#will there be worm redemption??!?

[yuribeam]

🖍️ be right about more crayons here

[daisydood]

ive seen so much fanart of john with rock hard abs like my brother in christ did you not do the epilogue the man is just a little skinny. he is not the hulk

[guinevereslancelot]

babe would you still love me if we were superheroes and you were in danger and i went absolutely bonkers and crossed every moral boundary imaginable to protect you at literally any cost?

[slicedmayonnaise]

[paulawithsharks]

since rdr was re released again and ive been replaying it i thought i might draw some of my favorite side characters hehe <3

[bracketsoffear]

The Rat King/Spider (Discworld) "Spider is a rat-king, which is a particular type of animal cruelty that involves tying a bunch of rats together by their tails to form a knotted mass. In the case of Spider, this resulted in the creation of a psychic hive-mind that sought to avenge rat-kind against humanity by creating an unstoppable rat plague that will wipe out humans and leave rats to inherit the Disc."

Taylor Hebert/Skitter (Worm) "Taylor gained the ability to detect and control a wide variety of bugs and bug-like creatures (including insects, spiders, earthworms, and crustaceans) after being stuffed into a locker full of used tampons and pads. She set out to become a superhero, but ended up becoming a supervillain named Skitter instead. Her powers let her inflict anaphylactic shock (bee stings), comas (black widow spiders), tissue necrosis (brown recluse spiders) or death (all of the above), and she later gets access to bullet ants for 24 hours of pain. The applications she’s found for her powers include include attacking with hundreds of venomous creatures, spying on people from two blocks away by looking through the eyes of insects, devising a bullet-resistant costume by commanding spiders to spin one from their silk, improvising a costume with carefully directed insects (which not only conceals her identity but intimidates her opponents with a giant, creepy-looking human-shaped swarm), arming even the nonstinging, nonvenomous insects (imagine being divebombed by bugs whose undersides are coated in capsaicin who are guided to your mouth, nostrils, and eyes), have her bugs vibrate to mimic speech, using bugs pull the pins on grenades, employing spider threads as triplines or to cocoon people, and even killing a Nigh Invulnerable character by cramming insects down their throat so that they suffocate. After what she did to Lung, The Merchants, and Dragon, she is considered, quote, "one of the scariest motherfuckers in town." By the end of the story, this has been upgraded to 'one of the scariest motherfuckers in the multiverse'. After Scion's defeat the entire superhero community goes out of their way to forget her because they're so traumatized by what Khepri did. It's eventually revealed in Ward that, since no-one knows what happened to her, the entire superhero community tries to avoid saying her name because they're scared of drawing her attention."

Image from the Worm Wiki, credit to Neoworm.

[red-dead-bisexual]

this hc literally makes no sense but, consider, what if Rufus is Arthur reincarnated

[sushisocks]

bro it makes me so mad how ppl say sean didn’t need a break after getting recused by the bounty hunters becuz he got a party but whats ur opinions on it???

Obviously, I think way too much about Sean, and read very much into a lot of smaller things when it comes to him. I imagine the people who say Sean didn't need a break after his rescue would think I read too much into his character, and I may perhaps even be hit with a 'its not that deep bro', but that has never really stopped me, lol.

And I will wholeheartedly disagree with those who say he did not need a break. I think believing that, taking this aspect at face value, is disregarding one of the game's strongest points; environmental storytelling. A lot of what we learn about the gang members in this game, is through just hanging out at camp. Not only do you get to be privy to scenes and interactions that tell us about the interpersonal dynamics, but the characters also have daily routines and habits that tell you things about them!

And see, in Horseshoe, sometimes Sean walks funny at camp even without having had anything to drink ahead of time. You could read this as a bug but I personally think there's a more obvious reason behind it. He's quick to sit down or lean against things, during his shifts on watch AND otherwise. Other people here on tumblr have pointed out how he barely eats, or clearly struggles to.

Now consider what Sean actually TELLS us, in his rescue mission. He had his teeth pulled, his feet burned. And I don't know about you, but that sure does sound like things that would leave a mark - not necessarily a visible one, but one that would affect behavior, because pain does.

When I had my wisdom teeth pulled, I was on painkillers for days after. I also had one done at a time, so that I could use the opposite side of my mouth to chew my food while one side healed, and I still struggled to eat.

Do you think Sean was shown the same courtesy?

He has a front tooth missing - in what world is eating comfortable? Do you think he has the strength, then, to be up on his feet all the time? Feet which, most likely, are still healing from being burned??? Like, what is the logic in taking Sean being fine at face value, here?? Do we actually believe Dutch is a good and competent leader, now?!?

And like, I'll say it, Sean 100% played down what he'd been through. I could go on at length about my thoughts about the reasons why, as pertaining to the role he performs in the gang, excitement and relief and adrenaline about being free again, not wanting to appear weak, etc etc. But I also do think, then, that it's almost a little bit silly to not extend him the same courtesy as we do many of the other characters of this game, and consider what this experience might actually have been like for him.

Sean, Arthur, and Javier were all kidnapped and tortured. All three of them. And they all had it real fucking bad. Can we, like, let ourselves sit with that for a moment? And acknowledge that Sean had it just as bad as the other two??

He was also stuck in that situation for the longest!!! At least two fucking weeks, minimum, while Javier and Arthur's experiences were for -- two to four days?

The difference is of course that Arthur and Javier both had their experiences shown on screen, and they both got to rest afterwards.

Sorry, that was a bit of a tangent, back to the party thing.

Ultimately, Sean is given a party because the gang needs a party. They are still recovering after Blackwater and Colter; they are in dire need of levity and fun, which is given through something to celebrate. They need a distraction. These are the things which Sean performs and gives the gang; the party isn't even really for him; it's for what he represents, and what his return represents. The party isn't what he needs, and he sure as hell was not well enough to just jump back into action.

What he needs, what he should have had, is a break after the shit he went through. He wasn't given permission for that though, not from their leader and not socially from anyone else, and furthermore he didn't really give himself permission for it. You have to do his rescue mission before pouring forth oil, because the second Sean is back, he's looking for jobs, and he wants in on the train robbery.

He's working, immediately.

(The fact that people actually believe him lazy just because he doesn't do as much as Arthur, the gang's workhorse, after returning from being held and tortured by bounty hunters, is insane to me. Yall are gonna believe Arthur about that?? According to him, all the guys in camp save Charles are lazy!)

Idk, what I find the strangest about takes like these is like... Most of the other characters are worthy of discussion, analysis, and discourse. But - not even the game, but characters in the game, who show themselves to have their own faults and prejudices as well - tell us Sean is lazy and easy-going and fun and that's all he is, and we believe it? Where did the critical thinking go??

[the99thfanboy]

Kieran gets drunk and asks if you’d still love him if he was a horse

[greatwyrmgold]

It's been noted that Bonesaw's redemption, like so many in Worm, is accepted opportunistically; she's useful, so the Powers That Be are willing to accept that she's turned over a new leaf and wants to be better.

Earlier, thanks in part to some surgical pressure from Contessa, Bonesaw decides not to make clones of herself. I wonder how things would have turned out for her if there were nine Clonesaws running around. (Or nine minus however many died in the S9K arc.) Logically, it would be easier to forgive those clones for the handful of Bad Things they did in their brief post-decanting lives than to forgive the original Bonesaw.

Would Bonesaw have been put aside (or down) in favor of her little sisters? How would that affect Bonesaw? How would it affect the sisters?

[gorbalsvampire]

Statting Christof Romauld

Someone on Reddit asked if my favourite himbo had a canonical character sheet.

I looked him up in Clanbook: Brujah. He does not.

I felt compelled to stat him out in V5.

Now I kinda want to do the whole crew. I've been thinking about Dark Ages V5 for a while now and this is unlocking it all for me...

He's a swordsman, so a Melee combatant, so we're going for Dexterity 4 for that pool; 3s into Stamina, Resolve and Composure (say what you like about our favourite himbo, he can take a kicking), and the 1 in Intelligence (sorry, Christof, but if you weren't such a dim bulb you'd probably have gone insane).

For expediency's sake, and because he always has a supporting cast to cover his weaknesses, I'm gonna say he's a Specialist. Melee gets the 4 and the speciality, Athletics, Brawl and Firearms (which, RAW, covers archery) get 3s. 2s in Persuasion (he does get his own way a lot), Awareness and Stealth (there's a lot of corridor creeping in his adventures). For the 1s, I'm taking Investigation (he tries... and he's been through enough mysteries that he must be vaguely aware of how they work), Occult (he's seen some things in his time) and Etiquette (he's well spoken).

Disciplines? Let's start with Celerity 2 and Presence 1 (I don't know how I'd have got through the game without these two). For specific powers, I'm going Rapid Reflexes and Fleetness from Celerity, and Awe from Presence.

Into Predator Type, and I'm gonna be honest here, given how tricky it is to bite people in the streets without being caught, and how many other vampires there are in those "dungeons", and how often he frenzies and bites his own coterie: Christof is a Blood Leech. Extra specialty in Brawl vs Kindred, going to Celerity 3 and taking Weaving from the Players' Guide, leaning into the defensive applications, and obviously we're gonna take the Diablerist flaw because he ate Lucretia. Prey Exclusion (Mortals) is definitely a reflection of how I played Christof, too (goddamn Knights of St. John have eyes in the backs of their heads).

Advantages and Flaws: well, we're windmill slamming Archaic, of course (he's got the hang of guns, but he has no idea what a Central Computer might be). We're also gonna raid the Player's Guide again. For five points, we can take Untouchable - get away with doing something grand and stupid once per story. He's... definitely had that go off a few times during Redemption. From the same book, we can grab the Brujah Coterie Merit, Boot and Rally, for a bonus to his friends' combat rolls, and Remarkable Feature, because people do remark on all his thees and thous when they first meet him and then rapidly get used to it.

Convictions are probably derived from the Promethean ethic somehow (I'm bad at these), and his Touchstone is obviously Anezka (I have a house rule where you only need one Touchstone, like Requiem - and Redemption, now that I think about it).

Now, we get into experience. I'm going to count Christof as an ancilla here. He's lived a very storied life, the Clanbook leaves some wiggle room for how long his adventures took, he's quite low generation, and frankly I need the XP for his insane Discipline breadth. That takes his Humanity down to 5, his Blood Potency up to 3, and he needs another two points in Flaws - I'm going for another Player's Guide special, Twice Cursed, giving him an additional Clan Bane that causes physical and social damage when his Beast comes out.

He also gains another two points in Advantages, and I'm gonna pick up a Loresheet here: Sect War Veteran. He emerged from torpor right in the middle of the sect war, ended up fighting his way across New York, and he's made something of a name for himself among elders and neonates alike given what he got up to in the Dark Ages. The two dot ability here converts into Status or Mawla - one could very easily use this to model Ekaterina the Wise still looking out for him, or into his own personal clout, or... well, our Christof is at middling Humanity, so he might be... in a bit of a predicament. Spoilers for twenty-five year old game?

Finally, there's the 35 bonus XP. To start off, taking him to Presence 3, Daunt and Dread Gaze, that's 25 burned. With the remaining 10, I'm going to buy a dot in Protean (the game is very generous about handing out Protean) and pick up Eyes of the Serpent, since he did eat a whole-ass Setite, and the last three are going on the Stealth (vs Kindred) specialty from his Predator Type, just to really double down on the in-game playstyle.

And there we are - playable Christof!

[menequillo]

I think Javier would tell jack that nothing existed before he was born. Like they're vibing at camp and Javier starts to smile like the Grinch and approach jack. He would then open with some shit like "Hey jack how old are you now?"

"six uncle Javier! Why?"

Then Javier would explain how the entire world was created six years ago.

Jack would run to Abigail and tell her about it and she'd laugh and wink to Javier and confirm it.

Also John who overheard buys it as well because he genuinely can't remember what life was like before his son was born.

[fenharel]

saskia i am on my hands and knees begging for some ysabel info! what’s her backstory? what’s she like during the game? she’s so 🥰💖

[PERSONALITY]

Ysabel is a noble, Lolth Sworn Drow, living in Menzoberrazan and is a School of Divination Wizard

Shes an chaotic neutral ENTP, Gemini, 125 years old and 1.60m tall

Ysabel is creative and intelligent, mischievous and cunning. Some perceive her as quirky, eccentric - funny, confident with a giant ego, but also power hungry and selfish, sometimes cruel. She has always been full of ideas, always thinking of new and better ways to do things. She’s always been curious, more often than not you find her with her nose stuck in a book. Her childhood bedroom was exploding with books about fungi or tomes like “The past and present: a Scholars Guide to Divination”. 

She’s also rather extroverted and a social chameleon, excellent at manipulation and persuasion, something her mother often took advantage of, as she would often use her children like chess pieces in her political affairs.

[BACKSTORY]

The noble house of Do’Rahel is one of the 8 powerful houses in Menzoberranzan

Ysi has two older sisters (Yris, Yvory) and one younger brother (Ysmael, my warlock charlatan & very first D&D oc 😘)

Their mother (Yaelryn Do’Rahel) is a matron mother, a priestess of Lolth and a powerful and influential figure in Menzoberrazan’s affairs

As most intelligent people are prone to, Ysabel was more questioning of things like societal norms or rules and ideas than what was socially acceptable in the Cult of Lolth, something her mother often reminded her of through whipping. But her mother was also more progressive than some would believe - when her daughter showed more interest in the arcane than continuing her training as a cleric she encouraged it. She thought that having one of her daughters in the circle of the Sorcere was something that could be beneficial to her.

After a particularly nasty ambush on Ysabel (your regular weekend in the Underdark really) her mother assigned one of their warriors as her personal guard - a tiefling slave called Lucien (Side note but he’ll be romancing Shadowheart in a future playthrough 🤓)

Lucien was in his early twenties and enslaved for around 5 years at the time, he was passionate and charming, warm and strong. But he was also as cunning as he was kind. Ysabel liked him, and often would spend more time with him than was strictly necessary. He had Ysabel figured out quickly, and noticed that traits in her that might be weaknesses in her mothers eyes, could be his opportunity. That growing close to her could be his ticket to get free.

But things didn't necessarily work out for him at first as he would have thought - both of them fell in love.

He would tell her stories of his previous life, about his ideals and morals, about the world above. How children do not fear for their life where he is from, how parents love their children unconditionally, how he missed feeding the neighbors ducks before he would go to school. Ysi would laugh at him sometimes, call him weak and soft. But sometimes she would indulge in his stories. Catching herself thinking of them in bed before she go meditating. How strange it must be to live so truly carefree.

The influence Lucien had on her was undeniable. Small and meaningless at first maybe but there nonetheless. There were glimpses of true kindness in Ysabel only he got to see. Glimpses of love - real love, not just the craving for flesh or power he was accustomed to from other Drow. He saw that he had shaken her morals and beliefs, slightly perhaps, but shaken. So when she finally wanted to set him free out of her own volition, instead of running when his binding spell was broken he asked for her to come with him.

She helped him to stage his own death and broke his bonds and let him go, but she didn’t go with him. This would be a turning point in her life, something she regretted for the rest of her existence, something she kept thinking about for years on end.

For many years after, she buried herself in her tower. She never dared to think of why she said no, instead she sat in front of her mirror of memories, where she relived the time she had with Lucien. But in doing so, a part of herself, the past party in fact, was lost in it. Her present self was split in half. She was either overly good or overly evil, and she became known for being mad and for research and experiments that were even extreme by Drow standards. 

She was in this state for at least 60 years. She had short periods of time where she managed to stabilize herself through experiments, but it never worked for long. Nevertheless, she made a name for herself, she was an extremely powerful wizard, was considered one of the masters of Sorcere and had a place in their council. (Much to their dismay. Assassination attempts from her colleagues were a daily occurrence tbh.)

[GAME TIMELINE]

House Do’Rahel was infiltrated by Absolute cultists, leading to the almost death of her sisters Yris and Yvory, and the losing a handful of their staff members. Ysabel's mother also heard rumors of similar things happening in House Baenre and other houses all over the city. Sensing a bigger plot, instead of sending warbands like her colleagues, she only send Ysabel and a handful of warriors on a scouting mission. She was to gather as much information as possible. If she would see an opportunity beneficial to them - she should take it, and most importantly she was also to kill or capture any heretic or deserter of Lolth.

The trail they followed led them to the outskirts of Baldur’s Gate. She didn’t know it at the time but she was on her way to Moonrise Towers when she was abducted. When she woke up in the Nautiloid, the tadpole didn’t just strip her of her powers, but also stabilized her mind.

Being fully herself again after so long felt like having someone forcefully pushing a heart back into her. At the beginning of her journey she’s manipulative (she does a lot of the “heroic” options not because she thinks it’s the right thing to do, but because she thinks it’s a smarter way to uncover what is going on and/or because working with the Absolute would go against Lolth), she’s also selfish and a bit cruel, but a lot of things she does suddenly don’t feel the same to her anymore, and an top of that the problem with the tadpole - it forces her into introspection. 

At some point she realizes that her companions remind her of Lucien, and the time she had with him. Her development throughout the game mainly consists of her realizing that she rather wants love and friendship than pure ruthless power. She develops a consciousness, empathy. Something Lucien already built the groundwork of so many years ago. She realizes she was too much of a coward back then, that she couldn't let go of all that power and desert Lolth even though that's what she really wanted. Surrounded by her new friends, she doesn’t want to make the same mistake again. In her mind, she’ll never be truly good, much less a hero. But she doesn’t want to be what she used to be either. Seeing real friendship, love, experiencing it for herself, she realizes the only times she wasn't hollow was with Lucien - and now, with them. 

Her new friends act as mirrors to herself as well. She sees herself in Gale when he gets obsessed over the Crown, she sees herself in Astarion when he’s willing to kill all his former friends for power. And she sees herself in Lae’zel, Wyll & Shadowheart when it comes to the influence a God, Goddess or devil can have on you. They were all on the path she already walked on, and the guilt she is carrying with her over things she can’t change anymore is overwhelming, so she stops them all, helps them see what is truly important. 

About the reason she was in Baldur’s Gate in the first place, she isn’t honest with her companions at first, she has obviously her own agenda like everyone else in that camp. She was forced to explain herself by Wyll when she let True Soul Nere kill the Gnomes. Having a tadpole in her head made everything more personal of course, she starts going against the Absolute not in the name of Lolth or for her mother but for herself and her own beliefs in Act 2.

After the game, her mind is still hers. Going through so much change and admitting her biggest fears repaired herself, like a curse she casted and then lifted on herself. Also, she and Astarion guide the Vampire spawn in the Underdark for a while, and she also researches for ways to make Astarion walk in the sun again (and I like to headcanon that she succeeds :3)

If you want to take a peak, here is Ysabels pinterest 🥺, and since i mentioned Lucien, here is his'.

[blackveilvamp]

finished reading ‘the ballad of songbirds and snakes’ today and i can’t wait to see the book come alive in the movie. i might be heavily biased (might? no, am), but i loved this book and gave it 5/5 stars (just like for all the other thg books). i knew how this book is gonna end eventually, because we all know what coriolanus is like in the original hunger games, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to read the journey he goes through to become what he is known to be. i kept on saying to myself “i know he’s going to betray her and everyone around him soon and i can’t wait to see it”. i highlighted all the little (or big) things coriolanus did or said that were out of touch and showed his villain side. he’s selfish and when push comes to shove he doesn’t care who gets hurt as long as he gets what he wants, that’s the main point i got from the book. i thought it would be annoying to deal with a main character who is so egotistical, but i think that just made it more fun. you’re not supposed to root for the main character, but he wins in the end anyway, because after all snow lands on top.

[arthurmorganson]

i love the part in red dead redemption 2 when dutch said “it’s time for red dead redemption” and then red dead redemptioned all over the place

[bracketsoffear]

Clara/The Changeling (Pathologic) "Clara does not exist until the game begins. She takes on the role of a healer in this town with an emerging plague, but the first person she attempts to heal dies. She is told that someone who looks exactly like her is committing crimes in the town, so she has to actively work to maintain her reputation throughout the game, or else citizens will start to attack her in the street.

Though she does have healing abilities, the game purposefully misleads you on how they are used. She doesn't understand it any more than you do. She is also aware that she is a character in a video game, and knows that she cannot exist outside the framework of the game. Because Pathologic is about a town dying to the plague that you are trying your hardest to prevent, and then mitigate, and then destroy at any cost, Clara comes to believe that she is the cause of the plague. After all, she cannot exist in a world without one. She comes into being as the game begins, and will likely stop existing after it is over, as what more is there for her to do? Kill an already dead town? Save an already healed town?

Each character you can play as can choose their own ending, and hers involves asking people to sacrifice themselves to her routinely to keep the town alive. Even when you make the correct choices and try to heal the town, the plague is still a constant threat and will never truly go away, and Clara is indeed responsible for this looming threat, as her healing hands are the ones people are blindly following into a routine of self-sacrifice and reminder of the plague that almost destroyed their town. In a way, it is fully possible to interpret her character as the true source of the plague, and the game allows you to believe this. There isn't really anything to contradict it, after all."

Taylor Hebert/Skitter (Worm) "Taylor gained the ability to detect and control a wide variety of bugs and bug-like creatures (including insects, spiders, earthworms, and crustaceans) after being stuffed into a locker full of used tampons and pads. She set out to become a superhero, but ended up becoming a supervillain named Skitter instead. Her powers let her inflict anaphylactic shock (bee stings), comas (black widow spiders), tissue necrosis (brown recluse spiders) or death (all of the above), and she later gets access to bullet ants for 24 hours of pain. The applications she’s found for her powers include include attacking with hundreds of venomous creatures, spying on people from two blocks away by looking through the eyes of insects, devising a bullet-resistant costume by commanding spiders to spin one from their silk, improvising a costume with carefully directed insects (which not only conceals her identity but intimidates her opponents with a giant, creepy-looking human-shaped swarm), arming even the nonstinging, nonvenomous insects (imagine being divebombed by bugs whose undersides are coated in capsaicin who are guided to your mouth, nostrils, and eyes), have her bugs vibrate to mimic speech, using bugs pull the pins on grenades, employing spider threads as triplines or to cocoon people, and even killing a Nigh Invulnerable character by cramming insects down their throat so that they suffocate. After what she did to Lung, The Merchants, and Dragon, she is considered, quote, "one of the scariest motherfuckers in town." By the end of the story, this has been upgraded to 'one of the scariest motherfuckers in the multiverse'. After Scion's defeat the entire superhero community goes out of their way to forget her because they're so traumatized by what Khepri did. It's eventually revealed in Ward that, since no-one knows what happened to her, the entire superhero community tries to avoid saying her name because they're scared of drawing her attention."

Image from the Worm Wiki, credit to Neoworm.