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#Plothooks
scionmysteries · 1 year
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Alchemists (Chronicles of Darkness)
I’m a lot of things, but one of them is a science person. I’m driven to learn about the new and discover the unknown. All reality is one great big puzzle, and I get to see how the pieces fit together in new and exciting ways. So in fiction, I tend to have sympathy with academics, scientists, and explorers. I will die on my bed raving about how science wasn’t the problem in Jurassic Park. The problem was capitalism.
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But alchemists? Alchemists in the Chronicles of Darkness scare me. Alchemists are the dark side of scientific progress, which transgresses and doesn’t care about the harm it causes. Alchemists are the western tradition’s deep connection with imperialism and its arrogance in disenfranchising other knowledge traditions. They are the “ends justify the means” people and the “it’s for your own good” people. They want knowledge, they want power (even if they won’t admit it to themselves), and they ultimately don’t care about anything that stops them from getting either.
Alchemists are mortals who tap into the secrets of Pyros, allowing them to learn Promethean’s Distillations, modify their bodies, and gain Dread Powers. Body modification? In a game crawling with body horror? Totally not going to backfire on you, but you do you. The catch is that most Alchemists get the barest trickle of Pyros and can’t stablize much of it at a time - unless they steal it from Prometheans. And those modifications? They need Vitrol to do that, so at best, they are delaying a Promethean’s progress toward becoming human for their own game. Most of the time, they just murder them.
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If Promethean: the Created is a game that embraces humanity, its Alchemists represent the rejection of human nature. If you want to play a game where transhumanism leads to the loss of what makes humanity important, Alchemists are a great place to start.
Graveyard Gary’s been at this a long, long time. He considers himself a reanimator, in the “grand” tradition of Herbert West, while rather missing the point about West’s grizzly fate. In fact, Gary’s missed the point so completely that he didn’t even notice when his body died, but by that point, it was so laced with Spark of Life Distillations that it just kept moving. As a result, Gary’s lack of heartbeat and unblinking stare unnerve anyone who visits his cemetery, but other than the faint smell of formaldehyde and ozone, there is no decay. Gary wouldn’t even mind even if it was pointed out to him; this is the best he’s felt in years. Honestly. Mostly. Probably.
N0V4 thinks he’s big shit, with the corner office in his father’s company and a hacker alias, so he can pretend he’s on the worker’s side. He’s not untalented, but he’s a relentless taskmaster who isn’t half as bright as those who work for him. Unfortunately for every Promethean who comes near Toronto, the world of corporate ruthlessness trained him well for being an Alchemist. He’s mastered various Electrification and Luciferus Distillations, he even sees the electromagnetic spectrum’s invisible colours, but now the electricity is stalking him back. An electricity spirit has latched onto N0V4’s resonance, and it has no intention of letting its food source slow down his experiments.
Good intentions, hell, and all that. Annabel started her study of Alchemy after hearing rumours of the Created and hoped to help them. She’s even knowledgeable enough about Disquietism to help Prometheans learn the Transmutation. The problem is that she now inflicts Disquiet on those around her, and the temptation to use Weaponize to her advantage grows stronger daily.
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enddaysengine · 19 hours
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Horned Dragon (Paths Beyond)
My patrons expressed interest in a few of the remastered monsters that got a facelift, and I am thrilled to present the first one: the horned dragon. With the remaster project, Paizo had to chuck the classic chromatic and metallic dragons out with the bathwater. Or at least they had to check their names out. While Monster Core is full of brand, new and deliciously weird dragons, there is a familiar face. The green dragon has been redubbed in favour of its horn, making it clear all the dragons we love to love and love to hate are still around. Expect the other metallics and chromatics to reappear with a fresh coat of paint as time goes on. In the meanwhile, horned dragons have literal decades of lore we can draw upon. 
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Art by Ben Wootten
The most notable change to horned dragons in the Remaster is trading the arcane spellcasting tradition for primal. This aligns with their fondness for woodlands and linguistic talents for both elven and fey, although their erudite minds still resonate with the arcane tradition. There is an overlap between the two in shapechanging  and elemental magics, which suggests some themes to worm horned dragons around. And, as I will frequently say when dealing with the Remaster, there's no reason you can't just go with the classic arcane caster and all that entails, especially if that's what makes sense for the story.
Horned dragons have a reputation for being intellectuals, but they do have a gap in their knowledge: the outer sphere. For those of us who harken back to the Planescape days or focus our planar games on the afterlife, that sounds like a significant gap. Likewise, they know relatively little about outsiders, and the undead. It is worth remembering, however, that this is the only gap in their knowledge when it comes to planar affairs. Horned dragons are trained in Arcana, Nature, and Occultism, with even a young dragon able to beat expert level DCs reliably. Add in the fact they’re experts in society as well, and they know about almost every type of monster that’s out there too. Horned dragons don’t just have a reputation for being smart, they are genuinely brilliant and unlikely to let you forget it. What that means is that horned dragons could be the masterminds behind any plot involved in the planes. Or they could be the ones who dispense a crucial piece of information to the party. Or both. Probably both.
Deep within the Hanging Bower is one of the Green Mother's favourite concubines: the horned dragon Urðvox, the Hungering Mind. Her title was bestowed by her Eldest mistress, for Urðvox role the Green Mother's court is to speak for and embody mental seduction. Hours of conversation with the ancient worm pass in the blink of an eye, but the horned dragon only hints at her great knowledge. Those who wish to learn her secrets must tease apart the few crumbs the dragon give, all while being careful not to get drawn in too quickly.
The oddest monastery exists in the Napsune Mountains, founded by Zestrex, a young but capable horned dragon. The dragon is enamoured with the Laws of Mortality, scoffing at the prospect divinity makes one more worthy than intellect. Upon arriving in Rahadoum, Zestrex found many restless spirits, mortal and elemental alike, and resolved to gather them to himself. Now, Zestrex studies the primal and occult forces at work within his disciples while helping them move on or return to their planes of origin.
Imetx lives a contemplative live of seclusion and reflect on the Ethereal Plane. She considers herself a gardener, but unlike horticulturalists on the Universal Plane, what she cultivated are emotions. Anger blossoms, red and stinging, on fleshy vines that must be constantly trimmed. Joy is a field of yellow blooms, as far as the eye can see. The white stalks of fear are rarely seen, for it is never Imetx’s own fear, but that of those who see her imposing form. An authority on the In-Between’s emotional resonance, Imetx can provide information or ritual components relating to aura reading.
While horned dragons are known for pursuing self-perfection, they can be protective of other beings they view as perfect, to the point of possessiveness. Giorgis the Pure sees unicorns in this way — they represent perfect virtues, are perfect horses, and serve as perfect emissaries between the mortal world and the First World. The horned dragon obsessively tracks in the comings and goings of all unicorns within the forest where he lairs, as well the portals they use to commune with the fey. He has a violent and deep hatred of alchemists, blaming them for alicorn poachers, whether or not they deal in such substances.
Note: If you want to get a vote in the what monsters I cover out of order next, come follow the link at the top (and right here)
I do have some Monster Core writeups done (you can also find them at the link), but I'm waiting for Archive of Nethys to update so I can include art.
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guy who regularly has [specific monsters] attacking his farm and hires adventurers to kill them (& bring him the bodies as proof)
also found elsewhere, pretty tough for adventurers to kill & def not civilians, but if you know to harvest them their [body part]s are valuable/useful (may be the case for many such creatures)
turns out guy raises them for [body part]s, easy to harvest(/kill? or nonlethal?) while contained but hard to catch when they escape, having to pay adventurers is worth it to recoup some loss
adventurers eventually try to track down source (bc they get annoyed they keep getting the same job) & find farm
wtf
(do they condemn? do they help him build a better security system? do they report him (nuisance, can't be kept (in city limits))? do they blackmail him? (if so either new "ally" or source of goods) what else?)
(what do other people do w bodies? hard to dispose of, so send them to guy? or do most non-adventurers know & keep them? or do they just leave them? can guy recover bodies, does smth happen to them when left around?)
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ms-scarletwings · 2 months
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Ok but what if ZiM faking his own death, as a little impulsive experiment… and giddily watching his leaders and society put on the most fucking grandiose and hype celebration public funeral on of all time. It got Conventia seats booked out and broadcasted to like 2/3rds of the Armada’s galactic range. I’m talking lightshows and gluttonous revelry every other invader got to take a day off to come join in on. It’s everything and beyond he was hoping for. When he finally concludes his little “test” and very destructively crashes the party, he (of course) mistakes Red and Purple’s reaction for tears of joy.
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pushing500 · 1 month
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The day started pretty uneventfully, with a visit from Euclid's baby brother Fabio Vasquez signalling that it was time to build a new dinosaur museum. Hey, no arguments here. Dinosaur museums are kickass.
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Vasquez–who is a bug person, for some reason–was immediately pulled aside by his big sister to organise a hit on the guy who thought it was a good idea to send a marriage proposal to the psychopathic gay genie who is part of a cannibal cult.
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We were going to turn these refugees away since we're only just getting back on our feet after our hasty relocation to Loyalty's Meander, but then some mechanoids attacked, and we decided we could use the cannon fodder help.
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The refugees conveniently entered the map close to where the biggest group of mechanoids had landed and did a very decent job of distracting them for all of two seconds...
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Before the refugees were all downed, the yttakin among them had the chance to use his animal warcall ability on a nearby megasloth. The megasloth lasted much longer against the mechanoids than the refugees did but was eventually downed.
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Then, finally, the mechanoids stumbled into the trade caravan that Euclid's brother had come with (you can see Vasquez on the far left in the screenshot), and that, at last, was enough to destroy them.
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And then, someone rescued one of the downed refugee children (without my permission, I might add), and it's Adrián's daughter!!! Adrián who made me laugh so hard I cried back in Monster's Basin!!! It's a small Rim.
For that reason alone, she will be tended to and allowed to live to choose how she proceeds in life without her other refugee companions.
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buff lady ravager sona.....
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logarithmicpanda · 6 months
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OFMD season 2 script analysis - Episode 1:
So as a writer I'm interested in looking at what each scene achieves in this season, because I feel a lot is conveyed very efficiently. Notes taken on the fly and subject to my own interpretation:
Dream sequence: misdirection. Shows Stede's fears and hopes
Wake up fart: return to reality. Stede has been pining. Establishes current setting and conditions
Letter to Ed: difference between how Stede presents things and reality. Callback to first season. Puts the Swede in a position that will be useful for the plot. Introduction of Ricky.
Wedding raid: parallels the letter, Ed tries to kill love. Overflow of violence, implication it has been ongoing. Slides in why Ivan isn't there and uses that to reinforce Ed's emotional state. Character moment for Frenchie (how much trauma can you fit into that guy?)
Soup cart: introduces Zheng and her interest in Olu. Lets us know Stede has been stalling but believes Ed is fundamentally good
Izzy's breakdown: Izzy trying to mediate with Ed. Ed questioning his ability to do the job. The juxtaposition with the previous scene highlights that Ed is not currently being a good guy, but might still see himself as one (the crew got cake, didn't they!) Crew questioning Izzy's mental state, and talking it through (Stede's influence is haunting the ship) Establishes that Izzy has lost more toes, and that his relationship with the crew has shifted from season 1
Jackie's racket: reinforces that the crew has money, Stede is just reluctant. Also reinforce that the Swede has integrated with the other husbands
Under the bridge: bit of humor, and urging to move on.
Talking to the wanted poster: Stede admitting the truth and facing his fears. Ricky shows up again. Establishes that Stede is susceptible to flattery. He tries to act as a role model and dissuade Ricky from being in Nassau or near Jackie. Bait for the plan
The Plan(TM): the Swede has been happy as a husband, but feels a debt to Stede (callback to end of season 1)
Love confession: Izzy taking the side of the crew rather than enforcing Ed's orders. Confronts the toxic atmosphere (same words the crew used, they got through to Izzy) The callback to Stede escalates things. Ed threatened the crew and is spiraling. Izzy calls it out and gets shot as a reward. Setup for the record.
Husbandly duties: bit of humour, continuing on the line of pretending something is a sex scene when it isn't. Use the distraction to steal the chest and move the plot forward. Ricky messes up, gets his nose cut, sets him off as future antagonist. Zheng intervenes to save the crew.
Storytime: Jim uses Stede's techniques to calm down Fang. Also hints that Archie is interested in Jim. Meanwhile Frenchie is shown trying to do his job, met with Ed's fancy ass metaphors. Ed intends to run forward until he can't, and resents Stede
To Zheng's boat: immediate parallel of Stede missing Ed lol the contrast. Hint as Buttons being a sea witch.
Post credit: more of Jim's story, there is still light among the crew
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pocketramblr · 1 year
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Pocket i am very much afraid cjdjd i am playing my first dnd session ever, did my character gave my dm the backstory of her and now my dm send me a text which read
Devil smiley, say the father of the little girl id alive right. There was nothing about him dying right.
(Context : i am a warforged puppet warlock made to look like a little girl who died of sickness to be her companion)
Anyway me like a idiot said yeah no the parents are alive.
He said perfect. Ypu got ypur warlock great old one power from a book of the dad right ?
Me :....yeah. why
Him : oh no worries
I very much worry
Oh no worries there at all :) that sounds like a very fun character btw
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bestiarium · 2 years
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Piscis monstrosus [17th century Europe]
On November 21 of the year 1587, two strange herrings were caught. One was found in Denmark and the other in Norway. They resembled plain, normal herrings but their skin was decorated with symbols resembling writing. The strange fish were presented to king Frederik II of Denmark, though it is unknown what eventually became of them.
Later, in 1609, a somewhat similar specimen was captured in Silesia, which is a historic region in Europe that is a part of Poland and Germany today. It is depicted here in this image, and was simply labelled “Piscis monstrosus” or “monstrous fish”.
The creature’s skin was covered in strange symbols, letters and glyphs. In the accompanying drawing, the creature did not have eyes. Its skin was removed and sent to Rudolf II, who was the Holy Roman Emperor at the time, presumably as a gift. It should be noted that Rudolf II had a widespread reputation as being a huge fan and patron of occult studies, alchemy and astrology.
It seems to me that the markings were either man-made or simply natural spots that happened to somewhat resemble letters and symbols, and which were exaggerated in contemporary sources. At the time, however, the story was noted as a weird, supernatural occurrence, with Johann Zahn describing it as a ‘miracle’. With no additional specimens to be found, however, the story eventually died and was never followed up. The writing on the ‘Piscis monstrosus’ has never been translated.  
Source: Zahn, J., 1696, Specula physico-mathematico-historica notabilium ac mirabilium sciendorum: in qua mundi mirabilis oeconomia, nec non mirificè amplus, et magnificus ejusdem abditè reconditus, nunc autem ad lucem protractus, ac ad varias perfacili method acquirendas scientias in epitomen collectus thesaurus curiosis omnibus cosmosophis inspectandus proponitur. There are really well preserved copies of this work available for free online (such as on books.google) but I found that the wording and sometimes smudged writing makes it a pain to translate. (image source: Specula physico-mathematico-historica notabilium ac mirabilium sciendorum, Johann Zahn, 1696)
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virovac · 1 year
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An evil dragon hiring an adventuring party to get artifacts they can use to make their chosen non-dragon mates closer in power and lifespan could be interesting plot hook
Of course knowing dragons a mate could be an awakened T-Rex
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apoapsis · 11 months
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Not the same anon who asked the question; But Okay wow that is so cool and well thought out!! I can understand that its a pretty difficult concept to work with lol
thank you so much!! ive put a lot of thought and care into developing my blog canon over the last 3 years, which is where the vast majority of the concepts for my art and comics come from :)
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minvatabletopco · 2 years
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enddaysengine · 1 year
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Aasimar (Paths Beyond)
“Are they curious about their immortal heritage or do they fear it?”
When I wrote that line about the suli, my mind immediately went to the aasimar. I don’t think people would question tieflings fearing their heritage, but when we see aasimar, we default to our OCC knowledge of celestials and their alignment. What would it be like if you grew up on legends of avenging angels and relentless archons? That’s why that question resonated with me.
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How much weight and expectation must there be on an aasimar’s shoulders, knowing they're descended from celestial beings? What was their childhood like? Did their celestial parent pull an angel unaware and adopt a mortal guise to be with the child? Did they watch out for them from afar? Visit them in their dreams? Did they grow up surrounded by entities of pure goodness in the afterlife? Or did the poor kid grow up like Percy Jackson, hearing tales of a wonderful parent that left them behind?
And then there’s the question of how much you should fear celestials. Yes, they are good, but good does not mean nice or perfect. Many celestials are outright terrifying if you aren’t a hero and that’s before considering how close they are to divinity or how connected they may or may not be to any given apocalypse. That’s a lot for anyone to take in, especially from a young age. While not every single one of an aasimar’s motivations should be tied to their lineage, it is a good place to start and storytellers should think about how aasimar feel about it.
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While I’m ostensively going in reverse alphabetical order, it’s nice to jump out of order one last time and return to the beginning ten years later. When we plot hook our way through the Bestiaries, we tend to give Aasimar the short end of the stick, not because we hate them, but because they are the first thing we write. I encourage you to go deeper into these celestial-touched mortals, as I think you will find them to be diverse and fascinating.
Rasa Lightbringer was literally Heaven-born, having been raised in Heaven’s Shore by three generations of aasimar relatives as well as her celestial great-great-great-great grandfather. Rasa hardly speaks to them these days though, as she finds Heaven’s definition of “good” excusatory and patronizing. She still lives along the Heathen Shore, but now she represents the chaotic interests of the Cayden Cailean and the Azatas. She is welcome within the city, but Rasa knows how to get under the other locals’ skins. Many Archons would rather deal with almost anyone else.
Stereotypes of the aasimar abound, but celestial heritage in no way guarantees good behaviour. Ayes Emeraldeye was once a champion of Ketephys in the elves’ war against Treerazer. Blessed by his celestial heritage with a long life even for an elf, Ayes eventually fell from grace upon realizing that everything eventually withers. Now he stalks the River of Souls on the behalf of Charon, although the still smites any minions of Treerazer he encounters.
Raised by the D'ziriak in Thronestep’s Shadow, Aziba is surprisingly well-adjusted to humanoid cultures. The aasimar knows nothing of her family, only that she was found by skull faeries as a babe, who brought her to her insectoid foster family. Now, she is a priestess of the Prismatic Ray: from Shelyn she sees beauty even in the darkness, Sarenrae lets her see the good in all people, and she emulates Desna as she guides people through her home plane. She opposes the machinations of the velstracs who haunt Razmirans umbral reflection and seeks aid in thwarting their latest plots.
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elphael · 2 years
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Hey! Can you talk about how Matt isn't a good dm? I'm trying to get into dming and I've been told he's a good dm to watch to figure stuff out
A lot of people think Matt is a good DM and I don't have anything against them because a "good dm" is highly subjective and watching critical role and the way he dmed really never helped my dming and I think it hindered it.
Matt is a fantastic storyteller and actor. I will not deny that, great at NPCs and character voices and descriptions.
I think his encounter design is incredibly bland, combat is frustratingly slow (partially because CR has a large table) and his plot is way too meandering (at least in CR2, I have not watched CR3.)
Now, I haven't seen CR in at least six months so my examples are going to be flimsy and I cannot be bothered to go watch CR again so that's on me but to me a lot of Matt's encounters are just "you're fighting something". There's no secondary goal or interesting terrain to facilitate creativity and give you an objective beyond "reduce that to zero hit points"
What I mean about meandering plot is that it felt like he lets his players start so many different plot threads and then never finish them which to me, was frustrating as someone watching. I understand it's a big world and you can't take on everything it was frustrating to me to see things connected to different characters largely get abandoned from the narrative.
Then I just think CR's pacing is way too slow as both a piece of entertainment and for the average d&d table. It is INCREDIBLY rare to be able to have one game go on for several years and it feels terrible for a game to breakdown halfway through for of scheduling or interpersonal reasons, whatever it may be. I don't think CR sets a good example for realistic pacing and I encourage DMs to stop thinking on a massive heroes of the continent, saviors of the world scale like VM or M9. It's hard to build up to that and if you're building to it, your players should know and you all should be running right towards that, not taking side quests for traveler-con.
In some ways, I DO recommend looking at Matt Mercer for inspiration but I think what he has to offer for DMing inspiration and advice is his capacity as a storyteller. Don't feel bad that you can't do accents the way he does but his descriptions and ability to expand on what his players actions to describe the world around them is great.
What I don't recommend is his combat as inspiration or the scale of his campaigns, their length or pacing, or even the scale of exandria as a whole. Especially if you're just getting into dming. I had very unrealistic expectations of the games I would be playing in or the games I wanted to DM for a long time because I got into d&d through CR and I thought That's What I Wanted To Do.
But that's really not my DMing style, I like tighter narrative arcs, faster paced games, and collaborating with my players and letting them take control of driving the plot instead of wandering through it.
OH also all of his homebrew is terribly balanced and makes me want to cry but that's petty and a different story.
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ms-scarletwings · 4 months
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Another horrible IZ Prompt: Zim’s base becomes the host of a small infestation of Earth vermin. Maybe some test subjects expected from the lab. Maybe some just burrowed in from the surface. Honestly, my money’s on GIR smuggling them through and they set up a nest near the pantry area.
Anyway, Skoodge sees them and starts flipping the fuck out because what else is he to assume but that a lucky handful of Blorch orphans have miraculously survived and now they have come to reap vengeance.
ALTERNATIVELY: that is exactly what has in fact happened, Blorch pups just happen to look exactly like Earth rodents (like the Plague of Babies incident) and are equally as good at stowing away on ships. They hide this fact from anyone encountering them except Skoodge, progressively making him look crazier and crazier even to the other wingnuts living in Zim’s base.
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belovedblabber · 1 year
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I wrote so many puzzles for my game today and am unsure if my players will solved them immediately or take like 30 hours aserjfjff
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