#also I have no idea why I summoned the mount

[deoxygenated]

The other half of that dream is like we were exploring a wilderness. A huge canyon system deeply carved into the mountains. I kept calling it Thanalan but it wasn't actually.

The terrain was more like if the Grand Canyon were also Wulingyuan. It's real and huge to us but the dream zoomed at one point to show we were in a studio on like one of those tables they use for environments for miniatures but elaborate detailed.

It zooms back in and then my group and I are deciding where to go. There's beasts along the trail we've fought and the portion I really recall is when we had to figure out safe water travel.

We were heading to a Solar Flower near the endpoint where the canyons met the ocean. A tree began to engage in battle with us, shooting lightning at my teammates. From my hidden spot I quickly leafed through a book until I found the trees name. So I prayed.

I-Jeuine I named the tree and asked it to stop attacking us. We wanted safe water passage. The tree continued the lightning until it considered my plea and stopped.

It told us it could give us passage only here and to have true permission we would need to go to the solar flower and use it's energies to beg succor from the ocean.

I was overjoyed so I thanked I-Jeuine and let it know that was the plan. Relaying the information to my team we carried on.

This is where the restaurant bit happened.

Then we met some musicians. We were arranged in a circle trying to get help from another tree. But other people were also there. A duo next to us kept playing music and so we danced to keep up.

They were impressed and asked if we can make noises they can sample to make new songs. I'm like I have the perfect guy and mentally the mount list pops up and I'm like Omega (ffxiv) makes a cute noise it would be perfect.

So I summon the Omega mount and the musicians are pleased.

It gets fuzzy after here.

[anthurak]

So here's an odd little RWBY headcanon I've actually had for a while:

Obviously, Yang has been and always will be Team RWBY's designated driver. Whether on Bumblebee or any kind of car or truck, if Team RWBY is using any kind of land vehicle, Yang WILL be the one behind the wheel.

However, while Yang might be the designated driver, if/when Team RWBY gets their hands on an aircraft (or maybe spacecraft...) to use, I like the idea of Ruby being the team's PILOT.

Why exactly? A few reasons, most of them vibe-based.

Ruby's always been the most aerial-focused of her team when it comes to mobility, not counting Weiss's summon-mounts, so she feels like the one most comfortable moving in three-dimensions.

Also we have a bit of a precedent set for this with Maria, a fellow silver-eyed-warrior being the group's pilot in Volumes 6-8, so it could be fun to see Ruby follow in those footsteps. Not to mention there's a trope of ace-pilots having keen eyes, so Ruby's whole thing with her own Silver Eyes could symbolically play into that.

It also gives Ruby something to nice distinguish herself from Yang.

Finally I've always felt like if anyone on Team RWBY would be a mech-pilot, it would DEFINITELY be Ruby, so this is something of an offshoot of that.

Finally... I dunno, it just kind of fits Ruby, you know? Ruby pulling sick aerial maneuvers in an aircraft/spaceship/mecha, clearly having the time of her life...

...all while her teammates are holding on for dear life and/or using a barf-bag XD

[critterbitter]

What do you know- I'm trying out the askbox *eyes*

anyway I just wanted to say that high-key I think I'd follow any content you make at this point bc your art brings me so much joy. That doesn't tend to happen super often since i am,,,, very much so a hyperfixation-focused person HAHA

regardless I'm not exactly quiet about it but I adore your art and I look forward to each new time you post :D

I WISH i had the capability of pumping out art like you do bc man while I love to draw and have so many ideas all the time picking up the pencil is Hard Dude.

Also! In a recent post you mentioned the whole Twin Dragons AU and HC that people love to have- I'd be super curious as to your opinion on it!

-( ╹▽╹ )

I SEE YOUR TAGS AND IM.

I’ll have to slow down at some point on that Submas Grind, but the hyperfixation throes are REAL. Thank you for inhabiting the tunnels with me! People that tag and cheer artists on are the real mvps of the art economy.

As for twin dragon aus!

I’ve always seen Emmet as more zekrom esque, and Ingo more reshiram esque. Is it cause the typing matches their starters? Maybe, hehe.

Ultimately though, the guys are too multifaceted for me to easily split them into truth and ideals.

I also see the legendaries as Eldritch Abominations Beyond Understanding, so having the dragons in my iteration become the twins would, uh, have consequences. The funny goofy story would dip into horror territory instead. (Reshiram demands only truths, and anything not Absolute will burn. And zekrom’s ideals are beyond human understanding, and trying to understand the mad tangle of thunder would drive somebody insane.)

(I’m a huge tma fan. Can you see it? Man.)

((Also N’s a scary mofo for summoning reshiram. I’m digging directly into the whole “twin heroes have a civil war and it destroyed unova” backstory that pokemon set up, and the more I think about it the stronger my dread mounts at the idea of Zekrom OR Reshiram casually flying overhead.

But this is also just how I see the legendaries of the pokemon world! Lugia sinks islands. Groudon covers towns. Arceus loves the mortal world, and mourns because its immortality only brings grief. Giritina hates, because it’s the ghostly remains of every one of Arceus’s mistakes given drive, banished into the distortion realm. Normal stuff!)

You sly dog, you got me monologing! But here’s the tldr: Not sure i’ll ever make my own serious Dragon AU that follows my internal world building for pokemon. I’m too attached to my favorite trope: “the smallest people can still initiate the biggest of changes”, and I’m too attached to my other favorite trope: “legendaries are actually gods and you Should Be Frightened.”

So that’s why, in this essay, if the trio gets turned into pokemon, I’d make them route 1 run of the mill rats. Because rats can do whatever they want.

(Plus, patrats and pachirisu aren’t banned from the subway battles last I checked.)

If i had to make a goofy crack dragon au though, I think this would be the result:

The whole story would just be the trio and historians trying to figure out what the hell the twins got turned into, and concerns of other people becoming pokemon as well. So far, people are convinced they’re a paradox version of an archen. (I mean…)

(Alternate take of THAT, where elesa gets turned into a victini.)

[agentrouka-blog]

“I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons.”

I can’t tell if this is dramatic irony from GRRM and he means to subvert it or it’s a statement that may come to fruition ? Targ restoration seems very unlikely but I look at how “no one will ever marry me for love” and the willowy creature line is so obviously dramatic irony but can the same be said for the Dany line? Lot’s of Dany stans think so and obv think it’ll her and Jon’s child…I do find it funny that they’re the same people who claim that Jon’s willowy creature line isn’t ironic at all and that Sansa’s despair over only being chosen for her claim won’t be subverted at all 💀

I think that context here is a key in explaining why the line is begging to be subverted for Sansa, while acting (at best) as false bait in a broader metaphor of doom for Daenerys.

How would you like to marry your cousin, the Lord Robert?" The thought made Sansa weary. All she knew of Robert Arryn was that he was a little boy, and sickly. It is not me she wants her son to marry, it is my claim. No one will ever marry me for love. But lying came easy to her now. "I . . . can scarcely wait to meet him, my lady. But he is still a child, is he not?" (ASOS, Sansa VI)

For Sansa, the line plays on two things: 1) her disillusionment with an innocent but character-defining dream is already complete in the perfect middle of the series. What an excellent moment to set up an ironic hint where her arc will go from there. 2) Easter egg of an as of yet unknown fact: there is another cousin to whom marriage is going to be on the table. "It would be so sweet to see him once again" she later thinks of that not-yet-cousin, "but of course that could never be." Another never. What could possibly ensue down the line? It's pretty blatantly begging to be subverted.

Dany, meanwhile, is thinking this while in the process of fully embracing her dragon identity in the grasslands at the end of the fifth book (happening almost concurrently with the fourth book, so chronologically between the middle and the end). She is exiting her Mhysa-arc, abandoning the maternal role she took on at the end of ASOS, which had quickly entailed locking up her dragons for killing a little girl.

"Drogon killed a little girl. Her name was … her name …" Dany could not recall the child's name. That made her so sad that she would have cried if all her tears had not been burned away. "I will never have a little girl. I was the Mother of Dragons." Aye, the grass said, but you turned against your children. (ADWD, Daenerys X)

Her children being the dragons.

Dany is torn between these idea of motherhood. Mother to the people, mother to dragons, mother to her own children. But, crucially, this chapter ends with a decision. She avoids examining the thought of her "moonblood", she divests herself of her commitment to Meereen, she summons and mounts Drogon, turns him away from Meereen, hunts on dragonback and gorges on the charred flesh of a horse that died screaming, calmly awaiting Jhaqo's khalasar to find her. She chooses the dragons.

The pregnancy she miscarried in the grasslands during her bout of starvation and dysentery was conceived in Meereen. Fairly soon after she started having sex with Daario and Hizdahr, even. Is it miscarried in the process of choosing to leave Meereen.

“To go forward I must go back,” she said.

She has chosen a new direction, back to her dragon identity, her personal quest. Nothing about this invites the idea of an ironic twist on motherhood being her future after all, which always stands in opposition to the dragons. The imagery is utterly consistent on that front.

In order to thematically reconnect to motherhood for herself, she would have to utterly reject the dragons, and that's going to be both extremely unlikely, and also increasingly meaningless the more she already achieves for herself through them. It's not much of a sacrifice if they have already given her power, devotion, armies, vengeance, the path to Westeros and the means to achieve all her goals. If Hazzea is not enough to convince Dany of what matters more, where is the meaning in being given "a little girl" for herself down the line, after yet more little girls will have died? Thematically, the time to earn this reward passed the moment she chose Drogon.

[sephirothsplaything]

DNA| Sec.80 high power-chapter 12

A/N: Act Two is officially here!! I'm so excited to write more action stuff. Also, I'm trying new stuff with diff povs so I hope this isn't wonky.

word count:2,191

Aemond and Rhaella parallels !!!!

AEMOND TARGARYEN WAS ANGRY. He had slain the bastard, involuntarily, to his dismay. Vhagar had disobeyed him, but he supposed dragons would act however they pleased in the end.

Nevertheless, regret bubbled inside him like a vile poison, he would follow suit in the way of his mount. Aemond would do as he pleased.

He could recall the shouts of his mother, condemning him for the act. It could have been amusing, at one time. The entirety of the realm now viewed him as a kinslayer.

It made him feel important, establishing himself as one not to be trifled with. Privately, he could admit there was a certain unplaceable emptiness.

Aegon had summoned Aemond to a council meeting to discuss matters that did not particularly interest him. He had already fashioned his own plans, much and more cunning than whatever his halfwit brother could produce.

His mother was not fond of his presence at the table, that much was clear. Aemond remained composed as the coin in his hand flitted between his fingers.

"The Riverlords can declare for me, lest they meet Sunfyre and Vhagar," Aegon stated flippantly. It annoyed Aemond, his brothers' unseriousness.

Establishing claim in Harrenhal was his own idea, an obvious one at that. All other lords in the surrounding area would bend the knee and follow suit.

"Rhaenyra has dragons." Alicent states.

"Mine are bigger." Aegon smirks.

Aemond wished to scoff at his brother's words. Vhagar was his. He alone mounted the biggest dragon. In some wicked irony, he is restrained to guard Kings Landing against attacks.

'Have you maintained your grip on my mother's dragon?' Aemond recalled the voice of Rhaella. At that time, it must have been a bitter jab for something she lacked. But her compelling voice that polluted his mind was almost mocking him.

It was not a possibility that Rhaella could have known Vhagar would do such a thing.

Aemond's eye flitted at the memory of her. Surely Rhaella had since heard the news by now. He longed to see her; Rhaella would be beyond furious with him, she would glare at him with those harsh eyes he adored terribly.

Aemond's grip on the coin tightened as he listened to the blabber of the counsel continue on.

His own plans would be heard, he would make sure of it.

------------

The map was lit by candlelight as Aemond plotted out his own war in the company of Ser Criston Cole. They had bonded over the death of the strong bastard. Cole assured him it was necessary. Aemond would not be remiss to recognize the personal conviction in the knight's tone.

"It is a canny scheme." Ser Criston Cole admitted once he heard Aemond's proposal.

"But moot." Aemond leaned back in the chair,eye fixed onto the lines on the map that highlighted Riverrun.

"A war with dragons is inevitable." Criston Cole sighed out. Both sides engaged in a brinkmanship; Who would be the first to deliver fire and blood?

If Aemond was king, he would have since scorched Dragonstone and the Bitch Queen's supporters. Perhaps he would take Rhaella to his side before the fact. She could come to understand later, as Aemond knew she would.

"Alicent blames me for starting this war," Aemond said, a cruel smile displayed on his mouth.

It was strange to Aemond, why was he at fault? His mother plotted to usurp his father, her husband's throne.

"Your mother is gentle, Rhaenyra is the cunning spider." Criston Cole says after a time.

"She holds love for our enemy, that would make her a fool," Aemond says cooly. But alas there it was again, stabbing him in the chest.

Sharp hypocrisy. But his was different, he assured himself. Their love is different.

She loved him.

"Rhaella is a viper herself, more so now if she is under Rhaenyra." Criston Cole added.

Aemond's temper flared. Cole had forgotten himself, he knew nothing.

"Rhaella is of no consequence." Aemond decides out loud.

Criston Cole raised a brow. "She killed a kingsguard,you know."

A ghost of a smile found its way to Aemond's face. Something akin to pride swelled.

She was Daemon's daughter after all.

His Rhaella, fighting a guard. She had joined him in spilling blood. It was a comfort Aemond took in stride.

"She has no dragon," Aemond said. His tone was indicative of ending the conversation, which Criston Cole took note of.

--------

Aemond's longing had driven him to the streets of Silk that night. He recalled Rhaella's hands over him, she had been so uncharacteristically pliant for him. Her voice was lofty and skin ever so soft.

She knew her place, it seemed. Under him.

He craved something familiar to him. But she was far from him now, falling into a pit of black under the pretender.

Familiar led him to the only other women he had known.

"My prince." The Madame Sylvie greeted expectantly. She eyed his body down in a practiced glance.

Aemond did not speak much, as was routine. He only wished to feel.

.............................

RHAELLA TARGARYEN WAS ANGRY. Self-hatred ate her up like a parasite. Luke was dead and she still thought of Aemond. Rhaena had not left her room in days and she still thought of him.

Had he finally let his missing eye guide his temper? Surely there had to be more.

And if there wasn't? She didn't dare think that far.

It had been ten days since the death of Lucerys Velaryon. The Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen had scarcely been seen, leaving in the early mornings and entering the castle late into the night.

Searching for a body she'd likely never find, Rhaella figured. It was hardly her place to voice the opinion.

After the discovery that she had been meddling with the Cannibal dragon, Daemon snapped at her. Rhaella did not shrink, conviction had become her resolve.

From then on, her father decided that ignoring her altogether would be easier than back and forth.

Rhaella leaned her head back onto the wall of the cave, her curls catching in its rough fixtures.

Aegrarax was munching greedily on the dragon egg she had brought for him. In total, Rhaella had taken six to him over the course of a fortnight.

He still had not yet allowed Rhaella to fly, much to her frustration. But she must favor patience, a fact she reminded herself daily.

Dragons were not slaves. And wild dragons certainly weren't absolved of that point.

Rhaella reached out to touch him, taking comfort in the hardened scales. The Cannibal and grown something of used to her being in his territory.

Sometimes, he huffed in her direction in greeting. It made Rhaella grin. Her name day came and went. It was not celebrated in earnest. She received a letter from her grandsire, Corlys. Her grandmother had gifted her a dragon hairpin fashioned from Valyrian steel.

"You could stand to be more thankful," Rhaella muttered to the dragon. Climbing to the eggs was some task, soon someone would take notice.

The Cannibal's cave had become her new respite, something familiar to her.

It was dusk when Rhaella decided to return to the castle. She descended from the dragonmount with ease. It was common as of late that her dress was streaked with soot and ash. She sported it like a badge of honor.

The knights at the door moved aside for Rhaella as she entered. She wished to change her clothes, however the light of the painted table caught her eye.

The black council had gathered, awaiting their queen. It must've been under her father's command, as she was not informed of the meeting.

Jacaerys and not yet returned from Winterfell, no doubt still flying the distance.

Rhaena avoided the gaze of Rhaella, choosing to turn away. Perhaps she held it against her sister. Rhaella could hardly fault her for it. Sometimes it felt as though she was on Vhagar's back during the act.

Still, the stinging pain of being shunned by Rhaena was unshakeable.

Rhaella was alone, again.

She took her place on the opposite side of the table. Her eyes trailed over the lines of fire, outlining their path.

The blockade was upkept by Rhaenys, cutting off supplies to Kingslanding. Rhaella thought it was a rather passive-aggressive strategy. She could not be too critical though, she would've acted similarly.

"I see you've grown the sense to leave your cave," Daemon said. It had occurred to Rhaella that it was the first sentence her father had spoken in her direction in days.

He was softening.

"Sorry father, "Rhaella replied immediately. Her hands held each other, hoping it would help.

"Time must have left me."

Daemon gave something of a scoff. It satisfied Rhaella anyhow.

"Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, First of her name." Ser Erryk Cargyll announced.

All turned to see the sight. Rhaella didn't see a Queen nor a protector of the realm.

She only saw a grieving mother. Rhaenyra's hair was strewn messily. Dried tears streaked her face as she gripped a cloak in her hand with a deadly grip.

Rhaella supposed she had found something of value. Something to burn.

"Your council awaits your command," Daemon said. His hands hovered over the handle of dark sister.

Rhaenyra did not speak for a time. Fresh tears began to trail down.

"I want Aemond Targaryen." Queen Rhaenyra declares.

No one spoke. What more was there to say? Rhaella's hand twitched as plundering guilt choked her.

Even now, she could not rid herself of..whatever this was.

Love or blind obsession Rhaella couldn't be sure.

It was not a statement, the queen's words. It was an order.

For her father. He would kill Aemond, likely.

She should let it be. It would be the only way.

So why did her heart cry so profusely?

Queen Rhaenyra limped off to her chambers. One by one the lords exited the room.

"Rhaena?" Rhaella called. It proved fruitless as she was ignored.

Rhaella in a culpable desperation reaches for her sister's arm, which was jerked away instantly.

"Leave me." Rhaena hissed.

Alright then. She would not force it.

Finding herself in need of distraction, Rhaella trailed after her father.

She ensured there was a great bit of distance, lest she is noticed.

She found herself venturing further into the depths of the castle.

To the prisons.

Rhaella waited for a moment behind the door. Her ear strained as she attempted to listen for anything.

Mayhaps it was her mind playing tricks on her,but there was a voice she knew well that rang out.

Rhaella crawled out of sight as she watched Daemon stomp out of the cells in a huff.

"They should be treated as traitors to the crown." He barked out to the guard.

Her curiosity was officially peaked. After the halls cleared, Rhaella made her way to the holding cells.

And there sat Mysaria and Astris. Their clothes were dirty and their eyes tired.

Rhaella simply stared, eyes slightly widened.

"I am in no mood to deal with you of all people." Mysaria groaned.

Astris, at the sight of Rhaella, found it in herself to be accepting.

"I figured you'd find your way here, sooner or later," Astris said, her dark irises sparkling.

"How?" Was the first word that forced itself out of Rhaella. Last she saw them it was in flea bottom.

"Otto Hightower set fire to our home, that cunt." Astris muttered.

"And your dear father seems to think we are traitors to the realm," Mysaria adds darkly.

Rhaella leaned forward to the bars, eyes darting to and from the two women. Astris seemed mostly unharmed. Rhaella released a breath.

"Has he harmed you?" Rhaella questioned.

Mysaria shrugged her shoulders. She had been Daemon's previous paramore, Rhaella figured she was used to as much.

"He does not remember me, thank the Gods," Astris said.

Rhaella shook her head. She could not allow Astris to stay here like this. She was no longer her handmaid, she was a friend.

"I cannot assure for Mysaria but I shall find a way to free you," Rhaella promised she hoped it was a possibility.

"Take your time," Mysaria said snarkily

-----------

The following morning, the funeral for Lucerys Velaryon took place.

Rhaella stood by her grandmother, who placed a hand onto her shoulder. The warmth scorched her body.

Her grandmother was offering comfort and she did not deserve it.

Guilt clung unto her once more.

She was undeserving.

Rhaella watched as fire was set to Luke's clothes. Little Joffery threw a toy into the pyre as Jace held him.

The smoke caused her eyes to water. Perhaps she could cry, but she surrendered to the plummeting numbness.

If Luke were here, he'd make a joke of her condition. 'the strange one cannot cry for her cousin?'

Rhaena's choked sobs were agonizing. She wished to hug her sister,to apologize for the loss of her betrothed.

Maybe she could apologize for being the way she was. Whatever she was.

For now, Rhaella bowed her head,if Luke could feel her pains, she hoped he could forgive her

[ryin-silverfish]

Chapter 18: What a Swine!

-A few pages into the chapter, and I found the first hook to go on a giant tangent: according to Gao Cai, Gao Village is located in the Kingdom of Qoco. I have no idea why Yu translated it as such, since the original Chinese name——Wusi Zang(乌斯藏, a transliteration of dbus gtsang) sounds nothing like that, but in short, it's the Ming dynasty name for Tibet.

-However, a quick glance at this map would show you that the real Xuanzang didn't cross Tibet during his journey; rather, he went the long way around the Himalayas, travelling on the Central Asian Silk Road. In the Ming dynasty, if you wanna go to India, you could actually take the route through the Himalayas and Nepal, but it wasn't there in the Tang dynasty (because there were a couple of hostile kingdoms in the way; Tuyuhun, Tubo, etc.)

-Sidenote, I absolutely love how JTTW '86 adapted this chapter, with SWK getting his flirt on and the legendary "Pigsy Carrying His Bride" sequence that had made its way into many subsequence adaptations.

-JTTW Research had written pretty comprehensively about Pigsy's origins, from the Daoist deity Marshal Canopy to his ties with Marici, an import deity with a boar mount who's also associated with the Dipper Constellation. As such, I only had one tidbit to add about possible inspirations for his character in folklore that predated the above.

-The earliest tale about a lusty pig demon could be found in the Tang dynasty Xuan Guai Lu(玄怪录). Guo Yuanzhen, a historical general during the reign of Gaozong and Wu Zetian, came across a mansion in his youth during travel. The whole place was lavishly decorated, as if preparing for a wedding banquet, but eeriely empty save for one crying woman.

-Turned out, she was the unwitting soon-to-be bride of a god called "General Wu"(乌将军), who demanded a beauty as his wife every year from the locals, and because they would pay a hefty sum to "buy" said bride, her own father sold her out to be this year's sacrifice. Furious, Guo disguised himself as a guest, pretended to offer General Wu some venison, then cut off his hand with the meat knife.

-Wounded, the General fled, and his severed limb turned into a pig's hoof once the sun came out. Soon, the bride's family and village elders came to the manor, ready to collect her body for the funeral, and were so freaked out by what Guo did that they were ready to sacrifice him to General Wu too, since the "god" was known to summon storm and hails whenever he didn't get his bride.

-Guo scolded them for being so damn guillible because no real gods would demand human sacrifices or, y'know, have pig hooves as hands, before gathering the young men of the villages and following the trail of blood to the pig demon's abode, where they proceeded to smoke it out and kill it with an assortment of arrows and farming tools.

-The woman, after calling out her terrible parents, pledged herself to Guo and became one of his wives, and all was well.

-Honestly, Pigsy's evolution from his folklore origins to JTTW Zaju to JTTW novel seemed to be one in which he became increasingly sympathetic; from basically being a more lusty version of Guanyin's goldfish, to an opportunistic kidnapper who took advantage of a pair of star-crossed lovers' family feud, to an ex-deity turned reformed demon who kinda got screwed over by his in-laws.

-Final note: Pigsy bragged that even if they could get the "Monster-Routing Patriarch" to come down from the Nine Heaven and exorcise him, he could still claim to be an old buddy of the guy. Which…wasn't wrong, considering that "Monster-Routing Patriarch" was the title of Emperor Zhenwu, Lord of the North, who was worshipped alongside Marshal Canopy as one of the Four Saints of the North Pole.

@journeythroughjourneytothewest

[zottower]

Little girls, great wizards

I really like Eiko in FF9. Some people find her annoying, and it's true that, just as Quina, she's used to write some very easy humor. Queena is about food jokes, and Eiko is about sassy little girl jokes. But if you're open to this kind of humor, she's just fine. I don't laugh to tears at those jokes, but it makes me smile. I like Eiko's over-the-top design, with cat-ear-like ribbon + purple hair + unicorn horn + cupid wings + little fairy flute as a weapon + little hopping victory dance + living with moogles. I like her funny crush on Zidane, her story with Mog, her bond with Garnet.

But I also like a lot that the game scenario brought back this silly idea of adding kids that are actually sometimes more competent than adults in the heroes team that was also a thing in FF4. First, Eiko is like Rydia, the last surviving caller knowing the traditions of her people, she's small and harmless child who can summon gods to make the earth shake if you threaten her !

She doesn't cry ! Crying is for babies !

She's like Polom, lecturing and picking on the little black mage (poor Vivi ... hu, it's deserved in Palom's case ...).

She boasts about her talents, just like Palom, when she opens a magic barrier to grant access to a sacred place (Mount Ordeals/ Iifia Tree). Fun thing, Rydia too is needed to open the gate of Mount Hobs, and this is Luca's necklace that is needed to open the sealed cave. Children seem to be the key to be allowed to go in forbidden sacred places …

And the hero entrusts his girlfriend to her, when Garnet looses her voice. That makes me think of this moment in FF4 when Cecil asks Rydia to take care of Rosa for the battle in Fabul, that's some goofy moment … Why ? She's a little girl ! True, Rydia and Eiko are very good wizards. But, is it a way to give a small task to a very energetic little girl to make her focus on something in a stressful time ? Is it because Rosa and Garnet are very emotional character who tend to be a bit reckless and need someone with good common sense to watch over them ? Maybe a bit of everything, but the child looking over the adult is a funny reversal of values. It goes a little further with Eiko who has to take care of big old Steiner, thought.

I really like the fact that the theme of the seven-years-old little girl being so important in the team is reused and expanded in FF9. In the end, Rydia and Eiko find parents to have maybe something looking like a regular childhood … Even if in Rydia's case, it's about living with Eons. And they become somehow both princesses ! Happy ending !

[isekai-crow]

The Witch and the Beast / Majo to Yajuu Episode 1

Overall Score So Far: 9/10

WE'VE GOT A HOTTIE LINE UP OF ALL GENDERS!!

Guideau on the left, Ashaf in the middle, and Genderless Hottie on the right :3

HOW ARE THEY ALL SO PRETTY.

Anime, now with more CROW BAIT. This time it's literal!! :D

OF COURSE the Goth With The Coffin on his back can use CROW MAGIC. AHHHHHHH.

Also, Guys. You guys. Fucking TOSHIYUKI MORIKAWA is voicing Ashaf.

THE VOICE OF SEPHIROTH. GRIFFITH FROM BERSERK. DANTE FROM DEVIL MAY CRY. TYKI FROM D. Gray Man. We get THE KING OF THE DARK AND BROODY SEXY MAN VOICE.

And Guideau is voice by Taichi, You - Jousuke from JoJo, Suphia from TenSura, Saya from Dead Mount Death Play, and Dorothy from Princess Principal!! A great rough and tumble voice perfect for Guideau. (1st Epi Spoiler: I can't tell if she's voicing Guideau's true form.)

More Episode 1 Spoilers Below!

I don't really know what I was expecting except for Hot Goth Dude with a Coffin Boyfriend, and a badass punch-em-up beauty with a nasty mouth from the PV on youtube, but that's what I got and more, and I am so very pleased about it.

I was SO EXCITED ABOUT THE CROWS YOU HAVE NO IDEA. Hottie Mage whips out a spell covered arms and MY BABIES ARE BURSTING FORTH IN A MURDER OF ADORABLE!!! I might have woken up Capybara's deaf elderly neighbors in my excitement.

What I was not expecting was a giant Zom 100 Shark to show up in the middle of the city lmfao.

Zom 100 Zombie shark on the left and Big Buff Giant Shark Dude on the right.

It's just a dude whose turned himself into a shark with magic, who immediately gets dispelled by a witch, and that THIS IS A NORMAL OCCURANCE??? People are like, oh noooo, there's a giant shark, Ione will deal with iiiiit, no worriesssss.

The implications this gives of a mixed soft/hard magic system tho.

I'm really looking forward to learning (or maybe not learning and discovering through negative space) the rules that don't get broken (which is necessary for a magic system), but also hope that they'll be playing hard and fast with what's possible. Cause seriously, wtf is this shark. Delightful, lol.

They mind games played with "Are Witches Bad or Not?" in this episode is fun, because as a viewer going in blind, we could have had some lawful good protagonists or we could have had some chaotic anti-heros, and I would have accepted either outcome. We kind of get both and that's even better!

Trying to include a speech about the morals of getting revenge with Ione as she tries to justify her actions for removing the lock on her grandmother was interesting, but I'm still not sure if her Grandma was the one to cause the fire and people 300 years ago killed her, or if her getting blamed for the fires and then killed just so happened to lock the fire away, but either way...

Along with this I'm not surprised by the coven of would-be witch's nor the attempts by them to claim that witches aren't bad, "you're just like everyone else," when you can tell from the art that the stereotypes in this world hold weight, lol.

However, I don't know WHY I was surprised by said witches getting their hands and feet removed as part of a ritual summoning of hellfire.

How... how is there not blood E V E R Y W H E R E ??!!?? Some heavy duty arteries have been cut, yo. I guess there kind of is but there should be MORE.

Ashaf finally figures out what's going on and gives in to Guideau, letting her go wild, and HELL YES I love it when we get a beast gremlin on a rampage!

Witch Laser Beams! Sure!

I also LOVE when Characters get the shit beat out of them and then Keep. Standing. Up.

The very purposeful listing of the two ways to lift a Witch's spell at the very beginning of the show, True Love's Kiss or A Change of Heart),was such a great Chekhov's Gun that I knew there was probably going to be another (secret) way to deal with it.

Fuck yea, angry kiss!! Let Guideau feast on your soul!!

But the most surprising thing that has me fully on board and ready to rock and roll is Coffin Boyfriend.

What gender is Coffin Boyfriend? We don't know.

However.

Coffin Boyfriend is not a third character like I initially expected.

Coffin Boyfriend is Mother Fucking Guideau Y'all.

Everything makes so much sense now. Ashaf carries coffin boyfriend's true body around in his backpack like it's no big thing.

And Guideau, with all that rage packed into a tiny little body, has to go around kissing witches to switch from her current body back to the original to then proceed to beat the shit out of said witch.

I fucking here for this. I'm so hype.

Hot Bois, Crows, Body/Gender Swaps, Witch and Magic Fuckery. I'm here for it all, y'all.

(I might even go read ahead in the manga for this one cause OH MY GOD MANGA ASHAF IS ALSO VERY GOOD)

This ART STYLE.

But also... Chrollo? Is that you?

Ashaf on the left, Chrollo Lucilfer from Hunter X Hunter on the right.

I love this. I love their vibe. After Apothecary Diaries, this might just end up being my favorite this season. I'll save that judgement for a few more episodes in though.

ep2 ep3 ep4 ep5 ep6 <- these will eventually become links

[asleepinawell]

(almost) final thoughts on the dlc. obviously there are spoilers below

very mixed bag overall. I'm at the last boss fight now and did just about everything else except one or two mausoleums.

the good:

some really beautiful areas

horror stealth area! could have been a little smaller and had some more items but overall very cool

some of the bosses were excellent, like rellana and midra. also bayle was great after he finished slamming you into the fog gate and puking fire all over you for the first 30 seconds

dying to know more about that shaman village area that was marika's hometown. hoping i missed some lore someone else will pick up on. edit: i found the missing piece of lore that linked two things together and understand now. honestly this dlc was more about marika than miquella in some ways and i don't think that's a bad thing since the marika lore was more interesting. also adds some speculative insight into why she might have shattered the elden ring which is what i wanted

rellana's double moon spell is very cool and actually useful if you can time it well. possibly less practical than other spells but it looks cool

minimal platforming thank god

some very cool new weapons like rellana's swords. always wanted to look like pontiff sulyvan

the lgbtq community has forgiven mohg

the bad:

a lot of the world level design used multiple elevations. it was extremely hard to navigate and find some areas, moreso than in the base game

several map fragments were at the far end of the area they covered meaning you'd go through the whole area without a map so what was the point. also the elevation thing made this even harder

there were a lot of empty areas. I'd regularly find a way up to a plateau and it would be empty. there were whole main areas that had almost nothing. felt like they really wanted it to be huge for the sake of being huge and didn't have enough content to fill it in

when it went from day to night the lighting would go from yellow to extreme blue instantly. it was very disorienting and just looked bad

once again faith builds got a million new incants and boss weapons and magic builds got shafted. most of the new spells weren't even useful

you get a bunch of little maps you can view in your inventory and i couldn't fucking see them because they were so small

npc quests seemed to be harder than typical to track and it matters more because of the gank squad fight. also had some reappear when I'd obviously missed a part of their quest and they acted like i hadn't which was confusing

wasn't a huge fan of the new leveling system. mostly because i found it confusing about how it affected base stats. also a lot of the fragments were behind bosses so you couldn't go level up if you were having trouble. and some were very hard to find. doesn't feel like leveling should depend on that

there were a couple mechanics used by multiple bosses that seemed to be there just to inflate difficulty but were annoying and took away from the fights. notable examples were getting charged at the fog gate (bonus that this creates camera hell), room wide multihit aoes that are damned near impossible to dodge, and so much vfx you can't see your screen. some attacks seemed to expect you to jump which is just obnoxious

commander gaius. worst boss ever. least favorite in the entire series. supposed to be mounted combat but he can one shot torrent and is faster than him. wonky hit box that make it almost impossible to dodge his charge. charges you right as you enter too. distance spell that forms right under you and seems impossible to dodge. does a million damage and gives you no time to heal. usually when i fight a boss i get an idea of how the fight is supposed to work, but i couldn't tell you with this one. felt rushed and untested

jori elder inquisitor. dungeon boss. spams holy spells the track you under your feet and can't be interrupted out of the cast. summons up to 5 ads over and over. dogshit fight

the 4-5 man gank squad of npcs. did we learn nothing from ds2? also had extreme camera issues in that arena that were responsible for 99% of my deaths

the last boss. i haven't beaten him yet because i was so Done after the gank squad and here we have a boss who has every single issue i had with previous bosses but worse and way too much hp. supposedly that's a little better if you don't use the npcs but the npcs were super story invested in the fights and have custom dialogue so ???? most people who have beaten him seem to be using very specialized tanky builds. everyone is anticipating a nerf and I'm kind of waiting since I'm not excited for this boss and don't want to bang my head against him now

also was a really weird choice for story. I'm on team why not godwyn? i didn't have much invested in miquella and I'd expected him to be about how he was but the radahn thing just came outta nowhere. the whole brothers thing is just what I'd expect from grrm so no surprise there, just rolling my eyes, dude is a one trick pony. i do wish they'd filled in a little more on some stuff like how did malenia fit into all this? and why was miquella hanging out in the shadowlands?

neutral thoughts:

messmer was so hyped in the trailers and then i killed him fairly early and he was just some dude? hilarious

i listed more bad than good but that's not unexpected and not a condemnation. usually there are a lot of broad things these games do very well and a bunch of super specific gripes. it's worlds better than ringed city (except that one had an excellent last boss and this one...did not). I'd give it maybe a 6/10

[wolftheidioticfan]

IT WAS WAY TOO MUCH TO DO EVERYONE AT ONCE I JUST DID CHANCE'S CHARTS. IF YOU WANT OTHER CHARTS ASK FOR THEM. Anyways Chance's charts + generally the bosses....sorta. explained.

Boss relevance in ooorrder of Chance meeting them (all during story. I can talk about after story stuff later.)

EOC (eyeball object head humanoid guy in au :) ): Sore loser, originally showed up to scout out who Chance was since he sensed her in the world. Kicked the everloving shit out of her unprepared ass. Later summoned by her to fight since the Guide told her that in order to get stronger, this was a good start. LOST (SOMEHOW???) and became extremely bitter and a sore loser. Kept challenging Chance to duels to 'train' her himself. If he trained her, THEN he could justify losing. (Maybe likes her. maybe sends messengers to watch after her. Only a little.)

Pumpking: PUMPKIN MOON ISN'T PRE HARDMODE- alas, with the power of Extremely Unprepared Dumb Protag Disease...Chance got ahold of a medallion and accidentally summoned the pumpkin moon. Pumpking (often nicknamed King) decided to have fun with this new world, and after scaring the shit out of Chance, revealed that the towering multifaced jack-o-lantern...was just a disguise. A trick. He's actually no more than 3 feet tall. Then she didn't take him seriously and he may have killed her...seven times over. Huh, immortal. A hero? Hm. Hollowed out a dead mourning wood and decided to live around their town. Utterly annoying! Provides very little help if anything. Loves scaring the npcs.

Slime King (and the ninja) (still a fat slime): Accidentally summoned during a slime rain, very confused. No idea where it was and stumbled around for a while until Chance separated it from the Ninja. Slime King mostly is okay with Chance, but he also decided uhh this end of the world stuff is kind of Too Serious and stays out of it. The Ninja, however, helps EOC train Chance and is a total bud to her.

BOC (object head. very kingly. very weird): Met when Chance stumbled juuust a little too far into the Crimson while exploring. Chance, completely unprepared predictably died. But in shock, was not made apart of this hateful crimson world. Why is that? Eventually defeated with a lot of effort and told about the 'balance', and a cult trying to mechanically create a world ending disaster. Sigh. Assimilating this world would have to wait. Fine. He likes Chance, they challenge him in a way other things don't. She is. Scared shitless of this giant brain but appreciates his wit. If only he'd stop fighting with the EOW.

EOW (still a big worm <3): Met shortly after BOC's defeat and showed up to mock him. She was ALSO shortly defeated for threatening to eat up Chance's little town. Annoyed by this. But also doesn't want to just let something ELSE corrupt and destroy the world she'd been eating away at. Fine. Suppose we are 'allies' (mostly so she can hang around and annoy her rival)

Queen Bee (anthro bee lady!!): Defender of the jungle, protector of her kingdom of bees- Not dealing with an annoying human and her need to destroy half the jungle to 'save the world'. Kicked Chance to the curb around 3 times before settling on a deal. Chance would be more careful, replant more, and she would offer some weaponry.

Skeletron: A living cursed guardian aiming to protect the dungeon and keep its secrets. Not much for talking, but clearly sentient. After defeat (with the help of the Queen Bee's beenades), he mostly just...disappeared. Strange.

WOF: The Consumer, the bearer of the world's evil. The Guide's sacrifice to help Chance reveal the rest of the world, make it stronger and deadlier to brace herself for what was to come.

Queen Slime (still a funny fairy slime): Appeared after the Hallow was released to the world. Friendly, offered a lot of help should Chance prove herself more. It was a simple sparring, and she helped hunt down rarer ores and offered miniture slime mounts to make things easier (it didn't, but Chance won't say that to her)

The Twins (not mech in this <3 same as EOC): The EOC's younger, much louder and annoying brothers. They adored Chance (in only the way two guys who like to shoot you with lasers and bite you for fun can!) and love bothering her all the time. This whole thing is more of a joke to them than serious. Chance...Doesn't know what to do with them, honestly. They are pranksters and somehow even annoy King. How is that possible?

Skeletron Prime: N/A. A mechanical version of Skeletron brought forth by the cultists as distraction. Used later for parts.

Destroyer (big worm into a funny robot man): Also created by the cultists as distraction, but after being broken down, revealed some sentience and pain. Chance, feeling bad for the creature, took its 'brain' and parts and fashioned a new body for it. As thanks, it helps build for the town and provides defense for the NPCs while she's away.

Plantera (anthro plant): ...Awokened from too much destruction of nature. It seemed Chance never learned her lesson on breaking things you should not and awoke a bloodthirsty, rage filled plant. After defeat, Plantera mostly hangs around the jungle, replanting and defending it from anything that is deemed a threat. ...Even Chance, even after being defeated. They do not get along. The plant is too headstrong and insistent on being able to do everything herself in here after all. Always tells the terraforming 'hero' to piss off. Chance is...so tired.

Golem: N/A ancient machine the cultists activated to do destruction, but it had valuable loot and Chance thought it might have to do with their main plan and thus was destroyed.

Duke Fishron (anthro pig fish :): Who is this stuck up ass pig that showed up in town? Apparently, the Twins had to do with destroying his underwater home, so he demanded to stay here Or else. (chance found out that What Else was a lot of tornadoes and attacking. Of course). Selfish greedy guy, but a big brute and defensive of his new home. It works out. Chance just. Stays out of the way.

EOL: thought to be the very being that brought Chance here to this world, but it's merely a rumor. Upon capturing a beautiful little butterfly, it transformed into the empress, whom was impressed with Chance's perseverance. But, in order to gain enough power to defeat the Moonlord, her mettle would be tested. She is motherly, often chastising or keeping others out of danger around town. Truly believes in the 'Champion' of the world.

Lunatic Cultist: Forgotten his name long ago, it's hard to even tell if the mask isn't just his face at this point. Reviving the moonlord in search of wisdom, destruction, and his own way of returning balance. Turn all to ash and start from scratch. Little did he know, Moonlord would only aim to kill everything until nothing was left. Not just the 'plagues', but everything else as well. Bad natured, grumpy, and over all not well. Definitely saw some power he was Not Supposed to. Chance doesn't get this asshole's deal. Are You Kidding. YOU'RE bringing the danger, not fixing it.

Moonlord: Unknowable. Metal and Flesh. brought forth from cosmos not understood to rend this world and many others. Pure destruction and hate without reason. The thing that must be killed for good in order to keep this world and all others alive.

[liberty-or-death]

Wei Wuxian's Spell - "Her shy charming eyes" (Beauty of Nanyuan 南苑逢美人”written by He Sicheng 何思澄)

Let’s talk about the first spell that Wei Wuxian uses in the Yi City. 

In Chapter 36, he choses to animate two female effigies.   The two female effigies seemed like identical twins - they had the same clothes, appearance and makeup.  The effigies appeared to be smiling and one could almost hear their laughter.  The doll’s hair was tied in a shuanghuan updo, wore red pearl earrings, a gold bracelet and embroidery shoes.  Wei Wuxian also thinks they look like servants of a rich household.

(Shuanghuan was a double bun updo favoured by unmarried ladies.  They were popular in the Warring States and are commonly described in Tang poetry.)

This poem has also appeared in both the donghua and CQL!

The spell’s from the poem “Beauty of Nanyuan 南苑逢美人” written by He Sicheng 何思澄 (502-557) in the Southern Dynasty.  南苑 Nanyuan is located just south of Beijing. It was an imperial hunting ground during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The current Beijing Nanyuan Airport is named after this and it’s the oldest airport in China.

洛浦疑回雪 巫山似旦云

Just like the Luo Shen (The Goddess of the River Luo) with skin as white as snow, and like the goddess of Mount Wu with skin as clear as the clouds. 

倾城今始见, 倾国昔曾闻

Her smile today destroys a city, and I heard it can even destroy a country. 

T/N: 倾城 and 倾国 are used in poetry to describe someone who’s incredibly beautiful

媚眼随羞合 丹唇逐笑分

her shy charming eyes, and her red lips are parted lightly

(This is the line used in the spell)

风卷蒲萄带 日照石榴裙

The wind blows the belt adorned with grapes, and the sun shies on the pomegranate skirt

T/N: 蒲萄带 is directly translated as belt with grapes, but it’s believed that the “grapes” refer to green jade and from a distance they look like shining ‘grapes.’   This is the pomegranate skirt.

自有狂夫在 空持劳使君

As long as the crazy husband’s around, emptiness awaits the gentleman.

T/N: There is a similar theme in another text 陌上桑 The Mulberry Tree field road, whereby a woman rejects the emperor’s advances because she’s already married.  The same idea applies here, that this beautiful woman is someone that the author cannot get. 

Personally, I think this is a very common poem used to describe a woman's beauty. I even find soft porn sites tagged with this line lol. 😂 So hmm, I don't think MXTX would have intended to mean too much?

Let’s talk about the second part.  This is split into the phrase “do not question goodness or evil,  (I) draw your eyes and summon thee.” So let’s break it down.

“不问善与恶 do not question goodness or evil” - There is a concept of goodness and evil 善与恶 in Buddhism. It's a complicated doctrine and I won't be going into it so y'all can read about it in the link.

"点睛召将来 (I) draw your eyes and summon thee" - This phrase comes from the the idiom “drawing a dragon and adding the eyes 画龙点睛”.  There is a famous story behind this idiom.  Zhang Shenhao was a famous painter during the Liang Dynasty.  He was known for his vivid drawing.  One day, he painted four dragons on the walls of a temple in Jinling and someone asked him why he didn’t paint the eyes.  He then remarked, “The eyes are the essence of the dragon.  If I paint the eyes, they’ll fly away.”  Everyone laughed at him when he said that.  Zhang Shenhao then added the eyes to two dragons and unexpectedly, they came to life and flew away.  Hence, this term was used to describe a situation whereby one’s finishing touch would bring a piece of art to come to life.  MXTX probably used it in this case as well, Wei Wuxian did draw the eyes of the dolls and made them come alive lol.

[blackjackkent]

The sewer entrance Jaheira marked on the map for us brings us back down just a smidge northwest of the Guildhall. There's no further markers for us once we're down here, though, so we will have to, as she said, follow our noses. @zenjestrr has informed me that Bhaal's temple is also down here, so we need to make sure we're being careful in our wanderings and quicksaving aggressively so Orin doesn't think we're trying to mount an early rescue and turn Lae'zel's head into a soup bowl.

Turning west from our entry area we find a strong new candidate for the worst thing Hector has had to walk around in:

Gross.

There's grease freaking EVERYWHERE, which will make walking more of a chore than it's been since the phase spider back in act 1. There's also a wizard; judging by the ambient dialogue from the mephits, he summoned them and told them to watch out for "troublemakers" so presumably he's some sort of guard, but for who?

I'm sure if we talk to him we can clear all this up, right?

"What's this, Cousin? Another Absolutist come to see what we did to poor old Sarin?" He stabs a finger at Hector's chest. "Your god took her mind, cultist. So Bareki took her head, and I burned the flesh from her bones."

Hm.

The wiki claims this guy is a drow half-elf, which... would not have been my first guess. I wonder if the implication is supposed to be half-elf, half-dragonborn? Bc that would be cool.

Less cool is the fact that he is talking to a "grease elemental" which is um. Awful.

The screenshot does not do it justice but it is undulatingly slimy and just looking at it makes me want to take a shower.

It also doesn't speak in return, but the wizard acts as if it does; not clear if only he can hear it or if his cheese has slipped off the cracker. At the very least, he definitely thinks Hector is an Absolutist, and they apparently just finished killing someone who was also indoctrinated into the cult.

"And now you come to interrupt the funeral rights? I--" He breaks off, stares intently at the elemental for a moment, then nods briskly. "Yes, Cousin. An excellent idea! Cousin says we will take *you* in return. He says you look just like kindling for Sarin's funeral pyre."

Hector eyes the man warily. "Wait," he says. "No need for violence. Just tell me what happened to your friend."

"I took my friend's life," the wizard says brightly. "But only after your god took her soul." There is grief in the words but also the strange glint of madness; he sways just slightly side to side as he speaks. "Sarin, Bareki, and I - we were the three finest thieves in Baldur's Gate. We broke into the offices of Gortash. Discovered he was with the Absolute too. Your fellow cultists hunted us so we hid down here. We were safe - and so was our loot - until the darkness soured Sarin's mind. She kept our treasure from us, said Bareki and I had gone *strange.*"

He pauses again, listens intently to the silence of grease elemental, while Hector privately considers that strange is a very apt descriptor.

"HUSH, COUSIN," the man suddenly barks. "Sarin turned into a cultist herself," he continues to Hector, speaking more quickly now. "So we did what we had to. Bareki wept until his voice was gone... and then *he* was gone too. Leaving only me to conduct Sarin's rites. And my cousins, here... you cannot conduct the rites without a clan to bear witness. Or some fuel for the fire..."

Hector rubs his jaw thoughtfully. He has a sneaking suspicion that what happened here was not Absolutist corruption but good old-fashioned paranoia. However, the man is also clearly not an Absolutist, which means it's not necessarily the worst thing to leave well enough alone here if he and his grease friends aren't harming anyone.

However...

He tilts his head questioningly. [CLERIC][RELIGION] "I'm sworn to a better god than the Absolute," he says softly. "Why not let me say a prayer?"

The man's eyes narrow. "Say your prayers as you pass, then, priest. And do NOT come BACK. This is Sarin's final resting place - and a killing ground for all who come to disturb her."

----

Poor guy. There are a number of dead cultists in the grease around him; one of them is carrying a note indicating that neither this man (his name is Aelis) nor his friend were actually corrupted by the cult, but rather Aelis killed Sarin in sheer paranoia after just learning about the tadpoles. Orin wanted him dead anyway, though, so the part about the cultists chasing him was true.

Walking around in this area is a bit entertaining because the whole party keeps repeatedly wandering into the grease puddles and eating shit on the floor.

In spite of Aelin's threats, we seem to be able to wander around and up to Sarin's corpse, which is in a box and seems to be missing its head. Clicking on it gives us the option to add something, so I suspect we can find her head elsewhere and bring it back here. Yet another thing to keep an eye out for.

CORRECTION: Apparently Aelin wasn't actually kidding; if we walk on past him and then turn around and come back, he and all of his "cousins" go hostile at once. We'll just keep moving on then, for now; if we find the skull we'll decide what to do with it then.

[bracketsoffear]

I know Turo is doomed, but I do want to advocate for him anyway. HUGE SPOILERS FOR POKEMON SV BELOW (although if you've read Turo's description, you'll already have been spoiled):

In both version of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet, the Professor wanted to use a time machine to bring Paradox Pokemon from another time to the present and create a "paradise" full of them for their family. Since Violet is future-themed, Turo wants to summon Paradox Pokemon from the future, who resemble present-day pokemon but are all unnerving mechanical lifeforms. The Future Pokemon are:

Iron Treads--"This Pokémon closely resembles a scientific weapon that a paranormal magazine claimed was sent to this planet by aliens."

Iron Bundle, a.k.a Delibird's long-overdue revenge--"Plenty of theories about it have been floated. A leading one suggests it is the product of a long-gone civilization—a notion supported by ancient writings that describe the design and usage of machines resembling Iron Bundle."

Iron Hands--"It is said to have fists that move independent of its body and to be capable of throwing large, fast-moving vehicles. A leading theory holds that Iron Hands was once an athlete who became mortally wounded but was kept alive by being made into a cyborg. Why it so strongly resembles Hariyama, however, remains unanswered."

Iron Jugulis--"It was reported to have razed an entire building with a high-energy blast, then flown off as if to find its next objective. Iron Jugulis is theorized to be a sort of machine-Hydreigon hybrid, as it combines the former's ruthlessness with the latter's ferocity." How bad is Hydreigon's ferocity? "There are a slew of stories about villages that were destroyed by Hydreigon. It bites anything that moves."

Iron Moth--"The name Iron Moth was borrowed from that of a flying object described in the era-defining Violet Book. It was said to resemble Volcarona and would descend from the skies, following people around and occasionally even attacking them. Some point to Iron Moth's aggression as a sign that it is, in fact, a UFO of sorts being controlled by alien life. Perhaps something out there is using Iron Moth to observe us, waiting for the moment to mount an invasion…"

Iron Thorns--"It appears to be highly intelligent and clad in metallic armor, causing some to speculate that it may be a Tyranitar as it would appear a billion years from now." This one is actually pretty chill, which is hilarious considering it's the Paradox form of Tyranitar (a.k.a Knockoff Godzilla).

Iron Valiant--"One theory holds that it is in fact a robot—the product of a mad scientist's efforts to create the most powerful psychic Pokémon of all. It's also said to be cruel enough to take its brilliantly shining blade and cut down anyone confronting it without hesitation."

And Miraidon--"It resembles Cyclizar, but it is far more ruthless and powerful. This seems to be the Iron Serpent mentioned in an old book. The Iron Serpent is said to have turned the land to ash with its lightning."

So yeah, needless to say, bringing these Pokemon to the present was a BAD IDEA. Turo was so consumed by his dream of creating a "paradise" for both Paradox and present-day Pokémon (and their own family), that he was blinded, willfully or not, to the danger that they would present if they were introduced into the ecosystem unchecked. This culminated in the original Professor's death when the second Koraidon/Miraidon turned out to be much more aggressive than the first one, leading to him getting killed when they tried to intervene in a fight between the two. Unfortunately for everyone, after his partner left him, Turo's obsession grew and was complimented with paranoia, leading him to create the AI as he determined he could only trust himself--who was forced by his programming to carry on the original's work--and to put the long list of shutdown overrides into the time machine. By the time of the game, the Paradox Pokemon are already spreading outside of Area Zero, and it's only a matter of time before they overrun Paldea and wreak havoc on the present.

In conclusion, Turo's fixation on creating a utopian future ended up threatening the present by putting Paldea at risk of ecological disaster and endangering everyone living in the region by unleashing a bunch of homicidally violent robots from a strange and terrifying future where Pokemon have been warped beyond recognition.

.

[flameraven]

Misc Thoughts on Pokemon Scarlet/Violet

-The opening was definitely slower than I'd like, I was a little bored, but once you get let out to explore the world it's really fun! Very similar to Legends: Arceus but much improved. Key detail: you can pick up items while mounted! This was really annoying to not be able to do in PLA.

-I've been pretty lucky and not run into any major glitches. Sometimes the background is a little wobbly but the overworld has run okay. I definitely noticed some major lag as the game tried to load each item when I was shopping. -The world is big and exciting but still feels awfully empty. The towns have these huge wide streets and giant houses, but there's not really anything to do in them. You can't even go inside NPCs houses, there's only the shops -I feel like they split up the clothing shops in the main city to make it seem bigger and more full, but it just made shopping inconvenient. What's the point of a giant castle/city if there's nothing THERE? -I'm still not thrilled with the school uniform but it's not as ugly as I feared. Still hoping that we get some real clothes post-game, or possibly as a DLC option. (Why does the new kid get to wear her Eevee hoodie and I can't??) -that school is definitely not ADA compliant, wtf are all those stairs -I'm enjoying riding around on my giant motorcycle dragon a lot more than I thought, and Koraidon running with his legs looks a lot less stupid than it did in the trailers (he tucks his tail in to make the back "wheel"! What a cool detail!). Cannot wait to climb up walls. -Your dragon making a catlike "Brrrp!" noise when you summon it is perfect, A+, 11/10 -I do find the map a bit hard to navigate, it can be hard to find the bridges to cross rivers and such and figure out how to get to different areas. -I really really wish we could mark places on the map like BotW! I found a cool glowy sword in the ground I couldn't reach, and I know I won't remember where it is later. -The variety of pokemon available and how many new pokemon you can find are really cool. I do like that they didn't show most of the new mons because it makes them more fun to discover. I think there's also a good balance of Pokemon spread out in the grass, sometimes they clump up, sometimes they're single, but it's not obvious "sections" the way SwSh Wild Areas were. -I love that the game is like 'BTW the crater is SUPER DANGEROUS, don't go there!!' so we all know where the plot is going to end up. Spoilers on Pokemon/Evolutions below:

-I got spoiled on the starter evos and... yeah honestly not a fan of the final forms. Giant spooky crocodile is okay but not as cool as the idea I had in my head, Grass Cat is just kind of boring and similar to Delphox, and Quaxly is just... WTF. I heard "fabulous" and "peacock" before I saw the images, and I think an actual peacock would have been cool, but instead we got... that. D: Nintendo, please stop with the anthro starter evos, they're not good. -Paldean Tentacool is a horror show, I hate it. X) -Pawmi is ADORABLE, I love him. Although the 2nd and 3rd evolutions are awfully similar, seems like it could have just been a 2-stage pokemon. There are SO MANY new pokemon I want to try out, though, I keep switching things in and out of my team, it's really fun. So far my team is: Clodsire, Azumarill, middle stage Fuecoco, Pawmot(? the third one), the tiny fire megaman, and the Flamingo, which is WAY stronger than I expected. Bulbapedia says it has a base attack of 115?! That's huge! Also working on evolving the little floaty psychic thing because apparently it becomes an ostrich?! There are a lot of new bird pokemon in this game, I approve. May need to do another run someday with an all-bird team.

[sunnidaydreamer]

Hyrule Warriors

The game came out in 2014 for the Wii U, but we all know that.

I’ve written before about Hyrule Warriors, a thing I brought over from my old account, but I have more.

We know the gameplay is repetitive, not for everyone, and after a while makes my thumbs hurt.

But mowing down so many enemies, taking out GIANT bosses, especially since they’re bosses we know from the series…

So much dopamine(for me at least).

But I get where people are coming from, the combat could have more nuance to it.

I never had a chance to play the games before Breath of the Wild, I’d love to some day, and while I know it isn’t canon, Hyrule Warriors is canon to me!

There are so many things the game does right, I think.

It’s a love letter to the series, and it shows.

They only have five characters that were made for the game(Lana, Cia, Volga, Wizzro, and Linkle), and the rest are characters from the various games.

The original characters feel like characters you might find in the games, depending on the style of the game.

But that’s where we start to run into some problems.

I’ve seen it all over: the story is not that good.

I’ve also seen people say ‘Well, it’s a spin-off’, ‘Well, it’s a Warriors game’ ‘What do you expect?’

And I say, no. Spin-offs, Warriors games, they can have good stories.

A little more effort could have gone a long way.

Cia could have had more depth to her than she had. They could have dug deeper into the war element. Gave us little interactions in between levels. Maybe even interactions between characters not in the storyline(I’m not sure how this would work but I’d kill for some meta between Volga and Young Link since Volga is based on Volvagia. Maybe some manga references? Eh? Maybe?).

Flesh out the story more.

Maybe even do more things like Cia and Linkle’s Tale. Do Volga, do Sheik, do anyone. Give us more story. Flesh it out.

I want to know MORE.

What was Volga’s life like? What happened to make Wizzro? What the HELL was Zelda thinking, abandoning her soldiers who looked up to her and leave them and Impa to worry and think that was a good idea? Girl what were you thinking?

(You were gonna add Sheik to the roster anyway, how could you not, no need to shoehorn Sheik into the story mode just to have them there)

Adventure Mode is HUGE there are SO MANY levels. I saw a video where it took someone over A THOUSAND HOURS to 100%. Holy shit. Did adventure mode need to be so big? There are so many maps.

Also why does Link get so many alternate weapons and everyone else gets bupkis? Zelda and Lana each get three, Impa and Ganondorf get two, everyone else gets nothing.

Some characters I guess I get it; Wizzro I can’t see using anything else, or Zant.

But come on there are surely other things you can give other characters.

Give Volga a war axe! Give Ghirahim double swords! Something!

Also some of these alt weapons are, in my humble opinion, shit.

The dominion rod for Zelda makes no sense to me. The spear and summoning gate for Lana suck, and the spinner and great fairy for Link are just bad. Great fairy’s hit box is just too big, the spinner is hard to get good damage on.

Lana’s summoning gate makes no sense to me, I can’t figure it out even with guides.

I just… some of these weapons.

And why does Link need so many?? Who was asking for Link to be bottled by the great fairy? Or for Epona to become a weapon?

Also, other Warriors games have mounts, why not this one? The owl statues are a little too far apart to really work, and with so much ground to cover mounts would be so helpful. Maybe even have different styles depending on characters(Link, Zelda etc get horses, Ganondorf get his horse and not an Epona recolor, Ruto has someone carry her).

Let’s look at other stuff.

The fairy system. It’s cute enough. Is it ever explained in depth anywhere and I just missed it? I know for Young Link the fairy power thing is broken, but is it really useful anywhere else? You can get through story mode without it, was it just put in for adventure mode?

And skulltulas! Oh my god I hate skulltulas! I get they’re a reference to the series(Ocarina of Time having them and I think another game) but why are the conditions to get them so difficult? Why are their locations sometimes so obscure?

Let’s talk Bosses.

The Imprisoned. Oh LORD the Imprisoned.

I hate it, I hate it so much. I hate how when you knock it down it chases you. I hate the red lightning thing it does when it walks. I hate its big squishy toes. Whenever there’s a timed mission that it’s in it feels like it takes so long to kill it, like it knows you’re on a crunch.

Phantom Ganon

Can anyone tell me how to do the deadmans volley? I can’t pin down the prompt or when to hit it back. I hate when it splits into four, and for me, it seems like that’s its favorite move it’s all it does!

Ganon

He’s alright I guess. Final boss, lots of health, makes sense. What is the move where he barrels across the field and starts to glow, does anyone know what I’m supposed to use for that move?

Manhandla

The most irritating, aggravating thing I have ever seen.

The way it runs around while laughing, the FUCKING BULLET SEED NO MATTER HOW FAR AWAY YOU ARE.

I hate it.

Gohma

Eh, it’s fine. Not too hard, easy tells.

King Dodongo

Once again, it’s fine. Sometimes takes forever to open it’s dang mouth, and that’s annoying for timed missions but whatever it’s fine.

Argorok

Annoying, but not terrible. Can be trouble if it catches you in the flamethrower stream though.

Helmaroc King

Another that can be annoying but like Dodongo has easy tells and isn’t too hard.

I don’t really like the upgrades system, all the item grinding. It makes sense, but some of the items associated with character power ups kinda confuse me.

Volga needs Zelda’s Crown for one of his, why? Cause dragons like shiny things? There are a couple others but that one stands out to me.

RUPEES.

Is there a way to grind them good? Because you need SO MANY for character leveling. And it always seems like there are characters that need grinding.

Yes I know, that one corner in Master Quest Map, but there have to be other ways.

Characters. Let’s talk about the original characters, shall we?

Cia. Oh boy.

While I’m sure it was not meant with malicious intent, making her dark-skinned when evil is very poor taste. Same with over-sexualizing her. We see in her Guardian of Time that she’s pale, Lana’s skin tone in fact. Yeah, her top has cutouts showing the tops of her breasts and clavicle(and a very dumb looking hat but so is her other hat).

Her evil outfit shows so much skin, and I don’t think Nintendo would let this slide in a canon game(Great Fairy is about the most we get, but I’m not an expert on Zelda character models).

And what was her goal? Was it Link(as in the in game incarnation of Link), or was it the Hero’s Spirit in general? Add the triforce(for some reason. I think I need to replay Story Mode…).

She and Lana are two parts of a whole, yes? Lana is Good Part, Cia is Bad Part. Lana explains this, saying ‘I am the good that was pushed out of Cia’s heart’, give or take. So how, unless I’ve missed something, how is Cia good again at the end of the Wind Waker storyline?

And I know that Ganondorf was influencing her, but isn’t she a little too easily forgiven? She started a whole war! Countless people died(as is the nature of war)! She brainwashed two people(does Wizzro count as people?), maybe more! I know Ghirahim did, and he was working for her at the time.

How does she even SURVIVE? Didn’t she dissolve/disappear/evaporate at the end of the main story?

Lana

She’s Cia’s Good Part. She’s sweet, and supportive, and kind of a third wheel to the obvious Zelda x Link action. Because it’s obviously implied over the course of the story that they have some sort of growing feelings, and Lana sees it. I think they were going for love triangle, but it might have been cut down, either for time or for other reasons.

I would have liked to know more about her, aside from the Cia connection. Make her more of her own person, since a lot of it seems to rely on the connection between them. I would have loved to see her first days separated from Cia, finding out about her new sense of direction, what drew her to Faron.

There are so many directions they could have gone with her, and I wish we’d gotten more.

Her outfit also stands out, seemingly more appropriate for a magical girl anime than a Zelda game. With a little more work it could have fit better, but I think they really wanted her to stand out from Cia. The problem is, she stands apart TOO much. I’ve seen multiple people say they didn’t understand the big reveal, when Cia’s mask is knocked off. That they apparently have the same face, but that was too little.

Why’d they change Cia to be taller, why’d they give Lana bright blue hair? There are ways they could have made them similar but different. Maybe give Lana a closer hair color, make them the same skin tone, same eyes! There are ways to make them different, but still make the reveal more of a reveal instead of a what happened moment.

Volga

We know very little about Volga, and he’s supposed to be Cia’s General, her right hand man. Couldn’t we have gone a little more into him, both before and after brainwashing? For as strong as he’s supposed to be, for all the fear shown by the normal soldiers when he appears, shouldn’t we see more of him? More of him devastating the army or being otherwise well known as a fearsome enemy?

I’d have loved a Volga’s Tale, where we see his point of view leading up to Cia, maybe more of his breaking through the brainwashing as we see near the end of Cia’s Tale. More of his relationship to the Dinolfos and Lizalfos he leads.

There was so much they could have done to give us more, but like with Lana I think they had to cut stuff for time.

His design is peak, though I would love a helmetless skin. Or maybe an armor-less skin. Also some of the recolors are shit, like for real. I get they are referencing past characters but some are so ugly.

Wizzro

Wizzro, if I recall, is a cursed ring. Like the ring is the Real Wizzro, the form he takes is just the culmination of souls he absorbed. And it was Cia’s magic that gave him form. But he was hidden in Volga’s caves by the Gorons, who somehow got hold of the ring. And they kept their eye on it hard, like they KNEW when Cia was there and automatically assumed she was there for the ring.

But, maybe because he’s made of so many different souls, he’s a backstabber even when brainwashed(as much as a spirit can be brainwashed). Like he even tries to ditch her for Ganondorf in one mission(and I think Ganondorf tells him to fuck off).

And couldn’t they do more with his shapeshifting? Like I know he pretends to be Zelda and Lana at one point, but there’s so much potential there.

He’s also supposed to be many spirits in one right? Wouldn’t it be cool to see them, I don’t know, have different personalities? Like maybe speaking through the main body somehow? Or separating and being used for an attack, like Cia has the Dark Links?

Linkle

Linkle was designed as a female Link. I can see why they steered away from that idea, maybe too much too soon. But they could have connected them, like making them siblings or something. That could have been a whole story! Maybe have Linkle’s Tale intertwine with the main story somehow. Like, have Linkle’s Tale, then have her join the main party at some point.

But I guess that would have meant more stages, and maybe they didn’t have time for that. But they could have connected them somehow. Give a Link a family! The only one that had one is Link from Wind Waker, that I know of. I guess Twilight Princess Link had Rusl and his family as a sort of adoptive family, but it’s not a confirmed thing.

Wouldn’t it have been cool, having siblings Link and Linkle, fighting side-by-side?

Also, maybe a different name? Linkle sounds like a throwaway name, like they weren’t even trying.

Her weapons are fun, the crossbows at least.

Her sense of direction issues, and insistence that she’s the Hero are kind of annoying, to me at least. I’m sure others find it endearing though.

That’s about all I can think of for now, but if anyone has anything to add feel free! And please no discourse or arguing. This is just my feelings.

[sekhisadventures]

Feathers Blue as the Sky

Hallowfall

Laurelgosa had left the inn early, drawn by a strange sensation she couldn’t quite explain. She and the other four had stayed at an inn well away from the village that the incident had occurred at and while the others were still asleep, she couldn’t help feeling like something was very… off… nearby.

She took wing, flying off into the distance as she soared over the bizarre landscape of the land under the caves.

One of the first things she’d noticed from the skies of Hallowfall was the giant flowers, and how they grew. On the surface, flowers would follow the sun, closing their petals at nighttime and opening them again at dawn… but down here with the glow of Beledar remaining in one place constantly (until it would shift from Light to Shadow at seeming random) the flowers all stayed static… facing towards the Star itself.

Nelen had gotten very excited about that and had even taken a few cutting samples to show Shalandrae, the druidess having literal centuries worth of experience in herbalism… but they were off elsewhere in Khaz Algar currently, so they would have to wait.

Laurelgosa felt, not for the first time, that it was a very fortunate thing that she could fly. While most of her allies were stuck grounded as long as Xal’alath’s portal jamming spell also blocked them summoning their mounts, she was a dracthyr… and to her flying was as simple as getting a good leap and using her wings from there.

Finally, after soaring over the landscape she felt a tingle in the back of her mind and looked down, seeing a beach below. She frowned, but she didn’t see any of the korbyss nearby. The korbyss were a rather disturbing species of humanoid deep sea angler fish with a penchant for cannibalism and necromancy who detested the Arathi, and the feeling was quite mutual with all the atrocities they had committed on the citizens of Hallowfall… but this beach seemed deserted.

She landed, looking around, then moved towards a cliff wall, feeling over it. “It… feels like something is here…” she murmured, cocking her head, “But… what?”

She couldn’t explain why, but the sensation from that spot was akin to a pin stuck in a mass of threads, as if it was something pinching her in her clothing… but in her mind instead.

She reached out a clawed hand, pressing it to the stone, and focused. “This feeling… I know this… its…” she blinked in surprise, her eyes going wide, “Bronze magic?!” she gasped.

She focused, and suddenly sand swirled around her claws as the rocks on the wall aged millions of years in a scant few seconds, eroding away to nothing to reveal a hollow behind them! Laurelgosa reached inside, pulling out a sturdy and well-preserved wood-carved box, stamped with the image of an hourglass on the lid.

She opened it up and found three things resting inside. A small hourglass in which the last few sands were trickling away into the bottom, a large leather-bound tome, and a letter. Despite being sealed inside of solid rock, the letter looked so new it could have been written this morning.

Laurelgosa took the letter out and closed the box, tucking it under her arm as she unfolded the parchment. The letter was written in draconic, and said the following:

Laurelgosa,

Hi again! Hope you and your buddies are doing good!

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably gonna get some trouble from that nasty ol’ Nyloc in a few weeks, maybe a month? Couple days? Somewhere around there. (I hope it wasn’t yesterday…)

Anyways, after last time I wanted to help make sure that you guys are ready in case he tries to use the moment again. Normally we can see it coming, but when it comes to chronomancers they can see that we saw it coming and do it differently but then we’ll see that coming so they’ll see that we saw that they saw that… you get the idea.

Good luck!

Your pal,

Chromie

P.S. Say hi to Reno Jackson for me!

Laurelgosa folded the letter back, then took the book out of the box and examined the first page.

It read, again in draconic: “The Spells and Incantations of the Chronowardens.”

She blinked slowly, then looked at the hole in the wall. “… she must have hidden this here centuries ago, then just left it for me to find when the hourglass caused enough of a temporal disturbance for me to sense…” she murmured. As an Evoker Laurelgosa had ties to all five dragonflights, including the bronze dragons, and she was sensitive to temporal anomalies (though depending on how powerful it would be like a mortal feeling a pressure change when a thunderstorm blew in, she would know about it but not be able to do anything.)

This tome however may change that…

She raised a scaled eyebrow, then sighed and tucked the letter and book away, holding it tightly to her chest as she shot back into the air and flew back towards the inn. “Typical bronze…” she tsked, “Going back in time hundreds of years and setting up something this complex and complicated for me to find when I arrived in the present when she could have simply come to Orgrimmar and given me the book… Bunch of show-offs I swear…”

As she flew back to the Inn, however, new events were brewing above.

The Wilds of the Isle of Dorn

Galdia Grimaxe was pointedly staying the fel away from Hallowfall. After finding out that the residents were devout followers of an aspect of the Light she had immediately wanted to go visit this new land under the surface of Azeroth. After having it explained to her patiently and calmly by Nitika that going down there and playing ‘don’t let the furious orc woman stab you to death’ would cause… problems… she had elected to stay on the surface and help defend the rear while the others moved forward.

It was a sound plan really. While the bulk of Dornogal’s defenders would delve into the caverns below, that meant that the city itself would become a less defended (and much more enticing) target to their foes in Azj-kahet… and nerubians were expert tunnelers and could burrow up virtually anywhere they wanted to.

Thus she rode through the wilds on the Isle of Dorn’s surface astride her monstrous companion Nightpelt, the undead worg happily carrying his sister-in-spirit just as he had in life on Draenor before a Lightbound’s crossbow bolt had ended that life.

Galdia rode alone however, while Nitika and Jaie had brought their mounts (which were magical objects rather than animals,) and Laurelgosa, Uh’kue, and Shalandrae didn’t need mounts thanks to their shapeshifting powers, the rest of them had to either borrow a stormrook or other means of transport from the locals, or simply walk wherever they needed to go.

Galdia was annoyed though. She’d gotten used enough to Dareley and Nitika to accept that not all followers of the Light were a bunch of fanatical lunatics like Yrel had been, but as far as the mag’har woman was concerned anyone who worshipped the Light was enemy until proven otherwise.

It was how you stayed alive on Draenor as long as she had.

She grumbled, tearing a strip of jerky in half with her tusks as she rode along through the woods towards where the Cinderbrew Meadery had been. It was already being rebuilt, which Zhan-min was happy about, but construction wasn’t done yet. While it had served its purpose of taking out the nerubian forces massed against Dornogal and their commander, a giant nerubian known as Queensguard Zirix, it had all but cratered the spot where the explosion had happened.

“Well, at least I get to try some of that again soon if I’m lucky…” she grumbled around a mouthful of masticated dried meat, then she jolted as Nightpelt suddenly stopped dead on the path. “Huh?! Hey, whats wrong Nightpelt?” she asked, looking down at her worg.

The undead creature was sniffing at the air, and Galdia’s eyes narrowed. Having a body stitched together by the Maldraxxi had meant they could pick and choose what parts to give him, and his nose was among the best the Stitchmasters had to offer. If he stopped like this, that meant he smelled something that was a threat.

She quickly scarfed down the rest of her jerky, then drew her sword and held it ready, sliding her arm through the straps on her shield. “Get the scent brother…” she whispered low, grinning in anticipation.

Nightpelt sniffed again, then his ears perked up and he growled before charging down the path, Galdia immediately grabbing hold of his mane and hanging on as he raced forward!

She looked around as he ran, trying to spot what Nightpelt had scented, and then she looked up as she heard something. A loud birdlike cry of distress!

“That sounds like one of those weird lightning-gryphons the stone-dwarves use…” she whispered, and a moment later Nightpelt burst into a clearing and she saw what had made it.

Laying there on the ground injured was a stormrook, and its body was covered with layer upon layer of sturdy webbing! Surrounding it were no less than five nerubians, all of their eyes (of which there were quite a few) suddenly fixed on the newcomers.

Galdia snarled and raised her sword, “NIGHTPELT! KILL!” she commanded as the worg roared in response and charged forward, barreling straight for the nearest nerubian!

“OVERCRAWLER!” it shouted, “Go get our reinforcements!” it snapped, pointing at one of the others who nodded and scuttled away as fast as its six legs could carry it. The nerubian turned back to Galdia just in time to see the edge of her sword up close, and then it screamed and fell to the ground as her pandaren forged blade sheared the top of its head off!

Galdia leapt free of the worg as Nightpelt dove atop another nerubian who had been weaving a spell, interrupting the sorcerer’s cast rather effectively… along with most of its bodily functions as the worg’s powerful jaws closed around it’s throat and tore through its flesh!

The remaining two nerubians raced forward, raising their weapons, and Galdia slammed one’s arms out her way with her shield, then rammed her sword up through it’s stomach, tearing it back out as hard as she could as the spider-creature fell to the ground, making quite a mess of the field.

The remaining one stared at what remained of it’s fellow’s corpse, then looked at Galdia.

She grinned back at him, “Well?” she growled, “C’MON BUG! LET’S FIGHT!” she roared.

The nerubian responded by throwing his weapon at her, then turning and running for its life! It got about twenty feet before Nightpelt landed on its back and sank his fangs into the nerubian’s shoulder, the arachnid screaming and flailing as the worg savaged it!

Galdia snorted, “Wuss.” she grumbled, then looked away as she heard another cry from the trapped stormrook.

“Oh right… dunno what the bugs were wanting you for but might as well let you out.” she nodded, walking to the cocoon and starting to slice the fibers free. The rook was covered thoroughly, only it’s head visible as it watched her carefully cut around its form. “Hold still, this shit is stronger than it looks…”

After a few minutes of work she pulled the last of the webs away and the stormrook stretched, letting out a relieved cawing sound as it flexed it’s wings.

Galdia smirked, then she grunted as she heard something in the distance, “Ah shit… forgot about him.” she growled, turning to face the path away.

There was one more nerubian, the one who their leader had sent to get reinforcements, and here they came!

A dozen nerubians, well-armed and armored, were charging towards them. These ones had weapons that looked a lot more serious than the ones she’d killed too, and Galdia realized the reason they went down so easy was that they were just a scouting party… probably foraging for food, which would explain the webbed up stormrook.

These weren’t scouts, these were proper nerubian warriors!

“Ah shit…” she snarled, gripping her sword and readying her shield as Nightpelt ran to her side, growling in defiance. A single scouting party she could massacre with ease, but this was a lot more and she didn’t have the element of surprise now!

At the lead was a large nerubian in sturdy armor, holding a long wicked looking barbed spear. He pointed the tip at her and shouted, “The overcrawler killed our men! DESTROY IT! FOR QUEEN ANSUREK!”

“Go ahead and try bug! LOK’TAR OGAR!” she roared back as Nightpelt howled in fury, clawing at the ground and baring his fangs at the encroaching spiders… and then she heard a loud shriek next to her.

The stormrook was rearing up on it’s hind legs, flapping it’s wings as electricity sparked around it, and she heard thunder rumbling above her.

“Oh yeah, Nelen said you guys can do lighting… FRY ‘EM!” she laughed, looking up… then realizing something.

The stormclouds weren’t over the nerubians… they were above her!

“Huh?! HEY!” she shouted as the clouds above her crackled with lighting, then a bolt shot down towards her! She cried out in alarm and held her sword and shield above her head as the bolt slammed home… yet she felt no pain.

The nerubians had been shocked into hesitation by the lightning strike, the mob keeping their distance, but keeping their weapons ready, as Galdia lowered her arms and looked at her sword and shield.

The metal crackled with electricity, but it didn’t ground itself in her, it seemed to just be held there. “What the fel…” she whispered, then one of the nerubians found it’s courage and charged.

“The stormrook blessed the overcrawler’s weapons! KILL IT! NOW!” it commanded as its spear came towards her. Galdia immediately slammed her shield at the point, intending to knock it away.

There was a crash of thunder and the nerubian went flying back from her, the arachnid’s body crackling with electricity as it landed in a heap!

Galdia stared, then looked down at her sword and shield, still arcing with lightning, and grinned widely. “Guess he’s pissed you tied him up. Works for me!” she laughed, then charged towards them as Nightpelt roared and raced alongside her, dodging around one of the nerubian’s spears and tackling it to the ground, savaging it as Galdia slammed her shield into another as the thunder boomed again and the nerubian fell paralyzed to the ground as its synapses and nerves were fried with a blast of electricity!

The nerubians tried to swarm her, but Galdia’s reflexes were honed by years of combat both on Draenor and Azeroth. Every time her weapons made contact with the nerubians’ armaments the lighting they were filled with discharged into the nerubian fighters, cooking them alive!

Two more went down, leaving six left, but these six seemed to decide that if they all attacked at once they might get lucky! As they charged Galdia heard thunder rumbling above her again and instinct took over.

She held her weapons above her and lifted one foot, then roared and slammed her boot down to the ground as hard as she could just as the lightning flashed above her… and the bolt shot through her weapons, along her body, and grounded itself!

There was a flash to light up the entire forest as the screams of the arachnids filled the air, and when the flash dissipated the ground around her was scorched in a wide circle… and all the nerubians were laying prone, twitching or dead.

Galdia snarled, then tore the tip of one of their spears free from her bicep. “GRAH! Dammit… need to get Nitika to fix that…” she frowned, pulling out a roll of bandages from her pouch for now and wrapping her arm as best she could one handed. “Welp, that’s a shitload of dead bugs. Guess we’re done here Nightpelt.” she grinned, sheathing her sword and moving to get on the worg, then stumbling as she felt something butt into her back.

She looked behind her to find the stormrook staring at her, having nudged it’s head into her, which was big enough to cover most of her back when it did.

“What?” she grunted, cocking her head at it. “You’re free, go on.” she waved her hand at it.

The stormrook stared at her, cocking its head as well, then bumped its head against her arm again, acting almost like a giant cat might.

“You wanna… come with us?” she asked in confusion, glancing back at Nightpelt as he whined, then padded forward and sniffed at the stormrook curiously.

“I guess… I mean… Nightpelt is my worg-brother… but… he can’t fly.” she shrugged, “… and that lightning trick would be useful…” she added, glancing back at the stormrook, then grinning. “Alright…” she nodded, climbing atop Nightpelt and nodding for it to follow her. “Need a name for ya… not sure what would be a good one though…” she thought. Nightpelt’s had been obvious, in life he had totally black fur, just like the night sky. Night. Pelt. Easy.

“Hmm… Razorbeak? Nah… Sharptalon? Eh, feels like it’s been done…” she thought, “Boltbeak… nah that’s dumb… maybe I’ll ask Nelen, he knows a lot of names.” she muttered as the stormrook fell into stride next to her and Nightpelt as they made their way back to the Glittering Prize.

Behind her one of the nerubians rose shakily to its feet, then stumbled away barely alive… and a moment later vanished below the ground as it dug its way to safety.

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