Originally Posted by Marielle
"Bur-r-r... Oo-u-u-u-u-.... Me-a-a-a-a-.... H-s-s-s-s..." It sounded so menacing and ominous that Astarion immediately decided to drink a potion of talking to animals to understand this majestic tirade. A scene appeared right before the vampires eyes - a huge fluffed up black cat, arching its back, was slowly stepping on a small pack of dogs jostling near the boxes. “Daddy, give me a potion too!” Whispered Astarion Jr. “Nah, you're too young to hear such things...” Astarion whistled, obviously impressed with the meaning of the expression, “Me-a-u-rgh-ma-a.” The dogs were also impressed, the leader shrieked, and the pack ran off, tails tucked, in the direction of the market. The boy deftly reached into his father's pocket and pulled out a potion for himself, Astarion grinned, pretending not to notice it, while the cat had stopped swearing and sat proudly on the ground, raising his hind leg and thinking about the need for hygiene.

"Meow! Who else has trespassed on my property? Ah, familiar scent..." The cat turned his head and looked at the guests with big yellow eyes. "The big Vampire Lord from the castle? Hmmm, to what do I owe this visit?" The cat lowered his hind paw and sat down with dignity. "If you're wondering who marked your dining room curtains, I'll tell you right off - your Sceleritas did it. Don Catleone doesn't do such nonsense. Doesn't..." The cat looked nervously at the pile of boxes. “He didn't do it today... Wait a minute, gentlemen, wait a minute, or they're walking around here like they're at home, illiterate dogs, they can't smell what's written... Mine... Everything here is mine...” The cat elegantly approached the boxes, raised his tail and thoroughly marked all the corners.

Astarion smiled. “First time I've ever seen such a huge cat...” He squatted down and held out his hand, the cat came up to sniff it. "Don't pet me. I'm not some sort of tame pussycat..." - Catleone warned, but Astarion's fingers were already scratching behind his ear. “Purr-r... All right, all right, all right... Scratch - no petting, scratch - purr-r-r...” “Aha, that's where the cat's weakness lies!” The little guy exclaimed and laughingly started scratching the cat behind the other ear. "Purrr... Purrr.... Stop... Okay... You're manipulating me... Purr... Stop... No, keep going..."


"Oh Dad, that was great how the cat surrendered to you. Will I be able to do that too?"
"Of course and so much more, even if you don't have to manipulate cats, they can't help but love you."
"I can't wait to learn all these things." Junior smiles happily and hugs his father's legs tightly. "I'm now looking for Sceleritas into the garden."
"Here, your candies and the sugared beetle for Sceleritas, which he hates so much." Astarion smiles slightly.
"Thank you Dad."

Once in the garden, Sceleritas sits waiting on a step, still holding the shovel in his hand. "You can put down the shovel, my dad won't punish you." He sits down on the step next to him. Junior puts a candy in his mouth, "Here my friend, a sugared beetle for you" whispers the little boy. Sceleritas smiles and bites off a piece of the beetle. "Very friend...ly."

Originally Posted by Marielle
Wow! Interesting that Sceleritas' own appearance doesn't confuse anyone... grin Just like that, all the incognito will be gone, and the city should be taken over, setting up a Sun King finale! astarionhappy Would Sceleritas be okay with that outcome? Astarion would be very angry if he knew whose fault it was:

Sceleritas is the voice in the background, whispering from the shadows. Just like he's always been with the Dark Urge...he has many talents. He fully expects that when Astarion is gone, the Dark Urge, Junior and he will go back to the Temple of Bhaal and he will have the Dark Urge and Junior to himself. rolleyes

Unfortunately or fortunately, his plans are usually not particularly sophisticated and underestimate Astarion's abilities. So he will certainly often incur the wrath of Astarion. He actually likes Astarion, but the Dark Urge is his life in the truest sense of the word and his rotten little heart is consumed by jealousy. So he will take every risk to get rid of him.

Astarion then has to fight through situations like this, but yes, his biggest concern is looking good. hahaha He sees Sceleritas as more of an annoying little evil. Such an uprising by townspeople can't be worse than killing hundreds of goblins, it just takes a while. cry

Originally Posted by Marielle
Yes, wolves, bats, you can also summon ghouls and raise the undead from the local graveyard... But first, yes, he needs to choose a spectacular outfit! Or armor worthy of the Lord, so that the portrait of the winner will look especially beautiful in the throne room:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

Painting by the wonderful artist Marina Tsareva.

I like her paintings very much.

Originally Posted by Celesti4
Why is this so cute, though??😄

Because they aren't as evil and heartless as they would probably like to be. This fallibility is what makes it so cute. hahaha

"Now, was that civilized? No, clearly not. Fun, but in no sense civilized" ~ Braingremlin