#weird leech plant snake things???

[kagender]

hmmm. having nyororo thoughts

[paaxindigenouswitchcraft]

Witches’ Brew: The Meanings Behind The Most (In)Famous Potion Ingredients

Double, double, toil and trouble! Witches cackle as their cauldrons bubble. Spiders creep. Black cats howl. Ghosts and spirits are on the prowl. All sorts of nasty things go in the witches’ brew. But the most important ingredient of all just might be… you!

Spooky! This classic scene of malevolent madams making a most mysterious mixture entered our cultural imagination thanks to William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. One scene in the play features three wily women, referred to as the the three weird sisters or the three witches in the play, chanting an ominous rhyme as they add gross and grizzly ingredients into a cauldron. The witches’ admittedly catchy rhyme is listed below (the ingredients have been bolded by us):

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Second Witch

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Some of these ingredients, such as “eye of newt” and “toe of frog,” have become staples of witches everywhere. But what are those ingredients really referring to? The answers may just surprise you! (For the entire passage, which includes all of the ingredients we discuss, see below.)

Ingredients and their meanings

eye of newt

Let’s start with one of the most popular (and memorable) items on the list. Surprisingly, most people agree that “eye of newt” refers to a mustard seed. Herbalists would often reference body parts when describing parts of plants. An “eye” is a seed, and mustard seeds are dark yellow, like the eyes of some newts.

fillet of a fenny snake

However, “fillet of a fenny snake” is the first item on the list—and source of much debate. It’s possible that this ingredient could be referring to a member of the Arum family, which includes plants with  nicknames like jack-in-the-pulpit and Snake’s Meat, which would fit with the idea of a fillet. Some other speculated identities of this ingredient include a leech (fenny means “marshy” or “swampy,” and leeches are snakelike swamp-dwellers) or snakeroot, based on the name.

toe of frog

Most agree this warty foot refers to the bulbous buttercup. This yellow flower resembles most other buttercups but it has a fat, green, bulbous stem. The froggy connection doesn’t seem like too big of a leap (or a hop).

wool of bat

The two most commonly speculated identities of this ingredient are moss and holly leaves. Moss is a general name for clumpy plants that grow on and cover trees and rocks (like wool). Mosses, like bats, also tend to be found in dark, sunless areas. Holly trees and shrubs can be found all over the world and have wing-like leaves on which red berries grow. Holly leaves and berries are often seen during Christmastime.

tongue of dog

This ingredient refers to houndstongue, a highly toxic plant that features long, hairy stalks that can grow up to four feet tall. Clumps of purplish flowers can be found at the ends of the stems.

Adder’s fork

This snaky ingredient refers to the dogtooth violet, which isn’t technically a violet. Erythronium americanum, commonly called the trout lily, is a small plant with delicate purple or yellow flowers that is beloved by honeybees and other pollinators.

blind-worm’s sting

This ingredient is a source of speculation. It may be a poppy seed, knotwood, or wormwood. Poppies are sometimes referred to as “blind eyes,” and all poppies are poisonous, which would explain the “sting.” Knotwoods are bamboo-like weeds with small flowers that often invade other plants’ territory. Wormwood is a plant with white or green stems and bulbous yellow flowers. Besides having a name that fits, wormwood has been used in traditional medicines for a long time. There’s also another distinct possibility: a blindworm is a legless lizard with tiny eyes.

lizard’s leg

This ingredient is thought to refer to ivy. Ivy is a general name for plants that grow up walls or trees as long green vines, often with many leaves, flowers, and berries.

owlet’s wing

The identity of this ingredient is less clear. It’s possible that it could refer to either garlic or ginger plants. Garlic is an herb related to onions that features a long stalk growing out of a white bulb located underground. Ginger is a plant with a long reedy stem and a banded, tasty root underground. Both of these smelly plants are often used in cooking.

scale of dragon

This draconic ingredient could refer to Alacosia Baginda, commonly known as the dragon scale plant. True to its name, the leaves of this plant resemble large green dragon scales. Another possible plant that fits the bill is tarragon, a leafy green herb found worldwide that is often referred to as “dragon” or is known by many dragon-themed nicknames.

tooth of wolf

This ingredient is speculated to be either wolfsbane or club moss. Wolfsbane, actually named Aconitum napellus, is a plant native to Europe that has distinct purple flowers. Its nickname comes from the fact that it is highly poisonous, and it was often used to kill feared predators, such as wolves. Club moss, also called wolf’s foot or wolf’s claw, are herbs that have many spiny leaves.

witches’ mummy

This ingredient is often assumed to be literally what it says: the parts or entire body of a mummy belonging to the witches. People used to ingest mummy powders (yes, human remains) as a medicine during the 1600s, when Macbeth was written. Spooky!

maw and gulf of the ravin’d salt-sea shark

As far as we know, there is no plant that seems to match this ingredient. It’s possible that Shakespeare made up this plant nickname or it could be referring literally to the body parts of a shark. While not all sharks are predators, many of them are known for their teeth and fierce bite. It would make sense for this spooky mixture to include the terrifying teeth and throat of a shark—especially one that is “ravin’d” or ravenous.

root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark

Hemlock is an infamously poisonous plant that has clumps of white flowers growing on spotted stems. Famously, hemlock is supposedly the plant that killed the philosopher Socrates. This concoction just keeps getting worse and worse.

liver of blaspheming Jew, nose of Turk, Tartar’s lips

Suddenly, things take a strange(r) turn. As far as we know, these three ingredients don’t refer to any plants or animals. As taken literally, these three ingredients are body parts of people who (for the most part) were not Christians. Jews practice Judaism. The “Turks,” here referring to the people of the Ottoman Empire, were followers of Islam. The term Tartars was used to refer to the peoples of the Eurasian steppe, who mostly followed Islam although some practiced Orthodox Christianity.

During Shakespeare’s time, religious tension was the norm even among Christians. Shakespeare himself was publicly a follower of the Church of England, but he came from a Roman Catholic family. During Shakespeare’s time, there was constant mistrust and violence even between different Christian denominations. Needless to say, Elizabethan England would not have been at all tolerant of non-Christians. It’s possible Shakespeare is mentioning non-Christian people (who would have been seen by his Christian audiences as heathens and heretics) because they would be alien, mysterious, or scary to the people of England.

Relatedly, Shakespeare’s plays have been accused of being anti-Semitic. In the witches’ rhyme, only the Jew is described by Shakespeare as “blaspheming.” The Jews had been banished from England for hundreds of years by the time Shakespeare was writing his plays, which meant his audiences would very likely have been anti-Semitic or hostile towards Jews.

gall of goat

We have to speculate on this ingredient, and there are at least two plants with goat-based nicknames that could have gone in the pot. Hypericum perforatum, also known as St. John’s Wort or goatweed, is a plant that has yellow flowers and has been used in medicines since ancient times. Honeysuckle, sometimes called goat’s leaf, is a general name for a large family of plants that include shrubs and vines that may have flowers or fruits.

slips of yew silver’d in the moon’s eclipse

A yew is a member of a group of evergreen trees that typically have leaves with needles and red berries. As should come as no surprise by now, yew and their fruits are typically highly toxic.

finger of birth-strangled babe ditch deliver’d by a drab

Once again, we have to speculate on the identity of this rather morbid ingredient. It’s possible that this ingredient could be foxglove, which is sometimes known as “bloody fingers.” Foxglove is a tall plant that is known for its drooping, tubelike flowers. Even today, foxglove has medicinal uses. Oh, and it is highly poisonous. Because of course it is.

tiger’s chaudron

This ingredient refers to lady’s mantle, scientifically known as Alchemilla mollis. Lady’s mantle is a favorite plant for gardens, as it is easy to grow and features clumps of green flowers. Bucking the trend, lady’s mantle is not poisonous and it is even known to attract butterflies.

baboon’s blood

This ingredient doesn’t seem to refer to any plant that we know of. Assuming it isn’t literal, it’s thought that this ingredient may be referring to the blood of a spotted gecko. Geckos are able to regenerate parts of their bodies, which might explain why their blood (which could be the source of their power) would be added to this magical brew.

Full passage from Macbeth

If you’re curious how the witches put all these ingredients together, the following is the full passage from Act IV, Scene I of Macbeth. You can also refer back up to see our explanations for each of the bolded terms.

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.

Second Witch

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the cauldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog,

Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,

Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing,

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Third Witch

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,

Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf

Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark,

Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark,

Liver of blaspheming Jew,

Gall of goat, and slips of yew

Silver’d in the moon’s eclipse,

Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,

Finger of birth-strangled babe

Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,

Make the gruel thick and slab:

Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,

For the ingredients of our cauldron.

ALL

Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Second Witch

Cool it with a baboon’s blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.

Source dictionary.com

[shadow--writer]

bro do you think i could get like,, a coffee shop (or bookshop) au headcanons for the main six? if you're comfortable with that ☺️✨

Ah coffee shop/bookstore aus are my favourite I love them! I hope you don’t mind me going wild on my favs (Julian and Muriel) lol

Requests are still open! And asks about my new MC! Send em in!! (also fic requests are open lmao)

Main six x MC coffee shop/bookstore modern au

~~~~

Julian

You work at your local bookstore and this very hot doctor comes in almost every week 

You don’t know why, but you’re curious as to why

He always comes during your shift, asking for new books, books on medical treatment, old history, history on leeches, types of leeches, birds and birdcare

The first time he came in when you locked eyes he fell over

You and your coworkers started a little bet to see what he’s coming in for next 

But he doesn’t come in the next week

Or after that

You hate to admit it but you’re starting to miss him. He never failed to make you laugh with his strange requests

The past few times he came in he was always a bit red

But his face lit up whenever he saw you

You started crushing on him and now that he hasn’t come back for a while you’re...a bit sad

Next time he comes in is when you’re closing up

He’s out of breath, wheezing on his knees

Amused you let him catch his breath

“MC...I’m sorry I haven’t come in a while! School and work got hectic and I didn’t have time-”

Shushing him gently you bring him inside, pulling out your secret stash of tea you keep in the back

Asking him what’s wrong makes him go bright red

Confused, you sit and wait

“Would you believe me if I said I fell in love with this cute bookworm who works in one of my favourite store?”

You’re a little hurt but happy for the person he loves. He notices the hurt and laughs

“It’s you sweetheart. I’ve seemed to have fallen for you.”

I’m sorry, but after he confesses he would totally steal you just to make out with you behind the science textbook section (....I might write this wait)

Asra

Asra works at this sweet little tea shop that you like to visit every so often after work/school

He’s the cutest barista and you always smile when he’s there

Slowly you’ve warmed up to one another, him bringing you your favourite tea with a little note

Don’t hit on the baristas, but he might make an exception just for you

He adds some stuff to your tea to make it special and he always gets excited when he sees you come in

When you stay late he breaks out the coffee to help you stay up studying/working

He’ll spend time after work just to talk to you

He smells good like cinnamon and tea leaves

If you fall asleep he’ll let you sleep a bit while he closes up, and then wakes you before he leaves

He really enjoys your company, and you always brighten his day when you come in 

Days you don’t come in seem to drag on and he’s a little lonely 

Oh no

oh no

he has a crush on you now

But you bet your sweet arse you developed some weird outta nowhere feelings for him too

It’s why you avoided the tea shop, you didn’t want to make things weird

He sees you passing by and runs after you just to tell you

He really does miss you 

His confession is all a jumble. “MCILOVEYOUSOMUCHPLEASECOMEBACK!”

He’s very cute and when you go back he’ll make you a latte with snake art

Nadia

Nadia works at a cute little bookstore with a small cafe off to the side

It’s not very popular, just tucked away but it has a very nice atmosphere

They make the best pastries and have the best espressos

The first time you came in Nadia was there and willing to help 

She misheard you and sent you to the wrong section but she was too nice so you felt bad

Later on you tell her about the incident 

She is so embarrassed but it’s sweet

She finds your compassion so very sweet 

Some days you’ll come in just to study for school or read a book over coffee

She likes talking with you (distracting you from your schoolwork and her from her actual job. The manager doesn’t mind)

She handles everything with such grace it’s hard not to fall deeply in love with her

Sometimes you’ll come in just to talk to her 

It’s about when she starts to fall for you too, making your guyses interactions a bit awkward but still very sweet

She confesses by kissing you behind the bookshelves, she tastes like bittersweet chocolate and coffee 

When she pulls away you are bright red, making her giggle. 

“Consider it a thank you, MC. You’ve made my days so much brighter just with your smile.”

Oh my gods is she hot 

You aren’t gonna survive this 

Kiss her back 

“I...I hate to admit this, but I think I love you.”

Muriel

You work for a fun little animal themed bookstore 

Kids love it 

But one day this huge I mean tall and broad man walks in, hunched over, asking for a book on how to take care of chickens

Well that’s new you’ve never had a request like that from someone who looks...well, like Muriel does

But as always, you put on a smile and sweetly show him the way to chicken care

He’s so nervous oh poor baby 

He’ll grab your sleeve as you go back to the counter, his hair falling into his eyes but you can see how red his cheeks are

“Can...can I have some help finding a specific book? I...don’t know my way around.”

Of course you help how could you not

Soon after that he becomes a regular, and you learn he is in school to be a Vet and he has a small house up in the mountains 

Where apparently he has been saving animals

The first time you learn about Inanna was when he came in asking for a book on dog breeds

When he couldn’t find her breed he asked for a book on wolves

and you are starting to worry

But it’s okay he knows what he’s doing

As shy as he is, he falls for you fast and hard. Soon coming in with very poor excuses 

But it’s okay because you get to see him more and more, falling for him yourself soon enough

When you show him to books on bird seed, you kiss his cheek making him sputter

After a moment, he kisses your forehead, whispering ‘I love you’

And that was the day you knew this man was gonna kill you with his voice

Portia

Portia is this super cute barista at this fun energetic coffee shop

You are a poor hardworking person who needs their coffee fix

But oh my god Portia thinks you are the cutest most beautiful thing to walk through those doors

Her coworkers tease her but they let her act on her immediate crush

Looking up to this bubbly redhead holding your coffee, you fall for her too 

And soon you come in every week, sometimes three times a week

To study and get coffee

No...no other reason....

Portia is thrilled to see you in the coffee shop so often 

Eventually she leaves her number on the side of your coffee cup 

OMG no other person has done this in this au bwahahaha they’re all dumbasses 

She’ll confess with a few hearts in your coffee and a wink 

After work you’ll wait for her before pulling her along and kissing her behind the building 

Ah, young love

She’ll giggle and after this you come in more often and when she finds out where you work she’ll come to visit you

“MC! You came again! Welcome!!!”

Bright smiles and laughter 

Your day always seems better when she’s around

Lucio

You work at an old coffee shop with a fun rustic vibe and this man comes in so often 

Like every 

single

day

to order the same exact thing

The same exact super sweet coffee with two cookies on the side. He’s an odd one isn’t he

He’ll start to flirt with you right away

“Hey gorgeous, you make this all for me?”

Of course you did

That’s your job

Eventually you start flirting back and that’s when things start picking up 

Lucio catches major hardcore feelings

You’re that cute barista and he caught feelings for you

Unfair

You catch feelings too 

Eventually

He’s very blunt and flirty and..okay sure you kinda like that in him 

One day he was so aggressively flirting that you grab his shirt collar and plant a hard kiss on his mouth

Then get back to work as if nothing happened

Leave your number and winking face by his coffee

Ooooooooh man are you gonna get it after work 

;)

[myth-lord]

D&D Monster Madness

Aboleth Abyssal Maw Ahuizotl Air Elemental - Ragewind (Caller in Darkness / Voidwraith) Almiraj Ankheg - Kruthik ANT - Abyss Ant ARCHON - Lantern Archon - Hound Archon Arrowhawk - Steelwing Aurumvorax Axe Beak - Achaierai

Babau Balor Banderhobb Barlgura - Girallon (Yeti) Basidirond Basilisk - Dracolisk BEETLE - Water Beetle - Fire Beetle (Bombardier) - Siege Beetle Behir Beholder Belker - Phiuhl Black Dragon - Shadow Dragon Bladeling Blindheim Blink Dog - Cooshee Bloodthorn Blue Dragon Bodak Boneyard Brown Dragon Bulette Bullywug - Grung - Hezrou (Pod Demon)

Carbuncle Carrion Crawler - Ulgurstasta Catoblepas Cave Fisher - Avalancher Cave Moray Centaur - Armanite CENTIPEDE - Adaru - Remorhaz Chasme Chathrang Chimera Choker - Skulk Chuul Cloaker Clockroach (Clockwork Horror) Cloud Giant - Fog Giant Cockatrice - Pyrolisk Copper Dragon Coral Golem Couatl Crawling Claw Crimson Death Crysmal Crystal Dragon Crystal Ooze Cyclops

DARK TREE - Hangman Tree - Quickwood - Orcwort Darktentacles Deadly Dancer Death Knight Deepspawn Destrachan Deva - Erinyes DIRE BEAST - Dire Rat (Osquip) - Dire Bat (Mobat) - Dire Boar (Fhorge) Displacer Beast - Phane Doppelganger - Maurezhi Dragon Turtle DRAKE - Water Drake (Dimetrodon) - Fire Drake (Zezir) - Air Drake (Wyvern) - Earth Drake (Rock Reptile) Drow - Drider Dryad - Splinterwaif Duergar - Derro - Automaton Dunkleosteus Dust Digger - Silt Horror

Earth Elemental - Tomb Mote Eblis Eidolon Ethereal Defiler Ethereal Dreadnought Ethereal Filcher Ethereal Slayer Ethereal Stalker Ettercap - Vermin Lord Ettin

Faerie Dragon Fetch Feyr Fire Bat Fire Elemental - Fire Effigy Fire Giant Flesh Golem - Rotripper Fomorian - Plague Spewer - Eldritch Giant Froghemoth Frost Giant

Galeb Duhr Gargoyle Gas Spore - Ascomoid Gelatinous Cube Gelugon GENIE - Dao - Djinn - Efreet - Marid Ghaunadan GHOST - Poltergeist - Allip (Wraith) - Banshee Ghoul - Ghast (Witherstench) - Berbalang - Devourer Giant Dragonfly Gibbering Mouther - Argos Glabrezu Gloomwing Gnoll - Witherling - Marrashi - Flind Goblin - Nilbog - Spriggan - Gremlin (Quarrak) Gold Dragon Gorgon Gravorg Gray Render - Cadaver Collector Green Dragon Green Slime - Arcane Ooze - Alkilith Greenvise Grey Dragon Griffon

Hadozee HAG - Bog Hag - Bheur Hag - Night Hag Hamatula Harpy - Siren Hatori Hell Hound - Yeth Hound - Canoloth Hippocampus Hook Horror Hullathoin Hydra

Id Fiend Imp - Mephit - Quasit Intellect Devourer - Cerebrilith (Brain Collector) - Grell Iron Golem - Adamantine Golem - Juggernaut

Kelpie Kenku Kirin (Celestial Stag) Korred Krenshar - Carcass Eater Kyton

Lamia Lemure - Rutterkin Leprechaun Leucrotta Lich - Demilich - Skull Lord Lillend LIZARDFOLK - Drakkoth - Kobold - Pterrax - Salamander - Troglodyte LYCANTHROPE - Werebear (Firbolg) - Werefox (Kitsune) - Wereshark

Magmin - Magma Hurler Manticore - Jarilith Marilith - Spell Weaver Medusa Merman - Merrow Merregon - Barbazu Mimic - Trapper Mind Flayer - Ulitharid Minotaur - Goristro Mohrg Morkoth Mudman Mummy - Grisgol - Skirr Myconid - Phycomid

NAGA - Dark Naga - Water Naga Nereid Nightmare Nightwalker (Death Giant) Nothic - Shardsoul Slayer (Phthisic) Nuckelavee

Obliviax (Puppeteer) Oni Orc - Tulgar Osyluth Otyugh Owlbear

Paeliryon Peryton Phoenix Piercer - Roper POSSESSED OBJECT - Book of Vile Darkness - Carrionette (Soul Puppet) - Helmed Horror - Slithering Hoard - Trap Haunt - Xaver (Deathdrinker) PUDDING - Black Pudding - White Pudding Purple Dragon Purple Worm - Fiendwurm - Neothelid

Quickling

Rakshasa Ravid Red Dragon - Hellfire Wyrm Redcap Roc Rot Grubs Rust Monster

Sahuagin - Skulvyn Sandman - Skriaxit Satyr - Bulezau Scarecrow SCORPION - Hellstinger Shadow Demon Shadow Mastiff Shambling Mound - Tendriculos Shardmind Shocker Sibriex Silver Dragon - Mercury Dragon Simpathetic Skin Kite Solamith (Soul Eater) SNAIL - Balhannoth - Flail Snail - Metalmaster Solar   - Angel of Decay Sphinx SPIDER - Phase Spider (Wraith Spider) - Aranea (Tomb Spider) - Darkweaver - Bebilith Sprite Steel Predator Stirge Stone Giant Su-Monster Succubus (Incubus) Swordwing

Tlincalli Treant - Saguaro Sentinel Troll

Umber Hulk Unicorn - Dusk Unicorn Uridezu

Vampire - Varrangoin Vargouille Vrock

WASP - Hellwasp Swarm - Quanlos (Advespa) Wastrilith Water Elemental - Caller from the Deeps Web Golem Wendigo White Dragon Wight - Boneclaw Will o Wisp - Trilloch Winter Wolf

Yellow Dragon (Sunwyrm) Yellow Musk Creeper - Twilight Bloom (corpse flower) Yrthak Yuan-Ti - Abomination

Zombie - Drowned - Dustblight - Entombed Zorbo

UNIQUE Demogorgon Juiblex Tiamat Bahamut Lolth Cryonax Imix Ogremoch Olhydra Yan-C-Bin Pazuzu Kraken Tarrasque Leviathan Eye Tyrant Elder Brain Zuggtmoy

UNDEAD: Shadow / Adherer / Coffer Corpse / Crypt Thing / Huecuva / Necrophidius / Penanggalan / Revenant / Death Slaad / Son of Kyuss / Blazing Bones / Flameskull / Sinister / Skuz / Dracolich / Nightwing / Nightcrawler / Gravecrawler / Charnel Hound / Vitreous Drinker / Atropal / Spectre / Skeleton / Giant Skeleton / Entropic Reaper / Famine Spirit / Wraith / Deadborn / Vampiric Mist /

FIEND: Nalfeshnee / Cornugon / Pit Fiend / Larva / Amnizu / Hellcat / Mezzoloth / Nycaloth / Arcanoloth / Charonaloth / Dergholoth / Hydroloth / Oinoloth / Piscoloth / Ultroloth / Yagnoloth / Demodand / Cambion / Abishai / Spinagon / Yochlol / Molydeus / Nightmare Beast / Wastrel / Jovoc / Zovvut / Advespa / Durzagon / Arrow Demon / Sorrowsworn / Deathdrinker / Whisper Demon / Evistro / Draudnu / Remmanon / Blood Fiend / Echinoloth / Dybbuk / Nabassu / Braxat / Death Dog / Howler / Soul Eater / Tanarukk / Skybleeder / Incubus / Barghest /

ABERRATION: Eyewing / Eye of the Deep / Giant Leech / Lurker Above / Giant Octopus / Giant Jellyfish / Giant Slug / Thought Eater / Xorn / Flumph / Thoqqua / Volt / Xill / Land Urchin / Burbur / Giant Sea Anemone / Giant Clam / Giant Sunstar / Fachan / Neogi / Giant Squid / Decapus / Darkmantle / Delver / Ethereal Marauder / Frost Worm / Grick / Avolakia / Odopi / Rot Reaver / Gorbel / Spectator / Slaad / Digester / Meenlock / Chaos Beast / Balhannoth / Masher / Vodyanoi / Uchuulon / Dharculus / Brain Collector /

HUMANOID: Hill Giant / Halfling / Hobgoblin / Weretiger / Yeti / Aarakocra / Babbler / Dark Creeper / Dark Stalker / Dire Corby / Dune Stalker / Mountain Giant / Gibberling / Grimlock / Meazel / Norker / Quaggoth / Formian / Verbeeg / Selkie / Thri-Kreen / Wemic / Dragonkin / Asabi / Werebat / Athach / Abeil / Death Giant / Lumi / Phoelarch / Storm Giant / Nightshade / Gith / Flind / Bugbear / Wereboar / Wererat / Werewolf / Ogre / Tabaxi / Skindancer / Pit Master / Shadar-Kai / Lizardman / Triton / Kuo-Toa / Nagpa /

OOZE: Ochre Jelly / Slithering Tracker / Stunjelly / Aballin / Flareater / Phasm / Bone Ooze / Flesh Jelly / Teratomorph / Conflagration Ooze / Corrupture / Graveyard Sludge / Brown Pudding / Gray Ooze /

BEAST: Ankylosaurus / Brachiosaurus / Ceratosaurus / Elasmosaurus / Mosasaurus / Pteranodon / Stegosaurus / Triceratops / Tyrannosaurus / Giant Eagle / Giant Eel / Giant Frog / Giant Gar / Giant Lamprey / Subterrean Lizard / Mammoth / Giant Otter / Giant Owl / Giant Sea Horse / Sea Serpent / Giant Constrictor / Giant Cobra / Giant Snapping Turtle / Giant Weasel / Giant Wolverine / Blood Hawk / Bonesnapper / Jaculi / Quipper / Rothe / Behemoth Hippo / Boobrie / Giant Catfish / Compsognathus / Deinonychus / Dimetrodon / Struthiomimus / Tanystropheus / Giant Raven / Verme / Megatherium / Cloud Ray / Quetzalcoatlus / Spinosaurus / Gambol / Moonrat / Guulvorg / Amphisbaena / Dire Bear / Dire Crocodile / Dire Elephant / Dire Shark / Dire Rhinoceros / Dire Stag / Dire Tiger / Dire Wolf / Worg / Muckdweller / Brain Mole / Ixitxachitl / Jackalwere / Pegasus / Sea Lion / Androsphinx / Hieracosphinx / Ice Toad / Bunyip / Disenchanter / Fire Snake / Kamadan / Mantari / Nonafel / Afanc / Baku / Boalisk / Kech / Ascallion / Frost Salamander / Kirre / Dragon Eel / Tojanida / Mudmaw / Rejkar / Zezir / Lodestone Marauder / Rylkar / Julajimus / Sand Hunter / Cranium Rat / Witherstench /

PLANT: Shrieker / Whipweed / Kampfult / Mandragora / Giant Sundew / Vegepygmy / Wolf-In-Sheeps-Clothing / Death’s Head Tree / Thorny / Phantom Fungus / Twig Blight / Dread Blossom Swarm / Night Twist / Burrow Root / Assassin Vine / Bloodsipper / Burnflower / Vine Horror / Tri-Flower Frond / Violet Fungus / Wood Woad / Battlebriar /

FEY: Brownie / Nixie / Nymph / Sylph / Atomie / Boggle / Green Hag / Grig / Hybsil / Frost Fairy / Lhiannan Shee / Ragewalker / Lunar Ravager / Banshrae / Frostwind Virago / Wild Hunt / Eladrin / Grimalkin / Sea Hag / Annis Hag / Kercpa / Skiurid / Pixie / Pech /

CONSTRUCT: Homonculus / Caryatid Column / Iron Cobra / Margoyle / Mongrel / Magic Golem / Bone Golem / Glass Golem / Shield Guardian / Hangman Golem / Merchurion / Clay Golem / Clockwork Horror / Dwarf Ancestor / Stone Golem / Emerald Golem / Retriever / Hellfire Engine /

DRAGON: Bronze Dragon / Dragonne / Pseudo-Dragon / Cloud Dragon / Mist Dragon / Linnorm / Gorynych / Tether Beast / Styx Dragon / Ambush Drake / Guardian Naga / Spirit Naga /

ELEMENTAL: Invisible Stalker / Water Weird / Azer / Mihstu / Ice Elemental / Lightning Elemental / Time Elemental / Energon / Earth Weird / Nishruu / Nyth / Orglash / Immoth / Tempest / Blackball / Breathdrinker / Chraal / Gulgar / Zaratan / Chaos Shard / Kapoacinth / Visilight /

VERMIN: Rhinoceros Beetle / Water Spider / Assassin Bug / Ant Lion / Death Watch Beetle / Slicer Beetle / Megapede / Giant Solifugid / Tenebrous Worm / Fyrefly / Bonespear / Sword Spider / Spider Eater / Spellgaunt / Brood Keeper / Chelicera / Harpoon Spider / Tomb Spider / Boring Beetle / Giant Ant / Giant Crab / Bristle Spider / Death Jumper / Snow Tarantula / Giant Tick / Bloodsilk Spider / Heart Tick / Carcass Crab / Giant Centipede / Giant Mantis / Giant Scorpion / Giant Spider / Wraith Spider / Giant Wasp /

CELESTIAL: Lammasu / Titan / Planetar / Swanmay / Trumpet Archon /

[queenofnohr]

Twisted Wonderland: Floyd Leech Birthday Suit-up (SSR) - Voice Lines + Personal Story

Voice Lines

SSR Summoning Quote: Today, me n’ Jade are the stars of the show~ You’re looking forward to giving us presents, right? Summoning Line: Hey, isn’t it a landweller tradition to sing a birthday song? Then let’s hop to it. Start on three, okay? Groovy: Thanks for celebrating with me. I’ll give you lotsa interesting things on your birthday, Shrimpy. Set Home: Happy Birthday to me! I’m excited to see what kinda birthday this’ll be. Home Idle 1: Azul shined my shoes for me, so I wanted to put ‘em on right away. Look, they’re so shiny you can see your reflection in ‘em. Isn’t it great? Home Idle 2: I got a lot of birthday presents from my parents. But the dorm rooms are small so they stopped sending big ones. Hmph~ Home Idle 3: *yawn*...... All the excitement’s making me sleepy. Wonder if I should go get someone to gimme a present to stay awake. Home Login: Can you guess who the first person who wished me happy birthday was? The correct answer is…… Jade! Every year we’re the first to wish each other happy birthday. Home Idle Groovy: Shrimpy, isn’t that plate bad for serving food? Fufu, it’s okay, you don’t have to start over. It’s funnier this way. Home Tap 1: Professor Knifejaw said that since it’s my birthday, if I don’t do my homework, he’ll give me extra “presents.” He’s so meaaaan. Home Tap 2: Otter gave me a percussion instrument from the Land of Hot Sands! He also gave Jade a string instrument, and the main color on them matches our hair. Home Tap 3: I pestered Goldfish for a gift and he gave me a shoehorn even though he was super mad. It’s even engraved with an F! It matches Jade’s. Aha! Home Tap 4: Sea-snake and Crabby hit me with pies at club practice. It was lotsa fun in the end, with everyone throwing them at each other~ Home Tap 5: What is it, you curious about my brooch? It’s got the same design on it as the shoes I wear with my dorm uniform~ It almost looks like it was shrunk down by magic. Home Tap Groovy: Hey, what’re hiding behind your back? Aha, you’re so obvious, acting all suspicious like that. Go ahead and hand your present over now.

Personal Story

Birthday Suit-up Chapter 1

Happy Birthday, Floyd Leech

-Octavinelle Dorm - Birthday Party Venue-

NRC School Newspaper Special Edition Interview with the Birthday Boy ~Floyd Edition~

> —Happy Birthday.

Floyd: Oh, you came to wish us well, too, Shrimpy. Thanks~

Please tell us how you feel after celebrating.

Floyd: It was real lively and suuuuuuper fun. We’ve had parties at our parents’ house, but it was never this boisterous. I liked how this one wasn’t so stiff n’ stuffy.

—I’ve heard that you always have sweets in your room; is that true?

Floyd: Huh? Isn’t it obvious, Shrimpy? Even if you eat dinner, dontcha get hungry before bed? It’s ‘cause both me n’ Jade are still growing.

—What are your favorite sweets?

Floyd: Mmm, it kinda depends on my mood that day…… A while back I used to really like peppermint candy. A week ago it was melon soda-flavored gummies…… and yesterday it was almond biscotti. I think chewiness matters more than flavor when it comes to the stuff I like. I also like stuff I can only find on land. If you find some rare treats, lemme know will ya, Shrimpy?

I will. Semi-related— what’s your favorite food?

Floyd: That would be~...... takoyaki! Oh, do you know what takoyaki is? Eh, you don’t know, Shrimpy? I didn’t expect the people at school to know, but you’re like a walking dictionary, aren’t ya? Just the other day, after the Mostro Lounge closed, me n’ Jade got together with some other Octavinelle guys and ate some. They’re pretty hard to flip when you’re making them, but I’ve done it so many times I’m reallyyyy good at it now. Also, even though it’s called takoyaki, if you use other ingredients for the filling, you’ll never get bored of it.

What kinds of ingredients have you tried?

Floyd: First was shrimp and cheese! Then sausages, then oysters....... Tomato, broccoli, shoots, fresh cream, chocolate, anchovies, potato salad, and konjac......

You’ve sure tried a lot of things.

Floyd: Yeah, I have. In the end, it turns into a game of who can make one with the weirdest combination…… They all turn out so bad it’s funny! I ate everything properly ‘cause Azul got mad that we made all that gross food. Next time, I’ll invite you too, Shrimpy. It’s a promise.

Birthday Suit-up Chapter 2

—You often leave your collar open; do you have difficulty keeping it closed?

Floyd: I wouldn’t say it’s difficult, just annoying. Just ‘cause I’m good at squeezing people, doesn’t mean I like being squeezed, ya’know? When I first got on land, I didn’t like clothes either. It felt like there was seaweed clinging to my body all the time. And on top of that, you gotta wash your clothes every time you wear them, right? I wondered why humans would bother with such a troublesome thing. But now I like picking out my clothes. Being able to wear lotsa different colors is fun. Shrimpy, did you know? Even if it’s a flashy color on land, it’ll look dark under the sea. Besides, with stuff like clothes, shoes, accessories…… It’s fun to get all dressed up on land. But I get in trouble when I buy a bunch of stuff and load it all up in the room. ‘Cause Jade cleans the room, we got a lot of empty space, so I asked him if I could use it for my stuff, but he cut down my request with a single, “No.” Ahhhh. I wonder if I can use another dorm room for storage.

Is there anything you like to collect?

Floyd: Eh~? Well, Jade likes collecting plants, and Azul likes collecting coins, but…… I tried collecting stuff, but I got bored of it…… Oh, I guess there’s that. I don’t really collect them, but I did buy stuff with moray eels on them.

What kinds of things did you buy?

Floyd: A T-shirt with a loose sketch of one, and a mascot keychain with a goofy face. Because there’s a legend that says the Sea Witch has super-competent moray eels as henchmen, in the sea eels have a kinda rough image attached to them. They’re carnivorous fish, after all. But it’s really weird how moray eel merch sold on land is strangely cute. I wonder if that’s how eels appear to humans. Anyway, I gave the T-shirt I bought to Jade and he happily put it on. Aha. But Azul said, “Don’t you dare go out wearing that.” Even though it’s soooooo cute, isn’t he so mean~?

Birthday Suit-Up Chapter 3

—Which do you prefer - your human form or your merman form?

Floyd: When I first got into my human form, I didn’t know how to move my tail fin- er, legs- and my body felt so heavy…… “I swear I’m gonna turn back into a merman and jump into the sea right now,” is what I was thinking. But lately I’ve been thinking this form isn’t so bad. There are only fish and merfolk in the Coral Sea, but there are lotsa different types of people in the school. So it’s not boring at all. Also…… it’s fun being on land ‘cause I can do stuff like play basketball and dance. Recently, I’ve gotten suuuuper into parkour.

What’s parkour?

Floyd: Oh, you don’t know? It’s when you do stuff like kick off of handrails and walls or climb buildings…… It’s a sport where you head for a goal while keeping your movement as fluid as possible even if there are obstacles.

It sounds difficult.

Floyd: I guess I’ve never really thought of it as easy or hard. I’ve always liked doing obstacle races since I was a kid.

You have obstacle races under the sea……?

Floyd: Yeah. The goal is to swim through a sunken ship on a fixed route. The inside of the sunken ships are broken all over, which makes it complicated to get around since there’s lots of stuff that gets in the way while you’re swimming. You gotta avoid obstacles with minimal movement so you don’t lose your speed while swimming. Then, the one who reaches the goal first wins! ……See, it’s kinda like parkour, right? That’s why I like it. I’m happy I learned to do something new, and it’s fun ‘cause it’s like swimming on land. There’s no set way to avoid stuff or head to a goal, so I guess you could say it’s really…… free? I hate when there’s stupid stiff rules...... Oh, that reminds me, there was a day a while back where I overslept, and when I got to class through a window using parkour, the professor got suuuuuper mad at me. I tried real hard not to be late, so shouldn’t I get praised instead? Next time I’ll try not to get caught. Aha.

Thank you very much for sharing so much with us. And happy birthday, again.

-

*For those unaware, Floyd nicknames everyone after aquatic creatures. (Barred) Knifejaw is Crewel, (Sea) Otter is Kalim, Goldfish is Riddle, Sea-snake is Jamil, Crab/Crabby is Ace, Shrimp/Shrimpy is Yuu/the protagonist.

[blackh0legreensun]

I am. going to fight anyone who hurts her wow I lov her jfkdjdk-

but dang. at least now she can hopefully find a better family in the games :’D and she can have fun giving octane weird fluids to drink and he will bc he’s just. like that

more like inject—

“I want to see how much caffeine you can *really* take. So, I poured a gram of pure concentrated caffeine into one needle’s worth of stim, and i’m going to inject you with it, because you decided to make the foolish decision to go into the bunker when no one was around :) i’m not legally a doctor, but you’re very lucky you have... very prominent veins 0///0”

her main specialty is natural poisons and venoms, and relatively basic chemicals, drugs and fungi— things you could easily snag on the black market. she owns many species of snakes, scorpions, spiders, frogs, poisonous plants, mushrooms, locusts, rats, the works. she has an entire room in her Apex Legends Special Apartment(tm) dedicated as her little office space.

and leeches. she has leeches.

[starlling-writes]

Bewitching Monsters - Cursed Book

Series Rating: 18+ Chapter Contains: minor swearing, tentacle sex Pairing: f/tentacle BeMo Masterlist   ☆  Writing Masterlist

**Alt Pronouns are used in this chapter. Please refer to the following guide. 

Lybras asked me to help vir to sort a large shipment of books. A mansion out west was declared abandoned, so the local court went about repossessing everything on the land. Despite only have being sent a fraction of the collection so far, ve had a small archive’s worth of new books.

“Glad I brought caffeine and snacks,” I chortled when I saw all the stacks.

“Handle only what you feel to,” ve dismissed. “I already expect to spend weeks on this.”

“So you get to keep all these books?”

Ve glanced up from vis notes to glare a warning at me. “Depends on what we find. But yes; most will be staying here.” Typical dragon hoarding a trove. Ve gestured to a stack and said, “Start there. Be careful though. Some of the books are spelled.”

“Spelled?” There were a number of reasons to spell a book. If it were to keep unwanted readers at bay, though, the trouble would be the level of security they had. I was reluctant to find that answer. “How so?”

“They didn’t elaborate,” ve grumbled. Figures. Why would the court make our job easier?

For hours it was just mundane filing. It was easy yet numbing to fall into a rhythm. Which was why I jumped and yelped when Lybras suddenly yelled. I looked over and saw vis hand encompassed in flames. White, magical flames.

I cursed and ran to vis side. I cast the counter spell but instead of putting it out, it made the fire jump to me. Cursing, I fell on my ass as I panicked. This wasn’t basic magical fire. Trick fire then? Maybe. I didn’t have too much time to think about it as it was quickly spreading up my sleeves—I really liked this sweater too. I squeezed my eyes shut focused. It wasn’t a standard spell so my usual counter spells wouldn’t work. It leapt to me when I tried dispelling it, so it had to have some type of reflection element in it. Dammit! Who the hell cast such a complicated fire spell on a book?

Suddenly the fire was gone. Well, technically it was no longer eating away at my sweater and now attacking a poor potted plant Lybras was holding a safe distance away.

“The hell?”

“The fire jumps to the last living thing to touch the book. Your foot hit it when you came to my aid.”

“It burns the last—how the fuck did they even manage to send it here?” I grumbled as I picked at my burnt sleeves. I guess I should be glad my skin wasn’t burned.

“I’ll add it to the dues.”

I crossed my arms and looked around, scrutinizing the remaining books. “I’m going to hunt down more of the spelled tomes. The fewer outfits that end up ruined, the better.”

Ve grumbled, not caring either way. I took off one of my rings and a chord bracelet so I could craft a makeshift pendulum. A quick enchantment later and I could easily sort out the mundane from the magical.

I claimed three of the reading tables and labeled them Magical Untested, Magical Benign, and Magical Dangerous respectively. With a simple cantrip, I floated the fiery book onto the danger table. One hour and thousands of books later, I had found all the spelled books. There were more than I expected, but I was ready for the task.

I drew up some talismans to test for any other bio-reactive books. One turned the paper to stone, another into a leaf, and a third set he paper on fire via lightning. Two books ate the talismans—though one was actually a young mimic. Lybras contacted the Humility Society while I persuaded the little devil into making a bed out of scrap paper and napping.

As for the harmless books, there were a lot that were simply password protected—from what I could gauge. A blank book would fill with lies if you gave it a drop of your blood. One would play out vivid daydreams when you opened it. It was tempting to test it thoroughly. However, getting hot and bothered would be so inappropriate right now.

Thankfully, most of the books ended up being nonthreatening.

But then there were the mysterious last two books.

They had a magical presence, but I couldn’t get any other reads from them. The talismans didn’t react; reveal cantrips were ineffective. I dared to touch the covers and spines, but still no reaction. The only thing left to do was open them.

I cautiously opened the first book. The pages were near black with how much was scrawled on them. After a minute of staring at a number of pages, I was certain I didn’t know this language. If it even was a language. I’d have to invest in a charm to translate writings soon.

“Hey Lybras,” I said as I walked over and showed vir the pages. “Can you read this?”

Ve scrutinized it for a moment. “No. Just mark as undetermined.” Ve flipped the page.

That was when things got weird.

The book… bit us. The writing began to glow as the pages fluttered and the book tossed itself out of my hands. We stared stupefied at it, waiting for what would happen next—because all of that had to have done something.

“Maybe something good will happen?” I hedged, trying to stay positive. Ve was unamused. The book stilled, and I was about to make another remark when black tendrils bubbled out of it.

We weren’t given a chance to run before it ensnared us. We both swore and struggled but to no avail. No place was safe from their touch. A glance at Lybras and I saw them covering vir from tail to horns. I almost envied vis larger size and greater body area for these lewd cirri to trail across. When I tried to shift positions, they constricted tighter around me. Little prickles bit into my skin. Did these things have teeth? If they did, they weren’t strong enough to break my skin since they only left oily ooze in their wake and no blood.

They weren’t constricting us to death, just groping and restraining. It wasn’t unpleasant, actually. I even started to think it was similar to being tied up by Mosaiko.

With that thought, my feelings towards the moment shifted.

This was still not ideal. I didn’t know what these tendrils intended to do and I wasn’t thrilled that Lybras was here to witness me… not hating them. We had a nice, professional relationship and this wasn’t my first pick on how to shift it to a personal level.

A tendril snaked around to the back of my neck and attached itself like a leech. Then I heard a voice—an amalgamation of voices—echo in my head.

Desire for desire. Will you accept?

“Did… did you hear that too?”

“Yes,” Lybras answered.

As least I wasn’t hallucinating. But what did it mean?

Desire of knowledge for desire of carnality, it responded. It was discomforting that it seemed to be able to read my mind. Will you accept?

“I don’t know if we should really trust this book.” I was skeptical that agreeing with it would be worth it. “For all we know, it’s gonna eat us.”

“I don’t think it’s anything that severe.”

“Elaborate book voice!” I demanded. “Will accepting your offer kill us?”

There are no desires for death. To fulfill the desires—nothing more nothing less. Knowledge for carnality, will you accept?

“We won’t get a straight answer,” ve sighed. “We’ll have to accept or refuse.”

I hated vague spells. My curiosity was running wild but I was still skeptical of all this. I fidgeted. The tendrils bit into me more, and that just made a little devil urge me to agree. I wouldn’t die; and knowledge and carnality didn’t sound so bad.

I conceded. “Well I’m up it if you are.”

Lybras took more time to make up vis mind. “I agree.”

Nothing happened.

“You have to say it,” ve said.

“Of course—the vague spell needs a specific answer.” I rolled my eyes then threw a glare at the book before saying, “I agree.”

In a flash like lightning, my vision danced and mind felt floaty. I felt like I had taken a few shots of vodka. My mind twisted and reformed. My memories and thoughts flipped pass like pages blowing in the wind. Even the skeletons.

My focus jolted back to the archive. Lybras was shuddering and short of breath and… erect. I knew I shouldn’t stare but damn. Ve was impressive. And I was intrigued to see vis unique anatomy—around the base of vis  shaft was a clear set of labia.

One of the tendrils wrapped itself around the head of vis member and swallowed it within. The dark, oozing tendril split into two; one stayed wrapped around Lybras’s dick, while the other quivered and reshaped into an exact replica of it.

What? I had second to think before it slithered its way to me. Oh damn. I knew where this was going—where it was going. At this point I had no more reservations. The moment I saw that slick tendril aiming for me I wanted it inside me. I didn’t fight as the tendrils already wrapping me spread my legs; didn’t struggle as a couple tore my panties away.

Instead, my eyes fluttered shut and head fell back as it started prodding into me. Slipping fully in, it felt like it was adjusting to fit me without really stretching me. Shame. Still, it felt wonderful as it thrusted in and out. No wonder there were so many dragon hybrids.

I wiggled my hips, trying to adjust so it would hit a better spot, but instead riled the tendrils up into biting me again. If they were trying to persuade me to stop moving, they were failing. Now I squirmed solely so they’d dig in more.

My mind was a cloudy mess. I sank further and further into the pleasure. So this is what it meant by carnality. I didn’t even care to wonder what the knowledge part had been. The fact we were supposed to be cataloging books was long gone. I even forgot Lybras was there—maybe watching, maybe lost in vis own pleasures.

The tendrils vanished and I dropped to my hands and knees. After taking a few second to calm myself, it registered that, right before everything stopped, Lybras had said ve rescinded vis consent.

We both stole a glance at each other then looked away. Silence rang between us for a good moment.

“You should make a couple memory wipe potions,” Lybras spoke up. “It’d be best we both forgot tonight.”

“Agreed.”

— — —

BeMo Masterlist   ☆  Writing Masterlist

Story:  Previous   —   Next

[bogleech]

TOP 5 BUGS I WISH EXISTED

Because this is a thing I’ve always put a lot of thought into, and I guess you could call it speculative evolution because I like to think of bugs that are physically possible and fit into real-world lineages.

1) Land Barnacles. I love the aesthetic of all barnacles and I wish I could just grow them in flowerpots. I think these would have to attract and feed on insects to survive that way, like venus fly traps. They’d also need a way to spread without ocean currents. I’m gonna say the larvae can cling onto passing animals, like ticks or plant burrs, and drop off where they need. I bet there could be at least one species that lights up to attract fireflies.

2) Really big, long-lived flies. I want there to be flies as big as physically possible, so these would be between the size of a weta and the size of a coconut crab. I think this dung fly is the best looking kind of fly, so they’d be a lot like it. There’s no way they could actually fly, but there are several real-world flies without wings too. Maybe they’d have little nubby vestigial wings they just use to make a threatening buzz when they’re mad, because they’d need a good defense against predatory mammals, and I’d like to suggest a skunk-like spray for that. I bet we would come to call them “stinkbugs” more than what we currently call stinkbugs. Stinkbugs would probably follow herd animals around and eat their dung and not bother anybody. I like to think we would put them in a lot of cartoons and associate them with barnyard animals. (photo)

3) slightly less big but still alarmingly big blood-sucking flies. Maybe more like the size of rats, and they’d burrow during the day but come out at night to drink mammal blood. They wouldn’t be especially interested in human blood, though, so they’d be like insect vampire bats and just kinda misunderstood. Hopefully they would accept pig blood from the meat market like I feed my pet leeches because really this is also a list of dream pets. They should have awesome weird eyes like some actual horseflies do. I bet we would put them in cartoons a lot too if they were real. (photo)

4) bobbit worms but on land. I said this in another post about polychaete worms. I wish in addition to snakes we also just had snake-size biting worms. I guess they’d probably still prefer wet muddy environments. I just really want there to be biting worms that pop out of the ground like a scary jack in the box and freak people out. Not deadly or anything just something to keep people on their toes. They’d stay in the same burrow for decades at a time waiting for birds or mice to catch and maybe people would actually want them as natural pest control for their gardens and stuff. I’d just have a little row of them instead of a picket fence.

5) a giant land slug like this slug. The size of those African land snails. The reason actual land slugs don’t get that big but snails can is that the shell helps them retain moisture and protects them from so many enemies, so again we have a defense problem to worry about. I don’t want to reuse “they stink like a skunk” so I’ll say these slugs probably just have the worst most awful taste ever, and to stay moist they’d probably have to be amphibious instead of completely terrestrial. The pretty colors would even be good to advertise their taste. Anyway that’s fine, we could all have them as pets and not have to taste them. (photo) I actually thought of more than five but then the post would be too long, maybe this should just be an article series

[otterapps]

Hippoglyph doc:

Rough design discluding the progression system, cut short by weird things happening. Overall the idea was to make a world and story telling client and editor for a basic theme of inspiring dream-like adventure, with an example that you miss out on the real thing. An inaccuracy of language and digital brainwashing. That addictive, experiential games aren’t even the problem as much as wanting to escape the social barrios and destruction of community that a tower of technology has escalated.

 Nexus system: Similar to the Palladium Rifts RPG, and the main way of entering and exiting worlds. Includes a deeper game mechanic of time stamping world states to utilize an object structure of individualized randomseed, for a time travel mechanic that lends well to the ecosystem of a heartbeat driven text game.

 Space system: A similar warp mechanic for alternate world or dimension exploring, including a ship and mech mode with their own combat and racing type game.

 Editor mode: Trying to make compatible worlds easy for hobbyist, using basic logic programming and standard platform functions. The characters you make are able to explore custom content while progressing in core simulation and rogue-like reward system.

 Character system: Based loosely in mythology and science fiction, with suto-customizable options for alternate characters and world entry story lines. Client comes with 60 unlockable races and a spectral fragment system you generate with retired characters, being fleshed out still.

  List of gear so far. Some of these are for the client and some are custom for an included default world.

  WIP monster stuff.

 a colossal, organic-looking rocket ship

a looming, skeletonized dead tree

  --10

Pandora, a gigantism of titan-squid

Ten, the yellow orange

a naked girl with red snakes for hair

a naked girl, cloaked in leeches

a sprightly sylph

a slippery dryad

a fountain of blubber and eyeballs

a very big, orange octopus

a colossal and stoic dinosaur tyrannosaurus

a colossal, hexal-lip wurm with numerous eyes

 --10

a huge shape-shifting gold dragon

a giant mind-boggling blue dragon

a huge gigantic fire drake

a humongous great-horn dragon

a giant demonlord vampire boa

a humongous rock-eater dragon

a humongous giant moss-green tarantula

a colossal mossy lobster-octopus dragon

a towering, rock and onyx, orbital path cobra statue

a huge, sphere-like zenithian battle station (flying)

 --6

an absurdly humongous catfish, Dan-Dan of doom

Mr.Toma, a giant-size human skeleton -- strangely happy to see you

a lengthy, GIANT snakefish (sleeping)

Blaslzy, a colossal hellbeast

Yoshima, an enormous mantaslug

Omikron, a titanic crustacean

 --10

a mysterious shadow knight

a corageous, slimey monster of tentacles

a misty fire breathing goat dragon

Grimlock, a darkgreen lizardman

a gigantic, bionic missle-clad tarbosaurus

a gigantic, bionic apatosaurus mahine-gun

a horrifying, colossal octopus

--mind-blowing gigantism moving through city.

A NORMAL GIANT SHARK

a towering, huge chozo guardian statue

a fat red toad with glowing eyes

 --6

an enormously twitchy, gigantic chickensaurus

a halcyonic, wolfmeister golem

a bedizen witch doctor squid

a very large, crafty sumo wrestler

a big green dinosaur with numerous eyeballs

a big moony serpent with glowing horns

 --6

a magical elvish horse

a giant slimy balrog of malady

a giant shadowy balrog of fire

a giant, bat-like frost-dragon

a colossal worm with a cavernous maw

an axefighter golem of dark matter

 --4

a small, adorable red panda

a gigantic white fox

a dark, monstrous hobbit

an ancient spectral knight

 --6

a formidable vampiress of paladine

a malificent, spider-queen demogorgon

a tiny, seven-headed miniature dragon

a huge, gigantic frostbeard snow-monster

a crafty and carnivorous brontosaur-plant

a towering undead dragon skeleton

 --4

a humongous battle-scarred squid

a savage statue of a gargoyle

a silver knight, standing guard

an elegant, giant lady parthan

 --4

an animated statue of an iron hippo

a dark slender gremlin with antlers

a multi-section hellion wasp queen

obviously, a monster treasure chest

 --4

a white bunny

the Butler of Doom

a dapper, rambunctious rat

a beautiful old fairy

 --4

an enormous jet-black hobgoblin

a big and fat, fire breathing cat

a monstrous jabberwock

a monstrous nightmare spider

 --8

an aethereal magnificent genie

a biped lizard with feathers

a big troll named Matroshi

a big armor plated spider

an electrified vallopian cat-bull

a moody, enormous luna moth

Ew, a meandering, really big tick

a really cute, green octopus

 --12

a devious bandersnatch

a swift red-skin velociraptor

a hairy big-eyed monster

a massive pale lizard, maliciously grinning

a renegade kobold champion

a lazy, beautiful, demon dragon

a demogorgon with human-handed tentacles

a wild and hairy hippalotapus

a big hard-shell, menacing garuta

a Giant dusty Scorpion

a GIANT ant

a mean, big frost giant

 --2

a whirling dervish

a gloomy aufhocker dog

 --12

a jumping snaggle-tooth spider

a giant prehistoric alligator—size 4, like anakite

a large furry, massive tarantula

a city guard standing watch

a slithering hulky sun lizard

a birdfish, zipping around fantastically

a bizarre, demonic mouse

a hovering, metallic bird is flying here

a quickly moving moth-spider

a lurking, colorful triffid

a colossal boar with glowing eyes

a massive goat with glowing eyes

 --8

a veteran swordfighter

a dusty mystical troll

a goofy Austrailian badass

a janitorial assistant is sweeping here

a skeleton holding its own head

a skeleton in shredded purple robes

a silent knight of Holy Fertilizer

Sand Worm?

 --6

a horned green drake

a towering rhinosaurus, chewing bones

a daft little girl

a very big, black panther

an absurdly big and flightless Jub-Jub

a sabre-toothed ghilaton-lizardman

 --10

a dripping, skull-faced rat --subsonic chattering

a big, ravenous kelzmelzer

a big spectral wolf is poised

a putrid, loveable zombie monster

a weird little spectral aardvark --clones with others but just leaves

a tiny, malevolent imp

a humongous blue toad

a lumbering fella named Fuden  

a huge carnivorous mushroom

an animated monster of garbage

 --10

a feathery red python

a large, strident bald eagle

a sneaky, dark wolf

a lupin warrior

a parthan warrior

a skaven warrior

a dwarven merchant

an elven entrepreneur

a fuzzy pokeupine slug is here

a furry boa

 --4

a grisly turquoise opossum

a gypsy cleric meanders here

an old gypsy tinker

an old gypsy woman

 --8

a huge and purple Razy Tree

a serendipish cat, Tananda, devouring grass

a formidable warrior ant

a silverback salamander

a large twisted hobgoblin

a merchant of Baranor

a carnivorous millipede

a webbed-fin jumping snake

 --8

a spotted pattern cow

a mighty bandit

a playful nymph –sneak hard

a skeleton warrior –sneak hard

a vacuum-maw ogloc of sweeper fins

a dusty gray troll

a hungry billy goat

a sleepy kobold/a hungry kobold/an eager kobold

 --8

a muddy crab, covered in garbage

a lupin villager

a parthan merchant

a skaven vagabond

a deer is here watching you carefully

a large buck struts around

a young fawn is chewing

a big furry spider

 --6

a citizen of the Coalition Fortress

a curious adventurer

a gal with long blond hair

a gal with spikey black hair

a guy with a mouse on his shoulder

a dark man, a fake tan, and a suitcase of money

 --6

a sexy cute, light green lizard

a big, vallopian mantaray

a mellow cat, licking itself

a white feathered chicken

a shifty red fox

a gigantic nest of worms

 --6

a squirrel darts among the trees

a large, weird bug

a tiny, cute mouse

a lovely dove

a black rubbery bug

a large nest of worms

 --8

a tiny florescent spider

a wonky hairy spider

a turquoise beetle

a fluttering tiny moth

a meandering chaotic butterfly

a beautiful chromatic butterfly

a small nest of worms

a blue slime monster

a wondering zeela skitters around

a fiery viola is bouncing around

a wavering skree is flying around

a serriform leever is spinning aggressively

a black and white, wolf-headed robot

a green and grey, lynx-headed robot

a red and blue, falcon-headed robot

a grim savage troll

a large, dog-like troll

a brutal champion troll

a giant destroyer troll

a two-headed, young crocodile

a gigantic, monstrous crocodile

a little, pank peg" --a pank peg oinks something unintelligible.

a silky clad ogre concubine

a huge fat ogre, kicking back

a large ogre standing guard

a courier in red robes --under red hood it's chuck Norris?

a priest of the temple --wesley snipes?

an undead soldier, troop deadun deadun --lost in forest calling out to each other

a large ogre priest

a leather-clad sharpshooter guard

a cautious and skinny botanist

 --comes with client?

--2

an alien battle ship

a very big and futuristic wooden ship

 --4

a meandering fly -- from corpse?

a practice dummy is fixed here (mocking you)

a young, brutish merfolk

a mutated, malformed merfolk

 --8

a shadowy figure --sneak?

a frustrated pig --boink spell, or title flag of body like suto-zerk

a large silver wolf –ranger skill

a mighty evergreen --druid

a big and smiley dogcat --druid?

a tactical platinum aegis-mech --for knights?

a tiny, little mouse --for mouse-plant-bomb-and-return-without-bomb skill.

a huge stoic paper golem

 --4

an armored snail of mace-like tentacles

a spectral drake"

a spectral knight"

a battlelion bio-scorp manticore --kendred maybe.

 --5

a dusty, ancient nomad --quest mob

a lonely maiden --quest mob

a heavy-set city guard

a battle-scarred adventurer

a spectral wolfspider

 --4, follow and attack you?

a grim tonberry

a big, invidious octorok

a rascally cactuar

a big, freakish malboro

 --4, mountable.

a blubbery daphollap

a very large, radiant griffon

a graceful, tremendous gidjin

a fantastic quivering Palapalapa

 --8

a grave, pitch-black raven

a dark peregrine falcon

a goofy and snazzy albatross

a great bearded vulture

a jalak myna starling

a king bird of paradise

a stork-billed kingfisher

a big, tasmanian duck

 --8

a snakey tumbler cuttlefish

a distracted, friendly dingo

a debonair cottonmouth snake

a superhero hamster

a big, delighted boa

a playful, spectating cat

a dizzy mole-otter

an aloof horse-shoe-crab

 --8

a large metallic bear

a glow in the dark frog

a bone-white scorpion

a grimacing ashen monkey

a happy little platypus

a dismayed spikey hedgehog

a big, disinterested anteater

a perturbed horny-turtle

 --8, maybe ryoko yells at you for fleeing battles and walking by women

Sophia, the armor-clad mermaid jouralist alien cowgirl on a mission to rescue the forest (bows and says may the forest be with you)

Sir Mr.Bean, a gentleman and scholar

Ash is here, devoured by alternate reality

 (wth) --Where did bathrobe guy go?

Jezebel too, and Medusa, wtf, and Strom. I lost my last save?

“Strom, you’re boring!” – etc.

 Gwendolyn, the keeper of secrets

Gilgamech, the Sanguine Weaponsmith

Ryoko - a fetid, lurching, ancient mummy --incredible green hulk maybe, or gray?

Mauly - a big talon-tooth metroid"--maybe near ryoko and ryoko-oni, or whatever that thing is.

 --8

Gundu, the desert ocean dervish

Javier, the arcane blacksmith

Bauhaus is watching the weather (fishing)

Galeta, the Master Fighter (muddy)

Lycurgus, the Lord of Doom

Windsor Gordebash, Elder of the Runesmith Order

General Thunderwolf, Serah, Commander

Kharnak Wolfen, the innkeeper squid

 --8

Shadowstill, the Ghaluk Overlord --standing still as a shadow.

Tahrentophet is grossly eating a pumpkin

PandaStrike is trying to have a vacation

PoisonHawk, the percecuted warmonger

Kindle Skyth, the will of the whisp

Korben Dallas is smoking half a cigarette still.

Inhaha Olsuptor, the indisputable king of ogres

Zephyr is floating here on rippling air

 --20

Gormand Roads, keeper of weapons

Shalos, the pan-handler

Bazooka, a psychedelic octopus

Tracy Goodwyn, a secret agent, it's obvious

Durandal is playing with his chest hair, you think

Goldmoon, the cleric of paladine

Sturm Brightblade has been pumping iron

Clayton, the battle-scarred rogue

Duncan is here, smoking a pipe

a large fella named Zippo

Ander Zale, a phlegmatic spaceman

Applejax is grinning and laughing

Grundle, the mechanic, and movie-critic

Marc Despard, a mercenary earthling

Klaus, the barkeep

a huge joe named Moe

Tetret the old, fedup man

Guido is here, dressed like Elvis

George is waiting here, and waiting

Hindsight, the stealthy rogue

 --19

Tyrus, captain of the ultra-tough guards

Tehwk, a vagabond hockey player

Oahr, the slurps a lot, of Naromar

Xoap is covered in mud, of Krynn

Zeux, shadow of bog, vender of Baranor

Dyson Wainright, the battle born

Scarlett Gullrose, princess warrior

Aenwyn Eldaeroth, an elite archer

Galaga Addnoch, an elite soldier

 Joan the Oracle, and wet-nurse

Shinobi-Shawn is perfectly fine

Kohaku the deadly for cookies

 Dr.Frankenstein sits behind a body slab

Gronhola, the Archwizard of Quo

Helios, the giant of quarters

Tender, the busker

Malfax, an ancient nomad

Flint the Huntsman

Devo, the barkeep

 --8

Lothar, a really bored frost giant

Ashbaugh, a playful raccoon

a humongous battle-scarred squid (Elephant)

Cleopatra, a really big, yellow slug -- slug-jetsu?

Napoleon, a battle-raging boar -- pig-fu?

Xerbyx, a long-legged brown spider —spikido?

Cantaloupe, an electrified bull – kowrate?

Darwing, a white feathered chicken -- chickwan-doe?

     --darwing flies at you with stunningly slow speed, trailing a debris of feathers.

 --16

Adunaphel is smoking dope and checking rope

Daedalus is yodeling a mery tune

Thorton is suspicously looking around"

Marvin Bungor, the smithmaster

Lor'hof Quwrogg, the foriegner

Bia Coppernaut, the barberer

Maze Wolfmunny, the beersmith

Galia Lo Lo Roaden, the wallflower --has 2 middle names

Margoette is board and wants to incite violence"

Dustin, the tree humper of bandersnatch, allegedly

Bugshmear is playing cards with Frogsmash

Frogsmash is playing cards with Bugshmear

Dick Cheney with a shotgun

Hadron is wide awake, trying to sleep

Syntax is trying to read a book, alright?

    WIP armor stuff

 --skill items

a black ninja suit --monk

a tattered robe --mage

a horned mask --fallen

a necklace of garlic cloves --cleric

a mideval weapons harness --fighter

a chainmail print hoody --scholar

a triangular stone --mystic

a full suit of clumsy scuba –rogue

 --nomad forge

a useful towel

a toothy dragon-skin bandana

a pair of dragon-skin bracers

a pair of dragon-skin brogans

a sleek dragon-skin gorget

a pair of dragon-skin pants

a long shirt of dragon-skin

a forked sharv of dragon-skin

 --alchemist forge

a red bone breastplate

a pair of red bone boots

a pair of red bone gauntlets

a horrid red skull helm

a thick red bone shield

a spiky red bone sharv

 --mystic forge quest

a shirt of mithril chainmail

a pair of tough elven gloves

a pair of tough elven brogans

a harvest quiver (0 arrow)

a stealthy wormwood scabbard

 --monk forge

boots of studded red leather

gloves of studded red leather

a studded red leather helm

a suit of studded red leather

a red leather sharv

 --runesmith forge

a pair of thick bone boots

a pair of thick bone gauntlets

a thick horned bone helm

a thick suit of layered bone

 --scholar forge

a great steel helmet

a leather and wood scabbard

a pair of shielded gauntlets

a pair of multiple gauntlets

glowing liquid platinum forming language-like objects?

 a brown leather cow hat

a pair of tough cow boots

a brown leather backpack

a leather straped white dress

long silvery leather boots

long silvery leather gloves

a nice, button-up flannel

a pair of dark blue, silvery jeans

a smug backpack

a few scraps of a shirt

a LittleShopOfHorrors packback

a black leather jacket

 --fighter quest

studded leather boxing gloves

a white t-shirt

a strong leather belt

 --carpenter quest

a nice, button-up shirt

a pair of nice pants

a gray bathrobe and karate belt

 --nimrod quest?

a silver mask with dark goggles

a pair of finely made silver wings

a glowing blue scabbard

 --mage quest

a pointy wide-brimmed hat

a long, purple scarf

a purple robe

 --monk quest

a kabuto shell-helmet mask

a pair of locking gauntlets

a pair of spiked knuckles

 a nifty wool blanket

a rad mountain cloak

a cloak of elven kind

a cloak of protection

a silver cloak of micro robotics

a hooded digital-camouflage cloak

an enormous tie-dyed backpack

a retrocopter backpack

a cloak of midnight dreams

a flowing saphire cape

a jet-black glowing backpack

a dark green camping backpack

a blurry gray cloak

an abyssal cloak of night

a brown cloak of temporis

a ball of writhing green ivy

  a dark gray necktie

a tiny toy lobster

a tiny toy octopus

an amulet of voice of destruction

a dwarven medallion

a shimmering talisman

a glowing red feather

a gemstone pendant

a talisman of swarming chaos

a medallion of infinite color

a mouse skull pendant

an ageless emerald amulet

a frozen red amulet

an iguana-skin amulet of trample

an amulet of the brick dragon

a dangly shark-tooth necklace

 a plain metalic ring

a marvelous diamond ring

a glowing silver ring

an obsidian ring

an oily brass ring

an opal ring-transmitter

a ring of domination

a ring of the mongoose

a golden ring of fire

an ivory skull ring

a corrugated winter ring

a smoldering ashen ring

a black liquid prism ring

a flowing holy prism ring

a magic ring of the manatee

an almandine ring of gore

  -- custom can save low end forge set

a pair of gray plate boots

a pair of gray plate gauntlets

a gray steel helmet

a sharv of gray platemail

a suit of gray platemail

a pair of rusty gauntlets

a rusty steel helmet

a sharv of rusty platemail

a suit of rusty platemail

a pair of rusty boots

a bright steel shield

a suit of bright steel platemail

a bright steel helmet

a pair of bright steel boots

a pair of blight steel gauntlets

a blight steel shield

a suit of blight steel platemail

a blight steel helmet

a pair of blight steel boots

a pair of bright steel gauntlets

 --non upgrade low end

a pair of blood red boots

a pair of blood red gauntlets

a helmet of blood red scalemail

a blood red scalemail sharv

a blood red scale breastplate

some blood red scalemail

a pair of deep blue boots

a pair of deep blue gauntlets

a helmet of deep blue scalemail

a deep blue scalemail sharv

a deep blue scale breastplate

some deep blue scalemail

 --can save mid custom

a pair of zenithian plate-boots

a pair of zenithian mittens

a zenithian plate-chain coif

a zenithian suit of flight

a pair of spectral plate-boots

a pair of spectral claw-gloves

a blizzard-spectral visor-helm

a spectral chain breastplate

a vibrant suit of mossy armor

a pair of mossy leather boots

a pair of mossy leather gloves

a vibrant moss covered helm

a harlequin helmet of passion

a light blue leotard

a pair of leather arm bracers

a tunic of spider-hide armor

a magnificent feathered sharv

a magnificent helm of feathers

a pair of feathered gauntlets

a suit of blackened platemail

 --non upgrade mid custom

a nickel carbide breastplate

a pair of nickel carbide boots

a pair of nickel carbide gloves

a winged helmet of nickel carbide

a thick nickel carbide sharv

a glistening pair of yellow boots

a glistening pair of yellow gauntlets

a glistening yellow ringmail coif

a glistening yellow steel shield

a glistening suit of yellow ringmail

 --can save top (macro for set) --a glass shortsword of boglight?

glass boots of boglight

glass gauntlets of boglight

a glass helmet of boglight

a glass sharv of boglight

glass platemail of boglight

 --non upgrade top

a pair of encrusted gauntlets

a pair of coral silk brogans

a patchwork coral silk trenchcoat

a polybius helm of insanity

an aged suit of weathered platemail

a blood soaked tabard

 --8 custom non upgrade ((tier1))

the Sultan's sandals

a pair of guantlets of haste

a ram-horned, bronze helm

a blue leather bikini

a frog-skin cargopants

a pair of stomping boots

a spiffy suit of plastic platemail

a pair of gauntlets of power

 --4 custom non-upgrade quest only

a pair of goggles of true sight --see disguise, not dark.

a suit of turtle fur armor

a full suit of dripping cloud armor

a humming pair of dolven bracers

 --2 custom belt(alt-pack)

scabbard(auto re-arm),

battery(earring?),

tabard.(or cloak to prevent weather)

a willpower battery of agility

a leather belt of multiple image

 --8 custom can save ((tier2))

a grand suit of rhodium-scalemail

a pair of brogans of crushing bane

a hooded gray jacket

a pair of boots of speed

a full suit of greenish platemail

a pair of combat boots

a flowing tattered gray robe

unstable gloves of magic net

 --4 custom non upgrade quest only

a helm of anti-knowing

a full suit of clockwork armor

a fat chemical helm of concrete

an absurdly gelatinous jumpsuit

 --2 custom belt(alt-pack)

a willpower battery of agility

a leather belt of multiple image

 --8 custom can save ((tier3))

a walrus skull of huge tusks

a heavy, leather and wool dreadnought

a dusty suit of rhino-hide

a bandolier of blades

a headed polarbear-skin coat

a pair of glowing bracers

a flickering mask of blue fire

a diabolic shark-skin jacket

 --4 custom full suits unlimited by location count, non upgrade

an ancient mantle of gold and lapis

a feathered mantle of burst magic

a sentinel suit of millennium barkskin      

a multi-layered moth-like fullsuit

 --6 custom top gear can save

a dark cyclopic eyeball mask

a tattered red robe

a full suit of nucleonium graviton di-phase zero-point quadrupole kinetic-electro reduction bodyarmor with inflatable arm-wings

a purple shawl of eyeballs

 --8 custom top gear non upgrade

a nightmarish winged shadow-suit

a pair of nightmare gauntlets

a piscine gladiator suit of wrath

a pair of segmented mirror boots

a black sharv of lightning

a leaf dragon armor trenchcoat

a pair of mud golem gauntlets

a pair of tarantula fang boots

    WIP item stuff

 a burned out torch

a large rock knife

a wooden longbow

a wooden fishing pole

 -- if mystic camp

a strong wooden sword

a long wooden staff

a thick obsidian dagger

a deformed obsidian axe

 -- if nomad camp

a gnarly tamahawk

an oak boomerang

an arrowhead-tip long-spear

a huge ancient rock-sword --normal turns to glass alloy?

     --there is discharge of electricity as sword breaks and repairs.

     --mystic and nomad have only 2 blunt swords in client.

a scroll of papyrus --mystic / barbarian

a scroll of parchment --mage / nomad scholar quest

a scroll of paper --monk / wizard

 --monk has forge tier option?

a serrated shuriken

a shiny pair of sai

a pair of bagh nakh

a steely nunchaku

an honorable katana

an enormous scimitar

 --if only forge

an iron pryingbar

an iron longsword

an iron battleaxe

an ornate iron shield

a bronze buckler

a bronze shortsword

a double-edge dagger

an ornate gothic katar

a pair of toothy sickles

 --if upgrade

a length of chain

a hooked tip knife

a military knife

a mighty shortsword

a bastard longsword

an ornate rapier

a humongous falchion

a spiked morning star

a long chain meteor hammer

a grand ball meteor hammer

an old-fashioned warhammer

an old-fashioned guisarme-voulge

a mean flanged mace

a long sturdy infantry pike

a spike-edged buckler

a spiked knuckle duster

 --if upgrade wood

a bladed feather-tip staff

a full-atomatic cross-bow

a wooden pole shovel

a long wooden pickaxe

a wood-handle rifle

a wood-handle shotgun

an old-fashioned musket

a magnificent wooden bow

an armor-plated oak longbow

 --if upgrade quest?

a red-steel cestus

a red-steel shield

a blue-steel shield

a blue-steel trident

an emrald-steel axe

a blackened shortsword

a beige-steel mace

a silvery pocket knife

a huge silvery longsword

 --if crystal forge

a long crystal-claw staff

a crytal-platnum shuriken

a transforming ball

a crystal-platinum revolver

a crystal-platinum device

a MASSIVE platinum boomerang

a liquid-platinum dagger

a dwarvenkind big-axe

an elven crescent-knife

 an irregularly cut two-by-four

a grand spiritual hammer

an energy assault rifle

an energy pistol

a mechanical arm-watergun gauntlet

a mechanical arm-chainsaw gauntlet

     -- Believe it or not, this chainsaw is designed for digging. Look out.

a huge and broken off chunk of concrete

a mountainous massive chunk of rock

a half-hilted gray-steel panzerstecher

a razor-sharp pair of xiphos and kopis

an enormous bionic-meat greatsword

an invincible shadow-iron backsword

 a walkmore cimeter sword

a tactical mithril mirror shield

a big whirling eagle shield

a chicken paralyzed in fear

a large rusty shield

a mighty steel shield

an organic atomic pistol

 --custom low end

a large ebony club

a black iron baton

a well-pollished axe

a well-pollished shotgun

a glistening sabre

a glistening knife

a serreated mountain sword

a coloidial-silver dagger

a hydraluminum vacume-cleaner

a quivering vine-whip of speed

an angelic flanged mace

a big shield with a birdwing

a long egregious sceptre claw

a leather daedric whip

a geometric cereamic shield

a geometric cereamic cestus

a crimson dagger --cereamic

a cobalt cutlass --cereamic

a golden-resin broadsword

a hefty indigo club

a weapons grade umbrella

a flail made of skulls

a long, mystical staff

a shiny white oak staff

an emerald stilletto

a grizzly red whip

a brass hatchet-sword

a sleek shadow-sabre

a bishop-flail of red iron

a big vibrating claymore

 --custom low end no save or upgrade

a sky-splitter broadsword

a Sword of Poop

a fairy shuriken

a plastic umbrella

a plague-steel dirk

 --custom save and upgrade

a gnarald wormwood staff

a pair of claws of wickedness

an iron mace of spitfire

a barnacle encrusted harpoon

a nasty rust covered pike

a flaming spike morning star

an alien ray gun

a bulbous red scepter

a bulbous emerald mace

an undead oak wand

a horrific shadow-axe

a hammer of monstrosity

a salamander-glass falchion

a thorny wormwood cestus

a hefty shield of shadow

an obsidian magma axe

a wild unstable vine-sword

a narly oak longbow

a strange pinkish axe

a brutal shortsword

an ivory birdfish nunchaku

a thick dinosaur bone shield

a fungusy verdant cudgel

a blackened chain-sword

a drooling acid claw

a funky purple claw

a ghosty pale dagger

a dusty sledgehammer

a giant rubber mallot

a massive anchor and chain

a poison dagger of hydraluminum

 --custom no save or upgrade

Flint's axe, Skyler

a massive whale bone

a translucent tamahawk

a staff of many paths

a shifting blob of z-thrity

a sword of green snakes

a controlled explosion device

a wicked sprectral kris

an ancient sprectral sword

a transdemensional pencil

a finely made mithril sabre

a fantastic golden scimitar

 a heartfind hammer

a hulky coagulated corrupted carnage claw

a small dull dagger

a very angry battle axe

a blazing flame longsword

a big round mossy shield

 --more custom (can't save or upgrade, not as good).

a Wyrmslayer's blade of Kir-Threen

a Mageslayer's glaive of the Whale

a Narpas Sword arm-cannon

a megaton hammer of Hephaestus

a magnificent, vorpal sword

a thick gray sword of undead bone

a holy diseased frozen bastard sword

a poison holy magma crossbow

 --more custom (can save and upgrade)

a thick giant hairy longsword

an ugly apocalyptic greatsword

a windy astral-flaming trident

a nightmare bow of doom -- folds shadow to transform sword"

a fearsome arc wielding halberd

an unholy bone gladius of knocking

 --custom best (can't upgrade, good as best)

Godzilla, claymore of maelstrom

a hicupping hatchet, Dreamvenom

Cursebreaker, hammer of eaons

Lazeraus, blade of apocalypse

 ----client stored (no save) quest items if need be or mainquest drop?

a flaming topaz broadsword

a gleaming, frozen claymore

a big fookin poison axe

a misty and chaotic sythe

a bow of fey magic

a godma juggernaut war-hammer

a five-headed dragon axe-sword

a smokey grand meteor hammer

[7sp1r1t]

Just had this dream that combined Minnesota and Virginia to where when I woke up I was surprised and confused

It was like a college frat party but also a concert and like this barber shop that was like a show with a ton of people in line and shit and sitting off on a bench to the side waiting

But the weird part was it was all in Minnesota but it felt too much like Virginia so that when I went to check I was surprised

I was completely broke like not a dollar to my name but I was walking around this store and there was just like piles of stuff and baskets everywhere as an invitation to get what I wanted but I ended up meeting with someone from school and there was just a small connection like flirting or whatever and we walked for a little bit but then I went to this frat party concert thing but it was more like a mansion/club

and it made me feel like I was somewhere not in Minnesota or Virginia but I went outside and there was a ton of snow and a guy came outside of the building and just like face planted in the snow which was funny cause he got up right after and just like laughed about it but after that I went to the this barber shop and there were only two girls who had my attention but a ton of people and one of the girls was just completely random I have no idea and she was sitting in my lap for a majority of time but I told her to get off cause it was hot and then the other girl who I was at the store with came and sat down next to me which was what I wanted

we got up and left and went down this street and it was warm where we were and we were about to go for a hike in the marsh but I kinda shunned a kid who was at the store in the beginning because he was a little bit weird but I picked up a Nintendo switch from off the ground and put it in my backpack before we crossed a bridge a bridge to go hiking and like this is the weird part

There was like 4 of us but the first one to go over this little bridge more like a tiny dock felt like a friend who shot himself behind a bar in Colorado but I didn’t talk to or see him at all until the end of the dream

It was dark and all I saw was a bunch of snakes peaking there head up out of the water after he went under so we turned around and like sometimes you panic in dreams but I felt nothing other than looking down at my legs and seeing like leeches and some extra shit climbing up my pants and all on the ground like almost unable to escape and I then I woke up

I woke up to check the Instagram of the girl and it’s funny cause I saw Minnesota and when I was expecting Virginia which means my mind was out of place and it’s weird because we didn’t necessarily get along all that well in school but I was experiencing some extra shit at home and wasn’t a part of the school district anyways—— and she has a boyfriend that’s she’s had since high school so yeah

[tumblunni]

Ah, here’s the pillowsnake! It’s called Rashab, I totally forgot!

beware, like 40 paragraphs of long rambling about the game below:

I never realized how the naming schemes actually work. All the different variants of a particular genus share a name ending- Nushab is the weird 8 shaped long neck snake, Rashab is the super rectangular chubby one, and Mukshab is the sticklike one that just looks like a real snake but with the trademark weird head that this monster has. And then the sub-breeds of each sub-breed have a totally different naming scheme! Only the main Rashab is Rashab, the other three elementals are all something-moaj instead. And Nushabs are something-oots, and Mukshabs are something-mines. Its an interesting way to do it, though it’s pretty hard to actually figure any of it out ingame when all the pure sub-breed forms only appear as enemies and you’re gonna be fusing your own variations for your party. I think pretty much anything fuses well with the snakes, they look awesome with any texture! And when they fuse with bugs they can actually gain lil wings and look like Dunsparce!

OH OH OH and ALSO I love how monsters in this game actually grow up! Like, they dont evolve, they just grow up like actual animals! They have very very subtle model changes in size for the first 20 or 30 levels, to symbolise reaching maturity. Its hard to even notice it happening unless you compare save files! And often you’ll be fusing monsters rather than keeping them in your party for a long time anyway. So I’m glad that the Shabs have some of the more noticeable changes! Their baby selves start off looking a lot more similar, and they only gain their giant variation in body shapes when they’ve matured. (Though you can still tell what one its gonna become)

OH AND ALSO ALSO The shabs look even cuter in the concept art, yo!!! Ingame it maybe loses a bit of the appeal cos of the low resolution and how everything is textures rather than model detail. (A necessity considering how the fusion system works, yknow?) On the concept art their faces look less like an eyeless snake with dot patterns, and more like a snake with eight buglike eyes. ITS REALLY CUTE!! Thats why I said they look like leeches! Cos they have the super light coloured undersides and the three-pronged jaw and the bug eyes! They’re scaly big leeches! they’re leechly small snakes! THEYRE THE BEST OF MY TWO FAVOURITE LONG ANIMALS!!!!

OH AND its good worldbuilding but I’M SAD The shabs The shabs get the honor of being in the worldbuilding in A SAD WAY The basic MP restoration item is called a Shab Liquer :( Yeah, its nice to know that they thought about how these magical monsters might be a part of everyday life even outside of a battle setting. But its sad to think about how they’re killed and used in medicine! And you have to use hundreds of this medicine, there’s no way to survive without MP restores! I DONT WANNA MAKE MY SNAKE FRIEND A CANNIBAL Tho I do appreciate how the name Shab Liquer just implies a lot of worldbuilding on its own. Like, you don’t just know that they make a medicine from the snakes, its implied its quite literally a snake oil. Like, does that mean snake oil is an idiom for a totally reliable and true thing in this universe? And Liquer is just a rather archaic and fancy way to phrase it, it fits very well with the setting! But seriously WHY DO I HAVE TO FEED MY SNAKE BABY DEAD SNAKE BABIES TO KEEP THEM ALIVE

OH OH OH AND that reminds me of another Fucked Up aspect of the worldbuilding! Your most reliable way of gaining money in this game is selling the monsters you catch. Which is dumb and impractical anyway cos I mean YOU WANNA FUSE THEM ALL!! And you get more money from selling your ones that you actually already fused and levelled up, like NO WAY am I doing that! I love them!! Even if I’m not using them, I’m just gonna keep them at home with Mahbu! NO MAKE ME SELL MY SNEKS But the REALLY FUCKED UP PART is that its explicitely said that by selling them you are killing the monsters.

...Okay so.. this kinda needs some explanation of more of the worldbuilding first...

The way you catch monsters in this game is by using magical cocoons, hence the name of the story. Monsters are meant to be like spiritual creatures, they’re called Minions cos they’re literally the minions of this setting’s deity, Elrihm. The religion of this culture states that humanity (or ‘The Beasts Of Knowledge’) committed a great sin in the past. We were god’s attempt to grant free will and intelligence to animals, but we used it to do evil and he decided the whole species was beyond saving because of the actions of a few. So he created these monsters/demons/avenging angels in snake form, and their mission in life is to destroy all of humanity so that the world can be reset. Which is why minions attack humans on sight, yet coexist perfectly peacefully with animals and plants in the forest. So like... humanity obviously Did Not Want to all die for the sins of one or two dumb kings, yknow? We stubbornly persist! We hold out our vanguard and keep our little towns amidst the Doom Forests, living life as normal with just the Doom Forests being a thing in the background, yeah. Defending against occasional attacks of minions banding together into swarms and chewing on the walls a little, but yeah, no biggie. And sometimes one of them manages to get in and eat some of our garbage or something. People live normally in these fortified wall villages, and the religion still worships Elrihm, and revolves around begging his forgiveness and trying to prove that humanity deserves to live. And never advancing too far with industrialism. lest we be punished again! And I mean, maybe that actually IS how everything happened, or maybe its just a story and Minions have always existed as a natural part of the ecosystem and they’re not evil things destined to destroy us or whatever. Its ambiguous! Even when you get to see Elrihm’s avatar at the end of the game, it’s just a big magical tree that the monsters come from, you never get any idea if it’s sentient and you’re not able to ask it if our legends have the right idea about it’s role as god. (Or if its gender is actually male, or if it even has one XD)

Anyway, that’s the legend of where the monsters come from, and it kinda explains why people might be a bit callous towards them, if they can be tamed as cute friends but also the wild ones are such a big threat to civilization. And if mythology says their threat to civilization is the natural order of existance, that they exist to kill us under orders of a god who abandoned us centuries ago... But yeah! Anyway! There’s a bloodline of magical people called the Nagi who have the power to purify the anger out of minions and make them friends. And the game has a cool way of keeping the usual mons show aspect of ‘catch a monster inside a certain item that has a limited amount of uses’, while making it fit with this ancient times mythological setting! Instead of the pokeball equivelant being some sort of manmade machine, it’s... cocoons! Since Minions are spiritual creatures, they can be like.. de-manifested and have their souls stored, to be re-summoned later. And for whatever reason, the way the magic works is that their souls have to be contained in cocoons. It’s... actually never fully explained? Where do the cocoons come from? Is it like you take any cocoon from a regular bug, and you seal the monster soul inside? But how would you even get an EMPTY cocoon? Is there a special bug in this universe that makes cocoons not for metamorphosis? or do you like.. fuse the soul with the bug inside the cocoon, and thats why all the monsters in this game are inspired by bugs? But they have the same bug-inspired designs even when you find them in the wild before catching them. So is it like the Nagi magic can create magical cocoons and you use those? or is it like you dont actually carry the empty cocoons, you carry something or other that turns into cocoons when a monster is sealed inside it? the catching animation is very vague, the protagonist is only holding his magic flute and a nebulous white glow in his hand. Then the cocoon forms around the monster and its sucked into his hand... ANYWAY I’M GOING OFFTOPIC SORRY! The point is that Nagi people can purify minions into friends, fuse minions into new powerful forms and (probably?) create the magic cocoons that can catch them in the first place. But it doesn’t mean that Nagi people are actually equipped to fight and catch the monsters themselves! the usual setup is a married couple where the Nagi can stay at home and focus entirely on their magic, and the regular human partner learns warrior arts and catches the monsters for them. Also catching monsters requires magic music, so you need to be a damn good bard too! I liked that they even showed that different Cocoon Masters (official name for peeps like the protag) can use whatever instruments fit best with their soul. The protagonist has an ocarina and [important endgame character] has a fancy lute guitar thing? I wish the game had told me what those are called... I think a name for an ancient japanese string instrument is a shamisen but i have NO IDEA if the one shown ingame is actually that or there are more different ones..? I mean its only shown in cutscnes so there’s no good ref image for it- I’M GOING OFFTOPIC AGAIN Anywaaaaaayyyy, its also in the worldbuilding that (for some reason) Nagi men are unable to use magic, and thats why the mages are always the wives and the warriors are always the husbands. Its interesting how this mythology is kinda presented as an opposite of adam and eve, too! Men who try and use magic are sinful and will be punished for stepping out of their assigned roles by becoming demons. Its the sad story of the protagonist’s parents, alas! His mother was the previous Nagi priestess of the village, but her husband committed the ultimate sin and then all we know is that his corrupted self fled into the forest and was never seen again. And everyone marks you as a failure for what your father did, so becoming the new cocoon master is quite hard at first. And its SUPER DUPER SAD cos your dad did it because performing minion purification is painful for the Nagi, and he couldn’t bear to see his wife hurting herself for his sake. So even though he knew the risks, one day he just tried to purify his minions himself so she could get some rest. And.. like.. ultitmately it did work. Cos she could never bear to remarry, and thus the village didnt have another cocoon master until their son grew old enough to marry. At least he succeeded in letting his wife never have to do magic again, even if it was because she stopped doing it out of grief for him.. :(

ANYWAY Now i’ve explained that worldbuilding and why it is cool and awesome and sad, I can explain the worldbuilding of a random gameplay element and why it is also cool and sad! So yeah, like I said before LONG TANGEANTS... The only really reliable way to make money in the game is to sell your monsters. And it makes me feel SO BAD! Cos the game very much outright tells you that selling them is killing them. And I guess it makes sense cos I mean, only Nagi wife-husband pairs can actually summon the monsters, there’d be no point trying to sell living ones to anyone else. So, since minions are sealed inside cocoons, in order to sell them you spin their cocoons into silk thread. This village’s primary export is weaving, so you can sell these silk spools to the big ol building of spinning wheel people and make money to keep going on your journey. Apparantly silk infused with monster souls is higher quality and can grant various effects and stuff, hence its value. Its a shame they didnt make a crafting system with this! Instead its just a standard ‘more powerful weapons and armours appear at the shop as the plot advances, for no real reason’. I mean, wouldnt it have been cool if you could add your monsters’s particular resistances to your main character’s armour? i would feel less sad about betraying them so utterly if they could protect me from beyond the grave. BECAUSE SERIOUSLY THIS IS SO FUCKED UP Seriously! These monsters faithfully served you! You purified them of their anger against humans, and instead of taking that opportunity to love them and show them the good sides of humanity, you just kill them! You kill them after they gained free will! You specifically HAVE to give them free will in order to kill them! Poor babies... I mean seriously I know that animals have to die to provide humans with food and materials and stuff, this is just how society works. But there’s something so much more viscerally terrifying about imagining taking an animal and literally weaving its SOUL into thread, then wearing it! There’s so many metaphysical questions that need to be answered before you can even figure out how much pain they would experience! And like.. god.. even the way they do the gameplay is so.. even more sad. Like, you can’t just hand the monster to someone else and its implied that they kill them. You have to hit an actual button to turn it into a sellable item. You have to cull it yourself. The death blow is on your hands, even if someone else weaves its dead soul into a nice scarf... So yeah, I pretty much always deliberately play ‘hard mode’ on this game, and refuse to make any damn money. Well, I mean, you can still find items in forests and sell them, but its infinately harder that way. You really are supposed to be selling your monsters to progress. I SAY NO! Big ol giant interface option sitting there on the menu unused forever. I love my sneks. You will not take them!!!

Oh but MAN I do really like the moral ambiguity of this worldbuilding, aaaaa!! The whole setting is so.. like.. realistic. There’s the dark realities of life in an ancient times setting. They take care to establish how the society functions and what their main trading export is, and what role monsters play in a non-battley setting! And seriously even the lil Shab Liquer thing! The casual implication that other villages might have different industries with their captured monsters, and someone somewhere out there found a way to make this medicine out of snakes. it manages to imply a wider world even as you’re confined to this one single village and the long forest that divides it away from every other human settlement. Plus.. like.. I really like the ambiguity it gives to HUMANITY. That seems like the MOST realistic of anything! Seriously, the game starts off establishing that in mythology humans are said to be evil, that the creation myth says we’re living in a post-fall society as the corrupted form of what true humanity should actually be, that god has abandoned us and we follow religion because we have to prove ourselves good enough to regain our former status. Like.. seriously, its refreshing compared to how boring and samey a lot of fictional religions are! They’re often just copies of existing religions, or of the general most popular religion template of There Was One Or Two Creator Gods And They Made Humans And Humans Are Destined Important And Animals Were Made To Serve Us. Instead in this game humanity’s mistreatment of animals and the environment is our absolute sin, and the definition of holiness is to be more similar to animals. And big scary demon monsters are GOD’S HOLY CREATIONS, SENT TO PUNISH US! No stereotypes here! No corner-cutting bullshit stolen from real life religions! And then like.. its nice how ambiguous it makes humanity nowadays, even beyond the ambiguity of the mythology and history. Humanity is trying to redeem itself, humanity is following this religion worshipping the god that cast them down for being corrupted. But still, it shows that some people believe in this doctrine, and some people believe that the things that are ‘corrupt’ about us are actually good. Cos it shows how some people believe that like.. ALL progress is sinful, any sort of machine is sinful, any attempt to improve society or change on what’s traditional. And it shows how some people who believe this are the bad guys, and some people believe this in a way that actually makes sense. And similarly, some people who follow the traditional ways are good- like Mahbu and her grandma. But then there’s the village chief who just follows religion blindly and doesnt seem to actually understand what’s morally correct at all, he’s just like ‘if I do what I’m told, I’ll be freed!’ instead of getting the goddamn lesson. And he tries to pretend to be a reasonable authority figure at first but then he gets more and more corrupt as the game goes on. He’s the representation of how forcing our two heroes into an arranged marriage is a morally ambiguous thing, even though they actually were in love and would have got hitched anyway. They’re still way too young to get this destiny of being the only ones who can save the village, AND keep the economy alive by spinning poor lil monsters into silk! And then he keeps giving you more and more orders, and they go from the actual duties of a cocoon master into just fullfilling the chief’s own greed and paranoia. And its interesting that him and the vizier lady who represents ‘lets abandon the rules and do everything for the benefit of humanity’ actually end up teaming up in the end and becoming even more goddamn corrupt together. Excessive progress and excessive stagnancy are both evil, and honestly they both have very similar selfish motives! Tho I do think the only problem is that they put a bit too much emphasis on this whole ‘these two looked like reasonable authority figures but were really evil’ thing, and don’t have enough good people in the town representing the other side. So its harder to care about saving this place when its literally just your wife and your mom who represent the goodness of the human race. And like.. technically I dont want the asshole lil kid to die, cos even though he’s a jerk he’s too young to be 100% responsible for his own actions. Even if I dont like him as a person, I’d still rather wanna take him away from this trash town and hope he can get raised by better people...

But seriously goddamn THOSE FUCKIN ASSHOLE CHIEFTAIN AND VIZIER PEOPLE!! Even after me and mahbu just saved the city from a deadly disease, after like 12 hours of gameplay and three forests worth of fighting for my life against monsters, where I’m expected to have sacrificed like 30 monsters to feed their stupid fuckin silk industry, even after ALL THAT they show no gratitude! The opposite of gratitude! The chief is still paranoid of the Nagi people for being foreigners, even though they dedicate their whole damn life to leaving their families and going on journeys to settle down in different cities and give their power to protect un-magic humans. And they’ve been doing this for all of history despite persecution, and like.. they lost their home and now the only ones who exist are the nomads and various half-nagi children who’ve never seen anyone of their own race before and are losing all the culture. Mahbu is an orphan who was just found by her ‘grandma’ and raised here, the only other Nagi in the village are the protagonist’s mum and technically the protagonist is half Nagi. (Tho like I said, the worldbuilding is that men cant use the magic, so protagonist is classified as a regular human and would just pass it on if he had a daughter.) So seriously Mahbu is a GODDAMN ORPHAN who was raised here all alone and hated by the village even as a kid! And the protagonist was her only childhood friend cos he could understand the feeling of being hated for having this blood, so no wonder they ended up falling in love. And then their love is at risk cos they were forced into this political marriage when they’re really young, and now have to risk dying everyday to protect this town that still hates them. And they work so hard to prove they don’t deserve to be hated, they don’t even think ‘the town is assholes’, they think ‘this is my home and i love it and it must be my fault everyone hates me so i have to work harder’. And the game doesn’t give you any option to do otherwise!

And it progresses even worse than just not getting gratitude! After you save the village from the disease, the evil chief and vizier wreck the day that you just saved, by pulling their goddamn bullshit evil plan! The chief decides to cut down the god-tree because of his paranoia, the vizier decides to cut down the god-tree because of her greed. And like... GAHHHH but its SO GOOD cos its all moral ambiguity still! The evil duo are definately evil, but they get to be evil for different reasons. They represent the two darkest sides of humanity, and no matter how much you represent the light of the world you cannot change them just by passively obeying them and hoping they’ll react like goddamn rational people! But you can understand why the masses might be tricked into following them, yknow? Humanity has been living in this tough life for as long as human memory, and mythology says that we’re being punished for the sins of our ancestors and we’re just BORN EVIL even though we weren’t the ones who did that shit. So you have good reasons to be angry against god, even if the evil duo DONT have good reasons, and they’re not doing something that will actually help.

Anyway so yeah thusly they trick mahbu and the protagonist into helping them trap the god-tree so they can cut it down. Again its a lil annoying that the game doesn’t give you a choice, though! And they dont even bother writing it a bit more ambiguous so the player could be fooled too, its pretty damn obvious you’re being tricked yet the only way to progress the game is to keep going. So you accidentally end up casting the evil magic on the god-tree and its like HOLY SHIT NO! And as you run back to the town you cant get back in time to stop anything, and you just get to see cutscenes of what’s happening while you’re gone. The evil duo cross the line EVEN FURTHER by MURDERING MAHBU’S GRANDMA! Mahbu’s grandma is the BEST CHARACTER, you fucking fuckface! She was such a nice helpful mentor and one of the only people who genuinely treated you two like human beings even though she wasn’t related to you. And she tries to stop the evil duo from doing their evil plan, she tries to reason with them, and she even gets desperate enough to try and reason with them within their own logic. Even if they’re sacriligious and selfish enough to not care that they’re trying to kill god for personal gain, they should at least understand that their plan WON’T FUCKIN WORK, and they’re just gonna bring god’s wrath and ruin humanity’s only chance at redemption! You’re gonna lose all your goddamn money and power if you get bitchslapped by the heavens, dumbass! AND you;ll kill the rest of us too, who never did anything to deserve it! And they ignore all her attempts to be reasonable, and ritually sacrifice her to try and save their own asses once their stupid attempt to kill god backfires. FUCK YOU TWO, SERIOUSLY!

And then something I really like is the revelation of grandma’s backstory! Cos seriously, who exactly was this mysterious woman who found this orphan and rescued her from the forest? She wasn’t a citizen of this town, she just stayed here to raise Mahbu once the town residents acted like assholes and tried to kick the poor kid back out. It turns out that grandma is actually the mortal incarnation of one of the minor deities! She’s basically this world’s psychopomp. The evil duo were actually RIGHT when they said she was a demon in disguise, but NOT when they thought that she was the evil one and they were good. The psychopomp figure of this mythology is hated, but it seems to be that she gained that reputation because she disobeys Elrihm and tries to help humans. She saved this Nagi girl from dying like the rest of her people, and even bound herself in human form in order to try and redeem this town of jackasses. And even though she was part of their village for so long and did nothing but try and protect them, they still ultimately betrayed her... And it was a very vague plot element that was only casually mentioned here cos its Endgame Time and we have to move very fast now. But it was implied that the chief and vizier are the reincarnations of the original evil king and evil sorcerer who did the same sinful nonsense all those centuries ago to get humanity kicked out of god’s domain in the first place. I dunno if its just meant to be that they’re naturally stuck in a cycle of reincarnation as punishment for their sins? But I always liked to interpret it that psychopomp grandma chose to never take their souls, because no matter what they do to her she still believes that one day they might be able to be redeemed in their next life. I feel like maybe she’s gambling with god, she’s keeping humanity alive by holding this one last wager to prove that they’re worth saving...

And then spoily endgame stuff happens and ultimately the protagonist fullfills some ancient prophecy and calms god and etc and MAKES UP FOR THE BULLSHIT ADULTS RUINING ALL THE SHIT, SERIOUSLY And seriously i haaaate how abrupt and rushed the ending is, and how that in this abrupt rushed ending they had time to show that the trash town comes back to life but not show that Mahbu does! You’re told beforehand that she will, but like.. with how many times you get lied to in this game, it would have been nice to get some damn confirmation in the end. Plus seriously, I cant even be happy seeing the town come back! Thats not a very climactic ending! Seeing protagonist smooch his poor long-suffering girlfriend would be way better! Seriously SERIOUSLY everyone else fuckin died cos of their own fuckin fault cos they MURDERED A GRANDMA my nice sweet ETERNAL GRANDMA, the ANCIENT DEITY OF ALL GRANDMAS, the fuckin DEATH GOD SATAN FIGURE WHO SACRIFICED HERSELF TO BECOME A GRANDMA AND PROTECT US AND THEN THEY KILLED HER, AAAAA they fuckin deserved to all die and be frozen in stone unable to even find peace But Mahbu’s life was instead in danger because she used too much magic purifying monsters IN ORDER TO SAVE THE DAMN TRASH TOWN And after all that they had the goddamn gall to be ungrateful and just cause a second disaster and ask us to fix it again! THAT is why mahbu was gonna die! Because she was a good person who listened to your bullshit and tried to save you, and loved me, and just SERIOUSLY SO MANY EMOTIONS you repayed her by KILLING HER GRANDMA

And i mean seriously her form of death was quite literally death from being TOO HOLY AND MORAL. She wasn’t strictly ‘dying’, it was more like a death of personality, I guess? Becoming something holy and leaving this world, when she didnt want to leave you. Everyone called the painful Nagi markings ‘cursed’ and shamed her for it and made her cover them up so their poor goddamn eyes wouldnt be offended by having to look at them. And poor mahbu was worried her goddamn love of her life would be disgusted with her if he saw! So it was like.. simultaneously cathartic and sad to learn that tradition was wrong in this respect. That it was still a BAD THING, but it was holy markings instead of a curse. Nagi priests who succum to the ‘curse’ are just shedding their humanity as a reward for their service, because from Elrihm’s perspective this is a good thing. So Mahbu becomes a tiny fairy angel type Minion, and then its just sad and intense because soon she’ll lose the ability to speak and forget about you and grandma :( So you have to seal her inside a cocoon in order to halt the spread of the holy markings, and can only let her out to talk to her for very short amounts of time in case it starts up again. And then you have to face the gauntlet of the penultimate dungeon alone without the ability to fuse monsters, until you get through it and find the original Nagi hometown whose demise was greatly exaggerated. And then nobody there has any time for character development cos its endgame time, but seriously it was thematically really damn cathartic to walk through that door and see the place! And meet this actual good guy chieftain who actually finally answers some goddamn questions and helps you! Even if its super sad to have to do fusion with these new stranger shopkeeper twins, instead of the wife you’ve grown to love. And also SERIOUSLY just imagine how fuckin atmospheric that whole penultimate dungeon would have been if the player character got to have a voice! It was all atmospheric to me cos I got really into it and imagined it, but I wish it coulda been canon, yknow? I’m just imagining the poor protagonist dude fighting through this horrifying gauntlet all alone with his final team of monsters, struggling to keep up without any of the magical reinforcement they usually get, unable to restock the last few items he has left in his bag. Fuckin DESPERATE HORROR, fuckin having to sleep overnight in the forest for the first time, fuckin terrified. Fuckin.. clinging to the soul of his wife sealed in a cocoon, keeping it safe against all costs, fuckin wakes up in the middle of the night and just how terrified he’d be that he can’t find her, until he remembers what happens T_T And then like.. imagine him summoning her and only getting a few minutes to hold her tiny fragile fairy self in the palm of his hands, and strain to hear her quiet voice as it gets fainter and fainter, and she struggles to remember herself. Thats somehow EVEN SADDER than if you could actually use monster-Mahbu in your party to fight alongside you! (tho that would have been AWESOME) I felt so bad that after all the horror these two had to go through, we never get to see the happy ending they earned, and instead the game wastes time showing the trash town coming back and just... GAHHH

oh and also that is THE ONLY THING about the sequel that i agree is bad! I liked the sequel a lot! And.. I mean.. in theory its a very interesting concept to have the protagonist of the last game be this sadman morally ambiguous broken mentor man. But seriously fuckin hell give the man a break! They literally say that he got blessed/cursed with immortality cos he fullfilled the prophecy in the first game, so Mahbu died long ago and he desperately wants to die too. Thats such a fuckin sick thing to do to your protagonist! And I mean, he doesnt even look like the same person anymore, and so much about the gameplay and the setting and etc are wildly different so it doesnt seem like the same world in th future, why even bother trying to claim its the same world in the future... I mean even.. monsters come from eggs instead of cocoons now, and you cant catch them or merge them, only buy them in stores! Shoulda just made it a separate game and let it stand on its own merits, it would have actually succeeded. I love all the characters in JC2, there’s no problem of ‘man i dont wanna save these guys’, the only character I dont like is fuckin... SADMAN FORMER PROTAGONIST WHO WANTS TO DIE At least in the ending after spoily stuff he gets to pass away. But lets just say the spoily stuff spits on the poor man’s legacy even more, sheesh...

ANYWAY I FEEL A LOT OF EMOTIONS FOR PROTAGONIST AND MAHBU And this game has great worldbuilding and i love it even if the ending is rushed and you’re forced to fall for stupid villain assholes’s stupid tricks ok end of bunni’s rambling

[mintypothos]

a lil bit of plant burr. It was going to be a really fluffy thing, but I’m feeling very down and weird right now, so instead content warning for depression

The slump was back. Aaron suspected it was from the huge mess of nerves arising from the big reveal. Stresses like that always made him more susceptible, not to mention the sheer vulnerability of exposing his own powers- even with Alexander's own secret.

Or maybe it wasn't that. Maybe it was the heady elation, warred with panicked stress, the need to not screw up that arose from meeting Alexander's close friends. Datemates, actually, as it turned out. Aaron had met them before of course, but it wasn't like this. It wasn't the immediate acceptance into a social group he shouldn't be allowed into.

Maybe, it didn't really matter what caused it. Aaron relaxed limply in his bed. The plants surrounding him, usually covering the room with vibrant greens and eye popping blooms seemed dim, limper. They tried to reach out for him, leeching back the care and patience and love that he'd put into them, but it felt fake. He knew that was just his strange Powered empathy. It didn't mean anything, coming from himself- not when he knew damn well the intended recipient was a plant.

God, Aaron thought, I'm in deep this time. He stared blankly at the laptop on his bed, his head level with the keyboard, with his miserable, laid out form. The chat client was open. Alexander was online, they all were. He wanted to type. Something deep and old and bad was curling around his heart, he couldn't imagine ever feeling right again even though he was happy mere hours ago, and he wanted to tell them.

Aaron's fingers reached out to the keyboard. He wanted to say something. Hercules would respond with something nice and comforting, for sure. Alexander would pay attention to Aaron and encourage him to talk about his day, to take his mind off it. Laurens and Lafayette would acknowledge him too, probably.

A message appeared. Laurens, talking about the weird snake he found in the forest, running around for painting inspiration. It was a nice post, Laurens being as excited as he was, all exclamation points and caps-lock screaming.

'FUCKIN CUTE SHITTY SNAKE OMG ITS GOT THE WEIRDEST FACE!!!'

It was nice, but it didn't penetrate the slump. Aaron took a breath, tried to summon some genuine emotion. His faced stayed blank, body and mind heavy as lead.

Already, a response from Alexander, demanding Laurens grab a picture. Hercules, commenting with '^^^' in agreement. A split second of silence before Lafayette added a comment in tiny, barely readable font.

What about the turtles?

Aaron wondered what it meant. Some inside joke, clearly, as the chat lit up with a flurry of activity. Fervent denials, egging on, the text equivalents of cackling laughter. Aaron still only felt cold and tired.

His hands still hovered over the keyboard. Aaron took another look at the chat. It was full of love and life and vibrancy. Aaron's eyes slid off the screen, across the room to his Zebra plant and Boston fern. The Zebra looked in desperate need of water, and the Boston fern had browned tips- usually a result of low humidity. Aaron knew neither were the case.

The almost literal manifestations of his soul were limp and dying. Aaron could not interrupt this chat. It existed in a whole other world, right now.

Aaron closed the laptop, even though he knew he was far off from being able to sleep. Just yesterday, he'd been able to share comments with them, even laughed about something. It couldn't be real. Aaron had probably said something terrible, and they were all uncomfortable around him now. He'd tainted them, which was why the conversation that he wasn't participating in was so happy. Even if Aaron was wrong, and it was just the slump talking, he could hardly drag down their mood.

He just needed to talk less.

[tandamalaika]

Our adventures began at 7:30am when a large van pulled up outside our villa, and we loaded in like socks and underware stuffed into a tiny drawer. We had signed up for a cycling tour. Our $25 would take us off the beaten path on a wonderful, intimate journey through Bali countryside, and included breakfast, lunch, lessons on coffee production, rice paddies, the Hindu beliefs and untouched villages.

Our first stop was the Luwak Coffee farm. Though I’m not a coffee drinker, I had heard of some crazy little meerkat kind of creatures that were fed coffee beans and pooped out $100 cups of coffee! Well folks, I’m here to tell you that it’s true…these little civet cats are a nocturnal tree cat in Indonesia and feast on the coffee berry. They can’t digest the hard stone inside and poop out the little ‘gold nuggets’ which are gathered, washed and roasted. Supposedly the process “lowers the bitterness…imparting a musky smoothness.”

Jude decided that she was going to start eating the coffee berries and selling her poop to make make some extra cash on the side. If anyone is interested in an order, please contact us. We can enlist all the creatures if bulk orders are needed.

A couple trays of tea, hot coco and coffee samples were placed on each table, and visitors from all over sampled to their hearts content.

Cups of steaming or iced coffee was served to those who ordered for 100,000 IDR, which is $7.50. A pretty high price for a drink in this part of the world. In New York these same sized cups of coffee are sold for $100 a cup.

Our friend, Daniel, ordered coffee that was brought to the table looking like it was straight from a science lab. We watched in great anticipation as the water heated in the lower glass ball, boiled and worked its way up into the coffee chamber above and then filtered back down into the ball as a dark brewed concoction. Daniel doctored with a little milk and sugar and loved it.

With new coffee knowledge in our brains, we continued on to Kintamani Village, where we were served banana pancakes. The best part was the view of Mt Batung, which is a semi active volcano.

The volcano spread out across the valley to the edges of Lake Batur.

After enjoying the views we continued on to our drop off point, where we were met by Adi, our cycling guide, who constantly joked and immediately memorized all our names.

It was there that we were introduced to our waiting chariots, which we mounted and made sure everything functioned well. Especially the breaks! Daniel and Aidan immediately started doing funky tricks and spraying dust clouds as they skidded across the dirt.

We rode through a wide variety of terrain, including dirt back roads,

small farm roads,

and narrow paths.

We loved seeing the way farmers use their land so efficiently, growing as much as they possibly could on the land they own. On this lot, tangerine trees tower above thick healthy cabbages, which are neighbors with hot chili pepper plants and any remaining spaces are filled in with peanut plants. All the crops work well together – providing what the other needs for healthy growth, maximizing the yield.

In some areas there were fields of these large hot peppers, and in other fields, grew small even hotter red peppers.

We cycled through several tiny villages, each with their unique temples.

Periodically we’d come across farmers and their families weighing and loading crops onto trucks heading to the city.

I could just imagine the soups, salads and entrees that would be created with these beautiful juicy cabbages.

We passed little old ladies carrying heavy bags up and down uneven ground in the jungle. I wanted to help them all, and can’t believe their strength.

We also passed sweet little old men who got big smiles on their faces when we greeted them in Indonesian.

Some of the villages were larger than others and seemed to have been there with all the same people for hundreds of years. A spell cast. I want to go back and listen to their stories, learn their ways…

Early afternoon we passed a school bus, carrying excited children who waved and smiled at the weird white people sweating on their bikes.

One of the areas we passed through was where much of the concrete is poured into molds and set for building temples. The structures which are either grey, black or orange in color, are then transported, set in place and further carvings into the concrete are done on location.

Grey structures are made from regular concrete, the black is from concrete containing sand from the black sand beaches and the orange is from concrete containing the orange/red colored sand from various places around Bali. I love the breasts on the little old lady in front of this temple!

Shortly before entering the rice paddies, we came across women in a village drying rice on the road on tarps.

The dry rice was then scooped up into bags and sent to be husked. Adi tried convincing us that at breakfast they all sit around husking one grain at a time!

Four kinds are rice are grown here in Bali: Long grain white rice, short grain white rice, sticky rice and brown rice.

My favorite part of our entire day was cycling through the rice paddies. Small paths through endless green fields, chimes ringing out across the expanse in the breeze, a coolness in the air…it’s so incredibly beautiful!

We passed an old woman who was working knee deep in mud in her field, and I asked Adi what she was doing. He said she was weeding.

I immediately asked if I could help her, and Adi spoke to her and she nodded her head. Jude and I kicked off our shoes and climbed in!

It was only after I was up to my shins in mud and water that I took a closer look at my surroundings and realized that I had entered frog heaven. I looked up at Adi and asked, ‘Adi, what lives in the rice paddies?’ He replied, ‘What lives in the rice paddies Mum?’ I said ‘yes, Adi, what lives in this mud and water?’ ‘Oh!’ He smiled, ‘what lives in the rice paddies is snakes, leeches and fr…….’ I stopped him right there with my finger held high. ‘No Adi, don’t say it! Frogs do not live in the rice paddies!’ I tried to convince him of that. ‘Yes Mum, lots of frogs, lots and lots of frogs and tadpoles!’ Just as he said that a brave little soggy froggy of disgustingness jumped onto my hand! I sent that thing flying faster than Danny can fly a jet. Jude laughed at me and just then, something large moved under her foot and she squealed. Our sweet grandma in the paddy laughed at our sissiness. Emma joined us and weeded too.

We decided to suck it up and keep helping. The process was to pull weeds, then push them deep down into the mud so they would act as fertilizer. In no time at all our backs were killing us but we continued on. Adi said these people will wake early in the morning, get to work and stay till sunset.

Day after day after day… We saw the little huts farmers live in, and outside them each family had their alter to make offerings to the Gods.

We continued on through the rice paddies, constantly in awe of the beauty there, and so grateful to be witnessing it.

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After 5 hours of cycling, we reached the end in Ubud, where we were served lunch in a beautiful Balinese home. Teresa and I love the kitchen.

We had made friends with a family from Australia, and all sat at the table together.

Lots of deliciousness was served, and we were incredibly hungry!

Yum, yum and more yum!

I wandered through the yard, enjoying the peaceful setting and admired the simplicity of it all.

Adi showed me a lovely little spider,

and traditional things around the grounds.

Many alters stood in the garden where offerings are made daily.

In the center, out in the open, is the bed that is slept in the night before some of the more sacred ceremonies.

I could not imagine spending the day in a more beautiful place!

Bali is so beautiful. The people here are wonderful. It’s an amazing place to call home.

Cycling Bali Our adventures began at 7:30am when a large van pulled up outside our villa, and we loaded in like socks and underware stuffed into a tiny drawer.