#Colossal Cave Adventure
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Decided to try playing the original Colossal Cave Adventure, the first text adventure game. I figured it would be relatively simple, given that it was the first of its kind and all that. I was already getting pretty lost in the first area, so I started mapping and
I'm already so confused. I wasn't even in the cave yet.
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Spam Spam Spam Humbug 160 - Games We Can't Go Back To
Spam Spam Spam Humbug 160 - Games We Can't Go Back To Oh, to wander some long-forgotten game worlds once more.
Subscribe on Zencastr | Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe on Google Play | Subscribe on Spotify | Subscribe on TuneIn | Subscribe on Stitcher Podcast Topic(s) Cear Dragon, Cocoa, WtF Dragon, and Goldenflame discuss a bunch of games that they used to play, which they can’t ever play again for various reasons. Full show notes at spamspamspamhumbug.com. Community & Patronage As always, this…
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#Android#Apple#Backbone#Baldur&039;s Gate 3#Beamdog#BioWare#Broadsword Online Games#Colossal Cave Adventure#Dark and Darker#Dungeon Keeper#Dungeons and Dragons#EA#Escape from Tarkov#GeForce Now#Genshin Impact#Google#Honkai: Star Rail#Icewind Dale#iOS#Ken Williams#King&039;s Quest#Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning#Leisure Suit Larry#Microsoft#MMORPG#Mythic Entertainment#NCSoft#Netflix#Neverwinter Nights#Neverwinter Nights 2
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'2021 XYZZY Awards' Has 328 Pieces of Interactive Fiction in Need of Votes
September? October? Hmm... those have both come and gone. Ah, November. We're in November, which is also when this year's XYZZY Awards kick off, meaning... it's time to once more celebrate all things interactive fiction! All things. Everything. From 'best story' to 'best NPC', and even 'best use of innovation'. Much awesomeness this year, across a staggering 328 pieces/stories. That's a lot, and I would not have it any other way!
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I played Colossal Cave 3D for my Twitch affiliate anniversary stream over the weekend. I want to get back into streaming but I have to figure out a more comfortable setup where I can sit for a longer period in spite of my horrible hypermobile joints. *shakes fist*
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Colossal Cave re-imagined into native support
Colossal Cave point and click adventure game launches on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. This is also the result of the work from developer Cygnus Entertainment. Which is available now via Steam. Colossal Cave is the key 3D version of the original text adventure. Along with Linux support, thanks to a developer comment on Steam earlier this month.
We have the Linux steam deck version going. I'm not sure if that same version will run on a normal linux computer.
The Unity based game also shows Linux support via SteamDB. Which is far better than the dev's earlier statement about following wishlist support. Kudos to Cygnus Entertainment for making it happen. Infinite wonders await in Colossal Cave. Well, at least for those seeking true adventure. Doing so in a winding maze of underground caves. Storybook beasts coming to life as living creatures, ready to be life long friends or foes. Complete complex puzzles while wondering through massive caves full of various dangers and unique treasures.
Colossal Cave Launch Date Reveal Trailer
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Collect every item and explore deep into the cavern before venturing home after a fine quest. Colossal Cave empowers heroines and heroes to adopt the same bold spirit as the original title. Due to bridge the gap between two generations of eager adventurers. Iconic developers Sierra On-Line founders Ken and Roberta Williams’ are back with a new company, Cygnus Entertainment. They are also ready to create more amazing projects like the seminal classics. Also including a class of 2020 Video Game Hall of Fame recipient, King’s Quest. As well as Space Quest, Phantasmagoria, and many others. The duo were awarded the Pioneer Award at the GDC 2020. Along with the Industry Icon award at The Game Awards in 2014. They continue their legacy and build a new dynasty, with Colossal Cave as the hopeful beginning. Colossal Cave point and click adventure game is available on Steam. Priced at $39.99 USD / £34.99 / 39,99€. Including support for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC.
#colossal cave#point and click#adventure#linux#gaming news#cygnus entertainment#ubuntu#mac#windows#pc#unity
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all mirages cast real shadows.
kentucky route zero, 2013-2020/georgia o'keeffe, twilight canyon, lake powell, utah, 1964, todd webb/the archive of alternate endings, lindsey drager/house of leaves, mark z. danielewski/sunset, matthew cusick/letters from the hole, everything everything/the museum at purgatory, nick bantock/kentucky route zero, 2013-2020/andrei tarkovsky on the set of the sacrifice, unknown/heart: the city beneath, grant howitt and christopher taylor/the forgetting room, nick bantock/urge to mean (anything) ii, leo wijnhoven/in the dream house, carmen maria machado/kentucky route zero, 2013-2020/the beginner's guide, 2015/underdark: plein air paintings from caves, tomas honz/colossal cave adventure, willie crowther and don woods/season: a letter to the future, 2023/software greatman, everything everything/invisible cities, italo calvino/annihilation, jeff van der meer/the beginners guide, 2015/where the water tastes like wine, 2018/the unfortunates, b.s. johnson/house of leaves, mark z. danielewski/the painting that includes all paintings, richard siken/waiting for godot, samuel beckett
#pers#signal to noise#webweaving#inspired by my beloved novembers tsh webweave <3. this was fun to pull together#ive been meaning to pull together a list of signoise inspirations this is by no means all of them#but i had like. a majority of these just on hand and theyre mostly from texts i consider important to signoise#there were a few that i just couldnt fit in. but cest la vie! my poast ^
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🇺🇲 Step back into the pioneering era of computer gaming with Microsoft Adventure, a text-based interactive fiction game that left an indelible mark on the gaming landscape in 1979.
⌨️ Microsoft Adventure was developed by Gordon Letwin of Softwin Associates and drew inspiration from the influential Colossal Cave Adventure. It debuted on platforms like TRS-80 and Apple II, featuring an expansive virtual world with 130 rooms, 15 treasures, 40 objects, and 12 intricate puzzles.
💾 One of the game's standout features was its ability to save progress on diskettes, a revolutionary concept at the time. Players immersed themselves in a rich narrative, navigating through detailed environments and solving complex challenges.
👾 As personal computing gained traction, Microsoft Adventure became one of the inaugural games available for the IBM PC. Its inclusion in IBM's initial software releases underscored its significance in shaping early computer entertainment.
🌟 Despite its text-based format, Microsoft Adventure received acclaim from critics like Carrington Dixon and PC Magazine for its depth and creativity. It set a precedent for interactive storytelling and laid the groundwork for Microsoft's future ventures in gaming.
🕹️ Microsoft Adventure remains a pivotal chapter in gaming history, showcasing Microsoft's innovative spirit and the evolution of interactive entertainment. Rediscover the thrill of classic gaming with Microsoft Adventure—an immersive experience that continues to captivate gamers and historians alike.
#techtime chronicles#old technology#companies#tech#technology#old tech#technews#information technology#corporations#electronics#microsoft#ms dos#microsoft adventure#ibm pc#apple ii#bill gates#gordon letwin#softwin associates#collosal cave adventure#trs 80#retro gaming#retro tech#gaming#video games#gaming history#computing#vintage gaming#pc magazine#software#software development
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i rlly enjoy the very first adventure game (colossal cave adventure) ran on this thing (PDP-10)
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Ao3 Coding References
I recently made a code-heavy choose your own adventure fic, and I wanted to compile all of the really helpful resources I've found along the way. I know little to nothing about HTML but having all of these resources were amazingly helpful.
Basics:
This Ao3 Posting Doc converts Google doc into HTML, adding bold, underline, italics, strikethrough, paragraph breaks, and centered text. Major game changer for heavy HTML works
The Fic Writer's Guide to Formatting by AnisaAnisa: This is a masterpost in itself, covering links, images, boxes, borders, fonts etc. So I'm putting it here since it's amazingly helpful
HTML References by W3 schools- I've linked the HTML colors here, but this is a platform designed to help people learn/reference HTML
This got long: Text resources, fancy formatting & other website formats below the cut
Text resources:
Font's chapter: The Fic Writer's Guide to Formatting: okay I know I already linked it above, but listen it's very good so I'm linking again
Fonts colors and work skins oh my by Charles_Rockafeller takes fonts to a different level.
Multicolored text skin by ElectricAlice GRADIENT TEXT
All the Emoji by CodenameCarrot while Ao3 has signifigantly improved on hosting emojis, this code helps with using some more unconventional emojis. Amazing resource.
Upsidedown text and Zalgo text generators - these specific text generators allow for you to see their direct HTML codes
Workskin for showing and hiding spoilers by ElectricAlice makes text appear when hovered/clicked. Amazing for Trigger Warnings
Make text appear when you click [Work skin] by Khashana clickable end notes buttons for your work, similar to the spoiler button text
Desktop/mobile friendly short tooltips workskin by Simbaline
How to make Linked Footnotes on Ao3 by La_Temperanza
User-selectable Names in a Fanfic work by fiend Ever want people to select between different names in a fanfic? I could also see this used as ability to switch gender in a fanfic.
AO3 Comic Text Effects using CSS by DemigodofAgni Ever want a giant comicbook POW in your fic?
How to override the Archive's Chapter Headers by C Ryan Smith
Fancy Formatting:
Embedding youtube videos on ao3 to scale with the screen by pigalle add youtube videos mid fic
Conlangs and Accessibility by Addleton this fic instructs how to have accessible translations in fic
How to mimic letters, fliers and stationary without using images by La_Temperanza Really helped with box formatting
Decorations for Fic (HTML/CSS): Fanart, Dividers, Embedded Songs and More by Jnsn this has SO MANY cool coding features, including a chessboard that moves when you hover over it
How to make a News Website Article Skin on Ao3 by ElectricAlice
Screenplay skin by astronought
How to make custom Page Dividers by La_Temperanza
How to make Images Fit on Mobile Browsers by La_Temperanza great image adding code
How to Wrap text around images by La_Temperanza image text wrapping
How to insert Gmail emails in your fic by DemigodofAgni
How to mimic Email Windows by La_Temperanza
How to make a Choose Your Own Adventure Fic by La_Temperanza allows for clickable links and hidden text.
Personal Experiment with HTML and CSS by MohnblumenKind This has a variety of help, Chapter 6 & 7 were great for choose your own adventure, Chapter 4 talks about columns and skins, and Chapter 10 even has a newspaper made entirely from site code.
Learn to Microsoft Excel by ssc_lmth insert a spreadsheet in your fic
Ao3 Work skin: a simple scoreboard by revanchist shows how to code a scoreboard
Colossal Cave Adventure by gifbot Working Keyboard anyone?
How to make a rounded playlist by La_Temperanza Ever want to show a character's music playlist within your fic
Tabbing experiment by gifbot (clickable tabs)
Repository by gaudersan google searches, ao3 stats, instagram and text messages galore
Workskin for in Universe Investigative/Mission Report with Redaction by wafflelate case files/CSI reports
CSS in Testing/Bleed Gold by InfinitysWraith Masterclass in cool formatting, including overidding default headers, Doors opening animation, Grid interactive photos, Hovering to change a photo, Retroactive text etc.
CSS in Testing:Second in Series by InfinitysWraith: Interactive keypads, Mock news site and interactive locking mechanism.
Other Websites:
Texting
--How to make iOS Text Messages on Ao3 by CodenameCarrot, La_Temperanza
--A Quick Generator for Embeddable iOS Text Messages by 221b_ee
--imessage Skin by Adzaema
--Retro imessage by Adzaema
--Basic Text Message Work Skin by ProfessorMotz
-- Bubble platform [workskin] by Khashana
Tumblr
--Tumblr style CSS Tweaks by Aposiopesis
--Ao3 Workskin Testing and Tutorials by junietuesday25 tumblr DM
--How to make Tumblr Posts on Ao3 by phyyripo
Twitter
--Repository - Twitter by gadaursan
-- How to mimic Social Media in an Ao3 work by aerynevenstar
--Twitter Work Skin Template by etc e tal
--Twitter Workskin: Tweets and Profile by starskin
--Twitter Mock-Up by TheBrookesNook
Ao3
--How to mimic Authors notes and Kudos/Comment Buttons by La_Temperanza
--How to mimic AO3 Comments by bittermoons
--How to add mobile Ao3 in your fic by DemigodofAgni
--How to make a fanfic style header Ao3 style by ElectricAlice
Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp
--Whatsapp Group Chat builder by FestiveFerret
--How to make Facebook Messenger Chat on Ao3 by ran_a_dom
--Whatsapp Work Skin Template Revamped by etc e tal
--Whatsapp group chat skin by ovely
--Instagram DMs for Ao3 by monarch_rhapsodies
--How to make Instagram DM mockup by xslytherclawx
Snapchat
--Snapchat skin by Azdaema
--Snapchat Template for Ao3 by starskin
Reddit/Forum
--UPDATED Reddit Skin by diamine
--2020 Reddit Work Skin by timstokerlovebot
--Reddit Work Skin CSS & HTML by knave_of_swords
--How to mimic Social Media in an Ao3 work by aerynevenstar
--template Reddit Skin by spookedcroon
--Ao3 workskin for Forum Thread by fencesit
--How to mimic 4chan posts without just taking screenshots of 4chan
Twitch/Youtube
--Mimicking Twitch Chat for fics by Ultraviollett
--Workskin testing by tohmas [Youtube comments]
Discord/Slack/Zoom
--2023 Discord Theme Workskin by TrojanTeapot
--Discord Work Skin by unpredictableArtist
--Discord (Dark Theme) Workskin by Heterochromia_Mars
--Ao3 Workskin Testing and Tutorials by junietuesday25
--Slack Workskin by Khashana
--Zoom inspired Ao3 skin by mystyrust
Video Game Dialog Mimics
--Dialog [workskin] by Clover_Zero
--Dialogue Workskin (with parallax BG effect) by mystyrust
--My S Ranks--System Windows by unpredictableArtist [computer dialog workskin]
--Tutorial: Ace Attorney Work Skin by QuailFence
--Among Us Ao3 skin by mystyrust
--How to Mimic Undertale Fonts on Ao3 by La_Temperanza
--Tutorial:Rain Code Work Skin by faish
Misc. Sites
--How to mimic Deadpool Thinking boxes by La_Temperanza
--FetLife Skin [Work Skin] by Khashana
--Replika workskin by FaeriMagic
--Disco Elysium workskin by SarunoHadaki
--StarTrek PADD workskin by duskyspirit
--Wikipedia article work skin by styletests
--Yelp Reviews by kiwiana
--Amazon Reviews by kiwiana
--MDZS-themed letters by allollipoppins
--A Newbie's Guide to Podficcing by Adzaema [skin for podfics]
Bonus: Ever wanted to see how crazy HTML can be on AO3? Try playing But can it run Doom? or Tropémon by gifbot
Happy Creating!
Last updated: Aug 19 2024
#archive of our own#html coding#fanfic#Hopefully I'll update this list as I find more resources#ao3#ao3 writer#ao3 fanfic#fanfiction#ao3fic
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Wife and I were having a conversation about why so many games get misclassified as “Adventure” in the sense of like an adventure movie, when that’s a more specific genre of game—I’d think of things like Monkey Island and its text-parser based predecessors. Puzzle-solving, limited to no combat. So I was looking up the history of what the first “Adventure” game was, and it’s Colossal Cave Adventure. Whose title was shortened to “Adventure”. So it really means a game that is operating in the same mode as Colossal Cave Adventure. “Adventure game” is literally like “roguelike”. TIL
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oc: Sulana, Nord, TESV Skyrim
A Nord bounty hunter from Kynesgrove. After losing one of her arms, Dwemer Scholar Winlyn fashioned her a new arm out of Dwemer metal. In return, Sulana became the researcher's body guard.
She was soon captured by the Thalmor and separated from Winlyn due to her support for Talos. Imprisoned and half-dead, she was mieaculously able to awaken the power of The Voice. She fought her way to freedom with the other prisoners.
Another one! This is my Nord Skyrim oc, or otherwise the Dragonborn of my oc canon, Sulana! (some Winlyn lore in here as well cuz the two of them are like one unit lol)
(For context, I sort of divided several aspects/guilds/questlines of the game to be done by different ocs so that I'm not dealing with 5 different Dragonborns.)
Game-wise, I use her when I wanna adventure with Lucien Flavius or Remiel - also used her for a stormcloak run, but that's not entirely her stance on the conflict.
This post goes together with my art blog post here. I can't really get the most accurate vision of her in the game because I can't find a good dwemer prosthetic arm mod or solid curly hair mods or bandages mods or-
er well anyway, the point is that I tried lol
Lore:
A Nord orphan-made-warrior raised in Kynesgrove. She made a name for herself as a bounty hunter across Eastmarch and The Pale. During one of her adventures, she ran into Winlyn - literally. Well, more like Winlyn tackled her while running away from something she encountered in some Dwemer ruin.
Young and cocky, Sulana offered to clear the ruin for her, unaware of the dangers that are dwarven automatons. Winlyn's previous guide perished in that same ruin, but her warnings fell on deaf ears as Sulana expertly cleaved through the lesser constructs. That is, until a colossal Dwarven Centurion attacked them. Narrowly surviving with a missing arm, suddenly she felt herself be overcome with a mysterious strength, and was able to take the Centurion out.
Healing from her injuries took a significant amount of time, Winlyn used her knowledge of Dwarven technology to salvage and fashion a prosthetic arm for Sulana. Thankful for her help, Sulana would agree to continue protecting Winlyn (but she actually also developed an interest in all the cool thing Win would tell her about historical artifacts :D)
Feats of the duo reached the ears of the Thalmor, Sulana who had implications with Talos and they suspected to be a threat, and Winlyn who was digging up secrets mere men should not know. While they explored another ruin, the Thalmor took advantage of the environment to separate them, trapping Winlyn under a cave-in and leaving Sulana vulnerable to an ambush.
Prisoner to the Thalmor, she endured torturous days at their mercy, but she would not give up. When she was sure they would end her for good, she felt that similar power surge through her and she let out her first shout, weakening her captors. Uniting forces with the other prisoners, she would eventually overpower the Thalmor and escape. They become her new traveling companions for the time being.
She has no idea whether or not Winlyn still lives, but she dares not lose hope. She will find her, whether she must unearth every dwarven ruin possible.
Screenshots:
#anyway Sulana and Winlyn have the most lore#cuz i honestly kinda thought about making them follower mods#maybe one day🤯#tes#tesv#tes v skyrim#tesblr#tes v oc#skyrim#skyrim oc#Nord#the elder scrolls#skyrim screenshots#skyrim aesthetic#tes oc#aninioc#aniniocs#oc:sulana#the elder scrolls oc#aniniTESoc#I COULDNT FIND A DWEMER ARM MOD UGH#posting her girlfriend in a bit
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soo i did some reverse engineering on Zoo Tycoon 2 and discovered a hidden dev console and BFGManager as the z-Lua subsystem with custom zt2 hooks and a lot of straight up unobfuscated shader files that could be goldmine for further RE.
also there's an undocumented Huge Elephant in the dev animals. it doesn't seem to be any different from an African Elephant.
many of the guests are named after people who were training at Microsoft at the time. maybe they worked on it or gave input? one of the names is just "Bacon Jr."
also the dev console file has a reference to Colossal Cave Adventure from 1976. huh
#retro games#programming#zoo tycoon#zoo tycoon 2#zt2#zt#retro gaming#reverse engineering#... are these tags? IS THIS ANYTHING?
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История квестов
Статья, которую я хотел написать 10 лет из разряда «меня никто не спрашивал, но я вам расскажу!» Ниже будет ооочень много текста и картинок, так что заварите чайку или кофейку и запаситесь печеньками.
Книги-игры
Сначала придумали бумажные книги-игры. Это такие книги, где читатель мог сам выбирать на какую страницу или пронумерованный параграф пойти дальше и тем самым прийти к различным концовкам. Первые такие произведения появились ещё в 1930-х годах.
На фото серия Fighting Fantasy (1980), еще из известных Choose Your Own Adventure (1979).
Позднее появились редакции D&D и GURPS для соло-прохождения без мастера, что тоже в принципе можно отнести к этой теме.
У нас из первых можно отметить серии Приключенческая книга-игра и Путь героя (1991) Дмитрия Браславского и Ольги Голотвиной.
Кстати этот формат ��о сих пор вполне жив, на сайте Hobby Games их 47 штук, но я ни одну из них не читал и ничего сказать не могу. Хотя надо попробовать...
Текстовые квесты
Логичным продолжением бумажных книг стали текстовые квесты, которые работали на таких древних компьютерах, на которых вообще не было графического интерфейса, а только текстовая консоль. Назывались они Text Adventure или Interactive Fiction.
Это были достаточно хардкорные игры, вам писали текстом ситуацию, в которой вы находитесь, например: "Вы стоите в тёмной пещере, впереди два коридора: левый и правый. Справа слышно шум воды, а слева непроглядная тьма." И вы должны были написать словами на клавиатуре, что должен сделать ваш персонаж (само собой на английском, например «go to right»). Кроме «иди» ещё можно было использовать много других глаголов, например: «возьми», «брось», «толкни», «тяни», «открой», «говори», «осмотри», «примени» и пр. А списка не было и догадайся сам, что можно, а что нельзя. При этом вы абсолютно в любой момент могли умереть в этой игре, и приходилось начинать всё сначала, потому что никаких сохранений так же не было.
Первым пре��ставителем этого жанра была Colossal Cave Adventure (1975) сделанная для мэйнфрейма PDP-10 (это комп размером с комнату).
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1984), в создании которой принимал участие сам Дуглас Адамс, была просто восхитительна, но очень сложна для прохождения не носителями английского. Чего только стоила загадка с Вавилонской рыбкой и полотенцем, а еще там был предмет «нет чая».
Графические квесты
Следующим этапом было добавление в ту же консоль псевдографики в виде ASCII-арта, чтобы хоть как-то визуализировать то, что происходило в тексте, но команды по прежнему надо было вводить исключительно с клавитуры. И хоть это была псевдографика, оно уже стало называться Graphic adventure.
Опять таки первым представителем можно назвать Mystery House (1980) для Apple 2.
С появлением графических интерфейсов появился и дополнительный способ ввода — мышь. На самом деле раньше появился курсор, который можно было двигать с клавиатуры стрелочками или джойстиком, а потом уже мышь. Но тем не менее это позволило посредством курсора взаимодействовать с изображением по координатам. И так появились игры типа Point-and-Click и сопутствующая механика Pixel Hunting предполагающая, что надо найти на изображении локации активное место и кликнуть по нему, чтобы что-то произошло. Подобрать предмет, нажать на рычаг, что-то осмотреть и пр.
Визуальные новеллы
Тем временем японцы тоже не сидели сложа руки и вместо Graphic adventure им зашла концепция визуального романа (или новеллы) Visual Novel (не путать с Graphic Novel — это роман в комиксах причем, как правило, западный).
В новеллах как правило нет пиксель-хантинга, но мышью можно выбирать варианты ответов и таким образом идти по сюжету. Сюжет бывает или полностью линейный, либо разветвленный с несколькими концовками.
Здесь гораздо чаще, чем в классических квестах используется такая логика, что если ты выбрал один из путей, то по другому уже пойти не можешь. Если пошел в одну из двух локаций, значит не успел что-то сделать в другой. И часто вообще не очевидно, что именно ты «не успеешь», делая выбор, и приходиться проходить несколько раз.
Известным подтипом визуальных новелл является Dating Simulator он же дэйт-сим, он же симулятор свиданий, где целью игрока является добиться успеха в романтических отношениях с персона��ами, и его продолжение — Эроге (яп. エロゲ) Erotic Game, где все не заканчивается на поцелуях, на 18+ контенте. Но жанрово этим далеко не ограничивается, есть и детективы и триллеры с хорорами и фантастика и комедии и вообще на любой вкус и цвет. В качестве примеров из популярного и знакового:
Dokyusei (1992)
Policenauts (1994)
Snatcher (1998)
Kanon (1999)
Gyakuten Saiban (2001)
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (2002)
Clannad (2004)
Kara No Shoujo (2008)
Steins;Gate (2009)
Doki Doki Literature Club (2017)
Из за того, что делать игры такого плана технически очень просто (и этим занимается каждый школьник, которому не лень), их невероятно много. На японском их выпущено более 32 тысяч и еще около 2 тысяч на изначально других языках. Чтобы вы понимали, насколько это много, в библиотеке Стима чуть больше чем 80 тысяч игр всего.
Вместе с тем качество картинки и исполнения подавляющего большинства новелл настолько плохое, что их никогда не переводили на другие языки и из всего этого многообразия действительно достойны хоть какого-то внимания в лучшем случае пара сотен. В частности те, которые получили в последствии аниме-адаптации.
В западном геймдеве примеров тоже немало, тот же Coffee Talk или Клуб романтики, который сейчас запрещают в РФ. А у нас из хайпового есть Бесконечное лето (2013) и Зайчик.
Квесты от первого лица
Они отличаются геймплейно от новелл тем, что механика в основном Point-and-click, есть больше головоломок и меньше диалогов.
Здесь Хочется вспомнить серию Myst (1993) c огромным количеством головоломок, замков, сейфов и пр. Огромную серию про Нэнси Дрю (1998) и сотни игр от компании Alawar разной степени качества.
В последней встречаются очень удачные вещи, но в большинстве раздражают головоломки, которые не вписываются в мир от слова совсем или являются слишком казуальными.
Ну и конечно в этом разделе нельзя не упомянуть т.н. эскейп-румы Escape room — вид квестов, где вас заперли и надо выйти из комнаты используя различные предметы, а сюжет как таковой в принципе отсутствует. А после эскейп-румов придумали квесты в реальности, где тебя тебя и ещё пару друзей реально запирают в комнате, но это тема для отдельного поста.
Квесты от третьего лица
С развитием технологий графика тоже развивалась, что позволило делать квесты от 3-го лица. Это когда вы видите, как ваш персонаж анимировано перемещается по локации и даже совершает те действия, что вы от него требуете. Сначала они были в 2D, потом в псевдо-3D (за счет иллюзии глубины по слоям и изменения размеров спрайта персонажа при удалении) а затем и полностью в 3D.
Тут нельзя не упомянуть студию Lucasfilm Games (это дочернее предприятие Lucas Arts, делающее игры, и да, не только по Звездным Войнам). Они написали новый графический движок SCUMM и В 1987 выпустили на нём Maniac Mansion.
А затем ещё несколько не менее культовых игр: Secret of Monkey Island (1990), Sam & Max Hit The Road (1993) и Full Throttle (1995).
Кстати именно Lucasfilm Games надо сказать спасибо за то, что в квестах игрок перестал умирать и уже практически не мог запороть себе всё прохождение по неосторожности неправильно использовав предмет.
Ну а дальше понеслось. Золотой век квестов наступил и мир увидел в множество прекрасных игр:
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars (1996)
The Neverhood (1996)
Runaway: A Road Adventure (2001)
Syberia (2002)
The Black Mirror (2203)
Still Life (2005)
Keepsake (2006)
Secret Files: Tunguska (2006)
Mashinarium (2009)
В 2010-х особо выделилась студия Daedalic Entertainment и подарила нам The Whispered World (2010), а затем и знаменитую и обожаемую мной Deponia (2012) и ещё около десятка отличных и узнаваемых по стилю игр.
A New Beginning (2010)
Gray Matter (2010)
The Next BIG Thing (2011)
Tiny Bang Story (2011)
The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav (2012)
The Blackwell Legacy (2006)
Technobabylon (2015)
Thimbleweed Park (2017)
Отечественный геймдев так же отличился в те годы в хорошем смысле. Наверняка тут есть еще люди, которые помнят пошлые шутки Василия Ивановича (1998) или с какой болью открывали холодильник в Братьях Пилотах (1997), ловили листочки ганджи в Ядерном Титбите или просто всю голову сломали об Полную трубу (2006).
А ещё была Масяня и некоторые другие менее популярные вещи.
Интерактивное кино
С появлением современной 3D графики и синематики стало возможным такое явление как интерактивное кино. Это когда ты как будто смотришь фильм, но можешь влиять на сюжет и концовку. Здесь уже почти нет сложных загадок и головоломок (душных по мнению современных геймеров), поиска предметов и пиксель-хантинга. Зато есть интересный сюжет, кинематографичная картинка и экшн-сцены, где надо что-то быстро прожимать на реакцию. И это то, чем на данный момент являются современные квесты и то, во что готовы вкладывать деньги большие студии. И да, механику «не пошел и не успел» они так же позаимствовали из новелл.
Я просто приведу несколько примеров и вы сразу поймёте, о чем речь:
Fahrenheit (2005)
Heavy Rain (2010)
The Wolf Among Us (2013)
Life is Strange (2015)
Detroit: Become Human (2015)
Другие игры с элементами квестов
RPG, экшены и даже шутеры часто заимствуют некоторые механики из квестов, но при этом они не являются основными в геймплее, а на первом плане там прокачка персонажа, акробатика и боёвка. Примеров тысячи, но это уже другое.
Вместо послесловия
Большинство из того, что я тут перечислил с датами это только первые части и у них есть продолжения 😉
И если я вдруг забыл вашу любимую игру детства, пожалуйста напишите об этом!
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The Shocking Adventures of Lumen - Part 5
Big dick is back in town... although in many ways, he never left.
After spending a few days recovering from the fun with the elven barkeep, Lumen is ready to hit the road again. However, he still needs to figure out just how he is going to move all that meat he's swanging.
(art by CBL_art on twitter.)
(P.S. Ya boi's got Linktree and Bluesky now)
[Prologue] || [Previous Chapter] || [Next Chapter]
Lumen still wasn’t sure how he felt about being so huge. He loved the feeling of having such an immense package. Every morning, he woke up to a semi the size of a city block. His pleasantly plumped member was several orders of magnitude larger than his body so that even just the sensation of a nice semi was intoxicating. He also liked the feeling of the more adventurous sorts exploring the mountainous expanse of his cock and balls. Some even chose to go spelunking in his Cave of Wonders. The people scurrying up and down his shaft and stones tickled. They felt like gnats against his enormous meat. Every time he thought about how tiny these people were compared to his colossal cock and balls, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Did these people know that they were so thoroughly outclassed by a faerie!? One of the smallest creatures in the land, and yet his cock could cow a dragon.
Yet… as much as he loved how massive his cock was, he hated being immobilized by it. He could do nothing but recline against his mountain sized stones and stare up as the clouds floated overhead. He wished he could be like the clouds. He wished he could lazily drift from continent to continent. Clouds could still float despite being the size of a city so why couldn’t he!?
Lumen knew the answer to that. Clouds were light as a feather, but he was heavy as a mountain. It was possible to make such an incredible mass levitate, but it required far more power than Lumen had access to in his tiny body. And so, despite how much he loved the feeling of having such a huge cock and dwarfing all the “big” races, Lumen grew antsier and antsier with each passing day.
Had Lumen stuck around at that size, he may have become a draw for the community. Now that the dao’s palace had vanished, the oasis was sorely lacking in tourist spots, but eventually, the magic of the dao’s potions had run its course and Lumen’s cock steadily shrunk down to a more manageable size. By the time that his cock size had finally stabilized, Lumen found that he had significantly more mass below the belt than he had had before ingesting all of his potions at once!
At first, Lumen thought that his cock was going to slowly shed the last bits of his additional size, but it steadily dawned on him that this was his new normal size! Lumen’s mind raced as he tried to figure out what had happened. He figured that this must be a side effect of overdosing, but had the dao known this would happen? Lumen figured that the dao must have known, but this knowledge was not included in the compendium that Lumen had absorbed! Was this information intentionally kept from him?
The dao didn’t seem like the type to deceive Lumen, but he did seem like the type to enjoy imparting a nice life lesson or three – kind of like a wise and kind uncle. Lumen had no doubt that this side effect would have become apparent sooner or later. After all, the dao had said there were ways for Lumen to increase his size once he had grown stronger in his control of magic. After all, more mass meant he needed more power to lift it all. If he had gotten much larger, it would have been impossible for him to even move at his current strength.
That was probably why the dao had given Lumen the number of potions that he had. Sure, Lumen now knew how to craft more, but the process was slow and the ingredients rare. It would be a while before he would be able to craft a fresh batch, and by then, he’d probably be strong enough to handle a little extra weight.
Lumen had to be careful as he flew, if he took a turn too quickly, the sheer momentum of his enormous package would pull him wildly off course! If he wasn’t careful, his meat and two vegs could go swinging like a wrecking ball. The sheer force of his battering ram of a cock and his massive boulders could easily body check an orc! In fact, he had nearly done just that as he struggled to gain altitude and escape the city!
As things currently stood, Lumen’s cock and balls were so heavy that Lumen had had to practice for hours before he could even lift the damn thing! He had had to resort to the trick he had learned when he was running on fumes a few days earlier. It was clear that Lumen could no longer levitate the entire leviathan even when using his full power. Instead, he had to focus his energy on key points which left his bait and tackle to swing like a pendulum beneath him as he flew.
Lumen had barely made it a few blocks before he had to land and catch his breath. Stopping and swerving were far too taxing. If he could get up and over the rooftops, he could cover some decent ground, but his junk was just too. Damn. HEAVY!
As Lumen lay gasping for breath atop his own enormous, invisible cock and balls, a thought crept into the back of his mind. If only it was a little smaller…
Lumen recoiled at the mere thought of it. He wanted to be bigger! How could he even entertain the thought of going back! And yet… that would solve so many problems. He didn’t need it to be much smaller. If his junk was even the size it had been before his potion mishap, he would have a much easier time escaping the city. He didn’t even need to remain small for long! Just long enough to get up and over the walls so he could zoom over the rooftops and out past the outer gates.
As Lumen lay back atop his own ale-keg sized cojones, the answer became apparent so suddenly that Lumen actually had to stop panting long enough to gasp in shock. Lumen slapped his forehead. It was so simple! He was so obsessed with getting bigger that he forgot how easy it would be to get smaller. He’s a faerie! A being known far and wide for being tricksters and masters of size manipulation. He had used his innate fae magic just the other day to make Llorian taller than the garden walls! He could just as easily turn his magic on himself! A quick reduction spell would only last a few minutes, but that was all he needed! He just needed to stay small long enough to hop the fence and zoom out into the desert proper!
Lumen placed a palm against his chest, took a deep breath, and let his innate fae energy course through him. His whole body glowed with a blue light. Lumen had no idea if anyone had seen him casting. If they did, they would have seen a spectral outline of his immense cock and balls for a brief second before Lumen rapidly dwindled to half his original size.
It the span of a second Lumen went from being as tall as an apple to being as short as a plum! The sheer speed at which everything around him seemed to surge and stretch outwards left him dizzy for a second, but the momentary sense of vertigo quickly faded and was replaced by a bevy of conflicting emotions and sensations.
Lumen had never felt so small before. He was used to being able to fit in the palm of the larger races, but now he was barely as big as a person’s thumb! He felt weak and vulnerable. Everything seemed so loud and so large. Heavy footsteps reverberated from the nearby thoroughfare. The walls loomed over him so high that for a moment he began to panic that he’d never be able to fly high enough to escape, but before the panic could fully set in, another sensation took hold.
Lumen felt… light! It wasn’t just a physical weight that had been lifted but a mental one as well. He was lighter than he had been all week, and with his newfound control of the wind, he could effortlessly send himself – body, cock, balls and all – soaring into the sky!
Lumen summoned a quick gust of wind to send him spiraling upward. As he spun and swirled through the air, the constant weight of his impressive package reminded him that even though he was small, he was still huge! His heavy schlong was still well over a foot long. Even at his reduced height, he could still outclass an ogre below the belt.
Lumen stopped spinning and stunting long enough to stare down at the desert city that sprawled out beneath him. From up here, they were the ones that looked like ants!
A devious smirk spread across Lumen’s face. At his current size, he could effortlessly fly up and over the city, but he could also easily fly through it! He was small! He was agile! He was swift as a sparrow! He could stop on a dime!
Lumen’s fingers reached down and tapped the trinket that hung from his hip. It was a small, ornate fox mask. It was the perfect size for a faerie and was imbued with the power of a trickster spirit. The mask was a going away present from Llorian. The dao’s glamour had long-since faded, which left Lumen’s immense junk exposed to any onlookers. Part of Lumen wanted to leave his cock flying free, but he understood that sometimes discretion was key.
This was not one of those times.
With a quick flick of the wrist, Lumen dropped the glamour that hid his endowments, spread his arms wide, and fell backwards into the city below. Lumen closed his eyes and chuckled as the air rushed past him, and as he careened towards the streets below, he could hear the surprised gasps from the onlookers that had caught sight of the sizeable schlong which was falling from the heavens. Even at his reduced size, Lumen’s cock would put even the most blessed courtesan to shame. His schlong was every bit as long as a full-grown orc’s forearm and every bit as thick as a goliath’s bicep! His nuts were as large as watermelons, and all that mass was hurtling towards the streets below like an owlbear meteor.
Lumen fell and fell. The feeling of the winds rushing by made his heart soar. It was as if the winds themselves had hurried to his side to carry him home. He had never felt so in control before. Controlling the wind and thereby controlling his own flight was as easy as breathing. It was nearly instinctual when he flipped backwards and righted himself. He quickly came to a stop and hovered a few feet above the ground. His huge dick and massive nuts hung heavily beneath him. Lumen found himself floating nearly eye level with a dwarven merchant. The man’s jaw hung slack as he stared at the cock which was as long as his torso and almost as thick. Lumen may only be as big a few inches tall, but the thumb-sized sprite’s schlong left the man feeling incredibly tiny.
Lumen had no idea if the dwarf even saw him. As far as Lumen knew, the guy assumed the giant cock hovering before him was bereft of a body. Lumen chuckled softly to himself. It took every ounce of self-control he could muster to maintain his reduction magic. Some dark part in the back of his mind was goading him to drop the spell and let the dwarf see a cock that rivaled the merchant’s whole body for sheer mass, and an even darker part of his mind was egging him on to turn his size magic in the opposite direction! If the dwarf was feeling small now, just wait until he was staring down a schlong that was more than double the dwarf’s current size!
As much fun as that would be, Lumen was itching to get onto the open road. He had enjoyed his time in the desert, but there were new frontiers to explore and new extremes to push his magic! The skies were calling!
Lumen summoned up another gust of wind and rocketed down the street. He zipped between market stalls and under carriages. His fat cock and heavy balls effortlessly bobbed from side to side like a dragonfly. In a matter of moments, Lumen had made his way across town and towards the city gates. He summoned one last massive surge of wind and launched himself up and over the walls. As he crested over the gate, the last traces of his size magic faded. His body doubled in size. He surged outwards in all directions. Lumen suddenly felt incredibly heavy. The sheer weight of his massive cock and colossal balls weighed him down and pulled him towards the earth below, but Lumen had accomplished what he had set out to do. He had cleared the walls, and as gravity took hold and slowly pulled him downward, he spun around and gave the city one last clear look at his impressive girth.
[Prologue] || [Previous Chapter] || [Next Chapter]
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Relics and Remains
The find of a lifetime!
"Professor Finch? You in there?"
With a snort, Finch jolted from his desk, a sheet of paper stuck to his cheek. He pulled it off with a yawn, setting it down and looking at the clock. Seven in the morning. He'd stayed at his desk all night again, only catching half an hour's sleep. Stretching his back, he grumbled as he walked to the balcony that he'd had installed for precisely this purpose.
He recognised the giant kneeling before him, her face above him dirty and slightly sweaty. "Good morning, Skadi." Finch smiled tiredly at her. She'd shaved her head since he last saw her, but he recognised her tattoos and frankly incredible muscle structure. If he were the kind to be attracted to women, he was certain that she'd catch his eye.
"You are not gonna believe this." Skadi said with a squeak that made Finch feel a mix of anticipation and suspicion.
"Right, so, yeah, after you gave those dwarves a recommendation to hire me as a miner, we've been really seeing progress, I've been expanding their tunnels bigger than they ever dreamed. I'm so great at it too, not to blow my own whistle, but the other day--"
Finch held up a finger. "I've just woken up, I need some coffee, but do continue." He left the doors open as he walked downstairs, hearing Skadi's voice just as easily as before as it thrummed through the walls.
"We were excavating deeper, under Scarfang Pass, and Tarlan told me he'd found a cavern down the way. Naturally, I wanted to take a look, and I spent all day digging a path, found some good ore for the lads, but you will never guess what was in the cavern."
The sunlight in his kitchen was cut off, and he turned to see a large eye at his window, focusing in on him. "Tell me what was in the cavern."
"You might wanna sit down."
"Skadi, please, I am very tired."
She laughed, rumbling his crockery, and he held his coffee tightly. "I've only gone and found a burial chamber for a colossal giant."
Smash.
Finch froze, not caring about the hot coffee wetting his slippers. "You…Are you serious?! If you tell me you're joking--"
"I'm not! I actually think it might be King Bjorn, y'know the legendary one."
"You mean Bjorn Fire-Feared?!" The fabled King had been damaged by the tragic death of his family, and ruled an entire province where fire was banned upon pain of death. It was such an ancient story that it seemed like it should be unbelievable. But never had Finch heard of a complete skeleton that old, as cremation was usually the done thing. "Oh, goodness, oh my, oh, Skadi!" He began to jump around in the puddle of coffee, clapping his hands and flailing them wildly. "Let's go!" He flung open his door and ran outside, only to stop in his tracks when two grubby fingers pinched his dressing gown.
"Hold on there, Prof." She curled her middle finger around his waist and lifted him up to his balcony. "You ain't goin' in the mines in your silkies. Get your boots on and pack a lunch. He's not about to get up and walk off."
As much as Finch wanted to rush, he knew she was right. He'd get his adventuring gear too, as it was better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
oOo
They were close. On their walk, Skadi had been gushing about how much she loved working. He remembered when the dwarves had come to him asking for help getting rid of her from her cave that she had excavated herself. Their 180 in their opinion of her had been down to him, and it seemed that although their warming to her was slow-going, they did in fact enjoy her presence around the mines.
"Finbar is the worst for it though. Every day at lunch he always pretends he's lost his, and yes I don't mind giving humans crumbs, but have you seen how much a dwarf can eat? They're like bottomless pits, I end up with a half empty lunchbox by the time I've finished letting the lads eat what they want. They always joke about me snacking on them, and I've half a mind to if they think about touching my honey cake."
"Remind me not to get between you and your sweet tooth then." Finch replied from her shoulder, glad that she'd found somewhere she fit in.
Speaking of fitting in, the entrance to the mine she led him to was nowhere near big enough for her to stand. Finch was confused until he noticed the grooves in the rock on the edges of the tunnel. It seemed that to get to the main excavation, she crawled along the trenches, any miners and carts passing safely beneath her. As for transport, she slipped him into a pocket on her shoulder, seemingly oriented for just this occasion.
Finch didn't like being underground. A cave, that was fine. A canyon, he could deal with. But a tunnel that sunk into the darkness, unlit and endless, he had to duck into the pocket in order to keep himself calm.
The relief when she finally stood once more made him feel dizzy, but she nudged him onto her shoulder. "Here we go." Her voice echoed for what seemed like years as she used a nearby sconce to light her torch. As it flared into flames, Finch gasped so hard he almost choked.
The steeple of the tallest temple would be dwarfed by the breadth of the skull staring at the pair of them. Despite the intensity of the torchlight, it was difficult to make out even the beginning of the rib bones that xylophoned down toward the rest of the skeleton. It was almost unfathomable in its scale, Finch's jaw slack, his eyes boggling, bereft of speech. He could tell that Skadi was smirking at him, waiting for him to voice his amazement, but he couldn't even move, his body rigid and stunned. Never had he seen a complete skeleton. A tooth, perhaps. A finger bone, maybe. One faceplate buried into a mountainside. But nothing compared to this.
"Should we leave then?"
"Certainly not!" Finch shrieked, his shrill echo sounding like the cave was full of birds. "Oh, to be immortal, to study every inch of this cavern! It would take me centuries!"
"Let's just start with this, eh?" Skadi turned and lifted her torch. The wall above the ancient King's skull sent flickering shadows between the grooves of runes and pictograms, and immediately Finch gave her earring an excited tug forward, making her chuckle as she stepped toward it. "Heh. Don't recognise that dialect."
"It's from the birth of giantish runes! Look, it's even before the letter atte was standardised! Torch left." She did as he asked, illuminating one of the pictures with accompanying runes. "This was meant to be his epitaph. 'Tal vusar kan ur naum'. The Tomb of the Lord of Ruin." He exhaled shakily, his skin rising in gooseflesh. "The carving shows Bjorn Fire-Feared banning the use of fire. Those people there are freezing, those are starving, there's no tools or weapons being made. Torch right."
The next carving made him shudder. "He would send armies of humans and giants to punish anyone continuing to light fires. This says a village was struck by lightning, and he personally flattened it with two steps."
Skadi whistled. "What a shitty guy."
"I don't understand why they went to so much trouble to bury him if he was this abhorrent! Why not simply burn him and celebrate being free?" Finch twirled his moustache in thought. "Skadi, would you mind if I asked you for a favour?"
"As long as you sketch me beside the skull and put it in the book."
"With pleasure!" He smiled. "I need a little more light. Could you set up some braziers, perhaps? Just along the wall, and around his skull?" He pushed his spectacles up his long nose. "I should get these enchanted with dark vision…"
"Sure, Prof. Just a minute." Skadi looked around and reached for a stalagmite, breaking off the point with a tug of her mighty arm. She set Finch on the flat surface so she didn't accidentally tread on him, then her light retreated with her rumbling steps. He could hear her thundering voice calling for various dwarves to help her.
He dangled his legs over the edge of his rocky platform, closing his eyes and taking a breath to steady his heart. "How did you die? Some legends say you went mad and set light to yourself, but that clearly isn't true. Others say you gorged yourself on so many towns that the buildings burst your stomach. I've heard you were murdered by your closest friend. I can't imagine you were close to anyone. Perhaps if you were, you might not have been so cruel."
Skadi's booming presence passed him in the dark, and he envied her low-light vision for a moment, hearing clanks and clangs from all around him. Flint and steel. The roof of the cavern was suddenly lit with the impression of a skull as Skadi lit the first fire inside the King's head since he had died. One by one, slowly but surely, she cast light on the area for him, dusting off her hands once she was finished. Their area of the cave wasn't bright, but after so long in the dark, Finch could see relatively clearly. "There we go. Want me to walk you down?"
"Please." He hopped onto her hand so she could transfer him back to her shoulder, and she began at the start of the wall. As he got out his journal, she kept quiet, knowing he probably wouldn't answer her even if she did speak. He used her ear lobe to steer her almost as an extension of his own body, able to write at his own pace as the history unfurled before him.
Bjorn Fire-Feared used to be called Bjorn Stone-Hand, one of the few remaining colossal giants after the appearance of the other races, when a world of rock and bone became verdant and green. He proclaimed himself King to stop giants and humans from being at war, and it worked for a time, his country prospering so much that it could support two of his kind. His firstborn was praised as a Prince, and the land was happy. Until dissenters used pitch to set his house alight, killing his family. And then the dark times. His spiral into madness, dragging a whole nation into the cold. Almost the entire kingdom dug the grave to his command, many perishing as a result.
"He planned it." Finch said, startling Skadi. He easily kept balanced as she jumped, second nature to him, and she exhaled sharply, her heart audibly fast. "Of course he did, he died here! Nobody could've moved his body, he came here willingly!"
"So how did he die?"
"It doesn't say." Finch tapped his chin with his pencil. "Let's go look at his bones, see if I can find anything."
She nodded and turned away from the wall, approaching the skeleton. Almost vibrating with excitement, Finch stared upward with amazement at the mountainous reach of the King's jawbone, Skadi trailing her hand against it as she ducked through the letterbox shaped slot where his front teeth used to lay, into what was his mouth. "Must've been odd for giants my size back then. Not the biggest fish in the pond."
"Is easily fitting in someone's mouth changing your perspective?" Finch asked, motioning to be set down.
"Yeah, I guess it is." Skadi put Finch on the ground and passed him a torch that was comparatively a splinter. He lit it from the brazier, then began slowly walking from one end of the skull to the other. "He really had bad dental hygiene. Look at the holes there."
Finch paused by one of his bottom molars, humming with thought as he scaled his jawbone so as to better see. "There's a cavity."
"I rest my case." Skadi said with a grin, jamming her torch between two of the teeth and hopping backwards onto them as one might a countertop, sitting comfortably.
Gasping softly, Finch realised the hole was large enough for him to fit into, the edges rounded and smooth, the inside of the tooth hollow. A collection of objects, most rotted away, sat inside the tooth, along with what seemed like a human skeleton. "Wait a second." He flicked through his notes. "That phrase, it was literally 'fang hermit', it wasn't a metaphor. I think this must've been some kind of political prisoner." He scribbled something down. "Let's see… She must have lived here for some time, considering how worn her doorway is. And I think she may have been shackled to the enamel."
Skadi grimaced. "He really must have been bonkers. Imagine living in some geezer's tooth, eugh."
Finch cleared his throat, straightening his glasses. "Does this practice ring any bells to you?"
"Not a tinkle. I guess whatever it was, it was a big guy thing." Skadi hummed. "How did she feed herself?"
Finch stroked his chin. "One would suspect the same way a symbiosis would function..." Something felt odd about this. Not a single tooth he'd found in his life was the same as Bjorn's. He carefully lifted the scrap of fabric upon which the bones lay, moving it away from the pile without jostling the skeleton. He rummaged through the various bits and pieces, most of them being the usual detritus one might expect to see caught between a large giant's teeth; wood and bone and brick. However, buried in the smallest corner he found a metal lockbox, beautifully designed, screwed into the wall of the tooth. Trying not to damage either, he carefully used a nearby piece of metal to pry the box open, the rusted lock breaking with a shriek.
A leather-bound journal looked up at him as if proud to have weathered the wear of time. He was very careful with it regardless, and he stepped out onto the bone that surrounded the tooth house, sitting and tentatively opening the pages.
Skadi watched as he read, hearing his soft gasps and excited titters as he whispered the words to himself. "Well? Good read?"
"I translated the wall wrong. The two giants the land could support weren't he and his wife, it was him and his son. This is his wife."
Wrinkling her nose, Skadi slid from her sitting position and walked over, taking a knee beside Finch. "He imprisoned his wife in his mouth? That's messed up."
"O-Oh…" Finch exhaled when he turned the page. "She was just as disturbed by the fire as he was. She didn't want to lose him too, and after a failed poisoning, she wanted to be vigilant and make sure all of his food was clean." He tapped the page. "The chain was a safety measure. She must have really loved him to give up her life to keep him safe."
"If she did such a good job, what killed them both?"
Finch flipped through the pages. "She died first. There's no record of anything past the destruction of the town that was struck by lightning."
"Yeah, so that means… What does that mean?"
Suddenly alert, Finch leapt to his feet, slowly walking along the bony platform that held the teeth in place. "Let's see… If I could just… Aha!" He reached between two teeth and pulled out the long-rotted husk of a large seed, the size of a grape. "Titanfeller berries."
Skadi almost knocked Finch off his perch when she scrambled backward, and he could hear her nervous pulse through the rock. "Don't you bring that near me!" Finch still hadn't discovered what it was about titanfellers that was toxic to giants but not humans. Still, he was thankful that the seeds weren't viable. The near-extinction of a plant should've been sad to him, but he was happy that they wouldn't be used for nefarious purposes.
"Just don't lick anything, you'll be fine." He twirled his moustache around his index finger. "So… What do we know?" He carefully climbed down to the rocky floor, strolling beneath the jaw and down beside the alien architecture of his spine. Away from the braziers, he couldn't see the ribs that arched above him, but he knew they were there, the whole skeleton mapped in his head. "Did he move here to die after being poisoned?" He mumbled.
"Aren't Kings usually buried with riches?" A male voice said from somewhere in the darkness, startling Finch. "I haven't seen any gold."
Finch lifted his torch, seeing the glittering eyes of a dwarf, sitting on a rock below the root of a rib. "Ah, rather astute, Mr…?"
"Call me Gudrun."
Skadi seemed to have composed herself, and walked over to the pair. "I've told you about Gudrun, haven't I? He's got a kid with a giantess near here."
Curiosity piqued, Finch looked at the dwarf with a smile. "Oh! Wonderful to make your acquaintance! May I ask you about that at a later date?"
"Yeah. Skadi knows where I am." Gudrun stroked his beard, looking around at the skeleton. "So, what have you found out about this guy?"
Finch explained the story behind the carvings, and what he'd found in Bjorn's skull. "I just don't understand the circumstances surrounding his death. His wife died… Then he died…"
Gudrun's bushy brows furrowed. "Well, if my wife died, Gods forbid, I know I'd struggle with living on."
Skadi hummed. "I wonder why he left her there."
Finch perked up, clapping excitedly. "That's it!" He grinned at the pair. "Think about it, if you'd just seen the King crush an entire village, would you risk being within biting distance?" He looked toward the illuminated eye sockets. "So he ate the berries voluntarily."
There was a moment of quiet before Gudrun cleared his throat. "Will you be wantin' his effects? He's got a ring on his left hand, seems valuable."
Finch perked up again. "Oh! Wonderful!" He almost ran, his torchlight fading into the gloom.
Skadi blew through tight lips, a hand on her waist, and Gudrun nodded with understanding. "...Your people are real strange." He said, and she shrugged with casual agreement. "My big girl, she has all kinds of customs that just twist my brain."
The pair heard an excited jumble of theories and conclusions echoing from somewhere in the dark. "None are as strange as humans."
"You're right there, lass."
When Skadi finally went to go see what Finch was so excited about, she was unimpressed. She expected piles upon piles of jewels. "What's that ring made of?"
Finch grinned up at her as he traced the patterns with his fingertip. "I don't know! That doesn't matter right now! Look at this! Oh, this is wonderful." He pushed a long button with all of his strength, and the ring popped open. It was far too heavy for him to open all the way, but Skadi leant a hand, and he stood on the finger bone to peer inside it. "There's a whole room in here!" He cried, leaping over the metal wall. The floor was carpeted, the walls lined with built-in furniture, long-since faded and freyed. Each had a number of hoops, presumably for attaching safety ropes to.
"You think he kept people in here?" Skadi asked, Gudrun appearing over the edge of the ring, looking like he was levitating without Skadi's hand in view.
As Finch immediately began to study the journals and sketches around him, Skadi set up another brazier for him, not wanting him to get eyestrain.
Gudrun touched the metal, then knocked on it. "Pure macronium. Y'know, this stuff is only found in meteorites, but as an ore it's unstable enough to dissipate on impact." When he noticed the pair looking at him, he cleared his throat somewhat bashfully. "The wife has a necklace with a small amount of it. It's a sacred thing."
"Yeah, my Pa said only people touched by the gods could smith with macronium. You've got to crack open the meteor with your bare hands, then slowly and patiently melt it down." She pressed her hand against the cold metal too. "Bet if humans listened to our legends instead of stabby-stabby they'd really find that interesting."
Finch opened a cupboard that was built into the wall, lifting his torch to get a better look. "OH! Books!"
Gudrun looked back to Finch who was reading with one hand and writing with the other. "Anything good?"
"I can't understand a word of this! Oh, how exciting! This must be where his Queen used to live, before the fire." He flipped through a few more with fingers practised in the art of being tender with artifacts. "This will keep me up all night! A few more hours without sleep won't do me any harm."
Skadi poked her tongue into her cheek as she thought. "You haven't been sleepin' at all, have you, Prof?"
"A few stray moments here and there. But that's not important!" He waved his hand at her, carefully filling his satchel with as much information as he could. "What is important is that I have so many answers! And even more new questions!" He beckoned her hand, hopping into it eagerly. "Let's keep going!"
Skadi shook her head. "Oh, no no. I'm not taking you anywhere." When he looked like he might try and leave her grasp, she curled her fingers firmly around him, making him yelp and check to make sure the papers were undamaged. "You're gonna have a nap."
"I'm not tired, I promise." He pushed at her fingers, but they wouldn't budge. "Please, I've got to see more! I had half an hour last night, that was sufficient." He knew that beyond reasoning, there wasn't much he could do. A giant had the ability to make anyone do anything they wanted.
"Hey, we discovered this tomb, so our rules apply. It's our lunch hour anyway." She scolded as she sat down on the rocky floor, leaning against the breadth of the ring band. "You want in, Gudrun?"
The dwarf nodded with a grin. "I never turn down an opportunity to have a kip."
Skadi placed the pair of them on the warm fabric on her chest, a stark contrast from the cold of the cave, and Finch huffed. "It's easy for you. I've only got my life to spend studying your kind. Both of you know that isn't a lot."
"A nap won't kill you, Prof. Don't make me swaddle you." Skadi grumbled. Gudrun was already almost asleep, and Finch sighed dramatically as he flopped onto his back. He realised then how exhausted he was, his mind still racing, but his body thanking him profusely for resting.
"...Gudrun?"
"Yeah?"
"Tell me about your wife?"
The dwarf stretched out, opening one eye to look at Finch. "Absolutely savage, she is. Tall, sharp teeth, penchant for raw meat, the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on. She can rip open a dragon with her bare hands and feast on its still warm carcass."
"It seems as though she's perfect for you." Finch pondered softly. "What's her name, this ferocious beast of a woman?"
"Carol."
Skadi shushed them, knowing Finch wouldn't stop the questions there, but he got the message, closing his eyes. Just a little nap. Then he'd get to work. Five minutes...
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