Here he is once again, I have quite a bit to catch you up on about Mortimer's journey.
I shan't bore you with all the details but, Mortimer has gotten the group to truly trust him, which was unexpected but happened so organically.
So after we defeated another Hag and Mortimer got to have that awesome moment with the flamespewer, the party (Which our group is called "The Shadow Breakers" (we gained the name after saving a town from shadows and stopping this mad woman from summoning a demon.) Anyways, the party made our way back to town, but we didn't arrive to a good sight we arrived to find the town in some ruins, turns out three different orc tribes attacked while we were away. One group was a group Mortimer had interacted with earlier, they recognized him as a Stellaris Slaver & wanted to do business with him.
So that group left a note on my wagon, they said they stole 9 townsfolk and wanted to sell them to me. So Mortimer came clean to the party about his slaver past. (Of course Mortimer spun it in a way that made him look decent,) He explained that he left that in his past but figured they could use it as a means of saving the people.
So the party trusted Mortimer to play the part and we left for the orc camp after collecting supplies to trade.
Once there Mortimer switched into his familiar slaver roots and made a deal with the orcs to purchase the people.
They agreed, but the Orc chief had grown fond of a female singer amongst the group. He wanted to keep her for himself, this triggered Mortimer, it reminded him of the ugly man who purchased Angel. But Mortimer didn't show it bothered him, Mortimer had actually anticipated that the orc might try to keep one person, so he held back a trump card to use until that very moment.
I offered my FlameSpewer for the woman, stressing it's destructive power. The Orc chief couldn't resist. So we got the woman and the other 8 townsfolk and we left.
We got back to town and Mortimer and the party released the people who were all shocked and relieved. The party was surprised at how Mortimer complimented the fighting spirit in one of the men who had a fiery spirit.
So we left that town and returned to our main fav town. (On the way there Mortimer was leading our wagons when kobolds stopped us at a bridge and a funny scene transpired where they were asking for a toll to cross the bridge. I made Mortimer troll them a bit by acting like he didn't understand them. And Mortimer acted as if it was a blood toll and swing his flail at one of the kobolds. They all got frightened and ran and I made the whole table laugh which was fun X3)
Anyways once we got to town the party raised a toast for Mortimer, as well some apologies for misjudging him. Mortimer was thankful to have full trust, but he admittedly enjoyed the attention and praise.
That night two other characters Sio (HuskyTrent's Gnoll prince character) & Hesta (a red headed young human woman played by our dm) they recently confessed feelings for one another and had a really sweet interaction. But when Sio left for the night he spotted a blonde dogfolk woman standing outside Mortimer's room. (I gasped, cuz I knew it was the spirit of Angel watching over Mortimer, I cried slightly, but I couldn't say anything cuz only the dm & I knew who she was) Sio thought she was either drunk or a thief, but she quickly scurried away.
But the next day Sio told Mortimer about someone around his room and Mortimer wasn't given appearance details so he was lax about receiving the news. But Mortimer questioned why Sio was up so late and discovered Sio & Hesta have a young love for each other.
And this has shifted Mortimer's feelings toward the two. He finds their young love beautiful and pure. And he views them like a young version of himself & his Angel.
This has made Mortimer more mindful of watching their backs, because he doesn't want them to experience the loss he did.
So that brings us to the wizard tower we were sent to clear out.
In the wizard tower we fought all types of nasty creatures and saved a troll family. (Mortimer also got cursed, but we dealt with it alright) We killed everything there and were left with this nasty fleshy tree. We slept before dealing with this tree because we found out is was quite old and came from the stars. So we were all worried.
During the night Mortimer spoke to Sio about some family stuff and opened up abit about stuff with his father.
Next day we went to deal with the tree.
...............
Here we get into the first pic. We were all very cautious about this tree, being prepared to run if the tides turned. So we're all taking turns hitting the tree, most of us were farther back because my flail has hella reach. So I was near the mages. Sio and Reinhard (his knight) were up close hitting the tree.
But the tree gained multiple attacks based on how many times it was hit, so it was a nasty tree to deal with, it also could drop these flesh creatures.
But anyways, deep in this fight Hesta took a killing blow from a long vine right in the gut and dropped (She entered the dying state) Sio noticing entered an animalistic rage and started doing major damage. But Mortimer saw Hesta drop right next to himself & for Mortimer it was like seeing Angel die. Even Sio's rage made him think of his own back on the night he returned for Angel.
So Mortimer dropped to his knees and held Hesta close before giving her a strong health potion to restore her. And he said the line on the picture. The Dm understood what was going on perfectly, even saying "Mortimer, you don't see Hesta right now." And I just nodded.
So Mortimer held her close even as she woke, and then Mortimer took a hit from another vine and got close to death, but luckily Sio killed the tree before it could cause anymore problems.
So everyone was alive, when Sio ran to check on Hesta, the Dm implied that there was something or someone behind Mortimer but Sio didn't roll high enough to notice. (But it was Angel DX)
So everyone was thankful to walk away alive and Mortimer was happy to have prevented Sio from losing the love of his life like he did.
.............
I'll hold the story there for now X3
I know that was a bit more clunkily written but I was trying to fit a lot into as small of a write up as possible. I hope you still found some enjoyment here X3
.....
As for the second picture,
This is a picture of Mortimer not too long after he was deformed by the slaves that revolted against him.
Here he has awoken but feels nothing about having his life, he's just thinking about how his precious Angel fur & the doll his mother had made him are gone forever, lost to the fires that engulfed his wagon.
I almost made his bandages bloody, but I figured they would be relatively clean in a world with magic, especially since he would have been at rest for so long. These are no doubt fresh bandages.
..........
The third pic was a simple image I had stuck in my head that I just had to do. While I considered Angel the bird & Mortimer the arrow, I put arrows in Mortimer's back as a depiction of the pain he has caused himself, that he carries around daily.
....
The final pic was honestly a vent piece. I had been feeling very antisocial and in a weird headspace and I forced myself to sill join a social situation and I ended up regretting it.
So i did this pic to release my feelings.
Plus when Mortimer get's bloodied I mention at times, that blood leaks from his mask and wanted to show how that looked.
Also I did Mortimer's demon that he uses for power behind him that you can see somewhat in this picture if you look for it ;)
Anyways, hope you enjoy X3