#at least with the thieves guild you don’t become the guild master until you got all the strength back in all the major cities

[littledragondork]

The companions questline is so funny

I show up, get paid to beat up some guy on the street, go into one (1) dungeon for them and next thing I know I am promoted to one of their top guys and am turned into a werewolf

[writingpracticetime]

Interactions with other villains

From the notes of Mitchell Newman:

Let me set the scene.

First, the Discreet Entrepreneur’s Network, or the DEN as it is appropriately titled, is a loosely organized guild of sorts for villains to meet and exchange illegal goods and services. It’s members are vicious, super-powered criminals of all stripes--master thieves, serial killers, unethical scientists, the whole spectrum. They’re dangerous, violent, and not at all kind to non-members, or even new members.

Second, we have Constructor. A famous hero and  goody two shoes who only ended up in prison for protesting a mass eviction. More to the point, an (admittedly, not self described) pacifist who at the time was famously bad at combat.

The DEN should have torn Constructor to pieces, and this whole problem should have ended there. Instead our goody two shoes swipes dozens of members and eventually breaks the whole network into pieces.

How?

---

You have always been bad at public speaking.

You don’t stammer.  But seeing lots of eyes on you makes you freeze and all of the words you planned slip away. It doesn’t help that at least half of the people in this room are murderers, but they would have the same effect if they were third graders.

You wish Sandy was here again. She was always good at coaching you through these things. The only reason you ever made it through interviews or press talks was because of her prep work.

"The pipeline," you try again.

The Organizer quirks an eyebrow at you. For a second he looks to his assistant, a pale woman whose eyes are fixed on, and then he motions at you. "Go on."

"the pipeline they're building," you try again. "Its damaging to the environment. The people don’t want it there. And it’s. Illegal."

The crowd actually bursts into laughter.  You’re too used to talking to politicians.

---

Afterwards, Bonfire nods sympathetically at your grimace on your way out.

“There’s a reason I’m not a member,” she tells you.

“Did you hear? Did I…?”

Did I do good? It’s the sort of approval you used to seek from Sandy. You stop yourself, because you already know the answer regardless. Not a single person in that room approached you to join your next operation.

“There’s still the two of us,” Bonfire shrugs. “Best not to work with too many, anyway. That’s how snitches worm their way in.”

“Yes but…”

“Wait!”

A reedy voice calls after you. You don’t recognize the stick figure man who darts after you, eyes darting.

“Wait, okay okay okay okay,” he says, quickly. “Constructor. I’m--Cyberscout. I, your pitch, I mean--”

You wait. You hear a flare of irritation at your shoulder.

“Okay, your pitch sucked,” Cyberscout says. “Didn’t you used to go on TV? Man. N-not to down you or anything, what I mean to say is, just… I can help you with that. Not with your speaking skills, but getting the word out other ways, and doing some information gathering for you. So I’ll sign on. Pay back the favor.”

“Favor?”

“Yeah, uh. You jailbroke me,” he says. “I don’t work for nothing, normally I’d ask for a favor or cash but… since you already did me a solid… just this once.”

You hold out your hand, and like that you make your second ally.

---

Your second venture into the DEN goes better. You practice with Bonfire and Cyber ahead of time, so your voice is stronger. When you enter the latest venue, you nod at the Organizer and the silent pale woman next to him, taking a deep breath and refusing to feel intimidated.

Again, you  describe what you’re opposing as wrong. Again, you talk about the people’s wishes. Again, you call it illegal, and again there is snickering, but instead of falling silent your voice booms.

“Are you going to pretend you all don’t care?” you ask, and you hear yourself echo from the back of the hall. “How many of you have been thrown into solitary Akonite cells for store robbery, for having? How many of you got beaten by guards? Now CEOs are lining their pockets with medications they got from experimenting on prisoners just like you have been, and they go completely free. This is illegal, against the public good, all of the things they say about your own actions--and yet the men doing this go free.”

Dead silence.

“If the hypocrisy doesn’t make you furious,” you say. “That’s because you have no fight left in you.”

---

When you leave the conference, you know Bonfire heard because she’s smirking.

“Better?”

“Better,” she agrees. “Still no takers?”

“They’re probably worried about losing face,” Cyberscout says. “I mean, I was. But after a talk like that, just wait. They’ll trickle in.”

And they do. Days after, a greying old woman approaches you. She seems hesitant to meet your eyes or speak at first but when she does his tone is cold, brusque, and to the point.

“You may have heard of me, you may not have,” she says. “But to the point, I know a few things about unethical experiments, how they are run...and how to help the subj--victims. If you are willing to look past my past indiscretions, I can be an asset.”

“I care more about what you’re willing to do now than anything you’ve done in the past,” you tell her.

She holds out her hand stiffly.

“Call me Asag,” she says. “Dr. Asag.”

---

At your third DEN meeting, the Organizer’s lips thin as he sees you. He once again exchanges whispers with his assistant before glowering at you. You brush him off, and stand to explain your next venture.

“One more thing,” you say. “Before anyone here thinks of joining, this is going to be a no-kill operation.”

“What?” booms a hulking figure in the back. “Are you fucking serious?”

“No interrupting,” the Organizer drones, but you speak up.

“Wait,” you say. “Let him talk.”

The man steps forward, and you have an instant flash of recognition. It would be impossible not to recognize him, actually. You don’t think you've met anyone else that big.

“You don’t know shit about what it’s really like out there!” the giant says. “You really expect anyone to go out and not defend themselves?”

“I didn’t say you can’t defend yourselves,” you explain. “I said you can’t kill anyone.”

“You can’t get shit done if you’re not willing to kill,” the man says, darkly.

“Really. And how has that worked for you? Wait--” you make a show of trying to remember him. “Oh wait, I know. It got you in prison. Where I broke you out, without killing anyone.”

There is actually some laughter. In your favor this time. It makes you grin.

“Hobbes, right?” you ask. “It’s possible to fight and neutralize someone without killing them, and it’s usually better that way because then the feds can’t justify using as much force against you.”

“Then I’d like to see you try to neutralize a real super,” Hobbes spits.

“Alright,” you say. “Come at me then, and I’ll show you.”

“Absolutely not!” the Organizer shouts. “There will be no fights during conventions!”’

You don’t even spare him a glance. “Outside, then”

The Organizer hisses at the entire crowd follows you both, eager to see blood. “This isn’t--the rules--”

After a fight that admittedly takes a lot more out of you than your previous efforts neutralizing low ranking heroes, Hobbes grumpily becomes your next ally.

---

More and more come to you. Some asking for monetary compensation, some asking for prison breaks in the future, and some who seem to be as drawn to your ideals as you are, deep down.

With each venture, the Organizer seems less and less happy to have you appear, until one day when you are about to come to another gathering you find yourself barred.

“You’ve broken enough rules,” the Organizer says, darkly. “You aren’t welcome in the DEN anymore.”

“What rules?” you ask.

There are a few, of course. Some minor things here and there, but nothing that got anyone else banned. He tells you, and you are about to object but someone else cuts in first.

“You’ve been cutting into his profits.”

It’s the pale assistant. Her voice is weak and thready, like she can barely speak up.

“What are you talking about?” the Organizer sneers. “I never--”

“He’s been working with some of those corporations you’ve been undercutting with your, um, stuff,” she says, her voice getting higher. “B-both sides. Always got to work both sides, he thinks. Get some villains to help, sell out the others.”

Other people inside are listening, murmuring. The gathering of villains are getting agitated--clearly, this is news to all of them, as well.

“Please,” the assistant says. “I have proof. I’m a--I read minds. I can tell you everything, just get me away safely and I’ll--”

He turns on her and attacks, hands around her throat. You don’t even have to think about it. You slam concrete into the Organizer’s face, and all hell breaks loose. Someone grapples you--and then Hobbes wrings them off you. Bonfire, always drifting at the edge of the event, darts in and jerks the coughing assistant out of the fray. And with that, your last venture at the DEN becomes an all out brawl.

You decide it’s still better than public speaking.

---

---

MN: So, real talk for a moment. How did you do it? Money? Threats? Brainwashing? I know there were a few mind control types in your group.

#4598: Hm?

MN: How does a hero go to a bunch of violent crooks and end up leading them?

#4598: The only way you can. With their consent.

[morporkian-cryptid]

Today in "Elliott's Niche AF AUs": one (1) person asked me about this, sooooo...

Lupin III Discworld AU crossover headcanon pile thingy!!!

For those who don't know: Discworld is a flat world held on the back of four giant elephants on top of a giant turtle, floating through space. That world has magic, as well as trolls, dwarves, goblins etc... but in a way that's meant to subvert typical fantasy tropes.

Ankh-Morpork, the biggest city on the Disc, is a hotbed of crime, innovations, and innovations in crime. It is run by a council of guilds, and by a Patrician (a lifelong tyrant; he's elected by the guilds but he has the final say in everything). Notorious for having an Assassins', Thieves', Beggars', and Seamstresses' (sex workers) Guilds. Also notorious for its Watch (the police), which is actually surprisingly good at solving crimes. It's also the biggest immigration destination on the Disc.

Character backstories/situations:

Lupin : half-quirmian-half-agatean (Quirm being the DW equivalent of France), grew up in the Agatean Empire (DW equivalent of China/East Asia). He moved to Ankh-Morpork to follow Fujiko, and/or to escape Zenigata. He’s an illegal thief (meaning he's not registered with the Thieves' Guild), and his favourite hobby (besides just stealing in general) is screwing with the Guild. Commander Vimes, the head of the Watch, is supposed to catch him (or at least help Zenigata catch him), but he's secretly rooting for him because he dislikes the Guild slightly more than he dislikes Lupin.

Jigen : son of a couple of Agatean immigrants in Ankh-Morpork, grew up as a street urchin in the Shades (the most crime-ridden neighborhood of the notoriously crime-ridden Ankh-Morpork). He joined the Assassins’ Guild later in his life as a (mostly self-taught) sharpshooter, with a talent that outshone that of the Guild's best students. He later quit the Guild after he met Lupin (possibly had a contract to kill Lupin, and decided “screw this I’m going with him”). He can use any kind of shooting weapons, but favors crossbows. He’s tried stealing and using the gonne (DW's first and only firearm); it didn't go well. He somehow managed to learn one single spell from the wizards, the fireball, by becoming pals with Arcchancelor Ridcully (wizard, head of the Unseen University, and famous for his unfortunate passion for crossbow shooting).

Goemon : agatean immigrant/fugitive, master swordsman. He left Agatea because Fujiko stole his Zantetsuken and fled to Ankh-Morpork, so Goemon had to follow her to retrieve his sword. He then met Lupin and Jigen and decided to stick around. The Zantetsuken is a talking sword, and its personality is basically the embodiment of Bushido. It's extremely annoying (like all talking swords), but Goemon loves it. (it was probably his only friend back in Agatea)

Fujiko : agatean immigrant/fugitive. Ran away from the Agatean Empire chased by Goemon. She joined the Thieves’ Guild, but everyone confuses her for a seamstress because her technique usually involves seduction. She tried it on Vetinari once. It failed spectacularly.

Zenigata : agatean immigrant, part of the Empire’s police force, who came to Ankh-Morpork chasing Lupin. He only brought his assistant Yata with him, and has to cooperate with the Watch to have resources to catch Lupin. Vimes doesn’t particularly like him, but he’s good at his work so he can’t say anything (they're both too stubborn to get along).

Bonus:

Yata: Zenigata’s assistant, came to Ankh-Morpork with him, rapidly became great friends with Rufus Drumknott (the Head Secretary of the Patrician, Lord Vetinari). He has a bad influence on Drumknott. He also befriended Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson, but then again Carrot befriends everyone.

Ami: She's a clacks operator. Clacks are basically the DW equivalent of telegraph. There's a group of clacks hackers called the GNU, so she might have joined them.

Albert: He's part of the Patrician's Dark Clerks (they're the secret services of Ankh-Morpork)

Rebecca: She's from Quirm. That’s all I have about her for now. (Quirm's the equivalent of France, but in the french translation it was made into an equivalent of Italy)

Random-Ass Headcanons

Lupin gets along like a house on fire with Moist von Lipwig (former conman and current postmaster, notorious adrenaline junkie), both figuratively and literally. Lupin and Lipwig sometimes team up on heists and rely on each other’s help, when they’re not busy competing against each other because Lupin keeps daring Lipwig to thieving competitions.

One of the contests’ goal is to steal Vetinari’s manuscript, The Servant. Fujiko wins. She wasn’t even in the race.

///

Fujiko quickly became friends with Adora-Belle Dearheart (Moist von Lipwig's rather explosive girlfriend), they get together every now and then to trash-talk their respective boyfriends.

///

For some reason everyone thinks Lupin is a werewolf. (it’s actually Jigen)

(maybe. I haven't yet decided whether or not he is. That would be a very good source of angst, considering what most werewolves are like, and also a very good source of domestic fluff if the whole gang has to adapt to the moon cycle and Jigen's transformations. Idk. Might be fun.)

///

Fujiko owns a horse golem (a gift from Adora-Belle or something she stole, we may never know). The Gang also owns a carriage, modified with a spell so it will drive faster, and they drive it completely carelessly. It has been destroyed and rebuilt countless times. (actually a bunch of spells, Lupin probably found a way to blackmail Ridcully so he could mod the shit out of his carriage. Or they rely on Jigen’s friendship with Ridcully)

///

Lupin uses swamp dragons as firearms (dialogue courtesy of @marquise-de-clarabas: Jigen: You stole a dragon??? Lupin: I didn’t steal him! He’s his own person and can make decisions himself! Dragon: I wanna steal). He has an alias and disguise entirely dedicated to visiting the Sunshine Sanctuary For Sick Dragons, and somehow became friends with Lady Sybil Ramkin-Vimes (Commander Vimes' wife, and the greatest expert on swamp dragons in the city, probably on the Disc). Vimes doesn't know about it, and Lupin finds the whole situation hilarious. He constantly makes jokes about how he’s playing with fire.

///

The Thieves’ Guild and the Watch are competing to catch the Gang, but secretly Vimes is rooting for the Gang (the Guild just hates them). That said, Vimes also hates Lupin (only slightly less than he dislikes the Guild), because he's always a little shit whenever he gets put in jail, and then he immediately breaks out.

///

Rincewind (famously bad wizard with a shit luck and a tendency to run from problems) once got arrested by Zenigata, because he got startled by him yelling LUPAAAAAAAAAN! and started running for the hills, making Zenigata believe he was Lupin in disguise. Rincewind is terrified of Zenigata.

///

Zenigata is actively trying to stop the Thieves' Guild from catching Lupin and Co, both because he wants to catch them himself, and because he knows what the Guild does to illegal thieves and he doesn’t want it to happen to Lupin.

///

Lupin stole Ridcully’s hat (custom wizard hat with a bunch of pockets, drawers, a crossbow, and a tiny flask of alcohol) as a gift for Jigen’s birthday. He also stole Lipwig’s hat (golden cap with dove wings), after which Adora claimed she didn’t recognize Moist (dialogue courtesy of @marquise-de-clarabas: Moist: C’mon babe, it’s me, your boyfriend! Adora, knowing full well who he is: I have never met this man in my entire life). He also raided the Assassins' Guild's armory/museum to get a birthday gift for Goemon.

///

About Jigen and the gonne (spoilers for Men at Arms) : basically, the gonne being such a dangerous and destructive weapon compared to crossbows, it has a nigh-magical attraction on people, and awakens and strengthens whatever lust for power, vengeance, blood etc they have. It basically controls its user and feeds on their convictions, addictions, wants, etc. The only person known to have resisted it is Vimes (because he's a stubborn mofo with a sense of morals you could bend iron on), and even he came damn near to losing his mind. (And Carrot, because... he's Carrot.)

Assuming the gonne didn't get destroyed in this AU: after they steal it, Lupin tries to use it, gets completely possessed/cursed (again) and accidentally tries to murder his friends (again), prompting Jigen to take it from him. Jigen then gets possessed as well, and they start fighting for the gonne, until Goemon just walks in, takes it out of their hands and takes it away. Goemon's completely unaffected by the gonne because 1) of his ascetic training and 2) "it is a filthy morporkian artifact and cannot compare to the noble art of the sword."

///

Zenigata often teams up with Angua (resident werewolf of the Watch), they get along very well. The Gang is very easy to track, they smell like a tobacco factory that has caught on fire.

///

Yata and Drumknott (Patrician's head secretary, and confidante, sort of) get together after office hours, and argue about whose boss is the best (because as we all know they both have a crush on respective bosses). One day Drumknott accidentally calls Vetinari “Sempai” after he heard Yata call Zenigata that all the time.

///

Lupin follows Lipwig’s example and steals all of Yata’s pencils every time he visits the Pseudopolis Yard (the Watch's HQ). Drumknott is fuming when Yata tells him about it.

///

Leonardo Da Quirm is butt-naked, because Part 4.

///

Something with vampires, probably.

///

tagging @carriagelamp and @mad-whoman-with-a-book00 because I know you may be potentially interested in this AU ^^

[storyofmychoices]

Welcome Home

[Mal Volari x Daenarya Masterlist] [Mal’s Orphanage Series]

Characters: Mal Volari, Daenarya (F!MC, human), Rayden (OC), Lydo (OC), Vayne (OC)

Warnings: brief allusion to child abandonment and abuse (Mal visits the Thieves Guild), threats of violence, swearing/language

Setting: Mal and Daenarya have opened an orphanage in White Tower. They have taken in a young boy, Rayden, and have been looking for his brother who has been missing for over a month. At the market, Rayden said he saw Lydo being dragged away by a man with a tattoo very similar to Mal’s. 

This follows Back Where it All Started

(This is the fourth part of Rayden & Lydo’s story. I decided to break this part in half, so part five should be the last part of their initial adoption story.)

Synopsis: Mal promises to retrieve Lydo (Rayden’s missing brother) but to do that he has to return to the one place he never wanted to return.

☆  ☆  ☆  ☆   ☆   ☆   

His tearstained face was hidden in his pillow as Daenarya softly stroked his back trying to soothe the five-year-old. 

Mal brushed the boy’s hair to the side, kneeling beside the bed. “Here. Try this.” He held out a glass of warm milk with some herbs.

“Nuh-uh!” Rayden buried his face further into his bed, scooting away from Mal. 

“It will make you feel better,” Daenarya promised, trying to get his attention. 

“I want Lydo!” He pouted, hugging Beary the Bear tightly against his chest. “He needs help!”

“We will help him, but we need a plan. We don’t want him to get hurt…. Hey. Look at me.” Mal gently turned Rayden’s face to him. “I promised I will get your brother back and I will.”

“When?” He sniffled. The tears on his face mixing with the mucus from his nose.

“Soon. I just need you to trust me. Do you think you can do that?” 

The back of his little hand wiped over his red, swollen eyes. Tears quickly pooled again falling over his warm cheeks. He shrugged unable to stop his lip from quivering. 

Mal sighed heavily, his fingers stroking his chin at a loss for how to help the child. Rayden was only a year younger than he was when he was taken by the Thieves Guild. His eyes crinkled, closing in anguish as the memories of that time flashed back... the sleepless nights, the fear of being in that horrid place, the threats of violence, the loneliness even when surrounded by others. He wouldn't wish that life on any child. He shook away the heavy thoughts, he couldn't change the past but he could make sure one less child had to suffer that fate. He opened his eyes again, focusing on the child that needed him first. His fingers slipped into the coin purse on his belt, shifting around to the bottom in search of the one coin unlike all of the others. He caressed it carefully between his fingers before holding out the unusual coin. 

“My mom gave me this before she died, when I was a little younger than you are now...It’s the only thing I have of hers. I want you to hold on to it until I can rescue your brother.” He gently opened one of Rayden’s balled fists and placed it safely in his palm. “I’m trusting you with this… can you trust me?”

The boy blinked back his tears as he examined the curious coin. It had round edges but a square hole cut out in the center, surrounded by strange symbols. On the back were intersecting lines. “What does it mean?”

“I don’t know,” Mal admitted, watching the child become mesmerized by the coin. “I’ve never seen another like it.” 

“I trust you.” Rayden whimpered. “Just promise to hurry.”

“We will.” Mal brushed his thumb across the boy’s cheek, wiping away his tears. He lifted the glass of milk once more. “Drink this. It will help you rest.”

Rayden sat up and slowly sipped the warm milk. Daenarya took the opportunity to clean his face. Hoping that soon, he would fall asleep and wake up feeling a little better. 

 ☆  ☆   ☆   ☆   

“Are you sure about this?” Daenarya fretted. 

He took her hands in his own, giving them a gentle squeeze. “I have to try it the honorable way first.”

“Mal Volari, being honorable, I never thought I’d see the day.” She nudged him, trying to calm both of their nerves, knowing what he was planning to do was not going to be easily accepted. 

His arms snaked around her He buried his head in her hair, letting her familiar scent remind him of home, as he focused on all the reasons he had to make it back. “I love you, Daeny.”  

“I know!” She pressed him back, smirking as she ran her thumb over his jaw. “And when you come back, I’ll let you know how I feel.”

He leaned into her touch, his beard tingling her skin as he moved to kiss her wrist. “I guess I’ll have to hurry!” 

☆  ☆   ☆   ☆   

The old building, while fortified, was crumbling from time and neglect. Not much had changed since the last time he was there, but why should it have, it’s not like the thief masters were using any of the stolen treasures to improve the lives of the children or their buildings. It went straight to their pockets and hoards. His blood boiled as his fists clenched. He had to let it go, he couldn’t let them get to him. He would beat them by being better. 

“For me? You shouldn’t have?” Mal tossed his hair back as he sauntered toward the front doors of the Thieves Guild, stopping in front of the two men who had drawn their swords to him. “And here I thought you were the welcoming committee ready to open the doors for me.” 

“Go back to the palace, hero,” the guard warned spitting at Mal’s feet. 

Mal’s fingers flirted with his dagger. He took a step toward them, flashing a devilish grin. “Yeah, saving the world has this way of dampening your reputation. What can you do?” 

Before the men had time to react, Mal had kicked the sword out of one of the guard’s hands, his dagger pressed into his throat. 

“Now, you don’t want to do that.” Mal quirked an eyebrow at the other guard who was holding his sword to him. “You stab me, I cut your friend’s throat, and you’ve got a bloody mess to clean up… so here is what you’re going to do. You’re going to lower your weapon and give me the respect I deserve.”

“Never!”

“It wasn’t a request! You will do as I say.” Mal rolled up his sleeve, exposing his Reaper tattoo. 

The guard immediately sheathed his sword, lowering his head. “I didn’t know, sir. Apologies.”

“Much better.” Mal twirled his dagger, before lowering it. “Now, I’d like to speak to your boss.” 

“Sir? That’s not possible.”

“Again. It wasn’t a request. Make it possible!” 

☆  ☆   ☆   ☆   

He fought against his memories as the damp and musty smell of the old building threatened to remind him of the past. He focused on his mission and the little boy waiting at home for him to return.

“He will see you now.” The guard escorting him opened the door to a large office.

“Vayne,” Mal greeted, noting the man sitting in the elaborate chair behind the ridiculously enormous desk, clearly overcompensating. “You got old.” 

“Mal Volari, as I live and breath,” the old man’s darkened eyes narrowed at the Rogue. “Welcome home.” 

His jaw clenched, fighting against himself. “This was never my home.” 

“You dishonor me, boy,” Vayne’s domineering voice boomed throughout the room as he slapped his fists against his desk. 

And for a moment, Mal was that scared little six-year-old boy again.

“I should kill you right here. You owe me a debt. The money I lost when you left. Now, you’re masquerading as some sort of would-be hero. Don’t forget, I know you. The real you. The one that has killed for me, and developed a taste for blood. You live and breathe in my city because I allow it.” Vayne leaned back in his chair, his gaze settling over Mal. “But, perhaps it is destiny that brought you back to me. No one would ever question a hero. What do you say, come home?”

“I spent years clawing my way out of this hell-hole, I’ll be damned if I let you or anyone else draw me back in.” Mal’s fingers wrapped around his dagger. It would be so easy to throw it and take him out, quickly without anyone being able to stop him. But, he wasn’t alone anymore, he had someone to live for and people that needed him. “I’m not here to discuss me. You have a child that I want. Release him to me..” 

“And, who are you to make a demand like that,” Vayne scoffed amused by Mal’s request. 

Mal threw a bag of gold coins on his desk. “That should more than cover it.”

Vayne poured the bag’s contents out on his desk, examining the coins. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust you.” 

“Do we have a deal?” Mal questioned as the man returned the gold to the bag.

“This won’t even cover what a boy can make in a year, let alone his life. No deal.” 

“You’re making a mistake.” Mal knew there was a chance this wouldn’t work so he tried not to lose his temper, as much as he’d like to take the years of pent up anger and pain out on this man, he wouldn’t. Not now at least. He reached for the coins.

“I’ll be keeping that,” the man instructed, snatching the bag of gold out of Mal’s reach and handing it to one of his advisors behind him. “Consider it back payment on dues you owe. Allowing you to leave unscathed is your gift. One you don’t deserve for the dishonor you showed me.”

“You will regret this,” Mal threatened. “I will be back.”

“Then you will die,” the man stated coldly. “Get him out of here.”

Three guards surrounded him, grabbing at him to lead him out. “Guys, I know I’m beautiful, but I’m spoken for.” He winked as he freed himself from their grasp. “I think I can see myself out. I remember the way.” 

As the doors closed and locked behind him, his heart sank knowing he had failed... But he owed it to Daenarya, Rayden, and most importantly himself to at least try it the honorable way first. His lips turned up as a plan began to form. He was the greatest thief the city had ever known, stealing a child back, now that was the kind of challenge he would enjoy.

☆  ☆  ☆  ☆   ☆   ☆   

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[aliras-eorzean-heroes]

Stepping into the shadows

Aribethe scrunched up her face as she tried to read the book she was given, before groaning. “Mistiva, I really don’t think I’m cut out to be an arcanist.”

“C’mon Ari, it’s not that hard, and you don’t flat out read the book.” Mistiva reached over and shut the book in her friend’s hand. “You feel what’s in the book, and use it to draw out the magic and aether to cast spells.”

“I don’t-” Aribeth cut herself off with a sigh, rubbing at her face. “I’ve been trying to figure this out for the past two hours, I think I need a break.”

“You have been working at this for a while,” Mistiva frowned, thinking. “You should take a break for a bit, maybe wander to the piers where the ferries are? I know I often go there to relax.”

“I think I will.” The older girl sighed, standing up as she attached the book to her belt. “I’ll see you tomorrow then Misti?”

“Yeap, I’ve got a task from my guildmaster, and I’ve got to get it done soon, so I’ll see you tomorrow.” Mistiva sighed, tying her hair back into a ponytail before springing to her feet and walking off in the direction of the gates.

Aribeth sighed, beginning to wander in the direction of the fishermen’s guild which was close to the docks her friend mentioned.

She made it there in good time, dusk descending upon the seaside city, and her eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to the doors she vaguely from being assigned an errand ages ago recalled belonged to the Dutiful Sisters of the Edelweiss.

Perhaps she could ask if she could borrow a room to relax in? After all she dealt with in Gridania before being sent as envoy of the Seedseer to Ul’dah and Limsa Lominsa and god knows what awaited her now, she needed some place quiet where no one was expecting grand things from her like when she fought that guy in a mask after he summoned something from the void.

She already was uneasy how the world crystal, or whatever spoke to her when she picked up that first crystal in that clearing, seemed to expect her to do world shattering things when she wasn’t even of this world to start with, she just wanted a place to escape all that and, be herself.

She found her feet carrying her across the piers to the doors, and the doorman, without a second thought. She turned her attention to the doorman when he turned to her and drawled.

“There’s naught behind these convent doors for a worldly type like you, missus.” He glanced at her briefly as he spoke. “We’re the Dutiful Sisters ‘o the Edelweiss, all pure an’ saintly, like. Now bugger off.”

“Sir, I just wish to ask if I could borrow a room to breathe in.” She inhaled and brought a hand to her head. “After the headache today was thanks to varying factors, I’ve no wish to linger out among the suffocating crowds. I won’t disturb anyone.”

The doorman turned to her fully, seeming about to turn her away when he paused, scrutinizing her before saying. “...Hang about. I thought ye was just some simple errand lass, but now I’ve had a proper look-Yer Aribethe, ain’t ye?” His tone was different now.

“Great my deeds are already known here-Yes, I am Aribethe Zelalin.” She sighed deeply, she hoped she wasn’t so well known but clearly at least this guy knew her.

“Heh, I knew it.” He grinned slightly, his tone a lot more genuine than it was before. “We like to snilch all the risin’ talent, an’ from what I hear, yer head an’ shoulders above the rest.”

She blinked, peering up at the doorman as she got the feeling that he wasn’t talking about becoming a sister of the Edelweiss as he continued. “If ye can handle yerself half as well as they say, ye might well be of use to us.”

“Pardon?” She felt the slight tickle of a laugh in her voice as she inquired. “What could a convent of sisters need my skills for?”

“Ah, forget all that “sisters o’ the Edelweiss” bollocks.” He chuckled. “That’s just a bit o’ fun to fob off the curious culls. We’re a guild o’ rogues, lass, an’ it’s mainly our marks as does the prayin’.”

Rogues? So they were a thing here, but hidden? She listened attentively as he continued. “Me an’  mine work in the shadows o’ Limsa, takin’ a keen edge to the rooks an’ cacklers what’ve earned ‘emselves a milling. We don’t tout for members, but every now an’ again, we might offer a promising young cove a place in the ranks.”

He made a motion in her direction. “If ye’ve a interest in joining us, tip us your daddles an’ we’ll put a hilt in each one, just like the gods intended.” Considering she had an idea of how being a rouge worked thanks to her mother unlike with the arcanist trade she couldn’t wrap her head around, she was more than interested with her desire to hide away in a room long forgotten.

“So what do ye say? Fancy learnin’ a new trade?” New trade? For the most part, hardly, but she nodded while stifling a grin before he continued. “Good to see yer keen. But I should probably warn ye on a few points afore ye dive in.”

She tilted her head and listened as he began to explain. “Where most guilds take pride in turnin' their members into the best bloody candlestick makers they can be, we only care about gettin' the job done. An' the job ain't pretty. Ye become one of us, an' ye'll soon be neck-deep in scum an' knife fights. So if yer lookin' to scamper across rooftops an' bilk dandies o' their blunt, ye'd best take up with a different crew.” He gave her a look then. “Think on that, an' come back if yer still keen.”

“Quite frankly my good sir, I’ve heard enough tales of rogues in stories to know that they aren’t like those who’d ‘scamper across the rooftops and bilk dandies of their blunt’ as you put it, so that’s far from what I was expecting to hear from you.” She crossed her arms. “And I’d be surprised if I wasn’t going to be neck deep in knife fights, considering if you’ve kept an eye on me that I’ve been in fights that go beyond neck deep.”

He grinned at her response, seemingly delighted. “I didn't scare you off. Bene! They told me ye was a mettlesome lass, an' so it's proved.” She snorted with a grin, making the Roegadyn chortle as he continued. “Ye'll need every onze o' that mettle soon enough. Now step inside an' have a prattle with Jacke. He's our Upright Man—the master o' the guild.”

“Alright.” She nodded and he unlocked the door before letting her walk inside, hearing the door click as it closed behind her. She definitely would’ve noticed this was no covenant if she was allowed entry before finding out what this place was, with the map with daggers in it on the far wall, the table with a map and a dagger in it, and the fact everyone around seemed to be wearing rogueish attire with daggers on their hips.

She noted the man who was examining the map on the table until she entered, looking up at her entrance with curious caution as he stood from leaning against it. His attire was mainly pale cream and green colors, green pants tied off at the knees with his pale cream top accented with green, a green bandana on his head, overtop short brown hair. His eyes were blue, and he was clearly curious as to who she was and how she got in.

“Pardon my unexpected entrance.” she gave him a curtsy, easy to do with the arcanist robe she currently had on, before approaching him. “I’m looking for a man named Jacke?”

He nodded, the cautious look somewhat fading as he gestured to himself. “Aye, I'm the one they call Jacke—though I'm surprised ye've heard o' me. Perhaps ye'd be good enough to tell me yer name...along with that o' the kindly cove as told ye mine?”

“I am Aribethe Mayla Zelalin, at your service.” She bowed at the waist then for a few moments before standing up, registering the recognition he had at her name as she continued while gesturing behind her. “The gentlemen with the key at the door let me in, though I forgot to get his name.”

“Ahhh! The famous Aribethe!” He grinned for a moment. “Ol' Lonny Left-patch let you in, did he?” At her nod he continued. “He can't throw a blade for shite, but that one eye don't miss naught when it comes to sizin' up a dimber mort for the stallin'.”

“Just one thing…” She tilted her head as he paused before asking. “You ain't a pirate, are ye?”

She couldn’t help it, she let out a laugh of pure amusement while shaking her head. “Ennope! You really think any respectable or decent pirate would be dressed up all fancy like this?” She joked while gesturing to her attire and he laughed.

“Ye’ve a fair point lass! Then, it's time ye was stalled to the rogue!” He grinned again, looking delighted. “Pull on yer best beater cases an' I'll swear ye in meself when yer ready.”

She returned the grin as he then continued. “Now, I could fill yer wattles with the storied history of our guild, but that's just whids an' wind. The most important thing—the only thing—we care about is gettin' the job done.” She nodded to show she was listening and he continued. “ Now, most folk, an' I'm assumin' yer among 'em, know that not long after Limsa's foundin', the city was overrun by a motley collection o' pirates an' thieves.”

He then shook his head. “But as wild as that lot were, it soon became clear that they'd all end up killin' each other if they didn't lay down a few rules—an unspoken code o' conduct, as it were.” He then raised a hand with his index finger up. “One, ye don't bite the purses o' yer fellow Lominsans; two,” He raised a second finger. “ye don't rook a crew out o' their spoils; an' three,” A third finger went up, his eyes darkening for a few moments. “ye don't trade culls like they was chattel.”

He then shrugged as he dropped his hand back to his side. “I'll admit the finer points o' the code are a mite murky, but most agree on those three, at least.”

“Now, ye might be thinkin' none o' that amounts to a sack o' dilberries now the Admiral's outlawed piracy, but in the back alleys an' black markets where Merlwyb's grip ain't so tight, the code's still alive an' well.” He grinned a little proudly at what he said next. “An' just as the law is enforced by the Yellowjackets, the code is regulated by us rogues.”

“We go where the shadows are darkest, an' hand out justice to them as break the code. Some rum-soaked cove steals goods from the wrong cull, an' we steal 'em back. That's the job, my natty lass. 'Course, we don't hop the twig when bladework's called for, neither.” He shrugged and gestured to his own set of daggers on his belt. “Ye'll see there's more to our daggerplay than just stickin' culls with the pointy end. We'll weaken a mark with poison, fade away an' strike in the darkmans—whatever it takes to get the work done.”

He tilted his head at her, asking now that he finished explaining. “Well, Aribethe? What do ye say to that? Got the guts to do a rogue's job?”

“I do believe I do.” She clearly shocked him with her immediate response and she grinned playfully. “I already told Lonny at the door my response, and that did not change with what you told me, if anything you just erased any doubt I might have had.”

He quickly returned her grin and his tone was clearly delighted. “All right, then! First off, we'll have to get yer kit sorted out. A rogue needs to be light on her dew beaters to stay on a mark's trail.” He then chuckled. “The job might have ye fightin' across a deck or weavin' through a mob, an' the last thing ye want is a bleedin' great battleaxe what hooks itself on every rope an' post.”

She giggled at the mental image and he continued. “That's why we stick to daggers—they let ye slip through the streets just as easily as they slip through a rook's ribs.”

He then reached back into a bag on his belt, rummaging around before pulling out two daggers and offering them to her. “Here, take these stabbers an' let's see how they look on ye.” She walked over and took them as he then added. “...Just don't get so excited with yer new toys that ye forget to dress for the role. Ye'd be surprised at how many colts come back to me in their bloody smallclothes…”

She snorted, bursting into a fit of giggles again. “Don’t worry Jacke, I’m not going to do that.” She pocketed the daggers as he sighed in relief and she then said. “I just need to go make a quick stop at the inn I’m staying at to get out of these clothes, they aren’t suited for moving about with as much speed as I’m pretty sure I need with the daggers.”

He nodded in agreement as she quickly made her way to the door, pausing to turn and wave cheerfully at him. “I’ll be right back!” He waved back, grinning at her excitement as she left.

[im-the-reckless]

✩ For Mhyrcala and Valen? :D

The Ultimate Relationship Tag

Send ‘✩’ for the following:

Disagreements:

Who is more likely to raise their voice? They’re both very patient at each other, but it depends in the subject they’re disagreeing about. It doesn’t last long anyways, one of them would give it to the other to simply stop it. Who threatens to leave but never actually does? None. They both have like “abandonment” issues, I think, so for them to threaten to leave would be like stabbing the other one in their back. Who actually keeps their word and leaves? Well, shit. If they really reached this point, I think it would be Mhyrcala. She’d come back between the hour tho, because that’s a real bitchy move. Who trashes the house? None. Do either of them get physical? ...It wouldn’t end well if they did How often do they argue/disagree? Probably a lot more when they’re in the surface than while they were at the Underdark. Who is the first to apologise? Mhyrcala, because she probably started the problem anyways.

Sex:

Who is on top? Valen Who is on the bottom? Mhyrcala Who has the strangest desires? Mhyrcala Any kinks? ...Not much. For now, anyways. But the normal spanking, hair pulling, power play, I also can imagine them in some roleplay stuff (no pun intended) Also size difference kink, but that’s more subtle Who’s dominant in bed? They switch time to time, but Mhyrcala loves it when Valen gets the upper hand Is head ever in the equation? Its always in the equation If so, who is better at performing it? Mhyrcala, problably Ever had sex in public? Does the tundra count? Who moans the most? MHYRCALA Who leaves the most marks? This one is a tie, Valen probably leaves a lot of marks in her neck, and Mhyrcala scratches his back like crazy, so... Who screams the loudest? Mhyrcala. Who is the more experienced of the two? Again, Mhyr Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’? This one is a switch, it usually depends in how was their day or where they are, even the time of the day. Probably they take more chances to make it rough than soft. Rough or soft? Both? Both. Both is good. Even if Mhyr loves more the roughing up, she melts when he kisses her softly and whispers how much he loves her. How long do they usually last? The whole act or just to reach the first orgasm? The whole act can take them hours or minutes depending of how much time they have to spare. And I don’t fully understand how straight sex works so I’ll say... from 15 to 30 minutes to reach the orgasm together if they aren’t focused in other things. Is protection used? *Clears throat* at this point I’m thinking protection goes against their religion. Medieval times. Does it ever get boring? Probably not, they have a lot of place to experiment. Where is the strangest place they’d have sex? Cania, in the middle of the frozing Hell. But since it happened more than once, I’d say that time they got at it right after a killing. 

Family:

Do your muses plan on having children/or have children? I have the feeling it was a rough conversation, in the end Mhyr expressed she did want children... but the list of conditions was long. If so, how many children do your muses want/have? So far just one Who is the favorite parent? Valen Who is the authoritative parent? Mhyrcala Who is more likely to allow the children to have a day off school? Valen Who lets the children indulge in sweets and junk food when the other isn’t around? Valen, but Mhyrcala knows and just lets it slide Who turns up to extra curricular activities to support their children? Both Who goes to parent teacher interviews? Both Who changes the diapers? I can imagine Mhyrcala saying one night “Oeskathine the Demonwrestler, go change our child’s diapers” Who gets up in the middle of the night to feed the baby? The one with the boobies, Mhyrcala Who spends the most time with the children? They spend a lot of time with them together, actually, they want them to have the childhood none of them had. Who packs their lunch boxes? Valen Who gives their children ‘the talk’? If the kid is a girl, Mhyrcala, if its a boy, Valen.  Who cleans up after the kids? Both Who worries the most? Valen, probably Who are the children more likely to learn their first swear word from? Both of them are very tamed when cursing. Then one day aunt Gaelly visits them and they learn every single bad-sounding word in at least common and elvish.

Affection:

Who likes to cuddle? I think both of them like to Who is the little spoon? Mhyr, but once in a lifetime she lets him be the little spoon Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places? Mhyrcala. Who struggles to keep their hands to themself? Again, Mhyrcala How long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable? If they have time to cuddle it was probably because they were about to go to sleep anyways, so if it doesn’t end up in sex, they just fall asleep. Who gives the most kisses? Valen What is their favourite non-sexual activity? Besides killing monsters and going to adventures togehter? Valen loves when Mhyrcala reads to him, and Mhyr loves when Valen cooks. Where is their favourite place to cuddle? Bed. Who is more likely to playfully grope the other? While cuddling? Any of them, really How often do they get time to themselves? ...next question

Sleeping:

Who snores? Hopefully none of them If both do, who snores the loudest? Do they share a bed or sleep separately? They share a bed If they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart? Cozy up together, maybe in the middle of the night they drift apart Who talks in their sleep? If she went to sleep drunk, Mhyrcala What do they wear to bed? Valen probably either sleeps naked or in her underwear, and Mhyrcala does wear nightgowns (only the pretty and expensive ones) or naked. Are either of your muses insomniacs? Maybe a bit? They’re both used to have to sleep a couple hours then get going. Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside? On a modern setting, yes, on both sides. Do they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side? They hug :3 Who wakes up with bed hair? There’s a reason why Mhyrcala braids her hair to sleep, so this one goes for Valen. Who wakes up first? Valen Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other? Valen, he’s a romantic What is their favourite sleeping position? If they’re apart, Mhyrcala tends to sleep on fetal position, and Valen I guess sleeps on his side. Who hogs the sheets? They tend to sleep pretty close to avoid this, I have the feeling both of them do it. Do they set an alarm each night? On a modern setting Mhyrcala has just one alarm to wake up, Valen has several alarms Can a television be found in their bedroom? In a modern setting, yes, much probably Who has nightmares? Both Who has ridiculous dreams? All dreams are ridiculous Who sprawls out and takes up most of the bed? I have no idea Who makes the bed? Mhyrcala What time is bed time? Any time they feel like falling asleep, really.  Any routines/rituals before bed? Mhyr has to brush and losely braid her hair before sleeping, and if they haven’t spent theit day together they just wait for the other to fall asleep. Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up? Both, but Mhyrcala is more vocal about it

Work:

Who is the busiest? Mhyrcala Who rakes in the highest income? Mhyrcala is either the owner of silver mines or the Guild Master in the Thieves’ Guild, its really hard to top that. Unless she decided to drop both. Are any of your muses unemployed? I guess that since being in the surface finding a job for Valen was pretty hard, but he probably ends up as a mercenary of sorts?  Who takes the most sick days? Mhyrcala can afford the luxury. Who is more likely to turn up late to work? None, unless they got... distracted while waking up Who sucks up to their boss? I don’t know what that means lol What are their jobs? Mhyrcala can either be the head of the family business in the silver mines or recover her place as the Guild Master, or simply say “fuck you all” and be a mercenary with Valen, going in adventures together once again Who stresses themost? Mhyrcala Do your muses enjoy or despise their careers/occupations? Mhyrcala would hate to be in charge of the mines, yet the income is huge, but would love to be the Guild Master once again. And Valen gets his job done, its not the highest paid job but he’s the best at it, no doubt. Are your muses financially stable? Mhyrcala has one hell of an inheritance, so yes. Yet it wouldn’t cover a long life of luxury without any income at all, so they’re careful.

Home:

Who does the washing? Both Who takes out the trash? Both Who does the ironing? Mhyrcala Who does the cooking? Valen. Who is more likely to burn the house down just trying? Mhyrcala, KKEP HER AWAY FROM THE KITCHEN, FOR REAL Who is messier? They’re both pretty clean Who leaves the toilet roll empty? I have the feeling men are the ones who do this the most, so let’s say Valen Who leaves their dirty clothes on the floor? It depends, on a daily basis none, but If Mhyrcala is really done with the world she’ll leave everything in the floor. Who forgets to flush the toilet? Their kid? Who is the prankster around the house? The kid. Who loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere? Both, thn proceed to say “I swear I left them in (place)”, then the other answers with something in the lines of “I clearly isn’t there!” Who mows the lawn? Valen Who answers the telephone? Valen, so if someone is calling from job looking for her he can simply say she’s not avaible. Who does the vacuuming? Mhyrcala Who does the groceries? Both Who takes the longest to shower? Mhyrcala Who spends the most time in the bathroom? Both have long ass morning routines

Miscellaneous:

Is money a problem? No How many cars do they own? Probably one each Do they own their home or do they rent? It can be either Mhyr’s family house or a little home for their own family Do they live near the coast or deep in the countryside? This is a hard one... probably deep in the countryside, less problematic. Do they live in the city or in the country? I guess they live for a very short period of time in the city, then fly away to the country side when everything is said and done Do they enjoy their surroundings? Yeah What’s their song? Doom by Deekin. Just kidding, but I guess both muns have to discuss this one tho What do they do when they’re away from each other? Modern setting? Call every night if any of them is in a long trip. Normal setting they just cross their fingers and pray to whatever god for them to return home safely. Where did they first meet? In the Underdark How did they first meet? “Are you sure, Seer? What do we know about this... this woman? She could be the death to us all!”  Who spends the most money when out shopping? The one who not only barely struggled with money, but also the one who loves expensive things: Mhyrcala. Who’s more likely to flash their assets? To each other? Both. To the world... they’re pretty tame. Who finds it amusing when the other trips over? None Any mental issues? You mean aside from having trouble sleeping, PTSD, abandonment issues, and Mhyrcala’s big ass daddy issues? None at all Who’s terrified of bugs? Mhyrcala, if she  sees one she kills it in the spot Who kills the spiders around the house? Both Their favourite place? Anywhere when they can have time to be together, from their bedroom to a clearing in the woods. Probably the clearing is their favorite since they can take their kid with them. Who pays the bills? Mhyrcala Do they have any fears for their future? This is a big topic they both tend to actively ignore Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner? Valen, wine candles and all that jazz  Who uses up all of the hot water? Mhyrcala, no doubt Who’s the tallest? In-game Mhyrcala reaches his chest, but she’s actually a bit taller than that. Who’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other? Both Who wanders around in their underwear? Both, until they have their kid, they live alone after all and any time and place around the house is a good time and place to bone Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio? Actually I have no idea about this one What do they tease each other about? Mhyrcala teases him a lot about his horns with terrible puns, lol, Valen on the  other hand has a lot of room to go with her excentricities in haircare and need of high tier things. Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times? Mhyrcala at Valen, for sure Do they have mutual friends? Yes, Nathyrra, Deekin, the Seer, Imloth... Who crushed first? Mhyrcala, Valen was worried for a long time of her turning her back on them Any alcohol or substance related problems? Nope, to my knowledge at least Who is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am? Mhyrcala Who swears the most? Mhyrcala when they have sex lol

[lycorogue]

Who Wants to Meet My OCs? (Part 2 - Gyateara)

First and foremost, I meant to have this whole series to be sort of churned out the same day/week as Part 1. Life.... didn’t let that happen. I then figured “okay, I’ll update the series every Sunday” and then yesterday came and went...

Regardless, from the NEXT POST onward, I’m aiming to update every Sunday. Now, back to the series itself.

Ever since at least November, I’ve wanted to do individual posts for each of my OCs so you could meet them all. Well, I’m finally getting off my butt and working on this massive project (we’ll ignore that I’m spending hours working on this instead of my ML fanfic.... >_>).

In Part 1, I gave a broad overview of this whole Meet My OCs series, as well as gave some generic IRL background to the two main worlds my OCs hail from:

1) Gyateara

2) Glitches

Well, in this part of the series, I’m going to stay IRL as I explain where each individual OC within the Gyateara universe came from. If this is interesting to you, feel free to check below the break.

If you’d rather just skip ahead to the character bios themselves, my first one about my Glitches character Willow should be up in two weeks (sorry for the wait).

If I’m talking about Gyateara characters, I should probably talk about the one that first birthed the world: 

Amara Yori

Amara was my first-ever D&D character. I had known of the game for ages since my father used to play it frequently (and apparently roped my mother into at least running the monsters so she’d be included; ignoring that she’d rather not be included XD). 

I really got interested in D&D when I was a teen and saw the gorgeously stylized covers for AD&D ver 3.5. My father had passed away before officially introducing me to the game (although we did used to play Dungeon all the time, so that was a start...), and none of my friends were going to touch that “nerd culture” with a 10ft pole, so I simply admired the books, but never actually played. Then I went to college and managed to Nerd Out.

Hubby (then boyfriend) offered to help me build my first-ever character, but in 2004 the D&D 3.5 expansions were so massive I had far too many choices to choose from.

So Hubby had me go through some of his extra minis, and let me pick out one that I really liked. With his help, I ended up with the 2003 version of the Wood Elf Skirmisher.

Based solely on this mini, I started building Amara.

Hubby suggested that I try out the Scout class for my first one, since I couldn’t choose between a Rogue, Ranger, or Druid, and Scout is sort of in between at least the Rogue and Ranger classes. For whatever reason - I can’t remember it now - I also decided I wanted to play a half-elf.

Upon reading the generic backstory description the D&D books had for the Scout class, I figured my character needed some sort of Tragic BackstoryTM that would explain her scouting skills. Things like trap finding and dismantling, masterful rope use skills, hiding and tracking skills, and connection to animals.

I was in a big The Vision of Escaflowne kick at the time - which shows up in a couple other characters’ backstories - and was fascinated with the history between Van Fanel’s parents. Van’s human father Goau stumbled upon Varie, a Draconian woman, in the woods one day. Draconians have the ability to manifest feathered wings which allow them flight. It was rare to see a Draconian, and her beauty - with her wings shimmering in the moonlight as she waded in a small pool of water - mesmerized Goau. He instantly fell in love and brought Varie home to be his wife. The duo seemed to love each other deeply. Amara’s parents, on the other hand....

I’ll get into more when I break down their actual bios, but I took the idea of “Human stumbles upon exotic non-human in the woods and instantly marries her” and twisted it slightly. Amara’s mother was very much emotionally, and possibly even physically (I haven’t confirmed this yet), abused by Amara’s father. Amara, being a half-elf, also had to deal with abuse at the hands of many of her fellow clansmen - both the human and the elven clans; pretty much exclusively because she was a “half-breed” (Yes, I was really into InuYasha then too).

As I kept building Amara, I kept adding more and more tragedy to her backstory. I do enjoy what I created, but, especially after reading a lot of posts here on Tumblr, I’m afraid her history is nothing but a giant knotted ball of cliches and tropes. For now, though, I’m running with it. Perhaps I can figure out work-arounds later....

I never did get to play more than a session or two with Amara before the game disbanded (which seems to be a repeat thing with my gaming group), but she still lives on in my mind, and eventually in Gyateara.

Natalie

As I mentioned above, The Vision of Escaflowne very much inspired me while I was working on the earliest bits of Gyateara. Therefore, Natalie is your basic Isekai protagonist.

For those who don’t know the term (I didn’t know an official genre term existed until about a year ago), Isekai refers to a subgenre of fantasy/speculative fiction where the main character is abruptly teleported from their world to a new one; usually one with a fantasy setting.

It’s a massive subgenre and includes most of the fantasy animes I’ve watched:

InuYasha

The Vision of Escaflowne

Fushigi Yuugi

The Devil is a Part-Timer

The Rise of the Shield-hero

The Saga of Tanya the Evil

The Familiar of Zero

How to NOT Summon a Demon Lord

Sword Art Online (technically)

.Hack//Sign (technically)

Digimon (first season, specifically)

Psyren (manga)

The list can go on, but that’s not the point of this post. Getting back to the actual point, I clearly enjoyed this genre without even realizing there was a term for it, and created my own Isekai story. Natalie is from our world, but is abruptly teleported to Gyateara’s main Northern Isle, where she must save the country from being destroyed by a power-hungry, put painfully charismatic, villain.

I had taken elements from Kagome (InuYasha), Hitomi (The Vision of Escaflowne), Miaka (Fushigi Yuugi), and I think I had Ariel (The Little Mermaid) in there as well at one point. She was - and still kind of is - just “Generic Isekai Female Protagonist”, which is one of the main reasons the story she was in failed so soon into NaNoWriMo back in... 2014, I think. Almost a solid decade after I started dreaming up her Isekai story. She definitely needs to go back to the drawing board a bit to be properly fleshed out.

Connor

He was from the same story as Natalie. Connor was a denizen of Gyateara’s Northern Isles, and became Natalie’s traveling companion as he helped her try to find a way home. Ya know, that old Isekai chestnut. I even leaned heavily into the cliche and had the two of them fall in love throughout their journey. Which would lead to a third-act twist of “Okay, we can defeat the villain, but then what? Could they stay together? Would Natalie stay on Gyateara? Will Connor instead try to go home to Earth with her?” Real original. I know. Add in that Connor was a sort of Frankenstein’s monster of a character. Grab a snack, this is going to take a minute...

Connor’s traits included:

The basic backstory and drive of the player character in the video game Fable, in which his father was killed, his mother and sister tortured (and presumed dead, only to be proven still alive and captured), his home village burnt down, and he was taken in by the local guild so the guild master could train Connor to become the hero the GM believed Connor was prophesied to be.

The half-demon traits of InuYasha (InuYasha), which transformed him into a sort of were-cat. His mother, a full-demon, could become a 15ft (4.57m) tall panther with split tails. Connor’s half-demon heritage was hidden from him, and he only transformed under extreme moments of stress.

Yes. The “love interest is the only one who can snap the protag back from a monstrous rage” trope was heavily evident throughout the story.

His overall look was inspired by Link (Legend of Zelda video game franchise). His basic fighting style - swordsmanship and expert archery - was a sort of tag-teamed “thieving” from Link as well as Van (The Vision of Escaflowne).

A highly resistant, and begrudging submission to become the Hero of Prophecy lifted off of Tamahome (Fushigi Yuugi).

I know he was much more influenced by Van from Escaflowne when I was first making him. I even used Van as a reference guide when I tried to create character head shots of him. I just can’t recall now what else I swiped from that character.

I feel like there are also other male anime/video game protags I swiped traits from, but I can’t recall them anymore. Regardless, I threw them in a blender, and poured out the mixture that became Connor.

Jolene Crisslebalm

Ah, the character whose last name I always have to look up, because I can’t recall how I spelled it. Good starting point, right?

I am a very reserved person. In particular, a very sexually reserved person. But I do enjoy sex, and I love the act of flirting, and the “thrill of the chase” when it comes to dating, so a part of me always wonders what I would be like if I had let go of my reservations and just enjoyed the carnal pleasures of life.

So, two characters in particular - Willow (from Glitches) and Jolene - are my exploration of that Path Not Traveled. 

A friend of mine was hosting a D&D campaign via Roll20.net, and wondered if I wanted in. I hadn’t been involved in a D&D game in a year or so at that point, and I’ve enjoyed playing a couple of one-offs with him DMing, so I leapt at the chance to join. I had almost always played a form of Rogue class (hence the internet persona) in previous D&D campaigns, so I decided to stay the course, but with a twist I hadn’t tried before.

I wanted Jolene to be a sort of reluctant adventurer, preferring instead to be a cat burgler, but I also wanted that sexual/sensual exploration of character. So, she was a traveling prostitute (not exactly legal without proper ties to a brothel; much like a Sex Trade Guild sort of thing), but she also used her “alone time with clients” to scope out the place to see if it’s worth robbing.

Fast forward about 3 years, and I end up watching the first episode of the Freeform Marvel series Cloak and Dagger... where I saw Tandy doing the same thing, but roofying her targets instead of sleeping with them first... Great minds, and all that?

Eh, Jolene figures “might as well make money off of them before coming back and robbing the rest... less to carry later...”

In the end, while Jolene had an.... interesting run... and one I actually did enjoy role playing, even if it did leave me a bit frustrated afterwards (a good frustrated?)... Jolene just didn’t fit the world the DM created, nor did she fit in quite as well as I would have hoped with the other players.

They were all AMAZING players, by the way. Some of the best role players I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, and such fantastic writers as well. BTW, we wrote out everything in the Roll20 chat log instead of verbally playing or using video-chat. I must admit, I was quite envious of their skills. It was just a tighter knit group, and I wasn’t able to feel out their play-style well enough to continue with the group. Eventually they all had to go their separate ways anyway when their schedules no longer lined up.

Still, I LOVED Jolene, and she was the D&D character I had the joy of running the longest, so she NEEDED to live on. She did, in my first NaNoWriMo “win”. I managed to hit those 50,000 words, but I still had about 3/5ths of her story to write. 

See, while coming up with Jolene’s jaded attitude towards love and her pull towards a more hedonistic lifestyle, I went with the good old cliche of Heartbreak Was The Culprit. (With so many cliches in my character builds, is it a wonder why I just stick with fanfiction... the characters are already created...)

Jolene had her heart broken five times between the ages of 13 and 21. She was the type who fell quick into love, and fell HARD into it, and always felt intensely betrayed by her lovers when they left her. To be fair... they did routinely leave her for a woman of better social standing, or - in her youth - someone more willing to put out, or just straight up abandon her without so much as a farewell note. Eventually, she gave up on trying to find love, and joined a brothel, and then the thieves guild, and then headed out on her own from there.

The DM thought it unlikely that she was a prostitute for the better part of 5 years without a single pregnancy, so he rolled for it, and Jolene had one miscarriage, one still born, and one healthy child she gave up for adoption. I was not expecting to include that in her backstory, but it actually worked fairly well.

And all of that was the subject of my NaNo project: Lost Loves and Paramours. Jolene’s full biography leading up to the campaign: every man she fell in love with, every person she slept with, the one client who tried to murder her to avoid a scandal of his lust getting the better of him, the pain of her miscarry, the devastation of her stillborn, the heart break of giving up her surviving child, the struggles against a stalker, and her over-all YOLO attitude.

(Bitmoji is a beautiful thing...)

Well, second long post of this series is now complete. Next week, I’ll talk about the IRL inspiration for my Glitches characters. Thank you so much for indulging me on these epic ramblings.

[ciathyzareposts]

What I Can Tell You About DragonBlade, GayBlade, and Citadel of the Dead

Where fortune and fame await the oold? What does that mean?

              An awful lot of administrative work and emulator-fighting went into tracking down, sorting out, an running the three variants of this exceptionally mediocre game. This was not time well spent. When Dragon magazine, home of the modal five-star review, gives your game no stars and calls it the “worst dungeon-crawl, you-do-the-mapping, oops-you’re-in-a-trap-and-your-torch-went-out, mindless click-the-‘attack’-button game I’ve seen in a decade,” you know you have a problem. This is an account of why I didn’t get very far with these games and why, at least for now, I’m not interested in trying harder.     To judge by the manual and character creation process (the only part of the game I could really experience), DragonBlade, offers essentially nothing that Wizardry (1981) doesn’t except for color graphics. But even worse is the re-skinned GayBlade, which bills itself as the first gay-and-lesbian-themed CRPG, which it probably was, but only in the most superficial way. If I were a gay CRPG Addict, neither game would satisfy my gayness nor my CRPG addiction. That GayBlade received so much press in its day goes to show how starved the genre really ways for authentic gay representation in games.

       The timeline is a little confused because a lot of sites give GayBlade as a 1992 game and DragonBlade as a “straight fantasy variant of GayBlade.” In fact, the reverse is almost certainly true, particularly since the “About” screen for GayBlade is still titled, “About DragonBlade.” There are a lot of sloppy bits like that in GayBlade. (That double-entendre is gayer than anything in the game.) Making things more confusing, author R. J. Best went on a Macintosh Garden forum last year and claimed he wrote GayBlade and released it for free in revenge for a distributor withholding royalties from Citadel of the Dead. But it’s clear from both news accounts and magazine reviews that GayBlade was available in 1993 while Citadel didn’t come out until 1994. Citadel, as far as I can tell, is just DragonBlade with a new title screen and a few bug fixes.

   Let’s talk about DragonBlade first. The manual offers the most generic backstory possible: Once peace reigned in the land, led by a community of knights and mages who followed “the gentle philosophy of DragonMagic.” They were headquartered in the DragonKeep and ruled by High Wizard Alastor. But a demon army led by Lord Xygor invaded the land, lay waste to the keep, and imprisoned Alastor in a “dimension of frozen souls.” A party must brave the now-monster-ridden keep to rescue Alastor.

The game opens on a menu town with a “training yard” (character creation), tavern, general store, guild (for level advancement), magic shop, healer, and dungeon door. Classes are fighter, mage, priest, samurai (fighter/priest), wizard (fighter/mage), and master (fighter/priest/wizard). Races are orc (c. 10%), ogre (10%), elf (40%), gnome (20%), and dwarf (20%). When you roll a new character, his race is randomized along with his attributes: strength, wisdom, intelligence, constitution, dexterity, and hits. Each attribute is rolled from 1 to 15 (there are no racial modifications), and the aggregate determines your available classes. So far, with the exception of the monster races and no human race, things are identical to Wizardry            

Except for low hits (which prevents him from being a “master”), this character has some unusually high stats.

              The manual doesn’t tell you the prime requisites for each class, so I spent far more time than made sense noting the minimum scores every time an option came up and then figuring out the associated probabilities. First, there isn’t an equal probability of each number between 1 and 15 appearing for each attribute. For some reason, 8 is heavily weighted, accounting for about 15% of values. The numbers 1 and 15 are weighted low, accounting for about 3% each. Everything else is in the 6-8% range. Priests require at least a 12 in wisdom and mages require at least a 12 in intelligence; each comes up as an option about 21% of the time. Samurai require 13 strength, 12 dexterity, and possibly smaller values for the other attributes. They come up only about 5 times in 1,000. Wizards require at least a 12 in wisdom and dexterity and a 13 in intelligence; they come up 6 times in 1,000. Masters have at least a minimum requirement of 12 or 13 in all attributes (I’m guessing a bit) and come up less than 1 time in every 10,000 rolls. I only ever got one once, and I forgot to click the “Master” option when selecting him, so I accidentally made him a fighter. That hurt.           

Starting items in the store.

         It turns out that much like Wizardry, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to sweat through thousands of re-rolls for the perfect character anyway, since Level 1 characters might as well be wearing red Star Trek uniforms. This is particularly true for DragonBlade, where enemies attack the moment you enter the dungeon, before you can even light a torch, and never stop. Combat is also Wizardry standard. Each character can attack, parry, use an item, or cast a spell, although it executes the action immediately (more like Might and Magic) rather than running through the entire round at once.            

Combat against giant rock ants.

            The game uses Wizardry‘s “slot” system (e.g., a Level 6 priest gets 3 first-level spells, 2 second-level spells, one third-level spell), but there are only 11 spells for each spellcasting class. Mages get “Light Wound,” “Evade,” “Light,” “Heavy Wound,” “Invisibility On,” “Invisibility Off,” “Locate,” “Lightning,” “Fireballs,” “Ice Storm,” and “Castle” (as in, “return to”). Priests get “Disarm” (the only way to disarm, since there are no thieves), “Light Cure,” “Compass,” “Cure Poison,” “Resist Fire,” “Resist Ice,” “Raise,” “Heavy Cure,” “Eye of Death,” “Cure All,” and “Restore.”           

Looking at spell options while facing an undead.

             It soon become clear to me that the programmers had built DragonBlade to serve up a combat once every n clock cycles and hadn’t accounted for faster models. (If I don’t have that quite right technically, I’m sure someone will correct me.) Thus, the combats never end and you never get to explore the dungeon or even retreat out the back door. I tried Citadel of the Dead and ran into essentially the same problem. I could actually get a torch lit and occasionally move a step, but generally speaking I was trapped in an endless succession of combats from the moment I entered until they finally overwhelmed the party. Death is permanent in the game, although one weird feature is that enemies continue to attack slain party members in combat, slashing and bashing their helpless corpses. I guess that’s good news for the survivors but still somewhat gruesome.            

An inevitable message in my DragonBlade experiences.

         The Basilisk emulator that I use for Mac games doesn’t offer dynamic clock speed scaling the way that DOSBox does, and I was unable to find a Windows version of DragonBlade even though it existed. (I think Citadel was Mac-only.) I fiddled around with other models and settings in the Basilisk GUI, but I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t too fast. Thus, I tried GayBlade, for which I could only find a Windows version. This was my first experience emulating Windows 3.1, and it went about as smoothly as all my experiences with a new emulator, which means it took several frustrating hours to get it right (and would have taken longer if my commenter Lance hadn’t given me a head start with his configuration).            

There’s no way it’s the world’s first. What about Leather Goddesses of Phobos? What about the game version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

               GayBlade is a gay-themed game if by “gay-themed” you mean taking all the trappings of a typical computer role-playing game and replacing them with trappings of gay life. Not real gay life, but stereotypically flamboyant gay life, and not “replaced” in any thoughtful way but clumsily and senselessly. Let’s start with the classes. In place of fighters, samurais, wizards, and priests, we get queers, drag queens, guppies, and lesbians. Mages and masters aren’t even translated. Prime requisites are lowered significantly, and instead of default-naming every character “Dufus,” this game picks names that begin with the character’s class. You can only create four characters instead of being able to create up to 8 and only assign 4 to the party the way the other games work.           

Assembling a gay party.

           Then we get to inventory. Instead of useful items like armor and swords, we get aprons, mace (not the weapon, but the chemical spray), blow-dryers, press-on nails, and condoms. If the relative positions are any guide, purses are substituting for cloaks, tiaras for helms, press-on nails for gauntlets, and condoms for shields. Okay, I just got that last one. That’s a little clever.      

   The ostensible goal of the game is to rescue someone named “Empress Nelda.” But once you enter the dungeon, you’re just in the same medieval dungeon as the straight versions. Some of the monsters are replaced with menaces to gay people, such as “FBI Probes,” homosexual thugs who say “you fag” when they attack, televangelists, KKK grand dragons, and spineless politicos. You even have to face some external representations of inner demons such as suicidal tendencies and age spots. But there are also regular monsters carried over from DragonBlade, like giant insects and rats. The spells aren’t “translated” at all. Drag queens get the priest spells.              

The characters face an “FBI Probe” led for some reason but a naval officer.

             I tried to last long enough to explore the first level. I’m pretty sure it’s only 10 x 10. I didn’t find any special encounters or navigation tricks. But my queers and lesbians and their mace and hairdryers were far less effective against enemies than the swords and armor of the fantasy versions. I hate the control system in all three games: they’re mouse-buttons only, even for movement. I also hate the perspective, which insists you’ve hit a wall (not only subtracting a hit point but making you acknowledge a message) even though it looks like there’s plenty of space.

             Sure, it was “plainly marked.” ONE SQUARE AHEAD of where I am.

              I’ll leave it to you, gay readers: what impressions do you get from this description? Are you happy to have any acknowledgement, even if the best it aspires to is high camp and doesn’t really succeed even at that? This will be better served in a longer entry specifically on the topic, but milestones that I can remember for gay representation in RPGs are:            

Ultima VI (1990): Earliest game that I can remember that allows same-sex sex, albeit with a gypsy prostitute.

Ultima VII (1992): Continues the tradition, albeit at a brothel.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002): Made things equal-opportunity for creepy sex predators, as Crassius Curio will sexually harass males and females alike.

Jade Empire (2005): Introduced BioWare’s from-then common theme of offering at least one same-sex partner, often a bisexual who could also be romanced from the other side. I remember accidentally falling into a gay relationship based on some tricky dialogue options.

Fallout: New Vegas (2010): In a game famous for not introducing “romance options” with its NPCs, the only exception (sort-of) is for lesbian characters.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011): Introduced full equality. Any character who could be romanced, married, and bedded could be done by both men and women with no additional commentary. Unfortunately, all relationships were a bit boring and bloodless. 

Dragon Age: Inquisition (2015): Kicks up the complexity a notch with a wide cast of characters with a variety of racial and sexual preferences–plus mature attitudes (and a sense of humor) about sex and sexual situations.

               I’m sure more experienced readers can think of more, but for 1993, I think you’d be better off playing a regular CRPG and just imagining the protagonist as gay rather than paying homage to this penis-lollipop take on gay themes. Even if you feel differently, I simply can’t bring myself to fight rednecks with press-on nails and blow-dryers for 13 levels.    Thus, I guess I’m rejecting the entire group on “notability” grounds, although I’ll hold myself open for taking up one of the medieval versions if I can get Basilisk to slow it down. I’m done with it for now; the game has kept me too long from Ultima VII.             Note: The title of the gay version is perhaps a reference to Zorro: The Gay Blade (1981), which not enough people have seen. Ironically, the authors removed swords and daggers from the game so that the characters no longer have any blades.

*****

I’ve put Planet’s Edge on the back burner because it’s clear that I’m going to have to start over. I’ll pick it up again after a couple of games have gone by; this isn’t going to be another Magic Candle III. I just hate doing the same things I’ve already done, and I needed some space in between.      

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/what-i-can-tell-you-about-dragonblade-gayblade-and-citadel-of-the-dead/

[augustawren]

A Candle in the Dark Pt. 2

Characters: Wren and her memories (her memoir)

Universe: Canon memories, Originally written for Broken/Fang AU

Part 2

So many locks, not enough keys. Too much sorry, not enough please. (old Clayton’s favorite saying)

The resiliency of children is an amazing thing. In this I know I was not unique. I have seen it over and over again in my travels. In the eyes of the children from the factory, in the eyes of a young girl scarred and traumatized from an accident, and even in my own child’s eyes. Children adapt and recover, showing startling amounts of strength that many adults would be hard pressed to find within themselves. They learn faster, they move quicker. With the right environment, they heal.

At first I was a feral creature, biting and scratching anyone who dared approach me. I left more than a few scars on the gentle hands that brought me food. For weeks my mind was filled with the deafening buzz of bees and I don’t think I had a single thought beyond ‘survive’. Everything I had known was gone, and while it may seem that I should have been grateful for this considering where I had come from, I had still lost everything familiar to me. But most importantly, I had lost Widget. The only thing in the world that I cared about had suddenly been wrenched away. My mind shut down. I wouldn’t come out from under the bed.

Then the music started. Soft, lulling. It made everything feel quieter. And then, a lock was pushed into my hands. I must have stared at it for hours before I started trying to open it. There were tiny tools that I rammed into the slot, trying to force it open. For some reason, nothing else mattered but getting that lock open. Everything else slipped away. Calm instructions floated down to direct my hands. “Listen. Listen to the lock. Listen to the stories it tells.” I sometimes wonder if as I finally popped that lock, another one clicked closed. My body had begun to heal, and as the evidence of what had happened slowly started disappearing, I could pretend that I hadn’t been violated the way that I had been. The most disgusting, vile memories that played over and over in my head suddenly stopped. It was as if I had neatly folded the memories up, placed them in a trunk, and snapped it closed. Then wrapped it in chains and thrown it deep into the river. It was years and years until they bobbed back to the surface.

It marked a turning point for me, I think. Blocking out the worst of the memories allowed me to form a hesitant truce with my elven savior. I promised not to bite him anymore if he promised to stop bringing me broccoli. I peeked out from under the bed long enough to learn his name. Thrush. With my thick Dolbry accent, the crude speech of a child never taught to communicate, and my lacerated lips, speech was a constant struggle for me. Even months later, after hours every day practicing my diction, the only thing I could call him was Shush. And I was his Little Bird, my name taken from the wren that landed on my windowsill one morning. It was a bird I recognized as one of Widget’s favorites. “That’s a wren, Rat! Can you hear it? The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs.” And so I carried a piece of Widget with me, intertwining with a piece of Thrush, our parallel bird names leading to comments like “birds of a feather” or, when we were annoying someone (most likely Thrush’s best friend, Leon), “I’m gonna kill two birds with one stone!”

Slowly, ever so slowly, I emerged, becoming a person again. It took half a year, but I laughed again. My personality started to grow like a sprout through cobblestones. Once I’d stopped cowering and worrying that any misstep would lead to a whipping, I burst through. Stubborn and mischievous, I caused various degrees of trouble, which I didn’t realize Thrush had to then make right with the guild. But he was patient and kind, helped in his efforts with me by Leon and the guild’s cook/herbalist/mother, though I found friends in nearly every member of the guild. The process was slow, full of setbacks and frustrations. In spite of being in my double digits, or so Thrush guessed, neither of us having any idea when my birthday was, I was stuck in a regressed state, acting more like a four year old than someone twice that age. Making friends was a battle for me. I couldn’t connect with anyone but Thrush, though I scrapped with the street kids whenever I could. I sometimes brought back scrawny boys to the guild house, in my attempt to fill the Widget-shaped hole in my heart. No one ever lasted long. No one could compare with who I’d lost. As happy and vivacious as I could be, my nightmares haunted me still.

Every day was brimming with lessons, starting first with books. Speech. Reading. Writing. Learning both the cant of thieves, and Elven. We studied outside, on my insistence. Besides a few glances out of windows and one fateful “field trip” to be shown the power of the Wheel, I had never been outside. At least not that I could remember. I took every opportunity to feel the sunshine on my face and the grass between my toes. Not that there was much grass to speak of in Dolbry. Thrush took me outside the city, letting me run screeching through fields. Even as the seasons changed and snow fell, he indulged me. I had seen enough of the inside, he said. We found a special place just for us, and went there often, carving our initials in a tree. He read to me, or made me read to him, all the while fattening me up on good food and cake. Oh the cake. So much cake.

Then came my training. I was hardly ever seen without a lock in my hand, learning its secrets and stories in seconds. I floated in a happy, safe place that I still go to even to this day when I take on a lock. Then started my combat training, though that started so subtly I didn’t even know it had begun. Exercises in balance, climbing, tumbling, hiding. I worked both at becoming a shadow and being a believable distraction. My mentor made it into a game, one that I was determined to win. In those first few years, I have no idea how he managed to keep up with his guild duties, because I don’t remember a single day that we were apart.

The more I progressed, the more I was put to use. At first my responsibilities were just around the guild house. Small things. But I was eager to please, and thirsty for validation. Soon I was out on the street, my small hands slipping into pockets and pouches, or providing entertainment with juggling and acrobatics so Thrush could cut purse strings. When it was time for me to start learning my way around a blade, however, all games came to a halt. His solemn instructions imparted on me the enormity of what my daggers could do. “A person's life, once taken, cannot be returned.” Didn’t I know it. Still, it was years before I got my first real taste of blood.

I knew little of the guild master at the time. Gabriel was an ominous presence, but one that I respected greatly. It had been he who had allowed me to stay with the guild, after all. Though he had spared no healing for me from the clerics at his disposal, I was forever grateful he hadn’t turned me out into the street to die. My loyalty both to the guild at large, and to him, was unshakeable. My assumption, which was almost my undoing, was that he had let me stay out of the goodness of his heart. What I learned later was that, if there ever even was any goodness in his heart, it certainly was never directed at me. I was always a tool, an asset. What he saw when he turned his cold, calculating gaze to me, was an instrument to use how he liked. Though I didn’t know it, he was using me just as Fang had. I ignored Thrush’s warning about the kind of man he was, thinking Thrush was just overprotective. Instead, I took Gabriel’s philosophies to heart. “Only worth your weight” It was a saying thrown around fairly often, something Gabriel had imparted to us, and as much as Thrush tried to dispel the idea with me, it ingrained itself in my brain. I was only worth as much as I could carry. I felt my position in the guild depended on it. I had to show them, had to show Gabriel, that I was worth the hassle. My craving for approval drove me to be the best thief I could be, much as my desire to please Fang had motivated me to be the best worker in the factory. Another of Gabriel’s sayings had stuck with me as well, though I didn’t grasp its full meaning for several years. “No loose ends”

I was roughly fifteen when Gabriel called me to his office to tell me about an important job. It was up to me, he said, to keep the guild safe. He had discovered someone was selling guild secrets and it was imperative that the traitor paid in blood. Blood. How much of it had I seen in my short life? Still, for the guild? I would do anything. I thought only of the fact that Gabriel had chosen me to be the one to protect us all, not of what the cost of protection would be. I had seen more death than most, after all. What did a little more matter? And wasn’t this what Thrush had been training me for? I knew all the vital areas on a body to strike at. I knew how to be light on my feet, how to dodge attacks and gain the advantage. I knew, as the thieves said, how to dance.

Thrush insisted that I wasn’t ready, that someone else could do it, that he would do it, but Gabriel had chosen me, and he would not be swayed. I found myself angry at Thrush for one of the first times ever. He didn’t believe in me, he didn’t trust me, I thought. He wanted to keep me as a fun project, a kind of silly puppet he could take out to show people and then put away as he chose. I wanted to be more, to show him I was more. I so painfully longed to prove myself.

Thrush took me on a picnic. I was becoming an adult, after all. At fifteen, which to a human is more like eleven or twelve, plus my regression, I was acting more like I was seven or eight, but, I was an adult in the eyes of the guild. Or, at least, in Gabriel’s eyes. I’m not sure why it was that Thrush took me out that morning. I think he was trying to protect that shred of innocence still left inside me. Death was so familiar to me that I could not comprehend how it would be different if I were the one doing the killing. I thought nothing of the way the dagger would feel, pushing past the resistance of skin to sink into muscle or tender organs. I thought nothing of watching the light fade from someone’s eyes, knowing that I was the one to extinguish it. I think that Thrush wanted to give me just one more morning as the happy and healing child that was ignorant of that. He gave me my first taste of wine, no more than a thimbleful, but I felt mature and confident. I felt sure I was ready.

And so it was that I found myself working a crowd with my friend; a boy who had recently joined the guild, and who I had immediately taken to. He was tall and gangly with brown hair with a tint of red to it. He was so like Widget, at least in appearance. We started doing everything together. We became like partners, always working together. We laughed and ate and napped, well on our way to becoming inseparable. I started to feel the ache in my chest begin to lessen. I started to wonder if maybe this really was Widget. What if he had gotten out, but the trauma had completely wiped me from his memory? I knew that I had gaps in my own memory where things should be but weren’t, so wasn’t it possible that he had them too? I needed it to be true. I needed him to be my Widget.

Gabriel told us to go about business as usual in the market, but that I should be keeping a lookout for anything strange. And I wasn’t to tell my friend anything about it. It was my secret, my special job. We worked until the sun started to set. Then I saw him slip away. What was he doing, I wondered. Had he seen something? Then the idea that maybe Gabriel was testing us sprang to my mind. What if we had both been given the same assignment, and whoever completed it would be the one to stay in the guild, the other kicked out… or worse? I ran after him, keeping to the shadows, determined to figure out what was going on. It was then that I overheard him speaking with someone else. Sharing guild secrets in exchange for money.

I didn’t think it could be possible. This was my friend. This was someone I cared deeply about. He was part of my family. How could he betray that? I thought of Gabriel’s insistence that it was up to me to protect everyone. I thought of Thrush, I thought of every person in the guild that mattered to me. And I thought of how my ‘friend’ was endangering them, how what he had done could lead to their deaths, these people that had nurtured and protected me. These people who had filled my life with kindness and purpose. And I knew I would do anything to defend them.

In the interest of self preservation and avoiding a detailed confession of guilt, I will just say that he died. And that I very much blamed myself for it. It didn’t feel like the first time I had let Widget die. I had left him in that hellhole of a factory where he had surely met his end by now, and then here I stood, over his body again. I was in shock,  and completely numb, the familiar buzzing returning to my ears. I started to run. To run as fast as I could. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew that I couldn’t stay there a second longer. I have no memory of leaving the city, no memory of my long sprint to what I hoped would be freedom. The next thing I remember, it was dark and I was sitting on the bank of the river, far out of the city. I was rocking, my knees drawn up to my chest and it felt as if I hadn’t moved in hours. When Thrush found me, I was wild with grief and fury. He had known who I was being sent to kill, and he hadn’t warned me. He hadn’t told me what it was I would have to do. There was no way he could have prepared me, really. If I had known ahead of time, what would I have done? Warned my friend? Left the guild, the only family I’d ever known? Hardened myself, drawing on hatred to fuel me and do the job I’d been given? There was no solution, but I blamed Thrush with a ferocity that I never imagined I would feel towards him. I felt like the only person in the entire world that I truly trusted, had stabbed me in the back. My guilt and self-hatred that had been festering under the surface had just been made raw and it was suffocating. I realized I couldn’t live with it a second longer. I threw myself in the river, hoping to end it all.

Thrush’s arms were around me I think before we even hit the water. Terror coursed through me as I swallowed mouthfuls of water. I was in the very same river that I had seen turn red with the blood of my friends, ripped apart by the wheel. Despite the fear of death, I fought hard against Thrush, desperate to get free. I was ready. I thought it was my time. It was what I deserved. My conviction that I deserved every terrible thing I got, would haunt me through my entire life.

Eventually Thrush pulled us to the shore. We fought. I screamed, he tried to reason with me. I lunged for a dagger, he restrained me. He asked if I wanted to leave the guild with him, but I told him it didn’t matter now. My friend was dead, and that fact brought with it a whole host of new feelings of guilt and worthlessness. I lunged again for a dagger, and Thrush rolled on top of me to try and stop me, but I had already gotten a dagger free. The feeling of the blade sinking smoothly into his stomach is something I will never forever. His blood was warm and thick and I don’t remember having any coherent thoughts. It was a constant string of words and images. “Blood. Killer. Blood. Widget. Killer. Thrush. Dead. Blood. Freak.” Somehow Thrush and I made it back to the guild house. I’m not sure how. He had lost so much blood, and I was very little help to him, convinced I had just killed my mentor, my teacher, my savior.

While Thrush got stitched up, I went to Gabriel and reported in on the job I had done. It was then that he offered me my own room, and with that, came a fundamental shift in my relationship with Thrush. Though I didn’t stay in my own room long, for a variety of reasons, we were still changed after that. I spent several nights facing my nightmares alone, then dealt with the wrath of a spiteful guild mate and the rumors she spread about me. I had become dependent on Thrush, and I don’t think either of us were willing to admit it. He fought my battles for me, he sheltered me. He knew the kind of life I had had, and he wanted to protect me as much as he could. Those few days on my own were a wake up call for us both. I was quickly growing up. I needed to learn how to fend for myself. I had blood on my hands, after all. He couldn’t protect me any longer.

[allcheatscodes]

the elder scrolls iv oblivion ps3

http://allcheatscodes.com/the-elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion-ps3/

the elder scrolls iv oblivion ps3

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion cheats & more for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Cheats

Unlockables

Hints

Easter Eggs

Glitches

Guides

Trophies

Get the updated and latest The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion cheats, unlockables, codes, hints, Easter eggs, glitches, tricks, tips, hacks, downloads, trophies, guides, FAQs, walkthroughs, and more for PlayStation 3 (PS3). AllCheatsCodes.com has all the codes you need to win every game you play!

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Also Known As: Elder Scrolls 4, The: Oblivion and Oblivion

Genre: Role-Playing, First-Person Action RPG Developer: Bethesda Softworks Publisher: 2K Games ESRB Rating: Mature Release Date: November 8, 2006

Hints

Frostwyrm Bow

To get the frostwyrm bow, go to dive rock in the valus mountains, north east of cheydinhal. It’s difficult to get to because it is high up in the mountains, but I found a path by the camp of the master acrobatics trainer. When you get to dive rock there should be a tent and a sack near the edge of the cliff. Opent the sack an read the journal there should be some familiar names if you’ve played Morrowinds blood moon expansion package. The journal says that a couple went hunting for a monster called Uderfrtyke Matron. The journal says that the couple found the monster and it killed the wife of the couple and ate her whole ( the woman had the bow in her inventory when she was devoured so in case you were wondering, yes you have to kill the monster to get the bow) the man survived and wrote in the journal. Then he went back to kill the monster ( and yes, he died) after you read the journal go to the edge of the cliff and wait a couple seconds, it will say you discovered some new dungeon locations (this is optional)now go back the mountain using the same trail the monster should be running around somewhere along the trail. (it lookes like a blue troll) the monster is 100% immune to frost and has the chameleon ability, but is weak to fire kill it and take the bow from its remains – the bow has a 15 point frost damage.

Easy Way To Become A Vampire

All you need to do is travel to Skingrad go to the count’s chamber and get into a fight with him until you get a disease called Porphyric Hemophelia.

How To Get The Shivling Iles

The way to get the shivling isles for ps3 is to go to play station store and have 39. 99 funds on your network and buy the and on and then in a hour or 2 you wil have the shivling isles for ps3.

Best Blade

In the shivling isles there is a quest called a better mouse trap when you got to kill this people and at the end this dark elf gives you one of the people that you killed called dawn fang and the spell on the blade changes every hour or 2 from frost to fire or fire to frost and it tells how many people you killed and after you killed 12 or 13 it changes to dawn fang superior.

Steel Arrows

Inside the dark brotherhood hideout when the npcs r in their training room one of the characters will be shooting at a target. Just wait a second let her shoot a few arrows and take them. This can be repeated.

Landscape Climbing

Have you ever been playing Oblivion and you get a quest thats in the middle of the mountains for no absolute reason and no matter how hard you try the mountain stops you from getting to it. Well, for doing the glitch that has you jump over the castle walls so that the area does not load just makes everything invisible. If you do that glitch you will notice that the little bushes that are on mountains are still visible. That’s where landscape Climbing comes in. I found that no matter what mountain you are trying to climb just follow the bushes and you can never be stopped just try until you can get the hang of it. I found it really useful have easier more fun climbing.

Blunt And Blade Easy Level

Okay so first off if you have any magic weapons you want to level make sure your armorer is at least journey man other that all you need if alot of repair hammers and a spell that heals an oppents life on touch so to do this you need to goto the arena and get to the fight where you fight the grandchampion but before you offically fight him do the quest the orgin of the grey prince that he will give you personally after you do that quest and you goto fight him he will not attack thats where you set the difficulty all the way up and start attacking him go for as long as you want but make sure you constantly heal him this will work for bows and maigcka spells too and when you are finished just kill him off afterwards set the difficulty back to normal if you want.

The Flame Sword

To obtain the Flamesword You must go to the Chorrol Northgate and kill at least one person no guards with the blade of Woe then you will have the Flamesword.

Bound Weapon

To get a bound weapon go to the place near the mage tower where you make your own spell and when you start to make the spell select 2 bound weapons for the spell then cast it and drop the weapon you want then wait until the spell wears off. Then pick it back up and now you have a bound weapon.

Fun At Summitmist Manor

On the dark brotherhood quest whodunnit you will be told to kill everyone at summit mist manor without being seen. Travel to skingrad and find the place you be greeted outside by the doorman he will tell you that all the guests have arrived and you have to kill all of them, then he gives you the key to the house. Once inside matilda will talk to you tell her your an assassin and it will boost up her disposition ( she loves a good joke) then persuade all the guests to see how the guests feel about each other talk to matilda again and she asks to form an alliance to find the treasure tell her to look in the basement this will provide a spot for the murder after that talk to dovesi she is scared tell her to go rest upstairs (all guests except for neville will stay around the table fromthis point on)kill her while shes sleeping. Go talk to neville to send him upstairs to get his armor kill him once he’s upstairs the talk nels about primous he says he’s the killer and rushes of to kill him then you kill nels when hes through killing (note this could be played differently).

Becoming A Vampire

Okay there are a few ways at becoming a vampire the easiest way to do this is go into a cave or ayleid ruins, or you can wait until you have to find the boots of springheel jak for the gray fox toward the end of the thieves guild quests, but you will do this by attacking a vampire doesn’t matter what kind after you attack it just stand still it will come and attack you after it has made contact it will say you have contracted a disease then you will go and sleep for FOUR days and it will bring up a page like you have leveled up and you will gain vampire attributes.

The Pirate Ship

Okay if you wandering how you can get on the pirate ship on the far left in the imperial city waterfront, it’s easy all you have to do is step aboard the ship the pirates will then immediately start attacking you if they see you and make sure they do other wise this won’t work, when they begin to attack start running as fast as you can toward the other ship on your way there the guard will see you being chased and will begin to help you just stand back and let the guard take care of it it is entirely possible that the first guard will die and if he does when the pirates are dead you are completely free to loot his body, don’t attack the pirates if you do you will get a bounty.

Easy Way To Level Your Blade,blunt Or Marksman

Okay the easy way to do this is find a character that will not die he/or she just goes unconscious and as he/or she begins to wake and stand hit him again and do this repeatedly until you gain and advancement in the skill you are working, oh and go into sneak before you this so you get the 3x damage or 6x damage (you will not get bounty).

Use the Skeleton Key

When you get the skeleton key, a number of opportunities open. However, if you go for the main quest, eventually you’ll have to give it to Martin. But before you do that, join the thieves guild and it will be much easier since the skeleton key doesn’t break. Make the skeleton key useful while you can.

Easy Way To Travel Over Hills

If you have a horse (any horse will do) you can go over hills buy going strait up the hill as far as you can go then start going left and right while still going forward and you will go up the hill no matter how steep.

Good Training And Item Carrying

When you get the horse from the Dark Brotherhood, you can use it to get your exp. up. This can help with your Marksman, Hand to Hand, Blade, Destruction, and also help you carry more stuff. Just knock the horse out and search it. Put your stuff in there and he will carry it for you. Just knock him out again to get them back. (Note: after you knock him out once or twice, he will walk away.)

Duplicate Items

First, you need to have more than one type ofscroll, such as flare, hailstorm, etc. Go intoyou items and select that scroll twice(hit Xtwice). Then, go to the weapon/item you wantduplicated and drop it. you will have as manyduplicates of the item as the number of scrollsyou had.Note:this cheat may not work for all items, but itdoes work with the majority of them. Also, do notduplicate too many at a time, as your frame ratewill be so slow, you’d be better off restartingthe system. I’d draw the limit at 40 duplicatesat one time, but even then you will experiencesome lag.

Floating Paintbrushes

There are paintbrushes stored in random containers at various locations. If you take one out and drop it, it will not fall. It will just float in the location you were looking at when you dropped it. You can drop them in sets of two or more and use them as steps to reach high places. You can also use them as barriers between you and enemies.

Easy Kills In “Purifictation” Quest

While doing the “The Purification” quest for the Dark Brotherhood, use the following trick to easily kill some of the members in the santuary such as Ocheeva and Vincent. First, get your Disposition with them as high as possible, then sneak attack them with a dagger. Before they have a time to retaliate, propose a yeild. You can attack and yeild repetedly until they are killed.

Different Weapons In “Taking Care Of Lex” Quest

While doing the ”Taking Care Of Lex” quest for the Thieves Guild, you must scald the paper with Lex’s seal. Just beside the desk where the seal is, you will see a chest. If you come in the door directly behind the chest, you will get an Elven longsword, Glass longsword, Orcish helmet, and a Mythril shield. If you come in from the door upstairs, you will get an Elven longsword and Dwarven greaves. If you come in the exact entrance, you will not be able to open the chest.

Cure For Vampiricy

You must first have access to Arcane University. Go in and talk to the mage and he will tell you to talk to a man in Skingrad. Do as he says and run errands for whoever you need to talk to. Eventually you will be allowed to get rid of your vampiricy.

Feeding As A Vampire

If you have a good Sneak skill you can feed from a sleeping person without waking them.

Getting Desired Sigil Stones

While in Sigillum Sanguis (the Sigil Keep at the top of an Oblivion Citadel), save the game while standing in front of the Sigil Stone, before grabbing it. If you do not get the desired effects from the stone, load from the point before you grabbed it and try again. The Sigil Stone you get is chosen at random upon removing it.

Good Armor

At the beginning of the game after the King’s convoy is attacked, quickly take the dead guard’s katana and armor. This will make defeating the rats and trolls much easier.

Good Weapon

Fill a Black Soul Gem with a Human Soul. Take a weapon that is not already enchanted and give it fire, frost, or shock damage. Then, give a weakness to whatever damage you just gave it. When you swing it the first time, it will do the fire, frost, or shock damage, then give a weakness to it. The second swing will do a lot more damage.

Good Cheap House

Go to the city of Anvil, then go to the inn. Inside is a man whose name starts with a “B”. He is selling his grandfather’s old manor. You can purchase it for 5,000 gold, which is very cheap considering that most houses are 15,000 gold and are not as good. The house (at first) is ugly and haunted. However, after completing the quick quest the house will be fixed up without any additional payment.

Making Black Soul Gems

Take an empty Grand Soul Gem and a Soultrap spell to any of the four Necromancer lairs. There will be an altar which will only be active one day of the week. You may need to wait up to six game days. Place your Gem on the altar when it is active and cast Soultrap on it to make a Black Soul Gem. These are used for capturing the souls of NPCs. One is also required for one of the Daedric Quests as a tribute to the shrine.

Making Stolen Items Authentic

When you steal items, most of the merchants will not buy them. Use the following trick to authenticate them. Get in the jail and escape. Take your items authenticated or pay for your days in jail and you will have the items authenticated again.

Saving Lockpicks

When you go on a mission for the Thieves Guild, it is much easier to steal keys for all the doors from immobile guards or the owner(s) of the place you are robbing after you have leveled up your Sneak skill with the “Easy Sneak level” trick. After you steal the keys you can open nearly every door for the building you are in.

Easy Kills With Nord Race

Select the Nord as your race and choose The Lover as you star pattern. Get an enemy down a little bit in health, then use The Lover’s star pattern ability to stun them. While they are stunned, hit them with Nordic Frost. This will kill almost all enemies and works well as a finisher.

Easy Stealing

Get the Gray Fox’s mask and put it on. Steal something and wait for the guards to tell you, “Oh, you are the Gray Fox. I’m going to kill you” (or something similar). Select “Resist Arrest”. Then, go to your inventory and take off the mask. Exit the menu, then yield to the guard by holding Block and pressing X to talk to him at the same time. He should walk away. You will not have a bounty, and you will still have the stolen item.

Easy Lockpicking

While unlocking a door, press Up on a key, then immediately pause the game afterwards. Look at the tab you raised up. If it is mostly up and about to reach the top, resume the game and do it again. If it is mostly half-way or mostly down, resume the game and immediately press X. You should have that tab done. Continue on with the next tab. This might require a few attempts, but after you have done it once it should be easy.

Easy Ebony And Umbra Sword

Go to the Arena and get a few claymores. Then, go directly south of the Imperial Waterfront to a place called the Old Bridge. Move west and follow the road until you reach a ruin that starts with a “V”. Go inside and get past the minor creatures. You will find a girl named Umbra. There is one broken pillar in the room. Use the bench next to it to jump on top of it, then stand at the edge. Use a ranged attack to have her start attacking you. Then, take out the claymore and just start hitting her. She has a lot of health and does a lot of damage — do not fall off the pillar. If done correctly, you will have full Ebony and a great sword without getting touched.

Easy Conjuration Skill

Near the town of Bruna, go east, then southeast. If you reach The Red Ruby Cave you went too far. You will need to go back west slightly. You should see a shrine, that once activated, will give you Conjuration points as well as a temporary bound weapon and/or greaves. You can keep activating the shrine every 24 hours. Wait in front of it for 24 hours, then activate it again. Repeat this as many times as desired.

Easy Athletics Skill

Get an enchanted amulet, ring, or other item you can enchant with Water Breathing. Make sure it is a constant effect. Equip the item with Water Breathing, then jump in some water. Swim to the bottom, then hold [Up] to keep swimming into the floor. Your Athletics skill will greatly increase in just five minutes.

Easy Armor Skill

There is a woman named Arvena Thelas in the town of Anvil who has four rats in her basement (the same as the first Fighter’s Guild quest). If your level is high enough that rats do not cause you significant damage, you can break into her house, annoy the rats by punching them (or casting drain fatigue spells if your punch is too strong), then letting all four rats attack you while occasionally casting a heal spell. This is also useful for raising your Block skill, and is much easier than repeatedly causing summoned monsters to attack you.

Easy Alteration Skill

To get quickly increase your Alteration skill, make sure you have these spells: Open Average Lock, Open Easy Lock, and Open Very Easy Lock. Then, find a chest that you would normally need a key or have to lockpick. Use the opposite spell of the chest. For example, if the chest requires the easy spell, use the very easy spell on it. Make sure you have some Magicka potions or you can just wait an hour every time you exhaust your Magicka supply. In a short period of time you will have leveled your Alteration skill dramatically.

Easy Alchemy Skill

Steal a mortar and pestle. Steal a lot of food items and turn them into potions. It should not take too long to reach the Master level.Use the “Duplicate items” trick to duplicate two different types of food (such as apples and lettuce or other fruits). Try to get over 100 of each food. Then, use a mortar and pestle to create potions from the food. Repeatedly make potions as quick as possible with the duplicated food. When you run out of food to make the potions, just duplicate some more and repeat the process. It is possible to get your Alchemy skill to Master in ten minutes or less.

Easy Acrobatics Skill

While moving around on foot, just keep jumping instead of walking to your desired location to easily increase your Acrobatics skill.

Infinite Arrows

Go to the Bloodworks in the arena and find the gladiator that is practicing with his bow on a target. Stand close by him and when there are five to ten arrows in the target, take them before he does. He will just continue shooting when you move out of the way. This is an unlimited source of iron arrows, which can be sold to almost any merchant and therefore also makes an unlimited source of gold.Go outside of the Inn Of Ill Omen where the man is practicing his archery. He is using steel arrows. Go in front of him and pick up the arrows. He will not hit you and just wait until you move out of his way. You will not get into trouble with the guards. Repeat this as many times as desired.

More Easy Gold

Use the “Duplicate items” trick inside a store. Make sure the item you duplicate is worth a lot of gold. Sell all but one of the item that was duplicated, then repeat the process as many times as desired. It is possible to make up to 50,000 gold in a few minutes.

Infinite Gold

Go to the Talos Plaza District of Imperial City and find a house owned by a man named Dorian (Dorian’s House) in the southeast section of the district. Break into his house and find him. When he tells you to leave, kill him. Do not press X to loot him and take all. Instead, take each item individually, finishing with the gold, which will not run out once it hits 8 pieces. Just keep selecting the gold he is carrying and take it. Do this repeatedly, and the number of gold pieces remaining will freeze when it gets down to 8 gold pieces. It will not go any lower, but will just keep giving you as much gold as desired. Note: After you break in and he tells you to get out, talk to him. Go to “Persuade” and bribe him a lot. After that, kill him. He will now have more money to loot, which makes it easier to get more faster.

Infinite Recharge

Use the “Duplicate items” trick on a Soul Gem. Pick them all up. When an item is on low charge you can recharge it back to full without wasting money on Soul Gems or having to bother with soul trapping.

Infinite Health

Use the “Duplicate items” trick on a potion of strong health. Repeat the duplication to get the desired amount of potions. Open the inventory screen and go to the strong potion of health, then assign a hotkey to that potion. When you are low on health, just press the hotkey to use a potion. When running low on health potions, repeat the duplication process.

Duplicate Items

Equip a bow and any set of arrows, then draw your bow back. While it is drawn back, go to the inventory screen. Select the arrows that you are using, then go to the item to be duplicated. Drop the item, then leave the equipment screen and resume the game. The item that you dropped will be duplicated. You can pick up all the duplicates and use or sell them. The amount of copies of an item you make depends on how many arrows you have equipped. For example, 10 arrows allows 10 copies. This works with most, but not all, items and weapons. Note: Do not try to duplicate more than 250 copies of an item or the game may freeze.

Cheats

Currently we have no cheats or codes for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Unlockables

Secret Treasure

Buy the house in Skingrad, then go to the top floor and look for the room with the deer mantle. Jump on top of the mantle, then jump again onto the loft design in the back corner. You will find an old note that has a riddle on it which leads to a treasure.

Unnamed Sword

Use the ”Duplicate items” trick on a paintbrush. After getting at least twenty paint brushes, go outside of ”A Fighting Chance” in the Imperial City Market District at midnight. Drop a paintbrush. Notice that it will float. Get on top of the brush and repeat the process to form a set of stairs. Once you get high enough to reach the top of the A Fighting Chance store, get on top of the building and look for a chest that is locked. The lockpick level is very difficult. Lockpick it and look inside to find an odd sword without a name. The sword has no attack, breaks easily, and cannot be sold.

Easter eggs

Currently we have no easter eggs for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

Glitches

Arena Glitch

When at the Imperial City Arena, go on the outside of the arena and drop a paintbrush. It will float. You will need about twenty paintbrushes and to that you will need to use the “Duplicate Items” cheat by having more than 1 of the same scroll. Once you have climbed onto the first paint brush, drop another and keep doing that until you create a set of stairs. Once at the top, you will need to jump into the arena, but save before you jump. If you do not live, then create another set of stairs going down. Once in the arena, you can do whatever you desire and to leave the inside of the arena, got to the Arena Blood Works Door and you will be back outside.

Super Glitch In Imperial City

Go to the imperial city and find some paint brushes and duplicate them. Then use them in the market district to jump on the roofs of the stores. Get near to a wall on top of the store and drop the paint brushes until you get to the wall, then jump over it(better have a lot of health and acrobatics if you want to live). you will notice that the walls have disappeared when you turn around. You can’t walk through where the walls were but you can shoot through them and the enemies can’t hit you. And if you look around the outside area it will all look different. The water in the river is gone and some of the area is also gone. And sometimes you will walk under the ground. The only way to undo this glitch is to either fast travel or go into a door.

Guides

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Currently no guide available.

Trophies

Currently we have no achievements or trophies for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion yet. If you have any unlockables please feel free to submit. We will include them in the next post update and help the fellow gamers. Remeber to mention game name while submiting new codes.

[ciathyzareposts]

Darklands: Iron Men

The leader of Hamburg outlines the crimes of robber knight Eberhard Gerle.

        Someone should make a comprehensive study of the criminal archetypes that have come and gone–made obsolete by sociology or technology. The itinerant snake-oil salesman; the train robber; the yo-ho-ho kind of pirate. The Nigerian Prince must be on his way out–too many people have heard of him. We have plenty of robbers, but no more highwaymen. In America, the classic pickpocket is essentially dead except in a few isolated cities, and the stereotypical car thief is hearing the bells toll.

In medieval literature, perhaps no extinct criminal archetype stands out more starkly than that of the raubritter, or “robber knight.” The term’s meaning changed slightly over the centuries, sometimes describing a landowner who abused his power to exact tolls, sometimes describing actual banditry, sometimes (as in the description above) both. But what the term always denotes is a rich person who uses his wealth to purchase armor and castle walls and thus the ability to act with impunity, until he stirs up enough trouble that other rich people with castles and armor decide to deal with him. This is an odd idea–the use of wealth to commit principally physical crimes. Imagine if instead of just ruining the country economically and spiritually, the Waltons and Kochs decided to build “Iron Man” suits and physical fortifications, then go on rampages through villages, knowing that local law enforcement officers would be powerless to stop them. There’s a story in that somewhere.        

My party achieves victory over one of the villains.

          Robber knights form the near-exclusive stable of “bad guys” in Arthurian and other medieval heroic literature, granted with the occasional supernatural twist. The various Green Knights, Black Knights, Red Knights, Sir Bruce Sans Pity, and their lot are all essentially robber knights. Perlesvaus even has a character of of that name (he is defeated by the Coward Knight, who then becomes the Bold Knight). You can’t read an Arthurian story from the 12th to 15th centuries in which the hero does not, at some point, come to a bridge or ford guarded by a mysterious armored figure who refuses to let anyone cross until they pay a usurious toll. The hero naturally thrashes the villain making this demand, but what’s notable is that only someone who can afford the same types of armor, weapon, and steed even has a chance. It’s what T. H. White was getting at when he had Merlyn say:

              What is all this chivalry, anyway? It simply means being rich enough to have a castle and a suit of armour, and then, when you have them, you make the Saxon people do what you like. The only risk you run is of getting a few bruises if you happen to come across another knight. Look at that tilt you saw between Pellinore and Grummore, when you were small. It is this armour that does it. All the barons can slice the poor people about as much as they want, and it is a day’s work to hurt each other, and the result is that the country is devastated. Might is Right, that’s the motto.

               It makes sense, then, that robber knights make up a major villain class in Darklands, essentially occupying the role of pirates in Pirates! They have randomly-generated names and castles, but wherever the game situates them, they’re such a menace to the surrounding area that multiple political and economic leaders will pay you to get rid of them. And just like Pirates!, you can get multiple rewards for defeating the same villain.

The game adds a dose of realism not found in the typical RPG, however, when it comes to the aforementioned use of armor. I haven’t worked out all the math yet–I’ll leave that for a later entry–but it feels like the protective value of armor increases exponentially rather than in the somewhat linear manner used by Dungeons and Dragons-style games. Leather hardly does anything at all, and plate practically makes a man a walking fortress. There are associated encumbrance and agility penalties, but they’re still worth it.                

A secondary application brings up your quest log. I think this is the first RPG that keeps track of quests for you.

           As I began this session, I had received a quest from several people to kill the robber knight Anton Seibt, but an initial foray into Seibt’s territory suggested I was far from the necessary abilities to do that. Thus, I settled into Lübeck for a period of grinding and character development. My quest log showed that I had about a year to kill Seibt and get back to Flensburg before the quest expired.

I visited the alchemists’ and tinkers’ guilds and got permission to train, and I spent some days in residence at the inn, some characters working odd jobs, some training. At night, I occasionally ventured into back alleys, fought thieves, and sold their equipment the next day. My character slowly developed skills in edged weapons. Once I figured out that in the markets, you can scroll past the initial four options displayed for sale, I bought everyone shields and missile weapons. (To fund all of this, I sold most of the potions my alchemist started with.)            

A guild master agrees to teach “Artifice” to my characters.

           Occasionally, I left the city and wandered around outside (I tended to favor healing in camp outside, as it’s free). I escorted a few pilgrims, donated to some poor people, and fought an odd wolf or giant spider. (The thieves in town were better opponents because they leave you things to sell.) I wandered up the road to Schleswig to see if I could get the Seibt quest from even more people, but they wouldn’t see me. When I wanted to get back into Lübeck, I sneaked in or charmed the guards to let me in, hoping to increase one of those two skills. One of the things I like about this game is that skills sometimes increase even when you fail at using them.           

Various options when returning to a city. It costs nothing (as far as I can tell) to try hiding or charming the guards, and has a chance of raising important skills besides.

          For a long time, I was stubborn about Ladislaus, my mentally-damaged cleric. His virtue was so low that it would take years of faking good deeds before a single saint would answer a prayer, and he hadn’t managed to develop much healing skill in only 10 years of monastery service. A couple of points of increases during training didn’t translate to faster healing of my characters; they were still only capable of restoring 1 point of strength a day. Finally, I got fed up, had Ladislaus “retire” (he took one-fifth of my wealth!), and rolled up a more experienced and devout Catholic. Lambert spent four terms as a novice monk, monk, friar, and abbot before joining the party, excelling in virtue, religion, and healing. When my characters rest with him in the party, they restore 2 points of strength per day–which, believe me, makes a big difference. He also starts with knowledge of three saints and an actual chance that they’ll respond to prayers. I just had to build up his skill with a weapon for a while.            

Having sent Ladislaus into retirement, I create a new holy figure with more experience.

            The grinding period was hard. Health regenerates so slowly that you spend more days resting than adventuring. You can’t afford to do it all at comfortable inns, so you have to go outside, but there you run the risk of bandits, wild animals, or just being run off the local lord’s land. Paying for training is also expensive and doesn’t guarantee your skill will actually go up each session. There seem to be a lot of skills you can’t train–at least, I haven’t found trainers yet. Everyone wants a piece of your hard-earned money. You have to pay to enter cities (if other mechanisms fail). You have to pay if you get caught on the streets at night. You have to pay if you’re caught camping on someone else’s land. Except for common thieves, new parties die against practically everyone and everything.

But, slowly, things started to get better, particularly when I made enough money to buy some better armor for everyone. Until then, Maximian–who started with brigantine armor–hardly ever took any damage in combat while everyone else got slaughtered.          

Improving my situation at an armor shop.

          I’ll make a few complaints about combat while I’m thinking about it, reserving greater analysis for a future entry in which I have more experience. 1992 was the first year in general for “real time combat with pause,” and we’ve seen it in both Darklands and Legend. It would, of course, become more famous in the Infinity Engine titles of the late 1990s. Darklands is superior to Legend in that it allows you to issue orders while paused. Right now, there’s not much I can do but attack.

I am having a few problems. First, I want Maximian to bear the brunt of most combats, but no matter how far in the lead I put him, enemies just happily walk around him to engage the weaker characters. Second, the characters don’t do what I tell them to do when it comes to attacking particular enemies. They remain stubbornly engaged with whoever is closest to them even if I repeatedly tell them to go attack someone else. In short, I find it hard to prioritize particular enemies and protect my weaker characters.        

The weaker characters hang back while Maximian goes to engage the enemy. I know half of them will just walk around him and attack the other characters anyway.

        The game is also a bit annoying in its adherence to realism with missile weapons and line-of-sight. I have my third and fourth characters equipped with missile weapons, but they hardly ever have a clear shot at an enemy because the lead characters are in the way. The process of picking up missiles from the battlefield, redistributing them, and re-equipping them is also a bit annoying. Finally, I don’t like the way that the treasures found post-combat are so relentlessly predictable. It would be nice to occasionally meet a back-alley thief whose father had willed him a decent-quality long sword. Instead, thieves always carry falchions or clubs and always have leather armor for the vitals and cloth (which doesn’t sell for anything) for the non-vitals. Other enemies seem similarly predictable.             

We sneak through the robber knight’s castle. At least we’re not the only ones betraying the Guest Right.

          Back to the story. After about half a year passed, I was at the point where I could defeat several bandit parties per night and didn’t even have to rest for a week afterwards. I decided to try my luck against Anton Seibt again. “Try my luck” is the operative phrase because for whatever reason, everything I tried succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Acting friendly to his men prevented me from having to fight any engagements during my approach to his castle. When I got to the castle, I knocked on the door and he invited me in for the evening. Later, I chose to have my party go to bed, but then get up and sneak to Seibt’s room, and again it worked. The result is that when I finally confronted him in his room, we fought a four-on-one combat instead of one that involved his warriors. It was almost too easy.            

My party gangs up on Seibt in his chambers at night.

         When he died, I looted plate armor from his corpse and gave it to Maximian, passing the brigantine and chain down the line. It uses almost all my encumbrance, and I couldn’t therefore wield the two-handed sword I also recovered from the robber knight. I gave that to Lambert, but using it tires him out quite fast, and I suspect it’s better to keep Lambert equipped with a one-handed weapon.             

With plate armor for his vitals and chain armor for his limbs, Maximian is just shy of a full load.

            Now the fun part. I returned to Lübeck and got rewards from both the obserte and the Fugger representative. I continued up the road to Flensburg, where I’d started, and got even more money from the Fugger, but for some reason the erbvogt (mayor) had nothing to say to me even though the little quest application insists I had the same quest from him.          

Claiming a reward for killing Anton Seibt.

         In any event, the three rewards loaded me up with more money than I’d even dreamed about before–the equivalent of about 18,000 pfenniges when I’d struggled to top 2,000 before. I bought horses for everyone and splurged on some alchemical ingredients, although none of the shops in Denmark seem to sell the specific ingredients that Viridia needs for the spells that she knows.           

Both my purse and local fame grow.

         The only other quest I had was to get the “Tarnhelm” from a pagan altar southwest of Magdeburg. I decided to head in that direction because it would put me closer to the center of the empire, with more easy access to other locations. On the way, I stopped at several cities, and in the course of meeting with various representatives, got the same quest from several of them to destroy the robber knight Eberhard Gerle, who was hanging out east of Paderborn. I also picked up some minor “fetch quests.”            

Wolves are unhappy with my acquisition of the Tarnhelm.

          The Tarnhelm quest wasn’t difficult. I simply wandered in the area of Magdeburg until I received a notice that I found a pagan altar. After picking up the helm, I had to deal with a pack of wolves, and which point the game indicated that the unholiness of the area had been lifted. I’m not keen to walk all the way back up to Flensburg just to return the helm. I can tell that I’ll be wishing for a fast travel option before the game is through.

          At one point, I stumbled upon the house of some kind of seer. She warned me of secret covens of witches growing in power but said that my party was too inexperienced to deal with them. She advised me to “go forth and train, seek experience, adventure, and fame,” and then return. The problem is, I forgot to note where the house was. Is that going to be an issue?

           Miscellaneous notes:

I keep encountering alchemists on the road. They travel with guards and demand all your alchemical ingredients when you encounter them. If you refuse, you find yourself in combat with their guards, who I have thusfar been unable to defeat without a death. They’re very annoying.

The terrain changes color and texture to denote the changes in seasons. Right now, as 1400 turns to 1401, snow covers the ground. At one point, the game forced me to stop and hole up for a few days to wait out a blizzard.

            Note the frozen landscape in January. There’s a castle to the east of my party, but I can barely make it out.

          My colorblindness, or some other factor, makes it difficult for me to see many of the features in the environment. For instance, note the castle to the east of my party in the shot below. I had to really “where’s Waldo” the screen to find it.

For one of the miscellaneous quests, picked up in Braunschweig, the Fugger representative wants me to help prove that his family is of royal lineage by retrieving a crown from an old tomb. I feel like one of the Pirates! editions had a similar quest, where a random governor wanted help proving that he had royal blood.

           A common MicroProse theme.

        Both times I defeated the robber knights, the game brought up a message indicating that the party was going to loot the castles’ treasuries. In both cases, nothing got added to my wealth. I guess maybe they weren’t very good robber knights.

Horses are treated weird. They show up in inventory, and I guess you have to assume they’re being “used,” but you never see them. I hope they’re speeding up my travel. 

             I bought a “superb” horse for my knight, but just regular pack horses for everyone else.

            I finished this session by finding Eberhard Gerle’s castle just east of Paderborn. Surprisingly, the exact same strategy I used at Anton Seibt’s worked here, and Gerle was soon dead. I have no fewer than five people prepared to reward me for the deed, and I also have to figure out if I’m going to try to equip any of my other characters with his looted plate or sell it. Either way, it feels like my money problems are almost over, quite early in the game. Perhaps alchemical ingredients will sap most of it. 

For the next sessions, I really need to get a grip on alchemy, praying, combat, and equipment–starting with re-reading the relevant sections of the manual. (Some of my commenters have offered a lot on these issues, but I’ve mostly stopped reading comments on previous entries because it seemed like they were getting spoilerish.) I’ll practice with those as I continue to build my fame across the empire.

          Time so far: 14 hours

        source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/darklands-iron-men/