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There is a gravity that has pulled them together many times. It pulled Caleb’s lips to Essek’s forehead, and Essek’s hands to Caleb’s arms when a tower collapsed upon him. It pulled Caleb to Eiselcross, now, to be at Essek’s side as his life as the Shadowhand dies.
Now, it could pull them together into Aeor.
(Two wizards venture into Aeor - and find that something has woken in the dead city's depths. Something dangerous. Something that will force them to decide what their pasts mean to them, and what they mean to each other.)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 163,598
- Chapters:
- 18/18
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 750
- Kudos:
- 1,591
- Bookmarks:
- 415
- Hits:
- 45,850
Bookmarked by skulltrot
03 May 2026
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something you somehow haven’t to deserve by Lise
Fandoms: Critical Role: Exandria (Web Series)
27 Apr 2026
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Sometimes when you're on the run, scared, lonely, and missing friends, desperate measures are called for. Or so Essek keeps telling himself, every time he shows up at Caleb's in a shape other than his own, that can come and go without questions.
Bookmarked by skulltrot
28 Apr 2026
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It was still there when he made his way back to his assigned patch. And still there once he’d pulled all the low, creeping weeds from between the thick, woody stems of the lavender bushes.
“If you are dead, you realize I will pull up this weed,” he muttered to it on his fifth pass.
It, naturally, did not reply, though whether due to a lack of investment in its chosen home or a lack of vital signs was unclear.
In the aftermath of Aeor, in the Clay Family gardens, Essek encounters, speaks to, and has a mild existential crisis over, a bee.
Bookmarked by skulltrot
15 Apr 2026
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Caleb moves closer into his space and holds his shivering arms tightly, and rubs some warmth into his shoulders. “Essek, you can feel it, can’t you?”
Caleb noticed it as he left the cottage, once he consciously felt for the sensation. Or rather, a lack thereof. Typically, magic rushes around him like the wind itself, or an ambient scent, or music. It appeals to a different and entirely unnamable sense though, of course. He can feel it, touch it, and manipulate it. It is so constant that it becomes subconscious and beyond notice.
“You can feel it, Essek. It is gone.”Peace is a precious thing, and a fragile thing too. When the unexpected finally strikes Essek's delicate new life, he and Caleb are left adrift and alone and very, very, vulnerable. What are two wizards without magic to do?
Bookmarked by skulltrot
03 Apr 2026
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He thinks maybe it should make him more frightened, that he should worry about the liabilities he has allowed these people to become. It does nothing to temper the joy of being trusted, of being someone worthy of friend. It does nothing to diminish the memory of Caleb’s spellbook in his lap this morning, its owner sound asleep before him; the sweet press of concern behind Jester’s words in his mind the night before as she reached out with sending.
A rabbit walks into a snare. The snare closes around its throat, killing it. What is responsible for its death, the stupidity of the rabbit or the viciousness of the snare’s purpose?
The Shadowhand of the Bright Queen walks into the T-Dock, he thinks, and feels sick.Two months after surviving the ruin of Aeor, Caleb and Essek return to tie up loose ends.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 282,898
- Chapters:
- 43/43
- Comments:
- 321
- Kudos:
- 471
- Bookmarks:
- 140
- Hits:
- 21,432
Bookmarked by skulltrot
02 Apr 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Really well written with a lot of additional fun Aeor details. It's a long read but it will have you hooked the entire time.
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After they explore Aeor together, Caleb asks Essek to move in. It takes Essek ... A while to figure out exactly what he means.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 51,812
- Chapters:
- 8/8
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 293
- Kudos:
- 1,490
- Bookmarks:
- 421
- Hits:
- 18,439
Bookmarked by skulltrot
20 Mar 2026
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“We ventured too far, considering our unexpectedly low number.” Essek turns his face against the light, as if to let it cleanse some unwanted quality from his expression. Instead, he looks carved in bone, immortalized in frowning marble. “There were … traps. Perfectly clever ones. Still functioning.”
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Essek tries and fails and tries to save the man he loves.
Bookmarked by skulltrot
15 Mar 2026
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There's a man Essek meets on the train every morning.
(or: the commuter AU)
Bookmarked by skulltrot
08 Mar 2026
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Reports of my safety have been greatly exaggerated by ghosttopiary
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
03 Dec 2024
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Something sharp and cold burrows between his shoulder blades and settles along his spine. The Shadowhand straightens his back, spits the blood from his mouth and steels himself for the second betrayal of the only friendship he’s ever had. The lie coats his tongue like quicksilver – it tastes a little like grief, and a little like victory.
»Hello Jester. My apologies, I could not contact you earlier. Sudden circumstances disallowed me the visit at last minute, but I am quite hale.«
Bookmarked by skulltrot
05 Mar 2026
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An Account of the Research Expedition into the Ruins of the Floating City of Aeor Undertaken by Essek Thelyss and Caleb Widogast by elisekc
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
25 Mar 2026
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Summary
But, forgive me, I have gone off on a tangent: this account is for retelling the events of our expedition, not for musing upon personal matters. It will not happen again.
__
Essek attempts to keep a professional journal of the progress made on his and Caleb's Aeor field trip, but as the days go by, he finds himself writing a lot more about his colleague (and his feelings for said colleague) than their work.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 83,974
- Chapters:
- 18/18
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 200
- Kudos:
- 178
- Bookmarks:
- 48
- Hits:
- 5,032
Bookmarked by skulltrot
17 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Really cool concept and a fun read featuring Essek doing his best (and failing miraculously) at focusing on anything other than Caleb.
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A thousand fingerprints on the surfaces of who I am by SkyScribbles
Fandom Critical Role (Web Series)
02 Oct 2020
Summary
'Changing is hard. For most of us, it happens little by little in in the smallest moments and we don’t notice it, we don’t choose it. But looking yourself in the face and deciding to be different – that is hard. You are unpicking threads of who you are that were put in place more than a century ago.'
(A collection of Essek-centric oneshots, following a hypothetical redemption journey post-Episode 97. Features Shadowgast and Essek's platonic relationships with the Nein. The fics are arranged in rough chronological order and are loosely interconnected, but they can all be read individually. This series was written during the 2020 hiatus, so is not canon compliant beyond episode 100.)
- Words:
- 64,780
- Works:
- 14
- Bookmarks:
- 440
Bookmarked by skulltrot
15 Feb 2026
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Foolishly abandoned by his mess of a wizard, the little fey Frumpkin sets out on a journey to go back where he belongs.
Bookmarked by skulltrot
12 Feb 2026
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Essek Thelyss comes to Soltryce to deliver guest lectures and, on the side, cultivate the brand new Archmage of Domestic Protections. He’s hoping that Caleb Widogast will oblige him by picking up his predecessor’s interest in conspiring to steal Luxon beacons, after so rudely murdering Da’leth mere weeks before the culmination of their schemes.
Essek is prepared for espionage. He is not prepared to find a love that will change the course of his life.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 226,958
- Chapters:
- 20/20
- Comments:
- 926
- Kudos:
- 695
- Bookmarks:
- 276
- Hits:
- 24,900
Bookmarked by skulltrot
11 Feb 2026
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On the Myriad Uses of Polymorph as a Method of First Aid by CatgirlTheCrazy
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
17 Jan 2022
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Essek learns first hand one of the Mighty Nein's use cases for Polymorph: keeping the mortally wounded alive.
He learns this when he unexpectedly finds himself a 40-foot long lizard with tiny arms and a brain the size of a walnut.
Bookmarked by dragonbugg (skulltrot)
04 Feb 2026
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think too much or thinking not at all (i’d rather jump than fall) by jeeter
Fandoms: Critical Role
27 Apr 2020
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Summary
Caleb’s face was flushed red, from his ears to his nose. It made the freckles on his face stand out more.
Molly pressed his hand to his own face. It must not have been nearly as flushed, but he could feel the way his smile loosened after several hearty drinks. Licking his teeth, he looked lazily at Caleb. “I can leave some coin for them.”
“Oh, she’s not your responsibility.” Caleb said, eyes unwavering from where his gaze was set on Nott.
Molly snorted. “She’s not yours, either.” he said, and immediately regretted it as he watched Caleb’s jaw harden.
Bookmarked by dragonbugg (skulltrot)
27 Jan 2026
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"Truly hideous, those eyes," Om'e murmured, as if to themselves. "May Ahnos accept this offering."
Distantly, Keith was aware that he was crying.
And then he wasn't aware of anything at all.
Bookmarked by skulltrot
25 Jan 2026
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opere et omissione by essektheylyss (divinationwizard)
Fandoms: Critical Role: Exandria (Web Series), The Mighty Nein (Cartoon)
19 Dec 2025
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Essek has to tell Verin, and he has to tell him now.
Bookmarked by skulltrot
23 Jan 2026
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After the end of the War of Ash and Light, Essek goes home. More or less.
He has things to do. And a lot of messages he isn't going to send.
Bookmarked by skulltrot
23 Jan 2026
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Summary
It has been two months, three weeks, four days, and nine hours since he saw him last. Sending helps, but it doesn’t quite do him justice.
Twenty-five words parcelled out in moments. In energy saved just in case. In beats and fragments that just left him wanting more.
It pales to the vision of Essek whole, though he is still unsure if he is hale.
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A coming together and an exploration of what makes a house a home, told in twenty-four parts.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 31,012
- Chapters:
- 24/24
- Comments:
- 335
- Kudos:
- 863
- Bookmarks:
- 190
- Hits:
- 12,889
Bookmarked by skulltrot
19 Jan 2026
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The Icarus to Your Certainty by ithilielthechosenone
Fandoms: Critical Role (Web Series)
23 Oct 2023
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Summary
I did not think it would be like this, he wishes he had words to say. I wish I could regrow myself like one of Caduceus’s plant experiments, but I think my roots are rotten through. No sunlight and no water and no Uthodorn cupcakes can treat the blight he has made of himself. He has two words. He would need so many.
-In Aeor, just the two of them, there are many things to finally resolve. Not least of all the question of what they could be to one another.Bookmarked by skulltrot
16 Jan 2026