DnD shenanigans

I play half-elf, mom-friend, swamp ranger in a party of murder hobos, lead by the chaotic whims of a self-sabotaging halfling cleric. We somehow murder-hoboed our way into taking over a manor (the previous residents were already dead and the cleric conned the ghosts into naming her the heir of their land and title)

Marwyth, an all around disaster bog person, saved a queen who kept flirting with her, but the “queen” who turned out to be one of the queen’s maids in disguise (Padme style). The true-queen schemed that inviting four murder hobos to her court would invite a level of chaos that her enemies would use as cover to try to kill her. So while she was hiding as a seriously op maid (how did we not see that as suspicious), my ranger was doing her darnedest to keep the “queen” safe and out of the cross fire of both the murder hobos and the attacking rebels. 

At the end of the story arc, the true identities were revealed, but now Mar still has a crush on the faux-queen. So in our new story arc, we’re in a night market to solve mysteries and earn favors for political alliances, and my ranger is also shopping for a turtle to give to her fancypants crush, to remind the crush that someone who grew up in a swamp likes her.

If you don’t like Mar at her murder hobo, you don’t deserve her at her “gifts of turtles as a love language”

Finder: Chase the Lady, by Carla Speed McNeil, published by Dark Horse.

My favorite volume of Finder will forever be Talisman (from which my profile pic is taken), but I always appreciate the world building McNeil puts into their stories. They’ve created such a rich lore of sci-fi and fantasy, and such a fascinating landscape of different cultures.

Both of these women come from a clan of women who are intersex sapphic artisans and socialites (although those are labels not used within the fiction). Chase the Lady is an interesting story of magic, money, tradition, gender roles and sexual attraction, and how that is all a big dang tangled mess.

Carla Speed McNeil is one of those creators that I’ll always adore and deeply envy. I’ve re-read Finder a handful of times since I picked up my first volume in 2007. Every time, I think “this is the kind of art and story I wish I could create.”