#Snail Tribe (Hollow Knight)

[lionsdendoodles]

I have hollow knight ocs fun fact haha So anyway Let me introduce the ones I have refs for!!! :)

This is Pyrif! She's a Moss Moth that comes from Greenpath. She's sort of a protector of the place that's trying to save it all from the infection, to no avail.

This is Fauna. She's a disabled Orchid Mantis from the mantis tribe. She lives in the Queen's Gardens, trying to convince any mantis she may come across, infection or not, to just sit and join her with her gardening. With the Queen's Gardens not being really cared for much anymore, she sort of sees it all as fair game to prune up and make it look nice.

This is Lorotox, a great scorpion guard from the City of Tears. Being from the White Palace originally, he was tasked to stay and guard the City. Once the king disappeared, and the infection slowly set in, he was left alone, eventually hiding down in the sewers in hopes he could hear word from any survivors of the king's whereabouts. So far, he's heard nothing.

And last but not least, this is Naamio. She's a snail mask collector, taking any and all masks and shells from bugs, dead or alive. She uses what she collects to adorn her shell with. She might act kind on the outside, however she is surprisingly a scary force to be reckoned with.

[royalsmugbird]

Back on my Hollow Knight binge! Who wants some self-indulgent head cannons about Higher Beings???

...

(I do!)

Great!

Hallownest goes through waves/eras of Higher Beings

The first wave/era of Higher Beings was the Shade Lord

Second wave/era were Radiance, Grimm, and Unn

The White Lady came sometime after them, but is still considered second wave

Pale King marks the third wave/era

Events of the game are a fourth wave/era

The Nightmare and Dream Realms may have once been the same, but Grimm and the Radiance were always separate beings

Grimm’s control/shackles of The Ritual over the Troupe is akin to what the hivemind of the Radiance was over the moths/the Infection

Grimm controls the “Heart” of the subconscious -- the bound mortals must be willing and maintain full autonomy of mind/personality, but forget their past and all previous attachments (Brumm/Nymm)

The Radiance controls the “Mind” of the subconscious -- the bound mortals can be unwilling and lose all control of autonomy, but appear to maintain past memories

The denizens of the Fungal Wastes (barring the Mantises) were once worshippers/followers of Unn

They were cut off by the arrival of the White Lady, and later exacerbated by the Pale King, but now worship her

The White Lady is a semi-parasitic/harmful Higher Being, hence the thorns in her Gardens/the White Palace

The Fungal Wastes are another byproduct of her parasitism, being a toxic/noxious place, but with creatures that are capable of philosophizing/higher thought (Mister Mushroom, Fungal Core, etc.)

The Fog Canyon is a result of her and the Pale King’s equal influence over the land, being extremely dangerous (acid/electricity everywhere) but also the epicenter of the kingdom’s knowledge and philosophy

By the time of the Pale King, the Shade Lord is completely forgotten. However, some bugs worship the Void itself, still.

Tribes that have higher thoughts without the worship of a Higher Being used to worship the Shade Lord/Void, but no longer do (Mantids/Deep Nest/Hive)

They’re desperately sought after for conversion/destruction by newer, territorial gods

Hence the Pale King’s attempts at diplomacy/conquering, and the Radiance’s infecting these tribes

Active worship is marked by Void stains on their face/body, and eventual blindness/death by Void poisoning (No Eyes, Traitor’s Child, Snail Shamans, etc.)

Hallownest tends to lean matriarchal with its High Beings and societal structures

3 of the 5 gendered deities are female (Unn, White Lady, Radiance)

Most tribes/peoples are matriarch led (Moths, Mantids, Deep Nest, the Hive, Flukes, etc.)

Even male-led peoples have maternal traits (Grubfather, Elderbug, etc.)

That the third wave/current Hallownest is patriarchal/led by the Pale Kins and is an anomaly

Some of the non-converted peoples see this as an abomination, hence refusal to worship or actively seeking destruction

The Grimm Troupe/Nightmare Heart is technically also genderless

Having tied itself to a mortal vessel, it does take on the gender of its current iteration

The Troupe Master/Grimmchild can vary in gender

*personally head cannons the current Grimmchild as female*

Do all these head cannons align with lore? Don’t really know. But I like em, and I hope y’all do too!

[dean23456]

Hollow knight ocs and some details

The first image were apart of a bunch hollow knight ocs from bugs and such. These 2 were my favs. The vessel is a new one. I don't have much but here's some stuff I thought up.

The Moth one (Male)

. Has a isopod pet

. The white circle parts confuse people, they think its his eyes.

. Made the weapon himself

. Not apart of the moth tribe. Probably something else.

. Based off a Giant leopard moth

The Snail one (Male)

. Puts on a buncha sheilds for added defense

. Spits out a toxic fluid

. Has a weapon, but I don't know what exactly yet.

. Can attack by rolling

. Based off a fire snail

The Vessel (She/They)

. Insert vessel lore here

. Escaped by finding a crack just big enough, however it was blocked off due to the infection

. Idk but the Moth and Snail find her and take her in

. Probably gets some power thing and gets fused with it.

. The collar is something that the Moth found.

[mebis-art-dump]

Ok after coming back to this and looking at the stuff that led me to think this again with fresh eyes, this is probably not it

Thing is, besides wrapping their dead in fabric as if to mummify them (most obvious with entombed husk) there's also two "sarcophagus" in the game, one containing godseeker and the other a dead snail shaman guarding over soul eater

Both of these are referred to in the wanderer's journal as "cocoons"

This name implies burials were seen as akin to metamorphosis, which makes sense as far as rebirth/reincarnation believes would look like in a bug kingdom

And at this point old me just went "ah like the wyrm", but upon reconsideration it isn't quite right

First off, despite the blaring similarities to metamorphosis, the structure the king form emerged from is only ever referred to as an egg (funny that the one to talk about its transformation is a caterpillar though)

Furthermore, there's reason to believe the average hallownest citizen didn't know of the king's origin as a Wyrm, given the halt of city progress just before kingdom's edge and their belief that the king created the world (but is not like the knowledge about his identity as a wyrm was taboo or anything though, those who were in the know, like the fungal tribe, didn't hesitate to refer to him as such)

One could also argue that the snail tribe is apparently older than hallownest, that godseeker is not of these lands (and also potentially in a real literal cocoon given her transformed body), or that the author of the wanderer's journal isn't even from hallownest

But godseeker's cocoon is also referred to as such in-game, and the snail's grave is in hallownest burial grounds, so it could be following a relatively standard (albeit pretty high class for the looks of it) burial method, so I'm inclined to believe coffin/sarcophagus= cocoon is a standard thing in universe

Now, one could be inclined to believe that these could've been adopted from moth beliefs given their role as caretakers of resting grounds, but for one their whole shtick is about memories and preserving the life of the dead through remembering them (which kind of goes against what metamorphosis is about imo)

This moth tribe was created in the image of Radiance, and there are no mentions of a "caterpillar/grub" phase for them, so is dubious if they even go for such a stage; and even if they did, given that they were still pretty much physical and functioning adult members of the society as moths, such a stage would be a mere coming of age/growing into adulthood thing, rather than ascending to a higher plane or a new life

Metamorphosis itself seems to be a rare/mythical thing on Hallownest, if you think about it

There's Wyrms, but there's also grubberflies, which are stated to have mysterious powers and their method of metamorphosis is rather bizarre, with the grub caretaker card implying they even mess around in dreams once they reach that state (although not few would cast doubt over how canon this obscure piece of text that used to come with merch is)

Bardoom is old enough to know in depth about wyrms and also stupidly large, yet shows no signs of wanting to or being able to go through metamorphosis; marmu talks about wanting the Queen to teach it to fly, and I agree that this implies metamorphosis, but it also implies the need for WL specifically in order to do so, and there's reason to believe that she has powers related to growth and transformation/evolution

Godseeker also shows a metamorphosis of sorts, but how natural it is is unclear, and she already has a lot of magic antics going on

Now, there's only two things in the game proper that are called cocoon

The godseeker coffin, and lifeseed cocoons

In a way, lifeseeds also go through metamorphosis, maybe this plays a role in the taboo around consuming them

Ok that has been enough rambling for today

Tldr there's one (1) point in common between the beliefs of hollow knight bugs and Homestuck trolls it seems

Somewhat marginally related to my previous art post, there *may* be a connection between the "death" of the Wyrm and Hallownest burial beliefs

If anyone wanna hear about that

[writing-frenzy]

I am having emotions about snails. Just...

Like, in Hollow knight, all these corpses are walking around willy nilly, reanimated or something with the Old Light... But not the Snails. Oh no, not them.

And since they can be dreamnail, can even notice it, I would think they can dream (maybe?) But still, they are still. Unmoving. No sign of life unless you dreamnail them, besides the one who had been experimented on, and they literally just scream in agony at you, suffering until the spell is taken finally... Like, it honestly feels like the stasis Hallownest was in was more of a curse for the Snails, or that could just be me (honestly a curse for everything.).

But the fact remains; the Old Light couldn't seem to do anything to them? The place where we see the Snail Shaman? Sure, there are infected there, but you notice none of them are fucking with him? None of them are even going towards, when he is so close and a seemingly easy target? That cage door is not closed when we leave if I remember right, and from what we heard, he goes and wanders his temple regularly, despite all the infected; the Baldur was just a little much for him (or maybe he just didn't want to have to kill an old companion himself). There is way more to this guy then meets the eye.

Not to mention, just where the Ancestral Mound is; the Crossroads, a place so obviously touched by PK, and yet it is still sitting all cosy, untouched? Hidden in fact, and we know how the Pale King likes to hide his shames and vulnerabilities.

Well, when he can't just destroy or convince them other wise.

But the Mound still stands... And that says a lot honestly.

I could probably go on, but I feel like this is a good place to stop my ramble.

[silverstar56]

Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Hollow Knight (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Hollow Knight OC, Snail Tribe, Snail Tribe OCs, Overgrown Grove Snail Shaman, Self Insert OC, Vessels (Hollow Knight), Children of Wyrm and Root | Radiant Children, The Pale King (Hollow Knight), Herrah the Beast (Hollow Knight) Additional Tags: Hollow Knight General Warnings, Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, no infection au, Nobility, Bigotry & Prejudice, So I am doing this huh, Gijinka Elements, Fae Rules and Dynamics, No Beta I die like a maggot, do not copy to another site, Deepnest, For reasons not yet stated they will be called Blessed Children here instead of Radiant, Nosk Warning Summary:

-are lost.

A young snail's journey in his new life, seeking to enjoy it in a world both known and unknown, while in the dark secrets start to slowly unfold.

"Well, isn't that ominously cryptic." "I'm a snail; it's pretty much business as usual."

I’ve been in the Hollow Knight Ao3 fics and I found this gem of a fic. Honestly not enough people know about it and I think more people should read it because the world-building and the characters that make this fic is AMAZING.

Especially since it has a focus of the Shaman Snail Tribe. They are exploring one of the most mysterious tribes in the Hollow Knight world and they are doing it so wonderfully that I can’t help but GUSH.

So please check it out and leave a review for the author! They definitely deserve it!

[ruthlesslistener]

Begging people to realize that equating the very real struggle of indigenous tribes attempting to take back the land that was stolen to them to the canonically genocidal primary antagonist of a game about anthro bugs is not a 'woke' take, its got horribly racist connotations especially paired with the heavy Christian/crusader imagery said moth posesses. Claiming that the Pale King is a colonizer and that the Radiance is trying to take back her lands doesn't just ignore the fact that the game specifically makes both the Pale King and the Radiance out to be equally bad (which is TERRIBLE in the case of an oppressed/oppressor power dynamics), it also places the rightful anger and pain of conquered people in a very grim light. Especially since she infected all but ONE of the native tribes to use as she wished, including those who had personal gripes with the expansion and harassment of the Pale King and the White Lady- aka, the Mosskin. She isn't just enacting revenge on the gods that tried to kill her, she's also targeting and killing innocents. Which, granted, she already was doing by infecting the tribes under the Pale King's rule (who are native people too btw!!! There are fossilized beetles everywhere!!! They are NOT colonists!!!), but the point still stands: she is not just trying to take back what was taken from her, she's destroying everyone in her path in a petty rage and is stealing the free will of the OTHER tribes that are native to the area. Because that's another thing that often gets overlooked: the Moth Tribe wasn't the only one native to Hallownest, nor were they the first. Why then, should they be treated as if they were the only victims of the two gods? Especially since we have no canonical evidence suggesting how their numbers dwindled, meaning that either the Pale King OR the Radiance killed them. We have canonical evidence of Radi being a spiteful bastard who heavily infects any she thinks 'betrayed' her (with Deepnest), and though I personally believe that the Pale King heavily coerced the Moth Tribe to switch sides to him, the fact that the Seer laments her tribe's mistakes has some ill connotations. They aren't the first who came to Hallownest, and they aren't the first to suffer because of the Radiance. This is not a tale about the goddess of a conquered tribe clawing her way back to freedom in a rightous path of vengence. This is a slaughter. This is genocide.

And that's another thing: the Radiance is the PRIMARY ANTAGONIST of Hollow Knight. The only option is to kill her. She is not at all depicted sympathetically by the game- and for very good reason. How the FUCK is equating her anger and bloodshed to the pain of conquered peoples supposed to be a good thing??

Also, there are not-so-subtle hints in-game that the Radiance herself was responsible for the near-complete destruction of the Void civilization, which makes this comparison even worse. The platform you dreamnail to get the abyss shriek are carved like the snail shaman stones and have dreamnail dialogue saying 'our voices will cry out again', which has grim connotations when paired with the knowledge that the void spells are all gained from snail shamans that have undergone great pain. Shamans who are capable of manipulating and understanding void magic, implying that they were the tribe that made up the bulk of the original void civilization, whose small numbers paired with the Radiance's dreamnail dialogue paint a VERY grim picture of what she did to the civilization that came before her. She HERSELF is a genocidal conquerer, and the Knight killing her in either Dream No More or Godhome is INDICATIVE of them ending the abuse that both the Pale King AND the Radiance inflicted on their siblings. Claiming that the Radiance was fighting back against a conquering force ignores the fact that she herself was canonically a conquering force herself that wrought untold pain upon people who did not deserve it- just like the Pale King.

And to top it off: as great as TC are, they're white men. White Christian men. They most certainly did not try to write a narrative about colonism, but if they did...yikes.

TDLR: The take that the Pale King is a colonizer and that the Radiance was the goddess of a native tribe that got eradicated by him isn't just innaccurate, it is also horribly, horribly racist.

[writing-frenzy]

He is awesome and I want to hug him

Fufking,,,grampa

[themythicalmuse]

gonna post some headcanons about snail shamans [snamans] because i think about them so much and i love them so much. you dont have to agree with me but i think these are relatively plausible explanations for what is found in canon. if you do disagree with what ive said/it contradicts canon do tell me i would love to learn more and hear other perspectives!

under a read more [hopefully, i dont really know how to work tumblr] because this got way too out of hand but im not cutting any of it out because i need to get this out of my system

edit: this is outdated and im crossing out the specific headcanon that i hate the rest are still kinda fine though. not deleting this for archival purposes. i might post more/different/updated snaman headcanons at some point though because i love them so much and i think about them all the time

snail shamans have been around since the time of the ancient civilisation [i call the the "void kingdom" because they worshipped the void and civilisation is too long]. considering they are made out of void and look very different to the large corpses seen around hallownest i theorise that they were created by the void kingdom for some reason. i know youre thinking "oh but jasper the snail shaman is freaked out by how the knight is hollow and says they wouldnt even dream about going to the abyss!" but the snail shaman species has been around for many generations while the ancestral mound snaman hasnt been! the snail shamans species has experienced the death of the void kingdom, the war between the mantises and the deepnest tribe, the rise of hallownest, period of hallownest, the decay of hallownest, and some time after and it doesnt look like the ancestral mound guy is going to die soon. presumably during the kingdom of hallownests life snail shamans as a species were still alive and thriving [albeit, the population was most likely declining due to pale kings aversion to shamanism], considering the crystals in crystal peak are controlled/fueled by the radiance, the howling wraiths shaman is overgrown showing time, and one of the snamans was experimented on during hallownests decline. the snaman in ancestral mound was created sometime during hallownest/around the death and rebirth of the pale king.

snail shamans are made of void and they dissolve upon death like how the collector does and the reason theres a sarcophagus in the resting grounds is because the shell is stored upon death!! the sarcophagus is decorated with an ornate and intricate replica of the deceased shamans shell and a replica of their staff while the insides contain the real shell and staff, while the liquid void remains either seep into the ground or are stored in jars like the ones seen in the crypts. the body doesnt actually stay solid and the sarcophagus is just for their belongings. theres only one sarcophagus in canon but this is because you simply havent found the others. they are there.

back to the creation of the snail shamans, i think the members of the ancient civilisation created the snail shamans out of concentrated void liquid and soul. both mask maker and godseeker have dialogue that emphasises the importance of shells, masks and headpieces in terms of identity and focus, so i think that the true thing that animates the snamans is their handcrafted shells. their shells could possibly be crafted out of different materials, however, my guess would be the primary material utilised is shellwood. cause its light yet sturdy and easy to build out of, and its got shell in the name so it makes sense [sources: bro trust me]. these shells would be crafted by the creator of each shaman individually [or commissioned by the creator or something]. eventually, the practice of creating new snail shamans was passed down to the snamans themselves, which is how they developed semi-familial systems of referral.

i dont believe snamans had actual blood relations, however, they had a close system of bonding that is akin to family. for example, indigenous people [specifically aboriginal australians since i am one, but maybe native americans etc.] refer to almost all other indigenous people as their family. indigenous woman whos older than you? theyre all your aunties. any indigenous youth, little kids, teenagers and early 20s, if youre a similar age? cousin, etc etc etc. so i think snamans would have a more symbolic sense of family than a literal one considering they create each other manually rather than giving birth.

havent even touched on snamans and their connection lifeblood, souls and spells, charms, and skulls, nor their relations with other tribes, but i might do those at a later date because as i have said i cannot stop thinking about these little fuckers. if you read this far im genuinely impressed and thanks i guess

[howhow326]

So uh, I made a Hollow Knight oc two years ago and posted it on Pinterest. Then I posted on Reddit one year ago. So I guess I'll post it to Tumblr now:

(Writing on the Page)

Snail Shaman

Glowing eyebrows?

Staff has a tooth on it

Helix is a kind of rebel among the snail shamans; when he came of age he left Hollow Nest to become an adventurer and explore other kingdoms.

Unfortunately for Helix, apparently he was the only Snail Shaman that had more than two braincells because all of his family members are dead except the one guy (who's fate can become uncertain if you forget to unlock a door).

I imagined that Helix would be a type of recurring bossfight for Ghost, ala Hornet, that would attempt to gatekeep the Snail charms until you beat him. He is pretty much the only Snail Shaman that was decent at physical combat, although his magic is definitely his strong suit. He fights like those annoying teleporting spiders in the haunted tower.

More on Helix:

His father is the dead Snail Shaman located in Burial Grounds. He dosen't know who his mother is, but she probably was a cone snail like him.

Before he died, Helix's dad was basically the chief of the Snail Shaman tribe. After he died, which happened around the same time Helix left, the other Snail just kind of lost contact with each other because of how far away their homes were from one another.

Helix is way older than he looks.

One of the kingdoms he encountered was Pharloom from SilkSong. That place was worse than HollowNest, somehow.

More specifically, Helix is about the same age as Hornet

Helix blames the Pale King for everything bad happening in HollowNest.

Helix dosen't like Vessels. He thinks they are the Pale King's weird science expirement. He calls them "empty ones".

Helix blames the Moth tribe for the infection because "the dreamworld is their business".

He avoids Deepnest for the same reasons as everyone else.

Bigot

Helix has three skulls on his necklace. That mini drawing is wrong.

Bossfight time: Helix can use all of the same SOUL spells as Ghost. As mentioned before, he can teleport. He can only take about 5 hits from the tier 2 nail, which would make him just a mini boss. A scary mini boss.

[incorrecthollowknightquotes]

So after I sent you my headcanon, I began asking myself "Just how old is Elderbug?" Elderbug remarks that the Stagways were closed since before his birth, which happened sometime during the infection. So with that knowledge, here's an unexhausted list of people that are older than Elderbug:

White Lady

The Last Stag

Ogrim (Dung Defender)

Ze'mer (Grey Mourner)

Mister Mushroom (implied by his Dream Nail dialog)

Bardoon (implied by his dialog)

The Hunter (implied by his dialog)

Seer

Snail Shaman (the rest of the tribe died during the infection)

Midwife (implied by her dialog)

Mantis lords (were alive before the infection)

Traitor Lord

Emilita (alive before the infection, though she is also referred to as "Eternal Emilita")

The Hollow Knight

The Knight (every vessel has the same age)

Hornet (spent time with Herrah before she became a dreamer)

Quirrel (like Hornet spent time with Monomon before she became a dreamer)

In conclusion: Elderbug isn't old, he's just jaded as fuck while characters like Quirrel, who are in comparison much older, appear younger due to positive vibes (or in Hornets case, probably a refusal to age)

I do kinda have a headcanon for that? Mostly me just theorizing. With Quirrel’s case, he may have been kept younger because Monomon’s seal was keeping him alive until he broke it- or for the same reasons as the next paragraph.

So Hallownest was in a stasis, right? Anyone who was alive during the stasis (the Nailsmith, the Nailmasters, The Old Stag, etc) doesnt age. Not until the stasis is over or until they are killed. Anyone born (or well, hatched, since they’re bugs) after the stasis was in place or who came from outside of Hallownest ages normally, which is why Elderbug is so old yet barely remembers the Kingdom.

[fishyfishs]

Midwife thoughts

Disclaimer: I am not a hollow knight lore expert, and someone else has probably said something like this before, this is just a ton of speculation based on not much evidence. Also spoilers! I think it’s interesting that midwife can tell when she’s being dreamnailed. The only other characters who can tell are the white lady, who is a “higher being” and/or god of some sort. Seer, who’s whole species is closely connected to dreams. Snail shaman, who, like seer, his tribe was very knowledgeable about soul and maybe dreams as well. As well as Bardoon, who I also think is an interesting character. So Midwife. Her dreamnail dialogue sounds very frantic, she obviously doesn’t want anything in her mind, and i don’t blame her. She watched someone she was close to basically lay down to die, took care of her daughter who eventually left and didn’t return to visit, and on top of all of that the infection that Herrah was basically dying to prevent got spread anyway and she watched everyone she’s ever known (there were probably bugs in that village that she had raised!) either die or become a mindless husk. Yeah, I’d be paranoid too. Maybe her acute awareness of the infection/the radiance makes it so she can tell when her thoughts are being monitored. Maybe she’s so hungry all the time because she forces herself to stay awake. I personally find that when I have an especially hard time sleeping, I am always hungry/looking for a source of energy. I hope this makes sense because I’m just rambling in my brain at this point lol.

[withr-rozez]

A Hollow Knight Ramble

So, I was in the bathroom talking to myself as always, and I was thinking: If the Pale King and the Radiance just talked everything out Hallownest wouldn’t have fallen, and so, I am here to ramble about that.

So I looked into the Radiance’s history a bit and learning the Moth Tribe actually turned their backs to her for absolutely no reason to worship the Pale King, at first I didn’t think much about it, but earlier today I was rambling about it to myself.

If PK and Radi just talked everything would’ve worked out, and maybe if all the higher being coexisted with one another each one of the tribes could’ve had different jobs, Menderbugs, of course fix broken signs, the Mosskin could’ve guided travelers through Greenpath, the Mushroom Clan having the same job but in the Fungal Wastes, and the Mantises serving as protectors from threats.

Monomon would of course teach others and gather information in the archives, Lurien would keep watch over the City of Tears, and Herrah and the Weavers would weave spells and tapestries.

The Snail Shamans and the Soul Sanctum Scholars would teach about the uses of soul, the Grimm Troupe could provide entertainment (Of course continuing the ritual), the split in the dream realm could be mended.

I’m pretty sure you know what I’m going with, whelp! My job here is done!

[tabletoptrinketsbyjj]

Trinkets, 32: Interesting baubles, semi magical objects and items touched by mystery.

A heavy copper coin on which the face on the coin has been carved into an elegant skull. Knowledgeable PC’s will be able to recognize the mark as the symbol of a local thieves guild and can find a saying in thieves cant carved around the edge of the coin.

Genevieve's: A small tin canister containing a few dozen candies that (According to the labelling), were accidentally synthesized by the gnomish alchemist Genevieve Boghopper. They're big lumpy balls that rapidly change colors, each representing a different flavor, until they come into contact with saliva. The instructions mention that trying to put it in your mouth at the right moment to get your favorite flavor is a challenge and fun game.

A worn but well-polished, silver inlaid gavel.

A complex abacus made with snail shells.

A long-stem pipe made of bone, carved to look like a devil.

A palm-sized mechanical crab that looks more like a tin can with metal legs and claws attached to it. Winding up this device causes it to skitter and jump about snapping its claws until it falls over. Apart from amusing small children, the item doesn’t seem to have any practical use.

A bracelet of halfing design, carved from a single moss agate.

A metal cylinder that smells at all times of burnished copper and a slight whiff of sulfur. When shaken, a rattling noise  emanates from inside of it.

A slim wand that leaves a trail of faint sparkles behind as it moves through the air when being used as a focus for casting magical spells.

Stone Sleeve: A stone sleeve is little more than a narrow cloth tube that is tied to the inner forearm so the opening rests in the palm. The sleeve can then be filled with up to six good-sized throwing stones or sling bullets. The sleeve can be opened with ease, allowing the bearer to arm himself with one of the rocks stored within as a free action.

—Keep reading for 90 more trinkets.

—Note: The previous 10 items are repeated for easier rolling on a d100.

A heavy copper coin on which the face on the coin has been carved into an elegant skull. Knowledgeable PC’s will be able to recognize the mark as the symbol of a local thieves guild and can find a saying in thieves cant carved around the edge of the coin.

Genevieve's: A small tin canister containing a few dozen candies that (According to the labelling), were accidentally synthesized by the gnomish alchemist Genevieve Boghopper. They're big lumpy balls that rapidly change colors, each representing a different flavor, until they come into contact with saliva. The instructions mention that trying to put it in your mouth at the right moment to get your favorite flavor is a challenge and fun game.

A worn but well-polished, silver inlaid gavel.

A complex abacus made with snail shells.

A long-stem pipe made of bone, carved to look like a devil.

A palm-sized mechanical crab that looks more like a tin can with metal legs and claws attached to it. Winding up this device causes it to skitter and jump about snapping its claws until it falls over. Apart from amusing small children, the item doesn’t seem to have any practical use.

A bracelet of halfing design, carved from a single moss agate.

A metal cylinder that smells at all times of burnished copper and a slight whiff of sulfur. When shaken, a rattling noise  emanates from inside of it.

A slim wand that leaves a trail of faint sparkles behind as it moves through the air when being used as a focus for casting magical spells.

Stone Sleeve: A stone sleeve is little more than a narrow cloth tube that is tied to the inner forearm so the opening rests in the palm. The sleeve can then be filled with up to six good-sized throwing stones or sling bullets. The sleeve can be opened with ease, allowing the bearer to arm himself with one of the rocks stored within as a free action.

A small sapphire ear cuff carved in the shape of a creature’s fang

Song Collar: A set of iron tubes designed to aid traveling musicians in learning new or complex compositions for the lute, violin, or another similar stringed instrument. Built to fit snugly over a normal quarterstaff, this item consists of a long metal collar that slips down over the top half of the staff, roughly two feet long for a typical staff. The metal's surface is covered with rows of small, dimpled indentations, ostensibly to provide a better grip on the staff. In reality, these indentations correspond with the fingering for a piece of music to be played on a preferred instrument of the owner. Song collars crafted gnome engineers as training tools for journeymen, enabling them to practice chords and notes while traveling without attracting attention. A creature can actively learn or practice an instrument while traveling and maintaining a normal walking pace. While practicing on the move, the bearer suffers disadvantage on perception checks and is only considered to be practicing half as quickly as normal. For example a PC attempting to learn ho to play the lute who trains while walking for eight hours is only considered to have practiced for four hours towards becoming proficient in the instrument.

A knight’s banner consisting of a vertical black rectangle with a black rook eclipsing a white sun on a field of black and purple.

A cut and polished piece of glass that could almost pass for an actual gemstone.

A dwarven brass puzzle cube with runes on it. Numerous rectangular pieces are interwoven with each other, and need to be moved in a particular order to take it apart. After completing the many puzzles require to take the object apart, the bearer can see that the core is just a small sphere with the words “So you think you’re smart do you? Shove off!” written on it.

An acorn with little green sprouts that retreat back into the nut when exposed to sunlight.

A stein decorated with a design depicting a fearsome kraken tearing a ship apart during a tumultuous sea voyage. Golden threads decorate the bottom of the design and line the polished metal lid of the stein.

A little toy wagon with a coffin, drawn by skeletal horses. As the wheels turn a scratching sound can be heard from inside the coffin.

A mirror that shows the reflection of the viewer as if they were the opposite gender.

An ivory flute mouthpiece, noticeably lacking in the rest of the instrument. When held to the mouth, the rest of the flute coalesces. Its ghostly blue form is semisolid and always produces sweet but strangely sad notes.

A simply painted, wooden jester’s mask with an unsettling smile carved in. The eyes show the same glee that a child shows as they burn ants with a piece of glass, not fully grasping the value of life. This mask  mildly compels to bearer to tell jokes, pull pranks and play tricks, although cruel and twisted ones more often than not.

A smallish oaken strongchest, bound in bronze. Inside it rests four fat, tightly-packed pouches of waxed linen filled with a brilliant scarlet dyestuff and three dried bundles of the ruddy, weedy herb of unknown type the dye was rendered from. One bundle is tied with a crude map to the source of the herb.

A hollow, seamless, clear quarts cube with unknown beasts carved in negative into the inside.

An ocarina made out of a large beetle exoskeleton. When played, the sound is not dissimilar to a cricket’s chirp.

A cultist's rod made of salt encrusted driftwood. Snail shells and crab claws are attached to twine that wraps around the top of the rod.

A stein made of silver and ivory depicting a scene of a picturesque dwarven mountain village.

A mechanical puzzle made of a blue crystal surrounded by an intricate pattern of pieces of wood, inscribed with strange symbols and fastened together with black cord. The crystal contains a number of interlocking pieces, which can be carefully taken apart and maneuvered through the cords and wood.

A a squat, round bottle with the bottom half wrapped in twine containing a rare distilled spirit from desert regions known as Aleaqrab. More commonly referred to as Scorpion Whiskey, the liquid is a dark, rusty brown, and is similar in viscosity to maple syrup, though it’s not nearly as sticky. The thickener is hidden at the bottom of the bottle: a scorpion tail, severed from a living creature. The tail is removed and immediately dropped into a full bottle of barley spirit; the mixture of blood and venom give the drink its trademark color and flavor, along with an unusual extra kick. Aleaqrab is traditionally drunk as a shot. It smells metallic and vaguely briny. It has a strong copper flavor with notes of honey, and a piquant burn closer to a hot pepper than regular alcohol. Drinkers of weak weak constitutions often find that the scorpion venom causes their mouth and tongue to go numb for hours after taking even a single shot.

A broken crow skull. The missing pieces of the skull have been replaced with carved, polished and smooth green crystal.

A finely crafted silver hand mirror. Whomever looks into the mirror will see an idealized version of the person they are currently thinking of.

A monocle that when looked through shows a brief memory of the wearers biggest regret.

A paper with an illustration of a beautiful woman with ink hearts around it and the name of a city. On the back is a love poem dedicated to the woman. A well read PC will recognize the woman as a purely fictional character from a romance novel.

A handheld sounding post-horn. The instrument has detailed, graphic engravings of humanoids being torn asunder by sword and axe. A single blow of this horn will surely strike fear in any tribe or group that has the misfortune of being a target for conquest.

A scrap of parchment with detailed drawing of a demonic ritual circle

A shuttered bullseye lantern shaped like a screaming mouth. It contains a stubby black candle that burns far slower that should be possible.

A small figurine made of soapstone carved into the shape of a snail wearing a saddle.

A plush doll of a male human wearing hunting clothing, a crossbow and a sword. There's a slit on the doll's back allowing it to be turned inside out, turning him into a black dire wolf. Both only have one eye.

An onyx carved into a small coin. The obverse sigil is a simple flat line denoting the void. The reverse a phrase in common that reads “No barrier will hold back my anger.”

A wooden hand cranked coffin shaped box that, when opened, reveals a set of domino tiles made of grey bones.

A satchel containing a cloth measuring tape, a hammer, saw, shovel, and a small box of nails. All of the objects, including the satchel are sized for a small child to use and a perceptive PC can find stitching on the interior of the satchel that reads “My Little Undertaker”.

A set of panpipes fashioned from a tree struck by lightning.

A sturdy leather wallet branded with the symbol of a pair of spears crossing over a shield. It contains a full set of certified identification papers denoting that the bearer is a corporal with a good service record in a well respected mercenary company. The section containing the member's physical description (Height, weight, sex, race, eye, skin and hair colour) is completely blank and could be filled in by anyone with half decent handwriting.

A rose-cut golden opal wrapped carefully in twine.

A clockwork depiction of a hag stirring a cauldron with two withered cloth arms. As the stirrer is cranked, a haunting tune plays. As the tune crescendos, a scream is heard and a child's head pops out of the cauldron. To reset the toy, the child's head must be pushed back into the cauldron.

A talisman carved from jet, in the shape of a panther’s claw.

A waterproof scrollcase filled with parchments covered in artificer's diagrams for various inventions, mainly those relating to what looks like attempts to create flying machines. The case contains a fair bit of sawdust, metal shavings and other evidence that the arcane engineer may have already started construction.

A glass skull wrapped in taut, tanned humanoid leather.

A bone smoking pipe. Its stem is too short for the smoking of poppy-seed and the bowl is too small for any substantial amount of tobacco.

An artificial hand carved of bogwood with silver inlays indicating the location of every bone in the wrist, palm, and fingers; all labeled in a looping, unknown script.

A perfectly preserved human heart, encased in a clear glass cube.

A box compass, hard leather, scuffed, and no larger than a snuffbox. Reveals a sphere struck through by a red needle, suspended in a crystal ball filled with clear liquid. The needle points north, even if rotated in three dimensions.

A cast iron fly, large as a chicken's egg. The legs are bent, and a wing is missing. Tucked between the legs is the remnant of a mounting track, the kind used to attach ornaments to connection pins on metal armor.

A cloisonné dreidel. Each face, gold-leafed lead set with colored garnets, depicts a geometric face, each bearing a different expression: Bare-toothed anger, sneering disgust, white-eyed fear, and twisted, wretched misery.

The Pipe Pipe: A smoking pipe that doubles as a musical pipe. If the bearer smokes and plays the instrument at the same time, he can magically control the shape of the smoke, creating small billowing forms.

A copper cicada tarnished blue-green. Large enough to fill the palm. The hump of its thorax is set with a large malachite cabochon. Some examination reveals said cabochon is a button. Its mechanism, though somewhat stuck with age, causes the cicada's wings to lift, revealing a small, oblong storage space in the abdomen. The wings must be reset manually. They click into place, locked tight.

A fragment of bone, obviously the concave top plate of a human cranium, edged with pitted gold. Three inches wide and carved on the inside with cramped script. A reader adept in Abyssal will discern an outdated version of a prayer to the Dark Lord of Random Evil Domain carved within.

A heavy glass heart that is perfectly to scale with a human heart. The object is crafted of dark, smoky glass and has a hole for dipping in the gaping atrium that is filled with the gummy remnants of old, reddish resin, perhaps ink.

A flute, tuned to an odd key, made from bone of an unknown creature.

A red brass sphere, slightly pitted. It rings dully when shaken and feels as though some thick liquid or sand shifts inside. If shaken vigorously, it becomes chillingly cold. A shallow mark has been stamped on one side: A long triangle, perhaps a tooth or an icicle.

A hairwork needlepoint displayed under a cabochon of greenish glass. Mounted on a nickel silver brooch. The needlepoint depicts, in black and blond, presumably-human, hair, a smiling black skeleton beckoning to a quizzical, robed child.

A set of gray and red robes with threadwork made to resemble teeth and mouths around all of the openings. The sleeves and wristcuffs always stretch until they extend past the bearer's hands making it seem like objects he holds are being eaten and swallowed.

A head-sized dodecahedron; bronze and blackened. Each of the twelve sides has a wide hole in its center. Visible through the holes is the indistinct form of a lead-dipped skull, evidently entrapped there when the hedron was forged.

A lensed brass tube, like a spyglass, but not collapsible. Anyone who peeks through its cracked and dusty lens sees the world upside down and in faded, red-monochrome negative.

A lock of human hair preserved in a cylinder of yellowing resin capped by false-gold ends. The lock is purple black, a color rarely seen these days, in humans.

A defaced iron insignia shaped like a shield. Someone has taken a sharp knife point and defaced the thing with a rough X symbol, then crushed it flat. Under the X, the shape of a crudely molded fir cone barely shows.

A smoked glass mask bearing a serious expression. Its eye sockets are straight and focused. A nine pointed star is carved into the forehead and the lips of the mask are covered in a thick layer of glossy black lacquer.

A needle file, steel, a foot long, and slightly dull at the point. The file itself is unexceptional, save some rust, but the handle is long and fashioned like a bone. A very human bone, recognizable by the knobbly epiphysis of a femur at its end.

An ivory playing piece shaped like the bust of a muscled, eyeless man with interlocked fingers and palms rested atop the pummel of some weapon haft. He is eyeless, for the metal dome of a lead skullcap covers his ears, nose and eyes. Only thin lips show below.

A leather mask that covers the face above the upper lip. The fangs of a vampire are set into the mask, so that they almost seem to be the wearer’s own teeth.

A small clay bust of a bald woman with instructions to dampen the head daily. If the instructions are followed, after 1d4 days the head begins to sprout long fine vines of poison ivy

A pewter acorn with a lead cap and stem. Something sloshes heavily inside, like mercury. The cap does not open.

A pitted fist of ore, quite heavy, that contains strange fossils. Neither the bony, many-legged fossils nor the metal within the ore are readily identifiable as any known to alchemical sciences or arcane arts.

A dollhouse in which the beautiful family rooms conceal secret rooms tunnels and cellars. Each hidden room contains a scene of torture or murder.

A single earring of an ugly style. A thick, short hoop of reddish, soft metal. It smells faintly of wet iron or raw offal when touched and seems to make the fingers sticky. It attracts insects, large ones, that sit within the loop, when worn, and worry and wash their hairy legs, buzzing lowly in the wearer's ear.

A skeleton doll, articulated. It's blackened ivory bones, rather detailed, are joined by small iron rings. One arm is missing, and one eye socket is filled with a small garnet. If carefully inspected, it becomes evident there are two more rows of teeth than normal in the jaw.

A small show globe, akin to the large sort hung in an alchemists' shops, capped and banded with blackened silver. The screw cap is stuck on but might yield with some twisting. Contains bright blue powder, so fine that a single breath might send it all blowing away.

A small silver spoon. Long, with two slots in its bowl. Any food it contacts develops an acidic flavor; savory, but not pleasant to a modern palette. Any water does so, too, and turns a greasy grey.

A steel-bristle brush, round and palm-sized. The ferule and handle are rusted iron, but the bristles maintain a stainless shine. If the rust is scraped away, the mark of an obscure, two-crested helmet may be seen stamped atop the grip.

A hastella, six inches tall, made of fragile wood. Defaced with profane graffiti deeply scored with a pointed knife. The rude letters belong to a language now forgotten. They have since been filled with some silvery metal, and their edges now rise higher than the worn-down wood.

Half of a broken mask of brittle iron. An impassive, large-eyed face shows on the front, genderless. Within, the mask is not smooth, but convoluted by the canals, chambers, and processes of the facial skeleton, as if this shattered mask once composed the front portion of a living skull.

A set of cloth pennants on a tall staff. When the wind blows them, the long flags of dark blues and blacks speckled with silver spots, resemble nothing more than a banner of the night sky.

A bronze and beech incense burner set with several cinnabars.

A copper mask, with the image of a skeleton and set with a moonstone. It is of marvelous workmanship.

A workaday leather tunic that draws closed at the neck with antler toggles. The long tunic is slit at the sides to mid-thigh for free movement.

A pair of leather shoulder pads adorned with the horns of a fallen minotaur.

A surrealistic painting of an irresponsible sage with the head of a manta ray, dismembering an owl with whiskers like a cat in a dense jungle.

A pecan wand with a floating bauble made of peridot at the tip

A forked darkwood wand with a tip of beech, ending in an image of a woman's face, with real alchemically preserved, shrunken eyes.

A small wooden box containing a coarse parchment scroll. It is wound around two thick dowels, and bears densely packed writing, smeared ink, and smells strongly of cedar.

A mask resembling a giant locust head, recreated in remarkable detail. A close look reveals that it was created using the exoskeletons and body parts of millions of other bugs. When worn, insects, bugs, spiders, roaches, and any other creepy crawlies emerge seem to ignore the bearer and do not bite or bother him unless deliberately provoked.

A merchant’s black silk brocade jerkin, cut in the elven fashion, clinging closely to the figure with skirts draping almost to the knee. The jerkin is embroidered all over with tiny, precise, golden sunbursts.

A bundle of unmarred seal pelts tied together with sinew and wrapped in a protective oilskin case.

A thick iron ring with eight chains attached. Each quarter-meter chain, composed of nine links, has a short spine protruding on either side of each link. Investigation shows that the large, central ring, which has a spike on one end, has a broken nub opposite it, where the whole affair might have been attached to a haft.

A small, Randomly Coloured lizard with brightly scintillating scales that's been perfectly preserved and  entombed in a rectangular block of clear glass.

A tiny bronze kettle, or perhaps a retort, dark with tarnish. It has a curling chimney, rather than a spout. When liquid is heated inside, it immediately evaporates.

A large tin canister whose lid is stamped with the image of a bountiful orchard whose trees are overflowing with fruit, the ripest of which has fallen and filled a cornucopia. The container is brimming with dozens of well preserved, dried cranberries.

A mountain dulcimer made of black locust wood. The sound-holes are intricately carved in the shape of stars. It re-tunes itself on clear nights.

A crude map of the local area inscribed on a tattered canvas scroll, that bears an “X” marking an area near where the map was found. There is a list of instructions in the bottom corner of the map: Find the canyon with natural stairs leading down, then go south-west for 3-4 miles until you find the old king's forest. From there, go east for 2-3 miles, until you find the elder tree, then go south-east for 1-2 miles and find the largest crypt in the cemetery and you'll find the reliquary protected by a necromantic curse. ---Note: It is up to the DM whether or not if the instructions can be followed (The “landmarks” might be a code, riddle or simply not exist for example) and if there is anything at the end. The map could easily be a prank, trap, confidence scheme, ambush or the area could already have been stripped of any value by other adventurers.

A steel measuring chain. Identifiable as a measuring instrument, as each two-centimeter link is labeled with a careful line and a unit in its end. The units appear to be standard numbers, but with some odd, serif-like additions to each. 110 links, in total.

A worn letter closed with blood red wax wax and sealed with an stress inducing symbol in the shape of a down turned  crescent marked with a few inward-facing spikes. Breaking the seal and reading the contents reveals a letter from an unknown author to their unnamed relative begging for their aid during a time of dire need. The pleading note reads as follows: “Ruin has come to our family. You remember our venerable house, opulent and imperial, gazing proudly from its stoic perch above the moor. I lived all my years in that ancient rumor shadowed manor, fattened by decadence and luxury, and yet I began to tire of... conventional extravagance. Singular unsettling tales suggested the mansion itself was a gateway to some fabulous and unnameable power. With relic and ritual, I bent every effort towards the excavation and recovery of those long buried secrets, exhausting what remained of our family fortune on... swarthy workmen and... sturdy shovels. At last, in the salt soaked crags beneath the lowest foundations, we unearthed that damnable portal of antediluvian evil. Our every step unsettled the ancient earth, but we were in a realm of death and madness. In the end, I alone fled, laughing and wailing through those blackened arcades of antiquity. Until consciousness failed me. You remember our venerable house, opulent and imperial. It is a festering abomination! I beg you, return home, claim your birthright and deliver our family from the ravenous clutching shadows of the Darkest Dungeon.”

[ganymedesclock]

More Hollow Knight headcanons, this time: Monomon and Quirrel. A few of these have already come up edgewise in Refuse and Regret.

Monomon was a refugee fleeing the collapse of another kingdom and carrying with her a large number of eggs (not her own) of other Jelly Forms. She bartered her scientific knowledge with the Pale King in exchange for being able to settle in Fog Canyon. 

The Jelly tribe are sapient, though they got hit very hard by the plague because of certain quirks of their physiology- also, besides Monomon and Quirrel, they never really figured out how to use the kingdoms’ languages. They’re pretty otherworldly critters- none of them, Monomon included, have a face. Monomon’s mask and robes were something she adopted to better lay Hallownest’s populace at ease when she was among them.

Monomon practices a school of magic separate from the Soul-consuming spells of the Snail Shamans (which is originally abyssal in nature) and the practices of the Soul Sanctum (which were based on snail spells). Rather, Monomon’s magic filters Soul passively and continuously out of the environment (while less discerning it’s similar in principle to the way the Troupe usually feeds) and then refines it into spells with a heavy emphasis on encoding will into the gathered Soul via specific commands.

The harvest-and-release aspect is shared with basically all other Jelly forms, which, while their rather alien minds left them initially protected from the Radiance, all it really took to condemn nearly all of them to the plague was one heavily infected husk staggering into the canyon and their Soul leeching into the energy supply.

Natural, uninfected Jelly cores are pink in color. Like husk eyes, on infected individuals they’re stained orange.

Despite Monomon being something of a high society socialite whose intelligence and magical prowess was highly valued, she kept her personal life extremely reclusive. She discussed projects with the King often, and was one of the few people he’d seek out for a second opinion, but they were more work acquaintances than true friends, insofar as PK is any good at befriending people in the first place.

A lot of aristocratic bugs tried to wrangle Monomon as a personal tutor either for their own magical development or for their children. She turned down basically every offer, and limited her teaching to more open-source and impersonal formats.  The sole exception was Quirrel.

Quirrel was basically an orphan of fairly mysterious history. He found his way into the canyon and hid as a child, and basically never spoke to anyone about where he was before that. In fact it took several years in Monomon’s care before he actually... said anything, though, less time than it took him to start tagging after her and silently helping with whatever he could reach.

Monomon was the one who gave him the name he currently uses. He was a pretty surly, irritable child, and tended to hide whenever anyone not a jelly being showed up in the archives. PK has some faint memories of a small pale face staring at him around corners but at the time he didn’t think much of it. Whatever business Monomon has with a child is her own concern, not really his, and he was more interested in her opinion on the Vessel Theory, anyway.

He only called Monomon “mom” like. once or twice by accident while his mind was somewhere else.

Eventually in his late teens he mellowed out enough that he started attending formal events and this was about the time Hallownest officially heard of Monomon’s apprentice. The aristocrats she had turned down in the past were very, very salty about this. Quirrel discovered the unsung delight of passive-aggressive court wit. This was the official birth of his occasionally sardonic cheerfulness.

That said before he mastered the court wit he definitely brawled a few times. 

Please just imagine, for your viewing pleasure, Quirrel making the Gene Wilder Willy Wonka face, the one that became a meme. 

Monomon was the person he had the strongest relationship with, but Quirrel was able to communicate with other jelly forms and knew quite a few of them personally when they were uninfected, including Uumuu, who operated as a sort of door guard and could swim freely from the acid lake to the interior of the Archives. Quirrel actually learned electricity-generating spells from Uumuu. (sorry, did you think clearing the teacher’s archive wasn’t painful enough? here we are.)

[writing-frenzy]

Rule: Post a snippet of a wip and then ping five people. let who wants to do it do it :3

Pinged by: @speckled-dragon

huh, (Looks at my wips) I guess I’ll pick the last one I was on.

------------

A world consumed by Darkness

to take away all our awareness,

And to finally give rest to the world’s carcass,

And give all a final freedom and catharsis

-Agartha’s Cycle, by Mym the All-Seer

-

When Felix wakes up, it feels like his shell has just been hit by a truck, or maybe even a mantis claw from how it keeps ringing. For just a good, long while, he can’t help but lay in a daze, feeling sick as can be and that they really wished they remembered what they drank, so that they would never drink it again if it made them feel like this.

“aaaaaa.. Did anyone get the number off that stag?” Felix groans, finally opening his eyes…

And having to blink rapidly, before rubbing them once, then twice, carefully taking in the scenery around him. Long tunnels reaching out into the darkness, sounds of dripping water echoing everywhere, and the…. Smell…

“... How the heck did I end up in the Royal Waterways?” the snail can’t help but ask himself, about to stand, only to wince at the pain he feels, “Urgh, and I feel like shit; I should probably take a healing potion and a pain elixir before anything else.” and with that, Felix digs around his bag, feeling ever so relieved when he finds what he is looking for, downing the two bottles one right after the other.

“Ehk- I did not miss the taste of them.” feeling like he won’t fall to pieces for a bit at least, the white shelled snail takes another chance to stand again, with better results now at least. “Let’s find a way out and maybe figure out how this happened.” and with that, Felix is off, though almost tripping from the shaky ground beneath his feet.

“Huh, at least now I know I’m not to blame for all my shakiness.” the snail says to himself, shaking his head slightly before he stops that from slight pain.