#Lovecraftian Persona? Check.

[ancient-day]

Cogpsi nerds are just like this, maybe.

[gavalaa]

Sketches of all my redone designs for my Phantom Thieves from my AU, Icarus! Lots of info down below on the cut, so if you want to know more about the details and inspiration, feel free to keep reading!

This includes Akechi’s design for his Princely/Robin Hood attire, BEFORE his Icarus attire you might have seen from my other posts! Check out the Icarus AU tag for more info! Icarus has a main focus on Akechi and his relationship to the thieves, but the AU is actually an entire rewrite with new designs, 3rd semester and epilogue/strikers/tactica stories, hence Zenkichi and Sophia’s inclusion.

Read below for individual info:

I decided to include more motifs towards their persona’s and general vibes; and also just my own personal touches haha.

AKIRA - Not much has changed, I really like his design overall. I raised his boots to be like Arsene’s and changed his neck area.

MORGANA - I hate the OG pill shaped head, his new design is based heavily on the shape of Palico’s from Monster Hunter. Added a little more nod to Zorro/His persona motifs and also just made him cuter! Little hamburger headed cat.

RYUJI - I made him a little bulkier and gave some more weight to his outfit overall. I gave him heavier boots and a slightly buffer build to relate back more to his sporty style.

ANN - honestly was never too big on her latex outfit, I wanted to call back to a personal favorite female lead; Christine Daae, and used one of the versions of her Don Juan costume as inspiration. I remember seeing Phantom live and in many stage versions of her character, the Don Juan scene was a pure moment of female control, and she was truly working the Phantom and controlling every movement on the stage. Her presence is commanding, and I thought it was a very fitting tribute to Ann’s character as feminine strength. (I’m absolutely not referring to the movie iteration of Daae btw.)

YUSUKE - I referred to some historical art and legend of Goemon to add more elements of design to his outfit. When I color them, I want to add some really strong pops of color to his clothing to really drive the aesthetics and artistry home.

MAKOTO - Another totally redid outfit, I opted to give her a design which relates back to Popess Joan, and also Anat. I gave her a clawed hand on her right side and an uncovered hand on her left as both a nod to Anat’s hand raised in iconography of her from art history, but also to show the duality of Anat’s title as both a goddess of war, and of love. It also relates to the mythology of Joan and her nature as both a leader and a martyr. I changed her mask to a Venetian Commedia mask as well.

FUTABA - ok. I’ll be honest. I never liked her skin-tight outfit, it just doesn’t match her personality at all. Also, the high tech Egyptian feel never really sold me. I totally understand the tomb thing, but I truthfully think a dungeon/palace which was more like… tech/nerd themed would have been much more “futaba” the inspiration for this new outfit relates back to her persona, the Necromomicon, as well as her nerdy personality, and her affiliation as Alibaba (Ali Baba.) I wanted to go more lovecraftian, long sleeves and patterning designed to look more like lovecraftian tendrils, and big baggy pants and her classic shoes to match. The patterning on her undershirt will resemble a rib cage, both as a reference to her deathly “tomb” iconography, but also to Lovecraftian and Necronomicon lore. I think she matches the description of a nerdy, techie DND dungeon master more than the initial outfit, so that’s the route I took personally.

HARU - relating back to some fashions from 17th c France, where Milady’s story (the three musketeers) takes place, I kept her design relatively similar. I just gave her a little more iconography relating to the three musketeers and that general timeframe.

AKECHI - in his pre-Icarus outfit, I’ve given him a princely sort of outfit befitting of his two faced nature, and edited it to relate to Robin Hood a little more. I tried to keep it sleek and just generally very concealing and layered.

SUMIRE - i gave her some iconography relating back to one of her personas, who is an inference to Freya. I also included some more nods to classic Cinderella, with fantasy gown elements. Overall, relatively similar.

ZENKICHI - again, relatively similar, I really like his outfit. I just opened up the face some to show more personality and spiced up the outfit generally to keep it matching. honestly, les mis/Valjean was a hard one, but I also think his character could be heavily related back to Edmond Dante (Monte Cristo.) so I gave some nods to that as well.

SOPHIA - I turned her into a FINGIE!!!! I made her whole dress as a nod to her persona/to pandora’s tiles around her/the pillars. I wanted to make her small and almost unnatural since she’s an AI, and I thought having a little guy on the team would add some more variation.

[anim-ttrpgs]

A.N.I.M. Adventure Art: Jordan

Art by @umbraldame

This art has been posted here with permission as part of A.N.I.M.’s Adventure Art initiative in our TTRPG book club.

For everyone's peace of mind, let's just say Jordan is a PC from Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy by A.N.I.M.

If you’d like to join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, you can find the discord invite on our website.

If your art fits he parameters outlined on this post, and you’d like it featured here, tag us or post it in the book club’s Adventure Art channel on discord.

If you’d like to support us and get a prerelease copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, check out our Patreon! Our Kickstarter is planned for launch in April 2024!

Meet Jordan. There’s no hiding it in these images, Jordan is no ordinary woman, she’s a thing from beyond, the latest addition to the roster of playable monsters in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. The original concept for this creature comes from @saiintxsiinner, and is used with her permission in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy.

Each of the five core playable monster types in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy kind of vaguely represent different ‘eras’ of horror, and if you look at it from that perspective, things from beyond represent the 20th century, evoking things such as Lovecraftian horror, aliens that somewhat resemble sea creatures, body snatchers, the blob, the thing, etc.

What a thing from beyond actually is is a large blanket of skin covered with photoreceptors and chromatophores on one side, and covered with teeth on the other. They have no front, back, head, or tail.

To interact with their preferred prey, humans, they twist, fold, and bend themselves into a very convincing human shape, complete with artificial clothes and hair, and change the color of their skin to complete the illusion. This is a bit uncomfortable and awkward, but it allows the thing from beyond to blend in with human society, mimic human speech, and perhaps most importantly, make friends.

You see, when a thing from beyond is “born”, they are not much more than an animal, but their natural method of hunting is a bit complex. Not only do they absorb nutrients from digested prey, but information encoded in DNA and neurochemical information stored in the brain, which their body integrates into their own body and equivalent to a brain, so that they can better think like their prey so as to better mimic and therefore hunt them.

You could say “they are what they eat.”

So when a thing from beyond develops a taste for humans, something this alien branch of evolution never expected happens, they begin to develop sapience and a personality of their own, along with, in many cases, a variety of very human desires, such as love and belonging.

By the time this is happening, it is already too late to turn back, should the thing from beyond even think to do so, and by the time the sapient mind of the thing from beyond realizes what it is, they have necessarily already eaten several people alive. For either side of their nature, there is no going back. The thing from beyond won’t even have much memory of their life before, at least none that is comprehensible to a human.

This also gives things from beyond some pretty unique mechanics regarding eating people. Unlike other monsters, they tend to ‘swallow’ people alive and digest them slowly—they can even hold a person in their ‘stomach’ while going about their human persona’s regular daily life, the victim trapped and helpless inside them as if the thing from beyond is a skin-tight full-body suit.

Rather than get a single boost of Composure points per victim like other playable monsters, the thing from beyond gets a small trickle of Composure points as they digest their victim over several days—but here’s where it gets even more interesting: They not only gain Composure points from digesting their victims—remember how I said they absorb information encoded into DNA as well as neurochemical information from the brain—they gain investigation points too, much more so if the victim they ate has something to do with the current mystery being investigated. And once they have been working on a victim for at least three days, they can start to “use” the parts of the victim’s mind they have absorbed. Similar to how any PC can spend 1 Eureka! Point to have a “Eureka! Moment” and retroactively gain information from a previously failed investigation roll, the thing from beyond can spend 1 Eureka! Point to gain one piece of information that the victim knew.

This is only scratching the surface of the awesome mechanics and rules interactions the thing from beyond has, but I have other work to do and can’t keep typing this forever—plus, I already wrote it all out in the latest prerelease version of the TTRPG Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which you can get a copy of for $5 on our Patreon and start playing as a thing from beyond right away.

[ratskittles]

Scuffed intro post bc I have not a clue how to work this site just yet, but,

Hello! The names RatSkittles, but most call me Rat for short. I'm an artist with a variety of differing hyperfixations, all ranging from original concepts to fandom, but my main hobbies include art, gaming, character creation/development and worldbuilding.

Some of my fandom interests include: SCP, Madness Combat, DnD, Marvel, Roblox, BSD, Genshin Impact, John Wick and etc.

Some of my personal interests (excluding fandoms, for the most part) would include: Writing/roleplay, character creation/development, world building, greek/norse mythology, lovecraftian horror, art, psychology, biology, german, medieval fashion, artfight and etc.

I believe i'll be primarily posting art here, but no promises i'll be consistent. I haven't gotten my hands in posting for quite some time now, so it'll be a rough start.

But aside from that,

If you'd like to find me elsewhere, check out my linktree:

And as said, i'll be posting art here, so it seems appropriate to attach some art of my persona to my intro post.

Thanks for bearing with me! :]

[thetoxicgamer]

Vampire Survivors snags Steam Deck top 20 spot yet again

Valve just revealed the top Steam Deck games for the month of April, and Vampire Survivors once again reigns supreme. Other PC game favourites like Elden Ring are also sitting pretty at the top, but handheld enthusiasts are evidently sinking their teeth into newer releases on the go too Vampire Survivors is arguably one of the best Steam Deck games out there, and as you may have guessed, this isn’t the roguelike’s first time at the ‘most-played’ top. In fact, the survival game seems to have a knack for winning portable players over, as it has held dominion over the handheld list multiple times already. Here are the top Steam Deck games for April 2023: - Vampire Survivors - Elden Ring - Hogwarts Legacy - Stardew Valley - Resident Evil 4 - Red Dead Redemption 2 - Grand Theft Auto V - Cyberpunk 2077 - Dredge - Hades - No Man’s Sky - The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - Brotato - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition - MONSTER HUNTER RISE - Fallout 4 - Slay the Spire - Persona 5 Royal - Dead Cells It’s easy to see why Vampire Survivors is considered ‘Great on Deck’, as the shoot-em-up doesn’t make the handheld sweat. That Steam Deck Verified badge pinned to its cloak also provides a level of portable reassurance, meaning you won’t have to worry about workarounds or weird bugs haunting the experience. All that aside, its addictive gameplay loop will put you in a Dracula-style trace if you let it, and developer Ponicle dropped fresh Vampire Survivors DLC alongside its latest update last month. That could partially explain why the shooter is now sitting at the top yet again, but newcomers are encroaching on the roguelike romp. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC4O-_kG11s As you can see above, Resident Evil 4 Remake is sitting pretty far up Valve’s list, which makes sense given that it managed to creep onto the top Steam Deck games for March. It also feels right to give Dredge a shout-out, as the Lovecraftian fishing game is clearly winning portable players over with its gorgeous cell-shaded visuals and ominous (yet somehow cosy) vibes. We’ll check back in once Valve shares its top Steam Deck games for May 2023, as new releases like Star Wars Jedi Survivor and Arkane’s latest FPS game could end up on the list. That said, players are already having a rough time with Star Wars Jedi Survivor on PC, and our Redfall review outlines why the shooter falls short. Already got your favourite games installed? Why not turn your attention to our best Steam Deck accessories list, as our add-on suggestions will help you put together the perfect portable setup. Read the full article

[mosnet]

This probably won’t cover any ground that hasn’t been tread on already seeing as Royal’s been out for almost a year now, but I’m looking at Azathoth’s design and it’s pretty... interesting.

The thing that caught my eye first was the imagery of the Caduceus, the two snakes wrapping around this “staff” that’s represented by the central nervous system (basically the source of human consciousness/sentience). The Caduceus is popularly considered a symbol of medicine and healthcare, but in that usage it’s actually being confused with another similar symbol, the Rod of Asclepius, which only has one snake. My guess is that the association of Maruki with a fraudulent symbol of medicine is intentional.

The Caduceus is actually the staff of Hermes (in Greek mythology) or Mercury (in Roman mythology) and symbolizes persuasion (rhetoric) and commerce, both associated with Hermes/Mercury. Fun fact: Hermes was also a psychopomp, or a figure that helped souls to the afterlife, and one of the supposed properties of the Caduceus was that it gave the dying a “gentle death” and returned the dead back to life. (Hmm, sounds familiar...)

Meanwhile, the imagery of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) seems pretty straightforward, Maruki being involved in psychology and all that jazz.

The last thing I want to mention is that in Lovecraftian lore, Azathoth is the father of Nyarlathotep. And I don’t think it’s likely that this was an intentional lore choice on behalf of the writers seeing that Persona 2 hasn’t been acknowledged in any meaningful way since *checks watch* about 2011, but in the duology Nyarlathotep is the Big Bad and... his powers also revolve around warping reality. Albeit his changes were based around widespread theories/rumors rather than a manifestation of people’s individual desires. (Also they both had a thing going on with tentacles.)

And as a side note, Tatsuya and Jun’s final Personae are Apollo and Hermes respectively. The Caduceus was originally Apollo’s, but he gifted it to Hermes in exchange for Hermes’s lyre (a parallel to Tatsuya and Jun trading trinkets with each other as children). Weird how both of these games intertwine Lovecraftian mythology with the symbolism of the Caduceus in very different ways.

So what does this all mean? Idk, I’m good at gathering information, not interpreting it. But I do think the parallels between Royal’s Big Bad and Innocent Sin’s Big Bad could be good fodder for a fan theory or AU of some sort. Especially with how popular the headcanon of Joker being Tatsuya and Jun’s son is. :]

[raeynbowboi]

The Character Forge: Building an Embodiment of Insanity

I’m going to diverge from my usual routine a bit today. Normally, I pick a pop culture character and make a build for them. But today, I want to do something different. I’m going to build a character around a theme, motif, or focus area. I’ll be covering a character focused on insanity. My goal for this build is to create a character who is explicitly crafted to instill and feed paranoia, delusions, and psychological trauma in as many facets as possible, including racial traits, feats, and spells where applicable. 

Building on Insanity:

it’s easy to simply say I want to drive people crazy, but it’s another thing to actually map out the effects you want to have on people. So before we can address individual spells and features, we need to discuss what impacts we want our abilities to have.

Alter Senses: Spells such as Unearthly Chorus, Blindness/Deafness or Blur that distort what a person sees and hears is a great way to instill a dread of insanity. Spells that buff your abilities or debuff the target are great ways to effect people’s perceptions.

Hallucinations: Similar to alter senses, Hallucinations cause people to see things that aren’t really there, playing a trick on their mind. A focus on illusion magic will help with this.

Fear: While insanity is not intrinsically linked to horror, the ravings of writers like Lovecraft and Poe often feature protagonists who have lost their minds or interact with people who have, usually accompanied by horrible nightmare imagery. Frightening people is a good way to warp their mind.

Mind Control: There’s nothing scarier than realizing you don’t have full control of yourself. Through Charmed effects like Compulsion, Command, and Dominate Person, you take away free will and make their mind your plaything.

Mental Anguish: a focus on attacking the mind itself, psychic damage is the best way to actively attack the minds of your victims.

Mind Alterations: Permanent changes to someone’s mind like Modify Memory can be truly horrifying, especially when the stolen or altered memories make it so that a person’s mind no longer makes sense.

Powers, Features, and Abilities

Altered Senses Blindness Deafness (Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard, Spore Druid, Fiend Warlock, Undying Warlock) Blur (Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard, Desert Land Druid, Hexblade Warlock) Maddening Darkness (Warlock, Wizard) Mental Prison (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Pass Without Trace (Druid, Ranger, Trickery Cleric) Power Word Pain (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Unearthly Chorus (Bard)

Illusions, Delusions, and Hallucinations Alter Self (Artificer, Sorcerer, Wizard, Warlock: Master of Myriad Forms*) Disguise Self (Artificer, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, Trickery Cleric, Warlock: Mask of Many Faces) Dissonant Whispers (Bard, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer, Great Old One Warlock) Distort Value (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Hallucinatory Terrain (Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard) Illusory Dragon (Wizard) Major Image (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Minor Illusion (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Mirage Arcane (Bard, Druid, Wizard) Mirror Image (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Trickery Cleric, Coast Land Druid) Mislead (Bard, Wizard) Project Image (Bard, Wizard) Silent Image (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard) Simulacrum (Wizard) Weird (Wizard)

Psychic Barrage Mind Sliver (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Mind Spike (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Phantasmal Force (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard) Phantasmal Killer (Wizard, Hexblade Warlock) Psychic Scream (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Shadow Blade (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Synaptic Static (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard)

Fear and Paranoia Cause Fear (Warlock, Wizard) Enemies Abound (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Eyebite (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Fear (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Oath of Conquest) Hallow* (Cleric, Fiend Warlock, Divine Soul Sorcerer, Theurgy Wizard)

Brainwashing Command (Cleric, Paladin, Fiend Warlock, Divine Soul Sorcerer, Theurgy Wizard) Compulsion (Bard, Order Cleric, Heroism Paladin, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer Warlock: Bewitching Whispers) Dominate Person (Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, Order, Trickery Cleric, Conquest, Oathbreaker, Treachery Paladin, Archfey, Great Old One Warlock) Enthrall (Bard, Sorcerer, Heroism Paladin) Incite Greed (Cleric, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Mass Suggestion (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Otto’s Irresistible Dancing (Bard, Wizard) Suggestion (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Tasha’s Hideous Laughter (Bard, Wizard, Great Old One Warlock)

Mind Altering Crown of Madness (Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard, Oathbreaker Paladin) Confusion (Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard, Knowledge Cleric, Oathbreaker, Treachery Paladin, Warlock: Dreadful Word) Feeblemind (Bard, Druid, Warlock, Wizard) Gift of Gab (Bard, Wizard) Glibness (Bard, Warlock) Mind Blank (Bard, Wizard) Modify Memory (Bard, Wizard, Trickery Cleric, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer)

Eldritch Horrors (Fear of the Unknown) Arms of Hadar (Warlock, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer) Create Homunculus (Wizard) Enervation (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Evard’s Black Tentacles (Warlock, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer) Hunger of Hadar (Warlock, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer)

Oh How the Mind Races

When setting up a race for this build, like with the spell list, we need a race whose features exacerbate the insanity features.

Changeling: Being able to shapeshift so easily is a great way to make someone feel crazy.

Eladrin Elf - Winter: Their Fey Teleportation can Frighten those they appear next to.

Gith: They have psionic features.

Kalashtar: Split between two minds, Kalashtar is a race with psychic powers.

Simic Hybrid: While not inherently mental or insane, their existence as gene spliced humans with animal features, it’s an easy way to invoke Lovecraftian Horror.

A Class in Judgement

Bard     Whispers: This subclass is hellbent on attacking the mind, unearthing people’s fears, and preying on them.

Sorcerer     Aberrant Mind: This subclass gets their power from a mental aberration, and is a Sorcerer variation on the Great Old One Warlock, and invokes Lovecraftian Horror.

Warlock     Great Old One: Invoking the twisted mind of H.P. Lovecraft, who himself was paranoid, the Old Gods similarly prey upon the minds of mortals.

Wizard     Divination: Not really a mental subclass, but you could flavor Portent as messing with perceptions, and making people misjudge their aim.     Illusion: This school of wizardry is focused on making people believe things that aren’t there.

Stats and Proficiencies

As the main classes suggested cast with Charisma, that is our main stat. You need to convince people to believe your mad ravings are true. Dexterity will make you hard to hit, all the better to convince people you aren’t real, are a figment of their imagination, or otherwise paranormal. A good Constitution ensures that even if you are hit, you can act like it’s no big deal, or like you’re supernaturally immune to pain or injury. Having high Wisdom reinforces your own perceptions and makes sure you can’t be fooled. Strength will follow, it’s not a super important stat for this build, but if you want to deal at least decent damage with your physical attacks, it’s a little important. And Intelligence gets dumped. Book Smarts won’t help you much in deceiving people or driving them insane.

Race: Changeling Background: Charlatan Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Class: College of Whispers Bard (14)             Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (6) Base Stats:    Strength: 10 (0)    Dexterity: 19 (+4)    Constitution: 14 (+2)    Intelligence: 8 (-1)    Wisdom: 12 (+1)    Charisma: 20 (+5) Saving Throws:    Strength: 0    Dexterity: +10    Constitution: +2    Intelligence: -1    Wisdom: +1    Charisma: +11 Combat Stats:     HP: 137     AC: 17     Speed: 30     Initiative: +7     Proficiency Bonus: +6     Passive Perception: 17     Dark Vision: 0 feet Proficiencies:     Deception (Charlatan)     Insight (Changeling)     Intimidation (Changeling)     Perception (Bard)     Persuasion (Bard)     Slight of Hand (Changeling)     Stealth (Bard) Skills: Acrobatics: +7                Medicine: +4 Animal Handling: +4       Nature: +2 Arcana: +2                      Perception: +7 Athletics: +3                    Performance: +8 Deception: +17               Persuasion: +17 History: +2                      Religion: +2 Insight: +13                     Sleight of Hand: +10 Intimidation: +17             Stealth: +10 Investigation: +2             Survival: +4 Damage Resistances:   Psychic Sorcerer Feature: Sorcery Points   6 Sorcery Points Sorcerer Feature: Metamagic   Extended Spell   Subtle Spell Bard Feature: Magical Secrets    Evard’s Black Tentacles    Immolation    Pass Without Trace    Phantsmal Killer

Spell Slots    1st (4)    2nd (3)    3rd (3)    4th (3)    5th (3)    6th (2)    7th (2)    8th (1)    9th (1)

Spellbook of Madness

Cantrips                                2nd Level                        4th Level    Chill Touch                             Blindness/Deafness         Compulsion    Dancing Lights                       Blur                                  Confusion    Friends                                  Calm Emotions                 Evard’s Black Tentacles    Mending                                Crown of Madness            Phantasmal Killer    Message                                Darkness                       5th Level    Mind Sliver                             Detect Thoughts               Dominate Person    Minor Illusion                          Mind Spike                       Immolation    Prestidigitation                       Mirror Image                     Mislead    Unearthly Chorus                   Pass Without Trace          Modify Memory 1st Level                                  Phantasmal Force             Synaptic Static    Arms of Hadar                       Shadow Blade                6th Level    Dissonant Whispers            3rd Level                             Eyebite    False Life                               Enemies Abound            7th Level    Tasha’s Hideous Laughter     Fear                                   Project Image                                                  Hunger of Hadar                                                  Major Image                                                  Sending 

Actions:    Countercharm: Using a Performance action grants friendly creatures within 30 feet radius advantage against charmed and frightened conditions. Bonus Actions:     Bardic Inspiration: Add 1d10 to 5 allies’ rolls per long rest.     Flexible Casting: Convert your Sorcery Points into spell slots. Features:     Change Appearance: Shapeshift as an action. You have advantage on Deception checks to cover your tracks.     Divergent Persona: You have proficiency with a tool. Create a false identity for this proficiency. While using this identity, you have doubled proficiency with the tool of your choice.     False Identity: You have created a fake identity, and can forge documents if you have seen their handwriting.     Font of Inspiration: Regain a Bardic Inspiration after a rest.     Invasive Thoughts: Create a telepathic link with a creature 30 feet away as a bonus action.     Mantle of Whispers: When someone dies, steal their shadow and wear their shadow as a disguise for an hour. You gain access to the dead person’s general information.     Psionic Defense: You resist Psychic damage.     Psionic Sorcery: You cast Aberrant Mind spells without components.     Psionic Spells: You gain additional Aberrant Mind spells     Psychic Blades: Add 5d6 Psychic damage to your melee weapon attacks.     Shadow Lore: Those who fail a Wisdom check become Charmed to believe that you know and will expose the deepest darkest secrets, and obey your commands out of fear of being found out.     Song of Rest: With a song, add 1d10 to healing effects from a rest.     Unsettling Visage: Once per rest, impose disadvantage on a creature trying to hurt you.     Warped Being: your AC is 13 + your DEX mod while without armor     Words of Terror: Your words instill fear for 1 hour.

This build was a bit unorthodox, but it was also a lot of fun to put together. Can you think of a better way to embody madness and insanity in DnD 5e? Do you think you’ll use this in a campaign? Do you have any ideas for something else I can do with DnD 5e? Thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you guys next time in the Character Forge, where heroes are made.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

On one very real level I realize this account is a Psyop, but there is also something else that is just makin’ all my little signals go off like so much popcorn...the CON-struct they’re using is distasteful, but the info is so “right”.   Aliens that are assholes?  Check!

Earthquake as weapon?  Check!

But also the idea (Lovecraftian in its archaicness) of what they call us “Meatbags”, the idea that they are now “reincarnated as our sun”.

Speaking on cosmic/metaphysical levels, I’ve never gone for the whole “hierarchy of angels” shit.  It just makes me think of this awful government beaurocracy of secretaries and under-secretaries and vice-presidents of this and that star.

So this account is claiming to have just recently “been awakened” and it seemed to coincide with me discovering it, via Ming’s feed.  Ming is a good guy.  He claimed to be “3″, SunBitch is “6″ and she refers to “7″ and “8″.

If this is actually truly “it”, the end of the enslavement, theirs and ours, the rooting out of the “Aliens”, whom are (I am assuming) the Centauri she speaks of.  Well, boom...BABYLON 5...the Centauri?  I posted a random meme of some burnout dude with a Londo/Vir hairdo a coupla weeks back.

I’ve been following what they’ve been posting, and sometimes they post and delete, so I’m screenshotting.  Gist is that the bad guys did some bad shit and re-awakened this “entity”.  Some of this mythic stuff is a bit heady, but if the metaphors are pointing to what I think they are, this “persona” is the LAST person they wanted to wake up.

I think also of that bizarre tweet from Buzz Aldrin when he went to Antarctica.  ALso it seemed like every head of every nation sent somebody down there all at once.  The likelihood of this being where the alien entities were found gets clearer.

They call bodies “vessels” and that they can pretty much do what they want with us, evidently.  So, I’m screenshotting everything I can while this is going on.  I’m getting that tomorrow is gonna be a big day, somehow.

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 19: Informative

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Nineteen: Informative 

Note: Sorry for any lingering mistakes. I wrote this entirely on my phone during a road trip with a friend so that it would be done on time. It’s just been one of those busy weeks, you know? Anyway, sorry for any mistakes. I tried my best to spell-check it, but still.

(-~-)

Deciding to leave when they did had been perhaps the smartest thing they could have done, given the circumstances. As if on cue, the weather had taken an abrupt turn for the worst, a thick fog rolling in from the north that threatened to obscure their vision and keep them trapped where they were. The chilly air that it brought with it wasn't so much unpleasant as it was unexpected as the day had been warm for the season up until then.

Leaving their father and uncle to sort out things on their own was a no-brainer this time around. Normally they would take steps to make sure that their father didn't murder Dante, but this time they just couldn't be bothered. Someone had to convince Lucia and Sirrus that they were not a family of savage idiots that only moved to harm one another. Though in Lucia's case, she had probably come to some conclusion in regards to that long before they had met her. She and Dante we're old friends after all.

As they opened the front door to the office and headed towards the van, V stopped for a moment. Despite its abnormal timing, the cool air was a welcome respite from the weather in Lucia's homeland this time of year. It had been humid and got there, quite literally the polar opposite of the kind of weather that he tended to gravitate towards. No, he liked it just like this. A cool breeze and some optional rain or fog. He'll, even some snow was preferable to the humid nightmare that was the more tropical corner of the world that they had just vacated. He didn't even have the right type of clothes for that sort of place, and much like his younger sibling, he didn't exactly tan. That was entirely enough for him.

Just as he stepped towards the lower part of the stairs, a hand reached out and tapped him in the shoulder, taking him entirely off guard. Turning to face whoever had just touched him, he couldn't help but allow his confusion to become evident on his face. It was rare that other members of the team touched him, and it was even rarer that his father so much as came near another person at all, let alone made physical contact with them. And no, using Yamato to impale or otherwise harm them didn't count. What strange Lovecraftian nightmare was this?

Turning to face him fully, V gave him a perplexed look, unsure as to what this could be about. He'd never really seen Vergil make… whatever the face was that he was making at the moment. He seemed almost amused, and that wasn't an emotion that he could honestly say he'd ever really been able to associate with his father. While he was aware that he did, in fact, possess a sense of humor, he couldn’t say that he fully understood it or was able to accurately guess what he might actually find entertaining. But he'd clearly done something that the older devil slayer found at least somewhat amusing, so that was a place to start.

"Did you need something?" V asked calmly, unsure as to how to take this sudden shift in his father's generally calm and somewhat cold persona. He was used to Vergil being more… predictable. And right now, he was anything but that. Despite the fact that he knew this didn’t pose a threat of any sort to him, he just couldn’t shake the strange, insidious feeling that he felt brewing in the very pit of his stomach. It was as if a knot that he couldn’t untangle had manifested within the very depths of his core, and he couldn’t place its location any more than he could understand its underlying cause.

Giving him an almost knowing look, Vergil glanced momentarily in Lucia's general direction, his eyes lingering on her for a moment as he seemed to quietly consider something. V had to turn in her direction to see that his father was even looking at her in the first place since his back was to the van and he was facing the large office doors that Vergil had decided to lean against. After a moment, the Darkslayer crossed his arms, looking at his son with a slightly more serious look than he had possessed a moment ago. It seemed that whatever he’d been thinking, he was about to actually express in words.

"... I've noticed that you seem to have feelings for that girl. Dante's friend. Were you planning to act upon them, or simply pine fruitlessly from a safe distance." Vergil inquired calmly, his slightly humored demeanor resurfacing slightly as he seemed to make a consorted effort to actually hide it. He clearly found something about this very entertaining, but he wasn't going to say as much. At least not at the moment. 

V's entire mental process instantly stalled like an overheating car engine. He genuinely regretted the fact that he had not just taken the opportunity to leave and head to the van with the others when he had the chance. Were they actually having this conversation right now? Because it sure as hell seemed like they were. And did this even count as a conversation? Normally it required at least two people for a conversation to take place, and he couldn't will himself to speak a single word. Vergil took that opportunity to continue.

"Because if that was indeed your plan of action, I feel somewhat inclined to point out that it would get you nowhere. Inaction normally has that effect. I would be remiss to not take the opportunity to remind you of that, regardless of the fact that you are intelligent enough to have figured that out for yourself by now." He continued nonchalantly, either not noticing the slightly wide eyes, pupal dilated, utterly flabbergasted expression, or shear and unadulterated horror on his eldest son's normally neutral face or genuinely not caring. Either way, that wasn’t going to stop him from making his opinion on the matter known, regardless of how much he was sure his son probably wanted it to.

The young white-haired summoner attempted to force his brain to conjure up some meaningful response to what would otherwise be a simple inquire for his father, but the mixture of confusion and horror that he found himself in was entirely too strong to allow for that level of cognitive function. How had his father even noticed that? Was it that obvious? Was he actually that bad at hiding his thoughts? In truth, he wasn't entirely sure as to whether or not his absentminded meandering in regards to Lucia was the result of the fact that he found her undeniably lovely, or something more than that, but the fact that Vergil could tell that he felt anything towards her at all was admittedly startling to him. What if Lucia had noticed as well. He didn't want her getting any sort of incorrect notions as to his intentions, especially when he didn't fully understand what his intentions were in the first place.

"Wh… why would you ask me something like that?" V asked breathlessly, unsure as to what else he could even say about the matter. This entire situation was highly irregular. Or was it? Did fathers normally question their sons about matters that pertained to their love life, especially when those sons were adults? Truthfully, V didn't have any prior knowledge as to the legitimacy of that fact. He'd never had any friends to ask or even see this happen to, and it had never been a thought that had crossed his mind. But one thing that he did know was that this was an exceedingly uncomfortable topic of conversation, and every second that he took part in it, willing or unwilling (and it was most certainly unwilling), he could feel himself die inside, aging little by little until he lost all cognitive function and simply ceased to exist any longer.

Seemingly slightly confused as to his son's reaction, Vergil folded his arms and blinked slowly for a moment. Yes, it seemed that V absolutely had no idea what he was getting at, did he? The eldest Son of Sparda liked to think that he had a pretty good line in gauging others’ reactions and body language in regards to trying to find out if they were being truthful or deceptive, and he couldn’t say that he thought that his son was lying. If anything, he seemed genuinely shocked that he had asked him a question of this sort, and Vergil was both further amused and slightly confused by his son's intense mental backpedaling. Was this topic of conversation really that horrifying to him? Because that would explain quite a bit about V's overall reaction to it.

"Perhaps because I noticed that you invited her to your home. And your total inability to stop looking at her with that lost expression or your face or so much as form a complete sentence in her presence. There are several factors at play here. Do not insult my intelligence. I am not blind." Vergil paused for a moment, noticing the fact that V seemed both physically and mentally exhausted by the very concept of having this conversation. Was his oldest child absorbing even a monochrome of the wisdom that he was trying to impart upon him? "And I am willing to imagine that she is not blind, either. It would be a miracle if she hadn't at least clued into your affections for her by this point. It might be best to simply tell her. If you can get your brain to function in her presence for that long, that is. And I have my doubts."

If he had been a slight bit less physically sick from the conversation that he was taking part in at that moment, he probably would have been somewhat insulted by that comment. But instead, he just nodded involuntarily, his subconscious eager to produce some sort of meaningful reaction to his father's advice. He wasn't really sure if it had achieved the desired result, or simply served to make him look even less intelligent than he was willing to assume he probably looked at the moment, but he couldn't make himself dwell on that long enough to care, even though he knew that he should.

"Thank you?" V said in an unsure tone, entirely unsure as to what he was supposed to say in this situation. All he knew was that he wanted to get out of this situation as quickly as possible, and that the others were waiting for him in the van. His absence was probably starting to seem slightly suspicious, and the last thing he wanted to do was have to explain why his father had held him up for this long. "We are absolutely not having this conversation right now, father. We have to go, and I am holding up the others. I must go before they began to question what is taking me so long."

As he glanced towards the van, he felt the need to add something before. "By the way… please don't say anything to her on my behalf until I figure out how to produce. I beag of you. I need time to think, and I would probably die from pure mortification alone."

Vergil looked somewhat frustrated by that statement. "That is not biologically possible. Dying from embarrassment isn't something that you can physically do. And you tend to take longer than they do to arrive at a destination as it currently stands regardless, V. But very well." Vergil cringed internally as he saw the somewhat questioning look on V's face. Sometimes his eloquent thoughts did not translate well to actual spoken dialogue, especially in regards to situations where he wasn't actually trying to sound like a petulant unfeeling cold bastard. And yet, here he was, doing just that yet again. Was this an involuntary action on his part?

The younger man stared at him for a momnet, almost physically combing through his thoughts as he tried to come up with a satisfactory reassessment of himself. Did he actually walk that slow? He liked to think that he didn't. While he was aware that he did in fact walk at a speed that was lacking when compared to the rest of his compartiots, he didn't think that it was that slow. Did the others notice and simply not point it out to him out of a sense of politeness, and his father was the only one who actually had the never to point it out to him? Because now that he thought about it, that was entirely possible. They were all generally quite kind to him, even when making fun of him as Nico liked to do from time to time. But Vergil didn't possess such qualms.

"Disregard my former statement. It was not entirely factual." Vergil sighed, turning to look back through the door that he was behind before looking forwards again. "I would advise you to seek Nero's consol in regards to these sorts of matters. You’re clearly not going to take in anything meaningful that I am trying to imprint upon you, and he has at least made it a bit farther in that regard than you have at present. I may simply be out of touch. According to Dante, I'm "old."

For a moment, V stared at his father. A sympathetic look crossed his face as he considered the ramifications of that statement, and the strange sorrow in his father's tone of voice as he spoke those words. He couldn't be entirely sure as to why, but it seemed that his father genuinely didn't like being considered older. Perhaps it was simply a result of the narrative that he might be out of touch, or something as profound as being a personification of the deep regret that he probably felt in regards to the things that he could no longer experience. His youth was indeed gone, along with the opportunities unique to it, but somehow he knew that this wasn't about that. The younger man had literally no way to know for sure without asking his father, and that was off the table at the moment. But what he did know was that he might be able to say or do something, anything to help.

Reaching out with a mixture of reluctance and uncertainty, V placed his hand on Vergil's shoulder. He admittedly expected him to pull away it react in anger in some way, but he decided to take the risk regardless. After all, he was unlikely to physically harm him over the gesture, and he was used to being rejected in regards to this sort of thing. But to his surprise, all his father did was give him a curious look, allowing his gaze to wander up to his arm, following the thin limb up to his fingers until he seemed to mentally register that V had indeed just voluntarily touched him. He then looked back at V quietly, seemingly unsure of what to really say about the matter at hand.

"... You’re not old. At least I don't think so. I'd like to imagine you still have quite a bit of life left in you. It’s a mindset more than it is a physical condition, at least as far as I am concend. But it’s not my place to say that. You can believe whatever it is that you want to believe. You've earned that right a few times over by this point." He turned back towards the van, taking a reluctant step down the first step as he released his father’s shoulder and allowed the limp appendage to fall back toward his side. "I have to leave now. If you are both still alive come morning, please make your way over. It may be easier to make whatever preparation you wish to make in a place with power. And running water, for that matter. Something tells me that you might not have that, either. Dante seems to fail to pay his utility bills in batches. But until then, have a good night. And please… never bring this topic of conversation up again."

While he understood why his father had done so, he was somewhat sure that he rather die than allow his father to give him "the talk". It was a horrifying concept that literally aged him to the point where he lost years of his life, and he never wanted to revisit it again. He had no idea what had possessed his normally quiet father to make him even r=bring this up instead of watching in the background like he would like to assume he did, but he hoped that whatever that force of nature was, it left and never returned. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy speaking to his father, it was that this was far from the topics of conversation that he felt comfortable discussing with literally anyone else aside from the person they were directed towards, and even the, that was a stretch.

Vergil nodded in regards to his son's words. While he was not sure yet if he would humor his request or press the issue, he would leave it alone. He allowed his hand to drift almost absentmindedly to the place where his son's hand had been only a minute ago, letting it linger there momentarily as he watched the van pull off down the street and around the corner, disappearing from sight. He was now starting to wonder if he had been somewhat mistaken in regards to which of his sons was actually the intelligent one. Or perhaps they were just equally unintelligent in regards to romance. But he had to assume that there was a certain charm to that, even it if was somewhat pathetic in nature. But that was enough of that for now. He had tried. 

Now to see to maters with Dante. And he had a feeling that there would be a reckoning store for him.

(-~-)

Do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of V dying inside because his dad just tried to bring up his love life in a conversation with him. Poor thing! And we thought that Dante not having power was bad… see you all next week on Wednesday! I hope you liked this chapter! Bye bye!

[autumn-sacura]

Nice. I'll have to check Neil Gaiman out. My favorite is Nyarlathotep. He is an Outer God more powerful than Cthulhu. But unlike most Lovecraftian horrors that cause insanity just by looking at them, he can take human form and deceive others.

Heh, I know this character mostly thanks to Persona 2 games ^__^

[shadowtarot]

The team explains what is going on to the now freed/rescued group, and the rescued also share their encounters with the shadows & their own rescue of Kazushi. What could this mean for the two groups?

Thieves in Inaba Part 67

Minato is tense, not prepared to see anyone else he became friends with since his passing. Kazushi stands up and goes to try to confirm what he’s seeing. 

“You’re…not just something in my head are you? You died! We all were at the ceremony back in high school.”

Minato nods a bit, smiling sadly. “I’m…actually here.”

He shakes his head in disbelief. “You don’t look like you’ve changed a bit, Minato. I…”

He offers a hand, smirking. The others are looking outside, not wishing to disturb the moment. The two shake hands as a way of confirming Minato is indeed, alive. 

The rest then file in, Iwai and son both a bit confused. Kou notices them and waves, offering them seats at the table much the same as before. 

But this time, everyone sits down. Futaba takes out her laptop and uses her Persona to provide an image of everything so far. 

“Okay everyone, let’s review. From the culmination of three dungeons, outside conflicts and internal struggles we have enough data to start to figure out our threat.”

Kou leans back in his seat. “Those wolf things started appearing shortly after the meteor landing a day prior. Several of us here went to check it out, if I’m remembering correctly.”

Ai stares at her hands. “Kids were taken away, thee boys and three girls. But there were others attacking in Okina looking for targets.”

Mishima nods. “Yeah, like me and Yu’s cousin. They were hunting people close to any Wild Card.”

Iwai looks at the group around him. “They sound like they were using different tactics right? Kids get taken in one instant, and when that doesn’t work they go straight for the close friends and family. They aren’t stupid that’s for sure..”

Aigis looks over Futaba’s data and points something out. “We must not forget that they tried to corrupt our friends. They tried different methods for Minato and Yu in that case.”

“It’s all based around Lovecraftian lore. Which is backed up more by who I encountered in the Castle sewers.” Akechi looks at every one.

“Nyarlathotep, correct?” Minato asks, nodding. “You made an assumption that Deathbringer, our initial antagonizer might not actually be on level footing with him. Well I think I have evidence to back it up.”

Everyone turns to look at Minato with curiosity.

“When he was in my head, he took on a much more human look. He looked no older then Seventeen…”

“So…you’re implying that old death might be human?” Junpei asks. “But he can float and do all that other weird stuff! We can’t even pull that off.”

“Well, there is a chance he might have been alive…at one point.” Naoto suggests.

Chie gulps. “I..I hate to ask but, where are you going with that thought Naoto?”

“It’s just as I said, he might be someone who died in the TV world only to be reanimated.”

“Except, there’s a hole in that theory.” Adachi chimes in. “Have you forgotten what normally happens if you die here?”

Yosuke lowers his head and nods a bit. “The corpse appears back in the real world…”

Teddie blinks, looking around. “That may have happened during the murders because of the test going on, but this world has existed for a lot longer then that. It’s connected deeply to Persona after all.”

Mitsuru nods. “So the theory would still hold ground if the death happened prior to 2011…”

“Hold up though, I still have a question. In movies n’ shit you need to be like…possessed to be reanimated. Ether that or it’s some voodo magic. How would that actually work here?” Ryuji leans back in his seat.

“Shadows.” Morgana states. “It’s as simple as that. But…as far as I’m aware this isn’t common.”

Ren taps his fingers on the table. “So, what we have is some god using a possible corpse puppet to enact revenge for the failure of other gods? At least that’s what I’m getting at here. But this feels a lot more on edge then normal.”

Rise gasps. “Guys I hate to interrupt this but, the dungeons…they’ve somehow left the TV World!”

“No way!” Futaba checks the data herself. “…she’s not kidding. There’s some sort of leak. Fogs rolling in too…”

“This isn’t good, we haven’t been able to save the rest of the captured people!” Ann looks worried. “What do we do? Leave the TV?”

“We have to, it seems that our friends are trying to do something…more people will be in danger if fog starts to cover the area.” Yu stands up. “Shadows thrive in it. I wouldn’t be surprised if stronger ones start to appear. We need to go out there!”

Kou and the other rescued stand up. “Where do we go then?”

“Stay here still. If both this world and the real world are melding, then this is the safest place you can be in right now.” Yosuke states.

Ren tosses Iwai a model gun. “Picked up a spare in a Palace I was in last year. Shadows think it’s real so this will be your best  way of fighting any of them off.”

Iwai smirks. “This explains why you needed my goods. Don’t worry, get out there and do what needs to be done. I’ll handle things here.”

Inaba Skies

“Fog has rolled in!” Kikuno states over the intercom. “This does not bode well for us!”

“Fog…” Sho nods. “Something happened in that other world. Things are starting to get interesting.”

Sae looks out the nearby window and sees a sea of grey mist covering the area. 

“Makoto…please…be safe.”

[shining-wizard]

Hey I've got a Pinterest, got some jojo aesthetic boards if you're interested. Also a couple of persona boards. Lovecraftian one too. A few more too. Check it out if you want ❤

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/Kiki12937

[floggingink]

Riverdale, “Chapter Twenty: Tales from the Darkside”

THIS ISN’T DOWN TO THE WIRE, KEVIN

I think most of the references this ep went over my head, as I am not a classic horror connoisseur, but I’m giving it the old college try

CHUCK AND HIS 18-INCH WAIST IS BACK!

Sixth period is Intro to Film: for starters, the opening text crawl is from the beginning of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and they did this to placate Jughead, who has an amazing episode this week in that he fucking survives to the end of it

oh yeah, Betty got Mr. Phillips killed!

I like that in response to the circumstances Betty and Jughead have started sinning MORE

Jug’s snake tattoo has a little crown on it, because history will not be denied/he’s a dweeb

Jughead’s being very dutifully “You didn’t do anything wrong, etc.,” and Betty absolutely cuts him off like, “BUT HOW THE FUCK?”

he calls her “Poirot,” which is like Betty calling him a rebel without a cause

ah, the poster of which is by his bed! Jughead has a bedroom!!!! you’ve earned it, champ!

Sexy, aesthetic Southside: I don’t remember if Penny Peabody had crimped hair the last time she and Jughead met, but it’s straight outta 00’s Avril Lavigne and I love it

the Kentucky Derby blinders Jughead has for his father are Riverdale’s truest tragedy. FP is doing him so wrong

Jughead is going to be Penny’s “transportation advisor,” because he’s such a good driver

LOVED the Kill Bill typewriter “Archie & Jughead” titles

What damn high school in America: you know Jughead just totally skipped class and sauntered into Riverdale High in his fucking jacket. now that his English teacher is gone, what’s the fucking point? can he still run his paper?

Gay?!: Cheryl calls them Bert and Ernie as she shoves them aside like they were made of papier-mâché (Bert and Ernie are life partners)

I like Jughead’s sort of layered expression when he’s asking Archie for help/telling Archie he’s going to help him, like he’s slightly smiling when he talks about the Ghoulies “stunt”

Archie COMMENDABLY says NOTHING about the huge crate full of drugs (it’s not POSSIBLY full of drugs, or even pancake mix) he’s about to get his prints all over. Riverdale would never have them pick up a like a metal Law & Order box, it’s got to be like a fucking pirate chest

Archie & Jug in the truck was presh. Archie had a lot of Fred-esque lines, but I think he’s filtering his true fears about Jughead ENDING UP IN PRISON, WHICH IS WHERE HE IS HEADED, into father-speak, and Jughead, whose father blows, is like I DON’T KNOW, DAD, I’M LIVING MINUTE TO MINUTE HERE

—which is very traumatized, you know? like when you’re growing up, if you’re too hassled and anxious you get holes in your developing brain because it’s too focused on constantly being in fight-or-flight survival mode to the detriment of learning how to be a person? Jughead doesn’t have time for anything that isn’t literally getting to the end of today, possibly sleeping with Betty

I like how Archie’s fantasy does NOT include college, which he doesn’t care about

Jughead doubts it: GQ tells me the East Village is still around, Jughead

not even in his dreams does Archie imagine Veronica would NOT be living on Park Avenue

I like the possibility-thread of “Even worse than jail” being cut off by the flat

Jughead wants to call Betty, his fixer, but then they’re like, How about the sheriff’s son?

would Kevin even have helped them out? he’s not into the shady anymore! he’s post-Joaquin!

Jughead has grand movie-thoughts about his own persona but has not “played it cool” once in his life

OH GREAT, IT’S TONY TODD. IT’S THE FUCKING CANDYMAN. GREAT. GREAT. HOW THE FUCK. WHAT. THE FUCKING—WHAT????????

Jughead only has $18 and he carries it with him wherever he goes

Jughead RELEASES Archie from his friendship debt before getting into McGinty’s truck, because HE’S ABOUT TO DIE

“DON’T LOOK UNDER THAT TARP”

JUGHEAD TAKING HIS LAST LOOK AT ARCHIE IN THE REARVIEW

The Blossom spawn: when Tony Todd fucking invoked Jason fucking Blossom, on top of everything else, ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE, I had a fucking myocardial infarction

McGinty throwing out the time warp phrase “for just a hot minute”

okay the lighting in the truck makes his eyes reflect these tiny pinpoints of white out of the beyond-the-grave voids of his eyes and that Judgement Day shit is on the radio and Jughead is like, this is too much atmosphere even for me

“IN THE BLACK OF THE HOOD IS THE LIGHT OF GOD, AND WHEN YOU SEE IT, YOU WILL DIE.” WHAT? WHAT???? WHAAAAATTTTT???????

and then Archie sees a zombie deer. he sees like a fawn with its fucking skin blistered off. he sees a fucking Chernobyl deer. walking precisely the line between Riverdale and Greendale. great. Greendale is full of ghosts. Jughead is in a death truck driven by the Riverdale Reaper’s sixth victim or something. GREAT. GREENDALE IS FULL OF GHOSTS! GREAT!

Jughead wears his watch face very rakishly on the inside of his wrist

for a hot second, I thought the flies were bees. I did think they were bees. I did think they were doing Candyman

BECAUSE IT’S FUCKING TONY TODD!!!!!!!

you know Jughead was going to look under the tarp. you fucking knew it. he’s in act two of a horror movie. he’s going to relay this story later and say he didn’t look under the tarp? what’s under the tarp? WHAT’S IN THE BOX

deer too dead even to still walk around

I’ve seen this like three times and I can’t tell you what the fuck he’s eating in that shitty cafe. steak? Jell-O? kitten flesh?

the way he says “I’m no thrill-seeking sicko,” sucking on the S’s

the single fly buzzing around McGinty’s shoulder as he tells the Reaper story was like a single further death omen and if it turned out Jughead was already a zombie like in that comic you know, I would’ve fucking bought it, fuck it, what the fuck

some people THINK a lynch mob got him? there was a RUMOR lynch mob? or there was DEFINITELY a lynch mob that only MIGHT HAVE lynched the right person??? I’M GONNA NEED SOME CLARIFICATION, POP TATE

California in my experience is exactly where you should be to pray to the devil

I loved how fast things went incredibly south in the diner. the thud of the check, McGinty saying Jughead would pay, Jughead beings like, Pardon me? Jughead about to be LEFT BEHIND

“YOU’RE SINNERS, BOTH OF YOU. CAREFUL OR YOU’LL TASTE THE REAPER’S BLADE NEXT.”

Archie > Dawson: Archie is, simultaneously, the worst and best person to have along with you inside a horror movie, because he’s sort of dense but also will never give you up, never let you down, desert you (if it’s a Good Archie episode, which this unmistakably is). Archie is the only character I would buy forgetting he was there and miraculously he shows back up in the nick of time

next we have Archie and Jughead driving around some more with the Friday the 13th echoing exhale sound effect in the background, just for funsies

Fifth period is AP English: Penny’s fucking Arctic exploration crate has all this HP Lovecraft motif lore on the side of it, so, cool, I guess it contains screaming desiccated souls or something (Lovecraftian Ghouls eat flesh, by the way)

“Damn good coffee”: aaaaaaaaand coming out to meet them is a Soviet spy wearing a beret, wheeled out by Karla, with an AK on his hip. Greendale contains the trapped spirits of everyone who died there in the 70’s

These students are legally children: Jughead is screwed. Jughead is so screwed. Jughead is one part vodka, two parts orange juice

Archie’s coloring lends itself well to being bathed in that pink Pop’s lighting I love

Jughead has recovered enough to call McGinty (who isn’t named aloud) “Mr. American Gothic”

JUGHEAD WANTS TO GO TO THE LIBRARY WITH ARCHIE. he doesn’t want to do drug runs. he wants to snoop around with his best friend, because despite having a gang in his bloodline, Jughead is REALLY not a gang member. when he gets to choose what he wants to do, he just wants to do research. he wants to be Giles, okay

endless tragedy with Archie’s “Next day, for sure.”

I would absolutely believe that Riverdale’s jail’s visiting hours are actually “sunup to sundown” as opposed to like “eight to four”

how precious is he, steeling himself to see his father’s slashed face

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

apparently Penny’s surveillance video has some sort of infrared lighting quality

I like how Penny specifies that Jughead is not to raise his voice to her, a classic scarier-than-violence threat

is this why FP was so freaked that Jughead would owe her? not because she’s naturally treacherous to everyone, but because he knows she wants recompense for his betrayal? FP, you’re awesome start to finish

Jughead has not done like a SINGLE THING WRONG this entire time that hasn’t been at the behest of him trying to FIX everything single thing that his father set him up for, dog

I do not deserve a whole segment dedicated to Josie and her white manicure, yet here I am!

Josie and the janitor have an understanding, because people who stick around school after hours are usually slightly strange and have to stick together

“I don’t need a bodyguard! I’m not Whitney. Yet.”

Certified pedigree: Mayor McCoy is another Scary Riverdale Mom, but I’d say she’s the least scary of them WRT her daughter (not the southsiders, although jury’s still out on how much of that is Alice’s fault)

Josie’s vocal polyps swell when she’s stressed

her denim one-piece? only you, Josie

Cheryl’s hair: Classic Disney princess hair this episode. Classic Cheryl. a Classic

Cheryl sums up Josie’s guilt as being about “sinning” which means therefore the Black Hood may notice, as opposed to something like “You feel like you’re betraying your friends,” which would be the human response

Chuck Clayton is thoroughly charming throughout. if you just watched him this episode, you’d be like, How bad could he really have been?

he came prepared with the knowledge that Josie “loves her cheese fries”

Chuck’s leather jacket is very nice. all the boys should just be wearing leather jackets

Josie is partaking of a “eucalyptus steam”

“Nick St. Creature”

Cheryl’s measured response to Josie calling her controlling was perfect. she says she’ll never be able to “repay” her “debt,” because Cheryl is ALL ABOUT tit-for-tat, emotional burdens handled via business deals, paying off favors, clearing her side of the column

I also like her Blossom pun

The 2001 Josie and the Pussycats movie was a masterpiece: VALERIE! MELODY! VALERIE’S SWEATER! MELODY’S SKIRT! VALERIE’S CURLS! MELODY’S AFRO! “WOMEN ARE SUPPOSED TO TREAT EACH OTHER BETTER THAN THIS.” “PRIDE COMETH BEFORE THE FALL.”

Fwoopy hair is the best hair: Melody is not happy but she is the goddess of my life and I hope she can sense that from this distance

why IS Josie doing the solo thing? she did claw them in the back!

ooh, he’s smooth. he’s smooth with the Pop’s thing. Chuck did that

Josie’s “YEAH MHM” nod when Chuck says he “doesn’t have the greatest track record” and rolls her eyes at him “going to church”

“Why? To objectify models?”

he wants to draw comics, because he is a creative? Chuck and Jughead and their leather jackets would have a great time at the library together, after they make up (with hugs)

did I say Archie looked good in the pink light? fucking Chuck and Josie look phenomenal

Pulp Fiction diner dancing!

I’ve seen Brick like thirty times: the two of them synchronized jitterbugging together, I did not have the patience to Google the name of the dance, like fully won me over. is Chuck good now? I’m fucking on Chuck’s list now. like is that all it took for me? I am a weak bitch

“YOU’RE A DAMNED FOOL.”

stay strong, Chuck! don’t fuck this up!

is Mayor McCoy lying on the spot about her hate mail mentioning Josie? just to scare her into compliance?

“Taking a few art classes does not a saint make.”

Cheryl’s sheaths: Cheryl’s wearing huge thick ankle-strap platforms again with a VERY leggy romper

okay shut up because Cheryl actually says “What’s in the box?” and Brad Pitt felt a little bit of his life force drain from his body

Gay.: What up with Cheryl’s game here? was she preemptively putting things in Josie’s locker on the off-chance she would need to get a rival presence out of Josie’s life? I would like a reason, but I don’t need one, because Cheryl is so beyond my mind to comprehend I take solace simply in basking in her wake. like, she found a pig’s heart? of course she did. of course you did, Cheryl

Cheryl’s a chaos angel from hell: “For all we know, he’s the one sending your mom those letters, too” is SUCH an overreach if Josie had had time to think about it for two seconds, but she does not have such two seconds, thus it is a master move by Cheryl Blossom

Chuck’s puppy eyes

Josie knows what she diiiiiiiiid!

THEY GOT ME FOR THE SECOND TIME! GODDAMMIT!

nicely specific throat-slashing, right in the polyps

I’m writing a scene where it’s gay.: Cheryl is listening to Josie sing as she draws, in the greatest reveal in television history (at least since “You’ve done a bad thing, Daddy,” which feels like it happened fifty-eight years ago) (is this actually gay? am I being #blessed with Gothic lesbian villainy?)

Every triangle has three corners, every triangle has three sides: Betty and Jughead literally sleeping together I WOULD ASSUME means they’re having sex except I’m like 0-4 on this stuff, I’m not taking anything as a given

Best costume bit: Betty’s flower decal sweater

VERONICA: How’s he been dealing with it? BETTY: WHAT’S HE BEEN DOING?

Veronica’s tiny poofy magenta skirt and EXTREMELY high heels

“Poor Kevin. He’s like a character in a lost Tennessee Williams play.” (Archie does not know Tennessee Williams)

Sheriff Keller is REMARKABLY forthcoming, in that I think he assumes Betty is going to dig around until she’s found this stuff out anyway, so he may as well show her the ACTUAL EVIDENCE PHOTOS now

Kevin is a cashmere-besweatered angel who plays RPG’s and drinks milk

dare I spy a Tarantino split-screen?

The female gaze: Tom Keller is jacked and this just complicates everything

the extent to which Veronica can be read as absolutely hitting on him while actually prying him for information while ostensibly offering comfort is a tribute to Camilla Mendes, James DeWille, 60,000 years of human speech

the animal targets on the wall as like, art?

aw, Kev took the floor. honestly thought he might have a bunk bed for like, his bears

God bless jingle-jangle: can you imagine having it in your obituary that you were “a jingle-jangle addict”? can someone finagle this for mine? is this blog a legal document?

50 Shades of Betty: I love how off the rails, if you will, Betty is this episode. she’s lost the forest for the trees a bit and it’s GREAT. she’s such a fucking oddball. Lili Reinhart’s massive eyes are like laserbeams of manic certainty

Summer + Blair = Veronica: Veronica is the only person with sense this entire episode. like what would it have been like if it was Veronica and Jughead in the first part? and Archie seeing Josie get a pig’s heart! AND CHERYL IN SHERIFF KELLER’S MAN-SWEAT BASEMENT

it appears the singing bass salesman made a stop at the Kellers’ after he hit up FP Jones

Please protect Betty: Betty’s expression of defiant stoicism throughout her father’s apology on her behalf and Keller explaining himself even further

“Where-oh-where do you think you’re going, Sheriff?” TO LIVE HIS LIFE, BETTY?

he is wearing a very Black Hood outfit of the leather jacket (!) over a flannel with jeans

love the split-second shot of the camera flash

Veronica was rich: of course Veronica’s in like thigh-high boots or whatever

OOOOOOOOHHH HE’S DOING THAAAAAAAT WITH HEEEERRRRRRR!

Veronica was 1) correct and 2) says “broment”

Pop keeps delicate teacups around for “fancy” orders

Cheryl’s structured red coat!

can you believe Jughead left BEFORE Pop got that phone call?

THE RECKONING, Y’ALL, IT’S HERE! MAYBE ONE SINGLE MORE PERSON WILL DIE!

NEXT WEEK TWENTY HOURS FROM NOW: Cheryl makes FP clean up a milkshake, and I enjoy this very special purchase

[4colorrebellion]

4cr Plays - Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux

It’s strange to look back on now, with regular releases, but 2009 was a bit of a weird time for the Shin Megami Tensei series. The Persona subseries had taken off, but it had been six years since Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - the last mainline entry in the series. With the staggering success of the Nintendo DS, it made sense that Atlus would want to release a Shin Megami Tensei game on the system. However, nobody knew quite what to expect out of Strange Journey.

I think a lot of fans were surprised by just how incredible of an experience it was, especially given the technological gap between the PS2 and the original DS. Yet, despite the primitive 3D graphics, Strange Journey was a wonderful game - one that could have been a “numbered” sequel in its own right. Co-developed with Etrian Odyssey masterminds Lancarse, Strange Journey presented an intense, atmospheric, and tough-as-nails dungeon crawler. It remains my favorite entry in the entire core series. 

Now, in the twilight years of the 3DS, Atlus has remade Strange Journey from the ground-up for a new audience. Does it hold up after almost another decade of RPG experiences? Read on for my impressions. 

The story of Strange Journey follows a special United Nations task force sent to investigate the Schwarzwelt - a dimensional portal that has opened in Antarctica that threatens to spread across the world. As if that wasn’t enough to worry about, your team is quickly overwhelmed by armies of demons waiting just on the other side of the portal. Rescued by an anonymous force and given a special powered suit, you must plunge into your new world and try to find a way to stop the growing portal before it is too late.

Like any great dungeon crawler, a lot of the “story” of Strange Journey is revealed not through words, but through exploration. Strange Journey is a dungeon crawler, where you explore a series of sprawling labyrinths. Each dungeon is complex - full of secrets to discover. The game was co-developed with the team behind the Etrian Odyssey series, and it shows in the world design. The dungeons are not just levels to work through, but are these living, breathing settings dripping with details. Like with the best Metroid games - or like, well, Etrian Odyssey - each dungeon is full of atmosphere. 

Strange Journey had more atmosphere than you would think the platfrom could pull off. It had this vibe - this mood - that is relatively rare, especially in the RPG genre. Strange Journey is not a happy-go-lucky tale of a plucky youth that saves the world. It is a horror game. Not splatter horror either, but full-on Lovecraftian psychological horror. The dungeons you explore are creepy-as-hell, and the story is bleak. Your plunge into the portal is not an adventure to be relished, but a suicide mission with nigh-impossible chance of success. 

While I’ve harped on about the world design, the story is still there, and it’s compelling. Further, like with other games in the Shin Megami Tensei series, you get a chance to shape the outcome through the decisions you make throughout the game. Your character has an alignment, like in Dungeons & Dragons, flowing between lawful and chaotic. Your alignment determines how certain story events play out, and which ending you get. You can also try to walk a neutral line - siding with neither chaos or law - but this is a harder path to follow. Strange Journey Redux also adds three additional new endings, and a new dungeon associated with these new endings. 

There is also a huge new dungeon, called the Womb of Grief. This dungeon is one you explore in pieces, triggered by new story events throughout the game. I will say that I don’t think the new dungeon is quite as compelling as the ones from the original game, but it doesn’t detract from the experience either. Some people will definitely appreciate having more content to work through.

The graphics have been redone from the ground-up for Strange Journey Redux, and this is largely a good thing. As much as I adore the original DS, its 3D games are not the easiest to dive into these days - occupying a strange place between technological generations. The remake offers more-or-less the same mood, but the graphics are cleaner and easier on the eyes. There are places where I actually prefer the original art - it felt darker and dirtier - but I think most people will prefer the remake. My main complaint is actually the redrawn character portraits, which just don’t quite capture Kazuma Kaneko’s incredibly unique style.

In addition to the new dungeons, new boss fights and sidequests, and the redrawn graphics, there have been massive presentation changes. Voice acting (in Japanese only) has been added for almost every line of dialogue, there is new music - which does fit in well with an amazing soundtrack - the UI has been redesigned, and a ton of quality of life improvements have been added. For example, known enemy weaknesses are now shown as part of the UI in battle. In addition, there are now three difficulty levels - casual, standard, and expert - instead of just one. The developers have stated that expert is the equivalent to the difficulty of the original game, which tells you how intense of a game it was. 

Even with easier difficulty levels, this game is not a walk in the park. The battle system is relatively simple in terms of mechanics. It’s turn-based, and your party members can attack with a weapon, use special skills, use items, or defend. If you hit an enemy with a move they are weak to, you can gain extra attack actions. However, you absolutely must take advantage of those weaknesses if you want to survive. You must learn when to boost your stats, when to weaken enemy stats, and you absolutely need to take your time and take advantage of those status moves that you can ignore in other RPGs. Even standard enemy battles - not bosses - can result in a game over if you don’t think strategically. 

That said, I don’t want to scare you away from Strange Journey - or the Shin Megami Tensei series in general. The game is hard, but it is very fair. You don’t tend to be taken down by a random roll of the dice, but by your own mistakes. You will repeat some battles, but there is nothing quite as satisfying as surviving the toughest bosses in the game. 

For those who have never played a Shin Megami Tensei game, one of the core mechanics is the ability to recruit demons to fight with you - sort of like Pokemon, but with mythological figures and way more tentacles. When you meet demons, you can choose to negotiate with them. Instead of fighting, you may be able to convince them to give you items or join your team. Each demon has its own skills, and they are what allows you to really take advantage of elemental weaknesses of enemies. 

The key to surviving battles lies in choosing the right demons, and in creating new demons through the fusion system. By combining two or more demons, you get new higher-level demons with unique abilities. The new demons inherit skills from their parents as well, allowing you to personalize demons with specialized combinations of abilities. Unlike in the original Strange Journey, you can now choose which skills are inherited as well, removing a major source of frustration. The fusion system is incredibly deep, and is a major part of achieving success. 

If you’ve never played a Shin Megami Tensei game, especially if you have never played Strange Journey, you really should check out Redux. It is an incredible, deep RPG experience - one of the best dungeon crawlers ever created. While I have a few minor old-man quibbles with artistic changes in the remake, there have been enough quality of life improvements to make this the definitive version of a masterpiece of the genre. Even if you’ve played the original Strange Journey, Redux makes enough changes to make it worth taking another plunge into the Schwarzwelt.

The publisher provided a review copy of the game.

Official Website

Nintendo eShop

[blue-mint-winter]

The Expanse s4e10 Cibola Burn - rewatch

I though cibola was some foreign word for onion (in Polish cebula=onion, sounds similar), but that doesn’t have anything to so with the ep, so once again I checked on wiki. The title is a reference to a myth of Seven Cities of Gold in Mexico, one of them was called Cibola. So basically Cibola Burn means the same as Gold Rush, because with Gao winning elections humanity is poised to colonize new worlds and search for treasures left by the Builders.

Ilus storyline reaches its happy conclusion. Lucia gets another chance with her family because Holden lies in his report that she died when she was thrown into space (besides, what court should she stand before? She’s not from Earth and settlers aren’t really part of the Belt anymore, they were refugees). The planet was shut down by Miller and the ships reactors work again. Settlers and Edward Israel crew work together now and continue the research.

I mentioned this season feels like half of it, because there are all these plot threads cut off in the middle of action. One of them is Murtry. He is a prisoner on Roci and we end on him and Amos starting a brawl.

Felcia also gets to go with Roci to Tycho and says goodbye to her family. Lucia and Jakob adopted the orphan boy Chike. Good for all of them!

I love Holden’s words to Miller, words that he didn’t say but wanted to. Thanks to Miller, humanity stands a chance to survive whatever they will find beyond the gates.

Elvi mentioned feeling a presence in the space between. Sounds like some cosmic entity like from Stephen King books or maybe Lovecraftian? I assume this entity could be what destroyed the Builders.

So Naomi collects on her favour from Fred Johnson, she wants him to find her son.

Ashford is such an old man that likes to lecture the youngsters. Too bad they don’t really listen. He’s not in a position to talk that violence isn’t an answer to a guy who just got his tooth taken out with pliers by Ashford’s thug. The connection between Inaros and Martian military is confirmed.

“Anything can be a weapon when it’s correctly applied.” - What true words for this ep. Pliers floating around can be a weapon for this Martian guy. A big asteroid can be a weapon in Inaros’ hands.

Ashford’s scene of boarding Inaros’ ship was great. He was so close to taking down Inaros when Filip came out from behind and stopped him. It seems the kid is totally on his dad’s side. I fear Naomi will be disappointed when she finally finds him :(

I think Ashford should have taken the shot at Inaros, even if Filip would have shot him after. This way he could take the enemy down with him. Instead he gets spaced and Inaros is alive.

Ashford going down the plank to his death singing a shanty. What a way to go. Rest in peace, you old space pirate.

But he managed to get out a message. Maybe to Drummer? It could be not too late to stop Inaros’ murderous plans.

Anyway, now we know why Sojourner was launched at Earth defenses. It gave Inaros information to plan the real attack. And hiding the asteroid with Martian stealth tech he got thanks to Esai and people like him. This is another storyline that is cut off in the middle. We see Inaros launch that rock but it didn’t hit yet. There’s still hope it’ll be stopped.

The Martian officer and Bobbie’s investigation confirm that there is an element in Martian government that wants Inaros to take down Earth and submerge it into chaos. Presumably to get headstart on claiming new planets?

Avasarala lost the campaign and the good news from Ilus bury her hopes for winning. She accepted it. I liked her congratulatory message to Nancy, from the head of state to her successor. She really is speaking from experience, especially that part about having a life to return to after her term in office is done.

Avasarala has to go to Luna to meet with Nancy’s team and pass on some info, help the transition of administration. She wants to make this a vacation trip with Arjun, but he refuses. Things aren’t good and the events of the campaign and her unethical actions put a strain on their marriage. But I think with some effort they would be able to rebuild it. Unless Arjun gets killed by that asteroid :(

Bobbie and Leelee finally bury the hatchet which is really cool. I guess Bobbie has that marine instinct to take care of her squad even if they’re a bunch of thieves and criminals :) She worried about Esai taking such a shady job and she was right. I love that when he didn’t pick the phone, she went off on her own to help. That’s such a Bobbie thing to do. Too bad she didn’t manage to save Esai, but at least Leelee survived.

Great that Leelee confesses about that murder of customs agent and that it was accidental. She fought the guy, but didn’t want to kill him. I think it means a lot that she trusted Bobbie and let go of her tough girl persona to tell the truth.

The dock got blown up with a bomb left by those thieves and it’s just so Bobbie that she’s on the case. There’s a corruption within Martian military and these events give her a new purpose that she’s been searching for all this time.

Bobbie and Avasarala are about to team up once again! Great! :)

So next episode when? Oh... the season is over. Noooooooo!!!!!!