your um... dragon behave itself?"

A low growl came from the creature at her side and absently Cinder placed a hand on his shoulder, irritation sparking flames in her eyes as she spoke again.

"He will be just fine, thanks. Though you might be a bit worse for wear if you keep patronizing him like he's a mindless beast. Just leave him alone and he'll be fine."

"... Right. Follow me, then."

The butler muttered something about "dragon riding fanatics" under his breath as they walked, but Cinder decided to let that one go. She was led into the main hall of the house which was just as glamorous and obnoxious as the rest of the estate, up rather large staircase, and into a study that was as large as the tavern she'd slept in last night. It all just seemed so... unnecessary, but then again she supposed it wasn't her house nor her money to spend, so best just ignore all of the ridiculousness and keep her mind on the task at hand. Cinder let out a small sigh and sat down in one of the chairs in the room. It seemed that no one else had arrived yet, so she'd just have to sit there in silence and wait for more people to show up.

Forsaken

Dear sir (or madam),

It has been brought to my attention that you are a person of some repute in your field of work, and as such I am writing to request your services.

I am in the business of breeding, selling, and moving rare magical creatures and livestock. I am currently looking to move about 40 head of hippogriffs from Forsaken to Sasarka, and I need a few extra hands to help with both the creatures and any unseemly folk who might take interest in them. If you've never moved hippogriffs before, it's no matter, you can still be of use (if you couldn't then you wouldn't have received this letter in the first place), and not to worry, their wings have been bound so they can't fly off with any of you. Unless one of them breaks free, but that rarely happens.

I will pay 15,000 gold coin if you are willing to join my caravan on this hippogriff drive. We will also be transporting a phoenix. I have received many threats regarding this beautiful creature and as such I am moving it to a safer location, but I fear some may try to steal it while we are still in transit. It is of the utmost importance that the phoenix reach it's destination safely, and it will be your first priority above all else. The drive should take roughly a month to complete.

If you are interested, then please join me at the Garrick Estate in Forsaken on the 6th of September in the afternoon. Give the guards your letter and you shall be admitted immediately.

Kindest regards,
Abraham Garrick

Forsaken

If there's still room for another character, I'd like to join.

@Ryonara

Sure! Just be aware the deadline for character sheets is Friday.

Forsaken

When I get home, I'll finish up my sheet (just the background left, I think) and PM you with it 😊

@Timemaster

Sounds good!

Forsaken

Good morning all! I'm looking forward to seeing what all of you guys come up with for your chambers. Ideally I would like to have everyone's characters by Thursday or Friday night.

And just as a note, I am still accepting new people into the rp, so if you've been checking it out but haven't jumped in then please feel free!