#But for real why. What is the reasoning behind this. Hes some random npc

[umbralundertaker]

?????

[mistleaneous-chaos]

Disclaimer: Halfway through when I was writing this post initially, I took a break for a while since I didn't really know what I wanted to do with all the information in it, since I didn't understand the egg rooms in Chapters 3 & 4 Properly. Then I did understand them.

Finally got around to doing the egg room for chapter 3 after missing it and only getting the others and I am so glad I did.

I have lots of thoughts and want to sum them up here, so pardon me if I rehash information, speculate, or just sound outright unintelligible. These won’t just be limited to the Egg Rooms but will involve a good amount of stuff related to them.

There will be many things I discuss, and in the end I will be discussing a theory that I think others have had, but it's been one that's stewing in my brain and I desperately need to get it out.

I feel like out of all the egg rooms, this one and chapter 4’s really gave us a lot to think about in terms of the eggs themselves and their surroundings.

Chapter 3’s being the first ones we’ve seen with other beings is really interesting to me for a number of reasons.

In this room, Kris starts out as if they were not in the Dark World. And it makes sense because they’re not in the Dark World, they’re “Nowhere”. It’s not a place where darkness is deeper than it can be, nor is it the normal world, it is just that, Nowhere. And I think it's possible that whenever it started to become a real, tangible place when Kris visited, that's when it started to creep in, whatever it is that was outside of Nowhere, which is why Kris became their Dark World Form again, because the outside was coming in, the Dark was let inside of a place it wasn't aware of before.

It’s a place for people who are forgotten and “Copies”, such as:

the Rudinn “cards”.

Before anything serious I just love Kris’ thought process of “I suck at cards so I’ll just make my own copies!” These glimpses into their character pre-Us is always so charming to see. But anyways, the Rudinns give us some insight into certain “Rules”, such as those of copies. It’s a slight thing, but they tell us that copies have no color, and the only reason they do is because Kris gave them their color. Now this leads us to something people already probably knew about

The Goners, the characters in Undertale that had no real “place” outside of random chance. The Goners, to me, always seemed as if they were some kind of parodies of certain NPCs such as Monster Kid and The Clam Neighbor. Some of them may not exist in the world people inhabit(depending on FUN value), and some actively replace people who do exist, such as the clam neighbor. I still have no clue what they are meant for, but I do think that Gaster had a hand in their creation, considering the Goner Maker in Chapter 1 and the followers consistently mentioning him.

Everything that's been said about "Copies" takes more of a form when you also look at the pipeline of The Prophecy turning into The Lord of The Hammer turning into Dragon Blazers. Now, there's an entire discussion to be had with Dragon Blazers and Undertale (not Deltarune) and the symbolism of it being a "simplified" and "altered" version of Deltarune the way Dragon Blazers could have been of Lord of The Hammer and so on. But that's for another day. All I want to say is that I think there is a difference being drawn between copies and things that truly had passion put into them, after all:

It makes me think that maybe Gaster's Followers/The Goners could have either been copies of existing people such as Goner Kid(If they even are a copy)

Or some could have been beings that had something drained from them that caused their "color to fade", such as the Clam Girl/"Suzy's" Neighbor

Now then, this brings me to my last point:

The Forgotten Man.

The Forgotten Man, The Man that was behind the tree, is something that's been in the back of my head for years now.

And I think with Chapter 4, it's at least possible to interpret what he means in the context of the Egg Rooms.

In Chapter 3, he talks about how "You"(We'll just assume it's Kris for the sake of this discussion but it could very well be the Player) forgot about him multiple times, and he discusses things such as his schedule (The last part of which I totally think foreshadows Chapter 5's egg room because of Chapter 5 having been intended to be released alongside 3 & 4)

And also, he talks about the Egg. We learn what it is he gives us the egg for.

It's so we remember him.

Which brings me to what I think he means to Kris.

Throughout Chapters 3 & 4 Toby brings to light so many things he'd been foreshadowing with Dess, her disappearance, and what it did to Kris. And that brings us to Chapter 4's Egg Room.

Therapy.

In Chapter 3, when you get the Shadow Mantle, there's an enemy in the dungeon that you don't kill. Kris kills them.

There is no added context in-game for what it is, but in the files, you can see the placeholder for it.

A black deer.

December's disappearance was something that clearly affected Kris a good deal, and it becomes more and more apparent when you think about the things that they've done for "The Knight". They work with the Knight to create the Dark Fountains, but also close them. They do everything in their power to not impede the Knight, but they still want to make Susie and Ralsei happy.

I think that Kris is beholden to something that they promised Dess long ago, maybe around the time she disappeared. I think Kris flinched when they saw the Shelter in the game because they know what's in there. I think the reason they didn't immediately throw the controller out when you got in is because they were relieved. Because they realized that whatever force made the game didn't put what was actually in the shelter in the game.

I think the reason why Kris didn't open the closet even though Susie was gone and they could throw us out, is because they were scared of what they would see in the real world.

I think that Kris killed, or at least indirectly caused Dess' death. Do I think it was intentional? No. I do not think for a second Kris ever would have purposefuly harmed her. I think Kris regrets it. I think they regret it every single second they're awake. And I think, that more than anything else, they try to Forget it.

The Forgotten Man, I think, either represents or parallels the way that Kris constantly represses everything about Dess' disappearance. I think that every time Kris remembers something, they immediately push it down. They keep forgetting...

But we just keep. pushing.

Every time we push to remember, they forget. And every time they forget, the path to reach those memories again gets more and more complex. We went from going into a random room over and over again(With the only thing to remind them of her being an enemy that throws STARS at us), to finding a random room hidden behind a stained glass window with one part of it that resembled an egg.

We just push. and push. and push. And every time we push, the dam gets leakier.

Because at first it was just an egg. Then it was still an egg. But then it was a conversation with a man they want to forget. And then it was a painting that they so desperately wanted to forget about. And next? If the clues are right? We're going to Asgore's Dark World.

And while Tenna only referenced Dess in a manner that implied her being alive? Asgore is heavily implied to have a very, very, personal stake in Dess' disappearance.

I think that the purpose of the eggs is not something tangible that'll be visible in-game or in stats. But rather, I think that they're a sign that we are on the path that leads to Kris finally having to confront whatever it is that they want so badly to forget. And I don't know if it'll have an effect on the game, but I think it'll have an effect on Kris. And whether or not they move on from it, from feeling indebted to a rotting corpse, from feeling like they owe Carol or whoever's manipulating them their service, I think that maybe, juuust maybe, it'll lead us down a path that, while not important to our progress, is important to Kris' progress as a person.

[dropoutconfessions]

I feel like Brennan is kind of a douche? like I really don't enjoy watching him be overly competitive on game changer, and i get this sense from him that he's trying to show everyone how clever he is even though he's just average (e.g. some of his d20 npcs are poorly researched caricatures of certain nationalities, according to some anons here recently).

i also wonder if people just pretend to like him because he executive produces, and they'll stop getting calls if they say anything remotely negative

Right so I'm humoring this one as a generalized reminder to the ceaseless watchers of this blog: Y'ALL DO NOT KNOW WHAT ANY OF THESE PEOPLE ARE LIKE

YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE REAL THEM, EVER, IN YOUR LIFE ACTUALLY. except maybe that one confessor who met a cast member irl, and even then, a one off encounter is not much. THESE ARE ALL CHARACTERS THEY PLAY. Brennan's competitive spirit is much more toned down if you've ever seen him in older Um Actually videos and for example, the Polygon Anomia/Skull video. Since gaining a reputation as competitive, they played it up, and now it's part of his archetype, in the same way Grant being overly horny is part of his. YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASSUME SHIT ABOUT THE REAL PEOPLE BEHIND THIS SHOW because, and i cannot stress this enough you don't know who they are

and I am not about to let the most baseless and random accusation of workplace intimidation conspiracy theory type bullshit just fly round here. You realize how insane that last paragraph is right? that shit is like, a workplace harassment lawsuit you're just baselessly accusing a guy of because you don't like the character he plays

i know this is tumblr, but this is the most "shitty calloutpost" ask I've gotten, it's got all the works, a bunch of unconnected reasons why he's a bad person with no evidence, lots of uninformed opinions, and a cherry on top, the slander is all wrapped up in a bow of anonymity.

[randomthefox]

Sonic designs in the games are like abstract interpretations of creatures and ideas you'd see in the real world. They're simple, versatile, and eye-catching.

Sonic designs according to archie and idw are just random shit smashed together with zero thought. They're barren of any noteworthy features and super cluttered at the same time.

I still don't know what the fuck Antoine is supposed to be.

(Just looked it up. He's a coyote. It's genuinely impossible to tell from his design alone.)

The Archie cast in particular always struck me as just some guys personal furry cast that they always had in their back pocket and just used the license for Sonic the Hedgehog as an excuse to bring them to life. There was absolutely no consideration whatsoever for the aesthetic conventions of the video games. The people who argue up and down the street that Sally is based on the fucking Ricky never really seem to have an answer for Antoine, now do they? There isn't a single game on the face of the SEGA Genesis that ever had coyotes. Let alone the shit they started coming up with in the comics like the fucking skunk and shit.

The IDW comics are only slightly better in the sense that SEGA is actually paying the fuck attention. Enough that the IDW comic has officially given up wanting to ever go through the process of inventing new characters ever again, so they're just blatantly taking designs that they had already introduced for NPCs earlier in the comics run and repurposing them as headlining cast members to get around having to go through the approval process. Apparently Evan Stanley openly admitted to that being the reason why Lanolin ended up being used the way she is. But none of the OCs still would ever fit into the actual video games. All of them stand out like a sore thumb standing next to the actual video game characters, who have talent and thought and creative inspiration behind their designs.

[purefandomonium]

Headcanons for "And Again" Glitchy Red

This is yet another iteration of G. Red because I have no self control, apparently. This version, like the other one I posted a while ago, is not in any way related to Connection Red, but it's also totally different from Limits. G. Red here is much, much more sinister. This is the And Again version.

Basic Facts

This version of Red is not a nice person. He's selfish, arrogant, bitter, spiteful and just plain cruel. Even when he figures out that most of his victims are just young adults or even kids, he doesn’t care. They’re all his tormentors and they all deserve to suffer. There’s no reasoning with him about it.

He first gains some level of self-awareness in the early years of the game's release, as players typically played it correctly. The general glitches of the game likely played a roll, but all in all, he could only really question why everything seemed so familiar when it was supposed to be new.

This went on long enough that he caught on. It took the game-breaking glitches to really warp his newly-formed mind and break him. Easy come, easy go. Real tough luck there.

This version of Red is violent™️. He is bitter and angry, and he has a lot of pent up rage at his predicament.

Really enjoys causing pain. Stems from how much suffering he was put through and how much he wants to return the favor. It really doesn't matter to him that all his victims have nothing to do with his creation.

He's also not a program or AI, and as such cannot be transferred into different devices/interact with technology other than the Game Boy. There is no code that makes him up, hence how he can exist in the cartridge without completely overwriting the game. He’s solely some sort of supernatural entity. Basically just a Game Boy boogieman.

Was “born” out of bitter spite at being a puppet. Theoretically, any video game character could become sentient and somewhat-sapient in the same way Red did. Although the biggest part behind it is that something just happened. Aside from a glitch in the matrix, there's really no other reason for Red to have become self-aware. Likewise, there's no reason why it couldn't have been Blue, or one of the gym leaders, or a random NPC... It was nothing more than a fluke.

He doesn’t initially understand that he’s trapped in a game. It takes multiple escape attempts over the years for him to slowly realize it. It makes little difference to him, however, as it's still his personal hell. If anything, it's more of an insult to him that he's just some stupid fictional character.

Connection Red was just like, "Ah, fuck it. This is my life now," and is just bitter and depressed until he meets Leanne. And Again Red kicks it up to 11 but without the depressed resignation to his fate and instead refusing to accept living in agony. Basically, he's what would happen if C Red had taken more of a direct approach to escaping. Not that he didn't do some fucked up shit to players himself.

He looks like a kid. Albeit, a pale, texture-less "human" with the details all wrong and with the voice of a bit-crushed demon.

Seriously, just imagine someone who "looked" human but lacked all the appropriate details. No pores or wrinkles, no details in the irises, no veins or muscles showing beneath the skin, and hair just a single mass instead of numerous fibers... Kinda fucked up right? Cryptid Red for the win I guess.

Is unnaturally strong for no other reason than just because. He shouldn't even exist, so he can do whatever the hell he wants. Are you gonna tell him he can't?

More In-Depth Facts

He has no idea about dreams or how people exist outside of his “world.” He thinks the dream realm he meets people in is, to some extent, somewhere outside of the game. He's not wrong in that assessment, but he's nowhere close to the truth.

Due to this misunderstanding, when he attacks someone in their dreams, he doesn’t realize he’s not technically harming them. He is causing real-life damage--and pain. The pain is unreal--but not to the extent he thinks he is. Think scars and cuts instead of open gashes and torn limbs. His satisfaction at his handy work would likely plummet if he knew this.

Has zero concept of the human body due to living in a world where blood and proper death do not exist. He doesn't understand how fragile real humans are. He's used to Pokemon merely fainting from attacks and tanking them when they're at full strength, and since humans are never directly involved in battles he just assumes it's the same for them. On top of that he doesn't know his own strength. He thinks he'd really have to try hard to hurt someone. It doesn't take him long to realize how easy it is for him to do so.

Aside from the glitches, he can’t feel pain/be harmed. Destroying the game would be the only viable solution, but that’s assuming he’d ever let someone get to it. This version of Red doesn’t want to die after everything he’s been through. He wants to stay “alive” so he can be free. If he has to slaughter people along the way, so be it.

Doesn’t really have much in the way of emotions. He can be angry, enraged, he was once depressed, and he gets excited at the prospect of escaping his torment. But he doesn’t have the capacity for empathy—either because he isn’t human and is a cruel, sadistic individual or because he’s so used to everyone but himself being a bunch of dolls that he genuinely doesn’t process that other people can even have emotions. Use your own judgment.

It doesn't help that he sees anyone outside of the game as his captor, even when they haven't directly done anything to him.

Aside from the whole empathy thing, he doesn't really know true sadness either. Despite being trapped, he is technically immortal. He's more frustrated than depressed at his predicament. He got over that a long time ago. In his mind, he has all the time in the world to figure out how to free himself. He's not wrong.

Who knows if escaping will bring him happiness? He has no idea what the real world is like, and it's highly unlikely anyone would be willing to take a sentient glitch character with murderous intent under their wing to help him... Best to let him believe whatever he wants there.

Fear? Please. His only fear was the glitches when they first appeared, but he's gotten too used to them now. They don't scare him anymore.

Is disturbingly fascinated by how easy it is to break people. Literally. He just can't get over how damn fragile we are.

Worldbuilding?

Can exist for a very short while outside of the game while still being bound to it—like, a few hours at best—but otherwise dreams are the only way he can directly interact with the real world.

When he is out and about for those few hours, his form is uncanny--shrouded in unnatural shadows and weird glitch effects--his height is inconsistent, and his face keeps changing subtly. It's either unintentional or he's constantly warping it to make it more human.

When he's reached his limit and is about to be pulled back into the game, he becomes a broken, fizzled mess of static and shapes that emits an ungodly high-pitched whine as he desperately tries to fight being forced back to his hell.

Can't fully comprehend the real world either, just interact with it. Even in his short moments of "freedom" he still doesn't get the luxury of knowing what it's like. No sense of smell, touch, nothing. Dreams are the only way he can really "feel" anything. No wonder he's always so pissed off.

His voice is always bit-crushed, full of static, and deep enough that it would freak out an exorcist.

If he ever was to break free of the game, destroying it likely wouldn’t matter anymore. Hell, he'd probably be the one to smash it to bits.

Would need a body to be able to properly exist in reality. Is prone to try to possess people once he learns he can do that. If outright possession doesn't work, he'll try switching places. Transferring Pokemon is a thing, why not two souls? He’ll happily stick some poor sap into the game if it means he can get out.

He's really willing to steal souls and even eat people if he has to. He can't do the latter, thankfully. At least, not outside of dreams. But he would.

When he does start to get a grasp on the inner workings of reality, he starts going all out. He continues to torment players by brainwashing them into keeping the game so he can constantly haunt their dreams. Eventually, the scars, injuries and psychological trauma add up and they end up hospitalized or worse...

He gets stronger and stronger by feeding on people's fear and energy. Is basically a Game Boy boogieman/vampire.

Thinks stealing lifeforce is the way to go when everything else has failed.

When he realizes he can exist outside of the game for a bit, he finds out his dream torture isn't really doing any damage. Well, this is certainly no mere dream now.

I have half a mind to turn this into serial killer Red. He just... keeps mauling people because he thinks eventually he'll find the one who trapped him and that killing them will set him free or something. Idk, if I weren't so bad at mysteries I'd write it.

It’s a really bad idea to get involved with this Glitchy Red due to all of the above. Set your sympathy aside, he really will kill or maim anyone who pisses him off, gets in his way, or is otherwise an opportunity at escape. He has zero morals and is only focused on his own goals. If being nice to someone happens to benefit said goals, then he’ll do everything he can to trick you until he gets what he needs.

[jcraftisreal]

2/07/2013

2 Years Later, Im So Glad I Haven't Forgotten About This, I Saw A Random Spanish Video From My Youtube Homepage, Showing How You Can Apparently Download "Minecraft For Free." I Don't Remember What The Title Was Called, Since I Don't Know Very Much. The Video Is What You Expect. Just A Usual "Helpful" Tutorial At Some Sort. Although, The Video Isn't Showing You How To Download Free Minecraft. But In A Different Way, The Person In The Video (Who Wasn't Talking In The Video) Is Making You Go To "www.minecraft.net/jcraft."[REDACTED] After Entering The Link, The Site Will Download A Jar File Called "jcraft.jar" Me Being Convienced I Entered The Link Myself, And As I Remembered, It Worked! The Site Did Download Something On My Computer Called "Jcraft.jar"! But, Why On Earth Though? Was Mojang Hiding This For Us Not To See!? After The Jar Fully Downloaded, It Only Took A Minute Or Second. I Went Ahead And Clicked The Jar File Myself. Seeing What It Was Like. :) After The Game Loaded. It Took Me To A Void Filled With Bedrock As Wall And Floor. You Can Move Around Too, And Its In FP. (First Person) I Went Ahead And Moved Forward, As What The Games Trying To Make Me Do. Oh Yeah! I Did Provide Screenshots, Take A Look.

After I Went Forward Like A Confused Little Mice, I Saw A Sign That Was Just There, And There Was A Huge Wall Of Wood Fences Behind The Sign For Some Odd Reason. I Went Ahead And Looked At The Sign, (See What It Says.) After I Looked, The Sign Said The Following "This Is Where Your Adventure Begins." After I Looked, The Game Was Cut To Black, And After A Second, The Game Showed A Official Menu For The Game! Welcome To Jcraft.

2/07/2013

Humble Beginning

Upon The Game Loaded Its Game Menu, I Realized The Game Was Playing A Slowed Down Version Of "Subwoofer Lullaby By C418." This Was 2011 At This Point. Here's Your Usual Game Options, 1. Start Game, 2. Options, 3. Quit Game. Then It Wasn't Very Usual When I Clicked On "Start Game." 1. 1x1 2. 2x2. 3. 3x3. 4. 8x8. Are These Generative Map Limits? Like Something YOU Would Do, I Went Ahead I Clicked On 8x8. And The Game Went Load, After The Game Had Loaded All We Now Officially See Is The Grass From "Minecraft" Itself! (Including The Trees Too.) The Gameplay Is Nothing Usual And Ordinary, But It Feels Different Though. I DON'T KNOW if Im Crazy Or Not. But, It Feels Oddly Different. All You Can Do Is Pure Minecraft, Break Things, Place Things, Break Trees Of Course. But Nothing Drops Out Of Them. Also, I Forgot To Mention These Weird Looking Steve Guys That Always Roams Around The Map. That Will Later Be Important Throughout This Story.

There Was Also A Map Barrier Which Prevents You From Leaving The Map, All You Can Only See Is Nice Blocky Water With Bedrock Under The Map. Also I Hope Im Not The Only One That Noticed This, Where Tf Is Rana? You Know, Those Cute Frog NPCs! Just Like Those Steve Guys! Unlike When I Played Minecraft, It Was Once Filled With Her! But Why In This Version Its Filled With Fucking Steves? I Guess We Will Never Know. Just Like Me Being A Silly Person, I Quit The Generated Map (I Was Playing On.) And Played The Other Maps, 1x1. You Name It. And, Its What You Expect. lol. I Got Stuck On Many Steves On 1x1. Kinda Hilarious lol. Although, This Game Doesn't Give Anything Else. Theres No Biomes Such As Sand, Just.. Grass. And Weird Steve Guys. Im Yet So Confused On Why Mojang Decided To Put The Download Link Up Publicly. I Guess We Will Never Know Further On This Point. I'm A Very Busy Man, So I'll Work On This Story Later On.

4/07/2013

Minor Discoveries (Not Yet Over.)

2 Days Later, I Decided To Play Jcraft Again. And As I Loaded The Game When I Clicked On The Jar File Again. HALF Of The Bedrock Walls Were Missing. I Go Check And See What's up, Theres A WHOLE Another Map Just Waiting To Be WALKED on! Even More Crazy Is There's A NEW NPC That Looks Like a Real Digger Unlike The STEVES. He Looked Just Like The Minecraft NPC Concept Art That I Saw 3 YEARS AGO.

He Looked He's Been Digging In The Grass! When I Walked Up To Him, He Said Something In The FUCKING CHAT. "Wanna Dig Boy?" Im Not Even Playing Multiplayer. His Name Is Literally "Digger" There's TWO NPCS ALREADY. This Literally Blow My Fucking Mind When I Played This 2 Literal Days Later. Anyway I Did What He Told Me To Do, I Thought For A Second To Wait For Him But No I Had To Go Down The Dirt Under The Grass. I Don't If The Dirt Walked Through Was A Maze, But I Walked Down Deeply, Upon Reaching To The End Of This "Dirt Maze." I Literally Saw Him Sitting In The Concrete Infront Of This.. White Abyss. Here's My Mockup Drawing Of It.

When I Saw That He Was Literally Sitting There All Alone, The Game Was Cut To Black, And The JCraft Menu Shows Up... Wtf.

I Also Forgot To Mention, I Played The Generated Maps Again And I Didn't Care Less. I Saw Literal Signs Out Of The MAP BARRIER. And They All Spelled "Nil."!

I Didn't Notice When I Played The Game, I DO Now. It Seems To Spawn In Possibly Many Occasions As We Generate A Map Again, I'll Put A Grid Up.

This Is Where The Sign Spawns Outside The Map Barrier. Here Are The Numbers: 2 3 1 4

I'm So Fucking Dumb I Haven't Realized This, When You First Load Up JCraft. Look BEHIND.

WTF WAS HE THERE WHEN I FIRST LOADED THE GAME? HOLY SHIT. you can't really walk up to him. there's an *invisible wall.*

The End

5/07/2013

Hold On, I Now Discovered That 2314 WAS A LITERAL FUCKING CODE. You Know Me, I Tried This In Game, Not In The Beginning Of The Game, MID Game. You Know, The Maps. First I Didn't Know How To Put In The Code. I Found Out You Literally Had To Type IT IN.

After Typing It In, The Game Will Look... Different.

This Weird Steve Character Just Standing There, And... He Looks All Black, Next Thing I Know. The NPC Starts Freaking Out And Says "LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE LEAVE" In Chat, Shortly Later The Game Closed Itself, I Was A Little Freaked Out... wtf, I Decided To Play JCraft Again After What Happend, I Was Literally Shaking Beyond This Point.. After I Loaded JCraft Again, I Looked Behind Again. The Other Steve Wasn't There Anymore. Next Thing I Know, The Steve Ran Towards Knowing I Was Looking Behind. Once He's Finally Infront Of Me, He Said The Following Words, "What You're Seeing Isn't Real, You're Not Supposed To Be Here." I Stood Infront Of Him Literally Shaking, But I Knew I Could Type In Chat Because Y'know, Minecraft. I Said To Him, "Who Are You?" The Steve Said "Im NPC-04. I Lived Here All Alone." NPC What Now? I Actually Knew That Was More NPCS In This Game, There's More? Next Thing I Know, He Says "Follow Me." And He Went Away, Expecting Me To Follow Him, I Agreed And So I Did Follow Him, There's No Invisible Wall Anymore! I Can Fully Get Out In The Beginning Where I Couldn't Before! I Couldn't See Because Of The Fog, It Was A Long Run, And Once I Got Out Of The Bedrock Place, There Was Finally Another Map Just Like The Digger Man Maze We've Seen Before! And There Was A House Built With Stone Infront Of Me! Did He Built This When He Was Outside Of The Bedrock Place? & He's Been Staring At Me All This Time Through The Beginning? The Steve Or, NPC-04. Showed Me To His House, I Said "Did You Built This?" He Responded With "Yes, I Do Need To Talk With You." He Went Inside Of The House And Sat Down On His Stone Chair (I Didn't Know Chairs Were Implemented In This Version, lol.) I Did What He Did And We Sat Down Together, Once He Sat Down, Remember When He Was Staring At Me? I Said To Him "Why Were You Staring At Me From The Beginning?" He Responded Back With "I Was All Alone, I Felt Pretty Bad, We're All The Same." I Was Yet Confused, And I Said "What Do You Mean We're All The Same?" NPC 04 Responded With "You're Exactly Like Us, How We Look." Is He Saying We're Exactly LIKE Him? Are WE ALL STEVES? I Said, Why Weren't There No Animals? He Responded With "They're Not Here, It Depends On The Map Limit. Nothing Is Capable Beyond This Point. There's Only One Way."

I'm Still Yet Confused, I Said "What Do You Mean Nothing Is Capable, And What EXACTLY Do You Mean By One Way?" He Responded Back With "Do You Remember The Digger Man?" Yes, I Do Know Him! I Meet Him I Came Back To The Game Days Later! I Responded With "Yes." Then NPC-04 Responded With "He's More Powerful In This World, He Can Travel Through Time. He Can Reach Limits, He's Nocturnal. Can Meet Animals." I Responded To Him By Saying "What's His Real Name, NPC Whatever?" He Responded Back With "His Name Or ID Is NPC-10. He's The Tenth In This World, Not Beyond The Universe. What You Said About The Animals Is Not Beyond Either, But They Can Live Here, But They Will Die," Huh? Animals Dying In The JCraft Universe At Some Kind? How Is Digger Man Nocturnal? This Is Somewhere Relating To Death. I Said To Him "Are There Many Other Steves?" He Responded With "Yes, We're Too Many. They Didn't Mean To Create Us, Rana Is The Opposite." He Responded Again In The Chat Saying "Do You Know The Hanging NPC?" Now THIS IS GETTING Somewhere. I Said "Who Is He?" He Responded Back Saying "He's NPC-110011. He's The Real Threat To This World, He's Giving Us A Warning. We're All Gonna Die, Unless There's Hope And Rejoice." I Said To Him "What Do You Mean?" He Responded With "Life Gives Us Air, He Won't Live Without It, They Won't Care About Us." Me Having No Other Questions, I Said "Mojang?" But Then He Said "Jcraft." Huh!? Hold On, JCraft? Is It Depending On The Mojang Devs? I Said To Him "JCraft? What Do You Mean? I Hope Im Not Upsetting You." He Said "JCraft.net. They Still Haven't Cared About Us. They're Different Then Mojang, They Didn't Mean For This To Happen." He Said Something Again Saying "We're Having Support, We're Finally Getting Love, There's Hope." How!? That Hanging Guy Was A Threat To Them!? I Said "How Is There Hope?" He Said "I Wouldn't Say Because We Have You. Something That Keeps Us Track. We Geninuely Care & We're Finally Getting Rejoice, The World Knows Aswell." Does He... Know How I'm Feeling? I Was Actually Worried For Him Or What's Happening To Him I Didn't Need To Bother Mentioning This In The Story. Since Half Isn't Worth It. I Said "You Know How I'm Feeling?" He Responded Back With "We're Souls, We Do Care No Matter What, We're Rejoice." From This Point It Sounded Like A Religion. I Said To Him Since He Knows How I'm Feeling "How Are You Guys Getting Rejoice?" He Said, "We Built Something Made Up, It's Entirely Different. You Wouldn't See It In Reality, Because It Worked."

So... I Guess There's Already Hope For Them It Feels Like. Its Like A Schrodinger's Cat Situation Where They All Live. Even If They're Abandonded. I Said To Him "What About The Digger Man?" He Said "I Don't Think He Cares. He Will Die If He Doesn't Join Us." I Start To Get Pretty Bad For Digger Man, He Felt Like A God Because He Can Stay Up At Night, Apparently There's A Day And Night Cycle In Game, But Who Knows He Felt A Bit Cruel Just Because He Wasn't A God I Would Feel The Same Way Too. I Said "Is Everything Here Not Real, Are You Still Gonna Appreciate Everything We Do?" He Said "We Embrace In Our Hearts, We Don't Fear. We Rejoice." He Responded Back Saying "Theres A Downside. You Will Completely Get Taken Over." And Then The Game Closes. THIS. Was Something Unexpected. I've Never Seen A Minecraft Game Like This, Although THIS WAS ON The Minecraft Website Itself! Actually Felt Kinda Sad, And Once I Knew. I Clicked On The Game Again, The Game Was Normal Again, I Looked Behind, He's There Again, Watching Every Step I Make. :)

8/07/2013

Conclusion

Sooo, This Marks The End Of This Whole JCraft Trilogy. Through The Beginning, I Actually Knew That "Jcraft" Was A Placeholder Name For Minecraft. Heres Proof.

I Don't If Its THE REASON Why Its In The Minecraft Site In The First. But There. I Heard Rumors That The Digger Man Can Been Seen On The IOS Version Of Minecraft! The IOS Version Was Made On 2011! It Could Be Possibly Where JCraft Was Released On The Same Year Too! Was The IOS Version The Cause Of JCraft's Existence? Who Knows. I Noticed The Characters In The Game Are Docks Work! (Notch's Friend) I Have No Idea If He Has Any Afiliration With The Company JCraft.NET But Im Not Entirely Sure, Im Just Gonna Say No. EDITED: When I Played JCraft After All Of This Happend I Went To The Generative Maps. And I Actually Noticed A Quite Familiar NPC That NPC-04 Told Me, THE HANGING STEVE. I HAVE NOT SEEN HIM FROM THE BEG I Also Forgot The Mention What NPC-04 Said "We Built Something That Keeps Track." He Actually Kinda Refers To The Beacon From Minecraft That Was Worked On Last Year After I Am Writing This! This Could Mean What NPC-04 Said Was True! The Steves Are Still Alive! And Not Digger Man Though. Rest In Peace.

FIN.

[cryptidmads]

good evening nsr community, i went through the ama from today and came back with an armful or two of lore. there’s a bunch more than last time, and i included bbj as well as the npcs. cozy up, check under the cut, and prepare for a long read. enjoy!

today's ama featured wan hazmer and daim dziauddin again, as well as concept artist ellie and animator ben fong.

BUNK BED JUNCTION (FT. DK WEST)

- mayday and zuke live in the sewers because they're an underground band. it's a pun - there were originally two variations of bbj leaving the sewers - one with mayday hi-fiving gigi (which had a 95% chance of happening), and one with zuke awkwardly fumbling and attempting to hi-five gigi (which had a 5% chance) - one of the inspirations for mayday and zuke were the two main characters of samurai champloo (zuke was jin, mayday was mugen) - someone asked about if the rest of the cast had their own shadow puppets. ben suggested a lemur for mayday, while ellie suggested a zucchini for zuke. she may have been joking. - mayday's guitar solos were done by different people, but zuke's drum solos were all done by bruno valverde. - zuke was the one who implemented the canister thing into mayday's guitar. - someone asked who of the cast are the introverts and who are the extroverts. mayday is an extrovert, zuke is an introvert. - the team does have a bit of lore for mayday and zuke and how they met, but they want to save it in case of a future project. - mayday was inspired by both genevieve from company of thieves and the unbreakable kimmy schmidt. - ben did the animation for mayday swinging the hammer in the workshop. - haz recalls seeing some fanart of mayday being brought up as a rich girl. he doesn't remember the artist, but he does like the idea. - the japanese version has zuke say he has a phd rather than a master's degree. this is apparently a mistake. - the pattern on zuke's pants was inspired by jolyne cujoh and prosciutto from jojo's bizarre adventure. - zuke's toilet seat collection came partially from a story from one of the environmental artists where one of their high school friends pranked another friend with a toilet seat. - zuke does a lot of reading and is naturally inquisitive about things like tech and mechanics. - dk west's shadow puppet abilities might run in the family, and zuke may have it as well. - both zuke and dk west are connected by percussion (zuke with the drums, west with the hand claps) - zuke and west weren't always designed to be related -- west was originally designed as "some guy who comes and goes," but was made into zuke's brother later on in production - dk west is an extrovert.

DJ SUBATOMIC SUPERNOVA

- djss' dj name is obviously a stage name, but the team didn't have a real name for him in the script or anything. - haz joked that his name is bob salad. that's not canon but from what i seen the chat loved it lol - haz brings up the symbolism of djss spinning the planets around himself and how it represents that he thinks of himself as the center of the universe. - ellie helped design the districts, and something she noted about dj's is that it's supposed to look the "slummiest" because he cares more about himself and less about things like blackouts. - dj had some lines cut from his boss fight. those lines? mini lectures towards bbj during every phase. they were cut because the team felt like they were too much for the game, but they want to share them one day. - daim says that dj could be either introverted or extroverted becuase of how much time he spends alone looking at the stars. - dj was never planned to have an approach segment, but funk fiction wasn't told that, so he made him an approach theme anyway. - dodo ice pops are traffic light flavoured, which is a popular ice cream in malaysia. it's strawberry, pineapple, and lime flavored.

SAYU AND THE NERD SQUAD

- three of sayu's creators were based on staff members at metronomik. remi (voiced by ben) was based on one of the programmers and one of the environmental artists (ellie calls him "the lovechild of two dudes"), tila was based on (and voiced by) ellie herself, and dodo was based on danish mak (another environmental artist who also voices him). - sofa wasn't based on anyone in particular, he was more of a "general otaku guy" according to ellie (though haz joked that ellie could just say he was based on him). - dodo is daim's favorite npc -- he also designed him! - sayu was ellie's favorite character to design. she loves drawing mermaids. - the progression in sayu's fight where you go deeper into the "ocean" is supposed to be a metaphor for going deeper into the internet/the deep web. - ellie suggested that if sayu were to have a shadow puppet, it would be a cat. - as for the introvert/extrovert debate, daim says sayu is technically comprised of 4 introverts. sayu herself is the extrovert mask they wear. - sayu's ahoge is a submarine periscope. remi looks through it in one of the cutscenes. - sayu's not a mech. she's remotely controlled by her creators from their computer room. - the backstory between remi and tila is meant to show that artists can come from all sorts of backgrounds.

YINU AND MAMA

- yinu's promotional video was one of the first ones done before they brought in lzbros, so it originally looked different from how it looks in the game now. - yinu's mother's eyes are yellow because she spends most of the fight focusing on yinu (who is mainly yellow). when her eyes go blank white, it represents that she's momentarily forgotten what she loves the most. when her eyes become yellow again after the fight, it means she's remembered yinu and her piano playing. - the way ellie describes natura is that yinu is a plant and her mother is very protective of her, and one of the distinctive features is that there are a lot of domes with plants inside, particularly on the roofs of the houses. - yinu's commercial was not intended to reference little miss fortune. the commercial was shown in 2018, while LMF came out a year later. - yinu's mom turning into a giant tree monster isn't exclusive to her just being angry at bbj. apparently the whole plant thing runs in the yinu family.

1010

- 1010's concept as a boy band had been around since before the team started production, but they were the last to be fully designed -- their designs weren't finalized until way later on. - 1010 were ellie’s least favorite characters to design. she doesn't like drawing guys OR robots. - 1010's early designs had them wearing tuxedos. - 1010 do have memories. - the inspiration for the butt plates came from one of ben's gundam figures from his collection in the metronomik office. thanks ben. - ellie's favorite member of 1010 is purl-hew/blue. - eloni/green is apparently the rapper of the group. - the jingle you hear from the carousel in metro division is a carnival remix of 1010's boss theme. - the numbers underneath 1010's names on the autographs are completely random.

NEON J

- neon j is a dancer. daim explains that in addition to being in the navy, dance has always been his true passion. - in the final phase of 1010's fight, he was originally supposed to control the dance moves of the factory as he was fighting you, but it was cut due to limited resources. - daim designed neon j based on ellie's designs for 1010. - neon j's factory's dance moves were all animated by ben -- no mocap needed. the factory was also his favorite thing to animate. - daim says that "neon j is to tatiana as soundwave is to megatron." basically he is extremely loyal to tatiana. - neon j was one of earliest members of nsr. - neon j seeing 1010 as his sons wasn't planned, but daim loves the concept so much that he could see it being canon. - daim says neon j's brain is "probably" still inside the monitor head. somehow. - neon j is an extrovert. - haz likes the idea of neon j being blind and using his sonar to "see" things. ben joked that the screen worked like giant glasses. - neon j originally had red dots that would pop up on his face when the sonar moved by that were meant to represent acne, and that would've been the reason why he's mostly behind the scenes.

EVE

- in mayday's side of the room when eve splits up bbj, the hands all over the walls are meant to be there to show how eve is angrier at mayday than she is at zuke. - the time signature for the music in mayday's room during the fight is 6/8, whereas in zuke's room it's 4/4. - ellie suggested a platypus shadow puppet for eve. the rest of the team seems to be on board. - eve was ben's least favorite character to animate. he said he struggled with animating her dance moves because it was something he'd never done before, and he still doesn't think he did a good enough job. - eve was born with her split skin tone. - apparently eve's near scrapping had something to do with costs. haz was the one who stopped it from happening. - eve's outfit was partly inspired by beyonce, while her jacket was partly inspired by ariana grande. the team took some inspiration from bjork, as well. - the sleeves on eve's jacket were apparently limbs at one point. - eve is an introvert.

NPCS/OTHER CHARACTERS

- part of tatiana's symbolism is how she used to be a rock star, but her flame/passion slowly burned away, and now she's just a rock, referencing how she was literally on fire as the rock star kul fyra, but now looks burnt out. - daim thinks kliff is older than tatiana, probably over 50. - in addition to the neon j dance lore mentioned above, kayane rambling about neon j after the 1010 fight was supposed to be connected to her watching neon j dance. - ben and haz's favorite npc is mia, and ellie's is dj zam. - dj zam was inspired by one of ellie's college friends, who she says "makes you feel comfortable to be around". - ellie thinks dj zam's neck tattoo says "i love mom". - amal the unicorn was inspired by lady amalthea from the 80's animated film "the last unicorn". he was originally written to be a real talking unicorn, but it was changed partially because his horn wasn't in the right spot on his head. - zed was based on game designer dzaid and has hyperacusis, a hearing disorder that makes it difficult to deal with everyday sounds. - yiruk's name is an anagram of kiryu, the protagonist of the yakuza games. - chef sunshine's design is a homage to julia child. she originally had a bigger physique, but was changed to match lylia's bubbly performance.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

I finished Curious Village again the other day, so here are some random thoughts. This is my first time replaying the main series since my... mid-to-late teen years? (though I guess it was later than I thought, if AL didn’t come out till 2014... I’m 25 now) so my memory of the fine details of them is a little hazy.

Flora really is wasted in the next two games, isn’t she... She’s introduced as part of the crew by the end of the game, especially with the additional epilogue cutscene in the hd version, but she literally gets the Kairi treatment, being left behind or used as a damsel for no discernable reason, when she could easily be just as capable as Luke... I mean she’s older than him, there’s no reason she couldn’t handle herself on their adventures if he can. -___- And like Kairi, I want to be more invested in her, but she barely has any focus and development, and it’s just ugh. I kind of like that it makes sense why Hershel would be so distant with her/not know how to parent properly, but I wish that was actually explored, and it’s not, so everyone ignoring her is just annoying and unnecessary-feeling instead. Tbh I’d rather her have just stayed behind altogether in the next two games instead of showing up just to be kidnapped or impersonated, if she wasn’t going to be made a main party member permanently.

People have said this before, but the main trilogy is honestly made so much better with knowledge of the prequels, in both emotional and absolutely buckwild ways, and it’s the funniest with CV - going from Azran Legacy straight into the mundane Curious Village is absolutely fucking HILARIOUS, as completely unintentional as it was by Level-5 lmaoooo

Hershel, after the shitshow that was Azran Legacy: “oh thank god, just an inheritance dispute.” Luke, who is easily impressed and apparently gets selective amnesia after every game: “THIS IS THE BIGGEST MYSTERY WE’LL EVER SOLVE-” Hershel, this close to murdering Luke a second time:

Can we make some connection between Bruno’s robot-making abilities and the Azran technology. And does the whole robot thing seriously trigger the boys as soon as it’s revealed because DEAR GOD NO NOT THIS AGAIN-

And related to that, I’m sure that was why Hershel could easily guess the robot thing early on; like seriously, nothing should faze this man anymore after what he’s been through (and yet, hilariously, the most ridiculous has yet to come, depending on how you look at it)

But he doesn’t have the faintest idea why Don Paolo would want revenge on him, which, like, even if he can’t think of anything specific... my dude, your family history is fucked up a;lsdlf;fd, there’s PLENTY OF OPTIONS (even if the actual reason is much less severe lol)

I’m sure we also all headcanon Descole to be slinking around in the background of the three main games somehow just because it’s more fun that way, so now that he’s no longer the rival, he’s the rival-turned-secret helper who makes sure everything goes right for Hershel (but he doesn’t do everything obviously cause he knows he can handle things himself), and probably bitchfights with Don Paolo some because that mental image is hilarious to me lmao

Post-UF scenario where Desmond helps Bruno with the robots with his technical prowess

and while we’re on that idea, Uncle Randall nerds out over everything robot in St. Mystere because let’s be real he would (Azran 2.0: Electric Boogaloo, But Without The Danger Or Trauma)

That scene when the tower is collapsing and Flora almost falls and Hershel catches her. Level-5 how could you completely accidentally and unintentionally create something so utterly painful out of such a small moment; I lie awake at night thinking about this!! :)))

Also Hershel yelling to Luke in that scene “I HAVE AN IDEYAHHH!” with his accent going off the rails on “idea” is an underrated iconic moment

Am I the only one who got the quiz question about Chelmey’s favorite food wrong because the answer was cakes something, and whatever the newspaper said it was was definitely not what I’d consider a cake

I love the implication that Pavel(?) is the only person in St Mystere besides Hershel, Luke, Don Paolo, Flora and Bruno who’s not a robot, and he just somehow ended up there by unknown means while trying to get to America??? and then somehow ends up on a high floor of the LOCKED tower, and still has no idea where tf he is. what a madlad

I never liked Luke’s squeaky UK voice, but I’m realizing his US one isn’t much better... and Flora’s voice in the new epilogue cutscene with the same voice actress years later is oof. why do the PL games just. reuse the same vas constantly for different characters. It’s obviously a thing in anime and games, but it’s especially noticeable in this series imo

fuck those puzzles with troll-y answers. also fuck that one with the chocolate bar and the coded letters with the bite marks

Matthew is probably one of my favorite npcs now; he’s just adorable <333 his little arms waggin’

Gordon needs to get a life

Pauly why are you the way that you are

“I’m not a detective”, Hershel continually says, as he unveils ridiculous plots that no one could have thought up in their wildest dreams, while gathering everyone together and pointing out the culprits dramatically, Agatha Christie style

I was tapping around for the exact pixel on painting Flora’s neck because it was ridiculously precise on the mobile version, and I never knew that if you tap her chest area, Hershel scolds Luke for not being a gentleman I-

Luke’s chubby head in the anime cutscenes sure is something... so glad it didn’t last. along with the front-facing Hershel sprite.

The ferris wheel attack is so great, I never really appreciated it before. The music, and the rain at the end with the rainbow 👌

We needed more of Hershel constructing things from random objects he finds lying around; iirc the only other time he does it is in Eternal Diva, though I guess the slot machine gun in UF counts too

I solved every slider puzzle in this game without a walkthrough, even the bonus ones. I do not expect this to last in the next games.

Overall I like Curious Village, though it remains one of my least favorites; there’s nothing wrong with it, and it was the very first so I’m not surprised it’s not very complex, with the mechanics and style still not fleshed out yet, but it doesn’t really hit me with The Feels™ as the best ones do, so it’s just okay. it started this wild ride of complete emotional devastation off, so I can appreciate it for that at least.

[xaidyl]

You could explain individual stuff! I find these explanations very fascinating, actually! OwO

okay! lets do this (this may be a very long post with lots of my random opinions but we’ll go with it) (and also please bear in mind these are jokey and in no real way a representation of these real people with real actual lives.)

***spoilers for most D20 seasons with this cast***

1.The babysitting 

Actual parent:Brennan 

From my experience DMing, you are effectively a parent to the players. He would also be an excellent dad

Wine aunt: Siobhan

Siobhan gives me vibes of someone who would take a bottle of wine to go babysit, then sit and tell the kids stuff about cults that they weren’t meant to hear. She would definitely teach the kids swear words, and they would love their cool auntie 

Great at babysitting: Lou

Part of the key to babysitting is being relatable to the kids, but also self assured enough to get them to behave. the person who holds that key is Lou Wilson. He also has played dad-energy characters, and that is the kind of vibes that you look for in a babysitter. 

Mediocre at babysitting: Murph

This scenario needs some theatre of the mind. Imagine Murph, he’s read all the babysitting books, he knows everything he could need to know, he lives with Emily Axeford. He’s more than prepared for this task. He tries so hard. The kids love him. The kids also walk all over him. They don’t get to bed in time. He wanted to do a good job. He tried so hard to do a good job. Yet somehow, luck is against him. 

The house is on fire, God is dead: Emily

Fig. Sofia. Jet. All three of these characters would set a house on fire without hesitation, and not one fears God. What does this have to do with Emily’s babysitting ability? Well, all these characters are teaching us to be chaotic beings, just like Emily. We are the children, and D20 is our babysitter. Emily would only replicate the same thing in this babysitting scenario. 

The children: Zac and Ally

I believe it was episode 9 of the unsleeping city. Neither Zac nor Ally were involved in the scene in question. Siobhan makes a reference to Eliza Doolittle, to which Zac makes a Dr Doolittle joke. Beardsley then shouts ‘I can see my dick’, a reference to a different film. This is fairly normal behaviour, and would not make either of them children in this scenario, had they not continued to hysterically laugh for the next ten minutes or so. Sat at opposite sides of the table. I think Zac starts crying at some point. They are absolute children, and also both have strong baby energy. Neither babysit, they are the ones that need babysitting. 

2. Can they be killed?

Cannot be killed: Brennan

The man is a God. Enough said. Also I’m pretty sure your body would reject your soul before it allows you to kill him. 

Can only be killed by one thing: Siobhan

You would be tricked into thinking Siobhan would be easy to kill- her constitution score is so low, after all. However, you would be wrong. The low constitution score has only made her stronger. More aware. What is the one thing that can kill her, though? Nobody knows, she’s only told those she truly trusts. It could be the most rare poison in the world. Or it could just be Mike Trapp. He (allegedly) has previous.

Can be killed but it won’t last: Emily

It is not anything to do with Emily that her death won’t last. In fact, Emily would be pretty easy to kill. However, if you kill her, Murph will do everything in his power to bring her back. He travels to the end of the earth, and then Emily Axeford is back and gets her new death date in a fancy gothic necklace.

Can be killed but at what cost?: Lou

What cost? The cost to the world. The world would be significantly worse off. You wouldn’t be able to live with yourself. It’s not worth it.

Can be killed but it’s not worth it: Murph

It’s not worth killing Murph because you would have precisely 0.7 seconds before you were killed by Emily. There is no way you can profit from this scenario, you would be dead before you even realise you’ve been successful. 

Can be killed and it would be pretty funny: Zac

I feel like we don’t discus the correlation between Zac Oyama characters and dying enough. Gorgug was the first D20 death. Lapain was the first D20 perma death. Ricky just like had a weapon that causes him to die. If you killed Zac, it would just be funny because its happened so much. Sorry Zac.

Can be killed but why would you, you monster?!?!: Ally

We’ve already discussed this. Beardsley is Baby. Leave them alone. 

Please kill them they suck: Box of Doom

I dont trust them

3. The fitness gram pacer test

this is definitely the most controversial of the charts, but there’s three of things you need to understand about my reasoning.

1. Zac is fast at running  

This has been seen a couple of times, namely: adventuring party, where Zac tried to tease Brennan about showing off how fast he his at running, but it turns out it was just Zac speaking his mind, and he is the one who always shows off at how fast he is at running. Also, the video on Siobhan’s instagram of Zac jumping over that table. 

He is also very bad a squats. Why would you be bad at squats? Bad knees. Why would you get bad knees? Running without sufficient warm up. Why would you skip warm up? Because you are very focussed on being able to run fast. 

2. Zac is willing to defend his title of running fast

The way he accused Brennan on adventuring party, he knew what he was doing. Sabotage. Brennan may also be able to run fast, but Zac would prevent him from getting a good score. How? He has his ways. Zac is a good boy, but not when it comes to running fast.

3. I felt bad

I had to give Zac at least one good one :)

Anyways onto the other choices:

Actually tried and got a low score: Brennan, Murph, Siobhan

We’ve already spoken about how Zac sabotaged Brennan to be the best at running. Murph is here because he would try really hard but something unlucky would happen. His shoelaces come untied. He accidentally gets caught in the Zac/Brennan feud. 

Siobhan started off with the intention to try, but after Lou, Emily and Ally had all done, she realised they were in fact much more interesting than the fighting going on. She walks out mid lap 

Didn’t try, got a low score, doesn’t give a shit: Lou and Emily

Its important to understand that both Lou and Emily are capable of getting a high score, they are just better than the whole thing. Why is their DnD group doing a pacer test? Why did Zac suspiciously force them to do this whole thing? 

The difference between them is Lou knows the feud is stupid and has like actual work to do? He sits and auditions for some other big film. He still watches over his laptop. 

Emily however, simply wants to watch the world burn.

Despite their different approaches to the situation, they both have a bet going on who’s going to be the fastest runner.

Ran one singular lap and finished: Ally

Ally Beardsley shows up at the track wearing a rainbow bucket hat and a tie dye shirt that is impracticable to run in. They have a llama with them. At no point do they explain this. They walk round the track once, drink their water from a plant pot, then spend the rest of the time cheering on the others with words that don’t quite make sense. 

4. Storming Area 51

They cant stop us all: Zac and Brennan

Neither mean it maliciously, but both believe entirely in what they are saying. 

Brennan is definitely the guy to go mad over a conspiracy theory. He made all the crown of candy NPCs. He is basically betraying himself. He knows not to trust anyone. He doesn’t trust area 51. The next season of dimension 20 is this as a subliminal messages all the way through. 

Zac says it accidentally. He’s making a character for the charity livestream. He’s still got a hundred hours of character making left. He’s done so many bad squats. Unintentionally, he makes a character that forces all the zesbians to storm area 51. 

Have fun getting shot, dumbasses: Lou

The rest of the cast are being weird again. Lou is equally as capable of being weird, but sometimes they need to chill. It starts with Emily talking about diner ice. It finishes with Brennan wearing a foil hat at all times. 

You guys stop, someones actually gonna do it: Murph

Murph is a good, lawful boy.

Actually shows up: Emily and Siobhan

They ride a motorcycle there together. They wouldn’t have gone alone, but as a duo they are an unstoppable pair. Emily wants to break into a government facility. Siobhan desperately want to be in the real life x-files.

One of the Aliens: Ally

Emily and Siobhan open a door at area 51. Behind it is Ally Beardsley. They are wearing a rainbow bucket hat and a tie dye shirt. They have a llama standing behind them. This is not explained at any point. They drink from a flower pot and eat a quesadilla that appears out of nowhere. 

5. Stabbing 

Would never stab anyone: Murph

Murph is a good, lawful boy

Would stab in retaliation: Lou, Murph, Zac

Lets be honest, the entirety of a crown of candy so far has been these three taking stabs (or metaphorical ‘where is your bulb now’ stabs) as retaliation for a stab another one of these three had done.

Yells “I won’t hesitate bitch” first: Ally and Siobhan

I can’t really explain this one much more other than i’m pretty sure both these people have said this phrase at least once in their life.

Would stab as a warning: Emily

This would be promptly followed by Murph getting her to stop stabbing. Or, depending on the situation, encouraging her to keep stabbing.

6. The water fountain

Fills up a bottle and drinks from it: Lou and Siobhan

This is the normal way to drink from the water fountain. They were also both very concerned at watching Beardsley’s various different drinking apparatuses in adventuring party. 

Bought 4 water bottles so this wouldn’t happen: Murph

He is prepared. Something probably still goes wrong, but at least he’s got three water bottles left. 

Drinks straight from the tap: Brennan

Brennan is a busy guy. The tap is there, it’s convenient, he needs to get back to planning. There’s so many campaigns, so many characters, so many voices. 

Dehydrates: Zac

Honestly I’m not sure if this man would drink water if nobody told him so

Drinks from a puddle: Ally

like they drink from a vase with a flower, a puddle really isn’t that much of a stretch.

Licks the tap: Emily

She just wants to see the world burn. Also, she knows Brennan drinks straight from the tap. She has to get payback somehow. 

7. A child starts crying

Makes the child laugh: Lou

We’ve already discussed how Lou has dad energy. I feel like he’s know exactly what to say and how to act to get the child to stop crying. This is less stupid than the rest of my explanations, but I always love how expressive Lou is when he plays dnd. I’m not sure whether its the way he holds himself or the way he gestures, but I’m pretty sure if I was a crying child, I would stop crying if Lou Wilson told me a joke in that very soothing point.

Tries to play with the child: Siobhan and Ally

These two kinda give me older/younger sibling vibes. As a team I recon they could create a game that would calm this child down. Also Ally knows techniques to help adults calm down, they could probably implement these ideas into a game for children.

Gives detailed instructions: Murph

His knowledge comes from the books he has read to learn how to babysit, and the one time he babysat. His explanation is rather frantic however, mostly because he is trying to defend Emily in his answer.

Cries with the child: Zac

He’s sad because all his friends are speaking to this child an nobody noticed how fast he just ran.

He’s also baby, as we’ve said previously, so he probably relates to the child somewhat

The reason the child is crying: Emily and Brennan

The child just watched episode 9 of a crown of candy. 

[dmsden]

Talk the Talk - Social encounters

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This week’s Questions from a Denizen comes from ididitforthedogs, who asks, “Hey! Any tips for making interesting social encounters?”

Well, idiftd, social encounters are interesting, because you never know when they’re going to turn into combat encounters at the most unlikely of times. I’m luckily blessed with a group of PCs who love to talk to just about anything, but I’ve certainly known groups who happily embrace a “I waste it with my crossbow” attitude towards anything that isn’t them. I always think back to The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. When a powerful previous ally turns out to be the real enemy of the scenario, one of the players says, “That’s why I kill so many NPCs. You never know.”

Seriously, though, I think social encounters are one of the most fun parts of the game. They allow me, as DM, to pull out my own roleplaying skills, and they give the players playing the “face” type characters a chance to strut their stuff. I can only give you my advice on how I personally run such encounters, and I hope this is helpful to you.

First, I develop whatever NPC I expect the PCs to encounter. This begins for me with figuring out what I need from this encounter. Let’s say I want to give the PCs a clue that Darius Fiskworthy, the Lord of Brightwatch Tower, isn’t all that he seems to be. I secretly know that Darius is being blackmailed by a coven of hags, and I want to convey to the PCs, who’re on their way to Brightwatch Tower on some kind of business, that not all is right. So I need an NPC who:

- Has had reason to be to Brightwatch Tower

- Has had an opportunity to meet the Lord Darius

- Is perceptive enough to see that something is up with said Lord.

- Could meet the PCs.

- Might be willing to clue in the PCs.

Notice that I said “might be willing”. It’s unlikely that an NPC is going to share their private misgivings about someone with a group of random strangers. There has to be a reason for this NPC to decide to trust the players with this knowledge. Ideally, this reason will be a successful social encounter.

Building from this need, I decide that this NPC is an old gnome who tutored Darius when he was young. I give him the gnomish name of Ablemarthy Skippledocker, of the Rockcrest Skippledockers. I begin to see a personality for this fellow. Like most gnomes, he’s friendly and open, with a sense of humor. I give him wild red hair, beginning to get shot through with silver, a broad nose that goes up a bit at the tip, and a large gap between his front teeth. His emerald eyes are often shrouded behind a pair of goggles-like glasses that have several lenses that can be lowered into place for better magnification. I’m already seeing this NPC in my head, and I like him.

So this old tutor recently came through Brightwatch Tower, and he saw that his old student is nervous, withdrawn, and perhaps became agitated when the subject strayed to his old studies of fey lore. Ablemarthy is worried that his old student may be on the bad side of a fey bargain, and he doesn’t know how close he is to the truth! He wants to tell someone who can help, but he’s not sure who to trust. And then he meets the PCs.

Next, we need a reason for them to meet. Maybe Ablemarthy, who’s now headed in the opposite direction from the PCs, meets them in a roadside inn. I can cobble together an inn easily enough, and maybe even come up with a few other diversions there, like axe-throwing, a few flirtatious staff members, and other things for those PCs who might not want to have this social encounter.

In my own campaign, Adventurers are a bit like rock stars or celebrities, so it’s easy enough to think that a prominent gnome might buy them a drink and chat with them while passing time after dinner. He might get them to tell a few stories of their adventures to see what kind of people they are. Adventurers, after all, might solve his problem - they could potentially find out what’s going on at Brightwatch Tower.

In a situation like this, I’ll often default to the Skill Challenge model from 4th Edition, which I think is one of the better mechanics that edition gave to the game. You can find articles about them elsewhere (including earlier in this blog), but the basic mechanic is that you set a certain number of successes that the PCs have to gain before hitting a certain number of failures (usually 3). Some skills are more useful than others, so they have a lower DC on the roll, and some skills will not give successes, but they will give some benefits.

For example, Persuasion is a very natural roll here, and Ablemarthy WANTS to trust someone with this info, so you might set the DC as only 12. On the other hand, Ablemarthy doesn’t want to send thugs to try and help his friend, so Intimidation might be a DC 20, or even an auto-failure. A skill like Insight, however, might not contribute to successes, but it might tell the PCs that the gnome is troubled about something and clearly wants to trust them, lowering the DCs of the next three checks by 2, or allowing them a certain number of rerolls. A History check might reveal that the gnome famously hates bullies but loves stories of fey heroes, which will clue them not to use Intimidate, but might suggest a use of Performance.

Just because things are being social doesn’t mean that they can’t be every bit as intense and fraught as a combat. My own campaign recently had a very strained negotiation where the PCs encountered an old friend and had to carefully tread a line between seeing if they could still trust him and if they dared suggest that his “father” was not what he seemed. It ended in a tense stalemate, with the PCs retreating rather than possibly ending up in a combat encounter with their previous ally.

I hope this goes some way towards giving you an idea of how to craft a social interaction in your game that can be as fun and intense and fulfilling as a combat. If you come up with any ideas, please feel free to share them.

[cadaceus]

C2E93

List of things Laura Bailey did: 1. That. Truly, I feel like the moment at the end there will reach legend status for this campaign, and will always be one of the highlights watching back. Honestly, this entire episode was full of tense moments and excellent character work, and I was on the edge of my seat all the way up until the end. Further thoughts, notes, and yelling for Campaign 2, Episode 93 of Critical Role (”Misery Loves Company”) down below and below the cut!

- Nott saying “I didn’t steal anything else, except for the hearts of America” and everyone else going “Huh? What’s an America?” vs. Random NPC Bartender going “That’s a whole different ballgame. Whatever a ballgame is...” BYE

- Oh what they can all see the Traveler!! For some reason I thought he wouldn’t show up if they were all watching! (Also lemme pause the video real fast to look up the Hallow spell because *eyes emoji*)

- Nott (to Fjord): “I’ll say this about you! You were a lot more handsome and attractive before we knew everything about you!” SDFGHJKLDKJFHFGJK NOTT PLEASE !!!!!

- Caleb casting Resonant Echo for the first time is so sick aaaah I love it

- Also Fjord trying to “deceive” his way through the forest is comedy gold and I also love it, it made me laugh at least

- The fact that last episode Beau spent so much time talking about how the Mighty Nein are her family now, how she is grateful for her dad sending her away because it led her to the Mighty Nein, “found family is better anyway”, and now she’s volunteering to leave that all behind just to help Nott fulfill her dream.... ya girl might just cry

- Nott volunteering the misery of tens of thousands of people just to get what she wants..... so we’re getting DARK dark today

- Beau’s emotional speech of her saying “I can’t top this” and talking about how she’s going to walk away from all of it is making me even more emotional than I already was  😭 😭 😭 (Also Jester saying “Don’t offer that, then” and Yasha walking into the hut instead of allowing Beau to even think about it for one more second, they truly all are a family they love each other so much)

- “You were saying you want misery, and I have it spades” That is one hell of an opener, oh my god (I love that line and I love Yasha <3)

- Y’ALL I THINK LAURA BAILEY JUST WON AT D&D I’M YELLIN G !!!!!

- IT ACTUALLY WORKED I’VE NEVER BEEN PROUDER OF A FICTIONAL CHARACTER IN MY LIFE I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!

- This entire encounter feels like such a fairytale, like the tale of a young tiefling girl who followed a trickster god and broke a curse with a blueberry cupcake like !!!!!!!!!!! y’all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jester be out here outsmarting the most vile of deities !!!!!!!! kill them with kindness bitch !!!!!!!!

- My best friend told me to look forward to this episode and this whole time I’ve been watching I was like “why?? it’s so sad??” i get it now, my eyes have been opened 

- This was so good I loved this so much Jester is a legend, we knew that already, but this just cemented it. Like Liam said it best when he said this will be one of the legendary moments of Campaign 2. I’ve started/am trying to focus on Episode 94 but I just can’t stop thinking about that ending that was literally ICONIC. LAURA ****ING BAILEY!!!!!

[shenlongshao]

GG Strive: Highlights pt.1

Hi hi!^_^ This post will be about my thoughts and reactions to the info from the GG Strive livestream and from the website. I decided to split this into parts because I’ll be going into detail. I’ll start with the general news. The first is the release date of Guilty Gear Strive for PS4, PS5, and Steam(PC) is officially announced! Yay! Details about the versions can be seen from this link.

https://www.guiltygear.com/ggst/en/wordpress/wp-content/themes/ggst/img/buynow/ggst_sku_rev.pdf With what’s known and shown about the GG Strive so far, the standard version will include. -  5 Battle stages(not including the 2 areas within each one from wall breaks. If including those, then it adds up to 15 stages) - The usually expected content like Story Mode, Training Mode, Online Matches, etc.(and possibly whatever new modes) -  The amount of playable characters at launch will be 15. And...

Here we go, lol. XD  This is a huge no-no for me because it’s heavily inspired by the monetization practice from many mobile App games and/or MMOs(Massive Multiplayer Online). Things like

- Continuously release content whether it’s story-related, cosmetics, etc. that players pay for.

- Purposefully implement an in-game problem so the player gets impatient or feels compelled to buy the solution. (An example is limited storage space in an MMO, so he/she has to buy more space) - Have premium type service that provides a list of benefits for a while until you have to renew the service or buy a new one; each varying in price.

- Purposefully lock certain features behind a paywall, advertise the locked content to the player via pop-ups in the game, etc.  For mobile and MMO games, it makes sense because there’s so many of them that are free to play. For example, players don’t have to pay for episodes of an MMO’s story or stages, etc. They just pay for extra things like pets, costumes, etc. that may benefit the gameplay. Since there’s so much competition in these genres, some will give a better value and pricing than others. Games like MMOs are designed to go on forever like the Energizer Bunny, XD. However, it’s an issue when fighting games do it because  - They’re not free to play - The environments of fighting games aren’t expansive, open worlds that players can pick up various items and have Raids(large groups fighting a boss for equipment).

- Main stories in fighting games aren’t constantly updated. It has predetermined scenarios with only a selected few deemed important while other characters are treated as an afterthought. There’s no sidequests that give special focus to a character, etc; just a quick Arcade Mode and a brief ending.

- Too many fighting games have the bad habit of making mainstay characters since their debut into paid DLC. Despite how heavily monetized MMOs are, one thing they don’t do is suddenly making you pay for something that was previously free in a new update or version of the game.

- Season Passes in fighting games is basically a premium service like you would see in MMOs. For example, here’s a link of the premium pack from Phantasy Star Online 2, a very popular MMORPG. http://www.bumped.org/psublog/pso2-jp-premium-set-perks/ Both Season Passes and Premium Packs have a similar concept. But premium packs/services in MMOs at least have some extra benefits etc. to the game along with the extended storage space, etc. Some of them actually do give a good deal.  Whenever a company announces a Season Pass 1 way before the game comes out, what they’re really saying is “this is a list of content we’re blocking you from until you pay”. So the character roster in GG Strive isn’t the real base one, 15 is what you’re “allowed” to play along with the other things on the list. It’s the same with other games like Granblue Fantasy Versus., 11 was the amount of characters you were allowed to play while the real base roster, which was 16, was blocked behind a paywall. Season Passes aren’t really giving benefits. -The last part is there’s not really compelling goodies yet to justify the pricing from the different editions of GG Strive. For example, you get a “special colors” of Sol and Ky if you pre-order the game.

I really like it,  but to me it isn’t worth preordering the game. A better preorder bonus would be have Sol and Ky in their original GGX costume with some new moves. I think there’s a better way to do it  instead of just “gimme your money!” XD - Season Passes should really not exist anymore in fighting games. But if it must exist, I would prefer it being a one-time buy where you don’t need to keep buying upcoming DLC characters, but you still need to buy individual colors separately. - Other 3D fighting games like Mortal Kombat 11 have done this, but GG Strive should put actual costumes as payable DLC and not just different colors. Costumes like the characters’ original look, holiday and seasonal themed outfits, etc. The pricing should be $3. - Characters that haven’t consistently appeared or were only NPCs should be DLC. An example would be Raymond/Judgment from GG Judgment since he only appeared once in a game or Gabriel since he’s NPC, but story relevant to the series. Mainstay characters like Baiken, Johnny, Dizzy, etc. shouldn’t be paid DLC unless there’s a special version of them like an EX or Gold version, etc. - Give some of the stages weather and night/day cycle effects. For example, make the ruins area have random occurrences of rain and at night. Make some stages from previous GG games paid DLC with the breakable wall mechanic. For example, like the cemetery stage from GG Isuka. - If extra parts of the story are now going be a paid feature(I hope it isn’t, though), then bring back the aspect of alternate endings. Have the extra stories be truly focused on the character a player picked and have it be interactive with multiple choice, able to choose what battle to participate in, etc. Not just a generic, 10 minute Arcade Mode with 2 cutscenes XD - For other editions like Ultimate, etc., it would be nice to have extra goodies like the hard-to-find GG source material in the past to be available and bundled with the game. Things like high quality statue figurines, accessories like coats replica of the characters’, etc. would be worth getting the Deluxe or Ultimate edition. - People who get the Standard edition should also have access to the Open Beta and also PC players too.  But how it is now and how it may go doesn’t look good....this doesn’t mean, “boycott this game! HATE AND DELETE!” XD I just don’t like it when game franchises I like fall into the trap of bad business practices to make more money, especially when it doesn’t need to be. It’s why I included some examples of what I think would be better options that would be more reasonable.  The “Smell of the Game” is a little stinky! XD Please stay tuned for part 2 of my highlights!

[solitaria-fantasma]

((Session #5 highlights, GO!))

Our DM admitted to me the night before that this session was going to be “plot and  C H A O S” and honestly I am sO excited.

We start off with Matthias telling the party that he’d gone back to the bazaar and stolen a forged ledger. We’re uncovering organized crime today.

Recap: We still need to return Von Trikona’s books, as well as investigate/avenge the death of Clarissa Rose.

There are two new country names on the map - Croyden and Iandow!

New non-country locations listed include: Red Hawk, Caister, Alenwik, Aynor, Leeside, Dewsbary, Peinrith, Farenfros, Veritas, and Westwend.

Also ‘Fwee’ is actually spelled ‘Phwie’ and I need to adjust my notes.

We stumbled across a hungover wizard being harassed by a goblin. I immediately tried to scare it away, and rolled REALLY high intimidation.

“The goblin is intimidated af, and fucks off into the wilds.”

The wizard - Renaldo Ladboy - admitted that he’d ‘partied too hard’ the night before, and didn’t remember WHY he’d pitched his camp out in the woods.

Renaldo perks up when he hears that we are travelers, and heading in the same direction he is. He offers to take us there, but since a teleport spell has a limit on how many it can carry, and we are five people + five horses, he basically wants to put us in a Bag of Holding.

I imagined Renaldo pulling Udaji out by her horns and burst out laughing bc she’s sEVEN FEET TALL IT’D BE LIKE THE ENDLESS HANDKERCHIEF TRICK BUT WITH A BARD-

“Get in the fucking bag, Mountain!”

“What was the price of your freedom?”/”A Pringle.”

The interior of a Bag of Holding is - in the DM’s words - ‘a dumpster fire’. There’s everything from random treasure to books to laundry just thrown about in piles....and also there’s another person.

This is Helena (played by the DM’s mom), and she has been in here for a long time, apparently.

There is also Theo, a mysterious voice hidden in the laundry. They warn us to be wary of ‘skittering sounds’, and to hide when we hear them.

I think we were tricked.

Matthias knelt down specifically to slap Claus, who had rolled the highest on the insight check and found nothing suspicious.

Theo came out of hiding to once more warn us to be careful what we touched, and be wary of ‘the Guardians’.

Theo has been in here too long, though, and has a very small reservoir of spoons, so after this final warning, he disappeared back into hiding.

It is DEAFENINGLY quiet inside the Bag of Holding.

Udaji nervously strummed her lute, and the echo took a long time to come back…..and then we heard a flutter.

While Matthias tried to loot some potions and Mountain tried to take a nap, I strummed again to try and recreate the flutter….and I heard more fluttering. It was loud enough to actually wake up Mountain.

Udaji immediately ran off to investigate one of the sources of the fluttering, and then the fluttering turned into skittering. Oh no.

“Udaji, roll for initiative.”

I roared into the darkness and managed to intimidate away one of the gargoyles that were stalking me.

I also apparently terrified Theo with my ‘I Am A Mighty Dragon’ roar. Whoops.

I shouted back to the party “I FOUND THE SKITTERING THINGS!” and retreated one square, but Udaji is simultaneously too stubborn to completely run away and too afraid to run off into the darkness (again).

I TOOK “ZONE OF TRUTH” AS A SPELL LAST LEVEL UP I COULD HAVE CAST IT ON RENALDO-

Helena temporarily lit up our little corner of Hell, and I cast Heroism on Mountain because I have no ranged weaponry/spells.

Mountain could gain a max of 40 temporary hp from this spell if A) he doesn’t get hit and B) I don’t get hit and lose concentration.

Aaaaand one gargoyle promptly flew 60 feet and bit me, shattering my concentration. Heck.

Mountain tried to do a trick shot with his bow and accidentally shot Matthias.

Gargoyle #1 tried to bite Claus, but missed because Claus was too short for it to hit.

I desperately want to test out my Earth Tremor spell but my teammates are tOO CLOSE-

Honestly sessions with the DM’s mom are always a little bit awkward bc it sometimes becomes the mom and three sisters arguing and me just sitting there in awkward silence but I know she means well.

Theo ran up and hit behind the Dragonborn for safety when a THIRD gargoyle came out of hiding. This may prove to be a mistake

Gargoyle #1 hit Claus and I’m starting to wish I’d made Udaji a barbarian bECAUSE I’M READY TO RAGE-

All anger aside I’m actually having a very hard time not envisioning these gargoyles as THE Gargoyles from the Disney show, and I feel bad every time I stab them.

THEO KNOWS DIVINE SMITE?!

“It’s a very, very high pile of laundry, so we’re going to classify it as difficult terrain.”

I lost almost half my hit points in one turn and then got healed half of THAT back in the next what a roller coaster.

I FINALLY GOT TO USE EARTH  TREMOR AND KNOCKED GARGOYLE #1 PRONE!

Two gargoyles down, one to go!

Helena coming in with the killing blow on gargoyle #1!

With the battle over, Helena picked up some of the gold off the ground.

Poor Theo was being harassed by those three gargoyles for at least a month, maybe more (it’s hard to keep track of time in a dark, sunless void).

Theo admits that he got tricked into entering the bag after getting injured fighting ghouls, and the wizard came along and offered to carry him to safety.

Renaldo has now kidnapped seven people with his Bag of Holding, and has four people lined up to punch him (the other three advocate for murder).

Theo gives us a much clearer warning now about ‘the Guardians’ - two suits of armor that guard Renaldo’s stuff, and attack people who try to steal it.

Matthias immediately disappears to try and steal things.

Udaji sat down and started filling the silence with lute music because she is realizing that she does NOT like this kind of heavy silence.

Astrid stole a few potions, and Mountain realized we could switch out our suspicious, fake gold for real gold.

Theo watched us in visible confusion as we poured gold out onto the ground, only to then pick up equal amounts of seemingly identical gold.

“This man has kidnapped seven people! Seven people and presumably five horses!”

Astrid has a crush on Mountain, and tries to snuggle up to him, but Matthias literally flung himself between them in protest, so Astrid snuggled up with Udaji instead.

We took a long rest, and at the end of it, Renaldo actually remembered to pull us all out.

The only reason he remembered was because he’d teleported with our party’s horses, and landed surrounded by equines.

Theo punched him square in the nose.

“Claus is old enough to drink, but Udaji is not. Do not let the Dragonborn order beer.”

We hadn’t eaten in two and a half days, so we all ordered double meals and chowed down.

While eating on the mostly empty inn floor, we overhear two women whispering across the floor.

Eventually, one of the women raises her voice and says “We are not having this discussion! You are marrying Hassan, and that’s final!”

Marrying the Lord who was supposedly betrothed to the young Lady Rose? So soon? How scandalous…

Matthias sidled up to try and talk to them, and finds out that they are, in fact, talking about the same Lord Hassan who was betrothed to Clarissa Rose.

The older woman demanded to know how we knew of this supposed ‘other prospect’, and Matthias lied - saying that we had been hired by Clarissa’s mother to retrieve her daughter’s body.

This, predictably, did not endear him to the two women, so Astrid had to saunter over and try to assist.

The women are Amelia (younger) and Charlotte (older) Ulsten.

They asked when this previous engagement had been made, and we said that it had been a month. Charlotte got very pale and very still, and Amelia immediately told her “I told you something was wrong!”

Charlotte tells us that they had received the marriage proposal around the same time.

Matthias asked if they had heard the rumors of ‘accidents’ and stolen dowries. They said no.

The two women were traveling from Westwend, in Croyden.

“Charlotte sort of blubbers, like a Karen who’s been confronted by a manager and isn’t getting her free Frostie from Wendy’s.”

I traded places with Matthias to try and smooth things over, and Amelia - who has never seen a Dragonborn before - can’t stop staring.

Charlotte unbristled, and explained that they hadn’t heard of Lord Hassan before the proposal, so they’d hired a private investigator to look into him.

Their PI found that Lord Hassan WAS a legitimate bachelor and Lord in Kenkilly, but they hadn’t heard of this potential scam.

“But we DO have guards!”/”So did Miss Rose…”

Amelia begs her mother not to make her see this through, and Charlotte agrees that this scenario is too weird for her, and that they will seek a marriage prospect elsewhere.

Matthias speed-ate all his cake purely to avoid sharing with anyone.

Astrid gave her father puppy eyes, and he eventually caved, and bought her a slice of cake.

Amelia was still staring at Udaji as everyone settled back down to finish eating.

Claus and Astrid may or may not be leaving the party for a time bc the DM doesn’t want to end up playing too many NPCs, and while I understand that, I am going to dearly miss my best halfling friend and only female companion.

[three-houses-text-files]

byleth/sylvain

c-s support + paired endings + night of the ball

c

Sylvain(?): You think I'd cheat? On you, baby? Never. Come on, you should know me better than that. S(?): You’re the only one for me. I swear. S(?): Hey, if ya don't believe me, well... S: Oh, I get it. If I'm not your type, do you want me to introduce you to some other guys who have Crests? They're all nobles, just like me. NPC(?): What?! That isn't why I'm— You— You're worse than I thought! S: I just want you to be happy. You know, get what you're after. S: I hate seeing a girl cry, especially one as beautiful as you. S: So you know, maybe we...

>...

S: So, Professor, do you enjoy spying on people? S: You look like you've got something to say. So say it.

>You're a jerk.

Hey, that was between me and her, not you.

>You broke her heart.

Weren't you listening? I'm on her side! She knows that.

S: But you know how it is. Most relationships, they end in heartbreak. S: Anyway, I don't know why she's so upset about me dating other girls. She didn't care before she found out, so why does she care now? S: I really do hate seeing a girl cry.

>It doesn't seem that way.

>Is that a fact?

S: I swear it's the truth! My heart's in a million pieces right now. It's just the worst. S: Believe whatever you want, but I'm honestly not sure if I can ever love again. S: Well, I figure the best way to mend a broken heart is to head out on the town. S: Why don't you join me? Who knows? Maybe you'll find love. I mean, I know I will. S: Come on. It's hard on me too! If only I had someone to comfort me. Professor? It's OK if you want to console me... S: I happen to have some exquisite tea back in my quarters. You could come by, and...we could chat about love. S: Calm down—it was only a joke! You've really got no sense of humor, you know that?

——————————————————————————————

b

S: …

>What happened?

S: Oh, Professor. Heh, I didn't realize you were there. S: If we keep running into each other like this, people will start to talk. S: Hey, don't get mad! I was joking. S: They'll say, "Sylvain and the professor are on the prowl." Heh... S: Ah, forget it. What do you need?

>Girl problems, Sylvain?

>Another lover's quarrel?

S: Well, you're not wrong. S: I fell for that girl recently, but I just wanted to have some fun and leave it at that. So I told her we should break it off. S: I guess she was feeling a little more serious than I was. She started crying, and everything got a bit...complicated.

>You're complicated.

>Jerk.

S: Come on, Professor. Playing around with girls is the most fun a guy can have. S: Besides, I don't care what you think of me. I don't intend to change how I live my life. S: I'm a good-for-nothing, if you haven't noticed, but I'm still a noble with a Crest. That's all anyone cares about. S: It's best to avoid getting too serious with fools like that. It only leads to trouble. S: I'm gonna be forced into an arranged marriage with some random noblewoman anyway. S: By the way, Professor. You didn't know you had a Crest, did you?

>I never thought much about it.

>My father never told me.

S: I see. I suppose a mercenary wouldn't be concerned with such things.

>What was your experience?

S: Most children who are born to noble families are tested upon birth to see if they bear one. S: Even descendants of the 10 Elites, like myself, can't be legitimate heirs without a Crest. S: That means, as children, we're only accepted if we're born with one. S: The heads of most noble houses keep having kids until they get one with a Crest. S: Those children then grow up to be heads of their houses, and the vicious cycle continues. S: Do you get it now? To all these commoner girls, I'm just a trophy. Or rather, a studhorse.

>You mean they only want you for your bloodline?

S: See? I knew you'd get it. These girls don't love me. They love the potential rewards of loving me.

>That's cynical.

S: Perhaps. But that doesn't change the fact that these girls don't love me. They only love the potential rewards of loving me.

S: If I marry a girl and she gives birth to a child with a Crest, that kid might become the next head of House Gautier. S: But nowadays, with the bloodlines getting weaker, there are a lot of kids like my brother...born with no hope. S: For ages now, those of us with Crests have been envied and desired but never for who we are. S: I understand the value of my blood. Believe me, I hate how much I understand it. S: I know better than to dream of being free from this burden. I'm used to it by now. S: I used to think I didn't have the right to live freely.

>You don't think that way anymore?

S: Heh heh... That's right. S: You know what? I'm a bit jealous. The whole time you were growing up, you never knew you had a Crest. S: You were free. Nobody pretended to like you. I kind of hate you for that... You were a spoiled brat who should pay for that Crest. Maybe I'll collect the debt. S: Ha! Gotcha! Wow, you shoulda seen the look on  your face just then. Don't mind me, Professor. After all, ladies love a dark and brooding noble.

——————————————————————————————

a

S: Ugh, that hurts... S: Ah, Professor! Thanks for stopping by.

>How's your injury?

>You got hurt protecting me...

S: It's not bad. I was even told I'd be cleared for service starting tomorrow. S: Besides, I got this scar fighting for you. It's almost like a medal or something.

>Didn't you want to kill me?

S: I certainly meant it when I said it, but...

>Are you happy you protected me?

S: When I thought you were going to be killed for real, my reflexes kicked in. I reacted without thinking. S: It doesn't mean I've stopped being jealous of you. S: But, come on, I can't help but look up to you. S: If I'd had the guts to run away from home, I wonder if I would have cared as little about my Crest as you do yours...

>You didn't have the courage?

S: No... But if I thought I could have escaped, I would have tried. S: I'd leave behind House Gautier and the life of a nobleman...and anybody who knew I had a Crest. S: Our home is to the very north of the Kingdom. Just across the mountains from us is land inhabited by foreigners to Fódlan. S: Right now, it actually belongs to Faerghus, but I can't say we're on good terms with the people there. S: It once belonged to Faerghus, but now that the Kingdom has collapsed, it's only a matter of time until fighting breaks out. S: Anyway, that land has been contested for centuries, and all that time, it has fallen to House Gautier to protect it. S: Actually, our Lance of Ruin has been doing most of the protecting.

>But it was stolen...

>I remember. Five years ago...

S: Those were dangerous times. One wrong step and we would have lost our Relic to the church. S: My father was afraid that the church would try to  keep the lance, so he entrusted it to me. S: If an emergency arose, I was supposed to be called back home. S: I guess those very situations are why my family values Crests so much. S: Since I bear a Crest, my parents made sure I was never left wanting. S: My older brother didn't have one, and so when I was born, he was pushed aside. S: You know he once shoved me in a well? He left me on the mountainside in the middle of winter too.

>That's horrible.

>You didn't try to get him back?

S: Even as a little kid, I understood why he was like that. My mere existence stole everything from him. S: I have no right to complain when I am surrounded by people who would give anything to bear a Crest but do not. S: Now women smile at me for the same reason my parents adore me...and my brother wanted me dead. S: And I have to meet them all with a smile and a wink because I have a Crest.

>So what you really feel toward women is...

S: The women who just want to use me to become nobility? Hatred's probably the right word.

S: Though, in the end...that's just an easy answer. I don't even know how I truly feel about it all.

>You're wrong.

S: Yeah, yeah. It's late to admit it, but I get you. It would be best just to tell them to heap their empty praise elsewhere.

S: Anyway, it was pretty unreasonable of me to resent you. I'm really sorry about that. S: And I want to say thank you, Professor. Seriously. Thank you.

>For what?

S: Before I met you, I'd gone my whole life not knowing there was another way for me to live. S: So from the bottom of my heart...I'm glad we met.

——————————————————————————————

s

S: Professor, I've been waiting for you awhile. I've just been out here watching the sky grow lighter.

>Sorry.

S: No, it's OK. I just got here way too early.

>You got here too early.

S: I woke up, and I couldn't get back to sleep. And it's nice to spend a morning like this sometimes. S: It's really just hitting me. For the past five years, we've been fighting and fighting... S: But now the war's over. It's time for a new way of life. S: So I've decided I want to take responsibility for my own fate.

>Fate?

S: That's right. My Crest doesn't decide my fate. I do. It's time for the first step in the right direction.

>Responsibility?

S: I don't want to marry a girl who wants to use me for my Crest or a girl who someone else chose for me.

S: I want to marry someone I really care about. And, you know, maybe I can't...but I'd like to try. S: ...

>Do you really mean it?

S: You don't believe me? I probably should have seen that coming... S: In that case, I'll just have to propose to you over and over again...until you know I'm serious. S: Marry me. I'd do anything for you. S: I'm done lying, especially to myself.

>If you cheat on me, you'll pay dearly.

>I love you, so I suppose I have no choice.

S: You mean... S: If we're together, I don't even care if I stay locked up inside for the rest of my life. S: If you told me you didn't want me to look at another woman, I'd go blind for you.

>That's taking it a bit far.

S: Sorry about that. I got a little excited. S: I've spent my whole life relying on flowery language, so it's a bit hard to rein it in. S: OK... Calming down now. I'm just over the moon about this. S: With you by my side, I'm excited to find out what this new way of life is all about. S: We fought hard for today, and I'm beyond happy just to be alive. And now, I'm engaged to the perfect woman. S: Strike that. You know what? My happiness isn't what I care about today. S: I'm going to spend the rest of our lives together trying to make you happy. S: I promise.

——————————————————————————————

paired endings

After ascending the throne as the first leader of the United Kingdom of Fódlan, Byleth announced her marriage to Sylvain, who had become the new Margrave Gautier. Sylvain was a valued ally who assisted his wife in her new role, both publicly and privately. Most of all, it is said that his cunning manner of speech was a great asset for fostering relations between the Church of Seiros, Fódlan, and surrounding regions. Though known as a philanderer in youth, Sylvain happily settled down after marriage and became a gentle and devoted husband and father. The two had many children whom they doted on equally, regardless of whether or not they bore a Crest. (golden deer + church route)

After becoming the new archbishop of the Church of Seiros, Byleth announced her marriage to Sylvain, heir to House Gautier. Sylvain was a valued ally who assisted his wife in her new role, both publicly and privately. He achieved a great deal, including fostering relations with Faerghus and helping to institute sweeping organizational changes within the church. Though known as a philanderer in youth, Sylvain happily settled down after marriage. By the time he inherited the title of Margrave Gautier, he was a gentle and devoted husband. It is said that those who knew him in his youth wondered what sort of spell the archbishop had cast on him. (blue lions route)

When the fighting was over, Byleth and Sylvain were married. As the new leaders of House Gautier, they focused their efforts on the restoration of northern Fódlan, which had been deeply scarred by the ravages of war. Once this task was complete, they set their sights on improving relations with the Sreng people in an effort to remove the perceived need for the power of Crests. This accomplishment took a great deal of hard work, but the two refused to give up on their ideals. In time, the two had a large and loving family. They lived happily and loved their children equally, regardless of whether or not they bore a Crest. (black eagles route)

——————————————————————————————

night of the ball

S: Evening, Professor. Lovely night, isn't it? Just look a those stars... S: I heard you were headed over to the Goddess Tower, and I got curious about who you might be meeting. S: But here you are all by yourself. This isn't a lover's tryst at all! Heh heh...

>Tryst?

Oh, yeah. The Goddess Tower is where lovers meet. Didn't anybody tell you?

S: They say that if you exchange vows here, they always come true. It's a sacred place for lovers.

>Why are you here alone?

S: To tell the truth, I got curious about who you might be coming here to meet.

S: I know this sounds weird, but I'm relieved to find you here alone.

>Where is your lover?

S: Well, the person I'm interested in...is already here.

S: You're here alone. I'm here alone. I was thinking maybe...

>Wait. Me?

S: Well, of course! We're the only two people here, aren't we? S: I keep thinking about it, and it just makes sense. My Crest and yours...

>That's too much, too soon.

>Marry you? I can't even trust you.

S: Heh, OK. True, true. S: You know, I've never regretted any of my past behavior...until you turned me down just now. S: I can't be who I've been my whole life. I gotta get it together and become a man you can trust. S: I know that sounds like another one of my games, but it's true. I'll prove it to you. S: Anyway, I'm going to head back to the ball. Since we're both here, would you accompany me?

>I'll go back with you.

>I'm going to stay here for awhile.

S: Well then, my lady, I do hope you'll give me the honor of a dance. S: It will be good practice for our first dance at our wedding reception. Heh heh—I'm kidding! S: Anyway... Let's get going before you change your mind. S: It's chilly out tonight, so take care not to catch cold. S: And if you do get cold, you know where to find me. S: Sorry. Old habits die hard, I guess. S: OK. Well, I'm headed inside.

[thesffcorner]

Jumanji: The Next Level

Jumanji: The Next Level is the sequel to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, both directed by Jake Kasdan. It’s been about a year since Spencer, Bethany, Martha and Fridge beat Jumanji and returned to the real world. Reuniting over Christmas break, the gang realizes that Spencer has not only rescued the game but gone back in, and Martha insists they go and rescue him. There’s a problem: not only can they not pick their characters, Bethany is left behind while Spencer’s grandfather Eddie and his ex-best friend Milo get sucked instead, and now Martha and Fridge have to not only save Spencer but make sure the pensioners don’t get themselves killed. 

I never reviewed Jumanji, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it; I should probably note though, that I never liked the original Robin Williams film. When I saw it as a child it gave me nightmares, and as an adult I don’t like its uneven tone that neither a horror-drama nor a comedy. The remake did away with the horror, and it’s a much more straight forward comedy, even if it still kept some of the darker subtext with Alex’s character. 

I am pleased to say that if you liked this first film, you will like this too. The sequel is as, if not more entertaining than the first film. The humor is funny and creative, the characters are excellent and the way the film plays around with the rules of the game and incorporates the new characters was brilliant. 

Let’s start with that, the comedy. This film is very funny; it’s high energy, all the actors are talented and have good chemistry and the film takes advantage of the premise which is that the players can’t pick their characters because the game is broken. So while Martha is still Ruby, everyone else gets assigned a random character. I won’t spoil who is who, as that was part of the fun of the film, but we got some wild combinations like Akwafina doing an honestly supreme Danny De Vito performance, and several characters becoming a horse. 

The film also plays up the comedy in the action set pieces. While they still are high octane and there were points where you do become worried for the characters, the comedy doesn’t just stop when the action starts. I could tell the people who made this film play video games and understand the inherent hilarity when a game glitches or you break it’s programming, like the NPC’s running out of dialogue options, terrible over acting, weird, jerky motions, and imo the funniest scene where Bravestone beats up an entire town of NPC’s because he doesn’t understand the concept of limited dialogue options and idle animations. 

The story is perfectly fine; I had no issues with the explorations of anxiety, self-esteem, estrangement and growing old that the film explores. There were times where things got really cheesy; while I loved the dynamic between Eddie and Milo and the reasons why they stopped being friends, I found their last few conversations very melodramatic. I also found that Spencer’s anxiety was overdone; his paranoia that his friends are all doing better than him and he is being left behind didn’t really concur with what we were being shown which was constant messages in the group chat from everyone being eager to see him and catch up. Bethany even points out that she kept messaging him and he never responded and Martha had invited him over to her campus twice. It was a plot thread that needed more time and development, and was kind of dropped, especially since this movie isn’t really about Spencer; it’s about Milo and Eddie. 

I did like the college age actors a lot more this time; they get a little bit more time to be present in the film, with the stand outs really being Ser’Darius Blain as Fridge and Alex Wolf as Spencer. The adult cast was as superb as the first film. I especially want to commend Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart because I really bought that they were two separate people in this film from the characters they were last time; especially Hart, he nailed Milo’s character and cadence. The only mild criticism I have is Bethany aka Jack Black. Bethany is great as a character, but Jack Black way overdoes her valley girl speak; it’s not that people aren’t or don’t talk like that, it’s that real life Bethany played by Madison Iseman doesn’t speak like that. It’s still a funny character though. 

Overall this is just a plain fun film. It’s popcorn entertainment, through and through, and it’s messages about friendship and being grateful for the life you have are just icing on the cake that is fast-paced, thoroughly hilarious action. I highly recommend.

[lamiasluck]

Hosting a Thrill

Summary: Dark needs someone gone. Fast. Being the perfectly moral man that he is, he immediately asks someone to "take care" of this someone. So he asks the Host because he's usually calm and collected, right? Well, not quite... As it turns out, even the Host has something darker hiding behind that composed attitude.

Characters: The Host, Dark, and a random npc-like character

Warnings: Blood, violence, minor character death

Words: 1586

Read on AO3!

-

The sound of fingernails against a table echoed throughout the dark room. A low buzz of radio equipment rang in the Host’s ears as he thought to himself. As much as he would like to tell another story, he knew he would be busy. He was waiting. His narrations told him that he had work to do.

From outside his office, he heard the door creak open and soon after footsteps echoed within the silent library.

Right on time.

Dark walked into his office without warning. His aura dimly lit up the room and showed his form, eyes shining dangerously as he stared at the man sitting by his desk. The Host merely smiled at him.

“Good evening.” There was a hint of playfulness in the Host’s voice as he continued to smile, tilting his head slightly. “How has Dark been faring?”

“Fine.” Unlike the Host, Dark was clearly impatient. He snapped his fingers and a file appeared in his hand. He threw the papers on the desk. “I have a job for you.”

“Does he now?” He hummed to himself, not bothering to pick up the documents. “Alexander Winston. He has been troubling Dark as of late. How interesting… is he that bothersome that Dark needs him gone?”

“Just deal with it.”

“Of course. Consider the problem already dealt with.”

Dark left without another word, which is usually how their conferences play out. The Host leaned back into his chair and finally took the files. Even the penmanship had an angry air to it, hastily written down in a clear rush. It might as well be a death certificate. He didn’t care about the reasons why Alexander deserved to die, but it was interesting that Dark wanted him to deal with this issue. Whatever Alexander did, he must’ve been a real prick to deserve this treatment. A simple bullet or knife wouldn’t do the trick it seems. Well, at least he could have his fun. It has been a while.

His metal bat felt familiar in his hands as he made his way out of the manor. As soon as the others heard the dull sound of him dragging the weapon across the floor, they knew to stay away. He rarely left his library, only leaving for the necessities and for times like this. With his bat that held more history than some of the younger egos and a small, but eager smile plastered on his face. He set off in a beeline to his target.

Fate decided to give an open welcome to the Host’s reemergence. Alexander was currently in an alleyway having his routinely smoke break and life reflection. Completely alone. A fast pass to the fun part, so it seems.

-

The air outside was muggy, but the Host still managed to make out the smell of cigarette smoke. He muttered about his surroundings quietly to himself. Soon enough, he found Alexander leaning against the wall. Understandably the visual of a looming man with bleeding eyes walking towards him freaked him out. Alexander dropped his cigarette and glared at the Host.

“What the fu-”

“Stand still.” The Host’s calm tone made Alexander stand frigid in place. No matter how much the other wanted to run away, an unforeseen force kept him in place as the Host stood in front of him.

“Who… who the fuck are you?!”

“A messenger. Now, shut up.” Similar to his first command, Alexander’s mouth clamped shut. The only noise he could make were muffled screams, far too quiet for anyone to hear. “Out of all the people to mess with, Dark shouldn’t be on that list.” Alexander’s eyes widened in fear. His muffled screams became more frantic, but the Host didn’t pay any mind. “If Alexander didn’t get that message, then the Host is happy to teach him.”

The Host paced in front of Alexander, humming to himself. His mind buzzed with different possibilities of what to do, but for the most part, he was debating his options. Use his words or his bat? He could settle with a mix of both, however, that didn’t seem right for this case. There was a morbid want for something else. A want for something slower, more painful. More fun. His bat beckoned to satisfy that want.

“Life’s a gamble. It’s not the Host’s fault Alexander got a bad deal,” he punctuated his next point by hitting his free hand with his bat and gripping it, “It’s only his job to deal with the toll.”

One swing of his bat had Alexander crying even as he was forced to stand still. It wasn’t much, a hardy hit to the side may break a few ribs but it won’t kill. Then the next hit, one right in his abdomen. The dull thud rang in his ears, but rippled through his soul. He let out a breathy laugh at the display while spinning his bat with one hand. It felt too natural for someone as supposedly composed as him, yet here he was.

After a couple more hits, the Host got into the swing of things. His movements were fluid and calculated. Muttered narrations were drowned out by the sounds of muffled sobs and metal colliding with flesh. None of it mattered, he didn’t need his narrations to tell him about the bruises being formed, nor the bones being shattered under the force of his bat. What mattered was the thrill.  

Like a hunter that finally cornered their prey, the Host found victory in their demise. Senseless killing wasn’t his forte surprisingly. Good thing, he managed to justify this situation in that jumbled head of his. It wasn’t senseless in his mind. If this man was going to die anyways, what’s the harm in having a little fun with it? Dark wasn’t going to let Alexander go. Whether or not Wilford shot him or the Host beat him mattered not in the long run.

Now out of breath, the Host slung his bat over his shoulder and paused to admire his work. Alexander was still alive. Miraculously stuck standing despite his body begging to fall. He was breathing heavily through his nose and barely looked conscious, blinking in slow intervals. Occasionally he coughed, or tried to since his mouth was still forced shut. Eventually the Host noticed a small bit of blood spill out of his mouth.

“Alexander found himself able to speak again.”

In an instant Alexander went into a coughing fit, hacking up the blood he was forced to keep in his mouth. He rivaled the Host with how much blood he let out. Good thing his attacker made sure to stand back.

“A minor concussion, internal bleeding…” the Host listed while twirling his bat, “broken arms, a leg, and a couple ribs. How quaint.”

“Pl-Please… stop…” Alexander whimpered, voice barely strong enough to be heard. “I get it… I-I won’t bother anyone anymore… please…”

“The Host is glad Alexander understands. He’s certain that he won’t bother Dark from now on.”

“Yes, yes I’m sorry! Please… let-let me go-”

“Die.”

Alexander choked on his words and fell to the ground. A look of terror was permanently fixed on his face as he laid there in his own blood.

The Host hummed contently and poked the body with his bat, laughing when there was no response. Gradually, his adrenaline died down and he became more aware of his situation. Blood flowed down his face from overexertion and his arms ached from his physical work. A headache made his head pound, another side effect to his powers. Yet none of it mattered.

That satisfied smile wasn’t going away anytime soon. The Host walked away from the scene without a care in the world. Cleanup wasn’t apart of his job anyways.

-

Once the Host made in back to the manor, he noticed the others startled gazes. A disheveled, panting Host must be an alarming sight to see he supposed. The blood on his clothes and bat has long since dried so he didn’t bother to worry about tracking blood in Dark’s pristine office. He felt the entity’s cold stare as soon as he opened the door.

“The Host was successful.” He broke the silence with a smug attitude.

Dark rolled his eyes and paused his work. He set his pen down from his paperwork and cracked his neck. “Was there any problems?”

“None at all." The Host laughed to himself as he thought back to what he did. He slung his bat over his shoulder, shining a bright smile. "If Dark ever needs another man to do a job like this, feel free to call the Host again. He will be delighted to be of assistance.”

Dark grimaced. That smile reminded him too much of a past he thought the other left behind. He supposed no one could fully change, could they?

“You’re dismissed.” Dark waved him off. “Rest easy today. Tomorrow I may give you another job… Google’s been giving me problems lately.”

The Host snickered, already turning his heel and walking away. And so it was written in stone. “It’s a pleasure.”

After changing into cleaner clothes and cleaning up in general, the Host bunkered himself away in his library again. This ordeal inspired a plethora of stories that could carry on the fun. The low buzz of his radio beckoned him. So he sat down at his desk and put on his headphones. He got ready to tell a new story.

The story of the man that never got the message.