#Chained Hivemind

[silver-the-pendejo]

Prologue

Words: 1477

A fic based on my friends and mua ramble's about getting isekai'd in Linked Universe

Rewriten after the 2022 version of Chained Hivemind ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

The Hivemind was chilling on call, having decided to watch one of the dear boomers of the server play Mad Father, which was fun, if you ignored the other chaos that was both happening in the VC and the can’t-voice chat, but hey, for now, things were going fine and no crimes were being committed (yet.)

Well, things stopped going fine suddenly, because from one moment to another, Candy’s voice stopped being heard on the VC, the same could be said for everyone else, suddenly, Shaunti, Cuckie, Bean, Li, Chill, Nilo, Fruit, and Puddle were no longer talking on vc, their profiles off on the call, and then Raijin, Cosmo, Bestie, Honey, Rosie and Silver stopped writing on the chat. The only thing each of them was feeling at the moment was something pulling at their chest and the sudden feeling of passing out, and now, their rooms were void of their presence, only the devices they were using moments before could be found now.

Suddenly this common but not so common group of friends appeared in the sky, somewhere, unfortunately not in a place where the fall would be nice, more like a place where the fall would kill them, but hey, at least if they died it wasn’t gonna hurt much, right?. But for now, once they all noticed the air, it was when the screaming started.

“WHAT THE!!!!”

“WUUAUHAHUHAUHAUUAHU!!” 

“BESTIE WHAT??!!!” 

“VALIMOS CHETO, AHÍ TE VOY SAN PEDROOO” 

“SILVER CALLATE NO VAMOS A MORIR” 

“WHY ARE WE SCREAMING!!” 

“I WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE A MAIN CHARACTER!!" 

“I BELIEVE I CAN FLY  BUT I AIN'T GOT WINGS!” 

“............” 

“BOYAAAAAHHHHHHH” 

“YEEEEEHAWWWWW” 

“THIS IS WHY YOU DON’T SLEEEP EARLY!!!!” 

“THIS IS WARRIOR’S FAULT” 

“I'M TOO YOUNG FOR THIS” 

“GOOD JOB HONEY YA JINXED YOURSELF” 

“I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OUT, WHY IM OUT?!??” 

“MEEEAAAAATTTTT!!!!

Now that they were close to the floor, they could see where they would fall, and since the Universe hated them, they ended up in a Lake since the gods also hated them, they were no less than 20 meters from falling through a waterfall, that would most probably kill them since most of them did not have the strength or the appropriate clothes at the (hey their clothes got changed with magic les go!) nevermind, they only didn’t have the strength to swim away from the waterfall.

"I'm gonna die." Bestie tried their best to keep their head above the water, but with so strong the currents were, they decided to just pull themselves closer to Bean and began using them as a lifesaver.

 "I think Shaunti fainted you guys." Fruit was trying to help, but as one of the youngest of the server, they couldn’t do much at the moment, except try to not drown.

"My dog paddle will not save me from this." Cosmo was able to say before ending underwater, Candy having to come to their aid and help them keep themselves from drowning.

Most of this didn’t work since most of the group ended up underwater. Meanwhile, a certain group of heroes saw the group fall into the water and also saw them struggle to try and stay away from the waterfall. Most of the Heroes were surprised at that except Time and Twilight, who looked way too calm at seeing the group, but the others didn’t question it assuming they were trying to see how to help this group of strangers.

“So are we going to help them or….?” Sky said, still a little stunned about what was happening in front of him, not knowing what logical explanation could well explain what was happening.

“As strange as this is, we should Sky, except those two, they look like they are already safe” Warriors pointed close to them, to what looked to be two of the people of that peculiar group, both of them having black hair, one having it long and in a ponytail, the other one so short it barely covered their ears.

“Well we better go help them before any of their friends die” Calamity started to walk towards them, the rest of the group following suit behind him, stopping suddenly once they heard one of them talk.

“Rosie don't you dare your Mexican ass to die, who will help me beat the shit out of Ko otherwise” Silver whaled, his hands gripping onto Rosie’s clothes, shaking them and trying to wake them up, meanwhile Rosie looked pale and barely breathing.

“What?” Wind let out the question out loud, making the group gain the attention of Silver, who stopped shaking Rosie and tried to hide his friend behind him, while also trying to look intimidating towards the newcomers.

“One more step towards us and I will find a way to leave you all without balls” Silver muttered, his grip on Rosie tightening, while still staring towards the chain.

Legend rolled his eyes at that, walking away from them and going towards the water, deciding to help the ones that were drowning instead of dealing with what he thought to be a very sassy gremlin, the others followed behind him, only Time and Calamity staying behind to help the two black haired humans. Twilight looked especially distressed like he was looking for someone.

“It's fine we are here to help you,” Time said, trying not to set off Silver, who had decided to look towards their friends, seeing how Fruit was close to drowning, considering that they were barely floating while grabbing Shaunti, who was still passed out.

—-----—--------------------------------

“So you are saying that your group was doing something together, then suddenly passed out and when a lot of you woke up, you were falling from the sky?” Legend looked at Candy with mistrust, not believing the words of the girl, she looked like she was hiding something (she was but it was none of his business)

"I know that sounds hard to believe but it's true. You saw us fall from the fucking sky did you not?" Candy looked at Legend and Time because they were the ones to ask her the questions.

“You can believe what you want, but falling from the fucking sky wasn’t funny and then falling into freezing water was less funny, but I stand by what I said and ur fucking opinion couldn’t be less important to me” Candy looked like she was fuming, glaring slightly at Legend and then looking back at her arms, where she was trying to dry Fruit, that was half sleep and sneezing a lot.

Legend gave the glare back, ignoring the side eye that Time was giving him because of how rude he was being, his gaze left the pink-eyed girl and went towards the others that were dispersed around the camp, everyone in what appeared to be their own little world.

Twilight was fussing over a girl that was called Shaunti (if he remembered correctly), which was honestly strange for him, considering he rarely got near any girls, Legend didn’t linger a lot in that and continued looking at the others.

Wild was preparing food with someone called Raijin, while First and Chill were near them, talking to each other and laughing a bit at whatever they were saying to each other.

The Vet just rolled his eyes and looked over where the rest of the outlander's group and the chain were, each of them in their little groups and doing things.

Wind was pestering Cloud and Honey, asking them a lot of questions about where they came from, and other things, also clinging to Nilo’s arm, swinging it around a bit, trying to annoy the older one.

Other persons of the group, Puddle, Cuckie, and Cosmo, if he recalled, were together, the two first trying to wake up Cosmo since they passed out after almost drowning.

Li, Bestie, and Bean were with Hyrule, checking the injuries the first 3 had since they had gotten a bit violent in the water while trying to save each other, so Hyrule wanted to make sure they didn’t have any lasting injuries.

Legend realized the other members of that peculiar friend group were giving the cold shoulder to one of their friends. The guy also looked uncomfortable, not daring to meet the eyes of the other almost as if he knew they were going to do something to him (not that Legend cared, he didn’t even know that guy's name). 

And finally, the one that had screamed and threatened them, Silver was with Rosie, giving the other nasty loose when they suggested they should take a break instead of being so protective over Rosie, Calamity was near them, checking they were fine from time to time.

Legend let out a sigh, already knowing that the others wouldn't want to leave this group alone and that he could say bye to the few calm moments the chain had.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

AND CHAINED HIVEMIND IS BACK ON TUMBLLLR It feel's so nice ngl, considering I loved writing this in 2022 and now rewoerking it on 2025, since im also old enough to steal a Link for me -smooches Calamity-, anyways this shit has timeloop's and lore so expect me to explain that, later. As always ask's and request's are open, BYEEEE

[farsight-the-char]

Ethereal Caste by Superfeyn

...

[fleouriarts]

"Yeah I'm EMO who fucking cares" - skrillex, 2011

inspired by @gaydonweaver's emo hivemind fanart that shit rocks. can someone make some shitty 2010's style hivemind punk edits i need that in my life rn

originally finished 4-28-2024

[cyberspacebear]

[nonbinary-gaydonweaver]

Yes I will combine HIVEMIND with PASWG (3rd image is a messy concept for the angel forms)

[hyunpic]

The amount of stays in the comment section😭😭😭😭

https://youtube.com/shorts/5cY-LbBVFZw?si=VcvCoTZLkGCTKL1i

AND THAT TOO W THE SAME BRAINCELL LMAO😭😭😭

you know she’s an icon and she’s a legend when all it takes for her to be remembered is breathing sounds 💅🚨⛓️👑

[mumblesplash]

Alright, I'm gonna ask it. O Great Skulk Lord, what wisdom hath been released unto this world by way of the latest update of Mined Craft?

hehehe WELL first of all, since a not-insignificant part of my thesis here is "ha called it" i'm gonna go ahead and link to the two sculkposts i can find from back in december, here and here, bc even though they don't go into detail about echo shards i HAD already formed this theory at the time and you can sorta tell

so in the new update, which i just found out about today via an upload by mr. mumbo killsalot jumbo himself, players now have the ability to combine amethyst and sculk sensors to create *calibrated* sculk sensors capable of singling out and relaying redstone signals only in response to *specific* vibrations, as well as wirelessly relay those specific vibrations over long distances using amethyst blocks, which has probably a lot of cool implications for redstone that i cannot begin to understand.

in the context of the in-game lore, this strongly supports my already stated theory that sculk uses the impressions of souls it's consumed to calibrate itself, likely because sentient creatures (players) are the only things either dangerous enough or nutritious enough to actually be worth the energy to hunt.

but an extension of this theory which i didn't go into on here is that since naturally generated sculk as an organism is capable of tracking the sound a specific soul makes, and more importantly storing impressions of dead ones for comparison, it makes complete sense that it would be a key componenent in crafting the recovery compass, hence the echo shards.

the only problem is, you can't pick up sculk to use as a crafting ingredient without 'killing' it. even silk-touch harvested sculk is damaged; harvested shriekers or even shriekers generated by feeding a harvested catalyst can't summon the warden (they look different too, the souls inside are dimmer and spin the other way). my theory is and was that echo shards are a fusion of sculk and something to amplify/preserve its ability to 'remember' what souls sound like. amethyst shards seemed like the obvious choice, both because of the name and because minecraft amethyst is sorta the designated Sound Mineral, plus all the amethyst shards in ancient city loot chests.

on a morbid but relevant note, i think the shriekers sound like that for an in-universe reason, and it's the reason the recovery compass points not just to other players but specifically to your most recent death: sculk probably 'records' only the information it finds important about the things it eats and it doesn't eat the living, so the impressions it has stored of previous souls were recorded at the moment they died. the shriekers are just playing back audio. or possibly forcing the souls trapped inside to relive their deaths over and over. depends on how much of a soul it keeps around after it's done eating it

basically what i think, and i think the update strongly supports this, is that disconnecting sculk from its Sculk Colony messes with its ability to record and relay specific signals. amethyst, due to way it interacts with sound, can partially compensate for this, and this is likely a key mechanism behind how echo shards work. sculk sensors, which are simpler and more durable than the other sculk blocks, are also the easiest to work with, which is why calibrated sensors are possible to craft but echo shards (which have properties of both shriekers and catalysts) are not

[whisper-overseer]

I love (sarcasm) how brain's one and only response to uncomfortable feeling while asleep is to throw a nightmare at you. And very intense one too, mind you.

I know I want to the toilet because I woke up. But you could've woke me up with anything but this!

[willowedspirits]

Hollow Knight Linked Universe AU! I've finally finished it!

If you don't know much about Hollow Knight, a lot of the technicalities might not make sense, and I would encourage you to look into the game. Or you could just enjoy the chain as bugs and see them off on their buggy adventures!

I've made this AU trying to keep as close as I can to Hollow Knight's story, but some creative liberties were of course taken.

My main idea is that the infection is the equivalent to Dark Link's (who does exist in this) infected monsters and it's up to them to try and slow/stop the infection. My first thought was to have the infection start to spread outside of Hallownest, and the chain needs to go and stop it, but I'm still going back and forth on it.

I'm still open to changing concepts if I find something that works better, but after literal months of working on this on and off I'm happy with how this has turned out!

Rambling about character details below!

Small note: I've set this AU at roughly the start of the infection, when Radiance was starting to take over Hallownest.

Time

Is not from Hallownest. He traveled to Hallownest from a distant land, where he met Malon and settled down with her.

He encountered Radiance upon entering Hallownest, but was protected by a god that had already laid claim to him, Fierce Deity, who protects him from the Radiance's infection.

He and Malon live in the Howling Cliffs.

His wing and antenna injury are from Radiance when she tried to infect him.

He is not able to fly because of the injury, and now fights with a heavy nail.

His wings used to be green, but after encountering the Fierce Deity, they slowly started to change in color until they were blue.

I'm not sure if I would do anything with the eyes on his wings, I was trying to make a connection to Majora in that, but I'm still debating whether to add it.

Twilight

Is a part of the Traitor Mantis tribe that lives in the Queen's Garden.

He met a Sibling (Midna) that escaped from the Abyss. They gave him the ability to harness Void.

Still working on the detail for how exactly they give him this ability, but my rough idea is that perhaps both of them were attacked by and infected villager, and they saved him by giving up their Void essence.

He's grown up wanting to be infected by the Radiance. He was taught the Radiance was a god that gave bugs great strength, but after seeing what the infection really does, he starts to have second thoughts.

The cloak he is wearing is new. The one he wore before was damaged. I'm still debating on when exactly he gets it, but I think it's something he makes after he leaves the traitor village.

Warriors

He is the head knight of the Hive and oversees whoever enters their territory.

His scarf is a gift from the princess of the Hive given to him when he leaves to join the group.

Since he is a bee, he is connected to the Hive via the hivemind. He uses this to check in on his home whenever he can.

This also makes it very dangerous if he gets infected, since it would quickly spread to the other bee's.

I kept his nail the same as Hive Knight's, but it's open to change.

Four

(I'm still very iffy on Four's story concept, but here's what I have so far)

Lives in Green Path.

He has a passion for weapon smithing, and planned on moving to the capital of Hallownest (City of Tears).

But he accidently stumbled on a weak Unn, and agreed to help protect her while she recovered.

When she did recover, she blessed him with a power that allows him to split into 4 parts of himself using his SOUL.

He can split while in the physical world, but will always be split while in the Dream realm. This also makes it difficult for Radiance to infect him.

Wind

Lives in the Kingdom's Edge and works as a guide across the acid lakes. Most of the travelers are those who are seeking to fight in the Colosseum of Fools.

This is how he found the Colosseum, and regularly attends (but not participate in) some of the fights, which is how he meets Tetra.

He is just learning to fly, but is picking it up really fast.

I wanted to keep the lobster apart of his design... But there are no lobsters in Hollow Knight... Then I remembered this was an AU and I can do what I want with it. So lets just pretend that Lobsters are seen as these awesome ancient beings that he wishes to see one day.

Wild

He was a guardian of the Beast's Den before he became infected, leaving the Den to reside somewhere in Deep Nest.

He is cured by the Dream Nail when the group meets him, and the last to join.

His shell is cracked and damaged because of the infection. The cracks have healed over time, but will never go away.

He has trouble with his memory due to being infected for so long before being cured. He is slowly regaining his memory, but there are still a lot of pieces missing.

His infection spread through to his arm, but is hidden under his cloak.

He uses his nails almost as throwing needles.

Legend

Is a shop owner in Hallownest's capital. He sells all kinds of items from all across Hallownest, small things he's found that could be valuable.

He's managed to make his way into the upper class of the capital due to his shop. His cloak is a modified version of the upper-class wardrobe. He dyed and added the hood himself.

Has a great sense of exploration, and has been all over Hallownest, but still has some places he needs to check off.

His jewelry are all gifts from Ravio.

My original concept for his design was to give him 4 arms. I was thinking of the Collector when designing him, and thought it fit. But after working on finalizing the design, I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep it. I still love the concept though.

Hyrule

(Again, I don't have a clear story concept for him but I have some notes)

Lives in the Ancient Basin.

Has learned how to use SOUL, and is in hiding from the residents of the Soul Sanctum because of it.

He has access to spells and is able to heal himself using SOUL.

I originally gave him a cloak, but couldn't decide if he looked better with or without it. So he does have it, but only sometimes.

Sky

Is the wielder of the Dream Nail, which can be used to cure infected bugs by purging the Radiance from their dream's.

Has wanted to learn to fight with a nail since he was little, and would practice his skills.

He learned about the Dream Nail after some of the moth tribe became infected. He left shortly after he learned this infection was spreading through Hallownest, with the goal of stopping it.

He isn't the only one that can use the Dream Nail, but is the one dubbed the "owner" of it.

And that's what I've got!

I didn't go much into Dark Link here, but would be happy to show some concepts I have for him as well if anybody is curious. I'm making him almost like a living version of the Radiance's infection, and is able to spread it from bug to bug without needing to access their dreams. This is mainly why I'm torn on having them leave Hallownest. If Dark Link could spread the infection to farther lands, or to keep him inside Hallownest and just spread it faster there.

I thought that using the Dream Nail was a good equivalent to the Master Sword here, so I just mashed them together, and a lot of the motivations for the chain trying to stop the infection is "I'm seeing this awful thing happen to these bugs that I don't want to see happen to others," with some small variations here and there.

I've been working on this for so long, I just want to share by bug boys. I would love to gush and ramble about them some more. I have stuff I want to do with this AU.

[hermesserpent-stuff]

doot doot @honey-minded-hivemind it turned left so fast

--

“Hey, hey.”

Creed shifts away from the bars. Remy pauses, confused.

“Rougarou.”

He mumbles out, coughing a little. 

“I'm not sure what that means kid.”

Remy trembles, the stories pressing at him.

“You- you stealin’ chilen when they stray from the paths in the swamps and turn into- into -into a monster.”

Remy presses into the wall, babbling. Creed chuffs.

“I don't steal children. Never wanted any cubs. Too much responsibility. My brother has a ton of pups, but none of them were stolen.”

Creed huffs, shaking himself a bit. The chains clink together as the man shifts. Remy swallows and coughs at the lack of anything to swallow. 

“Drink water kid.”

The man growls out and Remy worries his lip, staring at those inhuman eyes. He swallows and coughs again. 

He looks at his hands and tries to think. Creed has not done anything. Holding his nature against him won't do anything for Remy. Not really. Remy lets his hair shadow his face as he leans over his water bowl and sips. Remy flinches a little as Creed begins to talk.

“Back home I got a big pack. My brother always wanted a really big pack. When we were younger he was always carving little toys out of wood with his claws, hoping that one of them would appeal to a pup. We didnt grow up with any toys or statues or nothin’ so he wanted to make sure any pup he had had all those things. Gah. I thought it was sappy and stupid, till I noticed how happy it made his pups. Honestly, it was cute sometimes. 

Ugg. I miss those pipsqueaks.”

[loventian]

Touchstarved character name meanings!

Lemme preface this by saying I’m not a name meanings expert I just love crawling through google pages and over analyzing things ALSO to make sure the results weren’t influenced by fandom everything here is from pre-2020! With that let’s get into things!

Mhin:

Mhin is a little bit tricky, as I can’t find anything for their name spelled as it is. Min, however, has several different sources and meanings.

In Chinese, Min (敏) meanings “quick, clever, sharp” Which seems rather fitting for our neighborhood soulless hunter. An alternative script for Min (民) translates to “people, citizens” which could have some interesting implications, as Mhin is implied to have strong connections to the city of Lovent.

In Burmese Min means “king, ruler” which, connected with the second Chinese translation, could perhaps be some foreshadowing? We don’t know how Mhin is connected to Lovent, but the city must have had a ruling class, perhaps Mhin held a position of power? It could also be why they survived, and which a powerful curse nonetheless

Finally, in Irish Min is said to mean “smooth, fine, small”, though I can’t find as many sources on this one. I include it because people have pointed out Mhin’s cloak pins are triquetra, which are Celtic symbols.

Kuras:

Please know I adore Kuras when I say this, but he really got the short end of the naming stick it seems. The most promising thing I can find is the usage as a Hindi surname, which doesn’t seem to have a meaning listed. If you remove the S and go with Kura, it can mean “river” in Turkish or possibly “fierceness, tiger” in Japanese.

Now here’s the silly translations! In Arabic, Kuras (كراس) seems to translate to brochure. In polish, it translates to chicken.

I truly doubt the devs thought brochure/chicken were good labels for the dear doctor, so I’m favoring the Turkish translation. Mostly because Eridia is a city divided by a river; could there be something deeper hidden in there? Maybe!

Ais:

So clearly Ais has a lot of Japanese influence, with his design being inspired by Oni, so I looked for those possible translations first. Ai (愛) translates to love in Japanese, and is typically used as a broader term to refer to emotions tied to like compassion, empathy, or platonic forms of love (as opposed to 恋/koi which refers to romantic love).

I’m gonna focus on this translation for a bit. Someone on a translation forum phrased it in a way I really love: “Ai” is something you do or give. Ais is our introduction to the Seaspring, and to groupminds in general. While the concept of a hivemind is usually used in horror as a way of taking away agency, the Seaspring is framed as a refuge for people to turn to. Could Ais’ name be an allusion to a goal he keeps hidden? Is the Seaspring a manifestation of a desire to give love despite the violent world? Or am I just reading into this too deep?

Vere:

Vere actually has a straight up name meaning! Most of the sources I found say that Vere is a French/Gaulish name meaning “Alder”, and it usually pops up in the surname “De Vere”. Alders are a kind of bitch tree, and I have no idea how that tie into Vere as a character.

But if we take “Vere” as a word rather then a name, then Latin translates it as meaning “truly, really, actually, rightly”. Vere’s introduction to us is as someone to not trust, a cunning fox waiting for the next meal, stealing our darn room key and lying about it! So I find it really interesting that his name could be a word for truth. Perhaps before his chains Vere was someone a lot more truthful ?

Leander:

Big shout out to Leander for having a plain ass easy to translate name. I’ll give you googles exact definition here: "lion of a man", from leon, "lion", and andros, "man".

That was easy, so now let’s pick it apart!

Traditionally, lions are symbols of nobility, courage, strength, and protection. Leander has a reputation for being That Guy; he’s a leader, a protector of the masses, etc etc. for all intents and purposes, Leander really is a lion of a man!

…On the surface at least. Because under all the symbolism, lions are still predators, no matter how noble.

[frownyalfred]

just realized i never finished yuor batfam hivemind fic so i went and reread all 18 chapters of borderline in one sitting. never have i wanted a smoke and a drinking problem before because WHAT THE FUCK

that’s how I felt when I finished writing it lmaooo. like oh god I need to go chain smoke in some shitty old alley and rethink my life choices. like what do you MEAN you wrote that.

[mademoisellegush]

On the Emperor and *that* scene

so i went and looked at some of the branches of that conversation -he basically reacts by reflecting and amplifying whatever energy the player gives him. Whatever you say, he will not contradict you.

You reject him, violently? He'll show you how right you are, how much of a monster he is. You reject him, preferring to "stick to business"? so does he. You agree to see him as a potential partner? Not a one-night stand, you are "bonded and it is time to consummate love with war".

Something to keep in mind, however (pun intended) is that "to best protect yourself from illithid manipulation, pay attention to its actions, not words."

tldr: i think the emperor is a very neat character.

The first branch is the disgusted rejection - the one where the player calls him a freak. his reaction is to show you how right you are. a mind controlled Stelmane, how the partnership was puppeteering. "you are my puppet", he tells you. "You have no other choice, if I must, I will force you."

he does not force you to do anything, after that. the threat is there, of course, but it's hollow. empty.

should this be taken at face value? can we trust him, even now, that he is telling the truth? it is certain that he mind controlled stelmane, yes. But was he the one who made her ill?

two items put that into question. a) stelmane's portrait, hung up at his desk along all his treasured possessions from before and after he became an illithid (balduran's butter fork, to go with the butter knife. his old sword, a recipe for fiddlehead soup, his dog Rascal's collar. the emperor's outfit, container for brains, chains for his "meals".)

If he's a liar about everything, why does he have a framed picture of Stelmane? He would not have been able to physically go back and set things up in a Knights of the Shield secret hideout while he was stuck inside the Astral Prism in our pocket from the hells, down to the Underdark, unless i'm getting the timeline of this story majorly wrong.

and b) an account of stelmane's illness.

Stelmane's condition got worse *after* Balduran/the Emperor disappeared, captured by Gortash and the cult of the Absolute.

Make of that what you will. Is this an actual testimony, or something he somehow planted there for you to find, despite the logistical difficulties in doing so? You decide.

2. The violent rejection is the only branch where he does not tell you how big the elder brain has grown. I think that is because there is an actual reaction on his end; something vicious that he's unused to feeling. Not the cold, calculating pragmatism he was praising in the player character three lines ago. Compare the first branch to the following two paths:

What i think is: Balduran uses you. The sole thing he cares above all else is his continued survival, any power gained that way is a side benefit to his goal. If you even get the Orphic hammer, even "as leverage," even as you threaten him, he does not "force you" to do anything, as threatened above. Ansur died, yes, but is self defence murder? Neither Ansur nor Balduran deny that Ansur tried to mercy kill Balduran as he slept.

What I also think: you have to succeed at perception check, in the third guardian dream, to figure out that "the hurt runs deeper than they're willing to show you." then, an insight check (something that requires wisdom, what you use to resist, or lean into, the tadpole's hivemind) "beneath the resilient veneer, a touch of fragility. they need comfort." This allows you to hug them, if you desire - something they say "it has been a very long time since someone did that. for [me]".

Make of that what you will.

[strongermonster]

dealing with children right now is like a shitpost fever dream.

we walked them down to a big park today to do a little nature walk, maybe spend some time on the playground, a nice easy day out.

well we passed the one section of the park that has a skate park in it, and for some reason some teens had dragged a random toilet to the very edge of the (tiny) halfpipe, and were taking turns skating and doing weird tricks to try and make it fall without actually touching it? or maybe do the most stuff without making it fall? idk, i was not privy to the rules of Toilet Skate Trust Fall or whatever the fuck. seemed fun though.

anyways, all the little kids see a toilet out in the wild and immediately start screeching skibidi over and over like a hivemind, and line up along the chain-link fence like something out of a zombie movie, and will not be pried away from watching this if their lives depended on it.

the older handlers with me are doing the ">:/ my god, teens these days! ruffians! hooligans! i am calling the city forthwith to report these dastardly commode criminals!"

there's nothing else for me to do + i don't care about ratting these teens out, so i stand and watch too. they finally manage to dislodge the toilet, but it falls backwards the wrong way off the edge/out of our view, so i say "damn, they sent that stinker to the eeby deeby" which was a HIT with these kids, so they spent the rest of the time wandering around the park going "skibidi eeby deeby!"

when we got back, the older ladies were all up in arms about how strange and incomprehensible the whole thing was and how unruly the kids were, so i was trying to describe/explain it bc it really was just mostly funny, but the whole thing is so ??? and i would have to explain the memes, and it wasn't worth the effort, so i left them to moan about ~the state of the children these days!!~

anyways 10/10 day, we got to see geese chase after some food delivery guy on a bike

[silvrash-797]

Febuwhump 2025 - The Earth Temple, Remastered

Read on ao3

Chapter 1: Hivemind

Moblins, Chuchus, Bubbles, Floormasters…

Poes, ReDeads, Stalfos, Darknuts…

Light puzzles, cursed fog…

“How did the Shadow reset an entire dungeon?!” Wind complained. “And why’d it have to be the creepy one?”

Then again, it could have been worse. Of the two Sage's temples, at least this one could be completed without its Sage. Between the Chain's plethora of items, abilities, and good, old-fashioned teamwork, they’d cleared the dungeon of all the black-blooded monsters and arrived at the Boss door. A pair of mirror shields, the Champion's glider and Gale, and Sky's harp had been especially useful.

“I don’t know,” Four said with a roll of his shoulders, “but I can’t imagine trying to handle that essentially alone, even without the black blood.”

Wind nodded. “It was pretty tough,” he admitted. “But Medli helped a ton.”

Warriors clapped his hands lightly to get everyone's attention. “Well, Sailor,” he said. “You’ve brought us this far. What’s next?” If Wind didn’t know better, he’d think Wars was enjoying himself.

“Next is the boss, Jalhalla.”

“What's it like?”

Wind pursed his lips into a squiggly frown. “Normally? He’s just a bunch of little poes like those ones we fought earlier, all gathered together in a mask that makes him huge. He uses wind and fireballs a lot, and tries to squish you.

“But if he’s black-blooded…I don’t know what we’ll be up against.”

“There’s only one way to find out!” Wild, too, was way too cheerful for being this far into a dungeon crawl.

Wind nodded and – after making sure everyone was ready – turned the big key in the lock.

The Chain filed through, the door slammed shut behind them, all the same song and dance so far. Two dozen of the smaller poes wandered the room, no difference there.

But as the room echoed the door's closing, instead of fleeing toward the center of the room to form Jalhalla, the poes divided themselves into groups of three.

At an unspoken command from their ranks each group dove toward and into one of the other heroes.

Before Wind could blink, all eight of his brothers turned as one – almost like a central hive mind was controlling them – facing him as they drew their swords.

“Welcome, Link,” they intoned. “Join us.”

[thegayestdiaz]

a plot twist i would liked more than viktor being “corrupted” and everything was time travel, was if the arcane was actually manipulating jayce, and his actions were actually what created the destroyed world he saw.

i felt like everything jayce did caused the actual outcome of viktor turning evil and the world being destroyed by hextech. at the end of act 2, we have viktor telling singed that he won’t allow the people of his commune to be used for singed’s goals. and then suddenly in act 3 he goes along with singed and apparently creating the hivemind and turning people into robots was always his plan? it doesn’t add up.

i would’ve loved to see jayce realise that this magical entity had manipulated him into killing his partner by showing him a false or warped version of the future. realising he killed the person he loved most for nothing because in killing viktor he set of the chain of events that came to be. he thought he was doing a necessary act to save everyone and viktor from himself but he was actually dooming them all.