#Also he is arachnophobic. Hence the spider bit

[undeadbard]

Niles doodles <3

Context: "Max" is his assistant, a 7 foot tall partially mechanical rat.

The "Duke of Acadia" bit is when he finds out that his arch-enemy is, in fact, royalty, and takes the oppurtunity to be a sarcastic ass.

[theultimateegghead-blog]

Buggers, some creepy crawlies in video games!

Insects, love them or hate them, they are a part of live that almost everyone needs to deal with. Video games are no escape from this, as these critters have hooped, skittered and darted into many games. Also, even though they aren’t technically bugs, expect some eight-legged freaks to pop up as well. So grab your bug spray, grab your swatter, here are some insects in video games. Fair warning, if bugs really get to you, if seeing them can cause anxiety or panic, then skip this list. It’s ok I don’t blame you, bugs horrify me.

Bug type Pokemon (Pokemon) Bug type pokemon, there are too many to include just one. The bug type is realistically not that great of a type, it isn’t very strong and has many weaknesses. However, we have all had a bug type on our team before, they can be good early to mid-game, and even all the way to the champ if you know what your doing. They level up and evolve quickly and are some of the first pokemon you’ll encounter that can use status effect moves. Some bug types can actually be heavy hitters and worth the investment, and now there are even legendary bug types. So don’t put this typing down just cause it isn’t as strong as other types, bug types have a bit to offer! My personal favorite bug types by generation are… Beedrill, Scizor, Ninjask, Yanmega, Leaveany and good old Buzzwole.

The centipede (Centipede) One of the first bugs in video games, lets sing its praise. The centipede is simple, it crawls down the screen and the player have to shoot it into pieces before it reaches the bottom. The mushrooms will block your shot so you have to align them well to defeat the monster bug. Other than that it serves no lore or greater meaning behind its existence, its just a big centipede, simple as that.

Wigglers (Super Mario Bros) Wigglers are, more often than not, peaceful creatures that walk around in a state of ignorant bliss. They often wont react at all if jumped on and will continue on their merry way. Now if you jump on their head your in for a bad time, as they will fly into a rage and dash around in a crimson fury. It is often the best option to just avoid this creature if you don’t want to get hurt.

Caterkiller (Sonic Series) This is technically cheating since it’s a robot. The caterkiller takes on the form of a caterpillar and it just slowly moves along the ground. This creature is best to just avoid, since jumping on it often results in taking damage. The rule is to aim for the head and not any other part. In some games these things can be giant, reminiscent of a sandworm. Overall they are one of the most famous badniks in the Sonic series.

Flourescent Flower (Bloodborne) This beast is a horrifying eldritch abomination. It is a weird mixture of a plant, a centipede and a horrendous gaping maw. The creature has slow turning and is overall not to hard to defeat provided you are not standing in front of it. It attacks primarily with projectiles and can take quite a few hits to defeat. In the main game, they are rare enemies only appearing in one place that you will rarely revisit. They are more common however inside chalice dungeons.

Roolie (Bugdom) A nice little pill bug. This bug is the main character of the obscure yet cherished pc game Bugdom. Roolie must run, roll and kick his way through several levels in a quest to save his kingdom from an evil fire ant army. Roolie is a brave little bug who is up against tons of odd, including bruiser bees, horrifying spiders and even giant feet that want to crush him. However, he perseveres in his quest to save his kingdom and rescue the lady bug inhabitants.

Seltas Family (Monster Hunter) This monster family has two members, the standard Seltas and the queen. Lets cover the Seltas first. This relatively large monster is an airborne menace that likes to dart and fly out of range on the hunters weaponry. They have weak underbellies and are vulnerable to fire. The seltas will try to ram you with its horn, spit acid at you and swipe at you. If you managed to slay it, you can reap the rewards and make some armor. Now for the queen. The Seltas queen is always seen with a normal seltas, the queen is not airborne but can be carried by its underling. When alone she primarily fights with her tail and uses pheromones to call for help. These two make a deadly duo in combat.

Bugzzy (Kirby Series) A recurring mini boss in the Kirby Series. This martial artist beetle can grapple the pink puff ball with his massive pincers and slam him down or throw him. He can summon other bugs to help him if he cant grab Kirby himself. Inhaling him grants Kirby some new fighting moves, and in some games you can even convert him into an ally.

Zingers (Donkey Kong Country) One of the most common enemies in the Donkey Kong series. The Zingers are large wasp that are covered in spikes, due to these spikes they cannot be jumped on. The only way to defeat a Zinger is to throw something at it or have an animal friend dispatch it. They come in different colors, each one flies in a different pattern. They love to hover around barrels and can make barrel blast jumps tricky. What’s worse is that at one point you need to venture into one of their hives.

Giant Wasp (Earth Defense Force) These guys represent the horrors that is a wasp. Fast, aggressive and intimidatingly large. These wasp dart around at high speeds and shoot projectiles at you. Since they are airborne it can be a bit tricky to take them down, as they are quite mobile. They have a bit of health too and sometimes attack in swarms or in unison with other insects. Eventually you’ll come across giant metal versions that are even faster and more dangerous than before. These guys are among some of the most annoying enemies in insect Armageddon.

Queen Bee (Terraria) Deep in the underground jungle, you can find a beehive…Inside this beehive you can find an odd looking larvae, destroy it and prepare to meet the wrath of the queen bee. The queen bee is a very fast boss with a plethora of attacks. She has a good amount of health and the honey in the hive can hinder your movement. Do not try to fight this thing until your prepared and bring a ranged weapon! After you defeat her, you can revel in the spoils, as she drops some pretty good things. Also you get the witch doctor npc as a reward for slaying this giant bee.

Antlions (Half Life 2) Antlions are very aggressive creatures in the Half Life universe. They burrow under sandy areas and can react to surface tremors. Their nest are large and expansive. They come in five primary forms. The standard drone, which can attack in swarms, they have some flight capacity, so don’t think escaping will be easy. These drones are the most common. Next is the grey workers, they tend to not leave the nest and will spit acid at Gordan upon seeing him, they are physically weaker than the standard drone. The worm like grubs are defenseless and stick to the walls, ceiling and floors of the hive, waiting for the day they become a more capable threat. The red soldier is a ferocious large beast that is very aggressive and serves as a mini-boss of sorts, it can take a lot of punishment before going down. Finally the guardian is a soldier that guards the nest, it is very ferocious and very powerful and is best avoided.

Fire Ants (Fallout 3) The wasteland is full of nasties, these buggers are among some of the worst the waste has to offer. In Fallout three, they were born out of a twisted experiment that turned a colony of ants into giant fire breathing monsters. A nearby town was destroyed by this swarm of monsters and its up to the lone wanderer to clear the place out. These monsters are perceptive, fast and deadly. Since the quest that involves them appears early in the game they can be a brick wall that takes a while to overcome. So stay on your toes and keep your gun ready and steady. Beware, for this swarm has a queen…

Frostbite Spiders (Skyrim) Do you hate spiders? I hate spiders, they are freaky and just instantly cause panic in me. Video games know arachnophobia is a legit thing, and they cash in on this bad. Get ready for some spiders, starting with the frostbite spider. These spiders make their home in many caves and some outside areas in Skyrim. They can spit venom at their foes, and can ambush people from above if they dare venture into a spider infested area. These creatures can vary in size, with some being the size of a pig to others being the size of a small house! Fire spells dispatch them pretty quickly, they seem more resistant to cold, hence their name. Try to keep an eye out for these nasties when exploring the Rift, cause they tend to pop up there often.

Cave Spiders (Minecraft) Regular spiders are bad enough in Minecraft. Spiders can crawl up vertical walls, crawl under one block openings and have a dangerous jump attack. They don’t despawn during the day either, even though they cease being hostile in the daylight. The cave spider is everything that makes a spider bad and more. The cave spider is smaller and thus harder to hit, they can inflict deadly poison on you and they tend to come from spawners. They crawl towards you in narrow corridors filled with webs, now the webs only slow you down, not them. If you decide to go deep into a mine shaft in hopes of finding rare minerals or a fortress, be ready to fight these guys.

Black Tigers (Resident Evil) The Spencer Mansion and Raccoon city have a giant spider problem for sure, but one of the biggest of the bunch is the Black Tiger. This monster made its home underground and waits for unfortunate prey to stumble into its domain. It can spit acid and give a nasty bite… What’s worse is that it might have a buddy with it. After some shotgun blast to the face it will go belly up… And proceeds to spit out baby giant spiders, an arachnophobes nightmare.

Muffet (Undertale) Who said spiders couldn’t be cute? Or sell baked goods for that matter? Muffet is both of these. She initially appears at a bake sale, selling various pastries at extremely high prices. Normally a player will not buy these items. Later, the player is forced to battle her, as she was hired by Mettaton to take you out. During the battle she will trap you in her web and send her pets at you. Survive long enough and she will receive a telegram showcasing that you either supported the spider bake sale in the ruins, or you avoided stepping on any spiders. She will let you go after this ‘misunderstanding’ comes to a close. Alternatively, you can show her your love…but you wouldn’t do that, now would you?

Phantom (Devil May Cry) A big nasty from the Devil May Cry series. This demon takes on the form of a giant lava spider and attacks Dante numerous times. He serves as the first boss and is a challenging one at that. Later on, he will attack Dante and switch to a form similar to a scorpion. This spider is arrogant and boastful of its power but is squashed by Dante. In Devil May Cry 2, he comes back for a rematch. He presumably escaped the dark pit he was sent to, only to be sent falling back into it.

Skulltula (Zelda Series) The giant spiders of the Zelda series. These monsters have a skull like design on its back and are nasty creature to come face to face with. They vary in size, from the size of a turtle to the size of a human child. These baddies usually stay attached to walls or suspended on a vine. However they will craw around if need be and can entangle their foe. These guy’s shells are tough and most attacks to the front wont harm the bigger ones, their belly is their weak point, though arrows help too. There exist a rare golden variety capable of inflicting horrible curses upon the greedy.

The Stygian (Darksiders) Of course there was going to be a giant worm on the list. The Stygian is a colossal sand worm that can swallow War whole. Due to its tremendous speed and size, War must ride his horse to do combat with the creature. These monster serves as one of the bosses od the original Darksiders and would do battle with War in a massive arena. Initially its mouth is closed, but its mouth is its weak point so War will have to break it open, during the fight, smaller worms may come to assist it. Upon its defeat, War enters its body and rips out its oddly small heart.

Undeep (Lost Planet) From sand to Snow, the Undeep is a huge monster encountered in Lost Planet. It is fought relatively early in the game and serves as a warning to new players to choose their battles. This creature can be avoided, and it is recommended to do so. However, a skilled tactical player can take the beast down and revel in the victory. This worm is massive and can very easily crush the player under its mass. This worm would reappear in future installments as a boss as well, however in those games your more well suited to take it down.

Earthworm Jim (Earthworm Jim series) Not every worm is hungry for flesh and is the size of a football stadium! This groovy worm is simply put…just a normal cartoon earthworm. What makes him special is his state of the art space suit. Armed with a energy gun, Jim makes his way through many crazy levels, avoiding deadly traps and fighting colorful villains in order to rescue Princess what’s her name. Jim can use his body as a lasso and a helicopter to navigate levels. Jim was rather prolific in the 90s, starring in 3 games and having his own cartoon series. Sadly, his third game was a bad 3D game that doomed him to the back shelf.

The Knight (Hollow Knight) I figured I would end this list with something cute. The knight is a member of the void race. The knight is a gender-less hero that fights with a nail. Over the course of the game, the knight will learn many powers and spells to aid it in combat. The knight can heal itself with its soul. The knight will encounter many hardships over its journey through its world. 

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Wow! This was my longest list yet! Congrats on making it to the end. Tune in next time when we look at some nice beach themed levels!

[grim-fate-13]

The Arachnophobic Arachnophile?

Fic below, but first a note from the author:

So @monstergrounds recently gave the all-clear for fic’s between their single monster characters and other people’s oc’s. I have this old oc I have been messing around with recently who I thought would be real cute with monsterground’s spider-monster Alex. So I ended up writing this fluffy garbage. So click the read more and feast upon my fluffy, ship fic. (Also sorry if Caitlyn and Alex come off as being out of character, I did the best I could with what little info we’ve been given about them) 

Alex paced around his home feverishly, doing everything he could to avoid becoming an anxious wreck. He knew he just needed to be patient, his mother had promised to come over as quickly as she could to assist him. Yet he still found himself constantly side-eyeing a small bundle, wrapped in webbing beside him. Alex would glance over at it, feel his anxiety rise and go back to his pacing.

Alex reassured himself that he had every right to be nervous, but that he should also trust that his mother would help him figure out what to do next. You see, this was no ordinary bundle of webbing, inside of it was a woman. Now before anyone goes thinking of anything nefarious, Alex had found the woman in her decrepit state. He had been out, enjoying a walk along the bank of a nearby river when a black object caught his attention. Alex’s curiosity got the better of him, and he strolled over to get a look at what the black thing was. Much to his horror, it turned out to be hair. More specifically, human hair attached to a human body. The body of the young woman now passed out in his home.

Alex can remember how cold and wet her body had felt when he knelt down to check on her. He could even feel her weakened body shiver under his touch. Alex turned her onto her back, noting that she had no fatal injuries to speak of, thank goodness. His heart did sink a little bit to see she had been scuffed up though, she couldn’t have been much younger than himself. He had glanced out at the water and contemplated where she could have come from. Alex knew the river had some rapids where she could’ve gotten scuffed up, but those were almost half a mile upstream. How awful a trip the woman must’ve had after falling into the frigid, rapids and being dragged all that way by the rushing waters. To top it all off, the river was particularly cold this time of year. Alex knew that she would probably catch her death of cold if left out in the open. So he grabbed the woman up and immediately made his way back home. Along the way, he had bundled her up in his webbing in hopes of insulating her and helping her get warm again. He had only left her head free of the webbing so he could feel her forehead and keep track of her temperature.

That had been over an hour ago, and even though the woman had stopped shivering, she had also failed to wake up. Alex would be the first to admit that he didn’t know a lot about hypothermia, he was not harmed by the cold the same way humans tend to be. Hence, why he had reached out for his human mother for aid. He just hoped he had not been too late to save his ailing patient.

Alex was snapped out of his thoughts by a small groan. When he looked over at his web, he noticed the woman had begun to move. He quickly scuttled over to her, peering at her face to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. She opened her eyes slowly, clearly fighting the haze of unconsciousness. When she opened her eyes fully and looked at Alex, he felt a small smile crawl upon his face.

His smile didn’t last long, however. His guest gave him one short glance, and immediately began to scream. Alex was caught off guard, immediately flinching back away from the woman. The woman herself began to struggle against her web cocoon, but she quickly lost steam and fell still. She was clearly still weak from her earlier “swim” in the river. Alex waited a moment for her to calm before beginning to walk towards her once again.

He was stopped by a familiar voice, calling out to him from the entrance of his home. “Alex? Honey? Are you home?” The arachnid turned and saw his mother standing there, clearly perplexed. “What was with that scream? Did that girl you mention wake up?”

Alex walked over to his mother, embracing her, “Mother! Yes, she did wake up.” He paused, before leaning down and whispering to his mother, “I think I gave her a fright though. She took one look at me and let out that scream.”

His mother looked at Alex and then gave him a small, warm smile. She whispered back, “You aren’t always the best with personal space. Let me go check up on her and I will tell you when it is clear for you to come over.” His mother gave Alex a reassuring peck on the check, before walking over to his now shaking guest. Alex stayed put, but strained his ears so he could make out their conversation.

“Hello dear.” His mother greeted, the woman flinched when she heard his mother’s voice. His mother came around to face the woman, only to find the stranger’s eyes screwed shut. “I’m sorry, it seems we may have accidently given you a scare.”

“… Spider.” The woman mumbled.

“Hm?” His mother got closer, slowly and gently placing her hand on the woman’s shoulder. His mother’s face contorted in concern when the girl’s body tensed under her touch, the younger woman was so very frightened.

“Spider-There was a… A big spider.” The woman stumbled through her words, the fear apparent. “You’re not… You’re not a spider too, are you?”

“… No. My name is Caitlyn, and I am very much human.” His mother assured.

“Is it… Is it still here?”

“Why does that matter dear?”

“I… I don’t like spiders…” The woman mumbled.

“You mean… You mean like arachnophobia?” Caitlyn clarified. She heard the other woman swallow, and watched her give a small nod. His mother seemed to fall deep into thought, plotting their next move no doubt. His mother did a once over at the stranger before her looked changed. Alex knew that look, his mother had been struck with an idea.

“What is your name my dear?” His mother inquired.

“Um…” The woman took several moments to process the question before responding. “Ly-Lyra.”

“Lyra, what pretty name.” Alex’s mother reached up and grabbed the knot of Lyra’s purple headband. “Do you mind if I borrow this for a second Lyra?”

“Uh… I mean sure I guess… Though I don’t see why you would need it.”

“Well it is just that I don’t want you to become any more panicked than you already are. So I was thinking I could put this over your eyes so you couldn’t see any spiders in the room.”

“But-But how am I supposed to avoid them if I can’t see them?” There was a twinge of panic in Lyra’s voice.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Spider related or otherwise.” Alex watched his mother give Lyra a reassuring pat and waited for the young woman to respond.

“All… All right. I guess you can use my headband then.” Without any hesitation, Alex’s mother untied the head band and retied it so it covered Lyra’s eyes.

Alex had spent the whole time, twiddling his thumbs and waiting for his mother’s signal. He was overcome with guilt over the whole situation. “Arachnophobia.” He knew that word well, the irrational fear of spiders. So that is why she had screamed so violently. How frightened she must’ve been upon seeing his multi-legged form hunched over her restrained body. He made note to work on those kinds of behaviors in the future.

Alex was brought out of the clouds by his mother waving at him. He glanced up at her. First his mother placed a finger over her lips, signaling him to be quiet. Then she waved him over to her side, watching as he silently walked up to them.

“Now Lyra.” His mother spoke, turning back to the woman. “My son and I are going to get you out of this webbing. Then I can lead you out of here and help you get back to town okay?”

Lyra paused for moment before giving a firm nod. His mother than nodded for her son to assist in releasing Lyra from the webbing around her. Alex complied, quickly dispatching of the webbing and allowing his mother to guide Lyra onto her feet. Of course, Lyra had not been on her feet for more than a second before her knees locked up and she started to tumble forward. Alex, on instinct, grabbed her with his upper two arms, being gentle as he helped stabilize her.

“… Is that… Is that your son?” Lyra asked, turning her head towards his mother.

“Yes, he is just helping you stay upright.”

Lyra turned her still blind-folded face in Alex’s direction. “Tha… Thanks.” She replied, uncertainty in her voice.

Alex didn’t know what came over him, but he smiled, even giggled a bit as he replied, “Of course!”

With that, his mother led Lyra out of the cave, whispering to Alex that she would update him about Lyra later. Alex didn’t think, as he watched Lyra and his mother disappear from view, he would ever see Lyra again.

***

Lyra had no idea why she was doing this. She hated spiders… Okay, she didn’t hate spiders. She was AFRAID of spiders. It was an awful fear. Lyra knew spiders were good for the environment, they were good for bug control and all that other great stuff. On the whole, she tried to sweep any spiders out of her store so they could go live their creepy, eight-legged lives out in the great, wide somewhere. However, if it wouldn’t go live outside willingly, than Lyra often wouldn’t let it live at all. The paranoia they induced in her was just too great.

And boy, if Lyra though the little spiders at her shop were bad, it was nothing compared to the big spider she had seen last week. The same big, ol’ spider she was on her way to see right now. Cause… Yah know… Lyra was clearly a masochist with no sense of self love. Okay maybe that wasn’t the actual reason but that is certainly how she felt as she drew ever close to the spider’s liar.

You see, the real purpose of this journey was a thank you, and an apology. Maybe even a bit of a crush?

No. No crushing on what she was pretty sure was a giant spider-monster. Only weirdos and creeps love spider-monsters. Though, Lyra supposed she didn’t have any REAL proof that her rescuer was the same giant spider she had awoken to. Caitlyn had said her son had saved Lyra when he found her on the riverbank. Nowhere in that sentence was it implied said son was a massive spider. Then again, Caitlyn was wearing a spider ring on her finger and had seemingly gotten rid of the massive spider-monster without any kind of fight. The most plausible explanation was that the spider and the son were one in the same, right?

Lyra’s feet stopped short as her destination came into view. Her nerves, which had previously been buzzing, were now on fire. She started to feel sick, and she was certain she was going to turn around then and there. Than a memory surfaced, a memory from that night. Alex… that was the name of Caitlyn’s son and Lyra’s rescuer. He had sounded so sweet, his hands had been so gentle. Lyra’s heart had skipped a beat when she felt those strong, gentle hands supporting her. He had only said two words to her, but she could feel his joy in those two words. Lyra felt her face begin to burn a bit at the thought of him.

Even if he was a giant spider-monster, Lyra had to at least thank him properly for helping her. She also needed to apologies for not being more polite upon waking. Lyra looked down at the tin in her hands, a thank you gift she had made herself. Caitlyn had mentioned that Alex had a sweet tooth. Her resolve restored, Lyra untied her headband and secured it once more around her eyes. She couldn’t freak out at the sight of spiders if she couldn’t see them, right? Lyra swallowed nervously, but allowed herself only a moment’s more hesitation before walking straight ahead towards Alex’s home.

***

Lyra was filled with so much regret. She was pretty sure she was at the entrance of Alex’s home, but she couldn’t be sure because she couldn’t see it. She thought of taking her blindfold off, but what if the big spider came back and she ran off before she could see Alex? Or worse yet, what if the spider was Alex and she ended up coming off as rude and ungrateful all over again?

At that point she had been standing there for several minutes, debating what she was supposed to do next. That choice was made for her, however, when a familiar voice called out from somewhere just above her.

“Lyra?” Alex questioned.

Lyra craned her neck to face up at him out of instinct before replying, “Um… Yes. You’re Alex right?”

Alex lowered himself using his own silk so he could stand in front of Lyra. “Yes. How did you know?”

“Caitlyn- You’re mother told me.” She was silent for a moment, “Sorry, I know this is strange but… I wanted to thank you for helping me.” Lyra held out a small golden tin in Alex’s direction, a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. “She also mentioned you like sweets? I’m a baker by trade, but my grandma taught me this salted caramel recipe and I thought you might like them.”

Alex slowly reached out and took the tin. He opened it with a pop and was greeted with several small salted caramels, all lying neatly on a bed of wax paper. “Well… Well thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”

“Yeah,” Lyra said, embarrassment in her tone, “I kind of did. I… I was kind of rude to you before. I left without saying thank you and I my conduct was far from… Polite. I just wanted to come back and make it clear how much I appreciate what you did for me.” Lyra’s face was now beet red, yet her lips were curled into a small smile.

Alex felt a smile grow on his own face. “Might I convince you to stay a while longer? I don’t get visitors that often, and candy is so much sweeter when shared with good company.”

Lyra paused for a moment, clearly thinking about it. Her aura became nervous the more she dwelled on the question, and for a moment Alex felt certain she was going to say no.

“Yes.” She finally replied, sticking her hand out, “But uh… I can’t see anything so can you… Help me find my way inside maybe?”

“Of course.” Alex gently took her hand in one of his, “While you are here, maybe you can tell me how you ended up getting swept up in the river to begin with!”

Lyra immediately felt a fresh wave of embarrassment hit her as she was led inside.