#underfo

[tairisiugirlsoofgrana]

A Mystery Approaches

From the northeast a figure on horseback rode gently toward Velia. The horse she rode appeared strong and powerful but there was no urgency in her approach. Dust gently rose behind her, highlighted by the afternoon sun. As she came closer into view, residents of the town saw a woman with golden hair with the slightest hint of red. She was beautiful to behold but as she came closer the reason why became obvious. She was an elf, a sister of the sun, a Ganelle.

As she rode into town, eyes followed her but said nothing, at least nothing to her directly. The horse came to a stop near Tranan Underfoe's blacksmith shop where the woman dismounted. Tranan Underfoe looked up, his usual smile on his face dissolving as he saw the woman. The woman spoke.

"I seek four young women, sisters, who once lived here. Lissebeth, Jenaera, Cairenn, and Zaveres. Do you know where they've gone, Tranan?"

The dwarf's mouth hung open several seconds then he gathered his wits about him.

"No, no, I don't though they rarely come this way now and then." He hastily added, "The people at Greythorne Lodge might know more."

The woman nodded. "Spread the word then for me. If any of them are seen, tell them Ariadne seeks them."

Without another word, the woman turned, mounted her steed, and slowly rode off to the west, towards Olvia. Tranan stared, the color gone from his face as if he'd seen a ghost. He'd have to tell Chief Bartali about this.

***********************

She sat astride her horse in Tarif. In the last several days, she had visited Velia, Olvia, Heidel, and now Tarif, and while a few claimed to know Zaveres, none knew where the four sisters were or lived, or perhaps they were simply not willing to tell.

Few in Olvia had been willing to speak to her, being a superstitious lot, but the few who did speak to her gave her more leads. Over the last 17 years, the four sisters had moved from Olvia then to Velia, then a few years ago to Heidel, and the last rumor was they had gone to Calpheon. And despite her dislike of that city, it now seemed to be her best lead in finding those she sought.

She had come to Tarif hoping that the four women had gone east rather than west but that hope found no evidence to support it, not in Tarif, and not in Altinova. Yet after visiting The Maiden's Fancy, then traveling on to Altinova, she learned something else new - that the borders of Kamasylvia had been opened again in the last few years. That added an unexpected twist to the search. Would the sisters have sought their heritage in Grana or not? She had to find out, and since that road went to Calpheon, so would she.

************************

After Zav had left the Greythorne Lodge, she spent some time looking around Velia, just in case, but she saw no trace of the woman who supposedly was searching for her and her sisters. She inquired with Chief Bartali but he gave Zav the strangest stare and said nothing other than "There is nothing I can tell you, young one." Zav felt sure he was hiding something but had no way to find out more.

Subsequently, she did talk to Tranan Underfoe, who also confirmed the tall elf was looking for the four sisters. He looked as if he might say more, then clenched his jaw, shook his head, and returned to his focus on his anvil, which was a clear dismissal for Zaveres.

Her journey back to Drieghan took her east first, to Olvia. She paused there briefly, to rest her horse, and spoke with childhood friends. The mother of one of her friends walked by, looking at Zav strangely. After that, Zav noticed a few older people regarding her oddly as well. She tried approaching a few but they all turned away and walked quickly away from Zav. But after a while, she remounted her horse and continued her journey.

As she did so, she decided to visit her eldest sister, Eruve, who would be visiting Calpheon right now, on merchant business. She wouldn't get back to Duvencrune until tomorrow afternoon, but she felt this was worth it, and hoped her commander would agree and forgive her this action.

She strode upstairs in The Lion's Head Inn and found Eruve at the desk there. "Eruve, we need to talk."

Eruve spun in her chair and smiled at her youngest sister. "What do you need from me, Zav?"

Zav recounted all that had happened that day, and then added, "The woman in question always seems to use our names, except she uses your old name, Lissebeth, before you adopted an elvish name instead. She seems Ganelle by description but every Ganelle in Grana knows of us now, and of your name change as well. Why would she be using your old name?"

Eruve shook her head. "That makes no sense to me either, unless it's someone, like, say, Orwen, who spent years outside Kamasylvia. But the borders have been open for a few years now. Honestly, I'm as baffled as you but I'll see if I can get any other information. There are always informants looking to get paid in Calpheon."

Zav nodded, then settled down to sleep for the night after washing the dust from the road away. But Eruve sat there thinking, trying to imagine who might be looking for them and why.

[kelena-liz]

Winning the Enchanting Game In Black Desert Online

Enchanting gear is at the core of Black Desert Online. Learning how to maximize your chances of success, and minimize the chances of being left with unusable gear, will make the game more enjoyable for you and everyone else as well. With the addition of Blacksmith books, it's easy to create a strategy to "win" at the enchanting game now. It does require a bit of money, and patience, but it can reward you well. The key to winning at enchanting is to build yourself large stockpiles of blackstones, both weapon and armor, but moreso armor, because that's how you will build failstacks. So the first step in this process is identifying how to build reserves of blackstones reliably and quickly. The easiest way to do this is to do your daily Serendia boss scrolls. You can do them once a week. If you are level 56 and 150/150/200 or so in stats, you can solo any of the bosses, once you learn their moves, and, of course, it goes better and faster with friends and guildmates if you can get them to join in. Your goal here is not boss gear, though if that drops, that is great. No, what you want from these scrolls are blackstones and hunter seals. Hunter seals can be exchanged, in Trent and Tarif, for armor blackstones, weapon blackstones, and reform stones. Two hunter seals are an armor blackstone. Three hunter seals are a weapon blackstone. Let's ignore the reform stones for now, ok? By doing your boss scrolls weekly, you can collect enough seals to accumulate 40-70 armor blackstones per week, depending on RNG. Within a month's time you should have 200-400 armor blackstones set aside. Don't stop here, because you'll want more. Just keep collecting seals and blackstones. With Ronin and Narc Brishka scrolls in Kamasylvia, I can get enough seals to collect 100-200 blackstones per week. I normally keep at least a backlog of 1000 armor stones around and at least 500 weapon stones. Often I have more. Build that reserve up! That's your basis for winning the enchant game! After you have more than 300 armor blackstones, take 250 or so plus about 30 million silver (maybe 40) in gold bars and go to Velia. The blacksmith in Velia, Trana Underfoe, sells Reblath armor for very cheap prices. Deposit your gold bars into cash in your account so you can spend as needed. The remarkable thing about Reblath is that it is hard to enchant, almost boss hard, and definitely harder than greens. So buy any Reblath armor piece. I use gloves. And start enchanting. At first it will enchant pretty easily, but around +11 or +12, you'll start to build fail stacks. Once you get a failstack to +18 to +20, stop. Talk to Tranan, and and buy the cheapest Blacksmith book, that can extract any failstack up to +20. These cost 1 million silver, but trust me, they are worth it. Extract that stack (reducing stack count to zero), and then start enchanting again. Buy Reblath armor to repair whenever durability runs out. Do not bother to repair damage, just durability. Keep this up, extracting failstacks until you are out of stones, out of cash, or the item hits +15. Some people advocate creating a negative karma alt to live in Velia, to take your +15 gear, wear that one thing, then get killed by a guard, to break it back down to +14. I don't bother. I recover the blackstones and start immediately on another piece. That's a little less efficient, but I have so many blackstones coming in that I really don't care. How you handle it is up to you, and creating a negative karma alt is definitely a little more efficient if you want to bother with that. At the end of this process, you will have several +18 to +20 fail stacks. You can use these to take any weapon or armor item to +13,+14, +15, PRI, or DUO. As you do so, occasionally one item might be stubborn. If your DUO stack goes beyond about +28, extract it and save it. It has now become a TRI starter stack. Set that aside, load another DUO stack, and keep on going. I like to have 2-3 DUO stacks to take any item to DUO from PRI. I figure on average, I'll get one of those as a TRI stack every second or third armor or weapon item I am enchanting. When doing TRI enchants, I want one each TRI stack for any item I am trying to enchant to TRI. I also want 5-7 DUO stacks to recover DUO if it gets lost due to a failed TRI attempt. If TRI fails, immediately extract the stack, load a DUO stack, and get DUO back. Then reload the TRI stack, and proceed. If any TRI stack goes above +44, STOP, and extract that stack. This is now a TET starter stack. If you run out of DUO stacks, STOP, and do not try anything further until you can rebuild your supply of fail stacks. In other words, if your last DUO stack gets DUO back and now you have no more, do not try that TRI stack again. Wait so that you won't have to play with a PRI enchant weapon or armor piece. To attempt TET, you want one TET starter stack for an ALT character, because if it goes about +50 you can't extract it. You also want 5-7 TRI recovery stacks, and 20-25 DUO recovery stacks. The ALT character will be the one doing TET attempts. When they fail, place the item in storage, log over to your main character who has the Advice of Valks fail stacks stored, and recover the TRI level however many stacks it takes. Then swap back to the ALT, and attempt TET again. Rinse and repeat until you succeed. Stop if you run out of TRI or DUO recovery stacks to minimize your damage. Now in addition to all of this, if you are doing boss armor or boss weapons, you will also need to save memory fragments. These come from a different type of scroll, but these scrolls are assembled from pieces that drop around the world. The most popular but least efficient memory frag scrolls come from Ancient Relics. Ancient Relics can also be fished up with AFK fishing, which is why they are popular. Forbidden books create the scrolls for the Mediah level memory frag bosses, and "Scroll Written in an Ancient Language", which drops in Valencia, create the Valencia scrolls. Valencia scrolls give the most memory fragments, typically 6-12 per scrolls, averaging 7 or so. Forbidden book scrolls seem to average about 4-5 per scroll. Ancient Relic scrolls seem to drop 3-8, averaging close to 3 maybe 4 relics per scroll. There are also RNG mem frag drops as trash during these fights as well, so doing them with other people can slightly enhance your total number of memory fragments gained. If you have questions, please ask! I am always willing to update this with suggestions and other ideas! As with anything in BDO, it takes time, patience, and perseverance. With a little planning, you can minimize the frustration and pain of doing upgrades. I hope this shows you how to win at the BDO enchanting game. It can take a month or so to get firmly grounded, but once you are, you are on your way to winning the enchant game. 

************* Update! ****************   As an update to this, you can now “cleanse” +15 items down to +14 for 100,000 silver at a nearby priest.

In addition, I recommend stopping at +16 fail stacks on Reblath and extracting it then. A +16 fail stack is precisely what you get if you take that Reblath  piece from 100 durability down to 20 durability and do not succeed on any attempts. A +16 FS is adequate for starting DUO attempts.

[battherugs]

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[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. XII: Lockdown

      There are not many monsters in the town center at the moment. You see the lady walking her bunbun as usual, the young bear carrying presents from Snowed Inn to the tree, the brown bear chatting with the scarfed mouse by the library, the family of rocks out for some fresh cavern air, the warm salesrabbit eating a cinnamon bunny, and two lesser dogs enthusiastically playing catch with a snowball. The scene is peaceful, comfortable.

      But at Toriel’s words, the chatter, music, and laughter goes quiet. Everyone turns to look toward what sounded like the voice of their former queen. They don’t seem to notice you. For a long moment, the only sound is the splat of another snowball hitting the ground.

      “Your... highness?” The little mouse squeaks in awe.

      Suddenly the people are crowding around Toriel, shouting, all trying to speak to her at once. No one quite registered what she had said.

      “Yes, yes… It is nice to see you all again… I know… I am alright… I’m not quite ready for… Er… No, I... ” Toriel turns her head frantically, trying to regain control. You need to help her.

      Well, what better way to get a monster’s attention than showing them a human?

      You shout above the crowd, waving your hands and making a louder scene than you would ever make in any circumstance. You tell them all that there will be time for a meet-and-greet later--Toriel has an important warning.

      Some people are still enraptured by Toriel, but a few have turned to glance at you. With widened eyes they tap the shoulders of those who ignored you and all begin to back away from you. One lesser dog draws their sword, panting gleefully.

      Toriel jumps in. “Why are you afraid? This is no human!” She waves her hand through you. “They are a boss monster--mostly ghost in blood and incorporeal in nature. They are here to help me with a threat that is coming this way soon.”

      The people nod and throw out apologies like fishing lines. It seems there is no questioning Queen Toriel’s words.

      “The reason I left my home in the Ruins is because this one warned me of a real human approaching. This human has killed several people in their path, and after I left I was told by our friend here that the human… tore apart my home and is coming this way now.

      “Do not try to fight this human,” she adds as the people gasp, horrorstruck. “They are too powerful. We must begin a lockdown. Hide in your basements, lock the doors, turn out lights. There is not enough time to evacuate, but we can make it seem as though we have. This human is a grave danger, and I would not be able to live with myself if they hurt any of you.”

      The people glance amongst themselves, nodding fearfully.

      Go, you tell them. ‘The human’ could arrive at any minute.

      The people purposefully run to their homes. A chorus of slamming doors and clicking locks fill the area until there is no one left but you and Toriel.

      “Great work, my child.” She nods, accomplishment in her gaze as she walks back to the skeleton brothers’ house.

Author’s Note:

Look who’s back. Back again. I am back. Tell a friend.

No time for hesitations, there’s writing to be done! As for a schedule, I’m still in flux about what day I should post--Friday didn’t really work for me last year. Once the school year starts again I’ll let you all know.

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. VII: Hidden Colors

     For a moment, you celebrate.

     You did it! You actually prevented Toriel's death! And you did it without messing something else up. You can't remember the last time you did something like that successfully. And you don't even have a follow-up mission to do! Well, actually you still have to explain everything to Toriel. Oh jeez, explaining to Toriel. That's going to be extremely weird, and she might not believe you, and what if she tells everyone about you? What would they do? Your brain begins to once more lead off into spirals of worry...

     But you stop yourself. Oh, Frisk, be proud! Stop worrying for one small second. You'll have to create further plans on what to do, but you can allow yourself one small instant of victory, no?

     Take a deep breath. It'll be okay.

     And yet you are so wrapped up in thought that you don't notice the telltale pit-pat of footsteps in the front hall.

     "So who exactly are you? All I know is what you've told me. How do I know you're helping me and not--"

     The footsteps abruptly, deliberately stop. You look up slowly, trying and failing to replicate the same threatening ease. You know who it is.

     But who's he talking to...?

     "Well now. What do we have here, little man?" Jaxon smiles condescendingly. You clench your fists. Same as always, even after slaughtering probably dozens of innocents. You decide to ignore his calling you a man this time. There are more important matters right now.

     "Nothing? Well, here's a better question. How the hell did you get here? Tell me before I put my knife through your neck." The blade springs up from between his fingers. You cringe back instinctively, knowing full well what that blade can do. And you then realize a beautiful thing: Jaxon can't touch you. You're just an illusion.

     This fact strengthens your resolve a hundredfold. You unclench your hands, stand up straight, and ask Jaxon how he got here.

     Jaxon blinks in astonishment. His shock is justified--he's used to you giving in automatically. In fact, both of you are. It's so exhilarating to finally stand up to Jaxon's threats that you laugh out loud.

     Jaxon's face contorts into a glare so full of hate you wouldn't be surprised if fire simply shot from his eyes. He raises his knife, lets out a scream like a chorus of tortured souls, and charges to strike you down.

     Don't panic, don't panic... You close your eyes as he attacks, trying not to flinch. When you open them again, Jaxon is slashing his blade through your intangible chest, howling in confused frustration. Watching his fruitless attempts to kill you fills you with determination. The unbearable urge to laugh spills up and out of you, and your chortles fill the room.

     "Shut up! You shut up, you little--what the--why won't you die? Die! Shut up and die already!"

     You wipe at the tears forming at the corners of your eyes. How the tables have turned--you stand here, laughing at Jaxon's attempts to scare you! Powered by adrenaline and ironic energy, you inform Jaxon that he can't kill you--you're not really there.

     Jaxon stops swiping at you and laughs. "Right. And I'm sure that pathetic excuse for a ghost I met back there was all in my head too."

     Napstablook! At least he's a ghost--incorporeal beings can't be affected by physical attacks. You tell Jaxon not to worry--you're very real. You're just far away, biding your time. You chuckle as you say that as long as you're alive, Jaxon will not win--you've already saved someone from his wrath.

     "Okay, I hope you know I don't know what the hell you're talking about. But you sound like Chara. And she doesn't seem to--"

     Chara? You screech out a desperate question, interrupting his sentence.

     "So you know her, huh. Well, tough luck, kid. She's right here." Jaxon taps his temple with a knowing smile. "She says hello."

Author’s Note:

I need to confirm something right here, because this issue comes up several times in this update: the genders of Frisk and Chara.

Frisk is agender, because I wanted to keep the ambiguous genre vibe I think Toby Fox had been going for. That’s why Frisk hated it when Jaxon called them a man, and that’s why Jaxon calls them a man. Important note: Jaxon DOES NOT KNOW FRISK’S SEX, he’s just a disrespectful jerk who refuses to refer to people by their actual genders and so picked a random gender to label Frisk as. Kindly disregard Jaxon referring to Frisk as male.

Chara’s gender is fuzzy--they’re probably a demigirl. Most monsters refer to Chara as they by default, and most humans refer to Chara as she by default--it’s just a cultural difference. Chara doesn’t care either way.

Anyway, that’s that. Interesting post! The Sneakfire Prophecy has been fulfilled in both aus now. Yay?

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. IV: Project, Project

     "Thanks. Here's your 'dog, little man." On the screen, you see Mystery Man in front of a screen of his own. And just who is Mystery Man watching? Sans. You should've known.

     Sans is behind his hotdog stand, handing a hotdog to a little cyclops child. You can tell he's a child because of the striped shirt he's wearing. The kid giggles and takes a giant bite out of his hotdog, almost eating it whole. His mother takes him by the hand and nods at Sans in cheerful approval. The skeleton gives the kid a toothy grin as he watches them go.

     Sans looks exactly as he did whenever you spoke to him. A wave of nostalgia threatens to knock you down, but you refuse to be fazed.

     Mystery Man is staring at Sans, muttering. "If anything should happen, anything at all... Perhaps I should be more cautious, check for intruders. But even if there are any, what can I do? The second wall--it keeps me from the Earthly side. I can watch them, and occasionally project my image, but nothing more. That wretched Kedzie! How could she do this to me, to them, to herself!" Mystery Man huffs in frustration for a moment before settling down to watch.

     It’s amazing how much information a few words from a single person can contain--you quickly review what you just learned.

     Now you have a general idea of what the second wall is--it "keeps [you] from the Earthly side". It is likely not a physical wall, and it likely is what regulates you and Mystery Man's view of the people on Earth. And according to Mystery Man it also allows him to "project his image"? You and Mystery Man have similar powers--if that means what you think it means, you have some experimenting to do.

     But before you leap for joy at what you might have just discovered, you allow yourself to linger on the last thing Mystery Man said. Who is this Kedzie he spoke of? He seems to have some sort of grudge against her, and a big one too, from what you can tell. He said that she did something to him. You're a bookworm--over the years you've learned that when a person in a story is vague like that, it means that what they're saying is important. Did she, by chance, cause him to fall into the Void?

     An intriguing thought. But it's a question for another day. Right now, you have to try and save Toriel.

Author’s Note:

Hey, I did say “more likely than not”. I made no promises.

Also, yay, more OCs! I have 4 already created, and you currently know of 3 of them: Frolic, Jaxon, and this newcomer Kedzie. And you know basically nothing about any of them. Mwahaha...

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. III: Likeliness of Occurrence

     He's just the same as before, but even more menacing. There must be something you can do! You have the power to watch anything and everything-- there may be some other power you can use to stop him. But what? You don't know anything about this situation or your powers, plus you're still in the dark about what the Void even is, and you may not have enough time to get all the information you need from Mystery Man. It's hopeless, just hopeless, and there's nothing in the universe to do about--

     Whoa whoa whoa, no more mental rambling. You successfully got your sanity in check not 2 seconds ago; you are not going to lose control again.

     First things first. What does seeing--this--tell you about your power? Quite a bit, when you think about it. Now you know that this isn't your own brain speaking--no way could you have thought up something this awful. And this is clearly not the past, since Jaxon is alive now and he's never fallen into the underground (if he had, you'd know). So this is either the future or the present, and, more likely than not, it isn't the future, because on the screen Jaxon hasn't aged a bit. And a while ago you overheard Mystery Man talking about Chara being gone from the underground (which you saw with your own eyes just before that), and another "foolish child" that sounded like you. You still cannot rule out the future, but you have enough evidence to conclude that that is likely not the case.

     So now that that's cleared up, it's time to tackle the biggest, most devastating question while in a state that is not panic shut-down mode. What can you do about this whole situation? Take things slow and steady, you remind yourself.

     What is the top priority, at this moment, right now? Let's see... At Jaxon's current pace, he'll be at Toriel's doorstep in no time. How can you save Toriel? Do you have enough time? Dear god, what are you going to do--watch it happen?

     No no. Think.

     Mystery Man said something about the power to break the "second wall", and that power having something to do with warning "those two" (probably the skeleton brothers) about something. So what, then, is a second wall? It sounds like that one theatre term... The fourth wall, that's what it's called. The fourth wall is like the barrier between the characters and the audience. When a character communicates directly with the audience in some way, that's called "breaking" the fourth wall. So then, what the heck is a second wall, and would breaking it let you warn Toriel? You need answers, and now.

     Well, perhaps Mystery Man will be watching Jaxon's progress and muttering about it again, if this second wall is so powerful. You can't see any other way of getting answers, so you simply wave your hand to summon a screen once again. You desperately hope this works.

Author’s Note:

Pretty soon here my blog’s gonna have to go on hiatus again. My play is picking up--this week we’re gonna start having daily practice, and soon it’ll be tech day, and then I’ll have 4:30-9:00 practices and performances for a week. So after this Friday I won’t probably post for at least another week. But yeah--cheer for me, the Stage Manager (not a literal stage manager, it’s an acting part called stage manager, just to clarify) in Our Town! :D

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. XI: Hell's Gates

    You tell Sans that since he can teleport, he has to help you clear the forest of people.

    “Hey, don’t go volunteering me for stuff. I can warn the town.”

    You pointedly ask Sans where Papyrus is.

    “On… sentry duty… Okay, kiddo, you’ve convinced me. Gimme your hand.”

    You offer it up gladly. Sans grabs for it.

    “Shoot, I forgot about that.” Sans says as his hand passes through yours. You’d forgotten too, briefly.

    Wait. How did he know you’re incorporeal?

    Sans sees the question on your face. “Long story, no time. You and Toriel warn the town. I’ll handle the forest. Meet me there and help if you can.” He promptly vanishes into thin air.

    You have to hope he’ll be smart and not challenge Jaxon, but knowing Sans he’s likely to take the path of least resistance on this one. You turn to Toriel. She is still horrorstruck, trying to comprehend what just happened. “My home… The human d-destroyed…”

    Oh no. You hadn’t yet thought about Toriel’s mental state. Will she be able to help you at a time like this?

    You slowly tell Toriel that you’re sorry about her house, but that the rest of the town will end up like that soon. You ask her to help you warn the town.

    “I…” She looks at you with a look you can’t quite place--like curiosity, sorrow, annoyance, and contemplation combined. You realize that she may not be happy with you for all this blind trusting you’re making her do. But doesn’t she see that there’s no time for questions, or grief for that matter?

    “Yes… We must do something to end this. I suppose I shall put things aside for now. But… What was that screen you caused to appear?”

    You decide to give her just one answer, to tie her over until you can properly explain everything. It was a real-time, accurate display of what was going on at that moment, you tell her, and the science behind it is still unbeknownst to you. But there’s no time to really explain it. Taking a deep breath, you walk toward the front door of the house and reach out to grab the knob. Your hand passes through it.

    You don’t have time for bodily limitations! You try the first crazy thing that come to mind and walk straight forward. Suddenly you find yourself outside.

    It seems that you can walk through doors now. That answers that question.

    The door behind you creaks as Toriel walks out. “So we must warn the people of the coming human?”

    Yes, you tell her.

    “But won’t they be confused by your humanlike appearance?”

    You stop to consider that. Then you ask her if they will be confused by the fact that she’s the former queen.

    She frowns. “Perhaps that will validate what I say. But as for you... All we may need to do is show them that you are incorporeal. Wave your arm through something. Say you’re merely a ghost that appears human. That should be enough to convince them to trust you. I am still unsure if that is indeed what you are, but these people do not know of your other mysterious qualities. Attention, all!” Toriel calls, stepping out where she can be easily seen by the few people milling about outside. “We are having a rather large emergency.”

Author’s Note:

I’ll let the questions this update proposes stand for themselves.

Here’s another post! It was a difficult one to write. I’ll probably get another one out before I leave on Thursday, but no promises.

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. X: Safety Until Proven Peril

     He remembers you.

     “W-what are you doing here, kiddo?” Sans’s pupils dart around frantically. You’re not sure what he’s so scared of.

     You start slow, asking him how he remembers you.

     “That’s not important, bud. What I want to know is what you want with us.” Sans’s left eye begins to glow a bright blue, and a giant skull appears behind him. The skull looks like the combination of a deer’s and the devil’s.

     “Sans! Please calm down--this is a child we’re talking to!” Toriel’s eyes have grown wide in horror, gazing at the skull. Whatever that skull is, it can’t be friendly.

     You hold your hands up and tell Sans that you’re not here to hurt him. You don’t hurt people--doesn't Sans know that?

     “Sorry, kid. Gonna need proof for that.”

     What? How are you supposed to prove that? And why is Sans so suspicious of you?

     You ask Sans why he’s acting like this.

     “Not important. Now do what I’m askin’, and I’ll do what you’re askin’. Whatever that is.”

     You close your eyes and take a deep breath.

     This is an impossible situation. You don't have time to deal with Sans. Jaxon will be arriving in a few minutes at the most, and you don’t know how to prove that you won’t hurt anyone. It would be quicker to prove that it doesn’t matter--Sans and Toriel and possibly all of Snowdin will be in grave danger if Sans doesn't help you right now. But to prove that you need to prove that Jaxon is approaching and that you tried to stop him. But how do you do that?

     If only you could use the screens here...

     Wait. Can you? If you can project your own image onto the Earthly side… Is it possible to project Jaxon’s image as well?

     No time to question. You concentrate on Jaxon. You wonder where he may be at this moment in time. You imagine him, in all his angry, murderous glory, on a screen where Sans can see. A screen in the middle of this room.

     And it appears.

     You take a second to marvel at the fact that that actually worked… Before taking a step back in horror at what that screen shows.

     Jaxon is standing in a bedroom with red walls and a red quilt on the bed. Your former room. And it is barely recognizabe. Jaxon has become a vessel of destruction, kicking and punching and stabbing everything in sight. You hear an audible gasp from Toriel.

     “I am going to FIND Frisk and STAB him until there’s NOTHING LEFT! I have wasted my time--he lied to me! He must have got here first and warned off the people in this place. Chara, why did you make me keep searching?!”

     Sans’s face is totally slack. If he was horrified before, this is a whole new level of terror. “Chara?”

     “Nevermind. We need to keep moving. I’ll get my revenge later--once I have more… Whatever that power-kill stuff was. Let’s go.” Jaxon’s knife blade slides back into the handle, and he steps over an upturned desk.  You watch his heels cross the threshold of what once was a bedroom but is now a warzone.

     Toriel is covering her mouth with both paws. Sans’s bony skull looks somehow paler. The devilish floating skull that he’d summoned vanishes into thin air.

     “Oh my god.” Sans murmurs. “We gotta warn the town.”

Author’s Note:

I know that there are a couple of things in this update that look like oversights, particularly reactionary oversights. They’re there for a reason. I do things intentionally.

Just sit tight. One of those “oversights” will be resolved in the very next update. The other... Will take a while.

Also, yep, I posted early this week! Gonna be gone on a trip from tomorrow till Tuesday, so I decided to jump this particular gun. It shouldn’t affect next week’s update, by the way.

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. IX: Recognition

     How do you pull yourself out of this vision? It'd take too long to run to Snowdin from here, and you probably wouldn't be able to. Would you be able to open and close the Ruins door? Does this mental projection have a time limit, or a walking range based on where you initially warped in and who you used to warp in? No, it'd be better to leave and start again with Sans or Papyrus.

     Well, you got here using your intuition, and you'll get out the same way. You close your eyes and imagine your body in reality--in the Void. Your hands rise to the sides of your head, where they were when you dropped into the vision, and slide apart. The image shatters in an instant, and your body flickers out.

     Darkness rushes in. Colors fade to nothing. Lines of light flicker into existence on the floor. The Void surrounds you once more.

     Home sweet home.

     But you don't have time to waste here--Jaxon will be approaching Snowdin any minute now. You have to warn the town.

     But who to call upon?

     Well, if you were to tell Papyrus, he may want to confront the human despite your efforts. Whereas Sans is probably less rash, as well as being very protective of his brother. Plus he can teleport. He'll be able to cover more ground.

     Sans it is. You imagine the lazy skeleton once more, and a screen appears. Sans is in his house with his back turned toward you, saying something to someone. You don't catch the details of the scene. Your hands pull the screen back toward you, shrink it, pull its information apart, and guide it into your head as you've done before. The skeleton brothers' cozy home expands around you.

     Suddenly, your feet hit the ground. The zig-zagged carpet, lumpy couch, and table with the pet rock materialize in all their glory. You breath a sigh of relief as the world takes on color once more.

     "Well, I'm glad you bumped into me. That could've been a real... Bone-ified problem." Sans chuckles at his own joke.

     "Hee hee hee! Not bad, friend."

     Toriel! Of course--Sans and Toriel are already friends. It would make sense for her to hide out with Sans. Toriel must've bumped into Sans when he was out doing sentry duty.

     So Sans already knows about Jaxon. But you still need to convince him to warn the town! They're not safe--

     "Oh! My child, how long have you been there? You should have alerted us to your presence." Toriel peeks her head around Sans to wave at you. "Sans, that is the person who alerted me to the danger."

     Sans turns around with his familiar lazy grin, a twinkle in his eye. "Well hey there. Nice of you to--"

     His pupils disappear and he steps back, almost stomping on poor Toriel's feet. His chest heaves desperately. For the first time ever, he looks stricken. Panicked, even. 

     "Kid?!"

Author’s Note:

Dun dun duhhhhh!

Well, maybe this isn’t so much of a surprise to some of you.

I would say “prepare for the Soriel train”, but that probably won’t end up happening for a very, very long time. Main reason being I don’t trust my ship-writing skills. And it’s irrelevant to the plot at this moment in time.

Also, Jeez Louise, I suck at sticking to schedules. Well, you’re already probably used to it, so.

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. VIII: Black Clouds of Serendipity

     You scramble backwards, falling back and clawing at the floor in your attempts to get as far away from Jaxon as possible. Jaxon cackles mean-spiritedly, watching you crawl away in terror.

     "Oh, who's the invincible one now?" Jaxon jeers as he hugs his sides, laughing even harder. On your back, your head touching the wall, your lungs heaving as if you've just run a marathon, you watch Jaxon laugh at you. A moment goes by.

     "Look at this loser. I almost don't want to kill you anymore! Almost." Jaxon begins to collect himself, and you notice a faint red glow in his eyes. You can feel the spirit of Chara inhabiting your old enemy.

     He finally takes a step forward. "While I'd love to keep tormenting you, I've got places to go and plans to fulfill. So every minute you don't tell me what you're planning, someone else you love dies. Like... Chara, tell me some names of people I could kill. Toriel, You said? Or Al... Alfy... Alpha... What the hell did you just say, a name? What kind of name is that? Whatever, I'll find that out later. The point is that I'll kill someone, so start talking."

     Your words sputtering like a broken car engine, you manage to tell Jaxon that you don't have a plan just yet.

     "Wrong answer." Jaxon readjusts his grip on his knife handle. "I wonder who might live in a cute little house like this-"

     You scream at Jaxon, telling him that you really have no plan other than trying to clear his path of victims.

     "Clear my path of victims? So you're not even trying to kill me, I see. That's a smart choice. But unfortunately for you, that's not a good enough answer." Jaxon sidesteps past you and back into the hearth room.

     You decide to trick him. If Toriel heeded your advice, she should be long gone. But Jaxon seems to think that there's someone in this house. If you can lead him on, he'll waste valuable time searching for nothing. You sit up, screaming random phrases of the begging-you-to-stop variety, and Jaxon responds with more cackles.

     "If I can't touch you, then you can't touch me. Scream for mama all you want, boy." His pitter-pattering footsteps fade into the hallway.

     You smile in spite of yourself. Jaxon doesn't know it, but he's just been played for a fool.

     But now what? You've bought yourself at least a few minutes, but how can you use them?

     Let's see... Once Jaxon figures out that there's no one in the house, he'll be quick to leave. He'll meet the people of Snowdin in five minutes, if you're lucky. And he won't be in a merciful mood. You've got to go warn the town, and by extension Sans and Papyrus.

     And to warn them in time, you need to figure out how to pull out of this vision- space. Now.

Author’s Note:

Do I ever have an excuse for posting late? This time it was procrastination. Sorry guys! Good thing I only have nine followers.

(It’s not a good thing. Heck no, it’s not. Ignore that last bit.)

Well, looks like Jaxon forgot Frisk’s cryptic taunt in the 18th paragraph of the last Underfoe update, so he’s off to kill a Goatmom that’s not even there. You’ll find out what became of her in the next Underfoe update, probably. Maybe in the update after that update. Who knows. 

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. VI: Tactical Retreat

     You allow yourself a moment to collect yourself. The cozy tones of the walls around you are dazzling to your Void-adjusted eyes. But maybe a bit too bright... Actually, ow, the light hurts your eyes! Your hand darts to your face to block the light.

     "Er... Are you alright, my child?" Toriel reaches a supportive paw toward you. And you experience the extremely odd sensation of having it phase through your body.

     "Huh? Oh my... My apologies. If I may--are you a human, child? I am sorry... I normally would be able to tell. But your incorporeal nature startled me."

     You take a slow, recuperative breath, hoping to get a whiff of Toriel's scent, but only smelling the nothingness of the Void. You tell Toriel that you're not sure anymore, but that that's a story for another time.

     "Er, alright... Well, my name is Toriel. Is there anything I can help you with?" 

     Help. You snap back into panic mode.

     You begin by informing Toriel that she's in danger--someone is coming to kill her.

     Her reaction is immediate. "What? What makes you think that?" She demands, utterly shocked.

     You say that you saw him coming. He's a human, about 16, wearing a black hoodie and shady expression--

     "Oh, a human! I had intended to go check the flower bed soon. I suppose I should ready my home for a new arrival-"

     NO NO NO, you shriek. He killed a civilian on the way! He is a danger!

     "He-! But... Who-"

     You tell Toriel to leave. A human as powerful as this is not to be messed with--Toriel needs to leave the Ruins and find somewhere safe to hide.

     "Leave the Ruins? But... This is all very sudden, my child. I don't know if-"

     You tell Toriel that you know how hard it may be to leave a place she's been for many, many years, but that if she encounters this human, she will die.

     "I believe I am rather stronger than you may think, child."

     This catches you off guard. Does Toriel not believe you? I mean, you don't blame her. She has no clue who you are. What if Toriel decides to ignore your warning? What if you fail, and Jaxon kills her in cold blood? What if Toriel dies, and it's all your fault, and you have to live with another death on your hands, and the cycle of love and death never stops--

     No. There's something to say here. How can you prove to Toriel that you know what's going on?

     Perhaps you know something about Toriel that only a friend or family would know. Perhaps you can say something like that, and she'd be forced to trust you, on some level.

     Worth a shot. But what? Hmm...

     You ask Toriel if she knew that snails flip their digestive systems as they mature.

     She gives a small nervous chuckle. "That came rather out of nowhere. How did you know I have a snail fact book?"

     You tell her you can explain that later, after Toriel hides. You promise this wonderful person, the closest thing to a mother you have left, that she can trust you.

     "I... Alright, child, I will heed your warning. But... Did you just call me... 'Mother'?"

     Whoops. You mutter a lame excuse, urging her toward the kitchen door.

     "I remind you of someone. I understand. I trust we will be in contact very soon, yes?"

     You reassure Toriel that she certainly deserves answers after all this you've thrust on her. And you watch as she descends the stairs, headed for the Ruins doors.

Author’s Note:

I know I’m gonna kill her off in the other au, but y’all aren’t done with her yet! She’s still alive (and will continue to be alive) in Underfoe!

Longer update today. Dunno why.

Extras With Goldenheart WILL RETURN, I just need to figure out how to do this thing with Underfell. I’ve had writer’s block with it.

Darn you writer’s block...

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. V: Planning on a Chance

     You plant your feet and concentrate.

     How to go about this... You focus on Toriel, and everything about her--the motherly smiles she always cast over her shoulder, her offhand comments about snails, the constant cinnamon-butterscotch smell that trailed her, the way her face shone orange by the light of her fiery attacks.

     A screen appears before you. On it, Toriel is in her kitchen, searing a blackened pot with fire magic.

     No! Frisk, Frisk, Frisk, what is the matter with you? You can't use the same summoning method you use for light screens and anticipate a different result. You shake your head desperately to clear it. How in the world are you supposed to do this without any idea how? You get the sense that spying on Mystery Man any longer will be counter-productive--you can't expect to strike information gold twice.

     Perhaps, since image projection is the practical opposite of screen summoning, you need to use an opposite train of thought. You focus on yourself and your appearance--your not-quite-short, not-quite-long hair, your yellowish skin that never looked quite healthy, your hands that are always still no matter what stress you're under, your unintimidating height that always made people think you a year younger. And you imagine yourself in Toriel's home. That clean, cozy, wonderful place fit for two but inhabited by one most of the time. You imagine your hand against that mirror that hung in the hallway.

     You open your eyes to see nothing but blackness and the light screen.

     Grr! You're surely running out of time and you must save Toriel. How can you do this without messing everything up like you always do?

     You stamp your foot in anger. The light screen moves down ever so slightly, reacting to your movement.

     And suddenly you've got it.

     The light screen ability came from within, in a moment of intense emotion. So will the projection ability. All you have to do is let your brain do its thing--act on instinct and intuition alone. Then and only then will the power reveal itself.

     So you close your eyes and fill your mind with ambition. You must warn Toriel. You must warn Toriel. That is all that matters right now, and that is what you have to do. You call to the power you know is inside you. You know who you are, and you know where you need to be.

     And your hands know what to do.

     They reach out to the screen and beckon for it to come near. It comes. You know it comes not because you see it, but because that is what you told it to do. You control the power; it does not control itself.

     Your palms latch onto the screen and move apart, deconstructing the scene painted onto its surface. You know exactly what is going on inside the screen without looking--Toriel is stirring a great pot of snail stew as it comes to a boil. You can see her focused expression as if she is right in front of you. Your hands pull the screen closer, and you are more and more sure of what to do...

     And Toriel suddenly leaps back.

     "Ch... Child? Where did you come from?"

Author’s Note:

And that’s the story of how Frisk knew they belonged on Team Instinct. 

Haha, jk. They’re about as Mystic as it gets. But anyway.

Let me first address the elephant in the room--the question you’re probably all thinking right now. How did Frisk just pull a Rey and suddenly have all the power? Shouldn’t it have taken Frisk a while to figure out exactly how to project their image onto the Earthly side? Well, I have a reason for writing it this way. The Force takes training and hard work to master, hence why I cited Rey as the rule breaking example. But magic is not the Force. Magic comes naturally to all beings in this world--even humans, to some extremely small degree in some extremely special cases. In these aus, monsters are birthed already knowing how to perform magic. it just takes practice to learn how to control it, use it, and grow its power. Like any other skill. Frisk is not a monster, but what they’re doing is still clearly magic. Here, let me put it this way: people are born knowing how to learn, and they do it constantly without trying, because that’s how we evolved and that’s how our species survives. So we can all learn instinctively. Magic is no different. Frisk has always had this magic inside their soul, as does every human ever, but the Void did something to release it. What I mean by that will remain a secret, but the point is that magic is something inside everyone in this universe, and Frisk is merely tapping into a long-blocked ability.

So now that that’s cleared up, let me address the other elephant in the room--Extras With Goldenheart. I was home on Tuesday, but I didn’t post for two reasons. 1. I had no idea what to write, and 2. I was busy working on another huge project I have in the works right now (a musical completely unrelated to Undertale or this blog). I’ve kind of run out of steam for Extras. I’ve still got that same fire for Imprisoned, so don’t worry about that, but I’m just not feeling motivated to do Extras With Goldenheart that much anymore. So I’m changing the schedule for Extras to “whenever I feel like it”. I just feel like I should be free to write what I want, ya know? Also it’ll free up time for me to work on my nameless musical brainchild >:)

So yeah. Posts are back to normal at last. Get hype! And also please ask me lore questions or whatever, I would be happy to answer them!

Me: *reads through update* By jove, I think they’ve got it!

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. II: Incoherence

     Your eyes snap open like an activated mouse trap. You're lying flat on your back, and you can feel a painful lump on the back of your head. You're not quite sure how you got into that position... Until you manage to recall the image you'd seen on the screen.

     No. No, it's impossible. Of all humans to fall--that it could be--No!

     Is this a dream? Is this not real? There's no way your luck could be that bad. There's no way that's what you saw. Why fall now? Why wait for several months before finally climbing Mt. Ebott? Why not fall ages and ages ago, when he first went missing and after--

     Your brain is infested with horrific memories and nightmarish future visions. What if he goes full genocide? What if he kills Toriel and Sans and Papyrus and Undyne and Alphys and the king? What would become of you--and the Underground--gone empty, with nothing left to fill it--what happens to Chara and Flowey, will they all team up to kill you and everyone else? If he kills all the monsters in the Underground, will he lose what little sanity he had and run rampant on the surface? What will happen to you what will happen to him what will happen to anyone it's too much he's going to kill everyone and you're going to have to watch him as he does it and living will be even less worth it than it was before and THIS IS HIS REVENGE BECAUSE KILLING HER WASN'T ENOUGH WILL ANYTHING EVER BE ENOUGH FOR HIM NO HE WILL NEVER STOP HAUNTING YOU AND YOU CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT IT AND

     Stop.

     ...

     Deep breath.

     In your nose. Out your mouth.

     You sound like Mystery Man.

     Slow down.

     What can you do, at this moment, right now?

     You can summon a screen for him, and check the facts.

     In your nose.

     You focus the simple memory of his face. It is enough.

     Out your mouth.

     You see the pile of dust. You see his figure, staring at his dirty knife. 

     In your nose.

     You see his ghostly fingers clenched on its handle.

     Out-your-mouth.

     You see his smile, teeth glinting in the dim light.

     In-your-nose

     "Another one bites the dust, eh, froggy?"

     Outyourmouth

     Pit pat. Pit pat.

     inyournose

     "Like taking candy from a baby." 

     outyourmouthinyournoseoUTYOURMOUTHINYOURNOSEOUTYOUR

Author’s Note:

Yep. That’s the update. And all those mistakes were intentional--used a bit of the old Stream of Consciousness method.

(trying to sound smart like dat)

Also don’t worry, you’re not supposed to know what most of that meant. :)

[goldenheartcreates-blog]

Imprisoned: Underfoe--Claustrophobia p. I: That Which Empowers Empathy

     You slice the screen into oblivion, and the world fades to black once again.

     You can't hold yourself back anymore; your brain explodes into speculation. How is this possible? You can tell that the rules in the Void are totally different from the rules back on Earth, but still! A screen that shows you what's happening in different parts of the universe? How does falling into the Void give you that power? You're not a monster. You don't have magic--unless you count SAVE power, but that's likely soul-based, and it's been destroyed anyway. To have magic after having none at all your whole life--it makes you feel like... Like your skin is peeling away, revealing a totally different person underneath.

     If falling into the Void gave you the power to see what's going on around the universe, what other powers might the Void have granted you? A power like this is rather random, which leads you to believe that there must be other powers. It will take you a while to discover and master them, whatever they may or may not be, but an all-seeing light screen summoned on call is a great way to start...

     Wait a second. For the past few minutes, you've been operating under the assumption that these screens see the present. But do they? There is always the slim chance that Mystery Man was talking about a different human. And Alphys's tapes could be breaking for a much more normal reason. Maybe this is the future or the past you're seeing. Or maybe all of the things you saw are fake, and have never/will never happen. Or maybe someone is tricking you, giving you an illusion of power, like a Mr. Mime from pokémon. Actually, that makes more sense than you just suddenly having these powers.

     Maybe you could look around using the screens, get some context clues and make sure that what you're seeing is what you think you're seeing.

     You can start with the Ruins, since they are like the Grand Central Station of monster history. You think of all the monsters you met and befriended there, and a light screen appears, swirling with all the colors of time.

Author’s Note:

Whoa whoa whoa. Did you see that last line? Sounds exactly like the last line of last week’s Imprisoned update, no? Both Frisks from both aus are doing pretty much the same thing at the same time! Do you know what this means?

Of course you don’t, I’m just trying to be dramatic. ;)

When the aus synch up, that means something REALLY IMPORTANT is about to happen. I mean, not every important thing will cause the aus to synch up. These are two very different aus and stories that we’re talking about. But every time they synch up, something important will happen.

When the thing happens, you’ll pretty much already know how it went down in Imprisoned:Underfoe, so I won’t have to bore you by going through the same event twice. I’ll just skip to Frisk’s reaction.

Also school was cancelled today because we were gonna have freezing rain and they didn’t want that to interfere with people’s commutes. And then it freezingly rains for like 20 minutes. An hour after school would have let out. Oh nature, what a troll.