#i would also like zoltan to be there for at least one dwarf it feels really bullshit to just. leave them out.

[roughentumble]

idea for a witcher/homestuck AU. ciri goes to fight the white frost and seemingly defeats it, but something isnt right about it, and for some reason at the center of it all she finds some sort of game with complex instructions right there. she kind of tells herself that it was leftover from some other traveler, who came to the center of all that is to destroy entropy and found themselves lacking, leaving behind only scraps of who they were. but it seems so pristine... could it really be that...? whatever it is, she feels oddly compelled to play it. perhaps as homage to a soul that was lost clutching a game and thinking of joyful times with their family.

(there is no stopping the white frost. entropy cannot be fought back. but how is she to know? when avallac'h told her otherwise? is it so wrong to dare to hope?)

the game is called something silly, like hmlet(like sburb but instead its. hamlet.)

everyone is already gathered, so when they all slink off to nurse their bruises, when theyre all still together, she brings out the game. eskel thinks its a bit grim. lambert thinks its grim, so he's completely behind it. they shuffle through the confusing rules as the first icy, frozen meteor falls far, far away, on the other side of a world that's yet to be fully circumnavigated.

my preliminary cast list idea looks something like:

1. yen (witch of time) (derse)

2. ciri (mage of space) (derse)

3. jaskier (rogue of breath) (prospit)

4. geralt (knight of blood) (prospit)

5. eskel

6. lambert

7. regis (?)

8. avallac'h

9. cerys (?)

10. letho (?)

11. triss

12. zoltan (?)

with question marks denoting placements that are the most up in the air, though i'd REALLY like to keep letho and zoltan on board. im never going to write this but i am going to have fun turning it over in my head and imagining these 12 as fun gods of a new world.

[bard-llama]

WiP Wednesday

I toooootally didn’t forget that today was Wednesday! But it’s STILL Weds for another 2 hours where I am, which means you get a snip! I started rereading (Im)Perfect Strangers today so have a snip from the Don’t Cry for Me, Temeria ‘verse.

“Mr. Zoltan,” Boussy tugged on the dwarf’s clothing one evening in the public dining hall. Roche was busy bullying Fenn into letting Imadia look at his broken wrist, because the idiot kept trying to use it, but he saw the way everyone in the area turned at least partial attention towards the boy. It was, after all, less common for Boussy to initiate conversations, especially in public.

“What can I do for you, Wee Lad?” Zoltan asked, smiling behind his bushy beard.

“How come dwarves hate elves?” Boussy asked innocently, probably unaware of the immediate tension that spread across the room. There were the dwarves within hearing distance, of course – Zoltan, Yarpen, and Skalen, most notably – but there were also several elves, because Iorveth had followed Imadia and Rinn was sitting next to Anais. In other words, this could end badly.

“Ah,” Zoltan coughed. “Well, the easiest answer is because elves hate dwarves.”

“They do?” Boussy tilted his head.

“Magda said,” Anais interrupted loudly, “that it’s cause elves were like humans before humans were here.”

That certainly didn’t go over well with the elves present, though Zoltan nodded.

“She’s not wrong, though I wouldn’t, uh, use those words, exactly.”

“What does that mean?” Boussy asked, frowning down at his hands.

“Well, uh…” Zoltan cleared his throat, glancing around quickly to search for either support or an escape.

Roche would love to help, but honestly, he knew nothing about the history between elves and dwarves. And he was kind of curious, though very on edge. There were an awful lot of people around who might have personal opinions about that history, and that tended to get messy.

Skalen Burdon, the alderman’s nephew, ducked his head, pointedly not making eye contact with Zoltan, but Yarpen Zigrin seemed to take pity on him.

“Elves were the conquerors of the continent before humans came along and did it better,” Yarpen said bluntly, and Roche winced, practically able to feel the offense coming from Iorveth.

“Excuse you,” Iorveth’s voice was snippy. “We spread culture across the continent.”

“Yeah, by conquering people,” Yarpen glared at him. “Bah, are you even old enough to remember?”

Now Roche was the one frowning. Wasn’t Iorveth like… really old?

“Not many are,” Imadia said gravely, somehow spreading a sense of calm. “The times Yarpen speaks of started long before the Conjunction of the Spheres. And yes,” she held up a hand in Iorveth’s face, “you are too young. When you were born, elves already ruled the continent, though not without conflict.”

Zoltan snorted, “that’s one way to put it. Elves tried – and failed – to conquer Mahakam.”

“Wait, really?” Thirteen blurted out, blinking in surprise. “But like – even Foltest didn’t really conquer Mahakam. And everyone said he was mad to even try!”

“No, he didn’t.” Yarpen and Zoltan both looked smug.

Roche decidedly kept his mouth shut. There was no need to remind people that he’d been part of that campaign.

“Plenty o’ other places they did succeed in conquering, though. Just look at Loc Muinne!”

Iorveth stiffened. The matter of the extinction of the Vrans was a complicated one, and Iorveth had personal connections to Loc Muinne’s history. It was probably best to move on from this quickly.

“So what about dwarves?” Roche asked.

“What about us?” Zoltan asked, eyeing Iorveth in a way that meant he too was aware of why Roche was changing the subject.

“Well, humans came and conquered. Elves came and conquered. Did dwarves ever? Or uh, other species before the Conjunction?”

“Not really,” Zoltan shrugged. “Not to say that there weren’t some who tried – I’ve no doubt every species has at least some of those. But as a species, we dwarves live in the mountains, which many other species find… inhospitable. Not all of them, though! Dwarves and gnomes have always gotten along well enough.”

“Wait, but we live in a mountain,” Anais pouted.

“Ah, but remember,” Pillow Tits smiled kindly at her, “humans can’t live without sunlight. So we can live in mountains, but we need to return to the surface fairly regularly or our health will start to decay.”

“But dwarves don’t?” Boussy asked.

Zoltan shook his head. “Not really. I mean, there are effects on vision if you don’t experience sunlight fairly regularly. But I think maybe that came later – that we adjusted to sunlight later, and that’s why we can lose that, if we stay under the mountains for too long. Sunlight hurts if you’ve been out of it for too long.”

“Hmm, that’s an interesting theory,” Imadia tapped her finger against her chin and Iorveth rolled his eye. “Dwarves came from stone, yes? I’ve heard some say that you’re eternal like stone as well, but – well, I think that was more poetic than accurate.”

“Mmm, sort of,” Skalen grunted. “I dunno anything about the pre-Conjunction stuff, but when dwarves die, we return to the stone. You can visit our catacombs here, in fact. They’re quite something, I must say.”

“Full of wraiths,” Geralt grumbled under his breath. “Every fucking body had a wraith, pretty much.”

Roche blinked. What had Geralt been doing with the bodies in the Vergen Catacombs and why?

[batgurl1989]

Running With The Wolf Chapter Four

Summary: You and Geralt explore Novigrad, getting ready to take down the real killer

Word Count: 1850

Warnings: As always Spoilers

A/N: If you want to be added to my taglist, let me know :)

Chapter One  Chapter Two  Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five

Taglist: @rmtndew​ @princesssterek​ @djinny-djin-djin​ @cynic-spirit​ @henrynerdfan​

Chapter Four

You and Geralt searched for evidence all over the city. From the Harbour all the way to Gildorf in the northernmost part of the city, Geralt chased down any clue that might have led to the real killer. A trail of blood here. A scent to follow there. An eyewitness swearing up and down that they saw the whole thing. The pieces alone didn’t mean much. In a city like Novigrad, there were probably a couple murders a night. But when put all together, the evidence seemed to point to someone who wasn’t Dandelion.

When you brought this theory to the King of Beggars, he was willing to listen, just as you expected. When you told him you thought it was nobleman who had paid to have the spy killed, Francis nodded along, agreeing that it made sense. Every day, they received information on the rich of the city, which in turn was useful to someone for a price. The nobleman probably wanted to silence the information before it made it back the Putrid Grove.

After staying up late, Geralt and you finally had a plan. After running it past the King to get the right information about how to play it out, you found yourself shopping in Hierarch Square for a dress to wear to the wedding that night. The King had let you in on the recent whereabouts of the nobleman, and it turned out that night he would be attending the wedding of a Vegelbud, one of the prominent families in Novigrad. The wedding would be at their estate and would be attended by invite only. Luckily, the beggars had come through and had procured the invites for you and Geralt to get into the party.

You felt Geralt’s arm brushed yours as he appeared at your side while you perused the dress shop. Dress shopping was certainly not his thing, but still he had gone out to find clothes to wear to the wedding at your insistence. He couldn’t show up at the party dressed in his Witcher armour, or he would stick out like a sore thumb and blow your cover. Under his arm he had a package wrapped in brown paper, and your curiosity piqued. Your mind began to wander as you pictured him in formal attire.

“Which one are you going to get?” Geralt asked, drawing your attention back to the three dresses you had narrowed it down to. An elaborately embroidered red velvet dress with gold edges and a green and silver dress with bell sleeves were laid out in front of you on the table. Both were beautiful and within your price range. Beside them was a dress with a dark green skirt and white top with a lace up corset belt to go with it.

“That depends.” You sighed. You wished you could buy them all, but you definitely had no reason to own that many dresses. Geralt raised his eyebrows, silently encouraging you to continue. “The red one would fit more with the nobles, the green one would look amazing with my hair, but the white and green one would be more practical for a quick getaway.”

“Which do you want the most?” Geralt asked, leaning with his back to the table, his full attention on you. His golden eyes searched your face for any sign you liked one dress over the others as he crossed his arms.

You looked at him, also searching his face, trying to decide what to tell him. But instead you found yourself getting lost in those golden pools. You noticed his nostril flare and were glad to know that you affected him as much as he did you. Placing a hand on his chest, your fingertips grazing the patch of skin visible in the triangle his shirt created at his neck, you grounded yourself in him. It was the most contact you two had had in public since entering the city, and you were relishing it.

“The green and silver one.” Geralt said after clearing his throat. You blinked, as though waking from a dream, and turned to look at the dresses again. He handed you a small pouch of coin to pay for it. You started to protest, but he waved it away. “It’s Dandelion’s fault we have to go to this. The least I can do is pay for your dress.”

“He’s my friend too.” You frowned. You didn’t want Geralt thinking you couldn’t pay for your own things.

“Yes, but I am the one who always has to bail him out.” Geralt pointed to the green and silver dress when the shopkeeper came over. “The lady will be taking this one.”

“Excellent choice.” The shopkeeper smiled, taking the dress away to wrap it up. You rolled your eyes at the triumphant look on Geralt’s face.

“Fine. But I am getting the money for it from Dandelion to repay you.” You said, flicking your red hair over your shoulder, a note of finality in your voice.

“Even better.” Geralt laughed. He gave your arm a squeeze, his fingers trailing across your skin in a heated path, before leaving the store to go explore more of the outdoor market set up in the square.

You waited for the shopkeeper to come back to hand them their coin. With your package in hand, you left to go find Geralt. You scanned the market until you found him, though it wasn’t hard since he didn’t have his hood up. Hair as white as his was always easy to spot, especially when he stood taller than those around him. You took a moment to admire him from a distance before taking the steps down into the market.

When you reached him, he had a loaf of warm bread in his hand and a bag of apples. The apples were probably for the horses later. He grinned when he heard your stomach growl over the din of the market at the delicious smell of the freshly baked bread. He ripped off a chunk, passing it over to your eager hands.

“Thank you.” You said before taking a bite. You couldn’t help the moan that escaped your throat at the taste of the buttery bread on your tongue. Your eyes slid close as you savoured the bread, the warmth it gave you spreading through your body.

When you opened your eyes again, you noticed Geralt watching your every move with darkened eyes. The molten gold orbs tracked your tongue as you licked the last of the crumbs from your lips. It dawned on you that the hungry look in his eyes was for you and not the food he held in his hands. Glancing around at the people crowding the market, a blush painted your cheeks. The look on his face promised pleasure beyond what your mind could comprehend, and had your body singing with need. You were frozen in his gaze, only wanting to move towards him. You foot slid forward, bringing you closer to the heat coming from the Witcher.

“Tonight.” That single word he uttered had you gasping for breath. The moment passed when he moved to leave the market. You stood, rooted in place, for a beat longer, trying to slow your heart down.

Looking over your shoulder, you wondered if you would survive travelling with him. Not because the monsters you would inevitably face, but because Geralt might cause your heart race itself to bursting.

By the time you had yourself under control, he was out of sight. Mentally kicking yourself, you rushed to catch up. You knew Novigrad like the back of your hand, but there were so many streets and alleyways he could have ducked down, that finding him would be difficult. Looking down a few streets, you sighed. You had lost him. Figuring he could find you using his Witcher senses, you headed back to the Chameleon to change.

By the time you were changed, Geralt still hadn’t shown up. You gave yourself a once over in the mirror, double checking the dress, and making sure your hair was pinned properly in the braid crown you had painstakingly worked it into. Everything looked to be in order, and you decided to wait down in the tavern rather than up in the room alone. Maybe you could convince Zoltan to play a quick round of Gwent with you.

“Lass, you look perfectly stunning.” Zoltan’s praise met you before you had finished walking down the stairs. The Dwarf stood behind the bar as usual but was ignoring the patrons as he stared at you.

“Thank you, Zoltan.” You smiled brightly, happy to know that your efforts were not wasted. Glancing around the room, you noticed Geralt still wasn’t there. You were surprised to feel disappointment bubble up inside you. You smile must have faltered, because Zoltan abandoned his post to join you at the bottom of the stairs.

“I am sure Geralt will be here momentarily.” Zoltan said quietly, guessing at your thoughts. He gave your forearm a reassuring squeeze, gesturing for you to join him at the bar. “He probably just went to make sure everything was set.”

“And to get the horses.” Geralt’s voice sounded from behind you. Your heart leapt at the sound, flooding you with happiness and banishing the disappointment from before.

“Geralt! Late, but at least you are here.” Zoltan gave the Witcher a hard time, taking his spot behind the bar. He winked at you, and started filling orders once again for the disgruntled customers he had left a moment before.

“You look stunning.” Geralt ignored Zoltan, turning to you. His attention had you suddenly self-conscious, and you touched your hair to make sure it was still in place.

“You clean up nicely yourself.” You noticed he had changed into an embroidered black waist coat with a white linen shirt underneath. He still had on his travelling boots, but he had changed into a pair of black deerskin pants. You found yourself doing the domestic thing and straighten his collar.

“Shall we?” Geralt smirked down at you once you were done. He gestured toward the door and followed you as you left the Chameleon with a wave to Zoltan. Geralt stopped you before you could mount Marabelle, an arm around your stomach. His breath tickled the shell of your ear as he spoke. “That dress is perfect on you.”

“I’m glad you approve.” You whispered back to him, unable to say more as your mouth suddenly went dry. He growled in your ear, giving you a squeeze before regretfully letting you go.

“Tonight.” He whispered before stepping away to go mount Roach.

You were out of breath as you settled into the saddle, arranging your dress around you as you could ride. It wasn’t a far ride to the Vegelbud estate, but you would relish the cool breeze on your face. His promise had kept you on edge all day, and if he kept making it, you wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the mission ahead. The fresh air and cool breeze would do you good.

[warsofasoiaf]

I've got a video game suggestion-you've mentioned that your favorite quest in Witcher 3 is Reason of State, and I would like to hear your analysis of that quest.

This is truly a god-tier quest, a very good example of well-done quest design, that culminates a world’s worth of quest-building and features some exceptional character work. Since we’re going to be up to our necks in spoilers, there’s a cut here.

Reason of State might be the grand climax and resolution of the quest arc, but context in this is critical and that goes. The northern wars between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms is all over the games. Nilfgaard’s plan to assassinate Northern kings using Letho of Gulet is the entire plot of Witcher 2, and the war between Radovid and Emhyr forms the backdrop for Witcher 3. The Northern Kingdoms are almost all broken by the time of the Witcher 3. Temeria is occupied, Foltest was murdered in the Witcher 2. Natalis missing from the Witcher 3, and Vernon Roche forced to fight a guerilla war in caves. Velen is a broken land thanks to this war and under the absentee rule of the Bloody Baron. Aedirn is a non-entity, Stennis is absent no matter what happened in Witcher 2. Kaedwyn is gone, Henselt either being killed by Roche or Radovid and forcibly integrated into Redania. Only Redania remains, forcibly integrating Kaedwyn, but it is run by Radovid V. By the third game, Radovid is a cruel, psychotic king, but has a solid understanding of tactics enough to fight the Nilfgaardians to a stalemate (and he will win, without player intervention). Nilfgaard is responsible for a lot of Northern disorder, their campaign to use Letho to kill Northern kings successfully rid themselves of Demavend III and Foltest, the first of whom was able to successfully predict Emhyr’s movements while the latter is the leader of the most powerful kingdom and successfully defeats Nilfgaard’s invasion. But it’s not all Nilfgaard, Philipa Eilhart murdered King Vizimir II, Radovid’s father and one of the chief architects of the First Northern War victory, largely out of a bid for personal power. This paragraph shows that things are bad all around. Emhyr is a blatant expansionist responsible for a great deal of suffering, and the only man capable of resisting him is an open sadist relentlessly persecuting mages, which might be the only hope for the North to remain independent (it won’t be, but you have no way of knowing that at present)

When the player begins to be introduced to the characters, they’re framed as desperate men on the fringe. Roche is waging a crusade with his Blue Stripes, but the Nilfgaardian advance has been stymied largely by Redania and the two sides attempting to compete for the fleets and treasures of Novigrad. He’s forced to working with Radovid, who he openly doesn’t like, out of a practical need to do something. Ves is even throwing herself into suicide missions against Mulbrydale, out of a desire to do something worthwhile, a far cry from the man who was such a major mover of the plot in Witcher 2. King Radovid does not present well, acting psychotic in his introductory scene with the chessmen, and acting poorly toward Geralt, the player character and thus the vector for exploring the game world even if he is an established character (it’s worth noting that one of the best ways to get a player to dislike a character is to have them be rude to the PC, no matter how justified it may be in-universe). His mage hunts are also not likely to endear themselves to the player; the two primary love interests to Geralt and friends to Ciri are mages, and the witch hunters attempt to bilk Geralt of his reward by demanding the megascope crystal in Redania’s Most Wanted. Djikstra is helpful enough to Geralt during his hunt for Dandelion, but the two end on a bad note which isn’t entirely Djikstra’s fault since Geralt did lie to him; he’s notably nicer if you secure him his vault key, but that requires botching a quest and ends up causing Triss to commit torture to progress the storyline. The player character inclined to be friendly to Roche, if only because he tends to be straight and polite with you. Sure enough, Roche and Ves help out during the climatic fight in Kaer Morhen. Radovid isn’t even an option (and will kill Kiera Metz, further engendering hatred from the player since she’s another character Geralt can shack up with and Kiera’s absence means fellow Wolf School witcher Lambert dies). Djikstra doesn’t help you at all if you don’t get his key back, and if you do he gives you gold, which isn’t likely to be very significant since you’re likely swimming in coin by that point in the game. 

One of the things I like in this questline is that this is a big and monumental quest, but you will lose it if you don’t take the time to get in good with the plotters, you’ll simply miss this quest. If you don’t get in good with the plotters, they won’t trust you. And if you beat down Djikstra instead of giving him information, he despises you and won’t bring you in on the plot, Geralt’s effectiveness as a Witcher and as a protagonist be damned. That’s something that more games need to be doing, rewarding players for investing themselves in the game with content. A lot of Triple-A games these days are so scared of players missing or cutting themselves out of content that they refuse to do this, which makes a lot of RPG’s feel far more shallow. I’m sympathetic to a point to game developers, content is expensive. Graphics and voice acting are expensive and losing content means spending money on content that’s not going to hit 100% of the audience. Thing is though, the same argument can be made for sidequests, or even for alternative conversation paths, so I don’t consider it a good enough excuse on its own. Avoiding this is as brainless as it is lazy.

When the game circles back after the Isle of the Mists, things are clearly reaching a breaking point. Djikstra has recruited like-minded conspirators to his cause to kill Radovid, each of whom have their own reasons. Djikstra, who worked with Radovid’s father, finds him a poor king unlikely to continue Vizimir’s great reign. Gregor the Redanian guard sees the devastation wrought by Radovid’s lynchings and persecutions and despises it, his loyalty to his country is too high to desert but he feels he needs to do something. Thaler and Roche are devoted to the idea of a free Temeria that they’re willing to back Djikstra’s play to bring an end to the Third Northern War. The player is likely to support the conspirators, Radovid’s support of the witch hunters has led to the deaths of non-humans since you need to complete Now or Never and save the mages; pogroms aren’t a great way to endear a player character to Radovid, especially since Zoltan the dwarf has been nothing but a straight-up pal to Geralt. This is a good tactic in RPG quest design, by making the least appealing result the default, it encourages the player to do the quests. As any GM can tell you, you have to make your players want to do the quests, otherwise they’ll do something else. Games are not able to just make up a new quest off the cuff like an improvisational tabletop GM can (this was one of my strengths as a GM, if you trust my players’ judgment), so they must heavily rely on getting the player to do quests. Some are mechanical, do this quest for XP and loot that makes you better at the game. The Witcher excelled though, at getting people invested in characters.

The conspirators’ play won’t work though, not without help from Phillipa; the hated mage is the bait that they need for the trap to work (and coincidentally, it won’t work without Geralt as well both because Phillipa won’t give her ring to any of the other plotters and by virtue of Geralt as the protagonist in the RPG). The trap is laid for Radovid, and if the player goes through with it, Radovid is executed by Phillipa, who flies off into the night having murdered yet another Redanian king.

Then, after the conspirators escape, the stage is set for Geralt to make a moral choice when Djikstra betrays the conspiracy. It’s a wonderfully set and acted scene, from Djikstra quoting a Macbeth stand-in to the patriots’ giddy excitement at the future. Then, the shoe drops and the conspiracy falls apart. Djikstra plans to become the next Vizimir, taking Radovid’s consolidated northern kingdom of Redania and Kaedwyn and fighting Emhyr to a standstill. Temeria would be subsumed into that, ceasing to exist. Naturally, this enrages the Temerian patriots, who refuse to go along with that scheme. It leaves Geralt with a choice, leave and allow Djikstra to murder Roche, Ves, and Thaler, or stay and defend them, resulting in a fight that will end in Djisktra’s death. This is often the case in partisan movements throughout history, where a power struggle over the shape of the victory to come causes disunity and strife, ending with one faction murdering the other ones, so points for historical and thematic elements being on point for the gritty fantasy. Similarly, by making the choice being the resolution of a conspiracy, it threads the needle between the protagonist doing everything and solely resolving the ending for one faction, which often feels shallow, and giving the player no agency which robs investment in the ending. By allowing the conspirators their machinations and taking advantage of others already in place, it allows the player to feel a meaningful impact that has wide implications. Fallout’s ending slides could be hit or miss, though the small scale of post-apocalyptica does make it more relevant. It hits a nice sweet spot, where it’s probably a bit too much to be realistic in a straight history but works just nicely for the scope of fantasy fiction. By forcing the player to do the quests for these people, not only does it meet the threshold of believability by explaining why they would bring Geralt on the quest save that he’s the protagonist, but it invests the player in the characters. Of course, this can only be done because the game did such wonders with its character work. Even if you don’t play Witcher 2, you see Roche love his country, you see Ves try to defend Mulbrydale, and they both can contribute meaningfully in the Battle at Kaer Morhen. Djikstra does influence the main plot and he can be funny with his sarcastic quips delivered by excellent voice acting. Thaler is less of a presence, but he’s also side-splittingly hilarious when he taught the trolls to swear, the player likes these characters and so likes the quest they’re in, and picking between them does actually cut deep in a way that Telltale Games “pick which character you want” drama can only hope to achieve in its wildest dreams. It’s political game storytelling at it’s best, using character work which is easier for players to identify with as I mentioned in my geopolitics essay.

Backing Djikstra is tough in the short run, because you lose three characters that you probably like. Roche and Ves, after all, did join you in Kaer Morhen and it seems cold for them to help and then betray them, unless of course, you didn’t ask for their help. Djikstra rules and reforms the North on a program of modernization, often contrary to the wishes of his subjects. Plenty might think that to be a path of success for the North, since Djikstra will build a military that will defend them and ensure a general level of prosperity. You just have to turn a blind eye to the Temerian patriots being slaughtered by Djikstra.

The alternative, backing Roche and Thaler isn’t a pure win either. Temeria becomes a province of Nilfgaard, but Emhyr gets Aedirn and Lyria. Emhyr finally wins his war and isn’t likely to stop his expansionist ways unless Ciri becomes Empress. Even then, he’s a senior statesman and can exert influence if he wants, Ciri even says so. We can get Roche’s perspective, and we like Roche. After all, he (probably) helps us out in the grand fight at Kaer Morhen, but he’s not an unbiased observer. He’s a Temerian partisan happy to sell out the other Northern Realms for a dubious pretense at some internal autonomy for Temeria alone. In plenty of ways, the Roche path is a collaborationist success story, selling out the North for Temeria alone.

The choice is yours to take and to make what you will. Plenty of folks might hope for a change in direction if they put Ciri on the Nilfgaardian Throne, but they might instead desire for her to adventure on her own as a de facto Witcher. In that case, Emhyr fails, is killed, and who knows what happens next? Could more provinces break away, might there be further wars in Nilfgaard, or power struggles, or something else. It could go a lot of different ways and it’s up to the player to decide. In a way, that’s amazing in its own right, because it’s actually what the real world is like. The absence of a golden ending is standard fare for grimdark, but that so much is left open shows a level of restraint and trust in the player that I admire in a developer. 

Thanks for the question, Anon. Hope you liked it.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[bard-llama]

New Don’t Cry for Me, Temeria short!

I had a great chat with the new hire that will be my manager soon and it inspired me to write this bit. Idk where exactly it fits into (Im)Perfect Strangers except that it’s while Fenn’s wrist is still healing, so probably within the next few chapters lol

“Mr. Zoltan,” Boussy tugged on the dwarf’s clothing one evening in the public dining hall. Roche was busy bullying Fenn into letting Imadia look at his broken wrist, because the idiot kept trying to use it, but he saw the way everyone in the area turned at least partial attention towards the boy. It was, after all, less common for Boussy to initiate conversations, especially in public.

“What can I do for you, Wee Lad?” Zoltan asked, smiling behind his bushy beard.

“How come dwarves hate elves?” Boussy asked innocently, probably unaware of the immediate tension that spread across the room. There were the dwarves within hearing distance, of course – Zoltan, Yarpen, and Skalen, most notably – but there were also several elves, because Iorveth had followed Imadia and Rinn was sitting next to Anais. In other words, this could end badly.

“Ah,” Zoltan coughed. “Well, the easiest answer is because elves hate dwarves.”

“They do?” Boussy tilted his head.

“Magda said,” Anais interrupted loudly, “that it’s cause elves were like humans before humans were here.”

That certainly didn’t go over well with the elves present, though Zoltan nodded.

“She’s not wrong, though I wouldn’t, uh, use those words, exactly.”

“What does that mean?” Boussy asked, frowning down at his hands.

“Well, uh…” Zoltan cleared his throat, glancing around quickly to search for either support or an escape.

Roche would love to help, but honestly, he knew nothing about the history between elves and dwarves. And he was kind of curious, though very on edge. There were an awful lot of people around who might have personal opinions about that history, and that tended to get messy.

Skalen Burdon, the alderman’s nephew, ducked his head, pointedly not making eye contact with Zoltan, but Yarpen Zigrin seemed to take pity on him.

“Elves were the conquerors of the continent before humans came along and did it better,” Yarpen said bluntly, and Roche winced, practically able to feel the offense coming from Iorveth.

“Excuse you,” Iorveth’s voice was snippy. “We spread culture across the continent.”

“Yeah, by conquering people,” Yarpen glared at him. “Bah, are you even old enough to remember?”

Now Roche was the one frowning. Wasn’t Iorveth like… really old?

“Not many are,” Imadia said gravely, somehow spreading a sense of calm. “The times Yarpen speaks of started long before the Conjunction of the Spheres. And yes,” she held up a hand in Iorveth’s face, “you are too young. When you were born, elves already ruled the continent, though not without conflict.”

Zoltan snorted, “that’s one way to put it. Elves tried – and failed – to conquer Mahakam.”

“Wait, really?” Thirteen blurted out, blinking in surprise. “But like – even Foltest didn’t really conquer Mahakam. And everyone said he was mad to even try!”

“No, he didn’t.” Yarpen and Zoltan both looked smug.

Roche decidedly kept his mouth shut. There was no need to remind people that he’d been part of that campaign.

“Plenty o’ other places they did succeed in conquering, though. Just look at Loc Muinne!”

Iorveth stiffened. The matter of the extinction of the Vrans was a complicated one, and Iorveth had personal connections to Loc Muinne’s history. It was probably best to move on from this quickly.

“So what about dwarves?” Roche asked.

“What about us?” Zoltan asked, eyeing Iorveth in a way that meant he too was aware of why Roche was changing the subject.

“Well, humans came and conquered. Elves came and conquered. Did dwarves ever? Or uh, other species before the Conjunction?”

“Not really,” Zoltan shrugged. “Not to say that there weren’t some who tried – I’ve no doubt every species has at least some of those. But as a species, we dwarves live in the mountains, which many other species find… inhospitable. Not all of them, though! Dwarves and gnomes have always gotten along well enough.”

“Wait, but we live in a mountain,” Anais pouted.

“Ah, but remember,” Pillow Tits smiled kindly at her, “humans can’t live without sunlight. So we can live in mountains, but we need to return to the surface fairly regularly or our health will start to decay.”

“But dwarves don’t?” Boussy asked.

Zoltan shook his head. “Not really. I mean, there are effects on vision if you don’t experience sunlight fairly regularly. But I think maybe that came later – that we adjusted to sunlight later, and that’s why we can lose that, if we stay under the mountains for too long. Sunlight hurts if you’ve been out of it for too long.”

“Hmm, that’s an interesting theory,” Imadia tapped her finger against her chin and Iorveth rolled his eye. “Dwarves came from stone, yes? I’ve heard some say that you’re eternal like stone as well, but – well, I think that was more poetic than accurate.”

“Mmm, sort of,” Skalen grunted. “I dunno anything about the pre-Conjunction stuff, but when dwarves die, we return to the stone. You can visit our catacombs here, in fact. They’re quite something, I must say.”

“Full of wraiths,” Geralt grumbled under his breath. “Every fucking body had a wraith, pretty much.”

Roche blinked. What had Geralt been doing with the bodies in the Vergen Catacombs and why?

The answer, of course, is looting literally all of them compulsively even though I know exactly which body needs examined at this point 😂 (AKA there’s a Witcher 2 quest where you have to find the fresh body hidden in the catacombs. By unwrapping all of them. And looting them while you’re at it. Just because)

Yeah, idk where this is going, but figured I’d share!