Let me paint you a word picture. (And feel free to join in)
It’s somewhere during those twelve long years of dying/reviving/forgetting/raging and Barry’s back in a fleshbody again. But he’s not alone, he’s in a good old fashioned adventuring party, playing fighter.
They’re exploring an old crypt and it’s turned out to be just plain lousy with illusory traps and tricks. So their caster puts on true seeing. Smart move, she’s getting the lay of the land now, which is great.
Things are less great when their caster turns back to their party to relay this information and instead of the older, nervous, very-human fighter she’s been traveling with for weeks now…there’s something else there entirely. Red ghost without a face, empty cowl turned towards her expectantly and the words die right in her throat.
The next time Barry gets distracted poking at a monster’s corpse (a habit that had once seemed harmlessly weird), the caster takes the rest of the party aside and whispers the news. Barry is by far the newest addition to this group, so they trust her over him any day, regardless of how kind he’s been during his time.
So they turn on him, and he isn’t hard to beat. He’s got good reflexes, sure (the sort of reflexes you get from combat practice, not instinct, so it’s weird when he claims he has no formal training), but his skills aren’t terribly advanced. So he’s defeated and tied up within a few minutes.
The caster questions him about what she saw–what she still sees, with the Truesight spell still in effect. Her voice wavers because it really is deeply terrifying. But Barry has no idea what she’s talking about, and it eventually takes a Zone of Truth to prove it. (But how the hell can he be some kind of monster and not know?)
Meanwhile, they’ve paused their progression in the dungeon, and their voices are increasingly loud during this interrogation. They’re all too distracted to notice that they’re slowly becoming surrounded by what monsters remain in the dungeon (and as everyone knows, the stronger ones are always the ones further in–the last ones you’d face).
He’s still tied up.
Barry’s tied up, and it’s all the others can do to defend themselves, let alone defend him. It’s horrible when he gets killed, right then on the spot, and then–
So the bad news is, he is in fact a lich.
And the other bad news is that he’s screaming, and he just seems stressed in general. Angry? Panicked? Nobody knows, but neither adventurer nor monster wants to be struck by any of those goddamn lightning bolts shooting out of him as his horrid ghostly figure sheds the mortal body.
Barry is furious but as soon as he gets himself under control he aims his fury at the attacking monsters. They are wiped out in one well cast and extremely high level spell.
He turns to his recent party and his voice is sad when he says, “I understand why you didn’t trust me. But I wasn’t lying. I couldn’t remember. I just… I’m just trying to find my family again.”
He summons his chest from the demiplane where he keeps it hidden and mage hands the important objects from his corpse. Glasses, for one, that saves him a lot of work later if he can save them. A note he spent a lot of time looking at but didn’t understand. He should probably stop letting his body carry that around before something happens to it. He just hates to let himself walk around with nothing tangible for what he’s lost.
His former friends watch in silence, still afraid. He’s disappointed but unsurprised. How can he blame them? He looks like the villain right now.
Leaving them, he scouts ahead through the cave and takes care of the remaining monsters for them. It was nice being part of a group again and he’ll miss it. But it wasn’t part of his goal so it’s probably for the best.
Back to the drawing board.
Tag: taz balance
“What brings me joy is… life. I think you can find joy anywhere, in life. I think it’s a conscious choice. I think you- you choose joy, in life. And no matter how bad things are, no matter how crummy, no matter how dark, no matter how many times some guy named John kills your ass– You find joy. I’ve found joy, honest to God, gettin’ to know ya. I’ve found joy playin’ chess with ya [laughs], I have enjoyed– I haven’t enjoyed, you know, gettin’ my– my ass killed, but I– I find joy whatever I do. I don’t always do things right, and I don’t always do things smart. And I don’t always do a character voice. But whatever I do, I find joy in it. Because, at the end of the day, that’s all you got, is lookin’ back on the joy you had and the joy you found and the joy you gave other people.”
— Merle’s speech from episode 63
Barry and Lup have such an influence on how Kravitz handles bounties cause I just relistened to Crystal kingdom and Kravitz just snuck around trying to fuck over THB and it was like five episodes before he even talked to them and like eight episodes before he told them what his job was.
Hard cut to the san fran live show where they appear in a massive cloud of ravens, skeletal face and booming voice, declaring the will of the raven queen, with i imagine Barry and Lup posing like jessie and james behind him. Much faster and more to the point I’d say.
The Raven Queen: Kravitz it’s time for your quarterly review. In addition to pardoning three bounties, you’ve also been spending a lot of time, and I quote, “just generally fucking with people” instead of getting to the point and reaping them.
Kravitz: who are you quoting?
Lup, behind the Raven Queen: *waves*
The Raven Queen: from now on, the new policy is that you have to let people know who you are and why you’re killing them, and then get on with it
Lup, silently mouthing: it was supposed to be a compliment
The Raven Queen: however, as a compromise, I’ve given you the power to travel via a giant unkindness of ravens, to suitably intimidate necromancers while maintaining the “aesthetic”
Lup: *gives Kravitz a double thumbs up and a huge grin*
AU were instead of like, yeeting him off the moon or whatever, Lucretia’s holy symbol was only just powerful enough to keep Barry from fully manifesting, so he ends up kinda like…haunting the Bureau.
And like, he’s still Lich Barry, trying to go for the dramatics and all, but keeping up the charade when he’s just barely managing to even be there’s a little tricky and sometimes he forgets to be spooky. So some days everyone wakes up to ＴＨＥ ＨＵＮＧＥＲ ＡＰＰＲＯＡＣＨＥＳ burned into the quad, and other days Taako leaves the shower to find ＴＨＥＲＥ ＷＡＳ ＡＮ ＥＡＲＲＩＮＧ ＢＡＣＫ ＯＮ ＴＨＥ ＦＬＯＯＲ,Ｉ ＰＵＴ ＩＴ ＯＮ ＴＨＥ ＤＲＥＳＳＥＲ ＦＯＲ ＹＯＵ scrawled into the steam.
In between spontaneously combusting paper work and the occasional broken mug, Barry is actually pretty helpful. He opens doors for people who are carrying stuff. He makes bloody massages appear reminding Merle to take his meds. He had a whole long ass conversation with Carey about relationships through Thieves Cant. The members of the B.O.B. start to get pretty attached to their erratic but friendly poltergeist. Because he’s never fully manifested, and therefore not visible, most people assume he’s one of their dead comrades (There’s a betting pool on who it actually is. People hold out hope for Boyland, but a lot of people strongly suspect Lucas Miller) and Lucretia doesn’t know how to explain that it’s actually a Red Robe that we really need to get rid of guys without explaining why a Red Robe would scratch ＬＵＣＲＥＴＩＡ ＨＡＶＥ ＹＯＵ ＲＥＡＤ ＴＨＥＳＥ ＤＥＴＥＣＴＩＶＥ ＮＯＶＥＬＳ ＴＨＥＹ’ＲＥ ＡＣＴＵＡＬＬＹ ＲＥＡＬＬＹ ＧＯＯＤ Ｉ ＴＨＩＮＫ ＹＯＵ’Ｄ ＬＩＫＷＡＩＴ ＦＵＣＫ ＮＯ Ｉ’Ｍ ＭＡＤ ＡＴ ＹＯＵ ＮＥＶＥＲ ＭＩＮＤ into her office door.
Re-listening to TAZ:Balance and the Arms Outstretched scene is still certified bitchin
Like listen. Taako? From TV? He is not fashionable. He does not wear cool stylish clothing. He wears auspicious and gaudy clothing. What Taako wears is not good. But he works it so well that no one can tell? You see him and you’re like “yeah that’s a good look he looks so good that’s some trendy ass fashion” and you don’t realize until 6 months later at 3 am on a cold Tuesday that he was wearing sparkly heelies, velvet athletic shorts, a fanny pack, and a t shirt from goodwill with some weirdly specific text about fishing on it.
blackash26 