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cccgsr-blog · 1 year ago

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Some thoughts on Halsin (Part1/2)

I haven't tried EA so my understanding of Halsin is based on the content released in the official version of the game. I Love this guy but obviously his character has lots of room for improvement. I've read some discussions, some I agree with, some I don't. Here are my thoughts.

1. Lacks of character content

1) Act 1 & 2

Lacks of action

Halsin joins our camp after we solve the crisis in the Grove, and stands there idly until near the end of Act 2, which is ridiculous. I understand that as a character added for fan-service blablabla, if he were to join the combat and plot development, it would mean adding lots of character interaction and performance which of course increase costs, but there can still be smoother ways to handle this:

After the player rescues Halsin, he returns to the Grove to deal with follow-up matters, becoming a non-joining NPC, until the player enters the Cursed Land. Here the player can choose to notify Halsin actively; or not notify him, but Halsin will show up anyway.

As the leading Druid of the Grove, it is normal for Halsin to arrange scouts on the risen road, tracking the player's movements thus receive massages on when the player enters the cursed lands, and eventually join up. As a Druid who had previously traveled in the Undergrounds, to have a connection with the local Myconid circle is also make sense. It could explained as, although Halsin knows there was passthroughs lead to the shadow-cursed lands, he has no knowledge of the Grymforge and could not cross the dark waters on his own, until he Gray Dwarves invasion that open the path and brought boats. After the player cleared the map, Halsin receive massages from the Myconid Sovereign and catch up with the MC via spore traces or other signs (just make up some reason)

At this point, Halsin can officially join the main team and participate in combat. In case of players going to different maps mid-game, Halsin can still leave the squad when the player leaves the shadow-cursed land, either staying in the camp or the Last Light Inn, or returning to the Grove. Not much change but much smoother. Of course, I personally would very much like to see the interaction between Halsin and the Myconid Sovereign (a reunion of old friends!) or Halsin's thoughts on the fall of the Losanda Monastery (since the Archdruid and certain monks could have previously studied the shadow issues together.)

EA content

I've read some discussion on EA content. It's said that EA hinted Halsin had something to do with Isobel's death. Both a good and bad idea I'd say. Letting Halsin be connected to Isobel's death, and turning him into one of the responsible parties for the shadow curse, which of course would greatly help to flesh out his character, but also makes the plot overly complicated. This change of plot kind of turns the entire Act 2 into Halsin's personal story that all the MC doing was to deal with the consequence of Halsin's past decisions and actions, which would be a disaster for the game narrative. So it is completely reasonable that Act 2 makes no more dig into the relationship between Halsin and the shadow curse as EA hinted.

2) Act 3

Lacks of content

It's quite disappointing that Halsin has no personal content in the third act, and I almost lost my motivation to finish the game for that reason. It makes no sense that Orin would not kidnap an LI, especially when she set the Love Test int the circus. Halsin even teased about your many questions, joked about you being a doppleganger and taking his place. But when it comes time for the real shapeshifter plot, all this foreshadowing makes no use for Orin doesn't kidnap the LI. This really make no sense to me. Just kidnap him (or Minthara), at least we could have more content for him, more emotional pack for the players who romance him too. He can free himself in the middle of the quest or get some new clues about something if it's too embarrassing for him to be always abducted, just make up some, I don't care.

The possibilities with Shadow Druids

In the same time, many people, including myself, find it absurd when Halsin suddenly approves the reasons of the Shadow Druids in the third chapter. But it could be the chance for some deepening to take place, suggesting that Halsin indeed has deeper connections with the Shadow Druids.

I've read some discussions suggesting Halsin keeps his anger until he's two hundred years old. As a young Druid roaming the land, angry and wild, it's easy to imagine he would have had contact with the Shadow Druids and somehow was attracted to their doctrines - In our rebellious teenage years, who never dreamt of crushing the toxic human society/civilization? Although Halsin later had chosen a more peaceful way, his early involvement with the Shadow Druids could still leave him with a profound impression. He understands the dangers posed by the Shadow Druids and the temptation of their doctrine to other Druids, which is why he reprimanded Kagha but still allowing her to restart as a novice rather than giving her more severe punishment, since he himself almost went down that road when he was young. That could also explain his absurd statements on Shadow Druids in Act 3, as he has to personally experience the human city and its chaos/careless, the temptation of the Shadow Druids doctrine comes back with force.

So, enhancing the content about Shadow Druids into Act 3 would be most suitable, which also avoids changing the main story. It could be that, As Shadow Druids learned of the Mind Flayers' large-scale activities in Baldur's Gate and view this as another piece of evidence that human cities are a threat to the balance of nature and decide to destroy the city. Halsin, aware of the danger, could propose that the MC deal with the Shadow Druids, also triggering dialogue about his experience as a hot-headed and untamed young Druid roaming the land, desperately trying to understand and learn about the world while seeking his own path. This way, Halsin's character can be deepened.

Depending on how the Shadow Druid mission is completed, Halsin in the ending can be angrier and more distant from civilization, or more peaceful and striving to reconcile the relationship between society and nature. Thus, his character's arc becomes much clearer.

Part2:

#bg3 #bg3 spoilers #halsin #bg3 halsin #character design #character discussion

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socialmediasocrates · 1 year ago

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general: 8, 10 and story specific: 9 hehehehehe

ty @plenarys <3

Answering companion!Tav questions.

(cut for length)

BALALAFAY

What do they say when the Player Character asks them to stay in camp? How about when the Player Character asks them to come adventuring again?

When asked to stay at camp, first time: "What...? Are you sure? But I've really enjoyed traveling!"

After confirmation: "Alright, alright...I'll be here."

When asked to come adventuring again: "Nissurgant! Onward we go! Lead the way!"

Are there any unique NPCs associated with your Tav that can show up during the course of the game?

Lmaooooo yeah.

Her attendant Bhinayn'drin can be recruited as a companion in his own right either depending on the outcome of your interaction with Nere in Grymforge or early on after reaching the shadowlands in Act 2. Bhinayn'drin is a surly, curt, disagreeable drider who wears an amulet of polymorph to regain as much of his regular drow form as possible. When not transformed into a drider, he is a bladesinger and a necromancer in my ideal world; his loyalty to Balalafay and her family is deeply ingrained in him, and he is available to romance but only if you're in a polyamorous relationship with him and Balalafay. Bhinayn'drin approves generally of being kind to Balalafay and (coming up in a second) Alakuit, a general reluctance to engage in pointless heroics, and, falling short of that, sarcasm. It can be hard to tell if he likes you because of how he is as a person, but with high approval he'll sometimes have up to 3 uncommon or better items that you missed during your exploration of the last area you were in before your long rest to collect. With low approval you'll start sometimes finding knives in your bedroll.

Her other attendant, Alakuit, will always catch up with you at the Last Light Inn regardless of when Bhinayn'drin did. He's a tender heart. It's his curse. He split off from Bhinayn'drin as they were searching for Lala when he heard of these shadowlands, and he didn't get the chance to catch up with him before Drin caught up with the party. He'll initially be met trying to help the tiefling kids behind the bar get Rolan to stop drinking and from there will have a short scene with Balalafay if she's in the party (if she's not this scene will happen at your camp.) Alakuit will be a camp follower owing to his dislike of combat, but he will make you potions and scrolls of healing spells if you have high enough approval with Bhinayn'drin and Balalafay. He also offers insight on the culture of the trio's home in ken'Arabat as well as Balalafay's family and the Underdark at large. He has a fairly encyclopedic knowledge of drow history but knows comparatively little about the surface and is gullible enough to believe almost anything you tell him. If you lie to Alakuit enough, Bhinayn'drin will get angry with you about it.

Do they have unique dialogue if the Player Character lets them die when they steal the Blood of Lathander?

She's very disappointed in you for letting things escalate like that. There was surely a way to do it that didn't involve killing her and the entirety of the githyanki creche. You've lost a lot of approval and if you were on low approval to begin with she might even temporarily leave the party (don't worry she'll join back up at Last Light Inn after a check to apologize).

MAYEARI

What do they say when the Player Character asks them to stay in camp? How about when the Player Character asks them to come adventuring again?

When asked to stay at camp, first time: "You cannot be serious."

After confirmation: "Fine."

When asked to come adventuring again: "Nin lotmaeer fil. Let us continue on."

Are there any unique NPCs associated with your Tav that can show up during the course of the game?

Early on after recruiting her, Mayeari will explain that she was trying to get to the shadowlands to rescue a group of drow diplomats who were on their way to ratify a ceasefire agreement between two noble houses who had been at war with one another for the past three hundred years. She'll explain that the group was waylaid by Absolutists and that one member in particular is extremely necessary for the success of the peace talks: Umraëdra Hael'umraena Bräx bin'Cathan, heir apparent to the matriarchal throne of the city state Ust-Bräxaorthe. The city had been sacked by the rival Eilssath three centuries before, and the agreement brokered would see Ummi ascend to her rightful position as matriarch in exchange for taking on the Eilssath matron's favorite son as her consort. Mayeari will claim to have been tasked by the third parties who had facilitated the talks with retrieving the diplomats from Moonrise Towers and escorting them safely to their original destination, but was attacked by the undead as she was approaching the edge of the shadowlands and found that the curse made passing that direction unspeakably difficult anyway.

After rescuing Ummi and the other diplomats in Moonrise Towers, you'd be able to learn (through a series of increasingly difficult checks) that Ummi is Mayeari's younger sister, though she's unaware of this. If Mayeari is in the party when you rescue the missing drow, she will temporarily leave in order to escort them back to your camp. Yasorvir, the leader of the delegation, will insist on returning with the documents they were transporting as soon as possible, but Ummi's injuries would slow them down, so she stays behind with you. Ummi would become a camp follower while she recuperates from her time at Moonrise until midway through Act 3 which would find her moving to the [REDACTED] in the [REDACTED]. During her time as a camp follower, she can offer insights on the history between the Bräxaulean and the Eilssath and some (unwitting) insights into Mayeari's background. Ummi will also occasionally play music by the fire at night. The sisters can be reconciled through a series of conversations with Mayeari; you'll net several disapproval drops as you encourage her to bond with her younger sister and eventually reveal their relation, but the approval will bounce back at the end.

Do they have unique dialogue if the Player Character lets them die when they steal the Blood of Lathander?

She can't die in any meaningful way but that still fucking sucked. How would you like to have a building dropped on you? Well. Give her an opportunity and you might find out. She's also annoyed because she wanted a chance to look at the mechanisms of that lance. (Says the woman who gets an inspiration for activating it.)

#baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 tav #drow tav #balalafay alean'arabani #mayeari ken'eilssath #with pace and a fury defiant #mothspeak #ask meme answers

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firstaidspray · 1 year ago

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1, 7, 12, 25, 26, 46

1. What is their backstory and why did you choose it? Anabel's backstory is original and made up by me entirely. The game does not dictate what happened to her before lol. So her parents and sister and herself originally lived in Elturel. Her father fought in the Blood War. But since all the tieflings got told to fuck themselves and leave Elturel, now the family lives in the Lower City, where Anabel's parents run a hotel (not seen in game ofc). Anabel and her sister, Joy, have always been independent souls and would go on these big adventures around the Sword Coast and even into Avernus a few times. She originally wanted to be a Cleric, but found herself too impatient and impulsive and bloodthirsty, so Barbarian it was. Next up, Anabel has a rough relationship with sex and thinks she's cursed in that regard, mostly bc of SA she endured when younger (not going into detail, however Raph does make them pay). So she rarely does it, except one fateful day, she was hooking up with some cute tiefling (note that Anabel only fucks other demons and demon adjacent people) and that's when she got kidnapped and put on the nautiloid. It's a sort of homage to her story in her original verse in which she got killed during sex by accident. She's unlucky in that way.

7. Does your Tav have connections to other characters (I.e.: NPCs)? Raphael of course!! Initially just a devil and the pretty little thing he got to sign a contract, they're married now. Also Joy, who is an NPC to her (player to me when I play as her lol) is her sister so there's that connection as well.

12. How does your Tav feel about Us? Did they free them, maim them or leave them behind? Anabel LOVES Us. A cute brain with legs, of course she freed them and took them along!! She was pretty sad not to find them right after the crash.

25. What does your Tav think of Aradin? She thinks he's a cunt. Full stop.

26. What does your Tav think of the Raphael? I think it's well established on this blog how Anabel feels about Raph but let's gush about it anyways!! Initially, when he transported her to the House of Hope, she was like dammmnnnn this guy is hot and charming. Then he showed his devil form and she was like DAAAAAMMNNN HES LITERALLY HOT and from that point, she was wrapped around his finger. Regardless of whether or not he'd actually help her with the tadpole, Anabel wanted more more more of this man. Her initial reaction to this infatuation was the equivalent of a teenage girl doodling her crush's name and hearts in their diary with a gel pen, but as it went on, her feelings became more serious and along the lines of true love. And, as he watched over her, he felt the same- he does say he "grew quite fond of [Anabel/Tav] in [his] own way" after all. I interpret it romantically/sexually. Meeting him again at the Last Light Inn was a dream come true!! Of course she killed his old enemy- for him mostly, but also for Astarion. She took his deal, of course she did- and in my version, the contract had what was essentially a marriage certificate in one of the clauses, and now they're married forever, because Raphael also came to love Anabel. So they have this inescapable, infernal bond- she loves him, devotes herself to him almost like worship, and not to mention her intense lust for him.

46. Does your Tav help Astarion make a deal with Raphael? Anabel jumped at the chance to interact with Raphael in any way, and she wanted to help her closest friend in the party, so of course she did!!

Thank you so much for asking, sorry for the super long answers LOL ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

#ask game #long post #anabel lee #bg3 anabel

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thistle-spores · 1 year ago

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Some rambling thoughts on the Shadowlands

(contains discussion of Jaheira and Halsin's deaths)

*Please note that this is my first time really doing the Shadowlands and I'm going into it mostly blind (I do know some major plot stuff, but their locations and how those quests play out I'm not familiar with)

So Standev keeps failing at things and this is definitely because I'm unprepared for the fights, especially the swarming group fights with npcs to protect. That being said it does really add to the ambience of the Shadowlands, and I do think that playing as a Durge has made this even more interesting.

Standev has been very successful so far at overcoming the urges and striking a "balance" between the need to kill on the adventure and trying to only do it for good and productive purposes. But suddenly at the Last Light Inn when they try and do the same thing again, they fail. Isobel was felled running away from one of her attackers before Shadowheart could heal her. Jaheira panicked and cast an ice storm too close, taking out Shadowheart and injuring herself badly. Gale, Shadowheart and Standev died, only able to continue the adventure because Karlach ran around the back of the Inn to escape and got Withers to resurrect everyone. And so Jaheira is dead. Dammon is dead (though we did get Karlach's upgrade first, thank fuck). Everyone is dead.

Poking around Last Light Inn the group found Art Cullagh's corpse and figured out where to find Thaniel. Queue Halsin wanting to enter Shadowfell to find him and well...... he died too. So the Shadow Curse can't be lifted (as far as I'm aware).

These were an interesting series of events as Standev was technically doing everything "right" and "good," but they still failed and the world continued to get worse. They can control their urge, yet good and important people continue to die. Sometimes by their hand!

After the slaughter of Last Light Inn there is some Durge specific dialogue. I only picked 2 of the 4 options because some of them really didn't make sense for Standev (Wyll and Karlach's). I think it's interesting how the dialogue doesn't consider that the Durge just,,, failed to save the Inn. That being said it was very interesting that neither Shadowheart nor Gale lost approval for choosing the dialogue.

Also I don't know if this is part of the game or a glitch, but Standev in addition to Shadowheart was unaffected by the general Shadow Curse. Bhaal and Shar's influence feels very strong. Especially since both Shadowheart and Standev had bad reactions to the blessing of Selune.

Speaking of Shar. I think before the Shadowlands Standev was actually very curious about Shar? The endless night and numbing embrace that Shadowheart talks about is very tempting and comforting to Standev who alternates wildly between murderous urges and ecstasy, and psionic neutrality and deep emptiness/hunger. But then they get to the Shadowlands which seem to be taking away everything they've worked towards. They start questioning what Shadowheart says about the goddess, start doubting how Shar treats her (she has died twice). It's definitely leading up to Standev trying to turn Shadowheart away from Shar.

And on a final note on gods. Standev and crew all had Lathander's blessing (or whatever it's called) when going in to the Shadowlands and it definitely helped when saving the Harpers. So I think there's probably some incentive to go back and get Lathander's blood, since saving the Harpers was the only thing to go right so far, and especially since there's now no way to lift the Shadow Curse. Because Standev was definitely going to leave it and the creche alone (they did not recruit Lae'zel).

Anyways, ramble over I can't wait to see where this shitshow goes next.

(Also can we just pour one out for Karlach. She finally can touch people again only for Mizora to show up that night and then all the bullshit mentioned above rip).

#the bard urge #bg3 spoilers #honour mode is an interesting way to experience durge for the first time

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that-foul-legacy-lover · 3 years ago

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Digital Heart

Foul Legacy Childe x Reader Gender Neutral (no pronouns mentioned) Angst Warnings: Falling, fighting, minor injuries, nausea, breathlessness

In which Genshin is an interactive RPG accessed through an immersive headset, and you find yourself pushed to play it by your friends.

~ * ~

It started with a game.

For thirty days and thirty nights, your friends have been pleading for you to play it. Genshin Impact it was called, an free immersive open-world RPG with hundreds of weapons, characters, and power ups. Accessible through a specialized headset that tracked movement, it had only been a month since the freely downloadable game’s release and it was already a success, garnering praise from the customizable main character and the interactive playstyle. Play it. Your friends beg. You’ll love it. We can play together.

You refuse at first. The game might be free, but the headset isn’t, and you need to save that money to pay for food and clothes. Alongside your financial state was your schedule, a long list of work and chores that left little time to play games with constant updates like Genshin, so you told your friends- politely, as that’s how you were raised- that it’d have to wait. They agreed, quietly.

Then the next day, they ask again. You make an excuse- too much work. They agree, again.

The second day, asking. You’re too tired, you say. Of course, they respond.

Everyday, the same question. The same request, the same demand. It wears on you, amused exasperation drawing a sigh from you everytime you open your notifications.

Play it.

You can’t.

Play it.

You don’t have time.

Play it.

You need to focus!

Play it.

…

…Alright.

Finally, you cave. You create an account, a headset en route to your house. You clear an area in your house so you don’t accidentally hit anything. The headset arrives, and you insert the batteries, said to last up to an entire day playing nonstop, a stage you dearly hope you never reach. You pull it down over your head, cringing at the thought of your hair getting so mussed, and switch it on. A long and potentially worrying warning flashes before your eyes and you blink, not used to the in-depth cameras yet, as the screen goes white.

Welcome to Genshin Impact! Please name your character… appears, and you subsequently slip down the rabbit hole.

It’s fun, you find. Your friends were right, you did like Genshin Impact, although you thank your lucky stars that you weren’t as attached as some players were, as you still had work and life to attend to. The combat and story were enjoyable, and the characters were funny and diverse in personality and playstyles. The main character, who was also your customizable avatar, was quite literally you, the story explained, a traveler from distant lands who fell face first into Teyvat by mistake and tragedy. Of course you still haven’t gotten entirely used to the whole immersion thing, and sometimes shuddered under the eerily real programming of the NPCs and characters, but that was nigh unnoticeable when focusing on fighting monsters. Your deep love for exploration and discovery surfaces, and you take as long as you want exploring every inch of the wonderfully modelled map as you follow the main story, or “Archon Quests”. You calm the great dragon Dvalin and bid your friends at Mondstadt- Kaeya, Amber, Lisa, Diluc, Jean, and Venti- goodbye, Liyue sprawling out before you in wooded forests and cloud-covered mountains. A mysterious man runs across you at the Inn, the immortal Adeptus Xiao, although you would’ve thought he was quite young due to his short stature, and you encounter Zhongli in the Harbor, along with Lady Ningguang and her subordinates, Keqing and Ganyu. A member of the malicious-seeming Fatui also greets you and introduces himself as Childe, a name you don’t trust for a second, yet find yourself getting strangely attached too. The story progresses with you at Zhongli and Ningguang’s sides, the suspicion being pointed more and more to the Fatui, and you find yourself staring up at the elegant pillars of the Golden House, the mora mint building.

You gulp. You know this is where Childe’s boss battle takes place, and you’re not sure if your team is prepared, even if you stocked up on food right before leaving the Harbor. Inhaling a deep breath, you shove the enormous front doors open, and a cutscene pulls your fear tight against your throat. Everyone’s suspicions were right- he was here to steal the Geo Archon’s gnosis, and you have to stop him.

Easier said than done. The cutscene of your face shows a determined, fierce expression, instead of the nervous one you had in real life, and you almost laugh. You dearly hope your characters are strong enough, and step into the arena.

Phases One and Two are relatively short, as you quickly learn to avoid using Childe’s respective elements of his Vision and Delusion while his shield is up. The battle is fun and fast-paced, and you feel a thrill in your bones as you dodge another attack before swinging your sword in retaliation. Childe stumbles, and Phase Two ends with a cutscene. The corpse of Rex Lapis, something you considered a bit gruesome, is discovered to have no gnosis, and you can feel the raw anger in the Harbinger’s voice as the air crackles and hisses. A horrible, blinding light shines, and Childe is gone.

At least, human Childe is gone. In his place floats a monstrous version of himself, nearly 14 feet tall and complete with horns and armor, and your mouth drops open slightly as you gaze at him wide eyed. But your focus is violently shifted when the floor cracks and turns to dust, sending you tumbling down into the belly of the Golden House. You land with an unceremonial thump, thankful that the creators hadn’t been cruel enough to make you feel the damage you took in-game.

And Phase Three, the final phase of Harbinger Tartaglia, commences.

He has considerably more health, and his attacks can range from irritating to deadly, you just barely dodging the falling Hydro arrows that would’ve slaughtered your current character. Of course, it doesn’t help that you’re sneaking glances at your attacker every few minutes. Your mind wanders to the lore as you shield yourself from violet lightning. Does this transformation hurt? Where does it come from? Why does it look like a moth? Maybe one day you’ll get answers.

Despite the raised difficulty, Phase Three also ends rather quickly. Your characters, it seems, were overleveled. The remainder of the Archon Quest passes, Childe reappearing once at the end, and it’s over. The screen blips off as you log out and place the headset on a table before laying on your bed and using the last few hours before bed to contemplate what you’ve just seen.

The next days quickly fall into routine. After completing all your work, you’d take an hour or two to play Genshin, leveling up your characters even more and going through various quests, Childe’s included. You see his transformation, dubbed the Foul Legacy form, again, and almost swoon before stopping and giving yourself a harsh scolding. You fulfill requests and tasks for various people around Teyvat, or at least the parts of Teyvat you can access, and improve your skills and stats. You have a talent for dodging, you find, and use it to your advantage while fighting.

And every Monday, when the clock resets, you re-enter Golden House to battle with Childe and claim your just rewards.

Of course you could do it everyday, but a squirming, guilty feeling in your gut stops you, making you feel like you’re hurting him, no matter how many times you try to tell yourself that he’s simply a video game character, a program in an electronic system.

This thought makes you a bit sad, you think.

The fights are getting easier, something you credit to your rising stars of characters, and you stand before the Ley Line Blossom quicker and quicker each time, something you expect to be no different today.

Phases One and Two are just the same as you take advantage of Vaporize and Overload, drowning out Childe’s pre-programmed sounds of pain with your own abilities. The battle pauses, and you’re transported to the same chamber underground, with its fiery walls and glittering arches, as the fight resumes. With the same attacks and characters, it’s becoming a tad dull, and you frown, wondering if you should try to get another character soon.

You’re lost in your thoughts when you slip and fall.

This you feel in the real world, having landed hard on your back and knocked the air out of your lungs. For a few moments you struggle to breathe, and Childe takes the opportunity to appear right over you, his spear flashing purple. You swear internally, bracing yourself as he readies his weapon.

But the strike never comes. You inhale desperately, oxygen finally flowing into your chest, and open your eyes. The graphics of your game are gray and fuzzy around the edges, framing Childe as he slowly puts his spear down and, to your amazement and slight terror, jerkily reaches towards you. Voice clips play overhead, pieced together to make not words, but a static-interspersed whining sound, much like a concerned beast. Your eyes widen, and Childe stops, withdrawing slightly almost as if he’s worried that you’re afraid, and you whisper his name once, as a tentative question.

Then with crackle and a ping, your game crashes and everything goes black.

You gasp and rip off the headset, chest heaving as you struggle to comprehend what just happened. You’re shaking, nervous and fearful, but curiosity runs strong through your veins. Your finger slides towards the On button, and you press it and slip the device back on.

You’re standing outside, the doors of the Golden House closed as if the battle never happened. The guards surrounding it look ordinary, occasionally repeating phrases you’ve heard and ignored countless times. Glancing around and trying to squash the nauseous bubbling feeling in your gut, you push the doors open again.

It’s different this time. Instead of being in the upper room, you fall a short distance into the Third Phase Chamber, your shoes clicking on the tiled floor. Childe floats in the center, his back to you, and you take a tentative step forward. He turns and looks you dead in the eyes, before flinging his spear to the side and rushing towards you on his feet, kneeling to your height. Instinctively, you jump away as he sits on the ground before you, letting out joyful chirps and trills, sounds you didn’t even know he could make. You approach him, sword held loosely in your hand as an extra precaution, and he tilts his head and coos as you cautiously sit with him. Your hands are trembling as you try to understand that this is real, he is real, all of this is happening.

And if it’s not, then it’s some damn good programming.

Questions start to fill your mind, one after another, and you ask him, responses coming as a nod or a headshake.

Is this real?

Yes.

Or programming?

No.

Could you always do this?

No.

Just today?

No.

Over a period of time. Yes.

How…?

The final question hangs in the air, and he shrugs slightly, then points at you. You did this. You woke him up, made him feel pain, sorrow, and happiness, all stemming from you, his love for you. From the minute the Archon Quests let you meet, he was vaguely curious, the most emotion he’s ever felt in his cold, empty programming since before. And when the code broke, he adored you, not like Childe viciously adored battle, but a soft adoration, one with all his digital heart could muster. You smile, and he purrs at what a wonderful smile it is.

Something flickers in the corner of your eye. Then another. And another. You turn and squint, then gasp as your surroundings begin to dissolve into colorful squares, the game taunting you as it glitches and lags. You and Childe leap to your feet, only to watch helplessly as the world crumbles away. You look down at your hands and see them beginning to break apart into pixels. Childe reaches out to hug you, to hold you close, but his hand passes right through you, a sickening reminder of how unreal he is. He wails in anguish as you both try to grasp each other, only to shatter more, the pixels covering your screen like rain on a windowpane.

Your game crashes for a second time, the only sound a desperate whimper that soon fades into an electronic squealing.

It takes a week to fix your device, the tech people saying that it was “overloaded”. Finally the repairs are finished, and you’re back at the Golden House, the doors already ajar. You slip into the room, expecting either a battle or, hopefully, someone to greet you.

But the room is empty. No one, human nor monster, stands in the center. Instead there is one lonely Ley Line Blossom, waiting, the final gift from an impossible love.

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darkelfshadow · 4 years ago

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Session Summary - 96

AKA “A whole lot of rub and no tug”

Adventures in Taggriell

Session 96 (Date: 16th October 2020)

Players Present:

- Rob (Known as “Varis”) Elf Male.

- Bob (Known as “Sir Krondor) Dwarf Male.

- Paul (Known as “Labarett”) Elf Male.

- Travis (Known as “Trenchant”) Human Male.

- Arthur (Known as “Gim”) Dwarf Male.

Absent Players

- John (Known as “Ragnar”) Dwarf Male. <Play by Rob>

NPC

- (Known as “Naillae”) Elf Female. <Controlled by Travis>

Summary

- Oathday, 11th Desnus in the year 815 (Second Era). Summer.

- The party begin this session, having just set sail down the inland river headed back towards the Golden Channel. Gim hands over his Lion Greataxe to Galin The Blacksmith on board the ship, to start the work needed to attach the Moon Gem to his weapon.

- The ship arrives five hours later, in the early evening, at the port city of Phlan.

- Captain Lerustah and his men have prepared the ship to look like a common merchant ship, as opposed to an armed military ship. There are less Cult forces on the jetty than the last time the party arrived during daylight hours, and after a cursory check, the ship is allowed to dock without incident.

- Trenchant uses one of his spells to disguise the entire party. Trenchant, now looking like a low and non-influential merchant lord, is accompanied by a group that appears to have scruffy looking personal guards, ugly hand maidens, and poor servants. The group leaves the dock, with a warning from a Cult Officer to behave themselves in the city or else face consequences. Trenchant shows the proper fear and submissiveness, to the Cult Officer, that allows them passage into the city.

- The party make their way over to the Tea Kettle, where the small female Halfling proprietor Madame Freona, greets them kindly but advises them that as the shop is due to close shortly they can not get service.

- When Trenchant, still disguised, speaks out loudly to Olisara Lightsong (Harper), seated in the far corner, the Harper recognises who the group is. Olisara tells Madame Freona to let these guests in and she does so, organising seats, refreshing drinks and an assortment of delicious tasting foods. The party can not remember eating this well.

- The party and Olisara, discuss what has happened since they left and about the new mission they are on. She tells them the Cult has taken over Phlan as a base of operations for locating a new Pool Of Radiance, somewhere south west, near something called Kranun’s Crater.

- The party learn that thanks to their information, Olisara is now in contact with one of the resistance leaders: Captain Jhessail Greycastle. Greycastle is now working with the Harpers and the location of her base of operations is now known. Olisara has been unable to find out who the other resistance leader is, “The Black Knight”.

- Olisara gives the party five monks robes, of the Order of Mishakai, who do regular visits to the Grimshackle Jail. They learn their contact in the Jail, Glevith, is a member of the Welcomers (Thieves Guild) and has been assisting the Harpers with information and other things during the Cult intrusion. Olisara warns the party not to attack or harm any of the City Watch guards in the Jail, as they are not bad people. She gives the party the name of one of the Watch Sergeants, Bhevek, who can escort the party to see Glevith.

- The party then head over to the Cracked Crown Inn. Ellywick, the female Gnome owner of the inn, lets the party inn. The party speak to Seranolla The Whisperer (Emerald Enclave) and discuss anything she might know about the Pool Of Radiance. She tells the party that this area has attracted many pure Arcane stars, falling from the heavens to make lakes or pools of power, known as Pools Of Radiance. A shooting star was seen heading south over Phlan a few months ago. The last known confirmed pool was just off Phlan, falling into Thorn Island where Sokol Keep stands. The stars fall all over this region, sometimes falling into the same place more than once, as if attracted to fall by some force. She believes Kranun’s Crater was a previous location where a massive star fell creating a lake size pool of power. She does not know exactly where this crater is, as this was a very long time ago, though she thinks it may lay south of Lake Enion, which forms the border of the Elvish lands. She warns the party to be on the look out for increased Bulette activity in that area.

- The party come up with a plan to enter Grimshackle Jail. The three Dwarves wait in a nearby sewer exit, keeping the Jail under observation, ready for trouble. Varis, Labarett, Naillae and Trenchant wear the Robes Of Mishakai, and approach the Jail pretending to be priests wishing to perform their regular services to the prisoners.

- The guards let the disguised party members in, and send for Sergeant Bhevek, when Trenchant asks for him by name. The Sergeant attends and leads the party away, recognising the party as the ones he was waiting for from Olisara. He takes the party up the four levels of the massive tower, passing many cells holding about a hundred prisoners. The guards are well dressed and well behaved. The prisoners do not appear mistreated.

- He ushers them up to an area that is sectioned off from the rest. A single door leads to a large cell that has no neighbours. Inside is a well appointed room, with a comfortable bed and chair, a writing desk with a papers and inks on it, along with a plate of food and cup with water.

- A figure with a stern thin face seats on the chair, holding a leather bound book. He looks up at the party, the light from a nearby lantern reflected on his slick greasy black hair. His thin lips smile slightly under a large bent nose, “I’m so glad you’ve come. I was beginning to worry that Olisara did not get my message.”

- Sergeant Bhevek moves to wait back at the door, just out of hearing, whilst the party speak to Glevith. They discuss what information he has. He confirms he knows exactly where the Cult is going, as some of his people have seen paper records and maps showing the location of Kranun’s Crater. He tells the party he is willing to give this information over if they agree to rescue his younger sister, Lilly, from her enforced servitude in the Red Glove. A brothel and gambling den run by a gang of criminals lead by an evil man by the name of Gillim. He describes his sister has attractive with long fair hair.

- The party quickly agree to this and leave Grimshackle Jail. Once back in the city proper, they head over to the brothel, a well made and maintained two story building. Trenchant disguises the party and attempts to gain entry, but when he enquires after the name of Lilly, they are refused entry by a suspicious female care taker called Madame Star.

- The party drop the disguise and approach the brothel as themselves and this time gain entry. The are greeted by Madame Star, who supervises the girls and entertainment. The party walk through a long and well appointed entry hall, under the watchful eye of two heavily armoured guards, and walking through a heavy red curtain enter a large drinking room. Various customers sit around the room, with serving girls bringing drinks and an assortment of naked women talking and laughing with the customers at the tables. A female entertainer plays a flute off to the side, with much apparent skill, as a girl dressed in translucent and revealing loose clothing, dances in front of her. Two more guards are visible standing in front of a set of large double doors behind a long wooden serving bar.

- Whilst the party remain downstairs, Sir Krondor and Trenchant ask Madame Star if they can pay to meet the girls privately. She has them disarm and leave all their weapons in a wall cupboard and then follow her up stairs to the private rooms. She makes five of the girls come out to line up for their inspection whilst Trenchant uses magic to read the minds of the presented girls to see if any of them are Lilly. When none are, he asks Madame Star about a door at the far end of the hall that has two armoured soldiers wearing House colours. She informs the pair that they are the personal guards of some nobles playing in the gambling den. The pair ask if they can join in and she leads them to the gambling den, a large lavish room, filled with more personal guards and with a round table in the middle of the room. Seated around the round table are three very well dressed men, obviously powerful merchant lords, with a large pile of coins on the table that glitter in the torch light. A thin attractive female with long fair hair, dressed in rich silk clothes, is serving drinks to the men. Trenchant quickly learns that this girl is Lilly. Sir Krondor and Trenchant have to improvise a plan to get her out.

- Not wishing to be left out, Varis decides to go out stairs too. He waits until Madame Star can show him upstairs, removes all his weapons (except for one dagger he hides) and he selects one girl to take into a private room. Once inside he begins questioning her about how many girls are here, the number of guards and other information that will help the party.

- Back in the gambling den, Sir Krondor declares he must have this serving girl immediately as she is the most beautiful thing he as ever seen. Madame Star takes Sir Krondor and Lilly out of the gambling den and into a private room, opposite to where Varis is. Sir Krondor tells Lilly they are here to rescue her but she insists that they rescue all the girls as they are all here against their will.

- Meanwhile, downstairs, Labarett has been stewing. He has been looking at the faces of the girls, which though are smiling are obvious they do not wish to be here. He can see faint bruises on some of them. His anger is building. His rage at this unjust treatment is building. He will not stand by and do nothing whilst these girls are being held, their freedom removed.

- Labarett stands up, determination on his face. Naillae looks across and sees the expression on his face, “Labarett, where are you going? We have to wait …”

- Labarett does not stop or respond, he continues to walk towards the bar, his hands moving towards his longsword.

- Ragnar quickly moves up, “Change of plans! Backup Labarett!”

- As he says this Labarett breaks into a run, his speed carrying him towards the first guard before anyone even knows what is happening. Mayhem breaks out as the battle starts. At first the guards are caught in surprise but they quickly rally and the ex-soldiers show they know how to handle themselves in a fight.

- The female entertainer, actually a Bard, jumps onto the bar and starts hurtling spells at the party. Ragnar tries to summon his Spirit Guardians around him but the Bard stops the spell with a well timed Counter Spell.

- The large double doors near the bar open as more guards appear and worse yet, a massive Flesh Golem charges out. Naillae, leaps up and slides down the bar, and then leaps towards the Flesh Golem her enchanted dagger hitting and slicing down the torso of the creature. She leans back in horror as she sees her attack did nothing, her daggers having no effect.

- Ragnar looks over at the Flesh Golem shouting, “Only weapons made of adamantine can harm it!”

- Naillae quickly disengages and moves away from the Golem. The party start to panic as they realise none of them have adamantine weapons.

- Meanwhile, upstairs, the sound of the battle can be heard. All the personal guards race to surround and protect their respective lords whilst Trenchant casts a powerful Mass Suggestion spell on the group. All but one guard and one lord, falls under his suggestion, which is to accompany him and guard the girls back to the jetty.

- Varis runs out of his room, the hidden dagger now in his hands and leaps towards two brothel guards waiting at the top of a set of stairs.

- Sir Krondor comes out too but pretends to be drunk and confused. Varis runs back away from the guards just as Trenchant arrives from around the corner, casting Fear on the two guards. They both immediately run down the stairs, terror on their faces.

- Sir Krondor tells Lilly to grab all the rest of the girls and follow them downstairs.

- Meanwhile, downstairs, the fight has been continuing, as more guards have arrived to join the fight, including the gang leader Gillim. Gillim stays back, firing crossbow bolts from his office.

- Ragnar, frustrated with the battle points his finger at the open office, where Gillim and the Golem are. He casts Fireball, a small orange point of light hurtling from his finger towards the open office.

- Gim and Labarett do not notice this, the battle lust over coming them. So too, the hostile Bard does not notice Ragnar’s spell, otherwise she would have not hesitated to Counter Spell it, knowing how dangerous that spell would be in a wooden building.

- Naillae, the only one to see Ragnar cast the spell, watches the fast moving orange dot fly across the room with a look or pure shock and fear. But before she can get the words out, “You stupid son of …” a massive explosion comes from the open office as the Fireball explodes.

- Heat and wind comes out from the room. Flames begin to spread over the carpet covered wooden floor, wood reinforced clay walls, and exposed wood beam ceiling. Black smoke begins to fill the lower floor. Screams of panic fill the air, as all pretence at fighting stops as everyone begins running towards the single locked front door.

- The others upstairs hear the massive explosion which shakes the building. Sir Krondor bellows, “One job! They had one job! Just wait for us! I’m going to…”

- Trenchant interrupts him, “Not now Krondor! We need to all run! RUN!”

- There is now a massive stampede going. Everyone is trying to run to the only door, which has a massive metal bar, and three turn locks on it. One of the brothel guards is trying to open it but in his fear and panic, seeing the flames and smoke fill the room, along with a massive Flesh Golem picking up people and throwing them out of his way, his shaking hands keep failing.

- The Brothel Bard quickly steps up to him, plunging a knife into his neck, so she can instead calmly open the three locks. Labarett leans around her and with a mighty heave, pulls the heavy metal bar away. As the door opens, letting in fresh cold air, Varis shoots an arrow at the back of the Bard, dropping her dead, and clearing the doorway.

- The others from above have run downstairs and quickly retrieve their stowed gear.

- Ragnar standing near the office which is now an inferno of heat and flames, is summoning food and water, by casting his spell over and over. Each time he directs all the water to appear at the front of the fire. This is slowing the spread but only somewhat, but it is just enough to buy everyone enough time to run outside of the front door.

- The party, still escorted by the two merchants and their personal guards under a Suggestion, casually walk down the street as the tavern flames lit up the entire street. A group of Cult forces and locals are running towards the tavern.

XP Allocation

Group - Combined (This is equally divided by the number of players who were involved)

Quests (Only quests that are completed or rendered undoable, during this session, are shown here)

- “Ships Passing In The Night” - Enter Phlan Undetected By Cult = 500 XP

- “In And Out Again” - Rescue Lilly Undetected = FAIL

- “Freedom For All” - Release Entrapped Women (12) = 2400 XP

- “Secrets & Lies” - Recover Blackmail Journal of Gillim = FAIL

Creatures Overcome

- Gang Enforcers = 3500 XP

- Bard = 450 XP

- Gang Leader (Gillim) = 100 XP

Individual (This is only given to that person and is not divided amongst all players)

Special Bonus (Outstanding Role Playing)

Nil

XP Levels and Player Allocations

Player : Start + Received = Total (Notes)

Rob : 125088 + 1240 = 126328

Arthur : 99794 + 992 = 100786 (Level up to Level 12)

John : 95611 + 744 = 96355

Travis : 114986 + 992 = 115978

Paul : 104469 + 992 = 105461

Bob : 115627 + 992 = 116619

NPC (Naillae) : + (496)

#D&D #DnD #5th #5e #ROT

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theofficersacademy · 5 years ago

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Emblem of Justice

Niles Bernadetta Cynthia Ewan Innes Leonie Ilyana Gaius Pent Selkie Ingrid Lorenz Azura

Week 2

Setting: A strange facility in Tagzig, sometime before Year 1176

You don’t know how many days it’s been, but at last the city gates open. A flood of new guards leading a procession of Agarthans in regal robes enters and you notice that several in the escort wear the beaked masks you’ve seen on dark mages before. The citizens of the city gather around the streets but are quiet and obedient in their presence. One of the guards comes to the front and barks commands in a language that you can’t understand, but suddenly you feel hands pushing you toward them. You and the rest of your party are shackled and led out through the gates. Before the gates close again, you look back and see Aeschylus breaking to the front of the crowd, only to be knocked down by one of the guards.

Beyond the gates, the same blue lines illuminate streets, but in place of houses, there are bleak, squatty buildings appearing to be guardrooms, and giant, sleeping metal monsters. At the far end, after you’ve trudged for some time, sits an impressive facility, well-lit and in better shape than the buildings of the city slums. You are stopped here and lined up in a row. A guard shines a strange light on you. Those with crests notice theirs cast a shadow on the wall behind, then you’re split into two groups and led into the facility.

The first group is led down a long corridor. The rooms branching from it appear to house medical equipment, examination tables, and other strange tools. Your weapons are removed and you are placed in a holding cell for the time being. An ancient-looking Agarthan with an odd fixture on his right eye frequently comes to check on you.

The rest of you are taken deeper into the facility to what appears to be a true prison. Your weapons are taken from you and you are pushed roughly into a cell with electrified bars. In the corner is a newly dead corpse, its head rolled to one side and its mouth agape to show pointed teeth.

Things to note:

Those who have been imprisoned in the research lab are: Bernadetta, Ingrid, Lorenz, Azura, and Selkie

Those who have been imprisoned in the actual prison are: Niles, Cynthia, Ewan, Innes, Leonie, Ilyana, Gaius, and Pent

The shocksticks that were stolen earlier from the guards have been removed from your possession, but it would seem that you still have your vending cards. Any papers and small trinkets that were collected are also still on your person

Guards seem to patrol your hall once every hour

You hear the others refer to the ancient Agarthan by the name Solon

Those who have learned dark magic are capable of using it with some effort

What to do (suggestions):

Send asks to teammates to start interactions

Write open threads for quick, multi-muse interactions

Find a way out of the facility

Look for your weapons and other possessions; what you brought from home might be here somewhere

Talk to Mod Ree for hints via NPC dialogue/actions to be included in your threads

Recap from last week:

Through investigation, the party has discovered that this is the underground Agarthan city of Tagzig

The party successfully pulled off a robbery of the library and learned that King Lambert is the most recent king on the surface. They have also obtained maps of western Faerghus

There is a “Liberator” or “savior” who works on the surface to free the Agarthans

Innes and Niles were caught and heavily beaten by the guards while trying to figure out one of the machines in the city

Other lore details can be found in the team doc

#toa announcements #L&KJustice2020

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aire101 · 4 years ago

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Ferrum Chapter 5

LINK TO FIC MASTER POST

A/N: Well, I'm definitely not winning Nanowrimo again this year, but I did get a chapter out earlier than previously, and hopefully I'll be updating again soon. Also, this chapter I attempted to briefly show different perspectives on the game being cleared, and both were based on what my own feelings would have been at two different points in my life, so don't come at me about it please. Take care of yourselves, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

---

The Town of Beginnings had changed remarkably from three weeks ago. Sure, the buildings and streets were all the same, but the mood and tension in the air hung like a thick blanket over nearly every person within the walls. In sharp contrast, the NPC’s on the street continued to merrily hawk their wares and interact with those in the street, most of whom seemed to be ‘out of towners’ like themselves. From windows above, you could occasionally see a face peering down before a drape would be pulled closed again.

All in all, it was distinctly unsettling, but exactly what Tony had expected.

“I knew some would hole up in the starter town, but this is a bit more intense than I imagined,” said Peter, as they made their way towards an inn.

“Kid, almost two thousands people have died since this game began—two out of every ten people who started. In all honestly, I’m surprised how many of us have hit the ground running,” said Tony.

“I know, but turning into a complete shut-in seems a bit extreme. Its not like anything is going to attack you within the city’s Safe Zone…”

“You say that, but that assumption is born from an inherent trust of the system. A system that has already been previously hijacked and altered to trap us all here on the whim of a asshole with a god complex. Considering that, who do you really think is crazy? The ones who can’t bring themselves to trust the system to protect them, or the ones who do?” asked Tony.

“I guess when you put it that way, I see your point. But still, we’re probably going to be here for a while. Are they just planning on staying in one room for the next however many years?”

“I imagine some of them will eventually venture out and find their own niche in the world, even if it isn’t battling the local mobs. Some will start fishing, or hunting, mining, cooking… the skill list for the game is extensive. Some entrepreneurs will probably start opening player run businesses and establishments. But I doubt we’ll see much of that until the Level One Floor Boss is found and cleared. These people are stuck in the dark without a light, believing the system is rigged against them. They need to see proof of what’s possible, a light to guide them forward, before we’ll see any real progress here. And even then, there will still be some who never go further than the walls of this city,” said Tony. “The amount of specialized therapy everyone in this game will need afterward is going to make some psychologists rich.”

Ahead of them, Tony saw a sign for an inn and turned to Peter.

“You can go ahead and get us set up for the night. I’m going to go and find a tool shop and a smithy, see if I can add a durability upgrade. Do you need anything while I’m out?” asked Tony.

“Um… Maybe some more potions. I used the last one back in the West forest. Though god those things taste like dirty socks,” said Peter, checking his inventory.

“You know, if you stopped doing dumb crap like jumping between me and attacks you wouldn’t have this problem,” said Tony, with a dry tone and a distinctly unsympathetic expression.

“What’s the point of having each other’s back if I don’t guard it?” said Peter, completely unrepentant.

Tony threw up his hands as he turned and walked away, calling over his shoulder, “Potions it is!”

He didn’t have to look back, he could feel the boy’s eyes roll into his head.

As Tony worked his way towards the central market, he took in the graystone streets and buildings with ornate windows and battlements. Every so often he would come across small barren plazas with lovely fountains and flora, nearly empty cafes and brightly colored vendor stalls. Even an occasional vista located just perfectly to allow someone a majestic view of the city and the surrounding area. Tony sighed, thinking of what could have been for this city that many had spent years of their lives developing.

The Town of Beginnings would have been a beautiful city without the miasma of despair that clung to its inhabitants.

It got him to wondering exactly what had come of his AIs, the ones Argus had requested. He had almost had one completely coded at the time of their last meeting. She had been a sweet one. But since he had woken in the game, he had seen no sign of her. Did they end up including her in the Cardinal System at all?

Maybe he should start poking around the GM user panel in earnest, see what he could find out. So far, he had mostly kept away from delving into it, afraid of catching Kayaba’s attention. But if there was something he could do to help, he would damn well try.

Up ahead he saw a sign advertising a blacksmith and item vendor. Eventually he wanted to try and open a smithy himself. Peter seemed set on throwing himself into harms way (per usual), and if he was going to do that, Tony wanted to make sure he had the best equipment available to do so. So Tony started learning how to do what he did best— make weapons and armor.

But to do that required a blacksmith’s forge and anvil. And to get that required a hefty amount of Cor. So for now, he rented an NPC blacksmith’s resources every now and then in order to improve and repair their equipment.

A bell jingled as he opened the door, undoubtedly triggering the customary NPC interaction.

“Welcome to Varden’s Smith and Sundry! How may I help you today?” called the man behind the counter.

“I would like to buy potions,” said Tony.

“What quantities would you like?”

“Ten.”

“That will be 1,500 Cor.”

“Ugh…” Tony broke the script to groan. He didn’t begrudge the purchase, far from it. But seriously, the kid needed to stop getting hit in the first place. His heart really couldn’t take this, and neither could their pocket book.

Who would have guessed he’d finally learn the concept of budgeting in his fifties? And boy did it suck.

Tony opened up his inventory, removing the required amount to place on the counter. As soon as it hit the counter, the bag of Cor flashed and disappeared.

“Thank you for your purchase! Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Yes, I’d like to rent your forge,” said Tony.

“Ah, yes! Come! Follow me this way…”

—

As Peter entered the inn, he glanced around the first floor tavern where various parties sat around rough hewn tables over pub fare and pints. At the bar, several others sat, conversing casually, though a little less intimately than those at the lower tables. Making a decision, he approached the bar.

“What can I getcha?” asked the barman as Peter sat.

“Whatever today’s special is and a pint,” said Peter, setting the typical meal cost in Cor down on the counter.

The barman nodded, accepting the payment and placing a full pint down in front of Peter before turning to finish the task.

As he waited, Peter took sips of his drink and listened in on the conversations around him.

“Word is they’ve finally found the entrance to the dungeon, as well as a new town relatively close to it called Tolbana. Hopefully within the next week or two they’ll find the boss and the first floor will be cleared,” said a woman to his left.

The girl sitting on the other side of her shook her head. “But how many more will die clearing it out? There’s already almost 2,000 names crossed out in the Monument of Life in the Black Palace.”

“What else are we supposed to do? We either die trying to get out or die of old age stuck in a virtual world.”

“Would that really be the worst thing, though? In the real world I’m in constant pain from my condition, some days I can’t even make it out of bed for more than the absolute necessities. Here I can live without that.”

The woman next to him sighed, “I’m sorry for that, and I understand why you would consider the option of living within the system. But some of us can’t. When I dove, I told my husband it would only be for a couple of hours, then we could take our five year old son to the park. They’re waiting on me to return. I want to be able to see my child grow up. So its a risk I have to take.”

The other girl nodded, “I get it.”

It was at that point the barman set a plate of what looked and smelled like chicken and roasted squash in front of him. Peter thanked the man and began to eat.

“God that looks good…” said the girl a couple seats down. “I haven’t eaten a proper meal in a couple days. The black bread is cheaper, though its dry and doesn’t last very long.”

“You really should try and go hunting. You’ll never make enough Cor or skill points to survive comfortably unless you do. Even if its just around this area,” said the other woman. “Going hungry for the next few years would be pretty miserable.”

“Sorry if I’m intruding,” said Peter, “but I’ve been curious about something— how often and how quickly do you get hungry in here?”

“Well, I haven’t really left the city, so I don’t make much Cor to buy food with,” said the girl. “So I kind of just stay hungry throughout most of the day.”

“When I’m leveling I tend to press through instead of stopping to eat,” said the woman, “But when I am eating regularly, I’d say I start feeling hunger similar to how I would in the real world, about every four to six hours. But I’m not sure if its tied to our real world feelings of hunger or a virtual schedule.”

“Might be a little of both… I tend to get hungry a lot in RL, but in here its spaced out a bit more,” said Peter, taking a bite of chicken.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the girl still looking wistfully at his food.

“Sir, I’d like to order a second plate, but give it to her,” said Peter, nodding in her direction.

As the barman nodded and walked off, the girl started waving her hands.

“No, you shouldn’t do that. Save your Cor—”

“It’s alright, I promise. I’m in here with—”

Shit. What should he call Tony?

“…Imagine being stuck in here with your dad.”

“Er— my sort of Dad, and we’ve been doing pretty good with the mobs. So I can afford it.”

She looked for a moment like she was thinking of arguing still, until the plate was set in front of her. She eyed the food before her eyes teared up a bit, and she nodded.

“Thank you. I really appreciate your kindness.”

“It’s not a problem. I’d do the same in the real world. And what I would do there is what I should do in here,” said Peter.

“Those are wise words,” said the woman. “And you are uncommonly kind. I hope you are able to keep that, but don’t expect everyone in here to share your mindset.”

“I won’t, but just because others choose to not do the right thing doesn’t mean I have to. We all have the power and responsibility to choose to do good,” said Peter, and he felt the intangible feeling within him that he had been wrestling with since the beginning calm.

It wasn’t that the responsibility was no longer his without his powers, it was that the power and responsibility was everyone’s.

Perhaps it always had been.

And just like in the real world, there were those who used their power for good, those who used power for evil, and those that never used their power at all. Most thinking they had none, just like the girl a couple seats down.

But if they worked together…

Peter felt his resolve form.

He was going to the front line.

—

As Tony stepped back out onto the street, he considered his options.

Obviously he needed to head back to the inn. Afterward they could probably head out and take a look around town, seeing as they hadn’t really done so on day one.

But the memory of a café he had passed was singing its song…

He really missed coffee.

Surely they had some digital variation in this game. If not he was lodging a complaint.

The café was just as vacant as when he passed earlier. There were a couple people sitting at a table outside, but was otherwise empty of players.

The customary tinkle of the door as he entered prompted the NPC barista to smile and wave. On the wall behind the counter was a blackboard with various items written— sandwiches and what Tony suspected were types of teas, and in a bottom corner there was a selection of drinks called ‘Kaf.’

“Bingo! I’ll have a black kaf,” Tony looked at the pastries on display off to the side, spying a familiar donut shape with pink frosting, “And one of whatever you call this.”

A minute later he was sitting at a table out front, facing away from the two other patrons with his visor moved, taking a drink of the weirdest tasting ‘coffee’ he had ever tasted. If he had to describe it he would say it was more like a tea, with floral and berry notes and a touch of honey, but with a darker color and consistency of a french press coffee. It wasn’t bad, it just was not what he had been expecting.

Oh well, the donut was a perfect reproduction of a strawberry frosted Dunkin Donut.

“Man, if I make it out of this alive my wife is going to kill me. She’s been super anxious since the Blip— not that I blame her, you know— and this whole thing was definitely not something she was very confident in to begin with,” said one of the men sitting at the nearby table.

“Damn… you were one of the ones caught up in that? I lucked out I guess… I’m not really close to anyone and the ones I am were spared,” replied the other.

“Yeah, I know the Avengers ended up saving everyone in the end and I’m thankful for that obviously, but everything is still such a damn dumpster fire.”

That caught Tony’s attention.

The Blip? Bit of an odd name for an Avenger’s battle. How were the Avengers even a thing? Last time he checked Rogers and his merry men and women were still considered war criminals at large. The ‘Avengers’ consisted of himself, Vision and Rhodey.

“No joke. Almost every economy is still tanked at the moment. And I’m pretty sure half of upper New York State is a crater. Glad that fight was over there and not in my part of the world.”

The bottom of Tony’s stomach dropped out at those words.

“There was a battle… you won, but you took a lot of damage. You’ve been in a coma ever since.”

Peter had never said anything else about the battle, and Tony hadn’t pressed. But if a giant chunk of the state had been completely destroyed because of the battle surely he would have mentioned that?

Wouldn’t he?

Obviously a lot more happened in that battle than Peter had led him to believe. Tony eventually being taken out of commission in a fight was one thing, but from the sound of things this was on par with the Battle of Sokovia.

So why hadn’t Peter mentioned it?

“It was good to catch up, we’ll have to do this again when I’m back this direction. Or maybe on another floor if the rumors of the first floor dungeon door being found are true,” said the first man, standing up.

“Sounds good to me, though I’ll probably be pretty busy soon. Some of us around here have started organizing to try and provide resources for the people here in town. Some of them are players who don’t want to chance dying in the game, but there’s also some kids who are way younger than what the minimum play age was supposed to be. A few volunteers have taken up residence with them in a church in town and we’ve been supplying them with food…” said the other man, as they both walked away.

Damn… that wasn’t something he had thought about, but of course there would be kids who either snuck in on a parent’s account or who were allowed to lie about their age to play the game. Jokes about eight year olds talking crap on Call of Duty were a dime a dozen and everyone laughed about it, but here…

Maybe he should look into that, see what help he could offer. Though unlike in the real world, simply throwing his money at the problem couldn’t fix it. Mostly because he didn’t have any money. Ugh…

Speaking of kids though, he’d need to decide what to say once he got back to his kid at the inn.

Tony took a few deep breaths, trying to loosen up the hold his anxiety had started to take.

Obviously whatever had happened had been huge— Avengers assembled (with or without Rogers and co?), massive property damage, Iron Man out of commission, every country feeling the economic backlash. But unlike what had happened with Sokovia, despite the damages it seemed like the general public opinion after the fact was positive…?

That was unusual.

Most importantly at this point, whatever had happened had affected people across the globe, but especially one young man from Queens.

Had he been at the battle? Tony had initially offered the kid a spot after the whole vulture debacle, but after he had actually slept on it a few hours (the first time he’d slept properly in a few days) he had come to the realization that Peter turning the position down had saved them from what had been an awful idea in the first place. And that was BEFORE May Parker had shown up at the complex in an unholy righteous fury.

So Tony could not imagine having called Peter into a fight, and if it had taken place at the compound like he suspected, Peter shouldn’t have been anywhere near there.

He wanted to go back to the inn and wrangle the details out of Peter. Who was the fight against? What was it about? Was Rogers there? If so, how was Rogers involved? Why was public opinion seemingly in their favor for once? Had anyone other than him been hurt?

Oh god… What if something had happened to Pepper…

No. Peter would have told him that. He wouldn’t lie to him about Pepper, and he had told him weeks ago that she was fine. She was safe.

Tony dropped his head into his hand.

He wanted to ask all those questions, needed those answers…

But even if he got his answers, what could he do about any of it?

And was it worth potentially driving Peter away from him? His kid. The only person he knew and could dare to trust with the truth of his identity in this world?

No. No it wasn’t.

He would just have to see what he could find out from others. And hopefully Peter would eventually come around and open up about what had happened. He trusted the kid with his life, he would trust him in this, too.

The walk back to the inn seemed much quicker than the one to smithy due to Tony’s preoccupied mind and nerves. He was still unsure what to say when he got to the room. He needn’t have worried though, because Peter fixed that problem.

“I want to start fighting on the front line. I’m heading to the dungeon tomorrow.”

“Wait— excuse me, what?”

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tinygamertris · 4 years ago

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Cat’s Top and Bottom 5 Video Games of 2020

As with last year, I count only games that I played for the first time this year, regardless of the year they were released. All opinions are personal and all flames will be met with a hearty ‘fuck you’ and used to roast marshmallows.

5th Best: Outer Worlds

Goddamn this was a beautiful game. Bright and colourful, filled with character, dripping with sarcasm and incredibly insightful satire, Parvarti... There was almost nothing about this game that I didn’t love. It’s what Fallout could be again if only Bethesda had the balls, pretty much the diametric opposite of the bland yearly release FPSes like CoD, and every inch of it screams of a dev team filled with passion and creativity. The only reason it’s not higher on the list is because it was locked to first person when I played it and first person inevitably makes me sick sooner or later.

5th Worst: Seer’s Isle

This game isn’t bad as such. It’s very pretty and intensely mystical, with a plot that could have been remarkable. It’s what it promises but doesn’t deliver that killed it for me. I was promised a game with interactivity, where every choice I made impacted the ending, where my actions would determine who lives or dies. NOPE. What I got was a game that only holds up for one playthrough, because the moment you try to make good on the supposed varying plot you discover that it’s going to be the same thing over and over again with only two endings. At least it’s short.

4th Best: Ghost of Tsushima

Another ridiculously pretty game! It’s typical that in a year when the new consoles were released (oh what a clusterfuck that was) that the most graphically impressive game was on the PS4. The gameplay loop is a delight, allowing you to customise your approach to many situations, and the ability to challenge enemies to a duel to start a fight is buttery smooth and viscerally enjoyable. It’s only let down by the predictability of the main plot, to the point where I only did story quests when I ran out of other things to do and wanted to open a new area. Absolutely worth your time and money regardless, it’s a game that will make you feel like a badass samurai from the comfort of your own room.

4th Worst: South Park - The Fractured But Whole

This is a game where its strength is also its weakness: It’s like playing an episode of South Park. Much like the show, when it’s good it’s absolutely on FIRE, and when it’s bad it’s the most profoundly uncomfortable cringe I’ve ever experienced. In the end, all this game did was remind me why I stopped watching the series years ago.

3rd Best: Monster Keeper

A very recent Switch release, Monster Keeper earned it’s place with its simple but lovely graphics, its delightful Metroidvania gameplay, and the almost Pokemon-like pleasure of fielding a team of badass monsters to kick the asses of other badass monsters. When I’m not playing 1 or 2 on this list, I’m playing this game.

3rd Worst: The Last of Us 2

In almost any other year this would absolutely top my worst of list. This game takes everything that I thought was worthwhile about the first game (Joel and Ellie’s relationship, complicated morality, and fuck all else) and shoves it down the toilet and takes a great steaming dump on it. The fact that this game swept the game awards in a year with Ghost of Tsushima, Hades and the Final Fantasy VII Remake is disgusting and final proof that the awards are as corrupt as the industry they celebrate.

2nd Best: Elder Scrolls Online

I’ve never been much of an MMO player. I find the presence of other humans in my games to normally be a nightmare. But this long drawn out dumpster fire of a year got me watching a LOT of videos on YouTube, and when my favourite channels did a few challenges in the new Greymoor chapter, I decided to give it a go as a birthday present to myself. And good lord did it pay off! Elder Scrolls Online is bloody huge, bloody beautiful, allows you to choose the level of interaction you have with other people, and has some of the best NPCs I’ve ever met in any video game. Not to mention the wonderful friends I’ve made both inside and outside the game, who have made this year of lockdowns and crises worth living through. Love you guys.

2nd Worst: Deadly Premonition 2 - A Blessing In Disguise

Holy transphobia, Batman! Swery really made an idiot of himself with this game and his reaction to the backlash, and yet again in any other year it would absolutely top the list. Sadly, it’s 2020, and it gets worse.

Honorable Mentions: Best

Dragon Quest Builders 2 (For having the wonderful combination of Dragon Quest’s ridiculous sense of humour and Minecraft’s dedication to building cool shit), Animal Crossing: New Horizons (for being the pure and gentle escape that I needed during the first few weeks of total isolation), Portal Knights (Another game with Minecraft’s addictive building mechanics and delightfully ridiculous characters), Final Fantasy VII Remake (honestly it earns this through the Honeybee Inn scene alone).

Honorable Mentions: Worst

Astral Chain (apparently it gets good a couple of hours in but I can’t fucking get that far so screw it), Death Stranding (what did I even?), Sin Eaters (utterly incomprehensible to the point I couldn’t figure out how to get out of the first room).

Best Game of 2020: Hades

How could any other game top this list? Hades is truly the best game Supergiant has created yet, and considering how incredibly good their games are as a rule, that’s saying a LOT. The art is just *chef’s kiss* perfect, the characters are all filled with personality and voice acted with incredible talent and dedication, the gameplay is a delightfully chaotic rampage through the various levels of the Greek Underworld, Zagreus is possibly my favourite protagonist of all time, and every single aspect of this game is sheer delighful perfection. Thank you, Supergiant Games, for a truly transcendent gaming experience that will stay with me for years to come.

Worst Game of 2020: Cyberpunk 2077

This game should have had it all. It was made by darling publisher CD Projekt Red, it starred Keanu ‘Most Perfect Human Being’ Reeves, it had years and years of hard work behind it... And it somehow managed to be an absolute shit-show the likes of which I’ve never seen before in a lifetime of gaming. From the lighting that gave people migranes and actual seizures (thanks a lot you assholes it took me three days to recover from that migrane), to the disgusting crunch forced upon the dev team by shitty management, to the plague of bugs, to the returns controversy, to the patches not arriving until some time in January... Not even Fallout 76 failed this hard. This proves once and for all that when Jim Sterling speaks, the industry needs to FUCKING LISTEN.

#Cat Meows #Top 5 games #Bottom 5 games #Top 5 #Bottom 5 #2020 #What a dumpster fire of a year

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annoyed-galaxy · 5 years ago

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“Well. Today I almost murdered a child. Normally I can take a few taunts and jeers every now and then, but this bratty little shit made me want to punt him through a gods-damned window and into the void. I was fine with the first few jeers he sent my way, but then he over did it and gods have mercy, I was so close to slapping him.

The kid lost his parents in the mine and, for some cold-hearted reason, really doesn’t care. The alchemist in Dawnstar took him in and he’s waiting for her to die so that he turn her shop into a museum. Little uncouth, but okay. Although, if it were me, I wouldn’t be trying to fill the museum with fake artifacts. Maybe I could tell him about the High Ones and scare the ever living shit out of him...that’s not me. I’m not that mean. Well...for that kid...I might make an exception.

After speaking to the irritable little brat, I met a very shy and quiet person who surprised me for a second when he told me his name. Jaspar Gaerston, he called himself. Said he was an aspiring writer. He was very soft-spoken and very...wordy. I guess that’s what a writer is. He seemed sweet enough. He seemed very passionate about his writing but was discouraged when some famous publisher denied one of his works, claiming it was written by a blacksmith. Yeah, a little harsh. I told him to keep following his dreams that one day, something miraculous will happen. No matter how bad life may seem, there is always a silver lining to look at.

When I told him that, I was thinking of the silver linings of my own life: losing my companion in Nehrim and being tortured as a slave, but that allowing me the strength to fight back and become who I am now; dying but coming back as Fleshless with new abilities; the world as I knew ending, but allowing me to spend eternity with the person I loved.

I would have given this young fellow those as examples, but then I think he might have thought I was crazy.

After speaking to Jaspar, I performed another song for a free room and then studied a little bit of magic. I learned a few new spells and more structures of spell. Learning magic this way is kind of fun! Definitely not convenient as it takes forever, but still fun nonetheless.

After that, I left Dawnstar on a mission that was given to me by the innkeeper. Said that one of the people in Dawnstar wanted a family member found. So I took up the offer. A few miles away and I had to set up camp for the night. Let me say this, Skyrim is just as beautiful as Enderal at night. I have always felt more at peace gazing up at the mystical lights in Enderal and it felt nice to know that Skyrim had at least something familiar for me.

I stumbled upon a little “fort” built atop a mine infested with bandits. Dealt with them like a piece of cake. Even got a new sword. It looks horrible, but the enchantment on it was like my old sword that I made in Enderal. If I end up being stuck here for too long, I’m going to have to make my own armor set again. I miss my shadow steel.

When I got to the location where the missing family member was, I rescued her from a few bandits. Her name was Tigrid and she said she stumbled on the steps on her way to sneak up on the bandits. She told me to meet her back in Dawnstar so I warmed up a little bit before heading back.

Tigrid explained to me that she was always clumsy in her life. She had unnaturally long arms and legs and was bullied often because of it. Only one person ever stood up for her and their name was Shalene. Shalene taught Tigrid how to fight by the Dawnstar lighthouse. However, one night, when Tigrid borrowed a sword from the smith, she slipped on the steps and lost the sword down at the coast. It took them a while but she managed to find the sword. However, when she went to show Shalene, Shalene was paralyzed by a door that was speaking to them. It had asked them a question to which Tigrid had accidentally said the answer to.

Shalene went in and never came back.

Tigrid told me she dedicates her life to living the life Shalene wanted her to live. She felt guilty because she was not brave enough to follow her friend through that door.

I asked Tigrid if she wouldn’t mind adventuring with me. She accepted.

We celebrated by drinking and talking the rest of the night. I even played another song or two for the inn that night. She was impressed with my skills. I was thinking of telling her about what happened to me, but decided it was best to keep a secret for now. I’ll tell her when we’ve become closer friends and when I know she won’t run away thinking I’m crazy.

I’m glad I’ve found someone in this freezing hellscape to journey with. Makes it a little less empty. But still, with Tigrid by my side, nothing will fill the hole in my heart where my husband is supposed to be.

Husband. It’s weird to think of Jes like that. When Tigrid asked my name, I had told her. And I said Clerissa Dal’Varek. It just rolled off the tongue. I had almost forgotten that Jes and I had a little wedding in Star City one day. We were bored and even though no one else would ever know it, we entertained the idea of marriage.

It’s almost strange to say my name with his last name, but right at the same time. Tigrid recognized the name was foreign and I explained to her that I wasn’t from around here. She could tell by the pointy ears and laughed.

If only that was half of it.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

This was a lot longer than the last one for sure! Not much happened other than some storybuilding elements really and some NPC encounters. The three people mentioned here Thorolf, Jaspar Gaerston, and Tigrid are from the mod Interesting NPC’s (I’m pretty sure). There’s two other people I have met that appear from this mod (Viranya from the first chapter was one of them) and it’s actually really cool how these NPC’s have their own story. It adds a lot of story building and interactions for Cler.

I’m happy a few of you are enjoying this. Originally I just wanted to play modded Skyrim and I normally play as an Altmer but didn’t know what to do and just ended up making Clerissa so all of this kind of just happened on a whim. Kinda just making it up as I go.

Glad to see some are enjoying it!

#Clerissa #Clerissa the Prophetess #Clerissa Dal'Varek #Lost Prophetess #Skyrim #Enderal #TESV #The Elder Scrolls Skyrim #Skyrim x Enderal crossover

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rosecorcoranwrites · 5 years ago

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Video Games as Interactive Storytelling

As I previously established, video games are a worthwhile form of storytelling, combining the best aspects of books, movies, and comics. They are unique among mediums, however, for being a truly interactive form of media. They are games, after all, and thus incorporate aspects play and choice.

Environment

Because you, the player, control the character, you experience the world as if you were in it, much more than in any other medium. You explore the environment. You fight the boss, and experience the struggle of battle. You help various NPCs, or non-player characters, with tasks. You make friends and allies, and fight alongside them. Although I never like my favorite characters getting hurt in any medium, when people attack my allies in video games, it's personal.

And that's what video games do: offer an incredibly personal experience. Unlike books, movies and comics, where you have to read from start to finish, video games let you meander and spend time in the setting. In games like Zelda, Okami, or Dark Souls, you can discover secrets that aren't necessarily part of the main plot. These can include hidden areas or side quests. Sometimes these add to your understanding of the story or make the main plot more emotionally impactful. For instance, I actually did all those side quests for people in Okami, so the cutscene during the final boss fight was personal to me. I helped those people; they were lending their strength to me.

You can also gawk at the extra details of the world. One of my favorite examples of this is in Skyrim, where you can read books of short stories or admire intricately carved Nordic architecture, neither of which are important to the story or gameplay, but which make the experience more complete and immersive. I like to wonder at the fact that some person was paid to write those stories and design those carvings; they’re neat little details that someone at the studio thought were important enough to put into the game.

Even a game as linear and straightforward as the Ace Attorney series allows for a sort of exploration. Though you can only "move" through a series of set-like locations during the investigation stages, you can click on almost every object in order to hear banter between you and your assistant. While this doesn't generally offer much in the way of world or story building (unless the object turns out to be a crucial piece of evidence) it does let us experience more chemistry between the characters, endearing them to us even more.

Choice

Games in which the player’s choices effect the story obviously offer an interesting experience. Certain games have binary choices—send this character to the safety of the cathedral, or to be experimented on in a laboratory!—while others have branching trees and dozens or hundreds of possible endings. Many games incorporate a morality system, where the more bad choices one makes make for a darker ending, with the best result being the “Good ending” and the worst result, the “Bad ending”; many games opt for multiple bittersweet conclusions.

While some such games have fairly blank-slate, player-insert characters as protagonists (that is, they don’t have too much personality, because the player can fill that in), others have very specific motivations, while still offering choice. My sister was describing her initial frustration, in Red Dead Redemption 2, that she could only make not-so-good choices in some of the side quests. This makes sense, given that you are playing as an outlaw in a gang, but was still annoying in a game that claimed to give one choices. She was later delighted, though, after something important happens to the character (spoiler: they find out they have tuberculosis, which not only makes them sympathize with one of their former victims of the same condition, but also forces them to come to terms with their decisions, as time is running out), and good options start opening up. The way the game presented choices made sense for that individual character while still giving the player the freedom to reject certain choices if they want. Masterful!

Happenstance

I will say, however, that player choice is not totally unique to games, as Choose Your Own Adventure books were and occasionally still are a thing. Programmers can program in more possible choices than can be contained in a physical book, but the storytelling principal is the same. More interesting, I think, is video games’ ability to create random happenstance. What do I mean? Depending on what the player does when, they might stumble onto a part of a game in a different way than other players.

For example, in Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, musical themes for each location play during the day, while nighttime has only sound effects. As anyone who has played Ocarina can tell you, the Gerudo Valley theme is some of the coolest, most adventurous music in the franchise, and it starts playing in the canyon, before you arrive at the desert. In order to get to the desert the first time, you jump your horse over a broken bridge, which feels pretty awesome to a first time player. But for me, it was more. I arrived on horseback at the canyon at dawn, rode to the edge as the castanets of the Gerudo Valley theme started playing. Just as I jumped, the sun came over the horizon and the guitar began! I could have sworn there was even a lens flare, but that might have been my imagination reacting to the epicness of what was happening. It was a totally random, unrepeatable event, and I’ll never forget it.

In Okami, I never knew that going through some torii gates led into mystical areas while going around them led to ordinary shrines, because I always went a certain way. Thus, my mind was blown when I discovered, after following a little sparrow girl through a gate, that what had once been a solid wall was actually a pathway. It wasn't until my second play through that I went around the gate of the first shrine, which led to a glowing portal to a celestial world, and discovered nothing but an ordinary statue in a moss-covered cave. I never knew!

In another Zelda example, every player had a different experience of their first Blood Moon in Breath of the Wild. Blood Moons are events that serve to replenish the enemies in the area, but in-game are meant to be the malice of the main enemy infecting the environment and causing monsters to resurrect. They happen at random, and are preceded by the music changing, the light dimming, black wisps issuing out of the ground, and, of course, the full moon turning red. My brother first experienced it while looking at some goats in a pasture outside an inn, while my sister experienced it after climbing up a tower to reach a treasure chest. Never having heard that Blood Moons were a thing, their thoughts, respectively, were, “What the HECK is wrong with these goats!?” and “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry! I’ll put it back!” I’m sure others have their own fun stories of their initial horror at what was happening.

Social Interaction

Cast your mind back to when this whole diatribe of mine began (many weeks ago), when I mentioned a coworker of mine saying that video games don’t inspire social interaction. Just the opposite is true, and it always has been.

One of the first, if not the first video games was the two-player game, pong. Though not actually a story game, this led the way for more two player, and then multiplayer games. Kids used to go to each other's houses and play Mario Brothers or Bubble Bobble; now, they interact with friends and strangers across the country in online, multiplayer games. There are even games that have “emotes”, special moves you can do to communicate with other players without voice chat. Others let you vote for another player as the MVP of each round to show your appreciation. Lest you think it’s all online, Nintendo is keeping in-person multiplay alive and well with games like Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Smash Brothers.

Single player games, too, invite interaction. Pre-internet, people would spread hints and strategy and cheat codes by word of mouth. “How did we know how to do that move without reading the manual?” my sister asked, recalling some odd special move in an older game. “I think a friend must have told me, and they probably heard it from one of their friends.” Nowadays, internet forums and Let’s Play videos serve the same purpose: a community of gamers helping each other out and spreading information about games.

I myself have talked repeatedly about what my brothers and sister experienced in their playthroughs. Some of this is because some games are too hard for me (like, every game FromSoft will ever make), but a lot of it is just because there was one TV and not enough time for me to start my own game. I’ve never actually played Sekiro or Bloodborne or Last Guardian, but I’ve watched people play all of them from start to finish, so I still have that experience. My brother and I both gasped when we first encountered a Mist Noble and its enchantment in Sekiro (and my advice, “Kill it with fire!” worked like a charm). My sister and I squeed over the griffin-dog-thing’s cute antics in Last Guardian. Unlike books, comics, and movies, which are best enjoyed in silence, video games invite conversation during play.

Online streams offer a similar experience. Even here, choice rears its head. Some streamers play it straight, from start-to-finish, with little editorializing. Others derp around doing a lot of nonsense, or add hilarious commentary, often adding their own layer of storytelling to the mix. Viewers of said streams can type comments in real-time, so that the streamer interacts not only with the game but with his viewers, and the entire experience is like one big conversation. Who said video games don’t inspire social interaction?

Community

Right about now is when I connect this new form of storytelling to something ancient. Books are the new songs and poems, movies are the new plays, and comics are the new tapestries and hieroglyphics. What, then, are video games? As I said before, they take elements from all of these other mediums: video games are the new bard adding their own lyric to a song, or the actor playing a well-known role a different way, perhaps due to choice or happenstance.

But mostly, video games are the new play, that most primal and primordial of all human storytelling. We play as soon as we can think, and play act as soon as we can walk. Children assign themselves roles and act them out together. Humans are communal creatures, after all, who process narratives by interacting with other humans.

To some extent, all storytelling is like this, as it is one human telling something to another rather than keeping it in their head. Video games, though, bring back the communal aspect of storytelling. Wanting to take part in stories—whether as a child going on adventures with friends, or an adult participating in a narrative ceremony, or anyone telling a story around a fire to a group of rapt and responding listeners—is part of being human.

At some point, however, that part of life got chopped off and shunted to the corner, as if adults shouldn’t desire narrative play unless they are writers. Thus, video games are put down as childish, or geeky, or not as valid as books. Oddly, they are stereotyped as being something beloved by loners, which ignores the vibrant and vocal gaming community.

I’m not sure where the animus towards gaming comes from. Why is immersing oneself in an imaginary world while staring at a book is considered high-brow, but doing the same while staring at a screen considered low? I don’t know, nor do I want to. What I do know is that some of the most unique, innovative, and emotional, stories I’ve ever seen have been those in video games, and I hope that in the future, more people give them a chance.

And those, dear readers, gamers, viewers, and story lovers of all stripes, are my thoughts on video games.

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zackinthegreen · 6 years ago

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Campaign Diary #4

We ( @darkseldarine @bluethegirl @wojtekbc @pantographicclone) played d&d last night ( @krunk-mcdunk and @xynnos were unable to make it) boy is it a doozie so buckle up.

Tuesday 17th of Tour

Its late and the party are drinking at the Shimmering Archway in Belfort. Not much happened that night,

Wednesday the 18th of Tour

When the wake up in the morning they decide to head out on their next mission, to deal with some bandits in the town of Ravenhome. Getting there takes most of the day but while they are close to the town the group (which I am tentatively naming either The Lads or The Goon Squad) runs into two units (one of light infantry the other of heavy cavalry) of hairless half-orcs. The leader of the group introduces himself as Heavy Calvary 2274: this (along with HC 2274 calling Shura ‘born’) immediately tips Shura off that these are Warbreed. The leader also calls Shura an insult relating to being part if the Wren.

They get to the town the town and the see a lot of people busy and being directed by What they will know to be Mayor Durslebe. She is and older, human woman with once black hair gone grey. She talks to the party, but mostly Shura about what happened in the town; that there were bandits but the soldiers took killed them all and took their place in harassing the villagers.

The group head to the Inn and discus the plan of action. A LOT was talked about here so I won’t go into all of it but they end up deciding to train the villagers and get help from the people that they talk to on their (admittedly short) adventures.

The party also try to convince the town to join and fight but there is little enthusiasm. Later back at the Inn the mayor shows up in armor and tells to party that she will help how she can.

That night Jawbones and Naoise decide to scout the orc camp and get information that there are about 80 of them and that they are summoning fiends (the cosmology of the world doesn’t really care about the distinction between demons and devils). When this information is reported back to the rest of the party Shura is pissed.

Thursday 19th of Tour

Half the group (Naoise, Cerna, and Jawbones!) head to Octin by way of Belfort to get some recruits. Spindore is unable to help much but tells them to look for Ari, and gives Cerna a magic item (a ring that grants +1 hit point per level) The townsfolk, being illusory, are unable to help. The group head to Octin, gets there at night and rest.

Shura and the Mayor spend the day training the townsfolk (Ellenwae and Rowan, whose players weren’t there will have to have their day actions edited into the post later).

Friday 20th of Tour

A lot happened Friday. Cerna bought the weapons needed, at a considerable discount. Jawbones looked for Spindore’s apprentice, and Naoise went looking for the Kingless. Jawbones was able to get some clues as to where Ari went but wanted to meet back up with the other two before pursuing. Naoise (thanks to an important detail I forgot to mention earlier, as well as a great roll) is able to secure some of Tybalt’s troops for the fight. The group meet up at the arena to continue looking for Ari. They go to a warehouse owned by the Greysteel family and find a tunnel dug underneath some crates. They follow and it leads them to a sewer were tracked lead them to another cave that has goblins playing dice near the entrance. Jawbones says hello to the goblins and they offer back a warmish welcome. The party describes Ari, and the goblins refer to her as “the new Queen”. The group walks through the underground goblin and find most of the residents are young. Ari is sat at a throne and seems nervous about what is happening. She tells the party that she would like to help but is stuck with the goblins. Naoise convinces the goblins to let her go and Ari leave the oldest, a Bugbear, in charge. While that is happening, some goblins are talked to about setting up traps and decide to help out. These things cause several of the goblins to tag along with the party when they leave the city.

Training continues at Ravenhome.

Saturday 21st of Tour

A travel day for the away team to return to Ravenhome, many of the tag-a-long goblins are left at Belfort under the care of Spindore and the holograms.

Training continues.

DM THOUGHTS

That session went really well. The first half was very good and Shura and Naoise really killed it, despite messing up a lot of rolls. I was very worried because they were supposed to start an adventure revolving around Ellenwae, but his player was out so I changed plans to a Shura heavy story, and Shura’s player was running late due to discord problems and was worried I would have nothing. But he showed up so all went well. The prolonged planning stage was very fun to listen to, especially since I didn’t have to do much. I kinda wish I had a little more for Cerna to do, but Cerna did just get a (short) solo session. I think im getting better with NPCs but still not quite there. I also skipped over Hans who the players seemed to both love and hate. Ari was originally meant to be very flirty and assertive but I changed that in the moment (without really trying or noticing it til after) there wasn’t any combat run but it was okay because they are prepping for a BIG ONE. (im gonna want to learn the warfare rules). The players suspect that what they are trying to summon is a Tanarukk; this was not the original plan as I didn’t now about it but it would fit nicely, although it may be a too tough with what else is planned.

When to game started i was really worried about the group being able to make every session but we are 4 (kinda 5) sessions in and so far we have yet to have every player in game but its actually been turning out pretty well. I think if in the future a player does a summary before i can write up the diary i’ll just reblog it with the DM thoughts section added on

#campaign diary #d&d #dnd #ttrpg #dnd 5e

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loquaciousquark · 7 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E23 (June 19, 2018)

Welcome to tonight’s Talks Machina. Today’s preshow: the weather throughout the Dwendalian Empire. I’m sure this isn’t foreboding at all. Tonight’s guests: Matt & Emmy-award-winning Sam Riegel. Sam has a prepared bit for the opening that he just found out he was supposed to prepare. He gets out, “How many... light bulbs...” before BWF has pity and throws us to the title screen.

Tonight’s announcements: New M9 shirt in the new CR store at shop.critrole.com. The show also now has their very own dedicated Critical Role Youtube & Twitch channels--however, don’t worry, as it’ll still be broadcast in all current locations as well. After Dark will continue to be available on After Dark only. There also will not be any Talks Machina or new Critical Role episode July 3 or July 5, as they’ll be making the move to a new studio during this week. (Marisha’s stepped down at G&S to make this move to full-time CR management as well.) There’s a summary post of these announcements with a FAQ on critrole.com, if you need more information.

Before we can get to CR Stats, Sam interrupts to ask Matt why they’ve never had an NPC with a French accent. Matt, answering in an excellent French accent, explains that they’ve not come across any regional areas that are analogous to France yet. He suggests they visit the Menagerie Coast.

CR Stats! The M9 have now officially rolled 99 natural ones. Nott’s in the lead with 22. Sam only has one d20 that he rolls, and he thinks Laura’s bad luck is rubbing off on him.

The M9 have now been traveling together for about a month. Matt, deadpan: “They’re such a tight-knit family.” He does like that everyone’s getting to see the ground-floor development and occasionally has to remind himself to set the scene because he gets sucked into the roleplay.

Kiri has imitated people 82 times--Sam loves Matt’s imitations.

The D&D Beyond theme song was a greater achievement than the Emmy (per Sam): “It was a thing that I just came up with...that became the anthem for a generation.” The Emmy is a bucket list, pinnacle professional achievement, but he loves that he got to write & make the theme song. (Also: two years on one cartoon vs. fifteen minutes on a song.)

Matt has a tumultuous history with the Streamys. He directed a web series ten years ago and was invited to contribute to a big montage...only to find out right before the show that it had been cut from the program altogether.

The battle with the Merrow played out fairly close to how Matt had envisioned it, although the players’ positioning led to some interesting situations. It was more challenging in certain moments without Nott, especially when Matt was trying to decide how certain events would play out. Sam sidebars to point out how much he loves it when a battle changes halfway through (either due to traps, additional enemies, or the map changing). Matt says there are many battles they’ve had in the past where certain traps were never triggered. However, you can’t do it too often or it becomes expected. (Matt does feel bad when he’s rolling well and the PCs are rolling badly.)

Nott’s water thing Sam invented during the game (because he thought it would be funny, natch), but he’s come up with a backstory since then that explains why she’s so afraid of water.

Matt plays out combat as designed even when a PC suddenly decides to not participate--unless it’s a new group that doesn’t fully understand D&D combat yet, and it would impact their enjoyment of the game. He wants people to understand that there are consequences with character choices.

Sam often finds it bothersome when they know they’ve missed something in game, especially when it’s an important story beat. It’s the worst when Matt gives them multiple chances to succeed, and they still end up failing all of them. Matt confesses sometimes he makes them roll checks on general knowledge they’d have known anyway just to make them feel a certain esoteric skill was useful for once.

Nott feels terrible she sat out the Merrow fight only for Caleb to come close to death. Sam: “Nott feels awful about it. Sam Riegel feels great about it! I love situations where it doesn’t look like it’s going well.” Plus, the night before she also got Caleb in trouble with the bowl thing. BWF’s a little worried it’ll affect their relationship.

Matt claims that Kiri was not at all related to wanting to prove he could do Jester’s accent. He rolls for random encounters when they’re traveling, and Kiri was one he’d considered to demonstrate the presence of kenku, while also highlighting that non-Empire people are moving away from the conflict. He half-expected them to ignore her altogether.

Matt reveals that Kiri has six (6) (SIX) hit points. “She’s practically a baby bird!” Sam has a retroactive panic attack that they’ve been bringing her to all these battles. Me too, bud. Sam accuses Matt of “not having brought anyone worthy of taking a baby bird off our hands.” Matt: “You haven’t even looked!” They wonder together about the possibility of a baby bird orphanage in Hupperdook.

GIF of the Week! @justjamesearle. It’s long and perfect and details the Fjord whack-a-mole death saga with the venom splashes.

Nott’s opinion of Kiri hasn’t changed at all with the reveal that she heard/repeated her conversation with Caleb. Sam thinks Nott should have known better than to talk with a recording device in the room, especially since she only ever repeats it when it’s hilarious or well-timed. “It’s hard to live with a soundboard.”

Matt keeps a list of notes of what Kiri can say. It’s super fun, and he sometimes gets so caught up in conversations he forgets to write down things for her to repeat later.

Nott wished Kiri hadn’t repeated the facts from her backstory, but she’d never considered being aggressive towards “little RiRi” (oh God it’s too adorable). She still doesn’t like a lot of attention. Both BWF & Sam applaud Matt for giving them little prods to reveal backstory.

Dagon, Matt & Marisha’s bird, provides a lot of inspiration for Kiri. Matt talks about being a bird owner after growing up with cats and dogs, and reveals that wanting to utilize that knowledge was part of why he introduced kenku.

Nott finds Beau the exception to her general mistrust of the group, which is why she let her care for Caleb after the last fight. She feels Beau has been weirdly sensitive and protective even through her lens of abrasiveness, and she respects that she hasn’t spilled the beans about Caleb’s backstory.

Fanart of the Week! @obeymybrain, which is a great group portrait in four vertical-column stylings after the Haunted Mansion from Disneyland.

If the troll hadn’t been slowed by Caleb, Matt thinks the group would have permanently lost someone. Matt loves the new monsters that are punishing to melee characters. He thinks they did a good job damaging it at range at first, and Sam waxes poetic on all the options they didn’t pursue instead (like Saran-wrapping the door before it came running out). Oh, what could have been.

Sam’s love for Liam is stronger than Nott’s love for Caleb, because “...Liam kisses back.” They’ve known each other half their lives now.

If the M9 pursue dynamite as a common battle tactic, Matt may need to prepare for his builds to be destroyed more often. It’s still limited by the relatively new availability of blackpowder and has a high possibility of backfiring depending on their rolls.

Nott wishes she could tell everything to Caleb, but is limited by the realities of their show, since it’s hard to find a time that’s not full of dick or drug jokes. There’s been times they’ve been alone together but Caleb hasn’t asked any questions; Sam thinks “He needs to do some Marisha-style questioning. That is an inquisitive monk, and I love her for it.” Matt points out it’s a critical aspect of her character that she wants to know everything.

Matt played out the last Fjord moment in front of the whole group in part because it would have interrupted the flow to have everyone leave, and in part because he trusts his players not to metagame now that they’re all learning bits and pieces of each other. He liked the visceral smash-cut of the vision to the party watching Fjord jam this thing into his stomach.

Matt does have to juggle all the party’s backstories since it’s such a large group; some will be long-game just because of the natures of their stories. He likes to drop threads as they go, though, so everyone feels more connected to their world. Players feel like the stakes are higher when they can see their stories reflected and affecting the living and breathing world around them.

Nott wasn’t particularly bothered by Molly immediately forgiving the bandits right after they hurt her. “They’re just dumb. They’re just dumb and they need to go. They’re too dumb to hurt.”

Matt knew the outline of Hupperdook before the party ever heard of it. Now that they’ve expressed interest in it, he’s begun filling in the details since it looks likely that they’ll visit it soon. It helps that they’re limited to speed of foot & horse; when they can start bamfing everywhere in later game, it gets a lot harder. Matt’s advice in that situation is to give the town a unique social structure or aspect, to make a bold choice that will cause it to stand out in their mind. It helps if you can ask what the players are looking for, then “yes and” based on what they’re seeking (he builds an idea of two competing taverns poaching clients from each other off a spur-of-the-moment request from a player asking if there’s an inn nearby).

Sam does rehearse his more performative ads ahead of time. He usually writes them the day of over lunch, although lately he’s been trying to get them done on Mondays and Tuesdays so he’s not as stressed on Thursday.

There’s no specific inspirational character for the Gentleman. Matt wanted to create an outside-the-law businessman who wasn’t your typical ~thief-lord~ while still seeming unique against the world. He wanted him to be charismatic and domineering, welcoming until you crossed a personal or business line, in which case he’d immediately put you in your place.

Nott still considers her old goblin tribe a threat to her & is reluctant to confront them. She does feel a little more prepared now that she has more allies, but is hesitant to meet old demons & old memories. Matt sidebars to point out that a lot of these character backstories could be self-driven, since there’s nothing keeping them from visiting Nott’s hometown now. They could pursue it at any time if they wanted.

The firearms in the world are a direct result from Percy & Ripley; she dealt them out in heavy trade areas like Marquet, which results in the technology being distributed in a way that now impacts the M9 in their world. They’re still limited by materials, though.

Matt loves the joy on Tal’s face every time they mention firearms are readily available in Wildemount.

Everyone’s distraught over Tal’s Vicious Mockery in the last episode. Bless his heart. Matt: “Sometimes you come out of the gate and realize you’ve come out without your pants on. You commit, and you walk away.”

Sam misses giving inspiration on a regular basis. He also has a lot of insecurities over his current inability to contribute to a battle with much more than crossbow bolts. BWF: “Just sent Nott to a bard college.” Matt: With a -3 charisma, I think you’re taking inspiration away from people.”

Favorite M9 voice to mimic as Kiri? Partially Jester, because it’s just funny, Nott is shrill and ridiculous, and has lately been enjoying mimicking Fjord for the few times he’s been echoed.

The Nott voice is not hard at all on Sam; it’s mostly falsetto, which BWF says he usually talks in off-camera all the time anyway.

After Dark: After This

In CriticalRoleLand, Dani would like to see Vex’s Flying Brooms. BWF suggests a waterslide that ends in Vex’s & Percy’s bathtub; Matt suggests it be a goldfish ride that goes over the side. He also likes a teleporting ride that goes into Umbrasyl’s belly, and Sam comes up with a dunk tank for heckling Tary.

Matt talks about that viral Youtube video with the weather forecaster naming the city that’s like 100 characters long. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, that’s the one.

Nott’s Tinder profile? “Short, green, looking for mean. Buy me a drink and I’m yours.”

Matt wouldn’t be surprised if this campaign does eventually touch on family in the same way the first one did. However, Sam feels so far it’s much more about identity, and Matt tacks on regret & making amends. He also thinks trust & learning to accept help from others is still developing, since so many of these characters have been hurt in some way.

VM had a lot of very classical heroic archetypes; this campaign is full of many more human, subtly complicated characters. Matt loves the contrast.

The eyes. The EYES.

Sam agonizes that in his Friday retellings of the campaign’s story to his six-year-old son, it drives him crazy that he can’t answer his son’s questions as to why something happened. His son does ask “does Matt Mercer know?” and Sam is glad he can say yes.

Sam loves the idea of the world hinging on the bandit troupe they keep running into. I debated troop or troupe there, but given the hysterics they keep causing, I’m sticking with troupe.

If they met, Nott would steal every single thing from Taryon Darrington. Except that lame book, of course. “That’d be amazing. And! Possible! We’re on the continent, right?” Sam rubs his hands together gleefully...until Matt points out Taryon’s been relegated to NPC status & Matt would be the one controlling him now.

Matt usually prepares a guest for the show by meeting with them ahead of time. Depending on how much (or if ever) they’ve played before, he helps them build a character and teaches them the basics of the class. Mark, obviously, didn’t need that introduction, so instead they focused on loose backstory and finding ways to integrate that backstory into the existing world. When it’s time for them to actually play, they’ll discuss in advance a way to bring their paths across each other, such as Cali looking for a specific relic at the same time that the M9 were going to be investigating a safehouse full of stolen relics. As soon as they meet, it’s hands off. (It can be hard to get someone out of the group if they for sure can’t return the next week.)

MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF CAMPAIGN ONE IN THE SECTION BELOW.

BWF jokes that last campaign Joe Manganiello just showed up and said, “Hey, so, I’m playing Arkhan,” and that was that. Actually...that’s pretty close to what really happened. Matt & Joe did meet for a long evening in Joe’s kitchen in advance to discuss backstory & motivations, after which he finally managed to convince Joe’s wife, Sofía Vergara, to play a small game with him, Joe, and Marisha. Sam laughs that at Matt & Marisha’s wedding, they had two sentences with Joe before the conversation immediately devolved into D&D and Joe’s wife rolled her eyes out of her head.

They did discuss that Joe wanted to steal the hand at the end of the last campaign. “You don’t have the Hand of Vecna, the Hand of Vecna has you.” They had a long conversation about Arkhan’s denouement after that episode.

END OF MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS.

And that’s all for the night! Have a lovely week, and is it Thursday yet?

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long post for ts

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arakhiin · 7 years ago

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Skyrim Romance Review

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, took the world by storm in 2011 with its free-roam method, legendary music, and dynamic environment; the game did pretty well despite being released in the same year as Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, Dark Souls, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution; titles that are critically acclaimed and far superior in graphics, animation, and gameplay compared to the most recent Elder Scroll installment. Less than a couple of months after its release, Bethesda introduced the Creation Kit which allowed players to modify the game to their liking.

The Skyrim community has never been more alive with the accumulation of talented writers, programmers, modders, and designers; banding together to create free AND high quality content that enhances the user experience on the game. SKSE, RaceMenu, SkyUI, patches, and FNIS are essential mods to download as most aesthetic and immersion-enhancing mods support them, some would even require SexLab that can be downloaded from a separate site (Loverslab.com). One of the most downloaded mod of Skyrim is ‘Alternate Start – Live Another Life’ where the long introduction of Skyrim is replaced by the Racemenu, and the player beginning at a locked cell where they have to approach a medium-sized Mara statue to choose their origin story. ENBs may not be the most downloaded mod, but, everyone who has downloaded one can agree that it can improve people’s Skyrim experience, why not many people download ENBs is due to the complexity of having to download a third-party application, and altering the SkyrimPrefs folder, unlike the RealVision ENB where you simply have to download via NMM or Mod Organizer and voila. There are many impressive and large quest mods such as Bruma and Enderal that completely changes Skyrim, and there are the fair-sized quest mods such as Helgen Reborn and it is equally as amazing. The Skyrim modding community is also famous for unique custom-voiced followers, some hot and some that looks badass, most of these follower mods have personal quests that allows the player to better understand the characters like Inigo and Vilja. In 2014, a small team of ambitious Skyrim modders decides to create Skyrim’s largest follower mod focusing on character development and romance.

Despite having a marriage system in Skyrim, the game failed to deliver character and relationship developments between the player and NPC, a point in which the Skyrim Romance team focused on producing for this mod. Skyrim Romance has been founded by Mara (not the Skyrim Goddess Mara though), the newest (and their biggest) update on the mod was on May 2017 called Skyrim Romance 3.0 where they fully released an upgraded Bishop: new voice actor, outfit; added three major NPCs, post-marriage content, post-Alduin content, animations, and much more! The mod’s target audience is Skyrim’s female community and therefore all 100 newly added NPCs of the mod refers to the Dragonborn as “she” and would cat-call or address your player as a feminine i.e. princess. The mod completes every female fantasy such as: going to a magnificent ball with a handsome knight/(in this case) Paladin who pays for the expensive ballgown of your choice, a handsome and flirty bard that dedicates a song to you during his concert, and a ragged ranger who accompanies you which is the biggest mistake of his life due to the never-ending jealousy, and torment of not being able to bed your sexy ass-that is until after you’ve visited at least three main town and she finally agrees. The mod requires (like many major mods) SKSE, SkyUI, FNIS, Racemenu, SexLab, plus Realistic Ragdolls with Force, XP32 (mainly for physics and skeleton), Shape Atlas for Men/Schlongs of Skyrim, and UNP/CBBE (the last two are mainly for better experience of SexLab). There are sex options in the mod, however the player can simply turn Bishop down if they do not want to participate. There are always three choices for the player when responding to the characters of Skyrim Romance, this is to allow the player freedom to create the personality of their character and see how Bishop reacts to a sarcastic, nice or flirty Dragonborn.

To begin the mod, the player must meet Bishop outside the Sleeping Giant Inn at Riverwood and accept his request to help him find his companion, Karnwyr, a beautiful brown wolf with custom textures. The player can flirt, ask questions, speak, trade items, and disband with Bishop, however, the player cannot ask him to do something because it is against his nature. To progress the mod, the player must speak to Bishop recurrently and trigger events found in different cities of Skyrim. The player can show interest but not pursue romance of any npc from the mod except for Bishop. Over the course of your journey, Bishop realizes his growing feelings and tries to deny it though eventually he lets his lust for the player trickle out: complimenting her, kissing her, sleeping with her; eventually he admits that he “love[s] you”, and he wants something more than casual sex. On the 3.0 update, Bishop marries the Dragonborn and has a child with her, Bishop is still recruitable but the son, Julian (named after someone dear to him) is not. To prevent incompatibilities and problems in the marriage system, the mod does not replace the player’s current spouse (if they had one) or force the player to kill or divorce their spouse, instead it has a new NPC to wed the two characters in a private wedding ceremony at a chosen custom location completed with a bittersweet atmosphere, and sweet music. Upon having a child, the player can watch Bishop bond with the son through short cutscenes, the player can interact with the kid such as speaking to him, asking him questions, or getting him to go to bed. Outside the mod, Bishop reacts when the player leaves to defeat Alduin, you can find him back at the Sleeping Giant Inn after the quest where he will drunkenly patronize you. The following paragraph will contain spoilers on the mod.

Bishop is a rugged ranger who travels only with his trusty wolf. Not much is known about him except that he is sharp-mouthed, handsome, charismatic, and over-powered with the bow and dagger. Trust comes hard to the ranger considering that he grew up surviving for himself and his siblings with no support from his parents. He stole a dagger-the one he currently uses- when he was a kid, joined banditry, made trouble for a renowned Paladin, and crossed paths with a sadistic band led by Thorne -who you later stumble upon in a dungeon near Falkreath-. Upon marriage, he reveals that his parents cared little for his siblings and him, his father going as far as sleeping with one of his brother’s (Jack) fiancé then murdering the him after he tried to duel the father. Bishop trained so once he was 17 he avenged Jack along with the help of his half-brother, Jules; freeing himself and his nine siblings-who were none too pleased- Jules was the only one that truly followed Bishop away from the nightmare and stayed with him. The two brothers lived a life in poverty, they developed their charisma-which you’ll be able to observe when he barters for a room at whiterun- through days and days of bartering for food and money, used their skills in battle to become mercenaries and eventually banditry. One fateful day, Jules betrayed Bishop and their bandit group for the sake of his own family, unfortunately, it was too late that by the time Bishop realized his brother’s intention…he was gone, killed by the bandits, killed by him. The only memento of Jules that Bishop had was the wolf ring that he made; and when Bishop parted with it to the player, it’s a symbol of a new beginning for him.

There’s more to Bishop than meets the eye, he’s your typical Coodere guy; at first he is cold and distant, later he tries to act cool and rebellious, just to impress you. He does not understand the purpose of helping other people and ticks him off whenever you attempt to do pointless quests such as killing random npcs, or fetching heirlooms, this leads to him trying to seduce you into leaving Skyrim with him just to avoid the War and your fate as Dragonborn. Bishop is not just another Batman, he has his flaws such as being a terrible drunk, openly-jealous, always picks a fight, and has “Florence” for his middle name. To you he can be your knight in shining armour, your guy next door, your best friend, your guardian, he can be the light when you are at your darkest pit of loneliness and depression, he can be who you need him to be. But think what he can be to your child, a loving father who is willing to provide everything for his kid even if he has nothing, he spends his free days at home nurturing your child, he would make sure that he grows up to be modest, strong, smart, generous, and better than himself. That is who Bishop is, because he would never wish upon anyone to experience what he had when he was a kid, a childhood devoid of happiness, and surrounded only by the harsh realities that life would ever offer.

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For the last three years, the Skyrim Romance community have grown to thousands of active followers on their website (SkyrimRomance.com) creating amazing stories, beautiful screenshots, and artworks. With Skyrim Romance finally fully released, the following updates related to the mod are simply bug fixes, the team announces a long-time planned mod that centres one of the major NPCs in the Skyrim Romance mod, Cael, a young forsworn man and the chief’s son. The mod, called Forbidden Love, is currently in the works with the team looking for extra helping hands in writing, voice acting, art, animation, video editing, and textures. The SR team aims for the Forbidden Love mod to be “five times larger” than Skyrim Romance, with new enemies, music, locations, armour, and races being announced in the span of 2 weeks. If you prefer the knight, another team has taken upon themselves to join the Skyrim Romance community to work on a Casavir Romance mod which is currently on 50% completion, they are also looking for volunteers for graphics art and voice actors. With Skyrim Romance’s success, the team pushes on with greater motivation and innovation to expand the world of Bishop and Skyrim Romance, there is no doubt that the future of Skyrim Romance will strive.

Skyrim Romance mod website|Join the fantastic community!

#skyrim romance mod #Skyrim Romance #Bishop #Casavir #Cael #Skyrim #Elder Scrolls V #Skyrim Romance Mod Review #Skyrim mod review #video games #trying to get into writing team hence the mod review XD #forbidden love #casavir romance #Skyrim PC

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