#but what if i was a NICE lich.

[vigilskeep]

whenever i’m faced with a game that has necromancy options but they’re definitely evil i realise it’s a good thing i do not have access to necromancy in real life because i for sure would fold immediately

[qyriaha]

i spent so long trying to not be like my mother i turned into my father

[eddie4bat-president]

Saw a drawing of Steve and now I'm suddenly thinking about artist Eddie who designed the Hellfire shirts and Corroded Coffin fliers and who draws the villains of his D&D campaigns to slap onto his DM screen for visual aid and doodles in class and-

And i'm thinking about Steve, in a relationship with Nancy, trying to ignore that things are rocky but knowing it all the same. He finds a notebook left behind in school and he only takes it because he forgot his own. He plans to use it for the day and then figure out whose it is and get it back to them in exchange, that's probably more than fair, right? And the person is really gonna want this back - it looks like half their life is contained in this thing; there is... a shit ton of loose paper stuffed between the pages and notes on all kinds of subjects and drawings and.... he doesn't even know what that is. Who is Vecna and what the hell is a... lich?

Anyway as he leafs through it he finds that some of the drawings are... actually really good. Like, absurdly good for being in a lined notebook that looks like it has taken a trip into a dumpster and picked up some debris on the way out.

Like! Those hands! Steve has no artistic bone in his body but he's heard people whine about drawing hands and - he looks at the hand not holding the book and back again - yeah, that's exactly what hands look like! And here - a few pages further (it's one of the most empty pages of the whole thing, mostly because this one seems to have started as a drawing and not as a page of notes that turned into a drawing) there are only a few lines on the page but it's still very clearly the back of someone's neck, the collar, one shoulder.... Then there's another one that is almost all lines, but they were all carefully placed to give the effect of perfectly windswept hair. Then there's one that he actually can't make sense of at first (he almost pages past it because it is just a few lines and dots taking up a quarter of a page of very annoyed... history notes? Maybe English.) It's just a jawline with some moles but... only the day before he had cut himself shaving a finger's width underneath those exact moles. And that's when it clicks. He goes back to the hair... yeah that- that could be him too. Maybe. He flips back to that one very detailed drawing of hands and... putting down the book he tries to get his hands into the same position - the angle is off but. Yeah. That's why they looked so perfectly...! Uhhhh... Handsy! Because they're his fucking hands!

Anyway Steve realizes that about a third of the drawings are or could be him. He realizes that he actually can't go through with giving it back because - what would he even say? "Hey found your notebook, nice shrine to me?" Yeah no. But he's... also reluctant to take it to the Lost and Found. There's something in the handwriting.... He has a feeling that it might not be a girl secretly drawing him. What if someone else connects the dots? What if they confront the mystery artist about it? Flashbacks to his fight with Jonathan, the line he crossed and immediately regretted. He doesn't want to be the cause for someone else getting called that. And unrelated to that, things with Nancy aren't great right now and it's... it's just nice to think someone is paying attention, alright?

Then Halloween happens a few days after. The Break-up(?), the demodogs, Billy and the tunnels- and afterwards it's nice to have the notebook to distract him from the pain. The mundane mystery of a schoolmate maybe having a crush on him. He might not even have to confront them - he can just figure out a way to slip it into their locker; it looks like at least half their schoolwork is crammed into this thing, no matter how half-heartedly done. They definitely want this back.

Man, I wish I could actually write this thing. Damn. Maybe I could even do a scene where Steve tries to Sherlock Holmes his way to Mystery Artist and confronts a (hatefully seething) Robin, because she sits behind him in that one class, only to find his own Watson in her instead. But alas. It cannot be.

[obsessivevoidkitten]

That's a Wrap!

Kinktober 2024 Day 2: Bondage

Mummified Lich Male Yandere x Gender Neutral Reader

CW: noncon, bondage, undead yandere, necromancy, graverobbing, mild blood drinking, biting, magic, soul binding, cock warming, overstimulation, controlling yandere, general yandere behavior

Word Count: 1k

(Honestly not my best work. A bit rushed. Smut isn't super detailed. But I hope you guys like it anyway.)

You didn't really think of yourself as a grave robber. Of course not! You were an explorer, a treasure hunter, a daring person who went on adventures into dangerous dungeons! Now, did that sometimes involve liberating certain valuables from the entombed? Sure.

In fact, that's just what you were doing. You had found a map in your travels that had led you to an ancient dungeon in which a long dead king was rumored to be entombed… along with all of his many treasures…

The entrance was concealed deep within a hidden cave. The opening had collapsed, but you had the right equipment for the job.

Though you lacked any ability to naturally cast spells, you did have several one-time use earth scrolls that would allow you to use their stored magic to clear the cave and make sure it was fully stable. Of course, you also had a scroll of teleportation so you could easily leave with the loot and a scroll of healing in case of injury.

You continued until you found a magically sealed door, though it seemed age had weakened it just enough for it to be broken by your enchanted pickaxe. You proceeded through the antechamber and into the main room. 

Strange. Absolutely no treasures filled the room, no artifacts mounted on the walls, no jars, urns, statues, or gold. It was just a plain, pristine room with some glyphs and runes.

But in the center, there were stairs leading to a stone sarcophagus. This was it, the resting place of King Relik. For something containing royalty, it was disappointingly plain. Maybe he was buried during a time of extreme poverty. You knew you were the first "liberator of treasures" though; you had been the one to break the sealed door. 

Well… a bit macabre, but you could still sell the mummy itself if nothing else. It alone would be a mighty fine pay day. Though you held out hope that some valuables remained in the sarcophagus.

You carefully shipped away at it with your pick. At about the halfway mark, it burst open on its own. 

King Relik rose from his 2300 year old prison with a yawn. He was mostly covered in strips of cloth. Upon spotting you, he willed his wrappings to extend and curl around you. 

The wrappings fell from his body, revealing him to have pale grey-white skin, ling black hair, dark rings around his eyes, and a muscular body.

The gauze evidently held spells to incapacitate whoever they bound but were no longer strong enough to hold such a powerful mage-king like Relik. 

You were only left uncovered from the neck up. The now naked former monarch bit your neck and drew blood, sucking only a few drinks from you. 

As he drank from you, he learned your language and your most recent actions and motives.

"Ha! A grave robber. I like you!"

You had no idea that he had been sealed there for trying to conquer the world as an undead lich. They couldn't kill him no matter how hard they tried, so they used the strongest magic possible to seal him away.

And you had broken the last bits of that waning magic. 

He kissed your neck where he had bitten you and cradled you carefully. He summoned up some clothes for himself. It was all he could do with his powers as weakened as they were.

Relik rummaged through your pack and found what he was looking for. The teleportation scroll linked to your nice private home.

How quaint. He never had to resort to a spell scroll before. 

Once at your place, he took the bindings off, laughed as you struggled, removed your clothing, and then re-wrapped your arms and legs.

"I don't really need these enchanted bindings to restrain you, but you look rather cute all tied up like this."

All you could do was make a distressed expression. He ruffled your hair to comfort you.

"Don't worry. It wouldn't be very kingly of me to just dispose of someone who freed me… especially when they have such a delicious expression of fear."

The lich bit his finger so that a drop of blood flowed from it, he put it in your mouth so that you would know who he was and what he intended. His blood power would work both ways, should he will it. 

Suddenly, his intent flooded into your mind. You now knew that from the moment he had tasted your blood, he intended to reward you for freeing him. He liked your personality and slightly questionable morals for wealth.

Your reward would be an immortal lifetime of getting dicked down by him. 

That night alone, he used a spell to make sure you were lubed and ready, then tied you up, and had you in nearly every possible position. His favorite was simply bouncing you on his dick with your hands, bound behind your back. 

Though the magic fabric wasn't on your mouth, its enchantment kept from making all but the softest moans and gasps. Good thing too, thought Relik. Otherwise, you may have damaged your voice.

Only when you literally passed out against his chest from the exhaustion and overstimulation from hours of sex did he finally remove the bandages. Instead, he held you close in his arms and used you to warm his cock as he fell asleep too.

Over the next few days, he would get enough of his strength back to make you magically addicted and dependent on him. This was to ensure you could never leave him.

He also used a spell to make it so you couldn't speak of him or otherwise communicate his existence to other people.

After a few months, he had enough power to tie your very soul to his for all eternity, causing you to become a lich as well. He sealed this soul pact with a magical collar he had you wear.

In every possible way, sexually, spiritually, and physically, Relik owned you. He may have been a mummy when you met him, but you were the one who was all wrapped up and bound. 

[ohnoitstbskyen]

... y'all know Lae'zel is acting scared, right?

Video transcription: I've seen a lot of comments on my short about Lae'zel dismissing her entire character because she's mean and… I'm just checking in here… you guys know she's scared, right? She's terrified. She was kidnapped by the worst monster she knows, infected with the most horrifying death anyone in her culture can have, and then stranded on a hostile world, alone, with nothing to guide her except the dogmatic military cult indoctrination of a cruel lich demigod, telling her that her only hope of salvation is to follow Gith doctrine with total unyielding faith. And still she tries to save you. When she keeps insisting that you must get to the Githyanki crèche, it's our only hope, she's trying to guide you towards the only salvation she knows from the parasite, so she can share it with you. And Gith... aren't supposed to do that, saving an outsider is not part of the doctrine, she's breaking the rules trying to do right by you. None of that means she's not being an asshole, she's rude, dogmatic and unpleasant. But everything she does comes from a genuine, very misguided and abrasive, desire to do the right thing. It doesn't make her behaviour okay, but there is more to her character than just "being the mean one."

To expand on this a bit more than I can in a 60 second short, people acting from fear and from their damage is a major theme among the Baldur's Gate 3 companions.

Lae'zel is terrified and falling back on the only thing she believes will give her back some control over her situation, which is the dogma of the military cult she's in. Shadowheart is much the same, amnesiac and grasping on to the only solid thing she knows, which is her faith, which preaches deception, loss and duplicity as the only certain factors in life.

Gale is an inveterate people-pleaser desperately dependent on other people to help him feed his magic addiction, with his overtly affable exterior hiding a rolling boulder of guilt, ambition, greed, arrogance and legitimate hurt. Asterion is... well, no way to really lay out his deal without spoiling, but the boy has been through it and his self-destructive, hedonistic and selfish impulses are all coping mechanism and self-defense all the time.

None of that make their shitty behaviours okay, but in a fictional story, those kinds of flaws and toxic behaviours are what make for interesting stories and characters. I don't blame anyone for finding Lae'zel unpleasant and abrasive, but I do get a bit Old Man Yells At Cloud about people who casually brag about shoving her off a cliff-side, or murdering her because "she was a bitch" or whatever.

Like... being unable to face discomfort in your media is not a virtue, and lashing out reactively against fiction that doesn't validate your power fantasy isn't a flex.

Of course, I saw a lot of those reactions in YouTube comments and on social media, so my sample is biased by those algorithms, but still. A lot of people seem aggressively proud that they never engaged with her story because the terrified indoctrinated child-soldier wasn't immediately nice to them and I can't explain it but something about that reaction feels puritan to me.

[jaal-ama-daravv]

dissecting the mortal emmrich argument scene (all routes)

dissecting the graveyard scene dissecting the mortal romance path scene how I think an argument reconcilation scene could've went emmrich x rook cinematic (mortal)

lich version dissecting the alternate romance path dissecting the argument scene (lich path) mortal vs lich romance path emmrich x rook cinematic

Emmrich Volkarin - Dissecting the Mortal Argument Scene

welcome back dearies

lets not dally with this one and get right into it -

starting strong with emmrich reviewing his will and testament/s -

important, but not yet, so do go on -

the emphasis on will tells us alot. coming from a storyboarding background, its easy to see why the emphasis was put on will. emmrich chose mortality, and will thereofre face death head on, as will rook. but due to rook being younger than emmrich (in any capacity), emmrich states that rook will outlive him. now he hasn't said it yet, but his fear is about to rear its head. keep in mind throughout all of this that this man is scared of how much he adores you.

but in the same sentence, we've got, "You've... grown to mean much to me..." - head over heels in love, rip my heart out and serve it to you in a platter, my heart, body and soul is yours type o' love.

I just wanna shake him, oh i just wanna shake him like a bag of treats, but very aggressively. he is so obviously LYING, rook makes a comment earlier in the game about how he is a SHIT LIAR. it sounds the exact same. BUT, and I say but with a hint of 'ah -ha!', lets read between the lines -

I care for you Rook! Deeply. - man has never been down as bad as he is - emmrich has never felt love like this. But there are such years between us - shut up rn I shouldn't heap you with that burden - HERE. he knows that Rook loves him, he can feel it. I imagine between quests they hold eachother's hand as the read books together on the balcony. as they make tea. as emmrich shows rook his mothers recipes. emmrich knows rook loves him, he just doesn't realize can nor accept how much rook loves him.

bonus, BURDEN ME, Im begging you, to BURDEN ME.

DIVERGENCE

god it hurt to replay this scene 3 times

Path 1 - Please don't worry, Emmrich.

he also broke my heart by worrying because i too, love him

fuck this line. i love you but look, I get where emmrich is coming from, but no. no no no, no no. whats fair would the world to be ending and being able to spend every waking moment in eachothers arms, to spend the final moments of 'what if' craddling your insecurities and nurturing love. instead we at the end of the world, arguing, because both rook and emmrich are fucking terrified to lose eachother. something about 'being fair' to someone by 'leaving' them irks meeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

solid and appropriate response

moving on because i have nothing nice to say

get his ass

emmrich is shockingly, overthinking the concept of death. ya know, that thing that cant be soothed or mulled over, pierces his heart and shakes his core? that, thing. yes shockingly, overthinking it. i get both perspectives here. Rook just wants to be taken serously and not for their age gap to come between the love they have finally found. emmrich so scared out of his mind he's trying to avoid it entirely. if you want a really gutteral playthrough before point of no return, pick this. I did, on my blind playthrough, it was a mistake, i cried alot.

unfortunately, very valid on both statement, but also true on both statements. Emmrich is both worried about Rook and insecure about dying. because either way, he loses rook, he loses his time with her. in this line of dialogue, emmrich is vry concerned with burdening rook with his death and the grief that will follow. Rook essentially tries to calm him in the worst way possible and it escalates. im not a fan of this dialogue path at all as the "at your age" comment is so out of pocket.

Path 2 - I mean something to you!

if you were to of told me that the purple rook option is the 'nicest' in these scenarios, I would...not believe you at all. It's still painful, but it's not an 'argument?'

strong start ngl

mans immediately defensive, but his tone of voice isn't raised like in the other scenarios. its more poised with care through it, more 'ugh, yes, i care about you, but this is about death'

in this dialogue path rook attemps to 'waylay' emmrich, aka, distract him and change the subject to something nicer, more comforting. though unfortnately, for people with crippling anxiety, nothing calms the mind when its in black and white mode.

eh, not what I would've gone with saying rook but ya know. eve before a battle, tensions high. still not great

emmrich wants to discuss being a burden to rook and rook is just not having it, im kinda into it.

again rook is trying to waylay emmrich into realising that he is overthinking things. however, to emmrich, this is real, rook may as well be dying in his arms rn. thats how real his fears are. we think back to emmrich being a child and losing his parents in a collapsed building accident. its likely he was there, and survived.

hence why it is so very important that we remember that his romance confirmation is the question, what would my parents want for me? and the answer is HAPPY WITH SOMEONE WHO CARES ABOUT YOU.

he is so terrfieid of death, and you and I both know, that when you have such a fear, it is amplified by 14747% when it is someone you truly care for. let alone the type of connection these soulmates have.

emmrich desperately pleading to talk about being a burden to rook, and rook is still just going, 'no', youre my burden now.

wee woo, a winner in my books because rook is not insulting his very existence or dismissing emmrich.

rook knows that emmrich is scared and would rather talk to him about being SCARED, instead of him being a burden because she fucking loves him and would never leave him.

rook is just as scared as emmrich but in this path, is trying to level with him. this is probably the one path where it concludes and I dont have a clear answer on who said the worst shit. i dont think any of them did, it was just riddled with concern, and a lack of communication.

Path 3 - Love scares you.

Rook pointing out the obvious. blunt and to the point. I do love that Rook is able to identify this straight away

Emmrich, taken aback by the comment by Rook, because it's the truth. he is scared because he loves rook. both by actually loving her and by how much he loves her.

"I can't... at my age" Is what this line is meant to be.

But once again, and we have discovered in previous posts, Emmrich has never considered himself 'worthy' of this type of love. And now that he has the love he has craved for decades, he considers himself too old. most likely due to his belief ssystem morphing over time to, "if it hasnt happened by now, it never will" probably in his 30's. Thats almost 20 years of doubt. We know Emmrich has been in relationships and involved with others since then, but nothing that even comes close to what Rook and Emmrich have. Keep in mind as well that Emmrich hasn't formed a connection with anyone in several years and has solely focused on work (i.e., lichdom) because what else do you do when you have given up?

straight to the point again

reiterating that this is a hard topic for him - kindness in this situation would desecalate emmrich and calm his mind, but unfortunately the end of the world takes no prisoners

man is terrified of love and the grief and vulnerability that embodies it

ouch

ouch

Rook's defensiveness and frustration reaches an all time high. rook wants the love of her life to tell her that he loves her, and emmrich doesn't want to burden his love with the grief that will embody her for the rest of her days. rook walks away feeling defeated, with a hole in her heart. emmrich is left with his overthinking thoughts, and most likely spirals.

Conclusion

In their facial expressions, and I have slowed them down to each frame per second whilst analysing, and both Emmrich and Rook share the same process of emotions after Rook's final statement.

Both Emmrich and Rook start out with a cross look on their face, eyebros tilted, eyes squinted, portraying anger, which is covering defensiveness, which is a defense mechanism for being vulnerable. After Rook says their final statement, this line is what 'pulls them out' of their defensive trances, but its too late, the damage has been done. Their facial expressions switch to a more, 'oh, oh that was just said', it turns to regret. the over arching theme of the game. they regret what they said, and their pride wont let them budge rn. the argument scene is important to the romance considering what happens next in the game.

"We'll talk when we get home, Emmrich. I promise." (the reconciliation line before fighting ghil)

hit me like a frieght train that did when i found out we were in the fade for weeks. emmrich, canonically, cries alone and has cold sweats at night when he is upset. do with that information what you will. it definitely happened when rook was gone. Hence why it takes Rook dissapearing in the fade for several weeks for their walls to collapse completely.

god fight, stuck in the fade, emmrich meticulously searching for rook, crafting the fake dagger, pulling them out.

At the end of the scene, Emmrich looks frustrated and devastated. the type of facial expression where it is clear he wish that conversation had gone differently.

Emmrich has low self-esteem, there is no simpler way to put it. This is apparent in the way he holds himself, in his mannerisms, and the way he reacts to rook expressing romantic interest in him. As two examples, consider the date with Emmrich, "apart from the compliment of your interest?", and in two flirt dialogue lines, he responds stating that he is surprised rook has shown interest in him. he wants this love SO BADLY, but he is so scared especially with how much death is around them. but emmrich is braver than he believes. it just takes, almost losing rook for him to embrace it.

phew, what a rollercoaster. ill have the mortal romance scene break down for you in coming days ♥

[scourgeblooms]

wanted to do a physical timeline for my commander and highlight how he’s changed through the years. this is mostly for my own entertainment BUT I do enjoy seeing the same thing from other folks so I’m posting it here in the hopes that other people share my sentiment. 

(I was ALSO totally inspired by @/manasurge’s hair timeline. it kicks ass. go look at it.) 

elaboration/rambling below the cut!

Personal Story, LW1-2: Popped out of the pod blunt, solicitous, and already maybe a little too paranoid for someone who was born yesterday, but all those traits made him uniquely qualified for a position in military leadership.  Healthy and floral, soft aspen-bark-like skin, delicate petals. black anthers produce pollen. undergoes more fashion changes than physical transformations during this time. gets a little banged up here and there (and maybe has some lasting respiratory effects from the toxic alliance era) but overall feelin a-okay. 

Heart of Thorns: it’s all gone to shit. took a spectacular headdive in both a physical and mental sense with breakneck speed. never “officially” answered mordremoth’s call, but anyone who spent time around him would notice a distinct lack of self control and logical thinking. took on a more sickly pallor, stress caused leaves to shrivel, rot, and decay. lost his lil flower top notch and ability to produce pollen. pupils narrowed to take on a more animalistic look, and enamel growth resulted in sharper, larger teeth. fingers also elongated into claws. never fully physically and mentally recovered from the hell jungle. 

LW3: chopped off most of his leaves to encourage fresh growth. lots of physical healing during this time, though it takes quite a while for his complexion to fully recover. takes on the role of aurene’s champion with gusto. relatively unaffected by bloodstone, but feels the effects of mordremoth’s loose/uncontrolled magic deeply. continues to hear mordremoth’s “voice” and is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. 

Path of Fire: still healing from HoT. continues to grow out his leaves. glow returns, as well as some of his eye color. likes the crystal desert, but finds the harsh, dry climate to be particularly challenging; he’s definitely more of a ‘temperate’ sylvari. does not handle dying well. death only adds to his paranoia and psychosis. has an increasingly hard time picking apart what is real and what is…. not. 

LW4: let’s get ready to kill an undead lich!!!! absorbs even more magic after the death of joko and kralkatorrik, and it starts to show in a there-and-gone shimmery aura that takes on a similar appearance to ley lines. starts to suffer from migraine auras. flower top notch grows back, but stays closed and dormant. picks up a few nifty necromancy tricks from the elonians, and the tips of his fingers start to show signs of necrotic decay; all that death magic can’t be good for the complexion, can it? 

Icebrood Saga: having another dragon in his head does not help his mental health in the slightest. braided leaves (courtesy of braham <3) to protect against frostbite. his ley “aura” gets more intense, hard to miss, and is a near constant. flower topnotch remains closed due to the cold weather conditions. after being shot by bangar, his wound is covered/healed by aurene’s brand. migraines increase in frequency, makes it difficult for him to focus. a bone deep exhaustion starts to set in, and more often than not, he catches himself thinking that a nice long nap underneath a blanket of snow doesn’t sound so terrible….

End of Dragons: back in a more agreeable climate, his topnotch finally blooms, but does not grow anthers or produce pollen. easily physically corrupted by void magic, and he feels soo-won’s pain and struggle deeply. the void corruption eventually shows up in the form of darkening leaves, and seeping out of his eyes/tearducts (it’s fine. don’t worry about it.). starts to incorporate chaos magic into his own necromancy practices. has a fucking terrible time in gyala delve. has a fucking terrible time saying goodbye to aurene. 

Secrets of the Obscure: nothing feels entirely real to him anymore. still willing to help, to fight, but it’s done on autopilot at this point. this magical, floating palace in the sky looks and feels like a dream, with the kryptis acting as the encroaching, inevitable turn to a real, living nightmare. still uses a bit of leftover void in his magical practices, but most of the corruption has left his system. that respiratory illness he picked up back in kessex hills comes back to bite him in nayos. finally grows back his anthers, but instead of producing pollen, it's an outlet for void/magic energy.

[veilkeeper]

The Sacrifice of Souls, Part 2

alt title: why im putting corentin in the torment nexus

this is the second instalment of a 2-part essay series. the first part focused on the events of emmrich's quests, as well as my analysis and critique of his quest line overall. this part will focus specifically on the effects these choices have on the romance, as well as my thoughts on how i'm handling the events for my emmrichmancing rook, corentin.

spoilers ahead! beware that both essays are going to assume you have completed The Sacrifice of Souls and at least one of the follow up quests, Heir to the Dead or Will and Testament. if you have not, i suggest returning to this later and playing it out yourself.

so let's start with the most important question of the day:

what happens to the romance after the sacrifice of souls?

good news! no matter what you pick, the romance can continue on unabated. there's just some long-term details and tone changes that need to be considered.

if you choose to save manfred, be prepared for parenthood. previously, the game had poked at the idea of manfred being emmrich's kid, but now that manfred is talking and progressing at a rapid pace, he is in full "magic-flinging skeleton son" territory, and a romanced rook is going on that journey with emmrich. there is also now a near certainty that rook is going to outlive him—regardless of your personal headcanons, the game assumes that rook is younger than emmrich, and now that he's locked into a mortal lifespan that's something that needs to be considered. especially since, as discussed in part one, emmrich's fears of his own mortality haven't really been addressed at all.

but if you're into co-parenting a rambunctious skeleton with an older, gentlemanly necromancer (which, let's be real, is what most people signed up for when they hit those first flirt options anyway), then this path is probably exactly what you were looking for.

that said, let's talk about the lich romance angle. i was worried when i went down this path that the romance would just immediately end, but it actually doesn't! emmrich certainly wonders if it will—before he undergoes his rites, he has a conversation with rook about how they'll navigate a relationship once he's undead. he says that his senses will change, the way he feels (not about rook, but literally the way he feels) will change, and his body will be different. but they agree they can make it work, so hell yeah.

and if you like the whole "immortal lover" trope, there's some stuff here to like. the lich lords, when you arrive to bear witness to the rites, refer to rook as "challenger of the gods, volkarin's beloved", and emmrich waxes poetic about how even after rook passes, the way he feels about them will be immortalized alongside him. there's also a very sweet kiss before he goes into the rite, and rook has the opportunity to tell him they love him, just in case he doesn't come back out. and afterwards, they have a powerful, immortal skeleton boyfriend, so for the monsterfuckers in the audience.... nice.

so what's the catch?

if you're looking for a fairly unambiguously "happy ending", and if you like the idea of your rook parenting for the foreseeable future, saving manfred is your easy option. on this path, rook and emmrich will have many good years together before he dies. there's absolutely still room for angst here because of emmrich's unresolved issues, but there's definitely a more... domestic, low-key quality to this path.

the lich romance has some pretty glaring obstacles, and that's probably a big part of why a lot of people doing the romance might not pick this. first of all, he wasn't joking, he's literally a skeleton. he can put on a glamour for polite company, but he is a skeleton. realistically, intimacy is going to be complicated by that. on top of that, as a lich for the mourn watch, he's going to have certain duties that he can't get away from. myrna herself asks if they're going to be seeing less of emmrich now that he's a lich, and his answer is basically not yet. at some point, some time in the future, he is going to have to go into the necropolis to begin his lich duties and he won't really be coming back out after. so in a very real way, there is an invisible timer on the relationship where it'll basically be dead in the water unless rook makes some serious lifestyle changes* to accommodate that (assuming they're allowed to). so there's some built in angst with the lich romance that may or may not be your preferred flavour, because his job might end their relationship long before rook's mortal lifespan even becomes a consideration.

*theoretically a mourn watcher rook is going to have an easier time with that particular adjustment, but i'm speaking from my perspective as a LoF rook

decisions, decisions

this is the part where i start talking about my rook, but do us both a favour and keep reading, because believe it or not there is still some emmrich analysis in this part, and it might inspire you to do your own dissection for your rook, too.

so my rook is corentin laidir, and from the moment emmrich said the word "lich" he's been quietly freaking out about it. largely because of the whole "you're going to leave me to be a lich in the necropolis" thing.

i had hoped that resolving emmrich's quest line would give me a very clean solution to the lich freak out issue, and it does! ....if i liked the ending where we save manfred. which i don't. controversial opinion, but i don't actually care about manfred enough for corentin to be his second dad, and from a roleplay perspective i don't think corentin would advocate for bringing manfred back.

but on the other hand, the lich!emmrich option is quite literally corentin's nightmare. what corentin wants, at his core, is for emmrich to accept both manfred's death and his own, whenever it may come. he wants emmrich to understand that running from his own fear of death like that is beneath him. is it honouring death to defy it like that, even (supposedly) in the name of service? corentin would argue no, if he could bring himself to argue with emmrich about anything.

selfishly, corentin is also afraid of what eternity means. sure, emmrich says now that he'll always remember corentin and what they have, but what about a thousand years from now? he's afraid of being replaced, and of becoming insignificant to someone who is so, so important to him right now. in this life.

so the question becomes: do i choose an imperfect, happier ending that maintains emmrich's mortality, or do i throw corentin into an emotional blender?

why i'm putting corentin in the torment nexus

one of the problems of being a creatively-minded person while playing decision-based games is that there comes a time when you have to make a choice:

do i work with the options available to me, or do i pull out my scalpel and gut this thing?

and in moments like this, where neither option is quite right, i have no choice but to get surgical. pick what's interesting, and frankenstein that thing into something that works well enough to carry me to the end.

and the fact of the matter is, the lich path is just more interesting to me in this case because it's an angst machine, and because it makes sense for him to get stuck in it. if i dig into corentin's character, in that exact moment when a decision is made, there's no world where he's going to tell emmrich to give up on his life's work just to bring manfred back and stay mortal. but there is a world where he'd recognize that telling emmrich to give up on his life's work for a guy who loves him who he met five minutes ago is a dick move, and then he'd get completely caught off guard when emmrich says he's going to start preparing for his rites now.

so where does this leave corentin?

here's how i'm handling the situation for the time being, unless something comes along that completely revolutionizes how i feel about all this.

every time emmrich has talked about becoming a lich, it's always been a vague future thing with no real timeline attached. in hindsight, it's pretty clear that the only thing delaying the process was himself—emmrich was uncertain if he was willing to risk the danger of the rites. this uncertainty, however, has left corentin with the impression that even if he was 100% sure and raring to go forward, there would be tests and preparation that needed to happen first, and there would be time before the rites could happen.

so when the question of whether or not to save manfred comes up, corentin does what any good boyfriend would and he tells emmrich that he's dedicated his life to potentially becoming a lich, and he needs to be really certain before throwing that away.

corentin is allergic to being a bummer; even when he's really struggling with something, he feels like he can't talk about it if it'll upset someone else. emmrich is desperately afraid of death, and corentin is desperately afraid of being alone, so he's gotten very good at keeping himself... palatable. so when emmrich responds to his encouragement by saying that he'll start preparing for the rites immediately? well, corentin feels locked into the supportive boyfriend schtick. he feels like he has to be unerringly supportive and not question emmrich's decision, even though it is definitely something that effects him, too.

the whole time emmrich's preparing to become a lich, corentin is thumbs up "you got this babe!"-ing his way through it, all while frantically trying to squash down the feeling of impending doom. because he is 100% completely convinced the other shoe is going to drop at any moment and emmrich is going to go to the Lich Corner Store for cigarettes and never come home.

though it should be noted, the skeleton part of "skeleton boyfriend" is really the least of his concerns. it's just everything around that.

and where does this leave emmrich?

he doesn't know it, but it leaves him with a pretty miserable boyfriend. they're going to have to reckon with corentin's issues at some point.

just like they're going to have to deal with emmrich's. becoming a lich is maybe not 100% a good thing, at least not right this second. he says that he "thought he knew its price," and in keeping with that banter i linked in the first part, he seems unprepared for the reality of losing people. it feels a little like he's rushing into it headfirst before the grief can hit him full force and he can get cold feet.

i'm really curious how he's going to feel if something happens to corentin (or almost happens), and it gives him a reality check on his boyfriend's mortality. losing manfred is already unimaginably hard... is he prepared for what it's going to be like when he loses corentin?

because i don't think he's realized that he isn't, yet.

[silaslich]

Lich Masterlist

• Lich, mid 20s, they/her

• My works are 18+ only, minors DNI or you will be blocked

• My AO3 - silaslich

• Usually writing for Simon “Ghost” Riley but I’m known to dabble (Ghoap, John “Soap” Mactavish)

• All my works are tagged under #lichwrites

Requests - [ OPEN ] [COD, RDR]

Will write ✅ - • smut • gore • fluff • headcanons • angst • m/m, f/f, m/f, m/m/f • most kinks (if I feel like my writing can do it justice) • one shots • dddne

Won’t write ❌ - • pregnancy • alpha/omega • r*pe • heavy age gap • y/n

Feel free to drop it in the asks box!

Simon “Ghost” Riley

Cold bones - it’s been a while since you’ve seen Simon. You pay him a visit. [short drabble, gn!reader]

In a grave so we feel safe - just as you think your life can’t get any worse, Simon Riley shows up at your place. [smut, afab!reader, dubcon, substance abuse, violence, Ghost is not a nice dude]

Our skin starts to rot - follows on from ^^^ Simon hangs around despite the way he treats you like he can’t stand you. The feeling is mutual- to a point. [Ghost is not a nice dude, 18+, smut, substance abuse, afab!reader, self harm, self induced vomiting]

Choices have consequences - you take your team to Germany to assist the 141. Ghost takes a bullet. [gn!captain!reader]

Comfort in my sins - Simon can’t make his feelings for you clear and you grow frustrated. One night seems to change all of that. [amab!reader, 18+, smut, bottom ghost, anal, cum eating]

Smoked out, only seeing - you take yourself to a local pub randomly one night and have a chance encounter with a stranger. You find yourself waiting for him. [afab!reader, smut, car sex]

Whispers to cold flesh - Ghost and Soap get separated and Ghost seeks refuge from the snow storm in an abandoned house. Just when he thinks he’s alone, he finds you there - bleeding to death. [gn!reader, blood, death ideation, angst]

Words that melt in your mouth - Simon is finally home, you show him how that makes you feel. [afab!reader, smut, 18+]

Oh, in my blood - Dealing with Johnny’s death also means dealing with the guilt of seeing Ghost. [gn!reader, angst, character death, illusions to self harm]

If it hurts to breathe, open a window - Following the first mission with Soap in mw2. You meet Ghost for the first time, he’s different to the stories you’ve been told. [gn!reader, heavy plot, no smut, follows canon, injury/death/blood, canon typical violence, plane crash]

When the flood water comes - She returns home from a tough day at work, becoming a PO is something she’s starting to regret. Simon is a welcome comfort to come home to. [f!reader, 3rd person pov, fluff, soft Simon]

Quiet sunlit places - Times change and so does Scout’s relationship with Ghost. It’s been weeks since she’s seen him and she’s happy to see him when he comes home. [f!reader, 18+, smut, fingering, established relationship, mutual pining]

The weathers warm, he’s cold - a comic Ghost exploration [angst, death, allusion to SA, mention of child abuse, direct references to the Ghost comics]

The remorse you can’t hide - you’re injured while on duty, Ghost stitches you up- he’s softer than he looks. [gn!reader, blood+injury]

Stalker Simon - drabble

Anon requests - Ghost eats pussy | Religious guilt

Ghost x Soap x F!reader

I’m only human, can’t you see? - after a close call the adrenaline runs high, Soap stumbles across a pretty sight. [smut, noncon voyeurism, 18+]

Absolve me of my sins, won’t you? - Johnny gets a taste of what he missed out on at the safe house. [smut, threesome m/m/f, blowjob, masturbation, face-fucking, bondage]

John “Soap” Mactavish

Oh, reckless abandon - After you and Johnny cross the threshold of taking things beyond friendship, things only seem to get better. [f!reader, smut, fluff, established relationship]

Change in the currents and tide - John takes you home for the holidays and it only solidifies your nagging feeling that you no longer love Johnny just as a friend. [f!reader, smut, fluff, friends to lovers]

Roommate!Johnny fluff

[y-rhywbeth2]

Thinking about other gods and that letter from Sarevok you can get in the epilogue as Durge that makes me extremely nauseous led to me to remember similar things in Realmslore, which now that I think about it is going under a cut for issues involving the gods, consent, and breeding your own servants:

Durge is kind of like Bhaal's basically created a kid whose role in his plans is simultaneously the Seven Sisters - the previous Mystra's seven demigod kids, created when she realised that most mortals cannot contain her divine essence without dying or losing touch with reality - and Elué Shundar - the woman Mystra possessed in order to conceive and birth those kids, deceiving her "husband" (he had no idea what was happening, he just knew his crush was suddenly really into him, and I'm not sure Elué was interested in him in the first place) and killing her in the process - leaving her "a [lich and a] crumbling shell kept alive only through Mystra’s power."

To wit:

"[Mystra] set about breeding individuals to serve as her Chosen, rather than trying to induce mature and powerful mortals into her service. In this way she hoped to avoid the problems she encountered with those she selected at maturity, who had long-held dreams, feuds, and grudges of their own that tended to draw them away from what she wanted them to do and be."

Thank you for giving Bhaal these ideas, Mystra II; because it's not just Bhaal who's into the weird breeding programs. This is a thing the gods are known to do on occasion.

Bane seems to have taken the "sane" route: bang out one (1) kid with a fallen paladin (or demon, the story varies) then consume that kid's soul to resurrect yourself. Nice and simple.

Mystra had the Seven Sisters, and then Mielikki's mortal boyfriend eventually got to hear his goddess inform him that she needs him to go and breed with one of Mystra's kids for the Greater Good.

There are actually more layers of what the fuck to this kind of stuff, like swapping unborn infant souls and such, but moving on.

And of course Bhaal decided to have hundreds of kids, and in recent times has started playing matchmaker with them.

"[If your partner is not producing suitable Bhaalspawn] we may need to find you a breeding-mate. Or ten."

Considering the only examples we have of Bhaal's matchmaking, the list of candidates is going to be like: monsters, your fellow Bhaalspawn relatives... Things that Bhaal can mix his own murder impulses with to create more murderous/evil-inclined/powerful offspring-servants seems to be the goal, so fiends are probably on the list.

[hunn1e-bunn1e]

Demiurge - Fair & Just Seraphim SB Reader

🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.

I made the reader a seraphim (picture included; I imagined it as a mask or helmet.) instead of a regular angel since I believe that would be the highest evolution of an angel. Reader controls the justice system. I also used my new format for this one. I hope you like this, I did my best! —Benny🐰

                                                                                                   

💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎

💎 Out of all 41 of the Supreme Beings of the guild Ainz Oal Gown; only two had decided to stay in the Tomb of Nazarick. Those two being the guild master, Momonga, and the other being [UserName]. The other 39 Supreme Beings had abandoned the Tomb of Nazarick and it's denizens without looking back.

💎 While Momonga, now taking the name Ainz Oal Gown, was the now disbanded guild's Leader, a certain arch-devil couldn't help but turn his gaze away from the elder lich and towards the radiant [UserName].

💎 To say he respected them was an understatement; Demiurge was infatuated. Their beauty was ethereal yet unfathomable to the eyes of a being as lowly as himself. Due to their holy origins, merely being in their presence would slowly eat away at his, shaltear's and Albedo's life.

💎 But Demiurge, despite the possibility of death, just couldn't stay away. [UserName] was glowing pillar of judgement, passion and truth; enveloping the denizens of Nazarick in their never ending cheerful disposition. While Lord Ainz was leading Nazarick with an iron fist composed of fear and brutality; [UserName] was visiting the newly conquered territory, spreading order and elation.

💎 It was only natural that the humans, the worms, would favor them in the end. Even if, going by their standards, [UserName] was no better than Lord Ainz at times. [UserName] didn't make the justice system, they were the justice system; they made sure that every single individual was abiding by their law. If anyone, undead, beastman, elf, human etc. breaks a law the punishments are quite severe.

💎 Back to Demiurge, though. He waites on them hand and foot when they let him and if he can stay near them long enough without his health deteriorating to critical condition. He'll literally drop what he's doing and run across the entire tomb if he thinks they need him.

💎 Of course, [UserName] notices Demiurge's borderline obsession with them. But do they do anything about it? No! They embrace it with enthusiasm, sometimes even giving him special treatment since he's such a loyal little arch-devil. They view his infatuation as devotion and are very pleased with it... well... At least that's what Demiurge heard from Lord Ainz. [UserName] themselves hardly even give him a passing glance.

💎 Sometimes [UserName] will bring Demiurge into the courtroom and have him cart away a law breaking human or two to his happy farm. Always seeing him off with a "punish them well, Demiurge". It always gets him euphoric when they say his name, but that might just be they're natural aura pulling that reaction from him.

💎 Overall, it's mostly just Demiurge fantasizing about them and them strait up ignoring him most of the time.

"Yes, Your Radiance. I shall see to it that they're punished thoroughly enough to meet the standards of a being of your stature."

💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎•♡•💎

「A visual example of a biblically accurate Seraphim. Props to the artist who made this artwork (I can't read cursive), It's really nice.」

Seraphim; an angelical being, regarded in traditional Christian angelology as belonging to the highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy, associated with light, ardor, and purity.

Ardor; great enthusiasm and/or passion.

🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.•°•.🐇.

Wanna see similar content? Check out my Masterlist!

[crowroboros]

top 3 favourite Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf designs?

Easy. Again this is about their designs and designs only.

Link -

The #1 design for Link goes to Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom's Link (Especially Link in TotK with the Archaic Set, though the Snowquill set is a close second)

By far Link's best look across the entire series. From his hair to the arm to just the general artstyle of this era, I absolutely love this design for him. I would love to see more creative ways to have him in that classic Legend of Zelda green like this. The classic green tunic and cap is lovely, I think spicing the look up like this though is great (I consider the Tunic of the Wild to be BotW's green tunic only, even though it appears in this game as well.)

Wild Era Link himself just has my favorite design out of the Links—not even limiting him to the Archaic Set. I'm talking about the base man. He rocks.

#2 goes to Skyward Sword Link

Skyward Sword Link has what I consider the best traditional Legend of Zelda green tunic design (emphasis on traditional cause Archaic Set my beloved), especially in the artwork. I also like his hair, not as much as the Wild Era Link's hairstyles but The Hero of the Skies has nice hair too.

#3 goes to A Link Between Worlds Link (and technically Triforce Heroes but that game has a different artstyle so I'm not counting it as the same design even though it is the same Link)

It's a very "classic 2D Zelda" look—being very reminiscent of Link from most of the 2D titles from before 2002, but I just think that this specific look does the concept presented by Zelda 1, Adventure of Link, ALttP, the Oracle games, etc better. A big part of it is Ravio's Bracelet, the general artstyle of the game, and his painting form he takes. That wall merge mechanic is fantastic.

Zelda-

#1 goes to Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom Zelda (but more so Tears of the Kingdom's Zelda)

Yet another win for the Wild Era. I don't know who came up with the general look and design for this incarnation of Link and Zelda but fuck, they deserve the world. All of the outfits that Zelda wears in these games are great, and I think the short-hair look works wonderfully for her as well.

#2 goes to Twilight Princess Zelda

Despite my criticisms of TP Zelda's character (or lack thereof, if this was about character writing she would NOT make top 3. Go girl give us nothing!!), her design fucking slays. The colors, the intricate patterns and details, her rapier. Definitely deserves top 3.

#3 goes to Skyward Sword Zelda

I could go on for a while about this Zelda's character and her role with the people of Skyloft and Link and Goddess Hylia and how fascinating it all is...but this is about designs so that will have to be saved for another day. Although her two outfits are heavily tied into her character and how she sees herself: Zelda, inhabitant of Skyloft vs Zelda, Hylia Reincarnated and how she has to sacrifice who she is when forced into the role she plays in a conflict spanning millennia. I really want to make a post about her character in Skyward Sword. Maybe that'll happen one day.

Ganondorf-

#1 goes to Tears of the Kingdom Ganondorf

Yeah, none of you should be surprised. They cooked unbelievably hard with the character designs in the Wild Era games. Link, Zelda, Ganondorf all look FANTASTIC. Hell even his rotted corpse look is great (and I wish we saw more of it; Lich King Ganondorf as a concept sounds so good)

#2 goes to Wind Waker Ganondorf

Best written Ganondorf from the best Zelda game, and before TotK he was the best Ganondorf design as well! I don't have a single negative thing to say about Wind Waker Ganondorf's design really. I think the colors are great, the details serving as nods to the Helmaroc King are cool, he duel wields swords as well. After getting sealed away in Ocarina of Time, he really stepped up his fashion game.

and finally, #3 goes to Twilight Princess Ganondorf

He looks cool. The scar in the middle of his torso from the failed execution at the Arbiter's Grounds (and then him wielding the weapon that The Sages failed to kill him with) is a detail I really like. That's cool as fuck. This design kind of feels like what was attempted in Ocarina of Time, just no where near as good.

But there you have it anon, my top 3 favorite designs for Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf.

[msunitedstatesjames]

I just finished up most of Emmrich's companion quests and oh my god that was amazing. I chose the human ending, and I loved it. Once again, my favorite string of scenes yet in the game.

First of all, Emmrich's voice actor did amazing. Like, wow. We've heard Emmrich be the self assured academic, we've heard him be anxious, we've even heard him be angry, but we got whole new shades of Emmrich in the final Hezenkoss confrontation and Lich choice scenes. We got outrage, we got desperation, we got grief and pain. When Emmrich first tries to stop the lantern and realizes it could kill him, when he begs Manfred to come back as he goes after the lantern, when he begs him to come back again when he searches for his spirit, when he admits that he wouldn't trade Lichdom for having Manfred back, it's all so movingly acted. And you can't forget the "Magic, like you" joy. It can be easy for video games to make you feel excited or interested or generally just content, but feeling joy and grief are harder, and this string of quests pulled it off beautifully, largely because of the voice acting and also the character writing.

I found Emmrich's animation to be really good in these scenes as well. He does a lot of dramatic gesturing, and for whatever reason it just really worked for me. The way he gestures when pleading with Hezenkoss and admitting she was right was great. The hug when Manfred was back was adorable. The look on his face when he realizes he's talking about Manfred like a child was precious. But the one that really got me was when Manfred "dies," and Emmrich puts his hands over his face with that look of utter disbelief and horror. Seeing Emmrich look like that, when he's always so put together, really hits hard.

The little romance moments were great, too. Having Hezenkoss be so pissed off that Emmrich has a lover is gratifying. Rook getting called his "paramour" was amusing. Also, I have to give Hezenkoss some props for at least admitting she would have entombed Rook and Emmrich together when she killed them. That's really a pretty decent thing for a villain to promise, like, she didn't have to do that. It was nice to be able to stand up for Emmrich, too. And that you got to help him make his big decision. But of course the sprinkle on top of this delightful cake was getting to surprise Emmrich into realizing that you're parenting together. How many other Dragon Age couples get to parent together? Only a few that I can think of.

Emmrich's character growth was stunning too. He has to acknowledge that, at least in one way, Hezenkoss was better than him. He admits that he misses her friendship. He has to face down his greatest fear, death, more than once, and while doing so choose the lives of others above his own in a very real way. First he chooses to risk himself to save Hezenkoss's enemies, and Rook, and Nevarra City. Then, he literally chooses eventual death in order to save Manfred. He also realizes that he was stronger than he believed himself to be, both in magic and in courage. And in the end he can admit that though he has regrets, he knows he made the right choice. I haven't played or watched the other ending, but it feels right somehow for Emmrich to embrace his deep compassion this way.

As for Hezenkoss, there's a certain poetic justice to her being ended by a ragtag team of Emmrich's "ridiculous skeleton," Emmrich's lover, spirits she personally tormented, and her former friend turned foil, Emmrich the death fearing necromancer. I still love her as a whacky villain. Who knows what evils her escaped undead hand is getting up to now?

If I haven't blabbed enough about how amazing these quests were, they were also just the most exhilarating in the game for me so far. I think all of the reasons listed above just combined really well together to make this quest super suspenseful. I really cared about Emmrich as a character, so I really cared about his fate. Even though you logically knew he wouldn't die in this quest, it still felt very high stakes. There was exciting music, dozens of lives at stake including Emmrich and Manfred, and as I've mentioned before, top tier voice acting. I was gasping and kicking my feet in excitement at all the right moments. It strings you right along from suspense, to excitement, to dread, to shock, to triumph, to grief, to joy, to a pleasant contentment.

I couldn't stop playing this string of quests, which was extremely unfortunate for Bellara because right before this she told Rook they needed to go after her brother immediately, and then I instead forced her to tag along and help Rook defeat her boyfriend's rival.

Anyway, I'm still reeling from the excitement of it all. I hope the end of this game is really good because it's gonna be hard to live up to this bunch of quests.

(Sidenote: How horrified would the Southern Templars be to find out an extremely powerful death mage, his Spelblade Tevinter mage girlfriend, and their reanimated skeleton son (inhabited by a spirit of curiosity and gifted with death magic) are running around Thedas fighting gods?)

[dergnblaze]

Finished Dragon Age Vielguard.

Here are my thoughts... spoilers ahead. I romanced emmerich. he became a lich.

You could REALLY TELL they fired all their writers.

I loved how beautiful everything was, the combat was delicious. But so much of the game felt filler or forgotten.

There were many many opportunities to make compelling story moments that were just lost to happening off screen. Like they were afraid if they tried to animate them they would get made fun of if it didnt look right or something. But just lost all their power bc we didnt SEE them happen.

Lots of moments with bards in the environment that I think SHOULD HAVE HAD music! Maybe not voiced music! But a musical change would have been nice. Hell I would have been happy with the music from the inquisition even.

Its also the shortest Dragon Age game I've ever played. And I hate that. I hate it.

I agree having a tightly wrapped up story is better to ambiguity and lots of moving parts makes things confusing, but everything felt rushed and nothing had room to breath.

I loved romancing Emmerich, and would have loved to see all of the companions have more reactivity with your choices and the enviroment. After every big choice in inquisition you got a scene with the companions it effected the most.

The ending of the game was done very well. I thought the lead up to the big boss fight was well paced, engaging, thrilling and satisfying. But I couldnt help but keep thinking 'Wow I wish the rest of the game got this level of care and attention.'

All the dragons were a mess. We need a big boss fight? Ok here is a dragon. Thats a cop out. I dont like it.

I like all of the companions a LOT more than some of the other games. In Inquistion I only really cared about like, three of them. And how hard would it have been REALLY to bring some of what you did in Inquision into this game? The Divine choice could have been an easy way to satisfy us with a line or two of dialogue, but just nothing?

I liked that there were bodies in the tentacles, that was cool. Belarra being all gross and blighted was cool. It was dark when I needed it to be, so Im happy with that. Elgarnan looked sick as fuck at the end of the game, and so did Solas for that matter. I really like that Emmerich was in lich mode the entire end game. That was hot. I'm sad Lucanis died in my run. I feel like other games would have had a funeral for our lost companions or something, but Harding and Lucanis didnt really get anything.

And Mythal just being some white lady elf was lame. She was an elven god! You CLEARLY have some amazing animators and designers working on the game, its beautiful. It would not have been hard to give us a large, beautiful, ethereal elven goddess instead of just this random white lady ghost. Just feels thoughtless.

SO much of this game felt thoughtless. Like, just the care and attention wasnt given to it that the other games had.

And I shouldnt compare it to Baldurs Gate 3 bc that game is like, magnificent.

But how can I NOT??

They are the same kind of game!!

idk, I feel like the studio maybe gave up on it. I love this IP but after this I doubt it has the legs to keep going. No hook for the next game in the epilogue. No real epilogue for Rook and their partner. Just them standing with their hands on their hips while like four people cheer for them. Lame.

[gancegancerevo]

Zwillingstürme im Herbst Thoughts

ZT to me, is a story of endings. Not just the factual endings of eras, Arts, and songs. But also the great question of "What happens after the end?"

Each major character faces an ending in this story. Leithanien faces the end of both the Kaiserinnen and the truest finale of the Witch King. The Liches end their stay in the country. Viviana comes to terms with her Leithanien heritage, Ebenholz frees himself from all of his demons, and Arturia, well, we'll get to Arturia.

One of the most notable things is how this story treats hope and the indomitable human spirit. Unlike other stories, it does not praise humanity and treat them as some unstoppable limitless force by virtue of their emotions. Instead, it takes a very nuanced approach that's informed by how powerless these characters can actually get. Sure they can charge forward towards their goals but they'll still die and they'll still be faced with darkness and regrets. Even still, we should embrace our emotions and the turmoil they bring.

The Genesis Horn and Kagenreich are such interesting ideas but it can feel weird that much of the climax is emotional conflicts made manifest. Viviana's is the most obvious. The constant doors to possible new lives culminating in her real one. She comes to let go of the past and stand for herself which is nice. It's also nice that it was Margaret's light that helped her fight back the darkness. An exquisite call-back to the Radiant Knight.

Ebenholz helped to paint a very unique lesson in my opinion. That suffering doesn't NEED meaning. Even after promising Kreide that he'd live and fight fate, he's still plagued by headaches and Witch King Remnants. The revelation that whatever was in his head, the Voice of Mundane, was just a mundane voice upends many of the things we've (us and Ebenholz) assumed about his life. That his suffering was tied to the Witch King and that his conflict would culminate in a big fight against the man whose shadow terrorized him. Instead they have a heart to heart and the Witch King challenges him to look back on his life and realize that "the night itself is meaningless." It is totally fine to have a terrible thing just be a terrible thing and moving on doesn't have to involve a great trials to overcome, sometimes your enemies kill themselves and you just walk away.

Arturia is the most interesting but I'm afraid I can't do her full arc justice. In contrast to his accommodating spin with Ebenholz, the Witch King challenges Arturia at every turn, questioning her motive and why she wants what she does. It comes to a head when he forcefully dives into her and sees that there is only one thing that stirred her own emotions. Everything else is a mirror of someone else. He ultimately gives her the answer she's looking for and the natural doubt that comes when the answer she found didn't meet her expectations. But her bouncing back as chaos descended was beautiful and I might reread this and Hortus just to really grasp her character.

Cora and Brandt, Hildegard and Lisellote (no idea how to, spell the Kaserinnen's surnames), Michel, Lessing, and the Liches. All sorts of stories come to a close as new beginnings emerge. And the most troublesome of them is definitely the makings of the newest source of conflict: the Disaster, the encroaching of chaos upon reality and the return of the supposed Creator.

It's quite likely that that may be the angle of the next major story arc, especially with the role Nearl's light played and the fact that Laterano is trying so hard to unite the nations.

This event was great and I recommend it. Not sure if I have any major notes or ideas to share but I really liked it.

One last thing: seems people are kinda wary of Lisellote, the Eternal Grace. I love it when the supposedly fluffier one has the greater potential of evil

[silverglimse-productions]

Am I crazy or is the Suffering Game issue the book where most plot has been cut out??? Cause it feels so weirdly paced. And just kinda weirdly written in general.

Like there’s no Betrayal/Trust game, they go directly from Wheel to Monster Factory (and only fights the bear) and directly from Wheel to Heart Attack (no explanation for why they would end up there, just that it’s the “next stop”).

Then they skip the last Wheel round (meaning we don’t get Taako’s loss of Elven Beauty - a pretty important moment for his character, Merle loses his eye in the second round instead, and Magnus keeps all memories of Governor Kalen - he was offered loss of Julia instead and didn’t take it. Which. Fair.. and also, no bad luck) and go straight to the Lich fight??? So no boss Rush either. We also never see a penalty in this book.

Speaking of things missing from this book. Where the fuck is Cam? Or Lord Artemis Sterling? Rowan and Antonia???

The book is almost 300 pages long. They enter Wonderland at p. 52. We see the full room at p. 107. They only spent 55 pages on the bulk of this arc. The rest of the book has good pacing so what the fuck happened here. The book should have been longer. The impact of the suffering game isn’t felt as hard when there’s less gruelling challenges that loses Tres Horny Bois hp, or when you cut out any other npc that was affected by Wonderland from the story.

Due to this limited number of pages we also get weird pacing like Merle asking Magnus whether he spent “all that time thinking up the move” during the direbear fight, even though there’s only like 2 panels between Taako ending his move and Magnus beginning his. Also Merle you didn’t do anything during that fight, so get off your high horse.

Also, we only actually see one spell of Merle’s fail, that being the healing spell, so for all he knows, nothing is wrong with his powers, so him commenting on the fact that it would be nice to “be able to commune with a higher power” once they’re out of wonderland makes no fucking sense. Cause he could just?? Try and contact Pan?? Like he does later anyways??? Like we actively see him reaching into the astral plane without issue, so clearly up until that point no magical foul play.

Now, did stuff like the boss rush and the like have to have been in the book? No, but it’s weird when you think of what was kept in and was removed. Like fx, why was Taako shown giving up his acrobatics prof but not his elven beauty?

Also side note about Heart Attack - this is not relevant but it just makes me personally crazy, the book seems to imply that the mannequins have free will??? In that Lydia and Edward literally whisper to each other about “oh no the audience and the hot hot hot contestant actually likes these guys”????? WHAY?? Like aren’t they the ones who control all of what happens inside wonderland??