#it's sometimes easy to forget the real point of the quests is not the traveler but rather the travel/journey itself

[teganberry]

‘Only a heart of pure darkness can exist in perfect balance with your light. That’s why I did this, Kairi, so we can finally be together like we promised.’

Dark Sora has been on my mind all week! Hopefully when I get some time in the future I can come back and colour this properly. This if for @phoenix-downer, @chachacharlieco and everyone else who enjoyed that brilliant Dark Sora thread we had going the other day.

And guess what?! This time I’ve actually written a fic to go along with my drawing under the cut! Be warned this thing is kinda long, and its been a while since I’ve written anything other than scripts and story outlines, so please be kind. Hope you all enjoy my take on Dark Sora!

Reposting my artwork on any site is forbidden.

As the blinding power of her light begun to fade Kairi desperately did all she could to restore her vision. The stone floor of the chamber felt incredibly cold beneath her. Looking downward she focused on the ridiculously ornate dress she’d been forced to wear for the ceremony. The thought of ripping the damn thing off immediately came to mind, but she thought better of it for now. Before anything else she needed to ascertain just what had happened.

The task that brought her here should have been simple enough. A week ago it was discovered that the waters of Radiant Gardens had become inexplicably tainted with darkness once more. No one knew the cause; it had seemingly come out of nowhere. It was quickly determined that, despite the Restoration Committees’ best efforts, the only way to stop the spread of the darkness would be with the light of a pure heart. That was where Kairi came in, as Princess possessing a heart of pure light. She need only touch source of Radiant Gardens many rivers with her pure light and the darkness would be eradicated once more.

When Leon had first sent for Kairi’s aid she was initially reluctant, especially when told she would be required to perform a traditional Radiant Garden purification ceremony in order to complete the task. It was only when her companion begun to speculate that connecting with the source of her original home World’s power may help aid in their current quest that she finally agreed. At this point, after 6 months of fruitless searching, Kairi was willing to give anything a try in order to find some answers.

Returning her attention to the immediate surroundings, Kairi was initially relieved the light had now faded enough for her to see again. The horrific sight that met her eyes, however, immediately caused her blood to run cold. The unconscious bodies of her friends now lay inexplicably strewn about the underground chamber, when only moments earlier they had all been standing before her in support.

Fear grew in the pit of Kairi’s stomach when her eyes fell upon the seemingly lifeless forms of a silver haired young man and a brunette woman in a long pink dress, laying just off to her left. Her guardians, the ones who had sworn to protect her throughout the ceremony, had they failed in their duty? And was Kairi’s power the reason for their failure?

‘No, it can’t be…’ She whispered, barely able to form words. ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen.’

Kairi made to stand and make her way towards them. But subtle movements in her peripheral vision cause her to freeze. She didn’t want to look, but she knew she had to. Dreading what she what about to see Kairi remained on the ground, turning slowly to look to her right. She held her breath as she beheld the mass of pure swirling darkness that stood before her.

‘What are you? Why are you here?’ She managed to demand of it, despite her growing terror.

‘I’m here because you called.’ A distorted voice replied from within the darkness.

And with that the darkness began to condense and reform, quickly taking on what appeared to be the form of a human. Then in the blink of an eye the darkness broke away, revealing a young man with a head of spiky brown hair in its place. His eyes remained closed for a moment before he finally allowed himself to look at her and smile.

‘Kairi.’ He said warmly. ‘I’ve missed you.’

Her first instinct was to jump up and throw her arms around him, but something inside held Kairi back. The person she had been searching and longing for, for so long was finally standing before her, but she couldn’t move. This was wrong. The darkness that had apparently brought him here, the strange new black garments he now wore, and the yellow glow of his eyes. Everything was wrong.

Finding her voice at last Kairi dared to form his name, ‘So-’

‘Sora?’ Another strained voice suddenly cut her off.

The young man in question allowed himself to take his eyes off Kairi for a moment to glance in the direction of the voice, his smile begins to fade. Kairi took the opportunity to look to her left once more and was relieved to find Riku had regained consciousness. His eyes however were fixed on Sora.

‘Riku, I’m glad to see you again too.’ Sora told him with a smile. But Kairi could tell something in his voice was off. As if Sora didn’t completely mean what he was saying.

Riku groaned as he forced himself into a kneeling position. Clearly whatever had happened when Kairi touched the water with her light had caused a lot of damage.

‘What happened to you? We were told your heart had travelled to a realm beyond The Final World. How did you end up here?’ Riku asked firmly.

Sora placed his hands behind his head and chuckled as if Riku had asked the simplest question in the world. ‘That’s easy. I heard Kairi’s call and followed her voice back here. Not like I haven’t done it before.’

In an instant Kairi knew he was lying. All three of them knew he was lying. She knew Riku was going to demand the truth from him with his next breath. But with the way Sora was behaving she doubted he’d give anyone a real answer. Anyone that is, except the one person Sora had never lied to.

‘Sora,’ Kairi’s voice was firm. ‘Tell me the truth. What did you do?’

Sora sighed and allowed his shoulders to slump a little. ‘Let me guess, you want to know about this.’ He then pointed towards his now yellow eyes to which Kairi nodded in response.

‘You sure? It’s a pretty long story…’

He was stalling but Kairi wasn’t having any of it. She pushed herself up from the ground, managing to stand again despite her cumbersome dress. She looked him directly in the eye.

‘Guess it’s a good thing I’ve got nothing but time then.’

Sora was the first to look away. ‘Fine, if its what you really want.’

‘Yep.’ She replied curtly. Kairi took a moment before he started speaking to readjust her dress. But truth be told it was only a rues in order to check on her friends, whom were still scattered about the room. She wasn’t afraid of Sora, not just yet anyway. But Kairi did fear that this new, darker Sora might run or lash out if everyone in the room suddenly woke up at once. It was all so surreal.

Kairi spotted Xion and Naminé lying side by side not too far away, their hands appeared to be grasped together despite being knocked out cold. Axel and Roxas lay in front of the pair. They had evidently tried to shield the girls when Kairi’s light had suddenly exploded. Isa and Leon lay unconscious nearby, as did Donald, Goofy and the King. While on the opposite side of the room Kairi could see Terra, Aqua, Ventus and Chirthy were all huddled together, but still just as comatose as the rest.

Lastly Kairi dared to glance back ever so slightly to check on Riku. Sora had seemed so cold towards their best friend she feared he may lash out at both of them, should he see her look towards Riku so deliberately. For the most part Riku seemed to be recovering well from the blast, and was attempting to revive Aerith.

‘Do you remember what happens to you when you die?’ Sora asked.

Kairi returned her full, undivided attention to him. ‘Yes, how could I forget? You travel to The Final World until you are ready to pass into the beyond.’

‘Technically you’re correct.’ Sora replied, his face growing ashen. ‘That’s what’s supposed to happen anyway. But sometimes you don’t end up there. Sometimes you end up somewhere completely different. Like a huge city, big enough for millions of people to live…but its completely empty, and you become stuck there all alone. With nothing but your own thoughts and memories to keep you company.’

‘Is that… what happened to you?’ Kairi felt her heart ache at the thought of Sora being trapped in such a lonely, empty place. He only nodded to confirm her fear.

‘I suppose it wasn’t all that bad though. While the loneliness was excruciating, I did have a lot of time to think about everything. Figure out why things happened the way they did, and what I did wrong.’

‘What you did wrong? Sora, you didn’t do anything wrong. You saved everyone.’

Sora offered her a rueful smile in response. ‘I did. But in the end, despite all the good I’d done, I wasn’t allowed to have the one thing I wanted more than anything else. To keep my promise to you.’

The pain she felt in her heart as he spoke those words was immense. But after the first throb Kairi realized the pain suddenly felt drastically different, magnified, if that was even possible. She let out a gasp and clutched her chest as her eyes met Sora’s.

Sora tilted his head slightly to the side. ‘You felt that too, huh? Interesting.’

Kairi was unnerved by the smile that began to form on Sora’s lips. That was when she heard Riku finally stand up, his strength returned.

‘Sora, what are you doing to Kairi?’ He demanded.

‘Nothing!’ Sora retorted with a glare. ‘And even if I was doing “something” to her it wouldn’t be any of your business.’

Kairi raised an arm to silence the two bickering friends. ‘I’m ok, Riku. Really.’ She knew he didn’t believe that, but when Riku said nothing in reply she took it to mean he would let Sora continue telling his story… for now.

‘Did you figure out what it was you did that was so wrong?’ Kairi asked, despite her fear of what Sora’s answer would be.

‘Yeah I did.’ He genuinely began to smile now. ‘And what’s better, I figured out how to fix everything.’

‘So you figured out a way back home?’

‘Even better than that! I figured out a way to make sure we’ll be together forever, Kairi, no matter what!’ Sora’s smile was genuine but his eyes still looked cold. The combination of the two along with his bold statement was increasingly unnerving. ‘I just had to get rid of my light.’

Kairi’s mouth opened in utter shock, she imagined Riku’s face looked much the same. Somewhere in the back of her mind Kairi noted that some of the others in the underground chamber were now beginning to stir, but that hardly mattered anymore.

‘Get rid of your light? Sora, I don’t understand, why would you want to rid yourself of light?’

‘Balance.’ He replied. ‘Turns out Master Xehanort was on the right track. There must always be a balance between light and darkness. Where he went wrong though was deciding that balance could only be obtained through destruction. Unfortunately for him the light and the dark a far more complex than that.’

‘But what does a balance between light and dark have to do with you and me, Sora?’

He smiled a little more sadly now. ‘It has everything to do with us, right from the moment we first met on the islands.’ Sora moved towards her, close enough that Kairi had to tilt her head slightly upwards to meet his gaze. Sora had grown taller during his absence.

‘Its your heart, Kairi. I can’t believe it took me so long to realize.’ Her hand moved instinctively to her chest. ‘Your heart is made of pure light, no darkness can ever reside within you. Your heart possesses such an incredible amount of light, it only makes sense you have no true need for the light of others. You can walk through corridors darkness and it would never touch you.’

‘Sora, I don’t understand what your trying to say.’ She was pleading with him now, desperate to understand just how things had gone so wrong.

‘From the moment we met your heart has always called to mine, and mine to you.’ Beginning to feel confidant, Sora dared to raise his hand so he could lightly play with a loose strand of her hair. She decided to allow him to, for now. ‘I’ll never understand why a heart as pure as yours chose an idiot like me, but I’m happy you did. For the longest time I believed we’d always be together, until suddenly we weren’t. And no matter how hard I tried each time I found you, we’d always be ripped apart again. I realized then that all the worlds were doing whatever they could to keep us apart, because so long as my heart possessed light we could never truly be together. Only a heart of pure darkness can exist in perfect balance with your light. That’s why I did this, Kairi, so we can finally be together like we promised.’

‘That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth! And quite frankly that’s saying a lot!’

Kairi jumped and the sudden shout, and looked to see an utterly furious Riku glaring at Sora. ‘If any of that was even remotely true then how come all the other Princess’ of Heart are all allowed to live happily with their respective Princes? Last time I checked they all had both light and darkness in their hearts.’

Sora only smirked at his best friend’s retort. ‘That’s true I won’t deny it. But your forgetting there’s a big difference between them and Kairi and I. You know, that little thing we call a Keyblade?’ He then proceeded to summon his Kingdom Key as a final attempt to hammer his new ideology home to Riku.

‘Keyblades were created to serve the worlds, to maintain the balance between light and dark. As wielders it is up to us to maintain that balance. During my time alone I finally realized that our duty isn’t only limited to battle, it extends into every aspect of our lives. As a wielder it only makes sense that the light of Kairi’s heart must be balanced with a heart of equal darkness. Kairi has always been my light and now I am her darkness, just as we were always meant to be.’

Kairi could feel her heart breaking with each passing second. ‘So that’s how you found your way back. You gave into the darkness.’

Sora sighed at her words. ‘I didn’t give into anything. I simply accepted the reality before me. At the end of the day I will always make the same choice. I’ll always choose you. As for how I found my way back…I did use the darkness to begin with, but it only got me halfway. Your light opened the final path for me.’

For a moment Kairi was confused before her eyes widened in utter shock, she looked down at the water source she had touched with her light. ‘The water purification ceremony, the darkness in Radiant Gardens’ water supply…that was you?’

Sora grinned. ‘Remember in school when we were taught natural water is an excellent conductor for electricity? Turns out its also an excellent conductor of light and darkness too. Though I had no idea the reaction of your light and my darkness coming in contact through the water would be so…explosive. Your actually ridiculously powerful Kairi, you do realize that don’t you?’

Kairi was still in shock trying to comprehend what he was implying. ‘Sora I…that explosion of light…we hurt everyone here. We hurt our friends!’

For the first time Sora looked taken aback by her words. ‘No we didn’t…I mean we did, but I didn’t mean for that to happen! Look I didn’t know it would cause your light to explode like that. I just…I wanted to be by your side again so bad I didn’t care about the risks.’

Kairi wanted to scream at him for his recklessness, but the look of regret on his face made her pause. He almost looked like the Sora she remembered, finally showing genuine concern for their injured friends.

‘Everything is going to ok Kairi, I promise. But there’s something you and I need to do first.’

Sora’s face had suddenly turned darkly determined once more as he made to embrace her. He was stopped in his actions, however, as a blur of black and white made to attack him with a Keyblade from behind. But he was too quick, Sora had sensed her coming. He turned and successfully blocked her attack with ease. The initial frown on his face grew into a bemused smile as he learnt the identity of his attacker.

‘I can feel how upset you are with me, Xion, but now really isn’t a good time.’ Sora calmly told the dark haired wielder as she continued to stubbornly pressure her Kingdom Key against his own. ‘We can do this some other time. Right now Mum and Dad need to have a little talk, ok?’

Xion suddenly blanked at his overly casual and strangely accepting reference to her true origin. The pause was enough to give Sora the opening he needed, managing to push her off hard enough to send her stumbling backwards. Thankfully Naminé was able to catch Xion before she fell to the ground and held her tightly. A now conscious Roxas and Axel quickly joined the pair to comfort Xion.

‘Now then…’ Sora mused, returning his attention back to Kairi.

‘Sora, don’t you dare make another move!’ It was now Riku’s turn to somehow intervene. But while his Keyblade was summoned he still had yet to move from his position beside the still unconscious Aerith.

Kairi knew he wanted to protect her, but she could also tell that he feared what Sora might do in response. She understood then that there was only one thing she could do. And as scary as the possibilities may be, Kairi had to admit she wanted to know the true extent of Sora’s plan. She turned away from Sora so she could speak with her best friend.

‘It’ll be ok, Riku.’ She told him through a pained smile. ‘We both know Sora would never hurt me.’

She saw a look of defeat cross his face as Riku lowered his blade. Moments later she heard Sora move towards her. She closed her eyes as his arms held her tightly.

‘The true path for restoring balance to the worlds begins here, with you and me.’ He whispered so only she could hear. ‘I just need you to trust me.’

‘I trust you.’ Kairi replied. As the words left her lips her heart suddenly pounded out of control as her light became enveloped in darkness, Sora’s darkness. But it wasn’t overwhelming her; in fact it was quite the opposite. Kairi could feel her light resonating with his darkness. She kept her eyes firmly closed.

‘You feel it, don’t you?’ Came Sora’s voice, gentle and encouraging. She realized with a start that he hadn’t spoken out aloud, his voice was inside her head.

‘How are you doing that?’ Kairi asked in bewilderment.

‘Our hearts are resonating. The balance of light and dark means we can share a new bond, just the two of us. From now on we’ll be able to sense were the other is, no matter how far apart we may be. If we want to we can even share feelings and emotions.’

‘“No matter how far apart we may be.” You say that as if you’re going to leave again. Sora, if you were planning to disappear and leave me all over again then what was the point of turning to the darkness or coming back to the realm of light at all? Was this all some elaborate lie?’

‘No, it's not a lie.’ Sora defended.

‘But it is a lie. You’ve been lying this whole time. When you saved me from The Final World you promised that, even if you faded away, you would always be my light. Sora…’

Kairi opened her eyes and turned to look at him properly. She held his face so he couldn’t look away from her. ‘Why did you break your promise to me?’

Sora’s mouth opened and closed a number of times but nothing came out. Fear, hurt and regret flashed across his face before he finally found his words again. ‘Kairi, I did what I had to do.’

Kairi wanted to scream and cry all at once, but her heart ached too much for her to do either. And judging by the pained look on Sora’s face he was clearly feeling her pain as well. She guessed the whole sharing emotions thing really was true. Before anything else could be said a new voice spoke.

‘Sora? Is that you?’ came the voice of the King.

They both looked to see King Mickey, Donald, Goofy and the rest of their friends had finally awakened.

‘Sora?’ Donald and Goofy both spoke in a mixture of apprehension and disbelief.

Kairi felt fear but it wasn’t her own. She looked at Sora, his face pale and yellow eyes glowing.

‘I have to go.’ He told her, refusing to meet her eye. A dark portal opened up beside him and he made to walk through it.

He was only stopped by Kairi grabbing his hand and refusing to let go. ‘Please don’t go!’ She begged.

Sora looked back at her once more with a pained smile. ‘This isn’t the end, it’s a new beginning.’ He told her before freeing his hand from her grasp. And without another word he passed through the dark corridor and vanished.

As the last wisps of darkness faded away Kairi fell to the ground and burst into tears. Riku, Aerith and Aqua rushed forward and embraced the poor girl. It felt like forever before Kairi was finally calm enough to speak. Seeking Riku’s embrace, she told him Sora’s final lie.

‘His heart isn’t pure darkness. I felt it, his light is still there. It’s locked away, sleeping deep inside his heart. We just have to convince him to come back to us and let it free.’

[secret-engima]

Hey, all your stories have inspired me to try the ffxv game and i haven't played the other games are there any tricks to it?

Hmmmmm You don’t need to play the other FF games to get into FFXV? So there’s that. Get the Royal Edition, PLEASE, it has all the extra DLC barring Ardyn’s and an extra map to explore plus quests.

For tips/tricks lemme think-

Overlevel. Side-Quests are your friend, Hunts are your friend. Until you get comfortable with the various combat systems and strategies having a higher level is Great. Even after you get comfortable having a higher level is Great.

Collect everything. If you see a shiny blue spark on the ground, go over and collect it. Be careful what you sell. There are guides on what is safe to sell or not but as a shortcut tip DO NOT sell Rusty Bit, Glass Gemstone, and if you somehow get a Sturdy Helixhorn while taking Hunts for the love of the Astrals DON’T SELL IT. Those three ingredients are what you need to upgrade your Engine Blade, which brings me to my next tip-

Talk to Cid after you’re in the open world (so ... post Noctis learning of Insomnia’s fall and the cutscenes/short quests associated with that). I forget when you’re free to go talk to him (probably after the set of Cor quests? I think? Been a while.) but just- try as soon as possible and keep trying. He has these nifty quests where he will upgrade certain kinds of gear, including your Engine Blade. If you upgrade the Engine Blade three times (Rusty Bit for the first one, Glass Gemstone for the second, Sturdy Helixhorn for the last) it will turn into the Ultima Blade, which is easily the highest powered blade in the game for like- 99% of the game. I’ve been in post-game for a LONG while now hunting down the really hard post-game dungeons and I still use that thing. It’s a relatively easy set of quests to get the highest level blade in the game and you can do it REALLY EARLY on in the game.

Wait System is Your Friend In Specific Instances. So- there are two kinds of combat mode in the game, Real Time and Wait System. I usually don’t bother with Wait System because I prefer Real Time BUT when hunting for specific monster parts (like the Sturdy Helixhorn), if you pause in combat and go down to ... i forget what it’s called but the came will show you in the tutorial, there’s a spot where you can swap to Wait System. That essentially pauses the game while you’re holding still (on a timer though so don’t dally too long) so that you can look around and lock onto desired monster parts. If you want the horn- lock onto and repeatedly warp attack the horn until it breaks. Repeat for any other part you particularly want on a given monster. I only do that with Hunts when I need a specific part though so (shrugs).

Take your time. You are in no rush, exploring and overleveling are your friends, and really except for specific quests, nothing is timed. Just enjoy the game and get comfortable with the systems before trying to tackle the late game/Altissia/post-Altissia content. There. Is. No. Rush. Stockpile potions and elixirs, enjoy the scenery, go catch some funny colored frogs. Saving the world will wait for you.

I’m sure everyone has a different opinion, but for me, I like to upgrade the Exploration branches of the Ascension menu (basically your skill tree, it has sub categories for upgrading magic, upgrading health, upgrading/unlocking your companion’s special attacks, etc) There are ones that will allow things like Gladio picking up extra items while hiking as well as gaining EXP and Ascension points (skill points) just by driving the car around and another for riding chocobos. I’d recommend getting the car and chocobo = ascension points ones first before moving on to snag whatever boosts or abilities you want because that way you can just- earn skill points by doing whatever on the open world map.

Pay attention to the exp bonus rates of various hotels. You only “level up” when you Rest at either a Haven or a hotel or caravan. Haven’s have the bonus of Ignis cooking meals (pay attention to the buffs offered, and if you see a chibi figure of one of the chocobros next to a recipe that means they like it and will get a passive exp boost for eating it), but hotels and caravans will boost how much exp you get per Rest. The best one early-ish in the game is Lestallum’s, which doubles your points when you Rest there (so if you go in with 100 points, it will tally 200 points instead etc etc). The Best one is the hotel in Altissia but that’s later game and also much more expensive.

Do the Dead-Eye quest as soon as you think you’re leveled up enough for it, because it unlocks Chocobos and those are priceless for running around the map in places the car can’t go (make sure to have a few flasks of Fire Elemency in your inventory, because there are red barrels in his lair and it is satisfying to set him on fire).

Elemancy is your friend (as long as you throw from far enough away, because your own bombs WILL hurt you if you throw too close). It took me forever to get the hang of Elemency and I still prefer using blades BUT it’s a fun system to play with. If you combine raw elements like Fire with an ingredient from your inventory (say, a banknote or silver coin) you can get additional effects like boosted exp, slowing the enemy down, poisoning them, even instant death (though that one is ... iffy).

Pay attention to the numbers that come out of monsters when you fight them. Purple means that whatever you’re using isn't effective. Gold means it’s super effective, white is normal. If you’re getting purple numbers, try swapping to another type of weapon like spear, dagger, great sword, or pistol. If you watch close enough, you can spot if one of the other chocobros is using a super effective weapon and as Noctis you get to use all of them, so just swap to that.

Don’t Fast Travel unless you have to. Filling up the gas tank on the car and running everywhere on chocobo may be boring sometimes but if you get the exp and skill point bonuses for doing those things, it will be worth it. But if you fast travel you don’t get those skill points.

There’s an mp3 player thing you can buy in the car store menus under key items, it will let you play music from other games while you drive/ride/walk. You can buy the soundtracks from various stores and gas stations throughout lucis so make sure to check for those when you stop.

Do the Cindy quest chain. The sooner you successfully complete it, the sooner you get a car with an unlimited gas tank, so no more worrying about having to spend gil refilling the tank while earning ascension points. Also the fully upgraded car can fly, but I don’t recommend it because landing is hard and one mistake will murder your entire party. Also if Cindy sends you into a dungeon to get a part, look it up ahead of time on the internet, because chances are you don’t have to go too far into the dungeon to find it, but if you do, it’s probably a scary high-level dungeon so good luck.

Prompto is a Gem. I mean that. He is one of my primary tactics in the game other than be Warptastic with Noctis. He is also a Glass Cannon so if you get/buy decent health and defense items I recommend giving the best ones to him (there are ascension slots that can unlock more accessory slots for specific characters, I recommend upgrading Prompto’s and Noctis’s first). The longer you can keep him alive in a fight, the more times you can use his Piercer ability. It’s his basic special attack, but it doesn’t take long to recharge and you can use it to break an enemy’s defense VERY often if you level it up all the way (just spam it, more use = higher level special attack). I still use it post game because it’s short and fast and relatively powerful. But that’s just me.

Try to keep everyone alive. If you don’t have phoenix downs to spare obviously you CAN just let them lie there until the fight is over, but if you do that then the “dead” member won’t get exp for the fight. This is bad because you need all the bros to be at their best to survive the whole game. Try to keep an eye on all health bars and if you can’t get over there to manually revive them, there are ascension skills that let them use health kits on themselves or you can just go into the potion menu and order them to use one on themselves before they get too bad off health wise.

If you think you are overleveled enough to handle the boss fights in Gralea. You Are Not™. Either don’t go to Altissia until you are higher leveled than you currently are or when you go to Altissia, take advantage of Umbra’s new time-travel ability and go BACK to Lucis to level some more. I recommend being like- at least level forty-five, PREFERABLY FIFTY+, before going to Altissia but that’s just me. Check the “recommended level” of each quest before doing them and decide if you want to tackle it. They are fully beatable if you are at the recommended level or even a little under but personally I saved a lot of potions and elixirs and tears of frustration by just- making a point to be 5-10 levels higher than the recommended at minimum.

Strategy Guides on the internet are your friend. I suck at explaining my strategies, and other people have actual numbers to crunch to prove their methods. If all else fails, there is no shame in looking up how to handle a boss fight on youtube or ign or whatever.

That’s ... all I can think of atm though I could ramble on for ages on different tactics and things I find useful. Hope this helps!

P.S. be polite to people in the dialogue options. You will be rewarded with exp and skill points for Not Being a Jerk and in one case in Altissia a conversation can literally decide if your game kicks into Hard Mode or not. So Be Nice. For Your Own Sake.

[tanadrin]

hey *whispers* hey. hey. i saw your post in the wow tag. i would read THE SHIT out of your interpretation of wow lore. i have homework right now but i think i might just read through your blog a bit. the characters have always been such a high point for me (listen. i know knaak did a lot of shit. but you can pry Krasus from my cold dead hands he was EVERYTHING to middle school me) and i feel so conflicted over what theyve done to the characters - sylvanas, anduin, everyone. would love ur take

You might be a little disappointed, most of my blog isn’t about WoW (it postdates my WotLK raiding/RP guild phase, and I’ve only just recently got back into it with Classic). Lots of opinions on WoW characters below the cut.

I actually don’t hate Krasus as a character. He’s fine, he’s not a Designated Idiot Ball Carrier like some of the others are. In re: the dragons generally, I don’t like the simplistic thing WoW lore does a lot where one faction leader going bonkers turns the whole faction into baddies for no apparent reason, because all political entities are monoliths except when they’re not. I’m also not a huge fan of how crowded the, erm, metahuman bureaucracy on Azeroth has become in the lore–like, the Keepers and the Dragon Aspects serve similar roles, and the lore could have done fine with one or the other, and the dragons were here first (and Ysera and Alexstrasza are BAMFs), and so should get to stay.

Sylvanas is bae, obviously, and Sylvanas as Warchief was a terrific move plotwise. I think it’s a pity they had to kill Vol’jin to do it (because I am also very here for Warchief Vol’jin), but she is obviously the more interesting choice. Speaking of Warchiefs:

Thrall doesn’t have the Green Jesus Marty Stu quite as bad as some people think, but he does kinda have it, and I don’t see them grappling quite with the fact that he done fucked up. Like, not only did he install a Warchief who should have had all smart members of the Horde tugging at their collars nervously when he started his rule, Garrosh turned into a Sha-summoning Old God-corrupted, casual-atrocity-perpetrating maniac, not to mention all the bullshit on Old Draenor I do my best to forget about lest my blood pressure spike. We don’t really get a satisfying mea culpa from Thrall for that, and then his response is to fuck off to fiddle around with the Earthen Ring for a bit, before retiring to a farm in Nagrand. Keep in mind, one of the whole reasons the Horde came together in its current shape in the first place is because of the charismatic, hopeful figure of Thrall. It ran the very real risk of splintering under Garrosh for good (ESPECIALLY after the murder of Cairne, RIP Cairne Bloodhoof, you were too good for this world), and even the most unifying successor (which I think Vol’jin was) didn’t have Thrall’s inclusive, unifying vision. Sylvanas doesn’t, either, and even more, is sort of low-key hated by everybody else, so while I don’t think she’s a maniac like Garrosh who would recklessly divide the Horde, she’s also not, I am forced to admit, necessarily the ideal Warchief from a political standpoint.

Even if he didn’t return to the post of Warchief, Thrall had a moral obligation after the Garrosh debacle to try to help hold the Horde together and heal the divisions his negligence caused. At least to throw his support behind Garrosh’s successors, and not to pretend that Deathwing’s death meant everything was OK forever, job done. And if he wasn’t going to do that (and he has excellent motivations for not wanting to do that!), I think the consequences of that have to be explored. I think some people would blame him, and be justified in doing so. I think somebody like Varok Saurfang, who has had decades of experience with the damage bad leaders could do, would rightly be a little pissed, even as he sought Thrall out for help, that Thrall had let the Horde he built languish under subpar leadership. Thrall has been selfish–and that’s great, because he desperately needed some character flaws more significant than “cares too much” and “believes in people a lot.”

Anduin: better than Varian, still a little bland? Varian was a Professional Idiot Ball Handler, who seemed to do stuff not out of a coherent conception of his character, but just because the plot required a Generic Human King to do it. Plus there was all that stuff with the cloning and the kidnapping that never really made any sense. I like Anduin’s optimism; I like that he feels like a thoughtful, reasonable guy, who’s doing his best in often-impossible circumstances. I feel like they could show him being a little more frustrated sometimes, though, and a little pissed at people like Jaina who obstinately refuse to do the strategically correct thing even if it means setting aside their resentments for a bit. Disclaimer: I play almost exclusively Horde toons, they may address this better in the Alliance quests in WoW.

But oh man, besides the Draenei, I hate most what they did to Jaina. Jaina was that rare jewel, an optimist in a world whose setting demands perpetual chaos. Yes, yes, Theramore and the mana bomb, I’m not suggesting she should be made of stone, but it breaks her character to have her suddenly go from someone trying to forge a lasting peace between the Horde and Alliance in WC3–to the point where she would see her own father dead–to someone who now blames the whole Horde as one no exceptions for what happened at Theramore. Should she struggle with grief and pain and anger? Absolutely. But she should deal with them in more complex ways than “now I am become the mirror image of Daelin.” Nevermind that even if she did that she should at least regret not listening to him back in WC3. (Do they address that in BFA with the introduction of Kul Tiras? Idk, I haven’t played BFA at all yet.) It seems like Jaina’s role now is to be the Person Who Hates The Horde, and honestly, that’s a tired trope. It’s just not interesting, it has no nuance, it has no interesting outcomes. You could maybe get away with it with the generation of leaders from the Second War like Daelin and Genn who knew the Orcs only as the fel-corrupted servants of the Burning Legion, but it’s obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together than the current Horde is a very different animal politically and strategically, so even if you hate the Orcs with a burning passion, that is not going to transfer to the Tauren, nevermind onetime allies like the Blood Elves.

Gul’dan: oh my god the time travel plot was so stupid. Did the whole universe get duplicated in the alternate timeline? Since travel between the universes is cheap and easy that means there’s a whole nother Burning Legion with a whole nother Sargeras out there that’s still a huge fricking threat! Not to mention a whole nother Azeroth! Did just Draenor get duplicated? That doesn’t seem to match up with the fact a lot of the Burning Legion characters in WoD seem to be parallel universe versions of Burning Legion villains we already know, but it’s not directly confirmed or disconfirmed. Is it some sort of weird Bronze Dragonflight timey-wimey thing that doesn’t have its own independent reality? Ok, fine, but obviously this alternate Draenor has enough of an independent existence for us to visit it again and see what it’s like decades later, not to mention bring some of the people there back. Gul’dan was a fine, if one-dimensional villain but bringing him back from the dead was dumb, dumb, dumb, in a setting where death often feels meaningless and seems to be reversible at random. And the general incoherence of magic in the setting combined with the perennial incoherence of time travel plots (Gollum voice: *we hates them!*) really just reduced WoD to a quivering mess of plot holes, like febrile fan speculation made manifest.

Tirion Fordring: good example of a purely heroic character done well, which WoW has few of. I think because he actually has challenges to overcome, and he doesn’t feel like an idiot.

Bolvar Fordragon: Literally did not know or care who this guy was until the Wrathgate cinematic, but what they did after that with his character was terrific, 10/10.

Malfurion, Tyrande, Illidan: These characters all bore me to tears. My WotLK main was a druid, and I’m a big fan of the druid lore, so I wanna like Malfurion, I really do, but he’s just so dull. Partly because it doesn’t feel like he has any real limitations on his power, just whatever the plot demands he be able to do or not do at any given moment, partly because he just feels like a stiff-necked scold. Tyrande is even more one-dimensional. Illidan is pure 3edgy5me, and the demon hunters in general feel like they get to be too cool to actually traffic in any of the pathos of what should be their emotional equivalents like the Death Knights and the Forsaken. It’s like, “oh man, my life is so tormented, I have these bitchin’ horns and tattoos, and I’m, like, totally immortal, here, hold my rad sword thingies for a second.” At least with the Death Knights you get the feeling that being a Death Knight is a genuinely miserable experience, so there’s some genuine conflict at the heart of the class: sure, you play as a hero, but not the kind of hero you’d necessarily want to be. Demon hunters are just pissed they don’t get to sit at the cool kids’ lunch table, and Illidan genuinely acts like a giant asshole and then gets self-righteous and whiny when his friends and family are like “Dude! Stop being such an asshole!” There’s room for a prickly character, who’s a dick, but who’s our dick, and maybe that’s what they were going for, but Illidan is just the worst.

Azshara, Lady Vashj: The Naga were a giant fucking mistake. A symptom of the inability to let backstory stay backstory, to have to resurrect and retread the same events over and over again that plagues serials when lesser writers without original ideas get let loose on them. Settings like WoW (like Star Wars, like Star Trek, like Dune) are whole universes. You should be expanding the borders, making them feel bigger, more fine-grained, more alive, not beating the same major characters to death over and over again. The ancient Kaldorei are way more interesting as a lost past and a lesson in hubris than fish-snake-people who live under the sea.

Also, water levels are dumb and I hate them. This applies to coral-and-shellfish themed zones regardless of whether swimming is involved.

Cho’gall: I loved the “insane nihilist death cult” reincarnation of the Twilight’s Hammer Clan in World of Warcraft, and Cho’gall as the many-eyed crazed ogre mage with two heads was great. Would much rather have more Cho’gall than Guldan 2.0.

While I’m on Cataclysm: one thing you don’t often feel in worlds like WoW is the possibility of real defeat, because for extradiegetic reasons, it’s impossible to truly lose in any long-lasting way (or, in quests like Battle for the Undercity in WotLK, they just… don’t let you, which feels dumb as heck). I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, a world where the bad guys won, and all the worst things the good guys feared came to pass. I think this is one reason I loved the original interpretation of the Draenei so much, because we saw in Draenor what that really looked like. It was bleak, and it was poignant, and even though it was set within a silly melodrama, it actually moved me. Cataclysm did something similar with the postapocalyptic time-travel instance (time travel being used well for once in WoW!), where you saw that Deathwing’s victory wasn’t just an abstract possibility, but a thing that could actually happen. It made the possibility of defeat feel more real, and it gave you a taste of that same bleak, poignant feeling: this, it said (just for a moment!) is what failure looks like, an Azeroth without life, without hope, in which everything you ever struggled for was utterly in vain. And that motivated you to work even harder to prevent it.

Alleria, Turalyon: “You last saw us in WC2, and since then we’ve been fighting a thousand years (subjective) of endless war against the Burning Legion and been irrevocably changed by the experience” is actually pretty great! But if I were going to rewrite WoW lore, I would make that a thousand objective years and set the final victory over the Burning Legion in the future, at a time when the Alliance and Horde have made a durable peace, and Azeroth has moved on from decades of endless war. I think there’s a real problem with trying to make the player one of the heroes that brings down Sargeras for good because it’s *such* an epic battle, but it’s a massively multiplayer game. Making every player the grand master of their class order was bad enough, but when you are obviously playing out entirely different diegesis from everyone around you, even if you didn’t have problems like sharding and a glut of phasing and cross-server activities and instant teleportation to dungeons, it really feels like a single-player RPG with a chat function. I mean, conflicting diegeses is always going to be a problem with questing-based MMOs, but suspension of disbelief worked when you were plainly one person embedded in a larger effort, like in vanilla, BC, and WotLK. But “you are one of thousands of people who is the Best Warrior Ever and sole Leader of the Warriors, and who has the Only Artifact Weapon that somehow also has thousands of copies”… yeah, that just doesn’t work for me. I feel like I’m being pandered to, and not in a fun way, like with the Pandaren.

Sargeras: I like that they retconned Sargeras to have a better motivation than “demons made me nihilistic.” The idea of a void-corrupted titan being something so terrible a member of the Pantheon would shatter worlds to prevent it is interesting. But the Void gods still feel… kinda non-threatening? We don’t see them actively working to threaten anything we really care about, the Void is mostly a pretty passive abstract force like the Light, and in general I feel like the setting isn’t really dualistic, but er… trialistic? Is that a word? In that there’s a three-way opposition between the Void, the Light, and the Nether/Arcane, from the perspective of which each is the opponent of both of the others, but that’s never laid out explicitly anywhere.

[dent-de-leon]

I’ve seen you blogging a lot of Dragon Age (and a lot of other ppl I follow too, honestly) and I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about it. It seems pretty cool!

oh ya sure!! oh boy this is gonna be a lot lmao,, but,, Dragon Age is an RPG by Bioware–they also made Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic, in case you’ve heard of those–and the DA series are easily some of my favorite video games. They go super in depth with lots of lore and there’s tons of world building,, I’m embarrassed by the number of fantasy Elvin words I know and I can tell you way too much about the history of fake countries cause that’s where I’m at lmao,, 

To try and summarize: the first game is called Dragon Age: Origins, and the focus is very much on fleshing out and playing through a backstory that you handcraft for your PC. You can be everything from an elf trying to reclaim their lost history, to a privileged human of the ruling nobility, a sheltered mage that’s locked away from the rest of the world for “their own good,” a dwarf just trying to survive whose always been a fighter at heart–skilled enough to champion a tournament, and so on. I played the City Elf origin and it just about killed me. 

The appeal here is you can start with various different branching paths and backstories, all of which culminate in your character becoming a Grey Warden. Essentially, DA has these monstrous sort of demonic creatures called darkspawn and usually they’re very disorganized and attack at random. But sometimes there’s a more powerful demon that can connect to them and control them as a kind of hive mind; they become a more organized army force, and spread a “Blight” and its taint wherever they go–it causes sickness and a long suffering death, makes the land completely uninhabitable, lots of bad shit. There’s only been four Blights before Origins, so they’re pretty rare, usually centuries apart. 

In the event of a Blight, the only thing that can stop the lead demon and its army is a Grey Warden. They’re a,, supposedly “neutral” party in political affairs; they’re meant to be an outside force from other armies and they aren’t divided by nations or anything, if you’re a Warden, you’re a Warden everywhere. So they’re also kinda above the law. Wardens can requisition land and resources, forcibly recruit condemned criminals and high ranking nobles alike–“anything to stop the Blight.” They’re elite warriors, and the only ones who can actually sense the darkspawn. That’s because they’re already tainted by them. You drink some darkspawn blood,, probably you die, but maybe you don’t,, and if you survive,, congrats!! You’re in the Wardens. Forever. You can run, but they’ll probably find you. There’s really no running from the fact that the taint will get you eventually in a few decades though. In Origins you end up being one of the only two surviving Wardens left to defend the country of Ferelden during the Fifth Blight–you have to travel the country, gather allies, try to prove you’re not a war criminal, save the whole world, and don’t forget to pet your dog :’) 

Dragon Age 2 is a lot simpler to talk about with all that context out of the way–you’re Hawke, a Ferelden refugee fleeing from the Fifth Blight. The Warden saves the world and everyone throws a big party just as you’re getting settled in your new city. Kirkwall is…a lot,, real creepy place. Maybe it’s that it used to be the center of the Imperium’s slave trade and is still called “The City of Chains.” Maybe it’s all the centuries of blood magic and death that’s seeped into the walls. Maybe it’s those architecture plans you find for the city that point out it’s been built in the shape of one big magical glyph. But there’s something weird there and the whole place is incredibly unsettling. Way more demons crammed into one city than most of the country combined, templars ready to turn on every mage in sight, there’s a lot happening in that one little place. 

I always say that other Dragon Age games are more about the player, but DA2 is really about your party members. It’s your companions’ stories–Hawke is sort of this unsuspecting bystander that just gets dragged under by all the city’s malevolent machinations. And ultimately–accidentally, so very unfortunately–they wind up at the very epicenter of it all. Maybe it’s about Hawke, a snide, sarcastic refugee just trying to provide for their family and take care of their friends. But it’s probably more so the story of a quintessential Byronic antihero tortured by his past and sparking a war for mage freedom, or a charming pirate captain in search of her mysterious lost treasure and who knows more about the city’s supposed “invaders” than she lets on. Or the silver-tongue dwarf with a love of telling stories, and a penchant for extravagant lies–the narrator of it all, and entirely unreliable. 

At its core, DA2 is about mages and templars. The mages typically being locked away in towers known as Circles because they’re seen as “too powerful, a danger to themselves and others,” etc. They’re guarded by knights that work for the dominant religious order known as Templars. Only the Templars frequently harass and systematically abuse the mages in their charge instead of “protecting” them. Ultimately, it’s also about betrayal and redemption, how far someone can go before they’re beyond redemption, etc. 

DA2 always hits this very melancholic note that neither of the other games quite reach. I think it’s because Origins and Inquisition are very grandiose in scope and scale,, you’re a chosen hero,, you’re saving the world,, the player is incredibly empowered. But in DA2, it really does feel like you have no power. Like you’re just trying to scrape by and look out for the people you care about. Like everything keeps going wrong no matter how hard you try to help, like you’re a failure to your family and somehow lost your friends. DA2 is confined to a single city and so much smaller in scope and scale, but the little glimpses of intimacy that you do get from that unique experience really hits you in the end.

Lastly, there’s Inquisition. You can choose your player’s race like in Origins, but you don’t really get to play out your backstory or anything, you’re just kinda thrown right into it. Inquisition is very go big, so everything is big–lots of exploration, lots of questing, LOTS OF DRAGONS,, THIS GAME IS IMPORTANT SOLELY FOR THE 13.5 DRAGONS YOU GET AS OPPOSED TO THE 1-2 IN EVERY OTHER DRAGON AGE GAME,, SERIOUSLY LACKING ON THE DRAGON PART THERE HONESTLY IT’S KINDA FALSE ADVERTISING,, but yeah I’d say DAI is the most like an open world sort of deal,, very classic high fantasy like Origins (though not so brutal or grisly like Origins), very You are the Chosen Savior stuff,, big departure from Hawke running round the sewers 

DAI builds directly off the previous games and decisions players made in them, but it’s also actually very easy to jump right into with no info on prior games. I’d say it’s also the most user friendly, and it’s probably better for new players to start with it to see how they like the world. Combat and mechanics in Origins can be very tedious, and parts of it just haven’t aged well. DA2 is easier mechanically, but much more punishing and harsh with its consequences. DAI is very forgiving by comparison, and you won’t accidentally get party members killed for the calls you make. And while DAI is very lore heavy, I think it’s the perfect place for newcomers to kind of run around and try to explore the living breathing world crafted from that world. 

The essential plot is that you’re following on the heels of the Mage Templar War, and rogue members from the Chantry (church basically) are looking to upstart the Inquisition again, a huge military organization that waged holy wars back in the day. You end up accidentally being in charge of everything because, and I quote, “You killed everyone who was in charge.” Oh yeah, there’s also demons tearing open rifts from their world into yours and you’ve been blessed/cursed with a magic mark on your hand that makes you the Only One who can close those rifts and save the world. Build your army, get drunk with your friends after slaying dragons, dance with your partner after usurping the empress at her own ball, try not to get torn to pieces by the magic in your own hand, get good at reading tarot cards, and maybe don’t romance the Elven God of Trickery on your first (heartbreaking) play through,, 

Lastly, there’s actually a fair amount of queer characters in DA, which is pretty cool. And a lot of them are romanceable partners for your character, so you can definitely play a queer PC. So,, off the top of my head–Bi characters (and romance options): Leliana and Zevran [Origins], Fenris, Anders, Isabella, Merrill [DA2], and Josephine [Inquisition]. There’s also Iron Bull, and he’s a pan character who’s romanceable in Inqusition. Dorian is gay and romanceable, and Sera is a romanceable lesbian, both also from Inquisition. Krem is a trans man and Maevaris is a trans woman, the former is a side character (and best friend of Iron Bull) in Inquisition, while the latter only appears in supplementary sources like comics, but she does get mentioned from time to time in Inquisition as Dorian’s close friend. Oh! Also--Solas and Josephine’s routes in Inquisition don’t culminate in a sex scene, so lots of people headcanon them as asexual. And you can also swing Dorian’s romance so it doesn’t have a sex scene if you wanna romance him but kinda play an ace Inquisitor, which is cool! Sorry for the long rant lmao but uhhh, I hope this helps?? :’)

[sepiadice]

DiceJar Campaign 0.1: A Slippery Slope (2020/01/03)

So I return to the mighty throne of the GM Screen! To pull the strings, interpret the weavings of fate, mold the world to my whims and desires!

However, I’m going from a module, namely Crypt of the Everflame, made famous by Trix’s adventures. So I’m treading old ground, though with fewer players, and only one returning from that adventure. The better part of a decade has passed since I played it, so plenty of details should’ve left the veterans.

The reason I’m playing out of the module is as a sort of learning experience: Viewing box text and published adventure design so that it may help develop my original adventures. As for why I chose this one: I really like the opening premise. New young adventures thrown together deliberately for their origin story. Often players get focused on making an exciting backstory that they forget to make what happens at the table be the most interesting part of their life. I think it’s charming.

It’s an element/theme I want to incorporate in future campaigns.

Anyways, how will the tomb dive go without Team Pesto?

Cast

Mogui (IndigoDie): A Hedge Mage for a Lord Grey. Essentially a living lawn ornament. He helps take care of the Lord’s menagerie. Sole repeat player of the Module.

Bernard ‘Bean’ Dipp (NavyDie): Still just a child, but his father is (supposedly) suffering polio, so young Bean needs to become the man of the house. GM of the campaign I just finished. Revenge time?

Yot (LimeDie): A traveling mercenary slash adventurer nevertheless being pulled into things because some players struggle with direction. Player is a vetran of an Improv club Navy and I were also members of.

Delilah Dunford (VermilionDie): The unruly daughter of the local snobby nobles. Roguish interests and talents. Player is also from my high school days, but not the High School game group.

Game Master (SepiaDie/Me): Everyone and thing else. Nervous wreck caught in his own head. Attended a High School once and participated in a college Improv Club.

Session One

I failed to change any proper nouns like I wanted, but I also avoided needing to say anyone’s names, so there’s still time.

There’s an immense backstory I summarized, because it was too long for me to read out and I can’t trust players to read.[1] Kassen is a town that evolved out of a hold built by a guy named Kassen, a soldier turned adventurer. One day, he went to fight an evil band of… bad people. Kassen succeeded, but succumbed to injuries taken. He was entombed in a crypt, where an eternal flame was lit. Every year, the mayor rides out to bring back a lantern lit by the flame to bless the town to survive the winter. Every couple of years, town youths are sent instead as a rite of passage.

This is one of the rite of passage years.

The mayor first meets with Mogui, a lonely mage working for one of the town’s two noble families. The mayor awkwardly stumbles through his invitation, which Mogui gladly accepts.

Next, the Mayor finds Bean waiting in the market square. The mayor, again, stumbles through his invitation, which Bean seems rather confused by the semantics of, needing to be specifically told not to just wait in the town center for two days but to come back on the actual day of departure.

Yot is found in a tavern, and attempts to talk a big game as the Mayor asks him to join the adventuring party. I still need to force a firmer connection between Yot and the town of Kassen, as my original plan of Yot belonging to what once was Kassen’s band of mercenaries was sunk before I could work it in.

Delilah pops up from behind the Mayor as he’s on his way to her family’s manor, and she eagerly joins the quest.[2]

Thus is our party arranged!

Two days later, at the predetermined time, they walk into the market square and I gently prompt them to give physical descriptions of their characters. Delilah is described as having slightly asymmetrical dark hair, while the rest focused more on height and relative ages.[4]

Mogui arrives with some sort of bipedal creature. Indigo didn’t actually know what he intended the creature to be, so I’m going to assume it’s a chocobo until gently corrected.[5] Everyone promptly forgot about it, even though it supposedly was following them.

The four mingle for a bit as I lost focus trying to recenter myself and review the next step. I tend to let my players just fill time until they get bored of their scene. I probably should work on keeping a good pace with the plot, but I also don’t want to step on their fun. It’s a difficult balance, especially if there’s no NPC handy to gently snark at them to move forward.

The bells of the Church of Polyhymnia[6] ring in the noontime.

The townspeople, dressed in blacks and other dark clothing, start to form a crowd around our adventurers. The mayor emerges with an old pony pulling a cart of supplies. He distributes backpacks to the adventurers, gives a prepared speech,[8] and sends our young heroes on their way.

Mixed into their supplies is a fourth of a map that, at an actual table, is supposed to be a real piece of paper torn and distributed to the players. Since we’re not in the same room and split between two states, I instead alluded to the paper in their bag for them to ask about, while also prepared to gently drop the detail if the players don’t engage. Pivot and roll!

Initially the torn map pieces are overlooked, and the party walks south, into the Fangwoods, following a trail that starts well-worn, but progressively fades.

A few hours into their hike, they come upon a fallen tree. Three orcs emerge from behind it, and initiative is rolled.

I overlooked a mechanic I was supposed to employ, a problem I had throughout the session. The module imbedded vital instructions mid-paragraph in the description, which means I overlooked having the players roll to disbelieve when they land hits or are hit. I did read the module in advance, though, but it’s easy to forget the details, especially details hidden away like that.

I’m a terrible note taker. In school, if I was taking notes, then I wasn’t paying attention to the lesson because I was focused on writing. This also made me a terrible stage manager. Half the reason behind these write-ups is to get the information down and in circulation in my memory because I’m not able to mid-session.

What I should be doing is reading (or writing) the module, and making a bullet point list of the bare mechanics. I sometimes do similar when trying to learn new systems.[9]

Delilah climbs into a tree to shoot arrows at one of the three Orcs, the other three taking the ground battle.

The orcs are quickly defeated, their corpses fading away. What a curious event that I’m sure has no explanation to be uncovered in the future. An utter curiosity.

At this point, the party finally pauses to ask if they know where they’re going.

Ah, time for pay off.

At this point, I describe how they’d been following a shrinking trail, but soon they won’t have it to rely on.

I’m asked to post the list of supplies to the text chat for them to pour over. A careful edit of the description of the map is needed, and I do so.

The party discusses the supplies shortly, and someone looks at their part of the map. I tell them it appears to be a fourth of a map.

NavyDie shrewdly asks if they’re all the same fourth of a map. He likely learned from the time I gave my players descriptions of dreams then later threw some wood blocks at them not to take paper for granted.[10]

I confirm that they each have a different fourth of the same map. So they jigsaw puzzle it, and Mending is cast. Now they have a single map, and a burned spell slot![12]

They follow their map for the remainder of the day. The sun began to set, and the party needed to make camp.

When the opportunity arises, players will want to roll dice, because rolling dice feels good,. So everyone rolled for the survival check meant for one.

Bean, our ranger, was the only one who failed. I punished him by having him punch a hole in his tent. Everyone goes to bed, though Yot elects to take watch for a few hours, with no intention of waking anyone to take a shift after him. He chose enough time, and made the proper check, to spot a wolf investigating the border of the campsite before slinking off.

Yot decides to increase the length of his watch a little longer. So he was still awake when the wolf returned with three friends.

New combat! Yot shouts to rouse his allies, succeeding in waking Bean and Mogui, who come out of their tents to assist. No one thinks to go wake up Delilah, so she gets to sit out of this combat.

A few rounds occur, with the lead wolf eventually knocking Yot down and mauling him a tad. Mogui uses magic to scare off the other two, but lead wolf stays intent on his objective:[13] food.

The wolf makes his way into the camp, takes a mouthful of food, and skedaddles. I declare the end of combat. Bean buries the remainder of the food,[14] and everyone goes back to sleep.

With the morning arrival, and the completion of a long rest, the journey to Kassen’s Crypt continues.

The map leads them to the shore of a large lake on a misty morning, the grey skies and fog obscuring the horizon. A bandit lays dead on the beach. Our protagonists investigate the body, and find signs of an attack by a massive serpent. The body also has a sword and a wallet of gold on him, but they are left as the body is entombed into a shallow, sandy grave.

Travel continues, and they crest a small hill overlooking a serpentine valley, within which rests Kassen’s Tomb.

This then proceeds into my second big mistake: I overlooked the acrobatics check hidden with the descriptions and had my players roll directly on the failure table. Again, the table carefully set apart drew my eye. I’m learning! Poorly!

Still, someone ran into three different trees on the way down, so at least it was amusing, if unnecessarily punishing. I’ll quietly retcon away any damage taken in apology at start of next session.

Down the overly slippery hill, a small stable’s worth of dead mounts await: two horses and three ponies, the horses long dead, the ponies a little more recent. None the same day our party arrived, however.

A description of a fancy rune in the doorway’s keystone is given, and the session ends, exploration of the dungeon saved for the next session a fortnight later.

As usual, the session was characterized with me being stressed over keeping it running and attempting to follow the script of the module. The few times I’ve managed successive sessions has hinted that I’m able to settle in as things go on and the players figure out the table dynamic. I’m mostly confident I’ll figure it out.

While I am learning the value of boxtexts,[15] modules still invoke a sense of containment on me. A fear that if I, as a GM, stray too far, I’ll accidentally break something. I don’t enjoy scripts, that’s why I did improv. Scripts means you can make mistakes that need course correction.

But I’m playing with friends, we’re learning to be a cohesive performance troupe, and hopefully this will turn into a podcast. For the future.

Until next time, may your dice make things interesting.

-

[1] I’ll grant them the benefit of the doubt that they’re literate. [2] I’m seeing a combined Trix and the Sorceress[3] from her party. I’m going to have fun with that. [3] Indigo says her name was Makenna. [4] Which will make the process of creating sprite pawns for them slightly more difficult. I’ll ask them on the discord for physical appearances when I’m done writing this. [5] Were it not bipedal, I might’ve steered him into making it into a riding jackalope. They’re… kinda my pet fantastic beast. Usually ridden by mail carriers. [6] Originally the Church of a Pathfinder Deity, but I’m transplanting the module into D&D Fifth Edition anyways, so might as well sneak the details of my setting[7] into the margins. Helps everyone’s already just human. [7] Is this canon with the abandoned Genesys campaign? You decide! [8] When I have something to read, the mayor loses the stammering and uncertainty he has when I’m doing it off the cuff. This is because I’m not awkwardly trying to do things off the cuff. [9] I should have a file that’s basically Maid RPG Lite floating around due this same habit. [10] The one time I planned for my players to ‘cheat’ and show each other the notes I gave them, and the clowns kept the notes to themselves. You literally cannot rely on anyone to do anything like they should.[11] [11] I’d say you can trust players to make things harder for themselves, but return to footnote 10. [12] When I played through this module, I arrived after the mayor distributed the backpacks, and the party already had investigated their maps. So I don’t know how this puzzle was solved then. I also don’t remember the Orc encounter. [13] Behind the screen fun: while I rolled three times fairly, I applied the single success to who I wanted. For narrative reasons. I often play favorites in this manner. [14] Sure. [15] Along with listening to Dice Friends streams/podcast.

[zdbztumble]

“Kingdom Hearts II” revisited, Part II

Having covered a section of the game that’s better than I remember, let’s move on to something that doesn’t quite hold up as well.

Which is not to say that the first leg of Sora’s journey in KH II is bad - far from it. There’s quite a bit of good from his awakening to the first trip to Hollow Bastion. For one thing, the joy Sora, Donald, and Goofy share at being awake and together again is very sweet, and a great way to bring their friendship back into play. King Mickey’s brief appearance effectively gets him more involved at the point of action in this story, and builds a sense of mystery and anticipation for what’s to come with minimal dialogue - the curse of so many later, clumsier efforts in this series to manage the same feat. And, while the player knows by this point in the game that Roxas was some part of Sora, and can probably figure out that he was his Nobody, the fact that Sora doesn’t know that makes perfect sense, and doesn’t undermine him in any way, as denying a character knowledge the audience has sometimes can. The slow tease of traces of Roxas emerging in Sora gets off to a rather touching start in the way he says goodbye to Hayner, Pence, and Olette. I can’t say I really understand why it’s unsettling on their end - so far as I know, this series has never tried to tie data replicas to their true selves in a way that would make them have some sense of knowing Roxas - but compared to some truly untenable connections made in later games, this isn’t all that egregious.

There is a part of me that wishes that goodbye was the last we ever saw of Twilight Town in this series. I’m aware that there’s plenty more content for it, but Sora’s goodbye and sense of loss, while a little prolonged and confused on the trio’s end, was a moving scene, and that is undermined somewhat by the goodbye not being a final one. On the other hand, I remember liking some of the later Twilight Town material. I may come back to this point in a future installment.

The arrival at Yen Sid’s tower brings more highlights, not the least of which is the introduction of Pete to this series. If every character reveal in this series was as good as his, future titles would have at the very least gotten off to better starts. In one short scene, the games tells you everything you need to know about this incarnation of Pete, and what sort of antagonist he’s going to be. It’s charming, it’s funny, and it’s a great tease for the much more serious reintroduction of Maleficent at the end of this world. And that reintroduction is another highlight. The idea that the very memory of the Mistress of all Evil would be powerful enough to revive her is an interesting concept. I wonder if there was a desire to tie back into the themes of Chain of Memories by going that route; if so, the connection isn’t made as explicit as it perhaps could have been, but that’s not necessarily a flaw.

Sandwiched between those two is the introduction of Yen Sid into the KH lore. When future games needlessly pull him into the far past as a Keyblade Master, and into the future as a sort of Chief of Staff for Team Light against Xehanort, it’s interesting to go back and see how he was first presented - a wizard only (albeit a powerful one), knowledgeable about the larger world but still predominately tied into the Disney side of the crossover. As in future games, he’s a source of exposition, but I would argue that he’s more successful in that role here for a simple reason: other characters are busy. As in the first game, King Mickey is unable to give information to Sora, Donald, and Goofy firsthand, so he entrusts that to another. Yen Sid’s exposition here also has the benefit of actually explaining things (no, I’m not letting his nonsensical hectoring of Sora over the Power of Waking without explanation in KH III go), or at least explaining them as much as is necessary for this moment in the story. That book he presents Sora is a load of nonsense for the sake of some bad lyrical writing, but his detailing of the state of play - Heartless are still around, Nobodies have appeared, Organization XIII is plotting something - tells the player everything they’d need to know to get a sense of what the initial quest is going to be. Yen Sid doesn’t need to say more than that, because the story will play out in a way that reveals more over time. And by limiting the amount of exposition Yen Sid has, and the scope of his involvement in the story, the game avoids his overstaying his welcome - unlike later titles (noticing a common note here?)

The explanation for why Heartless are still around is decent enough, as is the explanation for how travel between worlds can still be possible without disturbing them. If one were to stick strictly to the lore presented in KH I, neither concept should stand, but those points of lore were always going to need tweaking if a sequel came about, and the tweaks aren’t all that extreme IMO. I will say that I only fully understood how opening lanes worked after Sora did it once in Hollow Bastion. I won’t count that as a flaw in the writing of Yen Sid’s exposition, because I may have just been slow on the uptake. There was another quirk to Yen Sid’s dialogue here, one I don’t remember noticing as a kid: his explanation of Nobodies, to me, sounds a lot like a description of ghosts. I’m almost tempted to say that they should have just been called ghosts, and spare the series one more confusing naming convention.

However, with all that said - as with CoM before it, KH II introduced (or in some cases, continued) trends that would prove disastrous to the series in the long run, and they start to show up in this section of the game. The first that comes to mind is the Secret Ansem Report pages. In the first game, Ansem’s Reports are well-integrated into the story and gameplay. They start appearing after Ansem is introduced as a character, and collecting them helps to slowly flesh out his role and significance in the larger plot. Once the twist with Ansem is revealed, the last of the reports help flesh out how that change in his character occurred without the game relying solely on the reports to do so, and even (in Final Mix, at least - I don’t remember this particular report being in KH I vanilla) give a little bit of background on Kairi. Starting with KH II, Ansem’s Reports are largely divorced from the story and gameplay. Nobody in the game mentions them, nobody suggests or tasks Sora with finding them, and the collecting of them draws no comment.

A problem that’s certainly present in future games with these Reports is the use of them for “tell, don’t show.” Significant chunks of character history and development are shoved into the Reports - which no one is obligated to read - without any illustration or demonstration within the actual gameplay. From memory, the worst example of that is BbS using the Reports to try and claim that Xehanort and Eraqus were “like brothers,” when every single second of footage they have in the game paints a picture of two men who are colleagues at best. Without collecting more of the Reports in KH II, I hesitate to say that that trend started here. But I will note that the line about “my youngest apprentice Ienzo” is a detail with no support outside of the Report in either KH II or CoM, and one that does nothing to address the problem of Zexion’s (and, later, Ienzo’s) total lack of a personality. (A later bit in that Report, about Ienzo persuading Ansem to build the laboratory, implies that Ienzo was all-in on the devious experiments, and just another apprentice - very different from the almost adopted-son figure he was later implied to be. I could go on a tangent here about how inexplicable it is for this bland husk of a character to keep getting backstory without any personality, and that he’s arguably claimed narrative real estate that should have gone to Kairi - but I’m trying to keep the word count on these manageable. Perhaps another time.)

Another worrying trend on exhibit here is Sora’s attitude. Compared to both KH I and CoM, Sora is very lighthearted at the start of this game, constantly falling into a laid-back posture and treating event in an easy-going, almost peppy manner. It’s not an unmotivated attitude - he’s awake after a year of sleep, reuniting with Donald, Goofy, and the gang from Hollow Bastion, and not yet confronted with the full gravity of his current mission. And after saving the universe from darkness in KH I, one would hope the boy could gain some confidence from the experience. He isn’t yet the doof that he became by the time of DDD. But it is a marked shift, and there are little moments - the most immediate being his instantly forgetting about boarding the train - that show where the future’s heading. Reverse/Rebirth may have started the retcon process here in Riku’s dialogue claiming Sora “always did as he pleased,” but now, it’s starting to get illustrated.

Hollow Bastion is where another problem first rears its head, and it’s one that isn’t immediately apparent. Small moments, like Scrooge lamenting his ice cream making or the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee awarding Sora honorary membership, make for nice character beats in isolation. But when enough of those happen in short succession, without having any greater value to the story, they start to lose their charm as character beats and instead become lags on the pace of the plot. It’s an open question where the point of no return is on details like that, but I think was crossed early in this game, and it’s a problem that got worse with time. KH I got by without a lot of those moments and still built up meaningful character beats.

But probably the biggest problem with this first trek to Hollow Bastion is the way Organization XIII is handled. Yen Sid laying out that they are a mysterious presence whose goal is unknown, that Sora needs to investigate, is perfectly fine. And having Organization XIII turn up in Hollow Bastion - their point of origin, and the place where the Heartless are amassing again - is a decent idea conceptually. But when they appear before Sora...what do they do, exactly? They taunt him for a bit, and then leave. That’s it. Their taunting isn’t even that good - even by the standards of this series, there’s some clunky dialogue in this section of the game. I imagine that scene was an effort to build up their mystery and menace, but it undermines both, because there’s no reason for them to appear before Sora at all, or to run away once they appear. It would have been more effective to have a scene of them observing the action from a distance and discussing their plans in cryptic terms, the way Maleficent and the Disney villains did once Sora got the Keyblade in KH I. And yes, I know Final Mix has such a scene - but it’s in addition to their first appearance in Hollow Bastion, not in place of it, so the problem still stands.

I’ve played ahead a little past this point into the first few Disney worlds, and I honestly wonder now if the game should have gone straight to the Land of Dragons from Yen Sid’s tower. Checking in on Hollow Bastion is nice - those characters are ones most players would have wanted to see again, and that’s not a reunion you’d want to delay for too long - but it might have flowed more naturally given the set-up at Yen Sid’s to go straight into stabilizing Disney worlds. Hollow Bastion could have come after the first three of those, and the presence of characters like Scrooge (and Leon and the gang having their own ties to King Mickey) could have motivated a discussion about Mickey that would lead into the trip to Disney castle.

To end on a positive note, however - this game remains my favorite form of Gummi Ship combat. I can - and have - wasted so much time away from the story trying to rack up those medals.

[thecharmingknightemma]

EF about page for mobile

basic information

Written since s2 of ouat with thecharmingprincessemma and thewhiteknightprincess urls. Big reminder that if your character is personally involved in her backstory, I will happily change things so they are free to interact and not forced to follow my headcanons.  Verses at the bottom.

In this page you'll find: -short version of her backstory -long version of her backstory -heads up -verses involving the Enchanted Forest

FULL NAME: Emma of the White Kingdom. (Known also as Swan Princess, Swan, Emma, Em) AGE: younger than 28 by default if she's not gone 'dark' GENDER: cis female ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION: straight LANGUAGES: most of those spoken in the nearby kingdoms and realms, some ancient ones as well. But not fluent.   MENTAL ILLNESSES: depression when younger (until she turns 28 and we go to the next phase of her life, in which she has that and PTSD, panic attacks, and anger issues).

SHORT VERSION OF HER BACKSTORY

For people who won't read a longer one, but there is more to read after the long version, and keep in mind that this is just a summary: super happy princess and knight of the White Kingdom, can be found everywhere doing pretty much anything whether appropriate or not, hopeful, stubborn, chatty, blunt, overprotective, good listener but can be petty, loves dances and ballgowns as much as armors and swords. Peak Chaotic Dumbass always ready to go get in trouble. Very affectionate. She will be very appreciative of everyone until proven wrong. Sometimes she sees the world in many shades of grey, other times it's black and white and she will kill if she believes it necessary. Always working when home and bad at letting people help her, when outside she's a loud and enthusiastic (and not so graceful) knight who may not make the best decisions. Traumatized in her love life (toxic manipulative boyfriend Arian who was with her to prove he could tame her and broke her heart), she lost hope about finding her own love and plans an arranged marriage for herself, believing most of her life will stop once she's married and that she'll spend the rest of her life in the castle, but trying to make the best of it for her people. An adventurer. She convinced she's too weak to handle true pain because of the 'melancholy' that hit her after Arian but the depression actually came from her heart remembering she was meant to be pregnant in her original (canon) timeline.

Will really appreciate good looking men as well and flirt, doesn't mean she expects anything to happen, but she does have one night stands and keeps in touch in a friendly way sometimes, just runs away from love.

The future she was meant to have (the canon tvshow) was changed and never happened because of canon Rumplestiltskin not drinking a potion to forget what he learned about the future so he could change it, but she feels the absence of a son without knowing she was meant to have him and has no idea she has magic; the fairies, trying to help her, gave her teas that are memory potions to suppress all that pain and memories and to avoid the rise of another evil queen.

When she'll turn 28, the time when she was meant to be the Savior, she'll remember and her mind will shatter due to potions and too many fake memories in her alternate realities. She'll be also captured by clerics and tortured to try to get rid of her powers. Her mind will be filled with dark magic in an attempt to keep her memories together, and her own white magic can hurt it, there are different lives constantly fighting in her head and more than that the agony of having lost Henry, her son, and that entire destiny, making her turn against everyone who had a part in it - and pretend to not love anyone else anymore so that the people she cares for won't be used against her.

LONG BACKSTORY

AU Where the curse didn’t happen because canon Rumplestiltskin didn’t drink the potion to forget what Emma Swan told him about Neal dying, and changed his future. He created a parallel universe where Regina was defeated and cast away (with his help, because he found out Belle was alive and trapped by the queen, and he wanted revenge). 

In the Enchanted Forest, Emma grew up with her parents, and with Pinocchio and Alexandra at her side, a happy, adventurous child; around age fifteen, when so often spending time in town, she was courted by the son of the baker, Arian, who had a bet going with his friends: he'd be able to tame the wild princess. After a year of being together, the guilt of having made the princess, who had turned out to be so nice (and that he had manipulated into becoming as ladylike and gentle as he wanted), fall in love with him pushed him to confess the truth.

Emma's heart was broken: she lied to everyone about the reason of the breakup, told everyone he had realized he didn't love her and that was all, and spent days feeling humiliated, betrayed and hurt, until one day she met Grace, the Hatter's daughter, and ran away with her to go on an adventure and forget. She came back days later, knowing her parents and friends must be dying of worry, and tried to make up for it, to act normal, but she wasn't so successful. Months later she started feeling even more miserable right when she should have been pregnant in a world without magic. She couldn't remember a life that she didn't live but her heart was hurting, not forgetting a child that should have been there, a consequence of changing the future.

She began to feel a new odd emptiness that she couldn’t explain, knowing there was something or someone that she missed, until one day when Henry was supposed to be born she felt the very real physical pain from it and thought she might be dying or going insane; that was the last push for her to ask the Blue Fairy for help and start fighting again, wanting to be happy again both for herself and her loved ones, receiving a magical tea that was meant tot help and that suppressed her memories. She stopped believing she'd find love, but found joy in helping others, in adventures, in mixing her passion for duels and her silliness to the love for dances and clothes and food.

Blue knew part of what she had lost, and could feel that in the future they were all at risk of getting a new, terrible villain, so she was trying to save Emma and the kingdom.

Sadly, her attempts were not meant to work.

Emma didn't tell anyone else about her pains and nightmares (except for Grace who found out on her own) and is still traveling, enjoying her freedom and sure that her life the way she likes it will end once she'll have to take the crown and be trapped in her castle; she also wants to prove herself as a hero, a warrior like her parents, which is why it's easy to find her fighting beasts or exploring dangerous places, but also befriending everyone she meets and trying to help them, as 'tactful' and hopeful as her father and as trusting and impulsive as her mother. She loves fun, visits so often Hansel and Gretel's tavern that her townpeople just expect her there at this point, gets in danger whenever she can take a break from her duties, still chased by the rebels who don't want her parents to rule or are on the side of the Evil Queen, and of course the men under old King George's control, who never accepted the loss of his real son.

On her twenty-eight birthday in this world she will remember everything, and between the knowledge of the life she was meant to have, the loss of a true love who was never born, the teas given her to suppress memories, and her own magic, and torture from clerics to get rid of her witch said, Emma will break and temporarily retreat to find a way to control her magic, to make sure her memories won't go away again, and to plan revenge on anyone responsible for it. She'll pretend to be fully evil and not care about anyone anymore after her change so that they won't be targeted by the enemies she's making (Rumplestiltskin, the fairies, even Cora), which is easier to do when looking at her family makes her only remember the things she's lost, and feel the guilt because she was beloved and now she can't be with them anymore.

Cold skin, dark magic trying to keep her mind together and making it painful to use white magic, she'll be hiding in the summer palace and planning revenge, but the role of villain will never suit her too well. (She doesn't know, but Henry's spirit lives in Neverland and can be brought back.)

Note: she does plan to take the dark curse from Rumplestiltskin if possible and finally die and reunite with Henry, taking it with Henry. Suicidal ideation is therefore present, as well as depression and PTSD from torture and more. I can get around it if needed because it's a trigger to you, although when it comes to wanting to die it's not exactly a constant theme (Emma fighting depression and mood swings is, however.) You can find a few more details here.

A HEADS UP ABOUT THE CHARACTER

While she does work hard so that one day she’ll be able to reign and make her people happy (which involves knowing laws and working with them to better people’s lives, take care of the kingdom’s resources, taxes and so on) she’s not the best diplomat yet, and her recklessness and bluntness, even if she tries to ‘fix it’, plus her inappropriate behaviors, have created friction between her and many other royals from other kingdoms. 

There has been one occasion in which she went to fight a dragon without proper armor because she forgot it, too in a rush to get back to a town where some delicious pies were on sale. She almost died, predictably, and to this day Pinocchio and Grace will bring up this story to try to slow down whatever new quest she has in mind. Everything can be made into a quest.

Animals come to her when she sings (especially those from the Enchanted Forest).

She can tell when people are lying, though not always, depending on how emotional she is.

She has a black horse that she called Apple - because at first he was insufferable and nobody could stand his temper. Now he is still insufferable and scary, but at least not to her. He's a giant horse and had potentially some magical ancestor but it's hard to tell.

Enchanted Forest verses

princess v. stealing beans: verse where she either willingly crossed a portal open by a bean or feel through one and ended up in another world - for crossovers in which she's still princess Emma. 

v. royal cinnamon: anything set from her birth until Arian breaks up with her a few months after turning sixteen. Emma is more inexperienced, hasn’t traveled much yet, though she does train to be a knight. At fifteen, after the courting started, she dropped some of her tomboy attitude to be more ladylike, the way Arian was manipulating her to be, and she found out that she liked that too. Balls, ballgowns, tea parties and everything that she had rejected as a child. 

v. melancholy: set after the break up and finding out it was all for a bet Arian made with friends (being able to tame the wild princess). In the following months she had to recover from heartbreak; she met Grace the day after the breakup and joined her on an adventure, running away for a few days but regretting it because of the pain caused to her family. She did like the taste of adventure and promised herself to travel more. However that’s when the ‘no Henry’ sickness started, hitting her body and mind and leaving her hopeless and barely able to interact with friends for a year until she slowly began to heal because of Blue’s teas. She believes the 'melancholy' was due to the break up and that she's too weak to handle love, and that the pains that sometimes she still feels are due to stress. 

v. born to be wild: anything set after she starts travelling and seeing the world, around eighteen, and before her twenty-eight birthday. Emma is balancing duties of a princess who one day wants to rule and pleasures of a knight who enjoys life fully. She also counts down to the day when she knows she’ll have to force herself to marry someone for the good of the kingdom. 

potential verse that doesn’t happen in every timeline - v. white witch: Emma learns she has magic and runs away from the castle, knowing her people will reject another ‘witch’ in charge, hiding and trying to use her magic to save people without getting too exposed.

 v. dark witch: anything set after her 28 birthday when she remembers everything and her brain shatters. Memories come and go constantly, her magic is out of control, she wants revenge and Henry back. She’s captured by clerics once, tortured, and after freeing herself she retires to the Summer Palace, with some loyal servants choosing to join her. She acts heartlessly with her old friends and people in general to avoid weakness (though she’s not great at keeping the act when people are in danger) and plots the fairies’ destruction and Rumplestiltskin’s ruin using memories from lives she hasn’t lived. She will join anyone who can get her what she wants. She also used dark magic to stitch her mind back together, reason why when she uses white magic she hurts herself tremendously.

also potential verse -  v. dark one: set after she takes the dagger and becomes Dark One in one way or another (Rumple might or might not be still alive and suffering if she found a way to transfer the darkness to herself). The fairies might or might not have been defeated. She’s more in control of her powers and memories.

v. hope: set after she finds out Henry can be brought back (through Neverland, or the other Authors) and starts travelling to find what she needs for that to happen. She doesn’t publicize her identity to avoid trouble, but also because any enemy who finds out she still cares about something might use it against her.

v. mother and believer: set after Henry is born/brought back to her and Emma has retired, hiding from enemies and raising her son or, in verses where she got Henry back without going through a dark witch stage, is simply keeping him with her at the castle.

v. the Mad Hag: Emma was taken away and locked into a tower by Rumplestiltskin (or someone else, it can be plotted) before her 28th birthday so that she wouldn't be a danger once remembering her other life, her magic also suppressed. When her memories did come back, free to wreck havoc in her mind, Emma remembered the life she was meant to live as Emma Swan, and the cursed life Regina gave her so she could leave with Henry before Pan's curse hit, and her own Enchanted Forest life, and with no magic to help, the pain took over her mind, leaving her in a constant state of confusion, lives and memories overlapping and every now and then allowing her to remember other people the way they were in other lives. Once freed, of course her mind will slowly clear up again, as well as her magic which would be out of control. She's scared and lost, and will have to put back the pieces of the puzzle to understand what happened.

v. mermaid curse: Emma is accidentally cursed to be a mermaid every day and turn back into a woman every night until receiving a kiss of (romantic) true love. She has resigned herself to live this way, trying not to swim too far when a mermaid or she'll drown at sunset, and not to deep into the forest or she'll end up trapped on the ground by her own tail. If she didn't believe in finding love as a woman, how can she now? Open of course to all sorts of relationships, not just romantic threads.

v. twelve hours curse: same concept as the mermaid curse, but in this case she can turn into different species: dragon, dog, swan.

[but-the-library-of-alexandria]

dnd characters I’ll never use: player or npcs

I already shared this with my dnd playing friends but I’ll put them here too to spread the love far and wide. Disclaimer: I’m not at all experienced with dnd, these are all largely based on fun character ideas and not very rooted in stats, class stuff or tactics. Genders are of course always arbitrary and interchangeable.

Before she was a party member, she was a store clerk. Worked at a soul-sucking supermarket. Has very high persuasion, charisma and constitution. Why? Dude, she’s worked in customer service. She had to pretend to be friendly while putting up the with the worst humanity can offer. War is nothing. She’s being dragged along on this quest, but is largely apathetic. Her job has crushed her spark for good. True neutral. A bard? Maybe? It makes sense that she went to music school and ended up with a retail career.

A paladin/knight who thinks he’s Don Quixote - naive and good-hearted, a classic white knight who wants to rescue all the damsels and ride all the noble steeds. The drawback is that he’s a complete idiot. Very low wisdom and intelligence. Good combat stats, and amusingly high charisma. Probably a noble. Very green. Lawful good to the max.

A fine lady who is extremely posh, quite elderly. Lost her rich husband recently. Probably owns a poodle called Wetherby. Wields the biggest, most vicious giant axe you’ve ever seen. It’s called Verity. She is, in fact, a barbarian. Lawful neutral.

(Based on a tumblr post) This character is secretly just two gnomes stacked in a trench coat. Nobody but the DM must know. Try to keep up the facade for as long as possible. Why are they doing this stunt? Literally just fee evasion. It’s cheaper to pay for one human with very short arms than two gnomes. Obviously chaotic, neutral or good. Maybe each is a bit different.

An ex-schoolteacher who becomes the group mother. Literally. She calls the party her ‘children’. A bard, Sound-of-Music style? Or a cleric. Very patronising in the way she speaks. However, much liked. An all-rounder. Lawful good. Might make a good patron-type npc.

A bard who literally thinks life is a musical. Always singing; speaks only in song, or if she does speak, it’s in a disney-like tone - strong Giselle from enchanted vibes. Terrible stealth modifiers, because she does her own theme music like Kronk. She and the above paladin knight fall in love instantly. Nobody has ever understood either of them until now. They will definitely insist on romantic duets and a giant fancy wedding, despite not really knowing each other. Noble background; an ex actress. Lawful good.

Someone otherwise useful and skillful, perhaps a rogue or a fighter, who has a weakness of instantly falling in lust with any villain they encounter. They just have a thing for the bad guys/girls. Chaotic good, or lawful neutral.

A character who can’t seem to talk without mentioning her boyfriend, Freddie: ‘it’s just like Freddie, my boyfriend, said the other day… Back in the city, where I met my boyfriend, Freddie… damn, this monster is so tough even Freddie, my boyfriend, might not be able to kill it!’ Freddie does not, as it turns out, exist. After this is disclosed, the question is - was she lying? Does she actually think Freddie is real? Is she crazy? Or did Freddie exist, once, and some magical weirdness is going on? Who knows. The poor girl - probably a cleric or someone religiously magical - clearly has some mental shit to deal with.

A mage or sorcerer who performs magic in the style of irl kids’ magicians. They don’t actually believe in magic, and keep insisting it’s all just clever tricks and illusions. Idk enough about the magic-type classes to decide which one this would suit best - maybe a book-learned character, who thinks their entire education system was just really in-character with the whole ‘real magic’ thing. A wizard? Very lawful - so lawful they can’t conceive of a force as irrational and physics-defying as magic. Probably good.

A character who is the butler of another party member - jeeves-style, long-suffering and ever efficient. His most common line is “*sigh* very good, sir/ma’am.” It would be cool if he was a monk class character - maybe coming from a kind of ‘training temple’ for butlers, Artemis Fowl style. Has the patience of a god, the combat skills of a champion street-fighter, and makes excellent tea. Might be a good player character for someone who’s new to dnd and is coming with a friend - or rather, a good character for someone who is experienced and is bringing an inexperienced friend, whose butler they could be. The butler could then advise and cover for their inexperienced ‘master’.

A variation on the above: a character travelling with their fussy, overbearing mother or father, another obviously good one for a friend to teach their inexperienced new friend how to play.

A religious character, probably a cleric or paladin, who has an element of the creationist fangirl-religious Christianity of the midwest to her. Speaks in a texas drawl. She wears a shirt that says ‘what would [insert name of deity here] do?’ and is always singing the praises of their lord/lady and saviour, trying to convert people and reminding everyone of various rules from their holy book. Lawful neutral, because she follows the rules of the faith no matter how immoral they may be. Often burst into hymns. Everything good that happens, it was the lord’s blessing. Everything bad, it was punishment for some obscure sin. Probably had a rough background and found and adhered to this faith later in life, as a kind of religious rebirth - maybe to escape a criminal past…?

A character who is a child but has all the skill in certain areas of an adult. Very creepy, Wednesday Addams vibes. Talks like a grown up. Dark and cynical. Always underestimated. Probably a sorcerer. Neutral or maybe a tad evil. Maybe could be a halfling or something, to implement that small-cute-person stealth bonus. Occasionally takes on the performance of being a normal little girl to manipulate NPCs - fake crying to get to the front of a queue, etc.

Two PCs who are long lost siblings. The DM and the two players know this. No other players and none of the characters know - including the two characters who are related. One or both of them may know they have a lost sibling, but it is only in the course of the game that they find out who they are to each other. I feel like this would be most interesting if they were of a non human species, and of very different backgrounds and classes, and maybe different alignments.

A character who is joining the party as a tourist. He has now retired from adventuring in his homeland and travels around other lands, getting the ‘authentic local experience’ by tagging onto other people’s quests. If you’re in a steampunk-y setting or your DM will let you homebrew it a bit, it would be great if he had some kind of camera and was always snapping pictures at inappropriate times. It would be even better if some of these pictures ending up being vitally useful later in the game. Probably neutral good, probably something pretty low-key class wise. Could be joined by a tour-guide type PC.

A variation on the above: a young character who is trying to break into the adventuring career market and is tagging along on work experience, always taking notes. This might be a good one for a new and inexperienced player to help them learn without compromising their characterisation. Neutral good, any class really.

A member of a certain race who is convinced they are of another race, probably due to adoption, and will attack anyone who tries to correct her, like Ellie in ice age 2. The more physically different her ‘real’ race and her ‘adopted’ race are, the better. A warrior type, hot headed. Chaotic something. Maybe even a barbarian. Someone you would be too scared to contradict.

A case of mistaken identity - the party assume this character is someone, but later it is revealed that they are in fact just a delivery boy or a maidservant. There was a mix up, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and when the party mistook them for a powerful ally they were planning to meet, they were too awkward to correct them so they just went with it. The party shouldn’t know they aren’t who they say they are until the person reveals it, either by making enough mistakes and confessing or by being outed by someone else. An NPC or a player. Probably chaotic good. Definitely a people pleaser. Poor kid.

A ‘male’ character who is actually a woman wearing a fake moustache. She had to fake her gender to get into a prestigious all male institution - maybe a cleric or paladin, or a wizard at wizard school. Definitely a con-woman type background. Intensely good persuasion modifier so that people genuinely believe she is a man as soon as the moustache goes on. Other players may or may not know her real gender from the start. Chaotic good.

An adventuring couple who have decided to spend their honeymoon, or second honeymoon, fighting and killing with the rest of the party. Fighters or another physical-combat-heavy class. Good. Full of romantic stories about people they beheaded together and times they almost died together. Bonus points if they have, are having or have had an adventuring child too - the kind who was already wielding a tiny knife in the cradle. Good for couples who play together, and good if one partner is just teaching the other to play, so they can stick together and help them.

A druid who has spent her last ten years in animal form. She has now almost forgotten how to be a person. Still forgets she isn’t an animal sometimes. Lots of animalistic mannerisms and slip ups - trying to fly, using the wrong body language, etc. She’s just very frazzled by everything right now, so please just go easy on her, okay? She’s trying her best to readjust.

A pirate woman who sailed with an all-female pirate crew on a ship with a massively misandristic name. She’s almost definitely gay and very much a bitch to men. Sailor-pirate background, probably a simple fighter, chaotic neutral af. Bonus points if she was the captain. Double bonus points if she was the captain because she engineered a mutiny and is now constantly afraid of finding her jilted ex captain (and possibly also her ex lover) hot on her heels. More bonus points if she is a very butch, bearded dwarf lady.

Champion athlete who turned their particular sporting prowess to a life of adventure, because of some event that befell them - maybe a medal winning runner’s hometown was sacked, and their swiftness allowed them to save forty children before the fires reached the school. Or maybe a record-breaking swimmer was the sole survivor of a flood that wiped out their people and now they have to get by on nothing but their wits and their abnormally massive deltoids. Obviously good stats relating to their sport. Class will depend on the sport too. You could get really creative with sports lauded amongst different races, eg. a dragonborn who was the world champion at distance fire-breathing.

(Based in a tumblr post) A bard whose main attack is Vicious Mockery. Super chaotic neutral, they focus on almost nothing else, just developing this one skill until they can practically just kill with a single insult. Their main driving motivation or goal is to eventually find a certain person - maybe a powerful and abusive parent figure or a hated tyrant, someone who did evil to them or their people - and just fucking obliterate them with the perfect, all-destroying insult, which they hope to have composed by the time they meet this person.

The youngest son of a king or ruler with like twelve children, so far from inheriting the throne nobody knew what to do with him and he ended up being tossed from institution to institution, being kicked out and kicked out until he joined the current party (or an institution the party are working with if he’s an NPC). He’s pretty dumb, with no education, essentially raised by castle servants and never learning a thing about politics. Probably a fighter. Low intelligence, good alignment. All is well, until, uh oh, all his twelve brothers die at once and he is suddenly expected to be king. What do? Help me, more intelligent party members!

[rinaris-skyrim]

3. Immersion Mods

Again, I wish I had a better category for these. These are mods that mostly add their own systems to the base game, to increase immersion. This is only a rough category, and of course they touch on the game in some way, but they aren’t a huge overhaul to the core gameplay or AI.

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Alternate Start - Live Another Life

Tired of the long starting sequence? Don’t actually want to be a prisoner headed to the chopping block? This has you covered. The reason I prefer this over other alternate start mods, is the way it provides a jumping-off point for a character backstory, giving you appropriate weapons, armor, items, and a starting location. It also offers a nice segue into the main quest, with rumors of increased Legion patrols around the area you can investigate if you’re curious — and of course you arrive just in time to see the city sacked and the dragon taking flight towards Whiterun. [link]

Bathing in Skyrim

No one wants to talk to someone stinking of sweat and covered in blood and dirt and cobwebs from exploring some moldering ruin and fighting bandits. You’re also going to be carrying a bunch of germs around, if you do that. Keep yourself clean! This adds a passive effect based on your cleanliness, affecting mostly your speech skill and disease resistance, as well as craftable soaps and washrags. [link]

Campfire - Complete Camping System

Adds an excellent camping system to the game, with all the gear and items you’ll need. Build fires to roast food, pitch a tent if you need sleep, and just generally enjoy the Skyrim landscape with a touch of rugged living. Requirement for Frostfall, HearthCraft, and Tentapalooza. [link]

Carriage and Ferry Travel Overhaul (CFTO)

Extends the vanilla fast travel system in a lightweight and immersive way. You can now also ask to be “dropped off” at local villages “along the way,” and boatmen will take you to other stops along the same lake, river, or shoreline. Prices are also adjusted based on distance and danger. Just really nice and convenient if you want to travel somewhere, immersively. [link]

Diseased - Diseases System Overhaul

I like Realistic Needs’ diseases system, really, but it felt a bit too easy, especially once you learned the “cure disease” spell, or found a “cure disease” food. iNeed’s “Dangerous Diseases” felt far too punishing, on the other hand — requiring hard-to-find expensive potions or else you’d deteriorate and die pretty fast. This is just right. Diseases have stages, and after a certain period of time will either evolve or devolve. Rest, cleanliness, and good food will help you recover on your own. “Cure Disease” effects now increase your disease resistance, meaning that you’ll succeed the next “evolution check,” but won’t make anything magically go away. You can also craft simple recipes for specific diseases from common foods and items, which will also help you recover — but you still should rest! This is compatible with RND, just needs to be loaded after. [link] You’ll also want the patch for Droops medication, to deal with the disease added by Dragonborn. [link]

Dynamic Immersive Seriously Dark Dungeons

Wonder why fires are still burning in ancient Nord ruins, or torches are still lit in those abandoned mines? None of that will be an issue now! This also adds the ability to extinguish candles and firepits to make yourself harder to see if you’re the sneaky type, or re-light them (for whatever reason) if you have a torch or fire spells. Incredibly useful and atmospheric. [link]

Dynamic Things

Want to actually pick up wood from wood piles? Hack mammoth tusks off skulls? Look inside those strangely unopenable barrels? With this, you can! This expands the number of containers and resource sources available in the world, and allows you to interact more immersively with many elements. You’ll want both the original Dynamic Things [link] and then the Enhanced “patch”/update [here] installed over it.

Frostfall - Hypothermia Camping Survival

I really hope you didn’t think I’d omit this one, did you? Skyrim is a northern province, with driving wind and snow, and ice-caked seas. This mod makes it all feel real. If you don’t pay attention to the weather, bundle up, and build a fire during cold nights, you’re liable to freeze! [link]

Hunterborn

Another survival-geared mod that harmonizes well with Frostfall and your needs mod of choice. Skin, butcher, and harvest ingredients from animals, slowly gaining more as your skill and knowledge increases. Roleplay as a hunter surviving out on your own in the wild, or just bring down a few deer to tide you over until you reach the next town. Don’t forget to download the Campfire patch and the batch of other miscellaneous patches as well; you’ll need both. [link]

Hunterborn - Scrimshaw Expanded

This significantly adds to the capability of Hunterborn’s Scrimshaw, allowing you to craft a whole lot of gear, armor, weapons, and items from the bones and pelts you find in Hunterborn. Play as a Forsworn living completely off the land, or simply make several trinkets to exchange for a few drinks at the inn once you next get to town. More possibilities! [link]

Loot and Degradation

Your sword edge isn’t going to stay sharp forever, is it? Armor gets dents that need hammering out. This mod simulates that. Once you’ve tempered your gear, it will slowly “devolve” back to its “default” state through combat. NPCs will also have gear of varying states. Just a nice simulation tweak, and also provides more opportunities to hone your smithing skills. [link]

New Beginnings - Live Another Life Extension

Adds more options for your alternate game start, which I very much appreciate. [link]

Realistic Needs and Diseases (RND)

I know, this isn’t the snazziest or most compatible mod out there. I’ve tried other needs mods, I really have, but this is the one I keep coming back to. It’s just the one that feels the most immersive. Boil water to make it safe for consumption, or face the consequences. Soups, stews, and fresh fruits also help quench your thirst — but stay away from raw meat, as that can carry diseases. You need sleep, too — but a dirty bandit camp carries its own risks. You can also toggle food spoilage, and drink directly from a body of water if you’re severely dehydrated. It’s just an excellent needs mod. (There are two versions out there. 2.0, found [here] comes with some snazzier features, such as hotkeyed food categorization for new foodstuffs and a few other tweaks, but I’m not fond of the either its widgets nor its weight feature. I might try it again with those turned off... but for now 1.9, found [here], works perfectly well, too.)

Skyrim - Enhanced Camera

Allows you to actually see your body when you look down, and prevents forced switches to 3rd person. SKSE plugin, makes it all way more immersive. [link]

Spell Learning and Discovery

Instead of the vanilla face-smash-spell-learned-book-destroyed method, you now convert any new spell tomes you acquire into “spell notes,” which you study in the evening before you go to sleep, with a chance of then adding a spell to your repertoire (out of the list of spells you’re currently trying to learn). (This synchronizes well with a needs mod, too.) You now have the opportunity to talk with other mages about magic theory, take dubious memory-enhancing potions, summon an otherworldly magical tutor, and just generally feel like an actual student of magic! [link]

Spell Research

Man, I love this mod. It... can get tedious at times, I’ll admit, but I love it. It lets me feel like an actual magic researcher, and provides the opportunity to acquire spells through my own study, not just by buying a tome from someone else. Find cool artifacts! Translate ancient texts (or try to)! Read dangerous grimoires (at your own risk)! Dissolve potions! Analyze spells! Write theses on spell “types” and techniques to try to combine into new spells! (Fail sometimes, and try again!) Honestly, you won’t regret this mod — it’s also good for passing the time if you’re recovering from a disease or resting a broken limb (see some other mods on this list). I recommend version 2.1, however, instead of the newest 2.2, as 2.1 comes with all the patches for the major spell addition mods. [link]

Skyrim Reputation

The people of Skyrim now actually care about what you’ve done. Word spreads, and people will treat you accordingly. This mod adds three axes of “alignment,” Aedric vs. Daedric, Law-Abiding vs. Criminal, and Dependable vs. Power-Hungry, calculated according to the prevailing Nord culture. The effects of your reputation will also become more pronounced as your reknown spreads. Help out the law, do favors for people, and align yourself with the Divines, and reap the benefits. Being feared does come with its own perks, too, though, however dubious. [link]

Tentapalooza for Campfire

Adds more craftables to Campfire’s system, including themed tents and décor. Honestly, I mostly wanted the placeable washtubs, to be able to bathe in some places I wouldn’t otherwise be able to (e.g. a player house without a nearby water source or bathing room). The placeable containers are nice, too, though, as well as the craftable and placeable shrines. [link]

Wintersun - Faiths of Skyrim

The denizens of Tamriel are religious, and now you can be too! You’re offered a choice of deity at the start depending on your race; however, you can change allegiance later if you so desire, depending on what you’ve done and who you’ve encountered. Gain passive bonuses and active abilities based on favor with a particular deity... but take care to follow their tenets, as well. [link]

Wounds

I know the health bar is kind of a general abstraction of your bodily state, but do you ever find it... well, strange, that you never break bones or have any lasting wounds from combat? Welp, now you do! No extra visuals, just a simple mod that adds long-lasting consequences to combat. Craft medical supplies, brace fractured limbs, keep cuts clean or risk infection, and feel the effects of your bruises and concussions for a while. I’ve tried playing without this mod, and I honestly can’t anymore, even as annoying as it is to limp along on a broken leg for a while, or sew up my arm that sabre cat tore to shreds. [link]

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As always, will likely be added to later.

[albook]

Black Desert Online

SCORE

HISTORY: 5.0/10

MUSIC: 7.0/10

GRAPHICS: 10.0/10

CONTENTS: 7.5/10

GAMEPLAY: 8.0/10

PROS

Great Graphics

Over Power Character customization

Open world with a good combat system

Easy money through fishing / farming / tradint / housing

Metrology system + day

Login rewards

CONS

No coin conversion system for pearl (as in guild wars 2)

The main quests + side quest become repetative

Mediocre voice actor

Classes blocked by gender and unbalance

Main Story (poor)

Lack of customization of armor

No control for the newbies tutorial

Pay-to-win elements

From criticism I’ve read, this game has two types of players. Simple players (like me) who like to have a good time without resorting to extra items and Pay-to-win players who are the ones who like to spend money on extra items, which in my opinion are more expensive than the game itself game.

Attention that I am not criticizing these players, just think that a MMORPG who does not have a system like in Guild Wars 2 convert gold to gems and vice versa is to discard the store game. If we see Pay-to-win is optional in this game.

But putting it aside is a vast open world to explore with beautiful graphics having a system day and night and metrology, which includes many Main and side quests to do of various types but can become repetitive. I think black desert is one of the morgs with a wide customization for the characters, although the classes are locked to the genre.

One of the things I think is very cool in this game was the GPS. Just select the mission and click the T (key by default) and there goes our character with or without mount to the destination alone, can sometimes be stranded in the villages but nothing to help us to uncouple and resume the path.

In this world there are no waypoints the move has to be made “on foot” like in the real world which is realistic certain point, many players do not like this system and tastes are not discussed.

Each place traveled day or night, with good or bad weather, is quite “enemy” in the neighborhood to farm, not forgetting that each place has its minimum and maximum level.

The combat system is easy to notice, there are several combination of attack and the rotation with mouse makes system easy without many complications.

On each discovered village the player can acquire several houses of various types, residence, storage or workers just have enough resources for the effect, not forgetting that one can level up certain divisions in certain villages.

Of the various villages there are many quest to do of various types and when I say many it is MANY. What gets lost a bit in the interaction with the npcs are the voices and the dialogues that do not correspond to what they say. There are additional quests in some npcs but you have to talk to him and make some sort of Puzzle to progress until you unlock the quest among other additional options.

The player can acquire new items for his character through quests or loot of the boss and enemies, but if they are waiting for an armor all beautiful it is better to forget it. For this purpose you have to purchase from the game shop and as there is no currency conversion you soon have to spend cash to have a beautiful armor/outfit.

There are logins rewards of three types that the player can acquire each time he enters the game. One of the things I liked in this game was even without playing the pharmac coins player.

I missed a tour of the main menu when I played the first time, I think today I still do not know full well all options. One of the annoying things about the game is the message that appears at the top half to say that someone has succeeded or failed to merge the X-weapon, among other messages, this should be optional if the player wants to see him active in the game options.

What exists after finishing Main Story which in turn is mediocre, are PvP, GvG, Gathering or create a new character from a different class and do the process again.

In my opinion the negative part of this game is roughly the store of extra items. As I have mentioned in some paragraphs above a MMORPG to which you pay for and don’t give opportunity for the players to convert the normal game currency into the special currency of the store for me that slip. If it was still an F2P I still understood why, but in this case I do not understand, apart from that the cost of the items is ridiculous because they cost more than the game itself. In Guild Wars 2 this does not happen, items do not cost more than the value of the game, there was only once I bought gems but the rest was all from conversion Gold to gems.

Of course Pay-to-win is optional, in my case I have no intentions of spending a single cent for this game.

[thenakedgalaxy-blog]

Sharks in the Night

It can be an odd feeling to sit alone on the surface of some moon.  And by “odd” I don’t mean some sort of “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” type of odd.  This isn’t about awe.  Oh, I am sure that those explorers out in the inky depths of the perpetual night do come across this feeling when setting down on some pristine world never before seen by human eyes.  I am not such a soul.  I like to putter about the well-traveled or, at least, well surveyed space lanes.  Sure, someday I would love to set down on such a world, but that desire is just one of many that can be found on my “red letter days” wishlist that includes such other flights of fancy as “getting out of debt,” “completing every quest in Space Vikings from Pluto,” and “freeing the galaxy from narcissism.”  So, no, it was not awe.  

It was loneliness.

This is something a lot of dirt pounders and station rats don’t understand.  When you are surrounded by large populations on a planet, or even in one of the larger space stations, people are everywhere.  You never feel alone.  Oh sure, every now and then you might find yourself by your lonesome, such as when the third shift night cycle arrives station-side and the passageways and java joints empty out, but you know deep down that another human being is easily in reach.  Not so when you touch down on a largely uninhabited moon.  Then, it is just you.  For hundreds if not thousands of miles.  

This was a realization that occurred to me as I sat in the cockpit of my Asp Scout after touching down on the high metal moon, Suhte B1.  I was there to do a quick hack job on a lightly guarded outpost in the middle of the Big Nowhere.  I wasn’t really looking for such a job - I wanted to move on from Suhte and its bloody communal politics - but I agreed to take the quick data smash and grab as a favor to an agent who was good to me in the past.  It wasn’t a big deal, just a swimming in the rain gig for easy money, so I was happy to help my arch-browed contact at Ballard Survey.  Fast scratch is the best scratch for flyboy bindle punks like me.  

Off I went.  I arrived without incident, and inserted my craft into an orbital glide pattern with little effort.  The outpost I was to hit took a bit of scanning to locate - even without an atmosphere to soup things up, the onboard survey gear, a fancy name for a collection of high resolution CCDs and SIGINT antennae, takes time to pinpoint a pinprick outpost on even a small moon like Suhte B1 - but I found eventually.  I carefully, and I like to think surreptitiously, brought my ship down about a kilometer from the isolated base and quickly shut down most systems to minimize my EM profile as an extra precaution.  And then I waited.

Waited for what?  Well, that’s sort of the point.  You never really knew.  My smuggler uncle was fond of mumbling “haste is of the devil,” especially when I would get antsy after hours of camping out in some godforsaken asteroid field awaiting a contact.  He would look at me, his unshaven face pale from years spent in the black and his breath stinking of cheap EconoStyle Gin that he often rebottled and resold as the good stuff to the slower marks across the galaxy, and say, “You can be fast or you can be smart.  Not both.”  Then he would take a swig of gin from his ever present zero-G flask, point a finger at me, one with swollen joints from years of gripping a flight stick and throttle, and deliver his favorite line: “Haste is of the devil, boy.  Never forget that.”  I haven’t.

So I sat there and passed the time by doing some quests in Space Vikings from Pluto while keeping an eye on the station, visible to me in the dim distance thanks to the lack of an atmosphere and my ship being on a slight hill that overlooked the plain on which the station sat.  Let me tell you, sitting alone inside a ship on a almost unpopulated moon provides a whole new understanding of the word “quiet.”  Suddenly the smallest of sounds have a very real presence of their own: the rumble of a pressure exchanger deep in the hull; assorted chirps and buzzes of various automated systems conversing with each other in some secret machine language; the creak and pop of a hull adjusting to the weight of gravity; and the ever present chill whisper of the environmental system that kept me flush in oxygen and nitrogen.  And that is it.  It is the type of silence that deafens before long.

At one point I needed to take some footfalls just to reassure myself that I hadn’t gone deaf.  I stood from my command chair and made my way back to the small galley behind the command deck bulkhead.  When the automated lighting flickered on with miniscule but audible clicks, I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.  The galley was always a refuge of sorts to me.  I found its small interior comforting, especially the built-in slate blue baguette seating to my left and the countertop, with its tiny population of assorted culinary equipment, along the bulkhead to my right.  I particularly enjoyed how the countertop and its equipment was delicately lit from above via some hidden striplighting that lined the underside of the overhead cabinetry.  As I filled a bulb of tea from the automated beverage dispenser, I realized the top-lit galley equipment made a type of ersatz city skyline; an uneven sawtooth profile of a moody city at dawn...or maybe dusk would be more accurate.  Even the variously colored LEDs on the equipment furthered the illusion with their lit from within, window-like appearance.  I began to wonder who might live there.  Probably the same sort of people you found anywhere else.  People who rushed to work, to home, to the local pub, but never anywhere important.  People who did what they were told, sometimes did what they wanted, and but ultimately did nothing worth remembering.  Did they ever glance at “the sky” and wonder about it?  Wonder why the heavens were lit?  Wonder at the...wonder of it all?  Probably not.  They just ate, slept, worked, got drunk and occasionally double-crossed each other.  Just another bitter little town.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was a good probability that at this very moment some poor schlep was making his way home to his apartment, expecting to find his gal there, but finding something else.  That discovery would change the city for him, make it unlivable, and force the sap to flee the unrelenting light and seek the solitary darkness of space….

A distant buzzing brought me out of my flight of fancy.  I hurried back to the command deck and discovered that my scanner had detected a ship a kilometer or so to the west.  I looked in that direction and could see the reflected twinkle of the local dwarf star on its windscreen as it began to move.  As I watched, it lifted off in a puff of dust and turned in my general direction.  It didn’t take long for the ship, I believed it to be a Sidewinder, to pass overhead.  It’s funny: even though the hard vacuum of space prevented it, I thought I could hear the pop-pop-pop of its reaction motors mocking the planet’s weak gravitational pull.  Combined with the forward thrust provided by its main engines, the ship was soon a distant winking of running lights in the dark night of space.  A moment or two later, the bright flash of frameshift acceleration heralded its faster than light departure for parts unknown.  

And I was alone again.  

It’s strange how you can get attached to someone you didn’t even know.  I had no idea who the fella was.  Heck, for all I know he might have shot me on sight if he had detected me.  But none of that mattered.  All I knew was that for a brief instant I was not isolated on this rock, and that meant something.  

All I could do was shrug my shoulders and take another sip of tea.  It was during that sip that I noticed it:  two skimmer drones were now patrolling the southern edge of the installation.  So that was it.  That flyboy was probably an itinerant techie sent out here for maintenance on the installation’s security grid.  While not guaranteed, this was a darn good sign that the place was largely automated, a not uncommon practice for corps that run multiple small setups, like listening posts and such.  Once again, my uncle was right.  Waiting paid off as I now knew I only had to worry about two skimmers, and probably not very good ones as they needed maintenance.  I drained the last of my tea and entered the hold of my Asp.  Ten minutes later I was in my surface reconnaissance vehicle and out on the surface of Suhte B1.

Even in the 34th Century, driving about on an alien moon never feels routine.  To be enclosed in that clear plastic cabin that is little more than a portable bubble of air, and to hear the crunch of the alien surface beneath the balloon tires of the vehicle, well, that is something you never get used to.  Ever.  When you live on a planet that is well-lived, that is, well explored and well surveyed, that conveys a kind of safety that you feel even if you are alone in the middle of a desert.  On an alien moon...not so much.  Even ones that have major cities on their surfaces, such as Aquinas Landing on Summa 3, are not thoroughly explored in the fashion of the old worlds, such as Sol’s Earth or Alpha Centauri's 2042 L1.  No one has the time or the resources to scour every planetoid even if they decide to build a settlement on it.  And if they did commit to doing so, things have a way of changing out here.  It’s a big galaxy, one griped by entropy.  Unexpected surprises are quite common, and any comprehensive survey would have a short shelf life. Hence, the ever present sense of ancient awe that you might be seeing something no one has ever seen before.  

The heebie jeebies are there as well.  Even completely alone on a mid-sized ship like my Asp conveys a sense of safety with its reinforced hull, shield banks, and reassuring collection of rumbles, buzzes, and beeps.  In a SRV, all you have is a spidery hull, an underpowered defense turret, the ghostly feedback of its limited range surface scanner, and the grating whine of its electric motor.  Not much to hold back the terrors of the endless night.  It did, however, have a decent heater, something of inestimable value when the outside temperature was 226 K in the sun.  That’s -53 degrees F for you landlubbers.  “Cold” doesn’t quite describe it.   I cranked the heater up as I drove across the surface towards the installation.  The heated air quickly filled the cabin and wrapped its warm arms around my shoulders.  I relaxed a little.

I halted that SRV about half a mile from the installation and deployed my turret.  Now came the tricky part, but not too tricky, I soon discovered.  My SRV’s basic SIGINT gear scanned the drones and classified the manufacturer as Acme Tech.  Bargain bin quality.  I should be able to take them if I got my shots off first.  

I engaged the SRV’s motor again and slowly crept forward until I found what I was looking for: a low rise that I could use to shield the bulk of my SRV.  In the military, they call it a “hull down” position.  Out here, we call it “being smart.”  I slowly nudged my SRV into position, enjoying the crunch of the moon’s regolith beneath the tires.  The bulk of the small rise soon covered the majority of my view from inside the cabin. Perfect.  I locked the brake in place and extended the turret mount over the low rise.  Then I reached up to remove the SRV’s set of virtual reality goggles from their cradle at the top of the canopy, carefully unfurling their trailing data cable that was plugged into the interface panel above.  With one hand I held the goggles over my face while the other hand stretched the securing headgear over and around my head.  Once snuggly in place, I hit the activation stud and my vision was quickly filled with what my turret could see.  And there they were: two buzzing drones scanning every rock on their perimeter like a bunch of mindless worker bees.  Taking a deep breath, I centered the turret’s targeting pip on the nearest drone and slowly squeezed the trigger.  

My SRV vibrated with the discharge of the twin cannons, and I saw dual streams of fire lash out and strike one of the drones.  Immediately it’s partner reacted to the onslaught and opened fire on me in return.  My use of terrain worked as the incoming bolts did little more than raise puffs of dust from the small hill that shielded me.  Using muscle memory, my right hand boosted the power to the cannon on the right console and then resumed squeezing the trigger.  It only took a few more seconds for the cheap drone to suffer fatal damage and tumble into the regolith.  One down.

The second drone had closed the distance to my SRV and boosted itself in altitude so as to fire over the hill and down into me.  Hmm, that was a smarter tactic than what I thought its rudimentary AI could handle.  My thin SRV shielding began to sizzle and pop as it absorbed the incoming fire.  I quickly swung the turret to the second drone and squeezed the trigger again.  My bolts impacted on the drone and made it unstable, causing its return  fire to miss.  Displaying some learning behavior, it began to jink to mess up my aim but it was too little too late.  It, too, quickly took the big sleep and tumbled onto the surface after suffering an internal explosion that spilled its electronic guts over the near terrain.  Good salvage there.    

I exhaled with relief.  Remembering my uncle’s maxim, I centered the turret’s camera on the distant outpost and increased the magnification.  I waited to see if the combat resulted in any reaction from the outpost.  Seconds and then minutes ticked by but the base was quiescent.  Just what I thought.  Either the outpost was entirely automated, or there was perhaps one or maybe two techs inside who were now probably battening down the hatches and hiding under their desks, desperately hitting a panic button all the while.  

I removed the VR goggles and returned them to their cradle.  I unlocked the brake and hit the SRV’s thruster stud.  A small burst emanated from the twin thrusters set at the middle back of the SRV that briefly lifted me off surface and up and over the hill.  When my tires touched ground again I goosed the throttle and took off for the base at a dash.  

Before long I was right in the middle of the outpost.  The transmission tower with its red painted mast and attached generator could not be missed.  While constantly scanning my surroundings looking for signs of trouble, I sidled the SRV up to it.  I quickly donned my vacsuit’s helmet and gloves, and depressurized the cabin.  Seconds later, I was standing on the sandy surface of Suhte B1 and fighting my vacsuit’s bulky gloves as I tried to attach the interface cord from my dataslate to the transmission tower’s maintenance slot.  Using some cracking software I picked up at Vonaburg Collective, I was soon past the off-the-shelf security software and hacking into their comms database.   I could hear myself panting inside my vacsuit as the adrenaline hit my bloodstream.  Even if nobody was a threat in the base, that didn’t mean a threat wasn’t on the way from someplace else.  And no matter how easy this job was, I still was, technically speaking, committing a crime.  That sort of realization has a way of messing with your nerves.  

The dataslate flashed green.  Done!  I had the information I needed to fulfil the contract.  I quickly yanked the cord from the maintenance panel and loped in the quarter gravity back to my SRV.  Barely taking the time to remove my helmet and gloves, I floored the SRV out of the crime scene and headed back to my Scout.  Mission accomplished.

***

I made it back to my contact at Ballard Survey with no problems.  The hot data was delivered, I wasn’t thrown in stir by the authorities, and I was a few thousands of credits richer.  What more could a pilot want?  Sadly, the answer to that question still eluded me as I stared into my rye on the rocks.  The electro-punk music of the dive I was in did its best to drown out coherent thoughts, but I don’t believe that was the reason for my lack of an answer.  Perhaps there was no answer.  Perhaps CMDRs like me were like sharks: we needed to keep swimming for no other reason than to stop would be to drown.  Keep moving and keep hustling.  That was our simple-minded way.  Eh, it was a good enough explanation for me.  Lone wolves didn’t ever stop to ask why they were lone wolves, they just were.

I felt a tug at my shoulder.  I glanced to my right and saw a square-jawed mug impassively looking down at me.  He leaned over and said, “The boss has another gig for you.”  He jerked his head towards the door, indicating it was time for me to finish my drink.  I downed the last of my rye in a single gulp and followed the loogan out of the joint.    

Like I said, keep swimming or die.  What more reason did I need?

[vacanpaathy]

ETHAN NAKAMURA BIO

// BASICS //

NAME: Ethan Nakamura NICKNAMES: Bold of you to assume he has friends. BIRTHDAY:  TBD. LOCATION: Wandering / Verse Dependent  AGE: Aprox. seventeen ( verse dependent ) ZODIAC SIGN: TBD. GENDER: Demimale ( he / him ) SEXUALITY: Great question PARENTS: JACOB NAKAMURA & NEMESIS SIBLINGS: Damian White ( half-brother ; Nemesis ) SPOKEN LANGUAGES: english, spanish, latin, ancient greek / greek. RELATIONSHIP STATUS: That’s HILARIOUS / verse dependent OCCUPATION: embittered radical asshole / verse dependent 

// PHYSICAL //

EYE COLOR: Pure black. HAIR COLOR: Black usually messy hair of varying length and cut. HEIGHT: 5ft 6in BODY BUILD: Wiry as all fuck. TATTOOS: None atm. SCARS: Many, mainly on his arms focused on his forearms & hands. Several on other areas like his torso legs and back, mainly from slashes with a few burns, stabs or other source here and there.  DISTINCTIVE FEATURES: 

EYEPATCH. Ethan has been wearing basically the same patch since he was about 14, the thing is battered as all hell and looks as depressing as he is.

EMPTY SOCKET. His LEFT EYE is completely missing from its socket which means that the entire area is very noticeably sunken and his lid appears permanently closed, though thanks to the nature of how he lost it he still has function in his lids which means that unless asleep or blinking / winking ( yes he can still do that ) it appears to be open by just a sliver. 

// PERSONALITY //

POSITIVE: Loyal, patient, empathetic, good listener, fair, honest, protective, hardworking NEGATIVE: Single-minded, callous, aloof, spiteful, vindictive, petty as all fuck, loner FATAL FLAW:

DEDICATION. While the word alone does not imply something so terrible as a fatal flaw the reality is that sometimes you need to know when to quit and Ethan does not quit. Ever. He is single-minded in his goals to the point he is willing to give anything– his eye, his life– it doesn’t matter if it means in the end whatever his current goal is is completed. He is willing to go to extremes that will horrify others and burn bridges forever in the quest to reach his goals and sometimes without even realizing he’s gone that far.

//  HISTORY //

❖ Lived with his father, a police officer until he was about 5 when his father was killed in action. ❖ He then entered the social services system and bounced between various facilities, group homes, foster families etc. and homelessness as fairly early in this period is when he began to be attacked by monsters.  ❖  Unable to deal with everything he officially started living on the streets / run at about 7 - 8 until a satyr found him and brought him to Camp Half Blood. ❖  He lived unclaimed in the Hermes Cabin until he finally couldn’t stand it anymore and left camp when he was 11 - 12. ❖  Shortly after he met his mother and in 1 fell swoop was claimed, partially blinded and promised a grand destiny.  ❖  He then spent the next few years of his life going between living with a group of rogue / homeless half-bloods and going solo. This was in many ways the best time of his life and when he met many of the people closest to been called his “friends”

❖  At 16 - 17 he found his way into the Labyrinth and was living in it exploring for a few months until he was cornered by Luke’s men.

// SKILLS //

Normally for this I’d link off to the wiki or just copy that section here but his page on the wiki is a joke so I have to do the heavy lifting myself.

GENERAL DEMIGOD ABILITIES: 

ADHD: supernatural alertness and keen senses that keep him ready for, and alive, in battle. It also lets him analyze his opponents fighting style as well as pick up minor details about an opponent, such as where their muscles tense so he can tell which direction they’ll attack from. However outside of these situations it presents as classic ADHD.

DYSLEXIA: His brain is “hard-wired” for reading divine Ancient Greek instead of mortal languages. 

DREAMS: Like most demigods, Ethan has dreams that show him events occurring in the past, present, and future. His relation to Nemesis, Hypnos & Morpheus his “uncle” & “cousin”, and the Fates his “aunts” have a potential to affect the nature of these dreams and what he sees in them. He has no control over this at all.

ENHANCED PHYSICAL CONDITION: As a demigod Ethan is faster, stronger than a normal mortal, as well as being more agile and durable. These physical attributes have allowed him to perform feats normal human can’t, as well as survive situations mortals cannot.

FIGHTING SKILLS: Ethan is a naturally talented and excellent fighter and his skills continues to grow as time passes, capable of holding his own against and even defeating larger, more experienced, and more powerful opponents, as well as monsters as proven by the fact he made it to 16 / 17 with little to no real help and largely on his own. He learned to fight first against mortals as a children defending himself and then was taught swordplay, archery, spearwork etc at Camp Half-Blood where he continued to excel thanks to his unnerving tenacity. Even after the loss of his eye he remained a formidable enemy having trained intensely to adapt to the change. His speciality is swordplay.

Ethan generally has two styles for fighting– Scrapper & Defensive, which he uses depends on mainly context and available resources. For example, while on the streets he’s most likely to be a scrapper, fighting quickly & aggressively using whatever’s at hand and whatever works to get the job done since most likely the only thing he has going for him is his dagger, strength and wits. While in situations like the Arena in the Labyrinth, knowing he’s going to be up against most likely monsters of various levels of skill and given a wide choice of tools he opts to be defensive. Despite his skill and the tenacity at usually sees him through most battles, that same intensity can also be his weakness as we see in his fight in the Arena against Percy, where he’s too focused on his larger goal to completely focus on the fight thus losing.

GODLY ABILITIES: 

TYCHOKINESIS: also called Stochokinesis / Stochastokinesis or Luck / Probability Manipulation is the ability to mentally alter the flow of stochastic fields, allowing one to generate good or bad “luck”. One with this ability could give oneself and/or one’s allies uncanny good luck, afflict foes with really bad luck, etc. The user might even be able to psychically amplify stochastic fields to set events into motion (instead of influencing events already in play) as long as there is a chance the event would happen anyway, and thus causing normally-improbable events to happen, normally-likely events to not happen, or the like.

Snippets about children of Nemesis I’ve managed to find, I’ll expand on these over time but I don’t want this page to become a novel so I’m leaving them in a more accessible and easy to reference note/list form for now.

Nemesis’ children have the power of Tychokinesis and limited mind-reading.

They are loyal to allies and merciless to their enemies. Like their mother Nemesis, they have a strong sense of justice and balance.

The children of Nemesis are said to always get their revenge.

Whenever they are struck in battle they become stronger.

Children of Nemesis have a strong sense of right and wrong, as Well as what is fair or unfair. 

All children of Nemesis are very determined to make sure things are Balanced. Though they will go to any length to extract revenge or to bring justice to those who deserve it. They would travel across the world if need be.

Some children of Nemesis have the ability to give others the lust for revenge.

Most Nemesis children prefer to use a Sword or Whip like their mother. They are Natural at using a whip and sword in combat.

They believe that people who are to full of themselves are unworthy and should be brought down.

They never forget an Insult.

They make good allies.

// MISC. //

WEAPON: RECOMPENSE. / ἀμοιβή • (amoibḗ) / A dagger of celestial bronze given to him by his mother. The blade does not need to be coated as the poison is impregnated in the blade itself. It is possible for Ethan to choose via will whether or not the poison is “off” or “on” so that his victim gets “what they deserved”. It’s also very handy as it means he can handle and maintain it without you know, risking poisoning himself.

[ervtreiaarchive-blog]

The door opens with a creak, the light coming from within blinding even when the torrid sun of a Wrotham August shines in the sky. Eretreia tried to picture what she was going to find but nothing prepared for what laid waiting -- the pristine room, bigger in size than she was expecting, was occupied only by a chair and a table but there was something else, too. Wires and a monitor, green lights blinking tirelessly, unphased by her presence. Her eyes finally dart towards a mirror -- no, not a mirror. Glass. Eretreia approaches it, ignoring the chair and the table, tempted to make the lights blink red for a little while longer. She knew they were watching. They always were, on the ship, with their vague messages and cryptic greetings. It didn’t change one bit now.

She stayed facing her reflection for a little while longer before smirking and taking a seat at the table, wiring herself. “There’s no way out of this, is there?” She wasn’t afraid which surprised even herself. Confrontation was never something she had to face, until now.

Hello, ERETREIA. Let's start with something easy, just to find our balance. Please state your name, age, height and place of birth for the record.

“My name is Eretreia. Just Eretreia. Turns out there aren’t a lot of them around the galaxy so you don’t really name a last name.” She shrugged before moving on. “I’m twenty-seven, as far I know. Sometimes I forget to count the cicles. I’m 5’5’’ and I was born on the Mining Colonies.” The blinking green lights stopped blinking for a second, the daunting green keeping its full color for a minute before returning to the its usual flashing. It seemed to satisfy whoever was watching behind the screen, as they quickly moved on to the next question.

Is that your true name and age?

Eretreia shifted in her seat, the readings on her heart rate changing just slightly, not enough to trigger any acute sounds, thank goddess. She took a breath, as silently and quickly as she could before darting out. “Yes.” As expected, the blinking stopped but this time it wasn’t green that flashed. “Your machine is broken.” Her eyes rolled before she added, “I told you I sometimes skip cicles, so I’m not sure if I’m twenty-seven or not, anymore.” It was an excuse, really. The problem wasn’t in her age and she knew it.

While it wasn’t entirely false that she had long forgotten or cared to celebrate the day of her birth, she still kept count on it; stupid human tradition, to be sure, considering nowadays some people don’t even look their real age but, Humans always had a fascination with outliving the years they were supposed to live, long after birthdays lost their meanings. Of course, if not the age, the persistency of red on the screens could only mean one thing.

While she tried her best to keep check on her age, the name she was born with was something she shed on her thirteenth birthday, the sound and familiarity of it so lost it didn’t feel like a memory of hers anymore. Underneath her tongue, the metalic taste of it felt sour and heavy. No matter how much she tried to roll her tongue into saying it, it got stuck.

Instead, she pulled herself together, took another deep breath -- this time, not caring who or if it was heard. “It’s a Gegku word. Eretreia,” her heart continued beating, unruffled. “It means stardust. It is my name. It’s the name that was given to me.” This time, she did not dare look at the lights. She just waited for a minute, looking directly at her reflection in the two-way mirror, until the voice moved on.

After six months on a mission, do you regret accepting being part of this crew?

She knew this answer was standard but she couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, it wasn’t exactly a choice. Although from what I’ve heard, I had a lot more to lose than anyone else by refusing your kind offer.”

When she first stepped on the Concord, her recruitment was very different from that of the other members. She wasn’t selected for her particular set of skills, she wasn’t invited in exchange for some unburdening of circumstances; she didn’t have a (known) weakness for the Benefactor to explore and black-mail her with. Nothing except her life to lose, and even that wasn’t much worth. A blemish in the carefully thought-out plan of the Benefactor. It was interesting to think, for a moment, despite the consequences that came after, she had an advantage over him. “I never apologize for it. For ruining your plans.” It couldn’t hurt now, to feed on that gleam of hope one last time.

“But, really, turns out you had everything to gain by letting me stay,” she pointed at her head and then waved her hands in front of her face. “These two are very good at finding things. All kinds of things. Maybe even ancient, never before seen, artifacts.”

Do you believe in what this mission is trying to accomplish or are you here for different reasons? If so, what are they?

“Well, I happen to like life and living. Sounds a lot better than being spaced, huh? That’s the main reason.” She tilted her head, something she picked up with DATA’s beloved romcoms. The main female would always do it when they were trying to be enticing although Eretreia’s was a different shade entirely. A mockery of the innocent, doe-eyed girl society expects you to be; in that sense, it hasn’t changed much. “It’s hard to be supportive of something you have very little clue about. If you expect positive answers to this question, you might want to start giving your employees some more information of what exactly it is we are trying to accomplish.”

Do you have any friends on board? Any enemies?

Mind travels to the emotions felt six months ago: fear, trepidation, dismay for the fifteen strangers she was forced to face. Most of them were not pleased to find a rat sneaking in their vents, they themselves still complete strangers to one another but in that moment they were all a crew and Eretreia was not a part of it. A problem. Something that needed fixing. She would have easily gotten over it, never expecting to make a lasting impression on either of them, if not for the fact that her curiosity got the best of her and she ended up learning more than she should. It’s still unclear, even to herself, in this moment, as she struggles to find an answer, if she’s still just an outsider or finally part of the crew.

“It’s the human nature, isn’t it? If you find yourself in a confined space with fifteen other strangers, you’re bound to make some friends and a lot of enemies.” She shrugged, her question grayscaled. However, the persistent blinking light turned, once again, red, unsatisfied with the response.

It took her a while to think about it. Friend was not a word nor a feeling she was used to, simply because she never settled down long enough to get attached to anyone at all. Friends were family and she had long ago vanquished that notion, the feeling of it lost in time and space. But, as she thought who and what categorized someone as a friend, a single person rushed into her mind.

“Pyre never wanted to space me.” That was, thus far, the kindest gesture anyone extended to her on the ship. “DATA and Theon, neither.” She let the corner of her mouth tug into a faded smile, quick to fade again. “I think Thane has warmed up to me, too. Everyone else seems to not care about me in the slightest.”

Are you loyal to this crew?

The two questions went hand in hand. Loyalty meant being faithful to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity. Did anyone, besides the ones mentioned above, deserve it? The answer to this question had been, so far, incredibly redundant but never straying far from the implicit (or otherwise, very explicit) no. And while in any other situation, that would not require her to answer honestly, she would also have blurted out a no as an answer, what she realised in that very moment was completely, astoundingly, different. “Yes.”

Perhaps none of them were truly deserving of fidelity on her part, but it was her wish that they would be, in the future, that lead her to that answer. If they were to survive, they would have to start relying on each other, all animosities forgotten.

Interesting. Very interesting. Now, if you don’t mind, let’s skip ahead to some more personal questions.

At the mention of personal, thick eyebrows turn into a frown. What could they possibly know about her?

To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?

The unforeseen question sends a jolt of laughter through her throat, a mixture of relief and genuine amusement at this first question. If this is how personal they are going to get, she will leave this room far more content than previous crew members.

However, upon reflection, she knows The Benefactor is not a merciful person and every question lies an innuendo that can either mean everything to the beholder or nothing at all. To Eretreia, it feels like a twisted way to have fun, to prey on her vulnerabilities and claw at her past; she won’t have it.

“Does anyone truly have power over their lives?” When Eretreia first stepped on the ship, it was pure coincidence. Fate, a silly word but one humans still liked to flaunt around as if now, more than ever, their lives weren’t being manipulated by puppet strings, the invisible hand of some all-mighty puppeteer guiding our every move.

Have you ever seen something otherworldly?

Otherworldly is something that defines the entire galaxy. Even after we’ve conquered most known planets and made them our own (for less than noble reasons, unfortunately), the desire that drove men to seek the stars and wonder at its first sight is never lost on our dna. Eretreia was born a long way from the original planet, a long time after the exploration and yet she still had the desire for the stars carved in her heart. It’s what made her such a good scavenger. To that, she just answered. “Everything.”

If anyone could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do?

At the mention of the word slave her head jolts forward, wide eyes facing in her in the mirror, the reflection of her bewilderment staring back at her. Do they know it? No, it’s not possible. How could they? It’s not irony, she knows it, or a coincidence. Behind the glass, there’s too much power to simply hint at things that could be instead of things that were.

Her heart races, too much this time and under the table her nails crave unto flesh, too hard to leave a mark, almost too hard to feel the wet, warmth of blood tainting her fingernails. The lights turn red and the loud, beeping, urgent sound coming out of the machine makes her jump out of her chair, making her lose balance. “I-” she begins to say, trying to fight the memories rushing to her head, the greasy hands of someone against her skin, the heavy shackles weighing her down. Eretreia bits the inside of her cheek and sits back down, too frightened to look in the direction of the mirror; hair falling on her facing, hiding her features. “Nobody deserves to be enslaved,” she looks up, hair falling on her eyes, the face of a hurting, threatened animal. The smell of blood from her palms sends her back to one last memory: thirteen years old, orphan, shackles free, a skull bashed at her feet, blood running down to meet her feet. Freedom can be taken away but in the process there’s only one thing we learned from being caged: survival.

Do you consider yourself heroic? Why? Do you think hiding from the corporations while your parent’s bled out to death was heroic?

She frowns at the beginning of the question, still trying to regain her composure after the last question. “I never-” she speaks over the voice, meaning to slow it down, meaning to get this over with and move on, go back to the Concord and grab a drink, curl up in bed and never think or discuss the events of this day ever again. However, the last bit hits her like a fist in the stomach and she feels promptly sick.

The world slows down and her ears ring, like a bomb just exploded nearby. Senseless, catatonic on the outside while her insides seemed to be twisting, growing too big for her body to hold. She didn’t want to hold it anymore, wanted nothing more than to lay it all down on the table, shrink unto herself and, like dust, be blown by the wind. But a boisterous knock on the glass brought her back to reality, her feelings returning all at once.

The voice coming from her didn’t sound like her own, rasp and low. “They murdered my parents.” She rises again, feral animal, teeth showing. “They murdered me that day, too. I died.” Eretreia rips out the wires from her skin, a flat line appearing on the screen where her pulse used to be. She approaches the glass, her movements too slow, terrifying when compared to the look on her face. “I died at thirteen and no corporation gave a damn about it,” she fights back the lump on her throat, the tears starting to cloud her vision. “I died, again and again but I came back just as many times. So yeah, I’m fucking heroic. My own damn hero who doesn’t hide behind a glass or masks their voice,” she catches her breath, tearings falling down her face, already dried. “You tell me, what’s so heroic about that?”

Thank you for answering our questions honestly. Please direct yourself to the next room and pick your new armour. Welcome to the crew.

                                                                                          [ ARMOUR ]

[yourtabong-blog]

Alto’s Adventure

Alto’s Adventure

Noodlecake Studios Inc

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PLAY NOWAlto's Adventure Free Odyssey Download for PC | Grinding, Review, Tips, Cheats

If you enjoy playing Subway Surfers, Talking Tom Gold Run, or Vector, then this game is easily for you! In Alto’s Adventure, you steer an ambitious and brave young boy, Alto, through the snowy alps in search of his runaway llamas.

They’ve made out of their pens and are galloping free into the night. Armed only with your snowboard, a scarf and an appetite for adventure, you need not only retrieve your lost llamas, but also execute your practiced snowboarding tricks (what you’ve always secretly wanted) with your parents’ permission as you slide down the snowy alpines, going through other villages and dark shadowy forests.

Developed and published by Noodlecake and Snowman, this addictive arcade unblocked games 333 is beautifully designed, with the golden hues of a six ‘o clock sun, as well as a pitch dark and moonlit night. The setting is never the same. This will remind you of a Scandinavian landscape that will surely get you distracted by the stunningly picturesque view far too often, sometimes forgetting to spot the dangerous rocks in time!

Anyway, Alto’s here to save the day in darkness or in light! Leap on your snowboard and surf away on Alto’s snowy adventures!

Here are the game features that we love!

Experience the beauty of Scandinavia

You can see the different sun hues affecting the beautiful snowy scapes at different hours of the day within the game. This game is undeniably suitable for a laptop wallpaper background! If you’re the sort who enjoys admiring the scenery, then the amazing graphics and effects of Alto’s Adventure are bound to enthrall you for many hours as you play it. Look at how the sun travels slowly across the sky, and changing the entire mood of the game’s landscapes…

 Endless Levels of Fun

This is an endless runner game of over 60 levels and beyond (Alto’s Odyssey) – just how far can you go without peeling your eyes from the screen? There are three challenges within each level that you need to complete every time. For example, in level 8, Alto would need to pick up a magnet and feather in one run, ride through a village, and land 25 backflips in total. These challenges get harder, like in level 60, Alto would need to catch three llamas in an unbroken wingsuit flight, land a 15,000 point combo, and score 250,000 trick points in one run. Expect lots of challenging landscapes as well as harder tricks to execute each time.

Easy gameplay

Alto’s Adventure is an incredibly easy game for people of all ages to play! With the controls consisting of mouse clicks to jump, and click and hold to somersault in the air, and double clicks to jump higher, this game is a shoe in! For any of the landscapes, like in real life, the obstacles are random and unexpected. The only thing that really needs you to pay attention to is the rush of things that might torpedo your snowboard over, as well as chasms that are so wide that it’s impossible to jump without a strong snowboard. Your reaction time and wakefulness also play a huge part in Alto’s Adventure.

Cutesy Llamas

Yup, they have a life of their own. Even Snowman the publisher has collaborated with Zimt Beadwork to create these furry creatures for sale at USD$50 each. Why llamas, you’re wondering. That’s because they’re the new unicorns, of course (check out @llamawithnodrama on Instagram to see what we mean!) They’re pretty hardy creatures for the cold, and look like a cute breed between a camel and a horse! What’s not to love about them?

Unlock different new players

Alto’s not the only one having an adventure! Unlock his other friends throughout the game as you progress the levels (yes, even Felipe the llama, unlocked at level 41). There are six characters you can unlock, along with Alto. There’s Maya, unlocked at level 11, who is incredibly good with backflips! Followed by Paz, unlocked at level 21. He’s slow and bad at backflips, but because of his size, he’s able to gain momentum fast! After Paz comes Izel, a supercool girl who has a rocket powered snowboard, unlocked at level 30. The last character is Tupa, unlocked at level 51. He’s able to do all the tricks from the previous characters. He can do flips like Maya, Paz’s momentum gaining ability, and Felipe’s double-jumping. He has a cat’s 9 lives (metaphorically), in that he is able to survive a fall into the chasm, even without the Chasm Rescue Pickaxe!

Tips, tricks, cheats in Alto’s Adventure, Alto’s Odyssey news

Which moves score more points?

Single backflips: 10 points per flip

Rock bounces: 80 points

Grinds on lines or roofs: start at 10 points then add 5 points every 2 meters

Multiplier effect – continuously do these without faltering and you’ll be racking up lots of points!

Stay away from the Elders

It’s stressful enough to be sliding down mountains full of rocks – we don’t need grumpy elders and their llamas coming after us! This reminds us of Jake in Subway Surfers being chased by the inspector and his dog. Stay ahead of them once you’ve awoken those pesky elders, and make sure you do plenty of backflips and grinds, because when you land safely, you actually land way ahead. Their llamas can’t jump over the chasms as well, so you can shake them off during those rocky scenarios!

Night time gets tricky

When you get a time change to night time, it’s harder to see rocks and other dangerous things, or your path. Apart from the moon and the glowing coins, it’s pretty much dark everywhere. A useful tip is to move to a completely dark room and turn on your PC light to the fullest as you navigate the cold, dark mountains! You’ll get a bonus of 1,000 points if you last through the dread of the night and make it to day.

Alto’s Odyssey

Alto’s Odyssey was just released this February 2018, delayed from the initial Summer of 2017, but it’s a game worth waiting for! Some refer to it as Alto’s Adventure 2, but its name is Alto’s Odyssey. How’s it different from the first original game? Where Alto was surfin’ down the snowy caps of the Scandinavian mountains in Alto’s Adventure, he is surfing on sand, sea and other landscapes in Alto’s Odyssey that are as wildly beautiful as its predecessor! His friends also get to join in the adventure (what’s an adventure without your friends), and this becomes a ride to remember – not just for Alto and friends but for you too! Navigate through lush deserts, ride gnarly waves and escape the loathsome lemurs! Expect Sumara, the newest character, who will replace Tupa at level 51! Her superpower? Lemurs can’t bug her!

Alto’s Adventure Frequently Asked Questions

How do I download the game?

Alto’s Adventure is a free downloadable game in PC, Google Play Store, and iOS App Store. To download the game, you simply need to click on the Download button on the right side or the top of the screen.

Is it free?

Downloading the game is free but there are premium upgrades and optional in-app purchases that can be made. If you want to go ad-free, you can pay a certain amount using cash. You can also buy things like a Coin Doubler to increase the number of coins you are earning in the game or buy 2,000, 8,000 or 14,000 coins using cash. Boosters like Magnet Timer, Hover Timer, Wingsuit, and Llama Horn all help you as you move further in the game.

What are the different game options in Alto’s Adventure?

There is only one main game mode in Alto’s Adventure which is the quest itself. However, you can select different players as you get to higher levels of the game. There is another game option which does not involve scores, game overs or quests called the Zen Mode where you could just play the game—just you and the mountain. To enter Zen Mode, swipe to the right of the screen.

How do I win in the game?

For each round, there are three missions that you must complete in order to win. If you complete the mission even if you get tripped by rocks, you move on to the next level.

Can I compete against others?

There is no multi-player option in the game as it is an endless runner type of game. However, you can connect your game to Google Play Store or iOs App Store to see your top scores, the Leaderboards, and game achievements.

Like the sound of Alto’s Adventure? Download and play this game on PC today!

Down load here: https://games.lol/altos-adventure/

[wootensmith]

Weisshaupt

He found it ridiculous, the way the silence unnerved him. At first, he’d thought the temple under a lingering spell. That Dirthamen had enforced utter quiet even here. He’d spent whole hours reaching out to test the the wards, expecting to find one he’d overlooked. It had taken weeks for him to conclude that it was only the natural stillness of the barren stone that caused it. The loneliness of the place where no beast or bird willingly trespassed.

Some days, it was easier to ignore. He’d rise, still weary, every morning, escaping an endless battle with his own will, resisting the uninterrupted urge to seek out the Inquisitor. Then the drudgery of checking the Veil. Over and over, every morning. It required focus, though, and it helped him push out the quiet. Recruitment reports after and sometimes a trip to find allies himself or to the training grounds or the Brecilian forest. And then the next set of intricate spellwork to recreate Alexius’s amulet. The ransacking of Dirthamen’s library and his armory as Solas rebuilt his former strength. Surpassed it. It was only the evenings, when he allowed himself to turn to the problem of the anchor, that he noticed the deep, lifeless hush around him. It shouldn’t have bothered him. Shouldn’t have torn his focus from the useless tracts that he pored over. He had lived in silence many times. Even before Mythal’s death. He’d found it comfortable, easy. No arguments, no mockery to defend against, no lies to tell. But now— he pushed aside the scroll on magic transference with a sigh. There was nothing here. Nothing that should have taken him from her. No answers. Not for her, not for the world. He’d stripped everything useful from the armory. He hated the place. And all the time, the mark was creeping deeper toward her heart and the Veil was slipping away. He stared at the amulet hanging from its apparatus, the delicate spells slowly working their inscriptions over its surface. This stage would take days. He could feel his sanity fraying. The solitary shard of his orb glimmered in the half-light of the torches. He pushed away from the desk and gave in. One look. She need never know. He’d just hear her voice. See how large the mark had grown in her dreams. Reassure himself of her happiness. And tomorrow, he’d be stronger for it. He’d leave the spells to work and depart for Falon’din’s temple. Surely, there would lay hidden some way to slow her mortality, some way to turn back the wound. He folded his hands in his lap and let his head rest against the warm wood of the chair. Tomorrow would be better. It was a relief to follow the constant tug of her. As if he had been clinging to a thin ledge over a great river and had suddenly let go, drifting in a great current. It was difficult to honor his own promise. It was difficult concealing himself from her. But he was not entirely certain that seeing him would not hurt her more than help her. A half-built undercroft fell away into raw Fade as she bent over Dagna’s large table. She was too busy, even in sleep, to focus on what surrounded her. It pained him to see her face still marred by the vallaslin in this place. He had removed them from her skin, but they had not yet dissolved from her heart. Perhaps they never would. Cole was standing beside her, rocking from foot to foot and staring anxiously at the vial of ruby liquid in her hand. “Let me do it this time, Inquisitor,” he pleaded. She shook her head. “I can’t do that to you.” “It won’t hurt me. I’m not like you.” “I can’t, Cole. If it did—” “It won’t. Not real, remember?” “You are. Don’t say that.” “I didn’t mean me,” said Cole. He wrung his hands. She placed one of her own over his. “Don’t worry,” she said, “It’s going to work this time.” Cole shook his head. “Won’t work if you don’t think it’ll work. Let me do it.” She ignored him and tipped the vial against her lips, swallowing the liquid. She coughed. Cole looked over at Solas and he knew the boy realized he was there. Solas held a finger up to his lips and shook his head. “No good,” cried the Inquisitor, watching the skin of her hand turn livid, mottled with darkness. She clutched at her throat and blinked out. Cole turned to him. “Every night. Always dying. Again and again. It never works.” “How long has this been happening?” asked Solas. “Weeks. Searching every day for a cure and failing every night in her sleep. Dorian thinks it’s you, this obsession with what she cannot change. He indulges her. Thinks this is how she fills up the gap you left. They all do. They all think it when they believe she cannot hear. That this is madness, this quest to cure the Blight. That she will spend her grief in this for a month, two, and return to them. She lies to save them. And you. It is not the Blight that fills up the you-shaped-hole. It’s her. She is only herself when she’s here. Where nobody sees.” “You see.” Cole shook his head. “She doesn’t know. She forgets where she is. It’s why it never works.” His head snapped toward the undercroft door. “Again,” he moaned. The Inquisitor stepped through the door, just as if she’d never woken. “Let’s go see the river,” said Cole, standing in front of her work. “Yes, Cole,” said the Inquisitor, “In just a moment.” She guided him gently out of the way. “I need to finish this potion. I know it will work this time.” She began crushing something in a small bowl. “Good,” said Cole, “let me try it.” She hesitated. “Better not, Cole, just in case.” “But it’s going to work this time, so I can drink it.” She sprinkled the dust into the vial. “It was the felandaris,” she said, ignoring Cole. “I forgot last time. This is the solution.” She looked up sharply. “Can you find Solas if it works?” she asked. He felt a sharp ache bloom in his center, but made no move to reveal himself, even as Cole stared at him. “I promised not to search for him,” the boy said sadly. The Inquisitor smiled and patted his shoulder. “All is well,” she said, “We’ll put out word. The news will reach him and he’ll come home.” She held up the vial. “It’s going to work this time,” she said, but her expression betrayed her. Cole silently shook his head as she drank it. Solas couldn’t watch her wake in agony again. He fought the pull of her mind, twisting the Fade so that her flesh stayed clear, so that she did not feel her throat closing around her breath. Her face brightened in shock and delight. “It’s the one!” she cried and pressed Cole into a hug. The boy laughed in surprise. “We did it,” she said. “Yes!” said Cole, unwilling to break the sudden happiness that had spread over her. Solas felt a deep calm at her smile. She released Cole and turned back to the table. “Good,” she said, “The felandaris was it. Let me just add it to the notes and I’ll get it to the…” she trailed off, pulling apart papers on the desk. Cole’s smile faltered. Solas realized she’d never find it, because she didn’t know the solution, never had. That she looked for it— the delusion was deep and troubling, but he waited, hoping it would be the thing that showed her she was in the Fade and release her from the dream. She paged through more. “I know it’s here. I put them right—” Pages began appearing at the edge of the table, piling up, spilling over, sliding away. She kept ruffling through them, quicker now. “It’s okay,” said Cole, holding his hands over hers. “We’ll find them.” “Yes, yes of course we will.” She laughed nervously and raked a hand through her hair. “They’re here somewhere. I wouldn’t have done all this work just to lose the solution now.” Her hands were shoving pages out of the way. “I wouldn’t have lost the one thing that would fix it all—” Cole glanced over at him. “There’s too many,” she cried. “I’ve got to remember. Write it again. Dorian will know—” she blinked out again. “I’ve made it worse,” said Solas. “Now she’ll blame herself. Make her forget, Cole. Let it go back the way it was. I do not want her to believe she is responsible. Not even in dreams.” “You could come back. All of it would stop.” “Only here. The problem would still remain. One of many. Do this for me, please. Let it go back to the dream of trying the potion. At least then she had some hope.” The boy stared sadly at him. “I will return, when I find a way to stop this. The mark, the Blight, the Veil. I cannot do it in the Inquisition. It is too small, too constrained by the eyes of others. And she cannot leave it. Not yet.” “The others are,” said Cole. “Drifting away, one by one. Leaves from the tree, bound away.” “I know. When they are gone, when Thedas turns against her, and it will, I will ask her again to come with me.” Cole shook his head. “She will refuse.” “Nothing is inevitable, Cole.” He let the dream slip away. The morning was not better. He stared at the amulet. There was no point remaining here waiting for spells. The anchor’s threat was still months away. He had time. But the Inquisitor’s mind would break much sooner. He had to find a way to help her. Some thread, some new hope to follow. He grabbed his pack and his staff and set off. The Anderfels were distant, even by eluvian. It was not the time it would take that made him nervous, but the miles that stretched between him and the Skyhold. Dirthamen’s temple, in truth, was only a few hours travel within the network. He had not gone so far that he could not aid her, should the need arise. But Weisshaupt was a lonely, crumbling tower clutching the edges of an island of rock leagues from her. It was not easy to get to, nor to return from. He told himself the separation paled to the one that would come later. And if he could still aid her— he swallowed his reluctance. The Gray Wardens were not happy to receive visitors. Especially not one they believed was from the Inquisition. He stood in the chilled rough wind at the gate while a dour warden considered him. “We don’t take petitions,” she said tersely. “I am not here to petition the Wardens,” he said calmly. “I’m here to help you.” To her credit, she showed no surprise. “Ah. Where is the Warden who recruited you?” “I didn’t come to join you either. I need to consult with the Hero of Ferelden.” It earned him a sneer. “The Wardens don’t abide hero worship—” “Good,” he interrupted, feeling his patience quickly wane, “I’m the last person who would walk all this way to admire a Warden. She has been doing research on your— condition. I am here to hopefully help her in that.” “Who are you?” A man above leaned over the ramparts. “He was with the Inquisitor at Adamant,” he said, squinting down at Solas. The woman nodded. “Get Rainier, then. He can handle it,” she called back over her shoulder. She glared at Solas for a few more moments until Blackwall emerged from the courtyard. “Solas!” he cried, “We got the message from the Inquisitor just a few days ago. Didn’t expect you’d make a personal trip.” Blackwall shook his hand. “I didn’t come from the Inquisition,” he said quietly. “I need to speak to the Hero. Can you help me locate her?” Some shade of discomfort crossed Blackwall’s face and was gone. “Come inside,” he said with a sly sideways glance toward the guard. “You must be tired. Long way from anywhere.” He clapped Solas’s shoulder and led him bodily into the keep. Solas stayed silent as they crossed the courtyard, following Blackwall into an empty barracks. “Should be able to talk here,” he said quietly. “The other Recruits will be training for a few hours yet.” He sat down on a nearby bench and Solas took a seat across from him. “What do you mean you didn’t come from the Inquisition? Has something happened to her?” He shook his head. “The Inquisitor is well. But my goal is outside of the Inquisition’s responsibilities.” Blackwall nodded, even though Solas could see he did not understand. But they both understood the value of a secret and the Warden did not press. “However you came, I’m glad to see you. There’s a rat in the butter, here. I know you have your differences with the Wardens, but this— the Hero of Ferelden is involved somehow.” Solas leaned forward, waiting. Blackwall lowered his voice even farther, though they were still alone. “Between the end of the Blight ten years ago and Adamant, there are fewer than two hundred Gray Wardens left. The war and the Breach brought them dozens of recruits. There were already a couple dozen when I arrived. But no Joinings have happened in almost a year.” “After what we witnessed at Adamant, I believe that might be fortunate,” said Solas. Blackwall shook his head. “It isn’t luck. It was the Hero. She’s been pushing the First Warden to take advantage of the quiet and research the Blight. She was on her own for a while, but she finally won over enough of the order to press the First Warden to allow her to use the recruits to help her research. She’s refused to let them undergo the Joining ever since. Says it’s to prevent the taint from muddling her studies, but after Adamant…” He shook his head. “The older Wardens are becoming restless though. They are calling for a Joining before too many depart for the Deep Roads. She is still fighting the ceremony, but I don’t think she’ll be able to hold it off much longer.” Solas grabbed Blackwall’s arm. “You must help her. Don’t take the Joining, Blackwall. It isn’t what you think.” “I know we don’t survive,” he said, “I’ve known for a while now. If that is the price—” “It isn’t,” hissed Solas, “You don’t need the Joining to fight the Blight. For centuries the Wardens have forced recruits at swordpoint to perform the Joining, but if the Hero of Ferelden is fighting it— side with her. I am here to help her find an alternative, another way to shield the Wardens from the Blight.” Blackwall smoothed his beard. “Never expected you to care much what happens with the Wardens. The Inquisitor, yes, I’d expect her to have sent you or to come. But not on your own. Why are you really here, Solas?” “In truth, it is for the Inquisitor’s sake, though she did not send me. It is not a selfless act, I need the Hero of Ferelden’s research as much as she may need mine.” Blackwall blanched and sat back. “She’s not— is she infected?” “She is well. They all are. And slowly returning to their lives.” He nodded. “That will be difficult. I don’t think I could go back to the way it was before.” “Varric said something similar once.” Blackwall smiled. “I’m glad the Inquisitor has got you then. Would have been hard, leaving her alone after all this. Somehow the ones that sacrifice the most usually end up finding the least joy after. I am happy to see it won’t be the same for her.” Solas was silent, finding it hard to breathe around the loss of her again, a sharp shock of grief he thought he’d pressed down for good. Blackwall didn’t notice. “No good if we keep you here though, away from her. Let’s find the Hero and get you home.”

[hyroole]

(There are definite 100% spoilers in this) I wanted to write a review of sorts of BOTW. I might forget some things, but here are my pros and cons of the game:

PROS: -the graphics, of course. The game is beautiful. I love that at certain angles there’s rainbow light spots from the sun, I also like how nothing was just ‘placed’, every tree and every object looks good. The style is very realistic, yet very Zelda. I really can’t praise the graphics enough. -exploration. The map is HUGE. Every time I have to go somewhere, I forget how long it really takes to run from one spot to another. You also always find something new or interesting along the way. Exploring is one of every Zelda fan’s favorite things to do, I think, and this game really gives you the ability to explore every single area. -side quests. There’s so many fun ones that are interesting and unique to Zelda and quests that also have great/funny/interesting dialogue to read. I personally loved getting Link's house and helping build Tarrey Town, I’m always a sucker for building things like towns from the ground up (why I love Animal Crossing and games like Harvest Moon/Rune Factory). There are also a lot of other interesting side quests that help give the game much needed life. -the music. I especially love the opening theme. It sounds so unique to Zelda games, but also EXACTLY like something that belongs in a Zelda game. (I do also miss the more charming music, like when you’re in a house, you all know the song). The music when a dragon is near is also a favorite. The Blood Moon song and when a guardian is attacking you are also great, anxiety-inducing songs. The only problem is, I wish there was more music. I like when it’s quiet while roaming a field or forest, but sometimes I wish music was playing. -towns. Hateno Village is huge and very nice to look at. There are 8 (I think?) towns to explore, which to me, is great. I was so surprised and excited when I stumbled upon Lurelin Village right when I thought I had seen the last village in the game. -the puzzles. Finding the Korok seeds is fun and an added bonus in the game. I think the shrines are really fun, and really annoying at times. I love how detailed and sometimes difficult each one is. (Although, I get sick of the same color scheme and design in each one. It really makes me miss the themed temples in past games, will continue in cons). -the characters. I think this time around we really get some good characters with interesting and fleshed out stories. Zelda and her dad, for example, are very interesting, and if you haven’t already, I would highly recommend finding and reading each of their diaries after finding all of the memories. Zelda herself, this time around, is definitely a fan favorite. She's very likable and interesting, it's a shame about that voice though (lmao, will continue). I’m also pretty happy that there are some non-white appearing side characters (besides the Gerudo of course). The only problem with the characters, which I’ll write about in the cons, is there’s not many we “get to know” and the ones we roughly get to know, we get no emotional attachment to. -collecting. Being able to cook is really fun and makes the game feel more modern, as I think it was meant to. I believe this game is the most “present” of the games, and it is also a land that is in ruins, so it would make sense that there’s a lack of random ruppes and hearts hidden in the grass, which leads us to have to cook for survival. Also collecting every type of weapon and shield and armor is fun. I also like having to collect the pictures for the Hyrule compendium, it’s not as good as the pictograph sculptures in Wind Waker, but it’s still cool, especially since you can pay to have a nicer picture in your compendium. -the physics engine. I use that term “loosely” because I barely know what it means (I’m not someone who knows a lot of terms like that lmao). But based on my understanding, it’s amazing. You can truly do so much in the game. You can test out how high the vertical limit is in the game by placing balloons on a rock and floating into the sky. You can travel by log if you want. It’s way too much fun trying to find what you CAN’T do. -the connections to past games. Discovering that Lon Lon ranch was destroyed years ago was completely heartbreaking. Recognizing the Temple of Time and realizing it’s in ruins was as well. When the master sword lights up in the final memory and makes that familiar sound, it was really just exciting. It made the world of Zelda feel more real and alive. I wish there was more lore to go along with it (will continue in cons).

CONS: -the story is lacking. It begins so interestingly and so full of potential, but then it falls short. There aren’t enough “temples”, there isn’t enough lore, and the memories don’t really coincide with actually experiencing things for yourself. It’s hard to get to “know” and like the characters when you’re only “secondhand” meeting them and experiencing their personality and story. I love the open world aspect, but it just doesn’t feel like Zelda without more of a story. -weapons. The variety of weapons is very cool and I like discovering new ones and collecting them all, but them being able to break so easily is annoying. I think the concept of them wearing down and you having to collect more is interesting, but they should be more durable. It feels like just as soon as you begin to get a feel for a certain (rare, probably) weapon, it breaks. I will say, however, I’m glad the Master Sword can’t actually break, that would be a disaster. (I wish I could say the same for the Hylian Shield). I also think the lack of “key weapons” makes this game feel a little more desolate and less like Zelda. I’m not saying they’re necessary, but I do miss items like the hookshot or the iron boots and so on. They’re really iconic Zelda aspects. -I have to say it, the sexualization of Zelda. This isn’t a HUGE issue, but it’s something that is bothering me, and hopefully some others. Zelda is 16, and then 17. In what way was it necessary for them to “define”/“emphasize” Zelda’s butt so much to the point where I can’t watch a video without everyone in the comments saying “that ass”? It’s blatant and really gross and unnecessary, especially because they clearly have her bending over, etc. -200 points for that, Nintendo. We all see it. -the voice acting. There were some characters’ voices I liked, and some I HATED. In my opinion, Zelda’s voice is all wrong. It’s way too grating and posh, I never pictured her sounding like that, it really ruined every single memory for me. The other voices were simply OK. They could have been better. -the final boss. So…. was it just me or was the greatly feared, the disastrous, the evil, Calamity Ganon incredibly easy to beat? I didn’t die a single time, I wasn’t even close, and I’m a Zelda player who dies CONSTANTLY and over stupid things. But the final boss was easier than one of the temple bosses? -the “temples”. I was really disappointed when I found out there were only four and they were essentially all the same with the same boss. What happened to all the variety and the themed temples with a matching themed boss? It gets really boring after four temples when they all look exactly the same and have essentially the same boss. It was a little hard to get the motivation to beat ANOTHER temple that looked and felt the same. Couldn’t they have made each Divine Beast a different color scheme or used the elements of each one just a little more? This con is forgivable because of how big and varying in environments the world is and how much you can explore, however. -the lore. This goes along with the story con, as well as the connections to past games in pros. BOTW is missing some essential Zelda parts, one of which is lore. This game is really an epic, or I guess it would be if it had more lore. There’s not much connecting us to Ganon, other than the fact that we have to help Zelda and the champions defeat him/it. He doesn’t even have a human form, a voice, or any dialogue. I would have AT LEAST liked to learn why or how he exists the way he does in the first place. There is also little information about those past game connections I praised earlier. They’re just THERE, which makes me feel sad, but I am happy to at least feel something, which is hard in this game with the lack of an emotional connection to pretty much anything.

There’s probably more, but I can’t think of them right now. Remember, these are just my opinions. If you want to make your own lists, go ahead (even tag me tbh), thanks for reading! (If you did).