Drustan Monthor

[Scrappa-yeti]

Drustan was a day one character I threw together without much thought. I gave him some simple motives, a personality, and let the server and the other characters shape his goals.

He failed at pretty much all his plans, and I struggled with the sheer difficulty of the Peerage, but I enjoyed playing him nevertheless.

I was pitching more at Littlefinger vibe than a Darth Vadar vibe. There is a type of person quite common here in Australia, who are simultaneously pleasant, friendly and at the same time quite racist. They have a kind of patronising approach to  non-white folk, speaking as though they were errant children rather than adults. I was pitching at that, although it didn't translate to the game as well as I hoped.

Because the EE would not take screenshots most of time, I have less than the normal images to choose from, but I have a few that came out okay.

The Power Build:

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You know you are doing something right when DM's give you awesome feedback like this -

DM Ironside : [Tell] Very interesting build, there.
Drustan Monthor: [Tell] "Interesting",
Drustan Monthor: [Tell] 13 is my lucky number, which is why I have so many in my stat line.
DM Ironside : [Tell] Rofl
Drustan Monthor: [Tell] I call this build DIY blackguard.
DM Ironside : [Tell] It's definitely DIY.
DM Ironside : [Tell] I think it's cool though.
DM Ironside : [Tell] But... god, it's weak.
Drustan Monthor: [Tell] Heh. Yeah.

I was tempted to take dex to 13 at 8, so I could get dodge and have the perfect average stat line, but I decided against it and went for an extra wisdom in the end.

Still, with IE and saves from three classes, he could tank pretty well in PvE.
This was one decent screenshot I took of the second of a three-parter DM quest by Skill Focus involving the release of Phanax. There were just so many mobs, but with Dog's Drool, blur and IE I managed to elicit the following comment, which cheered me no end -

"Adam Foxcomb: is Drustan just not killable? That just a law of the rings?"

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This also looks awesome, although I really didn't do anything here but drag away bodies and take a cool screenshot that made me look useful.

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The one thing that destroyed the character more than anything was the lack of concentration. I will never play another melee character without maxed concentration. If I had hit 9 (I was 1.5k off), I was going to dump all my points in it and take skill focus:concentration. Taunt is everywhere. Taunt is king.

Motivations:

He was motivated by power and greed and all the classic evil tropes. But to make things interesting I decided one of his primary motivations was "petty spite". I decided to arbitrarily hate characters who annoyed him for some reason, and then work to counter them. Early on Cafrasil and Cillian Darcy became his main sources of hate, as they pipped him for some loot on a nothing QA.

He only started hitting on Eryeth Cotte because he knew Cafrasil was interested in her. But more on that later. Unfortunately Cafrasil died so early, so I couldn't get anything together to ruin is plans. Here is a screenie of that mad melee.

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He only joined Sunpurse to try and annoy Cillian Darcy when he got full paladin status (which, like all his plans, backfired terribly). He had so much envy and hate for Darcy, but I never wanted to kill him directly. My goal was to ruin his life and preferably his faith. I never even got close! But a guy can dream -

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Once he joined Sunpurse though, there was endless shenanigans with the other Sunpursers. I felt most if this time I was treading water, just trying to keep my head above water. It was fun.
Here is him nailing up a completely inauthentic protest against necromancy -

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This was one of my favourite conversations. Crowfeather and Monthor, on a man date by the canal. A drunken duel of wits and deception, as they both tried to trick each other while playing it cool -

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And this is my favourite shot of him, with Sunpurse on one side, and Nephezar on the other, the two important houses to him. And the half-in-shadow face is so Drustan to a T -

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Here is an image that shows conclusively that Sunpurse is on the level, and nothing sinister or untoward is going on, no siree -

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Romance:

If you had told me that EfU would be a legitimate format to enact a romance that would not suck or be insufferably cheesy two months ago, I would absolutely not have believed you. And yet, due to the mad RP skills of Loops, that was exactly what happened.

Doomed from the outset, the relationship went through three stages for Drustan. First, pure spite to try and annoy Cafrasil. Second, as an information gathering ploy to get Nephezar secret. And finally, Drustan was unable to resist and fell for Eryeth. This latter stage was the most fun, because it created conflicting interests and some satisfying character growth.

Sadly, most of the screenshots look like this -

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There is one short section of text I want to show, though:
Eryeth Cotte: [She buried her face in his tunic again.]
Drustan Monthor: *Pats her head softly*.
Drustan Monthor:   No apologies needed, not ever.
Eryeth Cotte:   "I guess not."
Drustan Monthor: *Closes his eyes*.
Eryeth Cotte:   "You need to be careful though. Velstra and other Houses were planning to kill off Sunpurse moderates they couldn't get to agree with them and fight for them. You know because Sunpurse was unpredictably neutral. And... That's why some people were instigating killing and kidnapping."
Eryeth Cotte: [She murmured, never one to just relax these days.]
Drustan Monthor:   Hmm.
Drustan Monthor: *A slight sigh as he reopens his eyes*.
Drustan Monthor:   I see. I do not relish the thought of more deaths. Also, if we are back to business, I have my submission to the council of five, if you wish to read it.
Eryeth Cotte:   "In a minute. My arms refuse to let go."
Drustan Monthor: *Sometime later in proceedings, Eryeth might notice a slight dampness on one shoulder*.
Eryeth Cotte: [She stirred, looking up to him again.]
Drustan Monthor: *Brusquely wipes his face with his oversized shoulder guard*.
Eryeth Cotte: "Hey, you okay?"
Eryeth Cotte: [Eryeth put a hand to his cheek, helping brush aside what remained.]
Drustan Monthor: Fine, fine. I think some of the brazier smoke must have got in my eye. Don't mind me.
Eryeth Cotte: [A small smile. A hand found the back of his neck. The Thaumaturge tried to pull him down, just to give him a little kiss.]
Drustan Monthor: *Returns the kiss passionately, unaware it was to be but brief, forgetting for a moment where they were*.
Eryeth Cotte: [That made her laugh softly, eyes turning down. Eryeth finally released him, patting his arm.]

This was Drustan and Eryeth on the rocks, and I actually got all balled up in the stomach when I played this through, which is rare in RP! Afterwards, I laughed as I wondered if whichever DM made these bad-arse bone shoulder plates would have expected them to be used to wipe away DIY blackguard tears? 

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Death:

No screenshots, sadly, due to the screenshots not working. I also don't have any of his other duels, including the ripper one against Jagga.

In some very nice symmetry, he only died twice, once on the very first quest at level 2 (in my haste I forgot I hadn't taken a fighter level yet, rocked up to the zombie basement and couldn't draw my longsword. Pro.) And once at the end. It is not really surprising that I died during an EE. I was EEing two to five times a day, so it was destined to happen sooner or later. I had lots of resources left for the duel, and while I don't think I could have won it necessary (his unbuffed ab was like twice mine), I could have made it interesting for a lot longer.

Thank you to everyone who I interacted with, and the DMs who spent some time in my general area, you all rock. My first swing at the new EfU iteration was lots of fun!

[Aethereal]

One of the first characters to take advantage of and appreciate the potential of Ordo Arcanum's magical and research expertise/assistance, but sadly also the one to actually benefit from it the least thanks to IG developments.

It seems like he may have had a true appreciation for talent, courteous/helpful people or at least those who could be of assistance to him, even though he was apparently a DIY Blackguard.

Regrettable that Aethelwine couldn't attend his last two sendings, because it leaves me wondering what Drustan wanted to see him for. Looks like it was a lot of fun and a meaningful journey though, Scrappa. Also OMG romance in EFU: burn it with fire! Just kidding, when done tastefully it can all be part of a great story just like all the other types of IG portrayals of relationships from frenemies, best friends, to nemeses and more. Thanks for sharing.

[RPG]

He was cool. I like how he would always tell Abed not to be so crude in front of women.

So surprised to see he was evil.

[Emerald, Ruby and Steel]

Beautiful! Excellent! Lovely!

Drustan Monthor embodied the Peerage Ward. This is the kind of PC that I love. I love the fact that he was driven by petty spite!

Siobhán's interactions with him though few and far between were always great, very enjoyable and I will miss them.

It's a shame he was never aware of how her intrigues were affecting him ...  ;)

Siobhán will miss Drustan, as will I. The Peerage Ward will be worse without him, for sure.

Well done! Looking forward to the next!

[Loops]

I had so much fun playing with Drustan for the last couple of months! Can't wait to see your next character.  :)

[I love cats]

Drustan was awesome!

[Poolson]

Godspeed, you bold bastard.

[Quarterdragon]

Drustan was awesome, Velastra was most displeased to hear of this human's passing.  It's funny how perspectives can differ: I thought he must be a bard, based on his abilities as a scribe, and having only really interacted with him in Peerage politicking rather than in more adventurous contexts.

[Jello!]

Drustan was perhaps the only reason my character joined the peers, sad to see him go.

[Cat]

I'm very sad that another good friend is gone.  :'(

Nailah always felt conflicted about the friendship she had with Drustan, but she was very glad she stuck with it. Sad we didn't get to have many talks recently.

[Pandip]

Drustan was a constant frustration for Cillian -- petty, sniping, and always annoyingly capable of hiding it whenever anyone else was within earshot!

He was a very well characterized PC and I was very fond of all our interactions. Thanks for helping to make Sunpurse so interesting in those early days.

[Pigadig]

+1 for being a cool PC.
-1 for no pics of my cool shield.

[The Old Hack]

Drustan was great. I only got to interact with him twice. Sadly, during one of these times I beat him brutally up partly because of his nemesis Taunt and partly because he just couldn't make himself hit anything female. Too bad my character was such a total git as to shamelessly take advantage of that.

I am really sorry I didn't get to see more of him. Good luck with the next one, Scrappa.

[TwoOClock]

Syl took a wide berth after she smashed Cafrasil's bones in front of him. I thought they were going to be enemies, turns out he might have been laughing and fist pumping internally the whole time.

Damn it, Drustan.

PS: HOIST THE ROMANCE FLAG HIGH!