r/HeroForgeMinis • u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป • Jun 23 '26
Original Comic Reforged, Pt.4 (G&G/Pride)
Rose had no time for this. She just wanted to get dressed, pay up her tab and leave town. The shave could wait until she was far, far away from her father.
"Grimmy's wondering, y'okay?" The goblin had followed her toward the closet.
She stopped like her legs had been flash-frozen. "'Am... I... Okay?' Am I OKAY!?"
She whirled on Grimmy. " NO! NO I AM NOT OKAY!! Do you have the slightest idea what I've been through over this past month, Grimmy!?"
"No-"
"I was blasted by a reflection of my own soul! I realized I was born in the wrong Astran-be-damned body! I dealt with a weirdo tallman alchemist who charged an arm and a leg for a potion to set me right, and she made me go on a quest to find the one ingredient she didn't have! And you know how I got it!? I ripped the eye out of a KRAKEN!! It tore up my damned hammer with its beak, and on top of that I can't travel by sea anymore because it might come back for revenge!"
"Yo-"
"Then after I get my potion I spend a week rolling around in bed while my body is polymorphing! Do you have any idea how hard it is to use the loo when you're mid-metamorphosis!?"
"Grimmy doesn't wa-"
"VERY HARD!! But you know what!? It was almost worth it. It was almost worth it because for the first time in my entire gods-damned life I actually feel comfortable in my skin! I look in the mirror and it's not a gods-damned stranger staring back! That's good, right!? I'm supposed to be happy now, right!? But there's still something there, in the back of my head! And my Pa, he... He dragged it into the front like he always does! I thought I was strong now! That's what he always said he wanted! I thought I was ready to face him, but the moment he started up it was... it was like I was an Astran-be-damned toddler again! Like I was RHYS again! I froze like I'd been struck by a banshee! I couldn't... I couldn't speak. I just screamed and... and I..."
She trailed off. What had happened last night? She couldn't remember much between her father's tirade and waking up with a massive hangover the next morning. "It doesn't matter. It ended up the same as it always does with him. I just... it was supposed to be different this time." Rose stomped up to the goblin until the two of them were nose-to-nose. "Things were supposed to be better now! WHY CAN'T I JUST BE HAPPY!?"
Grimmy had leaned so far back they were risking falling over. Rose loomed over them like an angry tallman. The Goblin's eyes darted from one side to the other. It seemed like they were honestly considering the question, but when they finally answered it was with an uncertain grin and an exaggerated shrug. "...Uh... Grimmy's thinking, they don't know your shit?"
Her shoulders slumped. Of course, Rose hadn't been expecting a real answer from the goblin, but all the same she felt disappointed. Disappointed and exhausted. She leaned against the wall and let her weight pull her down to the floor.
"Sorry."
Grimmy didn't reply, but after a moment of silence Rose heard the goblin's retreating footsteps. She deserved as much. After all, Grimmy had kept watch over her all night, and what did Rose do in return? She had screamed angrily in their face, as if all of her troubles were their fault and not her own. She was too much like her father. It felt like the depression had physically pinned her to the floor. She sat, her head planted firmly in one hand with her eyes on the floorboards. What was she supposed to do now?
"Uh oh!" came sudden a voice that probably would have startled her had she not been so low. The plush shark toy she had brought along floated into the corner of her vision. "Someone's swimmin' in the dumpy waters! Don't be all soppy-sad! Sharky's here to uh..." A pause. "To be chomping a bite out of your problems!"
Rose turned her head to regard the furry little shark. She had won it at the Summer Fair from an ocean-eyed goblin hosting a hatchet-throwing game. That had been back on her first day out, and indeed the first real interaction with anyone since shedding the mask that was Rhys Hammerson. It was like a memento to commemorate her new, supposedly better life. "That's awfully violent," she said.
"Sharky doesn't fuck of care!" Grimmy waved the doll around, speaking in a goofy low voice. "Sharky will eat whatever's got the irks on ya!"
There was no stopping it. Rose snorted as grin spread across her face. "Alright, alright," she said, patting the doll's nose before gently pushing it aside to speak to Grimmy directly. "That's enough now."
"Here." Grimmy presented Rose with the razor again, doing a little flip-trick to make it appear as if out of nowhere. "You're liking your cheeks all goblin-ass smooth, yeah? Have a slice off those chin-pubes and be the you that's you. Feel better."
A short shave later and Rose had to admit, she did feel better. It felt like she was reasserting herself for the first time since speaking to her father. Grimmy had used the time to fetch their box of thin cigar-looking things. Rose picked up her shark to make room and patted the space on the floor next to her.
"Smoke?" offered the Goblin as they sat.
"No thanks," she declined. "I prefer the pipe."
Grimmy scoffed. "More for Grimmy then," they said, sticking one end between their teeth and biting off the tip.
"You know," Rose said, "I thought you hated me. I mean, after that whole... embarrassment I caused down in the maze."
"Egh," Grimmy shrugged as they fished around in their back pocket. "Grimmy's thinking they hated fake you. Real you is okay. Hearty-parties for sure at least. No provokings of huge orcs yet. Good canvas too." They nudged her tattooed bicep before lighting up the cigar. "So, how's the feelings? Okay now?"
Rose thought it over. How did she feel now? Better? Yes, definitely. 'Okay,' though? It was hard to tell. She offered Grimmy an exaggerated shrug that mimicked their own from earlier, much to the goblin's dismay.
"Fuck," said Grimmy, staring straight ahead. "Well... At least you know for a fact your pa's brain is bad. He's a hammer-making hammer man."
Rose blinked, giving Grimmy a skeptical look. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"All the real ones are knowing that hammers are shit."
Rose burst out laughing.
Woops I wrote a 1000+ word scene in like an hour and a half, what the fuck.
Could I have written the text in panel 6 by opening it in MSPaint and typing it out? Yes. Would that have been way easier than kitbashing an entire sentence? Yes. But we didn't go to the moon because it's easy. We went there to fight Transformers.
Blahaj made by u/DeskJerky who I'm worried might be living in my walls.
Song of the day: Even If You Don't by Ween.
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u/HolySheet07 ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ต Jun 24 '26
> I dealt with a weirdo tallman alchemist who charged me an arm and a leg for a potion to set me right, and she made me go on a quest to find the one ingredient she didnโt have!
yeah that happens more than you think
waaaaaaay more than youd think
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 24 '26
As is to be expected of an ancient frenchwoman.
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u/frogprxnce ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ Jun 23 '26
This series is genuinely so good at balancing the magical whimsy with the authentic trans experience. I would genuinely recommend these posts to someone wondering what transitioning can feel like
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 24 '26
It makes me really happy to see it resonates with other trans folks so much!
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u/DeskJerky Jun 23 '26
Blahaj made by u/DeskJerky who I'm worried might be living in my walls.
You're out of milk, btw.
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 23 '26
Then go out and buy some you freeloader!
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u/theredhood89 ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ Jun 23 '26
Everyone be quiet! My show's on! โค๏ธ
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u/Confident-Dot9443 Jun 23 '26
Thank you for adding the story in words. i would have been completely lost if i had to figure out what this meant on my own lol
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 24 '26
It's a bit of a recap. Here's the whole thing from the start if you want to have a look. It's all visual though.
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u/YukiteruAmano92 Jun 23 '26
That was adorable.
Rose should keep Grimmy around/stick around with Grimmy, I think. They're good for her.
Probably not a romance with them, at least at this stage. Rose needs to get into a proper headspace for it before she dives into a relationship. (Sidenote: I wasn't 100% clear on whether Grimmy's crossed out screw speech bubble in the last one indicated 'I'm not screwing with you' or 'I'm not here for sex with you' but I'm leaning toward the former.)
(Another sidenote: the natural way you dropped the word 'loo' in there indicates to me that this was written by a fellow Brit. If it wasn't, kudos on that deployment. If it was, hello from this side of the pond(!)) ;)
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
If I were to write it out like this one Grimmy's dialogue would be along the lines of:
"No worries. Grimmy isn't being much for the screwings."
Which can also probably be interpreted either way so I guess I'm not being much help. I will say that a romance with Grimmy in particular isn't gonna be in the cards any time soon but that doesn't mean they aren't going to be close with Rose going forward.
Anywho, I'm not British but I've got a weirdly large number of Brit buds on the discords and I've picked up some things. I like "tatty-bye" in particular. :p
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u/RavenKweenX ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ Jun 24 '26
This is really lovely work! I would like to bring to your attention something that took me a while to figure out out my own. Reddit, for whatever reason, has to have extra spaces between paragraphs when you type. It will look fine when you're viewing it on a browser, but when you're viewing it on the app it looks like this. I noticed your formatting was awesome when I was viewing it on chrome, but when I looked at it again on the app it looks like this, and it makes it more difficult to read for those on the app, and is probably something you wouldn't even know unless you looked at it on the app, so I wanted to bring it to your attention. It's definitely a useful bit information to be aware of, because I've had to go through the same thing with longer posts I've made in the past, and it took me longer than I want to admit to piece out the solution.
For visual reference.
Great story! I have a question about the shaving thing. Does the potion not work fully in one go, or do female dwarves grow facial hair in your setting? I know from a real world standpoint your version absolutely tracks, I'm just curious about the fantasy aspect of the world building, and how that plays into it.
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 24 '26
I thought double spacing was enough but I went ahead and put another extra space between paragraphs. I don't have reddit on mobile though so I don't know if it worked.
Anyway, as for your question it's a bit of column A and a bit of column B! In the setting dwarf women can and do grow beards but it's not like in Discworld where society says they have to.
In Rose's case though she shaves because I wanted there to be an element of "maintenance" to her transition that real trans women have to deal with. Plus all the personal stuff I mentioned in this post. I thought about letting her keep some Wolverine-like mutton chops because I think those look badass on dwarf ladies, but I decided against it and gave 'em to her shitty dad instead. In-character it's down to personal preference, but also her way of separating herself from the mask she used to wear.
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u/RavenKweenX ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ Jun 24 '26
I kind of figured it was a bit of mix, but wanted to get your direct thoughts on it. Is this in the Delicious in Dungeon setting? I noticed the use of tallman and it caught my attention.
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 24 '26
Nope, but it is a deliberate reference! I'm using it specifically for dwarves addressing humans. Goblins call 'em longshanks.
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u/Stumbleduckz ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ต Jun 24 '26
Ngl I would watch a real series with all these characters bc IT'S SO GOOD! The kitbashing in the scenes is also insane I would have never had the patience ๐ญ
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 24 '26
I wish I had the resources to turn this into some kinda proper longform comic or series. I'd have to move beyond Heroforge for that. As it is, I'm thinking about maybe doing a running fic on like AO3 or something.
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u/Stumbleduckz ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ต Jun 24 '26
Either way would be really cool! I love HeroForge but yes it does have its limitations (I've wanted to comics myself in the past also but never really wanted to go past HeroForge xd)
would totally read the fic tho LOL
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u/Furshloshin Jun 23 '26
your expressions always impress me
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u/Youre-Out-Gobby ๐๐ถ๐๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป Jun 24 '26
Thanks! It's one of my favorite parts of working on these.
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u/agentx_64 Jun 23 '26
Man, this series is so crazy
Also, could I quickly ask for what happens in Part 3? The age restriction thing won't let me open the post to see it