#tomb of deception

[weirdlookindog]

Ken Kelly - Tomb of Deception, 1977

[tomoleary]

Ken Kelly - "Tomb of Deception" Painting Original Art (undated)

[bantambookeater]

I do love fandoms where everyone is still talks so so much about the dead and also everyone mostly ignores the fact that they're dead, so much so that an unknowing onlooker would have no clue how massive the death counts (both named characters and otherwise) are, and anyone actually consuming the media having observed the fandom gets complete and utter tonal whiplash.

[figures4fun]

Maybe they can share? (Post photographed and edited by our dad)

[haharuspex]

my bard of tragedy blorbo for my wife's dnd & the locked tomb oneshot!! my boy turned out surprisingly well considering how quickly i smashed him together lmao and. yeah. you'll neeeeeeever what house he's from :")

[dm-paul-weber]

Tomb of the Nine Gods. Tomb of Annihilation.

Download them all, along with the map asset overlays from my google drive.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yHxTr14wi3qvOvhRTo9tphUe_xXlQ9mr/view?usp=sharing

[alectology-archive]

G— did pick though, he picked john in the end. He and pyrrha agreed to pick john in the end.

[doolallymagpie]

Well, that’s Uncharted 3 finished

Really thought Sully was gonna die, the way they’d set the whole thing up, all those close calls and that stuff

I don’t know if I currently have copies of the next two, given…the circumstances

[muppetebbtide]

LOCKED TOMB CHARACTERS X CLASSICAL REFERENCES

explanations for parallels come from here and here

I know I spelt pelleamena wrong and missed off juno zeta btw but it was getting a bit crowded. I could also probably extrapolate more but it can stay like this for now

EDIT: BITS WOT I FORGOT AND ADDITIONS FROM TAGS:

@mayasaura makes a fantastic point about the treatment of gideon's body by BOE being almost identical to the treatment of hector's by achilles, down to animals refusing to touch it and it not rotting or tearing because of divine intervention. hence there should be a light blue line between gideon and hector. this hadn't ocurred to me is and is v cool, here is their post on it (the original asker's point about harrow and priam is also v good)

@iamanoccasionaldoodler points out that Pyrrha is named after Achilles directly, given the 'Achilles taking the name of Pyrrha while on Skyros avoiding the war' thing; I did just forget to draw the line here sorry lol it was in my post! also the tags about camilla and hector... no you're right. they feel so similar, there has to be something.

@zombified-queer mentions I left out dios apate; bugger it, so I did lmao. I was focusing mostly on characters but that's such a big one! in the iliad it's the deception of zeus, hera's plan to distract him by seducing him so that the greeks can regain the upper hand. in harrow the ninth, as we know, it's... not dissimilar! both times in fact it is very similar!

I did also forget Juno Zeta I know, but as it currently stands I don't really know if it has any narrative significance...? Maybe.

I also realised I forgot Protesilaus, god damn it

[ashbashsquashmabosh]

I love the locked tomb because what other series has a polycule known by the plot two of them devised named dios apate major, the deception of God, and includes God and two people who tried to use his jizz to create a baby that would open a tomb by dying in order to set free his barbie shaped frankensteins monster with the power of a massacred planet to kill him

But also has bars like " we have hated each other too long and passionately to stop... but my bones will rest easy next to your bones"

That's not normal

[romchat]

In Blossom visual analysis (ep. 1-7): How to film a gothic romance

Although I'm not completely convinced about some of the writing choices of In Blossom, I absolutely LOVE the show's production design and cinematography. @mademoiselle-red wrote a great post about how main character Pan Yue fits the gothic romantic lead archetype, and those gothic elements are not only present in the script but also in the show's visual storytelling.

Lighting

A key element of gothic romance is its atmosphere of mystery and suspense.

Something I really like about In Blossom is that despite its dark subject matter, many of its scenes take place during the day. One of the show's main themes is that appearances can be misleading and the cinematography often plays with that notion by linking light to deception and darkness to truth. Note how many of the emotionally honest beats of Yang Caiwei and Pan Yue's relationship happen at night (e.g., their couple escapades at the Li Residence, Ghost Market, and Life and Death gambling house) while fakery, corruption, and evildoing happen in the day. It's with this subversion of our expectations for light that the show creates an unsettling atmosphere.

And these lighting choices also help set up Pan Yue as a classic gothic romance anti-hero, someone the female lead, Yang Caiwei, fears but still finds herself drawn to.

Look at how Pan Yue is lit when shot through Yang Caiwei's subjective point of view. The strong use of light creates a lot of contrast--through her eyes, he is a mixture of light and dark, his morality as inscrutable as his shadowy figure.

Camera Angles and Shot Sizes

The show's use of low angles and close-ups further reinforces the idea that Pan Yue is unpredictable and even dangerous.

In cinematography, low-angle shots tend to make the subject look more powerful and menacing, and the show uses this technique to great effect.

Even in the intimacy of close-up shots, we can sense the threat emanating from Pan Yue. He’s always shot just a smidgeon too close for comfort.

For example, look at how much Liu Xueyi's face fills the frame in an early "romantic" scene. The shot feels almost claustrophobic as if he's so single-minded about his goals that he has no choice but to dominate the frame (and Yang Caiwei). It's an unnerving moment despite the soft words coming out of his mouth.

Side Note: I live for Pan Yue's (vampiric) long shots. The production design team was smart for dressing the character in dark clothes with such a sleek cut and drape--he looks like a sexy bat.

The Nosferatu references in Yang Caiwei's tomb are also perfect.

Composition and Framing

And finally, like any good gothic romance, In Blossom illustrates how love can drive one to despair and even madness.

Because of this, my FAVORITE scene of the show has to be the introduction of Shangguan Zhi. Her obsessive pursuit of beauty in hopes of seducing Pan Yue has left her a shell of a human being, and the scene's composition perfectly encapsulates this with how it focuses on the elegant lines of her body--not her face or personhood.

Shangguan Zhi is trapped by her delusional fantasy of a life with Pan Yue--see how she's boxed in by the vertical lines of the screen panel she admires--and the show regularly uses architectural lines to show how her desperation has trapped Yang Caiwei as well.

[cairavende]

My wonderful girlfriend got me Gideon the Ninth for Christmas and I realized why should I just give Worm recaps? Let's read some Locked Tomb! (We'll see how this format works, maybe I'll adjust it. Specifically might break stuff down into smaller segments instead of full acts, but I didn't think of doing this until after I had read all of act 1.)

Gideon the Ninth Act 1 (chapter 1 through 8) thoughts:

This book is so gay oh my god

Like, it's gay in ways I can't even explain. I love it.

Harrow beats the shit out of Gideon in chapter 2 and I don't know if I've ever seen someone get beat up in a more gay way.

"Oh Griddle! But I don't even remember about you most of the time." ROLL A FUCKING DECEPTION CHECK HARROW! You are saying this standing in the middle of the field you spent all night burying bones in just to foil her escape in the most dramatic way. You can't stop remembering her.

Gideon is the most herbo of herbos. I fucking love her. I love reading her PoV. She just knows punch and stab with sword and if those don't work than she'll just do them harder.

Also Gideon is SO fucking gay. Dear god. Dulcinea faints and Gideon turns off all though. HELP PRETTY GIRL. Nothing else.

Ok I could just make this whole thing "EVERYTHING IS GAY" but there is technically more than that.

I love how weird everything is and how little explanation is given. I don't want pages of exposition, I want to learn the world as it comes at me! This is perfect.

And just the very nature of things that seem weird not being given more than a passing thought in the book is information. Something may seem wild to the reader but it's so normalized to the characters that they wouldn't even think about the idea of it being different.

Lack of explanation also helps really show how much of a meathead Gideon is. Do the readers get to learn details about this thing? Only if it is a weapon, has tits, or Gideon is forced to listen while Harrow explains it. Otherwise no, why the fuck would Gideon spend her precious few brain cells on thinking?

And even if Gideon is forced to listen as Harrow explains it, the readers might not learn much cause Gideon might stop listening. I love her.

Aiglamene is wonderful. Crux is fine but I like her more.

Poor Gideon just wants a big sword that she can swing hard. It's not like she can't use a rapier. But why when she can go big sword?

SO MUCH CATHOLICISM

As someone who once was Catholic and then realized I was actually not a straight man, but instead a lesbian, I am in deep.

And the fucking slang used! Or whatever would be the right term. The shit they say! I love it. Just the weird sci-fi far future space necromancer universe and then suddenly "Are you asking me to . . . throw her a bone?", "Gideon had always known that this would be how she went: gangbanged to death by skeletons.", "Don’t hypothetically shove stuff up my butt again, it never does any good.", "Lo! A destructed ass.", "Well we were developing common sense, she studied the blade.", "Double Bones with Doctor Skelebone."

House of the First appears to be Earth. I kinda assume the House of the Ninth is Pluto, even though things obviously aren't in order given that the Seventh and Sixth are closer to the sun. Of course, I'm kinda expecting this to not technically be this solar system at all.

Undying Emperor, King of Resurrection, I Have Ten-Thousand Titles, Boss First, etc etc hasn't been on "Earth" in over nine thousand years. I wanna know MORE.

And the fucking Ninth House has their own prayer! Everyone else has one that the Ninth didn't know and then the Ninth had one that no one else knows! GIMME MORE!!!!

Also again, so many Catholicism metaphors or comparisons or whatever!

I could go on forever but gonna end this one with OH MY GOD SHE FOUND SUNGLASSES I LOVE HER. Fucking "I came prepared, my sweet." and "But then you couldn't have admired . . . these!" as she whips on the sunglasses. God. I nearly died.

[barbieaemond]

Thorns in your mouth

PART 1

PAIRING: Aemond Targaryen x f!reader

WARNINGS: angst, smut, oral sex, a bit of religious kink, a bit of choking

WORD COUNT: 787

Author's note: Widow's blood is poison. This will likely have a third part.

taglist: @zae5 @arcielee @bunbunbl0gs @multyfangirl @chompchompluke

“Until all the roses turn to black.” you said, but they didn’t have the time to either wither or blacken. A fresh new bouquet of white roses is found on your nightstand any other day following the events above Storm’s End.

His lack of regret is also lack of concern. He doesn’t care about the Gods as much as he doesn’t care about the maid knocking while you are sprawled on the chaise as if lying in your tomb, still but feverish, waiting for another death.

“Answer.” he mumbles, with his mouth full of your cunt.

“My lady?” The young woman calls, but the call of his tongue drains you of every will, except the arching of your back, the drops of sweat on your temples. The swirls of his tongue are soft as a rose on your throbbing flesh, sharp as a thorn as he buries it deep inside. One last time and you're melting in a trickle of blood—of bones.

Your hand knots his hair and pulls at the roots, clawing at your need, raw, a wound split open that leaks and pours into his mouth. His name is a curse and a blessing clashing on your tongue, your fingers keep pulling, grasping silver and leather.

A flash of glinting blue before your eyes and you greet it with a smile, as one upon seeing a star. There’s a sneer twisting his mouth, one that you felt curling your own lips countless of times. That sneer is a glimpse into a mirror, a glimpse at your own desire. Ugly, exactly as desire is.

He thrusts inside you with ease, an act that goes almost unnoticed as breathing, but necessary. You're an extension of his body as he grips your waist and starts rutting with a cruel purpose.

“Do you like taunting the gods, don’t you?” he grins watching the seven pointed star stuck with sweat around your neck.

“I like taunting you.”

He wraps his fingers around the thin silver chain and twists, so hard he’s able to lift your head from the cushion.

“Will you get on your knees after this? Will you ask the Gods forgiveness for your sin?”

“I will ask them to give me more of it. I will beg them to make me sin before it vanishes.”

“What?”

“The smell of you on me.”

It does fade away for a few days. Everything fades away except the wailings of the Queen echoing through the walls.

“It’s not your fault.” you whisper in his mouth “It’s not your fault.”

“You’re lying.” he croaks in your neck, guiding your hips to move slower and slower.

“I know, but you believe me.”

Fingers dig in your skin, willing to break you, to tear his grief to pieces. But in the end, he only says “Yes.”

Everything was slipping from his grasp like water. Helaena, Aegon, his mother. You were the only immutable condition. Stable, firm, stone that does not scratch despite the winds, rains and storms that come against it. And he wanted to carve himself into the woven you were made of.

He asked you to stay one night, and the next, and the one after that.

“My husband will grow suspicious.” You said once, lying next to him, your flesh still entangled in one another.

“You could slip some widow’s blood in his cup.”

“To make myself a widow?”

“To make myself your husband.”

“You are.”

“No. I will be when I will fuck you in the royal gardens and no one will spare us a look. I will be when I can come inside you and see you round with my child.”

That was the last night you spent together.

Despite all the careful measures and lies and deceptions, this thing was just as plain as those white roses, plain as Aemond intended it to be. It only took a careful look. A glimpse at how your eyes would find his and his yours. It only took asking the maid to whom she was bringing those bouquets of white roses. And she did ask, Queen Alicent. She did look.

“This thing must end, Aemond. Immediately. We need her husband’s support, his army. Why are you challenging the Gods? Have they not cursed you enough?”

“I thought the Gods had forsaken me by now.”

“You forsook them the moment you succumbed to sin with a married woman.”

“I can assure you, Mother, she’s more my wife than his.”

“Enough! The Gods may have forsaken you but I did not. And I will not let you forsake your family even further.”

And enough it was.

Roses were left to bloom on their branches. While you, and him, withered and blackened.

[y-rhywbeth2]

So, having brought up the headcanon that Durge is sustained by Jergal's essence rather than Bhaal's in the "redemption" ending, there are two options.

The first is that since Bhaal's divine essence is technically a loan from Jergal, Jergal has simply taken it back - it's still the essence of death/murder, but not tied to Bhaal's will. Bhaal can no longer force Durge to act to his will. Jergal can but he tends to be more subtle and doesn't pull his puppets' strings until he "needs to". So in this scenatio Durge is as they ever were, but with apparent free reign of themselves.

The other possibility is that Bhaal fully removed himself from Durge and it was replaced by Jergal's divine essence as God of Fatalism [+orderly death/order in death, proper burial, guardian of tombs, and protection of the names of the dead]. Considering the soul is tied to Bhaal's essence... is this the same soul? The body is still of Bhaal's flesh, it contains his essence still, but it may turn out that this is actually a brand new divine soul shaping itself to the memories...

Regardless of whichever scenario this is, Durge is tied to Jergal rather than Bhaal. Whereas Bhaalspawn are dragged off to Gehenna to join Bhaal, it's most likely that Durge is tied to the Grey Wastes or the Fugue Plane and upon death will disintegrate and possibly reform there.

What are the side effects? Do they stay the same as the regular murderous faire, or are we looking at new ones that come from carrying around a portion of the god of fatalism, causing Durge to manifest his traits?

Has the urge to slay been replaced by a distressing propensity for dead, creepy calm?

Does Durge have an innate connection to the Negative Energy plane now?

Predicting the deaths and afterlives of people you make eye contact with? Can they catch glimpses of a person's life and deeds as a kind of casting divine judgement upon the soul thing?

Bhaalspawn life draining effects wouldn't change much, even though Durge doesn't display any in game.

Do they creep out the living and cause fatigue with their very presence?

I hope they still say weird shit, but instead of the usual murder-murder-murder it's announcing dark fates upon people in the flattest, most indifferent voice ever. Like "thy wheel of fate turns ever to the dark" while there's a party going on about you. - like this: "[Jergal's] tone was deceptively bland and his demeanor excessively formal, even if his words portended horrors unimaginable."

...Ironically Durge is still the vessel of a god obsessed with the end of the world; Jergal just happens to be cataloguing it as it happens, accepting it at its own pace, rather than actively painting the world red. And he expects no grandkids, which is a massive plus.

[starnightlover]

What influences you?

Your imagination or the external world?

Do you let your creation dictate your power? You created all of this, the universe is your creation. You created it, it does not create you. Your awareness is what matters, your imagination.

Neville said anyone who refuses to accept themselves as God, is an antichrist. You are against your SELF. Your true self which is god. You are the Christ, you are the "cross" upon which Christ {you} were "nailed".

Denying to accept that you are the operant power is like to live in sin while Christ is crucified in your very flesh. You prevent your resurrection. You keep yourself in the tomb. You aren't aware of your awareness. Wake up to who you are and become aware that you are that very awareness.

Be committed to the truth.

Be committed to yourself, and your imagination. Be committed to knowing you are God. We are driven by our minds, lies, and deceptions of not truly knowing we our God and seeking external validation. I have struggled with this, hell sometimes I still struggle with this. However I keep pushing through and recognize SELF when that happens. I recognize the truth.

What is truth? The truth is you, it is awareness, it is god.

So how do we not let our creation dictate us?

It is practiced. It's being determined to change that. We do NOT give external factors a say. They are us, why would we let them say what we can not can't do when we created them?

It's okay to stumble, the ego has conditioned us to be limited, fearful, and doubters. However we must ascend from the ego and become aware of being the one and only, the operant power, the god of your reality. The more you become aware the more your conception of yourSELF change to match your true nature.

Transcend the ego, let go of your conditions and become who you truly are, become god again.

[tiredwitchplant]

Everything You Need to Know About Crystals: Tiger's Eye

Tiger's Eye (The Stone of the Sun)

Color: Golden Yellow with Brown

Hardiness: 7

Rarity: Easy to Obtain

Type: Metamorphic

Chakra Association: Sacral, Solar-Plexus, Third Eye

Deities: Ra, Sekhmet, Durga

Astrological Signs: Capricorn, Leo

Element: Earth, Fire

Planet: Sun

Origin: India, Myanmar, South Africa, USA, Mexico

Powers: The Sun, Protection, Abundance, Luck, Pride, and Justice

Crystals It Works Well With: Cat’s Eye, Chalcedony, Topaz

How It is Created: Tiger’s Eye is basically a quartz but they formed in such an unusual way that the fibers of the mineral called crocidolite are laid down in parallel bands within the structure. This creates its silk like appearance and its “cat’s eye”.

History: Tombs in the ancient city of Ur in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) dating back to 2500 BCE have yielded gold sets with agates, like tiger’s eye and carnelian. The tiger’s eye was very popular due to the belief that it harnessed the power of the earth and the sun. This is why it is associated with the god of the sun, Ra and why Egyptians considered it a very valuable gem. Roman soldiers believed that the tiger’s eye was a symbol of bravery and would ride with pieces of tiger’s eye on them in order to encourage bravery during battles.

What It Can Do:

Shields the energy field or aura from negativity

Clears tension and mental blocks from the solar plexus

Can soothe, calm, and restore one’s body and mind

Banish the evil eye and curses

Attracts money while curbing impulsive spending

Used to detect liars and deceptions

Can increase confidence and pride

Placing it on your third eye can help enhance psychic abilities and balance your lower chakras

Helps unlock and unleash your true desires

Alleviates depression and lifts moods

Reduces crabbing and addictive behavior

How To Get the Best Out of Tiger’s Eye: Wear it in bracelet or amulet form.

How to Cleanse and Charge:

To cleanse: Lay it on a windowsill where the sun shines the most or bury it in your garden where the sun shines the most

To charge: You can also charge it on the windowsill with the sun. The sun really gives it a great charge, especially if one of the deities you work with is a sun god.

Crystal Grid:

Abundance (Spiral)

Base for the grid, such as wood, slate, fossilized wood, or golden card or cloth

Citrine

Goldstone

Green Aventurine

Herkimer Diamond

Jade

Moss Agate

Ruby

Tiger’s Eye

Topaz

If you’re laying a preparatory “cleansing” spiral, start at the topmost point and lay crystals alternately, with the points pointing out from the center.

Place the Goldstone in the center as the keystone.

If laying an abundance grid, begin by placing the Goldstone in the center, stating that your intention is for it to bring abundance into your life.

Lay a spiral of alternated crystals, pointing down and inward, until you reach the Goldstone.

Add a grounding stone if appropriate.

When the grid is no longer required, dismantle it.

Sources