#and it was really fun to playthrough

[tuxedo-rabbit]

Estryd Playthrough part 1

I want to talk a little bit about my Estryd playthrough so far, spoilers for Dark Urge will be discussed

Playing an Amnesiac in D&D is always fun. It gives you time to figure out who this character is exactly, because they don't know either.

At first, I was really leaning in to the dark urges with Estryd, you get prompts every once in a while to think violent things, a couple prompts to do violent things, but really, in the very beginning of the game there isn't a whole lot about it that seems too terribly irredeemable. And the big thing is you can also just choose to ignore the prompts, it's not so much an urge as an option.

So, Estryd was a little off-put by these darker thoughts, but altogether she was more bothered by the fact that she couldn't remember who she was and that she suddenly had magic powers and a tadpole in her head. She only mentioned these violent urges to Lae'zel, and only after Lae'zel described the symptoms of ceremorphosis and Estryd realized that the two may not be related after all.

Things Estryd learned about herself as she collected her party and explored the tiefling camp:

She has violent urges

She's a Warlock, but she doesn't know who her patron is and if they're related to her dark urges

She's got a good amount of knowledge when it comes to the arcane and history

She really likes books

She knows things about plants and alchemy

She's good at convincing people to do what she wants, whether that be through lying, intimidating, or simply persuading. She's best at intimidation.

It was all fun and games until it wasn't.

Estryd met Alfira the bard, and initially, refused to help her. The song was bad and Alfira's sweet peronality got on Estryd's nerves. The only reason she went back and helped is because she thought it would be funny to piss off some nearby squirrels who hated the music (Estryd can be a bit of an ass at times, I mean she is a Dark Urge character after all).

This is when it started to feel like the dark urges may be a separate entity from Estryd.

See, when you refuse the narrator implies you are disgusted by Alfira's too-sweet personality. But when you choose to help, the phrasing changes ever so slightly, to imply that something within you, different from the part of you that chose to help Alfira, is disgusted at your own too-sweet behavior. I can't remember the exact phrasing, but it's the first time the urge is described as not coming from your own psyche but something else within you instead.

After helping Alfira, when the party takes a long rest, Alfira joins your camp. I don't know what happens when you are not playing a dark urge character, probably fun things. What happened with Estryd is that she woke up covered in blood with Alfira's corpse at her feet.

I cannot describe how completely unprepared I was for this. There had been no consequences thus far, and now suddenly you feel dangerous. Estryd was horrified. She didn't even try to hide the body (the game gives you that option though), she just waited for everyone to wake up so they could decide whether or not to kill her.

The companion reactions were interesting.

Gale and Lae'zel were squarely in the "You're dangerous and completely at fault" camp,

Shadowheart was the same except with a slight "but you clearly feel guilty and that says something"

Wyll was 100% in denial that it was Estryd. The man truly thought someone else broke into camp and framed her. Like, so sweet my dude, but no. it was her.

And my favorite, Astarion, Mr. "I'm not even bothered but you really should have hidden the body better"

Also you can ask Withers to resurrect her and he will bluntly tell you "No :)"

Love these guys so much. (No Karlach because she was not recruited yet.)

This was a game changer. How do you move forward after discovering you can literally wake up to find out you've killed a potential companion? Estryd was no longer neutral about the situation. She vowed to never let this happen again. She would find a way to stop them whatever caused these dark urges, or die before she let it overtake her.

She also kept Alfira's lute as a reminder, and I had her multiclass as bard for rp flavor. It's maybe a bit...macabre....for Estryd to keep the lute of the girl she murdered and to start studying how to be a bard to honor her memory, but idk, i like it for this character.

I think I'm going to end this here because it's gotten very long, but I want to record more of Estryd's journey later. I'm currently in the Underdark with her and unlocked a specific memory after the game let me do something that felt very D&D-esque. Loving the Dark Urge so far, what a way to tell the player this origin is serious.

[junebugdunes]

this guy amirite

[snarkspawn]

it's so nice to see my boy again, and to put him back into (more of the same) situations

[arthursfuckinghat]

Thinking about how it feels like the world of RDR2 ended when Arthur died, how things would never be the same again, how bittersweet it is meeting the people you once were in a gang with, how much it hurts to play as a shadow of someone you lost. That's when most people stop playing.

But the world didn't end, the world carried on. The people you knew moved on, new people you meet spoke fondly of your brother. The world kept turning and showing you that Arthur may be gone, but his memory is all around you.

His name is etched on a memorial hall donation plaque, the beasts he hunted were hung proud on a veteran's wall, the widow he taught to hunt is now thriving, the strangers he helped on the side of the road talk about the man that saved them, and so much more, but most of all - his hat sits proudly on your head and his journal lays heavy in your satchel.

This part of the game has taught me a lot, but it has taught me to move on most of all.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

In Stars and Disco

(Disco side of the swap)

[neymiiie]

Aigis

[bmpmp3]

i love alan wake 2 alan. hes so scared and wet

[mewnia]

Anyway, @the-east-art , @browniefox , and I found the camera angle in this scene to be interesting during our playthrough the other day. Couldn’t get it out of my head haha :P

Bonus:

[herearedragons]

...okay this was supposed to be a tag rant on another post I was drafting, but this kind of makes a better point than what I was writing originally so let me try that again.

The thing about Edér Pillars Of Eternity and his theme of second chances is that not only that theme is everywhere for him (seriously. I did Not remember it being that present in his early dialogue but IT IS) but that his relationship with it changes over time.

At first, he's a worshipper of the god of second chances. Then, he is the one being offered a second chance, not by his god, but by a stranger who saves him from being hanged by literally just giving him something else to do with his life. Then, in Deadfire, he is the one delivering the Watcher's second chance, dragging them out of Caed Nua after it's been destroyed by Eothas. At that moment, he's closer to the embodiment of second chances than Eothas himself, which is kind of wild and exactly the kind of character arc I find fun, apparently.

[satellite-starss]

silly little green path doodle 😈😈 i have undertale art planned for tommorow hehe (trying too get back into the swing of posting regularly)

[corvys-clover]

What's a little world conquering between friends?

Thank you to @coolseabird for commissioning me to draw these two sillies! The vision was glorious and I hope I did it justice :>

Commissions open!

[bbeebles]

cutie color beam art aaa yay !! ( ´◠ ·̮ ◠`) some art I did over the past 2 weeks! had these concepts in mind for a hot minute hehe

[basketobread]

[thehoodedneku]

I'm replaying Borderlands 2 as Zer0 and they have some of the best outfits I swear! Zer0 is probably my fav Borderlands character. Rhys and Gaige are also my favs but Zer0 wins for being cool (extra points for being a sniper which is often my play style) <3

[amygdalae]

my dark urge warlock is so cuuute

[sysig]

I have an idea for the requesttober, could you make Scriabin like an endermen? I feel that Scriabin would be an endermen if he were in Minecraft's world

Day 11 - No eye contact >:(