#FINALLY MAKING THE AMV THAT LIVES IN MY HEAD A REALITY

[bitch-gravy]

Pantheon AMV: Nobody's Soldier

[geometricalien]

U bet I'm gonna ask for my boys Aomine & Kagami!!

Hey!!!!!! I will gladly talk about your boys!! I LOVE YOU, thank you for the ask sweetheart <3

Kagami

Why I like them - He’s great, just great. His fire and passion. The fact that he gets so excited about playing a match that he can’t fall asleep. He’s scared of doggos, that’s adorable! His extra two toned hair and split eyebrows. The fact that he’s just so cool. I think about him growing up gay in california alot. God what a great character, so much to play with

Why I don’t - I j-just said that I like him?? OH I don’t like the fact that he leaves after The Last Game (I do though because it creates a fun long distance dynamic which could be fun for ships, you know long distance pining and then a reunion at long last, but I also hate it which I will get in below)

Favorite episode (scene if movie) - Hmmm I’m not sure… I don’t think I can pin point an exact episode, I really love his moves in the Seirin vs Rakuzan match, like covering the key like Akashi did and when Akashi steps in he steps back and passes the ball off because thats a hard nope, the moment he fucking dunks on Akashi with Meteor Jam. I love seeing him in the zone, it's so entertaining

Favorite season/movie - Maybe the first season?? Because you are still getting introduced to him and who he is as a character

Favorite line - “Life is all about challenges, there’s no point in living if there’s no one strong to play with, it’s better if I can’t win.”  (tell me that him and Aomine aren’t soulmates, I dare you, they are literally foils for each other, they truly understand each other and complete each other)

Favorite outfit - I don’t remember if it's when he leaves for training in America or he leaves to go back to America, but he’s wearing a hoodie and headphones. Those headphones make him feel so real?? You know??? I want to know what he listens to

OTP - AoKaga

Brotp - (can I say AoKaga again??? fjdsaljf) If not, Kagami and Himuro, obviously jfdklaj

Head Canon - After his mom died (maybe she left?) Kagami took it on to learn how to cook because his dad worked late. He still can’t get her katsudon quite right. 

Unpopular opinion (I don’t really have an unpopular opinion, so this is kinda a surprising Head Canon) - Kuroko would successfully get him used to dogs and then he would adopt 2 big ole doggos

A wish - I really hope he makes it into the NBA, its my favorite career for him

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen - Leave Japan after The Last Game…. OKAY HEAR ME OUT, what happens if Kagami leaves? Huh? If we are being frank here, Seirin doesn’t do well at nationals (assuming they qualify if they don’t go against other GOM teams) because yeah, they got like 2nd in Nationals when it was just the senpais, but we have the monsters from Teiko now and without another monster to combat them in some way it's a landslide in points. But Rachel, Kuroko is a GoM! You’re right! And he would definitely help them get points, but my point still stands, Kuroko is a support/booster who can’t even be in the entire match. AND THEN they won’t be able to beat Touou, at all! AND THEN IT WILL ONLY BE WORSE WHEN THE GOM ARE 3rD YEARS! Secondly, Aomine…. I fear the fact that they separate from each other. Because it's so easy for Aomine to slip back into his depression, But Rachel, Kise is still in Japan! He would be a good competition for Aomine! You are right, that’s assuming he actually could beat him But Kise has finally broken the ideology that Aomine is special and can’t be copied! And I say again, you are right. Give me this fic. I want this fic. Please make your words a reality, otherwise I won’t accept this. Because Aomine will be left alone with no strong fiery companion to fight against, and it's easy to slip into old thought habits when your brain follows the same path… SO PLEASE SEND ME A LINK TO A AOKISE FIC WITH THIS PREMISE

5 words to best describe them - Passionate. Stupid. Heart-of-gold. Determined. Tiger-man.

My nickname for them - ….. Kagami…. I know I’m so smart. Besides that, Basketball Idiot #1

Aomine

Why I like them - Have you seen him??? He’s so hot and slick, I fall in love a bit and bit more when I watch him play basketball. No but really, I love his more childlike innocent playful side. Even when he’s sarcastic slinging an arm over his boyfriend Kagami’s shoulder. Like, What are you doing here bitch? He’s fun, and has a lot of depth

Why I don’t - He’s crass?? Like in irl, I would either be deeply scandalized by him or he would make me laugh uncontrollably while transforming into a tomato, no inbetween

Favorite episode (scene if movie) - I think… oooo, I really love the first 1 on 1 between him and Kagami, “Your light is too dim” because he was looking for a light for himself too. Someone who would push himself to being better, to bring him out of the darkness. BUT, him in the zone and dancing with Kagami is also really good. I watch those amvs every other week

Favorite season/movie - hmmm the second Seirin vs Touou match, BECAUSE THEY’RE DANCING, THEY COULD DANCE ALL DAY try to catch me try to catch me, im sorry I had to

Favorite line - “That’s it, show some spirit so you can entertain me, even a little.” The sexual tension when he drops his arm over Kagami’s shoulder, and like… that’s definitely something you could read in a smut fic jfdklsj

Favorite outfit - HIS ASS KICKING OUTFIT. I love his parka 

OTP - AoKaga

Brotp - AOMINE AND MOMOI!!!! THE BEST OF FRIENDS, I THINK ABOUT THEM PLAYING IN SANDBOXES AND ON THE BASKETBALL COURT AS BABIES AND MY HEART GETS SOFT

Head Canon - He fell down a lot as a child and has many scars on his legs. 

Unpopular opinion (I don’t really have an unpopular opinion, so this is kinda a surprising Head Canon)- I guess, he plays 1 on 1s with Kagami every Saturday at sunset and they go to Maji afterwards until it causes a hefty dent in his wallet and hangs off of Kagami to get him to cook for him. Also, they get some other GoM’s to join in their weekly fun matches, Kuroko, Kise, and Momoi

A wish - He also goes to NBA :)))

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen - He fucks up his leg and isn’t able to play basketball anymore, too tragic for me to even think about

5 words to best describe them - Depressed. Let-down. Child-like. Intense. Feral energy.

My nickname for them - Ahomine (yes I stole it) and Basketball Idiot #2

[zippdementia]

Part 95 Alignment May Vary: End of All Things

Here we are. I’ve been putting this off for a while, but this will be my final two-part post in the AMV campaign. This is the post that describes the end of our game, which happened on January 15th, 2021, over 4 years from our first campaign. It was an emotional moment for us all. I remember writing the notes the day before the session and then realizing I was sobbing openly as I wrote the campaign’s potential final lines. I thought, whew, well at least I’m getting it out of my system early. But the 4 hour session ended up being full of tears for us all, and once one of us started crying, the whole group couldn’t stop. It is impossibly hard to say goodbye to characters that you’ve essentially been the parents of, the creators of. And in writing this post, I’m doing it all over again.

This post was originally one long post, but I decided to break it into two pieces for ease of reading. If you’re reading this post after having read all 94 other posts, bless your heart. But regardless of how you arrived here, I’m glad you are here with us at the end of all things.

Our session begins right where the last one ended, at the foot of the Jarlberg mountain, at the summit of which Abenthy waits in the old cave of the stone giant Kirazov, for his ritual to complete and the plane of chaos merge with the material plane.

The PCs were saved in the final moments of the grand battle between the armies by Roger Krisp on board the renamed Anope intergalactic vessel, and a fleet of Githyanki who followed him to this planet to save the reality of those who had once aided them.

There is little time for reunion. Roger Krisp gives the PCs the last of the Surveyor’s remaining revitalization injection, which essentially long rests them all. They manage to save one: Imoaza took no damage during her stealth assassination in the last battle. Sasha, one of Aldric’s goblin children (his spunky daughter), has a brief and emotional greeting with the group. Time differentials in space travel (as well as speedy Goblin maturation) means she is an adult now, and she tells them that her father would be proud of them, and shows them that everyone on Anope has joined the Green Company to honor him. In death, he achieved what he had sought in life, the revival of his old Company.

(Cue our first round of tears).

Most surprising is the emergence of the The Old Surveyor from the ship. This is the old man from the Air Planet, who had disobeyed the orders of Primus centuries ago, and whose disobedience led to the creation of the “Progenitor Surveyor,” the one who created humanity and whom Imoaza’s ancestors worshipped long ago. He disembarks from the ship as well, now, and tells them that most will not be able to survive the “space beyond space” where Abenthy has fled to, so as to not be interrupted in his summoning of the Chaos Plane. He tells them that only Blackrazor can let them enter that space and allow them to do battle.

“He is no longer just Abenthy,” The Old Surveyor tells them. “He is a merging of three powers, three distinct lines of fate and alignment. Lawful, Evil, and Neutrality have all blended inside of that being. It carries the power of law, the knowledge of magic and the planes, and the determination of destiny.”

“We have the numbers,” Roger Krisp chimes in. ”It’s time to storm this mountain and end this!”

“Only these three can enter. Anyone else, anything else, would be torn assunder by trying to survive in that limbo. Blackrazor will keep Imoaza safe, the Surveyor’s Stone will keep Carrick safe, and Milosh's chest plate will keep him safe as it carries the true essence of Primus within it, the heartbeat of a god. Anyone else would be torn apart by what waits beyond. The fate of this plane of existence must be left in the hands of these three. Well, and one more, if you will grant him your protection.”

Out of the Surveyor's sleeve comes the Chi Chu, the little pet turned familiar that Imoaza hasn’t seen since entering the Abyssal plane ages ago. it flits over to Imoaza. They hear a "Chiiiii?" as if asking, you won't leave me behind this time, right?

(The return of a favored animal mascot? Cue our second round of tears).

With this, the group begins the ascent, though Carrick stays behind a moment to ask the Surveyor what will become of the Surveyors (of which Carrick and the old man are both technically the last) once Abenthy is defeated and Primus and Chaos’ soul erased in the process. The Surveyor says that for himself, it will be time to rest at last, and return to Primus’ side, even in oblivion. But for Carrick it will mean a different kind of freedom. Freedom to choose his own destiny.

"This is Where I First Learned to Hate”

As the group climbs the mountain, I remind them of the prophecy, to center us in on what this final session will cover. Friezurazov is the throne of power in the prophecy, a leyline in the world where reality can be weakened. It radiates power, and this power is what originally drew the Stone Giant Kirazov to the land, to make the Jarlberg (the seat of that psychic radiation) his lair. Now Abenthy has taken that seat back and from there plans the end of the world. 

The party have to enter and pursue him, and Blackrazor Alpha, which Imoaza carries, is needed to cut through into that limbo space where the fight will occur. Once they face Abenthy, they will also face his Blackrazor, the one that is corrupt and filled with all the powers of chaos. But even destorying the sword cannot kill that which Abenthy has become. They can only weaken him enough to call upon another power to destroy him. 

That power is the Source, Primus’ power which resides along with Primus’ soul inside Milosh's chest plate. Before this power is used, to truly win this fight, Carrick must use the Surveyor’s Stone to draw Primus' soul forth and Imoaza must weave that soul into one of them to become the shield in the prophecy, which is a word meaning sacrifice in the old languages. 

Destroy both the shield (imbued with Primus’ soul) and Abenthy’s body (imbued with Chaos’ soul), and they will finally win and achieve the destruction of the abyssal plane forever, for it cannot be reborn if balance (Primus) is also gone. They were birthed of the same universe. This is all the true meaning of the prophecy of the Three.

Is that a mouthful? A mindful, maybe? Ah, but there is more! For another prophecy was given, this one specifically to Imoaza, and it concerns her fate.

As the group summits the mountain and enters the Stone Giants cave, I remind Imoaza of her prophecy. She got this from the ice tribe shaman, who used a Taroka deck to do her reading. She thinks back and remembers it as if it were happening again...

The first card she drew was the Collector and showed a pursed lip noble placing coins into a bag. “This is a decision made in your past,” the Shaman says. “The Collector represents a debt you must someday pay, and you have stolen from time itself. Time will have its due, in due time.” 

Then he holds up a hand of cards and tells her to draw two, this time. She draws, and reveals first a cocky looking man gripping a sheathed blade with one hand and tossing a cloak over his shoulder with the other. Then a naked man, engulfed in flame and surrounded by a circle of swords, his head thrown back in either ecstasy or pain. The Shaman closes his eyes. “These cards represent a choice you will make. For you, the choice will be between two lives: the Rogue and the Tyrant. You shall choose one. The one chosen shall be saved, given a second chance. Those unchosen shall be lost forever, a sacrifice.” 

The final card Imoaza draws depicts a skull inside a jar. It is labeled the Artifact. “The last card shows a bond, a bond embedded deep in your soul. All that you do is tied to this bond. And for you, that bond is to an item of power. When that artifact meets its destiny, only then shall you be free to pursue your own.” 

Finally, the Shaman tells her that the power she wields, to see the Weave, is not one that is simply developed. It is a gift from Mystra, the goddess of the weave… some say she is the Weave itself. He tells her that the gift comes with responsibility and purpose. She does not need a teacher: the Weave itself will guide her to where she needs to be, when she needs to be there.

While Imoaza has been having this remembrance, they have completed the climb to Kirazov's old chamber, where they see the bones of the stone giant, where Abenthy struck him down long ago. There is a rumbling crack in the cave floor, like a rip in space time. They put Blackrazor in and split it open and jump into the Abyss to meet Abenthy.

Where they land is not where they expected. Things are quiet. There is the sound of lapping water and sea gulls. They are in an abandoned city, they see, a city of docks and ships, built on the edge of the ocean and looking out over its green-blue expanse. It is a peaceful, sunny day. And though the city seems deserted, they are not alone here. One figure stands near the docks, a beautiful man who radiates celestial power.

Abenthy stands over a bloodstain on the stone ground. He tells them “This is where I first learned to hate. This is where I was taught that people could not be trusted to govern themselves justly. It is also where I first learned failure.”

They have ended up, of course, at Ottoman’s Docks, abandoned as Abenthy sent his Tarasque there several weeks ago to empty the city. Abenthy refers here to one of his defining character moments, when he witnessed a child be put to death for stealing and was helpless to do anything about it.

(Cue, maybe not tears, but certainly chills from Milosh’s player, who used to play Abenthy).

The group tries to reason with Abenthy, tell him that what he has done since that time has only led to more evil and destruction, but it is not just Abenthy they speak with here. It is Nazragul, Karina, and Abenthy smashed into one... and Nazragul seems to be the dominant personality, though it is Abenthy’s form he controls.

Abenthy (as pushed to madness by Nazragul) says that crashing Chaos into this world will destroy both planes and usher in a new beginning for everyone. Carrick in particular derides him for this, saying that ending everything to start over is the ultimate act of cowardice. He also says it will not work: life by its nature is flawed. That is its beauty.

No, Abenthy says. This time it will not be flawed. This time he will be there to show life the proper way. As he will show them now. 

He begins summoning chaos, they see it coming up into Ottoman's docks, ripping through the docks as the translucent purple tentacles that have plagued them before. Wings erupt from Abenthy’s back, one black and one white. Black Razor warps into the battlefield, gives a crass greeting to Imoaza and taunts her for not wielding him when she had the chance (to which she shows him Blackrazor Alpha and prepares to fight back). Finally, three small crystals rise into the air, floating around Abenthy. They are old surveyor stones! The last remaining, aside from Carricks. They glow with power, and from the edges of the docks, two shadowy monsters approach to aid Abenthy in this fight. 

Roll initiative!

“I Will Show You”

As far as music goes, if you want to play something while reading this, I use Kefka’s theme from FFVI, Zeromous’ theme from FFIV, and the Final Lavos theme (this one) from Chrono Trigger. They are appropriate choices. A lot of this battle, and in fact the entire set up, has been inspired by both Chrono Trigger and FFVI in particular, which I think had some of the best final set ups of any JRPG ever. In FFVI Kefka wins and the party has to regather allies to face him like they do here. Chrono Trigger’s final battle takes place in time and space, which so does mine. And finally, there is the crystals that are so prevalent in early FF games (and sorely missed in more modern entries). They come into play in my design as well.

To get down to business... so I design Abenthy as a modified Solar from the Monster Manual, with some different spells that let him bring the Abyssal tentacles onto the battlefield (this is stuff like Evard’s tentacles, Shadows of Moil, Arms of Hadar) and which he can use as legendary actions in addition to a normal action. Note that the Solar is very deadly on his own, especially with his longbow:

Slaying Longbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, range 120/600 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) piercing damage plus 27 (6d8) radiant damage. If the target is a creature that has 190 hit points or fewer, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or die.

Holy instant kills batman. Especially with the Solar’s ability to teleport and fly, he can keep some massive distance between himself and the PCs and rain down destruction with that bow. That said, Abenthy does not start out combat using this deadly combo. Early on, he prefers to use his tentacles to suck the life from the PCs and use magic blasts to try to weaken them.

Abenthy also has four crystals floating around him, which serve to grant him different powers and which really should be targeted first in order to weaken him enough to fight. One crystal heals him every turn. Another two controls (one each) the shadowy monsters (which are themselves monsters from Tasha’s guide, beefed up versions of the Shadowspawn (pg 114, Tasha’s). This means the action economy is more balanced between the players and Abenthy, slightly skewed in his favor because of the legendary actions and the constant battlefield effects of the tentacles. Finally, the last crystal can block spells of up to 4th level, which helps mitigate Imoaza’s easy damage dealing cantrips (she is deadly with her Eldritch blasts).

Finally, there is Abenthy’s Blackrazor, which moves on its own and attacks with the same basic stats as a Solar’s Greatsword: 

Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +15 to hit, reaah 5 ft. , one. target. Hit: 22 (4d6 + 8) slashing damage plus 27 (6d8) radiant damage.

Sooo shit tons of damage. Blackrazor is also indestructible and invulnerable, except for one caveat... which we’ll get to later.

The final gimmick of this fight is that each round, as Abenthy takes damage, he changes the battlefield, taking the party through space and time to places that were of import to him, with his tentacles (representing the plane of Chaos) ripping these places to shreds as they fight. Basically, they are witnessing the destruction of their world as they fight, beginning with places that meant something to the players (if not necessarily these specific characters). It’s a way for me to meta-nod to our previous adventures, while also hitting us all where it hurts, right in the nostalgia feels. At the same time, it reveals more about Abenthy’s psyche and fall from grace.

So, below, I’m going to go through each place Abenthy takes them, and the general progression of combat events there (I won’t be getting action-by-action specific).

Time and Space

The opening clashes take place at Ottoman’s docks, but quickly this falls away to reveal floating space, the limbo before combat begins in earnest. This lets the combatants get off some opening salvos, test each other’s strengths and powers, and then we really dive into things, as the battlefield shifts for the first time to another memorable place.

You hurtle through space towards the planet you recognize as your own, heading at the speed of a comet through the atmosphere, coming down towards the crater of some long ago crashed meteor, heading through the earth itself to come to rest in a gigantic cavern, the epicenter which is a forgotten Yuan Ti pyramid.

Abenthy says that this is the place where an entire people proved they did not have the foresight to handle the responsibilities of caring for a world. They only sought power. And it was granted to them. They used it to destroy themselves. This is the Yuan Ti he refers to, this is their fane, Imoaza’s ancestors in particular, who worshipped the Surveyor and ultimately killed him when they felt he was giving their world to the humans he had helped raise out of primitive apes. Imoaza was last here at the end of the Red Hand campaign and it is also where our current Carrick awoke inside a clone body more recently.

The fight progresses for a time, with Milosh focusing on the shadow spirits, Imoaza trying to deal with Blackrazor, sword against sword, and Carrick rushing to fight Abenthy directly. And eventually the battlefield changes again. 

The world shifts and shatters around you and the first sign of the transition is the biting cold. You find yourself standing on the edge of a ruined village, floating on an icy glacier.

Abenthy says he has seen that they themselves dare to think themselves capable of judging others, referring to the ice village that Milosh destroyed. “You have eradicated an entire village out of anger. What I do, I do out of foresight, not anger.”

Carrick gets some critical hits in this round and the PCs begin to figure out that they need to be targeting the surveyor stones floating around Abenthy. Their strategy changes, and as it does, something seems to split inside of Abenthy... his confidence changes to something more like sorrow.

Your next destination smells of brine and your ears fill with the roar of the sea as you stand aboard a wrecked seaship. Fog emanates from all around the dilapidated vessel and you can see bits of debris from its hull floating in the choppy waters. One board has the name STORM painted across it.

“Here is where she learned sorrow,” Abenthy says, and they wonder who he refers to. “Where she learned that she could not save the world. Her friends died here. The one who helped kill them she later took as lover. She never told you that, did she? Karina didn’t tell many that story. But I know it. For I know Karina, better maybe than she knows even herself.”

One of the stones, one controlling one of the shadow demons, is destroyed this round, by Milosh, while Carrick distracts Abenthy. However, this sends Abenthy into a rage and he unleashes his Bow of Slaying on Carrick, nearly taking him out of the fight completely. Carrick has to pull back to heal, and the map changes again.

This place you all recognize, for you were here but recently. It is the inside of the volcano in which Haggemoth’s tomb resides. Lava fills its chambers now, except for one high precipice on which you all find yourselves facing Abenthy.

This area ends up being the most critical of their fight. Imoaza finally realizes that Blackrazor is indestructible, but has the thought that her version of it, Blackrazor Alpha, is the promise of all that the evil sword will become. And if it never existed... the sword Alpha actually finishes this thought for her, telling her that, yes, this is the only way. And so, with her action, Imoaza throws Blackrazor Alpha into the lava flow, destroying it forever.

This is a shockingly intense moment for the player. Once she starts crying, we all do. She explains it as a huge arc for Imoaza. Blackrazor Alpha was made in part from her Drosselgreymer, the weapon she stole from her people. It represented her desire for power, her class as a Hexblade. It was her Hexblade. To destroy it all now symbolizes her letting go of that pursuit of power. It also dooms her people to being a simpler folk, for the power of their hexblades is drawn from Blackrazor, and now that is forever destroyed. This also fulfills a piece of her personal prophecy: she has let go of the artifact, and freed her fate from it.

The more evil Blackrazor lets out a mighty scream, saying that its destruction is impossible, that time has already decided it exists. But the lava of Haggemoth’s lair was imbued with his magical energy in order to destroy artifacts. What’s more, with such a powerful artifact destroyed here, the sacrifice offered to the gods is complete. The balancing of Haggemoth’s soul, so long ago disrupted by Abenthy, is finally complete. Attonement is given to the dwarf. He appears briefly, thanks the party, and finally goes to rest in the halls of his ancestors.

However, though Blackrazor is destroyed, the fight goes on. Abenthy begins to spiral back towards his old self, remembering... and as he remembers...

The roar of lava is replaced by the roar of the sea, crashing against a sandy shore. Above you looms a great cliff, at the top of which can be seen a broken pagoda. Another roar sounds, a quake shudders the island, and the pagoda begins to split apart even more.

This is the Island of the Oracle. “Here,” Abenthy says, “is the sanctum of one who could have changed things. She saw. She knew. But she choose to send me on the quest. Because she knew what needed to happen.”

As they fight here, the island continues to fall apart. The Oracle is dying, her power being drawn from the world, for she received her power from the surveyor’s stones, and Abenthy has channeled the last of that energy into this fight.

In the fight, the stones are all but destroyed now by the PCs. The last one remaining under Abenthy’s control is the one that heals him, and Carrick makes a desperate gambit to snag it out of the air and flee from Abenthy with it, getting ready to destroy it at all costs.

You are in a cool, calm place. Books and shelves surround you, as does an aura of austerity. A shield depicting a woman’s profile, her head wrapped in a laurel crown, is set in a place of honor overlooking this large library.

“And this is where it happened. This is where I met my father. He thought he knew the way. He thought he could control me. But he was wrong. He was only a lesser evil. He had failed so long ago, he had become irrelevant. I ignored him and he met his fate at the hands of the demons he fought with over power.”

Abenthy’s voice rings through the halls of the Sisters of Celaenos. And then suddenly a new voice takes over. It speaks in an arcane tongue and tentacles erupt all over the battlefield.

“Enough of this whining and melancholic tripe,” the cruel voice of Nazragul speaks, though it comes from Abenthy’s body. “I have indulged you all long enough. Now it is time to end this.” 

The battle changes drastically at this point. The tentacles snatch at the party, trying to tie them to the ground, while Abenthy/Nazragul flies high into the air, far beyond their reach, and begins raining magic down on them. His blasts destroy the final crystal, but he doesn’t seem to care. He is raining destruction on the party, seeking to end them before they have a chance to recover.

Imoaza uses her last remaining injection from Roger Krisp to heal Carrick to full health. MIlosh frees everyone from the tentacles, Imoaza uses the last of her magic to cast fly on them all and they rush to reach Abenthy. They rush as the battlefield continues to shift to other places they know... Waterdeep... the ruins of Vraath Keep... and finally as they reach Abenthy and strike a grevious blow against him, it becomes a temple, darkly familiar, a temple that should destroyed.

You stare at a place you thought you would never see again, hoped to never see again. Its dark corridors have been rebuilt and blue flame flickers in torch brackets all around the rebuilt altar room of the Maakengorge temple. Where the Tarrasque once blocked the view of the abyssal chasm of the Maakengorge, now instead there is only space beyond that opening, a void without color or definition.

Nazragul sees the end coming for him and so he curses the players, telling them that there is no way for them to win here... there never was a way. He is inevitable. He is timeless. He is the death beyond the end of the world. He is the new beginning.

And as he speaks, he summons his final spell. A storm of meteors crashes through the high roof of the temple above him, fire raining down on him and the players alike, dealing hundreds of damage, utterly destroying the temple and leaving Nazragul alone, broken but regenerating, floating in space.

The players have been defeated.

Next time, the second part of this final session!

[clevercatchphrase]

2017 in review, and goals for 2018

If I had to describe 2017 in one word it would be... monotonous. Sure, there were plenty of ups and downs, but for the most part, especially the latter 6 months, I just felt like I was going through the motions, holding my nose to the grind stone, doing work and paying off student loans. 2017 blew by me, and I remember thinking each month passed by with unusal quickness. There's a strange sense of disociation with that, like I wasn't really connected to reality for most of the year, and instead watched it pass me by from a seperate temporal window. In a weird way it may have been a bit of a godsend as well. I hear 2017 was hard for a lot of people, but feeling so disonnected from the year may have protected me and cushioned the blow in a sense.

I lost a family member this year in early june. I knew it was coming ever since january as I hated having to watch them deteriorate and get worse and worse until they finally passed. The three months leading up to it and the three months after were particularly hard and left me feeling unable to write or draw or do anything productive. I still miss them terribly. I always will. But I hope I won't let it immobilize me as much this year as it did last year.

Anyway, Let's review my goals for last year and see what I've accomplished. I’ve a lot to say, so for brevity’s sake I’ve put it all under the cut.

GOALS FOR 2017 1) Finish my 50 billion fan fictions so I can get back to drawing Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha. HAHAHAHAHA. The depression I got halfway through the year throughly put a halt on this. I haven't even finished one of the fics I've started in 2016. I got close, seeing as i participated in NaNoWriMo this year to try and force myself to finish, but I still need to revise and edit all that I've written and the motivation is non existant. GOD, I have so many stories too, all of them still undertale fan fiction because I'm still not over that game. I'll list them all when I share my goals for this year later below. 2)Draw in 2 pages of my sketch book each week so I'll finish a sketch book in a year. I was SO CLOSE with this one! I filled out 95 pages! But you know what i discovered in august? I realized that my 100 page sketch book.... was actually 150 pages! Oh well! I drew more this year than I thought i would! Just because i didn't hit 100 pages, doesn't mean I didn't accomplish something! 3) Finish 14 out of the remaining 27 lessons on my duolingo course I went fucking above and beyond with this one. I hit this goal back in may, and then I completely finished up the danish duolingo course by november. I also passed my 1095 day streak which translates to doing duolingo daily for OVER 3 YEARS STRAIGHT. I still practice daily to build my vocabulary, and I know I can't speak it for the life of me, or follow along with fast speakers, but give me a few minutes and I can probably read it for you. Funny how that works, where I can understand danish if it's written out, but ask me to translate from english to danish and I struggle like a butterfly in a tumble dryer. 4) Become passibly fluent in ASL I have this box of 600 ASL flash cards, and this year I practiced two of them a day until I got through the entire box. I certainly learned a bunch of new words but I wouldn't say I was fluent yet. I certainly don't know all the grammar rules yet. I HAVE been able to sign with people at my job, though I do rely heavily on fingerspelling still. Most everyone I talked with seemed to know I was trying and they seemed really excited that I could understand them if they were patient with me. I put more of my focus on Danish last year, but now that I'm done with Danish, maybe I can focust more on ASL. My sister told me about this site similar to duolingo called "memrise" that actually has an ASL course, so you can bet I'll be looking into that. 5) Read the entire dictionary I did this! I kept two spiral note books and wrote down any words I thought were cool or interesting! I haven't gone back and re-read the words I wrote down, but maybe I will this year! It was exhausting. It was weird. I still can't believe I spent about 200 hours last year doing this. 6) Read one new book every month Much like my sketch book goal, I almost completed this one. I kept it up every month until October, and then I just... stopped. I read more than I thought this year, though I ended up usually waiting until the last week of each month to read, and I also cheated by counting the dictionary as one of the things I read (hey, it's a book, ain't it?) I also re-read old books that I know I like, so not entirely 10 new books were read this year. Reading 1 new book a month isn't one of my goals this year, but I hope to read more new stuff reguardless, 7) Actually use the tutorials and references I reblog Seeing as I barely did any digitial art this year, I can't say I did this one. 8) Do more art streams I think my goal was to stream once a month. I clearly didn't do this. I DID stream in 2017, I just didn't tell anyone. Idk why, I just... went live for people to see but didn't let anyone know I did. I also only streamed like... twice? sigh... So... out of the 8 goals I set, I would say I accomplished close to half. I read the dictionary, I finished my danish language course (which I'm counting as two completed goals) and combining the "read 1 new book a month" and "draw 100 pages in a sketch book" I'll count that as one completed goal. I went through all my ASL cards, though I'm not fluent, OH! I also wanted to pay off 6k loan that I had. I want to count this one as a success because I DID FUCKING PAY OVER 6 THOUSAND DOLLARS IN LOANS THIS YEAR. I got a surprise loan I had no idea about in june that was 1500 dollars, which threw me off. I managed to pay it off in 2 months, BUT IF THAT LOAN HAD NEVER EXISTED I TOTALLY WOULD HAVE FINISHED PAYING OFF THE 6K ONE. I've got a little over a thousand left to pay on the 6k loan now, which I will complete by the end of January. I'm so close to being under 10k in debt... GOALS FOR 2018 1)Go from being 5 figures in student loan debt down to 4 figures in debt (pay off 2 out of 4 loans) If everything goes according to Keikaku I'll achieve this by the end of June. This has to factor in things like updating my car registration in april, oil changes, tune ups, tire rotation, gas and food expenses, but as long as I don't get fired I should be fine! 2) Stretch Daily Not exercise. I never exercise. But it would be nice to increase my flexibility. 3) STOP TOUCHING YOUR GODDAMN FACE/ find an effective acne treatment I also want to try washing my face daily. Im fucking 25. I shouldn't have this many pimples. 4) Do another song comic I made A lyrictale for Undertale at the end of 2015 in ten days. I want to make another. I already have it scripted, now I just need to do it. 5) Do at least one art stream a month. Hey, maybe I can stream the next song comic I do. Sure, it'd spoil the song and story for everyone, but doesn't that sound fun? 6)Practice ASL I just started looking into Memrise and their ASL courses. They actually have A LOT, AND! THEY HAVE SIGN LANGUAGE COURSES FOR OTHER COUNTRIES! This year is gonna be fun. (Also, the only reason I want to learn ASL because of Undertale. I'll let you figure out how they are connected) 7) Sew 4 stuffed animals I started sewwing a Hobbes plush in the middle of last year. His body is finished. I just never did the head. The other three stuffed animals I want to make I will keep a secret because I love to keep people guessing. 8) Make two AMVs There are two songs I want to put to Avatar; The Last Airbender, and Avatar; The Legend of Korra. I have about half the footage... I just... need to rewatch the shows and put the clips together. Hey, maybe after I find all the clips I can do a stream of that as well. 9) Last but not least, finish my many, MANY Undertale Fan Fics. a. You Monster (34 out of 37 chapters are written, but only 29 are posted) b. Finish the "Of Two Minds" series (it's explicit don't look) c. Color Theory (A chasriel one shot) d. Something Left Behind (Terrible AU Idea #647) e. Let's Get Real (Self insert, joke, parody thing that will also be explicit) f. Game Day! (something about soccer games with Mettaton along the same vain as Field Trip!) g. Would You Like Fries With That (Nicepants because there's not enough of it in the world) h. Science Fair! (something with Undyne and school projects along the same vain as Field Trip!) i. One that is so horribly dark and fucked that I won't even describe it here. Welp! Those are my goals for 2018! What are your goals for 2018? Whatever they are, I wish you success and improvement, health and wealth! Stay safe this year! I love you all~

[hanksterhillingtonexplained-blog]

Big E.T. in Arlen

Let’s start off with my very first video Big E.T. in Arlen. This video actually predates the Hankster Hillington channel, and was originally posted on a very different channel all the back in October of 2014. It never achieved more than a few hundred views, and when I decided to launch the Hankster Hillington channel a few months later, I reposted the video (along with the truly new Hank’s Waifu and You Only Dale Once), and for most people it was a brand new video. The opening joke of this YTP is simply “What if the opening of King of the Hill was boring?”. Basically, rather than having a time-lapse where many things happen, in this version nothing happens other than Hank, Dale, Bill, and Boomhauer looking all around. Truly, the pinnacle of clever comedy, I know.

The next joke, and the first proper bit of humor in this YTP begins with Hank exclaiming, “I heard a funny joke the other day.” The idea here is that Hank is reminiscing about the joke he heard, but isn’t going to tell his friends (or the audience) what it was. Really, this scene is just in here to set up the gag of Bill being destroyed by the ball. You think something will happen, but you aren’t sure what, so when Bill goes flying it should come as a big laugh, even if you have seen the real episode before. We see the ball fly past Hank, but it’s on screen for only 3 frames before cutting to Bill getting hit with it. This is quick enough to give the viewer the information they need so that the cut to Bill getting knocked over isn’t abrupt, but still fast enough that it feels instantaneous. Inside we get an assortment of more or less random jokes. We have Bobby lusting over Peggy’s giant breasts, “Warm Bulging Rains”, and Bill being pathetic before getting hit by another ball. There’s not much coherence to any of this. This was well before I started focusing on narrative driven humor, so these things are simply there to be funny without purpose. No more, no less. In the next scene we get our first of many sex jokes. This was well before I was comfortable showing any sort of real nudity in a video, so we have the brightness and coloring turned way down to simulate a dark room instead. It looks visually poor, but I think the dialogue works well despite that - especially  Hank falling asleep instantly after giving up on trying to pleasure Peggy.

“So what do you do? You just flick it?” The “Little Sister” song sequence that follows is nothing more than an excuse to showcase an underrated song I quite like. If there’s any joke here, it’s the unexpectedness of Bobby having a beautiful singing voice, perhaps juxtaposed against him holding a “black power” type fist pose. The scene of Bobby’s head expanding like a balloon before popping is supposed to be a physical manifestation of his ego. When Dale praises him it blows up, but it’s too much for him to handle and he “explodes” - quite literally. Dale sheds two tears here. Two are for Bobby’s beautiful song, and the third is for the death of Bobby himself. The “Joseph d-u-u-u-u-u-d-e” scene that follows is tantamount to filler. I couldn’t think a funnier follow up scene, so I stuck in this trite of Joseph’s vocals repeating quickly when he tries and is unable to correct himself from calling Peggy “dude”. Peggy’s reaction is supposed to be one of annoyance, and she quickly shuts Joseph without saying anything to him, but the whole scene doesn’t play well, and isn’t that funny. Luckily it’s over quick. The “Warm Buldging Rains” scene was supposed to be a little gag along the lines of, the YTP was bleeding into the actual real episode for a moment, before going back to the way it was. Or to put it another way, Big E.T. in Arlen is an alternate reality of the episode “Of Mice and Little Green Men”, and the other reality was peeking through for a moment. The joke doesn’t quite work however, and the typo doesn’t make it any better.

The next scene has a joke I really like. A man comes up to Peggy and asks, “Excuse me, is that seat free?”, and Peggy ever-so-slowly moves her purse into position before slamming it down on the empty chair. It’s unfortunate that the animation is so choppy here, because Peggy being a total bitch (and smiling at the pissed off guy) to a random stranger for basically no reason is pretty funny if you ask me. The cutaway to The Simpsons is a joke I would think twice about doing now. It’s funny as hell, but it feels like a bit of a tonal shift. Still, even if I would think twice about it, I would include a scene like it in a future video if I thought it was funny enough.

“Can you send a 13-year-old flowers?” If you look closely in this scene, you can see that Dale’s pants have some black lines, and a yellow spot on them. Likewise, his shoes have metallic stripes on them as well. The reason for this is because although this Dale was in the perfect pose to put in  this scene, he was partially obscured by some objects above him (he was originally on a mower, I believe) and I simply left those details in and hoped no one would notice. If I were making this video now, I would simply Photoshop those imperfections away, but I was young, naive, and needed the money.  (•﹏•) After a brief scene of more bitch Peggy (”Are you as nervous for Bobby as I am?”) we encounter that weird “Taters” scene that I for the life of me don’t recall how I came up with. It’s as bizarre to me as it is to all of you. I think it my thought process was something along the lines of “Wouldn’t it be funny if Peggy took a picture of Bobby, but it came out all real and grotesque”, and “Then the second time it comes out all real and cute”, but I honestly don’t remember for sure. We then come upon the “Go, Joe, Go!” scene, which isn’t really funny at all. The zoomed in Nancy face I thought was hilarious at the time, but now after having worked on so many YTPs and seeing so many off-model KotH characters, it just comes across as ordinary and boring to me.

So after another groan-worthy “Joe” joke, Dale and Hank get to talking, and Dale admits that Joseph isn’t his sus. This joke probably flew over the heads of most people, but the idea was that Dale calls Joseph his “sus” as a reference to all those older KotH YTPs where everyone would say “sus” and “yay”. Hank doesn’t respond, because he doesn’t understand what Dale means, before Dale corrects himself, by saying “son” instead. Luckily, this is followed up by an always hilarious gasp by Hank as he looks nervously back and forth, with Dale then stating, “Well, I didn’t impregnate Nancy’s pussy. So who did?” The word “pussy” fits so well into that sentence, you’ll almost wonder why it was never there to begin with. Okay, maybe not, but it feels more natural than having a character say “cock” out of nowhere like in some older YTPs. Anyway, the whole point of this scene is to imply (correctly) that Hank had an affair with Nancy and is in fact Joseph's father. Hank pulls the word “spacemen” out of his ass to try and cover his tracks, and Dale ignorantly believes him. Yet somehow Hank is completely right. Joseph is an alien, and he attacks Dale when confronted about this. Personally, I always like to think of Joseph lifting Dale up and breaking his back Bane / Batman style, but you can interpret it however you like. Next is a Big Wolf on Campus parody. I use the term “parody” lightly, as it’s basically just the theme song set to a bunch of clips from King of the Hill. It’s not a parody; it’s an AMV. You wouldn’t be surprised to see Vegeta powering up to Linkin Park at this point. To make matters worse, I didn’t have many episodes to work with at the time, so the clips in the sequence are all mostly from the same episode. It’s boring as hell in my opinion. I’ve never even seen Big Wolf, I just like the song. But unlike the earlier Rufus Wainwright tune, I feel this song was a mistake to include. The only positive that came out of it was Joseph’s scream at the end as he pops up in front of the title card, which I liked enough to keep as the thumbnail.

Some music from South Park plays as Hank enters the hospital. There’s this weird little scene where Hank talks with the receptionist that goes absolutely nowhere. You would be right to assume she’s talking with Dale, based on what happens in the next scene, but considering Dale is on his deathbed, I doubt he has the strength to even use the phone. Dale admits to knowing about Hank’s infidelity, and Hank apologizes before he dies. Hank then oddly smiles and walks away silently upon seeing his best friend die. This isn’t a joke. I just forget to add in footsteps and the sound of the door closing. I probably should’ve edited his face too to make him look more glum about this whole thing. But it turns out that Dale Winchester isn’t actually dead, but is now a demon! We see an extended sequence of fan girls reacting to the Gribble heartthrob dying and being resurrected as an agent of darkness. Personally, I think the whole thing goes on a little too long, but it was hard to trim it down, as it’s all buildup to the final scene where the two girls majorly overreact to Dale’s death. Funny enough, the girl from that finale clip actaully found out about this YouTube Poop and approved of her appearance in it. Who’da thunk it. (If you haven’t figured it out, those are actually reactions to the Supernatural season 9 finale, but with Dale taking the place of Dean who died and became a demon.)

“I don’t like this show anymore.” Dale uses his newfound second chance at life to live out his best Charles Whitman, in probably one of the funniest scenes in the episode. He blows off Bill’s head mid-sentence leaving a peeved Peggy on the other line to ponder Bill’s rudeness in hanging up on her. There aren’t any jokes in this scene. It’s just an excuse for Dale to be badass as he takes on the police and everyone in town. And honestly, I wouldn’t cut it for the world. I love this scene. It’s followed by a weird little snip of one of the Gun Club members saying “The police aren’t trained for this”, followed by them leaving, which seems like it’s going to set up another scene. I wish I could say that I put it in as a red herring so the ending would come as a surprise, but I actually forgot I had it in there, and didn’t remember to resolve the Gun Club subplot. Not that there was any story there to begin with. We then get a scene of Dale killing an unseen hostage (I probably should’ve put her body in a later scene), followed by the police shooting knockout gas at him. Cue shocked reactions from the cast. The idea here was that this would be a Dragon Ball Z-esque moment where all the characters are speechless by Dale’s new form, in which he’s able to withstand the police’s most toxic fumes, and they’re forced to think what they’re feeling instead of stating them aloud. It’s all very silly, but I feel like it works.

“The Dale we knew no longer exists.” Another funny little note... In the scene where the gas canister is shot into the tower, you can see Dale talking to someone, but we can’t hear his words. Perhaps he’s talking to the demon inhabiting his body? Perhaps he’s truly gone crazy? Or perhaps I simply forgot to put dialogue in that scene. It’s up to interpretation, and I think scholars will be debating it for years to come. In the finale, we get Hank slide-whistling his way up to try and talk Dale down. The scene takes itself fairly seriously, which is completely intentional. If there’s even a core of real emotion in this, it’s in this brief moment where the music kicks in, and Hank admits to his wrongdoings. It’s all set up to contrast what comes next. Curiosity gets the best ol’ Robert Hill, and in the ensuing struggle, the gun discharges shooting Hank, and causing him to fall to his death.

Hank’s dead. The end. We don’t get a resolution to the story. Much like life, it simply ends when it ends. I actually play (almost) the entire credits sequence set to  Blue Öyster Cult’s 1976 hit song “Don’t Fear the Reaper” to try to give it the feel like you were watching an actual episode of the show. This includes showing the production cards and 20th Century Fox logo with even a voice-over at the end of Bobby saying “Taters” and Joseph screaming his alien scream to mimic the actual show replaying a quote from the episode at the end. Honestly, I feel now that no one will actually watch the entire credits to the end, and most people will jump to another video or exit, so after this I shorted the credits when I used them before doing away with the idea completely (only bringing it back one last time for Metal Dale.) And that’s it. The first video that kicked off the Hankster Hilington channel you all know and love today. Ye-ep.

[lucifersus]

Making an AMV is a rather amazing experience. I’ve been working on a HajiShun AMV for Tsukiuta. I’m about 2/4 done and it took quite some time but it was worth it. I haven’t even finished it, but I exported it and I’m watching the video and it’s just amazing, really. Not the video, I don’t think my first AMV would be that amazing lol. 

What’s amazing is watching a music video you put together, that seems old and new at the same time - old because you know all the parts well because you made it and edited it painstakingly, but new because you’re watching it as a whole piece. It’s definitely not perfect, but watching it is better as I notice all the things to be fixed. I’m still juggling with rhythm and timing, but I’m getting there. Ironically Kai’s part seems better put together lol. And he’s not even my favorite, Shun is. But the song is just so sweet and it’s nice to see it go along with his scenes with that girl. 

And it’s to Kimi hi Hana wo Kimi ni Hoshi wo which is like my new favorite song (you can find it on my playilst!)  along with Monochrome Sky (which I want to do an AMV for as well, purely HajiShun) and like I made an AMV to it and it makes me happy. I’ve always wanted to make an AMV. I love music and when songs play in my head (I have this weird ability to play songs in my head exactly as I heard them ironically I’m not very good with rhythm) scenes will play in my head like an AMV. I would want to watch a real video of that but didn’t know how to make an AMV. (If only it were that easy lol, finding clips, the clips you want actually takes time.) But I finally did it. I finally tried making an AMV and I struggled with it at first but I think I’m getting the hang of it. When I heard Kai and Shun’s song I just knew I had to make an AMV of that. Monochrome Sky too but it’s a fast song so it’ll probably be harder so I decided to start with something easy lol. But Blank Space is like slower than Monochrome Sky, at this rate my Shizaya Black Space AMV might become reality! Also it’s Tsukiuta. And I’m so glad and happy there’s finally an idol anime which isn’t reverse harem. I love music, and like watching the characters’ journey, but practically all male idol anime are reverse harem and the girl isn’t even interesting. I find it boring that all the character songs are for that girl. The tropes are also more pronounced in reverse harem, you have the ‘cool type’ the ‘flirty type’ the ‘gentleman’ type and it’s so cliche. I think the only reverse harem I liked was Ouran High School Host Club because it was like a parody of cliches and Haruhi wasn’t the typical reverse harem girl. It wasn’t an idol anime though.

I also really like Tsukiuta because they’re not in a music school and they didn’t go through auditions. They were picked out of a normal life, so they’re all very different. They were normal people before becoming idols. So on one hand you have the top three in the top school, Haru, Hajime and Shun, and on the other hand you have Iku who’s struggling to balance his school activities and idol activities. 

You have Haru who was in the student council, Hajime who was a lone wolf and Shun who was a human observer, and they all came with different skills. You have You (Yoh) who likes girls but it isn’t the focus of his character unlike other idol anime, Yoru who’s shy and the motherly type but could play the role of a bad boy, Rui who’s very quiet and timid but has hidden skills like being an excellent pianist. 

They’re of mixed ages also and different personalities - and it’s fascinating to watch these people who would have never met otherwise, live in the same house and interact together. Procella (Shun’s group) is especially individualistic with their leader being the most individualistic of them all.

The focus isn’t even on their idol career or stardom, that’s just a way for the slice of life. It isn’t like other idol animes where they end up singing the same song every other episode. They only really perform in the last episode. They just happen to be idols who have to do these things and they experience new things. I only liked Shun at first but it’s the type of anime where the first few episodes may be boring but the last few episodes make you want to go back and watch everything. And the last episode wraps it all up perfectly.

The characters also represent months because it started out as drama cds, I only checked out Shun’s but if that’s the way it goes it would be like every month a character is introduced with a backstory and song - and the idol group part only comes later, the individual person comes first. I think that’s why they’re all so diverse, because they have their own stories before becoming idols.

And like there’s Shun. I’m so happy a character who’s an idol like Shun exists. Like in which idol anime would you find a cool prince type who’s really a fanboy inside? And is a fan of the leader of the rival group, when he’s a leader himself? It just makes him so unique. Unlike other princely types Shun is lazy as heck and can’t do even the most basic of manual labor (he doesn’t have like hidden muscles or something) so he’s not like the perfect prince who can do anything (actually, he’s more like the demon king). He’s like an idol nice Izaya, and Hajime with his iron claw is like an idol confident Shizuo.

There’s the BL element too - like Shun became an idol for Hajime so his songs could really be for Hajime. His songs are to make AMVs for really and I’m surprised no one has done it, they match so damn well with canon scenes. Like it’s really BL, in the idol anime genre that has been populated with reverse harem - and if Hajime returned his love it could be the idol anime version of Yuri on Ice. 

Two inspiring ice skaters, two inspiring idols - Yuri on Ice did an excellent job in showing a realistic romance between two men from different backgrounds in the sports genre. Considering how Tsukiuta has broken the reverse harem trope of idol anime, it could do the same for the music genre.

Shun literally thought of Hajime when Kai asked about his first love. Shun deserves happiness after all, and Hajime makes him happy.

So yeah I’m making an AMV for that kind of story. It’s my first AMV and I can’t wait for it to be finished, to see the story of yearning with the whole song.