#as someone who never used companions in all my years of playing this game i was thrilled to learn everyone likes this guy as much as i do | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tiyoin · 16 days

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Taking a step back from twisted singer reader (I'll be back). I really want to expand/give origins ideas to the group chat(s?). Like how reader got the phone, how they got added and other things. Btw love who added that

With that said I'm starting a new agenda: ✨Grandfather Mozus Trein :D✨ Everyone knows that Crowley is *cough* neglectful & irresponsible *cough* always there for his students and never once put himself first 🤠. I feel like reader low-key reminds Trein of Anastasia (red hair) ya know? Maybe it's how reader plays with their hair when they start getting bored or the doodles on the written exams. All these little habits they share. Just an old man missing his family.

Someone has to be a responsible adult for reader and who else is better then a father with so much wisdom. He knows Yuu has a way of communicating and protecting himself so he isn't as concerned ,but poor reader can't do that to save their life :(

So I can see Trein giving them(mostly reader) a phone (B4 book 4). It's nothing new or special; it has an old blue case with a fading pattern and skuffs. The best part about it is Trein paying the bill. The wallpaper is changed to Grimm napping tho

It's kinda an unspoken rule that reader keeps it for the most part. With Yuu and all the things he tends to get into it would last a week if he was lucky.

More then likely the only numbers in the phone are Aduce/ maybe the other first years and Trein ,but I don't really see any of them be texters tbh. So not much coming in. Maybe a few homework questions??

As for apps a see maybe 2-ish games 👁️👄➖

Over all, it's just a classic antisocial person's phone. Until Cater finds out. Next time Yuu has the phone Carter tells him what should be added and how to #sign up for them. And Yuu being the person he is asks "Cater how do I help my introvert make friends?" Cater being the #helpful upperclassmen is he downloads the app and sends the invite.

The app they use is probably the twst discord. I think that's the only social idia has/honestly uses Some of them has like a cover for the icon. Like no one can know they use that app for whatever reason.

Everyone besides reader kinda knows what account belongs to which person. To add a bit of anonymous(ness?). Cuz no way would reader give her honest opinion about Rook or someone else if she knew that they themselves/close friends are in the chat.

Imagine if one of the guys that reader doesn't get along with ends up being one of reader's close/safe online friend. Like idk if you know who Aphmau is but she has a Minecraft roleplay PDH (don't judge me plss) where Aph and Aaron don't like each other irl but are really close online friends.

I'm sorry if my asks tend to be all over the place. I get sided tracked a lot and end up spacing out every 10 works. This was written between 3-5ish am. Also 👉👈 I think the reason we're on the same brain wave is cuz we're air signs.

Also thank you for liking/replying to my ask/yapping ☺️ it's means a lot to me

I've been waiting to get a Mac charger just to answer this ask🤭

GRANDFATHER TREIN IS SOMETHING I DID NOT KNOW I NEEDED BUT GLAD I GOT

because we always see crewel v crowley for custody over yuu.

but I defiantly agree with you that trein would see one of his daughters; especially anastasia in reader. whether it's by a few habits they both share, or how they're sometimes second fiddle to their more out going companion. but trein can see reader's life falling into shambles the more they're in twisted wonderland, the more they're isolated, and it kills him as both a father and educator.

and believe it or not, he cares about his students. they may not think so and curse him in the hallways, but they'll be thanking him in years to come, they always do (he prides himself in that, and the line of students he has at reunions telling him they're the best teacher they ever had.)

so maybe he pulls reader aside after class, ofc he can tell how tense they are, how nervous they are... especially by how intense their eye contact is, a little creepy but trein understands. he tells them to sit down in a chair he magically spawned as he flicks his head at lucien. who is all too glad to use you as a chair. he can see reader visibly relax as they're testing the water's with the temperamental feline, but trein starts talking.

he wants to help them, as he wouldn't be doing his job as an educator if he just stood by and watched you struggle. how he would have failed the pledge he made to crowley and himself if he let one os his students fall under the radar in favor for his smarter ones.

yes that should sting but it's the truth, and to no fault of your own. you obviously had... less than stupor teaching before this, and you have to catch up on a decades worth of stuff due to your... situation. and he is willing to help you during both lunch hours and free period. he also recommends student tutors for this and is willing to work out some kind of deal between you and the tutors. he wants to see you succeed. not just to prove he can turn a pumpkin into a carriage, but because you deserve it.

maybe you're not so much like his biological daughter, but like his step daughter. the one with a soul of diamond but a heart of glass. and if reader ever needs someone trustworthy (and he emphasizes this) that isn't actively split-dying their hair in their thirties or prances around with a bird mask then he is always open.

no matter how burdenous they feel relying on him, or if they think the matters are silly. he will tell it to them straight. he also suggests talking to cater diamond of heartslabyul, that if anyone can help you make friends, its that chatterbox.

dont even try to refute it cause trein AND lucien will be sporting you an unimpressed look.

but I swear to everything cater has a fucking NOSE- a sniffer if you would for introverts. or he has mastered chenya's invisibility spell and over heard your conversation because- I AGREE WITH YOU- yuu would 100% ask cater to help his little ol' introvert make friends.

so he seeks them out, grabs their phone while chatting away, and downloads 'magi cord' dw yuu is there too. cater even goes a step further and adds his contact to their phone because 'tehe he has the elusive reader's number and no body else does! #1inamillion #hewon! #he'sgonnaextrovertsohardit'llmakeyourheadspin 😼

but later that night you're fighting to go on the app when cater sends you a link, the second message he sends you (with 'hey hey! it's your fav upper classmen cay-cay here!' with an obnoxious amount of emojis, being the first)

it's a link to a magi cord group chat called; raven of secrets. (or smthn idk, I pulled that out of my ass) and he explains that the whole point of that group chat is to remain anonymous. there's a handful of members from different dorms and that's all you're supposed to know.

they talk about gossip, homework, assignments etc. the more he talks about it the more it sounds like a secret society. but nonetheless, you join.

and all hell breaks loose 🤭

personally I think that only a few people know who is who in the chat group. like the organizer because they gotta make sure everyone who has the link is an nrc student. and obviously there's a few friends who gave other people the link or joined together. but there's also active polls where people debate who is who.

just so it gives them the extra comfort of anonymity.

IMAGINE SOME ADMITS TO STALKING POOR READER AND IT TURNS INTO A THRILLER AHHHH (everyone knows who rook is. not because of his French, but because of his detailed posts)

NO CAUSE I WAS ALSO AN APHMAU FAN HAHAHAH I used to eat her role plays up. but watching them now... they're super cringe and I can barely watch an episode of phoenix drop high 😭

and dont even worry about it 'being all over the place because I am literally like that and it's so fun being able to bounce all over the place hehe

AND YAY ANOTHER AIR SIGN😽

#mel <3 #twisted anxiety 🌀#tiyoin 🔎#twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #tiyoin’s cuties 。　 ඞ 。#twisted wonderland #twst

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slocumjoe · 1 year

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some things I love about the companions 💞

Ada; is best girl. She's a cool ass robot who gives me glue and doesn't judge me. No, this is not my "transformers prime permanently rewired my brain" bias for robots. At risk of sounding like a 12 year old boy, Assaultatrons are just badass designs. And she's blue!

Cait; is a lot funnier than anyone gives her credit for. Also, weirdly educated? For example, she wonders if Raiders like tunnels as a "Freudian" thing. Few people she'd have met would known about Freud, so she'd have to have gone and read about it herself. Also also, is on Danse's level of romantic sweet talk. Girl makes me swoon.

Codsworth; somehow hates the wasteland more than X6. His wording and tone is very optimistic but you can tell that, underneath his chipper facade, Codsworth is so fucking grossed out by everything he sees. Also, the only two companions he doesn't trust to keep you safe, are Piper and MacCready. Make of that what you will.

Curie; X6-88 (like, 10 years old) calls her unqualified and she (200ish) basically tells him to get the fuck back in the play pen

Danse; Sending his eyebrows to space by showing the smallest amount of care and affection. I'm pretty sure this man would die if someone asked if he was okay.

Deacon; talks a big game about being a liar, and being very good about it, but if you don't read that 'recall code' ASAP, he bugs you about it constantly because he hates lying to you. It's not even that you're being naive, he genuinely hates that he's being trusted when you were supposed to question him.

Dogmeat; my favorite thing about Dogmeat is that I'll spend an hour scrapping all dog houses in Sanctuary, make him a little area in my backyard with a house, food bowl, toys, a rug, and classical music, and he thanks me by getting up on my countertops to sleep, using my antique pie collection as bedding.

Gage; Wears a fake eyepatch and throws hissy fits when my army of sexy chads curbstomps his furries, Nepo babies, and Joker stans. This is entirely wishful thinking and I get why this didn't happen, but I would have liked an option to convince him "Hey, I'm coming back with my army to wipe out all these raiders, but I'll give you a chance to join me or leave since you also seem to hate these chuckleheads." I appreciate his shady convict uncle vibes. I would let him teach Shaun how to cheat at cards.

Hancock; takes mentats to feel "intellectual" when he has the second highest INT of all the companions. Also, his puppy dog eyes. "IM FERAL NOW" as he gets his ass kicked by a legendary god roach

MacCready; dork man. he has more cliche stock line jokes than Deacon. I unironically vibe with his taste in trailers, fucking LOVE leopard print (fake bc we don't fuck with wasteful animal hunting like that). He's a very cozy companion to travel with, for lack of a better description. Like if a thermos of soup was a human.

Nick; Nick is what I imagine Mac would be like as he got older—just a laid-back weirdo who wants whats best for you and will insult you so you understand that. I love his tacky ass agency sign. I wish you could put him in other clothes, because I need him in a bathrobe wielding a cane against my enemies. Just really succumb to the grumpy uncle vibes.

Old Longfellow; reminds me strongly of my old neighbor, an elderly southern gentleman who was a sniper in the military, had a chunky rottie named Baby, and once watched me play Fallout and gave his opinions on the design of the weapons in game. That man is now in Thailand with his girlfriend. I've never traveled with Longfellow but I'm pretty sure its a 1 to 1.

Preston; if you don't take Preston to Quincy, I don't blame you, because oh man, does he not have a great time there! Preston sounds five seconds away from snapping his gun over his knee and going for strangulation in Quincy. King shit.

Piper; I was pretty harsh to Piper but I love her gaslight gatekeep girlboss approach to her life. She's like an adult Junie B Jones. Piper has never had her shit together and is self-medicating with sugar harder than Hancock and Cait do with drugs. She's a cringefail woman. If Bethesda was brave they would have gone with her pixie cut concept.

X6-88; a blank canvas for me to go wild on with the fanon. But I love how he's just an asshole 10 year old murderbot that's scared of heights, thinks Power Armor is so cool he privately fangirls over Danse, is scared of children, and gushes over how awesome the Survivor is to his courser buddies. What a babe.

#fallout 4 #fo4 #fallout 4 companions #paladin danse #preston garvey #piper wright #robert joseph maccready #nick valentine #john hancock #i have literally nothing to like abt strong sorry #hes real big and green. i guess green is a nice color?#oh wait. Mack Ree Dee. there. good Strong thing

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felassan · 1 year

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Some more possible scraps of interest from possible DA:D leaks on Reddit, from another Reddit user, under a cut due to DA:D spoilers:

first, the usual set of disclaimers that should be kept in mind with all leaks: might not be real, unable to verify at present, sometimes leakers think they’re right about things but are unintentionally incorrect or got some wires crossed, games change a fair bit between development phases and final release, the opinion-based stuff is completely subjective, take with grain of salt etc.

I tried to gather comments together in bundles where it would make sense (if on the same or related topics).

They commented on the timepoint of development that their information is from, saying "It's up to date." and that they played much more recently than last October. Someone asked "Alright so this is like alpha or pre-alpha video right? Which means what we see is subject to drastic change." (basically asking if they played the same build as the Reddit leaker who shared screenshots/gif) and they said "Ehh, that would be based on how soon it’s released. Because I’ve playtested it recently, and if that video is old, then they’ve changed essentially nothing about it and probably don’t intend to lol." "Between when your comment was first written and now, I’ve learned enough to be convinced that it was indeed from at least a year ago, so you were right. I’ve just played a much more recent version." "Nope, completely different. But I read through it thoroughly just now, and that person is right. Based on the write-up [Insider Gaming report], it is pretty old. They’re talking about missing textures and placeholders. In my playthrough, they could’ve told me the game was done and I would’ve believed them. Definitely wasn’t from the same test." So it sounds like folks leaking played different builts/different playtests at different times.

Someone asked a bit more detail about what playtesting involves and they replied "Certain part of the game. I played specific missions, story missions, so I wouldn't know anything about the sidequest fluff." "I played in the middle because that’s how most controlled tests for games work. You almost never just hit “new game” and start from the beginning."

Reddit user: "Rook is the name of the protagonist. Like “Inquisitor” was in DA:I." Someone speculated that Rook would be a fridged prologue companion like Jenkins Masseffect (F) and they replied "As someone who has played the game, don’t try your hand at the lottery for a while lol."

Reddit user: "Grey Warden isn't the class" [of the character seen in some of the screenshots] "I’m not confirming or denying the existence of different origins, but “Grey Warden” was not the class."

Reddit user: "I've played it. You can't directly control party members. A more apt comparison (and it's extremely weird that they didn't reference this [referring to the first Insider Gaming report] considering it's another bioware franchise) is Mass Effect. It's exactly like ME's wheel where you hold RB or whatever it was, and choose what ability they use." "They can always change it, but I've played it and unfortunately, I can confirm. I personally don't care as I never switch to companions in games where you can anyway, but it's exactly like ME in that aspect."

Reddit user: "Given the timing, I'm 99% sure his source is someone I played with." "Nothing in the leak that was stated definitively is incorrect." [referring to the first Insider Gaming report]

Reddit user [re: combat]: "I've played it, and tbf, it was closer to XV than to say, DA:I" "Combat felt like Andromeda with melee weapons. Take that for what you will lol." "XV was in reference t the combat wheel. It wasn't over the top at all though, it played like a typical action game (ie not teleporting everywhere)." "I've beaten all 3 [existing DA games] and have played Dreadwolf. It's nothing like the other games. It's action combat. Grounded though, not in a fantastical way like DMC." "I don't remember a wheel in XV, but then again I havent played it in a long time. What it is exactly like though (and them not using this descriptor makes me feel like they don't play bioware games) is Mass Effect. I've played it. The wheel is exactly like the ME games."

Reddit user [re: combat, when someone was asking about hack 'n' slash]: "It's more like Inquisition, although I wouldn't describe it as either. Plays like an action game." "What they meant [in the Insider Gaming article] is that it plays like an action game. So not like any of the DA games" "I described my playtime to friends as "Andromeda but melee"." "I thought it was fun. Funner than the DAs of the past. However I never really took advantage of all the tactical options in Bioware games, so if there's someone who is looing forward to that, they'll probably have significantly less fun than I did." They also confirmed the existence of skill trees, a map, choosing the PC's class, companions who used classes and jumping & a jump button. They said that there are 4 ability slots ("I was only ever able to use 4."). There's blocking but not parrying. Stats are levelled up automatically like they are in DA:I, so no skill points to allocate manually. "I’ve played it with 3 companions and 4 skills."

They confirm the following infos from the first Insider Gaming article:

- "The game still lacks features;" The game is missing voice lines and has a lot of placeholder text. - "Dreadwolf has a lot of similarities with previous games in the franchise;" AND "You can recruit members to your team"; The article basically just describes a Dragon Age game. ***POSSIBLE SPOILER*** "It’s understood that you’ll be able to move from your hub to missions by passing through a mirrored portal." - "You cannot control your team members, but you can issue commands to cast abilities;" Key word here is currently perhaps - "Combat will be hack n' slash-like and will be like Final Fantasy XV;" The article did not say it's hack n' slash like FF15, but the combat wheel itself is more like FF15 (I never played FF15 so I don't know if it's a time-slow type ability wheel or what).

and added on this topic, "I can confirm 75% of what that person has said, and the other 25% I just never experienced. Don't know why they would lie about it." "Unless they change it in the future, you can't directly control companions." "I've played it and can confirm everything in that article except for the release date and multiplayer stuff. You cannot directly control your companions, and its full hack and slash" "Other than what I didn't experience (multiplayer/hub) it's all true. Down to the part about a 1/10th of the lines not being recorded yet." "I can confirm almost everything in that leak." "Multiplayer I didn't experience, nor did I experience the hub world that was described, although the portal thing is true." "The hub thing he described, I never played, but I did use the portals he was talking about." They also commented on the missing voice lines, "It's implemented, they're just not all there yet. During my playthrough Id say maybe a 10th of the lines were missing, and a good amount of the monster sounds." "Oh for sure, it’s definitely not a mess at this stage. On the contrary, the environments are pretty beautiful. Only things that were missing were a few audio clips."

Reddit user [re: mirrored portrals and an open world]: "I can't confirm the existence of one, I could've just never experienced it from my time with the game, but I myself never played anything that could be considered open world. Funny enough, I never thought about that until your question just now. But it would make sense from what I played."

Reddit user: "Combat's are great, cutscenes' are decent. Best ever as far as Bioware is concerned (which should be a given). What's not great are the facial animations. Granted the game isn't done yet (and might be far from done, who knows), but as of rn, it's Andromeda 2.0"

Reddit user [re: not controlling party members]: "It's true." "Unless they change it sometime before release, which I doubt, I can confirm that you cannot." "I can confirm. You can't directly control them." They also commented that companion control felt like Mass Effect.

When someone said "i hope they don't mean a real "action" combat, and it would still have those Dragon Age" they replied "That's exactly what they mean." Someone mentioned no party member control and hack n slash, FF combat and they replied "Can confirm, both are true. I wouldn't say "will be like XV", and technically that's not what he said either. What he meant was that it's more of an action combat, not that you'll be teleporting around." Someone asked if it compares to Elder Scrolls and they said "Uhhh, yeah I guess. I usually play Elder Scrolls in first person, so that comparison would be kinda weird to me, but third person elder scrolls I guess would be more accurate than any of the past DA games. ES combat has no weight to it though, and this has weight. For real, it plays like Dark Souls games if you took out the invincibility frames and all the things that make them "hard"."

Someone asked about the party size, and they replied "Yeah, 2 party members and then a third based on what mission you're playing. Weapon wheel to control 3 abilities each for the two companion's you've brought and then 4 of your own abilities." "Now I will say, Idk how far I was into the game, so it's possible that it'll eventually open up to 3 of your choosing, but I played multiple missions and the third person was whoever you were helping at the time." "It’s still 4 [party members in total, so PC+3]."

Someone asked about what's happening to Solas and they replied "I have no idea lol. He was mentioned in passing seeing as he's the big bad now, but I never saw him or anything." "in Mass Effect for instance right? WHat Sovereign was up to wasn't described in every main mission. It wasn't even described in most of them."

Reddit user: "The look of the hair was pretty damn good I will say, the physics of it though, I didn't really pay attention to. Everything about the graphics looked sufficiently next gen, except for the facial animations. They're still Andromeda level, maybe a step up." "Everyone else's hair is great. Your character's hair is...decent." "Graphics are sufficiently next gen except for facial animations. They were the one stand out." "Movements are less stiff feeling, even when people are still. Animations and movement are better as well. They were satisfying to me, but of course, that’s subjective." "visuals and performance were pretty solid from my experience. That could obviously change though."

On facial animations someone asked them "You said that facial animations were only a bit better than those in Andromeda, but how do they compare to Inquisition? Because I think in Inquisition they were somehow better or at least didn't stand out that much like in Andromeda, despite the latter being newer game. I think I'll be okay with them being just a bit better than in Inquisition" and they replied "I’m looking at clips of Inquisition now and I think you hit the nail on the head when you said “at least didn’t stand out as much” because tbh, Inquisition and Andromeda weren’t that far apart in that aspect, they were definitely made using the same process, but Inquisitions somehow don’t stand out as much. Idk whether it’s because a lot of the people talking aren’t human or what. But it looks more like that than Andromeda. But because technology has gotten better, it looks better than both. I guess the conclusion is it still has that stiffness that both of them have, where it looks a couple steps removed from a robot that gets told to move pieces of their face X way at X time, but then at the end come back to Z position. So I guess I’d say the faces look and move like an HD Inquisition. I would’ve compared it to that instead of Andromeda, but I never realized they were so similar until you pointed it out lol."

Reddit user: "Yup, a KO for you is game over." [a KO for the PC]

Reddit user: "The maps feel like they could've came from DA:I design wise."

Reddit user: "It feels the same but different. I know that's an incredibly bs non-answer but it's true. It feels like a 2023 Bioware Dragon Age. For better or for worse. Anybody expecting DA:I 2 will be disappointed." "It'll probably be worth it [the wait] in the sense that DA fans will find it passable. But at this point (keep in mind the game still isn't done) it's not something that feels like it took 10 years to make or anything. Which is probably due to them reportedly restarting development multiple times." "I'd say most things about the game definitely feel more like Andromeda then DA:I" "If they keep it pretty much the same as my playtest, average players will be happy, but people who play Dragon Age games specifically for the Dragon Age gameplay probably won’t be. It’s completely different."

Someone asked about whether it answers DA lore questions, and what the storytelling/spread of storytelling is like and they said "I was dropped in and out of missions, so idk, but I will say it has A LOT of story elements from DA:O" and then "Same answer"

On characters they said "I didn't spend a significant enough amount of time to make that call [whether they're as interesting as the chars in DA:I. they're quirky though" "I think the character designs are sick, but that's completely subjective." "I wouldn't say I had enough time with the characters to get emotionally invested." Also someone asked if the characters are 3D, realistic and complex and they replied "Stereotypes unfortunately". Someone asked how the dialogue compares to ME:A, expressing the opinion that their "biggest issue with MEA was the MCU-esque style of writing that made the dialogue sound like it was ripped from bad tumblr fanfics. I couldn't take most of the cast seriously because they sounded more like caricatures than real characters." They replied "😬 bad news my man. What you just described is exactly how I would describe it.

Reddit user [re: armors]: "Im not sure how to answer that. Nothing really stood out, if that helps. But then again, idk what parts of the game I played. Could've been closer to the beginning where you just get the plain stuff."

Someone asked them "was the camera a tight over-the-shoulder cam like Andromeda, or was it more zoomed out / character centered like DAI / other 3rd person games?" and they replied "Zoomed out, but then tight when you use the weapon wheel (which youll be using a lot)" The other user asked if it was like Mad Max, and they said "Actually that's not a bad comparison. Picture the camera a bit further out though." On tac cam, they said "I was part of the leakers playtest. As of now, there is literally no tactical camera, but like you said, who knows if they’ll add it sometime before release. Just don’t get your hopes up."

Someone asked them "Does it feel like a medieval fantasy game still? It looks so sci fi to me, like the eluvians are shitty Rick and morty style portal guns all of the sudden. Does the neon purple take away from that feeling at all?" and they replied "It didn’t feel sci-fi to me but it sounds like you’re referring to a deeper level than just baseline aesthetics, and for that I think it’d be subjective. If you’re not though, no it still felt distinctly fantasy. Some parts more medieval than others." Someone also asked about warriors breaking stuff in the world, mages restoring terrain and rogues picking locks and they replied "Let’s just say…the game doesn’t play in a way that requires those anymore."

Reddit user: "Map design was one of the best parts, and boy were they gorgeous. The greenery specifically was the only thing in the game where I was like "This is exclusively next gen, like they couldn't have done this on last gen"."

Reddit user: "I thought it was fun, but I mean fun is subjective. Things were changed about the series that some long time fans will hate and some people who never liked Dragon Age will now love, such as the lack of tactical options." "I thought the combat was fun, but fun is subjective ya know? For instance, you guys already know that all the tactical stuff is gone, and for someone looking for that, they wouldn’t find it fun. I guess the takeaway could be that it’s by no means bad. Footage and screenshots are real. That’s 100% the game."

Reddit user: "I’ve played it. Recently. And all of the things people are giving the “year old” line in reference to are still the case. So the likelihood of them being changed are very slim."

Someone asked them "Hello! Could you share (or hint in some way) if some of the characters from previous games will make an appearance? (Beside Varric and Solas, obv). Some old leaks implied Bioware considered dual protagonist at some point, so I'm wondering if it turned into something. Or, at least, any mentions about Inquisition?" and they replied "[besides Varric and Solas] Literally the only people I saw/heard about lmao, sorry. I also never experienced anything regarding dual protagonists."

Someone asked them "Did it look to be anywhere near close to done??? I mean it's kinda a dumb question because on one hand I think you may have only played a certain area... On the other though I don't know anything about why you playtested, nor do I want to but, I am interested in knowing more about the overall size, comparison of detail to say like anything new gen, and whether or not they incorporated newer tech such as haptics, adaptive triggering, graphic upgrade and is the story intriguing or pushed... You know.". They replied:

"No no, that’s not a dumb question at all. Tbh, they could’ve said it was releasing at the end of the year and I’d believe them. The only thing I could see that wasn’t finished were the voice lines, and not even that many weren’t recorded. Maybe 1/10th. Graphics were superb except for the facial animations (and given Andromeda, that might just be how they’re going to stay). Controls were solid, enemies were solid, abilities were solid, UI and menu all looked unique and finished. General gameplay was in a finished state. Had a couple glitches here and there but nothing that couldn’t easily be ironed out.

[re: about the overall size, comparison of detail to say like anything new gen] From what I played, it seems more instanced than open world like DA:I, so I can’t really compare it in size, and obviously the previous 2 games have been outclassed in terms of technology.

[re: whether or not they incorporated newer tech such as haptics, adaptive triggering] Not that I saw, but idk if that’s the type of thing they’d incorporate anywhere before near the end of development. You sound like you’d have a better idea of that than I would though.

[re: graphcis upgrade] Graphics are for sure upgraded. The flora in particular I would say wouldn’t have been able to be created before the PS5 gen. It’s that good. Environments, clothing, faces were up there as well (clothing and faces could’ve been better with your character, but everyone else’s were next gen).

[re: is the story intriguing or pushed] The thing about judging a story is that even the most interesting ones fall flat if you experience it out of order (unless that’s the author’s intention), which I did. Even with putting bits and pieces together from what the characters were saying, I really felt nothing because I was coming in mid storyline."

[source] <- read the comments in context for them to make the most sense ofc :)

Edit - Update:

New comment of interest from the user (thanku @ladymacbethsimp for letting me know!). Someone asked them "can you attribute a single emoji to every companion you saw? like an out of context spoiler kind of thing". They replied "Hmmm I can try…" and posted these three emojis/series of emojis:

The screenshots I have included here are screenshots of the same comment from 2 different devices side by side, as emojis/emoji groupings can change appearance depending on OS etc.

so.. elf man of color, red hair woman and woman mage?

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age: dreadwolf spoilers #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #solas #ladymacbethsimp

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egooppidum · 6 months

Text

I found old notes from 2 years ago with my favorite devnotes for Astarion’s phrases (a couple are still in the game)

Finally. Let's have some fun. "You've been bored, now you're ready to rip someone's throat out."

Please, it's no challenge. Just a friendly little murder between chums. "Reassuring, then very chipper"

(if you play as a rogue and robbed Mirkon on the shore) You villain! I didn't know you had it in you. "Shocked at first, then a little coy/even flirty."

No! Stop it! Stop it, you wretched worm! "Distressed, furious, maybe banging a hand against his head." "Starts off scolding, but is very angry by the third line. This thing has invaded his head - Astarion has no tolerence for that."

Yes! And I thought you weren't any fun. "Excited, slightly feral \"yes!\" as Astarion starts to let the animal out." (😏)

They're devoted to this Absolute. Whatever it is. / Seems like a popular little deity, whoever they are. / Oh I like these two. All zeal and no brains. "Nearly hungry tone. He's ready to take advantage of their belief in him."

It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for gnomes! "He's trying to joke \"haha, you'd even feel sorry for a gnome!\" but it's a transparent attempt to cover up how uncomfortable slavery makes him feel." Slavers, torturers, and hells' knows what else. "Muttered with disgust." (I've never heard this dialogue in early access and in the full release either)

I must see this. Don't you dare say no. "Excited to see your companion beaten bloody by a flaggellant priest. " It was a fine strike. Excellent form! "Calling out - as if cheering on the priest." I mean, I had my hopes. "response to 'would you have joined up with them if you knew they were into being whipped?'" Oh, bravo! Encore! "Clapping, thrilled to see your companion take a lash from a whip" My my. Who knew our friend had so much blood in them? "To Shadowheart. You're both standing there, casually watching your friend being whipped."

(conversation after the third Daisy dream, early access thing) I'm glad someone is using their power. We need every advantage, after all. "stress 'someone'. He's saying 'At least Gale's using it, unlike you.'" What's the harm? We had a bad dream - nothing more. "You think everyone's making a big deal over nothing. They think you're playing with fire." Someone here' is trying to make sure we survive this debacle. I traded power for a bad dream, forgive me. "'Someone here = he's talking about himself. Sarcastic 'Forgive me' - he believes he did the right thing"

I want to wake up beside a handsome virgin every morning, but life doesn't give us what we want. Can we kill this 'god' now? "Tired of this conversation. A 'God' (who's clearly some mouthy git pretending to be a god) has just told the player he wants them to sacrifice you. You're not impressed."

(Omeluum's ring reaction from early access) A pretty thing. And at least it offers us some protection from the tadpole. "stress on 'some' - you'd prefer more protection." (Daisy dream reaction once again not in the game) Darling, I'd like to see you try. "Coldly. Someone's just threatened to kill you if you use a particular power again." I traded power for a bad dream, forgive me. "He doesn't believe he did anything wrong. 'So sue me' energy." And I reckon someone's trying to help us survive this debacle. "responding to 'I reckon I know who used the tadpole'. Astarion used it and thinks he was justified."

"The player protected Astarion from Gur Hunter either by killing the Hunter or by not revealing the location of the camp. Gale is being rather sarcastic about protecting Astarion." Is anyone else feeling parched all of a sudden? "He wants to drink Gale's blood then and there." I'll help you remember. "Threatening."

#astarion #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 astarion #astarion ancunin #baldurs gate astarion #baldur's gate iii #astarion x tav

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thegayhimbo · 6 months

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Stranger Things Rebel Robin (Book and Podcast) Review (Part 1 of 2)

WARNING: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from the book and podcast!

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out my other Stranger Things Reviews. Like, Reblog, and let me know what your thoughts are regarding the show or the upcoming season! :)

Stranger Things Comics/Graphic Novels:

Stranger Things Six

Stranger Things Halloween Special

Stranger Things The Other Side

Stranger Things Zombie Boys

Stranger Things The Bully

Stranger Things Winter Special

Stranger Things Tomb of Ybwen

Stranger Things Into The Fire

Stranger Things Science Camp

Stranger Things “The Game Master” and “Erica’s Quest”

Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons

Stranger Things Kamchatka

Stranger Things Erica The Great

Stranger Things “Creature Feature” and “Summer Special”

Stranger Things Tie-In Books:

Stranger Things Suspicious Minds

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Runaway Max (Part 3 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 1 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 2 of 3)

Stranger Things Darkness On The Edge Of Town (Part 3 of 3)

NOTE: If you would like to listen to "Surviving Hawkins," the companion podcast to Rebel Robin, you can find all 6 episodes here.

Synopsis: As Robin struggles to survive her sophomore year of High School, she becomes desperate to break free from the viciousness of high school conformity and her depressing living situation in Hawkins. To this end, she forms an escape plan to travel to Europe (which she calls "Operation Croissant") and becomes determined to get both the money for her trip and a companion to travel with her. However, as she attempts to accomplish these goals, she begins to discover things about herself, and the people around her, that leaves her woefully unprepared for how to deal with her situation............

Observations:

I've talked before in previous reviews about which comics and tie-in novels I've enjoyed, and which I haven't. However, the one that really connected with me on a personal level was Rebel Robin. Both the book and the podcast. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since this is a coming-of-age story about someone finding their own identity in a world that values forced conformity over individualism, and is also about coming to terms with one's own sexual orientation while growing up in a town that's deeply homophobic.

I should know: I lived Robin's story in my own way.

Those of you who follow my blog know I identify as gay (my username is literally titled TheGayHimbo), but I've never really gone into my own experiences about living in denial for years regarding my attraction to men (which might have actually saved my life in high school), how I dealt with homophobia and bullying (even as an adult) and how I tried playing the same game Robin initially does of trying to "fit in" to survive before growing disillusioned and staging my own rebellion when it became clear there would always be people out there who would never accept me as I am.

This book, and the podcast, hit a lot of personal nerves. That's not a bad thing because both were not only excellent, but also managed to perfectly capture what it's like growing up as an LGBT+ teen and constantly putting up with bullshit on top of that. It also does a great job encapsulating that feeling of desiring to escape the place you've been raised in for most of your life, and wanting to explore the world. I had the same dream Robin had as a teenager of leaving the United States and traveling to Europe. Unfortunately, it's only been in the last 2 years that I've finally made that dream a reality. Maybe it's for the better though since I'm a lot more wiser about the world than I was at the age of 17.

But I'm getting ahead of myself: Let's talk about the book and the podcast.

Part 1: Robin's Journey

Do you remember Mrs. Click's history class? Mrs. Clickity-Clackity? That's what us band dweebs called her. It's was first period, Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you were always late. And you always had the same breakfast: Bacon, egg, and cheese on a sesame bagel. I sat behind you. Two days a week for a year. Mister Funny. Mister Cool. The King of Hawkins High himself. Do you even remember me from that class? Of course you don't. You were a real asshole, you know that?.......... But it didn't even matter. It didn't matter that you were an ass. I was still.....obsessed with you. Even though all of us losers pretend to be above it all, we still want to be popular, accepted.......normal.

Do you remember what I said about Click's class? About me being jealous, and like, obsessed? It isn't because I had a crush on you. It's because............she wouldn't stop staring at you. Tammy Thompson. I wanted her to look at me.

Both of these conversations Robin has with Steve in season 3 are what make up a good chunk of the plot of Rebel Robin: Her infatuation with Tammy Thompson. Her dislike of Steve (a lot of it rooted in preconceived notions about him). Figuring things out about herself and how she relates to Hawkins and the world around her.

The way the book is written reminds me of the type of John Hughes movies that came out in the 80s: Sixteen Candles (which is one of the films that plays at the theater Robin initially works at), The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, etc. All of these were stories focused on teenage identity, questioning high school stereotypes, rebelling against conformity and authority, and characters coming to terms with hard truths about themselves. The big difference here is that the book looks at these themes through a queer perspective, as well as the self-esteem issues that come with growing up in a homophobic environment.

For most of the book, Robin doesn't really put together that she likes girls. She's constantly infatuated with Tammy Thompson, but she tries framing it in her head as being interested in Tammy only because she's a nice person who's passionate and has a lovely voice. Robin also can't understand why Tammy would be interested in Steve when he barely has any interest in her.

When it finally does hit her that she's attracted to Tammy, she's completely caught off-guard by the epiphany since she's always pegged herself as a logically-thinking person:

This isn't something rooted in logic though, but emotion. I would even argue Robin's initial ignorance about her sexuality was a defense mechanism. Her whole conflict in the book is about trying to survive Hawkins High and blend in so that no one notices her. In the podcast, when she's talking with Mr. Hauser (who's one of the only people at that point who knows Robin's secret and figured it out before she did), she tells him that she deliberately makes herself average and uninteresting because it's the best camouflage. Those who try to be different don't last long, and get eaten up by the metaphorical monster that is "forced conformity" in Hawkins. Robin has seen that with Sheena Rollins, the girl everyone bullies because she's odd (which is sadly similar to the bullying El is subjected to in season 4 by Angela and the students of Lenora High School). Even though there are moments Robin considers stepping in on Sheena's behalf, she's either held back by her so-called friends, or she becomes worried that her intervening is just going to make things worse for Sheena (which, again, is similar to what happens when a teacher intervenes on El's behalf in season 4, and Angela later punishes El for it by publicly humiliating her at Rink-O-Mania).

Side Note: Whenever I see fans make stupid excuses for bullies like Angela by claiming they're children who aren't responsible for their behavior, and it was the lack of adults that's to blame, I wonder if those morons ever factor in how certain adults (like Miss Garvey here) enable people like Angela and other kids to become vicious brats BECAUSE they refuse to step in. When Robin is forced to take the bus later after her parents freak out over Will and Barb's disappearance, there are several instances (in both the book and podcast) where Robin is catcalled and harassed by other guys, and yet the bus driver refuses to do anything about it because they don't care to. "It was the lack of adults" my ass. 🙄

For me, growing up as a gay man who was also in denial about his sexuality for years (similar to Robin), I never had to deal with bullying when I was in high school. I was raised in a Conservative/Republican suburban neighborhood, and in a church that had an anti-homosexual stance, but I never got subjected to the vicious cruelty that Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, El, and Sheena were put through. For the most part, our high school cracked down hard on bullying, and I was never made to feel unsafe when I went there. I was even an AP student and never received grief for it, which is why I find it depressing when Robin tries justifying to Mr. Hauser in the podcast that she won't do AP classes because she wants to go unnoticed. She's lowering herself for people who don't care about her. I know I grew up in a different time period from Robin, and haven't had the same exact experiences she's had, but I have been in her position before of shrinking myself for others, and it is painful.

The irony is it wasn't until later in my life, when I finally accepted myself as homosexual and was moving through college and adulthood, that the homophobia and bullying I got subjected to started.

There are plenty of examples I could give, but one particularly disgusting instance I remember came from a Reddit user who intentionally went out of her way to target me on multiple occasions because I was gay (and because she saw me as an SJW) and did everything in her power at the time to diminish me, make me feel bad about my sexuality, and repeatedly tried to gaslight me into thinking there was something wrong with me. Unfortunately, she is still active online to this day, and continues the same cycle of bullying, belittling others, mocking people for caring about social issues, and then hypocritically positioning herself against bullying. Despite being reported multiple times for her behavior (which continues to be as bigoted and nasty as ever), the Sitewide Administration for Reddit has refused to do a damn thing about it (which I guess shouldn't be surprising since they've also kept up the accounts of users who've literally told others to kill themselves). This happened years ago when I was still new to the internet (having been sheltered from online discourse prior to attending college) and didn't have the skills set and knowledge at the time to deal with condescending assholes like her. I have avoided this user since, and I want nothing to do with her (or Reddit for that matter), but it's experiences like this which have hardened me and made me cynical about people and life in general.

On an unrelated note, it's why I have no sympathy for Angela when El finally has enough of her bullying and smashes her face in with a roller-skate. I don't usually condone violence, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get some dark satisfaction in seeing this moment:

Cry me a river of blood and tears, sweetheart. You deserve it.

Getting back to the review, having read this book and listened to the podcast, I related stronglym with Robin during this. I also grew to appreciate Mr. Hauser. He's the one who encouraged Robin to be herself and not let the small-mindedness of other people keep her down. He's the one who supported her plan to travel to Europe (Operation Croissant) and encouraged Robin to find a companion to go with her because he understood that happiness and memories are better shared with others. There's a very powerful scene in the podcast when Robin is at a low point, having come to believe there's something wrong with her, and Mr. Hauser firmly reassures her that she isn't broken and that she doesn't need to change herself for others.

Hearing that, especially as someone who deals with anxiety and depression on a daily basis, nearly moved me to tears.

I wish there were others out there who had a Mr. Hauser in their lives. I met mine on Tumblr years ago, and I'm grateful to know her. If she's reading this, she knows who she is. :)

I should mention at this point that the companion podcast for the book only covers a specific part of the novel (i.e. Chapters 15-29) and they mostly focus on the conversations between Robin and Mr. Hauser that aren't in the book. They're deep conversations about what it's like living in Hawkins, how the books they're reading relate to their current situations, discussions about other characters like Steve, Barb, and Will, having to work in a rigid system that focuses on molding people into becoming productive members of society, and so on. All of it is wrapped in a mystery surrounding Mr. Hauser that Robin begins to piece together.

I read the book first before I listened to the podcast, so I already had the twist regarding Mr. Hauser spoiled, which made the build-up to the mystery feel redundant. I'm sure the podcast is meant to be listened to at the same time you're reading the book, but I don't think it truly matters which order you go in. Even if you haven't read the book or listened to the podcast, it is EXTREMELY EASY to figure out what Mr. Hauser's secret is. If you've been paying attention to what I've been talking about in this review, you've likely figured it out for yourselves.

In any case, it makes what happens to Mr. Hauser later all the more heartbreaking.

It's also the reason why Robin finally has enough when her plans get derailed, and she finally goes full Rebel Robin: She's sick of trying to survive. She's sick of confining herself to a box for people who either don't care for her, want to use her for their own self-serving purposes (i.e. her former friend Dash), or will criticize her no matter what she does. She also realizes that, for all of her scheming on Operation Croissant, it wasn't going to fix her problems:

I can relate. Recently, I got back from a trip to Italy and Greece. While I had a fun time (and brought back some nice souvenirs and pictures), the issues I've had for years didn't magically go away either. Running away doesn't fix your problems, and sometimes you have to face hard truths if you want to move on. I'm still getting there, and I'm glad Robin was able to get there as well.

The climax of this book comes off as a combination of 10 Things I Hate About You, National Lampoon's Animal House, and Mean Girls: It takes place at a school dance, there's a lot of wacky shenanigans that involve damaged property, a sleazebag who's been the antagonist for most of the story rightfully gets humiliated, and there's some kind of reconciliation. Robin doesn't exactly get what she wants (and her behavior is what causes her to end up working alongside Steve Harrington at Scoop's Ahoy), but she does get catharsis and a special moment where she can be herself with someone who also understands her. After spending most of the book wishing for that, it's at least something for her to hold onto.

Part 2: Robin's Relationship With Other Characters

We get to meet Robin's parents in this novel, who are both hippies from the counterculture movement of the 60s. Robin notes that both of them have traveled around most of their lives (which is one of the reasons she's inspired to create Operation Croissant and travel to Europe), they both have other hippie friends who've been on their own exciting adventures, they are relaxed in their parenting of Robin (to the point Robin admits to feeling like the adult in the family), and they taught Robin to question authority and not trust the government (which comes into play for her during her later adventure with Steve, Erica, and Dustin). However, when Will and Barb disappear, they end up becoming a lot more strict with Robin, confiscating her bike and forcing her to take the bus for her own safety.

While Robin is unhappy, it's understandable why they act like this, and it was absolutely the right call considering what was going on at the time. There's even a scene where Robin has a near encounter with the Demogorgon on the night Will disappears, and only barely avoids the monster:

On top of that, when her parents accidentally discover Robin's plans to run away to Europe, they're rightfully upset about it. They make a bunch of incorrect assumptions, but at the same time, this situation was avoidable if Robin had sat down with her parents beforehand and trusted them with what she was planning. I know Robin tries to justify to herself why she didn't, but even though I wanted Robin to explore Europe, I also understand why her parents reacted the way they did. Robin did not think all aspects of her plan through. If I had pulled what she almost did where I ran away during high school and only called my parents once I reached Paris, I know EXACTLY how that would have gone: Not well.

This book also reveals that Robin used to be friends with Barbara Holland back in grade school, only for them to drift apart later. There were certain factors, from Barb hanging out with Nancy more, to Barb becoming more of an overachiever in academics whereas Robin did not, but it wasn't anything bad that ended their friendship. When Barb disappears, Robin constantly projects this idea that Barb managed to get away from Hawkins and isn't truly missing (which is something Mr. Hauser calls Robin out on in the podcast). It gets pretty uncomfortable to read about, especially when the audience already knows what actually happened to her:

Barb acts as the ghost that's still in the room for many characters. Robin speculates on where she went, Nancy is later found sobbing her eyes out in the theater bathroom by Robin, and there's even a scene at the end of the book where Robin sees Nancy and Steve looking alone and scared. Even though Barb isn't mentioned by name, her presence is there:

I know that when it comes to the show, Barb's death had the biggest impact on Nancy, and it's usually Nancy's grief/guilt that gets the most focus, but I wish we'd gotten to see Robin's reaction to learning about Barb's death. It could have even been a bonding moment between Robin and Nancy when they were working together in season 4. Maybe it'll be talked about in season 5, but I'm not holding my breath.

Robin's former friends (Dash, Kate, and Milton) were a mixed bag. Milton was probably the one I like the best, but I wasn't impressed at him distancing himself from Robin later on because he was looking to date Wendy and didn't want people to spread gossip about him dating Robin. Kate was frustrating, and the way she kept trying to push Robin to date other boys (despite Robin insisting she wasn't interested) didn't impress me. Nor was I impressed with her dating Dash. To her credit, she does wise up and apologize to Robin later on, but I do find it telling that her relationship with Robin deteriorated and that Robin refers to both her and Milton as ex-friends by the end.

Dash is straight-up awful. I will talk more about him in the second post for this review, but his character struck a nerve. For all of his posturing about being an intellectual nerd, he's a sleazy womanizer (similar to Billy Hargrove) and a serial cheater. I loathe him the same way I hate Billy, Angela, and Dr Brenner.

Something I appreciated with this book is how it goes out of its way to invert the social dynamic with certain characters. I've seen criticisms before about how the popular kids on Stranger Things are always portrayed as monstrous, and the nerds/outcasts as the heroes, which isn't completely true. Chrissy Cunningham for instance was one of the most popular girls at Hawkins High, and yet was shown to be a sweet (if troubled) person. Steve, despite some initial hiccups, also demonstrated himself to be a good guy, willing to own up to his behavior and put his life on the line for others. By contrast, Henry/One/Vecna portrayed himself to El as being a social outcast growing up, and yet is not only a straight-up sociopath with no empathy for remorse for his actions, but ultimately the Big Bad of the series.

In Rebel Robin, Tammy Thompson is popular in school and has a circle of popular friends, but she's also a kind individual. She's repeatedly nice to Robin, and goes out of her way to talk to Sheena at one point to help her after she gets bullied again. By contrast, Dash labels himself as a band geek/nerd, and yet reveals himself as one of the most condescending, unkind individuals in the series. It's a major reason Robin washes her hands of him, and wants nothing to do with Dash when he shows his true colors. All of this adds a little complexity to the series beyond Popular = Bad and Nerd/Outcast = Good.

And then there's Steve himself: Even though Robin thinks about him in a negative light for most of the novel, I can only recall one or two instances where they briefly interact before the Epilogue (which is when Robin starts working for Scoops Ahoy).

I've seen fans repeatedly debate whether Steve was a bully to others pre-season 1, and the answer this book gives is a firm NO. Steve's shown to be self-absorbed and insensitive at times, but not vicious to others the same way bullies like Troy, Billy, and Angela were. He wasn't malicious, and he didn't go out of his way to torment others for his amusement. At one point, in the podcast, Mr. Hauser point-blank asks Robin if Steve's bullied her, and she denies it. Part of Robin's feelings against Steve are her projecting her issues on to him, part of it is making assumptions about him without the whole context (like when she thinks Steve made Nancy cry at the movie theater when Nancy was actually crying over Barb's death), and part of her dislike occasionally has some merit (like when Steve runs into Robin in the hallway during the podcast and acts like a douche).

All of this makes Steve and Robin bonding with one another in season 3 feels more meaningful. She gets to see a different side to Steve after constantly assuming that people don't change, and he comes to value her as a friend. She shared her secret with him (albeit under the influence of the Russian truth serum), and not only did he accept her for who she was and kept her secret, but also encouraged her to start dating Vickie in season 4. He's the friend she deserves to have.

Assuming that both Robin and Steve survive season 5, I'd love to see Robin fulfill her dream of traveling to Europe, and that she takes Steve with her. He's the true companion to have while they visit museums, cafes, the countryside, and eat plenty of croissants. 🥐

Overall, I strongly recommend both the book and podcast. Both are entertaining and quick to get through, both enhance the show and Robin's character while adding new details, and both are great examples of LGBT+ representation.

To be continued in Part 2..........

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obsidiancreates · 9 months

Text

Alone Together

(CoS and Icebound spoilers)

When Skrimm died, he didn't end up sucked to hell.

He would've been relieved, but he was dead. So he wasn't much of anything.

Whatever claim was on his soul was blocked, somehow, and he simply Died. And it took this time, unlike when he was eaten alive by that monster on the river. Just a corpse, and then a skeleton, and then nothing more.

Until he blinked awake.

Awake in an unfamiliar place, next to a newborn Tiefling baby, floating.

Skrimm looks around.

He's alone.

"Oh, what the fuck is this?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He watches Shepherd drink, face in his hands as he sits on the bar counter. He sighs. "Ya' know, I miss that almost as much as I miss my friends. At least if I could drink, I could blackout and forget I'm alone for a while."

Shepherd didn't respond, of course. He never does, unless it's a dream, and even then Skrimm is always a little unsure how to converse with the guy. Maybe if he'd popped in when Shepherd was already grown up that'd be different, but he's been stuck with the guy since he was a baby. He'd seen some shit he... wishes he hadn't. If he thought watching Barnabos's memories all those years ago was a lot to handle...

But he's not Shepherd's friend, nor some guardian spirit. He's tried, oh boy, has he tried. He knows other ghosts can usually go something, even just little things, but not him.

It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't alone.

Not for the first time since waking up, Skrimm scowls and mutters "Fuck you, Jack."

Because that's the only thing he can think of. The only reason he might be stuck in this nothingness. Why he's connected to this random Teifling, he doesn't know, but it has to be some twisted game, like The Hound.

Shepherd, still unaware, just sips his mug again. Skrimm groans. "Come onnnn, you've barely touched the stuff! You're torturing me here! If you're gonna sit in a dark corner of a bar, you might as well get absolutely tanked while you're at it! Otherwise I'm just watching you brood!"

Nothing.

Skrimm groans again and flops onto his back, splayed dramatically atop the bar with no-one to witness his theatrical displeasure. He hears the doors swing open, and looks up to see-

Just a couple of humans. Great. Out-of-towners for sure, with their fancy outfits. The human man's tophat has Skrimm absentmindedly pulling on his own hat, a little self-conscious despite the invisibility.

And then the man's eyes fall on Shepherd. They narrow, and he says to his companion, louder than he probably thinks he's being, for her to be cautious, as someone "might not be who he thought they were."

The hat comes off as he approaches, awkwardly sidling up to the seat next to Shepherd and looking more out of place than Taishen in the snowbanks.

"Ah, whoa, whoa, hey." Skrimm gets back up, walking over to look down at the human man. "Fuck off buddy, you can't just say what really sounded like anti-Teifling shit and wander right up to us."

Unaware as the rest of the world, the man simply clears his throat and asks Shepherd how he's doing, and Shepherd just... answers and asks the same.

"What?!" Skrimm looks between them. "Are you kidding me! Shepherd, buddy, this guy is not our kind of person!"

The human man tries to order a brandy, instantly enraging the barkeep.

"See?! He's going to get us cut off, oh gods, for the love of all that is holy to yourself and everyone I've ever known, please get away from him!"

Shepherd just listens with a faint smirk as the human fumbles with his words, asking if he knows anyone named "Shepherd". With a small laugh and a smirk, Shepherd confirms it, because it's him.

"You obviously knew that already," Skrimm growls at the human. "What's your game here, huh? Playing innocent about something? Trying to get us to lower our guards, huh?!"

"Professor Clayton Azran, pleasure to meet you!"

"Ah, you're the professor then, I've been waitin' for you."

"Wait, what? Since when?" Skrimm stares open-mouthed at Shepherd. "What the hell are you doing when I'm not paying attention?! You took a job from this guy?!"

Skrimm sits, fuming, for the rest of the conversation. Especially when this "Clayton" just pulls out a sack of coin and puts it on the bar without even trying to hide it.

"Oh gods, he's gonna get you killed," Skrimm mumbles. "I don't trust this guy as far as Barnabos could throw me. At least Victoria there knows to look around the fucking bar!"

He gets more amusement than is right out of seeing Clayton so easily lied to by the bartender about the price, and even more seeing Vitoria have to point it out before Clayton realizes what's happening.

"I mean no offense ma'am, ya got some pretty eyes-"

"Oh, she'll kill you for that-"

"Thank you."

"Oh. ... Gods, I miss Queenie."

"Just name a number and I'll pay it, I'm confused!" Clayton ends up saying.

"Shepherd, this guy is literally the easiest mark I've ever seen. Please just rob him blind and let's get home, how's that sound?"

It sounds like nothing to Shepherd, who probably wouldn't dream of robbing someone that way even if Skrimm literally showed up in said dream to make it happen.

Sure enough, Shepherd says it's not about the money, and Skrimm groans and flops onto his back again as Shepherd follows up with "I mean it when I say I'm goin' to protect you, especially the young woman."

"Pretty sure she can handle herself," Skrimm says, watching Victoria keep an eye on the people around them. "This asshole's going to be way more trouble, I can feel it. Who doesn't tell their fucking hired weapon about how big their group is gonna be? See, she's lecturing the guy now, she can look after herself. I'd never be able to get a single copper out of her. Gods, this bartender is intrusive."

"I do have several questions for you, Professor."

"And I have several questions for you!"

"You'll find he's, full of questions."

"He's like a worse version of Manny," Skrimm deadpans, now laying on his stomach and glaring at Clayton (and the bartender, whenever he speaks. Whatever that guy's deal is, he needs to chill the fuck out.)

When Shepherd says he's not expecting too much trouble, Skrimm barks out a laugh. He knows trouble, knows it far better than he wants to, and he can smell it coming, quickly, and in large quantities.

And then his head snaps back to Shepherd as Clayton begins touching Shepherd's horns.

Shepherd says it's okay, but Skrimm has his ghostly Brutal Blade passing through Clayton's neck over and over, spitting curses as it does nothing. Tonight when Shepherd falls asleep, Skrimm is going to be going on a rant.

For some reason Shepherd actually leaves the bar with these two instead of yanking the gold and booking it. Skrimm imagines this is what it feels like to be a disappointed parent.

They. Spend. Days. With these people. As each one passes, Skrimm decides he hates Clayton more and more, and decides Victoria must have some ulterior motive for willingly being the man's assistant.

And now they're picking up another person. From a creepy, horrific, definitely-haunted woods.

"We're turning back now, right?" Skrimm ways, sitting on Shepherd's head and looking down. "The horrifying distant lantern lights are the last straw here, right?!"

They aren't. Skrimm thinks he'd be having a heart attack if he was still alive.

"If you trust this man, Professor, I trust you-"

"Why?! Why would you ever trust him?! If anything that makes this mystery guy less trustworthy! I swear to the nine hells, the next thing we know he's going to be saying this guy is a some kind of-"

"-they might be what you would call a cult."

"... Okay, cultist was not my guess, I'll be honest. What the fuck, Shepherd. Why are we still here?! ... Oh, and the bird people above hate outsiders and ground dwellers, great! This is so fucked up, at least my whole fucking ordeal was unwilling. You just walked right in, all by your own choosing! I thought you were smarter than this. I really did."

Clayton asks Victoria if knowing her a month or two is enough to be on a first-name basis, and Skrimm remembers how after knowing his friends for, really only one actual night and then just passing meetings afterward, he'd been planning ways to break all of them out of prison together.

Then again, this is Clayton. So Skrimm would probably say No if he was the one being asked right now.

"Miss Isaacs, I'm with you, I don't judge-"

"I do. This whole thing sucks. Where the fuck is the cultist guide, we gotta get this over with. ... Oh. Oh, gods, no."

When Clayton said Cultist, he really meant Cultist. Everything about this man puts Skrimm on edge, from the strange lantern to the grimy robe to the smile.

And as Sarnax's self-introduction goes on, he goes from On Edge to over it. If he was alive, this would be about the time he'd try to Glimpse this strange new... companion. But he's not alive, and his magic hasn't worked for Shepherd's entire life, and it doesn't start working now.

"Oh gods, he's getting closer, back up back up back up! Where the fuck did you survival instinct go?! BACK UP! Don't shake his ha- you shook his hand. That's it, we're fucked."

"Sarnax, can we trust you?"

"Finally, you're using your fucking brain! No we cannot! This guy is way too obsessed with fire and dragons, okay?! I knew a guy who literally got fire magic directly from a fucking dragon, and he was nowhere near this weird about it, okay? Big fucking difference, and-and Taishen had a lot more reason to be weird about fire."

And then they follow him into the dark and dangerous forest. And they set up camp. And Shepherd fall asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, hey!" Skrimm barrels right into the dream, storming through whatever it was before, the whole environment turning into the deck of a ship sunk so long ago that only the dead remember it now. He storms right up to Shepherd, climbs up, and scowls in his face. "What the fuck are you getting yourself into?!"

"Get offa me!" Shepherd tries to yank Skrimm off, but Skrimm's been working with dreams for decades now. He keeps a tight hold, unmoving. "What in the nine hells!"

"Yeah, that's exactly where you're sending us! This professor is either a moron, a secret evil mastermind, or both, that 'guide' you just met is a fucking pyromaniac, and the only person with any gods-damned sense in this whole group is the person who's job is to just be an assistant! This 'archeological dig' is about to be your fucking gravesite if you don't book it right now!"

"What in the hell-"

"Don't even try to fucking argue with me on this, look around us when you wake up! We're in the middle of fucking nowhere, you didn't tell Doc all the details because you didn't know all the details, and we are surrounded by weirdos!"

"I'm not turnin' my back on them! I was hired to protect 'em, and I will!"

"I love money as much as anyone, but this can't be worth it! You gotta feel like you're walking into danger, I do and I'm not even doing the walking!"

"I'm not leavin' 'em vulnerable and alone."

"But you will be safe and home!"

"I don't even know who you are!"

"I'm your fucking common sense, apparently! Do you know how bad things have to be for me to be the common sense?!"

It goes on, around and around, and Skrimm just can't get through to him. The whole night spent on that ill-fated ship, arguing as storms rage silently around them, and as Shepherd starts to wake up-

Oh, that sound. Wood crashing against ice. Cracking, breaking, ending.

He'll never forget that sound.

Shepherd wakes up, gasping a little. Skrimm sits next to him, staring at the dirt.

That sound once spelled out the death of dozens.

Skrimm hopes against hope that it's not an omen.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's two days into the dig that Shepherd is sat beside Sarnax, watching the woods, the two together merely because Victoria and Clayton as busy sketching the ruins.

Sarnax has already done his obligatory preaching at Shepherd, and it's been silent since.

An awkward silence.

Something snaps a twig in the woods, and Shepherd's hand goes right to his hip. A moment later, a fat mouse scurries out of the trees and into a hole in the ground.

Shepherd relaxes, just a bit, as Sarnax eyes him.

"Do you fear something is coming, Shepherd?"

"No, no. Just a little... on edge."

"Yes, you are. You have been on edge since yesterday."

"... Been havin' unusual dreams, is all. ... Standin' on a big ship while it's stormin', and some little fuckin'... I can't remember what it is, but it's screamin' at me that I'm gonna die, and it don't mean the ship. And right before I wake up, it crashes."

Sarnax raises his lantern, peering closely at Shepherd. "... I, too, have dreamt of a ship in a storm. I am visited by a large figure, something I know to be... the opposite, of my god's purifying flame. It has tried, throughout my life, to turn me away from Gherix, and my order."

"Really?"

"It speaks in a bellowing voice, unlike any I have known. It tells me that I am being mislead, and am denied what I need to have freedom, and choice."

"And... what do you make of these dreams?"

"I believe they are sent to mislead me. They are from a being that wishes to deter me from Gherix's path, and cannot be trusted. When I dream of this ship, I awaken feeling stronger than ever in my faith."

"... And you think mine might be the same. Misleadin'."

"I do."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skrimm stares up at Sarnax.

He tries to find something. Anything. Any hint that Sarnax might be-

That Barnabos is-

It's absurd. It's impossible! Skrimm is here because his soul is fucked up, right? ... But maybe, maybe it wasn't Jack. What if he's here because of his death from The Spirit? Barnabos was eaten too, so-

But Sarnax is so... not Barnabos.

... Then again, Shepherd is not Skrimm.

But if Barnabos were here, why wouldn't Skrimm be able to see him? They're both ghosts, right? Presumably for the same reason? So he can't be here.

... But a ship in a storm, a large bellowing figure, ranting about freedom and choice...

It's too coincidental to be a coincidence, right?

"Y'know, the professor seems to know a bit about omens." Shepherd looks back at the ruins. "Maybe we outta ask him his opinion on these dreams."

"I do not need his opinion on my dreams. I am sure of what they mean."

"Right. I meant mostly mine, and maybe you just mention yours bein' similar."

"You began having these dreams of the ship only last night, did you not?"

"I did."

"After your first time coming to know of Gherix's burning light."

"... I suppose I can't say you're wrong about that, but I'm not jumpin' to any conclusions just yet, Sarnax."

It a few hours until Clayton and Victoria finally come back for dinner around the campfire, and Shepherd comes right out with the questions.

"-ends up sinkin'. Now I don't usally go puttin' too much weight onto dreams, professor, but this feels different, and you've had a few cases on this journey of knowin' things just before they happen. I want your input on this."

Clayton's jaw is tight as he stares into his meal. "... I... won't like to you, Shepherd, this is... deeply concerning." He looks up, as though searching the stars for answers. "I have also had dreams about a ship in a storm, much like you've described, and a large figure giving me warnings."

Sarnax leans forward slightly, the focus of his lantern's light all on Clayton. "Does it bellow, professor?"

"No, no, quite the opposite. It speaks in flat tones, and though I cannot tell you what this figure looks like I can tell you that it is something old, and wise. I've been warned against many courses of action, and... even reprimanded for others. It speaks to me as shortly as possible, in an accent I've... never been able to place. I'd always assumed it was some... manifestation of my inner turmoils, or perhaps my magic leaking into my sleeping mind."

Shepherd leans forward, resting on arm on his knee. "And now?"

"... Now, hearing that you have had similar dreams... I wonder if something else might be at play." Clayton looks into his meal again. "... I'll see if I brought any books with me about prophetic dreams. It's... all I can offer at the moment. But if you both would like me to continue looking into it after this expedition, I'd invite you to accompany me back to the university. We could study this much more effectively there."

"I do not know if I would be willing... or welcomed, so far from the Edelwood. I would need to consult with my order."

"An I don' know about goin' that far from home without knowin' how long I'd be gone just for some dreams, Professor."

"Of course, of course. Take your time to consider it. In the meanwhile, if we could continue comparing our experiences throughout this expedition, perhaps even noting them down! Victoria, if you wouldn't mind- in fact, have you any dream experience to add to this?"

She shakes her head, already noting down the stories at Clayton's request. "I've never had any dreams like yours."

"Even more mysterious." Clayton picks at his meal instead of eats it, lost in thought for the rest of the waking night.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skrimm gapes.

"No. No no no, no. That's not possible." Skrimm climbs up Clayton and tries to rap his knuckles against the man's forehead, but of course his hand just goes right through. "Jornir! Are you stuck in this bastard's head?!"

No answer. Just like there was no answers from Barnabos all day.

"There's no way you have Jornir following you around," Skrimm says, trying to grab Clayton by the cheekbones. "You're the least trustworthy person I've ever met, including myself! ... Alright, I'm maybe stretching it there, but you're not trying to be untrustworthy and that makes it like, ten times worse. And Jornir was the most reliable person I ever knew, even when it was really, really irritating for him to be!"

Skrimm climbs up to stand on the top of Clayton's hat and scans around them. "If you've got Jornir haunting you, he's got even less input than I do."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mr. Jornir?" Barnabos waves his hand in front of Clayton's face. He walks around him in a circle, puts his hands to his mouth, and shouts as loudly as he can, "MR. JORNIR, CALL OUT IF YOU'RE WITH US, OR SEND A SIGN FROM YOUR GODS!"

Nothing. No signs from Jornir, nor The Triad. Barnabos puts hsi hands down and waits.

Still... nothing. The world is deaf to him, blind to him, dead to him.

"Aye, I knew it was too good to be true. Still just us, then." He turns back to Sarnax. "I wonder if Mr. Fireblossom 'ould be able to get through to you. Suppose I'll try somethin' new tonight. Maybe try to make it li' that Kolbold bonfire this time."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jornir sits cross-legged beside Clayton and heaves out a great, heavy sigh.

"There is no hope, then." He looks once more at Shepherd and Sarnax, and sees only them.

No-one familiar.

"If you are here," he says, raising his eye to the starry sky. "May the gods guide us all. I know... we will need it."

#legends of avantris #curse of strahdanya #icebound #skrimm stabbaskotch #silas “shepherd” morgan #fanfic #my attempts at fanfic

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rjshepofftheshits · 1 year

Text

Ok real talk tho, here is how they can improve dead space 3 for a remake.

Less focus on saving the world and more focus on the characters. i want to see isaac and ellie try to repair their relationship, i want to see carver go from grumpy git to isaacs friend and i want to see robert norton go from a good man with good intentions to someone who cracks under pressure, not because of some dumb jealousy thing with Isaac. if you were feeling REALLY spicy you could even make Danik a reasonable if categorically wrong man who eventually goes absolutely fruit loops by the end instead of starting out that way.

give isaac more story besides running after ellie. i know saving people, particularly the women in his life is a running theme with mr clarke, we do stan a feminist king. but he was perfectly capable of doing everything in dead space 1 WHILE ALSO looking for Nicole, his every other word wasn't about her. Dead space 3 makes me feel like he is only capable of pining after ellie and that is just not him. Isaac and ellie were together for 2-3 years, he knows her and he knows she can look after herself, it's the rest of the fucking universe that needs his competence and intelligence, not her. and if you must go this way, please don't make it another rescue mission. Again, ellie is a survivor and an intelligent person maybe even as smart as isaac she does not need saving.

also give the girl back her sports bra im sick of the cleavage. how she jumped 3 cup sizes is beyond me.

keep carver in the story but make him either an AI companion or do what NIER : Automata or RE2MAKE did. you play all the way through as isaac, then as carver and then once again as whoever for the ending OR you play all the way to the end as Isaac and then on a second playthrough you can be Carver and the way that you played as Isaac is now how your ai partner isaac behaves.

do not lock Carvers story behind coop missions. i know visceral didnt want to do this, they were made to by ea but still it seems like a dumb move even on their part. Carver didnt need to be there but since he is, why are you hiding that light under a bushel ea???

big one: get rid of the micropayments and retool the fucking weapons and combat. most of the guns are like water pistols and the necromorphs tank hits like brick shithouses. i know SCAF weapons are 200 years old by the time of dead space 3 but like. Isaac is smart enough to make a ripper, a line cutter and a plasma cutter on its own without bolting them together.

do not hide the true ending behind a dlc paywall. i think i was the only person on the planet that actually liked Awakened, better than the base game too. so it pains me to say that it didnt need to exist: either cut it completly and use it as the opening for dead space 4 or merge it into the ending of dead space 3 somehow.

lastly i think the story needs some tweaking. if we look at the progression it goes > outbreak on one ship > outbreak on a station> universe wide outbreaks everyone is doomed. now granted i understand you need to escate things for sequels but i just dont feel the same gravity of the situation in 3 as a did in 1 or 2. we never see the world outside isaacs pov which is fine but i would still like to see some of the world before it got fucked over a picket fence by the unitologists. the only glimpses we get are in text logs and it would make me feel more urgency to save the world if i actually knew what the world was like.

Continuing on with my story point: isaac needs some tweaks. he is a broken and cynical man by 3 which is very fair given all hes gone through but he is also a savior and defender at heart. no, he didnt ask for any of this but since he's stuck in this situation you know damn well he is going to do his best to fix this. I always found it weird that Isaac was essentially suicidal by the time of 3s opening, he was killing himself with indifference and clearly not looking after himself but when Norton comes knocking he still says "find someone else for your suicide mission" outright refusing all of it until ellie is mentioned. why didnt norton open with "ellie is in trouble, she sent us to get you to help" ? and why did isaac flat out refuse if he didnt care about his own life???

all this to say i would very much like to see isaac living a somewhat normal life after 2. ok maybe hes still depressed and alone but hes also still trying to move on, anything better to explain his reluctance to get dragged back into things . Maybe instead of having isaac backed into a corner and avoiding the world it could be more of a case of "i fucking told you so" like the mass effect series. Isaac has spent 2 games telling everyone who will listen "do not fuck with the markers" and now maybe he could be really fucking annoyed that no one has listened and as the only competent man in the galaxy hes got to go sort this shit out on principal.

here also are some things id just like to see.

Isaac struggling with his marker problem less like psychosis and more like a general disability or chronic illness. yes it sucks ass and yes its disabling but hes still a badass despite it. i dont like the wooohhhoooo mental illness scary vibes i get from other marker touched people like stross. thats just not how it works.

isaac with psysical scars from his time in project teleomere/ the hospital in dead space 2. i would like to see him with wounds from the first game healed and also maybe some marker scrawl on him as a permenant reminder of what happened.

id like to see ellie have a more active role or even be a playable character. doesnt have to be a big thing, do something like the born from a wish scenario in silent hill 2, maybe cover the 2 weeks she was lost in space before ds3 takes place.

id like to see the necromorph process slowed down. it happens so fast its almost meaningless, not to mention unbelievable. if it happens over time and the characters can see and react to it happening that has more emotional impact.

In the ending where carver and Isaac get blown off the platform, I want to see them holding hands to stay together.

if i think anymore ill put them in the reblogs or something

but yeah ea hit me up im ready to advise

or if ur not ea and just wana chat shite about dead space you can hit me up too

#shut up shepherd #dead space #dead space remake #dead space 3 #isaac clarke #john carver #ellie langford #robort norton

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okayto · 1 year

Text

Mini-Review: Romantic Killer

Living her best single life, romance is the last thing on Anzu’s mind — until a tiny match-making wizard suddenly turns her life into a clichéd romcom.

Came across a trailer for this and then said, "That's either going to be really good, or really bad." My companion agreed and suggested I test it out and let them know whether it was terrible or not.

Anzu Hoshino is a high schooler with no interest in romance, preferring to spend her free time playing games, eating chocolate, and enjoying the presence of her beloved cat, Momohiki. Unfortunately, when she tries a new game one day, it turns out to be crap, used by a magical creature named Riri as a way to introduce Anzu's new life: due to Japan's declining birthrate, the romantically-uninterested Anzu's life is going to be like a dating sim until she falls in love with someone! And if she doesn't? Say goodbye to Momohiki forever.

Anzu's reaction is understandable.

So, back to my initial hesitancy: "you have to fall in love! Heterosexual relationships are the goal" is obviously a really skeevy theme, and when you're a person who is always happy with aromantic and/or asexual representation in fiction (hi, it's me, I'm a person), it can make you leery. And Anzu can definitely be read as aro/ace, but what's interesting is that you don't have to, the setup is patently absurd and knows it's ridiculous regardless of her orientation.

Some mysterious wizard council decided that a 10th grader needed to be in a romantic relationship or risk losing things she loved. It's compulsory heterosexuality: this character could be aro, ace, aro/ace, gay, or even just a ~15-year-old straight girl who currently has no interest in dating or romance. All of those options are viable, completely normal, and drive home how fucked up the concept of "threaten a teenager so she'll eventually get pregnant" is. (To be clear, the show doesn't dwell on anything beyond "you need to be in a romantic relationship," but even there it's clear that the show recognizes this is a ridiculous proposition.)

Anzu is impossible not to like: she's a happy, healthy teen who really likes what she likes (gaming, chocolate, cats), doesn't care much about what others think but isn't a misanthrope, and her reaction to being told "treat your life like a dating sim or never see your cat again" is to swear revenge on the wizard and do everything in her power to avoid engaging with any of the concocted plots, even as they reach cheap-fiction levels of believability, much to her disgust.

Potential love interest has to move in with her because of Reasons? Time to be Unattractive!

And the thing is, because of Anzu's determination to never get anywhere close to a romantic scenario, the people she meets are able to understand she's a safe person to be around--the first guy she meets, for instance is always having girls ask him out or try to get close--and engage with her without having to worry about hidden motives.

Anzu's determination means she is committed to not putting on a facade, which lets her personality and character shine through. Add to that some Riri-concocted scenarios that force Anzu to spend time with other characters in improbable situations, and what you get is a really, really fun and often-humorous story.

The guys themselves also turn out to be good, fun characters. They get introduced to the plot as obvious love interests, but none of them were conjured out of magic and thus they all have their own reasons to continuing to be around Anzu (although the continual magic contrivances of Riri certainly help them keep their exposure up anyway).

The ironic thing is that Riri's terrible game definitely does enrich Anzu and Kazuki's (potential love interest #1) lives, without question: Anzu gains new friends she enjoys spending time with, Kazuki does too, in a way that he's not been able to enjoy with many people before. The other potential love interests' lives are similarly enriched...but it's never because of romance! Really, this show is a good look at the power of friendship and just community in general.

And while Anzu probably would've been fine if the whole thing had never happened--while she was kinda a loner after-school, there's no evidence that she was harming herself or setting up any future problems (which is, obviously, part of what makes the wizards' scenario so stupid)--Kazuki is a different matter. I don't want to say much because of spoilers, but it's clear early on that he's not just a loner because of his personality, but he's lived through some dark experiences that makes him want to stay away from any kind of relationship talk too.

It's great, and while the story wraps up nicely, I would watch so much more.

Please, I am begging the Powers That Be: give us a season 2 where Anzu and the gang go after the wizard council. Friend hijinks and cartoon violence, it's a match made in heaven. Please.

Verdict

English dub? Yes!

Visuals: Shiny and modern! Except for Riri's game, but that's intentionally bad. Anzu's many faces are very funny as well.

Worth watching? Yes. And I would watch another season, even though the story wrapped up fine. Give me more of this lovely friend group of weirdos who love each other.

Where to watch (USA, as of March 2023): Netflix (sub and dub)

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

#Romantic Killer #anime #reviews #recommendation

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rodolfoparras · 2 months

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Right?!?? Calling it predatory is beyond awful and it just reeks of vilifying queer people. We aren't safe from it in every day life and now we aren't safe in our online spaces too?? Particularly in a space we curated for us because we want to write and discuss our queer fics?? And the sheer irony of (presumably) straight woman saying we are acting like a woman in gay bar like.....GIRL- GIRL ARE YOU HEARING YOURSELF-

And the twitter situation omg I have to briefly rant. Someone I follow commented on (albeit 2 years old) post of this straight girlie who was whining about the fact that character she likes was confirmed gay and how she wanted to keep drawing him in straight ship with her female self insert but people were mad at her for doing so. Like no shit 😭 she kept doing it for months after and I think she eventually stopped but like erasing character's sexuality like that when he canonically struggled with being gay too is just gross.

And my gods- girlies acting like Astarion is straight and guys acting like Shadowheart is straight is bane of my existence when all companions are canonically queer!!

As for games, Imma finally be able to properly play all of my favourite games because my laptop is so fucking old that it takes forever to play Sims 4 (admittedly I do have billion mods) let alone something else. I only played BG3 on my bestie's PC and I'll finally be able to do it properly 😭 I swear the only game I don't have any problems with playing on current laptop is Monster Prom. I tried playing Resident Evil 4 (another big hyperfixation) and it was so ungodly slow.

-🔮

Right?! And it’s literally on the verge of painting us as PREDATORS for writing fics? Like come on love both me and you know you aren’t that stupid to think what I do is predatory 💀

Also yes!! Like I said a privilege take to make by a straight woman 😭 like the self insert community isn’t a sacred straight space and fanfiction as a whole is not even a straight space 😭

Some ppl will never stop fascinating me bc I don’t understand this obsession straight people have with canonically queer characters. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an exclusively lesbian character and gone “let me make a male insert fic for her” like there is a whole lot of entitlement there. Not to mention how these little self inserts they make are always catered to white women. There was a Valentine’s Day cod post and i believe all characters except for gaz’s partner were white they will literally do anything to ensure there’s content for them

Also I can imagine how slow sims must’ve been my friend who has a good game set up still has issues with the game and I cant even imagine your situation also resident evil sounds like sm fun to play! I’ve only watched play through but I’ve loved every one of them!

#alec answers #🔮 anon

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justapixelthing · 10 months

Text

Do you ever have moments where you hate your favorite ship? (Another Oot Zelink rant - electric boogaloo)

Here we go again I guess. For some context: I grew up with Ocarina of Time. I played the game since before I could even read (I was like 4 for sure). I had kind of a rough childhood so for me Oot was an escape. Link was my childhood friend. I identified with him but at the same time saw him as my closest companion.

And well to little me there was no doubt that Link and Zelda were a thing. Same with Mario and Peach (SM 64 was there at the same time for me). Like it was clear as day to me. I was a child and it shaped the way I would end up liking my relationships. A hero and the princess. And I even ended up getting my hero in real life and he likes to call me his princess. We've been engaged for a while now.

So because I grew up with it, before I even understood what shipping was, it was more than a ship to me. It was my childhood. My reality.

You also have to realize that before TP came out and even for several years after TP was there, oot Zelink was also still very popular.

Then closer to today, we have things like Hyrule Historia and.... Zelda youtubers all saying the same thing of how the Hero of Time canonically marries Malon (which ... is still a theory. Like youtubers saying it's what happens and not marking it as theory doesn't make it canon) and the majority of the fandom treats it as fact. And okay, I get why the theory is popular, though I still think it should be treated as theory.

But now you have everyone going against you. Oot Zelink content is most of the time depressing tragic and painful content. What once used to be stories of love and peace faded out for the most part. When you write a fic about oot Zelink being happy together or make art about it, people will tell you 'but Link banged Malon' and worse things. Like I'm not here to tell you Malink is impossible, but I do think (and I will die on that hill) that oot Zelink IS possible. But then I get insulted over it. Hell someone called me the T slur over it.

I'm not blind to the hints, but these two are engraved into my mind. And sometimes I actually DO wish I could stop shipping them and wish they would stop affecting me. But they don't because they were part of my growing up process. Now when I see content about them, things like simple tweets or opinions or even just Oot content in general, it can put me into total agony. Oot used to be one of my favorite games and now just looking at it can ruin my mood and put me at unease. All the hero's shade content basically feels as If I'm watching my childhood friend die over and over again (which is whole different topic in itself) and all the tragic oot Zelink content rips my heart out. All this also made me feel unable to really like TP, which is a shame, as it introduced some of my favorite things.

What also hurts is, that as a child I really liked Malon. She was one of the things in my life that inspired me to sing. But this whole situation and the way several fans are has made me detest her. I try to like her but I basically have to force myself to do so.

I'm never going to attack you for having a different ship than mine (unless its illegal). But this situation is really hard on me. I wish I could agree with Malinkers but I probably never will.

Who knows, maybe I am delusional. But seeing as Nintendo never has and likely never will confirm Malink and has pushed oot Zelink (Oot 3d promotional manga? Approving of the mangas that push oot Zelink, which includes the TP manga? Miyamoto literally saying he'd like to see Zelda as Links girlfriend in oot?! The whole ending of the game literally being set up like a romance film with a break up and a reunion!?) you can't tell me Nintendo never intended anything romantic to come from them. And using this I still feel in the right to ship them in a non AU way.

But because of how the situation is, I no longer like Oot as much as I used to. It was once the greatest game ever to me and I still objectively consider it as such, but it isn't as it used to be for me. Sometimes I even wish It didn't exist (though that would be a great injustice to the world if it didn't), because it upsets me too much. I hate seeing my childhood friend die and not get what he deserves. I detest the tragic oot Zelink path (though I do not mean to tell anyone that they shouldn't like it - this is just my personal experience and I get why others like it).

I do like some other things that are tragic - I mean one of my favorite films is Titanic, but I guess I grew up with those things already being tragic (imagine Titanic not being tragic! A literal historical disaster!)

It is shocking how much a simple thing like a ship and a character's fate can affect you mentally. Things that are part of your childhood, even fictional stories, can shape you quite strongly.

So yes, sometimes I hate this ship. Sometimes I love it, but when I love it, I usually need to be far away from the fandom.

I wonder if anyone else feels that way about this or another ship?

#pixel rants #oot zelink #oot #text post #why is a ship doing this to me #this is maybe too personal #so I might delete #shipping is serious business #shipping is a pain #I wish I could stop #My degree is half psychology #so I'm sort of analyzing my own psyche

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queen-freya0 · 10 months

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I truly believe Zelda, as a franchise, needs to evolve. And I don't mean technically, gameplay-wise, but in its story. I love Zelda, I have fun with every single game it comes out and it's the franchise I've spent more time playing, however, I've to admit that it's the same thing over and over and over again with kinda different features and characters here and there.

The formula is pretty simple: we have our Hero, who is usually a normal guy, or maybe he's already somewhat skilled, who has to embark on a new adventure because he sees himself forced to do so by an evil force who directly affects him (threat to home, kidnapping of sister, best friend in danger, etc.); there may be a princess in the middle to rescue or maybe not; we have an evil, evil villain who wants to rule them all; and also probably a companion of another species who guides the Hero throughout the journey. After gaining new abilities, items and power, the Hero defeats the evil villain and everyone is in peace.

It's been like 30 years of this and, don't misunderstand me, I'm not complaining at all, but I believe we can go forwards. What if the Hero is so incapacitated this time the princess has to step up and we accompany her instead for, maybe, the first part of the game? Or what if the evil villain is not exactly that evil? What if someone remembers their past life?

I want more development to the depth such a story of reincarnation, curses and three souls attached together in an eternal fight can have. There's so many artists out there who manage to make the most beautiful, heart-warming and interesting stories out there, like MajorLink, my favourite out there with his amazing movie-like scenes.

However, let's be real, Nintendo would never, lol. I don't blame them, I dare to say practically all of the people in charge are devs, programmers, engineers, etc, people who are focused on the technicality of everything and would rather focus on giving us improvement on that area. Which is not wrong, totally cool actually, but we could also innovate in other fields, story-wise.

#legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #zelda #tears of the kingdom #link #loz tears of the kingdom #princess zelda #loz #loz link #loz fandom

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melverie · 2 months

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for the wip ask game

Flower on a High Peak? Days Long Past?

and why does it sound so interesting👀

~@too-much-gacha

Aaaahhh candy!! I'm so sorry this took a bit but Flower on a High Peak drove me crazy because I could not for the life of me come up with a good summary that didn't involve explaining half of Assassination Classroom?? Only to then remember that almost all of the actual plot of AssClass plays the most minor of roles imaginable in my fic???? Sometimes I don't think when I start working on things

ANYWAY onto the fics

Flower on a High Peak (fanfic)

As mentioned, this is one of the two fanfics that aren't Obey Me-related, but rather for Assassination Classroom! I at one point used to have like.....15-ish AssClass WIPs at once? Someone help me 😭

((Also, real quick--Asano is the family name))

Anyway, it's about Asano who has had a ghost companion called Ikeda ever since he was four years old. They are bound together by an invisible thread that, if ever broken, is said to forever break the living's person soul. The next decade passes without incident, but once they discover in what way Ikeda's life (or rather, his death) has been an integral part to the Asano household, it finally threatens to snap once and for all

I can't give you an exact age for this one since I've only ever handwritten it, but I know it's several years old. I think maybe 5 or 6 years.....? It's definitely the second oldest one on the list tho

Days Long Past (fanfic)

Hey, the newest one in the entire line-up!

What inspired this one was my brain coming up with this exchange:

Father: I do not remember you being so hateful. Lucifer: That 'hate' is nothing but the love you took from me. My corps has been rotting alongside hers the day you chose to abandon me. Her blood will forever cling to your hands, Oh Divine "Creator". You killed her. You killed me.

And then I thought 'hey, this would be a cool fanfic idea'. And then it spiraled from there

So essentially, it's about OG Lucifer suddenly finding himself in the Celestial Realm long before the Great Celestial War will take place, finally getting to yell at Father and realizing that ultimately, he's happier now as a demon than he would have been if he continued being an angel

Or as I described it to a few friends: og Lucifer suddenly finds himself in the Celestial Realm in a time before the Great Celestial War & he just met Father again & he was giving Luci shit for being super pissed at him & then Luci is like "don't care + didn't ask + ratio + I've never been happier bitch"

This one would feature the other brothers + Lilith as children btw, so it would have a lot of fluff >:)

As for the title, this was the only one I didn't already have one for since I only came up with the idea itself like five days ago. I had to come up with one at the spot and this was the first thing I thought of 😭

-> to the WIP ask game

#thank you for asking candy 💖💖 and again sorry that it took a little #flower on a high peak will forever be a banger title so i might reuse it for another fic #one that might actually get published lol #also. obviously luci would still be sad over lilith's death but he also knows that she got to live her life as a human #+ he gets to spend time with her again. so it's a bit of a bittersweet feeling #anyway can you tell i'm still upset over the entire “father actually loves us uwu” ending for lucifer's arc #ask game #wip game

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floatingcatacombs · 1 year

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On Playing Caves of Qud For A Month Straight and Developing an RSI

12 Days of Aniblogging 2022, Day 4

With the recent successful commercial launch of Dwarf Fortress, I wanted to take a break from anime and recount my own experiences this year with a keyboard-heavy procedurally generated game with terminal-esque graphics and a high barrier to entry: the one and only Caves of Qud.

It is, in short, incredible. This is my first classic-style roguelike, courtesy of a friend’s gift, and probably the only one I’ll ever need. Calling it expansive is an understatement, as the number of different items, enemies, and biomes should be downright overwhelming. But Qud does an impressive job easing the player into its world, especially with its mix of fully hand-crafted and procedural areas. See, all playthroughs rely on the same world map, so the overall placement of biomes will be the same. A desert to the west, mountains on the edges, a vast jungle in the middle of the continent, a river you have to ford or go the long way around to get to the west half of the map. But each individual screen in the overworld will be procedurally generated, so the places you’re exploring are unique every time. You’ll always start in Joppa, a small farming village in the salt marshes of the southwest of the map. Generally, the further east you travel, the more difficult enemies you’ll face. Joppa feels like a classic RPG first town, serving up “kill this monster” and “go into this cave” quests that will give you a few levels and ultimately point you towards the game’s main quest.

And what a quest it is. As a roguelike, there will be plenty of quick deaths, so each time making it to a new location feels like an incredible victory. Since the places you need to go are the same every time, you can gradually start to get a feel for when it will be safe to tackle the next leg of the journey, and how best to prepare for tackling specific dungeons. The quest structure feels similar to a Fallout game, where you’re tugged in general directions through asking around, but there’s plenty of diversions along the way.

So other than the mix of procedural and handcrafted elements, what does Qud bring to the table? Horns and cryokinesis! While the True Kin offer a more classic roguelike experience, wielding swords and guns and cybernetics that are useful but don’t shake things up too much, choosing to play as a mutant means sacrificing some base stats to become a furry with psychic powers. And let’s face it, that’s always going to be the more fun option. A lot of the mutations, especially the mental ones, feel like you’re getting away with breaking the game at times. Trapping someone behind a force wall and sundering their mind. Throwing yourself into a space-time vortex to escape the jaws of defeat. Beguiling an enemy who can create clones of themselves, giving you a new companion as well as a personal army. There’s plenty of useful physical mutations too, such as an extra set of arms or legs, claws to dig through walls, and three different kinds of stingers. Caves of Qud touts radical body autonomy as a feature, with multiple avenues for the player character to become more, or less, like themselves.

Unfortunately, said radical body autonomy doesn’t extend into the real world, and after falling in deep and logging over 100 hours in a single month, I found myself with a wicked repetitive stress injury from keyboard overuse. After taking a few-weeks break, Elden Ring came out, where I proceeded to do the exact same thing and worsen it. Once it became clear that my fingers weren’t going to feel better from rest alone, I finally dragged myself to a physical therapist, who got me on a regimen of daily hand and shoulder exercises. Instant improvement.

I suppose that’s radical in of itself, huh? After months of dealing with lingering aches and finger pain, someone was able to help me through just a few targeted stretches. I would have never suspected the shoulders otherwise! As it turns out, everything is connected, and exercises further up the body are sometimes what you really need to relieve hand pain. Real-life wizardry, I tell you, especially in contrast to my gastroenterological struggles, where it’s hard for doctors to to even figure out what the problem is, much less how to treat it.

between the orbs and the soup, this spell seems right up tumblr's alley

Getting diseased in Qud is a far more interesting affair. The game plays this great practical joke where the first time you venture into the abandoned factory Golgotha for the main quest, you’re almost certain to ingest black ooze and contract Glotrot. Glotrot is a disease that develops in stages, and ends with your character’s tongue falling off, not to mention puking up half of the water they drink. “I can live without speaking to people,” the player might think, until they realize that turning in the Golgotha quest requires them to talk through a communications panel. And that their puke will fall into the water container that they drank from, quickly contaminating their whole supply unless they take very specific precautions.

It’s such a good intersection of mechanical interactions! And we’re not even done yet. At this point, the player will probably tab out and check the Caves of Qud wiki for how to cure Glotrot. They'll discover there that the cure is made out of different ingredients every run, and said ingredients can only be learned by purchasing a medical book from the ape mayor of a small village in the middle of the jungle. This can be a pretty perilous trek for the player at this point in the game. When they finally make it to Kyakukya, there’s one last sucker punch, as having Glotrot lowers your Ego stat, making bartering for the book more costly. It’s the kind of prolonged side-adventure that will lead the player to try and avoid Glotrot at all costs in future runs, by eating honey and cooking all the disease-resisting meals they can before venturing into Golgotha.

Qud is full of black comedy moments like these, even if few are quite as poignant as catching Glotrot. It encourages carefulness by making deaths a ridiculous conflux of factors that always leave you wondering how you could have done things differently, either throughout the run or in the final turns. Only through expecting that everything will go wrong do you stand a chance of making it through. On the other hand, the more creatively you think, the more you can cheat your way through even the scariest of situations. It’s a blast to learn just how much you can do with your tools, and to swap stories around with other players.

my very first run, where I took "Evil Twin" as a mental defect because it felt on-brand. Who could have predicted such a tragedy

By the way, as something of a wiki connoisseur, Caves of Qud's is excellent! 99% of the technical information you need, as well as the occasional opinion sections on whether certain decisions like mutations and skills are worth it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game wiki go as far as citing classes and lines of code in the references section. I’m glad they were able to move from Wikia to independent hosting, it’s for sure paying off.

My final, unorganized thoughts on the game:

It has deertaurs.

My second favorite thing about Qud is how it scales up its setting’s technology the further the player gets. You start out in a relatively primitive farming village, and 15 levels later you’re having shootouts in abandoned industrial ruins, and 15 levels after that you’re locked in psychic wizard battles in the shadow of a massive space elevator. And since this process takes dozens of hours, this evolution feels seamless for how much it is.

Get a numpad! Technically this game is playable with just a laptop set of keys, but you’re going to have a comparatively bad time. You really want simple diagonal character movement and as many keyboard shortcuts as you can get.

You need to take care of yourself! Treat me as a cautionary tale, I had to take a 9-month break from this game and cut back on my gaming in general because I failed to. Do hand stretches every few days now so you don’t need to do them daily to ward off pain later. Google around or hell, just follow the b4nny stretches.

After dying in a particularly gruesome way by freezing solid and getting torn apart by a giant crab, I felt moved to write a short story about my companion who made it out and what she did afterwards. I hadn’t written fiction in nearly a decade, so for Qud to hook itself in my head in such a way that I needed to privately eulogize is really something.

Ask any Caves of Qud player about their most ridiculous solution to a problem in the game. You won’t regret it.

Did I mention it has deertaurs.

me n the homies

#12 days of anime #caves of qud

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wolfram-everhearth · 5 months

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BG3 Act 1 - The First Day

Figured I'd put some of my playthrough notes / headcannons / GaleFram / basically sitcom scripts out here for anyone interested. I also added several screenshots because the game is pretty.

See this post for the Pre-BG3 Tav backstory. (Minus 10 years in the Feywilds & 5 in Baldur's Gate which Wolfram tells the companions about as the game progresses. Please look forward to it! 😂)

Here's the Carrd (Better Organized)

This includes story stuff so don't read if you haven't played the game yet!

The Nautiloid

After ten years of serving his patron in the Feywild, Wolfram returned to the mortal realm. He gave up his powers after an argument with the archfey for deceiving him. He's been living in Baldur's Gate for the past five years. One day he wakes up aboard the Mindflayer ship with no recollection of how he got there.

Wolfram is trapped in the pod and calls out to his former patron in desperation. He apologizes for how he spoke to her at the end and says that her deception was his own fault for not being clever enough to ask more specific questions when creating the pact. He says he realized she was just trying to protect him a while ago but had let his pride get in the way of making amends.

The archfey tells him she'd never severed their connection because she knew he'd calm down eventually - she merely cut off the flow of power. She's glad he's come to his senses in time. Of course, she will help him escape but would like his aid with something as well.

Fey are being captured, tortured, and killed. Somewhere nearby. She wants him to find the cause and stop it. His patron will honor the initial pact and in exchange for her power, he will defend nature and fey kind from any threats. The 10-year term had been met so now he has more autonomy but she may have the occasional specific request. The worm has done something to him and it will take a bit of time for her to bestow all of his old powers to him. He accepts and thanks her. As the power surges into him she says she'll check on him when she can.

He blasts himself out of the pod, unable to stifle a giggle as he realizes how much he has missed his warlock abilities. He finds a longsword on the floor - which he uses to pry open the few remaining pods. Unfortunately, he doesn't find any survivors.

Wolfram goes into the next room and explores a bit, hoping to get his bearings on the alien ship. He curiously pokes at the creepy talking brain and then cringes, stabbing it repeatedly. 😂

He meets Lae'zel and thinks she’s abrasive, but chalks it up to being from a very closed culture. He lets the rudeness slide, happy to have help in the escape from someone who seems to understand these ships.

He insists on rescuing Shadowheart despite the Gith’s protests. He easily opens the pod with magic. She’s grateful and he introduces himself, saying he was happy to help, while giving Lae’zel a pointed look. Shadowheart gets something out of the pod but he puts off his curiosity about the artifact for later.

They continue on to the helm and escape the ship. He wakes up on the beach the next day and quickly finds Shadowheart. They decide to search the area for a healer.

Introductions and Meet-cute

He and Shadowheart sneak up on the intellect devourers and push them into the fire of the wreckage. Wolfram cheers as the brains shrivel up in the flames and Shadowheart quirks a brow at this oddly cheerful man - fighting an amused smile.

They come across a very pale elf shouting for help. Wolfram offers to aid Astarion. He sees the boar but is too slow and the rogue gets a blade on him. The warlock calmly motions to Shadowheart to not attack and talks Astarion down, saying he won't hold it against him. They're all a bit anxious after the ordeal. Wolfram notices the teeth marks and red eyes but he has read books on vampires and even met a few so he second-guesses his instinct since Astarion is in the sun.

They come across some swirling energy against a rock. Wolfram hears someone shouting for help from inside. He focuses on stabilizing the arcane energy and then pulls a man out of the portal, falling backward onto the ground. Gale falls on top of him. They look each other in the eyes. The warlock smiles “Hello there, handsome.” The wizard is a bit flustered “My apologies!” Wolfram points at Astarion and smirks “It’s alright. The last guy pulled a knife on me.” Gale looks around to see the others. Shadowheart standing with arms crossed and brow furrowed, holding in a chuckle. Astarion gestures to the mages on the ground “Well darling, if I’d known *this* was an option…” Wolfram laughs. Gale gets to his feet, muttering while dusting himself off “That was certainly not the softest of landings…” The warlock chuckles “I beg your pardon. Alas, all of my cushioning is gone after years of pulling random wizards from boulders.”

Gale laughs then extends a hand “Hello, I’m Gale of Waterdeep. Apologies, I’m usually better at this.” Wolfram snorts and shakes his hand “Better at introductions? I should hope so.” Gale chuckles “At magic…do I know you?” Wolf shrugs “I’m Wolfram of Sen - uh - of Baldur’s Gate? I’m quite certain we haven’t met before. I’d remember you.” Gale ponders “OH! I know! You were on the nautiloid as well!” The warlock eyes the stone “Nevermind the Nautiloid - how’d you end up in that blasted thing?” Gale starts explaining animatedly as if trying to entertain them. The rest of the party’s eyes glaze over but Wolfram just listens with an amused smile. “I don’t know what transpired exactly, but the ship broke into pieces and I suddenly found myself in freefall. As I was plummeting to certain death, I spied a glimmer quite near where I estimated my body to impact with less-than-savory propulsion. Recognizing this glimmer to be magical in nature, I reached out to it with a Weaving of words and found myself on the other side as it were.” Wolfram smirks “Ah, so in other words - a spell gone wrong. I’m glad we found you when we did.” He gestures to Shadowheart “Shadowheart and I escaped the Nautilid together and woke up on the beach. Not sure how we survived to be honest. There was another with us but we lost her after the crash.” He gestures to Astarion “And he -” Astarion scoffs “Oh you can leave me out of the introductions.” Wolfram smiles sweetly and points down the road. “Well then make yourself useful and go see if those goblins have anything good.” Astarion rolls his eyes but begins looting the corpses as the others walk slowly in the other direction.

He and Gale talk about the tadpoles and what may be done about them. When asking about a cleric ("uncannily adroit with a knitting needle?") Wolfram smugly states “Well, I am quite good with a needle, but otherwise I’m more adept at hurting than healing.” He points to Shadowheart “This lass is our best bet. She's a very talented cleric.” Shadowheart unamused “Lass? I’d warrant I have a few years on you full humans… and this is beyond most healers' expertise.” Wolfram winces “Just my way of speaking from living in - Aye, I’ll try to correct it.” He nods respectfully.

Gale smiles hopefully “So Wolfram, as you seem to be the leader of this party - How about we lend each other a helping hand once more and look for a healer together?” The warlock nods “Oh… I suppose I am? We’d be happy to have you join us.” Shadowheart shrugs “The more the merrier to deal with these little monsters in our heads.” Astarion groans audibly while catching up to them with a pack of new weapons. Gale smiles “Most excellent! A parasite shared is a parasite halved… Or something to that effect.” Wolfram snorts “That’s one way to look at it.” Gale stops walking and faces him “Oh! But before you think you’re about to embark on a journey with most ill-mannered a man: thank you for pulling me out of that stone. It was an act of foresighted kindness I assure you, for I have the feeling ample opportunities will present themselves for me to return the favor.” Wolfram winks “Oh I certainly hope so.” Gale confused. "I assure you I am most practiced in the arcane arts and pledge to make myself useful in combat." The warlock gives an awkward thumbs up and giggles then starts walking along the path. He mutters to himself to get it together, damned fey magics.

They continue on. Shadowheart listens quietly as Wolfram and Gale talk. Astarion follows at a distance, sticking to the shadows. Gale asks “You’re not versed in magic, are you?” The warlock looks uneasy “...Why do you ask?” Gale eyes the large sword on his back “Oh, I *do* apologize. I meant to ask: are you *studied* in magic? Which you are not." Wolfram smirks and nods “Indeed, I am not studied.” Gale continues "If you meet any elder wizards, let me know. There is a matter I’d like to seek advice on from a master.” Wolfram eyes him wearily “Well… I’m not close with any wizards exactly - but I am friends with a few powerful magic users. Those that live in this realm are in Baldur’s Gate though… which I have a feeling is quite the journey from here. Wherever here is.” Gale is confused but intrigued “In *this realm*?” The warlock smiles awkwardly and starts ranting about how pretty the trees are.

They find Lae’zel in a cage with two Tieflings arguing over what to do with her. Wolfram convinces the Tieflings he'll take care of Lae'zel and they should get to safety. After they leave he teasingly tells her to ask nicely to get her down. She responds with violence and he rolls his eyes and shoots her down. Shadowheart is upset and says they can't trust her. Gale says he's not met any Gith and would be happy to learn more about them. Astarion says this is all very dull but at the very least he must mention that she shouldn't be seen around these parts for a while because the next time she won't be so lucky. Lae’zel says she could defeat any of these ‘teeth-lings’ in combat. Wolfram says it's a shame she wants to explore with them because she's clearly the only one experienced enough to find an easily defensible campsite in case the Tieflings return. The others are impressed he was able to convince her to go find a patch of dirt to guard.

They take a short break. Wolfram goes off into the forest for a bit then returns, saying there is a place up ahead worth checking out.

The Ruins

They continue on to some ruins. Wolfram convinces the bandits at the entrance to leave. Gale Is impressed again "You certainly have a way with words." The warlock winks "I have been told I've got a good tongue." Gale scoffs “I believe the term is ‘silver tongue’” Wolfram shrugs “Yeah, that too.” Astarion amused, mutters "Someone thinks highly of themselves." Shadowheart chuckles "Wolfram, your charms will serve us well, but please let us focus on the task at hand." Wolf nods to Shadowheart. "Aye, sorry. I’m a bit out of sorts still. Anyroad, words won't be enough once we're in here. My friend just said there are about 10 more of them in the ruins. We'll likely need to fight. Shadowheart frowns in confusion "Your friend?" Wolfram beams "Felicia. I sense that she's very trustworthy." He points to the boar who has been following them from a distance since the cliffs "Alright my dear, thank you for showing me. As you make your way back to your family please do stay clear of that wreckage." Gale eyes him with an amused grin. Felicia grunts and runs off before Astarion can shoot her. Wolfram glares “Oy! Don’t kill her! She just helped us.” Astarion pouts. Shadowheart asks "Oh? Are they a druid?" The warlock chuckles. "No, just a normal boar. I make a habit of talking to everyone I come across. You never know who has good information. Now - let's see if I can talk our way in here.”

After Wolfram works his charms, the bandit guard opens the door to the unexpected guests. Gale manages to put the guard to sleep as he starts to shout for his friends. Wolfram gives an approving nod to the wizard, impressed. They position themselves in the shadows. Shadowheart and Astarion stand close to the next door. Gale stands back and Wolfram follows him. He eyes him with confusion "Surely this is too far back. Or do you plan to throw your sword?" Wolfram laughs "Ah, that's a bit of a last resort." He pauses then says, hesitantly. "I'm a warlock." Gale frowns in disappointment "Oh..." He recovers quickly and smiles "Well that's alright I suppose. You did get us in here. I don't mind doing the brunt of the spell work." Wolfram mocks gratitude "Oh well thank you so much! It's nice to have a proper magic user around." His hands crackle red with energy then he winks and hits the door with a powerful Eldritch blast, knocking it off the hinges and crushing two bandits under it.

After the bandits are defeated (and looted) they make their way to the dank crypt. Shadowheart notices the statue and says it's amusing that Jergal is here. Gale is curious about what information the scribes had that was worth killing over. As they're looting Astarion finds a book and unlocks it then sees the cover "Dead Gods? Sounds awfully boring." He sets it aside. Wolfram picks it up and thumbs through it, curious why some names are scratched out. He hands it to Gale who says maybe the book is why the scribes were killed. Whoever scratched out the names was clearly trying to hide something. Wolfram agrees. They look around the statue. Wolf notices a button and Astarion argues with him over who should get to push it. Gale inspects the device and the wall it's on and concludes that it likely opens a hidden door. Shadowheart says a secret room is likely trapped. Wolfram draws his blade and stands in front of the door while Astarion presses the button. The dead scribes rise and start towards them.

After defeating the undead they go into the room and meet Withers. They’re all a bit surprised with the talking skeleton, but it’s not the strangest thing that’s happened to them recently so they roll with it. Withers asks Wolfram what the value of one mortal life is. The warlock takes a moment to think as the others debate among themselves. Astarion scoffs and says the only life he cares about is his own. Anyone who says otherwise is an idealistic fool. Shadowheart says a life's worth should be measured in their devotion. What they're willing to do to remove the suffering of others. Gale says every life is precious in its own way. Full of potential…for good or ill - hopefully good.

Wolfram listens to them, smiling at Gale’s answer. He turns back to Withers and says, hesitantly "I suppose that depends on the person. Everyone approaches their life goals differently and therefore have a unique effect on the world around them. Ideally, the intentions behind their actions are judged along with the result. I’m certainly counting on that." Withers is satisfied with the answer and then cryptically says he'll see them again at the appropriate time and place.

They leave the tomb a bit confused… but they find an amulet that lets them speak to the dead so that's cool.

They return to Lae'zel at camp (She set it up in an open area near a stream). Wolfram thanks her for picking such an easily defensible position. He knew he could count on her. She scoffs and says she needs no thanks - but hopes they found some food.

As Wolfram is stacking wood for a fire Withers shows up and says he'll be there at camp to aid them. They're all a bit weary but he seems powerful so better to have him as an ally.

The First Night at Camp

Party Banter

Shadowheart: I'm a tad surprised you change into more comfortable garb at camp, Lae'zel. You strike me as the 'sleeps in her armor' type.

Lae'zel: It would cause too much noise during my nighttime…exertions. I do not wish to alert foes of our location.

Shadowheart: Nightime exertions… oh! I see. Well, considerate of you I suppose.

Wolfram: Who were you planning to uh… exert with?

Lae'zel: Whoever I wish, Wolf-rum.

Astarion: (giggles) I think you'll find a bit more effort is required to secure a partner around these parts…only a bit.

Gale: I'm surprised you're allowed to choose a partner outside your own people.

Lae'zel: We are to use and misuse every civilization in the stars in every way we know. I do not conquer by blade alone, Gale.

Gale: I can't imagine mother Gith would approve. Doesn't she prefer us lesser species enslaved? Or eviscerated?

Lae'zel: T’chk! And with that comment - this topic no longer concerns you.

Wolfram: (chuckles) What a shame, Gale. I hope you're not too heartbroken.

Lae'zel: What is this talk of breaking hearts? The wizard is still useful - I merely do not wish to lay with him. There is no cause to fear for his life.

Gale: Ah, well that's quite kind of you! Thank you for your mercy…on both counts.

The group is eating some fruit and dried meats they’d stolen from the bandits. (Astarion is just pretending to eat.) Lae’zel is sharpening her sword while chewing. Shadowheart asks Wolfram what he’d been doing before all this. He throws an apple core into the forest and then answers “I was a cook in Baldur’s Gate. Had my own place. Just a little 10-seater but I got by. A nice simple life. I'm eager to get back to it.” Gale laughs. Wolfram looks at him with a confused expression. Gale is surprised ‘Oh! You were serious? You don't seem the type.” Shadowheart frowns “After seeing you fight I must admit that’s a shock to me as well.” He shrugs “I’m full of surprises.”

Shadowheart nods "Well it's quite the coincidence. I need to return there as well." Astarion looks at them with interest but says nothing. Wolfram asks Shadowheart if she has business there or is a resident. She says it's a bit of both but would rather say no more. It's a…sensitive matter. Gale nods then picks a scroll out of his pack and starts reading. The warlock holds up his hands saying he’s not the type to pry.

Wolfram smiles "Perhaps once we have a cure we could travel there together?” Shadowheart nods "I don't see why not, Wolfram. You've proven yourself to be very helpful so far." He chuckles "Well, I'll take that as a compliment." She smirks "Perhaps it was." Lae'zel scoffs "You Fae-run denizens and your subtle courtship rituals. It's unnecessarily complicated." Wolfram and Shadowheart object at the same time. Shadowheart scolds "People can simply be friendly. Though I doubt you know the meaning of the word." The warlock scoffs smugly "I assure you I'm anything but subtle in my 'courtship'." Astarion giggles "I'll say, Wolfram. Your flirtations are completely artless. It's embarrassing really." The elf glances at Gale who is still intensely focused on reading a Ray of Sickness scroll they found. Wolf follows Astarion's eyes to Gale then shrugs "We’re in mortal peril, so why bother being subtle?"

Wolfram smiles awkwardly at Gale "How about you, handsome? What will you do after all of this is over." Gale keeps reading. Shadowheart and Astarion chuckle. Lae'zel scoffs and goes back to sharpening her blade. Wolf nudges Gale, who looks genuinely surprised as he sets down the scroll "Yes? Apologies, it's been some time since I learned that one. Quite an engaging read. I was miles away. How can I help you?" Wolfram smirks "I was asking what you plan to do once we've been healed." Gale's face falls briefly "Oh…" but a smile quickly returns "Well Wolfram, I suppose in a perfect world I'd return to Waterdeep. Back to my tower - surrounded by old tomes and having collected new tales to entertain my assistant." The warlock senses Gale is hiding something, but smiles "That sounds nice."

In time the sun sets and they all go to their tents. Wolfram goes to talk to Astarion. The elf complains about having to rough it outdoors. Wolf tries to reassure him and says it’s not so bad. Astarion frowns “It sounds like he’s done it before.” The warlock nods “Quite a bit. This is nothing compared to the time I managed to get some shuteye in a bog surrounded by will-o-wisp. …Although the normally peaceful forest with a satyr party raging outside my tent was its brand of challenging.” Astarion impressed “Oh my…how did you manage to rest during *that*?” Wolfram looks off dreamily “Oh I didn’t, not a wink. I failed miserably.” Astarion laughs “Well well! Our hero seems to have quite the past.” Wolf laughs “I’m no hero, but as for a past… I suspect we all do, right?” Astarion becomes guarded, furrowing his brow and crossing his arms. Wolfram smiles reassuringly “All I’m trying to say is that this place isn’t so bad. You’ll be fine.” Astarion's frown lifts a bit “Oh, alright. I suppose it’s only until we get these worms out of our heads. Then I'll find a decent inn with silk sheets and a nice drink.” The warlock nods “That does sound more comfortable. Well, good evening to you.” Wolfram walks off, muttering “What I wouldn’t give for a proper bath right now. Ilithids are nasty.”

He talks with Shadowheart and asks how she’s feeling about the worm. She says there’s no point thinking about it. They need action. He nods and says that’s fair. They’ll continue looking first thing in the morning. She tries to warn him to be wary of Gale. Wolfram looks over at the mage pacing by the fire and smiles warmly “Aye, wizards may have a reputation…but who doesn't go a bit mad with power from time to time? I’ve a good feeling about this one.” Shadowheart shakes her head in disapproval as he walks away and mumbles “Lady guide me. Is there a reasonable one in this bunch?”

Wolfram talks to Lae’zel. She says they need to find a creche. She thinks one of the teeth-lings has seen her people. He asks if they'll be safe among them. She says they will so long as she's with them.

He goes over to Gale. (‘Go to Hell’ scene.) The warlock smirks "Good evening to you too." Gale chuckles “You’re a good sport.” The wizard is contemplative about the day's events. Wolfram stands next to him and looks into the fire. “I understand. We’ve been through a lot in a short time... and it's a scary situation we’ve found ourselves in. I’m trying to focus on other thoughts.” Gale nods “I must say - you seem more serious than earlier.” Wolf smiles awkwardly “Ah… well aboard the ship I was… under the influence of something that improves my mood.” Gale smirks “I won’t judge. I’ll confess I’d enjoyed the occasional recreational potion in my youth.” Wolfram laughs “I wasn’t high, Gale! Well, not under the effect of a potion anyroad.” Gale grins “Well, I’m pleased to see you taking things seriously now. Perhaps fewer attempts at humor? I have that domain covered.” The warlock chuckles “You certainly do, but I’ll have you know going forward I do tend to laugh in the face of danger. Rest assured I still take every fight seriously.”

Gale smiles, a bit more relaxed. Wolfram jokes around but is ultimately comforting. He offers Gale a drink to calm his nerves. Gale takes a sip of the liquor “I suppose this is one way to handle the situation we've found ourselves in. Alas, I have no books. A good read and a glass of wine do wonders for my constitution.” The warlock roots around in his bag and hands him two books he’d found in the ruins. “I guess I can share.” Gale is surprised “You looted them?” Wolfram shrugs “Of course. Some dusty tomes in an ancient ruin. How could I resist?” Gale smiles warmly “I seem to have judged you incorrectly. A fair few times today.” Wolf shrugs “In all honesty I’d expected it. You’re not the first wizard I’ve known.” He chuckles “A recent customer was quite possibly the most arrogant person I'd ever met. I suspect I won't need to cut you off and throw you out onto the street too?” Gale scoffs confidently “I’d like to see you try. Besides, I'm sure you're aware we're not all the same. I, for instance, am exceptionally humble despite my many impressive accomplishments.” Wolfram chuckles at Gale's smug expression then winks "I'm just teasing you. How about this, handsome - you keep an open mind and I’ll do the same?” Gale looks confused, more by the nickname than the proposition. He recovers and smiles apologetically “That sounds like a most excellent idea.”

After making the rounds, Wolfram returns to his tent. Despite his exhaustion, he can't sleep. He tries to think of home... his cozy apartment, the little bar and its odd clientele, the street urchins that may be going hungry without him to dole out scraps at closing time, the contracts he'll miss out on in his absence - likely to go to some bloodthirsty Guild member without care for casualties... Unfortunately, the only image that seems to stick is one of tentacles breaking through his skull. How will he lead this group of misfits amid his rising panic? How will he keep up his calm facade? A restless night of tossing and turning won't help, but that seems to be what's in store for him.

#oc wolfram #bg3 tav #galefram #bg3 #bg3 warlock #bg3 screenshots #galetav #gale x tav #bg3 spoilers

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